unravel | dream x reader |

[40]

"Tommy, I think we're the bad guys,"—God, how he wished he would stop saying that... it was only riling the boy up more, "But, Tommy, I wanna- I wanna say something to you."

At those short, simple words, both of their feet fell to a halt yet again, Wilbur lightly tugging the boy back with him before spinning him to face him. He rested both hands on either of his shoulders, hunching over in order to level with the teen. Tommy swallowed uneasily at his sudden change of tone, before nodding slightly, his eyes widening.

"Okay, me and you, we both agree that we're right... we're- we're in the right here, aren't we?" He checked, opening his eyes to meet the pair of bright blues, not a single sense of doubt lingering within them. His face hardened, brows furrowing on his forehead as he looked to his former-leader proudly.

"Yeah... and well, I- I mean I'm always in the right, so..." he murmured the last part, shrugging his shoulders slightly as his eyes instead directed themselves astray and over to a random tree standing tall and alone by the other side of the lake. Honestly, and he'd never imagined himself thinking something so stupid, but he felt as though he could relate to it right now. Isolated. Forced apart from the rest of it's family because it had no control to do otherwise. Stupid. He frowned slightly before flickering his eyes back to Wilbur in front of him, almost immediately noticing how his expression had gotten darker and unsettling, sending yet another shiver down his spine. A grin crept upon the older's face, wide and all-the-more worrying, his eyes wide with pure madness just as he delivered his next line.

"Then let's be the bad guys."

His voice may have been only a whisper, but it had never felt louder to the poor boy who trembled slightly under a mere stare. Tommy stumbled his way out of his brother's bruising grip, almost falling right down onto his back as he stared at him in disbelief. He couldn't... no... his feet acted before his mind did, causing him to immediately push past Wilbur with a vigorous shake of his head, hurrying his way back home. Maybe there he would find someone who saw his point of view. That, or a way to escape his broken-shell-of-a-brother. Wilbur quickly went to chase after him, matching the other's pace in order to stay in his range.

"Tommy, what- why not? Why not? Look, it's- our nation's gone! Our nation's far behind us, Tommy." He continued to whisper absolute madness down the boy's ears, feeding him with his own sense of insanity to plague the boy's mind. And he had no choice other than to listen, despite his best efforts. He immediately pushed through the vines of their home, pausing as he reached the stairwell once his name was mentioned yet again.

"C'mon, brother..." the term felt like pure venom from his tongue, "let's blow that motherfucker to smithereens."

Tommy stared at the stone wall in front of him with the hardest glare he could muster, not having enough courage to return it to the man stood behind him. At the moment, his mind was his only reliability, and even now it was getting filled with the nonsense that spilled from Wilbur's mouth. There was truly no escape. After squeezing his eyes shut for what must have been a minute at most, he spun around and faced him with an uneasy expression.

"Wilbur I- Wilbur are you thinking clearly?" He spoke, uncertain, which apparently was the wrong move as the brunette snapped with what must have been the harshest tone he had heard from him today, if not ever.

"Tommy, I say if we can't have Manburg-" he slammed his fist against the wall beside him,"-NO ONE - NO ONE can have Manburg!" Tommy immediately flinched upon the impact that had been brought towards the cave's structure, his mouth falling agape slightly from fear. He had never seen him so hostile, so enraged before. And he definitely didn't like it.