Ghostly Friend (Part 1)
Notes: Just a quick thing for the warnings, the storyline is inspired by the original SMP and primarily focuses on Ghostbur, although Wilbur will be mentioned occasionally.
Anyways! New au! Yaay!
Warnings: Major character death (aka Wilbur turning into Ghostbur), Explosions, Neglect, Bullying. Mentions of death and self deprecating words.
Words: 3.2K+
His eyes were so full of passion and love; The way they looked at her as if she were a goddess, the love of his life. The man she so loved and cared for, the one human that she had ever trusted in her life. He now sat upon a throne made of nothing more than misdeed.
The way he now stared down at her like nothing more than a tool, his eyes now lost with insanity and lust for power. The man she once knew was gone, lost. He had once been adored by the gods, filled with talent and creativity.
But ever since he had become a king, the amounts of stress from the demands of the people ever since the previous king had disappeared, the lack of resources that he so desperately needed for his kingdom.
He soon came to his friend of the forest, a water nymph, a guardian known as Sally. She had been so quick to help her friend, giving him the world as she had so foolishly fallen in love. But she had given too much, done too much.
She had been used by idiotic love. As time passed, her love became gradually more distant, his talent and passion had slowly desecrated to a point that the man she once knew was gone. All that remained was a man, desperate for any ounce of power he was able to get.
They had agreed upon a deal. Sally would help the kingdom’s growth and struggles, gaining a reputation of power as an empire, resources could be gathered from the land they had been given. And in turn, the kingdom would grant peace with her forest and aid the wildlife.
Wilbur did not give back, and the wildlife had become fearful of the kingdom’s approaches. They would question the worthiness of this human, asking if he was trustworthy. She had tried everything to bring Wilbur back, it never worked.
And now, they stood in a confrontation. Sally had become enraged with her friends’ decisions, despite how much she cared for Wilbur. The forest was her home, her family and Wilbur were doing nothing more than destroying it.
A part of her held small hope, that they could set their differences aside and talk like they used to. With Sally swimming happily with her bright red tail, Wilbur sitting on the rocks near her lake, singing her any songs that had been in the works.
It was so difficult to admit that her love was really gone.
He had gone corrupt.
He would pay for everything he had done.
…
The war had been devastating, the number of families that had been separated, the number of causalities caught in the crossfire. Wilbur did hold a high amount of manpower, making fair progress during the war.
But it was no match for the power of the forest. Her forest had decided to take back what was once theirs, the land that had been lost. Whatever sanity remained in Wilbur, greatly decreased during the war.
And the man made one fatal decision.
Sally stood next to her old friend once again, the man’s hair was so unkempt, the crown that laid roughly upon his head, a dirty trench coat on his shoulders that acted as his grand cape. They stood in an unstable building.
With the main event in the centre, a small stone button.
Wilbur had a look of pure insanity, an unhinged smile that crept on his teeth. From the bags under his eyes, he clearly hadn’t slept. After all, his grand plan had been in the works, and finally, his grand show was about to begin.
“You know, Sally. I thought that maybe, just maybe. You could be the queen by my side. We could rule the forest, L’manburg together. But now I realise something. It was never meant to be”, his hand hovered over the button.
And it was pushed.
It was too late; she was too late. Explosions could be heard in the distance; everything was going to be gone. All because of a man that had been so lost, and the lover’s hand that couldn’t be reached. She fell to the floor as she wept.
…
The two lay by each other’s side in their final moments. The life in the nymph’s eyes had almost lost its spark. Sally, a bright soul had always wanted to protect those close to her, and perhaps that is why she was so weak to defeat Wilbur.
Wilbur was still breathing, her hand clutched to his chest. Perhaps a final act of love? But it wouldn’t last as they soon will take their final breaths but in those final moments, she spoke a spell. Wilbur would have to learn the hard way of his actions.
“For my dying breath, bare my calamity.
As this man, once my friend; To turn into a different form of body.
Someone who was once adored by the gods, now scourged to insanity.
Let his mind shift, unable to fully comprehend his reality.
Only when he truly discovers somebody to love and call his family.
As they bear witness to his tyranny and tragedy”.
…
Fish swam below the surface of the water, filled with ignorant bliss. They didn’t have to worry about pain, loss or love. He could almost relate in some ways, he had been lonely for a while, pain didn’t come easily and there was nobody to love.
But sometimes, he didn’t want to be so alone. He wanted something, something different. Although, what if that had already happened? That, someone, was looking for him and he couldn’t remember?
It was that initial fear that the little ghost dreaded so much, the possibility of something being so easily forgotten. Especially if it were someone he came to care about, but Ghostbur wasn’t alive from what he knew.
He was simply a ghost, nothing more.
With a curious sigh, Ghostbur brought his claw towards the water. He wondered what would happen if he touched the strange substance. But the claw was quickly withdrawn as the ghost let out a hiss of pain, looking to his claw that had nearly melted.
Why did he do that again?
He looked over towards the right of him, seeing a collapsed building with barely what could barely be called a roof with what remained of the second floor. Broken collapsed shelves clear as day, books left all over the place.
That looks interesting to explore! Maybe he could learn something from the place!
But, as he went to levitate himself off from the ground, a gust of wind passed with a faint whisper, it sounded familiar. He turned towards the direction of the whisper, only to make eye contact with somebody.
They looked like a fellow ghost with their pale skin but didn’t look quite as humanoid as Ghostbur as they were coated in scales. It reminded him of somebody, but he couldn’t place it on who. He gave a friendly wave towards the fellow ghost, but she didn’t respond.
She stood there, as still as a statue.
“Hello? Are you alright? Do you need help?”, Ghostbur asked in confusion. The individual in question perked up at Ghostbur’s question, but she didn’t respond. She stood still, and Ghostbur couldn’t help but feel drawn into her.
Admittedly, she was gorgeous with her bright red locks of hair, which reminded him of roses. Almost like a goddess. The lady then turned away from him, walking away from Ghostbur; Further into the forest.
Ghostbur couldn’t help but follow.
…
“During the L’manburg war, some of the remaining residents decided to evacuate the kingdom. And thus, those survivors established their own city, the one where we live now! Essempi!”, his history teacher concluded the story. But he couldn’t even be bothered to tune into the lesson.
It was too boring.
With a sigh, he fumbled with his pencil as he stared down at his messy doodles. He needed some form of entertainment in the class after all. Things in his school were always boring, none of the topics ever interested him.
If Tommy could change how schools worked, he would. Because everything was repetitive, especially in history where all they mainly taught was the history of the city, which everybody knew the legends at this point.
But what could Tommy do to change anything? Nobody would listen to him after all, consider him a nuisance. It was difficult to even get one person to talk in an engaging conversation with him as he was known as the class freak.
And nobody wanted to be his friend.
Tommy would be classified several things by his classmates, even getting teased and bullied at some points. And because of his reckless behaviour, he was often the one who got to face the backlash of these actions rather than those responsible.
He wasn’t sure why he was the target in everything, especially when it came to his home life. Because things weren’t easy there either, his parents didn’t really pay him any sort of attention. Leaving him to his own things.
He was often or not ignored by his parents, neglected even. The only time he ever got to see the light of day from their busy schedules was when they asked to see his grades, which weren’t always the best, even when he tried his best to study.
And after another boring 20 minutes of some more lectures about historic L’manburg, the class concluded. And Tommy immediately bolted out his seat towards the door, granting him his freedom for lunch.
But he was stopped by somebody. A classmate.
The classmate had grabbed his shoulder, perhaps a little roughly. There was a light grip of warning on his shoulder, along with a welcoming smile on the classmate’s face. Something was off, and Tommy wasn’t sure what to think about it.
“Hey, Tommy! We’re having a house party tonight! Wanna join us?”. An invitation? Tommy rarely got invited to social events after school and was able to easily able sneak out of the house. Tommy could easily attend.
Even though they weren’t the best of people, many other people would be attending if something were to happen. Plus, sometimes he would be completely bored in the house, often idling in bed with nothing to do.
Surely, it couldn’t be a bad idea?
“Yeah, sure! Sounds good! What’s the address? And time?”. The idea of being invited to a party was exciting to Tommy as there’d be an opportunity to make some friends. And soon, they exchanged the information to attend the party!
…
It was relatively easy to sneak out of the house from the window, but the party wasn’t something Tommy had expected it to be, for example, the number of people in such a cramped space. He felt out of place, especially as the other acted wild and crazy as they danced.
And now, Tommy sat in the middle of a truth or dare circle. Everyone is either being pussies and choosing truths or giving really boring dares to the other people in the room. At least, that was until it was Tommy’s turn.
And he had chosen the option ‘dare’.
“Quite the daredevil, eh? Tommy Innit? Well, I got the perfect dare for you! I dare you to enter The Cratering Woods!”, everybody else in the group snickered. It had been obvious that they had planned this for Tommy the entire time.
He gulped nervously, too scared to back out from the dare under the gaze of his peers. The mere thought of entering the woods was scary enough because of the number of rumours that surrounded the place.
The cratering woods was a forest that almost surrounded Essempi, it was known as the remnants of L’manburg but the scariest thing was the fact that anybody who entered the woods disappeared, never to be seen again.
It was rumoured to be cursed.
Maybe that was why he had been so scared of the idea? The idea of disappearing?
…
His classmates led him towards a broken fence near the forest, which was quite surprising because usually, the fences were very high maintenance in the city. Because people would mysteriously disappear from the forest.
It didn’t look recent either, as though this part had been broken for a long time. It was strange as they’d be fixed in such a short amount of time, how hadn’t this been fixed much like the others he had seen?
His classmates snickered from behind him, seemingly blissfully unaware of the fact Tommy could be sent to a death sentence. And the saddest part was, did Tommy really not belong in the place he grew up in?
With a sigh, he turned away from his classmates. Maybe it was for the better that it turned out this way…
He carefully moved the wired fence with his hands, manoeuvring it to the side for a way to slip into the forest. He hesitated for a moment; Would his parents look for him while he was gone? Would he simply be another missing name?
He walked into the forest after that.
…
The forest wasn’t anything like Tommy had expected it to be, on the other side of the thorny bush (which had cut Tommy’s skin a couple of times). But the view was almost breath-taking, it was a strange kind of beautiful.
The tree trunks were jagged but swirled in patterns, they were wavey but also quite huge. The trees sprouted a huge number of leaves along with a couple of vines, which were a gorgeous shade of green. He also caught the sight of a few lilies, which only added to the atmosphere.
Tommy actually found it quite peaceful.
With the sight of humongous trees, it was only natural that there’d be more in the forest. Especially when it has the remains of an ancient city! Who knew what kind of things could be found here! All sorts of documents and treasure.
Tommy Innit did always like adventuring, even when it was only to the confines of his backyard. But here, there was a full-on abandoned forest to explore! But besides the point that the place could be cursed, it that was even plausible.
It was still an adventure.
…
Tommy couldn’t remember the last time he had ever felt as free as he did now, he didn’t have to worry about any sort of responsibility. All he could do was run and enjoy the landscape around him as he’d never done anything like this before.
The boy soon tripped, falling face-first in the dirt. He didn’t mind it though, it reminded him of olden times before his parents had started forgetting about him. He missed being able to play out in the wild.
He let out a laugh of joy.
But then; He was caught off guard by a voice.
“Hello? Miss Red Lady! Where did you go?”, the voice had a slight echo to it, but not by natural means. As if it had come from the voice itself, it sounded lost and confusing. Maybe the person needed help?
Curiosity got the better of him, and so; As sneakily as he could, he crept towards a trunk of a tree and hid behind it. Catching the sight of the person in question, well… Person was one way to describe it.
It didn’t look entirely human; it was humanoid in shape but if you looked closer. It was clear to see the distinguishing features; The feature wore a simple white blouse accompanied by a yellow blouse, smart shoes and fluffy short-brown hair.
But besides those features, the figure had dark blue claws that almost went up towards his upper arms. He also had pure white eyes, with no pupil or iris. Just a complete white. And finally, he was transparent, Tommy could almost see right through the figure.
And maybe also because he was levitating.
It reminded Tommy of a ghost…
Tommy couldn’t help the slight gasp that escaped his lungs. The figure's pointy ears immediately caught onto his sound, head-turning in his direction in an instant. The two of them made eye contact, and Tommy became scared.
Although, the figure only looked at Tommy in his own surprise as it turned to a friendly smile and a wave. Tommy leaned in closer towards the tree, it couldn’t be real. Ghosts weren’t real, nor the supernatural.
Then how was this guy in front of him?
The ghostly figure didn’t seem to notice Tommy’s nervousness as they approached, the smile remaining on his face. He didn’t appear to be disturbed, angry or anything. If anything, he was friendly and easy-going.
But that didn’t mean he could be trusted.
“Hello there! Who are you?”, the ghost person leaned in closer towards Tommy’s face. Admittedly, a little too close, too close for comfort. And Tommy couldn’t help but yelp as he jumped back in surprise.
The ghost didn’t seem to find it any different, because instead; They simply floated above Tommy by seemingly impossible means, the smile remained on their face. Tommy was beginning to feel a bit more creeped out about the encounter.
A frown was placed on the ghost’s face, seemingly disappointed by the lack of response from Tommy. And for some reason, Tommy couldn’t help but feel a little guilty as the ghost was only trying to be friendly. At least he thought so.
He coughed, “Sorry! Uhm- My name is Tommy, how about you?”. The ghost immediately perked up happily, his ears twitching in joy. The ghost alongside the returning smile also offered Tommy his hand, to help him stand back up.
“My name is Ghostbur! It’s nice to meet you!”, it was then he noticed the sharp fangs on a display of the ghosts or well Ghostbur’s mouth. It was ominous the more he thought about it, and the more he thought about running away.
Ghostbur finally seemed to pick up on his uneasiness, his expression turning into one of concern as he had noticed Tommy had taken a step away from him. He tilted his head in confusion, stopping himself from floating to hopefully put the boy at ease.
“Uh- It’s nice to meet you too, Ghostbur! But also, what are you?”, Ghostbur responded in his confusion. Had Tommy never seen a ghost before? Well, weren’t ghosts supposed to be spooky or something?
Wait! Tommy was scared!
“I’m just a ghost! I’m not going to hurt you if that’s what you’re worried about! Please don’t be scared!”, Ghostbur felt a lingering fear, sending shivers down his spine. Why did that look on Tommy’s face make him feel so uneasy?
The boy calmed down slightly, letting out a sigh of relief. Ghostbur also calmed down, offering another friendly smile to Tommy, more genuine than the last one. A sound then caught the two of them off guard, looking towards a tree.
It was an owl, but owls were nocturnal. Was it already night-time?
“Oh, it’s night already? Do you have a place to stay for the night Tommy?”, Tommy thought about it for a moment. The ghost seemed friendly enough and his parents or others wouldn’t care if he didn’t return in the morning.
And Tommy really didn’t feel like being on his own during the night; So, staying with the ghost man it was!
