They hadn't been able to breathe until they made it to Snowchester. Until they saw the hyperlink, and the tall stone brick walls, and even then his chest felt so tight that he thought he was going to pass out. He had told himself that he was okay, that no one could hurt him, how could anyone bring themselves to hurt anyone so small? Michael was still a baby, too young to pose a threat to anyone.
When Tubbo opened the door, Ranboo could barely rush out a greeting before making his way up to the attic, hands shaking at the thought of opening the trap door and seeing, well. Nothing.
His mind conjured an image of an empty attic and scattered feathers from his chicken. At first the attic was empty, Michael wasn't even in his corner by the window, where Ranboo kept his coloring books and paint. The windows were locked, there was no chance that he could open them and fall out. The trap door was never locked, but Michael usually knew better than to use the ladder without supervision. Michael was always in his corner when he came home, or waiting by the trap door excitedly. The room was never empty, or this quiet. She wanted to tear at her hair and sob until she heard muffled giggling from behind his rocking chair.
He was playing hide and seek. Michael probably thought this was one of their games - hide and seek was their favorite thing to play, after all, and he didn't have the heart to tell him that this was probably the worst timing. He could never get mad at him, how could he? He was the sweetest little guy, and Ranboo genuinely didn't think he could love anyone as much as he loved his baby.
Ranboo wanted to fall onto his knees and hold Michael tight and never let him go, but he didn't want to scare him. The toddler didn't know how worried he was, or how scared both parents had gotten at the idea of him getting hurt.
So he decided to play along, despite knowing his son was hiding behind the rocking chair. He made a show of checking the bed, under the blankets and even getting down on the floor to look under, and checking the windowsil, where Michael usually sat.
"Welp, I guess he's- I guess he's just not here! I guess, well, I've checked the _whole_ room, and he's just not here!" He had to force a lighter tone, even if he felt like he was about to cry.
He nearly did cry when Michael came running up to him, dropping his little golden sword to hug Ranboo's leg, giggling and squealing happily. Sweet little Michael had no idea how scared his parents were, and it was for the best.
"There he is, there he-" Ranboo chuckled, even if it sort of sounded more like he was trying not to cry, shuffling back to sit on the bed so he could let Michael hug him properly.
"He's still- Okay, he's still here, he's still alive, he's okay. You're okay, buddy." Ranboo knew that Michael couldn't understand him. He let Michael cling onto him, hugging him as tight as he dared when his paws were nearly bigger than Michael's head.
"Yeah, you're okay. I'm here. I'll always be here for you, I'm not gonna forget you. I could never forget you, you know that?" He was mostly trying to convince himself of that, curling around Michael protectively. Neither heaven nor hell could move Ranboo from the attic, or make him let go. He was scared that if he let go, then Michael would just disappear.
He tilted his head back when he felt tears starting to well up in his eyes. He groaned, quietly, knowing it was bound to happen sooner or later but he couldn't cry in front of his baby. God knew Michael had already put his little hooved hands on Ranboo's face, right over the scars that carved into his cheeks, and looked more worried than a toddler ever needed to be.
Michael was okay. He was safe in his room, where he had been all day, and Ranboo would do anything to keep him safe and warm and happy. He had never had anything to fight for, or that he cared this deeply about, but he knew he would do anything for his little guy.
