Ahh, I'm a bit late posting this! Sorry!
To my wonderful reviewers and followers - Ishy and Akatsuki Wolf Rider - ILU guys!
kurahieiritr JIO - Sorry I didn't make the situation with the bully clearer in the story. But while the slavers are cruel, they also aren't going to keep someone around who causes too many problems (especially it if potentially affects their bottom line), so a jerk like the bully is going to definitely cross their line and get punished for it. As for Laxus, I think he's learning a bit about himself, especially how power and "being strong" can mean different things. Some of that is my headcanon though and hasn't really been put into the story as well as I could have.
As always - enjoy and R&R if you like!
As Laxus went through the shield, it felt like his body was coated in soap. His momentum pushed him past the front line of guards before they could react, but whatever the soapy effect was, it pulled him out of his lightning body and back into physical form. He slid along the floor and caught himself against the far wall, facing the head guard's laughing face.
"You expected to attack me with magic, gwahahahaha! But I'm way ahead of you; this device blocks magic from being used around me, so now I have the advantage!"
"Not really, unless you have some way of stopping me from punching you instead," Laxus said, stepping towards his opponent and raising his clenched fists. "How are you going to stop this?"
"Easily!"
Laxus scowled at the man's insane confidence. He took another step forward but stopped abruptly at the feel of steel sliding into his back. Where had that come from? All the guards were still in front of him… Falling to one knee, he stared as several more guards came from further down the hall to surround the head guard.
"Ciel, stay back! It's a trap!" he shouted, hoping she hadn't followed him through the shield yet.
The head guard whipped his head around to stare through the snow still flying through the air. Everyone seemed to hold their breath waiting to see if she would respond but when nothing happened, they turned their attention back to him. Laxus hoped she wouldn't do anything crazy. He could feel blood flowing sluggishly down his back and the pain was a dull throb, beating in time with his heart. Unluckily for the guards, dragon slayers were a lot more durable than regular humans, so he pushed himself back to standing and once more stepped towards the head guard.
His target cowered behind the new line of guards, trying to keep as far from Laxus as possible. The guards all pulled short swords or daggers, easier to use in the close confines of the hallway. They arranged themselves into a semi-circle across the hallway, blocking him from moving forward. Before he could decide which guard to attack first, a snowball came flying through the shield to smack into one of the four original guards. The man hit turned in time to take another snowball to the face, dropping him to the ground unconscious.
As the confused guards looked at each other, more snowballs came flying through the air. The protective arc before him started to break up as those guards turned to protect their faces from flying snow. Laxus took advantage of their distraction and charged the guard on the far end of the line, catching him unware and crashing them into the wall. The man tried to get his weapon up at the last moment but Laxus pushed his arm to the side and landed a punch to the stomach. The guard folded over and he finished him off with a blow to the back.
He turned in time to avoid a strike from the next guard in the line. Taking a cut across his forearm from the guard's knife, Laxus easily hit the over-extended guard with several punches to the ribs, knocking the air out of him. One last hit to the head knocked the guard out completely. Looking at the remaining opponents, two still blocked his way to the head guard and one was moving to reinforce the original line of guards, now down to only two standing.
"Laxus? You okay?" Ciel shouted through a curtain of whirling snow that hung right outside of the shield. Flurries of snow and ice pelted the entire hallway and made the floor slippery.
"I'm fine! Just do what you can with those guards in front of you," he yelled back. One of the guards in front of him used this momentary distraction to start another attack and the second guard followed seconds behind. Laxus dodged knife thrusts from both men, taking several blows on his arms. He landed solid hits against each man, but they covered for each other and he couldn't get enough leverage to do any significant damage. He had to get through to the head guard before that man managed to sneak away somehow.
He spared a glance towards the shield and saw only one guard still standing. The others were lying under piles of snow and ice. As he watched, two snowballs flew through the shield to impact the final guard but he remained standing. More snow flew through the air, freezing pellets of ice that stung the eyes and then Ciel charged through the shield to knock the guard off his feet, throwing several punches at his head. The guard twisted his body to throw her off balance but she recovered in time to hit him with one last blow to the face, making him slump to the ground in defeat. She stood up and ran past Laxus, grabbing his arm in passing and heading further down the hall and away from the shield.
"What are you doing?" he demanded.
"You'll see in a moment," she said and kept pulling him along. When they were about twenty feet from the head guard, Laxus felt the soapy sensation again and then they were through another shield. Ciel turned to look at him with a smile. "It's a bubble. And while we can't use magic inside of it, there's nothing stopping us from using our magic to send attacks into that space. "
"So that's what you were doing with the snowballs."
"Yep. Well, actually, they were ice balls coated in a layer of snow. We should be able to send a mix of snow and lightning into there and take all three of them out at once." While she was talking, Laxus could feel the temperature around them dropping even further. Steam started rising from the floor as the trace bits of heat there were leeched out into the air. "Ready when you are."
"Now."
"BLIZZARD!" "LIGHTNING DRAGON'S ROAR!"
Blasts of snow covered everything and they had to wait for the air to clear before seeing what the result of their combined attacks. Lightning danced from any bits of metal it could fine and the force of Laxus' Lightning Dragon Roar blasted a hole through the side of the mountain, opening the prison to the outside world. The head guard lay twitching against a shattered pile of stone and the others were slowly becoming covered in snow as Ciel's Blizzard dispersed.
As the air cleared, one lone guard was revealed sitting in the room Laxus' attack had blasted open. When he saw the two mages staring at him, he quickly got down on his knees and raised his hands in surrender. Ciel went over to grab his restraints to tie him up, leaving Laxus to do the same for the head guard. Dust continued to float through the air as the two of them restrained the remaining guards while they were still unconscious.
"We need to find out where the kids are being held. I want to get Ino and Shira free, at least," Ciel said tiredly.
"Ask that last guy," Laxus said. "I'm going to find all the command sticks for these collars and take care of them. That should prevent anyone from doing this again."
"Sounds good to me," she said before going over to the guard in question. "Come on you. You're going to show me where all the kids are being kept." She dragged him back to his feet and pushed him down the hallway towards the cells. After she was out of sight, Laxus dragged the head guard over to a chair and dropped him into the seat.
"Wake up," he said, slapping the man lightly on the cheek. "I know you're not out; I can smell your fear." The head guard's face twitched but he kept his eyes tightly closed in an attempt to appear unconscious. Laxus smiled and then clenched his fist under the guard's nose, sending sparks of lightning flickering over the metal of his uniform. With a yelp, the head guard opened his eyes and tried to flinch away.
"Stop that, you fool! I'll have you know this means nothing! You'll be captured again shortly!" he yelled.
"You think so?" Laxus replied. "Maybe whoever you're talking about will come in through the hole we just blasted into the side of this place. We wouldn't want to make it too hard for them to recapture us, after all."
The head guard gaped at him in surprise before twisting his head to look out the hole mentioned. His face froze in surprise before crumpling in defeat.
"How..how… what are you two monsters?" he mumbled.
"We're mages and you've lost. Now start talking. I want to know about these collars and who made them."
"I don't know anything! I'm just supposed to run this mine and keep the prisoners in line, that's all!" he babbled. "The owners provided the collars and command sticks when I was hired. That's all I know!"
Laxus glared at him in frustration, wanting to beat the man until he confessed to knowing something. Before that could happen though, he heard his name called and then Shira came running through the dust and grabbed him around the waist in a hug.
"You're okay! Ciel said you beat the bad guys and we're going to be free!" she yelled.
"Uhh, yeah. The guards are all tied up now and we'll get everyone free as soon as we can," he said, unsure what to do about the girl looking up at him so happily. He settled for putting his hand on her head and patting her hair a few times. He noticed she was still wearing the collar, so he reached down to unlatch it and holding the metal in front of the head guards face, he sent a jolt through it, burning out whatever magic it contained.
"You get anything from that bastard?" Ciel asked as she came down the hall carrying Ino in her arms. The younger child was crying silently into Ciel's shoulder. She handed Laxus the other collar and he repeated burning it out, making the head guard's face turn green.
"Nothing. He says everything was provided for the guards when they were hired," Laxus said in disgust. "He's useless, we could probably just get rid of him and no one would notice."
"We'll let the authorities take care of him," Ciel said. "There's a town nearby here, or there should be one. They can handle calling someone to clean this up. I've sent out a message to my guild as well, so hopefully they'll be here soon and can help with these collars. I'm not sure I want to just take them off everyone yet."
"I agree. Let's take a look outside and see if we can figure out where we are at least." Laxus took Shira's hand and the four of them stepped over the rubble left from the blast, finally getting a look outside. The air was bitterly cold but after being locked inside stone tunnels for months, it felt wonderful.
"Look! There's lights down there!" Shira said, pointing off to the side. The adults stared into the darkness, trying to discern who was heading their way.
"Let's wait inside for now, but we don't know who's coming. They could be with the guards," he said. "I think the girls should wait in the cell and try to get some sleep. Ciel and I will wait here."
"But what if they lock us back up?" Ino asked softly.
"I'll come make sure the door won't lock, okay?" Laxus said. Ino smiled and grabbed his other hand and both girls pulled him down the hallway. "I'll be right back," he said over his shoulder. "Don't do anything crazy."
"I won't," Ciel said with a smile.