Ranboo was worried. His memory book was missing, again.

He paced back and forth in his cabin. Without it, he feared he'd forget things that he would normally be able to write down and look at later. But even worse, someone else might have it, and then they'd know he was a traitor!

Sure, L'maburg was long gone… but that doesn't erase the things he did. It doesn't make the Dream voice wrong.

He stopped, realizing the noise he was making with his stressed vocalizations. No need to worry anyone else.

He hurriedly searched through his storage for the fifth time that day… surely he just left it somewhere while in his enderstate or something, and that's why he couldn't remember where? Or maybe it was just his general forgetfulness.

The last time his memory book went missing… his enderwalk self had given it to someone else, namely the person he feared most, Dream.

If only he knew the reason that he worked with Dream. Why Dream had control over him in his enderwalk state. Then maybe it'd at least give him a few more nights of sleep. Or it would cease his rest completely. But the not knowing was the worst. The uncertainty of why he made the choices he did.

A knock.

He froze, ear twitching towards the sound of the door knob rattling, and the creak of the now-opened door.

"Who's there?" Ranboo said, anxiety still apparent in his demeanor and expression.

"It's me! Dream. You're best friend." The masked figure spoke, his voice soft and sweet and terrifying.

"What? N-no you're… you're s-supposed to be in prison! It's just the Dream voice, you aren't… you aren't actually h-here…" Ranboo clung to the wall behind him, looking at the all-too-real villain in front of him, slowly closing in on him like Ranboo was his prey.

"No no, I'm here, promise Ranboo! You're acting kinda weird?" Dream said, tilting his head in what Ranboo assumed to be pretend concern or confusion.

"J-just go away, I don't want you here right now… I never want you here." His voice trembled, and he found it hard to trust his eyes. How could Dream be here? He's not, it's just an illusion. Because I was freaking out…

"Ooooohhh, I know what's going on. You're just confused, because you don't remember. Ranboo you're my brother, that's why I came here first! Because I care about you." Dream said matter-of-factly. Haha, yeah right. Dream can't trick him this time, he's not going to believe these lies!

"You don't believe me, do you?" Dream said, looking down as if disappointed. "Well, it's to be expected… I'm sorry I haven't come sooner… I was busy dealing with a particularly pesky friend of mine. Tommy, you know him? I love him, but he really gets into a lot of trouble." Dream was talking as if they were having a casual conversation, they WEREN'T having a casual conversation! This didn't make any sense! How did Dream even get out?

"Oh, by the way… I was curious. How come you're here? At Technoblade's house…" Dream questioned, finger touching the tip of his chin as if he was contemplating it.

Dream made him sick.

"This is m-my home. Phil and Technoblade o-offered for me to stay here a-after Doomsday." Ranboo stuttered, his guard was up, and for good reason. But he couldn't find it within himself to deny Dream an answer.

"Is that so…" Dream said, carefully bringing his arms to his sides and leaning forward.

"Why? You don't mean anything to them. You never did anything for them. Why would they offer their home? Are they using you? You've done so much for me Ranboo. That's why I trust you, that's why you should trust me. Because I'd be willing to do anything for you. You are my brother, even if you don't remember." He was almost touching Ranboo because of how close he was, his voice tense and accusatory.

"They- I-" Ranboo tried to speak, but Dream cut him off. "Tell me! Tell me Ranboo, what did you ever do for them? Why would they help you? Do they actually trust you? Because I bet they don't. I bet they don't care one bit about you! I care though! I care so much! Why can't you see that?!" Dream was screaming now, the edges of his ears red in anger.

He was legitimately angry at Ranboo.

Why would he be… unless they really were brothers?

He never knew what his other half was.

And Dream was right. He never did anything to deserve Techno and Phil's trust. So why did he deserve it?

"I didn't… they are just being nice." Ranboo mumbled, afraid and words uncertain.

"Techno, nice? Ha! He doesn't care about anyone but himself. And maybe Phil, that's still uncertain though." Dream leaned back, arms in the air, posture contemplative.

"Technoblade is very nice…" Ranboo whispered, his words almost going unheard.

"And what did you do to deserve such kindness?" Dream asked, allowing a moment of silence for Ranboo to think.

"Nothing." Ranboo said, looking down, ashamed of himself. He really didn't do anything. He was literally a part of a group of people trying to execute Technoblade. He stood there and watched as Phil was put under house arrest and his house was searched and trashed. Ranboo did nothing to deserve them.

"Exactly."

Technoblade was confused. He found a book in his chest with the title, "Do Not Read". Of course, his curiosity led him to really want to read it. But he thought maybe he'd read it with Phil, just in case it had like, important information in it and then Technoblade wouldn't have to go find him and re-tell it all, since, well, Phil can't read. Not very well anyway. He always skips over words and stuff, probably dyslexia.

So, Phil was sitting next to him on his couch while Technoblade flipped to the first page. It was very concerning actually because it was covered in panicked scribbles.

"Mate, we should put this back or something, what if it's someone's personal shit." Phil noted.

"Nahhh, it's fine. It's definitely gonna have super important info that we could use against our enemies, cmon." He reassured his friend. Plus, he's super curious about what it says. It would kill him to just leave it, since chat would FREAK about not knowing what it said.

READ IT!

Poggg

E

READ THE BOOK

Boob boi's book

READ RANBOO'S DIARY

Eee

Shut up chat jeez, just let me read it.

For once, chat listened.

Technoblade flipped past the first page to one with a smile at the top. Below that, in very different handwriting was this, 'Techno and I tried out my abilities on other blocks, as it turns out I can actually break spawners! We got a couple. Techno is cool i think he trusts me a little more which is good!'.

"This is Ranboo's? What's with the creepy smile at the top…?" Techno mumbled in slight surprise.

"Tech', you should really put this back, Ranboo wouldn't want us to read this." Phil said, moving to grab the book from Techno.

But he didn't want to stop reading it. It had stuff about him in it, so he should have the right to read it!

"Chat's not gonna stop botherin' me about it till' I've at least turned the next page…" Technoblade defended himself, and turned to the next page.

"I havent heard the voice in a long time! I think i finally got rid of it! However, the blackouts seem to be a little more frequent which is odd. i dont think i do much in them which is alright." Technoblade finished reading the page.

"Blackouts? What… what does he mean?" Phil murmured.

"Ha, knew you wanted to read it too." He said, side-eyeing Phil.

"Oh, shut up! I'm just concerned, I still don't like this…" Phil said indignantly.

"For all we know, Ranboo could've purposefully left it in my chest. It's not probable, but it's still a possibility. I'm reading it either way." Techno said, making his point.

"Let's just get on with it then…" Phil said, motioning back to the worn pages in front of him.

Technoblade turned to the next page. "Blacked out yet again, keep waking up in odd places. I think it may have something to do with the enderman powers suddenly appearing. I cant remember anything from these periods, but i dont think i do anything bad!"

Phil nodded for him to continue, looking quite worried.

The next page. "Pickaxes randomly become less durable for some reason. Tubbos nuke test went VERY well." Technoblade blinked.

"I told you so." Techno said, clipping his voice at the end.

Phil just rolled his eyes.

Next page. "PLAN: USE MAP FIND LOCATION OF BOOK DESTROY BOOK HOORAY STOP HAVING PETS DIE." Well that totally made sense.

"Did he have another book?" Phil asked.

"I think so? This one is different from the one that I returned to him after Doomsday." Techno noted.

Next. "THINGS THAT WE HAVE CONFIRMED I have no idea whats going on Ive visited dream while in said enderwalk I am mining... something."

"Dream? What does Dream have to do with Ranboo? They've never even met from what he said." Technoblade queried, he was actually wondering about it though. As far as he's concerned, Dream should have never gone anywhere near Ranboo. And Technoblade wouldn't want him to, after he saw what Dream did to Tommy in exile.

He decided to keep reading.

"STOP HAVING PETS DIE Good idea." Well, didn't he write that already?

He turned to the next page.

"He's dead."

"Who's dead?" Phil said, breaking his silence.

"I dunno, Phil I literally know about nothing that goes on on this server." He stressed.

"Guess we'll find out…" Phil let his sentence draw out.

Next page. "TOMMY IS NOT MY FAULT. WHAT HAPPENED TO TOMMY WAS SAM'S FAULT. SAM IS RESPONSIBLE." Tommy's not dead though?

"Oh… that's right. Ranboo told me that Tommy died in the prison, but then, he was revived by Dream." Phil explained.

"Wait, Dream has the power to revive people? OP AF I'm telling you." Technoblade tried to lighten the atmosphere, he could tell Phil appreciated it.

He flipped to the next page, the writing seemed to be getting shakier and harder to read. "I think they threatened tubbo. If i join maybe i can help them not attack him."

"What's going on between him and Tubbo? Dude, he's been mentioned twice now in the super secret diary. Gotta mean a lot." He said, annoyed.

"They're friends, you should pay more attention to what's going on in Ranboo's life, you basically adopted him." Phil said, an eyebrow lifting.

"Heh? No I did NOT. YOU'RE the one that invited him here anyway." He defended himself.

"Whatever Tech', just keep reading." Phil dismissed.

So he turned the page and read. "He's alive. But hopefully soon Dream wont be."

"Seriously, what's his connection to Dream?" He asked, these entries were really starting to upset him.

But he continued to the next page. "What am I? I am someone who stops conflict. I need to make sure that if any conflict arises to try and help in any way possible. MAKE SURE THAT EVERYONE IS SAFE. STOP CONFLICT. MAKE THE SERVER BETTER. This is what I need to do. Trust me."

They both stared at the page.

And looked at each other.

"This is actually concerning though. These are REALLY high standards to set for yourself." He mentioned, breaking the silence.

He looked back at the book again. It looked like this page, compared to the rest, was written much more precisely.

He turned the page.

"Remember about the "new table" Axe feels lighter near it? Weird "eye?" Inside of one of the blocks. Almost seems like mine... but that would be pretty weird huh."

He ignored that one, not wanting to dwell on it, and moved to the next, reading it aloud.

"Phil talked about "her" the creator of random forests for some reason. Forest appeared outside house. Dont know who Her is. Never heard about Her."

"Pffft-" Phil tried not to start laughing.

"What is he talking about?" Techno asked, his right hand moving to fix Philza's disheveled hat.

"Let's just continue-" Phil said, having caught his breath.

So he did.

"Ok so "her" is not actually a name. Got it. Turns out the "universal nicknames" are something completely different."

This time Phil couldn't hold back.

"Wait, does he not understand pronouns?" He looked incredulously at the book in his hands.

Phil was wheezing on the floor now, the old man.

"Jeez calm down, it's funny, but it's not that funny." He deadpanned. "We gotta finish it, we're almost at the end." He could tell because there were only a few more pages that looked messed with several times.

Phil calmed down again and came to sit comfortably closer to Technoblade, wings wrapped around them like they were reading a children's story before bed.

Man-child.

Anyway, the next page now.

"TO DO LIST FOR LAS NEVADAS: 1. Figure out what to get inside of. 2. Figure out what the hollow buildings are 3. Figure out why there are so many horses 4. Figure out who runs this place 5. Figure out what the black pillars are for."

"Now this would be pretty useful info if he actually found out-"

"Shut up Techno." Phil said, lightly swatting at Tech's arm.

"It would though-"

"Read." Phil can be so insistent sometimes.

Alright, on to the next page.

"6. Teach whoever runs this place how to use windows. And NOT the microsoft kind. The actual kind of windows."

Ranboo is so clever haha. Very funny haha. Actually confusing though without context.

NEXT PAGE THEN.

"Las Nevadas seems like it has more under the surface."

"Now that's something I can agree with. That country is SUS. We may need to take out it's government soon Phil." He was very serious.

"Oh shush… maybe." Phil replied.

Almost done.

"PEOPLE IN LAS NEVADAS: Quackity: Does not respond well to pizza metaphors Goop guy: Might have free will? Not too sure. Foolish: He will tell about things that you dont tell him."

"This was so worth it. I'm learning about potential enemies. Ranboo is so helpful, he definitely left this book in my chest willingly." Techno said, slight sarcasm, but he was also genuine.

One more page.

"The lab is all set. will do it if something happens to michael. Dream voice is back. don't know why."

"Do you want to go return this book now, cause I do." Techno said, closing it abruptly and standing up from where he sat. The voices were chanting something about Ranboo being in trouble, and Dream being out of prison. Didn't sound to good. He needed to go check on Ranboo.

He quickly gathered his weapons and left the cabin, Phil on his heels behind him. Trudging through the snow, he noticed that Ranboo's door was open.

He just hoped he got there in time.

Ranboo knew Dream was right. If his enderwalk self, the one that had all his memories, was working with Dream. Maybe it was because they were brothers. Maybe Dream was telling him the truth. Maybe he should trust him.

He could tell Dream was smiling behind his mask.

But then he wasn't.

Because the door has slammed open behind him, revealing a geared-out Technoblade and Phil.

Technoblade's eyes widened and his expression turned grim.

"Get. Away. From Ranboo." Technoblade said, slowly and determinedly.

Dream whirled around to meet Technoblade with a shaky laugh.

"Hello old friend! Nice to- nice to see you again, haha… I heard Ranboo lives with you now." Dream was unarmed. He had only just escaped the prison. Dream was his brother. And he had to protect his brother.

"No! Technoblade, Phil, it's okay! He… he's not hurting me, so it's fine!" Ranboo was afraid himself, he'd seen firsthand what an enraged Technoblade looked like, and it was directed at him. Now it was directed at Dream, and it only worsened at Ranboo's words.

"You can't manipulate every child you come across Dream, give him up." Technoblade glowered at Dream, who was standing tall, head high. The shaking in his knees betrayed his fear though. He knew he wasn't getting out of this with Ranboo.

"Ranboo, Ranboo, you tell him, why I'm here, what I needed to remind you, okay?" Dream said, his voice steady now with a bit more confidence.

Ranboo wasn't sure what was going on. Was Dream manipulating him? Again? But… Technoblade and Philza didn't deserve him. And Dream wanted him, and his help… but Dream wanted to do bad things, remember? He was a monster, he killed and tortured Tommy. He couldn't just… be good now.

"Ranboo, get away from him." Phil spoke up, venom in his voice, directed at the hooded figure dividing them.

"I'm sorry Dream… but I can't help you. You hurt people…. Really hurt people." Ranboo said, still unsure of his decision.

"I-I-I'll call in my favor! Let me take Ranboo, then you won't owe me anymore!" Technoblade almost faltered at Dream's words, but quickly steeled himself.

"Ranboo is more important than your petty favor." Technoblade said with a finality that Ranboo wasn't used to being used in a sentence about Ranboo's worth.

Ranboo wasn't worth it. But… Technoblade still cared.

Heh.

Dream looked angry, but more scared than before. He had no leverage now.

He was powerless.

"Fine! I'll leave…" Dream said hurridly, darting past Techno, but Phil lifted his wing in Dream's path.

"And don't come back." Phil practically growled, before allowing the shaken abuser to leave.

Everyone sighed in relief, and looked up at each other in surprise, before laughing.

They were safe, it was okay.

Dream was gone.

And Technoblade and Phil cared about him. And better yet, he cared about them and he would do anything for them. No matter if he was connected to Dream biologically, they would never be family like the one he had now.

"Thank you." He spoke, words filled with the gratefulness that he felt.

"Anytime kid." Technoblade said, sheathing his sword. Phil nodded his head in agreement behind him.

"We are never letting that sicko get anywhere near you again." Technoblade hummed, still standing in a protective stance.

"Promise mate." Phil said as well, looking happy for them all to be together.

Ranboo smiled, genuine and stress-free. He was protected.

He was cared for and protected and he loved it.