#my apologies for the angst and for my bad writing for Mallory but this drabble has been in my

[warrioroflondonbelow]

II @dontcxckitup

“Shite. Shite, shite, shite.— We have to stop the bleedin’,” gasped Richard, immediately shoving his jacket off before pressing it against Mallory’s bleeding side. “There I think tha’ll do it, at least for now.”

“Nine…”

“Ye’ couldn’t just let me take the damn bullet, could ye’? No ma’er. You’ve had much worse anyways, eh? You’ll pull through this one.”

“Nine—“

“Righ’ ye’ keep pressure on tha’, and I’ll try and get comms back up. Maybe if I—“

“Mayhew! There’s no time!” barked Mallory. That was finally enough to shut Richard up.  “If it’s not the bullet wound that kills me, the bombs will certainly have both our heads.” A beat. His frustration and tone softened now. “There’s no time,” the older man sighed, doing his best to hide back another pained wince as he kept Mayhew’s jacket pressed up against his side. “I need you to let it go. That’s an order.”

“Since when have yer’ orders ever stopped me before?” remarked Mayhew, forcing out an actual fear-tinged smile. “Look, just let me do this, a’righ? I can try and find a way to restart comms. If Q can do it I pro’ly have a shot too, righ’? I’ll restart it, we can find somebody who can deactivate the bombs, ye’ can contact Wendy, and—“

Mallory clutched onto Richard’s wrist. “Mayhew.” His words were steady. There wasn’t an ounce of anger or rage in them. Fear? Perhaps. But mainly it was acceptance.— Mallory’s collected gaze remained pierced at the other. Let it go. Let it go now.

All through Richard’s life he had been trained, no, conditioned to do one thing and one thing alone. Fight. He was a weapon who was not only built on it, but thrived on it. Yet, at the end of the day, when Death came knocking, there was truly only one thing left to do. Something that Richard ran from all his life. “… Yes, sir…” Acceptance.

With a silent shiver of a breath, Richard slumped down beside the other. “So,” he nodded, “this is it?”

“This is it,” replied Mallory, his tone as calm and sure as ever. Richard wasn’t sure whether he said it as assurance or a statement. Perhaps both.

“Was this how you imagined it then? Dyin’?”

“I always knew I’d die on the job. It was inevitable,” he winced once more. “But, no. I never imagined dying under this specific situation.”

“Don’t worry. Yer’ the last person I expected I’d die beside. ‘Guess we really are cursed to be stuck together ’til the bi’er end, eh?”

“Emphasis on ‘bitter’,” joshed Mallory, actually managing a small hint of a smile.

Richard let out a silent breath of a chuckle. “Funny. I always assumed I’d die on the job as well, but now tha’ I’m here I realized tha’ my trainin’ prepared me for none of it.— Wha’ the hell do ye’ do to pass the time when yer’ dyin’?”

“Sit in silence.”

A beat. “Mmm… Ye’… Ne’er really did silence. Not really in my area,” teased Richard. “We could always try the honest route. Reveal our deep and dark backstories at the end of it all. People find tha’ poetic, righ’?”

“You forget, Mayhew, I’ve had years to pour over your files. I know everything there is to know about you.”

“Mmm. Righ’. Maybe not. Wha’s left then?”

“… Small talk, I suppose,” shivered Mallory.

Richard wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Och. Tha’ sounds like my personal hell. I’d actually prefer silence in tha’ case.”

“Well, that’s certainly something we can agree on,” hummed the older man.

“Us? Agreein’ on somethin’? It truly is the end of the world,” Richard teased back.

Their time was running out. Richard could feel it in the weight of his breath, and in the fragile silence of the room. Any moment now their world would go in a final swan song of blood and fire. And here he was thinking that he’d have more days ahead of him. More adventures. More time with Mia… Oh god, Mia. He truly thought he had all the time in the world with her and their wee girl. For a moment there he actually thought they could run from the shadows and whittle their life a new. But that was the thing about Death, no matter how far you ran from it, or how many miles you stole, its silent hold would always eventually catch up, like that of an old and waiting friend. Hell, not even the likes of Gareth Mallory could evade it. Truly, nobody had all the time in the world. Might as well make the most of it while one still had it, no matter how little left there was.

“There is somethin’ ye’ don’t know,” began Richard, his voice nothing more than a rasp. Mallory didn’t even have to say anything, but the Scotsman knew he was listening. “I know it will seem hard to believe— and durin’ a time like this you’ll pro’ly think tha’ I’m sayin’ it outta’ pre-death adrenaline or somethin’— but… despite it all…. I ne’er hated ye’. Aye, at some point I was angry, mainly ‘cause I didn’t wanna accept the truth ‘bout Mia, but I ne’er hated ye’.” A beat. Sincerity bled through his every word. “Sir,” he shivered, “I truly am sorry.”

“For what?”

“…. Everythin’…,” replied Mayhew, voice cracking. “Ye’ don’t have to forgive me. In fact, I don’t expect ye’ to. I just… I needed ye’ to know.”

A thoughtful breath of silence as Mallory slightly shifted in his spot. The blood just wouldn’t stop. “To say that you were a thorn in my side since day one would be an understatement, Mayhew. I had every right to terminate your position as a double-0, you know? And yet, you were one of the best agents MI6 has ever had.” A beat. “I know you felt like you had something to prove since the day you began training— Don’t deny it.— But, despite it all, you had absolutely nothing to prove to me or to anybody; and I’m not just talking about your skillset. You had nothing to prove,” he continued, his words careful and deliberate. “Do you understand?”

“… Yes, sir,” rasped the Scotsman, managing to hold back an almost-loose tear. “Thank ye’, sir.” Coming from the likes of Gareth Mallory, it truly was an honour. “… Despite it all,” echoed Richard under his breath. “We had a good run. Haven’t we?”

Gareth tilted his head back and gradually closed his eyelids, which seemed to grow heavier by the second. “I suppose we have.” Richard could hear a hint of a thoughtful smile in his words.

“It really is a shame we spent all tha’ time at each other’s throats,” frowned the agent. “Oh, the things we could’a done, eh?”

“The things we could have achieved,” muttered Gareth. “Perhaps in another life time.”

“I think I’ll take yer’ offer up on tha’,” chuckled Richard. His heart was pounding against his chest. His throat ran dry. “I’ll see ye’ then on the other side, old man.” The flame at the end of the their wick was blowing out, and they with it. This was it then. Their final bow. The final ascent. Time’s arrow waits for no man.

#//ok so i imagined this drabble taking place some years after Mia reappears and what not// #//but yeah I like to call this drabble 'What we did to Magneto That ONE Thread 2.0' 😅// #//my apologies for the angst and for my bad writing for Mallory but this drabble has been in my// #//drafts for months and it had to be done im so sorry and i really hope u like it 🙈 *hides*// #//also may i recommend a delicious pairing of the track 'Final Ascent' while reading this? They pair great together ahgjkdsg// #dontcxckitup #shaken not stirred;au #drabble; #//also also i really tried to find a good way to end the drabble but couldn't for the life of me// #//think up one so sorry if the ending is ehhhh but again i hope u like it eitherway! <3//