#pebble writes

The chill of the air in that underground cave seemed to seep into Jackie's very soul, the temperature curling around him, sinking it's claws in and holding him fast.

He felt his mind in a daze, nothing fully clear, all a bit blurred at the edges, but filling up his consciousness nonetheless.

The smell of the lily pads, fresh and clean, but so, so faint, the ghost of their scent just reaching his nose.

The mud under his shoes, squelching and seeping in, sticking his feet to the cobbled stone of the bridge. He dimly pondered where the mud was coming from, what with the stone being so clean and bare, but he gave it no more thought.

The way the low, gently swinging lantern light cast his shadow wildly across the room, sometimes it was running, another dancing, perhaps kneeling with a dagger in its palms.

Ran's voice was gentle at first.

"What did you want to talk about?"

Jackie tried desperately to get his thoughts to line up with each other.

"You know that I love you." He said, his voice desperate to get across that he wants mad at all, not really.

"Yes." Ran didn't say it back. That should have been the first sign.

" And I forgive you, I do, but…"

"But?"

"It… it still happened."

"What did?" That didn't quite sound like Ran anymore.

Jackie felt himself grow a little irritable. "Don't fucking make me say it."

Ran tilted his head in confusion. "Say what?"

Jackie wanted to hit him, but his limbs felt to slow and too weak. When did that happen?

"You tried to kill me, Ran," Jackie ground out, his nails slowly digging into his palms.

"But you just said you forgive me, didn't you?" Ran smiled, something that usually brought joy to Jackie's heart, was now quite flavourless.

Jackie faltered in his steps. When had he stepped forward?

"Well, yes." But that's not the point, he thought desperately.

"Well, it's all water under the bridge now, isn't it?" Ran replied, a humourless laugh escaping his lips, his hand motioning down to the pond below them.

Eyes betraying him Jackie's gaze lingered on the now shivering body of water, and he locked on to their reflections.

Jackie, shaking in the cold, apprehensive, a little scared.

Ran, still, emotionless, looking how he had the first time they had met.

The water rippled, and they changed.

Jackie's breath hitched, his hackles raised, and his nails leaving crescent shapes in his skin.

They were on the balcony. It was that night. Ran, looking handsome as ever, his mind still a mystery then to Jackie. Himself, feeling like an absolute flustered mess on the inside, but he supposed he had looked collected enough to Ran's standards.

He saw the knife in Ran's sleeve. He wished he didn't.

It all played out just the same.

Jackie really didn't know why he expected any different.

He turned to look away when the knife slipped from Ran's sleeve.

His head wouldn't move.

He averted his eyes, but they couldn't stop watching.

The knife didn't stop either.

The Jackie of the past seemed to accept his fate.

Crimson bloomed across his back as red dusted his cheeks.

His hands fell slack from shock, his back went slack in the pain.

His breath left his choking lungs as he gave his last one to the tall, handsome, bastard of an Enderman he loved.

The Ran in the pond simply stood as Jackie crashed to the ground, and removed the blade from his victims back, his eyes not bothering to meet Jackie's pained stare.

Ran wiped the blood of the blade off on his shirt before he walked away, leaving Jackie cold, bleeding out and alone.

The pond had returned to normal, but Jackie couldn't tell.

"The council has given me one very, very last chance" he heard Ran say faintly, but he couldn't really hear him.

That, that hadn't been real. He was still alive, it didn't make sense.

The emptiness of the cave made the ringing of his ears echo on endlessly.

Ran didn't do that, wouldn't do that.

His lungs were filling up with the foggy, damp air, trying to kill from the inside before anyone could get to him first.

Would he?

His brain was stuffed with cotton wool, fuzzy and confused.

He felt a hand on his back.

"This is my chance to really make things right, love."

The name didn't fit Ran's mouth.

There was a push, and he was toppling forward.

Jackie didn't remember the pond being this deep.

Why were his limbs so heavy?

Why was he such a weak swimmer?

Why were Ran's eyes purple?

"Why are you still dreaming?"

Jackie jolted awake, his eyes blown wide and palms stinging. There were arms around him and he fought to get them off, before reality slowly sunk in.

What an awful dream, he thought. Really, that was absolute shit.

"Jackie?" Ran.

"Are we still going to the cave today?" Ran asked his voice thick with sleep.

Jackie froze again.

"Do you want to?" He managed to get out.

Ran nuzzled into Jackie's neck. "I don't really mind. I just wanna spend the day with you."

"This isn't a dream," Jackie told himself. "It isn't."

The voice of his reflection whispered back,

"And how do you know that?"

"Oh fuck off," he thought, "I'll prove it."

Jackie turned, his nose brushing his lover's. Blue eyes met green, skin met skin, and Jackie pressed kiss after kiss onto Ran's flushed face.

"What- what are you doing?" Ran stammered, his eyes roaming over Jackie's face, his long arms still wrapped around the shorter's body.

"Ran, I love you." Jackie said, pressing his forehead into the other's and closing his eyes tight.

He waited a moment. A beat more. Jackie felt scared for a second, before he opened his eyes and saw the bright green complexion of Ran.

He burst out laughing, earning a grumble from Ran.

"It's far too early in the morning for this," Ran grumped.

"... I love you too."

He fell off the bed when Jackie tried to kiss him again.

@girlbossjackie

Ranboo was here, resting, and hopefully himself. Drista had said it would be okay. Or at least, she said that intervention would mean getting XD involved, which was to say, things would have to be okay. Whatever happened, Tubbo would make it okay; would reframe his expectations and his plans until Ranboo was taken care of and watched and loved. Ranboo was going to be okay because Tubbo wasn’t certain he could bear anything else. 

It was a little thing to get caught on, the freckles, but with Ranboo’s eyes closed and the sunlight cast on his face, Tubbo couldn’t help looking. He looked peaceful in a way he rarely did when awake, worry smoothed away, if only for a few moments. 

He was different now. Both of them were. Tubbo was missing his horns, his hooves, and he was left clumsy and fumbling without any real steadiness in the new world. Likewise, Ranboo had been made anew. His skin was pale and warm. Not the smooth, white and black expanse Tubbo had come to know, but something pinker. Softer. 

Ranboo was human now, like everyone else, and he had no claws to defend himself, no tail to wrap around ankles with a friendly possessiveness. Tubbo barely recognized him. 

And yet… 

But he was Ranboo. Still, somehow, he had that Ranboo crinkle to his eyes when he smiled, and that nervous twist to his hands when he spoke couldn’t be anyone else. The awkward laugh or the ridiculous, stupid wordplay that only came out once he got comfortable. There was no question about it, Tubbo had found him. Again. Tubbo had found him, and he was still Ranboo.

And yet. 

His freckles had changed. Tubbo didn’t know what he’d imagined, if he thought somehow that he’d find Ranboo, his Ranboo, with the same sprinkling of freckles across his nose and the same sharp-toothed grin. Not… this Ranboo, whoever he was. 

Tubbo craned his neck, trying to get a better angle on Ranboo. 

Tommy was still rambling away in the front seat, the timbre of his voice fading into the white noise of the car rolling across the countryside. Ranboo had slept through it all, but the movement must have disturbed him, because he shifted, muttering something indiscernible to himself. 

For a long moment, Tubbo froze, wondering if Ranboo was going to wake again, if he did, which memories he might have. Finally, Ranboo settled and Tubbo released a heavy breath. 

If nothing else, the venture had secured Tubbo a better view. 

Ranboo’s new freckles were fainter, more subtle than before. They were still there, but in all the wrong places. Instead of the distinctive black and white, they’re just sort of… brown. It feels wrong. It feels different and so, so wrong all of the sudden that Tubbo can hardly bear it.

When Tubbo had woken up in the new world, he’d found the night sky had changed. It had felt like choking, for a moment; like forgetting how to breathe. The stars were all wrong, duller somehow, with no familiar constellations to light his path. It had shaken him badly, but he’d set off to find more familiar things.

This Ranboo isn’t Tubbo’s minutes man. He can’t be, shouldn’t be. He isn’t meant to be, and that was rather the point, wasn’t it?