The sun had started to clear the dawn's cool mist off the distant planes as Tommy threw his satchel and quiver over his shoulder. He shuffled around his cramped room and attached his knife to his waist and pulled his bow out from behind his cot. He quickly threw a dull brown scarf around his neck and slipped out of the lantern-lit cellar he called his room.

He made it up the treacherous stairs and across the questionable rope bridges Wilbur had set up when they had first set out to explore their little ravine home. He clumsily made his way up the hollowed-out dirt staircase and into the small cavern in the side of the hill.

At the top, Tecno was waiting for him. He had dropped the regal robes and crown on the orange bed at the top of the stairs and instead adorning a similarly dull scarf and gloves. He had his axe hung at his side and crossbow across his back, along with a satchel.

"It's a nice morning. We won't be getting any more rain for perhaps a few days and they'll be a lot of creatures reaming about if we're not too loud," Techno rambled. If Tommy thought Techno could get any more stoic than he already usually was, he was wrong. He must have just woken up.

"Good good, I can only take potatoes twenty-four seven for so long," Tommy said, motioning towards the barrels that were filled to the brim with the beautiful tubers.

"You're telling me," Techno deadpanned, turning towards the hidden exit, leaving Tommy to kick at some pebbles. He quickly followed him out and to where they had their horses tied.

"We need to set up some kind of paddock for these guys," Techno said, running his hand down his steed's forehead and pulling some briar's out of its forelock. "They're fed up with just standing still all day."

Tommy nodded, "If we see any good lumber we can try to remember where and brink it back to make a fence or something," He suggesting, though of course, Techno had probably already calculated the perfect spot to find fallen trees and what way the wind needed to be blowing and incline the hills needed to be at or whatever bullshit he said to make him seem smarter than Tommy. Idiot.

"Yep," Techno responded simply. Tommy let out an inward sigh and went to go grab the saddles while Techno packed some more satchels and write a note for Wilbur.

The two convened once more when the horses were stocked up and bridled. They did some final adjustments and mounted their steeds, ready to run.

After they walked a ways away from the camp, they started pushing their horses more forward. They leaped over small streams and fallen trees as they ran, occasionally slowing down to make sure they didn't lose one another or something in their bags.

After some friendly teasing and racing, the spruce forest opened up into a large plane. A happy little lake sat in the middle and blue mountains rose along the horizon. Techno quickly assessed the area and lead them down the steeper hillside and into the field.

Techno and Tommy came to a stop, swinging off their horses and walked towards the pond. Techno cautiously looked over his shoulder, but quickly shrugged his suspicions off.

"You can probably let your horse wander. Unless they get scared by something they won't have the need to go up those hills," He told the younger, motioning to the steep slopes around them. Tommy obliged and took the horse's bridle off as Techno did the same, leaving just a halter and their stuff.

"Do you notice anything odd about this pond here, Tommy?" Techno asked, sliding down and onto the sand beside the water.

"Uhh, it's blue?" Tommy replied, mentally smacking himself for such a dumb answer. "Like it's really blue, almost turquoise."

"No shit," Techno deadpanned, making Tommy sputter out a laugh, "But why is it that blue?"

Tommy was still chuckling but he shrugged, "I've got no idea, Big Man."

"Well come down here," Techno said, motioning to the spot of sand beside him. Tommy went down beside him, looking into the water. Techno swirled his hand through the water, "Feel it."

Tommy followed suit, swishing his hand around, "It's warm-" he commented. He was Techno was about to say something along the lines of 'Good going, Captain Obvious' so he decided to not give him the chance, "Is it from a hot spring or something?"

Tommy didn't see the small but proud smile on Techno's face, "Ding ding. I've noticed a few of these around, this one is just in an odd place. It was probably a lot larger at some point but something happened and shrunk it down to this."

"Do you think that's why we're in a ditch here?" Tommy asked.

Techno nodded, "Probably, most of these little pools are on lover elevation, so if you took some kind of topography map you would probably see that they were connected or almost connected."

"I've got no idea what you just said, but alright Mr. Human GPS," Tommy admitted.

Techno let out a little chuckle, stretching his back out and cracking his knuckles, "That is what they call me."

"You're an egotistical asshole, you know that?" Tommy laughed.

"You know, you are not the first person to come to this conclusion," Techno's dry laugh was a strange comfort to Tommy.

The two shot a few more quips back and forth but soon came to pleasant silence. Tommy inched closer to Techno and laid his head against Techno's shoulder and for once, Techno didn't smack him away.

Techno looked up into the sky, watching a few clouds pass by until the sun was in full view. He seemed to temporarily forget the effects that the sun had on one's eyes because he quickly pulled his head back down after a few seconds and rubbed his eyes, mumbling something under his breath. Tommy gave him a snarky laugh and Techno shook his head.

"We should probably get a move on if we want to be useful," Techno commented, heaving himself up from his cross-legged sitting position and wobbling a little when his feet were still crossed when he stood. He was quick to shake off his unbalance and put his hand out for Tommy.

Tommy nodded and took Techno's hand, heaving himself up. He quickly scanned the divet that they had stopped in and started walking over to their grazing steeds. He had just thrown the lead rope around his horse's neck when Techno stopped abruptly behind him.

Tommy cast a gaze over his shoulder at his hunting partner, giving him a questioning look. When Techno met his eyes, his gaze hinted at worry. He grabbed Tommy's wrist and pulled him back behind the protection of the horse.

Tommy was about to start yelling at Techno for yanking him when a fear-inducing sound that had been ground into Tommy's mind from his many wars against Dream sounded through the clearing. He looked behind his heel. A crossbow bolt.

Techno and Tommy both looked towards the direction from which the arrow was shot from. Tommy caught a quick glimpse of orangy-red. He didn't take his eyes off the forest as he spoke to Techno, "Fundy. Probably Eret as well."

Techno silently nodded in agreement. Soon enough Techno pulled Tommy back again as another bolt shot in front of them. The horse that was unknowingly their shield saw it this time. Primal instincts kicked in and it bolted forward. Their other horse saw the first one run and booked it after the other, leaving Tommy and Techno on foot and unprotected.

They didn't spare each other a glance as they high tailed it towards the cliffs on the other side. They trashed through the tall grass, Techno pulling Tommy along as he tumbled over the tangling grass.

They started to jump up the raw dirt hillside that crumbled underfoot, desperately pulling themselves up by spidery roots. Tommy looked behind them as Eret let a shot from his crossbow. Tommy looked down and stomped on Techno's hand, making him lose his grip as a bolt flew right beside his hand. Tommy used it to bound himself over the hill and Techno used it as a piton and hoisting himself up.

Another bolt hit into the hill, taking Techno's long scarf type cloth the draped down his back. Techno struggled to rip it away from his neck as Tommy leaned over the edge and pulled Techno up.

After taking a moment to gain their barrings, the duo thrashed back into the woods, climbing up onto the large boulders that littered the forest, bounding between them, and sliding down and running through patches of briars. The two kept running past their tiring point and didn't stop until they outran their full breaths. They finally stopped when Tommy twisted his ankle in a fox hole and faceplanted into the damp ground.

Neither of them could get a full breath, feeling like a boot was shoved down their throats. Techno let himself fall onto his knees and Tommy pushed himself off of the ground and folded over himself, coughing out more of his breath, but with a spatter of blood this time.

Techno hadn't caught his breath back enough to breathe, so he just lightly patted Tommy's back. Nausea hit Techno like a truck as did his dehydration. He mindlessly scrambled around the items around his belt, finding his cantine and taking a small sip behind giving it over to Tommy.

Tommy gratefully took the cantine and took a sip himself. He leaned himself up against the boulder that they had stopped at, rubbing his head and blearily looking around.

Techno laid himself out, feeling like he was half dead anyway, "Pain," he croaked out.

Tommy silently nodded. He looked down at his arms and legs, swimming nothing but bloody cuts and scrapes from tumbles and briar patches. Every muscle seemed to be burning and he knew he would have dark bruises in a few spots within a few hours.

Techno mindlessly looked around, he shook his head as he tried to take in his surroundings. After looking around in circles maybe a hundred times, unable to get himself to think about anything but, he finally concluded, "I've got no fuckin' clue," He sighed.

Tommy looked over at him, "What?" his voice was husky and barely over a whisper.

Techno shook his head, "I've got no fuckin' idea where we are."

At first, Techno though Tommy had just passed out right then and there, but when he looked back over towards the younger, he just saw Tommy with a contemplative look on his face.

"C'mon, you couldn't have outrun every one of your brain cells," Techno commented, though he just got another confused look from Tommy.

"WE'RE LOST! L-O-S-T LOST" Techno said, dramatically flaring his hands around.

Tommy gave a small cough, contemplated some more, and staired Techno dead in the eyes, "And what the hell am I supposed to do about that?" he hissed out. "You're the fuckin' human GPS or whatever shit you were spewin' earlier was"

"Actually that was you-" Techno cut in before going back into the subject, "And what? You think I ever actually know what's going on?"

"Well yeah!" Tommy shot back. "You're Technoblade!"

"That's a stupid reason," Techno hissed, "Ever heard of bullshitting, Tommy."

"Oh, so you're saying you a fake? A fraud? A little man with a sharp axe?"

"I guess so!" Techno's frustration shone through his tone.

"I don't believe you!"

Techno looked befuddled, "What do you mean you don't beli- Why do I even try with you? You're the idiot here, not me."

That set Tommy off like a bomb. After a few words, Techno couldn't even make out what Tommy was, or was trying to say. By this point, Techno knew better than to try and say something. He just let Tommy go on with his berate.

Tommy finally came to a stop to catch his breath, his face red with stupid anger as he glared daggers into Techno.

Techno panned his head over to Tommy, "You done?" He asked rhetorically. Tommy was about to answer when Techno cut him off, "Yep, you're done. If you want to take out your uncalled for anger, go punch a tree or somthing"

"That's stupid-" Tommy hissed.

"Then shut up," Techno snapped, making Tommy shrink down a little. "Look, I'm sorry or whatever you want to hear from me. We've got to make a plan to get back home though. We've still got a lot of important stuff on us and it would be great if we find our horses again."

Tommy let out a shaky breath, "Yeah. Though chances are Fundy and Eret took them."

Techno nodded, "Good point," He looked around them. It was hard to tell exactly where the sun was and how far they had run, on horse and on foot. "We're probably ten to twenty mile out. I'll go out and look for where the sun will be setting," Techno informed him, crawling over the boulder Tommy had propped himself up against and lifting himself.

"Wait no-" Tommy said, "What if you lose this place?" Tommy asked him.

"Tommy if you suggest I'm going to leave you out here to die, you're more of a fool than I thought," Techno said sympathetically with a heavy sigh.

Tommy stumbled over his throughs aloud for a moment, before giving up and responding with a simple, "Okay."

With that, Techno gained his balance to the best of his slightly crippled abilities and set off to find a clearing. After some searching, he finally found one large enough to fully see the sun. It was getting much later than Techno had hoped. He quickly turned back around to Tommy, they had to get a move on as soon as possible.

He arrived back to Tommy bundling his deeper lacerations with bits of his scarf and binding a brace around his ankle.

"Woah, when did you learn that?" Techno asked, perhaps not truly interested but decided he would give Tommy some sympathy.

He shrugged, "After battling day in and day out, back to back, over and over again, and usually losing, you pick up a few things."

Techno let Tommy's slightly worrying words slip by again as he informed him of which way they needed to head. The younger was determined, Techno would give him that. Techno wandered over to a stack of larger limbs that had fallen, taking out two nice ones, and handed one to Tommy to use as a walking stick.

"It's going to be a long walk home, you ready?" Techno asked.

Tommy looked down at himself, giving Techno a small shrug, "Well I'm not going to get much better rotting on the forest floor."

Techno snorted, "I think I'm rubbing off on you too much."

Techno offered his hand out to Tommy who gladly took up, then shifting his weight to the makeshift walking stick, "Maybe just a little bit," Tommy smirked.

Techno laughed and shook his head, "Let's blow this popsicle stand."

Tommy laughed, mocking Techno for his strange mannerism, and limped after him. They would have a lot of explaining to do once they got back to Wilbur, so best enjoy their accidental hike as much as they could.

Word Count; 2520