TRYST // Philza X Reader

26

Eventually you fell back asleep as well, safely tucked away under Phil's wing, his deep even breaths lulling you back into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness. You slept through the night without trouble, even though you were sure you would have nightmares now that you weren't half dead - although the weight of Phil's wing draped over you might have had something to do with it.

Or perhaps it was the lingering sensation on your just-kissed lips.

When the sun rose again, he woke you up with a kiss too, gently pressing his lips to your temple. Your eyes fluttered open at the contact, locking onto Phil, where he rested across the pillow. Seeing you were awake, he took the opportunity to kiss you properly, pressing his lips to yours.

"Morning." You sighed happily when he pulled back.

"Sleep alright?" Phil asked, lifting his wings up slightly to stretch them out. You ran a hand through the feathers, smoothing some of them back into place from where they had gotten rumpled with sleep.

"Yeah." You said. "Surprisingly, no nightmares."

"Good." Phil said with a smile, pushing up and off the bed. "'Cause we've got an announcement to attend."

From there, you freshened up your appearance as best you could. You didn't have anything to change into, but there was a washbasin in the room, so you scrubbed some of the dirt from your face and arms, and ran some water through your hair as well. Feeling considerably better after you washed what you could, you let Phil have his turn while you fixed the sheets on the bed as best you could - you wouldn't want to leave the room to messy, after all.

When Phil was done, you left the safe haven that the room had become and walked back out into the ruined hallways of the palace. It seemed that someone (probably multiple someones) had tried to help a little - in places rubble was swept away - but this was not damage that could undone overnight. The onslaught of boulders from the catapults had knocked down entire walls, and the closer you got to the throne room, the worse the damage got.

When you arrived in the throne room, most everyone else who had been in the battle was there, crowded into the space. All the court seats and desks had been pushed up against the wall to make some sort of barrier between the mass of people and the broken windows - the only seats that remained were the thrones themselves up on the dias. Scanning over the crowd, you caught sight of villagers, pillagers and other species, all mixing together as they waited for the crown heir to appear. For a moment, you thought you spied the woman who had killed the king among them, but when you looked again there was no one there.

"Can you see alright?" Phil asked, standing at your side.

"Yeah." You said, smiling back at him. "I'm good."

Phil grinned as well, reaching up to run a hand through your hair, gently detangling the strands. You leaned into the touch for a moment, before he pulled his hand away.

It wasn't long before the murmurs in the room were dying down, and the sea of people parted to let the twins through. They made their way up to the dias, taking their usual places bookending the thrones, purple eyes looking down at the crowd. After them, King Eret stepped up, smiling as he sat down in the throne to the left of center. There were large bags under his eyes, but he seemed cheerful - though even in the midst of battle he had seemed perfectly friendly.

Your eyes were drawn to Technoblade and the figure on his arm though. The crown heir seemed appropriately solemn as Technoblade helped them into the center throne before taking his seat on their right hand side. Following them were the a group of pillagers, vindicators and evokers - presumably the leaders of the invading army. They stood behind the thrones, faces passive. As soon as the royals were seated, the room fell into complete silence, waiting for whatever the crown heir had to say.

When they began to speak, their voice was purely professional. "Thank you all for coming so early this morning - I'm sure last night was a rough night for everyone, and I appreciate you all being here." They took breath, eyes scanning the room for a second. "As you all know, my father is dead."

Quiet murmuring broke out in the room - the fact that the king was dead was sort of old news now, but you weren't sure how much about the death had come out. By the whispers of the people around you though, no matter if the crown heir had wanted the story spread around, it had gotten out anyway - down to the engraving on the knife.

"That being said, in the order of succession, the crown would come to me." They continued. "However, in light of recent events, I thought it might be a better idea to make some adjustments to the way things are done here before we just carry on with naming a new ruler."

Murmurs broke out again at this - but this time they seemed more excited, especially from the pillagers that were present.

The crown heir continued, "I will still accept the crown - that much is written in stone and cannot be changed." They said. "But, taking a page out of our eastern allie's book-" They gestured to Eret on their left. "I will be redesigning our court into a council, representative of all species of the land. The representatives were chosen yesterday and stand on the dias with me now."

Your eyes drifted over the group of people standing on the dias with new light. From the Nether, Lord Technoblade. From the End, the twins. The line of vindicators, evokers and pillagers behind the thrones looked down on their brethren proudly. The council was at least twenty strong in total.

When you looked back at Phil, a smile was growing on his face.