Chapter Text
The snow crunched beneath his boots as Philza ran through it, well, wading was probably a more accurate term. The snow had risen up to his knees now. The blizzard was still whipping around the man, causing him to have to hold his shield in front of his eyes to see anything and use his other hand to grip firmly at his cloak as it threatened to be torn off from his neck. The only light cast around him came from the emeralds around his wrist.
But he’d noticed one that was bright even after the other blinked out was now fading. Whatever happened before, it was happening again. He was dying again and Philza was so close yet so far. He had to hurry. He had to stop it.
He paused for just a moment to catch his breath when he came across the village, eyes scanning the place to check if Techno had been here if it was the one he was thinking of.
Without the compass, all he’d been able to do was run in the direction that Wilbur pointed him in and hope he remembered correctly. It was a bigger risk than he wanted to take considering the dead man hardly remembered anything before he passed, but he was willing to take the chance considering he had nothing better.
If this was the village in the forest he was thinking of, then that would mean…
He took off running again, ignoring how the deep snow was still growing around him. He forced himself up a small hill at the west side of the dark village despite the snow causing him to lose his grip climbing. He made it to the top and felt relieved when he saw light through the trees. Techno’s cabin.
Letting out a sigh of relief, he moved as fast as he could to the cabin’s main entrance, taking the stairs two steps at a time as he pulled out his netherite sword from its scabbard in preparation… Only for his house to be eerily silent.
‘Our house’ Techno called it when he didn’t realise. Phil liked those moments, raw and open by mistake. The piglin hybrid was not nearly as subtle about his attachments as he thought he may be.
He sheathed his sword again slowly. The lanterns were still on and the place was warm… meaning Techno had to be around somewhere, right? He checked the attic first, and though there were clear signs of living here, Techno wasn’t there. There was a book literally thrown to the side and the blue cloak twisted on the floor, almost too close to the fire that was starting to dim. It seemed like he left the attic in a hurry, he was never so disorganised with the things he loved. He picked up the cloak and took it back down the ladder, hanging it up in the main room on impulse to keep it neat before remembering the current issue on hand.
He looked down at the emerald. It was dimmer. Something was for sure happening but… where? Philza got a sick feeling in his stomach again as he looked back up at the blue cloak that hung beside the door. It was like it knew something about Techno’s whereabouts that he didn’t.
Philza jumped into the basement in a hurry to continue his search, but again there was nothing there. He even dug under the floor where he kept his mobs… Nothing.
Was he really not here? Had Philza really wasted time coming here? He wouldn’t be fast enough getting back to New L’Manburg if that’s where they’d taken him… if that’s where they were going to kill him again.
Defeated, he opened the doors to the basement and walked out into the cold, collapsing onto his knees and left staring at the emeralds as the light got dimmer and dimmer. He was useless. Even when he tried he was useless.
He could never be the father Techno deserved, any of them deserved. Hell! He couldn’t even succeed in being his friend. He’d cursed him to die the first time and now he was doing it again. He couldn’t believe he’d let himself get those compasses confused like that. If he’d just turned it over and seen what was engraved on it, he would’ve known not to let it take him off on a random wild goose chase.
He might’ve been able to stop Tubbo doing this.
It had to be Tubbo, right? Why else would he end up with a compass that said ‘Your Tommy’ on it if he hadn’t willingly swapped them? And then Techno lost a life… He’d taken a life from him. He was about to take another.
Despite the bitter cold biting at his exposed skin, the man started to cry. There in the snow on his hands and knees, feeling more useless than he ever had before, sobbing. He could barely hear himself over the sharp whistling of the snow-filled wind and the groaning of nearby zombies.
Wait.
There weren’t any zombies around.
His head snapped up.
“Techno?” He called out.
There was a groan in reply not far in front of him and to the right. “Ph-Ph-Phil…” He swore he could hear, but the voice was very quiet. It was there though. It was Techno. He scrambled to his feet and hurried over where there was a small lump in the snow.
He was buried under it. Why didn’t he just get up?
He started to dig him out with his hands when he noticed what was keeping him there. He was tied in rope. They’d tired him up, killed him, and left him there to freeze to death for a second time. Fury started to rise in his chest. They’d just dumped him here! If he’d not found him, Techno would’ve lost his second life.
He might’ve lost his last one too…
“C-Cold…” Came the shaky voice from the shivering piglin, still face down in the snow.
Philza snapped out of it.
“Oh, my boy, let me untie you and bring you inside. It’s okay. You’re okay. Come now, son.” He whispered, not sure if it was all that audible over the snow, but Techno relaxed from under his touch anyway. It was like he was a touch starved child all over again. He pulled out his dagger and cut the rope from around his hands and legs before pulling the rest of his son out of the snow.
He may be a grown man, but right now nothing was stopping him from carrying him inside. Which was good, because he was certain Techno couldn’t walk right now. From the way his legs were wrapped up and with the snow… He doubted he could even feel them
Philza carried the barely conscious man up the stairs to Techno’s main entrance. He moved into the soft glow of the lanterns that hung just above the doors that he’d left open in his rush to barge inside. He stopped in his tracks just before walking in.
Scars always showed how someone had died in a past life… Techno was now littered with them all over his face. Burn scars that were shaped like little stars over his cheeks, already seeming old and healed. Firework scars.
He’d been taken out by a firework crossbow.
Philza needed no more evidence over who it was as he practically stormed into Techno’s home, locking the door behind him so the warmth didn’t leave and setting him down on a collection of blankets in the corner next to the fireplace. He didn’t have a bed. He should, but he didn’t, because despite Phil’s fussing he didn’t sleep. Whenever he did, it was here on the floor, curled on top of blankets, because he just couldn’t physically be awake any longer.
His poor son… Always plagued with voices and nightmares. He wished he could just take them away from him and take the burden himself.
Philza lit the fire and nudged them closer, settling Techno’s head on his lap so he had a pillow rather than resting it on the hardwood. His hair was down from it’s usual braid and practically frozen stiff and his son was still shivering against him. The emerald on his wrist had slowed but was still fading. He needed to warm him up faster.
He thought for a second.
“Wait here.”
He gently edged Techno’s head off of his lap, smiling sadly when the man whined just a little, like he didn’t mean to, and hushed him softly before he stood. He walked over to the door again and lifted up his cloak that hung there adjacent to it before walking back over and sitting again. He shifted him back onto his lap before draping the blue robe over him, watching the way Techno nuzzled into the fur collar on impulse.
Philza vowed to at least get him a pillow and more blankets as soon as possible, if not a bed as long as the piglin would accept it.
He started to pet his hair, trying to use his body heat to melt off the frost stuck to it. The emerald held steady, finally. He’d be okay. He could relax. He’d saved him.
“Phil?”
“Oh, my boy.” He hummed fondly, watching him blink his eyes big and slow. It was clear he was struggling to keep his grasp on consciousness but was trying to his best. “Would you like me to tell you a story?”
Techno pursed his lips and closed his eyes. Obviously, he wanted to deny the offer. Tell him no and continue to pretend that he was too old for fathers and bedtime stories like he’d done since he left them all those years ago. He opened his mouth before closing it again. He nodded.
Phil smiled, lowering his head to kiss Techno’s own head gently. He didn’t move away. He started to speak, voice low and comforting. “Once upon a time, there was a brave prince…”
--
There was no stopping the warpath Philza was on as he stormed through New L’Manburg, the sun only just starting to rise behind him as he gripped his sword in his left hand so hard it had started to turn his knuckles white.
Two of the emeralds on his right wrist shone brightly, the third was dark. Never to be lit up again.
Tubbo did that.
The president in question seemed to be up early with his men, standing at the podium as they discussed what was on the agenda for that day. They didn’t even seem to notice Philza’s arrival, that or they were ignoring him.
The idea made him furious.
He’d left Techno the moment he was asleep and fine, changed into warm dry clothes and kept tucked close to the fire. He contemplated just staying there with him, keeping him safe, but there was something bigger he needed to do.
Someone needed to be taught a fucking lesson.
“Phil! Just the guy I wanted to see! I was just talking to Ranboo and-” Tubbo started speaking, his eyes bright and hands animated as if he didn’t know why the older man was there before he cut himself off abruptly when Philza suddenly put his netherite sword to his throat.
The cabinet started to yell, pulling out their own weapons, but Philza remained calm. Full of silent rage. “You come for me, the president dies and this time he’s not coming back.” He reminded them and Tubbo indicated for them to keep their distance.
Smart, because Philza wouldn’t hesitate.
He pulled out the compass from his satchel pocket and slammed it down on the presidential chair in between them. “You want to tell me what this is?”
“I don’t-”
“DO NOT PLAY DUMB WITH ME.” Philza suddenly exploded and everyone flinched in surprise. The man didn’t yell, hell he hardly got angry. Even when Wilbur blew up the country, Philza remained calm and collected, if anything only in mourning over his son. “I know it was you! I know you killed my son and you will not get away with it.”
“Techno is your son?” Quackity asked in surprise, squinting a little as if he were trying to spot the resemblance. Phil was going to shoot him. “Wilbur and Tommy, I get, but Techno-”
“Phil.” The man’s eyes snapped over to Tubbo’s again. They looked sympathetic. “You don’t want to do this… we had to do it, trust me. I didn’t want to.”
“Trust you? Trust you! What? Like Techno did when you took his life? He trusted that I sent you! He trusted that you were telling the truth.” He stepped forward, sword digging a little deeper into Tubbo’s neck. It drew a little bit of blood. Good. “And didn’t want to? Bullshit. If you didn’t want to, if you had to, you wouldn’t have used a firework launcher.”
Tubbo looked away at that for a moment, seeming like he regretted his actions. “I know… I let a different side get ahold of me… I don’t know how it happened.” He touched the growing ram horns on his head for just a moment, seeming like he wasn’t even aware that he’d done it. Philza almost lowered his sword. He seemed genuinely apologetic.
Suddenly, Tubbo’s head snapped up and his eyes widened. He nodded to someone behind him and Phil realised he’d been cast in a shadow. How had he not heard anyone approach?
He turned his head and eyes widened.
Dream raised his axe and the world went black.