Snippets

keep the gun on me

TW: gun violence, death, major injuries, kidnapping
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Wilbur needs to be sneaky- he needs to-

He needs his hands to stop shaking. God, he's never had such a hard time on a mission before. He wipes the sweat off his palms onto his pants, swallows down the lump threatening to form in his throat, and triple-checks to make sure he's got more than enough knives for whatever he's going to face when he finally mans up and goes through that door.

His twin is trembling just as bad as he is, but whereas Wilbur's comes from nerves, Techno's comes from anger. He's pissed that someone thought they could lay their grimy hands on his little brother and get away with it. He draws his favorite dagger, the weight comfortable and familiar in his hands. The obsidian blade is six inches, perfect for throwing, and the wooden handle was carved to specifically fit his hand. But that's not why it's his favorite; it's his favorite because Tommy gave it to him.

"Get him out of there. No matter what," he says, and he places the dagger's handle in the hands of Wilbur. Then, he's gone, off to find the back entrance into the building, so they can ambush Schlatt from both sides.

Wilbur rubs the wood with his thumb, a watery smile appearing on his face for only a second before he wipes his tears away and fits his fingers into their grooves on the handle. He sucks in what's supposed to be a deep, steadying breath and exhales even more shakily than before.

He's got to be strong. For his brothers.

Knife in one hand, he shoves the big, metal door open. The metal creaks, and he pinches his eyes and lips closed. The sound reverberates in the silence of the building, but he has no choice other than to keep pushing if he wants to save Tommy. All chances at stealth ruined, he shoves the door open as fast as he can in hopes of minimizing the amount of sound produced.

Wilbur sneaks down the hallway that leads from the doors to the main area of the abandoned building as the world plunges into silence again. It's so quiet, aside from his footsteps crunching on debris, that he worries for a second that Schlatt didn't show up like he said he would or that he might round the corner to find his baby brother dead. Something heavy settles in his chest that makes it hard to breathe, let alone breathe quietly enough that it doesn't give his position away.

He peeks around the brick wall and almost sobs.

Tommy's there, bruised and slumped over in a metal, folding chair in the center of the room. Moonlight seeps in from a broken window and halos the broken boy.

Ignoring all the warning bells going off in his head, Wilbur rushes to his side. "Tommy, hey, Toms," he says quietly, his voice cracking. The boy lifts his head slowly, like it's too heavy for him. Wilbur cups his head in his hands gently, rubbing his thumbs over the boy's scratched and bruised skin. Tommy lets out a sob and reaches out with his weak, trembling hands, bound in rope, towards his brother. "I've got you sunshine," Wilbur promises, leaning his forehead against the boy's and taking his hands in his own. Using Techno's dagger, he starts to saw through the thick rope.

"I didn't think-" Tommy starts before his voice fails. His lips are cracked from thirst and split open from being punched. "I didn't think you were coming. He said- he-"

"Step away from him," a voice calls from out of the shadows. Wilbur is quick to move in front of Tommy and sweep the room with his eyes, readying his dagger to be thrown in the process.

A single shot rings out. Wilbur's quick to pull his body over Tommy's instinctively, using himself as a human shield for the boy.

Only seconds later, someone is running towards him. He throws himself into what loosely resembles a fighting stance, fists clenched, his blade lost somewhere in the shooting. But before he can get a hit in, something cracks across his forehead, and his world explodes into white. His ears ringing, he crumbles, and he's gone.

"-recognize this building?" a voice asks, their breath hot against his ear the first thing Wilbur feels as he starts waking up; his pounding head trying to split in half is the second. Without warning, he's gruffly shaken hard enough that his head thumps against the brick behind him. It forces a cry of pain from his lips. Muffled whimpers respond to his cry, forcing him into consciousness about as gently as someone getting dunked in freezing cold water. Wilbur groans and peels his stubborn eyelids open only to pinch them shut when he's blinded by the floodlight Schlatt must've set up when he was unconscious.

He blinks until the light doesn't bother him as much and tries to gather his surroundings. He's in a building, the black-coated bricks informing him the building must've had a fire and been abandoned.

Tommy's tied up in front of him; his wrists are bound in new rope, and his mouth is gagged. Wilbur startles forward, trying to get to his brother, only to realize that he's also tied up. A strong rope digs into his waist uncomfortably as it secures him to the pillar.

Moving makes his side flare up in pain, and he finally realizes he's sitting in a pool of blood which seems to be coming from himself. More specifically, the bullet wound in his side.

They are completely and entirely fucked.

Schlatt squats in front of him and grabs him by the hair. "You heroes-" he spits the word out, like it's poisonous- "took something from me, something neither you or I could replace." He throws Wilbur's head back into the pillar once more and crosses the room to Tommy's chair.

Tommy whimpers and pulls against his ropes, but he's too weak. Wilbur is, too; he can't even find the energy to try to break free from his restraints.

With wild eyes, Schlatt smiles when he wraps his arm around Tommy's neck and yanks him up to his feet. Tommy's knees buckle, but Schlatt doesn't let him fall. He points his gun at Tommy's head, close enough that the barrel touches the boy's temple. Tommy sobs and flinches away from the touch. "Let me return the favor."

Wilbur feels like throwing up when he realizes what the villain means.

"Schlatt," he starts, his tongue sitting heavy in his mouth like cotton. "Schlatt, I didn't- I didn't kill your son." His words are barely understandable to his own ears, but everything already sounds like it's underwater, so he can only hope the villain will be able to find meaning in them.

Tommy's eyes widen, and he finally realizes what his fate will be. He tries to struggle in Schlatt's grip, but the man only holds tighter around his neck.

Wilbur looks anywhere but his little brother; he never told Tommy about any of it because he was too scared of what he'd think of him. He wouldn't be able to survive if Tommy thought he was a monster. And now, he can't bear to see the distrust and fear in the boy's eyes before he dies. "Your son was a good man, a hero-"

"Shut up!" Schlatt yells, but Wilbur presses on.

"He went back into that burning building to save people by his own choice, and he did- He saved so many people. That building-" Oh, shit. The scorched bricks- this is the building Schlatt's son died in. God, he's going to puke.

Schlatt fires his gun towards the ceiling, making Wilbur and Tommy both flinch. Wilbur falls deathly silent; his words won't get him out of this one.

"How about I just kill you both?" Schlatt growls, showing the gun hard enough into Tommy's temple that it bruises instantly.

"Then kill me first," Wilbur begs. His head hangs in defeat. It's selfish. God, he knows it's selfish, but after giving up everything for his baby brother for years, he thinks he's allowed this one time to be selfish.

And maybe, if he goes first, it'll buy Techno some time to get there and rescue Tommy.

A gunshot rings out, and Tommy screams, and Wilbur feels his heart break. He slumps forward, nothing but the rope digging into his skin holding him up. He lets out a sob that tears at his throat and destroys what little remains of his heart.
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(1431 words)
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A/N: I wrote over one thousand words for this today alone! I've been struggling with writer's block for months, so this is like rain during a drought. I'm actually pretty happy with how this chapter turned out, too :) I hope you enjoyed reading!