Author's note-Sorry I really really suck at titles! Anyways, Ban might seem a little OOC in this but this is the way I see him reacting to an event like this. This is technically my third fic, but it's the first one I'm publishing, hope you enjoy it!

CRASH AND BURN

Ban looked around him groggily, trying to make the world stop its unnatural spinning. He was slightly confused as to where he was and what had happened to make everything seem so weird.

Suddenly, he recognized his surroundings as the twisted remains of his precious Miss Ladybug, and the memories of what had happened flooded back in. Ban had been driving down a routine stretch of road, not even going too outrageously over the speed limit, when the car had suddenly hit a patch of black ice and spun out. Despite Ban's best efforts to correct, the car had careened off the road, heading straight for a tree. Ban could vaguely remember hearing a scream that wasn't his as the car headed straight for the tree, and he remembered the car rebounding off the tree, and a sickening snap that sounded like it had come from somewhere far too close to him. The only other sound he remembered was the shattering of glass, which meant the windshield was probably busted.

Ban suddenly realized what "scream that wasn't his" meant; it meant that there had been someone else in the car. Ban concentrated, trying to remember who was with him, and his breath caught in his throat as he realized.

"GINJI!" Ban yelled, desperate to find his friend. Ban finally looked up and saw the giant hole in the windshield right in front of the passenger seat, some of the tips of the glass shards coated in blood. The seatbelt on the passenger side had been ripped apart, and there was no airbag on that side.

In a panic, Ban tried to grip his door with his left hand and force it open. Instead, he fell back against his seat, biting back a scream of pain as it registered that the strange snapping sound he heard had been his left arm breaking.

At least it wasn't the right arm, so I can still call on Asclepius if I have to, Ban thought as he twisted to open the door with his unbroken right arm. AS soon as Ban made it out of the twisted wreckage that was his car, he immediately began searching for his missing partner.

"GINJI!!! Ginji, where are you?" Ban screamed desperately. Judging by the hole in the windshield, Ginji must have flown straight forward after the impact, barely missing the tree thanks to the rebound, but Ban had no idea how far his friend may have been launched.

As he continued searching, Ban saw something that made his heart almost stop in his chest. Lying in a small clearing was an unmoving lump of green, blonde, and red.

"GINJI!" Ban yelled, panicking as he ran towards his friend, desperately thinking Please no he can't be dead please not Ginji not him please not Ginji. When he got to his fallen partner, Ban immediately dropped to his knees and began checking Ginji's pulse and injuries, softly calling his partner's name as he worked. Ginji's pulse was very faint, and he was barely breathing. Ban carefully rolled his friend over, his breath catching in his throat as he saw a long gash across Ginji's side that must have happened when the blonde was shot through the windshield.

Ban quickly tore off the bottom of his shirt and bandaged the wound, then checked on the rest of Ginji's injuries. It looked like the young blonde had broken his arm and possibly dislocated his shoulder when he was thrown from the car, and cuts covering his face and limbs. A large bump was swelling on Ginji's forehead that was probably where the blonde had struck the windshield.

"Ginji, wake up, please, just open your eyes," Ban said as he tended to his friend, begging his unconscious partner to wake up. When there was no response, Ban's eyes began filling with tears.

"Please, man, don't do this to me, you can't leave me, there's no 'S' without you, dammit Ginji, open your goddamn eyes!"

As he talked, Ban realized that he had yet to call 911 and get help for his friend. Ban frantically searched for his cell phone and in a panic hit the send button without actually dialing any numbers. The last number he had called was the Honky Tonk, and when Paul picked up, Ban simply explained everything that had happened in a rush, barely pausing for breath. When the explanation finished, Paul was frozen in shock for a few seconds before leaping into action.

"Ban, stay put, I'm gonna get you some help, don't worry, everything is gonna be ok," the café owner said as he hung up and called 911.

Ban hung up, and checked on his partner, who was still unconscious. The blonde's breathing seemed shallower than before, and when Ban checked his friend's pulse, it seemed slower than it had been. "Ginji, come on, stay with me, please, I can't do this without you," Ban said as tears began to slide down his cheeks. The young brunette gripped his partner's hand as if that would anchor him to the world of the living.

When the ambulance arrived under 10 minutes later, Ginji's pulse and breathing were both frighteningly weak. Ban was sitting with his head on his knees, still holding his partner's hand.

Paul had followed the ambulance, and he laid a comforting hand on Ban's shoulders. The young brunette was shaking with quiet sobs, and Paul tried to calm Ban down while paramedics placed Ginji's unconscious form on a stretcher and lifted him into an ambulance.

"Ban, you know how strong Ginji is. He'll be fine, and would be telling you to get yourself taken care of too. Your arm is looking pretty bad." Ban realized, as a medic led him to another ambulance, that he had completely forgotten about his arm in his desperation to save Ginji, and had used it without noticing the pain.

"I'm fine!" Ban snapped, glaring at both Paul and the medic who was helping him. "You should be helping Ginji! He's dying, I know he is, but he can't die, without Ginji there's no 'S' and no 'S' means no Getbackers and I can't lose my best friend!"

Ban's tears began to fall again, and Paul pulled the sobbing brunette into a comforting hug. Ban leaned into the embrace, burying his face in Paul's shoulder and soaking the older man's shirt in tears.

Paul gently guided his young friend to the ambulance. "Ban, listen to me. Ginji would want you to get yourself taken care of too, and you know it. I'm sure that even in the state he's in he's worried about you, and he needs to be focusing on getting better himself, so you need to make sure he has no reason to worry. You've gotta let the medics take care of you," Paul said soothingly as Ban's sobs lessened.

Straightening up and wiping his eyes, Ban let the medic help him into the ambulance. The ride to the hospital was a blur for Ban. He vaguely remembered a medic splinting his arm and putting him in a brace in an attempt to restrict his movement and prevent him injuring his ribs further. What he recalled most was the empty feeling in the back of his mind. Instead of the bright, energetic presence of his partner, Ban could only feel a small presence, horribly weak and fragile, that seemed to be barely holding on.

Once the ambulances arrived at the hospital Ginji was rushed to the emergency room while Ban was taken elsewhere, despite his protests that he wanted to be with his friend. Ban was shuffled to a room and quickly patched up more formally.

Paul arrived as the young man was being released, and the two of them sat together in the waiting room. Other friends of the Getbackers (of Ginji, really, Ban thought) slowly started to fill the waiting room.

As time wore on, Paul glanced over to see Ban's head starting to droop, the adrenaline from the crash finally wearing off, although the young man was fighting to stay awake.

"It's ok if you sleep, Ban," Paul said quietly. "You've been through a lot today, and some rest would do you good."

"But I can't fall asleep til I know Ginji's ok," Ban mumbled. "He's been in there too long."

Paul sighed, an exasperated look on his face. "Ban, it won't make a difference whether you're awake or asleep while he's in surgery. I'll wake you up when someone comes out to tell us about him."

Ban tried to argue, but his body agreed with Paul, and his eyes slid closed before he could answer. Paul smiled fondly at the sleeping brunette using his shoulder as a makeshift pillow. After a while, he turned to the nurse and asked for news about the other half of the retrieval team.

"The young blonde? He's expected to pull through, despite losing a lot of blood. He was fading when they brought him in, but the doctors are fairly certain that he'll make it. If he survives the night, he'll be fine," the nurse told him.

Ban had stirred at the sound of Ginji's name, and he shot to attention when he heard the nurse's news. The tense aura in the waiting room noticeably relaxed as the crowd processed that their friend would probably be fine.

"Can I see him?" Ban asked hopefully. "Only family is allowed to see the patient at the moment," the nurse told him; the two boys looked so different she thought there was no way they could be related.

"But…" Ban started to argue, but Paul interrupted him, telling the nurse "This young man is Ginji's brother, and he's very worried. Naturally he should be allowed to visit his injured brother." "Of course," The nurse replied, slightly taken aback. "However, the rest of you will need to wait until visiting hours. Please follow me, sir."

Ban hastily stood up and trailed after the nurse, shooting Paul a grateful look. Paul smiled and made a "Go on, go on" gesture with his hand.

Once they were outside Ginji's room, the nurse turned to Ban and said "You may go in, but please be quiet. The patient is resting and we don't want you to disturb him."

Ban nodded then slipped through the door without making a sound. Steeling himself for what he would see, Ban turned and silently made his way to Ginji's bedside, examining his partner's sleeping form.

Ginji's head was wrapped in bandages, and his neck was in a brace. More bandages flowed from beneath the brace, covering the rest of his visible torso. Ginji's arms were wrapped in bandages, and his right arm was in a cast. The rest of the blonde's body was covered in blankets and a hospital gown, and Ban was grateful that he didn't have to see any more of the damage to his partner's body; it already hurt more than enough to see what he could.

If it weren't for the fact that he was lying in a hospital bed, barely clinging to life, Ginji's mummy-like appearance would have cracked Ban up. Instead, guilt swept through Ban, pushing away the relief that Ginji was alive and in one piece.

Ban dragged a chair next to his partner's bed and sat, affectionately running his hand through the soft blonde spikes. "Damn, you had me scared for a while, stupid eel," Ban murmured softly. Gripping his sleeping partner's hand gently, Ban settled in to wait for Ginji to wake up.