I Can't Remember

[16] Everyone Needs Therapy After This. Mostly Wilbur.

TW: swearing (more than usual), mentions of blood, and manipulations. I'll put a summary of the chapter at the end if you don't want to read it.

Tommy could not move. Wilbur was in his arms, crying his eyes out, apologising furiously. He saw a pen and notebook on the bed, the ink staining the dark green sheets.

The pen, the notebook, the message, the apologies... Tommy was starting to piece together a story. All he wanted to ask was, 'why? If you regret it so much, why did you do it?'

Tommy's communicator rang loudly, some Bruno Mars song blaring through the speakers. Wilbur jerked away from his brother. He pushed him towards the device. The teenager hesitated before accepting the call. It was Tubbo, asking if he was okay. In the minutes that they talked, Wilbur was gone.

In a panic, Tommy searched the whole house twice. He did not know why, but Wilbur's untimely disappearance struck him as something more than a simple habit. This wasn't 'fight or flight'. No, something else was at play.

Tommy texted Tubbo about the situation, who vowed to be there soon. Then, he decided to call for reinforcements.

His original instinct was to call Phil, but a thought made him stutter in his actions.

Would he care?

Y̶e̶a̶h̶,̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶r̶s̶e̶,̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶!̶ ̶h̶e̶'̶s̶–̶

The man who put a sword through his own son in the middle of a war, would he care?

The man who forced Technoblade to leave with him for 5 years, only to have him back without any emotions left in his soul, would he care?

The man who left his 2 other sons, alone and abandoned, for 5 years, would he care?

"He wouldn't care," Tommy said to himself.

The name on the contact list changed, as he called his not-so-emotionless-anymore brother. He hoped that he would pick up. He had no one else to call.

Suddenly, the dial tone ended.

"Hello?" came a voice.

"Techno, it's Wilbur."

"I'm on my way."

End call.

Tommy already felt better.

He decided to get some food. It didn't feel like the best time to eat, but Tommy knew from experience that this was an eerie calm before the storm. And the least he wanted was to fight the storm on a full stomach.

Plus, the anxiety made him hungry, gosh, you have a problem with that?

Just as Tommy finished his makeshift breakfast, Techno arrived. The duo searched the house once again before going outside. They were heading for the forest cover nearby when Techno saw something. He pulled Tommy to the side, trying to hear the whispers of the conversation. Tommy would have objected with a loud swear if he didn't feel the tension in his brother's hand, and the conversation himself. It sounded like someone was taunting the other.
On second glance, there were two people on top of the house, seeming to argue. One of them stood tall and confident, arrogance polluting the air around him. The other one looked tired, with the slouch, but tense and angry, with the stiff shoulders. Both of them were facing away from their eavesdroppers. The voices got louder.

"You should really learn your place, pretty boy, or I'm gonna have to teach you how to talk to your superiors," said the arrogant voice.

"Yeah, you would know all about that," said the other voice, sounding strained, "wouldn't you?"