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Wilbur, or Ghostbur, ran out of the transparent dyes the day he finally took out all his sad memories, resulting in piles and piles of blue. Normally the memories don’t go with the emotions stored into the dyes, but Ghostbur was a Ghost and he wanted to forget it all. He wanted so desperately to forget them all, and so he did.
All he remembered was that the blue made him happy, because he can’t feel sad. He remembered hoping the others could still cram bits of their sad into the gaps within the blue, and he kept giving them out. Burn the blue after you’re done to make sure they don’t find their way back into you.
When Techno and Phil visited, they realized just how bad Tommy got. The younger didn’t have the dyes on him, and the already filled blue did nothing to help. When they came back a second time, they came with transparent dye. And Tommy cried into his family for the first time in forever, both because the bottle he shoved his roaring emotions in finally broke and of the gratitude of being handed the option to blank out the emotions torturing his soul.
That was the first time, since entering the SMP, that Tommy made his own blue.
---
When Tommy eventually caught on to Dream’s actions, of Dream being all nice and buddy with him. He hated that one of the only sources of positive interactions he can have in his exile is with the very man who was responsible for his predicament in the first place. Dream didn’t know about the dyes. The dyes were a secret trade between his family, like the drugs were before L’Manberg’s establishment.
Techno and Phil brought a lot of those dyes over, seeing how every time they visited, Tommy looked a little worse emotionally. Tommy had his stash of dyes back from before he and Wilbur left to the SMP. Instead of giving them like they used to, Tommy used them.
Today, when Tommy used the dyes, instead of blue, they came out pink. Pink for fondness of something, from various scales. He used up five or six of these dyes, turning them pink for all to see.
Those memories he shared with Dream, even before L’Manberg, felt dull now. The memories he associated with the green man felt dull and numb, and Tommy felt better about himself.
---
One disadvantage about the dyes is that the emotions stored within them are clear to read through the colors, and the memories those emotions are drawn from leaves echoes within these dyes. Those skilled enough, or used the dyes long enough, will know where and how to draw those memories out to view them. Phil had used these dyes for longer than he’d like.
He didn’t expect to find Pink thrown out in Logstead wilderness. Why would anybody take out fondness, a positive emotion, except to numb the pain stemming from those emotions? It was simple to those who knew how to see the memory echoes residing within these memories.
It was concerning to find the memories the Pink came from, to say the least.
---
Techno found Wilbur’s blue stash. He didn’t completely destroy them, just dumped them in a chest and buried them deep deep underground. Turns out, it wasn’t that far from Logstead or his new snowy home. Just mounds of Blue shoved in chests. One wasn’t enough to contain them that he shoved them into another one.
The memories he replayed from the blue just made him even angrier at the green man who called himself the Admin of the server. Even then, Techno knew there were missing pieces that might make it worse.
He dug out two pieces of dye. Red and Green. Anger and Disgust (Or hatred). They helped him cooperate with the green bastard when he needed to.
You can take back the emotion you poured into these dyes, if you wanted to.
---
tw// suicide in this section
“Don’t use the dyes too much in a short period of time. It will have a horrible impact on your mental health.”
Dream’s Pink wasn’t the only pink Tommy made. That lesson kept ringing in his mind over and over, reminding him of the very mistake he insisted on repeating. Making more blue, more pink, more yellow, more colors-
The lava was orange and inviting. Warm, as opposed to the cold where his family made their home. Warm, as opposed to the coldness that came from numbing his emotions. Full of life, as opposed to the state of his mind. Death would restore them all, wouldn’t it?
Dream wasn’t around to stop him this time. The lava felt like home. Dream wasn’t around to stop him from going home this time.
One step too far out the edge, one pair of relieved closed eyes, and searing heat warming numbed nerves and minds. The boy felt at peace.
---
There was a second ghost on the SMP. He still remembered most things, after his family forced the dyes he had made in life back into him, rendering them transparent for it. The ghost can’t say he’s too happy about that, but apparently numbness doesn’t go away after death and it’s not healthy to stay numb because of these dyes.
The ghost found himself enjoying his time after death, he didn’t even need the dyes. It was like the yellow inside himself started flowing brighter, overpowering the blues without need of sucking the blue out of him. He liked being a ghost.
He wondered what’s stopping him from going to L’Manberg and haunting the shit out of that place. Dream can’t very well threaten a ghost now, can he? Rapidly numbing his memories had made him cease to care about his discs, despite his family’s efforts. He had nothing to use as leverage against him basically. Well, not really, if you count Tubbo. But if Dream threatened to kill Tubbo he’d send the entire server in an uproar, in addition to Techno taking back his anger and disgust at that man out for his blood (Which may or may not have boosted because of Tommy’s death, oops.). Dream really can’t do anything here.
Tommy wanted to laugh. Oh how the turns have tabled.
---
“Tommy?” Tubbo’s voice was small, and a little scared, though not at the ghost of his best friend cheerily fidgeting on whatever he could get his hands on. The ghost Tommy had grey skin, his eyes were still blue and his hair still a bright blonde. It was strange, any color he retained seemed a lot brighter than they were back when he’s still alive.
“Tubbo!” The boy’s ghost waved. There was a grin on his face, but the sadness hidden behind them was still visible. He clutched some blue in his hand hidden behind his back, some of the numbing felt nice. “I’m a ghost now! Dream can’t do shit to me anymore, cause I’m a ghost and he’s still alive like the little bitch he is-”
Tubbo started tearing up, struggling to get words out as tears often got in the way and clogged his breath. It was hard to hold composure when you’re staring at your best friend’s ghost, whom you exiled, being happy that he’s dead, reverting from the wasted self you caused back into the person you once knew. It was hard to hold composure when you reunite with someone you sorely missed everyday, and he’s a ghost which meant he died in exile he wouldn’t have if he wasn’t exiled why did he do that it was so stupid he could’ve gotten a better deal if he just tried harder.
“Tubbo?” Tommy’s ghost looked confused, “W-Why are you crying? I don’t blame you anymore if that’s what you’re scared of.”
“No no,” Tubbo gulped, breath hitching and voice cracking, “No it’s fine, Tommy. I just- I just missed you.” Tears were rolling down his face before he knew it, and he was hiccuping and a mess. He shouldn’t be going around representing L’Manberg in this state, he really shouldn’t.
“Uh, take some blue? Fuck I sound like Wilbur-” Tommy broke off into nervous laughter, handing him a piece of blue dye, “I would give you like, some actually transparent ones but maybe you can cram some of your own blue into the gaps? Tubbo you know I don’t know how to deal with people crying why are you doing this to me.”
Tubbo laughed through his tears, wiping them away and sniffling as a familiar feeling started settling in again. For a moment, he could just imagine that they were kids, and that he did something stupid. Tommy was just there to get him out, and he was guilty over getting him in trouble too, and Tommy’s chastising him over being an idiot. That he’s not President of a nation, and that Tommy’s not a ghost. He could imagine this for a moment.
“I really missed talking to you, big man,” Tubbo sniffed, “Dying was really stupid.”
“Yeah yeah, I feel better dead. Plus I get to fly and float and be invisible and shit,” Tommy grinned, “It’ll be so much easier burning down houses- What’s Dream gonna do if I burn down George’s house again, huh? I can’t get exiled again when I’m still exiled. He can’t fuckin kill me, I’m dead. The discs…… Let’s just say I don’t care about them as much as I did before. Plus Techno will probably rain Nether on Dream if he tries anything.” He shrugged, but Tubbo could see his best friend’s eyes regaining that mischievous glow.
Hey, maybe things would turn out fine.