You yawned and stretched, taking in the soft golden glow flowing like silk in from the windows. You blinked slowly, taking everything in.

Oh gosh wait Technoblade saw me cry-

You face suddenly flushed red in embarrassment, remembering the events from last night. You pressed your face into your hands and groaned. You had woken up from a nightmare, and Technoblade had come downstairs to comfort you. Just that simple gesture, and he had you bawling. You would never live this down...

You remembered falling asleep in his embrace, but he was definitely gone now. You decided you had better do something more useful than just sit red-faced on the couch and be embarrassed. 

You got up and got dressed out of your sleeping clothes. (Which were your normal clothes, but a softer variety Technoblade had gotten you while he was out.)

You had some bread and apples for breakfast, and leisurely wandered your way outside. The sun shone down on your face, warming your entire body. It reminded you of Technoblade, as he had also been quite warm. In a nice way, like sunlight.

Speaking of which, you hadn't seen Technoblade all morning. Not that you wanted to face him yet...

"Hey, mate! Over here!" A familiar voice called. You turned to see the grey-winged individual, waving at you. 

"Hey Phil!" You responded, waving back. The blond-haired male fluffed and un-fluffed his wings excitedly while heading over to you. "Where's Technoblade?" You asked, hoping you hadn't scared him away forever.

"Oh, he's just gone to the Nether." Phil informed you. You nodded thoughtfully. The Nether? Why would he need to go there?  You were always told that the Nether was a very dangerous place, and that you should only use the top of the Nether for travel, and even that was dangerous, as Hoglins occasionally showed up from time to time. Every monster in the Nether seemed very dangerous. 

Wither Skeletons, and Blazes, Piglins, Hoglins, Ghasts... They all seemed very frightening from what you had heard, although you had rarely been to the Nether, as you really didn't feel capable enough to traverse it normally, not using the ice path on the top.

"I thought maybe we could do some more training today? You're pretty much entirely healed." Phil suggested, snapping you out of your thoughts. You nodded, it sounded like a good idea.

You followed Phil over to the training area, where he handed you a bow and arrow.

"We should practice your aim..." Philza chuckled lightly, nudging you.

You rolled your eyes.

This was going to be a long day...

(Technoblade's POV)

E...E...E...E...pog...E...E...lmao...E...E...E...E

The voices burbled happily, trying to annoy Technoblade. Not that he would admit it, but it was very irritating, and indeed working at annoying him.

He glanced around at the scene in front of him, trying to distract himself. The monotonous red of netherrack filled the entirety of his vision, as well as small rivulets of orange lava, leading into large glowing lakes of fire. Outcroppings of glowstone, giving off their warm glow, and the occasional magma block broke the stark red landscape. The shrieks of ghasts and grunting noises of zombified Piglins could be heard, although not to a normal person. Technoblade had exceptional hearing, and could hear the monsters even from far away, when others could not. The heat of the Nether had been overwhelming at first, but Techno had miraculously quickly gotten used to it again. 

Techno really liked the Nether. It was where he had lived most of his formative years, before moving to the Overworld to live with Phil. 

The scorching hot temperatures, the sizzling lava, dangerous beasts that lurked all around. Techno couldn't imagine any place better. 

He had come to the Nether because today was a very special day. All the Piglins from his childhood village were getting together for a market day. Techno liked to come and participate, and it was a great time to get some good trades in. He had also come to kill Wither Skeletons in the Fortress, as he needed the skulls for a project he was working on. 

He neared the Crimson Forest he had grown up near, and noticed the already bustling, busy marketplace. Tents of Hoglin and Strider skin were pitched about between the bright red trees, the Piglins inside trying to tempt buyers by calling out raucously every once in a while.

Technoblade looked down at the extremely large amount of gold he was carrying. He was sure he didn't need all of it, and he certainly wasn't going to use all of it, but he liked to feel wealthy.

He had come to the Nether a few times during the past weeks, slipping off while Y/N and Phil were training.

Y/N...

A light blush covered his cheeks, remembering what he had done last night. He had hugged her! He never showed physical affection to anyone, other than Phil. He shook his head, the voices chuckling and japing at his sudden embarrassment.

awww technosimp... he be blushin.. E... awwww... E... technosoft.... omg

I did it for good reason. Techno thought angrily at the voices. She needed me, what else was I supposed to do?

The voices didn't answer, they just continued their teasing. Technoblade rolled his eyes and approached the market place.

The noise was deafening. The calls of Piglins trying to get buyers, the calls of Piglins trying to buy. A few fights had broken out in places. Techno loved the thrill of the market.

The voices chirruped happily, and were soon focused on other things than Technoblade being soft.

He approached a trading stall filled with horse armor. The gleam of the diamond one was unsustainably alluring. Technoblade always did enjoy having powerful items, even if he wasn't going to use them, just so that no one else could have them.

"How much?" Technoblade asked the trader in the Piglin's language, as best he could. (To be honest, he had gotten a bit rusty.)

"Nuthin you could pay for..." The Piglin said, giving Technoblade a toothy grin. "Bluefire-gold *some word Techno didn't know* Brightland Ground Strider *another word he didn't quite understand, Techno assumed it was "armor"* not easy to come here by" 

Techno had a hard time fully understanding the Piglin, with his use of Piglin slang. Technoblade had never really gotten a hang of that part of the language. He was fairly sure Bluefire-gold were diamonds, which you couldn't easily find in the Nether, other than in chests. Brightland, he assumed, was the Overworld. So Brightland Ground Striders must be horses? He could sort of see why they named it that way?

"I know, which is why I would like to purchase it." Technoblade tried explaining, still quite confused.

The Pigling trader looked taken aback. "You wanna wut?" He growled. Technoblade stopped. Had he said a word wrong? "I would like to purchase it?" Techno tried again, trying to remember if he had said all the words correctly. 

The Piglin growled deep in his throat. "Oh, so ye wanna purchase it, eh? I'm not gunna eat any of what ur' tryna do..." Techno noticed him pull out a gold sword. He quickly took a step back, the voices hissing. 

kill... kill... blood for the blood god... kill him... eat any??... he's threatening us... steal! you said steal!...

The last comment surprised him. Steal? He hadn't said steal...

Oh no...

Yes he had...

He had said purchase! What an idiot move! He had always gotten it mixed up, as it was a slang term. If someone had "purchased" something, it meant they had stolen it. Technoblade was used to using fancier words like "purchased" instead of "buy" as he had been raised by Phil, but here it was better not to.

He quickly tried to calm down the angry trader, holding up a gold ingot. "Trade." Techno said, "Trade for it, sorry."

The trader looked at the gold in his hand, his eyes gleaming. Suddenly, with effort, narrowed his eyes and tore them away from the gold.

"Not plenty." He grunted. Techno sighed and pulled out more gold, "How much do you want?" He asked.

The Piglin's eyes grew wide. He looked up at Technoblade, then back down at the shimmering gold in his hands. "Ok." 

Technoblade exchanged the gold for the horse armor, wondering what he was going to do with it.

shiny... what are we going to use it for?... e... we could train a horse and give it to y/n... carl :D

Give it to Y/N? That actually sounded like a pretty good idea...

(Y/N's POV)

"So Phil, what are we going to do now?" You asked. You two had just finished training, according to Phil, who was getting tired. 

"I don't know, mate." Phil answered honestly, leaning against the fence that surrounded the sparring area. Suddenly, a crow landed on Phil's shoulder and dropped a square of paper into Phil's outstretched hand. He opened the paper, the crow tilting it's head curiously. You leaned toward Phil, trying to get a look. 

"Well..." Phil said slowly, folding the paper back up, "I know what we're doing now."

A flash of fear ran through you. What had Phil read on that paper? Was it bad?

Phil spread his wings and took off, looking down at you expectantly. You blinked up at him. He looked confused for a moment, but then landed back down beside you and shook his head, chuckling to himself. "I keep forgetting no one else can do that." He reached out to you, "I'm going to have to fly you there, mate. You okay with that?" You recoiled. Flying?? What if you fell??

"I promise I'll be really careful, I've carried people before." Phil smiled softly at you. You cautiously took his hands, and braced yourself as he spread his wings.

A rush of wind and dust, as well as a wave of nausea, and you were up in the air. You scrunched your eyes closed, afraid to open them incase you were falling to your death. The air rushed past your face, drowning out everything with it's cold embrace.

"Open your eyes, mate! There's nothing in the world like this!" Phil called over the rush of wind in your ears.

You slowly squinted one eye, but soon both of them were wide open. The wind flew into them, making them sting, but you were so in awe of the scene there was no way you were closing them.

White snow and trees, as far as the eye could see. The tundra lay spread out before you like a large white blanket, dotted with spruce and iced over ponds.

You had never been this high up before, even looking down off of buildings in L'Mangberg, you had never been up this high.

The ground and mountains rushed by at a dizzying pace, if Phil were to drop you, it would certainly be instant death. 

Your stomach tightened in fear and exhilaration. Your hands were gripped onto Phil's arms so hard they were white. Your arms strained as you felt the wind whip past you.

"So?" Phil called down, the wind still rushing past you muffling his words.

"OH MY GOSH PHIL DON'T LET GO" You clenched your hands even harder around Phil. To be honest, you were in fact quite enjoying yourself. It was just so amazing. You couldn't believe Phil got to do this all the time. 

But, then again, the fear of falling to your death was still pretty predominant.

Every so often (although it could have been the wind) you thought you heard Phil gasp in pain. He would dip down sometimes during his flight, his wings seemed to be injured or something.

However, the ground was still speeding by at a break-neck pace, and you noticed there was less and less snow, and different types of trees. You noticed clearings now, meadows and fields. Phil had started to slow down, and began to get closer to the ground. You assumed he was coming down to land.

The two of you got lower, and lower, and lower... until you could almost touch the ground. Phil had slowed down a lot, and suddenly spread both of his wings out beside him, stopping almost completely. His grip on you had loosened, and as he stopped suddenly, you were taken by surprise and let go. 

Thump

You landed on the ground, your legs buckling underneath you immediately, sending you face-first into the soft grass and dirt.

"Pft-" You heard Phil start to laugh. You sat up quickly and brushed the dirt off of you, giving Phil a venom-laced stare. 

"Philza Minecraft! You said you wouldn't drop me!" You crossed your arms over your chest, huffing angrily. 

"I said I'd be careful, nothing about dropping you, sorry mate." Phil chuckled, landing in the clearing beside you. He reached out his hand to help you up. "I thought Technoblade would be here by now, maybe he got lost on his way here..." Phil mumbled, gazing around the clearing.

"Human compass, actually, I never get lost." A deep monotone voice said from the trees at the edge of the clearing. You and Phil both turned to see Technoblade stepping out of the darkness of the surrounding forest. "Nice landing." He winked at you, and you felt a blush grow to your cheeks. Phil chuckled. "So you got my note?" Techno looked at Phil, who nodded. "Ah, good." The half-Piglin smiled, "Well then, let's get to it." Technoblade looked expectantly at you. You looked back at him in confusion.

Suddenly a crow very similar to the one carrying Technoblade's note dropped a piece of paper at Philza's feet. Phil bent down to pick it up, reading what was written on it. His brows furrowed in confusion, and he looked up at Technoblade before looking back down at the note.

"Well, sorry mate, looks like I'm needed in L'Manberg... you can handle this by yourself, can't you?" Phil looked at Technoblade again. "I'm sure I'm capable enough." Technoblade joked, but concern flash though his eyes. 

"Have fun, you two." Phil smiled at you, before taking off with some difficulty. It seems your prediction was right, Phil's wings had somehow been injured, one of them looked mangled. You were about to call out to him, when Technoblade sidled up beside you. "So? You ready?" He looked down at you. 

"For what?" You asked, honestly not knowing what he was talking about.

"Don't play dumb with me, look across over there by the trees."

You followed his instructions and looked across the clearing to the other side. The meadow was filled with white lilies, contrasting the bright green grass. Beams of sunlight illuminated the area. Over by the edge of the meadow, near the tree line, something was moving. You strained your eyes.

Horses. There were horses. 

You looked up at Technoblade "Horses." You stated, and Technoblade looked at you blankly for a second before bursting out in laughter.

"Horses? Ahaha... wonderful observation! I mean for a second I was worried you might be blind! Hehehe..." He chuckled, nudging your shoulder. You glared at him in response. He started to walk towards the horses, and you followed begrudgingly behind him. 

"So, princess, which one do you want." Technoblade suddenly held out a set of diamond horse armor, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. You looked at the armor and then up at Technoblade in awe. He didn't meet your eyes. 

"Thank you..." You whispered, looking at the gleaming armor with wonder. 

"Well, uh, I suppose you should probably tame one first..." He mumbled, and then flinched, although you didn't know why. 

You looked out at the group of wild horses, and you eyes fell on a light brown horse with white dappled patterns across it's body. It gazed at your curiously from behind dark eyes. 

Technoblade watched you in amusement, seeing the way your eyes lit up. He smiled, although you didn't notice him watching you.

"That one..." You breathed, and Techno chuckled. 

"Alrighty." He smiled and handed you a saddle. You took the saddle and almost dropped it, as it was quite heavy. The leather felt nice under your fingers and you stroked it. "Thank you..." You looked up at Techno in appreciation. He chuckled. 

You turned and headed towards the horse of your choice, it watched you carefully. Technoblade followed behind you. 

(Technoblade's POV)

Technoblade watched Y/N curiously, watching what she would do. She approached the horse carefully, placing the saddle on the ground. She walked up to the horse, as it eyed her warily, letting out a huff. Suddenly she looked over at him, asking for something he apparently should have known already, by the look on her face. Techno tilted his head at her. She sighed and slumped a little. She came over and suddenly took his hand, a blush growing on his cheeks. She led him over to the horse and pointed at it, laughing nervously. "I can't get up by myself..." She rubbed the back of her neck, the sun shining down on her. "Can you help me up?" She opened her eyes and looked up at him, her eyes gleaming hopefully. The pink on his cheeks grew darker. 

"Of course." He coughed and looked away, cupping his hands and bending down so she could boost herself onto the horse. He glanced back at her. She looked so excited.

her her her her her her her her-

Techno winced, the voices hitting him suddenly with a surprising amount of strength and speed. 

"Pony!"

Her voice whispered in his mind, making his reel away from the horse, taking a few steps back. Y/N was already on the horse, luckily. She didn't seem to notice his stepping back as anything odd.

Techno shook his head. He tried to focus on Y/N.

The horse reared up, whinnying, and Techno leapt forward, preparing to catch Y/N. Somehow, she managed to stay on the horse. "Ah!" She cried out, gripping tighter onto the horse.

Technoblade took a few steps backward again.

"Pony! Let's ride on it-"

Her voice echoed through his memory again, and he brought his hand up to press against his forehead, trying to stop the memories.

"C'mon pony! Let's go pony!"

"AH-" Suddenly a thump, and Techno was snapped out of his memories. Y/N had fallen off of the horse, and was sitting on the ground now, looking dazed and confused. Technoblade stepped forward and offered her his hand, which she took. "I mean I stayed on pretty long, that was impressive for my first try, right?" 

Technoblade nodded slightly, his mind elsewhere, "You've never ridden a horse?" He asked, absentmindedly. 

"Oh no, I have. I've just never tamed a horse myself before..."

Technoblade blinked, trying to focus. For some reason it was very difficult. "Whose horse did you ride?" He asked, trying to be able to keep up the conversation. He bent down again to help Y/N back up onto the horse. "Oh... just a friend's." She mumbled. She didn't seem to want to talk about it any further, so Technoblade decided not to press her.

"Heh.. go pony go! Let's go this way-"

her... it's her... sister... blood goddess... pony... so cute

It was true, Y/N did remind Techno of his sister, even though he knew she wasn't. For starters, she wasn't a Piglin hybrid, and she was Technoblade's age. All of his sisters were much younger than him.

Technoblade wanted to cry. He never cried, why was he feeling this way? He just missed her so much... missed both of them so much....

but they were gone. He would never see them again. 

He pressed his hands against his head again, trying to stop his emotions from flowing out. 

"I think it likes me!" Y/N's voice seemed so far away.

Had his breathing always been this loud? His vision flickered and he was unable to see, darkness wavering in front of his eyes. He could feel his pulse pounding in his neck,