Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Technoblade stared blankly at the interior of one of his many, many, many handmade wooden chests. More precisely at the vacant spot where he used to stockpile stacks upon stacks of regular bamboo sticks.

Keyword: Used.

His shitty sibling had the curtesy to replace the stolen items with spider eyes. Like he thought Techno wouldn’t notice, which made the action even worse. That brat could have left it empty, and the piglin would have allowed it. Now it was just plain insulting.

To put icing on the cake, Tommy also declined every offer of resources Techno made. Be it diamonds, potions, golden apples, god apples, emeralds and even protection V netherite armour; Tommy wanted nothing to do with it. It came to a point where Techno expected it to be a ploy against him. That his younger brother was trying to gain his trust, just to eventually ‘loot’ every valuable item in the house and make a run for it, because what kind of idiot would turn down presents like that?

Apparently Tommy. Even more baffling was that this kid showed up near the pig’s house - in winter - wearing unenchanted iron armour. Iron armour, for Christ’s sake!

But now, out of all the objects he could have stolen from the piglin’s house, it just had to be fucking bamboos. Techno had an awful gut feeling about what Tommy was plotting to do with these. He somewhat expected the boy to have matured enough to see that cobblestone towers were a disgrace to architecture.

Techno grabbed a handful of spider eyes for good measure, before slowly closing the lid of the chest. He took a deep breath. Tommy wouldn’t dare. He was probably stressing over nothing. There were a lot of other recipes that included bamboo other than scaffolding. You could craft sticks and… and- Shit.

Tommy loved sticks! Adore them!

Well, used to. Techno wasn’t sure anymore. But he surely could recall the days where the blond would exasperate his brothers by repeatedly beating them with batons. Tommy must be plotting a prank against him.

Sure, Tommy was twenty now and, yeah, Techno filled the chest right next to that one with pre-made sticks. However, he had pretty high expectations that the little shit wouldn’t fucking dare.

Right?

Techno took leisure steps toward his house’s entrance, almost crashing on his way into the many oak boats littering the floor. He made a mental note to get rid of them soon enough. It had been so long since the last time he used them that Techno almost forgot if they had any use at all.

The hybrid stood tall in front of the door made of spruce. Crossing his fingers, wishing his brother wasn’t doing what he feared he might, Techno grasped the metal handle with his free hand and pulled.

Tundra air, so vividly cold Techno jolted back as it contacted the skin of his face, flew inside the once cozy room.

Looking out, he groaned.

Of course Tommy would fucking dare. Who was he kidding?

Not even bothering to put on his winter suit, the hybrid snatched a torch that laid on the snowy landscape, purposed to keep mobs at bay. The wind was blowing roughly, making the scenery quite difficult to discern. Though even stuck in a blizzard, he could clearly see the outlines of an immense building that keep going further up the longer Techno took to stare at it.

He didn’t even need to see the texture that made the tower to know its material.

With a quick pace, the pig ran closer to the ominous construction. The structure hurt his eyes (and his heart) to look at. “Tommy! Stop it, you’re messing my landscape!” He shouted over the blowing wind.

The cold was biting, Techno briefly contemplated coming back inside, either to let Tommy do his things alone and deal with it later, or simply to go snatch a coat warmer than his velvet cape. Instead, he opted to cocoon himself further into the fabric and bring the swirling flame of the torch closer to his face, being extra careful to keep his hair out of its reach. He was already outside; he held no desire in coming back inside to dress himself up just to go scold a child.

“I’m not messing your landscape! It’s an upgrade, shut up!” Techno heard from somewhere above him. Glancing up, he could not even distinguish where the tower ended.

“Get down! It’s not safe using scaffolding when the wind is like that, Tom- Oh yeah, also I told you to not make your ugly towers again!” He called out, putting one of his hands over his mouth like it could enhance the sound coming from it.

“You make it sound like I agreed, bitch! Forgot that I don’t care about you? Go away.”

“Tommy, get down before you hurt yourself.”

“No!”

“Tommy, if you don’t get down I’ll destroy the base of your scaffolding.”

He had a water bucket in his inventory, but Tommy didn’t need to know that.

Techno didn’t need to hear a reply to know that his words got through his younger brother. If there was anything the entire server could agree on, it was that any threat made by Technoblade would happen if you pissed the hybrid enough.

It didn’t take long for him to perceive a figure climbing its way down the scaffolding. Annoyingly, Tommy stopped and stood just at the edges of Techno’s vision. The orange light of the torch incapable of making any of Tommy’s features visible aside from his general shape.

“Come here! What are you doing?” Techno called out. “It’s freezing, come inside! We’ll talk about that tower later, just come!”

And it was freezing alright. He could feel his own fingers, nose and lips turning numb. Techno squinted, the snow falling down made his vision blurry - and the darkness of the night not helping his eyesight either - but he was pretty sure Tommy wasn’t wearing a coat sufficient for the winter climate.

Wait… was he even wearing a coat at all?

“Be fucking patient! A- and turn around! Go back in your shitty house, I’ll rejoin you soon enough!”

Techno blinked. Watching in silent disbelief as his little brother made pretty dangerous movements. No way was he going to go back inside when it was obvious Tommy would fall. The scaffolding was shaking so much it surprised him the thing didn’t break already.

Just as he was about to make a countdown from ten to force the younger to go faster, like Phil used to do when they were kids, he noticed even stranger movements coming from high above him. Techno was too far away to see everything clearly, but even from where he was standing he saw the outlines of his brother, only holding onto the bamboo of the scaffolding with one hand and a leg, jiggling his body to get rid of something that was clinging to him.

He strained his eyes to the maximum of their capabilities, and what he saw thunderstruck the living crap out of Techno. No way was he seeing that right.

“Tommy?! Why are you removing your shirt?!”

The figure yelped and jerked back, seemingly almost loosing his grip, his leg tangled around one bamboo being the only thing securing him. Immediately, Techno tensed and, just to feel assured, he took out the water bucket from his inventory. If Tommy died right now, it probably wouldn’t count as a cannon life, but Techno would sure as hell get a headache from all the bitching that would come after.

(Techno also wasn’t too keen on seeing his baby brother die, not that he’ll ever say it out loud.)

The hybrid could feel the vicious glare Tommy was sending his way.

“What the fuck, man! I said go back inside! I don’t want to see you right now.” The youngster shrieked, luckily no longer moving as carelessly. Techno deliberately overlooked the ache these words created. “Don’t just watch me like some creep-”

“It doesn’t matter! Why were you removing your shirt?! Since when people do that?!”

“H- Hey! It’s not even a shirt! Fuck off.”

“Wha… um. Wait.” Techno squinted even further. The night was cloudy, moon absent from the sky, so it was difficult to see what was what colors. He tried figuring out what Tommy was wearing. It didn’t look like a winter coat, it wasn’t long enough. But he could see that it was - indeed - not a shirt.

The wind picked up, harsher and more violent than ever. It wasn’t safe to be outside. Even worse; being suspended in the air with only as a lifeline an unsteady foundation. The night was as dark as it could be, like a layer of ink spread over everywhere Techno’s eyes could land. Tommy still hadn’t gotten in arm’s reach, still hadn’t listened to what the piglin ordered him to do.

That wasn’t normal, even as kids, the youngest of their family always used to do exactly as Techno said. Sometimes arguing back, but essentially always complying and following his orders and requests. Yes, Techno hadn’t been in contact with Tommy for roughly four years, but even then, he can’t help but notice how much his brother had changed.

“It’s cold. Tommy, please, get down.” He called out to the open sky, voice almost silent as the rough breeze silenced every sound emitting from him.

The scaffolding was balancing left from right. It wouldn’t take much to break the base.

Techno could faintly hear Tommy respond.

He could not make out the words.

That’s when an idiotic, downright insane idea, probably the worst one he had in quite a while, came up in his mind. If Tommy wasn’t going down by rational words, then Techno had to take things into actions.

Actions were stronger than words, after all.

And Techno had always been better with that than having social interactions.

He gently laid down the water bucket, making sure that not a single droplet fell. The bucket sank into the heavy blanket of snow, almost down to where the handle had been soldered to the iron border. He had to be quick: In such weather, water turn to ice abnormally fast.

So, with his right hand, the one not occupied by the torch, he grabbed the handful of spider eyes he had previously tidied into his inventory.

A stupid idea, but he’ll make it work. He always did.

The piglin aimed in the general direction he guessed Tommy to be at. That child had the audacity to climb further up to continue building his ugly tower. With a slight weight transfer, he threw the burgundy red orbs with impressive speed. He shot three in a row until he finally heard a reaction.

“Oi! Do you really have nothing else to do other than throw at me…. S- spider eyes?! Techno...” The hybrid couldn’t hear the rest of the sentence. Just for good measure, he threw another one.

“Yo, what the fuck??!”

Another one.

“Stop! That shit’s fucking poisonou-”

Again.

“STOP IT-”

Over the wind, Techno heard a loud crunch. The same type of sound you get when you split open a stick with your bare hands. Then, following right after, a horrifying scream.

And Techno, he-

He should have taken the bucket. He should have done something other than fucking freezing in place.

He didn’t move, only watching as his brother fell to his death. And a second too late, Techno dropped the torch and grabbed with both hands the freezing edge of the bucket and dumped it all over the snow.

Too late.

He was too late.

Tommy’s body, a green blur, crashed. Even the snow wasn’t enough to cushion the impact. A sickening crack resounded, the sound of bones breaking, giving in under the weight. The corpse faded out of existence mere seconds after it stilled on the ground.

Techno stared, his gut twisting uncomfortably.

His communicator buzzed.

TommyInnit fell off scaffolding

<Tubbo_> TOmmy???

<Ranboo> CANON

'<Quackity> THE FUCLK

<ItsFundy> no way

<GeorgeNotFound> UH??????

<Ranboo> Wait no

'<Sapnap> WTF

<The_Eret> wtf

<Nihachu> tommy?

<CaptainPuffy> TOMMY?!!

<Tubbo_> yOUR ASLIVE

'<Ranboo> Tommy??

<WilburSoot> glad to see ur not dead! :D

<Tubbo_> ???????

<Ph1lzA> what.

He clicked it shut, placing the tool back in his inventory.

The cat was now out of the bag. Tommy never explicitly said he didn’t want people to know he was alive, but from the way he urged Techno to not tell Phil of his existence, it was pretty clear he wished to keep it a secret.

The hybrid sighed, Tommy was probably inside the house right at that moment, seething. He was to blame for what happened, but he couldn’t help but feel annoyed that warmth currently surrounded his brother while he was freezing his ass off, alone outside.

Leaning down, he picked up his fallen torch; the fire sparked back to life the moment it stopped being in contact with the snow. Huffing, he bended to pick up all of Tommy’s items.

If he burnt down the scaffolding, maybe Tommy would finally stay in place long enough for the snowstorm to end.

The tender glow of the flickering flame on the end of his torch illuminated the flooring. There was a Tommy-shaped hole from where the boy crashed and splattered around was all the objects he dropped. There was scaffolding, a shit tone of strings, bamboo, stacks of cobblestone, a stone pickaxe and…

What is that?

Why would Tommy have a white porcelain bowl?

Techno gently picked it up, swatting away the bits of snow that found their way inside. The bowl didn’t look like the traditional dish: the sides curved while the middle was flat. Like a strange mix between a plate and a bowl.

Techno shrugged, who was he to judge?

He swung it, eyes latching onto black stains on the other sides.

Two small dots of pure ink over a semicircle.

___________________________

Far, far away, a blond boy woke up. Miles away from civilisation.

When, with much difficulty because of the sudden, unavoidable brightness, blue eyes flung open…

… the only thing he could see was an infinite stretch of sand, offering no escape.

Chapter Text

“Fuck my life… Fuck him… Fuck everyone. I’m so fucking done.” A young blond, whose clothes were drenched in sweat, grumbled as he tottered into the wide, deserted land. One slow step after another, Tommy carried out his arduous path to the top of a dune.

He couldn’t believe it.

Tommy popped up in the middle of a freaking desert. Out of every possible respawn points on the entire server, life just had to send him straight into one of its most uninhabited, arid region.

It was preferable over a tundra biome or the ocean, but still.

The land, so barren and hot that Tommy could sense his own tongue dry out, made him feel like he could collapse anytime for all the hours he spent in that scorching hot, crappy place. His only goal being to reach the top of the dune, from where laid a single sombrero-looking cactus. He wandered from hours on end - his hunger decreasing so much that he could no longer run - and hadn’t seen a single sign of life.

No village, no trees, no mines. Nothing except some dead bushes and that damn cactus.

But, hey. He got to keep his hopes up. Maybe some form of civilization settled beyond these mountains of sand. Or, at the very least; wildlife. His family had engraved in his brain that getting to higher grounds was essential in any survival situation, saying, “If you’re lost, you just have to go higher.”

And Tommy was more than fucking lost.

Since the time he woke up, his communicator kept buzzing. He disregarded each message; his brother still pissed him off from no end. No way was Tommy about to answer anything he said. The blond was also very adamant about another point: either his brother apologized in person, face to face, for his shitty actions, or Tommy spent the rest of his time ignoring his existence.

It wouldn’t be difficult: Tommy was an expert at avoiding people.

It would be harder, though, to evade his former family and friends from now on. He kept four years of his life a secret, just for Techno to show up and catch him, and then fucking killing him a mere week into Tommy’s stay at his cabin.

Techno just had to attack him for no freaking reason.

It was a horrible idea to stay there, Tommy should have listened to his gut feeling and remained far, far, far away.

“Your family doesn’t love you, Tommy. I do! I care for you so much, so please, understand that they are beyond saving. Stop thinking they might change. Because they won’t! They are never ever going to change, not for your sake, neither for theirs.”

Tommy hugged his hoodie closer to his chest. Keeping on this type of fabric in the middle of a desert wasn’t his smartest decision, but he couldn’t bring himself to get rid of it.

Not after a week without it, hiding the clothing from Technoblade in fear the piglin would notice and take it away from him.

Wearing the hoodie helped remind Tommy that he should have listened, should have strolled elsewhere that wasn’t close to them; everything that came out of his former family always ended up being dismays and frustrations.

After so long, the strenuous path came to a halt: Tommy reached the top. The brightness of the open sky burned his eyes, and Tommy could feel hundreds upon hundreds of grains of sand in his wet socks. Fabulous.

The blond, standing alongside the sombrero looking cactus- since when did cactuses have that shape?-, peeped over the horizon an-

“FOR FUCK’S SAKE!”

He punched the cactus, screaming as thorns stabbed themselves in his fist.

Fuck his life.

The goddamned sand was still everywhere.

__________________________________________

The almighty Technoblade was about to turn insane.

There was so much on his mind: Phil spamming his communicator with unsettling messages, varying from hopeful comments about Tommy’s aliveness to self-doubt and regrets; Tubbo also sending memos, but to the whole server with presidential orders to locate Tommy at all cost; the questions that kept growing the longer Techno stared at Dream’s porcelain mask.

Why would Tommy be carrying that thing in his inventory?

Why, out of all people, would Dream give one of his masks to Tommy?

Did Dream get his hands on his baby brother? Was that the reason for his disappearance?

Even if those questions were a pressing matter, it wasn’t what worried Techno the most:

Tommy had not respawned yet.

The piglin didn’t know how to deal emotionally with that. The bed was right there: he had seen Tommy, with his own two eyes, fall asleep in it. Nothing had destroyed the bed, it was still as intact as ever, and there wasn’t anything blocking the respawn point.

The hybrid tried contacting his sibling, but each time he sent a message, there was always the same confusing reply.

Unknown or incomplete command, see below for error

/w TommyInnit where are you? <—[HERE]

He couldn’t keep track of how many times he tried to get his communicator to work. The response never differed, treating ‘whispering to TommyInnit’ like it was a command unheard of.

Techno kept pacing in Tommy’s bedroom, built by himself in the house’s basement.

Tommy should be here by now. Respawning didn’t take that long.

The piglin paused in his track, a gut-wrenching thought anchoring in his head.

What if Tommy died for real?

Oh no. That was impossible. It couldn’t happen- not again. No way in hell, Tommy wouldn’t die. Right?

Right?!

You whisper to Ph1lzA: come at my house

You whisper to Ph1lzA: now

You whisper to Ph1lzA: it’s about Tommy

You whisper to Ph1lzA: i think i messed up

It took less than a minute for Techno to hear the familiar sound of a notification coming up.

Ph1lzA whispers to you: i’m on my way

________________________________________________________

“Um… Excuse me, ma’am? Have you seen someone that looks like me around here? Like, um… same mask, same hoodie, around the same height? No? Oh, okay...”

He walked away from the stranger, feet sinking in the large layer of snow. He heard villagers speaking about how violent the snowstorm was last night. It sure didn’t look pretty.

Tommy wouldn’t be stupid enough to wander during a blizzard, but it didn’t discourage the man from searching for any clues concerning the blond’s whereabouts.

He sighed, God, this problem had lasted long enough, he was so tired of the whole drama. With his fingerless gloved hand, he pulled out his communicator from his pocket.

You whisper to TommyInnit: Toms i’m sorry

You whisper to TommyInnit: i got you a new one, come back and i’ll give it to you

You whisper to TommyInnit: or give me your coords and i’ll bring it over

There wasn’t a response, as always.

He wished Tommy could finally stop being such a petulant child and just go back home.

_________________________________________________________

After hours of ambling alone in the deserted land, Tommy came across a temple. The structure had the luck to be on the edge of a river, and past the water source laid a savanna biome.

The moment he entered the ancient construction, he could feel how filthy his entire being was- how sticky his clothes were, the repulsing smell coming out of him- and promptly didn’t give a shit. Tommy, however, welcomed the roof’s blockage of the sun, his exhausted frame taking a break from the sunray’s constant assault. His face itched and burned; Tommy didn’t have to check himself in a mirror to know he had awful sunburns littering his skin.

The pain on his face was nothing about how much his stomach ached. The blond was starving, and if he continued walking around without eating, he would soon take damage from it.

He regretted sprinting off earlier that day. Such an amateur’s mistake, Tommy should have known better.

Even with starvation weighting him down, Tommy still made his way to go through the temple’s chests. Mining down was dreadful; he couldn’t afford to freefall - his health wouldn’t take it very well - so he had to mine with his bare hands.

The deeper he got, the darker the room became, the fresher the air was. When he reached the bottom, he removed the pressure plate and searched inside the chests.

Disappointement.

It was all Tommy could find.

He shoved a small pile of unwanted items into his inventory. It was surprising - and impressive - how none of these objects were useful at all. What could he create out of strings, rotten flesh, a horse's saddle, spider eyes (Well, not anymore; Tommy crushed them the moment they entered his vision), bones, gunpowder and sand? Nothing. It was the worst chest Tommy ever encountered, and he’d seen his fair share of them in his twenty-year-long life.

Tommy, however, was too exhausted to make a grand show out of it. He could bemoan all he wanted, it still didn’t solve his hunger issue nor help him find his way back home.

First, he got to know his surroundings and where the fuck he was.

After, he’ll complain.

Tommy patted himself on the back; what a fantastic plan. God, he’s such a genius.

The blond crafted his way out of the hole, placing blocks of sand underneath himself as he ascended, each block bringing him closer to the scorching heat of the outside air. Once Tommy’s head popped out of the tunnel, the boy sat on the burnt orange terracotta edge, dangling his legs back and forth in the void.

With disgust clear in his expression, Tommy pulled out and chomped one of his six pieces of rotten flesh.

It took all his mental strength to not projectile-vomit right away.

Tommy, inwardly cursing at the meat’s foul taste, stopped mid-bite as the sound of hooves, coming from a far distance, resounded in the temple’s walls.

The noises became clearer and clearer as seconds went on, voices and the cluttering of metal adding themselves to the commotion the nearer it got. The moment shadows appeared on the entrance’s sandstone floor was when Tommy finally thought;

‘Oh yeah, I need to get away.’

And thus, he dashed and hid himself behind one of the structure’s many columns. Back pressed on the hard surface, the blond slowly lifted his hood over his head, hiding his appearance like he was taught and accustomed to. Hands drifting into the depths of his inventory, Tommy’s blood ran cold as his fingers failed to brush against a familiar smooth surface.

No.

The discussions occurring in the background echoed across the building, loud compared to the constant silence Tommy used to be in. The blond’s breath hitched, palms flying haphazardly into each pocket concealed on his person.

Where was it?

“Wait, stand back.” a voice said, sticking out from all the clamors made by the other occupants of the room. Tommy couldn’t pick up any heavy footstep being made after the person gave that request. “How come there’s a hole ther- is that a secret passage?!”

The voice was low, loud and definitely British.

George?

Oh crap.

“Looks like it.” Another voice drawled.” Hey, check out; are those cubes of sand? How the hell did that happen?”

Sapnap?

Other people, whose voices remained unknown to his ears, added their undesired opinion on the sand-concerning-matter.

Tommy couldn’t keep track.

He was in so much shit. Forget about the mask; he needed to get out of there.

With fluid movements coupled with light steps, the boy clasped the hem of his hood with a tight grip as he snuck out of the temple unnoticed. Somehow bypassing everyone’s view - with bright green clothes on - by camouflaging in the shadows.

Tommy never welcomed the sight of sand so much in his life. He was about to run in the setting sun’s direction when he remembered a few crucial elements;

He was completely lost.

Totally drained of his energy with almost no food on hands.

And the setting sun’s direction was the way he came from.

But then, where to go? Every considerable path offered no covering, no escape; either he died from natural causes or he got spotted by people he did not want - and wasn’t ready - to meet again.

Tommy sneaked alongside the outside walls, countering the building until he faced the savanna biome.

He knew where to go, figuring out ‘how’ was the problem.

And that was when he saw them.

Eight majestic horses - and three donkeys with gigantic bags settled on their backs - were standing there, waiting for him to come.

Tommy approached them, feeling relieved when they didn’t run away and made no sound that signaled an abnormal presence was in the area.

From the group of horses, three creatures held noticeably more prestige than the rest. Instead of wearing metal and mesh armor like the others, two of them wore an iron protection that had accents of gold on some parts of the harness. On their heads, placed over the horse’s helmet, was a strange looking badge; two black axes fixed in a X shape over a forest green background. Below the symbol, on the two iron-and-gold-wearing animals, was placed the letters S and G, written in fancy cursive.

The third horse was the most striking. Snow white fur marked its entire form, making it stand out from the various shades of brown of the others. It was also taller by quite a huge margin; the other horses almost seemed insignificant in comparison. The stallion was imposing, even more so when Tommy remarked that emeralds and literal pieces of netherite were embedded in its armor.

A giant D, engraved with higher care and precision than the letters on the other horses’ helmets, stood on top of the same emblem shared by all the herd.

There was also donkeys, but Tommy hardly spared them a glance. Only observing long enough to see that they were transporting items. He swiped over his shoulders the most luxurious-looking bag he could find on them, hoping for its content to be valuable.

Tommy walked closer, staring at the white horse.

It stared right back, not blinking once.

Tommy, palm moving deliberately slow, patted the fur on the side of the animal’s face. The creature tilted his head to let the boy do as he pleased.

The blond hesitated.

… It wasn’t like it would kill him to… borrow a horse.

Turned out; yes, it definitely would.

Chapter Text

After staying up all night awaiting - in vain - for Tommy to respawn, Technoblade gave up. He told himself that pacing restlessly in his little brother’s room would solve nothing. So, at the crack of dawn, the piglin went outside to chop some wood.

In any stressful situations in which Techno held no control over, he always opted to maintain himself busy. Often, it meant manual labor, such as planting potatoes or sharpening his sword. It was a great way to relieve his tension and get his mind focused on non-troublesome elements.

His goal was to occupy himself so that the time would move faster. Phil was coming over, Techno just had to wait for a bit.

The hybrid swung - with more force than necessary - his netherite axe into the bark of a spruce tree, not even attempting to collect the fallen logs anymore. The forest surrounding him was a wreck; hundreds of cut-down trees piled over themselves in what was Techno’s chaotic attempt at sorting them in order. It only trashed the place further, as spruce needles and branches flew everywhere, causing the once bleach-white floor to be more green than white.

It was a mess, almost as much as how Techno felt on the inside.

He hoped Phil wouldn’t force him to wait any longer; God knows his heart couldn’t take it.

But maybe cutting down a forest wasn’t the best solution? He only needed two stacks of logs for the loft he was planning to build, and he was now at… eight and a half.

Oof. And it wasn’t even counting the many trees he hadn’t bothered to gather up yet.

A bit overkill, the piglin reflected as he slashed another trunk with the axe’s gradually weakening blade, but what was he supposed to do? He tried sticking around in Tommy’s room for hours, and the wait clearly didn’t work in his mental state’s favor.

The part of the forest that Techno was wrecking was where he discovered, one week ago, that Tommy was alive.

The snowstorm that happened last night covered the traces of their altercation, but Techno could still imagine the trail of blood that spread all over the ground the day Techno found his baby brother.

The piglin, shielded behind a tree’s thick trunk, watched from afar as a figure rested against a rock, eyes trained on the light layer of crimson that spread over a long path of footsteps. He had been following the blood’s unusual and wobbly line, thinking at first that an animal that hurt himself near his house made it.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t an animal. Techno could tell that much.

Why he thought that at first was beyond him; what kind of animal walks on two legs?

He was becoming rusty; Phil would be disappointed.

Techno, unclasping Orphan Obliterator from the sheath tied to his hips, observed the figure’s outwear with silent judgement. Iron armor. That dude was wearing iron armor. He dared intrude into Techno’s territory - that the piglin claimed with Tubbo’s hesitant approbation - while wearing freaking iron armor. It wasn’t even complete! Only a chest plate coupled with boots. What a sad sight to see.

Techno took a step forward. The snow’s slight crunch made the guy’s incoherent mumbles shift to a halt. The individual’s shoulders tensed, and Techno noticed the minor movement - so negligible that Techno wouldn’t have noticed if he wasn’t actively looking for it - of his arm reaching to clasp the handle of a stone axe.

The dude didn’t bother turning around. Techno admitted being quite impressed by this guy’s hearing range.

“I don’t know if you’re just dumb or have a death wish.” Techno said, words slow and calculated. The figure tightened his hold on the feeble weapon. “But I advise you to leave now. Don’t go around and spill blood all over my land, I care about my real estate’s val-”

“Ok. I’ll leave.” The dude said in a clipped, robotic voice. The guy tried standing straighter, but his body swayed and his knees folded on themselves.

The piglin stared, raising a brow.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” The boy bemoaned under his breath as he leaned his weight on his hands - that were in an unnatural shade of blue - and pulled himself up using his axe like a walking stick.

He was pissing blood.

Techno occupied himself by twirling his blade for a while, but got tired as time moved on and the boy still wasn’t able to get up, always tumbling down after two or three steps. “Can you go quicker? Like it’s not that hard.”

No response came from the dude other than a frustrated huff of air.

Techno could feel a spark of pity appearing deep in his heart. The guy was clearly struggling, and even if Techno didn’t give a shit about strangers’ general conditions, the piglin could picture Phil leaning over, dumping everything he was planning to do and helping this guy.

Phil wouldn’t be proud of him if he learned he let someone die on his watch. Again.

The piglin sighed. God, this is going to be so awkward. “So… you’re.. dying?”

The dude flipped him off.

Techno coughed, watching as the guy face-planted on the snow once again. “There’s a village not that far away from here…”

The guy scrambled, hoisting himself on his knees and painfully lifting one of leg after another. He took a shaky step, back still facing Techno, and hissed as he covered his left hip with his palm. A waterfall of blood was dripping down from the split between his fingers.

“… and I think there’s a clinic there...” Techno said, approaching with careful strides the figure and taking notice of how dirty the person was; Greasy blond hair, tangled in a bird nest and, even from far away, Techno could smell the stench of his sullied clothes. Techno was momentarily stunned at how much dried mud smeared those ripped black jeans; the guy practically had to have rolled in it at this point. When the blond - that was still trying to get himself back on his feet - was one meter away from Techno, the piglin pursued. “If you promise to never come back, I could drop you there.”

The guys snapped his head toward Techno, a movement so abrupt it took Techno by complete surprise. “I don’t need YOUR fucking help.” The boy spitted out, venom lacing his words. The eyes that viewed Techno were frigid, unforgiving and…

… familiar.

And Techno choked, lungs running out of air as he heard his heart thumping wildly inside his head. He barely registered the clutter he made when his sword slipped from his hand; His entire mind concentrated on the very person laying in front of him.

There was no way.

“Tommy… is that you?” Techno said, voice not above a whisper.

He stared as the boy’s murderous expression converted to confusion, brows furrowed as blue bloodstained fingers reached over and patted the side of his own cheek, smearing red all over the skin’s surface. The left side of his side was burnt and tinted in the color of ashes.

What happened to him?

Horror overtook the blond’s face as he seemed to realise something. His sapphire-blue eyes widened and his breath picked up in pace before - like a switch turned on in his head - the boy’s features became impassive. The only emotion emitting from his face being the profound hate buried behind his eyes.

Tommy drew his axe closer to himself, subconsciously (or consciously, Techno couldn’t tell) taking on a defensive stance as he shakily stood up.

Techno, in retaliation, bent down to pick up Orphan Obliterator and sheath it back in its original emplacement, watching as Tommy scowled at the action.

“Let’s make a deal.” The blond said. Techno felt the back of his eyes tingled as he recognized his baby brother’s distinct way of speaking.

“I- It’s really you. You’re alive.” The piglin uttered, the reality of what was happening finally sinking in. “You’re alive…. y- you’re… alive… oh god…”

Tommy gave him an odd but somewhat unimpressed look, one hand gripping his axe and the other clutching the still bleeding wound on his hips. “A deal. Let’s mak-”

“You’re hurt.”

“Why the fuck would you care?” The blond glared, but it seemed less hostile - or, at least, made less of an impact on Techno -because of how many injuries the boy was sporting; the hybrid couldn’t bother being intimidated if the person threatening him didn’t seem dangerous.” Look; I forgot you lived here, so if you promise to not tell anyone I’m alive, I’ll leave you alone. Deal?”

Techno blinked. “Wha- Eh? No, no. You’re not leaving us again. Not after all this time- not after we thought for years that you were dead.” He took a step forward, gulping as Tommy’s eyes turned to slits. The boy grabbed the handle of his weapon with both hands. Techno tried to sound as harmless as possible, but the closer he got to Tommy, the more the boy looked on edge. “Come home, Theseus. In fact, it’s not even a demand; you’re coming. You’re bleeding everywhere and I’m not letting you d-”

Tommy glowered. “Like it’ll change anything for you if I die or not! Don’t fucking pretend to care now.”

“I’m not pretending! You can’t believe how much we missed you! Have you seen how your death affected Phil, Ghostbur, Tubbo- hell, everyone?!”

“Oh, trust me; I did. You’re all a bunch of two-faced selfis- STEP BACK! D- Don’t fucking come closer!”

“I’m not letting you die on my watch.”

Looking back, maybe Techno shouldn’t have been so pressed to get his brother to safety; if he didn’t, maybe Tommy wouldn’t have tried to kill him with his pathetic stone axe. He had to - however - give it to the kid; even while bleeding out and in an advanced state of hypothermia, he still gave Techno a good fight. The only reason it ended as soon as it did was because the blond actually passed out a few minutes into the battle.

Now that Techno thought about it, was taking an unconscious Tommy into his house considered kidnapping?

Probably.

His musings were interrupted by the ding of a notification coming up from his communicator. The piglin stopped swinging his axe into the tree he was demolishing to pull the tool out from his inventory.

Ph1lzA whispers to you: we’re at your house

Ph1lzA whispers to you: where are you?

You whisper to Ph1lzA: we’re?

Ph1lzA whispers to you: where’s Tommy?

You whisper to Ph1lzA: he’s not there

Ph1lzA whispers to you: ?

Ph1lzA whispers to you: i thought Tommy was with you?

You whisper to Ph1lzA: stay there i’ll explain soon

Ph1lzA whispers to you: i would prefer if you give us your coords

Ph1lzA whispers to you: we’ll join you

You whisper to Ph1lzA: ok

Techno, after sending his coordinates, placed his communicator back in his inventory, cringing as he peered over the disaster that was now the forest. He went overboard, way too overboard.

It didn’t take long for Techno to see a black shape flying in the piglin’s direction; the house wasn’t far, and he knew how freaking fast Phil could travel when the man wanted to.

When the avian was only a few meters above the hybrid, the man whistled. “That’s a lot of damage you did there, Tech’.” He landed next to his son, lifting an incredulous brow at the scenery laying before him. “Are you trying to turn your forest into a meadow? I thought you cared about your real estate’s value?”

Techno rolled his eyes. “I got carried away, that’s all.”

Phil smiled, the bags prominent under his eyes. His dad wasn’t the same since the day he received the news that his second son had perished. That he had enough willpower to fly to Techno’s house was an accomplishment, Techno - deep down - was proud of each effort his dad made. It didn’t matter if it was simply taking out the trash or accepting to play a game of chess with him; the results soothed Techno into thinking Phil will never be in the same terrible mindset he was four years ago.

He still had this glint in his eyes that warned Techno he could shatter at any point. The piglin was pretty sure the reason his dad hadn’t totally given up was because he still had one member of his family left; him.

(Both he and Phil didn’t include Ghostbur in that category.)

His father was gazing toward Techno’s house. The hybrid followed his line of sight, seeing from far away what looked like a rock being tossed high in the sky multiple times, each throw coming closer and closer.

When the rock was about to land near both of them was when Techno noticed that the rock was blue and round and-

Oh. It’s not a rock.

It touched the ground, and in appeared a man Techno hadn’t seen in quite a while.

Techno groaned, turning to Phil. “You really had to get him here?”

“He insisted.” Phil said, eyeing the brown-haired boy casually. “Plus, the boys were best friends. If you have information about Tommy, Tubbo deserves to know as much as I do.”

Tubbo observed Phil with a restrained crestfallen expression, and, not for the first time; Techno wondered what kind of hidden message the two were sending to each other. The two mourned Tommy’s death side by side, Tubbo being the sole individual Phil had the will to face during the months succeeding Tommy’s ‘suicide’. Even Techno couldn’t get his father to speak to him, only Tubbo could. The two had forged a connection that the piglin still couldn’t comprehend to this day.

The only certainty he could guarantee was that it wasn’t a father-son bond.

“So, do you have any idea where Tommy is?” Phil said, adjusting the front of his winter suit. The wind must be why the fabric had so many folds. “When I saw your message yesterday, I figured out he was with you.”

“Yeah, same.” Tubbo piped in. “I even told Fundy and Quackity we were bringing him back… You know at least where he is, don’t you..?”

There was a hint of desperation in his voice.

Techno opened his mouth, ready to say a dull, blunt ‘no’, but then a three ‘ding!’ resounded. Phil took out his communicator, scanning the message that was sent to the whole server. It usually was a vast announcement or a death message. Techno hoped - even though hardly believing it - that it was someone saying they had found Tommy.

Phil stared at the screen with a complicated expression.

“What does it say?” Tubbo asked.

Wordlessly, Phil turned the screen so that the two could read what was typed on it.

Uh?

TommyInnit tried to swim in lava