Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ranboo ran as fast as he could. He forgot again. Of course he did. How could he forget something so important? He could already feel the tears prick his eyes in the case that he was too late. He felt many pings from his communicator but he ignored it, he didn't have time to check it. He couldn't help the bile that was forming in his throat at the thought that it was death messages.

Snowchester. The syndicate. A big group. A party, never explicitly stated as a festival because no one would go to one of those. It was supposed to be happy and everyone was gonna go because it's tubbo. Someone who you can trust. He knew it wouldn't be. Aether, why didn't he remember sooner? He should've left the syndicate a long time ago.

Memories of the planning of attack in the syndicate room were flooding the front of his mind right beside his racing anxiety. The plan of how the attack would go. Ranboo and Niki would be in the crowd, since they were the only ones anyone still trusted. Niki, just a bit less. Techno and Phil would be hiding, waiting for the moment to attack. There wasn't an itinerary so it was just to attack. The plan was to take out Snowchester and any enemies. Mainly Tubbo. Their main target was tubbo. Revenge as Techno had put it.

God, how could he have been so stupid? He didn't even warn Tubbo, he forgot almost immediately. He finally saw the path branching off to the Snowchester nether portal. He ran down it, if it was any other day he'd admire the time and effort he put into this. It was the only decent path in his opinion, but this was not any other day. Right now his arrival time had the chance between life and death.

He saw the portal as he rounded a corner and skidded to a stop in it. The shifty feeling always felt icky and weird, he knew why though. It was a much different feeling than the end portal. One that he was more accustomed to as a child. It was one of the few things he remembered. And, one of the only feelings he could remember. While the shifty feeling took over he made sure he had things that would be useful in his inventory. He spotted some varying potions and a totem before the portal forcefully closed it and brought him to the overworld.

He stepped out into chaos, withers to his right, fire to his left, screaming everywhere. From the withers or People he didn't know. He saw Phil high above watching the withers attack the guests with no remorse. Niki, he couldn't see but he could only imagine she started the fire setting Snowchester ablaze. She had taken a more arsonistic streak lately. Oh aether, was Michael still in there? He noticed that the area around the portal was almost in shambles but maneuverable. He made his way down as quick as he dared, and then ran for where he saw Fireworks launch up into the sky. Techno always loved his fireworks didn't he?

He felt panicked as he made his way over. What if Tubbo was there? Oh aether he probably was. What if he died? This was his fault. This was all his fault, he could've stopped it. He could've stopped it. He could've stopped it. DAMN IT. Oh aether.

He stopped dead in his tracks, surveying the fight in front of him. It wasn't much of one. Tommy was fighting against techno, though he was being beaten with ease. Tommy wasn't ever the best at pvp. Tommy also had what he recognized as the Axe of Peace. A formidable weapon, but knowing Tommy it was his only. Tubbo was leaning against a rock, holding his side. He didn't have his eyes open, but it was obvious that he was at least breathing. Tubbo was far away from where Tommy and Techno were. A netherite sword laid bloody next to him. Rubble laid all around. Probably a 40 meter radius that resembled a pit.

"RANBOO!" Tommy cried out.

Techno stopped the advance on Tommy letting him scramble away, who surprisingly had netherite on. Techno turned towards him and gave him a grin.

"Ranboo! We were wonderin' when you would join us. You wouldn't answer your comms." Techno spoke, like he was talking to an old friend. Which technically he was half of that. A friend. An ally.

He looked over to Tommy who's excitement to see him was dwindling by the second. "Ranboo…?" Tommy asked. He was breathing hard and had a new cut on his face.

"Look, Tommy- I don't-" He started.

"Ah yes, Tommy. Your so-called friend here is in the syndicate." Techno informed the other before he could. Before he could explain why. Techno turned back around towards tommy.

"You betrayed us? Ranboo, why?" Tommy asked. He looked the closest to breaking down, he had ever been. He probably had too many people betray him at this point.

He didn't answer, instead just looked ahead trying to convey how sorry he was. He was lucky He put his armor on at his house in the Arctic. It was a pain to strap and unstrap when putting it on and taking it off. Techno seemed to just be messing with Tommy, before he inevitably would attack him again. He took his sword out of his inventory. Tommy noticed this and seemed to accept his fate of death. Techno inched closer, he walked forward. What had Techno said when teaching him the art of sword fighting? Something he still felt like he knew before techno started teaching him. Immobilize your enemy, This will make the fight much easier. Ranboo swung down and sliced the tendons connecting Technos right foot and his right leg.

Technos leg collapsed from underneath him, almost causing him to stab himself with his own sword. Tommy took the chance to get out of the corner Techno had backed him into.

"Ranboo. What are you doing?" Techno asked calmly. It wasn't a normal calm though, it was the type of calm that symbolized Techno was pissed off.

"Betraying you instead, I guess." He shrugged. He stepped back until Tommy was in the corner of his vision. He looked in his inventory and pulled out the totem he saw earlier.

He gave it to Tommy and whispered, "Make sure tubbo is holding this. He can't die and right now he looks like he's going to. Do you have potions?"

"Okay, and no I don't. Ranboo what the fuck's going on between you and Techno? Is he lying? Ranboo, please say he's lying." Tommy whispered back, while watching Techno chug a potion and try to get back up while the potion was doing its job. He seemed like he was grasping on to anything that meant he wasn't a traitor.

"It's okay, I'm gonna give you some of my health and regen. I promise I'll explain. It's gonna be fine." He said, reaching into his inventory again and pulling out two of each and handing them to Tommy. He still had two of each. "Let me take care of techno, okay? I know more than you do."

Techno was starting to get up now with the shimmery aura of a healing or regen potion.

"Thought you couldn't remember shit." Tommy said, as he backed out of view.

"I remember just a bit more than I let on." He said, twirling his blade slightly. He walked forward.

Techno was standing up now, studying him. He had a cold expression. Technos hands twitched around his sword, he looked like he was considering something.

"I don't wanna do this Ranboo. You're a good kid. The voices are calling for blood right now. They're a little pissed off, I'm giving you a chance to leave and regain my trust." Techno said heading bobbing slightly to the side as a way to deter the voice's control.

"No, I'm okay. I didn't want to do this either." He said, as calmly as he could muster. Something was pinging on the edge of his conscious mind. A memory trying to show itself, like he should remember it, but he doesn't.

"Suite yourself." Techno said, letting the voices take over. It was usually a quick switch and it was obvious when the voices took control of Techno.

He saw his eyes turn a complete, glowing, red and the fight was on. A harsh swing up and down towards his head. Easy counter, use the flat of the blade for better defense, So he did. His other hand went to the handle as Technos sword kept pushing down. He pushed up and away on the blade, forcing techno to step back. A growl of warning before he tried to strike and swung again.

When your enemy is taller, always find a way to get lower and stay near the ground.

Normally he wouldn't listen to random voices in his head, especially with their track record, but this one felt so familiar. Practically comforting. He had to take their advice, not that he had much time to dwell on it. So, he dodged the blade by sweeping under it and slicing at his tendon again. He missed because Techno learned from last time, but he spotted something. Something that looked like a sheath hidden among Technos pants on his calf. What had he said in one of their Mythology lessons? Emperors and people of importance would strap a dagger to their leg, because they could get attacked at any moment and it was best to be prepared. Made sense. Made no sense that this was the stuff he could remember off the top of his head.

Ranboo scrambled around on the ground dodging another attempted stab. Just barely though, he could feel it barely graze his ribs, between the leather straps of the armor. He reached out and grabbed the dagger, unsheathed it, and plunged it into Technos foot and pulled it out. A cry of pain and he scrambled up and backed away taking advantage of the confusion. He now held a dagger and a Sword. He saw the blood trickle out of Technos foot but it was already coming to a stop. So, he took regen most likely.

Knowing Techno, he'd at least have another potion of regen on him, maybe two more. And, at least three potions of healing, maybe one or two splash potions of harming. And, then a totem or two. Probably a few golden apples and a god apple. Maybe less, he might not have been expecting to put up much of a fight once he spawned the withers.

The two of them were at a standstill now, neither attacking or defending. Staring, waiting, and catching their breath. Not surprisingly, Techno swung first again. He ducked, techno was continuously aiming for his neck, which was one of the few things that was uncovered by any armor set. Also, a vital part to hit.

The block of a blade. "Remember Ranboo when your blade is shorter you need to get in closer to be able to land a good hit. Now try again."

The same familiar, but unfamiliar voice. In the form of a memory this time. He took the dagger and stabbed into Technos side, also pulling it out. Hopefully for now it would hit something vital and the fight would be over sooner. Technos hand went to his side and came back with blood. One of the things about the voices being in control was that they were never very rational and preferred brutal fighting instead of the quick and calculating fighting style of Techno.

"RANBOO, TUBBO PASSED OUT AND WAS MUTTERING THINGS ABOUT SOME KID NAMED MICHEAL." Tommy yelled from his right. He sounded panicked.

That caught Technos attention and his head practically snapped towards Tommy and Tubbo. Shit. He moved in front of Technos vision and yelled back, "TOMMY, IF YOU WANT TO LIVE, PLEASE SHUT UP. I'LL TELL YOU WHO MICHEAL IS LATER."

Technos attention was on him again now. Duel wielding a sword and a dagger he found was actually rather hard. But, the dagger was more precise in stabbing hard to reach places. Meaning more vulnerable places. Which made it worth dual wielding the two mismatched blades. He just needed one good swipe after the regen ran out and then he could finish techno off.

Speaking of it the regen should be running out soon, most potions lasted less than a minute and techno was more about healing properties than he was time. The shimmer was fading out. He started leading techno in a circle, staying just out of his reach. Waiting until the regen ran out. The shimmer stopped. Most things stopped. There was silence. He saw out of the corner of his eye Tommy dragging Tubbo out of the crater of a place and gave him a look. A look conveying both distrust and concern. He waited until they disappeared from view before bolting away from techno and climbing up a face of rocks.

He knew techno couldn't get up here easily, he had a much more muscular build than he did. It was harder for him to get up tight climbs. Though in armor climbs like that were hard even for him. He opened his inventory to check if he had placed it there. Something he had planted there as a just in case for anyone. He carefully took out the Potion of poison and opened it. It was a special type, he didn't know how he knew how to make it, but he knew he was immune. It was in a much smaller packaging that could only be described as a vial. He poured some of it on the dagger and glanced down at the angry techno, who was trying his best to get up with no avail. He still had half the vial left and slipped it into his pocket just in case. Maybe, a fear tactic later.

Ranboo stood up and prepared to jump off the rock and put away his sword. He should only really jump off with one sharp object in his hand. That was the limit, before Tubbo would yell at him for doing something stupid. Though, he might not give a shit now. When techno was looking down he ran to the left side of the rock and jumped off. He turned just as he felt Technos' sword stab him in the side. He let out a cry of pain when the sword was pulled out. He felt one of the leather straps snap.

He put the hand not holding the dagger to his side and stabbed technos arm, through the leather strap holding it on. Crafting was weird, you never used leather in armor recipes but it was there. Go figure. The poison entered technos blood stream, he could tell by how his blood started turning purple. He pulled the dagger out and stumbled back feeling blood bubble up in his mouth. He coughed up what he presumed to be blood and opened his inventory. He grabbed a health potion out of it and drank it as much as he could. It was a little difficult when he was coughing up blood. Health potions effects were much more immediate than regens. Regen you could wait for your wound to stitch itself up, health potions would do it almost automatically. He wiped the blood away from his mouth with his left hand, it would be covered in blood now but he couldn't bring himself to care.

He looked back at Techno who was pretty much just laying on the ground as the poison ran through his body. Blood ran out from Technos arm and was pooling around him. There was nothing to stop it. He walked forward again. He was pretty sure he'd have a scar from technos attack. It was strange looking down on techno, usually when they were sparring it'd be the other way around. Technos eyes were no longer blood red, instead the light pink that he was more accustomed to. He saw an empty bucket, techno most likely tried to counter the effects with milk.

"The fuck is this? Ranboo, why? What?" Techno asked.

"Well, you tried to kill tubbo. And, it's a special type of poison. It can't easily be cured by milk." He explained briefly.

"Tubbo? That's what this is about. Another person betrayed me for tubbo. What the hell do you guys see in that friendship? Will this kill me?" Techno questioned.

"Probably. I would say that it never killed me in testing, but I'm immune to it. Kinda defeats the purpose of saying that. And, Tubbos, tubbo. The only reason I was in the syndicate was you asked me at a time when I had no one but you and Phil. I barely had a house in the Arctic and you were borderline threatening to kick me off your land if I didn't." He answered.

"How the fuck are you immune to this shit? I can't feel a fucking thing. I don't even know how I'm speaking right now." Techno said, with no expression. It seemed the poison got to his head.

"The only function for some reason that doesn't stop is the ability to speak. You'll be paralyzed until you die by the next part taking over and stopping your heart. Overall, you'll probably be dead in the next minute or so. It's painless as far as I know from the research I've done." He elaborated.

"So, it's some homemade poison." Techno grumbled.

"I don't know. It might be. I don't know where I learned to make it, I just know." He answered.

"Kid, I shouldn't even be calling you that now. Ranboo, just at some point come get your stuff from the Arctic and then leave. Go back to wherever you've been spending your free time." Techno said.

"Technically, it's here, so I have a lot of work to do." Ranboo said. "Kinda feel sorry about this. Not really. Don't try this again, Techno."

"Sure. Haven't seen Mumza in a long time. She'll be happy I finally visited at least." Techno muttered before he closed his eyes.

He felt a buzz against his leg. He took out his communicator finally as Technos body turned into smoke, rising up and disappearing. Tons of stuff was left behind which he ignored. He opened up the communicator so the screen would turn on, with the keyboard pulled out underneath. Lots of messages from varying people. In the main chat there wasn't much.

Ph1lza: We started without you Ranboo. You better not pull any shit
Tubbo achieved the achievement Postmortal
Technoblade was poisoned by Ranboo

That was wonderful. Phil was gonna be pissed, if he was still around. Still would probably be pissed. Oh, well hopefully everyone else was okay. It looked like they were. He opened his dms with Tubbo.

Tubbo: Tommy's late, do you know where he is?
Where are you?
Phils here
Hes gone off the dep end
The synduicate
Phil says you suppose be here
You fivking traitor

Shit. So everyone knew most likely. Wonderful. Except Tommy, he was probably the most confused. Since he killed Techno that probably made the confusion over everything worse. Time to find everyone and explain.

He typed out, 'Tubbo, I swear I'll explain and for what it's worth I'm sorry' and hit send. He closed the communicator and turned it off before he could make any more bad decisions. Well, it was time to face the consequences of his actions.

A screeching sound and then pain. His communicator hit the ground. Right in his abdomen, whichever blade it was, It went through his armor somehow. He crumpled to the floor, feeling the fact that it didn't go all the way through. Didn't hit any major organs but it hurt. He did his best to turn around and saw Phil standing there looking furious with Niki behind him. Niki looked impartial.

"You lied to us all. You killed Techno." Phil spoke with fury in his voice.

"Well, screw you too, Phil." He wheezed, reaching out behind him and pulling out the sword. He opened his inventory and grabbed the other health potion, downing it with ease since he hadn't started coughing up blood again. He felt the wound begin to seal and relaxed for a second before remembering that he was classified as a traitor by everyone. He felt the potions effects go numb and knew he was still bleeding slightly. He'd need to fix that later.

"Why did techno die? He had plenty of resources on him." Niki said, rationally. Barely though, everyone in the syndicate had slowly been going insane except for him and techno. Or maybe he was and didn't know. People who went insane, often didn't think they were insane.

He got back up and coughed a bit before answering partially by pulling the vial out of his pocket. "Poison. Where'd the dagger go? Oh it's gone, I put the poison on it and then stabbed techno."

"Milk would've helped that." Phil said harshly, stepping closer with a different sword in hand.

"But it wouldn't have. I don't know why. Special type of poison." He said, shaking the vial slightly before putting it back in his pocket.

"What type? I'm sure there would've been a cure." Phil said, stepping forward until the sword was pointed right at their throat.

"If there is, I don't know of it. I barely know what I know about, let alone how I know it." He said, raising his hand to move the sword away from his throat.

"You didn't answer the question. What is it called?" Phil asked again, and put the sword back at his throat. It was pressing against his throat, one wrong move and he could be dead.

"Oh, that I don't know." He answered truthfully.

"Why did you betray the syndicate?" Niki piped up from where she was standing behind them. Phil gave him a pointed look.

"I mean Phil, were you really expecting me not to? Look at Snowchester. You really thought just Tubbo lived here? And, the whole recruiting me into the syndicate to begin with. What was that? Two days after even. I lost track of where anyone else I knew went and the threat of kicking me out into the Arctic if I didn't. You really thought I would want to stay." He rambled.

"You… knew this would happen and you didn't try to stop it. Yet, you betray our trust the day of." Phil still sounded angry, but also slightly miffed.

"Well, y'know how I didn't have my notebook on me. I forgot by the time I found it because the room is so far away. Then, I remembered on my way to the actual get-together. Cause, technically I would've been the host if tubbo hadn't gotten over his hypothermia quickly." He said.

"Wonderful, another traitor. There's always one. I'm gonna kill you now. Any last words?" Phil said, changing the subject quickly.

"Oh that's nice. Uhh... No thank you." Ranboo said, stepping back and making a break for anywhere away from either of them.

He heard the flap of wings and then crashed into the ground with a heavy weight on top of him. His head slammed into the ground. He heard a crack and winced. Fractured or broken rib most likely based on where the pain was. His rib isn't magically stitching itself together which he shouldn't have expected he didn't take regen.

"Ranboo. What are you trying to do? What are you planning?" Phil asked.

He felt the sharp point of a blade poke into the back of his neck and a trickle of blood down the side. "Look, man. I remember random stuff. I don't really control what I don't and do remember. So if I am planning something I have no clue what it is."

With that he decided he was done with the conversation and just teleported out. He didn't feel like dying today. Was he thinking of that ability when trying to get there when he was first getting here? No. Would it have been helpful? Probably. Did he mean to teleport behind two arguing people? No. Did his ribs hurt like a bitch? Yes.

Quackity and Tubbo were having a borderline shouting match. With fires dying out in the background. Everyone else was either gone, or leaving. He didn't see Tommy. Hopefully he was okay.

"Uh, what's this about?" He asked, hoping one of the two arguers would hear him.

They both did and turned towards him. He had never seen such malice in Tubbos eyes. "You fucking bitch." Tubbo hissed.

"Okay. Hold on, Bee- Tubbo. I swear there's an explanation." He said, holding up his hands.

"I don't give a shit what fucking excuse you're gonna make up. This isn't your home anymore, get out now. And, don't call me Bee." Tubbo said angrily.

"Alright." He said, moving to leave.

"I'm keeping Micheal!" Tubbo yelled to him as he made his way towards the tunnel, leading to the main part of the SMP.

"That's fair." He said, finally moving out of earshot and leaving the country. He had never hated that the tunnel was as close as it is as he did now.

He brought out his trident and went flying through the water of the tunnel. He was in the main part of the smp in seconds. He put his trident away and was ever grateful that armor protected him from water. He hated water burns. He stopped a few meters from the tunnel to Snowchester and stared at the main SMP. Where to now? He had no one, and no one trusted him. If they did, he'd be surprised. They'd have no reason to. A stupid decision. He knew that he'd fuck up at some point he didn't think it would be this soon. It still hurt to breathe, he needed to fix that soon.

Instead he reached up and took the golden ring off his horn. He looked at it, studying it carefully. He had tried to do so much for them all and they would think that he just threw it down the drain. Why didn't he come clean before this? He slightly regretted not taking that pathway, but would tubbo have listened even if he told him that way? He flipped the ring around, messing with it and looking at the engraving on the inside.

I trust you.

Tubbos said 'I trust you too.' Yet, he had betrayed that trust. He turned around and walked the few meters back to the Tunnel leading to Snowchester. He placed the ring on the ground next to it.

"I'm sorry, Tubbo." He whispered.

With that Ranboo wandered off to wherever his feet would take him.

Chapter Text

Ranboo found that the main part of the SMP was much warmer than the locations he normally was. His main house was literally in the Arctic and Snowchester was always pretty cold. He never really went anywhere else other than the nether. He didn't need to. He still didn't know where to go, but he knew where he was. As he walked he got closer and closer to Bad and Skeppys' mansion, ergo the prison. The prison was easily one of the biggest builds on the SMP. It housed one of the biggest antagonists of them, Dream. But, in his absence the creation of the syndicate happened with a vengeance for everyone. No one would be safe from the chaos they had planned, especially people on their bad side.

He still never meant to join the syndicate but life goes how it goes. He never meant for any of that to happen. He hoped that the anger would die down eventually and he could explain it all. He found himself on the prime path and decided to wander over to the community house. So, he started to go down it in silence. Normally he'd fill that silence with idle chatter with either Tubbo or whoever he was with, or maybe just mess around on his communicator but he had neither right now. He needed to go back and get that at some point. So, he was left with his thoughts as the previous blue sky started darkening as clouds went over him. He hadn't noticed that it was sunny earlier, but there was smoke and dust everywhere earlier.

Not that there was much to think about. He was paranoid as usual. No one trusted him. The voices or at least one voice was back, but at least this time it wasn't Dream. It was horrible when Dream's voice would show up, trying to convince him of things he didn't do, that he was an accomplice in things he didn't remember. Sometimes, he thought about it and wondered if Dream was right and that he did do the things that he said he did. He tried to ignore it when those thoughts showed up.

Most of the main part of the SMP was built in a plains biome making most of the place pretty empty. He heard from older members that it actually used to be a forest but by the time he got there it wasn't. The SMP was also a strange one. Once you were there you couldn't leave. Dream made it that way. He sometimes thought about what the people in the outer world thought about the SMP. In their perspective people went in and never came out. He had heard of one member that was rumored to have escaped somehow. They said her name was Alyssa. He had also talked to Connor who was one of the newest members. He answered a lot of his questions, and he wrote down the answers in his memory book. Honestly, each passing day he needed both more and less at the same time. He remembered more random stuff he might need to know and forgot stuff he should remember. Connor had said that the main Hub didn't know how people even got into the server. It was like they were abducted. There was no portal in, there was no portal out.

That the people in power of one of the older Countries had been straight up disappearing in small increments and then around the time Phil showed up they were all gone. The bigger admins were confused and concerned. They knew it existed and kept trying to get in but couldn't. The public was apparently growing more and more in panic that it would become like 2b2t one of the worst servers in existence. Connor had explained how very few people lived in servers anymore and that Hermit craft was a big server though. It was a place where builders could go and have fun. It was advertised and you had to gain an invitation to enter. The people who were white listed could enter and exit freely.

Connor had a lot of answers to the way the outside world had been reacting to it all. He also mentioned how the end was almost unreachable and how the kingdom there had been not communicating with anyone since the Dream SMP was created. The nether in the main hub was acting just as normal, but the people in residence there were becoming more paranoid. Then Connor said that he ended up here and that was the end of that conversation.

The nagging feeling he was from the end and the memories of passing through the portal dozens of times, added up with the Enderians acting stranger than normal. Because, according to Connor they were a little reserved to begin with. Of course he was somehow related to the end, he was an enderman but it was the feeling of living there. It made him feel like he was forgetting something important. He probably was. When was he not?

He zoned back into reality as the path leading to L'manburg showed up. He stopped and looked at it almost blankly. Like all of his emotions had seeped out of him. He turned and went down it. He got through the small tunnel with ease and padded down the stairs that led to the territory. He stopped again at the bottom. It was one of the few good things Phil had done since arriving here. Phil had cleaned the place up and made it look reclaimed by nature. It looked pretty, but not as pretty as the L'manburg he knew. Which really wasn't much, he arrived only a couple weeks after Phil. He never really knew L'manburg, as Tommy put it, at its finest. It was something he sometimes wished he experienced.

He started walking again and stopped a bit away from the edge of the creter and sat down. He took off his helmet which was designed and tampered with to accompany his horns. He opened his inventory and placed it there. He undid the straps of his chest plate and put them in his inventory as well. It hurt a little as he did that and he was once again reminded that he currently had one or several broken ribs. Leggings you had to take both off before you could place them in your inventory. The same with boots. The mechanics of it all were strange. It made it so you could have your armor on you at any given time but if you got spontaneously attacked you wouldn't have time to put the armor on. It was a little annoying in his opinion. It made him wonder how no one but Techno died at the party.

He stared into the creter. He had no intention of doing anything bad but it would probably be assumed to anyone who walked past. He moved his tail so that it sat in his lap and he could mess with the end of it. It always felt comforting. He felt his ear twitch towards a slight sound to his right but he didn't do anything. He was much more aware of what he was doing now that he wasn't freaking out. Honestly he didn't find a reason either. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

He flinched and instinctively turned to try and punch whatever it was. He heard a crack and then the sound of a thud.

"Oh, holy shit. Okay, noted. You will try to punch me." A slightly unfamiliar voice said. They had a British accent but he knew way too many people with one so it didn't exactly narrow it down.

He stood up and pulled out his sword. He fully turned and was met with someone on the ground clutching their nose. A pair of sunglasses rested on their face. They looked familiar, had they helped with something before? When he saw the crown that had been knocked off, It clicked. It was Eret.

"Oh my aether. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that." He rushed, putting away his sword and trying to help the other up.

"No, that was my fault. I forgot how jumpy you are. Damn, you punch hard." Eret said, standing up with his help.

Eret wasn't wearing any armor but seemed very on guard. The King was taller than most people but to him, they were 7 or so inches shorter. He wasn't sure if this was Erets normal attire but right now they were in jeans and a grey t-shirt with an old pair of shoes. He was pretty sure it wasn't. Eret bent down and grabbed their crown again, dusting it off before just putting it in their inventory. Then, he realized no one trusted him and became as on guard as Eret was.

"So, I heard you pulled something like I did." Eret commented, as they backed up slightly. Eret took their hand away from their face and it came back with blood. "Follow me, I have good first aid supplies, that isn't potions at a safe house."

Eret started walking and Ranboo had no choice but to follow. He knew he had gotten lucky so far today with the potions healing his stab wounds but his ribs were another matter. It was a bad idea to try and heal broken bones with potions.

"How did you know I was hurt?" He asked, catching up and walking alongside Eret.

"Ranboo, you're covered in blood. Your clothes are almost shreds around your torso. You definitely got stabbed at least twice and I saw on comms that you managed to kill Techno. You're not coming out unscathed from that." Eret answered, looking at him as quizzically as they could with sunglasses on.

"Well, okay, most of the blood is mine. But some of it isn't. I think." He mumbled. "Look, why are you even here? You sound like you know what happened."

"Because a traitor trusts other traitors. Or at the very least a supposed traitor. But, I have a feeling that there's more to the story in your betrayal just like there was mine." Eret said simply before seeming like they were giving him a chance to explain. They entered the aquarium tunnel.

"I didn't mean to. It wasn't supposed to end the way it did." He said.

"And how did it end? Me and Foolish were working on a project. We didn't go. We get the gist from the frantic messages that Puffy sent us." Eret said simply.

"Not well. The syndicate attacked. Which I was a part of. Kind of unwillingly joined. Then, behind their backs I reconnected with Tubbo and them because I didn't know where they went after L'manburg. So, tubbo trusted me. Then, I forgot about the party and I had to rush there. Tubbo already knew I was part of the syndicate. I assumed everyone else did too and so they think I betrayed them. I attacked techno, killed him. Then, Phil and Niki showed up and Phil was pissed. And, finally they thought I betrayed them. Which was the betrayal I was intending to do. But, now everyone thinks I betrayed them in some sort of way and it's all messed up." He ranted. He didn't ask what the project was. He didn't need to.

A beat of silence. "Gonna be honest, I was not expecting you to answer. I also wasn't expecting that." Eret answered.

"Ha, I don't think anyone was. That's the point of betrayal isn't it." He said.

A laugh from the other. "Yeah, that's true. Now I've been trying to talk to you." Eret said their tone switched to something akin to seriousness.

"Oh? About what?" He questioned. He was grateful for a change in subject.

"Why did I bring it up now? It's actually best to be talked about in a closed space. Or with Foolish, he can explain it better than I can. He's been informing me of all this stuff I should remember but don't." Eret replied, opening a door to the shack outside of the Museum.

It was shoddily built but surprisingly pretty big on the inside. It had dozens of chests inside and pretty basic stuff.

"Sit down on that double chest and lift up your shirt. Not too far though, I just need to see the stab wounds for now. Unless, there's something else I need to know about." Eret said, starting to dig around in another chest.

He was surprised. He didn't ever expect such kindness from someone he had only really talked to for a couple of days. He complied with the orders though, wincing when the dried blood peeled away from his skin. Both techno and Phil had stabbed his left side making the blood more obvious and making it seem worse than it was. He was lucky he wasn't wearing the outfit he was when he arrived here. That would've been much more of a mess, it was just a simple dress shirt.

"I think one of my ribs is broken. Maybe, fractured. Phil landed on top of me." He said.

Eret looked up at him in alarm and started speaking. "One of your ribs would definitely be broken. I definitely can't risk giving you a potion until I know your ribs are where they're supposed to be. Did you hit your head as well?"

"I think so." He answered.

"Well shit." He heard Eret mumble. Screw his good hearing.

"Okay, so. Anything else I should know about?" Eret asked, standing up.

They walked over to him and set the stuff down. It was a vial of something and various bandages. There was also a thin string wrapped around a small twig with a needle attached. Then, a small pair of scissors. Eret started cleaning the wound without telling him. He didn't say anything, just stayed silent. He found out that the vial was alcohol and was the best at clearing wounds. He already knew that but it's still stung a lot.

"Hey, Ranboo. I got some good news and some bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?" Eret said suddenly.

"Uh, good news?" He answered quietly.

"Got it, your ribs are in the right place and I can probably give you a health potion to heal them. You're probably been having trouble breathing but nothings actually that wrong. And, your head will probably be fine when I can give you a health potion. Bad news, since one of the stab wounds was pretty deep and also hit the, I'm assuming first stab wound, I can't heal it with potions. So, we have to do it the old fashioned way and I have to stitch it up or else you'll probably bleed out externally over the next couple days." Eret explained.

"Oh. Well, that's wonderful. Just get to stitching please." He said, gritting his teeth.

"It's gonna hurt." Eret warned.

"Yeah, no duh. Please just get it over with." He said, bracing himself for the pain.

A tiny stab around where the wound was and a flare of pain. Then another and the process continued. He had to admit that the only thing really going through his head was the word, Fuck, for every little poke. It took a lot longer than he expected. Then the pokes stopped and the rustle of bandages.

Ranboo relaxed when Eret finally said, "I'm done."

"Thank you." He said, before rolling his shirt down again.

"Yeah, no problem. We have to get to my castle now. I swear that's where everything will be explained." Eret said, changing the subject, but handing him a health potion. He watched Eret down their own and wipe the blood away from their nose.

"Oh why?" He asked standing up, flicking his tail around in unease. He uncapped the potion and downed most of it. Almost immediately breathing got easier again.

"The thing I mentioned earlier. How we've been trying to talk to you. The castle is a safe place, most people don't go there and it's hard for unwanted things to listen in." Eret said, opening one of the trap doors, making the floor reveal a ladder going down.

Eret started to go down the ladder. He looked uncertainly at the ladder before following, and closing the trap door behind him. After all he had nothing better to do or anywhere better to go. The ladder was surprisingly sturdy and when he got down Eret was waiting with two boats that sat on a road of ice.

"Surprised this hasn't been destroyed yet." He said. His voice carried, echoing into the distance.

"Only Foolish knew about it before you, as far as I am aware. If anyone else found it, I don't know." Eret said, climbing into the first boat. "Get in the other boat. It's the quickest way to get there."

"You seem quite close to Foolish." He commented as he got into the boat.

"Yeah, apparently I knew him in my life before this. Like you, I don't remember my life before the SMP. It's all blocked off, Foolish has been helping me remember somethings and why I remember certain feelings and actions. He knows a lot, and he'll be able to help." Eret explained, before zooming off in the boat.

He followed them in his own boat, going slower, not quite used to this method of transportation. It was used more in the Nether, not the Overworld. If they were walking on it, he could get there with ease, having gotten used to walking on the ice. He saw Eret turn ahead and braced to turn. The turn was kinda sharp but he could see the end of the tunnel ahead. He slowed down the boat and then slowed to a stop behind Erets boat.

"Okay. Now we have a handy dandy staircase and we can be in the Library. Hopefully, Foolish isn't sitting on the opening again." Eret said, helping him out of the boat.

They just left the boats there and started climbing a rather short staircase, with Eret in the lead. He watched as Eret absentmindedly pulled down a lever and the sound of blocks moving above them started. It revealed more of a staircase and a bookcase in whatever room it led to. As Eret said, It was most likely the library. The stairs closed behind him when he stepped off the last one into the library. He looked down slightly startled before turning back to survey the room.

It looked like your average Library. A bunch of books on the shelves and some on a table that also had papers and stuff scattered all over it. A person he recognized as Foolish sat there looking over a book as Eret walked over. One of the things that surprised him but didn't was the elaborate lanterns hanging from the ceilings. Most people would just hang them by the hook on the ceiling but these were hung by heavy chains with ornately metal flowers around it.

"Ranboo." Eret said.

Ranboo snapped his head towards them and went over to the table.

"Oh thank aether. You're okay." Foolish said, when he looked up.

"Decently okay, yes." He said as Foolish gestured for him to take a seat. He sat next to Foolish and across from Eret since Foolish was sitting at the end of the table.

"Okay. So I'm sure you're wondering why you're here." Foolish started.

"Considering what just happened, yes, yes I am." He replied.

"Wait, so the messages we got were real?" Foolish said.

"If they're about Snowchester most likely." He answered.

"Oh shit. Well, that doesn't really affect the current plan. We still need to test this." Foolish said, putting down his book.

"Test what? Will one of you tell me why you need me?" He pressed on. He felt a little uncomfortable right now. He didn't know what was happening and Foolish was being awfully adamant about it.

"Okay, Eret didn't explain, alright." Foolish said.

"We were in public." Eret interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah. So how it started. I was going through Erets books one day because they have so many books but don't read. I found a book and the title isn't in English. It's in galactic but it wasn't an enchantment book." Foolish said.

That caught his attention. "What? Is that even possible?" He asked.

"Yes it is. But, it doesn't happen very often nowadays. So, I started reading it and it offhandedly mentions a way to unban the end in servers like this." Foolish explained.

"It would change everything. So, we actually started looking through my books and we found more. A couple are in Ender but somehow it makes more sense than English does for me. We found one in particular that is badly burned and some of the instructions are unclear, but it could open a way out of the server. Either it just does it or it takes away admin powers from Dream and gives it to someone else." Eret said after Foolish stopped.

He didn't respond, processing the information he was told. That seemed like an insane possibility, being able to leave. He had only been there for about 7 months but others had been there for a year longer than he had. The longest member, Dream, had been here for two years, before the abductions started. This server had existed for two years, 1 month, and 27 days total and there was a possibility to leave. At least that was what he was told. Why did they need him for this?

"Are you serious? Can I see the burned book?" He inquired.

"Yes, we're serious." Eret answered, picking up a book to the left of them and handing it to him.

It was a thin book, but sides of it were burned and it was obviously worn. He opened it and started reading the Title. It felt like a long time since he had read Ender but it felt so much more natural than English did. The title read 'Various spells to get out of a place'. He flipped to the contents page. The very last one said 'How to escape a server'. He went to the page number and saw that the chapter was the most damaged and the number of people needed to complete the spell was burned off. Also that only Gods, demigods, or Royalty could do the spell and have it go right.

"And, I'm assuming you want me to help you with this?" He asked, looking up from the book.

"Yeah." Foolish replied.

"But I don't meet any of the Requirements. And, as far as I'm aware neither does Foolish." He said, closing the book.

"Well actually I do count. I am a god. I'll explain that more in depth later. And, you count because you are royalty." Foolish said smoothly like he didn't drop the biggest bombshell.

"I'm what?" Ranboo asked incredulously.

"You're royalty. You can't remember that because the end is blocked off here. You were part of the royal family in the end. Which is why we have to get the end unblocked first. So both you and Eret get your memories back." Foolish responded, taking the book out of his hand.

"I'm sorry, why do you know this?" He asked, standing up. "How the fuck do you know this? Is that even true?"

He normally wouldn't curse, he was known for not cursing but this was definitely a moment to.

"I kinda just do. It's hard to explain." Foolish answered. He muttered something as well but he didn't catch it.

"Do you realize how insane that sounds?" He asked, looking between Eret and Foolish. "Eret please back me up on this."

"Well. It is true. I don't remember much of being a god but I've been remembering more in little bits at a time each time we come closer to opening the end. I'm pretty sure, you were part of the Enderian royal family." Eret admitted.

"Unbelievable. I would say I'm gonna leave and not help but I literally have nowhere else to go." He said. "This is like the syndicate stuff all over again."

"Well, we aren't gonna force you to do anything if you don't. You can just stay here if you want. We wanted to talk to you because compared to the other people we would need, to do at least the opening server spell, you are the option least likely to kill us." Eret answered.

"And who are your other options?" He asked. "Surely there's someone better."

"Techno, Wilbur, Tommy, and dream. Dream is an obvious no. Techno, Wilbur, and Tommy are demigods and one of them hates most people and is the one you killed less than an hour ago. Ones dead. Tommy hates Erets guts. You would be the best person for this." Foolish responded.

"That just sounds genuinely insane." He said.

"But think about it, Ranboo. It makes sense." Foolish said, changing his voice to a softer tone.

He didn't want it to make sense but a part of him knew it was. The other part was multiple alarms going off, screaming red flags. A very small part of him still wanted to ask for Tubbos advice. But even though it had been less than an hour it was already embedded in his brain that Tubbo wouldn't be there like that again.

"I- I'll help. But, only for freeing the end. After that, I'll decide if I will help free the server. If I don't, neither of you stop me and you find someone else to help you alright? I won't get into something I can't get out of again." He said, stating his boundaries for helping.

"I understand. You're welcome to back out of this at any time." Eret spoke.

"I agree with Eret. Did we miss anything?" Foolish asked, turning to eret. Ranboo slowly sat back down.

"I don't think so. Now, we need to get you new clothes." Eret said, standing up. "Like, now."

Chapter Text

Ranboo was basically dragged from the room by Eret and taken to another part of the castle. He understood why, but his mind was still reeling from the fact that he was apparently royalty. And that Foolish was a god, Eret said they were to. It felt improbable.

"Wait, Eret, did you say you were a god as well?" He asked, looking down at the person leading them to a room.

"Yep, do I remember? No, I don't. Only little clips of my past." Eret answered.

"Like me." He said as Eret opened a door and led him inside. It wasn't that far from the library.

"Exactly. We both originate from the End or in my case, I was or am the god of the end. So, since it's blocked off we can't remember anything from our previous lives because that's where most of our memories are. So, as Foolish is guessing, it just blocks out everything. It also fucks up our memories here, though that should change. Hence, the need to unblock that as soon as possible. The others if they've been to the end don't have the memories from the end most likely, but we all know it exists. We can do it now that we have three people, we have everything we need but the problem is since we can't go to the end, for some reason the eyes of Ender are also banned. We can't craft them. So we can't find a portal for the ritual or spell. I honestly don't know what the hell to call it." Eret explained while they were digging around in a chest.

"I know where one is, Phil and techno made it the syndicate meeting room, though. They used the portal frame as a table. I think…" He trailed off and got out his memory book.

He went back to his cords page and looked at them all. They all had what they were next to them and he went past the syndicate room one and to the end portal one.

"I have the cords for another one in here." He said.

"No shit?" Eret said, taking something out of the chest and looking over at the book. "Well, I'll be damned. Where is that?"

"I'm pretty sure I was mining when I found it. I felt a pull, I followed it and then it just showed up. I was probably somewhere in the Arctic." He answered.

"Well that'll definitely be helpful. On another note, I have some clothes that should fit you. Might not be the best for the Arctic but I have plenty of cloaks you can just have or borrow." Eret said, handing over a dark red sweater. It looked hand knitted.

"Thank you. Are we gonna leave soon?" He asked, putting his memory book away.

"Yeah, we probably will. The sooner people remember things the sooner we can try to piece together the other spell." Eret said, walking back over to the door.

They exited the room and he was left alone. He walked over to the chest acting as a dresser apparently and placed the sweater on top. He started unbuttoning his shirt and was grateful he didn't choose today to wear anything that was a pullover. He took out his arms and then looked at the fabric. It was a lot more bloodied than he was expecting. Two holes in the fabric near to each other with blood staining over that half of the bottom of it. Then the back of the collar. He had forgotten Phil nicked the back of his neck. His hand went subconsciously to the back of his neck and luckily came back without blood.

He placed the shirt on top of the chest and then saw a slight scar on the front of his abdomen. It looks like Phil's sword went a little further than he realized. Compared to the back side it looked a lot better, the initial healing potion he took after must have helped that. He looked away from the scar and picked up the sweater putting it on with slight difficulty. The difficulty was that raising his arms too high caused a spike of pain, because of the tugging on the stitches.

He started to leave but his eyes got hooked on the mirror in the room. He looked at himself. He had hair that he could almost put in a ponytail since it had been awhile since he had a haircut. There were nicks and scratches on his horns. A small bit in the middle was straight up gone, not that you could always notice. He was pretty sure he had bags under his eyes. The faint stain of blood on his face. He rubbed at it to try to get it to go away. His split dyed face definitely had more scars than it did when he got here. He had to ask himself. How could he be royalty?

Ranboo tore his attention away and left the room. Eret wasn't really in sight but they soon were walking around a corner with Foolish. Foolish had on a thicker cloak and had a book bag at his side. Eret had apparently had time to change into a better outfit for the Arctic and also had a cloak. They had on a cloak in their hands as well. They got over to him fairly quickly, the hallway wasn't that long. Something he noticed was despite being 6'3 Eret was the shortest among them standing up.

"Got you a cloak." Eret said.

"Thanks." He said, taking it from Erets outstretched hand.

"Yeah, of course. I think we're set to head off if n-" Eret got cut off by a watery voice. Only one person had a watery voice on the server. The only ghost.

"Ranboo! Ranboo!" Ghostbur called from behind them.

He turned around to face Ghostbur. "Yeah, what's up?" He tried to act with a little joy.

"Hi, ranboo. So, I was near the tunnel and Snowchester 'cause I wanted to talk to Tommy and I noticed something shiny in the ground. So I picked it up and I noticed it was the ring that's usually around your horn. I figured it must have fallen off somehow and I came to return it." Ghostbur said happily, holding out the ring he had abandoned that very same day.

"Thank you, Ghostbur." He said, taking the ring trying to convey relief.

"You're welcome! Do you know where Tommy is?" Ghostbur asked.

"No, I don't. Good luck finding him though." He answered.

"Aww, alright. Bye ranboo! And Foolish! And Eret!" The ghost started floating away, while waving both his hands.

His smile dropped as soon as the ghost was out of view. Honestly this all felt like too much. So much was happening and he was agreeing to something that could very much end up exactly like the thing he just got out of. He left that there so he wouldn't have to remember part of all of this right now, but he was anyway. He put it in his pocket not even bothering to read the inscription that he had a million times before. He pulled on the cloak and tied it with ease.

"Time to go then?" He questioned.

"Yeah, what was that about?" Foolish asked as they started walking towards the exit of the castle.

"Nothing important." He said.

"Seems pretty important. I remember that thing was on your horn when we attempted to revive Wilbur. It's been awhile since that." Eret commented.

"Let me correct myself, it's not important anymore." He amended. It was important. It broke his heart to have to pretend it meant nothing.

"Oh, okay." Foolish said, walking towards the front of the trio.

Eret gave him a look that asked, are you sure? And he didn't have an answer. They got onto the path that led to the community house.

"So would the quickest way there be through the overworld or the nether?" Foolish asked.

"Definitely the nether. The quickest way would technically be me teleporting all three of us but through trial and error I have learned that will make me pass out almost immediately." He replied.

"Got it. That seems like a fun story. Want to tell it?" Foolish questioned. It felt like it Foolish trying to break the awkward silence.

"Sure, I guess. I don't remember much of it, but I do know that me, Tubbo, and Tommy were trying to get somewhere and it was far away. Tommy suggested the idea that I teleport us all. We all thought this was a good idea until we got there and I passed out." He shared.

They all slipped into silence as they started to go by the lake that surrounded the community house. They went through the community house and Ranboo moved forward to the front of the trio, needing to lead them through the nether. He personally felt like it might have been too early to go back there and Phil would be waiting to kill them. But he also wanted his memories back, he had to know if Foolish was telling the truth or not. As for that part of him knew it was probably true and the other was trying to figure out how it could be.

He entered the Community portal with slight discomfort. He didn't like the shifty feeling it had. They were in the nether almost immediately. The place was hot and not the place to be wearing cloaks but it would only be for a bit. The community portal was closer to the Arctic portal than it was the Snowchester portal. The path was a little wiggly considering Tommy had spent some time on it but it got the job done. After that, instead of continuing to where Tommy's exile island would be he turned into a little alcove that branched into another path. A much more well kept path.

"Holy shit, I didn't even know this was here." Eret said.

"That was kinda the point. If you wanted to find Techno or Phil, you'd have to go through the overworld. It would take much longer and they'd have more time to prepare. Phil's crows would have more time to tell him too." He replied.

"Phil's what?" Foolish asked.

"Phil's crows. Y'know the ones that fly around and gather information from people and then go give it to him." He answered.

"I didn't know that. I don't see crows very often." Eret said.

"I'm pretty sure that's because Phil doesn't actually hate you. He doesn't like you, he doesn't really like anyone but Niki and Techno, but he doesn't hate you. Not fully at least." He responded as the Arctic portal came into view.

He stepped in and flicked the hood of his cape on. Aether, he really hated this feeling. They arrived on the other side of the portal and stepped into biting cold. He was used to it but he wasn't so sure about the others. The sun was peeking out but the clouds covered it quickly. No need to light a lantern yet. Those things lit themselves anyways. It would probably snow soon. They all also probably should've put on armor beforehand.

"Is it just me that's annoyed by the nether portals?" He asked, taking out his memory book and flipping to the cords page.

"I think it's just you." Foolish answered.

"No, I don't like it either." Eret said.

"Maybe it's an End thing then." Foolish suggested.

"Maybe." He answered, shifting around until he was facing the right way. At least he assumed.

He started walking in the opposite direction of his house there. They could travel underground in his mines, but they'd get lost easily. It would be better to just dig a staircase down. They walked in silence again aside from the crunch of the snow. He could tell they were getting close when he felt a dull pull against his mind. He moved to open his communicator to check his cords and then realized he didn't have it. He felt the pull though, so they were close.

"We're close." He mentioned.

"Is that what that pull is?" Eret asked.

"Yeah, I guess since we both originate from the end we can both feel it." He answered distractedly. He was focused on finding the strongest pull point.

"Here." He said, pulling out his pickaxe and starting to dig a staircase down.

He mined the staircase with the other two following until the pull felt the strongest and started pulling sideways instead of down. He mined past the stone bricks and the stronghold was revealed.

"Here we are." He said.

When he stepped in the pull stopped. He wouldn't get the notification for him entering because he had before. Foolish and Eret might. Sure enough he heard two buzzes from their communicators. He put away his pickaxe and surveyed where they had entered. It looked familiar.

"Oh I forgot about that. Whoops. That'll be fun to explain if anyone asks." Foolish said.

"Yeah, so now we have to find the portal room. Ranboo do you remember where that is?" Eret asked.

"Maybe, this part of the place looks familiar." He murmured.

Ranboo touched the wall and started walking. He wasn't sure if the other two were following but he assumed they were. He didn't remember it being that big of a stronghold but he could end up being wrong. He could end up being very wrong. He let go of the wall and turned right at the crossroads. Then right again, it led to a spiral staircase, which he went down. He opened the wooden door and was met with the sight of the portal. He walked forward into the portal room, looking around it.

A sense of familiarity, something he had been feeling a lot more lately. The lava in the corners of the room popped a bit. He was ignoring it though instead taking in the portal itself. The pieces of endstone that made up the individual bits of the portal and then on top the eyes of Ender. He didn't have much time to examine it the last time he was here. He climbed up the stairs and stood in front of the portal.

"Alright, so the book says that we don't need to fill in any eyes but we need to stand in a circle. Which I guess since there's three of us that means every four portal frames. Do either of you want to speak it? The instructions are mainly in Galactic but the actual thing is in both Ender and galactic. I'm not too sure the galactic one is the right one, the words are terribly off, so I think the Ender one will be a better option." Foolish spoke from behind him.

"Let me see. I'll speak it, if you really want me to. I don't think Ranboo remembers Galactic." Eret said.

"Should I remember Galactic?" He asked, turning around slightly.

"No, well maybe, but it's alright. You're fine. Go ahead and stand on the right portal frame for the front side." Eret replied.

He stepped forward onto the portal frame and moved slightly to the right. He was now right where he needed to be.

"That's kinda cool. One of us, me, can only speak galactic out of the two. One can speak both and then one of us can only speak Ender." Foolish commented, walking on to the portal frame and going pretty much directly across from him as it was 4 portal frames away.

"Well, time to see if this works." Eret said, walking onto the portal frame and going to the middle of another with the book in hand.

"What if it doesn't?" He asked.

"Then… it doesn't. I don't know, hopefully nothing bad." Eret answered honestly.

"Alright. Are we all ready?" Foolish questioned.

"Yeah." He replied.

"I'm good to go." Eret said.

The room slipped into silence before Eret started speaking. He was more interested in the fact that his body felt like it was starting to float but was very clearly on the floor rather than listening to the words. He caught some of them. Like, 'The dragon', 'the end', 'world'. He paid a bit more attention when a small pain shot in his head. From the looks of Foolish and Eret they felt it too.

"Free the place that has been wrongly taken from us."

Green and Teal splotches of light appeared in the middle of the portal and a slight breeze started up. It formed together slowly. His eyes met Foolishs', who apparently both were surprised. Eret was too focused on not messing up the words. He heard the beginning phrase again and assumed it had to be repeated to work properly. Erets voice was louder than it was before. The words were clearer this time.

"Find and wake the dragon from her slumber,
The end goal has been stopped for too long.
Wake the world that has since been put away, return it to its former glory.
And, free the place that has been wrong taken from us."

During all of what Eret said in Ender the second verse the light grew steadily brighter. Alongside the steadily growing pain in his head. Then the light almost doubled in size as the wind picked up. The hood of his cloak was blown off and the light exploded. He felt his body actually move this time and his body slammed into the ground. His ears were ringing, his vision swam, and he was in pain. He probably wouldn't have passed out though if his mind didn't get forcefully shut down.

"MAMA! LOOK!" He said. Ranboo was pretty sure it was him. He felt like he was reliving a memory, and he was talking to his mother.

The space around him was a vast field with scattered trees and many flowers. He saw other people in the distance but that wasn't a concern to him apparently. He was looking at a purple flower, an allium.

"What is it dear?" A feminine voice spoke. The same one that helped when he was fighting Techno. Was that his mom?

"IT'S ALLI-AM! I LOVE ALLI-AMS!" He said giggling.

"Yes, it is. It's an allium. Can you try to pronounce that?" His mom asked. That's what he was assuming at least. He was sure it was.

A woman sat in front of him and was smiling. She looked like him, or part of him. Sparkling green eyes and black skin. She had pointed ears and tail. She wore a golden circlet on her head embedded with diamonds. Something he had never imagined anyone but Techno or Phil, maybe Eret and Foolish, wearing was what she was wearing. Very fancy clothes, a golden chain attached either side of her cloak.

The memory moved on before he could get any clearer look of her. He wished he could rewind it and look at her again but he couldn't. He'd remember it later. He was now looking back at the flower.

"Al-li-m." Little him tried.

"Al-li-UM." His mom said gently. She enunciated the part he was struggling on.

"Al-li-um." He said.

"Good. Now try it all together." She encouraged him.

"Allium." He sounded like he still struggled but he got most of it right. He couldn't believe this was him. That this was his memory.

"Good job, little one!" His mom praised.

Ranboo felt like he, or little him, was probably going to say something but the scene changed to one that he didn't recognize. It seemed like a party. It was in a Large hall that reminded him of the End. Many guests were talking while walking around and he knew he was taller than he was in the other memory. But, he wasn't as old as he was when he first got there. So just the younger him. He was weaving through the crowd and then escaping into another hall with much less people. His ears moved upward again, since the noise wasn't as bad. He walked until he got to a tall window and looked out. He sat down on the part of the window sill leaning out. He liked bay type windows. The void permanently in the sky and below them stared back at him. The music from the hall could faintly be heard from here. It felt like a nice change from it.

He couldn't remember what this was for yet but he knew that someone else would show up. It was strange, reliving a memory that had no one he knew yet. It also didn't seem to care about chronological stuff, it was just showing him random memories.

"Hello!" A voice said, sitting onto the window sill in front of him. It seems his memory was getting better. He felt a little more confident that he would remember a lot more after this.

He looked over and if this wasn't a memory he would've gasped. Someone who looked like Tubbo sat across from him. The same slightly curled horns, though they were shorter. Fluffy ears that reacted at anything and everything. The same brown eyes filled with excitement. He wore a suit that was a classic black and white with coattails.

"Hi." He said.

"I'm Tubbo Underscore. You're Prince Ranboo Beloved, correct?" Tubbo asked. This person looked like tubbo because it was Tubbo. A younger version, but Tubbo nonetheless. He knew Tubbo or at the very least met him before all this. But, because the end was blocked off, neither of them remembered meeting each other. That explained the feeling of familiarity when they first met, because it wasn't the first time they met.

"Yep, that's me. Just call me Ranboo please." He requested.

"Sure, and what are you doing out here boss man?" Tubbo asked. Even when he was younger tubbo would call everyone boss man.

"It gets overwhelming during parties sometimes." He said.

"Yeah, I get that. It gets loud when the more energetic songs come on. Tommy insists on staying in there the entire time, his ears aren't as sensitive as ours." Tubbo explained. Oh aether did he know Tommy before as well?

"Tommy?" He questioned. Younger him sounded a bit confused.

"Prince Theseus, he likes to be called Tommy." Tubbo said. I'm sorry, Tommy is a prince too? Alongside being a demigod?

"Oh okay. Is he your brother?" He asked. He knew that answer was a no now but young him didn't. But, he could be wrong.

"He might be, who knows. I don't know my biological parents, I got adopted by Lord Sparkles. So, I still get invited to events like these. But, probably not." Tubbo answered. He didn't know that. That was new.

"Oh cool, what part of the overworld do you live in?" Ranboo asked.

"I live in the Antarctic kingdom. Y'know where King Phil is. My dad is a lord there and so that's how the two of us met. Me and Tommy I mean. How much do you know about the overworld?" Tubbo asked him. Why is life?

"I know a lot, surprisingly. I've been quite a few times too, though definitely further south." He replied.

"It's actually not that cold there. It snows every winter but it gets decently hot in the summer. Nothing like the desert or Nether though." Tubbo said. He was learning all sorts of things about everything today wasn't he.

"Oh cool." He responded.

The scene changed again. He could tell he was still in the end but it was more ominous. The lanterns hung from his ceiling were even burning less than usual. He was pacing around what he assumed to be his room. There was a bed, a desk, and various other things.

"Pri- Ranboo it would be unwise to go to sleep any later." An enderman hybrid spoke from near his door. He didn't look at them so he couldn't get a description for now.

"I know. I just have this bad feeling and, do you not feel it? Somethings gonna happen tonight." He said. His eyes briefly looked towards the curtained windows.

Why did he have a bad feeling? When was this? He felt like he did when he joined the SMP. Was this right before he got taken?

"I do not. Why do you feel this way?" The person at the door inquired.

"The whole Royal family of the Antarctic Kingdom disappearing one by one. Does it not feel strange? Like, we know who runs that server and we know that it exists. There's a pattern in the people disappearing there. I don't know if it's just me or I'm going insane but I'm seeing it. It started with his friends right? And then a few random people, then Tommy and Lord Sparkles kid Tubbo. Then kinda random people, and then Technoblade and we officially can't get into contact with the god of the end. We couldn't before for a bit but this was just official. More random people and then Philza. There's a pattern.

"It goes to people with significance, people where he most likely chose them at random and then it repeats. Don't you see what I'm saying? If it continues the way it has, another important figure is gonna get taken. The only part of it that doesn't make sense is that this time no one was taken explicitly with him but…" He trailed off, stopping his rant.

"But there's too much time to have passed since then?" The door person suggested.

"Yeah." He felt himself untense. Oh, this must have been right before he got taken. "You're probably right. Nothing's gonna happen. I'll go to sleep now."

"Alright. Good night P- Ranboo." He heard a door close.

He laid down on the bed and It all faded to black. A green smile flashed in his vision and then the sound of birds. His first day on the server.

Ranboo jolted up and breathed in a bit of dust that made him cough. The whole place was dusty, the portal frames were fine but the surrounding area was pretty much gone. Exploded. He didn't see anyone, so he assumed they were behind him. He remembered meeting Tubbo before all this. He recalled briefly talking to Tommy later that same day. Oh aether he remembered everything now, it made his brain hurt. He needed to get to Tubbo.

"Oh aether, you're okay." Foolish said from beside him. He was half-sitting down next to him.

"Where's Tubbo?" He asked. He turned towards Foolish and saw Eret blinking rapidly. Like they were trying to get something out of their eye.

"He's not with us." Foolish answered.

"I have to find him." He said standing up. He heard Foolishs' protest but ignored him. He stumbled slightly but teleported out of the stronghold with ease.

Chapter Text

Ranboo found himself right where he needed to be. In the middle of Snowchester in the same place he was before. The sun was much brighter than the dim stronghold but he got used to it quickly. It was lower near sunset but that part didn't matter right now. He looked around and saw the dried blood from the fight. He also saw some of the weapons lying around. He recognized his communicator and walked over to grab it. That would be useful. He picked it up and slid it into the pocket of the cloak. He didn't know where to go next, hopefully Tubbo was still here.

He needed to explain everything and with the new information he had, he knew he had to do it now. He remembered everything from before the SMP, he could tell that there were still some blanks from when he was in the SMP due to things he still couldn't figure out. It didn't seem good though, he was pretty sure it had something to do with Dream. He started walking and making his way out of the pit. It was almost pure silence. He got out and looked out at the final ruins of the country. He had an idea that this pit was made by a prototype nuke Tubbo was working on, it wasn't radioactive, but it did a lot of damage. The field where the Mansion was supposed to be built, and where they had the party was ruined. Many different holes and such. Most of the small town he and Tubbo built was burned and in ruins. He walked over as quickly as he could.

The damage looked worse when it was right in front of him. Their main house was completely gone, the house that held Michael. He could see a figure that looked like Tubbo sitting in front of it with Tommy nowhere to be seen. One of the main emotions he felt was guilt. He had caused this and he couldn't undo it. God, he had screwed up, he wasn't gonna try and deny it. He messed up. He walked forward and sat gingerly to the side of tubbo.

"Tommy, I told you to go away." Tubbo sounded like he had been crying and at another glance he looked like it too.

He didn't know what to say so he started with, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. This wasn't supposed to happen." He could feel his own tears prick at his eyes. He was pretty sure of what happened and everything else wasn't supposed to happen either.

Tubbos head snapped towards him. Tubbo looked nothing like the kid he saw in his memories. In comparison to what he looked like before the SMP, there were a lot of differences. The firework scar that had almost taken out his left eye and half of his face. Bits of his left ear that were completely gone alongside the very top of his horn. Clothing more suitable for the weather and protection. Tubbo had taken his ring off as well. He still reminded him of his Tubbo but plus the anger that was completely justified.

"What the fuck do you mean this wasn't supposed to happen? Was more of the country supposed to blow up? Were you supposed to not get close to me? Were you supposed to get closer to Tommy as well and then completely fucking break his spirit?" Tubbo asked. Bitterness was in his voice.

"No none of that. Just- you wouldn't let me explain earlier. Just please let me explain everything. Please." He said, fidgeting with his hands.

"Two minutes. Explain." Tubbo said, looking away from him.

"Okay, after L'manburg you know how you and Tommy couldn't find me for like two weeks. Well that wasn't because I was planning this, I couldn't find you guys. Phil and techno took me in and took me to the Arctic. A couple days later they were like 'Hey, want to join the syndicate?' And I didn't really want to but they were kinda half-threatening to kick me out into the middle of the Arctic, which is really bad. I joined and then I finally got back into contact with you and Tommy. So, it was kinda for nothing and by then I was too roped in to leave. And, everything happened. They started planning the attack and I couldn't get it in my memory book so I forgot. Then… today happened. I remembered on my way over. I'm so sorry." He rushed.

Tubbo didn't answer immediately but the air got more tense.

"Michaels dead." Tubbo was barely audible. He could hear the waver in his voice.

"I guessed that." He whispered back.

"Why didn't you tell me? If you had just explained it all before it went south I would've understood. But you waited until it did go south and I still understand. Why didn't you just fucking tell me?" Tubbo asked, starting to shake.

"I- I don't know. I debated telling you a lot and never told the syndicate about this, Snowchester and me being a part of it because I didn't want them to hurt you. I was scared that they would do something. I didn't want anyone to get hurt." He admitted, wiping at his eye with the cloak before his tears could burn his skin.

"They would do something anyway. None of them fucking like me anymore. I wouldn't have gone and fought them if I knew. I would just understand you more. And I remember you. Like before all this. We met, it was only in the end but we knew each other. You were fucking royalty." Tubbo clutched his head.

"I know. Albeit I didn't know until a bit ago but yeah." Ranboo said.

"Funnily enough. The same for me. Do you know anything about that? Was that you too?" Tubbo asked.

"Eret and Foolish asked for my help to free the end. Not defeat anything, but the end is unblocked now. And with it our memories. It's why mine was so messed up, I still don't remember some things." He explained.

"Oh." Tubbo said. "Y'know I wish I could say that this felt like Erets betrayal but it felt so much more personal this time. It's been ten hours since I found out and with this new information I want to trust you again already; but I don't know if that's the right choice."

"That's understandable." He said. It was very fair Tubbo had no clue if this was just him trying to do something else. Tubbo could just be a very paranoid person at times. They all could be. He didn't know it had been ten hours since then but it explained the fact that the sun was setting.

"Gods, now I know why you talk so fucking formally and don't curse. Grown up in royalty but wasn't corrupted by Tommy." Tubbo sounded like he was trying to make himself laugh but was failing. Tubbo removed his hands from his head.

More silence before he heard a small sob. "Tubbo?" He asked, moving forward to look at the face of the goat hybrid. He moved one of his hands on Tubbos shoulder.

"It's so fucked up. It's all fucked up. The syndicate. The entire existence of this place. The fact that Michael died. Everything is just- It's not fair. And, I don't know what to do anymore." Tubbo sobbed. Tubbo had wrapped his arms around himself.

"I know. It'll be alright. Can I give you a hug?" He asked gently. He could feel his throat constricting as he held back more tears.

Tubbo nodded and he pulled him into a hug. Tubbo didn't hug back but leaned into the touch while he was shaking. Tubbos head rested on his chest. The fact that Tubbo trusted, or was at least acting like he trusted him again so soon was astounding.

"It's gonna be alright." He murmured. "It's all gonna end okay."

He felt a tear slip out and sting his face; then he started crying as well. "It's gonna be okay."

"But it's not. We're never getting out of here. My home has been destroyed so many fucking times I don't even want to try to build a new one at this point. I just want out of this goddamned server no matter what it takes." Tubbo whispered.

He didn't like the implications of that. "We aren't gonna do anything drastic but I swear we will get out of here." He whispered back.

"But-" Tubbo said.

"We are gonna get out of here." He said.

"How? How can you be so sure of that?" Tubbo asked with his voice cracking.

"Eret and Foolish have been working on a project apparently and they're pretty sure they found a way to get out of here. Parts of it are missing which is why they wanted memories back first. They want to see if they know anything that could be useful." He explained, releasing one hand from the hug to wipe away the stinging tears from his face.

"What parts are missing?" Tubbo asked. He seemed like he wanted to focus on anything else.

"The amount of people needed. Other bits of information that would be useful. One of the problems is that only certain people can do it." He answered. "It makes more sense when you physically read it."

"I'm dyslexic remember." Tubbo sounded deadpan. Which was a good sign.

"That is true." He said quietly.

"Who are the certain people?" Tubbo asked.

"Gods, Demigods, and Royalty. So not that many favorable people on the server." He answered.

"I guess count now that I remember this new stuff about you. I don't count via my father but I am still technically married to you, making me by law, or at least Snowchesters laws, Royalty." Tubbo mentioned.

"Oh crap, you're right. Do you think we could get Tommy to agree to help considering we don't know how many people it'll take?" He asked.

"Maybe, he went off somewhere because I told him to go away. He kept insisting that there had to be more to the story when I was yelling about and pretending you were there so I could curse you out. I was pretty fucking pissed earlier, I should've heard you out then but, I'm still a little pissed at you. With Eret involved though, I'm not so sure. It's not in the Minecrafts genes I guess to forgive easily. I know Tommy still doesn't like Eret that much." Tubbo said, sitting up and forcing himself out of the hug.

"Yeah that sounds about right. We should go find him. He deserves an explanation." Ranboo said, standing up.

He held out his hand for Tubbo. Tubbo looked up at him and took his hand. He hauled him up and then let go.

"You have more tear burns." Tubbo noted as they started wandering around.

"I do. It'll be fine." He said dismissing it.

"Ranboo I know for a fact those heal horribly and even though I'm a little mad at you, doesn't mean I'm a horrible person. Wait, fuck, it burned." Tubbo made the realization. The stuff that helps with his tears burns, magma cream, all of theirs had burned in the arson attack.

"Yeah, so it'll be fine, I can get some later." He said, deciding to add that to a mental list. He would probably forget anyways.

"I'm pretty sure Toms went this way." Tubbo said, veering off the relatively straight path they were going.

They walked together until they finally spotted Tommy pacing at the edge of the ocean. Which only happened when he was anxious. They got close enough that Tubbo stepped forward closer to Tommy and was going to tap his shoulder.

"Tommy?" Tubbo asked.

Tommy looked towards the pair and his eyes widened when he saw him. "Oh my prime, please tell me Tubbo listened finally. It made no sense that if you were gonna fight techno that you were part of the syndicate and-" Tommy was rambling.

"I am, well I was, I think now." He said.

He saw Tommy's face fall and a hint of dejection. "You fought Techno though. You killed him too, took one of his lives but you were on his side? It doesn't make any sense." Tommy said.

He took a deep breath and started retelling the story, "This is what happened then. I was involved in the planning of the attack; I forgot my Memory book at the time and didn't have time later to put it in. So, I forgot and then I remember, I guess earlier this morning, and I rushed here as fast as I could. I showed up, techno was about to kill you and Tubbo was already almost dead. So, I decided to fight him because I didn't want to join the syndicate in the first place. When I joined it was right after L'manburg, when I disappeared for a couple weeks. I couldn't find you guys and Phil decided to take me in. A couple days later, they wanted me to join and I had to, with the implied threats of getting kicked out into the middle of the Arctic. So, betrayal basically."

"I- I went back there. I saw the milk bucket. You still managed to kill Techno with poison, that's what the chat said. I don't get it." Tommy said.

"I haven't checked chat in awhile, that happened?" Tubbo murmured, pulling out his communicator.

He on the other hand pulled out the vial still in his pocket and showed it to Tommy. "This. I remember why I know how to make it now, but it's a special type of poison that milk doesn't really have any effect on."

"Huh okay then, where'd you get the cloak?" Tommy asked.

"That's a good question. Where did you get it?" Tubbo questioned, turning more towards him so that they looked like an awkward circle.

"Eret. That is also quite a story. Do you have memories of the end now?" He asked, ignoring the expression on Tommy's face. It read, What the fuck.

"One, what the fuck do you mean Eret? Two, have you ever talked to Eret before whatever that's about? Three yes but, don't try to change the topic." Tommy said.

"Tommy, it's a cloak. Erets been redeeming themselves. It's fine. I have an idea as to what it's about." Tubbo replied, putting his communicator away.

"Well, I wasn't changing the topic, Eret has something to do with this. I'll explain." He promised, putting away the vial of poison.

"Alright, it is this." Tubbo commented.

"We all know both Eret and Foolish weren't at the party. They didn't go because they've been working on something. Tommy, it's not anything bad." He added on the last bit when Tommy gave a look of apprehension. "Anyways Foolish found this book in Erets library that told him how to unban the end. Eret agreed to help, they needed a third person to help and that's where I got dragged in. Eret found me after the whole party shit went down and they brought me back to their castle where Foolish was. They told me about what they were planning to do and then after I got out of shock I agreed to help. Then, we went to this old end portal I found a while ago and had saved the cords of. The spell thing happened and then bam! Memories of the end are returned."

Both Tommy and Tubbo processed what he had told them. Tubbo knew parts of the story but the bit they were talking about it earlier they didn't talk much about it. He never went into detail.

"So, the end is unbanned now. We all knew the end existed but couldn't remember anything from then. I'm guessing that last bit." Tommy repeated.

"Yes." He answered.

"Why is that important? I don't think it is unless they also found a better way out of here." Tommy said.

"That's the thing. They did find a possible way out." Ranboo said, as Tommy glanced out at the ocean. Tubbo was waiting and gauging Tommy's reaction.

He could tell the moment that Tommy realized what he said because his eyes widened yet again. He wasn't really expecting the next words out of Tommy's mouth. "Absolutely the fuck not. No. We can't try that. Someone's gonna fucking die."

"What? Tommy, it's gonna get us out of the SMP." Tubbo said.

"I know and how much do either of you know about? Probably nothing. I hate to break it to you but even I know very little and I know someone's gonna die if we attempt it." Tommy countered.

"Tommy, what do you mean? How do you know someone's gonna die?" He asked softly.

"Because… Tubbo do you remember the two times Wilbur went on a trip? When were we around 8?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, one of them, he got back and was scared of the sea." Tubbo said.

"I remember this vaguely, I think it was mentioned to me once." He said, adding on.

"They weren't trips and the public was never told that because, honestly I don't fucking know, I wasn't allowed to tell you either but I don't care right now. Wil got pulled into a world where lava was slowly rising with another person, I would say who he is but none of us like him. He got out by the two of them using that spell and I saw Wilbur come through the portal and then collapse. He didn't have a pulse for almost 30 seconds. And it was terrifying, the energy that spell created with just two people in the server did kill him for a bit of time. Which is why we can't. It happened both times, I can't watch someone else die again due to that thing." Tommy rambled, his breath starting to go quicker.

"Tommy, it's gonna be alright. We won't do it until we know more information about it." He said, calmly.

"I know but when you've seen what I've seen. I had to watch him die every single fucking time. It was always me. He told me to run when he got shot, I did. I-" Tommy sucked in a breath and wrapped his arms around himself.

He watched as tubbo immediately pulled Tommy into a hug like he was grounding him. Which he probably was. He took out his communicator and opened it. He had a few messages from Eret. He clicked on them.

The_Eret: Where'd you go?
You don't have a communicator right now
Oops
Stay safe

He started typing out a message.

Ranboo: In Snowchester, probably teleport me, tubbo, and Tommy to your castle for the night
I'll go to sleep after will probably wake up 8ish hours after
You too

He exited the dm and went to the main chat reading what had happened since he lost his communicator.

The_Eret made the achievement Eye Spy
Foolish made the achievement Eye Spy
Ranboo made the achievement [REDACTED]
Foolish made the achievement [REDACTED]
The_Eret made the achievement [REDACTED]
Captain Puffy: ???
Antfrost: what

So not much. He didn't know what the redacted achievement was but he assumed it was but he assumed it was the thing that unbanned the end. For each person that participated in the spell thing, it was outside normal achievements hence the redacted bit. He closed the communicator and looked back towards the other two. They were much closer than he could ever hope to be. The two were separated now and Tommy breathing much more calmly than he was before. He wondered briefly how Tommy calmed down that quick before making the assumption that since he hadn't fully started panicking he was easier to calm down.

"Okay. No doing it until we get more information. If Eret and Foolish don't know, we'll have to try to talk to the other two who have experience with it." Tubbo said calmly.

"Yes, yep. Alright where are we going?" Tommy asked, his voice was a little shakey.

"Erets castle if that's alright. All the books are there. If you don't mind me asking, who was the other person?" He inquired.

"It's best that we don't talk to that person or about that person unless absolutely necessary." Tommy said, stepping a tiny bit forward.

"Alright. That's cool, we'd need to talk to Wilbur in that case. But, we only have Ghostbur who only remembers happy things. I don't think he'd remember it right now." Tubbo said.

"That is true." He answered.

"So we're stuck." Tommy prompted.

"A bit yeah, I can get us back to Erets castle for now. I'll just teleport us into the guest room I saw earlier, so I can pass out somewhere safe. I don't know when they'll be back but the library is down the hall from there. We can figure out what to do from there." He explained.

"I can't read English easily." Tubbo reminded him yet again.

"From the looks of it most of its in galactic or enderman. I don't recall if either of you can read that but, it'll have to do. I think there's other rooms you can stay in. I don't actually know." He said.

"Okay. You are very casual about passing out." Tommy said.

"Well I've already passed put once today cause something exploded." He mentioned offhandedly.

"I'm sorry what?" Tubbo asked, looking towards.

"Explains why your cloak has patches of bleaching and some singes." Tommy said at the same time Tubbo had spoken.

"Alright, we're going now." He rushed and grabbed one of each of the other two's wrists.

"Ranboo, I swear-" Tubbo started, but he had teleported them out.

They appeared in the bedroom Ranboo had been in earlier when Eret gave him the sweater and he immediately felt lightheaded. His vision doubled, he felt his knees buckle from underneath him and then he fell unconscious.

Ranboo opened his eyes to somewhere else. Obsidian lined the ceiling and lava was to his right. He reached over and pinched his arm. He felt grateful when he felt no pain, meaning this was a dream. He was fully aware this was a dream though, or maybe it was a certain someone trying to talk to him. He recognized the place. He sat up and saw Dream just staring at him from a corner. Well, this was going to go wonderfully.

"Hi ranboo." Dream said.

"Dream." He acknowledged, before standing up. He brushed the obsidian bits off his cloak and looked at Dream again. Dream was in the process of standing up as well.

"It's been lonely here. I miss being able to send you into the enderwalk state and talk to you. Those were much better days." Dream sighed.

He felt a little left out about whatever the hell he was talking about. "I'm sorry, my what? And, I never liked talking to you, you were very very annoying." He said.

"Your enderwalk state. You know how you still don't remember parts of your life here in the SMP, that's your enderwalk state." Dream said happily.

"And you could control it." He said cautiously. "Are you on this trying to convince me of things I didn't do again?"

"I mean… some of what I said, you did, yes that was a lie, but I have almost full control over you in that state. You'd mainly just wander around, some of your consciousness I guess was still there, cause I could never get you to blow up the community house. I never really got you to do anything. You fought back internally. Your mind is strong. I was much more careful with you than I was Eret. So, it felt kinda like a failure. That was a mess. I'm glad I finally contacted you again. I probably won't be able to trigger the state again but I can talk to you again." Dream rambled.

"Eret? What did you do to Eret?" He asked. It was good that Dream couldn't control him anymore, if he was to trust the information he was given. Which he had to, he had to hold on to the fact that dream had been lying before.

"Oh Eret was like you, they remembered nothing from before this. They remembered everything they did though and there was a physical mark unfortunately. A little smiley face on their neck. They probably haven't shown you. What I did with you had no evidence but was weaker. Overall failure." Dream said.

Bile built in his throat. "You- basically branded them?" He asked.

"Yep. Sometimes I regret the exile not only because I couldn't get Tommy as a pawn, but I lost my favorite one. Eret. Again, another failure." Dream answered.

"That just makes you a psychopath." He said.

"People keep saying that. I don't know why, it's making me a little angry. Oh by the way! I'll probably be getting out of here!" Dream sounded happy. Which for Dream would be good, but for everyone else it would be their worst nightmare.

"What? No, you have to stay here. How can you even get out of here?" He asked, trying to step forward but found that he couldn't.

"A magician never reveals his secrets, but I have to get out. You all aren't allowed to leave the server, I don't know where you all got that idea. I have to stop you all from leaving. Wilbur never fought it, he understood. Stuck in the water world, the lava world. Schlatt won't help either, he blocked it all out despite being the reason they got out both times. They both got it and understood their demise. They understood it would actually kill them if they tried it this time. Wilbur can't tell you anything anyways since he's dead, same with Schlatt. The fact that you're trying is what I need to shut down." Dream didn't seem to care what information he revealed.

"Schlatt and Wilbur? But, they were against each other." He said. "At least that's what I was told."

"They didn't used to be. They only really knew each other when they got kidnapped, they kinda associated each other with bad things but one of the only people who could keep each other alive. They were friends. I don't know why that changed." Dream answered. "Oh you're fading."

"What?" He questioned. He looked down and he saw that his body was indeed slowly disappearing.

"I guess this is all I can talk to you for today. This was wonderful, remember this and remember we had this conversation. Kinda upset it didn't last longer. Have a horrible day." Dream said.

His vision went black and showed various different scenes at a quick speed before it stopped at him in a deep body of water. He watched the surface fall away, he couldn't breath and the water stung. It felt like an eternity, that was probably only a few seconds, before he woke up.

His eyes snapped open and he gasped for breath. He shot up from the bed, starting to cough violently, then he almost fell off the bed. He only had one question stirring around his mind.

What the hell was that?

Chapter Text

Ranboo stood up fully, blinking and trying to calm himself down. This was all a mess and the new information revealed made it so much more of a mess. Dream had done so much shit and he already couldn't excuse him from the stuff he knew about. But physically branding another person being felt downright, he didn't even know how to describe it. It just felt unsettling. He knew he needed to talk to Eret as soon as possible despite the window showing it was sometime in the middle of the night. He also needed to find the bathroom. The second thing was something he needed to take care of first. The lantern light illuminated another door he hadn't noticed the previous day, which was either a bathroom or a closet. He hoped it was the former.

He walked over and opened the door breathing a sigh of relief when it showed that it was indeed a bathroom. He did his business, which now he remembered in the Main hub toilets were much nicer than the ones they had here. Everything was, they were practically 200 years in the past with the way they lived on the SMP. He stared at the makeshift sink before reluctantly, slightly dipping his hands in the water and spreading the water thinly over his hands. He made sure to do it quickly, otherwise it would've stung. He still didn't know why this method worked but he didn't get any more scars from it so he left it at that.

He left the bathroom and reentered the bedroom he was sleeping in before. He was still wearing his cloak, he didn't have much need for that right now and took it off. He placed it on the bed and grabbed his communicator out of the pocket and slid it into one of his pants pockets. He went over to the door that led to the hallway and opened it, looking out to see no one there. He padded down the hallway feeling the chill from some of the open windows. Why they were open he didn't exactly know. It might have helped regulate the heat during the day since it was almost Summertime here. Living constantly in cold places screwed up his sense of seasons and the way they worked. They didn't really have seasons in the end either, so that kinda added to how screwed up that sense was. The hallway was lit by lanterns as everything seemed to be here, it was much more obvious at night, but he didn't really mind it. The flickering always seemed nicer when it was contained unlike torches which were just out in the open.

It made him wonder if lightbulbs, he thinks he's remembering the name correctly, exist in the main hub due to advancements in redstone. Why did his room have lanterns in his memory? It would be simpler to just use lightbulbs. Though thinking about it more revealed that there were plans to finally change that and do major upgrades to the castle in the end right before he got kidnapped. Since, it hadn't for almost a Fifty years. It felt nice to have those memories back. He could recognize the voice he heard the day before as his mother now. Teaching him to fight with swords and various weapons just in case. They had dedicated days for that. He remembered that.

He stopped at the library entrance and peaked in. He saw Eret in there pacing around and looking agitated. He couldn't see their eyes to completely tell but it was enough from the frown on their face. He walked in and towards Eret. Erets head snapped towards him and they stopped walking. They were probably only a couple of meters away. They looked directly at him and it felt like they were staring straight into his soul. He felt like he physically couldn't move until they looked away. He noticed how there was no brand on their neck, maybe they made it go away somehow.

"Ranboo, wonderful to see you awake. Tubbo and Tommy were pretty mad at you for pulling that. They aren't now, I think they're asleep, they're in guest rooms. You have something you want to talk about don't you?" Eret spilled out before he could say anything.

"Yeah, I do. I had a dream while I was asleep." He started intentionally leaving a pause so Eret could register the words. They seemed pretty tired and focused on other things.

"Memories I'm assuming? I also passed out after the thing. I don't really want to go back to sleep right now." Eret murmured.

"No, not when I went back to sleep, like I passed out from teleporting, I mean. It was different, Dream managed to contact me in a dream and started talking to me. He was talking about something called the enderwalk state and apparently it's something where he literally controls me. He said he can't trigger it anymore, but it's supposedly part of the reason I have such a screwed up memory. He said that he supposedly never got me to do anything but I don't remember." He paused looking at Eret and their look of horror. "He said that the reason it wasn't as good of control was because there was no evidence, the energy needed to keep it going was going more to making sure I didn't remember anything from that state."

"Oh my aether, I'm so sorry Ranboo. I thought he wouldn't try it on anyone else, I would've tried to stop him. He didn't physically do anything for it right?" Eret asked, adjusting their sunglasses.

"No." He answered.

"That's good." Eret hummed.

"He also mentioned what he did to you. The branding, nothing else." Ranboo hesitantly mentioned it.

"Ah." Eret said. He looked at them and they seemed indifferent but the steady shake of their hands canceled that out. He probably shouldn't have mentioned that.

"I'll move on. After or maybe before that he mentioned he might get out of prison. Then it moved on to random things that went by so fast I couldn't process them. Finally it shifted to like an ocean, I was drowning for a few seconds, and then I woke up." He said.

"Well that's quite- That's definitely something. Did he mention how he was gonna get out or..?" Eret trailed off, running a hand through their hair.

"No, he said and I quote, a magician never reveals his secrets. Then He started rambling about how we weren't allowed to leave and at least Wilbur and Schlatt had understood that." He answered.

"Why would Wilbur and Schlatt understand?" Eret inquired, looking towards the bookshelves briefly.

"This has happened to them before apparently. Wilbur at least, Tommy didn't mention Schlatt directly but Dream did and pretty much told me they're connected. They were in those world's together." He replied.

"That makes a little sense, Wilbur was always ignoring the situation at hand and instead making the best of it. At least when I was still with L'manburg. That might have changed, I don't really know." Eret responded.

"Tommy mentioned he'd seen the Spell portal to get out of here partially in use. He saw it from the other side, when the portal just appeared. He keeps going on about how it might kill one of us if we try it." He shared.

"Yeah, he mentioned that when I got back, never said anything about Wilbur though, there was a bit of arguing but I think we're on okay-ish terms right now. Me and Foolish still don't know how many people it requires. It could be one of those that changes based on how many people are on the server or one that just has a minimum. It's just us running off as little information as we can. We might need to talk to Wilbur about it. I know neither Tommy nor Tubbo wants to talk to Schlatt. Worst comes to worst we have to talk to Phil or Technoblade." Eret said.

"Alright so, we have nothing new on it except it could kill us pretty easily." He stated.

"Yep." Eret agreed with him.

"Well that's wonderful." He said, sighing.

"We do have new information, useful information, via your vision though. We know Dream is definitely going to try to escape and stop us. That puts us on a timer, for how long we don't know. I'd say a couple days minimum, I remember some of what Dream could do before all this now and it's not good. He's a demigod, I probably mentioned that earlier, but his siblings are gods. XD and Drista, he can't do the extent of what they can but he can do a little. XD is one of the Gods of Reality, he can manipulate more of his surroundings rather than what people see. Perception, we aren't gonna get into them, they're not important right now. Drista is the goddess of chaos, she just wreaks havoc. Dream, if I remember correctly, can manipulate parts of his surroundings. It takes effort for him though, that's where the issue comes in.

He's clearly got enough energy to contact you, but that means he's getting stronger, probably conserving his energy. I don't know how much it would have taken to contact you but all I can say is we might be screwed. He could very easily get out soon, as in today. For all we know he could be out right now. We have to be ready at any given moment." Eret said.

He took a deep breath and asked, "So, What happens if he does?"

"We pray to whatever god or gods are here and listening, other than me or foolish, and we either kill that fucker or die trying." Eret answered with complete seriousness in their voice.

A lapse of silence.

"What happens if he gets control of you again? He said he couldn't do it to me, I'm not sure if that's true but he didn't say that for you." He said.

"Ranboo, if he gets control of me again I don't care what the situation is, you get everyone else and you leave me behind. I remember the things I can do now and it would only meet everyone's death or something worse. If that mother fucker does it again, I want you to run alright." Eret said.

"Why? What can you do?" He asked.

"Not good things and it would hurt everyone. So if that happens, run. I don't want to hurt anyone while under his control." Eret said.

"Okay, but what will happen to you?" He asked.

"You don't need to worry about that." Eret answered, giving them a faltering smile.

"But I am worried, which is why I asked." He pressed on.

"I know, and as long as you go if that happens. Everything will be fine." Eret responded. "It's like 3 in the morning and you need more sleep."

"What. It was serious conversation time." He protested.

"I know but it's still early morning. We'll continue it later." Eret said.

"I literally just woke up." He deadpanned.

"You still need sleep. I probably do too." Eret said, before moving to walk out of the Library.

"How does it work? Like how does he control you?" Ranboo asked, turning around towards them.

"He- he has to get close, he can't start it from far away but after that when I'm out of control. It doesn't matter after that, no matter where he is he can control me. Until he stops it. I remember all of it unfortunately. You'll know because my eyes will look more like Foolishs' eyes, more green. As for powers, think of withers. That's all that's really important." Eret said before leaving the room entirely.

He stood there, staring at where Eret had been. Maybe he shouldn't have pressed the topic, but it was pretty important and they needed to talk about it as soon as possible. Maybe three a.m. wasn't the best time though. Yeah, it probably wasn't. What the hell could withers have to do with this? He sighed, walked over to one of the chairs and sat down. He could try to read over everything they had at least if he couldn't sleep.

Ranboo didn't get back to sleep that night, instead choosing to read and look over the various books and notes that Eret and Foolish had collected on the table. There were a lot and he didn't regret it. He learned a lot more about the details of everything, including some things he probably wasn't supposed to be told. There was one book, hidden underneath everything that he had opened up. There were profiles on almost everyone on the server written in English, by who he wasn't sure, that he glanced through. The information he saw on himself was scarily accurate. Honestly, everyone. It included advantages, disadvantages, fighting style, and bits of information that someone shouldn't have even been able to guess. Like, what weapons they prefer to fight with and if they liked to wear armor. Stuff like that. Part of him wanted to know how the hell whoever this was had gotten this and why, and the other half wanted to just leave it alone.

He decided on leaving it alone and finally just closed the book and placed it back where it was. He got up from the seat and looked around the rest of the library. He could see soft light outside the window and guessed that it was close to sunrise. Maybe, even after, he wasn't sure how long he had been sitting there.

"Hey." A voice that sounded like Tommy said.

He jumped slightly and turned around. Tommy stood at the door and was also staring at the window. He looked a little tired.

"Hello." He responded.

"How'd you sleep?" Tommy asked.

"Eh, dreams. You?"

"Nightmares, but when do I not get nightmares?" Tommy said, leaning against the doorway.

"Ah. So you didn't get much sleep either." He ventured.

"Nope. Shit is gonna happen today, I have a feeling. I've already seen Foolish up and about. Tubbos sitting in his room staring into the distance. Erets just waking up, and you're in here frantically reading. My nightmare was about Dream, cause again when is it not, but it was different this time. It was if he escaped, it felt weirder than your average nightmare." Tommy informed him.

"Dream talked to me in my dreams." He mentioned.

"Really, what'd he have to say?" Tommy asked.

"A lot. The important bit is he's insistent on keeping everyone here and said he plans on escaping." He answered.

He saw no shift in mood in Tommy's eyes. No shift in his posture.

"Of course. We should probably get everyone up and together. Tell them about that shit." Tommy said. He sounded vaguely scared and tired. The type of tired that was tired with life, not physically tired.

"Eret knows, we talked about it a bit at like three in the morning. Then, they went to sleep. I don't think they really liked talking about that." He said.

"Who would?" Tommy asked rhetorically.

"Fair point." He said before walking towards the door.

Tommy turned away from the window and walked out of the doorway. He quickly caught up and walked next to him. They walked through the corridors and past both open and closed doors of the almost empty castle. He was pretty sure they had gone around it a few times by now.

"Don't know why you're following me. I was just planning on finding and raiding Erets kitchen if they have one. I ran out of the food I had on me." Tommy said suddenly.

"Oh, I'm not sure where that is or if they even have one but they probably do. I might have-" He got cut off by a door next to them opened.

Foolish came out of the door and said, "Oh! Good just the people I wanted to see. Ranboo, Tommy, I need you two to get Tubbo and Eret. I figured if the information won't come to us. We'll go to the information. It makes the most sense."

"What? Foolish, please explain." Tommy said.

"Okay, we don't know everything we need for getting out of here. But Wilbur has, we can try to summon his actual soul and talk to him and ask." Foolish said grinning, starting to walk away maybe to also find the two others.

"But how can we do that?" Ranboo asked, going after him.

"Oh that's easy. That's why I need Eret, Tubbo, actually Tubbo can probably continue whatever he's doing. Maybe eret too, I might be able to do this alone." Foolish answered, before turning towards where the stretch of bedrooms were.

He stopped and stared, perplexed where Foolish had turned. That short conversation felt like whiplash.

"What the fuck." Tommy said, catching up to him.

"I… agree. What was that?" He questioned.

"I swear this server gets to people. I swear if someone else is going insane, I'm gonna fucking lose it." Tommy half-threatened.

"I think I'd be worried as well." He answered, before remembering to open his inventory and check for food. To his delight he found some bread baked by Niki that she had given him a few days ago. When they were still friends.

"I have some bread, it's home baked, not crafted." He mentioned, bring out the small loaf.

"Oh fuck yeah." Tommy said with enthusiasm that wasn't there before.

He ripped some of it off and handed it to Tommy before ripping off his own piece and putting the rest of it back in his inventory. The two of them started wandering around the castle again. He took a bite and the burst of flavor reminded him of how creative Niki could get with bread. They only really had sour berries in the Arctic and she still managed to make her bread taste sweet. This was probably the last loaf he was gonna get.

"This is Niki's isn't it." Tommy's voice was soft and filled with varying different emotions.

"Uh, yeah it is. I probably have something else if you don't want it." He reopened his inventory to check for something else.

"No, it's fine. I… just haven't had her baking in a while." Tommy answered. His voice was wavering.

He closed his inventory and looked at Tommy. He looked like he had tears in his eyes.

"The last time I had this was L'manburg." Tommy explained when he inevitably saw Ranboo looking curiously at him.

He nodded and didn't push it any further. He had done that once today already and came to regret it. He didn't need to do that again. The two of them wandered back into the library and sat down waiting for the inevitable chaos that would descend with a sleep deprived Foolish, and however the other two were feeling. Tommy sat across from him and kept trying to make any sense of the book that he admitted he couldn't read. The two got their answer when Foolish came in with a very tired Eret behind him and a vaguely annoyed Tubbo. Tubbo sat across from Ranboo as well and next to Tommy.

"Why do I have to be here?" Tubbo asked, stifling back a yawn.

"Honestly you don't really need to be but I think we should all stick together for now." Foolish admitted.

"Good idea, Foolish do your thing we'll talk about Ranboo's vision afterwards." Eret rubbed at their eyes under their sunglasses and sat down next to him.

"Oh I already did that we just got to wait for him to show up. He'll just appear. It should take- Ah. There he is." Foolish said happily, pointing towards a certain ghost.

Ghostbur floated above the ground, at the head of the table closest to him. The ghost looked mildly confused.

"What the actual fuck is this?" It was decidedly not the voice of Ghostbur and someone else entirely. It wasn't watery but it was echoey, like they were in a large cave. Ghostbur didn't curse either.

"Wilbur?" Tommy asked almost immediately.

When he looked at the other he looked surprised but also happy.

"Yes, that's me. I don't know… how though. I'm not alive, I know that." Wilbur said. He had never met Wilbur except in passing before the server but not enough to know what he sounded like.

"No, you're still not alive. I simply channeled your soul into the ghost version of you. When we're done talking to you, you can go back to your limbo." Foolish answered.

"Alright, what's going on? Why is Mr. End prince that Tubbo became friends with here and Eret." Wilbur said.

"Wil, they want to try the server escape spell." Tommy said before anyone else could say anything.

He watched the ghosts face cloud over and turn sour.

"That's… not what I was expecting. Well, I don't know how many people you have on the server now, how many is it?" Wilbur asked.

"Roughly 30, including the dead people." Eret answered.

"Alright, you might be able to do it. The specifications are the most messed up instructions I've read. Tommy I never explained it to you because while yes it could kill you the only reason the spell ever killed me was because it had a minimum of 2 people required. There were two people but could only be gods, demigods or Royalty. Blah, blah, blah, too much energy for a mortal body when only having one person which is why I died those two times, because too much energy went through my body. It was supposed to be shared between two people since that's just the starting power. One of those people represents around 5 people on the server, so at most you'd need around 6 people. I know only three people here who count. I'd say you need at most three more." Wilbur rattled off the information.

"Resident god of the end actually, and Tubbos platonically married to Ranboo still technically making him royalty under Snowchester laws. We'd just need one more at most." Eret replied. He didn't even question how they knew the bit about him and tubbo.

"See, there, problem solved. Can I go back to being dead now?" Wilbur asked.

"No, we still have an issue. Everyone one else who is a candidate for this hates our guts." Foolish reminded Wilbur.

"You could get techno to do it, he doesn't really hate you guys, he hates the idea of governments because of Phil. Phil ruined a lot of things. I think techno is finally getting free from favorite child syndrome and realizing how fucked up our father has always been." Wilbur said.

"In case he didn't see you when he got killed yesterday but he got killed because he tried to fucking kill me. The whole syndicate, so there goes Phil as well. Even if he's changing, he's out for my guts. He wants revenge, I know he does." Tubbo said.

"Oh no, I did see him, he was honestly a little calmer than I expected, going that long without seeing our mother kinda fucked him up. He got a lot of clarity while he was there and a ton of guilt. We just hung out for about four days, which for you guys is only like I don't know an hour. Time in limbo is weird. He told me a bunch of stuff, including that he wants out of here. He's probably willing to truce for this, then after you two can go back to ignoring each other." Wilbur said.

"What part of he tried to fucking kill me, do you not understand? I was able to forgive him the first time since Schlatt was fucking egging him on and triggered the voices but he was completely sane for this." Tubbo looked like his next words would be shouted if Wilbur didn't get it through his head.

"Actually he wasn't, fun fact the voices have had more control of Techno over the last few weeks than techno has had. Not really been noticeable but the evidence has been there. He really did want to retire, I promise." Wilbur commented.

"That's when we started planning the attack." He said without realizing. The dots connected together in his head now that he could actually remember. The small flickering amount of red in technos eyes when they were planning.

"Exactly. Foolish, please let me go now." Wilbur said.

"No, we need a reliable person to help. That could be you." Foolish suggested.

All of a sudden what Foolish was planning was obvious. More dots Ranboo hadn't even known were on the board showed themselves and started forming a picture and a way out. Wilbur looked like he was thinking it over.

"Maybe. Talk to Techno. If he refuses to call for a truce, feel free to summon me again and figure out how the hell to get me alive again. Though if you find another choice please ask them. I don't know if I can do that again." Wilbur said.

Ghostbur and Wilbur disappeared to the surprise of everyone. Everyone stayed still and silent for the time it took for him to count five. Then Tubbo got up from his chair and stormed off. He got up and ran after him. Shit just went from bad to worse.

Chapter Text

Ranboo spent some time trying to find Tubbo before finding him in the atrium type room that Eret built, screaming in anger and throwing his coat on the ground. The yelling really should've led him there but he was there now. To him it was a little hot outside with the rising sun so he rolled up the sleeves of his sweater. Tubbo had done the same with his green long sleeve shirt that he usually wore under his winter coat.

"I DON'T WANT A GODDAMN EXCUSE FOR THIS." Tubbo yelled, kicking a tree. "I JUST DON'T WANT TO FUCKING SEE HIM AGAIN. NEVER. NO MORE INTERACTIONS. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO FUCKING ASK? HE'S TRIED TO KILL ME COMPLETELY SANE, I DON'T CARE WHAT WILBUR SAYS."

He stayed silent and let Tubbo let out his anger. He took the chance a few minutes later when tubbo was yelling less to approach him.

"What?" Tubbo snapped towards him.

"Nothing really, I just followed you out here to see if I could help in any way." He said softly. He tried his best to convey his concern in his voice.

"Well Ranboo, you probably can't. We'll have to talk to Technoblade. What else can we do? He fucking hates me, I fucking hate him. He's been a bit of a prick since I met him. Did you know he's the only one of his siblings that remotely inherited any sort of powers from their mother? Or at least any that are noticable? How do you think he's practically invincible? And, how he never fucking dies? It never helped growing up that Phil automatically favored him over Wilbur and when Tommy was born. Techno was favored over both of them. He's been fucking coddled and favored his entire life. I know that he doesn't really have a choice as to who Phil's favorite is, but he could have made it so much less obvious. That's the reason those two don't particularly like him, and the fact that they still make excuses for him. I heard so many times over the years from Tommy that everything was fine when I knew he was just seeing my dad more than he was his own.

And, I knew I couldn't do anything. They both hated Techno for a while and now they're back to making excuses again. At least Wilbur is. I don't want them. I swear to all the gods if they pull blood is thicker than water bullshit again, I'm gonna lose it. That's not even the fucking quote, I'm dyslexic and I know. It's fucking the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. It's literally saying the opposite of what they want it to mean and believe it to mean. It means Technos still a fucking prick, and I don't want anymore excuses for it. I doubt he even knows how much emotional turmoil he gave his brothers over the years. It pisses me off so much." Tubbo ranted, sharing the dark history hidden behind bright smiles of the Antarctic Kingdom Royal family. Tubbos' ears had gone completely flat against his head.

"How- how could Phil keep that a secret for so long?" He asked.

He already knew from the family's interactions on the server there was some sort of thing going on in the background. Each new crack in the porcelain that showed what seemed like a perfect family relationship before, shined brighter in his mind. He remembered during doomsday Tommy yelling at Phil that Phil never cared about Wilbur and that he was his son too. That held so much more weight than when he initially brushed it off. He didn't even remember it until now.

"I don't know. I know at least my father is sworn to keep what happens inside the castle a secret. Could be dozens more people." Tubbo said angrily. "Phil has secrets and none of them are good. That fucking facade of his is shit to anyone to truly knows what he's like underneath. He never acknowledges it, which I think makes it worse. It's all just bullshit. Sorry, but I doubt you were even able to tell it was a facade."

He didn't know how to respond. He had thought that Phil was someone with questionable morals, but he acted nice. He talked to him and brought him supplies when he was first trying to make a home in the Arctic. When he had almost nothing and the wrong gear so the snow melted on his skin. He helped him until he deemed that he could provide for himself and then still helped. That had changed so drastically when he killed Techno. Phil had switched on him so quickly. Niki had seemed passive unsure, yeah she was still mad, but she didn't look out for murder.

"I think you're right, on both parts I mean, I didn't see through the facade. I'm thinking back on it now. From what I saw on this server, Phil favors techno over all of us. Doesn't even apply to just his sons. When I betrayed the syndicate almost immediately after I killed Techno, Phil was out for me. He tried to kill me, and he used to have this really helpful act. Obviously that isn't to the same extreme but I think that's a bit of it that I've seen." He rambled.

"Yeah, no, that's a perfect example." Tubbo said, flicking one ear more toward the tree. "He didn't almost kill you, did he?"

"I mean… I don't think so. Supposedly, according to Eret, if they hadn't found me and gotten me stitched up I would've died, but I don't think it was that bad. I mean I know it was bad enough that potions didn't help but I wouldn't have died." Ranboo stopped himself before he made it worse. At the incredulous expression of tubbo he deemed it was too late for that.

"Did you almost bleed out, or would have bled out?" Tubbo asked, walking a few paces away from him. They were both under the shade of one of the trees in the atrium.

"Probably to the second." He answered.

"Holy shit. Honestly at this rate, I'm just gonna kill Phil myself, but why add to the list of reasons Technoblade hates me. You have bandages on it now right?" Tubbo asked.

"Yes, I do. Gauze, and then tape keeping it there, after the stitches. No, I don't know how Eret has tape, but I don't want to know." He replied.

"Good, how many hits did techno get on you? I should've asked that earlier." Tubbo said.

"Not really, I got stabbed once, I think I got grazed on the rib but I didn't really notice that. It didn't hurt. I got more techno than he got me." He explained.

"I thought Phil stabbed you?" Tubbo inquired.

"I technically got stabbed twice in roughly the same spot which is why I needed stitches the second time. I am not making any of this better am I?" He questioned.

"No, you're not." Tubbo sighed. "You're not in danger of dying now, right?"

"Unless you decide to kill me, no." He tried for a joke.

"Ranboo, that's not funny." Tubbo said dryly. He looked significantly calmer than when they started this conversation. Which was the goal.

"Well, it was supposed to be. I am fine now and will be fine unless I get into another fight." He promised.

"That doesn't sound that promising but I'll allow it. Should we go back inside and talk about… that." Tubbo grimaced when he said the last word.

"Probably, then I'll need to inform everyone of the vision/dream I had. Which wasn't really a good one." He admitted.

"Wonderful, is it gonna do anything over the next couple days?" Tubbo asked.

"No, nothing should happen over the next few days except for figuring placements for the spell and all that. At least hopefully." He answered.

"Good, let's go back inside then. It's a bit cooler inside, I don't like how hot it is outside. I'm too used to freezing air." Tubbo grumbled, moving past him.

He didn't respond, instead followed Tubbo yet again, this time inside. The atrium entrance, at least this exit led to the hallway that went down to the library where everyone else would be. A breeze floated into the halls and through them from the open windows. The glass portion seemed to have a makeshift type of hinge so he assumed during the winter they were closed tightly. In Snowchester and the Arctic they had Windows but they never opened and during the winter there were boards tightly shut so as to let as little cold in as possible. Tubbo had the technical skill to manufacture and replicate actual hinges from the main hub. Tubbos' skills were why they had a forge and a workshop in the basement of their main house. It helped regulate the house temperature as well. He didn't know how the places in the Arctic had proper hinges, but he never complained.

"Erets hinges are makeshift ones, they don't have proper ones. We could probably get them some if we had time, I might even have time to replace them. It would mean less of the glass breaking. It's probably broken at least once, if you can see that one has stress fractures on the top one. The next time it moves, it'll probably break." Tubbo pointed out one of the glass panes.

"Ah." He said.

"Yeah, one wrong move from the wind and it's gonna shatter." Tubbo explained.

"Interesting." He murmured.

They went into the library and sat back down ignoring the concerned looks from Tommy. Tubbo sat next to Tommy and he sat on the other side of him.

"Alright, are we good now?" Eret asked quietly.

He glanced at Tubbo as he nodded clearly, still a little irritated by the predicament. It seemed earlier it was masked with concern for him.

"Alright then, before we contact techno, Ranboo want to explain your vision now?" Eret asked, looking at him through their sunglasses again.

"Sure. All of it? Or just the important bits?" Ranboo asked for clarification.

"I think just the important bits are fine, that's a majority of it anyways." Eret answered.

"Oh okay." He took a deep breath. "So last night after I passed out, I got a dream or more so it was Dream contacting me through my dreams. He started by mentioning the enderwalk state, which I didn't know about before. It's a state of mine that apparently Dream could control. Which is another factor as to why my memory was so and still is screwed up. I can't remember anything from that though because of that and another thing. Supposedly he can't do it to me anymore. It was much weaker than the first time he tried it…" He trailed off looking at Eret asking for permission. That was their business and he didn't want to accidentally reveal it. Eret nodded as a sign for them to continue.

"The first time he tried it on Eret. Which was more of a success apparently. They still remembered everything that happened and the other thing existed. So, from what I've been guessing because of what I was told, Dream didn't get me to do things, but did get Eret to do things. I don't know what those things are. Then, he started rambling about how he was gonna escape and how we weren't allowed to leave. Then my talk with him ended and I woke up. I talked with Eret about 3 a.m. and learned some stuff about Dream that will be helpful." He explained.

"Holy shit. He's not actually gonna escape is he?" Tommy asked, sounding worried.

"It's Dream. He'd definitely try, and he's a demigod like you Tommy. He inherited powers from his mother, they're like his siblings, XD and Drista. You know what it is." Eret spoke with a tone of acceptance as if they had already accepted that the plan might be doomed.

"Reality manipulation." Tommy answered although he didn't sound happy about it.

"Tommy, wouldn't he have tried before though?" Tubbo asked.

"No, if he's smart, which unfortunately most of the time he is, he'd wait and build up the energy it takes to use those powers which takes much longer for demigods than it does for Gods. Personally, I think we might have a few days at least before he tries anything. Talking to Ranboo would have taken some energy and he might need to wait for a few days before attempting something like that." Eret answered.

"That's a lot of mights' my friend." Foolish commented for the first time in the conversation.

"I know. That's why we need to get in contact with Techno as soon as possible. I know it's only been a day since the attack on Snowchester and I'm not gonna force the other three to contact him. Which means it has to be me and Foolish. He's less likely to answer with an immediate no. You three should go down to the clearing behind my castle. It's shaded by a big tree in the middle and if you two, Tommy and Tubbo, want to get in the water there's a river that cuts through there." Eret said. "Have some fun before all this goes down. You're kids."

"I think that's a good idea." Tubbo said, startling him slightly by standing up.

He and Tommy stood up as well. He wasn't really sure if that was the best idea but maybe it was. Just a chance to relax and be kids, that wasn't something you really did here or in the royal family. Honestly it did sound nice.

"If you guys want less wintery clothes there's some in the room that Ranboo was sleeping in. I kinda just have a shit ton of clothes in there from trading. Maybe, some shoes. Feel free to grab whatever you want." Eret said distractedly.

"Pog." Tommy said, wandering out of the room.

He and Tubbo followed. They were the ones Eret was meaning they both still had their Clothes they'd wear in the taiga that was Snowchester or in his case the Arctic as well. Tommy just had on his classic red and white t-shirt, jeans, and a ratty pair of sneakers. He normally had a jacket he'd wear when he visited them but he had ditched it somewhere. Tubbo had the aforementioned long sleeve green shirt, jeans, and thick boots. Usually they both wore some sort of thing over the jeans as a second layer. It was woolen and designed for keeping out snow and keeping you warm.

He remembered it being cold in Snowchester yesterday, probably just below or above freezing. He hadn't been paying much attention to that at the time, and he had decent clothes for it then too. He didn't remember why he didn't when he initially showed up. But it had definitely been cold. The Arctic was probably in the single digit numbers yesterday, but he wasn't outside in both places for long so maybe that's why.

"Hey, Ranboob." Tommy said suddenly.

"Don't call me Ranboob, we've been over this." He said, opening the door to the bedroom.

"Yeah, sure, alright. I didn't want to ask this earlier but what the hell is the other thing you kept cryptically mentioning." Tommy said.

"Ah, that is something you ask Eret about. I don't want to overstep their boundaries." He explained.

"Cool, which chest has the clothes? I'm tired of these goddamn boots they're heating up my feet." Tubbo said, opening one of the chests and closing it.

"I think it's this one." Ranboo answered, opening another chest and finding various clothing options in it.

"Awesome." Tubbo said, taking over the holding the chest open and starting to rifle through it.

He stepped back next to Tommy and looked at him. Tommy looked concerned and he followed his gaze. The bloody button up in the corner of the room. He wasn't surprised it was still there, but he put it there so it wouldn't be noticed.

"Pardon me for bringing up another heavy topic but why the fuck is there a very bloody shirt in the corner?" Tommy asked.

He grimaced and for the first time in awhile actually registered that his ears went down a little. That was good.

"Oh shit, that is- Ranboo wouldn't you need a new shirt after getting stabbed?" Tubbo asked, turning towards him with a dark green short sleeve shirt, and a pair of sneakers in hand. Tubbo was looking at the red sweater he was wearing.

"Listen, I know that looking at it looks bad but I'm fine. We went over this earlier tubbo." He answered, feeling his tail start moving around slowly. That was good as well, he didn't know why he hadn't been registering his hybrid features moving it was good that they were. Maybe it was because he was focused more on other things.

"That's still a ton of blood my guy." Tommy commented.

"Moving past that, You found something tubbo?" He asked, looking down at what was in Tubbos' hands.

"Yep, I'm gonna change into it in the bathroom or closet or whatever that is." Tubbo said, moving past him to the bathroom door.

"Cool." Tommy said as Tubbo slipped into the bathroom.

He moved forward towards the chest and knelt down to start moving through the chest. There wasn't a lot that looked his size but eventually he found a black short sleeve shirt that looked his size. There were a few pairs of sneakers down near the bottom. Probably where tubbo had gotten his. He closed the chest as he heard a door open and shut. He turned and faced Tubbo instead of Tommy, which is what he was expecting. He had the new shirt on and the shoes.

"Tommy went where…?" He trailed off.

"Bathroom." Tubbo said.

"Ah." He answered.

He waited a minute or so before Tommy left the bathroom and he could go in. He closed the door and pulled off the sweater. He ignored the pull at the bandages when he stretched. He put on the shirt as quickly as he could ignoring the scars on his abdomen. He opened the door again and went into the bedroom. Tommy had the bedroom door open and was leaning against the door. Tubbo was outside of the door and was looking up at the windows. He took the sweater and placed it on the bed, as Tommy gestured to follow him.

"Tubbo, stop studying the fucking windows. We're supposed to relax." Tommy complained, taking a hold of one of Tubbos arms and trying to drag him away.

Emphasis on the word try, He knew Tubbo was a lot stronger than he looked and Tommy seemed to be having difficulty.

"Good luck on dragging him away. Do either of you know how to get to the back of Erets castle?" He asked.

"Yep. It's this way." Tubbo said, suddenly moving causing Tommy to stumble.

Ranboo let out a small laugh and started following the two of them.

"Oh. Cool." Tommy said. "Wait, how do you know that?"

"I was feeling petty when Eret first betrayed us and I stole the blueprints to their castle." Tubbo explained.

"Oh my prime, that's awesome. What did you do with them?" Tommy asked.

"I studied them and then I burned them." Tubbo said, turning a corner that he didn't know where it led. "If I told Eret I don't think they'd be too happy."

"No, I don't imagine they would be." He answered.

"Probably be a little annoyed." Tommy commented, as Tubbo pushed a door open revealing a vast forest that was usually never seen.

"See? Here's the backyard or forest or whatever you want to call it." Tubbo sounded proud of himself. Tubbos' ears were higher than before so he was happy with himself.

His ears flicked at the rustle of the leaves by the strong breeze. It was stronger than it was before. The three of them walked out of the castle and started wandering through the forest. Oak trees, leaves, flowers, bees. Many different things. It was silent for a few minutes before someone broke it.

"Somethings gonna happen now, but it's actually kinda peaceful for once." Tommy commented.

"It is." He agreed.

"Yeah." Tubbo hummed. "I don't know where this clearing is but uhh… race ya." With that Tubbo took off running.

"TUBBO, YOU ASS." Tommy yelled, starting to run after the laughing boy.

"Wait for me!" He yelped the initial confusion wearing off and racing after the other two with his tail flailing behind him.

The three of them ran through the trees with semi-surprisingly Tubbo still at the front and him gaining on Tommy who was getting closer to Tubbo. That lasted for probably a minute before he could see the clearing coming into view. He wasn't particularly concerned otherwise he probably would've over taken Tommy due to long legs. One of the few perks of being almost 6'10.

He heard Tommy yell, "FUCK!" Right as Tubbo yelled out, "HA! I WIN BITCH."

He slowed to a stop next to the other two taking a deep breath. Tommy was catching his breath by putting his hands on his knees and then Tubbo who wasn't even winded at all. Tubbo had a triumphant grin and looked like he was silently laughing or at least holding it back.

He took the chance to survey the clearing, which as it looked like was a clearing. It almost looked like a miniature plains biome. Sporadic pieces of tall grass, but most of it swayed in the breeze just to his ankles. Random clusters of wildflowers. The only thing that was different was the singular, giant tree in the middle making most of the place shaded by that time in the morning. It wasn't noon yet, the other trees helped in the shade. He could hear water move to his right and assumed the river Eret mentioned was over there. You couldn't even describe this as peaceful.

It was tranquil.

A calming peace.

He liked it. He saw a certain purple flower and his ears went up slightly. He moved away from the group and got closer to the flower to see it was indeed the flower he was thinking of. Some Alliums. He knelt down with his tail flicking around in slight excitement as a smile formed on his face. He touched the base of the stem of one and plucked it off. He stood up holding the small flower feeling happy. He turned around and walked back to the other two. Tommy was glaring at Tubbo, and Tubbo was laughing.

"Look." He said excitedly, holding it out for the other two to see.

"It's an allium." Tommy stated, his expression softening a little.

"Yep, it is." He hummed. He pulled it back towards him and put it in his inventory.

"I remember your first day on the server you said, I don't know why but these are my favorite and then you gave me one." Tommy said.

"Oh, cool. With Tommy being Tommy I assume he got rid of it at some point." Tubbo said, moving away from them and towards the tree.

"No, actually, I still have it. It's in my Ender chest." Tommy admitted following Tubbo.

"Really?" He questioned, moving after the other two.

"Yeah, I don't have much in my Ender chest but that's one of the things. I just keep sentimental shit in there. I didn't want it to get blown up." Tommy said, flopping face down on the ground once they got close enough to the roots of the big tree. "Oh the grass is soft."

He sat down next to Tommy and ran his hands across the grass. It was rather soft. Tubbo plopped down to the other side of Tommy, leaning on a root growing out of the ground instead of under.

"Yeah it is soft." Tubbo said, flicking his left ear out.

"Ranboo?" Tommy asked. His voice was slightly muffled as it was facing the ground.

"Yeah?" He asked back.

"So, me and Tubbo you know have water bottles we keep in our inventory that we fill up when needed to, cause we need water to live. But, I've never really seen you drink any water, which kinda makes sense. But I've also seen you in water and be fine. I'm just a little confused. Do you even need to drink water?" Tommy inquired.

"I mean, I don't think I necessarily need to drink water. I still have to drink liquids, y'know. It's kinda like people that are lactose intolerant. But on a much smaller scale, drinking it I know I'm fine but too much and I'll get sick, but it won't kill me. Which is helpful since most things have a base of water. I can go a while before I start to get thirsty, and if I'm passing out a lot that just means more time before I probably need to drink something. I don't think I've had any water for a day or so now and I'm fine. As for the in-water thing, as long as I'm wearing something that has water-repellent enchanted on it or just a full set of armor I'll be fine. Both together are preferred." Ranboo answered.

"Oh do you want some water?" Tommy asked. "Your voice is starting to get a little raspy which is why I asked."

"Oh is it? I didn't even notice." He said, barely taking note of the slight rasp.

"Yeah, here." Tommy reached into his inventory and pulled out a glass bottle filled with water. They did what they could here. "It's my extra, so you don't have to worry about germs and shit."

"Thank you." He said, taking off the top and taking a small swig.

Per what he expected a slight discomfort came when he first drank it but disappeared almost immediately. He took a couple more drinks before putting the cap back on.

"Look at the two boss men finally getting along." Tubbo snorted.

"Hey, dickhead, I'll have you know I greeted him first. Remember, you were asleep and didn't even recognize him at first." Tommy shot back.

"Oh my prime. You know why I didn't recognize him. Dream messing with the end and shit." Tubbo said.

"God I hate Dream. I have so many rude ass nicknames I want to say to his face. Do you guys want to hear them?" Tommy asked.

"Yes." Tubbo said immediately while grinning.

He managed a soft smile and his ears flicked up. "Let's hear them." He said. Tommy started counting them off and made him start laughing. Maybe, today would be alright.

Chapter Text

Ranboo ended up falling asleep sometime around noon. He was forced to the moment Tubbo found out that he'd been up since three after doing something he wasn't supposed to. At first he thought it would just be some sort of normal sleep like he usually did but he seemed even more plagued by something and he found himself in a dream. He didn't usually dream and how much he had lately was surprising. But at least this was actual sleep and not him passing out this time.

The scene was dark and it was raining, unlike his previous dream where he was hurt by water, he wasn't in this one. He recognized the community house in the center of his vision. Tons of TNT covered it connected to redstone, which was connected to the lever right next to him. He wasn't sure who he was seeing through but he could tell it wasn't him. Or at least a version of him he couldn't recall. He kinda just hoped this was a nightmare, which it probably was. He wanted it to be. Whatever it was, he bent down and pulled the lever igniting the redstone. All the redstone blinked on slowly before igniting the first piece of TNT.

He watched as a fake version of the community house blew up in front of him, almost in an instant Dream stood in front of him. It was like he teleported in. He watched in a little horror as he started to speak jumbled words in his voice. Yeah, this was definitely a nightmare, this wasn't a memory. That wasn't what he was expecting. The face glitched to show various people starting with Techno, Phil, Niki, Sam, Tommy, Tubbo and then finally his own but with purple eyes instead of the green and red. Like an actual enderman.

The scene switched to somewhere that he recognized. The inside of the syndicate room from a corner. Techno lounged in his chair twirling a dagger with his legs propped up on the table. Phil was moving through enchantment books and then looking at various pieces of armor across the room, far away from the other two. Niki was sitting in her chair scowling at the table, hers was next to Technos, as the other side was Phil's seat. There was no way to tell if this part of the dream was real or not. He didn't know how to tell at this point and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

"So, that's why you asked him to put wax in his ears? You wanted to tell me about this, ask my opinion?" Niki asked quietly.

"I mean, he won't leave me alone right now, so yeah. Honestly Wilbur blowing up at me the moment I died was a long time coming. I mean I didn't even notice, and that went on for years. I feel like shit for that and again I don't know how the hell I didn't notice, maybe it was because Phil's really good at lying. He had and has cover stories for everything, I swear. Wilbur said the only reason I was his favorite was I got abilities from our mom. I want to repair my relationship with my brothers but… I don't know, I think it's long gone." Techno admitted quietly. There was a hint of remorse in his tone.

"I mean, if you want advice, I might have some. I had many bad relationships after I helped burn some of L'manburg down but I've repaired some of them. I don't really know how to help people who have held a grudge against you for as long as they can remember. But, techno don't blame yourself, Phil did that. He made it seem like it was normal for you, he might have even thought it was fine himself. No matter who you want to pin the blame on, don't pin it on yourself." Niki whispered.

This might have been a real scene. It seemed real. Ranboo wanted to believe it was.

"Eh. I'm a little upset about it, mainly a shit ton of conflicting emotions. There's more that I'm remembering now and I don't know why. It could have to do with that blast of light we saw earlier. Honestly, my family is gonna need family therapy if we ever get out of here." Techno murmured.

He saw Niki's expression soften and ask. "Do you want to get out of here?"

"I do, I really do. I've been tired of violence, whether I'm forced into fights, I choose to, or the voices start it. I tried to retire and we saw how well that ended. I'm so tired of it." Techno whispered.

"A lot of this world has been in constant violence. I feel that." Niki whispered.

"Yeah. Y'know Phil's almost 300 years old. He got blessed by my mother a while back. Supposedly I also inherited some sort of long life length. I'm supposed to far outlive my brothers. I don't want to see them die. I've screwed over so many relationships." Techno stopped spinning his dagger. "The one I have the most is tubbo and saying I'm sorry is never gonna cut it. I understand he probably won't ever forgive me and I'm prepared for that. I just wish sometimes I wasn't born as strong as I am. I know some people would dream of it, but when you think about how much baggage both emotionally and mentally comes with it." Techno glanced at Phil who was still just ignoring the other two.

The scene changed again before Niki could respond. He vaguely recognized it as the back of Erets castle before the view shot forward to the front of the castle. It showed Foolish and Eret leaving the castle and spotting Sam running towards them. He had on his usual golden armor, circlet, and gas mask. He couldn't tell what clothes he was wearing but that didn't matter apparently. Eret looked a little confused while Foolish beamed at the sight of him.

"Sam! Hey, how are you?" Foolish asked happily as Sam ran up to them.

"Not now, we have a problem. The redstone in- the redstone it's not working an- and so the sirens won't go off. He's out. I don't know how. He's out. He escaped. Dreams out." Sam was gasping for breath. "I came here first. My comms aren't working either. I heard Tommy and Tubbo were with y'all last. I barely saved Tommy in the prison, I- I was lucky I had the totem on me. I can't let them get hurt again because of that fucker. I don't even know when he got out, I was busy and so his breakfast was later than usual and he just wasn't there."

Foolish pulled Sam into a hug, which Sam returned almost immediately. He sounded like he was crying.

"Foolish you tell everyone via your comms. I'll find the children, they should be down at the big tree. Hopefully they're still where they were last. So much for a peaceful day." Eret muttered the last part under his breath.

"He's gonna kill them." Sam sobbed into Foolishs chest, holding onto him like he meant everything to him.

The scene was cut to black. He could tell he was still asleep but he was conscious of his thoughts. If he was awake he would probably be worrying his ass off. What was that? The way they were speaking in the third part made it seem like it was happening right now. And the thing with Techno. Was the first part real? The other two things seemed real. But that had so many aspects that made it a dream. At least the first part had to have been. Maybe, hopefully, the third as well. The second one was too specific to not be. It had to have been that.

"Ranboo. Ranboo. Ranboo." Tubbos' voice sounded bored. He also felt like someone was shaking him, most likely tubbo.

He groaned and forced his eyes open. His vision focused on tubbo who was right above him. He felt the ground against his back instead of the tree he had originally fallen asleep on. Tubbo leaned back once he seemed satisfied that he was awake enough.

"Hi." He murmured sleepily, flicking his ears and tail around. "Why did you wake me up?"

"Tommy got bored and started climbing the tree. I keep trying to tell him it's not a good idea and he's gonna fall but he's not listening to me." Tubbo explained as Ranboo sat up.

"And why would he listen to me more?" He questioned, staring at Tubbo.

"I don't know but he might." Tubbo said, squinting up at the tree.

"Tommy, what are you doing?" He called out, looking up at the tree trying to figure out wherever Tommy was.

"Climbing the tree. I'll be fine." Tommy called back.

"I'm not so sure. Are you sure you won't fall?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'll be fine." Tommy yelled back as he saw a flurry of leaves fall down on him.

"Stop throwing leaves at us dear gods." Tubbo yelled up.

He heard a laugh from in the tree and let out a small laugh in return. He looked back away from the tree and noticed the sun was no longer in the middle of the sky rather just a little more to the east.

"You weren't asleep for that long, don't worry boss man." Tubbo said comfortingly.

"I had another dream. I don't know why I'm having more but it could have to do with the release of the end." He admitted quietly.

"Oh? What was it about?" Tubbo asked, moving so that his head was resting on a patch of the very soft grass.

"I don't think the first bit was real, at least I hope it wasn't. It was when the community house blew up but it was dark and raining. I wasn't hurt by it but I watched it blow up after I pulled a lever and then Dream appeared with his face glitching into people I care about, or did and for some reason sam. I don't know what to feel about it." He answered.

"I don't think you blew it up. I still think it was Dream trying to mess with the server and blame it on anyone he could." Tubbo said, pulling him back to rest his head on the grass behind him like Tubbo was. He didn't let go of his hand. The tree was good at filtering out the major patches of sunlight. There was also rustling of leaves and branches.

"I heard his voice sometimes. Dream. He'd speak to me in my head and I'm pretty sure only I could hear him. He tried to convince me a lot that I did things I couldn't remember. One of the most common ones was the community house. He had me convinced for a good few hours at some point. He never put a name on what he put me in until he told me last night though." He shared, running his free hand through his hair right in between his horns.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Tubbo asked.

"I thought you would think I was crazy." He chuckled dryly. His tail started to slowly move at the very end.

"I mean, last I heard Quackity hears him and sees him around the server and that's why he doesn't have a ghost. It wouldn't have been that unbelievable." Tubbo murmured.

"To me it was." He said. He knew who the person tubbo wasn't mentioning was. It was Schlatt, he never mentioned him by name.

"Alright, well I'm glad you told me now at least. What about the other bits of the dream?" Tubbo asked.

"The second part I think was real. It was in the syndicate room, techno and Niki were talking about mainly what happened before the SMP and during the SMP. And, how shit of a person Phil is. Techno admitted that he regretted a bunch of stuff, including what he did to you, and it seemed like he already came to terms that you probably wouldn't ever forgive him.

Then, it switched again and it was in front of Erets castle. Sam was running up as Eret and Foolish were leaving. He said that the sirens weren't working, neither were his comms, and that dream got out. He said that he came there first because that's where he last heard you and Tommy were and he couldn't see them get hurt again by Dream. He also rambled a bit about what happened with Tommy in the prison. He seemed really panicked, He was crying too I'm pretty sure. He doesn't know when he escaped either but Foolish was supposed to message everyone on comms so that the word could finally get out and Eret was supposed to come find us." He explained.

Silence. He actually spotted Tommy for the first time. He had used another branch to drop onto the branch above him and tubbo. He looked at them curiously.

"Hey Tommy. Ranboo had another dream and none of it was good apparently." Tubbo said, sighing.

"Oh, well shit." Tommy responded.

"Shit indeed." Tubbo agreed.

Ranboo tried to remember exactly what Eret had said. Something about getting them from the big tree. His tail stopped moving and his ears went down.

"Oh crap." He said.

"Yes this is a problem." Tommy said, starting to find his way down from the tree.

"No, well it is, but not that." He sat up and let go of Tubbos hand. "I remember in that final scene Tubbo Eret said we should be at the big tree. As that one, as in where we are right now."

He looked back at Tubbo who's eyes widened as he scrambled to get up. He quickly followed.

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. SHIT." Tubbo yelled the last one. "Tommy, you need to get down right now. I'm being serious. We need to get out of here now and find Eret or anyone else."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm getting down. What's going on?" Tommy asked.

"In Ranboo's dream-" Tubbo got interrupted by all their communicators going off at once. He sucked in a breath.

"It's Foolish, I guarantee it." He said, pulling out his communicator and opening it on as quickly as he could. Tommy dropped down next to him peeking over at it.

Foolish: Sam just told me and Eret that the sirens and his communicator isn't working, but Dream got out. Be Prepared. Stay safe.

He sucked in a breath. Why was he right only when he didn't want to be? "It is Foolish. Dream escaped. He's out."

He closed the communicator and watched the color drain Tommy's face and it was replaced by fear and panic. "What?" Tommy asked.

"Dream is out. We need to get to Eret right now. Ranboo they were coming here in your dream right?" Tubbo asked, suddenly turning towards him.

"Yes. They were. Which direction is the castle though?" He asked. Despite it being a castle, you couldn't really see it from the trees.

"I remember. I think it'll be better to make a run for it rather than talk." Tommy said, sounding like he was trying to convince himself that it was okay. His voice was wavering.

"Yeah." He said.

Tommy started running presumably towards Erets castle with the two of them following. There was no time for any of them to take in their surroundings, they were running for their lives yet again. They were halfway there and in a very tiny clearing, you couldn't really call it a clearing, when Tubbo quite literally crashed into Eret. Who then stabilized Tubbo to keep him from falling over, hugged him tightly, and then released him.

"Oh thank aether. None of you are hurt, right?" Eret asked. Their voice was laced with concern.

"No, we're all fine. A little shaken up but we're not hurt. Physically at least." He answered. He had a bad feeling about this clearing. Maybe it was just nerves or intuition. He really hoped it was nerves, though knowing his luck it wasn't.

"Look I have to get you back to Foolish. If Dream shows up, it's a lot safer for all of you to not be near me. We know he can't control Ranboo anymore but he said nothing about me. So, we're preparing for the worst, which is, he still can." Eret said, starting to walk a bit towards the castle.

He felt like they were being watched and even though everyone else was moving on he looked up. He heard a click. He turned scanning the trees from all the points. This forest canopy was thick wasn't it, the trees barely let any light through. They were clustered with plenty of low and high branches. It could have been from any of them. He heard rustling but only from the tree he was staring at. Someone else was here.

"Ranboo, come on." Tubbo said.

"Did you not hear that?" He asked.

"No?" Tubbo sounded genuinely confused.

He studied the tree harder before he saw the glint of either an arrow tip or crossbow tip that wouldn't have been noticeable if you weren't looking for it. It was aiming towards something behind him. He turned and looked. Eret wasn't in the way but Tommy was. He surged forward and grabbed Tommy's hand pulling him down. He heard a thunk at the same time he heard a protest from Tommy. He looked at the tree, about 6 feet up the trunk was a crossbow bolt sunk into it. Where Tommy's head would've been.

"What the fuck?" Tommy whispered.

"Fuck." Tubbo said.

Ranboo slowly stood up, gesturing for Tommy to stay close to the ground. He looked where the bolt had come from. He didn't see another yet. Tubbo had pulled a netherite axe out and Eret had a netherite sword gleaming with enchantments. He pulled out the netherite sword he had used against Techno from his inventory. It had a singular enchantment since he had lost his last one, Thorns 2. He checked what else he had in his inventory and saw he only had a few potions left. Tommy ignored him and stood up, taking out the Ace of Peace.

"Ranboo, do you think that's...?" Tubbo trailed off as a figure dropped from the tree a few meters that was shot from.

He felt his stomach drop. It was Dream, somehow with full netherite over a prison jumpsuit. He also had the sword titled Nightmare that Tubbo had taken as spoils of war alongside his armor. It looked like he had taken it back. He still had the same menacing smile mask covering his face and all his expressions.

"Hello there." Dream said.

"What the fuck do you want?" Tommy asked angrily from behind him.

"Oh that's simple. I want to kill you Tommy. The others are a bonus. People's lives were gonna be happy here but you messed that up Tommy." Dream said calmly.

"People's lives are gonna be happy here, yeah that's bullshit. You brought them here for torture and to play god." Eret said, stepping in front of all of them holding the sword towards Dream.

"Maybe, maybe not." Dream said, shrugging.

He watched as Eret summoned something in their hand but at another glance it was a floating and slightly glowing wither skull.

"Oh, you figured it out then." Dream sounded amused by this statement.

"Yeah, yeah I did, asshole." Eret sounded pissed. "Ranboo, get them out of here."

"What? Eret, you're not thinking ab-" He started.

"Ranboo. Go. We talked about this." Eret interrupted him.

"But-" He protested.

"Go." Eret said.

He stepped back, and put his sword back in his inventory. He grabbed Tubbos arm, dragging him back until he saw Tommy in the corner of his vision and Tubbo grabbed his arm. He turned and he ran further into the forest with the other two following. Not that they had much of a choice, it was a train of people being dragged along. He hated that he was abandoning Eret when he could help. They all stopped at hearing a loud scream from behind them. They could see the walls of the castle now but the scream concerned them all more. They were so close.

"We need to help them." Tubbo said.

"I have potions, I'll go back. You two find Sam and Foolish." He said.

"Ranboo, that's dangerous." Tubbo warned him, sounding like he really didn't want him to go back.

"This place is dangerous. I still have all three of my lives. I'll be fine, I promise." He promised before meeting Tubbos eyes.

He glanced at Tommy before turning and running back. He really hoped he wasn't too late. Oh. This felt familiar. Rushing to save someone and hoping he wasn't too late. Hoping they weren't dead by the time he got there. Hoping that he would get there in time. He wanted to put his armor on but there was no time. He felt buzzes against his leg and ran faster until he emerged with Eret on the ground bleeding out with dream kneeled next to them talking to them quietly.

He stopped and pulled out his sword only a couple feet away from the two. He moved the sword so that it was poised to stab Dream's throat. Eret had a cut on their face that went down their neck and then a stab wound in their stomach. They had their hand weakly pressed over the wound. The cut on their face and neck was bleeding sluggishly.

"Well, well. Back to save the day again. Just like when you saved Tubbo." Dream said, supposedly looking at him. The mask made it hard. "Y'know, Erets dying. They only have two lives left. Though most don't know they even lost one."

He pressed the tip harder and saw the drip of blood starting from the blade. "What the hell do you mean?"

"'Anboo?" Erets voice was quiet and slurred.

"I'm here." He confirmed.

He pushed the blade harder until Dream was forced to stand up and back away from Eret. He opened his inventory and took out the regen potion. He kept the blade pointed towards Dream and his gaze on him as he knelt down. He stopped pointing the blade at Dream for a second and lifted Erets head to trickle the regen potion down their throat. He could still hear ragged breathing though it was getting quieter despite the potion.

"That's not gonna help." Dream told them.

"What do you mean?" He asked, frowning as the wound in fact did not start healing.

"Maiming, It's an extremely rare enchantment I put on it earlier today. Just as it implies, it maims and it doesn't let go. Nothing can heal wounds made by weapons with it. So, y'know no survival chance. You can try to keep them alive for as long as you want, it's a losing game." Dream said.

"Totems. Totems would work." He rambled, opening his inventory to see if he had anymore in there. He didn't. Shit.

"That's the second reason they're rare and they only have one level. Totems don't mean shit to this enchantment." Dream explained.

"So, one stab or slice and you're pretty much screwed." He sucked in a breath. He pulled the potion away and stored the rest of it in his inventory.

"Yep. That's the beauty of it." Dream said.

"There's nothing beautiful about that." Ranboo said, standing up and facing Dream again. "Why'd you spend time telling me that? Why not just attack me? I know you want me dead."

"Would you rather me just attack?" Dream asked, cocking his head to the side.

"At this rate, yes." He said, holding his sword in a more defensive pattern.

"Alright." Dream shrugged and swung towards him.

He brought his blade forward so that it hit Dream's, blocking it from hitting him. He felt his sword arm go down by the force behind the swing. Even though dream had been in prison he was still plenty strong. He ducked and narrowly avoided another quick swipe from dream. He had never fought Dream. He had no idea of what his weaknesses were, what his strengths were. He circled around trying to get a hit in on the back of his leg, but Dream swung around and the blade hit his armor instead. He felt something stab through his ribs, and a sharp flare of pain. Whatever it was embedded there as he crumpled to the ground gasping for air, it felt like it had punctured his rib. His sword fell out of his hand and his ears went as low as they could.

"Well, that was quick." Dream mused.

His vision was only Dream's mask, staring at him. He moved his hand over his chest and touched the rib it went through. He felt a crossbow bolt there. Dream had stabbed him with one. He wrapped his hand around the crossbow bolt crying softly when he pulled it out. He pulled the regen potion out of his inventory and drank some of it. He rolled over grimacing so he could half stand up before looking at Dream.

"You have resilience, I'll give you that, but I gotta kill your friends and you. It's nothing personal." Dream said reaching forward and putting the edge of his blade at his neck.

He didn't respond, catching up on his breath as his lung healed. This was so very personal, what the hell did he mean? He reached up, acting as he was checking on his wound. He grabbed dreams' wrist and pictured them both somewhere far away. He felt himself teleport with Dream being dragged along. He fell back a bit but Dream was disoriented, not used to teleportation like Enderman did it, so he took the chance to wrench the sword from his hand. It was cold where they ended up and his skin was burning, it was snowing. He stepped back slightly and stabbed Dream. He pulled back the blade and fumbled for the poison in his pocket. He uncorked it and kneeled down and put the rest of it on Dreams' wound. He didn't have time to pull anything else, that should kill Dream.

He stumbled back in the snow not wanting to hear Dream's words. The snow hurt, and his entire body was in pain. He got up, made it a few meters before falling into the snow again, and he finally screamed. It hurt, it all hurt. His entire body hurt. Normally he'd be alright with too many layers for the snow to fall through, but he didn't now. His entire body felt like it was burning from the outside in. The snow felt like it was burning its way into his veins. He sees his vision start to blur and fade. He didn't care, at least he wouldn't be conscious of the pain.

Chapter Text

Tubbo couldn't hear anything other than the ringing. His tinnitus was flaring up again and even if it wasn't he didn't think that would've helped. He could only half-hear out of his left ear after the fireworks shot at him. He never mentioned it because he didn't need to. He didn't want to worry anyone. He had gone back despite the protests and people telling him not to. He regretted going back but he had a terrible feeling. He had seen Eret and what he thought was Ranboo and dream but not really. He had knelt down next to them to try to help right before their body disappeared to respawn in their bed. The only remnant was the stuff that had been in their inventory and their sunglasses. Then after sitting in shock for a couple minutes, he opened the main chat. What he saw was emblazoned in his brain.

The_Eret was slain by Dream using Nightmare

Ranboo burnt to death whilst trying to escape Dream

Dream was poisoned by Ranboo whilst trying to escape Ranboo

He couldn't forget it. It wouldn't leave his brain despite the long forgotten communicator. He was probably shaking as well. He could tell he was crying, the tears ran down his cheeks and down his neck. Some of them traced the path of his burn scar. He just got him back. He had to suffer thinking that someone he loved had betrayed him once again. Only to find out it was just the person being an absolute idiot and being slightly manipulated by the same dickheads that gave him trust issues. Then, fully forgive him for the mishap despite being mad at him, but he couldn't ever be mad at him for too long. Then, he dies. He knows he still has another two lives but that didn't make it hurt any less. Then, Eret. There were no words to express how much anguish he felt for it all.

He curled his legs against his chest and moved his hands to his horns, clutching the base of them. His goddamned horns hadn't stopped growing since they first came in. They were supposed to end up curled around his ears by the time he was twenty. They were almost like that now, going down and around, just to the backs of his ears and he hated it. He hated it so much. He hated being reminded of that. He hated being reminded of Schlatt for so many reasons. He wasn't even sure why he was thinking about this right now, maybe it just came with the mental breakdowns.

He still couldn't hear anything other than ringing and that could be because he was alone. His eyes were filled with tears and he couldn't see anything past a couple feet in front of him and even that was still watery. The sun hit his knee and subsequently that was the only part of his body that felt warm was his knee. It felt wrong that it was sunny, it felt like it should've been raining. That's how it was in movies, a sad scene happens, rain, but that wasn't how real life worked. And certainly not the Dream SMP, this place was built for emotional pain. It's all it was for. It's all that it felt like.

Ranboo lost a life. Ranboo might take a long time to respawn. Micheal was dead. Michael was gone. Eret lost a life. Eret could also take a long time to respawn. Why was this his life? Tommy might be dying, he didn't know but instead of helping his friend he was being a bitch and having a goddamn panic attack. And to top it all off, why wouldn't it happen today? It was the mother fucking 16th of June, when did anything go wrong on that day? When was he allowed to not live in fear of what might happen that day? And, when he finally let's down his guard, shit happens.

He hated it.

"-ubbo?- o- hur-?" The voice sounded vaguely like Tommy.

He wiped at his eyes and focused on Tommy. He was kneeling down in front of him, holding out his hand in a way to give him space.

"Are you whispering?" He asked. He was pretty sure he asked that.

"N- ge-." Tommy said, while nodding his head, yes.

"You need to yell, I can't hear you." He answered.

"Tubbo, what the hell do you mean?" Tommy asked. To him it sounded like it was just him talking in a semi-normal tone.

"Tinnitus flares up sometimes, mainly when I'm experiencing high emotions. It'll go away at some point." He choked back another sob.

"What? Why? Why did you never mention it?" Tommy asked.

"Didn't have a reason to, it usually doesn't affect me that much." He said.

"But it is now." Tommy fretted.

"I know." Tubbo whispered.

The ringing did it's telltale rising and then falling down dramatically ending the episode. All of a sudden everything was loud again, he could hear the small sobs coming from him, the choked breathing from him yet again. The mutterings of Tommy, praying to his mother most likely. It was easier to tell he was shaking. He heard footsteps and Tommy looked up at the figure, that was squatting down next to him. Dark green, not orange. It was Sam. Sam was nice. Sam was safe.

"Tommy, I don't think yelling is gonna help." Sam said.

"But it is, he said something about tinnitus and I don't know what that is. I don't know what to do, he can't hear me." Tommy sounded close to tears.

"It's ringing in the ears, Tubbos has been close to a lot of explosions. Episodes can be triggered by a multitude of reasons, but this one will go away." Sam said. "He'll be fine."

"It ended." He mentioned it quietly.

"See, he's fine." Sam said gently.

"Oh my prime, don't do that again." Tommy said, pulling him into a hug. Tommy buried his head into his shoulder.

"I can't really control when it happens." He said, hugging Tommy back after wiping at his tears.

"Ranboo's respawn point should be in Erets castle. We should go make sure both of them are fine when they wake up." Sam mentioned, standing up.

"Yeah- yeah, that's a good idea." He took a shuddering breath and stood up. He took Tommy with him. Who was still clinging to him but instead linked their arms so they wouldn't be separated.

"What even happened?" Sam asked quietly, as he led the two distracted teens back towards the castle.

"Ranboo had another dream. He woke up and then explained it all to me. He connected some dots and realized dream was probably already out and we started running to find Eret. We found them and then Ranboo had a bad feeling. Then, dream tried to shoot Tommy and then showed himself when he missed. Then Eret told us to run and despite the protests we did. We were almost back to the castle when we heard them scream and then Ranboo went back. And, then I got a bad feeling and went back. The only one there was Eret, there was no sign of Ranboo or dream. I went to help Eret but they literally died right in front of me. Then y'know I started freaking out and here we are." He rattled off the story. His voice was quiet. The tears had stopped at least, replaced by a numbness that couldn't be described.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. He shouldn't have been able to escape, he shouldn't have been able to get out. At least that was his last life right? Tommy, you took his first two before he went to prison." Sam said.

"Yeah, but he's both a demigod and an admin. The rules that apply to most of us, don't apply to him. He can have as many lives as he wants, he's hard to kill to begin with, part of his genes are literally from a god. Taking two of his lives was really just me trying to convince my mind he could die, and he didn't have to haunt me. He would've gotten out eventually, I know his siblings. I'm or I was friends with drista. He has some abilities which include reality manipulation to an extent. Might be why he's so fond of chaos." Tommy scoffed at the end of his sentence.

"I'm- I'm sorry, do you mean Drista as in the goddess of chaos?" Sam asked for clarification.

Tubbo glanced at Sam and saw a wide eyed look.

"Yeah, she's chill sometimes. I thought it was known around the server who was and who wasn't a demigod. We usually know lots of Gods and goddesses and have some grudges or are friends with them. Like me and all of my brothers are demigods, probably the only reason I didn't die in the prison before you found me." Tommy answered absentmindedly.

"Oh, that explains a lot." Sam said. "I've never really cared about religion but-"

"It's not really religion, it's more forced parentage. We just happen to have a god as one of our parents. They just simply exist no matter if you believe in them or not." Tommy interjected.

"Tubbo?" Sam asked.

"No clue, I was just adopted by my dad." He answered.

"Alright." Sam said. It seemed like he didn't want to continue this conversation. Sam probably knew at least a little considering he was good friends with Foolish and he was the god of life. Then, the whole Eret being the god of the end, but considering they didn't know maybe Sam didn't either.

"Can I get adopted by your dad?" Tommy asked suddenly.

"Probably not since technically Phil is still alive and there's no real evidence in the main hub that allows neglect to be a reason to call CPS since to them it wasn't that bad." He said.

"Oh that sucks. Phil sucks really." Tommy said.

"I've been saying that for years and you're just now listening to me?" He asked rhetorically.

"What the hell?" Sam whispered. He was to his right, on the side with better hearing.

"Oh yeah, Phil's been a shit father for years. Tubzo has said it for years but I finally just don't give a shit about Phil. He didn't really care about Wilbur either, it's why I got so pissed when he claimed he cared about him. Techno got abilities from our mother that showed about the time I was 2 apparently and he was 9 or 10. So, uh, he took priority over techno rather than me and wil." Tommy said.

"That's a little fucked." Sam said.

"Oh yeah it most definitely was and is." Tommy answered. "Wilbur knew them both before that happened, he's always been conflicted over trusting them again."

"Still." Sam said.

They were at the front of the castle by now and walking through the front door. He released Tommy's arm and started making his way to where Ranboo's room was. Probably wasn't actually his but it had seemed designated as. The walk was slow and Sam eventually branched off to what was assumed as Erets bedroom. He stopped at the door and stared at it. Ranboo should be fine, but here there was the massive chance he had new scars. He had new trauma. He had something else.

"Tubs?" Tommy asked softly.

"Yeah?" He questioned.

"You do realize he's not dead, not yet. He's just lost a life, he'll be alright." Tommy reminded him.

"I know." He said. "Still hurts, like the duel. That hurt."

"Fair." Tommy murmured.

He put his hand on the door handle, twisted it and pushed the door open. That was the funny thing when you died. Whatever position you died in was the one you'd respawn in. He learned that when he respawned curled in on himself on the corner of his bed, shaking, after he had been shot with fireworks. What he saw was similar to that, ranboo curled in on himself, shivering. Various water scars scattered on his arms, bleached skin on his left side and darker skin on his right side. It reminded him of the scratches of scars you received when you died in a berry bush. It clicked.

"Oh prime, he teleported himself and Dream out. That's why I couldn't see them." He said. "That's why he burnt. He accidentally teleported into snow or water."

He walked in the door and went to the side of the bed. Considering he heard no footsteps past his, he assumed Tommy was staying near the door. He sat down criss-cross next to the bed, looking at Ranboo's face. His eyes were closed. He was asleep and looked at peace. After a couple minutes he seemed to wake up. Ranboo opened his eyes partially and was staring back at him.

"Bee?" Ranboo mumbled, trying to get up. He collapsed again almost immediately, laying on his side and took to just staring at him again.

"Yeah, that's me. How are you feeling?" Tubbo asked quietly.

"Horrible. It burned and it hurt. It hurt so much." Ranboo whispered, closing his eyes, shuddering. He reached up and took Ranboo's right hand, rubbing circles on it.

"You're alright. It's all gonna be okay." He comforted him.

"Please tell me I at least killed him." Ranboo whispered.

"You did. Chat said you did." He answered. He didn't have the heart to say he was probably still alive.

"I'm sorry. You always said how upset you would be if I died. You threatened me with not saying that you loved me for a week." Ranboo whispered, laughing weakly.

"Don't be sorry, and that was an empty threat. Of course I still love you." He said, softly.

It was probably that made it hard to stay mad at him. He only loved a total of three people in his life. His dad, Tommy, and Ranboo. The rest of them he either considered close friends, kinda close or just not. All of that was platonic love. He was pretty sure Ranboo's love was still platonic, it definitely wasn't romantic, but it felt more than platonic or just a different type of platonic. It just felt different from the platonic love he felt for his dad or for Tommy. He didn't know how to explain it.

"I think I'm sick." Ranboo said, eventually.

"Do you?" He asked.

"Yeah, that thing you get when in cold areas for too long, but like the aftereffects. I fell in the snow. I didn't even mean to teleport us to snow but he was gonna hurt my favorite people." Ranboo mumbled.

"A cold?" He inquired.

"Yeah, that." Ranboo yawned. "'M cold."

"Understandable. You want to get under the covers?" He asked.

"Nmm, yeah. I think Erets down to one life now." Ranboo said. Oh, that was something they had to ask Eret about later. They should have two left right now or Ranboo was delirious.

He stood up, caught Ranboo when he tried to push himself up again, because again he had failed. It seemed when Ranboo respawned he had muscle fatigue, good to know. Or it might have been the whole first time respawn. He hadn't died before, and from the sound of it, it was painful. He had only had to respawn twice and most people don't ever feel the pain of respawning before they go to servers. The main hub was pretty safe. He got the covers out from under Ranboo and got them over him after some wrangling. Because as strong as he was, Ranboo was 6'10.

He watched as Ranboo mumbled something and then fell back asleep. He left the room quietly, and shut the door behind him. There was no sign of anyone. Probably wasn't safe but it looked like he could think bitter thoughts about the main hub for a bit.

The main hub out of every server is the safest. No more hostile mobs, the most industrial revolutionized, all portals to all servers were in another smaller hub there. Except this one of course. Whether it was Hypixel, The Hive, smaller servers. Hell even fucking 2B2B, the fucking anarchy server, you had to sign a waiver to enter and be over 18 but it had a portal. Some servers even got their own districts where members and possible members could live. There were less now, because why would you want to leave? It was wonderful. The main admins had everything under control, teaching only the most worthy of people how to create their own servers and worlds. So, how did people die then? That was easy, you could respawn in the main hub until you were 21, after that you lived virtually a hardcore life but with very little dangers.

At this rate it pissed him off. Not because he saw a different perspective but just because he didn't fucking ask for this. He didn't ask to be kidnapped, he was happy with his dad. It pissed him off because he was jealous of the people that still got to live there. They got to stay and be happy. Yeah, they probably had issues but they didn't have issues like this. Not to the extreme of wondering when you were gonna die next. What explosion would worsen your hearing. Who you might lose. Wondering what mob might mortally wound you next. If it was a skeleton you could count on no scar if you had potions on you, if it was a creeper or enderman you were screwed. Especially if the creeper exploded.

Hybrid prejudice existed for those reasons, that they evolved from dangerous creatures, but it was shit reasoning. Stupid reasoning even. Just bullshit. It was all utter-

"Hey, Tubbo." Sam said.

He blinked. He was in the library, at the entrance. Sam and Tommy were there. They were sitting on opposite sides of the table. He moved forward sitting next to Tommy.

"How's he doing?" Tommy asked.

"He's a little sick, the after effects of accidentally teleporting into snow. He's asleep right now but he should be fine." He answered.

"That's good." Sam responded.

"How's Eret?" Tubbo asked.

"Honestly, not doing too well apparently. Foolish got in there just as they respawned, they respawned pretty quickly, and something happened. Foolish didn't let me in, just said 'not now'. Didn't even open the door." Sam replied.

"I went to try and the same thing happened." Tommy said.

"Ah." He said. It hopefully wasn't that bad.

Eret felt sick to their stomach. The moment they had gotten the kids out of there, Dream had attached. They had defended themselves well until he got close enough to whisper in their ear. 'Remember what you did.' Which was honestly enough to catch them off guard and on bad days send them spiraling. Then, dream stabbed them, and they died. Not before Dream talked to them and vague memories of Ranboo briefly appeared. Now it was just them floating in limbo, with their thoughts to themself before they respawned. Not really just their thoughts, a majority of them were Dreams. A sad aspect of magical branding.

You are a bad person. You killed them.

Wasn't entirely their fault.

How did you not notice? If you had noticed I wouldn't have been able to do the spell.

You shouldn't have noticed. Everything was alright when you knew where I was.

I lost power because you noticed and so I hurt others. I would have just hurt you. I'll just hurt you, only you, this time, it doesn't have to be anyone else.

It would've been okay.

It would've kept them safe.

It can keep them safe.

You should have stayed.

You shouldn't have said anything.

Your fault.

Let me take control again, I won't hurt anyone else. Just let me hurt you, I won't hurt anyone else. No one else deserves it.

You deserve it.

You messed up.

You fucked up.

It's your fault.

It's all your fault.

Yours.

They gasped for air. They choked on their own breath as they clutched at their chest. They messed up. They scrambled off the bed falling down to the ground. They couldn't breathe, each breath felt like they were about to die again. So many dying breaths before a hand touched their shoulder. They recoiled almost instantly and they closed their eyes.

It was Dream. It had to be. He was there for the punishment. They messed up. They had to give in, no one else would get hurt this way. It was their fault he even went after other people. Their fault. Their fault. Their fault. Their fault. They needed to give in. Endure it like they used too. He would always be back, he promised that. When they thought it was normal. They'd endure it again if it meant keeping people safe. It was the best solution. They did it all once before they could do it again.

"ERET!" Someone yelled. They cringed internally. Oh aether they always disliked this.

They felt someone touch their shoulder again and they repressed the urge to flinch. They went slack and prepared for pain. It always hurt, which was probably the purpose of punishment. They found out quickly it was more bearable if they didn't tense up. Instead, they felt something like a hug. Like, someone was holding onto them for the purpose of calming them down. It confused them a little. It replaced some panic and allowed for a more rational part of their brain to work. It still wasn't much rationality but it felt nice. They gripped tightly to the shirt of whoever was holding them as a way of grounding. The person was rubbing circles on their back. Their head was tucked under the other person's chin.

They didn't know how long it was before they hesitantly opened their eyes to see the black fabric that was usually under Foolishs' armor. They could see the gills on his neck.

"Foolish?" They whispered.

"Yes, that's me." Foolish whispered. "You're safe. Dream isn't here."

"How-"

"You were muttering things. I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you sooner." Foolish cut them off.

"Don't. It was my fault." They whispered.

"No, it wasn't. Don't tell yourself that or if it was Dream in your mind trying to mess with you again. It was not your fault, he took advantage of the fact that you couldn't remember anything. He made it so you couldn't remember anything. It is not your fault. You are the victim, no matter how many times Dream tries to convince you you're not." Foolish comforted.

"You don't understand. He- he switched tactics after a while, and- you don't know what I had to do. I didn't want to hurt them, any of them. I didn't have a choice, they don't even remember, there's no evidence. He deleted the messages. He promised me he wouldn't hurt anyone else but me this time. If I just hadn't noticed and thought, hey this doesn't feel right, maybe everything wouldn't have gone down hill for everyone else." They could feel themselves start to panic again.

"And you're gonna get yourself killed if you listen to him. He's not gonna keep that promise. When did you figure out he was manipulating you and being a general shit head?" Foolish asked.

"Around the time of Tommy's exile. He wasn't around me as often." They answered a little confused as to why Foolish asked.

"See, you didn't notice until he was already doing bad things to others because of a coincidence. It wasn't your fault he started attacking the others. He just wants you back under his thumb." Foolish replied.

That hit them like a train and they stared forward. It took a few seconds to register what he had said and what he was implying. Then, either they had already been crying or started crying. They weren't too sure, but they definitely were now. Foolish was murmuring words of comfort while just letting them cope by crying. It felt nice to let it out. At some point it started to give them a headache though.

"Foolish?" They asked quietly.

"Yeah?" Foolish questioned.

"What happened after I..?" They didn't continue their question. Foolish would know.

"I don't know if you remember but Ranboo went after you apparently. I don't exactly know what happened after you died. I hope everyone is alright." Foolish answered.

"Should we check?" They asked.

"Probably." Foolish said. They felt shuffling around and assumed Foolish was getting out his communicator.

They forced their hands to let go of Foolishs' shirt and sat back, blinking. They rubbed at their eyes to try and get the crust from the tears forming off. Little black and grey flakes fell off. A small reminder of who they were.

"Oh damn. It looks like Ranboo got Dream but died along with him. He has one less life." Foolish said.

They froze. What?

"Sorry, repeat that, please." They said.

"It looks like Ranboo got Dream but died along with him. Ranboo has one less life." Foolish repeated.

"So, he's dead." They said.

"No, he lost a life." Foolish gently reminded them.

"Foolish, one of the things I did while under the control of Dream was kill Ranboo. Twice. He's out of lives. He should be dead." They said, scrambling to stand up and find Tommy and Tubbo. Maybe Sam.

They opened their bedroom door and took off towards the library. It was the most likely place for anyone to be.

"Eret, what do you mean?" Foolish called after them, rushing to catch up.

"It's exactly as it sounds Foolish put together the dots." They said.

"So, he wouldn't have respawned?" Foolish said quietly as he ran next to him.

"No. He wouldn't have." They sucked in a breath as the entrance to the library showed itself.

The two of them entered the room and when everyone looked at them, they seemed surprised and a little concerned. They didn't really care.

"Ranboo's dead?" They asked, stopping at the edge of the table.

"No, he just has a cold now. He respawned. What the fuck happened to you?" Tubbo asked.

What? No, that shouldn't be possible.

"Tubbo, I need to be fucking serious right now. It's not the time to worry about me. Ranboo is alive and he respawned in the same bed he slept in. You saw him." They said, trying to convey in their tone how serious this was.

"Yes, we both saw him. Ranboo talked to Tubs." Tommy said slowly.

"That shouldn't be possible, what the fuck?" They breathed out, looking at Foolish.

Foolish was silent with the same expression on his face that they felt. What the fuck?

Chapter Text

"What?" Tommy tried for a small laugh. "What do you mean that shouldn't be possible? He had all three lives before that, of course he would respawn."

Eret didn't know how to explain it. How could they explain they had been forced to kill the kid twice and he was perfectly fine despite losing his last life. He had respawned with seemingly no problem.

"Foolish." They said with their voice shaking a bit.

"I didn't do anything, this would be more of the work of my counterpart." Foolish answered, shaking his head.

"The work of what?" Tubbo asked.

At another glance most of the occupants of the table were confused and worried. Sam was the only one who looked horrified with his eyes setting on their neck, right where the brand dream gave them resided. For someone who didn't show emotions a lot, that meant a lot. Right, they forgot that the spell they used to cover that and various scars from Dream ends when you die or after a week. It seems Sam knew what that was and probably how it worked. Wonderful. The other twos' eyes kept flicking down and looking at their arms which had its own web of scars that was oftentimes hidden.

"Fuck it. I'm gonna put this as bluntly as I can, the smile tattoo you can now see on my neck is basically a brand via a mind control spell from dream. That's the other thing that Ranboo was talking about. Yes, I know that sounds horrible. No, I wasn't ever going to tell you but it's important right now. During that mind control, he had me kill Ranboo twice. Dream wiped chat and Ranboo's memories of the encounters. He just lost his last life, but he respawned. He's alive and that's great, but I don't know how." They rushed out.

Complete silence.

"Is this a joke?" Tubbo asked very calmly considering the current situation. He was probably actually quite livid.

"No, I swear to all the gods, I am not lying right now. I remember it all too vividly." They said.

All of that was true. They still had nightmares over the various people they had been forced to murder, watch Dream erase the person's memories of the event and wipe the chat of the evidence. They weren't even sure why admins couldn't take lives away from players, or maybe they could and Dream had just found traumatizing them more fun. They didn't know and didn't want to know.

"You think my mother has something to do with it then?" Tommy asked.

"Most likely." Foolish answered.

"Well what could it be other than literally letting him cheat death? Why would she? There has to be a reason." Tommy said.

Tubbo was staring at the table. That worried them a little. Sam looked like he didn't know all of what was going on.

"Yeah, unless you can contact her or any of us have dreams, we're in the dark." Foolish answered. He seemed agitated.

"Sorry, I know I'm a little behind on a lot of things, but Tommy, who is your mother?" Sam asked.

"Mrs.Trixin, Kristen, Mumza, goddess of death, death goddess. Whatever you prefer." Tommy replied.

"At this rate, I'm not gonna question it." Sam said, sighing. "I do, however, have questions for Eret. I know how those work, How long has it been there?"

They grimaced. They knew this question would come up and it didn't make it any easier to answer.

"A while. It's not important." They answered.

9 months, 6 days ago. That was one of the worst parts now that they thought about it, Dream had even covered it up initially by saying that this would help them carry out 'favors' more efficiently. Back when they trusted Dream and he didn't even need to hurt them except when they messed up. With all the memories they had now, it was so obviously wrong. They hated it. They remembered how much it hurt when initially done. Like it was being seared onto their neck and then there were thousands of pricks to tattoo it black and make it noticeable. It hurt.

"Eret?" Foolish questioned.

"Hmm? Yes?" They said, turning briefly towards Foolish before looking back at the table. They took a breath to calm themself, before taking a seat next to Sam.

"We asked if you were alright cause you just zoned out and weren't responding." Foolish explained, while moving to sit on the other side of Sam.

"Yeah, I'm fine." They said, smiling.

"Alright. Since, we're not going to get anywhere wondering how Ranboo is alive, but prime am I grateful he is. Is it alright if we ask questions about that or just stuff that's surprising in general? I think the only one who has any sort of information is Foolish." Tubbo said, looking at them.

They couldn't really care less about their sunglasses right now but all the eyes on them made them want them back. It felt uncomfortable, and the knowledge that they still had the stupid dried gray tears unsettled them.

"Yeah, sure, that's alright." Eret answered.

"Cool, the whole gray stuff on your face and around your eyes. Then, the whole eyes bit in general. Just, what?" Tubbo asked. He sat across from them and looked genuinely curious.

"The gray stuff is the result of me freaking the hell out when waking up and crying. Withers are considered mobs that can spawn anywhere but they technically were originally created in the nether and end. Even I don't know, which is why it isn't exactly concrete. Therefore, I got wither traits despite the fact that I should probably have dragon ones, considering that was more of the main boss of the end. That includes gray tears. As for the eyes, take a guess for the reason." They answered.

"I knew about the eyes." Tommy commented.

"Because you pestered me about it until I showed you." They deadpanned.

"So, basically you're a wither hybrid but with more OP abilities?" Tubbo inquired.

"Yep." They said more bluntly than intended.

"Why were you freaking out?" Tommy asked.

They tensed up a little and looked down at the table. "I'm not gonna answer that."

"Okay, I know that we're having kind of a chill mood and you want to ask them questions, but I think unfortunately we all need to talk about the obvious." Sam said, finally slipping off his gas mask from around his neck and placing it on the table. "Dream."

The energy of the room dampened and they could see the moods of the two teens across the table fall. Not that it wasn't already down, it somehow fell further.

"Yeah. I assume we all know the most likely reason he got out." Tommy paused as everyone nodded their heads. "So, as much as I hate to say it. We gotta get that spell done before he kills us. To be honest he'll be after anyone who can do that spell and get us out of here. We are the main targets right now."

"Quick summary please? What?" Sam asked. He was the only one in the room that was confused.

"We found a spell that could get us out of here, problem if there's not enough people, or not the right people, someone could die which was what Tommy was worried about. It can only be performed with Royalty, demigods, or gods. And most of our group applies except for you. We know it takes two people minimum, and then builds up based on how many people are on the server. We were planning on getting more potions just in case someone did get wounded and fix it. Then do it in a couple of days." Foolish explained to Sam.

"We don't have that time now." Sam said.

"Yes, which is the problem." Foolish said.

"How many people do you need?" Sam asked.

"6. There's already 5 of us on board, though one of them is Ranboo. Eret was going to meet up with Techno because they didn't want to discuss it over comms. That might not be happening considering the whole thing of Eret just losing a life, but he's really our only other option besides Phil and Dream and none of us are on decent terms with either of them." Foolish answered.

They had forgotten they were going to meet up with Techno because of how sidetracked they had gotten. Tubbo didn't seem happy at the mention of Techno.

"Honestly, I should probably still do that after I get cleaned up. It was kinda a rushed meeting so I was lucky I didn't have my armor or really anything important on me. I left it all in my room. Most of my stuff would have disappeared by now, but as long as I have armor and shit I should be fine." They said.

They pulled out their communicator and opened it. The rest of them kept talking but they had learned to tune it out. They ignored the main chat knowing what it most likely said and went to their dms with Techno. They were someone who wasn't an anarchist but on good terms with Techno. Probably the only one. When they mentioned they needed his help with something he listened. Sometimes he agreed, sometimes he didn't. Sometimes he asked for favors and they would help. They kinda had a constant, 'hey can you help with this?' going on.

Technoblade: eret?
Do you still want to do this meeting?
Oh shit
Main chat
Are you alive
How many lives did you have

The_Eret: I'm fine, I have one more now, the usual place. I have to get cleaned up a little, grab some supplies and then I'll head over.

Technoblade: swag
Don't die on the way over
That would be bad

The_Eret: I agree it would be bad
You stay safe too. Dream added this enchantment that doesn't let anything heal the wound once you get nicked or whatever by his sword. The only way to stop it is to die. I learned that the hard way.

They exited the dms with Techno and looked briefly at the main chat before closing the communicator all together. They paid more attention to the conversation at hand.

"-because Ranboo has to heal before we can do it is the problem." Tubbo said.

"Hey, um, I'm gonna go ahead and go talk to Techno. The sooner I do the better." Eret announced.

"I agree, go." Foolish said.

They didn't bother waiting for anyone else to respond instead choosing to get up and leave the library. They ignored the call of their name from Tubbo and continued to walk down the hallway. It was close to two based on the clock in the library and that left them with limited amounts of daylight. They could only spend so much time with Techno before everyone here got a little worried. Still each minute was helpful, before talking to Foolish about getting out of here they had originally discussed it with Techno. Techno had actually approached them about it about the time Tommy showed up at his house and they were very conflicted over a lot of things. It was a nice distraction while it lasted. It was only a week or so but it was nice.

They went into their bedroom, closing the door behind them since they hadn't when they initially left. They normally would have flopped on their bed and contemplated existence but there was no time for that. They went to their bathroom and went to their makeshift sink, which was just a cauldron with water that they dumped out via buckets most days and then refilled. They dunked the piece of cloth resting on the side in the water and scrubbed at their face. They learned a long time ago that was the best way to get rid of the tear tracks. They gripped the sides of the water cauldron and took a shaky breath.

They looked in the mirror they had spent a few days polishing and making. At the time they weren't sure how they knew how to do it, it was almost like an itching memory they couldn't grab. It was one of the few times they'd worked in a forge, they had to bend the metal to the ideal width and length. They could have just traded with villagers but for some reason at the time making at least one felt nice. They knew why now, them and Foolish had learned when they were first trying to blend in with humans without shifting form. They were trying blacksmithing. It was just for fun, maybe to start a couple rumors. It was so long ago.

Either way the memories they had of staring into mirrors revealed a much different person than they were now. Their hair hadn't been brushed in several days now and was incredibly matted. They had on a grey shirt that was worn at this point, nothing that a few days of changing back into the same one wouldn't cause. One thing was they remembered when they were genuinely and truly happy. There had still been a part of them that didn't completely believe what Foolish said about them being a god but now they had the memories and they didn't know what to think.

The new scar leading down from a couple inches under their eye and all the way down to their neck. They were lucky it didn't hit their eye. The initial strike dream got in their fight, it hurt like a bitch when it hit. After the second hit, the pain had spiked and then they just felt numb.

They tore their gaze away from the mirror and looked up, blinking back whatever was in their eye. It wasn't the time to contemplate this. They left the bathroom not bothering to close the door, no one was allowed in here. The only exception was Foolish since he apparently didn't care and would come in when he felt like something was wrong. As much as they hated it they had to admit it was helpful in some situations.

They kneeled down and opened the chest right next to their bed. They grabbed the stored armor out of there and placed it on their bed. They took out their sword and their axe for good measure. They closed that chest and shuffled to the next chest. They opened it and pulled out a fresh long sleeve light pink shirt and a better pair of boots than the current ratty old sneakers. As for pants their jeans would do for now. They closed the chest and stood up. They pulled off their current shirt and picked up the new one. They almost had it all the way on when they noticed the new scar on their gut. New scars were something they were rather accustomed to. It didn't bother them that much. Besides, it looked just like a normal one. They rolled down the rest of the shirt and sat down on the edge of their bed, to take off their current shoes. They took them off and tossed them in a corner before slipping on the unlaced boots and beginning to tie them.

They stood up and started to put on their armor. They personally always found it easier to put it on starting with their feet. They still didn't understand the magic that allowed them to put armor over their boots but they didn't need to today since these were basically armor in themselves. They were a hefty price from the villagers; they were basically a set of iron boots but they looked like your casual set of boots with the leather embedded over it. They tightened the straps on their leggings before pulling the enchanted netherite chest plate onto their body and doing the straps as quickly as possible. They grabbed their helmet and then stored away their weapons in their inventory. They grabbed their more royal cloak instead of their more disguised cloak. This one was made by Puffy and made for quite cold temperatures, which is what they would need for where they were going. They clipped it over their armor and didn't raise the hood just yet.

Now for the next bit.

They lifted up the rug that covered the center of their room and opened the trapdoor, slipping down into the floor. They reached out and put the rug over the trapdoor as they closed it so that it wouldn't be obvious. They had literally nothing on them but weapons and armor. That probably wasn't the best idea but they didn't care at the moment. They descended the ladder thankful for the paranoia that led to multiple in and outs of the castle. A lot of them are secret.

Eret stepped down and immediately opened the chest on the right side of the passageway. It had been a while since they had gone down this way and maybe they had left some surprises. The food would be rotten but anything else would be nice. They found several torches that once taken out and in their hand would immediately light themselves. Considering the only lighting was blue lanterns from the nether every 4 or 5 meters they took the chance and grabbed them. One blazed the moment they touched their hand and the rest went in their inventory.

Apparently there was enough light that no mobs had spawned down there because they got to their stables and field where Mingo was kept without interruption.

"MINGO!" They yelled into the pasture.

They had always thought that if you're going to keep an animal, make sure it's happy. And, they always made sure to try and get down there and see Mingo at least once a day. Even when Dream was there. It was usually at the beginning of the day when they could slip away. Feed her, brush her, clean out her stall if she decided to sleep in the warmer place instead of outside like she liked. It was the best way to maintain a healthy relationship with them. They understood they wouldn't be able to take her for rides or walks a lot which was why they built the fence around a large pasture and made sure there were torches that wouldn't hurt her but would make sure mobs won't spawn.

Almost immediately Mingo started galloping towards them from where she was in the far left field where a small pond was. They had filled in parts of it to make sure it wasn't too deep. Mingo slowed down to a trot and then stopped in front of them. She snorted, expressing her thoughts on their armor.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You don't really like it when I wear armor. I don't have much of a choice though, some stuff has happened. It's safer for me. I don't want to leave you without an owner." They said, rubbing their hand on Mingo's neck.

Mingo didn't say anything in response, which was to be expected. She was a horse.

"So, remember techno and his horse Carl? We gotta go talk to them today. It'll be fun. You two can track down those flowers you like to eat and muck around in the snow if you want." They said.

Mingo seemed a little happier at that. They led her over to the chest with the food and the saddle and took both out. They gently gave the apple to her first and then started equipping the saddle. They usually got the saddle wrong on their first try and they did. They finally got it on and gave Mingo another apple. They took her reins and headed towards the gate. They opened the gate, led Mingo out and then closed it. They put one of their feet in a stirrup and pulled themselves on and over the horse. They got settled and adjusted the reins.

"You know the way Mingo. We have to get there quickly today, can you do that?" They asked.

Mingo whinnied and pawned at the ground.

"Awesome. Let's go." They gave a few clicks and Mingo was galloping off towards the community nether portal.

The nether was the easiest way to get there, or anywhere for that matter. It was easy to get there in the middle of the day and Mingo entered the nether carefully. She slowed down as they started to make their way across a rather inconspicuous bridge. With how many bridges there were in the nether, no one really questioned it because of how many bridges there already were. Who knows where this one went? Who cared? They got Mingo to turn around once they reached nether flats. The path to others kept going and that was the reason it was built as it was. They slowed Mingo down to a trot and led her through the small maze to a nether portal that led to where they wanted to be.

They coaxed Mingo through the portal and shivered at the tingly feeling that the portal left. The snow hit their face and they pulled up the hood of their cloak. They saw the pillar of smoke coming out of the ground and assumed techno was already here. It seemed the snow was worse than normal so they led Mingo around to the stables and hopped off her at the doors. The stables were the only part of the place that was above ground in the small build. They pushed open the stable doors and let Mingo in. They pulled it closed ignoring the howling of the wind. They left Mingo to hang out with Carl and stepped down quite a few steps to where a door was. They opened the door and were met with a rush of warmth. It was a simple design, enough room for the two of them to meet comfortably and be warm. They walked over to the fire and pulled down their hood. Techno sat in front of it staring at it.

"So, What is it this time?" Techno prompted. "You don't have to use the favor for getting rid of Dream, at this rate I'd do that regardless."

"Nope, not the original reason I came here, but that is a bonus now." They paused to sit down next to him. "I have a feeling you know more than we originally discussed about this but we found a book. A way to get out of here. And, we need your help."

Sam wasn't sure what to do. He felt lost. He was supposed to keep everyone safe by keeping Dream in prison at all costs. Even the costs of his own health which had definitely been ignored. His mental state had worsened until when Dream got put he had finally broken, crying his eyes in his friends? Persons? Partners? Arms. He didn't know anymore. He knew he didn't want to lose Foolish though. He was supposed to be apathetic all the time because even though that's part of the job it felt like most of what he could show. He had always been bad at expressing emotions. Bad at understanding sarcasm. Bad at understanding certain cues that told him how people were doing. Ask him about any redstone design. He could tell you. Ask him about his routine. He could tell you, and it had to be that. Ask him about anything to do with things he liked and he could tell you.

Now, because his schedule changed, Dream was out. That's why he kept a rigid schedule. Days where the schedule is messed up, go wrong. He missed delivering breakfast on time because he was exhausted and had been running on three hours of sleep for the last two days. Not that it was much more now, just 6 and a half. Dream was out because he had needs that he had been neglecting and it finally came back and punched him in the face. He was supposed to keep him there and failed. Foolish and Tommy informed him of the most likely way he got out but it still felt like it was because of a flaw in the system.

"Sam?" Foolish asked softly.

The two of them were laying on a couch, or at least what passed to be a couch, that Foolish had shown them, he was laying his head on Foolishs chest. The upstairs part of the castle apparently had various lounges, the kitchen, and more guest rooms.

"Yeah?" He asked back.

"What's on your mind?" Foolish asked, running his hands through his hair.

He closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. Yes, he was probably touch starved but that wasn't important.

"Nothing much." He murmured.

"Sure, it's nothing, I can practically hear you overthinking Sam." Foolish said.

"I don't really want to talk about it." He said quietly.

"Alright." Foolish said humming.

The two of them laid there for a while with Foolish messing with his hair, braiding some small bits of it and then taking it out. His golden circlet and gas mask had been abandoned on the table in front of them. He wasn't even sure where his armor was, he knew he wasn't wearing it though.

"Hey, foolish." He asked in a small voice eventually.

Foolish hummed in acknowledgement.

"I know you're a little worried about Eret being gone so long, it has been a couple hours with no communication. And, we know where the kids are but it's unsettling to me that we don't know where Dream is." He admitted. "It feels a little bit like my fault. I swore to keep him there at all costs and I wasn't able to."

"Well, wouldn't he have respawned in the prison?" Foolish asked thoughtfully.

"No, I checked the entire cell before I left to find you all. His bed was gone." He said.

"Oh, Sam. It'll be alright. All the dots will connect eventually, we'll figure this out eventually." Foolish promised, sliding his hand down his arm and holding his hand.

He was reminded of a very similar promise he, himself had made to someone he cared about to the same degree.

"I still get nightmares about the banquet and the egg. I helped trap it and most of the eggpire members are cured or on their way to being cured but the eggs words are still in my mind. They still haunt me. It spoke to me when they were trying to kill you. It said, 'You failed one, and they joined me. Here you are about to fail another one and have them go down the hard burden of being a sacrifice.' I wanted to help, to get you out of there but I couldn't move. I already watched myself fuck up and lose Ponk, I was so worried you'd hate me afterwards that I just started to ignore you. Yet, you still care. I can only imagine how you had felt. It doesn't seem like everything is going to be alright foosh." He rambled.

"Foosh?" Foolish sounded entertained by the nickname. "Look, Sam, you're a wonderful person no matter what those thoughts say. And, I love you, in queer platonic way. I honestly just try to ignore the memories of the egg. And, I also think you should get some sleep, I can tell you're tired."

"But-" He started. The last time he had made the mistake of trusting anyone while sleeping had cost him his best friend.

"I'll be here when you wake up, and I'm not taking anything. Don't worry." Foolish promised.

Foolish started carding his hand through his hair again and it was comforting. He didn't want to sleep but his eyes were closed already and he felt safe. So, for the first time in a while he willingly fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Ranboo wasn't sure what was going on. All he knew was he was conscious for a little while, talked to Tubbo about something and then was dragged back to this black void of a world where he just floated around. He had seen glimpses of a woman that was shrouded in a black veil. But, he still didn't understand what was going on. It was literally just a black void, there was nothing as an identifier. It occasionally gave glimpses of something he could never quite catch before it left again. Or a random flash of light that he'd try to frantically identify where it came from before giving up. Finally something stayed, or rather someone.

A man stood a few meters in front of where they were floating. He had a dark red beanie and a yellow sweater stained red with a hole in the middle. Then, a mirror image of the trench coat Tommy kept in his Ender chest. Curly brown hair, and curious brown eyes studying him through silver framed glasses. This was Wilbur soot, brother to Tommy and a prince of the Antarctic Kingdom.

"So, your Ranboo, correct?" Wilbur asked.

"Yes, yes I am. Where? Where am I?" He asked. His voice echoed.

"Limbo. It personalizes itself upon your final death and you stay there for a couple years before moving on to a section of the underworld. It takes time to process souls. My mother has to keep track of them somehow. I'm not entirely sure if I'm correct though." Wilbur answered. His voice wasn't echoey.

"Why isn't your voice echoing? And, I shouldn't be dead, I have two lives left don't I?" He questioned.

"Ah, yes. This. I believe you had a discussion with Dream about Eret and their brand. Dream had them kill you twice, he erased your memories of the event and the chat. By all means you should be dead, but my mother intervened." Wilbur explained.

"What do you mean by intervened?" He asked.

"On the dream smp you still have a body due to the fact that you needed to finish the job of helping create the portal out of there. My mother can only bend the rules of death so far, you have roughly a day and a half until you become an actual ghost and can no longer help. If they succeed you can still leave, due to the whole respawn before age 21. You'll probably actually die for roughly 30 seconds before you feel a jolt and then you'll wake up." Wilbur said.

"What about you? I know Tommy would want you to leave." He said.

"I'll be fine." Wilbur said. "Now, since technically you are dead now I can get my mother to give you your memories of Eret killing you back. If you have a strange desire to want them back."

"How did I die?" He asked.

"You have to want the memories back to find out. It's the only way." Wilbur shrugged.

"What if I don't like what I see? Can I just not remember it again?" He asked.

"Fucking prime you ask a lot of questions. No, you either keep them or you don't." Wilbur stated.

"I don't get any clue as to how it happened, therefore can only make a decision at random." He deduced.

"Pretty much. What do you want to do?" Wilbur asked. He seemed rather apathetic about it, though there was a hint of morbid curiosity.

He didn't respond immediately. While he would love to have back memories he didn't even know he was missing, he wasn't sure that he wanted them. All he knew was that it was memories of him dying at the hands of Eret. No other information.

"Y'know what, sure why not. It can't be that bad, can it?" He asked, trying to convince himself of that.

"Alright then. I have to go, inform my mother of your decision. Um, enjoy your limbo before your memories come back and you wake up. Have fun if you become a ghost, I guess have fun either way." Wilbur said, glitching out of sight.

And just like that he was alone again. Floating above what was apparently a black ground, surrounded by a black void called Limbo. He wasn't even sure he could move around but how would he have been able to tell? He had thought he had most of his memories again but apparently he hadn't. He understood he wouldn't get the ones from his enderwalk state back. He didn't want them back despite Dream saying he didn't get him to do anything.

Ranboo didn't know how long he waited. It felt like hours before something else other than black showed in their vision. It was faded around the edges but it was clearly his vision this time.

He was talking and playing around with Michael. He was in his Snowchester gear.

"Alright Michael, it's time to go to bed." He said softly, tucking the small child into the bed, just as a large crash happened downstairs. "Alrighty, I'll go check that out. You go to bed."

He went downstairs, closing the trap door behind him and saw Eret standing in the doorway. Their face was void of emotion and was wearing full netherite. Even now it unsettled them.

"Oh! Eret, what do I owe the visit?" He greeted them.

Eret said nothing. He walked forward holding his hands out in front of him. Clearly this was by the time that they had found out about Technos voices.

"Eret, are you in control?" He asked calmly.

Again, Eret said nothing. He watched as Eret reached into their inventory and brought out their axe. The next bit happened too quickly for him to react. Eret swung for him and struck his leg, causing him to fall towards the floor and then Eret raised their axe again, hitting him in the side. He was gasping for breath. Eret stood over them, the axe at their side dripping with blood. The axe raised again, swung and the memory went black.

What. What was that? Well it was obvious what it was but the fact that there were no scars from that was insane. That should've scarred, it literally killed him. There should have been bloodstains there, someone should have noticed. Unless it was normal. Unless Dream had Eret do that a lot. And that was sickening. The fact that it was done efficiently and without mercy only made it worse.

"Eret? Hey, do you need something?" Ranboo asked as a new memory faded in of him near the bamboo forest collecting some of it.

No words. No emotions. It seems that no talking and no emotions showing was the telltale sign that Dream was in control of them. Past him didn't know this though. Eret walked towards him, both of them were wearing armor this time. They wordlessly took some bamboo and held it while staring at it.

"Eret? You alright?" He asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

Eret put the bamboo in their inventory and took a singular step back. For the first time he saw struggle on Erets face. Maybe they were fighting back, refusing to be controlled any longer. Then, it went back to no emotion, and Eret pulled out a sword. He backed up and pulled out his own sword.

"Eret. I'm pretty sure this isn't you, please put the sword down." He said calmly.

Eret didn't put the sword down but swung towards them. Their swords met with a clang and Eret pulled back and striked again. They missed because he had ducked. Eret turned the sword so that the sharp edge wouldn't hit their head but the flat side of the blade. A small hint of remorse in their expression. Maybe, this one was after they realized exactly what they were doing and what was happening. The collision clearly made him disoriented and in one clean stab his vision went black again.

Prime. That was… he didn't even know how to describe it. There were so many things to learn from that. Eret was a much more formidable fighter than he previously thought, or maybe it was because Dream was in control.

"Do you regret it?" The voice of Wilbur asked although he couldn't see him. It sounded like he was all around him.

"Regret what?" He breathed out.

"Remembering. Do you regret it?" Wilbur repeated.

"No. I don't think I do." He responded.

"Good." Wilbur said. "Here it's been about three days since you died. To your living friends, it's been three hours. It might not have felt like 3 days, but it has been; time is weird here. You'll probably wake up in another hour or so and then you'll have about 32 hours to get that spell done. After that you're gonna go ghost and come back here. Your ghost will inhabit the server instead. Once you leave the server, you'll trade places again. Oh, and don't let anyone else that needs to help die, this is a one time thing."

"Alright. The same will happen for you right?" He got a sense of deja vu. Probably because he had asked roughly the same thing earlier.

"Just tell Toms I love him and I'm proud of him please. And, I'm sorry I can't say it in person." Wilbur said, his voice cracking.

It seemed his presence was gone again. The entire existence of this place felt like it was tripping his mind. Like it was supposed to make sense now that he was there but it didn't. It still didn't, he should have been dead apparently but he wasn't. And he wouldn't have to be as long as he got the portal open and got out. He'd be alright as long as he got to the main hub. But, Wilbur. He knew Tommy was attached to Wilbur and he wouldn't give him a straight answer about being able to leave. He said he'd be fine but then he asked again. And still didn't get an answer. The void seemed to subtly change. Now instead of him floating in it, it felt like it was in front of him.

Ranboo opened his eyes. Light was filtering through the window. It was more of an orangey color than yellow. He was lying face up at the ceiling. He tried to move his arm but found that he couldn't. He looked down and saw Tubbo snoring slightly, holding onto his arm and Tommy stretched out on the side of him. Tubbos head was resting on his shoulder.Tommy seemed to be awake and was staring up at the ceiling as well. He didn't look any different than he did before.

"Tommy?" He whispered.

"Oh, hey, Ranboo. How do you feel?" Tommy asked, not looking away from the ceiling.

"I- I feel alright. I was sick I think, but now I'm not?" He paused and looked back at the ceiling. "I shouldn't be alive right now, should I?"

"According to Eret no." Tommy confirmed.

"I talked to Wilbur." He mentioned.

"Did you now?" Tommy asked, glancing at him briefly.

"Yeah. He said the rules of death can only be bent so far and I have about 32 hours before I turn into a ghost." He said.

"That's a terrifying thought." Tommy said, sitting up

"It is a little." He admitted. He tried his best to sit up as well, but just managed to lean on the headboard with Tubbo clinging to him. His head slipped down to the actual pillow. "What happened while I was asleep?"

"Not much, Eret went to talk to Techno. See if he'll help. That was like 4 hours ago. I don't know if they're back yet. Slightly concerned. Tubbos' been worried about you, so have I." Tommy said.

"Oh." He said, not knowing what else to say.

"Did wil say anything else important?" Tommy asked.

"He mentioned it was because I needed to help with the spell. He also said even if I become a ghost when I go back to the main hub I'll respawn since I'm under 21. I don't know what he meant by this but he told me to tell you that He's proud of you, that he loves you, and that he's sorry he isn't able to say it in person." He recited the last bit.

He heard no response from Tommy and when he looked over he saw his eyes brimming with tears.

"Hey, you alright?" He asked.

"Wil was 22 when he died. He and Tech's birthday was exactly two months prior on September 16th. We both knew by then if he died, he wasn't coming back this time. Since you know you only respawn before 21 in the main hub, like how in some places you can drink once you're 21 but this is more of a universal law. I'm rambling. Anyways, It wouldn't be like the other times. But at the time we didn't think it was gonna be much of an issue, he still had two lives left." Tommy explained. "It's just kinda finally settling in that I can't just wait to get back to the main hub to get him back. The fact that Phil killed him made it hurt so much more."

"How- how did he lose his lives? You guys don't like to talk much about before I joined." He said hesitantly.

"Killed by Punz in the Final control room, shot down by Punz when we got exiled by Schlatt, and then Phil stabbed him." Tommy said.

"I've heard about the final control room. I don't know what happened in the better L'manburg days, during Wilbur's Presidency, but I heard it was nice. You said it was nice." He said.

"It was. It was very nice. It's the only real bit of peace we had since we got here. Oh, yeah, it started as a scam to pissed off Dream. Wilbur walked up to me one day and asked me 'Hey, what do you think about drugs?' And the drug van was created. We pretended potions were the drugs and started stealing everyone's blaze powder, blaze rods, and brewing stands. We were being general nuisances, we asked Tubbo if he wanted to join and he did. Then, Fundy and Eret. I haven't seen Fundy in awhile. I don't know what he's been up to. Do you think Eret and Foolish should tell everyone what they've been up to trying to get us out of here?" Tommy asked suddenly.

"I mean, probably, we want to get everyone out of here as quickly as possible. The closer they are to the portal the quicker we can do that." He answered.

"Yeah, but we still don't know where the portal spawns. We can't tell them where to go when it does. Plus the fact with all the rivalries on this server, whos to say they won't murder each other the moment they see each other." Tommy said.

"This is true." He said.

"Yeah. Like Quackity and tech. I swear if we can get them in the same room without one of them trying to murder the other it would be a miracle." Tommy mentioned. "Or Tubbo and Techno. Both of those have to do with the whole butcher army incident."

"I remember that. I was there. I was the only one that didn't almost die. Probably because I was the only one staying away and utterly terrified. I didn't attack." He said.

"I was at Technos place by then, I remember being alone for that day and wondering when the hell he was gonna come back. He said that he was gonna be back in an hour since he was originally going to gather some wood for the fire. Then, that happened and he didn't come back until late at night with nothing and went to bed without explaining anything. I woke up the next morning and Techno sat me down and explained everything." Tommy said.

"Oh. Yeah, that was when Phil was on house arrest." He said, trying to see if he could free his arm again. He couldn't.

"Yeah, I had Steve though and about enough firewood to make it through the day. So it was alright." Tommy said.

"Steve is fluffy." He said.

"He is." Tommy agreed. "I don't think you were here before Henry died but he was my cow. He was one of those cows that was pretty fluffy. When I was feeling sad I would go out into his pasture and he'd let me sleep next to him for the night."

"He sounds like he was a nice cow Tommy." He said.

"He was." Tommy said.

"Now, just, a random question that I'd like an answer to. Why did I wake up to you two in the bed as well?" Ranboo asked.

"Oh, that's because Tubbos is a clingy shit and then I was, uh, also a little worried. So I stayed." Tommy explained.

"Oh." He responded.

"Yeah." Tommy said. The room fell into awkward silence.

"What time is it?" He asked, breaking it.

"I dunno, around 6 probably. I'd say." Tommy answered.

"What the hell are you talking about?" A very sleepy sounding Tubbo asked.

"Life, tubso. Life." Tommy said, getting off the bed and stretching.

"And, what about life is so important you have to wake me up?" Tubbo asked groggily.

"Ranboo's up." Tommy said, looking pointedly at him.

He felt tubbo finally let go of his arm and sit up, looking at him. It felt nice to have his arm back, he flexed it a little to get some feeling back into it. Tubbo looked tired and his hair was a mess, but otherwise he looked like he did earlier.

"Oh, hey. How are you?" Tubbo asked, moving to sit on the side of the bed.

"Alright. Any chance we could get everyone in Erets castle together and talk about more stuff tonight?" He asked.

"Boss man you got yourself killed and was apparently supposed to die and become a ghost, I think you should take it easy for the rest of the day." Tubbo said.

"We don't have time to wait. I was supposed to die. I got the memories back even though they're less than pleasant. I'm gonna turn into a ghost in like 32 hours. We have to get the spell done as soon as possible, because I know that I can help. We all know that, why wait any longer?" Ranboo asked.

"Ah, Tommy's mother keeps you here. I agree we shouldn't wait any longer, but Tommy has Eret come back yet?" Tubbo suddenly asked.

"No, why?" Tommy answered.

"They went to talk to Technoblade and it's been an awfully long time just to convince someone to help with one spell." Tubbo said.

"I agree but they left with armor and weapons hopefully." Tommy said.

"What about potions and a totem or two?" He asked.

"Don't know. They said suddenly in the middle of a conversation about how long we were gonna wait for you to get better. You had a cold or hypothermia but you seem fine already. Yeah, they just said suddenly that they were gonna go talk to Techno about it and left. Nothing else. We have no clue where they are and haven't been back in a few hours. So, y'know things are going great." Tubbo said the last bit sarcastically.

"That's wonderful. We should at least try to find Sam and Foolish. I'm pretty sure they went upstairs." Tommy said.

"There's an upstairs?" He asked. He didn't know that, but then again he didn't really know much about this place.

"Yeah. Most of the stuff is downstairs but some of it is upstairs. The towers have three levels and a bridge connecting them. They have a ton of resources in the towers which is why people keep stealing from them." Tubbo explained. "Honestly I don't think they notice or care."

"Oh. Yeah, let's go find Foolish and Sam." He said, putting his feet on the floor and then almost immediately started falling over.

He felt Tubbo grab his arm to steady him and he placed his palm on the wall to completely steady himself.

"Okay, you're clearly not as alright as we thought." Tommy said.

"I feel fine. Just let me try again." He insisted.

Tubbo let go and he stayed standing fine even when he took his hand off the wall. Once it was clear that he was indeed fine, the three of them started towards one of the two sets of stairs in the castle. The stairs spiraled up and led to a relatively small second floor despite the wide hallways and spacious rooms below. The first room was the kitchen where Tubbo immediately snatched some rabbit stew that had been on top of the furnace. He ate the soup as they walked. Apparently it was still fresh. Food was weird; it could mold and deteriorate outside of your inventory but would stay as pristine as you want as long as it's inside your inventory. A lot of mechanics of the world were weird. They eventually found Sam and Foolish, in what appeared to be a replication of a living room. Planks and buttons had been used to simulate a TV. Why Eret had this he wasn't sure, but he wasn't much to question anything.

The two of them were asleep on the couch. Foolishs head was resting on the arm rest and Sam was laying on top of him. Foolish had one hand cradling Sam's head like he had fallen asleep messing with his hair. Then, Sam had his hand resting on Foolishs' other hand. They both looked at peace.

"I kinda don't wanna wake them up. They look too peaceful." Tubbo said, almost spilling his soup as he sat down next to the couch.

"They do. Are-" Tommy got interrupted by Tubbos communicator suddenly starting to blare some sort of siren.

"What the hell, I didn't do that?" Tubbo asked himself, taking out his communicator.

He watched as Sam and Foolish started to stir, most likely woken up by the alarm going off, Tommy looked confused and Tubbo's brow was creasing. Tubbo stood up and took out a red button with many wires attached to it and installed it into his communicator. He sucked in a breath. He knew what that was, it was the remote wiring to forcefully shut off all nukes. Something was happening. Something not good.

"The hell?" Sam asked tiredly.

"Nothing that should concern you boss man." Tubbos said absentmindedly.

"Tubbo, your communicator sounds like it's going to explode." Tommy commented.

"Something might." Tubbo commented.

"I'm sorry- something might blow up?" Tommy asked for clarification looking at Tubbo wide-eyed.

That got Sam's attention, he sat up and stood up grabbing his circlet and gas mask off the table. Sam shook Foolish awake before looking at him.

"Do you know what that's for?" Sam asked at the same time that Tubbo asked, "What are our coords?"

"Erets castle coords are roughly 295, -629, 60." Foolish said also standing up. He sounded tired. "What's that for?"

"Fuck, Shit, we have enough time. I think. We might. It's alright. It's fine. It's not alright. Why isn't this working, this is not the fucking time to find out this doesn't work." Tubbo said frantically messing with his communicator and the button.

"What is that for?" Foolish asked again, his voice sounding a bit more serious.

"A nuke, you have enough time to get out if you run now. I can't do it from here, It's not working, I thought the program worked, I have to shut it down manually. Shit, Fuck. Ranboo, nuke bunker, now." Tubbo instructed, grabbing hold of his shoulder.

Ranboo teleported himself and Tubbo to the bunker. He was a bit panicked and they ended up right outside. That didn't really matter apparently since the door was almost ripped off its hinges. It hung limply from the top hinge only. Tubbo wasted no time running in and starting to do something. He followed him in.

"Okay, ranboo in case things go south I need you to see how many of them you can get to Las Nevadas. Or anywhere but Erets castle. It was probably Dream again, messing with the program. Fuck." Tubbo said messing with a large screen he had made, redstone and wires.

It was all connected to the base that the live Nuke sat on. It had bay doors above it so that it could go to where it needed to be.

"T-minus 30 seconds til launch." An automated voice said.

"Ranboo go. Now." Tubbo said barely audible but the terror was present in his voice. It was 27 seconds left now.

He didn't have time to second guess Tubbo. He teleported back to the living room where everyone was before and found everyone still there. They all seemed confused. He grabbed ahold of Tommy's arm despite his protests and teleported anywhere. He landed in some grand place. He didn't recognize it at first glance but Tommy did. He didn't catch what Tommy said before he Teleported back to Erets castle. He should have been fatigued by now, probably even passing out but he was glad he wasn't. He took hold of Sam and Foolish and focused on teleporting to the place that he had just been.

He stumbled as he landed again, almost immediately losing his grip on Sam and falling over. Tommy caught him, he felt like his head was spinning. Maybe it was all due to adrenaline. It had to have been 30 seconds. Yeah, he had to have gotten them out in time. Tubbo didn't know that though. There was a self-destruct button. Tubbo would use it if it meant saving lives. Oh aether.

He pushed himself out of Tommy's arms and teleported out again ignoring the pain that came with it. He landed behind Tubbo who was just staring at the nuke. The screen read self-destruct initiated, with a timer and a voice counting down to Zero.

"10."

It clicked.

"9."

Tubbo knew he wouldn't get out of here in time.

"8, 7."

Tubbo was waiting for his death. He already accepted it.

"6."

He surged forward.

"5, 4, 3."

Would he make it in time?

"2."

He grasped the edge of Tubbos shoulder.

"1."

He heard the nuke explode, and felt it blast both of them back. For once he prayed to the gods that he had held on to Tubbo as he teleported out.

Chapter Text

Ranboo felt himself crash into something. He heard something shatter as well, oops. He had been flying backwards when he teleported, the momentum carried over apparently. He could hear some raising voices and feet rushing over. He rolled over and opened his eyes. His hands dug into glass bits. He felt fine physically just drained, which shouldn't have been possible for just surviving a fucking nuke or how much teleporting he had been doing. Oh fuck. He scrambled to sit up and look around him. He wasn't sure who was approaching him but he didn't care. His ears dropped.

Tubbo was laying in a motionless heap next to him. All he felt was panic as he rolled Tubbo over a little to get a better look. Tubbo showed no signs of reacting. While he had been spared from the effects of the blast, he didn't know why, tubbo had decidedly not been. He had been wearing a t-shirt at the time so his arm and the side of his face looked like it had been charred. His ear that had already had bits of it gone looked like it had gotten completely blown off, same with the horn. His jeans looked charred to bits. And there was blood, so much of it, pooling around his head mainly. The damage didn't look as bad as it could've been, considering he kinda got out in time. But to his panic filled mind, he wasn't alive. Tubbo didn't look like he was breathing. Tubbo didn't look like he had a pulse. To him he hadn't gotten him out in time. He sobbed, his hands were shaking.

Someone moved to touch Tubbos shoulder.

"No. Don't hurt him." He hissed, starting to cry. It hurt. He wasn't even sure if what he said was in English. He didn't know who it was either.

The person moved away and someone replaced them, with something in their hand.

"Ranboo. Hey, buddy. You gotta let me check if he has a pulse. He hasn't died yet, and chat hasn't gone off. He'll be alright." Eret softly said in the same language as him. Ender.

"Don't hurt him. Please." He said desperately.

"I won't hurt him. I promise." Eret promised in ender, gently putting their hand on Tubbos neck to feel for a pulse. "He's alive, alright? But you have to let me give him regen or he might not be. He could die."

He didn't hesitate before warbling a, "Yes, regen."

He picked up Tubbos right hand, the side he was sitting on. He was shaking. He watched Eret lift up Tubbos head and start to trickle the potion down his throat. Potions would usually take effect the moment they entered your bloodstream, whether that was from it entering your mouth or your injuries. When they got the entire potion down Tubbos throat, there were no immediate signs of things being fixed. There was still a pool of blood around his head, though it wasn't steadily increasing anymore.

"Eret, can you calm Ranboo down enough to get Tubbo down to medbay?" Someone else asked, in English. It sounded like techno but how would he be here? Wherever here was. He didn't care.

He watched as he finally saw Tubbos chest raise a little and the drop down. He sighed in relief. Aether what if he was imagining it?

"Ranboo? Buddy, I know you're concerned but we have to get him down to the closest medbay alright? We have better stuff down there than just potions. We don't want to overload his body with too many at once, he's not used to it." Eret spoke softly in the language only the two of them understood. At least here.

"Okay. He's- he's breathing right? I'm not like hallucinating." He said trilling softly to keep himself calm. Aether, he missed talking in ender. He missed being more in tune with his actual enderman side. His tail was flicking around in distress. He sobbed again, he didn't know when he stopped crying.

"You're not hallucinating." Eret confirmed.

"Okay- okay. Yes, medbay. That's a good idea. Where… where is it?" He asked, finally slipping out of the comfort of speaking in Ender and started speaking English again.

"I don't know. We're at the top of the space needle in Las Nevadas right now. You are safe. Tubbo will be alright and if I can pick him up without you freaking out on me, I'm gonna pick him up and Quackity is going to lead me to medbay." Eret said in English as well.

"Okay, I won't freak out." He whispered. It was more a reassurance to himself rather than a promise to Eret.

Ranboo stayed on the floor staring at the blood as Eret picked up Tubbo and left. He wasn't dead, at least not yet. But the fact that Tubbo was willing to just throw his life away like that unsettled him. He felt numb. He heard someone shuffle and sit a bit away from him. He tore his gaze away long enough to stare at Techno who for once didn't have any armor on, other than netherite leggings that covered his brown pants. He had on his usual fancy frilly shirt and then the strands of gold threaded through his pink haired braid. Techno was looking at the ground with his ears flicking around occasionally and he was messing with his tusks. He was the only one on the server who gave him a contest for his height at 6'9''.

"Why are you here?" He asked.

"I was with Eret. We're… friends I guess you'd say. I like that term, yeah the only person in a government technically that I can handle." Techno answered.

"Y'know Snowchester wasn't ever really a government. It was honestly an anarchist commune, I mean Tubbo and Jack made nukes. Jack and Tommy hung around sometimes but it was usually just me, Tubbo, and Micheal." He said, looking back at the pool of blood. It didn't feel fair that good people got hurt the most.

"Yeah, I know that. Now at least. I- I've fucked up. A lot over the course of this server and before that. I honestly don't know what I'm gonna do. I know I want to at the very least apologize for all of it, to everyone, and really mean it and I already do. Look, ranboo I'm sorry. I know it probably wasn't the best decision on my part to indoctrinate you into the syndicate. That's the first thing I want to apologize for, I really shouldn't have just casually threatened to kick you out into an environment that could kill you if you just fell over. I want to apologize for attacking Snowchester too and I know Wilbur told you the voices influenced it. They did to a degree but so much of it was me as well. I thought I was doing a good thing, I really did. I was so bent on getting revenge on a 17 year old. I'm really fucking sorry for everything and I didn't even do a lot to you. We were friends, or allies whatever you considered us. It's gonna be a shit show when I try to apologize to the others." Techno sighed.

He didn't know what exactly caused Techno to dump all of that on him but at the moment, he didn't care about any of that. He wasn't even sure why Techno wasn't trying to kill him right now, he had managed to kill him.

"Techno. I have a question. Why do you hate Tubbo so much? I really think it's irrational even from the things I heard. He- he didn't do anything, not until he tried to execute you because you committed war crimes against his country and maybe just a little bit of revenge for killing him at the festival. A country he didn't even want to run in the first place. A country he wasn't even supposed to run." He said, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his ring. It was still undamaged and he was surprised it hadn't gotten lost.

Techno was silent for a bit before he answered. "I put too much blame and pressure on kids. I- I think I was too upset and regretful about Wilbur's death. He was the older twin actually. People like to think I am but I'm not. Watching Phil kill him made me realize just a bit how much I had neglected my siblings and instead of doing something about it I took my anger out on people that didn't deserve it."

He hummed and twirled the ring in his finger. The end of his tail moved slightly as he actually remembered the day he got these back from the blacksmith in the village. The engravings were hard but worth it. He ran his finger over the engraving in the metal. It read I trust you. Maybe he had gained some of that trust back. He really hoped he did.

"Isn't that the ring you usually wear on your horn?" Techno asked.

"Yeah, it is." He answered.

"I always wondered what it symbolized, if it actually meant anything. Phil thought it was for keeping Piglins from attacking in the nether. Niki thought the same." Techno said.

"And, you? What did you think?" He asked. He twirled it in between his fingers.

"I thought that it was just what a normal gold ring would symbolize in Enderian culture. I know a bit about it and a ring on a horn usually symbolizes marriage. At the time I thought it was a crazy prospect but seeing you legitimately go back into a live Nuke zone just so you could try and save Tubbos life even if it might kill you solidified that theory." Techno said.

"Ha. Well you're right. Me and Tubbo by Snowchester laws are married. That was the only law we had by the way, marriage laws so that we could technically legally get married. Snowchester doesn't really exist anymore due to a nuke blowing it up; but y'know we never technically got divorced considering we fought and made up on the same day. It's not relevant to you. Why am I still talking?" He said. "Oh yeah, um, apparently I am dead so y'know. Nuke can't kill me if I'm dead already."

"What? But, you only lost one life didn't you? Are you like Phil? He only has one life due to something, I don't remember why." Techno said.

"Yeah, well, that's Dreams' doing. He wasn't the one to kill me the first two times but I don't blame the person who did. They didn't get much of a choice." Ranboo said, finally slipping the ring back onto his right horn where it used to be. He didn't know what happened to Tubbos but it was the comfort it brought that made him put it back on.

"Oh, but you're here." Techno murmured.

"Yeah. It's honestly too complicated to explain. Well- yeah it is. I think the easiest way to explain is that I have some time before I turn into a ghost. I think his name will be Ghostboo or Ranghost." He murmured the last bit to himself.

"How the hell are you so calm about it?" Techno whispered.

"About what?" He asked.

"About dying." Techno clarified.

"Ah. I guess the reason I was fine with it was I killed Dream. I wasn't really expecting to die and y'know you're talking to someone who is currently in shock and probably going to have another mental breakdown soon." He chuckled a bit.

"That's why you don't have a scratch on you isn't it?" Techno asked.

"It appears so. My mortal body is invincible until my time is up in like a day or so. I'm going to go find where they took Tubbo." Ranboo said, standing up. His hands were shaking but he was sure that if he spent any more time staring at Tubbos blood he would go crazy.

He looked around the place before spotting the staircase that went all the way down to the ground floor. He walked over and started heading down. The space needle was huge from what they had seen in the cookie outpost Las Nevadas was huge. It was somehow even bigger on the inside. He passed the fourth floor only indicated by the large number 4 and had the list of amenities it provided underneath. That did not include a medbay. So he went down another floor, with his tail moving slowly behind him. The same deal with one more detail. It had a medbay on the list. He wandered off the stairs and walked around the circle until he found the sign that read medbay. He went in.

Hushed voices were in a room past the one that he entered or this one. Tommy was in there and from the looks of it he was agitated. Foolish and Quackity were out there as well. Quackity looked more tired than when he last saw him. Quackity had on brown suspenders over a white button up, and black slacks, with fancy leather shoes. He was scowling while talking quietly to Foolish. Quackity finally looked up at him and narrowed his eyes.

"You." Quackity said. "Is he telling the truth?"

"What? What do you mean?" He asked.

"All this shit. We can get out of here as long as that pain in the ass kid doesn't die." Quackity said incredulously. He sounded like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"One, he's not a pain in the ass. Two, yes he is telling the truth. Three, is he in there?" He asked, pointing towards the door.

"Yes, tubbo is in there. No, you can't go in, Sam and Eret… Potions aren't enough for some of it, but he'll be okay. I was discussing with Quackity about gathering everyone in Las Nevadas since it's big enough." Foolish said.

"And as I said, that's the perfect chance for Dream to get another nuke and kill us all." Quackity argued, turning back towards Foolish.

"There aren't any more with the scale possibility to blow up Las Nevadas. There were 3, the test one, the one that just blew up Snowchester, and the one that got stolen. Dream can't have that one considering it was stolen after he was put in prison." He interjected. "The other ones could maybe blow up the top half of the space needle at max. Plus, this place is massive, I'm not sure if it could even blow up the entirety of Las Nevadas."

"Your husband still threatened to nuke the place and You know as much about nukes as him, wonderful. This is wonderful, y'know I was wondering when the hell you two were gonna take down the cookie outpost but nope its still there. Why is it still there?" Quackity asked.

"Will you fuck off?" Quackity suddenly turned and looked up to his right.

What he wasn't expecting was for a mirage of someone who looked kind of like Tubbo to float through the wall. They had ram horns, there was a difference, much thicker. Slit pupils, dressed in a suit. They had shaggy brown hair as well. The person had some facial hair as well, he didn't know how to describe it. Better yet he had no clue who this was, but he had a very good idea.

"Look, I'm just saying, you could've asked me about this. I've been in this situation before." The person said.

"I don't care, you disappear at random times, and don't provide helpful information half the time. Plus, I don't like you. Go away." Quackity grumbled.

The others looked confused while he was the only one stunned. Tubbo had mentioned that Quackity could see and talk to Schlatt. This ghost was probably schlatt. No one else could seem to see this ghost. He shouldn't have been able to see him.

"No, I'm good. Oo, it's the enderman guy again. Does he know he's royalty yet?" Possibly Schlatt asked, leaning towards Quackity.

Quackity just turned back towards Foolish. He was still staring at Schlatt who was staring back. To be fair he was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be seeing him.

"Quackity. He's staring at me." Schlatt mentioned.

Quackity who had been about to go back to his conversation with Foolish looked at Schlatt and then him. He looked between the two of them before asking, "Can you see him?"

"Um, yes. I don't think I'm supposed to though." He said.

"Of course. Why the fuck not? This day can't possibly get worse at this point. You're dead then, but somehow alive?" Quackity asked.

"Yeah, kinda, it's complicated." He winced at his own response.

"Oo, interesting. Do you know how to play poker?" Schlatt asked.

"For fucks sake Schlatt shut the hell up." Quackity groaned.

"No, and I don't want to." Ranboo answered.

"Kid. Don't respond. He's like a cat; he'll keep bothering you until you respond. He will leave eventually." Quackity said.

"Nope, you're the one who decided to eat my heart. You get stuck with me." Schlatt said turning upside down and floating above Quackity.

"Okay, back to the conversation at hand. There are no nukes left able to blow up Las Nevadas, correct?" Quackity asked for clarification.

"Correct." He said.

Quackity sighed. "I'm gonna regret this but technos already here so might as well. Send out the notification, I guess. Make sure Dream doesn't know we're here. You plan to do the spell here, once Tubbo gets better or Phil agrees, right?"

"Yes to all." Foolish said, leaving the room most likely to do the messaging bit.

"So. Schlatt is here." Tommy said, maybe in an attempt to make small talk.

Quackity's annoyance changed more to exasperation. "Yes. He's a pain in the ass. Apparently he knows Charlie, ID Slimecicle, and Connor. Won't tell me how though, and keeps talking about a cow hybrid named Ted. Frankly it's getting annoying."

"Ah. I kinda knew him before this." Tommy said.

He awkwardly took a seat next to Tommy with Schlatt still staring at him curiously even upside down. Quackity moved away from the ghost and sat on the bench on the other side.

"How?" Quackity asked simply.

"Oh, did I ever mention lover boy?" Schlatt asked.

"Yes, you have multiple times Schlatt and how he was the only one you could trust because he was the only one there when you got trapped twice." Quackity groaned, shoving his head into his hands. "What the fuck does lover boy have to do with Tommy? You said he was like two years older than you."

He wondered how weird it was for Tommy to only hear one side of a conversation. Maybe it was like when Techno talked to chat. A little awkward.

"Lover boy? That was Schlatt's nickname for Wil, did you not hear him ever use it?" Tommy frowned.

"No, I did not. With how much those two have it out for each other you could never guess that they went through trauma together." Quackity said.

"Haha. I didn't tell you." Schlatt teased, poking Quackity's shoulder. Who immediately tried to shove him away.

"Prime. I hate him." Quackity said. "So, Wilbur was the guy in the world with Schlatt, wonderful, that's great. You guys have a plan to get us out of here, again wonderful. Do you any spells that will get him to shut the fuck up?"

"I barely speak to you." Schlatt protested.

"Exactly. Barely is too much." Quackity said.

"I mean I don't know in reference to spells. I kinda got dragged into helping because I'm one of the only people who can help." Tommy answered.

Something in his brain clicked. Aether, It was nice to remember things.

"Schlatt where does the portal show up? When we do the spell, I mean. It's the only thing we haven't figured out. I didn't have the chance to ask Wilbur because Tommy hadn't mentioned it yet." He said.

"Glad you asked. It shows up within a 20 meter radius of where you are. If it didn't, me and Wilbur wouldn't have survived long enough to get to this server." Schlatt replied.

"That's good. And, as long as we have the proper amount of people, no one should die?" Ranboo asked.

"Yeah. Pretty much. Hopefully you won't have to haul a potentially dead body through the portal." Schlatt said.

"Oh dude, don't give me that imagery." Quackity grimaced.

"I mean to be fair it's not gruesome. The spell itself actually looks pretty cool, and it can be done outside of the proper conditions. You just have to be prepared for death." Schlatt shrugged.

"Prime, okay, I'm- please be quiet." Quackity said.

"Well-" Schlatt cut himself off when the door to the room where tubbo was in opened.

"Ranboo? Okay, that's good. Um Tommy, Tubbo is already awake and freaking out a little. Potions worked well alongside other things, a bit too well. We need one of you two to ground him. I think that's the word. Me and Eret aren't doing a very good job." Sam said, his eyes flitting around the room. Never making eye contact with anyone.

"Okay, yeah." Tommy said, standing up and grabbing his wrist, dragging him into the room with him before he could respond.

It was a bit of a scene. Tubbo had new loose fitting clothes on. He could see his legs as well showing that his leg had not been spared from the burn and radiation scars. From the looks of it he had at least managed to turn him away from the nuke, only causing damage to half his body, like the fireworks. He was backed up, sitting in a corner with his hands over his ears, or at least to the best of his ability, hyperventilating, and looking around wildly. A worried Eret standing with glowing white eyes, he was gonna have to ask about that later.

"Tubbo. Hey, it's okay." Tommy said.

"I think that's the problem. I don't think he can hear you." Eret said in a quiet tone.

"What?" Tommy asked, surprised. "His tinnitus?"

Tinnitus? This was the first he was hearing of it. Though it explained the times that he would be talking to Tubbo and it looked like he couldn't hear him.

"I don't think so, unfortunately. His ear that's completely blown off, I know he won't have hearing in that ear again. If he does it would be a fucking miracle, but I don't know. Subsequently I can't calm him down using words cause I have no clue if he can hear me and y'all presence does seem to work at least a little. I think he's just scared right now." Eret explained quietly.

Oh aether. That was not good news. He inched forward holding his hands flat out in front of him to show that he held no weapons. He saw Tubbos' eyes flit towards his approaching figure and meet his eyes. Tubbos' left eye was an inky grey mixed with white. He didn't like the meaning behind that. The brown one was filled with panic that lessened when he moved over to the better side of his vision. He crouched down to the right side of him.

"Boo." Tubbo said, his voice shaking.

Before he could register it, tubbo was hugging him tightly and he had fallen over slightly. He looked up at Eret and Tommy concerned. Both of them shared the same look as him. He wrapped his arms around Tubbo who was shaking as much as his voice was.

"Boo. I- I can't hear- out of my left ear. I could see Eret speaking out of my eyes but- I couldn't. I could barely. Help." Tubbo gasped.

"It's gonna be alright. You're safe. No one got hurt by the nuke." He half-said, half-whispered in Tubbos good, well, better ear. Tommy and Eret would've thought he was just speaking a tad quieter than usual. He felt a little guilty about lying because technically Tubbo had gotten hurt by the nuke.

"Boo? I- I can hear you. Kinda, it's quiet but there. In that ear. It's just static in the other. What's happening?" Tubbo cut himself off by sobbing. "I don't even know if I'm actually speaking."

"You are. I promise you are." He said gently. It pained him to see Tubbo like this. He wondered how it would've felt to Tommy having to see his childhood best friend comforted better by someone who most of their relationship had been on this server. Must have felt bad, he felt guilty over it. He didn't know why he was worried over that right now.

"It still went off didn't it?" Tubbo asked.

"Yes, it did." He answered, making sure that he was speaking near Tubbos ear so that he could hear him.

"Oh. That's why it hurts." Tubbo said quietly.

"Yes, but it's alright. You're in Las Nevadas. You're alright. Tommy's here as well. He's worried." He said.

Tubbo moved his head and looked at Tommy and Eret. He saw him give Tommy a faltering smile. Tommy moved and sat next to him, on the side of Tubbo. How was any of this alright? He felt bad lying about it but he had a feeling that they all knew that it wasn't alright. It felt like it was his fault. He hadn't reacted early enough. If he had just grabbed Tubbo instead of processing it all, he'd be okay.

"Ranboo. Don't blame yourself. It could've been a lot worse if you hadn't gotten him out of there when you did." Eret said quietly.

He flicked his ear towards Eret and held Tubbo tighter. There was no need for a response.

Chapter Text

Eret exhaled and ran their hand over the rail of the Space Needle. They had come back up to the top after helping with Tubbo. Honestly it was understandable why he had started to freak out. Sam and them were about to start bandaging wounds but Tubbo woke up quite quicker than either of them could expect. The sun was past the horizon at this point marking the end of the day. They weren't sure if that was a good thing. According to Techno, Ranboo had a limited amount of time until he turned into a ghost. That was partially their fault.

They heard footsteps from behind them and someone settled beside them. They glanced over and looked at Fundy stared out into nothing. The fox hybrid had his normal clothes on. Normal jacket, normal boots. It's like they were relaxing back in L'manburg so long ago.

"So. It's been awhile." They mentioned.

"It has. I was about to say I've kinda had a shit time considering I've been alone a majority of it before Quackity contacted me and been having a load of nightmares. But, I think you've had a bit more shit happen to you." Fundy said.

They laughed a little at that. "Yeah. Sorry for sorta abandoning you, I got a little busy." They said. Busy was an interesting way of describing it.

"Yeah, busy." Fundy said quietly. "Foolish told me what happened earlier. He's technically employed under Quackity, he hangs around sometimes and we've become friends I'd say."

"Ah. So… you know about… that." They didn't know how to describe it.

"Yeah. I do. I don't blame you by the way. He mentioned Ranboo. He didn't explain it all but it was enough for me to connect the dots." Fundy said.

They stared into the distance remembering how Fundy had begged them to snap out of it and asking what was happening. He wouldn't remember any of it. He wouldn't remember that he had one life left.

"I didn't tell Foolish everything. I told him enough, I'm pretty sure I implied that it wasn't just Ranboo. Because well it wasn't. Honestly I don't want to face Dream again, I don't think I'd have the guts or maybe I would. I'd love to be the one to get rid of him once and for all." They answered.

"That's fair. How…?" They cut him off.

"How many lives did I take?" They asked. "I don't know anymore. I know no one has 3 lives anymore. Despite what they might think."

"They don't?" Fundy asked, sounding slightly alarmed.

"Nope. I've-" They started laughing, but more so of the choked laughter because they wanted to sob. "I've really just done that. No one has three lives. Some of them even have one, that's what happened to Ranboo."

Fundy was quiet for a few seconds. "Did you ever try to fight it?"

"Aether, yes. I tried to when I started feeling guilty, and thinking that maybe this wasn't normal. I didn't ever tell anyone until Foolish brought it up but before we got that redacted achievement, unbanning the end, I didn't remember anything except this server. I had nothing to run off of. The last time it happened." They paused, remembering having to take Niki's first life. She had seemed happy at first reconciling with them only to get literally stabbed in the back. That was when they discovered direct disobedience resulted in their brand feeling like it was being rebranded. "The last time it happened was Niki." They whispered the last bit.

"I hated every bit of it. It was the first time I actively ignored Dream's voice driving my actions and I tried to disobey. It felt like when the brand was first burnt on. The pain was enough for him to strengthen control and have me kill her." They whispered and rambled.

They remembered the punishment which was fair; they had actually died from it. The word "OBEY" carved into their arm, in scratchy writing. It had punctured their vein and made them slowly bleed out. Dream had also slit their other wrist sideways so that it would be less painful. At the time they were grateful for the mercy but now all it did was make them feel sick. The sweet words afterwards had them slip back underneath Dream's thumb for a week or two. Then, he got put in prison, and their life did a 180. Then they got their memories back and did another one. They traced the scar tissue of the O with their hand.

They felt Fundy give them a side hug. They laughed with no real emotions in it and patted the fox's head.

"I don't think it's fair that nice people have bad things happen to them." Fundy said, slightly changing the subject.

"You ask if you want to." They said.

"Ask what?" Fundy asked.

"You know what." They answered simply.

"Ah. Did you ever have to kill me?" Fundy asked hesitantly. There was a fair reason.

"Yeah. It was around the time where I wasn't yet trying to actively figure out if it was normal but It still felt wrong on so many levels. I think that was the final one before my brain just snapped and I was just numb for a while." They said.

A peaceful silence as Fundy let go of them and looked up at the stars becoming more and more clear by the minute. They didn't need to admit how much emotional anguish they were in after and when they killed him.

"Eret." Fundy said.

They hummed.

"They said you only have one life left." Fundy started.

"That's true." They responded.

"How did you lose your first? It never showed up in chat." Fundy spoke quietly.

Flashes of a dagger and the effects of healing and regen potions crashed in their vision. The time they had almost died and the time they had melded into one. The time they had wanted to and the time they didn't. The time they had fought against the potions and the time they weren't given any.

"Dream killed me as punishment. I don't think he meant to originally but it definitely worked for what he wanted. For a couple weeks at least." Eret said.

"As punishment?" Fundy sounded horrified.

"Yeah. Again, I don't think he meant to but he carved too far, it hit a vein. I was gonna bleed out eventually so he just slit my other wrist and watched me bleed out for an hour or so." They explained, quietly.

"Eret. When was this? Carved?" Fundy repeated the last bit with terror. Like he couldn't believe it.

"Yeah. It's- I don't want to talk about this anymore. How have you been? When was the last time you slept?" They asked. They could hear their own voice shaking.

"I- I guess I've been doing alright. I haven't slept in awhile, mainly because of nightmares." Fundy answered. "Are- are you sure you're okay?"

"No, I'm probably not. You should get some sleep." They said, catching the glint of armor shining in their eye leading down in the woods near the cookie outpost.

They stared at the person. Impossibly far to recognize but the way that they made themselves visible to them but not Fundy made their stomach churn. They felt the small buzz of their communicator going off.

"I mean I'm not that tired, I'm just running off this coffee that Quackity keeps buying from villagers. It's actually kinda good." Fundy rambled.

"That's good. If you're not gonna sleep I am." Eret said absentmindedly. They knew who it was as they disappeared into the bushes. They ignored how much they hated that they lied to him again.

"In full armor?" Fundy questioned.

"No, obviously not." They said.

"Just checking." Fundy said mildly amused.

"Get some sleep." They said, pulling away from the railing and making their way down the space needle as quickly as they could.

They pulled out their communicator as they went down the stairs ignoring that it was dangerous. Sure enough the fucker had sent them a message.

Dream: Eret. I see you. Come to the forest, we can negotiate. Ignore the others.

The_Eret: fuck you

They turned off their communicator and put it back in their pocket walking down into the main lobby of the space needle. On the glass door there was a sign. It said, Everyone go to the casino. It's the largest building here. We'll discuss things from there.

What was there to discuss? Practically nothing. Just if we don't get the fucking spell done now they would all most likely die. Actually, they didn't even have the book with them, and unless Foolish had it or someone else got it, it was still sitting in their library. They had a feeling that was what the fuck wanted to negotiate for.

"Fuck." They cursed.

They brought out their communicator again and clicked Dream's contact. They stood impatiently next to the door.

The_Eret: what the hell do you want from me

Dream: Oh you realized goody. I have the book. You aren't getting out of here without it. Just come to the forest, get it, and I'll send you on your way.

The_Eret: bullshit, what's the catch.

Dream: I'm not telling you that. You find out when you get here, and you come alone. No sneaking people in there. Nothing but you and what you have on you.

Dream clearly underestimated what they had on them. Techno had loaned them several potions, ender pearls, and a couple of totems. Plus they had their armor and weapons. The only bad thing right now was they were starting to get thirsty and a little hungry. But they could live with it.

The_Eret: and if I refuse?

Dream: you'll see :)

The_Eret: I hate you. I hope you know that.

They clicked off Dream's contact and opened their dm with Foolish. A quick message relaying what to do.

The_Eret: I'm going to the forest that surrounds the cookie outpost. We left the book in the castle, Dream has it now. He wants something I don't know what it is. Do not come after me unless it's been more than an hour. We might not be able to get it back if you do. I have plenty of supplies and I won't hesitate to try and kill him again if needed. Be ready.

They closed the communicator all together, pushed the door open and left the building. They stared at the distant forest for a couple of minutes before deciding they needed to go. They sighed and pulled an Ender pearl out of their inventory into their hand. They threw it as far as they could.

The door crashed open behind them. "Eret, I swear don't-" Foolishs voice got cut off when the ender pearl landed and they got teleported halfway to the forest. It never hurt unlike how the others describe a small brief burst of pain, they knew why.

They threw another and arrived at the base of the forest. They put the ender pearls back into their inventory and brought out their axe. They walked in and continued in for a while. Anxiety ate at their stomach. They knew this was a bad idea and they could just be playing into Dream's hands again but they had abilities and knew how they worked now. They could get the book to Foolish. Besides if they died, Phil could take their place, or Foolish could resurrect Wilbur if they truly needed to go that far. Phil would hopefully want to help.

"Well damn." Dream said as they heard a thud. He landed a few feet in front of them, after jumping out of a tree. "You actually showed up."

The mask showed none of his facial expressions and somewhere in the last 6 hours he had managed to acquire his old clothes. It didn't help the memories. Small conditioned feelings of numbness and panic.

"I did. Not surprised you were in the trees. You'd like to use anything to run away." They retorted, despite the fact that their brain was screaming to run.

"Ha. Very funny. Now, the book, and put the axe away." Dream said.

They looked him straight in the eye as they shuffled sideways and embedded into a tree trunk. Not too far, they could still get it out much easier than through their inventory.

"Away, away." Dream amended.

"No." Eret said.

"Alright." Dream sighed somehow in a boring way. "The book."

"Yes, the book. Are you gonna show it or was it truly just a ploy to get me out here?" They asked.

"Oh it's right here." Dream took it out of his inventory, and waved it around like it was nothing.

That was the book. They recognized the tattered back and the burnt pages. They needed to get that back to Foolish somehow.

"Alright. So, what do you want for it? I know it's something." They said.

"Oh that. It's simple. I want to play a simple game if you will. I used to play it with George and Sapnap, sometimes Bad and Antfrost. Eventually even Sam joined in. It's called manhunt but this time instead I'm the hunter. You're the runner. I give you the book, and if you make it back to Las Nevadas before I catch you, you're fine. If you don't, I kill you, I get the book back, and I keep repeating the process until no one can leave or no one is alive." Dream explained.

They pretended to think about it. They knew they couldn't run far or fast enough to escape Dream. So, time was against them, per usual. Foolish had told them that gods could set up a sort of link between each other that allowed various different things, but you could only have a certain amount of links at one time and one type between two people at the sametime. They mentally set up the one that allowed them to send items through their inventory. They made it so that Foolish couldn't send stuff back. There wasn't much of another choice.

"Fine. I'll do it." They huffed, taking their axe out of the tree and putting it in their inventory.

"Oh great!" Dream said excitedly. "Alright so, I'll walk forward, don't try to kill me, I'll give you the book. And, I'll even give you a bit of a head start, how does ten seconds sound? It'll start when you take the book." Dream held the book out in front of them.

Their heart started beating faster. They forced themself to take a deep breath before grabbing the book and running. One thing they learned from the punishments was if you had anything valuable on you, get rid of it. Dream will just take it from you forcefully or otherwise. They opened their inventory while they ran, ducking under branches and deliberately going away from Las Nevadas. They put the book into their inventory and sent it to Foolishs. Then they severed the link just to be safe. They continued running, further and further away from Las Nevadas. They didn't know how far they had gotten before they spotted a cave and ran in.

They explored mostly by touch until they got far enough in and took out a torch. It blazed in their hand. They stumbled through the cave ignoring the curious bats hanging from the ceiling. They took their sword in their other hand to deal with any mobs that showed themselves. There was surprisingly not a lot. The only telltale sign was a hiss that had come from behind them. They turned around and swung and decapitated the mob before it exploded.

They collapsed against the wall of the cave and placed the torch next to them. Their sword fell to their side. They pulled out their communicator and opened it. Other than the torch it was their only source of light in the dim cave. They looked at the red dot with a 9 in it indicating messages from Foolish. They clicked it.

Foolish: eret
Don't you dare
Get back here
If you don't respond I will come after you
No
You didn't
Eret get back here
You better be safe
You sent me the book, Eret you better be fucking okay

The_Eret: hey, I'm alright. You have the book, get Phil to help. You can read it. I'll be fine, I'm distracting Dream. He calls it manhunt, he thinks I still have the book. I'll stall as long as I can, I promise. If anything else happens make sure nothing else happens to those kids. They've been through too much.

Eret didn't wait for a response instead closed it and their eyes. They rested their head back on the cave wall and just breathed. They didn't know how much time they had left away from Dream but he'd find them eventually. He always did. They didn't know how much time passed before they started to remember random memories. There were so many of them. They had many more powers compared to Foolish. He said that was because of them being a god of a realm. They had to have some abilities of some of their creatures. The enderman, and the wither. It was insane, and apparently it was what made them different from the abilities hybrids had. They inherited the ability to teleport from the enderman and almost everything else they could do from the wither.

They sat there for a long time debating if they should try to teleport out. They could according to their memories but they didn't feel inclined to try it just yet.

"Well, getting a little comfy." Dream taunted, with the sound of a bowstring being pulled taut.

They opened their eyes and looked at him.

"Maybe. Asshole." They said, stretching and standing up. They picked up their sword.

"Calling me names will never help Eret. Besides, what have you been doing here? Waiting for your death? It'd be almost poetic, I took all three of a gods' lives. Can't imagine how upset they would be." Dream said, placing a torch on the side of the cave.

"Not sure how much of that would be poetic." They said, kicking over their torch extinguishing it. They exchanged their sword for their axe.

"I got the book back then. We both know you could never beat me in a fight." Dream said, his mask almost shined in the light from his torch.

"Sure." They said simply before lunging forward, raising their axe and swinging. It was truly for a good cause this time.

Dream had fought them when they were scared, and in "practice fights", not when they had silent fury running through their veins. And, well they were a little pissed. Their axe hit Dream's bow going straight through the wood like butter and snapped the string. The string reeled back and hit Dream's mask making a small crack right in the middle. The axe clanged against his chest plate, ringing out in the otherwise silent cave.

"Lucky hit." Dream said.

They got pushed back and dream pulled out his own axe and swung. They ducked, and hacked down towards Dream's ankle. It sliced through the leather strap causing the bottom part of Dream's leggings to fall off. The small hiss was satisfying. They rolled out of the way just as Dream's axe crashed into empty air. The only light was the torch and their eyes. Dream only saw their eyes and the outline of their body, since they were more in the dark. They saw his every move. They saw him tense and they scrambled up and out of the way as his axe went down again.

They reached into their inventory and grabbed the splash potion of harming Techno had given them. They threw it at Dream's feet and stepped back so that the cloud of pure pain didn't hit them. They watched as Dream screeched and the potion filtered out of the air and stayed in Dream's blood. They moved around to the other side of Dream and sliced down severing his Achilles tendon. Then, they kicked Dream to the ground and pressed their axe to the back of his neck. They stepped down on the wrist that held Dream's axe and kicked it away with their other foot.

"Don't fucking move." They warned, breathing hard, and pressing their foot on the small of Dream's back.

They knelt down briefly and pressed their hand to his chest plate and watched it wither away. They stood up fully and looked down at Dream.

"Eret-" Dream wheezed.

"Shut the fuck up." They hissed.

"You know this is wrong." Dream chuckled forcefully.

"No, for once in my time on this godforsaken server I'm doing something right." They said, pressing the axe further into his neck.

"Killing me won't do anything." Dream said.

"But if I wither you, you'll take longer to respawn or maybe just being killed by a god will make that time longer. All I know is you're not coming back as quick as you think, and hopefully they're already attempting the spell right now." They said.

"They can't in case you forgot." Dream said, with a hint of a smile in his tone.

"Oh yes they fucking can. I'm not a goddamn idiot." They answered. "Now shut the fuck up. Empty your inventory."

"They can, what do you mean?" For the first time in their life Dream sounded genuinely confused.

"No, you're not getting an explanation. You don't deserve one. Empty your inventory." They repeated.

"Oh come on now. Really." Dream chided.

"You did it to me. Fucking empty your goddamn inventory." They said, pressing their foot harder onto Dream's back.

"What? C'mon when did I do that to you. That's insane." Dream said.

"When did you..? I'm gonna fucking kill you. When did you do that? Every single fucking time. Every single fucking punishment. So I couldn't fight back. Because you are a sick man who took advantage that I couldn't remember anything else before this server. So, Dream, take everything out of your inventory. Put it on your right." They said.

"Fine, fine." Dream said.

They watched carefully as Dream took stuff out of his inventory and piled to his right. They carefully stepped over him and kept their foot on Dream's back. They looked it over, some of it was netherite. They used their other foot to knock a majority of it away from Dream's hand. One thing that was noticeably missing was the sword that he had taken their second life with.

"Dream. The sword as well." They said.

"Can't there just be one exception?" He asked.

"No." They said.

Dream huffed but brought out the sword. They made sure to press it out of his hand and knock it away.

"Now. What next?" They mused.

"Eret, C'mon, just." Dream sighed. They saw the glint of metal appear in his hand. They felt Dream move a bit. "Stop being unreasonable, you'll get yourself killed."

They moved off of Dream and jumped back just as he rolled and tried to stab them with a dagger. They kicked the sword away as Dream tried to grab it. They raised up and swung down.

"I still control you, Eret." Dream said in a smooth voice. It seemed to ripple through the air and they could feel it take hold in their brain. Shit.

No matter how hard they fought against it, Their axe stopped hovering just above Dream's head. They wanted it to be not true, but sadly a trick that they were expecting. They opened their second mental link of the day with Foolish. A more telepathic one.

Hey, foolish. I'm sorry. He can still control me. Don't come after me, just get the spell done. Get everyone out. I'll get myself out of here. I'm severing this immediately, I don't want him in your head. Good luck and if something happens, I love you. You've been one of the best people I've met. I really am sorry.

"So." Dream said, sliding out from underneath their axe while they were stuck with their axe hovering just over where he was.

They forced the axe out of the position despite the burning pain on their neck that made them want to scream. They felt themselves drop it. Dream looked at them with his head tilted as if staring at a wild animal. They watched as Dream walked around them and placed more torches. Their hand itched but they knew that Dream had control over their actions right now. Dream picked up his sword and pulled an extra chest plate out of his pile of stuff. They watched in silence as Dream put it on.

"Alright. Eret, let's see. Give me the book." Dream said, holding out his hand. He thought he won.

They forcefully opened their inventory, but couldn't bring the book out because they didn't have it. They smiled a little bit.

"I said give me the book." Dream repeated, sounding a tiny bit more irritated.

They couldn't speak while being controlled by Dream. One of the few mercies, he had to release them if he wanted them to talk. They felt the release of the hold and dream motioning for them to talk, albeit irritatedly. Dream didn't take control of them again.

"I don't have it." They said, taking out their sword and swinging it.

It made a direct hit against Dream's neck, making quite a thick cut that began gushing with blood. There was no time for Dream to try to control them again when he was in pain. Dream tried to reach out for them but they pushed down on his neck sending him to the floor again. The mask got knocked off, they ignored the look of pure fear and terror in Dreams' eyes. They ignored the blood on their hands now. Dream took an arrow out of his inventory and tried to stab them. They grabbed it and snapped it before he could. They stumbled and fell sitting a few feet away as Dream bled out.

"You let me die and you're no different than me." Dream croaked. How they didn't even know, but the only explanation was his demigod heritage.

"No, I will never be anything like you." They said.

Eret moved and used their sword to stab Dream through the heart ignoring the loud screech with the armor. His blood was on their clothes and generally getting everywhere. They watched as his body disappeared and their hand and sword went straight into the pool of blood that Dream had left. The cave was lit, oh my aether there was so much blood. They closed their eyes and took a shuddering breath. They killed again despite swearing they wouldn't. It was for a good cause though. Oh aether they felt like they were gonna throw up. They tried to, and succeeded in teleporting to the Las Nevadas bathroom. They felt horrible.

Chapter Text

Ranboo felt conflicted. Most of the time before this he didn't know what happened all the time. Before he got his memory back, he relied on others to tell him what he did and didn't miss. He relied on others to hopefully tell the truth and whatever he left scribbled down in his notebook. But now he did and he remembered genuinely liking all the people on both sides and how he never wanted to choose a side. But, he had eventually chosen a side, albeit only less than two days ago, because he couldn't bear seeing Tubbo dead. And, now almost all of the server, minus Eret, Dream, and Foolish, was in one room and a lot of them were not happy with him. He didn't even recognize all the people here, but he knew he had seen them all at some point. Quiet murmurs filled the air.

It didn't help anyone else's confusion that Niki and Phil were on the opposite side of the giant table, made of tables pushed together, scowling at him. Though Niki looked uncertain, and kept glancing warily at Phil. It didn't help that techno was there, sitting next to him, looking just as conflicted as he felt. It didn't help that he didn't know how to explain it to everyone. It was better when it was one on one, his thoughts were clearer.

"So, Ranboo, why exactly did you do that?" Phil suddenly asked. The question seemed to echo around and the room went silent.

"Do what, betray everyone? Phil, what do you mean? Aren't you on the same side?" Karl said.

"Not anymore." Phil said, looking straight at him. Oh, he was gonna have to answer wasn't he.

"Okay, well. There's a fair explanation to start with. I was part of the syndicate, but was also, um, a part of Snowchester. Snowchester didn't know about the syndicate, the syndicate didn't know about Snowchester, in terms of me being a part of it. It was just a fair amount of lying and trying to keep the people I cared about safe." He said as quietly as he could but made sure everyone could still hear him.

"Lying." Phil echoed.

"Yes." He said, flicking his tail up to start messing with the fluffy end. The calming action.

"You lied to everyone on the server?" Puffy asked. She looked rather concerned for him, rather than the fact that he had technically in every definition in the book committed treason.

"Yes." He repeated.

"Not his fault. I did kinda goad him into joining the syndicate, so I'm the one at fault, if you really want to blame someone." Techno said. That surprised him.

"Look, I'm not blaming him. I'm more concerned as to what we're all here for." Puffy said. "Foolishs message wasn't that coherent."

"Of course it wasn't." Quackity sighed. "Eret and Foolish found a way out. They're gonna do it here, right now we're waiting for Eret to get back from whatever they're doing. Which I think is collecting the book they need. Which is why you all are here, so we can get everyone out as soon as possible. There's some bullshit about only gods, royalty, and demigods being able to do it, hence the fact that we will barely be able to pull this off." Schlatt had fucked off to somewhere else, he didn't know where.

That was the simplest explanation anyone could provide. Everyone had varying looks of confusion, happiness, surprise, and wariness. His communicator buzzed and was going to ignore it until the collective ringing from everyone's communicators. He glanced over at Tubbos' communicator who was pulling his out. When the screen turned on it read something they weren't expecting.

Dream was slain by The_Eret

When had Eret even left Las Nevadas? Or had Dream been here?

"That's alarming." Tubbo said. "Alright, yeah, we need to get this shit done now." Tubbo stretched his back.

"Well, this could kill someone. You know this tubbo and Tommy." Phil protested.

"We figured that part out, no ones gonna die." He interjected.

"Yeah." Tommy said, from his seat on the other side of Tubbo.

"Why can't Tubbo respond? I don't want to talk to you." Phil said.

"You just were, at this rate you're acting more like a child than I am." He shot back.

"Oh, wait, shit are we arguing?" Tubbo said. They had learned a bit earlier that Tubbo could only hear a certain radius around him, they hadn't figured it out exactly but it seemed Phil was too far.

"Yes, we are." Phil said.

Tubbo leaned towards him.

"Kinda. It's complicated." He spoke.

Tubbo nodded and went back to messing with random bolts Quackity had given him as a way to destress. Quackity had pulled him aside at some point and explained how complicated it was to lose part of a sense and try to keep him grounded in the world so that nothing bad happened to him. That it was honestly worse that Tubbo also had blurry vision to the point that he probably couldn't see in his left eye. Losing parts of two senses was gonna screw him up for awhile. He had honestly noticed the stares given to Tubbo due to the new scars. Tubbo had refused to put bandages on.

"So, moving on." Puffy said. "There is a way out, without getting anyone killed, and we have verified this. Correct?" She glanced concerned at Tubbo.

"Yes." Both he and Tommy said simultaneously.

"Alright, and you have everything figured out? Including who's doing it, right?" Puffy asked.

"Yep, me, Ranboo, tubs, Foolish, Eret, and Techno. I don't know who'll be reading it, but we'll see." Tommy said.

"It's one of those confusing ones, the explanation and stuff is in a different language than the actual spell. The instructions are in both ender and galactic. But the actual thing is in galactic, so I'd assume either Eret or Foolish is reading it." Ranboo explained.

"Got it, that's who'll be reading it." Tommy answered.

"Alright, and after where will it be?" Sapnap spoke up.

"Roughly somewhere within 20 yards of where we do it. Hence why everyone's here." He answered, flicking his ear randomly.

"Ah. So, that's everything, right?" Sapnap questioned.

"Should be, unless you guys know more stuff that we should tell everyone." Quackity said.

"Don't think so." Tommy replied.

"Yeah, that should be all." He said.

"Alright, so where's Eret?" Niki asked rather pointedly.

Silence.

"That's a good question. I honestly don't know where Foolish or Eret is." Tommy responded.

"Oh that's wonderful." Tubbo said sarcastically. Good to know that he hadn't lost his sense of humor yet.

"Yeah, I agree with tubbo. That's not good." Skeppy spoke up.

"No, a replacement for one of them could've been Phil but with one of them having the book and both of them gone. We're like sitting ducks until they get back." Tommy said.

He observed the table again. There were less wary glances towards him and more tense and conflicted ones. Which was fair. Most of them were staying away from the end of the table with Phil and Niki, although since techno was sitting on the side that Tubbo wasn't they were also trying to stay away from him. Everyone was wearing full armor in varying degrees of strength except him and tubbo. Tubbo because he couldn't without aggravating the new wounds; then him because he lost all of his and he didn't have any in his Ender chest. Plus, he lost everything in his inventory when he died.

Skeppy had his chair pushed pretty much right next to Bad's. He had forgotten how tall Bad was. He was easily the tallest one here at like 9'6. Puffy sat closest to Sam, with two empty seats next to him. There were no weapons out at the moment, but they all knew that they could get them out in a heartbeat. Everyone was prepared for war or fights here.

War was a little confusing and honestly he didn't like it. It was too much. Besides something they remembered always doing was sacrifice. He cared too much about the people he cared about. He'd rather himself get hurt than them. He remembered both of his mother's saying that was his fatal flaw. He'd get himself killed for his friends and he did. He could feel some sort of memory issues start to show up again, like Ghostbur. Memories of wars and arguments were slowly becoming more muddled. He hoped that they could truly get this done before he became a ghost.

He heard the swinging of a door and flicked his ear towards it. It was one slight in front of him, so that he wouldn't have to turn to see it unlike many others. Eret walked in clearly not giving a shit about anything anymore, considering the amount of blood on their clothes, followed by Foolish. One more quick glance at everyone showed shock and confusion. Which was fair, a majority of them probably hadn't seen Eret in weeks. And, before they died their scars weren't visible alongside the smile brand burned on their neck.

"We gotta do this now. I don't know how long he'll stay dead this time." Eret said, with virtually no emotions in their voice except exhaustion.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Techno said, standing up.

He tapped Tubbos shoulder and motioned for him to stand up. The group of them got up and headed out. No one said anything against it, no one said anything really. As they walked out the door, Eret only somehow got quieter. He knew that there was a lot more to what happened to them than just killing him twice. No one could get that many scars and be that traumatized without other things.

The lanterns were automatic ones that were triggered at sunset, casting the summer night into an eerie glow. They all stopped a bit away from the casino as Foolish had deemed alright by pulling the book out of his inventory.

"We need to stand in a circle." Foolish said.

"Just like the last time." He said absentmindedly.

"Just like last time." Eret echoed. Their voice sounded hollow and when he glanced at them, they looked like it too. The small facade they had put up when they went in was gone.

He looked back towards the middle. Foolish was across from him, eret was across from Tommy, and Tubbo was across from techno.

"Alright, I need everyone to stay as still as possible. At the very least try not to move your feet." Foolish said.

Ranboo watched in curiosity as Foolish took a stick out of his inventory and dragged a circle in the sand around him. Then, foolish stepped out of the circle and started doing the same to all of them. Foolish didn't appear to leave any footprints, something that must have been needed. He realized that there must have been more information on the pages after just the one he had read. Maybe, even a diagram. Foolish dragged the stick in the sand around him and moved on to Tubbo.

After Foolish finished that he drew another larger circle around all of them together, connecting them. Foolish drew a line connecting him and techno, then him and Tommy, and finally Tommy to Techno. Completing a triangle that he began to repeat for himself, eret, and tubbo. When Foolish did he jogged over to the middle and began writing in the sand in what he vaguely recognized as galactic.

"Foolish." Eret warned.

"I know. I know. We're running out of time, I'm almost done. I almost have it." Foolish said.

Almost a minute later, foolish was done and ran back to his circle and took a deep breath.

"Alright, my friends this is it. Fair warning you could feel nauseous, and a bit of pain, the only way we can do this is if we don't step out of the circles. Do not under any circumstances step out until I give the okay, alright?" Foolish asked for confirmation.

"Got it. Tubbo, did you hear that alright?" He asked.

Many other various conformations from the people around him. Tubbo nodded his head.

"Okay. Here goes nothing." Foolish said.

With that Foolish started speaking in a language he couldn't understand. At first it seemed simplistic, nothing happened immediately just like with the previous one. Then, he caught sight of a small smoky thing starting to intertwine itself with all of them. The smoke was tinged a blue that was almost purple, and as it snaked between his legs he shivered. Not because it felt cold, but you could feel the raw power in it. It honestly also felt like it was taking some of his. It made its way around and then stilled for a few seconds.

After those few seconds it got thicker, the more Foolish spoke the thicker it got. At this point if anyone tried to glean what they were doing all they would see was the smoke. It started to swirl around them, like a tornado but with no wind. The only sound was Foolish. The only scenery was the smoke. The only people were them. The smoke wrapped around his arms and seized him, keeping him in place as he physically felt the raw power that had been swirling around them all get dragged out of him.

He gasped, it made it feel like his skin was peeling off. It was like the throbbing you got when you stubbed your toe but everywhere. From the falter in whatever Foolish was saying, it was safe to say that everyone felt it. He didn't have energy like how the gods and demigods had it. So, it was pulled from his life force and the small energy ball he had inside of him apparently. The little life force that he had left. He could feel it. He could tell. But it didn't take as much as it could, he didn't know how he knew. He didn't know how he could tell, but it hurt.

Whatever Foolish had drawn started glowing in the ground and that's when the whispers started. He couldn't tell what they were saying or where they were coming from but they weren't helpful. It went on like that for who knows how long, he certainly didn't, before Foolish clutched something other than a book or the stick. He watched as it slammed into the sand, winked out of existence and everything stopped. The smoke cleared, the voices shut up, the pain was no more. His knees gave out from underneath himself.

He was about to get a face full of sand before Eret said, "I got you," and caught him.

"That hurts." He groaned, as Eret got him sitting up. Tommy was doing the same for Tubbo.

On the side closest to the casino sat a quartz portal, the size of a nether portal. It had changed one of the sides of sand to grass and had flowers growing on it. He could see bits of endstone and nether rack and assumed that they had their own little sides. He saw a purple stem on one of the pieces of endstone. He would have liked to go over and look at it if his brain was not feeling fuzzy. He liked chorus fruit, it didn't affect enderians. It tasted sweet as well, it was like the watermelon of the end. A sweet treat.

"I know buddy. It reminds me of home too. We'll get there soon." Eret promised.

"Holy shit, foolish, that was a bit more than a bit of pain." Tubbo said, wheezing.

He nodded agreeing, ignoring the spike of pain in his head.

"It was." Tommy agreed.

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting that either." Foolish said from somewhere behind him.

He watched as Techno walked towards the portal, staring at it. That was their way home. Their way out. This was really happening. They were actually going to be able to leave.

"I'm gonna go tell everyone that we succeeded." Techno said, skirting around the portal and heading towards the casino.

"We're actually going to leave." He said. They had to get out before Dream got there though.

"We are." Tommy said.

"This feels surreal." Tubbo murmured.

"Will we see you again, Eret?" He asked, knowing that the other most likely had to return to godly shit.

"Yeah, you I'll probably see the most. The end being my realm and all. I'll make sure to drop by, I'm planning to announce my arrival by just dropping in and scaring the shit out of you all." Eret said, sounding a bit amused.

"Oh, wait, can you visit us?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, I'll make sure to. Just because I have to go back to being a god again doesn't mean I'll abandon you all." Eret said.

Ranboo got a pit of anxiety in his stomach. Something felt wrong.

"Tommy. How quickly does Dream respawn?" He asked.

"I mean fairly quickly, considering what happened in the final disc war. Oh no." Tommy said, realizing what he was getting at.

"He should've respawned by now. Shit." Eret said.

He struggled to his feet with some help from Eret and then took Tubbos hand and hauled him up. This might not go well. They all went to the portal and to the other side meeting techno with the people who were following him. The part with the end overflowing held a singular chorus fruit. Only tubbo stood in front of him staring at it.

"So. This is it." Someone spoke from the crowd. It sounded vaguely like Sam.

He wanted so badly to say that yes, this was it, but the ball of anxiety that it was was gnawing at his stomach. Something was wrong. He looked down at the ground. Was the sand moving?

Grab him.

He didn't know why his mother's voice showed itself again, but he listened. He grabbed tubbo by his shoulder and dragged him back just as a wall of sand shot up where Tubbo had been standing. He watched in horror as the wall rose, looking like it was surrounding the portal and then solidifying into sandstone. He stepped back, taking tubbo with him. All of his senses were screaming for him to run. Plus, they were the only two without armor. Sapnap stepped in front of them, drawing his sword as a familiar green figure materialized with the crash of an Ender pearl.

"So, what's the hurry?" Dream taunted, pulling up the admin panel of the world. He had no armor, no visible weapons but that didn't make him any less dangerous.

He glanced at where Tommy was. He seemed to be trying to shrink as much as possible behind techno. He looked at Eret. They looked terrified but they held a sword that had previous bloodstains on it. A quick glance revealed that everyone had brought out their weapons. Where was Foolish?

"Well this looks familiar. No words? No worries." Dream said, pushing something on the admin panel.

He watched as Eret was forcefully teleported to Dream and the sword was ripped out of their hands. Eret was forced to their knees by Dream's hand and the sword was held at their throat with Dream's other hand. He could already see the small streak of blood come down from the sword. Fear, panic, and just a bit of anger were present on Erets face.

"Hey!" What sounded like Niki shouted. Niki had made her way to the front.

"What the fuck do you want from them?" Niki asked.

"Oh sweet Niki. It's simple. Eret has a choice. That I gave them before but they never choose anything. So, I'm giving them another chance to choose with a bit higher of stakes." Dream said.

Higher stakes? What had they been offered?

"It's simple honestly. I hope you all realize right now that Eret holds the decision to let you free or not. With a bit more terms." Dream explained.

"What are they?" Niki asked, sounding furious.

"Good question. Eret why don't you answer?" Dream said, turning towards him.

"Fuck you." Eret said.

Dream sighed. "Fine, I'll say. Eret has the option between all of you going free right now, but they stay and I close off the world forever. After all we have found out over the course of this server even gods can die, they won't try to get out again. They only have one life left anyways. The second option is we fight here and now, with Eret on my side. If you win, you leave. Can't promise all of you would survive though."

"As if Eret would help you." Niki snarled.

"I agree, besides a lot of us have 3 lives left that we can afford to lose." Puffy said, moving up besides Niki with her axe out, alongside a shield strapped to her arm.

The worst part of the day somehow happened now. Dream just laughed at puffy. He just laughed at the statement. As if it wasn't true. As if it was a lie.

"Oh gods, you're all so naive. This is hilarious. No. None of you do. A perfect example is Ranboo. You all thought he lost his first life when he died earlier, no. That was his last, I'm assuming he's pulled in some favor from Foolish. The only reason he's here right now. Do you want to know why I know this? Eret killed him. Twice, I watched them do it." Dream cackled.

"No. They would never, not unless they were being controlled. And, based on that mark on their neck, they were." Niki said.

"They killed you, y'know. No one on this server has 3 lives anymore." Dream said.

Ranboo looked at Eret. Eret had guilt on their face, they were being played right back into Dream's hands. They seemed to be thinking things over.

"And, to top it all off. Do any of you truly know Eret? How many of you know their past before this server? How many of you know how old they are? How many of you know where they're from?"

"Dream. Shut up." Eret said.

Dream looked down at Eret. This was one of the few times Dream was right. None of them, aside from Foolish, knew much about Eret before this. And as one of the few people who knew their true identity, all the history books said that they could peacefully, but wreak havoc and was to not be underestimated. That terrified him to a degree but he had also seen the kind version of Eret.

"What's the third option?" Eret asked, he barely heard them.

"What?" Dream asked, taken aback.

No one had attacked yet, but he could feel the tension rising. Another glance around revealed that Foolish was still nowhere to be found. Shit. Where did he go?

"You always gave me a third option. I know what it is. I choose it. Kill me." Eret said. Eret said it in such a casual tone as if they asked for death everyday.

Dream raised his hand off the top of Erets head and opened the admin panel and shoving them all back forcefully at least 30 meters. None of them could hear what either of the other two were saying now.

"NO!" Niki shouted. She banged on the invisible wall that hadn't been there before.

He tried to walk forward only to find himself blocked by the barrier. He tried to teleport in but found that he couldn't. No amount of trying to get through for the next couple minutes worked. He watched as the sandstone around the portal fell free back down as sand and glitched away.

"The portal will move within 100 miles of spawn. If you find it you have your freedom. That we have agreed on. You have a week before I start hunting you down." Dream said loudly.

He watched as Eret looked at him and smiled. No, they couldn't. Yet, they all watched as Eret fell to the ground due to their very own blade slicing their neck. He watched in sickening horror as Dream stabbed them again in the stomach for good measure. They laid in the sand not moving. Seconds of silence before a loud clang and dream fell to the ground as well due to being hit in the head with a crowbar by none other than a very much alive Wilbur Soot that had come out of nowhere. Then, a screaming Foolish. He stumbled as the barrier was gone and teleported to the side of Foolish.

"Oh shit." Tubbo said.

Right he was still holding onto Tubbo. He let go of him, knelt down and stared at Eret who already wasn't breathing. Foolish had his hand frantically on their neck searching for a pulse. Foolish didn't seem to care that his hand was getting covered in blood and was shaking as well. Eret had their eyes closed and the faint traces of grey stuff rolling down from their eyes.

"There's no pulse." Foolish whispered.

He sat back on his butt and looked at the person who got him to remember that he even had a life before this. He glanced up at the quiet figure of the man who had talked to him in limbo and then back at the corpse of a god in front of him.

As Ranboo heard thunder in the distance, a sign he would need to make it inside soon, he was almost positive of three things. 1. They could escape as long as they could find the exit, and he had very little time left. 2. Wilbur Soot was alive again. And 3. Eret, the god of the end, was dead.

Chapter Text

Foolish couldn't stop shaking. There were so many memories with Eret when they were alive rushing through his brain. They couldn't be dead, but he could sense it, just like he could everyone else. They were dead, the people surrounding him were alive, and no frantic search for a pulse changed that. He could feel the soul missing from the body in front of him. Erets body wasn't despawning like it should when you lose a life. They were truly dead. Which shouldn't even happen, they were both a god and should have one life left. The worst case scenario is that they send Erets ghost through the portal and they don't get revived. They become like the blood god, forever being reincarnated but cursed to never remember their past. When humanity dies, the blood god dies. He was pretty sure that the latest reincarnate was Techno. Not that it mattered right now.

It wasn't like he could revive them right now, he has spent one of his lives trading it with Wilbur bringing him back to life. Simply because Dream was a bitch and managed to limit his powers here. For this, he'd have to use a spell. A totem. Something he memorized a while ago before he lost it. There were footsteps approaching, leaving, everywhere.

"Foolish?" Niki asked. "Are they…"

He sobbed.

"They haven't despawned yet, does anyone have any potions on them?" Niki shouted.

"Don't." Foolish said miserably. "They're dead, I can feel it. I don't know when they lost their first, but they knew what they were doing."

I'm sorry. Some of the last words Eret said to them rang in his head. He had spent his entire life being friends with them after a couple years of feuding. Then, becoming one of the best god duos, capable of taking out almost anything before they both took a pacifist turn. He spent the entire time Eret had been kidnapped trying to find them only to later get kidnapped himself, twice technically, and then have them not recognize him. He did not go through all of that just to have been so close to saving them but so far from it at the same time.

"They can't be dead. I've been friends with them for this entire server. We've been by each other's side since the beginning of this place. They'll be able to be revived after going through the portal right?" Niki asked.

"Yeah, they're about twenty right? That's how it'll work for Ranboo. At least what I was told." Puffy said.

"They were twenty when I asked a while ago. Their birthday might have passed by now, I don't know." Fundy said, sounding worried.

Fundy didn't know. Niki didn't know. Puffy didn't know. That was fair. Eret didn't fully believe him until they got their memories back, and they were trained to hide their identities when interacting with mortals. Though, quite a few people here knew about his status as the god of life.

"They aren't twenty." He said, crying harder.

"Please don't say they're older." Niki said, sounding desperate.

"They are. But there are so many factors in this I don't even know if they will or they'll end up like the other one did or- or something else entirely." He answered. "I have to try to revive them before we leave. You all just please focus on finding the portal. Get Phil and Quackity to fly over everything and check. I have to."

"What do you mean? Who's the other one?" Niki asked. "Will they live?"

"I don't know." He said sobbing.

"Foolish. Do they know?" Ranboo asked quietly.

"I don't think so. Puffy, Erets like me, in you know what sense, they shouldn't be able to die but here we are." He said, staring at the lifeless face of his best friend.

"Oh aether. Foolish." Puffy murmured.

"What do you mean?" Niki asked, sounding like she wanted answers.

"Erets a god. Of what I don't know, it's why Foolish doesn't know what exactly is going to happen. They shouldn't have been able to die." Puffy explained quietly.

He didn't know what else to say to anyone else. This was someone he trusted, someone who had been by his side for quite literally forever, dead right in front of him. Because he was too slow. He pulled his hands away and sat back pulling his knees to his chest. He has spent years caring for and keeping them safe, receiving the same in return. Eret had done so much to get them all out, and their final act was sacrifice.

"What do you think will happen if we ever die?" Eret wondered.

"Don't know. You think we get to choose how we die?" He asked.

"Maybe. I don't want to be killed for some stupid reason though. If the worst comes to worst I want to die on my own terms. Protecting people I care about." Eret said.

"That sounds like a nice way to go out, but don't do that for me. I couldn't deal with the aftermath. What if one of us ends up like blood?" He asked.

"Aether above I hope not. I think in the end that would cause a plethora of more pain." Eret said.

He remembered that conversation in full. The conversation ended in a promise that Eret wouldn't sacrifice themself for him, and he wouldn't sacrifice himself for them. Neither of them could go without each other and yet. Here they were, one of them dead, the other crying his eyes out.

"They promised. They promised they wouldn't sacrifice themself." He whispered, choking on the words.

"Foolish." Sam said gently, placing his hand on his shoulder.

"What?" He asked.

"Come here." Sam said, gently pulling him back.

He leaned back into Sam's arms, who wrapped his arms around him, providing comfort.

"They promised me sam. They promised that we wouldn't sacrifice ourselves for each other. They promised. They-" He sobbed again before he could say anything else.

"It's alright. It's gonna be alright." Sam murmured.

"They're dead." He cried.

"I know." Sam said, his voice shaking.

"They've been with me for years. They're gone. Sam, I can't lose them." He blubbered.

"It's okay." Sam said.

Sam ran his hand through his hair, more comfort. He wished he would have cared more but the only thing on his mind was that his best friend for over thousands of years was dead. It really didn't feel okay.

Foolish didn't know how long he cried. It was long enough that it started to rain and Ranboo teleported out with a yelp of pain. Long enough that someone had left and come back with a blanket to cover Erets body. Dream's body got dragged somewhere. Wilbur said something but he didn't hear him. He didn't even know where he had gotten a crowbar. He had to be drenched by now but it felt nice. Sam stayed, he didn't know who else stayed but they all most likely went inside. Nothing felt alright.

"Sam." He whispered.

"Yeah foosh?" Sam asked.

"This doesn't feel okay. I mean like Eret being dead. It doesn't feel right." He clarified at the feeling of Sam pulling away.

"I know." Sam murmured.

"It's raining." He said.

"I noticed." Sam said.

"Sam. I- I don't know what to do. They've been by my side forever. I know how to revive them without trading lives, like I did with Wilbur. But- I don't know if it'll work. I was pushing it reviving someone who has been dead for a long time. I'd be breaking so many cosmic laws if I revived them. If gods die they're supposed to stay dead and continue with whatever the universe has for them." Foolish said.

"With the universe?" Sam echoed.

"There's this one god. He died a long time ago, we lost track of him a while ago but he gets reincarnated. He stays looking 21 once he reaches that age and just lives. Once he dies in the main hub, the process starts again. I think I found him but…" He trailed off.

"But what?" Sam inquired.

"He was the blood god. Each reincarnate was cursed with voices around the age of 10. They can take control sometimes." He said quietly. The never spoken admittance that he was his friend ran around his brain.

"You think it's techno." Sam said.

"I do. I don't know if Eret would've told him but he usually doesn't remember past lives. So even if I told him there's dim hope that he would believe me. I don't want that to happen to Eret. To have to see my best friend reincarnated for all of history but never remember me. I felt horrible enough this time around." He said, wiping tears away from his eyes. It didn't help much, the rain kept falling down on him.

"Why don't we head inside? It's late, it's cold, it's raining." Sam offered.

"What time is it?" He asked.

"My communicator says it's almost eleven." Sam whispered.

"We've been out here for that long?" He asked. Last he checked it was almost 9.

"Yeah, quackity told me he has food for everyone in the mess hall and some people are getting some sleep. Phils still searching his current area of the smp. Quackity didn't find anything. Dream's out cold, tied up and being watched by Puffy and techno." Sam informed him.

"Got it." He said, sniffling and pulling away from Sam.

He stood up, brushing some of the sand from his clothes. Although now that it was raining, the sand stuck to him. Sam stood up and started guiding him towards the mess hall. Maybe not sure enough of him mentally being in the moment for him to get there without walking into something. Walking into the cactus would not be beneficial to his health. Honestly things were starting to blur together again as they had to navigate around the blanket covering Erets body, the blood staining some of it and the outline of a body. Nothing and guilt fueled him to get to his room and just pass out.

He wandered aimlessly through the mess hall, he wasn't even sure how he made it up the stairs, ignoring Quackity calling after him. He opened the door that led to the residence of the rooms of the faculty of Las Nevadas. Quackity finally caught up and turned him around by pulling on his shoulder.

"Hey, are you alright?" Quackity asked, sounding and looking concerned.

"No." He said softly, taking his shoulder off of Quackity's hand and turning back around.

He heard the quiet voice of Sam start to talk to Quackity as he opened the door to his bedroom. He closed it and locked it, perks of knowing Sam. He knew how to make locks.

Foolish walked over to the window and looked over Las Nevadas in all its glory. He and Quackity had built this place. Fundy and Sam took care of the redstone. He liked building, it made him feel in control. But after tonight, he could never see Las Nevadas as a safe place. Not anymore. He pulled the curtains closed, and sighed. Nothing was gonna be normal after this. He dragged himself over to his dresser, an organized chest really, and opened it, looking for a new set of non soaked clothes. He grabbed a pair of sweatpants, a new long-sleeved shirt, and underwear. He tossed it on his bed and started undoing the straps off his armor. There was no need for it right now and it got in the way when sleeping. The only enchantments he had on it was protection and feather falling.

You could fall quite often when building and he had still not forgotten the golden wings he had that helped. Even after a good while he still subconsciously moved to fly up and put blocks and then crashed into the ground. Eret never even knew that he lost them. He lost them after they were kidnapped but before he got kidnapped himself. A lead on Eret gone wrong. Two scars on his shoulders, a reminder of what he had but lost in a fit of recklessness.

He blinked and officially took off the last of his armor, his boots. He stared at the ground before forcing himself to grab his new clothes and go into the connecting bathroom. The lanterns that eternally burned provided enough light. He placed them on top of the contraption of hoppers and blaze rods that served as a water heater. With Las Nevadas having a few people that were good with redstone and building, it led to having showers. Honest to aether, actual showers. And sinks, working sinks. He flipped on the switch to shower and took off his clothes before stepping in. He pulled closed the curtain and relished in the hot water.

It felt nice to an extent. Despite being in a warm shower, he still felt cold. Although it was more internally now. He just stood there while the water scalded his skin.

"I FUCKING KNEW THAT HE'D FALL FOR IT." One man howled.

He reached back and rubbed his hand on the scar tissue.

"THIS IS WHAT TOO MUCH LOYALTY DOES TO YOU BOYS. DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IF YOU COULD CHAIN A GOD BUT HERE WE ARE. THE GOD OF LIFE, IN THE FLESH PEOPLE." The same man screamed. He was right in his face. It felt almost demeaning.

He looked up and closed his eyes, relishing in the feeling of the water.

"It's kinda pathetic. A god gets kidnapped, we capture one looking for them. I think we should take a souvenir. Prove that gods aren't as invincible as everyone thinks. Might even get us a ton of money on the black market." Another person added. They were staring at his wings.

He took a shuddering breath as the Phantom pains of a dagger slowly sliced through bone hit him. The memories of just him screaming. It had been so painful, he had just wanted to find his friend. He didn't blame Eret for that, he blamed himself. Other gods had warned him that it could be a trap and he had still fallen for it.

"I mean, he was dumb enough to fall for it. I say leave them gone. Might as well, he learned his lesson. Adult gods shouldn't make mistakes as big as that." Time spoke with authority.

You didn't defy time and maybe this was his way of saying, that wasn't how it was supposed to go, but you made your bed, now lie in it. His mistake, time was personified as people always said. Unfair.

He switched off the water, taking a deep breath. At this rate he was gonna burn himself. He pulled back the curtain and grabbed one of the towels he always left next to the sink. He dried himself off and pulled on his new clothes. He walked out and sat on the side of his bed. He stared at the ground. Wait, look away, stare and think, repeat. He never expected his best friend to die.

He got up and unlocked his door. He stared at the door handle before finally opening it. The hallway held no one but, he turned to his left and went further into the quarters for the faculty. He stopped at the next door on the side of his. Sam's room. He knocked and waited for a response. He heard the lock unlock and saw the door open. His eyes were met with Sam's, the red pupils in otherwise empty black eyes. They still held a certain softness to them. The light wasn't on inside, it looked like he had already tried to go to sleep.

"Hey." Sam said softly. He also sounded tired.

"Hi. Sorry if I woke you up but can I stay- tonight, please?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah, of course." Sam said, moving so that he could enter.

He walked in and Sam shut the door. Sam shuffled over to his bed climbing in and then moving over to make room for him. He climbed in beside Sam and pulled the covers over both of them. Sam pulled him closer and his head onto his chest. Sam sighed in content while he could only smile briefly in a small bit of joy.

"I'm really sorry, by the way. I wanted to do something, it reminded me so much of the banquet when Ant had an axe to their neck. I wanted to do something to save them, but if I even made a move, Dream would've done it regardless. I'm sorry, truly." Sam said, with his voice shaking slightly.

"Don't. If I had been a little faster, I could've stopped it. I understand why you want to blame yourself but don't. They- they unfortunately made that choice. They knew what it entailed. They knew. Blame Dream. They-" He cut himself off with more phantom pain diving into his back. He was used to it at this point.

"Foolish? Are you alright?" Sam asked. "You look like you're in pain."

He could trust Sam, couldn't he? If he couldn't, who could he trust, but this was something he had never told anyone close to him.

"No. It's phantom pains. It's- I don't like to talk about it but I probably have to tell someone. Y'know how totems have wings on the design? And, how I look like totems?" He questioned, closing his eyes.

"Yeah, I do." Sam murmured.

"I-" He shuddered. "I had wings." His voice was impossibly quiet.

"Oh that's- had? What ha- you get phantom pains from that?" Sam asked quietly. There were a million questions in one sentence.

"Yeah. I was trying to get a lead on Eret and I followed one. I- I got trapped. They- they said that…" Foolish trailed off remembering what had been said again. "Eret never knew, I never told anyone."

"Oh Foolish. You don't have to deal with this alone, just please tell me. I don't expect to- oh aether is that why you fall from your builds so much?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. It's hard to erase thousands of years worth of instincts." He admitted quietly. "Like, how it's hard to erase the need for someone you've known that entire time. Sam, I don't know what I'm going to do without them. I don't know what I'm going to do without you. You'll age, I won't. You're gonna die, I most likely won't. It's times like this that I dislike immortality."

"It'll be alright." Sam murmured, running his hand on top of his head. It felt nice.

"I would believe that if I hadn't been told that since that word was invented." He chuckled, gripping the bed sheets.

"Foolish." Sam sighed. "I will be by your side for as long as you will let me and I think we both knew at the beginning of this, that I would die before you. That doesn't make me love you any less. I don't know what the future will entail but hopefully, we can get Eret back alive. I- we can get you to a server with an elytra. Or just find you an elytra, I know it probably won't feel the same but it could be better than nothing."

"Ever the logical man." He murmured.

"Yep." Sam sounded vaguely amused.

"Sleep?" He questioned.

"Yeah." Sam said, wrapping an arm around him.

They were both silent for a couple of minutes with Sam running his hand through his hair, before the hand stilled, signifying that he was asleep. He was far from sleep despite wanting to. The scene kept running through his mind over and over. He had prayed that his Ender pearl would hit sooner than it did but he had watched from afar in horror as Dream slit Erets throat. The gasp from Wilbur, then the pearl hitting, and him finally screaming. It overlapped with the scene from the banquet, seeing his friend forced on their knees while an axe was held to their throat. At least he didn't have to see their eyes this time. At least he didn't have to see the light leave them. He would have one shot at reviving them, let's hope that he won't fuck it up.

When Ranboo woke up at first he couldn't figure out where he was, but a couple minutes of confusion led to remembering that he was in Las Nevadas. The reason he was there was because they needed to do the portal. Which they did and now they needed to find it, due to the terms Eret had made before they died. He ran the information through his head like he would when waking up with memory issues. It really did seem the closer he got to becoming an actual ghost led him to memory issues again. Which he didn't like before and definitely didn't miss.

He got out of the bed in the small room he had been lent. Tubbo was already up it seemed since he was gone, and the small note on the table.

'Hey, I went to grab some breakfast. I'll bring you some, if you don't come down by 10. I'll grab you a plate anyways don't worry about it. We have today and I also nabbed you some armor. And, finally, this place has working bathrooms, it's insane.'

He put the note in his pocket and went to use the bathroom. Just like the note said, the bathrooms were legitimately functioning bathrooms. He left the room and went downstairs trying to retrace his steps from the previous night when they had gone up. He eventually found his way into the appropriately named mess hall and ignored the arguing between one Karl Jacobs and one Quackity. Sapnap sat there trying to enjoy his breakfast.

He saw Tommy, Tubbo, Sam, and Foolish sitting a bit away from it and decided he would sit with them. No one else was in the room. Just like Tubbo had promised there was a bowl of something already on the table that hadn't been touched. He sat down next to Tubbo who was speaking to Tommy about something called porridge and hadn't yet realized that he had sat down. Sam nodded towards him acknowledging that he was there, before taking a bite of whatever this stuff was. Foolish seemed tired, and was silently eating his breakfast. Gods, this was the first time he was having a proper meal in a couple of days. The last time had been the morning of the attack on Snowchester. Then again he had spent a large portion of the last couple days passed out. Holy shit so much has happened since then.

"So, does anyone know what we're eating?" He questioned.

"It's oatmeal, we don't have many breakfast foods left. We were gonna restock in a couple days from a nearby village and we usually have enough to support the members of Las Nevadas, not the entire server." Sam explained.

"Excuse my language, but what the hell is oatmeal?" He asked while picking up the spoon that had probably been acquired from villagers at some point. He poked his spoon at it.

"Sam, it's fucking porridge not oatmeal. You don't know what porridge is?" Tommy asked, sounding surprised.

"No, what is it?" He asked again. He ignored the two different words for whatever this stuff was.

"It's oatmeal. Y'know it's made of oats and water or in this case milk. You put sugar and other stuff in it because that's the only way it tastes good." Sam explained.

"It tastes like shit when made with water and in general." Tubbo added on.

"So, we don't generally eat oats in the end. That's reserved for the few horses we have. Um, are we basically eating horse food?" He questioned.

"No, well yes, horses eat oats, but we also eat it because we can. It's not like we can't, so we do. Have you ever had bread with the little bread sprinkles on top?" Tubbo inquired.

"No?" He answered, a little confused as to why or what that was. It seems the time he had spent in the overworld in the main hub had not shown him all the weird foods that they had. At least to him.

"Oh well. I was gonna say that, that's oats but, I can't use that now. You've never eaten oats?" Tubbo asked, sounding a bit confused.

"No, the end doesn't ever import that from the overworld except for the horses. So, I'm one, trying a new food, and two, you all say that it's honestly bad. Why." He said.

"Because it's the only thing we have that's for breakfast. If you have something else in your inventory you'd like to eat your welcome to." Sam said calmly.

"I don't have anything in my inventory." He stated.

"Then, we have porridge." Sam said.

"Yep." Tubbo said sighing. His bowl looked like it hadn't been messed with much, although it had sweet berries in it.

He reluctantly picked up a bit of it in his spoon and took a bite. It really did taste like shit.

"I don't even like porridge, it's for old people, like Phil." Tommy complained.

"If Phil's old, what does that make me?" Foolish asked, speaking for the first time since he got there.

"Ancient. You are an ancient being. Honestly Phil looks older than you." Tommy replied.

"Well, I am an ancient being, but no Phil isn't older than me. He's only a few hundred years old. I've been around for- actually I don't know. Life, when life showed up I guess that's technically when I was born. That was thousands of years ago." Foolish reminisced. A small reminder that his friend was the god of life.

"How does time pass for you?" Tommy asked jokingly.

"Uh, I don't really have a concept of time anymore. It's a mess when you've been alive for a long time. Also, time the god, is really fucking rude and I don't like him." Foolish said.

"Oh. That's wonderful." Tommy said, in a slight sarcastic tone.

He heard a crash from the other side of the room. He turned to see what it was and it was a bowl shattered on the ground. The person who seemed to knock it over was Quackity whose arms were flailing around. He was still arguing with Karl over something, while sapnap sat there rubbing his head. It looked like his breakfast had landed on the floor. Yeah, today would be fun.

Chapter Text

Ranboo sighed as yet another person joined the bickering. They had been at this for two hours at this rate. Almost everyone was down here at this point. He, Tommy, and tubbo sat watching it go back and forth. He had tuned out what they were even arguing about awhile ago. Quackity and Phil had left to fly over other parts of the smp and see if they could spot it from above. If it was underground they were fucked.

"Y'know. I'm getting very bored just watching them argue. Is there something else we could do?" Tommy asked from where his head was on the table.

"Not unless you fancy seeing a body when we go outside." Tubbo said, sighing. Both him and Tommy spoke a bit louder for Tubbo to be able to hear them at a semi-normal tone.

Tommy took his head off the table and said, "So, Dream is underground right now. We're assuming he's still knocked out since Puffy and Techno are still down there but wouldn't he have woken up by now?"

"Probably, but he got hit in the head with a crowbar by yours truly. That tends to be quite a factor in skull damage." Wilbur said from somewhere behind them, getting closer.

Wilbur sat down across from him and for the first time since Wilbur got revived he got a good look at him. He had on a brown trench coat, but the yellow sweater that Ghostbur had worn all the time. The trench coat had a small L'manburg flag sewn onto it. He couldn't see the lower half of him but assumed Wilbur was wearing what he had when he visited him in limbo. A stark white streak in the front of his hair.

"You're really alive." Tommy whispered.

Wilbur smiled and chuckled. He reached over and ruffled Tommy's hair, surprisingly Tommy didn't flinch.

"That I am you little raccoon boy." Wilbur said amused.

"I am not a raccoon." Tommy retorted although he sounded happy. Which was fair, he had his brother back after seeing him die.

"Yes you are. You're always stealing my shit and things that remind you of people. You wash all the food you can before you eat it. You have always hated being awake during the day. You are the epitome of a raccoon." Wilbur noted.

"I am not a raccoon." Tommy protested. One quick glance showed him failing to hide a smile. Bantering was making him happy.

"Sure you aren't, and Phil doesn't have wings." Wilbur said.

"Wilbur, where did you even get a crowbar?" Tubbo asked suddenly.

"Honestly, no clue. Just kinda revived with a crowbar. It's in my inventory now." Wilbur said. Wilbur's gaze lingered on Tubbo, with a brief look of concern flashing over his face.

"So, Wilby- Wilbur we have an issue. We're bored and we don't want to go outside because one, it's still wet and two we don't fancy seeing the dead body of our friend again." Tommy said.

"And you want me to fix that?" Wilbur questioned.

"Yes." The three of them said simultaneously.

"Okay. Um, I have literally no clue. I've just been helping mom out for the last, I don't know, what felt like 14 years. I don't know how long it's been for you all. Time is weird in the afterlife." Wilbur said.

"Does this mean you're technically older than techno now?" Tommy asked.

"No, but yes. Maybe, it's very very complicated. Let's just leave it as it is, I'm the older one anyways. " Wilbur said.

"Then what are we going to do?" Tommy groaned, sitting back in his chair.

"I would suggest chaos but it seems there's already enough of that." Wilbur said, pointing behind him.

"Seriously. The amount of things I have and haven't heard. We're getting all the tea though." Tubbo said.

"Oh god speaking of tea. Ranboo take your fucking weird ass dreams back. They're fucking annoying as shit." Tommy said.

"Oh aether above. What did you see?" He asked, sighing knowing what these could entail.

"So, it was weird to begin with and I'm finally fully processing it. Basically, I think it was from my point of view, maybe someone else's. I could see the portal, we seemed to be on some sort of floating island. It was made of grass and flat from what I could see. I couldn't hear anything but Dream was there blocking me or others from going into the portal. I guess it was better that there was no sound, then. He was talking, he had a crossbow as well. It was pointed at me. Then, it just kinda switched to the regular nightmares I get." Tommy explained, shrugging.

"Honestly the nightmare bit is relatable." Tubbo said.

"Ah, also, sorry if this is too forward but what happened these last couple days? I understand that everything would've changed after I died but after yesterday morning and what I've been told since I got revived. Shit went down." Wilbur said hesitantly. It seemed like he didn't want to upset any of them.

"A lot of things happened. I think Ranboo is the most qualified to tell you what happened. He has the reasons behind almost everything." Tubbo said quietly.

"Oh me again. Um. Yeah, it started about two days ago. Snowchester got attacked by the syndicate, which consisted of me, techno, Phil and Niki." Ranboo answered.

"Niki?" Wilbur asked, surprised.

"Yeah. So I had forgotten all about it, and the entire reason we were even planning to attack that day was we decided to try one more time to have a festival. Fun. Not surprisingly it ended like… crap. I don't exactly know what happened before I got there but by the time I got there. There were withers, fighting, explosions and fire everywhere. So, I'm running off adrenaline, I have my armor on luckily, and I run off to try and find where Tubbo was. Luckily it wasn't that hard to have an idea where he was because I saw fireworks shoot up into the sky and the main goal was to… take out tubbo." He explained.

"I'm offended." Tubbo said dryly.

"Alright, so I went over there. Tommy's fighting techno and losing. I don't think tubbo was conscious and was very close to dying." He said.

"I almost did. The totem Tommy forced into my hand got used." Tubbo commented.

"Yes you were, and you scared the shit out of me. So, after that techno finally realized I was there and was like 'Oh hey where have you been?'" He cut himself off since the next few minutes of whatever had happened were fuzzy. There were vague memories of fighting techno but it was barely there, the next he remembered clearly was crashing into the ground via Phil.

"I fought techno I'm pretty sure. Um, that bits a blur, the next thing I can remember clearly is Phil crashing into me. And, that happened, he stabbed me y'know all that." He rambled. No one questioned the blurry part.

"He did what?" Wilbur asked.

"Stabbed me. Yeah, so then I went somewhere and talked to Eret. Eret helped with my wound because apparently I was still bleeding. Then we went and talked to Foolish. We had a whole conversation about knowing a way to get your memories back. So we went and did that. Then I passed out." He said.

"You what?" Tubbo asked.

"I passed out before I went to talk to you. Did I not mention that?" He asked.

"No." Tubbo said, turning his head towards him looking concerned. "Now I'm concerned cause you went from passed out to awake for like an hour and then back to fucking passed out."

"Yeah, I guess that's concerning. I woke up, teleported and talked to Tubbo. We half yelled at each other, but made up. Then we were like we need to go talk to Tommy. I told Tommy what I told tubbo and he was like hey wait no. I know what you're talking about and I don't think that's a good idea. And so we had a whole argu-" He got cut off by someone slamming the door to the outside open.

Quackity and Phil walked in both grinning. The room went silent, with everyone looking at the new people in the room.

"We found it. Slight problem: it's at build height on some sort of small island and will be a pain in the ass to get to, but we found it. There's a path where we only have to go over land as well." Quackity said.

He looked over at Tommy, who looked surprised but also tense. Yeah, he didn't like the connections between Tommy's dream and the new information.

"Yeah, we'd need a bunch of materials, which I have in my ender chest if I can get to one. It'll take until the end of the day to get everyone to where the portal is, even with the horses that Las Nevadas keeps, a few more hours to safely build up there. Oh, I could fly ahead and do it." Phil said.

"We can be free by tonight." Quackity added.

They could be free. He had until roughly two in the morning, then he went ghost. That was more than enough time.

"We have stables?" Someone that sounded like Fundy asked.

"Yes, we do." Quackity answered.

"Alright, so let's go." Foolish said standing up from the corner he had been in since moving away from them. He had been uncharacteristically quiet today. That was partially expected.

"Yeah. Let's. Back door though. It's closer to the stables." Quackity said, heading towards it. The lingering other reason only Foolish and him seemed to notice.

And, so they all started heading towards the stables. As it turns out the reason why no one had noticed the stables were because they were partially dug into the ground, and on the very edge of the sandy area. Quackity said it was to help with the sand issues and grazing. That didn't sound like it would help with sand issues but low and behold when they went in, it worked.

"Oh, yeah! Boo. Here's some armor." Tubbo said, handing him some netherite armor, while they stood in the stall with their assigned horses.

He stared at it and the name tag glistened above it before he said, "Tubbo this is yours."

"Yep, and since I can't wear it right now, I'd rather you wear it." Tubbo said, turning away from him saddling his horse.

"Tubbo. I appreciate the gesture but we both don't this won't do that much." Ranboo said, flicking his tail. He put the armor in his inventory anyways.

Tubbo either ignored him or legitimately didn't hear him but he did not respond. He sighed quietly and did up the saddles on the horse he had been loaned. He really didn't want tubbo to be without armor. He didn't even technically need armor, if he died well, he was already dead. It's not like he could die again, he was already permanently stuck at age 17, 5 months from his birthday. If he died for a few days and then was revived to an extent would that change how old he was? Subsequently changing his birthday? He saw why Wilbur didn't want to think about it.

"Say, ranboo. Do you have a bad feeling right now?" Tubbo asked.

"No, why." He asked, glancing around for any signs of Dream.

They had left him tied up and passed out in the casino basement. It wasn't the best, it was ropes after all and when he woke up he'd be after them quickly. But, Dream had taken a really nasty hit to the head.

"Just checking. You seem to get this gut feeling when something is about to go wrong. So, I'm just curious." Tubbo said, looking frustrated as he kept turning his head to try and get the last part of the saddle on.

"Do you want some help with that?" He asked.

Tubbo ignored him again, instead continuing to try it by himself. Alright then. He finished up his saddle and waited for Tubbo to be done, before leading his horse out to where some others were waiting. Not everyone was out there yet, only a handful. George was hanging near Sapnap and Karl. Techno was out there already with his horse Carl and another smaller horse. Which was to be expected, Carl was a huge horse, any horse looked small next to him. He didn't recognize the horse but techno seemed to be explaining something about the horse to Foolish. Sam was near Foolish and that was it. The horse had a name tag but he could only make out an M and an I from here.

"Tubbo?" He started.

"Yeah?" Tubbo asked, looking at him. They were standing next to each other now. He finally noticed the small chain around Tubbos neck connected to something under his shirt.

"What do you want to do once we're free?" He asked.

"That's- that's a good question. I'd love to see my dad again. I really miss him. I don't really know otherwise, I just want to get out of here. Every single time I think I can have a bit of peace something happens. We're gonna have PTSD after this." Tubbo said.

"Oh definitely." He replied.

"What do you want to do?" Tubbo asked.

"See my mom's. I miss them as well, now that I can actually remember them. I think I've been hearing one of them in my mind occasionally. It's been giving me ideas for what to do when I get those bad feelings. Like those feelings of some things about to happen. Other than that I don't know." He answered.

"What's gonna happen to us?" Tubbo asked quietly.

"I don't know, but I don't think they'll try to keep us apart. If they do, I don't think the results would be good." He said.

"No, they would not be." Tommy said, crashing into the back of them and swinging an arm over each of their shoulders.

"Hello Toms. What do you want to do when we get out of here?" Tubbo inquired.

"Get as legally far away from Philza Minecraft as I can. Y'know the whole undoing the whole legal child bit, and stay in contact with you two." Tommy said.

"Y'know you can't technically do that until you're 18 right? Next April?" Tubbo said.

"Don't care, I can get Wilbur to be my legal guardian or we can kill Phil or something." Tommy said.

Tubbo started laughing and he laughed a bit as well.

"Tommy, that's illegal in the main hub." Tubbo said.

"Okay? So? He's a piece of shit." Tommy said.

"Still illegal, and where's your horse?" Tubbo asked.

"Wilbur has 'em." Tommy said.

"You're a menace." Tubbo said.

"I know!" Tommy said happily.

The next hour passed slowly as everyone got ready. He and Tubbo argued until Tubbo put his armor on just until they got out of there, as long as Ranboo had potions on him and food. After that they were off and traveling faster than on foot towards where Phil was already working on the staircase to the floating island. They had started to pass Snowchester and he heard the small collective gasp when they saw it. The place didn't even look like it had existed. It was a hole that went down to bedrock the epicenter being Tubbos base for the nukes, but no one but he, tubbo, jack, and Tommy knew that.

Jack fell behind, saddled up beside tubbo, and said. "The self-destruct switch? We swore we wouldn't use it."

"Didn't have a choice at the time Jack. It was that or the people who could get us out of here died. I'm lucky Ranboo got me out in time." Tubbo answered apathetically.

"Why was it even gonna go off? I got the notification but never one that it went off." Jack said.

"Dream messed with it. I couldn't do anything other than the switch." Tubbo said sharply ending the conversation.

Ranboo shivered until they got past Snowchester. The rest of the ride had been tolerable. They had gone past the prison as well, which had seemed fine on the outside. After that it was all wilderness. No one really lived out here. Sam had brought out a clock at one apparently and decided they should all eat something. So, they took a small break and ate some food, got the horses a break, some water and food as well. Then, they continued on their way. Small talk was made, no more arguments. It honestly looked like people were working through things without yelling at each other. Which was a fucking miracle.

Now however he was staring up at the grass platform above him and the staircase leading up to it. They had taken less time than anticipated and were there about 4 in the afternoon according to Sam's clock. It was rather sturdy, built with cobblestone. Three blocks wide, just in case. The way things worked was strange despite there being no support, they would all probably be fine when going up. The area around him was a flat plains biome with other wild horses eyeing them all curiously. He looked back towards the start of the staircase where tubbo was waving him over. He walked over and stood at the base.

The impending feeling of doom was back as well. So, he chose the best time to mention it as when he started going up the structure.

"Tommy." He said, to the boy going up in front of him.

"Yeah?" Tommy asked.

"Y'know those feelings I get that somethings gonna happen, and it's usually bad?" He hesitantly asked.

"Yes…?" Tommy said.

"I have a bad feeling right now." He said.

"Shit." Tommy sighed.

"Shit is right." Tubbo said from behind him.

"Yes, don't know what it's for this time but… y'know. It doesn't foreshadow things very well." He said.

His legs were already starting to feel overworked from going up so many stairs. Only like 200 more to go. Stairs were annoying. He doesn't like stairs. It was silent for a bit.

"So, we're almost up there. Ranboo has that feeling gone away?" Tubbo asked.

"Nope, sadly not." He said.

"Ah damn." Tubbo said.

"Let's hope it's just anxiety that you'll fall." Tommy said.

"I could literally teleport myself out." He said.

"One of us could fall." Tommy rephrased.

That was a pretty good theory. Yeah that must have been it.

"That's probably it." He said.

He knew that wasn't it. He had lived on floating islands for all of his life, he had never been scared of falling before. If someone fell you went after them. Hell, he lived with the void over his head that most netherians and overworld people would be uncomfortable with. He knew he was lying when he semi confirmed Tommy's theory. It was just wrong but he couldn't tell why it was wrong because he couldn't tell what was wrong. It just felt like they were walking into a trap, but they were almost there. Just a few more steps and he was standing on top of the floating platform.

The portal stood in the middle. No one had gone through yet, but it looked exactly the same as it had before. He made his way to the front, no one was within at least 10 meters of it. Maybe in response to last time. The bad feeling was honestly worse now. Something was wrong.

"So. What do we do now?" Wilbur asked.

"We go through." Quackity said.

Something was gonna happen.

You're right and you know what you have to do.

What did that mean? What was going to happen? Whoever you are, Help me please.

He watched as Dream showed up in front of them again with an admin panel open before closing it. Oh this again. This wasn't good. The feeling that something bad was going to happen faded away. The bad shit was here.

"Hello there. I wasn't expecting that. Wilbur, Tommy, nice to see you. Ranboo, surprised you aren't a ghost yet. Sapnap, it's been awhile. Now, we all know I wasn't actually going to follow through with promises. I'm done with that. Now, I'm a little pissed, so which ones of you will I kill first?" Dream asked.

No one spoke. This is what the voice meant. They were here, he could teleport himself to dream and then grab Dream. Then, teleport them both somewhere else. He could do that. He just had to wait for the best opportunity.

Dream pulled out a crossbow and started talking, "I see we're doing this the hard way then. Let's start with a random shot into the crowd shall we?"

Dream aimed to the side of him. Where Tommy and Tubbo were. Perfect chance. You only have one shot at this Ranboo, don't let him shoot that crossbow. If he does make sure it at least doesn't hit anyone, let yourself get hit. Dream put his hand on the trigger and then moved slightly and pulled. He felt it embed in his chest and slide in between his ribs; right before he teleported behind Dream, and grabbed him. He teleported again, stumbling. They were somewhere else.

Ranboo was standing on top of something, but with two of them there, they fell off and started tumbling to the ground. The wind ripped around them as Dream's crossbow fell past them. They would hit the ground any second. Dream was above him, his mask was ripped off by the wind. Dream shifted more to the left than he did, and hit something other than what he did. When he landed, he hit water. While that saved him, it also hurt. He got himself above water and dragged himself on to dry land and screamed. Oh my gods, it hurt so bad. Dream had landed on the ground and was struggling to get up.

He gasped as he pressed his hand where the bolt had been pressed almost fully through his lung. He forced himself to lay on his back and wrapped his hand around the bolt and pulled. He yelped, it was part of the way out. He could taste the blood in his mouth as he threw up almost entirely blood. He took the rest of it out and screamed again. He reached into his inventory and grabbed the potion of healing, drinking as much of it as he could. He coughed and pressed his hand against the former wound. His hand came back almost covered in blood but he could breath alright.

He didn't know how long he laid there before getting up and struggling over to where Dream was. He hadn't died yet but he looked like he couldn't move. His eyes were closed and his face was filled with pain. Without the mask it reminded him that he was human, much like the rest of them. It didn't make him feel sorry for him though, he had hurt his friends over and over. He glanced at the fallen crossbow a bit away and stumbled his way over to it. He glanced around the place and recognized it as Logstedshire. Tommy's exile place.

Parts of it were blown up, he turned around and looked up. The structure they had fallen off of, was massive. It was a single block tower but it went so high. It went terrifyingly high. He couldn't imagine what it was for.

"Ranboo." Dream wheezed.

His ears went down.

"Ranboo. Help me. It's not like you'll be able to go anywhere else." Dream said.

He didn't want to. He looked down at Dream. He seemed in lots of pain. He stumbled back and blinked. This was a trick. He fell back and landed on his back. The health potion was helping with some pain but not all. The burning of the water still hurts. Dream moved before he could react. It seemed that he was faking being hurt, dream probably drank some potion while he was recovering from the water. Dream's sword was inches from his throat.

"You almost killed me again." Dream said quietly.

"So?" He asked. He had to make this interaction as long as possible. He had to give them time at least. His brain felt fuzzy.

"So?" Dream repeated, his voice distant. "You want to kill me so bad don't you? Well, you can't. You have no weapons, you have no armor. You have nothing Ranboo. No one can even save you right now."

"Well, I'd say I'm doing fine." He said, opening his inventory and running over what potions he had. 2 more healing, 3 regen, 2 splash potions of harming. He closed it.

"Ranboo. What gave you confidence? You weren't like this before, you were anxious and probably close to depressed. How are you like this now?" Dream asked, with no emotion on his face or in his voice.

"Well, I… just kinda got it." He said nervously as the blade inched closer to his neck.

Dream looked at him with virtually the same expression that had been on his mask. It made it somehow creepier. The sword moved but plunged into his gut and he swore that he could feel the blade burn at his skin when it left his body and stabbed him again. He didn't know where but it hurt. Then Dream stabbed him again, and again, and yet again. He was probably screaming. His entire body felt like it was on fire again and he teleported back to where the portal had been.

Ranboo was still on the ground. His vision was fading around the edges but he could see the portal almost right in front of him. It was funny. He heard and saw no one. He got them out, they were all safe but he was gonna die here. He had no energy left and he was bleeding out slowly but surely. The fire aspect made sure to accidentally cauterize the wounds, at least partially. He had recognized the blade as the one that Eret had gotten killed with back in the forest. He couldn't do much about it. The potions wouldn't help. He would die very soon.

He saw chorus fruit in front of him. The singular fruit he had seen yesterday. It took all of his energy to raise his hand and grab it. He took a bite. It tasted as sweet as he remembered. He also felt the familiar boost on energy, mainly for teleporting. He let himself use the chorus fruit to teleport somewhere close by and as he passed out the world was swirling into purple.

Chapter Text

Tubbo stared at the front of the portal with a strangled sob built in his throat. One moment Ranboo was there, the next he was grabbing Dream and gone. Where he didn't know, but that was the ultimate sacrifice. Taking the very person that had trapped them all here and distracting them. So that they could get out. He couldn't have even done anything. He just stood there and it happened in a flash. He had a crossbow pointed at him, then it turned to Ranboo and then he was gone. The bolt got fired, ranboo got shot, ranboo took Dream and disappeared. He was vaguely aware of someone trying to talk to someone. Maybe him. He couldn't tell though. He saw his vision blur not out of tears but out of his brain zoning out.

Ranboo wouldn't come back from that. Not heavily scarred at the very least. Ranboo was officially dead now. He might as well be. He's probably dead. He vaguely noticed people starting to go through the portal. Ranboo sacrificed himself so that they could leave. Ranboo did exactly what Eret did. They both sacrificed their lives so that they could get out.

He gingerly took out the necklace chain he had strung his ring on the previous night. Quackity had given it to him, saying that he understood the pain and showed him his. The two rings that symbolized his engagement to Karl and Sapnap. Something that ended badly according to Quackity, but he still had them. He stared at it. Ranboo had been wearing his ring again but he hadn't. How did Ranboo feel about that? He had been proudly wearing his ring again on his horn, but he hadn't instead kept it in his pocket. How much did that upset Ranboo? Did he think that he didn't care for him in the end? He didn't want him to think that.

He was paying the price wasn't he? What price he didn't know, but he broke something. Some logic was broken, maybe it was two teenagers recreating nukes. Maybe it was a god dying. Maybe it was fate. The price was the people he cared about. Cosmic intervention.

He should've been the one to die, and he knew it. The only reason he didn't was that Ranboo saved his life. He was prepared to die, he and Jack had joked about using the self-destruct button. It was always a joke, they knew if one of them hit it, they wouldn't get away in time. He was prepared for death the moment he hit the button. He felt it hit, he remembered it hit him; but he also remembered a cold hand grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back. He remembered that before he had passed out, and woke up in Las Nevadas.

Someone touched his shoulder. He shoved their hand off and blinked. Tommy was there in front of him. He could see the pain in his eyes. This was hurting him as well. His mouth was moving, but the sound was distant and barely there.

"Right, tubs. It's gonna be okay. We have to go through. I trust Ranboo." Tommy said to him quietly.

"He- he… fuck." He whispered. He could barely hear himself. He let go of the ring, allowing it to hit his armor.

"I know." Tommy said gently, pulling him into a hug.

He hugged back, it wasn't that comforting with the armor but it was enough. Enough to keep him grounded in reality. He blinked back tears and let go. He saw Bad, ant, Skeppy, and Fundy go in the next group and disappear.

"We should go through now." Tommy said, turning towards the portal.

"What about…" He trailed off, looking out into the distance. "We can't leave him, Tommy."

"We have to. I know it hurts, but we have to." Tommy said with his voice wavering.

He silently allowed himself to be dragged into the portal by Tommy. The world blurred, turning purple as the portal started to send him somewhere else. Hopefully the main hub. He didn't want to leave Ranboo behind, but he had too. He had no other choice, if he wanted to leave. He saw nothing for a moment, panicking for just a moment, before he stepped out into a bright world. The sun shined, trees grew in tall groups of pine trees, and others were talking to the main admins. It looked like the terrain of The Antarctic Kingdom, minus the admins. He recognized a couple from when he and Tommy had messed with something they weren't supposed to. He saw one of them sigh, or gasp and run over to them.

Elias. Tommy mentioned he was nice at some point. He was dressed in full black, rather tall, and had curly hair. He would've looked like Wilbur if Wilbur had bright red eyes.

"Hey, Tommy, why don't you and your friend come over here? Where are your brothers?" Elias asked, leading them over to under a large tree.

"Hey Elias, life's horrible. They'll be through soon. Hopefully." Tommy said, glancing behind him at the portal.

"Do you want to take off your armor? You don't have to right now, if it makes you feel safer." Elias asked once they were under the tree.

Tommy didn't, but he took the opportunity to take it off. It was slowly starting to aggravate his burns and it hurt. Ranboo should've been wearing it.

"Alright then. Tommy, what happened to Tubbo? You two are usually right next to each other. And, who are you?" Elias asked, turning towards him.

Oh, Yeah. Quite a lot had changed for him appearance wise hadn't it.

"I'm… tubbo. I don't look much like I used to." He murmured.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Elias said. To him, he was barely audible.

"Can we get him to a hospital?" Tommy asked suddenly.

"I don't need to go to a hospital." He protested.

"Yeah you do. Okay, so tubso has these burns as you can see. They were badly healed before because we didn't have access to good stuff other than potions-"

"It also killed me, Tommy. I lost a life." He deadpanned.

"Yeah, it did. So, since we only had potions, that obviously won't help him heal properly, hence the scars, literally all over half of his body. The first time it happened was last October, and then it happened again yesterday. When- actually what the hell happened? Why did it go off, you never told me why. Okay, yeah so a nuke blew up." Tommy rambled.

"I'm sorry- a nuke?" Elias asked incredulously.

"Yep. They were relatively easy to recreate, me and Jack were a little worried how easy it was." Tubbo answered.

"So, now he has bad burns again and should probably get that properly checked out alongside his hearing." Tommy said.

"Hearing? Is your hearing bad?" Elias questioned.

"Unfortunately yes. It's fine though, I don't know why Tommy's so worried over it." He said. He didn't exactly feel too happy right now.

"Because you can't hear shit further than like 10 feet away and can barely hear anything under a normal speaking tone even if they're right next to you. He also lost sight in one of his eyes." Tommy said.

"Elias! Get over here, you need to be checking people off." Someone yelled.

"Ah sorry, work calls." Elias said, jogging over. Things were going quickly, this felt a little more normal. He'd rather Elias be worried over someone else.

"Wait! Why didn't any of you come in? The portals' been open for almost a day." He called after Elias.

"We couldn't get in. It's white listed, but now you have a way to enter and exit. It's the only way-" Elias yelled back. He might have said more but his ear wouldn't strain any further to try and hear it.

He turned and stared at the portal. He could go back in and get Ranboo couldn't he. Technically there was nothing stopping him.

"Tubbo. No. Please don't be reckless. I know, I'm usually the reckless one but we can't go back in there." Tommy said.

He sighed and sat down against the tree trunk. There wasn't any point in arguing. He pulled his legs up to his chest briefly before putting them down. It pulled strangely at his scars. He didn't like it. His left arm was almost entirely scarred and he hadn't admitted it yet but he was fucking terrified for what that meant. He remembered hearing his own skin sizzle as he got blown up, right before the deafening boom, and a few seconds before he passed out. He would remember that forever. His leg was the same, it was so much darker than the rest of his skin. Burn scars were the worst, he was almost positive this was borderline 3rd degree burns, but he should be fine.

He watched the last group come through. Most of them were out here already and the last group consisted of Puffy, Techno, Phil, and Wilbur. They came over here. Tommy sat next to him. Everyone had a somber mood to them. The main admins were rushing around trying to make sure everyone was out. He was pretty sure he caught a glimpse of Schlatt but he didn't want to deal with that at the moment. He didn't feel like falling into a panic attack. A minute passed, another group would've gone through by now. He could tell the main admins were slowly becoming more confused.

"Where are the last two?" One of them asked. Their voice echoed.

Foolish walked up and seemed to quietly explain it. How they didn't know. How they weren't sure if either of them would or could leave. He didn't know how to feel in this situation, it left him feeling empty. A void of no emotion. More time passed, it was probably only a few minutes. Elias was back.

"Hey, tubbo?" Elias asked.

He blankly looked up at him.

"We have to get everyone out from around this place, it's not good for your brain. Most likely to the hospital to make sure everyone is alright physically and mentally." Elias explained.

"Ha. As if any of us are mentally okay. That's a good joke." He snorted.

He stood up anyways, looking back at the portal praying that someone would come through. No one did. He looked away and back towards Tommy who had his gaze fixed on the portal as well.

"I'm sorry tubbo." Tommy said.

"Don't. It's not your fault." He said, starting to walk away from the portal.

They were the last people to leave the area around the portal. Some main admins would stay around for a few more days to wait to see if anyone else would leave. So, now he sat in the back of a car that hadn't left yet, due to him convincing the driver to let him stay for just a bit longer to see if Ranboo would come through. It had been 15 minutes since he got out of that godforsaken world apparently. He had been sitting in the open car door for the last four. Tommy and Wilbur were in the car as well. Neither of them had their armor on anymore. They were fine with waiting. He had his hand hold up his head, he knew that they would get impatient eventually.

He furrowed his brow when he saw the portal swirling a bit faster, he was going to blame it on his now bad eyesight, but something rolled out of the portal. A singular chorus fruit, with a bite taken out of it. He lifted his head off his hand, his interest was piqued.

Only seconds later someone who was clearly passed out, appeared in the portal. With black and white skin and covered in blood. A golden ring on his horn. It was Ranboo. He jumped out of the car and ran towards him.

"TUBBO, WAIT!" Tommy called after him.

He was almost there, but the main admins reached Ranboo first. One of them held him back. He saw the shake of the head when one of them searched for a pulse. He tried his best to worm his way out of the grip one of them had on him. He looked up at the figure of Elias, who was quite strong for his slim figure. He was strong, if Elias was holding him back he had to be strong, and with the advantage of height. He couldn't get out of his grasp. Ranboo looked lifeless.

"Let go of me." He said, struggling to get to where Ranboo was.

Ranboo wasn't breathing. Holy shit there was so much fucking blood on him. If he was fucking dead. Ranboo had so many holes in his clothes. There was blood dripping out of his mouth, onto the ground. His hands were covered in blood as well.

"Fucking let go of me." He hissed, about to just give up and bite his arm.

"I can't do that Tubbo. It's like those situations with Wilbur, he'll be fine." Elias said quietly, he sounded unsure of himself.

"I swear to every god, if you don't let me go right now, I will bite you." He threatened, moving around so that he could try and bite Elias' arm.

"I'll make sure to mention that you warned me at least. You think this will be the first time I've been bit, tubbo?" Elias asked.

Tubbo just watched as the main admins did nothing to help, instead were counting the seconds on their watches. He let himself relax and just stare. Ranboo had blood all over him, he looked like he had been stabbed multiple times, and dragged through water. There were more water burns. Water burns he knew would be painful to the other. His eyes watered.

"Elias, please let me go. Please." He whispered, as a few tears slipped out. He tried another pitiful attempt to get out of his grasp. It didn't work.

"I can't do that." Elias said.

Ranboo still wasn't breathing. He was still bleeding sluggishly. He still wasn't breathing a few minutes later. Tommy said it had been under a minute with Wilbur, both times. Why wasn't that happening now?

"Okay, we have to go." Elias said, with a little pain in his voice. Elias picked him up and took him away from the scene.

"NO! FUCKING LET ME GO. RANBOO! RANBOO! NO! PLEASE! PLEASE BE OKAY." He yelled, struggling and kicking to get out of his hold. His arms were pinned at his sides. He was starting to cry as well.

"RANBOO! PLEASE." He sobbed.

"I'm sorry, kid." Elias said, getting him in the car and shutting the door.

He sobbed again. The car didn't even wait for him to strap in, maybe receiving instructions to just get out of there. Maybe, before he tried anything rash.

"Tubbo?" Tommy asked softly.

He didn't answer. Instead he moved over until he was sitting next to Tommy and curled up next to him, just crying, probably shaking as well. He didn't know what else to do, but he felt Tommy's arm wrap around him.

"Tubs, what happened? Is Ranboo okay?" Tommy asked, sounding a bit panicked.

He shook his head no and covered his mouth with his hand to muffle his sobs. This wasn't fair. He insisted on Ranboo having the armor but he still ended up with the armor himself. He couldn't save Ranboo in the end, even though ranboo had sacrificed so much for him, he couldn't save him. He couldn't pay him back for that.

He cried for a while, at least until he got a headache, then he just stared numbly at the seat in front of him. The trees passed in a blur, until it slowly faded into a city landscape. He felt the car turn and then roll to a stop a couple minutes later, then started going again. He sat up, sniffling and looked out the window. It was tinted darker, maybe allowing them to look outside but people couldn't see in. It was just… people walking by. Going into stores, talking, laughing. It was strange to see after almost two years. He recognized this place.

"Are we…?" He trailed off as the street cut off and he could see the full view of the castle in the center of the city. It looked more regal than it had before.

"Will, look out to the right. It's our old home." Tommy said, with a hint of melancholy longing.

"That wasn't a home Toms." Wilbur reminded Tommy absentmindedly.

"No, it really wasn't but still, It looks so different." Tommy said.

The rest of the ride to the hospital was spent with all of them except for the driver staring out of the windows in wonder. It had been so long since any of them had been in a stable city, or surrounded by anyone other than each other. Even if none of them knew they were in there, it felt foreign. There were so many people, just going about their lives. It was like nothing had changed when they got taken.

"Who runs it? In place of phil. There was no royal family left." He asked.

"A lord, a decent friend of Philza. Sparkles took over. We think Phil knew it would eventually happen to him, because he had an explanation on what to do if it happened. Sparkles was the one he appointed." The driver answered.

Oh, that technically, made him a prince now.

"Wait, does that make tubbo a prince?" Tommy asked.

"It does." The driver confirmed. "It makes him an honorary prince of the Antarctic Kingdom."

"Holy shit. That's weird to think about." He said, sitting back in his seat. Just like how it was weird to think about his husband who was probably dead. He should've respawned, but he didn't.

He still wasn't buckled in, but Tommy wasn't either so he didn't care too much. He didn't care about much right now. The car pulled into the parking lot and went around to the back where there were other cars that looked like it. Holy shit, they were really out.

"Well, for what it's worth." The driver pulled into the parking spot. "Welcome back to the Antarctic Kingdom. You're home."

Tubbo decided that he hated hospitals. He hated them with a burning passion. They were doing all these exams on him, claiming that they were trying to help but he was not buying it. Maybe it was the needles that scared the shit out of him, as with anything that could be a weapon. Maybe, it was the fact that he was separated from people he knew on the premises that they need different stuff than him. That was because he had major hearing loss and slight vision loss apparently. Maybe, it was the final straw that happened not moments ago when they tried to take his necklace with his ring attached to it, because he couldn't have metal on him. They already confiscated his weapons and potions but that was more of a he technically wasn't supposed to own those until he was over 21 unless it was some sort of circumstances. He was clutching the necklace for dear life now, refusing to let go of it.

In short, he hated hospitals because he was terrified of them. So, here he was sitting in a corner glancing around wildly. The only nurses who were still in here were talking quietly at the door. What they were saying he didn't know, but he could tell that they were since they're lips were moving. The nurses left and he was alone.

He breathed a sigh of relief. At least he wouldn't have to do any more hearing tests. Each one made him more and more stressed. Why couldn't they just say, 'Oh yeah, you have shitty hearing. Good luck.' and be done with it. So many other people would've done that. He was fine with that, he didn't need to know how bad his hearing was. Same with his sight, he only walked into two walls on the way to this room. They wanted to treat his burn scars as well and he understood why, but it was terrifying. He didn't know any of these people, after almost two years of only knowing up to 30 people it was weird.

It was still not registering in his head that he was back in the main hub and he was safe. No one knew what would happen to dream after they got out and no one knew what would happen if they even managed to escape. That was also a terrifying bit, and not all of them even managed to escape. They never met Erets ghost, and Eret never went through the portal. They didn't even know if ghosts could go through the portal. But they also didn't know gods could die, so there was that as well. Then, there was Ranboo. He was under 21, he should've respawned but he hadn't. Now, he's dead.

He unclenched his hand and looked at the inside of the ring. The phrases that meant a lot on the server. Saying you truly trusted someone meant wonders. Falling in some sort of platonic but not friendship love that you both agreed on was something different. But not something completely different.

'I trust you too.'

Trust. Something so small to people here, but gaining someone's trust on the dream smp had been a major thing. It meant the difference between life and death. He thought he could trust his friends during the festival, but he still got executed. The quiet "I'm sorry and I'll make it as painless as possible." from techno did not help. He barely remembered hearing Tommy crash into the platform right before he lost his second life. He lost trust in many people that day. At least Tommy had tried to stop it even if it was a little late. He closed a fist around the ring.

He saw the door open out of the corner of his working eye and snapped his head towards it. This person wasn't dressed like a doctor. Instead, they were dressed in a red coat that went to their knees, one of those fancy white button ups, jeans, and leather boots. He looked familiar as well. He was probably about his height if he were to stand up. Brown hair, brown eyes, small beard, ever familiar face of concern. He got up as quickly as he could and tackled his dad in a hug. He felt him stumble a little and chuckle.

"You've gotten stronger haven't you kiddo?" His dad said, hugging him back just as tightly.

"I missed you so much." He said, squeezing his eyes shut trying not to cry for the second or third time today.

"I missed you too, kid." His dad said.

He didn't let go. He knew that his dad wouldn't let go until he let go. A small agreement they had made ages ago. He could feel the tears slip from his eyes as his dad rubbed his back. He didn't sob this time just silently cried. He had so many conflicting emotions, he loved being back. He really did, he had missed his father so much. It cost him Ranboo in the end, but he was reunited with his dad. It was nice, but his mind kept circling between thinking about Ranboo and his dad.

He pulled out of the hug and wiped some of the tears away. His dad looked at him with something close to relief in his eyes. His dad didn't know what happened, he didn't know what he had been through the last year or so. All he knew was that he got kidnapped. It was the same when you switched it around. He had no clue what had happened in the main hub since then.

"What happened after I… disappeared?" Tubbo asked. He remembered the brief days of grief when Tommy got taken before he himself got taken 3 days later.

"A lot has happened since then. The largest number of people yet, or ever actually in this situation, got taken with you. I believe it was four that day. That was the day the main admins ruled this situation a major threat. How did you even get out?" His dad asked.

"That one spell. There were enough of us that it worked properly this time, no one died from that." He added.

"From that?" His dad echoed.

"People still died. There was a life system. We all had three. Three chances before we turned into a ghost. Wilbur died, but he's still alive. I swear he just has some gift where he doesnt stay dead." He said softly.

"Oh kid." His dad said. "You don't have to talk about this right now, but you do need to let the doctor's check your hearing and sight. It's important so we can get you the right accommodations. They also need to help with your burns and make sure you don't have radiation poisoning."

"But-"

"I'll make sure you can keep the necklace on you. They don't have anything that the necklace would be messing with so I don't know why they're forcing you to not have it." His dad said, sighing.

He hadn't even mentioned the necklace. He glanced down at his hand. The ring wasn't showing, he was still holding onto that rather tightly, but part of the chain was definitely showing. He blinked, how had he even known that it was important to him?

"The doctors told me what they knew or what they're guessing at." His dad said barely audibly.

"He died. Ranboo's dead, it shouldn't be possible but he is. He's only 17." He murmured, opening his hand and staring at it. The gold glinted slightly.

It finally settled in fully. They were all out and Ranboo and Eret had given their lives for all of them. The word sacrifice had so much more meaning to it now.

Chapter Text

Ranboo floated yet again in this lonely void of a world previously called Limbo. He knew he wouldn't have the company of Wilbur this time. He wasn't expecting to. From the looks of it he hadn't fallen into the portal. He had died again, he was alright with that though. No one was on the platform that meant everyone got out. That meant tubbo and Tommy were safe. They were free. He was alright with that. He understood now that there was no going into that situation without him dying at some point. He had no armor, no weapons, and only two offensive potions. He wished it hadn't hurt as much as it did though.

He looked down, he could see a slash in his clothing and a scar on his stomach not unlike Ghostbur. One part of it was tinged red and the other was tinged green. It coordinated with his eye colors and he found that a little amusing.

A figure showed themselves and this time it looked nothing like Wilbur. Instead he saw someone very familiar. His mother. She floated in front of him, he had inherited his right side from her. White skin, red eyes. She had on a simple dark blue dress, it looked like satin. The crown she wore was dotted with emeralds and diamonds, with a large chunk of glittering obsidian. Enchanted obsidian.

"My child." She said warmly, smiling at him.

"Mama?" He breathed out, raising his hands slightly.

"Yep." She said.

"Oh my aether I've missed you." He said.

"You look so different from the last I saw you, even if it's only been half a year. Oh, look at that, who's the lucky person?" His mother moved closer, briefly touching the ring on his horn before pulling back.

"Tubbo, do you remember him?" He said, smiling as well.

"Oh, yes," She chuckled, "You wouldn't shut up about him after you met. It was funny, I wonder if his father dealt with that."

It was so nice to hear his mother laugh again. Reality hit him like a brick, she shouldn't be able to be here. His face fell and his ears drooped.

"Ah. You've realized, you've always been good at noticing out of place things. It's okay little one, I promise mama and mom will be by your side. Although one of us may be in spirit." His mother's smile turned bittersweet, she placed her hands on his face.

"Mama, you can't." He whispered.

"I have too little one. I didn't want to leave you prematurely but fate has other plans. This visit is a small request from Mrs.Trixin. You will live on Ranboo." His mother smiled again and placed a small kiss on top of his head. Nothing beats a mother's love.

"You will do well. Go find tubbo again, I've been dead for a bit. Allow yourself to mourn though, it's the only way to truly let go of the past. I would like to note, you have a sister now." His mother said.

"What?" He asked.

"We didn't know if you would ever come back, we hoped and prayed you would. But to pray to a god who disappeared on us is to pray without intent. Royalty needs heirs, and with me knowing I would be dying soon, the pressure was real. Don't view her as your replacement, she is not. Her name is Crumb, she takes after me more. Although she does have heterochromia like you, she's just a few months old. And, please Ranboo, know that I love you." She said, removing her hands from his face.

"Wait- mama, you can't go." He said desperately.

"I have too little one, you'll be alright." She said, floating away from him.

"Mama, please. I just got you back, you can't go again." He said, eyes tearing up.

"It's alright." She promised.

"Mama." He sobbed.

"It's time to wake up, little one." She whispered, as she disappeared from his sight.

If everything wasn't already black, everything probably would've gone black. But, all of a sudden he could feel everything. His wounds stitching themselves back together, his heart starting to beat again, like a dull thrum in his chest. His ears and tail twitching, the rough grass underneath him, the quiet whispers around him. Most of all he could feel how much it hurt as his body reconstructed itself on a practically molecular level. He could feel his body revive itself.

He snapped his eyes open and took a gasping breath before coughing. He felt dizzy. A roar of voices, he couldn't pick out any in particular but, someone's face appeared above him blocking out the sun.

"Holy shit, he's actually alive." The person said.

"Okay, okay, give the kid some space." Someone else with authority in their voice said.

The person backed off and he was helped off the ground and standing up. His head spun as that happened, he felt disoriented. His knees buckled but the person helping him was tall. He looked like Wilbur, if Wilbur was a blaze hybrid or something of the sort. That bit was obvious by the red eyes.

"Hey, I'm Elias." The person said quietly.

"Hi?" He said a bit confused. His voice was raspy. He was honestly expecting to be dead right now.

"You're not dead." Someone said with a hint of surprise in their voice.

A new person walked up, he took a second to study the new person. They had demon horns, small bat-like wings with piercing blue eyes and pale skin. Probably about Tommy's height.

"No, I don't think I am. Where am I?" He asked, looking around. He didn't recognize this place.

"The outskirts of the Antarctic Kingdom. You're about an hour drive away from the capital." They answered patiently.

"I got out?" Ranboo asked, surprised.

"Yes, you did. Is that a shock, your majesty?" They said, arching their eyebrows. He never liked that title.

"Please, don't call me that. It's a little bit of a shock, I kinda passed out before I could fully tell if I made it through the portal." He answered.

"Alright, that's fair, do you want to go to a hospital in the city or in the end?" They asked.

He could tell that other people were here but a glance around revealed he knew none of them. Are these people main admins?

"Why would it matter?" He asked carefully.

"Technically since you just properly respawned into the world, you'd only need a check up, so it's up to you. Home or here?" They elaborated.

"Where's tubbo and Tommy?" He questioned, "Do they know I'm alive?"

"In the capital at a hospital and considering we didn't know until a couple minutes ago, no, they don't." They replied.

On one hand he had the option to go home and see his mother, and meet his baby sister. On the other hand he had the option to go and tell his friends that he was alive and was fine. If fine constituted as needing help to stand.

"Can I see them? Tommy and Tubbo I mean." He said.

"Yeah, you can. Elias, do you think he can stand on his own?" They asked.

"Sir, he probably needs a fucking blood transfusion from how much blood he lost. We know that respawning like that doesn't do much to help blood loss." Elias deadpanned.

"That's a no then." They said with a questioning gaze.

"Yes, that's a no." Elias said.

"Alright then, let's go. We can use admin commands to get there more easily since I don't think it's a good idea to send you there in a car." They said, clicking around on a panel they had opened up.

Ranboo tensed and waited for the teleport bit. It was different from when he teleported, this made his head spin and he could feel his eyes close as he collapsed wherever they had arrived. It was just so different. He couldn't tell why. He heard a panicked shout from whoever had teleported with him and he was out like a light yet again.

Ranboo woke up to beeping. He wasn't expecting to hear beeping when he woke up but he at least knew where he was and remembered everything beforehand. He sluggishly opened his eyes, he wasn't in pain this time at least. The fluorescent lighting made him realize that he was probably at the hospital. He passed out again when he got there. He glanced at the thing he was hooked up to. The only thing really hooked up to him was a heart monitor. Although he had a bandage on his right arm. No one was in the room with him.

The lights outside suggested it was sometime at night. He had been out for a bit then. Although he had no clue when he had woken up the first time in the forest. For all he knew it could be a different day. But, it was interesting that he was even here. He didn't dream while he had been passed out this time which was nice, and he was somewhere safe for once. At least he hoped, he had no clue where the hell he was. He assumed from the conversation he had with the main admins that he was in the capital, but that could've changed.

He blinked and flexed his hands. He could still feel everything, luckily. He sat up as much as he could before he got dragged back down onto the bed by his own inability to apparently stay up properly. He stared at the ceiling before sighing. This was terribly inconvenient. So, he waited and then tried again. To his delight he actually stayed sitting up this time.

The door opened and a doctor with a clipboard walked in. They had pink hair and wore what you'd typically see a doctor wearing. How had they known he was awake?

"Ah, we were right. How are you feeling Ranboo?" The doctor asked.

"Can I know who you are?" He questioned.

"Oh, yes, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Dr.Shadow. She/her." Dr.Shadow answered, offering a small smile.

"Hi, I'm feeling alright. It took me a couple tries to get myself to sit up but otherwise I feel fine." He answered.

"That's good, that's good. Are you aware of where you are?" Dr.Shadow asked, writing down something on her clipboard.

"I'm pretty sure I'm in a hospital, if I'm wrong then something got messed up. I'm also supposed to be in the capital of the Antarctic Kingdom. That's where I was told we were going." He answered.

"Ah, yes, main admins. I really need to speak with them about teleporting people with symptoms of blood loss to hospitals. Like, yes, it works but it makes them pass out. That part wasn't your fault." Dr.Shadow said, writing more stuff down.

"Ah. Got it." He said, maneuvering his tail so he could mess with the end of it.

"Alright, what else, ah yes. Is there any reason you think it took longer for you to respawn after you died?" Dr.Shadow asked.

She seemed to notice that he'd rather be sitting up and adjusted the bed so that he could lean back.

"Um, one, with the way that things worked there, I was technically already dead for more than a day. Then, I was in limbo for a few minutes, which held me back a bit. I was talking to my mother." He said the last sentence a bit quieter.

"Oh, I can't imagine losing a loved one, but not knowing until a while afterwards. I'm sorry." Dr.Shadow said her condolences.

"It's…" He didn't know how to describe it. "It's strange." He settled on that.

"I see. Well, that's all I'm technically required to ask you at the moment. But, I do raise the question of visitors because since you showed up one goat hybrid by the name of tubbo, and another person by the name of Tommy have been very adamant about seeing you." She said.

"Are they alright? I didn't get to see them afterwards." He said, finding much more interest in the conversation.

"Yes they're alright. Do you want me to go ahead and send them in?" Dr.Shadow asked.

"Please." He said.

"Then, that's all I can do for now. This was going to be a routine checkup. If you need anything there's a call button next to your bed." Dr.Shadow, pointed towards the button at the side of the bed before leaving.

He was only alone again for a few minutes before the door practically crashed open from Tubbo opening it violently. He looked like he had run there, and honestly tubbo might have. He stared at him, breathing heavily, before walking calmly into the room. Tubbo hopped up onto his bed, ignoring that he probably wasn't supposed to and sat crisscrossed at his side.

"I swear if you do that one more time. I will kill you myself." Tubbo said quietly, but he could hear the shake in his voice. He had been scared.

"I'm sorry. I didn't exactly intend to scare you like that." He said.

"I thought you were dead, me and Tommy both did. We all did. I saw you come through, you didn't wake up for a few minutes. You didn't wake up. I thought you were dead. You- fuck, ranboo. There was so much blood, you weren't breathing." Tubbo whispered shakily, leaning on his shoulder.

Ranboo could see the tears in Tubbos' eyes. He saw one fall and reached over instinctively to wipe it away. He ignored the small prick of pain where the tear hit. It was funny how immune he could feel to that after falling into a pond. It barely hurts now with the pain he could compare it to.

"I'm sorry." He repeated.

"Don't apologize. It's not- it's, not." Tubbo struggled with his words.

He knew what tubbo was trying to say. He was trying to say that it wasn't his fault when they both knew it was his fault. He had chosen to go after Dream so everyone else could get out. That was no one's choice but his own.

"I did what I had to do." He said gently.

"But why did it have to cost you your life?" Tubbo asked.

He didn't have an answer for that. Tommy got into the room before he could think of one.

"Holy shit my friend, do you know how worried we were?" Tommy questioned.

"Yes, I do, and I'm sorry." He answered.

"Just don't do it again." Tommy said, also climbing onto the bed and sitting down.

Another person walked in but he didn't recognize them this time. They were probably the height of tubbo and were wearing fancy-ish clothing. They were studying him, they already seemed to know Tommy and Tubbo.

"Hey dad." Tubbo murmured.

"Hey kid." The man said.

Oh so this was Tubbos dad. Lord Sparkles.

Well, if he decided that he didn't like him. He was fucked. This man looked strong, and could probably fold him in half with ease.

"Dad, I think you're scaring Ranboo. Stop staring at him." Tubbo said.

"Alright, alright. You seem like a good kid Ranboo. Don't hurt my kid and we'll be on good terms." Sparkles said, heading over and sitting in a chair by the window.

"Cool." He said.

Ranboo spent a bit longer talking to Tommy quietly before noticing that Tubbo was asleep on him. He looked the most at peace he had in days.

"He's asleep." He whispered.

"I see that," Tommy noted, "It's like 2 in the morning by the way."

"Oh it is?" He questioned.

"Yeah. He's tired. He wouldn't go to sleep until he was positive you were okay." Tommy said.

"Oh." Was all he could think to say.

"Yeah. He really does care about you. I know you mean a lot to each other in a way I could never understand. The rings are a symbol of that. You're not half bad." Tommy said with a bit of a joking tone in his voice.

"Are you admitting that you actually like my presence?" He said, enjoying the small bit of banter.

"Maybe, you're tolerable." Tommy shot back.

"You haven't slept since last night have you?" He asked.

"No, I haven't. I was planning on ignoring the doctors since that's what I always do. So, I'm just sleeping in here with you." Tommy said, laying down on the stretch of bed that he and tubbo didn't take up.

"Alright then, good night Tommy." He said.

"Yeah, yeah. Good night." Tommy said back, yawning.

Maybe everything would be alright.

Quackity huffed and walked into the rain again. He didn't actually need the bus and it was about to show up. He was cleared to leave the moment they opened his medical record and went through with a check up. His medical record was practically nothing but vaccinations from a different kingdom. While it was nice to be out of the hospital, Slime was staying with Schlatt. He was not going anywhere near that fucker. Not again. Which meant he couldn't stay with him. Because he wasn't from the Antarctic Kingdom. He was from somewhere much further south like sapnap and his friends were. Like Karl and his friends as well. They all lived in the same kingdom, he would run into them at some point.

He didn't even have a house in his old home. He had been kicked out of the house a few days before he got kidnapped. He had been living in a fucking hotel, which meant all his shit was gone as well. He was quite literally the definition of having nothing. It didn't help that it was night now, he had been walking for a couple hours. It hadn't even looked like it would rain earlier but here he was. He was soaked to the bone at this point.

For now he was focused on trying to find a place to stay in the kingdom he was very unfamiliar with. He had only been here once before. He had no money or anything either, at least in terms of this place's currency. For fucks sake he didn't even have a proper phone, he had a goddamn communicator that was magically issued to everyone at the age of 10 since forever. He spotted Karl getting out of a car down the street from where he was standing. He was only a few houses down the street.

Karl had an umbrella, and opened making room for sapnap to get out without getting hurt. Of course. He had to run in with his ex-fiance's while shivering from the rain and desperate for cover. That was just his luck. Great. Could this day get any worse? He looked away and heard the car they had grabbed drive away. He waited until it passed and then started to cross the street. He got to the other side before one of them noticed him.

"QUACKITY!" Karl exclaimed from behind him.

Damn it. It apparently could.

He turned back around and looked at Karl. He looked confused but also happy. Sapnap looked concerned whether it was for him or trying to stay under the umbrella he didn't know. Karl was looking directly at him. He stared back.

"COME HERE." Karl said.

He stared back. Karl… wanted him to go with them?

"QUACKS YOU SILLY DUCK, GET OVER HERE." Sapnap yelled.

He slowly walked back over to the other side of the street and walked up to them. He stood in front of them. Sapnap was fully under the umbrella, Karl halfway under, and he wasn't under the umbrella at all. He was a tad bit curious as to why they were calling him over. They were all under tense stuff last time they talked. Which was this morning when they were arguing.

"I'm sorry." Karl said, handing the umbrella to sapnap.

Then, Karl hugged him.

He blinked in surprise and glanced at sapnap and then back at the man hugging him. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around Karl. It felt nice, this was the first warm hug he had gotten in a long time. How long that time was he didn't know, but it was awhile.

"We love you and we're so so sorry," Karl whispered, "We were rude and fucking assholes. Please forgive us."

His arms shook as he slowly removed his arms from around karl. He didn't know how to feel. Karl let go of him, and the air slowly got tenser as he took longer to respond.

"I- I don't know how to respond to that, I'm sorry. But, I would be willing to try again. Start as close friends again if you're both up for it." He whispered.

"You would?" Sapnap asked, sounding excited.

Quackity nodded.

"I'd love to." Karl said.

"Same." Sapnap said.

He let a small smile appear on his face, before glancing at the house they were in front of. It didn't seem like anyone was there.

"So why are we at this possible abandoned house?" He asked.

"Oh! So, I have a friend whose name is Jimmy and I was able to confirm this is still one of his houses. He's probably not here right now but a small group of his friends, including me, are allowed in these houses if needed. It's kinda like a safe house." Karl explained.

"One of his houses?" Sapnap asked.

"He's rich." Karl said.

"Ah." Was all he said.

"Well, If he won't mind, I'd like to go inside." Sapnap said walking off with the umbrella.

"Come on." Karl said, taking his hand and dragging him along towards the house.

He smiled softly, and chuckled a bit as Sapnap found that the front door was locked. Karl led him behind through a garden gate, as sapnap scrambled to follow. Sapnap closed the gate behind him and hopped onto the back porch beside him. Sapnap let the umbrella close and they both watched as Karl rooted around in a plant bin for something. The plant was long dead, someone probably hadn't been here in awhile. Karl eventually removed his hand with a dirty key.

"That's one way to keep an emergency key." He commented.

Karl wiped off the key and went over to the door, easily sliding it into the lock. Karl turned the key and then opened the door.

"Well boys, let's get dried off shall we?" Karl said, looking specifically at him.

He was also the only one sopping wet.

"I feel very targeted right now but I'm going in anyways." He said, doing exactly what he said.

He was hit with a blast of warm air, it seemed even with it being summer it was warmer inside the house than outside. He went ahead and took off his shoes, not too keen on leaving a trail of mud in the house of someone he didn't know. They all got inside.

"Wait here, quackity, I'll get you some towels." Karl said, walking off to somewhere else in the house.

He took the time to look around the room. It was a small dining room. One rectangular wood table, with 6 chairs and a light above it. A light, not a torch. It wouldn't burn your hair if you got too close to it. He could see a kitchen attached to it. It had a kitchen island but it wasn't one of those modern ones. Even though no one actually lived there year round, it looked lived in. He could see old coffee stains on the ground, stuff left out from the last time someone was here.

Karl came back, held a couple towels and shooed sapnap away from them. Sapnap left the umbrella on the table and started to explore the house. Karl gave him the towels and let him reasonably dry off to the point that he wouldn't track water every step before leading him to the closest bathroom.

"There's usually a change or two of clothes in the cabinet for av-," Karl opened the cabinet and grinned, "Yep, it's there. It should fit you."

Karl took the non wet clothes out of the cabinet and placed them on the counter. He stared at them, feeling the softness of them. It was so different from the scratchy clothes he had been wearing for weeks now. He changed them sure but every single button up felt the same. He never wanted to wear one again.

"Alright I'll leave you to get changed." Karl said as he heard the door shut as well.

Quackity took his beanie off first, it had soaked his hair regardless. Then, the old track jacket he had put on to avoid getting rain on his shirt. He had both those things forever. It had soaked through partially but he was forever grateful to be able to take off the button up shirt he was wearing. He used one of the towels to dry off his hair and chest before pulling on the sweater Karl had grabbed. It was dark blue and he could feel cold nipping at holes in the back. Two of them.

He used the mirror to see two very purposeful slots in the back of it. They were marked with accents of dark red. His heart warmed. He let his wings be free and pulled them through the slots. He had the ability to hide them being part shapeshifter but this made him feel much more comfortable.

His pants were absolutely fucking soaked. While there was some hope for his shirt, there was no hope to continue wearing these. He pulled them off alongside his underwear, dried himself off to the best of his ability, and then pulled on the spares Karl had provided. He pulled off his socks last. He was going to put the beanie back on but it was too wet to wear.

He noticed a basket named laundry and glanced back at his pile of clothes and put it in there. Minus the beanie, the beanie needed to air dry, so he hung it on a hook. It seemed he would probably be in the city and here for a while so he might as well leave it there for now. He placed his hand on the doorknob for a second before turning it.

He found his way back to the living room and noticed the large assortment of blankets on the various couches. He took a couple before climbing into the corner of the L-shaped couch. He stretched out on the bottom of the L part and pulled the soft blanket over him. He grabbed a random throw pillow and shoved it under his head. He sighed, the bed sheets that he bartered with villagers for never felt good against his wings. He would usually be stuck with not having his wings out while sleeping for comfort reasons.

This was nice.

This was comfy.

He wanted to sleep and he passed out fairly easily.

Chapter Text

Ranboo glanced down at the portal he was about to go into. He was a bundle of nerves, he hadn't been back to the end since he got kidnapped. This was going to be his first time back in months. He had only been out of the server for two days now, it had been a rather uneventful two days. He had nothing to do. Hopefully, things were still reasonably the same. But, he was told the enderians had cut themselves off from the rest of the world. Most likely due to one of their monarchs dying soon after their heir had been kidnapped but their next heir was born. They were on edge.

The main admins were hoping sending him through would at least not have the guards on the other side immediately send him back. Apparently they had tried many people being sent through the portal but all of them were sent back within a couple minutes. Even with other enderians. They were hoping sending the technical crown prince through would stop that.

This portal was connected to the main end island rather than one of the outskirts. This should send him there. He had on nicer clothes than he had in awhile. Again, with the hopes that he wouldn't be sent back through. It was a nice sweater and jeans, then a rather fancy looking cloak, with gold clasps rather than simply tying it using string.

The last thing he was almost sure of was the main admins were letting him do this because he was homesick. He hadn't been let back into something that looked similar since he got kidnapped. His whole interrogation thing of what happened there was one of the last. In a few days. It would probably get rescheduled when they realized just how much trauma all of them had and how much time it would take. No matter how many people they had on the team.

"You ready?" Tubbo asked.

"Um… I think so? Yeah, I'm ready." He said nervously.

He glanced at the people behind him before stepping down and falling into the portal. It was different from nether portals. The feeling that something was wrong wasn't there. It felt right. This felt calming and normal. It was the feeling that he was going home. It was a rush of euphoria. He landed on his feet. He was surrounded by endstone. He was back. Holy shit, he was back.

"Alrighty look, whoever they sent through this time. We're going to send you right back, we've made it perfectly clear…" The person trailed off. Their voice was low. It was coming from some sort of intercom system. He turned around before he found the speaker.

"Um, hi." He said.

"I'm sorry, you have a resemblance to the lost prince. We gotta follow protocol. Do you mind waiting while we get down there?" The guard spoke through the intercom.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine with that." He said.

"Great… stay put. Please." They sounded a little panicked.

He stayed put, it wasn't like he could go anywhere anyways. Any and all exits were closed off. He searched around and found a seam in the endstone where the door probably was. It most likely opened on the other side. This wasn't like what he remembered the portal being last time but he knew that they were cautious people. He wasn't sure how long he waited but eventually he was shown that he was right and the door was opened.

Two guards stood there both with their swords sheathed. They had netherite armor on and they both looked rather curious. The taller one was a bit more cautious than the other one. The shorter one couldn't have been much older than he was. The shorter one and possibly younger one had blacked fingertips and fully white eyes. Usually the symbol of a wither hybrid. He could tell that they had gray freckles and a septum piercing.

He couldn't tell if the other one was a hybrid but the purplish skin around their eye was sign enough. He didn't know what that symbolized. Other than that they had light skin and purple eyes. They also wore a mask that covered the bottom half of their face.

"Please state your name and business." The taller one said. They're voice was so much lower than it sounded on the intercom. It was a really low voice holy shit.

"Ranboo beloved," The two guards eyes widened, "Um, technically I'm just coming home I guess. The main admins are also really worried and would like at least the barest bit of communication."

"Are you really?" The shorter one asked. He had more of an accent like Tubbo did. Or Phil, or Wilbur or Tommy. Or other people he knew.

"Yes, I am. I know the whole thing with me getting kidnapped Yada Yada Yada. The main admins have been trying to tell you for a couple of days." He said.

"I'll be the judge of that. There was a kid that he wouldn't shut up about after he met him, who was it?" Taller one questioned, resting his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Tubbo, underscore if you need his last name as well." He answered.

The taller guard watched him silently. He watched his eyes flick up to Ranboo's horns and rested there for a few seconds before looking back down. The taller one removed his hand from his sword.

"Well then, let's get going Ranboo. Your mother has missed you and I want to stay when you explain the ring. That will be very interesting. Did the admins tell you about her?" The guard asked, turning slightly toward the door.

"In a way, yes. I know about that." He said quietly. He moved towards the door.

"Ah. I apologize that the moment you got out of there you got bad news. Not that I can imagine that the place was pleasant." The taller guard said.

The three of them started to walk out and away from the portal room. There were a series of tunnels that he was led through silently. There were so many branches he wondered how no one got lost in here.

"Do you know what day it is?" The shorter one asked.

"It's the nineteenth billzo. We've been over this." The taller one said.

"I was testing to see if he knew what day it was." Bill, supposedly, protested.

"You do that to everyone, everyday, I'm starting to think that he just never knows what day it is." The taller one said, more directed towards him. Ranboo still didn't have a name for them.

"Well I think it's funny. My names Billzo, Bill if you're feeling cool. I'm in training." Billzo formally introduced himself.

"Oh, interesting." He said.

They emerged in a small room with a door. The taller one grabbed a card from his pocket, scanned it, and opened the door. It was a small intercom room.

"This is where you were speaking to me from." He noted.

"Yep. It's the quickest way out of here and to the palace. We can take my car. No, Bill, you aren't driving." The taller one answered before Billzo could even ask the question. He was gonna based on how his mouth opened and then shut.

"Damn it." Billzo muttered.

"Jar." The other one responded as they grabbed a couple folders and placed their helmet on the table in the room. There was a singular thing that looked like a bunny ear, on top of their head. They had ears that belonged to people that weren't hybrids as well though.

"For- you're a menace. You swear too." Billzo protested but pulled out a couple coins and put them in a jar half filled with coins, and the occasional dollar bill.

"It's tradition. Trainees use the swear jar." The taller one shrugged.

"One day, I won't be a trainee and you'll slip up and I can laugh at you." Billzo said.

"Yeah, yeah. Are you gonna help me take the kid to the palace or not?" The taller one asked, jangling a set of keys.

"Yes, I am. Don't get your keys jangly. Corpse." Billzo said, walking over to a different door and swinging it open.

"Yes, that is my name." Corpse said, walking towards the door gesturing for him to follow.

"Oh, okay." He said, following the other two out.

"Hey, Billzo! Call the next shift and ask them to come in early." Corpse called to the person running through the hall in front of them.

Corpse opened a door for him and he was outside. He gasped, looking up. It had been so long since he had seen the void. It was so different from the night sky in the overworld. Yeah, there were things glittering in the sky but the quiet melody that came with them rivaled it all. Even when he couldn't place what it was at the time, it was homesickness, looking up at the stars on the SMP never helped. The void went on for an eternity never faltering. It was a little chilly but he was anticipating that. He looked a bit down at the obsidian pillars that stood grand from the ground up as high as they could.

Ranboo marveled at something he used to take for granted. He could see Shuler hybrids blasting themselves off the top of the pillars or other places to get to their next destination. Avians soaring for fun or to get somewhere. He could see how large the island was from the side. It was huge, much larger than it used to look. He looked slightly down again and could see the start of the chorus fruit farms and farms in general.

"Ranboo?" Corpse asked slowly.

"The end was banned on the smp. I- I haven't been back here in so long." He whispered.

"You… that should be illegal. You can't just ban somebody's home from them." Billzo said, sounding distraught. "I know I'd be upset if I couldn't come back or at least something that resembles it."

The three of them got in the car, with him sitting in the passenger seat. After some reminders that he had to wear a seat belt for his safety, they were off. He didn't want to mention how banning someone's home from them was fairly normal on the smp.

"About the end ban thing. We found something out. If it's banned you know it exists, but you don't remember anything that happened there." He said, as they started passing the Monday market.

Silence.

"You couldn't remember?" Billzo whispered from the back seat.

"Nothing, since it was the majority of my memory, it just removed everything before we could get it unbanned." He said.

"That… oh my aether." Corpse said, as they turned onto another street.

"That sounds horrifying. What the hell?" Billzo asked, sounding like he was in disbelief.

"I mean it wasn't the worst thing to happen. Honestly, I have much more unsettling information in my brain. My memory was one of the most tame things to happen. So, take that as you will." He answered before realizing that probably wasn't the best way to phrase that.

An uncomfortable silence filled the car. They stayed silent until they reached the palace gates. He didn't see flickering lights in the windows. Did they finally upgrade the electricity? Corpse rolled down the window.

"Name and ID." An unknown voice said, from another intercom system. Just how many advancements had been made since he left?

"Corpse, ID 109683. Along with Billzo, ID 582972. And, one other." Corpse said.

"One, you're supposed to be on duty and two who have the main admins finally threw at us that you let them in? Three, who else is in the car?" The unknown voice sounded disappointed.

"Ha. See, Tina, it's actually really funny and you're not gonna fucking believe me but it's true. It's the goddamn prince." Corpse forced a laugh.

"Corpse, is this a joke? It's not funny." Tina said.

"I'm not joking." Corpse said.

"Uh, Hi. If you can hear me." Ranboo said, trying to help.

Silence. Then, the sound of typing.

"Corpse. This is going to be so much paperwork if you're lying." Tina said.

"He knew the answer to the question. That one question that got designated. I know you don't know it since only the portal guards are told, but he got it correct." Corpse replied.

More silence. "Both of our jobs are on the line, but I'm letting you in. I swear to the gods if you get me fired I'll kill you myself. We lost one queen a few months ago, and the other one is not in a very good mood today." Tina warned.

"Good to know. Have a nice day." Corpse said.

They waited a couple seconds before the gates opened and Corpse drove through. His anxiety rose a little as they got closer to the front and leveled out once they parked.

"Bill, take your helmet off." Corpse said absentmindedly, while getting out of the car.

"Oh right." Billzo said before also getting out.

He opened the car door with a bit of confusion but managed to get out without looking stupid. They approached the door and the guards at the front door looked like they were gonna stop them, until they spotted him. The doors were opened immediately. The three of them walked in and he heard the doors shut behind them.

The entrance hall. The ceilings vaulted high above them just like he had remembered and led to another large set of doors that he knew led to the throne room.

"What time is it?" Corpse muttered. "She won't be in there, let's go this way."

Corpse led them down a different hallway where most of the guards ignored them, once they recognized him. It was the look of surprise then acceptance and relief.

"Where is the queen right now?" Corpse asked, passing by a guard. They must have been someone different that Corpse recognized.

"Oh, she's back in the throne room. You just missed her. She's not in a good mood. Is that…?" The person trailed off as they looked at him. He was not as used to so many people recognizing him now.

"Yes, and hence why we need to talk to her." Corpse said.

"I can get you there through a quicker route." The person said, walking off at a quick pace.

Corpse rushed to follow them and so he and billzo did as well. It was a hallway Ranboo vaguely remembers exploring as a child and using it to surprise his mothers. It was quicker than what Corpse had led them through. They entered the throne room before he could realize and the queen snapped her attention to them. She was standing in the middle of the room. His mom.

She looked angry and in despair, not at them but at something else. Other than that she looked almost exactly like she had when he last saw her. The same gold circlet with diamonds embedded in it. A forest green skirt with a dark blue top. A simpler outfit but it matched her green eyes. She looked like his left half, she was where he had gotten that half from.

She looked like she was going to yell at them but she saw him first. The others had moved back so that he was in front. Her expression quickly morphed into surprise and disbelief. She walked forward until she was in front of him. She was a few inches taller than him, he had forgotten that.

"Oh my sweet child." His mom said, wrapping him in a hug.

He hugged her back, squeezing his eyes shut, burying his face in her shoulder. He would not cry. He felt his mom's hand run over his hair like she would when he was younger. He could feel the tears form in his eyes. This time he cried quietly, no loud sobs. Just silent tears as his mom held on to him. It didn't hurt him that much since he was technically crying into fabric.

"You're alright. You're home. You're safe." She murmured.

"I- i missed you and I miss- is she really..?" He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.

"Yes, she's gone." His mom said impossibly quiet.

"I miss her." He said quietly.

"I do too, my child. We have much to discuss don't we?" She asked.

"Yeah, just a bit." He said, chuckling slightly.

Ranboo finally pulled away and used the sleeve of his sweater to wipe away the excess tears before he could burn himself. His mom looked close to crying as well although it seemed more like relieved crying.

"My dear child, I'm so glad you're back." His mom whispered.

He was too.

Foolish breathed in and looked at the double doors. It had been a bit since he had last seen them. The doors that led to the palace of the gods. Not that all of them were here ever. Not all of them could ever be here. Not in a long time. He knew that someone would've seen the shattered statue. The symbolization that a god had died. At least in their way of thinking.

What would await him when he opened the doors? Were any of them even paying attention enough to notice that they had all escaped? He wondered if someone had even noticed the statue would've collapsed, not many of them even went to the statue garden anymore. It was mainly Eret so they could tend to the roses they planted. Which were already dead technically.

There wasn't much else to ponder, so he opened the door and slipped in quietly. Per what he expected he was the only one that he could see. The initial hallway was as big as he remembered. He walked down it with his footsteps echoing, until he reached the main room. The large, round table that held the most important of them. The most important according to Time at least. Including him and Eret. He remembered which seat was his and found that it was still there. Mrs.Trixin sat to his right, Eret to his left.

He glided his hand over his chair and pulled it out. He sat down in the chair, and slumped back in it. He closed his eyes thinking back to the past times he had been here.

"Take down a wither cult? That should be easy for me and Foolish to take care of." Eret said in a nonchalant tone.

Taking down the wither cult.

"C'mon it won't hurt to just try a new food. Foolish I swear it isn't sour." Eret was holding back laughter.

Trying chorus fruit for the first time.

"We have to find them. I'm not gonna fucking sit back when another one of my friends could die." He hissed.

Erets kidnapping.

"Foolish did take a mighty risk." Time mused.

His brief kidnapping. Phantom pain.

"C'mon kid, we have to coexist. You'll be trained in no time. What's a god of life and death if he only relies on his powers?" Blood huffed a laugh.

Blood. He hadn't thought back that far in a while. He still missed the spunky person he was sometimes, but he had long gotten over that.

Erets body fell to the ground in slow motion. Dream sliced their neck open. They let it happen. He let it happen. They just got stabbed as well. Oh my god I can see the blood from here. They aren't despawning. Grab Wilbur and ender pearl in. You have to save them.

He pressed his hands into his eyes to try and get the image out of his head. He couldn't escape it. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't get out of his head. It had only been five days since that night. He wanted to escape it, get over it as quickly as possible. Run through the stages of grief just so that they wouldn't have to experience them again.

"You alright there, man?" A familiar voice rang out from above him.

He removed his hands from his eyes and opened them. Sure enough Drista was sitting criss crossed on the table in front of him. Her white wings twitching slightly, and her porcelain mask was raised to the top of her head. Letting him see her face and see the genuine concern that wasn't shown very often. She took the form of a 14 year old as she normally did, with choppy blonde hair and green eyes. Green hoodie, black jeans, and combat boots that could break a kneecap. That had broken kneecaps on occasion.

"No. Not really. How are you drista? What have I missed?" He asked.

"Just a bit. Um, time is mad that you like fucking got kidnapped again. But he's mad at you. It's weird. Where's Eret? Have they come up yet? You got out a few days ago I'm pretty sure, it's the twentieth." Drista rambled.

"Yeah, we got out a few days ago. Actually about Eret. It's not fun to say. Just, Have you checked the statue garden recently?" He questioned, looking away from the kid's face. He tried his best to say the words that he couldn't say at the moment.

"No.. they can't be." Drista said, sounding like her voice had fractured.

Drista grabbed his wrist and they glitched together to the statue garden. Right in front of a ruined statue. He looked to his right to confirm that his statue was there and did a double take when he saw someone else that he wasn't used to. The statue of the goddess of the mind. Drista, XD, and Dream's mother.

"Oh thank fuck, this is the wrong one. C'mon theirs is just down here." Drista said, dragging him along.

They passed the arch that held Drista's statue, and then XD's. Then, his statue and they stopped at a pedestal with the name of Eret on the bottom.

It was still there. What?

Not in perfect condition, there were cracks all over it but it was still standing. There were cracks where they had gotten deaths on the server. On their arm, which he did not like the implications of, their abdomen, and their neck.

"Both of you have cracks along your neck." Drista noticed.

We both got executed and I only managed to save them the first time. Not the second. He didn't say that outloud. Not yet. But the statue's condition, did that mean that they were still alive? He wanted that to mean they were still alive.

"Foolish. What the hell did Dream do there?" Drista asked.

Oh we're being straight forward today.

"A lot." Foolish answered.

"Good or bad?" Drista asked.

"Guess." He said scoffing.

"He killed them, didn't he?" Drista guessed.

"He did. I'm pretty sure all three times. We had a life system. They lost all of them to him." He said quietly, turning his attention to the wither roses growing in Erets' patch of the garden.

"When I see that bastard I'm gonna kill him myself." Drista muttered.

"Don't. I'd- really rather you didn't. While that would be satisfying to see he deserves to rot in the highest security prison we can get him in. An actual one." Foolish said.

"An actual one?" Drista repeated.

"Dream had Sam build a prison, I can't imagine what he was gonna originally use it for, but he's the one who got put in there. He stayed until he got bored I guess and just let himself out." He explained in a hushed voice.

"Oh. Was Sam the warden or something?" Drista asked.

"Yeah. It wasn't fun watching the prison slowly make Sam's mental health deteriorate." He said quietly.

"Things have been fucking insane up here with both you and Eret gone. The entire world's been panicking as well. They've been on edge, it was a while without a kidnapping there. They were waiting. I don't think the general public even knows that you all got out." Drista said.

"No, they don't. I don't know how long it's gonna stay that way. How is Erets statue still here? I watched them die, it shouldn't… be possible. But it's still here." He said a little frustrated.

Yes, he hated that his friend was dead, but he didn't want to cling to hope that they could be alive like last time. Last time they weren't. But at the same time he did want to cling to hope.

"I mean. I guess it means that they just haven't actually died yet. They'll come back to us in the same form, we just have to wait. No matter how long it takes." Drista said.

He glanced at his and the cracks from on his neck. There was so much behind that. He just wanted to save his friend.

"There was a cult there," He whispered, not even knowing if drista was listening, "Me and Eret got wrapped up into it. Not like joining it but kinda helping take it down. It ended up being a trap. They needed a blood sacrifice, so they took Eret at first. I got them to take me instead. They killed me instead. I didn't want them to get hurt, I think it caused more pain in the end. I didn't remember the promise we made to each other at the time, I just couldn't bear to see another one of my friends die. Y'know? I just couldn't see them die. I reacted before others could. I don't even know why I'm rambling about this."

He shut himself up forcefully, and Drista didn't respond. He felt her tap his shoulder urgently. He frowned and turned towards her.

"What?" He asked.

She had a look of shock on her face and pointed to the left of them. He looked to where she was pointing and he could've sworn he stopped breathing.

Right there, crouching and touching the wither roses, was Eret.

Chapter Text

Foolish stared at his friend unsure of what to say. He had thought for days now that he wouldn't see them again. But, here they were right in front of him. Eret looked up at him, smiling softly.

"Hey, foolish. It's been a minute." Eret said, standing up. They still didn't have their sunglasses. Their eyes had a dullness to them.

"I saw you- I saw you. You-" He struggled with what to say. They were alive? He watched them die.

"I know. Hello drista. It's been even longer." Eret said, acknowledging the other person here.

"Hey. How have you been?" Drista asked.

His mind was reeling. He felt confused, but also happy. Was this even real? He wanted it to be real but the possibility was low. But, he could see that they were alive. He could sense that their soul was back in their body. All the scars on their body were still there, along with the smiley face that had gotten sliced through. They had respawned with their normal gray shirt and jeans. But they had died.

"Shit happened. Foolish, I promise I'm very much alive." Eret walked a few steps towards him and pressed a hand to his.

It wasn't cold. Their skin wasn't cold. Not like last time. A soul was in this body. He could tell it was Erets.

"I watched you die," He whispered, as Eret pulled him until a hug, "You had no pulse. You didn't even have a soul. I could tell- how are you here?"

He wrapped his arms around Eret clutching at the back of their shirt. He closed his eyes and forced back a sob. This felt real. Was this real?

"I'm sorry for leaving you, but I don't think you saw the first part did you?" Eret questioned.

He shook his head no.

"He gave me options. I stay and everyone else could go free right then and there, or I have a chance to leave if we fight him. There was never a third option until I struck a deal. I died but still got out, everyone else got out safely it seems." Eret said softly.

"Is this 'he' character, dream?" Drista asked.

"Yeah." Eret murmured.

"Holy shit. I'm gonna kill him." Drista said.

"Dris- she's gone. Okay. Foolish, you didn't think I was actually going to be gone for long did you?" Eret asked.

He didn't respond. He did think that, he thought he had lost a friend again.

"Foolish?" Eret asked again.

"I did think that. I thought you were actually dead. Eret you had no signs of life, there was just blood. Everywhere. I had no reasoning to think you were alive, not until I got to the garden." He said quietly, worming his way out of Erets hold.

"Oh, foolish. I'm sorry. I- do you want to walk around the garden?" Eret asked.

"Sure." He said, starting to follow Eret when they started walking around the enormous garden.

"What happened after I died?" Eret asked.

"I cried. For a while. Then I went to bed. I woke up, just tuned out a majority of the morning. Phil and Quackity came in and said they found the portal. We went to it. It was at fucking build limit. We all went up before we could go through. Dream showed up. Oh yeah, Wilbur knocked him out with a crowbar shortly after he killed you. So, we thought he still would've been knocked out. He shot Ranboo. Ranboo grabbed him and disappeared. We didn't see ranboo again until he showed up at the hospital, collapsing on the floor. So, yeah that's kinda what you missed." He answered.

"I- oh my gods Foolish. That's a lot." Eret said.

"Not really." He said, looking up at the grove of trees that grew in the middle.

He wanted to climb one. He wanted to be high in the sky. He missed being able to do that easily. He veered off the path they had been taking and jumped up and grabbed the closest branch to him and started to climb up.

"Hey, foolish." Eret said hesitantly.

"What's up?" He questioned, turning slightly to look at their face.

"What happened… while I was there and you weren't? I guess what I'm asking is. What happened to your wings?" Eret asked.

Silence. Foolish knew that his face had fallen so he turned away from Eret and continued to climb the tree. He got up fairly high and settled down on a branch. He heard faint rustling before hearing a vwoop and Eret landed on the branch next to him. He grabbed their arm to make sure they didn't fall. He got them settled and then he flipped his leg over the other side of the branch so that he could lean against the trunk.

"You don't have to talk about it. But if I remember correctly someone once told me it was better to tell people." Eret said.

"You scared me, when I went in that day. Not the way you looked but the way you reacted. You looked like you thought I was gonna hurt you and you didn't do anything to stop it. You were freaking out and muttering for me to not hurt you and then just went limp. You… just accepted it." He whispered, trying to change the subject.

"I wouldn't have if you had tried something other than to calm me down." Eret admitted. Studying their face revealed that they were a little anxious.

They stayed silent for a while.

"I lost them. I was trying to find you, I fell for a trap and they took them." He said quietly.

"What?" Eret asked.

"My wings." He answered, pulling one leg up to his chest. He ignored Erets look of horror.

"Did you not get back in time? Time could have reversed the effects within a couple of days." Eret said.

"Oh no I did. Time actually thought it over and then refused to. A lot of the others disagreed with him. He said it was because of falling for traps. That I deserved it just a little, and it would serve as a learning experience. It was one of the only leads I had on you at the time so I followed it." Foolish said.

"Foolish. You are one of the most dedicated friends I've had, even if half the time on the smp I didn't remember who the hell you were. I don't think time should have that much power. You shouldn't refuse to give someone part of their life back because you want to teach them a lesson. For fucks sake you shouldn't do that with fucking limbs at all." Eret said, sounding a bit pissed by the end of it.

"I know, but there's not much I can do about it now." Foolish said.

"Still…" Eret murmured. "Here."

He looked at what Eret was holding out. It was a wither rose. Something that wither hybrids were immune too.

"Eret, you know I can't handle that." He said.

"I know, but fun little fact if a wither rose is gifted with the intention of being a gift, they don't damage people." Eret said, smiling.

He hesitantly brushed his hand over the stem of the rose, not feeling the wither effect begin to run through his veins. He wrapped his hand around the stem and took it from Erets hand. He stared at the rose, he didn't know what it meant, but he knew it was a gift from a friend. Something that meant a lot to them. His mouth curved into a smile.

"Thank you, Eret." He said, placing it in his inventory.

Silence for a few minutes.

"Eret, you know the main admins are basically interrogating us on what happened there?" He asked suddenly.

He watched Eret sharply inhale. Eret grimaced and said, "I'll deal with that when they get to me."

Maybe things could be alright. Maybe they wouldn't ever be fully okay, but there was a possibility now.

Three weeks since they all got out and Ranboo still couldn't believe it some mornings. He'd wake up a little confused because he didn't immediately recognize the room he was in, and then realize tubbo wasn't there. He'd get up, choose his outfit for the day, now that he had a decent array of options. He'd go eat breakfast, prepare for the festival celebrating the return of everyone from the dream smp. He had to admit he wasn't too happy about that. All of them were a little wary about that.

Then, he'd eat lunch, go to the overworld and work on stuff there with the main admins. Also, legal stuff with the whole Dream situation, who left the server at some point. He had gotten his interrogation over and done with. The first thing the interrogator asked was, "Are you going to be another ridiculously traumatized person because you look like you are." The answer had been his story. The interviewer sighed a lot during it.

Ranboo would eat dinner with either tubbo and his dad or his family. One night he had spent it with Tommy and his family which was terribly tense. Phil had gotten crowned as king again, against the protest of Tommy, Wilbur, and techno.

It was weird to have a schedule again, and not have to do everything himself or with tubbo. Now that he had people doting on him every second again he was a fair bit uncomfortable. Finally he'd go home, mess around for a bit, and talk to Crumb. Who even as a barely 2 month old baby was an attentive listener.

Now, he waited for the festival to start in the end before the next day it transferred over to the overworld. He wasn't helping with that bit, considering it wasn't his kingdom. His mom was fussing over the clasps of his cloak. He looked in the mirror. He was fancier than he had been in awhile.

Let's start with the high quality white half button down he was wearing. The collar was bent down and the buttons were either copper or gold. He assumed it was gold. The sleeves tapered off at his wrist, and frilled out a little. Black dress pants that went down to some sort of fancy shoes. All he knew was that they were black and most likely some sort of leather. His socks weren't seen but he could feel that they were wool.

Then the dark purple velvet material that was his cloak. The golden clasp that looked like flowers on either side was what was giving them trouble. He liked wearing cloaks though. It made him mysterious, this one went down to knees. It was a bit like what he would wear when going around cold places that didn't snow on the smp. Which is sorta what the end was, it was generally colder. It didn't get above 70 degrees very often. Thanks to the void and the fact that they didn't technically have a sun.

The most startling difference was the golden crown sitting on top of his head. It had emeralds and rubies in it. A contrasting color scheme that matched his eyes. He was allowed to keep his ring on his horn, for now, under the premises that if anyone asked he'd explain. Not that he or his mom was unwilling, but his mom was just a tad bit worried for his safety. She didn't want tubbo to be used against him apparently, or him to be used against tubbo.

The final thing he had was a small gold cuff attached to the top of his ear with a chain connecting to another smaller gold earring. Then on the other side he just had a couple of golden rings at the top. The holes in his ear had never closed during his time on the smp, which was surprising to say the least. He hadn't even known that he had them the entire time.

"Alright. I think this is the best we can do. We're due to go out soon." His mom rambled, wiping something off his shoulder before stepping away.

"I hope this goes well." He absentmindedly whispered.

"I understand most of your experiences don't go well at this point, but I promise this one will go well. No one will get hurt." His mom promised.

Ranboo resisted the urge to say, yeah no.

"Your Highness, you're due to go on with Ranboo and crumb in two minutes." Someone stepped in briefly to tell them that.

"I better go grab Crumb." She said, rushing out.

He was left alone, well not really. Someone was probably outside the door waiting for him. There wasn't much more he could do while waiting so he decided to leave the room. Per expectation there was a person standing outside the door, who stayed there as he left. He knew where he needed to be so he headed there.

"Ranboo." Corpse said, as he got in place in front of the door.

"Corpse." He said back.

"Almost festival time. I think the public is happy to have an event like this. The front part of the castle, well and the castle itself has been off limits since you left. I know a lot of them like the gardens, you can't find much more like them here. Then, the fact that the entire town is basically being used for the festival. This is a big thing, people from all islands are coming. Ranboo, the eyes will be on you. You are the crown prince and you're showing your face to the country for the first time in awhile. Later I'll be in more civil clothes and my job will be to make sure you're alright. But, are you feeling alright now?" Corpse asked.

"Nervous, but that's normal. I haven't been around this many people in awhile, let alone asked to say things. Even if it's just a few lines. Which I still haven't gotten written down, so I'll be winging it." He said, tugging at his cloak slightly.

"Well, good luck with that. The gods know that I was never good at improv in school." Corpse shared.

Corpse put his hand to his ear and spoke. "Affirmative on the small one. Still waiting for the big package to arrive with the present."

Ranboo still barely understood why communications between guards were spoken like that. From what he had managed to learn was that his mom was the big package, he was the small one or small package, and crumb was the present. It made it sound like they were all Christmas presents. Why they did that he didn't know.

"Alright. I'm here." His mom said huffing, holding a small baby with her. Crumb was wrapped in a blanket today and seemed to be asleep.

Corpse pressed his hand to his ear again and said, "Alright, all three packages are here."

They all waited for a few seconds before Corpse spoke again, "All clear. You're clear to go through." And, Corpse opened the door.

He walked out onto the balcony next to his mom and sister. Holy shit that was a lot of people. It looked like a sea of people. Avians and shulker hybrids sat higher in the trees and other places peering at them. Endermen and endermite hybrids stood, staring up. Some of the endermite hybrids sat on the shoulders of endermen hybrids. With the latter being ridiculously tall most of the time, and the endermite hybrids generally being smaller.

A small area was sectioned off for other members of the smp. Most of them looked like they were already here, but he could see that Eret and Foolish were late. Which was a little expected, they were pretty busy people. He still hadn't actually seen Eret since the server. But, none of the attention was on them, it was on him and his mom. His mom stepped forward to the microphone so that her voice echoed.

"Hello all, and welcome to quite a spontaneous festival. Today, we celebrate the end of the dream smp and the return of its members. Including the crown prince Ranboo. The festival will last all day before it transfers over to the overworld part tomorrow. And, with that. Ranboo, do you mind doing the honors?" His mom asked, turning towards him, stepping back slightly.

"Oh, sure," He stepped up to the microphone, "Let the festival begin!"

The crowd started up sounding happy over all. Some filtered out into the streets and started activities there. Some people stayed there, mingling. Music would start soon and then the dancing would start. Other than the sweet treats, the dancing had always been Ranboo's favorite. Once he heard the door open, he headed back in and started making his way down to where he could get out into the festival. Corpse had already taken off his armor and weapons, revealing that he was already wearing the suit that would allow him to partially blend into the crowd. Aside from the fact he would have an eye on Ranboo at all times.

He made his way down to the first floor and found his way to the door that went to the area with the smp members. He opened the door and made his way over to where Tommy, tubbo, and techno had congregated. All of them had more high end clothes on, tubbo didn't have a full suit on. Just a black vest and pants with a white dress shirt, and shoes. Techno just had on a simple white frilly shirt, brown boots, and black jeans. Tommy had on a soft red sweater, then dress pants and leather shoes.

He put his arm on Tubbos shoulder, announcing his presence. He noticed that Tubbo had his ring on his horn again.

"Oh my gods. I swear all I know are fucking giants. Why are you all so fucking tall?" Tubbo complained, shoving his arm off.

"Because you are short." He answered.

"I'm not that short! You all are giants. Wilbur's like 6'5 as well. It's unfair." Tubbo grumbled.

"Actually Wil got measured the other day for the first time in a few years, he's 6'6." Techno interjected.

"This is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous," Tubbo huffed, "Tommy's 6'1, you're 6'9, Ranboo's fucking 6'10. Bad, wherever he is, is fucking over 9 feet tall."

"Yeah, yeah, we're all giants, can we go to the festival now?" Wilbur asked, pulling up to the side of techno.

"Oh yes. Let's go." Tubbo said, hurriedly.

Tubbo grabbed his arm and Tommy's and started dragging them off with him. Tubbo seemed to want to stop that conversation as quickly as possible.

The next few hours were a blur of chaos and fun. For the first time in a while it was a good chaos, that left them laughing their asses off and smiling widely. He could see the amused smiles from some of the citizens at their antics and it made them all relax. This was the first time in a long time any of them were able to properly enjoy something.

Ranboo had bought a few chorus fruit slices and was now trying to get the other two to try it. They were sitting in the grass under a tree in the front gardens. Not too many people were in the front gardens anymore but you could still hear the music from where they were luckily. Corpse was somewhere nearby but he didn't know where. Which was nice.

"C'mon it's fine. It won't hurt you." He said, laughing.

"The fact that you're laughing makes me distrust the fruit." Tommy said, holding his piece of fruit with the napkin.

"Look, well. I promise it won't hurt to eat. It tastes good. I'd describe it as a taste close to watermelon with strawberries and raspberries mixed in." He said, taking another bite of his. It was the closest description he could think of.

"Oh my gods. I remember the first time I tried to get Foolish to try to eat chorus fruit. He did not want to until he finally tried it and found it was really good." A voice spoke from next to them.

They all looked up at Eret who had their own slice of the fruit. Tubbo dropped his fruit and got up, pulling Eret into a hug. Luckily after Eret moved their chorus fruit out of the way so it didn't get smashed.

"Hey, there, tubbo." Eret said, smiling.

"You fuck. You die on us and then you don't visit for three weeks." Tubbo said.

"I know, I know and I promise that you'll see me around more, but I've been pretty busy. Being the god of a realm is more stressful than I remember." Eret admitted.

"You aren't gonna immediately leave us again are you?" He asked.

"You better not." Tommy said.

Eret winced and said, "Unfortunately, I do have to fairly soon, I think now in fact. I dropped by to say hi to everyone and grab something to eat other than the stale cereal in the kitchen. Stay safe you three. Oh, yeah, and Tommy, Wilbur's down in the square he wants to show you something. I will visit more often I promise. I'm almost done dealing with shit up there with the other gods."

"Damn." Tubbo said, but he pulled away. He seemed a little sad.

Eret smiled apologetically and teleported out. To where he didn't know. Tubbo flopped back down on the ground and picked up his piece of chorus fruit again. Tubbo stared at it before taking a bite. He waited to see Tubbos reaction.

"Ranboo this tastes nothing like a fucking watermelon, but it's good." Tubbo commented.

"Well I said it tastes like watermelon mixed with strawberries and raspberries. It's the closest comparison." He said.

Tommy looked between the two of them before taking a very reluctant bite. Tommy didn't seem to be fond of it.

"Do you not like it?" He asked.

"Mine is fucking sour." Tommy said, scrunching up his face.

"Oh no." He wheezed.

"Is it not supposed to be sour?" Tommy asked.

"No. It's not. Not the good ones at least." He said while laughing and shaking his head.

"So, I have the only bad one. Tubbo, give me a bite of yours." Tommy didn't even wait for Tubbo to respond before taking a small chunk of the fruit and popping it into his mouth.

Tubbo looked offended.

"It's mediocre." Tommy said, shrugging.

"If you're gonna take it anyways don't ask." Tubbo protested.

"Well, I must be off if Wilbur wants to show me something. Um, that fruit is shit if it's like blueberries and you never know if it's gonna be sour or sweet." Tommy said, standing up. He left the fruit in the ground and wandered off.

He noticed that Sam spotted Tommy and went with him so that he wouldn't be alone. So at least there was that.

"He really just took a fucking piece of my food. I'm so offended." Tubbo said, flopping over onto the grass next to him.

"I'd be offended as well." He said, taking a bite of his food.

"What time is it even? There's no sun to guess what time it is." Tubbo said.

"Well, the festival started at 11, I'd say it's roughly 2 in the afternoon now." Ranboo answered.

"Fun." Tubbo said quietly.

They sat in silence for a bit, he finished his portion of the chorus fruit before laying down himself. He took off his cloak and used it as a pillow for both him and tubbo. At some point he turned over on his side and looked at Tubbo, smiling softly. His tail moved slowly to mirror his joy.

"What are you staring at?" Tubbo asked, turning his head towards him and grinning.

"You." He said.

"Oh my gods." Tubbo laughed and shoved him back on his back.

He giggled. At this point his crown had semi fallen off his head. Not that he really cared.

"Well, my prince," Tubbo said that bit dramatically, "Do you want to dance? A lovely dancing song just came on."

Tubbo sat up and held his hand out. He took it and hauled himself up with tubbo. The two of them were standing now and they moved away from the food. A faster paced song, perfect for dancing.

Ranboo took Tubbos hand and spun him around. Tubbo seemed a little startled at first but the two of them got a hang of it. It wasn't what he was taught to be able to dance at balls and stuff but it was nice. They spun each other around, did the whole thing having your partner spin into the hands of another dance partner, but they just danced with each other. It was really nice.

The song eventually stopped and changed to another song. The two of them stopped and Ranboo touched their foreheads together. They were staring into each other's eyes.

"I love you. You know that right?" He asked.

"I know, you silly little sap. Mr. I love you so much platonically but it's different than like a friend love and-"

Tubbo got cut off by him saying, "Okay. I get it."

Tubbo laughed. "I will recite what you said when we got married everytime you are a big sap. But, yes I know that you love me. I love you too."

"Hello again, you sappy shits. Big man Tommy Innit is back. Do we want to cause more chaos or are you two gonna continue dancing?" Tommy asked after he crashed into them.

They now stood with tubbo on the far left, Tommy in the middle and Ranboo on the right.

"Oh, fuck yeah. Chaos." Tubbo said, grinning.

"CHAOS!" Tommy shouted.

The three of them ran off and started discussing what chaos they would cause. He wanted it to last forever, this was the type of calm he wanted on the server. He was content with this. Yeah, sure at some point he was most likely gonna be king, but that was a long time from now. For now, he could simply be a kid and have fun with the friends he didn't really have growing up. For now he could simply just be. No constant threats of death, just him living his life. And, Ranboo loved it.