Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ranboo's POV:

I hear a muffled sound as I finally come to my senses and realize that there is something tied around my waist. I attempt to move my hands to remove it only to have excruciating pain shoot up my arms. Panicked, I look around and notice two halves of a metal box on either side of my head. Small but sharp metal spikes welded onto the gaping jaws of the box.

I look down carefully and see the source of the pain, some kind of rubber-looking wire running through the palm of my hands, securing them to the wall.

How sane, I am tied up to be crucified. is this how my sins will be paid? Me tied to the goddamn wall while my head gets torn apart by those fucking spikes? Is this how it will en-

“Will he live or die? It is up to you, the viewers.” A voice speaks out.

That must have been the muffled sound that has been resonating around my head.

Suddenly I realize what is happening. My fate is in the hands of the viewers. The memories of the last few days come flooding back to me. I start crying.

“Just let me die!” I screamed, eyes full of tears, while staring into the black circle of the camera. “please…”

Everything hurt. I couldn’t think straight. I suddenly became hyper aware of all the pain I was experiencing right now. I could feel the rubber wire rubbing up agains the crudely gouged holes in my palm. I can feel the metal circle on the back of my head sending electric shocks all throughout my entire body. I felt the wires that are shoved down my throat deliver numbing shocks making it nearly impossible to breathe.

Suddenly my mask started blinking again and memories of my past life started rushing back to me. My childhood home, my parents, my friends. All these memories returning to me made my mind race.

Why did this happen? How did this happen? Who let this happen? What is Showfall Media? Where am I? How did I get here? What happened to Charlie… Charlie…oh Charlie. And Sneeg? And all the others-

“And the audience“ Hetch called out stopping my racing mind in its tracks. “Has chosen…for you…to..die.”

As those words are spoken I only get a brief moment to fully comprehend the meaning of those words before the box snaps shut. The pain is unbearable, feeling all the sharp metal spikes tear into my face. 

Moments pass as the pain only worsens, it grows and swells until I try to scream out in pain. The slight shift making the spikes dig deeper into my skin. Eventually everything goes numb and I feel the sweet release of death approaching me.

I am finally free…free from all of the pain and suffering.

Suddenly I hear a muffled sound. It catches my attention and I focus on it, trying to hear it properly. Then suddenly I recognize the familiar deep tones of Sneegs voice.

“Ranboo?! Can you hear me!?” I feel someone’s hands removing the chain around my waist. “Ranboo please don’t be dead.”

“He can’t be dead?” I hear a slightly higher voice shout out to the right of me.

“Charlie…? Sneeg?” I whisper out softly.

“Holy shit he is alive!” Sneeg yells out, and although I can’t see his face I can tell he is smiling. “Charlie help me get this fucking thing open.”

As the box slowly opens I scream out in pain as the spikes exit my flesh, leaving open wounds across my face, blood slowly dripping out them, some of the warm liquid getting into my mouth. I try to look around but everything is blurry, like an out of focus camera. I See two blobs, one larger and one smaller.

Sneeg and Charlie.

“B-blurry.” I mutter quietly.

I hear muttered sounds, and my heart sinks. They are talking to me but I can’t hear them. I can’t hear them. My breath grows shallow and I start to hyperventilate. Charlie grabs my shoulders much like I did back when we were in the mall to calm him down but softer.

“I can’t h-hear…” I whisper in the direction of Charlie. I feel his grip soften and see his blurry hand come closer to my head. I flinch on instinct and see him retract his hand quickly.

“You have a cut up extension cord through your hand Ranboo.” I hear Charlie yell slightly louder so I can hear him. “We have to remove them so we can leave this place. It’s going to hurt like hell, but not as bad as the hell you just went through.”

“Just get me free.” I whisper and close my eyes, preparing for the pain that is sure to follow.

I sob and scream out as I can feel the cord being pulled out of the holes in my palms. When they are finally released I collapse onto the floor, Charlie catching me and helping me down.

“Mask…” I exhale as I claw at the metal mask. I attempt to rip it off my face to no avail. I feel strong hands try to stop me but I just push them away and reach to the back of my head and grab the metal circle and pull hard. I scream out in pain as it feels like my scalp is being ripped from my head, but to my relief I feel the wires on the left side snap and the mask falls slightly, revealing the wires extruding from my mouth.

“Ranboo!” Sneeg yells and carefully takes my hands, stopping me from ripping the wires out of my throat. “Ranboo I know you are terrified and hurting so fucking much, but you might kill yourself if you’re not careful. And we need to escape, so you need to stay alive.”

“I need these goddamn wires out now.” I whimper, tears still falling down my cheeks. “…please.” I whisper so softly that they might not have heard me.

“Okay.” I hear the muffled voice of Charlie next to me. “But be careful, and if you want one of us to do it just say so.”

“Please let me do it.” I say, a newfound determination allowing me to sit up and grasp the wires tightly in my hands.

I gently tug at the wires first to test them, and in true Showfall Media fuckery they don’t slide out effortlessly. I shakily exhale and pull the wires as hard as I can. My throat burns, it feels as if I swallowed a mouthful of molten lava. I feel nothing else but raw excruciating pain as the wires tear their way up my throat. When the wires finally leave my mouth I throw the mask as far away as I can.

I feel Charlie hug me closer and shortly after I feel another pair of arms around us, Sneeg I assume.

We all three sat there for a while, just crying and relishing in each others comfort and embrace. A thought pushed it way to the front of my clouded mind, sending panic throughout my body as I scramble trying to make them pull away.

“Where is Hetch and the wire monster?” I croak out, my throat still burning from the previous events.

“Sneeg killed the wire monster before it could kill me.” Charlie explained. “Then we ran back to the store you and I hid in and I grabbed the axe and bashed Hetch’s fucking face in. We are safe for now. But we have to get out of this mall.”

“My god yes please.” I say and stand up, stumbling slightly.

“Careful man, don’t stand up too fast.” Sneeg says and reaches to steady me.

“Yeah, escaping would be easier if you were conscious.” Charlie giggles as he stands up next to me.

Before I could say anything back to Charlie my head starts spinning and I start to fall over, with the last thing I hear before I pass out being the panicked sounds of Sneeg and Charlie.

Chapter Text

Charlie's POV:

As Ranboo goes limp in my arms Sneeg and I frantically speak over each other trying to figure out what to do. Eventually Sneeg sighs deeply and looks expectingly towards me. 

“What should we do Charlie?” He says and slumps down on the ground. 

We sit in silence for a couple minutes, raking our minds trying to figure out what our next move is. I look down at Ranboo, their face covered in cuts from both the mask and the box. Blood steadily seeping from the incisions. In a sudden jolt of panic I look up to Sneeg.

“We need to dress his wounds.” I say quickly. “He is bleeding, possibly bleeding out. We have to save him, Sneeg.”

“Right.” Sneeg says, a newfound determination in his voice. “I’ll go look for a towel and water so you can clean them, then I’ll go try to find a fucking first aid kit somewhere in this shithole.”

I nod as he runs off towards the desk in the center of the room. My attention is drawn back to Ranboo when I feel them shift in my arms. I Look down at them and see their bloody and cut eyes look towards me, fear written all over his features. His body was tense and shaking slightly.

“C-Charlie…” he whispers and weakly brings his hand up to touch my face. “Charlie.”

“I’m here” I say slightly loud so he could hear me. “I’m here Ranboo.”

Ranboo smiles and closes his eyes. He visibly relaxes and leans closer into my embrace. I pull him closer, careful to not apply pressure to his hands or face. He sighs softly and whispers something under his breath, I didn’t quite hear it but it sounded like he said something along the lines of “I’m glad you guys saved me.” I smiled at the sound of Ranboo’s voice, relived that the last words I heard from him weren’t “let me die.” Just thinking about watching Ranboo feel so much pain made my heart ache. 

“Got some water and some towels!” Sneeg came running into the large room we were in, a towel in one hand and  a couple bottles of water in the other.

“Perfect, they woke up.” I say as Sneeg gets closer. “They are scared shitless though.”

“I mean they just had their fucking skull impaled by a shit ton of metal spikes, I would be too.” Sneeg says sadly, as he reaches down to give me the towel and water. “Man Showfall sucks ass.”

“I know…” I say as I grab the towel and bottle from him. “We need to leave ASAP.”

“I’m going to go see if I can find a first-aid kit somewhere.” Sneeg says as he turns on his heels. “I’ll be quick.”

“Okay, thank you.” I say as he jogs towards the door. I turn to Ranboo and tap his shoulder three times trying to get his attention. He opens his eyes and looks towards me. 

What kind of god awful person would do this to someone? Who would torture and kill someone to appease an audience? Why would there even be an audience to appease?

“Hey Ranboo.” I say as I slowly bring my hand to Ranboo’s hair, gently combing it out of his face. “I need to clean up your face. I have a soft towel and some clean water. It’s going to hurt like hell but it needs to be done.”

“Can you do my hands first?” Ranboo says and raises his hands to look at them, frowning slightly.

“Yes of course man.” I smile softly and shift slightly so I can grab onto their left hand. “Ready?”

“Shit I guess.” He says and tenses up. 

As I pour the water on his palm it flows through the dime sized hole going straight through his hand. He hisses quietly and moves his hand towards himself slightly. I gently grab his hand again and carefully dab the towel on the wound. 

“I’m sorry man, I know it hurts.” I say to Ranboo and grab their other hand. “But it’ll hurt worse if it gets infected. Plus Sneeg is finding a first-aid kit.”

“T-thanks man.” Ranboo pauses to bring his other hand towards me. “Thanks for saving me.”

“Hey, no need to thank me. You saved me and I saved you. We’re even now.” I say as I grab his hand and pour some water into the palm of his hand. He slightly flinches but reacts less than he did last time. I quickly grab the towel and carefully dab down the small circular wound on his hand.

“What does it look like?” Ranboo asks quietly. “M-my hand.”

“It looks…” I pause to think about the words I should say, continuing to clean the wound.

“I guess I don’t need to go to church anymore huh?.” Ranboo says in a joking tone. “Cus I’m pretty damn holy now.”

I stop cleaning their hand and let out a genuine laugh, the first in who knows how long. 

“Jesus Christ that was so bad.” They jokingly laugh at themselves, clearly not ashamed of his terrible sense of humor. 

“You can’t take your name in vain man, it’s in the Ten Commandments.” I joke back, slightly relieved when Ranboo also lets out a laugh. 

“What are you two laughing at?” Sneeg chuckles as he walks in holding a huge first-aid kit in both of his hands.

“Holy shit! Where the fuck did you find that dude!?” I laughed as sneeg sets the kit next to us and plops down.

“Daym.” Ranboo giggles as he catches a glimpse of the first-aid kit.

“I think this is the kit-est of aids.” I giggle.

“It’s gotta be the first-est of aids too.” Ranboo joins in, also laughing.

“It’s also the aid-est of aids.” Sneeg says then we all let out the loudest, most genuine laughs that we’ve laughed since we have been in Showfalls grasp. And none of us know exactly how long that has been.

“This reminds me of our lives before Showfall fucked us up.” Ranboo smiles sadly. “Back when the worst thing we had to worry about was constantly worrying about being canceled.” 

“Ranboo didn’t you literally come out so you didn’t get totally fucked on Twitter.” Sneeg says, mater-of-factly.

“Yeah, the first time I did.” Ranboo giggles. “The second time I came out in the Cheesecake Factory.”

“Props to you man.” Sneeg chuckles as he unzips the first-aid kit and took out the cleaning alcohol . “It takes a real goofy guy to do that.”

Why can’t I remember that…?

“The silliest fella if you will.” I add in, trying to sound cheerful.

“Awe. Thanks guys.” Ranboo mockingly says. “You’re too kind. Now hurry up and get this over with so we can leave.”

“Alright dude.” Sneeg says and opens the alcohol, “ready?”

“As ever.” Ranboo said and closed his eyes, preparing for the pain.

Sneeg takes Ranboo’s left hand and gently pours some alcohol onto their hand. Ranboo yelps as the alcohol flows through his palm.

“I’m so sorry dude.” Sneeg frowns and grabs some gauze and some of that tape that sticks to itself and wraps Ranboo’s hand gently.

“Here let me have the stuff.” I say and grab it from Sneegs hand. “Alright Ranboo you ready?”

“Yep.” Ranboo says and I can feel his whole body tense up. “Go ahead.”

I frown slightly and grab his right hand, pouring some alcohol. They suck in a breath and don’t release it until I wrap their hand up and let go of it.

“Well guess the face is next?” Ranboo says and Looks between me and Sneeg, the smallest hint of fear on their face.

“Yeah.” I say sadly. “You ready?”

“As ever.” Ranboo says and takes a shaky breath.

Sneeg and I share a quick glance at each other before pouring some of the alcohol onto a clean towel and we start cleaning up Ranboo’s face, making sure not to get any alcohol into Ranboo’s eyes. The whole time we are tending to Ranboo’s wounds he grows exponentially louder. 

“Ranboo…” sneeg says sadly when we are halfway cleaning his face. His tone makes me stop and look at him “we don’t have to do this now. We can wait.”

“N-no…” Ranboo said through gritted teeth. “The sooner the better. And you guys have already got out all the stuff so finish it.”

Sneeg and I looked at eachother one more time and finished up cleaning all the puncture wounds that the box left in Ranboo’s face. Halfway through it Ranboo stopped crying and just sat there clenching and unclenching his fists. The last thing we did was carefully clean all of the skin and blood from Ranboo’s ears hoping that will allow them to hear better.

“Ranboo did that help you hear a little better?” I say at my normal volume. 

“Yes.” Ranboo says and starts crying again. A smile plastered onto his face. “I can hear again.”

Sneeg and I pull Ranboo into a gentle hug and all three cry for a while just taking in each other's comfort and letting out all the pent up stress that built up over the last hour. 

“I love you guys.” Sneeg said and squeezed us slightly tighter as to not hurt Ranboo.

“I love you guys!” I laugh, tears still falling down my cheeks. 

“I love you guys.” Ranboo said and pulled away from our bro hug to smile at us. “I thought I was a goner. I…” he trailed off and looked ashamed.

“You what?” Sneeg asks and gives me a wary look. We both look to Ranboo waiting for him to find his words.

“I actually wanted to die. I wanted to give up. I didn’t want to go on-” they choke on their words. “I was excited to die. I welcomed the idea until I heard your voices.”

Sneeg and I look at each other and both move towards Ranboo to wrap him in another hug, this one somehow even more comforting than the last.

“I wanted to die until I heard you guys’ voices. You two are the reason I kept fighting.” Ranboo sobbed softly. “I don’t think I could ever thank you guys.”

“You don’t have to dude, you being here is enough of a thanks. I’d do anything to keep you here with us.” Sneeg said and gently patted Ranboo on the back.

“Yeah man” I added “I’d do all kinds of shit if it meant we could be silly goopy guys together.”

“Thanks guys.” Ranboo said and relaxed into our hug. After a little while they pull away and say “what do you say we get outta here?”

“Fuck yeah dude!” Sneeg laughs and stands up. “Let’s go!”

“Yeah let’s get the fuck out of this hell hole.” I say and stand up next to sneeg.

Sneeg and I help pull Ranboo onto their feet and walk out of the room and into the vast hallway of the abandoned mall.

Here we go…

Chapter Text

Sneeg's POV:

As Charlie and I helped Ranboo walk out of the room and into the hallway I turn to look at Ranboo. His face now covered with gauze and medical tape, small slits left unbandaged around his eyes, mouth, and nose. I frown slightly as I get a flashback of when I found Charlie being attacked by the wire monster. 

Charlie was laying on the floor, a giant monster of tangled wires and an old TV acting as a head. The sharp, claw-like wires on the monsters hands pierced Charlie's chest and stomach, appearing to enter his body. The movement was slow and antagonizing, almost as if it was torturing Charlie. Drawing out his pain as long as possible. The terrifying sound of TV static coming from the monster made me shiver. I stood frozen in fear, unable to process what is happening.

His blood curdling screams of pain resonating through the large room knocked me out of my trance. They bounced off of the walls creating a sickening symphony of pure agony. He tries to push the monster off of him to no avail. He pushes, kicks, and pulls at the wires of the monster. The monster only tilts its blank TV head slightly, as if to say “you done yet?”

I saw red. I ran over to my friend and tackled the wire monster, hands balling into a fist and repeatedly punching the glass of the TV until it breaks and the once human-shaped mass unravels into a pile of tangled wires on the floor, I wince slightly and look down to my bloody fists. I struggle out of the wires and run to an almost unconsious Charlie, various wires still stuck in his chest and side.

“What’s wrong sneeg?” Ranboo asks and turns his head towards me, snapping me back to my senses. My eyes frantically shift to Charlie and relief flows over my body. 

He is okay. He is safe now. I WILL keep him safe.

“I was just thinking.” I say and smile softly upwards towards Ranboo and Charlie. “Nothing too serious.”

“I might not be able to see but I know something is bothering you man, what is it?” Ranboo says and laughs softly. “My eyes might not work but I still have other senses. You’re stiff as a board, you stopped walking, and your breath was all over the place, what were you thinking about?”

Upon hearing Ranboo say that I suddenly realized that we had stopped walking. I looked to the right and around Ranboo to look at Charlie again and saw the faintest trace of sadness in his eyes as he looks expectingly at me, waiting for me to answer Ranboo’s question I assume. I frown and look back to Ranboo studying his bandaged face and lets out a breath that I didn’t even realize I was holding in.

“I was remembering when I found Charlie getting attacked by the wire monster.” I attempt to let out a laugh, only to have it end up sounding more forced than I intended. “Its no big deal. It’s over and done with. I saved charlie, and the wire monster is dead. I don’t really want to elaberate too much more at the moment.”

“We don’t have to talk about it right now man.” Ranboo said and gave my back a couple pats before turning their head forward. “Lets get out of here.”

“Hell yeah!” Charlie smiles softly and looks around ranboo to look at me. “Let’s get out of this fucking mall.”

“Alright, let’s get a move on guys.” I say and turn my head towards the left and bring up my hand not supporting Ranboo and point in that direction. “I went to the right when looking for the stuff earlier and there wasn’t an exit so we should go left. Are you okay to move Ranboo?”

“I’m fine for a while, we just need to focus on getting out.” Ranboo replies as he starts walking, pulling us along.

“Hey I thought we were supposed to be helping you, Dude.” I laugh and attempt to match Ranboo’s long strides.

I look over to Charlie and see him smiling softly at Ranboo. 

“I bet this used to be a busy and popular mall back when it was being used.” Ranboo says as he slows down to allow Charlie to catch up.

”I’m sure it was.” Charlie chuckles and looks around. “If I wasn’t in this situation right now I’d even say it’s a beautiful building.”

“It is.” I say and look around, taking it all in. “There are so many stores and rooms.”

”They’re so dark.” Charlie says, a hint of fear creeping into his tone. “Kinda spooky.”

We all laugh for a second then we walk for a couple minutes in comfortable silence, just trying to fully wrap our heads around the idea of escaping this shit hole finally. I remember that I was taken by Showfall after Charlie but before Ranboo.

Ranboo suddenly stops dead in his tracks. I go to ask him what’s wrong and he shushes me quietly. I look questioningly at Charlie and he returns my gaze with an equal amount of confusion.

“Do you hear that?” Ranboo whispers quietly, pointing to the left of me. 

My whole body stiffens, I strain to hear what Ranboo is talking about. Then suddenly I hear it. My stomach drops. The low hum of TV static can be faintly heard down the dark hallway to my left. Then the sound of mechanic whirling can be heard to my right. I look over and see a drone, and attached to the bottom is a camera. We are being watched and followed by the wire monster.

“Fuck.” Charlie exhailes as he grabs mine and Ranboo’s arms and starts walking again. “We need to get away from here.”

“Hold on.” I shake out of Charlies grasp and look around, trying to find something to throw at the drone. A couple of feet away from me I see a part of the ceiling that has fallen off.

I run over to it and chuck the concrete at the drone. It flies through the air and hits it and it falls to the ground, breaking upon contact with the hard tile floor. I look back to Charlie and Ranboo to see Ranboo’s breath becoming shallow and charlie quietly comforting them. I hear the sound of TV static suddenly get much louder, almost sounding like a scream of pain. I turn around to see the wire monster-or what is left of it-writhe on the floor, It’s snake-like wires starting to spilt from it’s body and head straight towards us at an alarming rate.

“Shit.” I say under my breath and turn to the others. “We need to run. Now.”

Charlie looks up to Ranboo and grabs their arm and starts running towards the still escalators. I turn around and see the wires moving closer to us and I sprint after Charlie and Ranboo. They are slowly going up the escalators to make sure Ranboo doesn’s trip and fall. Without saying anything I pick up Ranboo and throw him over my solder, he yelps slightly but soon relaxes and tries to steady his breath. I grab Charlie’s arm and drag him along with me, urging him to climb the stairs faster.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” Charlie cries as we get to the top of the stairs, hands running through his hair. “Sneeg go to the room we were in earlier where I got the axe. Do you remember the way to that small hallway?”

“Shit I don’t.” I stop running and turn to Charlie. “Do you?”

“Uh. Yeah. Yeah.” he breathes out and looks to the right. “Follow me.”

I nod and follow him. We sprint past multiple dark rooms and stores, not taking any time to worry what kind of horrors were hiding in the shadows. We make it to the eerily accurate recreation of Charlie’s streaming setup. For a moment Charlie stops and I notice his breath hitches. 

“Hey man, you’re not under their control anymore.” I say and gently grab his shoulder. “I will protect you.”

He turns to me and smiles softly, taking a few deep breaths and hops over the counter. I set Ranboo down and help him over the counter and follow suit. Charlie walks over to the door and opens it, checking the hallway for any other fucked up shit that Showfall has just laying around. He didn’s see anything so he looked back at me and nodded. I turned to Ranboo and cleared my throat.

“Sorry about earlier dude,” I say and step closer to them, embracing them in a hug. “I just didn’t want to loose you.”

“It’s alright man.” ranboo says and melts into the hug. “You definitely saved my ass.”

“Can I pick you up again? We are almost to the room.” I ask and pull away from the hug.

“Yeah, I am pretty useless when it comes to running.” Ranboo sadly laughs and looks towards me.

I nod and pick Ranboo up again, only this time I was more careful. When Ranboo is securely on my shoulder I turn to Charlie and we both jog into the hallway. We slow down when we reach a turn and Charlie carefully checks around the coroner then turns to me and nods. We take again and finally see the door to the room. A wave of relief washes over me.

“That’s it!” Charlie laughs. “Ranboo we’re almost there!” 

“Sneeg behind us!” Ranboo yells and I feel them tense up and bury their head into my back.

Right as Ranboo says that I hear the low hum of TV static behind me. I turn around to see the wire monster turn the corner after us. I run faster and grab Charlie as well. Charlie screams and looks behind us to see the monster. His eyes grow wide and he looks at me. I run as fast as I can towards the open door. As soon as I get inside I set Ranboo and Charlie down and grab a metal bat that was laying on the floor on the corner. I turn towards them and without saying anything I run out the door and towards the pile of wires. 

When I get close enough I start smashing the TV as hard as I can. The static gets so loud that I hear nothing else, not even the metallic sound of the bat repeatedly hitting it. After a couple seconds of relentlessly smashing it the static stops and the wires all start retreating around the corner, leaving nothing but the smashed plastic and glass that used to be the TV. I take no time running back to the room.

I see charlie looking out of the door frame, eyes wide and skin pale. When I get closer he moves further into the room and I slam the door shut, locking it and moving one of the big shelves in the way of it to insure nothing gets into the room with us. After that I go straight to the other wall and do the same before heading back to Charlie and Ranboo, who were both on the floor, wrapping eachother into a hug and crying.

I walk over to them and sit down next to them. Without saying anything Ranboo turns to me and leans towards me. I wrap both of them into a hug and we sit there on the dirty floor just crying and holding each other for who knows how long. The silence is finally broken by Ranboo.

“Why is all of this happening?” he hiccups. “Why is it happening to us.”

“I don’t know.” I say and hug both of them closer. “But I promise I will protect both of you. I promise.”

Chapter Text

Charlie's POV:

After we break away from the hug I look over to Sneeg. He feels me staring and turns to meet my gaze. He smiles softly and we both turn our heads to Ranboo.

“Thanks for saving us, Sneeg.” Ranboo says and smiled weakly. “What is that now, three times?” 

“Don’t sweat it dude.” Sneeg laughs and adjusts his hoodie slightly. “I’d do anything for you two.” 

I get up and start looking for something that can be used to defend us. I walk up to the desk I see a bucket labeled ‘slime’. My stomach churns as I realize it is blood. My whole body tenses up and my breathing becomes erratic. I feel a soft hand in my shoulder. I spin around quickly to see Ranboo flinch back slightly at my sudden movement.

“I-I’m sorry.” They say and take a couple steps backwards.

“It’s okay.” I say and smile softly. “You just startled me.”

“What do you see?” Ranboo asks and carefully walks up towards me again. “What’s wrong Charlie?”

“N-nothing.” I say and try to play it cool.

“No it’s not.” Ranboo says as he gets closer to me. “Your breath pattern changed. Something freaked you out. Please tell me Charlie.”

His soft words and genuine worry makes me tear up. I start sobbing uncontrollably, head falling onto Ranboo’s chest with a soft thump. He carefully wraps his arms around me and rests his bandaged chin on my head. We stand like that for a while before I finally find the courage to speak.

“I-I was taken by Showfall wh-when I was a kid.” I whisper softly. “I was always o-one of their puppets.”

“Oh my god…” I hear sneeg say and walk closer to us, putting his hand on my back. “I’m so sorry, Charlie.”

“It’s okay.” I sniffle and wipe the tears off of my cheek. “We’re almost free.”

“Yeah…” Sneeg says and pulls out a water bottle from his hoodie pocket and hands it to me. “Here have some water.”

I nod slightly and take it from his hands, opening the lid slowly and taking a few sips of it. When I finish I move it to Ranboo’s hand, signaling him to drink some. He hums softly and takes a few sips himself. When he finishes he hands the bottle back to me. I close it back up carefully and pass it to Sneeg. I clear my throat and attempt to continue, speaking softly and slowly.

“I can’t remember anything before Showfall Media took me. At first I just thought that it was because they just took my memories, but now I know that there were no memories for them to take.” I take a shaky breath and carefully slide to the floor, leaving against the desk. 

“I'm so sorry.” Ranboo says and sits down next to me, his hand finding its way to my shoulder. 

Without saying anything Sneeg’s eyes flicker to the bucket of blood sitting to my right. He grabs it and carefully moves it to the other corner of the room. He then takes some kind of camouflage blanket thing and puts it over it carefully, hiding it from sight. When he is satisfied he makes his way back to us and sits down on the other side of me.

“I was raised here. I was killed countless times and brought back to life just for entertainment. I was tortured so Showfall could get views. What’s worse is that the audience didn't even realize what they were watching. They didn’t even realize the silly green goopy guy that they have been watching for years and years was a crying bloody little boy. I have been The Spirit of the Cabin since I can remember.” I shiver thinking of it. “I was raised on that fucking set.”

“Can I hug you?” Ranboo asks as they look towards me, a frown peeking through their bandages.

“Please.” I choke out and start crying harder as Ranboo gently wraps me into a hug.

I feel Sneeg sigh deeply. He gets up and starts walking around, pacing back and forth muttering something under his breath. Ranboo turns their head towards Sneeg and closes their eyes, trying to concentrate so they can hear what he’s saying I assume.

“Fuck this place!” Sneeg suddenly yells, kicking a piece of wood towards the big door. “Fuck. This. Place.”

Ranboo yelps and flinches back at the loud noise, their bandaged hands covering their ears. I gently wrap my arms around them, rubbing their back softly. Sneeg turned to us and saw how upset and scared Ranboo was and his gaze softened, his face relaxed, and his body slumped slightly. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, Ranboo.” He says and carefully walks towards us, sitting down next to Ranboo, letting out a sigh as he sinks down and rests his back on the desk.

“It’s okay.” Ranboo says and gently bangs the back of their head on the desk.

“I just got mad. I hate whoever is in charge of this fucked up TV show.” Sneeg says and pulls out the water bottle from his pocket again, taking a huge sip. “I mean who takes a fucking child from his home and tortures him, kills him, and makes him perform for random ass people?”

“I don’t know.” I say and play with a small rock next to me, tears starting to gather in my eyes “But now I have you guys. This is the safest I have felt my entire life. For once in my life I don’t feel like I constantly have to worry about what fucked up shit will happen to me next.”

“I mean I’m not much help” Ranboo laughs and gently leans over, jokingly pushing me with his shoulder. “But I’d protect you until the end, man. We found each other somehow through all this and now you’re stuck with me.”

“Thanks man.” I say and look over to Sneeg, his muscular frame wrapped around itself making him look small and afraid. “You too Sneeg.”

“You’re welcome.” He smiles warmly and meets my gaze.

“When I got attacked by that wire monster I was sure that I was dead. I had completely given up. I had no reason to live anymore. I thought Ranboo had escaped so I had no reason to worry.” I hiccup. “But when you attacked the monster and ran to help me I had a reason to live. I had a reason to fight off death.”

Sneeg starts crying harder then scoots over to me and squeezes me hard. I rest my head on his shoulder and let out a deep sigh. Ranboo follows suit and awkwardly wraps his arms around both of us until he even awkwardly pulls away and clears his throat. All three of us burst into laughter and Sneeg pulls Ranboo into the hug.

“Man for a straight guy you sure like hugging men, Sneeg.” Ranboo giggles and gently rests their face on Sneegs shoulder.

“Oh shut up and accept my affection dude.” Sneeg huffs out and gently punches Ranboo’s shoulder. “You know you love it.”

“I do.” Ranboo says. I can’t hear the smile on his face. “I do.”

“Alright you two” I say and stand up, wiping the tears off of my face. “Let’s look around for something to kill whatever god awful things might come at us so we can leave.”

“Oki.” Ranboo stood up, only to turn his head a couple times and sit back down. “I won’t really be much help.” He says in a low voice.

“Hey that’s alright dude, the room isn’t really that big. It won’t take too long.” Sneeg says, trying to cheer Ranboo up.

I smile sadly towards sneeg and look over to the back left side of the room. There is another camouflage thing near the back of the room and I walk over to it, moving it out of the way and it uncovers a pistol, some ammo, four machetes and a belt to hold them, a few hunting vests, food, water, and a folded up note.

Perfect.

“Guys come look at this.” I say and walk over to Ranboo, helping them up. “There’s a shit ton of stuff over here.”

“Alright!” Sneeg says as he approaches the stash. “This is sick!”

“What is it?” Ranboo asks as he walks over with me. 

“A fucking gun!” Sneeg says and carefully picks up the pistol with two fingers to closer inspect it. “Shit…it’s the puzzlers.”

“Fuck…” Ranboo’s breath hitches and they stop dead in their tracks. “That’s the one that killed Niki…”

“I can not take it if you guys want.” Sneeg said and set the gun down.

“No, no. Take it.” Ranboo exhaled and we kept walking towards Sneeg. “We’ll need it.”

“There’s a note too.” I grab the note when Ranboo and I get closer. “I’ll read it.”

“Thanks dude.” Sneeg smiles and hands the note to me. “Cause I can’t.”

I opened up the note and it read, 

Dear Ranboo and whomever else escapes Showfall,

Hi, it’s me. Uh the Puzzler. If you’re reading this then I died a totally cool and awesome death. I’m writing this right before I leave the recorded message to Ranboo. I figured out what Showfall really is, and it scares me. I am truly sorry for all that I have done in character. All the horrible acts I have done while under Showfalls mind control. 

I have a bomb attached to my back, and am set to explode very soon. Now why would I do that? You may ask yourself. Simply put I am protecting you. I have been held here far too long, I have no hope in getting out, but you have the light and wit to escape. If you’re reading this then I assume you know the true horrors that is Showfall media, and Hetch alike. 

Hopefully you survived the trap, I wanted to tell you sooner but I couldn’t get to it. Hetch is evil, Ranboo. He has control over strange wire monsters that can take a humanoid form so long as a host is present. That host can be anything from an old radio or tv, to an actual person. Once the wire monster gets ahold of a person it will force its wires into the target and control their body, beware of these monsters, Ranboo. The only way to stop the wires from finding another host is to break or cut them. Once the wires are severed they become “dead”. Use this machete and my pistol wisely, Ranboo. Aim for the wires.

If you wish to escape you have to go to the roof of the mall, all of the doors are sealed shut from both the inside and out. The only way to escape is through a trapdoor leading to the roof. I drew out a map on the back of this paper, follow it. But it appears I am running out of both room on this paper and time, I wish you luck, Ranboo. 

Xoxo~the one with the fattest ass <3

“Fuck.” I say when I finish reading out the note, my breath begins to become choppy. “Fuck fuck fuck. That-that thing was trying to get control of me!” 

“Charlie, look at me.” Sneeg says as he firmly grabs my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. “It didn’t get you then, it won’t get you now. I promise.”

“Okay…” I say and try to steady my breathing. “When we are out of this place we need to go straight to the police.”

“Or better yet the government.” Sneeg says and turns towards the shelf again, picking up the pistol and a couple boxes of bullets, inspecting them. “Fuck this place.”

“Charlie?” Ranboo asked, Making me look at him. He was lost in thought, head tilted down slightly, looking at the ground. “What did that note say about the monster and its Hosts? It can be anything?”

“It said anything from a tv to a radio I believe.” I say and look back to the note. “Yeah, ‘anything from an old radio or tv to an actual human’”

“So when sneeg smashed the tv the first time it came back because it can use anything electronic it seems. Well plus the human thing, but at the moment the electronics are more important.” He says and starts pacing slightly.

“He also said something about the wires.” Sneeg said as he slipped on a hunting vest, filling the pockets with granola bars, a couple water bottles, and the bullets. “That’s how we kill that son of a bitch.”

“That’s why the wires that were left in me after Sneeg tackled the monster stopped moving…” I trail off and grab a hunting vest for Ranboo. “…they were severed.”

We all fall into a silence as I help Ranboo get into his vest and fill the pockets with granola bars and water. After I fix Ranboo up I grab my vest, fill it up, grab a machete, examine it and slip on the belt that holds it.

“Should I get two just in case?” I ask and turn to Sneeg. “Or is that a bit…much.”

“We’re being chased by a monster that looks like the back of my desk and can possess a fucking toaster dude. I don’t think anything is too much at this point.” Sneeg says and laughs slightly. “I think I’ll get one just in case.”

“Good point.” I laugh and strap on another belt, turning to Ranboo who is frowning slightly. “What’s up man?”

“Me?” He asks and tries to look casual, but horribly fails. “N-nothing.”

“Take one.” I say gently hand him a machete. “It might come in handy.”

“I can’t see, Charlie.” They snap, tears forming in their eyes. “I can’t fucking see! I’m fucking useless.” 

“Hey. Don’t say that.” Sneeg says and looks to Ranboo. “You can hear the smallest shit dude.”

“Yeah.” I agree. “You can tell when one of us is upset by our fucking breathing man.”

“Plus you heard the wire monster twice so far.” Sneeg adds in. “We didn’t even see it before you heard it.”

“You might not see very well but that does not mean you are useless, Ranboo.” My tone softens. “You are not useless, Ranboo.”

“But my hands.” Ranboo frowns to their bandaged hands. “There’s no way I can hold that.”

“You might be right there.” Sneeg says and walks over to Ranboo. “But remember you’re not useless dude.”

“Thanks guys.” Ranboo smiles slightly and turns their head towards us. “I can be like the lookout that can’t look. I’ll be the hearout.”

“There’s that fucking terrible humor I love so much!” Sneeg smiles warmly and takes the machete from Ranboo, strapping on the belt and loading his pistol. “Now let’s go fuck up some wires.”

Chapter Text

Sneeg's POV:

“I can hold Ranboo’s arm to make sure he doesn’t fall.” Charlie suggests as he helps me move the shelf out of the way of the back door. 

“Yes. please.” Ranboo sighs and slumps against the wall slightly. “I hate this.”

“Hate what?” I ask and turn to Ranboo, his head is down and he is messing with the sleeves of his jacket.

“This whole situation.” they say and frown, bringing their head up to hit it on the wall behind them. “I can’t see shit. I know you guys are acting like it isn’t a huge pain in the ass, but I know it is. You guys have to go out of your way to help m-” Ranboo was cut off by Charlie walking over to him and giving him a tight hug. 

“Just shut up with that pitiful talk, Ranboo.” Charlie pulls away and punches Ranboo’s shoulder playfully. “Look I know you’re a little…fucked up right now.”

“Wow, thanks man.” Ranboo says jokingly, his tone is laced with sarcasm. “That really helped.”

 “But!” Charlie yelled and held up his finger. “You didn’t let me finish man.”

“Okay, continue.” Ranboo said and held his arms out to Charlie. “The floor is all yours man.”

“Thank you.” Charlie smiled. “You may be a little fucked up right now but I’d rather have a fucked up Ranboo than no Ranboo.”

“I feel the same way dude.” I laugh and walk over to ranboo, putting my hand on his shoulder. “Id choose a fucked up ranboo every time.”

“Wow.” Ranboo laughs and rolls their eyes. “That really just made all of my sadness go away guys, it just all left when it heard those amazing speeches.”

“Score! We made Ranboo slightly less fucked up now.” Charlie says and turns on his heels, walking towards the door.

“See?” I say and turn to the door as well. “I knew we could do it.”

Ranboo shakes his head and follows after us, a small smile on his face. When I get to the door I shush the other two and get the gun out of the holster and open the door slightly, looking around for any hideous humanoid wire monsters walking around. When I triple-checked the hallway and was sure it was safe I turned to Charlie and nodded. He nodded back at me and grabbed Ranboo’s arm, interlocking their arms at the elbow. 

I walk out of the hallway, gun drawn and finger on the trigger. We make it all the way down the hallway and I quickly pull out the map that the Puzzler had messily drawn. It has a rough blueprint-style drawing of the three floors of the mall, a red line labeled “FOLLOW THIS LINE TO ESCAPE” written in big, bold, red letters. The line goes all the way down the hallway and turns left into the main part of the mall, then past three stores and turns right into another small hallway like the one we are in.

“Okay, guys.” I whisper and turn to Ranboo and Charlie.”We are going to go into the main part of the mall, but not for long. We need to just pass by three stores then there is another little hallway like this one to the right.”

“Okay.” Ranboo says and closes their eyes, slowly turning their head a couple of times. “I don’t hear anything at the moment, so we should go now.”

“Alright, stay right behind me.” I whisper and turn around.

“Ranboo if you hear anything tap my arm three times, Okay?” Charlie whispers and taps my shoulder. “And Sneeg I’ll blow air towards you like this-” He blows a stream of air from his mouth, it hit the back of my head, causing my hair to blow slightly.

“Alright, good plan Charlie.” I smile and turn back to Charlie and Ranboo. “If it all goes to shit I will shoot at the wire monster to draw it towards me.Charlie, you go and immediately get Ranboo safe then when you know they are safe then, and only then, you can come to help me if I need it. I should always be the last concern. You two need to protect each other-”

“Sneeg…” Ranboo whispers, their eyes filling with tears. “Please be safe. I understand that I need to be protected but not at the expense of your life.”

“I know.” I say and gently rest my hand on Ranboo’s shoulder. “But I have a long-range weapon. I can shoot at the wire monster from afar and not have to worry about getting attacked as much. But neither you nor Charlie has a long-ranged weapon. I mean swords are cool, but the gun is better for a distraction. I promise I won’t let the wire monster kill me. I have two swords as well if it comes to it. I took down the TV headed bitch with my bare hands almost. I will be fine, Ranboo. I promise.”

“They’re not swords.” Ranboo giggles and points to my swords. “They’re machetes”

“Nuh Uh.” I say and playfully swat his hand down. “Swords.”

“They’re technically closer to knives. They’re smaller and sharper than an average ‘sword’ would be classified as. They are also made of different metals. The machete is composed of a heavier and stronger metal and is usually harder to control, while the sword is composed of a more lightweight metal and is usually ideal for combat. Machetes are not typically used for self-defense.” Ranboo says matter-of-factly.

“Okay. First off, you’re a nerd.” I scoff and roll my eyes, a small smile forming on my face. “And second off, what is a machete used for then mister ‘I am a nerd and sit on my ass all day researching the fucking difference between a machete and a sword.’”

“They are best for cutting through vines and shit.” Charlie chimes in, giggling quietly. “You absolute fucking idiot, have you never seen a movie where they go around the jungle slashing the shit out of trees and shit?”

“Oh kay.” I say and playfully roll my eyes. “Well, now they are going to cut through funky ass wire dudes. Let's get moving you nerds.”

They both giggle quietly for a second and quiet down as we exit the small hallway. I turn to the left and slowly make my way across the first store. We take a few more steps and I feel Charlie blow a stream of air towards me. I freeze in my tracks and slowly turn to Ranboo. They are pointing behind us, a terrified expression on their face. They hold up three fingers and my heart stops. I scoot closer to Ranboo and whisper in their ear softly.

“There are three of them?” I ask, trying to sound calm.

“A-at least…” Ranboo whispers and closes his eyes again, focusing on the sound. “I don’t know how far th-”

Before Ranboo could say anything else a terrible sound erupts behind us. It sounded like a fire alarm and a fire truck had some kind of fucked up kid. It was earsplittingly loud and poor Ranboo immediately covered his ears. Then the sound stops and the eerie sound of radio static follows it. We all three look at each other and start running. We pass two more stores and haul ass to the right and into the small hallway. When we all get into the hallway Ranboo looks around frantically. 

“It’s really close.” he whispers.

Charlie and I freeze, listening closely, trying to figure out what ranboo hears. Then I hear it. It almost sounds like a fan, much like the sound of the wind. Charlie and I look at each other, trying to figure out what the hell to do. 

“It's coming from this way.” Ranboo whispers and points to the left.

“I think we have to go that way…” I say and check the map again. “No thank god, we go right here for a while. Then there should be stairs somewhere leading us to the third floor.”

“Okay lets fucking go then.” Charlie says and interlaces his arm with Ranboo’s. “I don’t want to find out what kind of fucked up shit makes that noise.”

“Me too, let's go.” I catch my breath. “Follow me. Ranboo let us know If you hear anything or if that…wind thing gets closer.”

“Okay.” I hear them say quietly, almost as if they are concentrating on something. Hopefully listening for any other wire monsters.

When we get close enough to the stairs to see them I feel Charlie blow a stream of air towards me again. I immediately turn to ranboo and they point up, their hand shaking. Charlie and I both look up and as we do a wire monster breaks through the air vent and falls on Ranboo, sharp claw-like fingers starting to burrow into their chest. They scream out in pure agony. Charlie reacts before I do and starts slashing at the tangle of wires with both of his swords.

“Get the fuck off of my friend!” Charlie yells, tears falling down his face. “Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!”

The monster starts making the god-awful fire alarm sound. I frantically look at the monster, trying to find out what the hell it was possessing this time. Then I see it, a fire alarm. I aim the pistol at it and shoot it. As soon as the bullet passes through the small white circle all of the wires fall, only the ones untouched by Charlie’s swords try to get away, slithering like a snake. I run after them and take out the last few stragglers. When I turn back Charlie is throwing the wires off of Ranboo.

“Shit.” I say and run back over to them. “Let me help you move him.”

Charlie and I help move Ranboo out of the pile of wires. He looks awful. Most of his bandages have came off of his face, some of the wounds have opened up and are slowly dripping blood. His shirt is completely ripped apart. There are wires still stuck in his chest. The sight of him reminds me of Charlie, laying on the floor, unconscious, wires extruding from his chest.

“G-guys…?” Ranboo says weakly. “It hurts…”

“Shit!” Charlie says and hugs Ranboo close. “Ranboo I’m so sorry.” c

“Sneeg behind you!” ranboo yells and tries to point behind me. 

I turn around and see another monster, only this one has a radio as a head. It realizes I see it and starts making the eerie sound of radio static. I quickly turn back to the other two, Ranboo is trying to stand up, and Charlie is helping them get to their feet. Charlie shoots me a worried look and starts walking toward the stairs quickly. I turn back to the monster and start shooting the wires, the body of the monster getting pushed around by the impact of the bullets. I ran out of bullets and shove the gun into one of my vest pockets. I grab both of the swords and start swinging them around, not thinking of anything but cutting each and every wire and killing this thing.

Once I cut all the wires, I quickly reload the pistol and shoot the radio a couple of times, making sure no other wires can possess it. Then I hear Charlie scream bloody murder and Ranboo yelling my name, I turn back to the stairs and see a third monster, this time it has possessed a blender. 

Shit!

I run over to them to see Charlie attacking the monster, but it has grabbed his hand and is slowly forcing it toward the blender. Both of his swords are on the ground and Ranboo is feeling around, trying to locate one of them in the dim stairwell. Without thinking I start shooting the wires, this distracts the monster enough so Charlie can break free and grab pick up the sword again. He screams and starts slashing at the wires. Ranboo finds the sword and does the same, only more careful as to not accidentally hit Charlie.

When I finally get there Charlie and Ranboo had already cut all of the wires. I quickly shoot the blender a couple of times and turn to Charlie. He is panting and looking at ranboo, a worried look on his face. I follow his gaze and see that Ranboo is breathing hard and is having a hard time standing up straight. He begins to fall backwards and I catch him.

“Ranboo!” I yell and hold him close. “Charlie we need to get these wires off of him and get his chest to stop bleeding.”

“Okay, I have some gauze and rubbing alcohol in my vest pockets, we can use that. Cut up his jacket and use that too” Charlie says and starts digging in his vest pockets. “Move him up onto flat ground, off of the stairs.”

“Okay.” I say and carefully pick up Ranboo. They whimper in pain, trying to take the wires out of their chest. “No don’t do that, Ranboo. I know it hurts but Charlie and I will help you.”

He whimpers again and drops his hand to the side. I set him down carefully on the floor when I get to the top of the stairs. Charlie comes and sits next to me. He looks at me sadly and starts pulling on one of the wires still borrowed into Ranboo’s flesh. It makes a terrible squelch as it exits his body, and blood starts to flow out when it is fully removed. Ranboo starts screaming and tries to push Charlie away, looking around frantically.

“I know it hurts, Ranboo.” Charlie frowns and moves the hair out of Ranboo’s eyes. “But it has to be done. It hurts worse when they are in, trust me.”

“S-Sneeg…?” Ranboo reaches his bandaged hand out towards me and I take it carefully.

“I’m still here, Dude.” I frown. “It’s gonna hurt like hell but it needs to be done. We will do it as fast as we can, I promise.”

“Just get it over with.” he says and brings his hands down, griping onto his jacket tightly. “How many are there?”

“Six more.” I sigh. “I’m so sorry, Ranboo. You ready?”

Ranboo just sighs deeply and nods. Charlie and I share one last glance and start taking the wires out of Ranboo’s chest. At first, Ranboo was screaming as we did it but when we had taken out all but one he had just started crying silently, eyes shut tightly, and jaw tense. The only sound that could be heard was the sickening sound of the wire being pulled out of Ranboo's chest, the wet squelch making me want to vomit. When all of the wires were out Charlie put his hand on Ranboo’s head softly, making Ranboo jump slightly.

“Hey Ranboo, we are going to clean the wounds and bandage them. We need to cut your jacket.” Charlie says and gently pulls the jacket.

“O-okay…” Ranboo choked out, their throat raw from screaming. They carefully sit up so Charlie and I could take off their jacket. 

Charlie helps them lay back down and I pull out my sword and cut the jacket unto strips. I then look to Charlie again and start carefully cleaning Ranboo’s chest with a piece of Ranboo’s jacket covered in alcohol. Charlie does the same, stopping every couple seconds to tell Ranboo how strong they are being, and sweetly shushing them. After a couple minutes of cleaning and bandaging Charlie stops, looking up at me sadly. He looks at Ranboo’s face, now almost completely unbandaged and covered in tears. Then he sets down the piece of Ranboo’s jacket and scoots over to Ranboos head, picking it up slowly and slowly raking his hands through their hair. I nod at Charlie and finish cleaning and bandaging the last wound.

“F-fuck…” Ranboo whispers softly and brings his hands to Charlie’s in his hair. “Thank you guys…”

“No problem man.” Charlie says and gently helps Ranboo up. “Can you walk or no?”

“N-no.” Ranboo says and carefully wipes his face. “I can’t feel anything but pain at the moment.”

“It’s alright, I’ll carry you, We are almost to the roof.” I say and carefully pick Ranboo up. “We are going to get you out of here. You’re about to be free, Ranboo.”

I stand up and hand Charlie the map. He starts walking and I follow him, Ranboo listening carefully for any other wire monsters. Charlie starts walking faster when the final staircase comes into view. He turns around, a smile plastered on his face.

“Ranboo there is the door!” he laughs and breaks into a run. “Come on sneeg!” 

“Okay!” I laugh and hold Ranboo carefully and follow behind Charlie, running up the stairs. “Right behind you.”

When we get to the top of the staircase I hear a gunshot and feel a searing pain on my side and I feel the bullet tear through my body. I scream out in pain and almost drop Ranboo. I turn around and see an old white man standing at the bottom of the stairs. Another much larger wire monster stands beside him, the sound of wind suddenly getting louder. I look closer and realize it has possessed an old radiator.

“You aren’t going anywhere.” The old man says and aims the gun at Charlie. “I did not kidnap all of you just for you to leave now. I still need you for my shows!”

“W-what…?” Ranboo says and looks towards the old man. “Your shows?” Ranboo carefully slides out of my arms, leaning against the rails.

“Yes.” The old man laughs evilly. “My. Shows. You are my actors. My puppets. I am the founder.”

“You sick fuck.” I wince slightly and feel blood pouring out of my bullet wound. Charlie comes to my side and applies pressure to my side. 

“Why?” Charlie said and flashed a worried look to Ranboo. “Why are you doing this?”

“Population control.” The founder says, smirking slightly. “It’s simple. The earth has too many people, I have to kill them somehow. I might as well choose famous people. It gets my shows more views, and it allows me to kill as many people as I please.”

“What about me!?” Charlie yells and grabs the gun from my hand, pointing it at the founder. “I was a kid!”

“Easy, your family owed us money. They didn’t pay us back in time so we took you.” The Founder laughs. “Turns out the public love a child actor with a cute face and bubbly personality.” I couldn’t just kill you off once and lose all of the views. So, I just figured out a way to bring people back from the dead, and boom! Someone-or you in this situation-” He points to Charlie. “can be tortured and killed as many times as I want and stay in the show to maximize views.”

“You bitch!” Charlie yells, shooting The Founder in the head, his body slumps and falls to the floor. Upon seeing the Founder fall to the floor the wire monster yells out and comes crawling toward us.

 “Charlie! Take Ranboo and run!” I yell and grab the gun from him, the only thing I can think of is saving Ranboo and Charlie. “I’ll take care of this thing.”

“No, Sneeg!” Ranboo cries and tries to walk towards me. “Charlie, please protect him.”

“W-what?” Charlie asks, his face unreadable.

“Protect Ranboo for me!” I yell and start shooting the monster. “Get to the roof”

“No Sneeg!” Ranboo screams as Charlie grabs their arm and pulls them up the stairs. “S-Sneeg you promised you would make it out with us!”

“I’m sorry Ranboo…Charlie…” I turn towards them and smile. “I promised I’ll keep you safe. That’s what I’m doing.”

The wire monster gets ahold of me, its wires digging deeply into my body. Electrical shocks pulsed through my body. The monster leans down and connects the searing hot surface of the radiator to my face, burning off my skin. I scream out in pure agony. I take the swords out of the belt and start slashing at the wires, my energy quickly draining. It seems like the more wires I cut the more wires burrow their way into my stomach and the harder the radiator is pressed down onto my face. Eventually, the monster slumped down putting all of its weight onto the radiator. I faintly hear Ranboo and Charlie yelling my name, but I can’t do anything anymore. I drop the swords and try to scream, but I can’t. I can’t move. I can’t feel anything but excruciating pain until eventually I don’t. 

I am sorry Ranboo…Charlie. I broke my promise…I hope you will forgive me…I hope we…meet each other in…another life…I…

Chapter Text

Chalrie's POV:

The sound of Sneeg's screams echoes through the empty mall. The sound makes my stomach churn. I see the monster leaning over him, wires slowly entering his torso. The sight of it makes me remember just how painful it was, just how slow and antagonizing the monsters are with their movements. The monster's radiator head is pressed to Sneeg’s face, burning it. The sickening smell of burnt flesh quickly makes its way to us and makes me gag. The contentious sounds of the radiator and Sneeg’s flesh slowly being burnt come together to create a noise that should only exist in the darkest pits of hell.

“Sneeg? Sneeg!” Ranboo yells and turns to me, putting his hands on my shoulder. “Charlie, we need to help him.”

“Y-yeah. Okay.” I say and grab Ranboo’s arm carefully. “Can you walk?”

“For Sneeg, yes.” They say and slowly grab one of the machete’s out of my belt. “Charlie, we need to save him.”

“Okay, let's go.” I grab one of the machetes as well and look over to Ranboo. Their eyes are welling up with tears and their face is tense. Their eyebrows are drawn together and their mouth is pursed, trying not to sob. “L-let’s go save Sneeg.”

We both speed walk down the stairs. When we finally are close enough to start attacking the wire monster Sneeg had taken out both of his machetes and was hacking away at the wires with all of his strength. The monster started pushing the radiator down harder on Sneeg’s head causing his screams to grow in volume and emotion. I felt myself tearing up just hearing my friend in so much pain. Ranboo and I also start hacking away at the wires, Sneeg’s cries of pain only causing us to swing the machetes faster.

“Sneeg stay with us man!” I yell. “Sneeg we can’t lose you.”

“Sneeg!” Ranboo cries, tears streaming down his cheeks. “S-Sneeg please, you promised.”

When we finally cut most of the wires Sneed had gone limp, the machetes falling out of hands and down the stairs, the loud metal clanging made me shiver. The wire monster falls away from Sneeg and starts falling down the stairs as well, making a much louder noise than the light machetes. I chase after it, finally cutting the last few wires when it lands at the bottom of the stairs. Without thinking I pull out the pistol and shoot the radiator a couple of times, tears blurring my vision.

“S-Sneeg…” I hear Ranboo say weakly. “Sneeg you p-promised…”

I turn around to see Ranboo sitting on the floor, leaning over Sneeg. Sneeg’s head gently resting on Ranboo's lap. Ranboo’s head is facing down and his breathing sounds forced. His hands are gently combing through Sneeg’s long hair while his tears land on the deformed and seared flesh that was once Sneeg's face. The sight of it makes me slump to the floor and cry. I run my hands through my hair and pull it roughly, I scream loudly and ball my hands into fists, punching the floor underneath me repeatedly. I keep punching the floor until I feel a soft hand on the small of my back, I pause for a second and go right back to punching the hard concrete floor as hard as I can, ignoring the excruciating pain that was shooting down my arms.

“C-Charlie…Charlie stop, please.” Ranboo says and sinks down beside me, grabbing my arms roughly, causing him to wince slightly because of the sudden pressure on his bandaged hands. I immediately stop and look up at him, eyes still full of tears. “You’re going to hurt yourself, Charlie…”

Ranboo gently wraps me into a hug and squeezes me tightly, whimpering slightly at the pressure on their chest wounds. I try to pull away so I don’t hurt them and they just pull me closer. One hand starts to play with my hair softly and the other one stays on my back, rubbing small circles. I gently rest my head on their chest and just cry. There is nothing else to do at this point. Sneeg is dead and that is all that I can think about. My brain shuts off, I just cry into Ranboo’s chest while they play with my hair. After who knows how long both of Ranboo’s hands are running through my hair, braiding it loosely and gently undoing it before starting again.

“Ranboo he promised…” I hiccup and bring my arms around Ranboo, carefully hugging him tighter. “But now he-he’s dead.” 

“Y-yeah. I know.” He sighs and stops playing with my hair. “It fucking sucks…”

I gently pull away from Ranboo and wince at the pain in my hands. I look down to them and my breath hitches. My knuckles are bruised, swollen, and there is blood slowly oozing from the various cuts on my knuckles.

“We can’t leave him here…” I whisper hoarsely. “He doesn’t deserve to stay here.”

Yeah.” Ranboo rests his chin on my head. “He deserves to be free from Showfall. We can’t let them get ahold of him and revive him.”

The thought of Showfall finding Sneeg’s lifeless corpse and doing their sick sciency shit to revive him makes my stomach churn. I shiver and bury my head deeper into Ranboo’s chest. He squeezes me tighter in response. Then he pulls away and carefully takes my hands a little closer to his face. He strains his eyes to see how much damage I have done to myself.

“Charlie…” Ranboo sighs and lets go of my hands. “Let me clean your hands. Get out the stuff.”

“Fine.” I roll my eyes and pull out the gauze and alcohol from one of my vest pockets. “But quickly so we can get S-Sneeg and leave.”

 “Okay.” Ranboo says and rips a small piece of his torn jacket off. He pours some alcohol into it and carefully cleans up the knuckles on my left hand. I wince and pull my hand back slightly. “Sorry.” He whispers and wraps my hand in gauze. He finishes up the right hand and puts the gauze and alcohol into one of his pockets and stands up.

“Let's get the fuck out of here.” I say and stand up. 

Ranboo nods at me and starts walking toward the stairs. I follow behind them, trying to look anywhere but Sneeg’s mangled corpse. Eventually, my eyes make their way to him. The wires are still embedded into his chest, blood steadily pouring out of the wounds, slowly pooling on the steps and flowing down the stairs toward us. I look away quickly, grabbing onto the handlebars to steady myself. When we get to Sneeg’s body I look over to Ranboo. They nod at me and together we each grab one arm, pulling Sneeg up the stairs. When we get to the last step Ranboo clears their throat.

“This is it.” He looks down at Sneeg sadly, a tear falling from his cheek, landing on Sneeg’s scorched forehead. “Let’s see what is out there.”

“Yeah.” I sigh and twist the door handle slowly. “Let's see.”

I open the door and am blinded by the warm touch of the sunlight. I hear Ranboo laugh softly. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until now. It hasn’t been even a couple of hours since all three of us were laughing about random shit on the floor of that store. It hasn’t even been a couple of minutes since there were three of us, but somehow Ranboo’s laugh brought me some kind of comfort that I cannot explain.

“It’s funny because I can’t see.” Ranboo laughs sadly. “But I am sure It is beautiful.” 

“It is.” I say quietly. “It is beautiful.”

It was truly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The mall was standing alone in a field of long grass and trees. There was a gentle wind that made the grass appear like a vast and never-ending sea with gentle waves. The sun had started to set and the beautiful pink and purple hues were cast upon the sea of grass, making the grassy field look like a sea that could only be seen in a dream. Every so often there is a tree, standing tall and proud over the painted sea. Just over the horizon to the south, I can see the faint outlines of a city skyline. 

“It looks colorful.” Ranboo sighs sadly. “Raw and beautiful colors.”

I look away from the colorful scene in front of me and look toward Ranboo and Sneeg. Ranboo has tears streaming down his cheeks, looking out to the rainbow of colors before us. Sneeg has fallen out of our grasp and is laying on the floor motionless.

I wish you could see this Sneeg…You would love this.

“Alright, let's find a way down. We need to get as far from this fucking mall as possible.” I say and lift Sneeg up again with the help of Ranboo. We move away from the door and I slam the door shut, happy to finally be on the other side of these walls.

“Yeah, we need to find someone and tell them about this place.” Ranboo says and sinks to the floor next to Sneeg, their hand going to gently comb through Sneegs hair again. “End Showfall Media forever.”

“I’ll look around for a way to get down, you rest.” I say and walk towards the edge of the building. 

When I Reach the edge of the building and look down I see the thing that window washers use to clean the taller windows. I laugh excitedly and run toward it. When I get there, I try to find a way to bring it up. On the right side of the machine there are two buttons, one labeled ‘up’ and one labeled ‘down’. I push the ‘up’ button and start walking toward Ranboo while the machine brings the platform up.

“What is that!” Ranboo stands up quickly, looking around erratically. “Charlie! Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, Ranboo.” I say and run over to them, gently grabbing their shoulders. “I found a way down, it's one of those platforms that window washers stand on to clean the upper floors windows.”

“Oh that's perfect!” Ranboo giggles and grabs my shoulders as well, shaking them slightly. “Let’s get off of this roof.”

We both grab Sneeg and head toward the platform. When we get there I carefully help Ranboo into the platform, then they help me get Sneeg onto the platform as well. After that I push the ‘down’ button and get on the platform as well. Ranboo is sitting down next to Sneeg, messing with his hoodie strings. I sit down next to Ranboo and sigh deeply. They looks toward me and frown slightly.

“We should bury him.” Ranboo says and pulls his hand away from Sneeg’s cold corpse. “He deserves a proper resting place.”

“Yeah, he does.” I say and look out toward the horizon. The sun had set now the once colorful sea of grass was now painted with an unsettling green-ish brown color. A little ways off there is a weeping willow tree dancing in the wind.

That is the perfect place to bury Sneeg. The tree will cast shade over him as he rests, and he will be surrounded by this beautiful sea of grass. Every evening the grass will turn the mesmerizIng shades of pink-ish purple as a celebration of his life.

“Do you see a place?” Ranboo asks sadly, turning to face me.

“Yeah. I did.” I say and look back to Ranboo. “It is a beautiful spot with a weeping willow tree, I think it will be perfect for Sneeg.”

“It sounds perfect.” Ranboo smiles and closes his eyes, sighing loudly. “He deserves a perfect spot.”

Ranboo and I set in silence for the remainder of the descent. When the platform finally reaches the bottom I help Ranboo down and hand them Sneeg carefully. I hopped off of the platform and helped Ranboo pick Sneeg’s limp body up. We wordlessly drag Sneeg toward the tree in the distance. When we are about halfway to the tree Ranboo clears his throat, making me look at him quickly.

“So…” Ranboo pauses and turns his head towards me. “How far is this tree? My chest is starting to really hurt.”

“We are about halfway there.” I say and lean Sneeg’s body more on me so it is lighter for Ranboo. “Just a little longer, Ranboo.”

Ranboo nods and starts walking a little faster. When we eventually make it to the tree Ranboo immediately collapses. I grab a large stick off of the ground and start attempting to dig a hole for Sneeg a couple feet away from the tree on the lush grassy ground. The ground is softer than I expected it to be so I only had to hack at the ground for about thirty minutes before I had dug out a hole big enough for him. 

“Okay, let’s get this over with.” I sigh and walk towards Ranboo. He is slumped near Sneegs mangled corpse, crying softly.

“O-okay.” Ranboo muttered and stood up, wiping tears from his cheeks.

Ranboo and I Remove Sneeg's vest and set it aside. Then we carefully drag him to the hole and set him down gently. Once he is in the hole we start to cover him with the soft dirt. When we get done Ranboo sinks down over the freshly uprooted dirt. A guttural scream mixes with a sob to create a truly heartbreaking sound. I quickly get down next to him and pull him into a tight hug. He sobs louder and slumps into my arms. I start crying as well and rest my head on Ranboo’s shoulder.

“F-fuck he is gone.” Ranboo says between sobs. “Charlie he-he’s gone!”

“Shit…” I sigh out. “I know Ranboo…”

“Charlie, he promised us he w-wouldn’t die!” Ranboo screams. “He-he promised!”

“I know…” I repeat, unable to say anything else.

“He fucking promised us that he would b-be okay, Charlie! He told us not to w-worry about him! He s-said to protect each other, not him! He-he…” Ranboo’s volume grew louder with every word he said until he couldn't form words and was just sobbing in my arms. He was shaking and his breath was beginning to become panicked. “Fuck this hurts so bad!”

Chapter Text

Ranboo's POV:

“Fuck this hurts so bad.” I cry out, my breath coming to me in short and shallow breaths. I close my eyes tightly and try to fix my breathing, but it only makes it worse. I start to feel lightheaded and my fingers go numb. My heart is beating so loud that I can hear it reverberating around my skull. My chest tightens and my stomach turns upside down and contorts, only increasing my panic. All I can think about is that Sneeg is dead. Sneeg is truly gone now.

“H-hey…” Charlie hugs me tighter. “Ranboo breathe.”

He pulls away slightly, grabbing my face in his hands. He starts breathing slowly, loud enough that I can focus on it. I try to breathe in time with him but it doesn't work. I break out of his grasp and start digging up  Sneeg’s grave with my bare hands, my injured hands doing a poor job of scooping the dirt. Charlie quickly grabs my hands and brings them close to his chest. He puts his forehead on mine and starts breathing again like before. I focus on his breathing, finally opening my eyes to see the blurry image of Charlie’s greenish-blue eyes looking back at me.

“C-Charlie.” I sob out and shut my eyes tightly, breath starting to become uncontrolled again. “It hurts so bad.”

“Hey, look at me.” Charlie says sternly, and gently rests his hands on my cheeks. “Open your eyes and focus on me. Breathe with me. Focus on me, look at my face and eyes. Feel my hands on your cheeks. Feel the earthy ground beneath us. Hear the wind blowing through the grass. Don’t think about anything else, just focus on what you can see, feel, and hear in front of you in this exact moment.”

“O-okay.” I whisper out and open my eyes. “Okay…”

Charlie starts breathing in and out slowly and I focus on it, trying my best to match his deep breaths. I can’t breathe! I look into his eyes, my sight is blurred but I can still see the emotion and fear in his bloodshot eyes. My chest is suffocating me! I can see his furrowed eyebrows. I can see his tear-stained cheeks. I can see the tears falling from his puffy eyes. I can feel his steady hands pressed against my cheeks.  I am not in control anymore! I can feel the freshly dug up dirt under me, shifting slightly as I try to regain control over my body. I can't hear anything! I can hear the whistling wind gently snake through the long blades of grass. Everything is muffled! I can hear the leaves of the weeping willow dance in the breeze. I can hear Charlie taking deep breaths and I finally start to regain control. The tightness in my chest eases, I regain feeling in my fingers, and eventually stop feeling lightheaded. 

+++

“You okay?” Charlie asks and pulls away from me, his hands move from my cheeks and gently drop into his lap. “Ranboo?”

“Y-yeah…” I breathe out shakily. “I-I’m good now.”

“I’m glad, man.” I can hear the smile on Charlie’s voice. “Want to try to get some rest? It’s dark and I am exhausted.”

“Jesus Christ.” I laugh and carefully stand up, my legs still tingling slightly from the panic attack. “I just realized how tired I am.”

“So that’s a yes, I assume.” Charlie stands up and grabs my arm carefully, helping me get out of the freshly dug up dirt. “We can sleep further in the field in the grass or under the tree. I don’t care either way so it’s up to you.”

“Erm. I think the grass will be annoying.” I say and focus on the steady sound of the grass twisting and bending in the wind. “It would be blowing over us, it would feel like little bugs crawling on us.”

“Oh fuck that.” Charlie laughs and starts walking toward the tree, dragging me with him. “Under the tree it is.”

“That definitely sounds better.” I laugh as well and follow Charlie under the tree.

“Here, stay here.” Charlie says when we get to the tree. “I’m gonna clear some sticks away so we can sleep.”

Then a sudden wave of sadness washes over me. Sneeg is dead. Sneeg is gone and it is all my fault. If only I had just been killed by that fucking box. If I would have just died Sneeg and Charlie wouldn’t have had to move so slowly through the mall. If I would have just died Sneeg wouldn’t have to sacrifice himself. Sneeg would be alive right now.

“Okay, there!” I hear Charlie say to my left. I turn in that direction and see Charlie walking toward me. He reaches out his hand for me to take. “I cleared all of the sticks out of this spot, it should suffice for tonight.”

“Okay!” I smile and take Charlie’s hand, walking carefully over the roots so I don’t trip. Even though I was trying my hardest I still managed to get my foot caught on one of the roots that was growing just above the dirt. I start to fall forward and let out a small yelp.

“Ranboo!” Charlie quickly wraps his arms around me. “You okay?”

I quickly suck in a breath and force myself to not scream as I feel one of the wounds on my chest open up, causing a steady stream of blood to begin to ooze from it. Charlie notices this and immediately sets me down carefully. He quickly starts digging around in the pockets of his vest. His movements grow more panicked and he quickly begins to look visibly tense. suddenly I realize what he is looking for.

“It’s in my pocket, Charlie.” I say and reach for the gauze and alcohol in my pocket. Charlie instantly relaxes and lets out a loud sigh. I hand it to him and he carefully unzips my vest to reveal my ripped shirt and bloody chest. The lower half of my jacket was haphazardly ripped into strips and tied around my chest in an attempt to stop the bleeding from when I was attacked by the wire monster. 

“O-okay I'm going to have to clean this, Ranboo.” Charlie mutters and looks up at me. “It is super dirty, and I don't want it to get infected…”

“Okay.” I lay down gently and close my eyes.

I hear Charlie unscrew the alcohol bottle. His breath hitches and I open my eyes to see him unmoving, looking at me. I smile at him and look down to my chest. Wherever it's bleeding, it’s bleeding quite a bit. The blood has soaked through the jacket fabric. I frown and try to carefully untie the makeshift bandages, only to somehow make them tighter. I groan in annoyance and slam my head down on the hard dirt.

“I can’t fucking do anything!” I yell out and start to tear up. “I can’t do anything right. I can’t see anything but fucking blurry dots.”

“Hey.” Charlie says and slowly starts to untie the fabric around my chest. “Don’t say that. You can do so much more than you think, Ranboo.”

“Yeah right.” I scoff and flinch slightly at the feeling of my wounds getting uncovered and coming into contact with the cool breeze. “You’re just saying that.”

“No, I’m not.” Charlie says sternly and pours some of the alcohol onto a clean part of the fabric that was wrapped around my chest. He starts to bring the soaked fabric toward my chest and stops. “When I say that I mean every word. None of us would have made it out of that mall if you weren’t there. Yo-”

“I don’t think that’s true.” I interrupt Charlie and grab his hand and force it down on my chest carefully. The pain is almost too much. I groan in pain and ball my hands into fists, definitely leaving little crescent-shaped marks on my palms.

Charlie’s hand starts to pull away from me but he stops and continues to clean up my chest, being extra careful to not let any of the fabric rub against my wounds. He carefully dabs the cloth all over my chest to get all of the dirt and dried blood off. After he finishes he takes off my poor excuse of a jacket and shakes it off, trying to get all of the dirt off of it. After he gets it as clean as possible, he rips the rest of the jacket into strips and helps me sit up a bit so he can wrap them around my chest. 

“I know you think you’re useless and can’t do anything right, but for the record.” Charlie pauses and gets closer to my face so I can see him clearly. “I personally think you’re so fucking strong and really good at doing all kinds of things.”

“Sure.” I mutter and carefully take my vest and tattered black shirt off, sucking in a breath at the pain. Charlie tries to help me, but I slap his hand away from me. “But I personally think I’m not.”

“Just because you can’t do the same things you could do before as well doesn’t make you useless.” Charlie leans back slightly and starts to wrap the newly ripped strips of the jacket around my chest. “You are focusing too much on the things that you can’t do too well. You can’t see very well but holy shit, you can hear so well man. You heard the monsters from like, halfway across the mall. I know I sound like a broken record but so do you. And if you’re going to keep saying such negative things about yourself I will keep proving you wrong.”

I tear up at his words and just sit in silence while he finishes up wrapping my chest and ties it tight enough so there would be pressure on the wounds but loose enough that it wouldn't be too uncomfortable for me to move. He grabs my vest off of the ground and shakes it out like he did my jacket and helps me put it on. After he zips it up I gently grab his hands and bring them to my face. I try to say something but all that comes out is a strained sob.

“C-Charlie.” I finally forced out in between sobs. “I hate myself! I hate all of the things that I have done, Charlie. I watched you die three fucking times, hell maybe even four I lost count at this point. I mean, fuck, who even knows how many times I’ve watched you die! I only remember the last few days. I know I have been there for way longer than that. Charlie I-”

Charlie interrupts my word vomit by gently grabbing my face. I immediately stop talking and my breath hitches. I hear Charlie sniffle and realize that he is crying as well. He quietly sobs and brings his forehead toward mine, resting them together while we both cry. I hesitantly bring my hands to Charlie's hair and gently rake my hands through it. 

“It's all over now, Ranboo. We are safe. Showfall is behind us. We are free.” Charlie pulls away and stands up, offering me his hand. “We don’t have to experience that anymore.”

“Y-yeah…” I hiccup and grab his hand, carefully standing up. “You’re right.”

“I know all that definitely sucked ass to see me...die.” Charlie whispers and gently wraps his arm around me to prevent me from falling again while we walk toward the spot Charlie cleared out earlier. “And I know nothing I say will help with that but thank you for telling me. And if you ever just need to cry, I’ll be here for you. Hell, I’ll probably cry with you.”

When we make it to the spot Charlie helps me sit down. Then he sinks down and sits to the left of me. I sigh out and lay down, looking at the blurred movements of the tree branches and hanging leaves dancing in the wind. I get lost in their gentle movements and just watch as the leaves elegantly move across each other. In between all of the leaves the small glow of the stars creates a scene that vaguely reminds me of a kaleidoscope. I look over to Charlie and see him sitting down, it looks as if he is looking at me, but I can’t see clear enough to actually tell.

“That tree is mesmerizing.” Charlie whispers and lays down next to me, staring up at the tree. “It’s crazy to think about it. This is actually my first time outside of that mall. I am actually free from Showfall, and their sick shows, and their mind control.”

“I’m sorry all of that happened to you.” I say and look toward Charlie.

“It’s not your fault, Ranboo.” He says and turns his head toward me. “But all that matters is the fact we never have to experience that again.”

“You’re right.” I smile and look away from Charlie.

 I look up at the tree again and watch the leaves waltzing around, not a care in the world. Charlie shuffles beside me and I hear him begin to quietly snore. I slowly start to drift off to sleep with the relaxing sound of the breeze dancing with the leaves and Charlie's soft snores.

Chapter Text

Charlie's POV:

I open my eyes and see the cabin set again. I try to yell for Ranboo but something is covering my mouth. My hands fly to my face and feel the cold touch of metal. My heart sinks and my stomach twists. I try to take it off, but it won't budge. The area around me is illuminated by the green light coming from my mask. I try to stand up but I can’t move. I look down to see that I am wearing that fucking suit again and a puddle of sticky blood is restricting my movements. I try to scream out again but the mask just grows tighter.

Suddenly a green light flashes over the whole set. My mask disappears and the blood on my suit turns into green slime. I try to stand up again, but I start to sink into the floor. I try to scream but I am cut off by something entering my mouth. With a flash of red my mask reappears, wires start to burrow into my throat. There was a searing pain as I felt the wires burrow deeper and deeper into the skin lining my throat. I let out a sob as the ground completely swallows me, crushing down on me and suffocating me.

“Charlie! Charlie!” Ranboo gently shakes me awake. “Charlie, it's just a dream.”

“Fuck!” I scream and sit up quickly. My hands go to my face, feeling it to make sure the mask is truly gone.

Ranboo wraps me into a tight hug and rests their chin on the top of my head. I sob and wrap my arms around Ranboo, holding onto them like my life depended on it. They bring their hands up to gently play with the hair at the top of my neck. They loosely braid it then gently undo it, only to start the process all over again. My whole body is tense and I start to find it hard to breathe. Ranboo notices this and pulls away enough so I could look at them. Their eyes flash with panic for a second but it is gone as quick as it came. they start taking loud exaggerated breaths, trying to get me to breathe with them. 

“Contertrate on my breathing, Charlie.” Ranboo says and puts their forehead on mine gently. “Breathe with me.”

“Y-yeah..” I hiccup. “Okay.”

I close my eyes and focus on Ranboo’s breath, trying to calm down. It doesn’t work immediately so I begin to panic again, my breath becomes even more ragged and forced. Ranboo notices this and gently places his hands on my back. He gently glides his hands up my back on the inhales and down on the exhales. I focus on the touch and l slowly start to breathe normally. Even after I regained control of my breath Ranboo keeps his hands gently intertwined on the small of my back, His forehead is still resting on mine and my eyes are closed. He pulls me closer into his chest and rests his chin on my shoulder.

“Want to talk about your nightmare?” Ranboo mutters and brings his hands to my hair, and once again he starts braiding it loosely and undoing it only to braid it again. “Y-you don’t have to though.”

“Can I ask you something?” I whisper into his chest, hugging him a little tighter. He grunts in pain and I loosen my hug slightly.

“Yes, of course.” Ranboo whispers back and pulls away but he keeps his hands in my hair. “What’s up man?”

“Why do you do that?” I ask and bring one of my hands toward his. “Not that I don't like it, but every time I am upset you braid my hair then unbraid it again and just keep doing that for a while.”

“I don't know.” Ranboo says and stops playing with my hair. “I guess that when I get upset, I find it easier to relax when I have something in my hands to focus on. And, I don’t know, I like people playing with my hair, so I just thought that you were the same.”

“That's valid, man.” I chuckle. “It actually helps me calm down as well, so it’s a win-win.”

Ranboo laughs as well and scoots away from me, laying back down. I lay down as well and look up to the star-filled sky. I let out a sigh and feel my eyelids grow heavy. I try to fight off sleep as long as I can but the next thing I know the sun is beating down on my face. I groan in protest and sit up slowly.

“Good morning.” Ranboo yawns and stretches beside me. “I take it you slept well apart from the nightmare.”

“Yeah. I slept pretty good considering the nightmare and literally sleeping on the fucking ground.” I chuckle and sit up. “How did you sleep, man?”

“I slept fine.” Ranboo sits up as well and stretches again. I hear their back pop a couple t ofimes and he lets out the loudest sigh I have ever heard. “That was a good stretch.”

“Holy shit man.” I say in between giggles. “That was the biggest fucking sigh I have ever heard.”

“Awe, thanks man.” Ranboo smiles and does some weird gay shit with his hand. “Oh god why did I do that?”

“Jesus Christ.” I cackle and rub my eyes, almost making my glasses fall off of my ears “There is no way you are a real person. You are a anPC. You have scripted dialogue.”

“I am just a script.” Ranboo giggles and fixes the hair out of his eyes. “I am just a walking information box at this point. Like, if you ever get lost just j-just press ‘E’ and I’ll give you a vague statement that is absolutely no help whatsoever.”

“Alright man.” I giggle and put my hand on his shoulder. “I just hope you’re not one of those fucks that walks faster than my walking speed but slower than my running speed.”

“Aw shucks.” Ranboo snaps and giggles even more. “Looks like you’re going to have to switch from running to walking every couple of seconds until we get to our destination.”

“Dadgummit.” I laugh and cross my arms like a toddler having a hissy fit. “Is my sprint at least toggleable?”

“Nope.” Ranboo starts wheezing and even begins to cough.

“Well shit man.” I throw my hands up and giggle. “Why did I even buy this game?”

“I don’t know but that rock looks like it was once a large mountain, but weathering and erosion have taken its toll. And the once beautiful and majestic Mount Everest is now just a stone the size of the one that my little cousin Tucker threw at me that one time when I was but a boy.” Ranboo says with a straight face while keeping eye contact with me.

“What the fuck man.” I say in a high pitched voice and rub my eyes again.

Ranboo and I erupt into a fit of laughter. We laugh so hard that both of us begin coughing and every time we start to calm down, we make eye contact and we just start laughing even more. This goes on for so long that I am convinced that both of us have six packs on our six packs. Eventually, we have to turn around and not look at each other until we both stop laughing.

“God my stomach hurts so bad, dude.” Ranboo sighs and lays down on his back, resting his head on his hands.

“Dude same.” I stand up, groaning as I do so. “Fuck that was so funny.”

I look around to see the long grass still blowing in the breeze, only now it is a beautiful red orangish color. It vaguely resembles a lake of lava. There are occasional yellow patches in the grass that make It seem as if it is actually flowing. I get lost in the sight and just zone out.

“You good man?” Ranboo stands up and walks toward me slowly. “Your breath went all ‘not normal’ again.”

“Fuck, I hate this new superpower of yours.” I sigh and roll my eyes. “It’s just so beautiful. I have never seen any color except for a shit ton of different shades of green for my whole life. Green was the only thing that I knew. But now I see all of these colors. The red, orange, and yellow of the sky, the green grass, the deep blue night sky, and the purples and pinks of the sunset. The world is so beautiful.”

“I wish Sneeg could have seen this.” Ranboo says sadly and turns toward the freshly dug up ground that covers Sneeg’s corpse. “He would've loved this.”

“Hey.” I say and turn to look at Ranboo. They have their head down and there are tears slowly falling down their cheeks. Some of the tears get stuck in the dug-out flesh that was carved out by the box. I frown slightly and gently rest my hand on his shoulder. “As long as we remember him, he will stay with us. He died protecting us, Ranboo. The least we could do is live life to the fullest to honor him.”

“Y-yeah.” Ranboo sighs and wipes his tears, being careful to not make any of the cuts on his face open up again. “So where to now?”

“There is a city skyline that way, to the south.” I say and point in that direction. “It looks kinda far away so we might want to get moving now. I don’t know about you, but I don’t exactly love the idea of sleeping on the ground again.”

“Oh god, me either.” Ranboo chuckles and offers me his arm rather elegantly. “Alright, lead the way!”

“Jesus Christ.” I smile and take his arm in mine. "That was so fucking Victorian of you. What are you, a proper lady?”

“I’ll have you know, sir!” Ranboo said matter of factly. “I attended a finishing school in my youth. So yes, I am a ‘proper lady’”

“Good to know.” I laugh and walk toward the city. I see Sneeg’s vest laying on the ground out of the corner of my eye. “We should get all of the stuff out of Sneeg’s vest. The city looks kinda far away, we could be walking for a day or two.”

“Good idea.” Ranboo nods. “We should also eat one of those granola bars, I am so hungry.”

I grab Sneeg’s torn hunting vest. I take out all of the granola bars and water bottles that were in his pockets and put half of them into Ranboo’s vest and half of them into mine. I save one granola bar for each of us and give one of them to Ranboo. He takes it and immediately opens it and starts eating. 

“God, I didn’t think that granola could be this good.” Ranboo laughs and offers me his arm to take again. “I think that shows just how hungry I am right now.”

“Let me just be the judge of that.” I smile and take his arm while I open my granola bar. I take a bite of it and make a humming noise. “This isn’t half bad.”

“That's what I'm saying!” Ranboo giggles and takes another bite of his granola bar. “Damn. I cacan'tven see and I know this granola bar is leaving so many crumbs on the ground.”

“We literally are Hansel and Gretel. Just two little guys being dudes wandering around leaving a fucking mess without a fucking care in the world.” I giggle and take another bite, causing more crumbs to fall on the ground below us.

“Hey, at least the birds will have some food.” Ranboo shrugs and finishes off his granola bar and puts the trash in one of his vest pockets. “Maybe we can make some crow friends and they will bring us some shiny objects from time to time.”

“Holy shit man.” I giggle at the thought. “That would be so fucking cool.”

“I know right?” Ranboo does a small skip in excitement. “I want to become a crow overlord.”

“A fucking what?!” I cackle and turn to look at Ranboo. “Did you just say you want to be a fucking crow overlord?”

“Hell yeah, man.” Ranboo smiles and looks toward me. “Imagine just befriending all of the crows in a city by leaving all kinds of offerings for them. Then when you’re getting jumped or something the crows will swoop in and save you.”

“Sure man, why not.” I laugh and finish my granola bar, putting the trash into my jean pocket. “Might as well take over the government while you're at it.”

“World denomination!” Ranboo exclaims and does the excited skip thing again. “I will just visit every country in the world and befriend all of the crows. Then one day I will call upon all of my disciples and take over every country until my murder and I rule the world.”

“Your murder?” I look at Ranboo to see them smiling. They turn to face me, and their smile grows wider.

“Yeah. My murder.” He giggles. “That’s what a group of crows is called. A murder.”

“Holy shit!” I say between giggles. “That is so fucking sick man.”

“Yeah man. It’s pre-” Ranboo gets cut off because he almost trips on a stick on the ground.

I catch him and help him regain his balance. He just laughs it off and continues walking. I laugh quietly and check the ground in front of us, making sure that there isn’t anything else Ranboo might trip on. I look ahead and see that the city is slowly creeping closer. I turn around and see that the weeping willow is just a little green speck. 

“Wow. I’d say at this pace we should get to the city by tomorrow. We just need to keep walking and only rest at night. I don’t know about you but I want my chest wounds to be fixed up properly.” I turn back to Ranboo, awaiting his response.

“Definitely.” He smiles. “I can't wait to get proper medical attention and not just my jacket scraps tied around my chest.”

“I bet.” I frown and look at Ranboo’s chest. “The TV monster only had like three wires that went into me…you had a lot more than I did. It seems like the longer we were in there the worse the wire monsters got.”

“Yeah…” Ranboo says sadly. “Almost like they were mutating? Maybe not but did you see how many wires were in sneeg…There were at least twenty.”

I tear up at the thought of how much pain Sneeg must have been going through. When my monster was burrowing into me there were only three or four wires, and Ranboo had ten or eleven. Sneeg had twice as many as Ranboo did, in addition to all of the wires he also had the scorching hot radiator being forced onto his face. I shake my head to clear my thoughts and clear my throat.

“Hey, at least we are almost to the city. We can start a new life, a new life without Showfall Media. A life where we can have control over ourselves.” I smile at Ranboo and gently rest my head on his shoulder as we walk. “It’s going to be amazing.”

“Yeah.” I can hear the smile in Ranboo’s voice. “We are free from Showfall.”

Chapter Text

Ranboo's POV:

Charlie and I walk for a while, but eventually we have to take a second to sit down. The sun had risen and it started to get hot. We each had already drank a whole water bottle and I felt bad because Charlie had to keep me from falling flat on my face every five minutes. Charlie sees a little pond ahead of us and decide to rest there for the day.

“I don’t remember walking being so tiring.” I frown slightly and sink to the ground, gently playing with the grass as it sways back and forth.

“Hey, it looks like we are maybe about halfway there.” Charlie sighs as he plops down next to me. “Whaddya say we take a break for a while. Maybe we can travel a little tonight when it’s cooler?” He asks and I hear the exhaustion behind his words as he takes a sip from his water bottle.

“Yeah. I like that idea. You sound tired and I feel like such a damn burden.” I frown and wipe off the thin layer of sweat that has settled on my brow. “I’m sorry dude I’m really trying my be-”

“Ranboo if you don’t shut the fuck up I’m going to summon up the fucking Christian hell dimension door, shove your tall ass in there and leave you in there with Steven, Bart, and all of the little fucking hell bats..” Charlie laughs and begins to move his arms like he did when he was trying to summon a demon on set. “I’ve already told you that it’s fine. I’d rather you be blind than dead. And you’re not even fully blind, you’ve still got some sight left in you.”

“Yeah, I guess you're right.” I mutter and hold my hand in front of my face. My vision isn't the best but I can still see a very blurry shape that vaguely resembles my bloody hand. My heart begins to beat faster as I remember the last few days. Suddenly I feel a tear slide down my face.

“Hey, look at me man.” Charlie says and gently brings my hand down, leaning over so his face is in front of mine. “I will protect you Ranboo. I promise that we will both make it out of here. And hell, we can go and live in a cozy house somewhere and not have to worry about being watched or manipulated ever again.”

I nod slowly as I feel more tears trickling down my sliced-up cheeks. Some of the tears make their way into the divots caused by the spikes, the feeling is uncomfortable and only makes me cry harder. I attempt to wipe the tears away but it only causes one of the cuts to open up again. I groan in frustration and franticly attempt to stop the bleeding.

“Ranboo, calm down. Panicking won't help either of us right now.” Charlie whispers and gently grabs my hands and brings them away from my face. “I know you’re scared and probably pissed off right now but we need to stay focused on getting help. With every day that passes by our wounds have a higher chance of getting infected.” 

“I-I know but its hard to concentrate when I can’t even see two fucking feet in front of me. I'm tripping over every goddamn root and fucking stick that we go over and I feel so bad because you’re having to practically hold my hand like a fucking toddler learning to walk! Charlie I wish I had just died when that fucking box closed on my head! Charlie I don’t want to be alive anymore…” My voice raises in volume as I speak until eventually I just break out into a sob.

“Ranboo…” Charlie’s voice waivers slightly. “Ranboo don’t say that. You don’t mean that.”

But I do!” I yell and look directly at Charlie. “I do Charlie! Even if we do find help there is nothing left for me. My face will always be ugly and mangled, I won't be able to see shit, and who even knows what Showfall did to my family! Charlie what if I don’t have a family any more?! Then what!?”

“Stop being selfish Ranboo.” Charlie says harshly but his voice is gentle and soothing. I am taken aback by his sharp words being spoken with such softness. “Look I know that you went through some crazy shit, okay? But to say that there is nothing left for you here is self-centered and honestly the biggest bullshit I've ever heard. What about me? Aren’t I something? And what about Sneeg? Did his sacrifice mean nothing to you?”

“You know I didn’t mean it like that, Charlie.” I choke back a sob and look away from him. “I just…”

“Ranboo.” Charlie says and gently places his hand on my shoulder. “Look man, I know that all seems lost right now, but we are free from showfall and their fucked up shows. And yeah, you might not have much left but the things that you do have are definitely enough for you to live.”

After hearing those words I break out into another sob, my head falls and my shoulders slump. Charlie sighs softly and carefully pulls me into a hug. I melt into the warm embrace and gently lean my head against his chest and pull my hands up toward my mangled face, gently feeling the ragged cuts along my face. Charlie notices this and slowly pulls my hands away.

“Hey.” He whispers “It would be better if you tried to not touch them, Ranboo. We need to keep them as clean as possible until we find someone who can help. It would be awful if your cuts got infected.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” I huff out and close my eyes tightly, praying the tears would stop falling. “Why would they do that to me? I mean I had fucking wires through my hands.”

“I don’t know, Ranboo.” Charlie says and gently moves my hand so he could look at it. “I hate to say it but we might need to clean your hands again. I know it hurts real bad but the bandages have been off for a while. We should at least clean your cuts and try to rewrap it.”

I groan at the thought of having to clean my hand again but I can see where he is coming from. I pull away slightly and watch as Chalie pulls out the alcohol from his vest. He sighs sadly and takes my right hand in his gently.

“Okay, ready?” He whispers and opens the bottle up. “I’ll be as quick as I can”

“Yeah, just get it over with.” I whisper back and tense my jaw.

Charlie sighs and pours a little bit of alcohol into my palm and it flows through the hole in my hand, stinging as it does so. I suck a breath in and try to pull my hand away but charlie gently grabs my wrist and forces my hand still. He gently moves my hand from side to side so all of the alcohol goes through the small hole and when he is done he quickly rips a strip off of his shirt and carefully wraps it around my hand. After that he pulls me into a tight hug. I hear his breath hitch and a single tear lands softly on my shoulder. 

"I’m so sorry, Ranboo…” He whimpers and gently rubs my back. “I would kill the founder again and again if it could reverse what he has done, but it can’t. I swear to you that I will do everything in my power to fix what he has done to you.”

“And I swear to you that I will do the same. Charlie, you’re the only person I have left. Even if I have a family, I don’t know what they would think of me. I am hideous.”

“Hey don't say that.” Charlie says sternly. “You had no control over any of this. If it means anything I think your scars will tell a story that you’re a survivor. Just because you may deem yourself hideous doesn’t mean that you’re ugly. Beauty isn't just what's outside, Ranboo.”

“Jesus Christ.” I stifle a laugh. “How the hell do you know just what to say, like goddamn.”

“I’m just trying to make you feel better man.” Charlie chuckles softly and pulls away slowly. “Okay whaddya say we clean that other hand? Then we can rest until the sun sets?”

I nod and Charlie picks the alcohol up off of the ground and takes my hand in his. He pours a little bit of it on my palm and I hiss in pain again but I don’t try to pull my hand away. I hear Charlie suck in a breath and he begins to move my hand gently. When all the alcohol is out of my palm he rips another strip of his shirt away and wraps my hand like he did the other.

“Okay. All done.” He smiles and closes the bottle tightly and puts it back into his vest pocket. “Now why don't you try to get some sleep?”

“Yeah. You sleep too.” I yawn and carefully lay down, moving around until I finally get comfortable.

“Alright, boss.” Charlie giggles at himself and lays down next to me. “Hopefully we don't sleep through the night.”

“I think we should be fine.” I say and close my eyes sleepily.

“Yeah, me too.” Charlie yawns loudly and giggles again. “G’night Ranboo.” 

“Goodnight Charlie.” I laugh as well and slowly begin drifting to sleep.

I wake up and I am back in the mall. I try to sit up but there are wires going through my chest, tying me to the hard metal bed. I begin panicking and try to break away from them but I can't. I look up and suddenly realize that I can see clearly now. 

I look to my left and see Sneeg’s bloody and burned body hanging upside down. There is something that looks like a clothing hanger with a hook on both ends holding him up. Both of his ankles are tied to the hooks with a thick rope. I look closer and realize that his chest is cut open and all of his organs are removed from his body. My blood goes cold. I close my eyes tightly and when I reopen them he is gone and a pig has taken his place.

I look to my right and I can see something that vaguely resembles a human if someone crudely removed their skin with a potato skinner hung up the same way as the pig. I shiver slightly and look right below it to see a pile of skin and hair, and sitting neatly folded on top of the pile were Charlie's glasses. I scream Charlie’s name and hit the metal bed roughly. Suddenly the body moves and the head turns toward me. My heart stops as I see Charlie's green eyes lock with mine. He makes a pained sound and blood begins to rush out of his mouth.

I close my eyes tightly again and when I open them the body was replaced with a pig’s. I sob loudly and look up to see a mirror. I stare at myself in disbelief. My face is unrecognizable. My eyes are blood red, my hair is missing in chunks and matted, the skin on my face is slashed and divots are carved so deep that I can see my skull in some places. I scream again only to see that all my teeth are gone and my tongue is roughly cut off. I close my eyes as tight as I can and when I open them back up the mirror is gone. I look down to see my body was replaced with that of a pig. My skin is gone and my chest is cut open with all of my organs scooped out.

I sit up quickly, tears streaming down my face. I look around frantically only to see a blurry landscape and a starry sky. I stand up quickly and head toward the small pond. I walk until the water reaches my knees then slump down into the muddy earth. I splash my face with the cold water and hiss in pain as the dirty water settles in my cuts. I begin to sob quietly and dunk my head underwater completely.

I blow all of the air out of my lungs and wait. My lungs begin to ache, begging for air. My heart pounds fast and loud in my chest. My head begins spinning and I begin to cough loudly. My lungs are screaming for air but I keep my head submerged in the water. My body begins conversing, but I still force my head to stay under water. Just before lose consciousness I feel two strong hands grip my shoulders tightly and pull me up from the water. As my face hits the cool night air I suck in a breath and continue coughing violently.

“Ranboo what the hell are you doing!?” Charlie cries out as he pulls me out of the water. “Ranboo!? Fuck.”

“Why did you pull me up?!” I yell in between coughs. “Charlie I was almost free!”

+++

“Shut the fuck up and just breathe Ranboo.” Charlie sobs and carefully sits us down on the grass. “Breathe Ranboo.”

My vision grows blurrier as I feel tears build up in my eyes. Charlie pulls me into his lap and hugs me tightly. He gently rubs my back and I bury my head in his neck. His hands move up to my wet hair and he begins to gently play with it. I sob uncontrollably and wrap my arms around his body and gently play with the hair on the back of his head. 

We sit like this for hours, neither of us saying anything.