Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ranboo didn’t know where he was.

I mean, that happened sometimes, obviously. But this time he just... had no idea.   

He was in some kind of Overworld house? How’d he get here, who’s was this? 

He sat up, looking around and trying to find something he recognized, like really recognized. When that failed, he went to things he knew the names of. Across the room were shelves of books and a table of enchanting. He was sitting on a resting place, which his legs dangled off of. Unsurprising, as they were built for the far smaller inhabitants of the Main dimension. 

He saw a head peek up from a hole in the ground, see him, then hoist itself up onto the floor. Ranboo watched him, furrowing his brow. 

Ranboo had a suspicion of what this creature was- not human nor of the End- but a Piglin resident of the Fire realm. He’d never seen one- he was pushing his luck going to the Overworld as often as he did- but he’d heard about them from travelers in the city. Large, far more animal than person, dressed in tattered rags and gold. Though, this one seemed fairly well-dressed by human standards, so maybe Ranboo was buying into stereotypes. Hell if he knew. 

The Piglin shouted something, which was returned by a much more human shout. There was another? Ranboo hadn’t known of Nether and Overworld creatures interacting. The piglin shouted a last time then turned to Ranboo. 

“Ranboo.” He said simply. It was strange, hearing an End name roll off a Nether tongue, and it sounded wrong, but Ranboo just nodded. 

“That’s me. And who are you, exactly?” He said. 

The piglin didn’t respond, only shaking his head as Ranboo spoke. He said something- something Ranboo’s broken Piglin couldn’t decipher, though it didn’t really sound like Piglin at all- and a blond human emerged from the same hole he had, saying something else. 

They started having a conversation, it seemed, and Ranboo felt isolated. They kept looking at him, possibly talking about him, but he didn’t understand a word of it. He started fidgeting with his hands as their gibberish filled the background. 

He heard his name and perked up. The piglin was looking at him. 

“Ranboo-” and that was all he could understand. There was a few seconds of silence after the piglin’s sentence before Ranboo responded. 

“I don’t know what you’re saying, I don’t speak your language.” Wait- his language- Ranboo got an idea. Piglins have to speak Piglin, don’t they? Even if this one wasn’t right now, he had to know. He was rusty, and never knew much in the first place, but he tried his best to gather the words he knew into a coherent sentence. 

“Don’t know... uh words. I am- wait hold on... I... talk enderman.” Ranboo had to be honest, the only word he was confident in there was enderman. Ranboo hadn’t noticed that the pair had resumed talking before, but they both fully stopped when he spoke. They stared at him. 

The piglin said something and the human started laughing. They conserved again, briefly, and the piglin began a sentence, interrupting himself by turning to Ranboo and saying  

“You speak piglin?” It seemed more natural coming out of him than whatever else he was speaking. Ranboo nodded. 

“Yes. Small.” 

The piglin blinked, then turned to the human, saying something, bewildered. The human was still laughing, and waved at him to continue. 

“Alright. I guess this is how I’ll talk to you for now." 

Chapter Text

“Wh- I ran out of emeralds.” 

“ How? You have like eight stacks.” Techno turned away from his villager to Phil. 

“I had eight stacks,” Phil said “It’s this stupid paper trade! This villager is bugged, it’s at normal librarian prices, I swear.” 

“Well our old librarian wasn’t bugged but-” 

“Oh, alright-” 

“-but someone just left the door open, mister big bad hardcore man Philza Minecraft.” 

Phil laughed. “Okay, okay- I think I had more pressing things on my mind, Techno, I’ve gotta be honest.” 

“More pressing than a four paper emerald trade? I dunno...”  

Phil laughed and went to another villager, presumably to get some more emeralds. 

Techno was joking, of course. Phil had let a zombie in while bringing in Ranboo one night because the kid had been having... complications. The impressive part was that he let in not one, but three zombies, two of which managed to stumble their way into their make-shift village. 

Techno’s piglin ears perked up- he heard a creak somewhere upstairs. Speak of the devil? 

“I’ll be right back.” He mumbled. Phil nodded. 

Techno climbed through his floors up to his bedroom- or, technically Ranboo’s bedroom for the past few days.  

Ranboo was looking down at the bed, looking a bit puzzled, it’d seem. With the creak of the ladder, Ranboo turned to look at him. Techno pulled himself into the room. Techno watched Ranboo look him over- studying him?- then called out to Phil. 

“What?” Phil hollered back. 

“Come up here!” He yelled. Then he turned to Ranboo. He looked so absolutely lost. 

“Ranboo.” He said. 

Ranboo nodded, then responded with a garbled “⏁⊑⏃⏁’⌇ ⋔⟒. ⏃⋏⎅ ⍙⊑⍜ ⏃⍀⟒ ⊬⍜⎍, ⟒⌖⏃☊⏁⌰⊬?” 

Techno huffed. He didn’t know Ender- he wasn’t blaming Ranboo for whatever happened that got him like this, but it definitely put a barrier in communication. 

“Back to square one.” he mumbled. Phil emerged from the ladder. 

“What’s goin’ on?” He turned to Ranboo. 

“He’s up. Still speaking Ender, but he seems more... conscious.” 

“Well yeah, he was knocked out for four days.” Phil laughed. 

“No I mean-” 

“No, no, I know. Less AI, more Player?” 

Techno nodded. Ranboo looked at the ground, fidgeting with his hands. 

“I mean, d’you know he can only speak Ender still?” Phil asked. 

Techno shrugged. “Not really- Ranboo.” He said, getting his attention. Ranboo looked up. 

“Ranboo, can you speak English?” He asked. 

Ranboo stared at him blankly. They stood in silence for a moment. 

“⟟ ⎅⍜⋏’⏁ ☍⋏⍜⍙ ⍙⊑⏃⏁ ⊬⍜⎍’⍀⟒ ⌇⏃⊬⟟⋏☌, ⟟ ⎅⍜⋏’⏁ ⌇⌿⟒⏃☍ ⊬⍜⎍⍀ ⌰⏃⋏☌⎍⏃☌⟒.” He eventually responded. 

Techno sighed. “Taking that as a no.” 

Phil chuckled. “You were right, though. Sentences seem more... together. Especially since earlier.” 

“Yeah. I mean, I guess he’s getting bett-” Techno stopped dead in his tracks. 

“Don’t know... ⎍⊑...   words,” Ranboo was saying “I am-  ⍙⏃⟟⏁ ⊑⍜⌰⎅ ⍜⋏-   I... talk enderman.” 

Phil and Techno stared at him. 

“He just spoke Piglin.” Techno said. 

Phil burst into laughter. 

“He can- How can he speak Piglin??” He directed the question vaguely at Phil, for whatever reason. 

“Hell if I know!” Phil chuckled. “I only barely knew he was speaking it.” 

“I think he just said he didn’t know what we were saying,” Techno translated “He’s not very good at it, to be honest.” 

“Definitely heard some Enderman noises in there.” Phil said. Techno nodded. 

“I mean, I guess I just-” He turned to Ranboo and cleared his throat. 

“You speak Piglin?” He asked, still surprised. Piglin felt weird- it was his first language, but god it’d been a while since he last used it.  

Ranboo nodded. “Yes. Small.” He replied crudely. 

Techno blinked. “Yeah-” He said to Phil “Yeah, he speaks broken Piglin. How does he-?” 

Phil chuckled and waved him to continue talking. Techno rubbed the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. 

“Alright.” He said to Ranboo “I guess this is how I’ll talk to you for now.” 

Chapter Text

Techno was sitting on the bed next to Ranboo. Phil had gone back downstairs- saying he’d go out looking for another zombie villager because he refused to pay an emerald for two paper. 

They hadn’t really… said anything to each other yet. Techno was thinking, Ranboo didn’t want to initiate conversation.

“Alright, how do you speak Piglin?” Techno asked eventually. He had been trying to think of any logical way he would- where would he learn? Why would he learn?

Ranboo sat there, trying to explain in piglin words. He’d only learned a little bit from the Travelers when they visited the cities. Often the teenaged ones would speak to each other entirely in Piglin, like a secret code the little ones couldn’t understand. That was honestly the main reason he learned, to eavesdrop. There wasn’t much to do in the End, in his defense.

“Uh… Learning- Learn was… not End… enderman.” He gave it his best shot.

Techno narrowed his eyes, likely trying to figure out what he just said.

“Right, okay- you… learned Piglin from endermen that… not End, what?” Techno knew he was trying but good lord he had no idea what Ranboo was saying.

Ranboo drummed his fingers on his knee. “The Enderman...not the En- Fire?” Ranboo didn’t know “Nether” in piglin, so he chose the next best thing. “Fire enderman?” 

“Fir- what, endermen from the Nether?” Techno asked. Ranboo nodded. “Ah, alright, I see.”

Another silence. They simply didn’t know what to say- literally, in Ranboo’s case. But for Techno, he couldn’t really gauge what all Ranboo knew- he didn’t even know where to start.

“What- no, uh… Who? Who… you. Who you.” Ranboo said to break the silence. It was technically meant as more of a “how do you know me?” but he didn’t know how to articulate that. Once again, he could settle for the next best option.

“Who am I?” Ranboo nodded. Techno took a breath. Well that certainly helped with the ‘how much he knew’ question. “My name’s Technoblade.” he said. “I live here. So does the guy who was with me, that’s Phil.”

Ranboo nodded. After a second, Techno added;

“I mean, you live here, too.”

“I do?” Surprised, Ranboo turned to Techno, who’d been looking down at his boots since he sat down.

“I can’t speak Enderman, Ranboo.”

“I- What?” He tried to amend. This couldn’t be right- he lived in the cities, in one of the Fleet colonies. He came to the Main Dimension sometimes for fun, but he’d definitely remember if he just… moved in with some Nether creature, wouldn’t he?

“I guess you don’t remember- I gotta be honest, Ranboo, I don’t know where exactly you are in your whole memory thing right now. But you came here with me and Phil a while back.”

Did he? Ranboo would know, right? He’d have to know. This was ridiculous. There was no way…

Right?

Techno stood up and walked across the room to a window, pushing it open and waving Ranboo over. Ranboo stood- having to take a moment to steady himself- and came over.

Outside was a snow-covered landscape, and sitting among it was a quaint little spruce shack. Techno pointed to it.

“That’s where you live.” He said. “We had to bring you inside because you passed out during a snowstorm. That was four days ago.”

Ranboo looked at him incredulously. “Four?” he repeated. Four, that seemed excessive.

Techno nodded. “Yeah. Even before then you weren’t really yourself. Not very aware, kind of just wanderin’ about for a little over a week.”

“No- No, I… just enderman. No-” he gestured wildly around as a substitute for ‘all this.’ There was no way, there was no way that this was happening- this couldn’t be right. Well- sure, okay, maybe Ranboo was forgetting… something. Okay, he knew that much was true, there was a section of his memory suspiciously empty. But this was just… it was ridiculous, wasn’t it?

“I’m sure it’s a lot,” Techno said, sensing Ranboo’s not-so-discreet confusion and closing the window “And probably suspicious- we didn’t kidnap you, I promise.”

That was far less reassuring than it was probably meant to be.

Ranboo sat back down on the bed and took a deep breath. Yeah, yeah it was definitely a lot. How did he know Technoblade wasn’t lying? He didn’t- he didn’t but… it was a gut feeling- he was just pretty sure Techno was telling the truth- as ridiculous as that truth may seem. Ugh, he just wanted to go home.

“Look, I’m not great at, uh-” Techno gestured at Ranboo “Y’know, this. When Phil gets back maybe he’ll be able to help out, he’s better in the… emotions department. I dunno. Until then, free roam, I guess. But stay around the cabin if you go outside, f’you don’t mind.”

Ranboo looked up. Techno had gone from his place the window to the ladder- as Ranboo got more grounded as to where exactly he was, he realized that the hole in the ground did, in fact, have a ladder. Ranboo nodded.

“Oh, and those books are in Galactic.” Techno pointed to the bookshelves across the room, “We got them for enchanting. Galactic’s like… written Enderman, right?”

Ranboo nodded, despite the fact that Techno was definitely wrong. Galactic was a written language that most endermen learned along with Ender, not the same language. But that was semantics, and it wasn’t like Ranboo could exactly say that anyways.

“Alright, well you can read them if you want. No idea what they’re about, though.” Techno shrugged and started down the ladder. 

Ranboo watched him climb down and then took a deep breath. He’d probably be staying up here a while- he felt like if he went anywhere else it’d totally disorient him. He managed to collect himself enough to stand up and walk towards the shelves. There was a table of enchantment in the middle, flipping through pages, presenting itself to Ranboo. Ranboo knew enchantment books like the back of his hand, so he didn’t really care to read one of those at the moment.

The surrounding bookshelves were almost entirely Galactic- with the exception of a few in Old Galactic, which Ranboo did not know. Small particles- some meaningless, some letters, all magic- floated from their pages and into the enchantment book. He liked this little nook, frankly. It reminded him of the libraries in the cities. So long as he didn’t turn around, he was actually quite comfortable here.

The bookshelves had a massive, and sort of hilarious, variety. From speculative fiction to biographies, history journals to collections of children’s stories. Ranboo took a seat on the ground (he didn’t like the way the wood felt, but he’d live) and found a book on the lowest shelf he found interesting.

Chapter Text

Ranboo wasn’t sure how long he was reading for, he just knew he’d made a few small book stacks around him. He heard something outside but didn’t truly hear it. Not until he started realizing it sounded familiar.

“-nboo?” He heard. It sounded like the human Techno lived with- Phil, “Ranboo?”

Ranboo put the book down and peered out one of the windows. He watched as Phil looked around, standing at the front of the house. Techno walked around from the back and met up with him. They began to converse.

“Not in the shack.” Techno said.

“Where’d he go? F’he was nearby he would’ve heard us.”

“I dunno, maybe.” Techno shrugged “I told him to stay ‘round the cabin.”

“I checked inside. Went in callin’ his name and shit.”

Techno nodded and looked up the front of the cabin. He spotted Ranboo, peeking out from the attic window. Ranboo shrunk into himself a bit on sight.

“Not loud enough, apparently.” Techno pointed up at him. Phil followed his line of sight.

“Oh-” He laughed “Goddammit!”

Techno waved to Ranboo. Ranboo tentatively waved back.

“What, you didn’t check the attic?” Techno asked, walking inside “The attic where we left him?”

“I went inside- right, like this-” Phil stepped inside “-and I called his name. He should’ve heard me!”

“Phil, we barely know if he even recognizes that as his name.” Techno pointed out as they started up the ladder to the top story. “It was just your dad instinct.”

“My- what?”  Phil asked.

Techno laughed “It’s just so dad of you- like your dad comes home with the groceries or whatever, calls for you when you have your headphones on and then goes grumbling like ‘Oh, I didn’t need your help anyways-’ You literally did that.”

Phil laughed “Shut up.”

The two of them emerged into the small attic, being met with Ranboo on the other side. He was almost obscured by a few stacks of about half the books off the shelves. He’d had a lot of time to himself- when Techno went out to help Phil with collecting another zombie villager they somehow got caught up in a raid- it was a whole thing, they’d been gone a few more hours than they intended. They were glad Ranboo hadn’t run off or anything.

“Hey.” Techno said.

“...Hello.” Ranboo returned after a second.

Phil threw in a wave.

“We were gone a bit longer than we meant- sorry about that.” Techno said, crossing his arms and leaning up against the wall.

Had they? Ranboo hadn’t noticed- which wasn’t surprising, of course, he hadn’t been noticing much of anything for a while. He looked back at the books then at the two of them again.

Techno snickered a bit “I don’t think he minded our absence.” He directed at Phil. Phil chuckled.

“Have you gone anywhere?” Techno asked Ranboo.

Ranboo looked at the books again. He shook his head. Techno nodded.

“Alright, well- me and Phil were gonna show you around the cabin property. Maybe jog your memory, or at least give you a tour, I guess.” Techno shrugged, glancing at Phil- who looked back politely, as he wasn’t understanding a word.

Hmm… Ranboo wasn’t sure about all that. He was already anxious about being in the Main Realm as it was- this bombshell wasn’t really helping. He wasn’t exactly eager to explore more of his supposed home. But- Techno made a good point. Maybe touring some of the place could bring his memory back. Lord knows he wanted it.

“Ranboo?” Techno asked. Ranboo jumped out of his skin- Techno and Phil were looking at him, he must’ve gotten spacey. “Y’alright with that?”

“The- uh… tour?” He tried to repeat. Techno nodded.

“Yeah.”

Ranboo nodded, standing up. He steadied himself on the enchantment table. The Overworld always made him a bit dizzy, be it the temperature, the humidity, gravity, what have you. He blinked a bit as Phil and Techno went down the ladder. Techno was talking to Phil- translating- and waved for Ranboo to follow them.

The tour wasn’t as bad as Ranboo expected. The cabin was three stories- five counting the basement and basement’s basement. Every room felt oddly… familiar, in a way Ranboo couldn’t place- so did Techno and Phil actually. That was a good sign, right?

Techno brought Ranboo outside, and Ranboo immediately had to take a step back. Freshly fallen snow carpeted the ground, and while it wasn’t falling anymore, Ranboo could still feel the moisture clinging to his clothes. He was never a fan of the snow biomes- always far too wet, even if the temperature was similar to that of home.

Techno noticed Ranboo lingering at the door.

“What is it?” He asked, backtracking with Phil following him.

“Hm.” Ranboo replied, shaking his head and stepping outside. He could bear it- didn’t want to be a bother.

“You sure?” Techno asked. Ranboo nodded as they started rounding the house. “Alright. We won’t be out here long-” He reassured, before promptly resuming the tour with a point at a building beside the cabin. “That’s the dog house. It’s where we keep our dogs.”

Behind the house, like Techno had shown him earlier, stood a flimsy spruce shack built into the mountain. Techno reintroduced it as Ranboo’s house, and Ranboo looked around inside. It was simple- overworld bed, double chest, not much else. On one side there was a farm- on the other a mountain cliff.

Techno and Phil watched Ranboo look around before turning to the chest, opening it carefully. He looked through it for a moment, eventually pulling out a leather-bound book curiously. He flipped through it, puzzled, until landing on the first page. Ranboo was silent.

“That’s your memory book, I think.”

Ranboo looked up and closed it “Memory book?” He repeated.

Techno nodded “You’ve had some type’a memory issues as long as I’ve known you. Never this bad, obviously, but notable.”

Ranboo furrowed his brow and looked down at it. Did he? Ironic as it was, he thought he would’ve remembered that. He opened it to a random page, but the words were lost on him. It was written in some script he didn’t recognize.

“I wouldn’t try reading it- unless you could read English, which would solve a lot of issues.” Techno commented, watching Ranboo scour the page for something he recognized. Ranboo looked up at him, back at the book, then nodded. He closed the chest and walked out of the shack, taking the book with him. He was ready to go back inside.

They entered from the side door and, with Techno’s permission, Ranboo went back to the attic. Phil and Techno heard him sit down upstairs before turning to each other.

“I didn’t understand a fucking word of that,” Phil commented, leaning up against a brewing stand. Techno snorted.

“Nothing too interesting,” He said “Just showed him around the cabin, really.”

“Well yeah, I got that much,” Techno laughed again “What was up with him walking out?”

"When he stopped?" Techno shrugged “Dunno. He seemed fine, guess he’ll just be a hermit now.”

“Was it the snow, maybe? Endermen aren’t too fond of water.”

Techno nodded “Oh- yeah, that makes sense.”

“Never bothered him before though, did it,” Phil drummed his fingers on the brewing stand.

“Mmh, he had a… water-repellent thing on his armor. Some type of enchantment,” Techno replied. “Water never touched him.”

“Oh, well that’d be helpful if we knew where his armor was,” Phil chuckled “What’s the enchantment called? I’ve never heard of that.”

“Me neither. Dunno what it’s called- never really asked about it.”

Phil nodded.

They sat in silence for a second. Techno looked out the window- the sun would be setting soon.

“What’s he doin’ with the book?” Phil asked eventually.

Techno glanced at him “Getting some mileage out of it, I guess. I mean, a ‘memory book’ sounds like a pretty apt thing for him to have right now.”

Techno and Phil laughed.

And Ranboo was upstairs. He’d sat back down in his little reading nook, mysterious book in his hands. What was it, English? It definitely didn’t sound like a Piglin word, was it an overworld language? He never recalled hearing about it. 

Well, he didn’t recall a lot of things, apparently.

The book was leather, with something carved lightly into the front cover, split into three parts- three words? The pages were thick and worn, covered in lightly scrawled ink. He tried flipping through it, scrutinizing every page for a scrap of something familiar.

In the end, the only thing of note was really the very first page. A few pages had been torn out in front of it, it seemed, and ink was smudged all across it, the ghost of words. And up in the top left, clear as day, was a little symbol.

:)

That was the only thing Ranboo recognized.

Chapter Text

Hellebore.

That’s what he kept hearing.

Hellebore. Hellebore. Hellebore.

What even was a “hellebore”? What did that mean?? He could barely comprehend it the first few times, it didn’t sound like any language he knew. Was it a person, a place? 

Hellebore.

It wasn’t his voice. It wasn’t Techno’s or even Phil’s. It was someone else. Someone who sounded even more familiar than those two. Was it a friend?

Hellebore.

It kept repeating. It was the exact same, everytime. It sounded casual, as if just dropped into the conversation at random. But then why was it so prominent in his mind?

Hellebore.

Everytime he heard it, he felt something strange. Something slipping, being lost.

He woke up.

Ranboo had a crick in his neck, and it took him a second to realize why. It probably had something to do with falling asleep on the floor up against an enchantment table.

He needed a second to place where exactly he was. He almost thought he was in an end library, but the wooden shelves were what convinced him otherwise. The events of the previous day didn’t truly come back, though, until he heard the quiet conversation happening a floor down. He took a deep breath and sighed, setting aside the journal in his lap and standing up. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked around.

He’d really made a good mess of this half of the room, with the books all strewn about, while the other looked totally untouched. He hadn’t really looked at it too much. Plain white bed, plain white walls. There was a bell on top of a block of precious overworld material, both of which he recognized from the villages he’d seen. The tallest part of the ceiling brushed his hair and he had to crouch to look out the windows. He wasn’t used to feeling tall, he was always pretty short- relatively, of course.

He heard one of them laugh from downstairs and walked near the ladder. They were speaking overworld again- was that English? Ranboo didn’t like that he couldn’t really eavesdrop.

He heard his name and stilled. Great, so not only could he not eavesdrop, he couldn’t eavesdrop while they were talking about him.

Wonderful.

He sat in the small space between the ladder and the bed, back to the wall. He tried to listen to what they were saying, pick apart the language he apparently used to know. And some sounds he could recognize, they evoked some type of abstract concept in his mind, but the rest blurred together in a muddled heap of gibberish.

For maybe a few minutes, Ranboo sat there, trying to piece together this broken language. Certain sounds together- a word? Words?- brought certain imagery to mind, which was certainly better than nothing. It gave him the dullest sense of hope that he might be able to recover it. Maybe settle back into whatever life he’d been living here before. But really, more than anything, he just wanted to go home.

All he wanted was to go home.

“Ranboo?” He heard. Definitely Phil. The overworld tongue had a very distinct take on his name. He’d almost just assumed they were still talking about him, if it weren’t for the silence that followed. “Ranboo?”

There was a creak on the ladder and, curiously, Ranboo peeked down, finding Phil peering back up at him, just about to ascend the rungs. He met Ranboo’s eyes and turned around, saying something to Techno before looking back up and motioning Ranboo to come down.

Ranboo did so, making his way to the second floor of the cabin.

Techno was seated on a chest and Phil had gone to perch on the windowsill. Ranboo stood by the ladder, shifting on his feet awkwardly whilst the two talked amongst themselves.

“Ranboo?” Techno gets his attention. Ranboo looks at him expectantly. “Hey. Guess I’ll cut to the chase- d’you mind if we ask you some questions? Me an’ Phil are trying to figure out, yanno, where exactly you are , if that makes sense.”

Ranboo nodded.

“So you don’t mind?”

“Don’t mind,” Ranboo was getting better at repeating the phrases he understood. Techno nodded with the shadow of a smile and turned to Phil- translating, Ranboo guessed. 

“Alright, alright-” Techno started after a second of conversation between the two “Ranboo, what’s the last thing you remember? Before yesterday, obviously.”

Ranboo thought about that. Well, no real memories came to mind, per se, as most recent, but he knew that the last thing he remembered, the last place he was, was the End. In his fleet colony.

Ranboo took a second before responding. “Home. I was… End.”

Techno furrowed his brow “Really? You were in the End?”

Ranboo nodded. Techno turned to Phil.

“Phil, he said the last thing he remembered is being in the End,” Techno said “That can’t be right.”

Phil looked only marginally surprised and glanced at Ranboo “Ah, well...”

“What do you m-” Techno watched Phil, narrowing his eyes “The End’s like… it’s a myth, isn’t it?”

Phil shifted in place at the window “It’s complicated.”

“Wait-” 

“We should ask him about his time on the server,” Phil interrupted “See if it rings any bells, you know?”

Techno was most certainly not done with asking what Phil was talking about, but whatever, he could do that later. He huffed.

“What would I even ask?” He asked, “I didn’t even know this kid until he tried to kill me.”

“I dunno- big things, see if they sound familiar,” Phil shrugged, “Like L’Manberg.”

Ranboo blinked. Oh, that was a word with feelings, wasn’t it? He took a step back- careful not to fall down the ladder- as if the sounds had physically punched him in the gut. 

Phil and Techno both looked at him. Well, now they were getting somewhere. Phil nudged Techno to say something.

“Ranboo?” Techno asked “You alright?”

Ranboo looked up and took a deep breath, nodding and composing himself.

“Uh… yes,” Ranboo replied. He pointed to Phil “What…” What did he say? He wanted to ask, but he couldn’t vocalize anything past that first word. Thankfully, Techno seemed to understand.

“‘L’Manberg?’” Techno asked, not bothering to translate it to Piglish. Ranboo blinked hard and nodded “Why? What do you remember about it?”

Ranboo gave that some thought. What did he remember about it? He didn’t even know what those three syllables meant. It just… brought things to mind. Something happy, something sad. Something angry, something scared. Something silent, something loud. A whirl of things he couldn’t quite grasp the memories of, threads slipping from his fingers like water in mesh.

“Ranboo.”

Ranboo blinked and shook his head. He’d stumbled back, putting his back to the wall. He looked up at Techno. 

“You can take a second if you need to,” He said.

Ranboo shook his head.

“Um . Remember much feelings… not…” He trailed off. Techno nodded.

“So, no memories?” Techno asked.

“Yes.”

“What feelings, then?”

Ranboo paused.

“How do- uh… all.” He tried “Much.”

Techno snorted and leaned over to Phil.

“Says he can’t remember anything ‘bout L’Manberg but it gives him ‘much’ feelings,'' He translated. Phil chuckled. “Should we tell him?” Techno asked.

“D’you think that’s a good idea? Kid almost went into cardiac arrest when he’d just heard the name.”

Techno considered that.

“I mean,” Phil continued “We know that he doesn’t seem to remember his time on the server. That’s all we really needed.”

“True,” Techno nodded, “So we’re leaving him be for now?”

“I think we oughta.”

Techno nodded and looked back to Ranboo, who was fidgeting with his hands.

“Alright- we’ll let you go for now,” He said “Unless… you have any questions?” He added after a second.

Ranboo quickly shook his head, paused, then nodded.

“You do?”

He nodded.

“What is it?”

Ranboo thought about how to word it. He pointed to the floor above them.

“The room… your’s?” He asked. He imagined it wasn’t his, evident by the bed that lay in his shack, so it was either Phil or Techno’s. Techno raised an eyebrow.

“What, up there? I mean, yeah, technically. Not in a rush to get it back or anything- I hardly sleep anyways. Don’t worry about it.” Techno shrugged.

Ranboo considered that. Well, alright, he’d still be trying to set up somewhere else as soon as possible, though.

He pointed to Phil with what he hoped was a quisitive look. Techno looked at him curiously.

“Phil’s room?”

Ranboo nodded, putting down his hand.

“He-” Techno glanced back at Phil, as if silently asking what he could disclose. Phil looked back at him politely, on which Techno remembered he was utterly oblivious to the conversation at hand, “He has a room. Doesn’t sleep much either, so he doesn’t visit it often. It’s not in the house.”

Now that he’d made sure he wasn’t stepping on any toes, Ranboo nodded.

“S’that all?”

Again, Ranboo nodded “Yes.”

Chapter Text

Ranboo had gone outside after that. He didn’t necessarily want to, obviously, but especially after… whatever happened in there, he wanted to see if there was anything he could put together in the jigsaw puzzle that was his brain. Like a jigsaw half-finished, with the rest of the pieces scattered to the wind- hopefully to be found again, of course, but far from guaranteed.

He looked at the surrounding area from under the roof of his little spruce hut. The same as yesterday. Blindingly white snow, against which stood out only the mountain cliffs and the two buildings in front of him. He took a deep breath and turned around, facing the shack for the second time.

He dug around the chest again, seeing if he could find anything of interest, anything to set off a spark in his brain. He failed, but then discovered that behind the thin, crumbling wall of dirt lie two- three?- more double chests. Double chests he’d just begun searching through when he heard someone behind him.

“You’ve been gone quite some time.”

Ranboo whipped around quickly, being met with an enderman just past the fence. They had to tilt slightly to see him beneath the roof. Ranboo went to the fence and looked up, furrowing his brows.

“We were starting to worry,” The enderman crouched slightly to be eye level with Ranboo, in all his under-developed hybrid glory.

Ranboo looked at them steadily.

“Do I know you?” He asked. It was a relief to be able to speak Ender again, but he felt the need to establish that he didn’t know who this was.

The enderman smiled, the slits in their mouth showing clearly.

“Yes,” They said “But I’m not for a moment surprised you don’t remember me.”

Ranboo stood silently, inviting them to elaborate. They did not, however, opting to instead tilt their head to Ranboo’s floor.

“You’ve been in your basement, I suspect?” They asked “That snowstorm really did a number on the humidity here- it’s been uncomfortable out here for the past few days.”

Ranboo looked at the ground behind him, then back at the enderman.

“I have a basement?”

The enderman laughed a garbled laugh.

“That you do, little one. Right past your work bench, there,” They pointed right past his work bench. Ranboo turned around, going to the dirt that laid there. It gave way quickly, and his shovel thunked against a wooden trapdoor. Ranboo glanced back at the enderman, who nodded him along, before opening the hatch and going down the ladder.

Before him was a messy hodge-podge of chests, dirt, boats, and a sugar cane farm. It was cramped in a cozy sort of way. Ranboo felt like he could feel at home here- and suspected that at some point in the past, he had.

He went back up to ask the enderman if they’d like to come down, but they were gone. Slightly disappointed, he descended again, only to be met by them on the basement floor. He nearly fell off the ladder.

The enderman laughed as Ranboo got onto the ground “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Ranboo shook his head, laughing a bit himself “No, you’re fine, I just- wasn’t expecting it.”

The enderman watched him as he roamed around the small room, sitting, knees to their chest. When he returned to the main area, they spoke.

“I don’t think we’ve ever found you so lucid before.”

Ranboo turned around, confused.

“Lucid? We?” He asked. They shook their head with a small smile.

“I suppose there’s much to explain,” They said. They moved to stand up but stopped, likely because of the low ceiling. So they instead motioned for Ranboo to sit next to them. After a second’s hesitation, he did so “My name’s Orlen. Me and some other enderfolk have been keeping an eye on you for a while now- ever since you moved out here.”

“Why?” Asked Ranboo “Because I’m a hybrid?”

Orlen hummed “Oh, that was the first reason, sure,” There was a pause and Ranboo gestured for them to elaborate “Well, you’re a very… interesting case, Ranboo. I think the first thing that truly piqued our interest was your eye.”

For the first time Ranboo really saw their eyes, a brilliant purple. He’d heard about endermen with purple eyes, back in the End. It meant that the enderdragon had come back into control. Ranboo was born and raised in a period of relief, in which the newest generation of dragon hadn’t hatched yet. He remembered being taught that everytime, Her rule was tyrannical and oppressive. Being taught She was bad, in the hopes that his generation would finally come above Her brainwashing.

He remembered one of the older endermen telling him something one day. That the endfolk always taught this lesson and it never worked. And now that Ranboo knew it to be true, it was even more chilling than before.

Ranboo blinked. Orlen had looked away, facing the wall, and Ranboo realized he’d probably been staring.

“Sorry,” He mumbled, facing away as well. He was used to having conversations like this.

Orlen laughed quietly, shaking their head “Oh no, don’t worry about it dear. You’re quite alright.”

They were both quiet for a moment.

“So… She’s back?” He asked eventually.

Orlen nodded.

“So you were raised in the End?”

“I was.”

Orlen smiled “Alright. We thought so, none of the Main Realm dwellers recognized you,” She hummed “But yes, She is. I know what you were taught, Ranboo, but this one is different. She’s kind.”

Ranboo shifted in place and bit his tongue.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Orlen asked.

Ranboo felt his pulse quicken. He didn’t know what to do, this was a completely new experience. He’d never met an enderman like this.

“Oh no, I- I do. I mean, I don’t have much place to, uh, to judge, do I? I’ve never met Her.” He attempted, hoping he’d said the right things.

Orlen just chuckled “It’s fine if you don’t, Ranboo, I understand. But trust me, won’t you?” They shook their head “Either way, your eye. It’s green. That means you haven’t heard Her yet.”

Ranboo nodded.

“My parents told me I might be immune. Because I’m a hybrid,” Ranboo said.

“Oh, that makes sense, I suppose,” Orlen nodded “It’s really a shame, but-” 

They paused, before asking “Ranboo, can you teleport?”

Ranboo hesitated.

“Sometimes. Not well, not far, but technically yes, I can. Why?”

“How did you get to the Main Realm, then? You can only get out through teleportation.”

Ranboo looked at them “Uh… I usually used the portals.”

“Oh,” Orlen said. Their face took on a sympathetic look, “You’ve been here quite a while, haven’t you?”

Chapter Text

Ranboo had been there a while. Far longer than he’d ever remember- than he ever had remembered.

But not as long as Phil. Not by a long shot.

For a few minutes after Ranboo left, Phil stalled, deflecting Techno’s questions about what he knew about the End. His main distraction was lost when Ranboo disappeared into the basement of his shack, so he knew time was just ticking until he had to explain. And, as he looked up from the chest he was pretending to sift through and met Techno’s expecting eyes, he knew it was time. He sighed in resignation and leaned against the wall. Techno seized the opportunity.

“Phil, what do you mean ‘it’s complicated’? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Phil took a deep breath.

“The End was real- it might still be, I wouldn’t know. Never got around to visiting it, and the way in was sealed a while back.”

Techno gave him a confused look “What? How do you know that?”

In response, Phil puffed out his wings.

Techno stared at him uncomprehendingly for a little bit, before he took on a look of understanding. When asked about his wings, Phil’d always say he was “like a dragon”. Techno remembered hearing it most when they were in front of a young Tommy and Wilbur, so he always assumed it was just a tall tale to amaze the kids.

Techno remembered hearing about a dragon beast in the End fairytales.

“You’re- Phil, are you telling me I’ve been your friend for- for who knows how long, and I didn’t know you were a dragon? ”

Phil laughed.

“That’s so cool, Phil, you gotta tell me these things.”

Phil continued laughing and shook his head.

“Alright, well, firstly- I did tell you when you asked. Secondly, I’m not a dragon. I’m just… related to one, in a strange way.”

Techno stayed silent as an invitation to continue.

“My father was what’s called an Elytrian. He was an ancient End race, he’s where I got the wings. They were in a similar vein to the End Dragon, but different,” Phil shrugged with a smile “I really just said dragon to excite the kids, Elytrian doesn’t have the same ring to it.”

Techno crossed his arms and considered this. Honestly, Phil being the descendant of an ancient creature from the most mythical dimension was not as surprising as it should have been. Techno really didn’t require any convincing.

“Why are you here then?” He asked. Techno didn’t know much- really anything- about the End, but he knew Nether creatures usually stayed put.

Phil’s light smile quickly faded, jaw tightening and eyes suddenly distant, and Techno couldn’t help but feel like he said something wrong. Just when he had stilled long enough for Techno to start to say something, Phil took a deep breath and shook his head.

“There… there wasn’t a place for me anymore, you could say,” He said. In an obvious attempt to change the subject, he continued “It was all a long time ago- so I don’t remember too much.”

Techno could tell there was something he hit- how could he not? Phil left for a reason, and whatever that may be, it wasn’t a good one. But Techno knew better than to pry. It was Phil’s business, and even if he did try to get answers out of him, Phil was a pro at deflecting and avoiding. If it was that serious, Techno could pester him all day and not get a hint of what’d happened.

So instead he said “Okay… noted.”

Phil chuckled and it was as if nothing had happened “Yeah… the End was interesting, that’s for sure.”

And here, we go back to Ranboo, as he can attest, it was.

Ranboo’s time in the End was all around similar to Phil’s, give or take a few centuries. He lived in a fleet colony, which was about as similar as the endermen got to the Elytrian flights. In the periods of peace, where travel through dimensions wasn’t closely monitored, they would go wherever they wished. They explored, finding things and creating things of their own to help with that exploring. Had Ranboo been in any other colony, he never would have been able to travel to the Main Realm so young.

The parent he knew was an enderman, like everyone around him. He knew that- unlike most of his peers, who had one parent and the Dragon- he had another parent, but he never met them. Ranboo didn’t have any other siblings, nor many friends. He wasn’t the most popular where he was from. He never fully developed and he struggled to teleport- to the point that he was often called “Chorus”, due to his teleport’s similarity to the notorious fruit, not knowing where he’d end up and taking a lot of unnecessary energy.

So, he instead read. He would go to the libraries and learn whatever he could about End history, the Fire Realm, the Main Realm. He always knew that the libraries were unintentionally censored, books and ideas destroyed from periods of Her reign and lost forever, but he’d take what he could get. And, once he was old enough, he travelled to the Main Realm whenever possible, watching the wildlife and villagers and humans go about their business, finding sensations and items he never knew existed. It was exciting.

Ranboo loved the Main Realm, but he always wanted to go back home at the end of the day.

So he didn’t know how to react when Orlen told him the portal had been shut nearly two decades ago.

“You’re wrong.” He'd said immediately.

Orlen shook their head “I’m not. I remember when it happened, we all felt sick for a few days, and suddenly it was near impossible to go home.”

Ranboo shook his head right back “No- no, because I’m still… I’m just a kid, that’s impossible.”

“You’re forgetting-” Ranboo had been doing a lot of that lately, apparently “One phase for us is five for the Main Realm- and that doubles when we stay here. You’re only two phases older than when the gateway was shut.”

Ranboo took a deep shaky breath. Two phases. How’d he miss so much in just two phases? That was ridiculous. Wasn’t it?

Here he was again, learning things he didn’t want to believe but had to. Because there was nothing else for him to believe.

Chapter Text

Ranboo didn’t remember walking back to the cabin until his hand was just above the door, knocking position. He glanced back to the shack, where Orlen was seated on his bed, giving him a sympathetic look. The door opened, he must’ve knocked already. Phil was behind it and stepped aside so he could come in, maybe giving a wider berth than necessary. Techno was just inside and snorted.

“You don’t have to knock Ranboo, you live here,” He said.

Ranboo mumbled something in Ender- an apology, Techno correctly guessed- before walking up the ladder to the top floor. Phil and Techno watched him ascend before looking at each other.

“What’s up with him?” Phil asked. Techno shrugged. “Think you should check up on him?”

“Dunno- he seems kinda out of it. Maybe we give him a bit,” Techno replied. Phil nodded.

Hours later, Ranboo was sitting in his messy reading nook, trying desperately to read, but ultimately failing. Though the books had originally given him a sense of comfort and familiarity, now every word, every native symbol, reminded him that he’d never go back home. He’d just been trying to read this one book for the past who-knows-how-long, but his mind is far too busy.

He’d never see his parent again. He’d never see his home again. Would he ever feel truly comfortable again? Would he ever feel safe again? The most present he’d felt was when silent tears started falling down his face. He didn’t even try to stop them. The burning grounded him.

But his tears had long since run dry and now he was just staring at the page, not seeing any of the words before him. He didn’t hear Phil coming up the ladder or see him wait for Ranboo to notice him. Ranboo only looked up with a start when he cleared his throat.

“Hey,” Phil said. Ranboo blinked at him. “You don’t understand a word I’m saying, huh?”

Ranboo didn’t respond. He did not.

Phil hummed and walked over to where Ranboo was seated. He  pointed to the floor, a way of asking permission to sit. Ranboo took a second to comprehend, but once he did, nodded and quickly scooted to the side to give him as much space as he might’ve needed. Phil calmly took a seat next to him, pretending not to notice the now obvious burn streaks down his face. 

He looked up at the bookshelves. Much like they’d been earlier, nearly all the books had been taken and put into various piles, except for a select few. Six to be exact. And all six of those books seemed to be written in the form of Galactic Phil understood- the form that was now known as Old Galactic. Phil pointed to one, bound in old red leather. Ranboo furrowed his brows as he followed his finger and picked up the book. He started trying to communicate that he couldn’t read this one, that it wasn’t a script he understood enough. Phil shook his head and took the book from him.

Phil was a bit rusty, and he honestly didn’t totally know if Ranboo would even understand him, but it was worth a shot. If Phil was right- though he wouldn't be surprised if he wasn’t- then spoken Galactic had stayed mostly unchanged. The syntax might’ve gotten a bit muddled, but for the most part, he should be coherent.

He opened the book and stared at the page. Fuck, it’d been a while since he’d seen these symbols.He took a deep breath, and started reading aloud.

Ranboo- who’d been watching him, curious- was taken aback at his reading. That was what Old Galactic read like? It was just… well it was just spoken Galactic. His teachers spoke that, he’d known it his whole life, and it was strange to think it sounded exactly like the elusive ancient language he’d given up on ages ago.

He was seriously starting to regret never learning to speak Galactic properly.

How did Phil know Galactic?

Phil noticed the confused- astonished- look on his face and laughed. He tried to form a sentence in Galactic. Speaking it from scratch was always more difficult than reading it.

“Guess you weren’t expecting that.”

Ranboo shook his head.

“I wasn’t much expecting it to work, to be honest. Can you speak Galactic?”

Again, Ranboo shook his head.

“Damn,” Phil said. Galactic was coming easier to him than he expected. “Ah well- look, Ranboo, I came up here to make sure you were alright. I didn’t think I’d be able to speak so easily, actually. Either way, are you alright?”

Ranboo took a second to reply. Was he? He thought so, but he also considered if he thought someone else feeling like he was would be alright, and he came to the conclusion that they would not. But he didn’t know how to explain how he was feeling and why in convoluted hand movements, so he just nodded. Yes, for right now, he was alright enough.

“Good. That’s good,” Phil smiled kindly. “In that case, d’you want me to go? I don’t mind if you do.”

Ranboo was going to say yes, but hesitated. He really didn’t want Phil to go, actually. So, he shook his head. Phil seemed kind of surprised.

“You’re sure?”

Ranboo nodded. He pointed to the book that now lay shut on Phil’s lap. Phil picked it up and glanced at Ranboo.

“This? It’s a novel from ages back, a classic, you could say. I read it when I was younger, as a matter of fact, so it’s ancient.”

Ranboo processed that, but didn’t ask for an explanation. He saw Phil’s dusty grey wings, the way they resembled the grey Elytrian wings kept in a glass case at the library. He remembered reading about the infinitely long life spans of the historic winged creatures. He was connecting the dots.

Ranboo opened the book to the first page and looked back up at Phil. Phil had a sort of confused smile.

“You want me to read it?” Ranboo nodded. Phil chuckled, “I mean, alright. I can’t complain.”

Phil started reading the familiar paragraphs out loud. Occasionally, he’d say a word and Ranboo would glance up at him, looking puzzled. Phil realized pretty quick that this was because whatever word he’d just said was lost to time, so he’d try and bang out a synonym. A few pages in, Ranboo scooted closer to Phil to read over his shoulder- the word “read” used very lightly.

They’d gotten a good four chapters in when Phil realized he’d gone through the past dozen or so paragraphs without interruption. He looked down to make sure Ranboo was still following and found he absolutely was not. Phil chuckled and glanced out the window. It was fairly late, and Ranboo seemed to have adopted a circadian rhythm that he and Techno had not- Phil wasn’t surprised he’d fallen asleep.

Slowly, carefully, Phil set aside the book and picked up Ranboo. No easy feat, as Ranboo was miles taller than him, but aside from that was fairly light. Phil set him in the white bed and lingered a bit by the ladder.

Phil’d gone up there to make sure Ranboo was alright, and he seemed to be fine. That goal was accomplished and, as far as anyone else was aware, it was the only one he’d had.

Phil went back downstairs.

Chapter Text

Ranboo was in a room.

He couldn’t place much about it- his head was swimming and body moving of its own accord. He could tell it wasn’t big, and against the walls were a few blobs of color, too blurry to make out. The walls themselves he could get a good grasp on. The three he was facing were black, tinted purple. There was a light source somewhere behind him, a bright one.

There was a noise, a call, coming from somewhere in the room with him. It was far too muffled to understand. Ranboo’s head swiveled around, and was met with a wall of orange.

He woke up.

Ranboo didn’t remember going to sleep. Looking down, he saw his shoes were still on and the blanket underneath him. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. He caught sight of the bookshelves, the place where he and Phil had sat the night prior, and understood. He looked at the red book placed on the spruce floor and watched it, as if it were doing something interesting other than being a book.

He was thinking. About Phil, about the End, about the ancient grey wings he’d seen his entire life, a distant legend in the realm. Seeing those very same wings on an actual creature and as opposed to a display. The Elytrians had fallen extinct, Ranboo knew that. So, logically speaking, he had no reason to believe Phil had somehow escaped the same fate.

Yet he did. He did believe him and didn’t doubt him in the slightest. Maybe it was the Galactic, maybe it was the wings alone, maybe it was just instinct, but he could feel that somehow, some way, Phil was like him.

How did an Elytrian get to the Main Realm? Did they have to use the portals too?

He thought about if Phil knew the portal had shut. About if Phil ever missed the End, why he had come here in the first place.

He wanted to know more, he wanted to talk to Phil again. He stood up and exhaled a deep breath. Back into the fray.

He went down the ladder. Neither Phil nor Techno were on the second floor, so Ranboo descended again. He found Techno looking through some chests in the storage room. Ranboo could ask him where Phil was.

Ranboo didn’t announce himself, so Techno just about had a heart attack when he turned around and saw him there.

“Christ- Hey, Ranboo,” He said.

Ranboo nodded as a greeting.

“Y’need something?” 

Ranboo nodded again, “Phil,”

Ranboo didn’t notice it at the time, but he’d used the English pronunciation of Phil’s name, which didn’t differ too greatly from the Piglin’s, but it was enough for Techno to take notice. He filed that away for later.

“You wanna see Phil? He’s outside, I think,” Techno nodded towards the door. Ranboo started towards it, but paused and racked his brain to pull out

“Thank you,” 

Techno smiled a bit. “No problem.”

Phil was sitting on the top of the stone steps. He’d been out there for most of the time since he left the attic, with the exception of a few times when Techno made him come inside so he wouldn’t freeze.

He was thinking about last night as well. He wondered if it was a good idea to tell Ranboo at all, but he was overall glad that it went well. That nothing happened. He sighed.

He heard the ground door creak open, followed by the brief crunching of snow underfoot. Ranboo emerged from around the corner and met his eyes. They were quiet.

“‘Ey mate,” Phil said eventually. Ranboo just looked at him expectantly. Phil chuckled and moved aside so Ranboo could sit next to him, “How’d you sleep?”

Ranboo climbed the stairs and took a seat beside him. He shrugged.

“Mmh,” Phil responded simply “Fair enough. Hope it’s not too wet out for you.”

Ranboo hesitated, then again he shrugged. 

“Well, if it gets to be too much you can go inside,” Ranboo nodded. Phil looked around at the snow all around, “Y’know, you never seemed too bothered by the humidity before. Techno said you had some enchant on your armor, water repellant or something, but still…”

Ranboo listened closely. Phil turned to look at him.

“Honestly, I think some of it is fear. I wasn’t too keen on the wet when I got here, either, but that’s just because the End was so dry. But you’ve been here a while, I’m sure you know that, you must’ve adapted.”

He watched Ranboo consider that. The thoughts weren’t out of nowhere, he’d been thinking about it since they brought Ranboo outside the other day, but it did occur to him that he may have been just saying things. But, if Ranboo got placebo'd out of his water allergy, that wasn’t exactly an issue.

“Anyway,” Phil said “Did you need something? I’m guessing you came out here for a reason.”

Ranboo paused. He had, he wanted to know more about Phil, but how did he say that? This was frustrating, now the second language he knew but could hardly speak- in fact, he couldn’t speak it at all. He knew the words, he knew which sounds meant which things, but he could never wrap his tongue around the syllables. It was why there were spoken Galactic classes despite the fact that most endermen were surrounded by it, you had to train your mouth.

Instead, hoping his point got across, he hesitantly reached for Phil’s charred wings. The wings flinched away and Ranboo quickly pulled back. He met Phil’s eyes and would’ve apologized if he could. Phil gave a bit of a nervous chuckle, sensing the apology, be it from the look on Ranboo’s face or simply from knowing how often the kid said sorry.

“You’re alright,” He knew he should probably give an excuse for jumping away, but he blanked on anything he’d want to tell him, so he didn’t.

Ranboo nodded and instead pointed to them. He wasn’t quite sure what question he was asking, but whatever it was had to lead somewhere.

“My wings? What, what happened to them?” Phil asked. Ranboo nodded, sure, that’s definitely something he’d like to know. Phil took a deep breath and shrugged “There was an accident. Happened not too long ago. I’m fine, they’re healing.”

Ranboo didn’t know if it was his tone or just the condition of the wings, but he could tell Phil was stretching the truth. Those wings didn’t look like they’d be getting better anytime soon. Phil must’ve seen a skeptical look pass over his face, because he chuckled.

“I kept them safe for thousands of years, I’m not letting go of them quite yet. Let the old man have some hope.”

Ranboo laughed quietly. Fine, fair enough. He could understand that.

“Anything else?” Phil asked. He was smiling, but Ranboo could see something under it. Something uneasy. Had it been him trying to touch his wings, talking about whatever accident, both? Ranboo only felt certain that it was surely his fault.

So he didn’t ask anything else. He shook his head and stood, giving Phil a small wave as he stepped back inside.

Chapter Text

Phil went inside a few hours later. He’d watched the moon fall, the sun rise and climb, and he figured, for now, he didn’t need anymore alone time. He was getting cold anyways.

He met Techno when he went inside. He was maneuvering around the wall of chests to craft what seemed to be some golden apples. Phil walked up to him.

“Need any help?”

Techno, warned of his presence by the door, shook his head.

“No, almost done,” and, right on cue, he finished the last one. He split the pile up, keeping some to himself, handing some to Phil, and tossing the rest in a chest that he pretended he would organize later. He bit into one and leaned against the chests.

“So, you’re back inside for now?” Techno asked casually. He knew that it was Phil’s way of distancing himself without actually going far. He didn’t know why Phil felt the need to distance himself and didn’t care to ask- he knew there was no point.

Phil nodded “‘Til further notice.”

“Good, actually, because I was thinking about somethin’,'' Phil raised his eyebrows “Ranboo asked where you were this morning. I told him, figured you could send him off if you wanted to. But thing is, when he asked, he called you Phil.”

“Oh, huh,” Phil said.

“Yeah- I mean, your name in Piglin isn’t drastically different- obviously, that’s how language works- but the fact that he knew that your name in English was specifically Phil means he either managed to decipher your name from us talking, or-”

“-Or he still knows a little bit of English, subconsciously,” Phil finished. Techno nodded.

“So,” Techno took another bite from the apple “I figured we could maybe try and… coax ‘im into it, y’know?”

“Ooh, yeah, alright,” Phil said “Either it’ll work or it’ll be funny.”

“Exactly.”

Ranboo was upstairs. He was getting used to being upstairs, he liked it up there, though-

He looked out the window across from the bed, being met with his dull wooden shack.

He still felt like he was being something of a nuisance to Techno and Phil. He tried to piece together everything he’d been told, but without the context of his memories it all hardly made any sense.

At some point he left the End and got trapped here, apparently some twenty phases ago. He lived with Techno and Phil, he had his shack, and it seemed like everything was going just fine. Until he forgot, anyways.

Forgetting. He remembered the memory book he’d found. That would probably be the most helpful thing if he could actually read it. He looked over at it as it lay on the ground. Taunting almost.

Something else came to mind. What Orlen had said. 

“I don’t think we’ve ever found you so lucid before.”

They never elaborated on that. What did that mean?

“Even before then you weren’t really yourself. Not very aware, kind of just wanderin’ about for a little over a week.”

This meant something. It had to mean something. He chewed on his thumbnail. He was coming up with something. There had to be some common thread, something to figure out.

Abruptly, he stood up. This was it, if his stupid memory book couldn’t help with this, what could it help with at all? He picked it up and began flipping through it. Words and symbols he’d never seen, he couldn’t begin to understand. He was about to give up until he smoothed out a page and discovered something. On a corner of the page that’d been folded over was just one symbol, but it lit up his brain.

⏃

He quickly began flipping through the pages again, unfolding every creased corner. And, under every one, another symbol from his language. His language.

⌇

☍

⌿

⊑

⟟

⌰

He looked at the letters before him, mentally unscrambling what he could. In order, they read

“Ask Phil”

Suddenly he wasn’t in the attic anymore. Wasn’t in the tundra or even in the Overworld- if he was anywhere, he was in his own head. This dream, vision, memory, whatever it was, hit him like a truck. 

He couldn’t see, but he could hear. There was a conversation, he could hear the words and he knew what was being said, but if he really tried to focus on the sounds it fell apart into a mess of syllables he couldn’t decipher. He recognized the voices as well- his own as well as the voice from his dream the other night. The Hellebore voice.

“...I mean, at this point I’m just toying with you.” The Hellebore voice was saying.

“You’re always toying with me,” His own voice responded “That’s what you do, you toy with people.”

A quiet laugh “I wouldn’t say that- I meant I’m… I’m biding my time right now.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see. Well- if it works, I guess you won’t.”

“What are you talking about?”

There was a silence.

“Ranboo, what do you know about the Elytrians?”

“The what?”

“The Elytrians.”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“Sure you do. The flying race from the End. Before they were killed off, of course.”

Another silence, before Ranboo’s voice muttered “I don’t remember anything from the End.”

“Mmh. Maybe I could give you a history lesson, then?”

“I’d rather you not, actually.”

The Hellebore voice wasn’t deterred.

“The Elytrians got killed off because they were too powerful- one way or another. This was ages and ages ago, I don’t have all the details- but either way, they got in someone’s way, and because of that, the endermen killed them.”

Silence.

The Hellebore voice continued “They’re extinct now. Well, endangered, if you want to get into technicalities.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I just thought you’d find it interesting. And if I’m lucky maybe you’ll recall it later.”

Another brief quiet before Ranboo started “When did they-”

“I’ve told you all I know about it,” A pause, as if considering something “Maybe ask Phil about it.”

Chapter Text

Ranboo took a deep breath as he once again felt the wood under his feet and icy chill on his cheeks. He hadn’t even realized he was holding his breath. He blinked, swallowed, anything that helped him return to where he was physically.

Once he got sufficiently grounded, what he heard really seeped in.

" They got in someone’s way, and because of that, the endermen killed them.”

The endermen? Was it really? He had no reason to trust the Hellebore Voice, but really no reason to distrust it either. He knew as well as anyone the atrocities the Ender Dragon could cause, the atrocities that would get swept under a rug and lost to time by the end of Her reign.

Besides, the Hellebore Voice sounded like it could be trusted.

But then, what really happened? How did the endermen wipe them out? Now Elytrians were used almost as beacons of hope in End culture. What was in between?

“Maybe ask Phil about it.”

“Ask Phil”

Ranboo remembered the memory book, looking down at his hands only to find that he’d dropped it on the ground. He picked it up and flipped through each page with now-unfolded corners. Previously too caught up in the excitement of finding something he understood- finally- he only now noticed something strange about the letters.

They weren’t in his handwriting.

He hadn’t written them, in fact, whoever had seemed to have a very rudimentary grasp on Ender. The ⌇ had one bend too many, the slash of the ⌿ too far to the left. If it wasn’t him, though, who could it have been? He flipped back to the first page, to the contextless symbol sitting there.

:)

He stared at it for a bit.

“You alright up here, mate?”

Ranboo jumped a mile, twisting around to see Phil’s blond head peering at him from the ladder hole. Ranboo closed his eyes and put a hand to his heart, huffing out a deep breath, hearing Phil’s laugh in the background.

“Sorry! Just me, just me,” He chuckled when Ranboo smiled a bit and shook his head. He elaborated; “Came up here a second ago ‘cause you weren’t responding to me and Tech. You seemed to be having… a moment.”

Ranboo snorted. That was one way to put it.

“But I take it you’re all good? Now, anyways,” Phil said. Ranboo nodded and looked down at his book. He oughta ask Phil, he was curious now. Ranboo knew that he alone would have no way to ask, but if Techno could relay his question- yeah! Yeah, that could work.

“Alright, I’m glad,” Phil said “You wanna come down here? Me and Techno wanna talk with you for a bit,”

Ranboo nodded, despite the word “talk” being used very loosely, and followed Phil down the ladder. They landed on the second floor, and Techno seemed to be fiddling with a piece of gold. He looked up and set it aside, turning to Phil and saying something in English.

“Everything’s good?” He asked. Phil nodded.

“Yup. That’s what he told me anyways,” He replied.

“What happened?”

“Dunno,” Phil said “Didn’t ask.”

Techno snorted, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Treat others how you wish to be treated, I guess,” He said. Phil laughed.

Ranboo grunted something, a noise that sounded very similar to “Techno” and Phil knew he was speaking Piglish. Phil leaned back as the two of them conversed, knowing once they finished, Techno would translate to him. Whatever it was Ranboo was saying, he seemed to be having trouble articulating, and Techno was basically guiding him through it.

Eventually, after a lot of questioning grunts and repetition of sounds, Techno said something, a full sentence, and Ranboo stumbled his way through repeating it. Techno nodded.

“Hey Phil,” Techno said, turning to him. Phil raised his eyebrows, “There’s sum’n he wanted to ask you.”

“Oh?” Phil asked “Do tell.”

“What happened with the endermen and the Elytrians?”

Phil’s body felt like it stopped. Like his heart was no longer beating, like his neurons had stopped firing. The only thing he felt was a deep sinking of his stomach. What the hell, how did he know about that? It was something that Phil thought only he would remember by now, and even he was trying his best not to.

This was the first time in decades, centuries, that he had to confront what had happened.

And, somewhere deep in the corners of his mind, he heard a whisper.

“What you did.”

Phil was shattering like glass. Oh god, fuck, this was the worst way this could possibly go. The kid was just asking a question, he was just curious-

Phil felt himself slipping, his metaphorical footing being misplaced. The rug under his feet was grabbed and wrapped him in a bag he couldn’t escape. Oh no, not this again, not in front of Techno and Ranboo, not for the first time since he’d left. He was trying to fight against it but he could hardly move. He was managing though, managing to stay afloat.

Until he felt the hand on his shoulder.

Everything got turned on its head. He wasn’t in the cabin, he was in the Elytrian flight hundreds of years ago. The near-black hand on his shoulder wasn’t that of a friend but rather an assailant. And he had to fight back.

Phil didn’t register throwing his hand back. Phil didn’t register getting on top of him. He didn’t register anything at all until firm hands were on his arms and Techno was yelling his name. Techno had his arms pinned tightly behind his back and was dragging him outside. It wasn’t until then that Phil really saw Ranboo, backed into the corner, clutching his face. There was red and lime green dripping down his chin. He was gasping for air.

Techno shoved Phil out the door.

Chapter Text

Being aggressively shoved into the snow helped Phil come back to himself, actually. At least Techno had thrown him out instead of pushing him down the stairs. Phil was pretty certain Techno had given him a gruff “Stay put” before going back inside, but he couldn’t be sure.

The wet snow under him was a good grounding tool, really. His fingers- no, talons, when did they come out- digging into it until his clothes were soaked, his cheeks red, and tailbone became sore from the whole… being thrown down a flight of stairs thing.

The door opened and out came Techno. He was not happy. They stared at each other. 

“Hey Techno,” said Phil eventually. Techno hardly seemed amused. He stormed down the stairs and took Phil’s arm, forcing him to stand up and stumble behind him as they walked away from the cabin. Phil eventually got his balance and tred after him, deciding to not ask where they were headed. Techno clearly wasn’t in the mood.

Eventually, they’d gone a good way past the cabin, having entered the spruce woods next to it. Techno stopped, Phil almost running into him when he did. He released his arm and spun around to meet his eyes. Pale blue met bright red and adrenaline was high.

“What the hell happened back there?” He asked eventually.

“You tell me,” Phil replied.

Techno threw his hands up irritably and huffed “Fine, I’ll tell you what I saw,” started his heated reply “ I saw Ranboo asking an innocent question. I saw you freeze. I saw Ranboo putting his hand on your shoulder as I asked if you were okay. I saw your eyes go all purple when you went savage. Your wings puffed up, but I saw you take your talons to his fucking face!”

Phil looked down at his hands, talons having turned into cold, red fingers.

“What the hell was that Phil?” Techno demanded.

Phil swallowed.

“I don’t know,” He lied.

“I don’t believe you,” Techno responded “Whatever Ranboo was talking about screwed you over, what does it mean?” he demanded.

Phil grit his teeth, keeping eye contact with Techno until he couldn’t anymore. His eyes fell on the bundle of snow covered tree roots nearby.

“...Is Ranboo alright?”

Techno was seconds from blowing up at him for skirting around the topic again, but took a deep breath. He knew Phil was genuinely concerned for the kid.

“Yeah,” Techno said “He’s fine. I gave him some Strength and Healing pots. You didn’t go too deep and you missed his eyes. He’ll live.”

Phil nodded.

“Now,” Techno said, temper cooling down “Answer my question, Phil. The reason you left the End, Ranboo’s question, you going outside last night- they’re all connected, right?”

Phil didn’t miss Techno’s hand hovering over the hilt of his sword.

“Yeah,” He admitted looking past Techno to the snowy clearing behind them “They are.”

“Okay. How?”

Phil sighed and walked past Techno, towards the open tundra without a word. Techno got his arm immediately.

“ Phil-”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Phil replied, pulling his arm away and continuing forward. Techno followed him.

“You never do!” He said “Have you talked to anyone about it?”

“No.”

“Phil-” He stepped in front of him. Phil stopped, not meeting his eyes “Listen. Something fucked up happened. I can help you if you talk to me.”

“You can’t help me Techno, it was hundreds of years ago. I’m over it.”

“Clearly not!” Techno shouted, gesturing at the cabin. Phil grit his teeth and tried to keep from clenching his fists. He again started past Techno.

“Phil,” Phil kept walking “Phil,”

“Stop following me.”

“Absolutely not!” Techno replied, staying persistent in his pace.

“Techno,” Phil had a warning tone, like he was talking to a child. Techno didn’t even respond, the crunching of snow under his boots as he followed Phil comeback enough.

“Techno, it’s personal.”

“It got a hell of a lot less personal when you just about scratched the kid’s face off.”

“Just leave me be.”

Techno huffed loudly and again stepped in front of him. When Phil tried to walk around him he simply stepped in front of him again. Phil let out a resigned exhale.

“You know what Phil? I left you be when Wilbur died. I almost left you be when you were talking about whatever happened in the End. But I’m not leaving you be anymore because clearly it’s harmful to yourself and those around you.”

Phil didn’t respond, his anger silently boiling over.

“Just talk to me, Phil. I-”

“They died, alright!” Phil finally yelled. Words hanging in the air, there was a second before he continued animatedly “The Elytrians- my race- was killed off by the endermen and I only escaped because I fucking helped them! Is that what you want to hear?”

For a moment Techno was too stunned to respond, so Phil continued, fuming.

“I- I had to watch my friends, my family, my entire species get wiped out in front of me, and I had to help! I could’ve have stopped them but I was too weak, too- too stupid to just snap out of it. That’s what happened, Techno, are you happy?”

His words hung in the air, heavy with guilt. Angry, remorseful words that had finally escaped his mouth after so many years of being trapped inside his own head. His demeanor was unraveled, emotions frayed. Maybe it did feel good to finally get it out, but he had to battle with all the other, far more negative, consequences of what he’d admitted. The regret, the shame, the reminder itself. Those events had broken out of the sealed vault in the back of his mind and they would never fit back in again. 

Techno opened his mouth to say something, face surprised and sympathetic and containing exactly the things Phil did not want to hear right now.

“I’m going to go lie down,” Phil mumbled. And this time, when he pushed past Techno, he wasn’t stopped.

Chapter Text

Ranboo jumped when the door opened, swiveling around in a way that made his head spin.

“Calm down,” Techno said “Just me.”

Ranboo craned his neck to see behind Techno, and watched as his face turned slightly sour.

“Just me,” He reiterated. He pretended he didn’t notice Ranboo physically relax in his spot on the floor. He brought forward a bundle of cloth. “Anyways, I got you some ice. That Healing’ll wear off in a bit, so you’ll probably want to numb it as soon as you can.”

Ranboo nodded, taking the cold bundle and pressing it to the center of his face. He brushed his cheek with the tips of his fingers, careful not to agitate the wound from where Phil had first dug in his talons. Ranboo looked up at Techno. The snow bundle couldn’t reach down there as well.

“That one’ll sting a bit,” Techno said in response to his silent question “But we have to tend to the big one first and foremost. You’re lucky he didn’t dig too deep, the pots should make them scar over without bandages. It probably would’ve been tougher to pull him off, too.”

Ranboo nodded. As Techno picked up the grey stone-looking thing that’d been knocked over in the corner, Ranboo picked up one of the now empty healing bottles. He cleared his throat.

“More?” he croaked out, voice hoarse from yelling.

Techno turned to him, giving him a look.

“You’ve had three Healing and two Strength, there’s no way I’m giving you more,” When this was met with a confused look, Techno asked “Ranboo do you… know? How potions work?”

Ranboo shook his head. He had to admit that he did not. The Fire-traversing endermen would often bring some from the Nether, but they seemed more interested in using them as excuses to rough-house than as things to study.

Techno sighed with a chuckle “They have to be used in moderation, look at this-”

Techno rolled up his right sleeve, revealing a nasty burn scar near the top of his forearm “Used to many Strength pots a few years back, that still hasn’t gone away, and-” He unclasped his cape, pulling back his collar to show what looked like a large scab on his collarbone “Got into a fight back in December and prepared a bit too much, I guess.”

Ranboo wished he knew “gross” in Piglin, but his face seemed to say enough. Techno laughed.

“So no, no more potions. Not for today anyways,” He said. Ranboo nodded, setting the empty potion aside. Techno collected all the glass bottles to clean for later use. He was setting them on the smithing table when Ranboo’s Healing potions wore off- not easing off, as he’d expected, but flicking off like a lightswitch. He let out a surprised and hurt vwoop as he was hit with a tidal wave of pain and soreness. 

Techno grimaced and gave him an awkward pat on the head “You got this.”

Phil was staring at the old stone of the stronghold surrounding him. He had lied down in his seldom used bed a while ago- how long, he wasn’t quite sure- but there was no way in hell he’d be getting to sleep anytime soon, not with all the things buzzing about his head.

So, it had come out. He finally said it.

What now?

Phil felt so numb and so fervent. So empty and so full. It was like there were layers. In his skin he was numb. In his muscles he was angry. In his bone marrow he was ashamed. In his guts he was everything- so apathetic and pissed and guilty and so, so upset. 

This is why he ignored it in the first place.

Everything he did had been building together, gusts of wind making a tornado. He didn’t want to fucking do this, he didn’t want to face the consequences of his actions- because it was really all his fault. It was all his fucking fault.

He did this! He did this to his friends, his family, his community.

He could remember it clear as day, too. He could remember falling for Her charms and tricks. He could remember flying back home feeling lighter. He could remember landing when that lightness turned into weightlessness and then nothing at all as he was pushed into the backseat of his own mind. He could remember the shower of purple particulates all around him as he was joined by countless endermen, so easily outnumbering his own.

He’d gone to his own house first. It seemed natural, of course he’d go home.

He had no idea what was happening. Not yet.

He could remember seeing his father in the kitchen first, and drawing his blade. He could remember himself trying to stop it, yelling no, no why are you doing that-

He would never forget that elytrians bled a muted grey.

He went after anyone he saw and never stopped trying to wrestle back control of his own body. His brother was at school, Phil thought he might be safe. But his little brother- his kind, deathly smart little brother and he was always so much like Wilbur- he came home that afternoon. Phil watched his blood spill on his own hands.

Maybe that was the tipping point. Maybe that’s why Phil was able to resurface for just a second when he walked out of his home, just enough to kill any of the dozens, hundreds, thousands of endermen he was surrounded with- hopefully give his race a fighting chance.

The endermen he’d seen in Ranboo earlier that day. 

But he fell back under. Of course he did. Of course he was too stupid- too weak- too pathetic to fight back any longer. The darkness beckoned him and against every nerve in his body he succumbed to it.

He couldn’t remember anything after that.

End stone was cold. The End was cold. That was all he felt until he managed to dig his fingers into the hole-filled ground. When he sat up he was almost relieved. He’d had his body back, that meant everything was okay. That meant it was all a dream.

He opened his eyes and saw his white robes stained grey.

He wandered his town. There were no bodies, just blood spilled and food left over the fire to tell that something terrible had happened. His fingertips brushed over the smooth lavender bricks of the buildings around him and he was far too deep in shock to feel anything at all.

Her voice was a whisper in his ear;

“You did well.”

Chapter Text

“Okay, and this one?”

Ranboo looked at the paper in front of him.

“ Uh… ‘guh?’ ‘Juh?’”

“Both, actually,” Techno said, setting down the sheet of paper marked with just “Gg” “You’ve gotten all of them right so far.”

“Good?” Ranboo asked as Techno picked up the next one. Techno nodded.

“Great. If you know the sounds already it’ll be easier to sound out words- plus it confirms that you still know at least a bit of English. That should make this easier. What does this one sound like?”

Ranboo made a breathy sound that sounded very similar to the H sound.

Phil had been gone for a few days now, and after Techno got Ranboo as physically healed as he could, he decided to continue with their previous plan to try and mess with Ranboo’s English capabilities. He had started by giving Ranboo an English book and asking “Can you read this?” When this was unsurprisingly met with a no, Techno then tried words, asking Ranboo if he knew what they were or what they meant. 

Ranboo had vague grasps on what some of them meant, but far from enough to effectively start there. So, Techno was instead starting with phonemes, or at least the letters of the alphabet. From there, maybe morphemes, words, phrases, and so on. It really couldn’t be that difficult, he just had to try and stir up enough to get Ranboo coherent and from there he’d probably be able to progress on his own, seeing as he certainly knew English, somewhere in the back of his mind.

It didn’t take them long to get through the impromptu letter flash cards, Ranboo getting all of them correct. Techno gave him a pat on the shoulder.

“You’re doin’ great, Ranboo.”

Ranboo smiled with a “Thank you.”

Techno glanced out the window. The sun had set a while ago.

“I’d say that’s enough English class for one day,” He said “You’re uh… dismissed.”

Both he and Ranboo laughed a bit at that. Ranboo pointed up at the bedroom upstairs.

“Yeah, you can go up, I have something to do anyway.”

Ranboo nodded and climbed the ladder. Techno watched him, then huffed a sigh. His heavy boots thumped against the wood floor as he collected his cloak and draped it over his shoulders. He walked out of the house, down the stone steps into the snow, and started to the right. He’d been putting off doing this by taking care of Ranboo- now he had no excuse.

Phil’s hands grazed the cool teal edges of the End Portal. He’d been doing a lot of that these past few days, actually, most of his time being spent either digging into their food rations- that he’d replenish eventually- or sitting in their as-of-yet unused meeting room, thinking.

He remembered when he first built this room- hell, even when they first found it. He was too distracted by pretending he had no idea what this thing was and also by how they’d angered God. And then, when Techno recommended they turn it into a fcking table the prospect was too goddamn funny to ignore, and Phil had done so.

What a hell of a table.

Phil remembered feeling his connection to the End sever some twenty plus years ago, he remembered thinking that he was finally rid of it all. That was the only reason he felt safe enough to start a family.

But now it was back. He didn’t know how or why, but his connection to the End, to Her, was apparently alive and well.

Well-

Phil had been doing a lot of thinking on his… encounter with Ranboo. Why he had done what he did. Though he originally believed it was entirely the work of the dragon, he realised at some point that there was a level of consciousness there, one that wasn’t present when he was previously being controlled. Phil had attacked him, not the dragon. And even if it had been a reaction left over from the extinction, it was still Phil’s fault for succumbing to measly fear. The kid hardly even looked like an Enderman, honestly, Phil should’ve known that.

He should’ve seen through his anger. His fear. And he hadn’t, and that landed squarely on his shoulders. Just like everyone else he’d hurt.

His fingers moved from the teal and tan frame and onto the turquoise wood. He took a deep breath. But he was okay. He was okay now, because he was going to leave and not hurt anyone else he cared about. He’d never even have to see them again.

“Phil?”

Fuck.

Phil didn’t turn around “What do you want, Techno?”

“What kind of question is that?” Techno’s approaching footsteps echoed in the empty room, “You’ve been gone for five days, what do you think I want?”

“It hasn’t been five days,” Phil said, because that just couldn’t be right, could it?

“I think I’d know better than you,” said Techno, walking up the steps. Phil tensed as he got closer. “Have you been down here all week?”

“Yeah.”

“Jesus, Phil,” Phil could feel Techno coming to a stop to the left of him, but didn’t look up. He trained his eyes on the wither rose on the table.

They were silent.

“You should come back,” Techno said eventually. Phil’s hands clenched nothing on the blue wood.

“No, I shouldn’t,” He said incredulously “You said it yourself- I’m a danger to myself and those around me. So, if I’m not around anyone, everyone’s okay.”

He heard Techno’s sigh.

“I didn’t-” he huffed “I didn’t mean that, Phil. I was upset.”

“And you had every right to be. I could’ve killed him, if you weren’t there,” Phil said.

“But I was there. Unless you think it could happen again.”

“Of course it can, Techno,” Phil’s voice was calm- closer to detached than anything. Techno watched him.

“Then I’ll make sure it doesn’t.”

“I’ll hurt you.”

“No you won’t,” Techno’s voice held so much confidence that Phil was certain was unearned. Phil looked up at him for the first time. Techno’s face was incredibly measured, not showing much past maybe the slightest tinge of concern for his friend. Looking at him after their last interaction felt like a punch to the gut. Phil couldn’t look him in the eyes, gaze falling somewhere just left of that.

“I didn’t think I’d attack Ranboo either. Just because we’re close, Techno-”

“I didn’t say you wouldn’t try,” Techno interrupted “I’m just saying you wouldn’t win.”

Had the tone been less serious, Phil more present, he probably would’ve laughed. Instead, he just sighed.

“Techno, you don’t know that.”

Techno snorted at that, straightening his posture and emphasizing the fact that he was very much looking down at Phil. Phil felt a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“Phil, I’m over a foot taller than you and, like, double as wide. I think that means something.”

Phil turned away from him again, “I know you’re strong Techno, but so am I.”

“I know that. I just think one of us is significantly stronger than the other. I mean, I hate to- to toot my own horn, or whatever, but-”

“I’m being serious.”

“So am I.”

The two stood at an impasse, silent. Phil could feel Techno’s eyes on him and felt as though he was see-through. As though Techno could know all that he knew, feel all he felt. He almost wished that was the case, honestly. Understanding of each other without all the… extra bits.

But telepathy wasn’t commonly available, so they stood there, quiet.

Techno was the first to speak up.

“You should come back,” He repeated.

“I really don’t think I should. How would Ranboo feel about that?”

He felt Techno hesitate next to him and wished he hadn’t been right.

“I want you to come back, Phil. It’s been a weird week without you.”

Phil wanted to come back too. He was sure they both knew that. But he couldn’t, he couldn’t.

“I can’t. Just go away Techno,” Phil said “Please.”

Phil knew he couldn’t send him off that easy. Techno stayed with nothing but a huff. 

Chapter Text

For the longest time, not a word was exchanged between the two. Techno had moved to sit on the literal End table, making it just that much harder for Phil to ignore him. Phil could just walk away. He knew that. But he just… couldn’t, really. It was as if his feet were rooted to the ground, as if his muscles had been frozen. His face was taut, not betraying any real feeling of anger or pain, but just pulled tight.

And Techno hoped he was alright.

He’d never seen Phil like this before, not like anything close. Phil, who had always kept a relaxed demeanor and anything other than that close to his chest, didn’t seem like the man standing before him, rigid and avoiding his gaze. Maybe it was the lighting, but his friend looked paler. Maybe it was the lighting, but his hair looked greying. Maybe it was the lighting, but Phil looked so tired, so high-strung, so much like he was bottling everything up and so much like it had all spilled out.

It probably wasn’t the lighting, actually.

Techno kept a watchful eye on him but he didn’t move. It was sort of… well, it was really upsetting to see, honestly.

Techno sighed.

“Phil,” he said.

He knew Phil heard him from the way his hands clenched and his gaze landed as far from Techno as possible, but he was ignored.

“You have to talk to me eventually. I mean, it’ll just get boring if you don’t, ‘cause I don’t think either of us are planning on leaving.”

Techno was aiming for nonchalant and hoped he landed it. Phil still didn’t respond, though, so he really didn’t have any way of knowing. Techno surveyed him again with a huff.

“Fine. If you’re not gonna talk to me, can you at least just take a breath? You look like a corpse.”

Phil scoffed, the first sign as of yet that he was listening to Techno at all, and did in fact take a breath through his nose. His fingers curled against the edge of the table and he took another breath, deeper, closing his eyes. Techno watched as he slowly untensed, his wings going from standing agitatedly to laying flat against his back. He opened his eyes and turned to Techno.

“We both know I can’t go back.”

Techno laughed and said “Sure,” in a way to portray that he did not agree.

“And you’re still trying to convince me otherwise.”

Techno nodded to the side, pretending to consider it. “Sounds right, yeah.”

Phil sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Look, Phil, you’re coming back to the cabin whether you like it or not.”

“What, you’re gonna drag me there yourself?” Phil asked. Techno snorted.

“Don’t see why not. Wouldn’t be hard,” He said, punctuating it by putting his hand on the top of Phil’s head, easily covering most of it. There was a muffled sigh, but Techno could feel his smile against his palm. After a second, Phil swatted Techno’s hand away and instead tugged him into a hug, one Techno was happy to return. He stood, rubbing circles into his friend’s back. And if he tightened his grip as he felt tears seep into his shirt, he wasn’t about to bring it up.

Again they stood silently, but this time it was far more bearable for both of them. Techno made no move to let go whatsoever until he felt Phil’s grip loosen. Techno gently pulled away. Phil was intentionally looking away, but Techno could see him wiping at his cheeks. He put a hand on Phil’s shoulder.

“Let’s go home, Phil.”

Phil nodded quietly. Techno put his arm around his shoulder and led him down the stone steps. Phil went, not looking back.

During the trek back through the snow, Phil really seemed more like himself. But not in a way that seemed forced or closed off- a genuine type of playful relaxedness. It was a nice little reassurance for Techno; That Phil was not only just an overall chill guy, but that he’d be okay. He had his issues- though that was a vast understatement- but he’d be alright. Maybe he’d start healing, even if Techno would have to force him into it.

The lanterns in the house were unlit, except for in the attic, where you could see slivers of light peeking out from the shutters. Techno froze for just a second but continued. They entered the second floor, and Phil took a deep breath. 

“Man am I fuckin’ glad I came back,” He beelined towards the fireplace. Techno laughed.

There was a creak from upstairs. Techno looked up at the ceiling, not noticing Phil doing the same.

“I’ll be right back,” Techno said after a second. Phil looked over his shoulder and gave Techno a look he pretended not to notice. He ascended the ladder.

Ranboo was really just trying to read, man. He’d sat down on the bed with a small stack and a lit lantern. Granted, they weren’t technically his and he hadn’t technically asked, but he didn’t think Techno would mind the disappearance of a few dusty books at the bottom of a few of his storage chests. It was a bit of a pain, trying to sound out the words in front of him, especially when some of them were so long, but alas. If only there were books written for people learning to read or something.

Anyways, that was when he heard Phil’s voice downstairs.

He froze, sliding off the bed and instead to the space next to the ladder. He heard Techno laugh, then a silence.

Techno said something, and the sound of footsteps approached the ladder. Ranboo scrambled back onto the bed.

Techno emerged from the ladder not long after. Ranboo stared at him. He tried to reign in any of his feelings so they wouldn’t show on his face, but he apparently failed because the first thing Techno said was

“So, I knew you might not be the biggest fan of this.”

Ranboo gave him an incredulous look.

“I know, I know,” Techno said. He gestured to ask if he could sit on the bed. Ranboo scooted over “It’s complicated, Ranboo.”

Ranboo gestured to his face, to his still mostly unhealed scars. Techno sighed.

“I get it, really, but- maybe just try and keep your distance, you know?”

Ranboo stared at him. Techno nodded, thought about something, then nodded some more.

“Alright. Stop me if I get something wrong, but-” Ranboo furrowed his brows. Techno continued. “You’re scared. You’re confused. You still don’t really know what’s going on, and someone you thought you could trust just attacked you and you don’t know why. And now he’s back.”

Ranboo’s gaze was on the floor.

“And the other person you think you can trust is telling you to give him a break, and that sounds really stupid, right?”

Ranboo nodded.

“Well, now that person is telling you that there’s more going on there than he knew. And that he understands how this might seem but you should try and hear him out, because Phil’s working through some crazy stuff. And he promises, one hundred percent, that he will not let him hurt you again, alright?”

Ranboo nodded again. He turned his head and there was the quiet hissing of tears on his skin.

“So, do you think you can give him a shot? You can avoid him all you want, that’s totally understandable and you have no reason to feel bad for doing that, but could you let him just stay in the cabin a couple days at least, see if you can get used to him again?”

Ranboo nodded again, “Yes.”

“Thank you, Ranboo,” Techno said, standing up. “Have a good night. Try to get to bed at some point.”

Techno descended the ladder and Ranboo fell back onto the bed. A lot of thoughts swirled through his head, but the one that seemed to stand out the most was the memory of Techno gesturing vaguely at him, standing next to the window of the attic, saying; “When Phil gets back maybe he’ll be able to help out, he’s better in the… emotions department. I dunno.”

And honestly, Ranboo couldn’t help but think he sold himself short a little bit.