And Gone
A/N: Gen gapfiller. Based at the end of the season finale, so spoiler!alert for that. This is me trying to convey how mind-meltingly awful I thought the ending was. If you are a sibling of someone, you will understand. It's very short, and doesn't say much aside from that... heh, please R&R :)
Wind rushes by his ears, a deafening whistle, and he can feel his body pulse with the inevitable explosion. He's never been on a plane in his life, but there's nothing that'll convince him to remove his chin from his brother's shoulder to look down.
He chokes at the lack of oxygen as they ascend, and squeezes Nathan tighter. People thought he was the soft one, the sweet one, the noble one, while Nathan was the bitter, jaded realist. He'd always been bigger and more important than Peter, smarter and a little meaner, but Nathan had never lost his hope. Not like Mom had, not like people thought he had.
Nathan was always full of life, he thought suddenly, teeth clenched against a wave of power that ricocheted inside him. People had began to remark on a coldness they saw in Nathan's eyes, but as they began to slow, and Peter was able to lift his head to look into them, all he was them shining; luminescent with humanity.
He feels a tug in his sternum when he feels his time coming and thusly, his brother's too. He chokes again, but this time it's on the grief that won't stop swelling inside him, and his arms convulse around Nathan's ribs.
"Easy, easy now," Nathan soothes, patting his hair slightly, then carding his fingers right through it.
He sighs out a sob, and imagines he's eight and has just climbed into his big brother's bed after a nightmare, because nowhere in the world felt safer than anywhere with Nathan.
"Love you," he says as loud as he can. There's barely any oxygen up where they are, and Nathan's lips are blue, but they're stretched in the biggest smile he'd ever seen, and he wonders how anyone can think this man is anything less than human.
"Love you more," Nathan shoots back, in his way. His smile never wavers, even as Peter erupts.
END.