Dark and Light: Blood Moon - Chapter 8

Authors note: back with the next chapter! Now this is where everything gets SUPER intense well after this one- this ones sort of the calm before the storm. Anyways I hope you enjoy it please please please review it means the world and I love hearin what you think soooooo much! See you in two days!

He heard Tooth gasp behind him, terrified, as the massive wave of moonbeams reached them. He snapped. The sound cleared his mind, and filled him with strength. He didn't know where he got it. He was exhausted- he was cut, battered, beaten and burned- but he forgot all that. Tooth was afraid. No one did that- no one scared the Tooth Fairy. No one hurt the people he cared about! He wouldn't ever let them! They. Would. Not. Hurt! Her!

He raised with both hands high his staff above his head. A burning, unstoppable look blazed behind his eyes. His staff shone almost blindingly, and the temperature dropped for miles around. The red beams flew towards them. With a savage cry of determination, he slammed his staff down.
He shook the ground with the force of the impact. Ice flew from the point his staff hit the ground, leaping up to surround the two of them in a huge, glacial forcefield. It completely encapsulated them within a second, and thickened into an impenetrable barrier in just three more. It formed rather hastily- the surface of the ice was rough and ragged both inside and out, like an iceberg worn by centuries of time. But hopefully it would save them.

The desperate shield had barely formed when moonbeams crashed into it with enough force to shatter rock. It shuddered, rattling like it was going to break- a worrying crunch sounded... but it held.

The staff dropped out of his hands. He crumpled into a heap. The world spun as he swayed where he sat. He tried so hard to stay upright, but he just couldn't. His will abandoned him and he fell to ground, almost losing consciousness. He lay there for a moment, breathing deeply- completely and utterly exhausted. This battle was taking all his strength- he couldn't keep going like this. The ice barrier might be granting both him and Tooth a temporary reprieve... but they knew they had to go back out there eventually. Back into the mad hell of the unbeatable battle, with crazed, corrupted moonbeams scorching them at every turn- coming at them again, and again, and again, and again- he stopped himself. This battle was doing it's best to drive him insane. It was ridiculous what they were trying to do. They must've taken out hundreds of these things by now, but they were still coming by the thousands. But there were no reinforcements coming for them. They'd just slowly get worn down- and then... defeated.

If not for Bunny, they all would've given up by now. But that rabbit had stubbornly drilled determination into every one of them. So they carried on fighting. Never giving up. They couldn't give up hope any more than they could their own respective centres. But this battle was pushing them to their limits- taxing them in every way possible- and, though they kept on fighting, they all secretly despaired at the number of foes before them. This battle just seemed impossible- they were fighting the moon itself. How were they supposed to win against that? It didn't matter, he thought. They had to try.

He gathered all the energy he could- forcing himself to abandon the blissful appeal of sleep- and stirred. His limbs were so stiff, and aching, he could barely move; everything stung; his eyelids just kept drooping; and every single movement cracked an ice scab. But he kept going. One thing spurring him on, though he was constantly threatening to fall into unconsciousness. Tooth.

He struggled to turn and face her- but it was hard. He should've collapsed by now. The physical abuse on every last one of his muscles should've forced him to shut down. But he was used to pain- and next the agony of the... you know, worst times of the hell life, this was bearable. In fact, because of those... times, this was the first time in a long time that he'd actually felt pain. He was so numb to it, it took this level of harm for him to feel pain. He'd crashed into the peak of a mountain once- nothing. He was up on his feet and flying barely a second later.

Perhaps it was a good thing that he was numb to all but the worst of pain, but it felt really unnatural. It wasn't right. But at least, as well as immunity to pain, he'd also learnt how to deal with it- he remembered what to do when agony was trying to rule him. These wounds were in his flesh, rather than his mind, but it was the same principle. Ignore the pain; gather every last part of yourself that you could; pull it together; keep on going.

"Tooth." He called out, voice tight but slowly loosening, as he pushed the pain back. He saw her. She was much closer than he expected, as they'd rolled quite far apart as they hit the ground. He imagined she'd pulled herself a little closer to him after seeing him sag back like that.
"I'm here, Jack." She told him. "Are you alright?" She asked, concerned for him. He shrugged off the question- how he was wasn't important.
"I'm fine." He lied, carelessly. "Are you okay?" He asked her. He could see her relief at his answer, but also a tightness- then he noticed she was wincing.
"Your wing." He remembered, getting up- surprisingly quickly considering his own injuries. If Tooth was hurt, it was worth the pain to check if she was okay.

He probably looked like hed been through hell- which wasn't far from the truth. His red, raw burns, broken ice scars and long, gritty scrapes weren't pretty. Add that to the splintered remnants of the ice armour that had broken off, and he really did look like the war casualty he was. But, he wasn't too bad, considering. Now he had time, he could focus part his mind on freezing or refreezing the burns. What was really eating at him was exhaustion (or so he told himself- but he couldn't tell if he was lying). For now, worry for Tooth was taking care of that, though.

He looked over her wing.
"It's fine." She muttered, gritting her teeth slightly- but after his own lie he didn't know whether to believe it. "I don't have any feeling in my wings- it's just these that sting." She told him, gingerly moving her arm to indicate a particularly nasty burn. That's all it was? He relaxed, relieved. If she wasn't concerned about her wing, there was no reason for him to be- it would probably mend in time. That was good- it meant he could leave the wing be and work on those burns.

He smiled warmly at her, reassuring her everything was going to be fine.
"That's alright." He said, calmly. He remembered, centuries ago, he used to talk to his sister like this whenever she'd scraped her knee, or twisted her ankle. He used the same soothing voice- the same comforting smile. "I've got just the thing." He smiled. It was working- he saw her relaxing, even beginning to smile back.

He placed a cold hand very carefully on the bad burn on her upper arm, and created a soothing cushion of snow between them. He heard her breathe a soft breath of relief, as icy sensation calmed the angry pain of the burn- closing her eyes, as she relaxed and enjoyed the soothing cold. It wouldn't heal her it the same way it did him, but it should relieve her a bit from the pain.

"Are you sure you're alright?" She said, opening her eyes again to look him straight in his.
"Dont worry about me." He told her, putting up a bit of fake bravado. "Takes a lot more than that to stop me." He promised. Then he smirked slightly as a weak joke came to mind. He showed her his forearm- where a burn he'd got on the way to save her was slowly getting covered with a thin film of ice.
"I mean, I'm practically a living ice pack." He said, lightly. He hadn't forgotten they were in the middle of a raging battlefield- but that was all the more reason to keep her spirits up. He couldn't stand to see her upset like this. He was rewarded with a slight chuckle, and he smiled back at her.

The moment was immediately shattered by a dulled boom, as the ice surrounding them shook- taking on a particularly hard charge in the onslaught of endless attacks. The sound of the impact didn't mask the ominous crunch of the ice, though. They looked up at it nervously- a grim reminder of their situation and what awaited them outside. These moonbeams were relentless- they just didn't stop!
"There's so many of them." Tooth muttered, as he moved his attention onto a different burn on her side. He tried not to think about it.

They were safe for now, in this little bubble, but they had to return to this battle sooner or later. They'd have to take up arms and-... Well... he would, anyway...

He bowed his head slightly- idiot! He'd made a bad mistake. He'd unwillingly made Tooth weaponless. In the haste of making the shield, he'd slammed it down on top of her swords (they'd been thrown from her grasp as they hit the ground). The blades were now trapped somewhere underneath the solid mass of ice- and even if they could retrieve them, they'd be broken and bent beyond use.

She was unarmed. That made her vulnerable. She couldn't charge these things and she didn't have a weapon to defend herself- what should he do?! He couldn't keep her under here- it'd break eventually. He could give her a sword of ice, but he had no idea how long it would last- and it would give her frostbite if she held it long enough. What should he do?! What should he do?! He couldn't just leave her! He'd.. he'd stay here! He'd guard her! And if they got past then he'd... he'd... He wracked his brain- desperate for a solution. He'd give her a sword! And, erm, he'd wrap some fabric round the bottom so she didn't get cold- and, and... when it broke, he'd give her a new one. Yes, they'd carry on like that. They'd just keep going and going- he could do this... But he barely had the energy for the snow he was putting on her burns... That didn't matter- he'd find the strength from somewhere. He had to. He couldn't give up. He wouldn't leave her. He couldn't... He didn't know what to do.

This was bad- well, it had always been bad, but now... It suddenly hit them, in the lull of silence under the protection of the ice, the enormity and sheer impossibility of the task ahead. The endless stream of moonbeams- millions of them waited outside to attack them. They couldn't keep going like this. The pile of injuries grew, now matter how quickly they healed- and their energy just kept dropping. It wouldn't be long before they were overwhelmed. But what else could they do but keep fighting.

Jack slowly stood up (he'd covered all the worst of Tooth's burns in snow by now), and went to one side of the dome. Every limb stiff with exhaustion. He placed a hand on the curved wall that surrounded them, and frowned in concentration. Part of the wall's opaque surface cleared into transparency. All he could see was a mass of red. The corrupted comets filling the window- and all his view beyond. They were waiting for them. Pushing back his growing feeling of dread, he searched to get a glimpse of the other Guardians... but he could see nothing. Only red. A harsh reminder of how outnumbered they were.

Things couldn't carry on like this. They had to do something. Surely there had to be something he could do. He knew the others couldn't recover from the burns as quickly as he could- they might be better at avoiding them in the first place, but once the did get burnt, they were slow to heal. They were probably hurt even worse than him- he was mostly healed now, but still utterly spent. He couldn't stand that they were in pain. He had to stop it. He'd do anything.

He stared despairingly out the window... and then he heard Tooth muttering...
"The darkness is too strong."

Everything froze. Perhaps she meant they had to face it differently, but the words hit him harder than any moonbeam charge.

'The darkness is strong'... 'do anything to save them'...

Not that. No, please. He refused- he couldn't even consider it! He wanted to scream, cry or collapse, but somehow he couldn't. He was just frozen with fear.

'Too strong'... 'Do anything'...

... The darkness is strong.

...He knew how to save them.