Separation || A Different Twist On Exile

-chapter four-

"What do you want us to do then? It's a miracle we haven't seen any mobs tonight. We haven't slept at all and we have nothing, and you won't even let me leave?"

"Tommy, I just don't want to get in trouble. We don't know where anything is anyway. We went hours away from L'manburg, no one would be living out here. There can't be any villages even remotely near, and I'm sure they wouldn't take us inside. You know how they are with st-"

"Okay, I get it Ghostbur." Tommy interrupted his rambling, placing his fingers in his hair. "Just..take out some blue. Calm yourself for a minute."

They had decided against going anywhere, knowing it was unsafe in the woods, alone, with no weapons, at night. It sounded like a pretty shifty situation to them. They didn't have a plan, brainstorming was not helping, and the sun was already starting to rise on them.

Tommy was dreading seeing Dream again. He thought about completely just running back to L'manburg, but he knew better. He knew it was a long way, way too much for him. And he knew they didn't want him back anyway.

Ghostbur broke Tommy out of his thoughts, handing him a piece of his blue with a smile. Tommy returned the gesture, taking the small fluff from his hands. He felt calmer with it, his body unbending,tension slipping away, and his mind clearing of all his intrusive thoughts.

"Thanks, Wil." He said softly, taking in the gift, putting it up straight to his heart. He held it there for a long while, watching as the sun rose over the horizon, putting everything in sight with a bright orange tint.

A tear was illuminated on his cheek, quickly getting wiped off by the embarrassed boy. Tommy felt he was too strong to cry right now. Especially when he had things to worry about.

But other than that, he didn't care. He didn't make an effort to help himself. He just stood patiently with Ghostbur, staring at the sky.

After a few minutes, Tommy got very tired. He yawned, very audibly, and put his hand on top of his head. He took a deep breath in, sighing an exhale before turning to Ghostbur.

"You wanna help me find sticks and shit? You can make a fishing rod while I start a fire, so at least we have something to eat."

Ghostbur nodded, stepping up to Tommy. They went hand in hand, which normally would seem like a weird thing to Tommy. He was oddly comfortable with him though. Maybe it was what deep shit they were in, but he really needed someone to give him that love. And why not his brother who basically raised him?

Then died.

Left him.

Betrayed them all.

Tommy shook away his hand, holding his arm close to his body. Ghostbur didn't notice anything being wrong, just walking happily with him, across the grass.

Tommy gulped, trying to keep from thinking those thoughts. He thought more about how the grass ran across his pants, but that made him feel a little itchy. He focused on the beat of his steps, one after the other. Thump, thump, thump.

It was enough to get him distracted for a little while, at least when he didn't have anything to do, anything to talk about. Still, the lingering voices seeped in, telling him bad things, things he didn't want to hear. Not until he got his stuff sorted out.

"Do you want to split up and find some just lying ones or do you want to actually try to break off some wood?" He chimed in, hoping to not give in to the voices just yet.

"I say we split, we don't need big knew anyways. You go that way," he pointed to the trees up along a hill, close to the ocean. "and I'll stay back here."