May 15, x776

The next month and a half seemed to fly by in a mix of jobs, training and Fairy Tail being Fairy Tail.

In that short amount of time, Erza had gone from a surprisingly easy victory to working me almost as hard as Wakaba did. She hadn't quite beat me yet, but it was getting closer. She was definitely stronger than Gray and Cana, even if it was just barely.

Seriously, when it comes to magic combat, her ability to learn outstrips Levy!

Gray was properly scared of her now. It was kinda funny watching him get the heebie jeebies when she glared at him.

Still, that wasn't what was important right now, Mine and Levy's current situation was.

"Please Laxus?" Levy asked, puppy dog eyes in full force. She held up the job request, "It's my first combat job, and I can't leave town with just Helio!" Laxus was sweating, his attempts at surliness broken by Levy's adorableness. He took the flyer and stared at it for a moment before throwing it at me. He looked almost constipated before he finally spoke.

"Fine." He ground out, looking like he'd rather stick his leg in a woodchipper. "We'll leave tomorrow morning. Don't be late." With that he stood up and went to a secluded corner.

Levy looked like all her Christmases and birthdays just came at once. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" She did a little happy dance before stopping abruptly. "I've got to get my books together!" She ran out of the guild so fast I thought she'd learned how to teleport.

I honestly couldn't blame her, this was both her first combat request and her first out of town job as well. Excitement was definitely a justified reaction. I uncrumpled the job request to read it over, beyond knowing what type of job it was, I didn't know anything else.

MONSTER EXTERMINATION

RANK: B

PLACED BY: The University of Crocus

Please help! The University of Crocus recently uncovered a set of ancient ruins in Clover Canyon, unfortunately it is full of ancient defenses and monstrous guardians! We need capable mages who can clear them out! See Doctor Connor Barnes at their camp for details.

REWARD: 100,000 Jewel

Why on Earth this job ended up at Fairy Tail of all places was beyond me. Clearing an ancient, fragile ruin of monsters would only end one way if we went.

I shrugged, not my problem, destruction of ruins or no, it sounded like a lot of fun!

"Uhh Laxus? You okay?" I asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion.

He glared at me, his mouth firmly clamped shut. Levy looked up from her book, first at Laxus, then at me.

"I don't think he likes trains." She whispered. "He was like this the whole way back from Malba." The glare switched from me to Levy. She eeped before hiding behind her book.

"Just don't talk to me for the next couple hours, got it?" He ground out, glaring at us both before leaning back and closing his eyes as he adjusted his magic headphones.

Levy and I looked at each other and shrugged.

"So, is there a reason you wanted me along for this, Levy? I'm not complaining, but Laxus is more than strong enough to cover you if you need it." I asked, pulling out a book from my requip space. Levy looked up from her own, smiling sheepishly.

"Yes actually, we're going into ancient ruins, right?" I nodded, raising an eyebrow. "Well, the ruins will be dark, and lacrima lanterns are fragile, so…" She blushed, "I didn't think Laxus would be okay with being a flashlight.." She mumbled quietly.

"And you thought I would?" Oh God she's giving me the puppy dog eyes! That's just not fair! I closed my eyes and smacked my head against the headrest.

"I can see your logic, but some warning would have been nice." She giggled, I looked over at her with a narrow glare. Her smile looked like it was taken straight from Cana.

"Gotcha!" She giggled, "If I'm gonna be on a team with you, I want to work with you, duh!" She grinned, "It's like a test run!" I rolled my eyes and grinned before launching myself to the other side of the car and trapping her in a noogie. "Hey! Helio! Stop it! That's not fair!"

I didn't stop.

Laxus made very unhappy noises at our commotion.

We ignored him.

We arrived in Oshibana Town without much fanfare, where we ran into a minor, but incredibly annoying obstacle.

"What do you mean we can't rent a magic mobile?! I've got a license!" Laxus said angrily. The rental person just looked at him with a disinterested gaze.

"Exactly what I said, young man. Store policy is that you must be at least 16 or in the company of an adult to rent a magic mobile. If you must get somewhere more quickly than walking, might I suggest the carriage depot near the train station?" With that, he turned around, nose in the air, and walked off.

Laxus's fists shook and sparked.

Levy panicked and ran in front of him, "Wait Laxus, don't!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

To the carriage depot then.

Three hours, more jewel than any of us wanted to spend, and an incredibly grumpy Laxus later, we finally arrived at the camp in Clover Canyon. A man in a khaki shirt and pants looked at the approaching carriage before running off into the camp with a shout.

"Guess they know we're here." I said, ignoring Laxus's grumbles. Levy shook from excitement before she leapt from the carriage before it had completely stopped. She jumped in place as I hopped out and barely dodged Laxus, who practically threw himself from it, somehow landing on his feet in the process. He brushed himself off and took a few deep breaths before taking charge.

"Let's go talk to this Doctor then." He grumbled, stalking into the camp. A few people looked like they were about to ask what we were doing here, but he just glared at them until they walked away.

Luckily neither Levy nor I had to ask any of them where their boss was, as he ended up striding up to us, bold as brass. He was an older gentleman, in khaki shirt and shorts, a pith helmet on his head. He managed to look distinguished, despite his obvious misgivings about three minors showing up for his job request.

Personally, I think that was due to his glorious mustache.

"I presume you three are the wizards that answered the university's request?" He asked, face impassive. Laxus grunted as Levy nodded excitedly. "Excellent. I am Doctor Barnes, the representative for the University of Crocus. Come, there is much I must tell you before you can begin." He turned on his heel and led us to the biggest tent in the campsite.

Entering, he waved for us to take a position around the table that took up most of the available space, already pointing at the map that sat upon it. Laxus looked over at Levy before he sighed and picked her up so she could see the whole thing. She smiled at him in thanks, but he just jostled her a bit and jerked his head towards Doctor Barnes.

"Now, as you no doubt know, the ruins are overrun with ancient guardians and more than a few traps and defenses that are far too strong for my team and I to work through." He traced a finger along the map, "This is as far as my team managed to get, even with one of our more quiet compatriots sneaking through as much as he could."

The map was full of annotations and drawings, different elemental golems, pressure plates and more than one pitfall. It was all very typical for an ancient ruin. I began trying to plan my attacks on the tougher golems while taking notes on the multiple traps.

I felt the sudden urge to don a whip and fedora.

"Should you clear the entire ruin, I'm afraid I don't know what you'll find at the end. All the runes we've decrypted so far only mention a great kingdom ruled by an even greater king. It waxes rather poetically about the prosperity he brought with both his magic and his wisdom. We're not entirely sure why his tomb would need such extravagant defenses though. He ruled through a time of peace, not war. There must be more to the story deeper in the ruins." He looked positively frustrated at the hindrance. "I must implore you to be as careful as possible while clearing the ruins, please. So much history would be lost if you were to cause damage to them." Laxus looked a strange mix of offended and embarrassed at the insinuation, and Levy looked absolutely mortified at the idea of destroying priceless historical artifacts.

"We'll do our best sir." I spoke up before Laxus. "You can count on us!" Doctor Barnes nodded.

"I suppose I will have to." He cleared his throat. "Now, onto the types of golems that we know are defending the ruins." We paid close attention as he told us everything he knew about what we were facing. He did an admirable job of restraining himself from going off on tangents as well, his mustache would twitch, and he'd visibly force himself back onto the subject at hand.

I'd say that knowing what we were going to face would hopefully help us not destroy something important, but not only would that jinx it, the university hired Fairy Tail.

Something's gonna get destroyed whether he likes it or not.

Unfortunately, the extra information wasn't as much as we had hoped. We knew there were your standard rock and iron golems, along with water and sand as well, but he had no idea what we would meet further in. I hoped those and the traps were the worst we'd see, but I'd watched enough Indiana Jones to know that it would only get worse the closer we got to the burial chamber.

Entering the ruins, Laxus and I were immediately met with a problem.

"Oh my gosh look at these carvings! I wonder what they say?!"

We were in a ruin older than most known civilization, surrounded by the history of an era we barely understood.

Levy was in heaven.

She was running from wall to wall, intently studying every inch. From the statues set into the walls, to the art worked into the wall itself. If she could work out how to fly, she would probably be hovering against the ceiling as well.

"Hey squirt, get back here!" Laxus called out, huffing at Levy's pout. "We didn't come as sightseers, we have a job to do, remember?" He took the lead with a sniff. "Last thing we need is you running off and getting hurt."

"Yes Laxus…" She pouted harder at his back. I rolled my eyes as I put my lantern away, switching to Sunny Day and trying to make out the faded carvings. Levy noticed what I was doing and practically glued herself to my hip as she squinted at them.

"Hmm, Doctor Barnes was right." She said, musing over the carvings. "I'm new to Archaic Ishgarian, but they are talking about the great peace their king brought about." I raised an incredulous eyebrow at her.

"Levy, you're eight years old and reading a language that people need university to understand. What the hell are you doing in school?" She turned and stuck her tongue out at me.

"Just because I'm good at language doesn't mean I'm good at everything Helio!" She said with a tone that implied the "duh".

"Shh!" Laxus called back in a soft but harsh whisper. "We've got company!"

Immediately, my guard went up, and with a soft apology to Levy, Sunny Day faded and with a murmur Infrared took its place. The darkness lasted a bare second before I could see again. Levy's arms immediately locked around one of mine as she shrieked.

"Helio! Turn the light back on!" She pleaded, I could feel her shaking against me in fear.

"Just a second." With another murmur, I hit Levy with Infrared as well, and she immediately let go of my arm before looking around in awe.

"I can see!" She whispered quietly. I rolled my eyes before ruffling her hair. "Hey!" She said in an indignant whisper.

"Quiet!" Laxus said, having whirled on us while Levy had been looking around. "There's a couple rock golems and an iron one in the room ahead, do you want to fight them in this hallway?!" We shook our heads quickly. "Then be quiet so they don't come looking for us!" He hissed.

"Sorry." The two of us murmured. He huffed at us.

"You and the squirt will take the rock golems, I've got the iron, ready?" He asked with narrowed eyes, making it clear it was hardly a question. We both nodded. "Good. On three."

Levy squeaked as I took a deep breath.

I narrowed my eyes on my golem. It was a lot less developed looking than modern golems and rock dolls did. Standing what had to be ten feet tall, it stood nearly motionless next to its brethren. The chamber ahead was quite a bit larger than I would have expected of an ancient ruin. Probably to allow room for the three of them to stand guard and fight any intruders.

"One."

There was an oddly shaped gemstone sprouting out from its back that I could just make out the tip of over its barely recognizable "head". It looked important, which probably meant it was a power source of some sort,

"Two."

I could just make what could only be joints that connected the golems' appendages to their torsos, as opposed to the modern method of magic holding them on. The rock would be thinner there.

"Three!"

With Laxus's proclamation, we moved into the chamber, a bright flash of lightning from Laxus nearly blinding us as he was suddenly above the iron golem, sending a wicked lightning bolt into its head. I tore my attention from witnessing Laxus fight for the first time to focus on my own target.

The rock golem was slower than I expected, and I took ruthless advantage of that fact, running between its legs and slamming a Flare into its knee joint, making it stumble slightly as I scrambled my way up its opposite leg, slamming a Fusion Punch home into its hip joint, feeling the thin, brittle rock crack under my fist.

The golem whirled an arm down, striking its own leg and jostling me loose. I let myself fall to prevent being smashed and let loose a Fusion that flew true and finished breaking the joint, sending it crashing down with only one leg to support it. Dodging its flailing arm with ease, I circled around it and put a Flare into the gemstone on its back, cracking it open and making the golem seize up and lay still.

My fight over, I looked over at Levy and smiled as she stood just inside a small alcove in the chamber, using her Solid Script to great effect.

She was sending a jet of water into one of its joints, then freezing it, before sending a club made of words to smash it and repeating the process as she avoided the golems attacks by simply being in too small of a space for the golem to reach. I simply leaned against my defeated opponent and watched her work.

It didn't take but a few more moments before she was done, the joint cracked open, and she sent the club flying into the now visible gem. It shuddered and fell before staying still.

"I did it!" She cheered gleefully, posing atop the fallen golem with a grin. I returned the expression with an exuberant yell.

"Hmph." Laxus broke the silence. "Not bad, squirt, but we're nowhere near done. Come on." He stalked off, leading the way. Levy shrugged and scrambled down the golem as I fell in behind.

Our exploration of the ruins followed much the same pattern after that opening battle. Laxus led us through the ruins, being very surly and grumpy whenever we slowed down to look at something. Levy and I would take turns mapping the ruin between fights, adding onto the one we'd copied at the camp.

The golems we ran into varied greatly, especially for their age. Sand golems that could take a beating, but didn't like getting wet, iron golems that shied away from heat, water golems that shattered when frozen or steamed away when exposed to high temperatures, and one that I think was meant to be a lightning golem, considering Laxus killed it in seconds when we weren't looking. The fights required different tactics and made a decent challenge for Levy at least, but their weathered and outdated construction made them quick to dispatch as we went deeper than the expedition team had managed themselves. The further we went in, the walls and decoration got more and more ornate and an odd feeling of darkness began to seep into our senses.

Where before Levy and I had been lighthearted but alert as we dodged pressure plates and ancient rotten tripwires, now we were getting tense and silent, mirroring Laxus, who was trying his best to be subtle as he sniffed every few feet as went deeper and deeper into the crypt.

Tiny sparks were jumping between strands of his hair and his fingers as he got more worked up, he'd stopped talking a few floors ago, answering only in grunts if he answered at all. Levy was reading the mood and reacting accordingly, getting more jumpy than she'd been even before I'd cast Infrared on her that first time.

The air had begun to feel as if it was pressing down on us, the feeling of oppressive darkness assaulting each of our senses. There was something rotten down here, and whatever it was was advertising its presence to anyone who'd made it this far.

Which meant it was either too stupid to suppress its power, or it was too strong to care.

Finally, after what felt like hours of tense silence and a battle against a final set of sand and iron golems, we arrived before the most ornate door I'd ever seen. It was black as night with golden inlays that flowed in artistic swirls with odd sharp turns and darkness' presence had reached a peak, and the inlays were glowing with a soft unnatural light.

"Wait." Levy spoke up. She edged past Laxus and squinted at the door. "These runes are way more modern than what we've seen in here." Her tenseness seemingly forgotten for now, she pulled a book from her bag and began referencing it. "This isn't Archaic Ishgarian, this is Ancient Ishgarian. It's at least a thousand years younger than the rest of the temple." She put the book down and began mouthing the words to herself.

"Let the power of this ancient place be the seal protecting the world from the evil within." She said quietly, turning towards us with a furrowed brow. "What could they possibly mean by that?" She asked, clearly not expecting an answer.

Laxus and I both seemed to come to the same horrible conclusion.

"The gems…" I breathed.

"They didn't just power the golems…" Laxus continued.

The walls shook, showering us in dirt and dust as though confirming our theory.

"Oh no…" Levy said quietly. "What did we do?"

Malevolent laughter was our answer.

The doors swung open, and sheer darkness pulled us within.

The doors slamming behind us rung with finality.

I don't know how far we were pulled, only that when the darkness had receded, we were within what could only have been a burial chamber at some point.

I say at some point, because by now the chamber was corroded, corrupted beyond whatever its original occupant had planned. Where what I was sure had once been ornately carved statues and fine pieces of art were now just dust, shadows, and some form of fluid made of pure darkness, roiling and bubbling with malevolence.

"Do you feel that?" I said quietly, shivering from the sheer hatred that surrounded us on all sides.

"It feels… evil." Levy murmured quietly, shaking like a leaf. From what I could see, she was trying her hardest not to cry.

Laxus was sparking brighter than he'd been throughout this entire quest. Stray bolts were arcing off of him and grounding out onto the floor or the corruption around us. "It's dead is what it is." He said angrily, I could practically hear his teeth grit as the lightning around him shone brighter than before, practically blinding Levy and I through Infrared.

"If you're gonna glow like that…" I murmured, canceling the spell on Levy and I and instead setting up a Sunny Day. Besides a few wispy tendrils shying away from the center of the room, the darkness didn't react. "So, what do we hit first?"

As if in response, the malevolent bubbling laughter returned, a shape forming from the other side of the chamber, rising from what I had a sickening feeling had once been the sarcophagus that held the king that this tomb belonged to.

It was pure black, a shadow that had gained a third dimension. Shaped in the vague approximation of a human being, but with no definition or features.

Except for the wide, evil grin that showed the wall behind it.

"That." Without another word, he leapt into action, bolts of lightning piercing the darkness and leaving gaping holes that were just as quickly filled in.

"You heard him Levy! Let's go!" A Fusion flew from my hands, burning its way through the midsection of the monster before exploding and leaving its form in tatters. Laxus kept up the barrage of bolts, and Levy and I followed his lead.

Elements of all kinds, water, ice, light and fire, flew from her words, as she tried her best to keep up with us. It was almost beautiful, in a destructive way.

Our barrage of attacks continued for a while longer before we finally stopped, breaths heavy, but still ready to fight as the dust died down.

The shadow was wrecked, riddled with holes were chunks of it weren't just gone. It looked as if someone had shot a squirrel with a 12 gauge. The grin was still there, unbothered, even with most of its face missing.

"No way was it that easy." I said through my panting. The darkness began roiling, bubbling and hissing as it flowed from the walls, rising from the floors and revealing half rotted furniture and corroded stone as it gathered together.

Instead of a single shadowy human shape, it seemed to decide that spreading itself around was the better option, making a cage of darkness, shadow, and malevolence around us as it coated itself against the ceiling, burbling in what could only be anger as we kept fighting back the attacks around us.

This form seemed to be more than just a simple cage though. The malevolence it was projecting came with an amalgamation of fear, despair and sadness. It's like it was trying to demoralize us as much as it was trying to simply kill us. For every tendril of darkness destroyed, another dark thought would plant itself in our minds, for every bit of pain we caused it, a stab of futility would burrow into our hearts.

This battle was mental as much as it was physical, keeping faith in ourselves and each other as the entity tried to demoralize us even more.

'What's the point?'

'I've already died once, what's the worst that could happen?'

'Is it really worth it?'

I screamed as foreign thoughts tried to overwhelm my own. Fighting back was getting harder, the feeling of futility threatening to overwhelm me, but that must mean we were hurting it, right? If it had to resort to this, there was no way it was strong enough to beat us at our best!

I fought back with renewed vigor, the thought buoying me as I tried to get to one of the others. Laxus was almost completely surrounded by a thick curtain of darkness, but he kept zapping his way out of it. With every attack, it seemed to reform slower and slower, getting thinner as it did so.

Levy needed my help more.

She was still casting spell after spell, her light pen constantly glowing as she wrote word after word into the air. She was sobbing though, stumbling through the spells now, instead of sending them with the easy confidence she'd had in our earlier fights.

With a grunt of effort and more than a few Flare Kicks and Fusions, I fought my way through the surging shadows and darkness to reach her side, forcing a smile at her before putting my back against hers.

"We've got this, Levs, just you watch." I willed my magic outward, a gentle glow enveloping the both of us. It wouldn't stop any attacks, but it seemed to make Levy feel better. Her sobs were getting softer, and she was standing straighter against me rather than leaning.

We fell into a rhythm then, the reassuring feeling of the other's presence stopping the worst of the invading thoughts as we fought back to back, trusting each other to cover the other without a word.

Our renewed fire held the darkness back in the face of our onslaught, and with quite a bit of teamwork, we even managed to gain ground as we moved towards Laxus, hoping that together, the three of us could send this thing back to whatever dark corner of hell it had crawled from.

Our opponent wasn't stupid though, it returned our renewed vigor with interest as it let out a burble and the darkness got thicker and far more cloying than it had before.

Then suddenly, things somehow got worse.

The feeling of hatred and evil that had been pervading our senses intensified, making it hard to think, let alone fight. The foreign thoughts of despair and futility threatened to break through, and it was all I could do to think for myself. I fought the feeling, having fallen to my knees as it burned its way into my senses. I could hear Laxus screaming in anger, could just make out flashes on the edge of my vision that had to be him fighting back far better than I was. I grunted and groaned as I forced myself to my feet, light gathering over my body as I fought it off.

Then I heard it.

Crying.

I fought even harder, drawing from a well of willpower I didn't know I had, and forced myself to turn towards the sound and was met with a sight that would assuredly haunt me for years.

Levy was crying, the darkness encroaching upon her from all sides as she shook in terror. The tendrils were toying with her, lashing out at her and stopping just short of actually hitting her. I fought harder, forcing myself to my feet before turning on my heel and grabbing Levy in a tight hug, murmuring reassurance as I did so. Her cries gradually stopped, basking in the warmth as I forced my magic out of my body once more, hoping I could repeat the performance of before.

The thing had other plans though. It abandoned the cage formation, falling to the ground with a deceptively soft landing, roiling, burbling and hissing in malevolence as it formed into a vaguely sphere shaped ball of pure evil. I could feel its focus on us, the hatred and need to utterly destroy us as it swelled in size, towering over us all and reaching the top of the chamber.

My magic came to me easier than it ever had then, burning just beneath my skin, begging for release as I stood in front of Levy and spread my arms akimbo, shielding her from the darkness that was trying to crush us all.

This thing wasn't taking anyone from me.

Not Laxus.

Not Levy.

With a wordless shout of rage my magic burst from me, a corona of light burning away the weaker shadows that had been encroaching on us. I planted my feet and entered a stance I'd only ever read about, the spell in my hands forming almost on instinct.

Not my friends.

Not my family.

Not again.

"H-Helio?" Levy's voice came out shakily, but it was clear she was pulling herself together.

"Cover your eyes!" Was my only warning before I cast a spell that I had never used, a spell that, before today, I had thought would be needless overkill against any enemy I'd face this early in my career.

"SOLAR FLARE!"

An explosive force of white-orange burst forth, everything went white, the roiling burble went into a pitch inaudible to human beings…

Then I knew no more.

Levy opened her eyes, blinking the spots from them as she stood. What spell was that? She'd never seen Helio practice it before.

She looked towards the largest concentration of darkness, what Helio had been aiming at, and felt a shock of fear go down her spine as she saw the results.

The spell had burnt through the monster, splitting it straight down the middle and destroying a large portion of it, if what she had seen before she'd closed her eyes had been any indication. It was hissing and bubbling as it tried to reform, slowly but surely knitting back together with a sound almost like laughter as it grew to its original size.

It hadn't been enough, she realized with an almost calm finality.

Helio was on his back, out cold from the strain of a spell that powerful, and the monster was still reforming. Levy felt tears prick in her eyes. She'd chosen this job, she'd led them straight into this! They were about to die and it was her fault!

A guttural growl interrupted her spiral of despair.

"Stay behind me, squirt." Laxus' voice was low, almost a snarl, and nothing like his usual roughness.

"I've had enough of this." The air became more greasy, burning away the feeling of darkness and despair that had clogged her senses as Laxus seemed to grow. His tattered shirt ripped the rest of the way off and the feeling of something far more powerful and primal than this monster surrounded him.

Levy watched in awe as he shot out a hand and caught a spike of the darkness that had flown for him, and with a bzzrpt, it dissolved into nothingness.

"Gramps is gonna be pissed I showed off, but saving you two oughta even it out." Wild bolts of electricity shot out at the stray bits of darkness and made it shrink back. "You think you can scare us into giving up?!" He shouted. "That you can kill us while we cry in the corner?!"

The darkness gathered higher, splashing against the ceiling as the magical pressure from Laxus skyrocketed. The feeling of fear and despair was a bleak memory to Levy now, as she pulled herself to her feet and glared defiantly.

"Well that ain't gonna work on us!" Laxus' voice was brimming with confidence and bravado, so sure of himself and his words. "We're Fairy Tail wizards! If anything, you should be scared of us!" His magic seemed to explode at his words, the corona expanding into an electric aura that climbed high above his head. His hands moved in front of his mouth as he inhaled, almost as if he was holding a horn or some kind.

"Lightning Dragon's Roar!" A torrent of lightning flew from his mouth and met the darkness halfway, locking against its own attack and holding even. Slowly, both spells died out, and Laxus let out a huff as the shadows and darkness seemed to shiver.

"You're tougher than I thought." He said, for all intents and purposes sounding like this had been a friendly spar.

"Laxus… lightning." A voice gasped behind her. Levy turned from her transfixed stare at Laxus to see Helio watching Laxus's battle in a bleary haze.

He was panting, sweating like a pig, and he looked like death warmed over, but he was awake. "Helio?" She asked quietly, holding out a hand to help him up. Helio waved her off as he struggled into a sitting position.

"Used up too much magic power, couldn't stand if I tried." He shook his head. "That was Dragon Slayer magic." He said through his heavy breaths, "It's Lost Magic, like mine, but he's way stronger." He panted, "You've gotta help him out." He looked up at her with tired, determined eyes.

"How?!" She asked incredulously, "He's so much stronger than I am!" Helio smiled tiredly as he reached up and planted a hand on her shoulder.

"Dragons eat their element for power. Can't eat their own magic though." He shivered and seemed to be fighting to stay awake. "Give him lightning."

"I can't make lightning though! It's way more complicated than my other spells!" She said, panicked. Helio coughed and pulled himself upwards onto his knees.

"You can do it Levy, I believe in you." With that, he doubled over coughing, just barely holding himself up on his hands and knees.

Levy steeled her resolve and stood. Laxus didn't need to do this alone, she wouldn't let him! Taking a deep breath, she thought of lightning and everything she knew about it. Scientific fact and theory raced through her mind as she visualized it, her pen twitching in her hand, but it wasn't enough. She focused harder, digging through her mind before her thoughts strayed to the situation at hand and how the air had felt when Laxus had let loose. The greasy feeling, like she'd just been dumped into a pool of oil, how little sparks would jump between his fingers and the locks of his hair. Something in her mind clicked, and with a flourish, her light pen flashed.

"Laxus, catch! Solid Script: Lightning!" She felt her magic container pulse as a large chunk of her remaining magic went into the spell.

He turned from his fight, panting, and saw the spell flash towards him. She saw a grin full of fangs before a loud slurping sound seemed to make everything stand still as he sucked her spell directly into his mouth.

"Heheheh." Laxus laughed. Levy's eyes widened, his already high magical presence had surged once more, patches of his skin hardened, looking almost like scales. Lightning surrounded him, focusing around his upheld fist. "This fight is over." He said in assured confidence. "Lightning Dragon's Breakdown Fist!"

For the second time since they started fighting, Levy covered her eyes as everything went white.

There was a loud scream, followed by a sound like ripping paper.

And then it was over.

When I next awoke, I was lying on a bed, staring at the vaguely familiar canopy of a tent. I turned my head and was met with the face of a sleeping Levy. She seemed to have moved from the chair next to the bed and onto the bed itself over the course of my being unconscious.

"You're finally awake." Laxus's gruff voice said softly from a cot on the other side of the tent. I pulled myself up, grabbing a fistful of the wall to do so and nodded. "Client paid us, didn't even care that the burial chamber collapsed either, once I told him what we fought." He looked over the two of us, staring harder at Levy for a long moment before nodding. "We can leave in the morning. The Squirt would be a nightmare in the dark like this." With that, he rolled over, his back to us before soft snores were the only noise he made.

I looked at Levy, beside the obvious signs of exhaustion and a few bandages around her arms, she seemed fine. I smiled and laid back down, resting my head on my arms, careful not to disturb Levy.

More sleep sounded nice.

May 16, x776

The next morning, nearly noon by the time we'd all gotten up, the archaeologists had a carriage waiting for us and had seen us off with smiles and wallets a lot thicker than they had been this time yesterday. As recompense for sending us into what had undoubtedly ended up being a high A-Class or a low S-Class quest instead of the B-Class it should have been, our reward had been doubled to go with the official apology from the University and the much more personable one from Doctor Barnes.

We rode in silence for the most part, as our carriage ascended out of Clover Canyon. Laxus had his eyes closed, his breaths deep and heavy, and Levy sat with a furrowed brow as she compared notes from our quest to the books she'd brought with her.

"What was that thing, do you think?" Levy asked a few minutes later, as our ride leveled out. "I can't find any sort of reference to it, outside of that warning, anyways." I sighed and rested my head against the side of the carriage.

"I don't know Levy, but I do know that we won, and that's all that matters to me." I closed my eyes and hummed slightly. "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." I smiled at her, "Maybe you'll figure it out, or maybe it's one of those things Man was not meant to know. Guess we'll find out, or maybe we won't." I looked over at Laxus, an eyebrow raised. "What about you Laxus? Any opinion?"

"We won. I don't care what it was. Now shut up. I gotta find out how to explain this shit to Gramps." He grunted gruffly. I shrugged and laid back.

"Hey Levy?" I said quietly, she looked from her book, head tilted in question. "Gray and Cana are gonna be so jealous when they hear about this." I cracked a small smile at her. Levy grinned at me.

"They won't believe a word!" She giggled. I shrugged.

"Their loss then."

The rest of the ride passed in a comfortable silence, at least until we had to get out of the carriage in Oshibana and Laxus got moodier than usual, especially when we had to get on the train right afterwards.

Still, he didn't punch anybody, so it could have been worse.

A.N: Sorry about the delay, but the fight scene and this final bit fought me tooth and nail. In recompense, well it is longer than most of my chapters, so I hope that makes up for it, at least a bit.

The monster I have them fight in the burial chamber is based more off of the oldest horror stories in human history than anything else. I could have gone with your typical megalomaniacal demon king, or a snarky reject of Zeref's, but I liked the idea of it being a faceless, nameless thing instead. The type of monster that was more like a materialization of negativity, fear and futility, hopelessness and despair. That is far more interesting than an eras-old demon or an OC creation of Zeref.

Also, yes, the golems are Stone Taluses from Breath of the Wild mixed with the Regis from Pokémon, why do you ask?

Thanks as always to FFN user obliviousss for his help!