"Gajeel!" Levy's scream echoed through the sound of war. Gajeel's head snapped towards it as he started in the direction it came from.
"Gajeel!" It was to his left now. He turned and saw a black haired girl and boy.
"Gajeel!" The scream was coming from the boy. A growl escaped from Gajeel as he dropped into a fighting stance.
" She was always screaming your name you know." The girl stated, her black hair swaying by her waist as she stepped towards him. Gajeel flinched, what had they done to shrimp. The girl was circling him now, poking him, observing him.
"She said you'd save her. That you'd come and find us and rip us limb from limb." The boy said from behind him, Gajeel knew he was out numbered and out of luck, hell they'd been out of luck since Deli died, but he didn't really care. A grin had spread on the girls face and she turned to the boy.
"Can I play brother?" Of course they where brother and sister.
"Not now Soledad. I want to tell him." Gajeel winced as he felt the boy place a hand on his shoulder.
"Tell me what?" It came out as a snarl as he turned to face the boy, although he was more like a man, he was probably in his 30's. The man only laughed.
"Oh she screamed. She was a screamer that girl of yours."
"She's not mine." He growled, unable to control his dragon instincts. If they'd hurt Levy they were gonna pay.
"The way she screamed your name suggested otherwise." the black haired girl, Soledad, said as she stepped backwards.
"Oh how she screamed when we told her what we were going to do to you. How she cried when we cut her hair , how she screamed, no begged , for us to stop when I showed her her worst nightmare. How..." A metal fist sent the man flying backwards. He saw the girls calm façade crack as her brother flew past her.
"He talks to much. What have you done to Levy?" Although he himself wasn't sure he would wait for her to reply. Her eyes widened as her legs where suddenly removed from underneath her by a pair of tattered, trousered ones.
"I'm fine." Levy replied, appearing behind the girl. She was covered in blood, some hers, Gajeel knew as much, some other peoples. She was alive, had that man been showing him his worst nightmare? Probably. He'd said something about being able to.
"You're alive shrimp." Gajeel smirked, as he let out a heavy breath. Levy stepped towards him, wincing a bit as she put weight on her leg that could have been broken. Gajeel closed the gap and hugged her hard to his blood stained chest.
"You're alive. You're alive Shrimp." Levy chuckled, a sound that he hadn't heard since the war started.
"Of course I'm alive, think ya can get rid of me that easily?" He laughed then as he pulled back so that he could look at her. Her hair was still tied up, although bits where falling out ,covering her face.
"'Course not." She took a step back, only to hit the black haired girl who looked up. Her eyes looked broken, like she'd been lied to all her life and had just found out the truth.
"Is he , is my brother..?" She didn't finish, her eyes looked saddened.
"Dead? No, there wasn't enough force to kill him." At that the girl got up, walked towards her brothers motionless body and raised the heel of her boot. What happened next Gajeel would've missed if he'd blinked. She brought the heel of her boot down hard onto his skull, shattering it.
"Jerk." She spat onto her brothers, now dead,body. Gajeel and Levy stared at her. She'd just killed her brother.
"GiHi." Gajeel laughed. The girl turned to face him , dark blue eyes taking him in. Suddenly her blue eyes widened.
"Oh no." she let out a gasp and turned away from them.
"What's wrong?" Gajeel asked as another magic bomb went off. She swore then turned toward them.
"Acnologia's coming." Gajeel and Levy gasped.
"What? Why should we trust you?" Levy spat at the girl.
"Because it doesn't matter what side I'm on, if we don't protect against Acnologia, we'll all die." The girl started pacing, thinking. Levy seemed to except that and turned to face Gajeel who was looking back at the palace, their base of operations.
"The home fires are burning." Gajeel said noticing the fires burning in the designated places. Levy turned slowly towards the palace.
"That can only mean one thing, Grey's back." And with that Levy took of running towards the palace, Gajeel and the girl close behind her.
"Why are you following us?" Levy asked over her shoulder as they ran for the castle.
"I don't want to fight you, I never did. They... they possessed me. They made me do it. I'm so sorry." Then the girl let out a gasp as she saw someone she recognised in the mele.
"Oh no. You two run when you can." Gajeel looked at her over his shoulder.
"What are you talk..." He was cut of by a fist connecting with his forehead. He stumbled backwards and fell as Levy took a step towards him only to be grabbed by an invisible force and thrown backwards.
"Levy!" Gajeel yelled. He made to get up but he was forced to stay down by the same thing that had pushed Levy away.
"Show yourself! Lal!" Soledad yelled into the sounds of war. A tall boy appeared in the midst of a crowd of people, an ambush.
"Oh look its the traitor. How does it feel Soledad, to betray not only the people that raised you, but your family?" He smirked. Soledad took a deep breath before speaking.
" News spreads fast. I was betrayed Lal. They made me into this, hell they made you into this as well." That pushed a button and with that he attacked her. It would've connected if she had stood still, but she didn't. She sidestepped the boy like she'd had years of practise with him, possibly in a guild if the mark on her stomach was anything to go by. Lal's magic dissipated around Gajeel and Levy as he focussed on her, it appeared that she was a strong competitor. Gajeel got up and ran to Levy who was now bleeding again and trying to stand though her legs kept shaking in protest. Too many hits. Gajeel helped her up and , when she stumbled, picked her up. Levy looked over His shoulder and made a small noise causing Gajeel to stop and turn.
"Go!" they heard Soledad yell over the din of war. They were torn between waiting and staying, the decision was made when she yelled:
"Souls of the Damned." The ground around Soledad erupted, spewing grey souls. Levy's eyes widened as Gajeel turned and took of running.