Vengeance

7- Change

After leaving the cave, removing the rock as they went, the beast and the boy trudged back through the snow towards Technoblade's home. Tommy longed for the warmth of its large furnace, rubbing his gloved hands together in an attempt at generating some warmth in his appendages. He glanced over to the man a few steps ahead of him, feeling admiration, amazement and a little fear. Tommy was surprised with the amount of preparation the beast had put in to his work, the hundreds of wither skulls must've take months to gather.

Shortly, they reached the cabin. The man removed his fluffy cloak but Tommy kept his on, still feeling the cold. He removed his gloves and sat on a spruce chair near a furnace, holding his hands out towards the flames. He retracted his pink hands and rubbed some warmth in to them.

Techno pulled a few carrots from a chest in the corner of the room. He washed them gently with cold water and then placed one in his mouth, biting off the end. He moved over to Tommy, crunching gently on the snack as he handed a carrot to the boy.

"Good source of nutrients." Techno mumbled between crunches. "You need to eat, kid."

Tommy held the carrot, running its green stems between his fingers while taking heed of what the man had said. Unfazed by Techno's crude use of his age, the boy stopped fiddling with it and placed the carrot in his mouth, snapping it in half. He didn't feel like eating, he just did as he was told.

Techno leaned on the wall, nonchalantly munching on his carrot as he watched the boy. He chucked the stem of the carrot out the window and pulled his cape from the hook on the wall. It was time he trained the kid.

Tommy blankly stared in to the fire, he seemed to be zoning out. Techno placed a scarred hand on the boys shoulder, causing him to jump a little.

He sighed.

"Let's go outside, Tommy." The man said with an air of annoyance at the tedious task he saw ahead.

The boy wondered if he had done something wrong to have earned such a tone. Despite his concerns, the boy stood up and donned his gloves once more. He followed the larger man outside to a clearing beside the man's house.

The crunching of snow could be heard until Techno stopped walking and turned. He pulled out two iron swords from within his layered clothing and threw one towards Tommy, catching the younger by surprise who barely managed to catch it in time. Tommy looked over to Techno, each boy with a sword in one of their hands.

"It's about time you had some training." Techno explained, breaking Tommy's momentary confusion.

The larger man removed his cape and laid it down in the snow a good metre away from the pair, revealing sleeves which shortly got pulled up to allow his battle scarred arms more mobility. Tommy observed what techno did and decided to do the same, knowing that the older had more experience than him. The boy felt the arctic chill on his forearms as he pulled up his sleeves, his gloves remained firmly in place.

Tommy watched as the pink haired man lunged towards the boy, sword flying towards his eyes. He barely managed to move away in time. The boy felt a stinging sensation along his cheek. It reached up towards the tip of his ear from the dead centre of his cheek. He brought a gloved hand up to wipe the cut as the older man stepped back.

"What was that for?" Tommy groaned, using his wrist to catch a droplet of blood strolling down his cheek.

"It's a reminder Tommy, never let your guard down. You could be betrayed at any moment." Techno tried justifying, a little anxiousness seeping in to his voice as he noticed the cut had been a little deeper than intended.

Tommy watched as the man walked forwards and grabbed the boys head. Techno gripped the base of the boys chin and the back of his head, gently rotating it to gain a better look at the damage he had inflicted.

"Sorry." He grumbled slightly, pulling a cloth from one of his pockets and gently cleaning the cut.

Tommy was a little shocked about the whole ordeal, he knew techno had a soft side yet had never experienced this much care from the older man. The boy reached up and removed Techno's hands from his head. He lifted the sword and pointed it toward the older who smirked at the determination and flare that the young boy showed.

Techno took a few steps back and picked up his sword again which had been laying in the snow since he had dropped it. He pointed it towards the boy and smirked, maybe it wouldn't be as tedious as he had originally thought.

Tommy lunged, techno dodged with ease. Techno lunged, Tommy dodged just in time.

The two repeated this dance until nightfall as the older had noticed the sun beginning to set in the azure sky. By that time, Tommy found it easier to dodge, being able to predict the older's moves and footing. Techno had also begun to find Tommy's blows more difficult to avoid, a couple needing to be blocked by his sword. The beast was satisfied.

Tommy looked at the sun as it set while techno took the boys sword and handed him a cape. The blonde let his thoughts wander for a moment. He thought back to Tubbo, how was he faring anyway? Just the same as when he was back at Logstedshire, Tommy presumed. He sighed and turned to see Techno making his way back towards the house.

There was no going back to how he was before, where he was before and who he was before he had been exiled.

Tommy ran a little to catch up with the man he had slowly begun to trust, feet kicking up a dusting of snow.

The younger entered the house and closed the door behind them, quickly removing his outer armour as dusk turned to night through the shuttered windows. He looked towards technoblade who was removing a few large hunks of meat from the furnace that had been lit since this morning. The training had exhausted his already weak body as his stomach growled at the sight and scent of food. Techno looked at the boy and threw him a hefty share of the meat, noticeably more than he had left for himself. Tommy brought it to his mouth and barely had time to take in the aroma before he had begun savaging the section nearest to him. The tender beef fell apart in his jaws as its juices brought a world of flavour to the boys tongue.

Barely two minutes after he had started, the boy had finished the meal. He sat in the solid chair, slumping down a little with a sigh of relief as the grinding of cutlery against ceramic could be heard. He looked towards techno who daintily ate his meal from a shiny golden plate, the man had always been partial to the rare metal. Techno noticed Tommy staring, apparently sensing that the boy still wasn't full. He reached in to a chest and pulled out an apple and two bottles of water which he then gave the boy, keeping a bottle for himself.

A short while later, after the pair had finished (Techno taking significantly longer than the teen), they both sat in those same sturdy chairs.

Techno thought of how he had hurt the boy during their sparring match earlier. He glanced towards the boy who seemed to be prodding the fire that occupied the bottom of the furnace without much thought. The man stood up and approached Tommy, taking note of how the cut he had given the boy was scabbing, a little dried blood remained on his cheek. Firstly the man pulled out a healing potion as the teen looked towards the man. Then he dabbed a little potion on a cloth and brought it towards the boy's face, eager to quickly heal the unnecessary damage he had caused prior. The boy hesitantly obliged to the man's movements, even feeling a little thankful as the sting subsided.

"Sorry, Tommy." The man began, "I think it might've left a scar."

Tommy shrugged it off, the older man had plenty of scars from various battles, they didn't seem to matter much.

"It's fine, Techno." Tommy stated, seeing a little tension ease from the man's knitted brow.

Tommy couldn't understand why the man cared about him as much as he appeared to, everyone else that once did had just abandoned him, left him for dead, and here he was now. Being cared for and looked after by a former ally, former traitor and apparent enemy to Lmanberg. Tommy brushed the man's past aside. Things had changed.