How the world works

12

A trap. And a sorry one at that. Phil could see a million flaws in it. Why would Dream risk war with the greatest fighter on the server by abducting his best friend? But let's say he does. What if he finds the lodestone? Or keeps prisoners separate? Or just kills them? Or what if there's a uniform in his prison? Who's to say the place isn't trapped? What if Dream finds out? A million questions, all without answers.

But he has hope in his companion. Techno is almost never wrong, and now he's banking on that trend. 

Phil was alone, gathering plants for dyes. He did it frequently enough anyways, so it was inconspicuous. His inventory was nearly full though and bone meal supply is running low too. On the bright side, he could always still use the dyes. But on the other hand, he had no way to ensure the plan would work, and the longer it takes, the more likely something that can't be undone will happen. 

"Ok chat, that's it for the day. Go home to mumza." He says to the thousands of birds in the trees around him. The sky turns black with feathers as chat takes flight to go watch someone else or report to mumza. 

As the last crow left, Phil pulled out his sword. 

"I know you're there, Dream." He sighs, not looking up from the tulips underfoot. 

"Then why send chat away?" Asks dream, seemingly materializing from nowhere. 

"I know when I'm being watched. And I know when I can't win a fight." Phil says, turning to look at dream.

"And I know a trap when I see one." Dream counters. Phil freezes. Of course he does. His now useless wings ruffle, betraying his emotions. 

"You came here trying to get my attention, alone and relatively unarmed." Dream continues. Phil raises his sword, ready to fight if he has to.

"Which means Techno is staying out of it. You're trying to get me to give him a reason to fight." Dream finishes. Phil hides his relief. He's assuming all the wrong things. 

"Maybe I am. But you have to do something, because I won't let you walk away." Phil points his netherite blade at Dream, who only scoffs.

"You just told me how you knew you couldn't win this fight." He laughs. Phil shrugs.

"But I have an advantage. If you kill me, Techno will be all over your ass." Phil grins.

"So you're saying I have two options, trigger a war or lose this fight?" Dreams asks. Phil doesn't reply.

"You see, I think you're forgetting something. I have hostages, Phil. And if you screw up, they die." He says.

"So it's a stalemate?" Phil counters. Before Dream can respond, Phil opens his damaged wings and leaps at Dream, who quickly unsheathes his sword and parries the attack. 

The sounds of battle fill the air as two expert swordsmen duck and weave around each other, each only hitting the other on the rare occasion. Phil uses his wings to his advantage, as he always has. Blocking, distracting, concealing himself behind their curtain of feathers.

Neither gains the upper hand. Phil runs through the meadow in retreat and tries to have time to react to Dream's unrelenting strikes. At one point, Dream swings too wide and falls into a tree. He aims to kill. They duck and parry and continue on for several weary minutes. 

It looks to be a tie until Dream throws an unexpected kick, sending Philza to the ground in a heap. Before he can stand, Dream has the tip of his sword pressed to Phil's windpipe. Phil drops his own sword and puts his hands up.

"So what now, Mate?" He asks.

"How about I kill you and frame someone else for it?" Dream asks. The blood drains from Phil's face. 

Death. He's quite literally courted death before. She's beautiful. But he's never thought he'd... die. Not like this. Fear sets in, but he clenches his jaw and stares dream down, glimpsing a sheen in his eye behind the mask.

"I don't want to die." He whispers. Dream readjusts his stance.

"Why not? You know death, you've sent your son into her embrace. You have undeniable evidence that there is another side. So. Why not?" Dream presses ever so slightly and the tiniest cut appears on Phil's neck. 

"I'm not ready, I have things to do." He stammers, surprised at himself. Why is he so afraid? He knew it would come eventually, wouldn't it?

"Even you can't live forever, old man. But it's fine, I have use for you yet." Dream grins.

Hours later, Techno came out looking for Phil. Of course, he suspected what had happened. But he still had to confirm. He still had to know.

Eventually, he came to the flower field where Phil had been. Lingering tall grass stood dotted around, signs of spam bone mealing. This is the place. 

Somewhat immortal warrior comes with perks, because he had picked up skills over time. He could see where someone quite light had walked, wearing sandals and stopping frequently. He could also see where another person had come from the woods and stalked the former. The later was also light, but in boots and heavier. This is because the first had hollow bones, built for flight. The 2nd was Dream, who seems to be mostly human, though it's often hard to tell.

Bird tracks cover the field but eventually Phil had walked farther and the birds had flown away. Dream attacked then. No, he approached. Phil struck first. The soft, damp earth was etched with a deep footprint left by Phil. From there, a battle that moves all over the meadow, trampling flowers. It nears a tree where a sword had sliced straight through and had fell said tree. And it continued. Blood stains begin to appear, smeared across tall grass and dripped on the soft earth below.

Techno begins to feel apprehensive. Though he and Phil have both lived long and have failed to die yet, that isn't to say that they can not. Then a conclusion to the battle, where one had been pressed to ground. Phil. Then he was drug into the bushes.

Technoblade follows the trail and comes across a sight that makes his heart sink. A final struggle at the edge of the water. Feathers litter the ground and the muddy earth is covered in markings- too many to make sense of. But the general idea is there. Phil had tried one last time to fight back. But a broken bottle shows that a splash bottle had been thrown. 

Techno sniffs the air. Sugar, nether wart and fermented spider eye. And blood. It's all so strong smelling. So he disabled Phil with a potion of slowness. And from there he put him in a boat and rowed away. He walks to the edge of the water, silently vowing to bring him back safely. He turns to leave but something catches his eye in the water. Something large and black.

Panicking, he recognizes it as Phil's wing. He dives down without hesitation to rescue his friend, but as the author, I regret to inform you that there's nothing he could do.