Disclaimer: No, these people aren't mine. But you guys knew that already, right?
Rating: PG
Summary: Missing scene from 435. Will lies badly injured, bleeding in the dust. But Mickey has been here before…
Miracles
By NorthernStar
The sound was huge and hollow, echoing, reverberating, like it had a life of its own. The windows of the RDA blew out, shattering into tiny glinting shards. The heat rose against his back, like a warm wave.
People screamed all around him.
Mickey spun round and it felt like the world had collapsed into slow motion, stretching out the seconds of time into small eons.
"WILL!" He heard his own voice cry, low and long in this new slo-mo world.
Smoke belched from the centre. The orange glow of flickering flames danced behind the clouds of dust and raining rubble.
And then he heard his own name being called as he broke into a sprint.
He was running…
…towards the car. He could see the flames growing up with frightening speed in the back seat. The stink of oil and rubber and ozone burned his lungs as he ran closer, screaming Conway's name. Then the explosion came, knocking him off his feet. He hit the ground hard enough to bruise, but his mind didn't register the pain as he struggled to his feet.
Conway's car continued to burn as he stared, stared right into the bright flames that jumped up eagerly into the night.
The building was a mess of dust and debris, choking Mickey as he ran inside, yelling Will's name. His trainers slipped in the ash as he dodged through the billowing dust. He covered his mouth with his hand, but he could still smell the burning and taste the ashes in mouth.
"WILL!"
His eyes were stinging from the heat and cordite, blurring his sight as his lashes grew thick with grime and water. Water that spilled down his cheeks, leaving tracks on his dusty cheeks.
Or was it tears?
…spilling down, unable to hold the grief in. Wandering through the ruins of CID, uncaring of who saw him and not even knowing where he was going or why he had to see it. See this empty burned out shell. The place that had taken Kate's life.
Kate.
Why Kate? Why his Kate…? And she had been – at last, his.
She'd said so…
There!
Mickey's heart skipped a beat. Will's body lay, face down in the rubble, burned and bloodied. He didn't move.
Mickey's feet skidded in the dirt and he all but fell beside the injured young man. "Will?"
Mickey quickly checked him over, trying not to touch him more than necessary, afraid of causing him more pain. Will's skin was blackened by burns, raw and bleeding. It would be a miracle if he'd survived…
And Mickey didn't believe in miracles. Not anymore.
Mickey reached out a hand, felt for a pulse. The vein in his neck jumped rapidly under Mickey's finger. Then he felt his chest, checking for…
…breathing. Honey wasn't breathing. His ears still rang from the explosion blotting out a lot of the conversation around him, but that he could understand. She'd been so close when the device went off in the cinema. Better if it had been him. He had less to live for.
She had to be…
Alive.
Mickey gasped in relief.
Will was alive.
Miracles did happen, after all.
---
Will rested his aching head back against the pillow and listened to the tracks on the Ipod Mickey had given him. It helped, drowning out the loud whistle with harsh cords and heavy bass. Not the sort of music he went for, that he'd imagined Mickey went for, but perfectly pitched to keep out the ringing.
He closed his eyes.
And wondered, just as the first tendrils of sleep claimed him, how Mickey had known…
--Fin--