I Can't Remember

[5] A Wild Michael Spawns From The Blankets

Ranboo backed away from Clay, horrified.

"No no no no no! We can't go back, we can't go back! He'll kill me, then he'll kill you. We can't Clay, we actually can't!" Ranboo kept begging him as Clay gave him a challenging look.

"I get why he'd wanna kill me, but why you?" he asked. This made Ranboo halt in his actions. He looked down at Clay with woeful eyes, holding in emotion even he couldn't truly describe.

"Look, I ruined his beetroot farm as a joke, don't go into it, just, know that he's probably very mad. All I'm saying. Please, just trust me on this," Ranboo said, giving him yet another pleading look

Clay just walked away from the teenager, running outside and looking at the landscape. He took in a deep breath and started walking in a random direction.

"What are you doing?" Ranboo had also come out of the house.

"Tubbo's the leader of Snowchester, right? If you're not taking me there, I'll go there myself." He kept walking. Ranboo stood there for almost a minute, his arms crossed with an exasperated expression.

"Hey!" Ranboo watched as Clay turned around, rubbed his face with his hand, then stared at Ranboo with eyes that could pierce his soul.

"What now?!" he shouted. Ranboo smiled tiredly. He pointed in the opposite direction.

"Snowchester's that way."

• • • • • • •

"Who is it?"

Tubbo walked towards the front door, a little bundle of blanket in his hands. He adjusted the bundle as he opened the door. What he saw at the door shocked him.

"Ranboo! Why the fuck did you ruin my farm–" Tubbo was interrupted by Ranboo engulfing him in a hug. After a pause, he hugged back, one hand still holding the bundle.

"I missed you," Ranboo mumbled in Tubbo's soft hair. Tubbo hugged back tighter.

"I missed you too," he said. Suddenly, the bundle in Tubbo's arms started squirming. Tubbo separated from the hug but still stayed close. A smile was forming on his face. Ranboo grinned as the bundle of blanket started moving. Suddenly, it fell to the floor. Before Tubbo could let out a sound of horror, the bundle took the shape of a child, kneeling on the floor. The blanket flew away to reveal a young, zombified piglin. He got up from the floor and beamed at Ranboo. He smiled back.

"YOU!" the child shouted.

"ME!" Ranboo shouted back happily, kneeling in front of him so that they were at eye level. Tubbo watched them fondly.

"Aye, superhero landing! Those are really hard to do, you know. Good job Michael!"

"Thanks, dad!" Michael cheered and hugged Ranboo. He hugged him back, basically hiding him in his arms. Tubbo cooed at them along with someone else. Wait, someone else?

His head snapped up to the door, trying to see if there was anyone else. Turns out, there was someone else with Ranboo, who had hidden behind the boy's tall build.

"You," Tubbo growled, staring at the man in front of him.

"Uh... me!" Clay shouted, in a similar fashion to Ranboo, except he sounded confused about it. Tubbo tackled him in the snow and started punching him. Ranboo realised what was going on and let go of Michael. He told him to wait as he hastily grabbed Tubbo and tried to push him off of Clay.

"It's Dream! You brought Dream to our house! How could you?! I thought I could trust you, is this how you pay back trust?! Ranboo, you know what he did to me! He'll kill Michael!"

Ranboo tried to contain the gasps of pain as Tubbo's outburst caused snow to fling at his dark skin, burning him incessantly.

"Tubbo," he struggled out. "Please stop doing that, you're hurting me."

"I'm hurting you, what about this?!" Tubbo got up from the ground and held onto Ranboo for support. He pointed towards– "Where'd he go?"

Clay was holding a distressed Michael in his arms. He was softly patting his heading, reassuring him that they were just angry, they didn't hate each other. The couple in question just stared at Clay when Tubbo started to struggle against Ranboo again. This startled Ranboo who flinched back in shock. They both fell in the snow. A loud sizzling sound was heard.

"Ranboo! Oh prime, are you okay?" He turned the taller lad so that he was lying on the white side of his skin. Ranboo was too heavy for Tubbo to pick him up.

"Michael, could you please go to my room and get the first aid kit? Bring it to the living room, please." Michael simply nodded, his distress now mixed with worry. What just happened? They were so happy two seconds ago. He threw a confused glance toward Clay and ran away to Tubbo's room.

Clay and Tubbo carried Ranboo to the living room. Michael brought the first kit. Within ten minutes, Ranboo was sitting comfortably on the couch, potion of regeneration in his hand. A healing potion would've been better, but it would drain Ranboo's energy. However, just because Tubbo was worried didn't mean he had forgotten his anger. Ranboo still had to face his husband's wrath.

"Why is he in my house?!"

"I–"

"Did you get him out of the prison?!"

"If you would just–"

"I helped put him there! He was gonna kill me!!!" Tubbo exclaimed. Clay decided to chime in with his defense.

"I wouldn't have actually–" he began, but Tubbo wasn't having any of it.

"YOU SHUT UP!" he yelled, glaring at him. Then he turned back to his friend. "Ranboo!"

"If you would just let me speak?"

Tubbo fumed but stayed silent. A sign for Ranboo to keep talking.

"Yes, I did break him out of the prison, but– Tubbo, hold that thought– it was because he wasn't at fault. Not really. Look, you have to give him a chance, for me, please, you have to,"

"Why should I? After last time?"

"Tubbo please, he might be able to help me! He's like me! I don't mean that he's a hybrid, but he's being controlled, Tubbo! He has memory problems too! And he didn't get it under control till it was too late, till he was in jail. Now he has it back under control, and he can teach me too! It's like... It's like my enderwalking."

Ranboo took a deep breath, waiting for Tubbo's reaction. Michael jumped in his lap, in an attempt to make him feel better. Bless his non-existent soul, it was working. Finally, Tubbo decided to say something.

"Why are you–"

"I know about his enderwalking, Tubbo." Clay interrupted him. Tubbo glared at him but nodded anyway. If Ranboo was telling the truth, Dream was not at fault here. Knowing him, he was correct as well. The boy he knew would never take such a big and rash decision without being absolutely certain of his reasoning.

Tubbo sat down. He needed a moment to process this new information. His head was ruffled with thoughts, doubts, and suspicions. He didn't know what to do. He shouldn't have to think of this, he was still a teenage boy, after all. Sadly, that's now how things worked in the Dream SMP. Tubbo was the leader of Snowchester, a husband, and a father. He had to stay strong, no matter how much he was breaking inside.

A deep breath. The distraught teenager disappeared, leaving a calm and collected president in his place.

"What do you need from me?"

[27-03-2022]