peculiar boy- sleepyboisinc royalty au + dreamteam

chapter fourteen, silence again

Wilburs POV

The castle feels like a ghost town. My feet float across the long empty hallways. Maids and guards run by ignoring me with looks of guilt on their faces. Time becomes irrelevant as I aimlessly wander through the hallways. I hate the silence. Despise it. Silence is supposed to be quiet, yet it's louder than the sound itself. Memories flood back of the first time this happened. The same ghostlike hallways, weird stares, and dreaded silence. History repeating itself. The world feels like glass, one wrong step and it'll shatter. I haven't spoken to Techno since I found him in the dining hall. Knowing him he's already taken the whole situation blaming himself for every last detail. I can practically picture the sight in my mind. Even though he has no control over it. It's strange how I know this fact better than he does. Maybe it's a twin thing. I drift around the corner seeing Ranboo talking to a door. His tone is frantic and desperate. His shiny green and red eyes droop in worry. I take a closer look at the location of the door recognizing it as Technos room. It clicks.

"Techno, It's not your fault. I've been down that road, there's no need to blame yourself. I know—" he trails off. His eyes shift away from the door landing on me. "Oh hey, Wilbur."

I brush past him walking to the door. I knew it. I face the door holding my hand out knocking against the door six times. No more, no less. Techno and I came up with this sort of secret language of knocking when we were kids. I suppose it's another one of those twin things we do.

I hear no response for a minute. I presume he wants to be left alone. "Come in," Techno grumbles reluctantly. My hand scrambles with the door handle pushing it open. I see Technos large canopy bed with the long velvet curtains draped over the bed frame. His room isn't all that spectacular with only a desk, his canopy bed, wardrobe, and some beaten-up old training dummy in the corner. I pull back the curtains hanging on his bed revealing a pile of blankets and pillows with Techno inside. "What do you want?" He growls.

"Techno," I mumble softly. I sit down on his bed parallel to him crossing my legs.

"What? If you don't have anything to say just leave."

I stare at him while he avoids my gaze tugging in the sea of blankets. My mind spins thinking of where to start. "I saw Ranboo screaming outside your door and wanted to check-in and make sure you're ok," I answer.

"I'm completely fine." On cue, his stomach growls.

"You haven't had dinner yet?" I ask.

"Not hungry," he barks.

I hate when Technos upset. Unlike other people who'll cry and wail constantly, Techno becomes annoyingly stubborn and arrogant. "I know your upset about what happened but that doesn't give you the right to block everything out."

"For the love of the gods give me a goddamn break. Can I be sad for just a few minutes?" he yells. He catches my glance turning his eyes away mumbling, "We wouldn't be in this situation if I wasn't here anyway."

Smack.

Technos hand hovers to his cheek covering the red palm on his face. Anger rises within me. "Don't you dare say that ever again!" I scold. My anger softens my mind returning to old memories. "Do you remember 'that day'? The first time this happened?"

"Vividly."

A younger version of Wilbur from four years ago worriedly knocked on his brother's door. He was only Tommy's current age when the world fell on him. Wilbur knocked six times against the door tapping his foot anxiously. Techno answered recognizing the specific number of knocks. The door handle jiggled pushing open into the room.

Skipping the pleasantries Wilbur already started crying, "What's going on?"

Techno pulled Wilbur into a hug squeezing him close. Despite them being twins Techno was always more mature almost acting like an older brother. Even though he was bad at comforting people he always tries his best to help his brother. He always knew exactly what to say to Wilbur to make him feel better when he was sad. Yet, he was speechless. "I don't know," he whispered. Tears pounded against his eyelids being held in like a dam.

Wilburs lips trembled as he spoke. "The entire palace is in a panic but everyone ignores me when I ask why. I've tried asking everyone Dad, Ranboo, Fundy, even that bastard Schlatt but they all give me some bullshit oh-it's-nothing-to-worry-about answer," Wilbur rants.

Techno softly nods wrapping the crook of his elbow around Wilburs neck still squeezing him in a hug. "I know, I know," he hushes. His eyes float to the walls of his room. A thought floats on the tip of his tongue as he decides whether he should say it. He determines that it'd be best to rip off the bandaid. "Now that I think about it, I haven't seen Tommy since dinner."

"No, no, no, no." Tears flood Wilburs eyes. Tommy was his brother, his best friend, the thought of something horrible happening to him shook Wilburs core. Never seeing his sparkling yet troublesome big blue eyes and his dirty messy blonde hair ever again scared him more than anything.

Techno let go of Wilbur pulling his brother out of the hug holding his shoulders. "No matter what we'll always have each other, alright? We're a team through and through," he comforts.

"You promise?" Wilbur sniffles.

"I promise."

"You promised," I scream tears flying from my eyes.

Techno sits in disbelief. "I—"

"So don't you dare try to tell me that it's better without you. You and I are a team. There's no Technoblade without Wilbur, and no Wilbur without Technoblade."

"I'm—" He bites his lip holding back tears. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You have nothing to be sorry for."Techno gets up from his bed marching to the door. "Where are you going?"

"To find Tommy," he responds.

I grab his hand before he can leave. "Like hell, you're not," I protest. "Listen here, you are going to go eat dinner, get a goods night's rest, then in the morning you can go out searching."

"I'm just supposed to leave him out in the snow," he snaps.

"He can't have gotten that far. Besides, we already have several search parties looking for him. I'm sure you can look in the morning," I reason.

Techno flops back over on his bed. "He's such a strange kid, isn't he?"

"Yeah," I agree. "It's so weird how similar they are. It's like they're the same person but at the same time complete opposites."

"For sure, Tommy is so skittish and constantly on edge whereas the old Tommy was annoyingly bold and loud."

Wilburs giggles sitting on the edge of the bed near his twin, "Like how he constantly begged you to fight him one on one but would them complain when you won."

"Or all those times he tried to bite you," Techno smiles reminiscing of old memories. He heaves himself up to the edge of the bed next to me.

We laugh for a joyful few seconds enjoying each other's presence. I can almost hear a third laugh on the other side of me as if he never left. We both calm down from our hysteric state, our laughs slowly softening. I lean against his shoulder taking in the comfort. "Hey, Tech?"

"Hm?"

"You think Tommy would remember us?"

"How could he forget?"

Word count:1283