Chapter Text
The day back went by like a breeze; it was peaceful. Techno went back to his usual chores of tending to the potato farm of his animals. He was cooking some potato stew and bread for dinner. It was normal. It was fine. No interruptions.
This was exactly how he wanted things. It is how things should be.
The routine was simple with changes here and there since he needed to do a little extra since he left. Nothing too drastic but something needed. He noticed he had left his house quite dirty since the trip and now needed to clean around. Something peaceful to calm him down since earlier he has to chase down a chicken who stole one of Carl's apples. That chat was weirdly quiet, not speaking a word after departing from the village. They were this quiet until well Phil was gone.
Techno headed to the kitchen to clean. He needs to put his mind at ease because he's getting anxious being completely alone. It was mostly likely chat silence that started this anxiety.
Techno noticed something in the corner of his eye, something shiny under the table. Something small. He bent down to grab it and saw it was a necklace. It was Ranboo’s necklace. He had forgotten to give it back to him. He needed to give this back. He couldn't mail it because nobody lives near there. He would need to bring it himself. It's just to bring the necklace, that's it.
Honestly Techno thought chat would go against what he was thinking but I guess they really don't want to annoy him. Chat seems to have given up. He went to grab the bag he took with Ranboo and out fell a decent pile of alliums. Techno looks at them for a moment. He decided to place them in water. They could possibly save and maybe he can start a small flower garden for them. Just to pass the time when he comes back. Yeah, something for himself.
“Carl it time to go back” Techno stated. Carl looked at him puzzled. “It’s just to return this,” Techno said, holding up the necklace. Carl side eyed Techno and nodded.
And off they went back towards the village to just drop off the necklace. It was Ranboo's only property and he deserves to have it. His only remembrance to his past. It's something to hold on to; he might even find his real parents from this anyways.
The days passed and back they were into the village. He settled down Carl and went to the horse pole and went to the orphanage. He wouldn’t be long. It will just drop it off and he’ll be back.
There was a bit of commotion in the village, something seemed to be troubling the villagers. Techno kept an eye out due to this. There is no need to get caught in such a small task. Then he saw a huge flame Techno ran towards the fire just to find that a pile of the town's books were lit on fire in the middle road. The townspeople seemed to be crying around it.
It was a confusing view but Techno had no time to figure out what was happening so he turned and walked towards the orphanage. He knocked on the door and was greeted by silence. He decided to knock again with more force.
“I told you, all our books were already given to you, just leave me and the children alone!” Puffy demanded.
“Um, I think you have the wrong person,” retorted Techno.
“Oh Steve it's you, sorry a lot has happened since you were here, well I'm guessing you're here for Ranboo come in and lock the door I’ll come and get him.” Puffy quickly responded, swiftly walking towards a corridor with lots of doors.
“No Puffy, I am just here to drop off something that I forgot to bring the first time.” Techno states as Puffy opens the end door on the left side of the corridor. Out stumble Ranboo who looked terrible. His eyes were surrounded by band-aids, his eyes looked tired he must have just woken up. Yet as soon as he saw Techno all of that changed his eye looked more lively and he started running towards Techno. As soon as he got to him he hugged his leg.
“TECHNO!'' Ranboo screams excitedly, jumping up and down but stopping to go run back into the room.
“Ah ha ha ha. The kid still likes that old fairy tale about that pig dude “ Techno awkwardly said in fear that Ranboo almost outed him as a criminal.
“Yeah I’ve noticed that, honestly with what's going on I would kind of prefer Technoblade over what's happening now” Captain Puffy begrudgingly says. “Well actually not exactly I mean I hate what he did. All that torture and torment he caused was uncalled for but I understand where he's coming from, the government is corrupt and I mean at first I had a bit of faith . Maybe they could protect us, save us, and make it safe enough to call this place home. But all they do is lie, use our money and keep us suffering. You probably saw outside the huge fire and the books. It's like Fahrenheit 451 except we’re not in some stupid dystopia. I've been thinking lately that if Technoblade had stayed maybe it wouldn't be too bad, I know it’s a bad idea and I would hate it at the time but at least there's a chance of freedom not the so-called ‘freedom’ to come. ”
Techno stood still, he was quiet. He was confused as to what was happening exactly. Why are the books burning? What government? Who was the cause of this?
“Sorry for rambling. Sorry it's just, if you couldn't tell I am very stressed out about this I didn't mean to just drop everything on you it’s just-” Puffy said sitting down on a near chair.
“No, it’s fine I understand where you're coming from. It's hard to trust something that keeps failing you. I'm not too fond of the government either, but would you mind telling me what is happening here exactly?”. Techno asked, taking a seat on the couch cross from Puffy.
“Oh right I forgot you aren't exactly from here. Well this happened around a year ago. This group of people came in. We don't know who they are exactly, hell we still hardly know anything about them but they brought things we have never seen before, they brought us all gifts, books and what I could only assume was magic. It was strange at first, everyone in town thought that they wanted something and we were right. They said they wanted to help us, that they had heard what had happened and that they wanted to make our village better than ever. They did that. We were able to create sturdy weapons, build faster. They really did help. We had all came together somewhat in a way to govern over us, we thought we finally might have a protector. After that everything was fine but not for long suddenly more people started to come. It was odd they all seemed hollow almost as if they weren't conscious. I mean they were moving and they spoke back. Hell they even had somewhat of a personality but they seemed empty. At first I was wrong and just paranoid.” Puffy paused as Ranboo came back into the room with a blanket. He came to where Techno was sitting and sat next to him getting comfortable on the couch closing his eyes while leaning on Techno.
“Huh. Well anyways,” Puffy continued, “I didn't really mind those people but after a while I noticed that people I knew and trusted started to act more and more like them it was weird, well I mean as you can see not everyone is like them but that is now the minority I don't know exactly what they want and what they are up to but I just know that I don't like it I have no idea what they want with the books but what I do know is that they keep tearing and keeping pages from some. I know it makes no sense but at this point I don't care if I sound crazy. I'm just like you. I want to know what's going on.”