
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/11028579.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
  Category:
      F/M, M/M, Multi
  Fandom:
      Over_the_Garden_Wall_(Cartoon)
  Relationship:
      The_Beast/Wirt, Mentions_of_Sara/Wirt, And_some_legitimate_Sara/Wirt
  Character:
      Wirt_(Over_the_Garden_Wall), Gregory_(Over_the_Garden_Wall), Gregory's
      Frog_|_Jason_Funderberker, Sara_(Over_the_Garden_Wall), Wirt_and_Greg's
      mother, Wirt's_Stepfather, Jason_Funderberker, unnamed_characters, The
      Woodsman_(Over_the_Garden_Wall), Lorna_(Over_the_Garden_Wall), Auntie
      Whispers, Beatrice_(Over_the_Garden_Wall), The_Beast_(Over_the_Garden
      Wall), Enoch_(Over_the_Garden_Wall)
  Additional Tags:
      Rape/Non-con_Elements, Possession, Possessive_Behavior, Poor_Wirt, I_hurt
      him_too_much, Alternate_Universe_-_Canon_Divergence, Post-Canon,
      Supernatural_Elements, Magic, Sara_is_a_badass, Gregory_just_wants_the
      best_for_his_brother, Beast_Wirt, Kinda, Temporary_Amnesia, Fights,
      Bondage, Dom/sub, The_Beast_loves_Wirt, He's_his_favorite_lantern_bearer
      ever, Because_of_his_sass
  Stats:
      Published: 2017-05-29 Chapters: 2/? Words: 3986
****** Wandering Forever ******
by Pararow
Summary
     Sara and her friends are able to find Gregory unconscious by the
     river over the graveyard's garden wall. Yet his older brother Wirt is
     still yet to be found. The man hunt quickly turns into a body hunt,
     but Gregory is certain that Wirt is still alive and out there. But
     nobody believes him, nobody except for Sara. Gregory decides to
     escort Sara over the garden wall, in hopes of setting foot into The
     Unknown once more, with Sara in tow, to find out what happened and to
     find his older brother, who did not come back with him.
Notes
     I'm excited for this, I have plenty of ideas! I hope you like it!
***** Out of the Unknown, and into the Fire *****
Gregory coughed, falling onto the grass near the water's edge of the river,
breathing heavily, facing face down. It was dark, he was cold, and exhausted,
he held tightly onto his frog, who was still alive and well, croaking loudly in
a desperate attempt to get attention from someone, anyone who could help them.
Greg would not survive long in the cold fall air, coupled with being soaked by
cold water, the boy would die here if nobody came to help him. Luckily, as Greg
weakly picked his head up, looking around, his eyes caught sight of a bright
light, his pupils shrinking in reaction to it shining in his face. He tried to
say something to them, but his voice only came out as a pained whisper as his
head fell face down to the grass, the teapot on his head hastily falling down
and resting by the river's edge. He let out a hacking cough and a whimper
curling in on himself. Being cold, tired, and almost having the life sucked out
of you by both water and trees alike took a toll on even the most lively of
children. The voices were getting closer, he picked them out as Wirt's friends
from school, that was good, he would be happy to see them. The voice of Sara
rung out the loudest of the worried and rushed whispers.
 
"Greg! I found Greg!" She yelled out to the other's pointing to the boy and the
frog. She ran over, putting her flashlight down and feeling the boy through his
wet clothes, a worried expression went on her face. "He's freezing! He'll die
out here, we need to call 911!" She yelled out, taking her jacket and looking
at the frog, who croaked loudly. If she hadn't heard the almost desperate croak
she wouldn't have come to investigate, and Greg would have most certainly died
alone and cold. She wrapped the small boy in her jacket, picking him up and
holding him close, looking around, she realized something. Wirt wasn't with
Greg, Greg was alone, with only a frog for company. "Where's Wirt?! Does anyone
see Wirt?" She asked in a worried tone. Greg was far gone by now, unconscious,
but breathing, resting against Sara's shoulder. The other teenagers scurried
around, yelling out for Wirt, looking around on the other end of the river,
looking inside the rolling water as well.
 
"Maybe he was swept downriver!" One of them yelled out, pointing the way down
where the river current was headed. Sara's eyes widened. No...No that can't be
true. She looked over at Jason Funderberker, who was very quickly talking to
911, trying to tell them what was going on. At least they would get help for
Greg, and they would find Wirt soon, she knew it.
 
"Wirt! Wirt! Wiiiiiiirt!" There was, of course, no answer, she didn't expect
one. He just seemed to disappear. And all she could do was sit there with Greg
and warm him up, watching as the other kids looked around, and slowly started
to lose hope that they would find him this late at night. An ambulance and a
police car pulled up at the side of the road closest to the river. Sara took
Greg to them, handing him over to the paramedics on board the ambulance,
looking at the ground. Where in the world was Wirt? This was a
nightmare...Jason walked over to her and pat her back, trying to comfort her.
Wirt was very important to her. She thought he was cute, his awkward behavior
was adorable, and he was smart too, always trying to think things over, coming
up with solutions to problems. He would get out of this, right? One of the
Paramedics asked her if she had Greg's Home Phone number. She took a moment
before nodding. They would call them when they got back to the hospital. She
bid farewell to her friends as she got in the back of the ambulance, resting
the frog she found with Greg on his chest. It seemed important to him, anything
to make him more comfortable.
 
Wirt gasped as he watched his brother, entangled in branches, roots, and leaves
of the Edelwood growing around him, slowly breathing, it becoming more and more
labored with each inhale. There had to be a way to get him out of this!
Beatrice was busy trying to pull some of the small branches up with her beak,
Wirt grabbing at them and desperately trying to pull them away from his
brother. Wirt was startled by a loud thump and a groan, looking behind him to
see the Woodsman on the ground, in pain and groaning, a sorrowful look on his
face. There he was, The Beast, the ghost of the forest, he who sings like the
four winds, the death of hope, standing, towering above Wirt in the shadows,
the only truly distinguishable feature on The Beast was his large, glowing
eyes, gazing downwards at the teenager, Wirt held The Woodsman's lantern close
to himself, his heart beat quickening and his eyes widening, not daring to move
his eyes from The Beast's form. 
 
"Give me my lantern," The deep voice of The Beast permeated the cold silence of
the forest, staring down at Wirt, unmoving. Wirt looked at the lantern in his
hand.
 
"Your lantern?" Beatrice quickly butted in, flapping over and hovering next to
Wirt, facing The Beast in brave defiance. 
 
"No way we need this thing!" That was true, Wirt's eyes narrowed as he gazed at
the large figure.
 
"Yeah I'm keeping this, I have to get Greg home!" He said quickly, a look of
doubt on his face. It seems that The Beast had sensed this doubt, because he
was quick to answer, still unmoving.
 
"Your brother is too weak to go home," He said with a shrug, "He will soon
become part of my forest..."
 
"I won't let that happen!" Wirt cracked, taking a more defensive stance.
 
The beast seemed amused, looking down at him. "Well then...Perhaps we better
make a deal..." Wirt's head cocked to the side, eyes narrowing.
 
"Deal?" He raised the lantern up more, looking down at The Woodsman, who was
giving him a look of pity. Perhaps this was the same deal that The Woodsman had
with The Beast. 
"I can put his spirit in the lantern," The beast said, moving his long arm to
point at the lantern gripped tightly in the teenager's hand. "As long as the
flame stays lit, he will live on inside." Wirt looked at the lantern, thinking
long and hard. "So? Take on the task as lantern bearer? Or watch as your
brother perishes..." Wirt thought long and hard, The Beast getting impatient,
his voice becoming more firm. "Come here." He ordered. 
 
Wirt closed his eyes tightly, head hanging low as he sighed, "...Okay..."  He
walked slowly towards the menacing shadow, a solemn look on his face. Beatrice
gasped, following him. 
 
"Wirt!" She watched as Wirt started to put the lantern down, before his eyes
lit up and he quickly picked it back up again.
 
"Wait..." He paused, "That's dumb," He said, backing up.
 
"What?" There was clear anger in The Beast's voice.
 
"That's dumb, I'm not just gonna wander around in the woods for the rest of my
life," Wirt continued. 
 
The Beast was clearly angered, leaning forward. "I'm trying to help you!" His
voice more angered. Wirt shook his head.
 
"You're not trying to help me, you just have this weird obsession with keeping
this...lantern lit! It's almost like...Your soul is in this lantern." The
Beast, being found out, quickly moved closer to Wirt, all little light that was
around them disappeared, the only thing Wirt could see was The Beast's menacing
eyes.
 
"Are you ready to see true darkness?" Wirt shivered, obviously scared from the
vague threat, but got his cool back, narrowing his eyes at the wide unmoving
eyes.
 
"Are you-" He cleared his throat after a bad voice crack, opening the lantern.
"Are you?" And he went to go blow the lantern out.
 
The light quickly came back, The Beast's voice growing worried, "No, don't!"
And Wirt quickly became unimpressed, scoffing, and putting the lantern down,
handing it to the Woodsman, "Here, Woodsman. I've got my own problems to take
care of, this one's yours, my brother and I are going home," He said, starting
to walk back to his brother, but what he saw was horrifying, the wood around
his brother were growing at an increased rate, quickly suffocating, mere
seconds from death. Wirt lost all judgement and quickly turned around.
 
"Beast!" He yelled out. "Stop stop stop! I'll do it!" He said, quickly taking
the lantern back up. "I'll do it!" The Beast looked at him, his head cocked to
the side.
 
"Hm. Very well. Yet you'll have no incentive to stay here...Perhaps if
I...Guaranteed your brother's safety, let him go home, would you stay? Become
my new lantern bearer, live here in the woods forever, bound to The Unknown,"
The roots growing around Greg stopped, giving him a slightly longer life. Wirt
looked back at him, and then back at the Beast.
 
"As long as he is safe, at home...Then yes, I will stay here forever..." He
mumbled. The Beast laughed,
 
"Very good, boy. We have a deal," He said, holding his hand out, and Wirt
silently took it, shaking it before looking over at Beatrice, who had horror in
her eyes. He took the scissors out of his pocket, and holding them out to her. 
 
"Wirt! The scissors! You had them this whole time?!" She flew over.
 
"Well...I used them to escape Adelaide and I was...Well I was sorta mad at
you...We'll still be friends, right Beatrice?" He asked.
 
She sighed. "Oh you...Wonderful mistake of nature!" She hugged him, taking the
scissors with her feet. When Wirt looked back at  Greg, he was gone, the
Edelwood an empty shell of a boy who was once there. The beast put a hand on
Wirt's shoulder. "He is safe, I can guarantee it. Hold up the Lantern," He
said, and Wirt did as he asked, seeing the vision of Sara, carrying Greg away
to an ambulance. "I always do good on my deals, I am not deceiving you,"
 
Wirt looked back at him. "You  deceived The Woodsman, didn't you? Lying to him
about his daugther," And The Beast laughed.
 
"This is true, but I can assure you, my end of the deal is no lie, you are more
useful than The Woodsman, you are younger, more spry, so to speak," He hummed.
Wirt felt like he was telling the truth. If he wasn't, he would make him pay.
But for some reason, he felt truth coming from the Beast. He looked over at
Beatrice. "Go...Go save your family, Beatrice, I'll be alright," He said, and
she was quiet before nodding.'
"I promise Wirt, I will find a way out of this for you," She said before flying
off. The Woodsman finally stood up, looking at the boy, not saying anything.
Clearly disappointed in him, before walking away, presumably to spend the rest
of his days wandering, with no purpose, now that the lantern wasn't his. Wirt
was now alone, alone with The Beast, alone with the death of hope. He felt
vines wrap around him slightly, holding on just barely, before letting him go.
"Shall we get moving then, boy? You have plenty of work to do," Wirt paused for
a moment before nodding.
 
"Yes..." He said, following The Beast deeper into the woods.
 
Greg woke up with a gasp, his eyes widened as he quickly sat up, looking
around, "Wirt!" He yelled out, looking around, before laying his eyes on his
parents, his mom and his dad, both sitting there with their eyebrows furrowed.
His mother smiled.
"I'm so glad you're awake, Gregory...! Oh my goodness! Never do that again! You
scared me and your father so much!" She said. She sighed before watching Greg
looked around.
 
"Where's Wirt? Is he back home?" He asked innocently, looking up at his
parents. Their faces showing sadness, but Greg didn't understand, he held his
frog, looking at his parents waiting for an answer.
 
"We haven't found Wirt."
***** No Lies *****
Chapter Notes
     Wow I'm actually trying to keep an upload schedule! That's so unlike
     me, haha. I'm glad you guys like it. I know I'm focusing a lot on
     Greg and Sara right now, but I promise Wirt will get more spotlight!
     I feel like The Unknown's days are off from the normal world's. And
     its landmarks move around a lot, that will become more evident later.
Gregory was discharged from the hospital after a day of resting and warming up,
lucky to get out of the situation with only a few scrapes and scratches, able
to sit at home with his frog, that his mother allowed him to keep, playing in
the backyard with him. Days turned into weeks, and there was still no sign of
Wirt, the Police had found no trace of his older step brother, almost as if he
disappeared into thin air all together. Greg wasn't exactly sure why he didn't
come home with him. Greg remembered the Unknown. He wasn't exactly sure where
or what it was. If it was just the forest across the river, or something more.
All he knew was that Wirt was still there, that his brother was alive, unlike
what his parent's thought. He rolled a ball over to his frog, watching him
lightly hit it back to him with his head. Despite being a good kid, with really
nothing wrong with him, Greg was unique. He was creative and had odd ideas,
making him somewhat of a loner at his school. He didn't really have any friends
to play with. He would usually hang around Wirt on the weekends, much to his
brother's dismay, but with him missing, he had nobody but his loyal frog
companion, Jason Funderberker to keep him company. That was fine, he was a good
friend, but Greg missed Wirt. Terribly so. He kept idly passing the ball to his
frog, taking it back from him, looking down at the ground before back up at the
frog.
 
"Say...Do you think we can go back? Back to the woods! To rescue Wirt?" He
asked, the frog croaked in response and Greg puffed his cheeks out before
falling back on the grass, looking at the multicolored leaves slowly falling
down to the ground. "Hm...The only thing is...I don't know how to get back
there..." He rubbed his chin in thought before standing up. "We better go back
inside Jason Funderberker! Time to make a plan to find Wirt! Hm!" He went and
grabbed the frog, putting him atop his head as he marched right back into the
house, opening the sliding door and seeing his father reading the morning
newspaper. He spied the story that his father was reading.
 
"16 year old goes missing on Halloween night, no traces found yet"
 
 
His father looked over at him. "Hey there Greg," He said, a smile on his face.
And Greg took the frog off of his head, holding him close to his chest.
 
"Hey Dad," Greg said, "I'm off to my room! I need to make a plan!" He said,
taking a heroic stance, and his father laughed, tussling his hair.
 
"A plan for what, Greg?" He asked and Greg smiled.
 
"I know where Wirt is! I'm going to go save him! Me and Jason Funderberker are
going to start putting together a plan!" And Greg's father's face fell, looking
at Greg with a serious look.
 
"How many times do we have to tell you, Gregory? You aren't going back there,
you aren't allowed at the graveyard, and by no means are you going back to the
river. We've already lost one of our boys. By no means are we going to lose
you, we already almost did," And Greg frowned.
 
"But dad! I wanna make the world a better place! And I think the world will be
a better place if Wirt was back, if you just listen to me and Jason
Funderberker we can -"
 
"No buts Greg! You aren't going over there, the police will take care of this!"
And Greg sighed, putting the frog back on his head and walking back upstairs.
 
"Ain't that just the way..." He mumbled as he sat down onto his floor, taking
out some crayons and pieces of paper, sitting the frog down next to the papers.
"Okay, so how do we get back to the woods, do you think? Should we just go over
the wall again? Or..." He hummed, tapping his chin with his red crayon before
starting to draw a map of the graveyard, putting the wall in, sticking his
tongue out in concentration and then eventually finishing it. Showing it to the
frog, who croaked, "Okay Jason Funderberker! Listen up! Because this is
important." He said. "So on Halloween we climbed up the tree, over the wall,
landed on the train tracks...And fell into the river..." He hummed. "But I
don't remember anything past that, until we started walking in the
woods...So...How do you think we get there?" The frog croaked. "Hmmm...Maybe we
should try doing the exact same thing over again?" He heard a knock on his
door, and he harrumphed, walking over, his feet picking high off the ground,
"What's the password?!"
 
"Uh...Goose?" Sara's muffled voice came from the other side of the door. And
Greg hummed before opening the door.
 
"You may  enter!" He said, before giggling and running back over to where he
was sitting before, "Hi Sara! What're you doing here?  Wirt isn't back yet. But
I'm working on a cool plan to save him!" And she smiled, sitting down next to
him.
 
"I just wanted to see how you were doing without your brother around, it seems
like you're doing good. And what do you mean rescue your brother?" She asked,
looking at the hastily drawn crayon map, arrows pointing every which way. 
 
"Well, nobody believes me, but I know where Wirt is, but the problem is..." He
furrowed his brows, crossing his arms. "Nobody believes me! He's still lost in
the woods! I know he's still in there because we were lost! Lost for a long
time! And the last thing I remember was Wirt trying to save me...And then
waking up at the hospital..." He grumbled.
 
"Wirt's in the woods? What do you mean? They've looked all over them, those
woods really aren't that big..." She said, and Greg shook his head.
 
"No they're huge! And they got talking horses, birds, animals that go to
school, scary guys with axes, my uncle lives there, there's witches and a bunch
of frogs!" He paused. "And there's this big scary Beast who walks around the
woods singing, and you can't really see any of him." He started. "And me, Wirt,
and Jason Funderberker got lost in them! And Wirt hasn't come back yet, you
believe me, right Sara?" He asked, furrowing his brows.
 
Sara paused for a moment. "I'm sorry Greg, I don't think so. Don't you think
that might have been a bad dream when you were passed out?" She asked, and Greg
shook his head, before remembering something, grabbing his frog.
 
"I'll prove it to you!" He said, shaking his frog back and forth, "This nice
witch lady had a bell that controlled a girl around Wirt's age, he ate it." He
said, "The ringing of the bell commands you! Show Sara that you exist," And
sure enough, the frog's belly started glowing, and Sara widened her eyes. That
was insane, she's never seen anything like that. Almost as if it was
magic...She looked back up at Greg.
 
"...So what's your plan?" And Greg's eyes lit up.
 
===============================================================================
 
 
Wirt wiped the beading sweat off his forehead, holding onto the axe with one
hand, looking around with his lantern in the other. How long has it been? Days?
Weeks? Years? He didn't even remember the first time he came into the unknown.
He didn't even remember why he was here. He could swear it was a good reason
though. He felt so alone, the cold air, freezing his bones. All he knew was
that he was here, he was friends with the red head who lived at the old mill,
stayed at The Woodsman's house on occasion when he let him, and that he served
the one and only. It was hard to forget the day The Beast claimed him as his,
even if he had forgotten why he was the Beast's in the first place. Wirt was
doomed to walk through the woods, chopping the Edelwood, forever cursed to hear
the Eldritch whispers of the beast, becoming paranoid at each and every turtle
that walked by. Perhaps The Beast was near. Wirt could not sense his presence,
but The Beast could sense his. There were times where he wouldn't see him for
days, weeks even, those times were simultaneously the best and the worst. At
least he didn't have to deal with The Beast's constant taunting, but he had to
deal with the crippling loneliness he faced on the days alone. He sighed,
looking at the lantern before finding shelter under an outcrop, built of of a
tree's gnarled roots, and sat down, pulling his cloak around himself as tight
as he could, closing his eyes. He was deep in the woods, the farther in you go,
the darker and more tangled it got, the easier it was to get lost, here, the
oldest Edelwoods stood, suffering in eternal darkness. Wirt closed his eyes,
relaxing, and falling asleep. 
 
"Boy," came a commanding voice, a voice Wirt knew all too well, he jolted
awake, his hat falling off his head, and he looked up, seeing the shadowy
figure of The Beast. How long had he been asleep for? Where was he? Did he
move? No...He was where he parked himself before his nap, he quickly stood up,
looking at The Beast. The figure cocked his head. "Now why are you sleeping out
here, in the cold...? Don't you know it's dangerous to do so? You could get
hurt, freeze to death even..." He let forth a chuckle when Wirt narrowed his
eyes.
 
"You know very well I can't freeze to death," Wirt said. Thanks to The Beast's
magic, Wirt's life had been strengthened significantly, he never aged out of
his teenage body, keeping the same look as long as The Beast wanted to keep
him, as well as have him resist the elements better, though he conveniently
left out the magic where he could stop Wirt from feeling physical pain. That
wasn't needed. How would Wirt learn if he didn't suffer a little?
 
"You know very well not to speak to me like that, don't you?" The Beast mused,
placing a shadowed hand on Wirt's shoulder. "You're doing well chopping down
the Edelwood, even if you very well know what they actually are," He chuckled.
"Perhaps you aren't as human as you once thought? I must be getting to you,
Wirt..." He said, and Wirt shook his head.
 
"I cry every single time I cut into them, I can hear their screams..." He
pause, "But..."
 
"But?"
 
"But I do it because...Because it's for you Beast," Wirt mumbled.
 
"And what am I to you, boy?" He asked, moving an oily hand up to his cheek. 
 
"You're everything to me, Beast..." 
 
"That's right, now, I expect you to keep working, exhaustion is no excuse. I'm
sure I will see you again soon, and we will be able to spend more time
together," The Beast promised, and Wirt shivered, before his hand disappeared
off of him, and the only sound Wirt heard was The Beast's haunting sound,
overtaking the sound of the Wind, and sending another shiver down his spine,
before picking the lantern and axe up again, searching for the next poor tree
to be chopped down. This was for a good reason, Wirt felt like a hero...He just
couldn't remember why. He'd remember someday.
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