When she awoke, she wished she hadn't. Every muscle, every sinew, and every bone screamed in pain as she regained consciousness. Fighting the pain, she pried her eyes open.

And then quickly snapped them shut. Her heart skipped a beat as her mind fluttered around the image she just glimpsed. Everything was stained brown. chunks of blood matted fur were skewed about, and the surrounding trees dripped brown liquid. She could faintly hear the pap pap pap of the droplets falling on to the soggy ground below. The smell of copper assailed her nostrils as she coughed, swallowing, and letting out a small whimper.

Seemingly in response to the whimper, something began to move near her, rustling the leaves as it shifted. Jade froze. Her heart skipping beats again, she quietly reached down to her sylladex, resting her hand on it. She took a deep breath, and listened, waiting. After a few moments, the sound ensued again, and she tensed. Ignoring the pain, she pushed herself up with the hand not on her sylladex, shakily standing on her good leg. She touched her sylladex, pulling out her trusty PaperKind, and swinging it toward the noise, finally popping her eyes open.

Her hand stopped mid air as her wrist twisted up, causing her to drop her weapon. It fell to the ground, landing with a soft "Thump." She twitched, looking at the large hand wrapped around her wrist as it cut off the circulation in her own. The fingers were rather long, but gave off a sense of strength as they bore on her thin bones. Her own light grey skin seemed to glow in comparison to the dark grey skin of the chiseled hand.

She let her eyes wander up the arm, taking quick note of the equally chiseled features of the forearm and bicep, the shoulder unfortunately hidden under a brown stained shirt.

Shirt.

She took a quick glance at the symbol on the shirt, her breath catching in her throat as she notices the deep purple of the curling N. High Blood she thought, her face going pale. I'm screwed! She thought of her own sign. The two circles connected by arching lines marking her mutant blood. Marking her for hatred by all noble bloods. Meeting up with a high blood was almost certain death for her. She couldn't help but scoff slightly at the irony of jumping out of the pot, and landing in the boiling water. Her eyes sank as she bowed her head, staring at her own feet.

She twitched as the High Blood began to speak, the voice deep, husky, and slow. "Motherfuckin' miracle that I found you in time. Any later, and you'da been lusus chow. That wouldn'ta been fun. So... yeah. You sure you should be standing? Your ankle is kinda jutting out in an awkward way, and you're making yourself bleed more with all that paper swingin' an' stuff." Jade glanced at her ankle, inhaling deeply as the adrenaline stopped doing its job, and the pain hit her. She stumbled, unable to keep weight on the ankle any longer. "Mother Fuckin" The High Blood released her wrist, quickly grasping her shoulders to steady her. She stubbornly pulled away, attempting to stand on her good leg, but failed, falling backward.

She never hit the ground. In the blink of an eye, the High Blood was behind her, his arms under hers. He easily caught her, lowering her to the grass under their feet. "See? What did I tell you? Jegus!" He quickly walked to her front, kneeling down, his legs spread out, his arms hanging to the ground. His pants looked rather comfortable, with white spots here and there, some of them stained brown. She took a gander at his face.

It was covered in what looked like paint. She couldn't quite tell since it was smeared back and forth, and muddled with lusus blood. His features were striking though. They seemed strong, but wise. Like he had experienced it all, but still held life in a light manner. His eyes were averted down as he looked inquisitively at her ankle. He bit his lip, staring at the twisted bone. He reached out a hand, and hovered a few inches above her ankle. His hand stopped, and he looked up at her face, frowning. "Uhh... Sorry bout' this..." His hands then moved like Strider, one grasping above her ankle, one grasping below. He pulled and twisted, her bones grinding as they splintered.

She screamed, lifting her good foot and slamming it into his face. He didn't budge, but kept twisting her ankle. She kicked again and again, trying to push him away, screaming all the while.

Oh GOG! Why does he have to torture me? Just kill me now!

Suddenly, the pain subsided. She looked down. Her ankle, still limp, looked much more normal. She blinked, and realized what he was doing.

Oh...

She could feel her face grow hot as it flushed a light green. The High Blood looked up, smiling. "That better?"

Her face grew hotter as she nodded, guilt weighing on her shoulders. "Uhh... Sorry I.. uhh... Kicked you..."

The High Blood laughed "Oh don't worry! Barely hurt! You should stick to guns. You can't hit for shit!" His smile grew wider as she frowned. "No offense, but it's true." He stood, turning away from her, scanning the area. After a few moments, he keeps speaking, walking over to her gun, and picking it up. "Name's Gamzee Makara. I'm a Chill Motherfucker. Woah. Shit. You did a number on this thing. What'd you do, use it as a bat?" He lifted up her gun, or at least the remnants of her gun. The barrel was twisted, the handle's wood shattered, the whole thing covered in green and brown. She couldn't help but flush again at his bulls eye.

"Uhh... Yeah... I ran out of bullets..."

Gamzee stared at her incredulously, his eyes wide. His face twitched for a moment, and then he burst into laughter, falling back, his face glowing a light purple. "You WHAT? You seriously used it as a bat? Against a fucking LUSUS? AHAHA! I'm not quite sure if you're a mother fucking genius, mother fucking brave, or just a mother fucking idiot! That's funny as shit! AHAHAHAHA!" He rolled in the grass, holding his stomach. She stared, shocked and mortified at his response to her last futile attempt at survival.

"I mean, you could have stabbed it with the end or something. But you... you... you tried to play Trollball! HAHA!" He wiped a purple tear from the corner of his eye. "Honk. Sorry. That was mother fucking funny as shit!" He calmed down a bit, sitting up and looking at her. His face seemed puzzled as he scanned her up and down. "How the fuck did you survive for so long? You're super ass weak!"

Jade stared at him incredulously for a moment, and then frowned when she realized he had insulted her. "Now hold on just a minute! I'm not THAT weak. Just a little... unpracticed in the... uhh... hand to hand combat aspect of fighting. But I'm pretty good with a gun." She stuck out her upper lip, crossing her arms in front of her. Gamzee smiled.

"Okay. I believe you. You'll have to show me some time."

"Okay. I will. And you will be amazed!" She smiled back. A few moments of silence passed. Jade coughed in the silence. "Well... I should probably be heading back now. It's getting light." She shifted, rolling onto her side, and pushing herself up. For a few moments, she had forgotten that her ankle was broken. She quickly remembered again as she tumbled back to the ground. Once again, she was in Gamzee's arms.

He snorted. "I swear. You're a helpless little troll." He bent down, wrapping his arm around her waist, lifting her off the ground, and slinging her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, her butt inches from his face, her head hanging to the middle of his back. She grunted.

"Hey! What are you doing?" She tried to push herself up and out of his arms, but his grip was firm.

"You can't walk right now. Where's your hive?" He turned his head back to look at her face, but couldn't quite reach. Instead, he just looked at his shoulder, snorting as she replied reluctantly.

"It should be a few miles north. It's not a very big hive." She tried again to make herself comfortable by pushing her elbows into the ridge of his back, propping her head up on her hands. She began to bounce up and down as he loped foreword, easily traversing the ragged grounds of the forest surrounding her hive. He easily vaulted over fallen trees, juking left and right to dodge oncoming trees. She quickly lost her ability to prop herself up, letting her upper body just bob up and down, back and forth as he traversed miles of land in a matter of minutes.

After what seemed to be only seconds, he jerked to a stop, and in one movement, flipped her off his shoulder, and twisted her around, firmly placing his arms under her shoulders and knees. He nodded his head toward a small abode in the front of the. "Is that your house?"

She looked up. Her face grew pale, her body stiff. She tried to swallow, but her throat was too dry. "Oh shit."

Gamzee silently nodded. "Mother fucking shit."