PHOENIX

Chapter Thirty Three: Loss

Eyes wide, I watched from the back of the crowd as Schlatt's men held Tubbo in place on the stage, their hold so tight I swear they could cut off his circulation.

"No, no, no.." Niki shook her head from beside me, but I was too fixed on Tubbo to comfort her in the moment.

"Wait Schlatt?" Tubbo questioned in a nervous tone.

"Tubbo, I'll cut to the fucking chase" Schlatt patted his shoulder and then turned back to face the audience. "I know what you've been up to"

Tubbo's eyes darted around the stage, looking for any sort of comfort from the people around him.
"What have I been up-what are you talking about?"

"What have I been up to, he says" Schlatt repeated while chuckling and gesturing to Tubbo as if he were saying "This guy".

The room gave an awkward laugh in return, still unsure of what was happening.

"CONSPIRING" The raise in Schlatt's voice caused the crowd to be silent once again. "With the tyrants that we kicked out of this country"

I quickly glanced back up to where Tommy was in the balcony above, and saw his face as shocked and concerned as mine. This has gone all wrong.
This wasn't the plan.

"It all adds up buddy," Schlatt counted off his fingers, "The fucking tunnels, your absence from events, I mean- you walked off in the middle of this one!"

"Uh.." Was all Tubbo could manage out, shrinking back in fear.

"Do you know what happens to traitors?"

"No?"

"Nothing good" Schlatt answered darkly.

I heard Niki sob next to me, and I felt my stomach turn in fright. I had never felt so scared in my entire life.

"Hey Technoblade, do you wanna come up here for a second? We need to send a message real quick"

The audience parted around Techno as he slowly made his way up to the front of the room. Shit. Techno said he wasn't on Schlatt's side, why was he...

"Technoblade please, can you take care of him?" Schlatt waved his hand.

Techno didn't move at all, he only blinked once or twice and then played dumb.

"Do you want me to get him some breakfast? Or maybe a nice coat? What do you mean by take care of him?" Techno asked monotonically.

I let out a small breath of relief. There's the Techno I know. But what is he gonna do to help Tubbo escape? He could take Schlatt out, he could probably take the entire room out if he wanted.

Schlatt let in a deep breath, and I could tell he was already done with Techno's bullshit.

"Kill Tubbo, right now, ON THIS FUCKING STAGE!" Schlatt yelled, his face contorting in rage. I had never seen him this mad before.

"AND MAKE IT HURT!"

"Schlatt, it's a festival, man" Fundy defended weakly from the side of the stage, while Quackity stood silently, his eyebrows scrunched up in either confusion, disdain, or uncertainty.

"Techno, don't do it!" Niki pleaded, causing a few heads to turn in our direction, including Techno's.

Techno's eyes moved from Niki's crying face to my own. I stared back at him in question, and we held eye contact before he broke away, shaking his head slightly.

"No..." I whispered, understanding what Techno was saying with his look.

"Schlatt, are you sure? We have him trapped, isn't that enough?" Quackity asked, wringing his hands.