WC: 2165
Warnings: None

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The tunnel leading to the Shopping District had a minimal design, making use of the teal wood you found in warped forests. The design was tileable and repeated itself for a short while until it opened into a smaller room with a glass floor. Below it was a much larger hub, with tunnels that led in all four cardinal directions.

Various portals were stationed inside the room Ranboo and Cleo were in. There was one portal in the center, which was the one Cleo led Ranboo to.

The other side of the portal was a drastic shift from the dimly lit nether hub. The grass here was unusually vibrant--even brighter than the turf you found in jungles. The portal Ranboo and Cleo had emerged from was constructed underneath a taller building that resembled some kind of government building, made out of sandstone and brick.

The rest of the Shopping District was a mishmash of different styles of building. It was easy to tell what each store sold just by looking at the exterior. The whole area had a general buzz around it, like it was constantly busy and never really stopped.

Ranboo didn't realize he had an expression of awe on his face until Cleo chuckled, glancing over at him. "Yeah. It's cool how even though none of the buildings match, they just sort of...fit together, right?"

The two made their way down a concrete-paved walkway with tall, bushy trees on either side. Upon closer inspection, Ranboo noticed that there were diamonds amongst the leaves. When the sunlight hit the gems right, the trees seemed to sparkle.

Cleo glanced at her communicator again, humming under her breath as she read her new messages. "Xisuma's over at his honey shop. It's a little ways away, but since I don't have any spare elytra to give you we're just going to have to walk it."

Ranboo did a double-take, confused. "Sorry--elytra?"

Cleo looked over at him, raising an eyebrow slightly. "...You don't know what elytra are?"

Ranboo got the feeling he should, but the word didn't ring a bell with him. He shook his head.

"Oh." She still sounded confused, like elytra were supposed to be common knowledge, but she explained it to him.

"Elytra are wings." She turned around to show Ranboo the pale purple wings strapped to her back. Ranboo had noticed them before, but he'd thought they were some kind of cape--nothing to pay attention to. As he studied them now, though, he noticed that it was split into two parts. The wings looked lightweight and were slightly transparent.

"They're pretty rare and are usually found once you've got diamond or netherite armor and such," Cleo went on. "You've gotten to that point, right?"

"Of course," Ranboo said, sounding a bit defensive.

Before Cleo could interrogate him more, they were interrupted by two new voices coming from nearby. Two Hermits flew in and landed on the streets a little ways away from Ranboo and Cleo. Ranboo noticed that the elytra was made for gliding, not flapping, and it closed on itself once you landed.

Only one of the Hermits had elytra on, though. The other, who donned a worn red sweater and gray jeans, had actual wings sprouting from his back. They were much bigger than the elytra was and resembled bird's wings.

Ranboo couldn't ignore the slight double-take both the Hermits did as they studied him. Even next to Cleo, his appearance was unique. He tried to adjust the crown on his head, but all he did was make it more lopsided. The nether's heat had helped dry his clothing, but it was still slightly damp.

"This is Grian," Cleo supplied, pointing to the Hermit with the red sweater. Then she pointed to the other Hermit, who wore a brown trenchcoat over a collared shirt. "And that's Scar there. This is obvious, but meet Ranboo, guys."

Grian gave him a little cheerful wave. "Hey! Nice to meet you."

They must've seen the death messages pop up in chat earlier, but neither Hermit brought it up. Scar turned to Cleo. "Where are you guys headed?"

"We're going to meet up with X in his honey shop--hopefully he can figure out how Ranboo got here and all that."

"Mind if we tag along?" Grian asked. "Got nothing better to do right now."

Cleo turned to Ranboo, raising one eyebrow slightly like, Are you alright with that? Ranboo nodded slightly, and she turned back to Grian and Scar, gesturing for them to come with.

As they continued walking onward, Ranboo turned to Cleo again. "What's with Grian's wings?" he asked quietly. "I mean, he doesn't use elytra like you or Scar."

"He's an avian," Cleo explained. "A bird hybrid. He was born with those wings." She gave Ranboo another odd look--the same look she'd made when he didn't know what elytra were. "They're not that rare--you've never met one before?"

Ranboo had never heard of hybrids before. He shook his head awkwardly, feeling dumb.

Thankfully, Cleo didn't press. "We have a few here on Hermitcraft. And then some aren't hybrids but aren't human, either. Like me, for example--I'm technically dead." She gave Ranboo a wry smile. "You might have noticed my cold, dead, zombie skin."

"I'll admit it crossed my mind," Ranboo admitted.

They turned a corner, and the grass terrain abruptly shifted to a mix of gray blocks. The path here was made out of gray glass, and beacons stationed nearby gave everyone a jump boost.

Grian bounded ahead, his wings flapping every time he jumped into the air. "The honey shop's just up that hill," he said to Ranboo, pointing to an elevated part of the island. On top stood what could only be described as a giant honey pot.

"There he is now," Cleo said, pointing to a figure leaning up against the exterior of the shop. She called out a little louder. "Hey! X! Right here!"

Xisuma glanced up as the four of them neared and waved hello. He wore a yellow plated suit with mechanical wings attached to the back. His face was covered by a helmet that matched the color of his suit. Antennae sprouted from the top of it and bounced around as X went to meet them.

...Oh. Honey shop, bees. He got it now.

As he walked, X tapped a button on his communicator--it was much larger than Cleo's and resembled a tablet more than a phone. "Helloooo," he said to Ranboo, drawing out the word. Ranboo couldn't see his face under the helmet, but he thought he noticed a slight falter in the admin's steps as he acknowledged Ranboo--the same way Grian and Scar did a little double-take when Cleo first introduced them.

"Nice to meet you," he continued, typing on his communicator as he spoke. "Cleo said you don't know how you got here initially?"

Ranboo knew he was going to be asked about the details of what had happened after he had arrived, but he had tried to put it off as long as possible. Now, though, he knew he couldn't delay it any longer. He carefully explained how he'd found himself in the water, stuck in the bubble column. He hadn't realized there was a way out until Cleo helped him.

He didn't say anything about how the last thing he actually remembered was falling. Where to? Where from? He didn't know. And he'd sound like a moron if he tried to explain that part to the Hermits.

"And you don't remember anything before that?" X asked after he had finished explaining. He sounded a bit skeptical, but Ranboo kept on going with the lie and shook his head.

X hummed under his breath as he thought. "Okay. Since you don't remember, what I can do is look at your player code directly--that ought to have some more information, like your home server and such."

Cleo glanced over at Ranboo and mouthed something like See? Admin-y shit. Ranboo grinned at her--he didn't understand anything Xisuma was saying, either. He moved behind Xisuma and peered over his shoulder.

As he watched, X pulled up a new tab on his communicator. "Huh. You know about our server whitelist, right? Well, for some reason, you've bypassed it somehow—you're showing up in our player database."

He clicked on Ranboo's username in the tab list, pulling up a new menu. "Oh. What the...?"

He turned the screen around and showed the rest of the group. "Take a look at this."

Even Ranboo could tell something was wrong. There were bullet points listing things like "DOB", "age", and "home server", but everything was blank—like it was wiped clean of information.

"Um...isn't there supposed to be data listed in there?"

"Yeah," X confirmed, refreshing the tab a few times to see if it would change. It didn't. "How did it...? Never mind that for now. Ranboo, I suppose you can just tell us—what is your home server? I looked in the player database first because it usually contains more information about the server—information I could have used to help send you back home—but we'll have to make do with what we have."

"Which, at the moment, isn't a lot," Grian muttered from off to the side.

X threw him a pointed look, then turned back to Ranboo. "So?"

Ranboo opened his mouth to respond, but his mind drew a blank. It literally drew a blank—he couldn't remember his home server at all, or, much less, how to get back there. It was like he was reaching for memories in his head that weren't there.

Memories that weren't...

Ranboo tried to think of his friends. Nothing—he couldn't imagine their names, or faces, or voices.

Okay, okay. Maybe he didn't have friends. What about a base—a place he lived in? Surely he had one of those.

Still...nothing. He started to panic. He hadn't had reason to think about anything before he'd found himself falling in...wherever the hell that place had been...so he hadn't realized he was missing then until now.

What was this? Amnesia? Did he always have memory problems like this or was this caused because of his so-called glitching into Hermitcraft?

"I..." he faltered. "I don't remember."

"You don't remember?" Xisuma repeated.

"I-it's not just my home server that I don't remember," Ranboo said, suddenly conscious of the four pairs of eyes turned towards him. "I don't remember anything before I found myself here. I don't know if it's amnesia or something, I don't..." he fell silent.

After a moment of silence, Cleo spoke up. "Hey. Ranboo. I don't know why your memories are missing, but we're gonna figure it out. It's gonna turn out okay. Okay?"

"But, one question..." Scar looked a bit confused. "If Ranboo doesn't know where his home server is...is he going to have to stay here until we find a way to bring he back home?"

Home. It felt weird to call a server he didn't remember that. For now, Hermitcraft was his home. And he didn't know how long he'd be staying here—especially since none of the Hermits, even their admin, knew what to do.

"I suppose we have a new Hermit on the server now," Xisuma mused. "I'll do my best to try and fix the problem, Ranboo, but I'm going to be honest...this situation isn't anything I've come across before. I wanted to be up front with you about that—you may not go back to your home server soon."

"Yeah. Yeah, I understand."

Ranboo's head was spinning from the last hour's events: First, he found himself in Hermitcraft, submerged in an ocean that was somehow deadly to him. Then, he'd realized that he had some kind of amnesia and didn't remember anything before he got here. And then Xisuma had admitted that he didn't know how to fix the problem yet—if ever. Then X had broken the news that--surprise!--he was stuck here until X could fix said problem he didn't know how to fix.

His expression must have been pretty bad, because X gave him a borderline look of pity. Ranboo really hated that look on other people—it made him feel so useless.

"Would you three see if you can find Ranboo a place to stay?" X asked the other Hermits. "Maybe he can share bases with one of you?"

"We'll figure it out, X," Cleo said. "Thanks for trying to help out."

Not thank you for helping out. Thank you for trying to help out. Ranboo tried not to let the worry show on his face.

Nevertheless, Cleo gave his arm a little reassuring squeeze as she and the others led him out of the honey shop and back towards the nether hub. "Remember what I said, Ranboo? You'll be fine, I promise."

Ranboo tried to give her a smile, but it felt strained. "Thanks. I hope it will," he said, just to be nice.

She returned the smile, but there was a bit of sadness in her eyes, like she knew what Ranboo was thinking. Then she ran up to talk with Grian and Scar, who were—coincidentally or not—just out of earshot from Ranboo. Ranboo sighed and followed them at a notable distance.

Whatever the case, he was stuck in Hermitcraft from now until he got his memories back.

-

Yeah I lied when I said this chapter would be out soon, it's been almost a month I'm so sorry haha

Quick explanation to why Ranboo's death message in the bubble column was put as him drowning: The game doesn't recognize the fact that Ranboo is taking damage from the water itself; it assumes that he's simply drowning. Plus, if I had made up a new death message it would have completely given away the plot for both y'all and the Hermits ^^;

Thanks for reading :D