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If there was anyone who could grant his wish, Wilbur would wish for his eternal life to end and finally started his mortal life with the loved ones.
It is impossible. He knows that. There is nothing he could do to change that fact.
Wilbur is the God of Chaos.
No matter how much he begs or bargains for what he wants, it will come crashing down as his wish will get declined every time. If he keeps up with this act with the Fates, he’d get cursed with eternal pain
That's how cruel the Fates is.
Every God, Angel and Eternal Entity are strictly to follow certain rules. Most of them are common rules; “Do not interfere with the Fates”, “do not cause a stir to mortals” and the list goes on.
Despite the rules, Wilbur managed to break one of them. The most dangerous one among the Gods, the Forbidden Rule.
“Do not become attached or associate with mortals under any circumstance.”
Call him a fool for breaking the Forbidden Rule.
Past Wilbur would laugh and snicker at the present him. Why would a God need something as ridiculous as getting rid of their eternal life and godly power? He admitted, none of the Gods would.
He used to wonder when he was just a newly created God. If they’ve already known their death will come across you one day, then why do they make so many valuable memories and become close with your so-called friends and loved ones?
He would never understand nor get his answer. At least not from his fellow Gods.
That was of course, before he knew them .
The ones who opened his eyes. The ones who showed him that he could enjoy all the small little things with the ones you loved.
Wilbur finally found his answer to what it means to have a family, to have a short lifespan, to struggle through hard lives the Gods and the Fates have put them through.
Even if he was the one who put the hard lives upon them, including himself.
It all started many eons ago. When he was sent to observe and keep an eye on mortals, ordered directly by the Fates. He had no choice but obeyed, even if it was not his official duty.
Wilbur was enjoying his walk among mortals. He had been strolling for hours since the Sun rose. To fulfill his duty, he needed to act quick and eyes wide open. He took notes of every interesting mortal he had encountered, most of them snapped at him without reason.
He couldn’t blame them. After all, that was how one of his godly powers worked. His chaos always trailed around him. No matter where he went, there would be chaos with its doom.
He watched as the number of mortals crashed into each other increased. Some even began to pick up a fight with one another in the middle of the road. And after his presence faded away, their faces would be filled with confusion.
With this power of his, it was no surprise that another mortal had come to his face and suddenly yelled, “Jackass!”
Wilbur stopped on his track, his eyes stayed focused on the mortal before him. He smirked and let out a snicker, continuing on his track.
Ignoring the filthy mouths had become a second nature to him. He didn’t need to do anything. As he knew they would eventually be confronted with the consequences, or should he say ‘Chaos’?
A laugh escaped Wilbur’s mouth as the mortal from before made a yelp sound and shouted in pain. The suffering of others never seemed to bother him. In fact, he had always enjoyed them. He embraced the damnation as if it was his own flesh and blood.
But he forgot one of his power’s quirk. And that was it could also put an effect on himself.
His foot suddenly found his other foot was quite interesting to intertwine together and made him trip. To his luck, a child came crashing at him, sending him backward and preventing his face from meeting with the ground.
Wilbur stared at the child on top of him, and the child stared back. “What are you looking at, bitch?” The child barked.
It took Wilbur by surprise. He knew his power must be the cause of this child’s action. But he could tell when it was just from his power or the person themselves. And this child indeed was not affected by his power.
Wilbur shook his head, he would not let his interest in this child get to him. He shoved the child who stumbled back away. He needed to write this arrogant child in the report, he noted. He brushed off some dust, before heading straight back to his duty, his body bumped into the child’s shoulder slightly.
As he was about to take another step further, he was stopped by a tuck on his coat. Wilbur spun around and gazed down. The same child gave him a furious look.
“I said what are you looking at!?”
For the sake of Prime. Why couldn’t this kid just leave him alone? If he could just vanish into thin air like he was just some kind of hallucination, he would. But that would make mortals go crazy.
Wilbur was just a minor God, he wasn’t as powerful as major Gods who could wipe memories of mortals. All he could do was bring Chaos everywhere he went and grant any items or resources he wanted. Never thought one day his power would backfire himself like this.
“What?” Wilbur annoyingly asked.
The child’s brows furrowed. “Are you deaf or something? I said what are you—”
“Tommy, there you are!” A middle aged man ran up to them. The man had blond hair and blue eyes that were identical to the child—Tommy, he wore this weird combination of green and white bucket hat. He must be the child’s father. He lifted up the child and sighed out of relief. “You shouldn’t run off like that, mate.”
Tommy pouted in return, he squirmed in his father’s arms. “Pe–purhahp–per—”
“Perhaps,” the father corrected.
“Perhaps if you stop being old and always talk about—”
Wilbur stopped listening to their conversation as soon as they were reunited. This was the best time for him to pull away and never meet them again.
Just as before he could disappear into the crowd, he was grabbed by the arm. He turned around and locked eyes with the same man, his brown pupils met with blue ones.
“Thank you,” the father said in a soft tone and offered Wilbur a smile.
Wilbur was stuck in his breath. The mortal in front of him showed no sign of violence. His smile was filled with warmth and kindness. Unlike any mortals, they were persuaded by his power. It filled him with an unknown feeling.
Wilbur finally found his tongue and said, “but I haven’t done anything?”
The father released his hand from Wilbur’s shoulder. “Thank you for keeping him still and preventing him from storming off any further. I'm glad you're not some kind of a kidnapper. My name’s Philza, and this is Theseus.”
“It’s Big Man Tommy! Don’t listen to the old man,” Tommy protested proudly while Philza sighed.
Weird, Wilbur thought. He was unsure whether to tell them his name or what. But in the end, he decided. “William.”
“I’m sorry if Tommy's caused you any trouble. Let me repay you,” Philza paused for a bit, “how about dinner?”
“Why are you bringing this bitch face with us? Let’s get going!” Tommy pouted and pointed to Wilbur. Wilbur raised an eyebrow.
“Tommy,” warned Philza.
Wilbur could have ignored the two and gone away, leaving no trail behind and to never be seen again. Eventually, these mortals would forget about him, like every mortal did. However, these two mortals…were different. They brought a warmth and comforting atmosphere to him.
“ Do not become attached or associate with mortals under any circumstance. ” The rule rang in his mind.
As kind as they were, he needed to force himself to turn down the offer. “I’m sorry, but—” He couldn’t finish his speech. His gaze met with the saddened face of Philza whose smile was still on his face. Wilbur’s mind went blank, he was frozen in place as he didn’t have the heart to decline to Philza’s sympathetic face.
“Yes–yes, that sounds wonderful,” words slipped through Wilbur’s tongue without a second thought.
Philza brightened at Wilbur, obviously satisfied with the answer. “I need to pick up my other son. He’ll be mad if I’m not on time. Tommy’s already made us late.”
“Why isn’t he at school?” Wilbur asked out of curiosity and looked at Tommy.
Philza laughed. “This little shit decided to pretend that he was, indeed, sick.”
“I was!” Tommy objected.
Wilbur tried his best to smile naturally. He didn’t know how to act nice to mortals without having objectives or mischieves in mind. It turned out to be more embarrassing to be this way for him. But he wouldn’t mind trying with these mortals. “It’s understandable. He’s still a child. I know how they can be.”
“I’m no child! I’m turning nine next month!” Tommy glared at him.
Wilbur snorted. “Whatever, gremlin child.”
“Hey!” Tommy huffed. He tried to punch Wilbur, but because of their position and height different, Wilbur just laughed at him.
Wilbur took a glance at Philza. The man seemed to look at both of them fondly, before he gazed up to Wilbur. “Feel free to tag along, if you want.” Philza shifted Tommy to carry him more comfortably. Tommy held onto his father tighter. Philza took out a piece of paper from his pocket. “May I borrow your pen?” He pointed to the pen in Wilbur’s hand.
“Oh, yeah, sure.” Wilbur handed his pen to Philza and received a “thanks” in return.
Philza struggled to write as he was also carrying Tommy in his arms. He returned the pen with the paper after a while. “Or come to my house at 6 o’clock.”
Who in the right mind invited a stranger to their house for dinner? Wilbur hesitated for a moment, glaring at the piece of paper like his life depended on it. If he chose to meet them some time later, he could split up with them and continue on his duty. On the other hand, he could play along and know more in depth about mortals’ lives, and then he could leave them later.
He shouldn’t risk getting too attached to them, it’d hurt him and make waves to the Gods and the Fates. Even if he took the risk and got attached, it’d be only a matter of time that someone, some god, the Fates would find out. And he would be punished for his action.
He exhaled, trying to ease down the stress and anxiety. He should have left Tommy as soon as he got a chance. Was the Fates intended for this to happen? Or did he really break the Forbidden Rules? He didn’t know. Perhaps, the Fates had hatred toward him that they had decided to lead him to his doom.
Wilbur snapped out of his thoughts when he realized that Philza had disappeared from where the man was standing. As he had thought he’d lost them, he caught a glance of them among the crowd.
The bittersweet taste danced around his mouth. Should he follow them? Wilbur wished he could tell himself yes. But the thought of losing them and never meeting them again bothered him so much.
Not before long, he found himself taking a step and ran up to them, following just not far behind them. There was no turning back now.
Philza turned his head around slightly, noticing Wilbur had followed them. Philza smiled softly and walked ahead, leading Wilbur along.
Wilbur took a look at his surroundings and admired the architecture. Most buildings were made of smooth stone and wood. Some looked new while some looked old. Some even had balconies and some did not. The pavement was paved with cement, there were some small stones scattered on the street.
He wondered how mortals did it. How could these weak and fragile beings be able to create these beautiful buildings which could even beat the structure made by the Gods themselves.
Wilbur gaze met Tommy’s. The kid stuck out his tongue at him. Wilbur furrowed his brows. What was the problem with this kid? Wilbur replicated the action, sticking his tongue out at Tommy. Tommy seemed to be astonished by his action. They exchanged a silent conversation, glaring at each other like they were having a mental fight. In the end, it was Tommy who averted his eyes first, he hugged Philza’s neck and pouted.
Wilbur saw this as his victory.
They had been walking for about fifteen minutes or so. Each step Wilbur took, he collected information along the way; styles of clothes, newest slangs and inventions, he wrote it all down in his small notebook.
Though it was fun for Wilbur as he watched mortals lose their mind and went berserk to another mortal. Even some cats and dogs started to chase each other and made loud noises. One of them almost made the from–what–he–learned–car crash.
Wilbur needed to suppress his laugh as it’d be suspicious of him to do so. He wouldn’t want to make a scene, if Philza thought of him as some kind of insane person.
“Are you perhaps a journalist?” Philza suddenly broke the silence, he slowed his pace to match up with Wilbur’s. “You seem lost a while ago.”
Wilbur had no choice but to try his best being the best actor out there. As letting mortals know about their existence was also one of the Rules. The punishment was not as severe as the Forbidden Rules, still the price would cost them poorly. “Uh—yes! I’m a journalist!”
“No wonder why you write everything down,” Philza nodded. “So where have you been to, William?”
Wilbur should have thought about this thoroughly. He didn’t know a single thing about other countries or cities other than the Essempi. Panic flashed over Wilbur’s face as he struggled to come up with something believable.
“Um… Le–L’manburg?” Thanks to his brain, he had come up with the most ridiculous idea ever.
Philza looked at him in confusion, he didn’t seem to take his words. “Where?”
“It–it’s in the east! All the way to the east!” Wilbur exclaimed and stumbled on his own words. “It’s a long ways away!”
“Okay?” Philza chuckled. Wilbur wasn’t sure if he chuckled out of his nervousness or that it was hilarious.
They turned around the corner. Tommy was still quiet, too quiet, despite him being a loudmouth. He stayed mute the whole way. Wilbur glanced at Tommy who was still in Philza’s arms. The kid seemed to like being carried a lot.
Wilbur pushed the feeling of wanting to protect Tommy aside. He couldn’t let himself think of that. He had no idea what he would make excuses to tell the Gods and the Fates when the time came.
Philza came to a halt. Wilbur assumed they had arrived, seeing how there was a building in front of them. The building— the school was constructed with dull brown bricks, the roof was painted with auburn red and white eaves. The wooden window frames were painted with white foundation, some spots had some dirt on them, they were decorated with beautiful flowers. It gave every impression of a cottage core which gave a nostalgic feeling to Wilbur from years ago when the city was still a village.
There were children running and chasing each other in the field, the majority of them were in their early teens. With his presence being here, it started to take effect on the children, the teachers and even some of the parents themselves. The amount of children tripping and hurting themselves increased. Some of the flower pots were dropped and broken.
Philza set Tommy down and gestured to the child to play around with other kids. Tommy’s face lit up as he dashed to the field.
“Don’t go too far!” Philza shouted.
Wilbur didn’t know what suddenly went into him as he had the urge to speak. “Quite a handful, huh?” He chuckled.
“I’d say more than a spoonful,” Philza smiled, he moved his gaze to a specific spot in the middle of the field. Wilbur followed his gaze. There was a boy with bright pink hair, sitting under the shady and cool tree. “Techno!” Philza called out, gaining the attention from the boy.
Techno removed his rectangle glasses and grabbed, Wilbur assumed, a book. The pinkette stuffed them in his bag and threw the bag over his shoulder, he jogged up to them, ignoring some children who almost crashed into him. When he reached them, he looked at Philza then Wilbur, he turned back to Philza. “Dad.”
“Ahem. William, this is Technoblade, my son. Techno, this is William. He’ll be joining us for dinner tonight.”
Techno grimaced, he looked at Wilbur suspiciously. He extended his hand for a handshake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you…sir.”
“Likewise.” Wilbur shook the teen’s hand and observed him from head to toe. Techno had ridiculously long pink hair, it was tied into a ponytail. He carried an intimidating and confident presence, it was like he was the opposite of Philza and Tommy. As a God of Chaos, Wilbur was not bothered or felt intimidated by this.
They let go of each other’s hands, both keeping an eye on each other. “Techno, why don’t you go get your brother?” Philza put a hand on Techno’s shoulder. The teen looked slightly calmer, he groaned and nodded.
They watched as Techno went to find Tommy. Philza turned to Wilbur. “Sorry, Techno can be quite wary around strangers,” Philza smiled apologetically. “But he’ll warm up to you. I’m sure you two will get along well. Techno would be interested to hear stories about your travels.”
Wilbur hummed and gazed at the brothers. Techno was chasing after Tommy who made a smug face and laughed, “you’ll never catch me!” Tommy, despite being younger and smaller, was quite a speedier for his body. Tommy laughed louder as he looked back at Techno who was chasing him furiously. That was, until Tommy tripped on something and fell face down to the ground.
Wilbur sucked in a breath, he showed a slight of concern. When he turned to Philza, there was no one beside him. He looked back to Tommy and found out that Philza was already there. Wilbur wasted no time to trail after him.
As he got closer, the sight of Techno and Tommy became clearer. Philza was crouching down while Wilbur just stood there awkwardly. He noticed the painful expression on Tommy’s face, there were bruises on his arms and face.
“I told you, you’d fall,” Techno deadpanned with a worried tone.
Tommy, who was still as stubborn as ever, even in this moment, huffed. “I didn’t fall! It was my escape plan!”
“Tommy. What did I say about running?” Philza reminded.
Tommy crossed his arms. He grunted, “you said not to sprint without looking where I was going.”
Philza ruffled the child’s head and sighed. “When we get home, mate, you need a bath.”
Tommy fell back down as he struggled to get up. It looked like his right leg, which took the brunt of the hit from the ground, was injured. Tommy attempted to stand up several times and failed every time.
“Techno, mate, can you carry him?”
“No.”
Philza furrowed his brows. “C’mon, Tech, your brother’s hurt.”
“Not my problem.” Techno shrugged. Wilbur decided that he had taken a liking to this teen.
The God stared at them curiously. Was this how a mortal family worked? He did not know. Whenever he went on Earth, he paid no mind to the mortals. His only job was to create chaos and miserably. He would look at the poor child with an uninterested gaze as the child mourned for their family, and satisfaction would fill his mind.
But why did this family seem so important to him? Why was he caring so much for them? His head was swarmed with questions which were left unanswered.
Wilbur gulped as he bent down to pick up Tommy. Once again, he didn’t know what he was doing, but it just felt right . He lifted the child up, earning a yelp. He shifted them to a piggyback position. Tommy was unsurprisingly light as he was still a child; even if the child grew up, Wilbur could still carry him without breaking a sweat.
“Wha—hey! Put me down!” Tommy hit Wilbur on the head.
“Hold tight or you’ll fall. You wouldn’t want to get any more hurt, would you?”
“I can walk by myself! I’m strong and a big man!”
Wilbur snorted and let go of Tommy. Tommy immediately wrapped his arms around Wilbur’s neck. Wilbur laughed as soon as he saw Tommy’s face, seeing how much that had startled the child.
“You bastard! You could have dropped me!” The arms around Wilbur’s neck got tighter.
“I told you.”
“He told you.” Wilbur’s and Techno’s voices mixed in unison. Wilbur raised a single brow at Techno. The teen just shrugged. “Because you’re right?”
Philza put a gentle hand on Wilbur's arm. “You really don't need to. I could carry him like always, it's happened several times.”
“Not that often,” Tommy added. “Dad, you're already old. I don't want to break your ancient bones.”
“You little shit. I'm not even that old!” Wilbur covered his mouth with his hand, trying to hide the fact that he was about to laugh out. Philza noticed this, of course. “William, not you too.”
Wilbur shook his head and huffed out, steadying Tommy on his shoulder. “It's alright though. I want to help.”
Philza's eyes stayed on him, and Wilbur returned the gaze. It was like they were having a mental fight, to decide who would be the one to carry the child. Philza sighed as he admitted his defeat.
“Well then, let's head to my house, shall we?” Philza offered him a smile.
Wilbur nodded. “Lead the way, Philza”
“Please, just call me Phil. Only my co–workers call me Philza.”
“Phil,” Wilbur tested, it felt right somehow. He looked at Phil, getting the hint of what the other man was going at. “Call… call me Wilbur.”
“Can we go home now?” Tommy cut in. Techno nodded, crossing his arms.
“Certainly.” Phil placed a gentle touch on Techno’s head. “Let’s head home.”
“Finally,” Techno sighed and leaned into the touch slightly.
Phil tried to start a conversation as they made their way to Phil’s house. Most of them were “How was your day?”, or “What have you been doing?”, or he would tell us stories from time to time. Techno gave short replies while Tommy was talkative and always making his replies dramatic.
It was just a regular small talk shared between a family. Wilbur thought if he was here, it would be awkward, both for them and for him. He thought he wouldn’t be interested in their little doings, or even wouldn’t want to be here and wander around, doing his duty. But it felt different. He felt different. It was something he had never experienced before.
The anxiety welcomed him as he was reminded of the consequences. But it faded as soon as he saw them smiling widely and openly, even Techno was smiling. The foreign feeling came back to him. And he didn’t mind.
For once in his immortal life, Wilbur felt calm at ease and genuinely smiled.
Wilbur wasn’t sure what he expected Phil’s house to be. At first, he thought they lived in a mansion or some sort, based on their clean and high quality clothes. Well, entirely, he was wrong.
Phil’s house was just a normal size house that could live off with at least a family of five. It wasn’t too big or too small. Just a lovely cozy house in front of him, on the side there was a garden and, what he assumed, a potato farm. This made him wonder what exactly Phil’s job was.
He followed Phil and Techno to the front door. Tommy was fast asleep on his shoulders. “Please make yourself at home, mate.” Phil smiled at him warmly and unlocked the door to let them in.
“Woah.” Wilbur muttered as he stepped inside and took a look. Techno raised an eyebrow at him. Wilbur had never actually seen mortals’ belongings in one piece like these. What he would always see though was the destroyed version of them when he was having fun.
Wilbur set Tommy down on the couch, the child was not woken by this at all. He turned to look around to find Techno looking at him like a hawk, before the teen turned away. Techno put his bag on a chair and went to who knows where.
Phil came back to the scene with a first aid-kit, he set it down on a coffee table. “Tommy, mate, you gotta take a bath. So I can bandage your wounds.” Tommy stirred and groaned annoyingly, but sat up anyway. “Techno! Take Tommy to take a bath with you!”
A faint sound of shouting came from upstairs, “no!”
“I’ll take you to the bookstore tomorrow, if you let Tommy take a bath with you!”
Then it was suddenly quiet as Phil waited patiently. A reply came back. “Fine!”
With all of these activities going on, Wilbur who stood there awkwardly didn’t know what he should do in this scenario. It felt like he was an outsider, which he actually was, who was invading someone’s private life.
Maybe he shouldn’t have agreed to this in the first place after all.
“—bur?”
Maybe he should excuse himself and leave. Maybe—
“Wil?”
Wilbur snapped out of his zone, he looked at Phil nervously. “Y–ahem. Yeah?”
“Are you alright, mate?”
Oh, he was fine, definitely not freaking out by this new mortal stuff he was experiencing. “Yes, yeah, I’m alright.”
Phil looked unconvinced with his response but the man shrugged it off anyway and gave him a smile. “Okay, mate. You can just wait in the living room. You’re our guest after all.”
Wilbur watched as Phil disappeared into the kitchen. He took a deep breath and sat on the chair. He could wait. He had waited before, even if he wasn’t, it would still feel like a second to him as a century passed. How long would this waiting be anyway?
Wilbur came to the conclusion that he may have underestimated the time (curse you, Karl). It had been 10 minutes and he thought he might start becoming crazy soon. He had never stayed this still before. He could already feel his power leaking through the whole house as numbers of objects in the room fell down. This was why he never stayed in one place for long.
Sets of footsteps ran down the stairs. Tommy, who was wounded a moment ago and couldn’t even walk on his own without falling, was running just fine like the incident never happened before. Techno also followed the kid downstairs.
They both were in much cleaner clothes. Tommy’s wounds were also cleaned, only leaving a faded scar, but that could be healed soon.
Tommy flopped down on a couch beside him. “Dadddddd! Is dinner ready?” Tommy whined as he bounced.
A loud sound of metal dropped on the floor came from the kitchen. “I think we might have a problem!”
Right, Wilbur forgot about his chaos power. It finally found its way to ruin this.
Tommy quickly went into the kitchen, leaving only Wilbur and Techno alone once again. They both shared a look at each other, a moment later Techno followed after Tommy.
Now, it was just Wilbur, in the living room, alone. He couldn’t wait any longer nor could he stay still and watch as chaos made its way to ruin the whole household. Anxiety bloomed in his chest, he stood up and went after them.
“What happened?”