I apologize for the short chapters, but I've got to keep my readers interested somehow. :)
I'm warning you that this is truly where the angst kicks in.
Keep reading if you want, but like I've said.
Brace yourself.
Enjoy. ~Locke.
Jellal quickly cupped her hand in a hardy grip and guided her to an adjacent cell room, along the walkway of the corridor she had passed through earlier. She stumbled trying to keep up with his impatient pace, managing to sneak a quick glance at him through the soft glow of the lights overhead. Beside his ghastly, hungry looking eyes, she noticed that there was a hint of irritation masking his features. He looked on ahead, as if plotting something beyond her comprehension.
They… they just had sex. But he wasn't done with her yet.
Part of her was glad Natsu was here. And part of it wasn't.
She wanted to finish too.
She shook her head. How could she be so disgusting?
As if Jellal had read her mind, he squeezed her hand tightly and lead her through the cell's open gate, the rest of the structure generically closed off with metallic columns. He promptly grabbed one of the suspended chains and locked her weary wrists. Her eyes widened at the sound of the rusty click that ensured her timeless imprisonment.
"Jellal…" She breathed, the air in her lungs weighing down like lead. Her entire body was pulsing when he looked down at her, and the woman couldn't help but collapse under the weight of her body. Her mouth had a difficulty of remaining closed in her state of shock. "What are you doing?"
He only glared down at her, his merciless expression unchanging.
"Jellal… please, tell me!" She had begun to panic, knowing that this man was capable of anything. And Natsu was coming.
"Please don't hurt him… he only wants—"
His tall frame crouched before her and cupped her cheek, interrupting the woman from her wants and wishes. "He only wants to take you from me." He finished, ferocity gleaming in his hazel-green eyes. His thumb gently caressed her skin, tilting his head with an awful pulse of desperation and possessiveness in his being. She could feel it.
He was going to do something awful.
Without any preceding caution, he grabbed the sash that was dangling around her arms previously and tightly wrapped it around her mouth. His hands reached the back of her head and knotted the cloth cleanly, brushing against her gentle terrified face before straightening his composure. He could hear her whimpers through the cloth, knowing that he wouldn't have done this to her. She was already his.
But this was necessary.
The man had been turning to the exit, signaling for the guards to leave it unlocked from the outside. The crisp yet stale air of the dimmed cell room fluttered about, and was thrust in from past the rusted metallic rods that prevented escape.
Her muffled scream stopped halfway, before detecting the muscles underneath his skintight armor shift. Erza flinched reflexively and gasped slightly. Her heart raced at the thought provoking Jellal, who was impulsive and unpredictable in any given situation. His hood was down with a fully viewable face, back turned away from her, but his chin, his lips, nose mouth, and his devilishly green eyes—they were glancing backwards from the side to take a last time peek at the special prisoner he had chained to his cell.
She remained quiet, the candlelight flickered into the nothingness that she was. She was slowly suffocating. She succumbed to him. She was weak willed. She was disgusting. And now she was going to be responsible for something much more disastrous. When Erza was sure the horrible black mage was far enough not to notice anything, she allowed the tears to stream down her cheeks.
He was going to kill Natsu.
….
Natsu had no problem rinsing his hands with the bodies of the guards who loitered the tower like roaches. The flames crackled and burned through each victim that dared to lay in his path of destruction. Anyone who willingly stood between him and Erza was considered an enemy, and he had no problem getting rid of them. Level after level, he did not grow weak, but stronger in his resolve for reaching the top.
But she wasn't at the top. She was somewhere lower this time. Her distinct scent streamed thickly into his nose, and its source—a level just above his current position. He was going to find her hidden away somewhere for a reason beyond him, and she was going to be there waiting for him. Just a little longer and she would have all the answers he needed.
That Zeref-worshipping scum was holding her. He didn't have to second guess it. He always knew where his true allegiances always lied—even through his meager gifts and acts of kindness. Giving him flame in his battle against Brain. Becoming a part of an anti-dark magic guild. Granting his team, a source of second origin. He knew. He always knew never to trust that guy.
"Scum!" He raged, a flame empowered fist sent a ripped-looking guard soaring through the dim lit corridor and into a dark abyss. His obvious rage rippled through his punches, body slams, and explosions of flame, and found his body gaining more momentum the closer he got to Erza.
He just wanted her safe, he seethed while the smoke billowed through his nostrils visibly—as a real dragon's would have. Aiming his fist at the ceiling, he coursed magic through his palms without a drop of hesitation and blasted through the layers of concrete. his onyx eyes darted the chamber room from side to side and noticed its nostalgia. It strangely smelled of freshly eaten food, but it was smeared and splattered everywhere.
Her scent led outside, and the source of smell was sitting dormant. Somewhere off, and secluded. Glass crunched under the sole of his sandals as he made his way to Erza, with much hope vibrating in his body. She wasn't far off now. He knew it.
"Erzaaaaa!" He roared in the distilled quietness that was this tower. He waited. There was nothing. He once more screamed into the unrequited whirr of the endless corridor and was met with silence once again. He fruitlessly waited again. He would always wait for her.
She was his role model.
She was the one who gave him strength.
She was the one who kept his spirits high.
Just then, he barely heard a soft mewl reach his ears. She was so close! He jutted his body off into a sprint and into the darkness from which the sound came from. He came to a halt when there were two guards suspiciously standing before a cell's entrance.
"Give Erza back to me!" He roared at them, a lion's steel lungs he had. His limbs lit up with bright orange undulating flames, stretching violently towards the ceiling. The two men were obviously prepared and unsheathed crude daggers, even though they could never deflect a magic as powerful as his sea of fire. Through the cell bars, he could see her dark slumped form near the back wall. That was enough motivation as he split the distance between the guards and sent their bodies into the opposing wall. Their bodies cracked and snapped against the concrete, creating deep craters with the immense force that the dragon slayer had released.
He gripped the entrance grate and ripped it off its hinges.
He finally found her.
"Erza…" Natsu exhaled, relief setting in his tone of voice. He walked towards her with grave vulnerability in his steps. He was so tried. But he was so glad she was there, safe and sound. The shadowy contours of her body wavered under the candlelight and became more defined as he drew near. "Let's get you out of here!"
He almost laughed at the thought of it. So much trouble, all for Erza. He was going to get payback for all this shit had to do to get her back safely. He quickly sauntered over to the restrained Erza, whimpering with heavy set tears in her eye. She looked like she had been crying for a long time. He eagerly reached down to release the cloth's hold over her mouth.
He was definitely going to have answers. But that would be saved for their journey back to magnolia. Right now he needed to get her out of here. She was shaking her head desperately at his touch, her voice muffled by the heavy cloth restraint. The moment that sash left her lips, Erza wasted not even a single second in warning her friend.
"Get out of here Natsu!" She croaked in her hasty, worn down voice. There was a hint of defiance in her voice, but he knew she just wanted to protect him.
"What do you mean? You crazy?" He growled back at her, violently thrashing and pulling her metal chains, as if they would magically pop off the ceiling. He thought about searing through the metal with his dragon flame and then decided not to. Erza's wrists would be caught in the conduction of heat and be horribly burned. He growled again. He wished Gray was here. He would've been able to freeze and crack the chains right from their foundation. "We gotta get back to the tournament, okay?"
"Natsu…get out of here!" She screamed through her scratched throat. "He's going to—"
But it was too late.
Erza wide-eyed and teary, glared up at Natsu's still form. She had back shocked into still, ghastly silence. A hand savagely tore through his heart, alien magic corrupting every part of his body. His black eyes, wide in horror. He never expected to go down this way. He never expected that his life would end here.
The horrific scene replaying in her mind seemed like it lasted for an eternity.
"You…you knew?" His hauntingly hollow whisper was all that could be heard in the deathly quietude surrounding their still forms. Not a single hair moved. Only voices seemed to have shaken the air.
"Of course I knew." His biting voice murmured from behind Natsu's placid form. As if to rub salt in his wounds, Jellal twisted his spear-like hand inside his chest and caused the boy to shudder with unimaginable pain. He continued with much spite ringing in his voice, alluding his hateful thoughts with his cruel actions on Natsu's body. "I knew that once I had taken Erza, her loyal dog would come looking without much light and clarity in his eyes. And what better place to take revenge than the tower of heaven?"
This poor boy… this poor boy only wanted his friend back.
Despite the hole going through both sides of his body, Natsu still found some inner resolve to growl back at him. "I was going to sa—"
"You were going to save Erza?" He finished his sentence, and thought the dragon slayer was comical enough to laugh at his words. He would always be a step ahead of him. "I'm afraid that when history repeats itself, it will end with your body in the ocean this time. Rather than mine." To eagerly conclude the dragon slayer's story, his crudely reeled his arm out and let death take its course.
Blood seeped out of his chest in rivers the moment the hand ferociously ripped back to the empty space outside his body. Natsu barely keeled over in his movement, a weak suction of his lungs was all that could be heard. The last thing Natsu consciously heard was her shrilling scream and Erza's mournful expression. In his waning vision, she was terrified and struggled against her confining chains with all her might to save him. It was ironic how he had come to save her, but now she'd had just tried to do the same. His hand reached out to Erza in a last attempt to call out to Erza. His body collapsed to the dusty concrete with a heavy thud, and what life remained inside had finally seeped out.
Erza's veins were set ablaze, realizing that whatever she had suspected had become reality. She felt something terribly acidic and vile-tasting rise along the pipe of her throat, and quickly she'd shut her mouth and turned away. She wanted to look at anything but the body. She assumed she would never have that picture set in her mind her entire life. She assumed she would never have to see that of any of her friends. She assumed something like this would never happen again after she had escaped the tower long ago.
She paused in her thoughts.
She was never going to see that sincere smile of his again.
She was never going to hear his laugh again.
She's never going to see that scarf again.
She glared up at her menace of a captor. He had no remorse. Clearly… no remorse for what he had just done. His impassive face was telling a story quite like that of a psychopath. Her anger had been welling, swelling, ready to burst and suffocate this demon of a man. She was going to kill him. She was willing to grind his face against the concrete, willing to rip his limbs from their sockets, willing to slice every packet of skin right from his bone.
She was willing to do anything to shrug Jellal from existence.
She felt her magic slowly return to her. Despite the magic nullification device on her wrist, she felt her power bubbling up inside and ready to be used for battle once again. Could it be her innate second origin overpowering the contraption?
Could this really be happening?
Jellal had an innate ability to read the moods and emotions of others. He could sense this predatory like intent seeping from the chained woman and knew that this would be the end result. But what she thought hadn't mattered at that point. All that had mattered was that Natsu Dragneel be removed from their lives.
Silence.
A deep, lingering silence that seemed to last lifetimes.
She was glaring up at him. He could see the animosity glowing in her fierce brown eyes, the mixture of grievance and resentment boiling in her countenance, the reluctant retaliation hidden within her movement. She was ready to strike. She was ready to take him down.
They paused for a few moments in each other's wake.
He could picture her coming at him at this very moment. But she didn't, and for the first time, he was grateful for the chains that separated them from each other.
…