𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐄𝐒. technoblade (complete)

𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄. ( emergency )

AN ODE TO VICES — EPILOGUE TWO
EMERGENCY

September 17th, 2021

NO ONE WANTS TO GET A CALL FROM THE HOSPITAL AT TWO IN THE MORNING, even less so when you've just gone to sleep an hour before.

But this was the situation Will Gold found himself in on September 14th, 2021.

He groaned, blindly reaching for his phone as it rang. He picked it up, answered the call, and groggily snapped, "What?" through gritted teeth, having been in the middle of a nice dream. A woman's voice greeted him on the other end, and it took him a moment to realize she'd introduced herself a nurse from the hospital closest to Rory's new apartment.

Will blinked, sitting up straighter. "—your name Will Gold, sir?" the woman questioned.

Will nodded, then remembered she couldn't see him. "Ye—yeah." He cleared his throat. "That's me. What's going on?" he asked, stumbling out of bed to get dressed.

"I'm calling to inform you that your brother Rowan is undergoing emergency surgery due to a ruptured appendix—"

Will's heart stuttered. He pulled on his coat, promised the nurse he'd be there shortly, and locked the door to his apartment behind him.

He was calling Techno before he even got to the car.

The first call went to voicemail. The second call was picked up immediately. "Will, why the hell— it's— it's two in the morning for you," Techno greeted him. Will swallowed, getting into the driver's seat of his car.

"Rory's in the hospital."

Techno was quiet for a moment. ". . . What?"

"Emergency surgery, I don't know. I just— I thought you should know, I have to go, I have to drive, I'll call you with an update later," Will rushed out, hanging up before Techno could get another word in. He started the drive to the hospital.

Rory's surgery took an hour. Will sat in the waiting room, bouncing his leg. Cellphones didn't work in the hospital — they never did, so Will couldn't even call Techno or Phil, he couldn't send a message to Niki, he couldn't tell the Discord server for the SMP about what was happening. He was alone in the waiting room, mind racing, perking up whenever he saw a doctor or nurse only to get sad when he wasn't acknowledged, because that meant Rory was still in surgery.

Finally, nearing four in the morning, a nurse came over to escort him to Rory's room.

Rory was asleep when Will stumbled into the room, collapsing in a chair on the right side of the bed. He stared at his brother for a moment, not liking how pale Rory looked, or how his face scrunched in pain even while sleeping. He hadn't had time to contact their parents or anyone else, but he didn't want to leave the hospital for a good signal when Rory might wake up.

He was able to play some offline games on his phone, which only helped to distract him a little; every five minutes he would look at Rory, whose status hadn't changed (and wouldn't, for another hour) before he went back to his phone, worriedly chewing on his bottom lip.