Work Text:
"Didn't you ever think about your soulmate, Higgsbury?"
Wilson turned to look at Maxwell over his shoulder, dirt staining his arms up to his elbows. His black, fingerless gloves were tucked carefully into his bag, and had he not been covered with dirt, his Name would have been exposed for the entire world to see. "One, I don't see why you would even care, because you've done nothing but set the most nightmareish creatures against me from the start," he huffed a few breaths out, yanking a particularly large vegetable from the ground. "And two, I searched for years, trying to find the man on the other end of mine. I signed up for the services available, the institutions set up so that something so sacred could be attended to."
"What, nothing ever happened so you gave up?" Maxwell grinned sharply around the butt of his cigar, blowing smoke from it and watching as a breeze carried it away from him, towards Wilson's nose. "Not very much of a scientist then, are you? Giving up after just-"
"I didn't give up after a few days." Wilson grumbled, setting his collection of food into a basket. "I spent nearly twenty years looking for him, but surprisingly, nothing ever came of it. I suppose if he was trying as well, he must have heard who I was and run away."
He stood slowly, brushing himself off, hands slowing over the tarnished buttons of his waistcoat. "...I wouldn't have blamed him. I don't, not even now."
Maxwell frowned, itching mindlessly at his own wrist. This body, this projection from the Throne, had no name on the skin that lay below the cuff, and it had been ages since he had looked at the real thing. His time spent in the darkness of the throne room was usually spent asleep, avoiding every possible terror that lay beyond what he could see. He could almost remember the shape of the letters, some days, but waking up there was almost as undesirable as letting Wilson be happy.
"Since we're on the subject," the scientist groaned as he hefted the basket into his arms. "What about your Name? You ask about mine and expect me to ignore the possibility of yours? I would not be much of a scientist if I didn't think to ask."
"Last I checked, you didn't get to ask the questions, Higgsbury. My world, my game, my rules."
Wilson rolled his eyes. "Then leave me alone."
"Oh, but these chats of ours are so very dear to me," Maxwell put a hand to his chest in a mock sort of hurt. "I'd rather stay here and bother you. Tell me, you're still young enough to find your other half, you still had a chance at it, why did you give up?"
"Because literal years- Years -of searching never found me anyone by the name of William Carter!" Wilson half-snarled, losing his temper for just a second. "Whether the man was dead or alive or ignoring me or what ever else, I was never able to discern. All I knew was that he could not be found, no matter how hard I looked! I do not want to talk about it, so STOP."
Choking on smoke, Maxwell nearly dropped his cigar, eyes wide as he stared at the back of Wilson's head, the smaller man settling the basket next to his other supplies. "You..."
He stopped, sighing as he stood back up and stretched his back. "It's not like I would have been a good soulmate at any rate. Poor bastard is probably better off without me. A strange hermit of a man with an obsession that drags him from sleep at all hours of the night and keeps him from sleep until it is seen through to the end?" he laughed, a chuckle that sounded almost broken, a hint of skepticism tainting it. "Even before you contacted me with the offer of knowledge beyond comprehension, I was living in a house I had built in the woods. I contacted my sister maybe three times a year."
"Higgsbury-"
Wilson shook his head, holding up a hand. "Just don't, Maxwell. If you were to ever listen to me, please just let this be the one time you do. Leave me alone for today."
He shouldered his bag, propping the basket on his hip as he lit his torch back up, kicking dirt over the fire as he did so. Prepared for the walk back to his main camp, Wilson didn't even turn around to look at Maxwell again.
The darkness blurred as he shifted locations, his projection fading away as he woke in the grasp of the Throne. The restraints on his wrists loosened slightly, just enough for him to look at his right arm, a hazy sort of fear catching in his throat. It wouldn't let him go, would never let go of the King without a replacement, but it would let him inspect himself. There was no use in a puppet if the strings were cut, after all, and a wound to him might render him useless to Them.
On the pale skin beneath his sleeve were the dark letters of his Name.
Tracing them with his eyes, feeling the syllables on his tongue, Maxwell's eyes slipped shut, regret twisting his face. "I would think that he would prefer to not be alone, Higgsbury." he whispered, throat clicking. "I wonder if that was the reason They chose you to come here. They knew the Name I have." he swallowed, listening to the music filling the air around him. "Your name marks my wrist..."
"If I had known, I never would have-" his fists clenched. "Neither of us would have come here if I had known."
The notes of the song, long since memorized and almost hated, lulled him into sleep.