Chapter Text
It wasn’t his fault.
He’s not strong enough to resist him anymore.
He didn’t have anything to do with any of that- that- what was it?
Why is he lying to them?
The green strands are blocking his vision, clogging his throat, and restricting his vocal cords-
Not that he ever said anything important anyway, right?
Why was he here? What did he do wrong?
What did he do right?
“Wake up.”
He’d rather float in the nothingness, thanks.
“Wake up.”
He doesn’t want to, not after-
“Ranboo, wake up.”
Was that his name?
“I swear- oh my gosh, Ranboo, wake up. ”
How could he say no?
He wanted to say no.
Ranboo jolted himself awake, gasping, a hand over his heart. A boy, who looked vaguely familiar every growing second, was staring at him, openmouthed. Shaggy brown hair covered warm, caramel eyes, and even with Ranboo sitting down and the boy standing, he could look the other straight in the eye.
“Morning, sleepyhead. You’re gonna be late, y’know,” The boy- no, that’s Tubbo, right?- said.
“Sorry, sorry, I was up late, oh my Philza, Techno’s going to kill me-” Ranboo lunged out of his not-bed, rushing out of the closet-sized room and into the only slightly larger general space.
He caught sight of his appearance in the reflection of the microwave. Perfectly split black and white hair, currently in disarray. Puffy eyes, one crimson and the other the color of a flower’s stem, a victim to heterochromia. His shoulders, as always, were curled in, yet it did nothing to hide his 6’8 stature as much as he wished he could be as short as Tubbo.
He was too recognizable.
“Well, you look like shit.” A voice, coming from his right, almost made Ranboo jump. He turned to face a smirking Tomathy Innit, who unfortunately is one of his closest friends. Curly blond hair, shockingly electric blue eyes, too-skinny form, and obnoxious, overbearing personality; Tommy cut a striking figure, and had confidence practically dripping off of him at any moment in time.
Tubbo, who followed him out of the other room, laughs. “Chill, ‘boo. Techno won’t cause any permanent damage, he’ll probably just give you paperwork and stuff.”
Ranboo groaned as he danced around the room, collecting his stuff. Tommy passed him a coffee, and he immediately begins to chug it.
“Why did I choose to be a hero, again?” He asked Tubbo, who leaned against the counter and replies.
“Because vigilanteism almost killed you, and since Philza Minecraft, the Biggest Man Ever, had already practically adopted you, it was the only thing your good-person heart could accept.”
Tommy nodded, uncharacteristically solemn. He was the only other hero in their group, with Tubbo interning under the “guys in the chairs”, the ones who didn’t go fight physical battles but instead technological ones, people like Fundy and Nihachu.
Ranboo didn’t exactly live ‘normally’, aligning to the standards of current beliefs in humanity. Heroes needed to have abilities, which was why only a small percentage of the population actually managed to become one.
He, alongside all of his roommates, were part of the unfortunate small percent.
Tommy could shapeshift into any animal, fictional or literal, extinct or household pet. Tubbo was telekinetic and could move anything smaller than your average truck. It made living with them very… interesting.
Ranboo could teleport, not only himself but also objects and other people.
Quite a little circus they had going, right?
“ByepleasedontkillanyonethanksforthecoffeeseeyouafterworkTommyhurryup!” Ranboo flitted around the front door with a bagel shoved in his mouth, waiting for Tommy to finish yelling at Tubbo for griefing his Minecraft house.
“Try me, bitch, I’ll throw out your favorite hoodie, I swear to Philza,” Tommy swore, and Tubbo’s eyes narrowed.
“You wouldn’t dare,” he hissed, and Tommy flipped him off and ran to where Ranboo was standing, clutching onto his arm.
“Let’s go already, I told Wilbur I’d be there early to help the cleanup from Sapnap.” He grumbled, and Ranboo rolled his eyes.
Teleporting was interesting. It started as a small buzz in his legs, and then it became a fire, a burning spreading across his entire body as if he was a witch being burned at the stake, a physical pain as the world dissolved around him and he reappeared in the Limbo.
Ranboo had discovered that he was the only one that could see the Limbo, and when to him teleportations took a full minute, to others it took half a second. He hovered in his Limbo, which appeared as a train station. Two rusty, empty tracks leading to nowhere, with a large, blank sign like the ones outside small towns and opaque glass floors that when he looked down, all he could see were clouds.
When he’s here, nothing else exists, but in the Overworld, neither does he. Tommy isn’t here either, having already been teleported to (hero name Mockingbird) Wilbur Soot’s office inside the Antarctic Empire (also known as AE, the main hero alliance in this city,) building. He probably figures Ranboo’s with Techno already, being productive and a good person.
Ranboo’s not sure he’s either.
It was selfish, wasn’t it, to want to spend hours on end here in the Limbo, with no earthly obligations and nobody to bother him, to escape from his reality for a second. Every time he comes here, he unwillingly feels relieved, as if whatever was tethering him to his little apartment on East 23rd Street, to the emotional bonds he feels with Tubbo and Tommy and only a few other people, had let go. None of that exists here, in the in-between.
Is that a good thing?
He knew he had to leave, but it felt like he was ripping off a limb as he closed his eyes and envisioned the Blade’s hero office.
Every time Ranboo leaves, he never regrets it, but he wonders what would’ve happened if he had just sat on the clouds between the tracks and breathed.
“Ah, there you are. You were almost late,” says a gruff voice that had destroyed empires with a simple word, and that Ranboo was deathly afraid of.
“So sorry Blade, I woke up after my alarm.” Ranboo bent at the waist, closing his eyes and holding his breath.
“I’m just teasing, kid. We’ve talked about this, Ranboo, you don’t need to be scared of me,” Techno sighs.
Ranboo exhales and looks down (just the slightest bit) at Techno. Waist-length pink hair, wire-frame glasses, dark burgundy overcoat with golden buttons, a white blouse, black slacks, and a pirate-like swagger tie together to create one of the most intimidating people Ranboo’s ever had the misfortune of meeting.
Yet, Techno’s rose-colored eyes are weighed down by dark circles proof of nights without sleep, like Tubbo’s after endless days of working on some sort of invention.
Techno looks Ranboo up and down, quirking an eyebrow. “You seem tight-strung. Are you okay?”
Ranboo nods vigorously, and after a moment of hesitation, asks, “Did something happen?”
Techno purses his lips, looking away. “Nothing of importance to you. Have you found any leads on Karl Jacobs yet? You looked very focused yesterday.”
He frowns. “Not really. If it’s okay with you, I might go out to the field again today, because he’s very slippery.”
Techno laughs, a small snort of amusement. “I can’t argue with that, and yeah, you’re fine, as long as you’re careful. The whole group of- what do they call themselves?- ‘Feral Bois’ have caused me, Phil, and Wilbur a lot of trouble. Especially, well, you know when.”
The mood of the room lowers with those words, and Ranboo looks at his feet. Techno sighs again, (he does that a lot) and motions for him to carry on to get his things in the large workspace shared with most of the heroes at Antarctic Empire.
Karl Jacobs. He was a famous villain, a member of the ‘Feral Bois,’ who together had become one of the most feared and renowned names in the history of the dance of heroes and villains.
Karl himself was a time-traveler, not one of the members that fought publicly. He was hidden in the shadows, the monster under your bed who had a knife and knew exactly what you were afraid of. The only pictures they have of him on file are snapshots of curly brown hair, or a purple eye and color-blocked sweatshirt.
It’s rumored that he’s in a romantic relationship with either Sapnap or Quackity- (or both?) who were both members of the Feral Bois themselves.
Spanap could control fire, make it bend and dance and twirl to his will, and he had no qualms about burning a few buildings on the daily. He’s scary in an unpredictable way, both figuratively and physically, with untameable black hair and an iconic white headband and smirk.
Quackity could twist himself into your mind and discover all of your secrets. He had an ability similar to Mockingbird’s, where he could control you as soon as blood was spilled. Ranboo had seen clips of past heroes who had gotten a cut the size of a papercut and had been forced to tear themselves apart. (Literally.) Quackity was short, with golden duck wings, and had never been seen without a blue beanie. He had a few gold teeth and a large scar across his face, dealt to him by Techno himself.
Then there was 404. He was the Feral Bois ‘guy in the chair’, a title gifted to him because of his understanding of technology. All the heroes called him 404NotFound as a not-so-funny joke, as the man could make himself, and anyone he wanted, invisible. Very useful for a group of villains, as one may be able to guess. There were no pictures of him on file, for…obvious reasons. The only reason they knew he existed was because of how Sapnap likes to talk.
And then there was Dream.
Ranboo had been tasked with finding Karl Jacobs and getting at least one picture of him. With even one blurry snap of his face, the heroes Tubbo works under could analyze everything . Currently, citizens were aware of Sapnap, Quackity, and the fact that Dream existed. They had no idea that there was a time-traveling enigma that nobody could recognize because they’ve never actually seen him. 404 practically didn’t exist to the public, just like how he was completely off the record with the hero’s databases.
Needless to say, he hadn’t had much luck.
He had gone out and asked a few people about sightings a few days ago, but then Sapnap had been spotted at a traffic intersection, on fire and screaming. Tommy had come home with the tips of his hair singed and Tubbo was still pissed about it. (He was very much the mother hen of the group, and Ranboo was always on the receiving end of his neverending care.)
He took his stuff, mainly his laptop and elderly phone, and walked out of Techno’s part of the office.
Ranboo’s been asked why he doesn’t just teleport everywhere more times than he can count. There are a few reasons, but the main one is he doesn’t want to face the temptation of Limbo. He only visits Limbo when he teleports his entire body. When he’s in an actual fight, fists flying and knifes stabbing, he can portal his individual limbs or different objects without using enough energy to visit the Limbo every time.
The other reason is that teleporting does take up energy. Plus, it kind of hurts. Every ability-using person (AUP) that Ranboo’s ever met has had a ‘downside’ of sorts to their ability. Tommy can get trapped in one form, Tubbo will get relentless headaches.
Techno, also known as the Blade, knows exactly what his opponent will do next, and is gifted with increased strength to help deal with it, but it comes with the price of voices in his head that tell him what he needs to know- and sometimes he can’t control them. (He calls these voices his ‘chat’.)
Wilbur, or Mockingbird, who’s one of the heroes that Tommy works with, can control people with singing, but to do so he needs them to talk. He’s become a master of annoying people into talking with this, which is a downside to everyone else, especially Tommy. (When they first joined the AE, Ranboo and Tubbo were all subjects to many rants about Mockingbird.) Wil also has a cap on how many people he can have control over. Right now, he has a cap of four, and is working on five, last Ranboo heard.
Philza Minecraft, the Biggest Man Ever, has tremendous, cavernous grey wings, silently powerful, and light bones like an avian. He has a long lifespan, almost immortal, and extended eyesight, allowing him to see Earth’s magnetic fields like a bird can. He has to deal with the pain of actually having wings that were twice his size, has to take care of them.
Ranboo’s sure that the Feral Bois have weaknesses too, but the only one that the AE is aware of is Sapnap’s, who would burn himself if he covers himself in fire for too long. One of the man’s common attacks is to coat himself in a fiery ball of heat and fling himself at people, and they eventually had to bring Niki (Nihachu) in, because her ability to control water was understandably very helpful in those fights.
He remembers Tubbo’s clenched fists as he stared down the television as Niki fought Sapnap that fateful day, (before he was called in), how the fire and water swirled around downtown in a violent dance of dark and light, not of black and white but of greys and grays. He can recall thinking it was beautiful in a rather morbid way. Niki, who is one of the heroes Tubbo has been interning under, is one of the four’s favorite people, and even Tommy had begrudgingly admitted her pastries were astonishing.
Tubbo was lucky enough to work from their little apartment on two days out of the week, and Ranboo wished he was at the office today so he could go say hi. Tommy was out helping to collect rubbish from Sapnap’s recent burnings, or else he’d go greet him.
Ranboo frowned as he jogged down the stairs. Sapnap could potentially be useful, actually, in his investigation. He was the only mainstream villain to always be out doing something, and maybe Ranboo could catch him on an escape, and follow him back to the Feral Bois headquarters, finding not only Jacobs but so much more.
Wait, that could actually work, he realized. As long as he could catch Sapnap on his way back from today’s fight, he could find the Feral Bois.
He runs down the rest of the palace-like stairs and falls into the lobby of AE’s hero offices. TVs surround the entire oval-shaped room, painted in welcoming periwinkles and rose. Artworks of famous heroes decorate the walls, and a mural is painted on the high ceilings. The stairs, of which Ranboo nearly fell down, lead up to four floors of individual hero offices, tech labs, one temporary holding cell, (they normally try to cooperate with the police), and an armory.
Waving to Captain Puffy, a well-known motherly hero who loves him to death, he rushes out of AE, stealing side peeks of the TVs to see if Sapnap’s fight, currently with a hero called Compulsion, a close friend to Tommy’s, had finished with any considerable outcomes. Ranboo makes it out of the offices without too much staring, which is new because if he saw a 6’8 man with white and black hair running full-speed, he’d be screaming.
The sun’s bright against his face when he stops outside the entrance. He lets out a breath and promises himself that he would be able to do something
good
today.