A/N: In this chapter, the double hyphen (--) means the POV has changed.

David scrambled to his feet and flew the metre or so between him and the boy. He had a second thought suddenly; he crossed swiftly to Daniel and booted him as hard as he could in the head: Daniel was knocked out for good this time. Then he skidded back to Max's side.

--

Max heard the whistling of the knife a second earlier than David. Without thinking, Max shoved him aside. But then pain exploded in his broken leg and he couldn't throw himself out of the way in time...

thud.

Hot, wet, dark. Max looked down slowly.

"Huh," he said. There was the hilt of the dagger, lodged in his stomach. 

The pain didn't set in for a while- Max was still in shock. He gazed at the dagger and swayed slightly, feeling a little light headed. He slowly put a hand to his stomach: it came away crimson. Blood blossomed from around the knife. Then Max's knees buckled and his legs gave out and he dropped to the floor.

"Max." David's voice sounded very distant.

A moment later- or was it an hour later?- David was beside him. He cupped Max's head in his hands.

"Max!"

David was crying- hot, salty tears falling onto Max's face. Max tried to blink them away but his eyelids wouldn't work. His vision started to fade, blacking out in the corners.

"Max, stay with me. Stay with me."

--

"No, no, nononono..."

David could see Max slipping in and out of consciousness. All that blood...

Where was Steven?

"Steven!!" David screamed. "Help!!"

He looked back at Max, his eyes wide and anxious, breathing heavily. Max was trying to lift his arm but it seemed to be taking a colossal effort.

--

Max raised his trembling arm, groping for David, while hot, wet, shockingly scarlet blood seeped through Max's pyjamas and bubbled from the knifes hilt. Max's hearing was blotting out now, a thin, tinny whining buzz rose and blocked every other sound out. He couldn't hear David anymore. He was saying something, but Max could only see his lips moving.

--

David looked at the knife. He wanted to pull it out- he knew it would be much better to do it now while the pain was muted- than later on and cause Max agony. But he also knew that once that knife was out, the wound would no longer be plugged, and David would have to act fast in getting Max help. 

"Max," he said shakily. "I'm going to take the knife out now. Okay? I'm sorry, this is going to hurt."

Max didn't respond and his head lolled a little, encouraging David to work fast. He took off his jacket and shirt. Then he firmly grasped the dagger and, cringing, pulled it from Max's stomach in one swift movement.

--

Max saw David take hold of the knife through webbed vision. He vaguely had an idea of what he was going to do next, but didn't have the energy of the will power to even attempt to stop him.
Next second, David had pulled the knife free. A bizarrely neat spout of blood squirted out of the stab wound and then began to flow freely, before David slammed a bundle of clothes down onto Max's stomach and pressed down, hard.

Max screamed.

--

David immediately pressed down his jacket and shirt onto the hole in Max's stomach with as much force as he could muster. The ear piercing, gut wrenching shriek escaping Max's lips made him cry out with guilt.

"I'm sorry!" He yelled, crying freely. "I'm sorry!"

Max screamed and screamed until Steven and the Crystal Gems reappeared.

"David! Max!" Steven cried and all three of them ran over.

--

Pain exploded from Max's stomach. It was like white hot knives were piercing every inch of his skin- like fire had burst from every pore of his body. It was agony beyond anything he thought possible and he writhed beneath David's hands. The very air in his lungs seemed to freeze solid with every gasping breath he struggled to take.

He broke out in an icy sweat and his eyelids fluttered with the effort to stay conscious. He clenched his fists, his fingernails digging into his flesh, drawing blood, and howled until his mouth was raw and dry and he tasted metal in the back of his throat. His eyes flew open and tears flooded his cheeks. His very bones were rattling in protest.

He couldn't hear the his own animalistic scream- the only thing he could hear was the blood pumping in his ears.

And then, suddenly, miraculously, the pain was ...ebbing away. It was as though someone had poured warm water over his head, and it seeped over him, down, over his shoulders, his short arms, to the very end of hid fingertips, tingling, and covering his chest, the hole in his stomach, his hips and down over his legs, right down to his toes. Max released a long breath and closed his eyes, welcoming the painless darkness that wrapped him in soft wings.