Chapter Text
The crunches of the snow below their feet moved in a steady beat. Snowflakes fell through the cold tundra, completely covering the surroundings of the landscape. Three sets of hooded people, dragging their clothes that are very obviously not suited for the kind of weather through the snow that almost reached to their knees.
One of them wined “How long until we get there?” He said.
The one next to him breathed an annoying sigh, “Maybe in like an hour or two? Tommy, you've been asking this question for hours.”
Tommy rolled his eyes “Well I was asking for a good reason— I think I’m going to get fucking frostbite.”
The last one which was the tallest nodded "I mean it is getting really cold out here." He shivered.
“Not you too Ranboo…” Tubbo reached into his bag around his waist and pulled out a small device similar to a phone. Lines of stray numbers lined the screen of the device. Tubbo examined it before turning to Tommy again. “Yep. Says here we’ll be there really soon.”
He put it back where it was “Come on, let’s keep walking.” One last groan was let out, followed by one last annoyed sigh until they faded slowly into the mountain ambience.
The crunching of the snow finally came to an abrupt stop. The snow simmered down by a little, and the landscape became less clouded by the harsh weather.The group gazed above the sight in front of them. A giant wall made out of ice shaped into an intricate brick pattern towered over them.
Tommy broke out into a smile “Fucking finally! We’re here!”
Tubbo managed to snap out of the dreamy haze and smiled too, before that smile turned into more of a focused type of face. He turned to the last person in the group, and the tallest. “Ranboo you still have the enderpearl right?”
Ranboo nodded “Mhm. It’s still here I’m pretty sure.” And reached into his bag, pulling out a small green and blue orb with what seemed to be a pupil in the center of it.
“We’re going to get so much fucking money from this.” Tommy smiled eagerly as he stared at the wall. Tubbo rolled his eyes with a grin “Well we have to wait, I’ll check if there are any openings we can get through without being seen.”
Tubbo turned to face a tall teenager fiddling with his cloak “Ranboo keep on that enderpearl until something really bad happens. This place might be a little trickier than before.”
Tommy scoffed at that last part “What could be harder than the Esempi? Those guys were fucking mental.” He made a face “Hi I’m Gogy and I’m going to kill you for politely stealing my very shiny and very steal-able gold coins!” He mocked “I mean- how could I not take them?”
Tubbo pulled out a flask filled with a bright liquid from within a small satchel around his waist “Okay let’s focus now. We have to go in and get out as soon as possible.”
He looked at both of them “Let’s go over the plan one last time. Tommy gets into the castle while me and Ranboo make it to the right wing. Then he uses his grappling hook in his bag to get us up too.”
He focused on Tommy seriously “Remember, you have the emergency signal with you. If you need anything at all just click it and Ranboo and I will come quickly.”
Tommy on instinct saluted him before scurrying off somewhere close along the tall wall painted with a cobbly texture in the ice. A very interesting and beautiful place Tommy noted before trying to scale the wall. It was slippery and hard for his hands to get a good grasp and actually successfully haul himself up. Thankfully his grip that was mostly used for climbing kingdoms and walls came to be useful in this situation.
It took a while, yes, but he thankfully managed to haul himself up completely, breathlessly gazing into the villages. “Holy prime” he murmured under his breath “This is…nothing like the Esempi '' in fact just by taking a glance you can already tell what kind of kingdom this was already going to be.
Tommy had already heard of the rumors about the king, Philza, ruling the people with charcoal black wings that he was gifted from freeing the End of the horrible dragon and an all too joyful smile rather than that stern look that most royalty had.
But that smile meant nothing compared to what the man was capable of. That was one of the reasons why out of many others his nickname is the angel of death. Don’t even ask him about that mess, the rumors are messy and too hard to figure out, but there is one thing he is sure of; don’t let your guard down and don’t let him trick you.
I mean he was the one who killed the wretched dragon of the End. If he was able to kill the dragon, he wasn’t sure what else he could do!
Even if he was super pog and Tommy desperately wanted an autograph from the guy— he didn’t really want to starve from being unable to get the money they were supposed to get from here in the first place. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a mask that would be sure to hide his face.
Finally the time to initiate the second part of the plan. He hopped down from the roof, when he reached his feet onto the ground again he started to find his way to the castle. From his experience with other kingdoms, they were usually somewhere in the middle, so that was the route he was going to take.
He noticed as he went on his way through the crowd that it was oddly busy and bustling with people. There were people everywhere he looked. Most of them were lined up to buy from a hot chocolate shop-- which was pretty understandable since it was pretty much freezing still. Even though it couldn't even compare to how outside of the walls were.
He noticed a salesman selling hot chocolate that looked promising, so he cut through the line, much to the frustration of the villager in front of him. But simply flipping him off seemed to work just fine. "Do you need something, kid?" the salesman asked nervously.
Tommy nodded "Yeah, I actually have a question. Why is it so busy here?" He looked around the people that were still streaming through the streets. The salesman sighed, "It's because the festival will be starting soon." she said so matter-of-factly as if it was obvious.
“What’s that?”
The salesman stared at him with a scandalized gasp as if that’s the worst thing she has ever heard. “You’re not from here, are you?” She asked.
Tommy shrugged “Eh not really.” He admitted.
She sighed again “Well I can give you a brief overview. Our amazing king, Phil, killed the dragon. He closed the portal that had been letting crude magic that harmed us and our homes from never returning ever again. The magic was gone and Philza emerged with graceful wings as a reward for his deed. And as our reward— or well the kingdom’s reward. He was crowned king.
“The anniversary of how we were set free will be happening soon. Only a week away to be exact! So everyone’s trying to prepare in time. There will be a big celebration, it’s gonna be really fun. We will have fireworks and food and games and singing and music and everything. Philza will even make an appearance and celebrate with us!”
Tommy blinked in fascination “So that’s basically all of it?”
The salesman hummed “basically yeah. You’ll be more than welcome to join us.”
Tommy nodded “cool cool…” he trailed off, almost like he was forgetting something. And then it hit him. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck!” He cursed under his breath. Right, he has to get to the castle!
”I have to go now bye!” Tommy said as he rushed out of the line and started dashing to where the center of the kingdom probably would be. And where the castle would hopefully be.
Buildings and other shops blended together as he tried to get there as quickly as possible. When he stopped to catch his breath from hyperventilating, he was relieved when he looked up and saw that the castle gates stood stretched out in front of him. Right, and now it was time to initiate the third part. He inched closely to a corner of the gates that less people seemed to wander in. And those people didn’t exactly seem like they were paying attention at the moment.
So he took his chance and scaled the gates before anyone noticed Tommy. He breathed out a breath of air as he didn’t get caught. Not yet at least anyway. He navigated his way to the right wing of the castle.
He peered around for Ranboo and Tubbo. But no sight of his friends. Suddenly as he was about to just skip the step and get into the castle, he was pulled into a dark corner of the castle. Before he could react Tubbo and Ranboo shushed him. Tommy breathed a sigh of relief when it was only his friends.
“So should I go in now?” Tommy asked.
Tubbo bit his lips and looked at his weird device again. “I don’t think just barging right on in through the front doors will work. Especially since an important festival will be happening soon.”
Ranboo nodded “Yeah I thought that too. Seems logical they would put more guards on duty. Or more servants to help with stuff on the festival that can catch us.”
They all went quiet and brainstormed for a moment before Tommy got hit with spark. “How about I go through an open window or something?”
“Wait, that could actually work!” Ranboo looked up at the castle and inspected it, before pointing to an area near the left. “Right there! I think I see that the window is open just a little bit. And there’s a balcony that Tommy might be able to get onto.”
“So it’s a plan?” Tommy asked. Tubbo nodded “I mean I don’t have anymore. I guess we could try.”
Tommy nodded and reached into his bag to get his tool out. He took the grappling hook and swung it before it wrapped around the ledge of the balcony. “Wait before you climb up—“ Tubbo interrupted, “I think you should go first and scope the area so we know it’s safe to come up.”
Tommy nodded one last time before smiling mischievously and heading up the wall instantly. Using momentum, he was able to swing himself forward and get up onto the balcony.
He scanned the area.
His heart skipped a beat when he saw the glass-stained door at the very end of the balcony. The door leading to a room that could only be a library. Must have been the shelves of books that gave it away. Slowly, carefully he opened the glass door slowly and peeked inside.
Only the rows of long boring books laid inside. Which was oddly soothing since it meant that nobody would be able to catch him and Tubbo and Ranboo.
Just as he was about to start his silent celebration and call Tubbo and Ranboo to come up. Something interrupted him.
A sound of crashing and two swords clanking against one another. They seemed to be coming from the other side of the book shelf that he was standing beside.
Heart beating quickly, he was interested to know what was happening. So he slid some books aside to peek on the other side. He saw two men, one had short brown hair, a beanie and a turtleneck sweater. Maybe an interesting thing to be sporting but he wasn’t in the place to judge. The other had long pink hair that was braided down, wearing a bright golden crown on his head and prince-like fashion.
He stared in awe as the two mysterious people continued to fight each other. But it wasn’t actually fighting each other, it just looked to be more like a friendly competition rather than a fight to the death.
The two seemed to be getting tired out though from how they were breathing heavily and looking slightly out of it. “If you’re going to give up and lose now Technoblade— you should do it already.” The brown haired guy managed to finally say without panting.
The pink haired person who seemed to be Technoblade huffed and rolled his eyes. Which Tommy just now realized they were bright red. “I’m not going to give up Wilbur.”
Wilbur laughed “Right right. ‘Technoblade never dies!’” He teased. Technoblade scrunched his nose and shrugged “Well I’m still going to win unless you manage to beat me.” He said.
“Right, then let’s get into it. Shall we?” And Wilbur swung his sword before Technoblade had time to react. Tommy thought that Technoblade would get hit! But he managed to dodge the attack.
Tommy stared in utter surprise and amazement as Technoblade deflected and defended each blow from Wilbur’s weapon effortlessly. It was almost as if he was dancing and moving gracefully along Wilbur’s attacks.
It wasn’t until Techno managed to push Wilbur onto the ground with no way of escaping before Wilbur said; “Okay fine I give up-“ and Technoblade dropped the weapon from his hands.
The sword clattered on the library floor that Tommy had completely forgotten that it was a library at all. Tommy blinked and stared, trying to process how Technoblade didn’t manage to dismember Wilbur somehow. But this brought up a question, who were these people, and why were they fighting with swords in the king’s castle?
As Tommy tried to take a step back he stepped on a stray pile of books and accidentally tripped and fell to the ground. This made more of a sound than he intended to. And he knew Technoblade and Wilbur definitely heard him.
He heard footsteps hurriedly run to his direction and he could only pray he would develop some kind of invisibility spell to make him disappear. But that couldn’t possibly happen, so when the pair walked over to him and saw him. He could only assume he would probably be thrown into jail— and possible along with Tubbo and Ranboo too!
For what felt like forever they stared at Tommy’s position laying on the floor. Tommy nervously laughed and tried to back off a little “It’s been fun I guess. I should actually really go now!” He lied.
Both of them squinted their eyes at him, probably judging him and trying to figure out who he was. He tried to slowly inch back a little, but Technoblade pointed his sword at him and he immediately shrinked back.
They both looked at each other with a look on their faces that didn’t read “happy” all that much. Actually not at all. They must’ve done some weird telepathic shit as Wilbur nodded and rushed out of the library. But Technoblade stayed with him.
Tommy swallowed the giant lump in his throat. The fact was that he knew he was fucked. The more time Technoblade burned his eyes through his soul, the more uncomfortable Tommy became. He wanted to bolt right out of there. But it was obvious that wasn’t exactly optional if he didn’t want to get sliced by Technoblade.
Tommy’s nerves were acting up and he was sweating even harder as they stood in silence staring at one another. Tommy’s mind raced with everything that Techno had done. What was he thinking? Why the fuck did he stop to watch the battle instead of getting the fuck out of here?!
Just as he was about to say fuck it and jump out of a window to escape, he heard footsteps coming closer and closer to him. Two voices whispered together. He could only figure out that one was Wilbur, but with the other one he was drawing a blank.
”So he’s over here?” The voice he couldn’t recognize asked. “Yeah, right over here.” Wilbur said.
Slowly Wilbur and the other person emerged from the other side of the bookshelf. It took a moment for Tommy to recognize who the other person was before it finally clicked when he saw something.
Wings! Giant black wings! Philza.
Tommy felt like he was frozen in time. Technoblade and Wilbur glaring at him while Philza seemed to look at him with fascination. He swallowed a large lump in his throat as he tried to stand up and maintain his balance.
Which was pretty hard since he was in the presence of the best man in the universe. “Well I better get going now— I have lots of things to do.” He quickly tried to think of the best lie he could.
But when Philza stepped forward toward him he still stood frozen in place. “You must be the librarian if I’m not mistaken?” He asked. Tommy took a little while to process the question before he quickly thought of something to say. “Yep that’s—uh— me! The super pog librarian.” Of course he obviously wasn’t a librarian, but he just wanted to get out of this problem.
Philza smiled, maybe looking a bit amused. “Well it’s very nice to meet you, What’s your name?”
“Tommy.” He said without thinking. It probably wasn’t the smartest to tell his actual name to the king of the fucking castle he was going to rob, but oh well.
“I’m king Philza. I think it would be nice to get you situated of course. I’ll be able to show you to your room.”
He extended his hand and Tommy reached his own shaking hand towards the king to hold it and pick himself up from the ground. Technoblade and Wilbur just stared at him with shock— Technoblade’s was more like glaring to be honest.
He tried his best to ignore the latter.
“Yes please.” Tommy murmured. Philza didn’t seem to be mad at him, more fascination than anything. Wilbur stepped forward towards Philza and whispered something into his ear, glancing at Tommy in the corner of his eyes. After Wilbur finished talking Philza turned back to him again “My sons apparently want to speak to me. I don’t think it would be a problem if you could wait a moment?”
Tommy shook his head “N-no it’s fine your glorious royal highness!”
The king smiled one last time before walking away with the princes close behind. Technoblade took one look back at him with his piercing red eyes before looking away.
He had a bad feeling about this…
—
“Something is telling me he isn’t actually the new librarian.” Wilbur said. Phil sighed “No, no he isn’t.” He admitted.
“Then why did you pretend he was and offered a tour of the castle?! You know he can be dangerous, right?”
Phil shook his head “Well— not to be rude but he looked like he had never eaten a meal in his life or ever taken a bath. I couldn’t just ignore someone that looked like they needed help!”
Technoblade sighed “He still might be dangerous, you don’t even know if he actually needs help. I have a bad feeling about him. Especially since the ‘you know what ’ situation is happening right now.”
Philza bit his lip “I have that problem under control at the moment. Besides I have my royal guards and you two to protect me, he also doesn’t seem like the person to actually try something.” He looked back into the library where the mysterious boy was. “He sounds young, and I still think it’s the right thing to do to help him. It’s my royal duty as a king to look after my subjects of course.”
Wilbur crossed his arms and frowned. “Maybe. But you should have considered that he might just be a criminal and that the guards won’t be able to stop. Just— be careful around him for now, Phil.”
“I can promise you I will. Let’s just try to help him for now.” Philza replied. Techno just huffed, which Phil took that as a sign of saying “fine”.
Phil gestured to the door where Tommy was as a signal to enter. Wilbur didn’t object further and walked in, then himself and then Techno.
—
Tommy tensed as the royals walked over to him again. Technoblade was still shooting daggers through his eyes at him. King Philza cleared his throat “Well we have decided that we should give you a tour of the castle and get you situated. Since you’re our new royal librarian after all.”
Tommy blinked. A tour of the castle? Pretending to be a fake librarian? Wasn’t he going to die or get thrown into jail from his own stupidity from getting caught by the king himself and his sons?
Oh god. As much as he loved the king he desperately wanted this to be some horrific dream!
But at the same time a tour of the castle could have some benefits for his mission…
“That sounds great!” He exclaimed, forming a super pog plan that might be able to get Philza’z autograph and as a bonus help with the plan, he just hoped he would get incontact with Ranboo and Tubbo again. If he could rub his hands like a supervillain right now, he would.
Philza smiled “Well without further ado, let’s start the whole tour.”