Absolutely do not read this until you've read I Give This Soul To You, And You And You! This is the sequel!
Wake up! Wake up, Natsu!
"But Luuuuuuce…. I'm tired!" the pyromaniac protested roughly, reaching out for his best friend's Soul. The yellow orb whizzed out of his reach and continued to send wake up calls to his head. Natsu pressed his hands to his ears, as if covering them would block her out, and then sighed loudly, "You never did that before! Why do ya have to be so noisy now?"
Do you not know what day it is?
"Let-Natsu-Go-Back-To-Sleep Day. Whatever it is, it's not important enough to wake me up at," he glanced over to the flashing alarm clock that Lucy had once bought for him and squinted at the digits swimming in his foggy eyes, "… one o' clock…? In the morning? Really, Lucy?" he groaned and dropped his head back into his pillow. The Soul made a clicking noise.
Actually, it's one in the afternoon. You're typically already awake by now. And if you honestly cannot remember what day it is today, then I will leave right now and join Gray and the other fragment.
The sleepy dragon-slayer lifted his head wearily. He tried to filter through his mind's calendar, trying to remember what made today so important. As the minutes passed, the Soul developed an almost disappointed seeming look on its glowing face.
Of course, you wouldn't remember. Even if it's today… I'll be back later, Natsu. You better know it by the time I get back.
Natsu sat up straight and flung his hands forward to grasp the glowing Soul, but she clicked again and floated out of his reach. She stared down at him for a few seconds, and then bobbed gently out of the hole in his cottage's roof that he'd installed personally for her. Now though, he cursed its existence and struggled to remember the day's significance.
It was July.
Right? And it was the first of July….
Natsu jumped out of his hammock and grabbed his favorite one-sleeved jacket, running out the door. Today was Lucy's birthday! How could he forget? Of course, since she was dead, it wasn't like she would actually be getting older, but it had been customary to celebrate with the Souls in the four years following her death…
And he'd forgotten. His best friend of six years (13 if you counted the years they spent in a dead sleep on Tenroujima Island) would have been turning 23 today, and all he has to say is how is your birthday more important than my sleep? Uuugh…. And she had gone to spend it with the freaking Ice-bastard, too. She must really be disappointed with him…
Natsu ran his hands through his messy pink hair as he loped toward the guild, surprised that even though he racing with all his speed, he still hadn't managed to catch up to his partner's Soul.
Just as he reached the guild, he saw a familiar wisp of golden trail by the side window and lunged at it, catching the pulsing Soul in his warm hands. His triumph was short-lived, however, when he turned her around and saw the two black beads wrapped around the tiny golden ponytail shaped stump on the right side of the Soul.
This wasn't his fragment; it was Gray's. "Sorry," he chuckled, letting her fly out of his hands and glare at him with an irritated face.
I sincerely hope you've found out what today is. Honestly, it's ridiculous and a little upsetting that you didn't know.
"I'm soooooooorry, ok? I'm stupid and we both know it, and apparently," he leaned in close to the Soul and took on his Dragon Slayer Secret look, "everybody in the guild knows it too. But I remember now, that today is your birthday! Sooooooo, happy birthday, Lucy!"
His cheerful exclaim died away when he noticed the Soul drooping.
It's not my birthday, Natsu. Mavis, why don't you know?
"But it's July 1st!" Natsu protested. "That's your birthday! What else could possibly be going on today that isn't that?"
"Actually, it's November 16th. And it's the four-year anniversary of Lucy's death," Gray remarked calmly, stepping out of the guild and standing next to his Soul fragment. It nuzzled up to him happily, and Natsu watched jealously. Somehow, Gray and the fragment always got along, while Natsu and his own fragment were constantly getting in fights and bickering with each other.
"He's right," Happy mewed from behind him. Natsu stared down disdainfully at the cat... when had he gotten here? And whose side was he on, anyways?
Do you remember now?
Natsu visibly brightened when he heard the quiet question.
"Yes! I do! So you can stop hiding and being mad and now we can have some fun!"
Gray snickered, and his Soul made the tinkly laugh, but both smiled when the other globule peeked its way out of the ice-mage's pants and made Natsu shriek.
"What are you doing in there!? You'll catch his pervertedness!" Natsu cried, opening his hands for the Soul to fly into.
There's something very important we have to do today. The Soul flew up to his face, and Lucy's expression morphed into seriousness. I died to save Nuka's family, and the part of me that has been given to her for that to happen has already been used. Unfortunately, Zeref appears to be targeting another family, and asking for another Soul. The Master and I believe he has a purpose for collecting Souls, and he asked us to go check it out.
"Awesome!" Natsu cheered. "We haven't gone on a mission together in a couple weeks!"
"Oi, she means I'm going too," Gray muttered. The fire mage stared blankly at him, and then snorted.
He's right, idiot. We all need to go.
Natsu pouted, tucking the Soul into the inside of his jacket and turning into the guild. "I don't understand why it can't just be me and you," he grumbled to it. "I'm your partner, not him."
Gray needs to come. The next Soul that Zeref is asking for is Juvia's. We haven't told him yet, and Master Makarov decided it would be best if we had Gray come along for the sake of protecting her.
"…oh," Natsu sighed. He wouldn't condemn his nakama to death, no matter what. It's not like he didn't get to go on other missions with Lucy anymore… they were just becoming farther and farther spaced apart, and since she had no more magical power (all the magical power transferred to the Soul given to Nuka so that it could be used for the secret purpose that shall be revealed later) she couldn't help him fight at all. "Does Juvia know?" the Soul looked away.
Juvia is already aware of the threat. She is in a safe place, with Erza and Lyon to protect her. Erza for the strength and utmost power, Lyon for…
"Unconditional love and support, blah, blah, blah. Whatever. How are we supposed to help, though?"
Levy's been doing research on Souls. She found that… well; it would be easier if you just asked her. She knows more than she's told me.
"Uhhhh…. Levy…?" Natsu called to the tiny solid-script mage. Levy glanced up from the book she was submerged in, saw her best friend and her partner, and scampered over.
"What can I do for you, Natsu?" she asked politely.
The dragon-slayer rubbed the back of his neck, feeling awkward. Of all the people in the guild, Levy was the only one who made him even slightly uncomfortable. Maybe because she was just so damn smart and he was afraid that she could have somehow persuaded Lucy to abandon him in pursuit of a "more mature, and intelligent, gentleman," as she'd put it.
"Lucy told me you've been doing research on Souls…" he trailed off.
"OH, yes!" the blue-haired girl responded brightly. She lifted a stack of papers from absolutely nowhere, and ushered him over to the table where she'd been reading. "Ok, so I knew you've been taking Lu-chan out on missions again, and that she didn't have any form of protection without her keys and her magical power—" at this, Natsu growled, "—well she does have you but I'm talking self-protection. I knew that and thought I should see if I could find anything out for her…" Levy leafed through her papers, and pulled out one that was wrinkled and filled with her neat, tiny handwriting, notes scribbled neatly everywhere. The page was absolutely filled. "And I found here, a list of abilities that Souls have!
"For instance, a Soul has the power to heal, themselves, mages, and humans. That way, even if they get injured, there is no risk of them being killed. If they are injured to the point of unconsciousness, they can still heal with just a fraction of their mind working.
"Also, after being stripped from their former magic, Souls develop a new kind of magic called Soul Sing, where they can communicate telepathically with anybody they wish to, and they can use their voice to control them."
"'Soul Sing?' that sounds ridiculous," Natsu scoffed.
Listen to Levy and stop interrupting her. Natsu tensed, but the beautiful voice echoed in his head until he just wanted to obey and do whatever it wanted him to do because Lord Mavis and all that's holy it was a sound like honey.
"I think you've just discovered Soul Sing," Levy chuckled awkwardly, glancing around at all the mages who had frozen and turned to stare at her.
"And we're going to use that to stop Zeref from whatever he's doing?" Natsu asked, watching Lucy carefully. She hummed at him and bounced over to Levy, who welcomed the golden orb with a soft smile.
We're going to use it to get him to spill on what he's planning on using Souls for, and then work from there. Levy's coming with us as well.
"Ok, since everybody apparently knows about this mission before I do, care to explain to me everything?" Natsu glared at Lucy. The Soul hummed and narrowed her eyes.
Everybody else was here hours before you were. If you'd been at the guild earlier, you would have heard the entire plan with everybody else. Gray, Levy, Wendy, you, Gajeel and I are going to Zeref and finding out why he's killing mages for their Souls. And then we're going to set up a better protection for Juvia until we can stop whatever Zeref is planning.
"Eh…" Levy chuckled at the expression the fire dragon-slayer made when his companion Soul berated his lateness.
Why were you so late in waking up, anyways?
"I stayed up reeeeeeally late last night," Natsu muttered.
"Doing what, oi?" Cana snickered from her perch on the table opposite them. Levy flushed, and after realizing what the drunk was hinting at, Natsu did as well.
"N-nothing!" he stuttered. Lucy giggled, and flew back to him.
Then what were you doing? I slept over at your cottage and I didn't hear you being noisy.
"WHAT I DID LAST NIGHT IS NOT OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE. LET'S JUST GO AND BEAT THIS GUY SO WE CAN SAVE –mph—" he was interrupted by Levy hurriedly slapping her palm over his mouth with a frantic glance at Gray.
"Shh!" she hissed. "Gray doesn't know about Juvia yet!"
They turned to look at said ice-mage, seeing him eyeing them suspiciously. Levy cursed when he began to march over to them. Lucy, knowing that Natsu had seriously screwed up in almost letting their secret spill, whizzed up to Gray. Natsu couldn't hear if she'd said anything to him, but he saw Gray hesitate, and then turn back slowly.
"That was close. Natsu, Gray cannot, under any circumstances, find out about Juvia until we find out what Zeref is planning."
"Why not?" the pyro complained, freeing himself from the little mage's grip.
When you found out I was being targeted, you panicked, but I was still there and you and Gray, and Erza all fought to save me. If Gray overhears that somebody is planning on murdering Juvia, and he can't find her in the guild, he'll panic. Big-time.
"Oh… I … I see," Natsu sighed. He wasn't very good at keeping secrets. "But, like, seriously. Can we please go now? The sooner we get there, the sooner we can fight and rescue Juvia! Yosh!"
"Natsu!" they both snapped at him, with another furtive glance at the ice-make mage. This time, Gray was staring at them with a confused expression. He walked over again, but this time Lucy's words didn't stop him.
"What do you mean, 'Rescue Juvia'?" he asked, as cold as his magic. He glanced around, true to Lucy's warning, and upon not finding the rain mage in any of her normal places (and by normal, he means the places where he typically notices her stalking him XD), he snapped back to the two mages and Soul. "Where is she? Where's Juvia?"
His Soul fragment bobbed up to his ear, humming something, but Gray angrily pushed it away and repeated himself. Levy cursed at Natsu and sighed, running her hands through her bright blue hair. The two fragments bumped into each other, and Natsu guess guiltily that they were trying to come up with a way to solve his problem. Gray was still growling and snapping though, and that had to be dealt with first.
"Juvia only went along with Erza on a mission," Mirajane stepped in. the five glanced over to the white haired barmaid, four in relief and one in puzzlement.
"But Juvia has always gone on missions with me. Or she at least told me or somebody else before she left with someone," Gray protested. Mira smiled sweetly.
"She told me. And Lyon is there too! Oh, I almost forgot to mention it… silly me. Don't worry, Gray, she has Lyon and Erza to protect her."
Silence.
"What? Lyon is with her? Why?"
"Because… the mission calls for a fake couple and an extra fighter!" Levy quickly said. Gray stiffened. "But don't worry! It wasn't even S-class! And if we go and take care of Zeref, we can go see her on the way back!"
Gray glared between the two girls, the two Souls, and Natsu, and then sighed. "Let's just go. Is everybody ready?"
Everyone except Natsu nodded, and the fire mage gasped.
"I have to pack my undies!" he declared loudly, rushing out of the guild to do so.
"Do we have to bring him?" Gray pressed. "Can't we just leave without him?"
Natsu's magic can be very useful for eliminating any threat that Zeref poses. It's best to take him along and worry about the consequences later.
Having said that, the Soul floated over to meet with the dragon-slayer, telling everybody else to be at the train station in ten minutes and that she'd bring Natsu over.
Gray wasn't very happy, on the way to the town Shindale, which was where Nuka had supposedly made the deal with Zeref. He had a feeling that his guild mates were lying to him about Juvia, and whatever was going on they were dead-set on not telling him.
Except Natsu. The idiot knew something, but was too stupid to keep it a secret. He could tell by the reactions of Levy and Lucy after the rambunctious fire mage had shouted something about rescuing Juvia when they scolded him and hurriedly checked to see if Gray had heard; which he did. Natsu was the one to go to for the truth.
But first, he had to think of what they should be doing. He was going on this mission to protect whatever unlucky mage was being targeted now, and any that could be targeted in the future, not to worry about Juvia and the fact that all he'd heard about her was that she was on a mission.
With Lyon. Grinding his teeth, Gray pushed the fact away. His mission was more important than this stupid, supposed "love triangle" and he was going to prove it by giving it everything he had.
What are you thinking about, Gray?
He turned his head to face his fragment, noticing the familiar expression of worry. The sunlight streaming through the window he was laying against sparkled against the black beads, and he noticed that the sparks bounced off of the Soul and buzzed around with a tint of amusement.
"I'm sure you already know what I'm thinking about, Lucy," he murmured. "You're too smart. You know fully well what's on my mind, and yet you have no intention of telling me."
The Soul turned away, and the sunlight no longer bounced off the black beads. Silence followed for a few seconds, and then the reply came in his mind.
Gray, what's going on with Juvia is something we can tell you after we take care of Zeref. Makarov himself says it's a secret best kept until then. Nothing bad will happen though, I promise. She has Erza and—
"—Lyon to keep her safe," Gray finished grumpily. "Yes, yes, I know. But why am I the only one who doesn't know? If it's a secret best kept, why does everybody other than me know about why Juvia is gone?"
That's something that I cannot tell you. Please, just forget about it. When the time comes, I will tell you the truth. But until then, forget about it and focus on what we can do to help this targeted mage. It would be horrible if she died as well.
"So it's a 'she'," Gray mused softly. "Are we going to meet her? How much do you know about her?"
We are not going to meet her, because she's been placed in a secure hiding place so that she is not to be found until we have determined her safety. Her guild is sick with worry for her, and the last thing we want is for another hit man to follow us to her hiding place so that she is killed. Anyways, I know much about her, but that is personal information as well. The hit-man could be anywhere, and I would not want him to get information on her magic or her looks. The more we can do to protect her, the better.
"…" Gray lay his head against the window, sighing softly. Lucy wasn't going to tell him anything more, that he could infer, so he was left to his own wonderings about who the mage was.
On the bench opposite him, Natsu was curled up and moaning, holding his Soul fragment in his palms. Gray imagined that it was yelling at him for holding it so tightly, but the fire mage was too lost in his motion-sickness to care. Beside him sat Wendy, looking guilty. She probably wanted to heal Natsu, but using Troia too often could waste the effects, as she'd said.
Levy was squeezed in the last ounce of space between the little dragon-slayer and the wall of their compartment, with her stack of research on Souls clenched between her tiny hands.
Which left Gajeel to sit next to Gray, staring at the door of the train with a look of pure hatred, and holding his stomach glumly.
When the Soul decided he wasn't going to say anything else, it hummed and whizzed up to the luggage compartment above his head. The light of the room reflected off of the beads, and as she moved, it cast a pattern of sparkles and shadow on the wall next to Natsu. Gray closed his eyes. Shindale was seven hours away, and it wasn't like thinking about Juvia was going to get him anywhere. Sleep was better than the mindless worry he was causing himself.
He barely had time to register the soft warmth of the Soul rubbing against his cheek, and then he was asleep.
"Is he asleep?" Wendy asked cautiously. Lucy hummed around his cheek, bumping into it and pressing herself onto it, and then turned back to them with a smile. She snuggled under his arm after, and left the other counterpart to use Natsu to share her thoughts.
"….guh…. Luce says he's out…" he moaned, holding her close to his chest. It hummed angrily at him.
"Levy-san, have you found out anything else about Souls?" Wendy asked, laying her hand on the sick mage's shoulder and letting a little magic flow into him. When he opened his eyes and smiled gratefully, they were less hazy and his face less contorted in discomfort.
"Yes, I have. For up to two hours after the death of a mage, their Soul can be returned into their body and they can be resurrected," she explained.
"…Does that mean we could have saved Lucy?" Natsu croaked. He unconsciously pulled the Soul tighter to his body, and she quieted, knowing he still felt guilt after four years from not saving her.
"No, Lu-chan's body would not have been able to hold the Soul in, so we would not have been able to bring her back even if we'd known about it," the little bookworm remarked sadly. "But," she glanced at Gray to be sure he wouldn't hear, "this means that even if they do get ahold of Juvia, and she is killed, as long as the body is in good condition and we have a fragment of her Soul, we can revive her!"
"That's a pretty big 'if'," Gajeel commented gruffly. His narrowed red eyes found Levy's stack of papers. "Is there anything else in there that's useful?"
Levy, embarrassed at having her theory be so blatantly dismissed, shuffled to another page and cleared her throat, "Actually, there is. Besides Soul Sing, a Soul can use its magical power to purify someone, or something."
"So Lucy-san can use it to purify Zeref's evil intentions?" Wendy asked with a hopeful smile.
Levy shook her head. "No; Zeref has much too much evil inside him. Even if all of us became Souls and used the Soul Purge, it wouldn't be enough to purify him. But, we can use it against the hit-man."
"And stop him from wanting to kill Juvia," Natsu finished. Within seconds though, he was groaning again, one hand clamped over his mouth to stop himself from vomiting.
"Yes," Levy agreed. "I'll keep looking through this; see if I can find anything else we can use. You guys should try to get some sleep, too." She lifted her pair of reading glasses from her bag, and pressed a button on the bridge of them. A tiny light was emitted from the glasses, and she winked at Wendy and Gajeel. The two dragon-slayers made her promise not to stay up too late, and then relaxed into their seats, leaving Levy to her research.
As she worked, Levy glanced over to where Gray sat, watching him twitch in his sleep. "I really hope we can save Juvia," she mused quietly. She'd seen Natsu's heartbreak over Lucy's death; she didn't want the same for the ice-make mage. Gray had lost too many important people to him, he couldn't lose Juvia as well or it would wreck him.
Her eyes drifted back to the page, and she continued to read, circling abilities and weaknesses of Souls, and looking for more detail on Soul Resurrection. She hadn't told the others, but bringing a Soul back to its body only worked once. If the body couldn't hold the Soul and it was rejected, or if the resurrected mage died again, the Soul would fade away.
Levy lifted her head again, to what appeared to be Gray having a nightmare, almost two hours later. The ice wizard was whispering frantically, and clenching his fists. Worried that he might accidently use his magic in his sleep, she quickly stepped over and shook him on the shoulders. His eyes flew open and he bolted upright, shocking Levy. When he seemed to recognize her, he calmed down.
"Gray," Levy whispered, "are you alright?" the raven-haired man closed his eyes again, exhaling deeply. When he opened his eyes again, they were calmer, and he slumped back down.
"Yes." His voice cracked, and Levy wondered worriedly what he was dreaming about that had caused such a nasty fright. "Is everybody else asleep?" she nodded wordlessly. "You should get some sleep then, Levy. You're the smartest one here; your skills are needed to for this mission. Don't make yourself weaker by not sleeping."
Levy smiled, and crept back to her seat, leaning back after tucking her papers into the side of the seat. Gray watched as her breathing slowed, and then allowed himself to relax completely.
He was having his nightmare again; where he and Natsu had burst through the guild doors, only to find Lucy's body blown to bits, but instead of his former teammate, it was Juvia who was slumped lifelessly over the table. It was Juvia who was bleeding out her life's liquid, and it was Juvia who was bathed in a soft blue glow as a small cerulean orb hovered above her body.
The dream scared him out of his wits, and he needed to think about something else, anything else before it consumed him, so he reached out and called out for Lucy. The Soul glowed as it hummed over to him, and Lucy's wistful face smiled at him. Gray gently stroked the area under the beads, and let her snuggle up to him.
Would you like to tell me about the nightmare?
Gray shook his head. Very quietly, he whispered, "Just let me pet you for a moment. It's calming me down." She relaxed in his arms and let the stricken man stroke her.
Juvia will be fine, Gray. I know you're worried about her, but don't. We aren't going to lose her like we lost me. She will live.
If Gray hadn't been inside his dream fog, he might have noticed that Lucy had accidently given away that Juvia was the targeted mage, but he was far past thinking and realizing, and he just let himself drift into the repetition of his hand against the Soul until it washed over him and he was asleep again.
"These mages are so…." Wendy glanced around, trying to find the word she was looking for to describe the occupants of Shindale town by staring at them.
"Timid?" Levy offered. "Although it makes sense. Zeref lives somewhere in this city and they know that he's attacking and killing mages, or sending others to do so under the threat of destroying their families. It's their rational reaction to be terrified of everything."
Gajeel snorted as one of the villagers walked into a room and shrieked, running away to review a little puppy sleeping in the doorway. "Very timid."
Gray didn't comment on the shrewdness of the villagers, and instead was absentmindedly forming little shapes with ice in his hands. He glanced down to find a miniature Juvia and a miniature Lyon in each palm; clenching the former in his right fist he threw the latter at the ground, letting it shatter remorselessly.
Lucy lay nestled into the space between his shoulder and his hair, humming forlornly into his ear. He nudged her with his free hand, and she whizzed out and hovered in front of him, making a low keening sound.
"What's Lucy doing?" Natsu asked after his own Soul did the same.
Levy glanced over to the two Souls, and gasped. "They're combining! As two thirds of a whole Soul, they completely lack magical power, but if they combine they get half as much as the whole would!"
The five watched as the two globules pulsed and pressed into each other, molding to form a new orb twice as big with twice the glow.
Mmm. it's been a while since I have felt magic flowing like this. Can you all hear me?
Everyone nodded, and Levy pumped her fist. Now Lucy could communicate with all of them, and not just the chosen two.
"Now that you're bigger," Natsu exclaimed, "you can come stay with me!"
The Soul hissed at him.
Natsu we have more important things to worry about other than who I'll be staying with, you idiot! Think about—think about that mage we're here to rescue!
The fire mage pouted, but he grabbed the Soul and held it to his chest with a triumphant grin afterwards.
Ugh. Can any of you dragon-slayers smell Zeref's scent?
"I think I can pick it up," Gajeel muttered. "It smells horrible. Like death, and…" his eyes closed and a guilty expression flickered across his face, "fear. Lots and lots of fear."
He turned away, and began to march. The others followed, knowing he was reminiscing over the things he'd done while in Phantom Lord and how he'd terrorized people. What he didn't tell them was that he could pick out another scent in the fear, and that was the smell of water and of tears (water for Juvia's magic and tears for her sadness and she's crying. Because tears are made of water so the explanation is necessary).
"Gajeel, please slow down! We can't keep up with you!" Levy complained. He turned to see the small girl several meters behind him, with the larger Soul and Wendy next to her. Natsu and Gray were closer to him, but they were still far behind so he slowed down.
Within seconds, he felt Lucy's voice in his head again.
What is it? What else do you smell?
Gajeel beckoned her forward. When the Soul was close enough, he whispered Juvia's name. Lucy stopped floating and Natsu bumped into her.
Juvia? You smell Juvia!? But she's supposed to be back in Crocus with Erza and Lyon! Why is she here?
Natsu, having stopped after bumping into Lucy, inhaled sharply. His eyes widened, and he met eyes with Gajeel. The iron dragon-slayer nodded, silently confirming that he, too, smelled the water mage nearby.
Gray, having realized that they were once again being secretive, huffed angrily and brushed past them, but stopped dead in his tracks a few feet ahead of Gajeel.
"Mavis, why are these here?" he whispered. The ice-make mage revealed Juvia's little hat, and beside that her umbrella. Realization dawned in his eyes, and he turned back to his team with a shocked look. "It's Juvia, isn't it? The targeted mage, that's Juvia. They're trying to kill… they're…" he jumped to his feet and pelted up into the forest that the trail of fear and death lead to. "Juvia!"
Wordlessly, they all ran after him, and they caught up to him at a large stone altar, in the very center of a huge clearing surrounded by ash and dead foliage. In the altar, they could make out the faint glows of Souls inside.
"Oh my Mavis…" Levy whispered. "He's killed so many people already. Just how many are there? How many more does he need to murder?" Gajeel patted her shoulder comfortingly, but the sight sickened him as well. Gray, having realized that Juvia was intended to be one of the glowing orbs, raced straight into the altar, calling her name.
Lucy followed, keening and chirping and humming. The three dragon-slayers set off to trail down Juvia's scent, and Levy rushed to help Lucy. The golden Soul looked as if it wanted to cry, with its face pinched and twisted.
All these poor mages. Some of them have been trapped in here for years. This one is only two days new from its body.
Lucy floated to a tiny white Soul. Like all the others, it was held down by a thick black band of metal that was chained to the altar's walls.
These chains reek of evil. Maybe my Soul Purge can purify them and free the Souls.
"Just say, 'Soul Purge', and it should work," Levy told her, racing around to examine the others, searching for Juvia's face amongst the huddle.
~SOUL PURGE~
The metal bands split, and the Souls bobbed out of their chains. They swarmed around Lucy, and hummed and chirped together.
"I found Juvia!" Gray shouted. The others ran over to him, finding him facing Juvia high on the altar walls, chains holding her up. The water mage's eyes were closed, and a thin trickle of red ran from her body to where her guild mates stood anxiously. Gray brought his hands together and made a bridge, running up and grabbing her body with a frenzied hope.
She was still alive. It wasn't like bursting into Fairy Tail and seeing Lucy's body everywhere, because she was still alive and still in one piece. The relief was so strong it almost overwhelmed him, but he carefully removed her body from the chains first, knowing that somewhere beneath the clothes there was a wound and it was best for her if he carried her down to Wendy to get healed.
Gray was halfway down when the stairs exploded. Instinctively, he curled his body over Juvia protectively, and when they hit the ground he felt the air whoosh out of his lungs in painful spurts. The impact stunned him, enough for him to lie there while a familiar man bent over him to reach for Juvia, tsking.
"And she was about to die, too," Zeref complained smoothly, lifting the unconscious water mage over his shoulder. Behind him, the Fairy Tail mages readied themselves to fight, and Lucy prepared the rescued Souls to preform Soul Purge together. With a flick of the dark wizard's wrist, however, the black chains morphed into a pack of little demons that rushed the Souls and reached out for them with gnarled, twisted claws. Natsu sent a wave of fire toward them, and they scurried away from the fire's reach, hissing in resentment while the dragon-slayer set to keeping them away from the Souls as they gathered strength for Soul Purge.
One demon dodged Natsu's fireball and pounced onto Lucy, and since she was the largest and most powerful of the assembled Souls they all panicked and swarmed tighter around her. Levy cursed and quickly drew her pen, scribbling out little knives and throwing them at the demons with accuracy that she was proud of. Natsu and Wendy moved closer and together they blasted at the demons, with Gajeel running over to check Gray and make sure he was alright.
"I'm fine," Gray growled through gritted teeth, forcing his way to his feet with a nasty glare at Zeref. "Ice Make: Lance!" he formed the weapon and held it in his hands, guessing from his memory of the fight with Nuka that any attacks against the dark mage would be blocked by him thrusting the body in front of him and shielding himself. Gajeel could pretty much infer the same, and he turned his arms into iron rods and they circled Zeref, never letting Juvia out of their sight.
"Let her go, you bastard!" Gajeel snapped, his red eyes livid. Zeref cocked his head to the side, with a demonic smirk flitted across his face.
"Or what?" he taunted, his voice deep and thick. At the sound of it, mist began to swirl at his feet out of the ash, forming more black demons that howled with bloodlust and rage. They were larger than the ones attacking the Souls, and they rushed Gajeel and Gray with saliva streaming from snapping jaws. One foolishly tried to pounce on Gajeel, and the iron-dragon-slayer smashed it with his arm, and then used his magic to set up an iron cage around the demons with a pointed smirk at the dark wizard. "Oh, no. you know a bit of magic. But don't worry," Zeref sneered, letting Juvia slip to the ground and twisting his hands into the position for his magic, "I do, too." And he let a bolt of black lightning spear out from his palms and strike Gajeel, whose metallic arms caught the electricity and carried it. He screamed out in pain, but thrust his arms upward, throwing the lightning into the air. Panting, he sent an Iron Dragon's Roar at Zeref who merely scooped up Juvia and vanished.
"Dammit!" Gray roared, vaulting at the space they had just left in frustration, "They were right there! He took her! He has her! God what are we going to do!?"
~SOUL PURGE~
He turned back to see the demons shriek and begin to pale, until they resembled little white dogs with golden spikes. The purified demons howled again, and darted around to find Zeref.
Lucy's Soul had taken the most damage out of them all. Natsu and Wendy's attacks had prevented most of the demons from reaching her, but deep cuts and scrapes covered the orb to show what the ones that had had left on her. The little white Soul was wobbling next to her, and she pulsed hard, sending a golden glow over the tens of Souls and the fighters. They felt warmth cover their bodies and their wounds sizzled away as the light left them.
Hmmmmm… I don't believe I can last much longer…. Go find Juvia and I'll work on teaching these Souls what they can do to help.
The dragon-slayers plus Levy and Gray nodded, and took off after the demon dogs.
"Do not worry, Gray-san," Wendy cheered as they ran, "We will definitely find and rescue Juvia-san!"
"… Why didn't you guys tell me? What's wrong with me knowing that Juvia is the targeted mage?" he asked the others. Levy, seeing as Natsu had no clue, and Wendy and Gajeel didn't really know, moved closer to him.
"Master Makarov said that you could fall into a blind rage after finding out like Natsu did when Lu-chan was killed. He said it would be best if you didn't know who you were fighting to protect because it might hinder your fighting, or make you more likely to get shot down while fighting because you would be distracted."
"And he figured me going out of mind with worry for not knowing where Juvia is was better?" Gray pointed out. Levy sighed.
"If it weren't for Natsu messing up, you never would have found out that Juvia was gone. You wouldn't have had to worry."
"It's not my fault!" the accused dragon-slayer shouted indignantly.
"Shut yer mouths, idiots!" Gajeel snapped suddenly, waving for the others to stop. They were in another clearing, with Zeref holding Juvia's body draped over one shoulder and watching the Fairy Tail mages calmly.
"Give. Her. Back," Gray spit through his clenched teeth. Zeref chuckled coldly, holding the water mage up by her throat to display her to them clearly.
"You want her back? Have her body," he sneered, clenching down on her throat. Gray blanched at the crunch that followed, and when Juvia's body twitched and then stilled, he choked back a sob. Zeref loosened his hold as the faintest glow of cerulean sparked through her chest and then the small orb boldly pushed out. Gray sucked in his breath sharply at the sight of Juvia's Soul.
This was wrong. He was supposed to get there in time to save her, dammit! She shouldn't be lying there like that! She… she shouldn't be dead. Zeref tossed Juvia's body over to him, and reached out to grab the Soul. The glow died as soon as his fingertips touched it, and the Soul fell into his grip dully. The dark wizard snickered coldly, displaying the Soul triumphantly.
"And now I have the Soul of an Element Four wizard. Now, the collection is complete." His eyes flashed. "Now, the game can begin."
I'm so mean, aren't I? Horrible cliff hanger. But I've been working on this all weekend and it seemed right to kidnap the laptop at midnight to finish writing it, so I decided….
The sequel to I Give This Soul To You, And You And You is no longer a one-shot, but a two-shot! And I promise, that even if I have to steal the laptop and write at midnight instead of sleeping or studying for school, I will get your next chapter out by Christmas!
And thank you for being patient and reviewing! Although C.F.L. told me she never actually read the story, just reviewed to stop me from complaining to her. :D I shut her up by loitering on her own stories. Read and Review folks! It makes me happy! Also, major thanks to Aquos35 who pointed out to me that I said Raven Tail instead of Phantom Lord for Gajeel's former guild. Thank you again!