AN: THIS CHAPTER CONTINUES WHERE 1&2 LEFT OFF SO IF YOU'RE CONFUSED GO BACK AND READ THEM. That out of the way, I finally closed that off.
Roxanne woke up once more, the sun hadn't moved since she last saw it. It took her a second before she remembered what she was doing before. She stood using the tree for support. Looking up at a large branch she had an idea, "Gem Dragon's Roar!" she yelled, releasing a powerful roar, taking the majority of the branch off the tree. She hobbled over to it and grabbed it. She began supporting herself on it, using it as a makeshift crutch. Roxanne took a bit to find the scent she was following before. Following the source of it she went as quickly as possible. She focused on finding Edwyn, ignoring the pain and exhaustion as best she could.
It took her quite a while, but she finally found him, Edwyn was laying against a tree breathing very shallowly. She noticed a wet spot under his shirt. Once she made her way to him she kneeled down. Lifting up his shirt he found an area covered in blood. It was leaking from a torn part of the skin on his side, and below it a large bruised area. The bleeding from the wound seemed as if it hadn't slowed since the wound was opened, she pulled off his shirt and jacket as carefully as possible. She began tearing strips of fabric from his jacket, whispering apologies as she did. She felt bad for ripping his clothes, but it was necessary. She took the strips and wrapped it around the wound as tightly as possible. Realizing it wasn't enough she began tearing the shirt also. She had wrapped the last bit of fabric around the wound and tied it off, when she leaned foward, her head resting on his chest. The pain was growing worse in her leg and the exhaustion she felt finally caught up with her. Feeling better knowing that he was somewhat safe she gave into the exhaustion and fell asleep.
The sun was high in the sky, about noon at a guess, Edwyn wasn't sure how long he had been awake, his mind was muddled from blood loss. He looked down finding the source of the pressure on his chest. Roxanne was asleep, leaning against him. Her clothes were torn and dirty, he noticed the branch laying nearby. There was no sign of injury anywhere he could see, besides the obvious break in her leg. From the deep sleep she was in, he decided to not wake her. Edwyn moved her for a second and stood up, steadying himself against the tree. Once he was steady enough he walked around a bit to stretch his legs, before returning to his sleeping friend. Looking peaceful in her sleep she showed no sign of worry or the pain she had gone through in this recent ordeal. He bent down and picked her up, trying not to disturb her sleep. He thought back to his travels all over Fiore, before going to Magnolia. He remembered this road from then. Once he remembered the way, he set off carrying Roxanne. He walked as briskly as possible while still being gentle enough not to wake her.
They had made it about a mile, before he began slowing down and had to stop. He laid Roxanne down and walked into the forest. He waited quietly for about fifteen minutes before he spotted a deer. "Shadow Make: Spear." he said quietly slamming his hand into his fist. A spear formed in the air and shot through the deer with deadly precision. He carried it back to where he laid down Roxanne and began taking the edible parts and cleaning them. He wandered back into the forest to grab materials for a fire. He once again brought it back to where he laid Roxanne down. He started the fire and began cooking the deer meat. He ate about half of it and saved the rest, incase Roxanne woke up, or if he got hungry again. He looked down at his sleeping friend. He hadn't noticed how beauti- no, now wasn't the time for thinking about this or gawking over her. He got his mind straight, they were in a survival situation and he couldn't spend time doing anything but focusing on getting them out.
He picked her up once more, coughing again reawakening the pain within his side, it burned but he dared not hesitate now. He set off, determined to get back to Magnolia. Once again, by the time he stopped for a bit the sun had moved again in the sky. Bothered by the loss of time he began quickening his pace. Along the road he heard voices in the distance, remembering his earlier experience with the bandits. He hid in the bushes staying as quiet as possible "Over here! I think I smell 'em!" Yelled a voice in the distance. Smelling us? Did the bandits have a dragon slayer among them? No, if they did he wouldn't have been able to fight back at all earlier. The voice was familiar also. He emerged from the bushes, Roxanne still in tow, and yelled, "Natsu! Is that you?" It took a second but there was a reply, "Yea! Hold on, we'll be there soon!" Not wanting to waste any time, he walked in the direction of the voices. The sooner he and Roxanne got back to the guild the better. He eventually saw the group, he recognized Natsu, Lucy, Happy, who had just landed from an aerial search, and Erza. Among them was a short blunette, a tall man with long hair and piercings everywhere, and a shirtless mage with dark hair. He got closer to the group, and began to slow down, the loss of blood finally catching up. Black spots began to enter his vision as his breathing slowed down, his breath becoming shallower and shallower they completely blotted his vision out. Everything went black and silence encompassed him.
Natsu and the shirtless mage ran to catch Roxanne and Edwyn, as he fell unconscious. Natsu barely caught Roxanne in time, yelling, "Gray catch him!" Gray had caught Edwyn right before he hit the ground. "Jesus, what the hell happened to these two?" he asked. The others caught up. Natsu passed Roxanne to Erza kneeling down by Edwyn as Gray gently lowered him. They saw the makeshift bandages made from strips of clothes were completely soaked in blood. Realizing that he had to be taken to Wendy immediately he told the mage with long, dark hair, Gajeel, to take Edwyn. Them both being dragon slayers they were the fastest of the group and could maintain their speed the longest. Natsu took Roxanne once more from Erza and quickly explained that Gajeel and him were gonna run ahead to the guild. Everyone else followed the dragon slayers as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, From another part of the woods a man stood frustrated as he watched his plan go wrong. "I should've taken them when I had the chance," he said to himself, "No matter, there will be plenty more chances."
A little blue-haired girl sighed, wiping sweat from her forehead. "That's about all I can do." she said, wishing she could do more. "You did good Wendy." Mirajane said, reassuring the little dragon slayer. "It's time for Porlyusica to take over now." Wendy took one last glance at the sleeping mage before her, then walked out of the infirmary. Shortly after Wendy left, an old pink-haired woman walked in. She turned to Mirajane and bluntly said, "Leave." Mirajane left without arguing, leaving Porlyusica to her work.
She emerged later, saying to those waiting outside, "They should be fine, just make sure they get lots of rest and don't leave their beds. That Edwyn boy is lucky to be alive, his rib had punctured his lung, and should it have come out the hole in his lungs would've killed him also the loss of blood would've killed him too, had you not gotten him to the guild so quickly." Not letting the mages say anything, she turned and left. "Charming as ever." Gray commented. Meanwhile, inside the infirmary Roxanne had woken up. She, with her dragon slayer ears had heard what she said about Edwyn. She realized that when she fell asleep on him, he was dying, she left him like that unknowingly. Not only that, but he had carried her for miles trying to get her to safety. She owed him greatly, doubting she'd ever be able to repay that debt.
Roxanne woke up later, and looked at the clock on the table by her bed. It was 3 AM, she had a restless sleep. She was worrying about Edwyn and that kept her up. Roxanne's worrying finally got to her and she stood up from her bed, despite what Porlyusica said. She made her way quietly over to Edwyn's bed. She stood over him and looked down. His skin was pale and clammy, not recovered from the blood loss. His face was solemn and serene, escaping pain in a world of dreams. She grabbed his hand, not as warm as usual, and whispered thanks for what he had done, and apologies for what she had done to him unintentionally, he would've said it wasn't her fault and told her not to blame herself if he was awake to do so. For now though, she couldn't help but blame herself. He was dying and she was weak and couldn't stay awake. She wasn't able to get him to safety. "You're supposed to be in bed." said a voice behind her, making her jump with surprise. It was Mirajane, she looked exhausted, but still had her same cheerful smile. "I would get onto you, but who am I to come inbetween you and your love." Mirajane added. Roxanne blushed a bright red and dropped his hand. "I'm not in love!" she yelled at Mirajane. "Whatever you say," the white-haired mage said with a sly smile, "now get back to bed." Roxanne turned and thanked Mirajane for taking care of them during the night, before returning to her bed. Roxanne went back to sleep, still somewhat restless, but she felt better getting it off her chest.
There was shuffling about, and tinkering of metallic instruments. Those noises pertruded the silent shroud around the infirmary. Ignoring them at first, Roxanne covered her head with her pillow, eventually giving up she looked over to see Porlyusica bustling about mixing things, and stopping at times to stand over Edwyn and do things. "How is he?" she asked from her bed. "He's fine, and you'd do well to either go back to sleep or be quiet. I dislike when people bother me." Roxanne laid her head back down, her worries at ease. Edwyn was in good hands. She was quite annoyed, though, that she had to keep sleeping, if it were up to her she'd be up by now and doing something. She was becoming quite restless, all she had was a broken leg, right? She questioned it herself, not knowing what else could have afflicted her without her knowledge. She eventually fell into her own land of dreams.
Time had passed, and with time she was finally allowed to leave the infirmary. Edwyn however, still had not recovered much. His condition kept slipping from bad to worse and back again. Wendy and Porlyusica spent long hours trying to keep him alive and turn his condition around. Roxanne would always be assured that he was fine, whether false optimism or an actual promise, she couldn't tell. Mostly they kept her busy and out of the infirmary. She hadn't visited Edwyn in about a week. She had been going on jobs with either Levy, and team Shadow Gear, or Natsu, Lucy, and whoever else joined them. She had finally been able to get an apartment and have some money of her own, yet she couldn't enjoy this or help but worry about Edwyn. Some nights she spent outside the infirmary, not allowed inside. Some people would come and go, but never would they let her inside. It frustrated her to no end, and to make it worse they wouldn't explain. Waiting outside as usual she mostly just leaned foward and stared at the ground. "Roxanne," Wendy said, popping her little head outside the door, "come on in." Roxanne stood up and stood at the door hesitating, she didn't know what condition he was in or if she wanted to see him an awful condition.
She took a breath and walked inside Porlyusica was gone, most likely resting somewhere, and Wendy stood by Edwyn. Roxanne looked down to see him awake, smiling as he saw her come in. He looked quite a bit better then when she had last seen him, he regained color and his face no longer flushed from the heat of a fever. "What's with the look?" he asked. She realized that she had a face showing worry and relief at the same time. "Nothing, it's just good to see you." she thought for a moment, "Do you know why they kept me out?" "I told them to, it wasn't good of you to be worrying all the time by my bedside, I also told everyone to keep you as busy as possible, hence all the missions you went on." he replied. "If you weren't hospitalized I'd beat the crap out of you. Keeping me away only made me worry worse." she said with an over-exaggerated pout. "Nice to know you care." Edwyn said with a laugh, letting out a small cough. Roxanne began to laugh along then said, turning serious, "When are you getting out?" "Hopefully soon, and when I do you better be ready to go on a mission with me." replied Edwyn grinning. Porlyusica had walked into the room, about to tell Roxanne to leave, no doubt. "Of course, also I think you owe me a dinner because of all the stress and worrying you put me through." "Alright, first thing when I get out." he promised, "Now I think it's time for you to leave, Porlyusica doesn't like working with others around, besides Wendy that it." Roxanne nodded and left soon after. That night she was able to sleep soundly and without worries.
AN: Once again, more notes at the bottom. Anyways, fun fact. This chapter turned out completely different then what I had intended to write, but no matter. I'll have plenty more chances to do what I planned.