Chapter Text
“So-” Tommy shivered. “So we have- there’s Sapnap, there’s Quackity, there’s Phil, and- and me and you?”
“Yes, Tommy,” Wilbur reassured him. “Me and you still. I promise. I… I know that- when you asked for help and all I wasn’t really- helpful, y’know?
Tommy gave Wilbur a slight smile, shaking his head. “That wasn’t your fault. It was other Wilbur. You weren’t the one to threaten to cut my fucking legs off.”
Wilbur winced at the mention, glancing away with guilt flashing in his eyes. “Well- I- I knew that all this had been going on and-”
“Shut.”
“Okay.”
A silence fell between them. It wasn’t uncomfortable or anything, but there was a clear sign that there was something left to be said.
“So,” Wilbur started. “I, uh… it didn’t go well.”
Tommy raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“The like- the thing! The thing with- fucking, Quackity. It didn’t go well. It went- went pretty shit, if I was to say anything.”
“What happened?”
“Well- I mean- it started off okay, I guess. Quackity went into the room with me, and it was fine until I turned the lights on and-” Wilbur bit his lip. “And the wrong thing was on the pressure plate.”
Tommy held his breath.
“It wasn’t- it wasn’t his horse. It was fucking- it was Tubbo. It was Tubbo, there, instead.”
“What?!” Wilbur had expected this, yet he couldn’t make eye contact despite this. “What the fuck was Tubbo doing there?! Why was- is- is he okay?!”
“Yes! Yes, he’s fine. Nothing happened to him, don’t worry, it’s just-” Wilbur glanced at Tommy warily. “I mean- then Ranboo got involved and he went and- and stepped on the pressure plate instead to make sure nothing went off-”
“...Ranboo did?""
“I mean- he’s alive right now…. ”
Tommy hesitated, blinking at him owlishly. There was something sad that flashed in his eyes. "Wil-"
Wilbur shook his head quickly. “He’s not dead. Dead dead, at least.”
“Wilbur-”
There was a knock on the door.
Both Wilbur and Tommy snapped their gaze to it, with Tommy reaching out toward a weapon and Wilbur tensing at the sound. Wilbur hadn’t asked anyone over today. There was no telling who was on the other side. “Did you call anyone over?” Wilbur asked quietly.
“ No, ” Tommy whispered, hunching over himself and drawing the sword out a bit further. “No, I didn’t.”
“ Okay, ” Wilbur stood up, a forced even breath leaving him. “We can- we can finish talking about this later. I’ll get it. If it’s- if it’s Dream, I might be able to drive him away. If it’s anyone else, it should be fine. It should be just fucking fine.”
Tommy nodded, standing up as well, but not going to follow Wilbur to the door.
If it really was Dream on the other side of this door, Wilbur wondered what exactly he would do. Maybe he would deck the man in the face. Maybe he would freeze up. Maybe he would panic and grab Tommy to try and run out of the door. Maybe nothing at all, and Dream would just leave the moment he spotted Wilbur instead of Tommy. He really didn’t know.
When Wilbur grabbed the door and swung it open, what he saw on the other side was the last thing he would have ever fucking expected.
“Uh….” They started. “Wil?”
Wilbur blinked at them. He snapped his gaze back inside the room, seeing Tommy’s eyes poking out from behind a chest with concerned, curious irises. Turning back, he was met with nearly the exact same gaze. “Tommy…?”
‘Tommy’ smiled at him. “Ayup, Wil… I uh… this is a bit weird, innit?”
“Who are- what-” Wilbur choked on his words, at a loss. “What?! Who are you? You’re- Tommy is-”
“It’s… I don’t know how to explain, really. I’m Tommy, but- but not your one, anyways.”
“What?!” Tommy, the one that still remained inside the house called out. “Wil?! What the fuck is going on?!”
“I don’t know!” Wilbur admitted. “There’s- there is you right outside your door and-”
Tommy leapt over the chest, running up to Wilbur’s side and locking eyes with his other self in shock. “What the fuck? Who-”
The other Tommy waved back. “Hi.”
“How are you- who- are you-” Tommy racked his brain for ideas. “Could you- are you from the other place? The one where Wilbur is-”
“Stop!” All of them fell silent at the other Tommy’s outburst. “Don’t- I know what you’re going to say, do not say it.”
“What? You- what do you mean? What would even-”
“Do not say those words. I’ll get you into a lot of shit.”
“This is really fucking ominous, y’know. To hear that from me. ”
The other Tommy sighed. “Well, my Wil made me come here, so-”
“Your one?” Wilbur cut in. “Where is he?”
“I’m right here,” Tommy and Wilbur jolted at the new voice, still familiar yet holding an odd edge to it that neither of them had heard in quite a while. Oddly enough, the voice came from behind them, as they swiveled around to be met with empty air. “Or did you not realize?”
“Wil,” The other Tommy spoke up. “You’re a bitch.”
“That’s mean.”
The other Tommy let out another sigh, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a milky white potion. “I know you wanted to be spooky and shit, but I’m ruining it right now.”
“Wha-”
Other Tommy threw the potion at the empty air, and the glass shattered into pieces on nothing. A shriek came from that spot, along with a string of curses. The other Tommy that stood outside the door laughed to himself. “Very fucking funny, Sunshine,” Color washed through what had previous been empty air, revealing a man that was the exact carbon copy of Wilbur. Matching white streak and trench coat and all. The main difference that Wilbur could spot was that his pupils looked like they were melting inside of his irises. Dripping like ink, much like some of the black stains streaking across his cheeks. Obvious differences, but besides that, he looked just the same as Wilbur himself. “Thanks.” He said dully.
“No problem.”
This Wilbur huffed, crossing his arms with a slight smile as he walked forward and stuffed a hand into the other Tommy’s curls. “Well, since you ruined everything,” A snicker. “I suppose we should introduce ourselves now, hm?”
The other Wilbur turned to the other two, a playful smile adorned on his face. “My name is Wilbur Soot, obviously. For the sake of convenience, you can call me Soot for my entire stay here. And you can call Tommy… Innit, I suppose,” He hummed. “Is that alright?”
“I mean-” Wilbur hesitated. “Sure?”
“Great!” Soot clapped his hands together. “Now, I’m sure that-”
“How the fuck did you stay like- invisible invisible?” Tommy blurted. “Like- there would have been particles! Or- or footsteps, or like-”
“I’ll get to that, Tommy,” Soot replied, with a slight laugh. “So! I’m sure we all know about the little… hallucination shit we’ve got going on between us and all. Me and my Tommy were trying to figure out a remedy for it, and this was our best option.”
Tommy blinked. “Wait you’re-”
Wilbur stepped in front of Tommy, pushing him back. “What do you fucking want.”
Soot blinked at them. Confusion flickered in his eyes for a moment, before the realization seemed to hit him. “Oh, wait-” A startled laugh broke out from his throat as he shook his head in disbelief. “Oh my fuck, you can’t be serious. Already? I barely just met you two.”
“What do you want?” Wilbur repeated.
“Listen, I’m not here to do any harm,” Soot started. He paused on his words for a moment, tilting his head to the side with a curious smile. “Well… that could change, but it’s not my original intention. I wanted to get these hallucinations to stop. That’s something that can benefit the both of us, can’t it?”
“And that’s it?” Wilbur hissed. “Is that really it?”
“Well, no,” Soot admitted. “I would like to know what ended up happening between our two universes that made everything so much different. Because clearly, something went wrong in one of our universes that made everything go to shit. I think you can tell. Me and you are two… very different people, Wilbur.”
Wilbur shoved Tommy a bit further behind him. “I’m not letting you touch him.”
Soot laughed. “Good! Good, that’s what I would expect from myself.”
“I’m not-” Wilbur swallowed. “I’m not like you.”
“Oh, don’t lie to yourself,” Soot cackled. “If I so much as exist, then clearly you can be like me,” Soot took a step closer, raising his hand and poking his finger into Wilbur’s chest. “We were made from the same dirt. Either one of us could have had my ending, or your ending, or your life, or deaths, or my kills, my ideas, your words. We could have completely swapped with one another, and you would never even know. Maybe I had once been destined to be like you, and you had been destined to be like me. But we’ll never know. After all, the world set us both up for failure, didn’t it?”
Wilbur’s breath hitched. Soot took his hand away with a sharper grin, waving it around absentmindedly. “But I digress, I’m not here to talk about that. I want to know what happened in your place that made it so different from mine,” He paused, locking eyes with Wilbur for a moment before letting out an amused huff. “You can stop being so bristly. I wouldn’t dream of touching your Tommy.”
“Can you blame me for not trusting you in the slightest?” Wilbur snapped, blindly reaching out for Tommy’s hand and squeezing onto it tightly. “You-”
“Wil,” Tommy cut him off, causing Wilbur to swivel around and face him as Tommy gave a reassuring squeeze back. “It’s- it’s fine. I can handle myself, okay?”
“But Tommy, this is- you know what this man has done. It’s not- it’s not safe.”
“If you want some incentive to listen to me, I can give you some,” Soot cut in. “If we don’t start doing this shit soon, I will be trying to kill the both of you.”
“Wil!” Innit shoved forward, knocking into Soot’s arm. “Fucking- you can’t keep doing this shit. It’s fair enough that they don’t trust you. You’re not- you’re not what people would say as ‘approachable’. You- say some weird fucking shit, Wil.”
Soot glowered. “Really? Because I’m sure that our good friend Wilbur here has said some very similar things to me at some point in his life.” Wilbur stiffened, which drew a slight smirk from Soot. “See? From that reaction, he clearly has.”
“Shut up.”
“I will when we get started on all of this,” Soot replied, fully walking in and closing the door behind him. “I’m curious, man! Like, I’ve been wondering what could be so different here! Is Phil still your dad? Did you make L’manburg? How many times did you kill Schlatt? When did you first meet Tommy? Did your mother-”
“Hold on!” Wilbur shot back, taking a step backward. “This isn’t- you can’t just-”
“Wil, he’s not going to go anywhere,” Tommy started. “We might as well. Even if he’s a dickhead.”
Soot snorted. “Thank you, Tommy.”
Tommy bristled a bit at his name, turning to Wilbur and sharing a similar look with one another. They both glanced toward Soot, who had an easy smile on his face and was dragging Innit down to sit next to him on the floor. Innit seemed a bit standoffish, letting Soot drag him around without any complaint.
It was concerning, to say the least.
It grew more concerning, when Soot very clearly was shoving him around forcefully into his grasp, placing a hand on the younger’s neck at a point where he could very easily cause some serious harm.
Wilbur shuffled slightly closer, dropping his voice to a low whisper. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, Wil,” Tommy shot back in a similar whisper. “I think- I think he means it. It doesn’t seem like he’s lying.”
“Well- I mean- yeah, I guess so, but… we still don’t know much about them. Are we really, really sure?”
“ Yes, Wil. I’m sure. I had to listen to this bitch for a couple months now, I’m pretty sure I know enough about him at this point.” Tommy grabbed onto Wilbur’s arm, dragging them both to the floor. Wilbur let himself be seated on the ground, eyes locked onto Soot with suspicion. Soot only looked back with an annoying bright smile.
“So!” Soot started, reaching over to Innit and placing his hand inside of the younger’s blonde curls. “How did all of this start for you? When was the first time Phil left you in the house all alone?”
Wilbur hesitated. “I… um… I was ten?”
“I was six or seven. How long was he gone for the first one?”
“A little over a day.”
“Mine was two weeks.”
“Two weeks?” Wilbur echoed.
Soot grinned. “Two weeks. Next question! How long-”
“You can’t just drop that on me and move on. Phil left you at six years old for two weeks?”
“Yup,” Soot cackled. “Pretty shit, hm? Anyways, how long was he gone for the longest amount of time?”
“Well- it was a week? Week and a half? I ended up moving out a bit earlier before I came to the DreamSMP but-”
Soot cut him off with a laugh, shaking his head. “Oh my fucking god! This is already a massive difference! A week? How lucky!” He shook his head, huffing softly. “Do you wanna guess how long my Phil left me on my own?”
Wilbur didn’t really want to. Two weeks was bad enough at that age, and clearly, this Soot character was hyping it up to a point where the number had to be large. “Like, a year?” Tommy ended up guessing for him.
“How generous,” Soot raised his hand up, holding up three fingers. “Try again.”
“What, three years?”
Soot glanced at his hand, adding another two to his original three. “A bit more than that. Three is a factor. So is this number.”
Wilbur froze.
“Fifteen?!” Tommy shouted. “He- you- fifteen fucking years?!”
“Yes, yes, he did! I first met Tommy when I was eight, and-”
“This-”
“Let me finish,” Soot snapped, a knowing grin rising on his face as he continued. “And that mostly helped me stay sane, but of course, I had my fair share of mistakes back then, especially when I ended up killing someone and-”
“Stop,” Wilbur cut Soot off, the other’s grin somehow widening further as he stopped talking. “You… you know we’re going to be surprised by all this, stop continuing like it’s nothing. Just- bring it up one at a time.”
“Looks like myself knows me pretty well,” Soot sighed, leaning down and resting his chin in his hands. “I took my very first life at fourteen. When did you take yours, Wil?”
“Don’t- we’re not on that name basis,” Wilbur hissed. “And I took my first when I was twenty-four.”
“Oh!” Soot sat up again, suddenly intrigued. “Wait, how many lives have you taken?”
“One. That I know of.”
“Oh my god. Holy shit. Wow! Okay!” Soot laughed to himself, shaking his head. “Okay okay! I see! Really, it seems like the only differences between our two universes would be us two and Phil! Who was it? What did you do?”
“Why don’t you share some of your shit, asshole,” Tommy spat, answering before Wilbur could respond. “How many people have you taken lives from? Who were they?”
“I’ll be honest, I didn’t count. I can give you some of the relevant ones, though, if you’d like. My milestones. A ‘best of’ if you will,” Soot hummed, tapping his lip in thought. “Let’s see… Schlatt was my first one. My very, very first one. I won’t forget that one, no matter how many years I end up living and not living through limbo. There were some more unimportant ones scattered between that time, though, so my second most important one was Tubbo. There were a couple more that went along with Tubbo’s, being like… Schlatt, Quackity, and a lot of people at the Red Festival.”
Alarm flashed in Tommy’s eyes. “You- you killed Tubbo? But- you-”
Soot hummed, dragging his finger across the ground offhandedly. “It was a good plan. I put explosives in the little ram. Went up on stage and I blew his body up into ash.”
From the way that Innit stiffened and looked toward the ground, this wasn’t something that he was quite fond of either.
Wilbur stared back with shock. This- he had expected all of this to be bad, he thought he had expected the worst, but clearly he was so, incredibly fucking wrong.
Soot was staring up at the both of them through his curls, a dark glint in his eyes that was accompanied with a cruel smile on his face. “Something wrong? You two don’t look too good.”
“You- why would you fucking do that?!” Tommy shouted, suddenly standing up and stepping forward. “Tubbo was- if he’s anything like the Tubbo from here, he was trying to fucking help you all! He was- he was spying for us, he didn’t-”
“It was true, but he was fucking useless. Schlatt was a spineless president. He did nothing but spit all of his plans onto the ground and let everyone pick and prod at them without restraint,” Soot stood up, matching Tommy’s steps as he towered over the younger. “I just let Tubbo be a little more useful to us that day.”
“Then- what happened on the 16th? What was-”
“I blew it all up. Some convoluted murder-suicide that I ended up failing, and I got trapped in limbo for over thirteen years without my Sunshine there with me,” Soot suddenly reached out, latching his hands onto Tommy’s shoulders. Tommy immediately stiffened at the grip, trying to pull back. “What about you? What did Wilbur do on the 16th?”
Wilbur stood up. “Let go of him.”
“Then tell me,” Soot sneered. “Tell me what the fuck you did.”
“I-” Wilbur hesitated. “I blew up L’manburg. And… and I pretty much fucking killed myself.”
“You’re leaving something out.”
Wilbur grit his teeth. “No. I’m not.”
“You wanted to kill Tommy that day too, didn’t you?” Soot let go of Tommy, rounding onto Wilbur with a victorious smile. “You were scared to go it alone.”
“I’m not- I didn’t-”
“Don’t fucking lie to me, Wilbur,” Soot stepped forward, jabbing at Wilbur’s chest. “I know myself. There’s no point in lies, here.”
Wilbur smacked Soot’s hand away. “Don’t compare me to you. ”
“Don’t deny the things you did, Wilbur. If I’m a monster, then surely you are too.”
“I’m not like you!” Wilbur's face twisted in anger, as Soot stepped back with a hearty laugh. “I’m nothing like you! Stop comparing me to you when we're not the fucking same! Maybe we share the same name, the same DNA, but we’re not the fucking same!”
“Au contraire, Mr. Wilbur,” Soot teased. “You’ve done horrible shit like me. We ended up in the same place despite the differences we had. People hate you, and they will always do so for what you’ve done. But that’s fine. You’re powerful, aren’t you? You’ve got your potions on your side.”
“Powerful? Ha, okay. Potions?” Wilbur gave a depressing smile. “As if. Potions don’t do shit here.”
Soot’s smile suddenly disappeared from his face, confusion replacing it as he blinked owlishly back at Wilbur. “What? Don’t lie to me. Your potions. The thing that got you into power on this server?”
“No?” Wilbur hissed, raising his eyebrow in confusion. “Sure, I was good at them, but I haven’t touched a brewing stand in like, fourteen years! Ever since L’manburg I haven’t used any potions!”
Soot blinked again, disbelief shining in his eyes. “You- what? You don’t have any-” He swiveled away for a moment, locking his gaze onto the ground as he tapped his chin in thought. “You… you don’t have any potions. Is- is Dream alive here? He is, right?”
Wilbur nodded grimly. “Yeah. He is.”
Soot glared at the floor, crossing his arm. “How come you haven’t killed him yet?”
“I can’t. ”
“You can’t?” Soot turned back around. “What the hell do you mean? Dream should crumple into dust in just your presence, why haven’t you killed him yet?”
“Wha- the fuck? No! Dream isn’t- he’s currently one of the most powerful people on the server, I can’t just-”
“ You’re supposed to be the most powerful person on this server!” Soot stepped forward, genuine confusion decorating his face. “Why haven’t you- Dream is fucking terrified of you, so is Techno, so was Quackity at some point, fuck, Schlatt was when he was alive! Tubbo, Ranboo, Sam, Sapnap, Punz, George, all of the fucks! They’re supposed to be scared of you! Fucking- shaking in their boots whenever they hear a word that simply resembles your name! Why is it that-”
“Fucking hell, no! ” Wilbur cut him off before he could continue. “What the fuck?! Where the hell would you-”
“Ghostbur, too! People were scared of Ghostbur as well! What is wrong with this place?!”
“Ghostbur?!” Tommy suddenly cut in, shoving in front of Wilbur and getting in between Soot and Wilbur. “What the fuck do you mean scared of Ghostbur?! He’s fucking- he was one of the best fucking people in this place, that doesn’t make any fucking sense, that’s- what?!”
“Ghostbur killed Technoblade once,” Innit muttered. “I guess he’s not like your Ghostbur at all, huh?”
“Ghostbur killed Technoblade…?”
“With a potion, mind that,” Soot finally placed his gaze on Wilbur, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. “No potions? Never? You’re not known for it?”
“I’m more so known for the fact I blew up a bloody country than potions.”
“And Dream is still alive…?”
Soot seemed completely appalled at that fact, staring at the ground with his expression twisted in anger. “Dream’s still alive,” He repeated again, simply, as a fact, shifting his storming gaze back onto Wilbur slowly. “Dream is still fucking. Alive. ”
“Yes. He is.”
A disbelieving laugh came from Soot. “Dream’s alive. Dream’s fucking alive! This is-” More laughter. “How could you, the person who’s supposed to be like me, be such a spineless, useless fool! ”
Wilbur recoiled. “What-”
“Fuck, this is-” Soot shook his head, more laughter tumbling from out of his mouth as he stepped toward the doors. “You can’t do anything, can you? Can you protect Tommy? At all? Or is he the one that protects you, Wilbur?”
“That’s-” Wilbur grimaced. “I- I can protect Tommy just fine.”
“ Ha! ” Soot shoved the doors open, walking out into the sun as he threw out an ender chest into the grass. “Oh, what a rich and hilarious lie I just heard. Be honest with yourself, Wilbur.”
He really didn’t want to.
“Fine then!” Soot continued anyway, not even bothering to wait for an attempted response. “If you can’t do it, then I will! Consider it a gift to you! I’ll find that fucker, and I’ll fucking get rid of him. ” He opened the ender chest up, digging into it for just a moment before retrieving a potion, a light navy blue that was slightly grayed out in color. It was nothing that Wilbur was familiar with.
Soot was quick to down the potion, retrieving a loaded crossbow from the ender chest at the same time. He stood up and threw the empty glass bottle back into the chest before turning around and raising his crossbow to be ready to fire. “If you can’t kill Dream, there’s no one here who can protect Tommy from all of the people that hate him,” Soot spat out venomously, a sharp grin on his face as he spoke. His eyes were wide, glowing with something unnatural that had to do with the potion he just drank. He slowly turned, pointing his crossbow toward the black stone tower that was only a couple feet away. “And to you, Dream. If you can’t figure out when you should leave, then you don’t deserve the life that Tommy spared you.”
Soot suddenly went jerking to the side, swiveling around and letting the crossbow bolt fly. It went quick, zipping up to the top of the tower he had been pointing at.
There was a sharp gasp.
The arrow stood lodged in the middle of thin air.
Or, so it had seemed.
Color started bleeding through the empty air from where the arrow had landed. The dark violet color of netherite, accompanied by that of a lime green cloak, and a white porcelain mask with an eerie smile painted on the front.
Dream stood where nothing had once been.
Tommy immediately jerked back, slamming into Wilbur and nearly sending them both spiraling backward into the grass. “That’s- he was-”
“Clearly you’ve never gone against someone who could be more powerful than you, have you, Dream?” Soot snickered, letting his crossbow drop. “I hope you live the fall.”
Dream laughed. “Oh, well, this is problematic, isn’t it? Another Wilbur and another Tommy. That’s-” He tried to step forward, or actually, he just seemed to try to make any move at all, but all he found himself doing was tilting to the side. To the side, which was off of the tower.
Dream’s previous confidence suddenly went silent.
He tipped over fully.
Oddly enough, his fall was graceful, the cloak fluttering around him as he rolled over the grass and onto the wooden Prime Path.
Soot was quick to waltz over, dragging the ender chest with him as he went to speak. “Oh, this is funny. This is fucking peak comedy. You’ve never gotten punished for your actions here, have you? All except for that dumb fucking prison that was clearly never going to be enough to compensate for your ego.”
“What was- what the fuck did you do- ”
“Shush, Dream.” Soot cackled. “I think it’s time for round two.”
“Round- round two? What- that’s-”
“Oh no. Round two for me . Not for you. You didn’t have to go through what the Dream from my place did,” Soot sighed, crouching down next to Dream and placing a hand on his mask. “You won’t have to go through the same thing, actually. I don’t have as much hatred toward you, since you technically haven’t done anything to me oy my Tommy.”
The mask was removed from Dream’s face, cast aside and thrown into the grass like it was a worthless piece of garbage. Dream’s face was twisted in anger and shock, clearly struggling to try and get up and away.
Wilbur expected him to, but… but Dream wasn’t moving an inch. A tipped arrow could be the only answer, but- there wasn’t supposed to be any kind of tipped arrow that could do something like that to a person.
It made a lot more sense, as to why Soot could have gotten away with so much in his own world if he had things like this at his disposal.
And what does he mean by round two?
“Wilbur.”
Wilbur was snapped out of his thoughts when his name was called.
Soot had stood back up, glancing over at Wilbur with a sly grin and a dark red potion in hand. It was a harming potion, Wilbur knew that without a doubt, but… clearly, Soot had all kinds of potions and effects that he himself didn’t know a thing about. If that was truly a harming potion, there was no telling how much damage it could do. “Why don’t you do this?” Soot spoke up again, tapping on the glass of the potion gently. “After all, it’s your Dream. You should be the one to kill him, shouldn’t you?”
Wilbur glanced at Soot, to the potion, down to Dream, back to Soot and all over again before finally settling back on Soot. “I-” He hesitated. “What does that do?”
“It’s a harming potion. It kills people,” Soot snorted. “Don’t tell me you don’t have harming potions here.”
“We- we fucking do, it’s just- I don’t know. You’ve- your potions-”
A laugh cut him off. “Wow, someone who finally understands just what my potions entail without me having to subject them to their effects myself. Now, forget all of this. Get over here, and fucking kill him before I do it myself.”
Wilbur cautiously stepped closer, Tommy not too far behind as he glanced down at Dream. He was clearly in bad shape from his time in prison, dozens of scars littering his face, pale, and has clearly gone through something while Wilbur wasn’t around.
Well, everyone had gone through something since he hadn’t been around, but… it seemed to be a bit more than anticipated for Dream.
“Well- I’m-” Wilbur hesitated again. “Dream is- Dream’s- my- my hero? He- I don’t want him close to Tommy since he doesn’t seem comfortable with it but I can’t just-”
“Shut the fuck up! ” Soot screamed at him, suddenly stepping forward and grabbing onto the collar of his sweater. Wilbur reeled back, trying to get away, but Soot wasn’t relenting in the slightest. “Your hero? You’re fucking hero?!”
“He revived me!”
“Hero. Fucking, shithead, asshole hero of a person. Dream’s your hero. He killed Tommy three times. He abused Tommy. He tried to take Tommy away from you. He was the one who ruined him! ” Soot laughed, but it was nothing but cold. “And you call him your hero? You call this person that has tortured and destroyed your everything your fucking hero? ”
“I….”
“No! No, I’m not just-” Soot shook his head with a mocking laugh. “No no no. I’m not just going to fucking sit here and let you do this. No, fuck you. Fuck you,” He stepped forward, shoving the potion into Wilbur’s hands and pushing him toward Dream. Wilbur stumbled, nearly tripping over the man as Soot pushed him forward further. “Kill him! He is why everything is fucking awful, he’’s why everyone hates you, he’s way everyone hates Tommy, he’s the reason why Tommy is fucking broken! ”
“Shut up!” Wilbur hissed, whipping around to face him. “Stop fucking talking to me! Stop talking over me! THings aren’t- they aren’t the same here! It was- it’s my fault that-”
“It’s not your fault,” Soot shot him down almost immediately. “It’s never your fault. It’s all the rest of the fucks in this server. It’s their fault-”
“No! No, I’m not just going to stand here and let you prattle on about your stupid fucking ideologies!” Wilbur shoved forward, pressing the potion back into Soot’s hands. He seemed a bit alarmed for a second, as if expecting the glass to shatter but no such thing occurred. “We’re different, Soot. I can admit to my faults at least. You can’t. You never can.”
“My faults? I don’t care,” Soot smirked, shoving back and pushing the potion into Wilbur’s hands again. “I know I have thousands, but it doesn’t matter. I’m a monster where I’m from. It doesn’t fucking matter if I have faults if I’m meant to have them anyways. The world set me up for failure, and I became a monster because of it.”
“Then don’t go on about my wrong doings if you can’t admit to your own.”
“I don’t understand how a version of me can be this simple-minded. Clearly, more went wrong than I thought.”
“Oh, you- fuck off! I didn’t know there was a version of me that could be so infuriating petty and child-like to where I can’t even handle it!”
“Shut your mouth, Wilbur, and fucking kill Dream before anything new presents itself to get in the way.”
“Struck a nerve, hm? Seems that the child can’t handle a simple insult.”
“You-” A pause. “I’m- I’m serious, Wilbur. People side with Dream more than they do you.”
“Yeah, that makes sense! Because you go around like some manic freak out to get everyone! You’re a fucking maniac! You don’t deserve anything that’s ever been given to you!”
Soot grit his teeth. “Zip it, Wil. Be wary of the line you’re so insistent on crossing.”
Wilbur glowered. “Yeah, okay. What’s to say that, oh, if you were to kill me, where would that put you? Would you still be alive? Or would you die along with me? You wanna test that theory, asshole?”
“Maybe I fucking will,” Soot stepped foward. “But not now. Dream is right fucking here, and I want him dead. And you should do it, shouldn’t you? To prove that you’re at least worth something in your shitty, useless life.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be happening.”
Wilbur and Soot snapped their heads around to the new voice.
Punz stood there, his expression steeled as he had Dream’s arm thrown over his shoulder to support the weight. “Maybe you two should get your head out of your asses before you try to kill someone like Dream.”
“Punz is alive?” Soot asked quietly, eyes wide again as he stared the mercenary down. “You didn’t kill him either?”
“What- did you-”
“When I got revived. I took one life from Eret for what happened in L’manburg. Then I went and took all three from Punz for what he did to me. Smashed my harming potion in my hands. Ended up with my bleeding out and dying. It made my Sunshine so terribly afraid, I couldn’t forgive him for that,” Soot fully turned to face Punz. “But that’s not important right now. Put Dream down, Punz, else I’ll kill you along with him.”
“As if you could,” Punz laughed softly. “But I don’t plan on sticking around at all. See you later.”
When Punz spoke those words, Wilbur wasn’t really surprised to see the man disappear in a cloud of purple particles. A clear sign of an ender pearl stasis chamber.
Soot clearly hadn’t though, as he stared at the empty space with shock.
If there was anything to say, Wilbur would say he felt relieved.
He still had mixed feelings about Dream. Besides, he didn’t really want to kill anyone anyway. The potion that Soot had offered up to him clearly was something that was incredibly lethal, and Wilbur didn’t particularly want to know what it would have done if it got exposed to Dream’s skin.
Soot clenched and unclenched his fists, an uneven breath leaving him. It was outlined in anger that was quickly attempted to be smothered with an even inhale of air.
“Soot?” Wilbur asked.
Soot didn’t answer for a moment, clenching his hands again before shaking his head furiously. “Look at this… look at that, look at this! Fucking look at this! ” Soot cackled, turning a dark gaze onto Wilbur with anger swirling in his eyes “Dream got away. I gave you everything, I gave you the perfect fucking opportunity, and look at that! He got away! He got away, Wilbur. He fucking got away. ”
“That’s-”
“You keep coming after me like I’m awful,” Soot hissed, advancing forward. “Like I’m some hateful fucking animal. Yet here you stand! A weak, pitiful little thing that can’t do what needs to be done to keep what you care about safe.”
Wilbur took a step back. “No-”
“You’ve said, so much shit about me, and yet you can’t do something so simple for your Tommy? You can’t save him? You can’t fucking protect him?” Soot jabbed at Wilbur’s chest. “You’re fucking weak. Pathetic. You can’t save anyone. You can’t be anyone if you can’t save anyone. You’ll turn to sand and be forgotten, be absolutely fucking nothing if you can’t do the hard things in life!”
“Stop talking-”
“You’re useless. You’re blinded by your hero worship, you don’t trust Tommy at all, do you? You don’t care about him. You don’t love him,” Soot took one more step closer, bringing them face to face. There was a dark gleam in his eyes, shown only more prominent with the venomous words that were cutting and slicing into Wilbur’s skin. “You don’t love Tommy. If you can’t be like me, if you can’t give up everything , then you clearly can’t love him, can you? You don’t love him. You’d save your own skin over his. You’d save your own image, your own lives, you’d save everything else over him. You don’t fucking love him. ”
Wilbur felt frozen by the words, for just a moment, before a roar of flaming anger blossomed in his chest. An angry snarl tore through his throat, as he shoved forward and stabbed at Soot’s chest. “Oh, don’t pull this shit on me, Soot! You say that I don’t love Tommy, and yet look at what you’ve done! You don’t let him go anywhere, you don’t give him freedom. You keep him locked under your gaze and trapped in something that you like to call love, when really, it fucking isn’t.”
“What you call love is poison. A fucking prison! You’re hurting your Tommy to the point where he can never be himself in fear of you! ” Wilbur spat, Soot’s eyes widening and shaking in some unknown emotion as he took in the words being shot at him. “He’s fucking terrified of you, Soot. Because you hurt him. You’re the one who doesn’t love Tommy. You’re the one who fucking ruined his life! Everyone hates him because of you!”
“If it wasn’t for you, oh, if it wasn’t for fucking you, Tommy would be happy! He would be better, he’d be okay, he’d be fucking alive! Because really, we can’t call the situations he’s living in being truly alive, can we?! He’d be himself! Maybe Dream did hurt him, to a point where it might have been irreversible, but you’ve done the same yourself!” Wilbur huffed. “ You’re the one who’s hurt him the most, Soot! You’re the one that doesn’t love Tommy! You’re abusive, you’re manipulative, and you are surely worse than me! You, are the one who doesn’t love Tommy! Not me! ”
Soot suddenly launched forward, a hand wrapping around Wilbur’s neck and sending them collapsing into the grass. Cries of alarm came from the other two onlookers, as a vindictive smile peeled back Soot’s face. “Shut your fucking mouth! ” He screamed, eyes storming in unrelenting anger. “You- you don’t know a thing! You don’t fucking understand me, don’t try and say these things when you don’t fucking understand! I love him, he’s mine, he’s mine- ”
“You’re awfully frantic over this shit,” Wilbur hissed back, not missing the sparkle of tears shining in Soot’s eyes. “If I’m so wrong, why are you attacking me in the first place?”
“You- you’re the same as everyone else, you’re just like them, you’re just like all of them-” Soot laughed, a broken, cracked sound as he tightened the grip on Wilbur’s throat. Wilbur flailed, a choked sound squeaking out of his mouth. “You-”
Tommy was suddenly tacking Soot away, cutting off the man’s thoughts and sending them tumbling across the ground. Wilbur quickly sat up, coughing and cradling his neck as he shifted over to watch the other two wrestle on the ground. Innit was standing, frozen on the spot. “Tommy-” Wilbur tried, as Tommy was suddenly thrown off of Soot and went rolling across the grass. Wilbur crawled over to Tommy, picking him up and quickly analyzing his face. “Are you okay? Tommy-”
“Yes, yes, I’m fucking fine, but-”
“Fucking… you… you little, sniveling rat, ” Soot stood up, fumbling in his coat for a second. “Oh… y’know, this reminds me. You were the one who came to my limbo, wasn’t it? A fucking annoying little pest.”
Tommy stiffened at the words, pulling both himself and Wilbur to a standing position. “Fuck you.”
“I hate you,” Soot spat, a dull gray potion being removed from underneath his coat. “You… you’re like a little fly. An annoying, hateful little fly that I just want to squish in my hands and wash it into the river. A fucking brat who can never fucking listen! Can never stay out of business that isn’t his, can’t grow up, can’t do anything that I need him to, can’t even fucking- ”
“ Shut up! ” Soot whipped around to the voice, his nails scratching on the glass of the potion he was holding.
Innit was the one stewing in anger, with his eyes narrowed on Soot’s face. “Shut the fuck up, Wilbur. Tell me you're lying. Tell me you’re lying right fucking now.”
Soot hesitated, his grip loosening slightly on the glass bottle as worry flashed in his eyes. “No I- Tommy, I didn’t mean you, honey… I-I meant-”
“It doesn’t fucking matter if you didn’t mean me, ” Innit spat, placing his hand on his chest. “Because that person you’re directing all that shit at is still fucking me! It doesn’t matter that we’re different, it doesn’t matter we’re not the exact same, but we’re still fucking Tommy! Tell me you're lying!”
“But- I- you-” Soot gave a shaky smile, stumbling slightly closer to him. “I would never say those things to you, Sunshine. I promise. That’s not you. That’s the other one. You wouldn’t ever be like this-”
“Fuck you. Fuck off! You- you told me you would never, you told me you would never hate me! We’re both the fucking same, it doesn’t matter if he’s ‘different’, we’re both Tommy! We’re both annoying. We’re both children. We’re both, ‘annoying little pests’-”
“I- Tommy, stop.”
“-we both fought too much over music discs. We’re both broken. We’re both soldiers. We like the same songs. We do the same things in our free time.”
“Tommy, stop.”
“We both miss everyone who were ever friends with us! We both have died, we both have failed, succeeded, and lost the things that we cared about the most!” Innit let out a wet laugh, shaking his head furiously. “Of course, how could I leave out the most important one?”
“S-Stop talking!”
“We both love our Wilbur. We love him so fucking much that we can never leave his fucking side.”
“ Stop- ”
“Our hearts could shatter into pieces and it wouldn’t stop. No mater what fucked thing you can think of, do, say, or whatever the fuck, we won’t stop. We’ll do everything you tell us to. We’ll never fucking stop loving you even if you turn out to be some ssort of wretched monster!”
“Tommy, shut up. ”
“Honestly, if you asked, we’d probably slice our hearts out of our chest and serve it to you on a silver platter if you really, really wanted it! No matter, how much you hurt either of us, we’ll always fucking love you!”
“ Shut the fuck up! ”
The glass shattered.
Innit let out a gasp, and collapsed into the grass.
Soot stepped away, clutching his shoulders in some semi-hug for comfort. His breaths were heavy and raspy, something that resulted from disuse and other factors that Tommy and Wilbur couldn’t pinpoint. Small remnants of a weakness potion dripped off of the blades of grass and matted down some of Innit’s curls. Speaking of the boy, he was completely silent, laying on the ground without moving an inch.
That weakness potion wasn’t normal.
That part was obvious.
The glass glittered in the sunlight, wet with potion that had once coated its insides and was now drowning Innit in its effects. Soot stood above the younger, heaving breaths that racked his whole body. They eventually started to even out, as Soot let his hands fall to his side and he straightened up with one last sigh.
Soot whipped around to face them, a lopsided smile twisting his face as he glanced up through his dark curls. “A-Anyways… where- where were we? We were… Tommy. Right. I was… talking about Tommy. I was going to use a potion. A weakness potion! So that I could… I could….” Soot paused on the words, his face scrunching up in confusion as his smile grew more strained. “There’s something wrong here. Something I’m forgetting. I just used a weakness potion on… on my Tommy. On my Sunshine. On my… my darling.”
The smile melted away from his face, eyes widening slowly as a daunting realization seemed to sweep over him. Soot snapped around, glancing down at Innit’s form on the ground. Nothing happened for a moment, seemingly like the man got trapped in time before he took a small step toward Innit. “I used… one of those potions on Tommy. I used- I-I used-” A sharp breath pushed out of his chest, hissing out as horror flashed across his face. “Oh no… no no no… no no no nononono-”
Soot suddenly dropped onto the ground next to Innit, sweeping over the boy and reaching a hand out to his face. “I- I didn’t- I couldn’t have- I did-” His hands froze just an inch from Innit’s neck, seemingly like he had been trying to reach the younger’s pulse. “I-It was- it was the one promise I made for myself. It was the one promise- I-I said that I- I said I would never use these on him, I said that I’d- I said- I said, I said, I-I said that I would never-”
Soot suddenly ripped his hands away, curling them around his stomach. “No… no no no! N-No, no- no no no- nonono- no, no no no no! NO! NO NO NO NO!” A broken cry tore through his throats, grating on the ears and earning a wince from Wilbur. He ran his hands through his hair, tugging at the curls painfully and only crying out harder. “I-I didn’t want this! I didn’t- I didn’t, I promise, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean for this, I didn’t, I didn’t-”
Innit could offer nothing, simple staring up at Soot with some far off sympathetic look. Soot couldn’t see it, the tears streaming down his face a colorful royal blue and cluttering the grass with globs of blue dye. “I-I d-didn’t-” He choked on his words, forcing a shaky smile onto his face. “I didn’t mean it- that- that means this is okay, t-this is okay, this is fine, this is fine! It’s- i-it’s fine, this is fine, it’s fine, this is not fine this isn’t fucking fine! ”
Soot pressed his hands into his eyes, smudging blue over his face as a painful cry tore through his throat. An ugly thing, that sounded like a monster had just clawed through Soot’s throat rather than a sound of sorrow. “ Fuck! ” Soot shook his head furiously, snapping his eyes open as he fully took in Innit’s body. “I didn’t- what do I do?! There’s no- there’s no fucking line anymore, there isn’t a line, there’s nothing for me- I promised- I fucking broke it, I broke the promise I didn’t- I didn’t want to, this was- fuck, fuck, fuck! ”
A broken laugh fell from between Soot’s lips, as he turned his gaze to the two onlookers. “What do I do?” He asked, hysteria filling his voice as something desperate flashed across his face. “T-There’s no line for me, now. What if I- I can’t- I broke my-” Soot looked back toward Innit, a shaky breath making his whole body shudder. “H-How could I-”
Wilbur didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t expected such a raw reaction from Soot when he threw that potion.
Soot inhaled shakily, pushing himself up to stand as he turned to the other two. “How can you two- how come-” A wet laugh left his throat. “I should have never come here. I should have never f-fucking come here, this was a bad idea. I-I made a mistake. Fuck, I shouldn’t have came here.”
A beat. Neither party knew what to say.
Soot shook his head again, groaning softly. “F-Fuck. Why is it that- why is it like this?”
“What-” Tommy hesitated. “What the fuck do you mean?”
“‘What do I mean’- I fucking mean this! ” Soot was suddenly shouting, blue dye shifting to black as it poured from his eyes. “I-I mean how I- this isn’t any different to anyone else! This is what I- I used these potions on my darling, my everything! H-How does this make it any different?! I use these potions against people I hate, against people I want dead, not- not him. Not my- not Tommy, never Tommy, it was never supposed to be Tommy! ”
“ Where's my line?! ” Soot cried, blue and black streaming down his face without an end in sight. “T-There isn’t a line anymore. I-I said I would never, I said that I would never use these on him yet I- yet-” He trembled on the spot, collapsing into the ground as his legs could no longer keep him standing. “W-Why did it- why did it have to be us…? Why do you two- how come you two get to be the way you are?”
Wilbur hesitated on those words. Tommy inched toward him, reaching out and grabbing his hand to keep the both of them grounded. “...What do you mean by that?” Wilbur asked cautiously.
“Y-You-” Soot laughed. “You two are so much better than us. No, better than me. You get to- you get to love each other as much as you fucking want, but- there’s no hurt. There’s no pain, there aren’t threats- you get to love normally. You can love and love without any fear of outsiders, of hurting each other, of being afraid of each other. I freeze, I’m so cold without Tommy. I’m so cold, it’s so, so cold. I can’t give him privacy without feeling like my lungs have collapsed in my chest and I’m suffocating on the chilly air. I-I can’t give Tommy anything he wants besides safety because no one else can reach him from how they’re scared of me.”
A wheezy laugh came from Soot, muddled with the sound of sobbing that left Wilbur speechless. It was jarring to see Soot become so fragile after he had just been threatening the most powerful person on the server without a care.
Just because he used a potion on Innit?
Wilbur really didn’t know what to say any more. He was at a complete loss for words. Something that had only happened two other times, times that he would much rather forget.
A broken laugh cut through Wilbur’s thoughts, as Soot sucked in a sharp breath of air. “I’m a monster,” Soot said quietly, a depressing smile on his face as he unknowingly cut off Wilbur’s train of thought. “Sometimes, I wonder, what exactly Tommy thinks of me. If I hadn’t- if he had never met me before and only just met me now… would I end up killing him? Would he try to kill me?” He paused, reaching his hand back out toward Innit before stopping himself and tucking it into his coat. “I don’t know. I really, really don’t know, and that scares me more than I can let myself admit,” A wet sigh, as he buried his face into his arms, staining the sleeves with blue and black dye. “It’s true. I-It’s true, that I ruined his life. You’re right. You’re so, painfully right that I want to tear out your throat and make you shut up forever.”
Wilbur frowned. “Soot.”
Soot laughed softly, poking his eyes out from above his arms with more blue staining his face than it used to. “I think… I think I figured it out.”
Wilbur grimaced. “Figured out what?”
Soot shook his head with another sad laugh, tilting his head back to look at the sky. “You know, I’ve already failed in my world. I already became a villain, I’ve already destroyed everything I’ve ever had or seen. This is what the world wanted from me, wasn’t it? They wanted a monster, they wanted me to be a villain that everyone and everything that existed would be terrified of. And I gave it to it! I went down that path with zero resistance, I became a monster without a care, I didn’t even try to go against what the world wanted from me once. The world saw this. It saw this and realized it didn’t need to do anything any more. So, the world no longer has set me up for failure. Not anymore. There’s no need to, I’ve already lost. I’ve already failed in the way it wanted me to. So, it’s moved on to someone else.”
Soot smiled, but it was shaky and disingenuous. Something to be put up as a front to try and make it seem like he wasn’t tearing apart at the seems. He finally set his hand down on Innit’s neck, settling on where the younger’s pulse would be. “It’s moved on to set Tommy up for failure,” He tried to give a more genuine smile to Innit, but it only came out as something filled with grief and despair. A somber expression was on the Innit’s face as his eyes met Soot’s wavering gaze. “And- and I don’t want him to be like me. He’s not supposed to be like me. He shouldn’t- he shouldn’t have to go through the things I did. He shouldn’t kill himself three different times. H-He shouldn’t be stuck in limbo for thirteen years, with no one and no escape. Freezing and shattering his skull on the train station walls to beg for something new.” A larger glob of blue dye slid down Soot’s face, dropping onto Innit’s cheek and staining it blue. “But- but it seems that he’s destined for that now, isn’t he? Everyone hates him because of what I did. He’s the most powerful because he’s aligned himself with me. He’s the most feared because he loves me.”
“But then- what about-”
“You didn’t fail. You didn’t follow the story that the world wanted to make us have,” Soot shook his head, shifting around to set his gaze on Wilbur. “You beat the world, huh? And I hate you for that. I hate how much better you are. I hate that you did so much better than me. I hate that I’m so fucking jealous of you. I hate that I was obsessed, and because of that, I failed. And you didn’t. Because you were so much fucking better than me.”
Wilbur hesitated. “What’s with- the Voice. What about that? What was going on with-” He was stumbling on his words. In truth, he hadn’t expected this from Soot. Every time, he would always just throw something new at Wilbur and he didn’t know what to think of the man anymore.
“The Voice, huh?” Soot snorted. “I never fucking saw it. It was only there whenever I doubted my actions and it would always be gone the next. From what you’ve said, you were clearly cursed by its presence for longer?”
“It’s like you. It’s exactly like you.”
“Of course it is,” Soot stood up shakily, his breath rattling in his chest. “I don’t even think it’s a Voice. I think that’s the world fucking with us. With you. To make us fail, to try and get you to fail. I never saw it because I failed. You saw it because you were succeeding.”
“I haven’t seen it again since I got revived.”
“The world gave up, I guess. You fucking won,” Soot gave him a sad smile that was twisted with anger. “You won. And I lost. I fucking lost,” A shaky breath made his whole body shudder, as he looked back toward Innit on the floor. “And- and now that I have, the world’s moved on. It’s moved onto Tommy, rather than us, to go and ruin. That what this all was, wasn’t it? The reason why I got to travel here, the reason why those hallucinations started, it’s because the world wanted Tommy to fail, didn’t it? Isn’t that what’s happening now?”
Wilbur hesitated. “...I- I don’t know.”
“That’s okay,” Soot sniffed. “You don’t have to. You’ve got more things to worry about than me. I can take four arrows to the head and be fine. You get killed by someone saying a couple of words to you that you can’t handle.”
“Fuck you.”
Soot laughed, shaking his head. “I hate you. I hate you so much,” He turned away, glancing back down at Innit for a moment with baited breath. “I-” Another uneven breath. “I’m… going to go. Just for a little. Don’t hurt him, else I’ll make true to trying to kill you two.”
“We’re not like you,” Wilbur muttered angrily. “We wouldn’t do that.”
“Shut up ,” Soot spat, turning away fully and starting to walk away. “Don’t give me a better reason to kill you.”
Wilbur would have shot back, but Soot had already walked away.