An explosion rocked the room.

Or at least that's what everyone expected to happen. Crystal stood there, her arm raised, her face full of fury at those before her. But whatever she meant to cast had either fizzled or she was no longer able to use it.

Lucy tugged on Natsu's arm, "The jars were letting her use all those people's magic. With them gone..."

"She can't use their spells anymore." He finished, nodding in acknowledgement.

He rushed up to the girl, who teetered, barely able to keep herself on her feet. Blood pooled at the edge of her mouth, whether from the wounds from her battle or from something else, he wasn't sure. But, either way she was battered and beaten and was clearly running on fumes at this point.

"Give up." Natsu stated plainly as he stood before her, staring her down, "You can't use their magic anymore."

Crystal grinned painfully, "Says who?"

"Those jars were the way you were stealing their magic weren't they?" He gestured to the broken jars and escaping people, "You can't take the magic from these people anymore."

"But that doesn't mean I can't fight." She growled as she swung her arm at him. She held a strange weapon in her hand. It was similar to Erza's swords, but it was warped and twisted back so it covered her arm. "Don't underestimate me." She growled, swinging the blade, nearly catching Natsu by surprised. He jumped back, dancing out of her path as she swung again and again, narrowly missing the dragon slayer each time.

The effort of the attacks showed on the girl, blood dripped free from cuts that littered her body, and her other arm hung uselessly at her side, clearly broken. Natsu didn't want to kill her, but didn't see a way to attack her without chancing it.

Laxus on the other hand didn't have those qualms, and shot forward at the first chance he had and punched her hard, receiving a sickening crunch in reply. The girl once more crumpled to the floor. She fell back into unconsciousness as Laxus rolled his shoulder back, before looking at Natsu, who was staring at him in shock.

"What?" He asked, "I wanted to get my revenge on her somehow." He turned back toward Lucy who stared at the pair wide-eyed, her mouth partially open. Laxus patted her on the shoulder lightly, "Come on, let's get out of here and turn her in before she wakes up again. I didn't hit her hard enough to kill her."

He paused a moment as he saw them all staring at him, "But I can't guarantee I won't kill her next time. Let's go!" He shouted, urging those remaining to hurry out of the room.

Natsu picked up the still form of Crystal, taking little care in shaking her around. He could hear her heart beating, and avoiding squeezing her broken arm, but he wasn't about to pity her after she tortured so many people for so long.

The ice stairs were slick, making the ascent slow going, but before they knew it everyone had left the room and followed after Gray to the hall he froze over. Many of the people suffered from stiff limbs, the captivity had an effect on not just their magical selves, but their physical bodies as well.

But even with the injured, they made it to the hall in good time, rushing down the now melting hallway as quickly as they could. The spiral staircase that lead to the bathroom was rough going for some of them, but they were helped along by those near them.

Laxus brought up the rear, watching the people scramble up the stone steps to their promised freedom. Crystal had said they weren't innocent people, but they sure fit the role of victim. Some had scars, likely from fighting back against her when she captured them, while others appeared to have been stuck in the jar for years, their legs weak and in pain from disuse. But they showed no sign of being bad people.

"Thank you." One of the victims said, "We were part of a guild with her years ago, her father ran it until his death. After that, it was disbanded and she took us all prisoner in some attempt for revenge or something." She shook her head, "Crystal was always a sweet girl until he died. Always looked out for us when she could, even when she was little."

"What happened, that she'd want revenge?" Natsu asked, it had bothered him that Crystal had seemed to have had no reason to attack them, but she never did go into specifics.

"A few things, from money problems to..." She paused debating on continuing, "Our guild was a dark guild. We took on assassination missions mainly, nothing like theft at least. We weren't what you'd consider nice people, but we didn't want to steal from those who needed it." She looked at the dragon slayers, fear in her eyes. "Those that escaped went their separate ways, and those that didn't. Well, I'm sure they won't join a dark guild again, if only in fear of this repeating." She shook her head, "I know I won't."

"Don't worry, we won't turn you in." Erza said, earning a surprised look from Natsu, "Like you said, that was years ago and I think you've learned your lesson from all this."

"Thank you." Said another victim, he laughed a little, wincing in pain at the effort, "If it makes you feel better, Fairy Tail was the one who took down our guild over seven years ago."

"That at least gave her a reason to go after our guild. But why did she target Blondie specifically?" Laxus asked, annoyed. He looked ahead to where he saw the celestial wizard leading the group alongside Gray and Wendy.

"You figured out that she was able to leach our magic and use our abilities with that liquid right?" The trio nodded, "From what I gathered when she was researching the stuff, it would work on celestial gate keys as well."

"So she would be able to use Lucy's spirits as well as her own magic." Erza finished, as she patted Laxus on the back, "I'm glad she managed to get you instead. Good job protecting her."

"Excuse you." Laxus glared down at the red head.

The female victim laughed quietly, "I'm glad too. We wouldn't've been saved if you hadn't been taken. She took too much pride in the newer magics she gained, that she used them more than us, who she's had for years." She sighed, "A good thing too. I don't think we would've survived if she used our magic against you guys."

"What is her magic anyway? She used other people's magic the whole time didn't she?" Elfman asked, having been oddly silent up till now.

"Teleportation and enchantment magic. Although she doesn't use the latter much." A third victim answered.

The group nodded as they reached the top of the staircase and entered the bathroom. Gray had an arm stuck through the wall where the door was, and began ushering the people through as quickly as he could. Now that the girl was unconscious they weren't sure if the door would remain open or not.

After the last made it through the doorway, they made their way to the street, a human tide heading down the streets of Magnolia to a nearby station to turn over Crystal. They were determined to get her in custody before she awoke.

(To be continued...)

Only Crystal is my character, All other named characters are property of Hiro Mashima from his series, Fairy Tail.

This is meant to be a fan fiction, written by a fan (Shey), for entertainment purposes only.