A/N: Ok, so good news! I got a job! Yay! And I might even have a chance at a second part time job as well! Yay!...not so yay is that I don't know how often I'll be able to update, so I'm doing what I can right now, and if I hit a good flow, I may be able to update a couple of chapters at a time, or it may take a few weeks, depending on scheduling. SO please bare with me, and have patience, I want to update as often as possible. Anyways, please remember to READ AND REVIEW! Us writers live for them!

Chapter 12 Identifying

He could feel something in the blade sapping away his strength, and his magic. It took him a second longer to see that a blood red aura was starting to glow from Lucy's hands as she reached out from him. Turning his head back to see Levy scrambling to her knees, with blood spilling down her face, he met her gaze with a sad smile and shook his head quickly. He knew she would try and come after him. And he knew it was too late. Already he could feel himself being pulled into whatever magic it was that Lucy was being controlled by. He had just enough time to whisper a phrase to her before darkness claimed him.

He knew what he was doing. Even as he felt the painful jerk of the one he considered a friend, he knew what he was doing. And he hated it.

Time had no meaning for him right now. Not for however long it had been since he had been taken by the fake Lucy. Everything felt detached, as if he was watching his actions from the sideline, while being locked in a room he couldn't get out of. That part of him watched in utter horror and grief as he watched the knife coated in slow moving poison and spelled to suck away magic slid into the shoulder of his friend.

Gajeel.

He had never wanted this to happen.

Like Lucy, and being a spirit, a part of him had managed to escape what had captured him, but he hadn't been able to find Lucy's spirit. He wanted to help. He wanted to be able to pick Levy up from where she'd been thrown and get her to safety. He wanted to free Gajeel from the same magic that he knew to be tearing part of his soul away.

There were so many things he wanted.

Most of all he wanted to be free of the guilt he felt at wanting to help Aries more than the others. Like him she had been captured. He had only been able to stand and watch as each key had been called forth than over taken by the red aura that bled from Lucy. In this existence he had no idea how to fix things. And as he followed, and listened to those who had taken Lucy, he heard their plans, terror taking root, growing, and rendering him useless.

Panting heavily, biting back the moan of pain that wanted to escape them, he lifted his gaze to the puppets that resembled his nakama and her spirits. They looked exactly like they normally did. Except for the eyes.

No life.

No emotion.

Nothing but dolls waiting for orders.

He could feel his anger boiling away inside of him, giving him some strength. But he couldn't bring himself to hurt them. Not when it wasn't their fault. Not that he could hurt them anyways.

His hands had been stretched up and away from him, holding him tight with magic cancelling cuffs, and he could feel the aching strain on his shoulders. Another large magic cancelling cuff was wrapped around his ankles keeping his feet together and chained to the floor, making movement impossible for him.

Sweat drenched hair pulled on his head as it hung down his back, the stab wound in his shoulder feeling on fire as the salt of his sweat mixed with it. It had been a long time since he had been in quite this much pain, but he knew it was nothing compared to the pain and fear he had seen on his shrimps face before he had fallen unconscious.

He kept his head down, hanging limply, his breath still heavy when he heard the shuffle of feet coming from outside of the door of the room he was being held in. A few seconds later the door swung open, revealing a small child sized girl wearing white clothing and her equally white hair being held up in a high tail. Her blue eyes were cold, filled with contempt. Even though he kept his head down, and eyes closed as much as possible, he was able to see everything about this child through the smallest bit his eyes were still open.

He knew he had to give the impression that he was still unconscious so he could try and figure out some way to get out of there. If he could get out, then he could figure out where he was. If he could do that, then he could back to the guild. Following that line of thinking, he could then-

"Don't think you can escape dragon slayer. I know that you're awake." The child chided softly as she stepped closer, reaching to tip his head up to meet his burning gaze with her cold one. Snarling, he lunged forward to try and snap his teeth into her hand. It didn't surprise him much when she dodged it, however the sudden blow to his cheek, leaving even his ears ringing was something he hadn't expected. Gritting his jaw against the pulsing ache and the taste of blood in his mouth, he managed to keep silent even as he swayed against the chains from being hit.

The pains in his body made themselves loudly known at the sudden movement, and Gajeel found himself biting into his lower lip till he drew blood to keep from screaming.

After a few moments of gasping, fighting to think past the pain, he lifted his gaze, sneering at the smirk he found on the childs face.

"If you know I'm awake, then maybe you can tell me who the fuck you are." Gajeel muttered, his eyes narrowed even as he shuddered in revulsion at the pleasure he saw flash across her face.

"Ah there you are my good little dragon. I knew you'd speak eventually." The child said with a purr, stepping back only to move around him, her fingers trailing over him, a hand fisting in his hair to pull his head back before moving on to drag her nails across the open wound on his shoulder, coating her fingers in his blood before standing in front of him once more. With a smirk, she lifted her red fingers to her mouth, slipping them in one at a time to clean each one, never taking her eyes from his face.

Gajeel fought hard to not react, even as on the inside his stomach turned at the sight of her taking such enjoyment from his pain and blood. He would be the first to admit that he was into a bit of pain, but only the kind that actually brought pleasure in end for both people involved, not just one. But this….what this…child was doing was making his motion sickness feel like a walk in the park.

As the silence drew on from him refusing to rise to her bait, he felt his own mouth twitch in a smirk as the girl before him lost patience and slapped him again, her angelic like face shifting into a snarl of fury. Another wave of pain flashed through him, and unfortunately this time he wasn't quite able to stop the groan from slipping past his lips.

The chuckle that echoed around the room had him shuddering as he shifted his gaze to the girl once more, the satisfied smirk on her face giving him pause.

"You'd like to know who I am wouldn't you Black Steel Gajeel? Well….now that I've had a taste of your blood….once Lucy is done with you…..you'll be calling me My Lady or Mistress….though coming from you, I think you'd do better with Mistress." The child explained, stepping forward to press close, holding his head still as she pressed her lips to his, teeth pulling his lower lip to her as she soothed the inside cut with her tongue. The snarls and jerking that escaped him had her smiling before she stepped back. The red aura that she had forced into his mouth was already forcing its way deeper into his body, and a moment later a pain filled howl escaped him.

He was thrashing hard against the chains, the magic cancelling cuffs doing nothing to stop the magic that been forced into him. The girl watched all of this with a cruel smile before turning to leave.

At the door, she paused to look at the celestial mage watching all of this with a blank face. "Lucy, I want you to call out Virgo and have her punish him while the change is happening. He'll learn to obey me no matter how hard he fights it." With that said, she left the room, hearing Lucy's monotone voice call out Virgo. A few seconds later more screams could be heard following the sounds of a whip striking flesh repeatedly.

Things were moving along perfectly.

"Levy…Levy honey…..come on….please….you need to talk to us…." Mira said softly, sitting down across from the script mage, ignoring the piles of books that were spread over the table and nearly blocking her from sight. It had only been a couple of hours since Gajeel had been taken, and as soon as she had managed to sob out where they had been, Laxus, Natsu, Wendy, and Igneel had rushed out to find his scent. They hadn't yet returned, and when they had left, Levy had managed to free herself from Erza's hold and stumble down to the library.

Not knowing what else to do, Mira, Romeo, Gray and Erza had followed her down there only to find her darting around the rows of books and grabbing many before dropping the books off at the table. Jet and Droy had tried to follow them as well, but the look they had gotten from the takeover mage had stopped them in their tracks and instead they waited in the hall with the other members.

After a few minutes more of racing from shelf to shelf, Levy had finally settled down at the table, shoved her gale force glasses onto her face and picked up the first book.

That had been nearly ten books ago.

Now the others sat across from and next to her, keeping an eye out for the other slayers to return, and ready to get Levy anything else that she needed.

Biting her lip at not getting a response, Mira braced herself and reached out to cover the open pages of the current book with her hand, stopping the magic of the glasses, and breaking Levy's concentration. The glare she received from the small blunette was one that any other time she would've been able to handle. Add in the tears that were still trailing down her cheeks though and Mira felt as if she'd just been stabbed in the gut.

"Mira. Let go. I need to continue." Levy said firmly, clearly. The conviction in her voice, layered with anger, had Mira swallowing before shaking her head.

"I'm sorry Levy I can't do that. Not yet. We came down to help you Levy. We may not be as adept as you at researching, but tell us what we're looking for, and we might be able to help." Her voice was calm, even, and thankfully steady, even though all she wanted to do was tremble at the sight of Levy's anger. She had NEVER seen Levy this upset, in such pain, and it made Mira realize that there was a good chance that Levy could be, if not already was, as strong as Erza and herself. Just sitting there, doing her research, Levy was still trembling, vibrating in repressed anger.

Taking a deep breath, and letting her eyes fall shut for a moment, Levy attempted to gain some control over her emotions, but she somehow knew she wouldn't be able to until she had Gajeel back in her arms. Leaning back, she reached up to take the glasses off of her face for a moment, rubbing her eyes, before opening them to look the others sitting with her. She could see the worry, the fear, the need to do something, anything, to help. No matter how big or small the thing was, they needed to be doing something.

And she knew she could actually use their help. With where she was at that moment emotionally, there was a chance that she could miss a detail, which they couldn't afford to miss anything. Sitting up, she gave a sharp nod.

"Fine. You want to help? Find every single book we have in here, even in the section meant for just the Master, on blood magic, dragons, celestial magic, seith magic, in fact pull Bix down here to help with that as well, and any books dealing with any kind of soul ties and bonds." Levy said firmly, looking from each person. "Drag Freed down here as well, I know he could be of use in finding something. Plus he may think of something that I haven't." Leaning back, she let her eyes fall shut, showing that she wouldn't speak again until the others were down here. She heard the rapid steps of Gray rushing up the stairs to get the others and it wasn't long before the sound of multiple pairs of feet returned, and she opened her eyes to find Gray, Freed, and Bix looking at her expectantly.

"Alright, any and all books on blood magic, souls or spirits, celestial and seith magic, and dragons needs to be collected and gone through. Doesn't matter what section it's in, if you find something, grab it and bring it back. Once that's done, grab a book and start reading. There are spare gale force glasses in the desk over there, should be enough for anyone willing to read. Some of you can start reading while others look, and if you find something, no matter how big or small, say something." Levy explained firmly.

"Um…even the section reserved for just the Master Levy?" Freed asked quietly, uncertain as to how Master would take her saying that. "You need permission for th-"

"I DON'T FUCKING CARE ABOUT PERMISSION FREED!" Levy exploded out of her seat, knocking it back to slam into the shelves a few feet behind her. She didn't notice that the others had stumbled back at her response. She didn't even notice that she had launched herself at Freed and was pounding her fists against him, her breathes sobbing as she screamed up into his face. "WE'RE LOSING OUR NAKAMA FREED! I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE FUCKING RULES OR GETTING PERMISSION! THIS CAN'T KEEP HAPPENING! WE HAVE TO GET THEM BACK! I HAVE TO GET HIM BACK! I HAVE TO SHOW HIM! PLEASE JUST HELP ME GET HIM BACK!" Levy cried, going limp against Freed, her sobs racking her small frame. He had wrapped his arms tight around her and when he felt her start to collapse he sank to his knees with her, still holding her, rocking back and forth.

Looking over her head at the shocked and saddened looks on the others faces. Giving a quick nod, he focused on Levy once more, seeing the others dart off to different corners of the library to find any book dealing in what she had listed. It took a few more minutes to calm Levy further, and when she did he drew back slightly to look down at her hair.

"What happened Levy? What do you have to show him?" Freed asked, already knowing that it had to do with Gajeel. Hearing her sniffle, he cringed, hoping he hadn't started another bout of crying.

"I have to show him that I'm strong enough. That he does deserve me. That just as he can't live without me, I can't live without him either. I have to show him that we can have a soul bond like Natsu and Lucy have."

"I'm guessing that's something very important for dragons and their mates?" He asked, carefully running his hands over her back. He knew that if this had been any other time, the likely hood of him keeping his hands if Gajeel were around were very slim.

"It is. And I came down here because he told me something right before they took him."

"And what was that?" A new voice, reminding them oddly of Gajeel, sounded from behind them. Shifting slightly, Freed was able to look over his shoulder, even as Levy leaned to peer around him.

Standing at the doorway were the other slayers of the guild as well as Igneel, a serious look set on his face. It was the one in front that drew Levy's attention the most, bringing her to her feet quickly only to stumble slightly as she hurried closer to him. Red eyes peered down at her in a bored look, framed by metal studs above and below his eyes. Decorating his nose and chin as well, Levy glanced down to find crossed arms decorated in a manner similar to that of Gajeels.

Taking a quick step back she looked up again to find that shoulder length gunmetal gray hair was the only thing that really separated Gajeel from this man. The clothes were similar, the stance was similar, even the scowl on his face was almost a dead ringer for Gajeels.

"Y-you-you're-" Levy stammered, swallowing hard against the lump in her throat. She realized that this was likely what Gajeel would look like when he got older, and that thought alone had her flushing.

"What did he say brat?" The man growled, leaning over to get into her face, his eyes narrowing. He bit back the smirk that wanted to turn into a full grin when she met his gaze head on, shock shifting into determination as she rolled her shoulders back and lifted her chin to him.

"His words were this: "Blood Magic" and "Souls"." Levy answer grimly. Somehow she managed to keep from jumping at the growl that her words got in return as the man shifted back to his full height.

"Well shit. Looks like the bitch is back after all." He snarled, glaring at Igneel over his shoulder.

"You really should watch your language you know." Igneel sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. Before anything else could be said, Levy said something that had everyone choking on surprised laughter.

"I don't give two shits about his fucking language right now. We have more important things to see to, like getting Lucy and your son back Metalicana. If you're not here with helpful information, or to help find it, then you can go right the fuck back upstairs and stay out of my way." Levy stated, her gaze hard and cold.

The shocked look on Metalicana's face quickly morphed into laughter, as he bent at the waist to grab his knees. "You're definitely my son's mate! Didn't think he'd ever manage that!"