𝙋𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 ᵈʳᵉᵃᵐˢᵐᵖ DISCONTINUED

SCARS III

thirty-eight | Scars

third person

Technoblade ran his hands through Vienna's hair softly, ignoring the way her clothes were drenched in blood, and smelt strangely like flowers, too many flowers. As if she were covered in it's pollen, was bathed in it's fragrances, but Technoblade never let the woman go, even when the potent smell made his head hurt.

Philza stood off to the side, hands at his side with a worried look on his face as Vienna sobs softened to quiet breaths. The blonde was confused on what he had witnessed, but knew it wasn't his place to ask.

When Philza would fly to the north and visit his friend, the pink-haired man would always ask about one woman, always wondering how she's been, Phil always replied the same way. "She's doing fine, hasn't left her house much, but she's good." and it always made Technoblade's worries a little less prominent. Philza figured they were close somehow, or were at some point, but seeing what had just occurred, the blonde guessed they were a lot closer than he thought.

Sooner or later, the room went quiet, no labored breaths, no half-hearted curses or apologies, just silence. Vienna pushed away from Technoblade, only slightly, and rested her head on the mans chest. Bloodshot eyes and enhanced blue irises met Philza's, sadness still lingering between the shifting colors. Philza simply nodded, understanding a little on what she wanted, what she needed.

"I'll make some tea.." He said softly, already grabbing a kettle and filling it with warm water, then setting it over the fire softly flickering over the logs. Vienna wordlessly stared into the flame and Technoblade slowly started to sway, his hands gently running through her hair, trying to comfort the distant woman.

The sadness still swam in the silver-haired woman's eyes, but no tears were able to break from her eyes. They instead raged against her dark blue eyes, as if they were the ocean. As if Vienna was drowning.

-

By the time Vienna had changed her clothes, the tea was cold, and the silence was suffocating, the woman sat at the kitchen table with a mug full of lukewarm tea mindlessly staring at the flickering flame across the room. Both men stared at her, wondering where she had been, and more importantly, what happened to her. Someone doesn't come walking home covered in something that looks too much like blood everyday after all, but neither men wanted to ask, not wanting to make the silver-haired woman live through whatever had her missing from the house since mid-day.

Everyone knew Vienna had lived through so much, and everyone knew it was only a matter of time before she cracked.

Vienna scoffed after the first ten minutes of silence, feeling the burning stares on the side of her tired face. "If you want to know, all you have to do is ask.." her voice was strained, it was easy to tell that whatever happened was still repeating in her head, whatever she saw was still fresh in her mind. Though the tears had dried, they were still lingering on her waterline, Technoblade watched as each second passed, waiting for the tears to fall, but they never did.

".." Neither man answered, simply stared at their cups, both empty, and waited. Then waited some more. Vienna inhaled deeply, one single tear escaping her eyes as she closed them, and held her breath for a moment. When she opened her eyes, there were no tears, no spark, no fire behind her lashes that would prove she felt alive. Her eyes looked dull, looked numb, looked empty.

The people of New L'Manburg always saw Vienna smiling and helping out, always running off to grab something for someone, or help build a house or anything to keep busy to wear her out so she could sleep dreamlessly at night. The people always saw her with lively eyes, kindness and compassion living through the shades of blue, that was all the silver-haired woman wanted them to see. It was off putting to Philza too see her so.., blank.

Though neither man spoke, or answered her, Vienna knew they wanted her story.

"I was at my house- what was left of it at least-I was waiting to see if he would come back," This made Technoblade look up, hands clutching around his cup, who was he? "If Jschlatt would come back." Philza was half way through taking a drink of his tea when he physically paused, unsure if he heard her right. Vienna didn't care enough to explain that the dead president had been her sole companion for the past few months.

"No one seems to stay dead these days.. But I doubt he'll be back again." She brushed her nose with the back of her hand, eyes trained on the door, as if she were waiting for someone to walk through it, as if waiting for someone to prove her wrong. "I went into the back room." Philza, again, physically paused, then his face paled.

"Vienna-" She cut him off with a wave of her hand, already knowing what he would say.

"Save it, I don't need to be scolded right now." Her voice was cold, but she continued with a huff. "I found him, in the middle of this big cluster of those vines."

"The ones covering your house?" Vienna nods, looking at her hands around her full cup, seeing herself in the reflection of the dark water, she stared at the face floating behind her head, eyes clouded by pure white, and blue falling from his lips, horns wrapped in small blue flowers. Vienna looked away quickly, knowing it was her mind fooling her. Jschlatt wasn't coming back.

".. I wasn't able to save him, he was dead before the crickets started." Technoblade wasn't sure of what to say to her, but knew she was hurting. He hated that he couldn't formulate the words to make her feel better, if there were any in the first place. The pink-haired man couldn't even begin to think of what could possibly make her feel better at all.

Philza looked down at his hands this time, thinking of his son in his last moments, how Vienna's words reminded him of the man he cut down. He was dead before the crickets started. The blonde, just like his friend, didn't know how to comfort Vienna, he didn't know her as well as the others did. Vienna spoke softly, so softly that the men almost didn't hear her.

"If I had been a little bit faster-"

"Vienna. It wasn't your fault." Techno said sternly, his gaze locking onto her lowered head. The man didn't know the backstory of how this woman and Jschlatt had become friends, but wasn't going to have Vienna blame herself. She didn't mean to speak the words aloud, but her expression didn't change as she stared at the door again, a far off look in her dark eyes, done with this conversation.

"Maybe, but I did watch him die," If she was affected by her own words, she didn't show it. "I watched him die and I couldn't stop it, wasn't quick enough to help him. So, in a way, I was at fault." She glanced away from the door to the man in front of her, pushing away the cup of tea and standing. Philza stared at the full cup as the woman started towards the basement door where all her things were being kept. Technoblade was informed of her situation moments before she had come through the door.

The sound of a door closing never echoed throughout the room, but it was shut, and Vienna was no where in sight. Philza sighed, and stood from his own chair, grabbing all three cups and pouring the left overs down the sink, rinsing them out before laying them on a rack. He would wash them later, for now, he had something to do. Technoblade simply stared at the basement door, and waited for the woman to return.

Philza had his boots and cloak on when he decided to make a joke, something to break the silence that lingered.

"At least she didn't ask about your teeth mate." He said with a forced chuckle, hoping it would do something to fix whatever shifted through the air. The pink-haired man had his rather large canines removed, saying he wanted the scars to heal, but Philza knew there was a deeper meaning to the removal. He just didn't push the subject.

Technoblade didn't react to the joke though, and though his hearing was higher than the average human, he didn't hear a thing the blonde said.

He just waited for Vienna to come back, like he always did.

1469 words

Its 4 am