Three Days Too Die

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek: Enterprise...blah, blah :/

A/N: I really hope Y'all don't kill me for this! *Warning* Major character death (kinda).

Now, please enjoy!

Trip would give anything to switch places with Archer right now. As he woke up, he could still hear Archer's screams in the other cell.

It seemed that the men, or whatever they were, had decided to leave him alone. But it didn't sound like Archer had been as lucky and he couldn't help but feel that it was somehow his fault.

Listening to his best friend's screams was torture and knowing that there was nothing he could do about it almost destroyed him.

Archer was his best friend, his mentor, his confidant. They made a great team and were never far from trouble, but mostly the harmless kind.

There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for him, even if it cost him his life.

Carefully moving his arms, Trip attempted to get out of the chair. Every movement was a struggle as if his body was drugged or something.

Moving over to the cell door, he pushed and pulled, looking for any type of mechanism that he could tinker with.

Finally, he caught sight out of it. Wiping his forehead, his hand coming away bloody, he carefully leaned down to examine the mechanism.

Breathing out a pained laugh, he was relieved at the simplicity of the lock. He could do this in his sleep.

Carefully opening the door, he took a tentative step out of the cell. When the world didn't shatter around him, he began moving forward at a faster pace.

Checking the cells as quickly and quietly as he could, he finally reached the one he was looking for.

Opening the door was as easy as his cell door. When he got inside he could clearly make out the figure within and what he saw nearly made him expel the contents of his stomach.

Archer was a bloodied mess lying against the wall.

"Capt'n? Can you hear me?" He whispered as he carefully lowered himself down in front of Archer.

Gently shaking him, he searched Archer's face for any signs of awareness.

Groaning, Archer slowly came around. Sensing the closeness of another person, he quickly flinched and made to move away.

"It's okay, it's me. It's Trip, Capt'n." Recognition slowly filtered into Archer's eyes and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"T-thank goodn-ness it's y-you, Trip." Archer breathed out shakily, his sentence halted and covered in pain.

"Yeah, I'm gonna get us out of here, Capt'n." Trip said earnestly, "Can you move, walk?"

"Y-yeah." Came Archer's weak response.

Trip had just hoisted Archer's arm around his neck when a voice came out of nowhere and sent chills down his spine.

"So. I see you've managed to escape your cell. Well, I guess someone's gonna have to pay the price for that little mistake, aren't they?"

"What do you want with us?" Trip asked, confusion and anger ringing clearly in his voice.

"Information."

Before Trip could ask another question, Archer was ripped from his arms and thrown to the floor. Trip was roughly pinned against the wall, his ribs and arms protesting every single breath and movement.

"It looks like someone needs to learn a lesson." The figure moved towards Archer.

"No!" Trip called out, realizing their intention, "He's suffered enough! If you have to hurt someone, hurt me."

"Tempting as that may be, Commander, I have other uses for you. But the Captain here, well, he's outlived his usefulness."

"Outlived?!" Trip shouted, the breath again knocked from his lungs when he was pressed harder into the metal wall.

Struggling against the man pinning him to the wall, Trip fought with all he had.

They were going to kill Archer. He knew it, Archer knew it, and there wasn't a single thing he could do about it.

"Stop, please, I'll do anything, just let him live! We're more valuable to you alive!" Trip shouted, trying to free his arms, to do something to prevent the death of his closest friend, a man he considered more than a friend, a man he considered his brother.

With an evil glint in his eyes, the figure raised a weapon of some kind and pointed it at Archer's head.

Archer slowly raised his eyes to Trip's. He tried to smile and convey to Trip that it was okay, that it wasn't Trip's fault.

Trip just stared at Archer. He saw the resignation, the hopelessness. Terrified, he called out, "NO!"

But a single shot rang out and Archer's eyes lost all expression, emptiness replacing the once warm, passionate, and determined emotion buried in their depths.

Time seemed to stand still as the breath of Trip's best friend left his body in one swift whoosh.

As Archer's body went limp on the hard floor, Trip felt his world crash into a million different pieces.

A deafening silence reverberated throughout the room, his mind trying desperately to piece together what had just happened.

Vaguely he was aware of shouting and tears running down his face, but a numbness had taken hold of his mind. It was as if he were a spectator watching these events from outside of his body.

He saw himself slammed into the wall, the figure pinning him stumbling against his blind anger and anguish. He saw the other figure grin like it was Christmas before leaving the room.

He saw himself thrown to the floor before leaping up and going after the figure that had held him helpless as his best friend died a pointless death.

The figure brought a blow harshly down on his head, but he kept fighting. His anger fueling his actions.

The figure finally managed to wrestle him to the ground and suddenly Trip could feel the tightness on his throat through the numbness of his mind.

Gradually, he was aware of an urgent need for air, but his mind didn't fully comprehend why. Then he was violently thrust back into his body, his lungs fighting as the lack of oxygen burned unmercifully.

As his mind began to shut down, he horribly realized that he was staring right into Archer's lifeless eyes.

His last conscious thought was that he had failed his Captain…his friend… and his brother.