Six Years
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A quote by Luce wandered into Darien's mind, 'No good deed goes unpunished,' and right now he couldn't help but notice the irony in the fact he was living proof of its truth. "Ah, crap," he muttered, pressing the cloth usually reserved for displaying expensive gems more firmly against his abdomen.
All he'd done was stop by Ignacious' office on the way home when a routine scan of the security system had come up with a glitch. Iggy was more than just a client; he'd become a friend during the installation, and Darien had bought more than a few pretties for 'Chele from the jeweler. 'Chele was constantly tweaking the system, so it was possible the warning flashing on the monitor at the office was nothing more than a new bug, as she'd done a minor upgrade just two days ago.
And instead he'd played the unintentional hero and walked right into a robbery.
Iggy was tied up in the back room, bruised and bloody from a beating, while three masked men were screaming at the computer system. They were at a loss as to why the code they were entering, and that should have opened the safe where the unset gems were stored, was not working, leaving the door stubbornly shut. Darien had tried to sneak into the room - some skills never faded especially when he kept them honed - and had just succeeding in untying Iggy when they were spotted.
Darien swiftly found himself shoved face first into the floor, with a knee planted painfully into the middle of his back and a phone cord wrapped snugly about his neck. He'd thought he was lucky when one of the others, whose voice he recognized, but couldn't quite put a face to, called his partner off. Darien then found himself in a chair, the cold green eyes of a masked man glaring into his own and demands for the code being growled at him.
It was one of the rare times in his life he thoroughly enjoyed telling the truth. He didn't know the code. It was 'Chele who had memorized every single code and knew all the overrides (that was her side of the business, after all), though he made sure not to tell them, just bluffed that he would have to look it up at the office. So, that's when he found himself at the receiving end of a knife, three swift thrusts into his abdomen. The pain actually didn't hit for several seconds, but when it did, he knew it was bad.
Iggy came to his rescue, volunteering to key in the code, which was initially refused until he explained that his thumbprint was also needed to open the door. With voluble curses, the ringleader agreed and dragged Iggy to the safe. Once it was open he was pushed aside and seemingly forgotten, so when all three thieves were inside the safe, plundering it, Iggy slammed the door shut, locking them within.
Iggy knelt down beside Darien, peeling back the cloth to check on the wound. "Help's on the way. You just hang in there."
"Phone," Darien requested, knowing that coppery taste in his mouth was blood and that it was anything but a good sign. Of course, the fact that he'd stopped hurting about five minutes ago didn't bode well either.
"Yeah, sure," Iggy said, handing of Darien cell, which he'd used to call for help since the land lines for the building had been bypassed, making them useless, and Iggy's own cell phone was nothing but tiny plastic and electronic bits on the floor.
Darien didn't even have to look at the keypad to dial the number. It rang twice, before the machine picked up as he expected. 'Chele rarely answered the phone due to her difficulty speaking. "Hey, baby, looks like I'm gonna be later than I thought." He laughed bitterly and it devolved into a coughing fit that sprayed blood across his legs. "I... I screwed up. I want you to know that I don' wanna leave and..." He swallowed hard, tears welling in his eyes.
"D?" she got out, the fear and confusion plain in the single word.
"I love you." He began coughing again, the pain excruciating, and dropped the phone as he wrapped his arms about himself in some vain hope of holding himself together for just a few moments longer. Sparks flashed in the corner of his eyes, the world spinning dizzily around him as the strength seemed to just flow out of his body. "Love you, 'Chele, " he mumbled as the room faded into blackness.