A/N- mwahahaha.. despite a trip to the emergency room, and evil stomach pains, I still managed to push this thing out. hooray! Let's see. I'd say there are another 2-3 chapters to go before this thing's done. you can begin rejoicing now. lol. After this, who knows? Oh, and once again, I apologize for this chapter's shortness.

To the people who have reviewed this story, especially those who have reviewed every chapter: thank you. I don't think i would have kept up with this as much as i have if it hadn't been for you guys.

On with the show, as they say.

Author is too Lazy to Come up with a Real Title

Rock hummed sweetly to himself as he fed the fire he was cooking food over. It had nearly gone out after he'd fallen asleep, earlier, and had required immediate attention. The cheery crackling of firewood, and Rock's cheery tune kept his mind from wandering to the real reason he was there. Forte..

Forte slept, covered up in half of the blanket Rock had brought with him, flat on his back, arms resting neatly at his sides, as though he were dead. His face was stone, devoid of emotion, as it normally was. In fact, it seemed that the only face Forte was capable of was that blank, apathetic mask, that smug grin of his, or anger. 'I wonder if he ever really smiles..' Rock pondered to himself.

He sighed slightly, giving him a worried look-over. He had obviously awakened sometime during the night, while Rock had let sleep lure him from his guard. His bandages were crusted with dry blood, showing he must have really strained himself at one point, probably trying to get up. "Guess I'll have to re-bandage him later." Rock murmured to himself.

Continuing to hum his little song, Rock tended to some things left over from his little picnic earlier, leaves, berries and roots he was boiling in his helmet, which surprisingly made a good cauldron. Unfortunately, his concoction itself was another story.

Opening up his last energy drink, he dumped its contents into the "pot", and gave it a final stir. 'This'll either help him heal up a bit, or kill him.' He thought with a sigh. Oh well. He could only do so much with the little supplies he had.

He tensed suddenly, slowing his stirring as he heard a soft noise between a groan and a sigh.

Forte.

Rock turned slightly, flashing him the friendliest smile he could conjure up. "Oh! You're awake. I hope you're feeling a little better.." He turned back to his soup, pretending he didn't notice the venomous glare Forte had shot him in response to his greeting. " I did my best to fix you up, but I was kinda worried you wouldn't make it for awhile there."

Forte simply scowled at him and leaned up, slowly and carefully, refusing to show the immense pain he was in. Slowly he curled his hand into a weak fist, staring Rock down, hatefully. Without warning, he threw himself forward at Rock, making it nearly a foot before he fell to the ground, gasping and grinding his teeth in agonizing pain. His hand gripped his bandages tightly, and he placed his free hand on the side of his head pulling subconsciously at his hair, vertiginous.

Rock jumped up and was immediately at his side. "Forte!!! Are you--"

Forte's hand shot out, gripping Rock's wrist in a grip that was shaky, yet steely enough to let Rock know he was pressing his luck.

Rock backed off slightly, giving Forte a little room. "You really shouldn't push yourself like this when you're so badly off..." He glanced into Forte's eyes which all but screamed 'I'll kill you.' Without another word, he slinked back over to the fire, quietly, and poured some of the stew, if it could be called that, he had made into the can from the energy drink. "Here.. take it."

Forte ignored Rock's extended hand, working quickly at regaining his composure, prepared to attack again, to make Rock suffer for the humiliation he had caused him.

Rock frowned slightly. This wasn't going good. "c'mon... have some..."

Forte growled lowly, almost resembling Gospel for a moment.

"Please? It's good..."

Forte simply spat at him.

Rock sighed in agitation. Things were starting to look pretty bleak. Then an idea struck him. "Let me take care of you, and when you're better, I promise you a showdown the likes of which you've never seen!" He exclaimed, trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible.

The smallest grin began to pull at the sides of Forte's mouth, and he grabbed the can from Rock's hands, quickly starting in on it.

This tore slightly at Rock. He hated fighting, he wanted to be Forte's friend... And this was the only way for him to help him? To promise him a fight to the death? If only he knew how he felt, how badly he was tearing him up on the inside. He bit his lip slightly, lost slightly in thought.

His train of thought was broken, however when Forte finally spoke up for the first time since he had awakened.

"Your cooking sucks!"

Rock couldn't help but crack a small smile. 'Well... It's a start.'

>>>>>

Forte leaned back against the thick trunk of a tree, a few feet from the smoldering fire. He felt sluggish, drowsy. He needed to rest again soon, but he didn't want to let his guard down around Rock. After all, he WAS his enemy. He wasn't about to let Rock forget it, either. When he had finished his soup, (which wasn't altogether that terrible, albeit suspiciously familiar to that antifreeze Wily had made him drink after he'd chased Rock through a few snow banks once. He'd just wanted to piss Rock off) he'd made sure to throw in one last insult before he finished and chucked the can at Rock's head. " Here's your tip!!" He'd added in with a sneer.

He couldn't help but grin at the memory of a twitching Rock forcing a smile as he picked the can back up calmly, gritting his teeth and rubbing his head as casually as he could manage.

Now Rock was back by the fire, trying to fix some of the damage Forte had done to him by the fire's light.

"Blues? Can you hear me? Blues?" Rock called into the piece of equipment he was working on.

Forte growled. Obviously he was working on re-establishing communication. ' He's trying to leave... He's trying to escape, and avoid our....' Quickly Forte grabbed a nearby stone and threw it at Rock, clocking him in the head with it. "You can phone home after we have our fight!" He hissed at him.

Rock frowned slightly, having had enough of Forte's bad attitude. "Now listen here! If we don't get some help, we both might as well just roll over and di-"

Suddenly Forte was in front of him, on his knees. His fingers dug roughly into his shoulders as he glared down at him, eyes wild in fury. "NO! Now you listen here!" He dug his fingers deeper still into Rock's small, unprotected shoulders, bruising them. "I won't let you escape me again!! If you get away....." He hunched over, giving in to the sharp, searing pains tearing at his chest, releasing his grip on Rock. He let his eyes close, fading into what was becoming an all too familiar darkness.

Rock sat quietly for a few minutes, holding the form resting limply against him. Gently, he eased Forte's naked form onto the ground, covering him with the blanket he'd been using earlier. Curling up next to him, he stared down at the tele-communicator he'd been working at, which had gone out with his teleportation device.

...ock? *fzz* an you..... me?

Rock blinked slightly, recognizing his brother's voice breaking up over the communicator.

am.........ming in? are you th*bzz*....

It was working. He could get help.

... 's Blues! Ro-

Rock reached down slowly and pulled out one of the wire's he'd just painstakingly reattached. ' Sorry, brother.' Sighing slightly, he closed his eyes, to get some well deserved rest, and let his auto repair finish healing his hand. As he began to drift off, he whispered one last thing before falling into a deep sleep, filled with nightmares.

"..... please don't let me get away..."

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