Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Wilbur!” 

On a trash heap in the middle of nowhere, a young man stood on unsteady knees. He blinked, trying to take in the world around him. Nearby, his teenage brother - the one who’d spoken - was stumbling across the trash piles, trying to reach him. 

“Techno!” 

This wasn’t Tommy speaking. Wilbur braced himself against a steel beam sticking from the ground and peered over. Further down the trash pile, his other teenage sibling, Tubbo, was crouched precariously on what looked like a massive microwave and the fender of a spacecraft. Below him was their fourth brother, Techno, who was brushing specks of debris and trash off his beloved pig skull mask. Techno looked up when Tubbo called for him. 

“Can you catch me? I think I’m about to slip.” 

Techno looked a little annoyed, but spread his arms out to do so. Tubbo jumped down, the spaceship fender giving way under his feet, and crashed into his brother, who caught him with relative ease. Techno looked up and raised an eyebrow at Wilbur. 

“Don’t you dare come down like that too, Icarus. I don’t think I can catch you.” 

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Wilbur replied. 

Tommy stepped up beside him. He slid down the trash pile, his feet catching on a trash bin lid that dented as he landed. From there he caught a piece of landing gear, dropping to the ground next to Techno. 

“You coming down, bitch?” Tommy yelled. 

Wilbur’s head was still spinning a little, but he followed Tommy’s lead, jumping down to the trash can lid. He missed the landing gear, his fingers slipping on the blue metal. Techno caught him before he hit the ground. 

“Ease up there, Icarus. Wouldn't want your nickname to become literal.” 

Wilbur chuckled. 

“You think you can walk?” Techno asked. 

“Probably. My head’s still a bit fuzzy, though,” Wilbur replied. 

“Guys? Where are we?” Tubbo asked. 

Now that he’d asked it, the brothers finally took in their surroundings. The sky was full of glowing holes, and as far as the eye could see there was nothing but trash piles with patches of water in between. None of them recognized it but Techno, though. 

“...oh, no.” 

“What, where are we?” 

“We’re on Sakaar.” Techno drew the sword strapped to his back from its sheath, bracing for a fight. “This isn’t going to end well.” 

The other three fell still. Sakaar. The desolate trash planet with little known about it and little in its vicinity of worth. For all intents and purposes they might as well have gotten stuck on an asteriod for all their family would be able to find them. 

Right, their family. The Esempi royal family, who ruled an empire spanning entire light years. An empire to which Wilbur was the crown prince, Techno was the head of the army, and Tommy and Tubbo were just...there. 

Well, that wasn’t quite true. Tommy was in theory Wilbur’s right-hand man, but he questioned his authority enough that most people thought he was terrible for the job. Their father thought differently, though. Tubbo meanwhile was in an arranged marriage to someone from a neighboring empire: the Ender Empire, a name that was far more terrifying than its very much unimpressive inhabitants. This went double for Tubbo's betrothed, who was a sweet person beyond his terrifying height and initial appearance, if a bit traumatized. Tubbo himself was just a little bit too paranoid for his own good and had already begun building up a network of spies to keep an eye on the rest of the galaxy. 

Their thoughts of home were interrupted by the roaring of engines. The family looked up to see ships descending towards them. 

“Dad?” Tubbo threw out hopefully. 

Techno shook his head. “Marauders.” 

The general’s eyes fell on a nearby gap in the mountains of trash. He quickly herded his siblings into it, finally squeezing in himself and pulling the slightly bent spaceship fender over the hole. 

“Smells like something died in here!” Wilbur wheezed. 

“Something probably did,” Techno replied. 

They waited in silence for something to happen. Footsteps crunched outside their little hideout; Techno’s grip on his sword tightened and the two youngest brothers clung a little tighter to each other, but nothing happened. After a few minutes, loud chattering in another language filled the air, muffled by the fender covering the hole. Wilbur strained his ears trying to understand it, but he couldn't make heads or tails of the words being thrown around. Then there was the sound of retreating footsteps and the roar of a spaceship engine, and the marauders were gone. 

Techno kicked away the fender and climbed out, his brothers in tow. Tubbo began climbing the trash pile; he looked out across the landscape and caught sight of the faint outline of a city far in the distance. 

“I think there’s a settlement over there!” He shouted, pointing at it. 

“I would say avoid it, but if we’re going to make an attempt to get home it’d probably be best to start there,” Techno mused. 

So they began walking, trudging across the trash piles and taking cover whenever they heard engines. Techno’s sword never left his hand at any point during their travels; soon the others’ weapons entered their hands and were never released either. 

“So what do we need to know about this place?” Wilbur asked Techno. 

“It’s a junk planet surrounded by portals. Most of the stuff here won’t be missed, including the people.” 

“Then why are we here?” Tubbo asked. 

“I said most, not all.” Techno paused. “There’s no easy escape. You can fly through a wormhole, but there’s no guarantee that’ll take you where you want to go. That’s not even mentioning the Grandmaster and his Contest of Champions.” 

“The fuck is the Grandmaster?”

“Let me finish, Theseus. The Grandmaster’s the leader of Sakaar. From what I’ve heard he’s a bitch to deal with, but we’ll be okay as long as we stay out of his line of sight. He holds something called the Contest of Champions, which is a glorified gladiator ring where he makes people he doesn’t like - or just random prisoners - fight to the death for the Sakaarians’ amusement. That’s about all I know, though.” 

They were getting closer to the city now. It was at least another half-day’s walk, but the sun was starting to burn low and hot in the sky. 

“Should we keep going?” Wilbur asked. 

“I’m tired,” Tubbo whined. 

“I second that. My feet feel like I stuck them in a fuckin’ furnace,” Tommy chimed in. 

Techno glanced between his two younger brothers, then his twin. He sighed. 

“Alright. We’ll rest for the night.” 

They found another gap in the trash piles. None of them could find food, but Tubbo and Techno, being paranoid and crazy-prepared, respectively, had brought their own. They dined on military rations and energy sticks, going to bed with stomachs that were empty enough to be uncomfortable but full enough to not complain.

Chapter Text

“What do you mean, my boys are missing?!” 

Eret, head advisor of the Esempi Empire and one of the few people who was brave enough to deal with a pissed-off emperor, responded as calmly as she could, “the Ender Emperor said that they never got there. The ship docked without them onboard. None of the escape pods were missing, nor was there any sign of them back on Esempi or on Ender. His men are still looking for them, but they haven’t found anything.” 

Phil, the emperor of the aforementioned Esempi Empire, paced back and forth in front of his throne, taking this information in. When Eret finished, he turned to face her. 

“Get my army. Tell them to search every planet in this sector and beyond. Contact the Nova Corps and let them know that my sons are missing, and don’t stop until they’re found.” 

“And if they’re…” Eret hesitated. “If they’re dead, your majesty?” 

Phil's eyes glowed with rage. “Then bring me the head of whoever killed them.” 

Chapter Text

The next day, after several more hours of walking and hiding and repeat, they finally reached the city. 

It was made of many, many small, scrappy structures at the edges and a smaller number of more impressive but equally shabby skyscrapers, all of them the color of brass and gold and towering over the desolate landscape, somehow both standing out and blending in. 

“That’s the Grandmaster’s tower,” Techno said, gesturing to the tallest skyscraper in the very center of the city. “Stay away from there.” 

They entered the city with no hassle. Their finer-than-usual clothes stood out somewhat, but they quickly hid their jewelry in their bags before anyone could notice them. 

“Anyone got anything they’re willing to part with?” Wilbur asked. 

Tommy and Tubbo began to dig through their bags. Techno gave him a strange look and pulled two ruby rings from his bag, which he dropped into Wilbur’s outstretched palm. 

“What are you thinking, Icarus?” He asked. 

“I’m thinking we could probably sell these. It’ll give us something to help us get home,” Wilbur replied, tucking the rings into his pocket. 

“I’ll try to find us a place to stay,” Tubbo said. 

“How about we all stick together until we figure out how this place works?” Techno suggested. "Makes it harder to get mugged, and I'm not rescuing you if you get kidnapped." 

There was a moment of silence, followed by grumbling and a reluctant murmur of agreement. 

Chapter Text

Eret combed through the reports she was receiving from the army. 

The Captain of the garrison on Ianite more or less told her that, if the princes were there, they were either really good at hiding or buried under four fathoms of water. Eret couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not. Xisuma of Hermitcraft stated that the Hermits were still looking, but there was no sign of them. Niki, Wilbur’s best friend and the commander of the army in his stead, had yet to get back to her, and Ranboo, the Ender Empire’s prince who’d taken up command of the empire’s forces to search for his betrothed, also gave back no word. 

There was no sign of the princes. It was like they’d just...vanished. 

This was a problem. This was a problem for many, many reasons. The first of these reasons was that, obviously, the crown prince of the empire was missing. Without him, should something happen to the emperor, the whole structure could go down in the absence of a leader. 

The second was that the Esempi and Ender Empires had always been good friends; this arrangement was meant to seal that pact but, with the disappearance of one of the people meant to aid in this pact’s sealing and no one to point the blame at, the empires would either turn on each other or worse, turn on their neighbors. Both were not good outcomes. 

The third was that people didn’t just vanish. There was always something that caused it, but- 

Wait a minute. 

Eret opened up the empire’s mainframe and searched through it. She’d heard Techno talking about a planet, once, one surrounded by wormholes. If one of those wormholes took the princes… 

She sat back, staring at the screen with no small amount of alarm. How had no one thought of this? 

She activated her communicator. “Send someone to scan the ship for wormhole activity. If you find it, trace it back as far as you can go.” 

She set the communicator aside and returned to the database. 

Chapter Text

The first thing the brothers did was try to get money. They eventually found a backstreet dealer who took their collected jewelry - two rings and a couple of bracelets - off their hands for what was hopefully a sizeable sum. With that, they were able to get an apartment in a nearby skyscraper; for some reason, there weren’t any hotels, which was mildly alarming for all four siblings. 

The apartment was wretched, but it was all they’d have for now. 

“Any of you have a communicator? I left mine at home,” Tubbo said. 

“Honestly, so did I,” Wilbur said. 

“Same,” Tommy chimed in. 

“Communicators are for the weak,” Techno said. 

“...” 

They returned to what they were doing: Tubbo was attempting to sweep off the floors despite not having handled a broom in years, Techno was sharpening his sword, and Wilbur and Tommy were...arguing in the corner and not being productive at all. 

After a few minutes of listening to them bicker, Techno stood and handed the purse full of Sakaarian coins to his youngest brother. 

“Go make yourselves useful and get some supplies. I’m starving and listening to you bicker makes my teeth hurt.” 

Tommy flipped him the middle finger but started out the door. 

“And don’t forget that we’re supposed to stick together,” Techno added. 

Wilbur threw his hands in the air and ran after Tommy. The two of them left, and Techno returned to the metal box he’d been sitting on, sighing in relief. “Finally. Peace and quiet.”

Chapter Text

“Eret? Eret, are you there?” 

Eret sat awake with a snort. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and reached for the communicator. 

“What is it?” 

“We found wormhole activity on the ship,” Sam said. 

A palpable sense of relief filled her. “Where does it lead?” 

“That’s the problem.” 

The relief twisted into dread. 

“The wormhole leads to Sakaar.” 

“...fuck.” Eret buried her face in her hands. “Send someone through, if you can. It’d better be a volunteer; we’re not having a redo of that incident on Kinoko.” 

“Alright.”