Forever Night
Chapter 15
From the Ceiling it Hangs
It was going okay. It was working. She was making progress. She was panting into her bubble, but she was still moving forward.
And then a child looked up. A child looked up and locked eyes with her. A child locked eyes with her and screamed.
And screamed.
And everyone knew, in an instant, that she had come for her companions. That she had come against the orders of their King.
The child continued to cry, but she managed to duck behind a line of waving sea grass. Too far away from that first room. Too far away from her goal. Too far away. She bit her lip and blinked away the tears. It was a set back, not a failure. She wasn't done yet.
Gajeel wouldn't cry in this situation. Neither would Natsu or Erza or Lu-chan. I'm fine. I'm fine. I am fine!
"Wall!" she called out with a flick of her wrist. Five times the word rang out, covering her in a water-free box. Another flick of her wrist and a push of her elbow pushed it outward. Widening the box. Enlarging it.
Fine. They knew she was there. No matter.
She dispelled the bubble. She retained the glasses.
The barrier would keep the merfolk and selkies, and whatever else Merrei had to send at her, out. Even if they got in – which they wouldn't – they couldn't swim without water. This cube of dry air was hers. Hers alone.
The selkies might be able to take on the shape of the human form and walk on dry land, but that was the extent of their magic. They couldn't fight with it like she could. She was a mage of Fairy Tail. She would not be beaten.
She walked and her box moved with her, splitting the water and making a path of dry sand beneath her feet. As she moved she picked up an crowd of spectators. They knew she was protected, but they watched for any slip she might make. Watched for failure.
They won't find any.
She reached the first room faster than she expected. By that time she was surrounded by ten mermen and women. All looking very fit. All carrying sea-stone tritons like their king. But there were only ten. There could have been more.
There would be more. More would come. She knew. But that knowledge did not frighten her. She did not let it.
"Shatter."
The palace wall, beautifully formed out of tiny bricks of glossy, black volcanic rock broke at her command. No water rushed out to be pushed aside by her spell. This was a dry room filled with air. The perfect place for holding landwalkers.
A room designed for humans.
Or a dragon slayer and an exceed.
Her box blocked the outside water from entering, and she stepped into the room unshielded. The bright of the place surprised her at first. So different from the darkness outside. She removed the glasses and let her eyes adjust to the normal light.
There was a cat hanging from the ceiling.
"Lily!" she whispered. She cried out. She almost screamed.
He was hanging by his tail. His inner eyelids were closed. The outer eyelids remained open. It made him look like a creature possessed. Or tortured past the point of sanity.
There was no blood. She tried not to accept that no blood meant no pain. She would not hope for something that could not be true. She wouldn't break her heart on his wounds. Because … because, even unseen, there had to be wounds.
He was hanging by his tail.
"Wings," she choked out and flew to him. This time there was no internal argument, no memory of the fortitude of her friends, that could stop the tears. But she didn't let those tears stop her hands.
With one arm she lifted Lily's limp form and braced him with her shoulder. She didn't want him to fall when the knot was undone. The vertebrae inside his tail was broken in more places than she could count. She wasn't sure even Wendy could heal such damage.
In the end she sobbed and had to form a knife to cut him down. Shaving the fur off the skin didn't help. She had to cut the stone the tail was wrapped around and slip it out from the knot. Even then she couldn't unknot the tail itself.
She panted with the effort of holding him, trying to untie him, forming the knife, using the knife, flying-flying-flying, and her grief. And her fear.
Tired. Hungry. Weak.
Finally! He was loose, and she brought both of them to settle on the ground. She checked his pulse and his breathing. Both seemed normal. Outside of the tail and the unconsciousness he seemed healthy. Though he obviously wasn't healthy.
Too much blood to his head. What do I do for that?
She tried, frantically, to remember all of the medical texts she'd ever read. She knew it was bad for the brain, but she couldn't remember any specific way to fix it. That would have to be Wendy too, she guessed.
She looked around. Nothing to help her. Nothing at all. Only the bar that had held Lily and a lot of empty air.
She contented herself by holding him upright in her arms and stroking his back. Encouraging the blood in his head to flow downwards. She couldn't undo any damage to his brain, but she could try her best to stop any further harm.
It didn't wake him, but she couldn't wait. She shifted him in her arms and continued inwards, further into the building, searching for Gajeel. Not that she wasn't glad to have found Pantherlily, but Gajeel …
She walked. Then she ran. Desperation stopped the tears and frustration made her growl.
She had assumed they would be together. So her mirror expected that as well. It showed the symbol clear and large. It had found the guildmark. Lily's guildmark.
Lily's, but where was Gajeel.
She let out a small squeal of frustration and halted. Sat. With Lily in her lap and both hands free, she wiped the mirror.
Levy closed her eyes and brought her memories of him to the forefront of her mind. Formed an image of him.
The nose came first, line of piercings leading to the two, bright red eyes. The studs that punctuated his brow. The sharp chin. Strong arms. Thick hair. Smirking lips. Sharp teeth. All of him formed inside of her. She pressed her left hand to her heart and then brushed her fingers over the mirror's surface.
"Find." Her voice was barely audible as his reflection formed. Dimmed. Shrank.
But didn't disappear.
Alive.
She stood up. Turned in place. The image was clearest to the right of the hallway.
She ran.
Ran.
Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long! Had a guest over ... really no other explanation other than ... I was having fun? Yeah. Read and review and all that jazz. Thanks y'all.