Chapter Text
Everything in Tommy’s body felt numb.
His senses were going into overdrive, each movement though very slight exhausted him to no extent.
He knew he was hyperventilating, on the verge of a full blown panic attack when he suddenly remembered what had happened.
Dream took him by the hair, yanking him to his level and using the other hand to clutch his throat just under his jaw. Then slamming it into the obsidian, what was at that point excruciating pain that flowed through every bone in his body, filling all his senses and making his muscles ache with exhaustion from fighting back now turned into an uncomfortable, icy sensation at all his wounds. His head throbbed as if he had a migraine.
He knew there were people there, though the thought barely registered in his mind.
“Where the hell am I”
The thought echoed in his head like a mantra. He couldn’t be dead, he couldn’t have let Dream take every single one of his canon lives. He’d already taken near everything else from him before.
“-ommy? TOMMY!”
The yelling made him want to gag, but he knew that would just hurt more from exertion. He could vaguely feel arms wrapping around him, making him want to flinch away before recognizing the voice.
He cracked open an eye making sure he was correct, to his fortune it was relatively dark in whatever room they were in
“Will’?” His voice was raspy and quiet from simultaneously screaming and also disuse.
He could hear his brother let out a shuddering breath, but he could see him smile from relief through his blurred vision. There was dried blood caking his eyelashes, making it harder to see but his breathing was becoming slightly even, letting his brain start registering the dull ache echoing throughout his body.
“Toms when I said see you soon I didn’t mean like this” Wilbur let out a shaky, nervous laugh. “Hah… sorry about that Wil’, I didn’t even last half a year”
He could see his brother's face shift from relief to confusion and concern. He opened his mouth to speak then closed it “let’s just help get you up big man”
He let Wilbur guide him into a sitting position, biting the inside of his mouth to ignore the shockwave of nausea that hit with the shift.
You could see the questions swimming in Wilbur’s mind as he turned his head to share a glance with Schlatt ‘Wait when did Schlatt get here??’
“Fuck man… where even am I?” Tommy asked, blinking back spots in his eyes.
“Er… you’re dead kid” Schlatt clearly hadn’t meant for it to come out harshly, but it barely made a difference. Tommy still tensed up, an unexplainable somber and hopeless expression flickering on his face, then immediately wiped off with a neutral look not fast enough for the two of them to not catch “oh.”
The silence that followed was deafening, deep down Tommy knew he was dead, but that stubborn fire that was supposedly extinguished refused to believe it. He has unfinished business. He still has his hotel, and to kill Dream, and to get out of prison…
“I need to go back”
Schlatt and Wilbur let out a sigh, sharing a solemn look with one another.
“If you want to become a ghost that’s up to you, but believe me, it’s not all that fun. Ghostbur isn’t me, but when I saved my points to talk to you I can tell you that being a ghost was kind of miserable. Ghostbur was so cheerful because I felt happy and peaceful when Phil killed me ” this was stated to matter of factly and easily that it caught Tommy off guard. “Now I don’t know what happened to you, but judging by how exhausted you are, you didn’t exactly go easily, and I don’t want you being like that the entire time you’re in the mortal realm”
Tommy stared at him a second, he felt half-conscious and tired so it took a while to process these words. To Wilbur’s surprise, Tommy didn’t fight this, instead nodding and then looking at his hands which he had been fiddling with out of nervousness. Why wasn’t he more taken aback by being dead? Why was he just so accepting of everything?
Part of him felt a relief with being here. Despite Wilbur treating him horribly the last few months he was alive, he still was at a crossroads with himself at how he should feel. It was just easier to accept everything now, he hated that he felt the same way in exile.
“What the hell are points?” He asked this in a lighthearted way to avoid the situation becoming more awkward than usual
“It’s like this weird currency we get over time, and we can buy things with them” he did hand motions as he spoke, a habit he picked up from Techno years ago.
“So there’s economy and capitalism in hell.”
Schlatt let out a snort of laughter, which was much less intimidating when he’s donning a baby blue sweater, similar to Wilbur’s, rather than the perfectly tailored black suit he wore, with neat slicked back hair and hard, bright yellow eyes with rectangular pupils.
It was uncomfortable how often the conversation died out, and knowing the topic would come up soon, Wilbur asked a bit quietly but still clear and unwavering.
“How did you even die anyways?”
Tommy’s breath hitched at this. He knew the question would come up, but not this soon, they hadn’t even been in the void an hour yet.
He blinked a few times to stop his eyes from blurring, something he found he does more often now.
“Er, on my last visit to the prison there was an accident so I was stuck in there with Dream for a while. After a while we had a falling out where I told him I didn’t think the revive book was real and he beat the shit out of me”
He said this quickly and nervously, but keeping up a facade of lightheartedness so that it didn’t seem as morbid as it was.
Yeah that didn’t work.
Wilbur just stared at him distraught while Schlatt furrowed his brow looking uncomfortable. He was confused why they were reacting like this. Wilbur encouraged him to fight his own brother in a pit, Blew up the country they had equal attachment over, insulted him to his face, and so much more messed up shit. Schlatt was similar, exiling him from the same country, driving his brother to the brink of insanity, manipulating his fucking best friend. He felt angry that they had even a shred of sadness at hearing someone else had done shitty things to him, It was plain hypocritical.
The silence dipped back, worse than before. Prime, if it’d be like this the entire time he would choose being a ghost in a heartbeat.
“EYYYY MAN I FOUND A CAT” A piercing yell broke through the awkward silence easily, and Mexican Dream came barrelling out of nowhere holding pussboy bridal style in his arms and rushing towards Tommy
“Oh hell yeah man! Welcome to the afterlife!”
He said cheerfully, meeting Tommy with a wide smile on his face, visible with the mask instead pushed to his forehead like sunglasses still clutching pussboy. Tommy groaned at the sudden change in mood, his head beginning to throb again after the headache was finally dying down. He wasn’t annoyed at MD surprisingly.
He returned the smile, “How do Mexican Dream?” anything to change the subject Tommy’d welcome with open arms at this point.
“I’m great man! Wil’ told me how you gave Dream shit so I’m glad you avenged me”
MD reasonably didn’t think highly of Dream, after he murdered him and all that. Their mutual hatred of Dream was something they could bond over, which’d make being here a whole lot easier.
Tommy was confident he’d pull a Ghostbur. He wouldn’t just give up and stay here, nonetheless staying would be unhealthy for him given his relationship with Wilbur and Schlatt, but having someone who knows a fraction of how shitty he felt would make it this a bit more bearable.