Chapter Text
Jackie’s mission progress was, to say the least, nonexistent. He’d grown frustrated, it was starting to seem like Ran was unkillable. Every poison attempt was futile, there was always someone watching despite endermens’ hatred of eye contact. He couldn’t even get ten minutes alone with the prince without someone checking in on him or taking him to a meeting. Really, how many meetings could one person have?
Regardless, he had to go through with his mission, even if it was proving to be extremely difficult. What he needed was to get Ran alone somewhere other than the palace. Jackie hadn’t seen the prince leave the palace since he had arrived but surely Ran was allowed to walk around the city.
Jackie turned a corner in the endless hallways of the palace and ahead he saw Flo, walking down the hall while eyeing a notebook, “Hello Flo,” The enderman peered up from their notebook to look at Jackie.
“Hello Sir Brackett, I hope you are enjoying your stay at the palace,” They spoke in accented common.
“Yes I am, it’s been very, uh, informational,” Flo narrowed their eyes, looking just above Jackie’s brow. Jackie shuffled nervously. He couldn’t risk being under suspicion especially if the conversation Jackie heard several days ago was about him.
“Very well, if you should ever require access to specific areas of the palace for your research let me know,” Jackie nodded, “I presume you are on your way to visit prince Ran?”
“Yes, if that’s not an issue,” Jackie didn’t really care if it was an issue for Ran’s schedule or not but maintaining a polite persona was crucial to the mission.
“It shouldn’t be, prince Ran is primarily free for the day,” Jackie nodded and began walking towards the garden doors once more but a hand stopped him. Jackie swallowed his anxiety, “Some advice,” They said in a hushed tone, “Stay off the Council’s radar as much as possible.”
Jackie processed the words and Flo teleported away. What did they mean? Did they know Jackie was here to kill Ran? Were they just allowing him to do so? No, they seemed loyal to Ran. Then why tell Jackie to stay away from the Council? Jackie shook his head, clearing his thoughts. He just needed to go do his job.
Jackie opened the familiar doors and strolled into the garden. In the center, as always, Ran sat with Eri. The prince turned to look at Jackie and smiled once he realized who opened the doors, “Sir Jackie, how are you?”
Jackie responded with what he hoped was a polite smile, “I’m doing great, thank you for asking. What about you?”
Jackie ambled over and sat next to Ran, “Doing fine,” Eri’s head perked up at the sound of Jackie’s voice. The small dragon stumbled over and sat in Jackie’s lap.
He smiled and pet Eri’s head, “Well hello to you too Eri,” The dragon warbled in response. He could feel Ran’s curious gaze through the prince’s eye covering. Jackie turned to face him, “So, what are you up to today?”
“Nothing too different, just some meetings as per usual,” Jackie internally groaned, he was never going to get Ran out of this castle, was he?
“Is every day just meeting after meeting? Just, like the same thing every single day?” Jackie queried.
“My schedule changes from time to time but it’s primarily the same,” Ran shrugged off the question.
“Doesn’t that get boring at some point? Doing the same thing every day, always knowing what’s going to happen next,” Jackie fell backward to lay on the cool ground. The grass in the garden was noticeably softer than in the overworld. Maybe it was designed that way.
“I guess it can be at times, but I’ve never known anything different, nothing to compare it to,” Eri walked back over to Ran’s lap as Jackie uncrossed his legs.
“Then why not try a day that’s not structured minute by minute for you? You are the prince, I’m sure if you asked they’d let you,” Jackie fidgeted with some grass in his fingers, “Isn’t there a whole city outside the castle? You could go there and spend a day with all of your citizens and write it off as ‘maintaining a positive community or something,” Jackie said, hoping to plant the seed of the idea to leave in Ran’s mind.
“It… wouldn’t work.”
“How do you know if you’ve never tried asking?” Jackie kept pushing the topic.
“I just… know. Trust me,” Ran looked down at Eri sitting in his lap.
“You’ve tried asking before?”
“I never said that.”
“But you implied it.”
Ran hesitated before talking, “They said it was too dangerous, there could be assassins or people trying to kidnap me. They said it’s best to stay here for my safety.”
“The Council?” Ran nodded.
“So? You’re the prince for Dream’s sake! What are they going to do? Kidnap you themselves to keep you safe? Life is all about risks and leaps of faith, you can’t just sit in this palace hiding away forever. That’s not living, that’s just simply existing. Do things that make you feel alive,” Ironic how he was talking to his target about how to live life to its fullest. Each person deserved to live at least once though, didn’t they?
Ran looked out into the distance, “I can see where you’re coming from it’s just…” Ran paused before continuing, “I’m a prince, I have responsibilities here. People need me to make decisions and get things done. I’m here to contribute not to just ‘live’”
Jackie would’ve spent more time feeling sorry for the guy but there were more important things, “But why can’t you take one break day on your own accord? Come on, we can sneak out to the city and I’ll take any of the blame that the Council or whoever wants to give me,” Hopefully you’ll be dead and I’ll be out of here before that happens though, he thought, “It’ll be fun, and if something goes wrong you never have to follow my advice again. Plus, there’s only trouble if we get caught,” Jackie stood and held his hand out. A cheesy gesture, sure, but Jackie liked the dramatic effect.
Ran contemplated the offer. Just say yes goddammit, Jackie internally yelled at the prince, “Oh whatever, I guess your whole idea of ‘actually living’ doesn’t sound too bad,” Ran took the boy’s hand and stood.
Jackie grinned mischievously, he was one step closer to finishing his mission, “So, how do we get to the city?”
______
Jackie thought his plan was genius, really, although Ran seemed to think differently. Whatever, he didn’t care what Ran thought. The first step was to find a disguise for Ran, Jackie might stand out just because he’s human but he could just go under the guise of ‘studying the End City with his Enderman guide’.
After rummaging around in one of the storage rooms the boys found some casual enderian clothing. Jackie decided to stick with his usual attire and Ran changed into his clothes.
“I’m not sure if this is going to work,” Ran emerged from his closet wearing dark baggy pants and a loose cloak top with a hood. It was noticeably more simplistic compared to the prince’s other outfits.
“I think it looks very dashing,” Jackie complimented him, Ran blushed a light green.
“The ‘dashing-ness’ of the outfit doesn’t matter,” Ran moved to his mirror and smoothed out the creases in the fabric, “Is it believable?”
Jackie strolled over next to Ran, “I haven’t seen endermen outside of the castle staff plus people at the party, but I think it looks believable,” He looked over Ran’s outfit in the mirror, the prince didn’t look too different from normal, maybe just a bit less formal. Though, if the city residents never saw the prince they may not even know what he looks like.
Ran pulled the hood of the cloak over his head, hiding his hair, “Okay, what’s next in your genius plan?”
“Now we sneak out to the city,” Jackie said confidently.
“And what steps does ‘sneaking out’ entail?” Ran asked, still skeptical.
“Well, I like to say I’m more a ‘go with the flow kind of guy,’” Okay, maybe Jackie’s plan wasn’t exactly full proof.
Ran tilted his head, “Is that just another way of saying you’re making this up as you go?”
“Technically yes it is, but most of my plans are like this and I’ve made it this far so we’ll be fine,” Jackie grabbed Ran’s wrist, “Now come on, let’s go,” Jackie snatched Ran’s satchel from his desk and dashed out the door, not giving Ran time to think twice about trusting his plan.
Jackie talked as they walked in the hallway, “I was thinking that we could make our way up to the tallest spire in the castle, then we rappel down the side and-” Jackie rambled about his ideas.
“Or we could just… walk out the door,” Ran cut off Jackie.
“Wouldn’t we be seen? Aren’t you like, not allowed to leave?”
“I’m not, but there’s an exit on the south wing of the castle that’s not guarded.”
Jackie was genuinely surprised at this, “I thought every inch of this place was constantly under watch.”
“No, not every inch,” Ran said like he knew something Jackie didn’t.
“You’ve done research into sneaking out, haven’t you?” Ran stayed silent but didn’t deny, “Look at you, breaking loose, rejecting authority,” Jackie elbowed Ran in the side. This earned a sheepish smile from Ran, a smile that made Jackie feel… nice. Jackie shoved down the emotion. He couldn’t get caught up in stupid emotions for this prince. Ran was his target, not his friend.
They continued in silence for the rest of the walk. When they reached the south exit it was nothing like the main doors Jackie saw upon his arrival at the castle. These were much more extravagant, and noticeably not guarded as Ran said.
“You’re sure we won’t be seen leaving from here?”
Ran sighed, “I hope not, now let’s get out of here before I start to doubt my choice to trust you,” probably should have doubted that sooner Jackie thought. He nodded, creaking open the door slowly.
Jackie inched outside, checking their surroundings to make sure no one was near, Ran stayed close behind, “We’re in the southern courtyard currently, to leave we need to get past the wall to make it to the chorus forest, just past that we’ll arrive at the entrance of the city,” Ran instructed him in a hushed tone. The aforementioned wall stood tall, surrounding the castle in a dark material Jackie couldn’t quite place, carved into a hexagonal pattern.
Jackie scanned the wall, “There, that looks relatively like a door,” Jackie pointed to a section in the stone where it was slightly indented and lighter than the rest of the material. The two sprinted towards the possibly-a-door.
Ran placed his hand on a small panel by the indented stone, the hexagons faded away to reveal a thick forest of chorus fruit plants. Ran nodded them on and they quickly made their way to the forest, Jackie took a look back at the wall which had regained its solid state once more, “From the maps I’ve seen we should just need to keep walking forward for a little longer.”
The two walked in silence, for the most part, Ran was mostly likely quiet from nerves but Jackie took this silent moment to plot the various ways he could dismember the prince, “I can practically feel the anxiety radiating off of you,” Jackie said, “Loosen up, we’ll be fine.” He gave Ran an award-winning smile.
Ran seemed to visibly calm down.
Within several more minutes, they reached the end of the tree line, “What next Mr. Probably Planned This For Years?” Jackie surveyed the city walls, they were similar to the ones surrounding the castle except this wall had guard towers by the entrance.
“We hope that those guards don’t recognize me and then make our way into the city,” Jackie really hoped he didn’t have to deal with the Council’s wrath of sneaking their prince out even though this whole thing was technically his idea.
“Sounds full-proof enough,” Jackie stood up from his crouching position and approached the wall, Ran followed next to him. They stood in a line of what Jackie would assume were residents of the city, some holding baskets of fruit.
“⋏⟒⌖⏁!” One of the guards on the ground called, the pair stepped forward, “⌇⏁⏃⏁⟒ ⊬⍜⎍⍀ ⋏⏃⋔⟒ ⏃⋏⎅ ⏚⎍⌇⟟⋏⟒⌇⌇.”
Ran spoke for the two, “⟟'⋔ ⊑⟒⍀⟒ ⏁⍜ ⟒⌇☊⍜⍀⏁ ⌇⟟⍀ ⟊⏃☊☍⟟⟒ ⏚⍀⏃☊☍⟒⏁⏁ ⏁⊑⍀⍜⎍☌⊑ ⏁⊑⟒ ⟒⋏⎅ ☊⟟⏁⊬ ⏃⌇ ⊑⟒ ☊⍜⋏⎅⎍☊⏁⌇ ⊑⟟⌇ ⌇⏁⎍⎅⟟⟒⌇.”
The guard seemed skeptical, “⏃⋏⎅ ⊬⍜⎍⍀ ⋏⏃⋔⟒ ⟟⌇?”
“⎎⌰⍜ ⟟⎐⟒⌇, ⋔⟒⋔⏚⟒⍀ ⍜⎎ ⏁⊑⟒ ⍜⍀⎅⟒⍀,” Ran responded in confidence.
The guard’s eyes narrowed, eyeing Jackie and Ran, “☊⍜⋏⏁⟟⋏⎍⟒,” The other guards moved aside and Jackie took this as a cue to walk through. Ran nodded thankfully before catching up with Jackie.
Once they were out of earshot Jackie spoke, “I’ve got to hand it to you, for not being the one who suggested this idea you did a pretty good job guiding us through.”
“A pretty good job?” Ran seemed almost offended.
“Well yeah, I can’t give you too much credit for my genius idea.”
Ran huffed, “Very humble of you, Sir Jackie.”
Jackie laughed and changed the topic, “So this is the End City, huh?” Closer to the entrance was what appeared to be a marketplace, booths and vendors crowded the streets. Closer to the epicenter of the city the spiraling structures grew higher, some of these buildings, Jackie guessed, were the enderman equivalent to apartments and offices.
“Yes, it is,” Ran surveyed the city, he wore an expression on his face Jackie couldn’t quite place. Jackie looked for somewhere he could drag the prince off to alone.
“Want to try some Enderian foods?” Ran asked, Jackie nodded enthusiastically. He was looking forward to trying some of the foods here. Ran surveyed the stands, leading them to one with cups of fruit.
The enderman behind the stand seemed older and noticeably taller than Ran, they greeted the two with a polite bow, “⍙⍜⎍⌰⎅ ⊬⍜⎍ ⌰⟟☍⟒ ⏃ ⏚⍜⍙⌰?”
Ran nodded, “⍜⋏⟒, ⌿⌰⟒⏃⌇⟒,” The enderman nodded and handed over a bowl, “There are some quartz tablets in the satchel, grab two,” Jackie rustled through the bag and handed two of the tablets to the enderman. They bowed in thanks and the two walked away.
Jackie took a slice of the purple fruit from the cup and ate it, it had a similar texture to oranges in the overworld but tasted like less-sweet grapes. Jackie was enjoying the flavor before he spoke, “Is this stuff poisonous to humans?” Despite his concern, he would admit it would be kind of funny if he ended up dying from some sort of allergic reaction while shopping around with his target.
“I don’t… believe so?” Ran said, unsure.
Jackie shrugged, “We can cross that bridge when we get there I guess,” He would wait for a bit to continue eating from the bowl, “So, it’s your day, what do you want to do?”
Ran thought for a moment, “We can look around the marketplace.”
“Sounds fine to me,” The two browsed the various booths and vendors, some had things Jackie had never seen before, strange-looking technology. Others he could recognize were clothing stores, food stands, and lots of jewelry. It wasn’t surprising that most shops had jewelry inside since most endermen seemed to like adorning themselves with the garments.
One of the many Jewelry booths stood out to Jackie, this one seemed to differ from the rest in its colors scheme. While other enderian jewelry stuck to a color scheme of golds, purples, and greens. This booth had a variety of red and orange stones.
Jackie picked up one of the bracelets, it was smaller than the others, probably meant for younger endermen. It had several round golden beads and a red stone as a centerpiece, most likely garnet.
“Do you like that one?” Jackie hadn’t noticed Ran watching him.
“Oh, yeah it’s neat.”
“You can get it if you want,” Ran suggested.
“Nah, it’s fine, wouldn’t want to spend your princely allowance,” Jackie smirked at his play on words.
“I just ask a staff member of the castle if I ever want something, you’re not going to be here forever so get something you like.”
“Seriously, it’s fine, today is your day so you should spend your money on yourself,” Ran’s face became unreadable as he took the bracelet and walked to the person running the stand, “What are you doing?”
“Buying it for you since you won’t get it. Can you hand me a clear tablet from the bag?” Jackie rolled his eyes and handed the tablet over. The enderman helping them placed the bracelet in a small case and then in a bag. The enderman expressed their thanks and Ran walked out of the booth, Jackie followed.
Before Jackie could say anything else a younger enderman teleported close to on top of him. Jackie moved out of the way quickly, narrowly avoiding spilling the fruit from the bowl. An older enderman teleported over quickly, this time to the side of Jackie, scolding the younger. They bowed and said what Jackie assumed was an apology.
The older enderian teleported away with the smaller one. Jackie stood, still frozen from surprise, “That was unexpected,” He said.
“Certainly,” Ran pulled a small gadget out of his bag, “We should start heading back, I have a meeting scheduled soon.”
Shit, he had been so caught up in the city he’d completely forgotten about his mission. Dammit Jackie, stay focused! “Yeah, sounds good,” Jackie could just spring on him in the woods.
They made their way back to the front passageway, passing through the guards. The one from before eyed them carefully once more, muttering something to another guard. Jackie just ignored this and focused on reaching the forest. When they reached the inside of the treeline Jackie turned back to assure that the city was out of sight. He faced forward again, he was in the clear. He could kill Ran right now. Stab him, slit his throat, watch his blood spill onto the ground and the life drain from his face. So why wasn’t he moving? This was the perfect opportunity, the prince was completely vulnerable. So trusting and naive despite his cold exterior, so why wasn’t he moving? Reaching for his knife, aiming for where he was weak.
But then they were back, walking through those cavernous palace hallways. Jackie hadn’t even noticed they’d made it to the palace. He followed Ran through the corridors, he’d missed his chance. Why couldn’t he just kill Ran? Jackie was an experienced assassin who had completed many successful missions, what was one more life to him? More than he realized, apparently.
“Jackie?” Ran’s voice cut through his thoughts. They made it back to Ran’s room. The prince was still alive, “I asked if you wanted to put your bracelet on.”
“Oh, sure.”
Ran took the box out of the bag and removed the bracelet, setting down the packaging he then gestured for Jackie’s wrist, “Do you want me to put it on for you?”
Jackie just held his wrist out, not being able to produce vocalized words. Ran gently fastened the bracelet around his wrist. He was so gentle. So kind to him. Why was he trying to murder someone who deserved the world? Jackie shoved those thoughts down, when did he start thinking like that? He needed to complete this mission for his nation. For himself. Because if he couldn’t do this, then what was he good for?
Ran finished adjusting the bracelet and looked into Jackie’s eyes, or at least that’s what Jackie was pretty sure he did. It was harder to tell with the eye covering. Jackie stared into the fabric, what was Ran hiding behind that cloth? Ran’s face flushed green.
“I should go get ready for my meeting, have a nice day Jackie,” Ran walked into his room, hesitating before closing the door.
Jackie walked down the hallway. He wanted to shake himself into his senses, what was he doing? Failing, that’s what he was doing. His thoughts spiraled as he walked back to his room until conversation pulled him from his contemplation.
“...☌⟒⏁⏁⟟⋏☌ ⏁⍜⍜ ☊⌰⍜⌇⟒.” He heard an enderman.
“⟊⎍⌇⏁ ⌰⟒⏁ ⏁⊑⟒⋔ ⏚⟒, ⟟⏁'⌰⌰ ⏚⟒ ⏁⏃☍⟒⋏ ☊⏃⍀⟒ ⍜⎎ ⟟⋏ ⎅⎍⟒ ⏁⟟⋔⟒,” He heard one of the endermen make a very frustrated growling sound before teleporting right outside the doorway. Right in front of Jackie.
The enderman immediately regained their composure, it was a Council member, indicated by the three stones engraved onto their chest, “Mr. Brackett, what are you doing here?”
“I was uh, just returning from spending time with Ran,” The overarching possibility that they had been caught and the unnerving presence of Three set Jackie into an anxious state.
“Interesting. I must leave, there are other important duties to attend to,” Three teleported away. Jackie let out a breath. This day was a rollercoaster. Jackie shook his head to clear it, he knew what he needed to do and what he needed to focus on. Lose all attachment to Ran, then kill him.
Jackie walked, focused, back to his room, the bracelet on his wrist fueling his evergrowing anger towards his target,