Chapter 26:

Laxus was trying to find his way out but honestly he had no idea where he was going. He'd found the room they'd kept him in with little effort, but when they'd brought him in he'd been blind folded. He knew it was quite a journey in this maze-like place, but Bianca had done her job too well. These halls were designed not only to confuse visitors but also keep prisoners from escaping. Everything looked the same; cold, white, harsh edges made even more disorientating with the addition of flashing lights and the sound of an alarm.

Laxus had found little resistance in his trek. Whether or not it was a good sign, he wasn't sure. He just pushed himself forward. Soon he'd find what he was looking for. His only hope was that he didn't run into Gajeel. He should have stopped him, should have gotten him under control… but he hadn't. He'd let him go. The haunting look in Caetus's eyes still followed him and every now and then a scream would pierce the dark halls.

Laxus came to a crossroads. He stood in the center and looked down both passages. To the left, the red lights faded and a door lit with bright white stood at the end of the hall. It was a heavy door with several automatic locks. He narrowed his eyes. An exit?

He started down that direction when a sound like a shuffle made him halt in his place. He looked behind him to the hall he hadn't taken. The scarlet lights were still flashing down 20 or 30 feet before coming to a dead end. There were a few doors but they were all closed. He steeled himself and headed towards the first door. He tried the nob. It was locked, again with an automatic lock, there would have been no way to open it from the outside. He paced down to the second and glanced at the door, saw it too had an automatic lock and passed it by.

The third door he could already tell was different. It had a keypad next to it and seemed to be meant for industrial purposes instead of security. He tried the nob but it too seemed to be locked. He eyed the keypad and placed his hand against it, using his electricity to short it out and unlock the door. He pushed it open and gazed into the dark. Scarlet spilled into the room with every flash of light, causing deep black shadows to be cast against the walls. There was another wall of tv screens, but there wasn't an office desk in the center of this much larger room. Instead, there were small sofas and lounges scattered about.

He took a couple steps in, his eyes scanning the shadows. He sent out a few bolts of lightning, illuminating what looked to be controls on the wall. He trained his eyes on the screens as he stalked over, a sick feeling beginning to coil in his gut. He flipped on a switch and immediately felt the hum of energy as everything was brought to life. One after another, each screen flipped on to a different room, although a few were just pulling up static. His eyes widened with dread as he realized one of the rooms was the one he'd been kept in, Gajeel's cell, several other similarly styled and empty rooms, and a few that had figures shivering in the corners.

The realization hit him as he pulled his eyes away to look back at the sofas and his stomach rolled and he felt like he was going to vomit. Laxus backed slowly out of the room, disgust making his stomach roll dangerously. He turned, deciding to himself that whatever it was he'd heard must have been an echo or a trick of the chaos in his mind. As he stepped towards the exit, his eyes caught sight of movement. He froze.

The second door was barely cracked open.

He quieted the lightning that was beginning to spark around him. He stepped forward with as much stealth as he could muster, sliding up next to the door and wrapping his fingers around the nob. He waited and listened, and finally swung the door open. The hinges groaned as he stepped into the doorway. His eyes alighted on only a console full of switches and speakers and flashing buttons and a wall of computers with what Laxus could only imagine was every room in the entire building. This was the room where the alarm was pulled and Laxus realized this would be his ticket to unlocking the cells.

But who had opened the door?

He glanced around and saw no one. There wasn't anywhere to hide, only a singular chair for whomever used to work here. There were no lockers, no closets… it was barren. He took a breath, trying to taste any scent on the air, and came up short. He gripped the edge of the door and slowly stepped in, everything in his body screaming that there was something wrong. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and as he advanced.

A sigh, barely a breath of wind, slithered past his face and suddenly pain laced through his leg. He screamed and dodged, trying to get away from whatever had just assaulted him. He stumbled and fell against the wall, pain making it unbearable to put too much pressure on his leg. He growled, electricity snapping at the air around him.

"Who the fuck is there!" he snapped, pushing himself from the wall and managing to stand even if weakly, "Fight me head on!"

He felt like the light had been sucked out of the room. A silhouette began to take shape in the middle of the floor. It warped and shimmered into view, a flickering form of a woman, and suddenly long black flowing locks draped around her. Instead of the strange lustrous eyes he remembered seeing, she was staring at him with the cold, golden eyes of a reptile. She took in a quiet breath and bared sharp teeth at him. Instead of supple feminine hands she had quiet talons and a serrated blade in her hand.

"A chameleon…" Laxus breathed as she approached, "It would fucking figure."

She didn't offer him anything, no petty laugh, no sly smile. She lunged at him, brandishing her knife as she moved for him, eyes cool and murderous. He dodged out of the way and struck her with the full force of his lightning. She screeched and tumbled back as he launched another bolt of lightning at her. She somehow managed to evade his attacks one after another, slipping like a whisper of fog just out of the way.

Suddenly, she was in front of him, eyes brimming with malice as she struck out at him. This time, she wasn't quick enough. He gripped onto her wrist and gave her all he could, his stomach twisting as she screamed in pain from the attack. She disappeared again, this time materializing beside the door. He lunged at the door, sent a bolt into her path so she'd be forced to stop her flight. He grabbed a hold of her wrist and slammed her against the wall, hearing the air rush out of her lungs at the collision. Roughly, he took his free hand and held the back of her neck and forced her down, restraining her on the ground as she weakly tried to get away.

"Stop moving, don't make this any harder than this has to be," Laxus breathed, kicking the knife out of reach so it skittered to the center of the room, "Don't make me hurt you."

She thrashed beneath him but he held her easily until her fighting become more and more futile. She was breathless, her cheek scratched and marred from where he held her against the ground. The reptilian claws receded and her hands were once again soft. He couldn't see her eyes but he figured that they too had probably resumed their regular hue as she quieted.

Laxus cast his eyes about. He had nothing he could use to restrain her and he still needed to unlocked the cells and find a way to contact Natsu. He glanced up to the monitors and his eyes trained on a figure standing in the middle of one of the rooms.

"Gajeel…" he breathed, shock filling his soul at the sight. Where he was, Laxus had no way of telling for sure, but he lumbered into the room like a nightmare. He gazed around, eyes scanning for any sign of life, and then suddenly pointed at the camera and fired glittering iron to take it out, "Shit."

"Indeed,"

Laxus felt himself being thrown against the wall. He screamed out as Bianca was on top on him in and instant, shoving the knife into his shoulder and causing searing pain to spread throughout his chest. He gripped on her wrist, trying in vain to relieve the pain and pressure of the blade. She straddled him, clearly confident in herself as she brought her hand up to grip Laxus's chin.

"I'm surprised you know what a chameleon is… there's not a lot of us left anymore…" she sneered at him, her tongue black as she ran it against her teeth, "A little lesson since you're too dimwitted to realize it by now, as soon as you take your eyes off me I might as well be invisible."

She twisted the blade and he screamed. He could feel his muscles and tendons ripping and the blood was pouring from his wound to cover his chest.

"It's so sad such a good boy like you has to die in a place like this," she whispered, "I almost feel bad for it. You had me right where you wanted me…"

She twisted the blade again and he tasted the tang of blood in his mouth. His mind was swimming from the intense pain and his arm was shaking from the shock of it. He glared at her vehemently even as her fingers turned back into talons.

"You really should have just killed me… but being the chivalrous little Fairy Tail mage you are, you just don't have it in you. Thank you for that," she smirked and ripped out the blade, the serrated edge causing even more searing pain so that he clutched at the open wound in an effort to relieve it. She pressed the knife to his throat, "It's a shame… you were such a handsome young man."

Suddenly, an iron punch had her cartwheeling across the room and slamming into the only piece of furniture in the place. Laxus wheezed, not even attempting to lift himself up as blood loss was quickly making him become queasy. He glanced up at the door and was half relieved, half horrified to see Gajeel striding into the room. His ruby eyes were bloodthirsty and his arms and torso were covered with blood.

"Why don't you try me," he said with the same quiet in his voice that one feels just before the eye of a hurricane passes overhead, "I don't mind hitting women… just ask Lucy."

Bianca was scrambling to her feet. Blood was slipping from her mouth as she stood, pain clear in her eyes despite the strong façade she put on.

"I've been looking for you," Gajeel growled, "Have a present for you out in the hallway. He didn't last as long as I thought he would but I guess the guy did seem like a lightweight."

Bianca's eyes widened and flashed gold, "If you think you're going to rile me by killing someone so insignificant, you're wrong."

"It wasn't for you," Gajeel's smile widened, a wicked grin that sent a shiver down Laxus's spine, "The guy pissed me off. I wanted him alive when I killed you but I think the second shot of tranquilizers must have overdosed him."

Her eyes bulged slightly and her lips curved into a sly smile, "Kill me? You think you have the stomach, Fairy Tail Mage?"

Gajeel sighed as if the whole ordeal was taxing, "Fairy Tail? That's just the recent shit I've been up to."

Bianca's smile faded slightly as Gajeel took a step forward. His talons glistened with the sheen of blood and his scaled sparkled right from the light of the corridor. Laxus could feel the magic bubbling into the air, the tang of iron filled his nose and the tip of his tongue.

"Most people in your circuit don't know Gajeel Redfox very well," Gajeel advanced again and Bianca's smile faded completely, "I wonder if Kurogane might ring some bells?"

Laxus almost couldn't believe it but for the first time he saw fear fill the eyes of the demon who'd cause so much pain. She clenched her fists and her eyes darted to the knife that was still in the middle of the floor. She went to lunge for it but Gajeel had beaten her to it and with a resounding thudhe put all of his weight into a kick that sent her colliding into the monitors and falling with a sickening crunch onto the control panel and then the floor.

"You know what I think the worst way to die is, Bianca?" Gajeel growled as he crossed the room. She was trying to push herself up but couldn't quite manage to stay on her arms. Glass was sticking into her shoulder and back and the side of her face, making it so she couldn't open her left eye as she desperately tried to find purchase on the ground. Gajeel grabbed a hold of her hand and ripped her up, walking her across the room to throw her against the wall. She screeched from the pain as Gajeel pushed his foot against her chest, pinning her against the wall as she fought to get him off of her, "Personally, I'd say the worst way to die is to have your throat slit open… want to know why?"

Her eye was wide as she stared up at him. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly and she was desperately clawing at his leg as she tried to get away.

"It's not the wound that really kills you…" Laxus couldn't look away as Gajeel pressed the knife to her throat. Bianca let out a whimper, the last of her bravado gone as she stared death in the face.

"Gajeel… stop…" Laxus whispered, gripping onto his arm and trying to fight the dizziness he was feeling. This wasn't right.

"What kills you, in the end, is choking on your own blood… so you're just stuck there, praying someone finds you in time to save you… and while that happens, your mind starts hallucinating from lack of oxygen. Maybe you see your salvation, or more than likely you see whatever demons that have been chasing you at night… the pain you inflict on other people… For a woman like you, that's gotta be pretty scary, right?" Laxus turned away but he could still hear the knife slicing through flesh and the scream that soon became garbled and turned into chokes and gasps for air, "I heard what you said to Laxus about what happens if we don't pay attention… so don't worry, I'll wait right here with you. No one is going to save you."

Laxus heard a thud and despite the horror and disgust that was making his muscles seize, he turned to look at them. Bianca was laying on her side, blood pooling all around her as her golden eyes stared up at Laxus. She was reaching out towards him, black taloned fingers trying for one last attempt at salvation. Gajeel sat down next to her, his scales still glittering in the harsh light. He'd abandoned the knife at his side and just watched her with a look of disdain in his eyes. It felt like hours before the gasping slowed to a barely a wheeze and then stopped entirely. Gajeel moved slowly, taking a hold of her wrist and feeling for her pulse.

"You didn't have to kill her…" Laxus breathed as Gajeel finally lifted himself up from her, a dark look in his eyes as he approached, "There was enough here for the Magic Council to imprison her forever…"

"I know," he replied simply, gripping onto Laxus with bloodied hands.

When they finally walked out into sunlight, Natsu was there. The pinkette hadn't left as Laxus had thought, but had waited patiently for his two friends to make it out. He was shocked by the macabre sight of the two covered in blood and rushed to Laxus's side as he stumbled. Blood loss was finally taking its toll and he could see black edging into his vision.

Maybe he thought Laxus was too far gone to notice, or maybe he didn't even care in the first place, but as soon as Natsu took hold of Laxus Gajeel released him and walked numbly forward. After a few steps he sank to his knees on the forest floor. His iron shield dissipated and Laxus was able to make out bruises all along his tanned back.

"Gajeel…" Natsu's voice was muffled and far away.

"I just… I just need a minute…" the pain was clear in Gajeel's voice and Laxus could smell the salty tang of tears.