Chapter 12: You Fought Too Hard

Scenario: Somewhere in between Techno and Tommy teaming up, and Dream coming to look for Tommy while Techno hides him.

Technoblade came back inside to see Tommy sitting on the floor, a golden apple in his hand.

"Hey...is something wrong?" Techno asked him.

"Oh, Technoblade. Hi. No, I'm fine."

"Uh-huh. Mkay. Stand up." Techno offered his hand, but Tommy ignored it and stood up by himself, his eyes on the ground.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing…"

"Tommy, we both know you're lying."

Tommy sighed, and said, "I kinda miss Dream, ya know?"

"Huh...what?"

"I mean, sure, he was a bitch sometimes, but he was there for me, you know? Tubbo...he was supposed to be there, but he never was. He just...completely left me."

Techno wasn't sure how to reply to that.

"Techno, sometimes I have dreams where I'm yelling at him, calling him names and just taking all of my anger out on him-my best friend! Dream sometimes hands me an axe, and...and I kill him. And the funny thing is, I don't feel any regret until the axe disappears. Then I'm standing on the edge of the nether again, staring into the lava. I realize what'd I'd done, and I hate myself. But then I turn, and Dream's right there. He's always there for me, Techno."

Oh, man… Technoblade didn't even know where to begin with this mess. "Tommy… Okay. Okay." Techno sighed. He hadn't signed up for this when he'd asked Tommy to help him destroy L'Manberg. He hadn't signed up for any of this.

Tommy finally raised his head, and there were no other words to describe his eyes other than tired. He looked so tired.

"Technoblade, I...I just feel like I'm doing everything wrong. I thought I did the right thing by following Wilbur, and by asking you to join our side, and both of those completely backfired. I tried to be a good citizen of L'Manberg after the war, and a good friend to Tubbo, but he still exiled me. And it's just so painful having Ghostbur around because every time I look at him I'm reminded of what he did, even though he's trying so hard. It's just so hard. And Dream...I don't know. I just don't know. I'm so sick and tired of everything. I thought things would be different after the war. I thought me and Tubbo could rebuild. But I was so wrong. I'm always wrong."

Techno hesitated, then did something that even surprised himself. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Tommy. He heard a small gasp from the younger boy, then felt the returned hug.

"You're...you didn't do anything wrong. You tried your best. Wilbur's actions, my actions, Tubbo's and Dream's actions, none of them were your fault, okay? It's not like you can control us. Yeah, things got a little messy. But you know what? You can still rebuild. It's not gone or hopeless. You've just gotta take the next step. Keep going, and it's okay if you look down sometimes. Just be sure to look up once in a while."

Tommy nodded, and stepped back, wiping his eyes. "Thanks, Techno."

"Yeah, anytime. And Tommy? Dream's not your friend. He was using you."

"Yeah, I know. It's just hard to get that through my head sometimes. But that's why I don't have to worry about you betraying me, Techno, cause you've always made it clear that we're just partners. But you're still there for me, so...thank you."

Techno glanced to the side. "No problem."

Tommy didn't move from his place in the middle of the room until Techno said, "Come on, let's go check on the turtles."

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