~*~

~I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
I keep your photograph; I know it serves me well
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain~

Lance heard the sound vaguely from his bed, curled up with Scott, and fell out in his haste to get to Nikki. "Shit!"

Scott sat up straight, his eyes darting around the room wildly, "What!? What!?" He shouted falling out of the bed next to Lance.

"Nikki's screaming his head off." Lance said, grabbing his jeans and dragging them on before taking off into Nikki's room.

He realized that the boy was still asleep but thrashing around, and he grabbed his arms and lay on his legs so that he wasn't kicked or hit. "Nikki! Wake up kid, its a dream! Its just a dream."

Scott followed close behind Lance and stood stunned in the doorway, only clad in his yellow smiley boxers.

"Nikki." Lance growled then shook the boy. Nikki woke up and the terrible noise stopped as he blinked wetly at Lance, freezing up under his touch. Lance pulled back sighing. "It's okay Nikki, it was a nightmare, you're safe now." he said soothingly

Scott stepped into the room, "Yea Nik, it was just a nightmare," He said softly as he sat down on the edge of the bed, "You're safe."

Nikki didn't say anything, pulling his knees up to his chest and staring at the couple like a deer in the headlights. He looked round the room for Luke, not remembering that he was dead, until Lance told him gently. "You won't find him Nikki. Remember?" Nikki remembered and shuddered, closing his eyes. He didn't want to live in the world without Luke.

~'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away~

A transparent Luke appeared at the foot of the bed staring at Nikki, his lips twitched up at the corner and he was saying something so softly in was inaudible.

Nikki looked confused when he saw Luke. "They tol' me you were dead." He said in a shaking voice.

Scott looked over his shoulder at where Nikki was staring, "Nikki? Who are you talking too?" He asked looking back to the boy.

 Luke smiled and started to turn away.

Nikki knelt up on the bed, holding a hand out. "Don't go." He wailed.

Lance looked round, also confused. "Nikki, there's no one there."

Luke stopped and turned back to Nikki, his smile faded as he spoke, "Don't cry Nikki." He said then vanished.

~You've gone away, you don't feel me anymore~

Nikki curled into a ball, hiding his head down near his knees. Lance sat on the edge of the bed and cautiously put a hand on Nikki's back, rubbing it up and down soothingly when Nikki didn't freak out about it.

 "Are you okay? "He asked the younger boy.

Nikki didn't say anything and stayed in his fetal position. Lance looked back at Scott for help.

Scott shrugged extremely confused now.

 "Who were you talking too Nikki?" He asked hesitantly, already knowing the answer.

Nikki didn't say anything, but uncurled and moved back into his sitting position, hugging his knees and biting on his bottom lip. Lance asked the question. "Were you talking to Luke?" Nikki nodded after a few minutes. Lance sighed.

"Oh geeze." Scott sighed rubbing the back of his neck.

Nikki switched to sucking his thumb and Lance turned to the doorway, beckoning Scott to follow him so that they could talk without Nikki hearing. "This doesn't look good." Lance said to his partner.

"I know." Scott nodded rubbing his eyes under his visor.

"What do you think we should do?" Lance asked, looking back at Nikki who hadn't moved.

Scott glanced over Lance's shoulder and frowned slightly, "Truthfully," He said turning back to Lance, "I don't know. Luke was everything to him, this has to be quite a shock to his system."

Lance ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe we should get Xavier to have a look at him." He pondered. "He hasn't said anything to anybody that wasn't a hallucination since the you-know-what."

 "Yea… I know," Scott, sighed furrowing his eyebrows, "I think you're right about Xavier having a look at him, maybe that thing is surfacing again?"

Lance studied the silent boy. "I dunno. He's not acting any differently... but it couldn't hurt for Xavier to have a look."

Scott nodded, "Alright, I'll go talk to the Prof. then." He said as he turned and started towards Xavier's room.

"I'll stay here with Nikki then." lance called, then turned back to sit on Nikki's bed. "Nikki?" He asked. There was no response from the other boy.

"Prof.?" Scott said knocking on the door.

 A moment later a tired looking Xavier rubbing his eyes opened the door.

 "Yes Scott, is something wrong?" He asked looking up.

Scott nodded, "Yea, Nikki's having hallucinations... we think something is wrong."

 Xavier furrowed his eyebrows, "Okay, I'll see what I can do, but in the morning." He said sternly but also with a hint of worry in his voice.

 "Alright." Scott said then turned away from the door as it closed.

Lance turned his head when Scott entered and put a finger to his lips. Nikki was asleep again, lying with his head cradled in his arms on Lance's thigh, curled like a cat against his leg. "How did it go?" Lance asked Scott quietly.

"He said he'd check on him in the morning." Scott told him, folding his arms over his chest he leaned against the doorframe, "Poor kid." He murmured.

Lance beckoned Scott over. "Can you hold his head up while I put some pillows under him instead?" He asked.

"Yea sure." Scott smiled softy as he took Lance's place and waited for him to put the pillow under Nikki's head.

Lance propped Nikki up quickly, then took Scott's hand and tiptoed out of the room. He stopped when they'd got outside and leant into Scott wearily. "I don't know how Luke did this everyday." he confessed to Scott. "How's Nikki going to cope with him gone? How are WE gonna cope?"

"I don't know," Scott shook his head as he wrapped his arms around Lance, "Luke had a lot on his shoulders, I didn't realize how much until... until he was gone."

Lance kissed Scott slowly and luxuriously, then pressed their foreheads together. "I hope we never have to go through what Nikki's going through now." He said softly, pained at even the thought of losing this young relationship, especially as he had been missing out on it for so long before.

A wary smile crossed over Scott's lips, "Me either," He whispered, "Me either..."

~*~

A/N: Lyrics used: Broken by Seether featuring Amy Lee.