TW: Smoking/mentions of smoking, and the usual; swearing, mentions of cuts and/or injuries, light-hearted name calling, etc.

It has taken him months to get this far. 

Crawling to the edge of the never-ending darkness.

There is no edge.

Only a scrap of blue fabric.

Persephone sat at the edge of Jack's bed, unable to do anything but stare as the wound slowly oozed black pus. 

It was disgusting, but she couldn't bring herself to look away.

It also didn't help that the paste Niki had smeared over the wound to stop the Wither damage was combining with the pus and... what's the word? Ah. Curdling.

Disgusting.

Her phone buzzed with a notification and she picked it up, thankful for a distraction.

It was a text from Wilbur.

Guitar Bitch» Want to hangout?

Guitar Bitch» I promise I won't ditch you this time

Bird Gorl» Yeah I'm down

Bird Gorl» And you better not

Guitar Bitch» Alright alright, point taken, want to meet at the park?

Bird Gorl» I bet I can beat you there

Bird Gorl» Slow bastard

Guitar Bitch» Not fair, but i can still win

Persephone switched her phone off and walked out of the room, wings ruffling uncomfortably from the paint she'd put on earlier.

"Mom?" She called softly upon entering the living room. Niki looked up from where she had been reading the same page of a book over and over again. "Hm?"

"I'm gonna go see Wilbur," Persephone mumbled. Niki nodded.

"Alright, fine by me. Just...stay safe, alright?"

Persephone nodded before moving to the front door, opening it, and exiting. Taking a deep breath of the fresh air, she recalled how awful it had been in her house. Quiet and melancholy, the usual warmth and happiness sucked from the air.

She shook herself and took off, the late afternoon sunlight poking through the cloud cover occasionally hitting her feathers. 

Looking down on the city, she could see the exact rooftop where her dad had been stabbed by the villain's withering knives. Her insides felt all shrivel-y, like figs that had been left to dry for way too long and then sprayed with water.

Maybe I can't be a vigilante... What if I'm not good enough? What if Jack being hurt and potentially dying is my fault? Maybe I distracted him. Maybe he was too busy watching out for me to see the knife. It's definitely my fault, somehow.

She shook the feeling off as she landed in the park. Wilbur was, somehow, already there, resting comfortably on a bench.

"How are you here already?" Persephone demanded. Wilbur raised an eyebrow. "Hello to you too, I missed you so much, it's good to see you."

Persephone huffed. "Yeah, yeah, sappy hellos and that shit."

Wilbur smiled lazily. "So, how's your family?"

Persephone hesitated. Well, Jack was very much not alright, but she couldn't exactly tell Wilbur that he was stabbed by Dream while vigilante-ing at midnight.

She must have paused for a bit too long because Wilbur frowned. "What's wrong? You look off. Is everyone alright?"

Persephone took a breath. "Yeah, everything's fine, Jack's just sick." She shrugged. "I'm overthinking it."

Wilbur nodded slowly, seemingly appeased. "Well, I'm sorry...Tell him I hope he gets better quick."

Persephone nodded. "Yeah...I will, Wil. So, what do you want to do?"

Wilbur shrugged.

Most of their hangouts went like this and they usually ended up smoking on a rooftop when evening fell. Well, Wilbur smoked and Persephone stole his cigarettes and chucked them off the building. He always ended up with more the next time, though.

Not a surprise; his family was hella rich.

"Want to go over to my place?" Wilbur asked lazily.

Persephone shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so. Are your dad and brother home?" She was still a bit too awkward around Phil and Techno to call them by their first names.

Wilbur nodded. "Yeah, but Dad'll be working and Techno's either sleeping or sharpening his weapons...You know how he is."

Wilbur made a vague hand gesture and Persephone just went along with it.

"Alright. You lead the way," She instructed.  

Wilbur harrumphed before getting up, his slightly oversized medallion-yellow sweater adjusting to fit his tall, lanky frame. He made a motion for Persephone to follow him, so she did, wings bumping into things every now and then.

Wings were clumsier than they looked. They were big and feathery and made it hard to get through doorways. Persephone couldn't count the number of times she'd knocked glasses of water or vases or trinkets off of shelves.

They were awesome and badass and cool, but they were also a pain. Especially when it came to preening. 

You could either do the preening yourself or find someone you really trusted to do it for you. It had to be done at least once every two days with your fingers, a comb, and sometimes a soft brush. Again, a pain – and painful if the person preening did it wrong.

Wilbur's dad was good at preening wings, though. His were always so sleek and shiny and glossy and perfectly black, unlike the hero Corvid's, who were messy with light gray tips.

Persephone frowned. Something was pulling at the strings of her mind, but she couldn't be bothered to figure it out at the moment.

Wilbur stopped suddenly and Persephone almost ran into him, chirping in surprise as she skidded to a halt behind him before hissing instinctively.

Wilbur chuckled. "Sorry, that was my bad. But I couldn't have you just running into the streets, could I?"

Upon looking up, Persephone noticed the busy street she'd almost walked right into. She pursed her lips.

"Thanks," She mumbled to Wilbur. "Sorry, I'm a little out of it, I guess... Jack being out of commission really blows." 

Wilbur nodded in understanding. "I get that. One time, Techno was sick and I almost got stabbed-" He paused for a moment before nodding and continuing. "Yeah, I almost got stabbed by one of his spears falling from the wall when I went to bring him soup."

Again, Persephone was too tired to question the unusual pause in the middle of his story so she just nodded.

Wilbur spotted a rooftop. "Hey, want to just go up there? I don't really feel like going home right now; Dad's in a weird funk." 

Persephone shrugged. "Fine by me, but how are you going to get up there?"

Wilbur looked at her pleadingly and her jaw locked. "No, I'm not carrying you up!" She insisted stubbornly.

"Aww, c'mon Seph, pleeeease?" He practically begged. She groaned and rolled her eyes. "You're so heavy though..." She pointed out.

"Aww, c'mon, we both know you need the exercise." Wilbur teased, poking her gently.

Need the exercise. Yeah right.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine. How do you want to do this, exactly? You're like, a foot taller than me."

Wilbur shrugged. "Dunno. They're your wings, figure it out." He grinned teasingly down at her and she crossed her arms. 

"Fine."

She grabbed him by his upper arms and flexed her wings, jumping slightly to get a small boost. Wilbur was actually lighter than she'd been expecting; lighter than Jack, at any rate.

Wilbur kicked his feet like a kid as they rose higher and higher. At one point, Persephone shook him. "Whoah, I'd haaaaate to drop you now..."

He stopped the kicking and tensed up before he was dropped on the rooftop.

"Lighten up," Persephone half-scoffed, half-laughed. "Harmless joke."

Wilbur shrugged. "With you, it's never just a harmless joke."

Persephone chuckled. "Alright then." She sat down on the rooftop next to him as he pulled out another box of cigarettes. Bitch boy.

He took a lighter out and Persephone hesitated before mumbling, "Give me one."

Wilbur looked at her funny before handing her a rolled-up stick of tobacco. "Jeez, you're real weird today." He lit it for her and then his own.

Persephone tried to blow some smoke but ended up choking and tossing the cigarette away. "I hate it. Disgusting. Never again. How do you deal with that shit?"

Wilbur shrugged, taking a hit of the cigarette. "I'm used to it, I guess." A crafty grin spread across his face. "Want to hear a secret?" He asked.

Persephone's interest was hooked. '...Go on,"

"Well..." Wil began, smirking. "Remember when you said you were going to beat me to the park?"

Persephone nodded.

"I said it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair because I was already at the park." He chuckled.

Persephone's eyes widened and she couldn't help but grin. "Oh, you bastard-" She groaned, shoving him gently.

He laughed and Persephone decided that maybe the day had been a fine one after all.

Sorry for not uploading for a bit! Lol.

I've been busy, but here ya go!

Words: 1400

Thank you so much for reading!

-ITCFWI