Requested by TheShinySnivy: Technoblade loses something that is important to him in more ways than one. Ranboo learns he isn't the only one who suffers ill effects from his hybrid heritage.
Fits of laughter were still fading from their lungs as they emerged from the Nether portal.
Ranboo was caught between humor and panic over the situation, somewhere on the edge of those two contradictions. Technoblade bumped into him as they both stumbled from the purple haze, barely escaping the seriously pissed-off horde of hoglins they had managed to anger on their way back from the bastion by the skin of their teeth. Their breathing came out slightly ragged from the sprinting.
"Not even close," Technoblade said casually, rolling his shoulders back and Ranboo couldn't help but feel more at ease with the flippant atmosphere. He really thought he was about to head straight into the lava at some point during the mad dash, but they had both made it out unscathed.
Or well, relatively unscathed. Ranboo blinked at Techno while trying to put together in his head what was missing about the picture. There was the odd sense of absence he couldn't place which slotted in his mind a moment later and he vocalized with a low, static hum. "Oh, your crown."
Techno reflexively reached out to straighten it, only to find nothing. "Must have dropped it somehow," he concluded, but there was a strange apprehension in the statement Ranboo couldn't place. It was gone a moment later as Technoblade shrugged, dropping his arm again. "Eh, I'll replace it tomorrow."
Ranboo still felt there was more. It was just too hard to untangle his thoughts and figure out why. He wanted to – but then Techno was talking again and Ranboo was always bad at concentrating on multiple things at once. It made the forgetting worse. He needed to focus on the words instead.
"We gotta show these to Phil-" Techno was saying, going on about something and Ranboo trudged along, nodding. His tail swished side to side, shaking the lingering anxiety from his body as if it were a physical burden.
If it were important, he was sure it would come back to him.
When Technoblade woke up the next morning, it was with the profound feeling that something was seriously off.
His head throbbed, though not in the 'go to bed, you've been awake for 48 hours' way he was used to. More like he had accidentally bashed his head into the doorframe yesterday. He grunted as he got out of bed, stretching his sore muscles.
Maybe he had overdone it a little, going to the Nether after he had already spent the better part of the day mining for diamonds. With all the blaze rods they got out of the bargain it was hard to regret their trip though.
He made his way to the downstairs room, stopping momentarily at a chest filled with food but discarding the idea. He just didn't have much of an appetite. He'd worry about eating later. Sorting through all the loot he had gathered but hadn't put away yet, Techno took a moment to get his bearings. He had the feeling that he was forgetting something important. Did he remember to feed the hound army last night? Or had he been so exhausted he headed straight to bed?
Well, he could just do it now.
Their excited barks upon entering the doghouse made him wince at their loudness, speaking to them in a low voice to calm them down. Techno spent some time making sure they were all well-fed and happy, petting shaggy white fur and feeling his fingers sink into its comfortable warmth.
Unwillingly, he found his eyelids drooping, tiredness pulling at his body. Which was strange since he had just woken up. One dog jumping up and licking his face snapped Techno out of it and he playfully shoved them off. "Yeah, I'm going, I'm going." It barked again.
As he stepped outside he braced himself against the cold but found it not as bad as he had expected. Calling any weather in the tundra 'pleasant' was an overstatement, but as far as it went this seemed like an ideal day to work outside. There was the turtle farm to go to, and he wanted to see about planting potatoes.
Maybe he could just take it easy today?
Heading back to his cabin to get the necessary tools, Techno didn't even notice that it had started snowing.
When he woke up Ranboo was still thinking about Technoblade's crown.
Which was weird because – really, rationally – Ranboo knew it wasn't his concern. And nothing good ever came from the enderman-hybrid sticking his nose in places it didn't belong. No, Ranboo should just let it go. Maybe it was better if he let it go?
Except, hm, Techno had always been nice to him since he moved to his shack. Ranboo liked Techno. So maybe the reason it wouldn't leave his mind was because he wanted to do something with it. Maybe he could do something for Techno?
Ranboo found him working on a patch of land outside the cabin, a small unearthed square of dirt cleared of all snow. Techno had mentioned wanting to start a farm, but Ranboo hadn't expected him to do it quite so soon. Or at quite such an inconvenient location. He tilted his head. "Good morning."
At first he thought Techno hadn't heard him, attention too absorbed by his work to respond – not an entirely new circumstance. But then the other did something Ranboo would almost call 'being startled', a delayed reaction to his presence. When he saw who it was that had addressed him, Techno made a small noise in acknowledgment.
"Mornin'. Bit busy here, sorry."
"Oh," Ranboo said. Technoblade looked... weird. His eyes kept shifting over the ground as if he was looking for something and he wasn't working as fast as usual. His skin seemed... pale? Or paler than it should be. Sweat was beading on his forehead as he swept his hair out of his face. "Can I help?"
"Nah, it's easy work." Techno pushed the hoe into the ground again, leaning on it a bit more than he should. "Just- feeling a bit under the weather, I guess? Must be getting old." Techno laughed. "Don't tell Phil I said that."
Ranboo hummed his agreement. Techno pushed his hair to the side again, tugging it behind his ears now that there wasn't a crown to hold it back anymore and Ranboo remembered again. Maybe he could help with that then?
He said his goodbyes – again not getting much of a reaction out of Techno – and went back to his house in search of stray gold ingots. There weren't a lot and going down to the mine would take time. Ranboo bit his lip and considered his options. Asking Techno for more gold would ruin the surprise, but he was sure Phil could lend him some.
Ranboo knocked on the door, immediately greeted by Phil's jovial call to let himself in. Wiping his boots first – he wouldn't want to get snow on Phil's floor if he could help it – Ranboo opened the door.
"Just in time for tea," Phil said. He held up a steaming kettle in demonstration. "You take yours with sugar, yeah?"
"Oh, uh, yes but-" Ranboo hesitated. As much as he loved having tea with Phil, he couldn't allow himself to get distracted. "I actually came to borrow some gold, if I could? I'll give it back later."
"Gold?" Phil echoed, already pouring his own cup. "Sure mate, I got some leftovers in that chest over there probably." He gestured vaguely in the direction of his crafting table. "What do you need it for."
"I'm making a crown."
Phil stopped pouring, dropping a spoon in the cup. "Don't you already have one?"
Ranboo vocalized a small sound. "It's a gift for Technoblade."
"Doesn't he also already have one?"
"We went into the Nether yesterday and he lost his. Didn't he tell you?"
Phil's face contorted into a concerned frown. Ranboo thought that was a strange reaction, but didn't say so as he finally pulled out two small ingots from the bottom of the chest. "No, I haven't seen him at all. I think he went straight to bed or something." Phil sounded contemplative.
"He might be sick?" Ranboo provided awkwardly. Part of him felt like it wasn't his place to divulge, which made him nervous. Like he was sharing some well-kept secret. But a much bigger part knew that this was Phil. Techno wouldn't mind Phil knowing, surely. "He said he didn't feel well earlier."
The spoon with which Phil had been stirring his tea fell against the side of the cup abruptly. He said something under his breath that might have been a curse thought Ranboo didn't quite catch it. Then he was moving out the door and despite not really knowing what was going on Ranboo followed.
"Techno?!" Phil called, the urgency in his voice putting Ranboo on edge suddenly. The piglin-hybrid was nowhere to be seen and Ranboo almost thought he had gone back inside. Then he saw a lump of bright red collapsed in the snow.
"Shit." Phil was quicker, light on his feet and at Techno's side in an instant. He scooped the other up in his arms as best he could. "Hey Tech, you still with us?"
Techno tried sitting up but was unable to. "Hurts," he groaned.
"Yeah, I know." Phil pushed his hand up against Techno's forehead. "You're burning up, we need to get you inside. Ranboo, can you-"
He didn't need to finish his sentence, Ranboo was already rushing forward to help. Between the two of them, it wasn't too hard to hoist Techno upright, making him lean on their shoulders as they shuffled back to the cabin. Ranboo could feel the fever where Techno's skin brushed against him. Compared to the coldness of the tundra it felt near scorching.
They put Techno on the couch. Phil moved around the house with clear intent, as if he knew exactly what to do. Ranboo wanted to ask what was going on but didn't want to interrupt something important. On Phil's request, he found a cloth and wet it with water to put on Techno's forehead, hoping it would help bring his temperature down. Phil also helped Techno sit upright so he could make him drink a regeneration potion, before laying him back down and covering him with a blanket.
Then came a question Ranboo hadn't been expecting.
"Do you still have that gold?"
He stumbled over his words while trying to answer. "Y-yeah, I have it all here."
"Great. Can you make that crown for me? This will go quicker if I can concentrate on constructing the enchantment."
More confusion dwelled in Ranboo's mind but he nodded, jumping over to the forge. It probably wasn't going to look really nice like he wanted it to, nervous hands shaking too much to concern himself with good craftsmanship. But it was fast and that had to count for something. Phil was working on the enchantment, occasionally stopping to check on Techno who was now fast asleep.
Ranboo handed him the crown as soon as he was done – getting a quick thanks in return – then sat down anxiously to wait. He thought he was being subtle about it, but he probably hadn't been because after a little while Phil threw him a glance and then smiled softly.
"Sorry, you probably have no clue what's going on."
"Not really," Ranboo said, ducking his head awkwardly. "That okay though... You didn't seem that surprised. Has this uh, happened before?"
Phil kept working as he talked. "Ages ago when I just met Techno, yes. He was just a kid then, so it wasn't as bad."
Ranboo pretended like he had any idea what that meant.
Phil sensed his lingering dubiety. "Do you know what commonly happens to piglins when they come to the Overworld?" he asked.
Suddenly it clicked within Ranboo's mind. "Is- Is he zombifying?" He didn't mean to sound quite so horrified at the revelation.
"Nah. Or not entirely anyway? I guess half of him is and the other half is trying to prevent it. It just makes him very sick."
Ranboo could understand that at least. He couldn't imagine how it must feel when an entire part of your body is trying to decay while the other is trying to ward that off. He shuddered. "And to stop it?" he asked.
"The first time this occurred we managed to create an enchantment to keep the rotting from happening. The downside is Techno has to have it on him at all times. So we put it on something he wasn't likely to ever take off." Phil turned the gold over in his hands, assessing the metal. He nodded at himself, satisfied. "Thankfully we caught it in time, he'll be alright."
Ranboo averted his gaze, anxiously scratching at his own fingers. He had never been happier he had decided not to go mining.
The day that had started out with him feeling slightly bad had quickly turned into him feeling really terrible and then into him feeling absolutely dreadful. Muscle aches had changed their tune into painful cramps and after ten minutes of farming, Techno had been feverish and tired. He had just decided he should probably head inside when the world started spinning and he landed on his face in the snow.
What happened after was kind of a blur, though he distinctly recalled both Phil and Ranboo being there at some point. Next thing he knew he was opening his eyes in the cabin, still feeling like death warmed over. Just slightly less so.
"What happened?" he slurred, knowing Phil would probably be there to hear him. That man was such a mother hen, he probably hadn't left his side for more than a minute. Techno wasn't going to pretend he minded though.
He was proven right when Phil adjusted the blanket that covered him. "You lost your crown. You know, the thing that is supposed to keep you from getting sick. Which you did. Because you lost it and didn't tell me."
Phil's tone was more scolding father than concerned friend, a juxtaposition which made Techno grin. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that."
He got a short squawk of indignation in response. "How do you forget something like that, mate?"
"I uh-" Ranboo piped up from his own seat at the table. Technoblade hadn't noticed he was still there, turning his head to look at him. To his own dull surprise, he didn't mind that either. "I also sometimes forget the water thing. That it hurts me? It just slips my mind."
Technoblade didn't waste any time latching onto that excuse. "See, the kid's with me. Slipped my mind. So I guess you can't be mad at me."
"I'm not mad," Phil snorted. "I was worried."
"Weak," Techno answered lowly, earning a smack against his arm in response. "Such awful bedside manners you have, Philza Minecraft."
"Next time I'm leaving you in the snow."
Techno had no retort to that. He was already tired again, closing his eyes. Phil was talking to Ranboo in soft whispers. The perfect background noise for him to fall back asleep to.