Ooof, she's a long one bois so ye better strap ein!
Chapter 64:
It was evening when they rolled lazily into Camellia and unburdened the train of themselves at the shabby station. There were a few people messing about waiting for the next train to take them away but besides it was quite desolate. The feelings that assaulted Laxus at seeing those tightly-forested mountains were so fierce he'd had to pause. His heart throbbed a little harder and ice slipped into his bloodstream. When did the shadows of those trees become so sinister? In the dying light of the sun, to him the mountains looked almost as if covered in blood.
They'd be going there tomorrow. The thought dripped like hot acid on the back of his neck. They'd be going back. Back to that place of horrors.
Something like the weight of stones settled in the pit of his stomach. It held him in place under the shadow of the mountains as memories razed through his mind. Images of violence and the horrid curl of a smile on a woman who sought to break men down to helpless boys. Fists of iron; fists that were drenched in crimson and attached to a man driven to the point where murder in cold blood was not just a relief but a pleasure. Scarlet hands and scarlet eyes that were prone to atrocity.
Eyes that he loved and hands that were also ineffably gentle… a man more scared of himself than any of the terrors he'd faced.
With no small amount of disdain, Davian turned with his hand on his hip, mouth open to spout some demeaning comment when it suddenly left him. Laxus stuffed his hands into his pockets and struck out down the road, refusing to acknowledge him.
"Are you well?"
"Fine."
"Oh yes, just your usual cheery self," the comment lacked his usual pompousness.
Laxus didn't respond, didn't say much of anything even as they arranged for a room at the tiny inn. It was a long, tense night. Despite Davian's reassurances from earlier that day, Laxus found his stomach twisting to knots as he laid down to sleep. Any movement in the room had him snapping to attention, his eyes staring blearily into the darkness of the strange room. It was always the same. It was just Davian moving in his sleep, the sound of someone stirring somewhere else in the shabby inn, or even his heartbeat thumping just a little too loudly. It was a dark hour in the morning before his exhaustion finally overrode his apprehension and he slipped into a fitful, shallow sleep.
It was alarmingly late the next morning when he awoke. He glanced to the clock on the wall and pushed himself up, feeling not even the slightest rested from the previous night. Davian's bed was empty and neatly made, his sabre and jacket laid out neatly on the comforter, and Laxus could hear the sounds of shuffling in the bathroom. He shambled to where his pack sat and was in the middle of putting on his jeans when the door creaked open.
"An interesting tattoo," the tone wasn't as sharp as Laxus was used to and he glanced back at him. He was in the middle cinching the black cord he used to keep up his hair. Hands and black nails were exposed, and without a shirt Laxus could see clearly and entire pattern that had been etched into his skin. It was massive; rings and foreign symbols and finite details covered his chest almost to his naval.
"Got it a few years ago. Always told myself I would get more but haven't done it yet."
"Not found any designs that suit you?" he walked behind Laxus casually and the blonde found himself balling his fists a little too tightly into his shirt as he pulled it from his bag. He didn't like the close proximity in the least.
"Not particularly," he grunted, pulling on a wine-colored sleeveless shirt. Maybe it was the amount of time they'd spent together, but Laxus had begun to notice things about Davian that seemed odd. He checked his watched almost incessantly. Every hour, or at least that's what it seemed, he was glancing to the time. A finger would tap at his hilt and he'd be fishing out pills when the occasion would come that his alarm would go off.
Davian also took care not to expose any more skin than necessary. Despite the warmth of mid-spring, he was pulling a black, long-sleeved shirt over his head that hung loosely. Momentarily, he regarded his jacket but opted instead to keep his badge on his hip and let hang laxly his sabre around his waist. The collar of his shirt was high and decorated with silver buttons that sliced his chest down the middle. He was pulling on jet black gloves as he turned to face Laxus, looking every bit some gothic teenager if it weren't for those yellow eyes glaring at him.
"It is rude to stare."
Laxus clicked his teeth, "You cold or somethin'?"
"Careful," he replied cryptically, "and quite hungry. Shall we?"
"Hmph."
They didn't stop and eat; it was already late and they had at least an hour's hike before they would reach their destination. Instead, they took their food to go, stopping at the inn's kitchen to snag what they could carry. For Laxus, it was natto and rice. For Davian, it seemed to be as much bacon, sausage, and natto he was able to fit into a large plastic container he'd coaxed from the cook. It was difficult not to stare at the man while he ate. He took large bites and when he chewed his eyes became strangely distant. Movements were less fluid and his attention snapped to and from people and places as they walked, like an animal on high alert. Laxus stayed a step farther from him than usual.
"You weren't kidding," Laxus started and Davian's eyes flashed to him, his full attention focused in a way that was intimidating, "…about being hungry."
Davian blinked a couple of times, "Yes."
They'd gone their separate ways when it came to dinner the night prior. Neither of them had any particular desire to share more space than they had to. Laxus had noted the previous night that Davian had brought nothing to the room. He'd chalked it up to eating out but he was starting to wonder. The man looked positively alien as he walked along.
They were on the edge of town, almost in the shadow of the mountains. He pulled his eyes forward, trying to quell the thunder in his gut. He rubbed at the coin in his pocket, listening to the sounds of Davian eating heartily. Faintly, in the back of his mind, the thought of how sharp his teeth could become surfaced. Rut ate children, he remembered wretchedly. With a large amount of caution, he watched Davian from the corner of his eye. Yellow eyes were trained ahead and every once in a while, Laxus saw the flash of a black tongue.
Davian was carnivorous.
He was one of them.
Despite how human he seemed, what was it that he usuallyate?
"You have something on your mind," his voice was slick, slicker than usual, even. He was crumpling the plastic like a tissue in his hands, a tiny ball of black, and tossing it to the trees.
Laxus took a final bite of his natto, "Just wonderin' why you're so hungry. You skip dinner?"
Davian was itching at his wrist, toying with his glove and the seam of his sleeve, almost as if he were too hot.
"I need an incredible amount of protein," his words were guarded and he didn't make eye contact with Laxus, "even short trips are taxing."
"That right?" Laxus eyed him openly. He watched as just the slightest of smiles twitched on the corner of Davian's mouth. Spasmodic irises flashed to him.
"Something the matter, Laxus?" he leered with a voice that was sickeningly sweet, light, and horrifically familiar, "Did you, perhaps, make a miscalculation?"
Laxus gritted his teeth.
"Yes? No? Tell me, are you willingly in the middle of nowhere with a creature that has an instinctive desire to kill and eat you?" the way he said it made Laxus pause. It sounded like a challenge, a dare, and Laxus thumbed at the coin again.
"Never thought to ask," he said evenly, though his magical energy swelled, "although, I think I already know the answer."
"Do you?" he narrowed his eyes, "Do you truly? Because I'm not so sure."
Laxus felt his heart beginning to beat harder in his chest. He kept his magic in check. He didn't want to let on how anxious he felt. He took a deep breath through his nose.
"Are you going to ask me, Laxus?" it was nearly a sigh but Laxus realized Davian was holding his breath, as if he dared not continue to speak, "Are you going to ask me what I prefer to eat?"
"Sure, Davian. What do you prefer?" Laxus had to force it out of his throat and by the time the words were heard they were nothing more than a snarl. He clenched his fists and the magic swelling in his chest was nearly unbearable. Lightning sizzled through his veins with each thump, thump,thumpof his heart.
"Are you scared?" Davian purred, eyes slanting as he spoke and teeth becoming sharper, thinner, like razors.
"You don't scare me, Davian,"
"Is that so?" his voice was like a hiss, "Well then… I suppose it'll do no harm to tell you, then…"
Laxus thought he was ready for whatever grotesque thing Davian was about to say. He stomped down the vision of the carcass in the basement, the skull's empty sockets staring up at him. The four kids… their remains had been immaculately clean when they'd been returned… only perfectly white bones remained…
"…Sashimi."
Laxus felt his heart stop for a moment, "What?"
"Sashimi," Davian replied again, simply, and with enough mischief brimming in his voice that Laxus could have hit him. In fact, he did. In the same manner he'd do Gajeel or Bickslow or any of his friends back home, he punched Davian in the shoulder with enough force that he should have teetered to the side. Of course, the bastard seemed completely unfazed and his lips parted in a grin so wide his long, forked tongue flashed out for just a moment, "Not a fan of raw fish, Laxus?"
"You're an asshole," Laxus snarled, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he'd held.
"So crass… but your imagination is incredibly entertaining."
"Wasn't it your brother that fucking ate kids?"
"Mm… and I thought I told you not to compare me to his lot?" he seemed smug but the curtness in his reply spoke of a chink in his armor.
"His lot," Laxus muttered and it sparked a sharp look from the Major, "Aren't you one of his lot?"
"It's so tragic comparing how much you believe you know to what you actually know," Davian hummed, his lip turning up in a sneer, "Is being constantly in the dark a new thing for you, or are you quite used to it?"
Laxus clicked his teeth and rolled his eyes, "Well enlighten me, then."
"Oh, but it's so funto watch you struggle," Davian purred, stepping over a fallen log with ease.
The two fell silent and continued their trip down the mountain in their own thoughts. Laxus was trying to figure out what Davian had meant. So, he wasn't like Rut? But it was obvious he was a chameleon. If the eyes weren't a dead giveaway, Davian himself had practically admitted it to him the day Laxus had confronted him outside the prison. Looking back, though, and remembering just what Rut looked like when Laxus had first seen him, he hadn't seemed nearly as human as Davian did. But then, Davian had qualities about him that shifted rapidly, appearing and disappearing at will. Almostat will. His claws hadn't disappeared on the train which was interesting now that he remembered it.
But, Laxus supposed, Davian would have his nuances just like anyone else would.
Laxus often found himself caught off guard by the man and forced to stumble over his own preconceptions. Davian was rigid in his duality and it was something Laxus had never faced before. He swung heavily between the two halves of himself almost like the golden pendulum of a grandfather clock. One minute he was foreign and cruel, a creature that Laxus could sense in its innateness should be feared and appreciated like a handler would a rattlesnake. And then, without warning, Laxus would be exposed to passion and mischief and human laughter. He loved, Laxus remembered, a woman whom he'd only seen briefly but in just that instant could immediately see the longing between the two. The more time Laxus spent with the man the less he viewed the stark swings as duplicitous and more an imbalance, the carefully crafted faces of a person who was never able to figure out who he was but instead forced himself into the shape of something he wasn't. It was dangerous, he knew, to find himself empathizing with an enemy but he found he cared surprisingly little. Laxus was curious. He wanted to know more and not just because of his own vendetta.
He cleared his throat and Davian turned his gaze over to him, his look muted and unsure, "So, Orthinos, that your real name?"
Davian blinked, his lip quivering slightly, "How did you…?"
"Heard Rut say it. Figured if we're going to be on a first name basis now, maybe I should make sure I'm calling you by your actual name."
"That's… very considerate of you," he seemed like he was having a hard time speaking and Laxus raised an eyebrow at him, "Davian is fine. The other… I don't respond to that well."
Laxus shrugged, "Good, it's hard to say anyway."
Davian smirked, "Your mouth wasn't meant for it."
"Excuse me for not having sharp teeth and a tongue down to my knees."
Davian actually laughed, "Not my knees… but definitely past my chin."
"You measuredit?"
"Don't act as if you were never so bored as a child that you didn't try to do something equally foolish," a wide grin settled across Laxus's face and Davian's eyes widened, "Oh, what is it now?"
"So, when all the other kids were trying to lick their elbows, you actually did it?" he snorted and Davian's cheeks tinged crimson.
"Jealousy is ugly, Laxus," he snapped playfully and Laxus laughed.
Laxus turned his eyes up to the road and suddenly his heart seized and plummeted to his stomach. Overgrown with trees and bushes and covered in yellow tape like some macabre Christmas decoration, stood the entrance. Davian's smile faded too and a question waited on his lips when he too looked ahead.
"Ah… it would seem we're here."
The air chilled with their approach and Davian pulled on the planks that had been boarded roughly into the hole in the rock. One to the ground, two, three, four, and with each Laxus felt something dark curl into the pit of his stomach.
"Shall we?" the words circled Laxus's throat, nearly making it impossible to breathe.
He didn't respond. He stepped forward into the darkness, feeling every bit like he was being swallowed alive.
Pull yourself together, Laxus, he berated himself, Don't be a fucking kid now.
He could do this. This was simple. This was nothing. All he was doing was walking around an empty space. Gajeel was the one suffering, the one who had suffered. And Laxus? Well, he hadn't been the one tortured now had he? He had no reason to react so strongly. Push the feelings down.
Entering the rock was like the event of a total eclipse. The shadow of the mountain was cold and Laxus heard faintly the click of a flashlight just before a white beam cut the dank before them. He glanced back to see Davian, eyes glinting green as they caught the light like a cat's and his tongue slid against his teeth in a look of disgust.
"I can smell the bats already."
Laxus waited for Davian to step through the entrance and head deeper in with him. The smell was awful, but that wasn't what made Laxus want to lose his breakfast all over the floor. The place was a tomb filled to the brim with ghosts that only required the slightest of disturbances to awaken them from eternal slumber. Each unsure step sent noise echoing off the surface of walls and ceiling, taunting back at them their own presence. It made Laxus feel watched. As they rounded the corner he began to make out doorways. Yawning mouths opened into more darkness, stale air spilling out like clouds of noxious smoke and dust into the hall they walked. He glanced to the ceiling, to lenses dead and darkened like blind eyes hanging from the unfeeling cement.
Stage fright? He remembered Ceatus mocking him and suddenly he could see his wide, terror filled orbs as he was dragged away by a man out for blood. His heart was loud in his ears, so much so that he missed the concerned glance Davian gave him as they travelled in silence. He didn't realize the blood had slowly drained from his face.
The hall teed where they could continue on straight or turn deeper into the labyrinth. Davian shone his light down the hall that led away and turned, lighting the straight line before him. As his light drifted away, Laxus felt he saw shadows standing before him. He stood and stared, a heavy sense of déjà vu creeping its way into his marrow. Two doors stood ajar and he knew those doors. He knewwhat he'd find inside.
He drifted over to the one closest, his eyes tearing through the ethereal night surrounding him. He couldn't see, the only light he'd had gone with Davian as his steps grew more distant, but he could smell. Stale blood, sweet and pungent from decay was faint but very present. He held forward his hand and summoned a ball of lightning, blinding himself in one instant as he tossed it into the air and it drifted lazily up to the ceiling. His eyes landed on a large, black stain in the floor.
Something glinted at him on the ground.
His shoulder throbbed and his entire body filled with wretched, lazy cold. The air felt heavy, thick, and suffocating. He couldn't seem to pull enough oxygen into his lungs. He stepped closer and suddenly his feet were made of lead.
Serrated teeth flashed at him. Shattered glass and broken screens reflected back to him the light and his own shadow in the doorway.
That was his blood in the concrete, a dark iron stain that could never be washed away, and meters away there was another, even larger blemish in the grey cement. He could smell it, could smell her. Even though he'd never really known what Bianca had smelled like in life just the scent of her decay in the air had alarms firing in his mind. It was her. It was yellow eyes and sharp claws and teeth and that blade in her hands. It was Gajeel gripping her by her hair and throwing her into the monitors.
The throb of his shoulder turned to a sharp pain. His heart was pounding and he was starting to feel dizzy. He let out a shaky breath and clutched at the old wound, pressed his knuckles into it as if he were trying to stop the bleeding all over again.
"Fuck…" his hands were shaking. Her body… her body had never been found… Was she here still, hiding? Waiting? Searching for revenge? Her body…
"Laxus?"
She's still alive isn't she?
He stumbled and pressed himself against the wall, paralyzed by some loathsome thing that was crawling through his chest. His heartbeat was so loud it echoed in the room and made the ground throb beneath his feet. He couldn't breathe. His throat was closing, his hands and arms growing colder.
He was dying. He needed to get help but how could he? He was alone and Gajeel was somewhere else, killing anything that ran. He needed to find a way out. He needed to get help. Natsu… Natsu was supposed to get the Magic Council… He'd be found… soon he'd be…
"Laxus!"
He couldn't respond. The knife was staring at him, wicked and somehow alive and hungry to finish what it had started.
"Mr. Dreyar!"
Laxus snapped his eyes to the door where a glaring red light blinded him. He winced and snarled, blinked a couple of times, and realized the light wasn't red but actually white. Laxus whipped his head to the bloodstains, to the knife that had been glittering menacingly at him from the ground and suddenly it was gone. There was only a large fragment of glass where it had been. He took a deep, rattling breath and the pain in his shoulder ebbed.
"Mr. Dreyar," Davian's voice was quieter, firm, and slightly annoyed, "what are you doing?"
He glanced to the bloodstains and swallowed past his nervousness, "We are here to find things, aren't we?"
Davian narrowed his eyes at him and took a sharp breath as if to say something when he paused. His brow raised and his eyes were drawn to the remains of what were once pools of blood. Davian again looked at him and openly raked his eyes up and down Laxus.
"I do forget that you were here once before," his words were pragmatic, cold, but not mean. He shone his flashlight on the outline of where Laxus had once been pinned to the wall and followed the wall to where Bianca had taken her last breaths. There was the obvious impression of her body, a slight curve where the blood hadn't been able to seep under her, and old splatters from where Gajeel had thrown her against the concrete, "There's such a lackof you here and in the evidence. I suspect it done purposefully but of course I have no proof."
"Purposefully? By who?" Laxus growled and Davian glanced over his glasses at him. Laxus furrowed his brow, "Gajeel?"
"He did avoid the topic of you quite well during interrogation," he hummed and stepped further into the room. Laxus pushed himself up from where he had been staggered against the wall and watched in breathless silence as Davian glided to what was left of the monitors. Cautiously, Laxus stepped around the remnants of what had happened in the past, his eyes careful to watch the edges as if they'd turn into rusty hands and lash out at him. He was startled to hear Davian's voice and see him watching blatantly through the reflection of the broken glass, "Facing one's own mortality is a transformative experience. It often causes feelings of fear, anxiety. Flashbacks are common. Just at a glance I'd assume you have PTSD."
Laxus clenched his teeth, "I don't have PTSD."
"Fear of death is natural, Laxus," he continued, uninhibited by the protest. His yellow eyes glinted in the dark although his voice lacked its usual disdain, "the best way to work through it is to confront it. Some find making a death plan or plotting their own funeral to be rather cathartic."
"That right…" he breathed, coming up beside him.
"Quite," Davian knelt down, glancing beneath what remained of the control panels, "My people's spiritual customs require burial and preservation but if I had my way, I think I'd prefer to just be left in a field. I've learned that as the body decomposes, it releases so much nitrogen into the soil that it kills plant life around it but in a short year's time it then grows some of the most beautiful flowers."
"And that's what you want? To become flowers?" Laxus snorted mockingly but it lacked some fervor.
"Oh yes. The idea of dainty bluebells wrapping around what's left of my ribs brings to mind a beautiful image..." his voice trailed off and he yanked a compartment out from under the panel. As he drew it out, Laxus noticed immediately this would be where the recording lacrima should have been but was missing entirely. Davian must have physically broken it off to examine. He flipped his wrist towards Laxus, "Why don't you give it a go?"
"What? Give what a go?" Laxus wrinkled his nose at him and Davian smirked as he checked his watch.
"Tell me, what would you prefer happen to your body after you die?" he slipped off his glove, pulling the finger of it with his teeth until it came loose. Barehanded, he began fiddling with some of the mechanics of it.
Laxus blinked at him. Part of him wanted to demand what he was doing although he figured Davian would just accuse him of dodging the question. Of course, he wasn't. He wasn't scared of death. He stared death in the face almost every day. What had captured him just moments earlier wasn't some fear of dying, but the visceral memory of violence that was trapped to this room. He felt it nearly pulsate with his nervousness, although that might have had something to do with the quivering of his light source just above them. He glanced up at it, watched his magic ebb and flow and jitter. It was a manifestation of his current state of mind. He really couldn't deny when he was staring right at it, he supposed.
He clicked his teeth.
"Stick me in the ground, I guess," he muttered, glancing to the side, "Gramps plans on being buried on Tenrou Island. If I ever become Guild Master then I guess that's where I'll go too."
"Do you plan to be embalmed?" a slight updraw of the corner of his lip made Laxus aware that he was purposefully trying to be unsettling with his question. Again, Laxus's nose wrinkled in disgust, "Or just the traditional white sheet and cedar coffin?"
Laxus narrowed his eyes at him, "Guess I don't care. Ain't like I'll be here anymore."
"My people believe that without a proper burial your spirit will wander aimlessly, unable to cross to the other side," Davian hummed as he worked, taking apart the mechanism with relative ease, "You must have food for the travel to paradise, as well as money. One is buried with coins or precious jewels in the mouth along with food prepared by the family… typically cured meats… and the body must face north because that is the direction Oros will arrive from and he will call up the spirit from the body. You offer the sacrament and if it is sufficient Oros will usher you to the other side."
"Sounds complicated." Laxus heard a snap and the device fell open. The middle was empty and Davian frowned, finally standing from his crouch and tossing the contraption into the dirt. "What is that?"
"That would hold a backup if there were one. There's no evidence it was tampered with so I can only assume Bianca only had one lacrima to store all of her recorded material and that is still quite missing," he crossed his arms as he spoke and his tongue flashed out for just a moment in his agitation.
"Any idea who could have taken the first one?"
"At this point the possibilities are fewer and fewer. The hired thugs were killed and their bodies empty. Bianca's body was searched and nothing was retrieved or I'd have it already… The lack of evidence of tampering is indicative of someone who knew preciselywhere to look for it. Meaning either someone who knew the facility or someone who has been trained not to leave evidence behind," yellow eyes flashed to Laxus, "Have you told your other half what precisely we're looking for, Laxus?"
"Eh? What does that matter?" Laxus growled, not appreciating the tone he took.
Davian glanced to the side, obviously thinking of a way to structure his next sentence without sounding accusatory, "Well… Mr. Redfox would have means. He has the training and experience to know what to look for and how to extract it without leaving apparent damage. Motive, as well. As the one who committed the murders, perhaps he wanted to hide the evidence? And, going along with my previous theory, it does completely eradicate any physical evidence that you were here – aside from the obvious – but, lack of a blood sample renders us pretty useless in finding a match. I'd imagine Mr. Redfox would be aware of that as well, given his background."
Laxus stared at him for a long moment, "But that… that makes no sense. The memory on that lacrima would get him out of jail. Why would he hide it?"
Davian paused again, this time bringing his hands together, fingertips resting against each other, and taking and almost academic air. Laxus took a step back from him, unsure of where this conversation was about to go.
"I think it's possible we're overestimating the mental integrity he had."
Laxus blinked, "What?"
"Well, you did imply something traumatic happened to him. Although his original and subsequent statements never outright conflicted with each other, each became more and more nondescript. We could say that as time passed he lost some of the details but this argument was rendered quite invalid after he was able to give me extremely precise dates and times for crimes years in the past," Davian mused aloud, making a deliberate amount of eye contact with Laxus as he spoke, "So, let's talk about psychology."
"Psychology?" Laxus bared his teeth at him, already bored with this conversation, "Davian, there's no way he took it, ok?"
"In his right mind, Laxus, possibly not. But, as we've stated, something drove him to the point of not just murder, but to hunt down and eviscerateevery man in this complex and then Bianca. This wasn't just an act of passion, but one of vengeance. I've been in this field for a while, investigated many homicides, and one thing I've learned is never to doubt what a man can do when they are truly desperate."
"Ok, fine. Let's say he didtake the damn thing. Why in the hell wouldn't he turn it in when he was taken to prison, Davian?"
"There are a few more variables now than there used to be. You're involved and he seemed very keen to keep that from being noticed. We can easily assume that by the time I was in the case he had realized he'd been targeted and was actively trying to keep you from being used against him," Laxus gave him a sharp look and opened his mouth to argue but Davian presented his palms, one gloved and one naked, as if to stop him, "Despair causes men to do a vast array of things we wouldn't when under normal circumstances.
"Let me play it out for you: We have a man who just freed himself from capture after some traumatic event. He's driven by bloodlust and rage to kill but instinct tells him to cover up what he's done. Now, he goes and takes the evidence and hides it which has been his first reaction to do in similar situations. Back to psychology. We know traumatic events cause people to react in extremes. Depression, PTSD, chronic anxiety, memory loss, sudden changes in interests or extreme mood swings… all of these require ways of coping. One very common way men deal with traumatic events is avoidance. Be it pride or being too scared to confront the reality of a situation, he may have simply locked the evidence away, a symbolic and also concrete way of ending a chapter in his life. He doesn't want to reflect on it, remember it, he wants it buried and dead. This could have something to do with hiding what truly happened to him. Possibly, he doesn't want to admit weakness or that misfortune could befall him in such a way…"
"He didn't take it, Davian," Laxus growled again, even more firmly, "He would have told me."
Davian watched him for a long moment before he relented, letting out a dismissive sigh as he replaced his glove, "As you say, then."
"There has to be someone else."
"Well who elseis there, Laxus?" his tone lilted slightly in his exasperation, "Certainly not Unaven. The man was gone from the facility before everything happened. The victims were in cells up until the point they were rescued. The only two people perusing around were you and Kurogane once Bianca was dead. We've run quite thin on options, wouldn't you say?"
Laxus frowned. He felt they were missing something. He knew they were missing something. But what? Someone else was there when Laxus had been ushered to the room. He remembered Ceatus, how he'd mocked him, but something had happened after that… something for when Gajeel bit him…
"Doctors…" Laxus blurted the word out and it took Davian off guard.
"Beg pardon?"
"There were doctors… scientists… something. They were in a room close to where Gajeel's cell was."
Davian frowned, "There were no unidentified bodies found, only those of Phantom Risers."
"They have to be somewhere… or something they left behind."
"Do you recall where the room was?"
"Yeah… come on."
Laxus led the way from the suffocating room and out into the hall. The inky blackness that had settled in his chest eased the farther he got from the place where Bianca had died. He felt safer in a strange way despite knowing he was putting more distance between them and their only exit. It was as if the farther he was from those stains in the ground the farther away he was from his own ghost standing in the shadows, the ghost he had been so close to becoming that day.
He shook his head, refused to let the dread shiver back down his spine.
He could do this. For Gajeel.
"These doctors," Davian interrupted his thoughts and Laxus glanced at him as he formed another ball of lightning to use to fill the damp space, "now, neither you nor Mr. Redfox had made mention of them previously. Why is that?"
"To be honest, I'd forgot they'd been here," Laxus muttered, "they never worked with me… the last I saw them, Gajeel had been telling them to stay down."
"What did they do? Surely they had a purpose?"
"Running tests I guess. I don't know."
"What sort of tests?"
At first, Laxus wasn't going to respond. He didn't know how privy he was to having this discussion, to dredging back to the surface those terrible, violent memories when he wasn't even sure Davian would have afforded him the same information if he'd asked. There was something, though, about the formality and assertiveness of his request. He sounded like a man trying to get to the root of something which was ultimately what they were both there for. It was very possible that the question was genuine… but equally as likely was it that Davian was attempting to glean information from him with no intentions of helping him in return.
"Like I said, I don't know. They never got their hands on me."
Davian huffed but didn't ask anything further. It was eerie leading the way through the dead corridors. Davian's light cut through the darkness just as Laxus would manifest a new orb of light to send floating to the ceiling. Very quickly, the halls were filled with yellow light, making it seem all the more that the rooms were the mouths of sleeping giants. Everything was left as it had been. Furniture had remained unclaimed, waiting and destitute skeletons in the darkness. Chairs, futons, beds and empty cells filled the place they walked with untouched dust and the smells of must and mildew. Bats huddled in clusters on the ceiling, twittering at them and occasionally dropping from their perches to flee from the bright intrusion.
It was when they rounded the corner that Laxus's heart began to once again chase the blood through his veins with surmounting dread. His walk slowed and his eyes were drawn to a room filled with the waxen remains of candles. Long drips that slithered their way down the side tables told Laxus they'd been left to burn until the wicks had gone out. A chill edged up his lower spine. He forced his eyes forward, told himself not to allow them to stray, but suddenly the black panes of windows came into view. The shadows of memory plagued Laxus's mind, made him see figures huddled in the corners when he knew there were none. And then a different doorway came to his attention, portal only slightly ajar and swallowing the light he brought with him.
He couldn't help it, he hesitated there for just a moment. Ice was progressing up his spine to settle on the back of his neck. The next orb of lightning he tossed into the air fizzled and popped angrily, gleaning a guarded look from Davian as he kept close to Laxus's side.
"What's in there?"
Laxus glanced at him, snapped from his reverie harshly and confused all the more by it, "Huh?"
"That room. What's in there?" Davian asked again, nodding at it as they passed.
"Nothing…" Laxus muttered, rubbing again at his shoulder, "Nothing important, anyway."
"Were you held there for some reason?" Davian pressed gently, his demeanor easy as he checked his watch. Again. For the millionth time. Laxus thought he should have been annoyed by it, but seeing Davian act as if nothing was amiss seemed to settle him somehow. He took in an unsteady breath.
"Bianca told me her plan in there," Laxus was forced to clear his throat as the words stuck in his mouth. He suddenly felt thirsty and the thought of cold beer itched at him. It was strange since he'd never really craved alcohol before.
"Bianca never struck me as a woman with a plan. She had a tendency to act before thinking," Davian's voice was casual and gentle. He was fiddling with his glove, "I'm sure whatever it was that she said was absolutely dreadful."
"You guys not close?"
"As children we'd been close, you could say, but we had very different interests. As I grew I became immersed in religious studies. Bianca, in her own words, was a woman of science. She thought our people's obsession with tradition and faith were archaic and misguided… She tended to be one of the more insidious of Father's children. It was a pleasure of hers."
"You don't say," Laxus whispered and Davian's eyes darted to him for just a moment.
"Did she say anything that could be useful to us now? Possibly a gloat about some strange security system she'd derived herself?"
"No, no… she mostly just told me about how I'd do anything she wanted because I… I was conditioned to."
"Hm? Conditioned? For what?"
Laxus's heart was beating harder. It was becoming hard to breathe again, "She told me… she told me I'd been made for it. I'd been raised to sacrifice anything for people I cared about and I wouldn't hurt her because she was a woman. I guess… I proved her right."
"There is nothing wrong with being willing to do whatever it takes for the people you care for. And most would consider it noble of you to want to refrain from violence against a woman. Her exploiting your values is not a flaw of yoursbut rather a flaw of hers."
"You're taking my side?" Laxus studied him and noticed the brief hesitation before he spoke again.
"I was raised a religious leader. I understand far too well that all it takes is confidence and a slight reminder of core values to sway someone's mental alignment to match my own. What Bianca did was no different. She knew you were a generally upstanding man who lived and believed as most do. Even if there were another option, she knew how to make it so you couldn't see it."
Laxus felt he could breathe a little easier, although he wasn't quite sure why, "I'm sure the glamour didn't help."
"Yes… she was quite good at that. Far better than I, anyway," he murmured, eyes distant as he thought, "Of course, she still couldn't hold a candle to one of the fullbloods."
The comment struck him and Laxus stopped walking as something clicked in his mind that hadn't before. Davian paused and turned slightly, a silent demand to the sudden halt clear on his face.
"Fullbloods," Laxus said the word out loud and Davian watched him expectantly, his eyebrows rising sharply as he waited, "Bianca wasn't a fullblood?"
The corner of Davian's mouth twisted up, "So he issmarter than the average brute."
"You're not either?" the words tumbled from his mouth, hushed like a gasp. Davian clasped his hands behind his back and leaned slightly in his direction.
"I honestly can't fault you for not being able to tell. Most of my siblings took a few moments themselves… Bianca, though, she was a little more obvious."
Laxus was stunned, honestly unsure of what to think. He had questions but they simmered through his mind like boiling water. He'd barely grasp one and it would be flushed away by another, more pressing question. Davian's harsh look softened a bit in a way that was equally surprising and strange. He thumbed at the hilt of his sabre as he glanced in the direction of one of the darkened rooms.
"I had a human mother," he said the words quickly and simply, as if lingering on them for too long would cause some reaction he was trying very hard to control, "I'm told she was kind."
Laxus set his jaw, "What happened to her?"
"She died when I was still young…" he seemed to be talking to himself until he finally drew his eyes back to the blonde, "Um, you will have to lead the way. I'm afraid I don't know where we're going."
"Right… sorry," Laxus stated dumbly as he started walking again. The quiet caged the two together, as rigid and unyielding as the stone walls. Laxus pressed his mind to find something to break it, "So your dad was the… the fullblood, then?"
Davian blinked again, slowly, and turned his head to regard Laxus straight on.
"What?" Laxus growled, ignoring the critical stare.
"Father? Are you asking me if Father is a fullblood?"
Again, Laxus felt like he'd just been blindsided, "Father… he's actuallyyour father? Like your dad?"
Davian glanced to the side, "Yes…"
It took Laxus a minute to figure out how to respond, "When you said your family, I thought you meant like how the yakuza mean it?"
Davian chuckled sardonically, "No… no we're all truly related."
"Wait…" things were starting to fit into place in Laxus's mind. Things said, insults made… and Rut… "You said Rut…"
"When I called his mother his sister?" Davian prompted and Laxus's eyes widened at him, "His mother truly is also his sister."
Davian was studying Laxus from the corner of his eye, watching as he slowly worked through what Davian had just said, "Oh… That's…"
"Archaic? Medieval?" Davian tapped a finger on his hilt, his expression dark. he narrowed his is for a second before widening them again, "Primitive?"
"Old-fashioned."
"How polite," he spat, suddenly taken to adjusting his sleeves, "No, it's quite repulsive, really. I've been told to think of it as a vanishing race desperate to preserve the royal bloodline."
Laxus floundered, throwing his mind to find anything, anythingto say that wasn't as awkward as he felt, "Well… ehh… but you… you have feelings for Irena?"
Davian stopped walking and Laxus stumbled even more over his words than before.
"I mean… you're breaking the cycle?"
Davian placed his hand on his hip and flipped his hand in exasperation. His tone dripped with contempt, "Well there's hardly a reason forme to do such a thing."
Laxus felt like his insides were curling up. He'd just stepped on a landmine with no knowledge of what he was getting into. He resigned to his fate, "I don't follow."
"I'm half human. I'm already flawedon the anatomical level. I'm too weak, too emotional, sentimental…Mawkish." his eyes flashed fiercely, lighting with gold for just a second before it vanished again. Davian was getting angrier. It was ironic because it seemed the angrier he got the more inhuman he looked. His teeth were sharpening, the curves of his face turning more rigid, and angled. In the limited light Laxus couldn't see it, but he was sure his hair was tinging blue, "As if having feeling for the things forgotten is something to be ashamed of…"
"Well… Father agrees with you…?" Laxus mentioned a bit helplessly. Davian flinched slightly.
"I'm sorry, what?"
Laxus clicked his teeth, frustrated, confused, and feeling more and more he should just stop speaking altogether, "He chose you, right? To… to be a priest? Not one of the fullbloods?"
Davian seemed to settle slightly, but it wasn't a pleasant thing. His brow furrowed and his eyes were in the dirt, searching for something that Laxus could only guess at. He tried again.
"I mean… who was the last spiritual leader?"
Davian shook his head slightly, "…Father."
Laxus felt dumb, "You didn't want to be a priest… because you didn't want to take Father's place?"
"It's more complicated than that," Davian was strangely quiet, his expression haunted. He looked small, almost fragile.
"Not too good with complicated… so if you told me I probably wouldn't get it," Laxus fidgeted slightly, the humor in his voice seeming far more forced than he'd intended. He shrugged with hands hidden in his pockets, trying to appear as nonthreatening as possible.
"There's so much you just don't know. Finding a place to start is nearly impossible," to Laxus's surprise, Davian didn't resist him. Like the confession from a man on his deathbed, the words fell from his lips heavily and with reflection of the amount of exhaustion it caused him to keep them for so long, "There are two Holy Rites. The Rite of Service and The Rite of Healing. Alongside me, Father chose one for the Rite of Healing… Orotrushit, my only full brother."
Laxus waited patiently, watched as he toyed with the buttons on his shirt, an act that showed how self-conscious he truly was.
"The significance is lost on you. Father had never had children with the same woman twice before… and then both of us were chosen to receive the Holy Rites, the offspring of a human woman were bestowed an honor refused to the fullbloods for generations. Of course, we accepted without hesitation. I was the youngest and so he went first…" Davian shook his head again, words fleeing him when he needed them, "…His mind is completely different. He's incredible with medicine, a marvel, really. Overnight he became the sort of intelligent that men study for decades to become. But the price is heavy for Oros's gifts. Along with blood and pain, he's seemed to have lost his humanity. And after seeing it… I guess I became a coward."
Laxus scoffed, "Not wanting to change who you are doesn't make you a coward."
"You do not understand… I am held to a higher standard."
Laxus crossed his arms, looking down on the Major with as much understanding as he could muster. He took a breath and slowly started to take apart the armor he kept tightly wrapped around himself. He wasn't a manipulative person, didn't particularly care to be sinister or conniving. Watching Davian as he stared off into the distance, fighting memories that Laxus could only guess at, he was faintly reminded of when he had put the first cracks into Gajeel's walls. His heart went out to him. Davian was so quick to point out everything Laxus didn't understand but Laxus was quickly finding that it was the Major who was more than a little misguided.
"My dad was obsessed with becoming a strong Mage," Laxus rumbled, drawing the faintly glowing coin from his pocket and using his thumb to flick it into the air. He sucked in a tense breath, "He wanted to surpass Gramps one day. I don't know, maybe when he figured out he couldn't he decided it should be me. Growing up, though, I didn't have a lot of magic. I think he was disappointed."
Davian peeked over at him timidly, "Is that so?"
"Yeah… He ended up getting his hands on a lacrima. He already decided, I guess, that since I wasn't going to be a strong Wizard he was going to make me one. I was just a kid so I don't remember a hell of a lot about the process but I remember it hurt," Laxus rubbed at his scar as a dull ache started, "And I remember he looked at me, a kid who felt like he could die from pain, and he said 'Weak Mages don't have a place in this world'."
Davian didn't respond. He was fidgeting and he looked alarmed but thoughtful. Laxus let out a heavy sigh.
"You're always told growing up that your parents just want what's best for you, that their high standards are just a way of showing they care. What people don't tell you is that sometimes parents can be toxic."
"How do you tell, I wonder, when that line has been crossed?" Davian murmured.
"If you have to ask, I think ya already know," Laxus watched Davian's reaction, noting how his jaw clenched, "a good place to start, though, is when you notice things stopped being about making you better and turned into forcing you to be something you're not."
The two fell silent and Laxus turned and began picking his way down the hall once again. He could tell Davian was conflicted. His brow was furrowed deeply, his mouth turned down in a pensive frown. Laxus remembered being in his place once. He had often defended his dad's actions to Gramps so many years ago. He was just a kid, after all. He didn't understand that someone as close to him as his own dad could mean him harm. He almost felt bad for driving Davian to that point. On the same hand, though, it would only cause him more pain to continue on in the dark.
Neither of them had long to stray in their own thoughts. All too soon, the familiarity of the place they were in had once again begun to sink into Laxus's marrow. He stopped and glanced to his right, eyeing a fully-equipped room with a medical table and bed overturned.
"This is it," Laxus said quietly and Davian passed him, heading straight for the table with utensils thrown onto the ground. Laxus hadn't gotten a good look at it when he was last here, had been too concerned with his own fate at the time. He watched Davian make his way through the utensils, then stand and glide to one of the counters.
"I've already been here," Davian muttered, lifting lightly a tray and setting it down, eyes sweeping over every visible surface, "there was nothing…"
Laxus felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to prickle. The sense that someone was behind him made his heart begin to beat harder. He glanced back, to another blackened entrance. Davian's shuffles drew his notice, and Laxus watched as the man turned his attention to something else. A cabinet opened and shut. Laxus focused back again on the door.
Was it open more now than it had been just seconds prior? He stepped for it and his eyes lingered on something on the wall just beside it, the control to an electronic lock, the cement around it darkened from a surge that had rendered it useless. He placed a hand to the metal. It took strength to push it and the thick door groaned as if in agony. Moisture in the air had caused it to start to tarnish and the hinges screamed at being forced to move.
The muscles in Laxus's body suddenly became rigid. He stepped into Unaven's old bloodstain, dragged eyes to the corner where Gajeel had crouched in wait for someone to enter his cell. Laxus had remembered the place being redder, or maybe that was just the scarlet of the lights that had caused him to think that way. There was another overturned table with restraints snapped. His legs felt weak as he walked over to it, to the horrors that it spoke of. He imagined Gajeel laying there, naked, barely conscious, screaming and thrashing as he tried to get out. He reached out to touch it and realized his hands were shaking. Something hot and vicious and consuming had begun to constrict around his heart and throat.
You knew something was wrong. You should have been could have stopped this. You could have stopped all of this. If you hadn't been such a coward…
What had happened? Gajeel still refused to speak of it. Although far more seldom than he used to, he still had nightmares. Laxus never heard him in his sleep, it was always when he'd get up in the middle of the night. Usually, he'd just sit up in bed, breathing heavily until the terror subsided. Other times, he'd get up and pace or go to the garage and play his guitar quietly enough that Laxus had to strain his ears to hear him. The bad nights were the ones when he'd grab a cigarette from the pack he thought Laxus didn't know about and head outside.
He stepped forward and his boot hit something. He glanced down to watch a syringe roll across the floor. It settled into groves, four slash marks deep into the concrete and another four mirrored them, as if Gajeel had raked his iron claws against the ground. He glanced to the walls, to bloodied handprints and gashes. Stroboscopic light spasmodically bathed the room yellow as electricity trickled out of him, bold and effusive with the swelling of bitterness in his chest. He clenched his fists as he stared at the vial, brightening and darkening with light, winking at him as he watched it like it could move.
"Laxus," he could barely hear Davian's voice through the mud that had at some point clouded his ears. With a large amount of effort, he stilled the emotion, captured it in his chest, but was unable to push it down. He turned to stare at Davian, noticed the cautious way he stood in the hall with flashlight pointed to the dirt, unwilling to come closer as he observed Laxus's sudden, volatile state, "there's nothing here of value."
"Nothing there? Or you just didn't look well enough?"
Davian hesitated, his jaw became rigid, "The place was scrubbed clean even the first time I was here. The cabinets are bare, utensils look to have never been used, a layer of dust has settled from sitting undisturbed for months. There's even a lack of smell. There is nothing, Laxus."
Laxus turned away from him again.
Nothing. There couldn't be nothing. There was no way he could look Gajeel in the eyes and tell him he'd come back empty handed, that he'd fully run his course, that there was nothing he could do.
His eye began to throb.
He was a worthless man, wasn't he? Powerless in his inability to turn back time. If only he had never left Gajeel alone, if he had any idea what his one act of cowardice would cause he'd have stayed. He'd have kept him safe. And he wouldn't be here, reliving terrors of his past whilst drowning in the thought of what could have happened in the room he stood in.
The black thing in his chest was starting to pulse, to whine, to pull forth emotions Laxus had been ignoring. Like a snake unhinging its jaw, it swallowed him whole and he melted. He had to squeeze his eyes shut as amidst the stale air and blood and barely alive scent of Gajeel left in the place his swell of magical power flooded out and around him, swirling like a whirlwind and drawing the air from his lungs. Lightning arced from him, searing black trails across the ground, up the walls, and patterned the ceiling. He let his head fall back and as the rage threatened to boil him alive he let it out. Lights in the compound came to life, flashed and popped, raining down sparks from above. He heard Davian gasp as the shock wave that carried every bit of his pent-up emotion drove furniture to crash away from him and the ground to shake. A crack broke through the wall and the entire mountain groaned.
In a moment, it was over.
His breaths fled from him as if fearing for their lives. He pressed his palm to his scarred eye, a quiet plea that the pain stop. Slowly, he was able to draw himself back together bit by bit. With static still falling off of him in waves and skittering across his skin with a life of its own, he turned on his heel to leave. Davian stood against the opposite wall with wide eyes and arms held aloft to shield himself. The indention behind him told Laxus he must have been thrown by his sudden implosion and breathless the man watched him turn to leave.
"You were right, Davian, you do your job well," he muttered, fishing the coin from his pocket and flipping it, "So much for your good luck charm."
Its ring filled the air. His hands were still shaking and so when he'd gone to catch it he hit it with the flat of his hand by mistake. It pinged against the wall and rolled off into the darkness, through a door that had been blown open by his rage. He rolled his eyes and cursed. Heat flushed up his neck and he almost ignored the damn thing. After all, what good did such a trinket really do? But Gamps had given it to him and he'd kept it this long, why not a little longer?
He stomped into the room, all the angrier when he realized where he was. The desk had been pushed to the wall, chairs scattered and screens smashed. As he approached they flickered on and off with static, leeching his energy as he passed them. He saw the coin immediately and reached down to pick it up. His eyes were drawn to a mark on the ground and as he straightened he realized it was a scuff mark in the dust. He was going to disregard it. He'd caused a lot of damage, after all. It was very likely from one of the chairs as it had skidded across the floor. What made his eyes linger, though, was the fact that it didn't make sense. It wasn't following the movement of the room but rather looked as if something had been dragged in the direction of a blank wall.
He frowned. Something was wrong.
He felt Davian approach rather than heard him. He could have been a ghost in his silence. He heard his hand on his sabre, gripping the hilt tightly as he stood in the hall, unsure and frightened of the mage he was alone with. Laxus could smell the nervousness but he was trying to ignore it. His eyes were still on the wall, studying it, the scuffs on the floor.
"Something is missing," Laxus said it out loud and could almost hear Davian jump.
"I… I beg your pardon?"
Laxus reached forward, "Ceatus sat me down in that chair but Bianca wasn't here yet. She came through a door…"
His fingers missed the wall and fell through it, touching wood just a couple of inches beyond. As his knuckles brushed down he knocked into a handle, turned it, and pushed. He couldn't see it, but he could hear the hinges squeak as the door swung open. Laxus's eyes widened and he regarded his hand for a moment before letting a low growl simmer through his chest. Electricity pulsed around him and he opened his palm, conjuring his lightning. What still danced around his arms filled the ball with brilliant white energy and with a flick of his wrist it soared through the false door and illuminated what was behind it.
An empty, white room.
"Empty?" Laxus growled, stepping through and into it. Davian was right behind him, slipping past with barely a brush to his arm.
"I think it safe to assume that appearances are not what they seem," Davian was quiet and kept a distance from him, took the time to run his hand against all four walls. Laxus's eye was drawn by a noise. A steady drip, drip, dripwas coming from the corner. There was a crack in the ceiling and a bucket catching water. Next to the bucket was a drain and from where the water overflowed there was a clear trail. There was a film on the bucket, a clear rust but also something else. Laxus reached down and touched it, feeling the smooth and running his fingers down where sediment had built up.
Davian's voice at his back almost surprised him, "Looks to be calcium buildup. It must be groundwater finding its way through the mountain."
"Mm." Laxus stood again and glanced at the far wall opposite the door. Although most of it looked ordinary, there were streaks of something halfway down. There was red there the wall met the floor and the ground there looked recently wet.
"Blood," Davian's voice picked up a little of his usual confidence, "and the ground recently wet."
"Could be the groundwater."
"Could be…" Davian considered it for a moment before silently dismissing it. He ungloved a hand and again ran it against the wall, rubbing his fingers together as he pondered. He glanced over to the bucket, then back to the wall. He narrowed his eyes, "…that bucket has been moved several times before."
He walked over to it and lifted it from the ground. He flicked his hand at Laxus, a motion to tell him to move from the way, and threw the water onto the wall. Laxus flinched back slightly, worried about the splash with so much electricity in the air. Davian seemed unperturbed, though, and the two watched as the water seeped into the face of the stone revealing something dark etched into the face.
"Fucking hell…" Laxus breathed.
"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Davian muttered, crossing his arms.
"Do you kiss your sister with yours?" he snapped in reply and they both glared at each other for a moment. He took a breath, "What does it say?"
Davian turned his eyes back to the wall and by now the symbols were clearly defined and almost black, "It's a riddle. Roughly translated, it means:
More valued than gold,
More precious than silk,
Pouring like wine,
Flowing like milk.
A holy feast,
An offering of war,
A pact that is sealed forevermore."
Laxus growled, "I wonder if I can just bust down the fucking wall."
"Strangely enough, I don't believe brute force was the answer she was going for," Davian said, turning his nose up slightly.
"Oh, and you know what is?"
"Of course, I do," Davian bit back, "and imbecile could figure it out."
"One more insult to my intelligence and I swear to your god Davian…"
"Just two minutes ago you didn't even believe the talisman I blessed for you actually worked and now you're going to evoke my godto aid you in smiting me? Please, Laxus, at least be plausible with your threats."
"I am not in the mood, Davian!"
"And I am? I enjoy being down here just as much as you do!"
"Do you have any idea what happens if I can't do this? If I go back empty handed?" red was starting to blot into his vision again. He clenched his fists and thunder rolled in his core.
"Your lover rots where he belongs?"
"He dies, Davian!" the words rung like the last chime of a church bell and the room felt lifeless, as if that alone had summoned death to stand there with them. Laxus clicked his teeth, "It pisses me off. I've never met a challenge I couldn't take out head on. I've fought wizards you wouldn't have dreamed of meeting and won without a scratch. Do you think I've ever needed to do this shit before? That I don't know I fucking suck at it?"
Davian blinked a couple of times, his lips set in a hard line. He didn't answer but his hand was ready at his hip, waiting in case Laxus made a move, but his eyes were softer.
"Gajeelhad to teach me how to track. Gajeelhad to get me connections to get this far and it was his old buddies that got me outside of Rut's door when I ran into you. I know I don't have any fucking idea what I'm doing and the person who does is giving me tips from his prison cell while I watch him die inside every day he's stuck in there. And all this knowing any day youcan transfer him out of there and he'll be gone!" Laxus took a quivering breath, not even attempting to reign himself in at this point. He was mentally and emotionally exhausted, angry and sad and guilty all at once. He could barely hang on much longer, "I knowI'm the last person who should be doin' this shit but Here. I. Am!"
He waited for the insult to finally set him over the edge but it didn't come. Davian just stared at him, yellow eyes flickering with the light Laxus had conjured. Finally, after a long breadth of silence, Davian seemed to make up his mind.
"The answer is blood," he said curtly, and pulled his sword. Laxus stepped back just as he turned the blade and sliced his hand.
"D… Davian, stop!" he grabbed his hand, stopping him as he raised it to the wall.
"Do not grab me so casually," he turned yellow eyes to him but Laxus didn't waver, even as he felt a rush of emotion from Davian's touch.
"But it talks about a pact," Laxus growled.
"Blood pacts are not uncommon," he said the words simply and through his teeth, as if he were trying extremely hard not to get angry again, "It is just part of the riddle."
Laxus scowled, "All of this, you, chameleons, this riddle, it all reeks of ancient, black magic. Do you know what happens when you mix blood with magic? I binds you to it."
Davian studied him for a long moment before he dropped his eyes. He didn't look defeated as much as he seemed conflicted. He huffed and with the back of his hand he shoved Laxus with enough force that his heels skid backwards, forcing him to release his hold on him. When Laxus went to surge forward, Davian flicked his sabre, sending blood splattering to the ground in a straight line landing at his toes.
"My body is a vessel, it matters not to me what happens to it," he said coolly and placed his hand to the stone, "Besides, what is Bianca to bind me to from beyond the grave?"
Carefully, he wrote in blood a symbol Laxus immediately recognized as one that he'd seen on the center of Davian's chest. He took a step back and spoke a word that Laxus couldn't understand nor did he try to and as soon as he did the symbol turned gold. Slowly, it burned away until there was nothing left and as soon as it had been fully consumed, there was a rush of cold, damp air. The wall dissolved before them and opened up into the black mouth of a cave.
Laxus stepped up and stood next to Davian. For a moment, the two stood and stared down into the dark depths, both silent and still except for the quiet patter of Davian's blood as it dripped steadily to the floor. Davian cleared his throat.
"You're not an imbecile and you have made an incredible amount of progress. I… am sorry… for insulting you."
Laxus pushed his hands into his pockets, "Yeah, well… I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you either."
Davian took a deep breath in through his nose and sighed, "We are supposed to be enemies, you and I."
"I know."
Davian sighed again, checking his watch, "It's starting to get late. We should hurry."
Laxus steeled himself, "Yeah… let's get going."
They both stepped forward and descended into the cave.
Author's Note:
A few things today!
Firstly, MY SIBLING MADE ME FANART! If you follow my Tumblr you may have already seen it, tagged under The World Is Ugly. If not, the best way to find it is probably DeviantArt under The3Ss. Search for A Blessing from Oros. :) Like seriously, check it out. IT IS FANTASTIC. I would love to give you links to click on, but is a bitch and won't let me so unfortunately you'll have to go the long way. I will add links on AO3 though (lord willing).
I don't know if any of you guys are in the Undertale fandom, but they wrote Casting Rain which - and this is from someone who isn't in the fandom at all - is like super super good. They actually just finished the series so it's a good one to binge.
Secondly, I realized I never addressed a question asked from chapter 62:
I'm curious, did Zahir also melt Gajeel's collar or was it only to threaten him?
A storm is brewing, I can't wait :)
YEESSSS LITTLE ONE, A STORM ISSS BREWING... He did not, in fact, melt Gajeel's collar. Zahir was trying to threaten him and sort of assert his dominance. This is a guy who has some serious power behind him. He's confident to the point of near cockiness and he was sort of impressed by Gajeel's ability to assess the situation and determine Zahir was a guy not to be messed with. He also has the misconception that Gajeel will follow him blindly because of this. And poor Gajeel, our retired merc who just wants to be gay and in love is just like... "I am too fucking done for this bullshit."
I'm very sorry for not answering that sooner. I had full intentions to do so in the Author's Notes in chapter 63 and completely forgot. If you guys had any other questions, let me know. My mind has ideas constantly and I understand that sometimes I don't transfer them well on paper. So please, if you have a question or even want to know something about the world that hasn't been talked about yet, ask me! I'd love to answer!
Third order of business: I apologize for not posting last Monday. When I had originally written this chapter I was very unhappy with it. My twin has been beta reading for me recently and helped me sort out what exactly I didn't like and so here we are... almost three times longer than the first go xD
Ok, almost done! So, I'm going to go on vacation next week so chapter updates may be sporadic. So please, bare with me. This is the first vacation I've been on since my son was born. I am SO EXCITED!
Aaaaaaaaand that's it! Thank you all for being awesome! You're all beautiful beans! Have a wonderful week! :)