Title: Helpless

Author: badly-knitted

Characters: Dee/Ryo

Rating: PG

Setting: Vol. 7, Act 11.

Summary: Dee is injured and trapped inside Bikky's school, which is rigged with bombs set to blow in a few minutes, and there's not a thing Ryo can do to help his partner.

Word Count: 500

Written For: Prompt 479: Frightened at slashthedrabble.

Disclaimer: I don't own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

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Ryo wasn't a coward, not even close. Like most cops, he'd feel a thrill of fear when confronted by someone with a gun or a knife, or when dealing with bombs or terrorist threats, but that was all part of the job and he could handle it. This was different.

If asked how he felt at that moment, he would have to say he was frightened, and why shouldn't he be? It had been scary enough to hear that Bikky's school had been bombed; Ryo's heart had been in his mouth, worrying about his foster son, not that he'd needed to as it turned out. Bikky was unharmed, having been in class at the time and nowhere near the gym.

When another bomb threat had been called in to the precinct and they'd had to evacuate the whole building Ryo had been focused on getting everyone else out, and when Dee had discovered a bomb in his desk drawer with thirty seconds on the timer, there hadn't been a second to spare for anything except running as fast as they could. They'd been lucky to get clear before the building was levelled.

This though… He'd spoken to Dee on the phone, been warned to stay well clear, outside the perimeter fence, that the whole school was rigged to blow, fifteen bombs scattered throughout the main building and barely more than three minutes left before the place would be reduced to a pile of rubble.

Dee had sounded tense but oddly calm, explaining that he'd been shot in the leg so there was no way he could escape, and that he was sitting right beside one of the bombs. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I'm pretty sure I can handle the one in this room."

Don't worry. How could Ryo not? That was his partner in there! No, not merely his partner, his best friend! Dee was in serious danger, he could be killed, and there wasn't one damn thing Ryo could do to help him! Here he stood, surrounded by the whole bomb squad, and not one of them could help because there wasn't even enough time to get inside the building, never mind locate and disarm fifteen separate explosive devices.

It was a lot easier to not be afraid when you had something to do, something to distract you from the turmoil of your emotions, some sense of purpose, but Ryo had none of that. He'd never felt so helpless in his life; all he could do was stand there and wait, with no idea what was happening to Dee. He longed to hear his partner's voice again, wished he could call Dee and talk to him, but that would be a distraction Dee couldn't afford if he was to stand any chance of dealing with the bomb he was attempting to disarm.

'I could lose him. Any second now the bombs could blow up and I might never see Dee alive again.'

Frightened? Ryo was terrified.

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The End