"Brianne. Call Starlight!" Connor encouraged, but her eyes were focused on Finnick as she answered, "They won't make it in time! Finnick? Can you hear me?"
We all looked at Finnick to see he was fading far too fast. The color in his eyes was dimming swiftly and the blood that pooled beneath him and Brianne's knees was growing when it hadn't been two minutes since he was shot.
Shit. Shit. SHIT!
Brianne's eyes suddenly widened before she turned her head just as Jax cursed and stopped the flowing healing magic to create a shield before us.
Bullets hit the protective surface, but it surely wouldn't last long with how many were shooting at the magically created wall.
"Reinforcements?" I hissed and summoned my sword into my possession. In seconds, my sword was split into three, and I attached them quickly to my back and waist.
The men were all in black, and though there were a few tall pine trees, it wasn't enough to give them complete cover from what I was plotting in my mind.
"Jax! Switch places!" Connor encouraged, but I could already see the strain in his face.
"Connor," I voiced and stopped him from moving. "You can't handle it!"
"I can!" he voiced.
"These bullets aren't normal!"
"That doesn't matter! Finnick is about to die if we don't do something!" he stressed as if he didn't feel my own spike of worry for the man I loved.
I swallowed the lump in my throat as I looked him directly in his eyes, while Jax continued to hold off the constant rounds of bullets and Brianne continued to encourage Finnick to keep fighting death's calling.
"Connor. You won't be able to hold off these pricks for enough time for us to get help." I didn't realize how quiet my voice had dimmed, almost as if it were supposed to be some sort of secret between us, but Connor wasn't going to have any of it.
"I can protect you guys! When have I ever struggled?! We shouldn't be having this conversation now! Finnick's life is on a thin thread and we're debating my skills?!"
He had a point, which made me look over to our opponents. I guaranteed there were at least ten. If I worked swiftly, I could take them out in one solid move. I just needed to make sure everyone here was protected.
Why am I hesitating?
Something wasn't sitting well with me, but this wasn't the time for me to doubt, let alone stall getting help for Finnick.
"Fine! Take over. I'll get rid of them swiftly," I voiced.
Connor merely nodded, though he didn't seem pleased with the delay or my voiced doubts. I couldn't waste time on that anymore.
Centering my magic into my blade, I felt the presence of power within me as it grew in great lengths, but a voice whispered in my head.
A mistake that will reveal one's weakness and will ignite the hourglass of time and space. A silver lining awaits.
What?
I couldn't figure out what any of that meant as I prepared for my swift attack while my worried eyes checked on Finnick. His eyes were closed, which made me realize we were truly out of time as Brianne kept begging him to hold on.
The way her aura of brilliant colors suddenly shifted to black had mine and Jax's attention as Connor took over on the shield and Jax moved closer to Finnick and Brianne.
Jax concentrated swiftly as his eyes briefly closed, and suddenly they opened, flooded with black ink while power coursed through them.
Finnick was taking his last set of breaths, each one struggling to come out while the length between them grew. I watched as Brianne's tearful eyes were at the peak of darkness, seconds before she leaned down to kiss Finnick like it was truly their last time.
Tears prickled into existence in the pits of my eyes as I looked to Jaxsin, who bit his lip. He clapped his hands like he did before, but the flames that ignited weren't of healing gold but oozing black with hints of red. I couldn't understand what he was doing as he began to wrap Finnick like he was some sort of mummy.
From the way Brianne looked at him, I got the impression that she was figuring out something we'd not yet grasped.
"What are you doing?" she ended up questioning as she struggled to rise up on her shaky feet. From the deepness of her voice and absence of gold, orange, and brown from those glassy spheres, I knew without a doubt Marianna was here.
"I'm temporarily pausing his decline by using the darkness within him. Professor Phoenix taught it to me two days ago when I asked about a way to be of value on the battlefield. It can only work with Jax in complete submission to my power. I have a plan but I need you to reverse his decline process by using your dark energy, Marianna."
They shared an intense look before he whispered, "You're capable of anything, my love. You can change this."
She swallowed before she blinked her last set of tears as they rolled down her cheeks. Her attention was diverted to Jaxsin as we awaited any further instructions he had before executing this improvised solution, but then her attention moved to the barrier.
I couldn't help following her gaze as we noticed the large crack that made my heart stop.
"Conno-" His name didn't finish leaving my lips before the magical wall shattered into mini pieces.
Everything moved so swiftly. Marianna moved like a bolt of electricity to standing on the wooden ledge of the balcony before outstretching her arms and conjuring a protective sheet to hold off the onslaught of bullets that seemed to double.
I was already in motion as I heard Jaxsin cursing and calling out to Connor as if he'd lost consciousness. My movements were purely out of instinct as I blurred with surging energy, my eyes on my first target.
My hands moved on their own as I entered a state of survival mode, my training from the last month, the moves, endurance, and heightened ability, surging into motion.
The cries of agony were what motivated me to keep going, my blades moving in a blur as I jolted to enemy after enemy. The bullets were surely coming my way, and I hissed when I felt the pain of them cutting through my flesh, but my friends were all at risk and I wouldn't dare let them suffer the ultimate fate of death.
As I sliced through what I was sure was the last individual, I looked over my shoulder when I sensed racing movement.
There was one man left and he was racing towards the house with two guns in his possession.
"MARIANNA! JAXSIN!" I screamed as I tried to catch the culprit. Even with my swift speed, I was mere seconds short as Marianna turned around to see the man in question raise his gun in her direction.
"Dammit!" I could hear Jaxsin’s curse as he stopped aiding Finnick to jump onto the ledge in an attempt to tug Marianna out of the way, but the shooter merely shifted his stance at the risk of losing his balance. His fingers pulled the trigger three solid times.
Those sounds were nothing like seeing the bullets shoot both of them at the same time - the impact sending both of them back as blood burst outward from their new wounds.
"NO!" I screamed and had the extra push to get to the man as he fell to the ground and tried to turn over. My sword sank into his neck, but not before he pulled the trigger one last time, the double bullet piercing me through the chest.
I gasped but didn't stop in further sinking my sword into his neck until he was gurgling. With one side movement, his neck was half-open, blood splattering everywhere as his body trembled beneath me.