Libitina drifted within the cold water, unsure of the events that had just taken place. She stared up at the water's surface, watching the hypnotizing rhythm of the raging waves.
"I've never met a human like this one."
Her limbs were aching as her adrenaline wore off. The strain she put this body through would have probably killed the girl if Libitina wasn't inhabiting it. The frigid ocean water rocked her limp body along the current. Libitina's thoughts continued to drift back to what had occurred at the cliff's edge. Levy's last act of desperation. She was never one to admit that someone was stronger than her, but in this case, Levy's strong will and love for the Dragon Slayer beat out her own strength. As her thoughts went on, the Dragon Slayer's look of utter despair flashed in the forefront. The pain he must have felt as he realized that there was no saving her. He more than likely didn't hear her one and final confession before she plummeted to her supposed death.
She blinked, wondering how much time she had left before running out of air. Almost as if on cue, a purple swirling vortex formed just a few feet from her. Without hesitation, she swam towards it. As she floated through the portal, she suddenly dropped into a familiar dark corridor. Water from the ocean spilled through the portal as it closed, leaving her in a frigid puddle.
She struggled to her feet, her bare feet slipping on the cold tile. Using the wall just to her left, she brought herself to stand. Almost as if responding to her movements, the dark hallway suddenly lit up. Libitina noticed the rows of candelabras nailed haphazardly into the walls. Now able to see, she proceeded carefully down the corridor, slipping occasionally.
"This girl . . . who woulda thought she'd be this strong . . ." she spoke, her voice hoarse. A chill wracked her already weary bones and she found herself sliding down onto the floor. Her breath came in short gasps and with each breath, she feared her lungs would shrivel and collapse.
"Never thought I would see you this broken, Libi."
Libitina turned and saw Inanis struggling her way down the hall. She wasn't as beat up as Libitina, but she was clearly put through the wringer. She staggered towards the younger mage and held out her hand. Although they had their differences and argued constantly, they were still the only family they had. She took Inanis' hand and on shaken legs, continued down the corridor.
As they came upon the main room where they had originally departed, the scientist they called "father" sat patiently. She could see the small gears in his robot arm turning in order to keep the limb functional. The low sounds it emitted was the only thing heard in the room. Their Father sat with arms crossed and a smile on his face, but there was no emotion behind it.
"I see you had some trouble?" he finally said. He stood from his seat and sauntered to the injured girls. He grabbed on to Libitina's arm and helped Inanis sit her down on the beat up couch.
"Father, you need to get these souls out of our bodies. They have become too much of a nuisance," snapped Inanis. "Their connections with those Fairies are much stronger than we originally thought. If they were to have the time to regain their strength, I don't think we would be able to-" Father raised his hand and cut her off. Libitina remained silent after seeing her elder sister practically snap. She always seemed so reserved, but seeing the way she spoke, she was more than just worried. She was afraid.
"There is no longer a need to worry," he calmly stated. The two girls shared a look as Father began walking down another hallway. All they could hear him say before the shadows engulfed his form was, "Once you've had a chance to catch your breath, do come into my lab. The machine is complete." Without a moment's hesitation, the two followed after him with what little strength they had left.
As they entered a different room, they saw just how massive the machine was. There were three cushioned seats set up back to back in the center of the room. Attached to the back of each chair appeared to be a large needle which connected to a thick tube. Said tubes could be followed up into the ceiling and flowed towards the back wall where they connected with three different cylinder tanks. The liquid within the tanks glowed an ominous green.
"So this is the infamous machine . . ." Libitina trailed off as she leaned against the doorframe. Their Father stood off to the side, typing in some code into the console by the seats.
"Come, my children. Sit down and your wish shall finally be granted," he motioned to the seats. The two girls walked to them without an ounce of hesitation. Inanis helped Libitina sit down in one then sat in the one next to it. "I should warn you both, this is going to be very unpleasant."
Juvia felt herself return back to her body. Her stolen body. She felt the familiar chains catch her spiritual form once again, but this time, they were more loose than before.
"She must still be weak after that fight . . ." She thought. She looked ahead to the misty monitor, her only view into the outside world. "If only I could regain my strength, I could take advantage of her weakness!" She gritted her teeth in frustration.
In the monitor, she witnessed her body walking through a dark hallway with Levy's body leaned against hers. "She looks so beat up. What on Earthland happened?" She was startled to see the small mage in such a broken state. "Was her battle with Gajeel-kun so . . ." Her thoughts were cut off when she noticed they were now in a new room and her heart sank. In the center of it, she saw this giant mechanism.
"This could only be the machine they have spoken about," she muttered.
"You are not wrong, Juvia," Inanis stated.
Juvia felt a cold chill. A crippling fear. She half-hoped that the others had caught up to them and were going to come to the rescue any minute now. But she knew. She knew that was just wishful thinking. The state she saw her friends in; there was no way they'd be able to find them so quickly. She looked up to the machine and noticed Libitina was already sitting in one of the seats while her body was lead to the other. She struggled on the chains, pulling every which way, but they wouldn't budge. She saw the Scientist walk to the younger mage and grabbed hold of the large needle. He held onto her shoulder and had her lean forward while he pulled on the tube with his robot hand, adjusting it while with pale, lean fingers, trailed down the girl's exposed back. His finger stopped in a spot in-between her shoulder blades. With little warning, he stuck the needle into her back and Levy's body jolted upright. Juvia shook as tears poured down her face. It wasn't the sight that caused such a reaction. It was the screaming. She could hear disembodied screaming coming from the girl's body and unfortunately, she knew who's voice it was.
Juvia continued to struggle against the chains, desperately trying to get free, but the screaming distracted her and all she could do was watch. Suddenly, a pale white glow formed at the needle's base and started to flow through the tube. Before she could follow it further, the Scientist appeared before her and reached behind her. She froze, unable to move.
"Try to relax," he spoke in a chilling voice.
There was a pause and then, searing pain. Soon, Juvia's own screams rivaled that of Levy's. She was so distracted by the pain, in fact, that she hadn't noticed the chains disappear and a pair of purple, gangly hands reach around her and pulled her into the darkness.
Lily had pushed his wings as hard as he could against the harsh storm. His destination being the cliff side where Gajeel's scent stopped. He had this gut-wrenching feeling ever since the storm started up again, and it wasn't because of the thunder.
He weaved through the dense trees, eyes blinded by the fallen rain. It was only when he found the clearing by the cliff that his sight was clear again and what he saw was something he wished he hadn't. Fallen on the ground, covered in mud and blood was Jet and Droy. Jet had this long gash across his chest, covered in what appeared to be a tattered shirt.
"Gajeel's…"
His eyes scanned the ground to Droy who was face down in the mud. The only thing that sent some relief towards Lily was that both mages were still breathing. Albeit, barely. He rushed to the two and kneeled before them in his battle form, ready to carry the both of them before continuing his search for his partner. His search, however, was cut short when he looked up and saw the Dragon Slayer on his knees by the cliff's edge. He was about to call out to him when another streak of lightning hit and thunder followed. The Exceed flinched and fought back the urge to hide. He opened a wary eye when he felt a calloused hand over his paw.
"Lily . . ." Droy's hoarse voice was heard over the sudden silence. He looked down at him and was about to speak when he saw him trying to get up.
"Droy, don't move. I have yet to see how extensive your wounds—" Droy cut him off with a shake of his head.
"I got off easy compared to them," he looked down at his best friend. "Go help Gajeel, I got Droy. We need to tend to their wounds before they get infected." With Lily's help, Droy got to his feet and picked up the unconscious Jet in his arms, being careful to avoid touching the gash in his chest. It was then that something occurred to Lily. Where was Levy?
He looked to the two members of her team then back to Gajeel who had yet to move an inch. Lily rushed to his side and kneeled beside him. He was in worse shape than he originally thought. His right arm was practically mangled and hanging limp, blood pouring from the open wound in his shoulder. But what really brought tears to Lily's eyes was not his wounds, but the bloodied hairband in his weak grasp.
"That's . . . Levy's . . ."
Lily's eyes shifted from the hairband to the cliff and back at Gajeel. The Slayer's eyes were covered in shadow, but that didn't hide the tears slipping down his face. Lily didn't say a word. He couldn't. He didn't want to think about what had happened here. He refused. His one job right now was getting his friends back safe. Without much warning, he moved to Gajeel's good arm and slung it over his shoulder, prompting Gajeel to get to his feet. Feeling that Gajeel would walk, he started walking, supporting the full weight of his friend. He walked to the waiting Droy and nodded. Together, the four returned to the village. All the way, Gajeel never let go of Levy's headband.
"Alright, start talking."
Natsu had sat down Not Lucy—as Happy like to call her—in one of the wooden chairs in the small hut they now called home base.
Natsu stood directly in front of her with his arms crossed. He waited patiently as she gathered her thoughts. Erza sat in her own chair by the crackling fire, waiting as well. Gray was still unconscious and was resting in the bed in the next room. Wendy had just walked out from the next room, finishing her healing session with the Ice-Mage and had started making her way towards Erza.
"Okay Erza-san, your turn," she smiled. Erza gave her a smile in return and merely shook her head.
"I'm fine, Wendy. Save your strength for when the others return. Who knows what kind of injuries they might have." Wendy nodded in agreement and sat on the rug next to her.
"Any day now, Not Lucy."
Scintilla looked up at the Fire Dragon Slayer with annoyance.
"As I've said before, my name is Scintilla. And you will get your story soon. I sense the rest of your friends have almost arrived. I'm sure they'll want to hear this as well." As she spoke, the wooden door slammed open and in the darkness from the rain, the others were barely able to make out Droy's form as he stumbled into the room with a bleeding Jet. Lily was not far behind him as he walked in with Gajeel.
"I see they failed in catching my sister . . ." Scintilla muttered.
"What happened?!" Wendy gasped as she ran towards Jet. Droy placed him gingerly on the carpeted floor, no longer having the strength to carry him further. "I'll start on him right away," she didn't hesitate a moment as she raised her hands and a green aura emanated from her palms. Droy scurried around, finding a worn blanket as he folded it and placed it carefully under Jet's head.
"Did . . . did Levy do . . . this?" Erza had stood from her chair in shock at the state the three Mages were in. Gajeel hadn't spoken a word as Lily set him down in the chair by the wall.
"Yes she did. Though it was my sister who hurt them, not Levy." All heads turned to Scintilla who spoke with no ounce of emotion in her voice.
It was then that in slow motion, Gajeel's head shot up and he bolted for Scintilla. He pushed past the unsuspecting Natsu and grabbed her by the neck of her cloak. He pulled her to her feet, face inches apart.
"Gajeel, what the Hell?! Put her down!" Natsu demanded as he grabbed at Gajeel's arm. The Iron Dragon Slayer ignored him as he snarled into the girl's face. Still, she showed no fear, no emotion. If anything, her face showed pity.
"Why?! Why them?! What the Hell did you have to do this to them?!" he yelled at her face. She closed her eyes and sighed.
"Put me down and I will tell my story."
"Screw your goddamn story! Because of you and all of this, Levy is . . ." his voice cracked when he said her name. Scintilla narrowed her eyes as she looked down at the hand clenching her cloak. Wrapped around his hand was a torn piece of cloth, something she remembers seeing the blue-haired girl wearing in her hair. Her eyes widened in that moment as realization kicked in. With a slight shake of her head, she placed her hand gingerly on his.
"She isn't dead if that's what you're insinuating." All eyes in the room looked to her, surprised by the tone in her voice.
"And why the Hell should I believe you?" his voice was nothing but a growl. "There's no way she would've survived that . . ."
"That fall?" She asked. She felt Gajeel's grip loosen, "If Libitina weren't inhabiting her body then yes. The fall would have probably killed her. But with my sister there, she's . . . resilient." Although his grip loosened, he still wasn't letting go. With another sigh, she decided to let loose her trump card. She closed her eyes and let her body go limp.
"Gajeel . . ." it was then that the stench of rotting meat disappeared.
"Lucy?!" Natsu gasped as he appeared at her side. Gajeel finally let go and slumped to the floor.
"Lucy, what happened to the spirit?" Erza was next to bombard her with questions. Lucy felt little strength in her legs, and Natsu sensed that. He helped her back into her chair and waited for her to answer.
"Scintilla is telling the truth, Gajeel." She ignored the others' questions and looked to the Dragon Slayer broken on the floor. "She can sense it . . . I can sense it. She's hurt, but alive. Inanis has already teleported them to their lair." Gajeel nodded his head and shut his eyes, muttering an apology as he went back to his original spot. Wendy had just finished healing Jet's wound and turned to Gajeel's shoulder. He didn't say another word, but she saw the look of relief on his face.
"Lucy, just what is happening? Why is she letting you talk?" Erza asked.
"I only have a limited amount of time. I can already feel myself falling back to sleep," she looked down to her hands and noticed them shaking. "Back in town, when I was attacked in the bathroom. The shadow I saw wasn't some passing spirit like Lydia thought. It was Scintilla. She spoke to me and said she needed my help, but because of how dire the situation was, I wasn't allowed to say anything."
"Wait, so from the moment we got you out of the bathroom, it was Scintilla, not you?" asked Happy. He had already walked up to her and placed a paw on her leg.
"Yeah, Happy. I'm so sorry I had to keep this from you. But she showed me visions on the awful things that scientist has done. She couldn't allow him to continue with his current plan. So she planned to betray him and her sisters, but they're not stupid. They would've noticed if she was plotting something with us. So she asked my help and I gave her permission to take control of my body."
The others listened in silence. Natsu, on the other hand, kneeled before her and whipped away a stray tear from her cheek.
"You did what you felt that you needed to do, Luce," He smiled and patted her knee as if trying to comfort her. She smiled in return, but before she could say anything else, her eyes drooped and her head dropped.
"Lucy!" Natsu gasped, about to grasp her shoulders and shake her awake.
"For the love of God, please don't yell," Scintilla was back, and so was the wretched smell. Lucy had fallen back to sleep.
"Wait, bring Lucy back! We weren't done talking with her."
"Believe me, if I could, I would. But unfortunately it doesn't work like that." Everyone eyed her in confusion. "When two souls are inhabiting one body, only the strongest one can be, how do I put it? Awake? Although I am not saying Lucy is weak in any way shape or form. My soul is just older, more experienced, I guess."
"So, you gonna get to explaining this whole situation or what?" a new voice entered the room. Everyone turned to see Gray appear from the next room, he clutched at his bandaged side as he leaned against the doorframe. Scintilla didn't respond to him. Gray looked away from her then turned to Wendy. "Droy, Wendy, go ahead and get Jet to the bed. I'm sure he'll be more comfortable in there."
"But Gray-san, your wounds . . ."
"No worries, Wendy. You did a good job. I should be fine now." Without further interruption, Gray joined the others while Droy and Wendy transported the unconscious Jet into the next room.
"I believe there will be no other interruptions?" No one said another word as she took a moment to gather her thoughts. She took a deep breath and looked up to all of the waiting faces.
"I think it will be better if I start from the very beginning, before I met the scientist who calls himself Father," her hands clenched the tattered cloak she wore. "It all started when I died and my soul was punished, sending me straight to Purgatory."
AN: (PLEASE READ)
I realize it has been over a year since I last updated this fic. All I can really offer is a heartfelt apology. I never once considered dropping this fic, but I had trouble trying to continue it. I've had my fair share of life drama in the past year. A lot of pain and tears, but also a lot of reflection and revelation. I've decided recently to start going to school for Court Reporting. Random, I know. But my big motivator behind it is the fact that only a few months ago, my grandpa, one of the most important people in my life, had a stroke. Although he is recovering . . . he is not the same man as before. Now, most of my time is spent either working on school, at my job, or visiting him. This only gets worse though. My family isn't keen on how things should be done when it comes to what is best. By that I mean, my grandmother (who is suffering from severe dementia and paranoia) and my uncle (who is weak-minded and wrapped around her finger) have been causing a lot of strain. Needless to say, my family has never felt so shattered. Anyway, this has all motivated me to do something with my life. Make something of myself. With everything, I was suddenly hit with inspiration. Although my writing is a tad crappy since I haven't really written anything in over a year, so I ask that you all be patient. So thank you for sticking with me. Follow me on Tumblr if you want to message me questions or anything at all, I'm always up to talk with people. Maybe I'll do requests, written or drawn (lord knows I need the practice in both). I go by solstice04 on Tumblr so . . . yeah that's all I really got.