Sorry for the hiatus, but sometimes the rut is too big. Enjoy!
Gray dodged another Impact Palm and back off slightly, launching more ice lances. He had learned quite quickly that being too close was a terrible idea. He had more than one wound to show for it. Lennix advanced slowly, obviously keeping his eyes on Gray.
"Well?" He asked. "What are you waiting for?"
"Nothing in particular." Gray replied. "Just wondering what you guys were thinking taking members of our guild hostage" Lennix stroked his chin.
"Well, the Balam Alliance has a dark history with Fairy Tail, so it's only natural we'd want a little revenge"
"By hurting them when they can't fight back?" Gray demanded. "I fail to see how you can sleep at night"
"Quite simple, honestly" Lennix responded. "I had nothing to do with those kids getting hurt, why would I feel guilty about what happened? I didn't rape the one, nor did I almost kill the other"
Rape.
The word hung in the air. Lennix seemed unfazed by what he had said. Gray couldn't deny he was shocked to his core. One of them had been raped. Who?
Elise. It all made sense now. Why the girl had refused to talk to anyone, why she hadn't shown up to the guild in days. Why she seemed so depressed all the time. She'd been raped. Gray almost felt his teeth cracking as he grinding them together in a vain attempt to remain in control of his anger.
"What?" Was all he managed to get out. Lennix laughed darkly.
"Oh, I assume she hasn't told you" He replied. "I wouldn't worry about getting those bastards back or anything, the master dealt with it in a very...interesting way" Gray hoped that meant the bastards were dead. He wondered if Gajeel or Levy knew. Nah, if Gajeel knew, he'd have murdered everyone out there. Gray thought to himself. He, for a very brief moment, wondered what would've happened if Nashi had been on the receiving end of that. He shuddered at the thought. Natsu would've torn the place to the ground already if that were to happen.
"I can't believe you don't have a problem with that" Gray growled. "How can you know such a thing and just go along with it?"
"It's called taking orders" Lennix replied. "I don't question the masters orders, as you don't question why you've come here. Now, shall we finish our fight, or will we continue arguing about our views?" Gray agreed with him on that, this battle had gone on long enough. He was, however, waiting for Juvia's go. She had dissipated into a puddle a few moments before. As soon as she was ready, Gray was to strike with everything he had.
"If you want, you could just surrender" Gray suggested, trying his hardest to stall for time. "I mean, half of the six have already fallen."
"As long as Apocalypse stands, there is nothing to worry about. "
"Oh? And why is that?"
"Apocalypse is far stronger than any of us, he could beat you all without lifting a single finger. Even then, if push came to shove with him, he is very skilled in martial arts. Even if the rest of the six were to be pitted against him, he'd win. " Gray chuckled slightly. "What's so funny, ice mage?"
"Nothing," Gray replied. "Just... the guys we sent after Apocalypse have a tendency of kicking the shit out of whoever or whatever gets in there way. Even if Apocalypse was able to withstand all of you, he doesn't stand a chance against them"
"Why?" Lennix demanded, and Gray could see he was calculating every possibility of who had been sent after Apocalypse. "Who could you possibly have that is that strong?" Gray was about to retort when he saw Juvia's watery apparition rising up behind. He smiled.
"Two pissed daddy dragons, that's who" Just as Lennix was about to reply, Juvia grabbed him and encased him in a sphere of water."And by the way, nice job observing, idiot" Juvia grinned widely as Lennix began pounding on the water sphere angrily.
"Juvia got him, Gray!" She shouted happily, "Juvia can't believe your stupid plan worked!" Gray flinched slightly at his wife's harsh words.
"Thanks, Juvia" He muttered. "So, that's Water Lock?" Juvia nodded.
"Yep! This was the spell Juvia used to capture Lucy-san a long time ago!"
"The one that's put them to sleep?" Gray's question was answered by Lennix slowly drifting off the sleep within the sphere. "What should we do with him?" He asked Juvia.
"Juvia doesn't know" She replied. "Leave him here" Juvia's expression darkened. "Gray," She spoke warily. "Lennix said that one of the girls was..."
"I know" Gray interrupted. "I know"
"What do we do?" Juvia asked. "Do you think Levy-san and Gajeel-kun know?" Gray sighed.
"I don't know," He responded. "All I can hope is Gajeel doesn't. He'd be going on a rampage right about now; more than usual, I mean" Juvia nodded.
"Do you think Ultear-sama is okay?" She suddenly asked, causing Gray to face palm. "She did have to take on a member by herself."
"She had Winter and Simon with her" Gray reminded her. "They'll be okay. Hell ,I wouldn't surprised if they're already back" Juvia nodded slowly as they walked back to the tunnel that had led them there, and Gray heard Lennix splash down into the ground.
"Do...you really think Juvia smothers Ultear-sama?" Juvia asked warily. Gray shrugged.
"She's a capable young woman" Gray replied. "On top of that, she a teenager. I don't think she appreciates you embarrassing her in front of her friends, especially in public" Juvia nodded, before beaming at him.
"Juvia will try and do better then!" She said proudly. "Juvia will not smother Ultear-sama anymore" Gray laughed and wrapped an arm around Juvia.
"I think you should drop the honorific" He said flatly. "But on thing at a time, right?"
Drake smiled as Lennix drifted off into slumber.
"Gray and Juvia are on their way back" he called out to the group that was currently discussing what to do about the master. "Lennix is currently dreaming about statistics" They all seemed to look relieved, but Ultear sighed.
"Thank god" She murmured.
"Have Natsu and Gajeel not found Apocalypse yet?" Master Laxus asked. Drake tried to listen in to the door the dragon slayers had taken, but he couldn't hear anything over Lyon talking shit to Quintus.
"I can't tell" He replied. "Lyon's talking so much shit about Quintus' mother I can't hear anything" Winter rubbed the bridge of her nose irritably.
"Of course he is" She said weakly. "Why would he not be?"
"The parfum of victory, meeehhhnnn" Drake turned to find Blue Pegasus emerging from their doorway, looking a little battered and irritated, but otherwise okay. "Good to see our friends have succeeded!" Ichiya shouted.
"No sign of Natsu or Gajeel" Hibiki noted. "I take it their still venting their anger"
"Most likely" Jura replied. "I do believe they have a good reason"
"How's my mom doing?" Simon asked Drake, who focused intently.
"Alright, I suppose" He replied, giving Simon some degree of relief. "She's pissed off, but I do believe that means she's okay, seeing as she's usually pissed off"
"Very true" Winter laughed. Jura winced. "Hey, are you alright, Master?"
"Yes, I'm find Winter" Jura replied, rubbing his temple. "I just have a bad headache all of the sudden"
"I can give you some ice"
"That would be nice, dear, thank you" Winter formed a small ball of ice in her palm and handed it Jura, who placed it against his forehead. another explosion racked the building.
"Mavis above, Erza" Drake growled, rubbing his ears in a vain attempt to stop the ringing. "Could you have been anymore blunt?"
Erza was about to strangle Quintus, for what it was worth. The man had gone from attacking them at random to messing around with them, calling out insults and jabbing at them. He crossed Erza's line when he spanked her. She growled.
"How about you stop playing with us and give up?" Erza asked, making sure her sweet tone was laced with malice. "I won't hurt you, I swear" Quintus chuckled.
"I think I'll wait for Apocalypse to deal with your dragon slaying companions." He replied. "I do feel like they could become a problem"
"Natsu and Gajeel won't lose!" Sherry shouted. "They're two of the powerful wizards out there!"
"So is Apocalypse" Quintus replied darkly. "I've seen the man slaughter entire armies of mages, without even batting an eye. You know the Massacre in Northern Fiore, where an invading force was ripped apart? That was Apocalypse on a bad day"
"Natsu's defeated men much more powerful than that," Erza replied, thinking back to Jellal at the tower and Hades. Zancrow, Sting and Rogue in dragon force, the Dorma Anim, the list went on and on. "Gajeel's no pushover, either"
"Well, we'll just see, won't we?" Quintus asked, and Erza nodded. "Now, I think I'm done playing." Before Erza could ask what he was talking about, Sherry gasped and Erza turned to find her caught, with a shadow blade held under her throat. "Not another step Titania, Or your friend gets it"
Natsu was pissed off before he got to the guild house, he was even more pissed now that he and Gajeel couldn't find this Apocalypse guy.
"See anything?" Gajeel asked, and Natsu shook his head. The two of them arrived in a small chamber, and no one in it, as far as Natsu could tell.
"If that bitch Angel lied to us and had us go through her door, I'm going to be pissed" Natsu warned.
"Why would she do that?"
"Hell if I know, but still"
"Hey, do you see this?"
"What?" Natsu turned to find a small green glowing spot on Gajeel's arm. all of the sudden, they started appearing all over his body, Natsu's as well. "What the hell?!"
"It's Rapture magic, Salamander!" Gajeel shouted. "Get ready!" Natsu was about to demand Gajeel explain himself when pain rippled through Natsu's system. He screamed in agony, it felt as if someone was driving a dagger through every inch of his body, slowly torquing it to increase the amount of pain.
"What the fuck!" Natsu shouted angrily, rubbing his arms to regain feeling in them. "Just what the hell was that?" a voice chuckled darkly.
"Lots of magic' the masculine voice boomed. "This'll be a lot of fun." A dark haired man stepped out of the shadows, hands in his pockets. He stared at them, confused.
"Hey, do I know you guys from somewhere?"
"I've never seen you before" Gajeel said. "But you may have seen my daughter. Ring any bells, asshole?" Apocalypse shrugged.
"I've tortured a lot of people, be more specific" Natsu growled.
"Fairy Tail" He hissed, and Apocalypse snapped his fingers, grinning widely.
"Oh, I recognize you now! You're the fathers of those annoying little shits that escaped! I got you know. They were incredibly irritating, so you know. Always screaming for me to stop and that I didn't have to do what I did" Apocalypse shrugged and Natsu's clenched his fists angrily. "You guys really have to do a better job at telling them to sit down and shut up" Natsu lit his hands on fire.
"How about you attack someone who can fight back?" Natsu asked angrily, his vision going red. "Maybe then you'll know why they wanted you to stop. Apocalypse sighed.
"Fine, but your kid was all talk, so how much better can you be?"
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