Warning: Suicide Attempt
-----------------------------------
"There must be a way!" Technoblade insists, trying to leave his bed.
It's been exactly two weeks since Dream went back to the ocean, and Philza had told the King the truth behind the past war and triggered the curse. Two weeks where King Technoblade refused to eat properly, to sleep properly and to overall live. Everything else can wait, even his Kingdom can wait, he does not care. He is not losing Phil too, it'll be too great of a heartbreak for him to recover from.
His recklessness got him in bed, too weak to continue for the day, or perhaps the week. But he simply cannot stop. Phil is looking worse by the day. The tips of his fingers are already of a tempestuous black, his nose bleeds every so often, dark bags adorn the skin under his eyes no matter how much he sleeps, his flesh is so weakened that slight sunlight can burn him, food is starting to lose its taste and his grip is too weak for a fellow fighter.
"There is not. You don't have the level of magic or knowledge your mother had," Phil chides gently, tucking Techno in like he was still a little kid, "And neither do I."
"I can't let you die."
"I have been preparing for this since the curse was put in the castle."
That grabs Techno's attention, and his confusion must have shown because Philza chuckles light-heartedly, hand resting against the King's forehead.
"I was planning on telling you eventually, y'know. I guess I was just a little too selfish, I wanted to see you and your brother grow up into respectable men. But now I have, I even had the pleasure of watching you fall in love."
Techno's eyes burn with unshed tears as the man he loves as a father presses a gentle kiss to his forehead, much like he used to do when Techno was still a kid. Much like Dream used to do when the pinkette woke up with nightmares provoked by the stress of being a ruler.
The King misses his blonde dearly. Many regrets weigh on his back, adding even more stress to his already sick body and mind, but he clings to them with desperation. A self-inflicted torture to keep himself in his toes and remind him of his errors. He will not let history repeat itself, even if he must break his heart thinking of ocean green eyes and loving smiles over and over again. Even if he never sees Dream anymore, and he doesn't deserve to see Dream ever again, Techno will keep the merman close to his heart.
"Found it!" Wilbur bursts inside the room with no consideration for the door. In his hands is the unmistakable crown of the late Queen, their mother. "Mother was one crafty witch, do you have any idea how hard it was to take off the ward protecting this thing?"
The crown is beautiful, a polished obsidian with golden carvings of vines and leaves, with shiny pearls made of silver embedded in it to replicate the stars in the sky. And shining in the middle of them, is a pearl. A real pearl that shines with the same metallic glint as the silver replicas, a stranger hiding behind a disguise. It's small, Technoblade could carry it around with only one hand, and it's hard to believe that the merfolk Empire depended on such a small thing, but magic rarely makes sense.
"Wilbur!" Philza scolds, both for the door and the supposedly super powerful object in the older prince's hand. Wilbur ignores him, however, giving the crown to the King.
"If it is really that powerful, we can use it to save Phill, right?" The brunette smiles, looking giddy like a kid in a candy shop, and Techno can't help the slight smile. He's glad that out of the two, his brother got to keep his original cheerfulness. The pinkette doesn't dare think what type of abyss he would've fallen if not for his brother's light.
