Ulysses AU

3

(Alex Kapranos, 3:20 AM): I was worried about Nick. Like, really worried. His hands felt cold, and he looked extremely pale and out of it. If I weren't holding his hand, he probably would have fallen to the ground by now. He's already stumbled into me a few times.

"Nick, are you okay?" I asked, looking into Nick's still unfocused eyes.

"I....I don't know.... Alex...."

"Okay. Can you keep walking, or do you want to take a break?"

"I-I want to g-go home." Nick sighed, pressing his face into my shoulder.

"I know, Nicky, I do too... But we can't right now. Can you keep walking?"

Nick nodded, although I knew he was exhausted. I didn't want to discourage him, though, so I made sure to pretend that I accepted his answer. We continued walking, Nick occasionally slamming into me. I kept asking, over and over, if he was okay, or if he needed to take a break, or if he needed anything at all, but he kept saying he was fine. I knew he wasn't.

When Nick says he's fine, he's just trying to cover up his weakness. He would keep going until he passed out, or until he got better. It was always hard to tell.

"Nick, you should probably take a break!" Nutmeg called from the ground, where she was rolling around like a happy cat bean.

"I-I'm fine, Nutmeg. Really."

Nutmeg rolled her eyes and didn't move. She was sitting, waiting for Nick to sit with her. Eventually, after a few seconds, he did. He fell asleep with his head on my shoulder, but for only a few minutes, before he was woken up abruptly by something I couldn't comprehend.

"You okay?" I asked, as I felt Nick's entire body start shaking.

Nick nodded quickly. He looked even paler now.

"You're not okay."

"Y-You're right."

"I would let you rest... But..."

There's no time. We could be attacked any second, even with Nutmeg around. I want to keep you safe. Something really bad could happen to both of us if we show weakness. You should keep walking... Hmm, I don't know. Nothing sounds good enough.

"... Bob and Paul are waiting for us somewhere!" I decided on my cover story and motivation.

"Okay!"

I helped Nick up and continued walking to where I hoped Bob and Paul would be. Really, I just hoped that they were safe, but I had to make up locations that I thought they would be, so Nick didn't get scared. I was basically just spewing numbers and unfamiliar street names. Nutmeg nodded and said, "yeah, they've gotta be there," but I knew she was faking too.

After around ten minutes, I saw glowing yellow eyes in the distance.

"Nutmeg... Who is that?"

"CYPHER!" Nutmeg took off running towards the mysterious eyes, but I had to stay with Nick, so I didn't. He tried to walk faster, though, which was good.

Once we caught up with Nutmeg, she started explaining who Cypher was.

"So... He knows Paul?" I asked excitedly.

"Yeah!" Nutmeg responded, her tail flicking.

I can explain for myself, you know.