You are the Moon

A Wander Over Yonder fanfiction

Rating: K+

Pairing: slight Wander/Hater

In many cases, Wander and Sylvia ended up in a certain evil conquerer's dungeon every so often. They always broke out, so it was nothing too unfamiliar to them. This time was a little different though.
Different in the sense that Wander was alone and he didn't recognize the dungeon.

Coming to, he noticed this right away. He expected to be in the same situation as usual and either had to wait for Sylvia to come get him or to find a way himself. How does one navigate a place they've never been though? The unfamiliar air of the place made Wander instantly uncomfortable. What's worse is that he couldn't remember how he got there.

"Where...?" he said aloud, mostly to talk to himself.

Not knowing the place was worse enough, but Sylvia wasn't anywhere nearby either, which made him feel all the more worse about it.

He quickly lifted himself from the cold, hard floor and made his way to the bars containing him in the room. Unfortunately they weren't spaced out enough for him to squeeze through with his small body.

He looked down the hallway both ways. While the whole thing was in itself strange, the fact that no one was in any of the other cells didn't aid his unease.

"Hello?" he called down the hallway. It was dark and silent. The bars were cold as he held them, shaking them slightly to garner some kind of attention. "Well, jeez, this is like a solitary confinement ward."

Saying that made him register just how unsettled he was. Being alone was not the problem, no. He had traveled a long time by himself and done many things in life alone too. This was different. This was cold and scary. He had no Sylvia this time. This was forcing someone to be alone who didn't have to be.

"Solitary-...?" he repeated, "I better see if I can make a way out."

But looking around the hard metal cell made him realize that might be more impossible than he thought.

"Er, maybe I just need to try and give Sylvia a sign where I am."

That seemed more reasonable.

He reached into his hat in an attempt to find something he could use in that regard. The hat only spit out a bottle of water.

"Well, I am feeling dehydrated. How did you know?" he teased it. Then, he grew serious. "But I really think a walkie talkie would be better. Then I can go out and find all the water I can handle. Staying in here won't do that."

He reached in again and this time a crowbar came out. "There we go!" he chimed, happy at his discovery.

However, it proved as useful as a nail file against the metal bars. He pulled and pushed on it with all he could muster, but a combination of exhaustion and heavy metal worked against him. Not a single bar budged.

His many failed attempts eventually made him stop.

"That won't work, huh? No use expending more energy over it, I guess."

With that, he returned to the wall in the back of the cell and sat up against it. He set the crowbar next to him, hiding it against him in case anyone walked by. The water sat at his other side. He simply sat criss-cross on the cold floor.

"No worries. Sylvia's probably looking for me right this second. Nothing to worry about! She'll find me sooner or later." he said, in attempt to calm his apparent nerves.

He figured he'd try and recall how he got there. Then, maybe that would help him get to Sylvia better. The problem was that it was not recalling to his memory at all. He saw flashes of moments, but they were not helpful in figuring out where he was. He did not remember seeing Hater, so that was not a possibility. He did not see Awesome or Dominator. He only saw Sylvia and him on a shadier planet than they were used to going. It was a lot like Doomstone, but the people there had yet to be friendly to either Wander or his zbornak friend. He figured they just hadn't been there long enough to see that. He was taken pretty quickly. The planet's name escaped him, but perhaps he was still on it. If that was the case, Sylvia should be there in no time. That thought cheered him up a bit.

"I can't wait to see her!" he exclaimed to himself.

Luckily, Wander was not completely without view of the outside world. There was a single window high above him in the shape of a circle. It was small, but it was something. He could see a hint of space from it. Even though it was so high and away from him, he still found joy in even being able to have a window. If there was none, he might have had a harder time. Confined space for a long period of time wasn't his thing. He liked to move around and be free to go where he wanted. He liked to wander.

He would have shouted for help out the window, but there was no sign of any life going on outside. That led him to believe he was either at the bottom or the back of a planet or ship where it was cut-off from groups of people.

"I could always rest 'til she gets here. That might be good! I feel really exhausted anyway." Why had he felt so tired? He usually had great stamina. In fact, if sleep wasn't required in life, he wouldn't do it at all. Regardless of how antsy he felt, he decided to lay down in such a way that he could see the window. It was all he had at the moment to stay sane. The cell he was in was dark and cold, after all. Something that was, quite frankly, the epitome of everything Wander was not.

After a few attempts getting as comfortable as he could, he fell asleep. There was not a lot of worry going on in his head, as he was certain he would be somewhere new and most likely safer when he woke up again.

When he woke again, he didn't recall any dreams. It felt as though his mind had become as dark and empty as the room he had been in.

He stretched. "Well, I'm glad that's over. Hey, Syl, where was I-?" The sound of silence made him stop asking a question. When he looked around, he realized no one was going to answer.

He was still there.

"Oh...I'm...still here. I see. Huh." His voice shook. How long had it been now? Hours? Just how long was he going to be there?

Thinking of anything more he could do, he tried his hat again. The magic hat did nothing. For the first time, he pulled out nothing. No useful item appeared in his hands.

"A-are you saying...I should be here?" he asked the hat, as if it would answer. He gulped. "I guess...if you're sure."

He didn't like it and felt anxious, but he tried to snap out of it. "Come on, Wander, it's just probably been a few hours. That's not long! And if I can go that long, I can go a few more hours!"

Looking out the window again, his attempted smile turned downwards. "Though...I'd rather it be sooner than later, if I can help it."

Talking to himself helped him work through the anxiety he was feeling. Deep down, he knew no one could hear him though. Even so, he couldn't bring himself to think about it like that. It was too depressing.

A flash of a memory suddenly hit him. A rag had been placed over his face at some point on that planet. He wasn't expecting it and it wasn't part of anything he was prepared for. The rag must have had some knock-out substance on it, which explained why he had felt so sluggish waking up earlier. In fact, he still felt that way.

He sighed. At least he sort of knew how he got here now. Did that mean someone had done the same to Sylvia though? He tried to remember.

After a while, he felt it in his heart that she was not harmed. Wander must have been off by himself again and got caught in the middle of something he shouldn't have. But, why keep him in solitary confinement? He didn't understand that bit.

Thinking about it too hard was giving him a headache. That was the last thing he needed right now considering he was still feeling off.

On the off chance someone was nearby, Wander tried calling down the hall again. Nothing came in response. It was deathly quiet. With how little noise he heard, it made him wonder if he might have even been forgotten there.

It felt like an excruciatingly long time, but Wander had lost track of it sometime before that point so he wasn't entirely sure. It could have just been a few more hours, or maybe it had been days. Time was an enigma right now.

All he heard was the sound of his stomach growling in extreme hunger pains. It had been doing that for some time, now that he thought about it. The only thing he had to console it was the water he tried to use sparingly. Luckily, a person could survive off water longer than they could without food. However, he worried he might be starving. Quite possibly to death.

If time could have been put into perspective, maybe he wouldn't have felt so helpless and stuck in time.

Darkness, darkness, everywhere. He felt so alone.

Against the same wall he remained for long periods of time. He would often end up singing to himself as he did not have his usual instrument with him. There was nothing he could use as entertainment, so he had to make up his own. Constantly having to do this was starting to tear at his spirit though. One could only keep themselves occupied for so long. And boy, was he running out of distractions.

It felt like he had used everything he could think of, many of which ended up with some kind of music or sound being made with whatever he could find. His own voice and the crowbar's sounds helped a bit. Singing so much made his throat dry, so he had to stop somewhere along the road. It just felt like everything was wearing thin.

He felt helpless that he couldn't do a single thing to change the situation.

His expression became blank as he fell deep into his own subconscious as his body started to shut down. There wasn't even any time to panic about it because it overcame him so quickly. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew it might happen.

Outside the window, the moon came in full view. It shot down it's dim rays into the dark and lonely cell Wander was in. The shape of the window made the circular light of the moon hit directly into the middle of the cell. It was a creamy white and it was glowing. The intensity that grew from the light broke Wander from his trance for a moment. His eyes simply moved and followed the line of sight to the center of the room where this ball of light was. It was so pretty. Finally, something beautiful in such a dark place.

It then registered that someone was standing behind the bars now.

"...ey...ss me that crowbar already!" a voice faded in.

Wander's eyes grew color back in them. "...Hater?"

As the skeleton started speaking again, it took a lot on Wander's part to register what he was saying.

"Yeah, it's me. I've been calling to you for a long time, but you're just giving me this ridiculously blank stare." he said.

Wander couldn't move even though he wanted to badly so he could go hug his savior. So, he spoke instead. "You're...helping me."

Hater didn't acknowledge his words in the least. "As it turns out, I was invading the planet you and your annoying friend were on, but some other wannabe invaders beat me to it! They even beat me to capturing you! And they didn't even do it right." he explained, "I mean, they didn't even get your friend! They just left her there free as a bird! What idiots."

That was how Hater found out Wander was taken. Sylvia was able to tell him. He wondered if she had actually asked Hater for help.

"Thank you...!" Wander said, breathily.

Hater looked confused. "I haven't done anythi- WAIT, DON'T GET THE WRONG IDEA." he shouted, "I am not saving you! I'm simply...recapturing you. Because that wasn't fair and they did it wrong, like I said."

Wander smiled for the first time in what seemed like forever. It was a relieved smile and it through the skeleton for a loop.

"Why are you smiling? Shut up." he grimaced, somewhat flustered from the look as well.

Wander had never been so happy to see him in the whole time he had known the ruler. But he remembered Sylvia.

"Where's Sylvia?" he asked, looking more serious now.

Hater directed electric shocks from his hands in order to crack the metals of the bars as he answered, "Back on my ship. I said I was recapturing you, remember?"

Wander gave a sigh of relief. Though she was on another 'enemy' ship, he knew she was safe.

The bars broke soon after the shocks were given, which gave Wander enough room to finally squeeze out of the cold, metal torture room of silence. Though the lack of energy he had from being starved made it impossible for him to move from his spot on the floor.

"Why aren't you coming? I mean, I'm not giving you a choice, but..." Hater started, then stopped as he noticed the nomad losing consciousness as his eyes fluttered. "Oh, crap. Hey, wait, don't pass out yet!" he yelled, squeezing through the bars himself, struggling a bit.

Wander wasn't worried anymore as he felt himself black out. "Hater, you are the moon..."

This time, he had a dream. It was a soft and gentle dream. Wander was in a flowery field as the night sky covered the ground in a white blanket. He sat there in the grass and gazed admiringly up at the moon that was closer to him than he had ever seen it before. Was it looking out for him? He felt like it was. The moon shot down a glare aiming down at something that started to glow. Wander's eyes followed it immediately. The moons glow emanated off of the pale bones of the skeletal conqueror. At first, he wasn't facing Wander, but his head soon turned to him and a hint of care passed through his darkened eyes.

"You're the only one I know who can get kidnapped twice." he heard a familiar friend's voice say, pulling him out of the dream state.

He shifted some on Sylvia's back and rubbed his eyes. "I...Syl? You're okay?"

Sylvia quickly looked back at him. "I'm okay, yeah! It's you I was worried about!" She flipped her tail slightly so she could stroke her friend on the head gently. "You weren't okay there for a bit, but I got you some food. Broke us out of Hater's crappy containment too."

She faced away from him now, but looked down. Her voice shook too. "I'm...so sorry I couldn't find you sooner. Those guys snuck through my defenses."

Wander shook his head right away. "Oh, Sylvia, you couldn't help it. And I'm here now, right? Everything's a-okay now!" he felt himself cheer up upon realizing they really were safe in the confines of the orbble juice bubble.

"I guess." she said, still uncertain, "Actually...I'm a little confused. Hater went through all that trouble to go find you after I asked him, yet I managed to get us out of his own ship pretty easily. Well, I mean, easier than usual."

The nomad's eyes sparkled at the news. "Oh?"

"Yeah, it was weird...Oh well, no sense in worrying about it now. At least we're out, right? And I plan on keeping my eye on you a lot stronger for a while now, you sick dog."

All he did in response was snuggle up to Sylvia and lean against her as he watched the moon go farther and farther away from view in the distance. Maybe he could get back to that dream he was having...