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I never meant to make it such a mess. I never thought that it would go this far.
Ranboo’s chest was tight and he felt the weight of his own actions collecting on his ribs. He could feel his throat closing up as he tried to suck in a breath but it felt almost impossible. No air was passing through his lungs as he tried desperately to breathe.
The tears in his eyes and slipping down his cheeks were burning his skin like hot pokers on fire, but Ranboo barely had the energy to lift his hand to wipe them away. He could almost feel his face sizzling as the moisture burned through his fragile skin.
It was such a mess. The whole thing was such a mess but when had it become this bad? When had this whole thing gotten so out of Ranboo’s control that he had lost hold of it? It was never supposed to go this far, he was supposed to figure it out before it got too much for him to handle but he had been ignoring it for too long now.
So I just stand here sorry, searching for something to say, something to say.
With shaking hands, Ranboo thumbed over the TNT in his enderchest again, heart pounding. The gunpowder and the sand and the TNT. That hadn’t been there a week ago, he remembered. He kept track of everything in his chests for changes, for things that shouldn't be there, for tools with damage, for suspicious items, watching his enderwalk self, keeping an eye on everything that could lead to progress… and the TNT had not been there when he had checked last. It had been placed intentionally.
Placed there for him to find.
The walls of the BeeNBoo Hotel felt as if they were closing in on him. This could only mean one thing, right? The TNT suddenly appearing in his enderchest, the one chest on the whole server that only he had access to at any time of the day, nobody else.
There was only one viable explanation he could think of.
It had been him. He had been the one to plant the TNT outside of the prison, he had been the one to set off the alarms and cause a lockdown. It had been his wrongdoings that had caused Tommy to get trapped in the cell with Dream in the first place.
Which meant he had been the reason for Tommy’s death.
Admitting it in his head made Ranboo feel like he was being stabbed right in the heart. The pain in his chest blossomed over his ribs like fresh blood spreading from a wound.
How could he have done that? How could he have let himself do that?
And to make things worse, Ranboo didn’t even remember doing it.
Had it been in the enderwalk? Had it been in his moments of unconsciousness where he wasn’t aware of his own actions, where his inner self took over and guided him through life? Or had it been him, had he been the one to plant the bomb, and he just hadn’t remembered because he had never written it down anywhere.
Why, why, why even in the first place would he want to plant a bomb at the prison? Why would that ever have been something that crossed his mind? It put Tommy’s life on the line, put Sam’s job at risk, put the server at risk of Dream. Why would he-
Why would he ever want to help Dream in any way, shape or form?
But what was the other explanation? TNT didn’t just appear on this server like magic. It had to be used, had to be crafted, had to be involved in something which caused mass destruction and panic. TNT was, in the end, the servers' downfall every single time.
Words fail, words fail, there's nothing I can say.
“Ranboo!” Tubbo’s voice out of nowhere startled Ranboo enough to make him stumble to his feet. When had he fallen over? And when had Tubbo gotten there? “Ranboo are you still there? Sam, Puffy, he’s over here, I just found him on the ground and I-“
The pain that bloomed in his chest at hearing Tubbo speak Sam and Puffy’s name made Ranboo want to collapse again. Why was Tubbo bringing them to him? Why was Tubbo bringing Sam to him? Sam, the head warden of the prison, the man who basically held his whole life in his hands if he was to find out what he had done.
Ranboo gripped onto the wall of the hotel, clinging onto the wood for dear life, knowing if he let his fingers go slack even slightly his knees would buckle and he would be on the ground again. His chest felt tighter if that was even possible, and the boy placed a hand where his heart was, trying to puff out a few deep breaths, hoping and praying that he could calm himself down enough to speak to Tubbo properly.
“Ranboo?” It was Puffy’s voice now, calling out for him. “Where are you, buddy?”
He didn’t call back. He couldn’t. His throat felt tight, the air trapped in his windpipes preventing him from making any other noises than desperately gasping for air.
I guess I thought I could be part of this. I never had this kind of thing before.
I never had that perfect girl, who somehow could see the good part of me.
This was entirely his own fault, wasn’t it? He had kept his enderwalk a secret, kept the confusing parts of him away from everybody’s prying eyes so they wouldn’t look at him as a monster, so he could continue being a part of this, and it had come back in the end to bite him. How was he supposed to explain any of this to them?
How was he supposed to explain to Tubbo, Tommy’s best friend, Sam, Tommy’s father figure and Puffy, Tommy’s mother figure, that he had been the reason Tommy had gotten trapped in the prison in the first place, that he had been the cause of what inevitably led to Tommy’s demise. In what kind of world was that conversation easy?
“Oh my god, Ranboo.” The hybrid jumped back when he felt a hand on his arm but relaxed a little when he realised it was just Tubbo reaching out to him. Sam and Puffy were standing in the doorway of the BeeNBoo Hotel, concern flooded through both of their expressions as they watched the two children converse with each other.
“Are you alright? I couldn’t find you anywhere, not even at your house, so I came looking for you here and you were just curled up in the corner gasping for air. I tried talking to you but it was like you couldn’t hear me, like you were somewhere else entirely. I didn’t know what to do so I found Sam and Puffy and brought them here.”
Tubbo’s quick-paced, worried voice rang through Ranboo’s ears like alarm bells as his voice pierced what had just a moment ago been silent. When had Tubbo tried talking to him? Ranboo couldn’t even remember seeing the boy until just moments before.
“Your face, big man. You know moisture hurts you. Don’t let the tears burn you.”
Ranboo almost flinched when Tubbo lifted a hand to Ranboo’s face to wipe his tears away and it wrenched a feeling through his heart that Tubbo was being so kind to him.
Still gripping tightly onto the wood of the hotel, Ranboo could feel Tubbo’s hand still on his arm, almost as if the boy could see he was struggling to stand on his own and was trying to aid him to his feet. That was Tubbo. He had always seen the good parts of Ranboo, had always looked past anything negative he had ever done - sneaking around with Tommy and Techno during Tommy’s exile, aiding them into L’Manburg before the festival, spilling L’Manburg‘s plans - had only ever focused on the good.
Ranboo knew things were about to change between them when he found out what he had done, what his unconscious self had done to aid in Tommy’s untimely demise.
I never had the dad who stuck it out; no corny jokes or baseball gloves.
“Ranboo, are you alright?” It was Sam’s voice this time, piercing through the silence like a pin in a balloon, and Ranboo watched as the man took a gentle step forwards, coming ever so slightly closer to him and Tubbo. “You seem a little spooked.”
The hybrid couldn’t help but remember the words in his memory book, the words he had watched Sam anxiously scrawl on the pages himself just days before this moment.
‘TOMMY IS NOT MY FAULT.
WHAT HAPPENED TO TOMMY WAS SAM’S FAULT.
SAM IS RESPONSIBLE.’
Ranboo had spent days rereading the words over and over again. He couldn’t remember speaking to Sam, just remembered the anger, the quietness of Sam’s voice as he tried to reason with Ranboo through his frustration. He remembered the way his voice had softened when he had asked for the book, remembered the way his hands shook as he quickly scrawled the words down, remembered him disappearing.
The words in the memory book had convinced Ranboo that it was Sam. The warning had been in the same format as his own and he had believed it. Now he just felt stupid for holding onto the hope that it could’ve been someone else that had caused it.
Ranboo had blamed himself since the beginning and he had been right too.
The boy couldn’t bear to lift his eyes from the ground to meet Sam’s gaze, though he could feel the man's eyes boring into the top of his head. He didn’t want to look, didn’t want to see the kindness in Sam’s eyes, the kindness Ranboo knew he didn’t deserve.
No mom who just was there ’cause mom was all that she had to be.
“Ranboo, if there’s something wrong, you know we can help you,” Puffy spoke to him again, her voice so soft and gentle that it hurt Ranboo to hear it. He didn’t deserve gentleness in this moment, not after what he had done. But that was just who Puffy was. Kind and gentle through and through, wanting to protect him from everything she could. “Whatever it is that’s got you so worked up, you know you can talk to us.”
But could he? Could Ranboo come out with what he had done? Could he take this life that he had built for himself, the friendships he had made, his marriage with Tubbo, the home he had built on Techno’s land, the child he had adopted, the wealth he had acquired - was this one thing worth risking all of that? Ranboo could lose everything.
That's not a worthy explanation, I know there is none.
Nothing can make sense of all these things I've done.
Ranboo sucked in a shaky breath through his teeth, pain rattling through his chest as he did so. It still hurt to breathe, still hurt to even think, but he needed to talk. Tubbo, Sam and Puffy were waiting on him now, waiting for some kind of explanation as to why he had been curled up in the corner of the BeeNBoo Hotel in such a state.
No matter how much he could remember about the crime he had committed, no matter how little memory he had of ever placing his hands on any explosive devices, Ranboo knew better, cared more about the three of them to withhold these kinds of truths.
He had to tell them. They deserved to know. He couldn’t keep this a secret from them.
“It was me.” His words came out rough from crying and even the slight movement of his jaw as he spoke up pained him, skin still burning from the new tears on his face. He didn’t even want to imagine what his facial scars looked like right now. “I did it.”
“Did what, Ranboo?” Puffy reached out as if to touch him but Ranboo moved away. No kindness, no gentleness. He didn’t deserve it. “Whatever it is, we can help you.”
Ranboo looked up now to pan his gaze across the three worried people before him, coming to stop on Sam when he spotted a look in the man's eyes that made Ranboo uncomfortable. It was anxious, concerned but knowing. Almost as if he already knew what Ranboo was about to say and was just waiting for him to voice it himself.
“No you can’t.” A sob threatened to tear itself from deep within Ranboo’s throat but he swallowed it down as best he could. “I did it. I planted the bomb outside the prison that got Tommy locked in the cell with Dream. I’m responsible for what happened.”
Ranboo felt Tubbo’s hand drop from his arm immediately.
“I can’t remember doing it-“ Ranboo paused to swallow, averting his eyes to the ground, not wanting to see anyone’s gaze shift as he spoke- “but there’s TNT in my chest that wasn’t there before. I know that won’t make sense of what I’ve done but-“
“No.” It was Tubbo’s voice, small and frightened all of a sudden. “No, you didn’t.”
But he had. Ranboo had planted the bomb that had led to Tommy’s demise.
Words fail, words fail there's nothing I can say.
Except sometimes, you see everything you wanted.
And sometimes, you see everything you wish you had,
And it's right there, right there, right there in front of you.
“You were the one that triggered the alarm?” Puffy had taken a step back away from Ranboo now, taking back her previous movements. “But- why would you do that?”
“I don’t know.” Ranboo shook his head a few times, face still sore as he did so. “I can’t remember doing it so I don’t know why I did it but there’s no other reason I would have TNT in my chest because I don’t use explosives. I don’t know why I did it, I just-”
“How can you know for certain that it was you if you can’t remember?” Ranboo’s arm felt empty from where Tubbo had dropped his hand but he still didn’t look up to the boy as he spoke - Ranboo couldn’t help but notice that Sam had been unusually quiet the whole time. “If you don’t remember doing it then that means you didn’t, right?
“You wouldn’t- you wouldn’t do something like that. I know you wouldn’t.”
The tone of Tubbo’s voice, the desperate clinging to his words as he pleaded with Ranboo to be lying to him, rang through Ranboo’s ears like piercing sirens. The pain in Tubbo’s voice, the desperation, he hated it. This whole thing was going to crush him.
Ranboo opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. He didn’t know what to say, didn’t know how he was supposed to save this situation from burning to the ground more than it already had done. Ranboo was standing in the ashes.
“Why would you-” Tubbo paused to swallow the frog in his throat- “why would you-”
Tubbo’s voice quivered and he couldn’t finish his sentence. Ranboo didn’t blame him.
And you want to believe it's true; so you... make it true.
And you think maybe everybody wants it and needs it... a little bit... too.
“What’s going on, Ranboo?” Hearing Sam’s voice after a while of him being silent, made Ranboo flinch slightly. His voice was low-toned and quiet and he sounded the same way he did when he wardened the visitors to the prison. Ranboo didn’t like it. “You wouldn’t do this. This isn’t you. There’s something you’re not telling us.”
Ranboo knew where he was headed with the conversation and Ranboo wasn’t going to give it to him. Sam had been itching to know what was going on with Ranboo ever since they had both discovered that Ranboo didn’t remember his visits to the prison to see Dream. Ranboo knew he was only trying to protect him, but he wouldn’t tell him.
He had tried to create and shape this life he had without having to tell anyone he cared deeply about, about the enderwalk and it had worked. After L’Manburg, after the festival and Doomsday, he had needed something positive to grip onto, something happy and loving to lock himself to and the life he had now but it had never been real.
He had been holding onto something that was always going to burn.
This was just a sad invention, it wasn't real, I know.
But we were happy… I guess I couldn't let that go.
I guess I couldn't give that up; I guess I wanted to believe
'Cause if I just believe, then I don't have to see what's really there.
“You really did it?” Tubbo’s voice was small and Ranboo hated that his confession had been what had done this to him. “You really set the bomb outside the prison? Tommy got trapped in there with Dream because of you? Ranboo, I- I don’t.”
Ranboo watched as Puffy placed a hand on Tubbo’s shoulder and the boy practically collapsed under the gentle touch. Ranboo hated the way Tubbo’s face crumbled, the way he slid to the ground against the chests which still sat in the centre of the hotel, still under construction. He wanted to reach out to him to comfort him in some way but was afraid of what either of the adults in the room would do to him if he did.
“How long have you known?” Ranboo couldn’t help but notice that Puffy sounded almost angry now but it was as if she was trying to push it down - maybe she was doing it for the sake of not frightening Tubbo any more than he already was. “How long have you known that you were the one that caused Tommy to get trapped?”
“Maybe an hour.” Ranboo shook his head, the ringing in his ears louder than ever now, loud enough that he could barely hear his own voice. He didn’t even know whether an hour was accurate, time seemed to be moving so slowly in that moment and for all he knew it could’ve been a few minutes in reality when it actually felt like hours.
“And how long were you planning on hiding it from us before we found out? Were you even planning on telling us or did you only feel pressured to because Tubbo brought us to you? Or were you planning on keeping it a secret, letting the guilt wrack up on all of us when we could’ve had answers the whole time? How could you do this, Ranboo?”
Ranboo knew Puffy was just upset with him, and rightly so, but she had never spoken to him in that tone of voice before and Ranboo couldn’t help but let her words stab him in the chest like small knives cutting through his skin. It hurt to hear her angry.
“I was going to tell you, I swear I was, I just-” Ranboo felt a lump in his throat bob, the same sob that had been threatening to fall for a few minutes but he swallowed it down painfully again, wanting to be able to form a sentence- “I wanted to believe it wasn’t me because if I could, maybe I couldn’t see what was really there. Maybe if I didn’t admit it to anyone it wouldn’t be real and it would be someone else. It’s stupid but-”
“But it was you.” Hearing Sam’s voice from the silence again - he was being unusually quiet and Ranboo, for once in his life, wanted Sam to be talking consistently, in his warden's voice if he had to, as not to be silent for too long - made Ranboo flinch once more and he looked up briefly to meet Sam’s eyes, only for a split second. His face was angry but Ranboo could see past it, see through the wall to the grief underneath.
Having Sam be upset with him was one of the worst feelings of all.
“It was you who caused all of this. And now you must be punished for it.”
Ranboo heard Tubbo make a frightened, high-pitched noise in his throat.
“You’re gonna kill me, aren’t you?” Ranboo’s voice was trembling violently as he spoke. He didn’t remember much from his conversation with Sam a few days prior but he did remember the hard, stony look that had been on Sam’s face when he had spoken briefly on what would happen to whoever had set the explosives outside the prison.
Sam had never truly specified what exactly would happen to whoever had done it, but anybody in their right mind could’ve guessed what he meant. Sam was out for blood.
“No, no he isn’t.” It was the first thing Tubbo had said in a while and Ranboo watched as he shakily lifted himself up from where he had collapsed down by the chests, using Puffy’s outstretched arm as an aid. He held onto her even when he was on his feet, using her as both a physical and an emotional crutch and she clung to him like he truly was her child, holding his broken pieces together as best she could while he spoke.
Sam’s face filled with surprise as he glanced over at Tubbo.
“Sam isn’t going to kill you because I’m not going to let him.” Tubbo took a small step towards Ranboo but didn't come too close. Ranboo made a gentle attempt to reach out to him, maybe to comfort him in some way, but Tubbo moving back slightly and Sam placing a hand on the sword in his belt made a clear view that that wasn’t something Ranboo was able to do without pressing any unwanted boundaries, so he moved back.
“What are you talking about Tubbo?” Sam’s voice came out low and almost incoherent.
“I won’t let you kill him, Sam.” Tubbo looked across to Sam briefly before locking his eyes back on Ranboo - the hybrid noticed Tubbo wasn’t looking him in the eyes but rather at the neck of his shirt that was peeking just above his suit jacket. “I can’t lose Ranboo too. I’ve already lost Tommy and I’m struggling enough as it is to cope with that loss. I won’t lose my husband too. I won’t let Michael lose one of his dads.”
Ranboo thought of Michael, up in his bedroom in Snowchester, probably bouncing on the bed, sitting in his chair or looking out of the window as he waited for his fathers to come home, and his heart ached. He had a weird feeling that the last time he saw his son would’ve been the last time he would ever see him. And he hated that.
“Then what are you suggesting, that we just let him go free?” Ranboo could tell Sam was trying not to become frustrated with Tubbo but he was struggling a little. There was no need for Sam to be angry at Tubbo though, he wasn’t the problem here. “I guess we could lock him in the prison if that’s what you want but I don’t-”
“I’m not suggesting either of those things.” Tubbo’s voice was cold and stony all of a sudden and Ranboo wished more than anything that he could turn back the time to that morning when he and Tubbo had been chasing Michael round the house.
Ranboo watched as Tubbo reached out to grab the hem of Ranboo’s sleeve, dragging the boy from his position against the wall and to the door of the BeeNBoo Hotel. Ranboo stumbled a little on the way, not knowing exactly where Tubbo was going with his plan but going along with it anyways. Ranboo would follow Tubbo anywhere.
When Ranboo was standing just outside the doorway, Tubbo stepped back into the hotel slightly, blocking the doorway. Ranboo could see Puffy still had her hand on his shoulder, almost as if she was holding him up, and Tubbo was leaning into her.
Ranboo watched Tubbo in the doorway for a moment before the boy spoke.
“I need you to leave.” There was no emotion in Tubbo’s voice, just flat, monotone determination. “Leave this place, leave L’Manburg and leave for good. Take your things, go far away from here and never come back. I don’t want to see you back here again, Ranboo, at least not until you’re ready to tell us the truth about what happened.
“I don’t want you around Michael when you’re keeping such confusing secrets from us, it isn’t safe for him and it isn’t safe for anyone else. My top priority is keeping him safe and I don’t think I can do that when you’re keeping secrets from me. When the day comes that you're ready to tell us the truth, tell us what really happened outside the prison that day, I’ll find you. I’ll know when you’re ready. I’ll be able to feel it.”
Ranboo knew Tubbo was right with that. They were connected in a special kind of way.
“Until you’re ready to stop keeping secrets from me, I don’t want to see you again.”
Ranboo expected Sam to protest but the man just looked impressed. Ranboo didn't blame him, to be honest - it had been a while since Tubbo had well and truly stuck up for himself and what he stood for. Ranboo knew he deserved this kind of punishment.
“Okay.” Ranboo nodded, just once. “Okay, I’ll go.”
There was no expression on Tubbo’s face as he nodded back but when Ranboo looked closer, he could see the tears in his eyes and the way his hands were trembling at his side. The boy couldn't bear to see him hurting so badly so he spun on his heels and practically ran up the prime path, getting himself out of there before any of them had a chance to say goodbye. He didn't take anything in as he ran away from L’Manburg, from everything he had had close to him, for the last time in god knows how long.
The less he saw as he ran away, the less he would have to feel homesick.
No, I'd rather pretend I'm something better than these broken parts
Pretend I'm something other than this mess that I am.
'Cause then I don't have to look at it.
And no one gets to look at it, no, no one can really see
Ranboo didn’t even realise he had run all the way home until he was gripping onto the sides of the snow biome nether portal, chest heaving as he gasped for breath, the snow crunching underneath his feet. The nether had felt like a blur, it must’ve only taken him a few minutes, tops, to make his way through the entirety of it.
The boy ran a hand over his face, feeling more tears in his eyes, feeling the sting of the moisture as it slipped down his cheeks but he didn’t even try to stop himself this time.
The sob that had been trying so desperately to rip through his throat since Tubbo had started speaking finally escaped and it echoed around the wide-open area as Ranboo gripped his shirt in his hands, feeling the pain finally blossom through his chest.
What kind of person did this to their own family? What kind of person had to be this much of a mess to fuck things up so badly? This was entirely his own fault for not telling anyone near and dear to him about the enderwalk because maybe if someone knew they would have watched out for him, which could've stopped him from placing the TNT at the prison and this whole problem never would’ve arisen to begin with.
But he had been too afraid, too afraid of handing the burden he carried across to anybody else and in the end, it had cost him everything he had ever cared about.
Ranboo wanted to believe he wasn’t broken. He wanted to believe that he wasn’t a mess of broken parts, and didn't want to look at it, didn’t want anyone to see him for who he truly was, what he truly was. But he was. He was broken, pieces scattered throughout different moments of his life and it was messy. And he hated it.
'Cause I've learned to slam on the brake before I even turn the key.
Before I make the mistake, before I lead with the worst of me.
I never let them see the worst of me.
As Ranboo stumbled back to his shack in Techno and Phil’s yard, slowly approaching, wishing with everything he had that neither of them would be home to see him having a breakdown, Ranboo thought of Michael and what Tubbo was going to tell him.
What was he supposed to say? How were you to explain something like this to a child?
Michael would ask where he was when Tubbo eventually made his way home, as he always did when Ranboo made it home late, but this time, Tubbo would be unable to tell him that his dad was just running behind schedule. He wouldn’t make it home for bedtime stories tonight and Ranboo had no idea when he would next be there for that.
The snow felt colder than usual around him as Ranboo wrapped his arms around himself, shivering, almost as if he was trying to hold all of his broken pieces together.
Why couldn’t he have just come clean about the enderwalk? It wasn’t as if he had ever done anything really dangerous. He was never meant to know that the TNT he planted would lead to something so catastrophic, but he had still done it, still planted that bomb that led to Tommy’s death. But never anything truly dangerous, he had never harmed anyone while in that state. So why couldn’t he explain it to anybody?
It was almost as if something was stopping him. Something in his head, something on his tongue, stopping him from showing the people that he cared about the worst parts of him, the parts he kept hidden for the purposes of protecting those around him.
What if telling them the truth so soon was a mistake? He was still learning about the enderwalk himself, still learning what triggered it, what he did while he was asleep, where he went, who he saw… what kind of person he became. He knew though, without a doubt, that he was not dangerous. The enderwalk harmed nobody.
Maybe keeping it a secret was a good idea...
'Cause what if everyone saw? What if everyone knew?
Would they like what they saw? Or would they hate it too?
Will I just keep on running away from what's true?
What if he did tell the truth and everyone turned on him?
What if all anybody saw behind the eyes of the enderwalk was damage, danger and harm. What if people became afraid of him, wanted nothing to do with him. What if he was unable to convince everyone that his enderwalk meant no harm to anyone.
There were so many what-ifs.
Ranboo already hated every unknown piece of himself. What if the truth about him caused everybody around him, everybody he cared deeply about, to hate him too?
Would he be running away from this forever? Would he ever be able to tell anybody what truly went on with him in these moments of forgotten memory, where he stalked the SMP, watching and waiting, not harming anyone but not being safe either?
If he ran from this for the rest of his life, he would have no life.
But what else was he supposed to do? If the lies hurt people, what would the truth do?
All I ever do is run, so how do I step in...
Step into the sun? Step into the sun.
All Ranboo ever did was run away from things but it was all he knew how to do.
Approaching his shack slowly, eyes flickering across the whole expanse of land, only moving forward when he was pretty sure neither Phil nor Techno was around to see him breaking, he slipped behind the iron door of his home, letting out a shaky breath as he leant against the cold metal for a moment, letting the slight warmth of his home settle his trembling frame a little. He could hear his pets beneath his feet, hear the enderman in the boat clicking in a language he only slightly understood.
Everything was so peaceful down there and he was leaving it all behind.
He couldn’t take everything, he knew that. He didn’t have the strength or the hands to carry everything that he owned, but he knew it would be safe in his home, safe behind his walls. The only person who ever came into his house unannounced was Tubbo and Ranboo had a feeling that after what just happened, that wouldn’t happen for a while.
Ranboo debated bringing Enderchest with him, to keep him safe, but he didn’t want to risk taking the cat from his safe space at home and out into the cold to god knows where, so he opened all the doors in his place, making sure there was a way for Enderchest to explore the house as needed and to find food when he was hungry.
Ranboo would go on the open road by himself. To think, to consider. To run.
The pack he had on his back, full of the things he knew he would need, food, water, healing supplies, his memory book, some extra blue that he had been given by Ghostbur just weeks before, felt heavy as he stepped out of his front door once more.
Still no Phil and Techno. Good. If they were here, there was a chance they would try to stop him, but if he left without them knowing, they would just assume that his absence was them missing their opportunity to speak to him due to him being busy.
Ranboo sucked in a breath through his teeth, the cold of the snow biome air sending shivers down his spine and he puffed it out again in a sigh, teeth chattering.
He was really leaving. He was really running.
But Tubbo had asked him to, to protect Michael, and Ranboo would do anything for Tubbo, anything at all, and if that meant running away for a while, then so be it.
The sun was just setting as Ranboo set off over the mountain, towards the entrance to his mine, towards the land he hadn’t yet explored properly. A new start? Or a death trap?
Ranboo didn’t know. He just knew, as he stepped into the sun, continued to edge closer to the sunset, that things were about to be a lot different on the streets of the Dream SMP and he wasn’t going to be around to see any of it happen.
And that was his own fault.