Chapter Text
Wilbur loved it when Phil and Techno went out together, he was always left in the house alone to practice his music. Now don’t get him wrong Phil and Techno were insanely supportive of his music goals. Techno had always enjoyed listening to Wilbur’s guitar, even before they had been fostered by Phil. And Phil had been more supportive than any other foster parent the two had ever had. Which is why Techno and Wilbur had been so overjoyed when Phil fully adopted them. Nonetheless, it was always nice to practice without the idea that the two would be listening, an easy going time when he didn’t feel too embarrassed when he messed up. The few hours he had alone, while the two went out for groceries, were spent up in his room practicing his original songs.
But of course this perfect time had to be interrupted.
The crashing sound from below took Wilbur out of his mind, as his breathing picked up. Phil lived out in the forest a few miles or so away from the nearest village, there shouldn’t be anything out there except wild animals. Nonetheless, Wilbur worried he’d have to fight off a wild bear or raccoon ravaging through their house. He was nowhere near as physically capable as Techno was. Wilbur quickly ran out of his room, taking no time to put his guitar away, instead he decided that using it as a weapon or to make himself look bigger would be better. He raced down the steps to the ground floor of their home and into the kitchen where he expected to find the wild animal rummaging through the cabinets, or maybe the back door being wide open. But he found neither, the kitchen looked pristine as ever, Techno made sure of that, he crept his way to a window that looked outside towards the forest. He saw nothing but the trees, dark night sky, moon, an overturned trash can, a kid, and of course Techno’s garden.
Wait… was that a kid!
Wilbur’s eyes widened and his breathing picked up even more. He raced out the back door startling the poor thing even more.
The kid made a noise that sounded like a yelp or wince, and tried to hide his face with his arms. Wilbur stared at the child in front of him, he looked no older than maybe 6 or 7. The boy had short muddy blonde hair that had little flowers and vines tangled in it. He bore a red t-shirt that went down almost to his knees, and a tattered green bandana around his neck. He had no shoes, and his legs and feet had bruises, scratches, and scrapes scattered all over. His face wasn’t much better, a long scar ran across his face from his left eyebrow to the right corner of his mouth. Though what Wilbur found to be the most odd was the vines and flowers that wrapped around almost every part of his body, not to mention the little cow-like tail that was wrapped around his left leg, and the cow-like ears that drooped downward.
Wilbur had no idea what was going on.
“H-hello?” He stuttered out. The boy looked at him with fearful eyes through his hands. Only then did Wilbur realize the mess around them. “Were you eating out of our trash?!” Wilbur yelled a little too loudly, and the kid winced and tugged down on their cows like ears. Wilbur sucked in a breath, ok so don’t do that again.
The trash can had been overturned and the bags inside dumped out. Bits of food, paper and plastic were scattered on the ground. This was going to take a while to clean up, Wilbur sighed. The boy looked around before grabbing the rotten apple next to him, Wilbur had had to throw those out after they hadn’t eaten them in a few days. The boy held it closely like he expected it to be taken away.
Think Wilbur what do you do in this situation, there’s a kid eating out of the trash outside your house in the middle of the forest.
Wilbur breathed out, and knelt down to get to the kid’s height. The kid scooted away more to put more space between them, Wilbur placed his guitar down on the ground and held his hands up.
“Think you can explain to me what’s going on?” Wilbur asked as gently as he could. The boy stared at the apple in his hands, not looking up at Wilbur, and let out a noise that resembled a cow; Something like a ‘moo’ and a no. “That’s okay…” Wilbur sighed, looking around the yard the last time he checked it was 7 o’clock. If the kid was out this late in the middle of the forest he most likely had nowhere to go. And if he was rummaging through his trash…
“Do you want to come inside for some food?” Wilbur asked, the boy looked up with fear evident in his eyes. Again the same noise came from the kid. Wilbur frowned. “Are you sure?” Wilbur reached out to let the kid take his hand, but the kid bolted. He grabbed as much food from the trash on the ground and ran straight for the woods, barely letting Wilbur enough time to stand before he was already near the edge.
“Hey-hey! Wait! You’re going the wrong way!” Wilbur yelled, running after him assuming he was trying to run back to the village. Wilbur chased the kid into the forest, jumping over logs and puddles trying to keep up with the kid who ran quickly and without any hesitation. “Kid! Wait up!” Wilbur yelled out again, trying to keep the boy’s golden hair in view. What he didn’t expect was for the kid to call out a yell of his own. It sounded human, but had this undertone of an animal; a little rumble of a moo.
“Boo!” He yelled as loud as he dared, “Bee!”
Wilbur sputtered at that, who in the world was he calling out for. Were there more people just living out in the forest? The boy stopped at a tree before he ran straight into it. He turned around to face Wilbur, fear and tears staining his face. He threw the apple at Wilbur hitting him in the shoulder, but Wilbur didn’t care he was just glad the kid stopped running. He huffed, “‘m not t-trying t-to h-hurt you…kid.” Wilbur gasped out. The kid backed up until his back was against the tree and even then still tried to back away. His chin pressed up against his chest as he tried to climb up the tree with the heels of his feet.
Wilbur breathed out, “I know you’re scared, okay? But just…I’m not gonna hurt you. I just want to help, okay? You’re hungry, right? I can get you something to eat that isn’t rotten or trash.”
The kid looked up and again the moo-like no sound came out from him. And then a flash of light came, all purple and bright, making Wilbur cover his eyes for a second only to then see two kids standing in front of him. The taller one blocked him from the blond one. The taller glared at him, he didn’t look much older then the other but was much much taller. His white skin was broken up by black splotches that ran along his face and arms randomly. The taller boy also had bruises along his arms, some even looked like burns. His eyes glowed a red and green that were mirrored by two horns making it look like he had four eyes. He wore a white t-shirt and black pants, and two colored socks. His tail was wrapped around the other and little purple particles danced around the two now. Wilbur thought the particles must have come with the new person, who was still glaring at him and now growling too, great. And in a split second just as he appeared to two disappeared. Leaving Wilbur standing alone in the forest.
“What the f*ck did I just see…” he whispered to himself.
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Look, all Tommy wanted was to help. That’s all he wanted. Tubbo and Ranboo always worked hard to keep them safe. Whether it was back in the white halls or out here in this tree place. The two were a little older, but they always worked to keep the three safe. And Tommy wanted to do his part. It was only fair.
It was late, well maybe…it was dark, that’s all Tommy knew. It was dark and he was hungry. The three had hidden out underneath a large tree for the night. Tubbo was up in the branches of the tree keeping watch while Ranboo got some sleep underneath. Tommy was sitting next to Ranboo who was fast asleep mumbling. Ranboo always mumbled in his sleep, Tommy rolled his eyes, I mean don’t get him wrong he really cared for the guy. Ranboo was part of the reason the three were alive! But he always mumbled such weird things, Tubbo found it funny, but Tommy found it a little unsettling.
Tubbo buzzed above, a question of if Tommy was asleep. Tommy answered back with a knock on the trunk of the tree, to let Tubbo know he was awake and alright.
“Tubbo?” Tommy called, and Tubbo pushed his face through the leaves so he could talk to the youngest. “Do you want me to keep watch tonight?”
Tubbo faced contorted, answering Tommy’s question, “ No. I’ve got it. Once Boo wakes up we’ll switch. You sleep.”
“I’m not even tired!” Tommy complained, standing up to stare Tubbo in the face. Tommy tried his best to look intimidating so Tubbo would listen to him, but Tubbo wasn’t impressed.
“Really? We’ve been walking all day. And we’ll be walking a lot tomorrow, too. You need to keep your energy up. I think you should sleep. I don’t want to have to listen to you complain for hours.” Tubbo answered and went back to his position not letting Tommy continue the conversation. The silence lasted for about five minutes, to long for Tommy’s liking. He wanted to help. And Tubbo and Ranboo always made it to where he couldn’t. They treated him like a child! Sure, they were older. Ranboo was eleven, and Tubbo was ten but he was seven and a half! He could help! He was hungry and he was sure Tubbo and Ranboo were too. The last day the three had eaten together was three days ago. Bits and pieces of food they found went to whoever's turn it was.
“Imma go on a walk! Bye, Tubbo!” Tommy said, it was just loud enough that Tommy could tell them he said it later, but not loud enough that Tubbo could hear it. And Tommy went on his merry way.
Oh, if only he had stayed.
Maybe then he wouldn’t be running through the woods being chased by this guy.
Tommy had found some food in this tall canister outside a house and had accidentally hit his head on it. It caused a loud noise alerting the person in the house. He had this wooden weapon, and was being really weird. At first Tommy didn’t really know what he was gonna do, but once he reached out Tommy decided to run. He ran into the woods again, and the guy started to chase him. He called out multiple times for him to stop but Tommy just kept running, calling out for Tubbo and Ranboo. He really hoped he was close enough for them to hear him. He kept running till he stopped at a tree, remembering what Ranboo had told him a while ago.
“If you ever get lost, you stay right where you are. Okay? Me or Tubbo will come get you. We’ll find you, running around will just get you more lost.” Ranboo explained, as Tubbo nodded behind him floating off the ground a little.
“But what if you don’t find me? Do I move then?” Tommy had asked.
“Only move if you know for sure, 100 percent we won’t be able to come get you. And even then only move somewhere we will be able to find you, okay?” Tubbo had supplied.
Stay where you are, Tommy can do that! Yeah! So he stopped and stayed right next to this tree. The guys started talking again.
“I know you’re scared, okay? But just…I’m not gonna hurt you. I just want to help, okay? You’re hungry, right? I can get you something to eat that isn’t rotten or trash.” The brown-haired man said.
The idea of getting some food was nice. He was really hungry, but he had to stay where he was. Tubbo and Ranboo would be here any second. Tommy let out a noise he knew would normally get him in trouble, but he didn’t want to move. And then Ranboo was there. Tommy heard the growl Ranboo let out to the man standing in front of them and Tommy grabbed onto his shirt. Particles started to dance around Tommy trying to make him happy and laugh. Some particles just tried to reassure him, as Ranboo dealt with the problem. And then the two were out of there, back by the tree they had staked out at.
As soon as the two were back, Tommy was tackled by Tubbo into a bear hug. As Ranboo sat down on the ground with a shaky breath out.
“You absolute idiot! What were you thinking?! You could have gotten hurt! What was going through your brain? Just walking away like that! You didn’t even tell us where you were going! You idiot!” Tubbo yelled, hugging Tommy tightly. None of it was meant to be mean, and Tommy knew that. Tubbo was a worrywart when it came to him, both of them were. Tubbo let out a shaky breath and let Tommy out of the bear hug, but still held his shoulders to get a good look at him.
“Are you okay? Anything hurt?” Tubbo buzzed, Tommy nodded and let the things in his arms fall to the ground. Tubbo and Ranboo looked at the food on the ground.
“I thought we needed food…so I got some…” Tommy whispered, sniffling and trying to stop the tears that ran down his face.
“You stole?” Ranboo asked, picking up a banana.
“N-no! It was like in this canister outside. They didn’t even want it!” Tommy explained quickly. “I just hit my head on it and the guy came out. He was nice at first, I think. He just kind of talked. But then he reached out and I ran…” Tommy mooed out.
“You hit your head?” Tubbo asked quickly, flying above him and starting to comb through Tommy’s hair to see if it was bruised. Tommy swatted the bee away.
“I’m fine!” Tommy said, but Tubbo was persistent and continued to check him for injuries. Tommy tried to get Ranboo's attention to help, but Ranboo was obviously listening to his particles, and not paying too much attention. His eyes were glazed over and simply stared at the ground as he listened to them. “Whatcha thinking, Boo?” Tommy asked, getting his attention.
“We might be too close to a village if there’s people out here.” Ranboo explained, “Particles are worried.”
Tubbo nodded, and Tommy sighed. “Does this mean more walking?” He asked.
“I told you to rest!”