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Something had gone horribly and terribly wrong. They had stayed at the inn for the night, they could afford it and it had been nice to sleep on a bed rather than in the back of the van and Ron had been really thankful for it. He wasn’t going to tell the others that sleeping in the van was uncomfortable but he was uncomfortable and tired and before they had even sorted out the sleeping arrangements for the two beds, Ron had chosen one and fell asleep. He was too tired for the argument of the night. They reminded him too much of his mom and dad arguing when he was a child and usually he could remind himself that he wasn’t back in his childhood, but he was too tired for that and his head hurt and he felt kinda funny at the moment. He just needed to sleep off this feeling.
Ron was used to weird dreams in this realm. He was used to his father and the other dads talking to him in the dreams and his other dads being the ones to talk to them, loud enough that Ron doesn’t really have to. But here he’s alone. He’s alone and feels scared in a way that he hasn’t been in a very long time. Not since he was young. As he got older he learned how to handle this fear and eventually how to stay away from his father to keep him and his mother safe. But he felt the fear this time. He was so scared and the dark room stretched on for as far as he could see.
“Hello?” Ron tried and quickly realized, he was not an adult here. Ron wasn’t unfamiliar with flashbacks and having dreams of his childhood but this felt different. He wasn’t in his bedroom like he usually is with his flashbacks. He was in a dark room where he couldn’t see anything It was so dark and he was so small and he couldn’t feel anything around him or move around the room. “Is anyone here?”
“Just insurance that he stays out of our way.” He heard his father say. It wasn’t directed at him, he didn’t think.
“Dad?” there was a thud near him.
“Shut up Ron!” Ron flinched in on himself. He didn’t know what he had done wrong here but his dad was so loud. Obviously, he had done something. Otherwise, dad wouldn’t be so mad.
Suddenly the room went white instead and Ron tried his best to keep quiet as much as possible. He needed to. Ron knew what would happen if he didn’t listen to what dad said. But it was too bright and too sudden and it took everything he had not to cover his eyes at the sight of the three tall robed figures standing in front of him.
“Are we sure we should do this? We aren’t the only danger here. Think past your feelings.” The one on the right spoke, catching Ron’s attention. “He’s already crying.” Ron hadn’t noticed he was crying before he said it. He was just so scared.
“They’ll be fine Barry.” His father in the middle snapped. He wished he had Rouge. Rouge would help him feel better. Rouge would know how to help him not be scared of these people. The other two robed figures knelt by him and he tried to resist the urge to step backwards. They were so close and he didn’t like it.
“But he’s so small.” the one who hadn’t spoken yet poked at his shoulder as he said it. Ron tried to stay still because that’s what his dad said. He hadn’t allowed him to move or speak. He needed to be quiet.
“He’s three Bill. I forget you’ve never seen a kid before, you were never there for yours.” His father growled and Ron couldn’t help but sink in on himself a little bit. His dad was far too angry. Didn’t they know not to make him angry? “Send him back. Now.”
Ron jolted up in a bed that wasn’t his before he could even ask. The room was so big and he was so scared and he didn’t recognize any of it. The person beside him was sprawled out in his stomach in a thick leather jacket that smelled funny. The man only shuffled in his sleep and it startled him into moving. The bed was high off the ground causing him to have to slip one foot down to the ground. It was a huge stretch and he stumbled a bit once he had hit the ground, but looking at the two beds in the room he was relieved they were still asleep. His feet were cold without his socks and the button-down shirt he was wearing hung over his feet. He was lost, but if he knew one thing from living with dad it was that he needed to be careful not to wake them or the child that was sleeping in the other bed. Luckily for him, there was an empty wardrobe on the other side of the room. He wasn’t sure where he was but an empty wardrobe was a very strange thing. Did these grown-ups have no other clothes? Still, he climbed in, easing the door closed inch by inch until it was sealed behind him. Or as sealed as he dared to get it with him inside. He liked that he could still see a little bit of light through the crack.
Now he just needed to stay awake and figure out how to get back to Mom and Dad. They would be so angry that he was gone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Waking up the next morning, Henry realized he was the first awake. That wasn’t unusual, the others weren’t usually morning people. Paeden was snuggled into Darryl’s side and Henry took a second to smile at that. It was nice to see the two completely asleep and relaxed. Taking a minute to greet the sun and the new day as it came, Henry slowly got up, only for panic to hit. Ron wasn’t in the bed with Glenn. The night before Glenn had taken the bed where Ron had already fallen asleep, allowing him and Darryl to sleep in the bed with Paeden. Henry tried not to panic yet. There was something logical that had happened here.
Henry crossed the room in a few steps quickly shaking Glenn awake. The other man groggily sat up looking half asleep and confused but Henry couldn’t give him the time to wake up properly. There was a more pressing issue here. Ron’s dad had been revealed as one of the purple robes. He could be in serious danger here. Henry tried his best to take a calming breath but it wasn’t working.
“Where’s Ron?”Glenn looked around confused at Henry’s question. The bathroom door is wide open and the lock on the door was undisturbed with the key sitting on the nightstand still.
“He’s still in the room I guess.” Glenn’s voice was husked over with sleep as he pointed out what his perception had managed to pick up. Ron was in the room with them, and they needed to try not to wake Paeden. They didn’t need to stress the kid out anymore. He was still just a kid.
“We need to find him.” The words were left unsaid. He was in the room unless something had happened. Unless the purple robes had hurt him. Unless something had happened with them and Ron wasn’t in this realm anymore.
The pair scoured the room as quietly as possible. It would be nice to have Darryl’s help but waking him would wake Paeden and they really didn’t need that. Paeden had been through enough in the last few days that they didn’t need to add to the stress of everything. Henry loved the kid, he really did but Paeden was a lot when things were already stressful. But eventually, they were going to have to wake the others. Ron was nowhere to be found and the room had practically been turned upside down.
“Darryl.” Glenn seemed to have understood the wordless command that Henry had shot him as he began to shake Darryl awake gently. “You gotta get up mad. Ron’s missing.”
“Wha’?” A half-asleep Darryl responded, sitting up slowly so as not to disrupt Paeden, and failing to lay him down on the bed, effectively waking the child. “What do you mean he’s missing?”
“Who’s missing?” Paeden looked around the room before back to the three adults. “Ron?”
“Yeah,” Glenn confessed. He was never the best at talking to the kids but the other two seemed preoccupied with discussing the logistics of what was going on so he would have to be the one to talk to Paeden.
“He can’t have gone far right?” Paeden suggested and Glenn nodded. He hoped not. But if Ron was here they hadn’t seen him on their walkthrough. “I’ll help look.”
“No kid that’s…you stay put.” but it was too late. Paeden was up and moving before he could finish the sentence, So Glenn resided himself to looking through the room again. Just because he hadn’t seen Ron didn’t mean that Ron was missing. Ron was good at sneaking they all knew that by now.
Paeden on the other hand had cracked the code. Paeden had noticed what the adults in his life had failed to, he had grown used to noticing small things when he was stuck in the UFC and the thing he noticed most this time was that the wardrobe was cracked just a little but further than it had been the night before. They hadn’t messed with the wardrobe, too tired the night before, but now it was cracked enough to let a little bit of light in. So when none of the other adults were paying attention, Paeden slowly opened the wardrobe door.
When the door opened, Paeden was met with the sight of a small child with unruly red hair and frightened green eyes looking back at him. The boy was scrawny and clearly hiding in the background so Paeden slipped into the closet to sit across from him rather than alert the dads who were still searching the room for Ron.
“Hi?” Paeden whispered as quietly as he could in this situation. “Why are you hiding here?”
The boy didn’t answer just observed him with fear in his eyes. Taking in the sight fully when his eyes adjusted, Paeden realized that the boy was wearing Ron’s button-down shirt that he had been wearing the night before. The socks Ron wore were bunched up around his feet and his features were similar to Ron’s, including a now fresh-looking scar above his right eye. The others had been looking for Ron, but Paeden had found him. Just not the Ron they had wanted to find.
“What’s your name?’ Paeden lowered his voice even more. He knew a kid who had been abused when he saw one. He had been in that position himself, after all, and potentially with the same man that had hurt the kid in front of him. “I’m Paeden.”
“Hi, I’m Ron.” Ron didn’t meet his eyes as he spoke, staring instead at the floor of the wardrobe. A child that had been told not to look people in the eyes.
“I’m gonna get some people to help you, Ron.” Before he gave Ron the chance to respond, Paeden was stumbling out of the wardrobe in search of one of the dads who might be able to help.
Henry would probably be a little bit too much, he was more prone to panicking about things like this anyway. And his panic would be likely to cause Ron to panic. That wouldn’t be the best choice for them.
As much as Paeden loved Darryl, he wasn’t sure Darryl was the best choice for this either. Darryl was imposing and rash at the best of times but he wasn’t sure Darryl was much better than Henry when it came down to this, and he would want to pull Ron out of hiding immediately. And if Paeden knew anything, he knew that Ron needed to feel safe.
That left Glenn. Glenn may not be the most emotionally available but he was most likely to not ask questions about what was going on and just help. Because whatever goes on in Glenn's brain was enough to make all of this not seem as weird as it really was. And Ron needed someone to think about him right now, and Paeden had lost too many people who depended on him to let this go.
So Paeden approached Glenn where he was frantically trying to call Ron’s phone, which laid on the bed though Glenn didn’t seem to notice.
“What’s up little man?” Glenn greeted even with Paeden shushing him.
“I found Ron,” Paeden whispered, grabbing onto Glenn’s arm tugging him over towards the wardrobe, thanking whatever higher powers that the other dads didn’t see.
“What do you mean?” Glenn asked, planting his feet to stop himself from being pulled forward but thankfully keeping his voice down.
“I just said that I found Ron.” Paeden tugged harder to try to pull him into the closet. “He’s in here and I need your help. Something’s wrong.”
Glenn allowed himself to be pulled into the closet behind Paeden, squishing himself onto the floor between the child and the door that was now closed completely behind them much to the dismay of Ron who was sitting across from the two of them. Glenn took a moment to take in the boy sitting across from him. The curly auburn hair and soft features that he remembered from when he and Ron were young. This was Ron for sure.
“Hey, man,” Glenn whispered. Loud noises had always scared Ron and now that he was older, Glenn unfortunately knew the truth as to why. “What are you doing hiding in here?”
“I don’t want to get caught,” Ron whispered in a barely audible voice, and that hit Glenn hard. Ron was afraid of them, but he supposed that this wasn’t the Ron he knew exactly. There was more at play than he originally thought. This realm was weird. Strange things had happened to them all already so Glenn knew better than to freak out no matter how weird the situation was. This kid needs him to be calm. He’s worried enough for the two of them.
But he didn’t know anything about children here. Paeden wasn’t exactly a normal example of a kid here, especially after he had been in the UFC for so long. And they only had two contacts that would know about children in this realm, only one they could contact. They needed to call Erin.
“I’m gonna take you out of the closet, okay?” Glenn still whispered, despite needing to get the other dads on board. “Nothing bad is going to happen but we need to talk to the other two adults.”
Ron curled in on himself and Glenn immediately felt bad but he needed the other's help.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be there the whole time. I’ll keep you safe.”
Glenn carefully picked Ron up holding the boy close. He was so so small. Glenn was surprised he even spoke as clearly as he did though they had met Barry. No doubt that was the reason why. No doubt that this was the reason that Ron was burrowed into his shoulder as well, as Glenn pushed the door open with his hip, both hands focused on supporting the baby.
“Hey guys.” Glenn hesitated a second before getting their attention. “I found Ron.”
“What do you mean?” Both dad's eyes were on the three of them. As Darryl spoke, Ron peeked over from where he was hiding in Glenn's shoulder.
“This is Ron.” Glenn jostled the kid a little smiling when he got an involuntary giggle from the young boy.
“Oh.” Henry cooed moving over causing Ron to cling tighter. “Hey there, bud. Do you remember us?”
Ron didn’t respond but gripped Glenn’s jacket so hard that there were definitely nail marks in it from how he was holding onto it, though even if he wanted to he couldn’t bring himself to tell the boy not to.
“Wait, Henry.” Glenn stuck a hand out, more serious than the other two had ever seen him. “He’s really scared of people. I think something happened. We should call Erin for help. She knows more about this realm than we do.”
Henry seemed to hear the seriousness in Glenn’s voice as he backed off, looking rather heartbroken at the idea that he was scaring Ron at all. Darryl headed outside to grab a leaf coming back with Erin on the other end, doing his best to explain what had happened. Ron was busy watching it with wide-eyed curiosity that made Glenn smile, though the boy didn’t say anything even as his shirt hung off one arm.
“Let me see,” Erin said trying to hide her exasperation, all of that disappeared the second the leaf was turned on Ron who looked bashful at being caught watching so intently. “You don’t see any runes on him? Any glowing parts? Anything odd at all?”
“He’s afraid of us.” Henry offered. “Except for Glenn who he’s clinging to.”
“He’s only clinging because I told him I’d make sure he was safe with me. I found him hiding in the closet from us. I don’t think he has his adult memories if that helps narrow it down.” Glenn’s hands were running through Ron’s curls, only then did he realize how tangled they were. “ I knew Ron when we were kids, Not this young obviously, but like. Elementary ish? He was always a weird kid, always skittish and afraid and I have a feeling it was because of his dad.”
“Bring him here.” Erin’s voice lowered as Ron was starting to fall asleep against him. “You have to come here anyway to get your kids and I’ll check him out to make sure that he’s fine.”
With that, Erin was gone leaving the dads, Paeden, and a half-asleep toddler who was cuddled into Glenn.
“I didn’t know you and Ron were friends.” Henry broke the silence, though he still kept his voice low.
“Yeah, we met in elementary school.” Glenn didn’t even realize he was rocking until he caught Darryl watching him but stilling caused Ron to let out a quiet whine so he continued to rock again. “We should get going. We have a long walk to get back to Erin.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Glenn was right. The walk back to meet with Erin was long, though they were lucky that Ron slept for the first part of the journey. They hadn’t thought to ask Erin to send some trees to collect them but the walk wouldn’t be the farthest they had traveled while here in the forgotten realms and Paeden was good at keeping pace with them but carrying Ron was starting to hurt his arms now especially since the kid was awake and wiggly now, looking around in curious fear at the beings that milled around them in the market that they were passing through.
“We should get Ron some clothes that fit.” Darryl had been watching for a while before he spoke. “It’ll help him blend in more. Just in case the purple robes don’t have eyes on him yet.”
“Do you think they did this?” Henry asked hesitantly.
“We can talk about that after we get to Erin. Darryl’s right we should get Ron something to wear.”
That’s how they ended up at a vendor stall that was offering clothes of all sizes. They didn’t know what a good price was but they had plenty of gold to spare.
“Excuse me, ma’am.” Glenn let Darryl take the lead. It was always easier to just step in if his charm was needed. “Do you have any clothes that might fit this young boy?”
“Might. What’s his measurements?” the slender, friendly-looking woman brushed her blue hair out of her face to study the small boy who hid his face in Glenn’s shoulders to avoid her eyes.
“We don’t actually know.” Henry stepped in. “Can you help us maybe?”
“Where’d you get the kid.” The woman smiled as they looked at each other. “I’m just teasing. It’s none of my business let’s get some measurements.”
“I’m gonna put you down Ron, okay?” Glenn said quietly getting a whine and some protest but as soon as he was set on the ground he curled in on himself looking even smaller than he really was. “It’s alright buddy. We’re still here.”
“Hi there.” The woman kneels down in front of Ron. “My name is Awary. What’s yours?”
“Ron.” He whispered back, his sleeve falling over his hands.
“Hi, Ron. I’m gonna use this and measure you now okay?” Awary got a nod from the boy before she began to measure him gently taking care not to snag his hair of make it too tight.
By the time they were done, Ron had been fitted with a loose tunic and a pair of cotton overall shorts, the suspenders that hung off of his shoulders a bit. He fit with a pair of socks and some leather shoes as well.
“Eyyy lookin sharp bud.” Glenn tried to get back to his joking self. And it was worth it to see Ron smile up at him, though his eyes remained cautious.
“Wow Ron, you look great.” Henry chimed in and Ron’s eyes turned to him, his smile not dimming but a flush appearing on his face.
“Thank you, sir.” His voice was slurred and the words came out mispronounced and Henry was barely able to contain his coo this time.
The group paid and began to head out again, Ron barely keeping pace with them all, and Paeden immediately slowed down to keep pace with the baby.
“Hey bud you look like you could use a lift,” Henry asked and Ron hesitated but nodded allowing Henry to pick him up, setting him on his shoulders, Ron’s hands wrapping around his forehead unsurely while Henry held both of his feet. Beside him, Darryl picked Paeden up the same way. At the end of the day, they were both still kids and they had had a rather long day.
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Getting back to Erin was relatively quick after that, Paeden squirming to the ground and happily running off to greet Walter and the other kids while the dads took Ron to go see Erin. Erin’s makeshift hut was messy with books strewn about, potion bottles on shelves, and various weapons being prepared. Things that were necessary for their leaving of the forgotten realms, but no place for a child of Ron’s size.
“Ron, can I hand you to Henry?” Darryl asked and after getting a hesitant nod he handed the baby over to Henry’s waiting arms. Ron was a people pleaser to a fault even if he hadn’t wanted to be held by Henry he would have gone anyway, just because Darryl asked.
“Hey, bug.” Henry soothed Ron’s anxiety keeping his voice gentle. “Everything’s gonna be O-A-K. No matter what Erin says.” Henry wasn’t sure if he was soothing himself or Ron, but it didn’t matter much, Ron had settled into his chest.
“Oh good you’re back.” Erin smiled uncharacteristically seeing Ron where he was clinging to Henry. “Hand him here let me get a look at him.”
“Ron, I’m gonna set you on the table so Erin can give you a check-up, okay.” And Glenn couldn’t have thought of a better way to word that. It was a check-up, just of the magical variety.
“I’m not supposed to,” Ron said quietly, holding tighter to Henry’s shirt
“It’s alright bud. This kind of checkup is okay. I promise. We’ll be there the whole time.”
“Hi, Ron. My name is Erin.” Erin greeted, moving things to allow a spot on the table for Ron to sit so she can look at him. “I’m just gonna check you over real quick. Just to make sure you’re healthy. I’ll tell you what I’m doing before I do it.”
“First, I’m going to listen to your heart okay?” Erin tried, holding up something that looked similar to a stethoscope and Ron frantically shook his head trying to climb to the ground.
“No.” it came out as a wine but Ron couldn’t bring himself to care. He was scared of his father, sure, but he was also scared of this woman. And Glenn, Darryl, and Henry had been so kind to him so far. He wanted them to help. “Please no!”
“When my boys were little.” Henry moved close to him kneeling at eye level with Ron. “They used to be scared of going to get checkups too. I used to sit with them in my lap so that they felt less scared. Do you want to try Ron?”
Ron nodded and held his arms up for Henry to pick him up and place him in his lap before sitting on the table.
“Okay. She’s gonna listen to your heart now, bud.” Henry whispered taking both of his hands.
The rest of the check-up went well with Ron watching her with wide curious eyes and holding onto Henry’s hands to try to be brave. Erin smiled at him as she finished, pulling away from him and ruffling the boy's hair before turning her attention to all of the dads, choosing her words so that Ron wouldn’t understand them, despite Henry distracting him.
“I figured out what happened. Someone, and I’d bet money that you know who put a curse on him. He’ll be okay and it will wear off in…a few days. It’s been a day or so walk here so maybe a few more days? It’ll wear off. Any questions?”
“What do we do?” Glenn asked while Henry bounced Ron on his knees.
“That’s your choice how you handle it. I can’t tell you guys that.” Erin’s birds entered the hut carrying some potion ingredients from a nearby town which caught Ron’s attention away from Henry.
“I have a question,” Ron asked quietly, raising a tiny hand to get the attention.
“What’s up, Ron?” Glenn asked him, but Ron was focused on Erin and her birds.
“Are you from a fairytale?” The question caught them all off guard but Ron’s staryeyed gaze made Erin laugh. Ron flushed, embarrassed. “Well it’s just-”
“It’s alright.” Erin soothed, her hand going through his hair and down his cheek soothingly. “I can understand why you might ask that. But I’m not. Just a garden witch who’s been helping you and the other dads out.”
~~~
They knew that Ron would be back to the himself they knew soon but that didn’t make it any easier. That night after they had had the conversation with Erin, they had told Ron that they knew him as an adult and told him about his adult life. Not a whole lot but about how he was a stepdad to Terry and how he had a family of his own now. They couldn’t be sure how much Ron actually understood but he nodded along to their conversation, yawning trying to pay attention to them even as his eyes began to droop.
“Hey, bug” Henry spoke quietly. “Do you want to go to bed?”
“No.” Ron shook his head firmly, seemingly more awake though they knew it wouldn’t last. Though with the stubbornness of a toddler, Ron moved from his spot between Henry and Glenn to the opposite side of Darryl. “I’m not tired and I don’t need to go to bed. Thank you.”
Glenn had known Ron was stubborn to a fault at a young age. He also knew that he was like this because of his father. The fearful look in his eyes told Ron all he needed to know. So, before the others could respond, Glenn did.
“Hey, man, no worries. You don’t need to go to bed yet.” Glenn shifted so there was space between him and Glenn. “Why don’t you come share the blanket though? You look a little cold.” Glenn held the blanket out letting Ron settle between him and Darryl comfortably.
“Sorry,” Ron whispered and Glenn wrapped an arm around him pulling him close.
“You don’t have to sleep it’s okay. You have nothing to apologize for.” Glenn held the boy closer to him, gently squeezing his shoulder gently in a half hug. “It’s going to be okay. We’re gonna get you back to yourself. As long as it takes, we’re going to be here. The whole time.”
Ron settled into his side and Glenn could feel the eyes of all of the teens but specifically Terry, watching the three of them interacting with Ron. He knew why. It made sense. But it was almost certainly part of the reason that Ron was curling closer to him, shyly hiding his face in Glenn’s shoulder.
The next morning, Glenn woke up to an empty spot next to him in the bed and panic filled his chest. Ron had been moved to the hammock with him when he had fallen asleep the night before and Glenn hadn’t felt the boy get up. Then he heard it, a shout that was too high in pitch to be from any of the other kids. Glenn was on his feet out of the hammock before he could even process. Both Darryl and Henry exited Darryl’s tent with the same panicked speed, and Glenn would definitely be asking about that later but he needed to focus now. Something had happened.
“Ron! Boys!” Henry called out scanning the perimeter of the area where they had set up camp.
“Grant and Paeden are sleeping still. Terry was with Henry’s boys last night.” Darryl quickly lifted the tent flap peering into the Oak boy's tents. The twins were both there, cuddled up together against the sudden breeze, but Terry was missing. There was a yelping shout again and Glenn didn’t waste time explaining before taking off in the direction he heard it from. Unfortunately, the direction was from the direction of the ocean.
Getting past the last of the trees Glenn’s panicked breath relaxed a bit at the sight in front of them. Terry was walking hand in hand with young Ron at the edge of the water, the small boy didn’t get close to the water, and Terry didn’t make him. They walked along and Ron stopped every once in a while to look at something that caught his interest. Terry meanwhile would stop and listen to him, waiting patiently until he was ready to move on before continuing on when the boy was ready. It hit Glenn then that Terry must know what he did. That Ron had gone through enough that this Ron was rare to trust so when you had it, you should treat it like the precious thing it was.
By that evening, Ron was back to himself and the other dads were more than a little thankful for that. They hadn’t realized how much they missed Ron until now and they needed all the time they could have to prepare themselves for the upcoming battle with the purple robes.
And they still needed Ron’s anchor.