Chapter Text
Techno was supposed to be sleeping.
It wasn’t his turn to stay up on watch – one person was always awake, not counting Dream, and it was Phil’s turn – but he couldn’t fall asleep, no matter how tired he felt. He could hear the varied breathing of the others in the room and thought he wasn’t the only one that was struggling. The irony seemed to be that the only one sleeping with relative peace was Dream. Relative meaning he wasn’t tossing and turning, wracked by nightmares, though his fingers twitched and his breathing was shallow, sweat beading on his forehead.
Techno envied him, in a way. He knew where that peace – as fragile and delicate as it was – came from. It was the sort of peace you felt when you realized that you had people you could rely on, people who would be there for you. There was a time he had made that discovery for himself. A low snort escaped Techno, thinking about how he had said the same to Dream, not that long ago, and Dream had merely looked at him with a sort of confused disbelief.
He’d have to rub it in later, if he got the chance. (He really hoped that he got the chance.)
Red light flickered on and Phil was out of his seat, moving across the room, before Techno could even react. A line of torches, all marked with different areas was set on the windowsill near the door, forcing the window to be propped open slightly to accommodate the red stone wiring. Through the partially opened window, small drops of rain blew in. Phil checked which torch had been lit before extinguishing the red stone and moving to Techno’s side.
“The alarm near the south portal went off, mate,” he said, voice low. “Means we got about fifteen minutes or so before they show up. Probably should wake that one, first.”
He inclined his head towards Dream.
“Just to give him more time to calm down.”
Sucking a breath in between his teeth, Techno nodded.
“Yeah, this is really not a good time for a panic attack,” he said. Lightly, Techno touched Dream’s shoulder and felt a pang of regret when the man didn’t wake up immediately. He was tired, had barely slept, and now Techno had to ruin it. He gave Dream’s shoulder a shake. This time his eyes flew open and he brought his arms up in front of him, trying to push Techno away. “It’s me, Dream, it’s me.”
“T-Techno?”
“No, Dream, it’s the tooth fairy,” said Techno, uneasy and feigned laughter in his voice. “Yeah, it’s me. I’m really sorry, man, but I need you to get up.”
The confused, sleepy look on his face vanished, replaced with resignation and fear, and Dream sat up.
“What’s wrong? Are they—” He couldn’t get the question out, teeth chattering as if it was cold, despite the fire in the hearth.
“More than likely, mate. Someone tripped the alarm and in the dead of night? I highly fucking doubt it’s friendly.”
“Yeah, okay,” said Dream, staring towards the door.
There had been no effort to keep their voices low and both Ranboo and Niki were up and moving, expressions grim. What was going on didn’t need to be explained. They knew. Ranboo unfolded from where he had curled up in an effort to sleep and rested a hand briefly on Dream’s shoulder.
“So—I’m guessing it’s bad news, huh,” he said.
“When is it not?” asked Phil, not actually a question, merely grumbling as he removed his armor and weapons from the ender chest.
Techno slapped Ranboo on the back. Another alarm had been tripped, red light pouring into the room from the red stone torch. In that dim light, with the flickering fire, the pigman looked like some monstrous being, bathed in blood. Then he smiled and he looked like Techno, crooked glasses and all.
“Look at the bright side, Ranboo,” he said, “at least this time we have a little more warnin’.”
The cabin looked peaceful, unassuming, and Bad thought it could have been a picture on a postcard, that he could’ve walked inside to a crackling fire and a cup of hot coco, even with the light rain falling. He tightened his grip on his sword and swallowed. He wanted a cup of hot coco. That would be a much better scenario for him, instead of sneaking up on one of the most fearsome people on this server. Only an absolute muffin head would think this was a good idea.
Bad’s eyes flicked towards Sam. The warden trudged across the soggy yard with a singular determination that made Bad nervous. Nervous and then confused because he was doing his job, coming to recapture an escaped prisoner, a dangerous lunatic who could cause all sorts of damage but—
But he remembered Dream screaming and he remembered, after, the way he would be as silent as the dead, shaking and staring into the distance at something that didn’t exist, and he wasn’t so certain this was a job he wanted to do anymore.
“Ant, go around back,” Sam snapped.
In the half moon light, Bad could see the nervous way Ant’s tail twitched back and forth and he was about to suggest that he go with him but Sam gave a sharp wave of his hand.
“Go with him, Punz.”
“Yeah, got it,” said the mercenary and the two disappeared around the side of the cabin, Ant looking back over his shoulder and Punz walking with the same sort of determination as Sam.
“Let’s go,” Sam said.
For a moment, Bad felt like his legs were weighted down, that he couldn’t move an inch.
“Bad!” His name was a low hiss, the anger seeping out of Sam’s voice, cold and sharp. “Now.”
“I’m coming,” he said and wished he hadn’t said anything.