A/N: I was re-reading Fairy Tail, and then... Yup, this happened. This one's a bit longer than the previous two. I hope you... enjoy? I need to stop putting my favorite characters (and myself) through pain and suffering...

Title: In and out

Summary: His mind is slipping away.

Word count: 397


Eight years.

It's been eight years since he saw her.

She didn't see him, though. No, what she sees is merely a thought projection, an illusion, not the real him (sometimes he wonders, though, who the real him is). She charged at him straight away. Foolish woman, attacking one of the councilmen. She has become quite reckless, he muses. And then he thinks, maybe this meeting is fate. Maybe his God sent her to him to make things more interesting. Oh, if that's so, he doesn't mind at all. The game had been quite boring, anyway.

(And maybe she was sent to finally free him- but oh, what is he thinking? There is no one she needs to free him from.)

Truly, she truly is reckless, he thinks while a smile too fond for his own tastes forms on his face. But that guild of hers must have rubbed off of her. They are not only hot-headed, though. How strong has she become during these eight years?

He will find out soon.

(He hopes she's strong enough to destroy him- no, he doesn't! What is wrong with him?)

She's here and she's come to fight him. Just as planned. But he knows she can't kill him. The foolish girl is still trapped in the past, still trapped in the feelings. The one she knows is long gone, though, and he won't ever return again (but he's trying and trying and- stop!). She attacked him, and for a moment he was surprised at how strong she was – is that the same girl he once knew?! (It's not – the voice tells him – but neither are you).

(You've become despicable.)

His pawn (friend) is dead. Killed by him personally, though that guy was not who he had originally aimed for (she's alive!). Useless sacrifice, for they will all be dead soon. She will be sacrificed. He will finally achieve his true freedom.

(His freedom is forever lost from his reach.)

He is beaten. They had won. How is this possible?! How could he lose?! How, when the greatest of all had been with him this whole time?! No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! He refuses to believe this! It's not real! It can't be!

(It's finally over. She's finally free.)

Doesn't matter, though. They will all be dead. Him included but that's fine. He'll take them down along with him.

He moves his head and sees her fuse with the crystal.

Such a fool…

It's painful, it's burning and it's tearing him inside out, but it's okay. It's the price he will pay. For all he has done, he believes, he will be punished and this is not the end of his torment. However, she is safe, and that's the greatest reward he had received.

She's alive. She will get through this.

(And at last, he is himself, he can think clearly.)

(And maybe that is some sort of freedom, isn't it?)