Once the mages had entered the guild everyone froze and everything went silent, the only sound was of a glass smashing against floor due to be dropped by Mirajane and breaking into tiny pieces. Master was the first to speak, clear sadness in his eyes.
"Is she..." Makarov asked, afraid t say the words.
"No..." Said Erza shaking her head "Payne, took her soul, so she's now in this comatose like state"
"If Levy's soul goes back, will she come out of this state?" Lisanna asked
"In theory, yes...but there is no way to be certain" Said Erza sadly
Shrimps teammates both shared the same hopeful look on their faces, with the new information that there could still be hope for her.
"Jet and Droy, take Levy to the infirmary and Wendy, you go with them to watch over Levy" Said Makarov, as Gajeel handed shrimp to Jet with a growl.
"Yes Master" Said Wendy as she and Charle followed Jet and Droy to the infirmary.
"Team Natsu and Gajeel, to my office" Makarov said as Team Natsu followed him up to his office. Gajeel sighed as he looked over to infirmary doors, for just behind them was his shrimp.
"Ah! This soul, it's to...pure!" Payne shouted his foot was hovering over a small ant which he couldn't bring himself to crush; only it wasn't him it was her. Ever since Payne had taken her soul and absorbed it for himself, things that he wouldn't think twice about doing, like crushing ants, burning spiders and killing innocent civilians, he just couldn't bring himself to do. He was losing his control over his body, over his most evil impulses due to this pure good soul.
"I hope you're happy!" Payne hissed to the script mage.
"I am, you don't expect to just take my soul and not get the whole package" The script mage laughed, causing the dark mage to growl.
"Mark my words, once I find a way to stop this I will kill your friends starting with the Iron Dragon Slayer!" Payne shouted.
"You...wouldn't..." She gasped, making Payne chuckle.
"Yes I would, now that I have your soul I am more powerful than before..." Payne laughed.
"The process isn't even complete so my nakama will find a way to return my soul to my body..." Levy Stated. The process still had a little more to go, one the process completes itself, the bond between Levy's soul and body would be broken, preventing her soul from returning and leaving her body in the comatose like state forever.
"but how long do you have, you know as well as I, that the bond won't last forever and at this rate your soul will be mine" Payne laughed.
"They will find a way to stop you...the pearl it's still in the forest, once they use it against you, you'll be nothing..." Levy stated.
"Oh, Levy, the pearl is useless, it didn't work then and it won't work now, face it, I've won" He laughed.
"Fairy Tail is still standing, so you haven't won" Levy hissed
"You're right; I need to get rid of Fairy Tail..." Payne said.
"There must be something that we are missing!" Titania shouted, slamming her hands on the Master's desk.
"These are all the books Levy had in her bag and they all say the same thing; we need the heavens light pearl to defeat him" Bunny girl said sadly.
"The books are wrong, the pearl fucked up!"Salamander said, earning an 'Aye' from his cat. Gajeel to a certain degree, agreed with the pink haired mage, however he knew Shrimp and how much she put her trust in these books, so it didn't make any sense at all. Why didn't the pearl work?
"Maybe we should stop focusing on the pearl and find a way to get Levy's soul back" Ice stripper suggested.
"Gray is right, we're not seeming to get anywhere with the pearl so it's only logical to focus our efforts onto something else" Said Lily in agreement.
"The ice bastard actually came up with a good plan" Salamander laughed, earning an ice punch from the stripper.
"That's easier said than done" Titania sighed "Payne used dark magic to take Levy's soul so it would be much harder to return it"
Everyone sighed. There has to be a way.
"We don't even know for ertain if Levy is still in there" Said Happy
"what are you talking about, cat, we all know Payne has her soul now"
"happy has a point, when there are two souls in one body, the weaker one is drowned out, like a shy person at a party, for all we know, Levy has been...drowned out" Master sighed.
"That's impossible!" Bunny girl exclaimed "She's still there...I'm certain"
"We have no proof, Lucy" Said Titania sadly.
"We do" bunny girl sighed "When Payne was about to punch Gajeel, something or someone stopped him..."
"And you think that it was Shrimp?" Gajeel asked, trying his best to mask the happiness in his voice.
"I'm positive, Levy is...close to you and would ever hurt you, she was in there and she was fighting Payne" bunny girl said happily
"Maybe if we get Gajeel alone with Payne for long enough it can weaken his hold on Levy?" Ice stripper suggested.
"Wow, looks like the ice bastard's on a roll today" Salamander laughed, earning himself another ice punch.
"Hm, Gray is right, but it will prove to be difficult trying to track him" Makarov sighed.
"To b honest Master, I think Payne would be coming here" Bunny girl stated.
"What makes you so sure, Luce?" Salamander asked.
"Payne, would want to eliminate any threats to his plan" Said bunny girl "to ensure that Levy's soul isn't returned"
"Well then if that's the case, we'll be ready" Said Salamander excitedly as flames engulfed his fists.
"If Payne's going after those closest to Levy, he'll go after Gajeel first" Titania pointed out. "So, Gajeel, where did you want to end this?"
"Where it all started"
Everyone froze when they realised what he meant, he wanted to end it by The Tree.
The plan was simple enough; wait for Payne, stall him enough to allow Shrimp's soul to escape and go back to her body, fight Payne, defeat Payne with help of the others. Only that was it plans never seemed to get followed whenever Fairy Tail mages were involved, they were just too boring. Even now Gajeel was itching to fight, waiting for Payne was taking it's time. What was he even doing? Painting his toenails. Now that's weird, I'm imagining a dark mage painting his ...toenails. Great.
"He is a dark mage, he'll show up when you least expect it, in order to maintain the element of surprise" Lily pointed out. Why is my cat always right?
"It's not just bout Payne is it?" Lily asked.
"What are you talking about, cat?" Gajeel asked, confused, sometimes he didn't understand he exceed.
"You miss her, you miss Levy" Said Lily, matter-of-factly. Gajeel was silent, he didn't want to admit it to Lily, or even say it out loud, he missed her, he missed his shrimp.
"You can tell her, when we get her back" Said Lily smiling.
"Yeah..." Gajeel sighed, but he knew it wasn't that easy. Gajeel knew that something had changed between them after Tenrou, the two of them had gotten closer over the past couple days, but in the back of his mind the 'voice of doom' spread doubts of rejection through his mind and those doubts were starting to convince the Iron Dragon Slayer that maybe, his Shrimp didn't feel the same way about him that he did about her. Lily speaking to him suddenly broke Gajeel away from his thoughts.
"You won't know unless you tell her" Lily pointed out. Gajeel laughed, that cat must be reading my mind.
"No, you're just easy to read" Said Lily smiling.
"You know, cat, you're a real smart a-" Gajeel started, but stopped mid sentence and sniffed the air.
"Gajeel...?" Lily said, as he watched the Dragon Slayers facial expression change to one of clear confusion.
"I can smell Shrimp..." Gajeel growled.
"Levy, but she's...in the infirmary..." Lily said confused.
"Its Shrimp, but him too, it's like their scents are slowly mixing..." Gajeel said
"Which can't be good as that would mean that her soul is bonding with his body and that would make it harder to get her soul out" Lily sighed.
"Doesn't mean that it can't be done" Gajeel said, remembering the promise that he had made to his Shrimp. Gajeel suddenly felt an odd but familiar shiver, he turned to Lily who had felt it too, then suddenly the skies started to darken and birds flew out from the trees. Coming out from the forest wearing that same cocky grin was Payne, causing Gajeel to growl and curse under his breath. He gave a nod to Lily who took it as his cue to leave and signal for Erza and the others.
"You should have let him stay, there's no way you can defeat me alone" Said Payne smiling, which only caused the dragon slayer to laugh as Payne just did the one thing that you should never do: underestimate a Dragon Slayer.
"That hurt...a lot" Levy moaned as Payne staggered upright after he was hit by Gajeel's 'Iron Dragons Roar'
"It wasn't your body that was hit...it was mine" Payne growled as he stood up, brushing bits of bark and leaves off of him. The dark mage had fought with everything that he had however every so often the other soul inside him would gain some control over his body making him stop, allowing the Dragon Slayer to land a hit on him. The sooner the process is complete the better. Payne just needed to get rid of the dragon slayer and the rest of the guild to ensure that no one would stand in his way. Distracting him from his evil thoughts, Gajeel suddenly grabbed Payne by his shirt and started punching him.
"Release. Shrimp. Now" Gajeel growled between his punches, his knuckles painted red with Payne's blood.
"Fool, her soul is mine, too weak to fight against me, nothing but an echo" Payne spat
"Liar...she's still there..." Gajeel growled
"Face it, she's gone and I've won" Payne stated as he then disappeared with a puff of black smoke, re- materialised behind the Dragon Slayer then punched him into a tree.
"Gajeel!" Levy screamed, the intensity causing Payne to double over in pain.
"Shut up!" Payne shouted, placing his hands on the sides of his head.
"Is Shrimp giving you a head ache?" Gajeel asked smugly, as he staggered up from Payne's hit.
"Shut up!" Payne shouted as he tried to get up only to double over again.
"You can't win Payne..." Levy said, causing Payne to growl.
"I will win, I'll kill him and then you'll have no one" Payne shouted.
"Shrimp, it's me, you can't let him win, and you have to fight!" Gajeel shouted, hoping that Levy would hear.
"Gajeel...I have to get out" Levy whispered
"No!" Payne shouted as he once again turned his arm into black smoke, only to punch Gajeel right through his stomach, sending him to the ground, in a pool of his own blood.
"Gajeel!"