Techno drowsily opened his eyes, lifting his head slowly out of his arms, the throbbing pain in his skull pounded as if someone had taken a hammer to his head and used as much force as possible. Zoning out for a minute, he tried to register where he was and what he was doing. Suddenly, he jolted up causing the chair to fall backwards and onto the floor with a harsh landing and a loud thump.

He laid there for a moment, long messy hair spread out on the floor. He debated on whether or not to get up instead of just laying there and vibing. Ofcourse, in the end he won but sort of lost The argument in his head?? Sitting up and removing his legs off of the chair, the door suddenly slammed open against the wall. "Techno?!"

A Scottish-british accent could be heard from just around the desk. Soon enough the figure came running around the desk in a panic. Eyes searching, the blondes eyes landed on the pinkette on the floor. "Techno, are you alright?!" The pinkette took a minute to respond, worrying the blonde a bit more.

"Yeah, I'm alright." His own voice shocked him a little. "Jeez tech..did you even sleep at all?" The worried tone in his father's voice made him feel nothing less than guilt. "Y-..yeah. what time is it?" The pinkette slightly tilted his head as his father crouched down by his side. "Three in the morning." He didn't dare to meet his father's eyes throughout the conversation.

He felt the worried expression on his father's face burn into his skin like a blade covered in fire slicing right into his skin slowly but surely getting the job done in the end. "How much did you sleep?" The blonde asked, examining his son for any sign of wounds from the fall. "An hour.." the pinkette answered, causing the blondes eyes to widen. "Tech, how much sleep have you been getting?"

Minutes past with no answer. Just as the blonde went to say something, he answered. "It's the same. Each and every night, phil. I just can't sleep." The blonde stood, sighing silently. He left his hand out for his son to grab. Looking up, the pinkette took his father's hand, standing and letting go once he was up. "Techno, you can't keep going every night with little to no sleep." His father stated in a gentle tone.

The pinkette nodded slightly, looking to the side and down at the ground.

They stood, minutes of silence pass by. The uncomfortable silence. The voices grew louder and louder as each minute passed. His father on the other hand, was trying to get his sons attention. "Techno?" He went to put his hand gently on his sons shoulder but instead, the pinkette slapped his hand away, shoving him away completely causing him to fall backwards on the floor.

As another moment of silence had passed, Techno snapped out of it pushing past the voices before dropping to his knees. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt phil I didn't mean to hurt him I'm sorry please I-I can't breathImsorryphi-" he continued to mutter things under his breath bringing his hands up to his head as his father quickly came to his sons side.

Trying desperately to calm his son down, the pinkette didn't stop. The blonde calmed himself down and then gently began removing his sons hands from his head, holding them tightly. "I'm a monster a monster that's what I am I'm a monster I'm a monster I hurt him I hurt him I'-" the pinkette was hyperventilating in-between his words, his heartbeat could be heard loudly in his head as he shook, sweat all dripping down his face mixing in with the thick tears that rolled down his cheeks.

His father let go of the pinkettes hands and pulled him into a tight hug, finally snapping the pinkette out of it. Putting his arms around his father, he buried his face into his father's shoulder. Crying silently, he kept muttering 'i'm sorry''s as his dad gently stroked his long, messy, wavy, pink hair telling him reassuring things to help him calm down. (Get this dad a metal.)

"I-I'm sorry, phi-" Techno began to pull away but phil brought him back into the warm embrace. "Its okay, Techno." Phil then proceeded to pull away from Techno, keeping his hands on his shoulders. Making direct eye contact with his son, he stood up, helping him up aswell. Phil lightly smiled as the pinkette wiped tears off his face. He wanted to say I'm sorry but new he had already said it enough.

"Tech, I want to show you something tomorrow." The pinkette nodded. Phil took out his old pocket clock, looking at the time. "I've been in here for an hour and a half, I think we should both head to bed. The pinkette nodded once more.

"I have to finish somethin' firs-" the blonde cut off the pinkette. "Techno." The pinkette stopped and looked back at his desk then to his father. "It can wait." The tired pinkette slightly smiled.

His dad ruffled his hair a bit before they both walked out of the room. Phil said goodnight to Techno and headed to his own room down the hall. The pinkette headed to his room aswell which was in down the same hall, all the way at the end of it. Opening the door, he headed for underneath his bed. Crawling under, his crown fell off as he reached for a case of some sorts.

Just being out of his reach, he got frustrated and crawled deeper underneath. Finally being able to grab the case, he crawled backwards out from under the bed. Next he opened the window, grabbing his sword and half pink pig themed mask before jumping out and landing on the roof of the castle, he then carefully balanced himself on the slippery edge. Next, he made a run for it, speeding up as he ran. Preparing himself while running,

he took the leap off, feeling his boots lose the feeling of ground as he went into the air, quickly splashing a potion on himself, the bottle read 'slow falling||1 minute ³⁰ seconds' making the perfect landing, he walked into the night as the stars twinkled above him in the smoky colored sky.

You'd expect there to be mobs, right?

Well, tonight was different. The stars shined brighter, the moon was in it's full phase, and the land was clean of any kind at all. This was strange to the pinkette, there hadn't been a single night he can recall that he'd gone out and not seen a single trace of a mob.

It was as if something life changing would happen. Making his way past through the maze/garden he headed past the entire backyard and up the steep, green hill, he still couldn't see nor hear any mobs within miles of the castle, hill, just the land in general. Finally once he was standing up on the steep hill he dropped his sword, tied his mask to his face, and unzipped the violin shaped case. Grabbing hold of the instrument, he made sure to grab the bow that came with it.

Standing just below the tree that stood tall above the hill, he took a deep breath and got into position, he carefully glided the bow across the strings tilting it in the process, creating a lustrous performance. The world around him felt limitless as he closed his eyes, dancing along perfectly with the tune of the violin.

This was a breathtaking performance often no one saw. He always snuck out since the age of five. He found a kind stranger with a violin, crushed dreams, and a broken heart. The pinkette had taken interest in the kind stranger when they had approached him, telling the pinkette to take the violin and cherish it no matter what. They told him to play his feelings into it.

"What's an instrument without any emotion from the person playing?" The voice echoed in the pinkettes head amongst the others like a long forgotten memory.

No one's ever heard his violin playing besides his brothers on separate occasions. And his father saw him play a few times. Once when techno knew. The other times he watched in secret, proud of the pinkettes talent. Now this changed tonight, someone new was watching at the front row seat of the show. In the tree techno had been not only playing, but dancing right underneath. Keeping quite, the dark green hooded figure watched.

They watched as the pinkette glided the bow gently across the strings creating a powerful performance with such a gentle hold on the instrument itself. The violin truly is, amongst the most elegant of instruments. The pinkettes movements with his dance were smooth, his cape moved along with him, the wind came in, creating a gentle breeze, lightly shaking off a few leaves from the tree.

The pinkette had gotten lost in his music that even his mind was vacant with only the notes of the violin echoing. This was how he cleared his mind. His father had meditation, wilbur had his guitar, and Tommy had Tubbo and a jukebox. The hooded, masked figure watched as the pinkettes hair flo in the wind. The song was coming close to an end. The hooded figure shifted in his seat on the tree branch.

Coming to a stop, the pinkette smiled lightly, opening his eyes and approaching the case for his beloved instrument. Right as he went to place it into the case, the hooded figure jumped down, axe in hand. "You're quite the violinist." He spoke getting closer to the pinkette, kicking his sword away. "Dream." The pinkette spat as if the name was of toxic waste.

"Technoblade." The masked figure spat back. "What do you want?" The pinkette hated this man more than anything. "well, your highness I don't want anything. Simply a mere coincidence we happened to run into eacho-" the pinkette cut him off. "Don't. We both know you didn't run into the castle. So I'll ask again, Why are you here?"

He said spoke as if the entire sentence were a statement with his, usual, monotoned tone of voice. The masked man chuckled slightly, tightening his mask as the pinkette stepped closer to him after placing down his precious stringed instrument. "Oh I wouldn't try anything if I were yo-"

dream threatened placing his axe up to the pinkettes neck just before getting cut off and axe knocked out of his hand, into the pinkettes. "You were saying?" The pinkette smirked slightly, raising the axe up to the masked man's neck, backing him up into the tree. "You don't scare me." Then masked man crossed his arms. "Oh sure. You're in this really vulnerable situation here ofcourse the right thing to say to you're enemy is that you don't fear them."

The masked man rolled his eyes. "You're smart, but not smart enough." Dream chuckled, narrowing his eyes behind his mask, kicking the blade right where it hurts. As the pinkette fell, dream took the chance to get his axe back. He turned around, looking at his beautiful enchanted netherite. Whilst dream went to turn back around to look back at the pinkette, he stumbled back a bit to realize he was standing directly behind him.

Sword in hand. "You're making this harder than it needs to be. Why are you here?" He tightened his grip on the netherite sword. "I was admiring the kingdom from a distance." The pinkette stood, back straight, eyes narrowing behind his own mask. "Dream." They both took a step closer to eachother, the masked man smiling. The pinkette moved his weapon to the side, keeping a tight grip.

Groan

The two stopped dead in their tracks as a zombie hit the pinkette. He sliced through it easily but they were surrounded. "This isn't over." The masked man sliced right through zombie. "Agreed." The pinkette nodded his head once to the masked one. "You, me, tomorrow. Duel." The dark green nodded man nodded back. "See you then" "bet." And just like that the masked man left him alone.

"Oh. great." He sighed heavily, slicing through zombies one by one two by one. Until they all had fallen. Picking up his violin and bow that came with it, he put them away in the case as they should be before heading back towards the castle. On the way back, he entered the backyard, stopping momentarily to look at the flowers in the garden then to the sky, the smoky colored sky with stars that shine brighter than the moon.

He then climbed atop the bushes that were the walls of the maze. He grabbed onto the ledge and pulled himself up, putting pressure on his stomach to climb. Finally he made it into his window, placing the case back under the bed, sword near the window and then he proceeded to climb into his king sized bed. He did indeed have a duel tomorrow, and for that, he'd need to be well rested. Ofcourse, he would probably still be able to win even if sleep deprived. He's done it before.

Meanwhile whilst the prince slept..

The hooded figure had ran away, into the night after stating they'd duel. Running into some mud, he saw his lantern in the distance, glowing brightly beside his bag. Perhaps it wasn't a great idea to leave his bag out where people could easily take it.

Atleast no one had come across it. He doubled checked the bag to be sure everything was there, afterwards he slid on the straps and grabbed his lantern, heading into the woods. He'd been here many times before. Walking deeper into the woods, stepping on the muddy ground, he saw where he had set up base. He had a double chest with a few things to eat in it, and some hay he sleeps on. He travels around quite often. The masked man was quite poor.

But his plan would change all of that.

He laid down on the hay, looking up at the stars and how they shined, his arm over his forehead. Beginning to count them all in his head, he slowly closed his eyes, giving into tiredness that surrounded him. He couldn't wait to see the pinkette again. To finally beat him in a duel. The two had never been defeated in a duel before. Whenever they dueled they always tie.

They used to be friends, but that's a tale for another day. A long lost memory that the two haven't replayed in ages.

....

"Phil?" The pinkette called, walking deep in the woods. "Phil where are yo-" he stopped dead in his tracks, seeing a trail of blood that lead to his father, lying on the ground. A pretty shade of crimson red rested on his clothes, staining the pretty green fabric. "PHIL" he shouted running to his father's side immediately dropping to his knees.

"No- no no no no no-" a stream of thick tears rushed down his face, landing on his fathers. "Phil" his voice quivered as he buried his face in his father's chest, holding his closely. Hearing no heartbeat at all, the tears only flowed faster. "Phil I'm so- I'm so sorry" he spoke, voice breaking, muffled by his father's chest. "Phil.."

Suddenly he jolted up, opening his eyes, sweat dripping from his face mixing with the thick tears that streamed down his face, flowing like a river with fast current. He looked down at his hands, watching as the droplets of tears fell from his face and splashed down onto his hands like sprinkling rain over the grassy plains. For a quick moment, his hands were covered in blood and suddenly back to normal.

"Techno?!" Phil came in slamming the door open. "oh god-" his father came immediately over to the bed, sitting down as his son, with no hesitation, hugged him tightly. "Shh.." Techno had been showing more emotion over the last few months. Only sadness besides his monotoned act. "I thought you died- phil-" the pinkettes voice broke as his father patted him gently on the back.

"Another nightmare?" The pinkette pulled away from his father, keeping his head down and aimed towards his hands. "Phil, the voices are gettin' louder, the nightmares are gettin' worse." The pinkette stated, pain in his voice. "I don't know what to do..and I have a duel today." His father, worried expression glued to his face, patted his son gently on the back once more. "We'll figure it out togethe-" he stopped, eyes slightly widening.

"Techno, you're duelling someone?!"

This was not what phil was expecting to hear. He knew Techno would most likely win, and he's seen him duel before but this, this was not what he thought he'd hear the day after Techno's panic attack.

This was sure going to escalate quickly, wasn't it? (Haha escalators go brrrrr)