Techno sighed as he flopped onto his bed, stretching his arms and yawning. After a few days of training after joining the guards, he was absolutely exhausted. He realised that he needed to get himself used to it, and soon it would be easier to hold his energy, but he'd spent a lot of time sparring and fighting alongside Corpse and the other guards, so he decided he deserved a little rest.

Well, actually, he hadn't decided it. Corpse had seen him dead on his feet and had sent him off to have a nap.

Techno had tried to protest, but he'd taken a step forward and his legs had felt like jelly, so he decided to listen to the older man's instructions.

He sighed to himself, staring up at the roof. He had half the mind to get into comfier clothes, but the bed was so warm...

He was only taking a small nap anyway. He didn't need to change into sleeping clothes. He'll have a power nap then be up in time for dinner.

Techno's eyes fluttered shut, and sleep encased him.

- - - - - - -

"Wakey wakey." a voice whispered next to Techno and he bolted up in surprise, reaching for his new sword that was propped up on his bedside table.

He pointed it to the sound, but relaxed when he saw Puffy standing there, laughing.

He rolled his eyes, propping the sword back up and let himself breathe.

"You've got to stop doing that." Techno muttered, and Puffy shrugged.

She held her hands forward and Techno realised that she was holding a bowl. It was some sort of salad with nuts sprinkled through it.

He hummed slightly and took it, using his fork to take a bite.

After he ate a little bit, he looked up to Puffy, who had sat down on the end of the bed and was watching him.

She'd taken her hat off and had propped it on the bed frame.

"Did I miss dinner?" he asked, and Puffy nodded.

"Sorry." he muttered, and Puffy shrugged.

"It's no worries, kid."

Techno did not respond, instead, he kept eating.

After he was finished, he placed the bowl onto his bedside table, took a sip of water, and then turned to Puffy once more.

He raised an eyebrow, tilting his head slightly in confusion.

"Did you want something?" he asked, still feeling tired.

She smiled slightly, sighing, running her hand over the sheet.

"I just wanted to see how you were fitting in."

Techno narrowed his eyes slightly, "I guess you'd know if you'd actually been here the past weeks." he muttered, and she winced slightly.

She sat there, trying to find the words, but just kind of squeaked.

He huffed, deciding to end her misery, "Yeah, I'm doing okay."

She breathed deeply in relief at him avoiding the other statement, and smiled.

"Well, that's good."

They sat in silence for a moment and Techno cleared his throat awkwardly.

"...Anything else?" he asked, and she shrugged, more to herself than to him.

"I see my kid in you." she murmured, after a moment, and Techno raised an eyebrow.

Surprise ran through him at what she said.

"You have a kid?"

Somehow, she didn't seem like the kind of person to have kids.

"I used to."

Oh, that makes more sense.

"What happened to them?"

She sighed, biting her lip.

"My son. He was 12. I'd just...I'd found out my true nature. I'd found the tree. But...he wasn't like us. He was a human, so he was dangerous. I had to leave him, I had to leave my family."

Techno's eyes widened. She abandoned her son because he was a human? Kinda weird.

He cleared his throat, "And they just let you leave?" 

Puffy shook her head, "I faked my death. In a fire. I don't know what happened to them after I was gone."

Techno let out a heavy sigh at this new information.

Abandoning her son? Her family? That's...rough.

They were silent, and Puffy bit the inside of her cheek.

"He was brave. He was always finding a new adventure, or off with his best friend in the village. He was a good kid. He's like you."

Techno furrowed his brows, "If he was so great, why did you leave him behind?" he asked.

Puffy narrowed her eyes, "I already told you- he was human."

"That's not a good enough excuse." Techno argued, and Puffy bit her lip, before shaking her head.

"It was almost five years ago now. There's nothing I can do." she muttered, and Techno narrowed his eyes at her.

She sighed, rubbing her hand with her face, before grabbing her hat and putting it back on.

She stood up, moving to the door. She reached out to the lantern on the side of the wall and extinguished the flame.

"Goodnight, kid." she murmured, before slipping out of the door as the room was enveloped in darkness.

Techno's night eyesight had gotten better since having his hybrid form, but it still wasn't amazing. 

He stared at the door, before sighing and curling up under the covers.

He was too tired to think about this, to think about Puffy, and her abandoning her twelve-year-old son.

He could worry about it later, for now, he would just sleep.

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Hello friends!! How are y'all? Hope you like the new chapter!

Hey guys what would you think about me creating a discord server for this series? Let me know down below x

I wanna talk about Tommy's stream, so if you haven't seen it, scroll past!!

MAJOR DREAM SMP SPOILER WARNING (2/3/21)

SPOILERS START HERE

"Ohmygod, you guys. I watched Tommy's stream earlier but only just got the chance to comment about it- So Tommy's dead. Holy shit. Who thinks he'll be back? I reckon so, here's a theory I believe that I've seen going around: okay so Dream killed him in an argument, right? They were arguing about some stuff and the book, and Tommy didn't believe that the book was real. What if Dream killed him to prove to Tommy that it was real, and that he would be revived? Do you think this might happen? I really hope so lmaoComment any theories if you have any!!"

This is quoted from my wattpad convo page, I just double posted it here to see what you would think!!

SPOILERS END HERE

Happy reading!!

-Bee <3

(2/3/21)

Co-posted on ao3