Finding Them

        "Phil, can we please get more potatoes? I need them for stew." Techno practically drug the older towards the potato stand.

"Phil, can you please tell Techno no. I cannot eat that stew for an eighth night in a row," Wilbur begged, grabbing Phil's other arm trying to drag him away from the potato stand. Techno was strong but if Phil cared enough, he could stop the dragging; but he was too tired to care and let himself be strung along.

Soon they could hear the sound of horses approaching. The sound of wooden wheels running over rocks and dirt. For the time that they've been here no carriages have passed through the marketplace, had they just not seen them before? Curious, the looked around trying to spot where the noise was coming from when a group of men took off running from the crowds of people.

How stupid are these guys? Techno thinks to himself. If this is an assassination attempt, why would they be attacking in the middle of so many people? They were quite literally imbeciles. The men they had ambushed weren't that terrible, though they had some work to do. Two of the three took on two at a time, the third standing idly to the side, he didn't look like a fighter. From his attire Techno could assume he was either wealthy or a political figure. The other two must be his bodyguards. Six against three, more like two. He watched the battle progress. Hits were passed to one another, the clanking of metal against metal ringing through the area. Then he felt a shift in the air, dread. Techno saw one of the men come up behind the wealthy man, ready to decapitate him.

Techno's feet moved without thinking, responding to the situation he's been in a hundred times before. He contained the attacker from behind, and without a second thought his left hand was around the man's jaw, his right gripping his shoulder. With one fluid motion the man was dead, his head lolling to the side unnaturally. Techno stared at the limp body, this wasn't a new sight for him, this wasn't troubling to him as it was to the others watching the scene unfold. He could look down at the body with an unwavering gaze, right into the lifeless eyes of the man he killed. He could do this without feeling a single thing. This happens when you've been doing this since the young age of six. His first stolen life had been that of a hated king, despised by his subjects, and so he paid with his life. Techno would never forget that day. Ever since then he's felt nothing when taking a life, it wasn't his fault though, no it wasn't. Where Techno grew up this was a common occurrence, really the only thing that ever happened.

To the person he lived with he was nothing but a weapon. A pawn in their plans. He didn't like that, the walls keeping him contained like a bird in a cage. His freedom was something he longed for, and once he had it, he relished in every second of it. This place, the home he now had with Wilbur, Tommy, and Phil. This was where he belonged, this was where he wanted to stay.

When Phil found him a little over a month ago, he was skeptical but having nothing minus the clothes on his back and no agenda to attend to, maybe trusting the stranger wasn't a bad idea. Besides, if need be, he could kill the man quite easily. And yet, after finally finding his little corner of peace in the world. He still felt nothing when it came to taking another man's life. Techno knew it was wrong, he knew he should feel something, be crying, weeping for the man. He should feel guilty. But he doesn't.

"George!" A scream snaps him out of though, the man in a mask quickly ran over the third man. He tackled him to the ground both landing at his feet.

"George, you're okay, you're okay," The man repeated the two words over and over again, presumably trying to console the man who almost died, and yet it sounded more like he was trying to reassure himself that he was still alive, here in his arms.

"Hallo," Techno greeted, scratching his nose, to be met with the smell of iron. He was going to need a bath later. The two on the ground looked up at him while the third walked over to them.

"You're the one that saved George," the man with the mask exclaimed. Techno tilted his head, were they not going to talk about the dead man laying inches away from them?

"Uh, yes."

"Ha! You might be getting replaced Dream," the third teased.

"Oh, shove it Sapnap. I am not, but that was some pretty fine skill you got there. For anyone else it would've taken five minutes to snap his neck. We could use someone like you on our side." The Dream man got off the ground, dusting himself off before standing to his full height.

"What do you say?"

Techno looked at Dreams hand, an offer. He wasn't going to take it, not when he just got something so good. Besides, if he agreed to this he would just be a tool, the exact thing he wanted to escape in the first place. 'We could use someone like you on our side.' The words rubbed him the wrong way, they weren't pleasant, a sentence trying to flatter him for his skills, no. Dream was saying, 'You're strong, we are going to get that strength, one way or another.' Techno wasn't stupid, he knew what they were doing, and that's why he had an answer.

"No thanks, I've got other priorities to attend to," Techno got straight to the point, not wanting to give the other the wrong idea. He left Dreams hand lay lonely in the air, refusing to take it.

"Oh, what kind of priorities?" Ugh,why is this guy so nosey? Techno could tell him the truth, tell him how he was most likely going to steal the kingdom right out from under his fingertips, they wouldn't hold onto it for long. Or, he could lie. Lying seemed to be the better option in this situation. He just had to come up with something, tedious, time consuming, prioritizing worthy.

"I'm a potato farmer." Not that, stupid. Techno thought to himself. Out of all the things he could've said, how was he even going to prove this one? Other than prove it how was he going to explain how he snapped the other man's neck so easily. Potato farmer? He mentally face palmed. Dream, George, and Sapnap looked at him skeptically.

"Okay, the kingdom does need more food sources. Keep up the work then," Dream paused, "But the offer still stands, you ever decide to join us just come to the castle, tell the guards Dream sent you, the staff will help you find us," Dream explained shortly.

"We should really be going now, were already late for the meeting," Sapnap chimed in. Dream nodded, pushing the other two back into the carriage.

"Bye! It was nice meeting you!" He yelled waving out the window as they were towed away. Techno blinked turning away from the receding carriage to face his brothers.

"So, anything you wanna tell us?" Phil started.

"Uh, well I'd rather not but I guess I'll have to," Techno sighed, "not here," Techno gestured to the onlooking faces of strangers. why did they have to stare like that? Techno wanted to melt into the ground at their eyes on him. The three walked away briskly wanting the attention off of them. Hopefully Tommy would be back soon, they could have a family meeting of sorts, let Techno explain everything to them. What they didn't expect to walk in on, however, was said child curled up under the blanket, knees to his chest. The only thing they could see without the outline of a blanket was the Tufts of his hair poking out the top of the blanket.