Ranboo had worked the whole night shift and was starting to get tired as the morning light hit the few windows that were in the prison. Sure the lava flowing down worked as a pretty good light source in the halls, but Ranboo still preferred the natural light outside to it, no matter how much the brightness would hurt his eyes when he stepped outside.

The temporary guard looked away from the small window to see where was going so he wouldn't trip on his own two feet. Right as he was about to make the turn towards Sam's office since he didn't really know what path he was supposed to walk, he got a call on his communicator.

"Hey! Your shift is over now, but I need to meet with all of the new recruits for a few minutes so I can explain schedules all at once. Could you meet us in the staff room?" Sam asked through the sort of static communicator. Ranboo guessed the wifi wasn't all too great inside the walls of the obsidian.

"Ok sure, but uhm- where is the staff room?" Ranboo asked awkwardly.

"From my office, one hallway down to the left, and two right turns." Sam said. Ranboo repeated it in his head to make sure he had it down.

"Ok thanks Sam. I'll see you there." He said before hearing Sam hang up.

Before Ranboo could forget where the staff room was, he sped-walked towards it, tired and happy to get off work soon. He heard some talking in the room and knocked lightly on the door.

"Uhm hey? I'm here now!" He said to the door.

Sam opened the door with a smile and let Ranboo through the door.

"WAIT THE OTHER GUARD IS RANBOO!?" Another voice from in the room yelled.

Ranboo stepped in and blinked in shock.

"Wait Tommy?! You work here?" Ranboo raised an eyebrow with a questioning tone as he stepped into the room further.

As he looked around the room he saw two other people standing a few feet away. Both of them had blonde hair and hoodies, and seemed much calmer than Tommy did. One wore a white hoodie with a gold chain over it and the other wore a dark purple hoodie with his hands casually in the pockets.

"Listen here you b-" Tommy glared and pointed at Ranboo before he was interrupted with an annoyed but calm tone.

"Tommy.... What did we say about swearing at work?" Sam asked, crossing his arms and staring down at Tommy.

Tommy looked towards the ground glaring still and mumbled. "Not until I leave through the doors..."

"Close enough." Sam said, sighing and unfolding his arms. Tommy continued to glare at Ranboo who purposely avoided his gaze completely.

Sam stood at the front of the room in a confident stance. "Hello new recruits! I briefly went over rules with each of you when you were hired, but for the next hour or so I'll be showing you around, going into more detail with your schedules, and going over rules. Any questions off the start?"

"Why did you have to hire this-... friend stealer?" Tommy said, holding back the much wanted urge to swear. Sam sighed with a slight smile that Tommy was trying to hold back at least. He ignored the question and moved on. Everyone had sort of sloppily ordered themselves in a line in front of Sam.

"These are your schedules." Sam said, passing out papers to everyone. "I figured working every day might be too much for one person for being new, so it's only every-other day. Tommy and Purpled have the day shifts, and Ranboo and Punz have the night shifts."

Everyone nodded to show they understood. "Punz and Purpled," Sam continued, "Your schedules overlap for about an hour and half because of some timing errors that I don't have time to work out. You'll probably enjoy the company anyway." Sam rubbed his neck awkwardly with a smile and continued.

"Your schedules also have maps on them, so don't lose them or you might get lost!" Sam laughed a bit. He seemed just as nervous as the rest of them were.

"I'll be going over rules as well, but if you ever forget them you have the basics you need to know on the back of the paper."

He handed an extra small packet of paper to the guy in the purple hoodie. "Purpled, since your job isn't as temporary as Tommy and Ranboo, here are the more in depth rules."

Well the purple hoodie seemed to fit the guy perfectly Ranboo figured.

"Punz, you already know pretty much all of this, and since you work here, you'll be the main guard in charge while I'm gone. This is just a quick refresher to you and a temporary schedule change."

Punz nodded.

"Now if you'll all follow me through the halls, you can try to follow it on the map so you can get a general idea of the place."

Everyone followed him out of the door and down the hall.

"Don't touch the lava Tommy." Sam said, as they made their way down the hall. Tommy rolled his eyes and stepped away from the flowing lava behind the railing. Ranboo laughed to himself a little but stopped quickly when Tommy looked in his direction.

As they made their way down various hallways and such, Ranboo let his eyes wander around to look around at all of the cells and security. There were motion cameras in every corner and the glowing green magic barriers glowed with electricity. This really was a secure prison with the unbreakable walls, lava, and magic barriers. He definitely didn't want to get put in it that's for sure.

"Now the cells can only be opened with a key card and 2 button presses on opposite sides of the room so you need at least two people to open them. Each cell is opened individually so catastrophes don't happen, but you won't have to worry about any of that until I'm back. If there is an emergency, don't hesitate to call me." Sam said, gliding through the halls he knew better than the speckled back of his hand.

"Any questions so far?"

"Where's the bathroom?" Purpled asked.

"The blue square on your map." Sam said, turning a corner. "Right here actually. You only get 4 bathroom breaks per shift because of how understaffed we are at the moment though."

"How much does this pay?" Tommy was next to ask.

"More than enough for the time and difficulty of the job. The exact amount will be totaled after you and Ranboo are done since the timing isn't exact, and every month for the longer jobs that Purpled and Punz have."

Tommy rolled his eyes at the not-so-specific answer but didn't complain about it out loud.

They continued to walk around and Sam explained the rules, only half of which Ranboo actually remembered. By the end of it, Ranboo was exhausted, having stayed up the whole night and the day before too.

"And that's the end!" Sam said, a wave of relief washing over Ranboo. "Purpled, you have the shift for the rest of the day. Punz, you have tonight's shift with about an hour of overlap and the exact times on your schedules. Tommy you take tomorrow and Ranboo the next night, and then it cycles back. All clear?"

Everyone gave a nod. Ranboo repeated the information back in his head knowing this was probably the most important of the information he heard.

"Good! Well I'll see you guys after my vacation, you're free to leave!" Sam said, opening the door and letting everyone out.

Ranboo walked out with a small yawn he failed to stop. He was surprised Tommy didn't offer some quick remark about whatever as they both seemed to rush out of the place.

"I have to hurry to go talk to some girls, Ranboo. What are you going to do with your day?" Tommy asked in a very confident and cocky tone. Aaaand there it was. Only a few seconds off cue.

"I'm going to sleep for a year." Ranboo said, not even taking the effort to look Tommy in the eyes. Not like he liked doing that anyway.

"Mmmmm," Was all Tommy said, ahead of Ranboo and pretty much already out of the door.

Purpled stayed back for the day shift and Punz just took his time walking out, with no hurry to get anywhere or doing anything specific. Ranboo heard the faint noses of a call being answered and something being yelled from a communicator as he walked away. He heard Sam from a distance.

"I'm sorry Ponk! I'll be there in a few hours. I just have to deal with some work stuff quickly!"

A quick pause.

"I know I know! I'll be there as quick as I can, I promise."

Before more yelling from the other end started again, Sam hung up with a slight happy sigh that Ranboo would've missed if he hadn't unconsciously slowed down. Hearing it was over now, he resumed his normal pace out of the door and into the open light. It was bright compared to the prison lighting, and he put his arm over his head to shadow the light over his eyes and give them a moment to adjust. Once they did, he figured out the direction he was in relative to the ice portal and made his way over.

"I'm going to go home, and eat a cookie, and sleep forever, and it's going to be great!" He thought to himself happily.

Walking towards the portal, he saw a group of people in front of it. It took him a second to recognise them from so far away since he was so tired, but after a short moment it clicked in his mind. "Hey I know those people!"

He walked over to the group of Fundy, Tubbo, Philza, and Technoblade with a wave.

"Hey guys!" He said happily with a tired voice and a yawn. They all seemed to be distracted in their conversation and their voices sounded worried. He didn't think they noticed him and walked closer before speaking again.

"Hey guys, what's wrong?"

They all looked completely shocked to see him, before immediately jumping to hug him.

"Ranboo! We've been worried sick!"

"Where were you?! We've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Don't scare us like that!"

Techno was the only one to stay quiet, but he still hugged Ranboo with the others. Until he realised what he was doing, let go and backed up. Everyone else slowly let go too.

"Uhm- missed you guys too?" Ranboo said, the most confused out of all of them. His head tilted to one side, really tired and confused at the same time.

"Where were you mate? We've been looking for you all morning!" Philza exclaimed.

"I was at the prison." Ranboo said honestly.

"What were you doing there?" Techno asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I actually got a job there! It's only for about a week or two but I didn't think you'd be back so soon."

"You got a job at the prison?" Tubbo asked with curiosity. That kinda job didn't seem to fit Ranboo.

"Yeah, it's temporary and just every other night shifts, plus it pays well." Ranboo looked towards Philza and Techno. "I left a note, did you see it?"

"Well it wasn't very specific! We thought you died or something when you weren't back all night!" Techno exclaimed. This kid was getting on his nerves, running off without even a helpful explanation.

Philza sighed, "We didn't think you died. We were just worried. Now that we know you're safe, things can go back to normal."

"Well thanks for caring!" He gave a smile, "I can't wait to go home and sleep. I've been awake for longer than I'd like to be." Ranboo said with another yawn.

Fundy intervened quickly before the three ran back off to the ice portal. "Mind if me and Tubbo pull you to the side for a second? We need to tell you something in private."

Ranoo looked towards Philza and Techno, who nodded to say it was fine with them, and he let them lead him a few yards away to the side of a building.

"So what did you guys need to say that was so secret?" Ranboo asked with a nervous chuckle. Sure these two were friends, but he was still in an alley, away from onlookers, with two people that could probably kill him if they tried.

"Remember those files you helped me read at the lab?" Tubbo asked.

"Uhm-...." Ranboo thought for a few seconds trying to wrack his brain for the memory. "Yes! About the void-"

Fundy clamped his hand over Ranboo's mouth, "Don't say it outloud!"

Ranboo tried to say something but it just came out muffled. Fundy dropped his hand to let Ranboo talk.

"Well if you didn't want me to say it then why did you remind me about it? I had pretty much forgotten completely already."

Fundy facepalmed and sighed.

"Look just-... don't tell anyone about what you read. Actually, go and forget about it again if you could."

"Uhm ok sure?" Ranboo said awkwardly.

"Thank you."

Tubbo gave another hug to Ranboo. "Glad you're safe Ranboo."

Ranboo hugged back and pulled Fundy in too with his free arm. When they let go, Tubbo let go and gave a happy wave to Ranboo as he walked back to Phiza and Techno.

"Now that that's cleared up, should we head back to the lab?" Fundy asked.

Tubbo just nodded, and followed Fundy towards the direction of the science-lab-building-place. For lack of even just good enough words to call it.

Ranboo walked back Philza and Techno who were patiently waiting for him near the ice portal.

"Why did you guys come back actually? I thought your vacation lasted a few more weeks at least."

Techno was about to speak up when Philza interrupted. "Missed ya too much mate. We were going to invite you to come with us, but you weren't home so we panicked and started the search this morning."

Techno rolled his eyes, but Philza saw the slight relieved smile Techno was obviously trying to hide. He didn't argue with Philza's excuse. Ranboo gave them both a hug without warning, his heart warmed.

"Yeah yeah kid, let's go home now and see if Steve's alright." Techno said.

When they got home, Ranboo was hardly awake, muscle memory doing most of the work for him. Philza and Techno went back into the main house and Ranboo into a smaller one off to the side.

It was still probably the middle of the day outside, but it didn't matter, since Ranboo was exhausted. He got ready to sleep quickly and sloppily, but it didn't matter, because the second his head hit the pillow he was out like a light.

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I can confirm at least 2 people are reading this, so thank you! I hope you're having a good day or night, thank you for reading this random jumble of words I call a story, and bye!