Chapter Text
Techno doesn't understand how Phil is sleeping at the moment. He can hear the soft breathes from the room next to him, sounding like the usual sleeping pattern he's so closely remembered night after night. He doesn't understand how Phil isn't worried out of his mind, barely able to shut his eyes.
The annoying repetitive sound of the clock ticking seemed to get louder and louder as he stared to the ceiling. Once, he'd complain to himself as he shut the door, desperate to get some sleep and shut out the repetitive ticking from the clock, the constant bickering he could hear between Wilbur and Tommy in their room.
But it was silent.
Nothing.
Aside from the clock ticking, it was silent. There was no bickering, no whispers and giggles, no nothing. A part of him wanted to storm outside and find both Wilbur and Tommy, another part of him wanted them to learn their lesson for going out so late and getting presumably lost. It was quite late, the sky had dimmed for the last time that day and transformed into an almost pitch black night, only letting the moon illuminate it briefly. The possibility of Tommy being so scared of the dark whilst Wilbur tried to find his way back to the house was quite amusing in his opinion. But.. Techno didn’t think that would happen. He couldn’t hear any footsteps in the distance close to the forest they’d explored a million times before, he couldn’t hear any talking coming closer to the house.
He layed in his bed, staring to the ceiling with his eyes drooping, so desperately wanting to go to sleep but the rush of anxiety made him stay awake for those few minutes longer, for those few hours longer. For all he knows, they could be dead or lost at the moment and he’s simply lying in bed and thinking about it. Techno knows he’s probably overexaggerating things, there's no way that either of them are dead. Though the possibility of them being lost is quite high. Wilbur did have a good sense of direction if he knew the place quite well, but when exploring new places he would forget where he came from and need help finding his way back. On the other hand, Tommy didn’t have a sense of direction at all, even if he visited the place everyday. He might have some clue where he was but he wouldn't be the most reliable if you just dropped him off and told him to find his way back.
The low hum from the radiator interrupted his thoughts, bringing him to ask himself whether or not he should go out to look for his brothers. He, honestly, should’ve been worried much sooner.
Phil is a relatively deep sleeper, only waking up when his body clock tells him too or because of a loud noise. But Techno feels the need to keep his footsteps as light as possible as he sneaks past Phil’s room and down the stairs. Not wanting to risk waking him up and getting interrogated whilst he could be finding Tommy and Wilbur.
Everything seems to much louder than it should’ve been, the stairs screech at him and the floorboards seem like they’re making their presence known every time Techno dares to walk. He feels like he’s being incredibly obvious about being up and going out, yet, Phil doesn’t wake up.
He breathes a sigh of relief as he finishes going down the stairs and is now standing on the rug near the front door, grabbing the spare key hanging near the coats. He doesn’t like using the spare key, it feels weird, only a single key not attached to anything. But it’ll have to do since Techno left his own set of keys upstairs and he’s not wanting to make the loud journey back to his room unless it's absolutely necessary. He’s gentle when putting the key in the door, turning it to the left whilst trying to be almost silent as he hears the metal clicking into place as he unlocks the door.
Techno rushed out of the door quickly, scared that Phil would just appear and ask what he’s doing even if it is so obvious. When he closes the door behind him, a sigh of relief comes over him, but he’s still wary of his surroundings. Thinking that maybe, just maybe, Phil would find him or a monster would take him. He's not little anymore, he knows monsters don't exist like the ones you see in books. But he's never grown out of his childish fears and he knows that monsters don't have to be some type of creature to still be a monster.
Putting the key in his pocket for when he comes back, Techno walks out, the chill of the late evening immediately crawling to him and giving him goosebumps. He hopes they don’t take too long to find… he’s still tired and purely running on the adrenaline that finding them both is giving him at the moment. Techno remembers a few hours ago Wilbur vaguely mentioned taking Tommy to the forest near their house they somehow hadn’t explored too much yet. Both his brothers had their forest that didn't really own, but they always explored there and had their own little hut they made out of sticks and leaves. They hadn’t explored the other forest yet purely because they already had one they knew so well.
Techno is worriedly checking his phone every couple of seconds to see how late it is, wondering if they took a different route back that was significantly longer and they’re already back by now. He’s almost debating on turning back, the adrenaline of finding his two brothers wearing off and leaving him tired with his eyes begging for sleep. It’s been thirty minutes since he snuck out of the house and he's not sure if they're even out here anymore.
‘ Why can't they just be normal and stay up all night in the house playing games instead of exploring.. They’re so stupid, honestly, they can’t be related to me. I refuse to believe it.’
His thoughts are interrupted by being met with two sleepy people in front of him. He… did not think that following places where the grass and flowers had been seemingly picked and walked through would lead him to his brothers. But he guesses that they’re just predictable, and he’s not complaining. If he didn’t find them this way then he’d probably never of found them in the first place. Techno is definitely forcing Wilbur to install a tracking app when they get home so this can’t happen again.
Techno sees his little brother asleep soundly against Wilbur, and picks him up gently to not try and wake him up whilst he gives a light kick into Wilbur’s stomach. A kick that should’ve woken him up.
Then he gives Wilbur another kick, harder this time.
Then another, and then another.
Wilbur’s face is in the grass, and Techno can already think of the millions of jokes that he’ll make about Wilbur probably eating bugs and grass as he slept. It was disgusting, the thought of it, but also hilariously humiliating. Techno’s silently laughing as he takes one hand off of Tommy to put Wilbur’s head off the grass to see his dishevelled hair.
And then-
And then, there was a silence, a terrible terrible silence. The silence Techno thinks he’ll hear for the rest of his life. Immediately, he pulls his hand back and lets Wilbur’s head fall back to the ground. He can barely see the blood on Wilbur’s head through his own tears, blurring his eyes and letting all the colours blend together. Techno could barely watch as the ringing in his ears grew louder and louder, leaving him wanting to start screaming to get it out of his head. But he couldn't get a single sound past his lips and into the air that seemed to grow colder, leaving goosebumps on his arms.
His hands gentle, Techno picked at the other’s hand, barely holding the tips of his fingers. Warm. He was still so warm. Warm like he should still be giggling with Tommy when they were supposed to be asleep, or cuddled under a blanket, or making fun of Techno for something he wore, or when he beat him in a game. Techno could only stare, entirely numb, entirely cold, entirely pale, entirely lost inside his own head.Tears burned at the back of his eyes, making his eyes sore. He dropped beside Wilbur, still holding his hand and making soft circles in the wrinkles of his palm, setting Tommy down on the floor next to him in his sleepy state.
“ Wilbur … you can't.. Please stay with me” He whispered as he lay Wilbur’s bloody head onto his chest, looking between the brunette's closed eyes and Tommy’s sleepiness. “ Please, please, please.. don't leave me alone...”
He was too late.
Wilbur had already been dead for hours.
Begging, pleading, with a dead body wasn’t going to bring him back to life and he already knew the harsh truth of that.
The scene makes him sick to see, he doesn’t want to look at the blood covering his brothers head anymore. He’s gentle this time when he lays Wilbur’s head off of his chest, not dropping it onto the grass like he did previously.
He’s so unsure on what to do, he doesn’t know if he wants to run away or just stay with Wilbur until they both die together. Techno stays still, only for a few moments. Deciding despite his dither situation. He stands up, closing his eyes as he picks Tommy up and only opens his eyes when he turns away from Wilbur.
Techno’s not nearly as annoyed as he was when he was walking here, but he does still feel that heavy worry in his chest, but now for a completely different reason. Worry that Tommy saw what happened, saw the blood and his brother’s death, worry about having to explain this to Phil. He looks down in his arms, seeing Tommy peacefully sleeping against him. So little, so sweet, so pure. Tommy doesn’t deserve anything he saw that day. Tommy deserves everything in the world and more, he deserves everything Techno could ever offer and more than that.
The stairs don’t seem to scream at him when he walks up them anymore, they’re replaced with a silentness that almost feels like they know and they’re mourning along with him. It’s almost as if they can tell that one more unexpected thing today will leave him either drowning in anger or a sorrow choking him endlessly.
Gently, he crawls into his bed with Tommy pressed against his chest, not caring about the muddy shoes in his bed or the dirty clothing that would stain his sheets. He sighs a breath of relief once he’s in bed, staring into Tommy’s messy hair that makes it clear he’s been outside for more than a few hours.
Wilbur would make this all better if he was here. He’d give them the comfort they craved so desperately whilst making his silly little comments to make fun of Techno.
At least Techno can pretend. He can pretend that Tommy came to him after a nightmare and in the morning he’ll wake up to Wilbur complaining about how he always went to Techno. He can pretend Wilbur’s still in the room next to him and they’ll all eat together in the morning. He can pretend this is all a dream. Techno knows these aren't true, and they never will be again, but at least he can imagine.
Techno hugs Tommy tighter towards him, still not wanting to wake him but needing some form of affection, of comfort, to help ease his rising desolation.
A part of him wants to think this is some screwed up prank, he isn’t really dead. Wilbur can’t be dead, can he? His brother, the person he cared about more than himself. Dead? No, this was all some terrible prank that’s going to reveal itself tomorrow morning when everyone’s downstairs and laughing with Wilbur there and apologising about it and ridiculing him for believing such a thing.
But no. He knows. He knows he’s never having those teasing jokes again, those little times where he knew and just sat with Wilbur until he was all better. There’s so much he can’t ever have ever again. He won't ever have his brother to laugh with, he won't ever have the dumb arguments, he won't ever have his twin again. Techno wishes he was dead instead of his brother. Wilbur was so clearly better in every way in Techno’s opinion. If he was dead, yes, they would mourn (Techno hopes. They might not, he knows its a possibility, but he hopes when he gets out of the world, if he ever does, they’ll mourn for him.) but at least he won’t have to feel the pain of losing his brother, and Tommy won’t have to put up with a mourning, moody Techno.
And so suddenly, Techno wishes he said so much more to his brother than he ever did.