It had been a simple plan. There had been a real effort to go along with the plan. Slowly bring Tommy out of his catatonic state that way he could heal from past traumas in a healthy manner. It was a good plan. It was one that had been working for the most part. Tommy had been starting to become more aware, and it was less frequent that these episodes of lucidity involved manic, violent bursts that fell back into numbness. He had been convinced, slightly, that someone cared enough about him to stay even when he was being quite stubborn. He had demanded to be left alone, and someone had seen past all his yelling and faux anger to find a scared, crying boy that wanted his family and friends to love him again. It was all good. The server had been calming down. People weren't fighting as much as before, and everyone seemed to have settled down into their personalized retirements. It could have stayed good. Tommy could have been happy. Ranboo could have had everyone he loved there with him. Tubbo would have less people to worry about. Michael and Shroud could have had parents that would have done anything to see their smiles. It never would have been perfect, but it could have been close. It really could have been.

Tommy was now sitting in an obsidian box in Tubbo's old house's attic because he couldn't find Tubbo anywhere and he didn't want to go outside and this was the safest he has felt since he came out of his stupor to hear sirens. He had been resting in the mansion, having drifted into dreamless sleep that had become a luxury in recent times. He had been dragged into the world of the waking when this loud shrill kept starting and stopping in a rhythmic pattern. Tommy had found the noise coming from his communicator. When he tapped the screen, the shrill cut off, but the noise was also coming from somewhere a little ways away from the window. Tommy would have looked outside to find who was pulling a prank until the memories clicked into place. He had been hoping that someone would break Ranboo out of prison. He kept having nightmares about Dream beating Ranboo to death, and the half-Enderman being trapped in purgatory with all the others. Tommy's borderline hysterical happiness was drained from his body the moment his eyes landed on the messages. There was something funny in the way Sam wrote them. It implied that all three prisoners of Pandora's Vault were escaping... not just Ranboo. Tommy's eyes widened as he realized that Dream was out. Dream was out of his cage, a beast prowling in the darkness of the night to find him.

Tommy puked all over the floor. He started coughing on some of the burning liquid that still boiled in his throat, but he didn't let that stop him from running out of the room. With his speed and lack of grace, he kept slipping and sliding across the hardwood floors. He crashed into several walls and doorways on his way out, and he messily threw a jacket over his shoulders as stepped into his shoes with the heels folded to dig into his ankles. Tommy ran out into the snow, headed for Pandora's Vault. He didn't have any weapon, armor, potions, or food. He wasn't even dressed for the weather as he wore jeans and a light jacket that wasn't on right. He just needed to make sure. He needed to know that this was a prank. He needed to confirm with Sam that Ranboo was the only one escaping.

Instead, he was met with the aftermath of a crime scene. There was blood and lingering potion effects everywhere. It was deserted of people, but there was a clear hole in the base of Pandora's Vault. Tommy's eyes widened again. His breath picked up until he wasn't sure that he was taking individual breaths instead of one long, excessive inhale. Tommy turned on his heel. He ran across the snow until he came upon his house. Tommy threw the door open to gather any supplies he had left there. Instead, he found a sign with a smiling face etched into the surface. Tommy took a step forward to find there was a long drop into an underground room. There was a scratched disc for Tommy to play, and the music was overrun with the eerie voice of Dream. At least, Tommy hoped it was since it very well could have been a hallucination. No matter what it was, Tommy booked it out of there before the disc could even finish. He found a weird shrine to Dream that he couldn't stand to be in lest he puke again. He came to his front room, dragging all of his food out of the chests to stuff into a pack. With that taken care of, he kissed the glass to Shroud's cage, promising that he would return when he found somewhere safe. Tommy bolted out of the house. He didn't stop running until he saw Tubbo's former home. It wasn't strong defensively, but it smelled like Tubbo and Tommy needed the comfort.

That was how he ended up here. He had been in that obsidian box for days, watching the lights fade and brighten once more from the window in Tubbo's attic. He never let himself fade to oblivion. Don't get him wrong, Tommy wasn't all that against dying, it was more like he couldn't handle Dream. Would the man even let him die? Would he be resurrected over and over again? Would Dream keep him locked in a box until Dream's death? Could Dream even die permanently? There was a lot to ponder as Tommy remained in that box. His thoughts would often find themselves staying with Ranboo, Tubbo, and Michael. He didn't know where they were. He didn't know if they were safe. They could have been dead for all he knew, or worse, they could have been taken by Dream. Would the green man care enough about their lives to keep them alive and relatively unharmed? Was he willing to torture an even younger child than Tommy was? What would Dream do in his quest for ascension and uniting the Server again? Tommy couldn't see how Michael could fit into that plan. Dream had called Tubbo out on being a disposable pawn. Tommy didn't know where Dream sat with Ranboo. He hoped the terms were as friendly as anyone could be when it came to a sociopath like Dream. He just wanted his family to be safe.

It was SapNap who found him. Out of everyone, it was SapNap who provided a comforting shoulder for Tommy to cry on. SapNap swore that they would take revenge on Dream by taking his final life. Tommy had mustered everything he had left in him to agree to become a Hunter alongside SapNap and Sam Nook. SapNap admired the enthusiasm, but his first order of business was actually 'getting Tommy into fighting shape', a glorified way of saying he was forcing Tommy to take a shower, eat some food that wasn't two weeks too old, and probably knock him out with a sleeping potion to make sure that he slept. Tommy would have argued, but he really was out of it. He may have been aware of the world, but that didn't mean his self-care habits were any better than before. Tommy was taken to Kinoko Kingdom, and SapNap did everything he said he would. Tommy wasn't allowed out of the shower until after fifteen minutes that consisted mostly of scrubbing all the grime off with soap. Tommy ate half a bowl of soup before he crashed into an exhausted sleep. He woke up what must have been a day or two later with how refreshed he felt. SapNap made him eat again (seriously, who ate that frequently in the day and age they lived in?). Tommy said he would return to Tubbo's house as that would be the Hunter's base of operations.

On the way, he was met with a familiar stranger. It was similar to Ranboo, but different in all the ways that mattered. The figure was hovering above the ground with translucent skin, a pale coloring about them except the harsh stab wound displayed across their abodom with glowing red and green blood dripping out at an inhumanely slow rate. The figure was wearing Ranboo's signature tuxedo but he had a capelet over it. He was looking at Tommy with something akin to disinterest in his eyes. He was munching on a golden apple, levitating in the middle of the street. Tommy stared for the longest time. He couldn't bring himself to interact with the ghost, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to walk away. The ghost finally finished his apple. He spread his limbs as a smile tugged at his lips. "Hello, my name is Boo. If it wasn't clear, I am the ghost version of Ranboo, that lazy piece of crap... if I'm not mistaken, you're Tommy Innit, yes?"

"Tha- that's me. Yeah. I-I'm-I'm Tommy. Ra- I mean, Boo, what happened to you?" Tommy said. It was awfully reminiscent of first meeting Ghostbur with how awkward it had been. Tommy eventually came to terms with Ghostbur's existence. That didn't mean it had been easy to face the deathly apparition of his brother turned terrorist who had become abusive and genocidial right under everyone's noses. Ghostbur had always been filled with happiness that had never suited any version of the previous Wilbur. It had been a whole new person wearing his brother's face. Tommy wondered if it would be like that with Boo. Would the ghost be just enough of Ranboo but not quite enough to remind Tommy that this wasn't Ranboo and never could be? Tommy hasn't cried in a few weeks, but he felt the tears steadily rise up to brush against the bottom of his eyes.

"Did you hear about the prison break? Techno, Phil, and Niki joined forces to break me and Dream out of prison. Callahan was also there but I don't know much about that. In an effort to keep Dream there, the Warden killed me. It was kind of funny in the afterlife. There was this drunk guy and this other guy who must have been on drugs. There was one nice person, though! Ghostbur was there! He had been crying a lot, but he was really happy to see me. That's when this other green guy who kind of looks like Dream pulled me out of the greenhouse. He told me that I had made a mockery of my Ender brethren," Boo shrugged. It was weird how he told the story. It was almost like he was telling the mundane happenings of a boring old man he didn't have any connection with. There wasn't any feeling to the way he spoke. He was talking about how he had died and was brought back as a shell of who he had been like someone talked about a bland breakfast from the other day. It was something no one could go back and change. It was something that a person accepted because that was simply what happened. Tommy felt his heart stop several times, and tears were freely falling from his cheeks as he thought back to Ghostbur screaming about how Tommy promised it would be okay.

"Boo? How the fuck can you say that so easily?! You died! You were fucking murdered! Sam took your life because he had a fucking responsibility that he was shit at apprantly! Did Sam honestly think that fucking Dream gave a shit about you? Doesn't he know how selfish Dream is? How fucking selfish he is for doing this? And why didn't Techno or Phil save you? They could have fucking taken Sam? I thought they liked you. They, at least, don't think your ass because they broke into a fucking prison to get you! Why don't you care?!" Tommy snapped. Anger rose up in his chest like a gathering storm. It had been a long time since he had been truly angry. Even before he had gone catatonic, he had been run dry of rage. All that had been left in him was happiness and anxiety. Now, however, the anger that had been building since the day he had watched Dream take poor, innocent Ghostbur's (un)life was rising to the surface. He had an obligation to kill Dream. It was a responsibility he accepted to protect the Server. Killing Sam would be his personal mission, and he would find some dirt on people to force them to help.

"Because I don't care, Tommy," Boo shrugged. All that righteous anger had faded away to leave a sickening nausea to sweep the empty streets of his mind. Tommy stared at Boo with widening eyes as the words were given meaning in his head. Boo wasn't even finished. "I remember everything, but I don't have memories of the emotions. That's my ghostly curse, I guess. I really just don't care. Sam killed me? Dream's a bad person? Techno, Phil, and Niki got me out of the prison but not with my life still intact? I don't care. It happened. I can't deny that. I just don't feel anything about it. I don't really feel anything about... well, anything. It's weird having all these vivid memories without remembering the emotions associated with what was happening. Like, I know people's names... but I don't care about them. Dream and Tubbo mean the same thing to me. Callahan and Sam mean the same thing to me. Not nothing, exactly, but close to that. I don't care about you, either."

"I- what the fuck, Boo? You can't say that to people! You can't say that I mean damn near nothing to you?! Didn't you promise that you would never give up on me?" Tommy leaned forwards, yelling at the ground with an intense glare as tears fell down. A memory played in his mind. He had been sitting on the bed after a nasty panic attack right after waking up. Ranboo had stayed there with him all throughout it. When Tommy asked why, Ranboo had told them about their relationship from Ranboo's perspective. He finished with a promise to never give up on Tommy, that he loved Tommy and wanted the blonde to believe in himself because he was worth so much in Ranboo's eyes. That was the last time anyone had seen Ranboo. A few days later, Tubbo came into Tommy's room a sobbing mess to explain Ranboo was in prison. Tommy comforted Tubbo as long as he could before oblivion came back. Instead of simply sinking in, Tommy fell unconscious for a few days. When Tommy woke back up, he stayed aware enough to take care of Michael for a little while to make things up to the stressed and grieving Tubbo who had to worry about Ranboo, take care of Michael, and make sure Tommy didn't let himself die. After that, Tubbo was back on his own until the sirens had woken Tommy up a week prior.

"Ranboo made that promise to you. And look where he is now. Gone... dead. His promise doesn't mean anything anymore. You're going to have to take care of yourself all by yourself. Tubbo has to deal with Michael. Phil's got his own thing. Wilbur isn't fit to take care of anyone. No one else likes you enough to put up with you for as long as Ranboo did... You're on your own, Tommy. You can't keep hanging on to a dead man's promise," Boo shrugged. The ghost shattered Tommy's entire world, and he didn't even seem upset about it. Tommy hit his knees as sobs broke free from where they had been lodged in his chest. Boo was right. That was probably the worst part. The ghost may have shattered Tommy's but he wasn't wrong in his words. He was definitely harsh. There were a dozen ways to say that Tommy was alone in a softer tone with more lighthearted words. That didn't mean the salt poured into the wound wasn't also factual. Tommy wiped his eyes. He stood on his feet. Ranboo had made him a promise. Now, Tommy would make his own vow. He was going to save Ranboo. He would kill Dream, but not before he received the instructions of the Revive Book. Tommy wasn't going to give up on Ranboo. That's who he would live for since he couldn't live for himself anymore. Tommy would save Ranboo... even if it's the last thing he did.