Chapter Text
White hot burning flame flickered around the hardly recognizable remains of the wooden structure. The heat melted the snow, creating rivulets of water to trickle over the edge of the massive cliff. It collected into hundreds of small waterfalls that splashed into the frigid surging river below. The noise was even worse, like a hurricane ripping through a forest. The noise was increasing as more old wood caught alight.
Around it all, soft white snow floated down from the pitch-black sky. Like a barrier, the snow melted before it even hit the ground.
Standing atop the precipice it looked like the end of the world. Miles' jaw clenched and locked as his steely gaze narrowed to cut through the steady rise of smoke to see the other side. He couldn't, but it was futile anyway as the bridge was the only way across.
Wright had long fallen silent beside him. He quickly glanced to the left to ensure he was still there and saw his adversary’s trembling form before his eyes trailed to his pale face awash with light.
Miles felt his gaze subconsciously soften when he caught the pained expression on his face. His cobalt blue eyes, glazed and half lidded, reflected the wild dance of the fire. His weird eyebrows drew together, and lips parted slightly when a large chunk of flaming wood made a loud tearing sound and broke away from the bridge.
“There’s no one,” Phoenix whispered, his jaw clenching briefly and tongue coming out to flit across his lips.
Miles made a small sound in the back of his throat as a coax for the lawyer to elaborate but thought it must have been drowned out from the crackle of the fire because Phoenix remained silent after his quiet reveal. Until,
“No one else can save her.” Phoenix’s eyes hardened and his brows drew down as he took a tentative step forward.
Miles sighed and shifted his weight slightly. “Wright…” he started uncomfortably. A knot forming in his stomach when he saw the change in his friend’s demeanor.
“She’ll die,” he stated eerily void of emotion.
Miles softly bit his lip to prevent the lie, of her safety and strength, from escaping. Instead he looked away, lowered his lashes and followed the flow of melting snow by his feet.
And that was all it took; a brief moment of personal insecurity of raising false hope, to the rash decision he should have predicted from his friend’s first step.
Phoenix broke off into a sprint, and before Miles was given any time to react, he was nearing the bridge at a speed where catching him would be impossible. Miles felt a sharp wrenching pain in his heart and the knot in this stomach become a vise-grip. His breathing froze and a hand he didn’t remember reaching out was ready to grasp nothing but air. He closed his hand into a fist as his best friend disappeared into the haze and flame of the bridge. His feet moved of their own accord, racing the twenty feet to the edge of the cliff where he was just in time to witness a huge crucial beam split down the center with a loud bang and slowly tumble the seventy-foot drop.
The heat this close was unbearable. Miles quickly shed his long over-coat and suit jacket, for the first time not paying attention to where they landed, as he tried to see through the rising smoke and into the flaming remains of the bridge. His heart was racing and the feeling in the back of his throat and stomach were getting worse by the second. Breathing, already difficult from the pain in his chest, got harder with the rolling waves of smoke attempting to suffocate him.
He quickly dropped to his knees to get under the majority of the smoke and immediately felt warm water soak into the fabric of his trousers. His eyes snapped shut at the deafening crack as another large piece broke off and hurtled below. Opening his eyes to squint against the bright light, they immediately focused on Phoenix’s frightened expression as his last foothold collapsed from underneath him.
Gloved fingers digging into the jagged rocks of the cliff, Miles watched in what felt like slow motion as Phoenix, hand outstretched as if toward heaven and face awash with fear, fell to the consuming waters.
Shaking, Miles tried to swallow a lump in his throat and blink past the stinging in his eyes. He turned to face the narrow path along the side of the cliff that led to the river.
His lungs fighting violently for air, Miles pulled himself up and climbed down to the narrow footing that hadn’t seemed so dangerous during the day. Moving his hand against the wall he pulled himself along at the fastest speed he could manage.
He experienced a sudden atmosphere drop when he escaped the bubble of heat the fire had created. The air turned to the icy chill it was before, and his supporting hand was suddenly sliding against ice more than rock. He was momentarily relieved he hadn’t taken his gloves off. His thin cotton shirt and vest were stiffening with the cold and his breath came out as icy fog. He tossed the idea of retrieving his coat as soon as it entered his head; there was no time.
If there ever was time. It was such a long fall. Just hitting water at that height could easily be fatal in itself. He swallowed. No. No way. This wasn’t happening.
Halfway now, but so much farther to go. He was going as fast as he could without breaking into a sprint, but the path was narrow and steep, and it was dangerous even at the speed he was going. His hand kept slipping against the ice, but fortunately the boots he chose when he came to this miserable place had good grip. The cold was eating at his skin through the thin fabric of his shirt. He was regretting not retrieving his coat; him dying of hypothermia down here wouldn't help Wright. He began regretting so much in those painful moments of descending, that he finally let his mind go numbly blank with the cold and focused on moving forward. As he neared the bottom the knot in his stomach took his breath away. How long had it taken him to get down here? He couldn't stop an image of Wright's drowning body from coming to his mind.
Stepping gingerly into the fluffy snow on the riverbank he got his first good look of the area. While it was nighttime, the soft glow from the blaze above illuminated the rushing river and made the snow sparkle. It would have been dazzlingly beautiful under different circumstances. Instead, he was painfully aware of how easy it would be for Wright to avoid falling into the water at all and instead land on the riverbank. The snow wasn't deep enough yet to absorb any of the fall. He tried to force the images of the various ways Wright could have died from his mind as he set his eyes on the dark water. The flickering flames above and the occasional streak of burning wood above him made the water dance violently. He was acutely aware of how dangerous it was to be under the bridge, but somehow didn't care.
There was nothing visibly human he could make out on the water. However, since he was almost directly under the bridge the chances of Wright having been swept farther down by the current were high. He followed the flow of the river, his grey eyes quickly examining the movement of the broken pieces of smoldering wood.
Suddenly, in the flickering light his eyes snapped to the outline of something unusual on the riverbank. With his heart in his throat he raced towards it, snow crunching under this boots and wind tearing painfully through his shirt. Phoenix came into sharp focus and Miles took in everything at once: the calm way-too-pale face, blazer torn in multiple places and opened to his white dress shirt, and water lapping at the lower half of his body still partly submerged. Mostly though, he noticed the blood. Dark liquid stained his shirt creating a shocking clash against the stark white material.
Shaking from cold and emotions he couldn't put words to, Miles knelt before the body of his childhood friend and adversary.
He didn't pause long. If he was still alive he had to act quickly. He aborted the action of pulling Phoenix out of the water, as a touch to his suit proved the fabric was already stiff and freezing. Instead he worked to remove the blue suit jacket, tearing it where he could to help removal. It would reduce the weight and resistance against the snow of the bank. Then he carefully pulled Phoenix fully out of the water and onto the bank. The movement caused the abrupt resurgence of crimson liquid to flow. It pooled and dripped from his body onto the snow-covered ground beneath him. His blood melted the snow.
Miles couldn’t tell how serious the injury was, but if blood was flowing that meant his heart was still beating... didn’t it? He wasn’t convinced, as the jacket could have been acting as an insulator; what he had already lost had to go somewhere. Removing a glove, he gently laid a hand against the other man’s cheek and trailed it to a pulse point on his neck. His breath hitched at the loud crash as more pieces of bridge fell into the water. It wasn’t safe here but oh god he wasn’t breathing was Miles’ only thought when he lowered his head to listen.
The hand that was searching for a pulse found nothing. Whether that was because there wasn’t one, he wasn’t sure. His hands were cold to the point of numb, even with gloves, and Phoenix wasn’t moving. Even though emergency training had been a rather crucial part of his career, his thoughts were moving so slowly as he stared down in shock at his friend's limp body. He felt he might as well be some common layman. He wasn’t even supposed to check for a pulse! He had six minutes from when blood flow stopped. Six minutes.
The order, it had changed from ABC. Was it BAC or CAB? No. It didn’t matter anyway as there were exceptions; respiratory arrest he was sure was one. Instead of wasting more time trying to remember he slipped his glove back on and started compressions. With one palm against the other his hands were placed over Phoenix's heart and started a steady rhythm. Shortly in he stopped and didn’t hesitate to press his lips against icy blue ones and exhale warm air into the other’s body. Phoenix’s chest jumped with the breath, but it just as quickly went out into the cold air and left him still again.
Miles swallowed and bit his lip. His heart was racing so fast he thought he might pass out, as he continued compressions on the man he couldn’t possibly bear to lose. His mind went blank as the severity of the situation started to sink in. His brows were drawn tightly together as he let another breath fill the lifeless body. Letting go of Phoenix's face again he resumed compressions.
He didn’t know how long he was at it. The only indication of time was the dying flame as the fire was gently quelled by the heavily falling snow. Miles swallowed down his panic and brought his lips to his friend’s, the feel of them so stiff and so cold. Something he felt could only be experienced in death. When would he call it? How long would he keep this up before he admitted defeat? Admitted he had failed this man.
The blinding accusations of his past were filling his mind. He destroyed everything he came in contact with, ruined countless lives, and at one time held the vague satisfaction that came from false victories. He was a present-day totalitarian. All he longed for, for so long, was the suffocating thrill of power and control. Whether that was because his defense attorney dreams had become twisted and distorted after his father’s death or if Von Karma’s abusive hand was the cause of his hatred for humanity, he didn’t know. Both probably.
But regardless of all that, this man had shown him that living didn’t have to be one long painful commitment. He taught him compassion for others; love and trust.
How couldn’t he have seen this coming? Of course the most selfless man he had ever known would risk his life and run across a burning bridge to save someone he loved. Why didn’t Miles say something when he had the chance? Watch him closer? If he had just comforted him and said the lies he knew he needed to hear, maybe… maybe he wouldn’t have acted so rash. He was right there! But he kept his permanent wall wrapped tightly around him. Phoenix wouldn’t have done that if it was someone Miles loved trapped in a temple in the middle of nowhere during a snowstorm. But that would never happen, since that would require Miles having someone he loved-
A small noise like a half gasp came from the body below him. Miles froze and felt his heart catch in this throat and cut off his breathing as Phoenix took another shaky breath. Then another.
And another.
The painful vice around his heart eased, and a relief so powerful washed through him he couldn’t stop a smile from coming to his lips. He let out his breath and pulled the shivering body of his friend, of Phoenix, against him.
“You idiot,” he murmured affectionately against his cold skin.