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Some things stay hidden for a long time, sometimes even eternally, it could be where Tubbo hid Ranboo's emeralds, or greater secrets such as the one of the man in the colourful hoodie running after himself between universes and times.
Some things give the impression that they must stay better hidden than they are. Such as Hbomb inappropriate comments, Dream's cell or simply the identity of Philza Minecraft.
Everybody knows that Philza has lives for centuries, killed people with or without reason, has been a warrior. Everybody knows that he is the angel of Death and that Death herself will be by his side until the end of time.
On the contrary, nobody knows the details of his life because nobody dared to ask, except maybe his son Wilbur, but he was definitely the only one who could keep such big secrets with success. Nobody knows why but they could sent how tensed the question was by just thinking it, so no one asked.
We are talking about the legend of Philza, more respected than the Blood God Technoblade and with a more dangerous past than the God DreamXD.
Philza is the angel of Death, he is the one who decided to stay on cold land, waiting his defeat while observing all of his loved ones dying by his side.
Philza didn't start his journey as respected as he is now, he didn't start immortal or as strong either.
He started his journey alone, on lands not yet discovered by others, as a mortal.
He was filled with the simple idea of surviving as long as he could while being the bravest, and probably for some the stupidest, human.
He was a simple lost human, alone, without any reason of being. However he found one quite quickly. Most of people in his case would have abandoned a while ago, after all he was poor, didn't have any family, friends or loved one, didn't even have a home, most people would have lost themselves in loneliness or would have walk around without goals.
Philza was brave, full of ingenious and unique ideas. He was soon considered the bravest. So as soon as his teenage years started, he went on an adventure.
At first it was a simple adventure to discover the world. He took notes of each places, whether it was sand dunes who seemed infinite or the jungle full of mystery and tropical animals, he never stopped, he kept walking with a note book in his hand, a blade around his belt, and a light bag on his shoulder filled with the necessary equipment to survive in the wild.
When his teenage years finished, so when his twenties started, his ideas became more risky and dangerous.
Then came his first death.
Some people would whisper long stories full of danger and legends to explain it, such as later on the betrayal of Eret or the sacrifice of Foolish to save an old important friend.
But in reality, Philza simply fell from a high place because of a miscalculated fall.
He woke up in his bed startled, then after realizing that what happened wasn't a dream but reality, he blushed from embarrassment. Philza Minecraft, The Philza Minecraft, the person respected for his bravery and his built, died in a simple fall.
Quickly he got back to work, trying to forget what happened and with the relief that nobody had seen him.
Built by built, fight after fight, his name started to become famous among the people.
After a little while, he started his biggest project, finding a legendary place, said to be hidden, to be the most dangerous and mysterious place that the universe ever created, kept protect by a dark dragon filled with void and stronger than any men. He started to dream about this place, finding it and making it his, so that history learn truly about what Philza Minecraft was capable to do.
He took months and months to get ready. He started to train to get stronger, he learnt how to attack and defend, he read all of the book about magic and potions, he disappeared in the nether, coming back covered in blaze powder and blood, still wearing a grin on his face, he quickly became the strongest human, beating every opponent and monsters on his way, beating the knowledge of witches and anybody that practised magic. He put aside all of his other projects.
After an entire year of training, he was ready, so he went to research this mysterious place that we called the End.
It took months for him to found it, then learnt how to enter it and finally he did it.
The place was something that even he couldn't dream about, the floor was cold and almost dead-like, the void was everywhere, Endermen were at every corner, towers touched the void because of their height, and the dragon, was as beautiful than dangerous.
Killing it was not easy, but far as difficult as he thought.
When the biggest threat was down, he started to prepare his next project, the biggest that he ever started.
He will transform this place in an underwater city called Endlantis.
It took him multiples years, a new death to count, this one simply by falling off the void after walking backwards, putting his defence down by lack of attention and lack of sleep. Still, the result of his work was breathtaking.
This place was unfortunately accessible for him only, no man dared to even talk about this place, so going up there? It would be a miracle.
After going back home, a work nicely done, with a smile spread on his face because of the pride that he had of himself of finally being in history, sure a history that no one would want to share by fear of the End, but a history nonetheless, his history.
With only a life left, he started to take more break, to take more care of himself, because even if he was brave and sometimes would take decisions a bit too quickly, he kept his love for life and his repulse for death.
Slowly but surely, years passed, some projects happened, all as breathtaking as the other.
Then came his last life.
Because yes, not many people know about it, but Philza died.
Well, he would have stayed completely dead if a certain someone didn't look at him with strange admiration when he was a simple mortal.
Phil, after his last breath in a cave under the bites and scratches by a baby zombie and a spider, he woke up in a massive and beautiful place.
The Gothic statues and architecture with the paintings and decorations in black, purple and gold theme, gave a mysterious atmosphere to the place.
He was laying down, until he slowly stood up, it's only when he was kneeled that he heard a warm laugh, not to mock him as some people would think, but by excitation.
He lifted his eyes quickly to the direction of the sound, and finally saw the person sitting in the massive throne in the middle of the room.
The throne was placed in front of a huge engraving representing all living beings in a circle, on the upside of the circle is a human kneeling, in the middle of the circle is the Ender dragon, looking like she was guarding the throne, or more likely the woman on it.
She was at least ten times Phil's size, might have been more, her wavy raven-like hair spread on the armrests of the throne, falling on her hips that were hid behind a long black dress moulding her forms with silk sleeves.
Her black lips were raised in a small smile, accompanied with a sweet and soft playfulness in her empty black eyes.
Phil felt warmth spread in his heart as soon as his eyes met hers. On the moment he thought that it was because of the adrenaline rush after losing his last life, but later on he would say that her beauty made him breathless, in reality he was most likely simply falling head over heels for her already, as if it was meant to be. Some would say they were the first soulmates to ever exist.
He didn't start the conversation, to love struck to do anything, so she talked first. She put her elbow on the right armrest of the throne, and slowly held her chin in the palm of her hand, observing him with fascination, as if she had waited for this moment since the beginning of time.
"You must be really confused Philza Minecraft. Firstly, let me clarify this; you are dead."
Surprisingly, he didn't even let out a gasp, only a small smile, and finally he started laughing. She smiled at him while rising her eyebrows, amused.
While swiping tears out of the corner of his eyes, he said with a light tone "My excuses, my excuses, you are just really direct, miss..?"
With a playful smile she answered him, a glimmer of spark in her eyes "Death. You can call me Death".
With the same spark in his eyes he bowed at her "Nice to meet you Milady Death."
She started laughing and continued, with a calm and warm voice. "You're even better than I thought my angel." He raised his eyebrows to this nickname and blushed a bit, but only looked at her with curiosity. "Oh, yes... Well, let me explain. You, Philza Minecraft, you are the bravest human that I ever encountered. I watched you from afar with my crows, and never once got bored. I could not forgive myself knowing that your soul will float in the void like others, as if you were like anybody, when you could be somebody.... I am very alone here in my palace, this work is getting tiring and boring... So please, my sweet human, would you satisfy me by becoming my angel?"
I don’t think his answer needs to be clarified.
Next, humans would not speak any more of Philza Minecraft, the bravest human, but they would talked about Philza Minecraft, the angel and soulmate of Death.
Death gave him wings that reached the ground, could fill an entire room and were as black as the void and the eyes of his loved one.
Crows would listen and talk to him, they would follow him anywhere he would go.
He would fly across Earth to found dying beings so that he could guide them with a hand towards the void. It was his job after all, one hand would land on the forehead of a dying being and when they would take their last breath their soul could peacefully fly away among others.
He didn't see his love a lot but he could feel her next to him when the crows would fill the sky by their number, or when he would guide a soul or again when he would feel a new death getting closer.
His job wasn't easy, he couldn't be close to the ones he loved, he had to say goodbye to his possession because he couldn't stay at the same place. Even if he couldn't really feel tired any more, he still felt boredom when he had to spend all of his days and nights flying across the world to always do the same thing.
The worse was probably his empathy that stayed even when he became immortal. He was a mortal human once after all, he had a heart and he loved life even as the Angel of Death, seeing a living being dying before him was so painful that he couldn't count any more the number of time he had to close his eyes when he would take away an other soul.
Nonetheless he had to do his work, because he could do anything for Death.
Centuries passed, he got used of his work while keeping his empathy, he distanced himself of the concept of time, and sometimes he would be able to go see his love by going into the portal of the End, always open for him, only hidden behind numerous rocks that he disposed around to keep away the innocent souls from getting closer, and then when he would be on the island of the End, he simply had to fly from there to the palace of his dearest.
He couldn't stay in this island more than a few days because of his past as a human and because of the little time that his work made him have, but at least he could go up there as the Angel of Death, whereas if a simple human tried to do the same, he would miss out of energy and breath before even reaching half of the way to the palace.
Philza went to see her around once every four or five years, which seems like a long time to wait, but as an immortal, for a mortal it was like once every two weeks.
Until once, once where after a year or so, a black cloud of crows jumped him while one of his flight. All of them where in a state of panic, he didn't understand what was going on until he finally managed to heard one sentence.
"She is asking for you."
He didn't have to think for long to understand what they where talking about. Philza had decided to not get closer emotionally with any mortal, he didn't want to be the one that had to separate their soul from their body. So, he didn't know anybody except one person that was immortal and was able to make the crows as panicked as they were, Death needed him.
He never flew as fast as that day. His heart was beating through his chest and his breath was stuck in his throat so much that he was sure that he could faint if he wasn't so pumped with adrenaline.
His thoughts were turning around horrifying and horrible ideas, as if the Goddess of death, immortal and said to be invincible, could be in danger and a simple weak thing like him could save her. But his brain wasn't working under his reason and logical matter, so as fast as he could, he arrived to the portal, went through it and flew down the void before letting his feet land on the ground of the palace.
He ran to the throne room while calling out frantically his loved one.
Then finally, in a gentle and quiet voice he heard her: "Quiet my love, I'm here..."
Quickly he entered the room in which he heard her, there she was, next to a column, she looked at him from afar, the face soft but tired, keeping against her chest a midnight blue blanket that hid most of her body features because of the size of it.
He came closer to her, the breath short, the expression terrified and with a panicked voice let out of his lips rushed words. "I received your message, what happened? Are you hurt? Are you alright? Did you-" he cut himself off when her hands reached softly his cheek while she was smiling at him with the same kindness.
"Calm down, I'm fine my love, I just... I needed you for our son."
He breath out of relief, looking at her in the eyes and understanding what she truly said after only a few seconds, suddenly his relieved expression turned into one of pure shock. "Wait... Our son..? What..?"
She smiled even more and then, she got closer so that he could finally see the inside of the blanket, without having to bend down based on the fact that she didn’t appear as her full height but as an adequate height for him.
Philza's eyes turned towards the blanket and got comically bigger at the sight of the pale newborn, just lying in the arms of his loved one, he had his eyes closed, wasn't moving, he didn't want to admit it but the newborn clearly looked dead if you didn't look at how his fists opened and closed every now and then or for his chests that raised at every breath take in.
He couldn’t even be a few hours old.
He looked up at Death, his eyes shining with questions.
"But... How..?"
She laughed gently, "I guess even me, the goddess of Death, can give birth to a living being."
His eyes turned back to the newborn, gently he reached one of his hand towards him, with his index finger he slowly and carefully touched one of his cheekbone, grazing at the same time thin curly and brown hair.
When he felt the softness of the skin, a cold and familiar sensation appeared in his chest, he stopped in his track with a terrified expression, he took back his hand towards himself as if he was burned and turned towards his love, she was already looking at him with grief in her eyes.
He couldn't stop remembering this feeling, a cold feeling that goes through his veins, making him feel dizzy and disgust, having his throat feel almost clammy and tight and with his hears ringing without stop. This feeling was the one of the death coming for a mortal.
"Because you were once mortal, he is too. He cannot stay here Phil, you know it. If he stays, his souls will be in our hands and we will not be able to stop it. I already did my best so that he could be fine for a few hours here, but it's the most that I can do."
He couldn't stop staring at his son, way too pale for a newborn now that he really looks at him, way too small and quiet for a new mortal in good health. He had to quickly get him back in the overworld, as quickly as possible.
"But, I'm the Angel of Death... I can't take care of him."
Slowly she reached for his chin so that she can turn his face towards him.
"Yes you can, because you will retire my dear. It would be the best for you and him. I can see the sparkles in your eyes fading through the years, this job was not made for you, in the end, I was wrong. So, I will take your statue from Angel of Death, you will be a simple gifted human. Still immortal, capable of flying, father of crows with some other gifts but you will not be able to take any soul, or to work for me, or even...see me." A gasp escaped his lips as she smiled sadly at him. "It will be hard, but please, do it for our son Wilbur."
A small noise made him turn his attention to his son. His eyes met two brown ones, his eyelids weren’t even properly open under his tiredness, but his eyes still didn't look away from his father's.
Phil felt his eyes and his mind settling on him, slowly and softly he murmured: "Wilbur... I like that name... My son..."
After that moment, Phil came back home with tear tracks on his cheeks, a cloud of crows following him and Wilbur still in his midnight blue blanket in his arms.
If we asked people to guess what was the most confusing moment of Philza's life, most would answer that it was when he died and faced Death herself. Phil, on the other hand, would answer that it was when he started to take care of his newborn son, alone as a retired angel.
The first thing that he had to do was to build a safe house, not too far from a village so that he could have what he needs when he needs, and he also had to build his house big enough for a baby.
Doing all of this, with his lack of parental knowledge, was probably the hardest challenge that he ever encountered.
On one burning hot afternoon, we could see Philza building and doing repair to his house, his hair tied in a ponytail, a black top sleeveless with open part towards the back for his wings but which could also allow him to breath properly, he also had a green short with sandals, and then with a blanket tied around his chest and waist, his son gently laid in it allowing him to be against him at all time without having to hold him in his arms.
We could say that it was quite amusing to see the famous admirable legend of Philza Minecraft becoming a lost and confused dad.
Nonetheless, nobody heard him complain, even when his privileges as angel of death were gone so he had to get used to all of these living feelings, such as feeling tiredness, feeling hunger or just any usual feeling that living beings have.
He didn't complain when his sleep schedule got messed up because of a tiny human that couldn't even walk yet, nor when his wealth was close to zero and he had to sacrifice his food or his needs for his son, he didn't even complain when he missed his love, talking about her only with admiration and nostalgia, never with regret or sadness.
Phil still stayed a stubborn person, brave and never giving up.
He managed to beat the Ender dragon, so taking care of a baby had to be much easier.
Then Wilbur learned to walk.
Wilbur had to be as stubborn, brave and without any intention of giving up as his dad, so when an idea struck him to go somewhere for example, even the old angel of Death couldn't stop him.
Running after his son became a daily thing for a long time, it was either to catch him so that he could go to sleep or so that he could go back home after his time spend playing outside, or simply so that he could dress up after his bath.
Even if the child was laughing with full on wheeze and hiccup during these runs, Philza would not have been surprised if he had lost a lung by being so out of breath so often, he always ended being almost impressed of the physical capacities of his son when it came with running.
All of this doesn't change the fact that he still managed to greatly take care of his son, teaching him to be polite and respectful, to read and write as soon as he was of age, he also taught him his past and about his mother, not missing a beat and not hiding anything.
Father and son were always next to each other, never leaving the other except if Phil had to go get stuff from dangerous places, at these moments even Wilbur knew that he had to obey and stay safely at home while waiting for his dad to come back home, while not opening the door to any strangers.
It's in this environment that made Philza almost forget some of his power of Angel of Death that he still had, obviously his wings couldn't be forgotten, but some of them slipped his mind, until one day, where the reminder of these powers allowed him to extend his family.
Phil knew that he still had a lot of his powers, he couldn't just forget about it like that, such as the fact that he was still immortal, the fact that his body couldn't be as easily hurt as anybody else, or even his strength much bigger than the average person, without even mentioning his wings such as previously said. But one of these things that he kept, linked directly to Death, was the felling that made his blood cold when he touched for the first time Wilbur.
The feeling of death on mortals.
This feeling was different each time, sometimes when he would meet a mortal being it would simply feel like a hand on his shoulder, it wouldn't particularly be annoying or painful, it would simply be there, but sometimes when a mortal that would soon die would cross his way it would feel more like a weight on his chest, the closest the death was the bigger the weight will be, but in some cases, the death wouldn't be a simple peaceful death, it would not be painless, in the cases where the death would be painful, at this moment it would not just feel like a weight, but also as if someone was clawing his ribs, trying to ripped them apart, the pain of the death would match the pain that he would feel.
The mortals making him feel that way could be any mortals that still lived, it could be a villager, his son or even a simple deer that crossed his way.
Such as a day, in the wood, where he crossed a rabbit that ran in between in legs, when his fur brushed him he could feel a deep pain in him, he didn't know when this rabbit would die precisely, he could still theorize based on the weight, anyway, he wasn't surprised when he came a few weeks later into the woods and saw the corpse of the rabbit half eaten by wolves.
This is with this power that one day, on a simple walk into the Nether to trade, he felt this feeling of death. Not like a simple mortal, but like a long painful death.
As soon as he felt it, he froze, it wasn't that common to feel death in the Nether, after all mobs didn't kill each other in this place and as long as it wasn't two skeletons fighting each other or he wasn't close to a blaze spawner, Philza couldn't really understand where it came from based on his position quite far to the nearest fortress or soul sand biome, but he knew that he wasn't far from a bastion, so the idea that an unfortunate human got stuck in this type of place crossed his mind.
Quickly, with the thought of someone in danger, he went to search of the dying mortal.
Finally, at the corner of a Netherack mountain, he found a body curled up on themselves behind some rocks, it seemed like they were trying to hide themselves as they could.
He slowly came closer to them but without paying attention he alerted the living being, soon dead, by bumping with his foot on some little rocks on the ground. The person suddenly stood up to stare at him.
Normally, Phil didn't like to play with destiny, if the feeling of death was present he would let Death happen, he wouldn't even try to change what the future decided, that was the rule, but when his eyes met teary red crimson ones, the stare petrified and the body frozen in pure terror, his thoughts started to doubt this rule.
As soon as his eyes landed on the tusks that were poking out of his lower lip, his pink-ish skin, his red eyes, his nose slightly crooked towards the sky, his long dirty knotted pink hair and his pointy ears, he understood that who was in front of him wasn't a human like he thought but a piglin, and based on their small size, the human looking body and the fingers that replaced what was supposed to be hooves, it was a piglin hybrid, and a young one.
He didn't have to stare at them for too long to understand why this feeling of death was resonating from them. They clearly were starving since a few days already, their body was bruised and cut from head to toes, some bruises were accompanied with bumps that looked like something was broken underneath all of this skin, and some cuts were so big he could bet that the muscles could be seen from his stance.
They were half lying down on the ground, one of their arms was helping them to stand up so that they could be able to see Phil, the other one was in front of them, grasping for dear life a rusty sword towards him for protection.
One of their legs was on a weird angle and simply lying limp on the ground, a clear sign to Phil that it was definitely and badly broken.
Philza showed his hands to him with the attention of appearing peaceful, while slowly crouching in front of him.
The feeling of death wasn't ready to leave him, and knowing that he couldn't do anything about it except leaving the scene or watching them die in front of him was breaking his heart. But, the following scene made him decides to not give a single fuck any more about what destiny wanted or not to do:
The hybrid slowly put down their sword and laid down on the ground, they took some long deep breaths that seemed like it was more painful that relieving, and finally they closed their eyes.
Phil figured that they weren't doing it because they understood that he wasn't a threat, but because they understood by themselves that it was the end and they couldn't do anything about it. The young one was letting themselves die in front of him.
Phil didn't even think twice about it before standing up and taking the hybrid in his arms, softly keeping them against his chest, he ignored the scream, the panic grunt and the tiny squeaks of fear or even the weak punches that they started to do as soon as he put a hand on him, he also ignored as best as he could the observation that they weren't even as big as his son, and he rushed to the portal, with the need to heal them as soon as possible.
Destiny could go fuck itself.
As soon as the hybrid got into the overworld, the feeling of death disappeared from him, as if destiny already understood that you couldn't even stop the Angel of Death even if you wanted to, and quick after, the hybrid was being healed by his hands while being kept safely in his house.
Wilbur was really confused, curious but also careful when it came to the new addition to their daily routine.
The hybrid was kept in a bedroom that was formally a place for storage with enough room for a bed and other furnitures. Phil was coming everyday to change their bandages, to feed them, or simply to talk to them even if it didn't look like they could understand him.
He still kept his son out of the room, being too afraid that the hybrid might be overwhelmed by his presence and that all of the progress made would just go back to zero, after all they didn't scream or tried to fight him any more! Progress!
It still didn't stop Wilbur from letting his eyes wander in the room when the door was left slightly open, or when Phil had to get something and forgot to close it properly behind him.
The first time that Wilbur saw the new kid, they were curled up in blankets that were ripped off the bed, in the corner of the room, covered in bandages, clearly tensed and watching every movements of his father that was crouching a meter away from them, smiling softly while putting on the ground what seemed like a bowl of mushroom stew with meats in it, close enough from the child to reach it if they wanted.
He could hear whispers that were so faint that he couldn't understand the words but the terrified little seemed to swim in them without any attention of taking a breath.
Wilbur soon left after, not because he knew that he wasn't allowed to eavesdrop or to even get that close from the inside of the room, but because he understood from a simple look that this moment was only between his father and the newcomer.
All of the other times when he saw them lasted only a few seconds, it was always when his father was coming in or out of the bedroom.
Then, one night, he heard a muffle noise, he was always the type of person to wake up at the weakest noise in contrary of most kids of his age, so he obviously woke up and then went to investigate.
He believed for a moment that he might have had dream it when he saw no abnormality in the corridor, then he finally heard some small noises accompanied with sniffles coming from the new built bedroom.
On tiptoes he slowly walked towards the bedroom door before opening it silently, his eyes landed automatically on the hybrid, once again curled up on themselves but this time on the bed, their face was covered with tears and their body was shaking.
When Wilbur got closer they turned suddenly towards him, making their eyes met, strangely none out of the two tensed at the action, even when Wilbur whispered to them for the first time ever.
"Did you have a nightmare?"
The six years old human knew that his dad made the hybrid learnt their language by speaking to them and teaching him at least the basis, sometimes he could even hear his dad congratulate them after they managed to say a particularly difficult word.
So when the hybrid hesitated before nodding, a clear sign that they understood him, Wilbur wasn't very shocked.
He noticed how much the hybrid was shaking, tears still not leaving their eyes, so without really thinking of the repercussion he proposed to them something.
"Do you want me to read you a story?"
Wilbur waited a few seconds before the other child nodded slowly at him. He smiled happily and went out of the room quickly to take his favourite book waiting on his night-stand.
He then went back into the room, this time coming completely inside and even closing the door behind him, he knew that he still had to let the hybrid get used to him at a slow pace to not upset them, so he simply sat down against the wall facing the bed, facing the child then.
When he opened the book, before even looking at the first sentence, he looked at the hybrid dead in the eyes and declared, "I can't read really well, so don't make fun of me if I make a mistake!"
He took a deep breath to prepare himself to read, but before he even read out loud the first sentence, a small shaky and rough voice cut him off, "I can't... Read."
Wilbur turned towards the hybrid with big round eyes before laughing out of shock and suddenly exclaiming very excitingly: "I will teach you then!"
The hybrid looked at him with curiosity and with a bit of anxiety nodded softly his head.
The next day, Philza found his son sleeping against the wall, the book in his hand as if he fell asleep mid-sentence, the hybrid a few meters away sleeping deeper than he ever saw them.
After a few weeks, the name Technoblade was chosen for them, with their consent.
Around the same time Technoblade said that he preferred he/him pronouns.
Finally, after a few months, he was known as the adopted son of the legend of Philza Minecraft.
Everything still wasn't as easy as it seemed, sometimes Techno had nightmares, other times he would lock himself in his bedroom and didn't want to speak to anybody nor see anybody, sometimes Wilbur and Techno would argue, even fight which lead to Phil having to pull them out of each other.
Sometimes people would stare at his sons, precisely Techno because of his piglin genes, but at moments when these people would get too brave to the point that they would start to comment out loud opinions that weren't asked, Phil would go talk to them privately and would come back to his sons with red fists, the content of these discussions were secrets between him and his sons only.
The blond father was still very tired to take care of his two young kids that had trouble to fall asleep because of their high energy, screaming and crying for every single little thing that went wrong, or that simply played game that ended with someone crying, screaming again or something broken, but if all of these things meant that his sons were comfortable, safe and happy, then that means that he would let them keep going as long as they wanted.
Philza, the legend respected by all, had then a new daily routine around his two sons.
He couldn't see his love but her crows stayed behind him at all times, and these ones loved his sons as much as he did.
Sometimes he would see Wilbur run after them while laughing, the crows slowing down at the last moment to let themselves get catch by the kid, knowing that he wouldn't do anything to hurt them, and sometimes he would see Techno resting in the grass with crows sleeping around or on him.
Everything was once again safe, peaceful and comfortable. Everything that he always wanted. The feeling of death gone, even if the feeling of his sons being mortal was staying but Phil made everything to ignore it.
Then came the day where his crows were as loud as the time when they got sent by Death for his son.
He was simply cooking dinner for his sons that were having fun outside in the garden, both of them just got seven years old, or at least Wilbur had but not knowing Techno birthday, both of them decided, or forced their dad to accept the fact that their birthday was now share like twins. Philza knowing that if anything happened he could hear it, or the crows could get him, let them play alone for a few minutes, the only rules were to not get out of the propriety, to not talk to stranger and get him if anybody was here, and get back inside if the sun was starting to set.
The calm of making dinner got abruptly cut when he heard his sons scream while running towards the house, or more precisely Wilbur screaming while running towards the house with Techno was following him much more calmly but still running.
"Dad! Look at the crows!"
Phil let go of the utensil in his hand before running to his kids that stopped at the doorstep, the first thing that he did was to observe them from head to toes, making sure that they weren't hurt, but quickly Techno catch one of his sleeves and pointed towards the outside.
Phil turned around and his eyes went wide when he saw a cloud of crows flying towards them, he heard their scream from far away before they even reached him, all of them screaming urgently that something was wrong and that he had to come help.
He turned back to his sons, took them by their shoulders and with a serious voice while looking at them both said: "Both of you stay inside the house. You're not allowed to get out before I come back. If anything happens, Techno you take the sword and both of you hide in the closet of my bedroom silently. Understood?" they nodded in response, their bodies tensed and their eyes anxious.
Phil took his sword, kissed their foreheads and got out of the house, quickly letting his wings spread out before flying towards the place indicated.
He flew a few minutes, listening to the instructions of the crows but mainly just following the ones in front of him, because no proper sentence could be heard among all of the noise that they made by panicking together, and even when he caught some sentences, these ones didn't make a lot of sense or weren't helpful to understand fully the situation.
When he finally arrived at the place, he was surprised to not found any soldiers or enemies or even anything dangerous but a newborn curled in some blanket against a tree, as if he was purposely put at this place.
The second thing that surprised him was that the blanket was the exact same Wilbur was put in when he saw him for the first time.
Was it the doing of his loved one? He didn't know, the crows didn't either, but the noises of these ones woke up the baby, this one didn't wait another second before screaming and crying as loud as a newborn was able to.
Phil winced at the sound and hurried to shushed the crows before picking up the baby in his arms.
Him who thought that Wilbur was little and weak when he saw him for the first time he was shocked to observe that this baby was even smaller and seemed even weaker, but instead of having brown curl like Wilbur he had blond ones, as blond as his.
He tighten his grip and slowly rocked him in his arms to calm the cries, all of that while starting to walk back towards the house, relief to say later on to his sons that nothing dangerous happened.
And again, the Minecraft family got bigger once again.
That evening, when he came back home, sitting down on his sofa to explain the situation, Wilbur and Techno met what would soon be their little brother, looking at him with fascination and curiosity.
At the beginning Wilbur was the most excited of the entire family, pressed to teach him all of his knowledge and bringing him everywhere, Techno was filled with anxiety about the future loud noises and mess that the baby would do, but even through his complains his father could see how much he already cared for him and wanted to protect him, then Phil, well he was already tired of all of his future nights that would be spend taking care of his now three sons.
Wilbur gave him the name of Thomas, Techno gave him Theseus and Phil gave him, this time as his real legal name, Tom, aka Tommy, Minecraft.
Their family was complete, without mother next to them but the crows helped to make it easier, helped to pass the love that she wanted to give them. So, sometimes, if the kids felt a wave of wind caress their hair with a feeling of softness and affection, then it was something only for them to know.
Time passed calmly and slowly, around tricks from the kids and a routine definitely filled.
Wilbur brought to the family such a big imagination that you could found in his acting, such as the time when he disguised Tommy as a pirate even if he couldn't even properly walk yet, and he went to cut all of the sheet to glue them to the wall as if it would make his bed a pirate ship.
All of the time when Tommy ate what he couldn't, it could be cable, furnitures, part of the walls or even just part of the members of his family, without obviously missing rocks, grass, even mud.
Technoblade was a little more calm but when he had a mischievous plan in the head, you can be sure that it would last more than a few minutes to get everything back to normal, such as the time when he was a bit to anxious to go to the market with his father, and too anxious to asked him if he could buy him the jewellery that he wanted, so instead, he started to simply pickpocket all of the golden jewellery that he could see on people crossing them. Philza took days to get back all of the jewellery to the right owner and apologize properly.
In the end, they were some up and down but Phil never had a better achievement than his family.
Then one day, the bad parts of living next to a village fell on them abruptly. They didn't live right next to it but close enough to get the consequence of a raid fall on them.
Phil took down as many enemies as he could, but as soon as he observed the end of the raid, he decided to not let anything like this happen again, so he took what they needed, grabbing most of the bags, and took off to found a new home within the next day, by his side were his two sons with their bags on their back and his youngest in his arms with his legs around his chest and his arms around his neck.
His sons didn't want to got at first, but after a discussion with their dad they later on understood the importance of a safe place, so the importance of leaving their old home.
The village also didn't have any people in it any more, all of them being slaughtered by the raid, an other reason to leave the place by the lack of resources.
The walk to a new place to live was far, full of complains and even cry sometimes from his sons, at some moments Phil himself started to become frustrated and an argument of a few minutes would last.
Nonetheless the father made sure to protect his family, making only a few nap himself of an hour or two during the afternoon’s breaks, he would stay awake during nigh time to make sure that no mobs would attack them, ignoring the proposition of Technoblade to join him.
Tommy was the one who was watch the most, principally because of his young age, after all he only had four years old, going to his five years old.
If Tommy wasn't held by his dad during the walk he would be behind, slowly walking, his hand in the one of his big brother, most of the time Technoblade because he was the most patient out of the twins.
Finally, after three all days of walk, they stopped next to a small river that looked like it was coming straight out of a fantasy book.
While Wilbur and Tommy had fun, their feet in the water, Techno a little bit behind watching them while collecting rocks, Phil took advantage of that to go look around, making sure that no danger could fall on them or if anything could be useful.
He warned his sons of what he was going to do, making them know that if anything happened they could scream and he would hear them, and that even if he couldn't hear them, the crows were still around and wouldn't even take one second to go warn him.
After approximately five minutes of walk, he was surprised to actually found something, and not a little something but a few houses, not enough to be a village, only a few simple houses built by people like him and his sons, but still something.
He decided to go make an approach.
By getting closer he found someone bending down on a crafting table, seeming like he was a bit too focus on his crafting to see Phil coming to him.
His back was facing him, but this one didn't have a hard time to observe the sword at the stranger's belt, but also his height much taller than Phil's and his body looking fit enough for the stranger to be strong.
After making sure that Phil himself had a weapon on him, better safe than sorry, he stopped himself around five meters behind the stranger before clearing his throat, making the stranger violently flinch and turn around, getting his sword out and pointing it at Phil out of instinct.
The angel raised an eyebrow, a little bit impressed by the quickness but mainly intrigued by the porcelain white mask with a black simplistic smile on it facing him. Scary.
Phil showed his hands and let out his friendliness smile to the stranger.
"Hiya mate! Sorry about that, didn't mean to freak you out."
The stranger seemed like he was staring at him from head to toe, probably to make sure that he wasn't a threat. Finally, he put down his sword but kept it in one of his hand, after all even if Phil seemed friendly he still had huge black wings that could make anyone a little bit worried of the meanings behind them.
"Who are you? I have never seen you around."
Philza stopped his smile to fall under the rudeness of his sentence, not even a greeting coming from the stranger, but after all in this situation he could understand him, he decided to tell the truth but without risking anything for his sons.
"I'm Philza. I'm searching for a comfortable and safe place to live, the last one got raided. Do you know somewhere good that might not be too far? It's been three days that I'm walking, I’m quite tired."
The stranger seemed to not see him as any threat any more because he put back the sword at it's place and his shoulders relaxed slightly. Even if his voice was cold and serious beforehand, when he talked to him again his voice seemed more enjoyable and friendly.
"Oh, well you're in the perfect place I would say. My friends and I found this place, resources, water nearby, beautiful landscape and there even is a village ten minutes or so away, so not too far and not close enough for any raid to affect us. We're just a few friends having fun, but we were kinda thinking to extend a bit by inviting new people here. So you really came at the perfect moment!"
Phil became a little more protective when he heard that he wasn't alone, it was obvious based on the number of houses but nonetheless, the fact that this place was filled with a group of friends didn't made him trust the situation that much.
He still couldn't say that this stranger was wrong when it came with the comments about the place, it had many beautiful trees, multiple rivers, some entry to cave even seemed interesting and the landscape in general seemed calming.
Philza, with a serious face, turned properly to the stranger.
"I will think about it, but for now I will just set myself next to a river not that far from there. Let's say that I come back tomorrow morning and tell you my answer?"
The stranger nodded along before getting closer of one step. "Before you go. It's just... I heard your name and by the fact that you're travelling... Are you the Philza?"
Philza straighten himself when he understood what he meant by that.
"Oh! Have you heard about me maybe? Yeah, I'm Philza Minecraft."
The green hoodie man suddenly bounced for a quick second out of excitement before muttering a few words around the fact that he couldn't believe who was in front of him.
"Oh my god, I heard so much about you! I even travelled a few years ago to visit your old buildings that stayed through the years. You're a legend man! But... Wait... Didn't you like, died like centuries ago?"
Philza started to laugh by the enthusiasm and the face of confusion, before taking a few steps back to go back to his sons, before he completely walked away he simply answered: "Yep! I'm also the Angel of Death, anyway see you tomorrow mate!"
He heard a squeak of surprise and a loud "Wait, what?!" before walking away.
On the way back he kept laughing, reminded of the confusion and surprised of the stranger, who still didn't even introduce himself yet, but it didn't stop Phil from starting to appreciate him at least a tad.
At first his seriousness reminded him of Techno, always trying to remain calm and to be in the defensive out of care, but then when he admitted that they wanted to expand their land that reminded him of Wilbur, his son being a nerd of History and nations, and finally what reminded him of his youngest was his excitement that couldn't even be hidden even if he wanted to.
After a serious conversation with his sons, and later on with Dream, learning his name the next morning when they met again, but mainly after a lot of reflection, he decided to stay but not completely stay where Dream and his friends stayed, he decided to stay right where they took their break, next to the river. Staying close enough to the population but far enough to see the possible future issues that could come up later on.
After announcing his decision to Dream, the youngest out of the two proposed to help him built his next house with his friends, proposition that got accepted because of the exhaustion that he felt after so much travel.
When Dream and three of his friends, called Sapnap, Sam and Callahan, came on the land, Technoblade and Philza were waiting for them.
Philza introduced them all to his son, getting two really different questions at the same time asked to him;
"Wait, you're not alone?" From Dream.
"Oh my god, THE Philza Minecraft is a daddy?!" From Sapnap, which surprisingly or not, Phil couldn't figured if he really liked him or not based on these type of things that got out of his mouth on a regular basis.
Tommy was apparently asleep a little away in a small plain that they found a few hours before, the small child so tired from running around that he just fell asleep in the grass. Wilbur was watching over him but sometimes would take a break to go say hello and joke around with the new people helping his father, making sure that everything was doing alright.
Philza became positively surprised to see that the base of the house was finished before Tommy could even wake up.
The four friends went back home when they saw the sun ready to set, promising to come back from time to time to see if they could help again or just to hang out.
Philza finished the construction by himself quickly after.
His children loved the place even if Technoblade had trouble with the people living in it, needing time to get used to them, but he still kept a small smile when it came to the nature of the place. On the other hand Wilbur was in paradise, speaking about each parts of the place as some land that was waiting to be cared by the Craft, not even caring about the others, and then Tommy simply loved the place with his all being mainly because he had more people to trick and annoy everyday.
Philza himself loved the place because of how peaceful it seemed, peaceful enough to spend his family life in it or at least most of it, but still not too peaceful to the point of it getting boring.
Philza particularly liked talking to BadBoyHalo, a demon that was also immortal, someone that could share the issue of being an immortal being around mortals, a destiny of pain and sacrifices.
He also liked the presence of Dream, his bravery reminding him of his own when he was once a mortal, but it didn't help that the masked man was often busy, making their times together rare.
It's after a few months since their arrival that Dream decided to visit the family again, it was the first time that he came back at the place since the house was built, being too busy before by taking care of their community, he also didn’t see the point to it by having the opportunity to see Philza from time to time when he came to his place to hang out or when he came across to go to the village a little farther from there.
Dream actually wanted to see how the house came to be, but also wanted to properly meet his sons, after all he heard about a third one that he never saw, either because he was asleep or busy doing something else.
So, on an afternoon without clouds in the sky, he came to the house, Phil invited him inside and showed him around, telling him that his sons were outside, apparently trying to catch bugs even if the youngest was apparently scared of them.
The entire moment was calm and peaceful, they sat down on the sofa of the living room, Phil serving himself tea while Dream had a cup of coffee.
After a small silence, a few minutes since he arrived, Dream decided to question the father about the mysterious youngest of the house: “So, there is Wilbur and Techno, the not so biological twins, but then there is the little one… What’s his name again?”
Phil seemed to smile before taking a sip of his mug, then let out a sight.
“Tom, but everyone call him Tommy. He is the real little brat of this family, a real demon.”
“I mean, aren’t all kids just demons in the form of brats?”
Phil simply shook in head in response. “Not really, see Techno, he was always really easy to follow and guide, he listens and thinks logically most of the time, Wilbur is much harder to follow by simply choosing to listen to his chaotic ideas but if he sees that you’re serious, he will ended listening to you without making too much of a fuss over it. Tommy on the other hand… He is simply never listening, always running around and doing the last thing that you could think of.”
Dream smied slightly and, intrigued, added: “Such as?”
“Oh well, such as eating mud, bringing me three racoons and dressing them with stolen outfits of his family members, also biting ankles, replacing coins with rocks, paying people with flowers, stealing dogs from people” He stopped himself from continuing when Dream cut him off by laughing out loud, Philza accompanying him right after.
But then the masked man turned towards the window when he heard loud voices of children. “Well, look who is coming.”
Philza stood up while putting back his mug on the table, a little smile resting on his face “Isn’t it the first time that you’re meeting Tommy?” Dream answered him by nodding. “Well, by the screech that I just heard, I can tell you that you’re finally gonna meet the entire family.” As soon as he finished his sentence, the front door could be heard being opened quickly and violently.
A few quick steps could be heard before a scream drowned all of the noise of the house in one moment “I’m not playing with you any more!” and right after the front door could be heard being slam shut.
Phil sighted and while sending an apologetic smile to Dream, answered the scream by a loud reprimand “Tommy stop slamming the door! One day you’re going to break it!”
A small apology could be heard before quick footsteps started to get closer and closer until the door of the living room opened to reveal a small five years old, blond curls falling slightly in front of his eyes, some with leaves in them, he also had dirt on his outfits and two of his front teeth were missing, he held a big smile that made his light blue eyes sparkles with joy.
He kept his fists closed together against his chest before walking a bit closer to his dad. “Look what I found!”
His dad winced in advance, already thinking the worse, so he stayed where he was without even daring to get too close. “Whatever you found, please don’t let it free in the house.”
Tommy nodded happily before opening his hands slowly, letting his dad observe a small beetle, he let out a breath out of relief to not found any spiders or worse, a mouse.
Eventually, Dream cleared his throat to let himself know to the small child, this one so focused on his father that he didn’t notice the stranger.
Tommy turned in a flinch towards the man and as soon as he faced him, turned his eyes on the simplistic ones drawn on the mask.
The soft smile that Phil kept on his face since Dream’s arrival suddenly disappeared when their eyes locked, his breath caught in his throat and his entire body suddenly felt like it got dipped in frozen water or like a fragile vase crashed violently against a wall.
His body froze while every nerves started to hurts as if a thousand needles were twisting in them, his muscles tensed so hard that they felt like they were becoming one with his bones, his skull was like a hammer banged against it and every broken fragment of it stabbed his brain.
The pain was so abrupt and so violent that he couldn’t stop before falling hardly on his knees and gasping for air.
The last time he felt a pain like that was when he had to take the soul of a dying man that got tortured for days. So painful that death seemed like such a nice rest compared to it.
Still, behind the pain, he could recognized that familiar haunting cold feeling in his veins. The one of a dying mortal.
As soon as his brain caught on the feeling, he turned his panic eyes towards his son that was already by his side, looking at him worryingly and calling for him. Phil suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders and observe every inch of his body to see if he was hurt in any type of way, but not a single injury could be noticed.
When his brain understood that his son, his youngest, was safe, he carefully embraced him, his grip tight on his small body but not suffocating, simply keeping him safe against his chest.
He then looked around, he felt for sure this feeling coming from his son, or at least from the same room that he was in, but nobody was in pain or hurt, it also was already starting to fade, so what could be the reason of it?
His eyes turned towards Dream, and a different freezing feeling came to him, not the one of death but the one of realization.
Nobody was dying, yet.
But the feeling was the one of a future painful death, the one that comes when the two actors of the death meet each other, the victim and the murderer.
The feeling came when Tommy and Dream faced each other for the first time.
Philza tighten his grip around his son without turning his stare away from Dream.
The man was closer as previously and his body a little bit twisted towards them from most likely worry due to the previous event, but when his eyes met the cold and protective ones of the father he couldn’t stop himself from taking a step back.
The small voice of the child finally could be heard, “Are you okay dad?” the question helped him come back to himself, his body still tensed and a pain staying inside him, he turned his face towards his son that was still against his chest, looking at him with tearful blue eyes, his lips in a little pout and his expression one of pure of worry.
Philza softly put a hand on the back of his son’s head, caressing his hair in such a protective and delicate way that anybody could understand how much he meant to him by this simple gesture. Tommy pressed his hand gently towards the hand, wishing to get even closer from this affection so needed.
Phil finally answered him in a whisper, so quietly so that he could understand that it was only for him. “I’m okay. You’re okay… And you will be okay.”
Tommy nodded while looking at him in the eyes and whispered in the same way, “I’m okay dad.” Even if Phil already knew that, hearing it still made his body relaxed a bit of relief.
Phil saw in the corner of his eyes Dream taking a step towards them, at this movement he kept his guard up but also his attention towards his son, he said a bit louder “Why don’t you go back to your brothers? I’m alright now but I need to take care of something.”
Tommy pouted this time more in a frustrated way than in a worry way. He got a bit away from his father’s arms, which broke a protective part of his heart even if it was what he asked for.
“I don’t want to. I want to stay with you.” He turned towards Dream, which made Phil experienced an other wave of pain, this time smaller but still so painful, how could someone be in such horrible pain? Tommy continued his sentence, this time the next one filled with his innocent curiosity around the stranger “And I want to play with him.”
Phil looked at him in such a serious way that even Dream felt tense, he quickly answered Tommy’s wants. “No. Tom go play with your bothers and no matter what, stay with them.”
Tommy, understanding how serious his father was, pouted but gave him a quick hug before taking back in his hands the beetle that flee a few meters away from them, he muttered some complain before waving at his dad while showing his well known smile, “See you later dad!” He turned towards Dream that did a small wave at him, he scrunch his nose and looked at him with some disgust in his eyes “You’re scary.” and then as quick as he came, Tommy ran away with quick footsteps and slammed the door behind him when he got out.
Phil breath a sight of relief when the feeling started to fade away, but all of this got cut off by the hesitant voice of the masked man.
“Are you alright Philza?”
The oldest of the two, silently stood up again, retracting a wince from his knees in pain from falling earlier. He then proceeded to go sit back down on the sofa, and stared at the now cold tea.
Without letting any specific emotion get to his face, he turned towards Dream, noticing that he finished his drink. “More coffee?”
Dream let out a little confused noise but after a few stutter slowly nodded before properly sitting down next to him, a little more tensed as previously.
Phil stood up again, took the coffee and turned around Dream before filling up the cup in a tense silence.
When he finished, he stood up again, put everything on the table, his hands now empty, and put his right one on the right shoulder of Dream.
He took a deep breath in and in a really calm voice, closing his eyes to remain calm, started to speak to him: “You know, I sacrificed so much to have the family that I have today. I encountered so many challenge so that my sons could be safe and live as they would like.”
Dream turned his head towards him and nodded slowly, “I can believe it, I can see how much you love your sons.”
Phil opened his eyes, this time they were cold and furious, his eyes have never shared such an intense feeling before, Dream tensed out of fear as soon as he met them.
“Do you really understand? Do you understand that I wouldn't let anything happen to them? They are my love, my bravery, my strength, they are my everything Dream.” His grip on his shoulder tighten, making Dream wince a little. “They might be mortals, but I will not let them die before me.”
Dream stuttered a bit before saying in a much more weak voice, “I don’t think I understand where you are going with this?”
Phil looked at him silently for a few seconds before slowly explaining. “I already forced destiny to bend over my wish Dream, if I have to do it again for my sons to be happy and living I will do it. If you dare lay a single finger on their hair, I will make you live a life and a death of pain.”
Dream didn’t understand what he meant, but he didn’t need to know now, as long as he knew that later on, when the time came, that’s what mattered.
After that moment the masked green man got politely kicked out of the house, Phil stayed sat on his sofa, exhausted of all of these events.
He stayed like this until his sons came back home, Tommy even more covered in dirt as previously, Techno glasses broken because he decided to fight Wilbur who had his hair full of knot, accompanied with a few scratches here and there.
Wilbur and Techno looked at their father with concern in their eyes as soon as they saw him, understanding straight away that something was wrong, but Phil ignored them to open his arms, these ones being filled with the youngest as soon as he saw the invitation.
The next minutes where spent with Tommy clung to his father, showing to him all of the rocks and bugs that he found, Phil honestly couldn’t even care less of the bugs crawling away on the table of the living room, as long as his youngest was safe and sound on his knees, his arms around him and his face in his blond curls, everything was alright.
He continued telling himself again and again that he wouldn’t let anybody make him suffer the pain that he felt earlier.
Techno and Wilbur sat besides them, both of them resting against their father to give him support, they didn’t know why but it didn’t matter that much because they where always here anyway to be there for each other.
Phil turned his eyes towards both of them, one after the other.
Suddenly he kissed all of their foreheads, getting a grunt from all of them but he just smiled softly.
His family was safe and that is the only thing that ever mattered.