Alright, last chapter for today. There will be updates every Monday and Wednesday around 2pm EST. So stay tuned for this Wednesday!

~~~~~

Rose Tea

Chapter Six [Wilbur]

Wilbur watched in mortified awe as the two orphans practically inhaled their food in vast quantities. Techno was not that much better, other than the fact he ate with slightly more decorum but he still consumed just as much as the two orphans combined. Though given he was a rather big fellow and he actually hadn't seen the guy eat for almost a day now, he could understand him being extremely hungry. And, yes, he knew the others were very likely orphans, but they were in public with a whole inn of people staring at the four of them, and for once it wasn't because of Wilbur and his peculiar appearance. And he had certainly seen enough of those people throughout the day to know when people were directing questionable stares at him.

Still...Wilbur almost felt embarrassed as Tommy and Tubbo continued to shovel food into their mouths. He noticed many of the inn patrons staring either in disgust or shock or some mix of both at the four of them. And given how the three of them were eating, he himself felt embarrassed to be around them too. He no longer felt like the oddity amongst them.

"Holy shit, Tubbo! This is the best fucking meal I think we've had in forever!" Tommy jumped up from his seat and placed one foot on his chair while holding up his fork; a slab of meat was stuck to the other end of the utensil. The child heartily laughed with food spilling out of his mouth. Wilbur was kind of glad he was a ghost at this moment, he could genuinely just sink down into the ground and disappear from sight. He, in no regard, wanted to be associated with the utter pigsty the three of them incurred as they ate, and that wasn't meant as an insult to Techno...being a pig and all.

"G-guys, maybe you should slow down before you all choke on something," Wilbur proposed.

"Nah, I think we're all good–" Tubbo started to say with food in his mouth before inhaling sharply and keeling over into a fit of coughs. Techno didn't stop eating as he gave the child one sound slap to the back and instantly the child was freed of whatever he nearly choked on, "Whooo! Thanks, big guy!"

They continued to eat at a rapid pace, even the innkeeper had halted their business and stared at them vehemently. Regardless of the business, they were surely gaining due to the amount the three had ordered, no cook would be happy to see their food so abhorrently devoured and savored very little.

Wilbur was starting to lose his patience, "ALRIGHT!" Wilbur floated up and planted his ghostly feet on the table. (Well, as planted as they could be given he could feel nothing.) The entire inn quieted immediately. Tubbo stopped reaching for a buttered biscuit and Tommy halted on chewing on his steak. Tommy slowly sat in his chair; his eyes never leaving Wilbur's angered face. Even Techno seemed to awkwardly hold his glass of water right before his lips in his hands.

"I've had it!" Wilbur turned to Tommy and Tubbo, "You two are going to explode at the rate you're eating, not to mention the blatant disregard for simple courtesy. You don't need to know etiquette to realize there are other people here trying to eat." Wilbur glared at the two of them, he saw Tommy struggle to swallow his steak before setting down his fork. Tubbo just quietly fiddled with his thumbs and his eyes flitted around in every direction but Wilbur's.

Wilbur then turned to Techno, "And you, you're encouraging them. It's bad enough the money we're using isn't even ours, but the fact that you won't even stop them from making a scene is terrible. You really have no regard for others do you? It's an embarrassment to me to be around the three of you like this!" Wilbur crossed his arms angrily. He didn't care that his ghostly feet were standing on the table, it was the only way to get the three of them to stop and listen to him.

Techno brought his glass of water the rest of the way to his lips and gulped down big portions before opening his mouth to speak.

"You know, if you were hungry for some ghost soup, all you had to do was as–" Tommy and Tubbo gasped as Wilbur launched himself at Techno. And much to everyone's surprise, Wilbur made contact with Techno and the two came crashing down to the wooden floor. The chair under Techno snapped into two.

~~~~~

It came to no one's surprise when the four of them found themselves berated by the innkeeper and kicked out onto the street. The bill paid, the room refunded, and the four sitting on the road seriously contemplating all that had led them to this moment.

After a long and awkward silence, Wilbur broke the quiet.

"Sorry..." Wilbur said. He slouched on the ground with downcast eyes, "I just got really, really upset with you all. It was uncalled for for me to act with such disgrace..."

"Aw, come on now," Tubbo said. He reached out to pat Wilbur on the back, but whatever force had allowed Wilbur to tackle Techno did not allow for Tubbo to pat him. So the boy's hand passed straight through Wilbur with each pat, but Wilbur felt comforted nonetheless, "We don't blame you for that. Honestly, it was rather fun to see you tackle that big guy to the ground and start pulling at his ears." Tubbo chuckled.

"Yeah! Besides, the food was real good, the best meal since forever. I have no regrets other than not getting dessert," Tommy chimed in.

Wilbur smiled, "Thanks."

Wilbur looked over to Techno, who remained silent. Techno stood silently, brushed off his overalls, and picked up and tossed his sack of stuff over his shoulder before turning to face away from the rest of them, "Sorry," he muttered so softly Wilbur almost missed. He ignored the urge to egg him to speak up, what mattered was that he apologized.

He was quite shocked but happy to know the pig was able to apologize to others. He thought a little better of the guy.

"Right!" Wilbur floated up, "We should look for a place to stay since I doubt this place will ever serve another ghost, pig, or orphan again," Wilbur laughed.

"Even though this money was stolen?" Tommy said.

"Well," Wilbur pauses, "just this once it should be fine. If you thought the meal was good, just wait till you try sleeping in a bed for a change, and maybe taking a bath too."

Tommy and Tubbo's noses curled up at the mention of a bath, but they followed silently behind Wilbur and Techno as they walked down the quiet streets of the sleeping town.

The evening was bright, Wilbur looked to the night sky to see the bright moon cast light down upon them. The low-burning lanterns that lined the road could not compare to the serene and elegant light of the full moon. Wilbur wondered if he'd ever truly make any headway on his quest, but for right now he could handle the quiet night. He only really woke up for the first time in 300 years yesterday and he had a lot of questions that needed answering.

Wilbur looked over to the mansion on top of the hill. In the distance, he could see the faint glimmer of lights on in the mansion.

Wilbur was startled when Techno stopped walking as he partially passed through him before backing himself up to get a better view of what had happened. Techno held out his arms, "Shit," Techno muttered.

Wilbur floated up to see a group of six armed thugs blocking their path. Wilbur recognized two of them as some of the thugs from before.

"Oh no...," Tubbo said. The boy quietly stepped back and hid behind Tommy..

"They're back," Tommy glared, "Let me at 'em, I'll show them who–" Techno backed up towards the rest of them.

"Run."

"Wait, Techno–" Wilbur said.

"Run!" Techno turned and began pushing the two orphans back in the direction they came from. Wilbur looked back to see the thugs giving chase with torches raised. He hurried to fly after the others. Unfortunately, their escape was cut short as they were cut off by 6 more thugs. They were cornered on both sides and were left with no choice but to funnel down into an alley. Wilbur hoped this one had another exit like the one from before.

But he was sorely disappointed. They were cornered into a dead end. Techno spun around to the front where armed thugs filed in with snickers and malicious grins. Some began pulling out weapons from daggers to bats, to metal rods gleaming in what he once thought as beautiful moonlight

"Looks like we got you lot backed into a corner." One man stepped forward, the scarred man from before stepped up with a bat in hand. He rhythmically tapped the bat to the ground in a menacing way. Wilbur began to quiver. What could they do in this situation?

"T-Techno, what do we do?" Wilbur floated beside him.

"You take the left, I'll take the right," Tommy placed a hand on Techno's side, but he was pushed back by Techno's hand that shooed the boy back behind him.

"Stay out of this before you get killed," Techno didn't glance in Wilbur's direction but he knew what Techno said next was directed to him when he dropped his sack to the ground, "I'll hold them off...when there is a path open take this bag and run with the others. Your book is in there so you can get one of the brats to hold it. You should have no trouble escaping."

"Wait, what about yourself–" Wilbur reached out, but again he could not recreate what happened before as his hand passed straight through Techno's shoulder. Techno walked forward towards the crowd, the torches they held danced wildly around. Techno's shadow grew larger and enveloped the three of them as he continued to stalk forward. All the three of them could do was stare at his wide shoulders.

"Let me help!" Tommy protested.

"No," Wilbur flew in front of them, he knew it wouldn't do any good given his corporeal form, but he still blocked the way anyways, "The best thing we can do is find an opening to leave and get help."

Wilbur flinched but didn't look back as he started to hear the noises of someone or something being hit. He just hoped it wasn't Techno, "Tubbo," the boy flinched as his name was called and his eyes flicked over to Wilbur's, "I need you to grab the book that is inside the bag and hold it close."

Tubbo shakily trembled as he knelt down and rummaged through the bag. Wilbur grimaced every time he saw Tubbo flinch from the noises behind Wilbur. Wilbur tried to block out the shouting and the screaming, he didn't want to know who was making the noise, especially if it was Techno.

"Tommy," Wilbur turned to the other boy. He could see him itching to run in there, but he also noticed how his knees shook and hands trembled, "carry the sack. We'll look for an opening together, ok?" Tommy reluctantly nodded and picked up the bag after Tubbo had grabbed the book. Wilbur turned back and looked to see Techno still blocking all the attackers. To take on what looked like 12 guys was impressive, but he felt no relief when watching Techno hold up his arms in defense as they swung bats and planks and rods at him with deafening cracks.

"You better be ready Ghostbur!" Using that stupid nickname at a time like this! In that moment, he wished he had a retort, but the kind that would promise everything would turn out ok.

Techno was low to the ground before suddenly rising up with such force it sent the thugs tumbling back. In both hands, Techno held a majority of their weapons which he tossed to the side and out of reach, "Go!"

"Come on, let's go!" Wilbur hurried to get the boys running as they zipped out of the alley and past the thugs. The two orphans ran, each carrying their respective items. Wilbur looked back for a moment at Techno before feeling a tug as the book he was attacked to grew farther away. Wilbur had no choice but to leave...

He regretted it. What an awful person he was. So quick to judge the hulking pig as nothing more than a scary face with an apathetic personality. He could hear the sounds of fighting resuming from behind them. A loud yell echoed into the night.

"Dammit!" Tommy screamed but kept running as he squeezed his eyes shut, his heavy breathing evidence of his frustration.

The three of them managed to make it far enough away from the noises of fighting before the two boys slowed down and panted heavily. Tubbo collapsed to the ground. Wilbur noticed in front of them a figure, he tensed up before realizing who it was.

"Another bad guy!" Tommy tossed the sack to the ground and got ready to charge, "I'll hold this guy off–"

"Wait, he's the drunk guy!" Wilbur flew to the front and stopped Tommy.

"W-what? The who?"

His question went ignored before Wilbur rushed forward, "Y-you, please. Help us, they're going to kill him. He won't fight back, even though he could. Please, you have to save Techno!" Wilbur was close to bursting into ghostly tears. Never again would he judge a book by its cover. To be so self-sacrificing, he wished he could have taken back all the awful things he's said or thought about the pig. He really wasn't a bad guy, just a snarky one.

"Where is he?" was all the stranger spoke before Wilbur pointed with a trembling hand back to where they had run from. The stranger was gone in a flash, zipping right past the three of them with such speed he might have never been here in the first place. Wilbur looked back as the man became nothing more than a dot in the streets. He prayed. He prayed and hoped he'd make it there before it was too late.

~~~~~

Word Count: 2406

Theories? Feedback? A regular lovely comment?

Share your fanart with me on Twitter (CATtheDrawer) or Instagram (catthedrawer).

I hope you guys enjoyed it, sorry for the delay. Ao3 saw these chapters first because Wattpad was being a jerk and wouldn't let me post these earlier. I really hope you guys are excited about this story. I have about 18 chapters already so you won't have to worry about updates for awhile. 

And I hope for any of my old readers who are still around and interested will also enjoy this story. It's really great having the motivation to write again and I'm loving every moment of writing this story.

-CATtheDrawer