Journey

Tarot - The Tower

Crumbling

It takes John several moments to react, staring at the piles of paper on the table, the lists stuck to the walls. Then slowly it sinks in - Daniel has left. Daniel has... walked out on him. Walked out on the argument. And he'd just... sat there and let him leave. He stands, hurrying out of the office, hammering on the button for the aggravatingly slow elevator for several infuriating minutes before tuning the door open in frustration, dropping efficiently down the shaft to the ground floor. When he reaches the street, Daniel is already almost a block ahead of him, moving purposefully in the dim twilight despite his uneven gait.

John starts after him, then stops, a sudden wiff of the reek of decay, of rot, reaching his nose, and something dark and ragged and not-quite-human in leather rags staggers out from between two buildings, between him and Daniel. That horrid clicking noise in the air. His mind rejects the unfamiliar for a moment, and then he realizes what it is. "Hey - !"

It stiffens at his call, and Daniel turns toward him, spotting it. Then there is a flash of steel in the thing's hand, and a Daniel staggers and falls, a red stain slowly seeping through his shirt....

He is running without hesitation, and part of his concentration reaches for the decaying Stranger, ripping off the back of its skull with his mind, tearing apart the thing inside. Had it followed him up from underneath the city, from his visit earlier? The details don't matter. It screams, dying, and people across the street are screaming, but all he can hear are Daniel's helpless, painful gasps, the stranger's signature blade neatly embedded up to the hilt in the center of his sternum. "Oh god, Daniel - !"

"John..." the doctor gasps his name as John drops to his knees beside him, his face dangerously pale, and then his eyes roll back on his head.

John gathers him up in his arms, his insides sick and quivering with shock and fear, his mind not wanting to process the possibility of anything happening to Daniel, not wanting to process the sudden shocked realization that he can't do without him, that he needs him. That his heart is breaking at the thought of loosing him.

He fights to regain his concentration, to do everything that he needs to take care of now. Part of his mind is focused on stopping the blood, so much blood gone already, so much blood spilt on the pavement, soaked into his shirt. Part of his mind is forcing oxygen into those damaged lungs. Part of his mind is holding Daniel's heart, ever so gently coaxing the organ to beat, to keep pumping the life blood through his veins. He is aware of someone running to him, shaking him, talking to him about - an ambulance? An ambulance can't help, not this time. Part of him shoves the person away, a strong gust of energy, keeping back those who would distract him.

And then he takes the last part if his concentration and starts to heal Daniel. Slowly, ever so slowly, he starts to work the knife from his chest, mending tissue, repairing veins and arteries, repairing the long-damaged tissue in his lungs to let his body absorb the badly needed oxygen. He can hear the whine of the machines under the city as he pushes them faster, harder than they are intended to work, and a red hot knot of pain forms behind his eyes, but he fights through it, Tuning so very carefully. Nothing exists around him but the task he is undertaking, Daniel's body in his arms, and the pain behind his eyes, raw and harsh and red. But he can't stop, he can't let Daniel die.

Finally there is a clatter as the knife falls to the sidewalk, and when he lets go, Daniel's heart continues to beat on its own. He tries to close up the remaining shallow wound, but the world around him goes black, and he collapses over top of the doctor, on the cold pavement.