Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I was tied up to a wall, bright lights shining behind me and an out-of-place looking camera in front of me, filming every word I said and every move I made.
The mask I was forced to wear by whatever the hell this place is was digging into my skin, every word I said making it hurt more than the last.
wires were going down my throat and through the skin of my hands, causing me near-unbearable pain. I could feel them under my skin, pressing against my veins, digging into my bones. I could feel air touching the flesh it's never meant to touch in the spots where the wires came out of my skin.

The voice of a man, Hetch, kept calling out, talking about, and occasionally to the audience of people watching my pain. At times the pain was too strong, and I could barely make out what he was saying, at others I could hear every cursed letter he spat out.

He was the one who put me here. I thought I was free, I thought the show was finally over, but he caught me and tied me up while I was unconscious.
Now he's letting the sick audience of people choose whether I live or die.

Both were terrible options really, but there were only about thirty seconds left on the clock until I'm either going to be killed or forced to stay in this awful place, and I don't want to stay here.

"LET ME DIE" I sobbed out, "please, JUST LET ME DIE", another jolt of pain went through my hands where the wires entered them.

"I dont want to keep doing this. . . I don't want to- I don't want to keep doing this" I said. my voice hurt from shouting, and I would do anything to feel better, even let myself die. I don't care at this point, so long as it's all over.

Hetch responded, "Strong words from our hero. . ." he said, his voice booming through the room despite how calm he sounded.

"JUST LET ME DIE" I interrupted, praying silently that the twisted people watching this might not hate him enough to force him to live through more silent agony.

"He would rather quit, than keep going, keep entertaining you, the masses" Hetch continued, talking to the people watching and fully ignoring the pain I was in.

"I don't want to keep going" I whimpered, next to inaudible even to myself.

"What do we think about that, Audience?" Hetch said. He sounded so smug, so happy. How could anyone in their right mind be happy right now?

"Has he earned his rest, or do we want to see him play again?"

I tried to move again, but pain rushed through my body and stopped me.

"Just let me die . . . I cant live with it. . ." I begged, my thoughts were going so fast, but my body could only say a fraction of what I wanted to. "I saw. . . everything- I saw everything. Just let me die"

"You'll see so much more," Hetch said.

"No- no no, please- just let me die" I sobbed, my voice was slurred from the wires down my throat, but maybe they would understand and show mercy, even though I killed all those innocent people, even though they saw it all too.

"Ah, well, it seems the audience has made their decision Ranboo. . . Are you ready to hear it?" I tried to answer him, to beg to die, to say anything, but all that came out of my mouth were a few pained whimpers.

Hetch's voice came back into the room, "The audience has voted. . . for you. . . to die"

I could barely process what he said, the only thing I could spit out was a miserable, 'thank you' before the lights behind me went red and the metal behind my head started moving. I closed my eyes, waiting for whatever came after death.

I opened my eyes, my head pounding worse than ever, the pain now in more deliberate, concentrated areas.

No. . .the box didn't work. I survived. It broke.

This wasn't meant to happen.

I reached up to pull the box away from my head so that the tips of the cold metal spikes weren't digging into my flesh anymore, but I forgot my hands still had wires through them, holding them out to my sides.

I screamed, the movement from my jaw made the metal spikes of the box pressed into my head more, and it only intensified the pain tenfold.
After a few seconds, the jolts of pain calmed down, settling into a still-painful, yet much less severe ebb from my head and my hands.

I looked around, the camera was off, and the drones behind it were too.

Hetch said something about this when he was pretending to be good, he said that when they didn't think a show was in progress the drones would shut down, so maybe that's what was happening.
I waited for a few seconds, listening to see if something would come to take me away, before deciding that they were all shut down.
I closed my hands into fists and pulled them towards my chest abruptly. The wires didn't snap immediately, but they did before my fists hit my chest.

Screams wracked my body, fully involuntarily. The wires ripping out of me had increased the size of the holes in my skin, no doubt causing severe nerve damage.
Blood was seeping out of both of my hands, but I didn't stop to wipe it off, even if I had anything to wipe it off on.
I reached up and pulled at the metal jaws of the box almost fully surrounding my head, the pain of the somewhat small holes it had made in my head got worse as the spikes came out.
The spikes had, however, done me a favor by partially snipping the wires holding the mask onto my face.

The second the metal jaws were open enough for me to move without hurting myself I dropped down to the floor, the box snapping shut as soon as I let go.
Now that I was out of the mouth of death itself my thoughts were slightly clearer, I looked around at the room I was in. I had been here before, but I couldn't put a finger on when.

This entire day was a blur, the clearest things I remember are waking up in a room tied to a chair, then cutting Charlie open, something about someone's ass being big, and then I could see everything so much clearer, and I could say what I wanted and move where I wanted. I found Charlie, then we ran, then I just stood there, while Charlie died- I could have saved him- I could have helped- done anything-

No.

He said he wanted me to leave him. I'm not a bad person. . . am I?
I shook the thoughts away. I can dwell on that when I'm not in this stupid fucking mall.

I stood up, holding my bloodied hands together as I stepped over wires and out of the room.
Outside it was the rest of the mall, it looked like somewhere fully different than the room I was just in. The lights weren't all on, but there were enough to see clearly.

I looked for the nearest exit sign, it took me a bit, but the second I laid eyes on it I was running at full speed towards it, no matter how much it hurt, or how hard it was to breathe in this mask.
If I can leave without dying then I don't want to fuck up the chances of it actually happening.

I got to the exit, tears in my eyes. I couldn't tell if they were from happiness or pain, but who cares, I'm about to leave this godforsaken prison cell that I've been stuck in for so long.
I reached for the doorknob, twisting it open as quickly as possible. Miraculously no alarms sounded from what he could hear, maybe they didn't expect anyone actually to get here.

I slowly stepped out, it was pitch black but my eyes adjusted after a few seconds.

As I walked out of the mall, into the cold forest surrounding it the entire day caught up to me.

The running, the fear, the pain, all of it.

I forced myself to continue on, even if I couldn't find civilization I could at least get further away from the mall.
I walked off, tripping every once in a while on god knows what, tree branches or rocks or some foresty crap I guess. I'm too tired to care at this point though.
After what felt like hours, but in reality was probably only one or two, I found a stream with a pile of small, flat boulders on either side of it, and decided to give my sore muscles a break.
I laid down and either the boulders were secretly pillows or my body was too tired to care because laying on them felt like heaven.

Before I knew it I was in a deep, dreamless sleep.

It was nice.

Chapter Text

~Philza's POV~

I took my jacket off the coathanger. It was spring and fairly warm, but I had gotten up earlier than usual for my morning walk so it is probably going to be a little chilly until the sun gets higher.
As soon as I was in my jacket and had some shoes on I left the house. Kristen was still asleep, but if she were to wake up while I was out she wouldn't be worried since I always go for walks in the morning.

I went around to the back of the house, going onto the private walking trail that's connected to the backyard.
It's a small trail, and barely even a trail, it could be mistaken for a deer path if it weren't for the fact that the ground following it is dirt and only has small tufts of grass here and there.
The tall maple trees had new leaves on them, the early sunlight shone through the leaves, casting a beautiful green glow onto the ground below them.

I walked silently for about ten more minutes, peacefully listening to the birds singing and the new soft leaves blowing in the wind.
I got to the small creek that ran through the path. You can jump the creek if you know which rocks are sturdy enough to hold a person, but I always just sit there for a few minutes and then head back.

It's about thirty minutes to walk to the creek and back, but because I always stop it makes for about an hour of a walk, which I see as a pretty nice start to the day.
I was about to sit down when I saw something red out of the corner of my eye. I dismissed it as a cardinal, but when I went to sit down I noticed it was something bigger. I curiously stood up and walked over to see what it was.

It was a person.

Blood was covering their face and wrists, and their red and white bomber jacket had dark stains all over it. The rock they were laying on was stained red underneath them.

They looked dead.

I gasped the second I realized what they were. I've never been in this situation before, but I mean, who has really?
I reached forward to touch their face, which was covered with a metal mask. It had dark red lines on the sides, and a large gash in it, showing the side of the person's mouth, which had dried blood coating it.

Their body was cold, but it was cold outside so maybe that was it.

I hope that's it.

I gently tried to shake the person awake, praying they would move, or wake up, or show any signs of being alive.

Their eyes shot open abruptly, scaring a small yelp out of me.
They started to reach their hand up to their face, but passed out before their hand could move even an inch from where it was previously.

After about a second I decided that, for some reason, the only right thing to do right now was to take this person home.
I scooped them in my arms as gently as i could, and started the walk back home.

As I walked I noticed their injuries, they had holes into the backs and fronts of their hands, but they didn't make a hole through the hands. Their head had penny-sized holes all over it, the ones on the sides of their head bigger and the ones towards the front of their head smaller. All but the smallest were slightly still open, blood oozing out of them slowly due to the fact they had been slightly jostled while being picked up.

The walk continued fairly peacefully, besides the strain on my arms and back due to holding an entire human while walking through the woods for fifteen minutes. They were lighter than expected, but still heavy enough to tire my arms in a matter of minutes.

When I got home I took them to the guest room and laid them onto the bed, softly placing the blankets over them, with their hands outside of the blanket so as to not hurt them more.
I went into the bathroom to get some bandages and antibiotic ointment to wrap their injuries in, and then hopefully whenever they wake up for long enough to talk they can tell me what happened.
When I walked back into the guest room they were still asleep, but their hand had moved slightly from before, so at least they were able to move despite the injuries.

I pulled a chair over from the desk to the side of the bed. I cleaned as much blood off as I could and then put some ointment on two big bandaids, before sandwiching them over the person's hand gently.
I did the same for the other hand, and I gently put smaller Band-Aids over the torn holes in the person's head.

I wrote out a note to this person, letting them know that I found them and took them to my house, and that they are now safe, before walking downstairs to make coffee.
I made myself a cup, then made my wife Kristen a cup. I brought it upstairs to her, and wrote yet another note, telling her that I would be in the guest room, and to come in whenever she woke up.

After I snuck in to leave her the coffee I went back to the guest room. The person, who I am now pretty sure was not even an adult, was still asleep and had stayed fully still since the last time I was in the room.
I took the note off the bedside table and put it in my pocket. I would lay it out again if I left the room again, but for now if they woke up I could explain it to them myself.
I sat down in the chair beside the bed, and scrolled twitter for a second. I considered posting that I would be off from streaming for the next few days, but I decided against it. This kid might have their own life they can go back to, or a family who's missing them, they might not even pull through the rest of the day, who knows.

All I did was make a post saying that I had to move today's stream, but that I would do a stream tomorrow instead.
People seemed to be ok with it, and not many questioned why.
I just scrolled for a while, waiting for Kristen or the kid to wake up.

~Ranboo's POV~

I heard two people talking, but my eyelids refused to open, and my ears refused to work.

All i was able to make out was the fact that there were two people, i tried to tap my finger, this is what it felt like when the mask was controlling me, maybe that's happening again and i can send a message through to the people.
I felt my finger move, but as soon as it did i felt a pang of pain down my arm, and i didnt move again, then i was asleep again.

A while later, god knows how long of a while, i woke up, this time able to open my eyes. The world around me was bright. Too bright.
I squinted and tried to make out my surroundings. I was in a room with light blue walls and odd paintings on the wall. There was a white lamp casting a bright, unbearable light throughout the room.

Then I heard talking again, it was just one person now though, not the two.
A blond man moved into my vision, and I guess seeing someone was when my brain remembered how to understand English, because only then I realized he was talking to me.

"H-hey, can you hear me?" the man said. I tried to nod, but the second I did a terrible headache came over me and I had to shut my eyes so the light wasn't as bright.

"What happened to you?" the man asked softly.

I couldn't nod, let alone speak, so I just ignored him and tried to go back to sleep. I'm not hurt too badly, it's just from the awful people at the mall not feeding me or giving me water, and from being so tired I was able to fall asleep on a freezing cold rock.

I was able to fall asleep pretty quickly, and this time I was able to sleep for longer than before.

When I woke up for the fourth time it was still very bright in the room, and the man was still there. He was sitting in a chair that was moved to be where I could see it when I woke up.
I tried to ask him where I was, but I had screamed so much back in the mall, and my vocal chords didnt want to cooperate, so all that came out was a high-pitched squeak.

"Oh! You're awake!" the blonde man said, "Can you speak mate?" he asked. He looked concerned, but at the same time he looked like he cared.

I nodded my head as best I could. After all the sleep I'd had I was more able to move, but it still hurt like hell.
The man waited a second to see if i would say anything, and when i didnt he decided to chime in, "My name is Phil, i found you in the woods a while earlier, i took you back to my house. That's where you are now."

I tried to sit up, but the weight of the mask on my face stopped me from moving that much.
I lay back down and tried to pull the mask off my face but it wouldn't budge.

The man, Phil, took some scissors from somewhere i couldn't see, my mind started swirling with thoughts, what if i never escaped? What if this was more of those peoples shit? Was Phil going to cut my stomach open and scoop out my guts like i did to Charlie?

At that last thought I forced myself up, despite how hard it was and how bad it hurt. I curled into a small ball, my knees and arms in front of my stomach so he couldn't cut me open.

"Hey, mate, its ok! I promise I won't hurt you, I just want to cut the wires on that mask so we can take it off" Phil said, his voice wasn't exactly calm, but he was obviously trying to make it seem calm.

I moved my hand slightly so I could open my eyes and look at him. He looked honest. He looked in control. Everyone in the shows had a dead, faraway look in their eyes when they were being controlled. Phil didn't look like that.

I softly nodded to him, lifting my head so he could cut the wires.
I didn't even feel the wires being cut until the mask was being lifted off me.

It hurt a lot less than I thought it would, I had deep cuts where the edge of the mask was embedded in my skin, and i felt blood trickle down my cheek, but i felt no sensation of pain.
As the mask was being taken off I felt the wires connected to the mask through my mouth retreat back into the lining of my throat, it hurt, and like hell I did not want to question it, but it was nothing worse than what I'd felt when I was walking through the woods.

As soon as the mask was gone my head felt so much lighter and I was able to breathe so much better than before.

"Can you talk now?" Phil asked in a kind tone.

I tried out my voice, it sounded like a screaming weasel but it worked now. "ye-ah" I said, my voice cracking halfway through.

"Can you tell me what happened to you?" the older man asked.

"I don't know- i- i'm not sure. . ." I whispered. I did know, but I think that if I spoke that much I would literally die."

Phil sucked in a breath through his teeth, "can you. . . remember anything?" he asked worriedly.

I nodded, I didn't want to think about how much I could remember, but I knew I remembered it.

"My wife, Kristen, is going to come home soon. She's bringing better medical supplies to help with your . . . injuries, but until then I can keep you company." The man said. He sounded hopeful but in a sad sort of way, one that I don't remember hearing ever before. "I guess, until then just try not to move too much, okay? I don't want you to open any of the scabs."

I softly nodded. i was barely moving at all but hopefully he saw it.

"w-whats the day?" I whispered to him. I realized a second after asking that I can't remember what day it was when showfall took me, if they took me, so knowing the date won't do much good.

"It's friday, around six PM." he said, his voice was quiet and nearly drowned out by a plane passing over the house, but it was just loud enough to hear.

"Can I go ba-ck to sleep?" I mumbled out, my voice sounded awful, like I was thrown around in a wet sack for hours on end. but then again, that kind of happened in a metaphorical sense.

"Of course mate, you don't have to ask" I heard Phil's voice ring out as I started to fall asleep again.

~Phil's POV~

This poor kid, I have no idea what happened to him, but he can barely stay awake and there holes, in his head.
Whenever he is able to speak easier I want to know what happened to him, sure, it is probably awful, but I will feel better if I can comfort him on it or help get whoever beat him up this bad thrown in jail.

I'm not sure if he was even beat up though. There are bruises on his arms, and the blood covering him is too much to be his, but that doesn't explain the mask, or his head and hands, or even the reason his voice is so strained and broken.
I heard the car pull in the driveway, interrupting my thoughts. A few seconds later the front door opened and I heard Kristen call me to tell me she was home.

After about a minute she came in with a bag of gauze and disinfectant ointments.
i had told her about what was happening earlier so she knew the kid was in here and what was up with thim
She had wanted to stay home, but her boss wouldn't let her since it 'wasn't an emergency' and she had already taken a day off this month for our anniversary.

"I bought the stuff, how's he doing?" she asked, placing the plastic bag on the side of the bed.

"Okayish, they can't speak well, but they woke up and were able to ask the day, and I was also able to get the mask off. i'm not too sure if he could eat or drink in it, oe how long he's been wearing it, so the fact he's sleeping so much could be from dehydration and starvation"

"Yeah, once he's awake we should probably give him something to eat and drink '' Kristen said. She looked sad looking at the poor kid, but who wouldn't? it's awful that a kid has to go through this, even if they were an adult it's still awful.
I reached over to the bag of supplies and took out the gauze. I unpackaged it and the ointment, and took a stretch of the gauze to put over the kid's hands. I wrapped it over the bandaids, more to keep ihet bandaids in place than to wrap the holes alone. The kid's hands twitched slightly, and his eyelids started to move, but he didn't wake up from it.

I took out a bigger, longer stretch of gauze and wrapped it around his head, Kristen helping to hold their head up while I positioned the bandages so that they didn't cover his eyes, nose or mouth.
When I was done putting the bandages on he had a small scruffy poof of hair sticking out of one spot on the left side of their head, and if I wasn't so stressed I probably would have lost my shit at the fact that the hair was going in every direction at once. it looked like he was electrocuted in the one specific spot.

I left Kristen to watch over him while I made some dinner, i made spaghetti with tomato sauce, preparing myself and Kristen both fairly large bowls, and a smaller one for the kid if they woke up and were hungry.

Chapter Text

~Ranboo POV~

I woke up with a raging headache. again. I felt a lot better besides that though. I mean, I still felt like my insides were twisted up and my hands and head were falling off, but it was a lot better than how I felt earlier.

I decided to try to sit up, just to see if I could. my hands panged slightly when I put pressure on them, but I was able to sit up fairly easily other than that. It was dark out now, the light in the room had been turned off and it was cloudy outside so the most I could see were faint outlines. Phil wasn't in here anymore, and the bag of supplies was nowhere to be seen.

I didn't know where I was, besides the fact that a guy named Phil lived here and bandaged me up. I don't know what town I'm in, and I still can't really remember anything from before showfall, and I'm trying not to remember that either, so basically, I can't remember anything. I got off the bed to get some water, but the second I stood up I got extremely dizzy and had to sit back down. My fingers tapped gently against the sides of the bed, I didn't have someone controlling my brain right now, so instead of messages being tapped out it was just anxious and meaningless tapping, but it still made me feel a little bit better.

I just sat on the bed for a long while, tapping on the mattress and worrying about what Phil would do once he woke up, probably throw me out now that I could move, but hopefully not. That sounds like something Hetch would do, and Phil doesn't seem much like Hetch.

Then again neither did Hetch at first. . .

I shook off the thoughts and lay down on top of the blankets, i wasn't able to sleep so they did not serve much purpose, but if i were to be in this room until phil wakes up, whenever that is, then i was bound to get a neck or back ache if i stayed sitting up and slouched over like a shrimp.
I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, but it wouldn't come to me. After what felt like an hour I rolled to the other side of the bed, facing the window. The world was a very dark blue, but lighter than it had been when I first woke up. I pulled the covers over the bottom half of my body and stared out the window, listening to the birds as they woke up and watching as the sun slowly came up.

After a while, I heard a knock on the door. I rolled to face it, but I didn't respond. the door opened anyways, and phil sheepishly poked his head out from behind the door. He locked eyes with mine, he looked sleepy and kind of worried, and I'm sure I looked like a dried wombat corpse or possibly something worse.

"Hey mate, sleep well?" Phil asked as he walked into the room. In one hand he had a mug of coffee, and in the other a glass full of water.

I half-shrugged in response to his question. I could probably speak better at this point, but I honestly just didn't want to unless I had to.

"I brought you a water, i don't know when you last drank but its been at least over a day, probably more, even if you don't have much of an appetite i want you to have some water" he smiled at me softly, and i tried to smile back but when i did the scratches from the mask and the holes from the box stung so i returned to my neutral face id been wearing before.
When i sat up i got the dizzy feeling again, but it was a lot less severe and all i had to do to feel better was stay still a few seconds.

I reached forward with a shaky hand to get the water, but ended up having to use both so i didnt drop it. I took a weary, small sip of the water, before chugging the entire glass. I hadn't realized until now just how thirsty I was, but now my mouth was dry and I felt like I could drink fifty more glasses and still be thirsty.

Phil laughed quietly from where he stood across the room, "want me to fill it again?" he asked, already reaching out to take the glass from me.

I shook my head at him, "i-i think i can" i said, my voice stronger than before but still very weak.

"Are you sure? Whatever happened to you got you pretty beat up and i don't want you moving if it'll make anything worse" he shot me a small, genuine smile as he said it.

"Yeah. . . could you show me where to go?" I was embarrassed to ask, but I would probably just wander around for twenty minutes before finding the kitchen otherwise.

He nodded and gestured for me to follow him down the stairs. It took me a second to stand up and gain my balance, but Phil waited for me before he showed me to the kitchen.

"This is the bathroom by the way" he said, waving his hand to the door across from the room i had been in, "so long as you are staying here this is your house too so if you need anything don't be afraid to ask"

I nodded, but made a mental note to not ask anyways. After a few seconds of following Phil through the House I saw a sink. I filled up the cup and chugged it again, repeating the process like 3 more times before Phil told me to slow down.
I was still extremely thirsty, but I did what he asked out of fear of what he might do if I resisted.

I really wanted to trust him, and he seemed trustworthy, but some part of me told me that I would get hurt if I trusted him. probably damn Hetch again.

"When was the last time you had anything to drink?" Phil asked cautiously from behind me.

I shrugged. I genuinely didn't know, but it must not have been too long ago seeing as I'm able to move.

"well then. . . do you know when you last ate? I can give you the rest of the spaghetti we had last night if you want. I made you a bowl in case you woke up last night and were hungry, but since you didnt i just put it in the fridge."

"Yes please" I whispered softly.

as he was getting it out of tupperware it was stored in and into a bowl my stomach started growling, the sight of food alone was enough for it to remind me of how hungry i am. my ears felt warm with embarrassment, but phil didn't mind, or else he didnt hear it.

After a few seconds he passed the bowl over to me, gesturing for me to sit at the kitchen island's bar stools. I sat down to eat. I stared at it for a second, but pushed the plate away from me after a second. The spaghetti looked like guts, the sauce looked like blood. It was too much.

I started to feel sick, the otherwise good meal reminding me too much of Showfall to be something I would eat.

After a bit Phil came to sit down. He had another mug of coffee, this one fully black

"Is the food no good? I can make something else if you like" he asked me with a concerned look in his eyes.

"it's fine, I-I'm just not- not hungry,"I said. I felt bad about it on one hand, but on the other I don't think I could eat even one bite without throwing it all up.

Phil shot me a small smile before taking a sip of his coffee, "it's okay mate, but you really do need to eat something soon"

I nodded, and then stared at the table in awkward silence for a bit.
After a while Phil spoke up. It took me a second to realize he was talking and to process what he said.

"I'm gonna go on a walk back through the forest, if you want to come, that's fully up to you. it helps me de-stress, but i know that it might make you more stressed seeing as you were in such bad shape there yesterday." I nodded, hoping that sent the message that I didn't want to go with him, luckily he seemed to understand.

"Alright, well, there is a remote in the living room and you can watch whatever you want on there. I'll be back in about an hour, and Kristen will probably wake up soon, be safe!" and with that he had thrown on his shoes and left.

I sat at the table for a second, then decided to get up and Go to the living room to watch tv. Once I found it, I sat down on the couch in a little ball. picking up the remote and messing around with the buttons until I figured out how to fully work it. I clicked on a random blue logo and started scrolling through different pictures accompanying titles.

I ended up picking one with a little blue dog and a smaller orange dog. it was animated, and seemed to be geared towards kids but i thought it was funny and sweet so i kept it on. After a few episodes I heard the stairs creak from the other room, and after a minute Kristen walked in.

"I've heard good things about this show, is it actually good?" she asked as she walked to sit in a chair across the room, slanted to slightly face the tv.

I nodded, awkwardly staying silent the entire time.

I tried to get sucked back into the show, this episode was something about baked beans, but I wasn't paying enough attention to really understand exactly what was happening.

Luckily Phil came back from his walk to break the still-awkward air that was in the room.

"Oh! good morning Kristen!" he said to her.

"well k- I actually just realized I've never asked what your name is?" Phil cut himself off, staring at me while he waited for an answer.

"oh- uh, it's Ranboo- or I guess you can pronounce it like R-Rahnboo, I-I really don't mind-'' I rambled embarrassedly.

"Alright, well Ranboo, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the mall later today? your clothes are. . . " he gestured at the bloodstains that were still on my clothes, now dried a dark brown. "It's the weekend so most shops should be open and we can probably find some stuff in your size that you like. we can head out whenever, i just want to be back before five since i have to stream then"

i nodded, "i'm ready when you are" i said, thinking for a second about what i might need to go, "oh, do you still have my shoes or did you throw them out?" I asked timidly.

he nodded "i'll go get them, be right back" he ran up the stairs into the room i had been sleeping in.

Kristen got up and put on her shoes, grabbed the keys and a sweatshirt and waited by the door for me and Phil to be ready.

When Phil came down he tossed my sneakers to my feet as he walked to the door, grabbing a pair of his own sneakers and putting them on.

It took me a second to get the laces right, but once I did I stood up and walked over to Phil and Kristen who were waiting by the door.

"ready?" Phil asked. I nodded, and we all headed out to the car. Kristen was driving, Phil was in the passenger seat, and I was sitting in the back next to a bag of old corn chips.

Chapter Text

~Ranboo's POV~

After about twenty minutes or so of driving Kristen pulled off the highway into a large parking lot, in front of an even larger building. They said it was a mall, but it didn't look anything like the one I had been in before Phil found me. it had glass over the front and middle top of it, and brown rock or cement over the rest.
I looked around at the hundreds of cars and people bustling around and immediately felt nervous.

I was suddenly hyperaware of how I looked. I was still disgustingly covered in both my own and other people's dried blood, I had thick white bandages wrapped around my hands and face, and I probably looked like I hadn't slept in ten years.

"uh. . . am I able to take off my bandages yet?" I asked the two in front of me.

"yes, but let's go in and buy some bandaids to cover your cuts with first" Kristen answered.

I nodded softly, keeping it to myself that I only wanted to take them off because I felt judged by the people outside the car who hadn't even looked directly at me once.

I anxiously zoned out for the next while, only zoning back in when I heard the car go into park. "got everything?" Phil asked. I wasn't sure if he was asking me, Kristen, or just both of us, so I nodded but didn't say anything.
We walked through the parking lot and then into the mall. despite it looking nothing like the one I was in before I still got a spike of anxiety as I walked in. I tightly gripped my bloodied jacket like it was my lifeline.

I tried to ignore the looks I got from people, most of whom stared for a second and then looked away, but some were pointing, laughing or just staring hard at me. I tried to breathe deeply to fight away the panic that was shoving its way out of me. Kristen's voice luckily broke through my panicked thoughts, "I'm gonna grab the bandaids, you take him and go to the clothes store?" she said to Phil, who nodded and looked at me for confirmation. once I gave the okay he was walking through the crowds of people quickly.

I tried to keep up with him but after a bit of chasing where I thought he had gone, I started to panic. my breathing got quicker and my mind started racing so fast I could barely think.
I couldn't hear anything, but I could hear everything at the same time. the lights were too bright, too many people were bumping into me. the bandages on my head were too tight, my bloody jacket was too heavy, and it was all too much.

I found a small corner where nobody was walking and crawled into it, hugging my knees to my face and covering my ears. it barely made anything feel better, but at least people weren't bumping into me from every angle.

I softly cried into my knees, it made my head hurt worse but I couldn't stop the tears from coming so I just let them come.

suddenly all I could see when I closed my eyes was the Showfall Mall. Charlie and Sneeg were dead on the floor, along with at least fifty other drones- no- humans. hetch was walking towards me. I looked around, the box was behind me. it was closing around my head.

"-EY" I heard a strange voice ring out. I opened my eyes and tried to look at them but my eyes were too full of tears to see anything.

"Hey, are you okay?!" I heard the voice come out again.

I blinked the tears out of my eyes and nodded slowly. the person who was talking to me was a short boy, maybe a year younger than me, a taller blonde boy about my age standing next to him.

"you sure? you were crying and shaking and shit, you didn't seem ok at all" said the second person.

I nodded again, "yeah- yeah I'm okay," I said shakily, my words mixing despite me trying to stop it.

"RANBOO!" I heard Phil shout out from somewhere in the crowd. the two boys hurried away quickly. I looked around to see where the voice was coming from, and after a few seconds, I found his face, along with Kristen's right behind him.

"Ranboo are you okay? What happened?" Kristen asked rapidly, both she and Phil looked terrified.

I nodded, "I- I got lost in the crowd, I started to-to panic I think" I tried to stand up, but ended up having to brace myself against a wall since my legs felt like they were jelly.

"mate, do you wanna go home? I don't know if being here with you panicky is too safe. . ." Phil asked, he was panting slightly and looked scared half to death, maybe even more scared than I was.

"no- I want to stay, I- I need the clothes, let's just go now," I said, gesturing for Phil to show me which way to head.

he nodded warily, softly holding the tips of my fingers where it wouldn't hurt my hand as he guided me through the crowds. I didn't get a good look, but Kristen seemed to be holding onto Phil's hand.

oh god, we must look like some sort of awful dysfunctional family.

we got to the clothing store, which was surprisingly close to where I was before. the inside had fewer people than in the walking section of the mall, but there were still quite a lot of them.

the walls had posters of happy people on them, and the roof had signs hanging down in different areas, the signs said things like 'womens' and 'mens', which seemed stupid to me, since why would they need to be separated like that? if they have to make a big visible separation it should be by the style of the clothing.

Phil tugged me across the store to a section with a bunch of t-shirts. they were hanging on coathangers and folded into cubbies that could spin in circles.

"I'm just gonna check what size you are, hold still," Phil said. I did as he asked, but I wanted to turn my back away from him despite it.

"alright," he said as he looked through the different racks of shirts, "these should all fit you. we can try them on before we leave just to make sure though. pick out some with patterns or colors you like and then we can head on to the pants section."

I nodded and started looking through the ones with the size tag he showed me. i ended up picking out a shirt with a cat named Garfield on it, one with a hairless cat, and three shirts that were just plain colored.

"You ready mate?" Phil asked me as I placed the clothes in the cart he had picked up earlier.

I nodded and he took me over to a section with pants
I picked out two pairs of jeans and some looser, more comfy pants with stars printed on them.

"anything else?" Phil asked me from where he was standing beside me.

"um- could I get a mask?" I responded nervously, "Like a face mask, not a metal one though if those exist"
Phil nodded, "Yeah, they sell cloth masks up by check-out, you could get one or two."

I smiled at him and Kristen, "Thank you. ." I murmured.

"no thanks needed, it's the least we can do for you," Kristen said with a soft smile on her face.

we walked to the changing rooms in comfortable silence, when we got there I tried on the different pairs of clothes, and miraculously all of them fit.
after taking them to checkout and buying them all, with the addition of a black and white mask and a plain black mask, we left.

it was a fairly peaceful ride home, unless you count in the obnoxiously slow Pepsi tanker, because those exist, making the ride home at least twenty minutes longer than it needed to be.

when we got home Phil grabbed the bag of medical stuff and I grabbed the two bags of my new clothes.

Phil and Kristen helped get the bandages off my head and put bandaids on them now that the wounds were scabbed over, and I managed to rewrap my hands with little help.

I decided to change out of my gross old clothes, throwing them in the hamper since Phil said he would wash them. I put on my Garfield shirt and star pants. they felt a lot nicer than what I was wearing before so I felt a lot nicer and less panicked afterwards.

Kristen made some scrambled eggs with toast for dinner, and I was finally able to eat.

after dinner we all got onto the couch and started watching Bluey, I ended up falling asleep with my head on Phil's lap so he was stuck on the couch for the rest of the night. Kristen snapped a photo before falling asleep herself, and pretty soon everyone was asleep with Bluey playing in the background.

Chapter Text

~Ranboo's POV~

When I woke up I was on the couch, I had a blanket draped over me and my head was on Phil's lap. He was absent-mindedly scrolling through something on his phone, and Kristen was out of the room somewhere.

"G'morning Phil" I mumbled tiredly.

"Good morning mate, sleep well?" He said, shutting off his phone and putting it down on the small table beside the couch.

I nodded, pushing myself up off his lap so I was sitting.

"I've got to go stream, I put it off for two days so everyone is probably getting worried. You probably should stay out here or in your room though, we still don't know where you came from or if you have a family to go back to so it's probably best not to let anyone know about you until we have everything sorted." Phil said, standing up and folding the blankets that had been crumpled up throughout the night.

"What's streaming?" I asked, curious as to why my being there would make other people know about me.

"Oh, it's my job, I basically sit at a computer and play video games and talk while other people can watch it happen in real time. I can't show you the games on stream, but after I can if you'd like." He shot me a smile before starting out of the room.

"Wait, Phil!" I said, half whispering, half shouting. He stopped and turned to face me, "uh. . . am I able to watch your stream like the other people who watch it? Like not by sitting in your room I mean."

"yeah sure!" He said, pulling out his phone and pressing some buttons before handing it to me. "In a few minutes, it'll go live and my stream will pop up on your screen for you to watch."

I nodded to him, taking the phone and staring at the screen. It had a title saying 'Ph1LzA' next to a drawing of someone who looked a little bit like Phil, but the character had a big green bucket hat on, so not perfectly like him. It had his last stream, a 'Minecraft Hardcore stream, whatever that is, playing quietly in a small rectangle on the screen.

After about five minutes of watching the intro of the last stream a new thing popped up on the phone. I started to panic, thinking I had done something wrong, but Phil's face quickly popped up and my panic dwindled as I realized it was just the stream starting.

People started joining by the hundreds, and pretty soon thousands. They started spamming things like 'Hi Phil!' and 'Where were u', with a bunch of other things i couldn't catch.

"Hi Chat!" Phil said through the screen. "Sorry I had to postpone stream for so long, me and Kristen are perfectly fine though! Just some personal issues we had to work on" Chat seemed to accept this, I found it somewhat amusing that they just accepted it like that, no questions asked, but I guess it was better like that anyway.

I sat there watching him play Minecraft, which turned out to be a game where you can build stuff, and it's all squares. It looked fun, but I didn't understand much of how it worked.
After a bit Kristen came in, apparently, she had left before I was awake.

"Is Phil streaming?" She asked me. I nodded, showing her the screen I was watching from. She nodded and walked calmly upstairs.

About 20 seconds later she entered Phil's room he was streaming in, putting a crow plushie in front of the camera so it looked like the crow was the one streaming instead of Phil.

Phil laughed and batted the crow down to the floor and kept streaming.

Kristen came down and sat on the couch next to me, "if you want me to go in and bug him, just let me know your plan, and I'll do it" she said, smiling at me.

I nodded and tried to think of things to do, but nothing came to me, so I stayed silent.

We stayed in comfortable silence until the stream ended and Phil came down, by the end of the stream it was about two PM, apparently earlier than Phil usually even starts his streams.

"D'you want to try playing Minecraft now that streams' over?" He asked. I nodded and jumped up, excitedly bouncing up and down. Phil laughed slightly and started to head upstairs, but a few steps up he stopped, "Ranboo, you can keep going I'll be up in just a second, let me ask Kristen something real quick."

"Ok," I said, slowly walking up the rest of the stairs and heading into Phil's streaming room. I sat down on his chair and started spinning around in circles, waiting for him to come up.

~Phil's POV~

I waited till I heard the door close to say anything, but I still spoke quietly. "Kristen, I'm gonna keep him distracted for a few minutes, maybe even hours if he likes the game, but could you please check in to see if there have been any missing persons reports for him? I really don't want to worry him since he seems to be calmer today, but if he has a family waiting for him somewhere I want him to be able to go back to them."

She nodded, "Okay, I'll check in and around to see if there are any from here or the towns around."

I thanked her and ran upstairs to avoid Ranboo waiting too long.

~Ranboo POV~

Phil came up fairly quickly after I had sat down.

"Hey, mate!" He said, pulling up a chair to the big comfy one I was sitting in.

He started pulling up the game, and soon a blocky title reading 'MINECRAFT' was on the screen, with a background of blocky pink and purple trees with a sunset behind them.

Phil clicked on a button to make a new world, and in a few seconds Phil's character popped into a grassy field, there was a river running fairly close to the character, and flowers and trees were dotting the ground here and there.

"Alright, so you use these buttons to move, this one to jump, and the mouse to look in different directions," Phil said, tapping each button to show me what it did. He continued to show me the different buttons and how to break and place blocks.

(A/N I play Minecraft on a tablet and the only other thing I've played it on was an Xbox in like 2015 which is hella outdated so if I get anything wrong pls spare me)

I started walking through the game's world. I had a wooden sword and pickaxe, twelve planks of wood, and two sticks which was barely anything but Phil seemed to be happy at the progress I was making.

I killed a few cows for food, which I thought was rude, but apparently, that's how you play this game, then started to dig under the dirt to get stone. I got a few pieces of it and came out of my hole in the ground to craft a new pickaxe and sword. When I exited the crafting menu the sun was going down and new creatures were spawning. They started running towards me, a blue and green one hit me, and a few more like it followed.

Behind my character, I heard a small sizzle, and I turned around just in time to see a green creature turn white and explode, killing my character. I flinched back into the character, squeaking out a surprised 'sorry' to Phil.

"Aw mate, nothing to be upset about! This world isn't like the one I was playing on earlier, you can respawn and get your stuff back, so it's all good!" He said, he was trying to look sympathetic but it was obvious he found this funny.

I nodded and pressed the 'respawn' button in the middle of the screen. I was teleported back to the place I was when the world first loaded up, and more of the different kinds of green things were starting to swarm me. I started to sprint away from them, back in the direction I had run in before. I got my stuff, which was in a hole in the ground made by the explosion. I ran into the mining hole I had made earlier and blocked it off like Phil instructed, physically tense from holding myself in a position where I could easily press all the buttons needed to play the game.

In a few minutes, it was day again in the game, so I was able to safely explore more and not get killed by green things. I was able to get an iron pickaxe and sword, and even build a small wooden house with a double chest, three furnaces and a crafting bench inside.

Phil stayed beside me the whole time, giving me tips on how to do something more efficiently or safer, and helping me get back my items after I die.

I kept playing for a while more, eventually going to the Nether and immediately being killed by a ghast.

Me and Phil eventually went downstairs. Kristen was sitting on the couch on her phone, but the second she heard us coming down her head snapped up to look at us.

"Phil, can I talk with you? In our room?" She asked, a somewhat worried look in her eyes that she was obviously trying and failing to hide.

"Oh- yeah!" Phil said hurriedly, motioning for me to go downstairs, "We will be down in a bit, you can start up a show while you wait"

I nodded, confused and slightly worried about the entire situation but not wanting to ask about it.

~Phil's POV~

"Did you find anything?" I asked, keeping my voice down even though I could hear the TV and assumed Ranboo was watching it rather than eavesdropping.

Kristen nodded, "I found one missing persons poster, it has a picture of him with a different mask on, and he doesn't have all the scratches and injuries he does now so it should be accurate. The address isn't far from here, I can call and we might be able to go tomorrow."

"okay, can you show me the poster? I don't doubt that its correct, I just don't want to get some poor parents hopes up if he isn't theirs" I said. I kind of wanted him to stay at this point, but if there is some family out there its a lot better to give them back a kid they've raised than it is to just pretend you just don't have it. Not to mention the legal issues that would come along.

"Mhm," Kristen pulled out her phone, going into photos and pulling up a screenshot of the photo. It was him all right. He was wearing a metal mask with red stripes on either side, they seemed to be glowing but I couldn't tell if that was just the lighting in the picture. He had a faraway look in the photo, like he wasn't fully there.

"Well. . . thats definitely him, so I guess ill make the call to the number and then ask Ranboo if he wants to go there tomorrow." I said to her, taking out my phone and dialing in the number to call.

"Hello, what is your calling purpose?" An automated voice came out once I pressed call.

"Um- missing persons?" I said, fully unsure of what I was supposed to say. What kind of house has this kind of stuff on call?

"Please hold. You will be forwarded to a representative shortly"

"Kristen, you sure this isn't the wrong number on the post? I made sure its in right, but it seems to be some kind of business, not a house" I asked, now obviously worried about all this.

She shrugged, "this was the only report or poster there was for him, I don't know why someone wouldn't make sure it was right when they made the poster but I guess it could be"

Just then the phone went off hold and to an actual person, "hello, please state the name of the missing person" a mans voice said.

"R-Ranboo"

"Alright, please bring him back in tomorrow, if you know this number you found our poster, the address should be listed on it." The man sounded automated himself, just a lot more human somehow.

"um- ok" I said, the phone shutting off abruptly after I said it. I turned to Kristen, "well, that was odd, but they want him back and they said to come tomorrow."

She nodded and we both went downstairs to see Ranboo half asleep on the couch with Bluey playing on the tv. It was only about six and he hadn't had dinner yet, so I woke him up and we had some food. We watched Bluey for a bit and then decided to go to bed at about nine.

I'll tell him in the morning.

Chapter Text

~Ranboo's POV~

Apparently today I was being taken back to my family. on the one hand, I was kind of excited, I hadn't seen them for god knows how long and I couldn't remember them, but they would probably be pleased to see me and I would be able to get to know them again. on the other hand, I didn't really want to leave Phil, sure, he isn't related to me and might not even like me much, but I like him and I've started to feel slightly safe around him. It's probably way too soon for me to be attached - but really who's to say anyways.

we got in the car around ten in the morning and started driving to the address, the GPS said it was about an hour from Phil's house so at least it wouldnt be too long of a trip.

the small private gravel road was surrounded by tall trees, making the light shining onto the car green-tinted and soft. birds were singing in the trees and a few were flying across the road here and there. it was beautiful.

"Well mate, I've never been down this road before but it seems like you might live somewhere amazing," Phil said from the front, looking out the windows into the forest.

Kristen nodded in agreement from where she was in the driver's seat.

I suddenly got a strong feeling of deja vu, fear starting to swirl around in my mind. I knew I had been here before, but it didn't feel like it was in a good way. I attempted to brush it off as nerves but the worry refused to go away no matter what. we eventually came across a clearing, the gravel turning into old cracked pavement. there was a big grey building behind the pavement. the back of it went into the forest and the front door was hanging open haphazardly.

we all stepped out of the car, knowing for sure that this wasn't a house or anything like it.

that's because it was the mall. it was the fucking Showfall mall.

I realized I had stopped breathing and tried to calm myself down, but once I started breathing it turned into hyperventilation.

I stumbled backward, catching myself on the side of the car. I can't do this again. I can't go back to the mall. I can't see Charlie's blood- or Sneeg's- or any of it-

images of them flashed through my mind. they all died, and I didn't do anything about it. I wasn't able to move at first, but I could have helped Charlie. I chose not to. he could have made it out instead of me.

I started breathing faster, the thoughts speeding up too. I couldn't even tell if my eyes were there or not, all I saw when I opened them was black static and flashes of all of their dead bodies.

I couldn't tell if I was falling or still standing or even alive, it felt like TV static throughout my limbs and mind and I couldn't stop it. maybe I finally died.

"Boo-" Phil's voice suddenly came from somewhere around me, Kristen's coming out too. it felt like they were everywhere around me, their scared voices mixing in with my friend's screams in a big messy sludge of sound.

I curled my arms over my ears, trying to make the noise quieter, but only succeeding in making it seem like their pained screams were louder.

a hand grabbed my shoulder and shook it. I opened my eyes again and saw two blurry shapes in front of me- Phil and Kristen.

"Ranboo! Can you hear us?!" one of them shouted.

I shakily nodded, only just realizing I was now sitting on the broken pavement with tears streaming down my face. my hands were stinging, the left one felt like it was on fire, and my bandages were getting slightly bloodstained. i chose to put that in the backseat until I figured out more of what was happening.

"What happened?" Kristen asked, she and Phil both looked terrified.

I shook my head. it's not a good answer, but I can't think about them anymore. I just want to be away from here.

"Are you okay, did you get hurt" Phil's voice came again.

"N-no i- I didn't" I choked out between quiet sobs.

"Uh- I-I guess let's just go back home, I don't think this is a house anyways," He said, he was nearly crying now.

I nodded, "It's not. . ." I whispered under my breath.

"What?" Kristen asked. I shook my head. I could explain when I didn't feel like I was on the brink of death from a stupid panic attack.

I forced myself up, my legs feeling like they were watered-down jelly underneath me. I opened the car's door and shoved myself inside, curling up on the seat and not bothering to put on my seatbelt.

we drove home, Phil and Kristen terrified but silent, and I curled in a ball crying to myself.

After what felt like an hour --but was probably more like five minutes-- I could close my eyes and pretend I wasn't in that car. I was still there, sure, but it felt like I was floating through the abyss, my body weightless and calm. it felt good, like an embrace from death, but with no pain. I couldn't even feel the sharp stinging from my hand that I had felt just seconds ago.

If this is what death truly feels like I don't think I'll hate it, this is nice. I don't want to wake up from this.

And with that thought the car stopped and I was brought back to reality. I pushed myself up and got out, being careful not to get my bloodied bandages on the fabric.

As the door closed I walked towards the house the realization of what just happened set in. i was back at the mall. if I had gone in I might have been able to get Charlie. I know I saw him die, but what if I saw something fake? What if it was more of Hetch's tricks and he is alive? Even if he is dead he doesn't deserve to rot in that hellhole, he deserves a proper grave.

but could I go back into that mall? Hetch could be there, he could be waiting for me to come back so he can finally kill me...

I can't go back- at least not yet. if I could get Phil or Kristen --maybe both-- to help, then I might be able to do it. i just need some support, that's all! because i totally won't impulsively do it to stop worrying about it. . .

I won't, i just really, really want to.

but i won't. . . maybe.

I shook the thoughts away, because no, I will not go back, I can't.

I went up to the guest room, my room? and sat down on the bed, gently unwrapping the bandages on my left hand to see what had gone down while I was panicking. the scab was torn down the middle and there was a new scab forming, slightly smudged blood starting to harden around most of the palm of my hand despite the scab's tear itself being less than an inch long.

i took the bloodied wrappings and put them around my hand as they were before. if someone noticed the fresh blood I would say I didn't know how it happened and hope for the best.

I walked back downstairs, Phil and Kristen sitting on the couch with a distant, worried look behind their eyes. The TV was playing some show, I'm not sure what, but it looked boring and it was on mute so I ignored it.

I sat down in an armchair and just kind of existed there for a bit, Kristin slightly waving at me and Phil kind of nodding his head at me in acknowledgment being all the talk they gave me. i ended up just curling in a ball and forcing myself to sleep.

Chapter Text

Phil's POV

I was scrolling through twitter, barely thinking about what I was seeing. nothing was actually entering my brain, I was just using it as a half-assed distraction from Ranboo's giant panic earlier.

Until I scrolled past a certain video-
I didn't process it until I had scrolled a few angry rants and a fanart past it, but the second I did I went back up.
It was Ranboo, somehow. a recording of him.

My eyes widened as I took in the scene, he was standing there, in the clothes he had when i first found him, except not covered in blood. He was wearing some sort of metal mask with glowing red lights on the side. The same one i had taken off him, though that one had dark red lines, not glowing neon ones.

He was towering above an older man, probably not in his thirties yet, but obviously older than the teen anyways. The man was on a stretcher and in the kind of gown they make you wear while at the doctors. It looked as through Ranboo was about to perform a surgery on him, but he wasn't asleep or seemingly under any anesthetic.

After a few seconds Ranboo had fully torn open the man's stomach and was sifting through his insides, except, they were all slime and. . .spaghetti? Something like it at least.

Ranboo started pulling out random objects; a game piece from Mousetrap, and Hotwheels car, along with various other items. Within less than a second the camera glitched out and all of the bright, (seemingly) friendly room turned to dismal shadows and grime, and the man's stomach turned red, the slime turning to blood, the spaghetti turning to his organs and bones.

He started screaming, it was bloodcurdling even through the recording. Ranboo's hands were shaking and he took a step back as the lights on his mask shuddered off for a second.

And just like that everything was cheery and happy again, the colors going back to normal, the blood turning to slime and the man seemingly ignoring what just happened as he casually went back to chatting with Ranboo. Ranboo looked hesitant, yet continued on, not mentioning what just happened once his mask was glowing again.

I sucked in a quick breath, my fingers shaking. I clicked onto the accounts page, despite the more sensible part of my brain telling me not to.
It had a profile picture of a strange black-on-white symbol, a logo perhaps? Their username was 'showfall_media', the same thing that was written on their banner.

They had multiple more videos, most around two minutes long, or under. Some were up to ten minutes though. However, they all had Ranboo in them. They had no titles or text and only around one to two views per post.

I sat, scrolling up and down the account for a few seconds, before I googled their name.

No results, at least none that match the account. Well, besides the account itself.
My finger swiped up, and I pressed the '10' below the results. Usually something at least comes up on a later page, after everything it thinks I want.

Still though, nothing.
Besides that one Twitter account there is nothing, fully empty.

I clicked back to the account, pausing on one of the longer videos, around ten minutes long. Ranboo was standing by a large metal panel which had practically hundreds of buttons and levers, and in front of it and him was a roundabout with people chained to it.

The people were screaming, one of them was sobbing too. For some reason, however, Ranboo seemed fully unphased. Instead of helping, he was fighting with one of the men on the roundabout. After around thirty seconds of this, a man's voice broke out into the room, talking about the people on the roundabout, but the screen he was meant to be talking through was cracked, so he apparently needed to come out from wherever he was, despite them being able to hear him perfectly fine.

He came out in a makeshift TV thing, being pushed by two people dressed as rats? He started having a speech, about how only two people could continue along to the next 'room'. Apparently he had a kill button, which would set off an explosive that would kill every person who hadn't been picked for the next room. By the joking that was happening and the fact that a lot of the people were calmer now it seemed fake, but judging by the blood and guts showing through in the last clip i was hesitant to believe it could be.

The man Ranboo had been performing surgery on earlier was wheeled into the room, which was apparently just through the door. After some chatting the other man, the Puzzler, as they were calling him, ripped a hat out of the guys stomach. He placed it on the head of one of the people on the roundabout, Sneeg, as he had introduced himself.

Sneeg looked around, he seemed scared, and he now lacked the dull look everyone else had in their eyes, including himself until this point. He quickly stated that he had to use the bathroom, and when he was let out of the roundabout he quickly ran away. A few seconds later I could hear him screaming in the distance, and some masked people forced him back into the room, despite all his struggling.

They forced a mask, the same kind they were wearing, onto his face, and he went limp. As they took it off they replaced it with a new hat, and he went over to the roundabout and sat back down in his spot.

The Puzzler chose both Sneeg and the woman who had been crying, Niki, to move on to the next room with Ranboo. Then the clip ended.

I scrolled down again, finding what was apparently the 'next scene' or whatever it should be called. Ranboo walked into a white-walled room with giant mushrooms and jars of candy in it. After a few seconds the other two people crawled in through a tunnel in the wall. The people dressed as rats then came in, holding a table with the Mousetrap game on it.

The man who had previously been playing duck duck goose's voice came out again, telling them they had to successfully set up and play one round of the game to continue on. They only had two hours to finish the game, and if not i assume they would be blown up. However, seeing as Ranboo is upstairs right now, I guess they made it through.

They continued setting up the game until they found that a piece was missing. Niki went off into a hall of bathrooms which was connected to the room and started looking for the missing piece. As she opened the doors she still found nothing, but on the last door, as she was looking behind herself to speak to her teammates a earsplitting bang rang through the room, along with a bloodcurdling scream and a flash of bright light.

My breathe caught in my throat, knowing what had just happened. But nobody reacted. They all just seemed mildly put-off. Another scream. She was alive.

The Puzzler shouted out. Another loud bang accompanied by more bright light, and it was obvious she was now actually dead. The Puzzler stepped out of the stall, holding a comically large gun in one hand, and started towards the room with the game of mousetrap and the rest of the people.

I wanted to continue watching it, but the feeling of bile rising up my throat made me think otherwise. I clicked off the phone and put it down. Maybe I'll ask Ranboo about this later, but for now I'm just going to try not to think about what i just saw.

Chapter Text

Ranboo's POV

I had woken up to both Phil and Kristen asleep peacefully on the couch, and I didn't want to bother them so I had gone back up to the guest room, fallen asleep on the floor for an unknown amount of time, and woke up yet again only to repeatedly turn the lights on and off, since there is nothing else to do in this empty room.
I heard some movement downstairs a second ago, but I don't want to bother Phil or Kristen even if they are awake, so I'm staying here, no matter how boring it is.

I heard a creak from behind me, and my head spun around to see what made the noise. Phil. When he noticed I was awake he waved softly and came in. He sat down on the bed, looking at me from where I was sitting on the floor.

"Hey, I know this isn't what you want to hear right now," my heart dropped and my eyes widened as I realized he was gonna take me back to the mall. "But, we need to turn you in to the police- or-or child services or something. If we keep you here we will only get in deep trouble, but I promise wherever you end up will be nice!"

"O-ok. ." I whispered, tears welling in my eyes. I don't want to go back to the mall, but at least I won't have to be alive anymore, that's good, right? I think so. Yeah.

Phil sighed, "listen, if we can find where you came from, you'll go there, if not, I'll talk to Kristen about us getting a foster license. It'll take a while, but I think I've grown too attached to you to let you go easily."

I simply nodded, not really understanding, but not wanting to make him have to explain.

"Tomorrow morning I'm gonna take you in to the police station and see what they have on you, if anything, and hopefully you will be listed as missing or something so they can know where you were originally." Phil said, smiling at me reassuringly. It didn't make me feel better.

I just nodded again, and he seemed relatively satisfied with that, so he whispered a goodbye and left the room.

~~Timeskip brought to you by the fact that I accidentally threw my fully enchanted trident in lava instead of a stack of netherrack yesterday (worst moment of my life, instant loss of aura points, was not hitting the griddy, please think I'm funny I have to laugh away the pain) it was ok it wasn't my riptide one but still sad coz it was my first trident and mending books are so expensive~~

I was down at the table with a bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese in front of me, both untouched, while Kristen and Phil had already eaten nearly half of both their meals. The thought of eating made me sick, and the red of the soup wasn't helping with that. I picked a corner off the grilled cheese, quietly putting it in my mouth to try and make this go by quicker. It tasted amazing, and only once it was swallowed did I realize how hungry I had been, but the churning feeling in my stomach still didn't go away as I ate, but luckily it wasn't getting worse either.

I took the grilled cheese in one hand and took a small bite out of it, but bigger than the corner I had just taken off. With the cheese in the bite it tasted even better. It was soft, buttery, warm, and crispy, and the taste made my mouth water. I quickly finished the first slice, and took the second and ate it too, leaving the soup.

I think normally Phil or Kristen would have made me eat that too, seeing as I had barely eaten anything for the past few days, but I think the fact that I ate at all was good enough for them. After the meal they went up to their room, to do what I'm not sure of, but I followed suit and went into the guest room to lay on the bed. I had slept a lot today, but the anxiety I was having around everything seemed to be enough to make me constantly tired.

(A/N if you make dirty jokes I will cry aggressively outside your room at night, they are PLAYING MARIO CART to DE-STRESS AFTER A LONG DAY and NOT doing the midnight mambo! This fic is relatively pg! Besides the swears and murder and angst and horror and dirty jokes and murder it is like,, pg-16!! If that's a thing!)

I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again I was somewhere new.

I was in a field with wooden paths and houses surrounding it. For some reason the wood was covered in a thick layer of green sludge, I felt as though if I misplaced my weight even slightly it would bring my legs out from under me. Underneath the wood I was standing upon was a deep hole, I couldn't see the bottom, but I could see that it dug through multiple layers of stone.

I turned around, hearing a strange clicking. It was Security. If TVs had mouths, it would be frothy and white with bubbles right now. It growled mechanically at me, before sprinting full speed towards me on all fours.

I turned to run, but instead slipped on the green slick, falling into the deep unending hole below the wooden pathing I was on. As I fell I looked back up to where I had just been standing . The monster was leaning over the edge, looking down at me with its claws dug into the edge of the wood so that it wouldn't fall aswell.

Suddenly I hit the ground, yet I felt no pain and was able to stand back up immediately afterwards. I heard another sound behind me, and when I turned around, instead of finding Security to have returned, it was a brown kid goat. It had one blue eye, and one yellow eye. The blue eye was surrounded by a scar, suggesting that its coloration was due to the injury.

It bleated at me and walked towards me. I held out my hand to it as it came forward, and it sniffed it, before nibbling on one of my fingers. I laughed softly, pulling my hand away from it and washing off its drool onto my shirt.

I sat down, and the goat crawled into my lap, resting its head on my arm. It looked up at me for a second, before resting its head again and falling asleep. I pet its soft new fur, and after what felt like at least one calm, nice hour, I fell asleep too.

When I opened my eyes I was in the bed of the guest room again. I was disappointed that the goat was gone, but at the same time, there are grilled cheese here.

But then as i saw Phil's footsteps by the door I remembered. He's sending me back to the mall. Tears welled in my eyes as i watched three doorknob twist open. At least I got something nice before Hetch finally kills me, even if it was only for a small while.

"Hey mate, do you need anything before we leave?" He asked.

I shook my head, willing the tears away as I did.

"Ok, come downstairs in around five minutes and I'll take you to the station"

I nodded and looked down at my lap to hide the fresh tears coming again.

When he left I went over to the mirror to wipe my eyes, but looking at all the unhealed scars across my face just made the tears fall faster so I went back over to the bed. After a minute of sitting there, the image of all my ugly scars burned into my mind, I stood up and headed downstairs.

When I got to the bottom I slipped on my shoes and met with Phil by the door, heading out to his car with him.

I got in the back, and as soon as we were both buckled he passed me a note, "listen, once we get there you'll probably be taken by child services, but if you need me just read this, ok?" He smiled at me as he awaited my answer. I nodded to him, and put it in my jeans pocket.

"Also, if the police ask you any questions you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but if you do answer, please try not to lie, I don't want to see you in trouble," he said as he pulled out of the driveway and onto the street.

I nodded again, keeping my head down and avoiding eye contact with him.

We soon pulled into a parking lot and Phil opened his door, waiting for me to open mine and leave the car to go in with him. I got out and went to stand next to him. He made sure he had his ID and started to walk towards the doors. I followed, pushing down the rising panic attack that the thought of seeing Hetch again brought on.

Once we were inside at the desk Phil showed the woman his ID and verified his appointment with her, and then we sat in the chairs and waited for what seemed like forever.

(A/N ik this prolly isn't how it actually works, but I don't know and I'm too lazy to research it x.x so ur stuck with the doctor appointment ahh police station lmao)

Eventually a man called Phil's name and he tapped my arm to signal me to get up and come in with him. As I walked the full realization of what was happening sunk in. I tapped Phil's shoulder and summoned all my courage, whispering in his ear, "I d-don't want to do this."

He gave me a sympathetic look, "me neither mate, but we have to at this point, im sorry. ." He held on to my hand and lightly squeezed it, which somehow was comforting.

. ItoThe man led us to a room, and inside was two chairs and a table, a chair was placed on each side of the table so two people could speak face to face easily.

"Alright, Phil, you go in first. Officer Puffy is going to be in a second, she will ask some questions and we need to to respond to your fullest ability. And Ranboo, was it? Take a seat here and wait for him to be done, then you will go in too," the man said.

Phil nodded and walked in, sitting at the desk, and I sat on the chair a few feet down the hall from the room. After a minute a woman with fluffy brown and white hair went in, who I assume was Officer Puffy. I zoned out for the next few minutes due to having nothing to do, but then I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked over to find Phil motioning for me to go into the room he had just been in. I nervously nodded and went in.

"Hello, I assume your Ranboo? My name is Puffy, and you can call me just that," the woman, Puffy, said.

I nodded, glancing around the room fearfully.

"Alright, I'm gonna ask you some questions and I want you to answer me honestly. Got it?"

I nodded again, picking at my fingernails to try to siphon out my anxiety somehow.

"Did that man, Phil, really find you passed out in the woods, or did something else happen?" She questioned.

"H-he did, yes" my hands were so shaky I would have dropped anything put in them at this point, but luckily I don't think that's something she'll test me on.

"Alright, and what happened before that?"

My muscles tensed as I thought about the night. "I was r-running away from a mall, and then I passed out and Phil found me" I answered.

She nodded, writing something down on a clipboard. "why were you running away? Did someone hurt you?"

"Yes, but I can't remember his name or face" I sheepishly lied to her. Guilt wrapped around my shoulders as I realized I did exactly what Phil said not to. I don't know why I lied, I just did. It would have been better if they knew who he was.

Puffy didn't seem to notice the lie anyway, so I guess I didn't do something too bad. "You said he? Was your assaulter male?"

"Y-yes, at least that's what his voice sounded like." I said.

"Okay, that's very helpful, thank you. Has Phil treated you with care while you've been with him the last two days? Like, given you meals, clean bedding, shower access, and all similar things?" She asked.

Well, I've definitely been staying with Phil for more than two days, so at least if he told a lie its probably not too bad I told one too, I thought, before blurting out the answer to the question, "Y-yeah, all of that. he has been really nice." I nodded.

"Can you remember anything from before you were assaulted?"

I shook my head, I could remember the things that happened in the mall, just not before that, which is probably what she means.

"Do you think you have experienced any of the symptoms of a concussion, besides memory loss, such as oversleeping or trouble sleeping, headaches, inability to look at bright screens without a sudden migraine or headache, or fatigue?"

I shook my head again, I think if I had a concussion I would know, and anyways, I don't have any of these symptoms.

She nodded and wrote down some more stuff.

"Are you comfortable being put in foster care until we can find your family?"

I thought for a second, really, I wanted to be with Phil, but that seems better than the mall so I eventually nodded.

"Alright, your free to go, please wait in the waiting room and we'll send a social worker to pick you up. You will be taken to a group home until someone can foster you or we can find and verify your legal parents."

I nodded again. Biting my lip anxiously.

I stood up and went out of the room, finding that Phil was waiting for me. He smiled when he saw me, and patted me on the shoulder, walking with me to the waitingroom.

"They told me what's gonna happen, how about I wait with you til the worker gets here?" He said with tears visibly pricking at his eyes.

"Y-yeah, thank you Phil" I said, smiling at him.

We sat in the hard uncomfortable chairs for around twenty minutes before the worker showed up and I had to say my goodbyes. It was sad on one hand, but on the other, I was going even further away from the mall, which is good.

As I silently entered the car I looked back into the windows, making eye contact with a crying Phil. He smiled and waved at me as the car pulled away, and after less than a minute I couldn't even see the blondes car anymore.

Chapter Text

Ranboo's POV

As the car pulled up to a building, the group home I assume, a deep feeling settled in my chest. This was it, no more Phil, no more Bluey, no more grilled cheese. I wasn't sure what it'd be like inside, probably really gross and scary, and worst of all, social. I shook away the tears that had formed as the car parked, and got out, following the worker, who had been silent up until now.

"I'll come in to get you checked in, but I can't stay so you'll have to figure everything else out on your own, or ask one of the other kids or adults for help, got it?"

I silently nodded, keeping my head down and following him until he entered an office and shut the door. I stood anxiously by the door, waiting for something to make sense.

As I was tapping my fingers against my legs as a form of temporary entertainment I saw something moving out of my peripheral vision. My head whipped around, only to meet face-to-face with a brown haired boy, his fluffy hair covered his eyes and he was wearing a green t-shirt and jeans. He looked around my age or younger, 15 or 16, despite being much shorter than me.

"I know you!" He said, "where have I seen you before?"

I shrugged worridly, not recognizing who he was at all. "

He thought for a second, before shouting out at an unreasonable volume, "Oh! Your that kid we saw at the mall the other day! Right?" He was smiling in a stupid way, and seemed way to happy for someone stuck in this group home crap.

"M-maybe? I-I have been to a few malls recently. . ." Why the hell was social interaction so hard?

"Yeah! I remember you now! You were crying under the banister!" He said with unfitting excitement to the sentence, "what happened with that by the way?"

"oh- oh yeah that. . Uh, it was just kind of overwhelming I guess. I'm fine though, don't worry."

"Yeah I get that, but anyways, since I already kind of know you, why don't I help you get settled in! I overheard that its your first time here, so I can be like a guide!" Said the boy. "By the way, my name is Tubbo! What's yours?"

He held out a hand, offering me a handshake which I nervously accepted. "M-my name is Ranboo. And also, thank you."

He nodded, releasing me from the handshake and motioning for me to follow him as he walked through the large house to the stairs, "If you like I could be your roommate? If not that's perfectly okay, but the bunkbed I sleep in has a free mattress! I figure it might be better than bunking with some petty girl who will like- replace your toothbrush with a dirty one or something."

"O-oh yeah, that would be okay with me. I mean- bunking with you, not the toothbrush thing." I felt my cheeks redden softly at the mistake, but Tubbo didn't apparently mind it.

"Hell yeah bossman! I get top bunk though, finders' keepers!" Tubbo said in the same excited tone he had before.

I placed my small bag with my few changes of clothes on the floor beside the bed and sat down on it. Tubbo climbed up to the top on laid down. He hung his arms over the edge and looked down at me, seeming excited to have a roommate that he had at least kind of met before.

(A/N there is a fucking bee in my room I'm gonna cry why is there a bee I love bees but not in my FUCKING ROOM??? go outside with the flowers lil bro 😭😭 how did he even get in here I don't have open windows why is there a FUCKING BEE IN MY ROOM???)

"So anyways, what brings you here? You don't have to tell me, but if you tell me I'll tell you why I'm here! Like a trade," Tubbo asked. I considered whether I should tell him or not, but settled on telling him. The worst that can happen is he doesn't want to be my roommate right? I hope.

"Uh- I got like, kidnapped I guess? And I can't remember anything from before it so they are having me stay here until they can find my parents."

"WOAH! Dude that sounds like a really cool canon event! I mean, its not good of course, its very bad, but- y'know!" I chuffed out a small noise of amusement, because at least he could find it cool. "My canon event that brought me here is much more boring, my dad has problems drinking and my mom died when I was little so I come here while he's in rehab, then I go back with him, and it repeats every few months." The brunette shrugged, his voice sounding less excited for the first time since I met him.

"Oh wow, I'm sorry, that sounds awful. . ." I murmured to him, looking down at the plain white blanket on the bed.

"No worries! I'm used to it, and this place is close enough to school that I can just go to school and see my friend anyways, so all in all its better than if he didn't go to rehab at all." Tubbo said, putting on the same excited voice as before.

I nodded, still feeling sort of bad about it despite his reassurance.

"Aaaanyways, D'you wanna play a game? They have some really boring ones here, but they could be funner with a second person!"

"Y-yeah, that'd be good. By the way, its 'more fun' not 'funner'" I added in, trying to keep my tone polite so I didn't come across as rude.

Tubbo ran over to a shelf, grabbing a pack of cards with 'uno' written on the front and pouring them on the floor, before sitting down and starting to organize them into a deck. "I think 'funner' sounds much better though, and simpler to say!" He said as he started to deal out two hands, one for me and one for him.

"Do you know how to play?" He asked me, handing me the smaller pile of cards he had made for me.

I shook my head, confused at how the game is meant to work, "the only games I know how to play are Mousetrap and Rubix Cube. And I have a vague understanding of duck duck goose too. Oh! And cooking games, but I don't like to cook."

He nodded, and started explaining the game to me. Pretty soon we were playing it over and over, until eventually it was lunch and we went downstairs to eat. The rest of the day went fairly well too, despite the anxiety that came with the new situation and the fear of Hetch still hanging over my head. I think that without Tubbo this day would have been a complete nightmare, but he helped it just be kind of stressful rather than one large panic attack, so all in all it wasn't terrible.

When we went to bed it was around 10, and I was thoroughly exhausted by the entire past few days, so I slipped into a deep sleep quickly and easily.

Chapter Text

My dreams were plagued with visions of Hetch. Every time I closed my eyes he seemed to appear, taunting me, telling me he would be back to finish me off. By the time the sun was fully up and Tubbo was awake I had still barely gotten any decent sleep and was laying curled in a ball with tears running down my cheeks and onto the warm pillow beneath my head. My blanket laid in a messy heap beside me, and my bag was laying on its side with a shirt halfway spilling out of it.

At some point last night during a half-asleep panicked haze I had dug through the bag and taken out a clothe mask, putting it on so that hopefully it would dim the noise of my ragged breathing, which, according to the fact Tubbo was only just waking up, had done its job well. I kept the mask on, even though the sounds of Tubbo turning above me and messing around with something on his phone had calmed my mind and snapped me out of the cycle I had been stuck in all night.

For some reason the piece of fabric over my face was calming to me, despite having literal unhealed scars on my face from the last time I wore one. This one, however, wasn't chewing into my skin with sharp, metal edges, and it didn't have burning hot lights pressing against my skin, so it was a lot more comfortable and nicer than the other mask.

(A/N covid doesn't exist in this universe. Lucky bitches.)

"G'morning" Tubbo's voice came from above me.

"Good morning Tubbo" I groaned, the lack of good sleep messed with the sound of my voice, making it sound much deeper than it actually is, whereas with Tubbo's it just made him sound like he was loudly mumbling.

Tubbo silently crawled down from the bed, sitting on the lower bunk next to my waist and gesturing for me to get up. I did as he asked, admittedly sluggishly, and soon he was shoving his phone in my face, a game of Minecraft was displayed on it.

"Have you ever played?" He asked, "Its me and my friend's world, so if you have it on your phone then after you meet my friend I could add you!"

"Yeah, I've played. Only once, though. Also I don't have a phone, so I'm very sorry, but I can't play" I admitted.

(a/n bro i just drank water for the first time since yesterday and my only reasoning was because I was getting a headache from crying guys I'm so fucking productive)

"Oh, well no worries because you'll get one soon, probably today! They legally have to give them to the older kids when they come, at least the ones who don't have them already. Otherwise I would have so many phones, it would be so great," the brunette said.

I nodded, hoping the subject would drop and he would ignore me for the rest of the morning.

"By the way," welp. Guess that won't be happening. "what's with the mask? Its not like there's some deadly worldwide plague which was briefly assumed by widespread speculation to have been caused by a bat that's going around which causes you to need it."

"Oh! Um, it just makes me more comfortable, I guess? If that makes sense." I mumbled.

He nodded understandingly, "I have one I got when I was sick a while ago, I don't know if you'd get sick from wearing it or if germs expire or something, but its got a bee on it, so maybe once I'm able to get it from home I could give it to you!"

I shrugged softly, hopefully not coming off as rude. Tubbo promptly grabbed a game out of the shelf and plopped it in front of me, because apparently that is my life for the foreseeable future.

(Time skip brought to you by my lack of will to live)

I was laying on my back with my arms stretched out on the floor, I had taken off the mask I was wearing earlier and was now staring at a fly that was buzzing around the ceiling of the room. Tubbo was laying on the bottom bunk of the bed, loudly playing short, vulgar videos on his phone, because apparently he only likes earbuds and all he had with him are headphones.

A sharp sound came from the door, making me flinch an embarrassingly large amount. It took me a second of calming down to realize it was someone knocking.

"You gonna get that or should I?" Tubbo said from above me, not rudely, but he definitely did not want to get the door judging by his tone.

I nodded, forcing myself up from my pit of sadness on the floor to walk across the room. When I opened the door there was an adult man standing there. He was most likely the one in charge of this place.

"Ranboo, I want to speak with you about something, please come to the office for a minute."

I gulped nervously and nodded, following him downstairs and into a windowless room where he closed the door and gestured for me to sit in a chair. He sat in the chair opposite me, separated only by a wooden desk. I nervously forced myself to be still, hoping that whatever he had to say would be better if I was quiet.

"Listen, we are having a really hard time finding your parents, and as much as we look we can't find them, neither can the police. We are going to look and see if you've ever been in foster care before, but until then you have to stay here. It seems you are getting along well with your roommate though, so hopefully that won't be a bother. We do, however, have a phone for you. I will let you have it, but please, only use it for emergencies, not video games or social medias. Okay?"

I nodded, having barely taken in the stuff about the phone. If I didn't have parents would I go back to Phil? Or would I stay here? Would they send me back to the mall? Someplace else?

The man broke through the drowning thoughts. he passed me over the case of a phone. It didn't seem like a very good phone, but it seemed to be new, and this is the first non-clothing item I've ever owned in all my retrievable memories, so it was more than good enough for me. I pushed down the fears that had come with it and shakily reached out, picking it up with one hand and holding it softly up to my chest.

"Until we find your parents that's yours. Your roommate should help you, but if he doesn't just come find me around the house and I will," The man said, smiling kindly at me. "And if you ever need me, just call my name! Its Eret by the way, my name I mean."

I nodded yet again, "T-thank you. . Am- Am I allowed to go back to the room?"

"Mm, go ahead," the man, Eret, said. He gave me a pitiful look as I carefully and shakily stood up, leaving the room as silently as I could.

I carefully clutched the boxed device in my arms, pressing it up to my chest so that it couldn't fall and shatter. I'm not sure exactly how breakable phones are, but I know that I shouldn't let it fall anways.

As I walked into the room I heard Tubbo's voice come out, though he was nowhere in sight. "What was that about?" He asked.

"Um, he- Eret, gave me the phone you said he'd give earlier" I said as I looked around the room to try and find where Tubbo was hiding.

Suddenly, I saw a figure pop up from the bed, he had somehow flattened himself into looking exactly like a puffed up blanket, and absolutely none of him had been sticking out, casting the effect that he was invisible or something. "Oh yes!! Now I can add you to a group chat with Tommy! He probably won't care much since I add him to lots of group chats with different roommates, but maybe if I tell him that he's met you before then he'll think differently!"

I nodded. I didn't fully understand who Tommy was, but I guessed it was the other voice I heard at the not-Hetch mall, and Tubbo seemed pretty good so far, so maybe Tommy is too.

(A/N Idk if ill delve into this kater, but basically boob boy has trust issues where like,, he trusts ppl way too quick and considers them friends, but at the same time doesn't trust them with personal info or secrets or anythinf, so he's gotten attached to Tubbo but doesnt fukly trust him rn !!! Bc I based him off me :3)

"Wait, Eret said I'm not allowed to use it for anything but emergencies, so that's against the rules, he'll be mad." I said, fear prickling at my spine, the thought of someone being angry at me, as well as the reminder of the mall a small while ago, reminding me of the electricity running through my bones. If I can avoid that, its the last thing I want.

"Oh, he won't care, just don't be on it at meals, and don't wake people up too late - and even those are more of suggestions than actual rules."

"But- But what if he gets mad?" As tears threatened to well in my eyes I cursed myself for breaking so easily.

"Dude, I promise, if I thought it would get you in trouble I wouldn't tell you to do it, seriously," Tubbo said, despite having most his face hidden by the blanket he was still partially under I could still hear in his reassuring tone that he probably had a kind expression on his face.

"I guess then. . ." I was still damn terrified, but Tubbo was saying something was ok, so in my mind it seemed better to agree with something that might be true, rather than fight against it. I just hoped Eret wouldn't be like Hetch, nice at first, then easily comparable to the devil.

(fuck dude I'm tired, its only like 7 but I needs eep 😔💔 also who up wonkin they willy rn [do not answer that seriously I will actually cry at you] anyways might eep if I'm feeling cutesy and demure)

"Yesss!" Tubbo clenched his fist in excitement, "Have you set it up at all, or no?"

"N-no, I'm not sure how. . " I mused, "Um- Could you help? Please?" I looked down at the floor as I held the small mechanical device out to him, offering for him to take it.

After a second he reached down from his bed, gently taking the phone from me. He pressed the screen a bunch of times then handed it back to me. "I gave you my number, and I put you in a group chat with Tommy too. You don't have to talk now, but whenever you want to feel free to."

I nodded. I had no idea how the phone worked, but hopefully its straightforward enough for me to understand quickly.

A message popped up on the phones dark screen, turning it bright and colorful.

Tommy: hey, Tubbo said yiur the kid from the mall

I pressed on a bar at the bottom of the screen and letters pressed up, I tried tapping the ones I wanted to write, and they showed up in the bar.

Yes.

Tubbo chimed in from the bed above me, "Wow dude, you text dry as hell," he laughed softly to himself as he re-read the messages.

"O-oh, how am I meant to?" I asked.

"There isn't a specific way, but don't be afraid to be informal, I doubt Tommy will be" he said.

"Okay.." I mumbled. I waited a few seconds for Tommy or Tubbo to send anything, but it stayed empty. I miserably turned off the phone and covered myself in blankets to either fall asleep or daydream, whichever comes first.

Chapter Text

The next three days were fairly uneventful. Wake up, chat with Tubbo, eat, chat more, repeat.

Next to nothing had really happened at all. Tubbo showed me how to download things, so I downloaded a music app he recommended and listened to a few songs he told me to, finding that I really like music by someone under the name of 'Lemon Demon'.

I also found out how to use 'gifs' and stopped texting to respond, instead sending images of cats with text above their heads. It was much nicer than typing words, in my opinion.

On the fifth day I was there though, things changed. After breakfast, as I was responding to an image Tubbo sent me with one of the said cat gifs I heard knocking at the door. It had become relatively normal to me over the past days as Eret or other kids in the house would knock before coming into the room, which was needed in order to tell me or Tubbo anything since that's where we spent all our time, but the loud noise still made me flinch.

Tubbo got up and walked over to the door, opening it to find Eret standing there. "Hey Tubbo, is Ranboo in there right now?" She asked, to which he nodded.

I shot my head up over the bed from where I had been sitting on the floor watching YouTube videos. I nodded at Eret, tilting my head as a way of asking what they needed me for.

"Mind coming with me to the office for a second please?" She asked.

I nodded, getting up nervously and walking out of the room. I looked back at Tubbo anxiously as I closed the door. We went downstairs and to the office, where Eret had me sit in the same chair I had been in when I got my phone.

I attempted to push down the anxious thoughts running through my head and looked to Eret. I didn't do anything wrong, did I?

"Now, Ranboo," said Eret, "I want you to know that you did nothing wrong."

Oh.

I gulped nervously, fear and... Excitement? Building in me. Would I go back to Phil? Did they find my parents? Is Tubbo leaving?

"I don't want you to freak out, but just know I'm going to tell you something you might not like, okay?"

When I did nothing she sighed, but continued on, "We found that you have been in foster care before, and you are listed as still being housed with someone. We are looking into the situation and don't know everything that's happened there, but we also found why you were in foster care in the first place. Your mother and father both abandoned you as a young child, and left you to a group a few towns away from here. I'm so sorry, and I promise to help you with this if need be" she said, holding her breath as she waited for my response.

"O-oh. . . Okay" I said, still processing it. I didn't really miss my parents I guess, because I had no memory of them, but the idea of having none was still upsetting to me.

After my fairly useless response was still in the air for a few seconds Eret spoke again, "We have officials - people who will handle this better than you or me - working to find out what happened after your last house. As soon as I learn more I promise to tell you everything I can."

I nodded, anxiety beaming off me so strongly it could be contagious.

"Until we get any more news you will be staying here. If you'd like, we could put you up for foster availability, but that would take a few days to set up and possibly weeks to find someone appropriate to actually foster you."

I looked at Eret inquisitively, I had heard the term 'foster' from Phil before, but I still didn't know - or couldn't remember - it's meaning.

"Uh-" Eret started, "Do you understand all of that?"

I hesitantly and slowly shook my head. The first bits were easy enough to understand, maybe hard to fully wrap my head around and accept, but understand? Yes. However, everything about 'fostering' and such made as much sense as the 'slang' Tommy used in our text conversations.

Eret paused for a second, making a thoughtful hmm, before saying, "Which was the bit you didn't understand?"

The urge to tell him I had been messing before, and that I did understand it all was strong, but I decided it'd be better to just be honest with him. "I- uh- The bit about fostering. I'm. . . Not very sure what that is."

"Ah, okay," Eret said as he began their explanation, "So, basically, when someone fosters you - or any other kid - they are pretty much limited-time parents. They will be in charge of providing you with food, shelter, clothes, education - really anything you need, but they aren't full legal guardians. People like me and my co-workers are in charge of making sure they do everything required so that it can be as safe and enjoyable as possible for the kids being fostered." She looked at me expectantly, and after a few seconds I realized she was waiting for me to respond to the explanation.

"Oh- Hmmm. . . I- I think I understand now." I said awkwardly, looking down at my hands as a form of avoiding eye contact with Eret.

There were many seconds of uncomfortable silence.

"So, um" Eret began in attempt to break the newfound silence, "Would you like to be put in foster care? Normally we would ask A biological parent or relative, or a social worker. . . But since you don't have any of those its up to you right now."

"I- I'm not sure. . ." I shakily responed.

"No worries, for now we can keep you here. You seem to be getting along pretty well with Tubbo anyways. If you change your mind don't be afraid to let me know."

I nodded, fidgeting nervously with my fingernails.

"That's all, thank you for your time," Eret said as she stood from her chair behind the desk.

I quickly left the room behind him, going up stairs only to be immediately met with Tubbo jumping at my face like an excited chihuahua, "What was that about?" He said excitedly.

"Uhm- Eret was just asking if I wanted to be put into foster care or not," I responded. Leaving out some of the truth wasn't too bad, right?

"Aaaand. . . What'd you say?"

"Um- that I'd think about it?"

Tubbo went silent for a few moments, which was worrying to say the least.. Finally, though, he spoke again, "Not a terrible answer, Bossman."

"Uh, thanks? I think?"

"Mhm, BUT!" He said loudly, "Once break week is over you should say you want to do foster houses! They are sometimes. . Less than ideal, but you could go to me and Tommy's school! If you wanted to?"

"That would be nice, I think," I said.

"Yup," Tubbo responded, as he began to get distracted by something by the bunkbed. "Uno?" He asked good-naturedly.

I smiled and walked over to play the card game with him.