Die For You
by Waiting for my Red Caboose
It was dark and suffocatingly silent, and something didn't feel right. Electra was in bed, surrounded by his components, who were sleeping like beautiful babies. He counted them quickly: One, two, three, four, five. Everyone was present and accounted for. Yet, Electra still felt uneasy.
He wondered if he may have eaten something that didn't agree with him. That could explain the nauseated feeling in his stomach that was getting worse, every second. He delicately extracted himself from the bed without waking any of his components and looked around for Wrench's medical kit. He was sure she had medicine.
The door slowly creaked open.
Well, that explained it. Someone was there who was not supposed to be there. With a dark giggle and a flash of bright red, even in the dark station, The Red Caboose let himself in.
Electra grimaced. "What do you want, CB?"
The components were starting to wake up.
"Oh, nothing," the caboose responded with another somehow menacing giggle.
Electra raised an eyebrow. This was not his first encounter with The Red Caboose. Nor would it be his last, he presumed. "Why are you here, then?" the engine asked.
CB shifted from skate to skate. Was he holding something behind his back? "I'm sorry, Electra. I like you. Really, I do. But you see, I couldn't sleep and I'm bored." He grinned, and suddenly he didn't look so small and harmless.
Three things seemed to happen at once. Electra heard his name being shouted by one - or maybe several? - of his components. He felt something run into him, hitting him like a brick wall. And he heard a gunshot.
When he came to his senses, he saw that Purse had his arms around him. Krupp stood at the end of the bed with a smoking gun. The Red Caboose was on the floor, lifeless, covered in more red than he had entered with.
Electra wrapped his arms around Purse, who was starting to shake. "Shh. It's okay," he cooed, running his hand over Purse's back. He froze when his hand came in contact with something. He wasn't sure what it was, but it sure wasn't part of his money truck. When he pulled his hand back, it was covered in blood. "Purse?"
The money truck's knees buckled. Electra caught him under the arms, and that's when he saw.
Purse had been stabbed in the back with a knife that was meant for Electra's chest.
Wrench sprung into action, grabbing a pillow as she leapt off the bed. "Lay him down on his stomach. We can get gravity on our side." She set the pillow down and helped Electra lower him to the ground, with his head resting sideways on the pillow.
Electra knelt down in front of him which Wrench applied pressure to the wound without removing the knife. Removing the knife would only make him bleed faster.
"You're gonna be okay," Electra said, though there was an obvious edge of panic in his voice. He cringed. "You're gonna be just fine okay?"
Purse minutely nodded. Electra reached out to run his fingers through his curly hair. His beautiful money truck.
"Shit, shit, shit," Wrench hissed, throwing a blood soaked cloth behind her and pressing a fresh one onto the wound. Her expression made Electra's blood run cold. She didn't look confident. She looked terrified.
A single tear ran down Purse's face as Electra turned to look at him again. His skin was turning paler by the second, and he struggling to keep his eyes open.
"Purse," Electra choked. He leaned forward, cradling and kissing Purse's head and petting his hair.
Electra wondered what he would do if… Without Purse. Without seeing his curly bedhead in the morning. Without his meticulous upkeep of every little thing. Without his outbursts of muttered Spanish. Without that sweet little smile he always did when he was flattered. Without his soft touch or his honest, sweet remarks. Without his mood-swings and his adorable little pout. Without him and everything that he was.
Electra looked up as Wrench let out a frustrated cry. She held a stethoscope on Purse's back, and her hands were just starting to shake. "Come on, come on."
Electra looked down at Purse. His eyes were fully closed, and he wasn't breathing.
Wrench threw the stethoscope at the wall and stared at it in shock.
"Wrench?" Electra begged her with his eyes to tell him that his beautiful money truck was alive. That she had stopped because he was okay. But that wouldn't have made her throw her stethoscope against a wall.
Electra had almost forgotten that his other components were in the room, until Joule let out a blood-curdling scream and just kept screaming in absolute terror. Volta held her tight, trying to calm her down, to no avail.
Krupp stepped forward and placed a hand on Wrench's shoulder, as silent tears began to fall from her eyes.
Electra couldn't care less about what was happening around him. All he cared about was the truck lying before him, and that truck was dead. That truck was dead. And he was not coming back.
Electra felt like the weight of the world was sitting on his chest. The pain was unbearable. He leaned down to kiss Purse's beautiful face as he cried, and then…
He woke up, in bed with his components, who were sleeping like beautiful babies. He counted them quickly: One, two, three, four...and five. Purse, sleeping soundly, looking beautiful as ever, not pale in the slightest, just perfect. Electra let out a sigh of relief and stroked Purse's face. Purse smiled in his sleep, and Electra couldn't help but smile with him, but it was going to take some time to calm down, after that nightmare. He climbed out of bed, and he felt much better with his feet on the floor.
The door creaked open.