Chapter Text
He felt pain immediately after his arm hit the floor. The person that was holding him pushed using unnecessary force, hurting him even more than he already was. Ranboo didn't even have the chance to get up and try to run before they locked the little cage he was tossed in.
The place smelled like death; an old thing he was accustomed to already but it didn't make it any less uncomfortable. There was blood on the walls and dirt on the floor, the only other thing in the cage other than him was the rats. Ranboo realized at that moment that he was screwed.
His first thought was to scream. Maybe someone would help him, maybe someone would try to free him, he could try to scream really loud and hope for the best. That was derailed by the fact he was underground, in a basement of an old facility. The only other people in the building were the same people who locked him there and anyone outside was probably not alive. Either way, no one would risk their lives to save a child they didn't know, that was not how this world worked. Ranboo was totally alone and he had to do something if he wanted to get out again.
He got up and walked to the bars that divided him from the rest of the world. They were rusty, dirty and too strong. He was unable to bend them fully and too big to pass through the gaps, even if he could bend them slightly. The realization of being stuck came the next second and panic started to rise inside of him.
Ranboo was doing so well in the last month, surviving on his own. He went through so much and wanted to do so much more. If he had chosen a better path, if he had run faster or if he wasn't such a baby maybe he would have escaped. Now he was locked away by people with clearly bad intentions because of his carelessness.
He didn't want to die. No, gods, he was being so good, he had done everything he had learnt and- and could do so much better! He would find a survivor group that would accept him or make a real friend maybe, or even start a survivor group himself. And maybe he wouldn't be alone anymore, maybe he would make many good memories and remember every single one of them this time.
He couldn't die, not yet. Ranboo hasn't even lived yet, how could he die already? This wasn't fair.
But the world wasn't fair. Not this world. And maybe this was the end of the line. If they don't kill him, they will probably force him to do something, be their- their human bait or meat shield. They saw him in the middle of the horde, that was why they chased him. So they would probably use him for the rest of his life and Ranboo wouldn't ever be free and he wouldn't remember anything and they would scream at him and-
"Kid, I can hear you panicking from here. Breathe." A low, calm and monotonous voice said from the other side of the basement. It was a man's voice, but Ranboo couldn't see him. The place was too dark to see anything past his own cell. "You need to breathe and calm yourself down a little bit."
The voice brought him back to reality, the teen didn't even realize that he was having a panic attack. His thoughts calmed down for a moment and he slowly returned to a clear mind, still a little shaken and trembling.
He felt as if his entire body was cold like he had just been dropped in a pool, in the middle of winter. Ranboo was unable to feel his fingers or focus, he was just standing there. Shaking and feeling lost, alone.
"Can you hear me, kid?" Ranboo nodded, not being able to say something. However, the man continued. "I can't see you, I will need a verbal response. Say anything just so that I know you are hearing me."
His body protested with that order, he felt weak and like he didn’t have control over his actions, but somewhere in his brain, he realised he had to say something. So even with his voice a little hoarse and fragile, he forced himself to say something.
"I- Uhm..Y-yes." Ranboo cringed a little at his shaky response, but the other didn't seem to care.
"Count with me and breathe at the same time, it'll help calm you down." The stranger started inhaling, counting to 6 then exhaling, counting to 9. The first few times Ranboo didn't get it, but at the fourth 'Breathe in' he started to copy the man. He thought it was dumb and wouldn't help him at all, but his mind automatically followed the stranger's instructions anyway.
Little by little, his body started releasing the tension in his muscles, the trembling in his legs stopped almost fully and his mind could process the surroundings better. It was like taking control of his body again. They kept doing it till Ranboo's breaths weren't so shaky and soft. The stranger gave the teen some seconds to recompose.
"Are you feeling better?" Even without seeing the guy, his voice sounded truly worried, like he actually cared about a stranger's well-being. This confused the boy, but he didn't comment on it.
"Yes... Thank you." Now he sounded much better. Who could tell that breathing the right way could stop a panic attack? Definitely not Ranboo.
"No problem." The stranger replied in a funny tone, pushing the ending of each word in his monotonous voice. "Did they hurt you, though? That guy pushed you pretty hard."
"Oh- Uh, no, yeah. I'm- I'm fine, I guess. It hurt when I hit the floor but I don't think it was anything big. Maybe a bruise." He checked his arm under his jacket and shirt to see if any big damage was made but the only thing he saw was his arm, a little red and swollen. It hurt, but it wasn’t that bad. He had it worse before.
"Hm."
"And- And you? Are you ok?" Ranboo wanted to slap himself immediately after his question. Why was he trying to talk to another prisoner that he didn't even know? Both of them were in a bad situation, this wouldn't make it any better. The man was probably just trying to calm Ranboo down because he was a cry baby and couldn't handle himself and now he was being annoying. He should stay with his mouth shut.
"Don't worry about me, kid. I'm fine." He didn't say anything after that and Ranboo didn't either.
The silence that followed was a little suffocating, but there was something comforting in knowing that he wasn't completely alone. Just the thought that somewhere in this basement was another person in the same situation as him, made it a little bit easier. Ranboo knew it shouldn't make him feel like this, but he couldn't help. Anything was better than being alone.
They stayed like this for hours. No one came to see them, they didn't receive any food or water, they also couldn't hear much that happened outside that dark place. From time to time Ranboo thought about death, about how this was probably going to be the end of him and he prayed silently that it would be as painless as possible. Maybe these bad people had some mercy left.
He didn't want to sink into those thoughts but it was hard when the silence was so loud and when no one came to talk to them. He couldn't help but think of all the worst possible possibilities and scenarios, trying to mentally prepare for all of them. But then, after hours without any sound apart from the rats scurrying around looking for food, he heard the monotonous voice again.
"Why are you here, kid? Where is your group?"
Oh, that was a tough question. After the hours of no interaction, he didn’t expect to have to answer that. It wasn’t exactly a triggered topic, but it definitely was… complex.
"I don't have a group." His fingers started to grab at his jacket nervously and his feet started to bounce from one side to the other non-stop. He did really have a problem with anxiety. "They, uh- They left me, a while ago."
"Hm."
"And you? Uhm, what- what happened to you? Why are you here?" He knew he was being curious and annoying, but Ranboo couldn't help but think what a man like him was doing down there. He looked so calm, like this was just like any other monday while Ranboo was freaking out, afraid of the worst possibilities.
The man seemed older, definitely older than Ranboo was. His experience in life must have been an added factor to the lack of reaction, in this kind of situation, but still, it was a little weird.
"One of them pissed me off so I killed him. So they hunted me and caught me whilst I was sleeping."
"Oh-"
"My friend says that I sleep like a rock." He spoke simply and calmly, like the whole situation didn't bother him so much. Ranboo didn't even understand his answer, how does one let himself sleep heavily in a world like this? Does this guy know the state of the world right now? This is insane, Ranboo had never met anyone this collected and secure about themselves this much before.
Well, he hadn't met many people before, but that was beside the point. It was still weird.
"You seem too calm for this." The teen hadn't meant to say this, but he did anyway. Curiosity was eating him alive and the fear of the silence coming back was still present in the back of his mind.
“Eh, there is nothing to worry about.”
Yeah, this guy was beyond help. Totally cuco in the head already, Ranboo should’ve known.
“You're kinda weird but like… In, in a good way?”
“Ouch. You hurt my feelings, child.”
He heard the other laughing quietly, his laugh was very different from his deep tone of voice, which made Ranboo smile. He didn’t know why, but the weird man's laugh made him happy, and a little proud of himself to be the one causing it. It made that dark and terrible place a little bit lighter, and for one second the boy could share the calmness the other had, like nothing was going to end badly anymore.
It didn’t last long, the sound of the rats eating at the rest of something, or someone, made Ranboo go back to reality. Caught by random people that probably wanted to use him for whatever plans they had, or kill him on spot.
The other guy probably noted that Ranboo was quiet again, he coughed catching the teen’s attention and said something that stuck on Ranboo’s mind for a while.
“When they come back, don’t try to run. I know you want to get out of here as fast as possible, but there are too many of them that won’t think twice before shooting you.” Well, that didn’t make Ranboo any less worried. If anything it worsened his case, the image of bright metal and a loud noise made him flinch. “They won’t hurt you, for now. I know you are scared but… Just listen, ok? You will be fine.”
“How do you know they won’t hurt me?” The boy's voice sounded small, afraid and fragile. For a moment he thought the other guy wouldn’t hear him, but the monotonous and serious voice didn’t hesitate in his reply.
“You wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
“Then why are you here if you killed one of them? They should’ve killed you.”
It was a valid question. Ranboo knew why he was there, locked in a cell. They want something from him that he didn’t know if he could help. But from what the stranger told him, he should have been dead a long time ago. If they were looking for revenge they were doing something wrong. Or the stranger had something to offer them, like Ranboo had.
“They should’ve. They made a mistake.” He didn’t elaborate further and the teen didn’t ask for more details.
The silence that came after was worse than the one earlier. Ranboo kept thinking of questions or ways to start a new conversation, but couldn’t find the guts to really say anything. So they stayed like this for another couple of hours. Sometimes he could hear the other one move around his own cell or make some noises, but that was it, just enough for the comfort of knowing that somebody else was in the same boat as him.
After about 2 hours, although Ranboo wasn't sure because of how bored he felt, he fell asleep. He didn’t want to, mind screaming that it was dangerous and he needed to be alert all the time, but he was hungry and tired and his arm still hurt just like the rest of his body. The silence and the darkness helped him to suddenly forget the dirt floor and sleep right there.
Ranboo didn’t know how much time passed when he woke up, mind still fuzzy and not functioning straight. He heard screams and immediately froze not knowing what was going on, expecting something bad already. When nothing happened he forced his brain to focus, trying to catch what was happening to be able to do something.
“I said, get the fuck up!”
The teen immediately recognized the people screaming, they were the ones that chased him and took him to this place. However, they were screaming at another person, a tall man with weird pink hair and strong arms.
“If you don’t do what we say, we will shoot! Are you listening?” They were all armed with lethal guns, but the pink-haired man looked unbothered even when they talked about killing him.
The man, despite the pink hair, looked dangerous, the frowning on his face along with multiple scars made him look like some type of comic book warrior. Either way, even with the scary appearance, Ranboo didn’t fear him. When they locked eyes he knew it was the stranger in the cell that he couldn’t see, it was the first time Ranboo had seen him but that look doesn’t lie. Both of them were surprised but felt the same thing, recognition and a type of connection.
The boy's immediate reaction was to get up and run to the bars of his cell, he opened his mouth to scream something, make them stop. He didn’t really know that guy, they stayed together in the same room just for one day and had 20 minutes of conversation at best, but the thought of something happening to him made Ranboo sick in his stomach.
Still, before he could say something, the older one shook his head and made a pleading look with his eyes. His hands were tied already, but he did his best to send the message to Ranboo.
Stay quiet.
So he did, watching them take him away from the basement.
When he couldn’t hear the screams anymore, Ranboo fell to his knees, not knowing what to do now. What were they going to do with the guy? What if they hurt him? Was he going to be the next?
This wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair.
The only person that had been kind to him in a whole month just got dragged by force and he probably would never see him again. It wasn’t fair that he was also there, locked up, unable to do something, to help or even get out. He was angry and frustrated and he wished he wouldn’t have followed the silent order of the pink-haired man, he wished he had screamed at those— those bastards.
Because, how dare they do that? Who did they think they were to kidnap random people in an already fucked up world like the monsters out there weren’t enough? Ranboo was tired of it, tired of having to run and survive and not being able to even do the basics because people like them felt entitled to do anything with anyone! He was a goddamn teenager!
So he used that, he used his anger and frustration, the weight of all of these years running and hiding and trying his best. Ranboo grabbed the bars in front of him, he was doing it. Somewhere in his mind, a voice screamed that it wouldn’t work, that even if he used his entire force the bars wouldn’t open enough so that he could get through. He ignored it, forcing them open anyway. Ranboo used all his strength, the strength that he promised to never use when others were around, he screamed and kept trying to tear them apart.
It didn’t work.
The bars were distorted now, but not enough for his size. He was too damn tall for that. For a minute everything went quiet again, only the rats in his cell making a sound. So he screamed once more; anger, frustration, fear, everything came all at once. It was a plea for help, an ask to the heavens, if there were one, to have mercy.
When his thoughts began to be too much and the silence started to eat him inside, there was no stranger to help him calm down. Ranboo was alone.
That was till he heard it. Loud voices above his head, on the facility. And then he heard guns and more voices, people running away from something. His heartbeats started to pick up, something bad was happening and he didn’t know what. He was stuck, probably forgotten and couldn’t do anything to get out.
Whatever was happening made people scream in fear and run away in masses.
He couldn’t breathe. The sounds above him started to get muffled and distant, his chest started to burn in pain and he couldn’t breathe . He tried, but he was alone and there was a loud noise of gun and a scream and someone was dying- they were dying and, and running. He couldn’t breathe. They were screaming, crying for help, it was too much, too much—
“...ear me, ok? You need to come back, I’m here, you are safe.”
What.
“You are safe now, you are free. No one is going to hurt you.”
He knew this voice. It was… Who was it?
“Listen to my voice, you are real and you are present. You are perfectly fine and safe, no one is going to hurt you, it’s ok now.” The low and monotonous voice by his side kept telling him. And that was when it hit Ranboo, the weird guy from the other cell! The tone was difficult to mistake, it was totally him and—
Wait, what was he doing here?
“You—” He tried to formulate a sentence but any words died on the way out, his body still too tense and shaken up to follow his own commands.
The pink haired man was by his side, but maintained a certain distance. Ranboo couldn’t focus on him very much but something was different. Something was wrong.
“You are back, ok, that’s good. We need to do that breathing exercise again, you think you can do it? Don’t need to give me a verbal answer, just nod or shake your head.”
He nodded, mind still not working at its best. Then the guy started counting and breathing with him and things started to slowly get back to normal. His vision and hearing were definitely better because he could see and hear the rats again, but other than that there was only the cell guy. All the other voices were long gone.
“What… What happened?” Ranboo shot the question hesitantly, he could feel the fear in his own voice. He was calmer now, but he didn’t feel exactly secure. His instincts were ready to run or fight for his life. “Why are you here?”
“I’m breaking us out of here, that's what's happening.” He held a very calm and assertive tone. He looked as if he was choosing how to phrase his sentences, like his words could do damage.
“They were armed and, and you…” And then Ranboo saw it, the blood. It wasn’t nothing he hadn’t seen before, there was too much chaos and violence out there to be able to avoid blood. However that wasn’t just normal blood, it was fresh and new and… That was when the realization came for him. “You killed them.”
“Yes.” his tone didn’t change, there wasn’t a single trace of regret on the man's face. He knew what he did and probably would do it again. “They weren’t going to let us out, I wasn’t going to give them what they wanted.”
“So you killed them.” It wasn’t exactly a judgment. Something inside Ranboo was saying that it was wrong, that this guy was dangerous, but he couldn’t find himself to care. Those people weren’t good, they wouldn’t let him out, but this man came back to help him. He didn’t leave. He came back and calmed Ranboo down and was willing to break him out.
“So I killed them.” The blood on his face made him look scarier, meaner. But his voice was nothing but sweet, even admitting a crime. “I don’t blame you for being scared, but I won’t hurt you. I did what I had to do and I won’t say that I regret it. But I will understand if you want me to leave you alone.”
“No! No, just… Uhm.” He said automatically, not even realizing what he really wanted at that moment. For some reason, to his very mentally ill brain, the thought of being alone was way worse than being friends with someone that could kill without remorse. It should have made him scared, he wasn’t. “It’s too much… I heard the screaming and, and I thought something happened to you.”
This seemed to genuinely surprise the other. His eyes widened and mouth opened in shock and Ranboo had to fight the urge to laugh at how silly he looked.
“I’m fine, kid. Sorry about the screaming, though.” He massaged the nape of his neck, looking down, in embarrassment. Where the other bits seemed funny, this one in specific made him feel ashamed. “Didn’t want to make you scared.”
“It’s ok, don’t— don’t worry about it.”
The other nodded, recomposing himself. He smiled slightly, maybe to comfort Ranboo, maybe to say something that words couldn’t describe. The teen returned the smile albeit a bit tired, the panic tiring him out and giving him a slight headache.
“Let’s get out of here, kid.” The pink-haired man got up and offered a hand to Ranboo. “By the way, the name is Technoblade.”
Technoblade. The guy that saved him from a group of bad people, he would remember that.
“My name is Ranboo.” And he accepted the hand.