Chapter Text
Technoblade set the blueprints aside, letting the pages shuffle against the obsidian floor before they settled into a heap. They were only about 75 percent complete, but Dream needed frequent breaks and the progress was slow-going. Thankfully, Techno wasn’t feeling particularly rushed; he lost track of time a while ago, but he was sure he spent far longer than 3 days inside the cell at this point. His chances of being teleported away before the blueprints were finished seemed slim. He could take his time studying them, and he was getting too tired to focus on the pages like he wished he could.
He felt the rise of panic in his chest and quickly pushed it down. That’s been happening more often lately.
Beside him, leaning against Techno’s right arm, was Dream. He fell asleep quite some time ago, curling into a little ball in the space between Technoblade’s arm and cape. They came to a mutual agreement early on that they would lay on each other freely. In Dream’s words: “Everything here is uncomfortable but you and your stupid cape.” Techno made fun of him at the time, but quickly came to the same discovery. Sometimes, he could find nowhere else to lay his head except Dream’s lap.
Since making this agreement, the cellmates have become pretty acquainted with each other’s sleeping habits. Dream’s hands will twitch and grasp at Techno’s cape as he approaches the deeper stages of sleep, and although Techno used to think that was a sign of awakeness, it was actually fairly difficult to rouse him at that point. And, the first time Techno slept on Dream, he awoke to the sound of Dream’s stifled laughter and was informed that he, in true piglin fashion, snorts in his sleep and kicks his feet like a dog.
Now, with the blueprints to his left and Dream to his right, Techno noticed Dream’s fingers closing around the fur of his cape and knew that his roommate was far gone. Techno closed his eyes as well and let the back of his skull rest against the obsidian wall behind him. Drifting off didn’t seem like such a bad idea. He wondered if his sleep cycle was still solid enough to tell him that it must be night in the outside world, or at least mid-afternoon when the urge to nap used to hit. He doubted it, though. There’s no way his sleep schedule survived all this time with no sun.
Beside him, Dream’s leg kicked out a bit and his breath left him in a single, painful-sounding rush. A nightmare? Technoblade saw one of those already. It was a while ago, though, so maybe they were due for another.
He watched as Dream’s chest spasmed, a strangled sound escaping his throat. His legs kicked again with enough force that Technoblade had to wrap an arm around his torso to keep him from falling.
“Whoa, Dream? Dream, hey. Hey."
Dream’s body was tense, and his grip tightened on Techno’s cape until his knuckles turned white. His jaw shuddered, teeth clattering, head bumping against Techno’s shoulder with each fit. This was no nightmare.
Techno saw something like this before. Sometimes, people who entered battle without proper nutrition would seize and collapse, their bodies jerking uncontrollably. He never knew what to do when it happened, and he didn’t know what to do now.
That panic again. What if this kid dies here? What if he’s left with a decaying body until someone comes back to check on him?
“Relax, Dream. Relax. You’re not breathin’ much. C’mon.” Techno threaded his fingers through Dream’s hair, not enough to truly restrain him but enough to keep him from hitting his head against the wall or Techno’s shoulder. Instead, Dream’s head was nestled comfortably near Techno’s collarbone. “A real breath this time. Can you even hear me?” Techno twisted his torso a little bit so he could bring his other arm around and cradle Dream’s body, allowing most of the thrashes to land on his own body rather than the hard obsidian that surrounded them.
He was pleased when the chest spasms slowed, and instead Dream grabbed ahold of Technoblade’s clothes with both hands and shook them with what must’ve been close to his full strength. It was almost painful, but at least he was finally breathing. “Good, good. You’re doin’ great,” Techno encouraged, though he was sure his words weren’t received. It didn’t take long, however, for Dream’s movements to slow to a stop and his arms to fall limp.
He mumbled a little before stirring.
“Techno?”
With a sigh of relief, Technoblade buried his snout in Dream’s hair. He smelled like old blood and sweat, but Techno still forced himself to take a few calming breaths.
“Techno. Are you okay?”
“Oh, I’m fantastic. You, my friend, are on your deathbed.” Techno made some small adjustments to his positioning before lifting Dream in both arms and carrying him over to the cauldron. He sat Dream in front of it and kept a hand on his back as support. “Drink.”
“I feel fucking terrible. What happened?”
“Drink the water.”
Dream looked a little surprised at the demand, but cupped his hands into the cauldron and drank. He managed a few handfuls before turning to look Technoblade in the eyes. “Tell me what happened.”
“You, uh,” Techno sat with a thud, “You had a seizure, I think.”
Dream stared at him for a long moment before splashing water on his own face. He rubbed his palms into his eye sockets as he said, “What?”
“Yeah. It didn’t last long. Maybe a minute. You weren’t breathing for a while.” He watched Dream process this, his eyes darting from Technoblade’s face to his own hands. Water still dripped from his hair. “You ever do that before?”
“No. No, I haven’t. Not that I know of, anyway.”
Techno nodded, letting his gaze fall to the prison cell around them. It was the same as it was every other time he looked at it. What about this place would cause seizures? Maybe it was his injuries. Should Techno look for infections or something? Should he encourage Dream to move around more, or would that make it worse? Is it malnutrition, like he’s seen before on the battlefield?
Technoblade’s thought process was interrupted when he felt a tug on his sleeve. Dream had reached over and grabbed ahold of his clothes, his fingers trembling a little bit from the effort it took to just keep a solid grip. “I need to lay down,” Dream said.
With a huff of breath, Technoblade lifted his roommate back into his arms and returned them both to where they were before this mess. Neither cellmate would sleep very well; every time that Techno looked down, Dream’s eyes were still open and cast towards the constant flow of lava that trapped them there.
Reluctantly, Techno picked up the blueprints again.