Chapter 20: Roxanne Gone Mad

Roxanne was all wobbly and giggly, unable to control herself from the madness that has overtaken her. Zawisza couldn't come to a correct conclusion as to why Roxanne was acting this way, so she just decided to fight her without trying to figure it out. Dayton, Natsu, and Happy, on the other-hand, have been concerned and shocked at Roxanne's actions. They couldn't even assume why she would be doing it. Zawisza just got up and held her sword, wondering how to attack Roxanne in the state that Roxanne was in.

"Oh whoa, everything is so wobbly and funny." Roxanne says while giggling uncontrollably. She still had that weird smile on her face too, freaking out Zawisza in the process. It was like one of those dolls that were meant to scare people.

"That smile is so disgusting, please reframe from using…" Zawisza says until she gets hit in the head by Roxanne swinging around her sword. A large cut formed on her head and blood started dripping from it. Zawisza saw the blood; her anger increasing as Roxanne just stood there and spun around uncontrollably. "You brat! I said I hate you SMILING!" Zawisza says while slashing Roxanne and pinning her sword into her stomach. Roxanne, having gone mad, simply pulled it out and moved around like it was nothing.

"Oh that's too bad cause I like it." Roxanne says in her giggly tone, spinning around and kicking Zawisza really hard in the face. It caused her to fall over and slide into the wall as Roxanne walked around all crazy. "Oh man that's funny." Roxanne says while constantly wobbling still. Both Dayton and Natsu looked at her with complete shock and confusion; wondering why she was acting that way and what was going on with her.

"I know Roxanne gets a little crazy sometimes but this is too much." Dayton explains surprised. Natsu tried pulling himself out while pushing Dayton as well, but they were pretty stuck into the wall, especially since Dayton was on top of Natsu. He kept trying until the two of them heard Zawisza start talking.

"I wonder if she was in that madness room. Was she..?" Zawsiza explains before being picked up by Roxanne. She grabbed her by the head and was about to pummel her into the wall.

"Oh come on, you can do better than that, can't you?!" Roxanne shouts while taking her head and slamming it into the wall. She proceeded to drag it across the wall before slamming her down on the ground, having a more sadistic looking grin that was insane looking this time. She then just started kicking her as if she was bullying Zawisza. You could hear her laughing while doing it too. Dayton watched in shocked and horror as if Roxanne may do that in the future to him, but he was also worried like Natsu was, who kept trying to break free from the wall.

"Hey come on Roxanne! Snap out of it! This isn't like you!" Natsu shouts to no avail. He just saw Roxanne spinning like she was hyper after kicking Zawisza. He also saw Zawisza getting up, having a disgusted expression on her face. She gripped her sword tightly in rising anger.

"Uuuugggghhh…..YOU…"

"Roxanne, get out of the way!" Natsu screams as Zawisza slashes Roxanne across her stomach. It hit her and her grin just got bigger, right as she got up and looked at her blood. "Oh wow, it's so pretty." Roxanne says, admiring the blood as she spun around. After Zawisza hit her, she called her an annoying skank, causing Natsu and Zawisza get into a little argument while Roxanne continues to go crazy.

"HEY! She's not a skank! You take that back right now!" Natsu shouts angrily, initiating the argument as Zawisza picks up her sword and continues trying to dodge Roxanne.

"Screw you immature brat! Why would I ever listen to someone who gets the stupidest ideas?"

"Shut up! You take back calling her that right now or I'm gonna come and make you take it back!" Natsu says angrily, trying to break free as he starts loosening up slightly. Zawisza gave him an irritated expression in response while kicking Roxanne in the stomach. Roxanne was still walking around while laughing with that creepy, sadistic expression on her face.

"How dare you threaten me flame-boy! Once I'm done with this brat I'm going to chop you up into little pieces!" Zawisza angrily yells at Natsu. They continue to bark at each other with arguments as Natsu tries to break free. Happy was just flying in the air, watching the whole situation happen while feeling guilty as he wanted to help Natsu but was afraid of Zawsiza easily getting to him like Aerolin did.

"Wow. What kind of partner am I? Natsu needs my help!" Happy thinks to himself, trying to regain his confidence. He looked down at Dayton and realized something strange. Dayton was doing the unusual. He had his eyes closed and he seemed rather calm, as if he was trying to figure out something or use a special magic technique. Happy became confused upon seeing this.

"Why is Dayton not doing anything but closing his eyes?" Happy asks himself confused while turning back to Natsu, who was still arguing with Zawisza. Natsu just kept yelling at her about taking back her insult to Roxanne while Zawisza kept rambling on about why he was such an idiot. Suddenly, both of their attentions turn to Roxanne as she started doing something weird.

"Can't you do anything else like stripping?" Roxanne says, causing Natsu to think of Gray instantly and Zawisza to cover her mouth to prevent herself from puking.

"Oh my god that's utterly putrid." She says disgusted, looking at Roxanne as if Roxanne was into her or something. The things Roxanne said later on only creeped her out even more.

"NO?! Then what about eye gouging huh?" Roxanne suggests while wobbling and smiling. She kept giggling like a messed-up child, sounding like she was laughing out of hilariousness and evil at the same time.

"Come on Roxanne, stop it!" Natsu pleads, trying to break free as he loosened up a little bit more. Even Natsu's flames failed to help heat up the wall and loosen the grip on him. Zawisza became disgusted and annoyed, realizing Natsu trying to break free.

"Dammit! I might as well kill you now before I become brainwashed by your stupidity!" Zawisza shouts, taking her long-sword and proceeding to pierce Natsu with it. She was inches away from making contact with his heart, about to pierce her as Dayton had his eyes closed still. Right before she made contact with his chest, Happy came flying down, grabbing Zawisza by her shirt and tossing her forward.

"Leave Natsu alone!" Happy shouts angrily, receiving a shocked and angrily stare from Zawisza as she tripped back and fell onto the ground. Natsu looks and sees Happy, gaining a smile on his face as Zawisza gets up and scolds Happy.

"Thanks a lot Happy!" Natsu says encouragingly.

"Stupid fur-ball, I'll cut you…" Zawisza shouts. She is suddenly pulled up into the air, screaming as she flails her arms in panic. "AAAGH! What is this?!" Zawisza screams while flailing her arms. Both Happy and Natsu looked at Zawisza shocked while Roxanne kept spinning around without a single care in the world (she is still gone mad though). Suddenly, Dayton opens his eyes and smiles, realizing that his plan was a success.

"Ha! I knew it would work!" Dayton says to himself proudly, watching as Zawisza dangles from a stream of Lava that's attached to her leg. "Lava Dragon Slayer: Magma Strings." Dayton says, finalizing the technique as he has her in his grasp. She dropped her sword while dangling from the lava, looking down in horror as it fell to the ground. Looking up while upside-down, she sees Roxanne walking all strange and laughing; coming towards her slowly. She turns her head and sees Dayton holding his hands in a certain formation, realizing he's the one behind her situation, shooting him a deadly glare.

"How dare you touch me with your disgusting magic! You let go of me right now!"

"No way! You're telling me what's up with Roxanne right now, or I'll melt your ankles apart." Dayton threatens. You could tell he was serious; giving her a serious look without moving a single muscle. Fear started to enter her as she started to fear Dayton for the first time, being in a tight situation. Fearing what Roxanne might do to her in this position, she gave in and started explaining.

"Alright fine. This is only because I don't want that gross skank touching me the way she is." Zawisza explains, angering Dayton and Natsu slightly. "I don't know for sure, but she must've gone into the Room of Insanity."

"The Room of Insanity?" Dayton says shocked, Natsu also being shocked. "What the hell is that?!"

"It's the madness room you dumbass! It was there so that we could gain power by drawing from its energy. However, due to our altered genetic structures, we were unaware of the causes against people that were not members of the D-Raided." Zawisza explains in a serious tone. She clearly didn't like the position she was in. Roxanne had grabbed her sword in her gone mad state, and she was swinging it around like a toy. Natsu was more concerned as to her next statement.

"Yeah, and what happens to someone who isn't a D-Raided member?!"

"They are affected by the negative energy so much that once they leave and use their magic energy, the madness takes over." Zawisza explains, shocking Natsu and Dayton. Happy also was shocked, flying around while panicking slightly.

"Wait, does that mean she was in the Room of Insanity?" Happy questions.

"You stupid cat; of course she was!" Zawisza shouts angrily, upsetting Natsu a little bit. "And anyone one else with you that comes out of that room is most likely to face the same fate!" Zawisza explains, unknowingly causing Roxanne to freeze as she hits Zawisza's arm with her own sword. Roxanne froze in place, wide-eyed, unable to comprehend what was going to happen. Suddenly, she started screaming in pain, covering her head as she swung her head around in panic and let go of the sword. Zawisza saw the sword falling, and grabbed it before it could get out of hands reach. It cut her hand since she was holding it by the blade, but that didn't bother her. She then faced Dayton and went ahead to fire a spell at him. She fired her Gravity Impact spell and hit Dayton, causing him to cough up some slight blood from the impact since it was a direct hit. It was definitely enough to cause the lava trap to dissipate and let go of her. Zawisza fell to her feet, seeing Roxanne scream in pain and struggle to deal with it. Zawisza simply kicked Roxanne as she flew into the wall, still dealing with the pain. She gained a perverse smile on her face, but that faded away when Natsu came up and hit her in the stomach.

"You're gonna pay for this!" Natsu says angrily, hitting her with a flame enhanced punch as Zawisza felt her stomach cave in. It felt like she was being forced to throw up; being hit in the stomach like that.

"Dammit, how did he…?" Zawisza thinks to herself shocked, wondering how he escaped the gravity impact that quickly. She suddenly figured out the trick. "That's it," she says cleverly, "You used the gravity impact I hit that kid with to break yourself free, didn't you?"

"I'm not a kid! I'm almost 18!" Dayton says annoyed, causing Zawisza to widen her eyes in shock.

"You can't be serious!" Zawisza says baffled. However, her focus of attention quickly shifted when Natsu punched her in the face angrily, leaving a mark on her face.

"That's for calling Roxanne a skank!" Natsu says angrily. Zawisza felt the pain in her face, causing her to slash at Natsu again. Natsu managed to duck and dodge the sword, causing Zawisza to react in a state of fear by using her gravity magic on his face. She swings her arms back and separates her index finger from the rest of her fingers.

"Gravity Magic: Fall!" She shouts, causing the gravity around Natsu to increase greatly. It pushed him to the ground and immobilized him, making any sort of movement impossible for him. Happy and Dayton looked in shock; Dayton still immobilized by the gravity magic himself as Zawisza gained that perverse smile again on her face. "Can't handle the pressure, can you?" Zawisza questions, Natsu looking up at her angrily.

"You just wait, I'm gonna make you pay for this." Natsu says angrily, watching as Zawisza prepares to slice him apart using a special technique.

"We'll see about that flame-boy." Zawisza says, narrowing her eyes as she holds up her sword. With it, it starts to glow a green color, becoming more and more vibrant with each passing second. Dayton suddenly realizes that she is going to kill him, and his eyes widen in shock.

"No! I have to break free!" Dayton thinks to himself angrily, trying with all his might to break free of the effects of the gravity spell. Zawisza gives one last fatal stare at Natsu.

"It's time to die." She says, taking her sword and preparing to cut Natsu. However, she hesitates. She stands there, shocked that Natsu is attempting to resist the pressure of the gravity. He was pushing himself up slowly, resisting the gravity enough to allow a little bit of movement.

"I won't let you hurt them anymore, you got that?!" Natsu says confidently, Zawisza and Dayton looking at them surprised and shocked. It hit them differently. Dayton felt sudden surprise at Natsu's proclamation to protect them, not realizing he cared for him that much. It hit him in a strange way, making him feel more comfortable and at ease with himself than before. He laughed a little on the inside.

"Of course that's him. I know I wouldn't let someone hurt Roxanne and get away with it. At least I wouldn't." Dayton thinks to himself happily. On the other-hand, Zawisza felt despair. Memories of people being blasted apart right before her eyes came rushing back to her, along with her screaming not to hurt them as she got blasted along with them. Hatred started to fill her up, and she had it. The sword glowed even brighter as Zawisza's anger started taking over.

"What gives YOU the right to say such SHIT?! DIE!" Zawisza screams, taking the sword and coming right down on Natsu, who was still trying to get up. The sword made a gap for itself through the gravity magic and allowed it to cut down and make it to Natsu cleanly. Dayton's heartbeat sped up, his eyes widening as he's about to scream out for Natsu, managing to break free of the wall and chase after Zawisza. Happy was screaming and crying too, flying with Dayton in horror as they both try to stop her. As fast as they were running, they wouldn't be able to stop her. Just as the blade started to cut through Natsu's skin, blood started oozing out from the cut; it slowly going deeper as the shock exploded within Dayton and Happy. As the blade went even deeper at a very slow rate, Roxanne came in and elbowed Zawisza right in the stomach. She hit it directly, causing Zawisza to lose grip of her sword and cause the blade to turn on its side, immediately being affected by the added gravity and hitting Natsu's back painlessly. Roxanne gave Zawisza a deadly stare, ready to take her down any moment now.

"You lay a finger on him…and I'll rip you to SHREDS!" Roxanne screams, having requipped a metallic glove on her right fist. She punched Zawisza directly on the Solar Plexus, causing Zawisza to cough up blood in the process. While doing so, Roxanne directed her magic energy to her fist, causing the power and impact of the punch to be even more devastating. Zawisza coughed up even more blood as Roxanne screamed while pushing her away with the punch. She eventually sent her flying into the wall, causing her whiplash as she coughed up even more blood and suffered muscle tensions within her increasing. After hitting Zawisza, Roxanne spun around and smashed a fist into the ground where Natsu was, cancelling out the effect of the Gravity Magic by smothering it with the glove. Within seconds, Natsu pushed himself up from the ground as Dayton and Happy grouped up with the two in relief; both extremely happy that Natsu isn't dead. Happy flew into Natsu apologetically, crying on him as Natsu was happy he was okay. Dayton, on the other-hand, got distracted by Roxanne's weapon.

"Whoa Roxanne. What the heck is that thing?"

"It's the GKX-1500 Magic Amplifier. It amplifies my magic power 10 times more when used to maximum potential." Roxanne explains, which Dayton stares in awe at, not knowing what she really meant by it. After snapping out of it, he looked at Roxanne with a concerned look on his face, noticing how she was tweaking parameters on the glove.

"Hey Roxanne, are you okay?" Dayton asks concerned. Roxanne looked at him with a slightly surprised expression on her face, being surprised he would ask her something like that.

"What…do you mean?" Roxanne asks a little embarrassed. Dayton went straight to the point.

"Well, you suddenly went crazy and started acting strange. You kept laughing and dancing around, and you called this girl a bitch and stuff." Dayton explains, causing Roxanne to blush in embarrassment as she regretted doing that. "You even asked her to stri…"

"NO!" Roxanne says, putting a hand to Dayton's face that made him stop instantly.

"Okay okay! I'm sorry!" Dayton says apologetically, fearing her wrath even though she didn't show it. As they were talking, Zawisza fell to the floor, being on her knees as she was trying to recover from Roxanne's last attack before taking them on again. She noticed how Roxanne snapped out of the madness she was just in, wondering how things will turn out for her now. Roxanne kept talking with Dayton as Natsu and Happy reconciled. Happy was crying about how Natsu was almost killed and Natsu was comforting him in response, just like the best friends they were. Roxanne told Dayton some important information.

"I heard it all." Roxanne explains. Dayton looked at her surprised, realizing that she wasn't completely out of it when she went mad.

"You did?" Dayton says surprised. "So you know about the madness?"

"Yes, I do. The problem is though, I wasn't there alone." Roxanne explains. Dayton immediately jumps to the question.

"Who was it?"

"Take a guess, I said it earlier." Roxanne tells him. Dayton tried to think about it as Natsu and Happy came back up to the two, the two watching as Dayton gained a shocked expression on his face.

"What?! Are you saying that Kyousuke…?"

"It wasn't Kyousuke, but it was Gajeel." Roxanne explains. Dayton widened his eyes even more. He knew that Gajeel was up to Natsu's level, so things could get dangerous.

"Gajeel was in the madness room with you?!" Dayton says shocked as Natsu overhears him. Natsu becomes shocked and angry too, hearing that Gajeel also has been affected by the madness.

"What?! Gajeel was down there with you?!" Natsu says angrily. Roxanne closed her eyes and nodded in response, being somewhat torn about it.

"His personality already shows that when he gets influenced by the madness, he'll lose control in a more horrific way than we can imagine. We need to get to him as soon as possible." Roxanne explains, focusing her attention on Zawisza. "But first, we need to stop her. She's a potential threat to us as of the moment."

"Don't worry Roxanne. I'm not going to let you down." Dayton explains, walking up to Roxanne's side and packing his fists together. "I can see that you're a lot more confident now." Dayton says calmly, causing Roxanne to look at him surprised. She gasped slightly, not realizing that he would realize such a thing. He turned and gave her a smile, to which she turned and smiled in response. She thought about it a little bit before focusing her attention on Zawisza, who was getting up and getting ready for round two of the fight.

"Gajeel, you helped me regain my strength and confidence." Roxanne thinks to herself calmly, remembering how he helped her. "And Erza, you have been a role model to me from the start." Roxanne thinks to herself calmly, remembering how she admired Erza so much. "I will find you guys and we'll win this battle, and I will find Kyousuke too! I will bring the real Kyousuke back!" Roxanne thinks to herself confidently, gripping her fist tighter as she geared up for the real fight. Zawisza had her sword in hand, ready to start round two.

"What? You think you can beat me now?" Zawisza asks surprised, receiving a confident response from Roxanne.

"I wasn't even really me when we were fighting. Plus, that gravity magic of yours was an issue too. You weren't really fighting." Roxanne explains, causing Zawisza to get offended over the statement. "You knew Natsu and Dayton would've pummeled you, so you used the gravity magic to restrain them. I still could've beaten you had the madness inside of me not taken over. Now that I know how to stop it, things won't go your way so easily." Roxanne explains, hearing Natsu pack his fists together.

"I'm gonna make you pay for what you did." Natsu says determined. Dayton got in a fighting stance.

"Alright, let's do this." Dayton says confidently, everyone nodding and saying, "Right." They were really going to turn the tables on Zawisza this time.