Work Text:
A loud buzzing noise draws Chris out from the edge of sleep. He looks to the side of his bed and his phone emits a bright blue light. He grabs it and after the bright light temporarily burns his eyes he sees a new text from Travis.
Wednesday 16th of June 2021
10:56 pm
Travis: Are you awake
Chris: I am now, why are you texting so late?
Travis: Shit sorry, I needed to get some stuff off my chest before I leave.
Chris: Leaving, what do you mean where are you going?
Travis: it doesn"t matter, I just need to say what I need to say
He takes a while typing, questions begin popping up in his mind about where he would be going at this time, his job is taxing, yes but North Kill is a quiet town he wouldn"t need to be going far and by the sound of it for long. But the new text snaps him out of his questions
Travis: I just wanted to say, I"m sorry, I"m sorry I"m a shitty brother to you and Bobby. I"m a shitty son to Ma and Pa, I"m a shitty uncle to Kaylee and Caleb, I"m a shitty police officer, I can"t even do the basic thing of protecting this family and you and the kids from the fucking curse. 6 goddamn years and still nothing. I let you and your kids suffer because I just wanted to prove I could help. The truth is I only burden you guys and I"ve realised that the only way I can help my family is if I go.
Chris thinks no way his brother thinks he"s not trying his best out of this god-awful situation their found themselves in and what is
Chris: Travis what the hell are you talking about, you"re not shitty at anything, you"re trying your best we all are. Also, where are you going, you"re kinda scaring me right now
Travis: It"s ok you don"t have to lie anymore
Travis: I"m leaving forever
Travis: Tell everyone I"m sorry, I can"t keep this up anymore, I love you, little brother.
Chris" heart drops, His brother is going to kill himself, he needs to snap his brother out of this crazy fucking idea.
Chris: Travis, if you"re doing what I think you are, don"t.
Unseen
Chris: Travis pick up
Unseen
Chris: answer me
Unseen
Chris: please just think about this
unseen
He tried to call
Missed video call at 11:05
Missed the video call at 11:05
Chris: If you don"t pick this time I"m going to your place
His heart felt fast, almost like it did before a transformation, but this time it didn"t come with him becoming a violent beast. It came with the death of one of his family.
He held his breath and tried to call again.
Missed video call at 11:06
Chris exhaled, got up, put on a quick change of clothes and headed to his car. desperately clinging to the idea he wasn"t too late.
He"s sure at the speed and rate of his car he must have broken several traffic laws but he made it quick and that"s all that matters.
Travis has a small cabin just on the edge of town, close enough to his job but just close enough to the estate. He knocks on the door hard.
"Travis!" He knocks on the door harder, to the point his knuckles feel sore. "I know you"re there"
He looks for a spare key but his brother is not the type of person to have those, so he goes by the last option he has.
The door looks weak but even so, Chris"s body looks like it could barely break it open, if he was born with his brother"s brute strength he might have. (and the one time he needs the Curses strength it does no job of actually helping him)
He takes a few steps, runs forward and pushes all his body weight on the door. The door slams open and he just manages to prevent himself from falling.
Everything is quiet, too quiet and clean and neat with the only mess and sound being from the outside. He walks past the hallway and into the living room, hearing the crunch of broken glasses under his feet and a pool of what looks like alcohol. When he looked up from the ground, he saw Travis and many empty pill bottles on the ground lying next to him. He"s asleep with a look on his face that could almost be peaceful as if he doesn"t realise he"s ending his life.
Chris rushes to his side, He feels Travis" pulse, it"s weak but still there, the man is on the knife"s edge of life and death and Chris has to tilt the blade to his side. He attempts to shake his older brother awake
"Travis, wake up, come on wake up you fucker, WAKE UP"
But he doesn"t even stir. He begins to light tap his face, his skin feels hot and clammy. Under this panic, he almost forgot the most important step. His hands are shaky but he barely manages to dig his phone from his pocket and dial 911.
"Hello 911 which emergency service do you need"
He answers, not tearing his eyes away from Travis, who did not realise his lips had turned a dangerous shade of blue.
"Uh hospital please"
"Yes of course, how may I help you, sir"
He swallows, trying and failing to hide the shakiness "My brother, he overdosed," He tries to level his breathing and force his tears back, he cannot cry now, not yet "He took pills, a lot of them and he asleep and his lips are blue and he"s got a fever and I don"t know what to do an-" Tears are falling down his face, He can"t lose his brother, his family, they"re far too important to him, to Chris it would feel like ripping a limb of his body.
It"s at this moment, that Travis begins to choke, oh fuck he"s vomiting. For a few lethal moments, Chris" mind is blank, feeling nothing but dread while Travis chokes, tilling the knife closer to death. But Chris knows what to do, he begins to push Travis" body to the side in the recovery position like he had learned in health calls years ago and what he had to practice over and over.
Travis stops choking even if vomit is ending up on Chris" arm, and while Chris pre-fire would feel disgusting, This Chris who every day after the full moon is covered in his blood doesn"t mind as much. And besides, some vomit ending up on his arm and leg isn"t a problem when it comes to saving his brother"s life.
He returns to the call
"I just fixed him in the recovery position, is there anything else I can do?"
The man spoke calmly, he gave the cabin location and he told him that an ambulance would take ten minutes to check his pulse and not leave him. his eyes were glued to him.
"why, why would you do this
please don"t leave, not yet"
//
When the ambulance is outside he"s barely moved. They load Travis on it and Chris steps on. He looks so strange, with the number of wires hooked up to him and how the bright-lit ambulance only makes his pale skin and blue face look more sickly. His now exposed arms are full of scars. some look like they couldn"t be a day old.
Chris is thrown back by memories of when he was ten, maybe eleven and saw Travis" arm full of blood from what had to be many crisscrossed lines while he desperately tried to wash off the deep crimson blood that was all over his arm. Since Travis didn"t notice him peeping, Chris never spoke a word about it, instead burying the memory deep in his brain.
and it"s at this point he realised how he never saw Travis in a t-shirt after that. And he always made a slight wince whenever someone grabbed his arms.
//
They"re in the hospital now, Travis is rushed to the emergency room and the rest of the family is called. Chris told them he took some medicines that reacted badly, he couldn"t bring himself to tell them it was suicide or show them the texts. Even to the Doctors, Chris lied to them again, saying that it was an accident, that Travis complained about abdominal pain and most likely accidentally overdosed.
Chris hated lying about this, In general, Chris hated lying but these past six years his life was nothing but lies. But he had to if they knew Travis" true intention to end his life he would have ended up in a mental hospital for god knows how long and he couldn"t, He needed to help hunt the White Wolf, to bring down this curse. Chris knows this is wrong, He wants Travis to get help, he needs to get help, but not now, This fucking curse had to be destroyed first.
Chris" guilt consumes him while he sits with his family, their faces look haunted, unsure if this is the thing that takes a Hackett, not a werewolf attack, to their eyes, an accidental overdose.
While Chris had to burden himself with the knowledge that his brother had always wanted to destroy himself.
//
Two hours ago
Travis isn"t sure how many pills he took, just a lot, he hoped it was enough to do the job, He washed it down with a nice Whiskey he found in his drawer he had neglected for too long.
He took this small amount of time to clean out his cabin, he cleaned, sorted out and wiped down everything, no need to leave his family with any more messes. He puts on a neat clean outfit.
He throws all his razors down the toilet, an image of him forcing himself to vomit and calling the hospital but he pushes that away, he"s not backing out, not like last time this time he needs to go.
The liver pain begins soon after sorting the last of his files, he had no idea how painful it was but this was worth it, if it was to lessen the burden on his family he would take it tenfold
Travis refuses to admit he"s doing it for himself,
you"re not being kind
he hears someone whisper in his ear but when he turns around,
nothing
you"re being selfish, your job is the most important and you"re being a fucking coward and killing yourself, all because life is hard, fucking deal with it,
"shut up, I have to" he starts to feel chills all over his body
your brother and his kids are fucking cursed to be a monster and you dont see them killing their selves, you just can"t accept the fact you were born broken, you were born to always feel like this, and now you"re taking the easy way out.
"No, no stop, I have a reason for this" he"s whispering under his voice just for whatever the hell this voice just to leave him be and let him die in peace.
liar, just admit your selfishness, you would rather ruin your family further than just suck it up like the rest of your family do.
"Stop it" he hisses to the air, digging his nails in his arms which make slight shocks of burning pain from the old scars.
at least you can stop acting as if you care about the curse. Oh poor little Travis, so desperate for his Ma"s love he"ll ruin anything. Maybe you should kill yourself, it"ll be a way for your family to give a shit about you.
"SHUT UP" and without registering what he"s done he Grabs the whiskey bottle and throws it against his living room door. as hard as he can. It shatters in pieces and that fucking voice shuts up.
Travis lets himself fall to the couch and lay down, pressing his palms in his eyes, he debated just grabbing his gun, putting it in his mouth and ending it there. But he doesn"t want any blood in his death, he"s sick of the sight of it and he knows his family is too.
He"s laying down now, he can feel his heart erratically beating and his body feels sluggish. It"s almost over. He grabs his phone and does one last thing. Pulling up Chris" contact number and sent his last words.
His eyes close, and he can hear his phone vibrating a lot, he can tell Chris" panic, but it"s ok, he silences his phone and his brain
is almost asleep.
It"s finally over.
//
Now
He wakes up to the sound of beeps and quiet chatter. Shit he"s alive
Damn it
Chris is asleep next to him on a wooden chair that looks extremely uncomfortable. Fuck he shouldn"t have texted him, knowing Chris he probably rushed him to the hospital asap.
Chris jolts awake, almost as if he sensed Travis woke up. His face is one of disappointment and just seeing it makes Travis feel so damn bad.
"You scared me"
Travis bites the cheek of his mouth, hearing Chris"s fear in his voice.
"I mean what the hell were you thinking Travis, Just leaving us like that"
He clears his throat.
"I was thinking of the family, if I go, had gone, it would be easier on you"
Chris grabs his hand tightly
"Dont think me and the family are letting you go that easy, we"re all in this together"
Travis feels awful, this should comfort him but it can"t he knows this cure will continue to tear this family down till it"s nothing and even it"s defeated. Chris doesn"t know, he doesn"t know that even before this curse.
Travis Hackett always wanted to die.