Chapter Text
Ranboo ran as fast as he could. He forgot again. Of course he did. How could he forget something so important? He could already feel the tears prick his eyes in the case that he was too late. He felt many pings from his communicator but he ignored it, he didn't have time to check it. He couldn't help the bile that was forming in his throat at the thought that it was death messages.
Snowchester. The syndicate. A big group. A party, never explicitly stated as a festival because no one would go to one of those. It was supposed to be happy and everyone was gonna go because it's tubbo. Someone who you can trust. He knew it wouldn't be. Aether, why didn't he remember sooner? He should've left the syndicate a long time ago.
Memories of the planning of attack in the syndicate room were flooding the front of his mind right beside his racing anxiety. The plan of how the attack would go. Ranboo and Niki would be in the crowd, since they were the only ones anyone still trusted. Niki, just a bit less. Techno and Phil would be hiding, waiting for the moment to attack. There wasn't an itinerary so it was just to attack. The plan was to take out Snowchester and any enemies. Mainly Tubbo. Their main target was tubbo. Revenge as Techno had put it.
God, how could he have been so stupid? He didn't even warn Tubbo, he forgot almost immediately. He finally saw the path branching off to the Snowchester nether portal. He ran down it, if it was any other day he'd admire the time and effort he put into this. It was the only decent path in his opinion, but this was not any other day. Right now his arrival time had the chance between life and death.
He saw the portal as he rounded a corner and skidded to a stop in it. The shifty feeling always felt icky and weird, he knew why though. It was a much different feeling than the end portal. One that he was more accustomed to as a child. It was one of the few things he remembered. And, one of the only feelings he could remember. While the shifty feeling took over he made sure he had things that would be useful in his inventory. He spotted some varying potions and a totem before the portal forcefully closed it and brought him to the overworld.
He stepped out into chaos, withers to his right, fire to his left, screaming everywhere. From the withers or People he didn't know. He saw Phil high above watching the withers attack the guests with no remorse. Niki, he couldn't see but he could only imagine she started the fire setting Snowchester ablaze. She had taken a more arsonistic streak lately. Oh aether, was Michael still in there? He noticed that the area around the portal was almost in shambles but maneuverable. He made his way down as quick as he dared, and then ran for where he saw Fireworks launch up into the sky. Techno always loved his fireworks didn't he?
He felt panicked as he made his way over. What if Tubbo was there? Oh aether he probably was. What if he died? This was his fault. This was all his fault, he could've stopped it. He could've stopped it. He could've stopped it. DAMN IT. Oh aether.
He stopped dead in his tracks, surveying the fight in front of him. It wasn't much of one. Tommy was fighting against techno, though he was being beaten with ease. Tommy wasn't ever the best at pvp. Tommy also had what he recognized as the Axe of Peace. A formidable weapon, but knowing Tommy it was his only. Tubbo was leaning against a rock, holding his side. He didn't have his eyes open, but it was obvious that he was at least breathing. Tubbo was far away from where Tommy and Techno were. A netherite sword laid bloody next to him. Rubble laid all around. Probably a 40 meter radius that resembled a pit.
"RANBOO!" Tommy cried out.
Techno stopped the advance on Tommy letting him scramble away, who surprisingly had netherite on. Techno turned towards him and gave him a grin.
"Ranboo! We were wonderin' when you would join us. You wouldn't answer your comms." Techno spoke, like he was talking to an old friend. Which technically he was half of that. A friend. An ally.
He looked over to Tommy who's excitement to see him was dwindling by the second. "Ranboo…?" Tommy asked. He was breathing hard and had a new cut on his face.
"Look, Tommy- I don't-" He started.
"Ah yes, Tommy. Your so-called friend here is in the syndicate." Techno informed the other before he could. Before he could explain why. Techno turned back around towards tommy.
"You betrayed us? Ranboo, why?" Tommy asked. He looked the closest to breaking down, he had ever been. He probably had too many people betray him at this point.
He didn't answer, instead just looked ahead trying to convey how sorry he was. He was lucky He put his armor on at his house in the Arctic. It was a pain to strap and unstrap when putting it on and taking it off. Techno seemed to just be messing with Tommy, before he inevitably would attack him again. He took his sword out of his inventory. Tommy noticed this and seemed to accept his fate of death. Techno inched closer, he walked forward. What had Techno said when teaching him the art of sword fighting? Something he still felt like he knew before techno started teaching him. Immobilize your enemy, This will make the fight much easier. Ranboo swung down and sliced the tendons connecting Technos right foot and his right leg.
Technos leg collapsed from underneath him, almost causing him to stab himself with his own sword. Tommy took the chance to get out of the corner Techno had backed him into.
"Ranboo. What are you doing?" Techno asked calmly. It wasn't a normal calm though, it was the type of calm that symbolized Techno was pissed off.
"Betraying you instead, I guess." He shrugged. He stepped back until Tommy was in the corner of his vision. He looked in his inventory and pulled out the totem he saw earlier.
He gave it to Tommy and whispered, "Make sure tubbo is holding this. He can't die and right now he looks like he's going to. Do you have potions?"
"Okay, and no I don't. Ranboo what the fuck's going on between you and Techno? Is he lying? Ranboo, please say he's lying." Tommy whispered back, while watching Techno chug a potion and try to get back up while the potion was doing its job. He seemed like he was grasping on to anything that meant he wasn't a traitor.
"It's okay, I'm gonna give you some of my health and regen. I promise I'll explain. It's gonna be fine." He said, reaching into his inventory again and pulling out two of each and handing them to Tommy. He still had two of each. "Let me take care of techno, okay? I know more than you do."
Techno was starting to get up now with the shimmery aura of a healing or regen potion.
"Thought you couldn't remember shit." Tommy said, as he backed out of view.
"I remember just a bit more than I let on." He said, twirling his blade slightly. He walked forward.
Techno was standing up now, studying him. He had a cold expression. Technos hands twitched around his sword, he looked like he was considering something.
"I don't wanna do this Ranboo. You're a good kid. The voices are calling for blood right now. They're a little pissed off, I'm giving you a chance to leave and regain my trust." Techno said heading bobbing slightly to the side as a way to deter the voice's control.
"No, I'm okay. I didn't want to do this either." He said, as calmly as he could muster. Something was pinging on the edge of his conscious mind. A memory trying to show itself, like he should remember it, but he doesn't.
"Suite yourself." Techno said, letting the voices take over. It was usually a quick switch and it was obvious when the voices took control of Techno.
He saw his eyes turn a complete, glowing, red and the fight was on. A harsh swing up and down towards his head. Easy counter, use the flat of the blade for better defense, So he did. His other hand went to the handle as Technos sword kept pushing down. He pushed up and away on the blade, forcing techno to step back. A growl of warning before he tried to strike and swung again.
When your enemy is taller, always find a way to get lower and stay near the ground.
Normally he wouldn't listen to random voices in his head, especially with their track record, but this one felt so familiar. Practically comforting. He had to take their advice, not that he had much time to dwell on it. So, he dodged the blade by sweeping under it and slicing at his tendon again. He missed because Techno learned from last time, but he spotted something. Something that looked like a sheath hidden among Technos pants on his calf. What had he said in one of their Mythology lessons? Emperors and people of importance would strap a dagger to their leg, because they could get attacked at any moment and it was best to be prepared. Made sense. Made no sense that this was the stuff he could remember off the top of his head.
Ranboo scrambled around on the ground dodging another attempted stab. Just barely though, he could feel it barely graze his ribs, between the leather straps of the armor. He reached out and grabbed the dagger, unsheathed it, and plunged it into Technos foot and pulled it out. A cry of pain and he scrambled up and backed away taking advantage of the confusion. He now held a dagger and a Sword. He saw the blood trickle out of Technos foot but it was already coming to a stop. So, he took regen most likely.
Knowing Techno, he'd at least have another potion of regen on him, maybe two more. And, at least three potions of healing, maybe one or two splash potions of harming. And, then a totem or two. Probably a few golden apples and a god apple. Maybe less, he might not have been expecting to put up much of a fight once he spawned the withers.
The two of them were at a standstill now, neither attacking or defending. Staring, waiting, and catching their breath. Not surprisingly, Techno swung first again. He ducked, techno was continuously aiming for his neck, which was one of the few things that was uncovered by any armor set. Also, a vital part to hit.
The block of a blade. "Remember Ranboo when your blade is shorter you need to get in closer to be able to land a good hit. Now try again."
The same familiar, but unfamiliar voice. In the form of a memory this time. He took the dagger and stabbed into Technos side, also pulling it out. Hopefully for now it would hit something vital and the fight would be over sooner. Technos hand went to his side and came back with blood. One of the things about the voices being in control was that they were never very rational and preferred brutal fighting instead of the quick and calculating fighting style of Techno.
"RANBOO, TUBBO PASSED OUT AND WAS MUTTERING THINGS ABOUT SOME KID NAMED MICHEAL." Tommy yelled from his right. He sounded panicked.
That caught Technos attention and his head practically snapped towards Tommy and Tubbo. Shit. He moved in front of Technos vision and yelled back, "TOMMY, IF YOU WANT TO LIVE, PLEASE SHUT UP. I'LL TELL YOU WHO MICHEAL IS LATER."
Technos attention was on him again now. Duel wielding a sword and a dagger he found was actually rather hard. But, the dagger was more precise in stabbing hard to reach places. Meaning more vulnerable places. Which made it worth dual wielding the two mismatched blades. He just needed one good swipe after the regen ran out and then he could finish techno off.
Speaking of it the regen should be running out soon, most potions lasted less than a minute and techno was more about healing properties than he was time. The shimmer was fading out. He started leading techno in a circle, staying just out of his reach. Waiting until the regen ran out. The shimmer stopped. Most things stopped. There was silence. He saw out of the corner of his eye Tommy dragging Tubbo out of the crater of a place and gave him a look. A look conveying both distrust and concern. He waited until they disappeared from view before bolting away from techno and climbing up a face of rocks.
He knew techno couldn't get up here easily, he had a much more muscular build than he did. It was harder for him to get up tight climbs. Though in armor climbs like that were hard even for him. He opened his inventory to check if he had placed it there. Something he had planted there as a just in case for anyone. He carefully took out the Potion of poison and opened it. It was a special type, he didn't know how he knew how to make it, but he knew he was immune. It was in a much smaller packaging that could only be described as a vial. He poured some of it on the dagger and glanced down at the angry techno, who was trying his best to get up with no avail. He still had half the vial left and slipped it into his pocket just in case. Maybe, a fear tactic later.
Ranboo stood up and prepared to jump off the rock and put away his sword. He should only really jump off with one sharp object in his hand. That was the limit, before Tubbo would yell at him for doing something stupid. Though, he might not give a shit now. When techno was looking down he ran to the left side of the rock and jumped off. He turned just as he felt Technos' sword stab him in the side. He let out a cry of pain when the sword was pulled out. He felt one of the leather straps snap.
He put the hand not holding the dagger to his side and stabbed technos arm, through the leather strap holding it on. Crafting was weird, you never used leather in armor recipes but it was there. Go figure. The poison entered technos blood stream, he could tell by how his blood started turning purple. He pulled the dagger out and stumbled back feeling blood bubble up in his mouth. He coughed up what he presumed to be blood and opened his inventory. He grabbed a health potion out of it and drank it as much as he could. It was a little difficult when he was coughing up blood. Health potions effects were much more immediate than regens. Regen you could wait for your wound to stitch itself up, health potions would do it almost automatically. He wiped the blood away from his mouth with his left hand, it would be covered in blood now but he couldn't bring himself to care.
He looked back at Techno who was pretty much just laying on the ground as the poison ran through his body. Blood ran out from Technos arm and was pooling around him. There was nothing to stop it. He walked forward again. He was pretty sure he'd have a scar from technos attack. It was strange looking down on techno, usually when they were sparring it'd be the other way around. Technos eyes were no longer blood red, instead the light pink that he was more accustomed to. He saw an empty bucket, techno most likely tried to counter the effects with milk.
"The fuck is this? Ranboo, why? What?" Techno asked.
"Well, you tried to kill tubbo. And, it's a special type of poison. It can't easily be cured by milk." He explained briefly.
"Tubbo? That's what this is about. Another person betrayed me for tubbo. What the hell do you guys see in that friendship? Will this kill me?" Techno questioned.
"Probably. I would say that it never killed me in testing, but I'm immune to it. Kinda defeats the purpose of saying that. And, Tubbos, tubbo. The only reason I was in the syndicate was you asked me at a time when I had no one but you and Phil. I barely had a house in the Arctic and you were borderline threatening to kick me off your land if I didn't." He answered.
"How the fuck are you immune to this shit? I can't feel a fucking thing. I don't even know how I'm speaking right now." Techno said, with no expression. It seemed the poison got to his head.
"The only function for some reason that doesn't stop is the ability to speak. You'll be paralyzed until you die by the next part taking over and stopping your heart. Overall, you'll probably be dead in the next minute or so. It's painless as far as I know from the research I've done." He elaborated.
"So, it's some homemade poison." Techno grumbled.
"I don't know. It might be. I don't know where I learned to make it, I just know." He answered.
"Kid, I shouldn't even be calling you that now. Ranboo, just at some point come get your stuff from the Arctic and then leave. Go back to wherever you've been spending your free time." Techno said.
"Technically, it's here, so I have a lot of work to do." Ranboo said. "Kinda feel sorry about this. Not really. Don't try this again, Techno."
"Sure. Haven't seen Mumza in a long time. She'll be happy I finally visited at least." Techno muttered before he closed his eyes.
He felt a buzz against his leg. He took out his communicator finally as Technos body turned into smoke, rising up and disappearing. Tons of stuff was left behind which he ignored. He opened up the communicator so the screen would turn on, with the keyboard pulled out underneath. Lots of messages from varying people. In the main chat there wasn't much.
Ph1lza: We started without you Ranboo. You better not pull any shit
Tubbo achieved the achievement Postmortal
Technoblade was poisoned by Ranboo
That was wonderful. Phil was gonna be pissed, if he was still around. Still would probably be pissed. Oh, well hopefully everyone else was okay. It looked like they were. He opened his dms with Tubbo.
Tubbo: Tommy's late, do you know where he is?
Where are you?
Phils here
Hes gone off the dep end
The synduicate
Phil says you suppose be here
You fivking traitor
Shit. So everyone knew most likely. Wonderful. Except Tommy, he was probably the most confused. Since he killed Techno that probably made the confusion over everything worse. Time to find everyone and explain.
He typed out, 'Tubbo, I swear I'll explain and for what it's worth I'm sorry' and hit send. He closed the communicator and turned it off before he could make any more bad decisions. Well, it was time to face the consequences of his actions.
A screeching sound and then pain. His communicator hit the ground. Right in his abdomen, whichever blade it was, It went through his armor somehow. He crumpled to the floor, feeling the fact that it didn't go all the way through. Didn't hit any major organs but it hurt. He did his best to turn around and saw Phil standing there looking furious with Niki behind him. Niki looked impartial.
"You lied to us all. You killed Techno." Phil spoke with fury in his voice.
"Well, screw you too, Phil." He wheezed, reaching out behind him and pulling out the sword. He opened his inventory and grabbed the other health potion, downing it with ease since he hadn't started coughing up blood again. He felt the wound begin to seal and relaxed for a second before remembering that he was classified as a traitor by everyone. He felt the potions effects go numb and knew he was still bleeding slightly. He'd need to fix that later.
"Why did techno die? He had plenty of resources on him." Niki said, rationally. Barely though, everyone in the syndicate had slowly been going insane except for him and techno. Or maybe he was and didn't know. People who went insane, often didn't think they were insane.
He got back up and coughed a bit before answering partially by pulling the vial out of his pocket. "Poison. Where'd the dagger go? Oh it's gone, I put the poison on it and then stabbed techno."
"Milk would've helped that." Phil said harshly, stepping closer with a different sword in hand.
"But it wouldn't have. I don't know why. Special type of poison." He said, shaking the vial slightly before putting it back in his pocket.
"What type? I'm sure there would've been a cure." Phil said, stepping forward until the sword was pointed right at their throat.
"If there is, I don't know of it. I barely know what I know about, let alone how I know it." He said, raising his hand to move the sword away from his throat.
"You didn't answer the question. What is it called?" Phil asked again, and put the sword back at his throat. It was pressing against his throat, one wrong move and he could be dead.
"Oh, that I don't know." He answered truthfully.
"Why did you betray the syndicate?" Niki piped up from where she was standing behind them. Phil gave him a pointed look.
"I mean Phil, were you really expecting me not to? Look at Snowchester. You really thought just Tubbo lived here? And, the whole recruiting me into the syndicate to begin with. What was that? Two days after even. I lost track of where anyone else I knew went and the threat of kicking me out into the Arctic if I didn't. You really thought I would want to stay." He rambled.
"You… knew this would happen and you didn't try to stop it. Yet, you betray our trust the day of." Phil still sounded angry, but also slightly miffed.
"Well, y'know how I didn't have my notebook on me. I forgot by the time I found it because the room is so far away. Then, I remembered on my way to the actual get-together. Cause, technically I would've been the host if tubbo hadn't gotten over his hypothermia quickly." He said.
"Wonderful, another traitor. There's always one. I'm gonna kill you now. Any last words?" Phil said, changing the subject quickly.
"Oh that's nice. Uhh... No thank you." Ranboo said, stepping back and making a break for anywhere away from either of them.
He heard the flap of wings and then crashed into the ground with a heavy weight on top of him. His head slammed into the ground. He heard a crack and winced. Fractured or broken rib most likely based on where the pain was. His rib isn't magically stitching itself together which he shouldn't have expected he didn't take regen.
"Ranboo. What are you trying to do? What are you planning?" Phil asked.
He felt the sharp point of a blade poke into the back of his neck and a trickle of blood down the side. "Look, man. I remember random stuff. I don't really control what I don't and do remember. So if I am planning something I have no clue what it is."
With that he decided he was done with the conversation and just teleported out. He didn't feel like dying today. Was he thinking of that ability when trying to get there when he was first getting here? No. Would it have been helpful? Probably. Did he mean to teleport behind two arguing people? No. Did his ribs hurt like a bitch? Yes.
Quackity and Tubbo were having a borderline shouting match. With fires dying out in the background. Everyone else was either gone, or leaving. He didn't see Tommy. Hopefully he was okay.
"Uh, what's this about?" He asked, hoping one of the two arguers would hear him.
They both did and turned towards him. He had never seen such malice in Tubbos eyes. "You fucking bitch." Tubbo hissed.
"Okay. Hold on, Bee- Tubbo. I swear there's an explanation." He said, holding up his hands.
"I don't give a shit what fucking excuse you're gonna make up. This isn't your home anymore, get out now. And, don't call me Bee." Tubbo said angrily.
"Alright." He said, moving to leave.
"I'm keeping Micheal!" Tubbo yelled to him as he made his way towards the tunnel, leading to the main part of the SMP.
"That's fair." He said, finally moving out of earshot and leaving the country. He had never hated that the tunnel was as close as it is as he did now.
He brought out his trident and went flying through the water of the tunnel. He was in the main part of the smp in seconds. He put his trident away and was ever grateful that armor protected him from water. He hated water burns. He stopped a few meters from the tunnel to Snowchester and stared at the main SMP. Where to now? He had no one, and no one trusted him. If they did, he'd be surprised. They'd have no reason to. A stupid decision. He knew that he'd fuck up at some point he didn't think it would be this soon. It still hurt to breathe, he needed to fix that soon.
Instead he reached up and took the golden ring off his horn. He looked at it, studying it carefully. He had tried to do so much for them all and they would think that he just threw it down the drain. Why didn't he come clean before this? He slightly regretted not taking that pathway, but would tubbo have listened even if he told him that way? He flipped the ring around, messing with it and looking at the engraving on the inside.
I trust you.
Tubbos said 'I trust you too.' Yet, he had betrayed that trust. He turned around and walked the few meters back to the Tunnel leading to Snowchester. He placed the ring on the ground next to it.
"I'm sorry, Tubbo." He whispered.
With that Ranboo wandered off to wherever his feet would take him.