(A/N: request as a pic. hmmm took a little wish-washy creativity for this,,, but i hope you enjoy it :3!!)
There was more to the SMP than simply where most stuck to.
Most people didn't like to leave the Greater SMP; there was something about going out of the invisible border that unnerved some, and downright scared others. Most had also been staying in the area, simply because they had nowhere else to go, simply because it was all they had ever known.
Tubbo was not one of those people.
Sure, he had a lot on his plate with Snowchester and Dream and... everything in general, but there was just something that kept drawing him to head further out, to head to a little, abandoned village surrounded by trees, with bones half-buried in soil and vines crawling up worn and torn rooftops.
It wasn't like he understood why, either.
Well, no, that wasn't quite right.
He did understand why; it was because of the weird dreams he'd been having recently. Tubbo dreamed of different scenarios, and different places. There was a time when he was a gladiator in some sort of arena, and had to kill everyone else to 'prove his strength'. That wasn't a fun set of dreams to experience.
Then, there was another time when he was... part of a twin set? Or at the very least, he had a sibling. They were staying in some sort of van, and then they moved to a mansion, where he had to go through many different challenges, all for some ghost's 'fun'. That dream was weird, especially since his sibling sounded a lot like Ranboo.
There were many other sets of dreams, but the most recent one — and the one that was plaguing him now — was the set of dreams about the village.
Or rather, a former version of the village. As in, a cleaned up, tidier, and livelier version of the village. A lived-in village.
It was... weird, far more than with his other dreams. With his other dreams, Tubbo usually couldn't remember much detail, other than what he got to see. There were details that didn't always match up, missing pieces of a story that would never be remembered, things like that.
With the village dreams, though, it was clear. Tubbo actually learned his dream-self's name; Robin was quite a nice name. He knew why the village was holding executions left, right and center, each and every villager's name, how the houses' interiors looked like...
It was a little disorienting and unnerving.
There came a day, though, when he went there again, and there was something... different.
The campfire in the middle of the village was lit. There was no way anyone could've followed Tubbo out here; he'd always been so careful, and not many wanted to leave the Greater SMP. So who lit the fire?
"Reincarnation is weird," a voice spoke, and Tubbo absolutely did not jump in the air and stifle a scream. He spun around, only to do a double-take when he spotted a ghost.
As in, a literal ghost; the man — he looked like a man, and sounded like one, and while Tubbo didn't like to assume, it felt right — and no legs. In fact, they faded into thin air. The man kind of looked like Ghostbur, too, in the sense that his whole translucent, faded-out look was similar to Ghostbur's.
Now, Tubbo could've done a number of things. He could've, well, screamed. Maybe threatened the ghost. Faint, probably; he did feel a little tired.
He didn't do any of those.
"Do I know you?" Tubbo asked.
"Maybe," the ghost responded, amused and sad in equal tones. "Why are you here?"
"Uh," Tubbo winced. "Following my dreams...?"
The ghost snorted. Tubbo felt a bit of pride rush through him, and idly wondered why.
"Think," the ghost urged gently.
That might sound condescending to anyone else, and it still did, but... there was something familiar about the man. He looked familiar, he sounded familiar...
In his dreams, there was another man, too, who stood by Robin's — who stood by his — side. One who acted like a sort-of guardian to Robin, who calmed him down and took care of him.
One who was-
"Corpse?" he whispered.
And Corpse smiled, thin and small, but it conveyed all the emotions he was feeling. "Hello, Robin. It's nice to meet you again."