Glass Hearts
Chapter 11: Shattered Glass

Magnus stood and stared forwards. Magnus looked back at himself. Magnus looked at the both of them. Thousands of red heads stood in the vast white world surround him. Suddenly, one dropped to the floor, crippling with sobs and tears. Another, writhing in pain, tearing through his red hair with bleeding fingertips until his scalp was sore and hair fell in a pile around him. One was cold, did not even flinch at the others, while some ran over to help.

Magnus watched each and everyone of them, staring through the faintly cracked glass encircling him. Pained, nostalgic fingers reached forwards, grazing the scratches on the mirror with a memorable gaze. He sighed, looking into the glass again with a depth of his heart churning nervously. Despite the world of white, Magnus could only see the darkness, the deep, deep darkness. Of course, all of it was his own darkness, the refracted glass showing him every version of his inner self. Every Magnus stood around him, the cold, the bitter, the happy, the lonely and the crazy, were still him. He had learned that a long time ago, when his crazy was more prominent.

Magnus withdrew his hand, rolling it into a tightly clasped fist. Green eyes watched it squeeze painfully.

Sometimes, the pain would get too much, the magic too painful to continue on. Sometimes, he thought he could not bear it. Sometimes, he would let go.

The place he was looking at, with its mirrored eyes, was where he would end up. It was a implosion of source, suddenly inverting his emotion radar on himself. In the physical plane, his magic stole the emotions of those around him. Inside, the magic tore his own emotions from him, and just him alone. The chaotic power would take him apart, shattering the fragile heart he had into millions of pieces, and every time he would try to pick the pieces up, they cut and slice him with pain.

You could call it reflection, destruction or reconciliation of yourself, but it could not quiet to be put into words. Where it was painful, it was also wonderful. You were isolated from the world, but you were alone. You were relieved of all emotion, but you were broken and cold. You were broken from the external insanity, but were also internally crazy. At least that was what it was like at first.

Time after time he fell into the world of the crazy domain, it would be harder and harder to pick his pieces back together again. And each time he came back, he fought with less and less resistance.

But this time it was not him who had fallen. It was Lucy.

Magnus looked on at his mirrored selves, their green eyes turning towards him. They fought back against him, but eventually lost under his dominating gaze. Cracks shot across the surface of the glass, distorting every image of himself until they were only a blur. Finally, pieces of glass crumbled into disintegrating sand on the white floor until their was nothing left. He was alone in the whiteness. Or so he thought.

Dark shadows loomed up at his feet, stretching into an almost giant across the endless white floor. But unlike the shadow that never left you, went everywhere with you, and fell in step with you, the shadow was far more sinister. Fear turned to horror as he recognise it.

Black hands moved alone, reaching down to his ankles. His hands remained by his sides. Pitch dark fingers laced around his boots, a gaping smile cracking through the circular, spiky haired silhouette of himself. Smooth arm stretched across his body, paralysed with sudden fear and recollection. Dark palms fell over his chest, spreading across the place where his heart thudded in panic.

He had seen that dark shadow before. In a world of white, it was always there, lurking somewhere near, just waiting for its chance to reach. But it would never leave its perch, waiting for a fight to begin. Every time he had fought back against his despair, it watched him, even as he left, just waiting.

Then one time, it stopped waiting. That was the last time he had ever fallen so deep into the magic's grasp. He had barely escaped from the shadow that had grabbed him before, reaching so deep into the depths of his existence.

Before him, was his darkest, most-hidden desire- the desire to kill himself.

Magnus' body suddenly pounded with adrenalin, and he launched backwards, slipping only an inch free of the figure's touch. The eclipse smile widened, small cracks of light peaking through slit ovals in its disfiguring face. Its overjoyed eyes gleamed with a joy that sent fear pounding through his spine. Magnus ran and ran, stretching his shadow so thin it was barely a line. Maybe he could out run it?

He couldn't. In a split second, it gathered itself in front of him, its shape forming a fist over his heart. Magnus gasped, blood spewing from his lips at the horrendous pain tearing through his chest. His heart, held between the projected hands of the shadow squeezed and squeezed his heart, ringing it dry of any blood.

With no heart to pump his blood, his body went cold, collapsing into the shadow on the floor. The shadow's dark arms wrapped around his body, revelling in the pain of its physical self. Magnus was dying. "I can't die..." Magnus uttered, green eyes wide in cold distress. "I've got to... I've got to..." He couldn't remember what it was. What did he have to do? Was there something for him to do? What was he doing? "No..." he said. "Nothing...there's nothing anymore."

Darkness succumbed his vision, his will failing, his conscious leaving. He was going to die.

Suddenly, a hallucination caught him by the throat, squeezing his throat so hard he couldn't breathe. The dragon slayer was pounced on top of him, eyes alight with furious anger. "DON'T YOU DARE DIE!" He roared, rousing the man from the ache to slumber indefinitely. "YOU HAVE TO SAVE LUCE!"

"...Lucy?" He murmured. Like a wave, everything came slamming into him so hard, the little breath he had was knocked straight out of him. He could remember everything. He had to save Lucy!

A shrill scream echoed in his ears, along with the shattering of the darkness around him. Black pieces of glass melted into a small, insignificant drop of oil, fading into his skin. He gasped, the pain released from his chest. He was freed.

After several seconds of regathering his wits, he shoved himself to his feet, surprised to be able to stand so well. Natsu's words echoed in his mind. "I suppose I owe that dragon slayer a favour." He murmured. Natsu had not let him die, had not let him forget his obligation to the world that were still strong. He was still needed and he would not let death get the better of him just yet. Green eyes flashed over his shoulder, the nervous tingle of remembrance churning in his stomach at the sight of the white floor, empty of the stigma of death that had once occupied the space.

With a relieving sigh, he pulled himself together, continuing to walk through the white abyss.

After several hours of long walking, without seeming to tire him out, his astral projection body, wandered with constant consultation with his attempt at direction. Unfortunately, his own knowledge was limited to if he was walking forwards or backwards, and as far as he knew, he could have been walking in circles.

After another hour, his advances had paid off. But what he saw was nothing like the destination he had hoped to find. Suddenly, he wished he had never seen it.

Deep thick roots shimmered a honey-warm brown, fading out farther and farther until the seemingly endless barricade of black thorns formed a forest around her. Dying red buds withered from the branches, only allowing glimpses of view to pass through. Behind the threatening bushes, was a beautiful, flourishing tree with leaves melted into all colours from a deep amber to a crystal gold. It glowed with burning beauty, and as each leaf fell, it withered in a second, disintegrating into ash. He obviously noticed the rapid rate of the darkness spreading through the dark roots, tainting the golden body. But despite the picturesque beauty, he could only feel the horrible sickness of disgust. Wrapped inside the weaving, twisting bark of the trunk, was a pale body with limp, tangled limbs of pale ivy, golden hair threaded through the wood, a face, captured by the encompassing circle of bark. It held the girl in its arms as if she was sleeping peacefully inside a hammock, having been lulled to sleep. But that lullaby wasn't as peaceful as it was a poison. The tree, not as wonderful as it was constricting. The girl, not as asleep as she was dying.

Lucy.

Magnus instinctively threw his hand around the back of his neck, feelings the slight indent of the silver magic circle, granting him temporary combat powers. Fortunately, his magic was the transformation kind, allowing an extensive shift of his power. All his magic formation would be transcribed from the familiar shape shifting magic into the foreign combatant he needed. Silver veins travelled along his skin in faint encircling lines, forging what felt more like burning scars as his magic began to flare inside of him. The lines, that looked as black as night in the dark, were as pale as silver in the white world. Green eyes were swallowed by the encompassing silver of magic, his hair rippling into the current of magic burning up around his body.

Magnus drew his arm back, his knees bending, eyes flattening, fist clenching, feet spreading. For a second, the magic seemed to quiet, and the world went silent.

The crack of sound exploded through the air, his fist puncturing the barricade of rose thorns. Silver light burst through with unimaginably destructive power. Every rose, every thorn and every branch dissolved in an instant, only silver burns across his path left in it wake.

Hope bubbled in Magnus for a split second, relaxing his body posture.

A second later, dread clung to his stomach again, forcing him to vomit every ounce of hope inside of him. Black tips of roses and thorns grew at an impossible rate, fixing the gap he had broke open with double the thickness and strength.

But that wasn't all. He was too caught up in his surprise that he hadn't seen the root shoot up from below, aiming straight for his face, giving him only seconds to shift his weight a millimetre to his left as it stuck past his neck, engraving a thick slice into the side of his shoulder.

Magnus immediately staggered, his strength sucked straight out of him, collapsing to one knee. Fingers wrapped around the fabric of his shirt and tore it open. Black bubbling poison bled from the wound, sealing any open veins, trapping the venom inside. The pain was intense, not as intense as his face-off with his shadow, but it still left him gasping desperately for a way to stop it.

Fortunately his mind worked quick, shifting back to his original magic. He manipulated his body, moving the infected part down to his right hand where he drew a knife from his boot and came crashing down on his wrist.

Fresh red blood spewed from his wrist, his hand dropping to the ground in thick black clumps of acid, eating carnivorously on itself until nothing was left. His magic quickly got to work, stopping himself from losing any blood and slowly reconstructing his hand. Had it been anyone else, they would not be able to get their hand back.

The black vine that had struck him fixed itself back into place, unconcerned at the enemy that had put several yards between them. Magnus, ignoring the shrivelling pain that was forcing bones into the limp sack of flesh his body was rapidly regenerating, stared fiercely at the rose barricade. He couldn't rid him of the thought of the girl he could barely get a glimpse of, slowly being eaten away behind it.

Every leaf that fell from that tree, was every second that girl was getting closer to death. It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened, and it pained him to think of the difference between the girl and him. In the nick of time, Lucy had managed to encase her life force protectively around her, letting it feast on her until it had taken all of her and all of itself. Empathy can only take and take, usually the feelings of those around the host, but she had triggered its carnivorous nature to the point that it had become a cannibal. He couldn't define how she had managed to trigger it, but somehow she had. Instead of letting the magic slowly destroy who she was, and allowing it to grow strong, she tricked it into rapidly increasing to the point where it could no longer control itself and would eat and eat, even itself, to satisfy its hunger. In the end there would be nothing, it would be the end for both the magic and Lucy.

It was both stupid, and yet, so daringly brave. Magnus could only hold her in the highest respect and honour. His weakness made him suddenly feel so despicably disgusted with himself. He was going to help her -even if it was the last thing he did. There was no way he could take it from her, after the decision she had made, making all chances of that impossible, but its hunger had got the better of itself and had made it vulnerable. The wall it had only recently felt the need to create, was proof.

But even though he said he would help her, he realised he couldn't do it alone. He would have to call in a friend.

"It's been a while since I've done this..." He said, stretching his newly formed hands and fingers, taking in a deep breath with an underlying bitter chuckle, and closed his eyes.

In the guild...

Dark black eyes glared ruefully at the red-haired wizard laid deadly still in the bed to his right, faint smudges of blood still present on the skin beneath his lips. Erza positioned herself between the dragon slayer and Magnus watching them both cautiously. After Magnus had collapsed, and only minutes later had started coughing up blood and convulsing, they had moved him onto a bed. That was only after Natsu had picked up his choking, unconscious body and shook him hard, shouting how he had to save Lucy. When they finally tore him off the man, Magnus had gone still. If not for his heart beat, they would have been certain he was dead.

Impatience finally got the better of the dragon slayer, forcing his feet to move, unable to stand still any longer. The whole thing with Magnus only made his concern worse, driving him to the point of insatiable insanity. "Dammit!" Natsu growled, his hands coiling into stiff fists at his side. "What's taking so long?"

"Natsu, I think you should try to calm down." Gildarts spoke, not moving from his position propped against the closest wall. Natsu sent him a glare, and Gildarts responded with an even sharper one, finally irritated at Natsu's repetitive behavior. The dragon slayer looked away with a sullen sulk at the floor. It only lasted a second before frustration set in again.

"I can't calm down!" Natsu despaired.

"Natsu," Gildarts tried to reason, pushing himself to stand up straight at the wall. Natsu turned on him again, his eyes not as defensive as before, but more vulnerable and despairing, seeking for some kind of comfort from the man he treated as a second father, with Igneel as his first.

"What should I do?" Natsu asked, his feet still mid pace. "She might not wake up! She's in there with the very same guy who-"

Natsu's body suddenly dropped. Gildarts leapt forwards, catching Natsu's head just before it slammed against the ground. Gasp and shouts of surprise followed after him, Gildarts trying to jeer him awake with panic to no avail. His body was completely limp, his face platonic, eyes closed- Natsu was gone.

Natsu...

"Oi." A voice called, a sharp weight catching him in the stomach. Chokes burst from the dragon slayer's mouth, shooting him up from sleep. He was stunned at the sudden sight of the white world, barely able to see a thing until his eyes adjusted. When it finally did, his face was, for second, registering sight, before a veil of red took over.

"MAGNUS!" Natsu roared, shooting his whole body forwards. Hands grabbed the remains of his torn shirt and drove the distance between them out of existence. "YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO COME BACK WITHOUT LUCY!" He roared, utterly enraged not seeing the girl by his side.

Obviously, Magnus had no time for games, and no tolerance for Natsu's hot headed attitude either. His fist unhesitatingly slammed into the head of the dragon slayer, knocking him instantly down to the ground.

"You bas-" Natsu began to pick himself up from the ground. Magnus shoved his foot down on his back, pressing his shoe into the suddenly fragile spine of the slayer.

"Shut the hell up." Magnus snapped, catching Natsu by such surprise, he involuntarily submitted. "I brought you here you dimwit. Your consciousness is inside of Lucy's. I have not come back without her. And if you would listen for two seconds before acting on those stupid assumptions of yours, I could tell you why." He removed his foot, allowing the pink-haired boy to immediately bound up onto his feet.

"You brought me here?" Natsu wandered, slightly cautious and apprehensive, looking around at the white world slightly.

"I've had this magic for 50 years; I picked up a few tricks." He answered impatiently, wanting to move onto the main subject. Unfortunately, his impression of the dragon slayer was not wrong and Natsu instantly jumped to a quick conclusion.

"You brought people into here!" Natsu snapped. "How could you bring people into this place? Did you want them to suffer?"

Magnus, too tired to bother attacking the slayer more, scoffed. "I still have morals. I wouldn't let more suffer this kind of...whatever, along with me." He said. "I've been alone for the past 30 years, have I not?"

Natsu was reluctant to answer. Obviously, he only had his story to go on with the fact he had been all alone which didn't mean it was true, yet Natsu couldn't bring himself to call him a liar, his instincts telling him deep down that it was the truth.

"But you'd pass it to an innocent girl without a second thought." Natsu retorted bitterly. Magnus for a moment, looked honestly guilty, and took no attempt to hide it. He relinquished his side of the argument, and Natsu suddenly didn't want to continue it.

"Magnus..." Natsu said a moment later. "Where's Lucy?"

Magnus didn't answer, he simply turned his face away from the dragon slayer, and the dark eyes followed. His sight, far better than Magnus', saw everything he had seen, and a slight bit more. The devastation of his best friend, and the pain that followed, hit him that little bit harder.

"What...is that?" Natsu uttered almost incoherent with shock.

Magnus explained as best he could, watching the dragon slayer's shifts of emotions across his face with uncomfortable feelings. He was both angered, hurt, guilty and a little bit of everything else at what she had done. But despite his best attempts to hide it, Magnus could faintly see the little bit of pride he felt in her, knowing his best friend would not be so, if she wasn't as brave as she was.

"We need to get her out as soon as possible." Magnus explained. "My stunt earlier caused another reaction. The vines have doubled in width, meaning they're getting bigger. They're taking in too much of her raw energy too fast. If they absorb enough of her magic- which is almost soon to be all- it's not going to just die out...It'll be much worse. "

"What do you mean by much worse?" Natsu questioned.

"It'll explode." Magnus said. "And take the whole of Magnolia with it- If we're lucky."

"Then why the hell are we waiting?" Natsu snapped with impatience.

"Because we're not enough." Magnus said. "Just you and me isn't enough."

Natsu gave him a stern, demanding look of confidence. "Then call in reinforcements."

In the guild...

"What the hell happened?" Gray hissed, taking up the position of pacing. "Why'd he suddenly collapse?"

"I don't know." Gildarts admitted. "But I have a feeling it's Magnus' doing."

"But why would he-" Gray stopped mid-sentence, his feet pausing mid-walk. Gildarts' eyes snapped onto him cautiously.

"...Gray?" He said, the familiar churn of dread inside of him.

Sure enough, the ice mage teetered forwards, seconds before his knees buckled, collapsing into Gildarts' quick arms. A second clatter echoed behind him, and he whipped around with Gray in his arms, only to see Erza passed out on the floor. Before he could even exclaimed his surprise, more voices echoed behind him.

"Wendy!" Mira cried, the blue-haired girl in her arms, and Carla asleep besides her.

"Happy!" Another one called out, Lisanna managing to catch the cat falling out of the air.

"What the hell is going on?" Gildarts exclaimed.

Big black eyes opened wearily, hissing at the sharp white light cutting through his raw pupils.

"Happy?" Natsu's familiar voice called, hands helping him to stand, surprisingly not staggering for just haven woken up.

"What time is it?" He murmured, rubbing his eyes as they adjusted to the light. Wendy's hands reached down and picked up the blue feline, his eyes absently scanning over the members of the team gathered around him. "What's going on?" He asked confusingly.

Natsu's dark eyes set on his friends, their team stood behind him with determined expressions. His mouth opened unwavering. "We're gonna save Luce!"

With the team gathered, and Lucy's life hanging in the balance, will the group be able to reach her fast enough? Or is this the end for -not just Lucy- but all of Magnolia as well?

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-A-ccentric