Chapter Text
The last thing Ranboo remembered was the meeting room. The syndicate was in the middle of discussing Kinoko Kingdom, which was apparently a new kingdom made by George, Sapnap, and Karl. Techno and Phil were currently questioning Niki on what she’s seen of the kingdom so far. They would probably be setting off on an inspection soon. Ranboo was just glad they weren’t focusing on Snowchester anymore. That entire field trip had made his anxiety skyrocket with concern for Tubbo and Micheal. He didn’t know what he’d do if Techno found out about his marriage to Tubbo.
Ranboo was about to ask what their plan was, when he stopped abruptly. Something felt wrong. His chest was filled with a cold tugging sensation similar to a thrown ender pearl, but multiplied by twenty. Ranboo tried to call out, but all that left his mouth was a strangled chirp. His vision was getting really blurry and he was definitely panicking. Was he dying? He really hoped he wasn’t dying, Tubbo would be so upset at him if he did that. When he could finally see again, he glanced around frantically. Ranboo was upset to discover he didn’t recognize his surroundings in the slightest.
He couldn’t recall a giant floating island anywhere on the server, and how had he even gotten here? Was he enderwalking again? Ranboo tried to pull out his memory book to figure out where he was, but was shocked to discover he didn’t have it. That… that’s not good. It wasn’t in his inventory. He always kept it in his inventory. Maybe he had enderwalked and put it somewhere else? If that was the case, he had to find it fast. He couldn’t have someone messing with it again.
Ranboo didn’t even notice the distressed warbles coming from his mouth as he looked around, desperately searching for any familiar face or landmark. Was this Kinoko Kingdom, maybe? If it was, why would he be here without the rest of the syndicate? Or was this somewhere else entirely? Oh god, could Ranboo have left the server in his enderwalk state? No, no. That’s ridiculous. Dream had blocked travel in and out of the server and Callahan hadn’t managed to open it back up again yet. Wait… but what if he had and Ranboo didn’t know? Oh this was bad. He could be anywhere right now, and he didn’t even have his memory b-
“Ranboo? Are you good, king?” Tommy’s voice broke Ranboo out of his spiraling thoughts.
Turning towards the source of the sound, Ranboo was forced to do a double take. Tommy looked so different! He looked better than Ranboo had seen him since… no, he looked better than Ranboo had ever seen him. Even on Ranboo’s first day, Tommy had still had a decent amount of scars. He still had that haunted look in eyes, even if it was covered by his loud words and bright smile. The Tommy that stood before him now was missing his scars, and lacked the white streak in his hair that had showed up post-revival. His wings looked more vibrant than ever, clearly having been preened recently. His eyes were brighter blue than Ranboo had ever seen them, and he looked totally relaxed despite the slight concern on his face. Even before Tommy’s death, Ranboo had never seen him so alive.
Was Ranboo in the past or something? But… if he was, how would Tommy know his name? Something was clearly going on.
“Uh Tommy? Where are we?”
Tommy gave him a strange look. “We’re at spawn.” He pointed to the floating island, which Ranboo now saw had a large building on top of it. “The Pube is right there”
Despite his confusion and overall anxiety, Ranboo couldn’t help but laugh “The what!?”
Tommy stared at him incredulously. “The pube! It’s the centerpiece of the entire fuckin’ server! How would you not know that?”
Centerpiece of the server? Ranboo certainly didn’t remember anything like that! “I mean, I’m literally the guy with memory problems.”
Tommy looked surprised. Why? Tommy definitely knew! He literally called Ranboo memory boy sometimes, there was no way he didn’t know! Something was definitely up.
“You have memory problems?”
“Yes?? Everyone knows that?”
Tommy threw his arms in the air. “Well I didn’t! I thought I was supposed to be your closest friend!”
Ranboo raised a single eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure Tubbo is my closest friend.”
Tommy looked incredibly offended. “Wh- Tubbo? But you don’t even LIKE Tubbo!”
“Yes I do? He’s literally my husband, Tommy!”
“He’s your WHAT!?”
“We told you this! We definitely told you this after you got out of the priso-“ Ranboo cut himself off with a wince. He should not have brought up the prison.
Rather than flinching or closing off as Ranboo had expected, Tommy just looked more bewildered. “Ranboo, I’ve never been to fucking prison? There isn’t even a prison on Origins!”
“What’s Origins!?”
“THE NAME OF MY FUCKING SERVER! THE SERVER WE ARE ON RIGHT NOW!”
Ok, something was definitely up. None of this was right. Ranboo couldn’t be in the past, because Tommy wouldn’t have known him. But there was also no way for Tommy to have magically lost all his scars, physical and mental, overnight.
“Am I dreaming or something?”
Tommy shrugged. “Maybe you went crazy while I wasn’t looking. I did spend all day yesterday training so I could be like Phil.”
“You… want to be like Phil? I thought you hated him!”
Tommy looked at Ranboo as though he were completely stupid. “Why would I hate Phil? He’s my dad!”
“He is!?”
“YOU LITERALLY ONCE TOLD ME YOU ONLY RESPECT ME BECAUSE I’M HIS SON!”
This was getting more and more confusing by the second. “Why would I say that!?”
“Because you’re a prince or some shit!”
“I AM!?”
“Ok, something is up. You would never forget that you’re a prince! You call somebody a peasant or commoner every other sentence! And you’ve never had issues with memory before!”
“Uh, yeah. Something’s definitely wrong. At first I thought I might have time travelled, but if I went far back enough to see you without any scars you wouldn’t have known my name.”
“We should talk to Scott. He knows the most about magical shit, and there has to be some sort of weird fuckin’ magic going on.”
Ranboo didn’t get a chance to ask who Scott was before Tommy grabbed his wrist, dragging him towards a river.