How to take down an empire with voices in your head

23. An Even Better (Worse) Day

The sun barely shined through the windows, making the room dim. 

Punz and Tubbo continued to mumble over the harsh wind.

A loud bang on the door and Techno was standing in the room, putting a pause to their conversation. Tubbo's head whipped around with a confused look, "What's the rush Technoblade?"

"We need to leave." That was all he said, gesturing for the two to get up. Punz and Tubbo share a glance before standing up. 

"What for?" Tubbo asked, peeking over his shoulder. Techno was grabbing a bunch of items, either putting them in a bag hung over his shoulder or in an ender chest.

Techno took the rope out of Tubbo's hands, tugging on it, making Punz stumble from his position on Techno's desk. 

"I'll tell you once we're out of here."

Tubbo paused at the panic in Techno's voice and the realization of Ranboo's absence. He shifted his weight anxiously, "Where's Ranboo?"

"If you hurry up and follow me you'll be with him," Techno said, handing a small bag to Tubbo. "Carry this will you?"

Tubbo nodded slowly, he and Punz had no clue what was happening but it seemed the best thing to do was to listen to Technoblade. So the two followed Techno out of the house, well Punz had to anyway due to the rope tied around his wrists.

Tubbo had no problem keeping up with Techno's fast pace, his eagerness to know what was exactly going on kept him nothing more than a step behind the other. He figured once they made it to the nether it was a time to start asking questions.

So as soon as they were through the portal and Tubbo began to regret wearing so many layers, he asked his first.

"Where's Ranboo- actually? Location wise."

"Mc Puffy's..."

Tubbo was confused but relaxed nonetheless, it was a burger joint.

"-unconscious."

Tubbo tensed, "What?"

"The plan didn't go accordingly. He's being taken care of though."

Punz glanced between the two, making Techno scoff, "Don't even think about trying something."

Punz gave a smug smile in return before looking the other way. To that, Techno pulled hard on the rope making Punz raise his hands in defence, "Hey hey. I never even said I would."

Tubbo bit his cheek, turning away from the two. Thinking about what could have happened was a pain, it was anxiety-inducing. So he focused on figuring out what was going on.

"Techno, could you just tell me what's going on? Not just one single sentence-"

Techno looked at Tubbo, mouth tensing as if he was about to say something. He relaxed his shoulders with a huff, "We tried to save Phil. But he's uh, part of the eggpire now."

"Oh," Tubbo paused. The eggpire now had Phil on their side. 'But Ranboo was unconscious?'

'Shit' now it made sense for Tubbo. He no longer needed to ask questions, but now his heart was slowly sinking.

Phil did something to Ranboo. That much was obvious to Tubbo. Phil had managed to hurt Ranboo to the point of unconsciousness.

Now all Tubbo could do was wonder what it was that happened.

So as they walked down the prime path, Tubbo tried to concentrate on Punz and Techno's argument rather than the pit of worry in his stomach. It was a hard feeling to ignore, but he tried his best.

As soon as he saw the restaurant, he rushed inside. He didn't know what to expect, maybe Ranboo was peacefully sleeping in one of the booths. Maybe he was bleeding out, unaware as he was lost in the dark of the unconscious.

But he didn't expect to be faced with Niki and Captain Puffy... no Ranboo.

Techno noticed this too, stepping into the back room as his eyes wandered around.

"Where's Ranboo?" Techno's voice sounded cold as he turned to the two standing there. "What happened?"

Captain Puffy looked down at the floor and Tubbo noticed how Niki was holding in tightly to her arm, a clenched jaw as she faced Techno.

"I honestly don't know. He woke up and started- he was acting so aggressive."

"Ranboo hurt Niki," Puffy lifted her arm, "He has some long-ass nails."

Turbo sharply inhaled, both at the side of the large scratch and the sudden news. Then he remembered what Ranboo had told him. 'The whole endermen thing, was that this?'

"Ranboo didn't mean to," Tubbo stressed, a frown forming on his face. "But where is he?"

"See that's what I thought," Puffy glanced out the window. "Because when he, uh, I guess, went back to normal he just froze in- shock maybe. But then he just ran off."

That made both Techno and Tubbo tense, trying to process all of this for a second.

Tubbo let out a groan, "That's fuckin great!" His hands flopped to his side as he contained his rant, "Just perfect. You guys did a wonderful job at healing him-"

"Woah, Tubbo, perhaps you should calm down," Punz stepped towards the shorter one raising his voice, earning all eyes on him. Tubbo turned sharply to face Punz.

"Calm down, Punz? Now I have to go after my damn husband who got stabbed, knocked unconscious, woke up all endermen and shit, then ran off-"

"Oh so then you can just yell at those two?"

"First off, it wasn't yelling. Second off, you are just a damn hostage. Do not speak to me like that," Tubbo's words shocked Punz, making him take a few steps back and bite his cheek.

If Tubbo wasn't so mad and panicked, he would've been shocked at his words too. He and Punz, even if only a little, bonded during the time Techno and Ranboo were gone. Plus, hostage was a word Tubbo strongly disliked- he hated it.

It made him remember old memories he wanted to forget. Memories of feeling trapped, helpless, and hostage.

But he was too taken by frustration and panic to worry about that now. So he didn't care when he pushed past Techno and out the door.

It wasn't fair that they got the privilege of staring at him like that, his reaction was totally reasonable. 'I'm allowed to feel other things besides two complete fucking opposites of trapped, helpees fear and just happy little joy.'

That's one of the reasons he walked out, they can't judge him for being a normal fucking person. Another one is obvious, he needed to find Ranboo.

So he was somewhat thankful when Techno walked out to stand next to him, eyes telling Tubbo that he was trying to sympathize with him. Tubbo nodded, accepting the weird gesture.

"We really need to start looking."

"Agreed," Tubbo said, his fist still clenched and his stature still stiff.

Hopefully, Ranboo didn't travel too far.