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All Wilbur had to do was slip away in the chaos.
Technoblade provided an excellent cover, what with his shooting everyone with the fireworks rocket.
Tubbo had been the first casualty, and Tommy would be an inconsolable mess later, but Wilbur didn’t have to deal with that issue now. He could deal with it later, maybe show Tommy, his Tommy, how he really couldn’t trust anyone. Even Technoblade.
Especially Technoblade.
He could still hear the explosions as he slipped into the small corridor he’d dug.
His L’Manburg.
It wasn’t L’Manburg anymore.
And Schlatt had guaranteed that it wasn’t his.
He was the only one L’Manburg could belong to, it was his, his country, he started it, he’s the one who inspired people to fight for it and even die for it. And then it had been taken away from him, when it was always, always, meant to be his. Always.
Well.
If it wasn’t gonna be his, it wasn’t gonna be anybody’s.
And as he waltzed down the rock corridor, tracing the dusty stone with a finger and smiling, he began to sing an old song.
“You left me and I fell apart, I punched the wall and cried~”
He giggled as he mimed punching something in front of him, even adding the ‘bam, bam, bam!’ sound effects he knew Tommy loved to do whenever he was messing around before frowning as he glanced around. He couldn’t remember the next lines, and he brushed the dust off his hand with a flourish as he continued humming the melody until he got to the next lines he remembered.
“I was meant to be yours
We were meant to be one~”
He smiled. L’Manburg was meant to be his, his and only his. This ‘Manburg’ was a shadow of the great nation Wilbur built it to be.
“Don’t give up on me now
Finish what we’ve begun~”
That was all he had to do. All he had to do was finish what he started.
The button room was still pretty far ahead, but he didn’t care. He could still hear explosions and pained yelling echoing in from the entrance behind him.
“I was meant to be yours~”
He began to laugh as he quietly sang what few of the next lines he could remember, changing a few of the lyrics to make them more…shall he say, suitable for the situation.
“So when so-called Manberg goes ‘boom!
With everyone inside~”
The song continued playing in his mind as something caught his eye.
There was a slight handprint in the dust on the wall in front of him.
It was too small to be his, too small to be Tommy’s or Technoblade’s, too big to be Tubbo’s, and besides, nobody else knew where this little corridor, this little passion project of his was-
“We’ll watch the smoke pour out the doors
Bring marshmallows, we’ll make s’mores~”
Wilbur shook his head. It didn’t matter. Soon it’d all be gone.
“We can smile and cuddle while the fire roars!”
Soon Tommy would see that he really was right, that their L’Manburg was well and truly gone, and it would be better off if everyone else could see it gone too.
“I was meant to be yours
We were meant to be one
I can’t make it alone
Finish what we’ve begun~”
This ‘Manburg’ was never right. Schlatt only wanted power, he didn’t want truth.
Wilbur laughed, loud and long and maniacal.
Soon he’d see the truth that he saw, soon they all would.
He continued singing, expression the same mad smile as when he was laughing, voice at full belt as it echoed and reverberated around him, making it sound like there was a whole crowd of Wilburs behind him.
“You were meant to be mine!
I am all that you need!
You carved open my heart, can’t just leave me to bleed!”
He remembered when Tommy had shut himself in his room and he had begged him to open the door. He didn’t want to fight, he didn’t want to fight anymore, he understood that Tommy was a little scared of Wilbur’s realization, of the truth, but he’d show him there was nothing to be scared of, that all they had to do was do this together, because Tommy was all he had left in this world, Tommy was the only one he could trust-
Ah.
The door.
This was it.
He giggled, eyes wide.
Well, the song had counting in it!
“I’m gonna count to three!
One,
Two-”
“Fuck it,” Wilbur growled and slammed open the door, smiling at the blood-red words of his anthem, that he composed, scrawled on the grey stone walls.
His eyes widened.
“No…”
The button…
It was gone.
A few dusty handprints were around the space where the button was, where it should have been, with the wires dangling out the hole in the wall.
He couldn’t…
He couldn’t do it.
It would take hours to reconnect the wires to a new button.
This whole plan…
Wilbur sank to his knees.
He had failed.
Marburg would have to live another day.
He didn’t know when he stumbled upwards, but there was something clamped over his ears as he wandered into Pogtopia, entering the scene of Niki frantically wrapping Tubbo’s limp body with bandages and Tommy kneeling tearfully beside the unconscious boy.
His song of victory was still ringing in his ears as he wandered into his room, shutting the door behind him.
Wilbur had a new button to make.
And as he got out the wood and his whittling knife, he began to hum again.
“ I was meant to be yours…
We were meant to be one…”
Curled flakes of wood slipped off the block.
“I can't make this alone…
Finish what we've begun…”
He nicked the tip of his finger with the blade, but he kept working, blood oozing onto and staining the light-colored wood.
“You were meant to be mine…
I am all that you need…
You carved open my heart…
Can't just leave me to bleed…”
And by the time Wilbur finished the button, he had resolved to try again.
And this time, there was nothing stopping him.
He’d carry the button in his pocket next time, because next time would be the last time.