The Lives We Save

Zoned

Under, over, back. Under, over, back. The words repeated like a mantra in Tubbos mind as he woke together daisies in a long chain. They filled his mind until he wasn't thinking of anything else. Methodic fingers worked on muscle memory, twisting the stems together. Under, over, back. Under, over, back. Under, over, back-

Tubbo was broken out of his thoughts when he didn't feel any more daisies in the pile that was once next to him. He had gone through all the flowers. Whoops. He meant to make three flower crowns, but ended up making one long chain. Long enough to be a necklace.

Tubbo sighed, standing up and stretching, "man, how long has it been?"

Getting no response, the boy looked around. Ranboo had disappeared. Tubbo swore he was there a minute ago.

"Ranboo!?" Tubbo called, again being met with silence, "Ender!? Boo!? Ran!? Anyone!?"

Starting to panic, Tubbo whirled around to the river where Tommy was. But the river was clear of any blonde boys.

"Tommy!?" Tubbo yelled, jumping into the spring-flooded waters, "TOMMY!?"

Tubbo froze in the water, breathing heavily. The river was up to his waist. The spring melt made the river that much deeper, and the current that much stronger. It would have been so easy for Tommy to have gotten swept away, or drowned, or caught in a swirling current and exhausted himself to death trying to stay afloat!

"Hey!" Tubbo heard someone call right before he was hugged tightly from behind.

Tubbo turned around quickly to see Tommy. He was soaked, with a blue towel over his head, but he was alive.

"Tommy!" Tubbo gasped, hugging the boy tightly back, "oh my god I'm so sorry! I should have been watching you better! I'm sorry!"

Tommy just put the towel over Tubbo's head. The shorter smiled softly. The towel did help slightly, but his panic still had yet to completely calm. He leaned his head on Tommy's chest, taking deep breaths.

"Ranboo..." Tubbo breathed, " he- or Ender- one of them wondered off."

"Um, are you the boys caretaker?"

Tubbo jumped as he looked up. There were three strange men watching them.

"Yeah." Tubbo stood in front of Tommy, "who are you?"

The blonde one laughed lightly, "I'm Philza. These are my son's Techno and Wilbur. We found your friend about half a mile downriver."

"Half a mile!?" Tubbo yelped.

The pinkette shrugged, "yeah, roughly."

"How long was I zoned for..?" Tubbo mumbled, then shook his head, "no! We have to find Ranboo!"

Tubbo took Tommy's hand, pulling him down the path at a quick pace. If Ranboo flipped to Ender, then they would stay on the paths. Unless it wasn't Ender...

"Tubbo!?" A panicked scream came from his left.

"Ranboo!" Tubbo yelled, dragging Tommy into the brush.

A few moments later he spotted Ranboo. The taller looked stressed and confused, looking around frantically.

"Ranboo!" Tubbo called, letting go of Tommy and running to the taller, "holy shit I'm sorry! I was zoned! I-I don't know what happened!"

Ranboo hugged him, "it's okay, I'm okay Tubbo. At least Tommy is safe too."

Tubbo cringed slightly, pulling away from the hug, "actually... He got carried about half a mile downstream..."

Ranboo just sighed, "but we're okay now. Okay?"

Tubbo nodded. He felt so guilty it physically hurt. How could he have done this to the two people he cared about most. He has to be the most heartless person in the world. He didn't even deserve to cry.

"Over here!" A deep voice made the boys jump.

Soon, a brown haired man bounced over to where they were. He had a large smile on his face as he rushed over to Tommy.

"You!" He said in a much different voice than the first, "you wanted to hold Friend!"

The man held out a blue sequined sheep. Tommy's eyes went wide as he took it, immediately flipping the sequins back and forth. The two of them giggled as if there was an inside joke.

"Wilbur, I appreciate you trying to help them, but please don't run off." Philza said as he walked over.

"Sorry dad." Wilbur smiled.

Philza then turned to the boys, "anyway, what are your names?"

"Tubbo, who are they?" Ranboo asked, hunching down a little.

"They found Tommy..." Tubbo whispered back, "I'm Tubbo. And this is Tommy."

The blonde boy was still playing with the sheep, absolutely enthralled with the color changing sequins.

"I'm Ranboo." The tallest introduced himself.

"It's nice to officially meet you all." Philza smiled, "where do you live?"

"In an abandoned farmhouse a little bit away." Tubbo told them.

"By yourselves?" Techno asked, "how old are you?"

"I-I'm eighteen." Ranboo told them.

"Tommy and I are seventeen." Tubbo said.

Techno hummed, "that's pretty young to be out here by yourselves."

"You're one to talk." Philza laughed.

Wilbur giggled, "Techie tried to join the royal guard when he was ten! But then Dadza and Mumza adopted him and he became my brother!"

Techno huffed out a laugh, "I wanted to be a knight and ended up being a prince."

"You're a prince!?" Tubbo's eyes went wide.

Philza nodded, "Techno and Wil are both prince's. I'm the king."

Tubbo and Ranboo didn't know what to say. Tommy however, ran up to Wilbur, showing him a cool pattern he had made on the sheep.

Philza chuckled, "would you three like to see the castle? Have a nice warm meal? Our doctor's can make sure Tommy is okay after the river and you can stay the night if you want."

"I'm not sure..." Tubbo glanced up at Ranboo, who shrugged and looked away.

"I assure you, my wife will be glad for some company." Phil laughed.

Ranboo shrugged, "one night doesn't sound too bad..?"

Tubbo sucked in a small breath "I guess so... Okay. If you two want to go."

"I don't think we'll have to convince Tommy." Ranboo chuckled lightly.

Tubbo smiled softly at his friend. Tommy an Wilbur were taking turns making each other laugh with the blue sheep.

"Alright." Phil said gently, "Techno, lead us home."

The pinkette scoffed, but smiled, "this way, old man."