Chapter Text
Techno liked to think he was smart, truly smart for a 15 year old. But even he can make dumb mistakes.
This might be one of them.
The forest surrounds him like a cage, each step deeper into its territory is like walking into the jaws of a beast.
Many stories surround the woods, especially when you go further in.
Magical stories that should not be possible but unfortunately, is.
But he can't seem to help it when there's no wild mushrooms to find near his village. All the elders must have asked the other children to pick them and now there's none left.
Well, Technos is not having another hungry night, he's already sick of the hunger pains and nausea that comes with it.
If only the orphanage didn't need room, if only he hadn't been kicked out. He wouldn't have to be out here, hunting for his own food.
But alas, life is full of unfairness. But he's survived at least one winter on his own, he could survive another.
Right?
Still, the woods are getting thick with vines and brambles. Bushes reaching above his knees, knicking at his thighs.
He sighs.
"You just had to eat the rest of that bread, didn't you Technoblade. Why didn't you save it? Oh because it was a gift so you thought you should eat the rest to be thankful. Look where it's got us now. Idiot."
He talks to himself, he's been doing that a lot lately. But when you're living alone, the only company you have is yourself.
The caw of a crow makes the boy flinch as he spots the black coloured corvid watching him from a tree.
He stares at the feathered bird for a moment as it stares back.
"You wouldn't happen to know where I can find some mushrooms, would you?"
The bird blinks then caws to the sky again before taking flight.
Techno watches it go, heading towards his right, which he's pretty sure is North, flying low under the tree line.
Like it's actually guiding him.
Crows are smart aren't they?
Maybe he should follow it.
Techno ends up doing so, the bird cawing every few minutes and even stopping at a few trees, making sure Techno is following.
Until they make it to a bright clearing, lit up by the morning sun. It's a beautiful place. Flowers of all kinds growing in the fields, the smell of them spread throughout the clearing.
Bees buzz to each flower as well butterflies and even a few hummingbirds.
And at its center, he sees them.
Mushrooms.
He smiles, guessing he was right to follow the bird after all.
Said bird caws behind him again, sitting on a tree branch, happy about its work.
Techno gives it a toothed grin.
"Thanks, I guess crows are smart."
The crow croons at the praise as Techno looks back over the mushrooms in front of him. He walks closer to it but stops on his tracks at the sight and formation the mushrooms are in.
It's a ring.
The mushrooms are growing in a circle of sorts.
Oh.
Oh no.
This is a fae ring.
One of the many impossible magical stories of the forest is now directly in front of him.
He should have never trusted that damn crow.
Techno takes a few steps back, clutching the back on his hip he was gonna fill with mushrooms. He's glad he's smart, he's glad he listened to the caretakers about the forest. Because a new danger is in front of him and he needs to run.
Techno turns, thinking of doing just that.
"It's rude to leave without saying hello ya know." A small voice, that of a young child, speaks behind him.
Techno freezes where he is.
Slowly he turns to see someone in the circle.
Not just any one though.
A child.
The kid has blonde hair and big blue eyes. His eyes shine like sapphires, his hair shimmers like gold flakes.
He's got a light blush of freckles on his face, going across his nose and both his cheeks. He wears a simple white poet shirt with a blue vest over it and navy blue pants.
He's the perfect golden child, one anyone would swoon over because of how sweet and innocent he looks.
But looks can be deceiving, especially when it comes to the members of the fae.
If Techno looks close enough, he can see the ripples of his disguise, a veil covering the true look of this child's true colors.
But he's noticed Techno now, he's looking right at him with veins of curiosity and dark intent.
Techno has to be smart.
"I know it is, but I'm kind of in a hurry at the moment. Would you allow me to be rude this once? I need to be back before sundown and I've gone pretty far from my village." Techno words it as carefully as he can. No sorry's, no thank you's and definitely no sharing his name.
The boy takes a moment to think about it, eyes reaching towards the sky.
"It shouldn't take too long for a chat, it's early in the morning anyway. Sundown is hours away. Besides," the boy suddenly changes to being downtrodden. A sad expression in his eyes, "I've got no friends to play with today and I'm lonely. Can you play with me? Please?"
Techno wasn't one to fall for puppy eyes. If any of the other kids at the orphanage would give him those eyes, he remembers just saying no and telling them off for trying to avoid doing chores or annoying him when he's busy.
But you can't say no to a fae.
"Okay, how about this? We'll play for 1 hour and then I've got to leave, okay?" An ultimatum, he remembers using this on the kids as well.
The fae child quickly crashes out of his somber tone to brighten into a smile.
"2 hours!" He announces, the crow behind him cawing in agreement.
Techno turns to glare at the bird who put him in this position but turns back at the boy with a sigh.
"Alright, 2 hours of playtime and then I'll leave."
"Deal! We'll play for 2 hours!" The boy shouts, almost leaping out of the circle.
At those words, Techno can feel the magic in the air swirl and click the deal into place. Great, he can't back out of it now. Not unless he wants to be cursed.
"Okay, well, what do you want to do first?" Techno can vaguely remember some of the games he'd participate in but it got more repetitive as he got older.
"Well we got to introduce ourselves first, don't we?" The fae boy questions, Techno has a feeling he knows where this is going.
"You first?" He raises an eyebrow, hoping and praying that wasn't rude.
The child giggles however so he thinks he's in the clear.
"You can call me Tom's but I also go as big man." The boy puffs out his chest, looking very proud.
Techno can't help the smidge of a smile. If you remove the whole magical fae and trickster thing, he looks like any 10 year old boy.
But he removes that thought quickly. He can't let it trick him like this. Everything this… thing is doing, is so he can steal Techno and take him away.
And likely enough, Techno will just be another slave to this child faes games.
"Your turn!" Techno is snapped from his inner thoughts as the boy leans closer towards the edge of the ring, eyes intrigued.
"Oh, um, well my name is Te-" he cuts himself off quickly. He was so damn close to saying his name. He was just thinking about not being tricked and he does this? "-n, my name is Ten."
Tom's blinks at him, head tilted as he squints his eyes in suspicion.
Techno nerves build inside of him. Does he know he lied? Should he have said something else? Has he already messed this up?
But instead of any anger or accusation, the boy smiles.
"Ten! That's a weird nickname. Alright Ten, let's play!"
He can't help it when his shoulders sag in relief as the boy starts chattering away about games.
He just needs to play these games for the next two hours and then he's free to leave.
Hopefully.
—-----
"Catch it, catch it!"
Techno launches forward towards the rabbit but lands on the ground making an oof sound as he does so. He misses the rabbit. Again.
"Come on, you can get it, Ten!" The boy encourages his hunt from the circle, the rabbit stopping again a few feet in front of him, turning to look at the teen as if mocking him.
Oh he's so not being made fun of by a rabbit right now.
Frustration and determination grows as Techno gets up on his hands and feet, lowering to the ground like a pouncing cheetah.
He launches once again, eyes focused on the fluffy brown coat of the rabbit.
Arms stretched out, he felt his hands grab warm fluffiness as he crashed.
He closed his eyes as he crashed but when he opened them, he saw the rabbit in his hands.
"You got it!" The boy shouts, clapping and jumping in place in celebration of Technos' win against a rabbit.
He sighs as he stands, rabbit on hand that doesn't even fight back.
He approaches the circle, stopping just before the red mushrooms ring.
"Here's your rabbit." He hands the rabbit over to the boy who excitedly takes it, holding it close to his chest like a toy, he rocks side to side.
"Yay, thanks Ten." His smile is wide, his teeth as white as pearls. Too perfect, too shiny.
"Man, chasing that rabbit was hard. Why didn't you just catch it?" The boy questions but pauses when Tom's gives him an annoyed but amused look.
"Because I can't leave the circle dumb dumb."
Oh.
Right.
Fae.
He kind of forgot about that.
They've been playing many many games, ones that allowed Tom's to stay in the circle and for Techno to stay out.
"Right." He gives back, feeling a little awkward.
He glances up to the sky, realizing he hasn't checked the time in a while. The sun has moved a significant amount which might mean it's been a while.
Looking back down at the boy who's now rocking the rabbit like a baby, the question burns on his mind.
"Hey Tom's, how much time do we have to play?" He hopes it isn't rude but the boy pauses and Technos nerves spike at the likelihood of it being so.
"It's been 1 hour and 56 minutes." He answers exactly and… huh, it's already been that long?
"So, we've got four more minutes?" He pushes a little further.
The boy nods, his face almost blank.
But the smile he's had all day returns as he whips his head to Techno.
"Hey, do you like music?"
The question is sudden but Techno complies. It isn't a dangerous one.
"Yeah, I guess. Why?"
Tom's smile somehow gets wider.
"Do you play anything?"
Techno thinks back to when he played that recorder or messes with the orphanage's piano once but shakes them away. No, he was terrible at that anyway.
"No, not really." He tells the boy who's shoulders rise in excitement.
He puts the rabbit down that strangely enough, doesn't run away.
"I can play something. It's called a kalimba. My Dad got it for me."
Ah, his Dad.
A few times Tom's mentioned his father. He doesn't mention a mother though. Are faes even born? He doesn't think the caretakers ever told him that.
Either way, the kids at least got a parent. Unlike Techno.
From the ground however, Tom's pulls out a Kalimba. A small wooden instrument that fits in the boy's hand.
It's got 17 keys, 17 flat rods formed as a triangle pointing down, the longest floating over a small hole like that of a guitar.
Technos never seen one, just knows about them thanks to books.
The kid looks excited though, having it out.
"A friend of mine taught me how to play. Here, I'll show you."
Tom's makes a sit down motion which Techno follows. He sits just outside the circle, legs crossed as he waits to listen to Tom's music.
The first note hits him like a wave. As the boy continues playing a smooth and slow melody, he begins to sway.
It's beautiful, the song being played rings through the forest and through Technos core like the soft stream of a creek.
It's warm as it envelops him, he has the urge to get closer to it. He should get closer, shouldn't he?
Too soon, the melody ends and the magic that flowed through his bones disappears. He already misses it.
He blinks, again and again. The dawn of his consciousness fights back and he realizes.
He just got bewitched.
He gasps as he pulls himself out of whatever spell manipulation the kid just pulled. Panting in and out, he shuffles back on his arms and feet, his eyes blurring.
"You can't leave." He snaps his head up, to see the boy, the fae, in front of him. Way too close.
"It's… it's been two hours, hasn't it? We've… you said we only had four minutes. That's over right?"
Techno doesn't like the smile Tom's gives him. It's way too different from his other smiles. It's way too sinister.
"Take a second look, Ten. Maybe you'll notice where you are."
Techno follows his advice and looks around. They're still in the clearing. The flowers sway in the wind. The bees continue to buzz, as well as the butterflies as they continue to flutter.
But when he looks down, his heart fills with dread.
He's inside the circle.
"You… you tricked me. That song. The music." It all comes to him. The realization of what had just transpired.
The warmth, the calm feeling, the want to be closer to the music, the magic in his bones.
That was literal magic, pulling him forward. Inside the fae ring.
"It is what I do, Ten. I'm a fae. But it's okay, I won't hurt you, I don't ever hurt my friends."
The assurance is less than assuring. Techno can feel his heart beating hard in his chest.
"But… we had a deal. We play for two hours and then I leave. That was the deal." He could probably win with this argument.
Fae are sticky about their deals. But the good thing is, both parties have to comply with it. Fae are as tied by their rules as humans are.
"We did. I said we could play for two hours. I never said you could leave."
The true colors of this kid are coming forth as each moment passes.
His teeth are too sharp, his eyes too bright, his ears now have a pointed tip when they were smooth and round not long before. There are vines crawling up his arms and legs like snakes coiling around a mouse.
"You said that after you made the deal. It doesn't count."
He hopes this works. He hopes and prays.
The boy pauses again and he pouts. Literally pouts.
"Man, you're no fun."
Techno feels a burst of elation. He won the argument. He can leave but first he just needs to figure out a work around for being in the circle.
What could he give that will let him out? His memories? His first born child? Not that he's ever gonna have kids anyway.
"Oh, I've got it." The boy lights up. He raises his arm and looks to the tree line. His eyes filled with excitement.
Techno does not like that look.
Out from the trees comes a familiar black figure. A crow. The traitorous crow that brought him here in the first place.
The crow caws as it lands on Tom's arm. Fluttering its feathers before settling.
"So, you had something you wanted to tell me?"
The bird croons an agreement and starts yapping. Techno can't understand a peep from the bird as it caws and coos.
Tom's follows a long, excitedly reacting to each of its chirps.
"Oh really?" He says before his excited and glowing eyes meet Technos.
Techno doesn't like this at all.
"What? What did you…?"
He feels so small.
Although the kid is way shorter than him, at this moment, his aura is large enough to be dangerous as he eyes Techno in a sort of hunger Techno doesn't want to be on the receiving end of.
"So Ten, Bubbles tells me she's the one who lead you here."
Techno looks between the two. Flabbergasted over the name of the bird as well as confused on where this is going.
"She also told me something else. Your name."
Techno freezes in place. He feels like his veins are filling with ice quickly as Tom's doesn't stop.
"It's Technoblade, isn't it?"
The weight of the name bears down on Technos shoulders like heavy bricks. His skin prickles and he shivers.
How did he…?
The boy giggles at Technos' fear riddled face.
Like this is all a joke to him.
"You should really be careful what you say in a magic riddled forest Tech. You don't know what's listening."
He… he said his own name. When he was walking. He said it.
And the bird was listening.
"Please. Don't do this. We… We made a deal." The flicker of hope that the deal will help him quickly fades as Tom's stands with a wide smile. Showing too much of his sharp teeth.
"We did make that deal. The deal was two hours of play and then you can leave. But you are leaving Tech. You're leaving with me."
It's a damn work around. A loophole made by his own design.
He's not winning this. Not anymore.
He's in a fae ring. His name has been taken.
Techno isn't one to cry but… he can't help the tears that fall.
"Why? What do you even want from me?" He feels his world shrink and he himself is going with it as he feels the push and pull of magic entering his veins.
It feels so warm.
Tom's giggles again. Taking a step forward, he kneels in front of Techno.
Looking at him now, so closely. He can see how inhuman he is. His eyes widen though when he sees the peaking of feathers smoking out from behind the boy's shoulders.
White wings. Not big enough for flying but it just confirms the nail in the head.
This isn't any normal boy, not any normal fae.
The child, with his small hands, cups Technos cheeks, making the teen look him in the eyes.
"Because I want a new friend. I want an older brother."
The hungry look, the sharp and wide smile. The dark but giddy swirl in his eyes as they squint from how wide his smile is.
It's dark, it's almost feral like.
The ring starts to glow, the red mushrooms with white dots shimmer with gold as it glitters around them.
Rising higher and higher, they both sit in a tornado of gold. He now knows he's being taken now. The world around them disappears behind the wall of gold and the veil falls from Tom's and the world around them falls as well.
The glow fades and behind the shining boy with inhuman features now coming through, sits a castle.
A castle of white, tall as any mountain and grand as any riches.
He can see from a distance, dots of movement. Other fae as they enter and exit the castle.
"Come on Technoblade. You got to meet my Dad." Techno feels the pull of his name and he can't help but follow as the boy grabs his hands and pulls him up and towards the castle.
It's official. He's been snatched by the fae
And all because he wanted some mushrooms.