Netherless

Chapter 8

That night I stayed up later than I should've fixing Ranboos bed and hanging up some of his new clothes Niki had made. She had been working all day so he would have clothes for every event. It was nice to see him so excited over the ball and his new clothes. Although the ball clothes weren't done yet, he was still very happy. He seemed to settle in pretty fast and I myself loved him just as much as the other boys. I was glad he wasn't tore up over being alone anymore.

"Marlow?" His voice rang out and I propped my head up looking over to the small boy. I was too tired to stay up much longer since I hadn't had a proper night's sleep last night.

"Yes?" I ask and he looks over to me.

"Does this mean I have a family now? Like are you my sister? Is Ronan my dad?" I smiled at the boy and nodded my head. "Only if you want us to be but yes you most definitely have a family Ranboo." I say and he smiles closing his eyes softly.

"Hey, I have to go on a trip the day after tomorrow? Do you want to stay in my room alone or do you want to see if Niki would let you stay with her?" I ask and he opens his eyes yet again.

"Well if it's okay I want to see if I could stay with Niki but where are you going?" He asked a worried tone in his voice.

"Technoblades taking me to the Nether to try and solve some problems." I say and he only nods and I grin at him playing with his crown looking at the blue and black stone in them.

"Do, do people here like me?" He asked whispering and I close my eyes. "People here love you Ranboo, don't worry about it okay?" I ask and I hear him sniffle. "I just don't want to be hated." I frown sitting up. "Do you want to sleep in my bed again?" I ask and I watch him nod and I stand up pulling the covers back and he climbs in. I place a sweet kiss on his forehead, ruffling his hair and tucking him in.

"Thank you." He whispers and I turn back to him looking at the soft smile on his face. "Night." I say climbing into his bed and the only response I get is his snores a few moments later.

...

When I woke up the next morning Ranboo was standing on the balcony with the doors open and his little crown perched on his head. He was overlooking the gardens with a bowl of strawberries in hand.

"Morning." I say standing besides him and I see what he's looking at. Technoblade was sitting on the garden bench sharpening his sword. He was dressed in a white shirt and brown leather pants and boots on. His back was turned and his mask was resting on the top of his head.

"Do you want to say hi instead of staring at him?" I ask and he lets out a little giggle looking up me. "Is it okay if I meet him?" he asked and I grinned taking his hand and dragging him to the closet. "Pick out your outfit and change if you need help just ask." I say pulling my light blue dress out of the closet and he nods as I shut the door letting him change.

When he came back out his shirt was on right and button and he looked proud. "I did it." He said sheepishly with a cheesy grin spreading over his face and I let out a giggle picking up the second fruit bowl on my vanity and handing him his. Anita must have dropped off breakfast this morning sometime.

"Did you sleep good?" I ask and he shakes his head yes and I smile down at him and he leads me out to the gardens. He takes me hand and I knew he was nervous, he got into a habit of only taking my hand when he was nervous. I opened the door and I watched Technoblades shoulders tense as he reached up and pulled the mask over his face and he turned around swiftly the sword in hand.

"Hello." I call out and he tucks the sword away. "Hello." He says back and his eyes travel from me to Ranboo who was smiling awkwardly but he was trying to get out of his shell a bit and it was cute.

"Ranboo wanted to meet you." I say and Ranboos cheeks go light pink and he steps forwards and Techno's lips twitch up into a grin.

"I'm Technoblade but you can call my Techno." He says looking at the boy his figure relaxing trying to make Ranboo comfortable. I watched the small encounter and decided I would try and break some of the silence.

"Have you eaten this morning?" I ask looking at Techno and he shook his head. "No, I've been in the garden all morning." He said and I hold the bowl of fruit out. I wasn't hungry, I was more nervous about tonight and tomorrow than anything. Techno takes the bowl and lets out a small thank you.

This was awkward.

"Uh so what do I need to bring for tomorrow?" I ask trying to keep a conversation going. Ranboo had ran off to look at the fish in the fish pond and he had his journal out, he may be drawing. I figured out he draws when he wants to remember, he doesn't really write it down.

"Well do you have anything besides dresses like any kind of say like, shirts, pants, boots?" He asked and I looked at his outfit.

"Why didn't you say, 'My outfit'? But yes, I do I can wear that." I say and he nods at me cutting me off. "You can bring dresses but I just don't want them to get scorched or anything plus the women don't exactly wear dresses over there." He said rubbing the back of his neck. His hair was down today and not pulled into a braid like normal. It was very pretty and reached his waist, it was that long.

"No braid today?" I ask and he shakes his head. "I meant to braid it this morning but I never did." I nodded pulling the ribbon of my wrist and taking his hair in my hands and his whole body tensed up.

"Is this okay?" I ask and he nods his head. "Yeah, just wasn't expecting it go ahead." He said and he sat down on the stone in front of us and I began braiding a small section and flipped it around on his front. I separated the rest of his hair into three sections and put the small braid in the left section and began braiding his hair. Once I had it tied off at the bottom I let it go and he ran his hand over it then set his crown back on his head.

"Thank you." He says and I nod looking over at Ranboo who was a little too close to the water for comfort.

"Ranboo hun, can you take a step back from the pond, I don't want you falling in." I say and he grins stepping back and continues to look at the fish swimming around.

"So my cape? Can I just pick that up for Niki? I need it for the ball tonight." Techno said and I nodded. "Yeah, she should be in her room most of the day and if she's not she'll be in the ballroom." I say and he grins looking up. I followed his gaze and Ranboo had his eyes crossed looking at the butterfly on his nose and I let out a laugh.

"Ranboo? Are you ready to go get you ball clothes from Niki?" I ask and he nodded picking up the journal and the butterfly flies away.

"If you want to come with and see if Niki has your cape fixed you can."

"Yeah, that sounds like a plan." Ranboo come bounding past us through the door and I laughed knowing he'd make it there before us.

....
to the only person reading my book, you a real one ily <3