"A Good Mate?!"

"Chapter «1» ♡"

How long has it been? How long had he been standing there after leaving the portal? Minutes? Hours? No matter, it had been too long for him to just stand listlessly outside a portal. He still had quite the trek to get back to his house and it was starting to get dark. He should start moving soon, but his feet just won’t listen to his mind.

The voices were loud, too. There was no reprise for The Blood God. This was as close to peace and quiet that he would get, surrounded by the sounds of mobs spawning, the portal’s hum, and the voices screaming in his head for more blood. More withers. More fire. More everything. But Techno had no more to give.

The portal began humming louder, signaling that someone was coming though it. That could be bad. It was probably one of the residents of the country he’d just blown to smithereens coming to seek their revenge for their home and their fallen friends. He’s not in any kind of mindset to fight against someone right now. Sure, he could do it but it would be pure survival instinct at that point and not a conscious decision he was making. But even this threat of a fight wasn’t enough to get his feet moving. Instead, the piglin hybrid sank to his knees. The snow was cold as it melted through his pants, leaving his knees frozen and now damp. Finally, footsteps appeared behind him. He could hear them. They were heavy, but not too heavy. Too heavy to be one of the teens, but too light to be one of the heavy fighters. That still leave a pretty good amount of people that it could be. Perhaps if Techno were in his normal mindset the voices could help or he could garner more information just from the sounds alone, but not right now. Not right now.

He knew they spotted him when the footsteps suddenly stopped and he heard the sound of a sharp gasp. Whoever it was probably wasn’t expecting to see anyone out here, so that means they probably aren’t looking for him right now. That narrows the possible pool a bit.

“Technoblade?”, a voice asked him. Likely the voice that belonged to the footsteps. Techno was too far in his head to respond back, but managed to get out a deep hum of acknowledgement. The footsteps started back up again, slower this time and more cautious. Almost as if approaching an animal they don’t want to startle. “Techno, are you okay?”, well now there was no mistaking who it was. There were a lot of people that Techno had hoped it wasn’t, but the one person he was really praying that it wasn’t to anyone that was listening was Dream. The same Dream that was now standing behind him, concern written all over his body language.

It’s not that he doesn’t like Dream. In fact, that’s the problem. Techno quite enjoyed Dream’s company, but Dream had only ever seen him when he was fully on his game. Confident, strong, able to fight God and come out victorious. He didn’t want the man to think any less of him by seeing him like this. Too late for that he supposes. He could hear Dream talking to him, but couldn’t exactly make out what he was saying.

It took a second but he was able to get his voice out, “Dream?” It was hoarse and scratchy but it was a word and he’d said it so that was progress.

“Tech! Yeah, yeah it’s me. I’m gonna get you home, okay?” The younger one seemed relieved that Techno was responsive. Techno barely had time to give a stiff nod before he was being hauled up to his feet and the pair were taking small, labored steps towards Techno’s house, the hybrid draped partially over the admin’s shoulders.

It felt like years before the familiar sounds of the farm infiltrated the voices. He could hear his dogs barking, the chittering of the foxes, even the groans of Steve. It wasn’t long after that he found himself sitting on his couch, a fire in the fireplace, and a very concerned green man kneeling in front of him. “Techno, are you hurt?” the man spoke. No, not ‘the man’. Dream. It was Dream. Dream was here and he was going to help him.

As Techno worked this out in his mind the other had taken his silence as an “I am so out of it right now that I have no idea if I am injured or not, you should probably check” He sighed and started pushing the heavy cape off the hybrid’s shoulders. As he worked to get the man down to just his pants, he was sure to explain what he was doing. He wasn’t sure if the other was comprehending what he was saying, but in case he did it was better that way. Plus it helped reassure Dream that he was just helping Techno, and that this wasn’t some kind of sick, taking advantage of his friend (that he may or may not have a bit of a crush on) kind of thing. Dream may not have voices in his head like Techno does, but his mind can be just as cruel and vicious to him at times. Soon, the man was down to just his pants and Dream was able to see that there were no broken bones or anything major like that, but a few cuts here and there that needed to be cleaned and possibly even stitched. It was silent between the two as he pulled a rag and a suture kit out of his inventory and went to work.