Forget Miguel

AN: I know, I have not updated my other fic, but I don't think I have it in me to continue it. But maybe if I got a review or two… * wink wink *.

Anyway, I was smacked in the face with this idea and I had to get it down. so without further ado…

P.S. don't forget to review… or fav… or follow! And I don't own anything, except the canon divergence.

~ 'Crastinate

"Well, maybe I don't need you anymore!"

Tulio's words hit home, like the ball through the hoop… only now, instead of working together in the wonderful wacky way they normally would, they were against each other. Sort of. But that's what they had to convince Tzekel-kan of now. But although the words and jabs were merely a distraction… Miguel couldn't help but wonder if Tulio wasn't pulling back any punches.

Now the ball is in Miguel's court. "Well, then why don't you just go back to Spain, and I'll stay here, and we'll both get what we want!" As he was nose to nose with his partner Tulio, Miguel couldn't hold back the bitterness in his voice.

The bickering pair squabbled and traded slaps, partly concentrating on each other, partly concentrating on Tzekel-kan's stupidly smug face. Miguel and Tulio unknowingly did their last simultaneous act ever.

"All right!"

The double fist to the face from what seemed like friends turned enemies was shocking for the 'speaker of the gods' and sending him flying.

"Tie him up."

Tulio, ever the logical one, grabbed the nearest vine, the blonde right behind him. As they ran to the edge of the platform, Tzekel-kan whipped to face them, claws out and eyes a sinister green, so similar yet unlike Miguel's own verdant eyes. The spaniards stopped abruptly, spinning to face the great stone jaguar behind them. The animated sculpture roared and charged.

Tulio pushed Miguel away and over the side with barely a warning: "Jump!"

Swinging on one side of the platform, Miguel could see Tulio desperately grasping onto the vine, shuddering as the stone above them crumbled and shook, and finally cracked, taking the jaguar and the priest straight into the whirlpool below.

Tzekel-kan's scream faded from earshot as Miguel let out a breath; that was too close.

Suddenly, Miguel felt something shift. Glancing up, he saw the vine rub against the ridge of the broken-off platform... and tear slightly. The soft ripping noise and the growing strain of the vine were the only indication that Miguel wasn't in a dream, or a nightmare.

"Tulio," shouted the blonde. "CLIMB!" If the vine snaps, we both die! thought Miguel desperately.

"What?" asked the taller man.

"Tulio, please! JUST CLIMB" In the end, it must have been the sheer desperation in his voice that made Tulio obey and ascend the rock to reach safety. Miguel readied himself to follow, but the creeper trembled and began to stretch.

Just as the vine stretched further than Miguel believed it could hold him, he head Chel cry "TULIO!"

She sounds so relieved for her partner, thought Miguel sadly. That's right. Tulio is her partner now. He doesn't need me any more.

The only sound that Miguel heard over the roaring of blood in his ears was the sound of the creeper, his last tether to this world, snap, the sound oddly final. Time seemed to slow, until every millisecond felt like an hour. As gravity took hold of him, Miguel felt the breath rush from his lungs and the tears he held in his eyes finally fall.

Take care of my Tulio, Chel.

Keep him safe.

He doesn't need me any more anyway.

He can finally forget Miguel.

Miguel was suddenly attacked by a brief image of Tulio, Altivo and himself in that cursed longboat, hungry and thirsty, sobbing and confessing their regrets.

"Well, if it any consolation, Miguel, you made my life an adventure,"

"And if it's any consolation, Tulio, you made my life rich."

As Miguel was swallowed by the entrance to the spirit world, he heard Tulio scream his name.

Tulio may be Chel's now...

But I will always be the first to make his life an adventure.

As his emerald green eyes slipped closed, Miguel's trademark grin found its way onto his face once more.

AN: Review please! (If you do, I might make another chapter from Tulio's POV)