Chapter Text
Ranboo woke up to a dull ache throughout his body, his brain feeling like it was pulsing out of his own skull and his eyes refusing to open, as if they were welded shut somehow.
After spending an appropriate amount of time in a continuous panic attack after getting moved around during their sleep and waking up in some unknown location his eyes wouldn’t even allow him to see, Ranboo managed to calm himself down by focusing on his own breathing and the few things he was able to feel.
Five things he could see was the first step. Right.
“Cooperate, please,” he thought, desperate.
Forcing his eyes open, Ranboo was greeted by the sight of… nothing? His eyes hurted a bit when coming in contact with the air, for whatever reason, but that thought was quickly thrown aside as Ranboo realized he was standing in what essentially looked to be an endless void of tar-colored space. Fantastic.
Ranboo promptly closed his eyes once more, nothing that the only two things he could see were his own body and the cold, lifeless
space
surrounding him.
Four things he could touch, should be easy enough.
Ranboo, still not seeing a thing (although willingly this time), passing his hand through his hair, noting the strangely familiar yet unusual texture it had, before following with his arm, chest and leg.
Three things he could hear. Ranboo’s ears must’ve gotten hurt while he was getting moved, because it felt as if any and all noise reaching his ears was somehow muffled. Still, he could easily identify the sound of his own breathing, not spending too much thought on why it felt so strange, that of footsteps nearby as well as… a voice?
Ranboo could hear a feminine-sounding voice coming from somewhere near him, but he couldn’t see anyone nearby in the dark space. That thought was terrifying, to the point Ranboo opted to simply ignore it in favor of continuing the calm down, if only not to go spiraling once more and having to do all of this again.
Two things he could smell. A simple-enough task, ignoring the fact that the air he was breathing in still felt really strange.
Ranboo managed to smell himself, of course. His showers on that beach, few and far between, were only ever taken in salt water, so the smell had almost fused with his body at this point. The added smell of blood and various other bodily elements that should ideally stay inside his body were also present (he ignored the nagging thought at the back of his head about the other presence potentially inhabiting this not-so-empty abyss of black).
Thinking about that other presence, Ranboo
swore
he could actually smell it from afar. Confusing, since he’d never had an especially strong sense of smell, but he’d take it if it helped him calm down. A part of Ranboo’s brain told him the other presence
also
smelled like salt water, but a strange instinctual thought also made itself known, planting an idea in Ranboo’s head about how the person smelled a little like Techno. As if they’d both met each other at some point.
Strange.
Now, as for the last step. One thing he could taste.
It was usually a more difficult one to answer, seeing as he rarely had any sort of food or drink in his mouth during his panic attacks, but it was surprisingly easy to identify the salty water in his mouth and to swallow it down.
The… salty water in his mouth. A mouth which he’s pretty sure he’s opened at least a few times while being stuck in this abyss, meaning the water would’ve fallen out.
Ranboo, very quickly beginning to stress himself out once more, opened his mouth once more, only for it to immediately fill with more water.
The “black abyss” was never a “black abyss”, it was just water in a dark room.
Water, which he was deathly afraid of.
Water, in which he was almost certain another creature was.
Those two thoughts instantly took over Ranboo’s entire brain as he suddenly cut his breathing short and began holding any somehow-remaining oxygen in for as long as possible, desperately trying to swim above (where even was above?) in hopes of escaping.
Escaping the water? The creature inside said water? Both? Great questions, ones to which Ranboo’s brain didn’t have enough oxygen to answer. His panicked kicking with his legs and sporadic arm movements surely didn’t help, as they were both seemingly not making him move and making him lose vital oxygen.
Oxygen he couldn’t replenish in water.
Water he couldn’t escape.
…
…
Ranboo, realizing the futility of his actions, decided it wasn’t worth it to keep trying.
If he was to die anyway, why spend his last moments panicking? It’d be much more pleasant to go out while relaxed, and hey, maybe his meat would be more tender for whatever monster lurked in these depths to devour if he died without all of his muscles being as tensed up as could be.
With one last sigh, accepting his end, Ranboo let out all of the oxygen he had left in him, letting his lungs empty themselves for the final time.
…
Except that, for whatever stupid reason, his brain had decided he still needed to breathe, even if surrounded by water. Ranboo tried to fight the instinct, but it was a fruitless attempt, as his mouth felt like it had opened on its own and breathed in tons of water, signaling what Ranboo could only assume to be his painful end.
He instinctively choked and struggled to get the water out of him, but it was entirely impossible with no other empty space to deposit it into.
This wasn’t the end Ranboo had wanted.
He’d suffered throughout his whole life.
Lost his memories.
Been alone for years.
He’d… he had learnt to want to live again.
Meeting Techno, Tommy, talking on the phone with Phil…
He even thought Niki was pretty nice, from the few interactions between her and Tommy his mind could vaguely remember.
He’d never gotten to know about his past.
He’d never even gotten to meet that friend Tommy talked about so much, but still refused to name.
He’d lived a tragedy, in short. One that lacked the good ending he had hoped for all of these years.
…But did he really need it?
He’d met Techno, strong and secretly caring. Tommy, chaotic and energetic in the best of ways. He could imagine Phil, calm and collected but still up for causing chaos.
He could even imagine Tommy’s friend. He had no clue what the other was like, but something within Ranboo told him they’d have both been great friends in return, as if they’d known each other forever.
“I… I’m sorry I’ll never return that crown to you, Te…”
His last thought trailed off as his vision went fully black for the last time.
…And he was still there.
What?
He’d… he’d lost all air, had no more oxygen, felt like water was filling up his lungs, how wasn’t he…?
“W—Wait, but I… I’ve been standing here floating since I started to count… No, no, even before then, I was knocked out in here for who-knows-how-long!”
How was that… unless…
Could he…?
Trying out his theory, Ranboo took a (mental) deep breath in to prepare, before actually taking a deep breath in. He felt the water enter his mouth, pushing the water that had already been there from just then, when he thought he was drowning, and…
Nothing.
In fact, better than nothing. His brain had apparently interpreted “breathing water” as “breathing oxygen”.
…And his body wouldn’t have just suddenly switched to needing to breathe water to survive, right?
“Did… Did that mean I could do this all along? A—And my brain just stopped me from trying?”
With nobody to answer his many questions, Ranboo sat there, questioning his entire existence, floating in a supposedly gigantic pool of water, likely of the sea kind.
What
exactly
had happened to him during his childhood? Was he just born this was? Had something been done to him to make him able to breathe water? Was he…
Was he even
human
?
Before he could ponder on that last existential question, the feminine voice from earlier reappeared, although much closer this time. The creature looked just like how Techno and Tommy had described “Sirens”, somewhat like a mer but with sharper features, more spiky scales and a voice somehow sounding both beautiful and ominously terrifying at once.
Seeing Ranboo try (and fail) at swimming away, the creature stopped in its tracks, opting to speak instead.
“Hello, my child. There is no need to flee, I mean you no harm,” a pause, likely so that Ranboo could take in what the creature was saying, “My name is Kristen, queen of the fallen siren kingdom. May you please share your name?”
…Ranboo would need longer than just a short pause to take all of
that
in, he was sure.