Characters: DreamSMP Members

Location: DreamSMP/L'Manberg

Possible Triggers: Spoilers for the Manberg vs Pogtopia war, proceed with caution, mentions of major character death and graphic violence.

(Notice! The title is in Latin roughly translated to The Goat and The Ghost :)

~~~

To the DreamSMP, Wilbur Soot and Johnathan Schlatt were officially dead. Schlatt's stroke was a type of death the game world can't function and as such, the fallen president is basically in a coma status without external help and it would take years for the server to earn the fundings needed for Notch to revive him. As for Wilbur, Phil assumed he'd respawn but with the amount of lag with the TNT, his became a permadeath as well. Now at the foot of the ruins of L'Manberg sat two graves;

Hҽɾҽ Lιҽʂ Wιʅʅιαɱ Sσσƚ Wαƚʂσɳ
"Independence, or death. If we get no revolution, then we want nothing."

ℌ𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔏𝔦𝔢𝔰 𝔍𝔬𝔥𝔫𝔞𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔫 𝔍. 𝔖𝔠𝔥𝔩𝔞𝔱𝔱
Crypto Leader, Comedian, Mentor, and Forever In Our Hearts

Friends of both Wilbur and Schlatt were invited onto the SMP for a three day mourning period. Among them include Connor Ty, and Grunk (the 2 latter now being adopted by Connor after his abrupt), the Lunch Club, Fitz, Tobi, and Swagger from the Misfits, AntVenom, Jack Massey Welch, Kai Ross-Best, and Scott Smajor. Dream put together a funeral for them with many of the server's older members being too lost in their grief to help. 

Phil couldn't help but blame himself. If he were wiser maybe he wouldn't give in, he'd pull his son into his arms and tell him how much he loved him. Maybe if he were a better father, he would've been able to prevent this. He should've gone on the SMP after the election, offered his comforts. But he knew that wallowing in self-pity would get him nowhere, hell it might make him start to go crazy. So he forced himself to put on a smile and pretend everything was ok. He still had his three youngest sons to care for.

Jack was of course devastated as well. He saw his signs of insanity long before he ever stepped foot in the SMP. His father had gotten locked away in a hardcore world for five years leaving his four children to fend for themselves and Wilbur ended up stumbling into his life. He had become something of a second dad for him and the moment he heard about Will turning on Tommy he should've grounded him. The amount of abandonment in his life had become quite literally the death of him and Jack should never forgive himself. But his right-hand man Kai put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "You did the best you could." And he let out all of his heartache into his friend's side. 

Connor felt incredibly lost. While the pair had their up's and down's, Schlatt was his best friend, his ride or die till the very end. He now had way too much on his plate. He shouldn't have had to break this kind of news to his late mentees. Connor offered as much help as he could but Ty and Grunk ended up comforting him more. But at the end of the weekend, he wasn't sure if he was ready to leave yet. Schlatt had unfinished business and he was gonna wrap up his loose ends. Sending the two boys off with AntVenom, he promised them he'd come home to them when he was mentally prepared to. But late nights at Schlatt's gravestone, telling stories to his ghost might be the only thing to keep him steady.

Carson's anger was swallowing him whole. Dream's little SMP has harmed and broken so many of his friends. Dream didn't just let them have L'Manberg so in turn, he caused Wilbur to lose his sanity and Schlatt to fall deeper into his spiraling addiction and depression. He stole Tommy and Tubbo's childhoods from them, he put Techno in a position to betray his family. But there was little Carson could do. Cooper, Travis, Noah, Ted, and Charlie kept him controlled. Someday, he'd give Dream a piece of his goddamn mind but for now, his tears were too blinding.

Other than them, the SMP members grieved in their own way. Techno never visited the funerals, rather watching from afar, only coming one night to shed a few stray tears at his brother and his friend's graves. Fundy grew closer with his grandpa Phil whom nowadays was rarely around. The two understood each other, they wanted to both be better for him but never quite got the chance. Dream didn't cry at all. He was brave and tough and emotionless. He cared for chaos and nothing else. The death's of course didn't affect him whatsoever! ...George and Sapnap ignored the guilt-ridden sobs that came from the upstairs bedroom in the community house that night. Niki and Quackity ended up becoming closer due to the events of the war. Both are confused about what to believe. Wilbur and Schlatt were both insane and morally wrong to them and yet sorrows still nipped at their feet. When Niki asked if Big Q wanted to help cater the funeral's final day, he gladly accepted. Tubbo was honestly just so stressed. Trying to deal with the loss of his brother, rebuild a nation, and wrap his head around how being a president works, he prayed his emotions wouldn't collapse in on him. He wasn't about to let history repeat itself. And Tommy...? After the funeral, no one has heard from him. He disappeared into the woods, hiding his feelings from the world. If life has taught the boy anything it's that he can't trust anyone with his deepest thoughts. So as he processed the deaths, he hid away in a small cave behind Pogtopia. No one, not even Wilbur's wandering spirit knew where it was. Words began to echo in his mind...

"Are you even a hero anymore?"

"What kind of hero lets his own brother die?"

"You should just give up... Give into that explosive call..."

***

All that was left of the two men were a pair of wandering spirits, sitting atop a hill overlooking L'Manberg. While they could now fly around and phase through objects, it left them with only each other to grasp onto for comfort. Holding the other's hand seemed quite foreign but they were all they had left... that is until another one of them died. While as much as they would love to hold a grudge against each other, they didn't have much of a choice. As Schlatt leaned his head into Wilbur's lap, he let his fingers run through his hair.

"...Do you promise it's true?"

"Yes, I promise you can still recover even in the afterlife. I'm going to make sure you don't need to latch onto alcohol for solace anymore. You're gonna be happier."

"Well, then Will you gotta promise me you're gonna put in the effort to get your shit together to." Wilbur gave a light chuckle at his oh-so eloquent wording.

"I'll try my best... I want my family to be happy again. Suppose death shows you what you truly want. Maybe together, we can make them learn to appreciate each other..." And for the first time since the destruction, Wilbur and Schlatt smiled. Hope was in the air, at least to the dead. Maybe they could finally get the happy ending they dreamt of...

~~~