Can I Run To You? Are You True To Me?
Summary:
"We all are caught in the middle
of one long treacherous riddle
of who trusts who...
maybe I'll trust you...
but can you trust me?
Wait and see!"
(The Riddle, The Scarlet Pimpernel)
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The Riddle from The Scarlet Pimpernel
A/N: This feels much like the end of Act One, if you ask me. Anyways, yeah, the plot thickens! This is the moment the story goes full on "it's not only about ships". Also, yeah, the title is too big, so... anyways
This is part 1 of 7
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General Wilbur Soot is no stranger to paranoia.
Many who came later thought L'Manburg had been created in peace, but they are incredibly wrong. The village had been separated in two sides: the people who wished to stay in the shadows of an unknown village, and the ones who wished to rise in between the many nations and kingdoms scattered around the world. A war issued, the first taste of blood their once peaceful home have ever tasted. The leader of the village had been vicious against the "rebels" and Wilbur and his peers had had no choice but to answer in kind.
He met Dream during that war.
Dream, George and Sapnap had been travelling together, three nomads with tales to tell and exceptional fighting skills. They had offered their help in exchange for a safe nation to call home, two of the three clearly longing for a place to settle down and the one free spirit too loyal to be bothered with the idea of staying in one place.
The three had been what the Revolution needed.
George is smart and a great swordsman, the ability with the sword and shield and the aptitude to keep order even in the chaos are great assets for large scale battles that require strategy. Sapnap lacks the elegance with the sword, but he makes it up with pure strength and enthusiasm, a beacon of hope and inspiration in the darkest times, and his hunting skills had fed them multiple times when the rations had been scarce.
And Dream, Dream is breathtaking to watch, if not a bit worrying. It's clear to anyone who has ever been interested in fighting that Dream is a man made to fight, and even more, he's made to fight for his life. Anything in his skilled hands can become a deadly tool. But he also has insane skills that let clear he's been surviving the wide world for years. Very few can beat him and very little can perpetually stop him. He knows where to look, he knows what to look for, there is nothing he can't find a way through or around.
Wilbur fell in love with his charming yet diligent nature, at first.
It hadn't taken much for his heart to fall for the rest of the man.
"Wilbur?"
"Tommy." Wilbur greets, staring down at the mask in his hands. The smile drawn on it looks bitter, and the ceramic feels heavy.
"Will... Will you be ok?" Will you be ok if I leave you alone?
The General can tell what the younger is thinking, and he doesn't blame him one bit, not when the young blond has bought his lies so promptly.
To Tommy and the others, Dream is dead.
Only Wilbur knows what truly happened in that clearing weeks ago. The shared kisses, the confessions, the desperation. His lips still tingle every time he remembers the warm breaths of his beloved, and his hands sometimes clench involuntarily at the memory of holding a firm body to his.
The mask trembles in his hands.
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
Tommy throws him another worried look, looking like he wanted to say something, but seems to think better and just offers the brunet a quick pat on the shoulder before leaving the house all together.
The story Wilbur has told Tommy and the others is that he found Dream's mask and what once could have been his coat, covered in blood that could only be Dream's. It wasn't, it was Wilbur's own blood that coated the white ceramic. He had cut his arm with his sword and painted the mask with crimson. His excuse for not bringing the coat was simple: since Dream's clothing was unimportant, once the mask by itself was telling, and the fabric had been destroyed almost to the point of no recognition, he just buried it where he found the mask.
Wilbur did not miss the mistrustful glint in President Jschlatt's eyes when he offered the man his report, nor did he miss Fundy's nervous twitching, or Tubbo's darting eyes, or Sapnap's contemplative silence, or George's lack of a reaction. The only one who reacted as expected was Tommy, the boy immediately going in denial, arguing between passionate cursing.
The General lied to them all, however.
The General is still lying to them all.
The General is no stranger to the paranoia, but the paranoia of war is different from the feeling creeping up his back, freezing his blood vein by vein.
In war, you worry about how the enemy will come for you.
Right now, he worries about who the enemy might be.
He feels so incredibly alone, and so incredibly surrounded.
Wilbur doesn't know who to trust, he can't afford to step out of the line he has drawn. It would be putting everyone in risk, and by everyone, he does mean everyone. The entire nation might be in danger if it loses its General to the hands of the tyrant they call president. There is too much to lose and very little to gain. And perhaps giving Dream up for the sake of the nation is the answer, but it is not an option he'll ever dare entertain.
General Soot is still human.
He is still selfish.
He will find a way to get the best ending to everyone, the ending where he and Dream can live forever together in the nation they created, surrounded by their friends and family, with the corrupt President six feet under.
Even if he has to do it alone.
Paranoia has yet to fail him, after all.
YOU ARE READING
Enders and Brines
RomanceHistory is written by the men who make the laws. And it's stupidly easy to manipulate their minds. A well placed word, a well timed smile, and one can make a man... or destroy him. Wilbur/Dream/Techno
