"Gabbriel!!"

   "Come on now, don't die on us!"

   "You've got to come back, please, I need you."

   "Idiot! Why did you do that?!"

  "Oh my god, there's. . .so much blood."

   "GABBRIEL!"

Gabbriel didn't bother opening her eyes. They felt too heavy. Her body went like dead weight, but she was laying down. She could tell that much. 

A sharp pain hit her, causing her to let out a pained cry. 

   "Put you hands on the wound!"

   "I. . .I can't. . ."

   "There's too much damage, I can't heal her myself!" 

   "Lets try together!"

The voices died out slowly, blurring into the background like Gabbey wanted to. It was silent for what felt like hours. 

Days. 

Years. 

Until, finally, there was a whisper. The smallest of noise, but her enhanced hearing caught it. There it was again! It was like they were-

   "Gabbey." A soft voice echoed in her ears. It comforted her, her body relaxing as soon as the voice hit her ears. It was so familiar, too. 

   "Gabbey," It cooed again. "It's time to wake up. You've got to choose."

   "Five more minutes," Gabbey mumbled tiredly. 

   "Silly, you don't have five more minutes. Wake up, it's time to choose."

An annoyed groan escaped Gabbey's lips before she blinked her eyes open, fluttering them a bit to get use to the bright light. She laid on the ground, not moving, just staring at the sky. Her red eyes traced the tall grass that cornered her vision before she turned slightly, seeing the grass was a light blue. 

Her eyebrows furrowed as she pushed herself up to sit, her eyes falling open at the scenery around her. 

The grass, like she said, was a light blue that seemed to glow near the dirt. A few trees here and there stood, their leaves a brilliant dark blue. The further the tree went, towards the horizon, the whiter the leaves become. 

And the sky. Holy shit the sky. 

The sky, itself, was just a dark grey that faded into a light grey, pretty cool. But the galaxy is what killed it for Gabbriel.

Not a single cloud was in sight, giving her a full view of the stars and the cosmos. Pink and blue were two different colors all across the sky that slowly blended into one single purple color. Every couple second or so, a shooting star flew by. 

It was like she was in the middle of space, in the middle of the galaxy that only painters can portray. Both the sun and moon were in the sky, but neither one blocked each other out. Gabbey didn't think she could even beginning to describe the sight before her, or the feeling in her. 

As if reading her thoughts, the voice spoke up. "You could describe the sight as Elysian. It means beautiful or creative; divinely inspired. It could also be considered peaceful and perfect."

Red clashed with grey and the first woman Gabbriel ever fell in love with smiled. "Hey there, Gabs."

   "Akemi. . ." Gabbriel murmured softly, pushing herself up to stand. "You're. . .Am I dead?"

   "Not yet," Akemi admitted with a giggle. "Come here. It's been a while."

Akemi walked forward and hugged Gabbriel in a warm embrace. The scent of cherries and honey flooded her senses, the sweet smell putting Gabbey at ease. She hugged back, sinking into the hug as she buried her nose into Akemi's neck. They stayed like that for a while, the gentle breeze flowing around them and sending their hair flying. 

It was peaceful. 

It was perfect. . .

Almost too perfect.

   "What am I doing here?" Gabbey murmured gently. She felt Akemi shiver slightly before she answered. 

   "You're dying, my dear." 

   "I am?"

   "Sadly so," Akemi gave a bitter smile. "But, I'm glad you took my advice. You found a family."

🌹🌹🌹

The two of them sat, side by side, as if it was one last time.  And quite possibly, it was.

   "Is it. . .terrifying?" Gabbey asked softly, her back gently pressing against the tree bark. The meadow around them was so beautiful. The wind moved the grass and trees and sent strands of Gabbey's hair swirling. 

   "No, I don't think so," Akemi answered, staring out into the meadow like Gabbey was. "It's the way it is, you know? Everything must come to an end. It didn't scare me when I died. It was. . .peaceful. Only thing that scared me, besides letting go, was leaving you behind. Knowing what you might do."

Gabbey sighed. "I did make a mess when you died. Even if you didn't turn out to be my mate, I loved you. I still do." 

   "You get to chose, though," Akemi said. "You can either keep fighting, to stay with your brother and new family, or you can let go. Die."

There was another pause of silence before Gabbey spoke again. 

   "See you on the other side, then?"

   "Oh, Gabbey, no," Akemi turned to look Gabbriel straight in her eyes. Red and grey met, and for the first time, Gabbey felt the heart-clenching fear of death. The fear of dying. "There is no other side. This is it."

   "No other side. . ." Gabbriel murmured, eyes trained on Akemi. 

   "No other side." Akemi echoed. The edges around Akemi started to blur, getting hazy as Akemi slowly disappeared. "Just this, limbo. It's all in your head."

  It's all in my head. . .Gabbey thought, turning her head back towards the view. It means Akemi was never really here. . .But does that mean everything she said was a lie?

It hurt her head to think about, and Gabbey was pretty sure she was dying. There's no telling if there is another side, no actual proof, even though she knows she's in limbo. She was dying, probably on the verge of death. 

But didn't Akemi say she get to choose?

Gabbriel didn't know if she really wanted to go back. She loved Gajeel, he was her other half, her twin. But. . .Gabbey could actually be at peace for once. The war inside her head could finally be at rest. 

Depression was an ugly thing that never truly showed itself, but you could always feel it lurking. The dark thoughts and hatred sometimes overwhelmed her, and she had trouble fighting her way out of the sinking darkness. 

There was also. . .

Gajeel's crooked grin as he played his guitar on the stage, his smile growing as Gabbey cheered for him. Even if everyone else was booing. 

Levy's surprise expression whenever Gabbey switched the bingo cards, making Levy win the trip to the spa. The way she tried not to smile at the thought of her own brother, even though Levy's lingering gaze was never hard to find. 

The way Wendy smiled when Gabbey taught her something new. Whether it was a new fighting move that Gabbey showed her, a new way to get over her never-ending anxiety, or even if she was just giving her advice, Wendy always smiled at her. The way her eyes lit up whenever Gabbey gave her the rare compliment or praise. 

Like a daughter looking for her mother's approval. 

Her thoughts drifted. To something that even surprised her. 

They drifted to all those times that Natsu and Gray would argue with each other, no malice of course, but somehow always bringing Gajeel and Gabbriel into it as well. To the time Lucy finally stopped shaking when she was around, and they would talk about their favorite books to read. To when Erza actually gave Gabbriel a piece of her strawberry cake, after seeing her confused expression about the pastry.  

So many memories invaded her mind, both good and bad. 

Her last memory was of Daella, whose expression of awe never left her face when they first traveled through town. The way people went around town, magical and non-magical, left her speechless. She never seen two different kinds of people get along so well with each other. 

Silence filled the area.

Gabbey sighed, her head hitting the bark behind her. "Well, were else am I going to get a view like this?"

🌹🌹🌹

Gajeel remembered not being able to breathe.  The way the air around him couldn't seem to get into his lungs, the way that his throat constricted so tightly, that words didn't escape from him. The way his heart stopped dead as Natsu finished off that stupid old man, leaving Gajeel himself to watch his sister close her eyes. 

He remembered getting out of that damned castle. He remembered carrying her body as close as he could to his chest, wistfully hoping she would just wake up. He remembered getting Gabbriel over to the small building that Lil had set herself up in, hearing the woman gasp in panic and Daella's wail of pain. 

He doesn't know much after that. 

He knew Lil finally stopped the bleeding, Gabbey only stopped breathing once, and he knew they made it through the forest as quick as possible. To get to the train, to get Gabbey back to Magnolia. He knew what everyone was doing.

 But he doesn't really acknowledge it. Not the way his guild members expected him too. 

Instead of cursing out anyone and everyone that came near Gabbey, instead of going on a rampage of destruction, he was quiet. He was still. His red eyes never did leave Gabbey's form, and if they did, it was to growl at someone who tried to take Gabbey out of his sight. 

It was like, instead of loosing one twin, they lost both. 

He didn't know why Wendy and JD couldn't heal her like they could with everyone else, even himself. He caught the words of a "cursed sword", but didn't give much thought into it. 

How could he?

Gajeel didn't know what to do. 

Thankfully, the bleeding didn't start back up or was at least caught by the bandaged. But Gabbey had lost so much blood. . .

   "We're going to have to do a blood transfusion." 

Gajeel blinked. His senses returned to him.

They weren't in the train anymore, in fact, they were in the guild hall's hospital room. The only people that were in the room was himself, Levy, Makarov, Daella, and. . .

   "Who the hell are you?" He grunted out, his voice raspy from lack of use. The woman was old, maybe around Makarov's age, with her pink hair pulled back into an up-do. A nasty scowl was on her face that only deepened at the tone of Gajeel's voice. 

   "The only person that can help your sister now," She snipped. "So watch your tone, boy."

A sneer appeared on Gajeel's face before Levy's gentle hand settled on his arm. His red gaze drew itself away from the old woman to Levy's brown eyes. 

   "This is Porlyusica," Levy said. "She's like Fairy tail's doctor. She can help Gabbriel."

   "And I will," The woman, Porlyusica, huffed. "Like I said. We're going to have to give her some blood, to fight the poison that's in her system. A blood transfusion."

   "I'll donate," Gajeel stated immediately. Porlyusica's stern gaze softened only a little bit.  

   "I didn't expect anyone else. Come here."

That was four days ago. 

Gabbriel didn't get better, but she didn't get any worse. 

Her wound was still prominent, but it was slowly stitching itself back together. Her skin, although normally pale, wasn't as sickly anymore. Her finger twitched yesterday, and Daella - who had been stationed at Gabbey's side and refused to leave - almost broke down into another crying fit. 

As of right now, Pantherlily finally convinced Daella to get out of the room and eat something. She did so reluctantly, only leaving after Gajeel rushed back from his own eating break. Levy had dragged him out of the room to eat. 

Gajeel was better as well. Porlyusica said the poison was out of her system but there was nothing else she could do. Only thing they could do now is wait, and wait did they do. 

   "Come on, Gabbey," Gajeel murmured softly, carefully holding Gabbey's cold hand in his own. "Give us a sign. Something, please?" 

When nothing happened, he placed her arm back to where it rested. ". . .Wendy misses you. She says she can't wait for you to wake up, she's been working on some kind of move you taught her. She also tried to paint you something," He glanced over at the decent painting of Gabbey and Wendy standing in a field of flowers. "It's not bad. Better than the picture Natsu made you."

Next to Wendy's painting was a crude drawing of. . .either a monster with two heads, or two people. 

   "Levy tells me that whenever Gray and Natsu fight now, they always look to where you would usually sit. Like their expecting you to join in or laugh at one of their comebacks. . .Mira still puts a bowel of cherries out on the counter for you. Her and Erza are planning on making a strawberry cake for you, it was Erza's idea. Juvia feels horrible. . .She thinks its her fault that Akemi got passed her, but she got passed all of us. She's keeping our apartment tidy while we're gone. Bought us a new table, too. . ."

Gajeel sighed, closing his eyes tiredly. "You also got some flowers. I don't know who sent them, but they arrived at the doorstep for you."

A bundle of Snowdrop flowers sat in a vase, the white petals gleaming in the dim afternoon light. 

Not knowing what else to say, Gajeel drifted into silence, listening to the chatter in the main hall. He didn't even know if she could actually hear him, but it made him feel a little bit better. Someone was hear, besides Levy and Daella, talking to her. As if she wasn't really in a coma.

   --Gajeel?

His eyes snapped open at the sound of her voice. He studied her face, her body, to see if she was awake. But she was as still as she was whenever he closed his eyes. 

   "Gabbriel?" He said timidly, not knowing if she really did speak. Gabbey didn't reply. He shook his head slightly. "Going crazy, hearing her voice. . ."

  --Gajeel? Where are you?

There it was again! Her voice, it was in his head. Her body didn't move a muscle, just to breath, but she clearly didn't say anything. But how could he hear her voice. . .?

He took a leap. 

  --Gabbriel?

. . .

  --Gajeel!