A/N: Marian, Shane, and Layla are my own creations.

7. Across the Universe, by Jim Sturgess

"Am I really going to die?" The boy asked.

"Yes," said the hooded man who held him.

"Will it hurt?"

"I can make it easy." The man whispered.

The boy was so small already, but seemed horribly tiny and frail in his arms. Shane, little Shane, was the son of Marian and the brother of Layla. He didn't have a father. Shane was infected with Redlight. As soon as exhaustion overcame him, he would lose his sanity. He would deform and become something terrible. The only reason the hooded man, Alex, Zeus, Blacklight, knew the boy, was because of a series of circumstances that had brought Marian to Dr. Ragland. During the few times that Zeus had spent in quiet at Ragland's, he'd kept Shane and Layla company. He was awkward around them, inhuman in his eerily deadly and silent demeanor, but quiet enough. Their originality made up for his general strangeness.

Now, Shane was dying. He'd scraped his knee on an occasion when he shouldn't have been outdoors. The infection had gotten into his blood stream, and now he was dying. Alex had known right away. He was able to see infection like a red hot fever before it was ever able to run its course. He'd delivered the news frankly, to the horror of Ragland and the boy's mother. Shane had simply lowered his head, shuffled towards his awkward friend, and asked if he could have one chance to fly.

They'd pitched themselves off of the tallest building Zeus could find. They'd glided, and the boy yelled in pure abandon and glee, with a bit of fright and surprise mixed in. They'd traveled to an abandoned grocery store and Shane sampled all the junk food and candy he could ever possibly find in a single day. Which… surprisingly, was a lot. They sat now, in a corner of the store, with Shane nestled in Alex's lap as he sat cross legged. Shane had asked for a story. Alex had many; few belonged to him.

"I don't want to suffer." Shane whispered when silence had fallen around them, his voice hitching. For one so young, so tiny, so fragile, he appeared very strong to him then. To be honest, to be frank, to be so innocently blunt despite the fear.

"I won't let you." Alex withdrew a needle that Ragland had given him. 'Give him one hell of a last day, Alex. He showed you more kindness than any ever will. Now return it.' Ragland's words. The order, and the hidden warning, didn't really need to be spoken. He was glad for them nonetheless.

-Song over-