Lost

Chapter 18

*~ Unofficial Adoption ~*

- Techno's POV -

"Okay, well, in the nightmare, I woke up in an oak forest."

"It was the same forest that I'm running through in all my other nightmares." Ranboo's facial expression showed that he wasn't quite sure of what to say next.

"Oh, wait, you don't know what all my other nightmares are like." I guess he figured it out.

"Nope, do you want to tell me about those first?"

"Uh, sure, those past nightmares were relatively similar to each other anyway, so it probably won't take too long to describe them."

"When those nightmares started, I was usually already running, and I was always running from the same thing. It's this weird shadow-like thing that has a smile permanently on its face." The description of this creature sounded just like the description of the thing that had chased Ranboo months before. At least according to Ranboo's description of it in his memory book.

"And the smile never changed..."

"Not even when it talked."

"It talked to you?"

"Only once."

"Well, what did it say?"

"Um... I don't quite remember. I'm pretty sure it was trying to get me to trust it, or maybe get me to follow it."

"But what does it doesn't matter what it said! That stupid thing was probably just lying so it could do something terrible to me!" There was clear aggression in Ranboo's voice, so I didn't try to push the subject any further.

"Hey, calm down, it was just a question." After I said this, Ranboo seemed to realize how aggressive he sounded, and he shrunk back, deeper into the blankets that he was curled up in. They mumbled something, it was probably an apology, but I couldn't be sure. I might have sounded a little too annoyed at the enderman's response.

"Hey hey hey, it's okay, it's okay, I'm not mad..." I got a little closer to Ranboo and my hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him.

"I'm not mad." There was a stop before either one of us spoke again.

"Can I have a hug?" I chuckled slightly at Ranboo's request. (I think now is the time to state that these interactions are platonic, I do not ship Ranboo and Technoblade.)

"Sure, I don't see why not." And with saying this, Ranboo practically threw himself into a hug. I soon reciprocated the hug, and in response, Ranboo's tail swished across the ground, and he started to emit a purr-like sound. And to that, I laughed a little.

"Are you seriously purring?" After I said this, Ranboo stiffened and quickly escaped the hug and went back to sitting where he was sitting before, only he was facing away from me.

"Hey, Ranboo, are you okay?" I shouldn't have laughed at him, and I definitely shouldn't have commented on the purring.

"I'm fine." The way Ranboo said this got under my skin. He clearly wasn't fine, and it's my fault. I need to make him feel better.

"I'm sorry, what I said was probably very rude."

"If it makes you feel any better, I think that the purring was kinda cute."

"I already said I was fine. You didn't do anything wrong."

"No, no, you're not, something is clearly wrong. Just tell me what I did and I'll stop doing it."

"You didn't do anything."

"Okay then, what's wrong?"

"I- I don't know, it just kind of... feels like... the closer I get to you, the more danger I put you in." Is this because of the thing that was chasing them a few months ago?

"You're not putting me in danger, don't worry. Whatever was chasing you would have no chance in a fight against me, and I highly doubt that it would even be able to find us." Only after I finished what I was saying did I realize what I said. Ranboo hasn't told me about any of the contents of his memory book, and I just mentioned something I would only know if I read the book. How stupid could I be? He's not going to be able to trust me after that one.

"How do you know about that?" They turned their head to look at me. Maybe I could try to convince him that he told me about what happened.

"I- uh, you, um... You told me about what happened after... I- uh, I asked, why you were walking for so long." The look they gave me showed just how little they believed my pitiful lie. To be fair, it was almost depressing how bad that lie was. It was probably the most unconvincing lie I have ever told in my entire life. Maybe I could sell my story if I lied even more, but I would need to actually sound convincing this time for that to work.

"What, do you not remember? You seem kind of worked up about it when you were telling me about it." Ranboo gave me a surprised expression and quickly turned away. I guess it's Ranboo's turn to not know what to say.

"Yeah, yeah, of course, it just slipped my mind for a moment. But I remember telling you about that now." Sure you do Ranboo, sure you do.

"Well, I'm glad you remember it now." I lifted my hand up to Ranboo's head and ruffled his hair a little.

"Do you seriously think you could win in a fight against that thing?"

"I don't just think I could win the fight. I know I could win the fight."

"No dreamon is going to hurt you as long as you're hanging around with me." Ranboo turned his head back towards me.

"That thing is a dreamon?" Ranboo tilted his head slightly.

"Probably."

"But aren't dreamons really difficult to beat in a fight?"

"Yup, but I'm the best of the best when it comes to combat with dreamons." I couldn't help myself as I started bragging about my past achievements.

"Did you know that I was the best warrior in The Great Dreamon War?" The enderman's eyes seemed to light up when I said this.

"Really?"

"Yup, I've killed more dreamons than anyone else that fought in that war."

"That's so cool!"

"Yeah, it is."

"Hey, how about a deal. You finish telling me about your nightmare, and I tell you some stories from my time in the war."

"Only if I can lean against you." I let out a low chuckle.

"Sure, that sounds nice."

"Yay!" With this, Ranboo Hurried over to my side and leaned against me, his tail wagging side to side happily as I grabbed a blanket and covered him with it. And then did the same to myself. This kid is so adorable. It's a shame that he's probably an orphan.

A thought struck me. Ranboo can't be an orphan if he has a parent. And what better person to adopt him than me. An anarchist who has a reputation for burning down orphanages and killing people that I don't like. (They're mainly orphans.) That is a great idea.

And with that, the pair talked and told stories until Ranboo eventually fell asleep. And Techno was left sitting there, unable to sleep due to the voices teasing him about deciding to adopt his new enderman friend.

1217 Words: I wrote this chapter pretty fast, I'm quite proud of myself.