Chapter Text
Four pairs of eyes stared at the potion sitting innocently in the middle of the table.
“I think green is usually a bad sign.” Niki offered, breaking the silence that had sat.
Techno hummed. “Night vision’s also green, but your concern shall be taken into account.”
Niki crossed her arms. “Will it?”
“It has been taken into account and disregarded.” Techno replied easily with a grin.
“If you die, I want your books.” Niki added lightly, almost like she was talking about the weather or a new baking recipe rather than Techno’s mortality.
Techno snorted. “Technoblade never dies, but you know what, sure.”
Phil threw his hands into the air. “Are we doing this or not, we’ve been here for like 10 minutes.”
Techno picked up the potion, a claw lightly rubbing against the words carved into the glass. They were in a language he was fairly sure he had seen and learnt but have since long forgotten. The only words he still recognised were the ones that promised the greatest strength one could possibly have. The syndicate had been holding onto this potion for nearly two months now, trying to figure out what it does to no avail and in the end, Techno was the one who volunteered to try it.
The only saving grace and the reason they were even trying, was that Techno didn’t see the words death, or dying anywhere within the carvings. So hopefully, he wasn’t going to just immediately get sent straight to Kristin. He had the feeling she wouldn’t find it quite as funny.
Well, there was nothing else for it. Techno downed the potion in a gulp and waited.
Ranboo made a sound of protest but covered it quickly. They waited a tick, the usual amount of time it took potions to kick in but there were no sounds of damage being taken. In fact there was nothing happening at all as the silence began to set in.
“Bruuh.” Techno was about to just toss the potion bottle aside, when it slid through his hand, crashing onto the floor.
Everyone stared.
It didn’t slip through his fingers. It fell through his hand. Like, into and out of it.
He looked up and caught Phil’s eyes, staring at him in confusion and concern. He blinked and then he was gone.
Techno was tired. He didn’t remember not being tired to be honest, just like he couldn’t remember not being in pain. That was life for most people in The Pit though. The fighting arena wasn’t kind and had no mercy no matter how old or young you were.
Currently though, his tiredness felt… desperate. Like an itch beneath his skin that was begging to escape, the soft voice that wanted more than anything, to rest. He wasn’t a child anymore though, he hasn’t been since he was sold to The Pit so he just pushed the emotions aside and stared emotionlessly at the man who had grabbed his hair and used it to pull Techno toward his face.
The man was screaming into his face and Techno was starting to get a little annoyed. He only had so little time between his fights in the first place, and it wasn’t his job to cater to the men who lost money betting against him. He tilted his head away in mild disgust, and the man laughed and threw him into the ground, kicking at his back as Techno curled up to protect his organs.
Techno didn’t react, glancing over at the guards who were looking away. They were supposed to prevent incidents like these, he was still ‘valuable merchandise’ after all. Still, it wasn’t like they had loyalty to this place or to him and they were easily bribed to look the other way. Techno would get killed if he laid a hand on a guest, and yet if they beat him up, he was just expected to accept it and beg for mercy.
The asshole, Techno decided his name was, was still trying his best to kick and stomp on Techno. At this point Techno was just surprised he didn’t trip and fall on his own. Asshole yelled and screamed more and Techno just took the hits.
It wasn’t fair. He wanted to sit under a tree and read a book. He wanted to play and have soft things and grow his hair out. He wanted to live. What had he done that meant he could only ever live to be hit and be forced to kill to survive? Maybe that’s all Techno could ever be.
The man pulled out a dagger, it wasn’t even a good dagger, it looked new but it was definitely just iron. The guards seemed to finally realise things were getting too serious, taking a step towards them but they were too far away. Techno shifted his body just enough for the knife to miss him, only hitting the shackles that bound his wrists. Asshole lost his grip on his knife as it hit the metal, the recoil of hitting something hard thrown back into his hands. Techno grabbed the knife before it could ricochet off, glancing at the man with his bored eyes as he stood back up.
The man was yelling in pain just from the knife being ripped from his hands, cursing and swearing as his hands shook.
“Do you still want this back?” Techno asked lightly, tossing the knife into the air and catching it like it was a toy.
The man stumbled backwards before glaring at Techno. With a glance, Techno could tell that the two guards were also hovering nervously. Ah, he was out of his cell and with a weapon. They were wary.
They were all idiots, Techno decided. He was literally a third of their height, hell he could probably be sent flying with a well placed kick. But fear? Fear Techno could work with, and it wasn’t like there was any other choice for him.
They were never going to let Techno go. A hybrid slave, sold to The Pit? He was as good as dead, he might as well make the most of his remaining time. Techno grinned, and leaped at the asshole, stabbing him in the neck.
The screams and chaos that started from the blood splatter was almost overwhelming, but right now? Techno needed to use it to his advantage. He dropped back into a partially bent over stance, and threw himself at one of the guards, easily stabbing his knife through the gap of the armor before moving on to the next guy.
This was why people wore chainmail under their armor, but that just wasn’t money The Pit would invest in for guards that might run off on them anytime. Techno bounced from person to person, picking them off in the chaos. The Pit was the one who made him fight against crowds on his own after all.
Techno stabbed and killed and avoided hits as best as he could. Then he saw one of the guards with an axe and he grinned widely. The guy took a step back and Techno pounced. The swing of the axe came down as expected but Techno shifted just enough so it hit and crumbled the chains holding his shackles and finally, his hands were a little more free to move.
Techno smirked as the man tried to recover his axe from the ground it had sunk into.
“Well now you fucked up.”
Techno wasn't sure when it started but at some point, other voices started joining the thoughts in his head. Some of them just screamed, others gave him advice and even more just seemed interested to see if he would win or fall. Each kill he made seemed to fuel him rather than tire him out, his speed and strength increasing as he moved to the arena to continue his slaughter.
He didn’t know how long he fought but the trousers he wore were more red than brown and the voices in his head had started chanting. After an eternity, it seemed to finally stop.
Techno stood in the middle of the arena, surrounded by more dead bodies than he could have ever thought existed. It was quiet now, everyone who didn’t try to fight him had taken the chance to escape from The Pit.
The sword he had stolen off one of the guards fell from his hands and a sense of annoyance rippled into Techno. What if there was still someone here alive, someone who would take the chance to stab him while he was weaponless. Still, it was quiet.
Techno turned to the sky, mumbling the words the voices in his head had been chanting this whole time.
“Blood for the Blood God.”
The strength and adrenaline that flowed from his body disappeared and Techno fell into the blood that surrounded him. Was he done? Was he finally allowed to rest? He should move but maybe he could close his eyes for just a minute, just to regain strength, you know?
Without the massive pigman under it, the heavy red cloak fell straight down on the stone floors of the Syndicate meeting room. They stared at it for a second, processing. Then Phil ran towards the fallen cloak.
“No.” This wasn’t supposed to happen, it was just a dumb potion. Techno should have been fine, he couldn’t have just disappeared, there was no damage taken.
Still, there was only a pile of red cloth that sat silently on the ground. Unmoving.
“NO.” Phil reached out towards the cloak, this couldn’t be it, there must be something, a hint to where Techno was-
The cloak shifted slightly before Phil touched it and he pulled his hand back to himself quickly. A small lump he had previously thought was just part of the fabric under the cloak moved.
“Techno?” Phil asked hesitantly.
A small dark pink snout poked out from under the heavy cloth but stopped there. The snout twitched as the white fur at the bottom of the cloak rubbed against it but it didn’t move any further.
Relief hit Phil immediately. Techno was still here, they could fix this, fucking hell this might even be temporary but that had to be Techno. Niki took a small step closer and the snout shifted slightly again. The heavy fabric fell off the side of the snout, revealing large, watery and glistening red eyes that peeked out at them.
Niki made a sound that sounded like she was either crying, or dying.