Chapter Text
As per usual, the Nether was hot. And very, very dangerous. Technoblade had thought that he would be fine, he always was fine.
But nothing was fine, this time around.
He just needed hoglin hide. It should have been fine.
Yet when a stray arrow flies into a piglin hunting party, it suddenly became a lot less fine.
There were too many piglins.
There were too many hoglins.
Techno made it out of there on a heart and a half.
Tired, bloody, and half-dead, he stumbled through the Nether landscape, looking for an exit. A stray portal, something, anything.
There.
Tucked into a nether rack mountain, was a portal.
Particles dusted off the gateway, fading into the air. He’d never been so happy to see it.
Techno fell through the portal, briefly wondering where in the Overworld he’d end up.
—-
Tommy just wanted to decorate his nether portal. He had built an entire giant tree around it, and was working on the surrounding ground.
Definitely not expecting a bloody piglin- lookin’ fucker to fall through his portal. What the fuck.
Pulling a stick out of his inventory, Tommy slowly poked the guy. Nothing. Was he dead? No, no, he was definitely still breathing. Kinda. Not really.
Who even was this? He rolled the guy over (with a lot of struggling, why the hell is he so big???) and took a good look at his face.
Fuckin’ TECHNOBLADE?!
HOW THE HELL DID HE FIND HIS PORTAL? DID HE NOT HIDE IT WELL ENOUGH?
Maybe it was by accident? He did fall through unconscious.
“HEY, BEZOS!” Tommy yelled towards the stables.
The horse trotted over to the fence and neighed.
“Go get the sled! We gotta drag something heavy into the house!”
Bezos snorted and ran towards the storage. Two minutes later, he was walking towards Tommy and dragging the sled behind him.
“C’mon. Over here.”
The horse drug the sled over next to the unconscious man, and Tommy pushed him onto it.
“Alright. Time to get this idiot into the house. Oh, really Bezos? Don’t look at me like that.”
Bezos just tossed his head and started to pull Techno towards the house.
Tommy followed, muttering “Fuckin’ prick.”
—-
Getting the half-piglin into the house was… difficult. More so than Tommy would like to admit.
Although, he was glad for the large doorways. That way, Bezos could just walk in without having Tommy try to haul his brother through the door by himself.
After pulling out the futon and rolling Technoblade onto it, Tommy slowly began to clean and patch his wounds. Washing out dirt and nether dust, pulling out the occasional arrow, cleaning the surrounding area, stitching it shut, and wrapping the wound. Over and over again.
“Prime, how the hell’d you get like this? You were never this reckless back… then. Back before everything.” Tommy sighed as he wrapped the last cut. He leaned back onto his hands. “What happened to you?” He looked at the pile of arrows. “Piglins, maybe? Ugh, fuckin’ idiot. Aren’t you supposed to be half related to them?”
It took three days for Technoblade to wake up. Tommy was in the kitchen making lunch when he heard him groan and try to move, then only to swear in pain. Tommy left his sandwich in favor of helping the injured man.
“Oh look. You’re finally awake.” Tommy crouched down next to the futon and crossed his arms.
“Ugh. What the hell-“ Techno looks at the blonde next to him. “How long was I out?”
“It’s been three years.” Tommy laughed when he saw his brother’s terrified look. “I’m just fuckin’ with ya, man. It’s been about three days.”
Techno sighed and pushed himself up on his elbows. “Good, you had me worried there for a minute. Name’s Technoblade. Yours?”
Tommy paused for a second. Internally, he was screaming. HE DOESN’T RECOGNIZE ME?! OH THANK PRIME. “The name’s Henry.”
“Got a last name?”
A laugh. “Used to, but that was a long time ago. I don’t- I don’t need it anymore.”
It was Techno’s turn to laugh. “Sounds tragic.”
“Kinda. You hungry? I was just making lunch.”
“Nah, I feel like I could throw up if I ate right now.”
“That’s fair. You did look pretty fucked up when you showed up.”
“Heh. But, how did I get here? I don’t… exactly remember. It’s all fuzzy.”
“Well, I was working outside when you fell through the nether portal, half- dead.”
“Oh. Sorry ‘bout that, I guess.”
“It’s fine. Here, I gotta redo your bandages.” Tommy grabbed the gauze and medical supplies.
“Oh. Okay, lemme sit up-“ Tehno promptly emptied his guts. Luckily, Tommy got him a bucket in time so the floor was saved.
Tommy worked on replacing bandages as Techno tried to stop dry heaving. He did, and Tommy gave him some water.
“Thanks, again. For this.”
“I told you, it’s fine. I wasn’t just gonna leave you out there to die or something. Besides, it would’ve ruined my property value.”
Techno laughed, a faint memory pinging in the back of his head. Tommy left to work when the piglin- hybrid fell asleep.
—-
It was another two days until Techno could stand by himself to walk around. Tommy had insisted that he stay inside, because “it was dangerous”.
(he couldn’t have his brother get familiar with the area. he couldn’t afford for Techno to remember where Tommy’s house was. he couldn’t afford to have Dream finding him.)
Techno, however, didn’t give a shit. He found ‘Henry’ outside one day, and complimented him on his work. ‘Henry’, although surprised, thanked him. ‘Henry’ let Techno help him for a bit, until Techno felt sick again and had to lay down.
That night, at supper, Techno told ‘Henry’ about his lost brother. He talked about how his brother, Tommy, came to live with him. How they got along so well, until an invitation for Earth SMP arrived. How they began to fight, drifting further and further apart every day, until Techno ended up leaving. He talks about how he regretted leaving, and how he regretted leaving the moment he took a step out of the door. How he regretted leaving every day. Every single day. And how he wished so badly that he could apologize.
The next day, Techno found ‘Henry’ sitting out on the porch watching the sunset. He sat down, the blonde by his side.
“You’ve got a nice view of the ocean.” Techno says.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“My brother- the one I told you about- he sent me a letter, about a year back. Said he had a real nice view of the ocean, too.”
“Huh. He say anything else?”
“Yeah, I don’t remember though. Honestly, I cried for a week after I got that letter.”
“A week?”
“Sure did. I couldn’t believe that he wasn’t dead. It does a lot to a person.” Techno laughed, quiet and sad. “Welp, I’m gonna head to bed. Nice talking with ya.”
“Night.”
Techno walked inside, and Tommy just sat and stared at the sunset. He was happy his brother went inside, so he couldn’t see him crying.
The day after that, Techno mentioned offhandedly about heading back home. ‘Henry’ said he’d take him back soon, and Techno didn’t think much of it.
And if ‘Henry’ gave him a ‘new tea’ that night, he didn’t think much of it.
And if Techno woke up at his home that next morning (smelling of llama), Tommy and Griff didn’t think much of it.
-
Later that day, Techno found a note tucked into his pocket. It was wrapped in leather cord.
“I’m sorry,” it read. “But I can’t have you knowing where I am. For your safety and mine. -H”