Chapter Five: When We Fought (Anti Dark AU)

They landed on the left wing, watching the chaos below them. The demons were close, much closer than before, to the monument, and there were remains of both demons and warriors strung about the ground below them. Jack's eyes widened, not wary of death just yet, mostly determined to try an help. Mark was about to call down to them, before their leader glided up, having spotted them land, two spears in one of his glowing hands.

"Take these, and stay close to us! We need to keep our numbers!" he said, tossing the spears to them both before returning to the fight. Mark caught his easily, while Jack stumbled and nearly fell off upon grabbing his, not ready for the weight of the weapon, literally and figuratively. They looked to each other briefly, nodding in silence, before gliding down, feeling ready to take this head on.

They were not ready.

Almost immediately, one of the demons reached out to the older Mark, his extended jaw snapping for his arm, as Mark slashed it away with the spear. Jack, however, wasn't accustomed to the distance of the spear, and swung it like a bat at a demon further away, grabbing it's attention. It shrieked and grew in size, its dark limbs and fangs nearly enveloping him, if Mark hadn't flew in at the right moment to cut it down from its torso. He flew up to Jack as he saw him cower behind his arms, wings twitching in fear.

"Stay with me!" Mark shouted, grasping his shoulders, not aware of an ascending demon from behind him. Jack looked up to his friend, before screaming and thrusting out his spear under Mark's wing, stabbing the demon through the seemingly transparent eye. Mark looked to it as it screeched back to the ground, before smiling back to Jack. "Nice one! Now keep it up!"

"This is bad...I can't do this..!" Jack shuddered, pulling back into himself, eyes welling up.

"Yes you can, just stick by me, we got this!" Mark said, grabbing Jack's spear and gliding down to the ground.

Standing and fighting seemed to be easier on Jack, as concentrating on that and flying made things harder to focus on. Almost immediately, he was chopping them down from left to right, as more seemed to be coming out of nowhere. Mark, however, used his skill in flight to slice those who were going after fellow fighting Guardians. He would distract a cluster of them high enough to get them gathered into one large mass, before hurling the spear down to it, dispersing them into nothingness. His spear pierced the ground, but as he went for it, darting through another collecting mass, another warrior bumped into him, sending him to the ground, hard. Jack spotted this while fighting and quickly ran for him, clearing a path with his own weapon. He made it to his friend and helped him up, looking over to see the leader pick up his spear.

"We need to attack them at the source! Are you still able to fight?" he asked, tossing the spear to Mark, who caught it with one hand, the other holding around his chest.

"Y-Yeah...didn't hurt too bad, just knocked the wind out of me," he responded, standing up straight once again.

"Good. Because I'll need you two especially. I'll distract them and head them off, you two go to where they're coming from, the center of the forest. Destroy their life source, their numbers are getting too much for us!"

"Wait, their what?!" Jack began to ask, before the leader flew off, already blasting a few of them, not strong enough to split them apart, but enough for them to notice and follow after him.

"Come on, I know what he means!" Mark said, swiftly grabbing his wing and pulling him in to the depths of the forest.

"Wait, Mark, please!" Jack protested, trying to pull away. Mark, ignoring him, continued on, only stopping once Jack grabbed around the trunk of a thin tree, holding on tightly, trying to dismiss the pain in his wing as Mark tugged. "Mark!!"

"What?!" Mark finally stopped, turning back to him. "This is what you wanted, right?! To fight?!"

"Yes, but...no!! I..." Jack stammered in fear, gripping the tree tighter. "I...can't fight...I can barely fly, I can't do anything for you guys!"

"Come on, don't do this now! Guardians are dying out there! We need to help them! So stop being a damn crybaby and help!"

Jack turned to look to him, grip still at the tree, tears finally descending from his eyes. Mark spotted this and winced, only now realizing what he had said. He ran a hand through his hair and approached slowly. "Jack, I-"

"Is that what you really think of me?" Jack asked, turning slightly around the tree. "Am I just a burden for you to give a pity friendship to?!"

"That's not what I meant!"

"That's exactly what you meant!" He shouted, body now fully away from the tree, fists formed in anger. "You only stayed friends with me because you felt obligated! Ever since you knocked me off that spot, you felt like the only way to make me feel any better was to try and make me better, so the next time I fall, I won't need you to help me!"

"...Jack..." Mark muttered, trying to approach slowly.

"No!" Jack backed away, gripping his head. "I'm not going to be a burden on your life anymore! You're better at everything than I am! Just go fight and save the day already why don't you?! I'll leave you alone...let's hope my weak wings can bring me back home, but it's no big deal if not!" he shouted, before turning around and flapping his wings hard to ascend away from the battle.

Mark stood for a moment, taking in every moment, feeling his chest hurt. He looked back up to him briefly, before hearing the shrieking of the demons behind him. He looked to them, then once again to Jack, flying further from view.

"Well fine, then!! I will! And don't expect me to recommend you to the Fleet!" he growled, gripping his spear and flying towards the center.

***

The leader did his very best to distract the demons, but even he was getting overwhelmed. What's keeping those two?! He thought, darting about gnawing, black fangs and slashing claws.

Mark finally made it to the center, pausing to look to what was keeping the mass alive. An obsidian-black sphere was spinning, hovering, within a violet force field, the demons of darkness spewing through it in large numbers. They burst out like an infant, black bat onto the ground, growing rapidly, before flying up to join the others. He ran in and easily slashed through the spawning young, before hitting the source with his spear, only to have it knocked back. Their defenses were too strong, even with their blessed weaponry. The most he could do was try to keep any new ones from coming to fight the others, and hopefully, the Fleet would cut them down with fewer to deal with.

"Come on...come on!" he groaned, as more began to get through quicker. "Where are these all coming from?!"

He looked back to the force field, occasionally attempting to hit it from different angles, only to find that it was completely impenetrable. The only thing that he thought of that could work was...

No. He was in this on his own. He couldn't turn back now, not when so many lives were at stake.

He continued to beat off the younger demons, finding them much easier to deal with than the larger, though their own numbers grew faster. He began to grow tired, but still kept up his fight. He flew up to cut the ones who grew too quick for him to get them from their spawning. He looked up briefly to check his comrades, seeing how the demons were definitely less of a hassle to fight. Big mistake, as his distraction allowed a floating young demon to latch itself onto him and drag him back down. He groaned and pulled it off, slicing it with his spear, but it was too late. The ground was covered in young, that grew quickly and targeted him. He fought through as many as he could, but they were fast, too fast. He couldn't fight them off, as they pounced and pinned him to the ground, the spear skidding from his reach. He tried pulling them off, but as they grew, they suffocated him. His vision darkened.

He had lost.

At least, until, luck flew to his side.

His last sight was of a bright beam of light piercing through the force field, decimating the sphere inside of it. The young demons screeched in pain as the light swiped through them, carefully avoiding Mark's body. He could breathe once more, as well as pull away the remaining demons from his body. He went to his hands and knees, catching his breath, before spotting an extended hand in front of his face.

"Didn't think I'd leave you to die, did you?" The voice spoke. Jack's voice. Mark chuckled and accepted his hand.

"To be fair, you scared me there..." he said as his friend helped him stand.

"I was scared, too, but that's what these things do to you. I took a flight to clear my head and realized I was just getting messed with. I started really regretting doing that, but I needed to," he said, grabbing Mark's spear, having had his from when he left. He handed it back off to him with a smile. "To get my head back into the fight."

"I'm glad you did. But let's talk more when we beat these things to the ground, ok?" Mark smirked, grasping his spear firmly in his hands.

Jack nodded and gripped his as well, standing with his back against Mark's. The young were done spawning and the sphere was gone, but they were still far from over with the battle. As if knowing their life source was gone, the remaining demons coiled down to see the two lone Guardians standing at the ready to fight. However, they were wrong on one vital point, one that would lead to their downfall. They were not alone.

Not when they had each other.