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Technoblade had been fourteen when he watched the Creator gift Phil and Illumina the Nether and the Overworld. Phil had almost immediately disappeared, immersing himself in his project to entirely transform the realm he was granted, and the Overworld changed shape with every passing day. The Creator had provided the building blocks of the world, but the two young Gods poured their hearts and souls into taking those building blocks and making something complex, something beautiful, something with sentient life to be found and adventures to be had.
Technoblade was fifteen when he was given the End, although it had hardly been presented as such. The Creator had taken him deep underground, to the heart of the world and revealed a stone structure that housed a portal to the realm. Illumina had created the structure and called it a Stronghold, and the dark corridors were filled with monsters: whether they were designed to protect the portal from those trying to seek it, or defend the Overworld from people emerging, Technoblade didn’t know.
After he was pushed through the portal and found himself spat out in an empty, barren wasteland, with nothing but an island of cream coloured stone floating in the void, he realised that the journey had been one way.
The Creator had given him the End not as a gift, but as a prison.
He’d felt alone before, being alone was nothing new. He’d looked out at the stars and watched as they twinkled in the distance, occasionally being obscured by clouds or branches. There was nothing here to obscure the view, not that there were any stars in the sky for him to observe.
Technoblade did the bear minimum to keep himself alive. He used his powers sparingly, as each time he did he remembered the Creator’s harsh words when he’d learned how to use them. He was a runt, an anomaly, a failure. Everything from his stature to his hair colour was wrong. He was a reject, and the Creator made no secret of his hatred from him. When the fruit that Technoblade created sent him flying across the island uncontrollably, he’d cried. Fruit wasn’t sentient, it was a plant, how he’d messed up something so simple left him in a state of disbelief. It hadn’t for long, the Creator’s words echoed in his mind once more and he was reminded of his failures.
He didn’t try to create anything new for a very, very long time.
The passage of time became meaningless to Technoblade. He wondered if time in the End passed the same as it did in the Overworld or the Nether. While the Nether didn’t have a sun, lava still flowed, there was still something to indicate that entropy continued and time marched on. Here, there was nothing. No water, no stars, no life, nothing. Just himself, his thoughts, and those God forsaken fruits.
The passage of time seemed to begin again when he heard a crack of thunder and he jumped to his feet, his body exhausted after the lack of use over the previous… Weeks? Suddenly, the sky that had been so empty and dark tore in two. A crack in the very fabric of reality formed just feet above the stone island. It split quickly, opening several meters wide and radiating energy in the form of heat and light, before something fell through.
Had he really been alone for that long that his mind had decided to create a perfect hallucination, or was that really--
“Techno!” Lizzie yelled, getting to her feet with a smile on her face. His eyes lit up as he saw the woman standing before him. If she was a hallucination she wouldn’t be speaking, if she was an image of his mind he wouldn’t be able to run and embrace her. Could he embrace her? It was worth a try, he wasn’t going to just stand there and stare.
So, despite how wobbly his legs felt, Technoblade put one foot in front of the other and ran with his arms outstretched, the voice of the Creator leaving his mind. Lizzie was his friend - his best friend - and she was like a sister to him. She loved him, she supported him, she believed in him when no one else would, and the words of encouragement she’d given him over the years came to the forefront of his mind the moment his arms made their way around her shoulders and his chin rested on top of her hair.
“You’ve grown so much, Techno!” Lizzie laughed, the sweet sound muffled by his chest. Technoblade squeezed her tighter in response, feeling her arms wrap around him in return, and he smiled. He smiled for the first time in… Months?
“I’ve missed you.” He whispered, his voice coming out as weak and feeble as he felt.
“I missed you too! The Creator said you were busy, said not to visit, but I couldn’t help myself. It’s Christmas, after all.”
“Christmas?” Technoblade asked, pulling back to look at Lizzie with curious eyes. He was so much taller than her that it was easy to forget that he was five years her younger, but the way he looked at her made it painfully obvious.
“Yes, Christmas! The Humans invented it.” Lizzie explained. “I’ve been spending a lot of time with them and they told me that Christmas is a celebration in the middle of winter, when the days are short and the nights are cold, where everyone feasts and rejoices that the worst of the season is over. Everyone spends time with their family and I thought… Well, you’re the closest thing I have to family. I mean… I suppose that isn’t technically true, but the rest of my family have more family. I knew you were alone here...”
Technoblade stepped away from Lizzie, taking in a breath as he looked down at her.
“What do you mean?” He asked her softly, watching as her smile widened even further.
“I told you, I’ve been spending time with the Humans. I met a man named Joel, and he might be mortal but… He’s wonderful. It’s as if he was made for me.”
Technoblade let himself smile at that. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but she sounded happy, and he wanted nothing more than for Lizzie to be happy.
“Good.” He said. “You deserve a family of your own, Lizzie. You were always there for me when I was younger.”
“I still am!” She laughed, nudging their shoulders together. “I’ll always be here for you, Techno. That’s what friends are for.”
Technoblade nodded, sitting himself back down on the stone beneath his feet and looking out into the void. He wondered if Lizzie questioned what he was doing in a place as barren as this - wondered if she was asking herself why he hadn’t changed the realm, or built a home, or created company or come home, but she said nothing of the sort, and he found it blissfully relieving.
Lizzie coughed for a moment. It wasn’t a shallow cough, she wasn’t clearing her throat or getting his attention, it sounded chesty and deep. Technoblade looked to her with his eyebrows knitted together in concern and the fingers of one hand scrunching into a fist - wishing that he could grab hold of the stone to have something to cling to.
“Are you alright?” He asked her, and Lizzie nodded, holding up a hand as she turned her head away until she’d finished coughing and her breathing evened out again. As she got her breath back she remained quiet, before she eventually spoke again to alleviate Technoblade’s fears.
“I’m fine.” She told him. “I asked the Creator, he said everything was fine. I think I just need to be drinking more than I am right now.”
“Are you dehydrated?” Technoblade asked, and she shook her head, taking in a deep breath and glancing at the ground with a smile before she willed the words to leave her lips.
“I’m pregnant.”
Technoblade looked at Lizzie expectantly, and she laughed again. This time it wasn’t muffled, and it flowed like honey and warmed his heart.
“A baby, I’m having a baby. The Creator didn’t exactly tell you about these things, did he?” Technoblade shook his head. “I’ll explain one day. You’re still young. Besides, there’s no girls here.” Lizzie teased.
“I messed up making fruit. I don’t think I was going to be any good at making people.”
“How do you mess up making fruit?” Lizzie asked, and Technoblade let out a breath, forcing himself to smile. If it was winter in the Overworld, then it had been months since he’d last seen her. It had been months since he’d made the plants. By now, it had become funny.
“It teleports you when you bite into it.”
“That’s brilliant!” Lizzie said. “Humans can’t teleport, they’d love fruit like that! Don’t beat yourself up about it, Techno. Just because it isn’t what you were aiming for doesn’t make it bad.”
“You can take some, if you’d like?” He suggested. “If you can make your way back… After I made the fruit I stopped trying to create anything. I haven’t even tried to make a way home. I don’t think the Creator wants me there, anyway. I think he’s perfectly happy with me remaining in the End.”
“Well, I want you there.” Lizzie told him firmly. “I want you to come back and meet Joel, and I want you to meet our baby and be part of our family.”
“You… You really want that?” He asked quietly, the words coming out softer than even he thought they would. “Lizzie, you don’t have to--”
“I want to, okay? I missed you so much, you’ve been like a brother to me for fifteen years and then you were just gone. Of course I want you to be part of my life. I’ll make a way back to the Overworld and I’ll make sure it stays even after I’ve gone through. I want you to be able to come and go as you please.”
“Thank you.” Technoblade said. “I missed looking at the stars with you.”
“You can teach my baby all about them.” Lizzie smiled. “What have you called the fruit?” She asked, getting to her feet and offering Technoblade a hand.
“I haven’t.” He shrugged. “It’s just me here, it’s the only food in the End, I didn’t really see a point to naming it.”
Lizzie hummed in response, and Technoblade stood up beside her.
“Gather some for me. I’ll take it back to the Overworld and see what I can make with it, see what the Humans think it should be called. They’ve a real knack for naming things.”
The young God did as he was told, leaving Lizzie to work alone as she closed her eyes and started to focus herself. He could tell she was reaching out to create a portal as promised, and so he worked in silence so as not to disturb her, gathering as many of the fruits as he could. When his arms were full, he kept his back turned, allowing her to continue without having the pressure of eyes on her, and he only turned to face her when the same thunderous boom he’d heard before echoed around the realm once more.
Looking toward Lizzie, he saw a portal in the ground, one that looked similar to that he’d fallen through in the Stronghold. The four walls that held it together were fragile, keeping the almost liquid like portal in place, and he couldn’t help but smile.
He could see stars.
“This should take us home.” Lizzie said, looking up at Technoblade. “So?”
“Go spend Christmas with your family, Lizzie.” Technoblade told her softly, taking several long strides until he was at her side and handing her the fruit. “I’ll come through soon, I don’t know if I’m quite ready.”
“Promise you’ll come as soon as you can?” Lizzie asked him, taking as much fruit in her arms as he nodded.
“I promise. But I want you to have fun, I want you to be loved the way you deserve to be loved. With your family, with the Humans. I’ll be there soon, and I want that fruit named by the time I get there.”
A small smile grew on Lizzie’s face at that, and Technoblade offered the same look in return. He leaned down just a little, planting a delicate kiss against her forehead before he stepped back once more.
“See you soon, Techno.”
“Not if I see you first, Lizzie.”
And with one final smile exchanged, Lizzie stepped into the portal, vanishing before Technoblade’s eyes and taking the fruit with her. He sat himself down beside the frame, studying the materials that it was made of and the patterns they formed, before he let himself look at the stars in the inky blackness before him.
Maybe Lizzie was right about creating something - maybe things coming out differently wasn’t such a bad thing. Maybe he could try and build a world of his own, and maybe a few happy accidents along the way would lead to something beautiful.
He could give it a go. If nothing else, he’d have stories to tell Lizzie the next time he saw her.
# # #
Lizzie emerged from the portal underground, in the Stronghold she’d found when looking for a way to reach Technoblade, and she followed the twisting corridors until she reached the cave system she’d used to make her way down from the surface. Retracing her steps, it didn’t take long until she was back in the cold, snowy Overworld, and began walking back to the village on the horizon. The glowing torches and the promise of warmth - and the arms of Joel - spurred her on.
It was late in the afternoon by the time she arrived, stepping into the home she had made for herself with a smile. No one here knew she was a God, they didn’t know of her powers, and she intended on keeping that secret. She simply introduced the fruits as something strange she had found on her adventures, and asked the villagers to help her figure out how best to consume them.
In the end, and after many evenings of testing, the village came to a conclusion. The fruits were best when juiced, distilled, aged, and drank after being mixed with spices and warmed. The slight buzz the alcohol gave those that consumed it paired well with the fun of random teleportation, and those that drank it would laugh long into the evening about the situations they’d found themselves in as a result. After consuming enough, people would lose their inhibitions, and songs were sung - terribly - at the tops of the lungs of those inebriated enough to have reached that stage. Lizzie would sit with Joel at her side in the evenings, refusing to drink the alcohol herself but enjoying the infectious laughter of her friends and neighbours as fires crackled and stars shone down from above.
The fruits became known as Chorus Fruit, and Lizzie smiled: it was perfect. She couldn’t wait for Technoblade to visit, and she couldn’t wait to tell him the name of his creation when asking him to bring more.
After all this time, it felt as if she would finally be getting a happily ever after.