Title: Give in

Prompt: A friend told me to stop writing sad Bluepulse all the time. Naturally, I did the opposite.

Characters: Jaime Reyes, Bart Allen

Words: 740

A/N: I really ought to stop killing these two...

~o~

The first thing he notices is the smell. It's sharp, tangy and while he can't place it at first, it still makes his stomach flip in horror.

His ears ring, but other than that, it's dead quiet.

"What-" he winces at the rawness of his throat. "What did you do?" he croaks aloud. He tries to focus on the ground, and his hands in front of his face as he waits for a reply.

He doesn't get one. He waits and waits and waits, but the scarab remains silent.

His hand reaches up to wipe at the sweat - is it sweat? - on his cheeks, and he gives a long exhale, letting the sound echo in the silence around him.

He takes one glance at the hand that he has just rubbed against his face. Among the salty wetness and crusted dirt that was on his cheeks, streaks of red line his fingers.

"What did I do?"

It's this red that catches his focus, and his eyes suddenly move to follow the colour across his line of sight. More red has gathered on the dirt just ahead of him; a rich, dark red blurs into the bright red that seems to mirror the shape of two boots.

There's something grasping at his throat, squeezing and pulling and choking him. He doesn't want to look up.

However, as he tells himself not to look, his traitorous eyes glance up. The claw around his windpipe tightens.

He can't even scream. He just releases a bubbled, strangled noise and drops his face into dirt and blood covered hands. He grasps at his hair and pushes the heels of his palms into his eye sockets before his hard jerks back up, and his meets the solemn green eyes that are boring into his. there no more spark, no more glint or glitter - just shadow.

"I-…I couldn't…do it," Bart forces out with a wheeze, while Jaime's eyes move down to stare in horror at the large blue staple that pins the young speedster to the rock behind him through his midsection. Jaime's shaking his head in in small, trembling movement, and his lips and teeth wobble so much that he he bites down on his tongue.

"Ss…sorry…Jaime." Jaime keeps his teeth pressed down on his tongue as Bart gives out a horrible, bubbling hack, blood spilling out from his lips. "I tr…tried."

Jaime is crawling on the ground in front of him, muttering "no" continuously. Bart rests his head against the rock behind him and closes his eyes, because god, it hurts; the metal that's been run through his body, the crippling failure of not saving Jaime from himself, the knowledge that it didn't work. He came here for nothing. He failed. He failed Jaime. He failed the past. He failed the future. He failed himself.

He can just feel shaking fingers that are running up the backs of his calves, and despite the fingers of darkness that pull at the corners of his consciousness, he smiles. The fingers continue their ways up his body, tentatively stroking, as if he'll break if prodded too hard.

Once the fingers lay to rest on his cheeks, he opens his eyes to meet the dirty, tear and blood-streaked face of Jaime. The older boy's face crumples up and he rests his forehead against Bart's, murmuring "I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry". Bart closes his eyes once more and strains to lift a hand to rest on the back of Jaime's neck.

It's once Bart's hand finally slips from behind Jaime's neck that Jaime finally breaks away. He pushes himself away from the body and stumbles backwards until he's curled up on the dirt, his hands violently pulling at his hair and his voice letting out hoarse and wet whimpers.

He still can't believe that the only sound around him is his own pain.

Get up.

"Go. Away."

Negative. Get up.

"No!" His hands jerk away from his head to grasp at the dirt. "Just leave! Go! I never wanted you!"

Black and blue armor starts to creep around his back.

"I never wanted you…"

It shunks as the hard exoskeleton slips into place.

"I never wanted any of this…"

Black slides over the blood and dirt-stained fingers.

"Just go. Please just go."

He hears a click behind the back of his neck, where Bart's hand had rested.

Negative.

The helmet folds over his face.

My turn.

He gives in.

Goodbye, Jaime Reyes.