Escape's Artist

part six ~ wish on a star for another life

(A/N: title is from My Life by Imagine Dragons)

Technoblade sat up at the sound of the great wooden doors of the stage hall creaking open, revealing Ranboo carrying a plate of food. The Enderian boy set the food down for a moment and pulled out a pocket knife, quickly sawing through the ropes that still secured Techno to the rusty chair. 

The piglin got up, rubbing his raw wrists ruefully, and grabbed the plate, scarfing it down in only a few seconds. Ranboo just stared for a few moments. Good. The blanched look on his face was almost amusing to Techno.

"What are you guys doing?" A soft voice called from behind Techno, and he spun around with his hackles up before noticing it was just Bad. The demon hybrid beamed, a cheerful smile that made the air visibly return to Ranboo's lungs. Demonic hybrids were very rare, and Techno had no doubt that if some other poor demon hadn't already paid that price, Bad would be mounted in Dream's collection instead. He wondered if Bad knew that.

"We're going outside for a bit of a walk with some of the other hybrids in the palace, wanna join us?" Ranboo asked quickly, and Bad's eyes twinkled obliviously. 

"Sure! Want me to invite people?" Bad asked excitedly, flapping his hands up and down with a bright look on his face. Ranboo glanced to Techno, an unspoken pleading in his eyes.

"Of course, as many as possible. It's gonna be a whole event, but make sure not to tell any humans, it's a hybrid-only thing, you know?" Techno asserted, giving the Demonic man a quick smile. As soon as Bad had waltzed off, Techno turned to Ranboo again.

"I know this is a long shot but- is Philza okay? And what was that about with the hybrid-only event?" Techno's skeptical tone clearly conveyed his suspicion of the mysterious event. Ranboo sighed, and sat down on a nearby chair.

"Philza's escaped. We're going to meet him at the village, you know the one he always talked about? It's real and I live there! We all live under our leader Scott! He's Starborn and the best leader ever and all hybrids live there in peace! There's even some humans! We're going to escape and be safe there!" Ranboo said, his speech flowing out of him like a rushing river just waiting to be loose. He'd obviously been waiting to explain that for a while. Something about the way he said it did seem weird, though... no, that was just because he sounded like a total fanatic of this Scott guy.

"Got it, so is Scoot gonna give us any help here or are we on our own? Ohhh, that's why you wanted to bring as many hybrids as possible to the event-" The realization dawned on Techno all at once, and Ranboo gave him a slightly miffed look.

"Scott, not Scoot- you're doing it on purpose, alright- anyways, it's getting dark out. We have to go, like, now." Ranboo sighed, and Techno smirked in satisfaction at getting a rise out of the normally unfazed Enderian boy. They were about to walk out of the palace when he put a hand on Ranboo's shoulder, gesturing to the collar he was still wearing.

"We've got to steal the key to this."

It sounded really epic when Techno said it. It was almost disappointing when all they had to do was walk past a sleeping Dream and pick up the key. The two of them could barely resist soft snickers when Dream started mumbling something about a boy named George in his sleep. 

"Simp." Ranboo whispered, careful not to wake the king up.

"Simp." Techno agreed.

They booked it out of there as soon as they could, Techno leaving the collar attached to a nearby armor stand. The air on his neck was bitingly cold, almost uncomfortably so, but it only took a few minutes for him to get used to it again.