The man—who you learned was named Philza but insisted you call him Phil—led you back to his cottage where provided you clean clothes, dinner, and a nice couch to spend the night. You appreciated his generosity, finally able to take a breath and not worry about guards showing up at any moment. However, even with his kind gestures, you couldn't seem to fall asleep.

Every time your eyes closed, one of two things would happen. Tyche would be taken away again in front of your eyes but this time you couldn't do anything but watch as she was dragged away from your view, thrashing and screaming in the guard's grip. It was haunting, seeing the little girl you had such a strong bond with being ripped from your life and led to have to do who knows what.

Then, there was the moment that you sliced through that guard's arm. It was like you could still feel the blood soaking into your clothes and you could still hear the agonizing cries as you ripped the sword away. The cut that you made was easily fatal, you knew that, but you had no time to think about it as you were escaping. Now that you were sitting in silence, though, it was hard not to think about it. You have never come so close to dying until that moment, but you have also never come so close to killing someone until that moment. You weren't used to violence, the only fights you would see would be sparing events in the courtyard that were clearly set up and regulated. The thought that you got so close to killing someone formed a pit in your stomach.

"Oh, I'm surprised you're still awake."

A sigh fell from your lips as you sat up on the couch, the blanket Phil offered you earlier still wrapped around you.

"I don't think I'll be sleeping tonight," You admitted.

Phil stepped away from the bedroom where Tyche was asleep and walked towards the kitchen. "Then you can sit over here with me. I'll even make some tea."

You slowly got up from where you were sitting and made your way to Phil's kitchen, where a small table surrounded by four chairs was placed in the middle. A small lit candle sat in the middle of the table, illuminating the small place. The fire in the furnace did a much better job at emitting light and it also provided a bit of warmth.

After setting the kettle on the rack in the furnace, Phil took a seat at the table, gesturing for you to take the seat next to him. You took his offer and sat quietly in the seat, hands rested in your lap.

Phil gently smiled before trying to start up the conversation. "How did you meet Tyche?"

Your breath got caught in your throat at the question. Tyche already defended you earlier but if Phil found out you kept Tyche in the mansion all this time would he get upset?

Phil must have sensed your unease because he quickly added on, "I won't be mad at you. Usually, it takes a long time for Tyche to warm up to people but she seems to really care about you."

His affirmation made your chest warm. "It might take a while," You stated, glancing over to the pitch-black window. "I don't want to keep you up."

Phil chuckled, "You're saying that as if I sleep. You can start from the beginning."

You looked up at him only to receive a nod. "I worked for the Greshams as a housekeeper. My family has worked closely with theirs for generations. So, they trusted me to take care of Tyche when they took her in for trespassing."

"Trespassing?"

"Yes, that's what the Greshams claimed." Phil motioned for you to continue after pausing. "When I first met Tyche, I didn't know she could speak English so I tried to speak piglin."

Phil's eyes widened at your confession but didn't interrupt you.

"Obviously that didn't work too well but at that point, I think she trusted me enough to talk to me. We ended up becoming really close through the next week so Tyche eventually told me that she was taken from the nether by some of Gresham's guards."

"Not the royal guards?" Phil questioned.

"Tyche insisted it wasn't the royal guards."

Phil hummed, standing back up and grabbing the kettle from the furnace. He poured the boiling water into another container with tea leaves. "Sorry, you can continue."

You dismissed the man's apology. "A couple days later I was going to Gresham's office to ask about a few details for an event that we were preparing for. And, um, that's when I heard them talking about Tyche." Thinking about the situation made you start wringing your hands.

"What were they saying?"

Taking a deep breath, you let the words spill from your mouth. "They said that they needed to get rid of her because it was too dangerous with people in the Nether searching for her. So... they were talking about accepting a money offer."

"They were selling her?" Phil whispered, his hand curling into a tight fist. "Shit."

You let Phil have a moment for it to sink in.

After a few seconds, Phil spoke up again. "Well, what happened after that?"

"I-I grabbed Tyche and ran," You answered, "And that's how we eventually got here."

Phil rose from his seat again and poured the steeped tea into individual cups. He placed one of the cups in front of you and took a sip of his own as he sat back down. You took a sip of the hot tea as well, humming at the nice taste.

"Did I nick you earlier?"

You narrowed your eyes at the blonde man as his eyes darted between your neck and your face. Your hand rose to your neck, feeling the small cut sting. "Oh, no. That was from something else."

Phil kept staring at you, eyes narrowing. "I can tell something is bothering you still. You don't have to tell me but sometimes it helps to talk about it."

Just thinking about the situation made you want to empty your stomach so you could imagine talking about it would only make it worse. Though with one look at Phil's face, you felt yourself sinking into your chair. It was only fair to tell him right? It did include Tyche and you wouldn't be surprised if she had nightmares about it too.

"Tyche and I ran into guards not long after we escaped. They were able to restrain me and get a hold of Tyche. Seeing them drag her away made me– it made me feel so upset. So I..."

Pursing your lips together, you couldn't help but think about the consequences that would come with telling Phil you could have killed someone. Would he think differently of you? You were trying to protect Tyche but that doesn't excuse how far you went.

"I could have killed someone Phil," You whispered, keeping out any specifics. The moment that your confession was out in the open, your eyes started to tear up and your bottom lip started to shake. Crying in front of Phil was not something you wanted to do but with your emotional and physical exhaustion at its peak, you couldn't prevent the tears from trailing down your cheeks.

Phil couldn't help but compare this conversation with one he had many years prior. It reminded him so much of his son and the struggles he went through before finding him stranded in the woods. Of course, Techno didn't open up at first, wallowing in his own fear and disappointment before he finally cracked. It took Techno a couple of months to finally confess to Phil what happened and how he had violent tendencies, some justified and some not. However, it seemed like Techno got used to the emotional turmoil that came with violence and killing (or he got familiar with hiding it) and the voices that remained were not as loud as they used to be.

Clearly, this was your first time experiencing such a thing. Phil placed a warm hand on your head, slightly ruffling your hair.

"I'm proud of you."

That only made your crying worse, bringing up both your hands to cover your face. Phil sat next to you quietly as you tried your best to stay quiet. Tyche was still sleeping in the room over and you'd be damned if you woke her up from your sudden outburst. Luckily, by the time your tears dried and your breathing reduced to small hiccups, there was no sign of Tyche being woken up.

Phil retracted his hand from your head and took the cups, placing them in the sink to clean later. You sat back, trying not to wallow in shame. It wasn't like you to cry in front of someone, especially not someone you just met. The thought of Phil having to comfort you through that made you want to sink and disappear into your chair.

"I suggest at least trying to get some sleep, we'll be leaving in the morning."

"What?" You choked out, swallowing in an attempt to soothe your throat.

"We're leaving in the morning since we know guards are looking for Tyche. It would be safer for her if she was home. You're welcome to come unless you have somewhere else to go."

If you weren't so worn out from crying before, you're sure that you would have cried at his invitation. You had nowhere else to go, no friends or family. All you had was Tyche at this point and being able to help her get back home was an honor.

"I'd love to, Phil. Thank you."

Philza shook his head and waved his hand but you could see a small smile forming on his face. "No worries. Seriously, though, you really need to try and get some sleep tonight."

You nodded, standing up with your blanket and heading back to the couch. Once you laid down and got comfortable, you tiredly mumbled, "Goodnight."

You could hear Phil lightly chuckle before responding back. "Goodnight."

•••

I know that this chapter had some recap and was mostly conversation-based (that's also why it was slightly longer than my recent chapters) but I think it's important to show a bit of bonding between Phil and the reader and also show the reader's emotional progression (?? not sure if that's how to word it)

A lot of people don't like it when the reader cries in books because they think it makes them look whiny or weak but I think it's important because not everyone's perfect and, in this story, you're running away from everything you've known and having to make your own decisions based on your moral standings. That's not really what you were raised to do. (Also, a note, it is okay to cry. There's nothing wrong with it and it can be just a way to relieve stress.)

Sorry for the rant, I just really wanted to explain how I was thinking when I was writing this chapter and hopefully people won't think the reader is just being whiny in this story. There is such thing as character development, even for the reader.