Chapter warnings: violence; on-screen death (s)
Don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now and that my ao3 account is wearealloflegendnow (even though I haven't posted there yet)!
~TLL~
A Clan member fell through the split in the ceiling. He grabbed desperately at Jake, who shoved him down, screaming, into the gas below. There was barely a beat before the Huntsboy collapsed, completely dead. Rose grabbed onto Jake's tail, pulling herself upward so that she was between his shoulders. With a great flap of his wings, Jake pushed them out of Sector 1 and onto the main floor of the Huntsquarters, where the battle would have begun. There was dragon's fire everywhere, the room filling with dark smoke. The windows couldn't open enough for people to fit out of, let alone vent all of the some out, although it was clear that some had died trying to break the glass. Rose could hear the sound of weapons on weapons and, even more horrifyingly, the sounds of gunshots sounding in the distance, where the battle had spread to.
"Fuck me," Jake said.
"Welcome to war," Rose replied grimly.
The half-decimated body of a Huntsgirl was thrown at their feet. Rose leapt from Jake's back and yanked the gruel pack from the girl's body before taking her knife to make sure the girl was truly dead. Rose heard the horrified sound that Jake made as she stepped over the Huntsgirl's body, but Rose didn't turn back to look at him. She couldn't afford to be nice and ask if he was ready for this because he had no choice now. If he wanted freedom, this was the cost. She tried to take a strong step forward but she faltered and Jake had to come up behind her, grabbing her hand to support her.
They could hear the main battle happening toward the south and Rose knew that was the direction that they had to go in. She took an unsteady step forward and nearly collapsed again.
Jake's claws dug desperately into her arm, turning her to him.
"Get out of here," he begged. "Please, go be safe! I need you to be safe!"
Rose would have liked to have been the type of girl that could give in and give the boy everything that he wanted. She would have liked to have been the type of girl who could put her comfort and safety above the general happenings of the world. Rose knew that she would never be that kind of girl. She had done too much and gone too far for her to give up now and let the glory go to someone else. Her veins sang with bloodthirst and she wanted nothing more than to storm into the heart of the final battle, spreading her arms wide and screaming to the Huntsman that she was still alive.
"I'm going in. Are you with me?"
Rose knew that he was and she didn't even wait for the answer before she took another step forward. Her knees didn't buckle this time but they threatened to and only Rose's spite kept her on her feet. With one swift movement, Jake had lifted her, placing her behind his wings. It wasn't a particularly comfortable for her, or she thought, for him, but she kept her balance as he bounded forward, lifting his wings up to soar in above the height of the battle.
Rose let herself indulge in a moment of vanity, thinking about what an image it was: a Huntsclan member and the freed dragon, rushing in with a storm of fire and a staff raised high.
Rose could barely see the dizzying array of faces passing by underneath of her. Lao Shi stood out to her in the way that he lifted his body to be sure that it truly was Jake, where as Haley let herself flap a few feet off the ground before a Clan member tried to drag her back down and she had to twist to bite off their arm. Trixie and Spud wouldn't be here yet – not if everything was going to plan, anyway.
Besides, it wasn't a single one of them that she was looking for.
The Huntsman was apparent, with his wolf's head mask and the look of fury that was in every line of his taut and hulking body.
The red tinge was in the edges of Rose's vision again as her mind narrowed in on her goal.
Kill the Huntsman.
Yes.
She would kill the Huntsman.
Without consulting Jake, Rose let loose a battle cry and threw herself from him, down into the belly of the fray. The Huntsman knew that she was there for him and he met her on the blood-soaked tile, a scythe in his hand. She raked her eyes over him but could see no bulge in his weapons belt that would imply a gun and the thought that he hadn't even secured one for himself almost made her laugh.
Almost, if that scythe wasn't coming for her.
Rose ducked underneath of it, dashing forward to try and slam her spear against his stomach. He moved too quickly and trapped it down with his scythe, the movement bringing them close together.
"You," he growled.
"Who else?" Rose spat.
The warmth of body against body, the cacophony of swan songs, the rub of the familiar Huntsweapon against the palm of her hand, only served one purpose to her: it brought her to life. The aches and the pains fell into the background as she was pulled into this familiar dance with Master. They had graduated from the training ground and it brought Rose some satisfaction to know that he had spent all of that time honing her skills just so that she could be the one to kill him.
"On your left!" Jake shouted and Rose spun around, slamming her spear through the chest of the Huntsgirl who had been right behind her.
She was left weaponless as the Huntsman came up behind her and she ducked down, Jake dealing with the gory business of actually pulling the spear from the dead girl's chest. She snatched the spear from his hand and went back to Master, whose disdain for her was more than evident as he lashed out.
"And with a dragon!" he screamed. "What happened to you?"
"You!" Rose shouted. "You made me into your worst nightmare!"
The Huntsman slashed at her ankles but Rose was protected by Jake, who slammed his foot down in between them, snapping the shaft of the Huntsman's scythe.
"Master!" one of the elite bounded up to him, not realizing the state that Master was in now. "There communications lines are completely down! What do we do?"
"Kill!" the Huntsman said, smacking the elite on the chest, a blow that they didn't seem to be able to take, judging by the way that they crumpled. The Huntsman threw his head back to the ceiling and howled, "KILL!"
The force of the sound seemed to rebound off all the walls, pounding down on both the Huntsclan and the Magical Militia. Rose didn't take the time that anyone else did to absorb it, she threw herself at the Huntsman, tackling for his weapons belt. They both fell under foot of the others, grappling for the upper hand, legs and hands flying. Past and present converged for Rose as they fought for the Huntsman's knife, knowing that only one of them could survive this.
Rose was weak, the amount of gruel she'd had barely enough to keep her alive.
Rose was weak, unable to resist her Master over top of her.
Rose was bloodied, the Huntsman managing to gain control of the blood.
Rose was bloodied, watching her Master leave her room without a backwards glance.
Rose was in control, the knife in her hand now.
Rose was in control again, introducing herself to the leader of the Magical Militia.
"You do not win this fight!" the Huntsman growled in her ear.
The world came in for Rose in sharp focus. Where she was. Why she was here. How this had all happened.
Rose looked into the Huntsman's eyes, feeling the weight of him over top of her. Her back was heated against the floor and she could see the back of Jake's tail to her right, while on her left, the Huntsclan warred with magical creatures and the humans that fought for them. Between them, the blade of the knife hovered. The Huntsman was in control of the handle, trying to drive it down toward her, but Rose was grasping his wrist, channeling every ounce of strength she had into staving him off. If it was the last thing she ever did, she was going to kill the Huntsman.
"Rose!"
Jake's voice caused her to tilt her head, exposing her throat to the Huntsman. A fatal miscalculation, she realized a beat later. She opened her mouth, about to scream with the pain of death that was surely about to come, when into her mouth, dropped the dry crustiness of gruel. Rose bit down on it hard, letting its properties flood through her as she wrapped her fingers tighter around the Huntsman's wrist. There was no fear in his eyes, even as she began to properly fight back. She brought her knee up to between his legs, not caring that it was dirty. All was fair in love and war, after all. She took advantage of his moment of ill-gotten weakness and she twisted the blade from his hand. The knife flew from between the two of them as Rose had hoped it would.
The Huntsman looked after it, almost forlornly, just as Rose had hoped he would.
Here was her moment.
She grabbed the head of the Huntsman's abandoned scythe from under the sweep of Jake's tail and jammed it upward, not caring how it tore open her hand.
The flood of blood over her face was more than Rose could have thought to anticipate and she closed her eyes and sealed her mouth shut until she could push the Huntsman's body from her. She turned onto her side, pushing the scythe blade the entire time until she could open her eyes again and see the Huntsman's body laying there, his head a several inches away from his neck.
Sick satisfaction swept through Rose as she grabbed the top of the Huntsman's head as the thrum of the battle came back into sharp detail. Like the Huntsman had always said: she was too focused.
Struggling to stand, Rose surveyed the battle ground, realizing the Huntsclan was losing: badly. There were already a large group of them that were penned in by a makeshift fence created by the quick hands of magical creatures and being patrolled by Haley. Lao Shi was back-to-back with Jake, the two of them fighting off incomers and then stripping them of their weapons before sending them off to Haley's encampment. Even though Jake hadn't fought in years, let alone with company, there was still an ingrained tandem in the way that he worked with his grandfather.
Jake noticed her on her knees and offered her his hands. She took one of them, unwilling to let go of the Huntsman's head. She clasped Jake's hand tightly in his and then let out a battle cry, hoisting the Huntsman's head high. With a thud, his head fell out of his mask and Rose watched the bland, basic features of the dead man roll across the floor. He wasn't a damn thing anymore and she kicked the head into a skirmish of Clan members and Militia troops. The Clan members turned to her with murderous expressions which gave the magical troops – which Rose recognized as Trixie's squad – the chance to go for the throat.
"Jake! Left!"
Out of the corner of her eye, Rose had seen some of the elite members start flying in. She and Jake lunged as one and Rose felt their movements blend together as they worked as one, even though they had never done this before and hopefully never would again. Rose didn't even have to check if he was by her side and there was something so comforting in knowing that she wasn't alone. It was the type of comradeship that the Clan had always tried to promote but it wasn't something that she had ever felt. Even fighting with the Magical Militia, she had felt largely on her own, bounding off into the night to take out as many people as possible for her own vengeance. It was the first time that she had ever fought with someone who wanted the same thing that she did: freedom.
Now that the Huntsman was dead, there was only one thing left in the world for Rose, and that was to be in charge of herself and to make her own choices. Jake, deprived of those things for so many years, was the only person in her world that could possibly understand.
Two elite members survived and Lao Shi patted them down before they were sent into Haley's encampment, although she wasn't the only guard now. The Clan had lost, thoroughly. The building would still have to be swept in depth but there were piles of dead and a herd of the living and there were very few fights actually happening. What was still going on was more like one Clan member against five or six of the Magical Militia and, one way or another, the Clan went down.
Rose stood, still clinging to the Huntsman's mask. She went to turn to Jake but he was at the side of Lao Shi, Haley next to him. Haley pressed her face to Jake's, giving him the dragon version of a kiss on the cheek. Rose clutched the Huntsman's mask to her chest, feeling like an outsider. She was part of the Magical Militia, but she wasn't. She was a Clan member, but she wasn't. She watched the affection that Lao Shi showered on Jake, now that there was a breath of peace. At least, she had accomplished this. She had accomplished all that she had set out to do. The Huntsman was dead and Jake had his freedom and, true to Jake's promises to her, Rose was still alive too.
"Transform, Jake," Lao Shi said.
"Gramps, I can help," Jake swore but Rose could tell that he was fatigued. "Haley's still helping."
"This is the first time you have moved in two years," Lao Shi reminded Jake gently. "You have done well. I am proud of you. Transform, Jake. Take a breath."
On the far side of Lao Shi, Rose saw the flash of a dragon's transformation, though she could see nothing of Jake but blue sneakers. There was a screech from the Magical Militia troops and Rose watched Spud and Trixie shed their masks and throw themselves at Jake, the sounds of the reunion sparking joy in Rose's heart, though she had to turn away from it and look at her old Clan members, not sure how to deal with the emotions raging inside of her. Like she had told Lao Shi, she was nothing but a weapon, and she had nothing to fight against anymore. Whoever had survived the battle on the Clan's side was sure to be paraded in front of the Dragon Council and what was to become of her now? What was left for her now?
"Rose?"
Rose dropped the Huntsman's mask as she turned to look at Jake, to truly look at him, for the first time. She'd never been completely sure how to picture him, her brain only filling in the vaguest details, such as the dark hair and the eyes that she'd become so familiar with. His hair was shaggier than she had always pictured it being, but she supposed that he hadn't had a haircut in a long time, which also explained the green that was fading from the ends of it. Jake pushed his hair out of his eyes, revealing his cheekbones and a very nice jawline. Jake stretched his hands out to her, wincing as the movement jostled a shoulder injury. Rose reached back out to him, putting her hands into his human ones for the first time. Maybe this was what was left for her now; Jake, and all of the things that they hadn't said in those last seconds in Sector 1.
Jake pulled her into a hug, lifting Rose clear off her feet. Rose laughed at the unexpectedness of it and then she laughed again because it was so unexpected to be able to laugh after what they had all just gone through, but the feeling of freedom was just that intoxicating. Rose threw her arms around Jake's neck, not caring what injuries she jostled for either of them in the process.
Jake put her down on her feet and then he turned slowly for her. "So, what do you think, huh?"
"You're taller than I expected," Rose admitted.
"Jeez, Rose, you always know just what to say to a guy."
Rose laughed at that too because never, not once in her entire life, had she ever known what to say to a man. She weaved on her feet, the exhaustion, the blood loss, and the dehydration piling onto her now that the adrenaline was leaving her. Jake's hand was warm and comforting against her shoulder.
"Come on," he said, "we both need to sit."
Sitting sounded so nice. Rose turned toward him, her gaze sweeping over Spud and Trixie, who looked relatively unscathed, and she felt relieved. She went to look up and Jake again, when a movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Purple – not Haley, but the purple belt of one of the elites, being hoisted up amongst the corralled Huntsclan members. Rose realized what was happening before anyone else had the chance to even realize that something was about to happen. The guns had only had a chance to be given to the elites and one was pointed right at Jake.
"For the Clan!" Gunshot. "For the Master!" Gunshot.
Rose grabbed Jake's hand and swung him around, spinning so that her back was now the one facing the elite's weapon. At the sound of the elite's high, keening voice, the Magical Militia was back in action, but not fast enough.
Pain like Rose had never felt exploded through her, one searing her shoulder and the other crashing through her chest.
Rose's knees gave way and she hit the ground. Around her, the chaos seemed to break out again, but she didn't hear another shot. She could barely tell one sound from another except for the ragged pull of her breathing. There was a black edge to her vision, slowly obscuring the world, and Rose leant into it. Wasn't this what she had always expected? Jake had teased her with his optimism and, for a moment, it had felt so nice to believe him. But, she had done what she was supposed to. She had slit the throat of the Clan. She had saved Jake.
Jake, who was hovering over her, his hands heavy on her chest, trying to staunch the bleeding.
"Rose! Don't you leave me!"
Rose thought blearily that he was crying.
"Rose! Hang on, okay? Don't you leave me!"
Rose didn't think that she was in control of that anymore. She felt dizzy, like she was slipping out of her body. For the first time in her life, she was powerless. She didn't have the strength of will to go on. There was no fight left in her, even though she wanted there to be. She didn't want to leave Jake either. She wanted to stay. She wanted to share in that sunny optimism and the promise of life he'd been able to offer her even in the depths of his own hell. It would be nice, so nice, she thought with a pang, to get to spend a life with Jake.
But she couldn't.
"ROSE!"
Jake, keep me, Rose begged. She wanted to stay with him. She could. Couldn't she?
"Rose, please."
No. She couldn't. it was too far from her control. Too far beyond her. The Huntsclan was dying and so was she.
"Stay with me!"
Goodbye.
