This is actually the second to last chapter in [Legacy of Evil]. Before you get upset, I do, in fact, have more content coming for this same story (a flippin' Edo ton of content, actually). I'm thinking of making it a series. What do you guys think? Regardless, I'm telling you now so that I have a bit of a grace period to get [A Mage's Mark] posted. Yes, it is all finished, but I recently thought of something that I want to add to the story, which I can't do if I've already posted it. I'll likely have it out in less than two weeks, but, worst case scenario, you'll be seeing it in a month. Enjoy the ending of [Legacy of Evil]~
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"I can't believe you kissed him until he passed-" Natsu broke off as Erza glared at him. Her stare didn't bother with subtlety, and he gulped, knowing that the only reason she was giving him another chance to live was because Zeref and Aki were there.
"Nii-chan, can I go yet?" the latter whined from beside him. He was sitting on her bed, which had been pushed up beside his and Zeref's. "I want to find-"
"Absolutely not!"
Aki grumbled inarticulately, lips scrunching to the side.
"You need to rest," Erza agreed. She was sitting beside Jellal, who was also up, leaning against his own bed's headboard. "You're pretty torn up."
"That doesn't matter!" Aki protested. "Who cares!"
"I do, you elastic turtle!" Natsu reprimanded, bopping her lightly on the head; she couldn't help giggling.
"Yeah, but I don't, so-"
"'Elastic turtle?'" Both turned to see Jellal watching them in some bemusement.
"Yeah?" they said together.
"Why elastic turtle?"
"She can stretch really far," Natsu shrugged. "I dunno about the turtle part." Aki beamed at him.
"That's Natsu for you," Erza sighed exasperatedly, carefully hiding a smile; Natsu scowled.
"I want a hug, Na-"
Natsu was already hugging her, holding her carefully where she lay in bed. After a minute she moved, and Natsu let go. She was flushing, brilliantly happy. After a couple minutes of happy silence, she glanced at Erza, asking hesitantly, "Hey, uh, Erza-san?"
Erza smiled very gently at her (Natsu wanted to riot at the Titania-is-not-a-terrifying-monster propaganda). "Erza is fine. What do you need?"
Blushing again, Aki stammered inarticulately for another ten seconds before closing her mouth and taking a deep breath. "What magic do you use?" she finally asked.
Erza blinked, a little surprised. "Why do you ask? Not that I think you're- I know- it's fine!" she spluttered. Aki laughed, and she knew she hadn't taken her question as distrust. "Reequip magic," she said, grinning. "I use a variety of swords and armor."
Aki made to sit up, but Natsu shot an arm out just before she had started, effectively pinning her in place. He had grown so accustomed to her and Zeref's keenness to move when they shouldn't that he was now acutely tuned to when they would next try it.
After sticking her tongue out at him, Aki relaxed back into her pillow, saying, "That's really impressive, to be able to use it for armor in battle. I, uh, I only use it for storage." She chuckled sheepishly, an action immediately followed by a coughing fit. "'s fine," she gasped, holding her shaking hand up a few inches from the bedsheets.
"It's not fine!" Natsu retorted, brushing her arm aside and helping her upright. "Stop saying that!"
"But it's true." It wasn't Aki who spoke – she was still coughing, anyways – but Zeref. Natsu glared at him; Zeref shrugged. "Compared to the last four hundred years, there are very few things that bother us," he said simply.
Aki nodded silently, eyes still closed.
"That may be the most depressing thing I have ever heard."
Everyone looked around at each other, trying to figure out who had spoken, except Natsu, who greeted, "Lucy!"
The celestial spirit mage walked into the room, waving and grinning. "Hey!"
Happy followed after her, shooting to Natsu. "I MISSED YOUUUUU!"
"Hey, buddy!" Natsu greeted, patting the wailing Exceed's head.
Erza, shocked, asked Lucy, "What are you doing here?"
Lucy sweat dropped as she sat down at the foot of Zeref's bed. "Well, I've been trying to get here all week, but Master only just this morning let us come."
"Did anyone else come?" Zeref asked attentively.
"Nope; just me, Happy, and Carla."
"Bring them in here, would someone?" Aki asked, squirming in bed, held captive by Natsu's quick, warning glance.
Lucy frowned questioningly. "Why would-"
"I'll get them," Erza blurted, eyes widening.
Lucy stared at the door for a full minute after Erza had dashed out, then turned around. "What's up with Erza?"
Aki, not sure how to phrase the events, stayed silent; Zeref was already feeling uncomfortable that he had spoken at all and was recharging; Jellal felt he wasn't able to tell, as he hadn't been with the group until the very end.
Everyone turned expectantly to Natsu, who looked uncharacteristically uncomfortable. "Stuff," he muttered eventually.
"…stuff?" Lucy repeated superciliously. He shrugged. "No fantastical tales with which to beat Gray over the head with?" He scowled. "Oh-kay, this is getting weirder and weirder," she muttered, glancing around.
She hadn't paid much attention before – only enough to find a place to sit – and now took in her surroundings: Closest to the door was Jellal and the chair Erza had been on, then a space between him and the window; Lucy guessed that Erza would put Wendy there. On the other side of the room were a couple more chairs and three beds shoved together. Natsu was on it, as well as Zeref and-
"What the drigon!?" she yelped, jumping up. What she had thought, not having looked very closely, were colorfully patterned undershirts were actually Zeref's and Aki's skin. "What happened?!"
"What do you mean?" Aki asked curiously.
"You-you're- you're injured!" Lucy managed, horror increasing the longer she looked at them.
Aki, unbelievably, pouted, grouching, "Everyone keeps making that face…"
"That's 'cause it ain't fine," Natsu snapped at her. "I keep telling you- Oi!" he barked, practically leaping over the bed to block Zeref's attempt to lean forward. "I thought you had more sense than Leafy!"
"I was thirsty!" Zeref protested.
"Then ask for Igneel's sake!" Natsu handed him a cup, and Zeref, still looking sulky, took it in both hands; his arms trembled with effort as he raised it to his mouth.
Too preoccupied staring at Zeref's mangled arms, Lucy didn't notice Erza walk in, and not till she had placed it did Lucy realize that she had carried an entire bed, Wendy unconscious on it, into the room.
"There," she concluded in a self-satisfied tone, wiping her hands off on each other.
"-carry the entire bed?" Carla, floating in after her, was huffing, looking completely fed up, per usual.
"Hey!" Aki greeted, waving at her. Carla, seeing this, turned firmly away, nose in the air.
Lucy glanced expectantly at Aki, the younger of whom would have snapped right then and there, but the older version didn't seem to take offense. She just nodded, a little sadly it seemed to Lucy, and looked down at her hands. "They thought that would work?" she heard Aki mumble to herself, finger running over a particular line.
"Aki," Lucy began casually, moving over and sitting on her side of the bed, "what's with your hands?"
Aki jerked, looking up at her so fast it might have cricked her neck. "Oh! Uh, it- I-" She took a deep breath, then opened her mouth again, but her lips merely formed silent words, gaping like a fish out of water. Finally, she turned her head away. "It doesn't… matter…"
"Natsu seems to think it does," she returned. It felt odd to her, seeing the older version of the Aki she had gotten to know so… not in your face – no, so… unconfident – no, that wasn't right either, so… not ready to fight?
"Natsu's…" Aki sighed, then looked up, meeting Lucy's eyes with her unnerving stare. "Are you sure you want to know?" she asked seriously. "It doesn't matter to me, and you'd be happier not knowing."
"Well," Lucy answered crossly, folding her arms across her chest, "I think I'd like to know why my friends have been made into human totem poles, actually."
Aki stiffened. After a full minute of silence – save the conversations going on in the rest of the room – and long after Lucy had started to worry she had said something, Aki looked sheepishly away. "Thanks…"
Lucy frowned, puzzled. "For what?"
Aki shook her head. "Well, if you're sure you want to know," she paused, watching Lucy expectantly. Lucy merely stared her down, and so she began, "We teleported here to retrieve Deliora's book, and-"
"I'm- sorry," Lucy cut in, reminded of something that had been bugging her. "Why did you have to leave so dramatically?"
"We didn't mean for it to be dramatic!" Aki grumbled, pausing as her throat clenched threateningly.
"Are you-" Lucy began, leaning forward in concern, but Aki shook her head slowly.
A minute later, she resumed as though nothing had happened. "We just needed to get the book as soon as possible. It couldn't wait."
"Why not?" Lucy asked, eyebrow explicably raised.
"It- augh, you keep interrupting the story!" Aki whined; unable to cross her arms, she settled for an impressively pronounced pout.
"Sorry, sorry!"
Aki glared for a moment longer. "So," she resumed, "we teleported here to retrieve Deliora. When we got here, we made our way to the village intending to gather any info – we'd thought it possible, if unlikely, that the villagers had found it and brought it back with them for some reason. The problem came when Natsu collapsed on us both, because then we couldn't search all that night."
Lucy couldn't help a sigh; it was just like her best friend to do that—it was just like his siblings to put on hold what they had been so desperate to do simply because of his thoughtless actions. Then again, she considered, glancing at him stopping Zeref from sitting up again, maybe it wasn't so thoughtless…
"The next morning," Aki was saying, and Lucy shook herself, "we all went out to search for clues. Natsu-nii-chan was trying to help me with my nose-"
"Your what?" Lucy blurted, unable to help herself.
It didn't seem to matter, though, as Aki continued as though there had been no interruption. "-which was fun." She grinned absently at the opposite wall. "Zeref-nii and Wendy caught up," she resumed a full minute later, "and then we were ambushed by a group of cultists."
Lucy gasped, but Aki, eyes now closed, ignored this, too. "They knocked Natsu-nii-chan out first – not the best tactical move, but – and before we could react, I felt something knock into the back of my head. Still don't know what it was," she said musingly, but disinterestedly, something between a passing curiosity and distanced interest. "It blacked out my vision, but I heard Wendy's shout right next to me, so I felt around for her. I can't teleport someone unless I'm touching them," she added, seeming to realize that her actions required explanations.
"I found her in a second, and teleported with her high above the forest…" She stopped, eyes opening; Lucy started; they looked, somehow, dull, grey, lifeless. "I teleported back," she continued ashamedly, "planning on returning in time to catch her, but whatever had whacked me before did so again, and I blacked out. I didn't go with her immediately because I wanted to make sure Natsu-nii-chan was alright, too… She must have fallen at terminal velocity to the ground; don't know how it didn't kill her."
At the last two words, her voice pitched then dropped, and she continued robotically, "I don't know what Zeref-nii did – or Natsu-nii-chan, for that matter – except that Zeref-nii must have made the deal, 'cause Natsu-nii-chan wasn't hurt at all. I woke up while they were transporting us, but Zeref-nii stopped me from using my magic long enough to explain the deal; then we were knocked out again."
"What was the deal?" Lucy asked breathlessly.
"They could do what they wanted with us and we wouldn't use our magic to obstruct them, and in exchange they wouldn't detonate the magic circle they had placed on Natsu-nii-chan or otherwise hurt him."
"But then, why didn't they use magic-suppressing handcuffs?" Lucy asked in a whisper, feeling sick.
Aki didn't seem to notice her appalment. "They needed – or thought they did – our magic; also, they didn't know this, but magic-suppressing handcuffs of the current age don't work on us, anyways. Next time I woke up," she said dispassionately, disregarding Lucy's look of horror, "I was tied down, some kind of magic flowing through me on and off, that Lynda lady above me. I heard Zeref-nii next to me. Then Arcane came up and said something, but I just said he was an idiot, and I passed out pretty quickly after that.
"Next time I woke up was with Natsu-nii-chan," she said, speaking as though listing off tedious chores, "then on something really cold, which was when they started this." She flexed her arm slightly, holding her hand up for Lucy to look at; Lucy found herself unable to peel her eyes away from it. "Then I woke up with Natsu-nii-chan and chatted with him for a bit; that was fun. That Lynda proved to be one of those cultists, though, which was annoying," she added, frowning as at some pet peeve. "I can't really remember much more, uhm…"
She tried to put a finger to her lip, failed to raise her arm far enough, and settled for looking at the ceiling. "Oh, at some point I had to drink something, don't know, might have happened a few times, actually. And then, then…" Her brow furrowed. "I'd forgotten how it felt to not remember things like this," she commented idly. "Oh, and they took me back to that cold thing a few times… I can't remember chronologically, but once I was tied up by my wrists and things- you probably don't want to know… uh… wait, you said you did, but I'm guessing you meant overall, so…" She shrugged. "There were a few other things.
"Then I remember a lot of loud noises, and then I woke up tied up in one of these huts. Through a misunderstanding, 'course," she assured Lucy amiably, not looking to see her expression. "Oh, that's right, I'd forgotten. They put black clothes over us whenever we went back to Natsu-nii-chan. Back to the hut, Natsu-nii-chan came in, cut me free, blurry, fuzzy, really have no idea what happened, and then I woke up, properly conscious, here." She gestured around the room, finally looking at Lucy. "It's been a couple days… What's wrong?" she added curiously. "You're crying and look sick."
"You don't even realize…?" Lucy whispered, hands over her mouth.
Aki frowned, brows furrowing, then lowered her head. "Sorry, Lucy…"
"Aki-chan, you idiot, don't be sorry," Lucy choked, covering her face with her own trembling hands.
"Lucy? Lucy, what's wrong?" Aki repeated earnestly, leaning forward; she didn't even seem to notice her own winces. "Lucy?"
"Aki-chan, it's you!" Lucy sobbed, looking up; Aki looked devastated for the first time since Lucy had met her elder self.
"I-I-" she stammered, plainly bewildered, "what did I- …I'm really sorry, Lucy! Stop crying! I didn't mean to upset you! I'm really-" She broke off, coughing violently. Before Lucy could do more than register it, Natsu had appeared at his sister's side, angling her upright again.
"There we go," he muttered, holding her shoulders gently – more gently than Lucy had ever seen her dragon slayer be. Not only that, but he looked more… sensitive, than Lucy had ever seen him be.
A few agonizing minutes later, Aki's breathing had settled into scratchy, rasping heaves. "'m sorry," she scraped out as soon as she could, eyes firmly shut; she was still shuddering. "I did'n' mean t'-"
"Aki-chan, that's not what I meant," Lucy interrupted, dismayed. "Stop apologizing! I'm crying because you were hurt, not because of you!"
Aki flinched, blinking widely in confusion. "O-oh…"
Even she wasn't sure why she just couldn't believe that the kind, blond haired mage in front of her cared. It almost felt like fear, but she couldn't think why."
"What?"
Aki blinked, looking up to see everyone in the room staring at her. "What?" she asked faintly, nervous after having messed up with Lucy. "What's wrong? What-" She broke off.
What have I done now?
"N-nothing," Lucy said awkwardly.
Something, but they won't tell me…"
She looked back down at her hands. The intricate symbols were twined around them beautifully, though there was at least one glaring flaw. On her thumb was the tail of a snake when it should have been the tongue."
"Aki-ki."
She jumped, looking up at Zeref. "What?"
"You're thinking aloud again."
She paled. She had thought that once the curse had been broken, she wouldn't do that anymore. It seemed she'd been wrong, though; the habit wasn't a part of the curse. What was it then?"
She considered the matter, forgetting her surroundings as she had trained herself to do when confused—first by contradictions, now by kindness—for hundreds of years.
Start with a simple question.
When had it started up again?"
That was easy, when she had been thinking about Lucy caring – she didn't notice as she flinched – about her.
Follow up with another question.
What else?"
She had been thinking about why she couldn't believe that, that it was almost like-"
A hand was over her mouth. She stared at it for a full ten seconds before twitching, following the arm to Zeref. "You're thinking aloud, Aki-ki," he repeated quietly.
"…mm?"
Zeref closed his eyes for a minute in his characteristic way of thinking before opening them again."
"Here," he said, pulling a book from their shared reequip dimension. "Read," he ordered, handing it to her and removing his hand.
She looked down at it. It was an essay-type book on the Lori-Loxley coefficient's effect on long distance thaumaturgical study."
Her already muted face went entirely blank as she opened the book to the first page. "Date, date… date… X594. From… Bosco? Strange. Not a lot of advanced theoretical journals from there during that period…" Lifting a trembling hand, she summoned a pen and notepad, then flipped the page.
Dedications
"Don't need to read that…" she murmured, flipping a page ahead.
The variance of its affects includes rare examples of Locational and Perceptive Theory. Origin of birth, locations in which one achieved advancements in magical power or understanding, and one's senses all seem to have an effect on its principles. To-"
As Aki continued reading, finger sliding across the page as she mumbled, everyone glanced at Zeref. He shrugged.
"She does this when she's stressed," he said matter of factly. "We'd thought it something to do with the c-c-c-c- an-an…" He trailed off, blinking rapidly. Then, as though nothing had happened, he finished, "and it wouldn't happen anymore, but, clearly, I was wrong."
"Isn't that, you know, a problem?" Natsu bluntly asked the question on everyone's mind.
"I don't know, ask her," Zeref said bemusedly. "I like it, personally."
"Yeah, but we mean, do you think that's okay for her?" Lucy reiterated.
Zeref raised an eyebrow, his condescending expression almost exactly that of his younger self, and even less tolerable; it seemed he had grown in at least one area over the last four hundred years. "Can't you just ask her that? Wait, I have a great idea!" he said happily, childish excitement flitting across his face. Ignoring their questioning gazes, he closed his eyes, and Lucy felt that magic power, though in a significantly smaller quantity than when it had been directed at the Eclipse Gate, swirling around her again.
Aki, who had been reading steadily, paused, looking annoyed, then went back to her book.
Zeref opened his eyes, saying in satisfaction, "It's annoying and inconvenient, but don't worry about it."
"So you just used telepathy?" Lucy was starting to wonder what the two mages couldn't do.
Zeref opened his mouth, looking flabbergasted. "How… did you know?"
Everyone stared for a minute, then burst out laughing. Lucy, seeing his lost expression, supplied, "Z-Zeref, it was obvio-aha!"
"Seriously?" he asked, shocked.
This only increased everyone's laughter, redoubling Zeref's confusion.
There was a knock at the door, and Aki, Natsu, Zeref, Jellal, and Erza looked up immediately, tensing, relaxing when a doctorly looking akuma walked in.
"I need to redo your bandages," he said, looking at Aki and Zeref – Lucy noticed Natsu had stiffened like a board.
Zeref and Aki, meanwhile, looked rather awkward. "Hey, Lucy," the latter said tentatively, "maybe you should wait outside…"
Lucy shook her head. "I didn't mean to worry you, Aki-chan. I'm fine." Aki didn't look convinced, but seemed to have lost her younger self's habit of demanding it her way, merely avoiding Lucy's eyes.
As she and Zeref made to take their shirts off, Natsu intervened loudly, "Oh, no you don't, not by yourself! Luce," he added, giving Aki a pointed glare as he helped Zeref, "would you help Aki?"
Aki, who had been trying to sneakily slip hers off, grinned sheepishly at him, then anxiously at Lucy.
"I'm guessing you aren't supposed to lift your arms?" Lucy asked. As Aki opened her mouth, Lucy amended, "Wait, Natsu, is she supposed to lift her arms?"
"Absolutely not!"
Lucy grinned apologetically. "Sorry, Aki-chan."
Aki didn't speak, except for her semi-audible mutterings, which Lucy tried her best to ignore—after all, if she couldn't help thinking aloud, she wouldn't want other people to hear her.
As she stepped forward, Aki attempted to push the covers down, arms trembling with the effort, and couldn't.
"I'll do it," Lucy said easily, and Aki, glancing at her faster than Lucy could read her expression, nodded meekly. Lucy stifled more gasps of horror as her legs were revealed, skin intricately marred as her hands.
As she leant Aki forward, her charge let out a quickly stifled grunt and jerk; Lucy readjusted her grip, shivering slightly as she unbuttoned the night shirt Aki had on, revealing a very short crop top.
To say her torso looked like a torso was ludicrous; to say it resembled one almost equally so: It was a grotesque mural of the ancient's, matrixes, runes, animals—all delicately drawn, intricately tied together into a coherent whole, a depiction of magic so advanced that Lucy couldn't even begin to guess its meaning. The lines varied in width and coloration, black and brown and pink distinct as they wove around each other. What might have been visible as 'ordinary' back between the lines was purpled, as though having been frozen and only days before thawed, frost-bitten scars left firmly in place.
"Lucy…?"
Lucy jumped violently. "A-Aki-chan," she stuttered, doing her best to hide the revulsion filling her like bile, "can you, uh, can- your- um-" She shook herself. "Could you put your arms forward?" Aki complied best she could, and Lucy, as gently as possible, pulled the shirt forward over her wrists, apologizing each time Aki cringed. "Do we need to take off the tank top?"
Aki shook her head. "Their twisted sense of worship stopped them from going, you know."
"Worship?" Lucy stared at the little girl's body, disgusted and appalled and angry and- and so much else. The idea that the ones who had made mincemeat out of her friend had done so while worshipping her was abhorrent.
"Are you done?"
Lucy jumped again, by now very on edge. This time it wasn't Aki, though – she was busy staring at her hands, muttering, anyway. No, it was the doctor who had come up beside her, a little case in his hands.
"Y-yeah." Lucy stepped back from the bed, giving the doctor space to work. "Why- why are there no bandages?"
"The skin is damaged in such a way that putting bandages over it would be counterproductive," the doctor explained, leaning Aki further forward; she flinched, shutting her eyes tightly.
Lucy watched anxiously as the doctor opened his case and pulled out a few tubs of ointments. "I'm going to wash it first," he said to Aki, taking a washcloth from a nearby bowl of water.
"Mn."
Natsu pushed roughly past Lucy; she didn't mind. Zeref was now leaning somewhat more upright against his pillows, topless and in boxers, as Natsu sat down beside Aki. Lucy thought Natsu eyed the doctor challengingly, his fingers twitching at every movement.
The doctor started at the top of the back, below the crop top, and made his way slowly down. He moved on to the sides, Aki leaning sideways with Natsu's help, and then the stomach, which required that she leant flat – a deceptively simple task for one who couldn't breathe if she wasn't at least somewhat upright. She leaned as far as the doctor permitted, holding Natsu's hand and squeezing it if she had a problem – she had to squeeze his hand several times, gasping for breath each time she was lifted again. Each time, she blushed brilliantly, not meeting anyone's, but especially Lucy's, eyes.
Then the doctor began applying pastes and dabbing cotton balls around. He had been working steadily until he reached her left side, at which point he paused, examining the area worryingly. "This is going to need something stronger," he sighed, shaking his head.
"What-" Natsu started, but Aki interrupted-
"Nanii-chan, it's fine. What part?" she asked, doggedly her twin.
"This part over your bottom left rib."
Aki grinned ruefully. "Right."
"I'll do it as quickly as possible," the doctor said considerately, taking out more things from his case.
Aki's lips scrunched, and Lucy guessed she was thinking – a theory confirmed immediately as she covered her mouth with a trembling hand, muffling the words that left her independent mouth.
She lowered it. "Uhm," she started too casually, "you wouldn't let me have, like, something to bite down on, would you?"
"Why would you want-" Natsu started again, but, this time, Erza interrupted, startling Lucy – the others had been so quiet she had nearly forgotten they were there.
"That's a good idea," Erza was saying firmly, nodding at the doctor and ignoring Natsu's cross look.
The doctor nodded back and retrieved a new cloth, rolling it into a cylinder.
"It will help," Erza sighed as the doctor handed the cloth to Aki, seeing Natsu about ready to attack the world—again.
"Thanks. Natsu-nii-chan," Aki added, looking at him with a lopsided, awkward smile, determinedly avoiding all but her brothers' eyes, "help me lean further sideways? And hold my hand? Zeref-nii, too?"
Natsu blinked, nodded stiffly, and climbed back up onto the bed as Zeref held out his own scarred hand; Lucy's heart wrenched. Natsu held Aki, practically clutching her to his chest, as she took a deep breath, putting the wad in her mouth and taking her brothers' hands.
"I'm starting now," the doctor warned. Aki nodded, and the doctor dabbed a soaked cotton ball on a particularly colored patch of skin.
He moved in a circle around the area, then dipped a new cotton ball in his solution and repeated the action. Then he took out a paste, applying it generously.
"This next part is going to hurt the most," he informed them regretfully, pulling a stack of sheets from his bag.
Aki's head jerked in something like a nod, her eyes tight shut, panting through her nose.
The doctor took a sheet, coated it with some kind of herb, and, delicately, placed it on the brightly colored skin.
Aki screamed through the cloth, making Lucy jump about a foot in the air; she hadn't imagined either of them screaming, well, ever. She was surprised that Natsu – whose expression was one that normally meant someone was actually going to die – didn't knock the doctor out. Actually, she reflected, he was probably only prevented from doing so by Aki's need for support.
As the doctor continued, Aki jerked, releasing Natsu's hand, instead grasping at his shirt, twisting the fabric as she pressed against him. Her grip on Zeref's hand was clearly causing her other brother some amount of pain, if the way he grimaced was anything to go by, but he was silent even as she shrieked again, gripping his hand still more fiercely.
"Do you need a break?" the doctor asked after a few minutes, pausing. Aki shook her head furiously against Natsu's chest even as she whimpered, tears and sweat combining on her face. "Good. We have a couple more to do."
Lucy thought that time crawled by. Watching the girl who had spoken so nonchalantly about being tortured – who had been mentally tortured for centuries – infamous for evil magical creations and deeds – quivering against her brother, failing to bite back howls of agony, tears glistening in the corners of her scrunched eyes was second-hand painful.
An eternity later, the doctor announced to the room that she was done, and Lucy's shoulders relaxed a millimeter. She released a breath she had known very well – by way of constricted throat and angry lungs – she had been holding, saying quietly, "Thank dragon that's over."
"Zeref, next."
"What!?" Her head snapped up to find the doctor settling on the other side of the bed.
"They're both injured, Lucy," Erza reminded her bemusedly.
"Yeah, but… has it been this bad the whole time?" she asked in a whisper, slipping closer to her and Jellal.
Erza nodded solemnly.
"What happened to them?" It wasn't Lucy who'd spoken, but Carla, eyeing the ex-Black Mages suspiciously, if a bit uncertainly.
"They were tortured for-" Erza started.
"It wasn't… torture," Aki interrupted, still gasping for breath. "There's… a difference…"
Erza bit her cheek, clearly forcing down the murderous rampage that would normally have followed anyone interrupting her – much less contradicting her – but relented. "In exchange for Natsu's safety," she finished, choosing not to restate her previous words.
"It was… ritualistic," Aki panted irritably. Lucy gaped at her, but she only pouted. "It… was. Torture… is trying to cause… the pain… That wasn't… their main… goal."
Natsu's eyes flashed with something Lucy couldn't quite recognize as he whipped his head around from Zeref. "They did try to cause you pain!"
Aki looked up at him skeptically. "When?"
"That Lynda did!" he shouted, face swallowed by apoplectic rage at the name. "To make me stop yelling!"
Aki snickered, an action immediately followed by several agonizing minutes of wet coughing. Finally, she scraped out, "T-to stop y-yelling? That doesn't-"
"We heard him from all the way across the island," Erza interposed.
Aki stared at her and Jellal, who was nodding. She turned to Lucy as she agreed, "Natsu's yells are, well, he's managed to defeat someone with his voice once…" She laughed as Aki gaped at her. "It's Natsu, what can you do?"
Aki stared for another minute before looking back up, awe-struck, at Natsu, who was still sat between her and Zeref. "Wow," she murmured. "That's weird-" She went still, her pupils contracting and dilating repeatedly, almost systematically.
"Aki?" Natsu fretted, hovering over her as she stared blankly at where his face had been. "Aki-ki?"
"'s fine, Natsu," Zeref panted reassuringly, seeming to mind the doctor's washing even less than Aki had. He sweat-dropped as Natsu fixed him with a fierce, if-you-say-you're-fine-one-more-time look. "She's just reading the magic."
"Reading the magic?" Jellal asked interestedly, shifting. He quailed as Zeref had under Natsu when Erza glared at him.
"Yeah," Zeref answered, grunting as the doctor started with a paste on his side. After a moment of deep, controlled breathing, he continued, "She can use any magic; that's-"
"Any?!" Lucy blurted.
Zeref blinked at her, owl eyed and nervous. "Uh, yea- yes?"
"That's no fair!"
Everyone paused, looking from Lucy, who hadn't opened her mouth, to the room, searching for the high-pitched speaker. It turned out to be Aki, who was scowling at the ceiling, still grumbling, "Flipping- why is every magic I find these days something that requires more intimacy within its field? Dragon flapping lizard tails, I thought it would be simple enough…"
"Aki," Lucy reprimanded, surprising even herself for interrupting the train of conversation just to scold her; it had been quite a string of curses, though.
"Yeah, yeah," Aki grumbled, looking down towards the foot of the bed. "It's just yelling, what the flip…"
Abruptly, Natsu was leaning over her, following the instinct he had picked up during their stay with the cultists. "No. Fidgeting."
She scowled, looking huffily out the window.
At the same time, there was a quiet moan from Lucy's side; Wendy was stirring.
"Wendy!" both Carla and Aki shouted, though Aki was cut off by another wave of coughing.
"How are you feeling? Are you okay?" Carla asked anxiously, hovering beside her bed. "Don't get up!"
Wendy, as was natural, entirely ignored her feline (flapping lizard cat) friend. "Where are the others?" she asked urgently, grabbing Lucy's shirt. "Lucy, they were caught by-"
"It's alright, Wendy," Erza said gently, moving forward and removing her hold on Lucy's shirt. "We've got Zeref and Aki and Natsu. They're all safe."
At that moment, Zeref gave a shout of pain. He didn't meet their eyes as they looked at him, staring fixedly at his own hands with a bit of pink on his face, but yelped again as the doctor continued his work.
"Let me!" Wendy said swiftly, ignoring Carla to hurry to the doctor's side. "I have healing magic," she added at his questioning glance.
He nodded, moving back to let Wendy in.
"Wendy!" Carla griped, flying over. "You can't do that! You just woke up!"
"You really shouldn't," Zeref agreed faintly, eyes tight shut, sweaty chest heaving from the effort of not crying out. "You're-"
"I'm doing this," Wendy interrupted steadily.
Zeref most likely would have objected, might have told her off, even, but couldn't as she held her hands out over him. Almost immediately, he untensed, face relaxing as the magic healed faster and gentler than any medicine could. He didn't seem to notice as Natsu let him sink back onto the pillow, nor when she had finished her treatment, having fallen asleep.
"Aki, next," Wendy declared, successfully hiding the exhaustion from her voice as she moved to the other side.
Aki shook her head, half smiling, plainly upset. "'m fine, Wend, really. Don't overdo it for-"
Wendy ignored her, and Aki, too, fell under her elysian touch.
"Wendy, you're the best," said Natsu, grinning at her.
Wendy blinked. "W-what?"
"They haven't relaxed since we got here," he said easily, still beaming. "Thanks!" And he collapsed sideways onto the bed, snoring loudly.
Wendy gaped at him, then at Erza. "W-what…?" she repeated helplessly.
Erza shook her head, not knowing, either, but Jellal seemed to realize something. "He hasn't slept! He hasn't slept since we got here."
"He was up the whole time because he was worried about them?" Erza mused, hand held thoughtfully to her lip.
"That would have been three whole days!" Lucy blurted, gaping at Natsu's unconscious figure.
"He should have told us," said Jellal. "Me and Erza have been taking turns keeping watch."
"Why?" Happy asked curiously.
"The man behind this, Arcane, is still unaccounted for," supplied Erza, face shadowing. "And that crazy lady, she escaped somehow." She glowered, glancing out the window. "We had caught her, but
"she got away."
"You don't think they'll come back, do you?" Wendy asked anxiously.
"Yes." Erza nodded, and Lucy shivered, glancing at the two who had been through so much already, glancing at- there was only Natsu, collapsed sideways on the otherwise empty, makeshift, three-cots-shoved-together bed. "We don't want-"
Lucy shrieked.
|^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^|
"We won't… let you!" Lynda panted, hauling the two unconscious Black Mages into the underground chamber of the temple. "You will be revived, and Deliora!"
She let go of the ropes she had clumsily wrapped around them, stumbling tiredly over to an elaborate stand that certainly hadn't been there during the Moon Drip incident. On it, there was what had been a book bound in plain leather, now lying in frozen pieces.
"You retrieved them?" came a man's voice, Arcane emerging from the shadows of the cavern.
"Yes!" she snapped.
Arcane's eyes darkened. "Lynda, you shall address me-"
"For egg's sake, you stupid man, shut up!" she spat, raising a threatening arm.
"You think you can turn on me?" he retorted coldly, taking his hands from his pockets.
Lynda needed no further invitation, throwing an arm up and freezing him in time. She turned back to the book, holding her hands to the ceiling, muttering-
"もう、何も言いたくないんだ.こわいいすぎるんだ.もう、何も言いたくないんだ.こわいいすぎ-"
"That's quite enough of that."
Lynda spun around to see Aki lifting a hand towards her. Shadows writhed in response, leaping on Lynda and tying her to the ground. "H-how-?" she demanded, struggling furiously.
"You know he was about to kill you?" Aki answered disinterestedly, calling the shadows again. They helped her to her feet, then kept her from tipping over as she hobbled to the stand. "You hadn't managed to best him with your knock-off time magic, and he was about to stab you in the back… literally."
"I won't let you! I will bring you back to-"
"Mhm, mhm, bring us back to greatness, world bend their knees in our presence, yada yada ya." Aki tripped and practically lurched into the pedestal, clutching it in an attempt to steady herself. "Ever occur to you that you're chasing something that doesn't exist?"
"What are you-!"
"Because it has to me," Aki hummed, sweeping her arm over the shattered remnants of the book; they scattered on the floor.
"Why would you do that?!" Lynda screeched, incensed.
"Well, we can't very well fix the book if we don't put it in the matrix, can we?"
Lynda gasped, going still. "Y-you're back, Kami-sama?"
"Oh, yes," Aki said superciliously, burning patterns into the rock floor. "And we need the other books, or else we can't revive the Great Demonic Army and finish our plan for world domination." She turned around, eyeing Lynda. "Any ideas?"
Lynda's eyes filled with tears, and, through a strangled sob, she answered, "N-no, Kami-sama. Forgive me."
Aki clicked her tongue, dropping to the ground in front of her. "And why did you decide to bring us back?"
"You will save those who believe," Lynda whispered exultantly. "I have read your writings, Kami-sama Aki, and I wish only to bring about the World of Great Magic the prophet Hades spoke of."
Aki nodded vaguely, peering over Lynda's head. "Zeref-nii!" she called, waving an arm—an arm which seemed to slide off its shoulder joint, eliciting a quickly mastered shriek.
"Oh, Kami-sama," Lynda exclaimed, horrified, "I am so very sorry we had to hurt you! We only wanted to-"
"Bring us back, yeah," Aki dismissed through gritted teeth. Shadows jumped from their places again, all but forcing her to her feet. "This demon's yours, Nii," she said in a hiss, examining her dangling arm.
Oh, Natsu-nii-chan's going to be so mad…
She sweat-dropped.
Zeref nodded, crouching – or, attempting to crouch. He only managed to collapse to the ground beside the matrix with a grunt.
"Kami-sama Zeref," Lynda began reverentially, but Aki poked her cheek with a toe.
"Let him focus, fool."
Lynda did her best to bow her head, falling silent.
Zeref was mumbling incoherently, eyes closed, causing the circle to glow with a blood-red light. The lines Aki had drawn rose dispersedly, bits of burnt ground floating upwards within the invisible boundaries of their outline. A deafening roar rang through the cave, shaking the island, causing bits of rock to crumble, foundations dislodged once more by the demon's howl.
And, once more, the beast's rage died as easily as it had come, the final wail of a dying creature sucked into the freshly repaired book resting in Zeref's hands.
"Kami-sama," Lynda breathed, awed.
"Welp, that's that," Aki said cheerily to Zeref, ignoring Lynda. "Arcane?"
"Yeah… Dragons," he grunted, shaking his head, "I don't know who Gray's teacher was, but she was strong."
"Was her Iced Shell that hard to get rid of?"
"What-" Lynda started, falling silent before her deities' conversation.
"I'm exhausted," he was saying in reply. Still on the ground, he touched a finger to the rock. A black flame appeared, into which he dropped the Book of Deliora.
"WHAAAAAAT!?"
Aki glanced down at Lynda, eyebrows raised loftily. "What yourself?"
"K-Kami-sama!" she stammered, reeling. "That was- but, Deliora!"
"Oh, you actually believed my bad acting?" Aki yawned. "Idiot. Fool. Whatever else satisfies your demented mind. Luckily for you-"
"-we don't care about you hurting us," Zeref finished as Aki was forced to stop, a coughing fit taking over. Lynda's head snapped to him as he towered over her; she hadn't seen him stand up. "Although," he added offhandedly, "we do think you deserve some punishment for risking Natsu's health, and putting him through all that."
"We didn't do anything to the boy!" Lynda denied frantically, hair flying side to side as she shook her head.
"R-really?" Aki scraped out, wiping the blood from her mouth. "'cause I think it was pretty traumatizing for him to sit by and watch us be used for rituals."
"We're used to it – it's happened before, for us," she and Zeref said together. "Rituals and such happen from time to time when you're infamous and immortal."
"Usually," Aki continued, moving beside her brother, "it had no effect except to kill all involved."
Zeref nodded, still observing Lynda, expressionless. "We're used to the dark. Natsu isn't-"
"-and shouldn't have to be," said Aki. "He never should have been, and it's because of you lot…"
Lynda shivered as the Black Mages finally stood before her, their gleaming red eyes the only discernible features on their faces.
"He hasn't slept, you know," Aki spoke robotically, her head tilting sideways.
"Hasn't been eating much, either," contributed Zeref, his empty tone slipping to one far less benign.
"Too worried about us," Aki agreed, her burning red eyes appearing the size of the moon.
For the first time in decades, anger forced itself, uncalled, into their voices:
"Whether-"
"-or not-"
"-he should be-"
"-he has been."
Lynda squeaked beneath them as they finished, "And that isn't acceptable."