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Levi wasn't sure what finally woke him, only that for a moment he had been relieved to stop dreaming - and the next he had been immediately regretful. The pounding in his head, if he'd thought it bad the first time, was almost unbearable the second that his mind began to process anything other than blissful unconsciousness.

"Fuuuuuuck," was the first, groaning words that escaped his lips. The attempt to talk made the pressure in his head worse and he immediately hitched his breath, drawing it back between his teeth in a hiss.

It was another long moment before he began to force himself to focus. For one thing, where the hell was he? The bright, groggy eyes swiveled from the sheets he didn't recognize to the walls around him that remained so unfamiliar. He continued on like this, inconsolably confused, until he saw the woman perched on the edge of the bed. Relief swept through him, even if it did nothing to quell the way his head felt near to bursting.

"Hey, how did -" he grimaced around the volume of his words and lowered his voice to a nearly inaudible whisper, "how did I get here?" Also, where was here exactly?

Despite the pain written in his features and the way the color had drained from his cheeks, he worked up a very weak smile for her. It was the best he could manage when she had so obviously been waiting for him to wake up.

"Aluminite," he provided, helpfully.

The man that always seemed to be there when Domeykite needed someone to rely on. He was definitely going to have to think of some way to thank the man later - which was an interesting thought in and of itself. Levi rarely went out of his way to make people feel appreciated.

Everything else she was saying made less sense to him, though. Two apartments. Nicer beds. Potato soup. It was all very mundane in comparison to what he remembered last before he'd woken up but he couldn't complain. Instead, he simply grabbed the glass of water she offered and raised it to his lips, then downed the pills without much complaint. He did grimace, though that was more a direct effect of having to push himself up on his elbows and sit partially upright. His head did not like that at all.

"It's.. more about sitting up long enough to eat. I can try." Though he was already reclining back into a laying position - apparently trying wasn't going to start until she was back with the soup. As his head touched the cushion of the pillow again, he let his eyes close, finding relief in the blissful dark.

"I feel like she bashed me in the head with a hammer."

"Oh, they're definitely worse."

The smile on his lips was weak as he opened his eyes to look up at her, though he didn't shy from the bright blues staring back down at him. The concern he saw on her face was endearing and he almost laughed at the way she had to stop and breath. She was so upset with him that she was working herself up and despite the weakness in his limbs, he really wanted to hold her. Knowing he couldn't afford to sit up for such trivial things, he settled for leaning his cheek into her touch.

"When I went down, I kind of hoped that I wouldn't."

Not that he wanted to go comatose on Jade's bed, exactly, but he would have been just as happy to die in that ring. Or would have, without seeing the concern in her eyes for him now. If Ceraskia had killed him he never would have seen what it looked like when Jade was worried and never would have known that guilt. He knew it now, though, and it coiled like a snake around his heart. One long, thin hand raised and curled around hers so that he could hold the flat of her palm to his cheek.

"I'm sorry, Jade. I was being reckless. I just.."

He drew a deep breath and blew it out, much like she had, though his was done in an attempt to steady his woozy head. The pain still throbbed like a second heartbeat inside of his skull and he thought for a moment that he might turn up the pills he had just managed to swallow. When he finally managed to open his eyes again, they were a bit watery at the corners but he felt steadier despite it.

"I tried to pretend I wasn't a part of this, you know. For a very long time." As he spoke again, his voice became weaker and raspy. "Then a General dragged me out of my home one night and demanded.. death or loyalty."

For a moment, he'd wanted to choose death. With Xenotime staring down at him, reminding him of all the things that had ever mattered to him and how he might have to give them up, it had seemed appropriate. Let her see his answer. Yet that wasn't the only complicated thing that lay between him and the General he preferred to keep his distance from.

"And you belong to her, Marce."

Levi couldn't blame her for being angry with him. He wouldn't have missed Jade if he had gone out from his repeated head injury but he knew, now, that he would have hurt her more than he was considering. There was no arguing that he was an a** - he knew he was, but in the end he was just being honest with her.

"No, it's not.. make or break." Though he said the words with a sigh.

The mossy-haired man did his best to smile up at her where she stood now, towering over the bed he was sprawled in helplessly, but he knew that he and the smile must have both looked weak and sad. A part of him was flattered that she already considered them to be something she might have chosen if she'd been able to, but another part of him was coming slowly to terms with the idea that he was sharing someone he cared about with a person that made him uneasy. There had been glimmers of the woman the General must have been in Jade's eyes, shining through the cracks when they had sat down for their 'meeting'. He could see why Jade liked her, hell - he'd even liked her, as Porsha, before she showed her true self to him.

It didn't mean he could get rid of that of the uneasy fear he felt every time Xeno's eyes looked at him, though.

"I just wanted you to know that I had.. reasons for not caring. Even if you've proved to me right now that I have a lot of reasons to start to, now." The weak smile had dripped and faded now, leaving behind his weariness over both his muddled mind and the pain throbbing inside of his skull. He almost wished Porsha were around, then, to give him another round of medication. She was probably busy supplying all of the less fortunate tournament participants.

"And I hope you forgive me if there are just some days when I can't deal with her." Some days, meaning he would try if she wanted, despite all his reservations.

"I'm not arguing that there's something to grab.."

The stroke of her fingers was calming. His eyes had started to lull a bit as he struggled to maintain his train of thought, but soon she had reached for something and pressed it to his palm. The buzz of energy trapped between their fingers plus the dim glow that escaped the cage of them, was enough to tell him what it was. Xeno had them on hand - why wouldn't Jade?

As she pressed the kiss to his lips, his fingers clasped tightly around hers, holding her in place with the starseed between them. The other hand found her shirt and curled the fingers, a bit weakly, into the loose fabric so she had to keep eye level with him.

"All I'm saying is that I didn't know that, til right now."

The words were a whisper as his bright eyes searched hers, startlingly clear for all the pain that was throbbing between his eardrums. He knew the starseed in his palm would ease that - just like he knew it would heal some of the damage that had been done. Just like the first time, he felt more guilt for needing it than he probably should have. This is who they were, this was the price of their power and their ability to fight the Senshi presence. The more he put himself in danger, the more he would have to consume civilian lives to maintain it.

The guilt was his sign that he hadn't lost himself, yet.

Despite wanting to close the distance between their lips, he dropped his eyes instead. The weak man loosed his fingers from hers, and from the fabric of her shirt, before he brought the starseed up between them.

"I don't care right now. She was at the match so she would have seen us leave." And she knew where he lived, regardless. If Xeno had wanted to make his recovery a hellish time for him she would have already been there. Now, coincidentally, if she just wanted to see Jade later? Maybe she'd do him the favor of not coming into the room to stress him out. "If you want your bed back though.."

There was a joke in his tone as he parted his lips, at last, and dropped the starseed between them. The energy was as much a shock as it had been the first time and he let his eyes close to ride out the wave, too aware suddenly of his own heartbeat in his head.

After a moment of lying still on the bed, struggling with the wave of energy that gripped him, he finally managed to feebly scoot farther across the bed to let her in. He at once felt much too hot beneath the sheets and suddenly alive with more energy than his body felt it could take. Whatever other people found enjoyable about them was beyond him - but maybe it was always because he was seriously injured when he took them.

"Not even a day out of having my head bashed in and you're already making moves."

The bright eyes opened finally as he rolled a little onto his side and held up the blanket for her, showing her the smirk pulled across his face. The pain had already dulled enough that a bit of color had crept back to his face, and it only kept getting weaker, making most of his nausea and the worst of his blurry vision dissipate. It wasn't an instant fix but then, he was going to be here for a while if Jade had anything to do with it. The smirk faded to something more affectionate as he watched her and realized, thanks to his improved focus, how cute she was.

Damn it, but he already felt like a fool over her.

"It feels like a definite maybe right now."

The man dropped the blankets as her body slid so smoothly between the sheets and the arm holding them fell to drape across her waist instead, dragging her towards him with a strength that he felt slowly returning. It was nothing compared to the power he was used to but at the very least, he didn't feel like his limbs were jelly anymore.

"Oh?" was the only thing he managed before she silenced him with surprise. His eyes caught her shift and he found himself rolling easily onto his back as she moved, becoming part of her motion without effort. It was hard not to smirk up at her as her weight resettled and pinned his hips down into the bed beneath him - and it wasn't dampened in the slightest by her mouth dipping closer to his.

"Am I going to need a safe word?"

The quip was by the lips diving down to find his own. Both of his slender hands slid up her legs and found a grip in her waistline, digging the thumb into the dip of her hip bone and pulling her against his weakened body. The passion in Levi was stirring so effortlessly to her touch and the more the pain in his head ebbed, the more he found himself left wanting. For the first time since his unfortunate series of accidents, he was able to lose himself in the touch of her kiss. There was a needy noise low in his throat as warning before he suddenly sat up, suspended and held a few inches above the mattress. As both arms slid slowly up her torso, he pulled her closer, crushing her against him.

Even that, however, seemed to be too much.

Brief seconds passed before his head grew woozy. The bound muscles loosened at last to let him fall softly back, leaving him beneath her and drawing ragged breaths. It was less pain than weakness, though the knowledge of that had him laughing from a mix of annoyance and self loathing. Well enough to want her and weak enough to do nothing about it - what a curse.

"You wicked siren," he breathed playfully from behind shut eyes, "I'll drown in you."