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It was late at night, the moon was bright in the sky and dotted stars surrounded it. Techno’s eyes swept across the crater that once was a country and shook his head. What a waste , he thought. The country could have been great. Fair and just, but it fell short, with each leader worse than the last. He turned back and headed off to walk.
As he walked along the water, he heard something. Not something, someone . Techno pulled out his new axe from Ranboo, which totally didn’t melt his heart and make him tear up a bit once Ranboo left no no no, and slowly crept in the direction the sound came from. He found what looked to be a small obsidian box he could hear clearer now.
The person was...crying? And mumbling something from the sound of it. The wind blew against Techno’s back, shoving his pink hair into his face. He’d need to have Phil braid it again. Quietly, he slid down to the edge of a hole in the obsidian box. He peeked in and his heart dropped at what he saw. There, in the little obsidian box, sat Ranboo.
The walls were covered with scratches of messages like ‘You are fine’ and ‘DREAM IS THE REASON’ . Ranboo was curled up in a ball squished in the corner, quietly sobbing and mumbling words to himself. Techno debated for a moment, before silently swearing and tucking his axe away. He walked inside the box and kneeled down next to Ranboo.
“Hey...hey Ranboo,” he said gently. “It’s me, it’s Techno, can you hear me?”. Ranboo’s eyes darted up and Techno’s breath hitched. His enderman side looked terrible. The skin on his face was raw and burned, but the only thing there were tears.
“P-Please…” he sobbed out. “I-I can’t m-make it stop. M-My skin is b-burning, p-please,” he begged quietly. Oh. Endermen burned in water. Damn kid couldn’t even cry without being in agony. “Oh god, Ranboo. Ok, ok come here.” Techno said concerned as he pulled Ranboo towards him.
Techno grabbed part of his cloak and pressed it under Ranboo’s eye, stopping the tears from going past his eyelashes. Ranboo held on to Techno for dear life, honestly kind of hurting Techno, he didn’t know the guy was that strong, and breathed shakily as the pain slowly calmed down.
Eventually, his pain faded to a dull burn, and his tears dried up when he couldn’t cry anymore. Dry sobs fell out of his mouth from time to time, and Techno shushed him gently. It wasn’t often Techno did things like this. The last time he was this gentle was when Tommy had a PTSD reaction after he yelled at him. Techno never really fully forgave himself for that.
Ranboo quieted down a while later and just shook in Techno’s arms. “Do you want to uh, talk about it?” Techno questioned. Ranboo was silent for a moment before he breathed out “It was so loud…”. Techno waited for Ranboo to continue at his own pace. “The music...the music wouldn’t stop playing,” he rambled out.
“I took the disc out and the music just kept playing and playing and playing ,” Ranboo shivered as he replayed the music in his mind. “And, and the voice, the voice, his voice , it kept talking and talking and god I just want him out of my head.” He huffed out, almost like he was in pain. Techno’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “You-you hear voices?” He asked quietly. “Just one. Him .” Ranboo answered.
Ranboo looked to one of the signs and Techno followed his stare, and he understood. ‘DREAM IS THE REASON’ it read. He heard Dream, in his mind. Techno got uneasy just being around the guy, he couldn’t imagine hearing him in his head. “He tells me things, bad things. Tells me I did bad things, evidence is there to prove it. It’s not him, it’s me, but I can’t tell whats true and what’s imagination anymore.”. Ranboo rambles.
Techno feels a wave of sadness wash over him as the boy crumbles before him. He’s just a kid, he shouldn’t be dealing with this. Music in his mind, a voice in his head? Techno could barely hold on sometimes when his voices got bad, and Ranboo had clearly fallen into the void that is anxiety and helplessness, not knowing what’s real. “I hear voices, too.” Techno whispered.
Ranboo dug his head away from Techno’s cloak and look at him, his eyes wide and his face slowly healing from the burns. “Y-You do?” he croaked, and Techno nodded. “They get loud, a lot actually, but I’ve learned to ignore them.” Techno said. He hadn’t talked about this with anyone other than Phil, and offhand mentions to Tommy. It was... nice , talking to someone who understood. Phil would comfort him when it got bad, but of course he didn’t understand really. And Techno didn’t hold it against him. He wouldn’t wish this on anyone.
“But they get bad, sometimes. Loud, screaming at me,” he winced. “Those days aren’t fun, Phil has to help me through it a lot.” He admitted to the younger boy next to him. “Tommy would hallucinate during exile. He told me once, he was so sure he saw Tubbo. Heard him calling for him, but when he went where he saw him, he was gone.”. Ranboo didn’t say anything for a while, and neither did Techno.
Ranboo wrapped his arms around Techno’s arm, squeezing him. Techno smiled at the boy. Even though he was taller than Techno, he looked so small now. So fragile. Breakable. His heart tugged and in that moment, he decided he would protect Ranboo like he was his own blood. No one would hurt him.
Eventually, the pair left the obsidian box, Ranboo staying as close as he could to Techno. Ranboo cleared his throat, and Techno turned to look at him. “We can help each other. When things get bad, I mean.” He said softly, looking up at Techno. The man smiled and nodded. He’d like that.
They’d help each other.