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Eddie ran down the street, his shoes impacting the compacted rubble as he did. It had been 10 minutes since the collapse, the building had tumbled down like it was made of nothing but paper. He wasn't even meant to be here; he was meant to be in El Paso with his son and his parents, but he wasn't. He was in the only building that had decided to crumble that day.
The courthouse in Los Angeles.
He should have noticed the cracks in the walls, the falling plaster as he waited in line, but he was preoccupied with where he was. He was getting his son back, he wasn't allowing his parents to have all the control. He would invoke anything he could to bring Chris home to LA, away from El Paso… back home to his true family. Eddie Diaz didn't even know something was wrong till he felt a firm hand on his shoulder, a voice that he only too recognised filling his ears.
“ Sir you need to ev-” Bobby stared at him for a moment, trying to grasp the fact that he was seeing Eddie right in front of him before he continued. “Eddie, you need to evacuate - he received calls that the building is unstable and about-” Bobby didn't get to finish his sentence as the ceiling above them bowed , plaster raining down on them, coating Eddies locks as if they were flakes of snow.
“ Cap, I can help “, Eddie started to insist. He had spent the last 7 years under Captain Nash, but Bobby pushed him towards the exit. “Evacuate the building, Diaz, that is an order”, he said firmly, and his tone was authoritative, and Eddie did just that. He herded strangers out the door and towards the protected area that the 118 and the 133 had set up away from the building if the building did indeed collapse- he didn't even get the chance to say hi to the team before one of the woman who had been with eddie started to scream, a horrendous, chest breaking scream.
“My baby! She was right here! Amelia!” she began to call out, her distress evident, and Eddie felt the need to step in. he imagined it was Chris, but before he could, someone rushed over to her, his shoulders broad and his voice reassuring.
“It's okay, mam, it's okay, you are in safe hands” Buck looked over to Eddie as he spoke, his words comforting to the crying woman, but he spoke a thousand different ones to Eddie
“ What was your little girl wearing?” Buck began to ask, pulling on his turnout jacket and mask with the intent to go into the building, AND once the description was given, Buck looked at Eddie one last time and smirked- a cheeky grin paired with cheeky words
“ Duty calls”, Buck said as he started to back away. For a few steps, his back was on the unstable structure, his turnout coat barely buttoned at the bottom. Then he turned and disappeared into the building.
Eddie watched Buck disappear into the building, and then he began to pull on her turnout coat to assist in finding the little girl when the air around them began to fill with a painful crack after crack. Heads whip up just as the building in front of them finally started to give in, the concrete walls bending and then shattering, the building flattening the trees that lined the front of the building. The moments that it took for the building to collapse were enough for Eddie to make a split decision, a stupid decision, but one clouded by buck.
Buck was in that building
Buck was trapped
Buck
Buck
Buck
He rushed forward, His feet pounding the ground, each step screaming his best friend's name. Though the building had slowed in its collapse by the time he got to the mass of concrete, it was still unstable, pushing dust towards the passersby
Eddie coughed harshly as he tried to cover his mouth to avoid breathing in the dust., The powder already coating every exposed part of him.
“Buck!” he called out into the quieting building, the sounds of the collapse down dissipating, leaving eddies of harsh breathing and desperate calls.
“Buck!” he called against, stumbling on a metal rebar that jutted out from a chunk of building bigger than his car.
“Please, buck” This call was softer, more of a beg for his friend to be okay
.
“Eddie…” sounded through the rubble, a pained cough following it. Eddie tried to pinpoint where it was coming from when a large hand grabbed his ankle, forcing him to a violent stop.
He looked down and all he could see was a blood-covered arm disappearing into stone. Eddie fell to his knees as he began to pry the stone back, each shift of the rubble earning him a more and more clear sound of his name.
More and more discarded rubble revealed more and more blood, the white marble that had coated the room now stained red, the colour now a harsh comparison. The lump of ceiling that covered Buck's chest was too large to shift, and even as the 118 were calling out to Eddie and Buck, Eddie couldn't wait.
“Okay buck this is going to hurt,“ he said as he grabbed his friend's thighs and pulled backwards, sliding him out from the stone coffin. He had hoped to see Bucks' cheeky grin again, but his face was pale, even covered in dust, Eddie could see he was becoming bloodless. That was when his eyes landed on the golden sword that pierced through Buck's chest.
“ Buck!” he let go of Buck's legs and crouched down by his side, pulling the man half onto his lap and his hand shook as he did, the sword stood proud, the tip of the blade scratching Eddie's calf from where it had exited Buck's back, the blood from the sword mixing with Eddie's own
He didn't know what to do; he was a medic, and he didn't know what to do. No one trained you for this, finding your best friend impaled by Lady Justice.
“ Eddie …” Buck's voice broke through the haze, and eddie looked down at Buck, who was now smiling softly, his once violent blue eyes now a duller shade. His lips were stained with blood, a bead rolling from the side of his mouth as he reached up to wipe away a rolling tear from the side of Eddie's cheek. “ You were meant to be in El Paso, “ he said, another violent cough racking his broken body, the blood from the action now staining Eddie's white shirt. The white shirt that once bore his own splattered blood.
The rattle in Buck's chest was undeniable, a sound that Eddie was only too familiar with. A rattle signified the ending of a life.
“No, no buck, you have to stay awake, you have to stay awake “, he began to say as he noticed Buck's eyes begin to droop, his own hands cupping each side of Buck's face, his fingertips brushing the bottom of bucks jaw, his thumbs wiping away brewing tears.
“ Evan, please, you have to stay with me “, he said, his voice cracking, the words catching in his throat. “You can't do this to me or Chris, please” he wanted to beg god to not take buck from him to replace himself under that golden sword instead; he wanted to beg for buck to just stand up, to brush the drying blood from his curls and tell Eddie to quit worrying. But all he got was a weak smile, words forming on lips as he let out his last breath, his chest stilling, his eyes remaining on Eddie, grey and lifeless.
If Eddie could pry his chest open, tear out his own heart and insert it into Buck's chest, he would . he would do anything to see those eyes focus back on him and return to the sky blue he loves, but they remained dull, staring blankly at him,
Buck was dead, and in that moment, Eddie wished he had died alongside him.
It took Bobby and Ravi to drag Eddie away from Evan Buckley's cold and still body. And as they did, all Eddie saw was that woman, with the little girl Amelia in her arms.
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