resurrection
Written for Spooktober 2021, Prompt: Blood. Set during 5x26 Forever. Probably messes up some trouble lore, but oh well. Implied OT3 but can be Gen. Comments and kudos would be awesome. Enjoy!
Duke is dead.
Duke is dead and Nathan killed him.
Duke is dead and Nathan hadn't wanted to do it, no matter what he'd said in the past, no matter that he'd gotten the Guard tattoo that meant he could. He hadn't wanted to do it, but Duke had pleaded with him to save him from Croatoan's power over his trouble, from the risk he posed to the rest of Haven so long as he lived. So he forces himself to put his arm around his best friend's neck, his hand over his mouth and nose and he holds on until Duke stops fighting, stops moving, stops breathing. Until Nathan can no longer feel the slowing beat of his pulse under his vice-grip hold.
And Audrey's there with them for it all, like she has been all along. She tells Duke it's going to be okay, that they love him – the one thing Nathan can't bring himself to say, not now and not like this – before he's offering up his own assurances, "You're the bravest man I ever met, Duke Crocker," he says, "You always have been. There's so much we've done together, so much we never could've done without you."
But his words are not a goodbye.
Because Duke is dead, but Nathan is not going to let him stay that way.
Now there is no time to waste. Duke is still locked in his arms, but he holds tight, sits up, slides them both down to the floor in one less than graceful move.
"Help me," he says, shifting Duke's body to lay flat on the cold tile floor of Haven's police station. "Help me. We can bring him back."
"Nathan," Audrey says, her voice sounds just as broken as Nathan feels. There are tears in her eyes (hell, there are tears in his eyes). "We can't-"
"We can," he counters, unwilling to let this go without at least trying to save his friend. "His trouble will have died with him. They're gone. There's nothing left for Croatoan to take now. We can bring Duke back."
"We don't know that they'll stay gone, Nathan," she tries to reason. "If we bring him back and he's still troubled, what then? He'll still have every trouble his family's ever absorbed. Do you want to have to do this again?"
He absolutely does not want that. But it's a chance he has to take. There's a chance his trouble won't be active – it hadn't been for so long.
"Help me," he asks, looking around the room at the others. "Please."
Gloria moves first. Joins him at Duke's side, feeling for a pulse but not finding one, as expected. Vickie lingers in the background, ready to help out however she is asked. Dwight appears, too, and without asking any questions about any of this, he jumps into action. He starts CPR, powerful presses on Duke's chest to try to get his heart beating again – everyone close enough to hear cartilage pop under the force of it.
Audrey moves beside him, one hand on his shoulder, one on Duke's.
Dwight pauses for a moment after the requisite number of chest compressions, looks to them to do their part.
Nathan gets there first, tilts Duke's head back, pinches his nose shut, and covers the other man's mouth with his own. Breathes in once, twice, watches the rise and fall of his chest. Gloria checks for signs of life before Dwight takes over again.
"Come on, Duke," Audrey pleads for them both. "Come on."
Two more breaths.
More chest compressions.
Two more breaths.
More chest compressions.
Two-
Duke comes back to life with a frantic gasp, choking on the air that fills his lungs. Eyes wide and panicked as he blindly reaches out, catches hold of Nathan's arm, Audrey's jacket. "What-?" he manages to get out, clearly a little out of it. Understandble, given that ten seconds ago he was dead.
"Welcome back," Nathan says, a grin on his face, relieved beyond measure.
"Welcome back?" Duke manages a hoarse laugh. "That's a hell of a welcome, Sasquatch beating on my chest like the animal he is," he half-heartedly complains, "And you, why are you kissing me? At least buy me dinner first."
"We get through the rest of this mess alive and maybe I will," Nathan threatens, but now they need to make sure they'll have that chance. He grabs a pocketknife off of Dwight, flips it open and painlessly digs the blade into his thumb until a few drops of blood well up there.
Duke frowns in confusion, "Nathan," he says, seriously, as the reasons for this odd behavior finally process – his trouble. Nathan grabs one of Duke's hands, smearing the blood onto his skin even as the other man tries to pull away. "Don't-"
But nothing happens.
Duke is not troubled.
And Duke is not dead.