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When Techno had answered Dream's call to cash in the favor, he didn't quite expect to have to travel so far out of the SMP lines and to go into the strange base that was carved into the earth. Honestly, the fact that the green teletubby had a house surprised him more than what he saw at the very center of it probably wasn't good. He didn't expect to see the beaten and battered forms of the ex president and -his brother- Tommy. He didn't expect to have to hold back the blonde as Dream took Tubbo and rained blows and kicks on his small body until he was unconscious and unrecognizable.
Techno readjusted his grip on the blonde, forcing the boy still as blow after blow made sickening cracks against the goat hybrid's body. The piglin's hands felt like they were burning at every point that was in contact with Tommy, but he just held on tighter, forcing himself to ignore the pitiful pleads the younger made for his best friend's life.
"Tubbo...get up. Tubbo FUCKING get up," Tommy took in a breath, forcing air into his lungs.
"Please stop!"
Some of Techno's chat begged for him to stop Dream, begged to look away from the graphic sight in front of him. The voices that so often called for blood were silent, almost stricken by the sight of someone he used to consider a brother being brought to such a pitiful state. They wanted him to turn away from everything that way happening. They...He wanted to look away, but he forced himself not to. The man in front of him, however, seemed almost too happy to watch the blonde break down. Green eyes were alight with a manic sort of glee, drawing and gulping down the fear and despair that was practically oozing off of Tommy. Dream was taking the most disgusting form of satisfaction from mottling already scarred skin of Tubbo's body with black and blue, painting the once green shirt with an all too familiar shade of red, all just so he could see the reaction from the child.
God, they were just children. A voice screamed. Techno forced himself to ignore it.
"I told you this would happen, Tommy."
Dream's voice was like a venomous snake. It was wriggling its way into the deepest depths of their minds, poisoning there thoughts to turn them into the perfect prey.
"Please don't do this-"
Techno's grip tightened. He refused to acknowledge to sudden and intense sick feeling that was deep in his gut.
"I warned you-"
Techno watched as the axe raised above Tubbo's unconscious form. Tommy was struggling more. Tears pouring down his face more than ever, turning those diamond eyes into oceans.
"TUBBO PLEASE GET UP-"
At the last possible moment, the piglin allowed himself to look away. He wished he hadn't.
The lack of sight made the heart-wrenching screams from Tommy echo and surround his head, becoming the only thing he could process. It was all consuming and Techno could feel it reverberate through his very core. He refused to acknowledge the sweat that began to slide down his face as the blonde's struggling increased tenfold.
Through the screams and sobs of a broken child, Dream only uttered out a single phrase with that stupid, stupid smile on his face.
"I keep my promises...Thank you, Techno. I'd say you almost paid me back!"
It felt as if the world had silenced itself, even as Tommy screamed louder and louder. It was silent as Dream kept watching the blonde, that disgusting smile in the open instead of being hidden. It was silent as Punz walked through the portal.
And in just a moment, the world turned itself back on, and Techno could hear too well. He could hear the way Punz began to speak, overwhelmingly confident. He could hear the way confidence was pushed aside by sickening horror as the mercenary truly took in what was in front of him.
Gasps of horror echoed around the black chamber as more and more people fell through the portal. The hybrid could barely even register the fact that he had loosened his hold on Tommy until he suddenly felt a punch being thrown straight at his jaw. He refused to acknowledge the voice that said it was well deserved. He didn't acknowledge the fact that is was his own.
He could only stare as two-thirds of the group rushed forward to hold down him and Dream while the rest ran to Tommy.
He could only stare at the small body (He was so young he didn't deserve this thEY DIDNTDESERVETHIS-) that was being cradled by his best friend.
He could only stare.
Tubbo unblinkingly stared back.