How to take down an empire with voices in your head

38. Exhaustion Took Our Motivation. Now We Have A Problem

Currently, Techno believed this was somehow one of the most embarrassing moments he had lived. Here he was, the man that people called the Blood God, laying on the ground, upper half leaned up against the wall as Niki knelt over him with a worried look.

Now, genuinely, this wasn’t the most unexpected thing. Not really.

Everyone was aware of the lack of sleep Techno fought in order to continue thinking. And apparently, Niki and Sam had been aware of the amount of stress Techno had been under as well.

To be fair, Techno wasn’t trying to hide it. None of them were- seeing as they were all generally stressed out and they each had a way of showing it.

Techno, well, he would get upset, mutter a couple of things to himself and carry on, just he was tense from then on. Sapnap would burst out with a string of cuss words and insults for a good couple of minutes before going completely silent and leaving the room. Karl would simply make a very stressed noise, cuss once then laugh it off and ask somebody some random question to change his attention. Just some examples.

So yes, it was clear they all were stressed, Technoblade especially.

But that didn’t make this any less humiliating as Niki’s brows furrowed with concern and she lifted the back of her hand to his forehead.

“Are you okay?” Niki asked, her voice faint with hesitancy. Techno didn’t know if he could respond, something was in his throat and he was already too embarrassed to then try and fail. However, Niki’s voice only got firmer and more panicky, “Techno? Are you okay?”

Techno cleared his throat and Niki’s hand lowered to her side as he blinked. “Yes.”

Her lips drew into a thin line and her expression was deadpanned. “Really?”

“Yea- Yes . I just need to get more sleep,” He said kindly, assuring Niki that he was more than fine. He brought his knees up to his chest and sighed, “I suppose. I guess skipping out on sleeping has its consequences.”

Niki huffed out a small laugh and rolled her eyes. “Okay then. Get some sleep, but after that Quackity said-”

“I don’t care what Quackity said,” Techno said bluntly, cutting her off and she frowned.

She stood up a bit, holding a hand out after tucking a loose hair behind her ear. “Quackity wanted to talk to you.”

Techno took the hand grudgingly, grunting as he stood up. “Yeah well last time he did it didn’t go so well.”

Niki gave a flat smile, like she already knew what he was talking about. “Yes, well, it’s not going to be like ‘last time’, okay?”

“Uh-huh,” Techno said sarcastically, dropping both their hands to the side before he pulled away. “Tell Quackity to buzz off. Now I’m gonna actually try to sleep the stress off, even if a little.”

“Techno maybe we should-” Niki started lowly and caringly but Techno simply waved.

“Maybe I should get some sleep so this,” He pointed at the ground and gestured to himself. “Doesn’t happen again.”

“Yes,” Niki said slowly. “But-”

“Sorry Niki, I’m going to bed now,” Techno said quietly, stretching his back before walking away. Niki bit her tongue and huffed.

“Fine,” She muttered and she spared one last worrying look at Techno’s back, then she spun around and shuffled away.

Techno tried his best to get some decent sleep this time. So just for this moment he let his mind wander to other places outside of worry, past war, and all the stuff that would trickle in his mind when he normally was about to go to sleep. This time, he let the Eggpire and all the ways it screwed with his life float further and further away from his attention so maybe, just maybe, he could get some shut eye.

Meanwhile, Niki sat across the table from an unreadable expression and a beanie. They talked in hushed tones as Niki glanced over him judgingly before they both melted into an understanding and sooner or later they were planning with Sam.

"Are we sure this is even going to work, I mean, we haven't even figured out if the Eggpire has changed any of its layouts or not?" Sam asked, exhaustion trickling into his tone like a lazy river as he slumped back into his chair, dragging his hands down his face. "We've been taking our sweet time here," He grumbled, peeking through his fingers with a dimmed expression that Niki pursed his lips at, frowning knowingly.

"But we have been trying," She said firmly, placing a hand on the table as she looked at Sam. "We all have put in some effort here, haven't we?"

"Yes, Niki," Sam groaned tiredly, pushing himself up with a grunt. "But our work isn't taking us anywhere."

Niki's brows furrowed, shifting her vision over to Quackity who simply blinked.

"What?"

"You led the red banquet, don't you have any ideas?" She questioned, waiting as Quackity clicked his tongue, looked around while humming some words like he was thinking and snapping his fingers.

"I think so, but I wrote it down in some notebook of mime," He said quickly, pushing up from the table and pointedly ignoring the way Sam, even all worn out, glared at him. "So I will go look for it."

Niki was stiff, eyes examining his face until she seemingly gave up and sighed, "Fine, go."

With that he nodded shortly and turned on his heel, disappearing past the corner and in the silence Niki huffed, placing her elbows on the table.

"I see what you mean, Sam," She said in confession, tucking her face in her hands as she glanced over at him. "We really need to do something about it."

He sighed, nodding slowly. "Yeah. We do."

Quackity, meanwhile, shuffled through the small hallway with heavy shoulders, his feet dragging on the floor as he made his way to the room Sam was staying in, which also happened to be where Quackity kept some of his items and was also staying for the time being. Typically, well, normally, he lived in a nice fancy penthouse in Las Nevadas, a country that he disappointedly saw wasn't going too far. He had gotten Tubbo to join forever ago, and since then nothing much had happened besides drafting up plans for buildings or laws.

But now he was here, sitting in meetings where they attempted to discuss how they were going to take down the Eggpire, sharing a room with Sam and living under the same roof that five other people currently did.

Sometimes Quackity found himself missing the white sand and smooth stone of Las Nevadas, no matter how lonely the country could be. But each time he knew, this was a time of war, stakes were high and everyone was on edge. Then, he would think about the needle tower and his light bordered sign, he would think about Tommy and his obnoxious laugh. And so, without fail, each time, Quackity stayed here, with this last hope, last attempt at winning team he was in.

No matter how ridiculous it was and no matter the arguments, Quackity knew he had to be in this.

So Quackity actually did rummage around in the room. searching for a specific lined paper notebook from when he and Sam were planning to take down the Eggpire by themselves.

They were going to take down this empire one way or another.