October time! You know what that means... It's whumptober. Just like I did last year, I decided to make my whumptober one overarching story where I cover a different whump prompt in each chapter. This AU is one I've had for a while now though. This story will be 16 chapters long, because I'm also doing flufftober this month for the other half of the days.
Prompt: Caged
The first time Technoblade was sold, it was so he could serve as a trophy.
He was seen as an oddity, a trinket rich guys could show off to each other, a valued collectible, bragging rights in a bowl. Whatever you wanted to call it.
Mermaids were rare. Mermaids of Techno's size even more so. Techno had never seen any aside from his family, who he was pretty sure were all dead by now. The fishermen who had caught him had taken him to a marine biologist so they could figure out what Techno even was, because none of them had seen anything like him before.
Being told about atypical fish specimens and hybrid biology, it became immediately clear the men were not listening. All they heard was the sound of gold coins clinking together. Techno did not know how much money he was sold for that first time. Maybe it was better if he never found out.
The original human that owned him put him in their pond. It honestly wasn't too bad, aside from the whole being confined against his will thing. They liked to sit out there and watch him swim circles. They fed him pretty well and he had plenty of room to move around.
Then they threw a garden party.
Techno was, if not the main attraction, at the very least a conversation starter at the event. All day he had to contend with eyes peering at him, children throwing rocks into the water to spook him or trying to chase him with sticks stabbing beneath the shallow surface. Sometimes people would dip their hands in and pull away at the last second when he came near.
It was horrible, overwhelming and dizzying and loud. Techno hated it with his entire being.
He was sold again the day after.
One of the humans that had attended the party bought him. Techno didn't know why - why they wanted to own him so bad or why his previous owner would sell him. Again, it remained a mystery how much money he had made them.
At least the reasons for his new owner were cleared up soon enough.
They were some kind of noble, an ambassador or high-ranking diplomat. They kept Techno in an aquarium in their office, on clear display for their many visitors throughout the day. Sometimes, when a particularly important meeting took place, they temporarily moved him to a smaller aquarium on their desk. Techno didn't mind it, but it was definitely a weird flex.
Maybe it was because he had been a tiny mermaid all his life, he simply didn't get why his presence seemed to impress people. But impress them he did. To such an extent that the third time he switched owners, no money was exchanged at all.
Technoblade was given away, either as a bribe or in an attempt to keep political parties in the diplomat's good graces. And this new owner… They were cut from a different cloth than the ones before.
Techno spent nearly six months in a small bowl. It was bare, allowing him not so much as a spot to comfortably sleep. They did not feed him properly and were disgustingly fond of cruel games. Technoblade didn't get what the point was, why they enjoyed his suffering and did not parade him in front of other humans to show off. No, they kept him locked away instead. No sunlight, his scales molting and losing their color under this torment. Where they had been a shining pearly pink color with patches of vibrant maroon before, they had grayed to a mockery of what they used to look like. The lack of space to move around took its toll on him too and these days Techno more often than not just curled up at the bottom of the bowl, not moving much more than the odd swaying of his tail to keep the water from growing still.
Part of him knew he was dying.
It wasn't natural for him to be kept like this, confined and tortured. His body was tearing down, fragile and smaller than it was before. More often than not, he dreamt of the river he was born in, the slow-moving stream he wished to call home again.
Miserable as it was, Techno didn't have the power to do anything about it. He was too weak to even attempt to tip his prison over - something he had tried on multiple occasions early on but had always been thwarted in and punished for. It would be a fool's errand, but at least he would be doing something besides lying there and accepting his fate.
The door of the storage room he was kept in opened, throwing a sharp brightness into the small confines that made Techno's head spin. He hissed, opening his eyes a crack. His owner was there, having brought with them another human. A man with dark hair, pale eyes, and a grin that was broken up by a golden tooth. Techno closed his eyes again, not much caring what would happen to him next.
It couldn't be any worse than his current situation.
"This is it?" They reached out, tapping the glass. It sent vibrations through the water that made Techno's entire body shake. Despite how bad he felt, he raised his head and bared his sharp teeth at them, glaring fiercely. "It's not very lively."
"Yeah, it seems to be past its prime. That's why I'm getting rid of it." His owner looked at him with only vague boredom. Techno was no more than a broken toy that could no longer entertain them.
"Fair enough. That does mean I refuse to pay full price for it."
"Hey, I got it for free. I'm not looking to make a profit here."
Both men laughed, amused by the not-joke. The bowl was taken from the shelf, Techno sitting up automatically to keep from being thrown against the edges as he had a million times before when the humans manhandled his container without care. Sometimes they even did it on purpose, shaking it around to watch him squirm.
"I'll give you a third of what you proposed," the golden-toothed man said. They bent their spine a little to look at Techno more closely. "Even then, I think I'm losing money on this deal. Nobody is going to want it as a pet anymore, maybe I could sell it as fancy bait."
"Half." His owner stared at the man, expression betraying no invested outcome in this situation. He was just trying to squeeze more money out of it. "There's definitely some chum who believes the stories, you could sell it to them."
"You're right about that, I guess. We have a deal then." They shook hands on it.
Techno was not able to follow the entire conversation, head swimming with dizziness and too weak to really force his concentration to cooperate. All he knew was that he got sold again. And this new owner didn't seem any kinder than the one he'd left behind.
A dirty hand plunged into his bowl. Techno didn't have anywhere to hide, only twitching a little in discomfort as firm fingers closed around him. He considered biting them, but as satisfying as the action would be, it would only end with them dropping him on the floor. A fall he would not survive.
Even then he considered it. A quick death or the slow wilting in another cage? Would he really prefer the latter?
Before Techno could make up his mind the opportunity had passed. They dropped him in a jar this time, even smaller than the bowl. The lid was screwed on tightly. Techno didn't have room to properly lie down anymore, if he stretched his arms either way they met cold glass beneath his fingertips. It forced him to keep upright, tail extended.
He knew he wouldn't last long in this new enclosure. If they intended to keep him like this, he was done for.
A dark cloth was put over the jar, which was both a mercy and another reason for him to be fearful. No outside light meant a respite for his pounding headache. The constant tremors told him the jar was being carried however, away from his master's house and then further still. Robbed of his vision, Techno had no idea where they were taking him.
Not that he had to wait long.
Sound started trickling through, only partly muffled by glass and water. A lot of it, noises lively and numerous. Humans, many of them. More than Techno had known gathered in one place if he were to guess. Other more animalistic vocalizations cut through, drowned out by the screaming of vendors selling their wares. He was put down somewhere and the cloth was lifted again.
Techno was having a really hard time parsing his changed surroundings, disorientation still occupying a majority of his brain power. He squinted through the glass though, fingers pressed against it.
There were many other tables like the one he was put down on. They were loaded with strange objects, lots of metal and gemstones, and signs that proclaimed these items to be haunted or in possession of some sort of arcane power. From his vantage point, Techno could spot a mirror that was cursed to show your last moments before death in its reflection, as well as a set of books banned in almost all countries for the witchcraft they contained.
Whether there was any truth to it or if these were just stories told to fools with too much gold in their pockets, Techno couldn't say. What he could say was that this was not an improvement on his situation in the slightest.
Something which was confirmed further when the first curious onlooker strolled up to the gold-toothed man's stall, eyes flicking across the smattering of curiosities for sale. They settled on Techno eventually, drawing up an eyebrow.
"What's this?" Their voice was rough, borderline drunk. "You're selling fish here these days?"
"A mermaid," the salesman corrected easily. "Not quite the same. A fish won't do you any good, my friend. But eating a mermaid's flesh will make you immortal, they say."
Techno felt his blood run cold.
The buyer remained skeptical. "Is that so?"
"Such are the tales." They smiled, wicked and with no remorse for either the man they were about to scam or Techno's life that would be lost in the process. "For the right price, you can see for yourself if it's true."
