A/n: Haha! Challenge 6 finished! None of the forbidden letters anywhere (Except the criteria...) ! Not even in my author's note or summary hahahah!

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Deathbed Confessions

By 'uff the magic dragon567

K

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Summary: You're born, you grow old, you die. The way life works is easy, but that doesn't mean that acknowledging them is. Death will always be mourned.

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Criteria: Challenge 6:

A character is in a situation where they are close to death or on their deathbed.
You CANNOT use the word red.
You CANNOT use the letters p & q.

Use at least one simile/metaphor involving food: e.g The atmosphere was as thick as custard.

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The sounds of two ambulances echoed around the dark Tomoeda streets as the blue lights, obscured by their vehicles' velocity, rushed through the side streets. They skidded to a halt outside Syoaran's house and rushed into the brightly lit house.

A few lights illuminated in other buildings windows as curiosity welled residents into stirring and investigating the havoc through their elaborately coloured curtains.

Inside the house itself, the medics gathered around a bed, fiddling with the tiny devices. One of them raised his head, looking glumly at another. They both nodded to each other.

One turned to address the gang of teenagers standing around the bed. He looked into the boy's eyes first and hung his head.

"I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do here, we can try and arrange something in the ward, but I think there's little we can do now but make his last moments comfortable."

Syaoran's eyes widened, he looked dismally at the withered man that lay on his bed. His white hair fell stringy down the sides of his face, looking as frail and lifeless as carrot roots.

"Can't you do anything? Not even surgery?" His had lost control of his breathing and his face was flushed as he looked frantically between the bed and the medic, "I can't just let him die!"

"Sadly, that's all we can do."

Moments later, they were stuffed into the back of an ambulance, Syoaran staring vacantly down at his butler, tears overflowing from the corner of his eyes. He winced, trying to halt the flow, but it was beyond his control.

Sakura, Mei Lin and Tomoyo were forced to watch fearfully, as the man was unloaded and carted into a sickly blue coloured ward. The smell of cleanliness, sterilised objects and disinfectant dominated the air.

There was no one in the ward but the aged butler and his mourners. The room stood in silence staring down at the man.

"What will I do…?" It was Syoaran that broke the silence, "I never realised how much he did for me. Without him…" His voice failed him as he gathered himself to continue the sentence, "Without him…think of the chaos. I'd get no where."

Sakura's eyes were red from tears as she looked solemnly at the butler she'd become friends with. He was wise beyond his years, and considering his age, that was very wise indeed. She's learnt that he had aided in guiding her love to her, he'd solved dilemmas and fixed doubts in Syoaran's mind with sentences. He'd got him to where he was today. Sakura's eyes twitched once more and she raised her hands to cover her flooding eyes.

Tomoyo had barely known Wei, but she knew the loss of life was always something to be saddened for. She looked between the faces gathered and realised how much this man's life had meant to them.

Mei Lin stood at the foot of the bed. She wasn't crying, but her face betrayed her feelings. She was fighting hard to avoid bursting into tears. When she'd been engaged to Syaoran, she'd been close to Wei, though never as close as Syaoran had been. She was always jealous about that. She remembered how he would always make Syoaran think carefully about things before rushing to decisions, and how he'd saved him from tearing at the seams. For that, she was glad he'd been there.

Syaoran was visibly the most hurt of the gang. His breathing was disjointed and uneven through the occasional smothered sobs. He was fighting, to no avail, to lock in his emotions. For all his life, Wei had been looking after him. He was more than just a butler, more like a father, maybe even more than that.

He could remember the times he'd aided. When Mei Lin had been mad at him, it had been Wei that had advised him not to follow. He'd made Syaoran realise that Mei Lin was strong and self-sufficient. Something he had failed to notice over the times they'd been together.

The old man had been shrewd, and thinking about this brought a slight smile to the boy's face through sniffles.

Wei's body was visibly struggling for breath, his chest rising with awkward looking jerks and falling again suddenly. His face was drowned with sweat and his eyes were sunken and blackberry coloured.

For a moment, the man's breathing calmed and the gang looked at each other, all understanding what was to come.

The butler's face eased, his eyes gently shutting. There was a moment of total silence, nothing dared move. Nature, it would seem, had frozen.

A continuous ring echoed around the ward, and the grang broke once more. The end of a life and an era.

Sakura's hands tightened, before slowly loosening around a card. The moment had been and she realised. It was all for the best. The time card fell slowly to the floor.

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