Day 5: You're the smartest person I know.

Characters/Pairings: Haley; Jake/Rose; Lao Shi

Rating: T

Content warnings: violence; death(s); blood

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~

"I don't know! I don't know! I don't know!"

Rose grabbed Haley by the shoulders, forcing the younger girl to look at her. "Haley, you need to focus. I know you're going into shock so take some deep breaths. You do know, you just need to take it slow. What happened?"

Haley took a deep breath, her wings flapping anxiously behind her, splattering blood on the ground. "There was someone, something in the sky with us! Then, we were on the ground and they were fighting and ... and ... Jake was bleeding and I think Gramps stopped moving and … and … I ran away!"

"Shhh, honey, it's okay," Rose said, trying to fight down her own panic. "Who's we? You and Gramps? You and Jake?"

"All of us," Haley sniffled.

Rose couldn't help the way that her heart stopped and her veins went cold. She was never going to be able to be cool, calm, and confident when Jake was in danger. She wanted to shake Haley and get all the information because Rose had to go now. They were in the middle of the freaking woods on a camping trip that had been such a good idea when Jonathan had proposed family bonding. It could take hours to find them given how fast dragons moved and the fact that Rose couldn't hear a single sound that would indicate a fight.

"Did you see what took you out of the sky?"

Haley shook her head. "Rose, what do we do?"

"You're going to have to take me there."

Admittedly, Rose felt better when she let go of Haley and went to get her Huntstaff. She hated to use it; she hated to remember that she wasn't just a high school student. That being said, with who Jake was and who she was, it was stupid of her to go anywhere without it. Rose felt better armed and with something to do.

Haley was blanching, launching back into her panic attack. "I can't – I can't – I can't! I don't know how to get there or what those things were and I'm going to make it worse because I ran away!"

Rose ran her hands through Haley's hair, snuggling the girl close, and thinking they were wasting time. "It'll be okay. You know how to get there. All you have to do is take me there too. Don't worry about anything else."

Haley pulled out of Rose's grasp. "It's going to hurt!"

Rose gritted her teeth. Haley was just a little girl – a scared, hurt little girl. Rose strove for patience and for kindness but all she could think of was Jake.

"I know, I know, but we've gotta go help Gramps and Jake, right? Strength in numbers."

Haley nodded hesitantly. "Yes, that makes sense."

"So, let's go."

Haley took to the air, needing to see over the canopy of trees to try and get her bearings. Rose followed on foot, trying to keep sight of the young dragon between the leaves of the thick trees. She felt like they'd been going for hours but was probably only minutes in the dark forest and Rose no longer had any sense of where their campsite was or where they were going. Finally, Haley landed, breathing heavily, the wounds on her wings pouring blood.

"I DON'T KNOW!" she shouted. "I'm too dumb to find them! I'm too stupid! I can't help them!"

"Haley!" Rose shook Haley's shoulders, finally losing her temper. "You're the smartest person I know and you are the only person who can get us there to help them. What do you think is going to happen if we don't show up? If Jake was bleeding and Gramps stopped moving, what do you think is happening right now!?"

Haley was openly weeping; Rose would feel bad about it later. Later, when they were all safe and warm around the campfire with smores.

"They're going to die," Haley whispered.

"That's right," Rose said, trying not to feel how true those words could really be. "So, think. Where were you? What could you see?"

Haley nodded and took off into the air again. Rose ran beneath her but, this time, Rose could hear the rumble of a battle going on before they had gone incredibly far. Rose sprinted toward it, trying to make out the movements in the darkness. The bright red of Jake's scales were the most obvious things as he grappled against the shadows. Rose caught sight of Lao Shi's blue scales but, like Haley had said, he wasn't moving. Rose skirted around the edges of the fight, not wanting to distract Jake, and wanting to get to Lao Shi. She was also racking her brain, trying to figure out what these pitch-black things were. Rose knelt down by Lao Shi's side, putting her hand in front of his large nostrils but she felt no puff of breath.

Shit.

Rose stood and bowed her head, before taking her full-sized staff into her hand. Her heart hurt but she knew what her job was and what the only way to honour him was: save his grandchildren.

"Jake!" Rose shouted, hating to distract him but needing him to know she was here. "What's happening?"

Jake spun to the side, putting the bulk of his body between Rose and whatever was happening.

Jake was heaving for breath as he panted, "I don't know. They're sharp and they're vicious and I think there's four of them. I don't even know if I landed a blow."

"Retreat?" Rose asked. "If we're in their nest –"

"Tried. They hunt." Jake's large claws dug into the earth. "Gramps?"

"Sorry." Jake let out a roar, sending fire over the forest.

For a moment, the world was illuminated and Rose could see what they were fighting against. They looked almost like giant bats with long claws at the very end of their wings and large teeth. They were completely black and when Jake's fire faded, Rose was left blinded. What little adjustment she'd had was completely gone. She couldn't see a thing except – purple.

Haley.

Rose wanted to tell Haley to get the hell away. She was too panicked. She was too vulnerable. Rose launched forward and then it was too late. She heard the screams and then she felt the blood coat her, warm and sticky against her bare face. Rose was sure there was some in her mouth and she felt like she was going to throw up. That was so much blood. And the screams had stopped.

Jake jumped over her head, launching himself into the fray again. Rose fell to her knees, crawling around on the dark forest floor until she felt Haley's little hand. Rose pulled the body toward her, leaning her head down, hoping for a breath of life. There was nothing. Rose wanted to cry and scream and mourn but she couldn't. Not yet. Not when there was still Jake to protect. Jake, who was her whole heart. Jake, who would never recover from this, but she had to be there to help him try.

Rose stabbed in front of her, hearing a rustle of the woods. One of the things let out a high-pitched squeal.

"ROSE! Are you okay!?"

"I'm fine! I got a hit!"

Rose could already see Jake's red body bounding toward her, not protecting his back or his vulnerable wings. She could feel the flapping of the bat-creatures around her and she knew where they were going. She launched herself forward with a fury, thinking that she had to save Jake. Nothing mattered if she didn't save Jake. She thought she hit one but hitting one wasn't the same as hitting four and there was a sickening crunch as one of Jake's wings flattened against his body. Rose punched her staff forward again, hitting nothing but air. There was another crunch and a howl from Jake. She was only seeing flashes of his scales between the bodies of the bat-creatures and she was worried about lashing out, just in case she hurt him too.

Jake started to scream, a high-pitched unholy sound that rocked Roes to her core. She knew that it didn't matter if she hit him; she wasn't going to do as much damage as the dog-pile that he was under. She went in swinging but it didn't matter how hard she hit or hacked or stabbed. The creatures didn't seem to take any damage. She made it to the middle of the pack, thinking that if she could just hit their fronts instead of their backs it might make a difference. When she got to Jake, he was nearly collapsed, his wings shredded and half his tail missing. He let out a death rattle, lacking the strength to pick himself up off the ground.

"Come on!" Rose shouted. "Jake, keep fighting!"

Deep down, she knew that he couldn't. Deep down, she knew it was over. Rose collapsed to her knees in front of Jake, taking his head in her lap and bending over him, as if she could protect him. She put her mouth next to his ear.

"I love you, I love you, I love you."

"I love you."

Rose felt the moment that he was gone.

Rose let her tears fall as she sat up and threw her staff as far away from her as she could. If he was gone, she wanted to go too. Rose curled up against his side, closing her eyes, and waiting for the pain to come. She could hear the rustling of the creatures' wings and then she could feel the wind as they started to leave.

"NO!" Rose howled. "NO! Come back and kill me!"

There were departing.

"No," Rose sobbed. "No, please, don't leave me alive!"

But, alive she was, without any of the things that made being alive worth it.