Taken- A Dream SMP Fanfic

Chapter Seventeen- Trapped

You ran to your door as another screech echoed through the hallway. You burst through the door and stopped short at the scene outside your room. 

Ranboo was next to the door, curled in a ball against the wall. He was the one who had made the noise. He was mumbling something you couldn't catch. 

"I don't know what's wrong with him," a voice said from behind you. You turned to see Dream standing a few feet away. "He took one look at me and now he's like this."

"In that case, it's probably better if you leave so I can try to help him," you said. Dream shrugged. "I'll be in my office." He vanished through another door.

You turned back to Ranboo. The half-enderman seemed to have calmed the moment Dream had gone out of sight. He looked at you gratefully. 

"Thanks for getting him out of here," he rasped. "One moment I was looking for the book, the next, he was here and everything kinda turned over and I couldn't really focus on anything. I just...froze." He sighed. 

"Book?" you clarified, noticing what he'd said. Ranboo visibly tensed. "Yeah... my memory book is gone again. I just thought that since he took it last time, maybe..." he trailed off. 

"I'll help you look for it," you offered. He smiled. "Thanks." 

You nodded. "Sure. Why don't you look that way and I'll go down this way." You pointed down two separate hallways and he headed in the direction you'd indicated. You watched him for a moment then swept off toward Dream's office. 

The door was open, but you didn't go inside, choosing instead to listen for a moment. You felt waves of frustration coming from the office along with mutters of irritation.

"What's the use of the stupid thing if I can't read it? Is this some kind of made-up code? Oh, no, it's probably written in Enderman. That would make sense. It would be so annoying, though. Nobody's supposed to be able to hide things from me."

You backed away from the door and noisily walked into the office. Dream looked up at you, but didn't say anything.

"Why do you have that?" you demanded. He shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Can't understand it anyway." He gave you a searching look. "You can read Enderman, can't you? I remember you saying something about that when we first got here." You nodded. "Give me the book and maybe I'll tell you what it says," you suggested. He gave you the same searching look and warily handed you the book. You flipped to the first open page and pretended to read the book while glancing up at Dream. He was watching a bird that sat on the windowsill. It was now or never.

You quickly and quietly left the room, hurrying through the halls of the base. "Ranboo?" you called. He was at your side in an instant. You gave him the book and his tense expression melted into relief as he held it tight. You allowed yourself a moment to smile, but the moment was gone quickly. 

"You need to go, now. Dream has probably noticed I left by now and he'll be here any minute."

Ranboo's joy changed to alarm and he tore off down the nearest hallway. You followed, barely keeping pace with his long strides. You saw the base exit straight ahead. Almost there...

"Stop."

Ranboo froze instantly, skidding to a halt on the smooth floor. You turned to see Dream standing at the end of the corridor. He radiated cold anger, most of which was directed toward you. You looked at Ranboo, who still hadn't moved. He seemed to be fighting an internal battle. His red and green eyes flickered with purple streaks and he was breathing heavily. You hurried over to Ranboo. He gazed down at you, terror clear in his gaze. You felt a soft leather weight and saw that Ranboo's memory book had been shoved into your arms. Ranboo whispered something unintelligible. You leaned closer.

"⏁⏃☍⟒ ⟟⏁."

You gripped the book tightly and slipped it into your inventory. Recalling your own knowledge of the Enderman language, you asked why he'd given it to you.

"☍⟒⟒⌿ ⟟⏁ ⌇⏃⎎⟒," Ranboo pleaded. He wanted you to protect it. You nodded firmly and asked when he wanted it back.

"⍙⊑⟒⋏ ⟟'⋔ ⋔⊬⌇⟒⌰⎎," he responded. It made sense. You wouldn't give it back unless you could tell he was completely okay.

"Did you really think that you could take that and get away with it?" Dream asked incredulously. At his words, Ranboo shrieked and crumpled to the  ground, clutching his head. Dream laughed coldly. "No matter what you've done with it, I'm going to get that book back."

Ranboo moaned softly and gave you a panicked look. His eyes were a mix of their usual red and green and a vivid purple. 

"⟟ ⍙⍜⋏'⏁ ⌰⟒⏁ ⊑⟟⋔ ⊑⏃⎐⟒ ⟟⏁," you whispered quietly, giving Ranboo a reassuring look. 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dream scoffed. You glared at him. "I said, I'm not going to let you have it," you said fiercely. You could feel Dream's amusement. "I wouldn't count on that," he said.

You smirked. "Bet."

Dream's eyes turned cold. Ranboo shrieked again, louder then before. But there was something else in his shout. It was more frantic, with less ferocity. His eyes were more purple than red or green at this point. 

"Since you've made it obvious that I can no longer trust you," Dream said icily, "I'll have to find a good place for you. Maybe our tall friend here can help with that."

Ranboo finally stood. His eyes were a vibrant purple and stared into nothing. His expression was blank and he was completely still. 

"Ranboo," Dream said softly. The enderman's head turned slowly toward the green-coated warrior. Ranboo made a grunt of acknowledgement. Dream glared at you. "Take her to the basement room," he ordered. Ranboo grunted again, turning towards you. You wanted to run but his purple eyes speared you in place. You couldn't even turn your head. 

Ranboo put a hand on your shoulder and you felt the familiar twist of teleportation. You were in a room that was all white- white floors, white walls, white ceiling- except for the purple candles dotting the walls and the glass in between you and the door. Ranboo looked down at you for a long minute and you could almost see a flash of the usual red/green in his eyes. 

"⟟'⋔ ⌇⍜⍀⍀⊬," he whispered. Then there was a cloud of End particles and he was gone.