Disclaimer: I think you get it by now, so this goes for all future chappies. Don't own it, don't own it, don't own it.

"Three!" he shouted, and they jumped off the cliff, plummeting down towards the water for what seemed like an eternity. He had closed his eyes soon after jumping, and the feeling of the water shocked him; thousands of needles burrowed into his skin. The sudden discomfort caused him to gasp, and practically all of his air deserted him. As he swam towards the surface, a shadow fell past him. Looking back, he recognized the shadow to be DG. Without a second's hesitation, he dove after her, just grasping the edge of her jacket. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he struggled toward the surface. With each stroke he completed, he could feel his chest burn more and more due to a lack of oxygen.

His eyelids drooped lower and lower as his movements became sluggish; when it felt as though he would lose his hold on DG, something grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him upward. Air, glorious air was all around him, and he gulped it down like a dehydrated man does with water. Something dragged him along the surface of the water until he felt the solid ground beneath him. Feeling DG being tugged away, he grasped her tighter, refusing to release his companion. "Hey, convict!" Opening his eyes, he saw the face of Cain glaring above him. "Would you let go of her already?"

Seeing that DG was safely lying on the ground as well, he removed his arms from around her. "I'll be right back," said Cain, taking a few steps towards the forest. He stopped suddenly, turning to look back at Glitch. "Don't go anywhere." The last thing he needed was for the head case to go off and get lost. Making his way into the dense wood, he checked to see if that creature was nearby. It had jumped before the rest of them, and by the time they'd come up out of the water, it was nowhere to be seen.

"That was some jump, eh, DG?" Hearing no response from his friend, he looked down at her to see that she had not yet stirred. Hmm...perhaps she was sleeping, for he was tuckered out as well. No, something was wrong, but what was it? There! Why wasn't her chest rising and falling? Was she...dead? No, that couldn't be! Placing his ear against her chest, he was relieved to hear a faint, slow beat. But something was still wrong. She wasn't breathing. Glancing about the area, he realized that Cain was not there. It became obvious to Glitch that it was up to him to do something for his friend.

Panic was upon him, crushing him within its grasp and making him even more scatterbrained. He absentmindedly tugged at a lock of hair, glancing at DG every few seconds. She still wasn't moving! Suddenly something went off in his head, one of those complete thoughts that he rarely experienced; but when he did he felt so proud of himself.

What was that thing he'd learned a long time ago? It was used to help people breathe when they couldn't do that on their own. DDR? No, that was something that DG had told him about. Wait, it was CPR! But what did the letters stand for? Oh yes, ciss (kiss), press, revive. Kneeling on the ground beside her, he gazed uncertainly at her still features. What if he did something wrong? He could hurt her on accident. Oh...why did this have to happen? Slowly each step came to mind, and before he knew it, his lips were pressed to DG's. They felt so soft and—what was he thinking? Now was not the time for those kinds of thoughts...right? No, of course not; never was the time for those thoughts. Never? Well sometimes, but not with DG. That was completely inappropriate. She was his friend, not his...what?

Twice he alternated between breathing and pressing down firmly on her chest, and each time she didn't respond his thoughts became even more frantic. Open your eyes, DG. Please don't die. The first girl I kiss, and she's dead. Is she the first one? No! I'm not kissing her! Bad, Glitch! Bad! You do not think such things! Oh, what do I do next? What am I doing now? Oh yes, breathing. Please open your eyes, DG.

Her eyelids fluttered open, and it was a moment before she understood what was going on. When the realization that Glitch had his lips pressed against hers hit her with full force, her eyes widened in shock and she bolted upright, coughing up water and gasping for air. Her abrupt movement would've thrown Glitch to the ground if Cain hadn't jerked him away only a second before.

"What do you think you're doing?" he shouted.

Sitting on the ground, Glitch began to gesture wildly with his hands between him and DG. "She was—I was only—it's not what—she would have—you should be—oh fudge monkeys." And he lowered his gaze to the ground, sitting there in silence as he drew swirls in the dirt with a stick.

When she was breathing normally again, DG lifted a tentative hand up to her lips, staring wide-eyed at the man who was just kissing her. "She wasn't breathing," he whispered, more to himself than anyone else. And DG understood what had really been happening. He hadn't been kissing her; he had been trying to save her life. Yet, her lips were still tingling. Kneeling beside him, she placed a hand on his shoulder, and he jerked his head up, startled. His eyes were wide with fear. Would she yell at him, maybe even hit him?

"I'm sorry, DG," he whispered before dropping his gaze to the ground again. "It's just that the..." His voice was low, so only she could hear him. "The...the..." and he looked at her, a smile spreading across his face. "The name's Glitch. Have we met—oh DG, it's you!" He saw that she was frowning and said, "What has made you so glum? Smile, it's a beautiful day," he gestured all around, "and the sun is shining and—oh, my goodness, you're soaking wet! And so am I! Did we go for a swim?"

DG sighed and stood up, unsure if her sigh was one of relief or despair. She was thankful that the situation had been taken care of and that Glitch felt better, but she experienced almost a small pang of dejection at the thought that he had just forgotten something like that. Nonetheless, she smiled at him as he draped an arm across her shoulders and led her into a small clearing in the forest. Cain walked ahead of them, gathering up the pile of sticks he had dropped when he saw Glitch doing whatever it was he'd been trying to do to DG. A gasp caught his attention, and he looked to see that Glitch was pointing at something. It was the one that they had freed from the papay, the viewer. It was sitting on a log, facing away from them.

He then began to make a fire, as the kid was starting to shiver in the head case's embrace, sparing a glance at the two every now and then. She looked so confused. Her eyes would gain a fearful appearance and her body would become rigid, as though she was uncomfortable and wished to pull away from Glitch. But just as sudden as this countenance would appear, it would evaporate, replaced by a smiling visage and a body that seemed to melt into her friend's embrace. Growing tired of watching this battle of emotions, Cain directed his attention to the fire-in-progress.

Now stooping over a small flame, he couldn't help but glimpse over at them again. They had separated by then, each one sitting on a different log, but were still conversing. It appeared as though the battle had finally ended; she really needed to learn not to wear her feelings on her sleeve like that. Glitch never took his eyes off of DG, even when her gaze broke away from his. In fact, whenever she glanced away, the look in his eyes changed; it became gentler. He had the expression of a puppy, a small lovesick—Wait! No, that needed to end right now.

DG stood and walked towards the edge of the river, staring out at the sky with her arms crossed. Cain took that chance to walk over to the convict and sit down beside him. The lanky man clumsily removed his coat, almost falling off of the log in the process, and laid it across his lap.

"I know what you're thinking," Cain growled, his voice low enough so that no one else would hear. "And I'm telling you right now to stop it. I don't know why that kid likes hanging around with a convict like you, but for some reason she trusts you. You better get rid of any of those ideas you've got in your head right away, 'cause I'm not afraid to shoot a criminal." As if to strengthen his words, he pulled aside his duster to show his revolver. Glitch's eyes widened and he gave a small intake of breath.

A nervous laugh escaped his lips before he said, "I...I don't know what you mean. I'm not thinking anything."

"Yeah, I'd believe that any other time. But you can't fool me, head case, I know that look." His words shocked himself. It wasn't the content of his words that surprised him, but the fact that he was saying them at all. Why did he care what the man did? Why did he care about the kid? He told himself that he didn't really care at all; he just didn't want any trouble on the way to Central City. "I'm watching you, convict," he growled before standing and leaving to search for more wood.

Glitch stared at the ground, feeling his cheeks and the tips of his ears grow hot with embarrassment. What had he been thinking? It might have been something about DG and how pretty she was, but he just couldn't remember. Even if that's what it had been, he saw no problems with it. So why did he feel so bad? What had he done to make Cain so angry with him? The sound of footsteps roused him from his wonderings and he looked up to see DG returning. He averted his gaze, finding the wet leaves to be quite interesting at that moment.

DG glanced at her friend, wondering why he was blushing. But she cast the thought aside, hoping that it was only a healthy color trying to return his face; he was so very pale. Sitting down, she caught sight of the creature again.

"Hey!" she called to it...him...it. What was it? "You want to come by the fire? Warm up?" The poor thing must have been freezing.

"Should have left me...to die," he moaned despondently. Yes, that was definitely a male's voice. But why did he sound so miserable?

"Oh great," Glitch grumbled, "a basket case." DG ignored the comment and stood, approaching the poor creature. She tentatively reached for his shoulder, and he growled as though to warn her against completing such an action. But she was unafraid, remembering how he had cowered at the sight of Cain's revolver. Just inches away from contact, he whipped around and grabbed her outstretched hand, but held it so gently. Cain had just returned; he and Glitch started towards DG, but she held up a halting hand.

"It's okay. We're all friends here." She experienced a peculiar, but not unpleasant, sensation run up her arm, and she suddenly felt a tad bit hazy in the head. The creature gazed at her, his eyes full of compassion and understanding.

"You are sad," he said glumly. And she was, though her sorrow had been buried in several layers of other emotions ranging from confusion, to joy, to fear, to desire. "Miss your mother...your father." She nodded her head as the sorrow climbed upward to cover everything else within her. How could he possibly know about that, though? She hadn't said a word about her parents since before they found him. And she hadn't even really been thinking about them for once, but deep down the separation was still tearing her apart thread by thread. "They miss you." She believed his words only because she didn't dare think otherwise.

In an attempt to end the flow of tears that would soon fall from her eyes, she said, "My name's DG. What's yours?" Releasing DG's hand, he picked up a stick and spelled out R-A-W in the dirt at his feet.

"Raw," Glitch read aloud. DG looked at him, and their eyes locked. "Well, that's certainly to the point." DG held back a sudden shiver, her pulse quickening. She just about groaned as a wave of nausea washed over her. No, it wasn't quite nausea; it was almost a pleasant nervousness. If she was feeling what she tried to convince herself that she wasn't feeling, then that statement held more truth than any one of her companions knew.

Raw was definitely blunt and to the point.

Reviews please! :)