Till Death Do Us Part

Fear

petition to change Isaac's name to Henry?? When I started this fic it was like 2021 and I barely knew who Henry was but it might fit better what do y'all think.

...

Wilbur doesn't look the same.

His eyes glow yellow, for example. Not the warm brown from Tommy's childhood, the deep red from Pogtopia's trenches or soft blue from Tommy's exile. They're a chilling, predatory yellow, with the slit pupils you'd find on a snake. They pierce Tommy like glass, shredding him to pieces.

Another difference is the streak of grey nestled in Wilburs brown locks. It's such a stark change, but fits somehow. Other than this, nothing else is physically different from the last time Tommy set his eyes on a solid version of Wilbur.

But the air around them is charged. It crackles, static lifting the hair on Tommy's arms. Or maybe that's fear he's feeling. Because this Wilbur, this twisted, impossible, version of Wilbur is grinning with a ferality that promises pain and bloodshed.

Tommy feels sixteen again.

He's staring at Wilbur as his brother makes mistake after mistake, hurts friend after family, family after friend. He's back to when he knew no better than to follow his brother through hell, believing he had no other option. He'd been so young, but he'd felt so old.

Standing in front of Wilbur, he's young again, in the most vulnerable way.

"Wilbur," he finally breathes, air coming in short.

"So you do recognise me," Wilbur laughs. "You had me worried for a bit there. I have changed after all."

The last sentence is spoken with a grin that felt a little too sharp. Maybe because Tommy has been picturing Ghostburs soft beams this whole time, he had forgotten how easily his older brother's smile could cut.

"Where's Ghostbur?" Tommy finally manages. It's the question that's been plaguing him the moment he stepped into an Esempi that was just a tad bit less blue than the one he left. The first question he promised to ask Wilbur on the unfortunate chance he ran into him.

The fear still lingers, but Tommy's older now. He knows he's grown.

"Who?" Wilbur asks, eyes glinting and head tilting, smirk cutting across his face in a way that lets Tommy know that Wilbur knows exactly who he's talking about.

"Wilbur," Tommy growls. "What happened to Ghostbur?"

Tommy's grown, Tommy's older, Tommy told himself that Wilbur can't get to him anymore.

Tommy might've lied.

"I killed him," Wilbur says, in the stage whisper he used to do to make Tommy laugh when he was a kid. "I killed him, and I made sure he won't return."

The fact that he'd expected it doesn't make it hurt any less. Tommy just stares, and stares, and stares, at the brother standing before him. The idyllic clearing they stand in feels to calm for the pain that rips through it.

Because Ghostbur was a representation of all that was good in Wilbur. He was the shell of the brother Tommy had before the war, a reminder that Wilbur wasn't only the insanity that consumed him. Without Ghostbur, there's none of the Wilbur that made Tommy stand by him. None of the Wilbur from before, none of the Wilbur that Tommy loved.

This isn't Tommy's Wilbur.

"Who are you?" Tommy murmurs. The words are cold when they fall from his lips. He feels the world fall away, leaving just him and the most jilted version of his brother in the void that remains.

"I'm your brother, Tommy," The person in front of him says, reaching his arms forward like he's offering a hug. "I came to visit you."

Tommy's breath catches. He thinks of Isaac, sick and vulnerable, and Niki, who's done nothing but help him, accepting the risks no hesitation. Nausea swirls deep inside him.

"I didn't want you to visit me," Tommy says. "I have somewhere to be. Move."

Wilbur ignores the first part, settling into a disturbingly easy smile. "I don't have anywhere to be, let me come with you."

Tommy glances at him. Anxiety pricks at him when he thinks about Isaac and Niki vulnerable behind him. But Michael is up ahead.

Then again, so is Phil and Techno.

Tommy takes a deep breath, then forces a smile.

"Sure."

Wilbur's eyes widen minutely in surprise, like he wasn't expecting for Tommy to let him. But the shock is quickly replaced by a wide beam, Wilbur pivoting over-enthusiastically to follow Tommy as he stalks past him.

Together, they walk towards disaster.

...

I love you guys but the amount of you that guessed Dream 😭😭😭 valid ig but congrats to everyone who said Wilbur <333 or should I say revivedbur??? 👀👀👀

Sorry that didn't make much sense, I was feeling an emotion :(

Hands up if you hate school 🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️