Chapter Text
It's when he’s exploring the colony’s hallways when he first finds it.
In all honesty, Ranboo’s not sure how he spotted it in the first place — though now that he has, he’s not sure how he ever missed it, either.
It was just about dinner time, leaving the normally bustling hallways of the Pandora Colony feeling quite empty, something that almost unsettled him.
He should probably head out for dinner, as well, but.. Well, he’s had a snack or two, he’s sure he can manage.
Besides, he’s not quite sure if he could stomach whatever they served for dinner today.
You see, Ranboo was a rovenger.
Now, what is a rovenger, exactly?
Well, they are predators, omnivores. Creatures with intelligence on par with humans — at least, that’s what everyone says, though Ranboo’s never seen a human before. He's never even stepped one foot out of the closed off walls of the colony, let alone far into human territory.
And with rovengers sitting at an intimidating fifteen-feet tall height, well.. those walls are really, really high.
Especially for Ranboo, a rovenger who’s smaller than the average rovenger, at only nine feet tall when standing on his hind legs.
And- wait, he’s off topic.
Back to the original point — rovengers, they’re omnivores. They tend to eat whatever they can get their paws on: vegetables, fruits, meats, fish, and other such products like that.
While a healthy diet would consist of most, if not all of these things, every colony has their preferences; or so he presumes. At least, his own colony certainly has a preference.
That preference, being borrowers.
Ranboo’s never quite seen one alive, though they seem to be a staple in Pandora’s meals. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, you name it, they’re in it.
And.. If Ranboo’s being honest, it makes him.. uncomfortable .
It’s not as though he likes them — frankly, he’s rather indifferent towards them. He just.. he can’t seem to stomach the thought of eating one. It was like eating a mouse- it just.. feels weird..?
Except, not even that metaphor feels right. He couldn’t explain it for the life of him, but.. something about eating a borrower just.. He doesn’t know. It’s different, and he can't quite figure out why.
Thankfully, his brother(or- adopted brother, really, but they're still family in the way it matters), Dream, is fairly accommodating towards this. Dream always makes sure he has something to eat, something that doesn’t involve borrowers.
Sure, that doesn’t stop his brother from feasting on meals that have borrowers himself, but Ranboo doesn’t mind(at least, that’s what he tells himself). Dream and his friends always look out for him, the least he could do was accept them like they accepted him.
(And, well.. Even if he wanted to, he feels like if he tried to pull a fit, the rest of the colony would be.. less than thrilled about it. He already feels like he’s stumbling along a tightrope trying to get everyone else’s approval, the last thing he needs is to bring more attention to himself.)
Usually, Ranboo can suck it in and sit around everyone in the dining hall during meals, but.. today, he feels like he just.. hit a limit.
So, here he was, roaming the halls.
And here he was, staring at a tiny door in the wall.
It’s easy to glance over, he’ll give it that. The door seemed to blend in easily with the surrounding wall, and he thinks that, were the door not just slightly ajar, it would have blended pretty much seamlessly with the rest.
And..
He’s gonna be honest, he has absolutely no idea what this could possibly be for.
Where would he even begin with guessing?
..Well, why not find out? Everyone’s at dinner, right now — and if not everyone , then a majority of rovengers are. If this is supposed to be secret, it’s not like anyone would find out, right?
......Wow, he never thought he’d see the day where he would find himself willingly breaking a rule. Dream would be proud.
He shook his head, and turned his attention to the door.
It was, as he’s said before, small. Small, as in, smaller than his paw. It had to be- maybe four, five inches tall?
And- well, Ranboo may be the smallest rovenger in the colony, but even he couldn’t fit through that.
At least, not currently.
There was something he neglected to mention, earlier, when talking about his species.
They had the ability to shift their size, and form, to an extent.
Ranboo closed his eyes, focusing, and-
When he opened them a few moments later, he was staring face level at the door.
He flicked his tail back and forth in excitement, looking at his paws — he doesn't use his shifted form often, why would he? The colony was built for them in their regular forms, and shifting like this- well, it wasn’t.. disgraced , but it certainly wasn’t common. They only shifted when it was necessary — and it wasn’t necessary often.
Perhaps someone dropped something under a small gap, or maybe a child used it to gain an edge in hide and seek. He thinks the hunter-group uses it to lure borrowers out of their burrows — or, well. Wherever borrowers hide, he doesn’t know much about them.
He flexes his claws, examining them — they’re different from his true form, a tan peach tone coloring his fur, with black patches and freckles spotted around various locations.
He spots his tail behind him, the usual black and white fur that littered it, as well as everywhere else on his body, has been traded for that peach color, slowly fading into a darker brown at the end, with that same black in a few strands of fur.
He can't see it well, but he knows that brown color, one that’s not located anywhere in his true form, also colors his hair.
Ranboo adjusts his mask — he hadn’t worn it while in his bigger form; it, along with the rest of his clothes, appeared as he shifted, the only exception being his favorite purple cape. He doesn’t understand the science of it, why his clothes seem to shift along with him, but he simply shrugs it off.
He turns his focus back towards the door once more. He flicked his ear anxiously.
He thinks that’s enough stalling — anxiety be damned, he really wants to know what’s behind this door.
And so, he walks up, and cautiously puts a hand on the door. He pushes it open slightly, and peers inside.
There's a corridor, leading towards somewhere he can’t quite see from where he is; along with a door to the left of the hall.
He steps inside, and tries to open the door. The knob is stuck.
Drats, locked , he pouts, before shrugging and moving on.
He walks through the corridor, looking around. soon, he reaches the end, and-
Ranboo looks at the room he entered with surprise.
It’s.. It’s full to the brim with cells.
Is.. Is this a prison ? What- Why in the world do they have a prison ?!
He staggers forward, examining most of the cells. They all look empty, luckily- or, at least he thinks it’s lucky. Quite frankly, he thinks it would be rather awkward if he were to find an inmate inside, and he’d have to have an impromptu staring contest with a criminal.
Why would this colony have a prison? He doesn’t- He doesn’t think anyone has ever caused too much trouble, certainly not enough to warrant imprisonment .
What would the higher-ups in the colony even consider as a big enough crime to result in getting jail time? Does he even want to know?
And then there’s the question of why it’s so small , too- or, well.. Actually, he thinks he might be able to think of a reason for that.
Rovengers tend to vary in size and strength — if someone who is very strong decides to cause big trouble, it would be fairly difficult to wrangle them up, as well as keep them locked up. But in their shifted form, that power diminishes — they are all on an equal playing field.
He doesn’t know what would keep a criminal from just shifting to keep them from getting captured, but — well, it’s the only.. kind-of reasonable explanation he has.
It’s as Ranboo is thinking this that he notices something different in one of the cells.
He doubles back, peers inside the cell, and-
He does a double take.
There’s.. There’s someone inside.
The first thing he notices is a dark green poncho, with wavy light green lines going across it. His eyes trail up to the bright red bandana that clashes with the rest of their outfit, and then further up to their hair. It's a messy mop of brown hair, with what looks like white fading in from the roots. His eyes flick towards the ground, where a matching puffy tail tip meets him.
Peeking up from the hair are what seems to be short, gray horns, as well as long, brown floppy ears, with that same white from the roots at the end.
Then, his eyes land on their face. The first thing he registers is the burn scar spidering across half of their face. The second thing he registers are their stormy gray eyes.
He jolts when he realizes that they’re staring right at him.
Uh oh.
Tubbo thinks he’s been having the worst few days of his life. He didn’t think anything would top his last couple of days being an innie borrower, but somehow , this is up there.
First, he and his best-friend-slash-brother, Tommy, get taken from their home, their family , having been fooled by some asshole yelling for help. As soon as they arrived, they were immediately trapped — something big grabbed them, and threw them in a bag before they could even get a glimpse of what was taking them.
Tommy thought it was humans who got them, but Tubbo’s been in a human’s grasp before — and that, that didn’t feel like a human's grasp. It felt crushing like one, sure, but — he swears he could have felt fur . And that.. he didn’t know what to make of that.
Then, after hours of getting tossed around in a bag, they finally get let out — only to get manhandled by what he could only assume to be other borrowers. They certainly looked like ones, at least — and if they were, then- what the fuck was their deal ?! Why were they siding with- with whatever the fuck took them?!?
And as if things couldn’t get any worse — they separated him from Tommy. They took him from him, and then threw Tubbo in some cell.
It's been a few days since he was first thrown in here, and he hasn’t seen anybody else except for some asshole guards patrolling the place occasionally.
The first few hours he spent yelling at the top of his lungs, trying to annoy the guards.
The bruises still haven’t faded yet.
Even just talking seemed to be taboo here, every time he so much as made a peep in front of a guard, they started slamming on the bars, causing him to flinch. And as if that wasn’t enough, they ended up not feeding him the rest of the day.
He doesn’t.. He doesn’t try to talk much anymore.
He’s.. He’s angry, scared, lonely — and he’s hungry as fuck , too; even when he does behave, he only gets one meal a day — and he’s got no fucking clue so he’s going to get out of this situation.
He tenses up when he hears footsteps approaching his cell, scooting back to the end of the room, and-
What passes by his cell, does not look like a guard.
It’s obvious at first glance — the guy isn’t wearing the armored uniform the rest of the pricks wear.
But looking closer.... they.. they seem to hold themselves different, as well.
The rest of the guards, they radiate asshole energy, almost — they walk like they own the place, that if you show even a sliver of disrespect, there would be hell to pay.
But.. this person, they don’t have that higher-than-thou air to them, they just.. look like some guy.
As he looks closer, he finds that they’re.. different than a normal borrower. Tubbo finds his gaze looking at their ears first — how couldn’t he, they were- bright fucking red and green, on the inside. He has.. never seen anyone have ears like that.
He can see their paw pads on their hands, too, which share the same pattern — green on their right hand, and red on their left.
Their outfit — looks kind of dumb, and formal. A white, long-sleeved undershirt, with a brown vest on top, all while wearing a purple cape. The cape and vest do not match at all — he’s sure that if Tommy was here, he’d throw an absolute fit at this stranger’s choices.
He ignores how his heart pangs at the thought of his brother.
The stranger’s tail is thicker than the usual borrower’s tail, he notices. It’s got batches of black littered around it, and- speckles, as well. As his gaze travels back up, he finds those speckles everywhere on their skin.
His eyes land back on the other’s face. He registers brown, fluffy hair, as well as a black-and-white mask, covering the bottom half of their face.
Lots of half-and-half energy, here , Tubbo notes, staring at the mask, the ears, and-
And their eyes . Green and red, just like his paw pads and ears.
Green and red, staring right at him.
Tubbo tenses as he finally realizes that he’s been noticed.
They stare at each other for a minute, with Tubbo's throat feeling more clogged the longer this goes on.
Even without the uniform, even ignoring all the- the weird stuff about them, the stranger in front of him is still unnerving. He doesn't know how in the world he got into this place — all he’s ever seen before now were guards, so he has to assume that this place, whatever the hell it’s for, was well hidden.
He doesn't know what that means for the guy.
The silence continues, then-
“H..Hello..?” The stranger speaks up. He jolts, not expecting to be talked to — the voice itself surprised him, too. It was.. deeper than he expected.
“Are.. Are you okay?” The stranger continues when he doesn’t talk, and he curls in on himself.
Don’t talk, don’t talk, don’t talk, he chants mentally. Tubbo isn’t sure what would happen if he did — sure, the guy doesn’t look like a guard, but- what if, what if, what if?
The bruises still hurt, and his stomach still aches. He doesn’t want to risk anything.
Even still, he can’t help but let out a little whimper when his stomach starts to protest a lack of food.
Tubbo can see the stranger’s ear flick a bit, but they say nothing. Neither does he.
Suddenly, the stranger sits down on the ground, surprising him. He tries to scoot further up against the back wall, eyeing the other warily.
Tubbo can’t read their expression, not with the mask in the way. He can’t tell what they’re thinking, and that scares him, almost as much as the guards do.
“I, uh- okay,” the stranger says, before pausing. “Uhm.”
They stare at each other again. Tubbo raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, uh, gonna be honest. I did not think this far ahead when I sat down,” the stranger admitted, flicking their ears, “but I feel like it would be way too awkward if I just stood up again.”
Despite himself, Tubbo huffed out a laugh. The statement surprised him — when the other sat down, he didn’t expect that to be the first thing they say to him, and it looks like the stranger didn’t, either.
At the not-quite-laugh, the stranger perked up slightly. Their eyes creased slightly, as though they were smiling under the mask.
“Okay, uhm-” The stranger stumbles over their words for a bit, as if trying to find something to talk about. “Do you, uh.. like.. books?”
Tubbo blinks, before shrugging. He's seen them before, but only ones made by humans — he never got the chance to see them up close, and even if he had, it’s not like he could read them, they were way too big to read properly.
And borrower books are incredibly hard to come by — with the few they did have, though, he couldn’t get himself to read, either. The words danced all over the page, he could never focus on them.
“Well- uh, I’ve been reading this one book, it’s something my brother found one day, he gave it to me as a gift, and- and i’ve been reading it recently, and it’s- it’s good, it’s real nice, and uh-” the stranger rambled before faltering near the end. “Do.. Do you wanna hear about it?” they asked hesitantly.
Tubbo stared at them for a moment, pausing. Then, he nodded. What else was he going to do, say no ?
The other’s eyes lit up, before going on and on about the book. Tubbo won’t lie, most of the words flew over his head, but still — as the other talked, he found himself relaxing slightly. Maybe he was just lonely, but having the presence of someone friendly after days of hostility was.. nice.
Ranboo was hesitant to talk to the other, at first.
I mean- the guy was in a cell — he doesn’t know why, they could have- they could have stolen something, or- or hurt someone, or- something .
But, as he stared at the guy, and even as they talked — or, well, as he talked at them — he realized that.. They seem way too scared to have done anything real harmful. Heck, they look afraid of him. Him, arguably the least threatening rovenger in the whole colony. Even George could be scarier than him.
Eventually, Ranboo has to leave — he could hear footsteps in the distance, slowly but surely making their way over( Looks like dinners over, he thinks. He didn’t realize he spent so long here), and he doesn’t really think his already poor reputation around the colony can handle it if he gets caught talking to prisoners.
The next day, just before lunch, he decides to make his way over there again. He’s.. not sure why-
Well, no. He knows exactly why.
He’s.. not all that well liked within the colony, if you haven’t noticed by now.
His eating habits have warded off most of the colony, leaving.. not a lot of people to talk to.
The only friends he even has, if he can even call them that, are Dream, and his friends.
And.. the only reason he thinks they even tolerate him is because he’s dream’s brother. Hell, he’s lucky Dream is tolerating him.
All this to say, he.. he’s pretty lonely, even with his brother and his friends.
So.. sue him for wanting to try and make a new one — a real one.
…He just hopes they’re willing to be friends with him.
This time, ranboo decides to bring some food with him, as well. It’s.. not much, honestly — just scraps of what he could find, practically crumbs, though it’s not as if he can bring anything larger than that with him. But, he’s heard the guy’s stomach growling a few too many times to not be worrying. Hopefully, it’s enough.
And as Ranboo watches the guy’s face light up when he sees what he has, he thinks, maybe it is.
As Ranboo fills up the silence as the guy practically inhales the food, he pretends not to notice the cautious, yet curious looks in his direction.
And after time passes, as Ranboo turns to leave once more, he hears a voice.
“Tubbo,” the guy speaks up.
Ranboo turns around, confused.
“Huh?”
“My name,” the guy says, staring at him with an apprehensive expression, “It’s Tubbo.”
Oh.
OH .
“Uh-” Ranboo stumbles, “I- Ranboo, my name’s Ranboo.”
Tubbo looks at him for a moment, before nodding, and scooting further back into his cell.
If Ranboo ends up acting a bit more bubbly the rest of the day, well, it’s not like anyone else has to know why.
Days pass, and soon, Tubbo starts talking back to him.
It’s small, at first, but soon enough, they’re having full on conversations with each other.
Tubbo doesn’t talk much about his life, at least, not in detail.
Ranboo knows bits, but not the specifics. He knows he lives with his best friend, and his friend’s family. He knows he and his best friend are practically brothers, at this point, in all but blood. Just like him and Dream , he thinks to himself.
He’s heard small stories about the shenanigans the two got up to, and stuff like that.
And- Ranboo doesn’t mention it, but.. there’s a melancholy tone to his voice. It’s- It’s faint, but he can hear it.
In turn, Ranboo talks about his life. He doesn’t have much to talk about, but he makes do. He talks about his own brother, how Dream found him in the forest after he was abandoned, and how he took him in. He talks about his friends(or, his brother’s friends), and all the hijinks they get up to.
It’s.. It’s nice , having someone to talk to. Someone who isn’t his brother, or his brother’s friends. They’re nice to talk to, too, but.. It’s different, having someone his age to talk to.
The circumstances.. certainly could be better , but.. nonetheless, it’s.. nice .
Meanwhile, Tommy's been having the worst few days of his goddamn life.
He’s been captured, separated from his brother, and-
Well, you’ve heard this before.
Nonetheless, Tommy is having, to say the least, a not very pogchamp time .
However, his day might just get a bit better.
The guards seemed to have placed him in a faulty cell — guess they never double-checked to see if the door was worn before placing him in.
All it took was five days of prodding at it, and- BAM .
Doors down, and he’s out of here.
All he’s gotta do now is find Tubbo, and escape unnoticed.
The only problem?
He.. He has no idea where Tubbo is.
And it’s as he’s looking around the empty cells, that he hears a set of footsteps. Shit, the guards .
He- He needs to hide . He doesn’t want to abandon his brother, but- if he gets caught now, who knows if he’ll get another chance like this.
Tommy turns towards an open corridor nearby, and passes through a door- one that clicks shut almost seamlessly once he’s on the other side. If he didn’t just go through it, he wouldn’t have even noticed it. As he spares a quick look around, his heart skips a beat as he sees his surroundings are way, way bigger than him. It- It almost looks like it should house a giant — a human .
He shakes his head, and starts sprinting in a random direction, close to the walls. There’s no time to focus on that, he can’t focus on that — he needs to find someplace to hide, before they notice he’s gone, or-
As Tommy turns to round a corner, he finds himself running into something — something soft , almost.
He stumbles back, his tail catching him before he falls. He blinks in confusion, before looking at what he ran into.
Looking.. up at what he ran into.
He doesn’t focus too much on the details, but he absentmindedly notes a few things. Its fur was a void black, with little white speckles that, if he were feeling poetic, he’d liken it to stars in a night sky. There was little other color on the beast, the only exception being the eye-searing green found on its poncho, as well as the inside of its ears. It looked terrifying, what with its two sets of horns, one pair small, the other ridiculously long.
Another thing? It was big .
The only creature he’s encountered that was this near size before was a human.
This? This was not a human.
He thinks it might be even bigger than a human.
And with horror, he realizes that it’s looking down at him. He can only assume so, at least, what with the creepy white mask hiding its face.
He scrambles backwards, and attempts to make a run for it-
Only to choke out a scream as giant clawed paws wrap around him tightly.
He can feel himself get lifted up, and turns his head to find himself face to face with the smiley-faced mask.
“Why hello there,” the creature grins down at him, the claws around him giving a threatening squeeze.
His throat feels dry.
The claws move, and suddenly he finds himself in a bag.
After what feels like an eternity of him being one wrong step from entering a panic attack, claws grab at him again, and he finds himself getting placed into a jar.
Tommy claws at the glass as best as he can — which is to say, not all that well. The creature laughs at him, seemingly finding his attempts humorous.
Suddenly, the creature leans down close, wrapping its claws around the jar in a threatening manner. Tommy jumps to the back of the jar, and lets out a strangled hiss — borrowers can’t naturally hiss, or at least, he certainly can’t; so his attempt comes out rather pathetic, but he doesn’t let that stop him.
The creature lets out another cruel laugh, tapping at the glass with its claws.
“ Oh ,” the creature says, “ You’re a fun little thing.”
Oh I'll show you ‘fun little thing’, prick , he thinks, baring his teeth at the creature, though he does nothing else.
A part of him — a large part, in fact — wants to curse the creature out for the asshole it is. And if he were in any other circumstance, he would.
But..
Back at the cell, anytime he so much as opened his mouth, guards would come in, and-
He shuddered. Let’s just say, it never ended well for him.
And- this situation was much, much worse than the prison. This creature, quite literally , held his life in its hands.
So.. he grits his teeth, and stays silent. He hates it, but if he wants to live, he has to.
He needs to find some way out of here, back to Tubbo.
Prime , he hopes Tubbo is doing okay. Hopes he’s doing better than how Tommy's doing.
Tubbo’s been.. not good , but.. better than before.
It's been about two weeks since he was first thrown in this cell, which.. was honestly kind of, well. Not good. It’s not like he can really do anything about it.
Talking with Ranboo has made everything a bit brighter, though. Without Tommy, without anyone to talk to, he thinks he would have gone mad by now. Or worse.
I mean, he’s still stuck in the prison, so he’s not.. great , but he’s not dead either, so.. yeah.
Ranboo is here, and they’re talking again. Tubbo isn’t paying attention all that much, more focused on the food he was given, but one word sticks out in his mind.
“And I’m all like, ‘ Ohh , I thought you were a rovenger , not a-’”
“A what?”
Ranboo stops his story, his laughter dying, replaced with a confused look.
“A- A rovenger..?”
“What the hell is that?”
Ranboo is silent for a moment.
“That’s- That’s what we are- That's what you are, right?”
Tubbo's brow furrowed.
“No? I’m a borrower, boss man- I’ve never even heard.. of…..” Tubbo trailed off as he noticed the wide-eyed look his companion gave him.
“A.. A borrower ?” Ranboo breathed out. Tubbo backed up slightly.
“..Yeah?” Tubbo said cautiously.
Ranboo said nothing, only scooting back, staring at him with- with a horrified look.
“Ranboo?” Tubbo asked, “What’s wrong, are- are you good ?”
Before either of them could do anything, though, the two heard a shout from somewhere out of Tubbo’s vision. Ranboo jumped, his head darting to where the voice had come from for a moment, before immediately darting up from where he sat, booking it away.
Just a few moments later, a couple guards went zooming past his cell, only visible for a second.
Tubbo- he didn’t know what the hell was happening, didn’t know why being a borrower set him off.
He’s- He’s confused, worried, and- and as wary as he is right now, he finds himself hoping Ranboo will be okay.
Ranboo is not doing okay.
He- Holy shit, holy shit holy shit -
Tubbo is a borrower.
Tubbo is a borrower, and he’s been locked in a prison in his colony.
Tubbo is a borrower, he’s locked in prison, and ranboo’s currently being chased by the wardens of said prison.
He’d long since shifted into his true form once he got out of the prison area, and into the colony’s normal corridors.
To his dismay, so did his pursuers.
He ends up running around a large portion of the colony before he ends up running into someone who might just save him.
“ Dream! ” he yells, startling the rovenger in question.
“Ranboo?” Dream looks up, his mask in his hand, stumbling back a bit when Ranboo all but slams into him. “Woah! Ranboo, kid, what happened?”
Ranboo started to ramble, speaking fast, but he’s not sure if Dream could understand what he was trying to say. Before anything else could happen, though, suddenly he felt himself getting yanked back with a yell, getting easily restrained.
“Wh- Hey! What are you doing, let him go !” Dream snarled at the guards.
“We found him trespassing in a restricted area,” one of the guards said, tightening their grip on his arms, making him yelp.
“I- Trespassing? Ranboo?!” Dream exclaimed gesturing at him, “Are we talking about the same person? Have you seen the guy, he wouldn’t willingly break a rule in his life!”
Dream paused, clearly waiting for Ranboo to pop in with an agreement, but all Ranboo could do was hang his head with a wince.
Dream faltered.
“.. Ranboo ?” Dream said, astonished, and unbelieving. “I- Really ?”
“I-I-” Ranboo stammered, “Listen- It’s-”
The guard yanked him roughly again, causing Dream to growl at them again.
“ Watch it ,” Dream snapped at the guard, before turning his attention back to Ranboo. “What is it, kid?”
Ranboo paused, sucking in a breath, before talking quickly-
“It’s- borrowers, they- they’re keeping them- they’re- there’s this priso- they- they’re not just animals- not like cows or fish or- or- they’re like us - they’re sapient - they’re-”
The claws around Ranboo’s arms tighten once more, cutting him off with another wince. Dream narrows his eyes at the guard, but nothing else.
“I- what are you talking about?” Dream questions. “Ranboo- what does this have to do with you trespassing ?”
Ranboo tries to speak up, but Dream cuts him off.
“No, don’t- I think I get it,” Dream says, “Listen- I know you don’t like eating borrowers, kid, okay? I get it. And I'm fine with that, but- you don’t have to make excuses. And you especially shouldn’t break into restricted areas just to find proof to justify it.”
“That’s not-”
“ Ranboo ,” Dream says firmly.
Ranboo shuts his mouth with a click.
Dream stares at him for a moment, before sighing, and putting his mask on. “You’re grounded.”
Ranboo's eyes widened.
“Wh- What?” he breathed out.
“You can’t just break and enter and expect there to be no consequences, kid,” Dream says, tone unreadable. “You’re gonna stay in your room for- for a week, alright?” he phrased it like a question, but Ranboo knew it was anything but.
Ranboo opened his mouth, wanting to object, but he wilted when he made eye contact with the dot-eyes of his brother’s mask.
“.. Alright , Dream,” Ranboo mumbled, looking towards the ground. Dream nodded at him. He turned to the guards, demanding them to let him go, and with some reluctance, they did.
Dream gently, but firmly, took Ranboo’s hand, and took him up to where his room was.
“Stay put,” his brother says, before closing the door. There is no click of a lock, but he feels trapped all the same.
It takes a half-hour of waiting before anything changes.
Ranboo spends most of that time pacing around his room, and he swears he would have left dents in the floor where he walked if left to his own devices any longer.
He could leave. The door wasn’t locked. But..
He couldn't. He couldn’t disobey his brother like that.
This was the biggest fight he’s ever had with Dream, before. They’ve fought before, but only ever over petty things, not- not like this . Dream wouldn’t even hear him out.
He- He didn’t want to escalate things further. Maybe.. Maybe if he stayed put, maybe if Dream comes back, he could convince him, get him to listen . Maybe..
But, would Tubbo last that long, if it happens at all?
Dear god, Tubbo ..
His friend could get killed and eaten any second now. He was already there for two weeks, at least , who knows how long he has left.
It’s.. It’s fine, he just.. he just needs to wait for dream to show up. Surely, he’ll show up any second now.
And sure enough, soon there are footsteps right outside his door.
It’s just..
The door slams open, and it’s not Dream on the other side.
“What the-” Ranboo exclaims in surprise, before dodging a grab one of the guards outside his door makes for him. He finds himself running into his desk, causing stuff to get knocked into the floor. He tries to make a run for it, attempting to dodge the attempts to contain him, but there were five guards against one little runt — it wasn’t a surprise when they managed to corner him, though he certainly wasn’t happy with it.
“ Hey - What’s the big idea!?” Ranboo yelled, tail swishing anxiously behind him(accidentally knocking over more and more things). Suddenly, his attention is brought to some sort of metal collar the guard in front of him is holding out in front of him.
He tries to squirm his way out of the grip, but he can’t get a good angle, and soon, the collar locks around his neck.
Nothing happens for a bit, but suddenly, the collar tightens, causing him to choke.
Instinctively, he finds himself shrinking, and then he’s in the grasp of one of the guards. The collar isn’t blocking his breathing, now, but it’s still uncomfortably tight.
The grip he’s in tightens, causing him to wheeze.
Soon, he gets thrown into a bag carelessly, and then they move.
He doesn't know what is happening, where they’re taking him, nor why they’re taking him. He squirms around, trying to- to get out, somehow , but unsurprisingly, it doesn’t work.
After a few minutes, they stop, and he’s taken out of the bag, and handed to some guards, shifted to their smaller form, just like him.
He also sees he’s right outside one of the entrances to the prison.
He struggles once more, but they have a good grip on him. They yank him through the door, and drag him through the hallways.
“What- What are you-” he tries to say, only to yelp when they move him roughly.
“You know too much,” one of the guards says, “Can’t have that getting around the place.”
“Do you like these pests so much?” the other guard speaks up, “Then why not treat you like one.”
He wants to speak up once more, but before he can, they stop in front of a cell. A guard opens the door, and he’s all but thrown in.
Ranboo stumbles, turning right back around, but the door slams shut before he can make a run for it. Even still, he sprints up to the bars, slamming his face against it.
“ Wait - what are you- let me out !” he shouts, but the guards walk away without a second thought — he swears he can even hear one of them laughing to themselves. He tries to yell at them to come back, but soon, the echoes of their footsteps fade into silence.
He stares at the where they last stood, in shock. Before he can think too hard about everything, something cuts through the silence-
“Ranboo..?”
He froze.
They.. They didn’t ……
Slowly, with wide eyes, he turns his head around, and finds himself face to face with tubbo, who was crouched on the ground near the far wall.
They stared at each other for a long while.
“What..” Tubbo spoke up, “What happened? ”
Ranboo says nothing, still just staring at him with that wide-eyed look. If Tubbo wasn’t concerned before, he certainly was now.
He gets up, moving to go towards him, when ranboo jerks, pressing further against the bars. Tubbo freezes.
“..Ranboo?” Tubbo asks again, “Are you okay?”
Fucking- of course not, does he look fine?!
He’s still staring at him.
Alright.. Alright, he can do this, he can help.
“I’m- I’m gonna move closer, okay boss man?” Tubbo says calmly. Ranboo doesn’t acknowledge him, but he steps forward anyway. When Ranboo doesn’t move, he takes a couple more steps further.
“Hey,” Tubbo says gently, moving closer, “Hey, you’re okay, Boo, I promise.”
He's only one step away when Ranboo finally acknowledges his presence again, letting out a panicked whine, shaking his head slightly.
Tubbo pauses, not moving any further.
“What happened, Boo?” Tubbo asks again, “Why’d they throw you in here?” I thought you were one of them , he doesn’t add.
Ranboo stares at him with a blank, wide-eyed look once more. For a moment, tubbo thinks he’s out of it again, until-
“ I’m -” Ranboo croaks out, “I’m a rov-rovenger.”
Tubbo nods. “And what’s that?” he asks quietly.
Ranboo pauses, tail flicking nervously. Tubbo waits patiently.
“Rovengers, are.. they’re predators . Omnivores. We- we eat a lot of things. Fruits, vegetables.. fish.. animals….”
Ranboo hesitates, his ears pinned on the side of his head.
“And…. And borrowers -” his voice breaks at the last word. Tubbo's own eyes widen, and he takes a shocked step back.
“ You -” Tubbo chokes, eyes flicking around the cell. Suddenly, so, so many things clicked into place.
This wasn’t just a prison.
This- This was a slaughterhouse .
“ Oh ,” Tubbo says, “Oh, dear prime .”
Suddenly, he looks up to Ranboo, who’s looking everywhere but him. He can’t see his expression well, what with the mask in the way, but he looks just as pained at this revelation as he is.
“If-” Tubbo starts, eyes snapping to the collar around Ranboo’s neck, “If i’m being kept here for- for food ,” —his voice cracks— “Then, what.. what are you doing here..?”
At this, Ranboo freezes, as if fully realizing the implications of him being here.
“Oh my god,” Ranboo forces out, his breath getting faster and faster, “Oh my god , I’m gonna- no, no no, no no no nono -”
“Ranboo- Ranboo! ” Tubbo yells, regretting it immediately when Ranboo flinches back, still breathing heavily.
“Ranboo..” he says again, more softly this time. His attention was brought to the other’s mask, seeing it move slightly every time he took a breath. He knew it wasn’t actually inhibiting his breathing, but it must be a bit uncomfortable to panic with it on, feeling the hot air bounce back at you.
Carefully, Tubbo brought his hands up to the sides of Ranboo’s face, and gently grasped at the mask’s straps. He felt Ranboo stiffen as he did so.
“Can I..?” Tubbo asked quietly, tapping the side of his face. Ranboo stares at him with wide eyes, before giving one small nod.
Slowly, he brought the straps over Ranboo’s ears, and slid the mask down, holding it in his hands.
The first thing Tubbo noticed was that he had freckles.
The second thing he noticed was the big, red-green scar on the right side of his face.
He looks nice , he finds himself thinking.
“There you are, boss man,” Tubbo murmured. Ranboo gave him a small, hesitant smile.
“C’mon,” Tubbo says, pulling gently on one of Ranboo’s hands, “I think we need to sit down after all of,” —he paused, before gesturing vaguely with the hand still holding the mask— “ that .”
Ranboo huffed out a laugh. It was small, but Tubbo still beamed.
Tubbo, after pocketing the mask, led him to the far side of the cell(which wasn’t all that far away), and sat down, Ranboo following after.
They sat in silence for a bit.
“So..” Tubbo spoke up. “We’re.. We’re fucked, aren’t we.”
Ranboo glanced at him, before letting out a little mumble, shrugging his shoulders, otherwise not responding.
“There's no way out of this. There’s no one to help us , either,” Tubbo continues, if only to fill the silence(a bad way to do so, but.. it’s something to talk about..? and if he keeps his thoughts to himself he thinks he might just explode ), “Fucking- no one will even know what happened to us. My family, they probably think we’ve died already, and-”
Tubbo freezes, realizing something.
“And- Tommy, oh my god Tommy -” Tubbo’s voice breaks, his hands covering up his mouth. “Holy fuck, is he- is he already -”
Tubbo breaks off from that train of thought forcefully, though he feels too overwhelmed now to speak.
He- He can’t be…. Surely not ..
“Do-” Ranboo spoke up after a moment of silence, causing Tubbo to glance up at him. Ranboo caught his eye for a moment, before looking away, hesitating. “..Do you want a hug..?” he paused, before mumbling, his voice getting quieter the longer he talked, “‘Cause, well, ‘m not gonna lie, I think I really need one.. and- and maybe, maybe it might help you.. too……”
Well.
Tubbo couldn’t say no to that.
Tubbo latched himself to Ranboo, clinging himself to his chest like a koala. Ranboo jumped, but after a few moments, clung back just as tightly.
For a while, they just held each other.
It was a long while before one of them spoke up again.
“Uh-” Ranboo said suddenly, sounding concerned, and so very confused. “You’re- Are you okay? You- You’re vibrating ..?”
It took Tubbo a second to register Ranboo was talking. It took another second for him to realize what he was talking about.
“Oh-” Tubbo said, digging his face further into Ranboo’s chest to hide his embarrassment. “Sorry, I can stop-”
“ No , no!” Ranboo exclaimed, causing Tubbo to jump a bit. ranboo winced at this. “I mean, you- you don’t have to stop. I don't, mind it? But.. what were you doing?”
“I- I was purring,” Tubbo mumbled.
“Pur..Purring?” Ranboo asked. “What’s that?”
Tubbo looked up.
“You haven’t..?” Tubbo started to ask, before trailing off. “Uhm- it’s, a thing that borrowers do. And uh, cats, I guess..” he adds after a moment. “It’s supposed to be a soothing thing, meant for, uh.. comfort, and stuff.”
“Oh,” Ranboo said. “That’s- That’s nice.”
They quieted down again after that. After a moment, Tubbo found his hair being played with, Ranboo absentmindedly scratching at it. Tubbo let out a content little sigh, his purring starting back up.
It.. It wasn’t the best situation to be in. Far from it.
But.. at least he wasn’t alone anymore.