Dave fingered the hilt of the blade in his stomach with his free hand. He was not breathing yet, merely clutching Caledscratch in his fist trying to to ignore the pain that was riveting through his body. Jack stared at him for a moment with a grimace, surprise showing freely in his cold eyes. He rose his arm again, another knife clasped in his black carapace hand, but Dave raised his sword and blocked the second blow that came down on him. "Y-you fucked up Jack," Dave spat, blood dribbling from his mouth. He grabbed the handle of the blade in his gut and his lips pursed together as he pulled it from him, blood flowing freely from the open wound. Dave could not suppress the scream that came from him as he felt the cold steel slice against his flesh as it slid from him.

"Dave! No!" He heard Jade screaming behind him. He tossed the bloody knife to the ground and clutched his bleeding wound with his left hand, the right one still holding up his sword as he turned the time table with his thumb. Jack looked at the bleeding boy in front of him, baring his sharp teeth in protest as he approached him again with the knife. Dave blocked it clumsily and stumbled, mouth contorting when the pain shot through him again. Pale, bloody fingers clutched at his stomach harder in an attempt to ebb the bleeding. "No, no, no, no, no!" Jade yelled again, her desperation unhidden from her tone, and then a shuffling against the ground that told him she was trying to push herself up.

"You FUCKED UP, Jack," Dave yelled again, voice steadier and more confident than before. The blonde boy let a smirk touch his lips, though his hand trembled, wet and slippery with blood. Jack looked at him with indignation on his face, Dave's self-assurance enough to give him an instant of true pause as he tried to decide whether or not the boy was fucking with him. Before Jack could decide, Dave flashstepped behind him and Jack only barely fended off the blow he dealt toward his unshielded head. Jack bared his teeth and stabbed at him again, Dave dodging it almost effortlessly as his smile widened. "Fucking pathetic. This is motherfuckin' child's play. Not even worth my goddamn time." Dave's mouth was coated red, coppery tasting blood against his tongue and he spat it out on the ground before he moved back away from Jack's frantic stabbing. He was playing with him, and it was working.

Dave moved around him again, and as Jack's anger peaked his movements became more erratic. The Dersite was barely able to fend off Dave's lighting fast advances. If he had not been so badly injured, it would have been no contest at all. Dave was getting dizzy, however, and he was struggling to keep his eyes focused. The pain that had been so sharp before was going numb, but it was replaced instead with a dangerous fatigue. He knew he had to end it soon. He rocked uncertainly on the spot after another failed attempt to injure his opponent, and as he shook his head to try and clear out the fog that gripped at him Jack lunged forward. "DAVE!" it was her voice again, and he raised his arm to block, the blades making contact with a loud clang. He took a deep breath, but it was getting steadily harder for him to keep his head straight.

No more time. Gotta finish this. Come on. Come ON. He furrowed his brow and brought his leg up to kick Jack hard in the chest, and the Dersite stumbled backward as Dave flashstepped behind him, his sword raised. Jack dodged it and held his knife out to attack him again. Before Dave respond, Jack was thrown hard against the ground, the green light of Jade's power coming off of him in waves. In the corner of his eye he saw her fall back to the ground. Jade. She had given him exactly what he needed. Dave moved fast to where Jack lay and pressed the sharp tip of Caledscratch up to his neck.

"Shouldn't have taken off that fucking ring." Dave brought both of his hands to the hilt of the sword and with all of his strength he pressed the blade down hard against him, one last howling screech from his adversary before his head fell from his shoulders. The rest of Dave's strength rushed from him then, and he gripped the hilt hard as he tried to keep himself from falling. The only thing that kept him from giving into the exhaustion was Jade, and so he took his bloody hand and gripped his stomach again, a cry of pain escaping his lips as he put pressure on it. He let go of his sword and left it there in the ground as he stumbled toward where Jade had fallen.

There were tears in Jade's eyes as he approached her, and she knew by looking at him he was barely able to stand much less walk. When he smiled at her it could have killed her, drops of blood clinging to the edges of his pale lips. She was so tired. She had not rested in so long that she was having trouble thinking straight, but the image of him was coming in all too clearly. She let out a sob as she saw how his hand trembled against his stomach. Oh no. No This is my fault. This is all my fault. His smile faltered as tears fell down her cheeks, falling clumsily to his knees to lean over her. "H-harley you hurt?" She stared at him like he was insane.

"I-I'm fine! Dave but you… you are… Oh G-god, Dave…" she could not handle the terrible knot that was forming in her throat, her tears falling more freely by the moment. He simply reached his hand to her face and pressed his thumb gently under her eye to wipe away tears that had not yet fallen. He was trembling so hard, a shiver that seemed to rip from the center of him outward, and it was enough to tear her apart. "You shouldn't have done that! Y-you… you'll… oh my God no…" She cried harder, and he pressed his forehead gently to hers and kissed her on the tip of her nose.

"It's okay. It's fine." He smiled at her, and it just made her feel worse. He did not even seem bothered by the fact that he was dying. Unphased by the ever-growing dark stain of blood that spread out from the wound in his gut.

"It's not!" she cried back at him, moving awkwardly beneath him to pull off her shirt and rip it with some help from her powers. As she tied it around him he let out a terrible noise, his face contorting into an expression of pain as he cried out. He did not tell her to stop, though. His breathing was more strained by the time she was finished, and the shirt was already growing dark with blood.

"Couldn't… let you die. Worth it." He said once he could steady his breathing, though his voice was still more strained than before. He smiled at her again as he touched her hair, seeming to be far more interested in looking at her than worrying about himself.

"No it wasn't! We have to get you help. We have to get y-you…" She tried to push him off of her but he would not move, absently tracing her cheek with his fingers.

"Jade… " A drop of blood fell from his mouth and landed on her cheek, and he immediately started wiping it away with his hand. "F-fuck, sorry…"

"No! N-no I don't want this. Don't apologize! I wanted to k-keep you safe… oh my God… I'm sorry I'm so sorry…" He just smiled at her and stroked her cheek as if he was not hearing a word that she said.

"I missed you J-jade. God, I shouldn't have… shouldn't have let you go." Her stomach clenched.

"Dave…" he gasped in pain again, and it made her stop.

"N-no listen to me. Please. I love you. I always have. I love everything about you, I love how you're always so f-fucking happy and open and I- I can't be l-like, I'll never be, but I love that about you. I love your d-derpy teeth and your crazy fucking hair that gets everywhere and how you always laugh at my stupid fucking jokes." He was shaking hard and Jade raised her hands to his face to wipe the blood away from him trembling lips, her tears falling hot against her cheeks. " I l-love how brave you are. I love how much stronger than m-me you are." His arms seemed to give out on him, and he fell onto her chest, crying out softly in pain. She twisted her fingers into his pale hair and held him to her, pressing her lips to his head. "So I c-couldn't… let you die." She held him so tight to her that she was afraid it would hurt him, but he did not protest.

"I l-love you too. I love you, I love you. You c-can't!" She could not say anything else as she began to sob hard into his hair as his own weak fingers moved sweetly against her side, his chest heaving in shallow breaths.

"It's cool," he said, his body going still in her arms. No. No. She shook him hard, but he did not respond.

"DAVE." She shouted and shook him again, a fear like she had never felt before took hold of her. "DAVE WAKE UP." She pushed his body away from hers and he rolled onto his back limply, his hands splayed out to his sides. "No Dave WAKE UP PLEASE!" she put her trembling hand up to his mouth, and she could not feel him breathing. Pressing her hand to his neck she found no pulse either. "Oh God no no no PLEASE NO!" She pressed her mouth to his and she could taste the blood on his lips, awful memories mixing with her present horror. She was losing him. She pressed her hands against his chest and pressed down hard over and over trying desperately to restart his heart. She had no idea what she was doing, no one had ever tried to do this in the game before, but it was the only thing she could think of.

She cried harder, after a long time giving up and just going back to shaking him, hitting him, trying everything she could to wake him up but it was no use at all. She had lost him, and he was not coming back to her this time. She gripped at his shirt and dug her nails in deep, pressing her face to his chest as the tears poured from her. She cried and screamed against him until she had nothing left in her. Unable to separate herself from his body, she took his limp arms the way she always had when she would crawl into bed with him while he was asleep, wrapping them around her small body and pushing herself up against him. It was so wrong, so deeply, upsettingly wrong but she could not do anything else.

That was the way the rest of them found her, curled up next to Dave's cold body.

Oh god it just keeps getting worse. Would have written this sooner but I was busy doing some fan art instead. Also I'm a bluh bluh huge b8tch and I just kept you waiting for my own amusement. Not really, but it was kinda nice seeing the responses to the chapter. I was genuinely working on other stuff. (you should totes go see i'm artsyUnderstudy on deviantart and just check out my newest pic, it's the first one i have on my front page) SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION. Anyway, this isn't over yet! So... don't stop reading! Please! Thanks so much for sticking with me for 25 chapters (jegus has it been that many?) Thanks so much for the wonderful comments. Just... motherfucking.. thank you.

-CS