9) Bleeding Out- Imagine Dragons


All around them the battle raged, the gold of dreamsand and the silver of flashing swords and the colorful smoke of the egg bombs clashing against the darkness of the nightmares. But it all seemed to be in a different world to Jack. Like the backdrop to this moment with him and Tooth: her eyes red with tears and wide with panic, his chest burning with pain and slowly staining crimson.

The sky was turning gray and everything was screaming. He could see in Tooth's eyes the hopelessness sinking in and the emptiness she was already feeling. Her hands flew across his chest like nervous little birds, trying to stop the bleeding. But it wasn't working; Jack was bleeding out. The other Guardians were trying to reach them, but every time they got close another nightmare would engage them in a fight, and all they could do was watch as Jack slowly slipped away.

"Tooth," he gasped, lifting a bloodied hand to her face and stroking her cheek. "I just want you to know, if the last thing that I do is bring you down… I'll bleed out for you."

"No, Jack. Don't talk like that," she cried, pressing his hand closer to her, not caring about the blood that smeared across her skin.

Jack closed his eyes, taking everything in. He counted his sins, everything that he had ever done wrong. "Tooth, I'm sorry… for everything."

Tooth's tears were flowing freely now. "Jack, you have to hold on. Just hold on."

"You tell me to hold on," he gasped out, "But innocence is gone, and what was right seems wrong." He opened his eyes again, blue eyes hazy with pain. "I have no reason to hold on."

"You have me, Jack. You must hold on for me."

"But Tooth, didn't you hear me? I'm bleeding out… for you." The last of his breath fluttered out, and his hand went limp, falling to the ground.

The last thing he saw as the darkness swallowed him up was Tooth's beautiful, pain filled eyes.