Chapter 2

679 65 53
                                    

He woke up alone, but warm.
He was in a small house, on one side was a campfire and a table, and on the other was a large chest and a wooden screen. He was sitting on the bed that rested along the back wall.
He liked this house.
But he was intruding wasn't he?
He didn't want to intrude.
He got hurt when he did that.
He didn't want to get hurt.

But who hurt him?
Was it the smile?
No.
No the smile didn't hurt him.
At least not for that.

He didn't know.

He didn't WANT to know.

He was safe here, that's all that mattered.

"Good to see you awake little one."

He looked up to see the same piglin as before.
They had food and clothes and a book in their arms.

"Here, your clothes are very torn, I thought you'd want something else."

They handed him the clothes and put the food on the blackstone table that sat by the campfire.
They put the book down on the table too, it looked empty.

'Why would they buy and empty book?'

The piglin saw how intently the boy was staring at the book and decided to answer the unspoken question.

"It's for you, so you can write stuff down, like memories, or stuff that you want to say.
I take it you don't like to speak much?"

He shook his head.
No he didn't like to speak.
He felt sad and alone when he spoke, he didn't like feeling alone.

"Go and get dressed, we can find a place to start building your house once we've eaten."

He nodded and floated behind the wooden screen beside the chest. Behind it was the only part of the house that was slightly blocked off from view.

He got dressed into a loose, red tunic shirt and a pair of loose fitting brown trousers.
The sleeves went past his charcoal hands and made him smile over so slightly.

'Flappy hands.'

He let out a little breath of air, a small chuckle that no one else heard, but it made him happy.
He liked the loose sleeves.
When he came out from behind the screen the piglin was already cooking the food.
Pork?
Wasn't that cannibalism?
No.
No they got the meat from hoglins, not from other piglins, so it wasn't cannibalism.
Right?

He didn't want to think about that.

So instead he sat down next to the piglin and started intently at the fire.
He wanted to touch it.

"Touch?" He said pointing to the fire.

"Will it hurt you?"

He shook his head.

"Then yes, you can touch. And don't worry about the clothes, they're made from spun crimson vines, they won't burn, even in lava."

That made him happy.
He could touch fire and lava and he wouldn't have to worry about angering the nice piglin by burning the clothes!
He put in hand in the fire after rolling up his sleeves and let out a little chuff as the flames licked his fingers.
He liked playing with fire.

But soon enough the food was done and he had to remove his hands so he could eat.
The food was nice.

"Do you want to write in the book?"

He looked up from his food to look at the piglin and nodded.
They got up and grabbed an ink pot and a quill.

"Here you go. How about you write down what you know?"

He nodded again and picked up the quill.

What I know.

Lava
Fire
The nether
Ghasts
Soul sand
Fortress
Bastions
Piglins
Cold
Don't like cold.
Don't like being alone.
Don't like talking.
Wants to help.
Smile
Scared of the bad smile.

He wrote down all the little things but it made he realise something.

He didn't remember his name.

The nice piglin realised this too.

"How about we give you a new name?"

He looked up curiously.

"New name?" He wrote.

"Yeah! We can come up with a name for you! Do you know what your old name started with?"

"T? I think."

"So a name starting with T? Or a different letter entirely?"

"Don't mind."

"Ok.
So let's think. You like fire and lava so we could do something like that?"

He nodded his head.
He really did like fire and lava.

"Ember? No.
Spark? Definitely not.

Hmm, it's harder to come up with a name then I thought.
Coal? No that doesn't sound right either."

"Wisp?" He wrote and showed it to the piglin.

"You like the name wisp?"

He nodded at the piglin.
He liked the name, it's like the little bits of smoke that come off of him or the tip of the flames that like to dance around a lot.
It made him happy.

"Well then, it's nice to meet you wisp, I'm Ashera, but you can just call me Ash."

Wisp's smile grew a little more at the use of his new name.
A warm feeling rooted itself into his chest.

"Nice to meet you too Ash."

His smile wasn't big, it didn't show teeth, it wasn't spread across his face, just a slight rise of the corners of his mouth, but it lit up the room and made Ash feel warm inside.
They didn't know why they got so attached to the spirit.
But they did, and that 'bad smile' he wrote about would have to pry the kid from their cold, dead hands.
They always wanted a kid, but never found anyone to settle down with.
This was their kid now.
Dead or alive they didn't care.
This was their kid and withers be damned they were gonna protect him and make sure that smile never dimmed.

They smiled back and ruffled wisp's hair gently.
The kid seemed to relax and fall into the touch they provided.

Yeah.
This was their kid now.

————————

You've reached the end of published parts.

⏰ Last updated: Jun 06, 2021 ⏰

Add this story to your Library to get notified about new parts!

New home? (Ghost Tommyinnit AU)Where stories live. Discover now