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Crown Prince Technoblade of the Antarctic Empire was dead.
He died in battle, a mere week before his side won, before Emperor Philza flew over the battlefield and stabbed President J. Schlatt, killing him on site. It wasn't even close to the retribution the grieving family deserved, but murdering the person who announced his death with such shame and dishonour, the man who dragged his name through the mud? It would have to do.
The whole kingdom mourned the loss of their Prince, a kind soul who built orphanages and went into battle just because it was his duty. Flowers lined the castle gates, along with gold and jewels. However, they were upstaged by the sheer amount of potatoes left behind in his honour, a final way to show appreciation for the farms he helped plant, which now feed so much of their kingdom.
It was obvious, even to an outsider, that the royal family were distraught by the loss of their beloved family member. Prince Tommy refused to leave his room, not even when his remaining brother knocked on his door pleading for him to come out, to at least let him know he was alive. All his brother would get was a tearful, shattered voice telling him he was fine. The only time anyone would see him was when he’d collect the food left out by his door.
Prince Wilbur removed all traces of music in his room, leaving his guitars locked up in their music room, left to collect dust alongside Technoblade’s violins. The halls of the castle, once filled with beautiful symphonies, were now permanently silent. Not even a hint of a melody could float through the air.
The Emperor was the worst. He immersed himself in his work, rarely leaving his office, only emerging if his people needed him. Sometimes the servants would walk past and hear him consoling Wilbur, his broken voice seeping through the locked doors. The entire castle, once bright and lively, was now cold and silent. Previous icy blue and emerald green banners were replaced by a melancholy black, matching with the staff of the castle’s attire.
Every village in the Empire had a large poster in the square, with a painting of the Crown Prince, announcing his death, along with the date of the funeral, where people could flock to the captial, L’manburg, to pay their respects to Technoblade, and his mourning family.
It was through one of these posters that Techno found out about his ‘death’.
He’d only just made it out of Schlatt’s territories, fleeing from his grasp through the Kinoko mushroom forest. It was the only place along the border with the least amount of guards. This was preferable for Techno, who’d lost all his weapons after being momentarily captured by the dictator. Getting out of that situation was easy enough, as he was able to defeat Schlatt’s right hand man, Quackity, with a half broken pickaxe. Unfortunately, he’d to ditch that right after using it, as it was broken beyond repair by the time he was finished with it.
Schlatt’s story was apparently a complete lie, because now the whole kingdom thinks Techno is dead. His family thinks he’s dead.
He has to get back to them.
His first course of action is to figure out which town he’s in. Turns out that’s not too difficult when it’s somewhere he’s forced to visit often, Snowchester. The mansion glowing against the backdrop of the early moonlight is a comforting sight, as it houses his youngest brother’s best friends, Tubbo and Ranboo.
It’s also right next to their stables, where more often than not, Techno’s favourite horse is left because of course he chose the pickiest one, who only likes either Techno or Ranboo taking care of him, and Techno is too busy most of the time. He just hopes Tubbo won’t mind having his grounds broken into.
He’ll have to get some guards to come to Snowchester, as it was comically easy to steal Carl from the stable. They were on their way to L’manburg before midnight, and Techno expected to make it back to his home some time in the afternoon of the next day.
It’s the day of his son’s funeral when Phil stands in front of Techno’s room. He has to choose one of his son’s many crowns to be buried in place of his body, as it still hasn’t been recovered. He hates that it sparks a glimmer of hope in his heart, that because he hasn’t seen proof, hasn’t seen his son’s dead figure, Techno could still be alive and making his way towards the castle. But no, Phil saw first hand the victorious glint in Schlatt’s eye as he proclaimed Crown Prince Technoblade was dead.
Phil only realised he was crying when a tear splashed on his hand, the one that was holding Techno’s door handle. He didn’t even look up when he heard a set of footprints walk along the corridor, assuming it was a servant who’d be gone soon enough. What he wasn’t expecting was a small voice to cut through the icy silence that had settled over the hallway.
“Dad?”
It was Tommy, standing hunched over in the hallway. It was the first time Phil had seen Tommy since he told him and Wilbur of Techno’s passing, and he looked like shit. His shoulders were held high in defence, and his arms were wrapped around his stomach. There were tear stains on his cheeks and his eyes were rubbed raw.
“Oh, Toms.” Phil immediately rushed to his youngest son, wrapping him up in both his arms and wings, cradling the boy into his chest. Quiet sobs left Tommy as his father held him close, softly rubbing his back and whispering condolences.
It’s how Wilbur finds them a minute later, on his way to his father’s office. He quickly joins the hug, revelling in the chance to hug his little brother for the first time in over a week. They stay there for minutes, maybe hours, before Phil pulls away, and tells his sons of his intentions going into Techno’s room.
“Will you two help me choose a crown to bury in Techno’s honour?” His voice comes out closer to a whisper, but neither of his sons have to strain their ears to hear it. Wordlessly, they all step towards the door, and open it.
It’s been a while since Techno rode on a horse, and his thighs are starting to hurt. But that thought was quickly overshadowed by the silhouette of a castle, his castle, where his family were waiting for him. Well, not exactly waiting for him, ‘cause they didn’t know he was alive.
At that thought, Techno sped Carl up into a gallop.
He stayed in the forest throughout his entire travel, avoiding any and all civilisation. It was a miracle he hadn’t come across any hunters in these woods, since he knew this was a popular spot for people to hunt.
Huh, weird.
It was hard for the family to be surrounded by Techno’s belongings. It nearly brought Phil to tears when he looked over at the desk and saw a half written letter, one that had to be left unfinished when he went to fight for his empire. He would never get to finish that letter.
Wilbur stood frozen in the doorway, staring longingly at the empty bed in the room. The sheets were still unmade, and there was still a faint imprint on the mattress from when Techno had last slept in it.
Now, all it was a painful reminder of the space that should be taken up, the empty throne in the throne room, the empty seat at the dinner table. Wilbur was still struggling to comprehend that Techno was gone forever, that he wouldn’t just crawl through the window at any moment and laugh at him for being sad he’s gone, but pull him in for a hug nonetheless.
Wilbur wiped away the tears before joining the rest of his family in the room.
Tommy went straight to the task at hand, stalking over to the massive glass cabinet that contained all of Techno’s crowns. Anyone who was close with Techno would know the man’s obsession with gold. Partially due to his piglin traits, gold was very important to Techno, and he had masses of it. Tommy never really understood why he loved it so much, but it still warmed his heart whenever Techno would give him something gold, even as small as a hair pin, as it meant that Tommy was family.
It wasn’t a surprise that after Techno died, the first thing Tommy did was go through his mini golden hoard, putting on some things, most of which he still hadn’t taken off. He can’t, it’s his own little way of honouring his brother.
Eventually, they all stood in front of the cabinet, staring up at the many choices they had.
Phil, who was standing to the right, closer to the window, opened up the door of his side of the cabinet, which led to Wilbur doing the same thing on the left. Immediately, one crown called to the three of them, and they all reached out to grab it.
It was Techno’s favourite, a simple yet delicate shape, with ivy detailing all around the gold structure. There were four different gemstones embedded into the metal, one stone per spike, eight spikes in total. The gemstones represented his family, Techno had told them when he’d brought it home from the jewellers. Rubies for Tommy, topaz for Wilbur, emeralds for Phil, and pink diamonds for Techno. He’d then revealed that he’d gotten matching ones for the rest of his family, just in different metals, rose gold for Tommy, bronze for Wilbur, and silver for Phil.
Those were the crowns they’d wear whenever they addressed the Empire together. The three remaining family members all knew it would be the one buried in his grave, a final chance at closure for the family.
There was a brief moment of stillness in the room, before they shut all the doors they’d opened, closing away their memories of Technoblade in the process.
They walked over to the funeral procession with a hand on the crown each.
It took Techno less time than he thought to reach the castle, and he was quickly approaching the large walls surrounding it. But, instead of waltzing right on through the main gates, like he usually would, Techno stopped in his tracks. It was highly likely he wouldn’t be welcomed back home the way he normally would. The guards would take one look at him and assume he was an imposter, someone who would try to take advantage of the grieving royal family to get close to them and kill them.
He couldn’t blame them, Technoblade knew there were people horrible enough to do that out there Hell, he’d met people horrible enough less than a week ago. He would have to find another way to get to his family.
Techno steered Carl around the castle walls, stopping when he came across a very familiar spot. It appeared to be a section of the wall overgrown with ivy, but Techno knew what was underneath.
A decent-sized crack in the wall remained hidden behind the vines, the perfect size to let two young princes slide through and escape into the forest, away from their studies. It was a place often visited by Wilbur and Techno, who would slip through and run to the nearby pond, where they’d splash around and look for frogs.
A fond smile slipped over Technoblade’s face as he slid off Carl, before tying him to the rotting fence that stood next to it, and pushing aside the ivy. It would be a tight fit, but Techno could make it through.
He had to, his family were on the other side.
Scaling the wall up to his bedroom would be easy enough, as it was something he used to do often, first with Wilbur, and then eventually Tommy when he was old enough to sneak out. There were grooves worn into the wall, perfect foot holes placed either side of the tall drainpipe, a drainpipe that ran right next to Technoblade’s bedroom window.
He really needed to get his dad to put up better security after all this; it was comically easy to break into the castle, especially into the residential wing.
Finally, he’d made it to his window. Techno really hoped that he’d forgotten to lock it, like usual. He nearly slipped as he reached out to the window next to him, before pushing it open.
The royal family were sitting in a carriage together, dressed in their black funeral clothes, despite no one being able to see them. Tommy and Wilbur were curled into either side of Phil, protected from everything by the wings wrapped around them both.
From the small windows of the carriage, they could see the streets flooded with every single citizen of the Empire, all dressed in black and waving dark blue flags, a more sombre version of the normal light blue that represented the great Antarctic Empire.
It was a beautiful sight, so many people being out to support the royal family through their tragic loss. The tears spilled over Prince Technoblade weren’t confined to the palace, and many citizens wept for their fallen leader. He was a good leader who always gave back to the people, and in turn, they gave back to him now by crowding the centre of the capital to celebrate his life.
Technoblade hauled himself through the window, grunting at how much more effort it took to just pull himself up a ledge. Man, being in captivity for a week really weakens you. Techno would have to avoid becoming this out of shape next time he got captured; well, after avoiding being captured again in the first place.
He finally slumped into his room, still messy from when he’d rushed to war. The maids clearly hadn’t touched it, not since his “death” anyways. There was still one of his letters on the desk, which he’d forgotten to finish, and his bed was still messy from the last time he’d slept in it. Damn, he missed his bed, but knowing his dad, Phil probably wouldn’t let anyone leave the nest after he reunites with them.
He was just about to leave his room to find his family when he noticed an empty space in his crown cabinet. His favourite crown was… missing? Had someone in his family taken it? No, even dead they wouldn’t touch his crown collection, unless…
Techno remembers a time from a year ago, when his dad had finally let him be a part of the war strategy meetings to prepare him for being the General for the Empire. He remembers something he told Phil:
“Look old man, if I die in battle, and for whatever reason you can’t find my body- I know it’s hard to think about, Phil- dad, c’mon. If you can’t find my body, bury one of my crowns in my place.”
Oh, that’s where it went. Techno had no idea what the date was; had they already had his funeral? He really liked that crown, it’d be a pain in the ass trying to dig it back up, but it could be done. He was more concerned at the fact that his family had already officially accepted his death. Schlatt must’ve been really acting his ass off if his family had been convinced he’d die to such measly hands.
Technoblade was disappointed at his family’s obvious doubt in his skill.
He didn’t think much past that as he pulled open his bedroom door and stepped out into the long corridor. He was faced with the entrances to his brothers’ rooms being open, something that would never happen if they were inside them. The royal family cared about their privacy from all of the servants constantly wandering the hallways, but they were all just a simple knock away from each other, so never truly apart.
Because of this, Techno knew his brothers weren’t in their rooms, but instead likely in their dad’s office. Before all this, Techno thought as he wandered through the empty hallways, the brothers would all compile into Phil’s office to pester him to stop working and play with them. Techno smiled fondly at the memory of his younger self, before actually stopping to consider his surroundings.
The many corridors were normally bustling with servants, especially as he was getting this close to the throne room and his dad’s office. Even if there were no servants, there would still be guards, but instead it was all just…
Silence.
The palace was empty. It was obvious to Techno now, all the pieces were clicking into place, and he had to get back to Carl as fast as possible.
Techno made a mad dash for the little hole in the wall.
They had finally made it to the church yard. It was a more private section, reserved for the royal family and their closest friends. This was the first time Phil had had to bury someone in it for a long time.
It wasn’t easy, especially not when it’s his own son.
Here, the family had a moment of quiet before the memorial service would be held in the square, where Techno’s crown would be put on display. Now, they laid bouquets of flowers in front of a freshly carved grave, pink and yellow roses from Wilbur, blue forget-me-nots from Tommy, and lilies from Phil.
Phil’s heart ached with an empty chasm, hollowed out by the knowledge that Techno couldn’t come back to him. It pained him more than anything in his life before, having no knowledge that Techno had died swiftly and peacefully, only that it had been due to Schlatt, a man not known for his kindness.
Tears were falling down both the faces of him and his sons, who were still wrapped tightly up in his wings. Nothing would ever separate him from any of his kids, not anymore. He knew it was a bad idea letting Techno go to war without him, and look at where it ended up. Techno was gone forever, and Phil would feel eternally guilty about it.
As if someone was reading his thoughts, a small voice spoke from where it was smothered by his shoulder.
“It’s not your fault Dad. It’s not.” It was Tommy, who despite constantly joking around, always knew the right thing to say. The tears fell harder after that.
“Yeah, you can’t blame yourself for Techno’s s-stupid selflessness.” A voice stuttered out of Wilbur, throat hoarse after near-constant crying, “if anything, it’s Schlatt’s fault for going to war in the first place, ok?”
“Thank you.”
He brought his kids into a tight, wing-wrapped hug, kissing them both softly on the forehead. Tommy and Wilbur always knew exactly what another person needed to hear, especially when it came to Phil or Techno, and this time was no exception. He was endlessly grateful for his remaining sons.
Eventually Phil pulled away slightly, much to the disappointment of Tommy, who let out a quiet, disgruntled grumble. He chuckled wetly, before reminding his sons of why they were actually here, and not in Phil’s nest.
“C’mon, let’s go face the Empire.”
Techno was getting frantic at this point. His family were at his funeral at this moment. His funeral. So many people from the Empire would be there mourning his death. Oh gods.
Carl was galloping as fast as he could back through the forest, narrowly avoiding throwing Techno off as they navigated around the roots and bushes of the woods. Until finally, they got to a recognisable path, one that led right to the town centre.
He was so close.
It was when he was almost there that he heard his father’s voice, speaking loudly over the entire empire.
“Technoblade was an incredible soldier, leader and prince. But he was also an incredible son and brother. His death will break the hearts of millions. Millions who saw Technoblade as a ruler, dozens who saw him as a friend, and us, who knew Techno as family.
“His heart was always too big. He had no need to go into battle, and yet he did, because he couldn’t ‘let the citizens fight for us,’ no, he had to fight himself. Without his bravery, thousands of lives would’ve been lost, and this war would still be ongoing. Instead, we all stand here today, celebrating the end of a year of war, but also celebrating the life of one of the greatest men to ever exist.”
Oh gods. This was bad. Techno thought it was kinda bad, but he didn’t know it was this bad.
Every single person who mattered to the Empire was here, in the town centre. This would’ve been the easiest win for Schlatt. All he’d need to do was drop a couple of bits of tnt into the centre, and boom, literally. It all made sense now, this was Schlatt’s final play, what would’ve won him the war.
Techno is so glad that it’s all over, and the only thing he has to deal with now is the whole funeral thing going on…
Yeah ok he needs to get to his family.
As Phil continued his speech, Tommy couldn’t bear staring at the tears welling in his dad’s eyes; he knew he’d start back up too if he didn’t look away. So he instead directed his eyes to the crowd.
Everyone was in black, everyone. All Tommy could see was an unmoving sea of darkness and grief.
Well, mostly unmoving. In the far back of the crowd, a figure was pushing people aside to try and get closer to the front. Did they not care about the solemn atmosphere everyone else was clearly respecting? Evidently not, because as they swam through the crowd, Tommy could see that there was not an inch of black on them. Instead, they were wearing a loose white shirt and brown pants, with a furious red sash wrapped around their middle.
It reminded him of Technoblade; he’d left home in a similar outfit…
The person kind of looked like Technoblade too, Tommy noticed. Other people had seemingly caught on to the commotion at this point, and his dad’s speech had trailed off when his eyes fixed on the pink hair attached to the stranger(?)’s head.
Then Tommy heard a shout come from the intruder:
“Dad! Wil! Tommy!”
His knees almost buckled beneath him. There was no way. He looked over to his father and brother to see their reaction, and they weren’t faring much better than he was. Wilbur’s hand flew to cover his opened mouth, eyebrows shooting up in what could only be described as disbelief. He saw Phil take in a sharp breath as his wings puffed up in shock.
Technoblade was racing towards them; crowds parted like the red sea as he got closer and closer.
Tears were falling from every member of the royal family at this point, three of them stood on a podium to commemorate the fourth, who was here, here and alive.
It was Phil who finally snapped from his shocked stupor and almost flew directly into the crowd. His son was there, his dead son, who was now alive and in his arms.
Techno made a soft sound, something akin to “dad”, before succumbing to his fate of being gripped tightly by his father. He wasn’t complaining, no, instead, tears of joy filled the hug, making shirts damp as they leaned against each other.
It wasn’t long before Phil’s wings were pried from around him and his brothers joined the hug. They both clung tightly onto Techno, but whilst Wilbur was sobbing hysterically into his brother’s hair, Tommy’s cries were quieter, and it was clear he was trying to make words out between the sharp breaths he was taking.
When he finally did, he asked the question that was on everyone’s mind: “I thought you left us Tech. Where’d you go?”
Techno tried his best to respond through his tears, but it was difficult when he was being squished by his family. Again, not that he was complaining.
“Schlatt lied,” he managed through hiccups, “he- he lied. I- I was never dead." Then he smiled through the tears, looking Tommy in the eyes when he said, “Technoblade never dies. Besides, I’d never let Schlatt of all people kill me, are you kiddin’?”
Tommy laughed wetly, before burying his face against Techno’s chest. The royal family were together again, reunited in front of millions of their citizens, many of whom were crying right alongside their rulers.
What once started as an agonising day, ended up as a joyous event. Millions danced in the streets until sunrise, changing out of their mourning black, and into light blues and greens. The colours of the Empire were shining through its people once again as they celebrated the return of their beloved Prince.
Meanwhile, Technoblade rode back to his castle, his family still having him wrapped up in their arms, as if he’d disappear when they let go. He wouldn’t, he knew he wouldn’t, but he didn’t know if they did, so he let them cling on to him.
As soon as Techno had cleaned himself and changed into comfier clothes, he was dragged by Phil into the nest, where he stayed, surrounded by his family once more.
He couldn’t ask for anything more as he fell asleep comfortably for the first time in weeks, with his two brothers curled into his sides and his dad’s wing resting over them all.