Life Series, Empires, and Hermitcraft Oneshots

Knock-Out!!! (Team Canada)

Series: None in particular

Plot: Etho wakes up from a nightmare after being knocked unconscious. Definitely not at all an AU to my DL fic noooo

(Note: Not a shipping chapter, all platonic. Idk why it took me this long to make a Team Canada os)

_

The last thing Etho remembered was how he struggled to get back up, gasping for air as blood rushed to fall out of his mouth. A condescending voice laughed at him, mocking his failure to do the one thing he swore up and down he would do. And then it all faded to black.

But strangely, there was a feeling. It felt like all the time in the world yet no time at all passed before he felt himself exist again. His hands felt at a cot he was laid in, but he still felt weak. It took all the strength he could muster to just begin opening his eyes, the world being a blurry mess around him anyway. He felt smaller somehow, not in spirit or in determination, but physically, literally smaller. His mask was pulled off of his face, which he was thankful for since it helped with his already struggled breathing. He started to hear voices, so he quickly shut his eyes again and pretended to still be out cold. But the voices... they sounded familiar.

He didn't know what they were saying. The voices rang into his ears, making him flinch despite his best efforts to appear still. They stopped, and while Etho still didn't look, he could just feel the 2 pairs of eyes looking directly at him. Finally, the first clear sentence he heard.

"Etho?"

It still rang in his ears, but he was starting to understand now. His head didn't stop pounding with pain as he tried to adjust his vision and hearing, and trying to move anything that wasn't his eyelids and fingertips was out of the picture.

"...think he still needs sleep..."

Another full sentence was spoken, but Etho could only pick up the half of it. He was trying his hardest to signal something to whoever it was, anything really. That he was in pain, that he was confused, anything. But he couldn't no matter how hard he tried, snd the two people noticed how hard he was trying for what seemed like nothing to them.

"Relax Etho... think it'll help..."

He felt a hand on his shoulder, gently but firmly pressing him back down on the mattress. This scared him for a minute, struggling again against this person who just held him slightly firmer.

"...this it?..."

"Yeah...splash, right?..."

The sound of glass breaking quickly filled Etho's ears, but this time, the ringing didn't last. He suddenly felt a wave of warmth encase him, like a thick, fuzzy, weighted blanket wrapped around his being and kept him in a space he was sure he was safe in. It was heaven compared to the hell he just went through. He still didn't quite feel strong, but he felt stronger, strong enough to finally open his eyes and see his two best friends.

"Urethra!"

"It's "Eureka!"

"That's what I said!"

"Beef....? Pause...?" Etho just barely managed to get out at the moment as he rubbed his eyes. His own voice sounded odd to him, being slightly more high pitched than he remembered it being.

"Etho!" Beef cried out in joy. "How're you feeling buddy?"

"F-fine I guess..." Etho answered. "Wh-what happened...?"

"A creeper blew you up and you hit your head on a rock," Pause explained. "You have no clue how much you scared us dude!"

Etho was speechless, to say the least. He just witnessed his entire life go by, with his friends dead, his ambitions crushed, and losing it all in the end anyway. But now he was sitting here again, his friends standing at his bedside, making sure he was okay again.

He was back in Mindcrack. He was back with Team Canada. He was a kid again.

And he cried.

As confused as it made Beef and Pause to suddenly see him burst into tears, they didn't fight back against the tight hug he suddenly pulled them into. If anything, they embraced him back. He thought about explaining this to them, that he'd watched them die in whatever horrible nightmare he just had and was so much more than happy to see them again, but he decided against it. Like he said, it was just a nightmare. It didn't matter anymore.

He was awake now, and that meant he was okay.