Chapter Text
His life is falling apart before his eyes and the only coherent thought Ranboo can have is, oh no, it’s going to rain soon.
It all feels so surreal that Ranboo is still trying to process that it happened. That it wasn’t just some sort of figment of his imagination but reality punching him in the gut and leaving him gasping for air.
(Ranboo is only 90% sure this is real. The other 10% doesn’t trust himself anymore. Not when he can’t remember if he helped blow up the community house or not.)
Everything has been changing so quickly that Ranboo doesn’t know how to deal with it. Not only was L’Manburg destroyed in a pitiful fight to save it, but there’s a number of people who turned their backs on it, setting its fate in stone. His only home, turned to a smoking crater before his very eyes and taking most of his stuff with it. Ranboo and several others are left with nothing but the clothes off their backs and whatever they managed to salvage ahead of time.
L’Manburg is gone and likely never to be rebuilt again.
Tubbo won’t look him in the eye, he doesn’t know how to feel about Nikki, and Ranboo isn’t even sure where he stands with Tommy.
And Ranboo can only worry about how it’s going to rain soon.
(He hates the rain- so so much.)
He should’ve stayed in his panic room. It was small and crowded with his pets staying there but he was safer. Safe from the rain, safe from judging eyes, safe from having to worry where he was and where he was going. Why did he leave his panic room?
A bit of fresh air was supposed to help his head but Ranboo still feels like he’s spinning- maybe worse than before. At least within his panic room, Ranboo only had to worry about what was in his head, now he looks up at the sky and feels a growing panic.
Ranboo didn’t think to bring an umbrella or his armor, both stored away with what little he has left in the panic room. He lost track of which way he went- where even is he?
It’s the worst time to be lost but Ranboo is well aware that his luck ran dry a few days ago when he was outed as a traitor.
Taking deep breaths to try and level himself, Ranboo managed to spot a building in the distance and headed straight for it.
Take shelter from rain and wait it out until you can figure out what to do next. Ranboo tells himself. A step in the right direction, though he still falters at the idea of 'Next' when his future is uncertain. He has to shake himself out of it, firmly telling himself that it isn't going to end here. There's still so much to do, a thought that both keeps him going and terrifies him.
Ranboo swallows and pushes his way from out the forest and out onto more open and flattened land. He stumbles, trying not to weep with joy at the idea of getting to sit down and rest soon but he can’t help it. He rushes for cover until he stops in his tracks halfway there. Until he recognizes where he is at last, and a wave of dread washes over him.
There are two large buildings in front of him. One is a mansion made primarily out of quartz- the building he had been headed to- while the other is far bigger and made of black stone.
Looking at it makes his heart drop. He’s heard about this- he knows what it is and every bone in his body tells him to run far, far away from this place-
The prison looms over him. Ranboo steps back, terrified but unable to look away. He doesn’t know much about the prison- Sam was rather secretive about it- but he knows enough that he wants to get away from it.
An all too familiar sound of a blade being drawn makes his breath hitch. Ranboo’s body finally breaks out of the haze he’s in and he spins around, only to see a sword pointed directly at him with a pair of glowing, white eyes narrowed on him.
Said eyes widen once they recognize him. Ranboo recognizes him too but can’t find it in him to be relieved. Not when he has no guarantee that he’ll be as friendly with him as he seems to be with everyone else.
BadBoyHalo, leader of the Badlands, stands before him, cautious but not as hostile as he seemed to be before. Ranboo finds he can only breathe when the demon lowers his sword, inspecting him curiously.
“Ranboo?” Bad tilts his head slightly. “What are you doing here?”
“I, uh…” Ranboo swallows thickly. A part of him wants to run so badly but his legs are glued to the ground now. The prison at his back, Bad in front of him, and the rain threatening to fall from the sky.
Not to mention, even if he runs, where is he supposed to go? He doesn’t have a home anymore.
“I don’t know.” Ranboo answers honestly, his voice cracking more than he would like. “I don’t know and I’m sorry- I’m trespassing on your land, aren’t I? I- I wasn’t thinking, I didn’t know where I was going and it was going to rain and I ended up here.”
Bad nods slowly, eyes softening. Even as he sheathes his sword, Ranboo can’t find it in him to relax. Bad has no allegiance to him- none of the Badlands do. Ranboo has at least some connection with most other nations but not them. They owe him nothing and that terrifies him.
Ranboo doesn’t trust people to be kind, not anymore. Not after watching his home get blown to smithereens and his friends get torn apart, fighting against each other and leaving him to rot.
Bad owes him nothing. There’s nothing compelling him to be kind.
“Oh, well, it’s getting dark, you might want to head home soon.” Bad tells him. “There’s a storm coming soon, I can feel it. I think it’s going to be a rough one.”
Ranboo tries not to flinch at the idea of being caught in the storm. He’s fairly certain he fails because Bad frowns at him, almost seemingly concerned.
But why would be he concerned? He doesn't know me, it doesn't benefit him, nobody here is kind without reason to why-...
Why care? Why bother?
“Ranboo?” Bad pulls him out of his thoughts. Reality feels a lot more unsteady than it was before.
“I- I don’t have a home anymore.” Ranboo blurts out. He doesn’t know why he says it but he just wants to talk to someone who isn’t him. Out loud and not in his head- it’s been so loud in his head recently.
Silence swallows the pair of them for one moment, then five before Ranboo quickly fills it. “I’m sorry, I- I’ll be on my way, have a nice night.”
Ranboo turns and hurries as he makes his way back to the treeline he came from. Bad speaks again before he can slip away.
“Ranboo?”
Ranboo freezes but slowly turns around again. He meets the gaze of the demon, the leader of the so called Badlands, the armored being in front of him who could kill him without breaking a sweat, and he holds out a hand for Ranboo to take.
“It’s going to rain soon.” BadBoyHalo tells him, voice light. There is no malice in his eyes, only curiosity and concern. “And I’ve heard you don’t like rain. You wanna come inside?”
Ranboo’s head tells him it's a trap but his gut looks Bad in the eyes and knows he’s being genuine. There’s no catch to the offer, it’s simply given to him out of… Pity? The goodness of Bad’s heart? Whatever it is, it makes Ranboo want to collapse on the spot.
When did he get so tired?
“Okay.” Ranboo says at last, hesitantly reaching out and taking it. “If- if you’re sure.”
Bad smiles at him softly. “I’m sure. Skeppy and I have extra bedrooms that go unused anyways, it’ll be no trouble at all!”
He leads Ranboo up the ramp that leads to their front lawn, keeping a steady and grounded hand on him as they walk. Ranboo wonders if Bad knows what he’s doing for him- if he’s intentionally helping him stay tethered to reality- or if he’s just physically affectionate. “Have you eaten yet? I have some potatoes cooking in the furnace if you’re hungry.”
Ranboo wants to decline but his stomach grumbles and reminds him it’s been far too long since he’s eaten. Even if he doesn’t want to, he needs to eat, so Ranboo accepts the offer graciously. Bad nods again, quickly taking them to the front door and pushing inside.
The inside of Bad- and Skeppy’s- mansion is spacious but isn’t decorated much. There’s a few basic decorations like a mat to wipe his shoes on, a vase with a few yellow flowers placed inside, and a couple paintings hung on the walls, but that seems about it. Not that Ranboo is judging- nothing wrong with that!
Bad offers to take his jacket as he slides off his own and puts it on the coat rack. Ranboo shivers and Bad instantly takes it as a ‘No’ instead flipping the question and asking if he wants a blanket instead.
Ranboo politely declines, though more out of fear that he’s asking too much than anything. However, when he shivers again, Bad’s eyes narrow slightly and he retrieves a blanket for Ranboo anyways, draping it around his shoulders.
Ranboo makes a silent note that lying to be polite won’t work on him.
“Baaaaaaaaad.” A drawled out voice calls from a room on the far end of the house. Bad perks up at the sound of it, then signals Ranboo to follow.
“Yes, Skeppy?” Bad calls back as they round into the kitchen. Ranboo lingers near the entrance, rubbing the back of his neck tentatively as he glanced over the co-owner of the mansion.
Ranboo personally never met Skeppy before but he’s heard about him. Truthfully, most of those stories made him seem a lot more devilish and cunning- a living trickster- but the first time Ranboo lays eyes on him, he’s faced down on the dining table and whining for his roommate.
“We’re out of bacon bits.” Skeppy says, a clear pout in his voice.
“I’ll get some tomorrow.”
“But I want them nowww.”
Bad rolls his eyes playfully. “You couldn’t pay me to go out in a storm just for some bacon bits, Skeppy. You’ll just have to deal without them.”
“Baked potatoes aren’t as good without them.”
“Yeah, well, tough muffins. We got a guest tonight anyways.”
As quickly as flipping a switch, Skeppy’s mood changed, head popping up and his voice leveled out like he hadn’t just been purposefully whining in a high pitched voice five seconds ago. “We do?”
He answered his own question when his eyes locked onto Ranboo’s as Bad was checking on the baked potatoes in the furnace. Ranboo shifted in place, waving slightly. Skeppy nodded in return, pausing before asking, “It’s Ranboo, right?”
“That’s me.” Ranboo said weakly. “Nice to meet you… Your uh- your Bad invited me, I hope that’s okay.”
Skeppy shrugged, unbothered. He seemed nonchalant but his eyes examined Ranboo carefully, like he was deciding what to make of him. “I made too many rooms anyways, you’re doing me a favor by using one of them. There’s one or two that are properly furnished, take one of those.”
“There’d be more options if someone remembered they were the one who was supposed to furnish the rooms.” Bad said in a teasing tone. Skeppy groaned in response.
“I’ve been busy!”
“You’re the one who called dibs on decorating.”
“I’ll get around to it! ...Eventually.”
Bad stifled a laugh and decided not to press. Ranboo silently wondered if it was because he was there, still lingering awkwardly like some sort of old, timey vampire who could only be let in if given explicit permission.
Bad opened the furnace again, then must’ve been satisfied enough by how they looked because he reached in and started to pull them out, one by one. Ranboo near jumped out of his skin when he saw Bad was doing it by hand without a glove of some sort before he remembered that Bad was a demon. He seemed to barely notice the heat, humming as he worked.
“You don’t have to just stand there, y’know.” Skeppy called out to Ranboo. He tried not to let his face flush when he realized Skeppy noticed his hesitance. He didn’t make any direct comment about it, thankfully, instead gesturing to one of the seats at the dining table. “You can sit down.”
Ranboo hesitated for a beat before taking the offer. He took a seat across from Skeppy, feeling like it might’ve been rude to do otherwise and silently hoped he wasn’t stealing Bad’s spot. If he did, neither made a comment about it and Bad placed down a plate with a baked potato for each of them. He took a seat next to Skeppy and neither hesitated to dig in.
Dinner wasn’t as awkward as Ranboo thought it would be, which was a relief on its own. He did feel a bit like a third wheel but he didn’t mind it. For one, Ranboo never minded being a third wheel in the first place- as long as he was welcome, that was enough for him. For another, Ranboo hadn’t really been around Bad or Skeppy very often, much less together, but from what he had heard, that’s usually how it ended up with them.
They were best friends and it showed, seemingly on the exact same wavelength when they spoke and going on long tangents about nothing and everything. Truthfully, it had been nice to hear and even when he noticed the rain starting to pour outside, Bad and Skeppy talked over it and soothed his nerves.
Ranboo was safe, warm, and had somewhere to sleep for the night. Significantly better than earlier.
He doesn't know what comes next- what tomorrow will bring or if anything will be better when he wakes up- but he doesn't need to know right now. Right now, all he wants to do is try to enjoy the present, however fleeting his current comforting situation might be. He just wants to hold onto the present.
(It's too easy to let go of the present these days. It's too easy to get wrapped up in what could be rather than what is now.)
After dinner, Skeppy took everyone’s plates as it was apparently his turn to take care of the dishes and Bad showed him to one of the rooms. Truthfully, Ranboo didn’t care what it looked like but he did have to give credit where credit was due: It did look pretty nice. The carpet was soft beneath his feet and the bed looked particularly inviting, especially so considering Ranboo wanted to collapse on the spot as it was.
Ranboo excused himself to bed and Bad waved him goodnight. As soon as his body hit the mattress, he felt himself melt into it, wrapping himself up in the blanket and breathing slowly. He shut his eyes, willing himself not to think about everything he had been avoiding and tried to relax.
Thunder boomed outside, far too close for comfort. A strangled yelp followed by an enderman noise escaped him. Ranboo was left gasping on the bed and within seconds, Bad knocked on the door and asked if he was okay. Ranboo lied and said he was, that he had just gotten surprised.
Bad didn’t sound so convinced but said ‘Okay’ anyways and told him to holler if he needed anything. Ranboo softly exhaled and thanked him, listening to his footsteps retreat before curling up again. All he wanted now was to sleep but his deep seeded fear from the storm outside didn’t let him, acting up every time thunder shook the sky.
Half an hour passed and Ranboo groaned, aching for sleep but everything being far too loud. His head, the sky, his fears- it kept him up and he buried his face into the pillow in frustration.
He was so tired, why couldn’t he just sleep?
The door opened. Ranboo shot up in alarm, only to lay eyes on Skeppy’s head poking out from behind it.
“Hey.” Skeppy greeted, though seemed a little awkward and hesitant. “I got some headphones if you want to listen to music and block out the storm?”
Ranboo blinked at the offer but nodded. Skeppy tossed them over and thankfully, Ranboo caught it easily, untangling it from his hands before glancing back. “Uh, thanks!”
Skeppy shrugged it off but seemed relieved. “Bad just seemed worried that the storm was keeping you up and when he can’t sleep, I can’t sleep. Just give ‘em back later.” Skeppy told him before ducking out, closing the door behind him.
Ranboo swallowed the lump in his throat. This is fine, this is cool.
Hooking up the headphones to his communicator and turning the volume up, the sound muffled the storm outside until Ranboo barely noticed it. He relaxed, lying on his side and closing his eyes. A sudden wave of exhaustion hit him like a truck and within minutes, he slipping away into a dreamless sleep.
The storm raged outside but it fell of deaf ears. There were uncertainties to deal with tomorrow but Ranboo needed to sleep now, so he did.