Chapter Text
The wind whistled as it danced through the snowy plains of the tundra. The cold had overtaken much of the land, including a collection of trees tucked into the hills. Inside this forest laid a cottage. Well loved, and noticeably so by the engravings on certain places and the photo frames gathering dust, hanging above worn out handmade furniture. No smoke drifted from the unlit fireplace, all morsels of food having rotted to dust or been eaten by the local wildlife. Gardens to the back of the cottage were left untended, weeds overgrowing the wooden beds. A barn, with no livestock in sight, stuffed with nothing but cobwebs and ice.
Despite the isolation of the place, the silence that sat heavily around it, it was still... cozy. At least, to the inhabitants who had long since been unable to feel the cold, the pains of hunger. Loneliness did not affect them either, as they had each other, as they always had. At this very moment, however, the comfort of their humble home was being disturbed. By birds.
"Seriously, why is it that your crows of all things had to be immortal?" A deep grown came from the figure draped over a musty couch, arm thrown dramatically over his face. Outside, the crows were squabbling and making a lot of noise over a worm they had miraculously found. An awful lot of noise that Technoblade did not appreciate. "Can't you tell 'em to shut up? I was havin' a good nap." Laughter erupts from near the window.
"Techno, we physically can't sleep."
"Phil, it's the thought that counts." Another loud bout of laughter emerges from his age old friend, and a soft smile graces his own lips.
"Fine, fine, you big baby. I'll ask them to quiet down since you ever so badly need your beauty sleep." His only response to the teasing is a soft huff as he watches Phil go outside. Moments later, he can tell that Phil in fact did not tell the crows to shut up, instead joining them in their noise-making. A deep sigh rose from his chest, and he stood with a soft rumble.
He made his way to the doorframe, lacking a door as it had long since fallen to the ground. As much as Technoblade would like to fix the cottage and continue to tend to his garden, it took a lot of effort for either of them to become tangible enough to physically move things. A lot of effort that had once scared the daylights out of them both, seeing Phil fade to almost nothing in his exhaustion. Worry filled the two that too much effort may mean that they disappear entirely. So no, it hadn't really become a habit of theirs to fix their ever-crumbling home.
Luckily, touching things took no effort at all, only moving things. So Techno could happily lie on his furniture or, as he was now, lean against the door frame.
"What's up? I thought it was just a worm?" His eyebrow arched slightly. There would be no reason for Phil to be excited over a simple worm.
"It's not a worm! It's a bandana!" Phil proudly showed off a bright red bandana, merely frozen in a twisted shape. "These birdbrains just can't tell the difference! I wonder where it came from? They said it was near here-" As a million speculations fell from his friends mouth, all Technoblade could think was that the bandana meant people. And last time Phil and himself had attempted to talk to living, breathing people, they had attempted some scuffed exorcism and called the pair 'demons'. It was fair enough, ghosts were unheard of. That didn't mean Techno was any less cautious.
"It means there's people nearby. Which means possible danger Phil." Phil's face fell, and he let out a heavy sigh.
"It's been almost two centuries since the last lot, Tech. Maybe they're different? Just let me 'n the crows have a fly about, yeah?" It was his turn to sigh. He understood, though didn't share his feelings. Phil missed people. He was a social guy who liked to talk to others. Many would have missed the small, tentative nod of his head. The way Phil brightened up showed he caught it, though. In mere seconds the man was spreading massive wings, taking to the skies with a cloud of crows following in his wake.
As much as Techno hoped they didn't find anybody, he also held the hope that they would. For Phil's sake. As he had that thought, he wandered back inside to return to pretending he was able to sleep on the couch. It wasn't like much could hurt a ghost, anyway.
--*--
The sky was starting to darken when he heard the tell-tale caws of the returning group of crows. Moments later, there was a soft thud as Phil landed on their porch.
"Welcome home. Did ya find anyone?" Techno heard a heavy sigh from the doorway, before hearing the "poof!" of Phil collapsing on his favourite arm chair.
"Unfortunately no, but we did find a camp. Day or two old, signs of a tent and a small fire. Amateurs, probably don't know where they're going." Techno could hear the traces of concern in his voice. He had always cared too much about people he had no obligation to care for.
"Any footprints? I'm pretty sure there's a village a day or two to the west."
"No, a little snowfall had covered those up by then." Technoblade just hums as Phil places the red cloth onto the small table in the center of the room and begins to preen his feathers. "I'm just worried, Tech. The area they cleared for a tent was tiny. I doubt it was warm and there is definitely a blizzard on it's way." The winged man always had a knack for telling those things. "I don't want to feel like we, like we could have helped them then find bodies some time in the next week." A deep sigh left the piglin.
"I'll light the fireplace. If they see the smoke they might come take shelter." Phil's grateful smile was all he needed as he kneeled in front of the firewood, left there from an age ago. "It might be too wet though, guess we'll find out." He reached for the flint and steel placed beside it, and grabbed it. It didn't really feel any different to just grabbing an object, but afterwards he might feel like he just lifted thrice his weight. He had to strike it three times before a small flame burst into life. Placing down the flint and steel, he wandered back over to the couch and proceeded to flop unceremoniously on it, drawing a chuckle out of Phil.
"Thanks mate."
"We can keep it goin for the next couple'a days, but I don't feel like choppin more wood after that." He flexed his hands with a stare, seeing his skin faded slightly more than usual at the fingertips. A small laugh came from the arm chair.
"Yeah, neither do I. Really, the only thing we can do is offer them a bit of shelter. 'S not like we have a surplus of supplies here." Techno snorted softly, a soft noise of agreement following. For now, they would have to sit and wait, see what happens. Who turns up. If anyone.
Off in the distance, a little raccoon stared out the entrance of the cave they had taken shelter in for the night, watching the sky. Somebody had seen their smoke.
--*--
His ears twitched as his eyes immediately locked onto something different. A plume of smoke. As the sky continued to darken, he knew they wouldn't be able to see it for much longer. He practically vibrated in excitement, turning to the older man in the cave with him, eyes sparkling. "Wilbur! Wil! Wilbur!" The brunette turned away from laying out their bedrolls to look at the child, who was now standing with his tail wagging wildly.
"What is it Toms?" The boy pointed at the sky in the distance, where Wilbur could just make out-
"SMOKE! That means a house! With people!" Wilbur's own excitement grew, but faded quickly. They were going to lose sight of it- They needed to pack up their things before they lost it- Tommy had already started. "Come ooonnnnn Wilbur! Before it gets too dark!"
"We can't! It'll turn night while we're searching! It's too dangerous, we'll head that way tomorrow-"
"Wiiiilllllbbbuuuuuuuuuuuuurrr! Stop being a MASSIVE pussy and let's go! They might have food!" Tommy had already hauled his pack onto his back and started shoving Wilbur's items back into his.
"Tommy it's-It's too dangerous! It will have to wait-"
"Wait my ass! I'm going, with or without you!" Wilbur sighed. That was that, apparently, as he wasn't going to let Tommy run around in the forest by himself; especially not at night.
"Fine! Fine! Keep an eye on it while I pack up, remember which direction it's in!" He hurries to pack his bag as the boy runs to the entrance, keen eyes trained on the smoke in the distance. He was already calculating how long it might take them, but he couldn't be sure how far away it is. They could be travelling all night yet. "Okay! Let's go! Quickly, we don't want to spend too long out without a fire." Wil brushed past him to chase the smoke, both boys setting off at a brisk walk. Hopefully, they would make it before it got so dark they couldn't see.
Hopefully whoever they were travelling toward would take them in, even just for the night.