Wilbur breaks and the glass gets everywhere.

      Or, Tommy's heart is hit by the shards.

Wilbur cradled his spinning head as the earth turned, pushing him towards Eret's tower.

There's no way out

"A festival, that's what I'm here to announce."

His hand closed around the ice-cold rung of the ladder, his boot planting firmly in the steps, just as he did the day they got exiled.

He remembered.

"It's going to be a celebration of democracy."

Lifting Tommy up, saving him. The way he looked at him, in pain.

No.

He didn't save him.

He just made more pain.

If Tommy had died then, he wouldn't have to go through everything.

He would have no more pain.

"A celebration of the democracy that put me in power."

Pain, pain, pain.

Pain blossomed through his forehead, through Tommy's heart, through every single thing Wilbur touched.

Like fucking Midas, but he would get no gold from this.

No fucking gold.

"The democracy that exiled that DICTATOR that was here before me."

Wilbur's brain was foggy as he leaned against the railing, but Schlatt's words penetrated through, echoing, shattering his skull.

Dictator.

No, no, no, he wasn't a dictator.

He was a leader. He led them. The voice had told him he was a leader.

You're no fucking leader.

Was this the voice?

You're a leader, Wilbur.

Was that the voice?

Wilbur didn't know, he didn't know, he didn't know-

"The democracy that let L'Manburg live up to it's fullest potential."

You're no fucking leader. You never were.

Ah, there it was. That was the voice, right? Right right right-

Wilbur clung to that one, trying to stop the spinning.

He clung on because he had nothing else to hold on to.

What's right and what's wrong?

Who's right and who's wrong?

Nothing's right, nothing's wrong-

Nothing is right.

And nothing is wrong.

Wilbur's eyes darted the podium, to the smudges.

Tubbo- Tubbo was a smudge. Tubbo was next to Schlatt.

Nobody is right.

Everyone- everyone was next to Schlatt.

So many smudges.

You are not right.

Happy little smudges.

Everyone was so happy.

Without you.

Why was he not happy if they were happy?

"I want to drive home the idea."

There's no way out.

But he wanted to find a way out, he wanted to get out, he needed to get out-

You are the cause of the pain. You are the only one to blame.

He needed to get everyone out.

He needed to stop the pain.

Everything hurt, everything hurt so bad.

You've fallen so far, Wilbur.

Manburg was across his vision.

"That this celebration will be about Manburg."

There's no happy ending for you.

So many things he couldn't do.

You are wrong.

Wilbur couldn't stop the voice any more, and it sunk into his bones, taking hold. It felt like poison dripping into his skin, into his heart, and it burned.

He trusted it with his life, the only true thing he could trust.

Everyone was lying.

But the voice was telling the truth.

The truth hurt him.

"A celebration of democracy,"

You can't ever clean up the mess you made.

A bow string was drawn next to him, pointed at Schlatt's heart. Tommy held it steady, his blue eyes ready and true.

"Of law,"

You will never get out.

His hand reached out, stopping the arrow before it could fire. The fletching dug into his palm, drawing pinpricks of blood.

"And of the new era of peace."

There are no happy endings.

"When do you reckon we hold this thing fellas?"

Until you're dead.

There's no way out.

---

"Wilbur, I could've taken my shot!"

Tommy tried to keep up with Wilbur's determined marching down the tunnel, eyes towards Pogtopia.

"Tommy."

His voice was quiet and raspy, a dangerous undertone simmering.

He was tired.

He was so tired.

"It's not worth it."

He stopped as they reached the ravine, his hand leaning on the wall. "Killing Schlatt wouldn't do anything."

"Killing Schlatt wouldn't do a single thing." He let out a choked chuckle to himself. "We're in a goddamn cycle. A goddamn cycle."

"It's not worth it, Tommy." He smiled sadly. "It never was."

"T-Tommy, I've gotta ask you something."

"T-This festival is a good thing, right?" He ran his fingers through his hair over and over again, like a nervous tick. "It's something nice that Schlatt's doing. It's a good thing."

Tommy stepped forward, confused, as Wilbur faced back towards the ravine, looking out over Pogtopia. "Yeah?"

"Tommy." He turned to face Tommy, but something was different. His brown eyes were clouded, clouded with something broken, milky and vulnerable and raw.

"Are we the bad guys?"

His voice was choked and raw, and he looked at Tommy pleadingly, begging him to say something.

"I-"

Tommy didn't like this.

Tommy had never been scared of Wilbur.

Wilbur was safe.

But a hungry beast seemed to climb out of his eyes, and Tommy stepped back.

"He won the election. And it was perfectly legal. He won it fair and square." Wilbur's voice became louder and louder as he tore at his hair.

"Tommy, I think we're the bad guys."

He looked at his hands. They were shaking. "This- this doesn't feel correct."

"Wilbur-"

"Tommy, am I a villain?" Wilbur lunged forward, grasping Tommy's small shoulders, trying desperately to hold on. "Am I a villain in your history?"

"No!"

Tommy shook his head desperately, trying to step back, away from Wilbur.

His eyes bore into him, hungry and desperate, trying to take something from him.

"Why not?"

Wilbur's voice was small and shaky.

"Because-"

Because you'll always be my hero.

"Because we- we started L'Manburg!" Tommy's voice came out quieter than he intended it to. "And- and we should have won that vote."

He tried to speak louder, but something had left him. Something was slipping out underneath his feet.

"It was perfectly legal, Tommy!" Wilbur threw his hands up in the air. "And we're trying to overthrow them!"

"Tommy, I think we're the bad guys."

"Tommy." Wilbur's hands were on his shoulders again, his eyes staring into Tommy's. But they glimmered with strained tiredness and hopelessness. "We both agree we're right here."

"Yeah?"

Tommy tried to hide the shaking in his legs, Wilbur's hands like black tendrils wrapping around him, pulling him in.

"Then let's be the bad guys."

"No...."

Tommy stumbled back, every bone in his body rebelling.

"Tommy, why not? Why not?" Wilbur advanced towards him. Tommy could smell stale insanity on his breath as he became closer and closer, and Tommy tried to get away but Wilbur had latched on, pulling him in. "Our nations far behind us, Tommy."

"So why don't we blow that motherfucker to smithereens?"

"What?" Tommy's voice came out small, a trembling whisper as his eyes widened.

There was something in front of him that wasn't Wilbur.

It was a monster.

"Let's blow the whole thing to the fucking ground."

"Wilbur this isn't you-"

"IF I CAN'T HAVE MANBURG NO ONE-" Wilbur pounded his fist on the wall, his eyes cracking with every blow. "NO ONE CAN HAVE MANBURG!"

Tommy's limbs shook as his legs froze. He couldn't move them as much as he tried, and he tried and he tried but he couldn't run away. The lion in his chest was gone, and he just wanted to go.

He wanted to go home.

But this was home and it wasn't safe anymore.

"W-Wilbur-"

"This is a new era! We burn the place to the FUCKING ground." Wilbur accentuated each of his points with a pound to the wall, each of them making Tommy flinch. "I want no crops to ever grow there again, NONE Tommy."

He grinned crazily. "I want it all gone. I WANT IT ALL GONE!"

"Wilbur I-I need a minute to think, please. Just give me a minute-"

"YOU'VE HAD A MINUTE!" Tommy flinched, throwing up his arms reflexively as Wilbur came closer and closer. "You've had days, you've had weeks, YOU'VE HAD MONTHS to think about this, Tommy."

"Wilbur, it's not too far gone, ok?" Tommy's eyes pleaded with him desperately. "There's a reason I gave up my discs, why I fucking let myself get SHOT in the stomach- Wilbur it's not all gone yet."

"Please, we can rebuild it! We can rebuild it back to what it once was." Tommy stepped towards him, trying to bring him back, searching for the little wisps of Wilbur that he knew was still in there, he hoped was still in there.

"Y-you're being reckless, Wilbur."

"There's no point."

Wilbur shook his head, his back slumped in defeat. "There's absolutely no point anymore. Do you know how much blood has been shed to build this nation, Tommy? YOU KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE I'VE HURT TOMMY FOR THIS THING I BUILT ON A WHIM?"

Wilbur looked sadly at the place around them, another product of his foolishness. "And it'll never stop. This thing will never stop- THE PAIN WILL NEVER STOP! We'll always be fighting and fighting and fighting and FIGHTING!"

"NO!" Tommy shouted right back at him, right back at his face, trying to dissipate the panic in his stomach. "Wilbur, we- we did the blood and the bloodshed and- and the pain! Because we needed L'Manburg, Wilbur, we need it and we need to fight for it-"

"I know why you're doing this, Tommy."

"I know." Wilbur smiled at him sadly, clutching his arms stiff to his sides. "I can see it in your eyes, I can hear it in your voice."

"Tommyinnit." He looked at him directly in the eye. "You're scared."

"Tommy, you're afraid people are going to think different of you." Black tendrils wrapped around Tommy's arms, rooting him to the ground.

"Tommy, when I said you're never going to be president, that's not a challenge." Wilbur leaned in, bringing him into a hug. But it wasn't comforting, it was dangerous. "That's true."

"You're never going to be president, Tommy." Tommy wanted to cry out, but he couldn't.

I don't want to be president.

I just want to go home.

"And you're trying to sound like you know what you're doing, but you don't." Tommy felt tears come to his eyes, trying to breathe.

"None of us know what we're doing, Tommy."

"We're fucked. " Tommy felt black fill his lungs, weighing him down. "We were fucked the moment we were thrown out."

"It's a cycle, Tommy." A pained smile cracked across Wilbur's face. "And no matter what we do,"

"We've lost."

"And I know you're scared." A cold hand reached up, patting his hair. "It's scary, it's scary, I know. But you know what that means at a time like this when a man has nothing to lose?"

The whisper drifted into Tommy's ears, hurting them. " It means we can do whatever the hell we want."

"We have a man on our side that has rigged our nation with TNT and we can do the same thing to them. " Wilbur giggled crazily, his chest shaking as Tommy's face buried into it. "We can rig this festival with TNT- we can kill them all, Tommy-"

"No no no no no-"

This wasn't Wilbur. This was a nightmare. This was a bad dream. It had to be.

Tommy wanted out.

He wanted out now.

"Tommy have you not noticed? Everybody that is claiming to be on our side is lying to us!" Wilbur shook with realization.

"No no no no-"

"Tubbo? He's lying to you, man!" Flashes of Tubbo, Tubbo with his brown eyes clouded over with black and his suit.

"No no no-"

"He would drop us THE SECOND he realizes we're not in the lead anymore-"

"STOP IT!"

Tommy pushed away from him with all of his might, stumbling back, away from the monster. He looked at him, crystal blue eyes clouded with tears and panic. "Ok?"

Wilbur looked at him in shock, still surprised by the push on his chest, like a child being hit suddenly.

"Wilbur, you're being reckless. You're- you're not being the man that came in as president."

You're not being home.

Tommy took a shaky deep breath, trying to get rid of the tears in his eyes. "And- and if you believe this is the way we can t-take back L'manburg, then I-I'll go along with it, ok?"

Because I trust you

"B-But it's not right. This isn't the right thing to do." Tommy's eyes called out for help, trying to get him to come back. "This isn't the moral thing to do."

"What's the point in doing anything if you've lost all hope?"

"You've got to stay here, Will." Tommy cradled his arms, feeling like something was ripped out of his body, leaving him feeling hollow.

"You've gotta pull yourself together."

For L'Manburg

For me.

"Please."

Tommy's eyes wavered over him, waiting for his response.

Suddenly, Wilbur's shoulders shook as he silently laughed to himself, but it looked like he was choking. His hands rose to his head, combing through his hair again.

"DREAM!"

Tommy jumped as suddenly a figure materialized in front of him, leaning against a wall. He picked his netherite blade on his fingernails.

"Hello, Wilbur."

Dream's voice was muffled with a tone of satisfaction, his mask pulled down.

"Dream!" Wilbur laughed, clapping his hands. "Let me be your vassal, Dream! I know exactly want you want now. And I can do it."

Dream pushed away from the wall. "Is that so?"

"Dream, don't do it!" Tommy held his hand out. "Dream, this isn't the right thing to do-"

"Oh, Tommy Tommy Tommy- you really don't know do you?" Wilbur chuckled, his face turning red. "Dream doesn't do what's right, Tommy. He gave you that armor to cause chaos. Nobody cares what is right anymore. He just wants to weaken us both, Pogtopia and Manburg."

Wilbur patted Dream's shoulder like he was an old friend. "You're a very smart man, Dream. And I can help you. I can weaken us, Dream."

"Dream you can't possibly-"

"I do want Pogtopia and Manburg gone." Dream pushed Wilbur's hand off his shoulder slowly. "But I want L'Manburg back."

"Schlatt has been.... ambitious. L'Manburg stayed inside their walls and you frolicked around in the flowers, and that was fine by me." Dream flipped the blade in his hand, the reflections of his mask flashing back at him. "But Manburg.... Manburg wants power and land. And I can't let that happen."

"I had a change of heart."

"Do you see what I mean, Tommy?" Wilbur rubbed his hands together excitedly. "No one's helping us because we're right here. They're helping us because it's in their best interest. And then they would DROP US! DROP US AT THE SECOND IT'S NOT!"

Wilbur giggled, radling his head in his hands. It was a deranged cackle, sending chills through every bone in Tommy's body. He stepped back, but Dream stayed.

He could almost see the smirk behind his mask.

"DREAM THIS HAS MADE ME AMBITIOUS!" Wilbur stepped forward, grabbing Dream by the collar of his hoodie, ignoring his sword. "DON'T YOU SEE? If I take power again I WILL BE AMBITIOUS!"

"So let me blow it up." Wilbur tilted his head, his voice rasping. "Let me blow it up, please."

"Wilbur, please!" Tommy tried to reach out and stop him. "This isn't right! None of this is right, Wilbur."

"Oh, Tommy." Wilbur's head turned to him in an eerie way, his eyes almost glowing with pain as he shook his head. "You were never in charge."

"I believe this is in my best interest."

A bright red appeared in Dream's palm, and Wilbur snatched it away eagerly.

"WILBUR!"

Tommy's hand shook on his bow as he aimed it at Wilbur. It felt so wrong to be pointing it at him.

But he needed to what was right.

"Wilbur, look at me."

Wilbur studied his bow curiously, tilting his head in interest. The arrow trembled in Tommy's fingers. "Hand me the TNT."

"Tommy, I'm afraid I'm going to have to step in."

Dream stepped in front of his bow without fear.

He knew Tommy wasn't going to shoot it any way.

He couldn't kill anyone if he tried.

Tommy slowly lowered his bow, hanging his head in defeat.

Wilbur giggled excitedley. Oh, he was more right by the second.

It was so sad.

It would all go away, though.

It would all go away.

"So, what's it gonna be Tommy? Are you really going to betray me?" Wilbur held out his arms, exposing his torso for Tommy to shoot. "Are you going to betray your only home?"

"I-"

It was a nightmare.

He was sure of it.

2 beasts locked eyes on him in the darkness of the night.

And suddenly the ravine was suffocating.

"I-I need to think."

Eyes burned into his back as he ran, ran as fast as he could.

And his arrow clattered to the ground.

---

Tommy burst out into the cold air, eyes darting around. His eyes set on his chestnut horse, and he clambered onto it's back, spurring it with all his might. The wind tore at his eyes, and he shut them closed tight as he raced through the dark, scary woods, clinging to the horse's soft neck.

He didn't know where he was going.

He was just running and running.

Away from the monsters.

I just want to go home.

He hung tighter, trying to keep back the tears from spilling out of his eyes.

He blinked them open, the blurry lights of the Dream SMP appearing ahead of him.

And a small boy in a tight black suit sat on a bench, petting a dandelion at his feet.

"TUBBO!"

A huge smile spread across Tubbo's tired face, his expressions lighting up under his baggy eyes. "Oh, hey Tommy!"

Tommy lept off his horse, grabbing him into a hug quickly, his arms tightening around him protectively.

"Is something wrong?" Tubbo's arms reached up slowly, hugging him back lightly in concern. "What's happened?"

"I-It's nothing, Tubbo." Tommy shut his eyes tight, letting tears leak out. He wiped them away quickly to not let Tubbo see them.

The horse had taken him home.

"L-Let's play some music, yeh?" Tommy pulled away slowly, wiping his eyes quickly.

"Ok!" Tubbo placed down a jukebox gently, still concerned for Tommy. "Can we play-"

"Mellohi?" Tommy pulled out the treasured purple disc, Tubbo's favorite, from his pocket. Tubbo clapped his hands with glee as Tommy placed it inside the small jukebox slot.

They sat quietly on the bench, the night air shimmering with the waltz music like it had so many times before.

"Tubbo."

"Yeah?"

"Something bad is going to happen at the festival."

Tubbo tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean? It's gonna be great! I really think Schlatt is doing a nice thing here. He can redeem himself. He just needs time."

"Tubbo....." Tommy's shoulders shook in the cold as he stared ahead, unable to look Tubbo in the eye. "I-I think Wilbur's gone mad."

"Whaddaya mean?"

"He's going to blow up L'Manburg, Tubbo." Tommy's voice came out in a hoarse whisper as his lip trembled, trying not to burst out.

"What!?" Tubbo's eyes widened. "OH OHH- IT ALL MAKE SENSE NOW!"

He rushed to his ender chest, flinging it open. In his hands, he cradled two discs, one purple and green. "Tommy, I-I think these are the real discs."

"Wait what-" Tommy took out the purple Mellohi disc from the jukebox, turning it over and over. "But this is the real Mellohi?"

"But it finally makes sense now!" Tubbo sat down heavily, pushing his brown hair up in realization. "Wilbur gave me these discs, and I thought they were fake, but now if he's doing what you said he's doing-"

"But why would he do that?" Tommy looked around, puzzles, his hands shaking. "H-he gave you the disc?"

"He didn't give you the real ones because he wanted you to stay, Tommy." Tubbo stared ahead, shocked. "Oh man-"

Tommy's eyes widened.

S-so you won't leave?

The panic in Wilbur's voice.

This had been going on for a long time.

But he didn't see it.

Wilbur had been cracking for so long.

"Shit." Tommy cradled his head in his hands. "No no no no no-"

"It's ok, Tommy. T-They may or may not be the real discs we don't know yet-" Tubbo's hand rested lightly on his back.

It's all my fault

Tommy looked down at the ground, shock settling in. He looked at Tubbo, his scared face peering down at him.

You need to pull yourself together.

"Y-Yeah." He straightened his back, sitting up. "I-It's ok."

"Wait...." He pulled out the last disc, Blocks, out of his pocket. "Does that mean that we have all the discs now?"

They laid them next to each other eagerly, looking at them glimmer in the moonlight. Tubbo grinned. "We do! We have all of them, Tommy!"

Tommy looked over at Tubbo, happy and excited. Bags under his eyes, but happy.

He could fix the bags.

"So... we could just go away from here." Tommy looked down at the discs, and at Tubbo. He had everything he needed right there. "We could just run away and start a new life."

"Yeah!"

They both looked down at the discs, and then at each other. And they both decided, in that moment.

"We need to do what's right." Tommy picked up the discs, determination in his eyes. Tubbo nodded along with him.

"We need to get L'manburg back."

We need to get home back.

"We've gotta trust each other, got it?" Tommy handed all three discs to Tubbo, handed his life over. "We've gotta trust each other no matter what."

Tubbo smiled at him softly, taking the discs. "I'll always trust you, Tommy."

They sat there, Tommy's head leaned against Tubbo's, in silence.

Tommy was protecting Tubbo.

And Tubbo was protecting Tommy.

"Tommy?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm scared."

Tommy wrapped him in a hug, holding him close. "We're going to be alright, I promise."

He squeezed his eyes shut.

I'm scared too.