barbarism (dreamnoblade)

chapter thirty six

|||Philza POV|||

Another similarity between Ranboo and Technoblade were how curious they both were. Despite being quiet Philza could tell his mind was burning with questions. The way he stops to inspect flowers or moss, the way he tries to count every star he sees. Ranboo was always getting sidetracked with the most bizarre of things.

But because of his shyness they'd only had a few conversations, most of their travels spent in an awkward silence. Because of this Philza had nothing to distract himself with, so his mind keeps drifting back to his sons.

Was Tommy okay? He never stopped sending letters before, so why now? His mind aches with the worry, he should’ve been there to help his sons. Philza didn’t know why but he knew that things were horrible over there, it may just be a father’s sense, but whatever it was it plagues his mind.

His feet are numb, the coldness sinking past his shoes and socks, it was times like these that Philza dearly missed being able to fly above everything. He misses the feeling of air rushing through his hair and feathers. He sighs and tilts his head up to check to time, it was about midday for them.

“Hey Ranboo, where do you plan on going after this?” Philza throws a glance at the boy, watching him flinch and grow fidgety. His braided hair falls in front of his face and covers his expression, but Philza can tell he was scared.

“I-I’m not too sure, I just need to get away from there, I wasn’t safe…”

Philza raises an eyebrow, “why weren’t you safe?”

Ranboo squirms under his gaze, almost tripping over himself multiple times, “w-well, uh…” He then looks up with quivering eyes, “promise not to sell me out, please.”

Philza puts an arm on his shoulder, using his wing to gently wrap around the back of his neck like a blanket. The least he could do was try to calm Ranboo down.

Thankfully Ranboo does seems to calm down at that, a sigh leaving his lips and he lightly shakes his head, “well I’m kind of on the run right now- I was in a very bad place with very bad people.”

Philza feels his heart lurch, the worst coming to mind. But he clears all the dark thoughts and resumes to walk. “Who are these people? If you feel comfortable answering, of course.”

Ranboo seems like he is going to stay quiet, not responding and eyes sinking to the ground below them. But then moments later he makes brief eye contact with Philza, “I… I guess you could call it a cult, they took in hybrids and tried to experiment on them. They changed a lot inside, it- it’s changed me.”

Philza stops walking, causing Ranboo to look up in confusion. “P...Phil?”

“Are you talking about the cult that worships the Blood God?”

Philza watches as Ranboo’s face turns into one of terror, he starts violently shaking as he hands go to grab his head, “h-how do you-? Oh god- please don’t hurt me-” He starts whimpering and turns around to run, but Philza tightens his grip on his shoulder.

“Calm down! I’m not a part of them, I’m against them– Ranboo it’s fine, you’re safe.” Philza blurts out everything he can to convince Ranboo he was safe. For the most part it seems to work, he stills, body still shaking as he sobs.

“How do you know them…?” His eyes are wide and fearful.

“My son, he was one of those hybrids you were talking about. Have you heard of Technoblade?”

“Technoblade?! We’re going in the direction of Technoblade?!” Ranboo shrieks and tries to pull away, but Philza doesn’t want to let go. He doesn't ’t trust Ranboo being alone, he was not safe out there by himself.