~The Arcade~DSMP//DNF//fluff

A Ghost?

Dream woke up to the sound of clattering pans coming from the kitchen. He quietly looked around to see that both George and Alex were still fast asleep on the floor. Dream quickly got out of the claw machine and began to stalk towards the kitchen. As Dream reached the door to the kitchen, the noise stopped completely. He slowly reached his hand to the door handle and turned it before throwing the door open to see. . . A ghost? Dream stood in the doorway of the kitchen staring at the translucent figure of a male ghost sitting in a pile of fallen pots and pans.

"Um, hi? Are you alright?" Dream asked the fellow ghost.

"Mhm, just nocked down these pans on myself by accident. I'm sorry, I know that you have been working hard to keep this place clean and I just come in and ruin it for you." The ghost said sadly.

"Hey, it's alright. I'm just concerned if you are alright, did you hit your head or anything?"

"A-a little. But I'm ok, I swear!" The ghost said shyly.

"Alright, if you say so. Here, let me help you out of that mess." Dream said, reaching out a hand to the ghost. He greatfully excepted the help, and as soon as he was out of the mess, he began picking up pots and pans and placing them gently back on their racks. Dream stood and watched the ghost for a minute before he began to help, and in no time, they had the mess all cleaned up.

"I'm Clay by the way, but my friend calls me Dream." Dream introduced himself to the ghost, noting that he had not yet learned of his name.

"Oh uh, hi. I'm Karl. I actually used to co-own this old place. That is of course, before I died-" Karl's voice trailed off.

"Wait a minute, you are THE Karl Jacobs?! Co-owner of the Nick and Karl's Arcade! This very building." Dream silently fanboyed.

"Uh yeah, turns out Nick just wanted the money to himself. I remember the day like it was yesterday, he looked like he was possessed." Karl shivered, despite it being quite warm in the old kitchen.

"If it makes you feel any better, I died in this place too. I didn't have as brutal of a disposal though." Dream remembered playing his favorite game in the abandoned arcade when he was stabbed in the back. He never even got to see who had killed him.

"Yeah, I remember you. You used to come here every day all alone and play that old Dream claw machine. I guess that's probably why your friend calls you Dream huh?"

"Yeah. Hey! Do you know how to turn your skin normal? I want you to meet my friends!" Dream asked.

"Oh. Yeah, I do. Here let me just-" Karl closed his eyes. Slowly, the translucency of his skin disappeared and he looked like a normal human.

"Awesome! Here, they are probably still sleeping, let me go wake them." Dream said before he ran back out to the main room to find a sleepy George squinting up at him and Alex still fast asleep.

"Who were you talking to?" George asked between yawns.

"You will never believe it! It's better if you just meet him in person, come on!" Dream picked him up off the floor and carried him into the kitchen. Dream only put George down when the two of them were standing in front of Karl.

George rubbed his eyes, thinking he was hallucinating. But when he looked back at the middle of the room, the man still stood before them.

"Aren't you Karl Jacobs? Someone named Nick killed you. Wait! Your name and the name Nick are on the sign, so was Nick like your partner?" George was so confused in his half asleep state, and didn't really understand how this man was standing in front of him.

"Yep, that's me! And yeah, Nick was my business partner. He never should have done what he did, but I guess he doesn't have the option to be a ghost, means he's in hell and all, so I guess that's karma enough."

The three walked back into the main room where Alex was sat at a table still trying to wake up. George realized to late that Alex would recognize Karl from the newspaper immediately.

"Is that Karl Jacobs?!" Alex thought, "no it can't be, he died! But that man looks just like him."

"Hey George? Who the hell is that next to you?" Alex questioned.

"Well, I guess I have to tell you sooner or later. Alex, this is Karl Jacobs, yes I mean that Karl Jacobs. He and Dream are both ghosts. I guess this place is their home, and I stumbled apon it that day and had no idea that I would be meeting these two."

"Wait a minute! So you want me to just believe that you stumbled apon a graveyard for two ghosts and they are not mad at you for being here but are actually happy? Let alone that fact that these two are both ghosts?"

"Is there another way you want to try to explain how Karl Jacobs is standing right in front of us?"

Dream had decided then to go back to being semi translucent to help prove what George was explaining to Alex. Karl saw Dream's skin go translucent and decided it safe to alow his skin to do the same.

Alex stared wide eyed and shocked at the sight of the two translucent figures standing on either side of his best friend. He was left with no other choice but to belive George. So he was really staring at a ghost? Not only that, but two ghosts? One being famous for the betrayal of his best friend and business partner, his death being the reason why the old train tracks in their town had not only been hidden by the woods but were also completely abandoned?