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There was a pretty negative atmosphere. Someday this moment would come, he had to tell them. Even if he knew that this wouldn't be easy, Ranboo and Tubbo clearly were already attached to the little child.
-Ranboo, this piglin...-
-Michael, I didn't tell you his name, did I? Michael, we thought it would be a nice name for him!-
The part-enderman person said, holding their child on his arms, hugging him tight, smiling and looking like a proud parent, the piglin child only looked at Technoblade with a blank stare.
-....yes...Michael....Ranboo, he is dead...he is a zombified piglin...-
There was silence for a moment. This moment seemed painfully long and this whole time, Ranboo just looked at his new friend, almost his mentor, who was saying such things about his kid, more purple particles started to flow around him.
-Techno, this isn't a nice or fun thing to say, I saw how he walks....maybe he isn't really talkative...-
-He is dead, Ranboo. Zombified piglins don't actually....understand anything, they just...follow instincts, they just walk around.-
-But he....-
Ranboo wasn't able to finish his sentence.
-He doesn't understand what you two want from him, you just took him...out of the nether...which is his real home...-
-But he was alone!-
There was silence between the two grown man. Ranboo looked at his little son, maybe the side of his face was a little rotting, maybe he didn't speak and would never call him "dad", but the enderman knew, this little, precious piglin was his son and he loved him as such. He gently touched the cheek of Michael, brushing it with his thumb, shaking a little bit.
-For him....it would be better to be back in the nether....-
Techno said, in a much calmer voice, it was not pleasant to see this sorrow in the eyes of his friend. Even if Ranboo had to try and hold himself back, not to cry....this would surely make it more difficult.
-Yes...maybe you are right...-
The little piglin didn't move much, maybe because on a instinct level he knew, that the fall wouldn't be good. The little handlike hooves reached to the head of Ranboo, he was trying to take the crown. The young enderman smiled, but even this looked sad, he carefully put Michael down, the little one started to walk across the room, sometimes stopping at the paintings, staring at them. Ranboo tried to calm down.
-Yes...it will be better....we....we can visit him there....and...we will bring him some gold...I mean...he would like that...right?-
a look at Technoblade, who had a strange expression, which could be compared to slight guilt. Of course he couldn't just let his friend play family with a literal corpse, but the way Ranboo cares for the little one...makes this all so much harder.
***
Ranboo carefully comes through the nether portal, with Michael on his hands and then, puts him on the ground. Tubbo said that he couldn't come, it was too painful to just...leave your child behind.
The Enderman looked at the little piglin, who turned his head in the different direction as if he tried to understand where he is.
-You....you are back home, Michael...we are so..so sorry that we...took you away....I...I will miss you.-
There was a little sound, kind of familiar, even for the little piglin, the sound of water...when it comes in the nether...the same sound came from Ranboo right now. Michael just didnt understand why. Ranboo tried to hold himself together, even when the tears started to fall, hurting and burning his cheeks. He soon disappeared in the nether portal.
*several days later*
There was a need for some netherite, since all thought it would be funny to make a netheritebeacon, Ranboo wasn't amused, he avoided nether...he avoided it for a long time...but, just to distract Tubbo, he agreed to the idea and was the first, who would start the hunt for netherite. Since he was the "main character", everyone said that he would surely find a lot of such a rare ore. He wasn't really amused by this jokes anymore, Techno tries to make him laugh at them again, but it didn't really work. Ranboo couldn't even look at Technoblade the same as before, his thoughts automatically went back to Michael. He tried his best to be his former self in front of Tubbo and just hoped, that this will be the moment where his bad memory would finally play a good role...but it never did. He could only wake up every day with his thoughts back at Michael and how he probably is better off without them. With the same thoughts he finally entered the portal... just to see Michael, who was sitting in front of it, staring. Ranboo was quiet for a moment, but then got closer, slowly.
-Michael...have you been...waiting?...h...hi Michael...-
Ranboo kneeled down, how he used to, as he visited the little piglin in his own room. The zombified piglin only tilts his head a little bit. No other piglins where to see around. Ranboo couldn't hold himself back any longer and hugged his little precious son, pressing him closer to himself. For a moment he even got the feeling that the little piglin got his little hooves on his shoulders...
Maybe Michael couldn't fully understand everything and was long dead, but, he felt the touches, the hugs and that he wasn't so alone.