SBI - His Curse of Binding

27

The myth, her name, had left Techno's lips yet the dead boy who brought something so special out of his fractured family laid in front of him.

A body wouldn't be lying on the sofa right now if it wasn't for him. If he had only figured it out sooner, there would be a boy, his Tommy, full of all the life and happiness he deserved. No shrouded linen over his corpse, no golden blood staining his lips and clothes. Instead, a cheerful grin and bright, blue eyes. A younger brother who tried his best to fix the family that wanted him just as much as he did.

Tommy hadn't seen Techno cry before, but with his eyes forever closed shut, he never would.

A shadow loomed over a mourning family yet unlike all fights Techno had bested in the past, this wasn't a winning battle.

The crow's feet wrinkles that normally embellished Phil's face with a moment of laughter now ceased downturned, no light garnished those eyes; Wilbur not moving from the kitchen floor, frozen in place despite having no body to hold anymore; the guilt that shredded every piece of Techno that wanted to continue another day knowing that the room to his right would be empty from now on.

None of this spoke of victory. None of this displayed strength, that this was something they would get over together as a family, just like with Kristin.

No family should have to grieve a mere child, a younger brother, a son.

His shaking hand gripped on the linen concealing his body and he covered Tommy's face. He couldn't bear to gaze upon the person he failed. Techno had promised, stated with so much confidence that he would figure this out, but he was too fucking late.

It was so easy to love him, to treasure his boisterous laughter and arrogant quips, the half-hearted jokes and honest smiles. Everything about Tommy destined him for greatness, yet nature's grasp took hold of that potential and set its sail for Naxos. The resting place of the wronged and abandoned.

He should've told Tommy sooner, the minute he saw that Zagreus tattoo, he should've said something. Lifted the weight from his shoulders and ease his burden. But he didn't. He left Tommy in the dark, living in a household that he wasn't sure would accept him, alone and scared.

Wilbur wasn't the only Theseus in his house.

"Do we bury the body?" Phil whispered from beside him. He had never heard such resignation in his voice before.

Niki, who had been quiet since she cleaned the kitchen floor from blood and thrown over the shrouded linen, cleared her throat. "His body will burn to ashes later today," she began, wistful, "in preparation for rebirth."

Her words formed a lodge in Techno's throat, his breathing stalled. Phil failed to keep his distress to himself. He tried to stay strong, not for himself but for Phil, yet it was so hard. The person least deserving of death fell victim to the fate Techno could have prevented.

How was he supposed to stomach his pain and bury his grief when they couldn't even bury him?

He recognised Phil's pain. From what Phil knew, Kristin would stay alone in death, with her neighbouring graves forever empty. No body of a boy who was as much as a member of the Crafts as Kristin was accompanying it.

"Are Tubbo and Ranboo on their way?" Phil asked, yet it sounded more like he didn't want to know the answer.

With the grim look painting Niki's face and her hesitant nod, Techno understood. No one here wanted to witness two teenagers grieve their best friend. He didn't want to be here for that—for any of this. He wished to just go back to bed, sleep the day off and wake up to hearing Tommy stumbling about in his room at eleven o'clock, him taking up all the hot water with his hour-long shower and lessen Techno's fatigue with his jokes at the breakfast table. He wanted Tommy to be back, for it all to be fine.