It is I, Norman Whitesmith, back again. This is a collaboration I'm doing with Rockster and I hope you enjoy. But as a quick side note, both chapters one and two are up because the chapters alternate perspective between the two main characters and chapter one's protagonist is an OC. Chapter two is about Mario, but don't skip chapter one because it's still really important. And since chapter one and two are being posted together, this is the author's note for both of them. But before we get on with the story, here's a word from Rockster, my co-author:
Yo, I'm Rockster! I am very excited and glad to be collaborating with Norman here, and I am very nervous as well since this is my first fanfic I ever wrote. Compared to Norman, my writing skill is not as good as him. As a side note, you can still find me in the review section and read what I had in mind about the chapters themselves. I will also read all the review in here too, so feel free to comment away. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the story!
And Rockster also illustrated this, but unfortunately, this site doesn't support photos so you can't see them. But no matter, so without further ado, here is chapter one of Echoes of Yesterday.
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Chapter One- Murmurs
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A cold breeze blew through old cracks in the wall, causing the occupant of the room to shudder. Todd could only lay on his bed and stare up at the ceiling. Unfamiliar, new, and scary. The steady drops of water from the outside rainfall sang of life for the world, but only confusion and even possibly despair for Todd. The man had been laying on the bed in his new room for about an hour, contemplating what his very existence meant. He was supposedly dead, but couldn't remember anything since waking up in the house about three hours ago. Though that rubbed him wrong from the start, it was the suspicious whispers from the others just after he came to that confirmed his quickly made hypothesis that he shouldn't be there.
But whatever that meant, he was here now and that must mean something. Todd held up his hand and with his index finger traced the red chain marks that wrapped around his shirt, unearthly and giving off a soft red glow. Upon further inspection, he could also see through himself very easily. With a slight stretch, Todd finally started to get off the bed, ready to meet his new family-or at least that's what they called themselves before they showed him to his room that he could inhabit. Todd swung his feet over the edge of the bed before leaning his weight on them, only to realize that he was lacking in the feet department and fell back onto the bed, partially phasing through it. Todd quickly regained his composure and simply floated away from the bed before hovering in place over the floor, staring at the light blue tail that replaced where his feet should have been. Whoever he used to be must have been alive at some point, after all, he was so instinctually ready to use limbs people had when they were alive.
Todd decided to look at himself one final time before heading out of his room and floated over to the mirror perched atop a decaying nightstand, the mirror surprisingly clear and reflective for its decaying surroundings. The man in the mirror simply stared back at Todd, unnatural and unearthly features looking him right back in the face.
His skin was a very pale blue that screamed of death, complemented nicely by his shocking blue eyes that gave off a soft glow. Along his face were chain marks much like the ones that covered his body, glowing red and clashing with the blue of his skin. But what was most shocking was a glowing green lightning bolt shape that was on display on his cheek.
Another sigh escaped Todd. Truth be told, he was only rescued very recently and still couldn't make sense of what was happening to him. Nothing about this seemed right to him, but there was not much Todd could do about it. He could only carry on.
After looking away from his reflection, Todd began to float towards the door, ready to exit and meet the people who took him in and get to know them better. It was then that Todd realized that he was a ghost and didn't need to use doors, being able to go intangible making things much more interesting. Todd quickly began to sink through the floors of the house, but abruptly stopped when he heard voices.
"Biff, I still can't believe you brought that thing in," A feminine voice stated curtly.
"I agree, this may be a trap. The fellow supposedly doesn't even remember anything, yet he isn't a Boo. I'm calling bull here and now. He's got to be lying," a male voice sounded.
A short silence followed before a voice with a slight German accent, though slanged, answered.
"Why must ya torture dis poor man with ya bad thoughts? Something is definitely not right 'ere and I have a hunch he has nothing ta do with it. I found him chained to the ground in a field not far from 'ere. He is a new ghost; I could see it by his tail that is still a light blue instead of darkened with age, and he must already be goin' through some turmoil."
The female voice started again. "But what of those strange markings on him and how he barely reacted when he was told to be dead? The only thing he did other than having a panicked expression for a moment was asked who grabbed him."
"If anything, that'll prove 'im innocent. Although the unwritten rules state that without memories, a ghost is a Boo, the strange markings on 'im may mark an exception. Do ya remember ya own death?"
"Of course I do, Biff! That may have been one hundred years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday!"
"Rememba how frightenin' it was ta find yaself suddenly dead along with da rest of us?"
"Of course! If I didn't have the family around to help me, I don't know what I would have done!"
"Well dis man has no family. He don't even have memories of life. He has nothin'. The least we can do is be 'is family, and who cares if he acting weird? People cope in different ways. After all, when I found 'im, he had fear and sadness on his face, sleeping even when I saw 'im, and it reminded me of all of us afta death. We already gave 'im a name so he had a sense of self, but now we need to build on self so that he has an identity. Family alone can do dat."
Todd remembered through the haze he was in after first waking up and getting the name Todd. It was given to him by the butler because, as he explained, the lightning bolt on his cheek looked like the first Royal Crest of the Mushroom Kingdom before it was changed to the iconic mushroom. King Todd was the one to use it on account of him being a powerful lightning magic user and being the first King, ushering in the most prosperous times the world had ever seen. Although everyone else was in agreement that this ghost definitely wasn't the one and only King Todd, they felt the name Todd to be fitting.
"I'm gonna take my leave now," stated Biff as he flew off through a wall.
Todd didn't realize he was even floating downwards until he was practically face to face with the back of the chair the woman was sitting in. Upon getting closer to the floor, the eyes of the two remaining occupants in the room shifted over to him with hardness and suspicion within, but after a few seconds of scanning Todd and his face with their glowing yellow eyes, they softened up, showing kindness and an urge to help.
"Hey hon, how are you doing?" asked the woman. "Is your room satisfactory?"
Todd gave a small nod.
"Oh, you probably don't even remember or know our names! That's got to be awkward. Well, I'll help you out; The name's Neville. Neville Portrait. And that beauty over there is my wife, Lydia Portrait. There are many others, but let's just start you off with us two. You'll have time to meet all the others and learn their names. You have an eternity, after all!"
Todd didn't know how to feel about that last part and could only keep his silence and stare on.
"You don't really talk much, do you?" asked Lydia.
"Well, not if there's nothing to say," replied Todd, holding his gaze evenly with Lydia and Neville.
A long silence ensued after that, making everything awkward.
"Do you by chance know where Biff went?" asked Todd, looking for a way to escape the situation, though masking that eloquently with a steady question.
"Why yes, dearie. If you go down the hall to your left and take a right at your first chance, you should find the gym, Biff's favorite haunt. Either do that or float through the walls. But I think the hallways would be more beneficial to use so you can get an idea where everything is, alright? Besides, there are still a lot of people to meet and you just might meet them."
Todd began to float away down the suggested hallway. "Thank you very much, Mrs. Portrait."
"Oh, it's no problem honey. And call me Lydia. After all, we're your family now!"
Todd floated down the hall in contemplation. Although it felt nice to be a part of the family, a larger part of Todd told him that he didn't fit in. A sudden yell pulled Todd from his thoughts and he was brought back to alertness. The yell came from a door just to the left of him. A knock on the door was made along with the question of "Are you alright?"
After two voices inside responded with "help me", Todd quickly rushed in to find two boys, twins, cowering in fear in the corner of what appeared to be their room.
"A g-giant rat came through here and is under our beds!" squeaked one of the boys.
"All that hubub over a rodent?"
The boys quit being scared for a fraction of a second, enough time to shoot a sharp glare at Todd.
"The thing's giant! I bet you'd be scared too!" replied the other child.
"I seriously doubt that," stated Todd as he floated over to the bed. Now was Todd especially enthusiatic to meet this alleged giant rat? Not really. But was he going to let the boys see that? No, not at all.
Todd shoved his arm underneath the bed and felt it close around a cold other-worldly form, and started to pull it out. The boys weren't kidding when they described this thing as giant and it wasn't surprising that they were scared of this ghostly pest, due to it having glowing red eyes that seemed unnatural and shook you to the core.
"Here it is, boys. And I'm going to put him outside where he won't bother you anymore. Now get back to playing," stated Todd rather flatly as he started floating through the walls of the room to the outdoors to free the creepy thing, the chorus of thanks coming from the not-so-young boys carrying him along as he went. Soon the rat was gone and Todd went back inside to resume his search for Biff.
The overall condition of the place clearly showed that no living mortal had inhabited it for some time, though various noises throughout behind closed doors suggested that in a way, the old place was full of a sort of life. Todd still didn't quite know what to make of being dead. That meant his life was over more or less, according to the general perception of death, yet here he was. Todd realized it was one of the things it was better not to think too much about and promptly emptied his mind of it. It was when the sound of metal hitting a pad reached Todd's ears that he knew he reached the gym. Todd cautiously peeked his head around the corner to look at Biff doing reps, his form somewhat flickering with exhaustion. Out of the corner of his eyes, Biff noticed Todd and gave him a warm smile.
"Eyyy, look who's up and floatin around," said Biff as he set down his equipment he was using and went over to Todd. "So what can I do ya for?"
Silence followed for a second as Todd gathered his thoughts, thinking of what to say. Although he didn't exactly set out to ask Biff a question, he really did want an answer to something that was nagging him.
"Why did you save me?" asked Todd.
Biff paused for a moment before answering. "Ya know... the afterlife is one of doze funny things. It can come out of nowhere and it is really frightnin' at first. Dere are more questins than answers, really. I remember when I had first died how scared I was, yet it was because of family that I made a 'life' out of dis. When I saw ya, I just saw all doze questins on your face, and I knew you needed a family ta stabilize."
Todd didn't know what to say. He still had a lot to think about.
"Can I go outside?" asked Todd suddenly.
Biff looked up from the equipment that he went back over to. "Well of course ya can! This isn't some type of prison, you're free ta do whatcha want. Just pick a wall and go outside."
Todd nodded before taking off through the nearest wall, leaving Biff shaking his head.
"Dat is one odd fella. Not much for talkin, I tell ya."
Todd shuddered as he went straight through the wall into the outdoors, solidifying once more as raindrops fell from the sky, covering him. It was as if the sky were mourning something and crying. It was a beautiful sight with an indescribable music playing as Todd stared at the rain pattering through the forest. Feeling a sudden burst of joy, Todd flew up as far as he could, the mansion far below him as he admired the view of the world around him. It was dawn and a kingdom of sorts far off was beginning its day. Todd saw many things from a man leaving his house with a speck of a green cap on his head to tiny dots that were children playing an early morning game of tag in the park.
Todd for the first time since he woke up smiled as the sun's rays warmed him. It was when Todd realized that he was feeling a bit light-headed and that his body was slowly getting more transparent and less tangible, making it clear he couldn't stay out in the sun too long without putting his existence on the line. But no matter, Todd enjoyed his short time outside and was ready to get on his bed again, falling asleep to the dripping of the water against the leaves of trees.
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