Everything happened it what seemed to be slow motion, the scene replaying itself thousands of times, she felt powerless, unable to prevent what had happened to Gajeel and weak for not being able to free herself from Payne's hold and get back to her body. She inwardly screamed out her frustrations, causing the dark mage's body to convulse in pain, only that didn't matter. She continued to scream at the sight before her, Gajeel lying on the floor, motionless and in a pool of his own blood, which only caused the dark mage to cackle evilly through his pain.
"You see, Levy, I always win, you thought your nakama could save you, you thought the pearl could stop me, but you were wrong!" Payne shouted
"The pearl was supposed to work, I was wrong..." Levy whispered
"Foolish girl, and I thought you were the smart one, those books you read about dark magic none of them mentioned the pearl itself to be able to stop me" Payne spat. The books said that the Heavens Light Pearl could stop dark magic, but when she tried to use it on Payne it had failed the books lied however Levy knew that there was always truth in books; the books all said that the Pearl could stop him but the actual pearl from the museum had no effect which meant that there had to be another pearl the real pearl. Unless the pearl itself was useless against dark magic but useful as something else like a clue.
"But the Pearl itself had no effect on you, which means that, the real pearl is still out there..."
"Ha, it's too late to find it now you've run out of t-" started but stopped as he felt like his body was being ripped in two. Levy knew why Payne needed her soul, Payne knew where the real pearl was the whole time, and he needed its power as the heavens light pearl possessed imaginable power once awakened. Levy was no longer going to tolerate Payne; she was no longer going to feel powerless or weak, she was going to take control.
"Let. Me Out!" Levy shouted, trying with all the strength her soul possessed to escape Payne's body.
"Gajeel...!" Levy could hear the shouts of her nakama through the forest.
"You're ruining everything!"Payne shouted as he fell to his knees, his shouts echoed through the forest.
"What's wrong with him...?" Natsu asked, as he stared confused at Payne.
"That doesn't matter..." Lucy hissed, she turned to Happy "Go and get Wendy"
"Aye" Happy said as he flew off to the guild.
"You can't win, Levy!" Payne shouted, causing her nakama to exchange looks.
"Levy..." Erza whispered.
"The plan's working...she's trying to get out!" Lucy said excitedly causing the rest of her nakama to celebrate and sing for joy.
"I'm glad you all still believed in me..." Levy whispered as a bright, blinding light surrounded the mages.
"Levy!" Jet and Droy shouted in unison as they grabbed the script mage into a tight death hug.
"Levy! You're awake!" Said Wendy excitedly "Wait here, while I go and get Master"
"Wendy!" Happy shouted as he flew into the young Dragon slayer "Gajeel, needs your help"
"Right, Happy, I'm coming" She turned to face Levy "Levy you should-"
"Levy!" the blue exceed shouted, whilst interrupting Wendy. Levy wrapped her arms around the small exceed.
"Happy, if you want you can stay with Levy" Wendy suggested.
"Wendy..." Said Levy as she placed Happy on the ground "I need to find Gajeel"
"You just got up, you should rest..." Wendy said.
"Wendy, don't worry, I'm fine" Levy reassured her guild mates.
"Levy, we don't want you to get hurt again" Droy sighed. Levy smiled at her team mate, she knew that everyone only wanted to protect her, but she needed to do this.
"I can't explain now, but I have to help fight Payne" Said Levy
"Levy, I thought that you needed the Pearl to defeat Payne" Wendy said confused
"So did I" Said Levy "but thanks to Payne I realised that the Pearl itself wasn't able to defeat him, it only serves as a clue..."
"A clue...for what?" Happy asked, the blue exceed was confused as to what Levy was saying.
"I'm sorry, but I can't explain now, we're running out of time" Levy said as she put on her sandals and headed for the door.
"Levy!" Wendy shouted as she, Charle and Happy ran after the script mage.
Once again Payne had summoned his shadow creatures, her nakama were holding their own against them, despite not being able to use any magic on them, their faces britend up at the sight of her, Lucy ignoring the battle to go and hug her friend.
"Levy-Chan!" Lucy sobbed, tears running down her face, threatening to drench Levy's dress.
"Lu-Chan, I'm glad you're ok!" Levy said, smiling.
"Lucy! Stop trying to get out of the fight!" Natsu shouted, which earned him a punch from Gray.
"Stop being so insensitive, you idiot" Gray shouted.
"I'm glad to see you're back with us, Levy" Said Erza as she never took her eyes away from the Shadow creatures.
"Shrimp..." Said a familiar voice, Levy turned around to find the Iron Dragon Slayer slowly stand up, there were only a few scratches on him which confirmed that he had already been healed by Wendy.
"Gajeel" Levy whispered as she took a few steps closer towards him. The two of them ignored the battle commencing around them, as they were too focused too entranced by the other, neither of them spoke once they stood in front of each other, both afraid to ruin the moment.
"Shrimp, you're staring" Said Gajeel
"...So are you" Levy said smiling as a small blush crept at her cheeks. Before either of them knew what was happening or before either of them could stop themselves, the two mages wrapped their arms around each other, embracing the other tightly like they were stranded at sea and the only way to stay afloat was to hold onto the other for dear life. To never let go.
"They are too cute...Mira would love to be here now" Lucy said while smiling, her inner fan girl emerging, causing Levy to blush and let go of the dragon slayer.
"What's happening to those shadow creatures?" Wendy asked, causing all the mages to turn as the
Shadow creatures started suddenly disappear one by one; the mages all shared the same confused look on their faces.
"This must be Payne's doing..." Levy suggested as she glanced over to see the dark mage's smug expression. Payne suddenly lifted his hands, the action causing the ground to shake and a shadow like wall to appear. The wall started to move between the mages, causing them to try and avoid it. Lily jumped out of way of the shadow wall pulling Wendy and Charle with him; however the wall separated them from Erza and Gray. The shadow wall moved between Natsu and Lucy, the celestial mage grabbed hold of Happy before he could be hit by the shadows however the wall separated them from Natsu.
"Natsu!" Lucy and Happy shouted.
"Lucy, stand back!" Natsu shouted as he prepared to hit the shadow wall.
"Don't touch it!" Levy shouted as she grabbed Natsu's arm.
"Why?" He asked.
"It's made of pure shadow energy" Levy said as she picked up a stray stick on the floor and poked it into the wall, causing shadow energy to engulf the stick turning it black, she handed it to Natsu "It corrupts anything organic that it touches"
"Shrimp, how did you know?" Gajeel asked, impressed with Levy's knowledge.
"It was a hunch..."She said as she shrugged her shoulders.
This time the wall came from behind, almost hitting Levy only with his sharp reflexes Gajeel pulled both of them out of harm's way however the wall separated them from Natsu.
"Gajeel, you bastard you left me on my own!" Natsu moaned.
"Shut up you idiot!" Gajeel shouted.
"Stop acting like such an ash brain!" Gray shouted from the other side
"Natsu, you'll be fine" Levy shouted trough the wall. "Just don't touch the wall and we'll try to find a way to get rid of it"
"Seems to me that the two of you forgot about me" Payne laughed.
"We would get stuck with him" Gajeel growled as pushed Levy behind him.
"I hope you liked my little...creation "Said Payne as he gestured to the shadow walls.
"Not really, since you separated us from our nakama" Shrimp said as she took a step beside Gajeel.
"Well they were getting in the way and I have a score to settle with the two of you" Payne hissed, causing Gajeel to clench his fists, getting ready to fight.
"You want to fight lets fight!" Gajeel shouted as he punched Payne with an iron fist, only to his surprise Payne disappeared into smoke only to reappear behind Shrimp.
"Shrimp!" Gajeel shouted, as she quickly turned around, the words 'explosion' and 'punch' appearing in front of her, both taking immediate effect on the dark mage.
"Bet you didn't expect that" Shrimp said smiling.
"I wasn't..." Gajeel said surprised, making a mental note to not underestimate the small script mage again. Once the smoke had cleared, Payne emerged looking very pissed off.
"My patience is very thin, yet the two of you try it again and again" Payne sighed.
"I hope you weren't just expecting us to not fight!" Shrimp shouted, surprising Gajeel again.
"Well you are Fairy Tail mages after all, and Fairy Tail care heavily for their nakama..." Payne smiled his expression changing slightly as he said the last part. Gajeel didn't like where this was going, and neither did Shrimp, judging by the look n her face, suddenly Payne grabbed the two mages with smoke like arms and lifted them in the air. Payne smiled evilly as he increased his hold on Shrimp her cries of pain echoing through the forest
"Let her go!" Gajeel growled as he too struggled in Payne's grip. Payne just laughed, turned to face Gajeel staring him in the eyes and watched intensively as he made Shrimp cry out once more, tears falling down her face and small sobs escaping her. Gajeel saw red, the scene of his Shrimp in pain while her attacker watched amused.
"Iron Dragon's Roar!" He shouted, the attack hit Payne hard, causing him to lose his grip on both him and Shrimp and drop them to the ground.
"Gajeel..."Shrimp whispered, as she struggled to stand up. "Are you okay?"
Gajeel laughed, he would never understand this girl, it didn't matter what state she was in, she would always put those she cared about first.
"Fine" He said through gritted teeth. "You should worry about yourself"
He offered her his hand and pulled her up.
"Gajeel, I'm fine" She said while laughing, only to quickly hiss and clutch her side.
"Yeah, of course you're fine..." Gajeel said with an eye roll as he wrapped his arm around her waist fr support. Suddenly Payne got up, shot a blast of dark magic at the two mages, Gajeel pushed shrimp behind him taking the full force of the blast; knocking both mages to the ground.
"Gajeel!" Levy exclaimed as she ran over to the motionless body of the iron dragon slayer. Payne fired another blast of dark magic however the words 'shield' appeared blocking the mages from the attack, which didn't please Payne.
Levy put 'shield after 'shield' protecting from his attacks, with each 'shield' Payne put even more force into his attacks, which were starting to break the words. The last 'shield' broke after the force of Payne's attack, causing Levy to fall. She staggered up summoning the little magic energy she had left to send a 'bomb' flying Payne's way.
"Pathetic..."Payne spat as he back handed the word, sending the 'bomb' into a nearby tree. Levy was too weak to react quickly enough to Payne's attack, before she could even think to move, his smoke like hand back handed her sending her flying into the shadow wall. The shadows slowly consumed her small, motionless body, the shadows almost taking the colour out her skin and clothes turning them a ghostly grey. She tries to muster up the strength to fight the shadows, however her attempts were only on vain as darkness clouded her vision once more...