IV : You And I See Eye to Eye
Part 4 : Feel No Fear Before the Multitude of Men Requested By: @lissthatskiss Ares!Technoblade x HalfNymph!Reader
Recommended Listening: Sin by Stone Temple Pilots and It Ain't Like That by Alice in Chains Words: 2.3k Taglist: @lissthatskiss @segnoblade @wingedghostpepper @local-maniacc @mitzu-001
How truly magnificent. Technoblade thinks to himself. He strolls through the carnage you have left behind. Luckily, you chose the horse he left for you at the gate. He looks around at the blood soaked- well everything if he’s being honest. Yes, truly oh so truly magnificent. The power he gave you was a mere fraction of what he gives his most loyal soldiers and yet you did all this. He sees you’ve forgotten to take your buy out money in your haste to leave. Well that’s no good. The money is truly hers after all. Hmm, well I better return it. Yes, this way I may just get her to fight me. Plan in mind, an excited smile takes over his face. But, he has soldiers to train. He cannot devote all his time to thinking of fighting your beautiful form. Humming to himself, he begins to travel back to his home on Mount Olympus - scheming all the while.
It has been days since you’ve escaped the arena. You avoid heavily populated roads and large groups like the plague. Your only company is the horse you’ve stolen and the feeling of being watched that never leaves you.
The horse you chose must be a born and bred war horse, you think to yourself. He was the largest and most beautiful of the horses you could’ve chosen when you made your escape. A beautiful chestnut brown coat and easily over 21 hands tall, reaching seven feet tall at his shoulder - a true work of art you decide to name Balius.
Balius has carried your malnourished and exhausted body with no complaint - a fact you revel in as you had little to no experience with any sort of steed. Your past was only filled with the wild animals of the forest and streams. On occasion, Lady Artemis would bring her chariot pulled by four swift golden-horned hinds for the spring festival of Artemisia. Thinking about your past is a quick way to sour your mood however, so you quickly move on. You have no idea where to go or what to do with yourself. Being half-nymph you cannot re-join your sisters and you find the thought of doing so repulsive. Every night you hide yourself from Lady Artemis’s eye in the moon, you know in your heart you are no longer one of her daughters.
You are miles away from the arena you fled from, and yet you feel you are not far away enough. Nightmares plague your sleep. The most common nightmare is of the arena, but instead of fighting the soldier you did before it is instead a man who easily dwarfs your form with the most piercing crimson red eyes you’ve ever seen. In the rare instances you stop for rest, you can only pray that the nightmare takes a break from harassing your sleep. Right now is one such time. As the sun is pulled down by Helios on his great chariot, you find a spot to rest by the stream. Hopping off of Balius you lead him to the stream and begin to set up your small camp.
When you had first fled the arena, you had not checked Balius for any supplies. Your surprise at the amount of provisions and supplies inside the saddle bags was great. It had a week’s worth of food, a small bedroll, flint and steel, and a small amount of kindling. You have been rationing the provisions to stretch it out further. You have never been to a village to trade for anything - the mere thought of coming into contact with more people makes you wary.
Shaking the thoughts away, you gather firewood for a small fire. Using the flint and steel with a small amount of kindling you start a fire. Balius has returned from the stream after getting a drink and lays down behind you. Grabbing your bedroll and a small chunk of bread from Balius’s side, you unroll it and use Balius as a backrest. Breaking a small chunk off, you eat and begin to contemplate your next moves.
I know no trade, skill, or really anything truly useful. You think to yourself. I’ve been in that arena for Zeus knows how long. Hell, everytime a traveler has crossed my path I am filled with lust for their blood. Ignoring such feelings leaves me with such a headache I can no longer steer Balius. It is strange, ever since that rush of in the arena left my thoughts have been disorganized.
You think yourself to sleep, curled up against Balius your final thoughts realizing you haven’t felt the piercing gaze following you since you left the arena.
Arriving at his home, he is immediately accosted by Theseus - or Tommy as he likes to be called. “Techno! You promised me a spar days ago!” Technoblade blinks, oh right, whoops? “Oh right, sorry about that Tommy, I was preoccupied with some other things in the mortal realm.” Technobalde quickly explains. At Tommy’s responding pout, he sighs. Trying to placate him he quickly says, “I can spar with you now?” At Tommy’s quick grin, he resigns himself to a few hours of sparring with his favorite disciple.
The two quickly make their way to a small arena. Inside, there are training swords and dummies that line the walls. Tommy is clearly eager to begin as he runs in and grabs one of the wooden practice short swords. Technoblade follows at a more sedate pace and grabs a matching sword. After grabbing a sword, Technoblade shrugs off his red fur lined cape and adjusts his boar mask. While Tommy is certainly a challenge, he is still no match for the god of battle.
Joining Tommy in the middle of the ring, he quickly begins the spar. As it is only a spar, Technoblade soon finds himself lost in the past. He acquired Tommy as a disciple after seeing his courage fighting the minotaur in the great labyrinth. When Tommy’s mortal form finally succumbed, Kristen offered to bring Tommy’s soul back for a fleeting moment, all so that Technoblade could ask if the mighty Theseus wanted to become a disciple for the god of war. Tommy’s soul was immediately interested in the proposition and agreed. And now, Tommy is as close to a brother as Techno has ever had.
Finally, after hours of sparring they finish. “That was a great spar,” Technoblade praises. Tommy is quick to beam his smile and say, “Yeah! Thanks Tech! We should spar more often.” Chuckling, Technoblade is quick to voice his agreement in turn. Turning, they both discard their training swords on the rack and Techno grabs his cape. As they make their way out of the sparring arena, they part ways. Technoblade heads down the mighty halls of Mount Olympus and arrives at his bedroom.
Deciding to turn in for the night. He quickly prepares himself for bed. He takes your bag of buy out money out of the pockets of his cape and sets it aside. His thoughts once again drift to the carnage you had wrought upon your enslavers. The thought is more than enough to make himself smile. A deep burning passion encases itself deep inside his chest and he finds his desire to see more of what you can do only growing. At the nearest opportunity, he will get you to fight him - no matter what stands in his way.
You awake on your fifth day a free woman to cold embers and dew on the grass you lay on. Your eyes blink wearily open and you stretch with a yawn. Balius gets up behind you and paces over to the stream. Looking at the stream, you quickly decide to bathe before continuing on your path to nowhere.
After rinsing out your quickly growing hair and washing your body you pull yourself out of the stream. Dressing back up in your clothes makes you realize they are filthy and quite tattered. You resign yourself to stopping by a tailor to trade when you realize you forgot to take your buy out money. With a groan your thoughts spin, I cannot believe I forgot to grab the money. What am I supposed to do? Do I have to become a bandit?? Lost in your thoughts as you are, you do not hear the thud of someone dropping out of a tree behind you. However, at the alarmed neigh of Balius you swiftly turn around. Standing only ten feet away from you is the largest man you’ve ever seen. You look up, and the man’s eyes stop you right in your tracks. Those eyes have been plaguing you ever since you left. The feeling of his gaze is a familiar one but you’ve only ever seen this man in your nightmares.
Before you can continue to stare in shock and confusion. He holds up a familiar bag. “Well, what do we have here? Does this look familiar to you?” The strange man says. Immediately on edge, you keep your mouth shut. This makes the man frown and before you can do anything he’s speaking again, “Now don’t be like that. We both know you know what this is. Don’t worry, I’m not here to take you back. Not that there’s even much to go back to anyways. I’m sure you know all about that.” Ignoring him, you dart your eyes around looking for a weapon. You will not give in to whatever demands this man wants. Irritated at being ignored, Technoblade throws the bag of coins to the ground in front of his feet and draws his sword.
You panic, the man is between you and Balius with no way around. You have no weapon or means to get through him. Even then, your hair stands on edge at the image of this man. Perhaps man is not the correct term, he certainly doesn’t have the air of one. There is something about him putting your entire body on edge and yet you can’t figure it out.
Seeing your panicked form, the man smiles and unsheathes a sword from his back. The man throws the sword to your feet and you are quick to grab onto it. A standard broadsword like the ones you held in the arena, at least the weapon is familiar. Before you can rush forward the man speaks again, “Now listen, all I want is a little friendly fight that’s all. No need to get all huffy puffy.” His words confuse you, a fight? Is he crazy!? He’s twice my size! Still inwardly panicking, all you can do is nod.
An excited grin overtakes the man's face as he rips off his cape from his back, tossing it behind him. You ready your body in stance in barely enough time as he closes the gap between the two of you. Your swords clashing together as you block his attack. The weight behind his slash quickly becomes too great and you retreat to the side. Bringing up your own sword to attack behind him - he quickly spins and blocks your own sword.
“Come on sweetheart, I know you can fight better than that.” He taunts you. But, it is the truth. You are only trying to get away, not fight him at your best.
“Shut up you pig-headed bastard!” You scream.
The anger at being taunted brings you to start a slew of your own offensive attacks. Your biggest strength is your swiftness and against a beast like him - it's all you have. Aiming upwards towards his chest and his face your sword catches on the boarish mask clipped to his head. But, he sees through your attack too soon for it to do any damage. He retreats back. You spare a glance backward as you are finally within range of Balius and the bag of money. However, the man notices your inattention to him and takes his opportunity. Your attention is swiftly overtaken by the large slashes he’s aiming your way. Slashing directly down, you jump to the side and spin your body. Using your spin as momentum you manage a shallow cut along his side. In shock, the man quickly retreats, holding his side and inspecting the wound. Thinking this is finally over, you lower your sword in exhaustion. However, the sight of the blood only excites the man more.
Technoblade is more excited than he’s ever been. With a manic grin he thinks to himself, she is too perfect. She will surely be more than enough to satiate my boredom for a time. I need to end this quickly and take her to Mount Olympus to offer her a place beside me.
Seeing the man only grin, you barely bring your sword back up to block the large slash he aims at you. You attempt to deflect to the side once again, but you are tired, hungry, and have been on the run for days. There is only so much you can do. Taking your exhaustion as an opportunity. The man in a swift burst of speed appears behind you. Your body is too slow to move as he brings down the hilt of his sword to the back of your neck. Before you know it, your body crumples and you are knocked out.
Panting with exhilaration, Technoblade calls over the steed he entrusted to you. Picking you up and slinging you over your own horse, he grins to himself. His thoughts are racing and the voices of the many he has slain are a cacophony in his ears. Shaking himself out of his excited stupor, he bends down to grab your bag of coins and calls over to his own horse. He quickly ties the reigns of your horse to the rope he has attached to his own. Everything ready, he grabs his discarded cape, swings himself up onto his own steed, and sets off to his home with palpable excitement.