Dahlia - The Flower Of Betrayal. || SBI Hero AU

-CHAPTER SIXTEEN-

"You let him go out? What were you thinking? What if he got hurt? What if—"

"I can defend myself, dad," Wilbur pointed out, quietly adding his point, though he had been avoiding the lecture.

"And he's not hurt. He's here, safe," Techno finished for his brother, redirecting his father's attention—which was much to Wilbur’s gratitude.

"And Tommy?" Both of them grimaced simultaneously, a sharp inhale audible in the silence. They stopped what they were doing, not even turning, not answering, just still, completely still. "Well?"

Wilbur looked from Phil, to Techno, silently asking the same question their father was; what had happened to Tommy? Wilbur may have been the last to see him, but he didn't know what had happened. Only that Tommy had sacrificed himself for the man.

"He went willingly."

The silence grew more profound, every tick of the clock that much louder, that much more infuriating. With no one moving, there wasn't much to distract them from the truth of what he had just said.

"What?"

"I left him for a few minutes, I thought he needed it, and I needed to talk to you, Phil, without him hearing. I was gone too long and he boarded up the door and hopped out the window. When I went into the woods, I found you, Wilbur."

Wilbur cussed under his breath—so quietly that even in the quiet it did not reach the two—and turned away quickly. Though he didn’t speak them, his mind and thoughts raced with profanities and threats against the man that had held him hostage, the man who had Tommy.

Phil sighed. He asked the question nobody wanted to hear, no one wanted to answer. "So what now? Are you going after him?"

Wilbur answered before Techno could, still including himself in the conversation. "I have to."

"We have to," Techno corrected him.

"No. No, you don't have to. I have the problem with him, not you. If you get involved, he'll only hurt you too,” Wilbur reiterated, gesturing for Techno to come closer—he compiled without Phil’s suspicions. Wilbur lowered his voice, so only Techno could hear. “But I’m going after him, Techno. Neither of you can stop me.”

Techno leaned in, then walked away. “Find a way for us to talk in the bathroom. Fake an injury, I don’t care what you do,” he whispered. Wilbur rolled his eyes, watching as his brother went back to his work nonchalantly.

It wasn’t hard to ‘accidentally’ hurt himself when he was doing dishes. A small cut on his wrist under the water, and he was able to play it off like he needed help wrapping it again. So, silently, he reached into the soapy water and grabbed the cleaner, small knife, and with a deep inhale he slit across the skin. He winced slightly, and drug his arms out of the sink, flicking his wrists to get the water off his hands and grabbing his arms. He mumbled something of an excuse, and left for the bathroom, anxiously waiting for his brother to follow.

“I’m gonna— I’m gonna see what he’s doing,” Techno told his father, grabbing the hinge of the door frame as he turned the corner and left Phil’s line of vision. He was quick to shut the bathroom door behind him, and turn Wilbur to look at him. “Are you actually stupid?”

“In all honesty? Yes, absolutely. Limited years of education really does a toll—”

“You are an idiot. An actually certified idiot. Why would you— I told you to fake an injury, not actually hurt yourself!” Techno gripped harshly onto his brother’s upper arm, glaring at him. Letting go and turning away, he lowered his voice. “And to think you’re gonna try and go after him— it's not only idiotic, it’s a suicide mission. He’d kill you.”