A/N: Thanks to the awesome folks who reviewed my story! Any constructive critiques are much appreciated. By the way, I re-edited the second chapter; no major differences just some flow and grammar corrections, but it does seem better to me. Not up to my crazy standards, le sigh, but better at least. On to the story! I hope no one hates where I cut it off. I love cliffhangers. Mwahahaha!

Chapter Three: That Tend to Decline Rapidly

The pain was blinding. A sharpened shadow should not be able to create such grievous damage, but the three inch wide slash in her lower abdomen disagreed. Loke kneeled over her, teeth grit, as he used his suit jacket to staunch the blood flow. He was also in charge of making sure she kept her eyes open and focused. By annoying her incessantly. But the pain was so bad that sleep sounded like a great escape and she knew being annoyed was a far better alternative to 'the great escape'. She knocked her head back against the wood floor, praying for relief.

"Please don't injure yourself any farther, I only have the two hands you see. And while I love the idea of having my hands all over you, the blood is a bit of a turn off."

She laughed, gasping really, through her teeth while electricity coursed across her stomach. "Didn't I tell you not to make jokes Loke? …But really, are you saying I don't look good in red?"

Rolling his eyes, Loke took a deep breath. It was hard watching Lucy in pain at all, and much harder watching her laying on the floor possibly bleeding to death. 'If I go for help she probably wouldn't bleed out, but she'd be much closer to that possible outcome, and any help would be three hours coming. She'd need Little Wendy to close this wound, or Polyursica at least...'

Instead of working that doozy of a problem, he focused on another. "Lucy, I have to say that when you set your mind to find trouble you do so with gusto. Now, how's your magic? Do you need to recall Sagittarius?"

She closed her eyes to concentrate and felt for the life force of The Archer. He wasn't far away and her magic still felt healthy so she sent him a twinge- a 'come back if you can make it' message. A few moments later, scrambling was heard on the roof.

Loke tensed, fearing enemies, not sure if he could fight and hold her wound but it was Sagittarius who came rushing in. "Hello, hell-Mistress! You've been injured!"

The horse-man rushed to her other side only detouring quickly to be sure that Arlos was truly defeated. Loke nodded a greeting to his friend as an idea began forming. "Sagittarius, I'm going to have Lucy send you back to Spirit World. When you arrive find Virgo, tell her to collect as many first-aid supplies as she can fit in a bag and be ready to bring them when she's summoned."

The Archer nodded, "Please, Loke, take care. I shot a good many, but I couldn't be sure I got them all. Thankfully, I had surprise on my side and the majorities were caught unawares. Mistress, I won't let you down on this errand, I promise. Hello! Goodbye!" With that Lucy let her power return her friend to his home.

"How long sh-should I wait before summoning V-Virgo, Loke?"

He looked down at his mistress, trying not to let the worry show in his eyes. 'She's getting worse really fast. Weakening enough to stutter in such a short amount of time…,' He gingerly squeezed his jacket. The wet squish it made did nothing to ease his worries. "Give it about five minutes, eh Princess? Virgo is fast but I want to make sure she has everything."

"Vir…go, quick like bunny…" she giggled, letting her head fall to the side and her eyes slide shut.

"Princess, you better open those peepers right now! I cannot lose you!" He was panting, furious at her for some reason. Flinging his jacket away, he yanked off his shirt to press into her wound. He shook her, smacked her not-so-very-gently in the face until she groaned and cracked an eye open to glare at him.

"I was just, just resting my eyes." He could fee her eyes roving over his naked chest. "But if I'm gonna go, this is the way to go."

"Princess, how many times do I have to tell you…I love you; so stay with me and then you can have this view as often as you want!" He was sobbing now. Hopefully Virgo was ready because he needed her help now. He found the appropriate key and placed it in her palm. "Please call Virgo? Then I'll let you relax while we take care of you, okay?"

"Open gate of the Maiden, Virgo come forth!" It was faint, but she was holding Virgo's key so the magic worked. Virgo was kneeling next to him with a hefty bag of necessary materials before he knew it and she wasted no time setting to work. "How long has she been bleeding like this?"

Loke winced at the tone in the Maidens voice. "Ten to fifteen minutes? I know-I know, too long, but I couldn't leave her alone and I needed to make sure you had enough time to gather supplies before she called you out, otherwise she would've wasted magic that she really didn't need to waste."

Virgo's shoulders drooped and he realized her hands were shaking as she tried to slice off her Mistress's shirt. "I know how you feel Virgo; we all love her, but have faith okay? Together we can get her stable. You're here right? That means she's not too far gone." He gently removed the Maiden's hands and with as much care as possible he snipped Lucy's shirt in half and then pulled it off her body. Virgo, in the meantime, composed herself by pulling everything out of her bag. When the shirt was fully removed she took over, cleaning the wound.

"Loke, I need you to get the needle and thread it. My hands are still a little shaky. I've already disinfected it, so don't worry about that."

As Loke picked up the thread he felt eyes once again following him. Lucy was once again the culprit, but this time she wasn't feebly making jokes, she looked so sad. Sweat was beading on her forehead and her hands were clenched in the sides of her skirt because of the pain, but she wasn't complaining. In fact, he realized, her expression is the only thing out of place in the picture.

"L-Lucy? I said you could relax not give up so get that look off your face. We're not going to let you down; I promise on my position as Leo the Lion that you'll be up and about in no time."

She nodded slowly but turned her head to look at the ceiling. "That needle is going to hurt. But not as much as what you said a few minutes ago…"

Appalled at the thought of hurting her, he handed Virgo the now completely threaded needle. "What are you talking about Princess? I haven't said anything." He moved to kneel by her head. "What did I do? I'll fix it- I'd never want to hurt you."

Taking her hand in one of his, he used the other to pet her hair out of her face and mop the sweat away with a moist towel that Virgo gave him. The wound was all clean and ready to be sutured. He was immensely grateful to his sister for being there all of a sudden. He'd never be able to get the needlework done if he had to watch Lucy hurt while he did it.

'Now I just need to hold her and keep her distracted.' He squeezed her hand, so small in his own that for a moment he felt like he would crush it by accident.

"Please Luce? What did I do to hurt you?"

"You lied."

His face contorted in confusion. Lied? When? He quickly replayed their conversation in his mind, but couldn't find any discrepancies.

"You lied," she turned her face from his touch, "when you said you loved me. I know it's not true. Maybe as a key mistress, but not like you meant. Not intimately. Not like I want you to love me."

Shocked into silence, he could only stare as tears began to course into her pooled tresses.