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"so you're really an enderman?" tubbo asked, not actually believing purpled. he had came to purpled's house to steal in the exact moment that purpled had teleported inside.
"yeah," purpled said, over the whole situation. he knew tubbo didn't like him and was willing to give him almost anything to get him to leave him alone.
"no i don't believe you, i wanna hear it from ranboo first." and tubbo stood up, turning and leaving abruptly. purpled dejectedly stared after his leave, somewhat disappointed.
he sighed and decided to move on and continue gathering resources.
he doesn't play much on the server anymore. but when large names appear, he hops on. everyone does, it's free clout for god's sake.
———
the next time tubbo disagreed with the enderman hybrid himself, was when he was next to ranboo. the three of them weren't even associating themselves with each other, they just all happened to pass by each other at the right time.
"ranboo, purpled, wait!" the hybrids spun around. purpled made eye contact with tubbo for a second and tubbo looked away immediately. it wasn't because he was uncomfortable, but because he knew if he held eye contact with him, purpled would calm down, as it was true for all endermen. yes, tubbo knew what he was doing.
"hm?" ranboo hummed in confusion.
"ranboo, is purpled an enderman hybrid?"
there was a slight pause as purpled rolled his eyes.
"is uh– is he saying he isn't?" ranboo thought it was obvious that purpled was an endermen, but apparently it wasn't that easy to see.
but of course, ranboo had known purpled since they both came to the overworld together, even if they didn't talk often. ranboo had been like four when he arrived and purpled had been around six or seven. they age differently so now they are the same (endermen have weird tendencies, they align ages with each other as well as interests and other things too, it is a group endermen thing).
tubbo shook his head. "it's quite the opposite, he says he is but i don't wanna believe him."
ranboo frowned at that. he turned to purpled. "you are an enderman, right?"
he nodded. "of course i am, i'm not going to lie about something so easily."
"there you have it then, why don't you take his word for it?"
"well i don't see how he's–" tubbo closed his eyes sighed, rubbing his face in genuine anger.
"why not take his word for it?" ranboo repeated. he wasn't trying to be rude but sometimes tubbo took some convincing to believe something.
"here i can solve this." purpled said, putting things into his inventory. he showed his bare hands up to the two of them who had both gone quiet.
with the silence, he then teleported around the pair approximately seven times. ranboo's eyes widened and tubbo tried to follow his path of teleportation.
when he stopped he stood back at his original spot, shoving his hands into his hoodie's pockets. often enough, unlike this time, he had a teleportation cooldown. it was bipolar so sometimes it allowed him to teleport once every few seconds, maybe minutes, or maybe every single time he wants to and as many times as well.
"that was awesome," ranboo said after another moment of silence.
then tubbo swung his netherite enchanted sword and nearly took purpled's head off. the blonde teleported away and ranboo stared at him as if he were a psychopath.
——
once he was safe and at a far distance— which was really just the end portal or the syndicate—, purpled collapsed. he knew there were people in the room when he went unconscious, but his throat had already bled enough to make him black out.
–
when techno heard an enderpearl sound behind him, he had assumed it was phil, not really bothering to look. but after a literal second of thinking, he spun around just in time to see a teenage boy he'd only seen a few times pass out and fall to the floor.
he didn't catch the boy because he was too slow, but once he saw blood pooling out from beneath him, he had to check.
luckily he found a pulse. techno messaged phil.
––
purpled woke in a bed somewhere he didn't recognize.
he sat up immediately, but not teleporting away yet. he knew he could if he needed to, but he'd rather figure out where the hell he was first. what if he was in a snow biome? that would be gross, he didn't like the snow. it was too cold and it turned into water when it melted.
he pushed himself out of the bed, analyzing the room. it was slightly chilly, which was surprising because his body hardly felt heat or freeze. so he stumbled up onto his feet when a sharp pain shot up his throat. he tried swallowing but it hurt even more.
he breathed in and out through his mouth, his raspy voice making it obvious that something was wrong with him. his hands moved to his throat, and he realized there was gauze around his neck. purpled really wanted to know where he was.
so he walked to the door as quickly as he possibly could and opened it. he was in a house. he shook his head at that, he knew he was in a house.
someone rounded a corner nearby and as they came into view, purpled watched them. phil and him made eye contact. they held it, not because phil knew, but because neither of them knew what to say.
"you're up," the older stated the obvious. "and walking. how?"
purpled's brows furrowed. "huh?"
"your injury takes at least a few days to heal, and we only patched you up yesterday, how are you standing right now?" phil leaned against the wall next to him, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.
"i uh– i really don't know. what happened?" he was nervous, but ready to make his grand escape. he never talked with phil and he sure as hell felt like a burden in that moment.
"you appeared in a room here, but you couldn’t’ve used a pearl, so we were wondering how you did it." purpled was confused why philza kept changing the conversation, but brushed it off because the man was old.
"i mean i teleported, i don't need a pearl for that."
"why did you teleport into the stronghold then?" phil didn't mention how he didn't believe purpled teleported.
"i literally used to live there, i don't see the issue philza." he deadpanned, looking disappointed again. he nailed the facial expression.
"you–"
"oh don't gape about it," he rolled his eyes exaggeratingly. "i'm an enderman hybrid, i can teleport."
philza looked at him in sarcastic disbelief. "dream said there was one enderman that was allowed out of the end, and it's obvious that it's ranboo."
"really? you didn't bother asking though?"
"what do you mean?" philza scowled. "you're not–"
"when i entered the overworld, i was the only one who saw the portal in the second that it had opened, but ranboo was there too. i jumped through and he followed literally right behind me and we passed off as one sole enderman." he said blandly, not letting philza talk. "so please shut up."
the older looked offended. "a child will not disrespect their elders like that, especially not a lying one." he took a few steps towards purpled and the boy noted it, but didn't react.
"what could i possibly gain out of lying right now?"
"us letting you go alive."
"plural? who else and where?" purpled jokingly looked past philza, squinting to see if there was anybody else.
once philza knew he was within reach of purpled, he stuck his arms out and first pinned purpled to the wall and then proceeded to grab the boy's throat.
unfortunately for the enderman, he didn't do too well with teleporting in dangerous situations (like earlier where he mass teleported and ended up a thousand blocks away from where he had been) and struggled for a moment, allowing phil to put enough pressure onto his throat for his eyes to roll back momentarily.
he came about a second later, teleporting away. but he only appeared down on a lower floor, where he crashed into a table and a wall, hitting his head and collapsing to the ground. purpled was glad he didn't accidentally teleport philza with him.
"woah–" he noted that technoblade was in the room. purpled tried his best to use the wall to stand up, succeeding before he flinched at philza minecraft barreling down to the floor they were on.
"tec–" his eyes landed on the innocent kid. "techno don't let him leave." philza was dead serious. purpled didn't have his weapons, he didn't even have his armor.
techno and the man made eye contact, nodding at each other. when both of them lunged at him, he teleported in fear, somehow still ending up on the same floor, but confusing the other two war veterans.
"wh–" techno begun, looking at philza in surprise.
"yeah, don't let him leave." philza said, before jumping— more like gliding because he was using his wings— towards the boy again.
technoblade hesitated. "but what did he do?"
"fucking grab him, i'll tell you in a second techno!" phil shouted angrily. the boy couldn't teleport anymore but he made a beeline for the door.
as skilled as purpled was, he hated the whole situation. he did not want to be there. he did not know philza minecraft and technoblade. he did not want to be there.
techno grabbed the hood of his hoodie weakly, as he's not very interested in hurting someone that hasn't hurt him nonetheless a child.
purpled lashed out, throwing himself around and shouting curses. "let me go! what did i do!? fucking–" philza stood in front of him. he punched the man hard and then kicked his balls. phil stumbled back a few steps.
"you fucking wh–" he raised his hand up over purpled and techno pulled back just in time.
"phil stop it. calm down, let's talk it out."
"talk about calm, blood god."
techno took a breath and purpled was hyperventilating. phil's green looked like dream's green and phil's arm reminded him of his brother's arm—
"what did he do?"
"fucker lied to me and then teleported away."
"first of all i wasn't lying second of all you were choking me to fucking death!" techno stared at phil and he let the kid go.
"phil, why did you choke him?"
"stop acting like the adult here, techno. i am a grown fucking man and i'll handle this myself." the winged man reached out and grabbed purpled's wrist, pulling the boy towards him.
"philza do not touch him." techno ordered. "if you're going to act like a child, i'm going to be the adult here."
"shut u–"
purpled let the two bicker, zoning out.
he snapped back into reality the second that he was lifted into the air by his throat for the millionth time. the blood seeped through the gauze this time, the wound becoming undone.
he gasped for air and philza just continued squeezing the life out of him until techno knocked the man unconscious. but when purpled's eyes rolled back again, they stayed back and he passed out.
techno was left with two dead weight bodies.
——
purpled woke in the same bed, this time feeling worse than before.
the exact moment he decided to leave was the second that technoblade came to check up on him.
the man was the literal mayor of skyblock, he couldn't wait to leave and never see him again.
"oh you're awake," he blinked. "how are you feeling?"
"absolutely fine." purpled responded, keeping voice a single pitch and his eyes fixated on something in the room. he pushed the sheets off of himself and stood up.
"wh–"
"i'm gonna go," he said hurriedly when philza entered the room. the man heard him and grabbed his sleeve as the effects appeared and the sound was made.
—
he found himself at the ruins of tommy's exile. he hated his life.
one second later purpled spun around and found himself face to face with a seasick and recovering philza.
he teleported both of them.
"where–" phil gasped for arm and swallowed down his breakfast. "how the fuck did you do that?!"
"i teleported, idiot!"
"that's impossible! you're hacking!" philza screamed at him. "dream will execute you for that!"
"he won't kill me because he fucking knows, dickhead!" purpled couldn't teleport.
phil grabbed purpled's shirt collar this time instead of his neck. the gauze was layered on again, this time tighter than last time and it was slightly getting to purpled's air flow.
purpled's eyes looked around desperately. he did not want to recreate the last scene from a day ago, especially when he can't flee.
"you little–" philza exclaimed when purpled tried to kick him.
the teen cut him off. "where are we?” it worked effectively, as surprising as it is.
philza looked around, apparently he hadn't taken in his surroundings. he let go of purpled.
purpled took no time to sprint away.
"hey!" philza yelled after him, chasing him down. "you don't fucking say that and run away!" phil was faster. by the time purpled teleported, philza has tackled him.
–
the two of them appeared in snowchester, right on the path next to the button.
philza pinned the boy down, putting too much force on his arms. he pushed his body between the teen's legs, making the smaller blonde rapidly try to rip himself out from under the older.
"let go!" purpled couldn't teleport again. fucking hell— "let me go! philza get off of me!" he was screaming as loud as he could. he knew he mass teleported again, and he knew he was somewhere he didn't know. purpled continued thrashing around.
"shut up, stop squirming!" phil retorted, having the boy beneath him lose his energy.
someone shouted from up on the other path. "hey!" two pairs of footsteps were heard and philza cursed under his breath.
"fuck.. see what you did?" he muttered angrily, tightening his grip on purpled's forearms.
"what the fuck!?" the young voice of tubbo rung through. "philza get the hell off of him!"
the brunette swung his foot as hard as he could. it hit the man's rib cage at an angle that could shatter bones.
philza slid off of purpled, coughing up blood next to him. purpled felt himself get lifted up off the ground and into somebody's arms. he assumed ranboo was holding him because tubbo was continuously kicking phil and he was curled into someone wearing a suit that was extra tall.
purpled should've taught ranboo how to alter his height. he may do that later.
and then he went unconscious.
—
purpled woke up not even a few minutes later, but they were inside and he was set on a couch.
"wh.." he mumbled, too tired and utterly stressed out to form full sentences.
"oh, you're already awake?" ranboo was next to him. he just nodded. "okay, well.. i'll let you come about and then we can talk, okay?" he nodded again. purpled did not want to talk.
suddenly loud knocking and banging came at the front door. ranboo rolled his eyes. "let him knock, he won't be coming inside the house any time soon anyways." purpled let himself lay against ranboo's torso's side.
"isn't tubbo mad?"
"why would tubbo be mad?" he looked at the smaller yet older enderman curling into his side.
"doesn't like me."
"oh yes he does," ranboo adjusted so that his arm was comfortably around the blonde. "he just knows that only one enderman came to the overworld, not two."
"dream needs to.." he trailed off, sighing when he couldn't bring himself to use his words. he angrily brought his knees up to his chest and buried himself in his adoptive brother's torso.
"stop telling people that?" ranboo finished for him kindly. purpled nodded and shut his eyes, drifting off again.
but before he could get another wink in, the door burst open. phil looked a bit stunned but knocked before speaking.
"i didn't mean to break your door, mate." he said honestly, being sorry. he felt embarrassed. two endermans, some of the most scary minecraft species to ever exist to some extent, were sitting on the couch together. one of them had an insane height and could scream loud enough to break the sound barrier, and the other had psycho teleportation powers. philza regretted not going when he could. "sorry."
"leave." ranboo deadpanned, staring directly at phil. he barely held himself back to lunge at the man. purpled was the anchor to his murder. if they had set purpled upstairs, philza would've been dead.
philza took his chances. "purpled needs to come with me."
"no he doesn't?" ranboo was the embodiment of gen z.
"i don't know my way back."
"figure it out," the taller shrugged.
purpled pulled himself closer to ranboo. he heard phil leave.
–
a few minutes into the comfortable silence, another voice came at the front door.
"woah, what the fuck happened?" was tommy visiting? "ranboo?"
the split haired enderman put a finger up to his lips. purpled didn’t see it but tommy nodded and began walking towards the two of them. “is he asleep?” he whispered, genuinely being nice— which was something that didn’t happen often. purpled shook his head against ranboo’s chest and the younger got the message.
“no, but just don’t be loud.” ranboo said softly, inviting tommy to sit down next to him. the blonde awkwardly shuffled to the couch and sat down next to ranboo. none of them said a thing, but they sat in comfortable silence.
purpled dozed off.