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randominternetartist · 9 months

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Never In Heart | chapter 2: Into The Fire

This was co-written with @emburrae, so go give them some love!

One more and we're done

This chapter took so long but we're super proud of it

The potions Techno grabs are regen, healing, invisibility, strength, swiftness, weakness, and slowness respectively

Enjoy!

Read it on AO3!

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Techno returns home tired and spent, but it seems like his battle with the Butcher Army is not over yet.

▬▬ι══════════════ι▬▬

“What?” Phil asks in a clipped tone.

Quackity steps forward. “We’re searching your house.”

Phil blocks the doorway. “No”

Quackity glares at him. “Then where’s Technoblade?”

“Why would I know?” The blonde answers, question clearly rhetorical.

“We figured you of all people would know where he’s gone to,” Fundy says.

Phil scoffs. “Have you checked his house?”

Quackity tries to push past him. “He’s not stupid enough to go back there.”

Phil pushes him back, saying, “Does it look like he came here to tell me where he was going? I saw him run off on Carl, same as you! And it’s not like there’s been time for him to come and tell me he was going.”

Fundy pushes Phil back with the help of Quackity. “You think we don’t know you have a secret base?” The fox hybrid starts.

“He would definitely have shown you where that is,” Quackity finishes as they both step inside the house with Ranboo following behind.

“Telling me would kind of go against the whole point of the base being a secret.”

Fundy scoffs. “You want me to believe you two actually keep secrets from each other?”

Quackity raises his crossbow. “Alright, I’m done fucking around. Step aside, Philza.”

Phil stares down the arrow of the crossbow. “Absolutely not.”

Quackity’s eye twitches.

Phil ducks his head to the side just as the trigger is pulled. The arrow hits the opposing wall.

Phil grabs Quackity’s arm and pulls, bringing him down on the immortal’s lifted knee.

Fundy pulls a sword from his inventory and swings it at Phil. The man lets go of the avian and steps back, edge knicking his shoulder.

Fundy steps forward and swings at Phil again. Phil ducks and dodgers as Fundy keeps attacking, all the while Quackity gasps for air. Ranboo tries to pull him back from the fight but he resists.

Phil spots an opening on Fundy’s attack and takes a swing with his claws. It’s a clear path.

Suddenly he’s deeper in the house, confused and disoriented. Arms unwrap themselves from his torso and he almost loses his footing, flaring out his wings to regain his balance.

Pain flares at his side as Fundy cuts into his arm and Phil gasps. An arrow hits his good wing, and a short scream tears itself from his throat.

Phil acts on instinct and lunges for Quackity. The man shoots another arrow, which lands on Phil’s leg, but quickly the immortal has the avian pinned under him.

Then something hard hits his temple and Phil is suddenly on the ground, a sword at his neck and a foot on his wing.

“Search the house, Fundy. I can take care of him now,” Quackity says, pointing the crossbow at Phil’s heart.

“Seriously? Mate, you’ve already torn this place apart once,” Phil says with exasperation. “What do you expect to find?”

“Search the corners and the chests, take everything out of them if you need to!”

“What?! I told you there’s no—” Phil starts but Quackity pressing the crossbow closer shuts him up quick.

“Shut the fuck up. If you say another fucking word I will shoot your eye, then your wings, then I’ll keep going until you die from bloodloss,” Quackity says with a calm facade that does nothing to hide his rage.

Phil stays quiet and watches as Fundy carelessly throws his items out of the chest; as Ranboo moves furniture and looks around at the nooks and crannies of Phil’s house; as Quackity gives the crossbow to Ranboo and joins Fundy on the search because he doesn’t think that Ranboo is doing enough. He also notices how Ranboo’s grip is loose and unsteady.

“Ranboo?” Phil whispers. He has a feeling the ender hybrid doesn’t want to be here.

The boy doesn’t speak.

“Come on, mate. You know there’s nothing here, they’re only doing this because they’re angry.”

Ranboo shifts a little and his ear twitches but he stays quiet.

“Please, Ranboo, lower the crossbow.” Phil knows he shouldn’t be messing with Ranboo like this but Quackity’s unstable and one wrong move could lead to both of them being hurt, or worse.

“Stay quiet.” Ranboo’s tone is urgent and afraid.

“Please, help me get out of here,” Phil says as calmly as he can manage. “I know you’re scared but–”

Quackity’s stomping footsteps stop Phil in his tracks. “I thought I told you to shut the fuck up, Philza!” He rips the crossbow from Ranboo’s hands and shoots Phil’s shoulder. “Next one is going on that pretty little wing of yours.” He turns to Ranboo and reaches for the boy. “As for you–”

Ranboo turns his attention towards Quackity. He notices how mad Quackity truly is just by looking at his body language. The avian grips Ranboo’s arm and with his other hand, slaps the heterochromic teen across the face. The slap was so loud that Fundy looked over his shoulder, and his jaw drops when he sees Ranboo stumble backwards a little bit.

“I thought I told you to WATCH him, not TALK to him!” Quackity yells as Ranboo’s hand instantly went up to his cheek where he had just been slapped.

Ranboo didn’t say anything as he felt the emotions running through him all at once, a feeling of fear, sadness, and a bit of anger.

Fundy narrows his eyes. “Quackity, calm down.”

The avian turns to him. “Don’t tell me-”

“No! Calm down, Q. I know you’re going through a lot right now, but that doesn’t mean you get to slap a kid.”

Quackity’s tone is still loud when he says, “You don’t get to tell me what to do!”

Fundy takes a step closer. “No, but neither do you. I’m following you by choice, and if I think you’re doing something you shouldn’t be doing, like slapping a kid, then I’ll go off on my own.”

Quackity’s face is still angry as he takes a deep breath, preparing to speak—probably yell—again.

Fundy places his hands on the avian’s shoulders. “Just calm down, Quackity.”

The avian takes a deep breath, closing his eyes and slumping his shoulders. He repeats this a few more times.

“Okay,” he says after a while. “Fundy, keep searching down here, I’m gonna keep an eye on Phil, and Ranboo-” He looks at the boy. “You go search the upstairs.”

Ranboo wastes no time going upstairs, away from Quackity and the others and leaving Phil alone with them.

▬▬ι══════════════ι▬▬

TECHNOBLADE!! walks through the snow of the tundra, moving towards the wooden cabin he and Phil built.

He hopes Phil is okay. He didn’t look it when Techno passed him by: wings torn and trapped in his own house by that damn bracelet around his ankle.

He sighs, opening the door and hitting the side of his boots against the outer wall to get rid of some of the snow before walking in. He takes off his boots, places his cape on the back of one of the chairs with his crown on top of it, and collapses on the couch with a heavy sigh.

His body hurts. The totem healed him but it did nothing for the pain, most of it only an echo sensation of an injury that no longer exists, but a part from the fight he had with Quackity in his escape. All, of course, hidden by the rush of adrenaline from everything that just happened.

He hopes the revival magic didn’t heal Quackity’s eye.

Techno should take a regen pot and maybe eat a golden apple too. He knows he should, but he’s so, so tired and his body hurts like hell now that the adrenaline is fading.

He just wants to sleep.

He might bleed out or have severe blood loss issues when he wakes up if he doesn’t drink a potion.

Technoblade considers getting off the couch, but when he moves, spikes of pain flare all over his body. Fuck. He really doesn’t want to get up, he wants to take a nap.

But he knows it’ll only get worse. If he takes a nap, then when he wakes up the pain will be worse than it is now. So, he takes a deep breath and pushes himself off the couch, pausing periodically to steady himself and let the haze of pain fade as much as it could.

He takes slow steps towards the chest, kneeling down once he reaches it and opening the lid.

Reaching in, he grabs a bottle with a pink-grey potion and a golden apple. Technoblade opens the cork and downs the potion in two big gulps then sets the bottle aside, waiting for it to kick in.

It takes some moments for him to feel like he’s able to move again, but once he does, he gets up and starts eating the golden apple as he sets off back to the sofa to sit down and rest now he’s healed more.

He kicks his legs up above the arm of the couch, letting his feet dangle off the edge as he looks up. He stares at the wooden boards of the ceiling, the straight lines with occasional perpendicular lines connecting two of the other ones, making random breaks in the hypnotic pattern.

He thinks about Phil. How he’ll get his friend out and what could possibly happen to him now that the Butcher army failed to kill Techno. Would they try to hurt Phil? Would they leave him alone and focus on Techno himself? Have they given up on his execution? Would they execute Phil instead as some sort of sick, twisted revenge?

A pang of fear shoots through Techno’s heart. No, he reasons, they wouldn’t kill him, he has nothing to do with this. Quackity isn’t like that and Tubbo wouldn’t let him either way.

‘I wouldn’t put it past him.’

‘You hold him too highly…’

‘You give him way too much credit.’

‘He kind of already did…’

‘Quiet!’

‘SHUT IT!’

‘No! Don’t SPOIL!’

‘Zip it!’

‘What if we KILL Quackity?

‘Nah Techno already-’’

‘No one appreciates my ideas!’

“Chat you’re weird… and we’re not going to kill Quackity without a reason…” Techno pipes in, annoyed at Chat’s argument.

‘Oh well, we kind of already have one-’

‘SHUT. IT. CHANT TO TONE HIM OUT!! NOW!’

‘Blood For The Blood God!’

‘BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!’

‘No, let-”

‘ BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! ’

Not far away from Techno’s cabin, a crow is flying through the air at a high speed. It gracefully lands on one of the window sills, where it has a clear view of Technoblade through the window.

The crow squawked for a few seconds before growing mildly impatient, and began tapping on the window, trying to make as much noise as possible to attract the man’s attention.

After a while, the tapping got louder… much, much louder than when it first started.

Techno stays lost in his thoughts, worry for his friend plaguing his mind, not even paying attention to the multitude of voices screaming for his attention.

A loud thump startles him into action as his brain screams danger is near. He grabs a crossbow and points at the source of the noise, the weapon aimed and ready with his finger on the trigger.

Then he notices the source of the noise alongside the tapping.

Crows, Phil’s crows , tap at the window. One lays on the windowsill unmoving while the others tap their beaks against the glass the way they always do when they want attention.

Technoblade takes a breath, calming his beating heart and reassuring himself there is no danger now. Not anymore.

The feeling lingers.

He moves toward the window and lifts the lower pane open, allowing the crows to enter.

They quickly file in until the only one left outside is the one lying motionless.

Techno picks them up, gently taking them inside and checking them for injuries of any sort. Phil taught him how to recognize injuries in crows with the long rants and one-sided conversations Techno loved listening to.

The crow seems to have hit something solid at full speed. Techno is surprised the window didn’t break.

‘Ha, dumb crow.’

‘Do you think they hit it on purpose?’

Techno drowns out chat as the other crows caw around him and nip at his clothing, hair, and skin. It’s when one starts messing with his emerald earring that turns his attention to them.

“Don’t nip at that one,” he says, lightly slapping the crow away from him. It flies away and settles on top of his cape, then taps their beak on his crown.

He looks at the other crows. There are more than the usual group that comes to annoy him and they all seem to be trying to bring his attention to various items like swords, shields, potions, armour, and other things he’d use in a fight.

Maybe the Butcher Army isn’t above hurting innocent people for petty revenge.

‘That’s what I’ve been saying!’

‘No SPOILERS!’

“What’s going on?” Technoblade asks, his body tensing as he stands to his full height.

‘Phil needs help!’

‘Quiet!’

The crows keep going with the exception of two who proceed to tap at pictures of Phil and then at Techno’s injuries.

‘The crows are literally telling him right now, I don’t see why I can’t say anything!’

‘I think he just wants to bully you.’

“Phil’s hurt?” They nod their heads excitedly then move to the door. “Do I need to go get him now?” They nod again, more solemnly this time. “Oh, Phil, the things I do for you,” he mutters, walking to the chest of potions and grabbing two more of the pink-grey mixtures as well as some red, cloudy white, yellow, light blue, dark grey, and dirty grey-blue potions. He also takes a few more arrows before heading out the door, cape on his shoulders, crown atop his head, and a call for blood and revenge in his ears.

He will not let the Butcher Army hurt him or Phil any more.

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