Hi! This is StoneByrd. And this story is something that had been bothering me for a long time so I finally sat down and wrote it. I do not own the song Kiss It All Better, I highly recommend you listen to it while reading this (this one-shot was based off the song). He Is We wrote it, I only came up with the idea to go along with it. Enjoy!

Edit: Thanks for the tip Astrid16! That would have been a disaster! D: I'm actually pretty neutral about angst. I'm capable of writing it, and I write it often, but it's not my favorite, if you get my meaning.


Kiss It All Better


Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

The clock's relentless hammering was all Jay knew now. His heart thumped in time with it. It never left his mind or his body or his heart. . . What was left of his heart.

He was done here, in this place. Death would be better than this. But he could never get his hands on anything to kill himself with.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

He covered his face with his hands.

No one had come to see him in a year and a half. Jay assumed all his teammates had families by now. The thought sent a dull ache of pain and longing through his broken heart, but he had felt it so often since that day fifteen years ago - it became nothing but a twinge of regret.

Pity he would never have a family of his own.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

That memory was all he had now. That terrible day was all he had. All he had in this desolate place.


Crack.

A gunshot echoed through the flaming house.

"Nya!" Jay screamed. He ran to his wife and caught her before she could hit the floor. "Nya, oh, Nya!" he said.

Nya's hands were over her stomach. "He shot me," Nya mouthed. Tears streaked down her cheeks. Blood made her fingers wet and gleamed in the light of the flames. "He shot me."

"It's okay, Nya, it's okay," Jay said, panic in his voice. "It's okay. Everything is going to be alright, just hold on, please. . ."

Jay saw the outline of the man turn and bolt through the flames. Smoke burned his throat, tears blurred his vision, and shock clouded his mind.

"Jay," Nya said, her voice trembling.

"No," Jay breathed. "No. You're going to live. We're going to have a family, a child, a girl, a boy - you're going to live."

"It's not your fault, Jay, it's not." Nya looked up into his face. "Leave. . . leave me. Get out of here. Go, before you die, too."

"No," Jay said. "I'm never going to leave you, Nya, never. . ."

"It's not your fault, you didn't know. . . You didn't know. . ."

"You're going to live, you're going to live!"

"No, Jay, I'm dying." Nya looked into his eyes. Jay saw what was in them, and he choked.

Nya is dying.

She's dying.

But. . .

We were going to have a family.

But she's dying.

Nothing I can do.

"Oh, Nya," he whispered. Tears began to pour from his eyes. "I-I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. . ."

These words petrified her.

"I'm not ready!" Nya said suddenly. She gasped for breath, and then wailed. "I'm not ready to die, Jay! I'm not ready to go!"

Jay pressed his forehead to hers. "It's alright. Everything is going to be alright," he said softly. He kissed her face tenderly. More tears slipped down his cheeks in a constant rain of regret and grief. Nya cried harder.

"You didn't know," she sobbed. "You didn't know, Jay. It's not your fault. You didn't know. . ."

With a last desperate choke, Nya closed her eyes.

No.

She was. . .

She really was.

Jay screamed. He pounded the ground. He pulled his hair. He swore and cursed and screamed in anger. He sobbed in the burning ruins of his home.

But nothing changed it.

Nya's hands were cold.

This couldn't be happening. The pain would not go away. He could not think rationally. He didn't even know where he was anymore.

All gone. All gone.

Jay opened his eyes.

Something cold and metal glinted in the raging fires all around him. The light flickered off the barrel and danced tauntingly.

"What do you want with us? Why are you doing this?"

"Because it's fun. Because I want to see the look on your face when she dies."

"No, please!"

Jay's resolve hardened. His broken heart thumped loudly in his chest.

"It's no use. This gun has a will of its own. I can't stop it, just as much as you can't stop the venom coursing through my veins."

"Please. . . Please. . ."

"He killed Nya," he whispered to the gun. "He killed Nya, and he used you to do it."

He crawled closer to it. His hand wrapped around the weapon.

"He killed Nya. . . Now, I will kill him."

"You're too late."


Jay got to his feet and broke into a run. The flames all around him only reflected the regret and pain and anger in his heart. Nothing slowed him.

And there he was. Running, the coward.

The man began to turn, and Jay could see the fear in his amber eyes.

"How could you?" Jay screamed. "How could you?! She was your sister!"

"Jay!" The man shouted hoarsely. "Jay, please!" His hands went to his face, which was streaked with tears through the ash and soot. "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"

"You killed her!" he bellowed. "You killed Nya!"

The man sunk to his knees. "Jay," he pleaded. "You don't understand, it wasn't me, it was the venom! I couldn't control it! You know I couldn't! Please understand!"

"You coward!" Jay screamed.

"It's me!" The man sobbed. "It's me, Kai, your teammate! Please listen! Please!" The man's screams were those of a desperate child's. Tears streamed down his face. His voice grated on Jay's ears - the only time Jay would ever hear Kai beg for mercy. "Please!"

He killed Nya.

"Jay, please!" Kai sobbed. "Don't shoot. . . don't shoot. . ."

Jay pressed the barrel of the gun to Kai's head. Kai sobbed desperately.

"Jay," he begged.

"You coward," Jay whispered.

Jay aimed.

And fired.


Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

"Stay with me," Jay whispered. "Nya. . . Kai, I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

He had said this too many times to cry anymore. All he wanted was death. He would finally see his love again, up there, in that faraway place.

This memory was all he had to live for. All he had.

All he had.

"Stay with me. Stay with me until I fall asleep, please. . . please. . ."

There was no answer.

There never would be.