Through blurry eyes, I watch Levi turn around, lowering the gun. I lower my head, more terrified than ever when he lets out a cruel laugh. "Do you think I'm a fucking idiot?" he says. "It's four in the morning, a gunshot is gonna wake up every fucker in the state."

He looks at me waiting for a response. The only sounds are Jack's footsteps approaching and my own sobs. He laughs again, lowering the gun. "Oh, come on. It was kind of funny, you gotta admit."

"I'm gonna rip your fucking throat out," Jack yells, advancing on Levi fast.

Without even turning around, Levi sighs dramatically. "I guess the gun is good for one thing," he says, turning the gun over in his hands. "Let's see how much this kid really loves you." He smiles. "Shall we?"

Then he turns the gun, pointing it at me again. I yell in vain through the tape for Jack to stay away.

Jack's steps slow when he sees the gun pointed at me. Looking at him, my heart breaks to see fear swarming his expression. Even more fear than I feel right now. His eyes dart between me and the gun, realizing there's little he can do. He takes a step back, terrified of doing anything to provoke Levi to pull the trigger.

"You're sick," he growls, repeating the words I sobbed to Levi just minutes before. "If I don't kill you tonight, you're gonna rot in a jail cell."

"That's kind of rude, don't you think?" Levi says, disregarding Jack's threats. "Scarlett and I are kind of in the middle of something if you couldn't tell."

"I feel bad for you," Jack spits, taking a daring step closer to Levi. "In your sick, fucked-up mind, you still think there's a chance that Scarlett would ever be with you. How deluded can you be?"

"Not very," Levi replies calmly, but I can tell by the way his grip on the gun tightens that Jack's words cut him. "Remember when she broke up with you to be with me? Would it help refresh your memory if I told you about everything we did while you were broken up?"

"You manipulated her. You lied to her to get her to do exactly what you wanted."

"Really? Because I think that when Scarlett was on her knees in front of me, that she was doing exactly what she wanted to do."

I'm horrified at Levi's mention of the night, but I'm even more afraid that it will push Jack over the edge. But he doesn't fall for Levi's bait. "Keep replaying that memory in your head, Levi. It'll be one of the last you ever have with her," Jack says steadily. "She wants to be with me. It's over for you."

Levi's jaw clenches. "Over my dead body."

"I'm planning on it."

Levi laughs, a big, taunting sound. "That was a good one. Did you prepare that line before you came here?" Then all amusement washes from His face. Without waiting for an answer, he adds, "Was that your only plan coming here? How exactly do you think you're gonna rescue Scarlett, big guy—"

I let out an involuntary sound of terror when Jack lunges for Levi, using his left forearm to knock the gun from his hand while clipping Levi's cheek with his fist. Levi's head snaps back and stumbles backward, but Jack grabs him and lands another punch.

Jack throws Levi onto the ground and leans over him, pummeling him with his fists. I cry out when Levi knees Jack in the stomach, wrenching him off of him and standing up. Jack stands and attacks him again, trying to wrestle him to the ground again. I cling tight to the fact that Jack is much stronger than Levi.

He is close to succeeding when he lets out a sudden groan of pain, and I watch helplessly as Levi wrenches Jack's bad arm backward, pulling at his surgically-repaired arm. Jack tries to retaliate, but Levi just pulls his arm tighter every time Jack moves.

Levi turns them so he's standing behind Jack, holding his arm in an unnatural position. Jack's face is strained in agony. "You couldn't just stay away, could you? That's a common theme right there. You always getting between us." Blood drips from his face as he talks. "Even when I thought I got you out of her life, you kept coming back, sticking your nose where it didn't belong."

"This little three-person charade ends today." He wrenches Jack's arm tighter, staring at me to make sure I'm watching him hurt Jack. "You know, I can't decide who I should shoot first. Maybe I should kill her in front of you—"

Jack finally rips his arm free of Levi's hold, probably re-tearing his rotator cuff in the process. But he doesn't seem to care as he turns and knees Levi in the gut, punching him as Levi hunches forward in pain. Jack knees him again.

I'm watching intently, hopeful of the outcome of this brawl, when suddenly, Jack hunches over, his stance mirroring Levi's. I let out a cry, confused as to what just happened when I see Levi's arm disappearing between his chest and Jack's.

The gun flew a few feet away. But the knife Levi had earlier . . .

Even though I know it's no use, I try to move, scrambling toward Jack as he crumples onto his back, his hands clutched to his lower chest. Levi's standing over him, watching the red patch form on Jack's shirt.

I feel the skin on my knees getting bruised and torn as I try to move, stand, crawl, anything to get to Jack. I'm sobbing, keeping my eyes on his chest as it labors for each breath.

His breaths are slowing and his eyes are closing and the red on his chest is growing and, no, this can't be happening. No, no, no, no.

Levi starts speaking, but I don't even care enough to look at him right now. He can stab me next for all I care. All I see is Jack and his breaths that are becoming shallower. "He did it to himself, really," he says, ignoring my sobs as he watches me inch toward Jack. "About time he learned to stop coming between you and me."

I'm only a few feet from Jack now. But I start yelling when Levi starts walking toward me, the knife dripping with Jack's blood still poised in his hand. I try to crawl away from him, but he grabs me around my waist and hauls me to my feet.

He smiles at me, wiping something from my cheek as he looks at me. "And it's about time you learned to stop running from me," he says. Then he brings the knife up to my neck. "Just close your eyes, Crimson. I'm doing this for us, remember?"

I close my eyes at the same time that a loud noise ricochets through the air, bringing a ringing to my ears. I open my eyes just in time to see Levi's expression freeze in front of me, caught between confusion and surprise. He stands there for what seems like an eternity, and it takes me a second to realize that he's clutching my waist. As if it's the only thing keeping him from falling.

That single suspended moment ends, and Levi's hand slips from my waist as he falls to the ground. A splotch of red, smaller than the one I saw on Jack, stains the side of his body. Blood starts to collect on the ground below him as his eyes fall closed.

"Scarlett." I look up from Levi, almost choking on my own breath when I see Archer running toward me, holding the gun Levi dropped earlier. "Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?" He tears the duct tape off of me, his eyes widening when he sees the blood dripping down my legs from my scrapes and cuts.

He starts saying things about Jack's phone's location being shared with him and picking Jack up from the planetarium and waiting in the car as he came up here. He tells me to sit down and wait for the ambulance that he called.

But I don't care about myself. As soon as the duct tape is off, I scramble toward Jack, hoping I'm not too late. Hoping that this isn't the end. Hoping.

Behind me, I hear Archer rush down the stairs.

I bend over Jack, taking his face between my hands, careful not to hurt him. His closed eyes open when he feels my hands on his face. "Jack, stay with me," I say, my voice thick with tears. I'm barely holding back my sobs. The red on his stomach is still growing larger. His eyes start to fall closed again. "Jack, you have to stay awake. Jack, please."

"Tell me what to do," I whisper, bringing my face close to his, searching for that familiar glint in his eyes. Some sort of sign that everything will be alright. "Jack, tell me how to help you."

I move his hair back from his face, trying to keep my tears from falling onto his face. My heart stutters when his eyes open again, although it seems like a fight for him to do so.

"Pressure. Both hands," he coughs, and more tears fall when I see blood dot his lips. But I follow his instructions, pressing my hands down on his wound, doing the best I can.

But it doesn't seem to be working. "It's not working," I say, tears of frustration making it difficult for me to see. I look back at his face, my stomach twisting when I realize this might be the last time I ever see him. "Jack, I'm not doing it right. I can't—I don't know—"

Then I feel a brush on my hand. I look down to see his hand coming up weakly to cover my hand. His hands are cold when they cover mine. I cry even harder when his thumb moves over my skin, slowly but just like he always does.

"What do I do," I say weakly to him. I hear sirens somewhere. "Jack, please don't go."

More blood bubbles up in his mouth, dripping down his cheek, and he looks so tired. But he's hanging on, and I realize that he must want nothing more than to just close his eyes and stop fighting. But he's keeping his eyes open, his breaths even, for me.

"You're doing fine," he manages to say. "Baby, calm down." His hand starts to feel limp on top of mine. His voice is weaker, barely even there. "You're okay," he whispers, still trying to comfort me when he's the one bleeding out. The ache I feel in my chest is almost debilitating, reaching out for the only man I've ever loved. Grabbing onto whatever part of him I can.

The sirens are so close now, but still too far. Too slow. "What can I do?" I sob, keeping pressure on his stomach.

He shakes his head slowly. "Just. Stay with me. Please," he says. A tear rolls down his cheek as he looks up at me. I've never seen so much sadness and pain in one expression.

"I love you," I whisper, bringing my head closer to his. "And you're going to make it, and we're going to get married and buy a house together and have so many kids. We're going to be so happy together, Jack, I promise." Then even quieter, I say. "My future doesn't exist without you in it."

I stare into his colorful eyes, memorizing every fleck of green and every curve of his eyelashes. "I love you," he manages to say, his lips barely moving around the words. "Promise." Then his eyes fall shut, his hand like ice over mine.

I fall apart.

I hug myself against him, cradling his head in my arms, repeating his name like a prayer as if that would do anything. I let my tears fall into his hair, and I tell myself that I'll never move from this position. I'll never leave him. I need to stay with him.

But now there are more voices on the roof, voices trying to tell me things that I can barely hear. Hands reach for me, trying to tug me away from Jack, but I can't remember anything apart from Jack and his beautiful eyes and the fact that his last words were that he loves me.

I press a kiss to the side of his head, telling him that I love him as many times as my mouth will allow. Then arms reach around my waist, forcibly pulling me off of Jack, ignoring my pleas to leave me alone.

"Scar, you have to let them help him," Archer says into my ear, setting me down. I turn around, letting him pull me into his chest. "He'll be okay. He'll be okay," he repeats.

I can't even form the words to respond. All I want to do is be with Jack, but that's not possible. I don't know if it'll ever be possible again.

So I fall to my knees and look up to the stars.

♔

chapters remaining:
epilogue tomorrow.