Five Times Darius Tanz Cried, And One Time He Didn't

Five Times He Cried, And One He Didn't

Disclaimer: I do not own Salavation, or any of it's wonderful characters.

The First Time-

The first time Darius Tanz could remember crying was his twelfth birthday. His uncle Nicholas had forgotten, then screamed at Darius when the young boy pointed it out. Darius had been called ungrateful and worthless, among other things. In the end, when he couldn't stand his uncle's rampage anymore, Darius had took off up the stairs of their mansion, hearing his uncle's insults fade into silence as he shut himself in his room. Slamming the door behind him, Darius sank to the the floor, his back against the wall, and pressed his palms to his face in an attempt to stop the tears that were threatening to fall. In the end, he gave up as a stray slipped through a gap and trailed slowly down his cheek. Darius dropped his hands and rested his head against the wall as tears streamed down his face. "Just one more month, Darius. One more month, then you'll be in America." He told himself. His uncle was carting him off to the States for his remaining four years in high school. Darius had long since decided he was going to stay there forever. He had plans to start his own business, create new technology that people these days could only dream of. Dream. Darius closed his eyes, and pictured his own dream, Tanz Industries. Then he smiled, as the tears dried on his face and the image of his future shin brighter than the sun.

The Second Time-

He'd done it. Darius was stood in front of a multi-storey building that looked like something out of an action movie, with the word TANZ written in massive letters at the top. He smiled at his work, and took a deep breath as tears filled his eyes. His dream, Tanz Industries, had finally become a reality. "It looks marvellous, doesn't it?" He said to Lazlo. His best friend, who was stood right next to him staring wistfully at the infrastructure, was going to be his Head of Security. "Yeah, it does." Lazlo replies. A tear slipped down Darius' cheek as he felt an overwhelming surge of pride and happiness. He grabbed the metal handle, and pushed open the door. He almost had to leave again. He could see up to the very top floor, and he was surrounded by tech he invented. Darius wiped his wet face as he and Lazlo walked around, taking in the wonderful sight of Tanz. Each new sight made Darius' eyes fill more until he was laughing and smiling as tears streamed down his face. Darius was overjoyed as he and Lazlo ran to the elevator and headed up to the second to last floor, where Darius' main workplace was going to be. As soon as he walked in, Darius said one word. "Tess." He waiter with baited breath for a few seconds. Then; "hello, Darius. I have recognised your voice and uploaded it to my program. Only you and whoever you register may use my program. Is there any other voice you would like me to recognise?" Darius laughed and choked as he covered his face with his hands, wiping the fresh tears off his face. "Yes. Yes, I do. Tess, this is Lazlo." He said. Tanz Industries was the best thing to ever happen to him.

The Third Time-

He was dead. Lazlo sat in the chair, head lolled to the side with a bullet hole in the side of it. Darius stared from the bullet hole, to the gun laying in a poll of blood on the floor. Lazlo's blood. Darius staggered back and almost collapsed into the floor. Grabbing onto a chair for support, he lowered himself slowly down to a sitting position on the floor. He remained there until everyone had left. The scene had been cleared, Lazlo's body had been taken away, and there was no sign of Lazlo ever killing himself. Grace, Harris and Liam had all tried to talk to him, but Darius could only hear muffled sounds over his raging thoughts. He then noticed that Liam was sat in the chair Darius had supported himself with, watching him carefully. Darius felt as though he was a maths problem that Liam was trying to solve. "I'm fine, Liam." He said, although his voice said otherwise. Liam groaned and manoeuvred off his chair to crouch in front of Darius. "No. You're not. You've been tortured, waterboarded, and lost your best friend all in the same day. If there's anything I know you're not, it's ok. And that's fine. In fact, I'm surprised you're not bawling your eyes out by now, because I would be!" Liam said, all in one breath. Damn. Darius thought. He'd almost forgotten about the water boarding, had it not been for the wheezing in his chest, he would've. "Darius, it's ok to be sad! Lazlo was you're best friend, none of us are gonna judge you for grieving!" Darius felt his eyes fill up, and willed the salty brats not to fall. He couldn't risk letting Liam see him cry. "Just go. Liam, just go, I'm fine." Liam sighed.
"Can't do that. Not until I know you really are alright." Darius sighed, not having the will to fight, despite the circumstances. "You don't have to convince me of anything, I know you're not ok and I'm prepared to help in any way I can. It's ok to not be ok, Darius!" That's when the dam broke. Darius let out a small sob and squeezed his eyes tightly shut, letting the tears fall. Next thing he knew, he felt his head being placed on someone's shoulder. He inhaled the smell of cheap deodorant, and knew it was Liam. God, that kid meant to much to him. Darius soaked through Liam's shirt, crying until there were no more tears to cry.