BrownSugarDown, Paxpiper and suhcelia all requested something concerning Technoblade getting stuck underneath rubble/a cave-in. However I got a bit distracted by Greek myth and the tragedy vs victory debate, so this is more about that than it is actual whump.
Still hope some of you will enjoy it!
This was not meant to be a family outing. This was meant to be Technoblade popping down to the mines real quick to grab some extra lapis so he could go through with the enchantments he'd been working on all week.
But Phil had noticed him preparing to go down, saying he would tag along to get more iron for his current building project, and then Tommy had heard about the two of them leaving just to insist on making himself a stowaway for no particular reason. Suddenly Techno's quick trip had become a three-person excursion. Thank Prime Wilbur decided to stay home or Techno might have lost it completely.
It wasn't that he disliked spending time with his family – he was an introvert, not apathetic. That didn't mean he wanted to spend time with them today, on such short notice while already busy planning a task. When he was supposed to be concentrating on something important.
And also maybe, if they hadn't come, this wouldn't have happened. Or at the very least he wouldn't have needed to feel so guilty for being unable to prevent it.
What exactly went wrong, Technoblade wasn't sure. It had to be some rotten luck for a creeper to manage and blow up a crucial supporting beam in their set-up or a piece of the rock wall that just so happened to stabilize the entire darn mine. In a matter of seconds, the ceiling was coming down on them. There was barely any time for him to consider his options or make a conscious decision on what would be the best course of action.
Techno moved to shove his shoulder into Phil's back, pushing him out of harm's way as best as he could manage without throwing himself off balance too. With his other arm, he was already making a grab for Tommy's wrist to pull him along. A few rocks fell first, a forewarning of the cascade to come next before a loud rumbling signified the deeper quake happening above them. Techno heard Phil yell for them and then a heavy weight crashed into his back, knocking the wind out of him and forcing him to the ground. The next boulder pinned his leg down.
The pain was bearable at first – dull and throbbing but he'd had worse – except the pressure kept increasing, crushing the limb gradually. Dust and gravel stained the air and made it hard to breathe let alone see, the sound of the collapse almost drowned out Tommy's frantic shouting. Techno dragged him closer and put his arms up over both of them, protecting their heads from the debris.
The entire thing lasted only a few seconds before everything went quiet again, the silence deafening if it weren't for both of their wheezing in his ears. Techno blinked, but couldn't see a thing. The cave-in had robbed them of their only sources of light, leaving them in pitch-black darkness. There must be fallen stones all around them – caging them in from all sides.
Though given how the rocks could have just as easily squashed them completely, they were lucky they were still alive at all.
"Techno?" Tommy was reaching out for him clumsily, hand smacking into Technoblade's face blindly. Techno realized he'd just been lying there, thinking.
"I'm here," he said, slapping his brother's hand away lightly before it could poke his eye out. "Did you get hurt, Tommy?"
"Uh..." Tommy's voice trailed off, the noise of him shifting around taking its place.
"That doesn't sound very encouraging."
"Shut up, I'm checking!" Another few seconds of nothing, then a cough. "I'm fine, I guess? Everything's still attached. I can't get up though, I think we're trapped. Fuck, we're trapped Tech, we can't get out-" Techno could already hear the younger boy edging his way into a panic.
What a stellar moment for him to remember Tommy was claustrophobic.
"Calm down." He tried to sound as unaffected as possible and somehow it worked. Tommy stopped, but his hand pressed down on Techno's arm suddenly, fingers digging into the skin. If the contact was enough to anchor him, Techno wouldn't complain. "Phil is gonna dig us out in no time. He'll probably go back to get Wilbur first, to make the work easier on his old man back-"
Tommy laughed nervously at his bad attempt to lighten the mood. Techno was never any good at comforting others.
"-and then we'll be out of here. We just have to wait it out, take a nap or something."
"Only you could sleep in this fucking horrible situation." Tommy slid closer to him in the narrow space they were stuck in. His knee bumped into Techno's leg, pain radiating upwards from the thigh. Below that there was only numbness. Not the greatest sign.
"I'd say this is the perfect place for a nap. It's not like we're going anywhere."
Tommy elbowed him in the side, probably because it was a terrible joke. "I'm fucking serious. We got to do something!" Techno could feel him shaking, inhales still fast and shallow. He had to come up with a distraction.
An idea came to mind and while it was silly, it worked on Chat. So why not on Tommy too.
"How about I tell you a story?"
Tommy swallowed, fingers fidgeting with the fabric of Techno's sleeve. "You're gonna start telling me a story now?"
"You're always complaining they sound interesting but the books are too verbose for your tiny mind to comprehend. I'll even give you the layman's version."
With a snort, Tommy shifted to put his forehead on Techno's shoulder and nodded. "Yeah, sure. Tell me a story then I guess, big man."
Not in the mood to use his memory much – not with the way he was getting dizzy and how the remaining parts of his leg that he had any sensation in were starting to pulse with discomfort – Techno decided on simply recollecting what he'd been reading a few nights ago. The Theogony was a classic, one he often revisited so the telling should be easy.
"There was this guy once who was named Prometheus. The story's about him. He was kind of an important dude because according to some he was the one who created all of humanity."
"I thought the gods created humans?" Tommy interrupted him. For once, Technoblade didn't mind. It allowed him to catch his breath in between sentences.
"It's a bit more complicated than that, but you could say Prometheus was some sort of god himself. He was a titan, which is the name of the pre-Olympian gods and their children. Then Zeus took over but he allowed a lot of the other titans to go free, including Prometheus." Tommy hummed, signaling he understood and Technoblade could continue. "Prometheus made the humans out of clay and so he liked them. The gods didn't care much for humans, but they liked it when they got offerings from them."
"Go figure."
"Yeah. So one time they organized a grand feast where all the gods would come and eat food the humans prepared for them. This was supposed to set an example for all the offerings that would be made in the future. Prometheus came up with a trick though. He slaughtered a cow, then he covered the bones in its fat and hid the meat inside the cow's stomach."
"That's gross," Tommy said. He wasn't trembling anymore, too concentrated on listening to the tale.
"It was, but that's the point. When Prometheus offered both plates to Zeus, take a guess as to which one he picked?"
"It's obviously going to be the bones," Tommy answered.
Techno smiled, even if nobody could see in the darkness of the cavern. "Obviously. The glistening fat looked a lot tastier than the guts, but that's when Prometheus revealed the truth. From that day on humans had to offer up only the bones from their slaughters to the gods, and could keep the meat for themselves. Zeus was pissed about that."
"What did he do?"
"Well, he couldn't go back on his word. Not without looking like a fool at least." Techno moved his arm to make sure the blood was still flowing. The pain was getting worse, spreading everywhere. "At the same time, he didn't like being bested. Which meant he did what gods do best and punished humans another way."
Tommy huffed. "Sounds like he was being a petty little bitch."
"He was," Technoblade agreed. "He took fire away from the humans because fire had originally been a gift from the gods and without it, the humans would probably die. Didn't help though, Prometheus went down with a fennel stalk and stole the fire back from Zeus. Even if he knew it would only piss him off more."
He wanted to continue, but there came another rumble from up above. Techno hissed when the tremor only served to put more pressure on his leg. Tommy clamped onto him.
"Techno?"
"It's fine," he said quickly. "Just my leg."
Tommy's head turned to squint at it in the darkness. "What's wrong with it?"
"For starters, I can't feel anything below the knee."
"What?! Why didn't you say so?"
"Well, in my defense," Techno said, "you didn't ask."
"In my defense, I was a bit busy having a freakout!" Tommy shot back.
"Do you want to hear what Zeus did next or not?"
A moment of hesitation. Then he felt Tommy nod again.
"To punish him for his defiance, Zeus bound Prometheus to a large boulder in the mountains. Every day an eagle would come and eat Prometheus' liver, putting him in great agony. Because he was an immortal titan, however, his liver would regrow overnight and the punishment could repeat eternally."
Once again silence greeted him; it was better than Tommy's panicked hyperventilating. Then Tommy punched him - hard.
"That's it?!"
Techno pushed him away, for as much as that was possible in the limited space they had. "What do you mean 'that's it'? It's a greek myth, were you expecting a fairy tale ending?"
Tommy became even more incredulous. "Aren't the good guys supposed to win?!"
"I don't know what you're talking about, that's where this part of the story ends."
Before Tommy could respond a faint thrilling rang out from beside them. Something fell away and a small beam of light pierced through the darkness. Even for all of Phil's building experience, they had worked incredibly fast.
"Guys?" And as Techno had predicted, Wilbur came to help too.
"We're in here!" Tommy immediately started shrieking next to his ear. "Fuck, I'm glad to see you two!"
"Sit tight, we'll get you out in no time." Phil this time, sounding winded as if he had been running the entire distance to their house. Techno was sure he had.
"All's well that end's well," he muttered absently.
"Wait-" Tommy grabbed him again. "You said this part of the story? Is there more?"
Techno turned to him, finally able to see Tommy's feverish blue eyes in the cave. "The rock is where Prometheus' myth ends, sure. But there are versions of Heracles' story where one of his many heroic deeds is killing the eagle and finally freeing Prometheus from his torment. If you'd like to believe that then-"
"Then the good guys do win!"
More rock fell away, revealing a sliver of sky up above. Being able to see now, Techno tried wiggling his foot. And despite not feeling it - nerve damage or lack of circulation maybe - he could see it move. The damage not as bad as he feared.
"Yeah, Tommy. The good guys do win."