Eret POV:
By the time Puffy made it to the group, half of them were already asleep, after all she had called pretty late, then had to gather paperwork and do the massive drive to get here. It was late and they were all exhausted from the high levels of emotion and stress.
Eret however was the furthest thing from asleep, the idea of sleeping admittedly seemed almost foreign and impossible. Plus her mind was full of anxieties, terrified for the whole group, and far too alert for her to even consider sleeping. She needed to make sure everyone was safe.
Wilbur and Sally had both returned upstairs after they talked to the police, and then the police had addressed them as a whole, before heading back to the station to look into it all in more depth. They had agreed with Puffy's statement that the group should all stay together and here until they knew more, so they had set up camp to sleep.
That left Eret now, with Ranboo fast asleep and stretched out entirely on their lap as the knock on the door came. Looking around the room Eret found Quackity in a similar position to him, with Conner collapsed on top, fast asleep. Karl was huddled in a corner frantically drawing something. The rest were curled up and asleep in various places. Niki had been awake for the longest of the now sleeping people, but she had eventually fallen asleep. Foolish thankfully remained awake and unhindered by anyone sleeping, so she gave him an awkward look, and the other guy laughed quietly as he got up to grab the door.
When Foolish returned with Puffy, he could physically feel the relief that flooded his heart. Puffy seemed like someone who might know what to do in this situation. Maybe she could fix this. Maybe she could find Tommy, and if Techno was right, maybe she could find all of those kids. He hoped so. He desperately hoped so.
"Hey Puffy, I can't move right now because this," Eret smiled gesturing at Ranboo, his voice soft, careful not to wake anyone, "I think Phil's in his office upstairs if you want to talk to him."
"Yeah, I'll do that, then I'll find somewhere to stay and talk to you all in the morning," Puffy agreed, before following Foolish upstairs. Eret didn't miss the way Puffy looked back at the sleeping group and her stress seemed to fade somewhat, turning into a soft smile at the sleeping figures. She clearly cared about people, especially kids, and Eret had to admit, that made them trust her even more.
About an hour later, Puffy reappeared, saying goodbye to Eret and noting that Quackity had now fallen asleep too, before leaving to stay at a friend's house.
"Foolish..." Eret murmured when another hour has past, Karl too had fallen asleep, and the anxiety gnawing at his stomach was refusing to lessen, "Can you tell me why your family doesn't come to competitions? It's ok if not, I'd just appreciate a distraction."
"I don't want to add to your worries..."
"It's fine, please, I've been wanting to ask for ages, and now's as good a time as any."
"Yeah, ok, well, I mean, it's not complicated really. I'm a foster kid, and my foster parents don't really care about my swimming. They aren't bad people, and they don't hurt me or anything, but they really are just there to house and feed me so they can look good. I'm paying for swimming as best I can, and my coach has agreed to let me pay back my debts when I get a proper job after school's out. It all kinda worked out really, I could've been somewhere where they didn't let me swim after all. Plus I have you guys, and you're all basically like family."
"I didn't know, I'm sorry..." Eret murmured, their heart breaking slightly. They should've known, but they hadn't. They knew there was no way for them to know, but it felt like they should've.
"No, it's fine, really, the only bad part is that I don't get to see my little sister. She got fostered out way more then me, since she's significantly younger. It was easier for her and she found a forever home quickly, but they didn't want me involved. I'll find her again one day, but for now I'm just glad she has a family that loves her. I couldn't ask for more. She's always been the sweetest kid, and I miss her, but she's happy, I know that much."
"That's awful, how could they take her away from you like that?" Eret asked, stunned pain flicking through him. He ran his hand gently through Ranboo's hair, unable and to imagine loosing them, and they weren't even technically siblings at all. How was Foolish ok?
"They couldn't find me a home for a while, and so many places were willing to take just her, people don't like fostering teenagers compared to young kids, so I told my social worker to find her a loving home, and he did that. It sucks that I can't be with her, but I'm so glad she has a stable family."
"Yeah, that's fair," Eret sighed, letting her hand fall from Ranboo's hair. It wasn't fair that Foolish didn't have his sister. It didn't make sense. How could anyone do that to siblings? Eret couldn't imagine it. She had to wonder if Tommy had any siblings other then Tubbo that he was separated from. What if Tommy couldn't see his family, even if they loved him? That was so messed up, especially with everything else Tommy was going through.
"Eret?" Ranboo's voice asked softly, breaking through the painful train of thought echoing in Eret's mind.
"Yes?" Eret asked, looking around the room to see that Foolish had finally fallen asleep himself. She must've been worrying about Tommy for some time now. She needed to be careful, she couldn't lose herself like that, not when everyone needed her.
"I saw blood."
"It wasn't real Boo, I promise you. I've been sitting here, watching, no one dangerous is here. We are safe. There's no blood," Eret promised, instantly knowing Ranboo had been dreaming. Ever since that night, Ranboo had started talking about dreams, all of which shared the theme of blood in some way.
"It was you, you were covered in it, and you weren't moving, I can't loose you Eret, please I can't to loose you!" Ranboo begged, his voice getting more and more panicked as he spoke, his breathing ragged, "Eret, please, please, please! Please, I can't loose you! Please Eret, please! I don't want to lose you!"
"Hey it's ok, it's ok, I'm right here, I'm safe, I'm not hurt, I'm not bleeding. It was just a dream. I'm ok. I'm ok Ranboo, I promise."
"No, no no no no no... no I can't loose you, no please please no, NO!"
"You're not going to lose me," Eret promised, bundling the still panicked and rambling Ranboo into their arms and slipping out of the room. No one needed to wake up, and more importantly, no one needed to see this.
"Look, look here," Eret instructed, putting Ranboo down in front of the bathroom mirror, "See, no blood, I'm ok, you're ok. It was a dream. It was just a dream. You're ok. I promise you. You're ok.
"But- but you- you were there- you were covered in blood, I was- I was going to loose you- I don't want to lose you- please- please Eret!"
"You are not going to lose me, you haven't lost me. I'm here. I'm here and I'm safe."
"You're- but- you're-" Ranboo rambled, stumbling over the words.
"I'm here, I'm safe," Eret repeated, pulling Ranboo into a hug, "No blood here."
"Are you sure?"
"Certain," Eret promised, and with that Ranboo seemed to calm slightly. He was still shaking, still clinging onto Eret like his life depended on it, but something told Eret that Ranboo was coming back.
They stood, Ranboo's sobs the only thing stopping it from being silent. Eventually they lessened and the shaking dulled somewhat, calming into rushed breathing, and then softening to a more relaxed breath. It was then that Eret knew Ranboo was ok. The pure panic was over now.
"Are you ok?"
"I'm sorry..." Ranboo muttered, burying their face deeper into Eret's hoodie.
"What for?"
"I panicked I'm sorry, I- I should-"
"You did nothing wrong," Eret said, cutting Ranboo off, "You are ok now, I couldn't ask for anything more."
"I want Tommy to be ok. I want him to be ok, Eret."
"He will be, Puffy came and talked to Phil last night, and she'll talk to us in the morning. I wouldn't be surprised if she finds him before the day is up."
"What time is it?"
"3am, you should go back to sleep," Eret replied, giving Ranboo a soft smile and leading them back downstairs.
Words: 1500
A/N: gotta love seeing ppl comment like "hey this is a small plot hole cuz earlier u said xyz" and my response being "oops I forgot about that... pretend it doesn't exist mhm"