hey, all. I'm going to attempt to keep updating this story as time progresses. I am about to give birth in a week or so, so I will try to get out at least one more chapter before then.
I am still working on "Karma", that story is just a bit longer and takes a hell of a lot more of my time to write lol. I will also try to get at least one more chapter out before I have this baby for that fic as well.
I still feel like this scene was a bit anticlimactic, but what can you expect after I've been MIA on this story for two years? lol. don't worry. things will get juicy again.
for those of you who have picked this story back up, THANK YOU for coming back and having faith that the story would continue. I will spend the next few months rewriting this story, so be on the lookout for an updated version of "Something Gained". I will let you all know when the update has been posted, or I will upload it as a completely separate story. Please let me know what you guys prefer.
Thank you all!
Chapter 51
Power
Eli stepped into the back room where the child was originally contained, still satisfied when he saw the half-full collection tank. Due to unfortunate circumstances, he wouldn't be able to carry out his plan to make his whole team a gang of makeshift dragon slayers for two reasons. One being the fact that the tank wasn't nearly full enough for all of his people. The second reason being the fact that he underestimated the boy's strength. He had no clue he was able to carry two types of magic, and he saw the way he'd mutilated one of his guys. Not to mention his piece of work of a father coming in and killing off the rest of his team.
But none of that mattered. There was plenty in the tank for himself.
He looked at the ground, the tiny word 'quiet' still written all over the floor. 'His script powers must be stronger than his slayer abilities if they're still working like this.' With a raised brow, he questioned himself. Would this tank of dragon slayer magic really give him the power he wanted, or would he be stuck with script abilities?
Alas, it was too late to back out and make any changes to his plan. There were two slayers out there, one was on his side for now, but the other still posed a threat. It was only a matter of time before the larger slayer was able to pinpoint his own son's weaknesses and put a stop to that madness, anyway.
Making his way over to the tank, he saw the glowing green airy-type liquid and immediately felt the power radiating from it. 'This is turning out better than I expected.' He put his hands on the warm glass, staring intently into the chamber. He couldn't wrap his head around how much power that boy already had in him. And he was only getting stronger.
He attached the same cords and tubes that the boy pulled off of him to his body, then flipped the reversal switch on the collection chamber. He was nervous, to say the least, and his eyes grew wide when the green liquid started pumping through the tubes and into his veins. "This…! This is the power I've been craving!"
Only a few minutes went by when the tank emptied itself into Eli's body, a new and improved power emanating from his fingertips. His plan worked! He'd turned himself into a dragon slayer! He felt the energy coursing through his veins, dispersing evenly across his entire body, satisfied when he felt his own power levels increase by the second. 'How can I test this?'
He attempted to cover a portion of his body in scales, but felt slightly discouraged when it turned out to be harder than he thought. He realized quickly that it required a lot of skill and concentration to even do anything with slayer abilities, but luckily for him… he was a fast learner. With only a minute or two of practicing the moves he was going to use on the two slayers out there, he managed to get acclimated with his new abilities and felt confident that he'd be able to take them both.
Sure, he wasn't born a slayer, but this should be similar to those who became a dragon slayer due to a lacrima, maybe even more powerful since this was magic directly from a slayer instead of an object. He also felt that the boy had been weakened considerably, and his father, too, due to being worn out by the Tribe and his own son. 'This should be easy.'
Feeling confident that he was ready for battle, he walked over to the door and paused when he heard Jade's voice. 'Ryn. Was she unable to take her out? How powerful really was she?' When the real question should have been, 'how weak really was Ryn?' He shook his head, disappointed in his misplaced faith. Sure, she was smart and tactical, but when it came down to the nitty-gritty, apparently, she was useless.
"I know this is a lot to unpack, but there's something going on in that room over there that might make or break this situation," Eli heard the traitor say. He wasn't too surprised. He had a feeling that her loyalty lied elsewhere. That only meant he could get a little more practice with his new powers.
"I'll kill him," he heard the larger slayer say.
It was at that point when Eli decided to emerge from the room, an extremely confident look on his face. Somehow, they managed to subdue the smaller slayer, but not without great effort. Interesting. "I'd like to see you try."
Jade saw instantly why the boy had been acting the way he was. Floating down to the ground, she put a hand on her hip. "So, tell me, Eli. Tell me what you plan to do with a brainwashed dragon slayer and a body filled with unstable energy."
Gajeel could do nothing but watch the confrontation, as he had his still thrashing son held tightly against him. This 'Eli' asshole really stole Zeke's energy, he could feel it. He wanted nothing more than to tear him apart for all the turmoil he'd caused in such a short period of time, but Zeke still posed an issue. All he could do was hope Jade could stop the true bad guy.
"Jade," Eli said, stalking toward the three yet still keeping his distance. "How nice of you to join us."
"Cut the small talk, Eli. You never wanted to share anyway," she saw right through his façade, as it was the same story many of her opponents used. "You knew from the start that your little minions would never make it, and you wanted it all for yourself. Did you even want to share it with your little pink-eyed weakling?"
"Enough!" Eli covered his body in an extremely thin layer of scales, but to him, it looked normal. He hadn't the slightest idea that they weren't supposed to be sheer. He nearly stomped over to the woman, who had an all-knowing smirk on her face. "You stand before me and speak boldly as if I won't end you right here?"
Gajeel's hold on his son never faltered as he watched the spectacle before him. Those were his version of iron scales? That wasn't right at all.
"She's dead, you know," Jade laughed aloud, knowing those two were in cahoots.
Eli's eye twitched in anger as his hand reached out and connected with her neck. He knew he still had the slayers to deal with, but since the big one was still occupied with his son, he figured he could just take out this nuisance in the meantime.
A small part of him knew Ryn was a little on the weaker side, too, but he assumed that her smarts would get her out of that fight somehow. Clearly, he was wrong.
Jade threw her head back and laughed, knowing fully that this man wouldn't live to see the end of the day. Whether it be from her own hands or the unstable energy building up inside of him, he certainly wouldn't live to tell this tale. He also didn't know she was originally an air mage, so him choking her? Not effective in the least. "You really made the mistake of getting this close to me."
"How cocky of you to say with my hand wrapped around your neck, covered in my brand new iron scales," he boasted, an unusually weird grin on his face. He tightened his grip, his anger increasing when he noticed it had little to no effect on her.
Faster than anyone could blink, Jade poked Eli in his eye, particularly the one that was glowing red, and he immediately released her and stumbled back a few steps, his hands flying up to his face to cover his now bleeding eye. 'No, no, no! This isn't good!' His uninjured eye darted over to the two slayers, the larger one holding the now limp boy in his arms and trying to get his attention. 'Shit!' He tried to mimic the boy's technique from earlier and turn his arm into an iron lance, creating a weird-looking metal rod that flopped around as if it were made of rubber, or something. It was harder than it looked.
Gajeel watched Jade poke Eli's eye out, and she did it pretty aggressively to the point where it started bleeding profusely. Immediately afterward, Zeke went limp and unconscious in his arms. "Zeke?! Bud?! Ya alright?!"
He put an ear to his son's chest, hearing that he still had a heartbeat, and feeling that he was still breathing. Did… Jade fix Zeke? Was it alright for him to let him go and take care of this douchebag now? He glanced at the woman, who nodded ever so slightly but enough for him to catch her drift. Settling his son in a somewhat comfortable position on the ground, he saw Eli trying to fashion his arm into a lance through his peripheral and fail miserably at it.
"If yer gonna steal someone's magic, then ya better make sure ya know how ta use it," Gajeel said, standing and covering himself in the correct version of iron scales.
"I dunno what those are, but these are iron scales," he pointed at the makeshift scales on the brown-haired man, then to himself. "And this is an iron chainsaw, but I'm sure ya already know how ta make this."
Eli quaked with anger, his eye now ruined so he couldn't control the boy or anybody for that matter, thanks to this bitch over here. And with the boy out of commission, the larger slayer was up and threatening him, his voice laden with sarcasm. He needed to rely on this new power if he were going to defeat these two and take the boy under his wing, otherwise, he'd be staring death right in the face. 'I'd be damned if I let these fuckers one-up me without a fight.'
Gajeel was about to launch himself at Eli with intent to kill before Jade stopped him.
"Wait, before you do anything," she pondered calmly, a thumb to her chin. "I think we should let him attempt to use those new powers."
Gajeel whipped his head around, a scowl so deeply rooted onto his face. "This asshole took my son, and ya want me ta do nothing?"
"I think something far more satisfying is going to happen in a few minutes," she smirked, crossing her arms. "What I would do, though, is get Zeke away from him quickly."
Gajeel didn't know what the hell she was talking about, but she hadn't steered him wrong yet, and anything to do with getting his son out of danger was a win in his book. Reverting back to his old self, he stumbled a bit on his way to Zeke, his iron shadow dragon mode and his fight with his son taking more out of him than he anticipated.
"Come 'ere, bud," he said, gingerly scooping him into his arms. "I gotcha."
"What happened?! Where's Zeke?!"
Levy was a frantic mess when she saw Lily return to her empty-handed and in his smaller form. He was supposed to go help! He was supposed to bring her son back to her! What was he doing here?!
"I'm sorry, Levy," Lily apologized, knowing him coming back alone was like a slap in her face. "Gajeel and Jade seem to have a good handle on the situation."
"Still," she looked at him with wide, watery eyes. "Why aren't you helping them?"
"Believe me, Levy, as much as I would like to, Gajeel had the basement blocked off," Lily explained. "Most likely to keep the enemy from escaping."
He watched her pace around back and forth, worrying herself crazy and he needed to calm her down. "Look on the bright side, I'll be able to stay out here with you and make sure you're ok."
After a few seconds, she slowed her pace and nodded, sniffling and wiping her eyes. "I guess that's what Gajeel would want, huh?"
"Yes, and I have a good feeling that things will turn out well, here."
"What makes you so sure?" Any hope and positivity would do for now; she'd cling to anything she could get.
"I stayed and listened, or tried to listen, anyway, and it sounded like Gajeel was up and moving about, which means Zeke is no longer an issue."
A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she relaxed a bit. Her family was safe… a fleeting thought as a rumble deep enough to shake the earth around them rattled them to their core. With a panicked look on her face, she shared worried glances with Lily. They both came to the silent conclusion that it originated from the building in front of them and could only hope everything was alright.
Knowing Levy was going to dart toward the building, he picked her up and kept his distance just in case it decided to collapse. Anticipating her freak-out, he reassured her. "Levy, I'm sure they're fine. Gajeel and Zeke are very strong, not to mention they have help from Jade."
"Lily! Please let me go see if they're alright!" The bluenette twisted and turned in Lily's grasp, trying to break free and go attempt to save her family.
"Are you trying to fall out of my hands?" Lily was getting frustrated, but he knew it was all for a good reason that she was being like this, especially after she'd been away for a few days. He flew closer to the ground just in case she decided to pull herself out of his hold. "Just calm down, Levy. Have a little more faith in Gajeel."
What he said was true, she needed to trust in her mate and father of her children to make sure everyone was safe, but she just couldn't help but worry! It was only natural!
"You're right," she said, her voice small. "I'm sorry."
"There's no need to apologize to me, Levy." Lily motioned ahead at an approaching Gajeel, extremely relieved that he was fine, and he had his godson in his arms. Setting her down, she darted over to her two boys with tears in her eyes.
"GAJEEL! ZEKE!" Levy never ran faster in her life. She stumbled on branches and foliage, but that did not deter her from getting to her family. They were ok, they were safe, Gajeel saved their son!
"I'm so glad you're ok," she cried as she approached the two. She wanted to reach for her son, but he was out cold and likely needed to recover from expending the energy that he did. Instead, she settled for giving them a long, well-needed hug.
"Levy…" Where does he start? Does he talk about the pregnancy, or wait for her to tell him on her own? Does he talk about what happened with Zeke? He couldn't very well hug her back, as much as he wanted to, only because he was carrying their son, so he settled for letting her hold onto them as long as she needed.
"It's all my fault," her voice was tiny and quivering with regret. "If I hadn't left… this never would have happened. I'm so sorry."
"Lev, it's not yer fault, promise," Gajeel said, leaning into her as much as he could. He'd love to embrace her again, but Zeke was their number one priority. "Somethin' woulda still happened regardless."
"Gajeel…" She didn't know where to start. Does she talk about the pregnancy that she's sure he already knew about? Does she ask what happened with Zeke?
He saw the gears turning in her head, likely having the same thoughts he, himself had. "Let's talk when we get home, ok? I know there's a lot on yer mind."
Lily smiled as he flew above them, keeping an eye on their surroundings, just in case. He heard Gajeel suggest they go home and saw Levy nod in understanding, and he was happy that things were returning to normal yet again.
What would life throw them next?