Hi again! Another chapter for you! And the dedication this time: My friends Peachmelba and Fire Fairy, because they put up with me forcing them to read my fics! I was REALLY mean to Tala in this chapter…but you do get to see Bryan almost naked!


After a pretty uneventful day, Tala decided to go for a walk. He put on a jacket and left the house. His breath misted before him, and as he strolled away, he didn't see Bryan watching him through an upstairs window. Tala headed for the park, where he'd watched children playing when he'd been younger. He drifted into the playground, looking around sadly at the faded metal and wood. A little girl was sitting on one of the swings. Tala sat on the one beside her.

He started swinging gently, hands grasping the frosty metal as they had longed to many years ago. His feet left the ground as he pushed himself backwards and forwards. The little girl watched him with sad eyes, then tried to copy him. She was tiny though, so her legs didn't reach the floor. Tala bit his lip then jumped off. It wasn't very high, but the girl stared at him as if he were magical. Tala said nothing, only went behind her swing and pushed it gently. The girl giggled and kicked her legs in a babyish imitation of what Tala had done, her dark hair flying out behind her.

Tala smiled, tears filling his eyes. He wanted suddenly to go back in time and push himself on a swing, and tell himself he would eventually end up happy. The little girl could only have been about eight...maybe six or seven, but near enough to the age Tala had been when his life had fallen apart. "What's your name?" He asked quietly.

"Sofia."

"That's a pretty name."

"My mother gave me it. But she's in heaven so my daddy looks after me. What's your name?"

"Tala." Tala's tears spilled over and he was thankful that Sofia was sitting the other way to him.

"HEY!" Tala turned, searching for the location of the voice. The only other person he could see was a man with a large dog. Sofia turned and waved, but the man kept advancing, waving his fist at Tala angrily. He stepped in front of Sofia, instinctively protecting her. "Who are you?"

"Who am I? I'm her father! So keep your dirty hands away from my daughter you pervert!"

"W-What?" Tala stepped back and tripped over a rock, landing painfully on his back. He found the dog suddenly growling in his face and whimpered. His thoughts snapped onto Bryan, Bryan who would be waiting for him at home... "You've got the wrong idea. I'm not here to...do anything like that. I...I'm...I'm going to die soon. I just wanted to come back here one last time..." He couldn't stop the slight tremor in his voice. "She couldn't swing herself...and I remembered how much...I wanted someone to do that for me..." A tear dripped down his face. "Please leave me alone...please..."

"I don't believe you. You're just another lying pervert!" The dog got closer, its foul breath making Tala gag. He looked up at Sofia and started to cry for real, lying on his back and sobbing brokenly. He felt like such an idiot; crying on front of two people he'd never met, one of them a child. Sofia knelt down beside him and patted his head, ignoring her father when he ordered her away. All too soon she was hugging him, and he felt like a monster for inflicting his own misery upon someone so young.

"Tala? Tala, is that you?" A familiar voice. Tala looked up and found Kai there. He struggled to his knees and let Kai pick him up as Rei glared at Sofia's father. "I don't know what you've done to him, but I'll take him now."

"Don't you dare! He's a pervert and a bastard and I want him punished as so!"

"Pervert?"

"He was seducing my daughter!"

Tala snivelled and choked. "I wasn't! She couldn't swing...and it made me remember..." Kai nodded sombrely.

"I'm afraid you don't understand. Whatever Tala may be he isn't a pervert. You ask for punishment, but maybe you deserve it. He's dying. And you can't even let him remember in peace. Maybe it's you who's the bastard here." He hefted Tala into his arms and walked away. "Tala, are you okay?" Tala sniffed and sobbed pathetically.

"I only wanted to help her swing...she looked so sad...she was just like I used to be..."

It was a good thing Tala hadn't walked very far, because Kai had run out of things to say. He kicked at the door of the Blitzkrieg team's house and Bryan opened the door with a smile. His smile turned to horror and he pulled Tala out of Kai's grip and held him tightly. "Tala, what's wrong?" He asked softly, moving aside to let Kai in. Tala wailed against his chest as they stood in the hall in the exact same place where they'd kissed the night before. Bryan carried Tala into the kitchen and sat him on a chair, kneeling down and taking his hands as Kai tactfully put the kettle on.

"What's the matter, Tala?"

"I went to the park, Bryan..." Tala slid off the chair and onto Bryan's lap, seeking comfort. "There was a girl there and her father said I was...was a pervert...he wanted to kill me..."

"What! Where is he!" Exploded Bryan, furious. Tala shook his head.

"Kai came and found me..."

Bryan hugged Tala and then drew his hands away, looking puzzled. "You're all wet, Tala..."

"I fell over." Kai put two mugs of tea down beside them and walked to the door.

"I'll call back later." Bryan nodded at him and took Tala upstairs, hearing the door slam shut below them. He sat Tala on his bed and got out a fresh set of clothes, stripping Tala as he slowly stopped crying. "Tala...I'm sorry. I was going to come with you, but...I was trying to find a recipe I actually understood."

Suddenly Tala's misery was gone. "Oh Bryan..." He bounced up off the bed and kissed Bryan, taking hold of Bryan's collar and pulling him closer. Bryan laughed and pulled away. "You're wet and you're naked. Get dry, and get some clothes, or you'll end up in bed ill and then you won't be very happy."


The next two weeks passed too fast for Tala's liking. He felt as if his life was becoming one big countdown, and it unnerved him. But every morning, and every night, when he lay in Bryan's arms, he felt as if he was happy. Exactly fifteen days after after the incident in the park, Tala woke to find himself alone in bed. He sat up, almost scared. He looked around the room carefully, expecting Bryan to be hiding somewhere to surprise him. But as his eyes swept across the pale blue walls he realised that Bryan simply wasn't there.

He huddled up under the blankets, wondering why Bryan had left him. A thousand paranoid thoughts rushed into his mind and he covered his head with the blanket. Maybe Bryan had left him...maybe he had finally realised that he could do better...maybe he was in love with someone else...maybe-

"Tala? What do you like on your pancakes?" Tala poked his head out of the duvet and looked up at Bryan in wonder. Bryan was currently sporting nothing but a pair of black boxers and an apron. The overall effect was almost...kinky, considering the apron was red and slightly shiny. He was holding out a tray full of plates- pancakes and croissants and flapjacks and juice. Bryan scratched his nose, smearing flour onto it. Tala laughed and sat up, brushing the flour off.

Bryan handed him the tray and lay down next to Tala as he attacked his breakfast. "I was going to try soufflé, but I realised that that meant I actually needed to be able to cook...after a while of trying to find easy things to cook I've come to the conclusion that I'm a culinary failure."

"Tst gd."

"Hm?" Tala gulped down his mouthful and smiled.

"I said it tastes good." Tala continued his assault on the food until he licked off the last crumb off the last plate. He stretched over and put it down, then ran a hand up Bryan's apron. "Love the look."

"I thought you would...you flapjack abuser..."

"But they were very -good- flapjacks." Tala said, licking his lips. "My compliments..." He said, stroking his hand over the front of Bryan's boxers. "To the chef..."

When Spencer passed the room shortly after, the moans and muffled laughs were enough to convince him that it would be wiser to -not- open the door.


Kai came round again much later that night, and produced from the deep recesses of one of his pockets a large bottle of vodka. From the other, he pulled another bottle of vodka, and waved them both at Tala invitingly. "Any takers?" Tala grinned and snatched one of the bottles, opening it and gulping down a couple of mouthfuls.

Before very long all of the Blitzkrieg boys including Kai were lying on the floor of the living room in various states of comatose bliss. Tala lay limply, head pillowed on Bryan's chest, one arm over Kai's waist, one over Ian's back. Spencer was lying over Ian's legs, one arm over Tala's. Tala felt somehow happy...but also indescribably sad. To think that he would have to leave all of this behind...

A sudden image of Bryan crying made him burrow his face into Bryan's fur. Bryan grunted, and Tala felt reassured. But still there was a dull ache in his mind, one that no amount of alcohol could remove or even reduce. He was dying. Even as he lay there, things were happening inside him that he couldn't understand or explain. He was going to die...and he didn't want to. He shifted, pulling all of his friends closer. Maybe he didn't want to die, but he knew he was going to, and he was going to make damn sure he had fun before he went!


He spent the next day recovering from his blistering hangover, all the while thinking 'I've wasted a day. I only have so many left and I've wasted one...' Although he had to admit that being snuggled up in bed with Bryan all day had its merits...considering that Bryan wasn't half as badly afflicted as Tala and so had the energy to stroke Tala's skin as if it were made of gold, treating him as if he were about to break. But...Tala knew he was breaking. Breaking up from the inside out. And...

"They said I'll either stop breathing or my heart will stop beating. And there's nothing anyone can do about it. They want me to go into hospital...in three weeks..."

He heard Bryan sigh and felt a hand graze over his chest, digging under his body and pulling him closer. "Do you have any matches?"

"Hnh?"

"Do you have any matches, or do we have to buy some? I don't know what's left of the abbey but if it's there and it burns, we're burning it tomorrow."

"Mm. Can we just stay in bed for the rest of today? I don't feel like getting up..."

"Whatever you want, Tala." Tala stretched and rested his hand on Bryan's arm, teasing his fingers up it gently. "Hey, that tickles!" Tala ignored him and continued, moving his fingers up towards Bryan's neck. Before he reached it he found himself on his back, being tickled mercilessly. He squealed and giggled, laughing until his sides ached. "Bryan-" He begged breathlessly. Bryan stopped his onslaught and sat there, enjoying the sight of Tala flushed and breathless.

Tala suddenly reached out and grabbed Bryan around the waist, yanking him down into a bear hug that threatened to completely squeeze the air from his lungs. "I love you Bryan."

"Kgh!" Tala's grip lessened marginally. "I love you too. When you aren't trying to kill me..." Tala's smile began to fall away and Bryan felt like hitting himself. "Tala..."

"No...it's okay...it's just...I keep remembering how little time I have left...and yet there's so much I want to do..."

"I'll do anything. You know that."

"I know...I'm so grateful..."

Bryan felt a lump appear in his throat and swallowed around it. Every time something like that happened...every time Tala said something like that...he felt as if he would gladly give his soul if it meant Tala could live. The strength of his feelings surprised him, and the pain he felt every time he thought about Tala's imminent death was also surprising. He hadn't thought that emotions could actually physically hurt, but Tala seemed to be able to make his chest ache with both sadness and joy. His eyes burned and he took a deep breath, trying to take back control of himself.

"Bryan?"

"Y-Yeah?" Tala looked up into his eyes.

"I don't want you to cry about me..."

"Tala..." Bryan felt like some kind of traitor as he bowed his head, letting his hair hide his tears. "I'm sorry...but I think that's the one thing I can't do for you. I-If you don't want to see, I'll-"

"No." Tala whispered. "I'm so selfish Bryan...I keep thinking about myself and how I feel...I keep forgetting that...that...you'll all still be here...when I go..." He held Bryan tightly as he cried, letting go of all the hideous feelings he'd been harbouring, pain from the abbey, pain for all the hate he'd been forced to feel, but even more pain for the fact that he was in love, and the person he loved was doomed to die. There was anger too- anger that Tala had to suffer, that Tala was being dragged into something he had never wanted, had never asked for, and frustration at the fact that he couldn't do anything...that the self same body he loved and cherished was killing itself and he couldn't do anything about it.

"I don't want to lose you Tala...but I know I'm going to...I love you so much...it...it hurts..."

"I know." Tala choked. "I know..."

They lay together, bodies intertwined, enveloped in mutual pain and fear.


Please review! I'd like to know what you think so far!