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It was a cold morning.
Techno’s breath was forming little clouds in front of his face and the fresh snow silenced his steps. The silence. He loved the silence. That's why he decided to settle down here. It was a silence only an early tundra morning could provide. Broken solely by the tender song of a little bird.
He took a deep breath. The air was clear. He had to enjoy this moment while it lasts. He the chaos would come back to him. He was sure of it. It always did.
Phil had still been asleep, when he left. Techno had left without even feeding the hounds. He hadn’t wanted them to be loud and wake Phil up. The man deserved to sleep a little longer and he would’ve probably scolded Techno for doing chores at unholy hours in the morning. So, when Techno had woken up a few hours before sunrise, he’d decided to go chop down some trees and enjoy the peace and quite of the morning by himself. They were short on wood anyways.
He already knew what awaited him when he came back home. Wolfs barking, bees bussing, crows cawing for attention and Phil sulking over his breakfast, because “It’s way too early to deal with these little shits, mate.” And then they would end up doing the chores together as always.
He chuckled at the thought of it.
He was walking in the snow with his axe over the shoulder searching for a good spot to start, where some trees wouldn’t be missed too much.
He let his mind wander and was just about to whistle back to the singing bird, when suddenly someone popped up next to him.
“Hello!”
Techno nearly jumped at the sight of Dream dangling upside down from the tree in front of him.
“Dude, what are you doin’ here?” He eyed the tree. “Were you sleeping up there?”
Dream rolled his eyes. “Of course not. I don’t sleep.”
“Fair. I imagen it being a little hard without a bed.”
“I have a bed! What are you talking about?” He jumped out of the tree.
“Where? Up there?”
“Dude, I have a house! I’m not homeless. Stop assuming that.”
“Then stop sleeping on trees.”
“I DIDN’T – You know what, forget it. I’m done with this.”
Techno huffed “Alright. Nice talking to you then. Byeee.” And continued walking.
After a few seconds he heard footsteps catching up to him and Dream reappeared at his side.
“Thought you were done here.”
Dream pouted.
Only then Techno realised that he had taken his mask of.
“I’m here to spend some quality time with my best friend of all time. I’m not leaving so soon.”
Techno raised an eyebrow. “What do you want, Dream?” He stopped to inspect a tree near him. This was a good spot to start.
“What me? Can’t I just want to see you?”
Techno just scoffed at that. He raised his axe and struck down. Once, twice, three times. He was just about to swing a fourth time, when he felt it. Something lurking in the shadows.
His attention shot back to Dream.
He was just standing there. Looking at the ground. His eyes were distant.
“Dream?”
He snapped back from were ever he had been.
“What? Oh.”
He scratched his neck.
“I – I wanted to ask you something.”
Techno eyed him suspiciously. Whatever he had just felt, it was now gone.
“Sure. What is it?”
He turned back to the tree.
“It’s about the scar.”
Snap. The tree fell under the force of Techno’s axe.
The scar on Dreams face. That was the only one he could be talking about. His first real scar. The one stretching over his nose, barely missing his right eye and scratching over the left corner of his mouth. He had it for a long time now.
“Yeah, what about it.”
Dream was nervous. You could see in his foot placement; in the way he clutched his hand. In the insecure smile he gave.
“It’s just – I wanted to ask… how did it get there? I don’t remember.”
“Heh. I know you can’t, but Phil and I've told you a million times already.”
“Yes. I know, but can you tell me again?”
“Alright.” He turned and started to work on the tree he'd just cut down. Keeping his hands busy.
“We were kids.”
Memories of an old house near a forest and the smell of grass being squashed under the feet of two laughing boys raising each other over the fields came up.
“Phil had left to shop at the nearest village.”
Techno had sat on the couch reading a book Phil had given him.
“We went outside to spar.”
He’d been still reading when Dream appeared in the doorway. “Techno?” he’d asked with a shaky voice. “Yeah?” he’d answered. He had looked wrong. “I’m not feeling so great.” Had been the last thing he brought out before hell broke loose.
“We were only allowed to use wooden sword for sparing, but Phil wasn’t there so we stole two of his weapons to try to fight with them.”
The weight in his hand had been unfamiliar at first. He had scrambled for the nearest weapon, when that thing broke out of Dream and attacked him. It had been one of Phil’s swords. One out of Netherite. He’d never fought with a real blade before, but he’d adjusted quickly in the heat of battle.
“It was fun until…",he paused, "the next thing I know is you on the ground with blood on your face and on my sword.”
The monster had looked like a glitched shadow. A Dreamon Phil had called it later. The thing had possessed Dream, taken over his body. But at that moment it had been out. Attacking freely with only one connection point to the boy Techno had hold so dearly.
“It was an accident.”
He’d aimed for that point. He’d struck without mercy to get rid of the monster that was holding Dream hostage. He’d aimed and he’d hit his target, but he’d cut too far. He remembered Dream falling to the ground blood streaming down his face and hearing a horrible otherworldly scream and then everything went to black.
Phil had found them both passed out on the living room floor. No sign of the Dreamon but Phil had believed him. Dream had woken up a day later with no memories of the events that caused him to be scarred for live.
“I’m sorry, Dream.”
He shook his head.
“No, it wasn’t your fault. As you said, we were just kids. Kids make mistakes.”
He smiled at Techno, but it was hollow.
Techno frowned.
“Why did you ask? Have you been feeling off lately?”
There was hesitance and then “No everything is fine. I just wanted to hear the story again.” He lied.
Because it was a lie. Dream was his oldest friend. They’d gone through so much together. They kept each other alive ‘til Phil had found them. The grew up together. They reached immortality together. He once called the man in front of him his brother. But they’d grown apart. Centuries of no contact, of not knowing if the other was still alive or killed in the countless wars they’d fought. And when they were finally reunited, they didn’t know each other anymore. Dream had a new family. Techno had new brothers. Now they were… rivals, friends, old allies, whatever you wanted to call it Techno cared deeply about Dream, and he could tell when things were wrong. So, he instantly knew Dream was lying when he said everything was fine.
“Whatever.” Dream stretched his arms over his head. “I’m gonna go now. Have things to do. See you around, bacon.”
“Only if you finally show me your house, Teletubby.”
All he got in return was a wave and Dream was gone.
Techno sighed.
Something was seriously wrong, he could tell. And if he was right about the feeling, he had earlier it was worse than he ever wanted to admit.
He needed to ask Phil if he was sure the Dreamon couldn’t have returned.
-------
Dream was walking through the snow.
His thoughts were raising.
He didn’t know what to believe. He trusted Techno. He wanted to trust him.
“He’s lying.”
Dream froze.
“He’s lying to you. Just like I told you.”
The dangerous honey like voice whispered to him.
“You can’t trust him. You can’t trust anyone. Anyone but me.”
And Dream caught himself thinking the voice was right.
If someone were to watch him know, they would see a man in a green hoody walking through knee-deep snow an unnaturally curling shadow slowly draining all colour out of him. One eye flickering between a vibrant green and an all-consuming black.