The King and the Ghost- A Twinsduo story

Chapter Three- The Mercenary's Target

"Dad, I'm bored," the young prince of the Erythro Empire, Tommy, whined.

"Then go talk to people, I'm sure your friends are around," the king of the Erytho Empire, Roy, responded to his son.

"I don't even know if Tub-"

Tommy was interrupted by someone running into him and hugging him.

"Tubbo!" Tommy exclaimed, looking down at the sixteen-year-old hugging him and smiling brightly.

"Great, go find your other friends while I talk to Phil," Roy spoke as he walked off to meet his brother.

Tommy and Tubbo both scoured the crowd, looking for their seventeen-year-old friend Purpled. He was a mercenary who travels and takes jobs from kingdoms or towns, depending on what he was being paid.

A week ago, he was visiting Tommy in his kingdom and mentioned travelling to the neighbouring kingdom, Techno's kingdom, so Tommy and Tubbo were sure to find him here.

"Maybe he's hiding," Tubbo suggested, standing off to the side with Tommy after spending a while to try and find Purpled.

Tommy shrugged as he drank some of the fruit punch from the giant bowl on the table beside them.

Purpled was indeed hiding, but not within eyesight of anyone. It had taken him three hours just to get up to the position he was in, and that was after he avoided the guards.

Purpled's job had made him train for having high stamina, long-range shooting, close combat, eating healthy, etc. But he was not prepared to hide in the vents of the castle and wait for hours, watching the crowd below for his target. He hadn't even eaten since last night, so he was hungry as well.

But despite all of these complications, Purpled remained persistent; he had eyes on his target but he'd have to wait until they split off from the crowd for an easy kill.

Purpled was much more stressed for this job than any other job, as his job is to kill the target and find a way to frame the king of this kingdom. At first, he found this hard, until he was given a file with information, not even the public knew, so upon receiving this information, Purpled was sceptical at first, but after reading it all it explains why the king is as closed off as he is and why he makes the decisions that he does.

Purpled had worn a dark purple suit with darker pants for the ball. Now, he wore the T-shirt that was under the jacket because it restricted his movement. He also wore a filtered mask so he could breathe without worrying about getting sick.

He laid still in the vent, watching his target as if he was a predator stalking its prey. He thought about his client; they were odd, and only left a large amount of money and a letter with the file of the king. Purpled knew this was weird enough that he hadn't even gotten the chance to meet his client, but the weirder thing was the fact he was given a tranquillizer dart and a bb filled with fake blood as if he wasn't supposed to kill his target, but rather, make it seem like they were dead.

Such an odd thing to have, Purpled thought as he loaded his ammunition into his weapon. To not want to kill, but to want to frame.

This isn't foreign, remember? You've done this before.

Purpled winced at the loud ringing in his head that sounded more like a voice than anything else.

Over the years, since Purpled was thirteen, a ringing in his head, sounding more as a voice than anything, had developed and would help him on his jobs. He wasn't entirely sure why it was then, but now that he thought back on it, he assumed it was during the time when his older brother, Punz, had disappeared, and Purpled was left alone. The voice had helped him with his trust issues, resulting in befriending Tubbo and Tommy; the prince and duke of the Erythro Empire. It took him a while before he could trust this voice, obviously, but after a while, Purpled began to trust it.

The voice, Purpled assumed after a while, was a result to cope with the trauma from both his parents' actions when he was a child, and the added abandonment from his older brother.

You're not helping, he had told the voice once on a mission.

I would tell you to duck and you would duck, not knowing what was coming, the voice had said. It always dodged the original topic or said something weird or cryptic.

What's that's supposed to mean? Purpled had asked.

You'll have to trust me to find out, it would reply.

I do trust you, Purpled had thought now as he climbed through the vent, following his target until they were in the kitchen, standing alo- no, not alone, with the king.

"Wilbur," Technoblade said, "It's almost over, you need to ask Sally."

"I will Techno, calm down," Wilbur sighed. "I'll go do it right now."

"Please Wilbur," Technoblade begged. "I can't marry right now, let alone to someone I barely know. Ranboo has admitted to having shown no interest in marrying, let alone to me, which is valid, but still."

"Techno I'm going. Do you want to come with me?"

"No, I just-"

Technoblade fell silent abruptly and glanced around, feeling uneasy. Purpled carefully shifted backwards to avoid being caught. He still could see the king and the prince, and for a moment, he met the king's eyes. He could not see him, as it was too dark in the vent, but upon seeing the king's dark red eyes, Purpled felt a chill shooting down his spine.

"Techno?" Wilbur broke the silence.

Technoblade didn't take his eyes off the vent shaft.

He's in danger, the voices sang. Don't let him go alone.

Technoblade ignored the chorus as he looked back at Wilbur.

"Be careful," was all he could say before he watched his twin walk past him and out the back door to the beachfront.

Purpled held his breath as Technoblade glanced around again before his father had called for him.

Letting out a breath, Purpled opened the shaft and lowered his head to look around before jumping down and making his way out the back door and ducking behind a rock before the prince and his companion could spot him.

There, down by the shore, Wilbur and Sally stood, talking and smiling.

"Sally," Wilbur began. "I know it's only been a few hours, but I would like to get to know you better and I know I'm going way too fast, but I'm asking because I love you and I want Techno to be happy as much as I want you to be happy."

Purpled rolled his eyes as he aimed for Wilbur. He was close enough to hear Wilbur's confession to the woman in front of him, but far enough for neither of them to notice him. He steadied his rifle took a deep breath before gently placing his finger on the trigger.

"So, Sally of the Jade Kingdom," Wilbur continued, "will you marry me?"

Sally's face lit up but that expression quickly faded as Purpled pulled the trigger of his rifle, sending both the tranquillizer and the bb into Wilbur's arm, causing him to pass out instantly and fall to the sand.

Sally screamed.