A/N : Okay, so I was watching House this morning (which is a really great show, isn't it?), and this idea popped into my head, so then of course I had to write it (even though it's a little unrelated...) and miss my House marathon. :( Title kind of stinks, but my mind told me to go with it, so whatever, ha. Oh, and this is AU. I have my ideas for this story, but as usual...

Feedback inspires and brings faster updates. So please review, because I adore knowing what people think, good or bad, so I can improve or continue.

Side Note : I'm not a doctor, and House is really the only medical show I watch. I don't know medical terms, but I did research heart disease and heart attacks, and the information in here is based on that research. If it's incorrect, blame...web-md. If it's correct...then it was all me and this note doesn't exist. ;)


Befriending the Dead


Through the Mirror


"Move! Get out of the way! If we don't get to the ER this man is going to die!"

"Shut up! We're all dying in here!"

Roxas couldn't think; there was nothing but the blinding pain in his chest, squeezing and crushing everything inside of him. He kept his eyes closed, the world spinning and dipping whenever he dared to open them, but he could feel the scratchy sheets they had placed them on, how the gurney screeched and stumbled like an open coffin.

"What's wrong with him?"

"He's having a heart attack, Doctor."

The way they asked, with the complete weariness and almost nonchalant attitude that told him they had seen too many just like him...it caused his stomach to twist into all kinds of horribly nervous knots. His skin felt clammy, and for a moment all he could concentrate on was the uncomfortable feeling of sweat dripping from his forehead down his face.

"Sir, can you hear me? Can you talk?"

There were hands all over him, doing heaven knows what, touching and probing with prying, cold fingers. Roxas tried to remember any medical programs he had ever seen, hoping to figure out what they were trying to do. One was on his wrist, another by his neck, and he fumbled in the fog. Were they trying to find a pulse?

"How long has it been?"

"We got there half an hour after his brother called, took another to get here, so an hour at the least."

"Why did it take you so long!"

"There was a lot of traffic! An ambulance can't fly you know!"

An hour? Roxas recalled slipping out of his chair, his head cracking against the floor and probably leading to the splitting headache he had now. Sora had been screaming at him, but the rushing in his ears had seemed more important at the time. Other hands, less impartial and plastic than the ones on him now, had carried him somewhere...Then there was just time, moving a few centimeters every few seconds on a makeshift bed, a voice whispering that things would be okay, fine, when Roxas knew for sure things would not.

"Okay, he still has a...reasonable pulse, racing but-"

"Reasonable? What kind of doctor are you-"

"How did he get in here? Get him out into the waiting room! He shouldn't be here for this!"

"I'm his brother! I'm staying here with him!"

"Listen, just come with me okay? I'll tell you what's going on, keep you updated. We'll take care of your brother."

Sora? He could hear his voice through the tirade of the stern voice calling for orders, footsteps falling heavily all around, like thunder. It sounded like they were taking him away. Roxas wasn't sure, but he thought he could feel a tiny, melancholy smile twitch on his lips before dripping off dead. He didn't want Sora to see this. He knew Sora, and he also knew he couldn't handle watching his brother die.

"We need to open the blocked arteries. That should get the blood flowing again. Get me anesthesia, now!"

"Doctor-"

"I'm going to perform an angioplasty-"

"Doctor!"

For the first time, Roxas became aware of the needles pricking his arms, the stiff sensation of something foreign in his throat, and the loudest beeping he had ever heard. It was like a miniature explosion every few seconds, thundering and screeching. With a small jolt of surprise, Roxas realized it was repeating itself faster and faster, more quickly each moment that passed until finally...it was completely gone, just one continuous roar.

"He's flatlining!"

Confusion bubbled around him. The pain was gone, replaced by a sense of complete and utter nothingness. He couldn't feel anything, wasn't breathing. The noises had vanished, as well as the cheap bed that had been beneath him, keeping him grounded. He hadn't opened his eyes, but the only thing he could somehow see was white.

"Hello, Roxas."

A new voice echoed around him, but it bellowed somehow gently instead of hurting his head. It didn't sound like the doctors, or anyone he knew, and yet it felt familiar in a way, even though he was sure he had never heard the tone before; at least not out-loud.

"Should we wake him up-"

"Send him back."

"What?"

"Let's send him back."

The first voice sounded kind, approachable, someone who could be trusted. The perplexity multiplied and consumed him, and yet there was no trace of fear. Just wonder and curiosity. The second though...it was slow, deep, and sterile, like the doctors who had tried and failed to save his life.

"We can't just bring him back to life! He's touched death! The results, the consequences-"

"I know what's going to happen. He can handle it."

The first voice sounded pleasantly amused, supportive, the way his parents had talked to him sometimes when he wasn't sure if he'd past his next test, win the soccer championship.

"What if he can't?"

"Don't trouble yourself; the boy can."

"What about the others? Humans aren't meant to see-"

"Relax, son, calm down. Maybe humans aren't meant to, not all of them, but maybe he's a little special."

"Special? It'll drive him insane!"

The second voice seemed so furious, spewing out heated words that almost seemed to burn. Roxas wanted to turn away from the sensation, but his body felt like marble, the same immobile feeling but ghostly weightless.

"I do everything for a reason. Let's have no more questions, or they'll really think he's dead."

There was some humored laughter, grand and robust, lined with pure, innocent entertainment and joy.

"It'll be good for them, the both of them. It's what he was meant for."

The other snorted, indignant.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll agree with you."

Roxas couldn't see it, but he was sure the first one smiled as a hand was pressed to his forehead.

"Alright, Roxas. Time to wake up."