He wanted to scream in frustration. He wanted to destroy the entire warehouse, he wanted to cause it to explode in lightning and electricity. He wanted to fight something.
Instead, he took all the pent up frustration and anger with himself and changed it into fury towards the man who had stolen the two girls he had met at a mages bar.
That pathetic excuse for a man would be lucky to be alive when Laxus was done with him.
Dammit! Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT! Lyla cursed herself over and over again and struggled against the bindings. They were magic nullifying, but she could also feel her magical power being drained away as she thought of ways to escape. The man was gloating in front of her in that creepy tone of his, but she had long ago tuned out his voice. She didn't need magic to do that.
They were in a large empty room, another warehouse perhaps (Lyla cringed at the awful cliche of it all), that had a random kitchen counter on the far wall. She was also sitting -well, more like lying- on the grimy floor, a little fact she was none the happy about.
Artemis was a little more vocal about her annoyance towards the man. And after Lyla's healing/self destruct spell, the redhead was completely energized, and protected from the man's attempts to shut her up. Yes, she was still tied up from before, but if he tried to gag her, a golden light appeared around her body. He was so far unable to make it through said light.
"You creepy, awful, disgusting roach! Just wait 'til I get my hands on your bug-eyed, mushed up excuse for a face! There'll be nothing protecting you then, loathsome little brat!" Artemis spat, struggling against her own binds. Lyla had never been more proud of Artemis's extensive insult vocabulary than at that moment, albit somewhat childish. The singer was in a terrible situation, but it became the slightest bit entertaining when the man foolishly decided to reply.
"Your measly insults won't help you here, whelp."
"Who're you calling a whelp?! I'm no whelp, you urchin! You're pathetic! The devil would be more tasteful, you tacky loser! Ugly noodle troll, you have to copy everyone else in your meager attempts to be evil!" She shot back instantly. He seemed to be taken aback by her strange insults. Lyla smirked to herself painfully, wincing at the continued draw from her magic power. She wasn't being allowed to completely recover the power she lost from her former spell, and the little she had left was being pulled away from her steadily.
Nonetheless, the two hotheads went back and forth in a similar fashion, and a pained laugh escaped from Lyla's body, successfully gaining Artemis's attention.
"Lyla! Are you okay? No, don't answer that, stupid question. When do you think you can escape? Sooner than later, hopefully, these ropes are giving me rope burn. It's unpleasant. But I don't matter, you're in pain, what's going on? Can you not do magic?" Questions leaped from Artemis's mouth like machine gun fire. Lyla managed a small smile to comfort her friend, but the redhead's mouth formed into a thin, unamused line.
"I-" Lyla coughed once, then forced herself to speak. Now was the last time she needed to be weak. "I'm fine. I don't think I can-" She let another cough out. "-escape right now. Laxus will-"
"Laxus will save us? How will he find us? In the meantime, let's get out on our own."
"You two imbeciles realize I can hear your foolish plans? There's no way-"
"Shut up, nobody cares what you think." Artemis proceeded to ignore him and turn all her attention back to Lyla. She physically turned her body (best she could) towards her silver-eyed friend, as the girl was also on the floor alongside Lyla. "Now, we have to get your bindings off so you can do that sound trick and make it so only us two can hear plans. Or you could just whoop his-" Lyla shot her a look and Artemis broke off with a cough.
Lyla's enigmatic friend fell silent for a full two seconds. Then, "Actually, on second thought, waiting for Laxus sounds like a better plan. Because there is no way you can GET OUT OF YOUR BINDS." She put so much emphasis on the last words, Lyla would had smacked her own forehead in exasperation if her hands weren't tied behind her back. Artemis truly did not understand the term subtlety. Hopefully the man wouldn't catch on to the redhead's obvious hidden meaning, though Lyla wouldn't put it passed the creep. He wasn't the prettiest serenade in the songbook.
Lyla thought through how to get out. Her hands were crossed behind her back and her legs were folded underneath her. The only body parts she could move freely were her neck and waist. The machine was connected to her through strange clasps on both of her wrists and ankles, and the constant pain throbbed through her arms. It wasn't so much that she couldn't move her arms or legs, however, which was a small miracle.
Artemis has a knife. A small voice in her mind whispered to her. Lyla's expression immediately became unamused, and she was quite unimpressed that the redhead had not figured this out on her own. The singer inconspicuously glanced Artemis's way and gestured to her own ankle. It only took a moment for Artemis to understand, and a sheet of sheepishness lay across her face. Artemis reached, as best she could while bound, into her boot and pulled out the small pocket knife she kept there at all times. Lyla glanced up to make sure the man wasn't becoming suspicious, especially since the two girls were suddenly silent. However, he stupidly seemed to be reveling in the quiet, and hadn't glanced their way in many minutes. Her lip curled slightly; what kind of pathetic man has managed to kidnap us?
Lyla's dragon ears picked up the light tap of the knife tip on the concrete ground. She heard the knife slide across the floor, and felt it knick one of her fingers when she attempted to grasp it. She proceeded to turn the thankfully-still-sharp knife around and clasped her hands around the handle, awkwardly angling it to slice through the rough ropes. Artemis was smartly keeping quiet and hadn't shifted her hands to a more comfortable position in fear of giving away she wasn't bound anymore, though with the man turned around, she could have stood up and danced without him noticing.
Lyla felt the satisfying loosening of the ropes surrounding her wrists and quickly went to work on her ankles. The back and forth motion with the knife felt awkward, and her blood and sweat slick on the handle did not help any as it slipped in her hands. The knife slid past the ropes and cut into her skin in a clean yet wide slash across her ankle. Lyla bit her lip to keep from any noise emanating from her mouth, though she wanted to cry out in pain at the sudden flash of red hot pain that laced her ankle. For a moment, the throbbing of the magic-sucking machine disappeared as her body focused on the new wound. She pushed past the want to cry and continued to cut at the ropes, finally succeeding in cutting through the ties around her calves and ankles. She swiftly cut through the tubes connected to the painful metal clasps around her wrists and ankles, successfully getting the man's attention when the power to his machine-thing was cut off with a sudden hiss. She sighed in relief and rubbed her wrists, reveling in the lack of magical suction.
"Hey! What- did you get out? How-" He stared at the now-standing girls in bewilderment.
"ECHOING CACOPHONY!" Lyla screamed, unleashing a magic spell that resounded through the entire structure. The man clutched his head, but the golden light around Artemis activated and protected her from the spell.
"You're destroying my whole operation!" The man yelled, holding out his hands in front of him. "Black Corruption!"
Lyla recognized the spell from earlier and leaped out of the way in an attempt to dodge the spell. She almost made it, and most likely would have if not for her bloody ankle, but part of the spell struck her in the calf. Unlike when the ground crumbled beneath Laxus, her leg erupted into pain and took on an ashen tone. She struggled to her feet when the man unleashed another spell. She didn't hear what it was, but it flew her backwards violently and she landed with a smack directly on her back. In the back of her mind she heard an echo of Artemis calling her name out.
"Sound Barrier!" She shouted, frantically holding her hands out in front of her defensively, lying on the floor awkwardly. Three glowing magic circles appeared in a line a body length in front of her, and the man yelled something that was drowned out in the sudden rush of sound. Onlookers would have claimed it sounded like a waterfall and a cheering crowd at the same time, though the kidnapper would beg to differ if the conversation ever came up. Nonetheless, a red spell rushed from the creepy man's hands and struck the barrier, but the malicious attack dissolved into the cacophony of sound.
Lyla forced herself to stand, leaning on the leg she had cut at the ankle earlier. She could barely feel the other one past her knee.
"Lyla!" Artemis yelped, fear tinging her voice. Lyla turned to see shimmering purple binds around her best friend and cursed loudly. In the back of her mind she imagined Laxus's startled expression at her bad mouth, which seemed to amuse her for a split second for some reason. Lyla started to stumble towards her foul-mouthed friend.
"Pig-headed moron! Why'd you go after me? Agh, why can't I get out!" Artemis was livid, her expression twisted into complete fury. Apparently, the spell Lyla had cast earlier had blinked out of existence at the most convenient of times. Figures.
"Do as I say, or your friend will be like the prey of a boa!" His voice emanated from the various fakes floating around in the air. She narrowed her eyes, annoyed. The ropes of purple tightened almost unnoticeably.
There was a rumble in the distance. The smell of gunpowder surrounded her. Her breath sounded heavy, she was almost panting. Her mouth was parted to take in quick breaths, and she tasted the salty sweat from her upper lip.
"It's simple, really. You just need to shoot that machine over there with dragon slayer magic."
"Never."
"Do you have any regard for friendship?"
Lyla stared into Artemis's face. Though the redhead was trying to hide it, her face gave away that she was in pain. The cord tightened even more.
"Come on. It's just one little spell."
"Artemis…"
"I'm fine," The redhead choked out, spitting on the ground beside her. The saliva was mixed with a suspicious viscous red liquid.
Lyla was suddenly at a loss. She barely even remembered the dragon slayer spells Zara had meticulously taught her. She dug into the recesses of her mind, trying to discover something she could do, something that would help…
"But I don't even like fighting! It's violent and it hurts and people can die!"
"My dear Lyla, fighting is a way of sorting out problems. It may be violent, hurtful and altogether unpleasant, but it is part of every dragon's life. And you are a dragon, are you not?"
"Yeah! But I like just singing and making songs that make people happy!"
"Lyla, you need to learn offensive spells. But alright, I will start with one you can use with various intonations. You will be able to make a widespread song of joy or a mass destruction of cacophony."
"...I think I'll do the singing."
"Very well, small one. But remember; sound is not always delightful."
"Okay Mama!"
"Sound Dragon Call! RINGING DISSONANCE!" The words tore from her throat before she knew what was happening. She then proceeded to let out a guttural cry. It unleashed the spell from her center in a growing sphere of sound, affecting everything the orb touched. Artemis writhed in place, trying in vain to reach up and cover her ears. She succeeded when the magic ropes around her withered and fell away, as the man had lost concentration when he found himself surrounded with unnatural noise. Lyla felt- no, heard- the fakes fade away until there was only one other mage in the structure. He was trembling as he took the brunt of the spell.
The man was in front of her. A large distance separated them, but Lyla could see the wicked smirk that suddenly stretched across his face. He opened his mouth and his eerie, disturbing voice slipped through his lips. "You may think you have won. But look! You merely helped me." In horror, Lyla followed his pointing finger towards the machine, which was buzzing with energy. The man sprinted to the machine and pulled a lever with flourish. The machine started vibrating violently, and a section of it opened up with a hiss. Lights started flashing and there was even some smoke to add to the dramatic effect.
A tube about the size of Lyla's arm popped out anticlimactically. The girls stared at it in disbelief. This was what the machine was charging? A large, hollow cylinder?
At least, that's what they thought before he angled it towards them and activated it. They soon learned of the power of the strangely shaped weapon.
It lit up with intricate designs around the barrel and a ball of magic formed at the mouth. Lyla widened her eyes when she felt the magic power which was emanating from the sphere of light.
"Pure dragon slayer magic!" He screamed in malicious delight and shot the ball of magic straight at the girls. For some strange, warped reason, directly towards Artemis, the magicless one in the group.
Time slowed down. Lyla stared at the growing orb as it moved like molasses for what felt like forever. She snapped suddenly to attention and turned to her left. Artemis was standing in shock, frozen in place. Lyla sprinted towards her, horror filling her every thought, as she slammed into the redhead, pushing her violently aside just as the spell reached them.
It exploded onto Lyla as Artemis watched in utter mortification. The world faded in and out, and Lyla was lying still on the floor, eyes wide open and shuddering in pain. She twitched a few times as her nerves registered what just happened, what had just struck her, the magnitude of concentrated dragon slayer magic. Sweat slid down her face.
"Mama? Why don't I get to see anybody else? I want to make friends!" Lyla whined, her tiny hands clutching the small wooden flute in front of her.
"We do not affiliate ourselves with other dragons, or their children, for that matter." The graceful dragon swept her head closer to the little white-blonde.
"But why?" Lyla's stubborn nature had developed already.
"It is not the way of the dragon to invade other's territory. Besides, most of the children are brutes, and I do not want you picking up any bad habits." Lyla groaned, but could have sworn she picked up Zara muttering "Such as Igneel and Metalicana and their brats."
"Hmm." Lyla pondered this for a moment before quickly moving on. "What other kind of dragons are there?"
"Dear Lyla, there are many different kinds of dragons. There are the fire dragons, and-"
"Is Igneel a fire dragon?" Lyla interrupted. Zara stared at the little human staring inquisitively up at her.
"Where did you hear that name?" Zara said, shocked.
"I dunno. I just heard it a while back." Lyla promptly forgot about her former question and began playing a song on her flute.
"LYLA!" a voice was ringing in her head. I could hear so well back then… maybe I should begin practicing magic again.
Cackling. Wailing. The unmistakable crackle of magic. Her name? Threats. Charging. Increasing magic, why is it increasing?
Lyla opened her eyes, unaware that she had closed them in the first place. Pain pulsed through her entire body once, then lulled, as if it were afraid of her retaliating against it. She leaned on one arm and forced herself upright, and, wincing as she brushed a wound she didn't know she had, she pushed herself to her feet. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, ears pricked for sound. She wavered a bit before solidifying where she stood.
"How are you still standing?" The man's voice. He sounded incredulous, and in front of her to her right. "How are you still alive?!" The weapon was charged. She heard the crackling stop growing. If she had to guess, it was once again directed at Artemis. Because he didn't learn the first time.
"...Lyla?" Artemis's voice had never sounded to tiny and fearful. "Are you okay?"
Silence. She never did like the silence.
Lyla opened her eyes, staring directly at the fool who had hurt Artemis. On more than one occasion. "I'm fine."
The man's eyes widened and she heard him stumble back before she saw him fall. Artemis took a sharp breath when she noticed the murderous intent in her best friend's eyes.
"But I… I still…" The man kept stopping his choppy sentences before he finished them, at loss for words as the tall girl limped towards him steadily. "I still…" Finally he seemed to discover what he was trying to say. "I still have this weapon!" He cried out victoriously. Lyla ignored him. She pushed his snakey voice out of her thoughts. It was grating on her mind. She merely glared at the being in front of her.
He shot the powered up weapon dramatically and directly at Lyla, to which she narrowed her eyes further and merely looked peeved.
"SOUND DRAGON ROAR!" She bellowed, unleashing one of the most powerful spells she had ever done. It spun towards the man with malicious intent, coming in contact with his spherical spell midway. Her powerful spell brought the other one to its knees before spiraling onto its next target. Her roar had pushed passed the ball of dragon slayer magic and continued on towards the man, who now held up his arms to defend himself.
Long moments passed. Air flew from her lungs in quiet pants. She stared blankly as the man was assaulted with her spell, and her expression didn't change when the spell faded. He was still standing, but looking a lot more ragged than before. Unfortunately, Lyla had considerably less magic power than she had before her roar. She wasn't going to be able to unleash another spell of that magnitude any time soon.
They stood facing each other, both breathing heavily. It was silent.
The man slowly brought up his weapon again, and started to charge it. She noticed the magic was taking longer to gather together, and guessed this was the last time he could shoot it without recharging it. The only sound was the crackle of the weapon as it continued its mission to transfer magic to the front of the barrel. Lyla stared at the man blankly with her mouth in a firm, unamused line.
"AUGHH!" Artemis appeared behind the man yelling furiously. Lyla widened her eyes and she watched dumbly as Artemis brandished a frying pan and smashed him viciously across the back of his creepy head. His face was frozen in bewilderment as he collapsed like a rag on the hard concrete floor, out cold. A snarky grin stretched across Artemis's exhausted face.
"Aw yeah! That's for kidnapping me, snakey little freak!" She went as far as doing a victory dance next to the collapsed body. Lyla stood stock still. She was attempting to recover from the sudden turn of events, and was silent for a moment longer before exploding into laughter. Artemis wore an incredibly smug expression on her face. What an anticlimactic way to end the battle.
But, she quickly realized, it didn't matter. No, the only thing that mattered was that they were okay, and that they were alive. Everything had flipped for a precarious amount of time, but now everything could go back to normal. Lyla continued to smile and smile, her fatigue a lost thought in the whirl of victory.
Er, sorry for that unannounced temporary hiatus. Whoops. Plus I had to come up with a way for Laxus to not fight the forever unnamed villain, because Laxus is freakishly strong... heh...
Yay for powerful Lyla! (And Artemis, who knew frying pans would be so effective?)
Until next time (don't forget to favorite/follow/review!),
-Leaf