Chapter Text
If there was one thing Wilbur learned, it was that the afterlife wasn't fair, even if death herself was.
When he’d first arrived, he went from choking on the stench of ash and shaking in his father's hold to the comforting arms of his mother. She couldn't stay long, the goddess of death carried many responsibilities yet when she dropped him off on a small island in the void, alone with his greatest enemy, Wilbur felt himself fully processing his situation. He was dead. He was in the realm of his mother who had been forced to leave them after Tommy's birth.
Before she felt, Kristin briefly informed him of the rules of the plane, that while all residences are able to summon blocks and supplies. She told them it took energy and they should focus on summoning food mostly for the first few days. Schlatt had glared holes at his mother and Wilbur tensed. The man, as much as Wilbur currently hated him, had intricate knowledge of Wilbur’s family from the time he was Wilburs greatest support (the thought made Wilbur laugh now, Schlatt? Being supportive?) The woman was soon forced to return to her responsibilities, leaving Wilbur with a kiss on the forehead and Schlatt with a firm nod.
With her gone, the void was horribly empty. Without her warmth, Wilbur couldn't feel anything but the endless chill of the realm. He ached, seeing his mother reminded him painfully of his baby brother. While Tommy took firmly after Phil appearance wise, he radiated their mother's warmth far more than both Wilbur and Techno combined. He clenched his fist, remembering his last words towards his baby brother before he’d gone. Though he’d never wish this fate on his Toms, he ached for his presence, to be able to comfort and be comforted.
And yet, he wasn't truly alone, even if he wished he was. JSchlatt, his greatest enemy, the person who started this sickening cycle of betrayal with his sleazy grin and fake laughs was his only companion.
The first few days were spent in bitter silence, both men feeling betrayed in their own ways. Wilbur hadn't had time to think since Tommy's and his exile started, constantly worrying about his baby brother's safety, their plans of attack, or Schlatt's treatment of his other boy, the one he took in as his own, Tubbo. As they sat, brewing in their thoughts, something hit Schlatt in the head. The horned man spun around on his dress shoes, eyes full of rage.
“Are you kidding me? Are you a fucking child Wilbur?! Resorting to fucking hitting me, are you six?!” Wilbur shot Schlatt, an unimpressed look, gesturing around.
“What the fuck would I hit you with? It takes energy I quite frankly don't have, to summon objects dumbass! Is the lack of alcohol making you hallucinate?!” The horned man gripped the terrorist's hand before slapping a cool metal coin in it.
“Explain this then! Is it a button from your coat or something?!”
Wilbur fiddled with the coin, it was silver, stamped with writing from a language he faintly recognized as the ruins his mother been desperate to teach him to read when she was pregnant with Tommy. As he mentally reviewed the language he’d quickly dropped after her disappearance, he felt something hit his head, when he grabbed it he found it was the same as the coin he was translating. Growing more confused and more annoyed at Schlatt’s whining, Wilbur sped up his translations. ‘Ghost point’ the coin said.
Wilbur growled under his breath and tossed the nonsense coins off the ledge of the void, fully expecting it to show up again on the ledge, the same as he did when he flew off. Same as his beanie did when he tossed it angrily a day in. However as the coin faded from sight it glowed a bright blue, before forming into a small book and teleporting back onto the ledge.
Wilbur rushed towards the leather bound book, vaguely titled “ghost point instructions”. Wilbur quickly opened it, momentary surprised to find it written in common instead of ruins. Schlatt gaped at him rushing over and babbling about Wilbur stealing his coin and somehow finding something to do from it. Wilbur, desperate for anything to distract himself from his own thoughts quickly attempted to make a compromise
“I got a coin as well, this was both of them together... Either we share or neither of us gets anything to do.”
While Schlatt reacted in a glare it was... Faint, faded from days of boredom. The horned man sighed before nodding.
They read through the manual quickly, finding that they would each be given a coin every hour after being in the afterlife for a trial period of 3 days. The manual listed things they could trade their coins in for. The coins, seemingly worthless little chunks of metal, we're able to be traded in for interactions with the living, from a portal that would allow them to stay updated on the living to physical time in the world of the living. Both men desperately yearned to speak to the living, the time giving them many doubts about their actions while alive.
Yet they knew that it would take far too much time with nothing to do to just wait for points to show up. The men duly noted the lack of space for them to fully build two houses and reluctantly agreed to share a house and wait out their points.
They decided it would work best to combine their coins together for a “window” to the living, after doing some math it would take them around 2 months to collect enough points to make a window. And so, a fragile alliance was formed.