𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙨𝙢𝙥 𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙨 ༄

in my head- ranboo fic

  Ranboo was lost. The hazy waste of the nether stretched out in front of him, no real landmark to guide him. His hands were beginning to blister from the heat and his throat was cracked with dryness. He had no idea how long he had been walking, he couldn't-couldn't even remember why he was in the nether in the first place. Ranboo racked his brain trying desperately to remember the events of the day. Something about... Tommy. Ranboo had seen Tommy, alive. But that- that was impossible. Someone can't die, and then show up again. Revival, even the idea of it was so foreign to Ranboo. Humans were meant to stay dead, it was just how life worked. If- if they could be revived, then death would be meaningless. His thoughts ran together like thick molasses, none of them sticking in his mind. He was lost, he was confused, but there was nothing else to do but keep moving.

  He picked his way across the barren soul sand, careful to avoid the blue flames. Sweat clung to his forehead, dripping into his eyes making it even harder to see in front of him. Ranboo prayed he would find something, anything that looked familiar to him. 

   And then he spotted it. Just across a small lava pool stood a lone nether portal, its purple glow visible to him through the fog. Immediately renewed with energy, Ranboo picked up the pace. He had been walking for hours, or at least that's what it felt like. But he was determined to get out of the hell that was the nether. 

  Ranboo reached the portal, apprehensive for what was on the other side. He straightened his shoulders, and clenched the tufts of grass in his fist even tighter. Before he could talk himself out of it, he pushed himself through the translucent purple goo of the portal. 

  He opened his eyes and saw black. Black stone stretching taller than he could even see, surrounding him. His breathing quickened. He didn't recognize this place, but it felt oddly familiar. Bits of bedrock and redstone lamps decorated the floors, and there was a tall elevator of sorts at the opposite side. Ranboo looked around, bewildered. He couldn't remember- of course he couldn't- anything about this place. But somehow, somehow he knew it all too well.
  He tentatively left the safety of the portal, still grasping tightly onto his grass.
  "Where am I?" He spoke aloud. "What is this- I don't..." He trailed off.

  Something about the blackstone and darkness of the room unnerved him. "Have I been here before?" His thoughts ran wildly. Ranboo cursed the gaps in his memory for not knowing.
  He turned to his right, noticing a long hallway, similar to that of a trophy room. There were pedestals and glass cages and iron bars lining the walls. He stepped closer, curious. The Axe of Peace, read the first sign. Shulker, read another. He stopped in front of one, not believing his eyes. 

  Enderchest. Ranboo gasped, his heart slamming in his chest. His cat? Why his cat? He didn't- he couldn't understand this place. "What- what is this place? Why am I here? This doesn't..." He felt the walls closing in. Flashes, almost imperceptible, flooded his mind. He remembered.

  "Step away from him Dream," Sapnap's voice mixed in with his own as he spoke aloud. Wait- had he said that out loud? Ranboo stepped backwards, trying to put space between him and an invisible enemy. He was beginning to panic now, his thoughts and his memories slurring together, almost impossible to organize. He studied the bedrock below his feet. Why had he said that?

  Ranboo closed his eyes, trying desperately to remember. 

  "Everything everyone's ever loved is right here. If I can control that... then I can control the server," Dream's boasting words echoed in his head.

  Ranboo's words stood frozen in the air, echoing around the dark stone room. Had he said that out loud again? These flashes of phrases were fleeting, giving his mind whiplash. He was so close to remembering. 

  His eyes were drawn to the little obsidian cage at the end of the hall. Dream's cage.
  Ranboo stiffened, his mind suddenly clearer. He could remember- he remembered coming through the portal. He remembered walking behind Captain Puffy, her telling him to stay strong. He remembered Quackity, with his axe, and Punz, the mighty warrior. He remembered-

  "You can't kill him, because he is the only one who can bring Wilbur back."

  Oh. Ranboo knew it all now. His hands tugged at the grass absentmindedly. This was... this was the war room. The one where Tubbo had almost died. He shuddered, not even willing to think about that. Ranboo sifted through his thoughts, trying to remember more.

  Dream could bring people back- What? Was that what happened to Tommy? Was he killed... and then revived? 

  Thoughts pounded through Ranboo's head like ping-pong, each one disorienting him more than the last. 

  H-he had been here, right? "I was here?" the question hung in the still air. His grass slipped from his hands as he paced back and forth. 

  "This doesn't make any sense... I remember- Why do I remember?" he gasped for breath in between words. 

  Ranboo gazed around the formidable room. How could he remember these flashes, these phrases, that weren't even said by him, if he had never been here before?

  But he had, hadn't he.

  "The Enderwalk."

  Ranboo's head was pounding. He couldn't make sense of it all, but one thing was clear.  
  "That entire time... I- I was enderwalking."

  It made perfect, horrible sense. But that meant... Ranboo had been under its control for far longer than he thought.

  He stumbled backwards, heart thudding in his chest. He couldn't be here anymore, couldn't breathe anymore. The blackstone was closing in, and his mind was shutting down. He couldn't remember- he remembered everything. It didn't make any sense- it made all the sense in the world. 

  Ranboo lurched forwards to grab his grass, and then ran towards the portal, desperate to leave this haunted place. 

  Emerging from the portal, he fell to his knees on the netherrack. Ranboo gripped the sides of his head, wishing that the pounding would stop. Wishing that he could think clearly.

  His thoughts ran like a rushing waterfall, and he was being pitched overboard. 

  Dream is the reason. 

  "I'm not even real."

  The last thing Ranboo saw before the world faded to black was a simple symbol, but it etched pure terror into his heart.

  :)