"Evergreen-san has gone!"
Juvia's voice entered Levy's head, but it barely even registered. She was left staring at the maroon cloth that she held in her hands, edges blurred from the tears that were erupting from behind her eyes. Freed was completely gone, there was nothing left but his clothes and the warmth that still clung to them. She brought it up to her face and sobbed into the fabric. She had known there was nothing anyone could do, but the reality of it actually happening was still too much for her.
A roar erupted from the centre of the guild. It was one of a terrified and dying animal, and it reverberated off the walls. Levy looked up, to see Laxus had stood from his seat at the bar. The stool had knocked backwards behind him and clattered to the floor. Laxus was tearing at his hair, screaming in pain at the realisation his last remaining bodyguards had gone. He had taken the disappearance of Bickslow pretty bad, but this was worse. It wasn't long until he turned to Levy, and stormed over to her. His hands slammed down on the table, disturbing the papers which rested there as Levy pressed her back into the chair, holding up Freed's coat as a makeshift shield. She had never seen such anger in Laxus' eyes, not even when he tried to take over the guild. At least then he still had his faithful friends by his side.
"Why couldn't you stop it? WHY COULDN'T YOU SAVE HIM?"
It was mere seconds after that that she felt herself being pressed against the bricks behind her, a literal wall of steel appearing between her and Laxus.
Gajeel didn't think he had ever moved as fast as he did at that moment. He blocked the entirety of Levy's body, being sure not to touch her. If Laxus did hit him with an attack, he needed to make sure that it didn't conduct through him and into the woman behind him.
Lightning started to crackle around Laxus' hands, and the Dragon inside of Gajeel started to rise. Scales appeared over his skin, and metal blades grounded himself to the floor. He had been in enough fights with electricity mages to know what he was doing now. He opened his mouth to try and talk the man down when he saw two hands grab the other Dragon Slayer from behind.
Laxus felt two arms encircle him and felt the tell-tale signs of a woman's breasts against his back. The anger started to dwindle within him, and he turned around to see who was there.
Cana stood in front of him, tears streaming down her face.
"Laxus! We need Levy to find Freed and the others. If you hurt her now, we won't be able to get them back. Don't let this tear the guild apart."
Laxus kept staring into Cana's eyes before his anger dissipated. He launched himself forward, bringing her into an embrace as he burst into sobs. His fingers dug into her flesh, and she knew that they would leave bruises in the morning.
"Why didn't they take me? They could do anything to me if only to leave them alone. They've stuck with me through everything, they're all that I have and I couldn't even fucking save them."
His head fell into Cana's chest, and she started to run her fingers through his hair in an attempt to calm him. She hoped that he didn't notice the tears that were falling off her cheeks into the blonde strands.
"You can't blame yourself. We've all been trying our hardest, and you know Freed wouldn't want you to blame yourself."
Laxus opened his mouth to speak again, but all that came out were more screams of despair. He fell to his knees, dragging Cana down with him as he sobbed into her shoulder. Everyone else in the guild simply sat and watched, various numbers of tears streaming down their cheeks.
Levy watched Laxus' back, not able to tear her eyes away. She could feel Gajeel pulling her into his side, and she went willingly. She didn't know how long they all sat there before Laxus managed to speak again.
"Levy. Please tell me it doesn't hurt. Tell me they're not in pain."
Levy had thought her tears were over, but they started to flow just as heavily as they had before.
"I don't… I don't know. I can't tell you."
It hurt. A lot. In fact, Evergreen couldn't ever remember being in more pain than she was when she woke up. Not only did her body ache, it felt weak as well. She could only feel the magic which resided in her eyes, her Fairy Magic was depleting. She felt like her very soul was being ripped out, hanging onto her body in threads that were being pulled taut.
She tried to open her eyes, to survey her surroundings and found it impossible. She tried to bring her hands up to remove whatever was blocking them, but to no avail. Focusing on the sensation on her face, she came to the conclusion that she had bandages wrapped around her head, protecting those in front of her from her Stone eyes.
"Ah, you're awake."
Evergreen wouldn't like to admit that she jumped, but she did. The voice had come from directly in front of her, just inches away from her face. She hadn't heard anyone come in, and she came to the realisation that he had been standing in front of her, watching her while she was unconscious. The thought sent a shudder down her spine.
She opened her mouth to speak, but she felt someone else's finger press against her lips. She tried to back away, but to no avail.
"You know, it's such a shame I can't get the magic out of your eyes. Did you know that it solely resided there, and there's no way to remove it? I didn't until a few days ago. Your friends magic would have been so useful, but still, it stays unobtainable to me."
At the mention of Bickslow, Evergreen bucked up. She gathered the last of her strength and shouted around the finger that was trying to keep her silent.
"BICKSLOW! Can you hear me? Are you alright?"
She waited for a response, desperate to hear the voice that usually annoyed her so much. But nothing came, apart from a soft chuckle from immediately in front of her.
"Oh, don't worry dear, he's been put to sleep. Just like you will be when I finally drain you of all of your magic."
Evergreen tried to ignore the feeling of dampness that was spreading over the bandage and tried even harder not to think of what the man meant.
A/N - Please forgive me for the cliffhanger last week. Please still love me.
I will be writing a short story for each of the prompts for Gajevy Love Love Fest starting tomorrow, look out for it on whatever platform you are using right now (plus Tumblr) if you want some more Gajevy Lemon.
Carry on with your reviews, I still love you all!
(Oh, and to the guest who mentioned they were making some fanart based on this story, I would love to see it! Send it across!)