Everything hurt.

His head was throbbing, his muscles were stiff and aching and he felt nauseous with hunger.

Also, where on Earth was he?

Ranboo was laid on his side and felt too weak to even move their head, but from what they could see it looked like they were underground. A very purposefully dug hole too big to be a cave or a burrow for something like a badger, with four bags lined up along a dirt wall, one of which Ranboo recognised as his own. And every bit of his body was sore; How did I get here?

Somebody was rifling through one of the bags and muttering to themself, and as Ranboo's brain and eyes woke up it took him a second to realise who it was. "I don't see why Tubbo got to go out while I'm stuck in here, what am I gonna do if we get attacked anyway? Bullshit."

"Tommy?" Ranboo croaked, his voice coming out quieter than they meant it to. The blond human turned around, surprised. "Woah, you're awake."

"What happened?" asked Ranboo, managing to lift his head, which sent razor blades of pain into his temples that made him wince and double over. They were covered by a blanket and another lay next to him on the ground. Torches were driven into the dirt in a few places, filling the room, if it could be called that, with dim orange-gold light. "Where are we?"

"This is the bunker," Tommy said simply; standing up, though not to his full height, hunched over to fit into the small space.

"What bunker?" Ranboo asked drowsily.

"The bunker we made to hide out in while we're here."

"Who's we?" They asked. "And where is here?"

"Me, Wilbur and Tubbo," said Tommy, and picked up Ranboo's bag.

"Tubbo is here too?" Ranboo's heart gave a little jump. He missed Tubbo, though he couldn't really discern why. When had they last spoken to him? …When had they last done anything?

"Yep. And he made us save some food for you." Tommy dropped Ranboo's bag in front of him. "Which you should probably eat, by the way. You were passed out for a few days." He walked to the other side of the hollow and pushed away a flat rock that had been lying over a hole in the ceiling, filtering in a small amount of sunlight. The bunker was far too small to comfortably fit four people; Ranboo was pretty sure if he stood up in the centre (though the ceiling was much too low for someone his size to actually do so), he could outstretch his arms and reach both sides of the space easily. "I'll go tell the others you've woken up," said Tommy.

"Wait," Ranboo said, and Tommy stopped and turned his head. "Do you think I could come with you?"

Tommy looked at them dubiously. "They'd probably want you to stay here and rest."

"I would… like to see them," Ranboo admitted.

"They'll want to come back and check up on you anyway."

Ranboo didn't want to sit here and wait for them, and would like to know where in the world he was – plus he should probably stretch, since he felt like he hadn't moved in months. "I'd still like to come," they said.

Tommy shrugged. "Suit yourself, but if they get mad at me I'm telling them it was your idea." And with that he climbed through the hole and disappeared.

Ranboo gave a tired sigh, already reconsidering his decision to get up and do something, and looked through his bag. As promised, there was a small leather sack inside it full of food. An apple and a bit of bread, along with some of Ranboo's favourite treats from the bakery back at the village. Tubbo must have packed this, and Ranboo silently thanked him in his head. They'd have to remember to do it in person later, which reminded them, they were meant to be going to see him. They pulled their bag over one shoulder and in a flurry of green particles they-

Wait.

No particles. And Ranboo didn't move. That was weird. He tried again.
Nothing.

Have I lost my magic? they worried. But that was impossible, monsters didn't just lose their magic. And Ranboo's memory was so foggy they couldn't remember anything they'd done before they woke up here – what had happened that had made him unable to teleport?

Well, whatever was happening, they still needed to go see the others, and if they were to do it on foot he'd have to hurry. He struggled to his feet and to the hole in the ceiling, the world spinning, and hauled himself over and out into the open.

It was a forest of towering trees, the same kind that grew on the mountains back home. The wood was surreal and maze-like and Ranboo wondered if he'd ever be able to find the bunker again once he left it, but they spotted Tommy up ahead and walked as fast as he could on his sore, heavy legs to catch up. In case he wasn't already beginning to regret getting up, their stomach growled unhappily and he was reminded of the fact they had no idea when he last ate. He fished around in his bag for some food.

Ranboo had always thought they found the forest comforting. They'd grown up in what they thought must be the most beautiful forest in the world, calmly serene and peaceful – well, except for the other few endermen living there who did not like him at all, and the fact that a hybrid like Ranboo could hardly step outside for a good part of his childhood. But for the most part the forest had always given him the comfort of home; quiet and usually unoccupied, not dark enough for zombies to be crawling behind every tree or bush, but pleasantly dim by the light of the sun shining through the leaves overhead, painting everything emerald green dappled with patches of gold-lemon sunlight where Ranboo could lay down to nap.

This was the opposite of the forest back home. Every tree looked the same, and they were enormous and packed so tightly together that it made Ranboo feel awfully claustrophobic. The shadows they cast made everything dark in a depressing, greyish way, and Ranboo kept hearing noises. The old forest where Nekorin had raised him had this peaceful kind of quiet that wasn't quite silence; there were always soft birdsongs coming from the trees and wild mice scurrying around in the undergrowth, and around this time of year the wind would rustle all the leaves in all the trees until they fell and crunched under your feet. Here it wasn't any louder, but the sounds were all so weird – Ranboo could hear birds but had no clue where they were coming from, and swore he kept hearing things behind him, and this awful faraway scratching sound that had no explanation, and all the noises just made the place feel more empty.

Ranboo already felt homesick. They didn't recognise this place as anything close to the village – the trees matched the mountains and so did the barren landscape, but the ground was flat here, and mostly soil – so how far away were they? Did Nekorin know he was here? They must be so worried about him.

Ranboo caught up with Tommy and walked just slightly behind him, fighting to keep his pace, and picked another piece of food from his bag to eat.

"So, where are we again?" he asked.

"About two days' walk west from the village," said Tommy, in a tone that sounded a lot like it was trying to copy Wilbur's. "We're hiding here."

"Who are we hiding from?"

Tommy's body tensed for a moment, then he turned his head and gave Ranboo a weird look. "You really don't remember anything, huh?"

"No," said Ranboo awkwardly. "You walked here? Was I just… asleep the whole time?"

"Yep," Tommy answered. "Wilbur can explain everything once we find him."

It was uncomfortably quiet for a little while, but Ranboo was too hungry to focus on much else. They hoped nobody would mind if they ate everything in his bag, which was their current plan. Had Tommy said two days? Had Ranboo really gone that long without eating?

Still, though, it made them uneasy what he'd said, and how little they remembered about how all this had started. He supposed Tommy had said they'd been unconscious for a while, but even paired with the whole memory loss thing it was unnerving to think he'd completely forgotten everything that could have led up to this. His memory book must be in his bag, surely he'd written something in there. Why didn't he think of that sooner? But when he took out the book and flipped to the last thing they wrote, it was evident he'd included absolutely nothing about going far, far away from home to hide from anybody, which they'd think would be something worth writing down.

He closed it again, defeated. How had they ended up here, and why hadn't they cared to mention anything about it? Probably because I thought I'd remember something like this, he thought. How much of an idiot do you have to-

there was something. Black ink covered the very last page of the book, and they quickly flipped to the back to look at it; a message written in Common in somebody else's handwriting. Who had gotten a hold of his book?

My Dearest, Ra was written at the top, crossed out. Below it, Darling had also been tried, with a frustrated scribble through it. And under that:

Hi, Ranboo. I'm not sure where you are while you're reading this, but I hope you're okay. I probably miss you a lot. I do know what you've been roped into, and I know you're scared, but please try not to lose your head. I think if anybody can get you all through something like this, it's Wilbur. I hope he can be there for you, and so can Tommy, if he comes around. I wish I could as well. I don't know how I can tell you that everything will be okay when I know there's a really good chance it won't, but the bad things will only feel worse if you never stop thinking about them. Accept how terrible everything is and try to be as happy as you can, even if that's still pretty miserable. That's what I'm trying to do.

Please think of me while you're there, I'm sure I'll think about you a lot. When you get home I'll give you a big hug and a kiss and talk to you about everything you went through and cook you your favourite meal, promise. You were always better at the heartfelt speeches than me, but you really are the most important thing in my life right now, and these past couple years since we met have been some of my favourite memories. I really hope we'll get to keep making more. I can't wait to see you again, Honey.

I love you, hope you come home soon

-Tubbo

Ranboo had to read the words a few times. Tommy had said Tubbo was here, hadn't he? Ranboo could have easily forgotten something like that, but it wasn't likely they'd completely imagined it. So why was this written as if the two of them were far apart? And ironically, a message assuring him about facing some great danger that they still didn't know the identity of was the opposite of comforting.

Ranboo realised that they really, really hoped he was here. Something about what he'd written – or maybe Ranboo had felt it before too – had opened up this gaping hole in their heart, black and hollow. It couldn't have been more than a day or two since he'd seen Tubbo, right? Why did they already miss him so much? Perhaps he was just a romantic.

"Can you promise me something?" Tommy's voice pulled him out of his confused, worried, dismal, longing thoughts.

"Uh- sure, what is it?" Ranboo asked.

"You're not allowed to die."

Ranboo waited for him to say something more, but that seemed to be the end of it. "Um, I was not planning on it?"

"I'm serious," Tommy snapped, turning to him. "I know we aren't friends anymore, but if I like it or not, Tubbo adores you. And- and while you were asleep, he never stopped worrying about you. I'm not sure what losing you would do to him."

His tone softened as he spoke, and Ranboo knew well what they were both thinking. He heard the words Tommy didn't dare let past his teeth. They'd both been there when Tubbo got the news of his parents' death. They'd both visited him at his empty house and taken turns hugging him while he talked and cried for hours. They'd both seen how he wasn't quite the same for a while, he talked less and seemed like he'd had all the light drained from him, while he worked constantly to keep himself alive with what little money he had.

And then Ranboo had proposed, and that's what had changed everything.

Ranboo wasn't sure if Tommy had disliked them from the start, or only since they started dating his best friend. He'd left his only home for a small settlement just outside the forest two years ago; fifteen years old, sheltered, clueless, and terrified of humans, and his first friend had been the kid around his age with interesting hair who had shown him around the place, thoroughly ignoring the sceptical side-glances and hostile stares being shot his way by the rest of the humans there. The way a jittery enderman hybrid with a fortune left by his mysterious absent mother had fallen in love with the first pretty, chatty human peasant he'd met was another story. But at some point it had seemed that Tommy's distrust toward him had subsided and they got along fine, all three of them. He'd only wanted to help his partner, and truthfully, to marry him simply because they loved him; and nothing much would change, so surely Tommy would understand and they could stay friends, right? But when Ranboo and Tubbo got engaged Tommy had stopped treating Ranboo as a friend, all his past bitterness coming back, and this time things hadn't gotten better. It had been several months at Ranboo's guess and Tommy still seldom looked at him.

But they both still cared about Tubbo. And Tommy was right, he was still recovering from his grief and Ranboo couldn't bear to see him lose anyone else. It was hard to think of himself as a person that someone would care so much about, especially someone as wonderful as Tubbo, but they knew if they were in his place, losing his husband might be enough to break him beyond repair.

"Yeah, alright," Ranboo said softly, when they realised Tommy was still awaiting an answer. And then it was quiet again, and Ranboo's mind kept brewing with anxiety. Luckily, it wasn't much longer before they spotted the others.

Wilbur and Tubbo paced between the trees, talking to each other – Tubbo was really here. Something about seeing him made Ranboo feel like a torch had been lit inside them; or maybe the light was in him, illuminating their depressing surroundings and in turn making Ranboo feel lighter. He seemed to make this gloomy place a little happier just by being in it.

"WILL! TUBBO!" Tommy called – excessively loudly, in Ranboo's opinion, and he winced and covered his ears. They both turned around with confused expressions, and then their eyes landed on Ranboo.

They yelled his name at almost the same moment and came running. Wilbur's face was worried and relieved, but Tubbo was beaming, and at that moment all Ranboo's worries seemed to vanish somewhere; they could be confused and anxious and terrified later, right now, he just wanted to collapse into Tubbo's arms and never be away from him again. They threw their arms open just in time for him to collide into them, laughing joyously. Ranboo stumbled back a few steps and fell backward, when Tubbo caught him and pulled him into a strong hug; he couldn't help laughing too. When they had both righted themselves, he let more of his weight fall into Tubbo's warmth, giving his aching legs a break.

"You're awake!" Tubbo cried with a wide, warm smile. "Are you alright? I nearly knocked you over, sorry about that."

"I'm alright," Ranboo laughed. "Gods, have you been working out? I did not know you were that strong!"

"Maybe," Tubbo said with another smile. He hugged them tight again and buried his face in their shoulder. "C'mere, don't you ever scare me like that again."

"Aww, I missed you too," Ranboo said with mocking sweetness, and without warning, Tubbo pulled their face down towards his and kissed him.

This time, Ranboo couldn't have suppressed his smile if he tried. He heard Tommy make a loud, disgusted noise from behind, but hardly even noticed. He still got that weird feeling that they hadn't seen Tubbo in ages – how long had it actually been? – but right now, it didn't seem to matter. They were together and all Ranboo wanted to do was take a break from everything that worried them and just be here, now, with him.

"Ranboo," Wilbur called to him, approaching with a glad expression.

"Hey!" said Ranboo happily. He kissed Tubbo's forehead – which was a bit awkward to do considering the size difference – and went to hug Wilbur. "How do you feel?" He asked them.

"Uh, tired?" he answered. "And a little confused? A lot confused, actually. I cannot remember anything."

"How much has Tommy told you?"

"Uhhh…" Ranboo racked his brain for anything he remembered Tommy saying. "I know I was… asleep… for a long time, a couple of days, maybe?"

"Four days," Tubbo interrupted.

"Woah, really?" Ranboo exclaimed, turning back to him.

"Yeah," Tubbo said with a nod, looking Ranboo up and down with concern. "We were really worried. Have you eaten anything? Do you need water?"

Ranboo actually hadn't thought about water at all. He'd forgotten how much less time other species could withstand without it; four days must be near deadly for a human.

"I don't think so," Ranboo said. "I did eat, though. Is it okay if I eat everything in the bag? That's kind of what I was planning. I'm really hungry."

"Sure thing," Tubbo answered, not waiting for anybody else to give their opinion. "We were leaving all that for you. I'm not sure how much is left in there, though, definitely not four days' worth, so you could have more if you need it."

"You should rest," Wilbur offered. "If you walked all the way here on an empty stomach, you must be exhausted."

"HIS IDEA," Tommy chimed in loudly. "I told him he shouldn't, but nooo, he wanted to go anyway to see you all." Everyone ignored him.

Ranboo was exhausted, and now that he'd caught up with everybody, would definitely like to lie down for a while. "Yeah, maybe we should go home," they decided. "Well, not really home. You know."

They started heading back to where they came, Wilbur in the front, Tommy just behind him, and Ranboo trailing at the back with Tubbo walking hand-in-hand with him and telling them cheerfully what they'd missed.

"Me and Will were looking for any food we could find in the forest," he explained. "We found this little stream that we can collect water from, and we're pretty sure there are animals we could hunt here, but we haven't been able to catch any. Wilbur says he might teach me how to hunt!"

"When we go home, you have to promise you'll catch us animals to eat for dinner," Ranboo told him. They caught a glimpse of white bandages under Tubbo's coat where his shoulder met his neck and brushed it aside for a closer look. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"Zombie bite," Tubbo said casually, putting a hand on top of theirs. "I'm fine. It's from a few days ago, and it's healing well."

"What!?" Ranboo cried, alerting Wilbur and Tommy to turn around. "When did you get bitten by a zombie? Was anybody else hurt?"

"No, no," Tubbo said quickly, shaking his head. "Everyone's alright. And it's fine. It doesn't hurt that much, just try not to touch it.

"Okay," Ranboo agreed reluctantly, still a little worried, and took his hand off the wound.

"Do you remember anything from before you fell asleep, Ranboo?" Wilbur called from the front of the line.

"No," they called back. "What happened? Why are we here?"

"We're hiding from my parents," Wilbur began carefully. "Does that sound… familiar at all?"

"M… maybe?" They could have sworn they remembered something, but before they could grasp it, it was gone.

"I'm a demigod," said Wilbur heavily after a breath. "So is Tommy. Our parents are violent and dangerous and too powerful for any mortal to handle, so since I have immortal blood, I planned to kill them. But they-" his voice broke, and for a moment Ranboo expected him to cry, but he held himself together well. "-they found out, and my mother killed Tommy."

Ranboo's body froze momentarily and he had to force himself to keep walking. Killed him? Now there was definitely something, a half-memory stirring at the bottom of his mind. Tommy had been killed, but he was standing here now because-

"I told you everything. I told you about my mother, and what happened to Tommy, and the Afterlife. You agreed to use your magic to teleport us there and save him, but while you were trying to get us back, you passed out. My mother saw us while we were there and we all had to run away. We can't go home until we kill her – probably my whole family. Or they'll kill us first."

Ranboo stiffened again, and this time couldn't pull his petrified feet from the ground. Everything came crashing back into their head, but none of it quite fell into place; there were gaps and things they half-remembered and their thoughts were all too jumbled to process what he'd heard. But he remembered something else now, something he'd done –

They found out because of me. Somehow- I'm the reason Wilbur got caught and Tommy died and now we're all trapped here and it's all my fault.

"Are you okay?" Tubbo's voice made him aware of reality again. "Do you need to sit down?"

And then all the guilt came crashing down.

Tubbo could soon be dead because of him, but what was worse was the way he looked at them, his river-blue eyes caring and concerned. He felt sorry for them. For Ranboo, the traitor who had gotten them all trapped here. They still couldn't quite remember what they'd done, but it was so clear – he'd felt this guilt before.

"Ranboo?" Wilbur asked worriedly, moving toward him, all three of them now watching him with the same wary eyes. He became suddenly aware of Tubbo's hand still holding his and pulled away quickly. Tubbo looked hurt and just as worried but didn't try to take their hand again, taking a small step back and saying, "Is everything alright? I know it's awful, but can we do anything? Do you wanna go home?" He winced slightly and corrected himself: "Not home. You know."

Ranboo knew crying would only make things worse. He had to tell them, but how, with his muscles frozen and his throat sewn shut? How with the knowledge of how badly he'd be hurting them? Seeing how much Tubbo cared and how much Ranboo didn't deserve it was already clawing at him from the inside, but if he knew that this was all their fault… would he forgive them? Would anyone? He wanted to run, to hide, he had to get away from all their eyes.

He pried his feet from the dirt at last, and took a few shaking steps back before bolting in a random direction, out into the labyrinth of identical trees. Tears finally won and made their way into his eyes. He heard them calling his name and their own footfalls trailing his. He tried to summon his magic and disappear but it was no use – all he could do was run, and even though he knew it was right he couldn't turn back; he didn't know how to tell them all what he'd done and the panic and exhaustion was already preventing him from seeing clearly. Eventually their voices fell back and he couldn't hear their footsteps anymore. They thought about stopping to collapse on the forest floor and perhaps never get up again. They tripped over a stone and landed with their leg in a small trickling stream that wound between the bases of the trees, burns bursting out all along his calf. He staggered to their feet and kept running.


Tubbo ran to follow Ranboo as they turned and vanished into the forest. They were startlingly quick, despite being starving and clearly exhausted.

"Ranboo, wait! Where are you going?" He called to them. Wilbur yelled out too and ran a few paces in the direction their friend had gone before stopping. Tubbo didn't stop, but before he could make it far into the forest, a hand caught him by the wrist and held him back. "Hold on," said Tommy's voice behind him, unusually calm and sensible.

"But what about Ranboo!?" Tubbo cried. He yanked his hand back and turned around. "He just ran away crying into the middle of a giant forest with no idea where they're going, we have to go after them!"

"Together," said Wilbur, emerging beside him. "With a plan and a way to make sure we don't get lost as well."

"The plan is find Ranboo, calm him down, bring him back home," said Tubbo. "And you can get us back, right, Wilbur?" He looked back toward where Ranboo had gone, and sighed hopelessly. Which direction had they gone? How far had they already gotten? Would he even listen if they called out to him?

"Tommy, you stay behind at the bunker while me and Tubbo go look for Ranboo," Wilbur instructed.

"Aww, what? Why can't I go?" Tommy complained.

"I've helped Ranboo with panic attacks and stuff before, so I might have the best shot at getting them to calm down," Tubbo offered.

"And somebody needs to look after our stuff," Wilbur added.

"Why?" Tommy nagged him.

"Because leaving our base and everything we currently own unattended is a bad idea," Wilbur said, in a tone of voice that suggested he considered this incredibly obvious. "And if Mother or Father are anywhere close by, three people will attract more attention than two."

"And put up a better fight," Tommy argued.

"Better not to risk it entirely. Do you think you can find your own way back?"

"Fine," Tommy groaned, and began heading back toward their hide-out.

Wilbur turned to Tubbo. "Do you need to get any more gear before we go?" They both had their weapons in hand – Wilbur's longsword and Tubbo's axe – and he didn't imagine they'd need anything else, so he shook his head. "Let's just go. They could already be pretty far by now, we need to catch up with them."

They walked fast, calling Ranboo's name, and it was longer than he'd planned it would be before Tubbo asked, "So, what actually is the plan?"

"Basically what you said. I just meant having a plan that doesn't involve you also running away and getting lost in the woods," Wilbur said.

"Oh," he replied awkwardly. "Why do you think they ran off?"

"Well, it must be a lot to handle," Wilbur answered. "And a lot to remember at once."

"I know, but that was weird," said Tubbo, and called out to Ranboo again. "And it's weird that they ran, especially since he must already be in pretty bad shape from being asleep for so long. Do you think bringing Tommy back messed up his magic?"

It hurt to imagine Ranboo being so terrified they'd use up the last of their energy to run away, especially from his own friends. Tubbo had worried about Ranboo's anxiety, but even this was unlike him. He'd just gotten them back, and getting to hug and talk to them again had given him all these warm, happy feelings – why couldn't things have just been that perfect for one day?

"There he is!" Wilbur said suddenly. Tubbo had to peer through the trees for a moment to see what he meant, but sure enough, Ranboo was sitting against the base of a tree with his hands over his ears, breathing desperate, panicked gasps with tears in his eyes.

"Ranboo?" Wilbur called to him, approaching carefully. Tubbo was close on his heels when he caught something stirring in the trees behind Ranboo – black feathers. He told himself it couldn't be what he thought, but he couldn't afford to take the time to be sure.

"Oh, fuck. RANBOO, WATCH OUT!" He shouted, praying that they would hear him, as he dove to grab them before-

The clang of metal on metal. Wingbeats, and then shoes hitting the ground. Tubbo and Ranboo both turned around.

"Run! Go home!" Wilbur barked, his sword tangled with that of a battle-scarred man with gigantic black wings.

Wilbur's father had found them, and he'd just tried to kill Ranboo.

"Let's go," Tubbo whispered, pulling Ranboo to his feet, whose eyes were still fixed on the two men. Ranboo stood up vacantly on wobbly legs and he and Tubbo ran hand-in-hand in the direction of the bunker.

"Can you teleport?" Tubbo asked him.

Ranboo's face focused and their body tensed, before giving up and relaxing each muscle again, their pace slowing significantly. "No. My magic doesn't work," they said miserably, out of breath.

"That's okay. Just keep running."

And they ran, not exchanging another word after that.

Until Ranboo collapsed.

Tubbo's heart dropped, thinking he'd passed out again or worse, but when he dropped into a crouch beside him the enderman was just barely holding himself up with his hands, trembling and panting for air.

"Are you okay?" Tubbo asked them, putting a hand on their back.

"I'm f-fine," Ranboo gasped, staggering to their feet and leaning on a tree to stand. "We… we have to keep going."

"You don't look fine," Tubbo noted dubiously. "Look, I think we're far enough away that we'll be safe. You shouldn't be running at all in your condition, sit down and have a rest."

Ranboo didn't put up a fight, sitting down heavily with his head bowed without a word of protest. Tubbo rubbed his back and rested his head on their shoulder. They were still shaking and hyperventilating, though now in shallow half-breaths, and tears still ran down his face leaving bright burns behind.

"Hey, breathe," Tubbo said in a hushed voice. "It's alright, I've got you. Do you wanna tell me what's wrong?"

"That… was an elytrian," they breathed, and turned to Tubbo with frightened eyes. "You saw that, right? They were right there. The-they had wings."

"Okay, don't freak out," Tubbo said carefully. "But that's Wilbur's dad. He's, like, a million years old, he's stayed alive that long because of magic and has just been… hiding out since the Elytrian War. And also he's trying to kill us."

"WHAT!?" Ranboo roared, more in shock than anger, and immediately doubled over in what looked like pain just from raising his voice.

"Sorry! Sorry," Tubbo said frantically, trying desperately to hold Ranboo together. "There really isn't an easy way to explain it. Tommy and Wilbur's mum can bring people back to life – well, give them more lives. God of Death stuff. And it turns out if you give enough lives to a living person, they can theoretically live forever and anyone who kills them has to do it over and over and over again before it works." Ranboo's face was getting more and more distraught. "Which… is what she did to him… and he's been living alone up in the mountains for hundreds of years and there's no functional way to kill him," Tubbo finished awkwardly.

"And he's attacking Wilbur," Ranboo said disbelievingly, almost questioning.

"And he's attacking Wilbur," Tubbo echoed apologetically.

Ranboo pulled away from Tubbo abruptly and put his hands over his head. "Oh, no, no, no, this is all my fault."

"It's okay," Tubbo assured them – unsuccessfully, it seemed. "You couldn't have known, it's not your fault."

"If… If I had not run away, we would not have been found," they replied, voice breaking. "And now Wilbur's going to die – he's going to die."

"We don't know that!" Tubbo said hopefully. "Maybe he'll run away, so he won't even have to fight, or maybe he can knock him out and then figure out what to do. Or- or maybe we can help!"

"How?" Ranboo pleaded. "You just said he's basically impossible to kill, and Wilbur at least knows how to fight, does he not? What are we supposed to do?"

"You don't need to do anything, you're in bad enough shape as you are, but I don't want to just stand here and let Wilbur die," said Tubbo passionately.

"No, absolutely not," Ranboo said authoritatively. Tubbo's heart rose, thinking they were agreeing with him, but then- "You are not going and fighting some ancient mountain ghost on your own. And if anyone's going to risk their life helping, it should be me. You're not dying because of my stupid mistake."

"Well you're not dying for it either!" Tubbo snapped.

"Fantastic!" Ranboo said stubbornly. "I'm all for neither of us dying, thank you."

"But what about Wilbur? What about the whole reason I came here? I'm meant to be protecting all of you, how can I-"

"Shh," Ranboo hissed, holding a clawed finger to Tubbo's lips, suddenly tense and alert.

"Hey! Don't shush me! I'm trying to-"

"Tubbo, I hear something."

Tubbo finally shut up and listened, though whatever Ranboo heard was too far away to meet human ears. Finally they grabbed Tubbo's hand and stood up. "It's Wilbur and his father. They're getting closer, we need to go home."

Tubbo cursed under his breath and started running without a word. Ranboo seemed to have regained some energy but was still struggling to keep up. Tubbo was already slower than he would have liked, too, having been living on rations these past few days, and soon enough he could hear swords colliding and cries of indistinguishable anger or pain as well.

"They're getting closer," Ranboo said again between breaths, his voice panicked.

And then they dropped and shoved Tubbo down with them, rolling behind the trunk of a fat tree, right before Wilbur and Philza emerged from the woods into what would have been plain sight of them had they not hidden.

Wilbur fell flat on his back and grimaced, his father's sword pointed down at him. He shoved himself to his feet, swerving around the point, and slashed at Philza, who moved out of the way with frightening speed. Wilbur was covered in red gashes with a limp in one leg, breathing heavily. Philza looked next to unharmed. He wasn't much taller than Tubbo, but was clearly a powerful fighter. His face was lined with age, weathered and scrawled with scars like he'd fought a thousand battles, and he brandished a necklace with a single red charm in the shape of a heart; a bit like the ones Ranboo and Tubbo both wore, though hung tighter around his neck, with odd zigzagging lines on either side of the jewel. Ranboo and Tubbo didn't dare move or breathe as they watched the battle – there was no way to escape without being seen, especially with elytrians' superior eyesight.

"Wilbur, I'm giving you a chance," Philza said. "If you stop fighting and come home, maybe your mother will spare you."

"And what will happen to Tommy?" Wilbur shot back. His father's voice had been calmer – almost afraid, though Tubbo thought he must have imagined it, but his was full of poison and fury. "He lied, you know. It was my idea to kill you all, and I'd do it again." He managed to tear open one of Philza's wings, who swore and gritted his teeth. "Besides, I'd rather die right now than live with you forever. You can drag my carcass back home." Right now, that seemed like a very real possibility.

Philza lunged forward and the blade of his sword cut into Wilbur's stomach. He staggered back, clumsy on his feet, blood spilling from his mouth open in a soundless gasp. Tubbo heard Ranboo draw in a sharp breath beside him, and for a second expected Wilbur to collapse, wanting to run from his hiding spot and do whatever he could to help. But Wilbur gathered himself before he could be struck again, and threw several consecutive blows at Philza. A few of them missed, but finally he hacked into his feathered neck with disturbing force. The thread of his necklace was cut through and his head severed completely, both it and his body falling heavily to the ground.

Ranboo made a very audible retching noise and ducked his head behind the tree with a hand over his mouth. Tubbo vacantly reached one arm across their back but couldn't pry his eyes away, despite feeling sick himself. He watched Wilbur stamp hard on the red gem in Philza's necklace until it shattered, and point his sword down at his body, watching it intently.

And then the body began to twitch.

It moved and convulsed on the ground and blood began spilling from the bloody stump of his neck again, just before a new layer of skin grew over the red wound, closing it. Then his neck extended, lengthening and widening into what Tubbo realised was the beginning of a new head. The flesh sculpted itself like living clay, all the while expanding; a jaw jutted out from the top of the neck, flesh parted in one place and opened revealing white teeth, another opening became a glaring blue eye that looked disturbingly awake on the half-finished face. Philza was now clawing himself to his feet as the rest of his wounds mended themselves as well. Wilbur paced backward with his sword held steadily in front, keeping his face stony, but must have been about as terrified as Tubbo was. He realised that while Philza's body was coming to life, his severed head seemed to be decaying. It was becoming discoloured and caving in on itself, rotting hundreds of times quicker than was natural. Ranboo hadn't turned his eyes back in front of him, still crouched behind the tree's trunk looking like he might be sick, but Tubbo could see in his face that he was listening. The elytrian was fully regenerated now and on his feet, but he didn't attack Wilbur or even speak a word. His eyes met the shards of his necklace and he dropped to pick them up, looking more frightened than Tubbo would have ever expected, muttering something that sounded like "...No…" over and over again. Eventually he stopped speaking and let the crushed pieces fall hopelessly through his fingers. Then he glared at Wilbur, picked up his hat from his own decaying head and flew off into the forest. Wilbur let him, and the moment he was out of sight lowered his sword and began staggering home on his wounded leg. He wedged a hand into the gash in his stomach to hold back its bleeding and cried out with pain.

Tubbo jumped to his feet and ran to Wilbur, Ranboo tentatively following. Wilbur turned around at the sound of their footfalls, confused. "Tubbo? You two, what are you doing here?"

"We stopped to rest, but when you caught up to us we couldn't run away without him noticing," Tubbo explained hurriedly, finding himself short of breath.

"Then I'm glad you didn't try," Wilbur said, relieved. "Are either of you hurt?"

"No," said Ranboo, still sounding shaken. "Just tired. But what about you? Are you alright, can you walk?"

"I'm fine," said Wilbur, took another step and winced, reaching out to lean his arm on a tree for support. Ranboo and Tubbo looked at each other.

"No, you aren't," said Tubbo, coming to hold Wilbur up by his shoulder. "We need to get you home. You can lean on me." Wilbur gave in and put most of his weight on Tubbo. "Ranboo, you too?" Tubbo offered, holding out his other arm. Ranboo had struggled coming home the first time, and Tubbo didn't want him doing any more exercise until he could rest and eat.

"If it's not too much trouble," they said, leaning against Tubbo's side as well.

It was a short walk home, and a minute or so in Ranboo asked, "So, can anybody explain what happened back there? And also should we have left his head on the ground?"

"Oh, yeah, you didn't see most of that, huh?" Tubbo realised.

"No," said Ranboo. "I saw him- he died and then… I thought I heard him get up, and then when I looked back he was gone, did he really-" Ranboo didn't finish, but they didn't need to.

"Did Tubbo already tell you?" Wilbur asked him. He spoke slower than normal, each word sounding like it hurt coming out.

"About the coming back to life thing?" Ranboo clarified.

"Right," said Wilbur. "Severed body parts decompose in a few hours, so it should be safe to leave his head there. I don't think there's anybody living around here and no one in my family will be coming back for at least a day, so nobody will find it."

"Why did he just fly away?" asked Tubbo. "And why didn't you try to stop him?"

"There's no way I could have killed him, not without a plan or in this condition, so it was safer to let him go," Wilbur said. "That necklace is magic, it allows him to access the realm that belongs to Death and talk to her. Without it, he'll have to wait for her to come to him, which should buy us some time." Ranboo and Tubbo both looked pleased, but then Wilbur continued: "But the bad news is that once he does speak to her, they'll all know where we are. And I don't know how soon that will be, so it's safest to avoid going outside as much as possible. I'll have Tommy collect us some water and try to find food later today, since the three of us have all had enough adventure for one day."

Wilbur lay on the cold, lumpy ground of the hole they'd dug to be a hidden temporary home, under the blanket he and Tommy had to share, swathed in bandages and maybe asleep – Tubbo couldn't tell. Ranboo had been treated for the water burns under his eyes and another on his leg, and his job for the rest of the day was to take it easy and eat until he didn't complain of feeling dizzy. Wilbur had also reluctantly lain down to get some rest once he'd been bandaged and drank one of the healing potions they'd brought, and Tubbo had wanted to stay with Ranboo, so Tommy had needed to promise his older brother up and down not to get lost or die while outside on his own.

Tubbo sat with Ranboo, leaning against each other's sides, the other blanket draped over their laps. He couldn't help looking forward to when night would fall, the first night of these past few weird, exhausting, heartbreaking days that he wouldn't have to lie next to an unconscious body while he tried to fall asleep. Sometimes it didn't feel all that different to lying with them while they were in normal sleep, but most of the time it was jarring how Ranboo never moved or twitched or muttered quiet nonsense like they usually would, and how, no matter what it felt like, Tubbo knew that his husband had been unconscious for days and he still didn't know if they would ever wake up. Usually Ranboo's cold-blooded body hadn't bothered him, but when they were so still in every way he could think of, it was a lot more like hugging a corpse than anything else.

Tubbo squeezed Ranboo's hand, which, he had to remind himself, wasn't limp and lifeless anymore; it was firm and soft and already holding his, and the handsome face that matched it turned to look at him curiously.

"It's nothing," Tubbo said briskly, before Ranboo could ask. "It's good to have you back, by the way. I missed you."

"So it's not nothing, then," Ranboo muttered, smiling. "I missed you too. I mean, I feel like I missed you. I still do not really remember what happened before I passed out, but I feel like it's been a long time since I've seen you."

"Maybe it was the fifteen or so minutes you were awake before you saw me, and you just couldn't bear being apart for so long," said Tubbo wryly. Ranboo smiled again, and laughed lightly. "Yeah, maybe."

After a pause, Tubbo said, "Was I supposed to say I love you at any point during that? I didn't realise I hadn't, but that's probably something you're meant to say when your husband wakes up after passing out for four days."

"There was a lot going on, I do not blame you for forgetting," said Ranboo in response. "I love you too, though.

"Hey, I never actually said it," Tubbo objected. "That's not how saying I love you works."

"Alright, you first," Ranboo agreed with an amused smile.

Tubbo reached to kiss him on the cheek and put his head on their shoulder. "I love you, Ranboo," he said.

Ranboo looked a little startled like he always did and pressed closer to him. "I love you too, Tubbo."

At that convenient time, the stone they'd repurposed as a sort of trapdoor slid aside and Tubbo's friend dropped through the hole in the ceiling.

"Hey, Tommy," Tubbo greeted him. Wilbur lifted his head and opened his eyes for the first time in a while, then lay back down.

"Did you find anything?" Asked Ranboo eagerly.

"No," he said, his tone apologetic, but still giving Ranboo the same slight hostile glance that he always did. He dropped his bag next to the others, along with the bucket of stream water he'd collected, and knelt beside Wilbur. "You feeling alright?" He asked cautiously.

Wilbur nodded weakly without opening his eyes. "I just need rest." Tommy cast a sad look at his brother.

"So what will happen now?" Ranboo asked. "Do we have enough food for all of us?"

"Depends how long we're here," said Tommy. "There's still some in Wilbur's bag, but it doesn't look like it'll last us more than a few days."

"So we should go out to look for more soon," Tubbo added. "The three of us will have to be in charge of food until Wilbur gets better."

"I'll only stay like this as long as I need to, until I can walk easier," said Wilbur tiredly. "But we should put off going outside for as long as we can now. And if you need to before I can go with one of you, I want you to be really careful. Alright?"

"We'll try not to get ourselves killed," Tommy told him.