Runner Runner

Chapter 6

Gajeel P.O.V

I groaned as the blackness finally faded and I slowly opened my eyes, my face pressed against a rotten wood floor. The adrenaline was wearing off and paint started shooting through different points in my body, the most painful being the bullet wound in my shoulder. My hip was bruised and throbbing, my head ached and I'm pretty sure my knee was messed up. I peeked down at it and groaned, seeing a piece of glass protruding just above it. I took a deep breath and grabbed it, before quickly ripping it out of my leg. " Fuck," I spat, holding the wound. Thankfully it wasn't deep and the bleeding was light, though my shoulder was a different matter, and I was feeling light headed.

Though that wasn't the most important thing on my mind.

" Levy." I choked out while I lifted my head and looked around, nearly panicking when I didn't see the bluenette. I looked above me towards the roof, and I could see I had fall through two floors as well as the roof. Above me, dangling through the hole in the ceiling,  was a slender pale hand, and it took everything in me to pull myself to my feet. " Levy!" I called out louder but her hand didn't move. I looked around before heading for an old metal staircase at the corner of the room, limping as fast as I could. The metal creaked in protest under my weight but thankfully didn't give out as i made my way to the next floor. As I reached the landing I could see her, sprawled out on her side, her arm that wasn't dangling over the hole was bent back behind her. My heart nearly best out of my chest at her stillness as I went as far as my leg would let me.

I knelt beside her and gently turned her over, earning a groan but her eyes didn't open. She had two shards of glass stuck in her skin, one at her shoulder, and another in her stomach, just above her hip bone. She also had a good sized gash above her right eye that was already starting to bruise. " Levy wake up." I said as I gently patted her cheek a few times. She groaned again, her eyes a crunching tightly before slowly opening. "Gajeel?" her voice was rough and she coughed a little.  She moved to sit up but hissed in pain from the shard in her stomach. " Deep breath." she did as I said and I quickly yet carefully grabbed the shard and pulled. She cried out as I pulled it free and the sound tore at me, but there was still one more. I tore a piece of my shirt and placed it against her stomach, it was pretty deep and the top of her pants were already stained red. " One more time." she bit her lip and took another breath as I pulled the shard from her shoulder. This one wasn't as deep and she mearly whimpered.

With a shakey hand, she reached into one of the many pouches in her belt and pulled out a small white bottle. She tapped out four pills before returning the bottle to the pouch and handing two to me. " Swallow those." she said before swallowing her own. I did as she told before sitting heavily beside her. " What did you just make me take." I asked. " Very strong pain reliever. Once it kicks in it should keep us going till we get there." She said as she struggled to sit up. " There?" I asked as I helped her sit up. " My old manor is close to here. We can hide there and patch ourselves up." I nodded, already feeling it cloud the pain. We sat there for a moment, her leaning weakly against me and I had to shake my head to clear my vision, I was losing too much blood.

" Let's go." she suddenly said, struggling to pull herself up to her feet. I staggered to my feet, swaying slightly as I did. She quickly put an arm around me to steady me. " Come on you big lug, let's get outta here." I grunted as I tried not to lean to much on her while walked, carefully making our way down the metal staircase.  It was a long grudging walk through the dark and deserted streets before we made it to the white district. If we were so messed up, it would have taken maybe five minutes, but as it were, we were both slowly bleeding out. We made it to a rather small white manor and she pulled me up the steps before pushing the door open and stepping into the empty manor.

She pulled me into a room on the side and deposited me onto a rather large white sofa before hurrying out of the room. I grunted as I tried to sit up but gave up, deciding to wait for her to come back. The darkness was slowly pulling me under before she finally came back with a large white case. "Come on big guy, you gotta stay awake." She said as she helped me sit up and I grunted again. She tugged on my shirt and I shrugged it off, hissing slightly through clenched teeth as it pulled on the tender skin.

She sat beside me, opening what turned out to be a first aid kit, and pulling out some cleaning alcohol and a cloth. "This is going to burn." she said quietly as she wet the cloth and pushed my hair out of the way. I held it at my opposite shoulder, gritting my teeth as she began to clean the bullet wound, focusing on a knot in my hair other than the burn. She rummaged around in the kit and pulled out a needle and medical thread, I raised an eyebrow. "You can stitch?" she snorted and I laughed a little. " I'm actually studying under Gildarts. He insisted, incase something happens to him. I usually do emergency runs to deliver serum when he can't go. Lucy and I had been on one of the runs when we got cornered by sniffers. One got her bad and since then, I made sure to learn this."

As she spoke she carefully pulled the string through my skin, but thanks to the medicean from earlier and her talking, I felt little more than a pull in my shoulder. She quickly finished the hole in my back and moved to stitch the hole on the opposite side. She wiped the blood from the gash above her eye out of her face before going back to stitching. She finished quickly, her deft hands tying off the stitches and wiping away any excess blood. "How's the knee?" she asked and I pulled up the leg of my shorts to look. " Gonna hurt for a while but I think I'm good." she nodded before grabbing another clean cloth and soaking it with alcohol before trying to clean her stomach wound.

I snatched the cloth away from her and made her lay back on the couch."With that pink haired idiot as a partner, I had to take a few lessons from Gildarts too." I answered her raised eyebrow and she nodded slightly before hissing through clenched teeth as I cleaned.  " Sorry." I muttered but she shook her head, biting her lip. I got a fresh needle and thread before looking up at her, wanting to mack sure she was ready. She nodded and I quickly but carefully started to stitch the gash.

I finished after a few minutes, much to her obvious relief and helped her sit up. " This may need to be stitched too." I said quietly as I gently touched next to the gash on her forehead, earning a wince. I got a fresh cloth and wiped blood from her face and off the cut so I could get a better look. " Definitely gonna need stitches." I muttered at the torn skin and she groaned slightly. I quickly cleaned the cut before I started stitching, taking it slower on the more sensitive skin. It's gonna scar that pretty face. I thought to myself and I felt my ears heat up slightly.  I saw her face turn pink and it took me a moment to realize, I had said that out loud. Shit. I groaned internally but didn't stop my hands from stitching.

The silence that followed was slightly awkward as I finished, wiping away the left over blood. She stood up once I was finished and grabbed the first aid kit. " Thank you." she said, trying to hide her blush. " Um, there's a shower right through there is you'd like." she said, pointing to the other end of the room before leaving to put up the kit. I pulled off my boots before shuffling towards the shower. Once inside I turned on the warm water and shed what was left of my clothes, grimacing slightly at the sight of the giant bruise that took up most of my hip. I sighed and stepped under the warm stream, groaning as it washed away the grime and relaxed my stiff muscles.

I don't know how long I just stood there, but as the water started to run cold I finished washing and stepped out, retrieving a towel from the sink. A soft knock sounded on the door. " Yeah?" I asked, carefully drying my shoulder. "I have some of my dad's old clothes. I don't know how well they'll fit, but they're clean." Levy called from the other side. I wrapped the towel over my waist and opened the door, her face immediately turning pink. I raised an eyebrow as she shook her head and held out the white clothes. " Thanks." I grumbled amd.she nodded, scurrying from the room. I shrugged and closed the door, pulling the clean pajamas on before going back to the other room.

"Yeah Lu, we're fine." I heard Levy say from the other room and I came in as she returned her communication screen to her belt on the table. " Lucy?" I asked and she nodded. " They made it to Droys about am hour ago. She tried calling earlier but it was while we were out cold." I nodded, my gaze trailing down the white nightgown she was wearing. I mentally slapped myself and cleared my throat. " We should get some sleep, we can head back to the slums tomorrow." She nodded and motioned for me to follow her as she headed up the stairs. I followed as she opened a door on the landing. "You can sleep in here, I'll be right next door." she said before going into the room next door. I fell onto the bed with a groan, and fatigue pulled me into a deep sleep.