generation loss oneshots

Fake Ending

Even before allowing the live audience to vote for whether or not Ranboo should die, Hetch knew he could never kill Ranboo, no matter what the audience said. They were too much of an asset to have, a wonderful actor and beautifully gullible, almost too easy to manipulate. And they had gained a shit-ton of popularity, despite the fact that they only had four hours of screen time. Perhaps Ranboo had been popular before they were brought onto the show.

Either way, they couldn't be killed off so soon, that would be ridiculous. There was a new show that needed a lead, and Ranboo would be perfect for it.

***

"Please, just kill me!" Ranboo screamed at the camera, begging the audience.

As the time ticked down, they could see their mask flashing red. Suddenly, all of their memories from before the mall started to pour into their mind, flashes of their life passing before their eyes. Was it because they were going to die?

Either way, the abrupt onslaught of memories made Ranboo scream harder as they realized what it really, truly meant to be a slave to Showfall Media meant. They had such a wonderful life outside of this hellish mall, and they couldn't get out to live it.

"Please!!" Ranboo cried, their voice breaking as they held back a flood of tears.

"Well Ranboo, looks like the audience picked death. Give them a bow before your final curtain," Hetch's voice crackled over the speaker, sending an odd slurry of emotion through Ranboo's stomach.

Perhaps a mix of relief and the most overwhelming, intense sense of panic that they had ever felt, which was saying something based on what had happened to them over the course of the past three days.

The box around Ranboo's head closed sharply and they closed their eyes, expecting blinding pain.

***

Ranboo's eyes snapped open quickly as if they had woken from a nightmare. But what had been the nightmare? Ranboo dug through their memory, dredging out a faded memory of a mall and running around it with another person whose face was blurred and unrecognizable. They were being chased by... something.

Their mask glowed, shining red light into their eyes, though it wasn't that noticeable. It had just been a dream though, nothing to worry about.

The last bits of terror clung to Ranboo's skin as he sat up, looking around as they tried to remember where they were.

Oh that's right. Obviously they were in their room, on their bed. Because they had just been asleep.

The light on their mask flickered and died. Ranboo looked around again, suddenly realizing none of this was familiar. Where were they?

They got out of the bed, immensely confused as they realized they were wearing full clothing, hoodie and shoes included, though they had just been in a bed.

"Hello?" Ranboo called, opening the door to the room, peeking their head out of the opening. "Anyone there?"

It sounded like there was movement coming from downstairs, so Ranboo steeled themselves and left the room, finding the stairs and creeping down them.

As they entered the downstairs of the house, they noticed that there were other people in the building with them. They were odd, wearing black suits and masks with some sort of symbol on it. There were many of them, all walking around and putting things in their places. A letter, placed onto the table, an apple into a bowl on the counter.

It didn't look like they were cleaning, rather more like they were setting something up. Or maybe just decorating the house.

"Hello?" Ranboo walked up to one with long blond hair in a braid.