Things That Need To Pass (passerine!Technoblade x OC) {COMPLETED}

Rescue And Revenge

(3rd person POV)

"I should know you." The words fell in a pathetic rush from Techno's mouth. "I should, but I don't."

The little girl who was his sister, had been his sister just a few seconds before, stared at him with wide eyes that were like twin pools of ancient water, reflecting his own strained face back at him. Her question echoed in his head, a chant and an accusation and a lament. 

What's my name? What's my name? What's my name? Techno wrenched his hand away from her and scrambled backwards, his breaths coming fast and harsh. She frowned after him, but did not move to follow.

"You're my sister," he sobbed, clutching the hand that had held hers so gently, so familiarly. "But I don't even remember your name."

Hers, and their siblings', and their father's and mother's. Once knowledge as common as air, now slipping from his fingers. He stared at her, begging the universe to give him one syllable. One letter. He would take anything. He would take breadcrumbs.

"I killed you," he whispered, falling into the dirt, a puppet with no master. He put his head in his shaking hands. "I killed all of you."

"No." The sternness in her voice made him look up. She still stood where she had been, a pillar of stone, her face pink with fury. "That wasn't you. The Spider got you. That's all."

"That's all?" Techno shouted. The forest was a pressing in on them, he knew it. The darkness would take him again, just as it took him all those years ago the last time he'd been down this road.

"Yes," she replied. "Yes, that is all. It was all him, never you. We understood that then, we understand that now. Nobody blamed you or will ever blame you for something you could not control. We're not that horrible, or that stupid."

"But I hurt you," Techno whispered. "I know I did. You must have been so scared."

"I wasn't," she said, but Techno knew it was a lie by the wobbling of her lower lip. "You would never hurt me, I knew that." She stepped closer, slowly, as if she were approaching a wounded wolf. "And it's important to me that you know that, too."

Something flickered in Techno's periphery, and they both turned to see the forest open just up ahead. Beyond the darkness, there was a small clearing, blazing with sunlight. Surrounded by flowers patches and shrubbery was a house, small and cozy with a brick chimney letting out pale smoke. 

A window was open, and through it, Techno could see a table set for dinner, and children fighting over an apple pie. A tall, wiry man with his pink hair pulled back from his face was swatting at them with no real force, telling them to share, you greedy little monsters. 

A woman with braided hair stood to the side and threw her head back in a deep laugh. One of the kids leaned too far in the scuffle, fell face first into a bowl of mashed potatoes, and began wailing. 

An older child, almost as old as Techno, rolled her eyes warmly and promised to do anything he wanted if he would just stop crying.

Techno saw all of them.

None of them saw Techno.

"They're calling me back," the little girl said.

But Techno couldn't take his eyes off the house and the family that lived in it. His house, once. His family. Warm and lovely and easy.

"I can't go home yet," Techno said, hating himself more and more with every word. "I still—I still have to save Wilbur and Philza. I still have to bury Tommy. And I still have to put that green bastard into the godsdamned ground."