Take Me Home

Kryptonite

Brian lay in the dark in the infirmary for the longest time with his eyes closed, his chest rising and falling slowly. He could feel his chest being tight and the sweat on his face. He was in a lot of pain and just wanted it to stop. This was the first time in a long time that he felt sick on his own without Nick being there.

Nick…  

He thought that maybe if he tried hard enough, Nick would be able to hear him.

“Brian?”

Kevin's voice sounded almost strange to him because it had been so long since they'd seen each other. It had been a while, since Brian had taken Nick and fled. Since they'd lived together happily on the island in peace. Opening his eyes slowly, he groaned and looked up at his cousin. Kevin almost crumpled when he woke, falling to his knees at his side. He buried his head in Brian's chest, sobbing.

“I'm so sorry…I-I'm sorry…”

“I'm sorry too.”

Kevin looked up, smiling though the tears running down his face. They sat in silence for a long time.

“I shouldn't have left when you told me not to…I was selfish and stupid-”

“Brian, I don't blame you for leaving. You had every right to go when you wanted- but me, now me…well, I really have a right to be sorry for what I've done. This is all my fault..”

“Where is Nick? What have you done?”

Kevin buried his head in his hands and sighed, his throat shaking.

“Kevin…”

“He's gone, Brian. Sienna wants him and I let him go…he hit me and he ran. She's got everyone looking for him and she threatened to kill us all if she doesn't find him.”

Nick, please….

Brian kept trying to reach him, but the connection was gone. He worried that it was too late to try anymore. He felt so weak that he couldn't even get his own powers to work let alone communicate with Nick. He wished he'd just told him the truth. He closed his eyes, trying to steady his own breathing but his body hurt too much.

“What did the nurses say when you were brought down here?” Kevin asked, taking his hand in his own.

“That they'd never seen anything like this before and had to find out what was wrong with me in order to cure me. What is happening to me, Kevin? I haven't been sick like this before. I feel so weak…”

“Brian, I should have told you but you have been sick like this before. Right before we found Nick. You were sick all the time and we didn't know about your powers then. We couldn't find anything to cure you. You spent a lot of time in the infirmary. My dad and I were living on the base and we were attacked. He told me to take you. As we were fleeing, I found a little boy.”

Brian looked at him in surprise. He'd never heard the story about how Nick came to stay with their family, but he'd had his suspicions.

“You…found him?”

“I was holding you, you kept crying and when we found him, you stopped. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. You just stopped crying like nothing happened and looked at him. He looked at you. I took him and ran. My dad said to keep both of you safe and I did. He didn't make it.”

Brian nodded, allowing him to keep telling his story. Kevin's voice shook again.

“Then something weird happened. You stopped being sick.”