Spike Spiegel is totally hot. :]

Christine pulled her arm away from Gage and ignored him.

"You need to stop this now!" she kept pleading with Rene. "Stop bothering me and my family, just leave us ALONE!"

Rene stared down at Christine. She was looking at him with those eyes again. Those eyes of fear, sadness, and plea. All he could do was stand there, and stare at her. He couldn't think of anything else, he was so confused. The thoughts ran rabid in his mind, until finally he screamed into the air, smacked Christine across the face so hard that it knocked her over, and ran off into the night.

"Christine!" Gage exclaimed weakly. He crawled to where she had been knocked to, and managed to half-pull her up with his useful arm, wincing from pain. He got her into a position where he was sort of cradling her. There was a bright red welt the shape of a hand on her face. "Are you okay?"

Christine smiled weakly up at Gage, "I saved you."

"I know you did," Gage replied, returning and equally weak smile. He was acting okay for Christine's sake, but in reality he was hurting pretty bad. His shirt was stained with blood and there was a big gaping wound in his leg. Not to mention his dislocated shoulder. "We should get out of here," he said, cringing slightly as he shifted his weight. "In case he comes back."

"But you're hurt," Christine said frowning. "Badly, how can we move?"

"I'm okay," he insisted, forcing himself to his feet. He was a little shaky, but otherwise his illusion of being "okay" was relatively convincing. "I can still fly." He held his trembling hand out to her.

Christine hesistated, Gage really was hurt, badly. She'd just be extra weight to slow him down. They could always get out of here by foot, Christine could help him, but the fear of Rene coming back scared her so she took his hand.

"Please don't strain yourself Gage," she told him.

"I won't," Gage assured her. He pulled her up and put his arm around her waist. He managed to take off, albeit slower than usual, and it took him a while to make it more than a few feet off the ground. Eventually though, he managed to keep up a decent pace and altitude, although he'd occasionally drop a few feet unexpectedly before recovering the distance.

Through some sheer willpower he managed to get Christine all the way to the outskirts of Ughdarras, where he finally conceded and landed, completely exhausted.

"Let me take you to a hospital," Christine pleaded once they landed. "You need one...now."

Normally Gage would have refused because he knew Christine probably wouldn't be able to get home in time to avoid getting in serious trouble, but he was about ready to pass out. "If it'll...make you...feel better..." he replied faintly.

THIS WILL BE CONTINUED IN UGHDARRAS