PHOENIX

Chapter Eighteen: Gone

Wilbur, Tommy, and I all stood apart from each other, each one of us wary of the other. Tommy had declared he wasn't going to help Wilbur, and Wilbur didn't like it. I didn't know what to do anymore. On one hand, Wilbur was like my brother, and I had always trusted him since day one. On the other hand, Tommy was also like my brother, and he wasn't being a homicidal maniac right now. When looking at it from an outsider's perspective, the easy choice is Tommy. But throw in years of love and trust, the answer isn't so clear anymore.

"Hello?" Tubbo's voice called out from a tunnel off to the side of us.

"Tubbo, come here" Wilbur called back, the maniacal look gone from his eyes.

Tubbo entered the room, noticing the awkward silence between us.

"What's going on-"

"Tubbo what did Schlatt say after we left?" Wilbur walked up to him quickly.

"He gave us all jobs to do to get ready for the festival, but then he freaked out when he realised Nix left, which was kind of strange" Tubbo reported, looking at me.

"Freaked out?" I asked, slightly confused.

"Yeah. Him, Quackity, the guard guy and I had to search for twenty minutes until he said to give up and locked himself in the white house office" Tubbo shrugged.

"Weird...." I mumbled.

"What are you doing at the festival?" Wilbur asked quietly, his back turned from the rest of us.

"I'm going to be doing some decorating, Fundy's rebuilding the podium. It's gonna be fun!" Tubbo said excitedly.

"Is that all you're doing?"

"Oh yeah! I also have a speech!" Tubbo added quickly.

"A speech......you're giving a speech? On Manberg?" Wilbur turned, his head tilting to the side.

"I am!" Tubbo nodded.

"That's not something a traitor would do?" Wilbur chuckled darkly.

"What do you mean?" Tubbo's eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

"I was just wondering, because writing a speech is kind of-" Wilbur was cut off by another person entering the cave system.

"Technoblade! Did you manage to get Dream?"

Wilbur smiled, watching Technoblade come down the stairs.

I hadn't seen Technoblade in so long, it was almost like seeing him for the first time right now. His bright pink hair blended in with his pink pig mask, hiding all of his face except for his mouth. Technoblade was carrying a large, bulky bag, setting it down in front of Wilbur when he got to the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh hell no" I laughed dryly, in complete disbelief over the fact that Wilbur had not only planned this out ahead of time, but also was willingly doing deals with Dream.

"Wilbur?" Tommy's voice was shaking.

"Since when did Technoblade get here?!" I throw my hands in the air out of annoyance.

"Hello" Technoblade waved at me, and then turned to Wilbur. "He's waiting upstairs"

"Perfect, I'll be right back" Wilbur headed upstairs, not answering any of our questions.

We awkwardly sat in silence for a couple seconds, before Tubbo told us he should probably go back to L'Manberg before anyone gets suspicious. The moment Tubbo left, I turned to Tommy with a look of anger on my face.

"When were you guys going to tell me Technoblade was here?" I asked angrily, crossing my arms.

"I'm going to go and stop Wilbur," Tommy announced, ignoring me and going up the stairs.