[Amnesty Day] [Yu-Gi-Oh!] You Can't Leave Me
Title: You Can't Leave Me
Day/Prompt: July 4th - Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Character/Pairing: The Big Five, focusing on Nesbitt and Lector. Also, Lector's OC family.
Rating/Warning(s): Hurt/comfort
By Lucky_Ladybug
Nesbitt sank down on the edge of Evangeline's fountain in the darkened backyard. Behind him, the carved girl continued pouring water as she had for decades past and would for decades into the future.
Good for her, Nesbitt thought with bitterness. She knew how to endure. If only humans could figure out how to do that. Oh, he and the others had mastered the art as well as they could, but they all knew it wouldn't last forever. Lector had been teetering on the brink between life and death due to their latest disaster, and although they had all desperately hoped he would pull through as he had before, this time it looked like it was not to be.
Nesbitt had sat faithfully by his cherished friend's side for hours, clutching his hand and talking to him and praying for just one more miracle. The only thing that had routed him away was hearing Lector's family arguing downstairs. He had tried to ignore it as long as he could, but when Phillipe had demanded that Evangeline turn the family businesses over to him as soon as Lector was dead and was no longer around to back her up, Nesbitt had snapped. He had flown out of that room and down the stairs, not stopping until he had punched Phillipe square in the face and then had also punched Michel when he had tried to interfere.
"Don't either of you have any honor or decency at all?!" he had raged. "Do you really hate your brother that much?! Even your rotten father felt so bad that now he's sick in the prison ward of the hospital! But you, you're standing here talking about ownership of the company while Lector's dying upstairs?!"
Neither Phillipe nor Michel had had any answers for him-nor had Marie, who had just stood by and watched everything without saying a word. Nesbitt had slapped her.
Nesbitt had felt too wound-up to immediately go back upstairs and see Lector lying so still, so instead he had ran outside to the backyard, where he was still forlornly sitting and listening to the sound of the fountain behind him. Every now and then some water splashed on his clothed back, but he barely noticed or cared.
The siren was somewhere beyond the fountain, supposedly, still in her pool and waiting for her next victim. She could probably ensnare Nesbitt in his state of mind, so he refused to so much as look that way.
He ran a hand over his face. Who was he to beg for another miracle after they had already received so many? Just one more would never be enough, not unless there were never any more devastating problems like this one. If there were, he would always be begging for another. He knew Gansley, Crump, and Johnson had also been desperately praying. God must be tired of all of them and their troubles by now. Or did He even orchestrate them? Maybe it was all part of their punishment for their past. Maybe they were still paying for the sins they had committed against Seto Kaiba and the other kids. Still, if so, why would Lector be paying so much of the price? He had been better than the rest of them! Was he blamed more because he had been better than the others but had let them drag him down with them?
Should Nesbitt offer himself as the price to get Lector back? That wasn't really a solution, though. Then he would just be putting Lector in the same situation he was in now. He couldn't set Lector up for a lifetime of grieving and suffering without him.
Earlier that evening, before he had run outside, he had heard the other three quietly talking. Their words still chilled him.
"What if one of us has to give himself up for Lector to live?" Johnson worried. "Maybe I should . . ."
"No!" Gansley cut in harshly. But then he heaved a long, sad sigh. "If anyone does that, it should be me."
"You guys are both crazy!" Crump exclaimed. "That can't be the way to get him back! We're supposed to all be together! It's not like any of us are more or less important than the others!"
Nesbitt would have run out and said something similar if Crump hadn't. The last thing he wanted was a situation like that. And none of the others would want him to be the one either.
There really wasn't any solution, was there?
Nesbitt gave a helpless snarl. "It's not right," he muttered. "It's not right! . . ."
He wanted to punch the edge of the fountain, but punching granite sounded like a very bad idea even in his reckless frame of mind. So he clasped his hands in front of him and wrung them repeatedly instead. He wasn't sure what he was going to do next. He felt completely spent.
The others were worrying about him. Of course they would be. They didn't want to lose two instead of one. But they also knew it was impossible to avoid it. Lector and Nesbitt had bonded too closely. To lose one absolutely meant that both were gone.
Another sob completely broke free and now Nesbitt was weeping uncontrollably. He sank from the edge of the fountain to his knees in the cool grass.
"Lector, I don't know what to do," he burst out. "I'm trying so hard, but I'm dying inside! If you go, I don't want to leave the others . . . or die . . . but . . . I'll want to be with you so badly! I don't know how much longer I can keep trying. I don't. . . ." He dug his fingers into the grass. "You once thought you might die of a broken heart without me. I feel like that will happen to me if you don't pull through this!"
He wasn't really expecting anything to happen. He was just talking out loud, expressing his grief and anguish and despair. The last thing he imagined was that he would suddenly feel hands of warm energy on his shoulders and then gentle arms wrapping around them. When he turned to look, he went stiff. It was Lector-a translucent Lector, otherwise looking just as Nesbitt remembered him, embracing him with love.
"Lec- . . ." Nesbitt's voice caught in his throat. "No. . . . You're dead. . . . You're dead or you wouldn't be like this!"
"I don't think I am," Lector told him softly. "I think I just heard you in distress and came to you any way I could. I'm still fighting to live."
Nesbitt sobbed and reached up. He couldn't really rest his hands on Lector's arms, but he could feel the gentle energy emanating from them. It felt comforting and good.
"Everyone is worried about you," he finally said. His unspoken question hung in the cool night air. Why come to me alone?
"I know," Lector said. "And I'm worried about all of them. But I don't think any of the others are worried in the way you are. Oh Nesbitt . . . if you completely lose heart . . ." He trailed off. He most certainly understood what his best friend was feeling, and why.
"Don't die," Nesbitt pleaded helplessly. "Don't die and I'll be fine."
Lector had no immediate answer for that. They both knew he would never give up fighting to live. But . . . would that be good enough? If it wasn't, saying something like "Even if I do die, I'll always be with you" would sound so hollow and empty to Nesbitt. It wouldn't be the same, for either of them. Lector didn't want that outcome either, watching over Nesbitt and the others yet usually unable to communicate with them. It sounded like a nightmare.
Finally he just kissed the side of Nesbitt's head. It felt like a gentle tickle of energy and Nesbitt leaned into it, closing his eyes. Lector was much more openly affectionate than Nesbitt usually was and he saw nothing strange or out of the way about such a gesture-or about other potentially awkward things such as friends sharing a bed. Perhaps it was because he had grown up in a large family and his siblings were once more affectionate than most of them were now. They had likely shared innocent kisses and beds on many occasions.
That broke Nesbitt's heart anew. "Lector . . . your family," he choked out. "The way Phillipe was acting . . . and Michel and Marie . . ."
"I know," Lector said sadly. "Phillipe doesn't care about me. I don't know about the other two."
"I just snapped," Nesbitt said. "I hit all of them, and I'm not sorry."
"I don't blame you," Lector said. "You're my real family. You and Crump and Gansley and Johnson. . . . All of you are my brothers. Phillipe and Michel don't want to be any more, so they don't have to be."
"At least Evangeline and Adele and your mother are upset," Nesbitt said. "And Gabriel, of course. And your father, of all people, is actually sick in the hospital because he's so worried about you. . . ."
Lector's eyes flickered. This was something he hadn't known. "Father," he whispered.
"I never would have believed he could have that much of a heart," Nesbitt said.
"It's hard to believe," Lector quietly agreed.
They knelt for a moment in silence. In one way, Nesbitt didn't want this to end. Once Lector left, what then? Would he go back to his body and wake up? Or would this be the end and someone would come out and tell Nesbitt that Lector was gone?
"Don't leave me," he whispered at last.
"I won't," Lector promised.
"You have to be alright," Nesbitt insisted. "But . . ." He stared out across the darkened backyard to the lighted patio and the doors he had flown from. When he spoke again, his voice was very small. "How many miracles can the same people really have?"
"I don't know," Lector quietly admitted.
Lector didn't want to leave, but Nesbitt felt him leaving all at once. He whirled the instant the loving energy vanished. "No!" he rasped. The grass waved in the breeze, but there was no trace of Lector.
Nesbitt stumbled to his feet, his heart pounding. Then he was running, back to the patio, through the doors, out the room and up the stairs.
Johnson met him at the doorway to Lector's room. "Nesbitt . . . !" His eyes were wide and he jumped when Nesbitt suddenly appeared.
"Are you okay?!" Crump exclaimed. "We were gonna run after you, but then we saw . . ." He swallowed hard. "Lector was out there with you. . . ."
Johnson nodded. "We wanted to go out, but Gansley thought it was probably a private moment for the two of you." His voice cracked. "And he thought we needed to make sure Lector wasn't gone. . . ."
"Well?!" Nesbitt looked past them into the room.
Gansley looked up from where he was holding Lector's limp hand in his. He smiled. "He's still alive."
Evangeline was holding Lector's other hand, but she smiled and stepped aside to let Nesbitt take her place now. "He loves all of you so much," she said softly. "He'll always fight to stay with you."
"He loves you as well," Gansley told her.
"He loves all the family," Evangeline said. "Even the traitors who don't love him any more. . . ."
Nesbitt stumbled over. His heart was starting to slow in its pace now, and he collapsed in a chair on the other side of the bed. "Lector. . . ." He reached for his friend's other hand. "You reached out to me somehow. . . . I wish I could reach you. You're going to pull through, aren't you?"
Crump came and laid his hands on Nesbitt's shoulders. "Sure he is," he soothed. "After what he just managed to do for you, Buddy, that should show that he'll do anything to be here when we need him!"
"I want to believe that," Nesbitt said, his voice cracking. "I'm just afraid of getting my hopes up when I shouldn't."
Crump hugged him close. "I know. . . ."
"We've been helped so many times," Nesbitt said, giving voice to the same question he had asked of Lector. "How many more times will it continue?"
"I don't know, but I would hope there isn't a credit limit for Divine help," Gansley said.
"Especially when so much of the time, we're hurt because we're trying to protect the world," Johnson said.
Nesbitt sighed. Their words made sense, but was it just because he wanted them to make sense?
"I believe Démas will pull through," Evangeline told him. "It would just be too cruel otherwise. . . ." Her voice caught in her throat.
"Yeah, but life is cruel," Nesbitt said. "We can't always catch a break. . . ."
"Maybe not, but I'm going to keep believing," Evangeline insisted.
"Me too!" Crump said. "I know Lector's still fighting!"
It took another agonizing period of waiting and watching, but at last towards morning came the miracle they had all prayed for. Lector stirred and slowly opened his eyes. "Nesbitt . . . everyone . . . ?"
Evangeline beamed. "Oh Démas!"
Gansley smiled. "I knew you would come back to us, Lector."
Nesbitt charged in, pulling Lector into a firm hug. He couldn't find the words he wanted to say, but the hug was good enough. "You came back," he whispered in awe. "You came back to us . . . to me. . . ."
Lector smiled, holding him close. "Always, my dear, dear friend."
After a moment the others also began to join the hug. Lector was alive and safe and back with them! That was more than enough reason to celebrate.
Day/Prompt: July 4th - Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Character/Pairing: The Big Five, focusing on Nesbitt and Lector. Also, Lector's OC family.
Rating/Warning(s): Hurt/comfort
By Lucky_Ladybug
Nesbitt sank down on the edge of Evangeline's fountain in the darkened backyard. Behind him, the carved girl continued pouring water as she had for decades past and would for decades into the future.
Good for her, Nesbitt thought with bitterness. She knew how to endure. If only humans could figure out how to do that. Oh, he and the others had mastered the art as well as they could, but they all knew it wouldn't last forever. Lector had been teetering on the brink between life and death due to their latest disaster, and although they had all desperately hoped he would pull through as he had before, this time it looked like it was not to be.
Nesbitt had sat faithfully by his cherished friend's side for hours, clutching his hand and talking to him and praying for just one more miracle. The only thing that had routed him away was hearing Lector's family arguing downstairs. He had tried to ignore it as long as he could, but when Phillipe had demanded that Evangeline turn the family businesses over to him as soon as Lector was dead and was no longer around to back her up, Nesbitt had snapped. He had flown out of that room and down the stairs, not stopping until he had punched Phillipe square in the face and then had also punched Michel when he had tried to interfere.
"Don't either of you have any honor or decency at all?!" he had raged. "Do you really hate your brother that much?! Even your rotten father felt so bad that now he's sick in the prison ward of the hospital! But you, you're standing here talking about ownership of the company while Lector's dying upstairs?!"
Neither Phillipe nor Michel had had any answers for him-nor had Marie, who had just stood by and watched everything without saying a word. Nesbitt had slapped her.
Nesbitt had felt too wound-up to immediately go back upstairs and see Lector lying so still, so instead he had ran outside to the backyard, where he was still forlornly sitting and listening to the sound of the fountain behind him. Every now and then some water splashed on his clothed back, but he barely noticed or cared.
The siren was somewhere beyond the fountain, supposedly, still in her pool and waiting for her next victim. She could probably ensnare Nesbitt in his state of mind, so he refused to so much as look that way.
He ran a hand over his face. Who was he to beg for another miracle after they had already received so many? Just one more would never be enough, not unless there were never any more devastating problems like this one. If there were, he would always be begging for another. He knew Gansley, Crump, and Johnson had also been desperately praying. God must be tired of all of them and their troubles by now. Or did He even orchestrate them? Maybe it was all part of their punishment for their past. Maybe they were still paying for the sins they had committed against Seto Kaiba and the other kids. Still, if so, why would Lector be paying so much of the price? He had been better than the rest of them! Was he blamed more because he had been better than the others but had let them drag him down with them?
Should Nesbitt offer himself as the price to get Lector back? That wasn't really a solution, though. Then he would just be putting Lector in the same situation he was in now. He couldn't set Lector up for a lifetime of grieving and suffering without him.
Earlier that evening, before he had run outside, he had heard the other three quietly talking. Their words still chilled him.
"What if one of us has to give himself up for Lector to live?" Johnson worried. "Maybe I should . . ."
"No!" Gansley cut in harshly. But then he heaved a long, sad sigh. "If anyone does that, it should be me."
"You guys are both crazy!" Crump exclaimed. "That can't be the way to get him back! We're supposed to all be together! It's not like any of us are more or less important than the others!"
Nesbitt would have run out and said something similar if Crump hadn't. The last thing he wanted was a situation like that. And none of the others would want him to be the one either.
There really wasn't any solution, was there?
Nesbitt gave a helpless snarl. "It's not right," he muttered. "It's not right! . . ."
He wanted to punch the edge of the fountain, but punching granite sounded like a very bad idea even in his reckless frame of mind. So he clasped his hands in front of him and wrung them repeatedly instead. He wasn't sure what he was going to do next. He felt completely spent.
The others were worrying about him. Of course they would be. They didn't want to lose two instead of one. But they also knew it was impossible to avoid it. Lector and Nesbitt had bonded too closely. To lose one absolutely meant that both were gone.
Another sob completely broke free and now Nesbitt was weeping uncontrollably. He sank from the edge of the fountain to his knees in the cool grass.
"Lector, I don't know what to do," he burst out. "I'm trying so hard, but I'm dying inside! If you go, I don't want to leave the others . . . or die . . . but . . . I'll want to be with you so badly! I don't know how much longer I can keep trying. I don't. . . ." He dug his fingers into the grass. "You once thought you might die of a broken heart without me. I feel like that will happen to me if you don't pull through this!"
He wasn't really expecting anything to happen. He was just talking out loud, expressing his grief and anguish and despair. The last thing he imagined was that he would suddenly feel hands of warm energy on his shoulders and then gentle arms wrapping around them. When he turned to look, he went stiff. It was Lector-a translucent Lector, otherwise looking just as Nesbitt remembered him, embracing him with love.
"Lec- . . ." Nesbitt's voice caught in his throat. "No. . . . You're dead. . . . You're dead or you wouldn't be like this!"
"I don't think I am," Lector told him softly. "I think I just heard you in distress and came to you any way I could. I'm still fighting to live."
Nesbitt sobbed and reached up. He couldn't really rest his hands on Lector's arms, but he could feel the gentle energy emanating from them. It felt comforting and good.
"Everyone is worried about you," he finally said. His unspoken question hung in the cool night air. Why come to me alone?
"I know," Lector said. "And I'm worried about all of them. But I don't think any of the others are worried in the way you are. Oh Nesbitt . . . if you completely lose heart . . ." He trailed off. He most certainly understood what his best friend was feeling, and why.
"Don't die," Nesbitt pleaded helplessly. "Don't die and I'll be fine."
Lector had no immediate answer for that. They both knew he would never give up fighting to live. But . . . would that be good enough? If it wasn't, saying something like "Even if I do die, I'll always be with you" would sound so hollow and empty to Nesbitt. It wouldn't be the same, for either of them. Lector didn't want that outcome either, watching over Nesbitt and the others yet usually unable to communicate with them. It sounded like a nightmare.
Finally he just kissed the side of Nesbitt's head. It felt like a gentle tickle of energy and Nesbitt leaned into it, closing his eyes. Lector was much more openly affectionate than Nesbitt usually was and he saw nothing strange or out of the way about such a gesture-or about other potentially awkward things such as friends sharing a bed. Perhaps it was because he had grown up in a large family and his siblings were once more affectionate than most of them were now. They had likely shared innocent kisses and beds on many occasions.
That broke Nesbitt's heart anew. "Lector . . . your family," he choked out. "The way Phillipe was acting . . . and Michel and Marie . . ."
"I know," Lector said sadly. "Phillipe doesn't care about me. I don't know about the other two."
"I just snapped," Nesbitt said. "I hit all of them, and I'm not sorry."
"I don't blame you," Lector said. "You're my real family. You and Crump and Gansley and Johnson. . . . All of you are my brothers. Phillipe and Michel don't want to be any more, so they don't have to be."
"At least Evangeline and Adele and your mother are upset," Nesbitt said. "And Gabriel, of course. And your father, of all people, is actually sick in the hospital because he's so worried about you. . . ."
Lector's eyes flickered. This was something he hadn't known. "Father," he whispered.
"I never would have believed he could have that much of a heart," Nesbitt said.
"It's hard to believe," Lector quietly agreed.
They knelt for a moment in silence. In one way, Nesbitt didn't want this to end. Once Lector left, what then? Would he go back to his body and wake up? Or would this be the end and someone would come out and tell Nesbitt that Lector was gone?
"Don't leave me," he whispered at last.
"I won't," Lector promised.
"You have to be alright," Nesbitt insisted. "But . . ." He stared out across the darkened backyard to the lighted patio and the doors he had flown from. When he spoke again, his voice was very small. "How many miracles can the same people really have?"
"I don't know," Lector quietly admitted.
Lector didn't want to leave, but Nesbitt felt him leaving all at once. He whirled the instant the loving energy vanished. "No!" he rasped. The grass waved in the breeze, but there was no trace of Lector.
Nesbitt stumbled to his feet, his heart pounding. Then he was running, back to the patio, through the doors, out the room and up the stairs.
Johnson met him at the doorway to Lector's room. "Nesbitt . . . !" His eyes were wide and he jumped when Nesbitt suddenly appeared.
"Are you okay?!" Crump exclaimed. "We were gonna run after you, but then we saw . . ." He swallowed hard. "Lector was out there with you. . . ."
Johnson nodded. "We wanted to go out, but Gansley thought it was probably a private moment for the two of you." His voice cracked. "And he thought we needed to make sure Lector wasn't gone. . . ."
"Well?!" Nesbitt looked past them into the room.
Gansley looked up from where he was holding Lector's limp hand in his. He smiled. "He's still alive."
Evangeline was holding Lector's other hand, but she smiled and stepped aside to let Nesbitt take her place now. "He loves all of you so much," she said softly. "He'll always fight to stay with you."
"He loves you as well," Gansley told her.
"He loves all the family," Evangeline said. "Even the traitors who don't love him any more. . . ."
Nesbitt stumbled over. His heart was starting to slow in its pace now, and he collapsed in a chair on the other side of the bed. "Lector. . . ." He reached for his friend's other hand. "You reached out to me somehow. . . . I wish I could reach you. You're going to pull through, aren't you?"
Crump came and laid his hands on Nesbitt's shoulders. "Sure he is," he soothed. "After what he just managed to do for you, Buddy, that should show that he'll do anything to be here when we need him!"
"I want to believe that," Nesbitt said, his voice cracking. "I'm just afraid of getting my hopes up when I shouldn't."
Crump hugged him close. "I know. . . ."
"We've been helped so many times," Nesbitt said, giving voice to the same question he had asked of Lector. "How many more times will it continue?"
"I don't know, but I would hope there isn't a credit limit for Divine help," Gansley said.
"Especially when so much of the time, we're hurt because we're trying to protect the world," Johnson said.
Nesbitt sighed. Their words made sense, but was it just because he wanted them to make sense?
"I believe Démas will pull through," Evangeline told him. "It would just be too cruel otherwise. . . ." Her voice caught in her throat.
"Yeah, but life is cruel," Nesbitt said. "We can't always catch a break. . . ."
"Maybe not, but I'm going to keep believing," Evangeline insisted.
"Me too!" Crump said. "I know Lector's still fighting!"
It took another agonizing period of waiting and watching, but at last towards morning came the miracle they had all prayed for. Lector stirred and slowly opened his eyes. "Nesbitt . . . everyone . . . ?"
Evangeline beamed. "Oh Démas!"
Gansley smiled. "I knew you would come back to us, Lector."
Nesbitt charged in, pulling Lector into a firm hug. He couldn't find the words he wanted to say, but the hug was good enough. "You came back," he whispered in awe. "You came back to us . . . to me. . . ."
Lector smiled, holding him close. "Always, my dear, dear friend."
After a moment the others also began to join the hug. Lector was alive and safe and back with them! That was more than enough reason to celebrate.