Hey readers! I know I didn't updated this fanfiction in a while, but you know, university is demanding a lot of efforts and works.

I translated this chapter from french to english during my english class (we were talking about substainable development...), so I did some english though (yes it was).

I hope you will like it, especially CurlySue777 who tried to translate on her own (or on his own?) but didn't understand well. I tried to make the less mistakes I could so I'm (still) sorry for any mistakes.

Hope you will enjoy :)

CHAPTER 8 : going to hell

"Gabby ? He... He just moved his fingers".

She had finished to take a look at Hermann's injuries. Nothing too serious, just a few cracked ribs. From what she could tell. He had tried to lighten up the mood, saying to Gabby 'I told you so!', but it didn't work. But now, Matt was the most important. He was moving his head slightly from left to right, frowning.

"Matt...", Gabby began with a soft tone. "Matt, open your eyes please".

He stopped moving and concentrated to open his eyes.

"Come on Matt. I know you can do this".

Deep down, he knew this voice. Slowly and laboriously, he succeeded to half-open his eyes. His vision was a blurr, he was just seeing forms, black, yallew and orange everywhere.

"Matt?"

He moved his head, indicatind he wanted to speak.

"Kelly, a huge deep breath, and get the balloon out".

He nodded and obeyed. Matt opened his mouth and closed his eyes because of the pain.

"Birds..."

Seeing he couldn't hold long without oxygen, Kelly replaced the balloon and insuflated air into his lungs. Gabby was face to Hermann.

"Bird? There... There were no birds... Right?"

He shook his head.

"Maybe... That... He associated the K12 to birds? I don't know".

She leaned over Matt, who had his eyes almost wide open.

"Matt, what is it? Birds?"

Kelly did the same operation: a deep breath and get the balloon out.

"On the beach... The sun and... Birds".

He frowned, letting Kelly care for his breathing. Everyone was trying to understand what Matt wanted to say, but nobody understood.

"And... Hallie".

Gabby finally put all the pieces in place. What she thought now was a high possibility.

"Hey, he... He lacked of oxygen at a time?"

"When his heart and his breathing stopped yeah. What a question!"

Gabby shook her head.

"I'm asking because I want to be sure. I think I have an explanation".

"And?"

Gabby took the deepest breath that she could.

"When we are lacking of oxygen, we can have hallucination. But the body stays awake, as to say. If he heard the K12, then his brain thought about something... Pleasant".

"What? Can you explain?"

The two firefighters were completely lost.

"He talked about a beach, so technically sea air. This sea air is associated to purity. He also talked about sun, so heat, this is probably the personification of the flames and the heat associated. For birds..."

"The K12. I understood. His brain took what he had around him to give him a fine scene. It works like hypnosis right?"

"We... We can say that".

"In that case... What about Hallie?"

"It's... Someone he loved. It was his former fiancee. And we don't have to forget that she... She's dead in a fire".

The conversation was interrupted by Tony, who had some stuffs in his hands.

"We have a contact with outside, by the air pocket. Borelli came out there to grab some extra material".

"Alright. What do you have?"

"Uh... Medical stuffs, oxygen tanks, K12 rechargings. Borelli will bring somewhat to stabilize the structure, because they're piercing the concrete. And it can collapse".

"Tell me, it's Vermulen out there, isn't it?" Kelly asked.

"Yeah, but if I understood well, boden is a pain in the ass with him. And, we can't deny he is a good firefighter".

"He's just a coward, but a good firefighter".

Hermann laughed. Tony passed the material to Gabby.

"I will find Borelli to help him. He will need it".

"Be careful Tony".

"Yeah".

Gabby hooked an IV on Matt to keep him hydrated. Desptite his weakness, he took the opportunity to pass his hand on hers. Seeing he did a lot of effort for this, she took his hand and tighened it.

"Hey Matt, I'm here. We're here okay? Keep your strengh".

Kelly gave him a deep breath and took the mask out.

"You... Shouldn't..."

"What?"

Kelly helped him to take some rescue breaths.

"Don't go here... The baby..."

"Hey, hey... The baby is okay, and I came down for you. If I lose the baby, we can make another one. The most important is you. You and only you for now".

For Matt, this words from the woman he loved were hard. She was ready to sacrify their unborn baby to save him.

"You shouldn't... Go down... The smoke..."

"Jimmy and Tony brought some oxygen tanks. It will be alright Matt, I promise".

But Matt didn't want to hear. He was moving his head.

"No... Go up... Please..."

"Matt, for now, I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. We'll discuss later when we'll be out of this hell and you'll be better. But for now, stop moving, stop debatting, ans STOP ALL THIS!"

Gabby was out of his mind. The tone she had startled everyone. Kelly looked at her with care, he knew it wasn't anger, but fear to lose Matt. She was shivering, looking Matt close his eyes, and letting his tears come down his cheeks.

"Matt, look at me".

She tried to wipe the tears despite the mask while he reopened his eyes.

"I didn't say that to argue with you. I'm scared Matt... Scared to death... Scared to lose you. If you aren't with me, how can I raise our child? If I hadn't been come down, and if I had lost you... I wouldn't forgive me, ever. You understand?"

He took some seconds to answer. Of course he understood. But knowing that Gabby was in danger in every moment under the rubble scared him. But I didn't say a word. He closed his eyes again.

"Matt? Open your eyes again okay? I need to know something".

He reopened them and faced Gabby.

"I need to know if you're in pain somewhere".

"Just... My lower back".

"Where exactly on your lower back? Your spine?"

A deep breath later...

"No... My basin".

Gabby palpated the area around his belly to detect something, but she didn't feel anything.

"Matt, are you sure?"

He nodded slightly. She passed her hand on his back and palpated.

"MH!"

Matt tried to scream in pain and struggled.

"Matt, stop moving!"

Gabby grabbed the morphine and injected it in his IV to calm the pain. It took several secondes to take effects, but it relaxed him.

"Gabby, what was it?" Severide asked completely panicking.

"I tried to know where the pain was".

"You found it then".

She shook her head.

"A part of his basin is fractured near the spine. This is causing the pain he has... And that's why he doesn't feel his legs".

"He is paralyzed?!"

"No, no. It's his basin. It can cause a temporary paralysis if the nerves are blocked".

"And... It's bad? I mean..."

"It's a rare fracture, but it's reversible. If he fell on the siege with extreme violence, it's possible. I hope the fracture isn't in proximity with his L5".

"And it will mean what?"

Gabby looked Kelly in the eyes and sighed deeply.

"It will mean that his spine is damaged. Et if this vertebra is damaged, then the paralysis is permanent".