A Faithful Memory

Let There Be Blood

The smell of burning wood.

The glare of flames surrounding him.

The sound of high-pitched voices chanting.

"Ring around the Rosie!
Pocket full of posies!
Ashes, ashes,
You Will Burn Down!"

Technoblade writhed under Philza's grip, his eyes clouding over with bloodrage as he no longer saw the blond child, no longer recognized that he'd ever seen the boy as a child. That...thing...was an Orphan. A monster. A creature capable of any kind of horror imaginable.

Orphan! Kill it! -Tho
Spill its blood! -Ros
Vengeance! -Lem
Ow, Phil stronk. -Boa
Protect! -J_Rap
E
Tear its lungs out! -Mos
Give us its blood!

The Voices roared and screamed, almost drowning out Phil's voice as he tried to draw Techno's attention back to him. But the hybrid only struggled harder. "Philza!" He yelled. "Get off!"

He felt the whoosh of air as the Angel flapped his wings, holding Techno in place. Philza was saying something. "...mate...down...just a child...not an Orphan..." He couldn't make out everything.

Then something growled close by. Something deep and rumbling that sounded like a small earthquake and Techno was suddenly snatched from under Philza, pulled up by a strength he knew he could not match, let alone beat. He fought it anyway, coughing as smoke suddenly billowed in his face.

"Leave my son alone!" He recognized the voice of the Creeper hybrid a split second before he was cuffed over the head, hard enough to stun him. Lights flashed and burst before his eyes and he sagged limply in the Sam's grip. The Voices yelled and screamed in rage and shock, but Technoblade could not move for a few seconds. He was roughly flung away, landing on his back some distance away.

Get up!
Lazy. Go and kill them both! -Ros
Blood! Blood! Blood! -Jer
Rip the Orphan limb from limb!
Avenge us! -Tho
I want potatoes. -Mag
L

The memories of his first betrayal were overwhelming. Techno covered his head with his hands, trying to focus on the sound of Philza's voice somewhere near him. He could feel himself slipping, his hold on the present coming apart. No! Techno gripped harder and cried in terror and shame.

~~~~~~*

Sam took another step forward, glaring at the apparent angel who was now standing between him and the Blood god. Why was he protecting this monster? Sam knew what a Blood god was, what they were capable of. He'd seen platoons of men fall to one and he'd seen the joy in the berserker's eyes, heard their hideous laughter as they finished a kill. They were made to be butchers, created to yearn for war. He knew they couldn't help it, but that didn't mean he was going to stand by while one of them assaulted his boy. But this...this was an unexpected development.

"Leave him alone!" The angel said, keeping his voice soft, but his wings outspread, hiding the Blood god from Sam's eyes. "Let me take care of him."

"You don't know who you have with you, evidently." Sam scowled. How had they even missed this? "That's a Blood god. Slaughter and violence is all they know or understand. Step aside, Philza. I won't kill him. But he needs to learn he can't touch my son."

Behind him, Lune and Tommy, who'd been scooped up by Sam Nook, were muttering to each other. He could only just catch a few words, but his French wasn't great, so he didn't fully understand what Lune was saying. Something about blood, and wanting to see.

Philza would not budge. "Considering that he's been my son for the past seven years, I think I'm on a position to know!" He snapped. "He rarely has episodes like this, alright? Something probably triggered him, so let me handle it. I know how to help him."