New Plans

En Garde

Funny story my meds are acting up at the moment because we changed the dosage, so if this chapter has slightly weird energy, you know why.
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Technoblade was anxious. It was to be expected with an event that the gods had predicted nearly forty years in advance. He could feel his heart beating in his chest, heck, he could hear it drumming in his ears.

All he had to do, was kill the king, and destroy what remained.

Standing at the line where the netherack switched to soul soil and sand, Techno found that it was much scarier when he was actually fulfilling the promise he'd made back when he was about four.

Chat was with him, but was almost silent. As if they were afraid too.

"c'mon Techno," he muttered to himself. "You can do this."

He adjusted the sword on his belt. And prepared to cross the line again. After longer than he wanted to admit, he stepped across and made his way towards his old bastion.

What would even happen when he got there? What would this look like? Would they be expecting him? Or did they forget about it? Did the king assume that he was dead? That last one seemed pretty likely when he thought about it. To Techno's knowledge, he was enough of an egomaniac to think that he'd foiled the gods themselves.

Techno thought about what he was doing as he got closer and closer to his bastion. Time was certainly passing and it was stressing him out. So he decided To think about home. He had left Phil a note explaining that he'd gone to blow his bastion to pieces. Phil would probably freak out but he would live. Philza Minecraft wasn't going to let something as miniscule as a heart attack take him down.

"Techno!" Someone shouted from behind him.

He whipped around and drew his sword. It glowed with a purple sheen.

It was a Piglin. She looked about his age, only a decent amount shorter. She had a small sword on her waist. And a little nap sack she probably raided from a human. Despite the sword pointed directly at her, she seemed okay with it, confident, even. Like she firmly believed he'd never hurt her. Techno recognized her from somewhere...

"Shield?" Techno asked with a hint of uncertainty.

"Hi Techno!" She was practically vibrating with excitement.

He couldn't believe it. She had up and disappeared and after all this she still hasn't lost her spirit. Though it is less hidden than before. She seemed more confident than she was last time they'd talked. Techno slowly lowered his sword and as soon as he did so she ran up closer to him.

"I- Uh- I... Hey. How are you?" Techno was almost at a loss for words. He really had missed her... more than Chat did, if that was possible. He didn't even know what to say at this point. The last thing he expected was to see her again right before he went back to the bastion.

She, on the other hand, had been waiting for this moment and was much more prepared than Techno.

"I've gotten the hang of fighting! Like, really gotten the hang of it. The war was terrifying, but after a bit no one wanted to come close to me because I was able to take everyone else down. They were so afraid that no one wanted to stop me from just leaving. So that's what I did! I bumped into Mace for a bit, long after the war ended, and she pointed me over in this direction!"

"Well, it is nice to see you. I'm glad you're okay. I was worried sick."

"Oh," she shied away a bit. "I-I didn't mean to make you sick."

"It's just a human expression," Techno said.

"I forgot that you use human expressions." She laughed to herself. "It's nice to see you too Techno. I was a bit worried that we'd never meet again."

"Me too. Did, did you say that you scared everyone away in the war?" Techno questioned.

"Yeah! I took down a bunch of them and no one tried fighting me anymore. Once we started losing I just kind of, left. I-I hope you don't mind. I mean, you were the one organizing the whole thing in the first place."

"No, it's okay. I figured something like this would happen. I don't judge you for bailing. I do wish you had told me though. I was pretty worried," Techno said, finally putting his sword away.

"I, uh. I might've g-gotten a bit lost." She curled in on herself a bit. Like she was embarrassed. At the end of the day, she was still good old Shield.

"Ah, makes sense. I'm glad I coached you through the nether's monsters."

"Yeah, I'm glad you taught me that. Oh! I almost forgot! I have something for you!"

"You, you do?"

She nodded emphatically. "I think it's pretty cool." She opened her nap sack and pulled something out.

It was about the size of a football. It was dark, and dirty. And dusty. It was covered in soul soil, and it was so, so cool.

"Is that a Wither skull?" Techno couldn't deny that he got excited when he saw it. The things you could do with one of those.

She nodded. "I killed a Wither Skeleton, and I remembered that story you told about killing a Wither Skeleton, b-back when no one believed in me. It made me think of you, so I kept it. I figured that if I ever saw you again, I'd want to give you something. I guess as a thank you for believing in me when no one else did. And for helping me. So here!"

She handed him the skull. He smiled, then put it away.

"Thank you. I, uh don't have anything to give you."

"It's okay, Techno. I'm just happy I got to give it to you."

"No that's not good enough... Here, take my sword." He pulled out the long netherite blade. He wouldn't have given her it before, but she was taller than she used to be. She could handle a sword that big.

"What? N-no I can't take that, that's your sword."

"Relax, I have a spare. Just take it. Your old sword is a bit small now anyway," He said.

She seemed a bit nervous but she took it anyway. It glowed in her hands. Techno wouldn't forget how her eyes lit up when she stared at it. And when she looked up at him.

"Thank you Techno," She beamed.

"Yeah, uh. I'm going to go but... It was really nice to see you again," Techno said. Trying not to make it awkward.

"It was... Well! I won't keep you, may we meet again!" She said. She pulled out a pearl and disappeared.

Techno smiled. That's one less thing he has to worry about. He knows that she's fine. And, if she's survived war as well as she claims, then she'll be fine for a long, long time.

If seeing an old friend wasn't a good omen, then Techno didn't know what was.

Techno turned around, and continued on his way.

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I'm really hoping I did this justice. I really like Shield but was a bit nervous about writing more of her since I didn't want to mess it up.

I've had this meetup planned in my head for about a year now.

Also, since most of y'all read a lot of angst and have trust issues, I, as the author and god of my little world I've created, promise that nothing bad will happen to Shield. She's safe.

Now that that's out of the way, I hope you enjoyed!

Farewell Plerps!