Chapter Text
Wilbur dies.
it’s not an accident, it’s fate. every Wilbur loses, every Wilbur dies, and every Wilbur returns to his Mother. in no timeline, will lie a Wilbur who is happy, healthy and still Wilbur.
he dies, after destroying his country in one of them, lies in a peaceful void and moves on. in another, he’s in hell, screaming and screaming and screaming until a train stops and it’s for him. then once more he dies after winning a war for his kingdom, then the cycle repeats.
he falls and falls and falls, every single time. that is fate.
until it isn’t, and his Mother is finally tired of watching Her son descend into madness and never be able to heal.
“no no no…” She says, rushing towards the timeline, not again, not again. She clicks Hertongue against Her mouth. dammit, She thinks. “he’s dead again,” it’s something like sadness, as She watches her spark flicker out and sizzle into the air. can She not do anything about this? this is so unfair.
and he comes back to Her collections, and the soul is placed in between the little cracks of pain and sadness that Her shelf holds and she wishes that he would never go there.
and it’s not like She wants him to break the natural order, no, not at all. he was just never supposed to die, not yet, and certainly not from sadness.
but every timeline, he dies, and dies, and She is sick of it. sick of this cruel game It plays with Her.
Wilbur’s always been alone, Her son, he never had anything, not even his Mother. no matter how close She watched, Wilbur always felt like he was alone. She doesn’t want her son to think he’s alone, because he isn’t. She’s watching from Her place outside of the servers.
he never realizes, he never feels Her there, never feels Her wish for him to live longer.
he never realizes how close She watches.
and he also never realizes how in every life, She makes him meet the same people.
a family of three, a brave cow, a calm pig, and a lovely bird. he never realizes that She makes him meet them, in every server, and every life. why? because they are Her hope.
they make Wilbur happy, and when Wilbur is happy, he wishes to live. they care for Wilbur and so he wants to live, wants to exist. and even if She is his birthparent, She can’t give Wilbur the love and care he wants until he dies and disappears from the server forever. so She relies on them.
but they fail, they fail every time. (She tries not to be bitter about it, and most days, She succeeds.)
they fail, and their family ends up in smoke and ashes. it’s tiring, having so much hope for Her son but watching them fail in the end.
“I’m sorry my little spark.” She says, trying to remain calm and rational. but then She hears the calls of don’t worry-it’s my fault-i ruin them-it’s okay and She has to shake her head. “it’s not your fault, you just need time to heal and the right place.” She says, so soft and so caring, because it’s Her son, and She cares about him more than anything else.
every server he dies, and She wonders about something.
is there a server where Her son doesn’t die? and it’s not like She hasn’t searched before, She has, but servers get made every day. maybe there is a server where Her son can live! a new server. where families are still being pieced together and there’s still room for an extra…
so She takes Wilbur, the saddest one, and coos gently at him. the soul flickers between blue and yellow, slightly shifting to green. resignation, and sadness, but hatred is mixed in there too, somewhere.
when you are a soul outside of your server, you can never really tell how much time passes, the only reference you have are the fast paced images flickering by for each server. but even with that you can never quite be sure how much time passes.
this soul has been here for a relatively short time, but it’s oh so sad. and She feels so bad for it.
“Wilbur,” She says, and the soul looks at her, flickering in her hands. it’s small, smaller than the rest. which means he wasn’t fed well and he’s smaller than he should be.
(She pretends like Her heart doesn’t twist when she sees a slight purple around the edges, signaling fear.)
“my son,” She says, gently, holding him in Her hands. trying not to startle him as She looks around, looking at each server.
superheroes- no, definitely not. maybe royalty would do him good… being appreciated- actually, take that back, he suffered from self-hatred and gifted-kid-burnout last time She saw him in one of them.
She searches and searches for one, and eventually, She finds one.
still missing a piece, where the family is together, but is still missing a piece, it’s heart, it’s writer. and She smiles.
She glances down at the soul, and it looks back at Her. it’s so scared, but even if it’s scared, he still follows Her guide. because it’s his Mother, and when is She wrong?
She hums to him until he’s calm and no longer worried, and the brown turns to a neutral gray. he’s calm, great. “this will hurt, only a little.” She says, gently lowering him into the server, into the heart of it. and She hears him keen, screech almost, and She hushes him. gently inserting him into the fabric of the world.
“‘s okay ‘s okay, I’m right here Wilbur I’m not going anywhere.” She says softly, but the soul continues to wail and scream and it must feel like his body is being taken apart and put back together with stitches and glue.
She pities him, but reinserting a dead soul will always be painful. “it’ll all be over soon,” She says, watching the world wrap around him and fold him into it’s being. making a place for him amongst the already set laws, and her eyes soften as She watches him calm. watches him fold himself into the world and relax.
“I’ll see you at the end of this server,” She mumbles to him, waving him a goodbye and smiling as She watches him start to explore. start to fold into the world so intricately and so cheerfully, She begins to hope but the hope never stays for long, because behind Her, She can hear a voice.
”My Lady.” It says, stern and terrifying. angry at something, clearly.
“Hello, XD.”
when Wilbur wakes, it’s quiet.
-and then it’s not, the screeching of a siren at full force, he’s terrified of it. it makes him jump from his place on the side walk. then everything hits him at once, the noise, the visuals, the movement, it all makes him so dizzy. he’s quick to maneuver himself out of the crowd. splitting through the people and getting himself away from them. away from where everything is filled with so much noise.
someone runs into him, and knocks him over. then that’s when he realizes it still hurts. not the noise or the bright lights, but the wound in his stomach. the wound where his father killed him. it hurts, and it still feels like the sword is inside of him.
no one seems to mind him curled up on the street, only cutting their way around him, avoiding him, ignoring him. he blinks, trying to differentiate the pain from the confusion, and the confusion from the despair.
it hurts because he’s alive, and because he’s alive means his Mother sent him back, and he wheezes out something like a plea to Her.
it only comes out in the form of whines and bird chirps, but he’s sure his Mother can hear it. (he wouldn’t put it past Her to be able to hear the calls of her hurt baby bird.)
but She doesn’t respond, and everything is still hurting. hurting more than when She reinserted him into the world of the living, which he’s still trying to process. along with the pain, and the noise, and everything else that makes him hurt.
eventually, he rises to his legs, shakily, no doubt. and he runs. all because his flight or fight instincts are kicking in and he has no clue what he’s fighting so he chooses flight.
and when he runs he realizes what he’s wearing, torn up clothes, frayed jacket, old shoes, and a dirty beanie- whatever body he has right now certainly wasn’t having the best life.
but now he’s taken its place, and he’s panicking. he doesn’t know anything about this place, does it have an admin? is there advanced technology? what’s happening in this world? and there’s no one to answer him.
his wings are tucked away, tucked under his panic and his lack of acknowledgment. he hasn’t realized he still had them, because he gave them to Dream in exchange to keep Tommy alive- (is he still alive back there? he doesn’t know.) and it hasn’t quite clicked that this server doesn’t share the same timeline as the other one.
there’s nobody else with animalistic features, none, so he’s probably in a place that has no hybrids, or all of them are just really good at hiding their features.
either way, he acts like he doesn’t feel something click in his head, because he can’t even think right now.
(pretends like he doesn’t feel eyes on him, doesn’t feel danger crawling behind him only a few feet behind.)
run, run, run, you’ve got to keep running or they’ll kill you. (who?) just run.
Techno was expecting something…more dramatic. at least, he thought it would be at some other time when he would feel it start to move, now now.
it happens when he’s reading a book. so very calm, Tommy is yelling something about being put on the fireplace job, and Phil was laughing at him. but Techno doesn’t have quite enough time to process anything they are saying before he feels something click.
he can feel it, feel wheels turning and cogs moving and something nestling in the empty spaces of The Inbetween—
—and then his fight instincts are triggered. danger, danger, definitely danger. he knows this feeling, and judging by the way Tommy and Phil visibly tense up they feel it too.
then emotions are sent through the cracks and the messages and it weighs on them heavily. fear, fear, anxiety, flight or fight, FLIGHT, always flight, alone, scared, help, help, SOMEONE'S WATCHING.
(Techno and Phil act like that last line doesn’t shake them to their very core with fear and anxiety.)
Tommy isn’t handling it well, collapsing unto the floor and kicking, writhing, and screaming. he certainly isn’t helping with relaxing whoever is sending these signals, because Tommy only helps to make the entire thing panicky and aggressive.
Techno tries to calm the pair of them. ’calm down, calm, where are you? hurt? hurt? danger, you need help, where, WHERE.’ is what he says, and Tommy and Phil can hear it but there’s no response aside from the crushing fear and anxiety present in the air.
“Phil what the FUCK-“ Tommy tries to speak, but winces when he finds he can’t. feeling his throat being crushed and the soreness of it, he can’t speak.
Phil seems to be in a moment of shock, terror, and pure glee at once. and Techno can’t really name why. he quickly strides over to his two children, and tugs them close to him. wrapping them in his wings, and it gets slightly better.
“Phil,” comes the strained voice from Techno, visibly struggling to speak. it’s because of the Other One. the Other One has just clicked in, haven’t they? that’s why this is happening, that’s why. but Techno has to ask, why? why are they so sad? why, why, why?
Tommy struggles in Phil’s grasp, wings wrapped around all three of them. keeping them together.
and Techno knows, he knows why Phil is doing this. he knows that if Techno and Tommy get the chance they’ll keep forcing things through The Inbetween trying to contact the Other One until they find them, and comfort them in their arms until the anxiety and fear vanish and fade into something else entirely.
but Phil won’t let them do that, not now, not when they are so raw from the outburst the Other One had, raw enough to not be able to protect themselves.
“let us go.” Tommy says, growling almost. trying to stop the pain himself by sending more emotions through The Inbetween. stop, stop, okay, you’re okay, where are you? coming, coming, promise. STAY SAFE.
“no.” Phil says. strict, and firm.
“I will fight you,” Tommy says, glancing up at Phil, the horns on his head growing and Phil has to tighten the hold he has on the pair of brothers with his wings. because Tommy is getting agitated and that means so is Techno.
hush, we’ll find, it’s okay, you need to rest first, don’t rush, we’ll find our hatchling, it’s okay, calm.
eventually, after a few minutes of this wing hold, the two of them calm, but the Other One- there are still so many emotions flooding through. so much panic and so much pain, and it’s hurting all three of them.
but eventually, The Inbetween empties, and that means the Other One has stopped sending their despair, and tragedy through it. and the family of three- (now four, but not quite yet.) heave a sigh.
“that was the Other One, wasn’t it?” Tommy mumbles into Phil’s shoulder, and Phil nods. “yeah.” Phil says, and Tommy winces. “fuck, they’re hurtin’ Phil. they are, we need to find ‘em.” Tommy says, acting like Phil doesn’t feel the same thing because he does, he feels it so well.
“and so are you,” Phil says and Tommy groans. “but they’re hurtin’ worse.” Tommy mumbles, glancing up at Phil. and Phil pats Tommy’s fluffy blonde hair. “I know, Tomms. I know, but you can’t find or help them if you’re hurting too.” Phil says, glancing at Techno, and wrapping his arm around Techno.
“you tired now, Tech?” Phil asks him. and Techno hums. “yeah, and Tommy didn’t help with that.” Techno says, as Tommy starts screaming and yelling. something along the lines of ‘I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU’ and ‘I WAS TRYING TO HELP’.
The Inbetween feels fuller than it did before, before the Other One fit in and joined them.
and what was going to be a boring month seemed to be a little more interesting, because now they have a goal.
find their fourth,
and find whoever made the Other One hurt that bad and erase any and all evidence of their existence. because no one hurts them, let alone one of their own.