Dark, dramatic fic. Reno has something to tell Rude, and it's not good.

R&R.

Final Confession

Author: SniperR

Writing time: 46 minutes

He looked up at the sky, arms crossed lazily behind his head.

"I'm dying."

It hadn't even registered. The words… they couldn't have come out of his mouth. Those where not words he would say, not unless he absolutely meant them.

The sand crunched as Rude tuned towards his friend and long time co-worker. He shouldn't have been surprised by Reno's laid-back attitude, but something was screaming at him that there should have been some kind of reaction: an emotion, a fear or a cry… Reno's attitude was too nonchalant to be a real manifestation of what he felt.

Rude struggled with his words, opening his mouth once, twice before deciding to keep it shut until he grasped the words he wanted. So many questions… was this for real?

"Reno… you can't be… are you sure?" Rude chastised himself for sounding so stupid. But then again, this was Reno, and he was dying. He wouldn't have cared how Rude talked.

"Yeah. I am." Was all he answered. Reno lay there, staring into the orange sky. Rude sat twisted to one side, eyes fixated on Reno. A few waves lapped onto the shore before either of them made a move.

Reno shifted on the sand and let his arms flop to his sides so the sand seemed to outline his body in round little ridges. Rude still didn't move, just continued staring at his partner.

"It's an infection."

Rude was startled by the sudden remark and yet he still didn't move, just continued to watch Reno. The latter closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

"I love the ocean." He opened his eyes lazily and turned his head slightly so he could watch Rude. Barely two feet separated them, but Reno felt Rude was a universe away.

"Where?" Reno raised an eyebrow, not understanding the question. "The infection, where is it?" Reno silently lifted his arm and pointed to his right temple.

"In there."

Reno smiled and lay back on the sand, staring into the sky as though nothing where happening. Rude could tell though, because Reno was being too quiet. He knew the man too well and could easily tell when something was bothering him. Now was one of those times.

"It was caused when the Geostigma left my body. I didn't heal properly."

Rude felt like his insides where trying to tie themselves together. Here was his long time partner and probably best friend telling him he was going to die and he didn't even know what to say to him. I'm sorry? Don't die? Neither sounded right.

"It's just an infection. The doctors can cure that, can't they?" A cramp manifested itself in Rude's side from his odd position so he slid himself around until he was facing Reno directly. The slight slope of the beach threw him off balance, but that didn't matter compared to the prospect he was facing: life without Reno.

Rude swallowed the lump forming in his throat as Reno chuckled. Was that lump caused by fear, emotion or dread? Rude couldn't tell.

"Naw, they already tried everything they could. Said it was already too advanced to treat anyway." Reno closed his eyes for a second before forcing them back open. He was starting to tire. Ever since he told Rude to meet him on the beach he felt as though all the energy where leaving his body. A pang of fear shot through him at the sudden though that this may be his last day; his last hour.

"How long do you have left?" Rude asked him, absently picking up a smooth, square-shaped rock out of the sand and rubbing it in between his fingers. He needed to occupy himself, keep his thoughts off of the inevitable. The rock was the kind that felt like silk in your hand and made wonder at how nature could make something so perfect.

"Any day now." As an afterthought he added "I feel weak." All emotion left his voice before he spoke again. "Rude, I think I might not last much longer. It feels like I'm completely out of it. You know how it is when you're really tired? Well, it's like that… except I'm not tired." Reno took the stone from Rude and began to finger it carefully. He looked at Rude, his crystalline blue eyes betraying the emotion he bottled away. "Say something." He asked, his voice cracking slightly.

"I don't want you to die." Rude knew he sounded cold and distant, but Reno should have been used to him by now.

"Neither do I." There was a short pause. "Well, you know what they say." Reno stretched out his arm to show Rude what he held in his hand.

"No, what?" Asked Rude, curious to know what Reno was going to say next.

"Even the best have to lose sometime. Nothing lasts forever Rude, not even me."

Rude looked at Reno's outstretched hand.

The stone was broken cleanly in half.

Kindly review :)