Pairings: Wilbur Soot x Reader
Warnings: None
Pronouns: She/Her
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The day was calm and the weather was cool. What a typical life to have been living. In the Sleepy household, almost everything ran the same as every other day. You had Tommy scurrying around, probably pissing his parents off by playing pranks on them along with his best mate, and you had the twins, sat in the eldest's room - conversing, or whatever.
Technoblade drew a cloth over his sword, which gave off a luminescent glow once the fabric was pulled away from it. It was so perfect that you were able to catch a glimpse of your own reflection if you had the fortune to even look at his weapon.
He was sat on top of his bed with his legs crossed, a tray of weapons by his side and a cluster of blades in his lap for him to clean. He was so focussed on making sure the weapons were spotless, ready to draw through his next victim.
And Wilbur had his back rested against the wall right beside Technoblade's bed so that he had a clear view of what his brother was doing. He was doodling in his notebook instead of writing the extract he was supposed to be doing. He always was a procrastinator. You couldn't get him to do what you wanted even if you tried.
His eyes darted around the room in a quick search for things to sketch, hoping that he'd be able to use the image as a reference. And don't get me wrong when I say this, Wilbur is an incredibly talented person, but he kind of lacks in the artistic department. Which is why he always tried his best to look for a image from which he could study.
As he gazed across Techno's neat and kind walls, his eyes stumbled across a portrait he hadn't recognised before. It was about the size of an A5 sheet and it's frame was laced with a golden, metallic shine. It hung right above Techno's desk and was half-shielded by one of the tall candles that he insisted on keeping.
Needless to say, his interest had been caught.
He placed his pencil between the pages of his book and shut it gently, sliding it onto the carpet that was laid out beside him. The floorboards creaked as he rose from the ground, which had caught Techno's attention. He didn't lift his head up, but his eyes travelled to watch Wilbur as he moved from his spot and strode over towards Technoblade's desk.
"Wilbur?" Techno hummed, which Wilbur ignored.
Once he reached the desk, he used his index and middle finger to lightly push the candle out of the way so he could reveal the portrait and pick it up. He brushed away the dust that had caught up on the frame and inspected it carefully.
"Technoblade, why do you have a picture of a lady on your desk?" Wilbur chuckled lightly. Techno's head shot up, but all he could see from his perspective was Wilbur's back. He turned his head back down.
"It's probably just an old photo of mom, don't touch it." He grumbled.
"No, it's definitely not mum..." He muttered just below his breath. "Techno, who is this?" He held up the golden frame. Technoblade squinted his eyes to try and clear his vision just a little bit. The dust that had been swept off the glass had revealed a woman, one of a beautiful complexion and was dressed in a coat and blouse.
"Oh, that is... (Y/n) (L/n)." He hummed when he realised who it was, turning his head back down to go back to cleaning his weaponry.
"Who is she?" He questioned, handling the frame so that he could further intake her beauty.
"You don't know who she is?" Techno furrowed his brows without looking up. "As a man who's interested in his history, I'm surprised you haven't heard of her."
"History?" Wilbur mumbled. "History, what's my history got to do with her?"
"Well... She's like- One of most famous people to have been born in the Greater Dream SMP."
"Famous?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I figured it just happened to be one of your friends." Wilbur narrowed his eyes. "She looks like a fighter. Wouldn't be surprised if you happened to stumble across her on your path."
"Yeah, I think I'd be two-hundred years too late to try and find her." Techno let out a short laugh.
"Wait, what?" Wilbur's eyes widened. "What do you mean two-hundred years too late?"
"Well-" Techno looked at his brother. "Well, she's dead, Wilbur. She died like 100 years ago."
"She did?"
"Yeah! She's like a famous historical figure- Do you really not know who she is?" Technoblade queried.
"If I knew, why would I be asking you about her?"
"I don't know! I kind of just thought you were trying to mock me. The town's got memorials of her like- everywhere in the Greater Dream SMP." Techno whimpered in that high-pithed tone he always puts on when he gets defensive.
"Oh." Wilbur responded shortly in one breath. "Well- We're not from the Greater Dream SMP. That's probably why I've never heard of her" He shrugged.
"Well, it's not just the Greater Dream SMP. She's a part of history as a whole." Technoblade informed his brother, sliding his clean sword to the side as he picked up one of his daggers to polish while he spoke. "It's kinda like one of those world-wide thing, y'know?"
"Well, if I haven't heard of her, she's probably not that important." He went to put the frame down, but Techno's words ceased him.
"Or maybe you're just uneducated."
Wilbur paused for a few moments to keep the frame held in his hands, adjusting his glasses so that he could take a closer look at the small details he found in the image. Like the military badges on the collar of her coat and the small pin she wore. That one pin seemed to stand out further than the others. It seemed... Familiar.
"Wait, Techno, she's wearing one of the heart pins. It's like dad's." Wilbur pointed at the badge she was wearing, flipping the photo around to face Techno so that he could see what he was gesturing towards. It was a shiny pin that was shaped into a red heart with two black lines that were curved in the middle of it.
"Yeah, it's the Hardcore symbol." Techno mumbled back.
"What." Wilbur replied blankly.
"God, you really are dumb." He rolled his eyes. "The Harcore Warriors were a group of highly-trained soldiers in the 1800s. Every faction had its own army and from those armies, they elected the strongest members. Those selected were taken and made to create this new group of people."
"And (Y/n) was a part of them?"
"Nah, the pin you're seeing is a prop- Yeah, no shit, Wilbur! Of course she was a part of them." He nodded.
"Are they like the speed-runners?"
"Speed-runners?" He repeated.
"Yeah."
"Oh, no, that's like a whole other group of people. And the speed-runners aren't elected. You kind of just decide to be one one day and just... Do it. No, the Hardcore soldiers are very different." He informed him. "This was a really exclusive thing. Probably only about 100 people in the world were a part of the Hardcore Warriors."
"Wait-" Wilbur interrupted. "If its so exclusive then how have I met people who have the badge? Other than dad, of course. Haven't they all already died or something?"
"Is dad dead?" Technoblade asked, shifting an eyebrow up and waiting for Wilbur's response to the rhetorical question.
"No..." He answered.
"That's because technically, the warriors were granted the gift of youth. You know how we all have three lives but we sort of lose them once we read a certain point in our lives and just die of old age?"
"You could've just said the three lives bit-"
"Well the Harcore Warriors were different." Technoblade interrupted. "All of their lives were cut down to just one. And their hearts had two scars engraved in them. But having one life granted them the gift of living past the age of 80. Amazing, right? They could continue to live as long as they wanted, just as long as they didn't lost that one life."
"So... They're one-lifers?"
"Yep. They can still die of preventable accidents. Like falling off cliffs, getting killed... But natural illness like old-age or a plague was off the table. They remained untouched by the effects."
"Wow..." Wilbur whispered. "Well, good on dad for not dying all that time. I've always wondered why he was so old."
"You think dad's old, wait 'till you find out about mom's origins-"
"What was that?" Wilbur short Techno a quick glance.
"-Nothing!"
Wilbur hummed and looked back at the portrait, his thumb brushing over the dusted glass. He had to say, he found the lady absolutely stunning. And just hearing about the group that she was a part of only intrigued him more.
"So how did (Y/n) die?"
"Uh..." Techno squinted at the ground, trying to dig up the history he had stocked in his brain. "...She... Was murdered, if I remember correctly."
"Excuse me?"
"Yeah, she had a sword driven right though the heart in like the 1900s." He tensed his shoulders. "What a way to go."
"You said it." Wilbur's eyes rolled.
"But yeah." Techno tilted his head. "She was mainly known for how well she fought in battle... Oh! And she was also the first female Harcore soldier and one of the first people to oppose great power and try to revolt against the monarchy. She was like a representative for revolutionaries."
"She was?" Wilbur's eyebrows perked up and his cheeks glowed slightly. Powerful women. Pog. "So why do you have a framed photo of her on your desk?"
"Because... She's an inspirational historical figure?" He answered back.
"Is that it?" He smirked.
"Well- She's a revolutionary and I'm an anarchist... I guess I'm kind of fascinated by her work..." He added on slowly.
"Really?" Wilbur glanced over (Y/n)'a picture. "So it's not because she's an attractive, Harcore soldier that had a tendency to argue with power."
Techno felt the redness creep up onto his cheeks, which he quickly shielded by looking down and not facing his brother.
"No." He said not-so convincingly.
Wilbur chuckled.
Wilbur continued to state over her portrait for a few moments, loving the history he had been told about this woman. He felt like he could learn about her all over again and he wouldn't get tired of hearing of her stories. He lifted his head back up again.
"Techno, can I keep this picture? I wanna do some research on her."
"No, put it back." He replied sternly.
"Okay, well-" He cleared his throat, positioning the portrait back in its rightful place on the desk. "It was worth asking." He shrugged.
Wilbur made his way out of Techno's room and went straight downstairs to grab his coat, knowing exactly where he wanted to go. He had to go to the library. There was no way he was giving up on this opportunity to learn more about this woman. He had been hooked just by the stories Techno had told about her and he had to learn more. Surely there was more to this girl than meets the eye?
Days after Wilbur had found out about her, he did copious amounts of research. He read books and articles of what she had accomplished and went to almost every memorial of her the Greater Dream SMP had to offer. And it sure did expand his knowledge on her. Like, did you know that she established the first Ocean monument in the Greater Dream SMP?
And it wasn't just reading that he did. He continued going back to Techno, begging him to tell him more of what he knew about (Y/n). Wilbur even went to Philza to ask him if he remembered any stories that included her. And while it was slightly hard for him to remember something that long ago, he was still able to provide what he wanted to hear. Tales of her heroism and how Philza had even fought alongside her.
Wilbur was infatuated by her.
It had only been a couple of weeks now since he had found out her name and he was enlightened by her story.
He had to meet her.
It was definitely a long-shot. I mean, he didn't even have a stable plan on how to travel back in time. There was no way that Karl was going to allow him to use his book just so he could go back to the 1800s to meet a girl that he thought was cool. So, Wilbur came up with the brilliant idea: What if he just stole the book?
It was going to be difficult, but not impossible. There wasn't a lot of people who knew about Karl's book. In fact, Wilbur wasn't even supposed to know himself. He just happened to overhear a conversation Karl was having with Phil about the book and the location just happened to appear in his words.
He knew were to go, but was he sure that this was the right thing to do? Regardless of it was morally right or not, Wilbur did it. He snuck out of the house and stole one of Technoblade's horses to take the book.
So, Karl doesn't happen to be as clever as Dream when it came to security. Because the only level of protection for the book that Wilbur came across was a bookshelf that covered the room that the book was situated in. No alarms, no traps, not indicators of any kind. Wilbur just walked up to the lecture and just... took it.
The walls surrounding the room he was stood in were decorated with posters and portraits of all of the places Karl had visited beforehand. Wilbur had never seen this place before, nor had he heard of half of these place or the people that made their appearance in the images. He waltzed around the area to try and see if he could find an era that closely resembled the 1800s and after just a minute, he found it.
'Tales of the SMP: The Survivors of War'
It was amazing, it looked like a movie poster. You had pictures of world-famous Hardcore soldiers scattered across the piece and just below the poster was a thick book with that exact title engraved on the front of it. Wilbur looked back and forth just to double-check that nobody was around. Once he had done so, he pulled the book from the counter and placed it on top of Karl's spell-book.
When he had secured the prize, he shoved the two books into his backpack and swung it over his shoulder and he rode back to his home just before the sun could rise again, prepared for the day that was to awaken.
Mentally, he was prepared for what he was going to do, but he wasn't sure if he was actually physically prepared. He had absolutely no training and no way of navigating the area if the journey was successful. Wilbur wasn't born in the Greater Dream SMP, so he could hardly make his way around town without getting lost in the modern day. How was he supposed to find his way around in the 1800s? It was something that he'd have to learn along the way.
Once he got back home, he pulled Technoblade's horse back into the stable and tied it's lead around the fence, exactly where it had been before.
He opened the front door without a creek and set foot into his house. It was still incredibly early in the morning, so nobody was awake. All of the lights were flickered off and all of the doors had seemed to be shut. Wilbur figured that this was the perfect time to gather everything he needed.
He snuck up the stairs, careful not to make a noise as his feet came into contact with the creaky floorboards. He opened the door of his parent's bedroom, careful not to let the light from the hallway's candles flood into the room too much. He crept over to his dad's cabinet and opened it slightly to reveal a jewellery box.
He slid open the drawers, one by one, until he found the tray that he was searching for. In the bottom tray, full of broaches and pins, he found the Hardcore symbol. Still as polished and clean as it would have been 200 years ago. It was clear that he had been taking care of it. Wilbur was sure that Philza wouldn't mind if he just borrowed it, right?
His head turned over his shoulder to stare at his dad, who was still fast asleep. He picked up the broach between his index and thumb and closed the drawers, next the cabinet, exiting the room once he was done.
He made his way past both Tommy and Technoblade's room before reaching his own. He shut the door behind him to minimise the noise he was going to make. Now, Wilbur had to do a little digging before he could finally be fully prepared to travel back into the past. He swung his backpack with the two books onto his bed so that he could rush towards his closet.
His hands brushed through every outfit he had hung up, which was a lot, he was a very fashionable person. There were layers upon layers of clothes Wilbur hadn't worn in literal years. And he had to push past each one of them until he found... His old L'manburg uniform.
Still as clean as the last time he wore it.
It took a few minutes for him to dress out of his clothes and into the L'manburg uniform. He did up every button and sorted out every fold, making sure his belt was on properly and his shoes were shined. There was no way that he was messing this up. One he had brushed his hair and put on his round spectacles to complete his look, he took the Harcore badge and clamped it onto the collar of his coat.
Perfect.
The look was complete.
Now, all he had to do was travel back in time.
Now it can't be that hard, can it?
Karl's done it multiple times without dying, surely Wilbur should be able to accomplish it too? He was a pretty smart man, it was quick for him to get the hang of things.
He pulled the spellbook from his backpack, leaving the other book behind.
He knelt beside his bed and opened the book, scanning the pages until he found the one which was best suited to his situation. He wasn't gonna lie, it looked complicated as hell. But Wilbur understood Latin, so it was definitely worth a try.
And just a few sentences into reading, he had done it.