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Chapter Text

Wilbur and Tommy weren't biological brothers. They weren't related, they met through foster care. But family wasn't defined by blood, and the two loved each other like so. That's why when Wilbur was kicked out of the system was 18, he fought tooth and nail to get custody of an 11 year old Tommy. When he was 19 and Tommy was 12, he won and was legally Tommy's guardian, and older brother.

  The two moved, and now lived in a small town called L'Manburg. It was a nice place, Tommy loved it. Wilbur uploaded his songs onto YouTube and worked at a local music store. He didn't make a lot, but he made enough so that Tommy was happy. 

  5 years later, a 24 year old Wilbur Soot listened as his 17 year old little brother rambled on about one of his friends. He was trying his best to listen, he really was, but he was really stressed out at the moment. Wilbur's job payed, but it didn't pay enough. He was struggling with bills while trying to hide it all from Tommy.

  Just as Tommy burst into a fit of laughter at whatever he was talking about, Wilbur reached the end of his patience. "Tommy, shut up!" He yelled. "Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for school? Stop bothering me!"

 Wilbur immediately felt regret when he saw the hurt look at Tommy's face. He stood up, going up to his room. Wilbur didn't follow him, continuing to write the important information he needed. Tommy came back down 15 minutes later. "I'm going to bike to school," He said, opening the door.

  "Wait, Tommy!" Wilbur said, before he could get out. Tommy looked back at him. "I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier, I didn't mean it. I'm a bit stressed, but there was no point in me doing that."

 After a second, Tommy smiled. Before Wilbur could register what was happening, he was being wrapped in a hug by the gremlin. "It's okay, big man. Already forgiven. See you later!" He pulled away, waving goodbye and heading outside.

   Wilbur smiled, before grabbing his things and heading to work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  6 hours later, Tommy left his school building. School wasn't fun, no student thought so, but it wasn't terrible. Admittedly, he didn't have very many friends and there were mean students, but they were good friends and literally nobody liked those students. 

  He unlocked the bike and got onto it, pedaling into his town. There was an urban forest in his town, right by his school and partly on his path home. As he pedaled, he noticed somebody in the trees. He stopped, trying to figure out who they were. Before he could, they disappeared into the woods.

  Tommy immediately felt a sense of dread fill his stomach. He knew it was probably nothing, this town was boring as hell, but he couldn't get it out of his mind that he shouldn't be riding his bike alone. He decided to go into a nearby bakery and call Wilbur.

  "Hey Tommy, what's up?" Wilbur asked after answering.

  "Hey Will, can you come and pick me up?"

  "Are you at school? What's wrong?" 

  "My tires are out of air, I had to stop at a cafe."

  "Send me your location and I'll pick you up, okay?"

  "Yeah. See you later, big man." Tommy hung up and sent his location to Wilbur. He ran outside, letting the air out of both of the bike's tires before going back inside and sitting at a table near the door. 

  The owner of the bakery, a kind woman named Sally, came over to him. Wilbur and Sally were friends, and she and Tommy met a couple of times. "Hey Tommy, want anything to eat?" She said.

  "I've got no money on me," Tommy replied.

  "It'll be on the house, how about that? Do you want a danish? I know that you like those."

  Tommy nodded and thanked Sally, and she went to grab the danish. Tommy occupied himself with a game on his phone until she brought the pastry out to him. He was in the middle of eating it when Wilbur came into the building. "Ayup Tommy, how about you finish that and we can go?" 

  "Alright," Tommy said, quickly scarfing it down. They said goodbye to Sally and then left.

  "How was school?" Wilbur asked, once they got Tommy's bike strapped to the back of the car.

  "It was fine. Can I go to Tubbo's house on Saturday? He invited me over to play Minecraft."

  "Yeah, of course," Wilbur replied. "Just as long as you get all of your schoolwork done."

  "I'm Tommy Innit-Soot!" Tommy yelled, but with no anger. "Of course I can get all of my schoolwork done!"

  Wilbur snickered. "Yeah yeah, okay." 

  Once they got home, they brought the bike into the garage, where Tommy put air into it. "Hey Tommy?" Wilbur said, standing in the doorway of the door in the garage. "Can you tell me why you actually called me to pick you up?"

 Tommy opened his mouth to retort, but Wilbur knew when he was lying. "I thought I saw someone watching me from the woods. I know it was probably nothing, but I still got a real bad feeling."

 "If that happens again, just call me okay?" Wilbur said. "I'll report it to the police if you see the person again."

  "You won't need to, the person will be to intimidated by my pogness!" Tommy said, but he did appreciate Wilbur's remark. Wilbur ruffled his hair, laughing. The two headed inside, completely unaware of the shadow of an unseen person standing in their garage. 

Chapter Text

"Toms, wanna watch a movie?" Wilbur yelled up the stairs, where Tommy was playing Minecraft in his room. It was usually something they did on Friday nights, and it was usually Up that they watched.

  "Sure, gimme a minute!" Tommy yelled back. Wilbur went into the kitchen to make some microwave popcorn. Tommy ran down the steps, coming into the kitchen.

  "Do we have any soda?" He asked, opening the fridge. He pulled out two cans of coke for both of them. Once the popcorn was done, Wilbur put it into a bowl and poured some melted butter into it. 

  "Let's watch Up!" Tommy said.

  "Oh my god, we've watched that like 50 times."

  "Don't be such a bitch, Up is the best movie ever," Tommy argued. Wilbur snickered, finally agreeing as the two headed into the living room. Wilbur turned off the lights and sat on the couch. Tommy sat on the other side, but with how clingy he was, by the middle of the movie he'd be laying on top of Wilbur.

  Turns out he was wrong. They were about 30 minutes in when Tommy got fully clingy, laying against Wilbur and leaning his head against his shoulder. Wilbur was playing with Tommy's hair, the latter not minding as he had been doing it for years. 

  Wilbur remembered first meeting Tommy in the same home. It wasn't the best of homes, so Wilbur just wanted to get out and keep moving. He was 12 and Tommy was only 5. He hadn't planned to get attached to the loud blonde, he certainly hadn't wanted to at first.

  Then, the foster parents started to yell. Tommy was being to loud, and they were screaming at him to shut up. They were going to far, and Wilbur knew that Tommy had been on the verge of tears. That's when he ended up stepping in. 

  "Leave him alone! He hasn't done anything wrong!" Wilbur yelled, standing in front of Tommy.

  His foster mother sneered, glaring down at him. Wilbur never felt smaller, but he held his ground. Even when she raised her hand and smacked him across the face. "Fucking brats, the lot of you!" She yelled, before storming out of the room.

  Wilbur turned around, opening his arms wide so Tommy could hug him. Tommy ran over to him, wrapping his arms around him tightly. "She was a bitch!" Tommy muttered. "She shouldn't have hit you like that. She scares me.."

 "I won't let her yell at you anymore," Wilbur responded. "Why don't you sleep in my room tonight? Maybe it'll make you feel better." Tommy nodded, and Wilbur scooped him up, going into the room that he had been given. He put Tommy on the bed, and they fell asleep with Tommy curled up against Wilbur. Wilbur was attached, and he realized that no matter what, he wouldn't let this kid go.

  When the two were taken out of the foster home, Wilbur went kicking and screaming so that he wouldn't be separated from Tommy. Tommy did the same thing. The two were placed in the same foster home again, but sometimes they were separated. Wilbur would write letters and sometimes Tommy would write back. Sometimes he wasn't allowed to, and Wilbur always sent his address, in case the home was bad enough that Tommy had to show up on his doorstep. Sometimes, he did. But they always fought to stay together, and now they were.

  By the time the movie was ending, Tommy was just about to fall asleep. "Ay Will?" Tommy said. "If I do see that bitch again, I can just call you, right?"

  "Of course Toms. If you ever feel unsafe, just call me. I'll always come."

  "Clingy bitch," Tommy muttered, ignoring the fact that he was falling asleep half on top of Wilbur. " 'Night Wilby."

  Wilbur smiled, a warm feeling filling his chest. "Goodnight, gremlin."

Chapter Text

"I'm going out, Will!" Tommy called, grabbing his backpack. "See you later!" Wilbur called his goodbye from where he was sitting in his room, strumming his guitar. In Tommy's backpack was his phone, a charger, his switch, and two music discs which he wanted Tubbo to listen to.

  He grabbed his bike from the garage and headed out, pedaling down the road. Tubbo's house was near the school, so he had to pass the trees where he saw the figure. Thankfully, he didn't see anyone this time. Then the screaming started. 

  Tommy stopped his bike, hearing it coming from the woods. There was a trail nearby, but he was stuck in his spot, to scared to go in. "HELP ME! HELP ME, I'M HURT!" The person screamed. What if something bad was happening to the person? "PLEASE, HELP ME!"

  Tommy put the kickstand onto his bike so that it would stay up, before sprinting into the woods. "Where are you?!" Tommy yelled. 

  "This way, this way!" They screamed, and Tommy followed the voice. 

   Tommy had to get off the trail to follow the voice, and as he did he noticed the forest seemed to get denser. The trees grew larger, thicker, and closer together. The colors seemed to grow more vibrant, like story book trees. He stopped when he reached a clearing. There were mushrooms growing out of the ground, they looked huge and exactly like something out of a fairytale. 

  A man stood in the clearing. He wore a dark green hoodie with the hood up, black jeans, and long brown combat boots. There was an axe strapped to his back, that was shimmering purple. He turned, looking at Tommy. A porcelain mask hid his face, a smiley face on it. 

  "Tommy Innit-Soot," He said. "I'm glad to finally meet you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Wilbur stopped strumming his guitar, hearing his phone ring. It was Tubbo's ringtone, so he put his phone down and grabbed it. "What's up, Tubbo? Don't tell me you and Tommy started a fire again," He said, once he had answered. It only took 10 minutes to bike to Tubbo's house, and Tommy had left half an hour ago. That gave them 20 minutes to cause chaos.

 "Ayup Will! Is Tommy on his way? He was suppose to be here already. He isn't answering his phone, either."

  "He left half an hour ago," Wilbur said, pushing down the worry that was creeping into his voice. It might've just been his paranoia, but Wilbur couldn't stop a bad feeling from filling his chest. "Call me back if he gets there or calls you."

  "Okay Will, see you," Tubbo said, and Wilbur hung up. He called Tommy once, twice, three times. There was no answer. Wilbur didn't bother putting his guitar away, he tried to jump off the bed and immediately fell over. 

  He grabbed a pair of his red sneakers and put them on, grabbing his beanie as he ran out the door. He sprinted down the street, going the path that Tommy used to go to Tubbo's house. "Tommy!" He screamed. As he ran, he was getting his long brown coat on, which he had grabbed on his way out.

  He slowed to a stop when he saw it, Tommy's bike parked outside of the woods. "Oh fuck, oh god," Wilbur muttered, his breath quickening and his hands shaking. He could see footprints in the dirt, which he followed. Tommy hadn't followed the trail though, as the footprints turned off the trail.

  "TOMMY!" He yelled "TOMMY?!" He took off, going down the slight trail that was made when the path was trampled. He barely regonized that the forest was changing around him, dead set on finding where his little brother went.

   He stopped when he came across a clearing. What he noticed right away was that Tommy's backpack was on the ground, abandoned. Then he focused on the man. A man in a dark green hoodie, jeans, and boots. An axe was strapped to his back. When he turned to face Wilbur, Wilbur had gotten closer to him and immediately punched him right in the middle of his masked face. He let out a string of curses, stumbling back.

  "Where the hell is Tommy?!" He yelled, pushing the man over. "What did you do to my brother?!"

  He pulled his mask off, raising his hands in a surrender like motion. The man had green eyes and blonde hair, freckles littered his face. A scar ran over the bridge of his nose. "I didn't do anything!" He yelled. "I tried to protect him, I tried to save him!"

  "Save him from who?" Wilbur asked, taking a step back.

  "You won't believe me," The man said, getting up. "My name is Dream."

  "I don't care, tell me what happened."

  Dream sighed. "Have you ever heard of the idea that there are multiple realities? Well, there are. The realities are layered. Think of a wedding cake, it's like that. We're in the 3rd reality."

  "How do you expect me to believe you?" Wilbur snarled. "Prove it, asshole!"

  "I can't yet, unless you let me finish explaining," Dream replied, grabbing his mask and putting it back on. "He was taken to the 1st reality, where there's magic. The rules aren't like here, they're a bit messed up. It's like Alice in Wonderland but not. I can prove it to you, I swear." Dream took the axe from his back, and with skill, threw it at one of the trees. It cut halfway through the trunk, and Wilbur gasped as it burst into flames.

  "See? Can an axe from your realm do that?" Dream asked.

  "Who...who took him?" Wilbur whispered, staring at him.

  "It was Death herself," Dream said. "She's a horrible, twisted woman with a void replacing her heart. She takes people from all realities, there are 10 of them, so she can make them as bitter as her before killing them."

  "How do I help him? I have to save him!" Wilbur cried, on the verge of tears. 

   "Death has only one person she can love, and it's her angel. The Angel of Death. A long, long time ago, she gave him wings. If you can get his wings, you can bargain them for your brother back. It's dangerous though Wilbur, you shouldn't do it."

  "I'd do anything to get him back, anything!" 

  "He has a friend though, The Blood God. He'll kill you before you can get near him. He isn't an actual god, but he's one of the best fighters that reality has to offer."

   "Then I'd just have to stop him first."

  Dream crossed his arms, staring into Wilbur's soul with those dotted eyes on his mask. "Your serious?"

  "I'd do whatever it takes, whatever it takes to get him back," Wilbur said, and he meant every word. He'd fight god for his brother, so why not fight an angel? He wasn't very religious, but it had to be easier.

  Dream sighed and nodded. "Alright. Good luck Wilbur Soot, you'll need it." He snapped his fingers, and suddenly, everything went completely black. Just as he slipped into unconsciousness, he noted that he never told Dream his name.

Chapter Text

Wilbur woke up with a groan, opening his eyes and sitting up. He was still in the forest. That..was that all a dream? Did he pass out? As he sat up, he quickly noticed two things. The trees and grass were brighter colored, like the ones you'd see in a fairytale book. He saw flowers which looked like they were glowing bright blue. He also noticed the axe that had been used by Dream, which lay against a log. There was a note attached to it, which Wilbur grabbed.

  Use this, you'll need it, the note said. Wilbur put the note in his pocket, standing up. As he did, he quickly realized something. His sweater, although yellow, had been fading with time. His sneakers had been, too. Now, both were bright shades of their original color. He took his beanie off, and although it had been black, it was bright red. His coat was still normal.

  He grabbed the axe and picked it up, realizing it was a lot lighter than he'd thought it'd be. There were words carved into the wood, looking older than time. Fire aspect II, unbreaking III, sharpness IV.

  What the hell did this mean? Wilbur decided not to question it, so he started walking. He fully realized his situation as he walked through the fairytale woods. He'd be fighting a man with wings, The Angel of Death. He'd have to steal said wings, but apparently The Blood God was the angel's friend, and both could kill him easily. And this was all so he could use the wings to bargain for Tommy's life back, bargain with Death herself. 

  Most people would have felt scared or upset, but Wilbur didn't feel any of that. He felt angry, a burning hatred. Of all people, of all people, Tommy was taken?! Tommy, the blonde gremlin child, who could light up a room with his smile and break someone's eardrums with his laugh. Wilbur would be getting Tommy back, he would. He'd do whatever he needed to, and y'know what? He'd succeed. 

  A few minutes into walking later, Wilbur heard footsteps. He stopped moving, holding the axe tightly in both hands. Who was coming? Was it him? For some reason, his body didn't chose fight or flight. He just stood there, his thoughts racing, until the person stepped into view.

  The person immediately confused him. They had one red eye and one green eye, but that could be explained with contacts. What couldn't was the split skin and hair colored, one side being black and the other being white. They had a tail and two little horns that barely stuck over the top of his hair. He wore a golden crown with jewels and a suit. He couldn't have been older than 18.

  "Oh, hi!" The kid said in a friendly voice. "Who are you?"

  "My name is Wilbur," He responded. "And you?"

  "Ranboo," He replied. "Are you lost? People don't normally come out this far into the woods. At least, I think."

  "Yeah, I'm kinda lost," He admitted. Ranboo didn't seem all to threatening. "Can I ask a bit of um...a personal question?" When Ranboo nodded, he went for it. "What exactly are you?"

  He didn't seem all to offended about it. "Oh, I'm an Enderman hybrid," He said. "I don't know what the other part is, but I'm half Enderman. You said you were lost, do you wanna come to my place for the night? The mobs will come out soon."

  Wilbur decided not to ask what mobs were, he just nodded. Following Ranboo through the woods for awhile led them both to a cabin. It was homey, one floor but multiple rooms. Ranboo unlocked the door and went inside. It was a nice little homey place, a black cat was sitting on the couch. "Hey, Enderchest," Ranboo said, petting her. "This is my cat. If you kill her I'll start a war."

  "I-okay fair," Wilbur said. Ranboo smiled at him. "Want anything to eat, Wilbur? You can take a seat."

 "Oh, sure," Wilbur said, sitting down. He still felt nervous, but Ranboo didn't seem like he could harm him. Even if he wasn't human, Wilbur decided to trust him for now. Ranboo went into the kitchen to go make something, so Wilbur decided to look around the living room, not wanting to seem very intrusive by snooping around all the other rooms.

  There was nothing to out of the ordinary, except what looked like a blue chest in the corner. He didn't seem to have any electronics, except lights. A simple notebook sat on the table. It was a black book with what looked like a weird, blue-ish green eye on it. Written on the top in white letters, in all capitals, read: DO NOT READ

  Now, Wilbur's curiousity was a strong thing. He decided to only read a page, picking it up and opening it. On it read: I'm Ranboo. I'm 17 years old and my birthday is on April 8th. I'm in the first reality. I have memory issues, so I need to write down everything I learn in this book. I can't remember much of anything.

  Wilbur closed the book after that, not wanting to intrude to much. He was a guest in Ranboo's home, and although he trusted him(?) he didn't want to cause an issue. He also didn't want to know if Ranboo could grow hostile. On the bookshelf, he found something interesting. It was another book, but this one wasn't a notebook. The 10 Realities was the title. Wilbur opened it.

The first reality is called Prime, and is the most free with magic. Most magic users come from this reality, and many reality hoppers are born here as well. This is the biggest reality.

The second reality is called Prosperina, and is home to plant like creatures. They follow the goddess that their reality is named for. 

The third reality is called Pandora. Some call it Pandora's Box after the old myth, because it is very constricting compared to every other reality. Unlike every other reality, where there are usually mixes, it is only home to humans who do not have magic and are not aware of the 10 realities.

The fourth reality is called Solis. Solis is home to Star Children. The first Star Children were born from the remnants of exploding stars, otherwise known as Super Novas. Solis does not have any planets, only stars that Star Children live on. The stars are similar to planets though, and are inhabitable by other species as well.

The fifth reality is called Endlantis. Endlantis is home to many Enderman and few other species. Many of these people can reality hop, although they mostly go to the sixth reality. 

The sixth reality is called The Aether. The Aether is full of avians and witches, although Enderman have been seen here. Most Enderman hybrids come from here or from Endlantis.

The seventh reality is called The Nether. The Nether is full of wither skeletons, ghasts, and many other things. It is a dangerous place, which is why many sentient beings, mostly piglin hybrids, leave when they have the chance.

The eight reality is called Esempii. Esempii is a dangerous place filled with many hostile beings. Sometimes, creatures of Esempii will prey on people from other realities, but mostly humans from Pandora. The reason why they do this is so that they can feed off the emotions that the person gives off.

The ninth reality is called Death's Garden. Nobody inhabits this place, but it was made by Death herself. People say it is a place that was made for only Death, The Angel of Death, and the people they trust. Nobody knows if anybody else is in this reality, or what it's true purpose is.

The tenth reality is called Senersedee or rather, Limbo. It is where the souls of the dead go, unless they have been trapped in Esempii. Nobody knows what it is like and nobody has come out of there, except Death and her angel.

The first reality is the biggest and the tenth reality is the smallest. All information about these realms will be found in their own chapters. 

   Before Wilbur could read more of it, Ranboo called him from the kitchen. "I made spaghetti!" He said. "C'mere, get some." Wilbur took a plate of spaghetti and a fork, before following Ranboo back into the living room and sitting down on a chair while he sat on a couch. "So um...tell me about yourself I guess," He said.

  Wilbur set the fork down. "Um, okay. My name is Wilbur Soot and I'm 24 years old. I'm looking for my little brother, Tommy. I'm not from this reality."

  "If your not from here, how'd you get here? And why is he here?"

 "I was told he was taken here by Death, so I need to get him back. A man named Dream let me come here. I need to get The Angel of Death's wings, so I can him back from her."

  Ranboo's expression changed, he seemed a bit alarmed. He didn't say why, though. "Okay. What reality are you from?"

 "The third one. I think it's called Pandora?"

 "Oh, huh...this must be a real shock for you, eh?"

 Wilbur nodded. "Yeah, it really is. I don't think it's fully sunk in yet, or I'd be having a panic attack. Do you know why my clothes changed colors when I got here? My clothes aren't this bright and my beanie was black before."

  "I guess it's the magic, but that's just a guess."

 The two finished eating, and Ranboo gave Wilbur some blankets and a pillow so he could sleep on the couch. As he stared up at the ceiling, he felt dread wash over him. He didn't know why, but something felt off about this situation. Not just the absurdity of it all, but he felt like he was missing something.

Y𝙹⚍∷ ʖᒷ╎リ⊣ ꖎ╎ᒷ↸ ℸ ̣ 𝙹, w╎ꖎʖ⚍∷. D𝙹リ'ℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ∷⚍ᓭℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷᒲ.

Chapter Text

Wilbur woke up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and sitting up. Nope, yesterday wasn't a dream. He sighed. He really didn't think this through, did he? "Morning, Wilbur!" Ranboo said, just suddenly appearing in the room. "OH MY GOD!" Wilbur yelled in response, jumping from the sudden appearance.

  "Sorry, sorry," Ranboo said. "Forgot you didn't know. I can teleport! Anyway, why don't you go get washed up? I'll make breakfast. Do you know any cleaning spells for your clothes?" When Wilbur shook his head, Ranboo grabbed a piece of paper from a little bowl. He looked at the writing on it, and handed it to Wilbur. "Here, just say the words out loud and your clothes will be cleaned. Bathroom is down the hall and to the left."

  Wilbur left the room, finding the bathroom. Thank god, the bathroom looked similar enough to the ones back at home. He'd rather die here than ask for help trying to figure it out. After he finished his shower, which didn't take long, he got dressed and looked at the piece of paper. It looked like complete rubbish to him. Instead of words, there were strange symbols on it. He decided to just go back out to Ranboo. "Hey um, Ranboo?" He said. "I have no idea what this is."

 "Oh, okay! Here, let me have it, I'll just do it for you." He took the paper and looked at it, before saying it. He wasn't speaking normal words, instead he made a bunch of hissing and clicking noises that Wilbur knew humans probably shouldn't be able to make. He swore he heard a few chirps as well.

  Suddenly, Wilbur felt like he was wearing clothes that had just came from a dryer. The few stains he had on his sweater from laying in the woods yesterday faded. He noticed his brown coat, which had been on the couch, was cleaned up as well. "Wow, that's actually really cool."

  "I could teach you how to do spells later," He said. "Maybe you'll have to speak enchantment, because this is Enderman language. I'll write down the Enderman alphabet though, same as common speak but with a different language, so that you can learn to read it. Grab something from the kitchen for breakfast."

 Wilbur did as he was told, faintly noting he felt like he was the 17 year old instead of Ranboo. He ended up grabbing a watermelon slice and eating it. When he went back out to Ranboo, Ranboo was writing something in his notebook. Enderchest was curled up next to him. "What are you writing?" Wilbur asked.

 "Oh, I'm writing some stuff about you," Ranboo replied. "My memory is terrible, I'm forgetting stuff all the time. This is so that if I forget who you are, I can look at my notebook to see who you are."

Wilbur nodded, to show he understood. After a few moments of sitting there, Wilbur said, "Hey Ranboo, do you know anyone who can help me with learn to properly use that axe?"

 "Why do you need to know again?"

 "Because my brother is gone. He was taken by Death, and I was told that in order to get him back, I'd need to steal The Angel of Death's wings. That way I can bargain for him back with said wings."

 Ranboo nodded. "Are you scared? You seem pretty confident for just getting thrown into all of this."

 "Honestly? I'm really fucking mad. Tommy didn't do anything wrong, he's just a kid with a bright personality. I'm gonna do anything to get him back."

 "It's nice you care about him so much," He said, writing something down. Then, he started to flip through the book. "Okay, I do know someone. Her name is Niki Niachu. She can help you. She has a friend named Jack Manifold and a friend or girlfriend named Captain Puffy."

  "Okay, thank you Ranboo."

  "No problem, Wilbur! Do you mind if I teleport you there?"

  Wilbur shook his head, grabbing the axe. Ranboo grabbed his hand. Unlike how people in the books and movies described it, teleporting wasn't all to dizzying. It might've just been because he landed on smooth ground, but it was just like blinking your eyes and seeing you were somewhere else, with a rush of air inbetween. 

  The place they appeared in was a town. The streets were cobblestone, and stores lined them. They had appeared outside a bakery, which according to its name "Niki's Bakery", was where Niki Niachu was. Ranboo went inside. It was early in the morning, so nobody was here yet. A woman was stocking the display shelves with pastries. She had pink hair that was pulled into a bun, a pink top, black jeans, and an apron on. She looked to be 19-20.

  "Oh, hi Ranboo!" She said once she saw them coming in. "I haven't seen you in awhile! Who's your friend?"

  "I'm Wilbur," Wilbur said, waving a bit. "It's nice to meet you."

 "He needs your help," Ranboo said. He let Wilbur explain what was going on. When he finished, Niki stared at him as she was thinking.

  "The Angel of Death? I think his name is Philza. He's come here once or twice, always seemed like a polite man. Are you sure he's not lying to you, Ranboo?"

  "I'm not lying!" Wilbur yelled, before Ranboo could respond. "Look, I just want Tommy back! Is that to hard to understand?!"

  Niki stepped back from the counter, a bit of a nervous but angry look in her eyes. Ranboo put a hand on Wilbur's shoulder. "Cool it," He said, before turning to Niki. "This is a dangerous situation, nobody would ever willingly try to fight someone as powerful as him without any training. If he was planning to betray us, I bet he would have done that while I was asleep last night. I trust him."

  Niki sighed. "Okay, fine. Stay here for a moment." She left the two, going into the back. A few minutes later, she came back out with someone else. The new woman had really fluffy hair, like a sheep's. It was brown on one side and white on the other. She had blue eyes and wore a white, button up shirt and black leggings. What surprised Wilbur the most was that she had two little sheep horns that curled around her white, sheep like ears. 

  "Hello!" She said with a friendly voice. When she looked at Wilbur, something like hostility flashed in her eyes, letting him know not to try anything. He wasn't going to, but okay.

  "C'mon guys, Puffy is gonna run the bakery for now," Niki said. "I'll take you to the garden. We can train there." They followed her outside of the house and to the back of it. The area was sectioned off by trees, mostly hidden from anyone looking on from outside. A little path led to it. Inside of the area was the gardens, where a bunch of flowers were blooming. Some Wilbur regonized, and some he didn't. Some of them looked like they were actually glowing. A tree was growing in the middle of the garden, and a swing was hanging from it. 

  "How old are you, Niki?" Wilbur asked as they were walking. "I'm just curious. I'm 24."

  "I'm 20 years old," Niki replied. "By 24, most people would know how to properly use that axe. But since your from Pandora, I can see why you don't. And wait, is that Netherite?!"

  "I don't know, is it?" Wilbur asked, handing it to her. She took it and read the side, before looking again at the glowing blade. "Jesus, whoever gave this to you must be rich as hell. Look at these enchantments!"

  "I don't know what those are, I've never seen those in anything before."

  "Do you see what they say? Fire aspect makes whatever it hits burst into flames, unbreaking makes it last longer until it breaks, and sharpness makes it able to cut through things more. The higher the number the better the enchantment. Enchanting takes a lot out of a person, especially with these high enchantments."

  "Oh wow...that's really cool!" Wilbur said. Niki told him to stay where he was, before walking off and coming back with two wooden axes.

  "You'll be using this first, no need to get yourself killed with that axe."

  Niki then showed him to properly hold and swing it. He had to begin learning with that, but Niki told him he'd learn how to fight and block, and eventually how to use it with one hand. They were training at a much faster pace than they would have in any other circumstance, because Wilbur wanted to save Tommy as soon as possible.

  A few hours into their training, Wilbur had been knocked down by Niki. As he was getting up, he idly glanced towards the trees that closed this area off. For a second, he swore he saw someone. They looked like they were wearing a mushroom hat and a red cape, but that's all he saw before they vanished.

  "Wilbur, are you okay?" Niki asked, noticing Wilbur's pause. Ranboo, who had been writing something in his memory book, looked to where Wilbur was looking.

  Wilbur hesitated before nodding. "Yeah Niki, I'm fine."

          Y𝙹⚍'ꖎꖎ ʖ𝙹ℸ ̣ ⍑ ↸╎ᒷ, w╎ꖎʖ⚍∷!

Chapter Text

Wilbur and Ranboo went back to Ranboo's house to sleep that night. Ranboo made more spaghetti, they ate, and they both went to bed. As Wilbur stared up at the roof, he couldn't help his racing thoughts. As Tommy safe? Where was he? Was he dying? Did he think that Wilbur abandoned him? No, he would never think about that. He knew Wilbur wouldn't do that, he would never.

  But how long did Tommy have? It had been almost two days already, two days without knowing how he was. Wilbur was definitely paranoid about that. He was paranoid about a lot of things, actually. Paranoia was never diagnosed, but he did have an anxiety disorder. He needed a refill on his medicine, he took it to calm the anxiety. He hadn't been able to refill it in a week, and probably wouldn't be able to for awhile.

  Lightning struck and thunder boomed, making Wilbur sit up in panic. He then layed back down, staring at the ceiling. A foster brother of his once told him that if he counted the number of seconds between thunger and lightning, and then divided that by 5, he'd get the miles away the lightning strike was. There was no seconds between that and the lightning strike, which made Wilbur a bit nervous.

  He had finally been able to learn what the mobs Ranboo mentioned were today. Skeletons, zombies, enderman, and a lot more. Creepers made him nervous, because apparently they exploded a few seconds after being near them. Wilbur got off the couch, walking into the kitchen. He grabbed a glass and put it under the tap, before letting the water spill into it. As he turned the tap off, he heard footsteps from behind him and the kitchen door open. "Ranboo?" He asked, turning around.

  The sight he was met with scared the crap out of him. It was Ranboo but... monstrous. He was a lot taller, towering over Wilbur. His eyes were completely filled dark purple, with red liquid dripping down one side and green down the other. His limbs were elongated, his hands turned to claws. His horns and tail had grown as well. Wilbur froze up, his heart pounding in his chest. He barely noticed himself backing into the counter and sliding down onto the ground. Ranboo opened his mouth, but Wilbur couldn't understand him.

  ⍙⟟⌰⏚⎍⍀, ⊑⟒ ⎅⟟⎅ ⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⏁⍜ ⋔⟒

  Wilbur didn't respond, not sure how to. His breath quickened, making it so hard to breath. Thunder boomed outside.

     ⊑⟒ ⌇⏁⍜⌰⟒ ⋔⊬ ⋔⟒⋔⍜⍀⟟⟒⌇, ⋔⊬ ⎎⍀⟟⟒⋏⎅⌇. ⟟ ☊⏃⋏'⏁ ⍀⟒⋔⟒⋔⏚⟒⍀ ⏁⊑⟒⋔.

  "What are you saying? What happened to you?" Wilbur asked. Ranboo seemed to grow agitated.

   ⍙⊑⊬ ☊⏃⋏'⏁ ⊬⍜⎍ ⌰⟟⌇⏁⟒⋏?! ⍙⊑⊬ ⏃⍀⟒ ⊬⍜⎍ ⏁⍀⎍⌇⏁⟟⋏☌ ⊑⟟⋔?!

  Wilbur curled in on himself. He didn't have any weapon, he didn't have anything! If Ranboo decided to attack, he'd be a dead man.

  ⊬⍜⎍⍀ ☌⍜⟟⋏☌ ⏁⍜ ☍⟟⌰⌰ ⋔⊬ ⎎⍀⟟⟒⋏⎅⌇ ⏃⋏⎅ ⏁⊑⟒⋏ ⊑⟒'⌰⌰ ☍⟟⌰⌰ ⊬⍜⎍, ⎅⍜⋏'⏁ ⊬⍜⎍ ☌⟒⏁ ⟟⏁?! ⊬⍜⎍⍀ ⏃ ⍙⟒⏃⌿⍜⋏! ⊑⟒'⌇ ☌⍜⟟⋏☌ ⏁⍜ ☍⟟⌰⌰ ⊬⍜⎍ ⏃⋏⎅ ⏁⍜⋔⋔⊬!

  Wilbur's grip on the glass of water tightened, before he threw it at Ranboo in a panic. Ranboo shrieked in pain, stumbling back. Wilbur covered his ears, staring in shock. Then, Ranboo teleported away. Wilbur sat there on the floor, doing the deep breathing exercises he had been taught to stay calm. Once he had fully calmed himself down, he stood up. "Ranboo?" He called out hesitantly. He headed to Ranboo's room, but Ranboo wasn't in there. He wasn't in the house.

  Wilbur was hesitant, but after looking around in the kitchen a bit, he found some matches. More looking got him a lantern. He lit the lantern and put his coat on, before grabbing the axe. Then, he headed outside. The rain fell heavily, pounding down on him. The lantern cut through the darkness, but the rain was hard to see through. Wilbur had left his glasses back there, which was good because they'd be completely covered in rain water.

  He started to trek through the darkness. Everything had looked so bright, but now it seemed all dark and gloomy. His coat was thick, and although the outside of it was soaked, the inside remained warm. "Ranboo?!" He called out. "Ranboo! Are you there?" There was no response. Suddenly, an arrow flew past him and embedded itself in a tree. Something stepped out of the darkness. A skeleton, a fucking walking skeleton, which held a bow. Wilbur ducked as another arrow flew at him, putting the lantern down and running at the skeleton. With the way that Niki had taught him, he sliced the skeleton in half. It disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

  Wilbur grabbed his lantern, continuing forward. A few minutes into his search, he could see two things coming at him. As he walked closer to them, he realized that they were zombies. Rotting, horrid things with green skin. One lunged at him and he slashed it in half. Then, the other did and it met the same fate.

  Wilbur ran forward, calling out Ranboo's name. If he was out here on his own with these mobs without a weapon, he'd get hurt. Suddenly, when he made a right turn, he saw a strange sight. A twisted thing, which was green. It had two black eyes and a strange mouth. A creeper, he realized as it started to make a hissing noise. Before he could get back, it exploded. Wilbur was thrown backwards, his lantern and axe falling out of his hands. The wind was knocked out of him and when he landed, he temporarily lost consciousness.

  He knew it wasn't for that long when he regained consciousness. His ears were ringing, muffling everything. He put a hand to his head and when he pulled it away, there was blood. It didn't seem to be that much so he guessed the explosion wasn't as bad as it could have been. He stood up, stumbling a bit, before grabbing the axe. The lantern had shattered, so Wilbur had to continue without it.

  The rain began to come down harder and his ears were still ringing. It took a little more walking, but Wilbur finally found him. Ranboo was curled up underneath a hill. The ground sloped upwards, but it leveled out again, leaving the area were Ranboo was. "Ranboo!" Wilbur yelled. Ranboo looked up. Wilbur noticed that the left side of his face seemed to be burning where he had been crying. The ringing in his ears had gone down now. 

  "I can't come out, I'll be burnt. I can't teleport back, I'm just..I'm so tired," Ranboo said. Wilbur took off his coat and put it around Ranboo's shoulders. It didn't have a hood, but he pulled it up so it would cover Ranboo's head. Ranboo got up, and Wilbur realized how much he was reminded of Tommy. He had the same height and fluffy hair, the same sarcastic remarks and the same kindness. There were obviously differences in their personalities, but that's what Wilbur saw.

  The two headed back, Ranboo holding the coat over his head. Wilbur had to kill a few mobs, and his actions were slowed due to the slightly disoriented state he was in, but they were fine. Finally, they stumbled back into the house. Ranboo left the room, coming back with a few glass bottles of colored water. He held one out to Wilbur, a red one. Wilbur grabbed it and pulled the cork off. "It's a health potion, it'll stop your head from bleeding," He said. Wilbur drank it, noting that the potion tasted like slightly tainted cherries.

  Ranboo gave him another potion, a regeneration potion that tasted like tainted strawberries that would restore the blood he lost. Then, the two sat in silence, waiting for the other to speak.

  Wilbur broke the silence. "Ranboo, when you were speaking that language, what were you saying? You seemed agitated."

  "I don't know," Ranboo admitted. "I call that enderwalking. I don't know what I do or what I say, and I think I've hurt people before in my enderwalk state. I don't know what causes it. All I know is that when I come back to my senses, I'm really fucking exhausted and that makes teleporting hard. I'm sorry, I'm sorry if I hurt you and I'm sorry I can't control it, I'm scared I'm gonna hurt you." Ranboo seemed near to tears.

  "You didn't hurt me, it was a creeper. And you enderwalked, but you didn't hurt me. I think I hurt you more, since I panicked and threw a glass of water at you. I'm sorry about that by the way. But it'll be a-okay."

  Ranboo nodded. "Thanks, Wilbur.." He said, in a bit of a quiet voice. "No problem, Ranboo," Wilbur responded. 

  He ended up sleeping on the floor of Ranboo's room, on top of a bunch of blankets. Ranboo would occasionally mutter something in his sleep, but it was nothing Wilbur could understand. Lost in thought, he didn't notice the man with the white headband peer through the window and disappear.

Chapter Text

Philza Craft has been alive for a long, long time. Born a human but given wings by his wife, he was dubbed The Angel of Death. Soon after he earned that title, he met The Blood God. People feared him, feared his friend, and feared his wife because of their titles. But they weren't only their titles. They're Phil, Techno, and Kristin.

  Because of his relations, it isn't uncommon for people to be send after him. But they don't realize he's more than capable of killing them all, and he's got Techno on his side. Kristin can't do as much to help, there are rules holding her in place with mortals, but she can help as well. Him and Techno aren't immortal, only ageless, but Kristin can still help slow down the process of death.

  "So Phil, guess what I heard?" Techno said, waltzing into the living room of their shared house. The piglin hybrid was really tall, Phil remembered when he was shorter than him. "There's someone new after you, but this one's a bit more interesting than the rest."

  "Oh? Who is it?" Phil asked, setting the book that he was reading down.

  "A human, from Pandora's Box of all places. He agreed to be brought here, I guess he's being payed by somebody."

  "Another selfish mercenary? This is why humans, especially those from Pandora, are so boring. They never have any real motivation, and their loyalty only lies with money."

  Techno nodded. "Agreed. It'll be a fast kill. Anyway, have you heard from Ranboo?"

  Phil frowned. Ranboo was someone who Techno was training, and he just seemed to disappear a few weeks ago. They both searched and Phil sent his crows, but they were never able to find him. Ranboo was a good kid, sarcastic and loyal. Phil really was worried that something bad had happened to him.

 "He's probably fine," Phil said, although both him and Techno knew that they would still be worried. "Have you heard from Dream lately?"

  "That smiley faced prick? No, I haven't. He's off doing his own thing, I haven't seen him since I repayed that favor by killing that guy."

  "Yeah, Dream gives me the creeps. He definitely had a god complex, even if he didn't say it outright. I don't think he even sees those two friends of his as equals."

  Phil didn't really have the energy to think about Dream. He was still nervous around the subject of Ranboo, but they'd tried to look and failed. The crows were out there now. It was raining, and although it was much worse the previous night, it was enough that Phil really hoped Ranboo hadn't been caught in it. The kid had been taken under Techno's wing, Phil didn't really know how it happened either. Especially with Ranboo being an orphan.

  He wasn't worried about whatever mercanery had been sent after him. Hundreds of people had come after them, and they were all the same. Talked to much or overestimated themselves, all for the price they'd get. Whatever this one was after, it certainly wasn't worth his time. These people only cared about money, nothing else.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  It was really dark. Tommy couldn't see anything, but he could hear things. He could hear the voices of previous foster parents, bullies, and teachers. He could hear them, overlapping with one enough and getting under his skin. He felt alone, more alone than he'd ever felt in the time he's spent with Wilbur as his guardian.

  He wasn't hopeless, though. He knew Wilbur would come after him and take down that masked asshole. Wilbur would never leave him behind. Tommy ignored the small voice in his head that muttered "What if?" It was true and he knew it.

  He knew it because he had a tendency to show up on Wilbur's doorstep if a foster home had been to much. Wilbur would never turn him away, and their highest number of days Wilbur could keep him hidden was 11. He knew it because Wilbur would always help him with nightmares and always made sure he was okay. He knew because Wilbur made him feel loved and cared for.

  Once, when he was 9 and Wilbur was 16, Tommy sent Wilbur a letter to tell him why he wasn't answering his phone. His dumb foster parents had taken it and refused to let him have it. They kept throwing harsh words his way and sometimes, they'd lock him up in his room. Their foster homes had been put two towns away, but Wilbur apparently ditched school so he could get to Tommy's house by nightfall. He got into a screaming match with Tommy's foster parents, until their caseworkers came knocking on the door and took them both away.

 When Wilbur was 17 and Tommy was 10, Tommy managed to track Wilbur's foster home down with the help of a couple of friends. Wilbur had gotten into one of the bad homes, where they'd hit him and on occasion lock him in a shed. Tommy was driven to that house by his friend's parents, and while they were arguing with the foster parents and getting the caseworkers on the phone, Tommy got to make sure Wilbur was okay. How Wilbur looked was something Tommy would never want to see again, with a split lip and a black eye. 

  So yes, maybe the situation seemed hopeless. But Tommy and Wilbur always found each other, and even if Tommy was in some kind of fucking void, he knew Wilbur wouldn't stop until he got to him. If the situations were swapped, Tommy knew he wouldn't.

Chapter Text

"So Wilbur," Niki said, three days into their training. "What's Tommy like?" She slammed her diamond sword against his diamond axe, they weren't using the netherite as not to damage them. "He must be one hell of a kid of your loyalty lies with him so much that your doing this for him."

  "He's a fun kid, smart and boisterous," Wilbur responded, pulling out and swinging his axe at her. "He can be a bit annoying, but it gets endearing."

  "Don't use your axe like a sword, get creative," She reminded him, trying to sweep his legs out from under him. He jumped to the side, feigning an attack to the head before slashing at her legs. It cut open her jeans, but didn't hurt her all to much. Although, blood was drawn. "You said you adopted him when you were 19, right? I'm not judging, I've always assumed that's just kinda young."

  Wilbur shrugged, dodging a few quick strikes but getting slashed in the arm a few times. "Fuck!" He yelled, backing up. He slashed his axe at her sideways, before twirling the axe in his hand so he could do a direct strike. "I agree, it was a bit young, but I needed to get him out of there."

  Niki nodded. The two didn't talk after that, exchanging hits. Niki brought her sword down on him and he blocked, locking the two into stalemate. She kneed him in the stomach, causing him to double over in pain, and disarm him.

  "Good job Wilbur, your doing better," She said. He took a moment to get his breath back, before he stood up. 

  "Thank you, Niki," He said. "But god, that hurt." He was already littered with bruises and healing cuts from their sparring. He took a healing potion from a box that Puffy had brought out, Niki did as well. They both only drank a quarter of a potion before setting them down. Ranboo was sitting nearby talking to Puffy about the garden.

  "When you get Tommy back, what are you going to do then?" Niki asked, grabbing a bottle of water and sipping it.

  Wilbur shrugged. "I'll probably go back to Pandora with Tommy, resume our normal lives."

  "You aren't gonna stay here?" Ranboo questioned.

  Wilbur shrugged. "We both had friends and lives back there, but I do admit that things were getting a bit hard. Bills were piling up and my job wasn't paying enough, and I felt like I was falling out of touch with people I cared about. Then again, I do have good friends and I like my job. Tommy has a friend named Tubbo, they're really close, along with others."

  "Wait, Tubbo?" Niki asked. "That's a bit of a strange name for Pandora, isn't it? I thought it was more common in Prosperina and Solis."

   Wilbur shrugged. "I'll ask him about it when I get back. I don't think he knows about the other realities."

  "Maybe not," Niki said, shrugging. "Anyways, ready to continue!" Suddenly, they could hear footsteps. Someone ran into the back garden, someone around Niki's age. He wore glasses, one side red and the other blue.

  "Niki! Your looking for The Angel of Death, right? It's been rumored he was spotted near here!"

Chapter Text

It took all of his willpower, and a lot of convincing from Niki and Ranboo, for Wilbur to stay where he was and not go out hunting for Philza. The man, Jack Manifold, still needed to find out where he actually was. In the meantime, Niki trained Wilbur with ender pearls and splash potions. They weren't bantering like before, they were just focused on letting Wilbur learn.

Jack Manifold came back a few hours later, evening, with a paper. It held the coordinates of where Philza was. Ranboo convinced Wilbur to go back to his house to sleep for the night, before going out tomorrow. "Wilbur, I'm gonna go with you when you fight Philza," He said, as he was making dinner.

Wilbur's head snapped over to him. "No way, no fucking way. It's so dangerous, your only a kid."

 Ranboo crossed his arms. "I am going, I want to make sure you don't get yourself killed."

  "And I want the same for you! If you get hurt, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

  "Well that's not your choice!"

 "Tommy, I said no!" Wilbur snapped. Ranboo's eyes went wide, and Wilbur realized what he said. "Wait, I didn't mean that. It's not like your a replacement, nobody could ever replace him, it's just like you kinda remind me of him, y'know?"

  "Honestly, that's a big compliment. If I remind you of your brother, then it means that I'm almost at his level. So it's fine."

  The next morning, Wilbur grabbed his axe. He took a few enderpearls and a few potions, along with what Ranboo called a golden apple. Wilbur had agreed to let Ranboo come, as long as Ranboo hid his face and stayed out of the fight. Then, they were on their way.

  They found the coordinates by using a comm, which was a little box that Ranboo had strapped to his wrist like a bracelet. It was like a little phone, actually. The coordinates led to a cabin. Two stories but homey. This was were The Angel of Death was? Ranboo wasn't with Wilbur anymore, he was a little ways away and out of the fight.

  Suddenly, Wilbur heard a voice from behind him. "So, your the one who wants to kill me?" Wilbur spun around, looking to see who said that. It was a man. A little shorter than him, with blonde hair that he kept in a ponytail. He wore a green and white bucket hat, a green clothes, a thin black coat, and brown flats. Blue eyes studied Wilbur from underneath the hat, and an emerald hung from one ear like an earring. He wore a necklace, with a red heart. What Wilbur focused on, were the big black wings.

  "Are you sure you want to do this, mate?" He asked, and although his voice was friendly, there was a hint of malice in it. Wilbur took a deep breath, before nodding. His hands shook, but he held onto the axe tightly.

  Philza smiled, but it wasn't friendly. It was a kind you'd see a psychopath doing, and Wilbur knew he was screwed if he couldn't beat this guy. Philza had a sheath strapped to his waist, and from it he pulled a netherite sword. Quick as a lighting strike, he used his wings to propell himself towards Wilbur. Wilbur blocked it, before pulling away. He swung at Philza, once vertical and twice horizontal. All three missed. Philza struck again, slashing at Wilbur a couple of times. Wilbur felt a sharp pain in his chest as the sword cut across it, causing blood to stain his sweater red. 

  Wilbur raised his axe and slammed it into the ground, the fire aspect on it causing the ground in between the two to catch on fire. Philza took off into the air, his wings keeping him away from the fire but fanning the flames. Wilbur backed away from it. Philza landed on the ground, swinging at his legs. It cut into his lower legs, causing him to fall over. Philza stood above him, but Wilbur wasn't done yet. He kicked Philza in the stomach, causing him to stumble back. Wilbur swung and Phil blocked, locking the two into stalemate. 

  Before he even realized what was going on, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned his head and gasped. It was someone else, someone who was really tall. He had waist length pink hair that was neatly braided and dark red eyes. He wore a blood red cape, a white button up, black pants, and brown boots. He had golden jewelry on and a golden crown. A sword was in his hand, which he had raised. When he brought it down though, another sword was there to meet it.

  A figure in a purple cloak that hid his face, a dark purple shirt, and black jeans. Ranboo. Wilbur didn't have time to worry about how Ranboo had joined a dangerous fight, Philza pulled out of the stalemate and swung at him again. He dodged, throwing a potion of weakness at Philza. He got out of the way. He could hear Ranboo and The Blood God fighting behind him. Their fight went on for what felt like hours, Ranboo verses The Blood God and Wilbur verses The Angel of Death.

  "Give it up, mate," Philza said, slashing at him a couple of times. "It's only a matter of time before you break. Selfish humans like you always do."

  "I'm selfish?!" Wilbur yelled, striking a couple of times. To his surprise, he did manage to cut Philza's shoulder. "Ask your fucking wife who's selfish!"

  Philza looked confused, as if he didn't know what Wilbur was talking about. As if he didn't know what Wilbur had lost. Before he could say anything and either of them could fight, Ranboo spoke. "Wait, you-!" Then he was cut off by the sound of netherite cutting through flesh.

Chapter Text

Wilbur froze in his spot. Philza's eyes focused on something behind him, before widening in horror. Wilbur used this chance to slam his axe into Philza's arm. It didn't cut through completely, but it did cause damage and the fabric to catch on fire. Philza yelled in pain, but Wilbur didn't attack again. He turned to see what happened to Ranboo.

  The kid's hood has fallen off, tears were streaming down his cheeks and burning one side of his face. A sword had been stuck through his stomach, which The Blood God now held in his hand. Ranboo opened up his mouth, the jaw unhinging like a snake, and let out an ear shattering scream, one that Wilbur had once heard an enderman make after getting caught in the rain. He fell backwards, and Wilbur was there to catch him.

  "No no no no, oh my god kid please don't die," Wilbur said, taking off his coat and using it to try and stop the bleeding. "C'mon Ranboo, c'mon, open your eyes. Please." Ranboo's eyes fluttered open, but they closed quickly.

  He noticed The Blood God walking towards them, and red hot anger filled his veins. He grabbed his axe, standing up and pointing it at him. "Get away from him!" Wilbur screamed. "Get away or I'll fucking chop your head off!"

  The Blood God stopped in his tracks, staring at Wilbur. Wilbur felt a hand on his shoulder. "Mate, we know h-" He didn't listen, elbowing him and grabbing Ranboo. He still had some enderpearls, and although he wasn't that sure about using them, he threw it and held Ranboo tightly.

 "WAIT!" The Blood God yelled, right before the enderpearl hit. Wilbur felt a wave of nausea hit him, but he didn't care. He picked up Ranboo bridal style, stumbling a bit, before taking off into the woods. He used his adrenaline to get as far as he could. He could hear yelling behind him as he ran as fast as he could, jumping over small creeks and ducking under low hanging tree branches.

  He threw another enderpearl to get ahead, and almost fell over when he got teleported, but he stayed on his feet. He could have been running for hours or even days, all he knew was that he needed to get away from them. When he thought he was safe, he set Ranboo on the ground and checked his pulse. Weak, but still there. He grabbed his coat, laying it on Ranboo and staining it with blood, before trying to stop the bleeding again by putting pressure on it. The adrenaline was wearing off, leaving him exhausted and aware of how much pain he was in from where Philza's sword had gotten him. 

 "Ranboo, please," Wilbur said, voice breaking. "Please don't die on me, I don't know what I'd do if that happened."

  Then, Wilbur heard footsteps in front of him. He grabbed the axe, the weight almost making him fall over, and held it in a defensive position as the person came closer. It wasn't Philza or The Blood God, though.

  It was a kid. He wore a yellow and dark brown striped shirt and a pair of overalls. He had dark brown gloves on and sneakers on. His hair was brown and he wore a pair of googles that hid his eyes. Wilbur lowered the axe, letting it rest on the ground. The person stared at him, before speaking. "Holy shit! Wilbur?!"

  "What...who-" Wilbur said, before the kid took his googles off. Wilbur regonized him instantly, it was Tubbo. "Tubbo...?"

  "Wilbur, where did you and Tommy go?! You both just suddenly dissapeared, nobody knows where you went! What-" He cut off, noticing Ranboo. 

  "I'll explain later," Wilbur said, his voice choked with a sob. "Please, we need to get him somewhere safe. He's dying."

  Tubbo nodded, eyes filled with determination. "Pick him up, my dad can help him," He said. Wilbur did just that, scooping Ranboo up and following Tubbo. The two ran for what was probably a minute before coming to a small city. A huge sign said "Las Nevadas" on it.

  "They're probably in the casino right now, it hasn't opened but I'm allowed in." Tubbo led him to the casino, a big white building, and opened the door. He led him through, leading him to a dealer's table. "Dad! DAD!" Tubbo yelled, running towards him. Three people sat at the table. One seemed to have ram horns, one had a pair of small golden wings, and one seemed to have slime on some parts of him. The one with the ram horns turned around.

  Wilbur instantly regonized him as a man named Schlatt. Wilbur usually saw Tubbo with him mom, but he had seen Schlatt before and talked to him a couple of times. He never had horns before. He opened his mouth to respond, the two others looking over at them, before they saw Ranboo. "Holy shit!" Schlatt yelled. The one with wings jumped over the counter, running over to them. Schlatt and the other followed.

 "He's dying, please help," Wilbur said, practically begging. The man with wings didn't think twice, taking Ranboo from him.

 "We've got potions in the back, let's go," He said, before running around back. Wilbur took a step before the exhaustion and pain from the fight before overtook him, causing him to fall onto his knees. The slime person ran after the person with wings, while Schlatt knelt down in front of Wilbur.

  "Wilbur, are you okay?" He asked, setting a hand on Wilbur's shoulder. It helped ground him, and he realized that he had been hyperventilating. When did that start? "Do you need help standing? Your injured, you should get some healing pots." Wilbur shook his head, standing up and following Schlatt into the back room. Ranboo had been placed on a table, and the two other men were using potions to heal his injures. Wilbur was handed a health potion, then a regeneration potion, both of which he downed without thinking that much.

  "He'll live," The man with wings said, before turning to Wilbur. "It'll be a little while before he wakes up. I'm Qauckity, and that's Charlie."

  "Wilbur," He responded, feeling emotionally drained by now. 

  "You went missing from Pandora, didn't you?" Schlatt asked. "How'd you get here?"

  "I-um," Wilbur said, before finding his words. He explained what happened, how Tommy had gone missing and how Ranboo had gotten stabbed.

  "Oh my gods..." Tubbo said, putting his head in his hands. "I hope he's okay."

  "I'm gonna get him back," Wilbur promised. "How'd you guys even get here? I thought you lived in Pandora."

  "His mother does, I don't," Schlatt explained. "I was born in Prosperina, the second reality. Most people think it's just full of plant creatures, but it's also full of hybrids like me who can just hide what they are. It's also why Tubbo can universe hop and the magic he's got." Wilbur didn't know what he meant, until Tubbo grabbed a flower pot with a dying flower inside it. His eyes focused on it, and it began to grow. Within seconds, it was a fully blooming plant.

  "I was considering showing Tommy, but decided against it," Tubbo said, noticing Wilbur's amazed expression. 

  "Alright, he'll be fine. It'll just be a bit before he wakes up," Quackity said, walking over to them. "Had a run in with the Blood God, eh? I got payed to take him out once, he took my eye instead." As he said that, he pointed to a long scar that went over his eye. "Got away and never went back."

 "I don't have that option, though. If I don't, my brother will die."

 "At least don't go back out now, Wilbur Soot from Pandora," Charlie said. Wilbur decided not to mention how weird that sounded. "You'll get sliced to bits!"

 "Yeah Wilbur, at least stay for tonight," Tubbo said. "There's a hotel being built, it's not finished but there are rooms you can stay in. It'll be okay, right Quackity?"

  Quackity stared at him for a couple of seconds, making Wilbur feel a bit uncomfortable. "Yeah, it's fine. Schlatt, why don't you show him over?"

  Schlatt brought Wilbur out of the casino. "They're gonna keep an eye on Ranboo," He said as he was walking. "Are you okay?"

  "I'm fine, I got some healing stuff," Wilbur replied.

 "No, I mean mentally," Was the reply. "Seeing a kid get stabbed has gotta do some shit to ya."

  "I'm fine, Schlatt," Wilbur told him. He knew he was lying though. The scene of Ranboo falling back, his screams, and his blood staining Wilbur's clothes kept replaying in his head. Over and over and over again. He barely noticed Schlatt leading him to a room or handing him new clothes. He barely noticed getting changed and falling into the bed of the room until he was fell into a dreamless sleep.

Chapter Text

Now, 28 year old Philza Craft knew that most thought he was doing the devil's work. He was a killer, a fighter, a mercenary. But he did have rules for it, honestly! Everyone he killed, he'd make sure they were bad people. Some bounties weren't, and those he wouldn't kill. Although, there had been a couple of times he didn't live up to that, a couple of times where innocent blood had stained the ground. Well, a couple sounded like an understatement.

  This one sounded like a pretty bad person though. The Blade, someone who was able to kill thousands. A piglin hybrid who had bloodthirsty voices in his head. He was on his horse with 19 other men, heading to where this piglin was. "Craft, you've got a crow on your head," One of the others said.

 Phil just laughed. "I know, mate. They have a habit of following me, I don't know why. I just let them stick around." Some of the men gave him a weird look, some just chuckled, and some didn't react. It was a life or death situation and they all knew that, although Phil wasn't worried. He had a habit of getting out of these types of situations, even he didn't know how far his luck went.

 "This is where he's meant to be," The person in the front said, a young woman with frizzy red hair. They had come across a small cabin, although a slightly broken down one. Wind whipped around them, a light snow coming from the sky. They were in the artic. What would a piglin hybrid, a species that lives in the heat of the nether likes it's a warm sunny day, want to do in the artic? To Phil's knowledge, piglins hated it here.

  They all jumped off of their horses, Phil taking his katana from its sheath. He wasn't wearing his normal black and green clothes. Instead, he wore heavy blue clothes with a thick red cape. His katana would always stay by him, though. Slowly, they approached the cabin. Now that they were closer, Phil could see how run down it was.

  Suddenly, an arrow embedded itself into the head of the person next to him, causing him to fall onto the ground dead. "Oh SHIT-" Someone screamed as a figure ran towards them, swinging a netherite axe. The person was able to block it, but was sliced down by The Blade. 

  Phil blocked an attack by The Blade, red eyes staring into his blue ones. He kicked him away, and the fight continued. Slowly, the ones against The Blade began to dwindle to about 9 people including Phil. Suddenly, one of them got a lucky shot with a crossbow. It embedded itself into The Blade's knee, making him gasp and fall over. They all cheered, and the frizzy red haired woman ran behind him to tie his hands with zip ties. He struggled to get away, but two others were able to hold him in place.

  The survivors cheered in victory and congratulated each other. Phil noticed one of the crows staring at him from a little ways away, and then down at The Blade. Phil looked down at him as well, as the others started to chatter about what they should do with him.

 "The mission was to take him down, we'll get a pretty penny for this."

 "And then what do we do with him? Sell him? Kill him?"

"Some people would pay a lot for him, maybe for a sacrifice or some shit."

  Phil tuned them out as he studied The Blade. He had bubblegum pink hair that was down to his shoulders. His clothes didn't seem warm enough for this weather, just a white button up and leggings. He seemed to fancy gold jewelry, having on a golden necklace and a few golden rings on. Scars littered his face, and his eyes were a deep red color. Then, Phil was hit with a horrible realization. This man...he couldn't have been older than 19. Phil felt a pool of dread fill his stomach.

 This wasn't a man, he was a kid. Someone who shouldn't be hunted, someone who should still be with his family. Someone who might've not gone looking for trouble, instead trouble went looking for him. Someone who...someone who was staring up at Phil with terror in his eyes. He was scared, and Phil knew what he was thinking. I don't want to die.

  Red hot rage filled Philza top to bottom, making him cling onto his katana to avoid stabbing someone. Although...stabbing someone didn't sound so bad. He tuned back into the conversation, hearing them all talk about what to do with this kid. One had his crossbow pointed directly at him, which was probably why he wasn't fighting back. Phil had killed many, innocents and not. What was a few more?

 The man next to him screamed as Phil brought his sword down onto his neck, slicing his head off with one stroke. The others yelled in alarm, some backing off and some running at him. Phil deflected a few strikes, the world around him blurring as he stabbed and slashed and killed. He almost got everyone, but the girl from before and two others managed to get away on their horses, going for help. Phil looked down at The Blade, the kid. He went behind him, and cut the zip tye. He stood up, rubbing his wrists.

  "Thanks.." He said, in a monotonous voice. Phil assumed that was just his normal voice, he could hear distrust in it but not malice. Phil took off his cape and handed it to him.

 "Don't thank me yet," Phil replied. "We need to go, they'll be back soon. Do you have a horse? And put that on, you'll freeze to death in those clothes." The Blade nodded, running to the other side of the house. Phil ran over to his horse, which was a bit freaked out due to all the bloodshed, and managed to calm it. He hopped onto it, just as The Blade came back from where he was, on a sleek brown horse.

 Just then, Phil heard yells coming near them. "Okay, let's go!" He yelled, and the two took off into the woods. The snow had picked up by now, chilling Phil to his bones. It also made it really hard to see ahead, although the trees weren't awfully close together with made things a bit easier.

  "There's a town near here, we'll be able to hide there," The Blade yelled to him. Phil nodded in response. The snow wasn't coming down fast enough to hide their horse's hoofprints, and the others were on their trail.

 "PHILZA, YOU TRAITOR!" One of them yelled. Phil ignored him, focusing on just trying to get away. Then, a sharp pain filled his left shoulder as an arrow was embedded into it. He realized that it had a rope attached to it to late, only knowing until he was pulled off of his horse and onto the ground. He yelled in pain when he hit the ground, looking up to see what happened.

 The Blade had stopped his horse, about to turn it around to go back for him. The others were gaining on them, though. "Just go!" Phil yelled. "I'll be fine, but we'll both die if you stick around!" Seeing his hesitance, Phil yelled one final word. "GO!!" To his luck, The Blade decided to listen, taking off into the woods. Phil pulled the arrow out of his shoulder and grabbed his katana, which had fallen into the snow.

  He could see them coming now, riding their horses towards him. He slashed at one of the horses when it got close enough, causing it to rear back in terror and throw the girl riding it off. There were 15 people now. "5 of you go after Craft! The rest of us will get The Blade!" Someone yelled. 

   5 of them stayed back, including the girl who had gotten tossed off of her horse, and 10 moved forward. Phil blocked an attack from someone, kicking them away, before slashing at someone else and cutting open their chest. They went on like this, exchanging parries and blocks. Phil thought he was doing alright, until the girl did a disarming maneuver and made him drop his katana. She slashed at him, and he backed up, but not fast enough. He felt a blinding pain in his head as the sword cut through his eye, making him lose his vision in that eye.

 He screamed in anguish, covering it with his hands. Sticky, warm blood pooled from his eye socket and down his arms. He saw from his other eye that they were moving towards him, so he did the only thing he knew he could at the moment. He ran into the woods. He could hear them following, so he ducked behind a tree. He reached into the freezing snow, finding a rock. When one of them went by, he smashed the rock over the person's head and stole their sword.

  He used his adrenaline to fight like he hadn't fought before, playing on the offensive side rather than defense. It wasn't long until his enemies were gone, but his adrenaline was as well. He stole the coat that one of them was wearing and used a bandana one of them had to cover his eye. The crow from before appeared again, landing in front of it. It cocked it's head in a motion that reminded Phil of someone trying to get someone else to follow, before hopping off. Against his better judgment, he followed into the biting frost of the woods.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 23 year old Technoblade was doing pretty good. He had laid low for a few years, so his title would stop being used.  For the past two years, he had been a pretty decent mercenary. He'd also kill in tournaments, but he mostly just spared in those. Although he would put on a show, Chat loved it.

 Today, he was after The Angel of Death. An avian, although once born human it seemed. Death herself gave him wings, according to rumors, which was why countless bounties had been put on his head. There were over 30 people with him now, on their way to track down The Angel.

  Rumor had it that he was hiding out in a cabin somewhere in the woods. Spring had come, but it was still chilly enough for Techno to wear his cape without getting overheated. Sometimes people would look at him weird for wearing it all the time, but hey, it matched his style. The wind whistled through the air, rustling the trees. Other than the sound of footsteps, no creature made a noise. People said it was because of The Angel. Honestly, Techno did not care.

 After that, it wasn't long until they came by a large clearing. Mountains overlooked it. In the middle of the cabin sat a large cabin, which kinda reminded Techno of the abandoned one he had hid out in for awhile. It looked homey and had a garden tucked next to it, but all of them knew better. A dangerous creature lived here.

  A caw broke through the silence, making all them jump. A crow landed a few feet in front of them, it's beady little eyes staring at them. After a few moments of silence, someone spoke. "Hey, aren't crows an omen of-?" He was cut off by a shadow passing over them, a shadow with wings but to large to be a bird.

 "Are you sure you all want to do this?" A voice from behind them said. Techno turned to see who it was. A man in a white and green bucket hat, a black thin coat, and green clothes. He had short blonde hair and held a katana in his hands. Techno felt a weird sense of deja vu, like he'd been against this person before, but he was to distracted by Chat's chants for blood to care.

 The response was 8 arrows shooting at him. His wings spread and he took off into the air. Someone yelled in pain as a splash potion of harming was dropped onto them. The Angel landed on the ground, slicing the nearest person in half. More arrows were shot at him and he dodged, but one managed to graze his shoulder. 

 Three people charged at him, but The Angel knocked them all back with his wings. The Angel then lunged at Techno, using his wings to propell himself forward. Techno blocked with his sword, and another sense of deja vu hit him. He ignored it, pulling away before swinging again.

E

BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD

MURDER

E

RIP THAT ANGEL AYYYY

GET HIS ASS TECHNO

Wait, isn't that-?

 E

 E

 Techno went on autopilot as Chat's screams filled his head. Usually he had pretty good control over what he was doing, but today he didn't mind if they screamed for blood. Sometimes he'd pull out of the fight for a health pot, and the others would take care of it just fine. The difference between them and him though, was that Techno just wouldn't die. He had noticed that parts of Chat had stopped screaming for blood, but was now telling him to stop. Well, he really couldn't. He'd kinda, y'know, die. Well, not die. Technoblade never dies.
 
  When The Angel was in the air, trying to get his own health pot but stay away from them, Techno got a lucky hit with his crossbow, an arrow going through The Angel's wings and making him fall to the ground. The others cheered, and The Angel didn't get up. It looked like he was losing to much blood to get up. Techno didn't realize how much damage had been done until now, deep cuts littered his entire body, soaking his clothes in blood.

  "You can deal the final blow, Technoblade!" Someone yelled out. There were about 13 people left. "You were the one who knocked him out of the sky."

 Techno grabbed his sword, which he had dropped in order to use the bow with two hands. Once again, Chat went insane. But not to get him to kill him quicker, to let his blood stain the ground. Instead, they screamed at him to stop.

STOP IT!!

PHILZA!!

IT'S HIM, IT'S PHILZA!

Wait, who are we yelling about? I just got here.

TECHNO STOOOOOOP!!

 Philza? That name rung a bell with Techno as he looked at The Angel more closely. The Angel looked up at him, blue eyes staring into his soul. Techno knew what that look meant. I don't want to die. But he realized where he had seen this man before, had seen those eyes before.

 It had been 5 years since the attack on the abandoned cabin. 5 years since his life was almost ripped away from him. 5 years since he met this person. He remembered being confused about why he had done it, why he had fought so hard to kill Techno before deciding not to. When he had been looking down at Techno, bleeding in the snow, his eyes went from a look of victory to a look of horror, as though he were really seeing who Techno was.

 Techno has a saying. Those who treat him with kindness will have that kindness repayed tenfold. Those who treat him with hate will have hatred returned a thousand times over. This man, Philza, had once saved his life. Techno always knew that whenever he met Philza again, he'd repay him somehow. Maybe they could even be friends. But now, the person who had saved his life was kneeling in front of him, bleeding and dying, at Techno's mercy.  Chat screamed for blood, and Techno decided to give it to them.

  "If he's not gonna do it, I will!" Someone yelled, stepping forward. "Wait, don't-" Philza choked out, as they raised their sword. Before they could do anything, Techno plunged his into their heart. 

 The others began to yell, someone reached forward to restrain him. He elbowed them in the throat and killed them. 11 on 1. Fair enough. Once again, the fight blurred into the background as he slashed and stabbed and killed. Faintly, he noticed people falling to a sword that wasn't his. Philza must've used his leftover adrenaline to get up. It wasn't long until the last person was dead, and Techno turned to face him.

  Philza was facing away from him, stood with his katana in his. He dropped it, before turning to face Techno. It looked like he was seconds before falling over, his wings weighing him down. Techno had a spare health pot on him, which he gave to him. "Thanks, mate," He said, in a quiet voice before drinking it. Techno nodded to acknowledge him.

 "So.." Philza said, after a moment. The crow from before had flown over to him and was perched on his shoulder. "Why'd you do it?"

  "Heh?" Techno said. "What do you mean?"

 "Most people won't fight someone just to spare them. So why'd you do it?"

 Techno shrugged. "Why'd you do it, then?" 

  Philza looked confused, muttering out, "What?"

 "5 years ago, you did the same thing as I did. So why did you do it?" It took Philza a moment to understand, his eyes going to confusion to realization. "Holy shit, it's you!" He said, and Techno nodded to confirm.

 "Oh my gods, I never thought I'd see you again," He said. He extended his hand towards Techno. "I never told you back then, did I? I'm Phil."

  Techno shook his hand. "I'm Technoblade."

Chapter Text

Wilbur's eyes didn't open when he woke up. For a moment, he hoped that what happened the previous day was a dream. But it wasn't and he knew it. For a moment, he just wanted to curl up and go back to sleep. But then he heard the door open. "Who the fuck are you?"

 Wilbur sat up, eyes wide and heart pounding. He jumped off the bed, only to hit the ground almost immediately. A wave of dizziness washed over him, as his breath started to get short and his chest started to feel tight. Panic hit him, it felt like he was dying.

 He had felt this feeling before, he knew he had. He was having a panic attack, his therapist told him that was the first thing he had to do. To regonize he wasn't dying, just in a state of panic. 

 I'm okay. I'm okay, I'm not dying. This is going to pass, and then I'll figure out who this person is. More panic hit him, realizing he was having a panic attack with a stranger in the room. A stranger who could hurt him. But he isn't, so I'll have time to calm down. I'm going to be fine.

 Wilbur took a deep breath, counting to 5. He let it out and did it again. His breath hitched a couple of times, but he just kept trying until he was able to mostly even out his breathing. He closed his eyes, blanking everything out so he could focus on just calming down.

  He rubbed his fingers against the carpet, feeling how rough it was. It was like a school's carpet. He let the feeling ground him. It took him a bit, but he managed to calm himself down enough to open his eyes back up. The person was gone. Wilbur got up, already feeling drained. He got back into his regular clothes, which had been fixed up with a cleaning spell, and left the room.

 Quackity was in the hallway, walking towards him. He was being followed by someone else. The guy reminded Wilbur of the creepers he'd seen. He had green hair and wore a crown, which reminded Wilbur of The Blood God. He wore a golden chest plate, a green shirt underneath, dark green pants, and brown boots. He wore black gloves and had green eyes with black scleras. He had slightly pointed ears and wore a mask on that looked like a gas mask, that wouldn't cover his eyes.

  "You okay, mi amigo?" Quackity asked. "We forgot to tell Sam you were here and he said you had a panic attack when you woke up."

  "I'm okay," Wilbur said, nodding slightly.

  "I'm Sam, I'm a creeper hybrid," Sam said, waving. "I'm working on the construction of this place. Sorry I scared you."

  "It's okay," Wilbur said, shrugging slightly. "How's Ranboo doing?"

 "He's awake, he's in the casino with Tubbo," Quackity said. He didn't get another word in before Wilbur took off down the hall, running out of the building and to the casino. He burst in through the doors, seeing Ranboo and Tubbo sitting there. He had gotten changed into a long purple coat, black pants, and black shoes. He looked okay though, looking over at Wilbur when he opened the door.

  "Oh my god, Ranboo," Wilbur said, running over to him. "I'm so glad your okay."

  "Wilbur!" Ranboo said, a smile on his face. "You were asleep, so I didn't wanna wake you when I got up. Your okay, right?"

 Wilbur nodded. "I'm fine, Ranboo. What were you trying to say back when you were fighting The Blood God?"

  Ranboo paused, his face scrunching up in confusion. "I...I don't remember. It was something about them, but I don't remember what it was."

  "That's okay, I'm just so fucking happy your fine."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Wilbur and Ranboo spent the next week in Las Nevadas, trying to figure out what to do. The others had agreed to help him, Tubbo threatened to murder him if he didn't let him help save Tommy.

  The next day, Niki, Puffy, and Jack had tracked down them down to Las Nevadas. They were both freaked out, especially hearing about Ranboo getting stabbed. Everything seemed okay for the time being, except they weren't sure what they could do to fight The Angel again, especially since he'd except them coming. For now, in the moment, everything was okay.

 Except at times like this, when Wilbur woke up late at night from a nightmare. They were beginning to vary, from Tommy getting the life sucked out of him by Death to Ranboo getting murdered by The Blood God. It was horrifying. 

 Wilbur sat up in bed, quickly putting on his glasses and trying to steady his breathes. Shadows danced around his room, like demons that were coming for him. Wilbur was getting paranoid now, more than before. He really needed to get some anxiolytic into his system, a drug to treat anxiety. 

  Wilbur got up, ignoring his shaking hands, and got dressed. He'd been losing sleep, he knew he wouldn't go back to sleep because of this nightmare. He left the hotel, glad for the light of the streets, and headed to the casino. 

  It was open at this hour, but there was nobody in there except Quackity and Charlie. "Ayyyy, Wilbur!" Quackity said, waving at him. "What brings you here at this hour?"

  "Can I have something that won't get me to drunk?" Wilbur asked. "I know you guys got a bar. I've got no money but I'll pay you back."

 "I'll just charge Schlatt," Quackity said, going off to get it. "He drinks here a lot, no wonder why Tubbo lives with his mom."

 "So Wilbur Soot from Pandora," Charlie said. "What are you here for at this hour?"

 "Nightmare. Don't wanna talk about it," Wilbur said, reaching for the drink that Quackity was just about to hand him. Wilbur immediately began to chug it.

 "Holy shit, slow down," Quackity said, leaning against the dealer's table. "Don't you have things to plan?"

  "I won't have another," Wilbur responded, once he finished the drink. "I just really needed that."

 "Do you drink a lot back in Pandora?"

 "Nope, not really. Sometimes I'll go out with friends to get drinks on weekends, but I don't drink a whole lot. I used to smoke though, but I had to quit. Needed to be responsible enough to take care of a kid."

  The door to the casino opened, Sam coming in and waving at them. "Hey guys," He said, waving to them and sitting down at the counter. "Can I get a drink, Quackity? Something that won't make the creeper blood go insane." 

   Quackity went to get the drink, while Charlie kept the conversation going. "How long ago was that, Wilbur Soot from Pandora?"

  "Um, about 6 years ago. I went to rehab at 18 and managed to adopt my little brother at 19."

 Sam paused, his hand outstretched to take his drink from Quackity. "19? You adopted a kid when you were 19?"

 Quackity handed him the drink, looking equally as surprised. Wilbur shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I was 19. So?"

 "Isn't that really young? We don't live in Pandora, but I still feel like that's to young."

 Wilbur shrugged. "It is a bit young, but I've been looking after Tommy the best I could ever since I was 12 and he was 5. There was no way I could have left him behind when I got out of that shithole."

 "Did you just do it on your own?" Quackity asked.

 Wilbur nodded. "I had money saved up. Tommy and I moved away and went to the town we live in now. Then he met Tubbo a year later, and now we're here. I had to change how I acted a bit, I used to be prone to random bursts of anger. Went to therapy, got Tommy therapy. Everything was going well."

 The other three looked like they wanted to ask more questions that Wilbur reaaally wasn't intent on answering, so he changed the subject. "Anyway, can I ask a question Sam? What did you mean about the creeper blood going insane when you drink?"

 Sam looked like he didn't want to change the subject, but he answered. "I'm a creeper hybrid, remember?" He said. "Alcohol will make me end up exploding shit. It's like my entire body is a molotov cocktail, it's insane."

 "So wait, you just burst into flames?"

 "Kinda, but I just kinda explode. I don't get injured, but it's like tiny explosions coming off my body. It's not a fire, the difference between fire and explosions is that explosions moves a lot quicker. This is the same, except there's a lot of it."

  Wilbur nodded, before a part of the conversation hit him. The difference between fire and explosions is that explosions moves a lot quicker. The difference between fire and explosions is that explosions moves a lot quicker.

                        Wilbur had an idea.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Wilbur explained his plan to everyone. Jack had gone home and Ranboo and Tubbo had been kicked out. That meant it was Niki, Puffy, Schlatt, Quackity, Charlie, Sam, and Wilbur. They were all in the main room of the casino, and Wilbur passed as he talked. The others listened intently.

 "Wilbur, I think it's a good plan, and I'd agree on it, but I need to ask you a question," Sam said. "Where does your loyalty lie?"

 "What do you mean?" Wilbur asked, stopping from where he was walking. He twisted the bottom of his hoodie, a nervous habit of his.

 "Who are you the most loyal to? If one of us were hurt but you had a chance to save your brother, would you leave that person for dead?" He asked. "I know it's an extreme question, but people will do terrible things in situations like these."

 "With my brother, always," Wilbur replied. "But that doesn't mean I'd leave someone else to die just for a chance to get him. If something happens, I'd help someone else even if I lose the chance to get Philza's wings."

  The group looked at each other, before Sam spoke again. "Alright. I'm in then." It wasn't long before everyone else agreed. The casino doors then opened.

  "Well, that actually is a really good plan! I thought I'd have to help you," A familiar voice said. Wilbur turned, seeing Dream and two others walk into the casino. One of them had googles on and a cyan shirt that said 404. The other wore a white shirt with a flame on it, and a white bandana. Dream stood in between the two, mask hiding his face.

  "Who the fuck is that?" Schlatt asked. 

 "I'm Dream," He said. "I'm the one who told Wilbur about this. Nice to meet you all! These are my friends, Sapnap and George."

  "Hey guys," George said. Sapnap waved at him, but he didn't look to enthusiastic. In fact, he almost looked nervous.

 "Now Wilbur, can you say that plan? We only heard the end of it."

  Wilbur nodded. "I thought that if we can lure Philza away from The Blood God, Sam could manage to cause an explosion to knock him out of the air. We could lure him somewhere and have TNT already set up, so that when Sam sets it off it'll cause a large explosion."

  "That's a good idea," Dream said. "But you don't know how to lure him away, do you? I can solve that problem for you."

 "How?" Niki spoke up.

 "The Blood God and I had some...business a long time ago. He owed me a favor, repayed it, and thought we were done. But if I ask Philza to meet me somewhere, because of my ties with The Blood God, Philza will come. Although, he'll probably try to come as well. You guys should take care of The Blood God, too."

  "Alright then, let's get started preparing," Puffy said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  It was a few days later when they put it into action. They had set up a cave full of explosives, and Dream gave them all comms. They were just little devices that they strapped to their wrists, but they used them to communicate with each other.

 Charlie was left at the casino to make sure Tubbo and Ranboo didn't try and follow. Sam headed to the cave and Puffy, Niki, Quackity, Sam, and Wilbur headed towards where Dream had said The Blood God was. Wilbur had been helped in setting up an ender stasis chamber. When Philza got to the cave, which was far from where they were heading, Sam would activate it and teleport him.

  "This isn't were they lived when I went after them," Quackity said, as they were walking. "They were in the artic, which was freezing cold."

  "I guess they like to move around a lot," Puffy said, before sarcastically adding, "I wonder why."

 "Mysterious cabins just keep popping up for them, I guess," Wilbur said. Wilbur could see it now, and it made him feel sick.

  "Yeah, ma-OH MY FUCKING GOD!" Schlatt yelled, just barely blocking an attack. It looked like The Blood God had enderpearled here, since he just suddenly appeared and tried to murder someone.

  "Shit, shit, surround him!" Quackity yelled, and they did, moving away but forming a circle around him. The bastard didn't seem to mind, he looked like he'd done this a million times.

  His eyes narrowed at Wilbur. "Where's Ranboo?" He asked, something threatening in his voice. Wilbur kept his mouth shut, and Niki went in for an attack. He blocked it, and Puffy came in front behind. He kicked Niki away and slashed at Puffy, missing. Niki rolled onto her feet, and Wilbur, Quackity, and Schlatt went in for an attack.

  The Blood God did swung his sword in a horizontal arc, forcing them all to back up to avoid getting hit. It kind of reminded Wilbur how kids would play Octopus on the playground, by spinning in a circle with a jump rope and having the others jump over it.

  Quackity used his wings to propell himself forward, nicking The Blood God's arm a few times. He almost got stabbed in the face as a result, but instead got stabbed in the shoulder. 

  Niki, who had brought a crossbow with her that was slung over her shoulder, grabbed it and loaded it. She shot at The Blood God using a multishot II bow, but he got out of the way in time. Wilbur swung at The Blood God, but his axe got blocked. He pulled away, and slammed the axe into the ground. A fire erupted in between the two, causing The Blood God to jump back. Wilbur jumped over the flames and swung a few times, cutting his shirt a bit and making blood spill. But then, he was knocked to the side and onto the ground.

  The Blood God raised his sword to end Wilbur, but Schlatt smashed a bottle over his head, causing him to stumble. It seemed to be a potion of harming. Wilbur grabbed his axe and slammed the flat side twice onto The Blood God's head, causing him to fall unconscious, his hair covering his face when he hit the ground. He raised his axe to kill him, but stopped when someone yelled "Wait!"

  It was Niki. "Did he have anything to do with Tommy's kidnapping? Or is he someone who could be left out of it?"

  "Dream only said that Death did it."

 "Then don't kill him if he doesn't deserve it."

  Before Wilbur could tell her it was to late for mercy, his comm pinged. He checked the message, and his heart stopped. The Angel had arrived at the cave. He looked up at the group, before disappearing as the ender stasis chamber was activated.

Chapter Text

Wilbur landed in the cave, stumbling a bit from the sudden teleportation but getting his balance quickly. He couldn't see Sam, but he could see Philza standing in the cave. A compass was in his hand, the one Dream had given him. The cave was large, with some weeds and a pool of water, amethyst hanging from the ceiling above.

 "Ayup," Wilbur said, walking towards him. "Funny seeing you here, innit?"

  Philza turned around, eyes going wide with shock before he took his katana out of its sheath. "What are you doing here?"

 Wilbur laughed humorlessly. "I'll give you three guesses," He said. "Why do you think you got that compass?"

  "So wait, Dream.." Philza said, looking down at the compass. He dropped it. "This was a fucking trap?!"

  Wilbur clapped his hands together. "Bingo! We had to separate you from The Blood God and make sure he didn't come after you someway, didn't we?" 

  "Oh my gods..." Philza muttered, before yelling. "What did you do to him?" 

 Wilbur smiled. "What I had to. Call me selfish all you want, but I need to get my brother back no matter the cost." He put his hands in his pockets, his right hand closing around the potion of fire resistance he had. Philza stared at him, looking confused. How dare he? How dare he look as though he didn't realize how much fucking pain Wilbur has felt not knowing where his little brother was?

 Knowing that Tommy was going to be killed? Well, key word was. Many things had happened to him and Tommy before, but one thing about Tommy's death here was sure. "It was never meant to be." 

 Wilbur downed the potion as a creeper hiss filled the air. Philza took off, to get away, but it was to late. Explosions filled the cave, throwing Wilbur backwards and into some dirt. He curled up, hands over his ears. God, he knew what he was doing but it was so fucking loud. He'd be okay, but his heart was racing anyway.

 It felt like hours, but it finally stopped. He stood up, grabbing his axe, before looking to where Philza was. He had probably wrapped his wings around himself to protect his body from the explosion. Now, his wings were burnt and broken. Wilbur walked towards him. He had done it! He did it! All he had to do was chop the wings off and Tommy would be back!

  But as he got closer, his joy subsided, and a heavy feeling filled his chest. A feeling of...guilt. Why guilt? He didn't have anything to be guilty about! Philza deserved this!

Then again, did he really know about what happened to Tommy? He seemed...genuinely confused. What if he didn't know? As Wilbur thought about this, it occured to him that he never saw any real evidence that Tommy was taken, just his backpack on the ground and Dream. But if it actually happened, Wilbur would be giving up this chance.

 This kind of reminded Wilbur of when he was 15 and Tommy was 8. They were in the same foster home at the time, and they had found a dying crow on the sidewalk. Tommy had cried about it, and Wilbur promised him that it would be okay. Wilbur picked it up and brought it to the woods, but it died in his hands. Wilbur told Tommy it was just sleeping and they forgot about it, until now. Wilbur felt like he was in that situation again, except he was the one who was killing it.

  This was a means to an end, he knew it. He needed Tommy, if Wilbur failed him he wouldn't know what to do with himself. But if Dream was lying, he ripped off the wings of an innocent person. "Where does your loyalty lie?" Where does my loyalty lie?

 With Tommy, forever with no question. Tommy could murder someone and Wilbur would bury the body, no questions asked. But could Wilbur do this for his little brother? He raised the axe, trying to make himself do it. "I..." He needed to, this was his chance! "I'm..." But if he did, would he be selfishly killing somebody? "I'm..." He dropped the axe. "I'm so fucking sorry."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  When the explosions start, Phil felt like he was going to die. He wrapped his wings around himself for protection, but fell out of the air in the process. And now he was here, unable to move and only half conscious. Did they do the same thing to Techno? Phil tried to get up, he really did, but he couldn't. He just fucking couldn't, and he was going to die. Ironic, considering he was Death's husband. But she wasn't allowed to step in.

  He could hear the person walking over to him. Panic flooded his veins, but it wasn't like he could do anything. I don't want to die! But it seemed like he was going to. But then, the axe hit the ground.

  "I'm so fucking sorry." He was...what? He had did this just to apologize. "Oh god, Tommy...I hope I'm right, I'd fucking kill myself if I wasn't." Tommy? Who was Tommy? There was shuffling behind him as he knelt down, and Phil felt something get poured over his wings. A potion of healing. It wouldn't fix everything, but it would certainly fix most of the damage before he could get his hands onto a potion of regeneration. Pouring them on a wound didn't work as well as drinking them, but it worked.

 "Jesus, what was I thinking? What am I thinking?" He heard. The person got up, and Phil listened to them walk away. It was awhile before he was able to sit up again, still in pain but not in as much pain. The person was gone.

Chapter Text

Apparently Sam had been knocked out when the explosion went off. Wilbur found him half-conscious, and laying on a bunch of rocks. He had to help him walk back to Las Nevadas, where the others were talking outside of the casino.

 "Oh my god, Sam!" Quackity yelled, running over to them. Sam had woken up a bit more. He was handed a potion of healing, and drank it gratefully. When he was asked if he was okay, he got a nod.

  "Wilbur! Did it work? Did you get him?" Ranboo asked. Tubbo peered behind him as Wilbur let go of Sam so he could walk, hoping to see wings.

  "No, it didn't work. Thanks for your help though, everyone," Wilbur said.

 "No problem," Niki said. "But what do we do now?"

  Wilbur felt emotionally and physically drained, conflicted and confused. But he knew what he had to do. "I think...I think I have to talk to Dream."

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 Wilbur woke up when the sun was just rise in the next day, another nightmare startling him from his sleep. He was already planning this, so he might as well just start early. He left Las Nevadas, walking back into the woods. He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Dream! DREAM!"

  "No need to yell so loud," A voice from behind him said. Wilbur turned, seeing Dream and George. Sapnap was gone. Dream's mask was resting on his hair, his face a mixture of anger and something that looked...psychotic. He sprinted towards Wilbur, and decked him in the face. Wilbur stumbled back, holding his hand where he had been hit.

 "What were you thinking?!" Dream yelled. "You were so close, so fucking close! Why would you spare The Angel after ALL OF THAT?! Don't you care about your brother?!" Dream grabbed the collar of his sweater. "So tell me Wilbur, why the hell did you back out after you were so close?!"

  Wilbur kneed him in the stomach, backing away. "Because I finally decided to start asking some questions," Wilbur yelled. "How do I know that you weren't lying?! How do I know that Death wasn't actually the one who took Tommy?"

  Dream stared at him, before he began to laugh. It was a horrible awful sound, one that Wilbur was sure belonged in his nightmares. It was like all of the insanity in the world, across all 10 realities, had been placed into one single person. "Hey Wilbur, look at this," George said, tossing him something. A piece of paper, a Polaroid picture.

  It was of two people, outside of a courthouse. One was around 12, with bright blonde hair and and shining blue eyes. The other was a teenager, a young adult, with curly brown hair and glasses. Wilbur didn't have to look at the writing on the back to know when this was. It was the day that Wilbur had won the court case, that he had finally became Tommy's legal guardian. That Tommy and Wilbur would be out of that nightmare, but unknowingly going into the next years later.

  "He had that on him when Dream dragged him kicking and screaming into Esempii," George told him. Wilbur's mouth dropped open, and Dream lunged at him. He reached towards something hanging from his side, a netherite sword. He slashed it across Wilbur's chest, making a cut that was deep and would become very fatal very quickly. Wilbur screamed, agony filling every nerve of his body, causing him to collapse onto his knees

  Dream grabbed his chin, making him to look up at him. "You should have just done what I had asked. I would have killed you both anyway, but at least you would have met in the afterlife. Now you won't even have that." Dream kicked him in the side, making him curl up on the ground.

   "Thanks for nothing, Wilbur Soot," George said, before the two walked away. Wilbur watched them go, until he was all alone again. Bleeding and dying on the forest floor, having failed his little brother. I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I can't let Tommy die!

  I won't let Tommy die. Suddenly, the despair that Wilbur had been feeling turned into red hot rage. How dare Dream do this to him? Dare Dream kidnap his little brother? Wilbur used this rage to sit up, ignoring the pain and dragging himself across the forest floor. "Help me..." He croaked out, barely able to speak, every word filling him with pain. Then he got louder. "Help me! HELP ME, SOMEONE, PLEASE!" 

  It could have been hours, days, months, or even merely minutes. Wilbur crawled across the forest floor, unsure of how far he was getting. But he did probably didn't get very far until he was unable to go anymore. "Help me.." He muttered. "Please..."

  He knew that falling asleep would would be the end of him. But he couldn't help himself from falling in between consciousness and unconsciousness. Suddenly, he heard something against the silence. Footsteps, voices. Something soft was placed against his chest, and someone pressed down on it. He felt himself be taken away from the forest floor. He couldn't open his eyes to see who had picked him up before he blacked out completely.

Chapter Text

By the time Phil was able to leave the cave, Techno was already on his way to find him. The side of his head was a bit bloody and he had been cut by a weapon a couple of times, but he had still gone out to find Phil. They met when Phil was about 1/3 the way home.

  Techno surprised Phil a bit by immediately hugging him. Phil returned the gesture, the two standing like that for only a few moments before Techno returned to his usual monotonous behavior. "Are you okay?" He asked, as they started to walk back. "Your wings look hurt."

  "They're healing mate, I'll be fine. We need to fix you up when you get home, nevermind me. But something weird happened, when I was there."

 "Oh? What was it?"

 Phil told him how weird the mercanery had been acting, and how he had said that he needed to get his little brother back. Techno looked intruged at what he was saying. "Dream, ironically, is a Dreamon, right? What if he took the mercanery's little brother to Esempii?"

  Phil nodded. "That's what I was thinking! I think he was tricked into believing Kristin had something to do with it, since he called her selfish during our first fight. And Dream doesn't really like either of us, so along with being a megalomaniac it's not surprising he'd do this."

 "You've gotta give the mercanery credit though, if this is true," Techno said. "He came from Pandora's Box, not even knowing about all this stuff. He's gotta be an extremely dedicated older brother to fight and win against us."

  "He just got lucky, that's all," Phil said, causing Techno to laugh. "That's how he did this. But that doesn't explain why he's got Ranboo with him."

  "Maybe we could spy on him or something, to figure it out," Techno said. "Can you send a crow after him?"

 "When we get back, I'll send one to go find him. I'm sure the majority of them are going to assure Kristin I'm alright. Or to make fun of me for getting blown up by a human from Pandora."

  When the two arrived back at home, Techno had to get some glass shards out of his head before he could heal. He drank a health pot and wrapped a bandage around the wound. Health and regeneration potions were useful, but not always effective in healing the wound fully.

 Phil drank a regeneration pot, before bandaging his own injuries. He only bandages the part of his wings that connected to his back, because that was the most damaged part during the explosion. 

  Suddenly, wind filled the room, and Phil closed his wings up so that it wouldn't make him slam into a wall. Techno and Phil turned around, seeing a woman. She wore a black sunhat with a veil, a lilac colored shirt with puffy sleeves, a long purple skirt, and heeled boots. Her wings weren't visible in this form. Phil wasn't surprised, but most people would be. Many thought Death was just a skeleton in a robe.

 "Oh my gods, are you guys okay?" She asked. "I saw what happened and almost murdered Clara, but she still didn't let me go help. Then the crows came." Clara was basically the universe itself,She was the one who made it so Kristin and XD, aka Life, couldn't do much to interfere with mortals.

  "I'm okay, Kristin," Phil said. Techno nodded to reassure her. "Do you have any idea who that was?"

  "No clue, I was never able to get a read on who he was a XD wouldn't tell me," Kristin told him. "But he's definitely 24, and desperate as hell. For what? I don't know."

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 Kristin stayed there through the night, even though most of the time she'd have to leave by then. Phil ended up waking up to her clinging to him in her sleep, around dawn. He smiled, but managed to pry her away from him and get up. He probably wouldn't have been going back to sleep for awhile, he never could once he woke up, so he got dressed and headed into the kitchen. 

  He made himself some coffee and stood in the kitchen drinking it, when Techno came running into the room. "Phil," He said, and Phil was taken aback by the urgency in his voice. "There's something wrong, I don't know what it is but Chat is freaking out about it."

 Chat was the voices he had in his head, piglin instincts. Most of the time they were annoying little shits or just straight up bloodthirsty, but they also served as good warnings for things. Techno paused, like he was listening, before sprinting out the door. Phil followed, keeping his pace. "I don't know who they're talking about," He said, as he was running. "I keep hearing the name Wilbur, though."

  The two stopped when they heard a voice. Distant and low, but soon it became louder. It didn't take long to realize that it was someone crying out, in a pained voice, for help. "HELP ME, SOMEONE, PLEASE!"

  Phil took off, staying low to the ground but following the cries. Techno ran after him. The yelling soon died out, but now Phil had a direction. He saw a body on the ground below him, and landed. The person was laying face down, hands outstretched like they were trying to drag themselve across the ground. Phil regonized that yellow sweater, and the mop of brown curls that rested underneath a beanie. It was the mercanery.

  "Holy shit, it's him," Techno muttered from behind him. "I guess his friends weren't so trustworthy." Techno knelt down, flipping the mercanery onto his back. He'd been stabbed in the chest, the wound stretching across and bleeding heavily. Phil, without thinking, took his coat off to try and stop the bleeding.

   "Phil, look at this," Techno muttered, reaching to something the mercanery had in his hand and picking it up. Phil took it, and Techno took the job of putting pressure on the wound. They both knew why. A life for a life, after all.

  The picture showed a young version of this mercanery and a little kid. They both looked overjoyed, the mercanery's arm around the kid and the kid looking like he was jumping into the air to cheer. Phil flipped the photo over. Winning the court case, Wilbur and Tommy. May 15th, 2016.

  "This must be Wilbur then," Phil said, tucking the picture into his pocket. "We would bring him back, to heal him and get some answers." Techno nodded in agreement, and picked him up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Miles away, the casino had opened. Ranboo and Tubbo were allowed to hang out around Quackity, who was currently dealing to a bunch of people. They were playing blackjack, apparently. Suddenly, the door burst opened and someone ran in. Ranboo regonized him as Sapnap. At least, he hoped it was Sapnap. A quick check to his memory book confirmed that.

  Sapnap ran over to them, knocking into some people but not saying anything. "Guys!" He yelled, pushing his way to them. His eyes were full of an emotion. It took Ranboo a minute to regonize it, but he did. It was guilt. "Something happened. There's something that you don't know...about Dream, Wilbur, all of it."

Chapter Text

"What's going on?" Ranboo asked, standing up. "Do you know where Wilbur is? We thought he went on a walk, what's happening?"

Sapnap stared at him, regret in his eyes. It occured to Ranboo that there were cuts on his arm, like a vine covered in thorns had wrapped around it. He looked disheveled, like he had been in a fight. "We weren't truthful with you, when all this shit began."

 "Charlie!" Quackity yelled. "Come deal the cards! I'll be back in a bit." He led Tubbo, Ranboo, and Quackity into the back. They found Schlatt and Sam, Niki and Puffy had gone home the previous night. "What do you mean you haven't been truthful?" He asked, once everyone was there.

 "Tommy was taken, he really was, but he was never taken by Death..." Sapnap said, looking at the ground. "The person who really took him...it was Dream."

 It was silent for a second, before the room erupted into yells. Quackity in anger, Sam is disbelief, Schlatt in anger, and Tubbo in panic. Sapnap took a few steps back, eyes flashing wide with what looked like fear. Ranboo felt a tingling in his arms and legs, a feeling he regonized when he had just stopped enderwalking. "⌇⊑⎍⏁ ⎍⌿!" He practically screamed, noting the unintentional use of ender speak.

  Everybody did, shocked by his anger. Now, Ranboo couldn't remember much. According to his memory book, Niki was his first friend that he could remember. Puffy helped him find the cabin. He found it a bit hard to trust people at times, since he could be scammed because of his memory issues. But Wilbur, he knew Wilbur was genuine. Paranoid as fuck, but a genuinely good person who cared about the people around him. A good friend, a good brother. Ranboo knew this. And on his behalf, Ranboo was fucking furious.

 "Explain," Ranboo said, his voice lower but still just as angry. "If Dream took Tommy, why was Wilbur told that Death did?"

 "Because we wanted to get rid of Philza and Technoblade. We had hired countless mercanaries and soldiers to kill them, but each of them failed. We thought that if someone was driven by money, that wouldn't be enough for them to put everything they've got into it. That's why we started looking for someone like Wilbur, someone who's desperation and determined to get someone they were close to back would make them put everything into fighting."

 The room was silent, before Ranboo grabbed Sapnap by the front of his shirt. "You knowingly sent Wilbur INTO A FUCKING DEATH TRAP?!"

 Sapnap stared at him, eyes wide and fearful. Ranboo gave zero fucks, thank you very much. "You made Wilbur, a desperate human who had no idea how to fight go after someone who was innocent in this situation and try and kill him?! When countless people died to these people?!"

 Sapnap hesitated, but nodded. "That's why I came to you," He said, in a quiet voice. "Wilbur lied to you guys about failing. He succeeded, he knocked Philza out of the sky. But he backed out, he couldn't do it. Dream and George, they want to kill him now. I don't know if they did."

 "Did you try and stop them?!" Tubbo yelled, voice panicked.

 "I did, I tried!" Sapnap said, pushing Ranboo away. He held up his arm, still bleeding. "How do you think I got this? They tried to kill me, I got away. That's why I came here, to warn you guys. Please tell me Wilbur is still here."

 "He went out! We thought he'd be back soon!" Sam said, his voice panicked.

 "Then we need to look for him," Sapnap said. "And...there's something else I need to tell you Ranboo."

Ranboo tilted his head to the side. Sapnap looked even more guilty now. "Ranboo...you've got memory issues don't you?" Ranboo nodded. Sapnap sighed, clearly not happy with this situation. "Dream is the reason for that."

 Ranboo stared at him, before the shriek of an enderman and something bird like mixed came from his throat. "WHAT?!" He shrieked.

 Everyone in the room covered their ears. "Stop!" Sapnap yelled. "Let me explain, let me explain! Holy shit, Ranboo."

 Ranboo stopped his screaming, just for a moment, so Sapnap could explain. "You...you were good friends with Philza and The Blood God, Technoblade. Technoblade was training you. Dream attacked you, he took your memory. I don't know why, but George and I regrettably agreed with it. I'm assuming you have something like...a different form? I don't know how to explain it. It happens as a side effect of the spell, probably because your memories are trying to break free."

 "Enderwalking," Ranboo told him. "That's why I enderwalk."

 Ranboo took a deep breath. He needed to stay calm. Stay calm and don't let it happen. "We need to find him..." he finally said. "I'll get Puffy and Niki, you guys look for him. Someone keep an eye on Sapnap."

 The others nodded, and Ranboo teleported away. Dream, that bastard. He'd pay for this. He'd pay for everything he'd done.

Chapter Text

Everything was so LOUD, it was to LOUD, but there was NOTHING and Tommy just wanted to go home. The lack of stimulation was driving him insane, he needed something, anything, nothing but THE FUCKING SILENCE he'd been left in. He screamed until his voice was raw, he cried out for someone, anyone, but nobody came. Nobody nobody nobody NOBODY NOBODY NOBODY!!!! Was Wilbur even looking for him? Maybe not. Maybe Wilbur wasn't looking for him, because he was annoying and worthless and he just wanted some FUCKING INTERACTION! Even those voices, those horrid voices, would be better than this. 

 Then he came, and he let Tommy hug him. Tommy pretended like he wasn't the one who took him here, like he wasn't the one who caused all this, because he needed interaction. They talked to each other. They played games. But before he left, he broke the news. Wilbur had been looking for him. Wilbur had failed. Wilbur was dead. Tommy screamed and cussed at him, but he only laughed. It COULDN'T be true. Wilbur COULDN'T be dead. It wasn't true, Wilbur wouldn't DIE to someone like him. That's what Tommy told him. He laughed. And then he left Tommy alone. With nothing nothing nothing NOTHING!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wilbur's eyes flew open, and he sat up, unable to get the feeling of the sword going through his chest out of his head. His breathing was uneasy and panicked, his ears were ringing. He didn't even think about calming himself down, or wondering why he was on a bed. Dream betrayed him. Dream was going to do something to Tommy, he was going to hurt Tommy. Wilbur was an ignorant fool, whatever happened was going to be his fault. Maybe something had happened. Maybe Wilbur was to late.

 He stumbled off the bed he was on, unable to think with his rushing thoughts. Failure. Fool. Look what you did, who you trusted. Where did it get you? He didn't bother looking around or figuring out where he was, he just stumbled over to the door and tried the handle. It was locked. So, whoever put him in here had locked him up. That only worsened his thoughts. 

 Without thinking much, he took a step back, before bashing his shoulder against the door. It shook in it's frame, but didn't break. His shoulder ached, though. He hit against it again. From outside, he could hear movement. Someone was coming towards the door. Panic flooded his veins, making it hard to breath and think. He looked around the room, desperate for something to protect himself.

 An idea hit him, and he grabbed one of the blankets off of the bed. He twisted it up and held both sides, the blanket now resembling a noose that was yet to be tied. Then, he hid next to the door and waited.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Look, Techno was just trying to read. That's all! He wasn't intimidating the mercanery or arguing with chat, he was just trying to read. Of course, that's when the mercanery woke up and decided the best course of action was to try and break the door down. Techno was the one who went to go open it, Phil and Kristin left sitting on the couch.

 Techno opened it, and stepped inside. The mercanery wasn't in here. Well, that's what Techno thought. Until suddenly, a fabric was thrown around his neck and pulled on, cutting off his airflow. His knee jerk reaction was to elbow the person in the chest with one arm and tear the cloth away from his neck with the other. The mercanery was a weak person, and he stumbled back into the wall.

 Phil and Kristin must've heard the commotion, because they both ran into the room. The mercanery had slid down against the wall, and was now staring up at them, knees against his chest. Techno noticed now how heavily he was breathing.  His eyes were flickering around, wide and full of panic. He wasn't looking for a way to attack, he was looking to escape. Phil was the first to say something.

 He knelt down, taking his katana from his sheath and placing it on the ground. "Hey mate," He said calmly. "I'm sorry we scared you. Are you okay?"

 The mercanery stared at him, the gears in his mind turning. He was probably thinking of a way to get around him, or his motives. He shook his head no. 

 "That's alright," Phil said, flashing him an easy smile. "Do you want us to go? We won't lock the door, but I don't think our presence will help you much."

 The mercanery nodded, and the three left the room. Techno was gonna stay by the door, just in case, but Phil made sure he didn't. Phil had also left his katana in the room. If Kristin thought this was dangerous, she didn't say anything.

 It wasn't long until the mercanery left the room, slowly walking into the living room. He hadn't picked up the katana. He eyed the group, wariness and distrust evident in his eyes. He looked like he hadn't fully calmed down yet. Kristin gestured to a chair. "Why don't you sit down?"

 The mercanery stayed where he was standing, his wary gaze turning into a cold glare. Kristin smiled. "If you sit, we can play a little game. I can assure you no harm, none at all, will come to you."

 He stayed silent for another moment. "...What game are you willing to play?" He mumbled.

 "You can ask us a question, and we have to answer," Kristin said. Techno would refuse, because no way he's letting someone from Pandora interrogate him, but she shot him a look before continuing. "And then we have to ask you a question that you have to answer. Sit, and you can ask first."

 The mercenary stared at her, before walking over to the chair and sitting down. He stared down at his hands, which rested in his lap, before speaking. "Are you Death?" He asked, after a moment.

 Kristin looked a bit surprised, but nodded. "Yes...how did you figure that out?"

 "Just a lucky guess, but I had a feeling," He said, and a small smile tugged at his lips. "Now I get another question, don't I? That was your first question."

 This kid knows how to get what he wants, Techno thought. Kristin nodded. "Yes, I guess you get another."

 "Are you going to kill me?" 

 "No. Why would you even-?" Phil asked, before realizing his error. "Jesus, your cheating at a winnerless game."

 The mercanery shrugged his shoulders, his smile a little more noticable. And a little sinister. "I get another question, and this one is to you Miss Death. Has a 17 year old named Tommy Innit-Soot died recently?"

 Kristin shook her head. "No, I don't believe so. Neither I or my angels have made an afterlife for someone going by that name." The mercanery seemed relieved at that, a little bit of tension draining from his shoulders.

 "Now it's our turn," Techno said. "There's a picture of someone who looks like you, and someone younger. It says you won a court case. What happened? Your Wilbur, correct?" Phil took the picture from his pocket, and handed it to the mercanery. He stared at it for a long while before answering.

 "It was a custody battle," He muttered. "I was trying to gain custody of Tommy, the blonde one. I was 19 when this picture was taken, he was 12. This was when I finally one. And yes, my name is Wilbur. I get two questions now, since that was two."

 "But you were cheating," Techno said.

 "I found a loophole, I wasn't cheating," Wilbur responded. "And I get two questions. Do you know Dream, and what is he?"

 "Yes, we know Dream. I owed him a favor for something he helped me with," Techno said. "Dream is a Dreamon, with a very uncreative name. He lives in Esempii and feeds off of the souls of others."

 Wilbur tensed at that. They decided not to comment on that. "How do you know Ranboo?" Phil asked.

 "When I first came here, he was the first person who met up with me. He let me stay with him and has been helping me. Why do you wanna know?"

 "He's our friend, and I've been training him," Techno answered. "He went missing and we didn't know where he went. Where is he now?"

 Wilbur sat there, his leg bouncing. He didn't respond right away. "Wilbur, where is Ranboo?"

 "How do I know you aren't lying?" He asked after a moment. "How do I know you aren't like Dream?"

  "Honestly, you can't," Phil said. "But I promise, none of us are lying to you."

 Wilbur just stared at him, eyes wide and scared, but focused. He clearly hadn't fully calmed down, and this conversation wasn't helping him feel any better. "Don't look at me like that," He muttered. "I hate when people fuckin' study me like that, like a bug under a microscope."

 "Wilbur," Kristin said, taking a step towards him. She wanted to calm him, but that only seemed to make things worse.

 "Don't!" He yelled, jumping up and taking a step back. "Don't... don't do that. Please."

 "I won't, don't worry," Kristin said, not moving from where she was. Her voice was calm, motherly.  "You don't know if we're not lying, I know that. But we don't know if your lying as well. It's a matter of trust, of trusting that we won't lie to each other."

 Wilbur didn't respond, he only nodded. He didn't sit down again, though. "I wanna ask you one last question," Kristin said. "You don't have to answer. Did you come here thinking we took Tommy?"

 He hesitated, before nodding. "Dream told me..he told me that you did. But I was a fool, and now Tommy is probably dead because I believed him. Goddamnit, I'm so fucking sorry." Tears began to slip down his face, but he quickly wiped them away. 

 "We can help you get him back y'know," Kristin said. Now, Techno would have refused. He would have, since this guy knocked him out and tried to murder Phil. But he just seemed so genuine, and really broken. So Techno didn't disagree.

 Wilbur looked up at them, eyes wide and filled with emotion. Hope. "You can, really?"

 Kristin nodded, and Phil and Techno did the same. "Yes, really."

Chapter Text

Wilbur has hope, he really does. But that doesn't stop the paranoia in his brain, telling him not to trust these three. His feet tapped against the ground, and he watched as Kristin goes to get him a drink from the kitchen. He can see the kitchen from here, so he doesn't have any worries about it being poisoned. Mostly.

He doesn't trust Technoblade. Technoblade keeps eyeing him, Wilbur hates when people do that. Phil seemed better, he seemed more trustworthy, but Wilbur still couldn't trust him. Kristin was probably the most trustworthy. His thoughts are rushing, rushing, rushing around and he can't think properly. Cool it, Wilbur. You need to clear your head. For Tommy's sake. Kristin came back in with a glass of water, which Wilbur drank gratefully.

 "Wilbur, we're gonna have to think of a way to do things now. Your brother won't be killed, but he'll basically be dead if we wait long enough," Phil said. "I can't surgarcoat it, that's the reality. But we can still save him."

 Wilbur tapped his fingers against his leg, thinking. He hated the facts, but he knew Phil was right. "We need to go then, we need to save him."

 "We'll be able to get Tommy after," Kristin said. "Dreamons have their own little sections of Esempii, where they can torment their own souls. Dream will know we're there, and will be able to put us all through hell. Not me, but definitely the rest of you."

 "Can't you just kill him? Your Death," Wilbur said.

 "I can't," Kristin replied. "The universe itself has rules in place so I can't use my power like that. I can only take away death and make someone immortal, life isn't something for me to take. I could ask Life to do it for us, but I know for a fact that he won't. He never takes favors."

 What an asshole, Wilbur thought. He felt tired, so goddamn tired, even though he had just been asleep. He felt like he hadn't slept in years, and he felt like even the shadows were out to get him. He wondered if the others were worried about him. How long had it been since he left? He should have written a note. Another idiotic move.

 "Wilbur, why don't you try and sleep?" Kristin asked. 

 "No, no way," Wilbur said immediately, shaking his head. He wasn't going to fall for that, no goddamn way.

 "You won't be any use to him if your exhausted. Going into Esempii means you need to have a clear head, and if your exhausted then it'll be easier for him to get into your head. I'll give you the key to one of the rooms so we can't get in."

 Wilbur sighed. Kristin gave him the key, an old fashioned silver one. He knew Kristin was probably right, he needed to sleep. He took the key from her and went back to the room they gave him. He thought it'd take longer for him to fall asleep, but it didn't take long at all. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

 It wasn't long before Wilbur woke up from a nightmare. Goddamnit. He fucking hated nightmares, it made it so much harder to go back to sleep, especially without having anything to help with his insomnia.

 Tommy had died in the nightmare. Ranboo had as well. Everyone he met here had died and Wilbur was to powerless to stop it. Dream had killed them, had killed Tommy in front of him, and he was laughing and laughing and LAUGHING so much. Wilbur woke up after that, thank god. 

 Suddenly, the door open. Wilbur looked up, eyes wide. He was sure he had locked it. Philza came in, a key in hand. "Hey mate," He said, ignoring Wilbur's glare. "Sorry I barged in like this, but I was worried."

 "Well, don't be," Wilbur snapped. He didn't feel bad about doing that, even though Philza was worried. Not at all. Totally. (He did.) "I'm fine."

 "But you were screaming," Philza told him. He grabbed a chair that by the desk and spun it around, sitting in it so that he was facing Wilbur. "I'm assuming it was a nightmare? It'd be even more concerning if it wasn't."

 Wilbur was going to argue, but couldn't find energy for it. "Yes, it was a nightmare. Happy now? Can you get out, Philza?"

 Philza stared at him for a second. "Call me Phil. And what was it about? If you go back to sleep now, your bound to have it again. Techno used to have nightmares like that."

 "Why would Technoblade even have those sorts of nightmares? Isn't he basically unbeatable?" Wilbur asked, but he then regretted it. That was a kind of personal question, wasn't it?

 "There's a lot of history behind it, that's not mine to tell," Philza said. "But he wasn't always such a force of nature, and he used to get hurt a lot." 

 Wilbur only nodded. "I'm...sorry about that, I shouldn't have asked."

 Phil just shrugged. "It's alright, Wilbur. It's happened, it's over with."

 Wilbur nodded, and the two sat in silence, before he spoke again. "In my nightmare, everyone was dead. Dream killed them all, and I couldn't do anything. He killed Tommy right in front of me."

 "Well, that won't happen," Phil told him. "I swear, you'll get your brother back."

 Once again, Wilbur felt more hope. He'd get Tommy back, and he'd have people who are said to be almost unbeatable on his side. Things would be okay. 

Mᔑꖌᒷ ᓭ⚍∷ᒷ t𝙹ᒲᒲ|| リᒷ⍊ᒷ∷ ꖎ𝙹ᓭᒷᓭ ⍑𝙹!¡ᒷ. I⎓ 𝙹リᒷ 𝙹⎓ ||𝙹⚍ ⊣╎⍊ᒷᓭ ⚍!¡, ||𝙹⚍'ꖎꖎ ᔑꖎꖎ ↸╎ᒷ.

Chapter Text

 It didn't take long for them to get to the cabin. Ranboo was in front of the group, and he raised his fist, hesitantly knocking on the door. He heard shuffling, and Quackity put a hand on his shoulder to steady him. The door opened, and Philza met them. "What the fuck-?" He gasped, his eyes widening. A crow sat on his shoulder. "Ranboo?"

 "Uh, hi!" Ranboo replied. "Funny story, I can't remember anything and Sapnap claims I know you. We need help." Philza's eyes widened, and he nodded, moving out of the way to let them in. Tubbo, Sam, Quackity, Niki, and Schlatt had come with them, and they all stepped inside. Puffy hadn't come, she had business to attend to. Charlie had to keep the casino running, since they didn't know how long it'd be closed for, but Quackity had wanted to come.

 Technoblade was talking to a young woman, both sitting in the couch. They both turned their heads, seeing the group, and seeing Ranboo. "Ranboo!" Technoblade said, jumping up. He looked relieved. The woman looked relieved as well. 

 "Um, hi," Ranboo said, waving. "So, um, I can't exactly remember anything and Sapnap claims I'm your friend and I guess that's true cause of your reactions? We need help, and I kinda wanna get my memories back, so I thought the best place would be to come here."

 "You can't-?" Technoblade cut himself off. "Okay. We can help, but what do you need help with?"

 "I know you probably don't like him, but Wilbur Soot is missing. He's the um...he's the guy who tried to kill you. He's not a bad guy, I swear, but he's gone."

 Just then, a door in the hallway opened and someone ran towards the living room. His eyes went wide as Wilbur, who looked fucking exhausted, ran into view, eyes wide. He wasn't hurt, thank the gods. "Wilbur!" The whole group, save for Philza, Technoblade, and the woman said.

 "Are you okay?!" Niki asked, which Wilbur nodded in response for. 

 Tubbo ran over to him, and immediately grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "If you ever do that again, and I mean ever, I will fucking kill you," He said, before hugging Wilbur. 

 "Ditto," Ranboo said, going to hug him as well. 

 "Yeah yeah, sorry about that guys," He said. "I promise that won't happen again." He then noticed Sapnap, and his body went rigid. His eyes went wide, and it looked like his fight or flight instinct was seconds from kicking in. Sapnap put his hands up in a surrender position.  

 It took a few minutes to get Wilbur to only slightly trust Sapnap, but it was clear Wilbur was desperate for anything that would help him. Ranboo would put a knife in Sapnap's back if he betrayed them without hesitation, so he wasn't as worried as he probably should have been. Now that they were back with Wilbur, Ranboo knew what would be his top priority. Making a plan and getting Tommy back.

 Nobody could really come up with anything though. Nobody knew what Esempii was really like, and the final plan consisted of just storming it and finding Dream. Kristin couldn't help though, it was part of the rules of being Death. She was really pissed off about that. Niki went to get Puffy, and while she was gone, Wilbur asked a question.

 "How are we gonna get in?" He asked. "Isn't it another reality?"

 "We can teleport in, but that takes a lot of magic. We need to use portals," Phil replied. He brought the group down to a basement of some sorts, to a room with a Nether portal in it. A bookshelf sat nearby, and he looked through it, before grabbing a notebook. He wrote in it, tore the paper out, and threw it into a portal. Suddenly, the portal's color changed to green.

 "We have weapons, everybody get geared up," Kristin said. She brought them to another basement room, full of an assortment of weapons and armor. 

 Philza led Ranboo over to a set of armor. It was netherite with swirling enchantments on it. An enchanted netherite sword was in the armor stand's hand. "This was your set," He said. "You always wore a cloak with it. I can get it out for you if you want, and you can wear this set maybe?"

 Ranboo looked towards it. He grabbed it off the set, jamming the helmet onto his head as Philza ran off in some other direction. He was just finishing putting on the leg parts when Philza came back with a long purple coat. It had a clasp that looked like an eye of ender. Ranboo took it from him and put it on. "Thanks," He said, a word with Philza smiled at.

 Once everyone was prepared, they all hesitated for a second, but heading through the portal.

 Somewhere else, a masked man smiled, a god watched the game begin, and the universe herself screamed.