Metamorphosis

Tubbo always liked bees.

From the day he left the end, and started out his life in this new place, the Overworld, he had marked it as his favourite creature. It was the first thing he had seen, after all, after Phil had taken them out of that cramped old stronghold and into the open air.

To be honest, he was jealous of them. Free to fly wherever they wished, smell the flowers all day, and have a nice little family to go home to. Tubbo never had that. He had always been alone, fighting for his survival, with a tiny box to call home. His life had changed a lot since then, but so much was still the same.

Sure, now he had his friends, his new home but he was still the same on the inside. Same box, same prison. His ability was a blessing and a curse. His heavy armour meant that even if he had strong wings like Phil’s, he couldn’t lift himself off the ground. Tubbo would watch his friends in the skies, as he was glued to the earth. The closest he could get would be sitting on the edge of the Pube, where he sat most nights and looked at the stars.

“Tubbo? You’re up here again?” Ranboo took a seat beside Tubbo and gazed around at the night sky. “How’s the stars lookin tonight?”

“Same as usual. They’re still backwards.”

Ranboo laughed. “We’re not in the End anymore, Tubbo.”

“You think I don’t know that, dick?” Tubbo playfully shoved at Ranboo, and they both continued to admire the sky.

“Tubbo, you know what Wilbur told me? In the Overworld, if you wish upon a shooting star, your wish will come true! But that might be another lie, just like he told Tommy that fish is vegan. Fish is, indeed, not vegan.” Tubbo didn’t laugh. “Might as well try it. C’mon, we’ve got nothing to loose.”

Tubbo perked up a bit and shrugged. “Worth a shot, yeah.”

They waited for what seemed like hours, staring at the twinkling night. And then, there it was, the sight they had been waiting for.

“Look! Tubbo, look!” Ranboo pointed at the bright purple burst of light moving through the sky. “Make a wish, quickly!”

Tubbo closed his eyes and wished as hard as he could, as Ranboo did the same. When they opened their eyes, they were surprised to see it still in the sky, seeming to slow down. Get a bit…closer?

They watched as it grew to the size of a tree before making a loud bang as it crashed down with a boom somewhere on the horizon.

“What the fuck was that?” Ranboo made a weird mumble of confusion and shrugged. They bough chuckled at the absurdity of it all and began to head down from the Pube, back home. They needed to sleep at some point, after all.

“What did you wish for?” Tubbo inquired as he climbed down the ladder, above Ranboo.

“Oh, me? I…It’s kind of silly.”

“C’mon man, you can tell me, I won’t judge.”

“Well…I guess I wished for a family. Never had one, so I think it would be nice.” Tubbo stopped laughed at the Enderman below. Ranboo didn’t appreciate it. “C’mon man, you said you wouldn’t laugh!”

“I’m sorry…I couldn’t help it.” They continued their descent. “You know what, Ranboo? You can be my family, if you want.”

“Wait, you mean it?”

“Sure, why not. You’re my friend, and all. Isn’t that what matters?”

“Thanks, Tubbo. That means a lot.”

They finally reached the ground, and Tubbo jumped with a hard thud off of the ladder. “Well, I’ll be off.”

“Hey, wait, what did you wish for?”

“Huh?”

“What did you wish for, Tubbo?”

“Oh, I wished to be a bee.”

Ranboo snorted. “You laughed at my wish, and you wished to be a bee? C’mon man.” Tubbo crossed his arms. “I’m not judging, it seems like a very…you wish! A good one! But why?”

“Cause I want to be one. Not that complicated, big man. Let’s get to bed.”

The two parted ways and slept through a night that seemed like any other.

Exactly a week had passed when it started.

Everything was itchy and stuffed up inside him, like he had a bad cold. That’s what Phil thought, anyways. But Shulker’s didn’t get colds. They didn’t get sick. They were supposed to have pretty good immune systems, and this wasn’t supposed to happen. But it was happening.

And it scared Tubbo. Just a little. But it scared Ranboo more.

“Are you sure you didn’t eat something bad yesterday? Did you not get enough sleep, Tubbo? Have you eaten today? Is your health low?”

Tubbo waved his hand in Ranboo’s face.“I’ll be fine, big man. Stop fussing, I’m not a baby.”

“I’m just worried about you, that’s all.”

“You would be. You’re my husband.” He laughed at the thought. The older “wiser” people (they weren’t that wise, to be honest) had told them that was the term for two people who were starting a family together, married.

So, they went along with it, and got “married” by the weird priest spider guy who is barely ever around. It wasn’t a very good ceremony, the guy kept trying to get them to smell things. But it was what it was, and now they had cute little matching rings and a legal document covered in sand that meant…something? Didn’t matter, they had lost it after five minutes.

“Yeah, but I’m your friend first, Tubbo. I need to find out what’s wrong with you! So I can help you!”

“I’m fine, Ranboo, don’t worry about it.”, he said as stood up and began to stumble off. “I’ll be back in a bit, I just need to grab some food from my house.”

As Tubbo climbed down from his treehouse ladder, he felt the waves of weakness overtake him. He tried his best to bite the meat in his hand, snap himself out of it, but he couldn’t, so he just put it away and sat down. He sighed as he began to feel sleepier and sleepier, his mind slowly slipping off into unconsciousness. As he curled up inside his box on the ground, he thought to himself “It’ll just be a minute. I’ll be back at the Pub in a minute.”.

And then, the shulker box shut.

It was nearly an hour before Ranboo found the box, tucked neatly under Tubbo’s treehouse. It seemed much more solid than usual, with a shiny layer almost like glass thinly covering the surface. The usual polite knock didn’t do anything, and nether did any of the talking or even eventual yelling. So, he did what anyone else would do, and called the others.

Of course, Tommy’s first instinct was to punch it. He was lucky his hand didn’t break after all that beating. Phil tried to lift it, and failed miserably. Niki poured water on it, nothing. Jack tried to burn it. Charlie was about to try rubbing slime on it but everyone stopped him before shit got out of hand.

They were almost out of ideas when Wilbur finally arrived. “Will! Thank goodness you’re here! Please, can you do the thing you did that you did in the cave again? When we were stuck? Like just peek in the box? Something’s wrong with Tubbo.”

“Yeah, he’s bein fuckin antisocial as hell and it don’t feel right.” Tommy shook his head, before showing off his now bandaged hands. “I tried to get him outta there, but he’s being stubborn. His stupid box bested the great Tommyinnit!”

Wilbur chuckled, and sunk halfway into the ground, disappearing as he spoke. “Alright, I’ll give it a look. Now let’s see what Tubbo’s…oh. That’s weird.”

“What’s wrong?” Tommy demanded answers from the invisible voice below ground.

The phantom man punched him as he reappeared in front of them, in the shade of the tree branches. “It’s like it’s made of obsidian, I can’t go through it!”

“What do you mean-?” The crowd broke out into confused rambling as they tried to figure out a way to get inside once more. There was no solution that worked, minus the likely suggestion of diamond or netherite pickaxes, but no one was willing to possibly hurt Tubbo with one.

So, everyone gave up, and Ranboo volunteered to watch over the Shulker Box until Tubbo came out. Some just assumed he was never coming out, never coming back. But Ranboo didn’t give up hope. Neither did Phil, Will or Tommy, who would come by and visit the duo, just “sitting” together, waiting.

Wilbur couldn’t really see anything at all, but he would still come by each day and try. He would sit in the bows of the tree above Ranboo, at night, when he was tired from sitting awake, and sing to him. It was a kind gesture, but also quite fun watching Ranboo try his best to resist the urge.

Phil brought him food and gave him advice that didn’t really fit the situation, but it was much better than being alone. Ranboo had always liked Phil, and appreciated what he had done for the pair long ago.

Tommy did what Tommy does, be annoying, but this time, it was less in a I’m-being-a-dick-on-purpose way, and more of an affectionate attention grabbing way. Trying to distract Ranboo while also trying to encourage his friend to snap out of it. He was smarter than he pretended to be, after all.

It felt like a month, but it was only a week and a half. Day in and day out of the waiting gets to you. He didn’t yet really have anything better to do, as the only thing he had wanted to help with was the Pube, and Phil had just finished it. So, he waited, and waited, and waited.

Until he heard the noise. On the twelfth morning, just after dawn, as he was barely awake. The sound of cracking.

He was barley awake, so he brushed it off for a moment, as just some tree branch or something. But then it hit him, the box below him was moving ever so slightly.

Crack.

He turned and looked at the box closely as the cracks grew ever larger. He was confused beyond belief as he stood and watched the Shulker be cut into pieces by deep cracks running across the outside.

“Tubbo?”

There was a soft thud as something tried to push from the inside. And then another, and another!

Suddenly, all at once, the cracking stopped, and the shell crumbled apart, as a hand emerged, followed by a body, and a familiar face. The clothes he was wearing were no longer purple, as with the inside of the box.

“Tubbo!” He breathed a sigh of relief.

“Ugh…Ranboo? What’s happened, where am I?” That’s good, his memory was intact.

“Are you doing alright? You were in there for days, I was getting worried, and now…!”

“What’s wrong, big man? Why are you looking at me like that?” Tubbo tried to stand, but he was still too weak. Ranboo managed to just catch him as he looked himself over.

“Wha…I’m all yellow and stripy? What…” Ranboo touched the long antenna sticking out of his head and he swatted him away. “Stop that! That tickles! Wait, antenna? Why do I have antenna?”

Ranboo shrugged. “To be honest, you look like a bee.”

“A bee? Wait-wait a minute…!”

He turned around and looked at the four overlapping wings on his back. Wings?

Tubbo flexed them as they spread to their full length. “I’ve got wings! Ranboo, I’ve got wings!”

He began flapping them incredibly fast as Ranboo watched him begin to float off and giggle. “You’re flying! That’s amazing!”

“My wish came true Ranboo! I’m a bee! I’m actually a bee! It worked!”

He flew a couple loops around Ranboo as the others gathered around, very confused. Ranboo did his best to explain the whole wishing situation a few weeks ago, commenting on the strange nature of the star, and how that must have been what made it work.

“Well, if you can get your wish, then I want mine!” Tommy demanded. “I want to be the richest!”

“I don’t think it work’s like that, Tommy.” Ranboo scratched his neck. “I think it has to be a wish from the heart, something you want more than anything in the world.”

“I wish I would stop burning in the daytime.”, said Wilbur, generally ignoring Ranboo’s comment.

“I wish I could breathe on land.” Niki sighed.

“I wish I could carry people around more often with these wings.” Phil thought. “That’d be pretty nice.”

“I wish I had more slime.”commented Charlie.

“I wish I was a giant.”, the tiny moth man said as he stood in the man made of star’s hand.

“I wish I had Phil’s wings.” Tommy said as he prodded at his own tiny pair. “Or Tubbo’s, for christ sake.”

“I wish I didn’t have this damn headache from crash-landing.” said the star man as he rubbed his head.

“I wish I could swim in the water. Ya know, lava’s nice but-.” Jack was interrupted by Tommy.

“Who the hell are you?”