"I'm leaving."
It was two very short words, but they were two words that completely stopped Tom's heart. He stared at his phone in wonderment, surprise, and sadness. He could tell, even in those two words, that something had changed about Alex, something dark. Tom unknowingly released a shiver. There was steel in Alex's voice that was never at that level before. Sure, after every mission, that steel hardened, but not so much, as suddenly as now. The voice was cold, even when speaking to his best friend. Tom, who could sense Alex's moods with ease, also felt the underlying hint of pain. Whatever had happened while Tom had been in the hospital wasn't a good thing.
"To where?"
"California. I'm going to be living with Sabina now."
Sabina, Tom remembered, was a girl that Alex had met in Wimbledon. He had met her quite briefly over the winter holiday. She was a nice girl and pretty hot too. She even knew about Alex's spying, apparently she had been held captive by one of Alex's enemies, and didn't shy away from it, which gave her a point in Tom's book.
"Sabina?" exclaimed Tom, uncomprehending, couldn't get past the fact that Alex was leaving him. "What about Jack?"
There was a silence on the other side of the line.
Tom clutched the phone tighter. No, it couldn't be. He had known that Alex and Jack had gone to Cairo together for a mission, but that was all that he was aware of. In fact, this was the first time he had talked to Alex since he went to Cairo. From the silence, he knew that something had gone wrong in Cairo, something bad.
"Is Jack-?" started Tom hesitantly.
"She's dead."
Two simple words. Two bloody simple words and Tom's heart wrenched out. He didn't hear himself gasping, didn't feel himself hitting the floor on his knees in his bedroom where he was hiding from his parents yelling downstairs. All he could hear was the thundering of his heart and the coldness yet pain that managed to get through those two monotonous words.
Jack, one of Tom's confidants. She didn't shy him away when he needed a place to stay away from his parents. She didn't care that he knew about Alex's career, that he knew some of the gritty details about his work and what he had done. She didn't care if he acted insane, or smart, or normal. Tom had known Alex ever since Alex had beat up those bullies at the back of the school. Tom had never managed to get close to Ian the same way he got close to Jack and Alex. Alex was like his brother and Jack was like his sister. The fact that she was gone hurt.
"Oh god, ohgodohgodohgod…" Tom muttered in a mantra, in a haze. He chocked down a sob. "Alex, I'm so sorry."
"I'm sorry too, Tom."
There was nothing in that apology, nothing. Tom cried, sobbing and not caring that he probably sounded like he was dying. He cried for himself, he cried for Jack, and, most importantly, he cried for Alex. He wasn't aware of the yelling that had stopped downstairs; he wasn't aware that his parents thundered up to his room to see him laying down next to his phone, crying for all that he was worth; he wasn't aware of his father yelling at the phone, demanding who had hurt his son so much; he wasn't aware of the way that his mother had tried to shush him, to try to offer her condolences and comfort; he wasn't aware of the apology that Alex had stated to his father and how his father hesitated from hanging up on Alex because he knew Alex well; he didn't remember reaching for the phone and his father giving him what he wanted. All he could remember was begging.
"Alex, please don't leave…"
A/N: Although Alex worries about leaving Tom in Scorpia Rising, Tom isn't really shown. So, here is Tom being shown. Quite depressing, actually. I have no idea where this came from. I hope I managed to portray them well.
Also, second story I've posted in a week. If only I could do the same with my other stories that I should be rewriting/updating…_;