When The Lights Go Out
Chapter 4
Needles
Levi'd been working for a while. They still weren't solid on time, but it seemed like awhile at least.
"Ai and bn. Ch and tz. Sh and ln." She was still mumbling, but he and Erza had stopped paying attention to her forever ago. It wasn't like they had a clue what the hell she was saying.
Erza was changing armors. Seeing if any of her weapons had an effect. The first one after the obsidian looked like the night sky and smelled like starfire. She didn't name the armor, but he guessed she was trying to duplicate the bridge the bunny chick was capable of accessing. Whatever it was she continued cycling through her arsenal, probably going from strongest to weakest, most magical to least, so with every change it was less likely she'd have any success.
Levi was the only option.
He didn't try to do a damn thing. The enchantment had a hold on him since the beginning, and he didn't want to draw its attention. Might screw with Levi's work. Might send him to another layer or whatever. He still didn't understand who the hag was or what the hell she wanted with him. He had no memory of her. But it was him she was after. Erza and Levi got caught for some reason. But he was the only one who …
Wait.
Fuck.
No he wasn't. The little girl heard some of it. She hadn't felt it all, but she freaking heard the clicking, and felt the darkness in the same way he had. If Wendy wasn't the first one the enchantment took, she was the one it took the fucking hardest. The one it took to shake the fuck out of him.
Still … why take Erza and Levi? They had no hallucinations.
"She took me because she wants something from me," now he was mumbling. Bookworm was rubbing off on him. "She took Erza because … Erza's the strongest."
"The Master's the strongest," Erza insisted, clearly listening to his mumbles.
"Too strong to take maybe. Too strong to hold. The old bastard's fucking crazy."
"And Juvia? Natsu? Gray? Mira?"
"I don't know, but you're still the strongest," much as he fucking hated to admit it. He moved on. "Took Wendy because … she was next to me? She's a dragonslayer? She can heal? Because taking the kid would piss me the fuck off?" Any one of them seemed possible.
"I thought you said she was dead."
"Goddammit you and the Bookworm don't listen! I said I SAW her killed. I've been fucking hallucinating for however the fuck long this has been going on! She did NOT die!"
"Ah." She considered it. "But if it's dragonslayers or the strong ones, I have to repeat, why not Natsu?"
He snarled. "Beats the bleeding hellfire out of me. Maybe the dragons have shit to do with it; the hag mentioned something about not caring about the dragons. Maybe it was that stupid muffler he always wears. It protects him or some pussy crap like that, doesn't it?" He was tired of talking about Salamander. "Took Levi because she was a threat. Because she could screw the damn spell."
"Yes, I agree with Levi, but with Wendy. If she was taken, she would be here, would she not?"
"Maybe she is here. Maybe she's just on a different level or layer or what-the-crap-ever. Not like I have a bleeding clue how this works!"
"Okay," Levi said, standing, finally acknowledging them. "I think we're done here. The test will be the actual thing, but I'm ready to give it a try if you both are."
"No," and the sound of his voice caused the tiny girl he never wanted to scare again to take an involuntary step back. "If m … if the girl is here we have to look for her. She's … you know … one of us or shit, I don't know."
Erza had that sweet smile on again. "You're right. We shouldn't leave – Levi shouldn't leave – before we make sure we're the only ones here." She could have teased him, but she didn't.
Levi nodded with eyes of stone. "Yes. The rest of the building is still in darkness. Please be careful, Gajeel. If you feel odd. If you sense anything, tell me, and I'll do what I can to break it, but I will need a lot of energy to open the bridge I wrote into the enchantment. I don't want to use it up on the rest of the shadows."
"Understood," was his answer.
They left through a door Gajeel had somehow not noticed. Levi had to have come through it, but they were still in the darkness then, and he was still trapped by the rage.
The door led into the shadows. His body tensed expecting danger. Expecting needles. Humming. Clicking. Something. But there was nothing; nothing but the faint glow coming from Levi's skin. From his skin. From Erza's skin.
The characters remained.
And they freaked him the hell out.
He let the women call. He'd gotten the lesser thing. He wanted her found, to stay and look for her. The most important thing was actually finding her.
"Wendy?"
"Wendy!"
They called in different ways; in ways that showed their personalities. Levi was unsure, quieter; Erza was confident and loud.
Gajeel wasn't all that sure himself, now. If the little girl was in the room, she would have called out an answer. But the only sound came from the two women.
Blooding, shitting crap.
She was here. He felt her in the air that filled his lungs. She was his kind. She was so damn young. It wasn't that she was weak; it was that this place was fucking scary. That she was scared before – shit he was even worried before – and this was worse.
And it wasn't that she didn't understand suffering. She had suffered loss. And loss. And loss again. It was that he couldn't fucking stand for her to suffer more.
She was his kind, but not him. Not even Natsu. She wasn't as lost. Or as rudely stubborn. Bitter. Strong but not rigid. They had to find her; he might deserve this torture, but she didn't.
A new door. A new room. The old darkness. The sameness pissed him off.
Then …
Shit. It was so far or so soft, but those were whimpers.
A trap?
He smelled tears. Were they hers? Was he hallucinating again?
"I hear her," he left off 'I think'; he wouldn't be less certain that Erza.
"Really?" Where his words and voice were neutral, Levi was giddy.
"Good. Where?" Trust Erza to get straight to the point. Expected, but … it pleased him that there would be no goddamn waiting around debating whether or not they should go.
"The next room? You said this is the same; the same as our guild."
"Yes," Levi's voice was breathy. Surprised. "The same as our guild."
Shit. He'd messed up again. Said the wrong thing. He usually called it the guild. Whatever. Roll over it. What's said is said. More important shit. "The stairs are that way," he told them like they were too stupid to remember. He kinda hoped the tone was enough to make them back off of the crazy kitten eyes they were giving him. Freaked him out.
"Right. The stairs. This really is our guild!"
"What the hell you saying, Bookworm? 'Really'? You acted like all that bullshit about physical same place talk was just naturally true! Now you act all surprised?"
"We-ll, yes, I suppose ..."
"You suppose?"
"Shouldn't be going to get Wendy?" Erza was looking between the two of them with a cocky smirk on her face. He only let her get away with it because, yeah, they had to get Wendy.
Across the room, onto the stairs, still calling her name. The sound of her fear was clearer now, but she wasn't on the stairs. Second floor. Why would she go to the second floor?
He heard no humming.
No clicking.
She was trying to find a safe place.
Goddammit! His stomach was tight with some … some feeling he couldn't quite name. It wasn't fear, not that he had all that much experience with fear, of course … but he couldn't call it anything else. He took the stairs in two great leaps. Not waiting for the other two. Not caring much if they got left behind; they'd catch up.
Because it wasn't only the tears. There was blood in the air. Blood in his nose. Blood in his lungs. And it smelled like her.
The characters no longer freaked him out because the characters brought light into the place of complete shadow that held her. At first he couldn't see her, the light of the words was pale compared to the power of the shadow, but when he did ...
She had retreated to what should have been – in the alternate reality or true reality or whatever Levi was saying – the Master's rooms. They were empty. Nothing to hide under. She had crawled into a corner and put her hands over her face. As if the darkness inside her hands was better than the darkness outside her body.
And it fucking was. He got that.
She was covered in lumps. At first he wanted to kill something, thinking it was another hallucination and he was going to be forced to watch her skin split again and see her rot. But there was the blood, and there hadn't been blood before. Only smoke without flame and rot without death.
The scent that filled the room confirmed her life. Screwed the fears of hallucinations. This was her. This was the little girl. This was the sky dragonslayer.
This was Wendy.
"Girl," he'd never known his voice was capable of being gruff and soft all at once, but for her trembling, he managed it.
"Wendy!" Erza and Levi called together, rushing forward.
The little girl pushed back into the corner she was curled against as if she could somehow become a part of it. To stay away from them. He elongated his arm, throwing a ram of hard metal before their running forms.
"Stay the fuck away. She's scared." His snarl made their eyes widen.
"O-okay."
"Right. Of course."
He turned back to the little girl and didn't smile. His smiles weren't comforting, and she probably needed something less than terrifying at the moment. "Kid, we can get out of here. The Bookworm has a way back." Again he left out 'I think', since that wasn't helpful.
Her the fingers of her hands curled into fists over her eyes. Then fell to rest on her knees. He could see the streaks of tears on her cheeks, but she wasn't crying now. Her eyes were hard. "Gajeel?" she asked, all wary and unforgiving.
Oh yeah. She'd been hallucinating too.
"The old hag come to you too?" he asked before he even thought about what he was saying.
"No. No." Her face was shuttered, but her nostrils were flaring. "Is it really you?" she asked.
"Honest to shit, I don't even fucking know right now. I mean, this whole place is absolute bullshit."
She stumbled to her feet, using the wall to support her insignificant weight. He didn't step forward to help her. She was trembling still, and her eyes were still hard. She wasn't even blinking, as blinking would weaken her defense. His eyes took in the discoloration on her pale, usually unblemished skin.
The deep gash across her calf. The slight swelling in her left cheek. The disheveled hair.
The lack of shoes and the bloody foot prints she left as she took a step in his direction. Then another. And another. It was still a surprise, even though he knew it was going to happen from her body language, when she fell against him. Face pressed to his stomach. Fingers clinging to his clothes.
"You can get us out of here?" she mumbled into the fabric.
"Levi can," there was no questioning his tone. He believed the Bookworm had the smarts and the power to do what she said. If she said she could get them out, then she could get them out.
"Gajeel …" she whispered looking up at him. Trapping him with her eyes. Her mouth twitched, drawing his eyes away from the hard gaze. "Release your power so I can know you're a dragonslayer. That can't be faked."
"You can't smell it on me?" Now his eyes were narrowing. "And you saw the ram. That can't be faked either."
"Please," the hardness in her eyes cracked. Such a thin layer of necessary courage hiding a deep pool of fear. "Please. You don't … I have to be sure."
"Whatever," he muttered before gathering his magic and projecting it outside of his skin.
She smiled up at him. The fear in her eyes rippled. Turning to … happiness? No. No.
Fuck.
Greed.
The hands in his tunic stretched around him. Too long. Impossibly long. Coiling around his body. Around his back. Up to his face. Touching his cheekbones.
He felt weak. He almost fell to his knees. He had felt this before. The bitch was trying to steal his magic. Gajeel pulled all of his remaining energy back into body and let it coat the iron of his bones. She had taken less than half, but still …
"Do you remember yet?" the old hag's voice coming from the little girl's mouth was wrong. In more ways then he could ever say. The look in her eyes, the look that had nothing to do with the body around them, made him vow to kill the old woman for doing this to the girl he thought of as almost a little sister.
"What the fuck are you doing here, you old bitch? And what the hell have you done with the kid?"
"What indeed. Do you believe this is her?" She released him. Stepped back. But he did not move. The old woman made the girl's hands touch her face. They traced her mouth and nose. Her eyes.
Gajeel growled and took a step forward. He didn't know if it was actually her, but that wouldn't stop him from doing something.
A small finger pointed at him. Then was laid across her lips as if telling him to be quiet. Then it rose; the finger slid up her face and pushed into the open, unconcerned, almost … almost … evil gaze of her right eye.
At first he didn't get it, but then the finger kept pushing. And pushing and the eye compressed. A second finger was added, and Gajeel yelled.
It was then he realized he was alone again.
No Erza.
No Levi.
No Levi … no way out.
"What do you want?" He made his voice tough. Stubborn. Low. Dangerous. But the words told the truth. He was losing. He couldn't let her hurt the girl. If that was even her body. He didn't know. He didn't know if she was alive somewhere. If this was her. If she'd ever actually been split open by the shadows.
He knew nothing and could be sure of nothing.
The fingers slipped into the corners of the eye, and like it was nothing at all, popped it out. The eye still faced forward as she held it between her two small … damp … fingers. It was still connected to her brain. It still saw.
It still shown with the greed. With the evil.
And when she laughed and ripped it out to toss on the floor, the laugh was not Wendy's laugh. The laugh was pure, hollow darkness. The characters on his skin flickered and died, and all he could see was her; he could not see anything in the black but Wendy's body and the eye on the floor. Looking up at him.
Glittering in the not light.
Was the darkness inhibiting his movement, or was he moving without being able to tell? Since he couldn't see himself, and he was not really sure if he could feel himself either, he was unable to answer that question.
The fake Wendy, or the possessed Wendy, was gone. She had left soon after everything went dark. He wondered, almost obsessively, if her eye was still on the ground watching him. He felt like it was, and he didn't like it one bit.
It was happening again, the darkness made physical, and he couldn't move. It wrapped around his wrists and his ankles and his waste and his throat. And he no longer thought he couldn't move; he knew he could not move.
Something sharp touched his cheek. A needle, like before. He laughed, but there was no sound. Seriously, like a fucking needle would bother him. Did the hag not see his face? She might not know all the ones unseen because of his clothes, but his body could stand way more than that tiny prick.
It was like the monster around him could read his mind. Probably it wasn't. Probably it was more that he wasn't screaming as the needles pierced his skin. And probably it knew about the bolts that decorated his body and came to the smart conclusion.
That it was time to try something better. Something that might actually hurt him.
Levi's screams filled the darkness.
Author's Notes: First of all I'd like to thank everyone for reviewing and for fave-ing and for adding me to your alerts! It makes me feel awesome and gives me a reason to write. To continue writing. To write fast, and edit fast, and update fast!
It's going to be a bit busy, so again don't expect daily or every other day updates. But I will work hard, to keep your support and hopefully to live up to your praise. Thank you all so much.