Dust in my Lungs (A Crushing Weight)

2

Content warning: Injuries, Cave-ins, Descriptions of Pain... Possibly more that I'm forgetting

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The pain West felt when waking up was absolutely horrible. It was a mix of a burning fire, and an ache so deep he had no chance of soothing it, centered around his right side. He coughs several times, ribs protesting in the process. West reaches up to his face, realizing his respirator mask had broken. He quickly removes it, knowing it was doing nothing but hindering him further. He just wants to catch his breath and figure out what happened. He tries blinking a few times as his coughing subsides, spots still floating in his vision. He squints into the pitch black, seeing a shape on the ground in front of him that appears to be his headlamp. It isn't until he's reaching for it that he realizes two things. One, he can barely move his right arm. It feels like it's been wrenched out of place. A dislocated shoulder. And two, he's buried partially under some rubble.

A mining accident... His luck had finally run out.

... His brother's worries had finally come true.

He knows it's going to hurt - West is sure he's broken something, though not entirely sure what - but he has to at least try and free himself. Most of the pain seems to be on his right side, so slowly, he eases his weight to his left. He does his best to push himself up on his forearms, keeping most of the weight off his dislocated shoulder. He can feel the rocks and rubble weighing down on his back and leg.

Fuck... This was really going to hurt.

Slowly, he eases himself up, gritting his teeth. He takes as deep a breath as possible with his ribs, before forcing himself to push past the pain and drag himself forward. Even as his vision fades he can feel himself become less trapped. By some miracle, he isn't caught in too much of it.

After a few more attempts at this - featuring several pauses for coughing fits, and pain - he manages to get free. It doesn't help much, but it's something. The way his spine and ribs ache and sting is... worrying, to say the least. He knows that isn't a good sign. He grabs his headlamp and turns it on, attempting to figure out where he is, though... it doesn't do much good. Everything looks the same underground.

He takes inventory of what he has on him. The most important thing he finds is his flask. He knows it was dangerous to bring it down with him, but he only ever fills it with water while at work anyway... It meant too much to him, to not bring with him. And tucked into his pocket next to it, was a photo. West runs his thumb over the edge of the photo, then the dent in the flask, before moving on.

West doesn't find much else of importance, outside of his actual water bottle. Already half empty... No extra dust masks. He'd just have to hope his brothers got him out before too much damage was done to his lungs.

.... His brothers.

They had to know by now... He had no idea how long he'd been trapped, but... surely they knew. He knew they'd come for him. They wouldn't leave him down there... He'd just have to wait for them to save him.

West sighs and fingers the photo in his pocket again. He knows he should turn off his lamp, conserve power, but... he pulls it out anyway, looking at it in the light of his lamp.

It's probably the most important photo he's ever had. The only reason he takes it with him is he knows he can always get another copy. It's his family. All of them. His brother's and their partners - Georgia attempting (and failing) to get Kentucky to show his face, Mary trying (successfully) to get Virginia to smile. His niece, nephews, and great-nephews. CIA and FBI bickering while Gov attempts to break them up. IDC and DC are doing similar while IDC attempts to clean something off DC's face. District, smiling, even as his eyes tell a different story. CDC, grumpy, looking like he doesn't want to be there (West knows it's because there was too much going on at once. Cee doesn't do well with things that disorganized). And then there's West himself. Right beside CDC attempting to get him to smile. He's almost succeeding too, the hints of a smile forming on CDC's face.