4.26.22

(WARNING! This chapter contains death.)

((i wrote this in a day because i was just that into writing this chapter :,] enjoy crying! or not idk))

             Suffocating silence of both entities crowded the halfway hallow room, letting the sounds of popping lava bubbles and heavy breathing of the prisoner become even louder than before. Ranboo couldn't believe this at all, even though Tubbo seemed very mad, he couldn't have been that upset, right? "Well, then why didn't he tell me himself? Why did you need to come and tell me?" he questioned with a hint of anger in his tone. He suspected the one on the other side of the obsidian barrier was forging a story to make him believe he was planned to be killed. "After... a meeting was held, Tubbo stated he was going to have you publicly executed and then went straight home to grieve the death of his child. Did you not know parents grieve the death of loved ones? Are you tonedeaf? What made you think you'd be set free after causing someone so much pain?"

             Dream practically gaslit Ranboo for a few minutes before teleporting via ender pearl back to the control room, switching off the barrier, and teleporting right back to grab him. "Here. Don't go anywhere other than straight ahead or I might have to kill you myself by trying to escape. Remember who has weapons and armor here." he threatened, making the enderman hybrid nervously nod, taking the ender pearl out of the other's scarred hand. They both then teleported over to the control room and spilled the lava back into the room once the platform was back in its place.

             The two walked down and waited for locks to let them cross, awkwardly either telling the prisoner to go ahead or making small talk to make it less quiet. It seemed like they were just going through some sort of puzzle while making awkward remarks, if context was shown to the situation, it would make no sense as to why they were so calm. Dream still had a small smile plastered on his face, knowing his plan is going smoothly thus far. Ranboo, on the other hand, felt like his entire entity was already being ripped apart, despite it not being the time of execution yet. He was scared, appalled, he believed this was probably the most afraid he's been. No one would blame him though.

             Although he wasn't all innocent, he had indirectly lied about Micheal staying home when he was bringing him along with him to a land of exile, he was more innocent than everyone thinks he is. Everyone except Tommy, the person who is now a long way to go between two nether portals. The fact this has been decided so early and abruptly, it didn't seem natural to the enderman. "Why is this happening so early? Don't you wait a few more days or weeks until you can decide to execute-" Ranboo's words overlapped and were cut off by a loud response from the presumed warden," Tubbo said he wanted you gone very soon. Today is the day. He really doesn't want to see you at all now. Must be too heartbroken to care about you anymore."

             That made Ranboo shut up. His chest was aching, yet he let it ache. The feeling of guilt made its unhappy welcome into his flurry of emotions. Almost everyone hates him now and wants him gone, at least that's what he thought. Going through the release portal after the go-ahead, the light of the rising sun blinded him temporarily. He breathed. He finally breathed fresh air again, even though it was only a few days, he felt happy to finally be out of there, even if it was for execution. "It's about 200 blocks away from the jail so you might want to enjoy being able to roam free before we get there. Actually, I just remembered about the letters to send out. Come with me while I send these out to everyone." Ranboo nodded slowly, his breathing still unsteadily trying to get used to the new air and environment. For a few hours, letters were distributed between the houses of L'manberg. About two or three people out of all the houses they went to all asked why Ranboo was with Dream delivering letters. The only answers he gave out were that he was giving Ranboo some outside time, letting him come along to give the people letters to a surprise. They thought nothing of it and took the letters inside with them.

             The trek over to the execution site was pretty silent, despite the occasional tripping over rocks and roots Ranboo encountered. Through a pretty lush forest which was rich in the smell of fir wood, once the trees stopped showing up a large box with three walls made of jagged stone bricks and the front made of glass. Water filled the box, stopping about a few inches away from reaching the top along with a cage that was big enough for a person to fit inside. The structure was placed on top of a platform, almost that of a stage, made of nether brick slabs and stairs. Stopping in his tracks upon seeing the structure, the rope that hung the cage above the water filled box by a wooden pole, the ladder that leaned behind the box secretly. He knew what his execution would be and it was bound to be painful.

             "Alright, we're here. I have to deliver two more letters so I'll have to put you into another cage so you can't get out and attempt to escape." Dream sighed impatiently, leading him to another cage that was practically confined, bolted to an iron plate that dug into the surface of the earth, obsidian walls covering the entire thing except for the iron barred door. Even though he wasn't going to try to escape, there was definitely no escaping now, which made Ranboo all the more nervous for his inevitable death to come.

             Dream practically attempted to shove the teen into the cage himself to hurry things up, but it didn't work due to the height difference of Ranboo being taller than Dream by about 6 inches. Chh...kh. The door was closed and locked, then the door maneuvered a bit to make sure it was secure. "Don't worry, noon will be coming soon and it'll all be over." Dream smiled and left to go send the letters. So that's when it'll take place. Noon. Ranboo looked through the iron bars and peered to the left, the sun blinding him for a split second while recording where the position of the sun meant for time's sake. He predicted it was around 10am. Wow, noon really was around the corner. He collapsed back down from his knees and sat in a ball near the corner of the cage, or more likely the first box out of two he'd be in for the day.
- - -

             Tommy lied back on his rickety bed that was starting to get a bit uncomfortable, but he didn't mind. The blue sweater that was always in his worn out leather bag was now worn by him as the neckband was close to draping off of his shoulders. The buttons looked like they were ready to disband from the confines of threads held together to the sweater, but hadn't yet. There were bandages that Dream had given him briefly before disappearing again through the portal. The bandages were a bit weak but still did what they were intended for and they felt pretty silk-like. They wrapped around the teens neck and chest, barely hanging onto his shoulder blade which were wrapped around his armpit to secure them in place without falling off. A cut on his right cheek was bandaged by a pink bandaid, a cut that not even Tommy was made aware of himself. Dream's specific words were 'I don't know if you want anything related to hello kitty... so here's a plain pink one', which made Tommy chuckle out a small thank you in return.

             Tommy loved to see the side of Dream that almost treated him like his brother, although it didn't come so often. Even so, he shamed himself for even finding a good side to Dream and sticking to him like glue because he showed even the slightest bit of concern for him. He sat up and stared over to the rock circle surrounding the two flowers from before. They seemed fine until he got up and came closer to them. The allium was slowly starting to wilt and gain a brownish gray color. "What... how? You came after the cornflower. How does that even make any sense...?" Tommy asked while holding the allium in his hand, the now tilted structure of the plant now leaning against his palm.

             He swung his head over to look at the portal that released a distorted word from the other side, leading to the nether. "Tommy!" it rang out, startling said teen. Dream reached out from the portal, then the rest of him, holding two letters in one of his hands. "I got a surprise! You're going to love it! Wanna hear?" Dream exclaimed, heading over to Tommy in a rushed manner. The blonde tilted his head, responding with a simple 'yeah?' "Well, you can finally leave the exile area," Tommy's eyes lit up and Dream continued, slightly laughing at his reaction," And all of your friends will be there, including Ranboo! Yep, all he got was a fine and that was it!" Dream blatantly lied to Tommy, but he looked so excited to finally see them again, they were basically best friends after all.

             He knows this was supposed to be a part of a plan to get rid of Ranboo to have Tommy free to wrap around his finger everytime he could. So, why did he feel so guilty about doing this to him? He couldn't be that attached, right? Dream shook off the feeling momentarily, giving the letter to the other. "Now don't open this until 11:50, okay? Wouldn't want the surprise for you to be ruined until then!" Tommy smiled and nodded, the shine in his once eerie and dead blue eyes was back again, making Dream grow a big pang of guilt in his stomach. It felt like destroying the guilt of your own family, except they weren't your family by blood, but still a family.

             "Alright, I gotta go send this letter to Tubbo so he can come too."

             "Oh, uh..."

             "Something wrong, Tommy?"

             "Could he... not come? We're not exactly on the best terms right now. Y'know, the exile thing?" Dream blinked for a second and smiled. It wasn't a warm smile, it was more cold than anything. It was a smile that screamed victory, that he'd won something over. "Of course, he will not be there." Dream waved goodbye and disappeared back into the portal.

             This is perfect, Dream would keep Tubbo in the dark about his husband dying, not knowing it was him who had killed him. He'd see the message in the chat and grieve more, making Dream take his place as president until he's better again. He smiled more. He will never get sick of smiling, even if his smile is as sick as he is.
- - -

             11:30, Dream had arrived back from delivering the letters and now all they had to do was wait. Tick, tick, tick. The clock the masked man had made on the way back ticked rhythmically, almost hypnotic. The ticks echoed in Ranboo's mind, tick(ck), tick(ck), tick(ck). It went on and on until Dream inhaled to speak again," Alright, they all should be opening up their letters now. I need you to say something for me before I put you in the cage up there." Ranboo nodded and rehearsed the line the masked man gave to him, only causing him more stress and turmoil.

             The letter was simple but told them exactly what they needed to know. It read on the ivory colored paper," You are invited to Tommy's party! Coordinates are -XXXX, XXX, XXX. Make sure to be there by noon or a few minutes after noon! Fancy clothing optional. Weapons not allowed (Tommy gets scared around them). Can't wait to see you there!" Most of the people who were given the letter threw it away into lava, but two obliged and got ready for the occasion, supposing they shouldn't bring weapons along, all except one. The two people were Quackity and Sapnap, who were more than happy to give up their free time either because they felt bad or didn't have anything else to do.

             Both of them were now heading to the site, Tommy was still making sure he got everything. In case of everything going downhill, he decided to bring along the netherite axe, yeah that one. He tried not to hyperventilate as he stared at the dried blood, running over to the ocean to clean it in the water. There was still a bit of blood left, but it was the best he could clean it without touching it. A flash of light moved the axe straight into his inventory once again. Now, he was ready to set off.
- - -

             Quackity was the first to arrive, seeing the structure and eying it suspiciously. Although he knew it could be something that's up, but he had known nothing about the case or who it was against, he thought it was an escape artist build. The one trick that different types of magicians do, locking themselves up in a pretty confined way and escaping with little effort to avoid death. "Uhh, is Tommy an escape artist?" Quackity laughed awkwardly, getting no response in return. It was awfully quiet, so he decided to sit on the grass and wait. Noon struck, Sapnap arrived only a few minutes later, being greeted by a voice that he knows way too much of. "Welcome!" Dream called out, stepping up onto the platform, raising his hands and dropping a few lingering potions that made both of them dizzy and slow. "What the... hell..." Quackity muttered, trying to stand up but failing miserably. Sapnap fell onto the ground with a thud on his side, hitting his head on the ground making his ears ring and vision doubled.

             "Aw, only two people? That's no fun." Dream visibly frowned, hearing the groans on both of them on the grass. He noticed Sapnap had an axe that he dropped when he fell, reaching to grab it. Dream briefly hopped down from the stage, stepping on his hand and grabbing the axe, placing it in his inventory and ignoring the pained cry from the ravenette. "I told you not to bring weapons, Sap! Why do you hate me so much?" He sighed and stepped off of the hand he was putting more than half his weight on. He continued, stepping up on the platform and crossing over to quickly take Ranboo out of the reinforced cage. He unlocked it with ease and grabbed Ranboo standing him up and snatching him out of his daze. Walking him up the steps, Ranboo was terrified because not only is he dying, but he's dying slowly and painfully.

             A rustle from the forest caught the enderman's attention, Dream ignoring it and hoisting Ranboo up the ladder and into the cage that hung above the water. As he shut the door and locked it with the teen now inside, having to kneel because of how little space he was given. Ranboo's fingers latched onto the bars that were barely in his view in hopes to see what the rustling noise was all about. It was Tommy! Ranboo's ram-like ears perked up and he smiled. He's finally here and he can possibly change Ranboo's impending death.

             "What... Dream? What the hell is going on here?! Ranboo?! What is happening? You said this was a..." Tommy trailed off, terrified of seeing his best friend in a cage above water that would most definitely kill an enderman. Dream laughed, maniacally even, then sighing with what assumed to be a rush of adrenaline," A lie for a lie, Tommy. Or was it an eye for an eye? Either way my saying is better." He then grabbed onto the ropes that held the cage up, untying it from one of the hooks and making the cage touch the water for a split second. "Anyways, you're just in time for my favorite part!" his head tilted to the side, making his mask look even more eerie than before. "Come sit down! Have a laugh!" Dream joked, laughing even more. The rope slipped a little and made the bottom of the cage wet, pulling out small pained cries from the enderman having his skin burning and even a tiny amount of smoke could be seen in the bright rays of light.

             Before Dream could pull out some more potions of slowness and nausea, he opted to bring out his axe due to the teen immediately bringing out his weapon. "Really? You too? Ooh, look at you go, using a murder scene weapon, nice! Ranboo was just about to say his confession of child murder! Isn't that splendid!" his smile grew visibly under his broken mask, but was put aback by him aiming downwards and slicing his ankle. A pained yell rang out and the rope was released.

             The cage plunged into the water, sinking quickly. Burns made its way all over Ranboo's body, at least from what was visible. The blonde screamed, grabbing his axe again and swinging it at the glass to break it.

             Water and glass spilled everywhere, pulling Tommy away from the stage and to land straight onto the ground. Glass shards were stuck on Tommy's arms and cut his shoulder, but he couldn't care less about that. Coughing up water and deciding to climb back on the platform as soon as possible, he could still see the enderman twitching. Burns covered all over his body and a few cuts here and there on his face from the glass breaking from the outside. He also looked like he was on the verge of melting, it was a truly horrifying sight to see him in.

             "Don't worry, Ranboo! I'll get you out of there, promise!" he yelled, now going into the box of broken glass and a slight mildew smell. He picked up the lock and swore under his breath, then tried to break it with his netherite axe. A few swings in, the lock finally broke and fell off, leaving Tommy to finally swing open the door. "C'mon, don't die, please don't die..." the blonde whispered, dragging him out of the box and laying him down on the nether brick surface. "Breathe, c'mon you got this... I-I'm sorry I don't know CPR I can't... Ranboo, please don't die!" Tommy yelled, sobbing as his hands shook. He didn't know what to do until he looked at his face. The enderman's lips struggled to pull into a smile, but it was definitely visible.

             His smile rose and fell, looking lifeless. "No! No no no no no... please no!" Tommy screamed, shaking the shoulders of his now lifeless friend. Uncontrollable sobbing led him to lay his head down onto Ranboo's torso, gripping the fabric of his wet suit coat.

             "He's dead, Tommy." Dream stated calmly, the blood from his ankle covering his hands. The teen looked up and reached for his axe, getting up and sprinting towards the green hooded man. Dream quickly blocked the attack with his own axe, a swift flash of light emitting from the friction. "You killed him! You lying green-" Tommy was kicked and pinned to the ground by Dream's foot with a blade pointed directly at his forehead. "Shut up. Don't finish your sentence. Do you understand me?" Dream was surprised to hear what he had to say instead of an instant nod. "Why'd you do this? This isn't what friends do! This is never what friends should do, Dream! You're not my friend, you never were! And you just killed my only best friend. You mean nothing to me now, you messed up." Tommy sneered, his tear stained face still prominent.

             With his position and balance faltering, Tommy could swear he also saw Dream's mask smile change from an obvious smile to a weak one. But when he blinked again, it was the same as before. "Fair point." Dream simply said, releasing Tommy and walking down to both Sapnap and Quackity, who were assumed to be unconscious by now by their unresponsive movements. Dream picked up both Sapnap and Quackity to bring them home. "Grab Ranboo if you want. Bury him, throw him in a river, I don't care."

               Dream left and Tommy was alone. Not fully alone, but he knew he would be now.

               "How dare he think I'd throw you into a river, Ranboo... I don't do that to a friend, especially with their dead body." Tommy shakily sighed and sobbed out once again," You're really gone. I hate this, you died in so much pain. Goddammit!" His cry of anguish created an echo that scared birds out of their resting areas, causing them to fly away.

             After a few hours of crying, he struggled to lift up the enderman in his arms. His clothes were still a bit damp and his skin attempted to scab the skin hours ago, but due to the severity of the burns, it hasn't done much. "I'm so sorry I couldn't save you in time... I wish there was a way I could've before all this happened."

             As he neared the nether portal, he tried to stay hidden to anyone that passed by to avoid being asked any questions. He really just wanted to be alone right now. The walk through the nether heat dried both of their clothes by vaporization and as soon as they got to the exile area, it was sunset already. He placed Ranboo on the grass and dug out an area big enough to fully lay down his friend into. He couldn't help but let the tears keep falling and falling as his stone stovel dug out a simple grave. The sun had set already, leaving a little bit of the warm orange in the sky to paint the horizon.

             When Tommy was done digging, he pulled in his friend as gently as he could, then placed him lying face up in his grave. He noticed something in the enderman's suit pocket when he took it off of him, leaving Ranboo in his dress shirt. The cornflower he gave him. It was still alive and well which was very strange. He decided to keep the jacket and hand over the flower, maneuvering the enderman's hands to hold it in his grasp. The hole was slowly filled with dirt again, leaving some extra dirt behind due to the new entity being six feet under.

             He then turned around and walked to the flowers surrounded by a circle of rocks, picking one, not caring which one it was and not bothering to see which one he picked. He raised it to his chest and recited the first few words Ranboo said to him.

             "Here have a..." he trailed off, looking at which one he picked. The allium. It was withered and shriveled up, showing no signs of life.

             Just like Ranboo.

             A wilted flower.

To be continued in Book 2: malbithic

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