Chapter 17

"In short, Squid and his kingdom had it coming." Techno summarised what he had been doing before getting to the Dream SMP.

I had listened to him explain his life and it is a grand life indeed, much grander than mine. He was only a couple of minutes older than me and yet he had done so much, he was a king! I nodded and made an excuse to leave him to his farming. He had recently taken up potato farming as a way to pass time when he wasn't slaughtering nations.

I trudged up and out of the ravine, hands in my pockets, deep in thought. In the time Techno had created a kingdom I had done a similar thing. I had created a nation, hellbent on independence and freedom. We had fought for it and had won. I had happiness, bordering on serenity only to have it ripped away from me. And better yet I had dragged innocent men and women with me.

Maybe I was power hungry, not unlike Dream himself but now I felt different. I still wanted my L'Manburg, but it was for a different reason. I didn't want its independence anymore, I had that. I wanted L'Manburg because it's mine. And I was willing to do whatever it takes.

Walking out the door of the cave into the sunlight I bump into a short man in a suit. Tubbo looks up at me and grins,

"Hey Will!" He chirps, looking happier than usual. I go to ruffle his hair, but my hands are met by a small blunt object hidden in the brown locks. I feel around and notice two of them, on either side of the top of his hair. A bee flies at me, stinger reared, and I pull away sharply, rubbing the palm of my hand gingerly.

"I-" I begin, but the sudden look of guilt and sadness written on Tubbo's face makes me promptly change topic. "Hey Tubbo, how have you been?"

He shakes his head violently and looks up at me again, this time with a forced smile.

"I finally get a break today! Schlatt's been working me hard and making lots of…" The pause lasts too long. He looks at his feet, kicking a leaf on the ground. "changes."

"What kind of changes?" I say, squinting at Tubbo, this didn't sound good.

"I, uh, think it would be better if you saw for yourself." Tubbo mumbles, then excuses himself from the tense situation. I stand statue still and listen to Tubbo's retreating footsteps, my muscles tense in apprehension.

Then suddenly I spin on my heel and march towards L'Manburg. I don't think about where I'm headed, only that if Schlatt has done something horrific he is going to pay.

~~~~~

I stop a couple steps down the grass hill, so it still interrupts my view of L'Manburg. Then wasting no more time, I climb the last bit and stared at L'Manburg. The glowing coals of anger roar to life when I notice two things. One – the walls had finally finished being dismantled, L'Manburg was now laying bare to the whole of the Dream SMP.

Reason two is that the flag was gone. Our flag was beautiful, a semicircle of black taking up one third of the flag, trimmed with yellow to the far left with a golden 'x' in the centre. On the two thirds of the right were horizontal stripes, blue on top, then white then red and two red 'x's in the white stripe. Now all that was left behind was a completely black flag, the same semicircle was trimmed with red and only the star furthest to the left remained, now red like blood. Like the blood that was spilt in the civil war.

And then I realised the biggest problem of all. A little boy, in a black jacket with red, yellow, blue, and white horizontal stripes across his chest and unmistakable red hair. Fundy was raising the flag of Manburg.

I swear colourfully and march down the hill. I don't bother with stealth; all I care about is killing Schlatt. HE'S TURNED MY OWN SON AGAINST ME.

I march past people, eyes on the white house. I don't hear anything but the blood rushing in my ears and feel nothing but the adrenaline pumping through my veins. People have told me that because my legs are long my commanding gait allowed me to practically float. Now I actually feel as though I am actually flying straight to the mansion where Schlatt is bound to be.

I get to the double door and swing them open, causing them to hit the walls with a crash. To my right is the cupboard we hid in, in fear of Schlatt's wrath. And to the left, in the big open room that had nothing in it last time I was here. And there is Schlatt and Quackity standing in a field of tables, paper, and empty glass bottles. The pair look surprised but Schlatt recovers quickly in comparison to Quackity's spluttering.

"You're not supposed-" Quackity began finally getting over his angry stuttering. Schlatt stands up and holds up his hands in an obnoxious greeting,

"Wilbur!" Schlatt booms, cutting Quackity off. He nods for his right-hand man to go. Quackity doesn't move for a second but then brushes past, looking up at me with that grin I had learned to hate, closing the doors behind him.

"It's good to see you my friend!" Schlatt calls, slouching in his chair again, taking a swig of the brown liquid in his hand. "I've been expecting you!"

I stand at the door still, fists clenched. All I can feel is the haze of contempt threatening to take me over.

"Come, take a seat!" He gestures to the seat that was just occupied by Quackity. I take a deep breath and walk stiffly over to the seat and sit on the edge. Nothing was comfortable about this room. "I knew you would come after I started tearing down that ugly flag." I looked up sharply,

"Don't." I growl, looking the older man directly in the eyes. Schlatt looks unkept, his salt and pepper hair scruffy, like he had been working for many nights in a row. And the closer you got to him the more it stunk of alcohol.

"Don't what?" Schlatt askes sinisterly. "Don't rule my nation as I ought to?"

I look down, my hands sit in a ball on my lap. I have never wanted to connect my knuckles to someone's nose more in my life. After a couple of seconds of silence, I speak lowly and dangerously.

"You're not fit to rule, Schlatt. Give me back my L'Manburg."

"It's, uh, actually Manburg."

I shake in anger, all the energy that I had built up over time burned me.

"You remember when we were allies, Wilbur?" Schlatt asks me quietly, peering down at me. "Friends, even?"

I squint at him,

"The past means nothing. You've changed." I snarl.

"No, it's you that has changed. You've been enslaved by this perfect little bubble you live in. You've become pathetic."

The last word hits me like a punch to the stomach. I watch him finish his bottle of alcohol and think about how much I hate his horns that wrap around his ears. The truth that I refuse to hear, the waning I refuse to heed in Schlatt's words dissipates my courage and intensity and I sag in my chair.

"Now, I think it's time for you to leave, Wilbur." Schlatt says, reaching under the table. "Thanks for the chat."

Then the doors burst open and George and Quackity walk in. I panic and stand up, looking over at Schlatt. Did he press a button under that table?

"George, can you escort Wilbur out of Manburg?" Schlatt flicks his wrist, as if dismissing me and turns to Quackity. "I think Niki is hiding her riches from us, why don't we go and confront her?"

"Leave her alone!" I cry pathetically, as George grabs my arm roughly. Schlatt ignores me and Quackity barely acknowledges me.

"Let's go, Soot." George grunts, dragging me with ease. And with that I'm dragged out of L'Manburg and I make my way slowly back to Pogtopia, heart officially broken in two.