Archive of Our Own

At least the sun’s not up yet.
That was Technoblade’s only thought as his army spread out into the valley below them.
At least they would have the night on their side. Technoblade himself was equipped with a certain amount of night-vision, and his soldiers were sure to be drawing their advantages as well.They were trained to adapt to it, to use the darkness to their fullest advantage, and it was obvious in how efficiently the soldiers got into position.

For the first time in his long life, the sight of a ready battlefield did not excite Technoblade. 

The image of his people, weapons drawn and lined up in perfect formation, could not bring him the usual joy. Not when the low hum in the air of their lighthearted chatter was missing. When their faces donned grimaces of fear and determination instead of the usual grins.
They knew they were going to die.
And they knew their general had led them to this fate. 

In the past few days, when the hopelessness of their situation had really started to dawn on him, he tried to figure out what had led him to this point. What mistake had he made for him to be caught in this moment, awaiting an army of at least triple their size, on a terrain more familiar to the enemy than his own?
But as much as he tried to retrace his steps, tried to analyze every decision he had made in the previous days, months, years even- all his answers seemed to evade him. Because the truth was, there was no decision to blame. No single moment that had determined his fate. The fate of his people. 

The truth was, this day had been inevitable.

Technoblade had never been a prideful man. He had seen people consumed by their confidence, so sure of their abilities and their position in this world, and had known that he was not like them. They believed they were owed success simply by the nature of their beings, that their talent would lift them up over the masses of the common people. And oftentimes it did. Many of them rose to positions of power and fame most could only dream of, sat on their golden thrones and ivory stallions with an unshakable certainty that they belonged there. That it was their right . 

Only now, in the face of coming defeat, did he realize that, while he had not risen with their pride, he would still be falling in the image of their hubris. 

His ambition, his thick goddamn head, had led him here. Not a single mistake, but all these years he spent fighting, working, clawing his way up without ever accepting help. WIthout ever asking for it.
He had been destined to end up like this. General of a country’s army he could not call his home. In charge of men he spent more time training than getting to know. 

In over his head.

Two days ago, when the news of the enemy’s numbers had reached him, he had almost done something he had never considered before. He had contacted a friend, fully intending on asking for assistance. Sitting in his tent, listening to the familiar voice tell him about his latest schemes back home, he had gotten ready to lay it all out, to admit to the full extent of the direness of his situation. 

But as he had heard his friend laugh, that laugh that sounded both like a child imitating laughter in a play and also so incredibly earnest at the same time, Technoblade had quickly closed his already opened mouth. Who was he to beg for help now that it was too late? What use would it be to pull someone into this mess he had created, just so that they would succumb to his hubris together? Though powerful, a single man would not be enough to turn the tides in this war. He would just be leading another man to his death.

Technoblade had never been a prideful man. But he was a man of honor.

He had made his bed, and now he would have to sleep in it. Even if it meant not waking up again. 

Still accompanied by this grim mantra, Technoblade made his way down the valley.
He strode through the masses of his army, like clockwork passages were opened for him in the otherwise seamless formations. The soldiers greeted him with curt nods or the occasional clang of their swords on a shield.
None of them uttered a word. 

Followed by the gazes of these brave men and women, Technoblade took his place on their front and turned to face them.
He had never been the one for big speeches.They did not expect any. Instead, he calmly raised his sword. His eyes found every face close enough to recognise, and even beyond he let them wander. And as the horns of the enemy rang out through the valley and the sounds of hundreds of sets of armor moving in unison approached behind him, he looked ahead.
Only when silence had set once more did he turn around, his sword glistening in the pale moonlight. 

“Blood for the Blood God!” 

He charged.

There is no force in the world like the waves of two armies crashing against each other. The impact is sudden.Violent. And once you get pulled into the currents of battle you don’t reemerge until you are victorious. 

Either that, or you drown.

Technoblade knew these waters like the back of his hand. He was the shark to the enemy’s jellyfish, moving through their masses with agility, grace, and a deadly bite. While their sting had potential to be dangerous should they get too close, most of them did not even get a chance to raise their arm.
His soldiers, while not a force of nature like him, were just as deadly.
They moved as a unit, making it almost impossible for their opponents to even find a gap suitable for attacks. Their dark armors blended together in the night, making them look like a single, magnificent entity.

Still, it was not enough.

Technoblade spotted a shield with the enemy’s emblem lodged diagonally in the, by now muddy, floor, and used it as a launchpad to hurl himself into a cluster of them.
In the air, he dared a quick look over the valley.
The enemy’s lines seemed to stretch out beyond the limits of his sight.
Technoblade could not see the full extent of their forces, but for every man his army cut down, two more seemed to instantly take his spot.
Every fighter that fell in their own ranks however took several precious seconds to replace, for their strict alignment made it harder to shuffle around. 

Technoblade grabbed one of his attackers and threw him against several of his comrades, hoping to create some space for himself on the ever denser battlefield. Every man stumbling back was replaced immediately, drawing in even closer. 

Their skills were unmatched. His skills were unmatched. But against these sheer numbers, all they could really do was postpone their defeat. 

As if to add to his misery, he heard the distinct sound of a nether portal opening behind him, a pale purple light being reflected by the shining armors he was still piercing. Great , he thought, they called reinforcement .

An explosion shook the grounds they were standing on, the back of his head was hit by a wave of heat, and Technoblade quickly got rid of the last soldier he had been engaged with and whirled around. Smoke was engulfing the battlefield, and Technoblade tried to assess how many soldiers this blast had cost him. But to his surprise, it seemed to have affected mostly the enemy. And even more baffling, the sound that followed was neither warcry nor battlehorn, but a familiar laugh.

“Skeppy?”

From the mess of wafting smoke and stumbling bodies bust a small man, his diamond skin glistening in the moonlight, a manic grin adorning his youthful face.

“Hey Techno! Fancy meeting you here.” 

Before Technoblade could stutter out an answer, his friend had already turned away from him again, pulling out a small silver device from his belt and throwing it back into the mess he had come out of. It exploded into several sharp spikes that rained down onto the opposing soldiers with deadly speed. 

Technoblade wanted to yell at him to go back. To get himself to safety. The aid of a single man, though appreciated, was not enough to turn the tides of this battle. Technoblade would not die with Skeppy’s blood on his hands.

But Skeppy had other plans. He pulled a short dagger from its sheath and charged towards a new group of soldiers drawing in on their location.
Watching his friend throw himself back into the thick of it, Technoblade followed quickly, intent on shoving him into that portal forcefully if necessary.
That was when his distraction led to him tripping over the twitching leg of a fallen soldier.
In his fall he loosened the grip on his sword to better be able to catch himself, so when he came back up he fumbled a second getting back his usual stability.
That second was enough to come face to face with the ax of a grimacing warrior swinging directly at his head. His reflexes allowed him to duck under that first attack, but he knew that not even with his enhanced strength would he have a chance of blocking the heavy weapon from this distance, should it come to a second one. Technoblade’s muscles tensed as the man raised his ax once more, ready to try and tackle him instead, when his opponent suddenly stopped in his tracks. 

The soldier fell to the floor with a dull thud, a precisely placed arrow sticking out of his back between the edges of his breastplate. In his fall he revealed a blonde teenager standing a few feet behind him, bow still drawn and sporting a cocky grin.
“You’re welcome,” said Tommy, before he swiftly drew another arrow and shot it to Technoblade’s left, a pained cry marking his hit. “What ever would you people do without me?”

“I think we’d do okay,” came another voice from their right before a flash of green fabric darted right past them. “What’s up Technoblade?”

The white of Dream’s ever-smiling mask was bespeckled with red, but the haunting image was undercut by the amusement in his voice. With a speed almost impossible to follow, Technoblade’s self-proclaimed rival swung himself atop the shoulders of an especially tall enemy soldier, pulling the man’s helmet like the reigns of a stallion as he steered him stumbling into a group of his allies, rolling off in a smooth motion just before impact and leaving not a single man standing as he disappeared back into the chaos. Gone just as quickly as he had come.  

“Show off,” Tommy mumbled under his breath, before he too sprinted off, probably to find an elevated vantage point the young archer could make use of. 

What the hell is going on ? Techno thought to himself as he slowly found back into his fighting rhythm. Now that the smoke of Skeppy’s explosion had cleared, the moonlight gave view to a completely transformed valley. Most of the areas where the enemy lines had cut through their own had been cleared out, at some places even reversing the power balance. Where before his army had been struggling to keep up with big waves of soldiers, these masses had now already been thinned when they reached the front, leaving  a way more manageable fight for Technoblade’s men.
And responsible for all this, granting them all these advantages, was a group Technoblade could not have put together in his wildest dreams.

He could see Skeppy, taunting whole groups of guys to the point where they followed him into his traps and tricks in a blind rage, his carefree laughter filling the air. He saw Tommy, now perched atop a tipped-over supply cart, every single one of his arrows felling a soldier, all the while hurling insults and jokes at friend and enemy alike. In the glances he could catch of Dream, he saw him maneuvering around his opponents in unmatched ways, most not even getting the chance to lay eyes on the thing that had brought their downfall. 

Technoblade also discovered some faces he had not seen before.
To the far left side of the valley, his old allies from Hypixel were dealing with a squad presumably sent to sneak around and attack from behind. Jiyn and Deo were working in tandem effortlessly, a captivating flow to their fighting that made it hard to look away.
Impossible to miss in a crowd, his eyes locked onto colorful fabrics and a big bush of curly hair towards the back of his army next. Sophie sent him a wave and a warm smile when she met his gaze, before punching a guy coming at her square in the face. 

The man he least expected to see however was situated closest to him, in the very center of the battle. WIth new energy, Technoblade fought his way towards him, a chuckle laced with disbelief leaving his lips. 

It truly was a sight to behold. 

His black suit was immaculate, neither fold nor stain tainting the fabric. His dark blue skin was devoid of sweat, and were it not for the slight twitch of his tentacles, it would have seemed no effort to stay alive was put in from his side at all.

Surrounded by a good dozen of small, bulky beings engaged in vigorous battle, there had formed a perfect circular gap in the writhing masses of bodies around him, but when Technoblade attempted to step closer he was given passage without issue.

“Squid Kid.”

“Technoblade.”

“To what do I owe the honor?”

“Being an idiot, mostly,” the other chuckled, “but also to having quite remarkable friends. Apparently contacting Skeppy before the battle was won, without having anything to brag about, was enough of a cry for help for him to come running to your aid. Though I reckon you would make everyone’s life a lot easier if you’d actually open your mouth for once, bozo.”

Skeppy. Of course Skeppy had organized this. All these years, and Technoblade still forgot that the mane could read him like an open book. 

Appreciation filled Technoblade’s chest. As the sun was rising he looked at his people slowly but surely taking the upper hand. He looked at his friends, all these amazing, wonderful, strong people that had come to his aid without him even asking them to.

Maybe in the future, he thought reluctantly, he would try to do it more often. Though his pride might suffer, he supposed it was better than death.

Still, one question presented itself.

“Why are you here though?” he asked. “My defeat would benefit you greatly.”

Why would Squid Kid prevent his biggest rival being eliminated from the competition?

The other man did not meet his eyes, instead opting to fiddle with the cufflinks of his suit.

“How unsatisfying of a story would that be? My biggest nemesis, dying in a conflict completely unrelated to me,” he murmured. Then, confidence once more finding its place in his voice, he looked up. “If anyone gets to defeat you, it’s going to be me!”

Technoblade chuckled awkwardly. 

“Same goes to you, I guess.”

Luckily, before the interaction could become any more uncomfortably friendly, They were interrupted by a loud yell, followed by a true stampede of pounding feet against the ground.

“Techno, heeeelp!”

Skeppy was rushing by them, followed hot on his heels by a whole swarm of enemy soldiers.

Squid Kid let out an amused laugh. “Go on, save your idiot. I’ve got this area covered,” he assured him. As if to prove his point, he waved his hand, whereas one of his minions grew twice its size, wielding a fully armored soldier over its head like an angry child brandishes a doll. 

Technoblade smiled. 

Yes, they are my idiots , he thought as he raced after Skeppy and his pursuers, sword ready and hungry for blood.

And luckily for him, most of the time it was still him doing the saving.