Through Potions and Books it's still, you isn't it?

Chapter twenty-four

The Badlands, a country known for the seemingly endless red wasteland filled with nothing but a few cacti and the occasional dead tree. Red sand was the most notable feature of said city, that and the just recently built hero tower at the edge of the largest city within their borders. Technically, there was more than just a single city within the borders of the Badlands, but no one ever bothered to name them, so everyone had started to call the collective of cities after their country.

Wilbur narrowed his eyes at his laptop screen, having pulled up a map of the wasteland. It was a rather recent map, the tower already visible and some of the vines already crawling through the virtual streets of Google Earth. The screen illuminated his face, now being the only light source in his entire room, as he kept clicking through streets and cities, eyeing every single hill, every nook and cranny that the cameras had recorded. Anything that might've looked out of place.

The vigilante had said that they were held captive in the Badlands, which admittedly didn't narrow it down as much as Wilbur had hoped it would. None of the buildings in the three major large cities looked suspicious in any way, and not even the warehouses in the smaller ones looked worth checking out.

He sighed and closed the tab in his browser, shutting the laptop close. Now left in complete darkness his eyes wandered over to the window. The moon was already high in the sky, hundreds of stars sparkling and painting a rather beautiful picture. Nights like these always left him with this deep longing, something rooted in his brain stemming from his origin. The natural urge to fling himself in the air, feel the wind rush through his air and kiss his pale skin, feeling the freedom that came with flying. But he couldn't. He was born without wings.

Reluctantly, the man got up and walked over to his window, quickly pushing it open and letting in the night's cold air. The house was quiet again, with no waves of emotions hitting him and no shuffling from the other inhabitants. It was only him awake, and it would probably stay this way for a couple more hours. In the morning they'd have to get the kid to the hospital somehow, Techno would probably have to drive them all into the city with Phil flying ahead. There were too many people for a single car.

Then again, it's not like Wilbur didn't have a licence, so they could definitely take his car as well, give him a reason to show off his baby and drive again after gods know how long, but that'd mean having the vigilante in his backseat.

He grimaced at the thought, quickly shutting the idea down. Frankly, Wilbur didn't want to be in any enclosed space with the vigilante. He wasn't afraid. It was more like a healthy dose of wariness. Nothing more.

Another sigh as his eyes skimmed over the sky. Those were problems for the future Wilbur. Right now, all he wanted was to forget about the kid in the living room. Pretend all of this never happened, and it was just one of his insomnia-driven nights. So instead of worrying more, he took in a deep breath and sat down on the window sill, eyes glued on the sky.

The night sky made everything better after all.



"You said he'd be out 'till midday," Wilbur said as he met Techno in the hallway in the morning, pink hair sticking in all directions and a tired expression on his face.

"I said ideally he'd be out until then," the piglin grumbled, too tired to deal with his brother's bullshit, "I'm assuming he got up early?"

"Damn right, he did, not even three hours after we talked."

"That's ridiculous, the potion should've knocked him out for at least six."

"Well, tough luck, he was awake when I went downstairs."

Tommy was still out cold, curled into a ball with no less than four blankets resting on top of him, drooling on the pillow that one of them had provided. It looked awfully endearing. Wilbur smiled fondly at the teen, for just a moment, he could forget about the kid in the living room, about the situation in L'Manberg. As long as he was here, in the nest, safe with them, everything was alright.