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Technoblade was not unused to dealing with the voices, even on days when he was exceptionally stressed or his patience was run thin from having to deal with governments it was rare for Techno to give the voices any more than a distant thought. Today, however, was one of the few exceptions, the voices demanded most of his attention, they were loud, and Techno could barely hear anything over them. Techno had hoped that hunting the endermen around the tundra would satisfy the voices’ insistent screaming for blood, how wrong he was. The voices had only grown throughout the day and now Techno found himself close to a village and barely recognized his surroundings, and the voices were screaming, demanding more blood.
Techno’s head hurt from having to listen to thousands of voices screaming at him, his vision was so blurry he could barely make out his boots when he looked down as he trudged through the snow, and his limbs were heavy from overuse. Despite Techno’s entire body feeling as though it was too worn to do anything the voices didn’t cease, and neither did Techno.
Before Techno knew it he found himself in the middle of the village, he was standing next to a well and some concerned villagers watched him carefully. Techno held his sword with a grip of iron and turned quickly, slashing the closest villager to him, the villager didn’t stand a chance and was dead within seconds. Villagers were fleeing from the center and some even took off into the depths of the tundra, Techno was quicker however and chased. With each villager down, the less Techno was thinking about the action, the less Techno cared what he was doing, the less the voices seemed to hurt. One villager, two villagers, 10 villagers, Techno was almost certain he’d gotten all of them, blood stained his pants and the bottom of his cape, it had grown tacky on his hands and Techno couldn’t find enough energy in himself to care.
Techno turned, scoping around to see if any other villager had managed to survive and to his surprise, one had. A lone villager dawned with a draping green robe stood staring at Techno, he thought it odd, he couldn’t remember any villagers wearing solely green but he didn’t ponder on it long. The voices demanded blood. The villager opened its mouth, it was saying something Techno couldn’t hear over the voices, Techno didn’t care, he rushed it.
His sword met another and to his surprise the villager fought back, the villager was good, easily matching his strike, for some reason Techno couldn’t fathom, the villager didn’t try and stab him, it only tried to block his strikes. Techno was quick, he brought down his sword over his head with brutal force, and the villager’s sword was knocked away, the villager staggered back, stunned. Techno took his chance, he ran the villager through with his sword, it didn’t fall down immediately, the hit was not fatal, it quickly brought out an axe and tried to hit Techno. He stumbled backwards to avoid the hit, and in the process left his sword in the villager, it pulled his sword out, now wielding both Techno’s sword and an axe. Techno brought out his own axe and they were locked in a battle again. After landing a few hits on the villager, Techno managed to throw them off balance, and wings came out… wings. Some of the voices had changed their screaming, some hadn’t understood yet.
BLOOD
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD
NO
NO
NO
PHIL
BLOOD
PHIL?
PHIL?
BLOOD
PHIL
PHIL
STOP
NO
Techno woke up in an uncomfortable pile on his stomach in the snow, his head pounded and his eyesight was blurry. Techno struggled to push himself onto his back and stare up into the sky, it was dark, and all Techno could see was stars. Techno groaned, his body was sore, his muscles didn’t seem to want to work, he closed his eyes trying to decipher where he was, what he knew. All Techno knew was that the voices had been oddly loud recently and Techno had decided to hunt endermen, away from his house, so Ranboo wouldn’t have to witness. That was when Techno realized, the voices weren’t there, confusion and dread immediately filled Techno, the voices had never been silent before, not in any time of his life could he remember the voices simply not being there. Even if it was only one or two the voices had always been speaking.
That was when Techno noticed another thing, a soft thing, clutched in his arms, Techno looked down and stared at the soft bundle of things in his arm. The soft, black, big feathers in his arms, feathers too big to be a big bird, feathers that Techno knew belonged to his friend.
“No, no, nonono, PHIL!” Techno jolted upwards and was standing before he even had to think about it, all of his previous exhaustion was gone as he swung around desperately looking for his long-time friend. Phil was nowhere to be seen, Techno saw their shared home only a short distance away but there was no Phil, there wasn’t even any footsteps in that direction, nobody had been around their home in a while. Techno swung around and saw his footsteps in the snow, and blood. Techno was off and running at a dead sprint into the tundra, Techno hadn’t been running for very long when he crested a hill and saw the village, the snow surrounding the village even in darkness was clearly stained with blood. Techno ran downwards not stopping for a second until he had made it into the village, desperately looking around for the telling green robe of his friend.
It didn’t take very long for him to find Phil crumpled on the ground in a heep, Techno couldn’t tell if his friend was breathing, he was by his side within seconds. Techno knelt by Phil, he gingerly put his hand to Phil’s neck, checking for a pulse. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10 seconds had passed and nothing, Techno was shaking, horror creeping into his chest, his heart ached, he had killed Phil, he had-he had-he had murdered his oldest and closest friend, when, a barely there pulse could be felt under Techno’s fingers. Techno almost sobbed in relief, but now wasn’t the time to cry or take a break, Phil would die soon if Techno did nothing.
Techno carefully scooped Phil up into his arms, Phil was not a short man by any means, but right now, barely breathing in Techno’s arms, he looked so small, so frail, so unlike Phil, and Techno hated it more than anything. Techno was careful, making sure he didn’t hurt Phil even more as he ran towards their house, he was slower, what with the added weight of another living being, but not by much.
Techno practically kicked his door off his hinges and made it inside carefully setting Phil on their kitchen table before bolting to his chests. Techno cursed himself for not taking Ranboo’s advice and organizing his chests as he desperately looked for a Regeneration or Healing Potion, finally after a few minutes that felt like hours of searching, Techno found a Healing Potion and bolted back into the kitchen. It was a Splash Potion, Techno thanked the gods, he carefully uncorked the potion and emptied it onto Phil’s more serious wounds.
Techno knew the potion wouldn’t heal Phil completely so he carefully peeled the man’s outer and inner robes off. Techno took some bandages and assessed the damage to Phil’s torso. There was a deep gash in his stomach which despite the healing potion, looked like it would need stitches, Techno sighed, and quickly fetched a needle and thread to do so. Techno took his time, stitching two gashes on Phil’s stomach that required it, cleaning the other scratches and cuts that covered his chest and arms, then carefully wrapping Phil in cotton bandages.
Techno took a clean wet cloth and gently wiped Phil’s face, he held Phil’s head in one hand, trying his best to clean his face and get some grime out of his hair. When Techno was done he cleaned the cloth he had used and came back, staring at Phil. The voices were still eerily quiet, Techno didn’t know what to do, he just quietly stared. Phil was pale, his chest moving up and down with shallow breaths Phil was completely still other than that, Phil was never still, always busying himself with something.
Techno had cried once in his life, he had cried the night after Wilbur had died, but now, Techno found tears stinging his eyes and his hands trembling. He reached out towards Phil and wrapped his arms around the sleeping man, he buried his head into his bandaged chest and sobbed. He had almost killed him, Phil could have been dead, and it would have been Techno’s fault, Techno would have killed him. But no, no, Phil was alive, Phil was breathing despite everything, Phil was breathing. It still destroyed Techno, he didn’t know what to do, what would Phil think when he woke up, would Phil hate him? Techno wouldn’t blame Phil for hating him, Techno tried to shake the thought from his head, he didn’t want to think of that.
Techno fell asleep on Phil that night, and woke up far earlier than he ever had, and made breakfast, something he had rarely done in his life, for Phil. For Phil when he woke up, because Phil deserved to wake up to a nice breakfast, and a warm home.