Silence
It was silent. Too silent. Danny didn't do silent. Again he called out, 'DANNY! Come on man, Dannoo.' The only thing he received in response was silence. Even his ears had stopped ringing from the blast. Rubble, so much rubble. Only a small sliver of light was peeking through the blocks of concrete. He kept looking around him, looking for a sign of life. The dust in the air made him cough, the dust was the least of his problems. He had to keep looking for his partner, the worry in the pit of his stomach kept him going. This is all my fault, if something happened to him, it's my fault. This kept repeating in his head. Then he noticed something, a shoe. And dress pants that were way too ridiculous to be worn in Hawaii. That's Danny's leg, his heart jumped into his throat as he ran towards his partner. 'Danny', he said quietly. A huge rock was lying on top of him. 'Danny, I'm going to get you out of here buddy. You're going to be fine.' You have to be, he thought. You have to be. The silence was doing nothing to soothe his worry. He had to get that rock off of him right now. I can do this. I'm a navy seal, this is Danny. He took a deep breath, bent his knees and grabbed the big slab of concrete. Then he started pushing, his arms were aching and his palms started bleeding but he kept going. Danny made a pained groan beneath him, the adrenaline in his body pumped faster and with one final push the rock rolled away. He fell to his knees and looked over his partner. He was covered in dirt, his eyes closed in a pained expression.
Danny was alive. He felt like he could finally breathe again. 'Danno, wake up. Look at me man, I need you to wake up. I'm here man.' He clutched Danny's hand in his own and felt his too fast but steady pulse. Danny groaned and tried to speak. His voice was weak and broke but he muttered 'Steve?' Steve slouched against the wall, suddenly exhausted. 'Yeah Danny, it's me. You're going to be okay.' Slowly Danny tried to open his eyes, he blinked blearily a few times and looked around, and then he focused on Steve. He opened his mouth, 'This is all your fault you know.' A small chuckle escaped his mouth. Danny would be fine. 'Yeah Danno, I totally knew this was gonna happen. That's why I brought you with me.' Danny grinned and quickly quipped, 'That wouldn't even surprise me, sometimes I think you deliberately want to kill me. ' Danny then focused his attention on their surroundings, his face tightening and getting paler. The claustrophobia. Goddamnit. He could see the panic creeping up on his partner. 'Hey, let's get you up okay. We are going to get out of here in just a little while. You'll be back on the Hawaiian beach you love so much before you know it. Let me just quickly check you over okay?' He gently removed Danny's vest and looked him over, he had a few cracked ribs and bruising but nothing too severe. He was just banged up, though he had a nasty head wound that would have to be looked at. 'We are going to die here.' Danny tried to sit up, but quickly moaned and clutched at his ribs. 'We are going to die here and I'm never going to see Grace grow up. All because one day you knocked on my door and now…' Danny's breathing was speeding up, heading towards hyperventilation. 'Danny shut up okay, you're going to be fine. You'll see Grace in a minute and then you'll feel stupid for your negativity okay. You're going to be fine.' He didn't address the fact that Danny's life was only in danger because of Steve. That particular fact was something he didn't like to acknowledge. He stood up and felt a bit woozy, but hid it from Danny. He had to assess the situation, Danny had a head injury but was overall fine, they had to let the rescue workers know they were still alive. Danny was silent, lost in his doom scenarios and panic. From what he could see, they were completely trapped. He had already tried his phone, but it was busted. He ducked to break off a pipe and felt a strange pressure in his stomach. He shoved it aside and gave the pipe to Danny. 'There you go, use it'. He grabbed another one for himself and started banging it against the pipes to alert the rescue workers.
'Steve, nobody is going to hear us, can't you just let me die in peace please. We are trapped under a ton of concrete, my head is killing me and I was trapped under a rock.' That grabbed his attention, Danny could have sustained brain trauma. He had to get him out of there and to a doctor. 'Danny, don't be so dramatic and help me, the rescue crew is probably looking for us as we speak.' 'FINE.' CLANG 'I do not' CLANG 'think you are even human' CLANG 'you my friend are' CLANG 'a real-life robot.' CLANG, Danny said taking his aggression out on the pipe. 'Are you done now?' Steve already felt guilty enough as it was. Steve felt his breath getting shallower, but it didn't matter. He was a SEAL, he had endured much worse. 'Yeah sure, I am done with my totally human response in face of imminent death.' A drop of blood fell on the pipe. Danny's wound hadn't stopped bleeding yet, why hadn't it clotted up yet. The feeling of urgency to get Danny out became stronger. 'Hey, let me wrap up your head okay.' He knelt in front of Danny and started tearing strips off of his shirt, he started binding his makeshift bandage around Danny's head, who had grown alarmingly silent. 'Oh no, am I ruining your polished hairstyle?' he taunted to get a reaction. 'Oh shut up superSEAL, I was just thinking of the ways you're going to make up for this.' A grin appeared on Steve's face, 'So you're finally accepting the fact that we'll be fine?' Danny huffed under his breath, 'As if you'd let me rest in my afterlife, you don't really give me an option, do you now?' Steve finished tying the bandage around Danny's head and really looked at his closest friend. His friend looked weary and tired and didn't even bother to put up a brave face. For some reason this got to Steve, 'Hey Danno, I am going to do everything I can to do everything I can so you can see Grace again, you know that right? I am sorry I put you into this situation, I guess I'm really a disaster-magnet huh?' He tried to force out a laugh but it sounded forced, even to him. He averted his eyes and stood up and resumed banging with the pipe. He could feel Danny's eyes pricking him in the back, he didn't know where those words came from just then. He felt weaker by the minute but he had to get them out or they would both die down here. ~
Danny started to say something when he got interrupted by drilling. Steve started to bang louder and yelled 'HEY, WE'RE DOWN HERE'. The drilling sped up and soon there was a tunnel where the drill used to be. Dust was everywhere and the light from above blinded them. 'Lieutenant Commander McGarrett, Detective Williams. This is the head of the rescue team, can you hear me?' Relief. They were going to get out and Danny would see Grace again. 'Yeah, we need help. Detective Williams has a head injury and a few cracked ribs. You need to get him out of here.' He turned back to Danny, 'You see, I told you.' He grinned but didn't really feel like it. He felt off. Danny tried to act sceptic but the relief on his face was obvious, 'yeah, yeah. We are not out yet.' Just then a rescue harness came dangling down the tunnel. One of them would have to go first, Danny obviously. It wasn't even a question. He walked towards Danny and hauled him on his feet while Danny was moaning and clutching at his ribs. 'Steve, gentle please.' He didn't care at the moment, he had to get Danny out while he still could. 'I'm doing you a favor buddy, you need to see a doctor.' Then he started strapping Danny in securely. Danny was looking intently at him, then he said 'I'll see you on the other side, I guess.' He smiled, 'Yeah Danno, see you on the other side.' He tugged at the rope and then Danny was being lifted up. He gave one last reassuring smile before he disappeared from his line of sight. Steve sat down, he felt drowsy. Gently he removed his own vest, when he saw his swollen stomach and the purple bruising, it confirmed his suspicions. It was bad but he got Danny out, Steve would be fine. Then the harness came dangling down again, empty once again. The rescue worker called out and Steve pushed himself on his feet. He strapped himself in and then he was being lifted up. And just like that he was standing topside again with the sunshine shining in his face.
'Boss, welcome back.' Kono hugged him tightly and behind her Chin was giving him a reassuring smile. His ohana was here, it would be fine. His heartrate started going down again, which it hadn't since the building had gone down. He hugged Chin as well, 'Nice to see you too guys. Where is Danny, is he okay?' Chin smiled, 'yeah he is fine. He is being checked out by a paramedic, let's go over there, have you checked out as well.' He tugged Steve along and he went, his energy running out since his driving force, worry and adrenaline, had run out. He felt exhausted and dizzy, he was just going to check on Danny and then let himself be checked out. Danny quickly spotted them and forced the working paramedic to the side. 'Great, you survived. Now can we have a talk about why we were down there in the first place? I told you….' Steve couldn't discern what Danny was ranting about anymore, he was so dizzy. Danny was fine. He could rest now, his knees buckled beneath him and his eyes fell shut. He felt Chin reaching out to catch him. 'STEVE, babe what is wrong. Paramedic, DO SOMETHING. Steve, I need you to open your eyes and tell me what is wrong.' He felt hands all over his body and then everything went black.
Can be continued if someone wishes it to.