*Spoilers for 2x13
Also, sorry for some of the language in this one. I felt like it was necessary.

[Fighting for Breath]

Mike couldn't breathe. His air supply was being cut off by Sid and he couldn't breathe. His hands clutched at the bedspread as he tried to force himself to stay alive, until help came. If it came.

He could hear Sid talking, but most of it wasn't making it through Mike's head. The things he did hear only added to his fear; Paige giving him up, Sid going to Graceland and threatening to kill everyone, and dammit he couldn't breathe.

His head jerked forward and his back arched a little, straining to find a way to live.

Sid's heartbeat was steadily beeping as he slowly continued to talk, his hand keeping a tight grip on the tube of air. Mike couldn't believe how calm Sid was.

Gasping, Mike choked for air. He squeezed his eyes shut, tears sliding down the side of his face and pooling next to his ears.

He snapped his eyes back open, still gasping for breath. His mind started to grow fuzzy and thick. And suddenly, Mike knew that this was it; he wasn't making it out of this one. No one was coming to save him. It was just him and Sid, and Sid had won.

Sid would walk out of the hospital a free man and Mike, well, Mike wouldn't.

Mike's eyes widened, his surroundings beginning to fade away to black. He grew suddenly calm and a small voice spoke in the back of his mind: you're paying for your sins.

Mike blinked once, twice, and then stilled.

Briggs knew, even before he burst into Mike's room, that he was too late, too slow.

His eyes traveled from the flat line, pulsing on the heart monitor to Mike's lifeless body. Mike's hand, half curled into the sheets, his foot sticking out from the covers.

Briggs forced himself to look at Mike's face, a carefully concealed shuddering breath coursing through him. Mike's mouth hung open, no longer gasping for air, and his blue eyes stared off past Briggs' shoulder, unseeing.

"Sir, you have to leave." Briggs barely acknowledged the nurse, the words merely a buzzing at his ear.

Mike was dead.

All because Briggs was too slow.

Briggs swallowed and stepped away from the kid's body. He could feel a slow tear making its way down his numb face.

Too fucking slow and Mike was dead.

A/N: Okay, so this is really depressing. I will try to whip up a happy oneshot soonish to make up for this.

On a side note: MIKE BETTER NOT BE DEAD FOR GOOD.