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He was rage incarnate.
A thin frame held together by loose strands of sanity.
Anyone could see the absolute fury underneath his cool exterior.
Everyone knew he was going to break.
They just didn't know when.
A part of Niki wanted to believe that Wilbur was bluffing about the 736 pieces of tnt below the city. She wanted to believe that this was a ruse to get Schlatt and Dream to surrender. She even wanted to believe that all the meticulously wired bombs would somehow fail to blow up if the detonator was pressed.
She should have known better.
Inside the bottom of a ravine, outfitted to be a sort of makeshift base, was the rebel group known as Pogtopia. The team of rebels argued about who they should focus on fighting. With an entire city against them, they didn't even know who their real enemy was. It didn't help that there were rumors circulating about a traitor among them. Niki snuck a glance at the curly haired boy in front of her. Wilbur, who was staring ahead at nothing seemed like he didn't really care about what was going on. His eyes were blank and emotionless. When he noticed Niki looking at him, he gave a sad attempt of a reassuring smile, and walked over to her. Careful not to draw too much attention to himself from the others.
“Niki.” He said. The girl looked up, waiting for him to continue. “Niki I have something for you.” Without waiting for her, he took her hand and led her away from the bickering group of people. Although now they were talking about their supplies, and if they could even pull this battle off. Wilbur carefully led Niki through the narrow ravine they called home, to a fence post with a creature tied to it.
It was a little, red fox.
Wilbur stopped and let go of Niki’s hand. He walked closer to the animal and untied its leash from the fence post.
“Here, I got this for you. His name is Mushroom” He handed the rope to her.
Niki hesitantly took the leash as Wilbur stared expectantly at her. She crouched down and held out her hand so that the little fox could inspect her. After a bit of sniffing around, Mushroom leaned into Niki's hand, clearly wanting some head rubs. But Niki was silent as she pet the animal. It wasn't like she didn't appreciate the gift from Wilbur, in fact she fell in love with Mushroom the moment she saw him. It was just that this gift reminded her of another fox she had back in L’Manburg. One who was killed by one of the tyrants Niki and the others were trying to fight. A few, silent tears fell from her eyes. And she couldn't figure out if she was crying because of her lost pet, or her memories of what life used to be.
Back in L’Manburg, Niki was happy. With Wilbur as President, and his vice president Tommy, the city prospered. Then Schlatt came along. Although he was democratically elected, the ram horned man quickly turned into a tyrant. His first decree was exiling the former president and vice president, along with killing anyone who dared to oppose his rule. Niki left the city shortly after that. She left her friends, her home. Her former life.
Niki snapped out of her reverie when she noticed Wilbur was still watching her.
She smiled gently. "Thank you Wilbur.”
This response must have been enough for the boy, because he also smiled. And for a moment, Niki forgot about the war. She forgot about the potential “traitor”. All those things faded away because for just a moment, Wilbur was here. He wasn't angry, or trying to start fights. He was the sweet boy Niki had met when she first entered L’Manburg.
For the first time in a while, She had hope that maybe Wilbur might not actually be mad. Perhaps there was still some humanity left within him. They could start over. They could move away from here. Tommy, Tubbo, Wilbur and her could leave this place. The rest of the resistance could leave too. They didn't have to fight this futile war. They could begin anew.
But now, as the city began to crumble, and the newly spawned Withers shot explosives at the city's survivors. Niki couldn't help but choke out a sob. She desperately wanted to trust that Wilbur would do the right thing. That he would dismantle the bombs and return to his usual, giddy self.
But that was all just wishful thinking.