08.22.22

        The sky fell dark. Tommy couldn't believe anything anymore. The grave that lay in front of him, the allium that mysteriously died before being picked, it made no sense. This can't be it. It shouldn't be like this. He swallowed a lump in his throat. There's no way he could give his dead best friend a wilted flower on his grave, that's seen as bad luck according to his beliefs. He dropped the picked flower back down into the circle of stones and quickly trudged over and into his tent.

        His head turned to the other allium that sat on his crafting bench. It was the same. Wilted and disheveled, it even had a small string of spider web on it that Tommy swiped away. "You didn't die for months and now you decide to do so now that Ranboo's dead? What the hell..." his mumbling became more angry as he spoke. "The only other memory I have of him decided to cease. God..." Tommy sighed and peered at the coat that draped over his shoulders. The fabric itself was still a bit damp, soaking into his sweater and making his back feel cold.

        Falling backwards onto his bed, he too felt as though he was supposed to be falling down into sleep. After all that happened, he thought sleep could force him to recover faster, like how it is with illnesses and midnight terrors. Left to wake up in the morning to leave whatever problems to be forgotten in the morning. He knew better than that, but he didn't want to. He believed it would be better like that, to sleep off the trauma. He scoffed, laying there with his eyes pinned above him.

        "Dream... I swear I'll kill him once I see him again. A lie for a lie goes the saying blood for blood. Cheeky bastard..." Tommy felt just empty. Not empty like a glass jar collecting dust, but more like an empty classroom. A class where everyone has left and you're still packing up. He feels as though he'll never leave the classroom. He'll stay, left to fumble around with his folders and pencils while his friends have gone out the door without him.

        Sitting there, not knowing what to do as the teacher makes small talk to resolve the silence that surrounded the space. Tommy released a particularly heavy sigh, his lungs noticeably rising and collapsing with the sound. The sparkle that glimmered in the daylight was betrayed once again by mid-day and ceased to exist by sunset. His hope for the world ever blessing him or his loved ones crushed and stomped on, not only by life and its horrors, but by Dream and his tactical manipulation.

        Tommy closed his eyes and focused on the sounds that surrounded the tent and flooded inside. Sounds of the ocean waves crashing against the sandy shallow, of crickets chattering amongst the grass, of a faint waterfall surrounded by a lush forest filling his ears. Wait, a waterfall? The blonde gripped the overcoat on his shoulders and shot up, confusion plastering his face as his eyes blinked open. As quickly as the sound had made its welcome, it was already released from the grasp of acknowledgement, practically ceasing to exist. Now, this was strange. He's never heard such a thing before near his tent, why is it showing up now?

        He slid himself off of his rickety bed and tied the coat around his collar bone by the sleeves to make sure it didn't fall off of his person. Tommy listened for the sound again, but all he heard was the waves from the beach. The sound definitely came from the woods behind his site. Despite his head hurting from the sudden quick movements, he decided to begin a huge trek into the forest. Surely there's gotta be something.

        So, he searched and searched until his legs felt like they were burning up. "Where the hell could it be? And why haven't I heard it anymore?" As if it was on cue, the sounds showed up again, making Tommy's ears perk up at the new noise. This time the noise was more close by, but it made no sense. He didn't move and all of a sudden it starts again? Is this waterfall moving?

        It got louder and louder until he could hear it a few blocks away. The wind that followed the sound was light, like a soft breeze, but he saw nothing. To say he was confused out of his mind was an understatement, he felt as though he had gone insane. Or remembering Ranboo's execution in the form of something elegant. "This is all fucked up... I don't know why this is happening to me, why does everything have to be so full of pain?!" the blonde yelled at nothing, stamping his foot on the leaf covered ground and creating a loud crunching noise.

        That's when something cold covered his entire right shoulder, almost like an ice–cold cloth would. He shivered and turned around only to be greeted with more trees. Now he was spooked, incredibly spooked. The noise of falling water was still so close to him and the breeze was even stronger, so he decided to book it and run back to his exile site. One problem struck his mind though, he was lost with no known way to go. The waterfall sounds deafened but the increasingly became louder again when he was stopped for more air. The cold on his shoulder reappeared and the conditions between the noises and breeze were back to how they were.

        Curiosity got the better of him, even though the saying goes 'curiosity killed the cat', he couldn't bear not knowing what this was that was tomenting with his mental stability. The blonde reached over to touch whatever it was on his shoulder with his left hand. Immediately he was struck by a cold feeling, but it felt like something else was there. It felt as if water was on his shoulder, but not soaking in, like it was just stuck in a pool on his body. He turned around and saw nothing, yet he just knew something was there. His assumptions were proven correct when the leaves on the ground blew away to see a blank slate of dry dirt and stray patches of grass.

        Taken aback as strokes of what seemed to be a finger made its way through the dirt, Tommy started to understand that it might be something trying to communicate with him. A few mistakes in the words which resulted in a messy attempt to say "hold" and an arrow pointing to nothing. A few seconds of silence and no more signs of the entity communicating convinced him that it was probably someone with an invisibility potion pranking him. That was, until he felt the cold feeling on his shoulder again and a small 'tnng' of a prismarine shard landing in the dirt next to the arrow.

        He hesitantly crouched down onto the balls of his feet to be in arms reach of the crystal, picking it up and grazing his fingertips across the ragged edges and exterior. Tommy hissed as his finger is cut by the edges, blood smearing his finger and the shard, unconsciously sucking the blood away from his cut. His vision was then crowded with a dim glow, bringing his attention to what was in front of him. Just a few feet away from him were legs, not just any human legs, but glowy, sky blue ones that were slightly transparent in the dark. Standing up to get a better look at whatever had just appeared nearby him, taking a step back in advance in case the entity wanted to hurt him.

        The blonde opened his eyes, widening them as the entity was fully in his view.

        "Ranboo?" Tommy asked, muttering loudly enough for the ghost to hear. "Pretty much, I'm all... water... like a water ghost... thing. But, I'm me and this is... me," he laughed awkwardly before continuing," Oh yeah, by the way that shard feels weird is probably because I had to pull it out of my cheek." The ghost points at the open looking dark teal wound, yet there was no blood, instead there were drops of water dribbling down his chin.

        The blonde was speechless with so many questions that he spilled out after a few moments of silence. "What the... Wh... What the fuck? Why do you have prismarine stuff everywhere? How does this work? How can I just hold a shard and suddenly see you? And why are you made of-" Ranboo cut him off and answered his questions, as if he was prepared for this. "I think I died by drowning in ocean water... So since oceans normally have elder guardians near it with fortresses, I guess the water was near one of those but it still doesn't make sense to me. But at least I look cool, right? I look like some kind of ocean spirit! Everything looks blue tinted and I'm kinda like a waterfall lol," Ranboo expressed as Tommy cringed aloud. "Please... don't say lol out loud."

        "Hah, you said it too!" The ghost laughed, the blonde huffing in irritation. "Whatever. How do I know you're even Ranboo?" Silence corroded the area, the ghost staring straight into Tommy's soul and making him way too uncomfortable. It wasn't even a normal stare, it was the kind of stare someone would make if they saw a murder take place in front of them. 'Ranboo's mouth stayed shut and in a fine line of neutrality. "Still trying to process my question? Stop taking so long!" Called out Tommy as the ghost finally snapped out of it, his lips curling up in a smile and his eyes following the same gesture. "Of course I'm Ranboo, silly! Who else would I be?"

        Tommy furrowed his eyebrows, confusion mixed with suspicion now crowding his face. He slowly turned around to make his suspicion known and started walking back to his exile site, wherever it was from here. The ghost floated into Tommy's view and started asking questions," Well, where are you going?"

        "Home," Tommy states simply.

        "Wasn't your home somewhere far away? I can't remember the name of it, but you said it had walls and a va-"

        "Well, that's not my home anymore. I was forced to adapt here."

        "That's just it isn't it?" Tommy stopped in his tracks and turned around yet again, huffing yet again. "What does that even mean?"

        "If you're forced to move homes, that doesn't exactly make it a home. It's just... a place I guess." Explained the ghost, but Tommy took it as a snarky remark. "I don't need English lessons from you," he stated, kicking through a thicket of leaves and roots that protruded out of the ground. "I'm not correcting." the ghost blandly spoke up and remained silent with the blonde. It took a few minutes to get back onto the original path he came from, striding forwards from the ghost that was floating a ways away behind him.

        "Why are you here?" Tommy asked, but it was more of a choked out statement than a question. The ghost continued to smile, tilting his head," What do you mean, Tommy?" The blonde's lip quivered slightly, quickly glancing at the floor then gathering his attention to look up at the ghost with furrowed eyebrows. "Well, you... passed... only uh... 2? 3 hours ago? If you really were Ranboo, you'd wait until I got over your death. You just happen to show up a few hours after he dies and you smile so eerily... it's just... you're so fuckin' off character to even be Ranboo. You're not him."

        The ghost doesn't show any change in emotion. Instead his expression is stuck in a static, cold smile. "Indeed, I am not exactly Ranboo. But, that shouldn't surprise you. Just like Ghostbur isn't anything like Wilbur, yet you still liked him more than the Wilbur you've known." Tommy overlaps the ghost's words," Yeah, but... I... I don't like him more than Wilbur, Ghostbur's alright and all but that doesn't mean he's better. And you act so weird that it's creepy, this feels like a nightmare."

        Ghost 'Ranboo' ignored Tommy's speech, went through and ahead of Tommy, and pointed to the left a bit. "Your... home is right over there I think," he informed with a cold smile across his face, eyes still in an unblinking stare. Tommy just sighed silently and continued his trek, pushing away some branches to see the only place he's been in for god knows how long.

        "Can you... go away? I don't want to see you right now." Tommy muttered in an attempt to sound intimidating. "Well, now that you have that shard I gave you and touching it with bare skin which would be your hand, I won't disappear until you break contact. So, if you want to be left al-" his sentence was cut off right as Tommy dropped the shard on the ground, having it land flat in long, uncut grass. Tommy hissed through gritted teeth as he remembered the cut on his finger it gave him, along with a new one across the middle of three of his fingers. "Stupid sharp shit," he simply states, walking back to his tent.

        Irritated, he searches through his worn out bag on his bed, only to find the things he knew were there before. Nothing new. Tommy knew that Ranboo must've left something behind as a memoir besides just an overcoat and a mysteriously wilted flower. The waterfall sound gets louder, almost mockingly louder. Is this ghost supposed to be a memoir? What is happening and why does this all hurt so much worse now? Tommy tears up, but doesn't let himself cry. He snatches his bag and angrily stomps out to the beach to think. Or maybe even cry. Who knows.

        He plops down and settles himself along the sand with his knees to his chest held up by his crossed arms. He can't find much to relax about. Best friend has turned on him, Dream kills his only living friend, now a ghost is attempting to torture him with looking like said dead friend. If only he had his discs, it would be much easier to forget all of his problems if he just put on some of his long awaited tunes. Yet, not even the world would be on his side for that, all because of discs that relaxed, that soothed, that made his problems seem solvable. He hasn't thought of the discs that much until now, because now he feels like he needs them more than ever. Better yet, he wants his friends back, despite him never willingly being able to admit it on a whim.

        A tiny sound from the sand brought his attention back. Now, the sounds of a waterfall are closer than before and he knew this had something to do with the ghost he recently encountered. His eyes focused on the small object in the sand that made the sound in the first place. Another prismarine shard, but the opposite of the other one he was given. It was small, about the size of a quarter, and was very dull so it couldn't cause any more accidental cuts. The thoughts continue as he stares at the jagged shard. Is this ghost dude the only other thing left of Ranboo? Is he never going to find anything else to keep as a memory?

        Inhaling and letting go of his legs to let them fall into a crossed position, Tommy reached over to the shard beside him and released his breath in a sigh. The conversation the ghost was having with himself cut in," -wouldn't pick it up because it's basically a slight rip-off from Death No- oh, hi! I thought you would just leave it there and move on, eheh." Tommy chuckled along with the ghost, finally taking the time to memorize how the ghost looked.

        The ominous yet calming light blue glow radiating from the ghost's transparent self. They had no overcoat, the tie around his neck seemed to have changed to black with a hint of purple. He still had his original dress pants, but he had no shoes... ew. The crown that was supposed to be on his head just floated there, broken in two halves like some sort of golden wishbone. Their long split colored hair of dark blue and a light-dull cyan loosely held in a low side ponytail. Some hair sweeped out of the ponytail to fly out in a fluffy mess. One of the weirdest and most distinct factors about this ghostly figure was the little amount of chains that floated around their right arm and both legs. Another was the blatant prismarine shards that stuck out of the upper left side of his face, with water instead of what he would assume to be blood leaked down his left cheek. His left eye wasn't even present because of the replacement of shards.

        "Well... I'm guessing you actually want to see me again, which was surprising. Oh, and since I'm not your Ranboo, then you can just call me... err... Fallboo? No, that's too weird. Ranfall? Ah geez..."

        A chuckle rang throughout the air.

       "Waterboo. Might not be the best, but it fits if I'm not mistaken."

       Tommy smiled.

       "Waterboo it is I guess."

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