- Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and all of it's Characters are property of Hiro Mashima.-
„We never screwed up like this." the Iron Dragonslayer mumbled, looking down at his Partner. Gajeel and PantherLily sat in a dungeon, located in the basement of a dark guilds hideout, locked into a small cell. Both of them equipped with Anti-Magic Shackles, even some which fitted around the cats tiny wrists.
It had been oddly quiet in there, so Lily wondered what the guild was up to by now. Since they had been imprisoned here, what seemed like days to the duo, nobody had paid them a visit, or brought them something to eat or drink. Although starving wouldn't get them in too much trouble, at least for now. At least the dragonslayer not. Because, when they were freed from those shackles Gajeel was able to eat the door if necessary. The partners had been quiet too, mostly so the raven haired mage was able to listen. Maybe he could hear something, but it proved itself rather troublesome to listen in, because they seemed to be very deep down.
Just at the moment when the Exceed opened his mouth to speak up the cell door was unlocked and opened, so he shut his mouth close and glared, alongside his partner, at the intruders. Four mages entered the already small cell. One of them had a smug smile on his lips, which made Lily slightly uncomfortable. It was like precognition.
One of the men closed the door and all of them turned in the direction of the pair of mages, eyeing the Dragon and his partner. One of them took a step forward, he was a little bit taller than the others and seemed to be the leader. He placed his hands on his hips and looked down. The raven haired dragonmage sat on the ground, his cat companion at his side. The leader towered over them and to many other people he may have looked intimidating. But looking at those two, the feared Dragonslayer – who was intimidating himself – and the small black cat, which was able to shift into a form, even taller than his partner, they had seen much worse things and looked up rather unimpressed. But still the smug smile appeared at the leaders face. "Fairy Tail Wizard." he said, addressing the Iron Dragonslayer, and his smile turned wicked. Another, smaller, mage pointed at the dark brown Exceed. For one moment nothing happened. But without a warning PantherLily was lifted up, by a levitation spell. His eyes widened in surprise. The mage lifted him up until even his tail didn't touch the ground any more. A silent "...what..?" escaped the felines lips, when he was moved towards the dark guilds mages. He kicked his legs some, but the small mage just started smirking at him.
This made the dragon react. He jumped to his feet, his red eyed dark in fury. "What do you think you're doing to my cat?!" he yelled at the men growling. He stretched out his arm, to grab his small sized partner, but the cat was already out of range. The leader of the small group took a step forward and got a hold of the angered dragonslayers arms.
"If you don't want us to hurt it, you stop right now." he said making the feared Kurogane Gajeel freeze. Of course they had to know his weak spot. The round eared feline hissed loudly, when one of the man grabbed a hold at him at the scruff of his neck, holding him like a cat. The Exceed struggled and tried to scratch the men with his claws, even managed to actually hit him. "Put me down!" he hissed. The men just tightened his grip some and shook the dark creature violently, which made him shut up. When the man stopped PantherLily was dizzy, and shook his head to get his thoughts clear again. He had faintly heard Gajeel raising his voice, yelling at them to stop. The dragons voice was full of anger. Lily knew how much his partner hated, when the cat was treated like this, all people knew. Even the dark mages. Another of them approached the Dragonslayer, both of the men held him back, using their magic to restrain him. The tall man gritted his teeth, showing his sharp fangs, a trademark of Dragonslayers. But the leader just laughed at him, chanting a small "Scary, scary. But things like this, will do your cat no good."
With this words, the small mage proceeded to shake the feline again. All of the dark mages chuckled at this sight, angering the Dragon even more.
"If you want the small cat back..." the leader said, drawing the Fairy Tail mages attention to him again and making Lilys round ears twitch at his words. "... you'll do as I say." The mans grin grew wicked again.
They used the Exceed to get Gajeel to do what they wanted. The cat liked creature gritted his teeth and saw his partner clinching his fists. How much PantherLily hated to be used as a pressurising medium. A moment of silence passed and the Iron Dragonslayer slouched. With clinched teeth he looked up shooting glares at the men. Lilys tail dropped, the tip slightly touching the ground. He had never seen his partner giving up like that, without putting up a fight.
"Very well." the leader spoke up. "You'll head back to your guild."
The Dragonslayer raised a studded eyebrow at him, eyeing him suspiciously. He didn't like the Idea. "There you'll investigate about Fairy Tails biggest secret." Gajeels eyes widened. He didn't know of a big secret, neither did the Exceed, but it wasn't considered a secret for nothing. "We want to know everything about Lumen Histoire." Both of them looked up, puzzled expressions on their faces.
"Tch." The small annoyed sound, who was heard from the dragon mage occasionally, made the leader looking at him in confusion. "What makes you think anybody would tell me of all people about this?" The leaders grin grew even wider. "Because of two things. First: We know you are trusted by Fairy Tails Master. You're secretly doing jobs for him, he doesn't entrust his other fairies with. And second: If you don't your little pet will suffer, and you don't want this to happen."
The dragonslayer shot his partner a look. He opened his mouth to agree with them on doing this when the dark cat struggled again. All of them looked at the small Exceed. "Don't do this." he yelled at his partner. "Whatever happens! Don't. Do. This." his amber eyes looked at the dragon seriously. The small mage shook PantherLily again, trying to shut him up, but this time he won't let this thing stop him. His loyality lay at Gajeel in the first place, but in Fairy Tail too. And there was no way he would allow his partner to spy on the guild, even if he had to suffer for it. Because he knew this guild hat taken care of his prince, changed the Iron Dragonslayer and even took the small cat in, when he came to Earthland. He managed to shout a last: "NO!" at his partner, before the mage released him, making him fall down. But he never reached the ground. One of the mages kicked him in his stomach, with a force he was not able to stand in his small size, sending him flying. He crashed into a wall and fell down, caughing up blood.
Even more people approached the Iron Dragonslayer now.
Levy, the guilds small script mage rushed over, knowing what PantherLily meant to the dragonslayer. Charle and Happy, fellow Exceeds came near. Of course Makarov Fairy Tails Guild Master came over. The Strauss Siblings, Natsu – the Fire Dragonslayer and Gajeels rival - and even Jet and Droy, who detested Gajeel came over. Wendy, the sky Dragonslayer and skilled healer, was stunned for a moment. She had never seen so many injuries on one small body. "We've got to take him into the infirmary." she said, in a voice, which sounded too mature for her young age. The Iron Dragonslayer nodded silently. His head was too much focused on his partner. So he wasn't even aware of the people who looked at him in pity. It was known to everybody in the Guild how much the raven haired man adored his cat partner, who was the only one who got occasional proves of his partners affections, namely in small scratches behind his ears and kiwis, which the dragon brought every now and then. Seeing the feared man being broken like this left them stunned for a moment when he and the sky mage left the hall for the infirmary.
The infirmary was quiet. It was in the back of the guild, where the noises from the hall didn't reach the ears of the charges. The Iron Dragonslayer still left a trail of blood behind, wherever he walked. His partner had lost too much blood. Too much and he knew it. Wendy opened the door to the rather large room, they called their infirmary. It was empty, no mages were treated in there now, which was good. Wendy rushed throughout the room, gathering all kinds of things she might need. Many bandages and gauze, enough to patch up Gajeel and at least three other people, several ampullas and tins, in which, so Gajeel assumed, were various kinds of salves. Without her mentioning anything he carefully laid his pint sized partner down on one of the beds, watching out, not to hurt him even more. At first he had some problems doing this, because the Exceeds paw was still holding his shirt. But he managed to gently open the paw, so his shirt was released. His arm and both his hands were covered in blood. He wasn't able to believe, there was so much of the red fluid on him, because his partner was so tiny.
Suddenly he was pushed away, rather roughly, by the blue haired sky maiden. She placed a bowl of water on the bed and began cleaning the wounds on the small cats body. She turned the cat carefully to take a look at his back and gasped. "Bolus burns." she stated, sounding like a healer and not like the small girl she actually was. "They actually managed to burn the Guild Mark, there is no trace left of it."
None of them heard the door open. A small white Exceed came in. Charle, Wendys cat partner and fellow Exceed to PantherLily. She came in, closing the door silently, to assist her dragonslayer like she always did. But now she was stunned. She had always seen the black feline as a strong Exceed, suitable for the Iron Dragon. Both of them made a very good tag team, and they had a close bond. Seeing the Exceed, who was some kind of big brother to her and Happy, in this state, made her feel bad, vulnerable, more than she already was. Then she heard the sky dragonslayers next words: "This looks like...whiplashes?" The tall black haired man shrugged. "Who in the world would use a whip on such a small creature?" it was just a faint grumble coming from the dragonslayers lips, angry and guilty, but still very silent.
When Wendy had cleaned the majority of the injuries she saw something that bothered her. When she touched it to look at it the black cat let out a small groan, but stayed in his unconscious state. The petite dragon mage jerked back at the sound. It was so unfamiliar to all of them, even to Gajeel, who was with him all the time. The white Exceed saw Gajeel turning pale at this sound. He looked hurt. His partner had never been in such a state. Even when the dragonslayer came back, beaten to a pulp, Lily had always been fine. Which made Charle think. What could have happened to make the Exceed looking worse than his partner, what was, regarding the state the dragon was in, hard. "There are several tiny holes. Like somebody had tried to torture him with pins."
The sky mage run her hands gently along the cats body, trying not to make his injuries hurt. "Some of his ribs are broken." she stated.
"LILY!" When the dragonslayer saw his partner crashing into the wall beside him his red eyes widened in shock. He managed to get rid of the men, which had a hold on him."Lily." He had rushed over to his partner, and friend, and squatted down, attempting to pick him up. The small cat opened his eyes, looking up at the dragonslayer. Before one of them was able to say something the small mage levitated Lily again and flung him into the wall, at the opposite side of the cell. Small cracks formed themselves around the Exceeds body, showing the brute force the mage had used, before he fell down again. PantherLily curled himself up in pain, as he felt at least one of his ribs was broken.
He hated being trapped in this small body, when he wasn't able to use magic. He liked his small body, the size was comfortable, of course, but his small body wasn't able to hold out much while in a fight, it seemed it was more fragile, than his battle form. This time the dark mages got a hold on Gajeel, restraining him from approaching his partner. He struggled in the mens grip. "Lily! Get up, Lily!" he yelled at his pint sized partner. "Damnit, Lily!" The cat gritted his teeth and moved his tail some, before he squirmed. A moment passed, and then another one until he had managed to sit up, his eyes still closed, and breathing heavily, because of a stabbing pain in his chest. The leader chuckled again.
"So, Iron Dragonslayer." he said, wanting Gajeel to turn around, but the mentioned looked at his partner, watching him, hoping he was okay. "You don't like us to torture it, do you?" the leaders voice was low, creepy and sadistically playful. Again the dragon gritted his teeth. He hated it. He hated how his cat was threatened. "We can stop it." he said, sounding like he flirted with the feared man, not giving him instructions. "If you accept to get us the informations we want." PantherLily opened his eyes again looking at his partner, his face pale, his eyes locked with the Exceed. He took a deep, aching breath and raised his deep voice again, trying to make his partner snap out of this. "Do. Not. Do. It." he said again, making the dragons eyes widen. This time, the small mage, didn't even bother to lift him from the ground. He pointed at the feline and shoved him right above the ground making him land in the cell bars. Lily groaned silently in pain and fell over. He attempted to sit up again, but his whole body shook and his arms and legs gave up on him. The impact made him cough up blood again, some of it dripping down into his muzzle, leaving a tiny puddle on the ground.
"So..?" the leader whispered.
Gajeel was able to stand physical torture, his body had a high durability, so some torture didn't really affect him. And he knew PantherLily had a similar durability, in his battle form as it is. But in his tiny Earthland form he was as vulnerable as the other Exceeds. He struggled, trying to get free, but by now three men had a grip on him, using all their strength to hold him from getting free and on a rampage, because they were well informed about the dragonslayers physical strength, he had even without using magic. When he saw his cat partner in this state it hurt, not only his pride, the feelings he had for his small partner, the deep friendship the two shared. The dragon mage brought Lily here in the first place. He had forced the feline to team up with him. And he always tried to protect him, as good as possible, by sending him away from the fight, by not telling him about the jobs he did for Makarov. And now they used his partner against him. He felt offended, because they used such a low trick, and actually got him with that. And he felt guilty, because he was the one, who wanted to do this job, getting his companion in this situation. The small cat struggled to get up again, but didn't manage to do so.
The feared Kurogane looked down at the cat, who was pathetically struggling to get on his feet, to stop him from what he was doing. But Lily just wasn't able to get up again. Gajeel gritted his teeth. "Fine." he said, averting his eyes from the small creature who lay beside the cell bars, tensing up at his words. PantherLily only whispered, but with his enhanced senses the dragonslayer was able to hear it anyway. "Don't."
Wendy hunched over some, getting near the black cat and looked closely at some of the injuries. "Some of them look like they had been ripped up. Maybe when he tried to shift in his battle form." Charle stood there stunned for a moment but snapped out of it. She unfolded his wings and floated beside the sky dragonslayers side. The blue haired girl turned to her and said: "Please take care of Gajeel-san until I healed Lily." The white Exceed nodded and turned around to get another bowl of water. The bowl Wendy used was filled with red water now, tinted by the black Exceeds blood.
The small girl started placing gauze on PantherLilys body and then bandaged him immediately, to stop the bleeding.
Meanwhile, Charle had manged to comfort Gajeel to at least sit down in the chair besides the bed Lily was treated. She made him take off his, blood stained, cloak and started cleaning his injuries. His arms were covered with cuts and bruises. It seemed like his right arm was broken. His shirt was torn apart and a gash run along a side of his chest. But all of the injuries seemed rather skin-deep. The Iron Dragon didn't even shrug, when Charle accidentally brushed over one of his injuries roughly. His eyes seemed glued on the black Exceed.
Wendy had circled the bed and had begun to bandage the cats left arm. She held PantherLilys small paw in her hand and stroked it gently, but suddenly froze, when she felt something. Careful she placed his paw back on the bed and began touching it again, gently, but trying to feel what was wrong. Gajeels eyes had jolted in the sky dragonslayers direction. He turned his head and raised his eyebrow. Charle had given him an Ice pack to treat his swollen eye. "What?" the Iron Dragon asked scowling. Everyone knew he would never intend to scare Wendy, but with his looks he would even give grown men a run for their money. But the small mage didn't even tense up by his looks, She knew how long Gajeel had waited to get his very own Exceed, and she, too, was very fond of the kind partner the raven haired mage had, so she didn't mind the looks he gave her.
The older dragonslayer stood up to circle the bed too, when the door opened again. It revealed some people, Natsu, Happy, Master Makarov, Levy and some others who stood behind them. When Gajeel saw all the people who wanted to come in he snapped. To him it was like all of them wanted to reveal in PantherLilys pain. Although he perfectly knew, in the back of his head, they just wanted to make sure the small black cat was alright. They just wanted to check on him. At least that was what Lily always told him, when he himself was in the infirmary. "Get the fuck out!" he yelled at them in fury. Even Natsu flinched some at this outburst. It was Levy, with a gentle smile, who managed to get all the people out if the infirmary. "We can come back later." she said, understanding in her voice, when she shoved Natsu and Happy out of the room. Master Makarov looked at the Iron Dragon, who still shot glares at them. When Gajeel catched his Masters gaze he turned around attempting to look what was the case with his partners paw.
The door closed, and the four of them were alone again, although the dragonslayers were still able to hear the faint voices of the others who walked back into the guild hall. The Iron Dragonslayer sat down on the bed, PantherLily didn't use up much space, and looked into Wendys eyes. "What?" he asked again. It still sounded angry, but his voice had softened some. The small blue haired mage looked down. "Something is wrong. I can feel broken bones, but there is still something, that isn't right." she said, lifting her gaze to the dragon mage in front of her again. "I cannot explain though."
The raven haired man leaned down some and gently lifted up the small paw, which was always the one who changed his bandages, and stroked the fur. But not as gently as the girl managed to do.
Lily again groaned in pain, louder this time. He squeezed his eyes subconsciously shut and drove his claws into his partners hand. Both dragonslayers gasped at what they saw.
- This chapter killed me. My small Lily-loving heart is ripped into pieces. D:
I'd love to get reviews. Tell me how you liked it this far. ^^ -