Believe in Me

Havoc Attacks

It was like they were frozen in place, the dark hallways growing darker with the shadow of the beast ahead of them, the Grey of his nightmares come fully, too painfully realistic, into life. His eyes were less like the glowing rubies they were before and seemed to resemble the color of blood so much deeper, an expression of mindless, animal-like anger focused directly on the three shocked spirits. The air seemed to chill as gravity grew in its pounding force, pressing their bodies, which longed automatically to either run or raise their weapons, to stay completely and utterly still. He didn’t move either for a few seconds, but the second Jack wondered if he was going to, Grey’s horrifyingly intimidating figure started towards them with slow, almost deadly so steps. There was a scraping noise as the edges of the dark, outspread wings dug into the walls they could just barley fit in between, engraving his own rugged mark into the dark stone-like material like it was no less than scissors on paper. His hands hung at his sides but the claws on the edge of his hands flickered despite the lack of light, spreading from fists to an open palm. He was coming closer, closer… why couldn’t they do anything?! They were literally watching death walking directly towards them, the full intent to slaughter them mercilessly in his unforgiving, unblinking glance, the red, horn-like headdress that visibly crowned his raven hair showing just the demon that was behind the once good-hearted man. Grey Loss wasn’t death anymore, he was murder, sadism, all just from those eyes that were somehow dead cold but flaring like an inferno Jack could make out the worst of anything he had ever thought… right in front of them.

Jack was speechless if anything, his heart pounding so hard he wondered if the monster.... if Grey… could hear it, assuming he could as the demon-like appearance left him doubtless of what skill of a beast he wouldn’t end up having by now. Ilia’s hand slowly reached up to grip onto his wrist, the shaking of her warm palm that seemed to contrast with the icy suspenseful chill that engulfed the room being the thing that brought him, if only slightly, from the trance of fear that was locked into each of them. His promise to her flashed into his mind, that Grey would be fine, they would get him out okay… but this, this was NOT fine by any definition of the word, he had no hesitation as he moved forward, no weapons to attack with but the brutally sharp talons that dug from his fingertips, he was just seven feet away now, how did he get here so fast while he was walking so slow?! No, Jack thought, he was panicking, and panicking led to automatic failure, and in this case, death. Grey wasn’t going to stop, it showed dead in his expression, he wouldn’t fall to begging just like he wouldn’t be swayed by human begging when his duty called to take a life, or at least, as much as he showed. But now… this wasn’t Grey Loss anymore, this wasn’t the spirit they had grown to know, grown to see past the cold emotionless wall he would attempt to throw up, this was evil… and the thing that was holding Jack back the most faded away as he caught the lie. This wasn’t the reaper, this was Chaos inside of him, manipulating him. They were fighting Chaos now, and the winter spirit refused to lose, the world was waiting for their help, Ilia had her hopes in him. His grip tightened on the staff he had nearly forgotten about as it hung in his nearly numb palm at his side, his arm raising despite the slight shake it gave off. Tooth looked over at Jack surprised, but he didn’t turn to face her for now, his eyes solidly focused into the depths of the almost red orbs that glared back, the snow haired spirit trying to flare as much determination and bravery as he could despite how little of it he felt inside. His staff felt so fragile compared to those claws, Jack had confidence that it would stay sturdy but with how easily Pitch had snapped it before, he hoped dearly that his prized gift from the Man in the Moon wouldn’t be shredded as he opened his mouth to speak, realizing that Tooth was slowly backing up, pulling Ilia back with her once realizing that the child was also recovering from her shock and could possibly do something irrational again once the understanding would click that her two favorite people were about to have an intense fight. Then within seconds, it started.

Jack felt himself automatically moving with the reflexes he had gratefully been gifted with, and not a moment too soon as a fierce and deadly fast swipe rushed directly at where his neck would’ve been had he not jumped back. In response a heavy blast of his strongest ice rushed from the now glowing staff’s curve, but the beast’s wings closed around him and acted as a form of shield to the freezing material, the ice encasing the edges of the wing’s tips and probably weighing it down, but here that would do no good; there wasn’t enough space or need to fly anyways. Jack jumped forward, realizing at each movement Death made that this was a losing battle, having known from the start that Grey was powerful but not how much so, the thought entering his mind through his conscious that had been quiet up until now: If he was this powerful and Pitch had such an easy time controlling him… No, this wasn’t the time to get discouraged, one wrong move and he was dead on the ground, there was no holding back from the rage-tormented monster that was brutally slashing and tearing at the air that would’ve been Jack’s flesh if he hadn’t moved. There was no rhythm to his strikes which made them so much harder to read, the most the winter spirit could do at most points was get out of the way though occasionally he would be able to find the split second of time to fire the strongest ice he could configure at his opponent, but the demon-like figure wouldn’t even attempt to dodge, just take the hit, shake it off like it was just a cool breeze on a windy day, and lunge forward once more to dive into his deadly strikes.

This went on for what felt like forever and was probably just a matter of minutes, the adrenaline cascading through the boy’s body earning him the teasing of time, the realization that he was only tiring himself out. Though Grey had only managed to sink his claws into Jack’s arm, though not his staff arm thankfully. Despite the stinging pain tearing from his fingers to his shoulder, he didn’t stop though, keeping on. Jack hadn’t even kept in mind anything but the fight, the opponent, his brain clearing so his sole focus would be on the direct swoops of a heavy talon, the hard punch that might come before to attempt to stun him. He was so intently focused that he didn’t notice that the monster didn’t come up to attack him though, rushing right past him in insane speeds. Before Jack snapped out of his combat mind, Ilia gave a cry of pain, the shing of her small daggers drawing but the gruesome sound of claw passing through flesh reaching their ears. Death didn’t even stop to admire his work, sending his other claw forward to finish the job as Ilia had just barely managed to block his claw from  hitting anything vital when it cut across her stomach, a blood streak from her right shoulder to her left side. Her other dagger caught the next claw but his swing was heavy compared to her light weight and she was pushed back, the next hit that would come would be unavoidable. He kicked up at her, slamming his boot into her gut right on the deep wound he had inflicted seconds before on the only one he openly claimed to care about, Ilia’s yelling voice echoing down the hall as his foot made contact and she flew back, slamming into a wall and falling forward, still conscious but held down to the ground. Her arms shook but wouldn’t support her to help her stand, Jack rushed forward to stop the beast but was met with a punch to  the chest that took the air flat out of him and resulted in a loud cracking noise, throwing him back and skidding him along the ground, unable to catch his breath, a scream worthy pain indicating an obvious break in his ribs. Death then turned to Tooth who had flown in front of Ilia with a strong burst of courage, but had no way to defend herself. The fairy’s purple eyes squeezed shut as the claw came down, and Jack’s own eyes shut quickly as the voice of the child, a scream of pain both mentally and physically, of sadness, fear, desperation stabbed through his ears. “GREY STOP!!!”

Jack waited for the noise that would indicate what would no doubt happen, the shout of pain from the tooth fairy he had grown to find as a close friend, the disturbing slicing noise that had rang already twice in his ears from when his arm was slashed and when Ilia was cut down, then the clump of a lifeless or almost so body falling to the cold, unforgiving ground… but none of those sounds came. There was silence… dead silence.

He opened his eyes weakly, almost fearfully so, afraid of what he might see. After all, both him and Ilia were taken down so fast, so easily… The monster was unmoving, before it just.. collapsed, falling to its knees, then forward from there. The horns, the wings, all faded away, the only thing different about the appearance of Grey Loss was his horribly paled, sweat-drawn face and two long gashes from his back, cut through his clothes as well from where the wings probably shoved forcefully through the skin. Ilia’s eyes were heavy, her bloodied chest heaving with a strong will to breathe, panting with adrenaline.. Grey was back… then Jack felt his eyes slowly sliding shut, his vision blurring, and his pained body falling into the darkness of unconsciousness.