Chapter Text
Wilbur woke up to a sharp piercing headache and whispering in his head.
What the?
He sat up rubbing his head, feeling a liquid dripping down his face.
Um hello?
The whispering got louder, but he still couldn’t tell what they were saying if it was anything at all. Frowning he reached up, wiping away the liquid, seeing that it was blood.
Weird, I don’t normally get nosebleeds.
He stumbled toward his bathroom, glad that he at least had some Tylenol in there, as his pounding headache was only getting worse. He splashed water on his face, and grabbed the Tylenol quickly swallowing it.
I hope it isn’t something serious like I somehow got brain damage.
He was, after all, supposed to be enlisting soon, and that could prevent his plans.
I’ll just have to pretend not to know if it does come up during the exam.
It should be fine, all he had to do was ignore them until they hopefully went away
***
Wiggly suddenly became aware of another presence in his mind.
“Whose this?”
He grinned following the connection, finding a young man sleeping in Hatchetfield.
“Oh good, it’s been a while since I’ve had a soulmate. Hello Fwiendy Wend.“
He sent out the message, only to suddenly hit a barrier.
“What the-?”
He sent out the message again only to be blocked again. Groaning he decided to do a more sustained attack, sending a hard blow against the barrier, only to find it damaged, but still standing. The man sat up, blood running down his face, frowning
.
Um hello?
“Oh so I can hear him but he can’t hear me? It’s not fair!”
This had to be that stupid bitch Webbys fault, he’d go confront her, make her take down that damn barrier.
***
“Webby!”
Webby sighed, looking up as she saw Wiggly approaching her.
What does he want?
“What is it Wigog?”
Wigglys tentacles lashed angrily.
“Are you blocking my soulmate out?”
Webby blinked in surprise, a sinking feeling in her stomach. Wiggly had another soulmate? That never ended well.
“No I haven't, I didn't even know he existed. How could I? It sounds like you just found out he exists. Honestly it seems like a good opportunity to leave him alone, you all tend to drive your soulmates insane.”
Wiggly growled.
“Spare me your preaching!”
With that he stormed away. Webby watched him disappear before turning around.
I should try and track whoever he is down, help shore up whatever protections he has against Wiggly, they’ve driven enough soulmates insane.
***
Wilbur grinned, giving Sam a quick kiss.
“I’ll see you after class then.”
A sudden wave of nausea hit him as he had to lean against the locker, pain bursting in his head, angry whispers filling his head.
“Everything alright?”
Sam asked, he faked a smile.
“Yeah.”
Satisfied Sam turned away as he placed a hand on his head.
What’s going on with me?
He had a feeling it had to do with his newly acquired voices, and was half tempted to demand an answer, but he was resolute in his decision to ignore the voices, especially if they were giving him headaches.
***
Wilbur sighed as he finished packing his clothes, before slinging the duffel bag on his shoulder.
God I can’t believe I’m already going to be leaving home.
He knew it was going to happen of course, he’d known it for over a year, but still it felt weird. The voices in his head grew louder, sounding oddly approving. He was pretty sure the voices in his head approving of something was a bad thing, but he had no other place to go, his parents” had made that clear.
***
“Are there any medical conditions that you're aware of that would prevent you from doing your duties?”
Wilbur shook his head, hoping they wouldn’t notice the lie.
“No sir.”
The man jotted down a note.
“Do you know if your soulmate is from a country that opposes the US?”
Again Wilbur shook his head.
“Don’t have one sir.”
The man didn’t look convinced.
“I swear, I’ve been waiting for one for eighteen years and still haven’t gotten one.”
Unless the whispering in his head was a soulmate. To his relief the man nodded, accepting this.
***
Wilbur collapsed into his bed, his whole body aching.
God I wish I trained more before enlisting.
“Hey training was rough eh?”
He nodded, looking up at his neighbor, James he thought his name was?
“It’ll probably get better once the teaching settles in.”
James grinned.
“God I hope so.”
The whispering in his head was increasing, and he felt a familiar headache forming and he shook his head, trying to get it to stop. Why can’t the voices just shut up? I need to focus on work, and I can’t just not interact with other men in my training battalion!
At least it wasn’t causing a nosebleed, it was still incredibly annoying.
***
Wilbur ignored the increasing headache as Tom's hand slid up his chest-. A sudden wave of nausea hit him, as he pulled back, unfortunately not able to stop himself from being sick on Toms shoes.
Godamnit, can you just let me have a normal life.
“I’m so sorry!”
He gasped, pulling away, rushing to the bathroom, not wanting to see Toms reaction clutching his head, feeling his headache grow worse, and blood dripping down his nose.
That does it, after this I’m not dating again, I don’t want to deal with this shit again.
He thought, washing his mouth and face, anger coursing through him. Not when just flirting with people gave him horrific headaches. He leaned against the sink, rubbing his head, he’d just wait her for a few minutes, and hoped that Tom would be gone by now; he didn’t want to talk with him then.
***
James looked up smirking as he stumbled back into the barracks.
“How was your date?”
He groaned, dropping into his bunk.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
At least Tom has been gone when he’d left, it would have been very awkward if he hadn’t.
“That bad huh?”
Wilbur pressed his face into the pillow.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
He really hoped James wouldn’t press it.
“What did they say they saw you like a friend?”
Wilbur tried to block him out with the pillow to block him out.
“Look I really don’t want to talk about it.”
To his relief that seemed to be the end of the conversation, as his headache had gotten worse, whispers growing louder as he felt blood dripping down from his nose.
Well tonight’s going to suck!
***
Wilbur scanned the area, keeping a tight grip on his gun, scanning the area, it was supposed to be a routine patrol, in a relatively safe area, but the whispers in his head had grown louder, sounding more urgent, and was making him feel nervous.
What’s going on?
He reached up to rub his forehead, already feeling a headache forming, wanting to get this patrol over with, already feeling drained. He turned away, following the others, when something caught his attention, the voices growing more urgent, frowning he turned seeing a shine in the distance.
Fuck!
“Over there!”
He shouted, pointing at the light with his gun, just as a shot rang out, the bullet hitting the ground. His eyes scanned the area, shooting as men emerged over the hill. He searched for cover as men emerged from it, guns raised, cursing, relief rising as he found one, gesturing for the other to follow him.
***
Wilbur collapsed onto his bed, feeling exhausted, a headache already forming, blood dripping down from his nose, the whispers increasing.
Were you trying to warn me, voices?
It wasn’t the first time the voices had tried to warn him of some danger, and he supposed it wouldn’t be the last, given his profession.
I guess it can be useful, now if only they wouldn’t act up whenever I got close with a man.
He groaned rolling over as the headache grew worse, feeling like something was pounding on his head.
Why me?
***
Wilbur opened his eyes, immediately regretting it as a sharp piercing headache hit him. He bit back a groan, burying his face in his pillow.
It’s going to be one of those days huh?
He sat up, rubbing his head, at least it wasn’t as bad as it usually was.
I just have to hope it doesn’t get me hurt when I’m on patrol.
Sometimes the voices could be useful, warning him when he was in danger, but when there was no discernible reason, or when he was flirting with someone, it was a real pain. He stood up, grabbing his uniform, pulling it on, and wiping away the nosebleed, making his way out of his tent, yawning.
Hey, is there any visible danger you want to warn me about?
He was aware that speaking to the voices in his head wasn’t exactly the most sane thing to do, but it wasn’t like there was any other symptoms and sometimes it felt weird completely ignoring the whispers. Seeing that the only answer was more whispers, he sighed.
Good! Hope it stays that way.
He smiled as he saw James standing out by his tent.
“Ya ready for patrol?”
James shrugged.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Wilbur grinned.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine, come on, let’s get some breakfast, best not to go on patrol on an empty stomach.”
***
Wilbur frowned, placing a hand on his head, the whispering in his head growing louder.
Would you please be quiet? I’m trying to focus on my mission!
The whispers didn’t stop, in fact they got louder, if still indiscernible.
Please s-.
Gunfire sounded, and he looked up, seeing something moving fast, one of his comrades dropped, blood dripping from his slit open throat.
Shit!
Wilbur raised his gun, eyes darting around, swinging to face the monster that appeared before him, barely having time to think, he pulled the trigger, the thing screamed, rolling away, more gunfire joining his as it was finally taken down. He slowly approached it, gun still pointed at it.
What the hell is that thing?
***
Wilbur and his squad mates had been confined to their tent since they’d returned from patrol, with no answer to what actually happened.
“Maybe it was Bigfoot.”
James suggested. Scott laughed.
“No, it was too fast, and small to be it, besides we're not in America.”
“Well then what was it?”
Tim asked, Wilbur squeezed his eyes shut, his headache had been particularly bad since encountering that monster and it was only getting worse, thankfully they’d all been to distracted to notice. He was half tempted to share the stories he’d heard back home, but he just didn’t have the energy for it.
“Do you think we’re in trouble?”
Alex asked, his voice quieter.
“Why? We did nothing wrong, we were attacked, and defended ourselves.”
Tim responded.
“Yes, but this is usually what makes people disappear.”
None of them seemed able to find an answer to that so they sat in silence until finally the tent flap opened, and several people in unfamiliar uniforms entered. The leaders eyes focused on him.
“You killed the monster?”
Wilbur nodded, feeling more worried.
“Yes sir.”
The man nodded.
“We want you to come with us.”
He exchanged worried looks with the others, before standing up, walking toward the man.
“Understood sir.”
He followed the men out of the tent, wondering what the hell was going on, the whispers in his head sounding like laughter this time.
So you find the potential of me getting killed funny?
That at least made the laughter go away. He glanced around, wondering where he was being led, at least he hadn’t been handcuffed, they’d probably handcuff him if they really wanted to kill him right? Finally they reached a building further away from the rest, and the man pulled it open, gesturing for him to follow, inside as the man settled down in the desk, Wilbur sitting down in the chair, the soldiers behind him.
“You're probably wondering what’s going on.”
Wilbur nodded.
“Yes sir. Is it about the thing we encountered out on patrol.”
He had to stop himself from asking what it was, hoping they’d answer it.
“You see, the thing you encountered was something not of this world.”
Wilbur blinked.
He’s talking about aliens? I thought it would be something more cryptid?
And why was he telling him this? If they were going to make him disappear, why were they telling him all this?
“So why are you telling me this?”
He asked, trying to keep his tone respectful despite his confusion.
“We want to offer you a job with us, your service record is impeccable and we could use men like you, if not, we’ll let you go, with the understanding that if you tell anyone what you saw, you’ll be court martialed.”
Wilbur hesitated, thinking it over, he’d miss his colleagues, but maybe they’d get the same offer, and maybe they could give him answers on the voices in his head if it wasn’t just something wrong with his head.
“Alright I’ll take it.”
He decided, after debating the idea for a little while longer. The man smiled.
“Good I’ll get the paperwork.”
The whispers grew louder, sounding more approving.
Wow you actually approve of something, haven’t had that since enlisted.