Ranboo was mining, something he really enjoyed. It was rhythm, something to latch onto. He hasn't been feeling too good lately and needed something to clear his mind.

Time moved differently when he was mining. It was hard to pay attention to how many hours it'd been, or even how many days. The only thing separating the routine was when his inventory was too full and he had to go back to his chest room. It didn't matter much to him really. He was gathering materials that he planned to give to Techno and Phil, people who were nice to him.

It made him feel important. Needed . Even if Techno would pretend(?) not to appreciate it.

Dark

PANIC

He opened his eyes.

Oh.

Guess he was tired.

Well… he could be really close to diamonds though… maybe he should keep going. Better than lingering on how he felt earlier. Not like he could just… lie down here… and sleep…

ring

ring

Hmm?

Oh, his communicator was ringing.

He flicked it on, eyes hovering open.

"-ANBOO?! Oh, mate! Mate , where are you? Ranboo?" The static sound of Phil's voice through the communicator rang out through the tunnel he was in.

Oh right, he was mining.

"Ranboo? Can you hear me?"

"Hmm? Oh uh, yeah." He answered, his voice sounding hoarse and foriegn.

"Hey, you alright? Where are you?" Phil said, worry clear in his voice.

"Um… just… mining." He felt… weird… talking was hard.

He started drifting off again, not realizing Phil was talking.

"Ranboo? Ranboo you still there? You've been missing over a week mate!" Phil said, starting to panic.

He tried to respond, but he found he couldn't. He couldn't even really feel his lips. Or his arms, or legs… actually, the only thing that was grounding him was Phil's voice and a painful ache in his stomach.

Odd.

Usually he'd be panicking if something like this happened.

But he just felt… numb.

"Ranboo, I'm going down your mine, okay? Ranboo, can you hear me? Shit ." He heard Phil grumble quietly and heard the sound of Phil scuffing the communicator with his hand, managing a rasping, protestant enderman vwoop.

Don't leave the call.

Please…

"Ranboo? You're still there? Oh, uhh, I'm going down the ladder, okay kid? Be there in a sec." Shuffling sounds could be heard on Phil's side, and Ranboo tried really hard to focus on them, he didn't want to be unconscious when Phil got here.

He had a feelling, or rather lack of one, that something was definitely wrong.

"Shit- It's fucking c-cold down here mate."

Guess he hadn't noticed.

"How far are you? N-nevermind, I'm, I'm on my way." Phil said, trying to reassure Ranboo.

A few minutes went by, then a few more. Ranboo focused on Phil's breathing as the ache dulled.

That couldn't be a good sign.

After a while longer he heard a sharp intake of breath.

"R-ranboo? Shit- shit shit shit… oh no, you-" Phil rushed to his side, hand resting on Ranboo's forehead before being abruptly pulled back.

"You're freezing ! God Ranboo, mate , what happened?"

Ranboo tried to open his mouth to speak, but all he did was let out a miserable little warble.

"Can, can you get up?" He tried to shake his head no, it didn't work, as expected honestly.

" Uh - alright hmmm, uh- shit . I'm gonna try and carry you, alright Ranboo?" Phil said, looking doubtfully at Ranboo's tall frame laying on the ground.

Phil put his hands under Ranboo's arms and legs, huffing as he lifted him up.

Ranboo's eyes fluttered shut by the movement, and he found himself unable to open them again.

"Ranboo? Shit - I need to rush back. I can't hold him like this much longer." Phil said, moving as fast as he could back through the tunnel.

When they got to the ladder, Phil used the bubble elevator so that they floated to the surface.

Ranboo felt himself losing consciousness, trying to fight it. He had to be awake to help them. He didn't want to be a burden. Didn't want to be useless . He lost, and cold darkness surrounded him.

Warmth.

He felt warmth creeping at his body, allowing him to feel pain.

"-ound him in his mineshaft, practically frozen to the floor of a 5 mile long tunnel Tech! Was he really down there the whole time we hadn't heard from him?" Phil said, telling Techno about what had happened.

Oh, the PAIN. He let out a groan, still unable to open his eyes properly.

"Ranboo?" Phil's voice rang out, immensely relieved.

"Ya good?" Techno said in his monotone drabble, voice touched with concern.

He managed to open his mouth, voice coming out hoarse and strained from a combination of being unused and in pain. "Not really."

He felt someone move beside him, probably Phil. A hand went up to his forehead and Techno let out a sharp intake of breath.

" Fever , bad one. His body's probably tryin' to reheat itself." Ah, so it was Techno. Huh.

He managed to open his eyes to confirm, looking up into Technoblade's red irises.

"That's good. Let me guess, startin' to feel an' not likin' it?" Techno asked with a knowing tone.

"Mhm…" He grimaced from the attempted nod.

"May I ask why you were down there fer' so long?"

Ranboo was tempted to shake his head no before he remembered the pain it would cause him. "I was just mining."

"Well, why didn't cha' take a break or somthin'?" Technoblade asked.

"Dunno…" He responded, feeling that it was insufficient.

"Mate you were down there for eight days, there had to be a reason!" Phil cut in.

He wanted to respond, but his mouth closed up again, this time not from the cold, but just, a general inability to talk.

Oh no, not this again.

They'll probably hate him.

His head hurts SO much.

The fire is too loud .

Phil is still talking, but he can't focus on the words.

The pain is so big.

It hurts, it hurts it HURTS it hurts ithurtsithurtsit hurts it-

"Hey, Ranboo, Ranboo shhh , it's okay, do I have your attention? Just take deep breaths, okay Ranboo? In … out. In … out." He heard Techno's calming voice and tried to listen. Let his arm on his chest ground him. He focused on Techno only and breathed, in and out, just like Techno said.

"Alrigh', much better. You feelin' better kid?" Techno asked.

"Y-yeah." He said, before another deep breath, he hadn't noticed he'd been vocalising the whole time… he felt bad.

"Hey mate, it's okay to feel overwhelmed, I shouldn't have raised my voice anyway, all that matters is that you are going to be okay, got it?" Phil said, sounding awfully mad at himself.

"O-okay…" Ranboo said, trying to keep his eyes opened. He wanted to be able to answer them if they had more questions, but the pain was starting to numb and he was hit with a curtain of fatigue.

"Hey, if yer' tired, jus' go to sleep, we can take care of things from here. And we can have that… talk, later ." Techno explained.

Ranboo allowed himself to shut his eyes, falling asleep in the warm embrace of the Blood God himself.