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Chapter Text

Hetch’s voice echoed in Ranboo’s head in what he thought to be his last moments. “The audience has voted for you… to… DIE.”

As the Iron Maiden box closed around their head, Ranboo’s memories all began to rush back. Their life before Showfall, the kidnapping, all the shows they and their friends were forced to do over and over again… there’s no way this could be the end. Why? Why now? After everything… were they but a pawn? Was this really how they would die? The box closed around their head and they took a deep breath, preparing for a dozen sharp spikes in their head, but they never came.

Ranboo opened his eyes. What just happened? It was pitch black, and he knew the box had closed, but he was alive? The spikes must not be long enough. They thought to themself. Afraid to move their head, they stayed still, dead silent. He could hear Hetch’s footsteps from outside, slowly getting more distant. Ranboo remembered the knife he had grabbed and wished he hadn’t left it in that drone. All he had was pocket sand, which was useless, especially since he couldn’t reach his pockets.

Hetch’s footsteps subsided completely, and Ranboo started struggling against the wires bound tightly around him. Somehow, after several minutes, he was able to maneuver his hand out of one of the restraints, and he unstrapped the second one afterwards. He tried to fit his head through the hole in the box, but it was too difficult while his body was still tied to the wall. He started fiddling with the wires around his waist, and after a while was successful. He pulled his head out of the box and fell to the floor with a hard smack.

“Hetch probably heard that.” They said to themself. They quickly got up and made a run for it, in the opposite direction from where they last heard Hetch. They went to go find Charlie, praying he was alive. They found the area where they left Charlie, and was terrified to see nothing but a blood stain. They followed a trail of their friend’s blood, anxious about what they would see at the end of it.

The trail ended by the glass room where the TV head security had once been contained. They paused, afraid to walk inside. However, remembering they were doing this for Charlie, they entered. “Charlie?” He called. His words echoed, and he jumped, startled. Realizing it was his own voice echoing his words, he moved on.

The room was filled with heavy fog, but Ranboo could vaguely see the blood stains and wires that were spread about the area. He noticed the TV monster in the corner and ducked as to not be seen by it. He carefully crept deeper into the room and saw the bleeding, unconscious body of Charlie Slimecicle.

~•~

The first thing he felt was pain. A series of stinging, searing pains all across his midsection that made him want to throw up. The rest of his senses slowly returned to him as he blinked his eyes open and dimly tried to remember what had happened to him. Where am I? He could hardly see a foot in front of him. Either he had suddenly developed cataracts, or he was in the security room.

Charlie weakly lifted his head, attempting to orient himself but was mildly surprised to see Ranboo there instead of the TV-headed thing that had nearly ripped him open again. That reminded him… he looked down at his own body, fighting the urge to gag as he clocked the damage. There were claw marks still bleeding on his chest and stomach, but thankfully they weren’t too deep.

Glad I grabbed the bulletproof vest… He couldn’t help but wish he had grabbed the axe, instead. But there was no going back now, and- HOLD UP RANBOO WAS HERE?! Charlie’s head shot up again, eyes locking with Ranboo’s as he tried to figure out why Ranboo was still here. They were supposed to escape! Why would they come back for me? I’m as good as dead now!

“R-Ran-“ he managed to croak out, but was aggressively shushed as Ranboo gestured towards the other corner of the room, one Charlie hadn’t been able to look at yet. He tried to get up, propping himself up with one elbow, but fell right back down with a hiss of pain. His arms were covered in cuts too… he looked back to Ranboo and shrugged, silently gesturing at the cuts on his arm.

Ranboo just gestured back at that corner frantically, stepping closer to Charlie and then stepping away again. They seemed really afraid of that one corner, for some reason, but Charlie just couldn’t figure out why. He raised an eyebrow at them, gesturing for Ranboo to come closer so they could at least whisper.

Ranboo tentatively stepped closer, stopping and crouching down suddenly at several intervals at a strange sound coming from that corner. What’s that noise? I wish it would stop… I have one killer headache! When Ranboo got to Charlie, they crouched down next to his face. “Can you get up?” They breathed, barely audible over those weird growls in the corner.

“What???” Charlie stage-whispered, and Ranboo flinched. His eyes unfocused as he looked at Ranboo. Why were they scared? “Don’t be scared, Ranboo!” He stage-whispered again, smushing a finger onto Ranboo’s face. He missed his mouth and nose area entirely and accidentally poked Ranboo in the eye. That was pretty funny, so Charlie smiled. How long had he been bleeding?

Chapter Text

Ranboo just stared at Charlie with his one currently-capacitated eye, and kept pointing at the TV monster in the corner. His mask flashed every few seconds and he realized Hetch was trying to regain control. “Charlie,” he whispered, “Stop. The TV thing is in the corner. That’s what that growling is. If you don’t quiet down, it’ll attack us. You’re already injured.”

Getting desperate, Ranboo started pulling at the mask, trying not to let Hetch control them. They grabbed at the logo in the back and pulled it, but it did nothing. They started to hyperventilate. They picked up Charlie, slinging his arm around their shoulders, and started dragging him to the door. “Charlie, work with me here. Please.”

Charlie didn’t seem to comprehend what they were saying, as he didn’t cooperate in the slightest, so Ranboo kept dragging him. The TV monster must have heard them, because it turned around. Ranboo ducked, but he knew it was too late. As quickly as he could, he began to run. Charlie’s weight made that very difficult, but he persisted. Then he saw the door, it was about ten feet away. Feeling some glimmer of hope, he kept going.

Then, out of nowhere, there was a roar as the security monster grabbed Ranboo by the foot. Ranboo screamed and dropped Charlie, frantically trying to pull his foot away from the monster. There was a loud, excruciating crack as the bone in Ranboo’s foot shattered. Ranboo let out a pained cry. They finally managed to pull their foot out of the monster’s claws, but they couldn’t walk. They fell to the floor, crawling and pushing Charlie out of the room, closing the door with a slam.

His mask kept flashing. He realized there was little hope for saving himself, but he figured he could at least save Charlie. He got up, grabbing his friend once more, and dragged both his friend, and his own leg to someplace safe. He found a bathroom and entered a stall, where he set down Charlie and put his leg up. “Charlie, can you hear me? I… I don’t think I’m going to make it. Hetch is trying to take control of me again, and I don’t think I can resist for much longer. I’ll keep trying. I won’t give up until you’re free, but I’m afraid I can’t escape with you. I-I’m sorry.”

Ranboo felt a tear stream down their face. How could they find a way to escape? Hetch’s control was getting hard to resist, but they knew they wouldn’t be able to save Charlie if they didn’t keep trying. They took off their jacket and put it around Charlie. They knew the only way to save Charlie was to get him to an exit, but there was no exit that wasn’t guarded. Killing Hetch was the only way, but they didn’t even know where to find him. Feeling Hetch’s control gain strength by the minute, they began to give up.

~•~

Charlie blinked at Ranboo, drunken smile turning to a confused frown as a tear slid down Ranboo’s face. “Don’t be sad,” Charlie slurred, flopping an arm around Ranboo to attempt a hug. He accidentally hit their mask, dislodging some wires. “Oops! Sorry, Ranboo, I stopped your face from doing the flashy red thingy. It was real funny.” He said, or didn’t, he had no idea if what he was saying was words.

The pain had dulled a lot by now, and so had his senses. He tried to struggle to his feet, tripping over himself. “Stupid self!” He giggled, trying again. This time he managed to right himself, only wobbling a little. “Look, Ranboo, look! I’m standing!” Charlie stage-whispered. “Why aren’t you! Get uppppp…” He tried to pull Ranboo up, but was pushed off as Ranboo grabbed their head.

They said something, but Charlie couldn’t tell what. “WHAT?” He yelled in Ranboo’s ear, falling back down to be on their level. Ranboo said something else to him, and he still couldn’t tell what. “Ranboo, you have to speak words ! C’mon, stand with me!” Charlie tried to stand up again, but his stupid limbs were getting in the way of each other again and he fell.

Ranboo put a hand on his shoulder, steadying him, and he was able to stand up. “Yaaaaaaay…” Charlie cheered. “ONWARDS!” He took a step and nearly fell over again, bracing himself against the wall and laughing. Why was everything so funny now? He pulled away from the wall, leaving a red green stain.

He looked behind him, to where Ranboo had stood up. Ranboo then walked over to him and grabbed him by the shoulders, turning him the other way. “BACKWARDS!” Charlie corrected, stumbling the other way. His mouth tasted like blood slime now. Haha slime yay how fun slime sure is real fun yay!

Chapter Text

Ranboo watched Charlie as he stumbled over everything, including his words. Somehow, by grabbing his face, Charlie had managed to tear away at some of the wires in Ranboo’s mask. He touched where the wires had been destroyed, and tried to take off the mask entirely. All he felt was an immense pain in his jaw, as if wires were attaching the mask to his skull. He realized they probably were, but with the wires ripped, Hetch couldn’t control him. He still couldn’t walk properly due to his shattered ankle, but he was more concerned with Charlie, who kept repeatedly falling on his face. Ranboo shook his head and tried to stabilize himself enough to leave the stall.

They looked around outside the bathroom to see if it was safe. It seemed to be, so they grabbed Charlie and, still using the wall as a type of crutch, started creeping to where they last heard Hetch.

Charlie was making a lot more noise than what was safe for them, so Ranboo had to put one of his hands over his mouth to shut him up, which evidently led to Charlie licking his hand.

Ranboo followed the walls to where Hetch was, trying desperately not to disturb anyone… or any thing that might be listening. When they got to the room with the Iron Maiden box, they realized they had no idea where exactly Hetch was. The general direction wouldn’t be helpful at all. Slowly but surely they felt their fears begin to rise again.

“Charlie,” he whispered, “I’m going to leave you here, ok? You hide behind this desk, and I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He couldn’t risk his friend’s life. Carefully setting Charlie down, he braced himself against the wall once more and, through immense pain, walked alone to where he thought Hetch would be.

“I will not let Charlie die here,” they kept telling themself, “I can’t let him die here.” When they got to the room where they had seen Hetch before, where they thought he had died, they took a deep breath and opened the door. Inside, there was nothing.

~•~

Ranboo was gone now! The NERVE!!! Charlie had to find them now. “Ranboo, where’d’ya gooooooooo?” He stood up, and it only took him like five tries this time. Yay! He stumbled forward, or was it forward? He stumbled in a direction. He looked around for Ranboo, but all he could see was mall. Mall. MaLL. Mawwwwwll. What a weird word, why do letters exist?

He came across a railing and a biiiiiiiiiiiiiig banner with the Showfall logo. Showfall! Yay! He was an actor there. It had hurt a lot been really fun. Was he still an actor? He didn’t know! Fun. Fffffffffffuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnn. That was a weird word too! He looked around some more, and saw some people in suits and masks. Kinda like Ranboo’s, but, like, ALL OVER these guys’s faces. He stumbled over to them.

“HI!!! Why are you in suits? Also, who makes words? They’re weird. Also, why are you grabbing me?” The people in suits grabbed him, holding his arms behind his back. Oh no, they were mean! These were the guys that chased him and Ranboo! Charlie gasped. “YOU TRICKED ME! THAT’S ALSO A WEIRD WORD!!!” He fell on top of one, cracking their mask and they went limp. The other pulled out a radio, but Charlie grabbed it from their hands.

“HELLO?” He yelled into it with a British accent for some reason, and then yeeted it off the side of the railing. “YEET!” The suit mask face Showfall person just looked at him now, stunned. He put his arm around their shoulders. “You’re nicer than all the rest. You’re my friend now! Imma call you Barry, an’ we’re gonna find Ranboo, OKAY?” Barry looked at Charlie, looked away, and then looked at Charlie again, and nodded frantically.

Charlie smiled at him. “Alright, Barry, TIME FOR ADVENTURE!!!” He stumbled a few steps and then fell to his knees, coughing up slime. “Hey look, slime! Yay!” In getting up again, he accidentally knocked Barry, who had been sneaking up behind him with a syringe, off the railing! “BARRY, NOOOOOOOOOOOO-“ he was cut off by more coughing and more slime.

He stumbled his way back over to where Ranboo had left him and fell over, slime pooling beneath him. It was then that he remembered that Ranboo had given him their jacket. He wrapped it tighter around him, feeling suddenly both hot and cold at the same time. I wish Barry were here…

Chapter Text

Ranboo had searched several rooms, but had not yet found Hetch. He turned to go find Charlie, but froze when he saw it. Hetch! He thought, What is he doing? What is-? But his questions ceased when he realized what it was. Hetch was fiddling with the security monster. He seemed to finish up what he was doing and turned the thing back on. The monster awoke, lifted its head, and immediately turned to where Ranboo was. Ranboo could only stand there, frozen to the spot. The pain in his leg was unbearable and he knew he wouldn’t be able to run without falling. Petrified by fear, he stood there, awaiting the worst.

Unexpectedly, it was not a claw that grabbed them, but a hand. Thinking it was Charlie, they looked behind them and saw it was not, in fact, their friend. Hetch started to strangle Ranboo, pinning them to the wall. Ranboo gasped for air, but very little came. This is it. I’m going to die. I’m so sorry, Charlie. I’m so sorry, everyone.

Then Ranboo saw something in Hetch’s hand. It was a crimp. He was going to reattach the wires on his mask. Ranboo started panicking. “No,” he said, “You can’t do this!”

“Oh, but I can, Ranboo.” Hetch said, obviously beginning some sort of villain monologue that would take at least five minutes, “You see, after I took over for the Founder-“ but Ranboo wasn’t listening. They were focused on Hetch. There has to be a way to escape before he’s done talking. They thought. They struggled against Hetch’s tight grip on their throat. Hetch, realizing he got sidetracked, stopped monologuing and further tightened his grasp on Ranboo’s throat. Ranboo couldn’t breathe. The last thing they saw was Hetch’s hand approaching their face. They felt themself go limp, and passed out.

~•~

Charlie tugged Ranboo’s jacket tighter around his shoulders, shivering slightly. It was nice and warm, warmer than he was. It was like Ranboo was giving him a hug, but also if Ranboo was a sports jacket covered in slime. “Ranboo isn’t a jacket! Silly Ranboo! Ranboo. Raaaaaaannnnnboooooo. What a weird name!” He said, “I have to find Ranboo to tell him about his weird name!”

Charlie tried to get up, but immediately fell over. He got up again, wiping some slime off his face. “RANBOO!!! WHERE ARE YOU? I HAVE TO TELL YOU ABOUT HOW WEIRD YOUR NAME IS!!!” He yelled, stumbling and falling his way in the direction that Ranboo had gone before. He nearly passed by some guy in blue on the ground in a big puddle of slime. “HELLO?” He yelled into the guy’s ear, in that same British accent from before.

The guy didn’t respond. Charlie found a blue and black hat nearby, placing it on the guy’s head. It looked nice there. “You look nice in a hat. Wanna stand with me? I’m covered in slime too! YAY!!!” The guy still didn’t respond. How rude! “Oh yeah? Well, two can play at this game!” Charlie turned away from the guy, crossing his arms and sticking his nose in the air. “HA!!! Now I’M ignoring YOU!!!”

The guy still didn’t respond, so neither did Charlie. Soon enough, Charlie started to feel bad for ignoring the guy. He turned back around, uncrossing his arms. “I’m sorrrrryyy…” he said, patting the guy on the head. “Do you forgive me?” The guy continued to ignore him. Charlie stood up, glaring at the guy in blue. “Hey, stop being so meannnnn!”

He turned around and tried to walk away, but ended up on his face next to the guy. He turned his face towards the guy’s, vision darkening around the edges. He noticed now that the guy’s eyes were closed. Ohhhhhhh, he had been asleep! That was a pretty good idea. Charlie rolled onto his back and closed his eyes as well, using Ranboo’s jacket as a blanket.

Chapter Text

Ranboo opened his eyes. It was dark, which made it difficult to see, but there was an odd, red light that let him see two or three inches in front of his face. He was lying on his back, tied to… something… and he didn’t remember anything but his own name. He realized he was wearing a metal mask, and tried to make friction between the mask and the thing he was lying on to take it off. It didn’t do anything.

All of the sudden, several blinding lights turned on and revealed Ranboo’s surroundings. They were tied to a colorful wheel, staring up at the top of a red and white tent. Despite the situation, they felt an unexplainable, even unnatural calm. They looked around. There were weapons lining the walls. Knives, hatchets, bows and arrows, the like. “That’s weird,” Ranboo said, mildly confused, “I wonder why those are there.”

Then someone walked in. They were wearing dark colors and Ranboo couldn’t see their face. The figure walked up to him and flipped a switch by the wheel he was on. The wheel then began moving to an upright position. Ranboo’s eyes skimmed the room again, as he was now able to look downwards, but there was nothing special apart from the pattern on the floor. It was a twisted mixture of slime green and blood red. On the far wall there were dozens of plastic skeletons that looked somewhat familiar.

Ranboo watched the strange figure as they selected a rather large axe off the wall. Then they spoke. Their voice was that of a man with a glitched, robotic undertone. “Hello, Ranboo.” He said, “Welcome to the Game.”

“Th-the game?” Ranboo responded, “What do you mean? Where am I?” But their captor did not respond. The figure simply held the axe in their hand, playing with it threateningly. “What are you going to do with that?” Ranboo asked. The red light from their mask flashed, and they felt a sudden rush of anxiety, which quickly ceased when the light returned.

The voice continued, “Let’s see, audience. Where should I throw the axe? Should I direct it towards the middle of the wheel or the side? Make sure to put your vote in before the time’s up!”

A minute or two later, the voting was complete. “Ahh, excellent choice. Now aim… and… is that Charlie Slimecicle?!” The axe in the figure’s hand slipped out and hurdled toward Ranboo’s head. Ranboo barely moved his head in time, and the axe stuck to the wheel, centimeters from his skull. Ranboo stared at it. “That was scary!”

~•~

Charlie looked over at Ranboo on the wheel. “RANBOO, YOUR NAME IS WEIRD!!!” He shouted, stumbling in front of the camera. He poked the lense, leaving green smears from his hands. He looked over at a smaller screen, words rushing across it too fast for him to read. “-is that Charlie Slimecicle?!” Charlie turned around. “‘TIS I, CHARLIE SLIMECICLE!!! I HATH COME TO- ohhh hey it’s the hacker guy!!!”

He stumbled over to the hacker guy and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “Hiya hacker guy! Guyyyyyyyyyyyy… guy!!! So many weird words. Do you know who made words?” He let go of the stunned hacker guy and stumbled over to Ranboo, who was on a wheel for some reason. Silly Ranboo! Now Charlie had to cut them down.

He grabbed a nearby hatchet and lifted it above his head, wobbily lining it up to cut at Ranboo’s restraints. Don’t do that, don’t do that, set down the hatchet, walk off the set, go with the drones, get your wounds dressed,don’t- but Ranboo has to know about how weird his name is!!! Charlie brought the hatchet down, severing Ranboo’s bonds and freeing one of their arms.

“RANBOO!!! Imma free ya, buddy-pal!” He raised the hatchet again, but his wrists were grabbed by the hacker guy. The hacker guy shouted something at him, but he didn’t quite catch it. There was a weird buzzing in his ears that didn’t help. He twisted around to face the hacker guy, accidentally wrenching his wrists from his grasp. “WHAT???” Charlie asked him, “Speak words !”

He raised the hatchet again, forgetting to turn around this time. The hacker guy started backing away, hands up. Charlie shrugged and turned back to Ranboo, bringing his hatchet down again and freeing another arm. STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP- nuh uh!!!

Charlie hesitated for a moment, arms freezing in place, but quickly resumed Ranboo’s accidental liberation anyways. “RANBOO GUESS WHAT YOUR NAME IS LIKE THE WEIRDEST NAME EVER!!!” He missed Ranboo’s waist, accidentally going near his head and clipping some wires. “Whoops, not again! No more red lights, nooooooooo-“

He was cut off by being tackled to the ground by the hacker guy.

Chapter Text

Ranboo’s eyes widened as they realized what was happening. Their mask had once again been cut, but Charlie’s hatchet had also cut a bit of their face. They could taste their own blood in their mouth. Charlie, bleeding out, had been tackled my Hetch.

Wait, why haven’t I lost my old memories? He thought to himself, puzzled, Hetch must have forgotten to remove them. Ranboo unstrapped their waist and legs and grabbed one of the daggers in the wall. There has to be a way to save Charlie without hurting him.

Ranboo started approaching Hetch and Charlie with the dagger. Hetch noticed, and grabbed Ranboo’s arm. Ranboo, seeing the opportunity, grabbed Hetch by the head and pulled him off of Charlie. “Charlie! Run!” He yelled. “Get out of here!”

Charlie didn’t understand them. He had lost so much blood that he couldn’t comprehend what people said anymore. Ranboo didn’t know what to do. They cut a bit of Hetch’s arm with the dagger, distracting him enough for Ranboo to push him over and get to Charlie, who was on the floor, laughing hysterically. Ranboo picked him up and started to walk away, both of their blood making new stains on the floor.

Ranboo looked back up to the far wall, afraid of what he would see, and saw that what was once plastic skeletons had now become the real corpses of people. Most likely the old cast members. He could have become one of those . Trying not to gag, Ranboo dragged Charlie out of the room and back into the rest of the abandoned mall.

Ranboo clutched the wall, their broken ankle completely useless to them, threatening to trip them with every step. They looked at Charlie, who didn’t seem to truly process the fact that he was moving, and then looked to their surroundings. There were a few deactivated drones, but no immediate threats as of yet.

Just then, Charlie began speaking loudly about something Ranboo couldn’t understand. “I THINK YOU SHOULD [unintelligible] AND THEN [unintelligible] FROG DRYING!!”

Ranboo stared at him in bewilderment mixed with fear. He had been so loud. There was no way they would be safe for long. Charlie began to yell again, so Ranboo had to once again put his hand over his friend’s mouth. “Charlie! Shhh!” He whispered, “We have to be quiet, ok?” But Charlie still didn’t understand. He looked at Ranboo’s hand over his mouth, confused, and tried to say something else, shocked that it didn’t work.

Just then, Ranboo accidentally pushed off the wall to try and reposition Charlie. Their ankle buckled, and they fell over, hitting their head hard on the floor.

~•~

Charlie lay next to Ranboo, who had taken their hand off his mouth to put it to his head. There was so much slime all over both of them! “RANBOOOOOOOO!!!” He cheered for no particular reason. When Ranboo didn’t get up, Charlie poked him in the eye again. “Ranbooooooo?” He asked, giggling. “Come onnnn, get up so I can teach you how to DRY FROGS.”

Ranboo still didn’t get up. They hissed something through their teeth, but Charlie couldn’t hear it over the sounds of someone chasing them. He turned around, standing up wobbily to face whoever it was and maybe teach them the fine art of frog drying and/or boy boiling. “HELLO?” He shouted in that general direction in that same British accent from before. It was the hacker guy and some suit people!

“Well hiya, hacker guy!!! Are these people in suits your friennnnnnnds? Ya know Barry?” He slurred, stumbling towards the hacker guy. Ranboo started to stir, shakily standing up and watching the exchange in confusion and horror. Charlie didn’t notice. “Barry’s my friend, he mighta died though. I mighta died too. I did, but, like, only for a sec. I killed Barry!”

The hacker guy said something to him again, gesturing for him to come closer. “Nuh-uh!” Charlie giggled, running behind Ranboo and falling on his face. He laughed, because that was the most hilarious thing ever. He was almost completely covered in slime now! It was awesome! He couldn’t feel his face.

“Face is a weird word!” He giggled into the ground, face smushed up against the floor. He turned, watching Ranboo pull out his dagger and take a defensive stance in front of him. “YAY RAMBO!!!” Charlie yelled, throwing his arms up in celebration. What he was celebrating, he had no idea.

Chapter Text

Ranboo stood with the dagger in their hand, not really knowing how to use it, but they didn’t have any other choice. They looked back at Charlie, who was yelling some sort of celebratory cheer, then back at Hetch and the Showfall drones. They tried to stand up, away from the wall, but they couldn’t stay like that without further damaging themself. They began to panic as Hetch approached them. This time he didn’t have a crimp. He had the axe. Ranboo ducked as Hetch swung. They missed Hetch with the dagger and nearly fell over. They caught themself, barely, and stabbed Hetch in the back.

Stop dodging. This will only hurt for a second. When you wake up, everything will be okay. You will be a part of the shows. You will be okay. Just stop dodging, Ranboo. Stop dodging.

A soft voice, not belonging to them, whispered in their head. The voice was calming and convincing. It took everything they had to ignore it. I have to live. I can’t forget all of this. I don’t want to be part of this anymore. I… I can’t watch them all die again.

Charlie was watching from the back, but obviously didn’t understand what was happening. Ranboo used the dagger and lunged at Hetch, his heart racing. Hetch dodged and took a swing right for Ranboo’s neck. Ranboo’s newly-regained memories flashed in front of him. He froze in fear. Just then, one of the Showfall drones rushed into the battle. It accidentally pushed Hetch off course. Hetch, blinded by rage, barely noticed and finished his swing of the axe. Ranboo cried out in pain as the sharp, thick axe hit his arm. The axe cut through about half of his arm, and left Ranboo staring at bone. The voice in his head was no longer calming, but angry and terrifying. WHY WON’T YOU DIE?!

Ranboo backed away and looked down at the enraged, hate-filled man in a hooded mask before them. They looked at Charlie, their friend, who was now giggling uncontrollably, making bubbles in a pool of his own blood. They looked at the mindless drone in front of them, the features of a human being used as some sort of robotic tool with no emotions, no free will. They looked at themself. What were they? A pawn. The “hero” of some twisted story. The title of “hero” made them sick.

They never wanted any of this. To sit back and let all of those people die, be reprogrammed, and then do the same thing over and over again? The thought was painful. All of those people. All of those people died because I didn’t save them. They clutched their bleeding arm. Now two of their limbs were useless in this battle. They tried to move away, but instead fell backward, right next to Charlie. Seeing the opportunity, they grabbed Charlie’s arm and started slowly moving to the closest door. They would run, but it was pointless to try; it would just lead to them falling, which would further delay escape.

Ranboo looked back. Hetch’s axe, now covered in blood, had stuck to the floor. Hetch was yelling curses at nothing in particular. He looked at the axe, then at Ranboo, deciding to leave the weapon behind. “I don’t need it.” He said, “I’ll finish the job myself.”

Ranboo, mortified, opened the nearest door, quickly got himself and Charlie into it, and then slammed the door behind him. Inside the room was a small group of people huddling around some sort of book. They were wearing cloaks, some red and some black. Did they just walk into a cult? Ranboo decided yes as he heard what they were saying. “Oh yeah baby demon time. It’s demon time, baby. Demons, ghouls, goblins, we love ‘em. Where’ll are they? They’re in Hell. They’re in Hell, baby. Yep, we love demons…”

~•~

Charlie stood up, brushing himself off. He then fell over again, and got back up. He looked to Ranboo, who was oozing slime almost as much as he was now. “Ranboo, where’d ya get all that slime? That’s MY thing!!!” Ranboo just looked at him weird. Weird. Why’s it spelled that way? He looked to the rest of the people in the room, who were making funny noises and wearing funny clothes.

“[a long string of unintelligible words and sounds]”

Chapter Text

Ranboo looked at the strange cult, then to Charlie, then to the door. The cult didn’t seem to notice them, which was good, as they seemed to be doing some sort of sacrifice.

On the other side of the room, Ranboo noticed another door. He grabbed Charlie and started heading towards it, careful to not be seen by anyone. Hetch started banging on the door loudly. Ranboo looked over his shoulder, the pain in his leg not letting him move any farther. Ranboo noticed an Exit sign above the door in the other side. Thinking fast, he said, “Charlie, you see that door over there? Yeah. It leads to the Slime Dimension! Remember the Slime Dimension?”

Charlie looked at the door warily, then back at Ranboo. He nodded. “YEAH!! The Slime Dimension has a BUNCH of [unintelligible] and [unintelligible] IT’S SO GOOPY!!”

“Yeah, man! You go through that door, and all your goopiest, gunkiest dreams will come true!” Ranboo said, trying to be convincing to the guy that had lost so much blood he was acting like a child.

“Really? ALL of them???”

“All of them. You go through that door, and I’ll catch up with you in a minute.”

“OKAY!!” Charlie said, a bit too loudly. Charlie ran to the door. Ranboo tried to stand up, but the pain was too much for them. At least Charlie will be out of here and safe. They thought, Well, safer than he is here at least.

At that moment, Hetch burst through the door. He saw Charlie first, then Ranboo. Charlie had already lost so much blood that Hetch didn’t see a point in attacking him. He was already dying. Hetch advanced on Ranboo.

~•~

Charlie stumbled to the door, leaving a trail of little pools of slime behind him. How fitting for the king of the slime dimension! He couldn’t wait to be back. He wondered if Ghoulio and Ghouliette were taking care of things for him. He put his hand on the door and tried to turn the handle, but the slime on his hand made it slip off! “Silly door!! Silly me! There’s sooo much slime everywhere! Hmmm… maybe I just..” he tried to turn the handle again, still slipping off.

He turned away from the door, trying to see what was happening behind him. He turned back to the door. “Ooo, the door to the Slime Dimension!” He tried to turn the handle. It slipped off. “Oops, I forgot!” He said. Finally, he gripped the doorknob tighter and opened the door. He stepped inside, giddy with excitement. “GHOULIO!! GHOULIETTE!! I’M BAAAACK!!”

Charlie was now outside the mall. A random passerby saw him, covered in giant gashes, oozing blood slime. Concerned, they got out their phone to call 911. “This isn’t the Slime Dimension!!” Charlie said, “Ranboo must be imagining things.” With that, he went back into the building and closed the door. He saw Ranboo on the floor, fighting the hacker guy. “Silly Ranboo! The door led to some random mall parking lot! Not the Slime Dimension!”

Meanwhile, the passerby had called the authorities. Police and paramedics rushed to the scene, their sirens making a chorus of warnings. The police got there first and found the person who called them, asking what they had seen. To the best of their ability, they described that they had seen a man walk out of the abandoned mall covered in deep, life-threatening injuries, screaming like he was on drugs. The police approached the mall. Soon, the paramedics arrived as well, asking similar questions and following behind.

The officers saw a man in a hood and mask attacking another man, seemingly eighteen or nineteen, with a metal mask on. The teenager grabbed the man by the hood and smashed his head on the ground. The man groaned and clutched his head.

Chapter Text

“Oh, thank God!” Ranboo said, “The police! Please, we don’t know how long we’ve been here. This man kept us here and wiped our memories. I just got mine back about an hour ago, but Charlie,” they gestured to their friend, who was bleeding uncontrollably by the door, “Still doesn’t have his. He’s bleeding out badly and needs a hospital. Before you ask, his current behavior is from blood loss.”

Two of the police nodded. They walked over and grabbed the masked man, cuffing him. “You might have to testify in court, kid.” One of them said.

“Ok. Can my friend and I go to a doctor first? Oh, and there are other people here. I don’t know where, but they’re alive. Being reprogrammed for the next show.”

“Reprogrammed?”

“I can’t explain it here. Security is probably already on its way. We all have to get out of here.”

The police nodded again. A few of them left to search for the other people, while the rest helped Charlie, Ranboo, and Hetch out of the building. Ranboo took in a sigh of relief, realizing the police had this handled. All of the painful responsibility, all of the feelings of lack of control over his own thoughts, it was all gone. Everything was going to be alright.

But was it? What if this was all a part of the show? What if Ranboo and Charlie never really escaped? What if it was another set, another show? Just more entertainment for you, the Audience. Believe me when I say that this won’t be the last of our Hero.

The End

Chapter Text

Author’s note 1 (snakebee3)
Hi! It’s me, one of the authors of this ff. I did this with a friend of mine, sugarmoth1! I did Ranboo’s POV and they did Charlie’s. We both figured it would be fitting for the story of Generation Loss if part of it was serious horror/angst, and part of it was just silly fun. We also put a couple of references to other things like Sorry. Thanks so much for reading this fic!

Author’s note 0 (sugarmoth1)
Hello, hello! I came up with the AU and wrote Charlie’s POV. I have another AU I’d love to write, but it may never go onto paper (or a screen, in this case.) By the way, if you read these first, the British “HELLO”’s Charlie does are pronounced exactly how Tommyinnit does it. This was written before the Founder’s Cut came out, and any new lore revealed is not considered canon to this fan fiction. Enjoy your day! By the way, if you’re an Author, WRITE MORE GENLOSS FICS THAT ACTUALLY HAVE AN END. Thanks!