Wilbur sees that Tommy is growing up and idolizing a better hero. Thus starts the assuring that Tommy will never be a functioning adult.

      Or, the taking of what was given.

"Well, somebody seems considerably happier."

Techno smirked, holding the reins of their wispy skeleton horse in his hand as Tommy bounded closer. He couldn't wipe the large grin off his face ever since they had met Tubbo. He hoisted himself onto the slim back of the horse.

"You got the spuds, Blade?"

"Uhhhh-" Techno put his hands in his pockets, patting around. He pulled out various crumpled pieces of paper, certificates, trophies. Tommy spotted a small slip of paper titled "SquidKid's Address," and a picture of Techno grinning, covered with blood, Skeppy trembling in fear as he did an awkward thumbs up. "Uhhhhhhhhhhh-"

"You had one job." Wilbur pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "One job. To get the potatoes and get out. How are we going to get them now-"

"Hey, hey I'm sure the Blade meant no harm, Wilbur!" Tommy smiled nervously as Wilbur rolled his eyes. Tommy could never be annoyed at Technoblade. In his eyes, he could do no wrong.

But Wilbur didn't trust Technoblade. Not one bit.

Tommy looked up at the dimming sky, coldness settling around them. "Look, it's nighttime. So we can sneak in, get the spuds, and get out. Under the cover of darkness. Easy!"He spurred the skeleton horse, clinging on to its neck as it bucked and shot forward. "C'mon!"

Wilbur shot Techno a dirty look before racing after Tommy. Before long, he noticed that Techno had overtaken him, swinging off of trees like an acrobat and darting gracefully over ravines. When they finally stopped at the outskirts of L'Manburg, Wilbur was out of breath and panting. But it seemed like Techno hadn't even broken a sweat. Wilbur looked at him with a hint of envy.

Is this why Tommy looked up to Techno, why he didn't listen to Wilbur as much anymore?

Was it because he was inferior? He had never considered fighting or athletics as his strong suit. And Tommy had never cared.

Right?

Did he think Wilbur was weak?

Wilbur had already lost so much.

Was he losing Tommy's respect too?

Wilbur looked over at Tommy sitting tall atop of the back of his horse, smiling confidently as he chatted with Techno. Tommy looked up to Techno so much, but he talked to him with ease like he had known him all his life. His voice was steady and strong, without a hint of sadness. He wasn't letting this phase him.

He's growing up, Will.

Wilbur shook his head. No, Tommy was just a child. He was his right-hand man, and would always be. He let his emotions get ahead of him too much. He couldn't be growing up.

Wilbur- Wilbur didn't want him to grow up.

"Well, what do we have here."

Wilbur whipped around. Tommy was frozen like a deer in the headlights. Techno stopped mid-potato grab.

Schlatt's shadow seemed to stretch towards them as he smiled menacingly. Behind him stood Quackity, face emotionless, and on his right stood Tubbo, struggling to keep ramrod straight under the pile of multiple books and papers. He glanced at Tommy for a second, and he nodded at him assuringly. Schlatt's assorted posse took up the back, crossbows drawn.

"What are you doing in Manburg, Wilbur Soot and Tommyinnit? You are exiled."

Tommy retorted, clenching his fist tighter on the reins of his horse. "This is our country, not yours, dumbass. And what the fuck is 'Manburg'?"

"Oh, you haven't heard?" Schlatt chuckled heartily by himself for a moment, before elbowing Punz roughly. Punz took the hint and burst out laughing nervously.

"Oh, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy." Schlatt brushed a tear from his eye, unable to stop laughing. "We've renamed our nation. Manburg is the name of my country. We're entering a new era."

"WHAT THE FUCK!? MANBURG?" The horse brayed angrily under him, stamping its hooves like it could feel Tommy's anger. "Have you gone mental!?"

"We don't take L's, Tommyinnit." He smiled.

"Only you do."

"Oh, you fucking bastard-" Wilbur grabbed Tommy's elbow before he could charge his horse forward and commit homicide by horse (Horsecide?).

Wilbur scanned the crowd. They were outnumbered, that was for certain. Even Technoblade couldn't hold off 5 different guys in full netherite armor, especially since he hardly had any tools himself. His eyes caught onto the familiar faces, Eret, Jack, Fundy- Wilbur looked away quickly, refusing to look him in the eye. BadBoyHalo, Ponk-

"Wait." Wilbur's eyes widened. "Where's Niki?"

Schlatt burst out laughing once again. "WHERE IS SHE!?"

Wilbur charged towards Schlatt angrily, grabbing him by the collar. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

Schlatt simply grinned as Wilbur felt Punz's crossbow dig into his neck. "I'd suggest you step away from the President, Mr. Soot." Wilbur glared at him.

"Wilbur!"

Tommy's voice was filled with fear. Wilbur sighed, raising his hands up as he stepped away slowly. His eyes still shot daggers towards Schlatt.

"Oh, the look on your FACE!" Schlatt clapped slowly. "That's even more amusing than I thought it would be."

"Where is she?"

Wilbur spoke through his teeth, and his words were thick with resentment and barely contained anger. It was Tommy that held him back this time.

"Who again?" Schlatt sneered at him, gloating.

"You better tell me where she is before I rip your motherfucking throat out."

Wilbur's eyes flared as he clenched his fists, trying to contain himself. He usually wasn't this out of control, but his heart spiked with panic and anger.

If anything had happened to Niki, he couldn't have lived with himself. He couldn't imagine a world without her sweet voice and kind words.

A world without Niki Nihachu would not be worth living in.

And the thought of Schlatt even touching her made him almost blinded with anger.

"Ah, young love." Schlatt adjusted the cuffs of his sleeves, unconcerned. "Let's see, Ms. Nihachu..... you have quite the feisty one there. Quite the problem. We had to arrest her. Shame she got away."

"You did WHAT!?" Wilbur nearly murdered Schlatt right then and there, but Tommy's hand kept him rooted to the spot.

"Wilbur, you're going to get yourself killed!" Tommy's eyes were filled with worry, making Wilbur jolt out of his anger.

What am I doing?

I'm supposed to be the calm one.

I'm supposed to protect Tommy .

He shouldn't be protecting me.

I don't need protection.

I'm not weak.

"Step down, you bastard. This isn't the way it was supposed to go. Wilbur should be president." Tommy stood a little straighter on the back of his horse.

"But I was elected by the people, was I not? I won the vote." Schlatt crossed his arms smugly. "You can't argue with democracy, Tommy."

"But- but- that's not right! This is not right!" Tommy slipped off the skeletal horse, clenching his fists at his sides. "You're- you're a tyrant!"

"I have the ballot right here, Tommy." Schlatt gestured towards Tubbo.

Tubbo tried desperately to reach a small piece of paper on top of the mounting piles of books in his arms, but the tower kept on tilting and leaning. Schlatt's eyebrows furrowed with rage, a drastic change from the easygoing smile he had a second ago.

"GIVE IT TO ME NOW!"

The poor boy jumped up in fright, sending the books cascading out of his arms. He fell to his knees, scrambling about to try to find the little slip. "I'm sorry, Schlatt, I'm so sorry sir I-"

"Hey, don't talk to him like that!" Tommy threw himself in front of Tubbo, drawing his diamond sword as he glared at Schlatt. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

He felt Tubbo grab his wrist."I-It's fine, Tommy. It's not a big deal."

"It's not fine!" Tommy pointed his sword at Schlatt, bringing the tip dangerously close to his chest. "You can't just do that to him-"

"TOMMY!"

Everyone froze, shocked by the volume of Tubbo's voice. Tommy stared at him in shock. "Just- just leave it alone."

Tubbo handed the slip of paper to Schlatt quietly, gathering the books in his arms once more. Tommy tried to make eye contact with him, to check on him, to do anything, but he kept his head down.

"Look at the facts, Tommyinnit." Schlatt's easygoing smile returned as he held up the ballot ridiculously close to Tommy's face. "The cold, hard facts. I know it's hard for your little underdeveloped brain to understand, but I won and you lost ."

Tommy turned to the silent Quackity pleadingly. "Big Q, you have to understand. I know we've had our difference, but can't you see this isn't right? You're the president too, aren't you? This isn't what L'Manburg is about-"

"We had to tear down the walls Tommy." Quackity bit his lip, pulling his thumb nervously. "It's for the better of the people. And yes, I-I'm president too, we're working together-"

"No, he's not." Quackity looked up at Schlatt in surprise.

"W-what I-I thought-"

"He's not much of anything, to be honest." Schlatt looked at him amusingly, almost like he was a small puppy or a interesting child.

"B-but-"

"Sit down, Quackity. The President's speaking."

Quackity's brown eyes panged, clearly hurt. He bit his lip so hard that he thought he could taste blood.

"Sounds like a constitutional crisis going on over there." Heads turned as Technoblade finally spoke up, picking his nails with his sword nonchalantly.

"Sch-Schlatt I thought we- you said that-"

"Leave, Tommyinnit." Schlatt pushed Quackity aside, silencing him once more. "We won't kill you this time, but if you ever step a foot on MY territory again-"

"Yeah, yeah I get it." Tommy climbed onto his horse, still glaring at Schlatt. "Let's go, guys. Go suck a dick, you son of a bitch." He flipped him off as he spurred his horse into a trot. Techno smirked, flipping his sword in the air as he followed after him.

"I-I'll escort them out Schlatt!" Tubbo smiled weakly, dropping his books at his feet as he raced after them before Schlatt could say another word. Wilbur was the last to leave, jogging after them.

"And Wilbur~"

He froze in place, not turning around.

"I'm raising Niki's taxes. And only her's. Nobody else's."

Wilbur drew his sword from its sheath, whipping around angrily. "Oh, you fucking-"

"Let's go, Wilbur. Let's just go." Wilbur seethed as he let Tommy drag him away. He wished he could fight all of Niki's battles for her, but he just couldn't.

He just wasn't strong enough.

---

"Tommy, I need to tell you something."

"Yeah?" Tommy continued to focus on piloting his horse as Tubbo glanced at Techno's sharp blade nervously.

"I-In private."

Tommy's eyes widened in realization, nodding at Techno to go ahead. He lowered his voice. "What is it?"

"Tommy- I-I think Technoblade might not be who you think he is." Tubbo's voice was barely a whisper as he looked over at Techno anxiously. "I-I think he's a spy-"

"What?" Tommy's face contorted with anger. "No, he's not! Why would you ever think that!"

"Tommy, please just listen to me-"

"How do I know I can even trust you?"

Tubbo's face dropped as he slowly realized the full weight of Tommy's words. Tommy shook his head in disgust, pushing Tubbo away from him. "Go back to Schlatt, Tubbo. Stop spreading lies."

Tubbo could just stand there as he watched Tommy race away, desperate to catch up to Technoblade, his idol, his hero. His hand floated up to the place Tommy pushed him, around his heart. The little flower tucked into his shirt was crushed, its yellow pollen staining his white polo. He felt tears come to his eyes and his lip wobbled.

Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry-

His little bee companion buzzed next to him, but it did nothing to console him.

Why doesn't he trust me?