Choice 1: "More And More Questions"

Ghost Steve stared at the darkened doorway to inevitably another staircase.

He looked back to the pig humanoid painting.

He pulled out a small booklet, he noted the locations of each painting. Plus a description to know which is which.

The ghost placed down his torch, leaving both hands free.

Slowly, the Steve began unhooking each of the thirty or so paintings.
He stored each safely into his inventory.

Soon, he had taken them all down.

Whispering as he wrote upon a sign, he assured whatever spirits that may anger through his possession of the portraits that he would return the paintings.

He kneeled down, placing the sign firmly on the gray bricks.

"I'll be back soon, hopefully," he said aloud to no one.

Little did he know how long he would be.

=hello hope you're enjoying the story=

=so idk how to restore paintings=

=nor how long it would take=

=so let's just say it took a week okay=

=also the next chapter for this choice will be double length due to the fact that similar things occur to the other choice=

=if you want to get details read the other option too=

=let's keep going shall we=

Time passed, and eventually the gjost could see the Rainbow Tree of Life in the distance.

Home was so close.

The sun had set, making the walk pleasant in the cool, calm air.

He had been down there for most of the afternoon.

Pulling out a piece of bread, he munched as he walked through the grass.

He'd begin restoration tomorrow, and ask Sabre questions about the ones least in need of restoration.
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He got back to the Rainbow Town just as the others had begun settling down for the night.

Despite the building he now resided in being rather empty, it was nice.

The Steve pulled his wool sheets up to his neck, closing his eyes.

He stopped himself from thinking thoughts, leaving his mind to wander off quietly.
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He began to dream..

He was a creator of worlds, allowing friends he barely knew into his newest realm.

He was a man, waiting for the thrill of revolution. Of war and death and power.

He was a child, fighting a war he would never see the end of. He kept his friends close, and possessions closer.

He was a man, fearful of failure. Doomed to forever walk the earth as a traitor.

He was the child of a great man, yet ignored by all. His tail hung limp at the worst of times, but grew energetic in the happiest moments.

He was a child. Fighting wars alongside friends and future enemies.

An explosion rang loud in his ears.
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He sat up in fear.

What was that dream...? Of war and explosions and anger..?

Whose role was he playing...?

Rubbing the sweat off his forehead, Ghost Steve closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

He kinda sounded like he was choking in all honesty.

Opening his eyes, the ghost pulled up his inventory.

He stared at two of the paintings.

The faceless green and white creature's...

And the one they called "Wilbur."

Why did he have a dream about people he didn't know...?

Why did it seem so..
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Real?

He had never had dreams all that often.
Much less that intense or real feeling.

He simply stared at the paintings in the dark of night.

Until soon he closed his inventory again.
He pulled a book out of a nearby chest, forgetting about the whole thing.

He fell asleep, no more unsettling dreams plaguing him.

The following morning, the Steve returned to his original home, the crypt, to have some privacy.

Rainbow Steve and Sabre were great and all, but they tended to get into stuff.
Like cats.

Ghost pulled out a collection of restoration items he had left hidden in the grass. Lifting the box out, he moved into a more secluded place to begin his work.

All in all, he was able to restore 5 of them. Three looked nothing like Sabre, yet appeared to be similar in some form.

Two were more like Sabre, one had black hair and the other had long brown hair. The second was..a girl. Right. The girl had rose covered vines over her hair and around what little torso Ghost could see.

One of the odd ones closest to being similar to the other two + Sabre was this slightly greenish man. He reminded Ghost Steve of a slime.
He appeared more or less "human," but he had the sticky, slightly opaque look of a standard slime mob.
He had tiny slime pets with sticks in them on his head and shoulder, so that was a big sign.

The oddest looking one had emerald-like eyes and tannish-yellow skin, he appeared to be part...totem? And part something else, like an underwater creature of some type.
The boy had sharp teeth, and wore some sort of traditional attire unfamiliar to the Steve.

The other boy had black and white hair and skin, split down the middle.
He looked to be part Enderman, yet he had green and red eyes.
No Endermen, from what the ghost recalled, had green or red eyes.
He wore a crown and a spiffy looking black suit with white undergarments and a red tie.

How peculiar.
Perhaps he is a mob hybrid..?
But those haven't existed before.

The Steve carefully hid away the rest in a chest with his restoration supplies.

It was just past midday, and he would ask Sabre about these.

He wouldn't mention he would return to the new crypt as soon as he was done.

...
Well, that was..something.

Sabre barely had any info on either the people or the crypt itself.

The human did mention that some people like him can sort of "become" nonhuman creatures, like the mob hybrids. But for some, it's a permanent process. Specifically once they join a world, like how Sabre joined the Steves' world.

Over the next half-week or so, Ghost gained more info through his dreams, Sabre, and the paintings.

He discovered the name of two important places; L'Manburg and the Dream SMP.

Apparently the SMP place was the name of the world these..people are in.
The other was apparently a nation and town with a bad history involving many explosives.

The Steve documented what information he could before he forgot, labeling them "The Dream SMP Files."

He took the files with him when he returned to the crypt plaguing his waking and sleeping life with questions.

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Choice 2: "Getting To The Bottom Of Things"

Ghost Steve contemplated taking these odd paintings up to the surface, maybe ask some questions while they're restored..

No.

These paintings look delicate. Besides, who knows how long restoring them would take?

It just wasn't worth the hassle.

Instead, Ghost opened a small booklet. He noted down the exact number of portraits, and a quick description of each. Just in case.

Who knows if their spirits are hidden somewhere around here.

Would certainly explain the raw energy throughout the place.

The Steve kept going.

Down yet another hall of portraits, and flew yet another chilling stairwell.

Now this. This he had not seen before.

The brick was worn, yet not cracked and mossy yet on both the walls and floor.
There were multiple torches, despite little to none on the last two levels.
There was a stained red carpet along this hall, water dripping from a crack somewhere in the ceiling.
There seemed to be multiple rooms veering off from this place.

But what was so odd was the items placed in various glass containers and item frames.
They looked way too clean to possibly be from this crypt.

Sure...there were maps and plans and other odd things he'd not find in a crypt in the other hallways...

But not quite like this.

There were many swords and weapons throughout the place, but there were other items.
Buttons, hats, uniforms. All dusty like they'd been there for a month
Why?

That was the one question going through Ghost Steve's mind.

Why are these items all here..? And why are they in such good condition? Who kept them clean?

Looking into the first room on the left, he spotted a meeting room.
There was a slightly burned image of...some sort of moving structure pasted to the wall.

It seemed to have 4 wheels, like a minecart, but it was much larger. And it had a top, with a strange add-on built atop it.

There were five seats surrounding the small wooden table, a flag laying upon it.

He wondered what it was for.

The item frame in the main hall closest to the meeting room was of..a declaration of independence? What does that mean..?

In the room to the right, there was a single button upon the floor. Several chests lined the walls, but all were empty.
A single sign sat on the wall, faded with time.
Ghost had to get close to read it.

"It was never meant to be, boys."

Those simple words scared him. He would've left way faster if it wasn't for the sunglasses he noticed laying on the floor, cracked.

The portraits.

That crown-wearing man.

He wore those.

Was this..somehow..a memorial to him..?
Or was this...
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A retelling of history?
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He didn't know what to think.

Glancing out at the items strewn along the wall, he noted a crown atop a block of TNT nearest to the button room.

This has to be a retelling of history.
The second level being the cast.
The third being the story.

Walking out of the room, the ghost looked back into the first room, looking for anything he missed.

In one chair sat a hat. Big enough for an adult.
The flag faced towards the chair..

What does all this mean?

Ghost was determined to find out.

=note that this is simply a retelling of the Dream SMP=

=this goes on for a while, until he reaches the end of the hall/the story=

=so he only sort of knows what went down=

=let's continue=

The slightly translucent gray figure sat on the floor, staring wide-eyed at the long hall he had inspected.

What was that?!
The vague information swam in his head, making it hard to digest.
Who was this..guy..that one with the green and white...just who was he? And how powerful was he?

Who was this man who seemingly started a..country..a nation..? Whatever. And then lost everything...? Who was the person who killed him..

Ghost groaned. He didn't want to deal with these questions.

So he sat.

And ate bread.

Eventually he decided to head down another layer..

But what would he find?

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"Seeing Colors"

Alivebur.

That was who took his place.

The ghostly man could only ponder this, for he had no tears left to give.

He felt..

Empty.

Meaningless.

Nonexistent.

Dead ten times more than before.

He wanted to cry.

Oh, how he wanted.

But couldn't.

He was out of tears.

Out of thoughts.

Out of optimism.

Out of life.

Out.

Out..

Out...

And Alivebur was in.

In.

In..

In...

In the overworld.

In the life he was given.

In the world where his friends were..

Where Friend was.

Oh how he missed that little sheep...

He was knocked out of his thoughts when something...odd..happened.

Colors.

The empty, drawn-out train station had mostly dark shades, but this thing..
There were pastel colors, every shade of the rainbow, dancing around each other in the air. Like little puppies, but tiny clouds of pastel paint..

It was beautiful.

That little moment of true joy helped him clear his mind.

He was Ghostbur.

Not this Alivebur guy.

Ghostbur grew closer to the little fantastic colors.

He reached one hand out to them.

"Hehe..that tickles!"

The little things swarmed around his outstretched hand, making odd little mutterings as they grouped together.

Most of the small critters suddenly went back to their strange little dance, circling around each other.

But one...

One stayed.

A small pink droplet shape flew up towards the ghost's face.

"Oh! Hello!" He giggled as it kissed his nose.
"I wonder what you are.." he wondered out loud.

The cute little droplet glided over to his ear.
He heard a small yet powerful voice whisper.
"Sky People."

"Oh! You speak!" The man's maroon beanie leaned over his face, nearly falling off.

He heard a high pitched giggle from the tiny droplet.

"Could I name you? Or do you have a name- is it just Sky People?" The ghost asked as he fixed his hat, smiling.

The station sure felt a lot warmer now, with a little friend to keep him company!

The pink droplet twirled around itself, a small yet bright light emitting from it.

In its place stood a tiny pink-winged child, atop a cloud.
Her smile held the knowing look of an experienced woman.

"I have a name, but I'd love to get a nickname from you Ghostbur!" she said this shyly, hiding behind the cloud so only her brown locks were visible.

"Oh! Hehe! Well...what if I call you Rosie?"

"Perfect!"

As 'Rosie' peeked out again, her hair transformed into a beautiful rose red.

"We're here to help you escape!" She did a playful backflip onto her cloud.

"Escape..? But how..? I- I don't think anyone can escape limbo or whatever this place is..." Ghostbur was nervous, unsure whether to rejoice or what.

"Don't worry! Technically, you're not leaving this place, you're leaving this SMP entirely! Don't worry, it's neither against the rules nor permanent!"

"Really?? So- so I could go home??" He was giddy at the thought of seeing everyone again.

"Not...quite. We aren't able to directly connect you back with the living realm in this universe. But we ARE able to connect universes, so we are creating the needed portal to enter the realm we know best!" Rosie explained this as she motioned to the other colorful droplets, which have grown in number.

The 'Sky People' sped around in circles, faster than before. It was mesmerizing.

"When you get there, you'll have access to speaking with us through your tablet! You can spawn one in as soon as you arrive it the universe."

"Thank you! But.. where am I going?"

"I'll explain as soon as I help complete the circle!"
The fairy-like girl poofed back into a droplet shaped pink blob, before joining the pastel circle of color.

As soon as she was in, the circle glowed pink, and it began to expand into a ring, growing bigger and bigger..

Within the ever-changing center, landscapes of grass and colors whizzed by.

The ring grew big enough for the ghost to go through when Rosie left the ring, removing the pink glow.

"Welcome.."

The portal rested on the image of a city unlike anything he had ever seen- colorful figures going about their day within the rainbow walls.

"To the Steve Saga!"

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Okay so I legit just wrote the Ghost Steve sections and holy- there are 2518 words total here and 1805 of them are for Ghost Steve.

I wrote the entirety of the Ghostbur scenes all in one sitting like two days ago, so that's why they're short-

Also yeah, yeah, I know the first part is super long but I kinda had to explain a whole week?? So I had to okay :p

I'll post the final part tomorrow.