We Could Be Heroes, Big Man

16

"So they have Wilbur."

Phil looked up from his book, his coffee steaming silently beside him. "Who told you that?"

"Someone at school." Tommy said. "Can I talk to him?"

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

Tommy's face fell. "No, but I'm sure I want some answers. Wilbur said some dick-ish things to me but he taught me how to control and accept my power. Then, then he turned on me."

Phil nodded. "Okay. I'll give Sam a call."

—

The prison was much more deafening than from what Tommy remembered. It was dark, and the silence was so quiet. It was exceptionally warm, too. Eventually, Tommy learned that the reason behind the warmth was the excessive amounts of lava barricading certain areas of the prison.

Wilbur wasn't considered the worst type of criminal, despite it being attempted murder. Guess it could get worse than that, but Tommy didn't want to think about it.

Sam lead him to a singular cell across a platform. Around the cell was lava, and in between them was a series of bars. Sam left him alone.

"Wilbur?" Tommy called.

Footsteps sounded, and Wilbur appeared in the light. On his wrists were metal and crystal bracelets, clearly digging into his skin. Wilbur's wrists were red and in some spots black and purple. There was one around his neck, but the metal and crystals didn't dig into his skin like the bracelets did.

"You're alive." Wilbur said matter-a-factly.

"I am." Tommy shifted. "Funny that you didn't escape and everyone else did."

"Sacrifices had to be made." Wilbur shrugged. "This definitely wasn't how I wanted things to end, though. I didn't get what I wanted."

"What did you want?" Tommy asked.

"My mom." Wilbur flicked a piece of rock that was sitting in the cell. "I've been here for a month and a half and she hasn't come to see me once."

"Has Phil?"

"A few times." Wilbur's head posture dropped. "I hurt him a lot, I can tell." For the first time during the entire conversation, Wilbur's eyes met Tommy's. "Be the son I wasn't."

"You sound like you regret it."

"Some of it." Wilbur admitted. "I regret not checking if anyone else was out of bed that night. We would have had a better chance if we weren't rushed."

"You don't regret blowing up the school your dad built for you? For killing my best friend?" Tommy asked.

"Killing?" Wilbur scoffed, a smile appearing on his face. "I didn't kill Tubbo."

"Your friends did."

His smile fell just as soon as it appeared. "He died?"

Tommy stayed silent, moving on from the topic quickly instead. "Where did they go?"

"Hell if I know. Only Dream knew where we were going after that." Wilbur crossed his arms and shifted backward. "Kept saying that he couldn't trust me and Techno because Phil was our dad."

"Schlatt knew?"

"Probably not. He's a loud mouth. And all of us bad guys or not, Schlatt was a dick to his family. I didn't want him working with us." Wilbur shifted again. "I wasn't the best either, but I'm not an abuser."