4.23.22

             Many people surrounded the prime path when they saw Ranboo being held by Dream holding both of his hands together behind his back. The teen looked completely traumatized to the point of no return, making everyone question what exactly happened. What did he do? Why does he look like he's being put into prison? They got their answer right as Tubbo entered from the same portal, holding his now dead son with a tear stained face. The child looked beyond murdered, it looked like a murder that was done in cold blood, which is very out of the ordinary for Ranboo. One of the bystanders that put two and two together whispered to another," I don't think he would do that, right?' The other nodded, now both in agreement with each other.

             Tubbo looked down to his son and yelled," if you want your eyes attached to all your heads, I'd suggest to look away this instant. If you'd like to attend the funeral, you are all welcome to mourn with me." The bystanders soon all went their separate ways after hearing the obvious threat and went back to whatever they were doing before. The three kept walking until they saw the very soon-to-be-finished jail that went by the name "Pandora's Vault" from what Ranboo overheard Dream tell Tubbo. Nodding in unison, the three entered the jail with only some minor difficulties of either the lock mechanisms going slow or Dream forgetting where to go and having to pull out the blueprints from his enderchest.

             "This is taking a while..." Tubbo mumbled impatiently, still looking down at his dead son laying in his arms. He looked like he thought he was still alive, in denial, which was indeed the first stage of grief. Even though he wasn't the one to kill their son, the killer was right in front of them all this time, he still felt as though he did this. He made his husband go through grief, he ended his own child's life for no reason, he should be locked up. He was brought out of his thoughts by a quick hand gesture from Dream, basically meaning "don't worry about it". Dream scoffed," Half of this was made by Sam and he went a little bit overboard than just sticking to the blueprints requirements. I don't even know how long most of this shit takes." Tubbo only nodded in response, cradling and bouncing the dead child in his arms. Yep, definitely in denial.

             As 5 minutes passed, the lava surrounding the small cell in the center of the now halfway hallowed out room was drained and Dream pushed Ranboo onto the platform in front of the two. "Flick that switch over there, will ya?" he spoke over to the ram hybrid, who was currently shifting his arms around to free his right hand. The switch was shortly pulled and Tubbo jumped onto the platform and walked along with it. Dream was confused when a thud was heard and flung his head around, immediately getting upset. "You idiot, now we both won't be able to get out of this place! We need someone to switch it up again so it can come bac-!" Tubbo cut him off with a snarky remark," Well, you have ender pearls, don't you? Just use those to teleport back to the control area and let me come back on here. Before you say anything again, if you really didn't make sure you had pearls then you were unprepared and I was." He pulled out a stack of ender pearls and shoved them back into his pocket, only hearing a scoff from the masked man a few seconds later.

             The platform shook slightly as it collided with the surface of the cell to make sure no one would be able to fall into the lava while getting prisoners in their cell. Ranboo decided to make his own steps into the obsidian box instead of Dream throwing him into it like he knew he was about to do. This might be very unfair because there are so many others in the server that have done worse and he was framed for murder, but he just couldn't live with the fact he saw a child he loved so dearly get slaughtered in front of him. He also thought of the times he let Micheal get his way and he endorsed putting his child in danger, it was a bad move, and always will be a terrible mistake he made brushing off the fact he practically knew Dream would be there at some point to cause chaos.

             Tubbo sighed and told the masked man to ender pearl his way back to the controls so he could talk to the enderman hybrid. He was reluctant to leave them in the cell but later obliged once Tubbo gave him a brutal death glare. As soon as the other teleported away, the death glare softened only a little bit when he looked at the soon-to-be prisoner. "You know what you did, right? As if you can't even remember your own crime either. Do you have anything to say before I leave with my child?" A stab to the heart, to be completely honest, but he didn't blame Tubbo for thinking he shouldn't even be considered a father at this point. He tried his best to tell Tubbo everything he could in a matter of minutes. He rambled on about the fact Dream did it and he was framed, but Tubbo didn't believe any second of it.

             "Is it just me or did you lose your sense of reality too?" is all Tubbo responded with.

             "Reality is one of them, but the only thing that I know I lost so much of is the corpse lying in your arms."

             Ranboo continued," He's gone, Tubbo. I'd rather die than live with the fact I contributed to leading him to his inevitable fate." Tubbo's eyes widened and his breathing became quicker, before swallowing down his tears and shakily breathing out," Goodbye, Ranboo."

             Calling out to the masked man once again to pull up the switch, walking along the moving pathway and mumbling something that Ranboo could only make out to be a saying about how this was his last time he would ever be able to see his child in person. He never stopped thinking about the death that day and all night he felt isolated and alone, because he was. He didn't even have a clock, only depended on the fact he normally got tired around 1am and lied down on the cold obsidian covered floor. Ranboo attempted to sleep, yet he never did. Even if he was tired he was still in so much shock and his mind was racing a hundred miles a minute. The fact he was so far away from the person that was an actual eyewitness to everything and could stand up for him made him have hope and lose it at the same time.
- - -

             Tubbo was still dealing with grief, he still couldn't digest anything mentally and emotionally. The fact his husband was a murderer and lied to him about just going to get groceries, he should've known. He usually hears the small snores of the piglin when he sleeps, but he was so tied up with paperwork that he didn't even bother to notice. He spent the next few hours leaning over the piglin's corpse in his hands and sobbing his eyes out. He knew he needed to put his soul to rest, give him a grave even, especially since the smell of a slowly rotting corpse was getting stronger and more unbearable.

             It was a scent so strong and disgusting that he almost threw up a number of times. Before he was about to head out and dig up a grave for his son, a knock rang out from the soft spruce wood of the front door. A sniffling sound was heard through the silence of the house, the ram hybrid wiping his eyes and cheeks with his sleeve. "...hello?" Tubbo mustered up a tone that would seem like he's holding up well.

             "Tubbo? You might want to start that funeral soon, bodies decay faster than you probably think, especially when they were already undead to begin with."

             It was Dream. Something was off about his tone, it sounded like he was smiling. Like he was happy or excited. It gave Tubbo an ocean's worth of chills. "I know. I was just about to do that..." Tubbo mumbled loud enough so he could hear through the door clearly. Tubbo added to that," tell the people of L'manberg that the funeral will take place once the sun sets two days from now." The only response he got was a quick "ok" and the crunching of snow under feet as Dream walked away.

             The lifeless eyes of his son dug into his soul, he hated seeing him like this but never once did he let him go that entire night. He even slept with Micheal in his arms. A few hours after waking up, he noticed the piglin was now cold to the touch, so he decided to wrap him in multiple blankets. Even though this didn't work one bit since there was no body heat, Tubbo felt whole again, pretending his son was still alive and well. It all changed when he looked back into his face to find the same lifeless expression. Tubbo hated this was how reality was, and at that moment it all struck him at once. He sobbed and yelled phrases that no parent should ever have to yell. Things such as 'my baby' and 'he's dead'.

             At that very moment, he, too, felt cold. Devoid of warmth, no more love to give to the piglin because he wouldn't even be able to know he was getting it.
- - -

             As two more days passed, everything was so silent. Tommy couldn't get over the fact he couldn't do anything outside of Logstedshire in fear of getting caught. Tubbo held the funeral just that night and he wasn't handling much of anything, avoiding any paperwork, couldn't eat healthily, and those two nights were basically sleepless. Ranboo wasn't doing much better in the prison, he had limited food and already doesn't know if it's night or day. He even accidentally burnt himself on the lava wall multiple times trying to find a way of escape. A meeting was held to discuss what they should do to Ranboo, which consisted of Dream, Punz, Sapnap, and George. Dream and Punz were the main people to talk, Sapnap and George were clearly annoyed to be pulled into this situation.

             "So, we have to find out the best solution to fully make it fair for everyone, including Tubbo." Punz stated, motioning to Tubbo's empty chair. He was, in fact, invited, but he was still grieving and didn't bother to respond to the messages both Punz and Dream sent to him. "Fuck that, I think Ranboo needs to pay. He killed a toddler, he's a child murderer." Dream exclaimed, Punz immediately retaliated. "Might I remind you that this is supposed to be an unbiased meeting, just like a court system would handle these things. Dream, I suggest you shut up before this gets unreasonably hostile." Dream grumbled, sitting back in his chair and leaning against the back. The white hooded man took a deep breath before speaking up once more," anyways, we haven't heard anything from the guests you brought along. Sapnap? George? Do you have a unique take on the situation?"

             Silence crowded the room, but then Sapnap stuttered out to break it. " U-Uh", he cleared his throat," I did find something off about Dream when he was coming from the path leading to the exile portal, moments before he came out with Tubbo and Ranboo on the prime path. It was kinda like he was happy... I don't know but it was very off-putting and maybe the story is different than what Dream's telling us... let alone the fact he lies a lo-" A flash of green flew through the air, turning out to be Dream who had flung himself across the table to tackle Sapnap on the ground, grabbing his collar and dragging him upwards to look at him. "I am not a liar! Stop calling me that!" the masked man yelled, another voice being overlapped on his last word.

             "Dream." Punz said sternly, waiting for said man to turn his head around. Shpck! A flash of an axe blade swung at his mask and broke off the bottom left half of it diagonally, also creating a pretty deep cut on his cheek. "I told you we needed all sides to this with no unnecessary arguing, especially starting physical fights. Get the fuck up and learn to be civil for once in your life." Dream grimaced at Punz' aggressive reasoning. "I could kill you right now," the masked man's corner of his mouth can now be seen, fangs poking out slightly. Punz laughed in response," with what weapons? You trusted me so much with them for this meeting, you don't have them in your possession. So, it's more like I should be saying that to you. Get up. Off of Sapnap. Now."

             Dream reluctantly stood up, not even bothering to help Sapnap up which left him to pull himself up and onto his chair. "I think Sapnap has some evidence of being an eyewitness to the post-crime and Dream's reaction definitely means something is up." Punz evaluates, George now finally butting in to defend Dream. "Well, Dream's reaction was a bit over dramatic but I've known beforehand that he hates being called a liar. It's linked with trauma he doesn't want to get into." Sapnap's expression changed from neutral to confused immediately after George's remark, mumbling," he never... told me anything about that."

             The meeting went on for another few hours and finally made its end where Dream was a suspect for being the murderer of Micheal, but didn't have enough evidence to have to lock him up. Dream was still in charge of the jail, enough to dictate the entire case on its head. That being said, Dream did exactly that, planning out a whole schedule to do with the case and figuring out how to end it very easily. The satisfaction of killing Ranboo on his own in the cell would fulfill his desire for full control over Tommy, yet would only put him in more deep waters for murder. So, he thought of another plan and ran with it as soon as he thought everyone would forget him being a suspect and all pin it on Ranboo. He built an entire structure for this occasion far away from the jail and the prime path and waited.

             The platform in the lava floored room sounded as soon as dawn hit, making the enderman hybrid immediately jump up from his nap and run over to see who was planning on visiting. It wasn't who he hoped it was, instead of Tommy it was Dream, the person who fabricated the story of the murder pinned on him. "It's time for you to get out of the cell. It's been decided that you'll be let free." Dream spoke excitedly, so excitedly it was almost abnormal. Ranboo didn't care how off it seemed and his face lit up instantly," wait... really? I'm gonna be able to see Tubbo and To... I mean... I'll really be free?" Dream laughed and laughed, even wheezed at times, making Ranboo's expression turn startled and confused. Then the masked man finally spoke, post-laughter making him still sound happily crude in this situation.

             "No, that's not what I meant, pfft." Dream spoke through subtle laughter, Ranboo tempted to ask what he meant," w...what do you mean? Am I just going outside for a second so I don't turn insane or..." Dream burst out laughing again, recovering quite fast from this hysterical fit despite this one being more loud than the last.

             "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. You were put on death row by Tubbo."

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