Like a Raven in the Snow (Technoblade X Oc/yn)

Chapter 2

Sometimes, the smallest things take up the most room in your heart…

‘Cuts and bruises, shouts and screams: they all later turned out to be no more than giggles and laughter under trees, in a forest, by a rundown cabin which barely stood on its own anymore, but was as good a home as any other. 

The door hung loose in its hinges and, as if that wasn't enough, the frame itself was rotting - just like the panels on the walls and the roof made out of old hay and moss in equal parts. It was all so detailed, like he was still there, but it felt more like a mirage, with all the other things around him and that shoddy cabin being so blurry, that it all felt more like a vague story someone had told him once.

He stood there by the house, looking around, trying to recall how he had gotten there and when he had grown so fragile again. He instantly spotted the morning glories that had been planted only a short while ago by the foundation of the house. As a gardening choice, it seemed moronic, but clearly, they knew no better.

“Techno!” he heard, but when he turned around, looking for where the voice had come from, his search ended in disappointment as there was not a single soul there.

The whispering woods carried the sound of the wind all around him as if trying to blow a calmness back into him, but every second made the pace of his heart pick up, more and more like in a race that would never end. The harsh smell of rotting flesh hit his nose and, in an attempt to find the source, he looked down at his hands to see that they were covered in blood, fresh blood, but that too didn't last, because as soon as he blinked in his hand rested a flower - a purple hyacinth. 

Once again, his eyes wandered around, and he was not met with the promised scene of a peaceful forest but rather its edge. Mountains covered the horizon, hiding a promised land that could grant the future he so craved in his mind but refused to reach because his heart wished to stay. 

Stay… Stay where?

“Techno?” He heard once more, but before he could turn around, before he could see who had called for his name with such worry and fear, something lunged at him from the forest.

And then it went dark.

Techno shot upright in his bed, taking deep breaths as his hands gripped his hair in a tight hold in a desperate attempt to ground himself, to calm his racing heart. His lungs filled with air, air that felt like it was burning his throat, bringing him back into reality.

‘This again? What caused this? Where are we? Is everything okay?’

The voices filled his head as he pushed himself out of bed with a deep sigh, rubbing his face with the palms of his hands. This is horrible, he thought as he got up to get his clothes, which had been thrown on the ground the night before by the side of the bed. He needed a cold wash after having a nightmare like that - a nightmare from so long ago that he couldn't remember the details.

He did not even bother to put on his whole attire - just his linen shirt, his pants, and the boots on his feet were enough for him since he knew that soon enough, he would have to take it all off for a dip in the river that would hopefully clean him from the clinging dread he still felt within.

So he went. Techno trekked through the snowy tundra, over the hill, to the nearest plain where a river was flowing, undisturbed and unaware of his own turmoil. He had to brush his way through bushes and low branches, but nothing he hadn't done before, and nothing that would leave any scar more permanent than the ones already littering his skin. He was used to this journey. It was a journey he’d made many times before, just to get some alone time to himself, to wash off the sweat that collected over his hard work, or the blood from a hunt that satisfied his voices, granting him a few minutes of silence.