ɪɢɴɪᴛᴇ | ɢʜᴏꜱᴛɪɴɴɪᴛ ᴀᴜ

Chapter 10 - The cost of freedom

-words 1572-
Week 3, it had been exactly three weeks since Tommy last saw the sky, the grass, anything but darkness, Shroud was starting to get worried for the ghost so he spent his days trying to think of a way to escape. The spider opened his eyes to see the ghost still asleep, he looked worse than ever which Shroud hoped he could change, "since I can't break through the obsidian, maybe I could try to squeeze through the holes in the iron door!", he thought running over to the two big iron doors, he first tried to open the doors which obviously didn't work. He then tried to squeeze through the biggest hole in the door he could find, shapeshifting into a spider to be smaller, he managed to do it.

Shroud winced as the sun blinded him, it had been ages since he was last outside, the area was worse than he remembered, grass black and tress dead. The smell was unbearable but he didn't care since he had to find something to help Tommy out. Shroud ran to the back of the house, hiding just in case Dream comes, when he thought the cost was clear he continued to search the back of the obsidian hell, until his eye caught a bright green bag. Reaching for it he peeked inside finding a diamond pickaxe.

Tommy woke to the sound of mining, thinking it was Dream he started to panic until he saw Shroud, "w-what?! Shroud?", Tommy shouted running over to where the spider was seen mining, questioning how he got out, and most importantly got a diamond pickaxe. Shroud looked up and smiled, shape shifting and offering his hand to Tommy who hesitated at first. "We can leave? Shroud are you sure Dream-", the ghost started but was cut off as Shroud dragged him out the hole he made. Tommy flew out the other side falling on his face, but he didn't care, after all he was finally free from the hell hole that was Dream's prison of a house.

Tommy slowly got up, his entire body shaking. The young ghost smiling as tears fell down his face, he was so glad to be free. "Shroud, I'll forever protect you. That's a promise.", he whisper- shouted throwing his hands around the shapeshifter, embracing him into a tight hug, where they stayed and cried their eyes out, oh to be free is the best feeling.

They both walked for a while,  and when they finally reached the area that was full of life, they sat down and watched the sunrise, the blues and purples turning into pinks and reds, everything finally seemed ok for the ghost. "Shroud, do you know about a place called Lmanburg? I wanna head there .", Tommy simply asked, taking a deep breath in and staring at the sunlit sky. Shroud smiled and crossed his legs on the grass, "I think the only thing I've heard about it is that it's dangerous, then again my memory isn't the greatest," Shroud slightly laughed staring at the ghost, awaiting a response. Tommy looked at him and furrowed his brow, almost as if he was worried about something before shaking his head and sighing, "Uhm, alright then. Well my memory also isn't that great either so don't worry too much, I asked because I have absolutely no idea how to get there and hoped you would", Tommy explained carefully. Shroud looked away in thought for a second before having an idea, "I might have an idea where it's roughly located, want to try going there then?", Shroud asked a bit excited about travelling with Tommy, he could get to know him better. The young ghost lit up at this suggestion, springing up and smiling, "sounds good to me! Come on then Shroud!" Tommy beamed and looked down to which Shroud grinned and got up.

They spent the next few days travelling, looking for food, fighting off mobs, getting wool to keep them warm, during all this Tommy really got to know Shroud, and their bond grew closer as each sun set, there came a problem that arose on the 5th night though. The duo stumbled upon a village but they didn't realise the villagers weren't very keen on them being there, a ghost and a shapeshifter isn't very acceptable in these towns.

"Toms look! A village! Maybe we could trade for some emeralds to get some materials", Shroud suggested stabbing a zombie in the chest, Tommy looked to where he was pointed, at the sign that read, "maplefall",. "Yeah alright, let's head in then", Tommy smiled running off into the town with Shroud behind him. Tommy ran past the many lampposts with lanterns, knocking one over on the way with an angry villager shouting at him from behind, Shroud came from the other end, knocking over a bucket of lava that belonged to a blacksmith. By the time they met up in the middle of town, they were greeted by many angry villagers, all of the chattering amongst themselves about where they came from to just cause havoc. Tommy gulped and looked helplessly at Shroud who shrugged and hid behind the ghost. A lady was heard screaming and pointed to a house that was on fire, which Shroud guessed was his doing from the lava he accidentally kicked over, everyone started screaming and bells could be heard rung throughout the town, the ghost and Shroud ran as fast as they could, dodging lost children and panicked mothers.

Tommy ran out the village, resting against an oak tree with Shroud on his knees next to him. There was a minute of silence before laughter erupted between them, "we really messed up Tom", Shroud shouted through his laughter, wiping a tear and putting his hand on the tree Tommy was resting on to keep him from tumbling over on to the grass, Tommy nodded and started to calm down from his laughing fit, the guilt starting to set in instead of adrenaline, "Shroud we can't just leave them, we have to go back and mend what we did wrong", Tommy firmly said, putting his hands on Shrouds shoulder and turned him around towards the village.
"Fine, only if I get to trade for emeralds with them after", Shroud said to which made Tommy laugh slightly.

They both ran back into the middle of town, Tommy looked around to find the bell while Shroud tried to reunite lost children with mothers. Once Tommy found the bell, he rung it as loudly as he could, stopping everyone in their tracks to look at him. "Everyone! We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience we have caused to you today, we have come back to fix what we have done, again we are deeply sorry", Tommy explained, trying to project his voice as loudly as he could. Many villagers nodded in approval, some were still screaming and some were mad, Shroud came out the corner with a bunch of water buckets balanced on his back, as people cheered Tommy breathed out a sigh of relief.

5:32 pm, and the village was successfully saved from the fire, people were happy as Tommy and Shroud waved goodbye and continued their journey back to Lmanburg. They continued to trudge through the lands, becoming best of friends, and for the first time Tommy was happy, forgetting all of his problems.

Before they knew it, it was nighttime and they were setting their beds for the night. "Goodnight Tom", Shroud whispered, "goodnight Shroud", Tommy replied, drifting off into a deep sleep.

"I'm gonna name you mr flower!", Tommy gushed, as he laid on the soft grass around Lmanburgs walls, the 9 year old was giving names to flowers. "Tommy come on! We are having dinner", Wilbur shouted holding a torch over the young child who smiled and got up, "are we having chicken today Wilby? Oh please say yes!", Tommy pleaded grabbing Wilburs arm, to which Wilbur winked at him as they started to walk back to the entrance of their country. "Hello Tommy! Look at my bug collection", Tubbo shouted waving over to Tommy as the smell of cooked chicken filled his noise, smiling he runs over to his best friend and bends down to look at the glass enclosure with a bunch of bugs, "ewww Tubbo thats gross! Mr flower agrees with me", he adds, pulling out a rose from his pockets to which Tubbo eyed him confused, "Mr flower? Tommy that's silly!", Tubbo laughs and Tommy crosses his arms, "your bee obsession is silly Tubbo!", Tommy snapped back, stuffing his flower into his pocket and sticking his tongue out at Tubbo. Tubbo sniffles and starts crying, running over to Niki, "Niki! Tommy said my bee obsession is silly!", he wailed hugging the 19 year old tightly to which she patted him on the head and walked over to Tommy, bending down to his height, "Tommy why'd you say that to Tubbo?", Niki softly asked Tommy waiting for him to respond, "he called mr flower silly!", Tommy sniffled looking down at the floor as Niki sighed and stood up, "right you both need to apologise to each other, and I won't take no for an answer", Niki firmly said, putting her hands on her hips. "I'm sorry Tubbo..", Tommy muttered hugging him, " I'm sorry too for calling mr flower silly", Tubbo apologised, and they both hugged it out.