Chapter Six

You get what anyone gets; you get a lifetime. - Death

Nick stared at the doctor blankly, his mind not comprehending the words he'd just heard. "What?"

"Brian has less than 24 hours left to live." The doctor repeated solemnly. "Maybe in a younger man, with a healthy heart, but for Brian…it's a miracle the heart attack didn't kill him right away."

"NO!" Nick shouted, pushing away the arms of his wife trying to hold him. "He can't die, not now."

"Nick, we knew this day would come," Kevin said softly, tears streaming down his face.

Nick shook his head stubbornly, ignoring the wetness forming in his eyes. "I'm not going to sit back and take this." He marched out of Brian's room, ignoring the shout of his wife to stop. He didn't stop walking until he was standing outside of the hospital, staring up at the dark night. He wanted to scream to the sky how unfair this was, how could they take his best friend away from him. All his life, all he'd known, he'd had five brothers. How dare they try to make it four!

He reached into his shirt and pulled out a locket he wore around his neck. He hadn't taken it off in the 30 years since it had been given to him, not even for his wedding. He hadn't dared, he'd always known that someday he would need it, and when that moment came, he needed to have it right then. He popped open the locket and looked at the strange symbol inside, rubbing it in his hand. "Morpheus," he whispered, staring at the stars. "Tonight, we talk." Returning the locket to his neck, he walked back into the hospital, hoping that somewhere out there, someone heard him.

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"You called."

Nick's eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness. It looked like he was in the Throne Room of Dream's castle, but there were no lights, just candles. "You forget to pay the electric bill?"

"I apologize," Dream swept his arm in the air and the room lit up. "I forget about mortal eyes."

"Where's your sister?" He asked.

"I told you once before, I cannot call my sister for you."

"I won't let her take Brian!" Nick shouted, making his way to the sigils on the wall. "This is her, right?" He pointed to the ankh.

"Yes," Dream said cautiously. "But you cannot use that to call her."

Ignoring Dream's words, Nick grabbed the ankh in his hand tightly and thought as hard as he could about Brian, and how much he wanted to save him. "Come on Death, show yourself, Goddammit."

"I implore you, you do not understand what you do when you call for her," Dream told Nick.

"I don't care! I will not let my best friend die!" Nick shouted back, shaking the ankh. "Where the fuck are you!"

"If he really wanted to see me that badly, you could have called me, brother." A gentle voice chided softly.

"You shouldn't be here." Dream looked at his sister, shaking his head slowly. "It is not safe."

"I will be fine." She smiled from ear to ear, and turned to Nick. "Now let me get a look at this boy who sent my sister into such a tizzy."

"That was a long time ago," Nick couldn't help but smile under the woman's gaze. He'd never seen anything so beautiful, her porcelain skin, her jet black eyes, he felt like the giggly teenager he hadn't been in a long time. He'd nearly forgotten his obsession with the woman known as Death, the fantasies that had fueled his dreams for years. Had Dream known he'd been dreaming about his sister like that?

"She'll never forget it." Death grinned, and looked Nick up and down slowly. "You're a cutie. So, why did ya call?"

Nick blushed from ear to ear, nearly forgetting the reason for his visit. "Brian."

She looked at him and shrugged. "What about him?"

"Don't take him."

She sighed and reached up to brush a strand of Nick's hair out of his face. "You have a good soul, and the face of an angel, and I know you mean well. But when his time comes, his time comes, there is nothing any of us can do to stop it."

"You didn't take him before, Kevin told me." Nick insisted.

"It was not his time."

"You decided it wasn't his time, though!"

She shook her head. "It was written."

"But if you weren't there to take Brian that night, why were you in the hospital room?"

"I met Kevin that night." Death said softly.

"And?"

"If she had not met your friend that night, what path would your life had taken? A different one, I'd bet." Dream asked.

Nick nodded slowly, lost in thought. His music, his choice in his wife, everything had been inspired by the Endless family, and the information him and Kevin had gleaned on them over the years. They'd effected his life profoundly, and it had all started that night in Brian's hospital room. "So you being there that night had nothing to do with Brian?"

"My being there that night had to do with my being there." She smiled, and winked at Nick. "I was supposed to be there, so I was."

"You are not supposed to be here, sister." Dream told her angrily.

"Oh shush, you spaz." Death peered into Nick's eyes. "I saw a concert of yours once. You guys were really good."

"Then why are you destroying us?" Nick asked her quietly, his eyes filling with tears again. "We can't go on without Brian."

"All good things must come to an end," she replied softly.

"But why?" Nick argued. "Why do you exist if not to make decisions like this? To decide someone doesn't have to die!"

"Nick," Dream said consolingly, "you have dreamt your whole life of seeing Death. Most people don't get the pleasure of seeing her until they die. Isn't that something to look forward to?"

"You exist so we look forward to dying? That's bullshit." He spat out. "I don't want to die, and I don't want my friends to die."

"I'm sorry Nick, but it has to be so," Death put her hand on his arm and stroked his skin softly. "It has been written." She turned to Dream and waved. "I gotta go little brother, see ya!"

"She said it was written," Nick stared at Dream, his eyes wide, terror filling his heart. "Oh no, not yet, I have to see him."

"Then go."

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Nick jumped out of bed the second his eyes were open, throwing on clothes as he ran to the car. He drove to the hospital at lightning speed, running into Brian's room past his family sleeping in the waiting room. "Please tell me I'm not too late," he charged into the room, thankful to see his friend still breathing.

"Nick," Brian turned his eyes towards the sound, his head moving slowly, his voice strained with the effort. "You're here. I was waiting for you."

"I had to be here, Bri." Nick sat down next to the bed and covered his hand with his, holding it tight.

"I'm scared," Brian confessed, his eyes filling with tears. "I don't want to die."

Nick let out a small sob and shook his head, stroking the skin on Brian's hand steadily. "You don't have anything to be afraid of, Brian."

"Are you ready, Brian?" A gentle voice asked him, and a flutter of wings could be heard.

Brian looked up to see a beautiful woman standing at the foot of his bed, her dark hair flowing around her shoulders. "Who are you?"

Nick couldn't hold back his tears anymore and openly sobbed as he saw Death extend her hand to Brian. "No, god no…" he cried out as he felt Brian's hand leave his to reach for hers. "Please, take me…"

Brian sat up in bed, surprised to feel the pain in his chest was gone. "It's ok, Nick," he said softly. "I'm not scared anymore." He placed his hand in hers, reveling in the softness of her skin against his, feeling calmed by her beauty. Wherever she was taking him, it could only be good.

"I'll take care of him, Nick, I promise." Death looked at Nick with a smile. "He lived a good life, he deserves a good death."

"Goodbye, Frack," Brian said one last time, before turning to Death. "I'm ready."

Death nodded solemnly, and clasped both of Brian's hands in hers. "Then let's boogie." And they were gone.

Nick screamed when he heard the heart monitor flatline, his heart feeling like it was going to tear apart. "NO!" He choked out, a strangled cry of pain. He laid his head on Brian's chest, unable to bear the silence he heard in there. Where was his heart beating? Why couldn't he hear it?

Kevin ran into the room, followed closely by AJ, Howie, and Brian's wife and children, all of them knowing exactly what had happened the second they heard Nick's scream. "Nicky…"

"Leave me alone," Nick smacked away Kevin's arms, returning his ear to Brian's chest. "Just let me listen a little longer…"

"He's gone, Nick, you're not going to hear anything." Kevin said softly, a tear rolling down his face.

"How could she take him?" Nick turned his red eyes to Kevin, feeling completely lost. "They fucked with us our entire lives, and the one time we ask them for something, they say no."

"We ask them for what?" Kevin's eyes widened and he stared at Nick. "What did you do?"

Nick smacked his chest hard, his eyes blazing. "Do you see my locket Kev? It's gone. I used it. And the fuck didn't help."

"Oh Nick…" Kevin grabbed Nick in a hug, ignoring the younger man's struggle against him. "Brian's gone, there's nothing anyone could have done to stop it."

"I should have been able to do something," Nick wailed, his tears soaking Kevin's shirt. "He's my best friend, and I couldn't save him. Why do they exist if they couldn't help us? Why did they do this to us?"

"I don't know." Kevin had never hated three words more in his life. It seemed like he was saying them all too often. I don't know. Maybe Brian knew now…he held back a sob and tightened his arms around Nick, holding on tight to one of the three brothers he still had left.

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Not knowing everything is all that makes it okay, sometimes.* - Delirium

"I'm sorry to hear about your friend," Rose handed Nick a cup of tea and sat down across from him, noticing the flinch in his cheek when she spoke,

Nick bit his lip and counted to ten before replying. Brian had died nearly six months ago, but he still had a hard time thinking about his best friend. There was a hole in his heart that would never be filled, and he would forever curse Death for taking his friend away. "Thanks."

"How have you been otherwise?"

Nick shrugged. His children were growing up, away at school. His wife was getting bored, and starting to look at other men. And his career didn't exist anymore, he couldn't stand to sing without his best friend's voice to accompany him. "Fine."

Rose looked Nick over curiously. "Why are you ruining your life over your friend's death?"

"She took him from me." Nick whined like the child he'd been so many years before. "Her family fucked up my life, then took my best friend."

"Fucked up your life?"

"You said they touched me. Kevin. I bet they touched AJ and Howie and Brian too. Why the hell would they do that just to let him die?" Nick asked, his voice raising as he got worked up. "It doesn't make sense!"

"Everyone has to die sometime," Rose shook her head. "It was your friend's time."

"But why NOW? Everyone has to die when they're old, Rose, not when they're still living."

"The saying is, everyone has to die sometime, Nick, not everyone dies when they're old." She said with a sigh. "You're lucky, if you haven't been effected by death before."

Nick's eyes narrowed to slits and he stared at her. "Lucky? My best friend is dead, and I'm lucky?"

"You're lucky he just died now, yes."

He rolled his eyes in frustration. "That's bullshit."

"You said you first saw Death at Brian's bedside. You could have lost him then, or earlier, even. You might never have met him. But you didn't. You had all these years to spend with him. Remember the time you had together, and cherish it. But don't destroy the time YOU have left mourning him. He wouldn't want you to, and if you've learned anything, it's that there's a very good chance he's up there watching you right now."

Nick took a deep breath and looked at her, nodding slowly. "He's probably very pissed at me right now," he smiled slightly.

"Then get your act together and make him proud." Rose smiled. "You still have your talent, use it."

"I don't know if I can without him." Nick confessed with a scared frown. "I've never been alone."

"You're not." She shook her head. "You never will be. Haven't you learned anything?"

Nick looked into her eyes, grinning a little when he saw the now familiar fire in there. "I suppose I have."

"Good."

"I still don't understand how she can exist if not to help people, though." Nick said stubbornly. "I don't think I've ever not understood so much in my life."

"Nick, didn't anyone ever tell you knowledge has a price?" Rose asked him softly.

Nick nodded. Dream had, many years ago.

"Do you think you've figured out what that price is, yet?"

"No…"

"The more you know, Nick," Rose looked at him with a wry smile. "The more you know you don't know."

* Neil Gaiman, Brief Lives

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