Bedrock

Chapter 18

Dream pulled the blade away from Tubbo's throat, cocking his head at the boy. He laughed.

"Wow, Tubbo. I didn't expect you to be so selfish! God, I really taught you well."

All of Tubbo's rage disappeared, leaving him with the horror of what he'd just done. Did he really just tell Dream to hurt somebody? Especially Ranboo? His only friend. And for what? Revenge? He hadn't done anything! Tubbo's eyes widened.

"Wait. Wait. No. Dream, don't. Don't listen to me. I- Dream, please, don't hurt him again. He's already-"

Dream looked at Tubbo, his eyes narrowed. "Hm, well, that's disappointing." He glanced at Ranboo, who was watching the entire thing with his eyes widened, his burn searing into Tubbo's eyes. "You know, Tubbo, you're really stupid."

~

Before Ranboo could say something to defend Tubbo, trying to make Dream understand that Tubbo had the right to be mad, but he also really didn't want to be hurt again. Still, he'd kind of betrayed his only friend just to save his own rear, but, again, he didn't want to be hurt because it hurt- he was pushed back and Dream was facing him, a glint of metal in the man's hand.

Ranboo blinked, confused at what had just happened, when he felt something warm running down his front. Tubbo shouted.

Ranboo swallowed and looked down, inhaling when he saw the red steadily coating his front. Or more like, tried to inhale. Instead of air coming into his lungs, blood was shooting out of the hole in his chest. He tried to gasp, realizing he couldn't breathe. And it was hot. Really, really hot, like the Nether. But worse.

Then came the pain. It was way too familiar now, wasn't it? This time it wasn't burning, but pain was pain. His legs turned into noodles after that. He found himself on the ground, Tubbo frantically trying to stop the blood flow and doing an absolutely terrible job at it. He was saying something, probably trying to reassure Ranboo that he would be fine- although it was evident that that wasn't true- but suddenly, it sounded like echo-y, but also like he was underwater (not that Ranboo would really know what that was like). It was weird. Also, it didn't really hurt anymore. That was a plus.

Ranboo'd heard people say stuff about "the light at the end of the tunnel" or something, but now he really understood it. His vision had gone dark around the edges, leaving him with a blurry point of light in the centre, like a tunnel.

Tubbo was shaking him, trying to get him to stay awake, but it was hard. Really, really hard.

So, he closed his eyes.

~

"You know he's just about dead, right?" Dream asked.

Tubbo ignored him and kept his hands pressed on Ranboo's chest, not caring how sticky they were getting.

"Hey, Ranboo, stay awake for me. Please, don't close your eyes. It's going to be fine."

Ranboo had already closed his eyes.

"Hey, hey, it's going to be fine. Don't worry."

The hybrid was starting to crumble.

"Ranboo, please, don't leave me." Tubbo tried and failed to keep his tears in.

Then he was gone, reduced to purple dust and swept away by some unseen wind.

Tubbo was alone.

No, he wasn't.

Tubbo shot to his feet, his vision turning red. He charged at Dream, who- that bastard- was leaning against the wall, picking at his nails.

"YOU MONSTER!" He screamed, weakly hitting his fists at the uncaring man. "YOU KILLED HIM! You killed him just like you killed Tommy!"

Dream looked up, his eyebrows raising. "But Tommy isn't dead."

"He might as well be," Tubbo sobbed, sinking to the floor. "Why did you have to kill him? Why couldn't you kill me?"

"Oh, Tubbo," Dream said. "Ranboo had served his purpose. You, on the other hand, haven't."

"What what would you need me for?" Tubbo asked. If looks could kill, Dream would be a dead man.

Dream shrugged. "When I find Tommy, we can't have him running away again."

"You will never find him," Tubbo growled.

Dream sighed."Yes, Tubbo. Yes, I will.

~

Ranboo was on a bed. That was a nice change.

Hang on.

He sat up, ignoring the stab (ha, stab) of pain in his chest. He was alive.

Just to make sure, Ranboo sucked in a breath. He was alive!

He glanced around. He was in his house. That meant he was near Technoblade and Philza, if they were home.

Ranboo pulled on his boots and ran into the snow. The crisp air greeted him. He grinned, relishing in his freedom.

That could wait. Ranboo needed to find Phil and Techno.

Technoblade's door was open, so Ranboo barged inside to see three very astonished faces, one of which now very wet.

"Ranboo?!" Phil threw a towel at Technoblade, who was sheathing the sword he'd instinctively drawn and muttering curses at his now-empty teacup.

Ghostbur floated over, giving Ranboo a very cold, non-existent hug. "I knew you were going to be alright!"

Techno threw the towel to the floor, ignoring the wet stain on his pants. "What did he do to you?" He growled.

"Dream stabbed me if that's what you were wondering," Ranboo said simply.

Philza blinked. "Mate, that's not a stab wound."

Ranboo furrowed his brow. "What?"

"Whatever happened to your ear!" Philza said, a bit astonished.

"I, uh, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Phil," Techno whispered, not very quietly, "memory problems, remember?"

"Oh, I forgot something, didn't I?"

"I do that all the time!" Ghostbur echoed happily.

"Yeah," Phil said quietly, ignoring the ghost. "Yeah, you did. But we'll talk about that later. For now, we just need to know what happened. If you remember."

Ranboo cleared his throat, fidgeting under the intense stare Techno was giving him. "Uh, long story short, Tommy is probably alive, Dream found out, he captured Tubbo and me, and he, uh, killed me."

"What?!" Techno shouted, his voice filled with disbelief. Philza sat back down, quiet. "Tommy's alive? Actually alive? I mean, your memory book said so, but I wasn't about to believe a piece of paper, but-" he cut himself off. "How is that possible?"

Ranboo explained it for the third time. When he was finished, Philza sat back in his seat with a sigh.

"So, Dream wants to recreate it and kill Tommy once-and-for-all?"

"Yep."

"Do you have any idea where he took you and Tubbo? Or where he's hiding now? And what he's doing to Tubbo?"

"Nope, nope, and nope."

"Well, this isn't good," Techno muttered.

"Why don't you just wait for it to thunderstorm and meet him wherever he's going to make the portal?" Ghostbur asked.

"We have no way of knowing where he's going to do it," Phil responded.

"Actually, we kind of do," Everyone looked at Ranboo. He shrank a bit under their gaze. "The only way to get to the same dimension Tommy's in is to make the portal exactly where it was the first time."

Techno's eyes widened. "L'Manberg."

"Mhm," Ranboo's eyes narrowed. "In the crater you made."