Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandom:
Relationships:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Collections:
Things to fuel my escapism.
Stats:
Published:
2021-11-21
Updated:
2021-12-27
Words:
20,076
Chapters:
13/15
Comments:
245
Kudos:
157
Bookmarks:
26
Hits:
3,042

Mind the Gap

Summary:

"Ghostbur isn’t dead. Ghostbur is suspended. He’s never had a ‘living’ body and never will but to say he is dead is a misrepresentation."
"Ghostbur is in as close to a torturous limbo as he can possibly get."  

Train stations are places of transit. They are not eternal.
The cold landing Ghostbur finds himself alone on after his counterpart is revived is not the end of his story.
Then, the only question that remains is: what happens next?

(Or: the author decides to write thirteen unique happy endings for Ghostbur fueled by nothing but spite.)

Notes:

I’m going to be honest with you, this fic came from a place of pure spite for Wilbur's most recent reddit post. Anyway, I don’t care how poetic the idea of the DSMP limbo is, I’m giving Ghostbur a happy ending.
Several happy endings.
Enjoy.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: Ticket Please (Table of Contents)

Notes:

Tuli’s Discord Server if you should want it

(fanart and other inspirations are always welcome, I would love to see some of these ideas come to life.)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Hello, may I see your ticket please?

Thank you, thank you. 

All of the stops we will be making are listed below for your convenience.

We hope you enjoy your ride with us today.

 

Oh, and please do mind the gap. 

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

 

1. First Trick - [the day’s first shift]

  • the lonely station becomes a place of warmth

2. Lignite - [low quality coal]

  • the terminal displays begin to glow

3. Manifest - [the paperwork listing what each freight car is carrying within a train]

  • the ouroboros devours its own tail

4. Derail - [to leave the tracks]

  • there is a world outside the subway landing

5. Fusee - [a type of flare used by railroads]

  • the veil between the living and the dead thins

6. Deadhead - [a term which applies to both railroad equipment and employees, meaning to move in a train but in no way helping, merely to ride along to be repositioned for later use]

  • there is no escape from yourself

7. Eighth Notch - [the final, most powerful position of a locomotive’s throttle]

  • the sixth deadly sin

8. Zombie - [slang for a train car made of recycled parts]

  • the parts become whole

9. Bad Order - [a freight car which has been barred from service because of a mechanical problem or defect]

  • the son follows in the father's footsteps

10. Conductor - [the crew member who is entirely responsible for the train, including its crew and cargo, and assures that it arrives to its destination on time and safely]

  • if I only had a heart

11. Hogger - [slang for a locomotive engineer]

  • a new perspective

12. Extra Board - [the group of employees not assigned to normal runs]

  • this is not the end of this story, rather, this is the beginning of a new one

13. Departure Yard - [a staging track to ready locomotives for outbound cuts of trains]

  • Does it know that we love it? That the universe is kind?

 

Notes:

Chapters will, barring any truly terrible hiccups, be posted daily and will likely be shorter than my usual chapter length.
(ones I've written so far are ~1000 words?)
Chapter 1 coming soon...

Each chapter is contained in its own world. None are related in any way at all.
Which one is real you ask?
Believe in whichever happy ending makes you happy.

And I meant what I wrote, I hope you enjoy the ride <3

Your dear conductor, signing off,
Tuli.