Chapter Text
“Ranboo! What the hell, man?”
I still rammed into him after most of the crowd had dispersed. He managed to maintain his balance, still towering over me.
“Hi, Tommy,” he said rather shyly. Tubbo poked him in the ribs.
“You can’t just show up to my coronation unannounced.” I jabbed at him too, and he playfully kicked me away.
“Yea- yeah, sorry about just- uh, dipping.” He laughed nervously. “Though I guess you can’t be too mad at me for being a traitor to the rebellion anymore.”
“Far from it, boo boy. Where'd you go?”
Ranboo looked at Tubbo cautiously, and Tubbo only rolled his eyes, staying far out of our conversation.
“Well, uh, I had a meeting with Dream the night I left.”
“That prick,” I scoffed. “Did he threaten you with his eyes too?”
Something behind him swished, and I blinked twice before I realized I was imagining things.
“You betcha. He, uh, found out who I was before I even knew, so he kinda wanted to… um…” He made the motion of slicing his throat and I winced.
“Who are you then?”
Ranboo kept stuttering, trying to sound out words and then doubling back on them. Tubbo rolled his eyes again, stepping up so he could respectfully intrude.
“You know the Ender god?” Tubbo asked bluntly and my eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. “Yeah, well, Ranboo’s his son.”
“Fucking WHAT?!”
Ranboo laughed nervously, “Yeah, that’s what Tubbo said too.” He shifted on his feet a bit, “I went to go find him, searched around until I met the Goddess of Death instead, and She pointed out the way.”
It was nice to hear a familiar name. “Sweet! I’m good friends with Her. Did you put in a good word for me, ender boy?”
He glanced confused down at Tubbo, who also looked rather confused.
“I- I didn’t- since when are you religious?”
“Since I met Her.” I reached up to the crown that was slowly titling off of my head, it was still unreal to have a weight like that on your head and then remember what it symbolized. “She was the one who gave me wings, dickheads.”
Tubbo scoffed, “Yeah right. She gave the most unbelieving person a set of wings that she gives to
good followers
?”
“She’s the only one who can bless someone with wings,” I rebutted. “She’s Wilbur’s- wait shit that’s a secret.”
“Already got palace secrets up there?” Tubbo flicked my forehead. “Keep ‘em, I’ll find them all out once I’m working side by side with you, your highness .”
“That is a title said with respect ,” I hissed back, a smile poking through.
Ranboo started to slowly shift backward, but I only pulled him in for another hug. “Proud of you, ender boy. Looks like we all got some pretty awesome adventures.”
“You know it,” Tubbo winked. “Did you know Ranboo and I are married?”
“WHAT-”
---
A summer breeze was drifting playfully through the air, the sun high in the sky and just waiting for the right moment before it pounded on you with heat. I sat just by my windowsill where ten months ago a boy I had come to call my son had flown through the open window, his intention was to kill me.
Instead, he was heir to the throne of the empire I had raised from the ground, a casual circlet always drawing my attention whenever I was near him. My brain didn’t work when I saw him with it on, nothing drawing my eyes away from it.
Except for Wilbur.
My son, my only true blood , was wearing the crown I forged by hand. He didn’t like it, it was big, not at all casual, and hard to have it stay, but it just made me swell with pride. That was the son I had raised since he was a day old, the son that I had loved someone enough to bring into the world. He was leading the empire that I had brought to life with my own two hands.
They were naturals, working with each other so well, having the best help known to man. Nothing got past them, nothing was left untouched or unheard. The two of them were just like the team I had formed ages ago.
“Phil?” Technoblade tried to grasp my attention, but my eyes stayed locked on the window.
“I’m… going to say goodbye to Her one last time.”
He scoffed something small, “She’s not going anywhere, old man. There are other windows.”
“Tech…”
He rolled his eyes, “I’ll be with Tommy and Wil, come get me when you’re done.”
He walked out the door with his bag.
The room was empty of everything but the furniture. I had given Wilbur the room, though he was against the concept of moving down the hall because Tommy was against the concept of moving from his new room, and they still wanted to be next to each other.
Tubbo had slipped in nicely with all of the chaos that the royal crown presented. He was good at keeping things organized, especially schedules, even if he had dyslexia and couldn’t read most of the things Tommy threw at him.
Techno was eager to get back on the road. He always had an itch to fight that was embedded in him back in his nether days. I had always been moving, fighting, ever since my beginning, and so Techno was my perfect partner, and I still loved him as a son. These eight months or so had been driving him mad. With no more rebellion to fight, he was antsy to get into trouble.
I had always known I couldn’t stay in one place for too long, just long enough until I fixed it. With my sons running the empire, I could say that it was finally fixed.
“You will keep an eye on them for me, right my love?” I said into the wind. It brushed back at me, a whistle in my ears. “You will tell me if they need help, if they get themselves in trouble, right?”
Always, my angel .
With a parting kiss from the wind, I swung the window closed.
The door opened before I could leave, a little tuft of brown hair peeking around the doorframe.
“You’re really leaving?” He asked.
I only stared back, his words breaking my old little heart.
“I have to, eyas .” He pressed himself back into my arms at the old nickname. “I made the promise to you that you would rule when I was gone.”
“You don’t have to leave, dad.” I shushed him softly, holding the back of his head just like I used to. “Tommy, he barely just got here. You’re going to leave us with- wi- with all this?”
“I could think of no one else better for this empire.”
His grasp tightened. “You’ve been here f- forever, dad. You- I don’t- what's life w- with- without this ?”
“A life worth living,” I whispered. “One you will shape as your own.”
“But you don’t have to go.”
Despite him being leagues taller, I still found a way to tuck him under my chin, to hold onto him like I had for years. I loved him, I didn’t want to leave him, but where I was going was no place for this son of mine.
“I should, eyas . I should go. I have to give you space to form your own path.”
I pulled away, which he protested. I had to look him in the eyes, though. I had to see his mother’s eyes one last time.
“Your mother will watch over you, Wilbur. She’s going to keep you safe. If you ever need me, Wil, she can find me.”
He shuttered, looking away from my contact, knowing if he stayed for too long he would never be able to let me go.
“Promise me you’ll come back. Sometime, anytime, just visit, please .”
“Anything for you, anything at all.”
---
“Well, I promised you the world, Phil,” Techno said as I looked behind us, at the entire empire, standing just on its border. “I think this is the world.”
It was the world, the world I had known for so long. I had owned the world, but now I only wanted to find more.
We stepped over the line, a chirp rumbling over the fields that stretched over us.
Our own little battle cry, a birdsong that would not be ignored.