Ice shattered, and she felt the fragments hit her face and arms and dig into her skin. "Ice make: Rockets!" Ultia cried.

She dropped to the ground seconds before the sound of flying projectiles whizzed overhead, curling instinctively over Loki. He meowed in annoyance and she felt something sharp pierce her leg. She shrieked in pain.

"Dissolve!" came a faint voice, and she felt Loki tense beneath her. suddenly he was back to his original form and rolled over so their positions were reversed; him shielding her with his body. He thrust something into her hand and she felt the rough point of one of her Script pens dig into her palm. "Use it well." He whispered, and in a flash of light he returned to the spirit world. She gripped the pen tightly and sat up on her knees, shifting the pen so it rested in its proper place.
"Solid Script: Light!" She yelled. The word appeared, followed by a blindingly bright light. She grasped the word in one hand and shoved it up higher. It cast light down on the entire room, illuminating every shadow within seconds. Jose screeched in pain and fury while Boze hid in the corner, his back to them. Sue stood her ground, a determined look on her face. Levy stood up and balanced on her uninjured leg, looking around. Ultia was standing behind a wall of ice again, Gajeel clawing at it to get to her. "Hey, Kurogane!" Levy called. The Iron mage whipped around and glanced up at the ball of light that had formed and howled in pain, dropping to the ground and clutching at his face. Ultia ran around him and to Levy, who wrote up a portal spell. She shoved the nine-year old into it, knowing that her niece would end up back in Magnolia with her parents and sisters. Pantherlily would also be safer there. Her ball of light dimmed and she watched as Kurogane slowly rose and faced her.
"You little bitch." He snarled, taking a step forward.
"Gajeel, I know you're in there somewhere," she pleaded, looking into the wild red eyes she didn't recognize, only remembered. His gaze flickered for a moment, and the Iron mage clutched at his head. He doubled over and dropped to the ground and started to convulse, screaming profanity at the ceiling. Levy cautiously walked over and watched him carefully.
"AAAHHH SHIT! You goddamn bitch," He yelled, curling into a ball. Levy crouched beside him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Gajeel?" She asked softly, running her hand over his back soothingly. She ignored the blood and grime that collected under her nails and covered her hand and instead focused on the broken soul in front of her.

He wrenched himself away from her touch and his hand shot out, catching her square in the stomach. Something sharp pierced her side and she fell backwards and curled into a ball, the attack having reopened the wound from three years ago. She clutched at her abdomen and forced herself to relax and stand up. When she did so, she found Gajeel standing unsteadily on his feet, his hand dripping with blood. She stepped forward, but didn't touch him. He recoiled anyways and tried to step back, but she stopped him by grasping the collar of his vest. His entire body shook with tremors and he looked ready to collapse, but his eyes were almost glowing with a feverish anger and he swatted her away again, this time sending her flying backwards. She hit the wall hard and felt her shoulder slip out of place. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood and quickly reset her arm, rolling her shoulder a few times to ease a bit of the soreness. "Gajeel, easy. Take it easy." She said soothingly, holding up a hand. He stalked towards her and she glanced around, looking for some sort of weapon or shield, and her eyes fell on her Script pen, not three feet away. She returned her attention to the iron mage approaching her and dove towards her pen as he lunged at her. Her hand closed around the feathery end of the pen and she felt his hand grip her ankle and yank her backwards. She twisted to face him and yelled, "Solid Script: Light!" The blinding light appeared again and Gajeel released her, shielding his eyes from the painful beams. She scrambled to her feet and held up her pen as the beam quickly dissipated. Gajeel recovered quickly and launched himself at her again.
"Solid Script: Lightning!" The word appeared, crackling with raw energy. She shoved it at him and the strands of pure lightning wrapped around him, constricting his movement and effectively trapping him. "Script: Shadowstorm." A whirling black vortex appeared, the shadows within it hissing and moaning. She took a step back; Shadowstorm was one of the scripts she hadn't used before. It was dangerously unpredictable, and could easily turn on her instead. But she willed it to take whatever was plaguing Gajeel and the other shadows in the room. The moaning and hissing softened to a quiet snarling as it neared Gajeel. He growled and recoiled, but the lightning kept him from moving away. The vortex encompassed him and the snarling turned into wailing. She watched in grim fascination as the shadows pulled another, almost demonic being right from Gajeel's skin. The swirling cloud of shadows then dissipated into thin air, the only evidence of their existence being a lingering shriek from the captured shadow. The lightning bonds around Gajeel crackled into nothing and he staggered forward a few steps, then collapsed. Levy quickly ran to him and put an arm over his shoulders. She whispered soothingly as shivers wracked his body, running her fingers through his matted hair. He shuddered once more and dropped onto his side, his entire body convulsing. His eyes had rolled back into his head. "Gajeel!" She cried, shaking his shoulders. She rolled him onto his back and cupped his face, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Stop it! Stop it, please! You'll kill him!" she screamed, trying to stop the awful shuddering and convulsions. When it didn't stop, she resorted to the only thing she thought might still work.

She kissed him.

He stilled, his fingers twitching a tiny bit, just once before they too stilled. She drew back and saw that his eyes were still open, and that they had glazed over. "No, no…" She whispered, one hand flying to her mouth. "No, Gajeel, no!" She cupped the back of his head and lifted his entire torso up, pressing her forehead to his. "You can't die, Gajeel. This isn't fair!" She wailed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. "This isn't right! He didn't do anything wrong!"
She laid him back down on the ground and felt for a pulse.

There was none.

Gajeel Redfox was dead.

Shit. Well, that was an unexpected little twist.

The story isn't over yet, don't freak out!