Chapter Text
Ranboo shifted his armor clinking together. He was standing guard in the throne room of the Antarctic empire. There were two rulers, king Philza and emperor Technoblade. And each had an army of their own. The king's army stayed put and defended the territory they owned. The emperor’s army was the one to go out and attack and claim new territories. Ranboo currently belongs to the king's army. Most beginning soldiers started in the king's army. Ranboo was a seasoned soldier, and knew his post and job well; he had started in the emperor’s army. And got transferred over to the king’s army.
He started out young at the age of 13 when he was recruited at the highest point of the war and one of the struggles the empire faced was the depletion of willing soldiers. He was now 18 and a half with five years experience under his belt. Most of his friends had gone back to their normal lives when they could. Ranboo didn’t. He didn’t really have anything to go back to.
Ranboo's eyes snapped to the doors of the throne room as some nobles walked in, being led by the king. He frowns at the soldiers marching behind the nobles. Why did they bring soldiers, wasn’t this supposed to be a peaceful meeting? His king turned and waved over his wall. Ranboo was a head guard for his platoon of fellow soldiers. When he reached the king he dipped his head.
“ Our guest brought some friends with them” king philza said, his voice was cheerful, but Ranboos definitely knew better than to believe it at face value “ If they get to bring friends, I should too, right?”
Ranboo noded and king philza continued on.
“ so I want you and your group to follow behind us” he commands before turning and leading his guests towards a conference room.
Ranboo flicked his tail as his fellow guards got in marching order. Ranboo took the lead and led his soldiers after the Noble’s guards. He didn’t like this one bit. Something felt off, and it only increased as he noted one soldier had a bow strapped to his back with a quiver packed full.
He flicked his tail and glanced at the soldier behind. The soldier nodded and alerted the guard next to him. He looked forward and moved to open the door for his king. The king nodded his head at ranboo and slipped into the room. The nobles followed closely. Ranboo shut the door before the nobles guards could follow. Turning to face them with an uncaring mask of indifference. His soldiers march into place to stand guard. He could tell they were tense; he didn't care.
He had a job to do and if those noble guards kicked up a fuss he could handle it. Ranboo watched them hiding his amusement as they shifted awkwardly before their head guard ordered them to stand along the opposite wall. Ranboo shifted to stand next to the door, he flicked his ear and tried to listen to the conversation going on in the closed-off room.
No point he couldn’t hear anything so he turned his attention back to the nobel’s guards. There were ten of them and about five of them had bows and arrows, the rest had swords and a few smaller knives. Ranboo had his axe and his sword, while his fellow guards had sword’s and throwing knives. And ranboo and his guards all had shields attached to their armor.
Ranboo was bored out of his mind most days. He went from constant fighting and training to standing numbly watching and waiting for an attack that was never arriving. The king’s army set near their borders had a lot more action than ranboo has seen in months. No one was brave enough to attack the castle and even the guards a city over have no issues. Ranboo feels like he was being wasted just standing around.
When one of the guards hand shifted towards their quiver ranboo cursed himself for jinxing the day. Ranboo was also suddenly glad that the helmets they wore only covered their eyes. It meant he could openly observe without anyone noticing he was indeed watching them. He shifted so his armor made the slight click of the metal hitting each other. He watched the guard freeze before reaching for an arrow again.
It all happened at once really, the guy was just the first to attack. Ranboo was the second one to do anything which was blocking the arrow from finding its mark in his neck. Now ranboo was focused on his opponent slashing at him with his sword forcing the other towards the wall. And as he slashed the others' necks, someone shouted to get the door. and Ranboo was moving before he could think as a brute of a soldier charged the door and slammed it open.
And he crashed right into the brute’s back causing both to slam to the floor with a loud bang. Ranboo scrambled to stand and retrieve his axe from its resting place on his back. The brute was also standing facing him. Ranboo’s ear twitched as his king’s voice shouted curses and the sound of his sword being drawn out.
Ranboo charged the brute, swinging his axe out in an arc bending his leg slightly so he could use momentum to increase the damage done. Ranboo couldn’t stop his smile as the brute stumbled backwards, ranboo used that as he brought the axe down again on the guard when it pulled away with a spray of red.
Their armor isn’t the best, ranboo noted with a hint of glee. This should be quick then armor is only half the battle. The other part was skill but ranboo had that box checked as well as he sent the brute to the floor again.
Ranboo’s ear flicked at the sound of more fighting in the hallway outside of the meeting room but he also heard emperor Technoblade so he wasn’t too worried. He swung his axe down and into the downed man’s chest. Ranboo watched the man’s body shudder and his chest fall still and when he was dead ranboo put one of his paws on the body's chest and pulled his axe free.
He turned towards his king to find him fine and holding one of the nobles in his grasp and he was glaring at the other nobles daring them to move. Ranboo stepped away from the body at his paws or well feet in most cases and made his way towards his king sliding his axe back into his spot on his back and scooping up his sword while his tail flicked out in annoyance. He should have picked it up earlier before attacking the brute; what if one of the nobles had stolen it and killed his king while his back was turned? Ranboo had to be more careful and aware of his surroundings.
His king pushed the noble in his grasp towards him, and ranboo pulled the noble closer like a dragon hoarding a shiny gem, only he raised his sword to the noble's neck. The threat was loud and clear despite neither ranboo or philza saying a word. The noble was shaking in his grasp, ranboo only tightened his hold on them.
“ Now, now what was this meeting for again?” Philza said with a growl “ wasn’t it to work out some trade routes? So that your people wouldn’t starve?”
“ Yes, It was my lord,” One of the younger nobles said with a trimble in her voice.
“ So, you planned on getting those trade routes by killing me? Or was the goal to try and steal my country?” Philza asked, his head tilted backwards and his wings spread open as he stared down at the nobles.
“ That’s a dumb plan” a deep voice pipes up from the door and ranboo didn’t need to look to know it was his emperor, Technoblade was coated in blood. “ Especially since they would have to fight me and win.”
Ranboo had to hide his amusement at the nobles as their faces fell. Technoblade walked further into the room, his blue cloak fluttering at his heels. Behind him a lot of armored guards entered the room, along with his own platton. What surprised ranboo was the two princes who stepped into the room as well.
Crown prince Wilbur and prince Tommy were both in line for the king’s throne. There wasn’t an heir for the emperor's throne and there might never be one. Ranboo's tail flicked again as he shifted and adjusted his hold on his sword.
“ Well, I’m sure they didn’t think that far ahead” Philza said laughing “ They never do, I’m surprised they tried to kill us in our own castle”
“ I’m sure they would love a tour right to our prison” Technoblade said gruffly and ficked one of his ears with the gold jewelry clicking together. “ My guards have that covered.”
Ranboo held back his huff at that. What was the point of a king's army if they stood around they could walk the prisoners to their prison. He easily gave up the person he had to the guard that stepped towards him.
Ranboo slipped his sword back into his scabbard at his hip. He felt the uncomfortable feeling of being watched so he glanced over at the emperor. He only had a few ideas as to why he was staring at him. One he recognised that ranboo had weapons one could only have if they were the emperor’s army at some point. Two, he was taking note of the troop number on his shoulder along with his personalized number. Or three he recognized him from the few times they had been on the battlefield together, but that wasn’t likely since they hadn't spoken once together. He was only one of many children the emperor had to look at and send to their deaths.
“ Hey mate can you and your troop remove the bodies?” His king asked kindly as if ranboo could tell him ‘ Nah, I don’t feel like it ’.
“ Yes, sir “ ranboo said, turning away from his king and emperor. Quickly waving over his troop and telling them the order. While ranboo was a great fighter he had no strength when it came to moving dead or injured people. His arms weren't built for it despite many of his generals pushing him past his limits trying to improve it. He wasn’t strong enough, but what he lacked in strength he made up for in his agility and flexibility.
His troop joked that he didn’t have a spine at all. But he asurse you he does in fact have a spine! But that's not the point. He watches as they pick up the body in the meeting room then move him out into the hall. Ranboo took a moment to stare at the blood coated hallway. Yikes technoblade must have been pissed about the attack. Ranboo pitied the poor soul that would have to scrub the halls. Maybe he could come back to help after his shift was over.
Moving the bodies was done quickly, but their shift was extended due to the attack and they had to stand guard for an extra three hours. He didn’t stick around when he was released from his duties for the day. Quickly making his way deeper in the castle and towards the area of the castle that housed the king's guards. It was a long and dark hallway with only a few dim lanterns casting light. Each troop had a common room and separate bedrooms. the front of each door had their troop numbers carved into it. The numbers glowed softly with glow squid ink in the dark.
His troop was troop number 74717 and his personal number was 707. He pushed the door to his troop’s common room open letting the other’s in first before entering and leaving the door shut behind him. Ranboo wished all of them a good night before going to his room. He took all his armor off but kept the left shoulder guard on.
It was required if you were going to walk around the castle for it held your troop and personal number and identifies that you have permission to be in the castle. Ranboo quickly took his hair out of the bun it was in and braided it then he slipped some small hair pins that had belonged to long dead troop members from his time in the emperor's army into his hair. Then he clipped the medals he had earned onto the front of his shirt.
Once he was done with that he left his room checking the list he left out for the others to write down supplies they needed or food they wanted. It was filled as always so ranboo scooped it up along with the bag of coins that everyone put half of their pay into. He put the list into his personal journal that was always on him. Then he tied the bag onto his belt where his scabbard and sword laid in wait. He wished he could bring his axe but he needed to clean it before he even thought of taking it out into public spaces. He also needed to swing by the general headquarters to pick up his troops' weekly schedule.
He slipped back into the dark hallway and basked in the cold air. This hallway was only a few hallways away from the castle’s dungeon. He could faintly hear their cries as he moved towards the stairs leading upwards. He moved through the hallways like he was a shadow running from the sun's rays of golden light.
Ranboo was about to turn down the hallway that held the general headquarters. When a body rams into him, almost causing both to tumble onto the ground. Ranboo only barely kept them from that fate.
It was Prince Tommy. Ranboo let go of the prince as soon as he was sure the prince wouldn’t faceplant into the ground. Ranboo wasn’t sure if he should say anything as the prince glared at him which was starting to cause an uncomfortable throb in his head. He must have made a static noise of discomfort because the prince’s eye moved away from him.
“ Watch where you're going bitch!” The prince shouted before he continued to run. Ranboo only glanced over his shoulder after the blond prince. He slowly continued down the hallway watching tiredly as prince Willbur rushed down the hallway only a few minutes later yelling at his brother.
He slipped into the general headquarters, he froze when he felt a lot of eyes land on him. His lungs squeezed the airs out of his lungs. In front of must be at least twenty of the general’s of the emperor's army. It lessens when he spots his old general, Or she preferred the term captain back then as she used to run a ship before joining the war.
“Is that you ranboo?” Captain Puffy’s voice rings out in the room as she moves towards him blocking the others from staring at him.
“ hello Captain” ranboo greeted with a dip of his head his tail wagging behind him. Captain Puffy was ranboo’s last general when he was still in the emperor’s army. She always made the point to know everyone under her command. Told ranboo once when he asked why? That it held her responsible for their lives that they weren’t just another number she could shrug off when they were lost.
And if she knew their names and where they are from she could mourn them if they died. That she could also get graves made with their names, not just their numbers. Ranboo liked that it made him feel like he wouldn’t fade away.
“ I wanted to write to you but I didn’t know where you were reassigned too!” Captain exclaimed “ but I will definitely write now! Expect a letter every week! You better send me letters too!” ranboo laughs and agrees.
“ I will be right back, Captain, I need to get my troop’s weekly schedule.” ranboo explained, Puffy nodded understandingly as ranboo stepped away. The schedule’s were in number order so it took a moment for ranboo to find his. He also picked up the letters from his troop’s families.
Ranboo makes a weird face as he also pulls out some stickered covered envelopes, most with sloppy handwriting with the castle's address and their troop number then each one had a personal number. Ranboo was pleasantly surprised to find one with his number written in much more elegant writing; it was still shaky as if the person writing it was crunched for time. Ranboo glanced at the return address and smiled.
It was a school address, that was really cute. Ranboo tucks the letters away into his journal.
“ What’s your schedule, maybe while we are in town we can go out and catch up” Puffy asked when ranboo returned to her side, they then compared their schedule’s they could only meet up on wednesday. That sucks but what could he do about it.
“ aren't you a little young to be a general?” an unpleasant voice spoke, sushing all of the other generals. Ranboo deadpans as he turns towards the other general.
“ How long have you been in the army?” ranboo asked right back. The man puffs out his chest before speaking.
“ I have been in the army for three years!” the guy exclaims. Ranboo glances at puffy who didn’t look pleased in the slightest.
“ Five ” ranboo stated calmly watching the man's face turn to look confused.
“ what? Five what? Months?” the man asked to which ranboo growls at.
“ Five years, I have been in the armies for Five years” ranboo growls out “ Three years in the emperor's army then two more years in the king's army.”
The room was clearly stunned ranboo couldn’t help but to roll his eyes before saying goodbye to the captain and leaving to start his shopping. Not even aware that the king and the emperor had been in the room watching.
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Ranboo had finished his shopping and put everything away. He put the weekly scheldy on the table and left the letters in order of numbers on the table as well. Only keep the envelope that was covered in pig stickers with his number to his room to read.
‘ Dear 707,
It feels weird to call someone a number but I don't know your name yet! My name is Michael Benson underscore! I’m 5 years old! I live with my dad, his name is Tubbo underscore but I call him bee! We have this as a class assignment, I didn’t even know we could send the army letters! But now I want to write to every single one of you. But I had to let everyone else get a chance but since I was so eager to write my school let me pick the first number!
I picked yours because it looked cool! So you must be cool! They told us not to expect a letter back, because you could be very busy.
We learned all about the war and how the empire was made. It was cool to learn about! I hope we can learn more, I want to know more about the wars and even more about the lost children!
They called them the lost children because they were young when they had to join and most of them never came back. That's sad because my dad was one of them, his number was 226. Maybe you knew him.
I want to be someone who studies history!
With all the love, Micheal Benson Underscore
P.s. I hid some stickers for you and drew you a picture of me and bee‘
Ranboo’s cheeks hurt from his smile rereading the words. He didn’t know 226 but he swore he saw the number somewhere before. He dumped the stickers into his hands and studied them. They were the same pigs as the one on the envelope and the picture was just perfect in his eyes. It was a crudely drawn pink blob with another blob that was brown and green with horns and marking on what ranboo believes is Michael's bee’s face.
Ranboo thinks only for a moment before snatching his quill and some paper that sat next to him on his desk. He writes his own letter for Michael doing his best to not write completely in cursive but some of his letters do slip by him. He glances up at one of his older medals, one that he got for serving the emperor's army when he was sixteen. It was a pity medal that was simply handed to him one day with only a goodluck tossed his way. He picked the medal up and shined it so it shined when it hit the light just right.
He set it back down and continued writing, when he finished he folded the letter up and fished out an envelope from the bottom of a drawer. He slipped the letter into the envelope then he added the medal. He had written the school’s address and Michael's name on the front. He hesitated before adding a sticker onto the envelope. He would send it in the morning.
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Micheal was bouncing, waiting for Bee to pick him up. The letter from 707 was held gently in his hands. He was so happy they wrote back and he was itching to open it but when his classmates had surrounded him when his teacher had given him the sealed envelope with the castle's address they wanted him to open it so they could read it.
Maybe it was selfish for him to hog the letter and when he told the teacher that he wanted to keep the letter and read it at home she frowned at him but told the others to leave him and his letter alone.
The letter was heavy and that made Michael really curious about what it could be. All of those thoughts disappear at the sight of his dad! He ran to him and his dad scooped him up into his strong arms. And in fact he almost forgot about the letter in his hands until his dad asked about it as he unlocked the door to their house and Michael exploded explaining to his dad how his school wrote letters to the king’s army. And how he was sad that he might not get a letter back so sad he didn’t want to tell him about it! But he did get a letter back. He was the first to get a reply and he could be the only one to get a response!
So both him and bee sat down to open the letter, only stopping when michael pointed out the pig sticker that he had sent with his own letter!
Both gasped when they pulled out the letter and medal. Micheal clung to the medal twisting it in his hands. The ribbon was a dark blue, a lighter shade of blue and white. On the back of the medal there was an engraving of the number 707.
Bee cleared his throat before reading the letter out to michael.
‘ Dear Micheal Benson Underscore,
I was not expecting a letter, but it was a welcomed surprise. It is weird to be called a number, but I have always been called 707 when my higher ups speak to me or well order me around. But my name is Ranboo Beloved, I don’t have a last name and my middle name was given to me by my old troop.
You want to know more about the “ lost children” well I wasn't aware we were given that name. Anyways, I joined when I was fifteen and I actually started off in the emperor’s army where I served for three years then I was moved to the king’s army and so far I have served two years. So in all I have been in the army for five years.
I’m now the general of troop 74717. The medal I have sent you was given to me when I was sixteen, I’m not very fond of that medal as it was given out when we were sent into what was assumed to be our last battle. But as you see I’m writing this so I didn’t lose that battle.
You will like the medal more than I ever could I think. It holds bad memories for me but it’s still something that could mean something good, maybe you can see or find that positive more than I could.
226 sounds familiar, I believe we might have fought together at one point. I think he was shorter than me? At least I have seen the number at some point. Be it in passing or something like that.
I don’t have the best memory so it’s even possible we had talked a couple of times and I don't remember.
Micheal If you send me a letter of any kind I shall return with a response, The other of my troop get letters from their families they might not have the time after our shifts to write to your classmates. But I don’t get any letters so I will always have the time to write to you.
My old general, she prefers when we call her captain, her name is puffy she has promised to write to me when she can the day I got your letter. Between me and you, I would prioritize your letters!
Sincerely, Ranboo beloved, 707.’
Tubbo takes a breath as Michael dances around with his new gift. 707 was someone Tubbo had wanted to get to know. The soldier was tall and by far the most eye catching of all the others. Tubbo honestly thought the other would die in front of him. So when he returns with injuries but not dead? well that had drawn Tubbo closer.
He was split in half, one side a pitch black the other a snow white. His eyes were different too, one green the other red. He had horns and a tail that was a constant blur of movement. Was it creepy that tubbo had basically stalked 707? Maybe but there wasn’t anything else for tubbo to do when he was at camp.
Then at the two year mark he was blown up. Half his body was covered in horrific scars and he was given Honorable Discharge from the army. His family was horrified but had helped him heal and regain his movement in his arm and leg.
He couldn’t help but think about 707 from time to time. But now Michael, his adopted child, chose to write to 707 without tubbo ever mentioning the number was something tubbo didn’t know how to feel about.
Well he had always told Michael when destiny calls you to chase after it you chase it until you catch it. He had to follow his own advice right?
Looks like he needs to buy more envelopes.