Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters (or the lyrics) in this story, nor do I pretend to. I am making no money by posting this.
The song used here is called "Brother" by NEEDTOBREATHE the lyrics belong to them.
Almost Doesn't Count: When I FallAlan's boots crunched on the pebbly ground as he walked across the ridge towards his brother Gordon, who was talking to a site official and shutting down the danger zone.
Gordon saw him approach and made introductions.
"Chief, this is my colleague, Alan. Alan? Chief Pham."
The chief shook Alan's hand heartily. "Very good to meet you, Alan. Thank you for your help. Many more would have died, had it not been for your team." He said.
"No thanks necessary." Alan said, as he and his brothers have countless times. "We're just glad we could help." He turned to Gordon. "Virgil's packing up the pods, we'll be ready to fly in ten."
"Got it, I'll be there in a minute." Gordon said, then turned back to his conversation with the Chief.
Alan hung back, waiting for Gordon. The rockslide they'd deployed for had all but buried a small town. But thanks to the quick response times of local emergency forces, and the lack of hesitation in calling in International Rescue, many were saved.
Still, many was not all.
Alan's eyes fell on a man crouched on the ground, he had stone dust dredged through his clothes and hair. His eyes were glassy with shock, his face, a picture of grief. In his arms he clutched a little girl to his chest, no more than nine. She sobbed into his shoulder, her tears washing rivers through the grime on her cheeks.
Alan knew who they cried for. That little girl had lost her mother today. That man, his wife. Alan had been the one to pull her lifeless body from the rubble, and the one to deliver the shattering news.
Alan breathed in deeply, then let the air out slowly. For all the good he'd done, there were still people here whose lives were lost, and others whose would never be the same. His eyes wandered out over the cliff, where distant peaks pierced the auburn sky, and where the sun drifted gently earthward, falling slowly to rest below the mountains.
How could something so beautiful cause so much grief and pain? Alan wondered sadly. His gaze turned downward into the valley where the shadows had already fallen, long before the twilight. Where the town lay silent and broken beneath merciless stone. He doubted if there was a single soul who'd enjoy the sunset that night.
Slipping off dirty gloves, Alan rubbed his hands across his eyes, bruised skin and aching muscles protesting at even that simple movement. He was tired. It'd been a long day. Alan started to turn around, he'd wait for Gordon back at Thunderbird 2. But before he could begin his way back, his eye caught a flicker of movement above his shoulder.
Turning back around, Alan saw that this flicker was a child- a toddler, really, and she was staring up at the sky. Marveling at whatever beauty had been lost on him. Guess I was wrong, Alan thought, a small smile forming on his lips.
He was about to turn his back again when he noticed a detail that made his breath catch in his lungs. Her toes were inching closer to the edge of the cliff, and the stone began to crack under her feet.
Immediately, Alan snapped back into rescue mode, fatigue and pain forgotten in an instant. He ran forward at a desperate sprint towards the little girl. He heard Gordon call his name as he raced passed him, but Alan didn't spare a breath to explain. Alan scooped up the startled little girl and turned around on his toe, painfully aware of the cracking stone he stood on.
The girl he held screamed and cried, not understanding the situation and terrified of being held by a stranger. Alan tried to soothe her but he didn't know her language, and his unfamiliar voice seemed to upset her even more.
The girl thrashed in his arms, and the rock began to crumble away even quicker. Alan didn't dare take a single step, fearful that any shift in the pressure would send him falling over the cliff. And, despite his training and experience, Alan felt a panic rise in his chest that made his heart thunder.
"Alan." Gordon's clear call cut through the girls cries and Alan's rushing thoughts, his older brothers voice was laced with a calm determination, a solid reliable tone that reminded Alan of Scott. The voice of someone who would catch him if he fell. "Do you have a grapple?" Gordon asked, his gaze darting from Alan's eyes to the broken ground his little brother stood on.
"I'm out." Alan breathed, wincing as his foot shifted and stone fractured. And no sooner then he said those words did the stone shatter completely, and the ground was stolen from beneath him.
They fell.
Gordon rushed forward, an outstretched hand reaching towards his brother like a saving grace, but strong arms grabbed him, restricted him, and dragged him backwards. Gordon struggled against them fiercely, as only a terrified brother could, but the arms locked around him held fast.
Gordon's panicked eyes latched onto Alan's, and in that moment- in that single instant- Gordon memorized every tiny detail of his younger brothers face. Every freckle on his cheeks, every strand of windblown hair, every stray emotion in his face, and that ultimate trust that shone out from his eyes, even now. And with every attribute Gordon rediscovered, another aspect of Alan revealed itself to him. And with every aspect, came a hundred thousand memories.
Gordon and Alan as toddlers playing hide and seek in the barn, and Alan's giggling face as Gordon found him. A furious eight-year old Alan defending Gordon from bullies nearly twice as tall as he was, his face mottled with anger and eyes sparking with rage. Alan jumping around in excitement waving around his newly earned drivers licence, the fact that he could fly a rocket doing nothing to dampen his happiness. Birthday parties. Christmas days. First days of middle school, of high school. First flight around the moon. First successful rescue, first failure. Each heart-stopping close call. Every brightening smile, angry shout, and excited high-five. Every tear stained face and bone-crushing hug. Every late night talk and stifled laugh.
Everything.
A lifetime's worth of memories poured from Gordon's heart and into his mind. Images flashing in front of his eyes, a photo for every moment. Alan's face, his laugh, was interwoven in each of them. Every day Gordon ever remembered living, Alan was right beside him.
And he was about to lose that. All of that. Right this moment.
And still, even as Alan was falling- as he was dying- Alan's eyes watched Gordon with an unshakable faith, an unwavering determination.
With one arm wrapped around the child, Alan's free hand shot out to catch the edge of the cliff, one last desolate hope.
His hand clamped down, sharp stone digging into bleeding fingers.
He was safe.
Then the rock fell away, and with it, Gordon's only little brother.
"ALAN!" The scream tore from Gordon's throat, raw and desperate, and more scared than he had ever been.
And he watched, in helpless terror, as both Alan and the child plummeted into the valley, with only stone to greet them at the bottom, the shadows cast by deadly mountains swallowing them whole, and Gordon's anguished cry following them the whole way down.
Silence.
A/N: …. Oooooh a cliffhanger. Sorry-not-sorry. I actually wanted to have this up last week, but, alas and alack, projects and schoolwork got in the way, such is the life of a student. I'll have the next part of this story up tomorrow, sometime i the afternoon (Eastern Standard Time) It's pretty much done already, just smoothing out the creases. Whelp I better go study for my English quiz before I fail the class…. See you guys tomorrow!
Once again, in case someone missed it, the song does not belong to me, it's called "Brother" by NEEDTOBREATHE.