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Dream steps in line with Ranboo as he leads the way, hopping up and down as they traverse the forest.
Ranboo has wanted Dream to come along with him on a trip for so long. Ever since he’s found the Warden hybrid, he’s felt a connection with him, he doesn’t really know why, but he just wanted some one on one time with Dream to go explore and talk; maybe even find an End portal while they’re at it.
So here they are, journeying through the low-hanging branches and leaf covered ground, just chatting with each other while they walk.
Dream has been getting along great with Ranboo’s family. They’ve had bumps in the past where they don’t understand Dream’s culture, but those were resolved and fixed for the future. Dream is very different then any creature Ranboo has come across and that’s coming from a confusing Enderman hybrid. When they gave him food, he was completely overwhelmed by the size of the steak that was placed on his plate. They learned that they have to work up from Dream’s regular diet since he usually ate only berries or small amounts of meat while in the cave.
But none of the things are a deal breaker. Dream’s staying up here with the benchtrio, acting like the older brother who’s supposed to be responsible, but has no idea what the word means. It’s great and causes Phil a lot of stress, but he’s happy as well to have Dream around.
Ranboo teleports up into a tree to get a better look at the surrounding area and Dream climbs up after him. Dream’s a great climber, having much practice from climbing the caves deep below the surface. He also has those claws that can cut deep into any material, even obsidian. It’s remarkable to learn about all the things Dream can do.
“Any particular reason we’re out here?” Dream swings from branch to branch and hangs off one like a monkey when he gets close to Ranboo. His legs dangle in the air and his shirt rides up a bit, showing off the years worth of exercise in the form of abs.
“Honestly,” Ranboo tilted his head to the side, “we’re kinda just out here to explore, just the two of us.” Ranboo turns to Dream who smiles warmly at him. “Maybe even find an End portal while we’re out here.”
“Those are rare.” Dream reminds him as he swings himself up to rest on the branch he was holding onto. He has such great parkour skills, Ranboo is jealous. “Do you know where to find one? I’m just assuming from Enderman instincts and all. I know I have some instincts to protect the portal, but that’s only fit for the eldest and strongest of Wardens, so I don’t really have the pull towards one.”
“You protect the End portals?” Ranboo raises an eyebrow, rotating his body to face Dream.
“Well yeah. Wardens are meant to defend something and we defend the doorway to the Ender Dragon’s home. Though, we’ve been having more trouble lately with it.” Dream’s gaze casts to the ground as something dark storms in his eyes. “Hunters are persistent. They want the rarest material ever and sadly, due to how rare Wardens are, we’re it.”
Ranboo’s ears shrink next to his head. He didn’t mean to force such dark moments onto Dream. He just wanted to know about the End and more about the Wardens. It’s just so fascinating to learn about their culture and how similar Enderman and Wardens are.
“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”
“Oh you’re fine, Ranboo.” Dream shakes his head and looks back into his heterochromia eyes. “How would you have known?” Ranboo only shrugs and Dream hops from his branch down to Ranboo’s. “I guess I’m lucky. Being a Warden hybrid, it’s almost unheard of. Wardens are rare, but having one with hybrid features is legendary. People don’t believe I exist, so they don’t believe in me. Plus, I have all the other Wardens to protect me.”
“That sounds nice.” Ranboo agrees. “Endermen are a pack. We always go to protect our kin no matter what, even if we never met a certain Enderman before, we treat them like family.”
“Sounds like Wardens and Endermen have a lot of things in common.” Dream winks at Ranboo and hops off the branch. “Don’t worry Ranboo, I’ll protect you.”
“Thanks.” Ranboo can’t help the smile that forms on his face before he jumps down after Dream.
They continue wandering for hours, not getting tired. Dream has more endurance than Ranboo, but that doesn’t mean the Enderman doesn’t have none of his own. They both can walk longer and further than any human can hope to without a single break. Being a hybrid comes with it’s perks. One of those perks being the ability to get minimal sleep and be able to function like normal. Both Ranboo and Dream can go days without sleep before feeling tired. When Ranboo didn’t sleep when Phil first found him, it caused the older to nearly have a heart attack, but after learning about Enderman traits, he calmed himself down.
Right now, Ranboo’s sitting at a beach of a lake, staring out at the water, memorized by all the ripples in the still liquid. Fish are bobbing up and down and Ranboo can see them swim in synchronized ways as they circle around each other. He is so distracted by the colours and their movements. He can never touch water and so to look at the fish, imaging what it must be like to be like them, it took all of his attention.
Dream’s off in the forest, looking for some food. He said he was going to try and hunt but mostly scavenge for fruits and berries since both of them prefer those to meat. So while Dream is doing that, he’s staring, amazed by the water creatures.
“Imagine spending all your life under water, unable to go onto land.” Ranboo thought aloud. He really does want to know what living in the water feels like. He’s never met a creature or hybrid that can breathe underwater so he never has the chance to ask. He’s asked Tommy and Tubbo what it's like to be able to touch water, but they both respond in the same way, “it’s wet”. Quite helpful.
Ranboo hears a snap of a branch breaking behind him and he turns to survey the forest behind him. It’s just darkness and shadows. The sun has basically lowered itself completely behind the mountains now and Ranboo is pretty sure Dream said he would take longer to search before he came back.
He stands up and creeps a bit closer to the forest, still seeing nothing. Even with his blessed night vision from being half Enderman, he can’t see what made the sound.
Maybe it’s his head messing with him? Maybe it’s Dream who just got a bit closer to camp than he originally thought. Maybe it’s just some animal or critter running along the forest floor, accidentally snapping the branch as they went on their way.
Ranboo shakes his head and turns back around to the water. He’s just being paranoid, there’s nothing to worry about.
And that’s when the net gets shot.
It wraps around his limbs, trapping him and making him incapable of movement. He falls to the ground, a little too close to the water for his liking.
A million thoughts race through his head, but one stands out, Hunters. Of course it’s hunters, they always seem to want to get their hands on his species. He has the ender pearl in his chest that can be used for transportation, but they can also be sold for decoration and hybrid pearls are the best aesthetic pearls. He has that tough skin that is used in a lot of fashion choices as well as the horns that are used for tools and jewelry. They were going to rip him apart getting what they want and he can’t even move.
Ranboo turns his head towards the hunters as they come out of the trees, making their way towards him. He should’ve known. He shouldn’t have been so stupid.
He thinks about ways to escape, all ending up with a path where he dies, so he does the only thing he can possibly think of, he screams.
“DREAM!” Ranboo calls out. His voice is a mix of Enderman warbles and pleas. Some of the hunters immediately turn around, crossbows out and pointing at the surrounding area while two come jogging towards him.
Uh oh. Did he just make things worse? Did he speed up his death process while basically luring Dream into a death trap? Dream mentioned being extremely useful to hunters, like Ranboo was, and he just called for him, right to where hunters are.
‘Oh Prime. I’m leading him right to them.’
The hunters pull out a pair of cuffs, an enchanted, lapiz-covered amethyst lies in them. Ranboo freezes upon sight. Those are dampener cuffs, enchanted to cease all magic a hybrid possesses. So, in Ranboo’s case, it disables his teleportation.
Ugh, teleportation! He’s so stupid! His brain is so busy running a million miles per hour, that he didn’t even think he could use his magic. Then again, it’s not like it would get him far, there are so many hunters and he can’t really teleport that far without getting exhausted. He would be captured sooner or later and he would be too tired to do anything. He was trapped either way.
“DREAM!” Ranboo calls out again as the net is thrown off. He’s trying to warn Dream now. Maybe he can tell him there are hunters just with his yell.
He tries to get up and make a run for it, but he’s hit in his temple with the backside of a crossbow and he falls to the ground. He hears a click of the dampener cuffs as they’re wrapped around his wrists. He feels his pearl inside his chest start to slow with its humming, becoming a dormant pearl in his chest. It feels cold, like his heart isn’t beating blood anymore. He hates it.
“DREAM! PLEASE!” Ranboo pleads for Dream to save him. He doesn’t like this feeling and he doesn’t like the idea of what these hunters could do to him. He’s helpless right now and they can cut him open and steal his pearl. The thought makes him shiver.
He hears the hunters talking. It sounds like they’re celebrating. It makes sense, they did just capture an Enderman hybrid.
'Dream. Please help me.’ Tears fall down Ranboo’s cheeks as he lays face down in the sand, body unable to move.
Is this really it? Is this how he goes? What are Tubbo and Tommy going to think when he doesn’t come home? How is Phil going to react when he sees Dream come home without Ranboo? How is Dream going to feel when he notices that hunters captured Ranboo and he was too late? It would break him and Ranboo doesn’t want Dream to ever bear the guilt that would most definitely rest on his chest. It’s not his fault he got captured, but knowing Dream, he would probably blame himself anyway.
Ranboo’s eyes shoot open at the sound of an angry roar. It echoes across the entire lake and forest, causing birds to flee the scene. Ranboo’s only heard that roar once in his entire life, and that was when his friends and him got stuck in a cavern with a Warden.
It’s Dream.
The hunters stop their banter and immediately raise their weapons, arrows loaded and swords sharpened. They step back and form a half circle around Ranboo, protecting their cargo. Ranboo whimpers as they get closer and tries to curl up further into himself, making him as small as possible.
The trees move, but there’s no wind to move them. Ranboo can hear the creaking of branches and snapping of twigs, but otherwise, the forest is deadly silent. All crickets and cicadas have gone mute and all the birds are either silent or gone. Everything is just silent, the only things he can hear are his own breaths and the breaths of the hunters around him.
It’s deadly quiet…
Then it all lights up.
Dream leaps out of the trees, claws outstretched, like a lion hunting his prey. He lands on one hunter, sending her to the ground as he slashes across her chest. He leaps forward, avoiding an arrow shot at him and topples another hunter over, one of the guys that cuffed Ranboo, and slashes at his throat.
Ranboo doesn’t watch the rest, instead he throws his head down into the sand and tries to cover his ears, but his hands are bound.
“It’s a fucking Warden!” One of the hunters yell before they inevitably die.
“Shit! Shit! Shit! What the fuck is this bullshit?!”
“Kill it fucking dead!”
“It’s tearing us apart!”
All the hunters yell while Dream tears them apart, throwing a roar in between their deaths.
After what seems like forever, the fighting noise dies down and Ranboo can hear the panting of someone.
Did Dream win? Did he kill all the hunters? Or did one of the hunters get lucky and shoot Dream? He definitely heard a noise of pain come from the Warden Hybrid.
He hears footsteps come closer and all his thoughts shut off. He tries to crawl away, but someone grabs ahold of his wrist. Oh Prime, it’s the hunters. They’re going to skin him and rip out his pearl and-
There’s a sound of crunching metal and soon enough, his hands are free. He brings them to his face and examines his hands, now free from any bindings.
He turns around to stare at Dream with wide eyes. He’s looked better. There’s blood all over his clothes and his hair is a complete mess. Ranboo looks down and sees an arrow sticking out from Dream’s stomach.
“Dream!” Ranboo calls as he grabs onto Dream’s arms and slowly lowers him to the ground.
“I’m fine.” Dream growls, definitely not fine. “You’re more important.”
“You have an arrow sticking out of your stomach!” Ranboo points out, examining the wound. If he pulls it out, blood is just going to come gushing out and he doesn’t have the necessary supplies to bandage it or wrap it. It’s the smartest choice to just leave it in for now. But if he doesn’t do anything about it, Dream could get seriously injured or even die. Ugh! Why couldn’t he know something about what he’s supposed to do?!
“Ranboo, you’re okay. Don’t freak out.” Dream lifts one of his clawed hands to Ranboo’s cheek.
“ Freak out ?! Dream, this is serious! You can die!” Ranboo looks around, trying to see if he can find anything that can help. He calls for someone, but who’s around to hear?
“Wardens can take a hit.” Dream grunts as he accidentally jostles his wound with movement.
“You’re not full Warden.” Ranboo can feel more tears start to leak from his eyes.
He just got Dream. He just met him and became friends with him. He’s not ready to give him up. If only he hadn’t been so careless. If only he paid attention, this wouldn’t have happened. He could’ve used his powers, could’ve fought back, could’ve-
“Don’t think about it.” Dream breaks his thoughts. “What’s done is done.” Dream rests his head against the sand. “I told you I’d protect you. That’s what I did.”
“Yeah.” Ranboo sniffles and rubs his nose. “But you aren’t supposed to die because of it.”
“I’m still alive.” Dream chuckles weakly and it causes Ranboo to smile. Wow, he’s trying to make Ranboo feel better even while he’s slowly dying.
Ranboo turns back to the forest and his ears perk up at the sound of a crow. He glances at a branch and sees a singular black bird staring directly at him.
Philza.
“What’s with the bird?” Dream asks once he notices what Ranboo is staring at. His speech is a bit slurred, but Ranboo can only smile right now. Phil has seen them and he’s undoubtedly on his way.
Ranboo stays with Dream for a while, trying to keep him awake with stories and weird jokes. He sees Dream’s eyes struggle to stay open and he tries to make the story even more interesting to make sure Dream doesn’t close them on him. The moment he does, the worse things get.
He stays clutched to Dream’s side as Phil flies over their heads and circles back around to land next to them. He takes Dream from Ranboo’s arms and immediately gets to work bandaging him up, doing what Ranboo couldn’t.
Dream closes his eyes while Phil works, causing Ranboo to freak out. Phil assures him that Dream will be fine now that he’s had proper medical attention. He shows a potion bottle of healing to Ranboo as proof and gently lifts Dream up so he can drink it.
Phil picks up Dream and flies him home while Ranboo teleports directly behind him, keeping his sights on the bird avian and Warden hybrid up in the sky.
Once they get home, Phil sets Dream on a bed to rest and insists Ranboo does the same. He’s not going to expostulate with that, seeing as how tired he is, especially after all that teleporting. So he crawls into bed next to Dream and falls asleep next to his friend.