Until L'Manburg's Destroyed and Gone | Book Two of Love is a War

Chapter 20 - The Start of Insanity

Tommy POV

I wake up somehow more tired that when I went to sleep, to the sound of Wilbur's loud bootsteps stomping around while humming a bright melody. "Wilbur?" I groan, getting out of bed. Selfish prick. Waking me, ME, up. I will not allow this. He is stupid. I rub my eyes as I stand, stretching, before opening the door to see Wilbur waiting outside of it, rambling to himself.

"He thinks I'm insane. I'm not insane. I'm not insane..." Wilbur hums to himself, smoking a cigarette as he leans against the wall, flipping a coin in his hand.

"Wilbur?" I ask again, concerned. "Are you okay?". I look him up and down, and up again. He does not look okay. He looks up at me with a wild grin.

"Tommy!" Wilbur says happily, slinging an arm over my shoulder. "How are you doing on this lovely morning, Big Man?" he asks, messing up my hair. What a fucking weirdo.

"Fine. Before you woke me up with your stupid humming and mumbling." I grumble, off put by his sudden shift in mood. He hums in response, taking a last puff of his cigarette before stomping it out on the ground. He starts walking away, and I follow behind as he gets on his horse.

"Hurry up Toms. You already slept in enough. Plus, I wanna get there before everyone else does. Maybe we'll even see the fireworks." he smirks, gesturing at me to hop on my horse.

"Maybe we'll get to see Y/N, you mean." I scoff, which earns a glare from Wilbur and an empty silence. Finally. I needed some silence from him anyway. "Stupid prick, not even letting me eat breakfast." I grumble to myself as I get on my horse.

---

As we ride, Wilbur mostly rambles, about his plans, about Technoblade being there, about everything. And it starts to get grating in my ears, and I have the urge to stab something. I like stabbing things. Stabbing Schlatt would be nice. Or Dream. Or both. But I restrain myself, as if I stabbed them, Y/N would be mad at me, which would mean Wilbur would be mad at me. And then I'd be homeless. Nobody likes the homeless people. No, this is not the fate for a Big Man™ like me. So I will hold off on the stabbings. I look up to see Wilbur staring at me, as if expecting an answer to something. What was he talking about? I forget. Fuck. Wilbur sighs at me. "Tommy, I'm gonna do one last plea to you, Tommy. And I want you to listen carefully. Please, please respect this, right? You don't have to agree, just respect this, Tommy. Okay?" he asks, and I nod, straightening up. "Manberg is being detonated tonight whether you're on my side or not, Tommy. But we've been through a lot. We've been through so much together, man. Don't drop this all over your weird ideas of patriotism and heroism. This isn't a thing of heroism, Tommy. This is a thing of victory!" Wilbur exclaims, and I think he's on one of his old man rambles again (he has been getting quite old lately), before he continues. "Tommy, this is your last chance to get on my side, man..." Wilbur says, and I stare at him.

"I am on your side, man!" I inserted, too desparately for my own comfort.

"No you aren't man, no one is, you'll change your mind, everyone does." Wilbur insists darkly with a laugh, and I swallow.

"Wilbur, I'm with you. Tell me the plan. I'm with you." I repeat, trying to reassure him, and myself. Wilbur looks at me shocked, almost surprised.

"Really...?" he asks softly, before switching moods in an instant, brighter again in a way that gives me whipliash. "HERE'S THE PLAN, TOMMYINNIT!" Wilbur shouts suddenly with a clap, causing me to jump, which the horse did NOT like, giving me a snort in annoyance. "When Tubbo is up on that stage and he's giving that speech, I've given Tubbo the code phrase that he says. 'And let the festival begin!' he'll say."

"Tubbo agreed to this?"

"Look man..." Wilbur sighs, and I can see him about to question my allegience, so I try to redirect.

"I'm with you." I say again quickly, and he shakes his head.

"We're close to L'Man- Manburg now. Your tower's ahead. We can set up base at the top, should have a nice view."

---

After climbing to the top, we stand looking down for a bit. They did a good job decorating and setting it up. Everyone looks moderately happy, chatting, eating good food (although anyone would be happy if they ate Niki's sweets. They are the best. They would end world hunger as they'd only be hungry for her sweets and Niki always has sweets available. I should try to steal some later. I spot Tubbo down below at her stand. I should steal Tubbo). I watch as people play games, cheer, have fun, and I'm torn. "Wilbur I don't-" I take a breath. "I don't think I wanna blow it all up."

He shakes his head disappointedly. "Wow, you've already changed..." he scoffs, sneering at me.

"No! I haven't changed. You know we could reclaim it, man. You know we could." I plead, looking into his eyes, hoping to see anything that says I'm getting through to him.

"I don't think we could." Wilbur replies lowly, darkly. I start to protest, and he cuts me off. "Look, Tommy, it's gonna be great. It's gonna be absolutely wonderful. I know you still don't agree with it but like, man. Today? Let's just be friends. Let's be friends today, man. Even if you disagree with me fundamentally. I think after you see how much it puts us in the advantage...?"

"Wilbur, we are friends. We're more than that- we're brothers. That doesn't mean I'm not going to try and stop you."

He glares at me, before looking down below. "Oh Fundy's here." he comments bitterly, lighting a cigarette.

"You don't have to do this!" I huff loudly. "Wilbur, this is our home! You- We can take it back, man!" I beg.

Wilbur groans. "I've invested so much into this now, Tommy." he yawns, taking a puff of the cigarette.

"We don't have to be the villains, we're not-"

"WE ARE THE VILLAINS, TOMMY!" Wilbur yells, causing me to flicnch away. He doesn't care, continuing. "We didn't win the election and we're tryna fight for it back! Look how nice this place looks under Schlatt!" he rants, swinging his arm to gesture toward Manburg, and I step backward. "Look how lovely Schlatt has made this place! Look at it! Look at the sun setting over Manberg!" he sneers. I feel tears slowly pricking my eyes.

"But why would you blow it all- Why-" I choke out. "You don't have to be a villain!"

"If I can't have it, no one can, Tommy! I've said this." Wilbur yells. "No one should be allowed this... No one... no one can have happiness..." he rambles to himself, inhaling the smoke from the cigarette like a lifeline, desparately trying to soothe his nerves "If me and Y/N couldn't..." he drawls off with a sigh, before snickering. We both stare at the sunset for a bit, before he turns to me. "Tommy, you're my friend today, okay? You can have your grievances with me later, but today you're my friend, you're my ally. Just, stick with me. Please." he says, adding that last please like it was holding everything together. And to be honest, it was. And that's all I could think about as Y/N ran up the tower, and Wilbur's mood changed once more, happy and joyous, as he picked her up in a hug with a kiss as a greeting, and I wonder why I got stuck with the mean side of Wilbur, the manipulative side, and worry for when Y/N meets him too. 

A/N: I've not written in a Tommy voice for a while. Sorry if it's a bit inaccurate. Also lwk wanna mention I met Wilbur recently! Super scary and weird but also cool. Wanted to put that out there somewhere. Also please wish me luck I have 3 ISPs due next week and I am so screwed. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Idk when I'll return. It may be tonight since I'm in the groove of writing, may be next week, who knows! (Lwk pester me in the comments if I take too long I'll try to get on it asap but I may forget). Anyway, if you have any suggestions/things you want in the story, comment, and I'll try to incorporate it into the story. Stay safe, drink lots of water, eat, and remember we care about you <3. Thank you so much for reading, and I can't wait to see you in the next chapter!

Word Count: 1474 words! :)