Work Text:
Ocean monuments are easy enough to break into- it was easy for Wilbur, anyway.
Something has shifted in his head the moment he dove into the water. He’s in his element, he is the predator and nothing can harm him. He is fast, he is strong, and his voice can charm anything faster or stronger than him.
So the monument- or temple, or base, or structure, or ruins, or whatever the old inhabitants used to call it- is no issue for him. The Guardians are just glorified goldfish compared to him.
He could dodge their attacks and easily takes them down. He swims more gracefully than a bird in the air.
It’s so different from how he feels on land. Weak, fatigued, tired, dry, itchy, uncomfortable, heavy. It reminds him he is part land and part sea , he is meant to be beneath the waves. His ancestors before him lived in the ocean their whole lives.
But Wilbur is alone.
No one wanders near a siren, not even the smallest fish or the biggest squid. For however powerful he feels, he knows why he will always return to the beach. To his family.
Because he has been alone long enough.
That is why he is here in the first place. The ocean monument.
He doesn’t know what it is, what it used to be- it’s just a dilapidated temple in the middle of the ocean. Seagrass, barnacles, and overgrowth cover the old murals and what once were shining polished prismarine walls.
And he feels the call. A tug, a pull.
It drags him like a fish on a hook through the different hallways and rooms until he finds the center of the entire monument. He thinks it is, at least.
It is a room full of old golden treasures that are all untouched by time. Necklaces, goblets, and statues of pure gold still shine in the bright light of the sea lanterns. And Wilbur sits, he waits, and he listens to the call that dragged him here in the first place. Waiting for a sign of why he was called, an explanation for something.
-But that gets boring.
So Wilbur explores the structure. He finds one hallway full of sponges, another large room that appears to be an entrance, and he pockets a couple of trinkets he knows Techno will like. It’s boring to traverse the monument after all the Guardians were dealt with
Eventually, he falls asleep.
That’s when he dreams.
There will be- there has been- there will always be a betrayal. A not-man in a mask of smiles. A battle by the shoreline. Blood, blood, blood. His father will pay a price, and debts will be owed. His youngest brother is not safe, not when there are malevolent gods out there- but there are also good ones.
They need to find the name-taker.
Wilbur wakes up, frantic.
He darts out of the monument, swimming home as quickly as he can.
He needs to return home- he needs to return soon . Before a not-man with no face tears his whole family apart.