This chapter covers the prompts: Migraines, "It's normal that you need more time.", Losing a sense (day 28-31)
The actual rescue is experienced as rather anticlimactic on Tango's part.
Probably because of the blood loss. Combined with an adrenaline crash the likes of which is rare for him - and that's saying something, since Tango 'Adrenaline Crash' Tek is basically his full name - he's a bit of a noodly mess for the majority of it. He keeps his wits about him long enough to point them in the direction of the estate, and give some information on how to best approach it. He stresses the importance of getting Techno out quickly. Or he hopes he does. By then, everything is getting kind of woozy.
Tango wishes he could go with them. He wants to be there and make sure everything goes okay, and so his friends don't have to rush blindly into the lion's den. It's just that his legs barely have the strength to keep himself upright. Running headfirst into a combat situation would be out of the question for him. He'd just be a burden that makes everything harder for the others.
Still, as the first explosion can be heard, Tango shakes.
Skizz holds him tighter, hand rubbing up and down his back. Tango is entirely too exhausted and in too much pain to really be self-conscious about it like he'd usually be. It's only a little bit embarrassing anyway, in how Skizz mutters reassurances under his breath that are hardly words anymore. Tango won't pretend it's not helping, and he trusts his friend enough that for all the playful teasing they get up to, this is something Skizz isn't going to poke at him over later. Tango knows this.
"Hm," Skizz mutters, using his other hand to fiddle with his communicator. He's having some trouble with it since he's also refusing to let go of Tango at all. Tango can't actually see what he's typing - his forehead rests against Skizz's shoulder.
"What's wrong?" Tango manages to ask, tongue too numb for proper words. He could fall asleep like this, but haywire nerves won't let him.
"Nothing," Skizz says, too quickly.
"Really?" Tango tries to push away a bit, but again, dumb noodle arms.
"We're fine," Skizz says. Then gently knocks his knuckles against the back of Tango's head. "Seriously, Top, stop worrying about it. You've done enough of that the past two months, I bet."
"Two months?" Tango repeats automatically.
Is that really how long they've been gone for? That can't be true… Can it? Tango's head spins at the thought. At everything.
"Let me look," Skizz says, carefully pushing up Tango's shirt to inspect the wound in his stomach. They poured a potion on it, which means the bleeding has mostly stopped, but it has the unfortunate side-effect of draining the little amount of energy Tango has left. Potions aren't really a fix for anything. They only speed up your body's natural healing process on a small scale, and they take just as much out of you. Handy in a pinch when you don't want to bleed to death all over the floor. Not ideal for long-term healing.
But that's fine. Tango already decided he's going to spend like, a week in bed after this.
"You're fine," Skizz says again. He sounds as if he's trying to comfort himself more than Tango this time.
"'Course I am." Tango closes his eyes. "Wake me up when the others get back?"
Skizz chuckles softly. His fingers resume their soothing motion through his hair. "Sure buddy."
Tango only holds out a few more seconds before drifting off.
By the time he wakes up, they're already back on the Hermitcraft server. So note that one down as Skizz being a filthy liar who doesn't keep his promises, though Tango won't hold it against him. He doesn't exactly feel much better despite being passed out for several hours, which means he was probably in worse shape than he realized.
"Ugh…" He tries to reach a hand up to rub his face but hisses when something pulls on the tendon. A sling? Did he dislocate his shoulder? His arm has been hurting but he didn't think it was that serious.
A soft snoring noise makes him look up.
Tango smiles at the sight of Impulse asleep in a chair next to the bed. He's drooling down the front of his shirt just a little bit. Gross, yet endearing. Then again, Tango is probably at that point where he could see a recognizable tree from the server and let it bring him to tears. He's just so relieved to be back.
But he can't relax until he knows that they got Techno out too.
Slowly, Tango uses his other arm to force himself upright. He bites the inside of his cheek at a sharp sting flaring to live in his stomach. He can feel the tightness of bandages stretched across the wound, the pressure on the edge of painful. Whoever invented potions should have added some sort of numbing agent to them. Why hasn't that already been done?
He looks around, not recognizing the building they're in. Not one of his then, though Tango can't say he'd done an in-depth inspection of all his friends' bases recently. He was pretty absorbed in building Decked Out before he was kidnapped. The high ceiling and abundance of shelves littered with knickknacks seem like something Cleo would do.
Using the wall for support, he shuffles toward the door. He's dizzy, and at several points afraid he'll lose his balance. But slow and steady wins the race. Impulse doesn't even wake up to scold him!
Then he grabs the handle to push the door open and immediately his grip slips.
In his defense, his dumb noodle arms apparently haven't fully unnoodled. Denoodled? A spasm runs through the muscle right as he tries to use the handle and that's totally not his fault, okay? Tango falls through it, clinging to the handle to keep from sprawling completely on the floor, and then knocks the door into the wall. The conversation two people are having on the other side cuts off abruptly.
One of them is Xisuma and the other is the angel Tango saw in the woods.
Not an angel, an avian. Tango feels he is faintly familiar - in the same way Techno was the first time they met. Not that he really knows the guy, but maybe like he has seen him before because he's famous or something. Tango is the worst person to ask about that since he fails to keep up with those sorts of things. Tournaments and such have never interested him. Grian would probably know. He knows everybody.
"Tango?" Xisuma stands, the exhaust of his metallic exoskeleton puffing at the sudden movement. He must have been sitting down for a while. "What are you doing out of bed?"
"I was just-" Tango stops as the door wobbles. The last thing he needs is for Xisuma to put him on forced bedrest because he hurt himself, so he takes a moment to steady. "Just trying to check if everybody is okay?"
"We should be asking you that," Impulse says, coming up behind him and taking hold of his elbow. "I mean, seriously, dude? You're awake for three seconds."
Tango scrunches up his face a bit in displeasure at all the fussing. Not exactly his strong suit, really. He appreciates his friends care, the mushy stuff makes him want to shrug it all off and change the subject. No matter how much part of him has missed this the past months. He allows Impulse to support him as he awkwardly hobbles the rest of the way to the table and sits down on an empty chair.
"You've met Phil," Xisuma says, gesturing with one hand at the avian while taking his own seat again.
"Kind of," Tango says.
"Briefly," Phil agrees with a small smile. He looks very… calm, right now. Maybe it was the blood loss or maybe Tango was on the edge of delusion back then, but Phil seemed a lot more intimidating before. Now he looks like a regular guy.
"Techno told me about you," Tango says. "Is he…?"
"He's doing okay. He's in bed, like you should be, actually." Xisuma pushes a glass of water over the table until it sits in front of Tango. Impulse has disappeared into the kitchen - or what Tango can assume is the kitchen from a glance - and Tango can smell food cooking. His mouth waters at the scent.
"I'm fine," Tango mumbles, leaving the glass where it is. "Really, things weren't so bad for me, not compared to some of the others." Well, mostly Techno.
"It's not a competition, mate," Phil says.
"Eat first," Impulse cuts in, returning with a bowl of something steaming. "There'll be time to talk after. You need to get your strength up." After weeks of basically only being served broth and soup, Tango thought he wouldn't be able to stomach that stuff ever again. But he's really hungry. He'd eat Scar's cooking at this point, and that's saying something.
"Thanks," Tango says as he takes the bowl.
"For the record, we made Zedaph distract Skizz for a bit because he was going stir-crazy in here, but I doubt he'll be able to keep him away for long," Impulse continues. "Everybody has been pretty worried. But we told them you both need some space at first."
The soup is delicious. Tango is so busy enjoying it he almost forgets to respond. "Good idea."
He has missed his friends and he can't wait to see them again. At the same time, the thought of being surrounded by people makes him want to crawl into a hole and die.
Especially if they're all going to be looking at him the same way Xisuma is right now, head slightly tilted, observant. Oh god, is he going to be called in for a psych eval? Tango hasn't needed to go in for one of those since the end of Season Eight.
"What happened to uh, to the place?" he asks, trying to get his mind off it.
"Gone," Xisuma says.
"Gone?"
"Gone gone," Impulse repeats for their admin. "Like, wiped off the map gone."
"Grian deleted the server. And the one you were on before, the trafficker base."
Oh, he must have been pissed .
"No matter," Phil says with a grin, eyes crinkling at the corners. "We made them pay for it first."
"The other victims are being looked after, and the traffickers are being processed by the system. Nothing for you to be concerned about, Tango. We've taken care of it," Xisuma clarifies.
Of course, they didn't murder everybody in cold blood. Tango definitely didn't think they had for one brief second. Wiping a server is serious stuff though, Tango had no idea Grian has that sort of sway.
"He's waking up!" A nervous voice calls from down the hallways. Followed a few seconds later by a tall enderman hybrid half-running into the room. He bends down to scoot beneath the doorframe. When he sees Tango, their eyes meet for a moment, before quickly darting away. "Sorry," he adds sheepishly.
Phil is already getting up, presumably to check on Techno if that's who they're talking about. Tango automatically gets up too and follows them, though he's not as fast. Neither Xisuma nor Impulse stop him.
The last time he saw Techno, the guy looked half-dead. Tango can't shake the image. Seeing Techno upright in the bed, something feels almost like it will break inside him, but in a good way. At least for that first glance, until he hears the words Techno is actually saying.
"Phil, I can't see anything."
Techno doesn't remember a thing from the past three days.
Another side-effect of the seizure he apparently had. Not that he has any memory of that either. It happened somewhere during the rescue, so that's all one big blur. Waking up and realizing he had lost his sight was probably one of the worst things to ever happen to him, and that's saying something given Techno's track record.
"It's only temporary." Techno blinks at a small light flicking across his face. He's not fully blind. He notices the brightness, somehow. "The occurrence is rare, but seizures can lead to partial amaurosis."
"How long until it clears up?" Phil asks from his right.
"Hours? Days? Weeks? Who knows."
On his other side, Tango squeezes his wrist. "Well, until that happens, you better stay here, right?"
"Right," Techno agrees. Tango has been somewhat jumpy at the thought of Techno leaving again.
"You can take as much time as you need," said with a slight edge of mechanical noise. The admin. The doctor (literally Doc is his name) grunts and stands up, Techno's ear twitches at the light shifting of a lab coat.
"Even if your sight returns, you'll be more prone to losing your vision again if you ever get another head injury. Is that something to be concerned about?"
"Eeeeeeeeeeh," Techno says, shrugging. He hears Phil laugh and Ranboo makes a small sound of dismay.
"It is. With him it definitely is," Ranboo says.
"Not to mention the chance of relapse."
"More seizures?" Tango asks.
"Possibly."
"How about for now you both focus on getting in tip-top shape again and we'll go from there?" The admin takes a step closer. "Thanks for your time, Doc."
"Anytime." A light hiss precedes the man straightening fully. "What do I tell the others? Because you know they're all waiting to barge the door down with how many new guys are here."
Techno feels Tango tense up. Another squeeze, and he awkwardly leans in to press his shoulder into Tango's.
"Their curiosity can wait," the admin decides.
After they leave the room, it's just Techno, Tango, and Phil. Ranboo has to be heading back to their server soon, to make sure the commune doesn't burn down in their absence. The fact that Techno isn't around certainly has been noticed. Two months is a long time.
And yet Tango seems in no rush to leave this room.
Techno expected the other man to be off like a rocket the moment they came back to his home server, especially from the way he talked about it. His friends, his projects, his eagerness to return to normalcy. Every story Techno told about his own status quo only seemed to horrify Tango by comparison.
But here he is, reluctant to leave Techno's side for longer than it takes to fetch water or food.
Yesterday, Techno woke up in the middle of the night to a slight tug on his blanket.
Too sluggish from the pain and malnutrition he's still recovering from, Techno wasn't in much of a condition to fight back had somebody come to kill him in his sleep. But it was Tango, curling up against him underneath the blanket.
He didn't say anything. Techno didn't say anything either.
They didn't need to, to know they both felt safer that way.
"It's normal that you need more time," Techno says. "People kind of suck, I wouldn't want to be around a ton of them either."
Tango chuckles slightly. What Techno means is the pity and the fretting. Tango seems to be better at bearing that than him, but the sentiment remains.
"Yeah…" Tango exhales. "Yeah, I guess." He hesitates. Then a few seconds later, Techno hears the door creak and supposes Phil must have stepped out too. Strange.
Techno's head hurts too much to think about it.
"You know you don't have to leave at all, right?" Tango asks. "If you want to stay on the Hermit server you can."
"I'm not much of a builder," Techno says. He's heard about this place enough to tell he won't truly fit in. The things they create are more impressive than Phil's hardcore exploits and those give Techno a run for his money. Kind of ironic that Techno can't see it with his own eyes now that he's finally here. Then again, what they're all probably implying is that going back to a place where people are known to throw anvils at him might be a bad idea. Touché.
"You don't have to be," Tango says. "I mean, you can learn to be more of a builder if you want to. But you don't have to."
The proposition should be absurd. Except…
Except when Techno really thinks about it, he can't come up with many reasons to refuse the offer. Granted he can organize for his pets to be moved to this server, but that shouldn't be the hardest thing in the world to figure out. Knowing Tango, the blazeborn can probably come up with a way to use redstone and automate the process.
"I'll think about it," Techno says.
"Standing in the sun for hours isn't going to make your headache any better."
Techno sighs and turns around, the swing wide and not very targeted. Tango has no issue dodging out of the way of the lethal farming implemented he's holding anyway. "What makes you think I have a headache?"
"Hm, let me guess." Tango holds up his hand so he can literally count on his fingers. "One: you locked yourself in your base yesterday, which you only do if you have a migraine."
Techno hums. "It's called a self-care day. You should try it."
"Two: Scar told me you had another partial seizure during one of the mini-games the day before that."
"Bruh, he wasn't supposed to tell you."
"And three: you're squinting. While wearing your glasses. That's headache squinting!"
"It's kind of foggy out here," Techno says flatly. It's noon on a hot summer day. If the air was any dryer, they might as well be in the Nether again.
"Let's just go inside. Your potatoes can wait another day, man."
"Not if I want to outpace a redstone farm." Tango honest to god glares at him. "What?"
"You're never allowed to make fun of me again for spending too long stuck in a hole," Tango says.
Techno laughs. He pushes the hoe back into the ground, but Tango persists.
"You know it's either this or us telling Phil when he gets back from his hardcore world."
A hard bargain. Techno moved to Hermitcraft permanently, since he has nowhere else to be. He visits Hypixel sometimes but that's about it. Tournaments above the level of friendly competition with low stakes are in his past. And he's done with wars.
Well, aside from prank wars.
Phil divides his time more equally between here and his personal projects. He's the one who built the base they share. Techno isn't entirely sure where Ranboo and Niki hang out these days, he's just glad they're gone from the old server and they stay in touch, sometimes even visit. It's not quite the revolutionary group of anarchists he was working on before all this, but it's something good all the same.
Maybe better.
"Fine. You win." He raises his arms. "But may I remind you I almost died because of you."
"Don't try to guilt trip me. That literally only worked for the first month you were here," Tango says, walking ahead of him towards the path that leads to the front door, lined with flowers.
"It was worth a shot." Techno puts his tool down to follow him, wiping his hands on his pants.
"Come on, I have some ideas for Decked Out improvements I want to run by you," Tango says with a skip in his step.
The universe has strange ways of making things turn out sometimes. Techno might turn into a builder yet.