Author's Notes: I've had half of this chapter written for about two months and I just couldn't bring myself to write anymore. But I'm done with a bulk of my school work so I'll probably update more often. Hopefully. I don't freaking know. Don't take any of my promises too seriously. I do still love reviews, however. Just throwing that out there, guys...

A hole for Zelos would have to be about six feet deep, Fang decided. That would keep him from being dug up by any stray animals who were scrounging around for food. Fang would tie Zelos's hair back into a braid, because that seemed befitting for the noble, and clean him up as much as he could. The hole would be six feet long and four feet deep. To keep any persistent animals off the fresh dirt, Fang decided that rocks would be best to place over the grave. It would be best to get started on the hole sooner than later-

Fang shook the welcoming idea off of him. Zelos was not going to die. He just couldn't. However… His gaze slowly went from the food in front of him over to Zelos's small body. He was getting so thin, but he would hardly eat anything at all. Fang was lucky when he got any water into him. They were nearing the first week marker of Zelos being unconscious. He was no doctor, but this was not any good at all.

The redhead's face pulled together in sudden discomfort and his lips parted slowly. Zelos took a deep breath, but it wasn't rushed like it normally was. "Zelos?" Fang got up and approached the redhead at seeing he was stirring in an unusual manner. Kneeling slowly at the older man's side, he turned him onto his back. Zelos's hands weakly reached up to his face, "My eyes," he groaned out.

The teenager dumbly blinked, "Your eyes…?" Zelos's long white fingers began rubbing at the cakey-goo that had formed on his eyelashes. Oh! Of course! Being asleep for a little longer than twelve hours would make your eyes practically glue shut, Fang could only imagine what seven days might do. He took a little bit of water and dampened a rag he had used to clean Zelos's wounds. Dipping the clean corner in water, he began to wipe at Zelos's eyes. The redhead growled something that sounded suspiciously like a curse word and his boney nimble fingers took the rag away from the avian-hybrid. He wiped at his eyes for a moment before letting his hand fall to the ground with exhaustion. Finally, those bright blue eyes opened and looked up at Fang.

Wow, they were glazed over a lot. Frowning, Fang rocked back on his heels, "You've been out for a week. I was getting seriously freaked out."

Zelos smiled- the smug bastard- and let out a hoarse laugh. "I'm well rested, then, I guess," he managed to say with a sand-paper voice.

The texture of that usually bright and confident voice made Fang's face fall. "I set all your broken bones," he said, motioning to the horrible casts he made from wood. He had Zelos's legs and arms tied to the pathetic sticks in different sections. He wasn't sure why he'd done it, but he'd seen it on a movie once.

Hey, he never claimed to be a good nurse.

Zelos's eyes trailed along slowly to his limbs, as though it took a great amount of energy to even make his eyes move. "Oh," was all he said.

"Was that right to do?" Fang was suddenly unsure in his efforts.

"Since I can still move around… It's not very helpful in setting the bones," Zelos scoffed at the teenager. Fang was about to snip something sarcastic at Zelos but the redhead shut his eyes and let out a trembling breath.

"You okay?" Fang frowned.

Zelos let out the breath, "No."

The reply was so honest that it made Fang's chest ache. "You look a lot better than you did before," he tried to cheer Zelos up. The comment wasn't saying much at all in regards to how well Zelos was cheering, but coherency at least let him feel a little less alone.

"Did we…" Zelos opened his eyes after a moment of silence, "Did we win?"

Fang brightened up considerably, "I killed it."

A chuckle escaped pale chapped lips, "Good deal."

"You should rest more, man," Fang suggested.

"We need to move," Zelos changed the subject as his mind gained ground in coherence.

"Excuse me? You can barely even move," Fang stared at him like he had to have misheard Zelos.

"King Dickhead knows where we are, I'm sure," Zelos growled out. Nope, he hadn't been kidding at all. Lucky Fang got to talk another crazy plan out of Zelos's head.

"Well, he doesn't seem to care much. He hasn't done much about it so far," Fang replied, his stubbornness flaring for the first time in a week. Funny how he had managed to find peace with Zelos out of commission. He thought he missed this talkative ass? Fang must have gotten hit in the head during the fight harder than he thought. Zelos was just a walking argument.

"Because he's waiting for me to die," the older man started to struggle to sit up.

"No," the teenager gained ground quickly, and, as soon as he reached Zelos, he shoved him down into the dirt a little roughly. "You are going to fuck all of your wounds up. I'm not going to let you do that. I was this close-" Fang lifted his fingers and separated his index finger and thumb by barely a centimeter, "to starting on digging your graze, Zelos! I was sure you were going to die!"

Zelos's eyebrows were pulled together tightly, but he said nothing underneath Fang's body.

"I can't let you just… just sit up and start being reckless. Not yet," Fang said, a little softer now.

"Get off of me, kid," was the only reply Zelos gave.

Fang eased up off of Zelos's body. "How are you feeling?" he asked him.

The Tethe'allan shut his eyes, "So, you killed the Jabberwocky after it knocked me out, huh?" he ignored Fang's question, "Guess your training was worth something after all. Now, if we can work on your reactionary impulses and impairment consisting of constantly being kidnapped-"

"Zelos, how are you feeling?" Fang tried again.

"-then we'd have something of a little more substance," Zelos coughed in a futile attempt to clear his underused throat before continuing. "The Jabberwocky was a dumb stupid animal. King Dickhead will have to be approached with actual swordplay." Another cough. "I know the idea is strange to you. You probably killed the dragon by whacking away at it with that stamina of yours-"

"Zelos…"

"Not that I'm surprised. You're quite a freak when it comes to all that energy," Zelos took a deep breath after his next cough. He opened his mouth so he could continue his babbling with a voice like sandpaper. Fang frowned as he watched the redhead.

"Zelos, I'll get you a drink," Fang decided.

"I don't want one," Zelos bit out.

"Are you a complete idiot?" Fang snapped angrily at him.

Bright blue(glazed) eyes opened and stared up at Fang. "Excuse you?"

"I asked if you were a complete idiot!" Fang hissed. "You're sick! You're hurt, Zelos! You need to eat- to drink! Why can't you just listen to me?" His fists clenched and he found his feet planting themselves into the ground, his jaw tightening around his words so they came out with a whipping elastic sort of effect.

"Because you're just a damn kid," Zelos replied. His head lulled back and he looked down his nose at Fang. Zelos was the only person who could look down at somebody while on their back practically paralyzed.

"So are you! You're more stubborn than the kid who refuses to admit he was wrong for stealing his sisters doll! You're an absolute mess, Zelos," Fang returned the accusation passionately.

The ex-chosen grew quiet and shut his eyes after a long moment. His shoulders relaxed slightly as he thought and considered the words.

"I'm right and you fucking know it," Fang's voice filled the silence, still tight.

"You tell me to drink and you don't give me anything to drink out of. I'm not a sorcerer. I can't conjure up bottles of water for my personal disposal, Fang. Go get me some," Zelos's eyes reopened and looked at him as though the exchange had never happened. Now he was smug again.

"One day I'm not going to let the fact you ignore our arguments go, Zelos," Fang prophesized. The anger melted away and was replaced by a colder sort of ravenous hatred for Zelos's mannerisms. He had given Zelos a halo when all he did was lie before him and shiver from waves of continuous pain. "There's no progress from just ignoring problems. We're not going to beat King Dickhead if we're too busy at each others necks."

"Chop chop, Fang. You made an offer, now go fulfill it," Zelos's narrowed eyes were the only tell that he had heard Fang's words at all. The lazy snapping fingers negated Fang from keeping eye contact with Zelos for long. Those fingers made the anger spark and flare again.

"You're a pain in the ass, old man," Fang grabbed up the canteen and went to go fill it up for his difficult friend. He didn't turn around to bother looking at Zelos for his reaction. He just hoped he had pissed the sick man off.

When Fang came back, Zelos had fallen asleep.

Instead of awaking him, Fang just let him sleep. The water could wait. If he woke Zelos up, the redhead might start talking again and he didn't think he could listen to him and not punch his lights out.