Hello my lovelies, and isn't this a nice surprise? This chapter is actually on time this week- yes, you read that right, it's being published on a Sunday! Pretty late, but it still counts! (BTW, who's watching Falling Skies right now? Awesome start to the new season, amiright?)

S/O to Singer1108- I hope this satisfied your curiosity as to how the situation would be handled: unintentional avoidance, of course! What else? ;)

Special thanks to my amazing beta Lissa for her wonderful skills, and to an old reviewer YuaShizuka who inspired chapters like these.

Disclaimer: Not mine :( If it was, Gajeel and Levy would totally be together and having babies right now.

Now, on to the story!

She was lying on the ground, arm outreached towards the car that was overturned a few feet away from her.

There was blood dripping from somewhere above her eye, clouding her vision with red.

Her body should hurt, she knew that; but it didn't. Numbness was the only feeling she could register. Her entire body was numb, and something else- she couldn't remember, though, so she focused on the numbness. Was that a good thing, that she was focusing on the numbness? She didn't know. Maybe she should focus on something else.

She was sideways. There, that was something else. She was lying on the ground sideways, and there was blood dripping over her eye, and she was numb. One arm was underneath her head- or her head or her body or somewhere she didn't know because she couldn't feel that arm, not even the numbness- and the other was outstretched towards the car. She assumed her legs were just lying there, like her. She should look- that would make sense that would be rational- but her eyes wouldn't move away from the car and there was blood and her vision was tinged with red and so she didn't look at her legs. Instead she looked at the car.

The car was in worse shape than she- it was upside down, whereas she was just sideways. That meant it was worse off- right? Right.

The windows were broken, glass littered everywhere. The car itself was also broken, full of dents and scrapes and gashes. The red paint had been scratched off in some places- or was it the blood making the car red? One of the doors were torn off, the one that opened to the backseat. She couldn't see where the door had gone. But she could see into the backseat. The seats were torn and stuffing was starting to spill out, though it hadn't fallen out onto the ground yet. It was just bunched up near the seat opening, waiting for more stuffing to give the bunch the weight it needed to fall. Like rain in the clouds. Or blood.

There were people in the backseat. They were upside down, suspended in the air, held in place by seat belts. Why hadn't the seat belts broken? She would have thought they weren't strong enough to hold people like that. Two boys actually, not people. Two boys held in place by suspiciously strong seat belts. They didn't seem to be awake like she was.

Was she awake? She thought so. But she also felt… not-awake. Was that possible? To be awake and also not-awake?

One of the boys turned awake-not-awake like her. He was staring at her. His arm twitched. He kept staring at her. The other boy stayed just not-awake.

He blinked at her, so she blinked back at him. Was that how he communicated? Through blinks? Or was he trying to speak to her through his mind? Was he speaking to her through his mind but she couldn't understand it? That had to be it. She probably couldn't understand because she was awake-not-awake and he was awake. And the other boy was not-awake.

The ground was dark around the car. She didn't know why, or with what. Maybe it was blood. If it was, the ground was probably dark around her too.

The awake boy's mouth was moving. His lips were bleeding now, and the drops were falling onto his cheeks. It looked strange. Like he was crying blood upside down. Was that possible?

She couldn't hear him, even though he was talking. She couldn't hear anything. There should be noise, she knew- right? Maybe not. She couldn't remember what noise sounded like. Was it a good sound or a bad sound? If it was bad she didn't want to hear noise.

His eyes were crinkling, and his mouth had stopped moving. She got the sense that he was unhappy somehow. She wondered why. What did he have to be unhappy about? Perhaps it was because of the blood dripping over his eyes. Like her. She had blood in her eyes. He had blood in his eyes.

That made them the same. Right?

He was talking again. Maybe. Possibly. His mouth only made one movement, over and over again. Was that talking? Was that noise? She didn't want to hear noise.

But she heard that.

She heard something. A sound. A noise.

But she didn't want to hear noise. Did she? She couldn't remember.

She heard it again. It was strange. The noise was strange. It came and went, in waves. She could hear it and then she couldn't and then she could. Its pitch changed, too. It was high-pitched most of the time, but occasionally dropped. She could hear it- high pitched- and then she couldn't and then she could- low pitched- and then she couldn't and then she could- high pitched. Was that strange?

She felt strange.

Or did she?

Was this normal? The numbness and not moving and red everywhere and strange noises. Maybe it was. Maybe this was normal when one was awake-not-awake.

The boy was staring at her again, and he hadn't stopped talking.

The blood hadn't stopped either. It was dripping from his lips and from his mouth- not dripping from his mouth. Dripping from his lips and pouring from his mouth. Yes, that was right. Pouring from his mouth. It was flowing over his tongue and teeth and lips- where it was still dripping just drip drip drip- and falling over his face. It was coating his face, red everywhere, and it wasn't just her red-tinged vision no this was him this was his blood and it was red everywhere.

She wanted to look away. She didn't like this she didn't like red she didn't want to watch-

But she was- she was watching.

The blood was pouring over his face, red waves, and she thought it would have been fast- it was pouring for the love of God- but it wasn't it was slow.

Slowly it ran down and covered his entire face, slowly so she could see everything as it was covered. His lips- drip drip drip- they were covered and she could see their outline still see the blood dripping from them- drip drip drip- and adding to the waves. His cheekbones- so sharp they were like pikes but pikes were meant to defend and these had not stopped the blood so she didn't know what to call them- and then his cheeks- so long and never-ending and so smooth- and then his eyes- she wanted to know what color they were but all she could see and remember was red but she couldn't remember that was the problem and- and then his whole face was red red blood red.

He talked through it all, through the blood and drip and pikes and red eyes he talked and she couldn't understand what he was saying and the noise was growing louder and it hurt her ears and-

She'd thought the blood slow like a disease like a leech but suddenly his face was red red blood red and it seemed it had been no time at all.

She didn't like this. She wanted to be awake and not awake-not-awake but real-awake.

The blood was dripping off of him like it had from his lips, just drip drip drip.

She wanted to wake up.

A red stream falling from him drip drip drip.

She needed to wake up.

So much red.

Wake up.

Drip.

Wake up.

Drip.

Wake up.

Drip.

Wake up wake up wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeupwake-

"Wake up!"

She bolted up and looked around, panting. "Wha- what is it?" Her voice was hoarse and scratchy.

Gajeel was looming over her, face pale and sweaty. "Sorry for the rude awakening, Shrimp. But I need-" He doubled over, clutching his side.

"Gajeel!" She shot out of the bed in alarm. "What is it, what's wrong?" Her hands fluttered around him, unsure. He was hurt, she knew that, but she didn't want to touch him in the wrong place lest she make it worse.

"M'side," He grunted out.

The realization hit her suddenly and she internally cursed herself- how could she have forgotten? The bulge on the left side of the stomach, the rib was that hopefully just fractured but also maybe broken.

"Let me see." She moved his arm away from his chest and recoiled in shock. The bulge was no longer a bulge; the rib had broken through the skin- not by much, but enough so that she could see it. Whitish-gray, covered in red. She wasn't a nurse, but she knew that probably wasn't good.

"Gajeel…" She started, but was unsure of how to finish. He needed a doctor- or a nurse or someone medical, even a vet would do- but they didn't have the money for one. Medical people were expensive, and she didn't know where the nearest free clinic was, or even if there was one.

He nodded though, as if he understood, and straightened up with a grimace. She started protesting, only to have him grab her and walk out of the house. There was a slight limp to his gait and he kept one hand on his side, but otherwise he gave no indication of being hurt. She knew he was though, by the way his shoulders were hunched and his features twisted into a grimace.

"Where are we going?" She hadn't been this way before, but he seemed to be familiar with it.

"Porlyuscia."

Any more questions she might have asked were lost when he yanked her along faster. His limp was growing more pronounced, and he was leaning in on himself more and more. They darted down a random alley and quickly walked down it.

When they came to the end, she looked up in dismay. It was a dead end, there was nowhere to go and nothing around them, excepting the massive brick wall in front on them. There were no ground-floor apartments like Gajeel's around, just windows and trash. There weren't even any fire escapes or balconies.

"-the wall." Gajeel huffed something, and she leaned closer. "Go up the wall." He leaned against the brick wall and looked up, then back at her.

"What? Go up the wall, what wall?" She looked around helplessly. There weren't ladders or stairs on any of the walls, she couldn't possibly scale any of them.

"Brick wall." He looked at the wall and then her again. "Jump."

"…Jump." She looked at the huge wall that Gajeel was now leaning against heavily, still clutching his side. "Right." A blush came over her and she tried not to cringe. As absurd as it sounded, she really didn't want to jump in front of him, especially when she knew how ridiculous she'd look. Stupid, she chided herself. He saw you covered in trash, he saw you hide behind a bathtub, he kissed you, he watched you orgasm! It can't get much worse at this point!

She still didn't want to jump when he was watching.

But that was selfish, and irrational. He'd done so much for her already, this was the least she could do. Crouching down, she bunched her muscles and pushed up as forcefully as possible. She didn't even come close to reaching the top of the wall. She'd jumped one, maybe two, feet in the air. If that. Frowning in concentration, she tried again. And again. And again. Each time her fingers brushed endless brick, never nearing the top.

"Ugh!" She screeched in frustration, stamping her foot. A shock of cold shot through her and she screeched again, this time in surprise. Looking down, she sighed resignedly. One of her feet had landed in a puddle. And of course, her feet were bare due to… earlier activities. She blushed again, and internally cursed herself. She shouldn't be embarrassed.

She tried once more, giving it everything she had, before letting her head drop to the wall in defeat. "Gajeel, I can't do it. I can't jump high enough. I'm sorry." He didn't answer her and she ground her forehead against the bricks. "Look, I know what you're going to say, okay? But I can't do it, I'm too small and weak and- and I just can't! I'm sorry." Still nothing from Gajeel. "Will you at least answer me?" She looked over at him. "Shit."

Gajeel was no longer leaning against the wall, or even upright. He was on the ground, slumped over, arms crossed over his midsection. "Gajeel?" She walked over to him, bending down to get a better look at his face. It was still pale, though the skin was more clammy than sweaty now. She touched one of his cheeks with the back of her hand, but quickly jerked it back when his head lolled to the side. "Gajeel!" He was unconscious. Grabbing his head again, she shook him gently. No response. He was breathing evenly at least, and she thought that was a good sign. But she wasn't a doctor. She had no medical training whatsoever; her answer for anything regarding wounds was warm water and a band-aid.

The wall loomed behind them, and she gave it one last desperate glance. But no, she wouldn't be able to do it. There was no way. Which left one thing. She cursed herself.

"Help! Please somebody, help us!" Her voice bounced off the buildings around her and echoed. "Please, help!" There was no answer. Silence pressed in around her, suffocating them. "Help!" Gajeel didn't stir, despite her desperate screaming. "Please, somebody, anybody! Help!"

"Is somebody in there?" A voice came from the opening of the alley, faint but real.

"Yes, yes! Please, in here!" She grasped Gajeel frantically. "Please, my friend needs help!"

"Okay, don't worry." The voice floated back to her again, stronger this time. "I'm coming." Footsteps echoed, and a young boy appeared in front of her suddenly, as if materializing out of thin air. He had dark hair and blue eyes, but was surprisingly pale. He crouched down in front of them, reaching out hesitantly. "What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know, I don't-" She stopped, trying to collect herself. "Please, we need help. There's a woman, I don't remember her name, but-"

"It's okay," the boy interrupted her. "Here, hold him for a second." He slung his backpack from off his shoulders and started rummaging through it. "Is he conscious?"

"No, he's not."

"Check his pupils, tell if they're unusually dilated."

She nodded and grasped his head firmly, gently trying to pry open one of his eyes. "I can't see, they might be but-" A shriek left her as two hands covered her mouth and nose. Her hands flew backwards, yanking against the boy, scrabbling for purchase, for something to yank on to just make him let go.

He had something covering the lower half of her face, and she tried to jerk her head away from it. She couldn't breathe, couldn't get any air. She gasped desperately and immediately regretted it, choking on the material covering her. As soon as she'd opened her mouth these fumes had swarmed in, forcing themselves down her throat.

Her hands clenched against the boy's arms, scratching feebly. Something was wrong. She couldn't grasp anything properly anymore. Her limbs felt heavy and oversized.

The boy reached one arm around and gently pried her hands off of him. They dropped easily enough, and she couldn't find the strength to move them again. He covered her eyes with his free hand, and shushed her.

"Hush, now, it's okay." His voice was distorted when it came to her, morphing from the boyish lilt to a deep slur. "It'll be okay soon."

No, she thought. But even her thoughts seemed slow and heavy. This isn't right. I need to… I need to…

She could dimly feel him remove the material and his hands from her face, instead moving them to grip her arms and torso. Her eyes opened just enough to see the world tilt on its axis, spinning and turning.

Then she was lying on the ground. One arm was underneath her, and the other was outstretched towards Gajeel.

Wake up.

And there it is! This chapter was a little bit weird, I know, but it gets more normal near the end... sort of.

Review, review, REVIEW and you will get wonderful mint oreo ice cream! (Or just mint if you don't like oreos, or just oreo if you don't like mint. If you like neither mint nor oreo I cannot acknowledge your existence. Haha, I kid- sort of.)

Some things for this chapter:

#1. The first part of this chapter is a dream, just to clarify. That may not be obvious, which is why I am explaining it here. To those of you who will read this chapter, skip this A/N, and then review with questions about what the heck was going on during the first part of this chapter: you disappoint me.

#2. What do you think happened to Gajeel? Is the wound infected, did the rib puncture something? Review, and tell me what you think!

#3. Who is this strange child that attacked Levy after promising her help? He's certainly rude, for one thing. Review and tell me, I'm always pleasantly surprised by reader suggestions and speculations.