Chapter 9 - Hallucinations

Adryn had begun to hallucinate from the potion that Freed had given her. At first, all she could see was something gray behind Freed, but then it continued to crawl up the side of the interior of the train until it reached the ceiling.

"What do you see?" Laxus instantly questioned as he watched Adryn's eyes grow wide as she looked to the ceiling of the train car.

"I see something weird." Adryn simply responded, causing Laxus to frown.

"Can you be more specific?" Freed asked before Laxus could.

"Yeah, sure. I see this gray thing that is a little smaller than a normal human. It has long fingers and long toes. It is crawling on all fours and is just staring at me with a smile on its face. It has super sharp teeth and glowing red eyes with no pupil or whites, just all red eyes."

"Has it spoken to you yet?" Adryn was about to tell Freed that no, it hasn't spoken when it's smile turned to a frown and it opened it's mouth back up to being speaking to Adryn.

"You, worthless girl. You can see and hear me now?" The demon's voice was growly and raspy. It wasn't too deep of a voice, but it still sent shivers through Adryn's body.

"Um, yeah, I can see and hear you," Adryn responded as she just stared at the demon who then smirked at her words.

"Good."

"What is it saying?" Evergreen demanded immediately.

"Uh, it asked me if I could see and hear it, so after what I responded, it said 'good'."

"That's creepy," Bickslow stated with his babies repeating his words.

"Now, you will listen to what I have to say, alright worthless girl?" The demon began once again as he glared down at Adryn.

"Can you stop calling me 'worthless girl'? It's really rude." Adryn snapped back at the demon who seemed actually surprised that she spoke back to it.

"Shut up!" A voice from behind Adryn yelled, causing her to jolt. She turned to see another demon just colored red with green eyes instead. It was hanging onto a window while inside the train car. "You are a worthless girl, so you will be called that."

"What's going on now?" Laxus asked before the demons could speak up again.

"There's another one. This time it's red with green eyes. It's an asshole."

"Be silent, you bitch!" The red demon snapped as it crawled closer to Adryn.

"It called me a bitch."

"Listen to me, worthless girl." Adryn turned her attention back to the gray demon with red eyes. "You are a terrible person. You have killed people, innocent people. You deserve to die a terrible death, like the one you gave to Ivan."

"That's just something incredibly rude to say to me," Adryn grumbled as she frowned and looked to the ground.

"What's going on?" Freed questioned to which Adryn informed them of what the demon was saying to her.

"That really is rude." Evergreen stated a little upset that her friend was being told something so bad.

"You don't deserve Laxus." The red demon spoke up, causing Adryn to turn to look at it again.

"What do you mean?" Adryn questioned in confusion.

"He is a much better person than you are."

"Wow, guys, you just love being assholes, don't you?"

"What are they saying now?" Laxus asked as he watched his girlfriend frown.

"They told me that you are a better person than me, which wasn't all that wrong, but they also said that I don't deserve you."

"You should kill yourself." Another voice stated as a green demon with blue eyes crawled over the seat and sat on Freed's shoulders.

"How about you get off Freed, you creep."

"There's a demon on me?" Freed's tone was slightly concerned but also curious. "What does it look like?"

"It's a dark green with... actually quite beautiful blue eyes."

"Has it said anything to you?"

"Yeah, it told me to kill myself."

"Kill yourself! Kill yourself! Kill yourself!" The demons began to chant as they began to crawl all around the group, sometimes crawling on someone.

"Okay, guys, I'm not going to kill myself. So how about you just calm your asses down!" Adryn snapped as she just watched them go around them over and over again all the while telling her to kill herself. After she spoke, they all froze and snapped their heads to look at her.

"Then... How about we kill you!" They all spoke in unison as they began to quickly crawl towards Adryn. She began to panic and let out a little scream as they reached out to grab her.

"Stop it!" Adryn yelled out immediately, which caused the demons to stop just short of touching her.

"What's going on?!" Laxus questioned now completely worried about his girlfriend. However, Adryn ignored him as the demons began to speak again.

"Come on, we're just having a little fun." The gray demon spoke with a laugh.

"Yeah, don't ruin our fun." The green demon stated as it laughed as well.

"Yeah... We just want to rip you apart and devour you!" The red one yelled out which caused Adryn to let out a gasp as it finally touched her. The red demon grabbed her arm and pulled it away from Laxus, effectively separating their hands.

"Um, how about you don't!" Adryn yanked her arm back from the demon, causing the demon to frown.

"What's going on?!" Laxus demanded this time.

"They want to eat me. The red one touched me and pulled my arm away from you."

"Freed, do something!" Laxus nearly yelled at his friend.

"The potion will wear off in a while, we can't do anything until then," Freed responded in a worried tone. "Just remember, what you are seeing, feeling and hearing are not real." Freed addressed Adryn who just shook her head.

"We are real. We live inside you." The demons stated at the same time.

"They told me they live in me and are real!" Adryn spoke up now beginning to panic further. Freed began to say something but he was drowned out by the extremely loud laughter the demons suddenly began to produce. It slowly began to get louder and louder until everything was drowned out by them.

"Okay! Stop it please!" Adryn cried out as she put her hands over her ears and shut her eyes. "This isn't real... This isn't real... This isn't-"

"We will always be with you." One of the demons whispered through the laughter, and then there was nothing.

"Adryn!" The next thing Adryn heard was Laxus' worried voice right in her ear. She slowly put her hands down and opened her eyes. She looked around to see nothing at all.

"Adryn?" Freed questioned also in a worried tone.

"They... are gone?" Adryn hesitantly spoke up finally after a moment of looking around her just to make sure.

"What just happened?!" Laxus was still in worry mode, which was kind of strange to see him like that, but it was also cute. Adryn caught her breath and calmed down before explaining to them what just happened to her.

"That doesn't sound fun." Evergreen simply stated after Adryn was done with her explanation. That caused Adryn to chuckle.

"Yeah, no it wasn't fun." Adryn agreed with a smile on her face. Even though she was smiling, she was still feeling a little uneasy. "Can I just go to sleep? I think I need to rest after that ordeal."

"You can lean against me," Laxus informed his girlfriend. He figured he would say it since Adryn was going to do that anyway.

"Thank you," Adryn muttered as she leaned against Laxus. She held onto his arm and quickly drifted off to sleep, showing just how mentally exhausted she was. She didn't stir the rest of the train ride until it was time for them to get off at the last stop for the day.

"Adryn, it's time to wake up." Laxus gently shook his girlfriend until she slowly opened her eyes.

"Are we there?" Adryn muttered softly, as she pulled herself up to a normal seated position and released Laxus' arm.

"We are," Freed responded instead of Laxus. Adryn slowly looked over at him and frowned.

"You really need to work on your potion's side effects. Those demons were in my dreams." Adryn was clearly not happy about that fact.

"I apologize. I will work hard to make a motion sickness potion without such side effects next time." Adryn just nodded her head and watched as Laxus stood up. The train was no longer moving and people were exiting the train. So, Adryn stood up as well, but her legs felt like jelly and she nearly fell over. If it wasn't for Laxus reaching out to grab her she would have fallen.

"Are you alright?" Laxus questioned as he watched his girlfriend try to straighten out with shaky legs.

"I'll be alright," Adryn responded simply as she held onto Laxus to keep herself standing. Once she was able to move properly, she grabbed her bag and followed the others off the train with their own bags in hand.

"So, we are only about halfway to the halfway point. We will stay in an inn tonight and start back up tomorrow morning. It should take us about four days to get there." Freed informed the group once they were off the train and standing in the train station.

"Let's get to our inn. I'm tired." Adryn muttered as he leaned against Laxus. Freed nodded his head and began to guide the group to a nearby inn. They rented three rooms. One for Laxus and Adryn, one for Freed and Bickslow and then one for Evergreen. Once everything was paid for they said their goodnights and headed to their rooms.

"How are you feeling?" Laxus asked Adryn as the two of them began to get ready for bed. Adryn paused in pulling out a nightgown to look over at Laxus.

"I... I'm alright." Adryn responded even though she knew that Laxus wouldn't believe that.

"Want to talk about it?"

"You know, you've changed a little bit. You are a lot more caring than I originally thought you were." Adryn then turned back to her bag and continued pulling out her blue nightgown.

"You're avoiding the topic, aren't you? Do you just not want to talk about it?" When Adryn didn't respond Laxus just nodded his head. "You've changed me."

"Is that a good thing, or bad thing?"

"I'd say it's both." Laxus' words caused Adryn to turn back around to look at him with confusion on her face.

"How come?"

"You made me a better man, but if anyone tried to take you from me again, I might just kill them." Adryn couldn't help but smile at that, even though she knew that she probably shouldn't be happy about the last part.

"I feel the same," Adryn admitted to her boyfriend, who just smiled in return. "I'm sure that we won't face those types of problems now that Ivan's gone."

"We can never be too sure," Laxus stated as he grabbed his sleep pants and went into the bathroom to change. While he changed in there, Adryn changed in their room. Soon enough, both of them were ready for bed and climbing into the bed. It was a little bigger than the one Laxus had which made him make a mental note to get a bigger bed for the two of them. The couple decided that they were too tired for any snuggling and went right to sleep.

~

The next day, the pair were awoken by Freed knocking at their door. It seems that the two dragon slayers had slept in a bit too long.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," Laxus muttered as he climbed out of bed to get to the door.

"Good morning, Laxus," Freed stated when Laxus opened the door for him.

"What's so good about it?" That caused Adryn to chuckle from their bed. Laxus was hardly awake and honestly just wanted more sleep, rather than to get on another train.

"I apologize, Laxus, but we need to get going."

"Yeah, I know. We'll get ready and meet you down in the entrance." With that, Laxus closed the door and moved to his bag to get out fresh clothes for the new day. Meanwhile, Adryn did the same thing and pulled out the exact type of outfit she wore yesterday. "Do you only own shorts and tank tops?" Laxus just had to ask as it was a burning question in his mind. He only ever saw the girl wear such an outfit, and he didn't see anything else in her clothes that she'd brought over to his home.

"...Yes..." Adryn hesitantly responded as she guiltily looked over to her boyfriend.

"Why?"

"I guess I just don't like wearing anything else. Ivan always made me wear pants and a long-sleeved shirt or a dress, so to change from that, I decided to wear this and it just stuck with me all these years." To that, Laxus just nodded his head in understanding. "Also, before you ask, I wear my cloak every day because I don't like being looked at, and I just like the comfort of it around me. It's like a protector."

"I can understand that." Laxus, of course, could due to his coat that he wore every day and everywhere. Adryn figured he'd wear it to their wedding if he could. This then caused her to pause as she was thinking about a wedding between her and Laxus. She had to shake her head to get the thought out before she began to blush noticeably, but Laxus noticed it already. "You alright?"

"I'm good!" Adryn quickly replied before snatching up her clothes and running into the bathroom frantically. Laxus just stared after her and figured she'd thought of something that caused her to freak out. He wouldn't push it.

Eventually, both were ready and met up with the Thunder Legion in the entrance of the inn. They quickly headed over to the train station and got on the train, for yet another full day of traveling. Both Laxus and Adryn just forced themselves to sleep the day away. They woke up some and felt sick but distracted themselves by chatting with the Thunder Legion. Adryn wasn't about to drink any more of that potion as she was terrified that the demons would return.

Thankfully, the next few days passed by quickly and they finally arrived in the town of their destination. Once there, Freed guided them to where he had heard about where the Raven Tail members were staying. It was like every member of Raven Tail planned to live in the forest surrounding towns, because that's exactly where they were, again.

"I'll go in first," Laxus stated before kicking down the door. The Raven Tail members were shocked and took a second to attack, but soon it was a full out battle. Quickly though, the fight was over with Laxus and Adryn attacking the men and women together. They took everyone out together, nearly within 5 minutes.

"Damn. You two are such a power couple." Bickslow stated with his babies echoing, "Power couple! Power couple!"

"Yeah, yeah, just help us tie them up, and Ever, call the Magic Council." Adryn requested as she and Laxus pulled out some rope from her bag that she'd been carrying.

"Why do you bring some rope around with you?" Freed asked the question they all were wondering.

"Just in case."

"In case of what? This type of situation, or for something else?" Evergreen demanded a little worried.

"Yes." Adryn cryptically responded confusing the group further. They pushed their worry for her out of their minds and began to tie up the Raven Tail members while Evergreen got the Magic Council to come to them. Thankfully, they had a headquarters set up in a town nearby and they could be there within the day. The group stayed with the members for a few hours until the Magic Council got there. As the members were being loaded into the transport vehicle the Magic Council brought, one man resisted and just looked over to Adryn.

"You better watch out, girl, or else your past is going to come back and bite you in the ass." The man spoke to Adryn harshly before he was shoved into the vehicle.

"Um, what the fuck was that about?" Adryn questioned as she looked to her friends. They didn't know what it was about either, so no one said anything, other than Laxus.

"Who cares, nothing will get to you while we're me here," Laxus stated confidently. He took a hold of Adryn's hand and held it tightly, causing the girl to smile up at him.

"Thank you, Laxus," Adryn responded as a man from the Magic Council approached the group.

"Thank you for capturing these criminals. The next town over has a man there claiming to be part of Raven Tail and he is causing some problems. If you are interested, can you go get him as well?" The man asked the group, who instantly agreed.

"Of course, we would be glad to help," Adryn responded with a smile.

"Thank you." The man then returned to the vehicle and they drove off into the distance.

"Well, let's head to the town next to this one. It shouldn't take too long to walk there." Freed stated after the Magic Council had disappeared.

"Oh, thank god. We don't have to take a train?" Adryn was relieved at that. Secretly, so was Laxus.

"We can walk this time," Freed responded simply. So, with that, the group headed off to the next town. A few hours of walking and a couple of breaks later, the group reached the town. They walked around the town to see not many people out on the streets. The few that were out warned the group to get to an inn soon or else someone would come after them.

"Can you point us in the direction of that man who is causing the problems?" Freed questioned to an older woman who was just sitting on her steps.

"Just wait, he'll show up." The old woman stated before standing up and going inside of her home. As the day started to grow dark, the group was about ready to give up and head to an inn. However, they turned on a road that would lead to an inn and saw a man at the end of the road just standing there looking at them.

"I think he's shown up," Adryn commented as she watched the man slowly walk over to the group.

"Hello, Adryn. We have never met, but I know of you. Ivan had told me many stories about you." The man stated once he was close enough to the group.

"Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter." The man then pulled out a sword and got ready to attack the group. In return, Adryn, Laxus, and the Thunder Legion got ready to fight. "Adryn, are you ready to die?"

"No," Adryn replied instantly. Her eyes began to glow and she began to cause the man severe pain. He, however, just smiled at Adryn and began to slowly walk towards her as if he wasn't affected at all.

"Stand back, we got this!" Bickslow stated as the Thunder Legion stepped in front of Laxus and Adryn. The three of them began to fight the man but were knocked away by an invisible force that emitted from the man.

"We will fight together!" Adryn declared as she helped Evergreen up to her feet. Laxus helped up Freed as Bickslow stood up by himself, feeling a little left out due to no one helping him up.

So, the group began to fight the man all together. Adryn and Laxus used their dragon slayer magic while the others used a mix of their main magic and their secondary magic. It took them all attacking at once to take the man down. The man then laid on the ground, slowly losing consciousness. However, he began to laugh like a maniac.

"What are you laughing about?!" Adryn demanded angrily as she approached the man with the others.

"Our new master will come and take you all out for interfering in our plans!" The man yelled out as the darkness consumed him and he fell into unconsciousness.

"New master?!" Adryn then grabbed the man and began to shake him. "Wake up and tell me what the fuck you mean!"

"Adryn, he's out and won't be waking up any time soon," Laxus stated to the girl as he pulled her away from the unconscious man.

"There is a new master for Raven Tail? That cannot be good." Freed muttered mostly to himself.

"Why won't Raven Tail just go down and stay down?!" Adryn was clearly distraught over the situation. "Why would Raven Tail get a new master? Who could be as bad as Ivan to become their new master?"

"I'm worried too, but let's get to an inn. The night is rapidly approaching." Freed mentioned causing the group to notice how dark it had gotten. Adryn calmed down slightly and nodded her head. Laxus and Adryn walked behind the Thunder Legion as they walked on the road leading to the inn. Once there, Freed got them rooms and they all said goodnight before going off to their own rooms.

"Have you calmed down?" Laxus questioned as he hesitantly looked over to his girlfriend. Adryn sighed and nodded her head.

"I'm sorry that I freaked out." Adryn guiltily spoke up as she sat on their bed. Laxus sat next to her and shook his head.

"Your reaction was understandable," Laxus stated as he pulled Adryn against him. Adryn leaned her head against Laxus' shoulder and sighed.

"I have a bad feeling that things are about to get crazy."

"I'll-"

"You'll protect me, I know, Laxus. I just can't help but be worried. It's just a terrible feeling that's inside me right now."

"We'll be fine, as long as we stay together. All of us." Laxus was trying to be uplifting and help the girl feel better, but it didn't help. That bad feeling remained in Adryn, but she just forced a smile and snuggled against Laxus.

"Thank you for being here for me." With that, the two kissed quickly and then got ready for bed. They slept holding onto each other that night, however, that wasn't enough for Adryn's bad feeling to dissipate. The bad feeling bled into her dreams and caused her to have a dream where she was falling backward into darkness. It caused her to awake with a jolt, nearly waking Laxus as well. However, Adryn just snuggled closer to Laxus and fell back to sleep, a dreamless sleep this time.