~Levy~
"Levy! Levy, can you hear me?!"
"L-Lu-chan?" My voice sounded hoarse, and my entire body ached as I regained consciousness enough to respond.
"Thank God," she cried. "Master, she's awake!"
"Where am I?" I asked.
"The infirmary at Fairy Tail. Erza said she heard a gunshot come from your apartment, so she rushed there to see why you had been shooting your gun inside of Fairy Hills. When she got there, she found you unconscious, and bleeding heavily from a wound in your side." Tears ran down Lucy's face as she spoke. "You were so cold when she brought you to headquarters, and your pulse was so faint that we thought—" she cut of as a sob escaped her throat, "—we thought you were going to die."
"Sorry," I said, squeezing her hand, "I didn't mean to worry you."
"Levy," Master Makarov said, sounding relieved, "I'm so glad to see that you're finally awake. Do you remember who attacked you?"
Gajeel's image came into my mind painfully. "Astaroth." It wasn't really a lie. If he was controlling Gajeel, then it had been him who had attacked me—not Gajeel.
"What?!" He and Lucy both gasped. "But, why did he let you live?" Master asked.
"He probably intended for me to die from that wound," I said, tenderly placing my hand over the bandages covering the hole in my side.
"He's made his move, then," Master frowned. "We should probably move you out of Magnolia for a while, for your own safety."
"What?" I asked, angrily. "I'm not going anywhere. With all do respect, Master, this is my fight—not yours, so I don't think you should get to make those kinds of decisions for me."
"I promised your parents that if anything should happen to them I'd take care of you," he sighed.
"My parents are dead," I said, flatly. "The man who killed them—the man I have been searching for all these years—has finally come after me. I'm not going anywhere. If he wants a fight, I'll give him one."
"Not with that injury, you aren't," Lucy frowned. "Astaroth can wait until you're healed." But Gajeel can't. It's hard to tell what awful things he's been doing while under Astaroth's control! But I couldn't tell the others about Gajeel. If I did, I'd have to explain how I knew all of that, and then they'd know he was actually the one who shot me. Now that everyone is finally starting to trust him, I can't just throw him under the bus.
"Wendy," I looked at the blue-haired girl.
"Yes?" She asked, coming closer to me.
"I'm sorry to ask, because I know how hard you've been working, but do you think you could heal me? Please. I can't lay in bed while Astaroth is so close." She must have saw the desperation in my eyes, because she nodded.
"Could everyone leave while I heal her?" She asked, looking at the others. They all nodded, allowing her to work alone. "I know it was Gajeel who shot you," Wendy said, quietly, as she began healing my side.
"He—"
"I can smell him on you," she chuckled, knowing I was about to make up some excuse. "Is that where he's been all this time?"
"Yeah," I sighed, cringing a little as pain shot through my side.
"That explains why you're even more eager to go after Astaroth," she nodded. "I know you'll be able to save him."
"I hope so," I smiled.
"There. All healed," she told me, wiping sweat from her forehead. I hugged her tightly, thanking her. As I got out of the bed and rushed for the door, she grabbed my arm. "Don't die, alright?" Tears filled her eyes as she looked up at me.
"I promise," I nodded. I ignored everyone as I sprinted outside. I had been asleep all day, because the sun had already disappeared under the horizon. The new moon made it difficult to see as I ran to Fairy Hills. Once there, I strapped a gun to my right thigh. I strapped another one to my left thigh just in case, and threw a bag over my shoulder with extra ammo and smoke bombs—and a small explosion lacrima as a last resort. If set off, it could take out an area as large as Fairy Tail's main headquarters.
I ran to Magnolia immediately before coming to a stop. I realized I had no idea where to begin looking. If Gajeel and I were still bonded, I would know where he is. And I would have known the moment Astaroth took control of him. I suddenly hated myself for breaking the bond, but knew it was the best thing for us in the end.
"So, you lived, did ya?" I heard Gajeel's low growl from directly behind me, and turned just in time for his iron club to smash into my face.
I jumped to my feet, freeing my gun and pointing it at him. "Gajeel, listen to me. Astaroth is controlling you, so you need to snap out of it! I don't want to hurt you. If you take me to him, I can free you."
"You?" He scoffed, walking slowly towards me. "Are you so sure about that?"
"Yes," I said, confidently.
He laughed, his arm turning back to normal. "Fine. If you're so eager to die, I'll take you to him. But don't blame me when you don't like what you see."
"What do you—"
He started walking before I could question him. I ran to catch up to him, and walked at his side. "I know you're in there," I told him, smiling, even as he glared down at me. "And I don't want you to blame yourself for anything."
He was quiet as he led me into the forest. I sighed, wanting so badly to just hug him, and tell him that I loved him. Once I defeated Astaroth I would, but not until then.
"Wait here," he commanded, leaving me alone in the pitch black of the forest. Within three steps he was out of view, so I strained my ears to listen for any movement.
"So kind of you to come to me, Miss McGarden." I heard a dark chuckle come from ahead, but I couldn't see. "My pet, would you be so kind as to give us some light?" Suddenly, a bright light came on from above us, and I realized I was standing in a small clearing. "That's better."
I looked towards the voice, frowning when I spotted him. Astaroth's skin was very pale, and looked almost blue. His piercing red eyes seemed to glow as he stared at me, smiling to reveal two sharp upper canines. He had two dragon-like wings extending from his back, and I noticed a red snake wrapped around his right arm, curling its tail around one of his clawed fingers. The power radiating off of him was terrifying.
"Ah, yes, you finally get to see me in my true form. Fascinating, aren't I?" He smirked.
"Finally?" I asked, tightening my grip on the gun in my hand. Slowly, his appearance began to shift, and I realized he was taking on a human form. It wasn't surprising that he had a human form—I knew demons much weaker than him that could—but I hadn't been expecting what form he took.
"No," I whispered, staring forward in disbelief. I'm dreaming. This is all just another nightmare. It can't be real.
"Hey, Sunshine."
"Marley." The gun in my hand suddenly seemed so foreign, and the weight of it pulled against my fingers until I finally dropped it to the ground.
"What, not even going to greet your favorite bartender?" He chuckled, looking at me with a smug smile.
"No," I repeated. I felt so weak. My legs gave out, and I fell to my knees as tears made warm tracks down my cheeks. Mom, dad, I'm so sorry. I felt as though I were watching their murder all over again. All this time, Astaroth had taken the form of the closest thing I had to a father, and I hadn't even realized it. I knew I would never be able to kill him in that form, and Astaroth knew it to. As he stalked towards me, his fingers lengthening into lethal claws, I could only sit there.
I'm going to die. I couldn't bring myself to move as he closed the distance between us. When he brought his arm crashing down, the only thing I could do was close my eyes. His claws caught my side, and the sickening sound of flesh tearing broke the silence around us. I was thrown several feet across the clearing, and struggled to my hands and knees. Blood pooled from the three deep gashes in my side. If I hadn't been still in shock, I might have laughed, thinking how angry Wendy would be that she had just healed the same spot.
"This won't be any fun if you don't fight me, Sunshine," he bit out the word, mocking my grief.
I looked up at him, tears still streaming my face. "Why are you doing this?" I asked, clutching my bleeding side.
"Why?" He laughed. "Because your pain brings me joy, Levy McGarden. Your parents took a lot from me, so I just returned the favor by tearing them to bits. Had I known you were there that night, I would have done the same to you. Imagine my surprise when I found out those filthy demon hunters had a daughter—one who had also become a hunter. I tracked you down when you were still only a teenager. It wouldn't have been any fun to kill someone so weak, so I waited. I bid my time while I watched you become stronger. And then he came into the picture." With a flick of his hand, Gajeel entered the clearing, standing just behind him.
"I saw you begin to change, and realized that you had fallen in love with him. After I began watching him, I realized he felt the same way. I let you get away with your little slip-up of getting bonded, but I refused to allow you two to get too comfortable. Imagine how trilled I was when I found you two in the forest, breaking your bond. I had planned to torture Gajeel Redfox while you were bonded, but once you had destroyed that plan, I decided to use him in a more fun way.
"The fool eagerly pledged his loyalty to me when I promised to spare your life, so he is now my puppet to do with as I please. That little display of affection last night I hadn't planned, so you can thank him for that. The gunshot, however, was a genius improvisation on my part, don't you think? Although, I was hoping it would have wounded you a little more than it did." When he stopped talking, he smiled at me.
"Let Gajeel go," I wheezed, getting to my feet. I stared down at the ground, unable to look into the face of one of my dearest friends.
"But I'm having too much fun with him," Astaroth sighed. "For example." Astaroth pointed a finger at me, and Gajeel lunged forward.
"Iron Dragon Roar!" I threw myself out of the way, barely dodging his attack. A piece of iron still got me, though, and I winced as I ripped it out of my arm.
With a frustrated sigh, Astaroth returned to his normal appearance. He was suddenly standing in front of me, and wrapped his hand around my throat. "You're disappointing me, Levy," he frowned. "I want to watch you fight him. Kill him, or be killed."
"No," I whispered.
"No?" He raised an eyebrow, smirking in amusement. With the slightest of movements, I was thrown to the other side of the clearing. My back met with a tree, and I felt myself crash through it. I cried out when Astaroth stood over me, stepping on my wounded side.
"That's more like it," he smiled. "Let's hear more of that." He bent down, digging his clawed hand into my already bleeding skin.
"AHH!" The scream ripped itself from my throat before I could stop it, and fresh tears fell from my eyes. He pulled his hand away, and I watched as he licked my blood from his claws.
"Gajeel," I breathed, praying he would hear me, "I could use some help."
Astaroth laughed, kicking me back into the clearing. "You're asking for help now? If you want him so badly, I'll give him to you."
Gajeel ran towards me, his arm turning into a sword. I rolled out of the way as he swung it down, intending to slice me in half. I have to break Astaroth's control! I thought hard, trying to remember what the books I had read about him said. In order to break his control I had to—to—I gasped, looking towards Astaroth after I dodged another of Gajeel's attacks.
I pulled my spare gun out, and aimed it over Gajeel's shoulder. I knew by the way Astaroth was smirking that he thought I was going to shoot Gajeel. When I pulled the trigger, and the bullet whizzed passed Gajeel's head, I saw shock cross Astaroth's face.
Just as Gajeel's sword swung down to cut into me, the bullet planted itself in the snake's head that was wrapped around his arm. Gajeel cried out as the snake turned to dust, and he fell to the ground. Astaroth made some sort of angry screech, and threw himself at me before I could check on Gajeel. I fired my gun four times, but the bullets didn't have any effect on him. One of his hands wrapped around my throat, and the other plunged deep into my abdomen.
I screamed, dropping my gun. "Now I am angry, you little bitch!" He snarled, twisting his hand while it was still inside of my gut. I screamed again, and blood poured out of my mouth.
"I am going to kill you very slowly, you hear me? And then, when I'm done with you, I will rip your boyfriend apart. Maybe I'll take your form while I do it."
"You—"
"Next, I'll go to that pathetic organization. I think I'll start with the blonde. First, I'll rip out her stomach, letting the last thing she ever sees be me snuffing out the life of that abomination she's carrying."
"P-Please," I begged, struggling to breathe.
"Groveling is how you humans should behave in the presence of a demon," he smirked. "Unfortunately, you have gone too far for me to forgive you, Levy McGarden." He dropped me to the ground and walked towards Gajeel.
"No!" I screamed when he picked Gajeel up by the hair.
"Watch carefully," Astaroth said, placing his clawed hand directly above Gajeel's heart, "because this is your fault."
Everything after that happened almost in slow motion. Astaroth pulled his arm back, and I shot forward. Right before his hand met Gajeel's chest, I threw myself between them. I took the full impact of the blow. Once again, Astaroth's arm plunged into my gut, but this time it didn't stop until he had impaled me completely.
Biting back the pain, I ran forward, pushing him back—away from Gajeel. Once we reached the trees, I reached into my bag and grabbed the explosion lacrima. With my free hand, I grabbed onto his arm firmly, making sure he didn't throw me off of him. And then I activated the lacrima.
I closed my eyes as the small crystal began to crack. Within seconds, I heard the loud boom as it detonated. The last thought on my mind as I was thrown into the abyss was of a small smirk, and Gajeel's red eyes.
~Gajeel~
I heard a loud boom, and began to slowly regain consciousness. My eyes snapped open when I remembered what had been happening before I passed out. I was being controlled by that Astaroth bastard, and he was making me fight Levy. After that, she shot at me, but it went over my shoulder. Something must have happened afterward to break Astaroth's control over me, because I felt a sharp pain in my head, and I passed out.
"Levy!" I gasped, jumping to my feet. My eyes fell upon a charred section of the forest. Trees were smoldering, and the grass was black and dead. At the center of the explosion, I saw Astaroth. I charged at him, planning to beat the shit out of him. When I got close enough, I saw that he was disappearing.
"No," he growled, looking shocked. "That little girl—but how?" I watched as he turned to dust, and felt relieved that he was finally dead. That's when my eyes fell to the ground underneath where Astaroth had been laying.
I hesitantly knelt down, rolling the blue-haired hunter onto her back. There was a large hole in her abdomen, and the skin covering pretty much every part of her body was ripped and oozing blood. I wrinkled my nose against the smell of burning hair and flesh as I pulled her into my arms. She didn't even twitch as I touched her, which sent ice cold fear shooting through my veins.
She should have been in a lot of pain. Even unconscious she should have cringed or something. But there was no reaction at all. I watched her chest for several seconds, finally placing my ear over her heart when her chest didn't move. "Come on," I pleaded, listening as hard as I could. Still, there was nothing. As I pulled my head away, I heard a faint ba-dump, and returned my ear to her heart. It was too quiet, and a lot slower than it should have been, but I could hear it. "Don't give up, Shrimp!"
I tried to stand with her, but my legs gave out, and we were sent crashing to the ground. All of my energy was gone. "Damn it!" I shouted, trying to will my muscles to move.
"Gajeel!" I heard Lily's voice, and relief flooded me.
"Lily! Take Levy to Fairy Tail!" I said, releasing my hold on her as Lily slowly cradled her in his arms.
"Astaroth?" He asked.
"Dead," I grinned. "Shrimp took down the bastard." He nodded before running into the darkness of the forest. Hurry, Lily.
"Metal head, you're pretty banged up!" Natsu chuckled, coming not long after Lily disappeared. He threw one of my arms over his shoulder, then hooked an arm around me as he pulled me to my feet.
"Shut up, Salamander," I growled. I had to lean most of my weight on him, and he had to practically drag me along as he started towards Fairy Tail.
"Levy's gonna be alright," he reassured me, picking up on how worried I was about the Shrimp.
"Yeah," I nodded. "How'd you even know where we were?"
"The explosion. Everyone in Magnolia heard it."
I grunted, unable to give anymore of an answer for fear of throwing up. Levy had taken the full impact of that explosion lacrima No one survives that.
"Whoa there," Natsu said, adjusting me against him as I began to sink. "Hey, stripper, I could use your help!" I hadn't realized it, but we were already in Magnolia. A large group of hunters were waiting for us, coming—I assumed—after Lily arrived at Fairy Tail with Levy.
"I'll ignore that, for now," Gray snapped, going to my other side. As soon as my arm went around his shoulder, my body went totally limp. "Damn, he's heavy," Gray growled.
I was going to tell him to shut up, but I felt too dizzy to speak. I cursed when my vision blurred, and everything started to go black.
"Gajeel." Lily's voice brought me out of my dreamless sleep.
"Shit," I cursed, feeling like I had been hit in the head with a train.
"It's about time," Lily chuckled. "You've been sleeping for two days."
"What?!" I sat straight up, looking around. I was in the infirmary, which meant— "Where's Shrimp?"
Lily's mouth fell down in a sad frown, and he looked away from me. "Lily," I said, "where's Shrimp?"
"Over there," he said, motioning to a bed beside the only window in the infirmary. I jumped out of my bed and rushed to her.
I stared down at her sleeping face, noticing how her entire body was wrapped in bandages. Her hair was stiff and broken from where it had gotten burned in the explosion. I let out a long breath when I saw her chest moving up and down. Though they were shallow—and sounded painful—they were breaths. She was breathing. Which meant she was alive.
"Gajeel," Wendy said, brightly, coming into the infirmary, "how are you feeling?"
"Fine," I lied, "how's she doing?"
Wendy sighed, going to the opposite side of the bed and looking down at Levy sadly. "Not good. She stopped breathing yesterday, so Lily had to perform CPR while I healed her lungs a little more. I've had her monitored round the clock since she arrived. We've all been taking shifts, and I've been sleeping in one of the infirmary beds just in case something happens to her."
"Thank you," I said. I grabbed Levy's small hand in mine, squeezing it.
"Gajeel, I need to tell you something," Wendy sighed. Her tone sent that same icy fear straight to my chest, and I could feel my lungs constricting as I looked up at her. "Levy—Levy might not wake up. Ever."
"What?" I could feel all the air leave my lungs, and I collapsed onto the bed beside the Shrimp's.
"Because of all the trauma to her body—not to mention her mind—there is a possibility that she won't ever wake up."
"Why can't you just heal her?" I asked.
"I can heal her body," Wendy explained, "but my powers can't heal her mind. I don't know what happened out there with Astaroth, but whatever it was hurt her. I'm not sure she'll ever be able to recover from that."
I felt my entire world begin to crumble down around me. Shrimp might not wake up? I looked down at her, imagining never getting to see her smile again, or the way she pouted her bottom lip when I called her "Shrimp".
"I'm so sorry," Wendy said, tears running down her face. "I wish there was more I could do."
"No, you did your best," I said, feeling numb. "Just keep healing her. She'll get better. I know she will."
"Gajeel," I heard her say as she wiped her face. I hated the pity that was in her voice. I stayed by Levy's side as Wendy healed her, remaining silent. Once she had done all she could for that day, she went off to rest and regain her energy.
It wasn't until Lucy came into the infirmary with a plate of food that I realized it was already evening. "You should eat something," she told me. I watched as she poured spoonfuls of soup into Levy's mouth, tears in her eyes the entire time.
"How are you doing?" I asked.
She looked up at me, startled, before her hand shot to her stomach. "Alright, I guess. It's been a long week. I'll just be glad when Levy, Jet, and Droy are all awake and this is over with."
"They're still asleep, huh?"
"Yeah." She went back to feeding Levy, looking on the verge of tears again.
"If it's too hard, I can do that," I told her.
"This is the only thing I can do right now for her, so I want to," Lucy said, shaking her head.
I ate as we sat in silence. Once Lucy had fed Levy half a bowl of soup, and I had finished my food, she took the dishes and left me alone.
I grabbed Levy's hand again, propping my head on my elbows at the side of her bed, and pressing her hand to my forehead. "Don't you dare leave me, Shrimp. Come back to me."