Between the Lines of Fear and Blame

"I'm just going to ask." Eret says quickly, taking another breath before continuing. "How are you back?"

"Dream revived me, that's about all I know." Wilbur chokes out, taking a long drink of tea then places his own mug down. "I woke up on this apparent shrine that had been built in my memory to Tommy, Tubbo and this new kid Ranboo staring at me. I honestly thought they were going to kill me, Tom looked moments from doing so."

"What happened then?"

"All three decided it wasn't worth it and left me alone, alone with all this regret that feels like it's drowning my heart. Eret, those youth have so many more scars than when I left, but I was the initial domino. I started the cascade that led to so much bloodshed and have only glimpses of the events since my death." Wilbur stares down at his feet, his shoulders shaking. "What the fuck did I start?"

Eret had no words for that, knowing exactly what he was talking about. Those dark nights when their old transgressions came to paint their masterpiece before their sorrowful eyes, often in the crimson they spilled with a simple yes to the wrong man.

Silence stretches as Wilbur takes another drink, Eret following suit before deciding perhaps sympathy was the play here. "I get it."

The curly brunette finally meets their sunglass-covered eyes once more, curiosity written across his face. Slipping their glasses down their face to meet Wilbur's eyes with no barriers between them as painful words spill from their lips. Their stomach filled with knots about what they were about to make them both relive with the history they spoke of.

"I know exactly how that feels looking at you and wondering what I put in motion by choosing Kingship over friends. Just how much of this could have been avoided had I not said yes to a certain green-eyed conniving blonde." It's Eret's turn to look down at their feet, weathered boots with a high heel. "I never got the chance to speak with you about it properly, by the time I worked up the nerve you had decided on a new goal."

"To destroy my own nation?" Wilbur cuts in with a bitter laugh, shaking his head making his chestnut curls bounce. "I gathered that a significant amount of time has passed since I last walked this soil, what else should I know about?"

Leaving the topic alone for now, Eret clears their throat while they try to decide where to start.

Let him know that you know best

'Cause after all, you do know best

Try to slip past his defense

Without granting innocence

Lay down a list of what is wrong

The things you've told him all along

And pray to God He hears you

And I pray to God He hears you, and

"Far too much, former President." Eret plucks at the fur lining their cloak, picking dirt particles from it while their mind brings everything to the forefront. "To start with, your nation is now dust. A chasm of failures that's rarely visited now, most have split off to do their own thing now that Technoblade, Dream and Philza decimated it to bedrock."

"Wait, wait, wait...L'Manburg is gone?"

"The only things that remain are safe in storage for the Archives I plan to build, otherwise it only exists in memories." Eret's thoughts flash back to being chased by a Wither Techno summoned beneath the explosive rain from above that ground everything to ash and dust. "Techno and Dream decided they had enough of the ideals you planted, and utterly broke it beyond repair. Something you spent years building was destroyed in less than a day, the pit left to remind us all that ultimately there will always be someone more powerful than you."