Chapter Text
Growing up, Ranboo always lived a lush life. He was royalty after all. He never bothered with simple domestic tasks like cleaning up or cooking. He had personal servants to complete those jobs anyways. His mothers were queens of the End. Both very regal and important. Everyone respected his family name.
But, growing up not really doing anything for yourself, as well as high royalty, might cause you to come out a bit…. Spoiled. Bratty is probably a much better word.
Ranboo wasn’t too well-behaved himself. He complained a ton and thought oh-so highly of himself. In fact, in his kingdom he was very well disliked. Most of the other endermen either envied him greatly or simply dreaded the day he would take over his mothers throne.
So, this leads the young prince to his current situation. Servants packing up his things as he prepares to leave his castle and family behind. His mothers truly cared about him. It was plain to see. They gave him everything he wanted for heaven’s sake, but they knew that he’d never be a good ruler if his personality remained the way it was, so they decided that he needed to leave and experience the ‘real world’ where there would be other creatures that aren’t enderman.
And now here was Ranboo, standing in front of his bedroom mirror, straightening his jabot as his mothers stood behind him, sadly watching.
“Son,” his eldest mother, who was only older than her wife by a year, named Morah, began. “I’m so sad to see you go. But I know there will be a lot of nice people out there in the overworld, trust me.”
Ranboo stared at his mother in the reflection of the mirror, before turning to his other mother, who he referred to as mom. “I know you think this is the best for me, but is it really?” he asked, a bit nervous in his tone. “Like, I’m not used to interacting with the lessers.”
“Don’t call them that,” his Mom, named Lilah, angrily answered. “They’re just people trying to live their lives. And we wouldn’t be in this situation if you just cooperated enough. It’s your fault for acting so spoiled all the time.”
Ranboo groaned and turned around. “If I die, it’s all your fault.” He said to his parents. They glanced at each other.
Morah strode over to her son and cupped his soft, black cheeks with her warm hands, smiling. “Hon, I know you’ll do amazing out there,” she hummed happily, trying to soothe her child’s worries. “Who could dislike you?”
The enderwomen’s wife visibly rolled her eyes in the background. Morah glanced at her, a bit nervous, then back at Ranboo. “You’re going to do just fine. And after a bit you can come back to be with me and your Mom. Just stay out there a bit longer until we can see that you can do things on your own. Please? For me?” She kissed Ranboo’s nose gently before he sighed and stared at her, contemplating his next move.
“Alright, I guess,” Ranboo awkwardly stuffed his hands in his pockets. His Mother smiled and gave him another kiss on the cheek.
“My little BooBoo, you’re so grown up!” She hugged him tight as the other servants in the room packed the prince’s bags for him. Lilah eventually sighed and came over to join her family in the hug-session. “I’ve never been so proud of you. I can’t wait til you’re king, My Beloved.”
Ranboo sighed and smiled. “Yeah, I guess.”
- - -
It was finally the day. Ranboo was standing outside the castle; knights surrounding him as he stared out into the black void, a bit scared. He was not the best at using his teleportation skills (of course he wouldn’t admit it), so he wasn’t positive that he would even end up in the overworld. Behind him, his moms stood. They both were upset to see their son leave, but at the same time, they were happy that he’d finally see the real world. He would gain new experiences and learn new skills that he never knew he possessed.
Meanwhile, Ranboo was dreading the experience. What if people hated him? He’d heard horror stories about humans slaughtering endermen in numbers just to harvest their eyes and do god-knows what with them. What if that happened to him?
“Remember to stay away from water, honey,” Morah said to Ranboo. He silently nodded. “And try not to dirty up your fancy clothes.”
Ranboo sighed and turned away. “Yeah, yeah. Alright.” He inhaled deeply and focused as he felt his body tense up, then he felt… empty. Like nothing but dust and dirt. Until he felt whole again and opened his eyes, only to be in a completely different setting.
The air was more breathable and everything was so bright. He’d never been to the overworld before and only seen photos of it in books he’d read at school. There was some giant round thing in the blue sky beaming hot light down onto his black skin. He frowned and tried to adjust to the new setting. It was all so, so weird.
Unlike the usual chorus fruit trees he’d see scattered around the yellow-ish tinted ground, the floor was green and surprisingly soft with large brown sticks poking out of the ground with green stuff hanging off of it. Ranboo flinched when he saw it. It just seemed so disturbing for some reason. Everything was so… colorful. Bizarre.
He mentally decided that he needed to start somewhere, so he began his journey to find some place to stay for the night. He carefully made sure his crown wouldn’t fall off his head and began walking. He didn’t know exactly where he was going, but he wanted to go somewhere. Anywhere. He just wanted to meet some people and get to know the terrain. And hopefully learn some new skills so his mothers would let him come back to the kingdom. He already felt way too homesick and it hadn’t been an hour. He also felt extremely hot just to go along with it.
In the End, it was normally freezing. Temperatures could get up to -200 degrees there, so he was used to the freezingness. But the heat was something he could barely handle. He felt ill after every step he took.
He looked around at everything. From the sky to the trees, and even the creatures, it was nothing like he anticipated the overworld would be. He expected endermites or something of that sort to be squirming around everywhere.
The creatures were all big. There was one that really caught his eye; the fluffy-white thing was small hooves. It was rather fascinating, to be honest. He walked over to it, eying the animal carefully. It was chewing on some grass, which he assumed it normally did. It glanced over at him and Ranboo carefully placed his large hand on the animal’s fur. It was soft, that’s for sure. He was not used to any of that in the End. Everything natural was smooth and hard. Like a rock. A lot of the things here were oddly fluffy. Strange.
As he continued his trek to find some sort of place to stay or anyone of that sort, he came across something blue. Oh, it was water. He’d heard of water before. There was none of it in the End. All enderman knew to keep away from it or it’ll burn your skin until you’re nothing. But, being Ranboo, he was a bit curious to touch it. Just to see what it did. He walked over to the body of water and stared at his reflection for a moment, then reached his hand out to touch the water.
Mistake. The water burned his finger. He flinched and quickly backed away, flicking his hand to try and cool off where his now missing finger was and numb the pain. Part of it was gone, which was a shame, but he knew it would heal. At least, that’s what he’d heard as a child. He sighed and sat back down. The overworld was as terrible as he heard it was.
Ranboo sat back and tried to gather his knowledge. What had he learned? Right; there was a stronghold that led to the End. Humans had tried to go through them, but failed miserably and got slaughtered by the dragon that resided in the End. Ranboo groaned, still trying to recall all the information he’d learned over the years.
Although he knew a lot, he never exactly bothered to memorize it since he never thought he’d be in this situation. He imagined that at 17, he’d be sitting on his throne in the End, demanding orders to the peasants, riches at his feet and a beautiful crown resting on top of his black head. He never anticipated that he’d be in the overworld, kicked out of his kingdom by his mothers and trying to find his way back home.
Ranboo remembered that he had to find a place to sleep tonight. There certainly was no way he’d be resting next to a river on the grass like some sort of animal. He was too important for that. So, he stood up and looked around. No sight of civilization anywhere. God, this was the worst thing he’d ever experienced.
- -
After some hours of walking, Ranboo had reached his breaking point. The sun was beginning to set over the horizon and it was getting late. Ranboo’s feet hurt and he felt like shit. Mobs were beginning to spawn and he’d managed to get some pieces of wool, as well as some pieces of wood he brought from home. He managed to make himself a bed and set it down on the ground, ready to sleep for the night. He was starving, but he’d have to get food in the morning.
Just as the enderman was about to drift off into a deep slumber, he was awoken by the sounds of leaves crunching. And… complaining?
“Phil! I don’t understand why I need to come along everyday. I’m 17. I’m not a baby.”
“I don’t trust you home alone. Last time you stayed by yourself, you broke the oven.”
Ranboo sat up, confused. Who the heck was that? He looked around and saw in the distance two men. One looked in his mid 60s and the other looked younger. Ranboo blinked for a moment.
The prince had never seen a human in real life. Only in the books his mothers had read to him. The humans had way lighter skin. Ranboo’s whole body was pitch black while the humans that passed by had peach colored skin and bright blond hair. It was weird.
“Are we closer to the Pub?” The younger one asked. Ranboo leaned forward to hear what he was saying. The two were about 17 feet away from him while Ranboo remained crouched behind a bush, trying to stay hidden.
“Tommy, if you ask me this one more time, I will-“ the older man’s words were cut off by a crunching in the leaves. The men stopped in their tracts and glanced at each other, then at their surroundings. There were trees everywhere, along with the bush keeping Ranboo hidden from sight. At least, he thought it kept him hidden well enough.
“Can I help you?”
Ranboo placed his black hand over his mouth, a bit scared. Anytime he felt threatened he normally called upon a knight to come and fight off anyone who tried to hurt him, but now he had to fend for himself.
“I can see you, you know. Just come out.”
Ranboo finally gathered up the courage to stand up. At 17, he was impressively standing at a full eight feet tall, but that was normal for an enderman his age. The two men below him stared up at him, confused and nervous.
The older one, who had some stubble on his chin and a green and white hat on his head stared up at Ranboo. Now that Ranboo could get a better look at him, he noticed the gray wings sticking out of his back, as well as the murder of crows that surrounded him. His long green robe looked very ragged, noticing like the royal outfits Ranboo usually wore.
On the other hand, the other boy looked like a mess. He appeared young and reckless based on the clothes he was wearing. He had some sort of red pancho on and a white shirt underneath. On his elbows were leather elbow pads as well as his knees. He had brown pants that went down to his knees and white socks on and red shoes. He also had white wings sticking out of his back and feathers where his ears would be. In other words, Ranboo would say he looked like a chicken.
“Holy shit, Phil, an enderman,” the chicken looking boy said, grabbing the arm of the man Ranboo assumed to be Phil. “I can believe there’s one in front of us.”
Phil gave the other boy a nudge, angry. “Shut up and be respectful.” He looked back up at Ranboo. “Are you lost, sir?”
Ranboo blinked, a bit angry. “Yes. Direct me to your nearest food source.”
The younger boy giggled. “What’s with your attitude? Jesus Christ-“
“Tommy.” Phil gave Tommy a disapproving glance. “Anyways. Me and my son were heading to the Pub. It’s a nice restaurant where I usually go to relax—“ he shot a glance at the boy who was referred to as Tommy. “You can come if you like.”
Ranboo nodded. “Alright. Lead the way.”
Phil nodded and began heading off with Tommy: the whole time though, Tommy only glared at Ranboo as if he hated him.
“I’m Phil, by the way, and this is Tommy,” Phil said, gesturing at Tommy when he said his name. “What’s your name?”
“Ranboo,” the prince said in reply.
“Cool name,” Tommy complimented as the three walked. “What’s with your crown anyways? Are you a prince or something?”
Ranboo nodded. “Yes. Yes I am. I’m from the End.”
Tommy giggled a bit. “Oh I’ve learned about how the End has their weird royal systems and all that in fifth grade. What’s a prince like you doing on Earth anyways?”
Ranboo tensed up. How was he supposed to answer that? “Reasons that aren’t your concern.”
Phil awkwardly smiled. “Alright then, Ranboo.” He looked up at the sky ahead. “Oh there’s the Pub by the way. You can just climb up that ladder and you’re there.”
The enderman stared up at the floating island. He was used to them in the End but never heard of them on Earth. He only sighed, not bothering to go up the ladder like everyone else did. He decided to try teleporting again.
Ranboo closed his eyes and focused his mind, then went into dust. He felt like nothing for a moment until he reopened his eyes and was now on top of the floating island, the house he assumed was the Pub was right behind him. Meanwhile, the humans Phil and Tommy were climbing up the ladder.
Ranboo chuckled. Humans can’t teleport. How funny. He shook his head and opened up the door to the Pub. It was very, very noisy inside. There were all kinds of creatures inside. He noticed some pink lady who looked like a fish with a fish bowl full of water on her head. She was laughing with some orange guy who had blue and red glasses on as orange sticks of fire flew around him. Finally, the man noticed Tommy enter the Pub and reluctantly strolled over to him.
“Aye, Toms!” He said enthusiastically. He put his arm around Tommy’s neck, clearly annoying the younger. “How’s my son doin’?”
Tommy growled and pushed the boy off him. “Jack, you’re not my parent.” He rolled his eyes. “Also, you’re a year older than me, asshole.”
Jack blinked his eyes, then scoffed. “Alrighty then.” He glanced over at Ranboo. “Oh, hey! New guy! Tommy, I didn’t know you had friends that weren’t Wilbur or Tubbo.”
With a groan, Tommy punched Jack in the shoulder. “Shut up. And this is Ranboo. He’s from the End.”
Ranboo only nodded, feeling very uncomfortable. “Um, yeah. I-I think I should probably just sit down. I’m starving.” He began speed walking away to the bar where Phil was sitting with some other guy. The other man had bluish-brown hair and a yellow sweater on. He appeared to be slightly transparent like a ghost.
“Oh, this is my friend, Ranboo,” Phil said as Ranboo approached him. Ranboo scrunched up his nose. He hated other people introducing him. “Meet Wilbur. He’s my son.” He gestured his glass of beer toward Wilbur, who smiled and nodded.
“Nice to meet you,” Wilbur smiled as he said this. “Phil tells me you’re from the End. That place sounds cool.” He paused. “Come take a seat and eat something. Your food’s on me.”
Ranboo blinked twice then sat down next to Wilbur. “Cool. Where’s the menu?” He ignored Wilbur’s slightly confused face when Ranboo didn’t reply with ‘thank you,’ but shrugged it off anyways.
Wilbur handed Ranboo the menu. “Yeah, just order anything. The wine is really good here.”
Ranboo lifted a brow and stared at Wilbur. “I’m not old enough to drink.”
“Oh, sorry. You look like you’re 26! How old are you?”
“Uhm, 17,” Ranboo replied, scratching the back of his neck nervously.
“Damn, you’re tall for your age!” Wilbur laughed. He had a velvety British voice.
“Technically, I’m the average height for an enderman my age,” Ranboo replied with a bit of attitude, sipping the milk he ordered from a bartender. Wilbur shrugged and chugged down some of his vodka. Ranboo rolled his eyes. These people were so sloppy.
“Do you have a place to stay tonight?” Phil asked. Ranboo shook his head.
“Nope,” he answered.
“You’re welcome to stay with us,” Phil responded with a smile. Ranboo nodded.
“Sure,” Ranboo shrugged. “I got nowhere else to stay anyways.”
Phil and Wilbur glanced at each, clearly thinking the same thing, but they were interrupted when Tommy sat down next to Phil suddenly, groaning with exhaustion.
“Can you tell Jack to stop making jokes about fucking my mom?” Tommy asked Phil. “Please. It’s so goddamn annoying.” He shook his fathers arm.
Phil blinked, unsure how to answer. “Uh, sure? You need to stop being so sensitive.”
Tommy stuck out his tongue playfully and frowned.
“By the way, Ranboo is gonna be staying in the Pub tonight,” Wilbur said, placing his empty glass on the table. He yawned, stretching his arms. “God, I am tired. Too bad Tubbo couldn’t make it tonight.”
Tommy nodded. “I plan on seeing him tomorrow.” He then glanced at Ranboo. “Lemme show you your room.”
Ranboo stood up and began to follow Tommy, not even bothering to say his goodbyes to Wilbur and Phil.
Tommy led Ranboo into a small wooden room. A red bed resided inside as well as a crafting table and a chest. It disturbed Ranboo how small the tiny room was. The room was half the size of his closet.
“Why’s it… so small?” Ranboo asked, turning to look at the avian boy. Tommy titled his head.
“This is the only room we have. Sorry,” he shrugged. “Anyways, go enjoy your night or whatever. The bathroom is down the hall.” He closed the door behind Ranboo, leaving the enderman alone in the little room.
He took out his clothes. A pajama shirt and pants made of the finest silk from the End and changed into it. It had the pattern of purple and white stripes. He finally flopped down onto the mattress, sighing and pulling the covers over himself.
It was going to be a lot harder making it back to the End than he thought.