Author's Note: And that's that! All six chapters posted. Hopefully y'all enjoyed them. I plan on putting up a couple more Koy stories in the near future, so keep an eye out!

Reviews and constructive feedback welcome.

Six: Kaldur'ahm

Lightning coursing through his veins. Body aching. Lungs screaming. Gills fluttering. Kaldur thrashed against the floor of the Bioship, clawing at his gills. They refused to work. Why wouldn't they work? Blood. He tasted blood. No, no, no. He would not die. Why has he dying?

He opened his mouth and coughed up blood, but still the air would not come. He spat again and again. Struggled to breathe. His gills clawed fruitlessly at the air around him. No.

"Kaldur." The voice was faraway. Beyond the hollow echoes of his own mind. Beyond the struggling gasps of his gills. Beyond the taste of blood in his mouth.

"Kaldur!" More insistent. Kaldur tried to clear his vision. Found it grew even cloudier. He couldn't see anything but spots of red and orange. He was dying. He knew he was dying.

Then, warmth against his lips. Lungs expanding. Air. He let it pass through him. Vision temporarily clearer only to cloud again. Blue amidst the red and orange. Pale surrounding it.

The warmth vanished. Kaldur's lungs expanded of their own accord. He gasped, gulping down air like he'd never tasted it before. His gills closed. His lungs expanded once more. Back to breathing on the surface, instead of searching for water that wasn't there.

"Kaldur?" Hesitant this time and worried besides. Kaldur blinked hard. Found himself on his back. The Bioship was warm. It threatened to cradle him off into sleep.

He blinked again. Red and orange and pale solidified into Roy. His mask was off. His blue eyes stared down at Kaldur with such intensity that Kaldur forgot to do anything but stare at them.

His lungs started to ache.

"Breathe, Kaldur," said Roy, his voice still faraway. "You have to breathe." Kaldur opened his mouth, took a deep breath. He copied Roy as Roy kept breathing. Had to remind himself over and over that he was on the surface, not underwater. His gills wouldn't work. They kept wanting to.

Poison, he remembered now. He'd been poisoned. He and M'gann had been looking for Speedy. Red Arrow hadn't been there. How had he gotten here?

"You all right?" asked Roy. Kaldur struggled to sit up. Roy slipped an arm around his back and helped him.

"What…" Kaldur coughed hard as he tried to speak. His lungs ached from the shaking effort. A water bottle was pressed to his lips. Kaldur drank deeply.

"What happened?" asked Kaldur. His voice was still hoarse, but now it at least worked.

"You were poisoned," said Roy. His voice was closer now. Kaldur rested against Roy's chest. He was warm. He was damp but he was warm. And tense. That was odd.

"The, uh, poison made you think you were underwater when you weren't. Kept fucking up your lungs," said Roy. Kaldur nodded, staring at Roy's hands.

"I couldn't breathe," said Kaldur, softly.

"M'gann had you hooked up to water bottles, but she needed to fly the ship, so she called me. I came down and helped her out. But we didn't have enough water left and we're kind of landlocked," said Roy. "So I had to try and kick start your lungs."

"Mouth-to-mouth," said Kaldur, remembering the warmth on his lips.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that," said Roy. Kaldur could hear the grimace in his voice.

"It is no trouble," said Kaldur. He blinked a few times, sluggish and exhausted. Pulled back to look Roy in the eye. "Thank you."

Roy nodded. "You're welcome. Can't believe these guys tried to kill you."

"It's the Light, Roy, of course they would," said Kaldur.

Roy's arms around Kaldur tightened. "Well. Still," he said.

Kaldur tried not to chuckle at the words. Failed. He had to lean his head against Roy's shoulder so his laughter didn't make him fall over.

"Good to see you smiling," Roy mumbled into Kaldur's scalp.

The two men pulled back to stare at each other. And Kaldur smiled at Roy, soft and patient. Roy returned the smile with one of his own. In that moment, they both knew what came next.

"You sure you want to do this?" asked Roy. "I'm not…"

"You're real to me," said Kaldur. "And to everyone else." Kaldur thumbed Roy's cheek. "Soon we will convince you of the same."

Roy rested their foreheads together. "You really believe in me?" he asked, softly. Kaldur could feel Roy's breath ghosting over his lips. He closed the distance in a soft, hesitant kiss. Pulled back to see Roy smiling softly at him. Kaldur returned the gesture.

"For as long as I breathe," said Kaldur. The two rode back to the Cave in silence, silent but for the sound of their breathing.