VERSAILLES // Ranboo X Reader

18

You woke up later than you had in a while the next morning - everyone else did too though. After a few weeks of sleeping on the ground, it was only natural that you would want to make your first night back in a bed a long one. You woke only when the innkeep brought breakfast to the room - and even then only because the door slammed closed when he left. 

Still, the food was good, you were better rested than you had been in a while, and Ranboo was back to his old self after a good night's rest.

You made sure to gently nudge him while you were eating, shooting him a questioning glance. "Feeling better?"

"Much." Ranboo said, smiling that soft smile. 

Breakfast was eaten and then it was off to the stables to grab the horses and get back on the road. Or at least, that's what you were supposed to be doing before Brigand tosses one of the eyes up and it just made a beeline for a nearby hill, hovering an inch over the ground. 

You traded a glance with Arlow and moved to Ranboo could get off the horse, taking his hand as he helped you down. 

The hill was only a short walk from the village, and if the eye hadn't been drawn to it like a magnet, you would have just passed by. There was nothing that stood out about it - a few trees grew on and around the mound but other than that it was just part of the scenery. 

Still, as Brigand picked up the eye and tossed it again, it only pointed down to the dirt, staring into the soil like it would be able to see through it. 

"Well." Arlow said. "I guess we were closer than we thought."

There was a moment of silence as Brigand picked the eye back up and stowed it away again. You coul still mark the spot it had been hovering over though - somewhere underneath you, was the Ender portal. The same portal that King Etienne had used to fight the original dragon all the way back in his youth.

Somewhere down there, was the end of the adventure. 

"I guess... we'll have to unpack the horses and take stock of what we have." Brigand said. "We should probably settle here for a few days, just to rest and recuperate before we go digging for the portal. We'll want to make sure all of our weapons and armor are in working order too, and make sure we have enough food..." He trailed off at the end of the sentence, and another silence fell. 

You toed at the dirt underneath your feet. It felt anticlimactic. You had expected a longer journey, or to catch up to the thieves along the way. The most action you had seen on the trip was when those pillager scouts had stumbled into your camp that morning, or when the occasional half burnt skeleton or zombie would crawl out of the woods after you. 

For all your hopes in the beginning of the trip, it had turned out to be rather boring. 

Maybe that was better though - all four of you had made it here, meaning all four of you would go to the End. It would raise  your chances of being able to actually take the egg back, not to mention that if Arlow or Brigand or Ranboo had died along the way to get here, you would have been devastated. 

Maybe it was better there had been no real harrowing fights just yet. 

"What do you think it's like down there?" Arlow asked, looking down at the ground where the eye had been.

"Don't know." You said. "The stories don't really describe the stronghold too much, they kind of just focus on the dragon."

The stronghold was more of a mystery than the End itself was - everyone knew the story of how Etienne had traveled there, and any good travelers guide would have a description of the place (sandy colored stone, tall obisdion pillars, the portal back in the center). Outside of the platform he'd fought the dragon on, tall bamboo like trees with fruit that made you teleport and strange upside down villages where the endermen lived. 

There wasn't much description for the stronghold itself except that it was made of stone. 

"You wouldn't happen to be able to tell us, would you?" Arlow asked, looking to Ranboo.

He shook his head. "Endermen don't have to use the portal in the stronghold."

Brigand knelt down, running a hand over the dirt. "There should be at least some remnant of the tunnel Etienne used down there somewhere." He said. "It might take a few days to dig out and find it, but once we have a path forward it should be easy." He looked up to make eye contact with each of you. "After all, someone's done it before."

He said it sort of gravely, even though it wasn't really a grave statement. It felt heavy though - the only other person to ever come back from the end was the King himself... and that was why he was king. Of course, fighting a bunch of thieves that had stolen an egg was different than fighting the dragon itself, but still nothing to be taken lightly.

Looking back at the ground below you, you couldn't help but think of this as the beginning of the end. After you dug down to that stronghold and went through the portal, one way or another, it would be over. You would either have the egg, or you wouldn't. There was only so much preparing you were going to be able to do before the time would come and you would plunge into the unknown. 

Just thinking about it was a little bit terrifying. But - looking at Arlow and Brigand and Ranboo beside you - at least you wouldn't be going in alone. 

"We should probably tell the innkeep we'll be staying longer than we planned." You said.