Chapter Text
Drip.
Drop.
Drip.
Drip.
Drop.
Drip, right onto the enderman’s forehead.
A quite sizzling noise arose. Red and green eyes fluttered open suddenly. Ranboo moved their head away from the steadily dripping water source above them swiftly as to avoid the water leaving a mark or starting to seriously hurt.
Their eyes searched the ceiling to see where the water was coming from.
‘Maybe it’s a subtle torture tactic? Are they trying to slowly burn a hole into my brain?’ Ranboo thought, looking for any pipes placed to drip water. No pipes were found when their eyes swept the room.
They prepared to stand up to further examine where the water was coming from but when they went to push themself up from a lying down position a sharp yet aching pain sprung up in their chest and they fell back onto their back. Ranboo grasped the spot on their chest where their pearl resided, applying heavy pressure in a sad attempt to alleviate the pain.
They noticed through their pain clouded haze that there was a bandage wrapped tightly around their chest under their shirt (which was changed from the padded and armored gear they came in with and was now a cream-colored button-up). The memories of when the enderman was last conscious started trickling back.
They’d been so preoccupied with the potential torture by water and the haze of waking up that they had forgotten what happened.
Ranboo going to stab the emperor.
Them hesitating to bring the knife down.
The king and them getting in a scuffle.
Their pearl getting hit, hard, by the king.
Anxiety formed in their chest. ‘Did it just get stunned, damaged, or did it get shattered?’ Ranboo thought. They weren’t able to teleport after they were hit, and that would be expected if an experienced fighter knew how to hit it and stun it.
A damaged pearl would have a few cracks in it but would heal over a period of weeks (depending on how badly damaged it was). However if King Techno was inexperienced with enderman foes and how to stun their pearl, it could easily be shattered.
A shattered pearl was only able to be healed by extremely experienced healers, and even then it wasn’t guaranteed it would heal at all. For most endermen who didn’t have personhood as Ranboo did, a shattered pearl would be a fatal injury.
The enderman took a few breaths in an attempt to collect themself before slowly pushing themself up. Their arms shook heavily as they did and Ranboo immediately leaned against the wall to relieve stress from their limbs when they were fully sat up.
Ranboo moved up their shaking fingers to their shirt and attempted to unbutton it. They quickly became frustrated when the shaking in their hands made it a seemingly impossible task.
They sighed and thumped their skull against the rough wall behind them in frustration.
The sound of a door unlocking then opening then the clicking noise of shoes on stone grew louder in its approach down the hallway.
Ranboo attempted to compose themself before the mystery enemy arrived. They tried to push themself up once again with a last hope that a sudden wave of strength would wash over the enderman but alas their knees started to wobble and they fell back onto their butt.
A woman with light pink hair with wisps of blonde roots scattered across her head appeared in view of Ranboo’s cell, followed by a man with closely shaven hair, a good portion of his body covered in fungus and rot. Both were armored and armed.
The woman nodded to the man who produced a key and unlocked the cell. She walked inside while remained by the entrance, hand hovering near his sword.
She kneeled down a few feet away from Ranboo, a glare painted on their face. She placed a hand on her chest with one still resting on her sword handle.
“My name is Knight Niki of The Arctic Empire,” She gestured to the man at the entrance of the cell. “And this is my associate Knight Manifold.” The man nodded, a few chunks of moss and dirt falling as he did.
“We are going to escort you to an interrogation room and afterward take you to a more comfortable cell. Do you understand?” Knight Niki questioned. Ranboo refused to meet her eye and instead stared at the cracks on the floor.
It was a tense silence for a moment before the enderman made a sad attempt at an attack, lunging forward yet not quite reaching Niki before hunching over in pain. She staggered back and Knight Manifold made a move forward sword drawn and pointed at Ranboo’s neck.
“Hey! You better not try that kind of shit around here!” Knight Manifold barks and Niki raises up her hand and glances a warning at him which quickly quiets him. Ranboo breathed heavily as she looked back at them.
“I’m not going to talk, you can torture me I don’t care.” They spit out with a venomous tone.
The knight’s gazes both softened. They glanced at each other before Manifold spoke up.
“Uhhh, we aren’t going to torture you. We just need to talk.” Niki nodded in agreement. “Jack is right we just want to talk, and the room we have to do it and your new cell will be much more comfortable than here.”
Ranboo pursed their lips, deep in thought. They knew they needed their pearl to get healed, not just for the mission to be complete but also for the sake of not being in pain anymore. It was agonizing wincing every time they breathed. Compliance may be beneficial in this scenario.
The enderman sighed heavily. “Fine, I’ll go with you.”
The two knights let out a sigh of relief and a small portion of the tension in the room seemed to seep out.
---
Outside of the cell row and into the castle proper it was as expected much nicer.
The sound of shoes click-clacking on the pinewood flooring that smelled as if it was freshly chopped from the tree was a very welcomed contrast to the cold, stone, dirt-smelling cracked floor they had slept on the night before. The bottom of the walls was lined with an intricately carved lining of wood a shade or two darker than that of the floor.
The wallpaper was absolutely gorgeous. While walking down the castle halls in daylight with the soft sunlight spilling through the windows and sprinkling the inside as opposed to at night with only the moonlight and the starlight to aid in their sight they could now see it in all its glory. It was a stunning periwinkle with flecks of thin gold painted in yet another amazingly crafted pattern.
It made Ranboo sick.
The fact that these vile people who opposed their personhood, their very existence, we’re able to lather their abodes and clothing and everything in such sickeningly wealthy-looking patterns was disgusting to the enderman. Their friends and colleagues had to live in dingey hidden headquarters hiding while these corrupt royals got life served to them on a silver spoon.
Bitter butterflies swarmed in their stomach as the fear of their situation truly sank in. Ranboo was already aware being taken to interrogation was one of the worst possible and most unpredictable scenarios, but it wasn’t until walking to their potential downfall that it truly resonated in their mind.
It could be a normal interrogation sure but based on everything Dream had quizzed and informed Ranboo of concerning this nation it seemed more likely a dissection of them would be happening.
These monsters tried to stop Dream when he used the book of life to grant it to Ranboo and give them their consciousness and now would probably be chopping the enderman up to ogle at their un-normal biology, altered by becoming a person.
The cuffs on their wrists chaffed uncomfortably as Knight Manifold tugged a bit too harshly on the chain connecting them. He looked back around at the enderman to apologize before pausing and turning back around after viewing the glare frozen on their split-colored face.
Soon enough the group came to a halt at a door that Knight Niki opened for the other two who filed in. The room was bleak but surprisingly to Ranboo did not look like a torture room. It didn’t even look dirty.
There was a spruce table with a glass center which had a metal loop on the furthest side. There was one plush chair on the furthest side of the room and two closer to the door.
While not as extravagant as the hallways, it was still far above what Ranboo would consider fancy. It made them scowl at the wastefulness of the Arctic Empire.
They were lead to the furthest chair and Knight Manifold swiftly attached their cuffs around the metal loop in order to secure the assassin.
The pair of knights sat down across from them and started sorting through various papers in preparation for the interrogation. Ranboo tested the strength of their restraints by tugging on the chain. It was, (annoyingly) as expected, very stuck to the table. To get out they would have to take the table with them which is not really an option.
A cough from Knight Manifold brought Ranboo’s eye up to the knights who appeared ready for the interrogation to start. The enderman took a deep breath and ran over the rules they had learned in training.
“What is your name?”
(“Do not let them know who you are.”)
Ranboo returned the question with silence.
“Who do you work for?”
(“Do not let them know who we are.”)
Ranboo returned the question with silence.
“What is the motive for your attempt on Emperor Philza’s life?”
(“Do not let them know your motives.”)
Ranboo returned the question with silence. And they did that again and again until what they were spewing no longer felt like words and started the feel like random sounds.
Eventually, the knights put on strained, very fake, smiles and thanked Ranboo for their time. The enderman slowly let down the facade of coldness when it seemed like they would not be coming back for a good while.
They took this opportunity to test their restraints again. Not a budge. Ranboo huffed in annoyance. They knew there was no way out of this situation unless they broke free since teleporting wasn’t working for them.
They lifted their leg up to the table and pushed off from it very hard. The metal cuffs dug into Ranboo’s arms very painfully yet they kept going. After a seemingly everlasting amount of time the splintering sound of wood creaked and the cuffs, along with a chunk of wood and the metal loop snapped off the table.
From the sudden lack of tension, they were sent flying backward, falling over and taking their chair with them.
Ranboo’s head smacked the wooden floor, the whiplash dazzling them. A ringing noise filled their ears and they didn’t even notice as a tall figure opened and ducked under the door. A tall pig figure.
As the shadow of King Techno came over Ranboo they tried to roll over and dash away but were stopped by the stabbing pain in their entire body from the amount of physical exertion they just put out.
They tensed up their body expecting anything. A kick, a punch, maybe King Techno would choke them and finish Ranboo off here.
All that came was a chuckle followed by a deep,
“Bruh, you suck.”
A wave of heavy confusion washed over their face.
“Are you here to kill me?”
“Kill you? Nah.”
“To interrogate me then?”
“Honestly I was just here to make fun of you for being trash at your job,” He waved his hands around a gestured at the current scene. “But I should probably get you properly restrained again.”
King Techno pushed the chair back up off the floor taking Ranboo with it who was in too much pain to struggle away. They looked up behind them to match the king’s gaze.
“Surely the handcuffs are enough.”
The king leaned in close, his laid-back look suddenly morphing into a much colder one.
“You and I both know that I and your cracked pearl are the only things preventing your escape, and I’m not going to risk you still being able to teleport because you’re faking an injury.”
Ranboo’s face dropped. ‘He’s going to shatter your pearl.’ their brained yelled at them. King Techno seemed to not noticed and just leaned back, continuing what he was saying.
“I mean even if you’re not faking a cracked pearl, with our healers on the job it’s going to get better before we’re ready to let you go so it only makes sense to keep one of the variables preventing your escape always around you.” He shrugged and walked around to the other side of the table.
Their eyebrows furrowed at that. ‘Healers?’ they thought. ‘That’s a stupid move.’
While Ranboo sat in their confusion, King Techno did the one thing the enderman had least expected.
He opened the door.
Ranboo’s eyes widened at this. King Techno chuckled.
“Were you not listening? I feel like I explained this in a fairly obvious way for you when I was talking.”
The confusion furthered on their face at this with a large amount of annoyance mixing into it.
“Of course I was listening, but I mean, c’mon, I tried to kill the emperor! Surely you’re not just gonna take me around like a lady in waiting!” They threw their hands up.
The king rolled his eyes.
“Bruh. I’m not gonna sit in this room interrogating you for hours. Obviously, it’s not leading to anything according to the knights so might as well just take you around with me. So c’mon dude stand up.”
They did, albeit still extremely confused.
“You say I’m bad at my job but you haven’t even gotten any information from me.”
“And you failed to complete your mission.”
“Touche.”
The two exited the room and continued into the halls, Ranboo following along with hesitance.
“I did still attempt the mission. I tried to kill your best friend and you’re not even torturing me or locking me up with a life sentence.”
“I mean, I could lock you up for life, but I talked with Phil and he thinks there’s something more going on here.”
The two lapsed into silence and continued down the hallway to King Techno’s mystery destination.