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Techno knew that everything was temporary. He’d known that when he’d met Phil. He’d known that when they’d built a palace in the snow and that palace turned into an empire and he’d turned into one of its rulers. He’d known that the very first moment Phil had let him hold Tommy when he was a baby.
That didn’t stop him from wanting everything to last until the end of the universe. Or at least as long as he did.
That wasn’t how things were, though. Instead, Techno sprinted down the hall as fire steadily grew behind him.
The Antarctic Empire had given him more than he’d ever expected to have, while it had lasted. When he and Phil had first started it, the whole thing had almost been a joke. Wilbur had been barely four, Tommy hadn’t been born yet, and Kristin hadn’t died yet. It hadn’t really hit Techno that they’d built something real until Phil handed him a crown.
“What’s this?” Techno said, turning it over in his hands. “An early birthday present?”
“It’s your crown.”
“I have a crown.”
Phil laughed and pointed at the one in his hands. “That’s your emperor’s crown. For when you’re, y’know, being an emperor.”
“An emperor?” Techno asked. “Of what?”
“The empire?”
He glanced quickly out the window at the bustling city that had developed around the palace. “I kinda thought that the empire was, uh… your thing.”
“What?”
“You’re the ruler type!” Techno exclaimed. “You’re the emperor, Kristin’s the empress, you don’t… you don’t really need me.”
Phil crossed his arms. “Of course I need you.”
“Well, yeah,” Techno scoffed with a light grin. “Of course you need me, just not in a co-ruler sort of way. I figured I would fill the role of the trusted unofficial advisor, y’know?”
“You helped me build this place. You should help rule it, if you want to.” He tilted his head to the side. “Do you want to?”
“I dunno.” Techno shrugged. “What position would I even hold?”
“Emperor.”
“But you’re the emperor.”
“There can be two,” Phil said. “It’s our empire. We make the rules.”
“Fair.” Techno ran a finger along the jewels in the crown. “Do you really want me to rule with you?”
“I wouldn’t have handed you that crown if I didn’t.”
“Alright. Then I’m in.”
It was hard to say no to Phil. The closest he’d ever come was when he wanted to hang up a portrait of the two of them in the throne room, but he’d just been so excited that Techno hadn’t even managed to do it then.
“Fine,” he sighed as Phil clapped excitedly. “Y’know what, Phil? For you, the world. Or at least the Antarctic.”
“Or at least a portrait in the throne room.”
“D’you know how long we’re gonna have to stand still for that? It’s gonna take the same amount of effort to get that done as it did to claim the entirety of this continent.”
Techno skidded into the throne room. Where that portrait had once hung was nothing but a black mark on the wall and a pile of ashes on the floor.
“Phil!” he shouted. “Phil!”
“I’m here, I’m here!” He ran in from the opposite side of the room, his armor chipped and cracked. “Have you seen the captain of the guard? I-”
“The captain is probably dead,” Techno interrupted. “Most of our soldiers are. There’s a fire on the west side of the palace because this place has already been, for the most part, already looted. They’re just burning it down now.” He shrugged helplessly. “It’s over, Phil. At this point, we just need to get the kids and run for it.”
Phil shook his head. “It can’t be over!” he insisted. “We were well-equipped, prepared strategically, everything! We can’t lose!”
“Well, the enemy laid waste to a good half of those preparations with TNT,” Techno said. “We’ve basically already lost.” He couldn’t blame Phil for being dejected—the empire had been the center of everything for the past ten years of their lives. “We had a good run.”
Phil’s eyes roamed the room, silently taking in every scorch mark and piece of destroyed art. “We really did.” He took a deep breath and nodded at the thrones. “The boys, then?”
“Yup.”
They hurried over, each inserting their swords into hidden slots in the headboards of their thrones. A panel opened in the wall, revealing Wilbur holding a terrified Tommy close to him. Wilbur’s face relaxed minutely upon seeing them.
“It sounded really bad,” he whispered shakily.
“It is,” Techno told him.
“We’re leaving.” Phil held out a hand and began ushering his sons to follow him. “Come on. We’re getting out of here.”
“What?” Wilbur asked, holding Tommy’s hand tightly as Phil began to lead the way to the secret exit. “Leaving?”
“While we can,” Techno said, bringing up the rear of the group. “The fight’s not going well. We have to get to safety.”
“I’m scared,” Tommy sniffled.
“You’ll be okay,” Phil assured him. “I promise. You remember all those drills we did? Just in case?”
“Mm-hmm!”
“It’s just like one of those.” How could Phil stay so calm throughout all of this? “Except this time we’re gonna keep going into that field at the end of the tunnel.”
Tommy nodded resolutely. The kid had bravery coming at him from both of his parents—he was handling things remarkably well for an eight-year-old. He was obviously terrified, but Techno had to commend how well he powered through it. He’d seen that raw determination in him since the very beginning of his life.
Phil handed him the baby gently. Techno almost didn’t trust himself to hold him—he never had trusted himself to hold Wilbur when he was a baby, so this was… a new experience.
“Support his neck,” Phil instructed.
“Right. Right, yeah.” The baby blinked up at him with bright blue eyes. “You said his name was Tommy?”
“I picked it!” Wilbur said brightly.
Phil ruffled his hair, his tired eyes filled with the knowledge that Kristin didn’t have the chance to name him. “That you did.”
“Uh. Hi, Tommy.” Techno looked up quickly. “Am I doing this right?”
“You’re doing great, mate, just talk to him.”
“Okay. Um…” he muttered. “It’s nice to meet you. Sorry that you’re gonna grow up in a frigid wasteland, but…” Wilbur giggled a little at that. “It’s a safe frigid wasteland. Your dad and your brother are gonna take good care of you.” Techno shot a quick grin Phil’s way. “So will I, I guess. Not that I’m under any obligation to, or anything. I’m just nice like that.”
Tommy babbled and reached his grubby little hands up to grab at his long hair. Techno had barely avoided the attack, and he heard Phil laugh for the first time since his wife’s death. For that moment, everything felt right again.
Where had those times gone?
“Over there!”
Techno’s head whipped around at the unfamiliar voice down the hall. “Phil, we’ve been spotted!”
“Shit!”
Techno pulled out his crossbow and took aim. “I’ll hold ‘em off, get Tommy and Wilbur out of here!”
“No!” The distress in Wilbur’s voice struck him to his core. “No, Techno, you have to come with us!”
“Wilbur,” he said as sternly as he could, firing a bolt into the chest of an enemy shoulder. “Go with your dad.”
“But-”
“Technoblade never dies,” Tommy said. “Right?”
Wilbur ran across the throne room to give him a hug. “Dad said someone tried to kill you!”
Techno patted him on the back reassuringly. “Yeah, well, they didn’t succeed.” Wilbur didn’t let go of him. “Hey. Wilbur.” The boy looked up at him with teary eyes. “You were really worried about me, weren’t you?” he realized.
“Of course I was!”
“Have you ever heard what Tommy says about me when I fight?”
Wilbur tilted his head to the side. “Technoblade never dies?”
“It’s true. Nobody’s gonna get me, okay?”
“You sure?” Wilbur asked skeptically.
Techno ruffled his hair. “As sure as I am that nobody’s gonna get you or your brother. So… certain.”
“Right,” Techno promised. “Technoblade never dies.”
Wilbur nodded at him once, picked Tommy up, and ran.
Techno reloaded and shot down another enemy soldier, but they just kept coming. He’d be able to take a few more down with the crossbow before being forced to switch to his sword. As skilled as he was, a dozen assailants in close quarters didn’t sound particularly feasible. Not to mention that with that many people, it’d be easy for them to sneak past him, and if they got past him…
Techno eyed the already damaged rafters. It was only a matter of time before the whole palace burned down anyway.
He shifted his aim up and shot the support beam right where it was cracked.
The ceiling came crashing down. Techno turned around and sprinted down the hall, desperately outrunning the avalanche of wood and stone. The hidden entrance to the escape tunnel was already open at the end of the hall. Chunks of the ceiling continued to fall as Techno raced down it. The exit was illuminated by moonlight—he could see Phil, Wilbur, and Tommy all waiting for him, all shouting for him to run. Tommy took a step toward the collapsing tunnel and Wilbur promptly pulled him back.
“You promised!” Techno heard Tommy cry. “You promised you wouldn’t die!”
A piece of debris clipped his heel. With one final leap, he made it out of the tunnel and collapsed into the snow.
“Oh, my god, Techno!” Phil exclaimed, immediately helping him up. “What happened?”
“I shot the ceiling down,” he muttered. “Worked like a charm.”
“You almost died!”
“Yeah, but-” Techno winked at the two boys. “Technoblade never dies.”
Phil hit him lightly in the shoulder. “Haha, you’re so funny. We need to go.”
“Go where?” Wilbur asked.
“North.”
“Everywhere is north of here,” Wilbur huffed.
“Essempi let us build a safehouse just north of our border with them. We can go there,” Phil said. “You’re still on good terms with Dream, right, Techno?”
He nodded. “He’ll probably be waiting there to see if we show up,” he said. “I’ll talk to him. He’ll let us stay.”
“Great.” Phil picked Tommy up, and his son immediately leaned onto his shoulder, exhausted. “Lead the way.”
—
Essempi was far warmer than the Antarctic Empire had been. The four of them had been there together once before, when Dream had invited Techno to compete in one of their tournaments. Tommy had declared that he was never leaving. Now, years later, it didn’t look like he ever would.
Dream was waiting, leaning against the safehouse walls. Techno held up a hand, indicating for the others to stay back as he went to talk with the king.
“All four of you made it,” Dream observed. “Can’t say I’m that surprised, honestly.” He knocked on the wall with one hand casually. “I assume you want to make use of this.”
“That would be appreciated, yeah.”
“What if I did you one better?”
“How so?”
“I have an army,” Dream said. “One big enough to help you take the empire back.”
Techno sucked air through his teeth. “That’d be a lot of casualties.”
“Probably. But the Antarctic Empire is a valuable ally. If everything hadn’t been so sudden I would’ve come to your aid already.”
“The Empire’s gone, Dream. It’s ashes.”
Dream’s focus shifted to something just over Techno’s shoulder. He followed his gaze to see Phil sitting in the grass with his sons, watching as Tommy wove grass together to make a crown. He placed it on Wilbur’s head.
“Dunno,” Dream said. “I think there’s something left of the Empire after all.”
“I’ll have to talk to Phil.”
“If you want my help, just ask.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Techno?”
He looked up, snapping out of his thoughts. “Hm?”
“You’re thinking an awful lot there, mate,” Phil said. “What’s on your mind?”
Techno stared into the fireplace thoughtfully. “Would you want the Antarctic Empire back?”
“What?”
“Dream offered to help us,” Techno admitted. “Couple days ago, when we first arrived.”
Phil pursed his lips. “Do you want it back?”
“Dunno.”
“I don’t think you do.”
“But what do you want?”
Phil shrugged. “Kind of nice to be free of the responsibility of it all, isn’t it?”
“Don’t you feel guilty about that?”
Phil leaned forward, perching his elbows on his knees. “We didn’t ask for any of that. And it’s gone now.”
“Well-” Techno glanced at where Tommy and Wilbur had fallen asleep on the sofa. “Not all of it.”
Phil grinned. “We still have all the important parts right here. I’m okay with letting the rest of it go—moving on, starting fresh.”
“Yeah,” Techno agreed softly. “Time to let go.”
Nothing lasted forever. Not buildings, not cities, not empires. But the moments Techno had shared with Phil and Wilbur and Tommy—all the moments he would spend with them—he would fight tooth and nail to keep forever.
He didn’t have to do that anymore, though. The fight was over. The Antarctic Empire was over.
The rest of their lives were just beginning.