Darkness Consumes Everything, Everything but You
6
She felt the tug, the insistent pull on her body once she fell through the darkness, she was terrified, alone, sacred, alone, where was Gajeel, why was she alone? Her mind in turmoil, the thoughts subsided, numbness overtook her body. She was drifting, drifting, all alone; the darkness enveloped her body and held her tightly.
She didn't know what to think, she didn't know what to do. A hand touched hers, but it felt so far away. Words were whispered in her ears, she knew the voice but not the meaning. She wanted to be held, her prayer was answered. He held her tightly; his breath on her ear, his words still didn't make sense. She felt his tears and pain as if they were her own, she only wanted to hold him, to comfort him, to say she was all right. He lay there with her; she didn't know how long, she knew he wasn't going to be there forever.
He left her alone once more, her body shook trying to call for him to return. Something cold was placed in her hands, her words fell on deaf ears. She felt him leave, no longer anywhere near her.
"GAJEEL!" Her words came out quiet no matter how hard she tired to scream for him, she wanted to cry, her reactions were low and small.
"Gajeel, I'm okay, I'm okay! Come back, don't leave me!"
She fell, the hands that had been holding her up released her, and she plummeted to the ground. Just before she smashed into the hard floor, something caught her.
"Ahh, those bastards! Taking such a pretty thing!" A gentle voice swore like a demon next to her. "I can't believe them sometimes." She patted Levy off.
Levy shook tears she was unable to hold back rose up and overflowed. "G-Gajeel!" She sobbed. She rubbed her eyes and nose, trembling.
"Are you okay?" A hand touched her shoulder, she filched away into a corner.
"D-don't touch me!" She growled, magic overflowing with her tears. "I, I want to go back!" She curled into herself; her face peeking above her knees, blood red eyes met the girls. She snarled, Gajeel's defensive magic coming into effect from her panic and fear. Her teeth snapped together as she hissed and tried to get as faraway from her as she could. The magic scorched the walls and floor, it curled around her, protecting her, shielding her, holding her, it swirled in a current much like water would. That bubbled of magic enclosed her fully, not a single wisp of hair moved beyond that barrier.
"Why do they always pick the weirdoes?" She sat crisscross and waited for the magic to disperse, standing guard against the men that stayed in the shadows of the doorway. "No way in hell are you touching her." Her voice deadly and quiet, her black cloak swirling around her form.
O-O-O-O
The shadows curled around his feet, trying to drag him under the unsteady ground he had landed on. Her scent was here, her tears were here, and her fear was here; if only he had come sooner. The Magic flowed like water, his rage controlling it only just. His fists clenched and unclenched, his promise ringing in his ears. His nose led him to a patch where she had fallen trough the ground, his eyes dilated.
"What are you doing here? Have you come to read the book?" A being clothed in white shadows stood before him, the voice faintly feminine.
"Why the fuck do you care? Who the hell are you?" He kept his swearing to a minimum when he had been around her, nothing held him back now. His fist wrapped around where he believed the creature's neck to be.
"You can't harm me, lowly human, I, myself, am the book. I lead you chapter to chapter until the end, I make you live your worst nightmare!" It cackled like a demon, maybe it was one.
"Then do your fucking job, lead me through this hell." He stood stiff, her scent so close but so far.
"As you wish." It bowed in mockery. "First Chapter, Endless Repentance!" Ancient magic runes circled this mysterious being, it sucked them both down through the floor, the shadows once more gripping him and trying to suck him into their depths. He kicked them off easily, they were trash. "I'll rejoin you once you beat it, or if you scream and want to leave." It's voice faded into the night that surrounded him, he knew this place.
'The old shop, the house before him, the crack in the old walkway, the feeling of the air, the smell.' It was where he had run to when his heart had been ripped out.
He saw his own young form moving like a shadow, he suddenly was in the mind of the younger self. He knew the thoughts, he knew what would happen; whether the book had twisted anything was unknown to him.
"Little boy, what are you doing all alone?" The voice made shivers travel up his spine, a man he would never forget, his first of many.
Gajeel stood there, his black hair to his waist, only his ears were pierced (the others came later), he wore a black sheet wrapped around his small frame.
"None of your business." He huffed and tried to go around the man and skitter back into the alleyway.
"Uh-hu, it is my business, I own these streets, this is my place and you're here, which means you're mine." The man's greasy hands gripped his biceps, his skin crawled with the contact. Gajeel tired to pull away, he willed his younger body to fight back! He couldn't control the body, he was only a passenger.
"Let go, get the hell away from me." His face downcast, bangs covering the blood red eyes.
"Oh? So you bite?" The man chuckled and smiled, reveling his black and crooked teeth. "I like it." His voice crawled down Gajeel's spine, his younger body shivered as well.
"Let go!" He screeched, his own young magic rammed the man into the wall, the iron pipes from the alley way constricted the lecher's movements. "You picked the wrong person, you geezer." He tilted his head to the side, a sadistic grin covered the innocent mask he had worn. "I was looking for a place to stay the night, maybe a meal or two, I was looking for something to kill as well." His own voice made him cringe, the hate and lust for blood evident even in his younger years.
An iron knife separated from the pipe, his small tongue flicked out to taste the hard steel. "I love this metal, I was raised by this metal. It obeys what I command, and will never betray me like everything else." He maneuvered it to touch the man's Adam apple. "I eat, breath, and live for this feeling, the feeling of taking something irreplaceable, like what as taken form me!" The madness of loneliness swirled around him, almost visible, almost tangible! He wanted to turn away form what happened next, he could only sit and watch from his own point of view form those many years ago.
"B-boy, what a-are you t-talking about?" The man stuttered and swallowed hard, his Adams apple brushed the razor edge of the knife, a small trickle of blood beaded on his skin.
"You're only a way to relieve myself." He smiled innocently, the knife held to his cheek almost lovingly. "Bastards like you are born for this!" He screeched and plunged the knife into the man's calf.
The man's bloodcurdling scream pierced the night around them.
"Oh dear, don't you like it? Don't you like your purpose?" Gajeel asked so innocently. He slammed the knife into the gut this time, twisting and shaking it cruelly.
The man shrieked like a girl, his body convulsing, his mouth foaming, his eyes rolling into his skull; he was bleeding to death.
"How about now? Now?" The chest, the throat, over and over he pierced whatever he wished. Gajeel flinched, the blood dripping form his own hands. This had been his first mindless kill, one of many, one of too many, one that he wished to forget. His own body shook, but in pleasure, he liked this, this blood.
He was loosing his mind in this memory, he gripped his hands, his eyes wide, and his mouth playing on a sadistic grin to mimic the one that he had just seen. Blood dripped down from the sky, covering him. He shook, he panted, and his body was enjoying this more than it should be able to.
The rationality in him wanted to save Levy; the primal instinct told him that he liked this too much, that he should stay, that he should forget about the girl. His internal conflict was growing, the madness was overflowing, the terror and want in him was rationally impossible for him to handle. He spun in circles, his body moving on his own.
He paused in his glee for only a moment, he saw his small form sitting next to the pool of blood. It wasn't raining, so why was the cement before his smaller counterpart soaked with something other than rain?
He looked at his own face, the tears welling up, the snot dripping, his silent sobs as he was cried for Metalicana.
"Yeah, that's right." He patted himself, he found he could touch the young boy. "Don't worry, don't cry, don't grieve, live and repent. Not too far in the future there's a girl who'll accept every last damn thing about you. She won't care about your past of blood soaked memories, she won't judge you, only hold you." He ruffled the boy's hair.
"Really, we won't be alone any longer?" He rubbed his nose on the back of his sleeve.
"Nawh, come with me." He touched foreheads with his own memory, the blood being wiped form consciousness. He took back the loneliness and fear, the boy was safe back in his heart where he belonged once more. That blood soaked memory had been pulled from the depths of his heart, a place locked away tightly and kept out of sight for a reason.
"Get your ass out here, I'm ready." He stood just as rain poured on him from the heavens, washing away the darkness and blood, washing away the need to repent for actions he had done so long ago; he felt a bit lighter now.
"Oh? Done so soon?" It whirled around him, silent and calculating. "This was just a test you fool, but it looks like you got a passing grade. Guess I can't waste anymore time now can I?" It sank into the floor, dragging Gajeel with him.
"Let's get this freak show on the road, I've got things to do." Gajeel crossed his arms, his resolve stronger than ever, he had needed that seed of doubt to be weeded anyway.
This time the shadows didn't grip him, they passed around them both like rippling waves, caressing and guiding gently.
"You're on your own after your feet hit the ground, I can only come to you when you 'die', which means to faint in here. You must travel the mansion and search for your beloved." The voice soft and understanding.
"Why do you care, why are you doing this for me?" He glanced over his shoulder, the ground rapidly approaching him.
The white shadow among the black, the strange among the normal, the hated among the loved; it was a being much like himself.
That white shadow pushed the cowl back, a beautiful face appeared before him. Her skin like ceramic, her lips of a rich apple red, her eyes as black as a new moon; she was stunning. She cocked her head to the side.
Her voice now soft and kind, "I was trapped in here with the person I cared for most, she needs to be saved as well. I'm not doing this for you, but for me. This mansion, nothing is real here. I see her for a moment, just around the bend, just out of reach, I round the corner and only a sadistic giggle is left. Be careful, trust your heart, never let that girl go again, never let her fall, never let her stray from your side; she'll die and be reborn like me, she'll be trapped forever if you leave her.
"The magic that pulled her in was dark, something awakened long ago. If her body was in here like yours, she wouldn't have to worry about this kind of death, sadly only her soul resides in these pages. My body is locked on the outside as well, but I'm no longer able to return to the life I once had." She covered her eyes, tears leaking from under them. "If only I hadn't done that, if only I had left this book uncharged with magic, if only. Don't make yourself regret anything." Her eyes now cold like steel, they bore into him. "Get going, time flies when you're reading."
"Hold it right there." His voice commanding and nowhere near soft. "Before you leave, tell me your name."
"I forgot it."
His feet touched hardwood, the shadows evaporated, her along with them.
"Now, let's see what this shitty excuse for a world has in store for me!" He growled and began to search for the scent he knew all too well.
O-O-O-O
"The road be long, the path is endless, so many choices! So many mistakes!
Every turn is wrong, every choice is useless, the never ending voices, like searing metal stakes.
Rip reason out of me. Screaming for my blood, the never ending clamor, ceases as the sky opens." She hummed and kicked her feet, the song was old and she didn't remember the rest of the words either, it was the only thing she remembered; it was her only memory. A small girl with blond hair stood over her, the song soft and almost a lullaby, it was a dark one at that.
"Ahh, you are no fun." She grumbled and rolled onto her stomach, her feet crossed and hung in the air over her back. She propped herself up on her elbows. The black cocoon hung in the corner, the recipient deep in a slumber that would end her life. "Die already, I want a playmate."
The girl only looked to be about nine, maybe eight, no one knew really. Her hair was long and black, skin of porcelain, lips of roses, eyes of the blue sky, the black clock her only article of clothing; she was like a shadow given human form.
She rose to her feet, her hand resting on the cocoon.
"Die and awaken, awaken and be with me, be with me and never leave." She rested her head against the warmth that it emitted. Hidden within it was a girl, a girl she had rescued from the men that had invaded her house and life. They had brought other women in, but they weren't worth changing or wouldn't do it by themselves, she had thrown them out mercilessly like trash. These men refused to stay gone long even after she had tossed them out countless times. She had given up and waited for them to bring in a girl to become her companion and rescue her from the eternal loneliness that coursed through her.
This was her world, she scared all those she deemed as worthy of a scare. She tormented them, made them cry, made them piss themselves, made them live the their worst nightmares; no one had come for a while.
Her head snapped up, she sensed a new being in her world.
"Ahh!" She curled a finger around her lips. "New meat!" She snapped her fingers, shadows of white rose from the ground and bowed to her. "Give the newest guest a welcoming party, would be a dear and do that for me?" She gripped one by the face, keeping it in line with her eyes. "Please?" Her words echoed dangerously. They all nodded and sank into the floor and walls, doing their masters bidding.
"Ahh, it's been awhile since I had this much fun!"
She laid down again, the men cowering from her, a monster in their untrained eyes.
O-O-O-O
'Warmth, fear, loneliness, fear, darkness, fear, changing, weird sensations.' Her consciousness was returned to her, her mind in a daze and taking in the information around her.
She lazily opened an eyes, gazing at the darkness around her that was more fluid and solid than anything else. Her movements lethargic, her mind moving at breakneck pace.
"W-where am I? W-where is Gajeel?" She cried out, she had never liked the dark much. Ironic, horror and dark do go hand in hand. "This it a dream, I'll wake up next to him, his arms around my waist!" She moved her arm to pinch herself, it seemed like an eternity before it brushed her arm.
She pinched as hard as she could, nothing happened. She didn't wake up, this wasn't a dream, this was real, this was all too real! She screamed herself hoarse, her voice unsteady and filled with sobs.
"Not alone, I'm here too." A small light floated slowly around her. "Don't, don't cry. Please." It nudged her gently, it's warmth snapping her form her hysterics.
"W-who are you?" She moved to brush her eyes, her movements still slow.
"You don't know me yet, but I'm with you." The voice was of a young boy, soft and full of life. "I'll be with you forever, I'll never leave the ones I love the most, he's on his way." The light changed a bit, a human form defiantly in the shadows of the center of the bright light.
"W-who?" She sniffed.
"You're world, my world, your love, my love, your savior, mine as well; he'll never leave us." It sounded so sure.
"G-Gajeel?"
"So that's his name." It changed a bit again, small arms wrapping around her torso. A head buried into her chest. "I like it."
"I'm Levy." She moved to pat his head, his hair reminded her of something so familiar. "Who're you?"
"I don't have a name." It sounded sad.
"Everyone needs a name!" He had succeeded in giving her something to distract her mind, giving Gajeel more precious time. "I'll give you one!"
"Really?" He sounded unsure.
"Of course, you're a dear friend now. You raised my hopes and gave me company, you're a great friend already!" She thumbed her shin thoughtfully, he listened to the beat of her heart. "How about Hiroko? As a nickname, we'll call you Hi. Both of these are Japanese, Hiroko means generous. Hi mean fire, you looked like a little flame when I first saw you a moment ago; perfect huh?" She giggled, running her hands over his scalp, her mothering instincts kicking in.
"Hmm, I like it!" He snuggled in deeper, his own heartbeat faint but echoing in the darkness. "Tell me about the world, what you like and don't, the joys and dangers, I want to know about the world I'll live in one day."
She began telling him everything, from Fairy Tail to the feeling of grass between your toes, about bathing, about the sun, about the friends she held dear; about Gajeel.
O-O-O-O
His fist smashed into the wall, a shadow slipping just under him.
"Damn it all! Fuck this!" His fist transformed into his famous giant metal rod, the magic of anger coursing through it made the shadow balk in fear of his wrath. "Fuck off you pansy's! I ain't got the time to shit around with you like this!" He let out a feral roar and pummeled them all with his magic. They retreated, for the moment at least.
He stalked down the hall, he had found a clear scent trail, her leather was mixed with his heavy steel now, an easy smell to pick out. He closed his eyes, taking it in, the direction, the feeling of danger where he was going to heading towards. His eyes snapped open, the pupils dilated and then quickly contracted under the harsh light that shone above him. The floors creaked with each step, the walls littered with cobwebs and blood from past victims. He passed under and archway concealed in darkness, the sense of danger increased dramatically.
There she was! Right in front of him, she lay on her side, her face pointed away form him, she wore no clothes. He saw an arm thrown casually over her side as well, an arm he didn't know. He took a closer look, a man with no face held his place.
It must have kissed her for she woke with its face pressed to hers, her eyes clear and bright like he knew them to be, the faceless figure brushed his hands over her slim body. She moaned and arched erotically to that man.
He watched as that man did what he usually did, it seems that he had been replaced. He felt the anger boil under his skin, she was unfaithful! He shook his head, dispelling the uneasiness.
"You gotta try better than that, fagots." Gajeel smirked and walked through this mirage, this horror was untrue, Levy was unable to cheat, no matter how hard she tired; not like she would in the first place anyway! "Give me your best shot, I'm not going down without a fight!" He strolled down the hall, the hair on the back of his neck began to slowly rise.
"That's more like it." He muttered as his footsteps grew louder and echoed through the halls. He wanted it to give him a hard time, he wanted to prove himself, he wanted to rip this person apart, he wanted to win; apparently his blood thirst came in use for times like this.
He growled lowly, things unknown skittered into the shadows, he heard their whines and barks, he knew they were afraid of him. He used that fear, he wanted to fight the top, he wanted to get her out as soon as he could!
O-O-O-O
The girl in black kicked her feet, her fingers lazily twirling her in her locks of midnight. Her blue eyes focused on the being before her, the shadows had failed their mission.
"What?" She rubbed her chin thoughtfully now. "Ahh, 'She' must have played with his heart." She sat up, her legs crossed and palms on her thighs. "My dears, please don't fail again…" Her voice soft and deadly, those red lips would spell doom if they failed once more!
The hastily bowed over and over, afraid of her wrath, she was the one who had given them life; taking it away was a flip of the wrist for her. She cackled and dismissed them.
"Ahh, it's been awhile since I had such an interesting visitor." She sighed heavily before rolling onto her stomach.
The lights dimmed, she was ready to rest for a short moment. Her eyes lit up in the darkness, they trained on the window before her, an empty moon stared back at her. Trapped, alone, betrayed, alone, scared, alone, she was all of these things wrapped into a bundle.
Kayz, I've been told it's Epic, and it is official now… once this story ends I will make the High School one for this pair, look for the teasers at the end of a few chapters, it will be a bit of a bonus for those who want it! XD Reviews and show me the love! X3
O_x