Disclaimer: I don't own Tristan, but Alec is mine.
Warning: Character Death
Rated: PG
ONE INSTANT
"No Alec." Tristan said simply, pulling his ice skates out of the closet and throwing them over his shoulder, and reaching for his hockey stick. Behind him, a boy with brown eyes and wild blond hair pouted.
"But why not, Trist? I can skate!"
"Because Derik and I are playing hockey, and I don't need a tag-a-long baby stopping my team from winning!"
"I am not a baby!" Alec shrieked, stomping his foot. Tristan rolled his eyes, finally managing to grab his tick and shut the closet.
"You are too, Alec. And you tag-a-long, and don't leave me alone! I wish you'd just disappear, and leave me alone!" Tears welled up in Alec's big brown eyes, and he stared feircely up at his older brother. Tristan glared down at him for a while before turning and walking away.
"I'll show you, Tristan! I will!" He heard Alec scream as he walked out the door, but he ignored him and contined on his way. Down by the river, Tristan's best friend Derik was waiting.
"What took you so long, Trist?" He asked as his friend crunched through the snow toward him.
"Alec." The other sighed in exhasperation. Derik gave him a little smile.
"Wanted to come, huh?" Tristan merely grunted in reply, and flopped down in the snow next to his friend and began wrestling with his skate laces. Derik quickly slid into his skates and went out to test the ice.
"This part is thick enough," he declared, after a minute, "but any further downstream, and it won't hold." Tristan nodded, tying the last knot on his skates, and stood up. At that moment, Alec came over the hill with his skates in tow.
"Tristan! Tristant! Wait for me!"
"Oh no." Tristan froanded, then turned to Derik. "Just ignore him." Derik nodded. Tristan grabbed their sticks and the two were quickly involved in their game.
Alec got into his smaller skates as fast as possilbe, and began skating around behind the older boys, trying not to get in his older brother's way. This went on for a good half and hour, with the older boys ignoring Alec, until they heard a crack, and yell, and then a splash. Then, Tristan whirled around so fast he very nearly fell flat on his face.
"Alec!"
"He's fallen through!" Derik cried in dismay. Panic striken, the two wated as the cracks spread and the swiftly flowing river underneath became more and more exposed.
"Alec!" Tristan yelled again, desperatly.
"Tristan!" Came the weak anser. Tristan looked up, and saw his little brother clinging to the ice with both hands. "Tristan, help!"
"Hang on, Alec! I'm coming!" Without stopping to think, Tristan plunged feet first into the icy water.
"Tristan!" Derik yelled. Unable to think of anything else to do, Derik took off his skates and ran back to Tristan's house for help.
Under the water, Tristan found the current to be more than he'd expected. He was flipping over so much that he couldn't tell up from down anymore, and began trashing around wildly. His lungs had begun to burn, when his hand caught something, the ice. Using that as support, he pulled himself up. Gasping for air, he looked around wildly.
"Alec?!"
"Tristan!" There was his little brother, a few yards away, holding desperatly to ice that was cracking underneath his finger tips. Fighting against the current, Tristan began to drag his already numb body toward him.
"Hang on Alec!" He called, through mouthfulls of water, "I'm coming! Don't let go, okay?"
Alec nodded, tears freezing on his face. Straining the mucles in his arms, Tristan closed the gap between them. Ten feet, five feet, two feet, one foot...before the ice, under the weight of both boys, cracked and they went under again.