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Coming around was a long and excruciating process.
Pain was the first thing Techno became aware of, shooting through his entire body in bursts of pure agony. His head was on fire, the few comprehendible thoughts he managed to piece together lost as a sharp ringing pierced his mind. Attempting to move, he found it near impossible to even twitch his fingers, a task normally so easy to accomplish suddenly becoming such a far away thought. The uncomfortable angle his limbs were bent at caused them to ache, dull and muted behind the pain but still a present feeling.
Exhaling weakly, he struggled to blink open his eyes, thanking whatever gods would still listen to him upon realizing that the room was only dimly lit as to not aggravate his head further. He was sat behind metal bars, rusted from their age and yet still appearing sturdy and without dents. His back was pressed against cold stone bricks, jutting out from the wall to press into his back uncomfortably. The dark concrete floor also seemed to have been built specifically to freeze him down to his very bones, as well as looking grimy enough to make him wince.
As more of his senses returned, Techno quickly became aware of the feeling of harsh metal clasped painfully around his wrists, digging into the skin bellow in a way he was certain would cause scarring. He seemed to be chained to the wall, he realized upon giving his arm a weak, experimental tug and regretting it when the movement caused pain to lace up to his shoulders.
His ankles seemed to be similarly restrained, tied together with rough rope. He could barely managed to twitch his feet and the chains attached to his arms left him with very little hope of untying them himself.
Where was he? Where the hell was he?
He searched his mind for the answer and came up short. His memories were hazy, making it impossible to figure out what had happened to get him into…this situation. He had no way of knowing what time it was, no clock or window visible in the cell he was trapped in, making it difficult to tell when the jumbled mess of his memories that he was able to remember actually occurred, how recent they all were.
He groaned in frustration, hanging his head as his tail thrashed behind him. A soft gasp registered in his mind as he did so and he quickly raised his head, his eyes darting left and right to locate the source of the sound.
"Techno?" A quiet voice croaked, sounding strained. It was then that he spotted the figure seated on the other side of the room, suffering similarly to him. It was someone he knew. It had to be if they knew his name, but his scrambled mind was having difficulty piecing together exactly who and-
"Ranboo?" His mouth moved before his brain could catch up, the syllables escaping his cracked lips and immediately sending him crashing into a coughing fit that forced him to bend forward and allow his head to hang once more. Moisture built in his eyes from the force of it, not that he could see regardless from the way his unbound hair hung limply in front of his face, but he hurriedly blinked to dispel the feeling.
God, how long had it been since he had water? He thanked his piglin genetics in times like these, the species needing next to nothing in terms of hydration. Despite only being a hybrid, Techno had access to those perks, although the intensity was lessened for him. He did need water, but he could go for longer than the average human without it.
Maybe he was getting sick then? It wouldn't be farfetched in a place like this. The conditions weren't exactly the best in terms of hygiene and it seemed to be a breading ground for bacteria and germs. Still, the thought of becoming so weak in a place like this made his skin crawl.
"Techno?!" Ranboo hissed, the worry and concern and sympathy alike bleeding into their tone. Techno pressed his head back against the wall, gulping in air in an attempt to quickly cover for his display of weakness. The worst thing in this situation would be for the kid to panic.
"'m alright," He muttered when he was certain he could keep his voice steady and not break off into another coughing fit. Whether or not he actually thought Ranboo would believe him was a different matter but right now the best he could do was reassure them, "What happened?"
"You don't remember?" Their voice sounded even more concerned now, something that Techno hadn't thought possible. Honestly, that meant that the words had caused the opposite of their intended effect of pulling the attention away from his rather pitiful physical state but he was so focused on getting to the bottom of what was happening that he found himself barely able to care. Without waiting for him to respond, Ranboo continued.
"We were out in the forest chopping logs. You, uh, you had told me that you needed more firewood and I sort of just assumed that maybe you would need some help carrying them or something so I came with you. I think we were ambushed? One second everything was fine and the next a bunch of guys were on us."
"You were trying to defend me and one of them hit you with a weakness potion. You, uh, collapsed. If you can't remember anything then maybe you hit your head- Oh, boy that wouldn't be good. They tied me up and then took is through the nether to- Well, I'm not sure. They blindfolded me and I couldn't exactly tell what they were saying. I don't know where we are now."
Ah. All of that seemed to make a lot of sense in his mind, despite him being unable to actually recall any of it for himself. A part of him considered, for a moment, the irony of the only person he knew with such intense memory issues to be able to recall their situation better than he himself could. But Ranboo was right, a head injury certainly wouldn't be good in their current situation and it would explain the jumbled mess of his thoughts and the pain pounding in his head that worsened with each movement. He wouldn't let the kid know that though.
"I'm sure my memories is just 'cause of the potion. I'm guessing you don't know how long ago all of that was but I can still feel it wearin' off. I'm sure I'll be back to normal in no time," He highly doubted it. If anything, he expected to feel a lot worse by the time they escaped from this hell, "Do you have any idea why we're here, then?"
"I don't. I'm sorry." Ranboo's tone switched from the concern it had held before to dripping with guilt. Techno forced himself to suppress a sigh at the news, not at annoyance at them but at the general situation that they had found themselves in. He didn't exactly like the idea of having to wait to find out just how dire this could be, but he supposed they didn't really have a choice.
He slumped to rest more of his weight on the wall behind him regardless of how it made the rope press into his wrists harshly. While his earlier comment about the lingering effected of the weakness potion had only been to lessen Ranboo's worry, he couldn't deny that he still felt the exhaustion coursing through his entire body.
He didn't like the idea of resting in a place like this, completely unaware while at the mercy of people he didn't understand the motives of but if they were going to escape then they both would need as much energy as possible. Besides, he realized as his breaths began to even out and his eyelids grew heavy, he might not have much of a choice…
"Techno?" When Ranboo next spoke, their voice was small. Hesitant. Techno blinked his eyes open, unaware that he had even closed them for a moment. Not trusting his mouth to properly form words, he instead hummed. The sound rasped and cracked in his throat but he hoped it was clear enough that Ranboo got the idea.
"The men that took us," They began, speaking so softly that he had to strain his ears to ensure that he could hear them, "They called you the Blood god. Do you- do you think that they know you?"
"A lot of people do," Techno murmured vaugly in reply, "I'm not sure if you've noticed, Ranboo, but I don't exactly have the best reputation."
"I have, I have noticed that." Ranboo replied, their voice slightly higher in pitch. Were they nervous? In pain? A mix of the two, most likely.
The silence stretched on. Techno allowed his eyes to slip shut once again.
"Techno...are- we going to be okay?"
This time, Ranboo's question received no reply. With a shaky sigh, Technoblade slumped forward as sleep finally claimed him.