#his body is struggling to fix itself both the purposeful damage and the sudden lacking of being held together by the magic that was hurting

[inbetweenhours]

something something I will love you regardless of how you’ve changed  because I cannot stop caring about you

anyways so I drew this before I drew the stupid doodle I posted a few days ago, and just kinda saved it. Might colour it probably not I'm not sure.

Something about Milo just,,, not grasping the four years he has been dead because he was,,, y’know dead for it. And theres probably a point where he can’t just brush over things anymore. Life has changed without him, drastically so. Scott isn’t the same as when he died, and he will have to discover he isn’t the same either. Death changes you, whether you want to acknowledge it or not. He misses Maxwell, his loyal companion and hunting dog. He learns unceremoniously that he can’t be near water. His body remembers and he panics at the idea of just a bath. He has trouble drinking sometimes. It’s frustrating and disorienting but they persevere, and they can heal. I believe in them.

[jackarychaoti]

Threads of Fate (Pt. 5)

                                                - Music -

Each resonating flap of the ebony wings drew Onyx higher and higher into the twisted sky, her struggles furthered when she could hear voices calling out for her. Everything had happened so fast that the sudden altitude change had her nearly sick, her weapons slipped from her fingers from the impact of being grabbed, leaving her to struggle in attempt to free herself. With Atlas Communications working again, all they could hear was the static version of what she could clearly hear below.

“ONYX!!!” Jack roared as a hand reared back to summon a large chunk of ice, knowing if he could hit one of those wings, he could slow the ascending creature down enough to give her time - that was until something sliced right through his own body, the tip of the blade showed itself somewhere in the midst of his stomach. His attention drifted from her to glance down at the blood-soaked weaponry, eyebrows furrowed in confusion and pain. The assassin who had struck him yanked the weapon free but that would only cause a slough of problems for the trio.

“JACKARY!” Talon heaved out, catching the blade that came swinging for him next, the pair finding their own struggles down below. His voice caused Onyx to fully stir and glance down, witnessing the quickly piling Mawsworn that had surrounded the pair below.

She had to get back down and help them.

“Your wings are nice, but damn your breath smells like a rotten butthole!” Writhing in the grip, fingers reached up to ram into the eye sockets of the Mawsworn, giving Onyx not only a firm grasp but a balance to hold on when it began to shrill and try to tear its face from her fingers. “Were you a mindless Hozen during your living life?!” Using the commotion, legs kicked up, swinging back and forth until another solid kick was able to hook the back of her knee above herself and around the creature’s throat, locking its neck between her legs. Out of instinct, legs squeezed, her knee slamming hard enough into the crook of the Mawsworn’s neck to snap it instantly, stealing the very life from the being that was keeping them in the air.

The moment the life slipped away, both Onyx and the Mawsworn started a quick descent towards the ground, picking up speed from the gravitational pull back to the floor of the Maw. Within moments, the sensation of falling was replaced with a sudden stop and a loud cracking noise, followed by a pained, voiceless cry of agony. 

The faint noise that escaped Onyx’s lips caused Jack to glance up from his wound he was struggling with, the blurred vision of her fall was clear as the blood splatter staining the ground below. The dragon bolted forward, grabbing the gushing wound as best he could only to drop to his knees and look her over, ears fell back completely for the harsh reality was quickly coming into view. 

Onyx glanced to Jack’s face, holding back the tears that she refused to cry in front of him, the adrenaline and shock in her body enough to keep the pain at bay in that initial moment. She had wanted to joke to him that it wasn’t that mad but the way his eyes were wide and horrified indicated that perhaps it was worse than what she was feeling. When her vision began to drift down towards her lower half, she was cut off with a quick ‘Don’t look at it”.

Onyx’s leg was entirely shattered from the fall and her landing, the bones jagged and pointing in various directions as the blood pooled, the visual didn’t even take into account the internal bleeding that was ticking down her time she had left.

She needed a healer or she wasn’t going to make it.

“Jack...” She tried.

“Shh shh-- let me think, okay? J-Just let me think..!”

“WHAT’S GOING ON OVER THERE?!” Talon screamed out again, nearly skidding to a knee from the pressure another Mawsworn barreling down on him; he refused to let it get anywhere near the two. A human shield.

“She needs a fucking healer!” Jack cried out in a panic, looking around for something... anything he could exchange the gift of life for her... to her. Hands flexed, their claw-like nature showing. He wanted to touch her, comfort her but watching her dying and slipping from his grasp when he knew he could save her...

“Do you remember at the Harbor when I healed that no good pirate?” Jack couldn’t recall if Onyx was there but as she took his shaking hand, she could tell Jackary was also struggling to remain awake, his breathing jagged and pained.

“I... don’t recall...”

“Trust me, alright? This... This-- Just trust me...!” Keeping one hand for her to hold onto, his other moved to rest near his heart briefly, further causing his trembling from a pang of anxiety. Last time he had done this, no good had come of it, could he have honestly willed himself to do it again?

“FIREBREATH?!” Talon called again in concern from a true lack of answer that he could hear.

“KEEP THEM OFF HER! I JUST NEED A LITTLE TIME!” Finding purpose in his words, a soft, warm glow slipped from his chest and towards his fingers, causing a set of Druidic runes to illuminate and hover around his hand. Anyone who knew anything about Emerald Dragons knew they could heal but it was at a costly trade. If they could not find energy to transfer into their desired location, they could use their own. With every passing second, Jackary’s own essence poured into Onyx, reversing the damage and fixing the internal damage. The exchange? He began to pale considerably. eyes dulled even in their luminescent hue.

“J-Jack... What are you doing--” Onyx tried to protest, eyes widened further once it became obvious where Jackary was getting his healing ability from. Hands shoved at him, trying to snap him out of the spell until the connection was severed. It would save Jack’s life in that moment but not without the cost of her leg never fully healing correctly.

“Y-Your lives aren’t up f-for debate...” The dragon heaved but with so much of his own life exerted, the hand that had been previously trading his own energy to heal her moved back to try and put pressure on the wound clean through him. “We have to...”

“TALON!” Onyx called out, summoning the Demon Hunter over until the three of them had coiled together, knowing they were outnumbered. In truth, they had realized that they were going to die there and if they could spend their last few minutes blocked by Talon’s wings to get a moment together, perhaps that would suffice.

Jack heaved out a gargled breath, arms wrapped tightly around Onyx and Talon to hug them close to himself, eyes closed tightly, waiting for that last strike to end their lives together. “I’m sorry...I’m so sorry...”

Somewhere, a demon could feel him, he knew it. Jack had to believe he could feel the message almost as if his Dragonsworn had simply breathed it in and let it settle in his heart.

I’m sorry, I love you.

This was to be the end.

When the final blow rained down on the trio, coiling tendrils of blue erupted from all around Jack’s person, the elegant design of a seed enveloped the group, putting them all within a protective layer of something anyone from Ardenweald would have known effortlessly. Mawsworn struck and swung at the seed, trying to crack the barrier but once it disappeared, so had the fallen within it.

“You always did have a knack of getting yourself in trouble...” A soft, sweet voice sounded from the darkness. 

When Jack had closed his eyes, he’d been in the barren wastelands of The Maw but when he opened them, the soft lights of Ardenweald glimmered above in a hazy view. Sitting in the Queen’s Conservatory, Ysera watched the three start to come to, all three huddled up together in one of the seed pods. When she was greeted with a confused look, Ysera simply offered Jackary a soft, knowing smile. She was his Aspect, after all, but more importantly she was Mother.

Though Ysera would never explain to Jackary why or how the three of them were pulled from The Maw, she had her inner reasonings. A gift, not to Jackary, but to the boy whom she had hurt, the Dragonsworn who had given everything to get them where they were now. He’d sacrificed so much and now it was time to give back. She was sure that Darnath could feel it, the sensation of Jack taking a breath again, the soft assurance of the Aspect to still a rapidly beating heart. 

 Atlas Communications was back online, but more importantly, Jackary, Onyx and Talon were safe and back in Ardenweald, if only worse for the wear. It seemed the threads of fate had been plucked and woven together through many designs of stories to rejoin back as one.

But that is a story for another day.

| - @darnath - @talonwildfire - @just-onyx - |