PHOENIX

Chapter Forty Nine: Forgiveness

"Dream?"

Technoblade stands in the doorway of the cottage, looking at me with wide eyes.

I look back down at my compass again in shock, then back at Techno.

"Technoblade?"

"Technoblade!" Ghostbur cheers, and Techno points to the other cottage behind us.

"Phil's in there," Techno replies, and Ghostbur rushes into the other house. Technoblade turns his attention back to me.

"You seem just as shocked as I am?" Technoblade stands awkwardly. "Did you not know I lived here?"

"Uh,"I clear my throat. "I didn't. Do you live out here alone? Or...?"

"Phil lives here with me," Techno drawls, and I nod. We stand in awkward silence.

"So Dream, where's your house?"

"Oh, it's a long ways away-" I explain.

"Wait, you don't have a house?" Technoblades usual frown breaks a little.

"I have a house!" I defend.

"Sure you do, Dream," Techno nods.

"I'm not having this conversation with you right now," I roll my eyes in annoyance. "Tommy and I were just passing through and we were wondering if we could stay here for just a night?"

"You wouldn't need to stay here if you had a house," Technoblade shrugs.

I take a breath before answering him.

"We just need to sleep here for one night, please?" I ask.

"Um, no..." Technoblade trails off.

I had put two and two together at this point, knowing that Phil was Nix's father and the fact that the compass says she's here made it obvious.

"Listen, Techno," I begin, talking in a more hushed voice. "I know that Nix is here, and I know she probably doesn't want to see me, so I'll leave. I just wanted to know where she was. Tommy's around here somewhere, so just tell him that I ended up going back home, and that he should stay here however long he wants".

Before Technoblade can say more, I turn and start to leave. I didn't want to stay here for long and run the risk of bumping into Nix.

And that's exactly when I bumped into Nix.

Only steps away, there she stood alongside Tommy, Ashes in his rightful place on her shoulder. The first thing I noticed was her eyes, deep brown and full of life, both of them focussed on me. She was wearing warm clothes fit for snowy weather, and her glossy ginger hair was flecked with little dots of white from the snow.

The sight of her made my adrenaline start spiking, and I fought the urge to run to her.

She stood there in silence, her eyes wide and so full of emotions that I could both see every one of them and yet none of them all at once. This was not how I wanted things to go.

"Oh," I breathed out, frozen.

"I found Nix," Tommy coughed out sheepishly.

No shit, Tommy.

Before I knew it, we were all piled into Techno's small cottage, with Phil attempting to make tea for all of us. The tension in the air was suffocating, and I tried as hard as possible to stay in my small corner of the cottage. Nix was on the opposite side, sandwiched in between Tommy and one of Techno's dogs. She hadn't let go of Tommy's hand, and avoided any eye contact with me. Despite as badly as my mind wanted me to, I made sure not to stare at her. Technoblade sat next to the fireplace, being there to stop Ghostbur from messing with furniture and decorations in the cottage.