Even though there were five of us, it was almost embarrassing that Techno was more than our match. Among us, I was the best fighter with Tubbo close behind, and it was almost comical to watch Big Q fumble around.
"Stay on your feet, Quackity!" I yelled as he tumbled head first into the snow, "For fuck's sake—" I sighed as he shook the snow off his apron and stumbled back to his feet. Techno turned towards me and swung again, but I quickly twisted to the side.
Fundy ran forward with his axe raised, but Techno simply stepped to the side and ducked back as the fox man tried to attack. Ranboo shot another arrow, but it missed the pigman by a large margin and zipped past my own head. Tubbo swung his axe again, but Techno blocked it, pushing the boy back.
When he looked back towards me, it almost seemed like a fire of blood red flashed in his eyes. He attacked again, so I parried each of his blows without trying to take offense. Yet, it was inevitable that I wasn't Techno's match. His sword clashed into mine, throwing me backwards and my feet slipped in the snow.
My back hit the ground first, knocking the breath from my lungs, and my head bounced against the cold ground. I heard a yell as I stumbled back on my feet, struggling to catch my breath, and froze as I watched Tubbo fight against Techno, taking hesitant steps back while the pink haired male swung again and again.
"Big Q, do something!" Tubbo yelled frantically.
Get up! Help him! My mind screamed, It's going to be too late if you don't fucking do something! It was as if I was moving in slow motion, though, and that the world was speeding past me. My gaze was focused on their one-sided fight as part of me wondered where the other three had disappeared to.
"Tubbo!" I finally shouted, grabbing my sword.
Suddenly, Tubbo fell to the ground just as I had and quickly held the hilt of his axe over his head. Techno's sword came down hard onto the axe's handle, and the boy shut his eyes and winced from the blow. "Big Q!"
"Stop, stop!" Big Q exclaimed. I paused and turned with Techno to see Big Q stood a few feet away, clutching the reins of a brown horse tightly in his hand.
"You get away from that horse, Quackity!" Techno threatened, his voice laced with anger.
"Technoblade, drop everything. Or I'm going to kill this horse right in front of you," Big Q stated in a low voice. He held his axe up so the sharp edge was against the horse's neck. Everyone stood in place as Techno stared angrily at Big Q.
I took a moment to glance around. Fundy and Ranboo watched from a short distance away. Tubbo breathed quickly, slowly climbing back to his feet as Techno repeatedly tightened and loosened his grip on his sword.
I hurried over to Tubbo, taking his hand. He pulled against me for a moment, grabbing something off the ground, before he let me lead him away from Techno. When I stopped pulling, he looked down at his other hand, the color draining from his face as he squeezed the hand into a fist.
"What is it?" I asked him.
"The compass," he muttered sadly, "It broke." He lifted his hand and opened his fingers to reveal a broken object in his palm. It was the Your Tommy compass, but the needle was bent and no longer glowing, and the glass was shattered.
"Oh, Tubbo—" I said, placing my free hand beneath his, "I'm sorry." He frowned, his eyes focused on the broken compass.
"This was all I had left of Tommy," he sighed, "What do I do with it now? It's beyond repair." I released my other hand from Tubbo's and cupped it around his hand that was holding the compass. Then, I gently closed his palm around the compass.
"Just keep it safe," I told him, "As long as you have it, that's better than nothing." He nodded slowly, sliding the compass inside his pocket and gripping my hand once more.
"Techno, drop all of your fucking stuff, or I swear that I'll kill the horse!" Big Q exclaimed, bringing Tubbo and myself back to the present. Big Q pushed the axe closer to the horse's neck, and the horse snorted, shaking its head. Techno lowered his gaze in frustration and released a deep breath before throwing his sword on the ground.
I felt Tubbo's hand tighten around mine as Techno raised his hands to unfasten the cape from his neck and let it fall to the ground. He took the crown off his head and dropped in on top of the pile as well.
"There," he spat, narrowing his eyes at the Vice President, "Happy now?" Big Q smiled, turning to look at Fundy and nod. Fundy walked over, limping slightly, and was close enough now that I could see the cut on his leg. Luckily, it didn't look too deep and Fundy seemed fine.
"We actually did it," Tubbo whispered.
"What? You didn't have any confidence in us?" I asked him with a small laugh. He elbowed me with a smile.
"I mean—yeah, I did, but still," he replied, shaking his head with a smile, "Come on." He dragged me back over to the others, where Fundy had placed a pair of cuffs over Techno's wrists. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I still found myself averting my eyes out of a combination of guilt and embarrassment.
"Okay, so—" Ranboo started, clearing his throat, "Are we just going to go back the way we came?"
"The ocean's faster," Techno deadpanned.
"Let's—uh—let's take the ocean," Big Q decided. In silence, the group began walking across the meadow as it opened up to a small bay. I took the lead, carefully stepping on the ice to see whether it would support our weight.
"Be careful!" Tubbo called out to me. I smirked and jumped on the ice, laughing at Tubbo's surprised reaction.
"It's all good!" I returned to the group, helping drag the three boats into the arctic water. Then, I stood at the edge, holding a rope attached to each boat, while the others got in. Tubbo went in the first boat with Techno, Big Q took the second one with the horse—Carl, I had come to know. The third boat would carry myself, Fundy, and Ranboo.
"I call front seat," I said while Fundy only had one leg in the boat.
He paused and looked over at me with an eyebrow raised. "Excuse me?"
"I said, I call front seat," I repeated. He rolled his eyes and stepped back with crossed arms while Tubbo laughed. I dropped the two ropes belonging to the other boats into the water and tossed the third one to Fundy before stepping into the boat, holding my arms out to balance while it rocked beneath me.
"Water's cold, wouldn't want to fall in," Techno commented, looking back at me with a blank expression. I met his gaze for a moment, holding back the urge to say something, and sat down in the boat. As I grabbed my paddle and waited for the other two to climb in, I could almost feel his eyes still on me.
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A/n - Thank you guys for 113k!! In the past few days Bee Boi has been #1 in dreamsmp, #2 in mcyt, and currently #1 in siblings! That is just insane! :O
Also, the new Lovejoy album Pebble Brain has come out and my favorite is You'll Understand When You're Older :) What are your fav songs?
I love you all very much <33
~Echo