The demon inside.
By: LemonSherbert
Chapter 23: The darkness.
I do not own any of the characters in this story, they are owned by the creator of Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima, do enjoy and don't forget to review. BTW IT'S GONNA START GETTING GORY SO PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
Levy stared around, unable to focus on anything, her golden eyes glinting at the sunlight shining through the window as he stared down at her. She looked like an angel, her beauty was blinding, it was the kind of beautiful that could bring kings to their knees, the kind of beautiful that could start a war. He was completely amazed that she could be both beautiful and fierce; she was like a tiger, majestic, enchanting, graceful yet cunning, brave and utterly deadly. It had been an hour and there was no sign of Acnologia but everyone was still on high alert, nobody seemed to dare speak above a whisper. You could have cut the tension with a knife or an axe-bat in his case; they were all frightened and ready for the fight of their lives.
"You think he might not show?" Lucy asked in a quiet and hushed voice and he shrugged as he looked at Levy who was still slightly shaking but she wasn't panting anymore. Natsu had his arm around Lucy's shoulder, as if it was their last embrace and he had an angry and scared look on his face, it had only taken half a week but he finally seemed to notice how serious the situation was. Gajeel never thought he'd die, not so young anyway; he walked around like he was immortal, like he couldn't be killed and now... he was afraid he might.
"No... He's coming, I can feel it... it's like I can feel the darkness growing around the town... he won't be long now" Levy whispered and her voice was ominous yet shaking. He had to agree, he couldn't explain it out loud but it was almost as if he could feel the air getting colder and the sky getting darker. For some reason he could feel it within him, as if this Demons coming was making his own darkness rile up, admittedly he wasn't dark at heart but he still had Demon blood inside him. He could feel his muscles twitching in need to shed blood, his fangs burned his lips and he wanted to tear something apart, his head was becoming foggy with images of a slaughter, a river of blood, screams of agony. It was like he could feel the apocalypse himself, like he was living in it and he had to shake his head to rid his mind of the gruesome images. If he was feeling it that strong then he hated to know what Levy was going through, out of curiosity he looked down at the petite bluenette.
He could see the small, obsidian horns, broken but there sticking maybe three inches from her head, he could hear her panting and he didn't need to look at her eyes to know they were the colour of death itself. Her claws were dug into the table, slicing through the metal like a knife through butter and out the corner of his eye, he could see her tail swishing madly, as if it was agitated.
"Levy... are you okay?" Gajeel asked, her name felt so foreign compared to her nickname and she nodded her head stiffly, he could almost hear the bones in her neck creaking. He kind of felt the need to give her blood to see if it helped but it wasn't the right time to get her into frenzy, not there, not around so many people. A shadow whirling in the middle of the room caught everyone's attention and he tensed, gripping the hilt of the bat that was between his legs. He saw people pull out weapons and watched Levys hand shoot to her waist as she growled. No one seemed to breath as the shadow flickered, struggling to form, it was tense and quiet as the crackling of Demon shadows faded in and out and a form began to take shape. They were tall, in a cloak that was sliding down their shoulder and they were panting, wheezing even, like they were hurt. The Demon stepped out of the shadows and the room was filled with gasps as they watched him stumble, blood dripped from his slightly parted lips and his charcoal eyes blinked around. His skin was torn and bruised, like he had been in a fight with a bear and his clothes were charred and ripped, his deep blue hair was a mess and matted with blood.
"Jellal!" Levy gasped as she went to run to him but Gajeel felt something, something darker was following him and he grabbed her arm, keeping her in place. She blinked up at him in confusion and anger as another person went to the blue haired man's side, gripping his shoulders to keep him upright.
"What... what happened Jellal?!" The young, red haired woman asked, her eyes were full of pain and fury as she wrapped his arm over her slim shoulders, going to walk him elsewhere, out of harm's way.
"He... he knows... he followed me... the plans going to fail, you... all need to leave... evacuate the town!" he croaked, his voice breaking and going hoarse as he gripped a deep, gruesome slash on his side. Patrolmen and Demons alike stared at each other in worry and regret as Igneel stepped out from his disguise, having hid himself behind a teacher's suit.
"No... We cannot leave, this is the only chance we have... Skia, Weiss, Grandeeney and I will stay here, we are the most skilled in combat, the rest of my men... Evacuate the town, use the trucks, get every single citizen, Demon or not out of here... I want this place turned into a ghost town!" His deep voice shouted, practically vibrating the tables and Gajeel felt a chill run down his spine. It was as if no one was sure he was telling the truth, they didn't move and he pulled out a gun, it was decorated like a dragon and the bullets were like balls of flames. "Don't make me repeat myself, move!" He snapped and the patrolmen scattered, not giving a second thought as they jogged to the exit and Gajeel kind of wanted to join them. Soon the cafeteria was mainly made up of the resistance who stood tall, clearly shaken yet unmovable as they let their Demon aura's take over.
"It... won't make a difference... he's going to sla-aughter... everyone!" Jellal panted as the red haired woman placed him on a bench, he wasn't healing, even Gajeel could see his wounds weren't closing. "Erza... you have to leave... please!" He wheezed and the woman shook her head as Gajeel saw the sparkling of tears in her eyes and he frowned. It took him a moment or two before he put two and two together... that woman was his lover... maybe, she certainly looked like his type. She was tall, slender, curvy and looked like she could tear down mountains if she wanted to which made Gajeel slightly uneasy.
"No... I will not leave you!" She snapped, her voice shaking like she was about to cry and her fists were clenched as she ground her teeth. "Forever of never... that's what we said reme-mb...er..." Her voice trailed off and Gajeels eyes went wide as he followed the trail of blood slipping from her mouth and she looked down. Gajeels blood red eyes began to flicker black as he saw the heart protruding through her chest, dripping black blood on the floor and clawed fingers gripped it tightly.
"Er... Erza!" Jellal cried as the sound of ribs cracking filled the room and he heard Levy gasp painfully, like she was close to tears as the red Demons heart slipped back through her chest and that's when he noticed the dark shadows waving behind her. He had never felt death before, never felt it prickling his skin in cold chills, he's never felt it gripping his heart and threatening to make it stop, he'd never felt death like this, not even when he was younger. His eyes followed the woman as she fell to her knees and toppled onto her side, her heart slowly disappearing into the shadows as a low, evil chuckle echoed through the rooms. "You... you bastard!" Jellal screamed like he was possessed and dived at the shadows fuelled by his rage as he sliced, punched, kicked... doing anything to hurt the Demon hiding behind the dark cloud.
"Oh Jellal... you should have known... you should have picked your side better, maybe your wife would still be alive but you'll be joining her soon enough so it doesn't make a difference!" The Demon laughed and Gajeel could barely breath, the voice, it felt like it could kill him, the raw power flowing through the room would have brought him to his knees had he not already been sat down. Just as Jellals arm shot out for a punch, a hand shot out grabbing the blue Demons wrist and squeezing, this alone seemed to cripple Jellal as he groaned and cracking could be heard. "Forever or never..." the voice growled and a shape pounced from the shadows, slicing through Jellals flesh with claws fit enough to be knives. Whoever it was, he was merciless and evil, cutting and tearing Jellal like some sort of wolf, no one even dared to move, they were all terrified and Gajeel stared at his uncle. Igneel... he was wide eyed and looked broken, he looked terrified, just as much as everyone else as they watched the carnage. Jellals screams were being branded into Gajeels brain, he wanted to stop it, he wanted to step out and help the Demon but his legs wouldn't work, he could barely even keep hold of Kurogane he was sweating so much.
"That's enough!" A small voice screamed and Gajeel snapped his head up, his heart dropped into his stomach as he saw her standing in the middle of the room, barely ten feet from the Demon who was now exposed. He hadn't even noticed her move, he was too traumatised to pay attention to anything but the torture show in front of him. His white hair rivalled Gajeels in both length and volume, his skin was tanned and there were electric blue markings on his skin, even his clothes were kind of savage. The Demon had no top on, showing part of his toned flesh and he wore torn, baggy pants, he looked like a scruffy king, the king of Demons.
"Oh... and who says so... a puny little Demon like you is going to stop me, hmmm, tell me, are you perhaps the weak little sister of Jeremiah?" His voice was amused and low as he gave Levy a fanged grin and Gajeel wanted to scream at her. Acnologia... he was Acnologia and Levy, she was stood before him, standing tall and brave, her eyes looked determined yet afraid, like she was internally screaming.
"Yes... I am Jeremiahs sister and you must be Acnologia... Demon of the apocalypse, now tell me, why have you come for me?" She asked, her voice unwavering, like she was barely even scared and Gajeel went to stand up but he felt Natsu grab his wrist and he looked at him, the pink haired boy said nothing but kept his head down and shook it.
"You are not like your cowardly brother... interesting, I was expecting a snivelling little morsel, one that I could break but you seem to have more of a back bone than him and I should know, after I killed him I used his bones as a tooth pick" Acnologia purred and Gajeel saw her go rigid, if only for a moment and she stared up at the large Demon who had dropped Jellal and faced her fully.
"I'm not afraid of you... you should leave because we have you outnumbered..." she said and Gajeel groaned, oh how he wished she hadn't said that. Acnologia raised his brow with a smirk as he stepped towards Levy and Gajeel tensed.
"Is that so... little pet?" He asked in a deadly voice as several wisps of smoke began to form, five, ten, fifteen... no twenty... they still had them out numbered three to one but if he only summoned twenty then he clearly thought they could handle it. "How about we play a little game, you come with me... be my little play thing and my men will only slaughter half of the people in this room, including the seven humans I know still reside within these walls?" He asked as he walked closer and Levy shook her head with a glare so powerful it even Gajeel wanted to hide for her.
"There will be no human blood spilt today, only yours!" Levy snapped, Gajeels eyes growing wide with panic and pride as he saw her fist pull back, was she really going to punch Acnologia!?