Broken Fairies

by EnergyMageFrea

Light Magic has won over Dark in the battle to decide the Balance of the world, but shadow has never settled so thickly over the Fairy Tail Guild as it has now, and that darkness does not seem to want to leave. Is it possible, after all the evil and the pain suffered, lived through and triumphed over by the Guild- that Fairy Tail has finally broken? {Fourth Story in Series!}

29. Chapter 29- Heart Breaking

Chapter 29

Heart Breaking

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's, Energy Magic, and Ideas

.:+:.

"... I am empty again and the Door is shut... The one person able to open it, rendered useless...!" He snapped lowly, His teeth gritting so hard they threatened to crack. He shook His head hotly, ripping the black Dyann from around His neck and shoulders and tossing it aside angrily. The Thunder Legion's eyes widened, a flash of light catching their eyes as the God-King tossed the Dyann away. Their hearts skipped a beat, for half a second catching sight of a key fastened to a necklace around the God-King's neck, before Drennios turned His back on them and Frea hotly.

"Fine then, I no longer care for this mortal coil! I am done, do as you will!" Drennios snapped, His voice raising and yelling now to someone (or many someone's) that they could not see... But they did feel the air shift, a million unseen things suddenly flooding the room, thrumming with so much energy and power it was palpable. Bixlow went rigid, eyes wide and flashing under his visor- the world around him was suddenly dancing in shadows and terrible things of the most evil nature. Dancing and swirling faster now with the God-King's rage-filled voice, brimming with a power and strength that should not have been possible, and one that was almost choking.

"H-holy shit...!" The Seith Mage stammered breathlessly, Evergreen and Freed wide-eyed and frozen when even they saw the shadows in the room begin to sway and take form. The whole room was getting quickly darker, terrible silhouettes of things crawling over floor and wall and water alike, hisses and whispers igniting on the air and roaring lowly in their ears.

"... W...what is... That...?" Evergreen stammered,

Frea stiffened, her coughing coming to a quick halt as she felt the chill suddenly take over the whole room, the air buzzing and so full of energy and maliciousness it had her heart skipping a beat.

There were hundreds of them

"Let them all burn, tear this city to the ground, take them all!" Drennios yelled to the dancing shadows and the storm of bodiless voices and screams. "Consume every soul in this city- take the whole country! Drag every last one of them into the throes of Hell along with you!"

The God-King whipped around after having walked a few paces, His hand swiping out in Frea's direction. The water in one of the nearest pools suddenly shifted, something springing up from it's depths.

"Take them, and start with her!"

A chain shot forward, wrapping itself around the Collar on Frea's neck, the Energy Dragon Slayer's yelp of surprise cut off in an instant as the chain jerked her backward across the marble floor, and then dragged her down below the waters surface and out of sight.

"Damn them all!"

"FREA!"

They lost sight of her in seconds, the water's surface churned up as Frea was dragged under, and then that same water stilling a few moments after, and the Thunder Legion felt their hearts nearly stop.

They were losing her again

They didn't even give the dancing shadows a second thought, or the whispers all around, or the sudden upsurge in maliciousness on the air- they didn't question it, or the sudden turn, all that was on their minds from that moment forward was Frea.

Freed hissed, his muscles burning with the effort of keeping his hand moving as he frantically finished writing the Runes he'd started as soon as they'd been trapped in the Gravity Field. The lettering blazed deep purple as he finished the last one through, the Runes etched into the roof over their heads keeping the Gravity Effect going suddenly cracking along their edges and turning a terrible red color. The weight hampering them down subsided, and not a moment later all three of the Thunder Legion were on their feet and headed straight toward the God-King, Magic flaring.

They had to get to her, they had to get that Collar off, cut her loose- they had to go now!

Drennios stiffened, instantly aware of the movement behind Him, but only managing to turn halfway before the suffocating darkness, and the terribly twisted shadows shrunk back in a blaze of golden-white.

"Fairy Bomb: Gremlin!"

Drennios turned, Runes flaring across the floor with a flick of His hand- erecting another Barrier in seconds that had Evergreen's Magic quickly bouncing back harmlessly.

"Dark Erciture: Destruction!"

The wall of Magic keeping Evergreen's Magic at bay was shattered by a quick slice of Freed's sword, the Runes powering the wall buckling in on themselves and letting through the flurry of explosive golden-light. Drennios hissed, a necklace around His neck filled with Lacrima and Runes flaring to life and erecting a Guard- which saved Him the ire of the attacks, but the force of it made the God-King stumble back several paces.

"Cease!" Drennios snapped hotly, His blank stare latching on to Evergreen and hand swinging toward her, all full of anger and wrath and impatience. A beam of red-hot Magic shot out from the God-King's bracelet, Evergreen hastily sending out another round of glittering gold bullets to meet it head on. The two collided with a boom, the water trembling under the ferocity of it, and Drennios backing off again when the wave of pressure swept out all around.

Freed grimaced, rounding on Drennios as the God-King staggered back several steps, his sword swinging up quickly- and Drennios sensed the green-haired man there instantly, already on the defensive and a second faster than the Fairy. Freed stiffened, his eyes flashing and quickly readjusting his sword just slightly mid-stroke.

"I said CEASE!"

The air shook heavier than before, a plume of smoke and orange suddenly springing up as all sight of Freed was lost among the fire and ash. Evergreen and Bixlow hissed, eyes wide and hearts sinking as they saw Freed get thrown backward, the man letting out a quickly cut off yelp of pain.

Light glittering among the cloud of smoke caught their eyes though, the tip of Freed's sword breaking through the edge of the smoke, bits of broken chain following it's path and a key tossed up in air.

"Evergreen!" Freed snapped quickly, before being blown backwards by another boom and slamming into a wall on the other end of the room. Evergreen didn't pause even half a second, she darted forward in air and snatched the key up quickly- but movement at the corner of her eye made it clear that Drennios was aware of what she was doing, and was not pleased.

"Get your filthy hands away from that!"

She tensed, her attention not on the incoming attack bubbling at the God-King's hand, but instead on quickly tossing the key away from herself and the explosion that was soon to follow.

"Bixlow-!"

Her shouting of her teammate's name cut off abruptly, Evergreen lost from sight as a cloud of heat and smoke engulfed her- but not before she'd tossed the key across the room, and one of Bixlow's Tiki Dolls rushed to catch it.

"Go Babies!" The Seith Mage ordered curtly, the Doll now holding to the key quickly joined by two more as they dashed straight through the air, and plunged down into the water without hesitation. Bixlow jumped forward, using the remaining two Dolls as footholds to quickly dodge back out of the way of the blast Drennios sent in his direction, the God-King's voice full of rage.

"You little pests!"

The room above the water boomed, sending ripples across the surface and distorting the light that managed to break through for only the first few feet. The muffled booming and shouting faded nearly as quickly as the light at the top did, the Tiki Dolls pushing quickly through the water directly downward, the key and the half chain it was attached to wrapped around the wing of the Doll at the lead. All three swept down into the pitch black depths of the water, headed straight toward the Energy Dragon Slayer still quickly being dragged down, her struggle against the Collar around her neck getting less fervent with every mouthful of water she sucked in.

Frea didn't see the Tiki Dolls, she couldn't in the darkness, or around how quickly her vision had started to turn black. She couldn't sense them either, not the feel of their little Energy Signatures above her, and not around the debilitating cloud of terror that had overtaken her mind. Memories of weeks of drowning over and over again were running through her head on a repeat, this cold and dark water way too similar to that decay-ridden ocean in the Reach- the one she'd been plunged into hundreds of times over, suffocating constantly, and yet never drowning all the way. She had absolutely no idea the Dolls were there until one moved underneath her, pushing up against her back, while the other two pinned the key between themselves. Light bounced off the Collar as they turned the key once, and the pressure pulling down against her neck vanished along with the device, down and out of sight into the depths without a trace.

Her eyes snapped open wide, glittering in the dim as she frantically reached forward, her arms wrapping tightly around one of the Dolls and holding fast no matter how much her arms and shoulders burned with the movement. The last of the Dolls pushed up against her like the first, her continued backward plunge into the water suddenly reversed as they pulled her quickly up and toward a surface she hadn't been able to see in much too long.

The crash of noise on her ears as they broke the surface again was deafening. Between the splash of the water, the booms echoing off the stone on a repeat, the pounding of her heart, and her own strangled gasp of air the minute she was out of the water- her ears rung... And then rung some more when she choked on that gasping breath, her lungs too full up with water to handle the air she tried to take in. She sputtered, the Tiki Dolls quickly setting her down into sitting on her heels on solid ground again, off to the side of the stairs. Her body spasmed painfully as she hunched over and retched up mouthfuls of water, the Tiki Doll she'd grabbed tight hold of being the only thing keeping her from toppling over entirely. She bent over it, using the top for support as she continued to cough up the water, her lungs burning with every heave, and her body following suit too. The numbness of the cold of the water quickly lost it's bite, and let through the pain that the chill and the fear had previously made null on her mind.

The Thunder Legion spared quick, furtive glances toward the Energy Dragon Slayer, just to see her, to make sure she was at least conscious. Their stomachs curled at the sound of her coughing and retching, but at least she was breathing, and sort of sitting up... And though they hated it, they were mid-battle and couldn't rush over to her like they immediately wanted to. They had to finish this quick-paced back and forth with the God-King before they could even think about her. They had to stop Him and keep Him from doing anything more. Whether it be His constant attacks on them, or worse- his attention turn to the Energy Dragon Slayer again.

They pressed forward quickly, not faltering for even a moment when they saw the sky through the glass windows over their heads wash out in red. They did not notice Jynx's Magic up high, or the sudden influx of it, or how quickly those twisting shadows and voices in the room seemed to be chased away by it. They were too focused on dodging the high-power beams of Magic and waves of force being sent their way constantly, and the Rune traps littered over the room trying to trip them up. The Thunder Legion pushed forward fast and hard, dodging the attacks and moving in and out of each other with a grace and coordination owed to three people who had spent years fighting together.

They needed this done, and they needed it done now. They couldn't afford to keep going like this, they'd already been hurt and drained of Magic even before being dragged here- and they were quickly growing further and further beaten and drained with every second against Drennios and his seemingly endless sources of weapons and attacks. And it was not only for their sake's they needed this to be done with, but for Frea's too- they were basically her last line of defense with her being as hurt as she was, and she was in no condition to be fighting at all... Already she'd been tossed around and nearly drowned on their watch, and they hated it.

Evergreen and Freed passed each other quickly, Bixlow close behind and their eyes matching for half a second in silent words. Bixlow and Evergreen broke off, Freed raising his sword and poised off to the side as his two teammates both charged forward on a beeline toward the God-King. Freed's eyes dropped closed, Runework swiftly being traced in air around him with deadly precision, the Runes coiling around him and taking on a deep purple glow that continued to grow in intensity. Evergreen and Bixlow kept forward while Freed started to work, the both of them dodging the attacks sent their way left and right, while Drennios hissed furiously at their continued dodging, His attacks growing quickly more haphazard and sloppy as Evergreen and Bixlow drew steadily closer.

"Do not take another step!"

Drennios' voice got lost in the earsplitting whine that followed a blast of Magic much larger than any of those from before. Evergreen and Bixlow's approach faltered, Evergreen quick to take up a place between the Seith Mage, her Magic burning bright and eyes hard despite the bruising, bandages and blood covering her person in too many places to count- just as they did on Freed and Bixlow now too.

"Fairy Storm!"

The blast collided with Evergreen's Magic, making the whole room shudder and groan under the backlash of it. Evergreen got pushed back, barely keeping her feet and panting- but her eyes snapped over and darted over Freed and Bixlow both. "Now!" She snapped hotly toward both men, and Bixlow rushed passed her, jumping in air and tongue sticking out.

"Let's go Babies!" He called quickly, the Tiki Dolls rushing forward in front of him and circling quickly as they began to glow green. Bixlow faltered for half a second as they started though, slightly surprised to find only four before him, but not thinking on it for very long just then either.

"Baryon Formation!"

Freed's eyes opened instantly as Bixlow's attack fired off, his sword swiping out in one decisive sweep, the Runes rushing forward with it.

"Dark Erciture: Trap!"

Bixlow's attack slammed into the God-King's hastily produced Barrier with ferocity, the Barrier not put up fast enough to block all the way, and sending the God-King stumbling, but not downed. Evergreen swept her hands forward, a storm of golden particles streaming forward as soon as Bixlow's attack finished out.

"Fairy Bombs: Gremlin!"

Drennios hissed, instantly aware of her and throwing a hand up quickly in a wave of force Magic- which hit both Evergreen and Bixlow and tossed them back a ways. But Evergreen's Magic persisted even so, pummeling the God-King in a round of explosive blasts that sent Him flying backwards and completely knocked from His feet this time around.

The God-King hit the floor hard, hissing and struggling to His feet again- only to be bombarded by the flurry of Runes Freed had sent loose. The Runes rammed into him, some of them sticking to the God-King's person and quickly restricting any attempts at moving again, while the rest stuck themselves to the floor and started building up quickly, forming a box-like cage made of Runes around where Drennios had hit the floor, shaking and struggling against the Runes that had snaked around Him like chains. The Cage glowed bright purple, standing firm and tall and activating a Nullification Field- as to keep Drennios from meddling with any more Magic or tools from within it's confines... And with that last round of moves, everything came to a quick, and jarring halt.

For a moment or two they all paused, silence falling on the room quickly, the Thunder Legion bloody and hurt quite a bit more now, even with the fight having been done and other with in around half an hour or so... Half an hour and their bodies burned, and what Magic was left was spent on that- trapping the God-King and putting an end to the senseless violence being tossed every which way. Half an hour and this country full of Magic and Tools so far above anything they had seen before, and this country's Mortal God made King- the very person responsible for putting into motion all this chaos and harm- half an hour was all it took to render Him trapped and harmless.

How could someone so quickly dethroned, have caused so much damage...? Someone so small and so frail, blind and blood-ridden... Have caused all of this?

Freed's sword fell, his eyes darting quickly from the God-King and toward where Evergreen was still picking herself up from having been thrown. He was faintly aware of Bixlow on his feet and already headed toward where Frea was, and for the moment he let his attention stay off the Energy Dragon Slayer they had come so far for, and focused on his teammate instead. Bixlow went to check on her, he could afford a few moments to help Evergreen to her feet before turning to Frea again.

"Are you alright?" Freed asked softly as he held a hand out for his friend, and Evergreen puffed a little, taking him up on his offer.

"... Yeah..."

Bixlow gave his teammates very little notice, he'd immediately turned his attention off to the side even before Freed's Runes had finished their work. Around his head four of his Tiki Dolls danced rather anxiously, following him as he moved quickly off to the side and the bottom of the steps, his eyes flashing under his visor. Only four Tiki Dolls had come when he called a bit before, not the five there were- and though he couldn't linger on it too much in the moment, he couldn't get it out of his head either.

He drew up a foot in front of where Frea was, the Energy Dragon Slayer soaked, water dripping constantly from her clothes and her hair, and falling in a puddle around her. Her body was shaking badly with every rushed, shallow, nearly frantic breath she was taking in, her fingers trembling terribly along with her arms as she hugged his Tiki Doll tightly. Her fingernails dug into the wood of the Doll, silver eyes locked straight ahead a down, glittering like mad, and frozen... Paralyzed even, though her body was trembling like a leaf, and in a pace nearly just as quick as her breaths came and went.

Bixlow stiffened slightly, his jaw falling slack and movements stalling in a mixture of shock and concern... Cause no way right...?

She looked like she was holding on to his Tiki Doll for dear life- like her hands and arms had locked and she would not let go. Not even if the Doll needed or wanted to move, she wouldn't budge with a grip like that. And the way she was shaking? And her breathing too? It was fast- like really fast, and shallow... And maybe getting faster too.

"... Frea?" He tried quietly, but the Energy Dragon Slayer didn't really seem to register his voice or her own name- and if she did, she certainly didn't react or look up at him. Evergreen and Freed came up behind the Seith Mage then, their eyes widening and steps quickening a little when they heard how raggedy her breathing was- but like Bixlow they drew up, almost faltering.

Because there was no way right?

They stiffened, their hearts twisting, and quite frankly dumbfounded for a few seconds.

Among the drops of water falling from her figure there were others too, glittering and intermittent- tears trickling silently down her cheeks from her eyes, her trembling interrupted every now and again by a hitching, silent, half-sob.

... She's... Crying...

None of them had ever seen her cry, ever. Not once...! And even more than that...?

That look on her face, the tautness in her muscles, the frantic breathing, her shaking so, so badly...?

She's... She's terrified... Absolutely terrified

They couldn't ever remember seeing Frea scared of anything, not in all the years of being at the Guild. Even when she'd fought with Mordren, any fear they'd seen in her was fleeting and quickly replaced with steadiness and determination- she never stopped dead, or started shaking, or was rendered completely unable to move and almost unable to breathe- not like this. Any idea of her actually being terrified and sitting there, shaking, crying, and on the verge of passing out because she wasn't breathing properly- none of that would have ever seemed in the realm of possibility to see from Frea. The Frea who was, in all honestly, almost impossibly fearless and unbreakable in all things... But now that very same person they'd never seen crack under anything, was sitting there on the floor, absolutely petrified.

But... Why...?

"... Frea...?" Evergreen mumbled breathlessly, less so trying to get the Dragon Slayer's attention rather than just mumbling her name out of shock at what they were seeing. She stalled and Freed did too, though they really didn't mean to- they just could help it, their minds were slow to even begin to come to terms with the sudden shift or why it came... Bixlow stepped forward though, dropping down into sitting on his heels in front of the Energy Dragon Slayer and tilting his head a bit to try and gain her attention off the floor.

"Frea, hey, can you look at me please?" Bixlow murmured calmly, this time earning a slightly surprised blink from the Dragon Slayer, her eyes snapping up quickly toward him, teary and still slightly dazed and unfocused.

She hadn't heard him the first time he'd said her name, and she hadn't heard Evergreen say anything either- in fact, up until right then she hadn't even realized all three of them were in front of her at all. She was trapped in an endless cycle, never getting enough air no matter how hard she tried, and the feel of her body being plunged under the water and dragged back up coming on a constant loop. She smelled the death and decay of the Reach's waters heavy on her nose, her vision was clouded so much at the edges and so dark she couldn't see, and her ears were ringing still... The ever frantic, pounding beat of her heart in her head was jarring, and entirely blocked out the sound of her breathing- which not being able to hear the breaths in her lungs did nothing to settle her nerves. It was an unending loop, no sense of up or down, or anything else outside of her own head and the memories, and the suffocating feeling gripping tight to her. She could not move, her arms hurt from holding to the Tiki Doll so tightly and her muscles ached from being locked as they were- her shoulder and wrist were the worst of the lot, but the pain didn't register like it should.

Nothing was registering for her, not the way she was breathing, not the shaking of her whole body, not her own tears, and not them... Even when Bixlow's voice did make a dent over the ringing in her ears, it was still so quiet compared to the rest and she didn't really hear what he said at all. Her eyes snapped up reflexively but she just stared, whatever he said next not making a dent either and her focus not on him even half of the way. Everything was just complete and utter chaos in her mind and on her senses, the world and reality was spinning out of control and she had no control over herself or what she was feeling. She was completely lost in the rush of terror that had gripped tightly to her very soul, and rational thought or action was so far out of reach that that was jarring in itself.

This was not normal, it couldn't be normal, she never did this, reacted like- why can't I... Stop myself...?

Why do I still feel... Like... I'm... I'm suffocating...?

"Frea." Bixlow repeated again, a touch louder this time but still as steady as before. She blinked, his voice breaking through a bit more clearly this time, and she swallowed hard, quickly struggling to focus enough on him so he didn't fade out again... And she didn't get rid of the spinning of her mind under the uncontrollable fear, but she did keep pushing against it. Bixlow seemed to tell she'd perked up a bit more this time and he nodded at her, his hands falling on his knees as he inched forward a tad bit more. "Okay, can you do me a favor and just hold your breath for a few seconds?" Bixlow asked next and Frea stiffened at the request, eyes glittering and confused and uneasy all at once. All that crossed her mind when he asked it was what?

Why would she try and hold her breath if she already wasn't getting enough air?

I-i can't already... W-why... Does he...?

Bixlow noticed how quickly her (already shallow and frantic) breathing seemed to hitch when he asked it, and he offered up a small smile. "It's just a few seconds. You'll be fine, I promise." He pressed again and Frea stiffened even further, her hold in the Tiki Doll growing all the more rigid.

She didn't get it, she instinctively recoiled at the idea- but everything was so far out of control, her mind needed something to latch on to, and his suggestion was the only thing available just then. So she held her breath, even though everything in her heart and her head told her not to, and her lungs immediately burned for it. She coughed a few seconds into it, her body quickly burning a bit more too as she sputtered for a few seconds, the Thunder Legion stiffening slightly at the sound of it, and how quickly she doubled over too. Bixlow reached forward quickly to steady her, his touch light and not altogether sure it was wanted as he waited for her sputtering to come to a close, and he caught her fragmented attention again, his stomach twisting.

"Okay, that wasn't super awful yeah? I'm gonna need you to do it again." Bixlow murmured softly, "Come on, just a few more seconds." He pressed gently, his hands pulling back slowly from her shoulders and Frea hissed, her eyes closing tightly as she sucked in a sharp breath of air and held it.

It burned just as much as the first time, but she didn't end up coughing this time when she let it out again, though her frantic breathing hadn't lessened much even still. Bixlow seemed to let out a silent sigh, his hand reaching forward again as he tapped her arm gently to get her eyes back on him again.

"Keep doing it." He instructed calmly, "Hold your breath for five seconds, then wait ten, and do it again. You'll be fine, just keep doing it... It will get easier, I swear." He murmured, Frea's eyes glittering as she swallowed hard again, but nodded stiffly, just once.

It was unbearably hard to even count damn it. Counting for fucks sake... She couldn't even do that properly, not around everything. She lost count, several times, her thoughts sluggish and jarring for her and her chest in agony every time she did hold her breath. Her heart pounded loudly on her ears and made it all the harder to string the numbers together in the order they needed to be. And the suffocating feeling didn't go away as she did it, nor did the whirling sensation either... But after several jolting attempts at doing something that should have been so simple, she did start to become more and more aware of just how badly she was shaking. And slower still she became aware how awful her own breathing sounded on her ears, where for the longest time she hadn't been able to hear it all around everything else... And then as soon as that got through the haze of panic and fear, a terrible and nauseating feeling quickly found a spot in her core and she blanched, her already pale skin paling even further and her body trembling with a new fierceness.

Evergreen and Freed grimaced, fidgeting slightly where they'd stuck behind Bixlow, watching in stiff silence as the Seith Mage kept murmuring quiet encouragement for Frea to keep on with the small attempts of holding her breath... And it did seem to be working. After a few long minutes her frantic breathing settled to something still quick, but not at all as bad as that ragged gasping she'd fallen into, as if she couldn't breathe at all. But as her breathing slowed even just that little bit, the way her body shook just grew all the worse, and the rigidness of her muscles slowly fading had her all the more shaky and pale.

Ten minutes in, some semblance of rationality finally managed a way passed the overwhelming emotions and thoughts running through her head, and in a small, tiny space in the back of her head she realized what she was doing... And that she'd done this before.

But she'd snapped back before. She'd snapped herself out of it and quickly enough that she didn't crumble all the way... She'd been rammed into by a rush of unbridled fear just like this when God Serana sent his Water Magic at her, but she hadn't fallen so far into the terror she couldn't move. She'd lashed out, she'd moved, she'd done something... But this time she'd just crumbled, completely. Shattered, and rendered completely unable to do anything.

Frea held her breath one more time, and this time for longer than the 5 seconds she'd been asked to. She shut her eyes tight, folding in on herself slightly and hugging the Tiki Doll closer, grimacing. She could the feel the tears still dripping from her eyes, and she hated it.

D... Damn it...

... stop... Stop...

... This isn't...

... I can't be... Doing this...

...s..shit...

... Why can't I stop... Shaking...?

... Stop it, damn it...

"... Frea..?" Bixlow murmured softly, his head tilting when she held her breath a little too long there, and when she let it out it came in a shaky hiss. Evergreen and Freed pressed a little closer at last, slowly sinking down into sitting on either side of Bixlow, their eyes glittering. Frea seemed to hunch a little bit more, her forehead pressed against the top of the Tiki Doll in her arms.

"...T...tch... I... I'm sorry..." Frea hissed quietly, her suddenly saying something after so long surprising them all, and more so with an apology. Frea hissed again, her voice hoarse and shaking terribly. "... I...I... C... Can't... S...stop it... I'm trying..." She stammered tensely, and they felt their hearts twist a little.

"... What's... Wrong...?" Evergreen asked hesitantly, Frea shook her head slightly, teeth gritting.

"... It... I just... I can't stop myself... F...from... I don't want to... F...freak out... But I... I can't..." Frea stammered lowly, "... It's never... Gotten this bad... Before... B...before I just... B...but the water..."

The Thunder Legion stiffened, blinking several times over and faces falling in shock.

The water? Did she mean-?

Frea seemed to shudder, her breaths shaking even more as she shook her head a few times, her bangs mussing up against the top of the Tiki Doll.

"... It s...shouldn't... Make me so... S... So freaked... O...out b...but... G...getting dragged under...a..again... I... Just... I...c...can't stop... T..tch..." She hissed lowly, and they grimaced, their hearts skipping a beat.

What did she mean, getting dragged under again?

Had she been nearly drowned some time before now they weren't aware of...? And it had been so bad that it now had her absolutely terrified...?

"... I... I'm sorry... I'm... Trying... Not... Not to... B...be so..." Frea stammered breathlessly, cutting herself off and gritting her teeth, her fingernails digging further into the wood of the Tiki Doll.

...d...damn it... S...stop it...

... Get... Ahold... Of yourself... T...Tch...

... T...this... Is... Ridiculous...

... You know... You're not... F... Fuck...

... Stop it...

"... Hey, it's fine." Bixlow murmured quietly, "... You'll be okay, just give it a bit... Ya don't gotta apologize, Frea..." He told her softly, Freed and Evergreen nodding stiffly.

"Yes, please don't feel you need to apologize, Frea... you've nothing to apologize for." Freed told her quickly,

"Right... Just give it a little time, we aren't going anywhere, you don't have to force yourself..." Evergreen murmured steadily,

Frea hissed again, her teeth gritting further at the words and hating how unbearably kind and gentle their voices were just then... She appreciated it of course, how quickly they were to try and reassure her- but she hated she had to be reassured at all.

She shouldn't have reacted like this at all, she should have been able to stop herself... But hell. No matter how hard she tried to force her body to unwind, to stop shaking, to get rid of the sick feeling in her core, and utterly chilling sense of panic and fear- nothing worked... In reality, it just seemed to make it all worse, and she hated that even more.

She just wanted it to stop. She wanted her body to listen, her mind to unwind, for the goddamn tears to stop- for it to all just go away.

It was too much

"... it's alright." Evergreen murmured softly, "... Take as much time as you need, Frea... We aren't going anywhere."

"Yeah." Bixlow murmured quietly, "This is all gonna pass in a bit, you just gotta let it run it's course, kay?" He murmured softly,

"... Please just take your time... If we can we'll help you, if you need us... We will wait however long you need Frea, until you can get through this." Freed told her gently,

"We promise."

It took so damn long

Years it felt like, her body still trembling like crazy, her lungs jolting and breaths much too quick, and much too frantic. Her muscles and her bones hurt from the rigidness of her body and having been thrown around, dragged through the water so forcefully, and everything else that had happened through all of this chaos in this country. But the rigidness did fade after a long while of sitting in silence, and her breathing slowed to something not quite normal, but not terrible either. The whirling sensation in her mind dulled down and the adrenaline that had coursed through her tapered off too... The fear didn't really feel like it faded all that much, but it wasn't as derailing anymore, or as paralyzing either.

But with every minute that passed the more she felt how badly everything hurt, and how terribly her body was feeling and shaking still for the weakness, and the heavy sick feeling now getting all the worse. She felt like she wanted to throw up, but there was nothing left in her stomach to retch, she'd gotten rid of it all when first being brought here and Pestilence's Magic hit her hard.

She shuddered, her fingers faltering around the Tiki Doll and cringing at the sharp stab of pain that ran through her right shoulder when her arms fell even half an inch. She dropped the Doll completely this time around, stiffening and holding her breath against it the agony that followed- her wrist hurt like hell too, she couldn't move it nor her shoulder without a stab of fiery pain rushing through her. The Doll didn't hit the floor when she dropped it, it simply floated off to the side to join the other four in silence. The Thunder Legion stiffened when Frea hissed though, the pain clear in her face as the Dragon Slayer folded in on herself slightly, though she didn't seem to dare move her arms at all... And they couldn't blame her. Talarr had made it clear how badly hurt she was, and with several broken bones being the least of her worries- it was a miracle she'd not passed out again after being jolted back into wakefulness by the God-King... And surely the only reason she'd stayed awake still was because of how badly she reacted to being pulled under the water.

But they could see her posture wilting further and further as she settled out again, the paleness of her skin worsening and the trembling of her body becoming all the quicker. Her hold on the Tiki Doll failed and she bent over a bit for it, almost swaying for a moment as all three of the Thunder Legion reached for her reflexively, their eyes flashing and hearts skipping a beat.

"... Frea...!"

She jumped slightly, her eyes snapping open halfway and swallowing hard as she righted herself before any of them were forced to steady her, lest she fall. She groaned a bit under her breath, shaking her head slightly to try and clear it... Though it didn't help.

She felt awful... Like absolute hell... Maybe even worse than how she'd felt after fighting Mordren.

... This feels... Almost as awful as I did after... Going to Era...

... Of course it does... I... Freaked out... Over the... The water...

...shit...

"... Frea...?" Freed murmured softly, his, Bixlow's and Evergreen's hands still hovering even as Frea seemed to catch herself. She looked up slowly at the sound of her name, her tired silver eyes meeting his and his stomach twisted at just how terrible she looked. He cast a quick glance to Evergreen and Bixlow both, before Bixlow's hands started on untying the Dyann around his shoulders and Evergreen inched closer toward Frea. Evergreen's hand landed gently on Frea's lower back, while Bixlow finished fiddling with the cloth and Freed moved closer too, "... Here, we should really bind your shoulder..." Freed murmured softly, Bixlow handing the Dyann off to him. Frea nodded a bit in understanding to the words but said nothing to it, her eyes dropping closed again and doing her best to stay as upright as she could. Freed and Evergreen did their best to be as gentle as possible, folding the Dyann Bixlow had handed off and gently pulling it around Frea's torso and shoulder, to pin her arm in place and keep it from moving too much. She went rigid underneath them as soon as they started to work, but she kept herself quiet, and seemingly holding her breath all the way up until they tied it off- and she cringed, harshly, making the trio around her flinch.

"... I'm sorry..." Freed apologized quickly, Frea's breath shuddering for a few moments as she seemed to try so hard to regain herself. The hot throbbing in her shoulder tapered off after a few minutes, and she swallowed, forcing a deeper breath. She straightened up the little she'd doubled over at the pain, her other arm curling around her body slightly, careful to keep her wrist from moving too much lest it earn more pain. She shook her head a bit, her eyes opening halfway as she cast Freed a glance from the side.

"... It's... Fine..." She mumbled breathlessly in response to his quick apology, "... This helps... Thank you..." Freed bit the inside of his cheek, nodding stiffly.

"... Are you... Alright...?" Freed mumbled slowly, and mostly out of reflex- he felt foolish asking, because clearly she wasn't alright... But he wasn't really asking just in terms of her being physically okay, and he wasn't the only one wondering. Evergreen and Bixlow were too, but they didn't ask directly, they weren't sure they should or if it would do more harm than good... But how could they not ask?

"... I didn't realize that you were... Afraid of water, Frea..." Freed went on slowly, Frea stiffening slightly at the assertion, though her eyes didn't come up to meet him. "... You've never mentioned anything to the Guild... And I've never noticed anything either, that would make it seem like it bothers you as much as... it does..." He mumbled slowly, Bixlow and Evergreen shaking their heads slightly in confirmation to what he'd said. None of them had had any clue, or had seen any hint to her being so afraid of anything, let alone this- which was why her being suddenly terrified and on the verge of a panic attack had taken them by such surprise. "... I am sorry... I'm... We're just a little surprised, is all..." Freed told her,

"... And concerned too." Evergreen imputed quietly,

"... yeah, but if you don't wanna talk about it with us, that's fine ya know." Bixlow pointed out softly, making Frea stiffen a little further at it.

"...Yes, we won't press you..." Evergreen murmured quickly in agreement,

"... But we do apologize for letting you get pulled into that situation at all, or any of this... You should never have ended up here." Freed added softly, earning stiff nods from Evergreen and Bixlow. Frea paused at it, swallowing hard as her eyes dropped into her lap and she felt the guilt spark off all three of them, heavy and sharp.

Guilt

Why... Do they feel so... Guilty...?

They don't... Have anything to be guilty for...?

She felt it though, clear as day even with how awful she felt right then, and she felt no small amount of worry come off them too... Worry about her, she knew, just like the guilt was about her too... They shouldn't have to feel so guilty, or so worried... Shit.

She swallowed again, quiet for a few long moments, and slowly she shook her head, just once. "... I'm sorry... I really didn't mean to... freak out..." She mumbled quietly, her eyes falling closed as she seemed to hunch a little. "... I... It... It's not your fault... You didn't know... You can't have known, I haven't... I know I've never said anything..." She mumbled shakily, "... This isn't... This is something that's just recently started to... Bother me... I thought... It wouldn't... Ever get this bad... it's not... On you guys... You didn't know..." Frea mumbled, shaking her head slightly and swallowing hard.

... Nobody knows.. Except...I just... I didn't really want anybody to know... Shit...

... I didn't want... to react like this...

She took in a quick breath and held it, her stomach flipping terribly as she did so and she shivered at it, grimacing to herself. That breath she held in came out a lot more shaky than she intended it to, and her eyes opened partway, settled on the floor and how... How much it was swimming underneath her.

... I... Don't...

"... Frea...?" The Thunder Legion mumbled in unison, the Energy Dragon Slayer going quiet suddenly. She heard them only faintly, swallowing hard again and frowning.

... My body... Feels like... It won't hold me up... Anymore...

Her posture wilted further, and this time around when she started to sway again she didn't catch herself- luckily the Thunder Legion didn't hesitate to keep her from falling all the way. She fell forward, Bixlow catching her easily and as gently as he could, with Evergreen and Freed hovering and instantly flustered and on edge.

"Woah...!"

"... Frea...!"

Frea hissed slightly, her shoulder jolting painfully as she fell into the Seith Mage and he held her steady, her full weight sinking in to him and head whirling. She grumbled, her eyes fluttering open but the world was still spinning, and she closed her eyes against it.

... Damn it...

"...shit... You okay...?"

"... Y-you need to rest... Please just try not to strain yourself for awhile...!"

"... We'll stay here for awhile and let you settle... We should bring alright to stay here for now."

"... Yeah, and before you know it the rest of the Guild is gonna be here too, yeah...?"

"Right, Seyre and the others must be close to bringing the Barriers down by now...!"

"... Yes... In the meantime... Please just take it easy, Frea..."

She heard their voices as they kept talking, flustered and nervous now along with being worried... They were trying so hard to assure her, even as her attention kept fading in and out, and she could not keep her eyes open no matter how hard she tried.

... This... Is awful...

... This whole thing...

... Has been...

... So...

... awful...

.:+:.

Earlier-

"W-what the...?!"

Seyre, Talarr, Shae, Corbynn, Gray and Juvia all stiffened, stuck in place and wide eyed. Before them the suddenly huge and jumbled together mess of about 15 Kullui Dolls molded as one, suddenly stopped dead in it's tracks, it's body being pierced by a wave of several dozen orbs of light and torn apart with an ungodly screech... in three seconds, it was there and bearing down on them with so much power, and then in the next it was decimated.

"... What the hell were all those lights...?!" Corbynn mumbled breathlessly, his icy blue eyes darting about the space and toward the several dozen orbs that had come and gone in the blink of an eye.

"... Dude I dunno...! This shit is insane...!" Gray hissed shakily, Juvia beside him looking just as ruffled.

"... Ya think...?! Forget the balls of light- what the hell happened to the Kullui...?! They've gotten supersized all of a sudden...!" Shae hissed, the she-cat's fur fluffed up and ears pressed flat against her head.

"... This... Is... Unprecedented..." Talarr stammered under his breath, both he and Seyre behind the line the Fairy Tailers and the Twin Cougars had made between the Kullui trying to get at himself, the Keistae, and the Barrier Controls they were meddling with... And making quite slow progress against. It had been little but chaos for the group to make it all the way down here and to the controls at all, and it had continued to be out of control since they started in on trying to reprogram the Barriers. Talarr and Seyre were working as quickly as they could in tandem with one another, bypassing the security set in place on the Magical Machines and using Talarr's backdoors to speed themselves along- but it was still excruciatingly slow, and made all the more painful by how hard the Mages and Seyre's wolves were having to fight to keep the Kullui back.

But their progress had halted when the Machines suddenly went haywire and the air seemed to grow heavy in shadow- and then that thing... That monstrosity made of welded together Kullui Dolls descended upon them without warning, and it had taken everything the Mage's had to just keep it back, and not get killed in the process.

But just as quickly as it appeared, it was wrenched apart by a blaze of Magic and light none of them recognized- and Talarr, like everyone around him, was utterly reeling. None of the actions taken by the Kullui made any sense, all this destruction and havoc that they were wreaking should have been impossible for them to do- but they were doing it... He just hadn't expected them to be further and further corrupted to a point where they began to mold themselves into such terrible things.

He had never expected any of this and he swallowed at the thought, grimacing.

He shook his head hotly, catching Seyre's eyes and motioning toward the controls again, "We need to keep going...!" He told her quickly, and she nodded stiffly, shaking off her shock as best she was able and turning with him to the controls. Their fingers typed quickly across the keys, their eyes reflecting the light of the screens and the many things flashing across them as they worked. The Fairy Tailers and the Cougars glanced back as they set to work again, before casting each other glances and nodding too.

They had to get over the insanity of what just transpired, they had to focus- already there were more Kullui rushing toward them (normal looking this time). They had to make sure Seyre and Talarr could keep going for as long as they needed to get the Barriers down, to let the Guild in, to get that little bit closer to finishing this.

They huffed, steadying themselves once more though their bodies were hurt and beaten and bloody, and their Magic was running terribly low too.

Keep going, finish this.

End it

.:+:.

"Push on!"

"Yeah, wreck these things!"

"Aye sir!"

"We are almost through, keep going!"

They were making it through the streets steadily now, fueled by the Seleyn's show in Magic and her words to keep on, to not relent, and to not let their city be taken from them. Fairy Tailers and Adgneins alike fought hard, side by side and charging through the streets, and into the other sections of the city outside of the Lower Warrens. Behind them they left the remains of the Kullui Dolls in pieces, some of them keeping forward while others hung back, helping those hurt or trapped in the crumbling remains of the city, or helping them along to one of the secured spaces.

Jynx had not moved from her spot, though her Magic had not done the same- streams of it were rushing through the city in waves, overtaking entire streets and chasing down the Souls of the Damned quickly trying to flee from her grasp. She swept them up, flinging them from this reality entirely and forcing them back from where they came, steady, resolute, and utterly unyielding. This was no place for them and she would no longer allow them to move freely here.

No more

"We're getting closer to the palace guys!"

"Hell yeah!"

"About damn time!"

"WE'RE COMING YOU GUYS!"

"YEAH!"

.:+:.

Present-

"... Are you guys... Alright...?"

The Thunder Legion jumped slightly in surprise, about 45 minutes of sheer silence in the room suddenly broken by the soft tenor of a voice, and their hearts skipped a beat when they realized whose voice it was.

Freed and Bixlow's heads snapped around, while Evergreen's snapped downward, all three of them wide-eyed and stunned to see Frea's silver eyes open halfway and gleaming slightly in the dim. The Energy Dragon Slayer blinked slowly, her head resting in Evergreen's lap and laid out on the cold stone floor not far from the stairs up to where the God-King was still trapped and bound. The Thunder Legion had shifted closer to the stairs when Frea had passed out again, to try and give themselves more room to let her lay down all the way, and to move her further from the pools of water all around the room.

Frea had been completely out of it for those 45 minutes after her unwanted panicking, and the Thunder Legion had settled down into silence since then, worried and watching for anything... but not expecting she would be up anytime soon, and least of all that soon.

And she asked them if they were okay? When she was the one in such bad shape...?

"... Frea..." They mumbled breathlessly, and the Energy Dragon Slayer blinked again, her eyes flashing as she seemed to try and get rid of some haziness. Her attention focused a slight bit more on Evergreen directly above her, and then Freed and Bixlow on the left and right.

"... You guys look awful..." Frea mumbled quietly, "... Are you okay...?"

"Y-yes, we're fine...!" Evergreen and Freed stammered quickly,

"Yeah, we're totally good..!" Bixlow murmured quickly too, his Tiki Dolls circling lazily overhead with a rather subdued round of 'yeah'. Frea blinked at the quick replies, looking none-too convinced, but nodding slightly anyway.

"... How long was I out...?" She asked next,

"Not very long, only a bit longer than half an hour or so..." Evergreen replied quietly, "... How are you feeling...?" She asked tentatively, and Frea paused, letting out a small breath as her eyes dropped closed for a moment.

"... Better than before..." She mumbled softly, "... Less strung out... I'm just... Tired..." She murmured quietly, and they nodded stiffly to the words.

"... you really should rest some more, Frea." Freed told her gently, but she shook her head a bit.

"... I'm okay for now... I'm more interested... In what's gone on..." Frea mumbled, her eyes opening again and glancing Freed's way. "... Have you guys heard anything... From everyone else...? The Guild and... Talarr, and everyone... Trying to take the Barriers down...?" She asked slowly, and he shook his head once, his eyes flashing.

"No, we have not heard anything." Freed answered lowly, "I imagine Talarr and the others are still working on the Barriers, and the Guild is likely still fighting the Kullui down in the city... As soon as the Barriers have been altered we should be able to get in contact with them, but we haven't been able to just yet." He explained softly, grimacing a bit to himself along with Bixlow and Evergreen. "... They are all okay, as far as we know, and from what we last heard... But we really don't know much of what's going on." He added uncertainly, and a bit more tense this time too. Frea blinked at it, her eyes narrowing at the small bits of worry that flared from all three at the thought of not knowing.

Frea's eyes dropped closed again, her attention falling away from them and outward, even when doing so made her head ache. The world was still whirling slightly, and hampered down by so much Energy all so mixed together they were mostly a mess and impossible to figure out... She could feel Drennios' Energy Signature close by, though she gave it little mind, and she felt the peculiar Energy Signatures of Kullui Dolls, dark and evil and full of malicious intent... But she was looking for the familiar ones, of those still in the Palace somewhere and hopefully where she might pick them out from all the mess. Just to feel them, to know they were there somewhere... And maybe know if they were okay. She had to think she'd be able to feel their pain even with everything all blurred and jumbled as it was, and be able to tell how much Magic Energy they had... Just something to give her some clue to how they were.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't really tell anything. There was just too much in the way, too much Magic, and too many Energy Signatures all blurred together, old and powerful and so, so many of them. She didn't find any of who she was looking for, and she swallowed against it... What little she could tell, with near absolute certainty, was that none of them were... Nonexistent. She could not sense them, but she knew they were there, somewhere... They were alive, at least.

There was a terrible, heavy, and cold emptiness that came with actively looking for Energy Signatures that no longer existed, and she did not feel that emptiness now. Not the space in her soul that had been carved out and would never filled again, not a piece of her world gone entirely... She could not feel them, or know where they were, or if they were hurt... But they were not gone.

"... They're... Alive..." Frea mumbled quietly, surprising the Thunder Legion with the assertion out of nowhere. "... Everyone... In the Guild...and... I think... Talarr and... Seyre too... I can't sense them... But... Their Energy Signatures haven't disappeared altogether... So... They are alive..." She murmured softly, and the Thunder Legion's eyes gleamed, instantly relieved as well as uneasy with the assertion. Because of course they were glad to know they're comrades were not dead, but instantly they were aware Frea was trying to Sense them all, and she was in no state to be trying.

"... T...That's great to know, Frea... But you really shouldn't be trying to cast your senses out that far..." Freed told her quickly,

"Yeah, you're gonna push it too much doing that." Bixlow mumbled,

"You need to take it easy." Evergreen said, and Frea sighed at the words from all three.

"... Sorry... It's... Just habit..." She mumbled quietly,

... Bad habit... Really...

They fell into another bit of silence after that, Frea's questions coming to a close and her attention turning toward steadying herself a bit. She was still shaking faintly, and she knew it, and wished for it to stop... Though even that was an afterthought to just how badly her entire body ached and burned with every breath. Her ribs hurt, and more so with the hard floor underneath her, and her shoulder hated her for even the little weight pushing up against it from the stone. Her neck ached something awful too, and throbbed even where it was pressing against Evergreen's lap, the burns and damage done by the Collar agitated even with the faintest contact, and the prolonged exposure of it.

There probably wasn't any real way to get comfortable at the moment, not with how badly broken her body felt (and was), but the floor was not helping, and she grumbled under her breath. It wasn't just her body aching from being pressed against the rigid surface either- it was cold. She was cold already from being soaked through to the bone and the floor was not helping any, and the chill brought inklings of a very unpleasant sensation of... Being under the water... And she bit the inside of her cheek against it, and the way her stomach instantly flipped.

... Shit...

She hissed, her body shaking more that it already was as she shifted, struggling to push herself up with her right arm being bound to her chest by the makeshift sling, and her other arm limited by a broken wrist that didn't afford much in the way of helping her upward. Evergreen jumped, her hands instantly finding Frea's back and clicking her tongue in agitation toward the Energy Dragon Slayer's sudden and foolish attempts at sitting up- with Freed and Bixlow instantly alert and looking not at all thrilled too.

"Woah, woah- wait a minute...!" Bixlow hissed,

"P-please don't strain yourself...!" Freed stammered,

"Frea, you need to stay still-!" Evergreen scolded sharply, her hands finding the Dragon Slayers back to support her, though she really wanted to push her down to lying still again.

"..tch... Sorry... It's just... Not comfortable..." Frea hissed through gritted teeth, still forcing herself into halfway sitting up with Evergreen's support on her back, and the Thunder Legion stalling for half a second at the words. "... I think sitting up for a bit... Will help... I'm not trying... To push it... I just need to sit for a little..."

They grimaced a bit, but conceded to the idea and quickly helped her the rest of the way up. Evergreen shifted onto her feet and Freed and Bixlow did the same as they all helped support the Dragon Slayer and adjust so she could sit on the bottom step of the stairs just behind her. They hovered as she settled down again, leaning forward slightly into her knees as she pulled her feet together, her eyes closed as she fought to settle her breathing again after the little bit of exertion... Moving at all was torture, and her body shook more for holding herself up- but this was better than lying on the floor.

"... Are you okay...?" Bixlow asked slowly and Frea nodded just once, cracking one eye open to cast a glance toward the man.

"... Yeah, I'm okay..." Frea mumbled softly, her shoulders hunching (and with another flash of pain from the right one) as a shiver ran up her spine and she stiffened against it, a low grumble in the back of her throat. All three of the Thunder Legion noticed it, their eyes widening slightly to see her shiver not the once, but instead did it several times again... Not just shaking from weakness or pain, but actually shivering every so often.

She was still wet and the water certainly hadn't been warm, but she was still running a fever and it hadn't faded at all even after getting soaked... But now she was shivering, and when Evergreen reached forward to steady the Dragon Slayer her eyes widened in surprise at how much Frea's fever seemed to have started to taper off compared to only about an hour ago. She bit the inside of her cheek, gesturing quickly toward Freed- only to find him already a step ahead of her and untying the Dyann wrapped around his torso. He bit the inside of his cheek, gently pulling the cloth over Frea's shoulders and around her, earning a blink of surprise from her at the action.

"... Here, this should help warm you up a little more." Freed mumbled softly, "I would offer to write a Runework that would dry you off quicker, but I am afraid I am quite spent in terms of Magic Energy right now..." He added quietly, and Frea's eyes flashed.

"... That's okay, thank you for this." She mumbled softly, her eyes dropping closed again as she seemed to wilt just slightly, her free hand curling around the Dyann to keep it in place around her shoulders, though she did so cautiously, trying not to bend the wrist at all.

"... Thank you guys, for everything you've done." Frea mumbled quietly after a moment, and the trio blinked in surprise at the sudden thanks. "... Between coming all the way here, and catching Talarr and I... And all of this, with Drennios... And... My... Freaking out..." She mumbled a tad bit softer, shaking her head slightly when she trailed off at the end. She forced a small breath and glanced up, her silver eyes trailing between the three of them and offering up a small, weary smile that was meant to be reassuring, but really just betrayed how bad she was feeling, and how hard she was trying not to let it show through. "Thank you, for all of it... You've clearly been working hard... I appreciate all of you fighting so much on my part, really..." She told them quietly, and the Thunder Legion felt their hearts twist slightly.

They didn't want her to thank them for any of it, least of all as sincerely as she did, even when she felt like hell. They didn't deserve thanks, not when they could have at least tried to stop any of this from happening at the start- if they'd been a few minutes earlier to meet her before going out on that job, they would have been there when Edryd showed up. They could have fought with her, done their best to keep her from being taken, and maybe then they could have kept her in Fiore. None of this should have happened, and it started with them not being there to help her.

She shouldn't thank them, not after their failure of not being there in the first place. Not after everything she'd been put through while here, and not when they couldn't even keep her from being dragged into that water- and certainly not when they couldn't keep her safe even when they'd been left in charge of doing just that. All these terrible things could have been avoided if they'd just-

"... And... Thank you guys... For being so patient with me..." Frea kept on, breaking their thoughts in an instant. "... Through... All of it... But... Especially me... Freaking out..." She murmured quietly, her voice hardly above a whisper and still leaning forward into her knees, eyes closed. "... I am glad you're here, you're all helping... A lot..." She murmured, cracking her eyes open and tossing them a small, weary smile, and all three of them went utterly rigid under it.

"... Y... You don't need to thank us, Frea...!" Evergreen stammered quickly, Freed and Bixlow shaking their heads along with Evergreen. Frea blinked in surprise, her head tilting slightly at the words.

"... What... Do you mean...?" She mumbled reflexively, but they just shook their heads again.

"You... You don't need to put up face and thank us for all of this, n-not while you're so hurt, and certainly don't feel well at all...!" Freed told her quickly, Frea blinked again, her eyes flashing.

Put... Up face...?

"Especially not if you're just trying... Trying to reassure us, for our sakes..!" Evergreen mumbled,

"Yeah, you don't gotta... I mean we should have been there back in Magnolia to help you out... And since then we've not really done much that didn't blow up in our faces." Bixlow sighed slightly in exasperation.

"... Yes... We... Haven't been able to keep up, even now with the King, you still..." Evergreen mumbled, trailing off quickly after saying it, and her eyes dropping along with Freed's and Bixlow's both.

"... You've been forced though so much... It... Doesn't feel right for you to thank us, when we might have avoided it altogether if we had just... Gotten there a little earlier..." Freed finished softly and Frea paused, that same guilt she'd noticed before sparking off the three of them with a new fervor, and she swallowed against it.

... They... Think they should have... been there...?

That's... What all that guilt is about...?

... Do... They really think I'm just...... Playing at... Being nice... By... Thanking them...?

... That I... Don't...?

She swallowed at the thought, her silver eyes flashing as her shoulder hunched just a tad, and she shook her head at herself.

"... I'm... Not putting up face, ya know... I'm saying thank you... And I do really mean it..." Frea started slowly, making all of them stiffen at the assertion. "... And... You really shouldn't feel so guilty... I get why you think you should, but... You guys aren't at fault for anything..." She mumbled, "... Being a few minutes early to meet up or no... It's not on you... I'm pretty sure if you guys had been there, Edryd would have used that damn sword on you... And then you probably would have been so sick that you weren't able to be here..." Frea murmured, shaking her head slightly with a small sigh. "... And then you wouldn't have been there to catch Talarr or I when the Tower fell, yeah...? And you wouldn't have been here now, with Drennios... Or anything else you've been helping with..." Frea pointed out softly, "... You guys have saved me twice already, and probably a lot more that I don't know about while I've been out... Honestly, you have nothing to be guilty for... And please don't think I don't mean it, when I say thank you... I do mean it..." She murmured quietly, her eyes flashing as they all kept their eyes down a bit longer, stiff in place and seemingly biting the insides of their cheeks. She smiled again as they glanced up slowly to meet her eyes, the smile a tad more bright than before, though weary still- not that she could help it.

... It would be so much worse... To have been here by myself... I don't think I could have calmed myself down...

... And I definitely would have... Drowned... If they weren't here...

... And falling from the tower too... Wouldn't have ended well either...

... None of this... Was ever gonna end well... But...

"... You guys don't need to be so wound up, you're not at fault... you've done a lot to help, and I appreciate all of it..." Frea hummed softly, and they felt their hearts twist at the smile, and the gentleness of her voice... At how much she meant it, and how much they knew she had meant it the whole time, but hadn't wanted to feel the warmth that came with it. Not under the doubt, not under how badly they felt when looking at her and seeing all the damage, knowing how badly she was hurt, and trying to imagine just what she'd been put through while here... A hundred terrible things she did not deserve to have to go through, not after everything. Not after how hard she always worked all these years for the Guild, and not after how much she'd sacrificed when fighting Mordren on all of their behalves.

After all of this, after having her body torn to shreds, her Magic and life stripped, and nearly drowned and in tears- how could she still mean it? To them?

Frea and the Thunder Legion had never been close, ever. They'd not been enemies no, but they were certainly not as close as Frea was with most of the rest of the Guild- they'd never talked like this, never been by themselves in a situation like this with her- and for it, they'd never experienced this first hand... this part of the Energy Dragon Slayer they knew was there, but never seen nor felt directly themselves.

She was so unbearably sincere. So unbearably nice, and forgiving, and just... Just so unendingly kind, even under everything she'd ever been put through. She was still so bright even when she had every reason not to be- it was like she'd never cease to find something to still be kind for, and their hearts ached at it.

Because someone like that deserved so much better than she kept getting, and there seemed to be no end to the turmoil and the havoc wrought down upon her.

Their eyes flashed, trembling slightly now and holding their breath against the thoughts. Frea's head tilted a little more at the sort of shaky reaction she was getting from the three, the Energy Dragon Slayer not quite sure why...?

"...y...you are... Unbelievable...!" Evergreen hissed, sounding maybe a tad annoyed, though she was mostly breathless, and Freed and Bixlow nodded shakily.

"... You are truly incredible... Frea..." Freed mumbled, the green-haired man almost on the verge of tears all of a sudden.

"... Seriously, no wonder everybody's been so nuts about you... I totally get it now, you're honestly super great...!" Bixlow chuckled softly, his head tilting back and smirking slightly to himself as his hand fell on the top of his head. Evergreen and Freed nodded firmly to what he said, agreeing with it wholeheartedly and still as breathless as before. Had they been able to do it without hurting her, they'd have probably swept her up in their arms amidst the surge of emotion that hit them. But they refrained from hugging and just sat there, smiling weakly and... and... What...?

Frea stiffened at it all, quite confused now and looking quickly back and forth between the lot of them.

U-uh...?

I'm... So lost... What's with this... Reaction all of a sudden...?

... This is... Just weird...

... I didn't... Say anything... Totally out of the norm, right...?

... I... Don't get it...?

And trying to come to terms with it with her head aching as much as it did was fruitless, and just ended up made her head ache a little more. She swallowed, quickly doing her best to toss her own confusion away, and letting out a small sigh.

... It's fine... At least they aren't... So wound up now...

She stiffened slightly, a shiver running through her entire body and rattling her fractured muscles and bones quite painfully. She held her breath against it, her eyes snapping shut and grumbling internally to the deep chill still settled in her core, and not fading at all even after getting up off the floor and with the Dyann pulled about her person.

... Tch... Damn it...

"... Are you alright...?" Evergreen asked quickly, the Thunder Legion instantly aware of the shiver and what bit of pain it brought with it- which brought their breathlessness and influx of emotion to a quick end, but the feelings stayed deep in their hearts nonetheless.

Frea nodded, her eyes opening again and intent on answering with a 'yes'- but she never got around to it at all. Another shiver ran up her spine, icy cold rushing through her more sharply, her heart skipping a beat and attention snapping away from the Thunder Legion altogether.

There was something else now, suddenly there on her Senses that she hadn't taken note of at all- something massive, brimming in Magic, and with incredible, terrible, suffocating maliciousness and dark intent.

She went rigid, her eyes darting passed Freed and Bixlow before her and directly across the massive room, instantly on edge and the Thunder Legion quickly taking the hint. They were pushing themselves up onto their feet, ready for whatever it was Frea seemed to be so quickly aware of, but they hadn't even started to turn before the whole room shook.

Wind and rubble rushed up to overtake them, a deafening boom falling on the air as the doors on the other side of the room suddenly burst open and off their hinges. The group of Fairy Tailers recoiled, pushed back by the ferocity of the wind and the noise, closing their eyes against it and nearly knocked over by it altogether. Evergreen wrapped her arms around Frea to steady and guard her both, while Freed and Bixlow stumbled initially, but pushed themselves back up onto their feet the instant the wind subsided enough to let them. All four of them went rigid, eyes wide and hearts dropping when the dust settled enough to let them see what had blown the doors in with such force.

It was larger than a train car, twisted and marred- thrown together bits of stone and metal, weapons, circuitry- the bodies of more than a two dozen Kullui Dolls mashed together, dark, unseeing eyes poking from deep within, faces blurred together with other body parts, limbs crunched and bent every which way... It was monstrous, and horrible, and from it's mashed together body there was Magic glowing and flickering from the crevices, jolting and wild. All of those dark, lightless eyes dotting it's malformed figure quickly found the Fairy Tailers there at the base of the stairs, and they shuddered under the stare(s).

"W-what... The hell is that thing...?!" Evergreen stammered near Frea's ear, her hold around the Energy Dragon Slayer slackening in shock and fear at the sudden enemy. Bixlow and Freed hissed, the latter clicking his sword out of its sheathe and Bixlow's Dolls darting in front of them, both of them instantly defensive, though they were reeling at that horrible creature and the waves of Magical Pressure coming from it too.

A blast of Magic shot off the mess of Dolls, whining on air as it headed straight for them and much faster than any of them anticipated. Freed hadn't even managed to unsheathe his sword all the way, nor had Bixlow's Dolls had the chance to line up- one second the doors had been blasted open, and the next they saw it there, and the Magic was already streaming toward them on a beeline.

No-

Freed threw up a Barrier hastily, only for it to be broken through by the blast with ease and not at all slowed in it's track. Bixlow's Tiki Dolls threw out a blast of Magic that was meant to stop the incoming attack, but when the Magic collided the green glow of the Seith Mage's Magic was swallowed whole- and still the blast kept coming, bearing down on them unhindered and growing larger in diameter every foot it went, tearing up the floor and throwing the water back on either side in great waves.

No-!

Frea hissed, heart pounding in her ears again, body shaking and fangs grinding down on each other as she forced herself forward, staggering quickly on to her feet no matter how much pain it earned to do so, and oblivious of Evergreen's quick order not to. She reached inward, down into the deepest parts of herself, willing for there to be something left- just a little, enough to try and put up a Shield, divert that incoming blast, to manage something- anything!

She had to try something, or they were gonna get killed, damn it!

There has to be something left...!

Just... Just enough... To try... shit...!

Silver light sparked off her body faintly, a line of it quickly tracing across the ground in front of them all, just a bit ahead of Freed and Bixlow and sputtering in it's glowing. Frea's teeth grit harder with what ridiculous amount of strain that came with just that little bit of Magic, and her body hated her for trying in the first place. But she didn't relent, she willed it to stabilize, to grow larger, to do something useful- regardless of how little there was at all, and how lightheaded she instantly felt.

D...damn it... I... Can't...tch...!

Her heart was beating loudly in her ears, painfully so- but her quick-paced struggle to bring forth any amount of Magic faltered, her attention snapping from the incoming Magic and toward something else entirely... Something bright, prickling, and golden suddenly arcing overhead from the doorway, and moving directly over the blast.

The room shook with a thundering boom, the red light of the attack drowned out in a flurry of gold and white, jagged streams of Magic raining down onto the head of the blast and stopping it dead in it's tracks. The Magics blended together, writhing and swirling and almost fighting with each other as they shrunk into a sphere-like shape, and then imploded- spilling red and yellow out on both sides of it's original path, the Magic dispersing into the pools of water all around, completely halted, and redirected away from the four near the stairs.

Frea sucked in a sharp breath of air, her Magic fading in an instant and shaking for the strain of forcing it up, letting it die off so quickly, and the shock of what had just occurred... And she wasn't the only one trembling faintly for it, the Thunder Legion were too, all their minds racing.

"... N...no way...!" Evergreen stammered breathlessly,

"... Is that...?!" Bixlow hissed,

"That Magic...!" Freed whispered,

Frea staggered back the few steps she managed on to her feet, her legs no longer able to keep her up and she didn't care to keep trying to stand. She sat down rather roughly on the stair again, trembling worse now and very much out of breath, her head whirling with the sudden movement and attempt at Magic. Evergreen scrambled to her side again as she sank onto the step, flustered and quite concerned, but Frea didn't look her way. Her silver eyes had locked ahead, fixed on the blur of jagged yellow that darted through the broken doorway across the room, and blazed brightly above the Doll Creature. Frea's silver gaze and the gazes of Thunder Legion snapped to it instantly, their eyes reflecting the golden glow that had appeared so, so quickly.

No later than three seconds after the blast from the Doll had been sent off, it was destroyed and stopped in it's path toward them. And then no more than three seconds after that, the room thrummed with a boom louder than the one before it- jagged yellow Magic raining down on the Doll Creature's head, forcing it into the marble floor so hard it caved in. The Magic tore through every inch of it, melting metal and wire and igniting dozens of little implosions that wrenched the entire thing into a million pieces, steaming, charged and blackened all over... In no more than six seconds it was there, and then it was obliterated.

Lightning-fast

Frea swallowed hard, the painful pounding of her heart in her ears washed out briefly by the boom, and her body shaking a bit more in the sudden stillness that came next. The light died off, leaving clearer view of the one that hellishly powerful Magic belonged to, standing atop the rubble and destroyed bits of the Doll Creature he'd just decimated with a single hit, lightning and electricity still sparking off his shoulders and fist as he straightened up.

T-That's...

The Thunder Legion's eyes gleamed, almost tearful as the tense and fearful expressions on their faces quickly got replaced by breathless, overjoyed smiles.

"LAXUS!"

"BOSS!"

Frea's heart skipped an almost painful beat as she felt her body instantly sink out of the rigid posture it had adopted, and really had not wanted to let go of. She let out a shaky breath of air, the Thunder Legion's thrilled voices slightly muffled on her ears as her posture wilted a bit more... Every ounce of tension and defensiveness in her body melted away in the matter of a few seconds as she sat there, quiet and still trying to catch her breath- though her eyes never left the figure of the Lightning Dragon Slayer on the far end of the room. Her silver gaze glittered, her hand finding a shaky place against her chest and aching ribs, and she bit back at the lightheadedness that came with the sudden bout of at ease that hit her.

... I... I don't think... I've ever been more relieved... To see someone... In my entire life...

"...L-Laxus, you're here...!" Evergreen stammered happily, her hands on Frea's lower back and knee shaking in relief. Bixlow and Freed stumbled back a few paces themselves, sinking quickly into sitting on the floor and entirely out of energy now from the sudden rush of danger, and quick end to it... After all, the Thunder Legion were beaten and hurt quite extensively themselves, after all of this, and they certainly felt it.

"Great timing Boss...!" Bixlow smirked, sitting cross-legged on the floor and sticking his tongue out wearily.

"Yes! Yes!" The Tiki Dolls chanted gleefully.

"It is a relief to see you, Laxus..!" Freed sighed, smiling wearily as he let his sword fall across his lap, and taking a seat down on the stairs a bit to Evergreen's right.

Laxus turned without missing a beat as soon as he straightened up all the way, his body engulfed in yellow as he quickly darted across the room in his Lightning Form toward the four of them. He cleared the distance just as quickly as he'd arrived and defeated the Doll Creature, and swept up to the four of them. The yellow haze disappeared around his body as his aqua blue eyes darted quickly over each of them, taking in the state they were in- while being entirely oblivious to how quickly their expressions went from relieved, to stunned and entirely unnerved when the four of them took in what state Laxus was in from up close.

He was covered in blood, and ash, and burns, his skin littered in deep cuts and his clothes soaked through in several places by terrifying amounts of crimson- and that's where there was a shirt even left. It had been torn to shreds, nearly cut in two by a long slice running through Laxus' side and the whole back of it was fairly nonexistent. It'd been torn three ways by what looked like the path's of a blade, and then burned and shredded to bits by something like an explosion- one that had the marred skin burned and blackened in so many places. It was a miracle at all he could move, let alone breathe after getting hit by whatever had done that amount of damage. And that wasn't even all of it, though it did seem the worst, his right arm was littered in stab wounds all the way up to his shoulder, and his hands were nothing but cuts and tears, and more and more ash and blood. You could scarcely see the skin- and that held true for the rest of him. He was covered in so much muck and gore it was almost unbelievable, and unbearable too.

How the hell could he look that awful...?! Laxus of all people...!? He looked half dead, and he must have been- how could he move, let alone still be using Magic on the level he just had with that Doll Creature...?!

They stared, stunned into instant silence and eyes wide as Laxus stopped in front of them, hissing slightly as he saw their wounds, and how exhausted, bloody and bruised they were- all four of them. And with each one he looked over, he realized how much worse and worse they looked with every second. The Thunder Legion looked like they'd been fighting for a week with the amount of grime there was, and how raggedy their persons were- but Frea looked like absolute hell.

"Oi, are you guys okay..?!" Laxus snapped quickly, and they blinked at it, the Thunder Legion's shock wearing off and quickly replaced by flusteredness and worry.

"U-us...?! Have you seen yourself...?!" Evergreen snapped reflexively,

"Y-you look terrible...! Are you alright...?!" Freed stammered,

"Yeah Boss, those ain't small wounds ya know..!" Bixlow grumbled, "Did that Nirav dude really do that much of a number on you...?!"

Laxus grit his teeth at the quick rebuttals, annoyed with the instant mention of the state he was in, and more so at the mention of Vaide. He was still incredibly irked about the whole thing- irked and furious with just how fucking hard that fight had been for him, how long he'd spent trying to finish it, and how badly he'd ended up for it- to the point he'd not been able to move at all for quite awhile afterwards, even when he did everything to force himself to. He hated how badly that fight went, how much it had taken out of him, and how long it had taken him to get moving and to get all the way here- and it had taken longer still to continually fight his way through the Kullui left in the castle while trying to find any of them at all.

He'd felt like he was getting nowhere for much too long trying to pick up on the Thunder Legion and Frea's scents around the stink of fire, ash, blood, and whatever else was wafting through the city and the castle, and that infuriated him even more in itself. Because when he did finally find their scents, there was one scent in particular mixed quite heavily with them, and it was the scent of blood- Frea's blood.

And when he looked her over now he didn't see any of the sticky crimson that the scent belonged to, but what did catch his immediate attention was how pale she was, and that she seemed soaked through to the bone, her hair and clothes still quite damp and sticking to her skin... Her skin littered with dark bruises all around her wrists and hands, and bandages wound over her shoulders, neck, and chest- but coming loose, and what he saw underneath them made him stiffen, even for what little he could see without getting closer.

He almost ignored the Thunder Legion's questions right out, but his attention got snapped back when Frea caught his eyes and she grimaced, her silver eyes flashing.

"... What the hell happened...?!" The Energy Dragon Slayer hissed quickly, leaning forward slightly and all attention on the trembling and pain in her own body pushed to the side in an instant. Laxus drew up slightly in his brusque movement under the question, halting without meaning to as she let out a halfway pained hiss. "T..tch.. You look like like absolute crap...!" She hissed shakily between puffs for air with her still slightly panting breaths, and Laxus swallowed, biting the inside of his cheek at the words.

"... I'm fine." He grumbled lowly in reply, and they all stiffened at the assertion.

"No you're not...!" The Thunder Legion and Frea snapped in near perfect unison, and Laxus paused half a second more at it, before grumbling under his breath and shaking his head.

"... I'll live." Laxus muttered flatly, his tone low and clearly telling them to drop it altogether. "Don't worry about it, it ain't bad enough to kill me... You can get worked up about me later, right now I'm more focused on everything else." He grumbled, frowning slightly as he shot them all a pointed look. He stepped forward the little bit of distance there was between himself and where they were sitting around Frea and in the stairs, and they all grumbled internally to themselves at the quick shut-down on the subject. They all frowned at the behavior, the Thunder Legion swallowing slightly for the clear disregard to his own health at that moment and how adamant he was on them and not his own injuries- not that such behavior was unheard of from the Lightning Dragon Slayer, as the Thunder Legion well knew (and were exaggerated for quite often).

Frea frowned for it too, instantly as agitated with the response from the blonde as the trio was- this wasn't something surprising to her from him, no- but she bit the insides of her cheeks for it anyway. Her silver eyes glittered as Laxus' attention diverted briefly toward the Thunder Legion, her chest tightening a little further for every new wound she found on his person... And every throb and flash of pain that came off of Laxus in constant waves to wash against her, though he didn't outwardly show any sign of it.

"Now are you gonna answer me or not? Are you guys alright?" Laxus asked lowly, his eyes moving over his teammates for only a moment as he shifted, intent on moving forward those last few steps he'd intended to clear right off. The Thunder Legion nodded stiffly in quiet confirmation as Laxus shifted again, Freed gesturing slightly toward his two cohorts.

"... Y..yes... We are alright... Relatively anyway... We are not in any serious condition at the moment. However-" Freed answered lowly, before cutting off rather tensely as his eyes darted toward where everyone else's did in the next moment. Laxus' stiff nod to the words, and the step he'd taken forward faltered halfway through as his eyes snapped from Freed and instantly on to Frea- because she cringed, badly and out of nowhere. The Energy Dragon Slayer hunched in on herself, swallowing hard as her eyes dropped closed against the shiver that ran through her then, jostling her battered body painfully. Her breath hitched slightly against the sensation, and instantly earning Evergreen's focus,

"Y-you really shouldn't have tried to use Magic like that..." Evergreen stammered worriedly, though Frea hardly heard her at all. "... Frea...?"

...s..shit... Why won't that... S...stop...?

I... I don't...

Laxus cleared those last few steps in the blink of an eye, the large blonde instantly bent down on to his knee directly in front of where Frea sat, expression tense and on edge- finishing the motion he'd intended to follow through from the second he'd finished with the Kullui Doll Creature, but got distracted from doing. He finished it without missing a beat, not four inches from her and hands instinctively reaching out as she doubled over, a lump forming in his throat and instantly hating himself for having hesitated at all to be right there... Even if the hesitation had only been for a few seconds.

"... Frea...!" He hissed reflexively, his hands finding gentle traction around her left arm and side, wary of putting any pressure on or even touching her right arm and shoulder at all- given it was pinned to her body, and probably for good reason. Frea swallowed hard enough he heard it, her body trembling without end underneath his touch and swaying so much with her harsh breathing- but Laxus' stomach flipped the minute his hands made contact with her, his aqua eyes widening and that lump in his throat getting even heavier. His right hand moved up without thinking, his palm pressing gingerly against her cheek and causing Frea to shiver again under the contact. His hand was almost burning hot against how icy cold her skin felt, and it was a terribly familiar sensation.

"... shit, you're freezing..." Laxus hissed lowly under his breath, Evergreen beside the Energy Dragon Slayer stiffening at the assertion and paling when her hand quickly found Frea's arm and she felt it too- it was like her temperature had dropped several degrees in the matter of a few minutes.

"... t-that's not...!" The woman hissed shakily, before cutting off abruptly when Frea shivered again, and doubled over a bit too far- she'd have probably toppled over completely, had Laxus not been already afraid of, and anticipated she might lose what little balance she'd managed thus far.

Frea had clearly been slipping further into a haze from the minute he'd stopped in front of her, even when he'd reached out she'd not seemed all that aware of him or his hands at all. He could tell in an instant- quickly her mind was being dragged under by the claws of unconsciousness, sending her teetering on the edge of oblivion and bobbing in and out of semi-consciousness, and much too blurred reality... And it was exactly the same thing that had happened that night after she'd come back from Era- and just as quickly as it had hit her back then, it hit again, and maybe even worse this time around.

"... Frea...!" The Thunder Legion hissed reflexively, their hearts jumping as she started to sway.

Laxus caught her before she fell forward all the way, biting back at the stab of pain that rushed through his body with how quickly he moved to steady, and catch her. She fell into him, causing them both to stumble back a bit as he got forced into sitting on the floor all the way, holding Frea now in his lap and arms and both of them hissing slightly for the little bit of jostling, before they came to a halt. She was shivering still and felt like a block of ice in his hold, and he swallowed again at the persistent lump in his throat, shifting as much as he dared to make them both maybe a little more steady and comfortable, and teeth gritting when Frea's breathing hitched against him for every little touch, movement, everything... It didn't matter what he did or how he kept hold of her, her body was too battered, and quickly he just decided on not moving himself or her at all (at least as much possible).

He snaked one arm behind her back and shoulder and the other found her left side, half-hugging her as he propped one knee up behind her back a little and wincing internally at the awful clicking sound that came from her right shoulder in the midst of his adjusting. Frea hissed, her head falling into the crook of his shoulder, breaths fast, shallow, and following the same flitting and uneven pace as her heartbeats, the sound of them faint on his ears and muffled under the puffs of air she was taking in.

The Thunder Legion were immediately on edge and on their feet, Evergreen and Freed fumbling to grab hold of the Dyann that had fallen on the stairs and off Frea's shoulders when she'd moved to attempt something that might fend off the attack by the Doll Creature. They pulled it up, bringing it over Frea as quickly as they could without hurting her and Laxus holding it in place as they finished. Laxus' eyes glittered as his head tilted, the bandages around Frea's neck shifting a little more as they adjusted the cloth... And he saw the dark and jagged burns that ran all down her neck, chest, shoulders, and arms.

Electrical burns

He stiffened, his eyes snapping off the wounds and toward the Thunder Legion crowded in front of them, slightly panicky now and very concerned with just how quickly Frea seemed to decline just then. They caught the Lightning Dragon Slayer's eyes and they stiffened slightly underneath it, and the utterly stony look on Laxus' face, his lips curling slightly at the edes and voice so, so very low.

"What the hell happened?"

.:+:.

The screen lit up in blue, the lines of numbers and characters halving as a new display popped up above them, and Seyre and Talarr's fingers stalled, their eyes gleaming with the cool glow.

"... The... The restrictions... Are..." Talarr stammered breathlessly, Seyre beside him swelling slightly and the Lacrima attached to the bracelet on her arm glowing.

'... The alterations are complete!' Her voice trilled excitedly on all their heads, Talarr, Gray, Juvia, Shae and Corbynn alike. The Keistae smiled weakly, her wolves letting out little barks in confirmation to what she said, and Seyre caught Talarr's hands up in hers, nodding brightly to him and the somewhat stunned look on his face. 'Lady Aisha and the rest of the others should be able to enter the Palace now, and any Kullui outside have been barred from entering!' She announced quickly, her green eyes glittering as Talarr nodded slightly, and the Wizards let out sigh of relief.

"... Finally..." Gray mumbled,

"That is wonderful news...!" Juvia smiled slightly,

"Hell yeah, time to get some more muscle in here and really clean up these damn Dolls...!" Shae smirked,

"... Aren't you tired yet...?" Corbynn asked the she-cat in exasperation, but she lashed her tail behind her and shook her head.

"We've stormed Okeal, mucked with the Barriers, gone through way over 100 Kullui Dolls, and we are in the midst of a revolution! I'm not tired, I'm fired up!" Shae replied brightly, "We are rebelling against everything we have ever known- there's no room for tired right now!" She purred and Corbynn sighed heavily at it.

"... You and Uno are too much alike..." The boy mumbled under his breath.

"... W-we've also lifted many of the Communication Jammers over Okeal, you should be able to get in contact with your Guild via Telepathic Links now..." Talarr explained quickly, the Mages jumping slightly in surprise to the words.

"... Hey, Aisha can you hear us..?!" Gray hissed quickly, the ChatterBox Symbol on his arms coming to life as he tried out the Link- and they all stiffened to hear his voice not just in their ears, but in their heads too.

It's working-!

"... Yes, I can hear you." Came the familiar, and slightly grumpy, voice of the Moonlight Mage, and they all visibly relaxed at it running through their heads. "The Barriers don't look like they've gone down, what did you do?"

'Lady Aisha, Talarr and I-' Seyre started, only to get cut off by several other voices, annoyed and frantic all.

"-who the hell cares about the Barriers, what about Frea?!"

"Is she okay?!"

"What about the rest of you?!"

"Are you all alright?!"

"What the hell is-?!"

"SHUT UP!"

The wash of voices got cut off by Aisha's very loud and very irritated voice breaking above all the rest. Her order for them to shut up earned the desired effect, though grudgingly so- they heard her growl heatedly in their thoughts, muttering something like 'idiots'.

"... One thing at a time damn it. Too many voices on this ChatterBox Link is a pain in the ass, if you don't cool it I'm gonna start kicking people off!" Aisha hissed,

"... Sorry..." Was the collective (and yes, still grudging) apology.

"Seyre, repeat what you were saying." Aisha ordered curtly,

'Yes of course My Lady- Talarr and I have managed to alter the restrictions on Okeal's Barriers. We could not bring them down entirely, but your Guild and our allies should be able to pass through now, and Kullui from the outside should be barred from entering.' Seyre explained quickly, 'As you can already see, Communications are back on, and the use of Teleportation Magic should be usable now too... though I would take caution using any Beans to get here, they might be a bit finicky."

"... Y...yes, you'll likely not end up precisely inside Okeal where you intend, if using a Bean to come in from outside the Barriers right now, apologies..." Talarr imputed softly, "... Beans inside the Barriers should be... Fine..." He added quietly, almost as an afterthought, before trailing off quite nervously.

"... Alright, we'll start heading through the Barriers in groups, and help those still in the streets inside the Barriers for safety. We still have plenty of Kullui out here to deal with too." Aisha murmured levelly, "Now what about the rest of you? Are you alright? What does it look like inside of Okeal?"

"Juvia, Shae, Corbynn and I are with Seyre and Talarr... And we're fine, but it's been less than fun fighting all the Kullui off." Gray mumbled lowly,

"There are still a number of Kullui left in Okeal, though Juvia thinks we've dealt with the bulk of them." Juvia intoned,

"... And everyone else?" Aisha grumbled,

"The Thunder Legion stayed behind with Frea in Talarr's workshop." Gray mumbled, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Wait, shouldn't they be hearing us through the Link...?" He muttered as an afterthought,

"... N...no, the Warding in my Workshop would block it-" Talarr explained quickly,

"... W-we aren't in your workshop anymore, we can hear you..." Freed's voice broke into their thoughts just then, and Talarr, Seyre, Gray, Juvia, Shae and Corbynn all jumped at it, wide-eyed.

"-eh?! Why the hell not-?!" Gray snapped instantly,

"I-Is Frea with you...?!" Juvia asked,

"Why would you leave..?!" Shae and Corbynn snapped in unison,

"... W-Where are you...?!" Talarr stammered,

"... Are you talking to the Thunder Legion...?" Aisha asked lowly, though her question went entirely ignored by most everyone- save Seyre.

'... Yes My Lady... Can you not hear them...?' Seyre replied, consciously limiting the Telepathic Link to Aisha and those outside of Okeal in particular.

"... No, they must be somewhere the Communications outside of Okeal are still jammed." Aidha grumbled, "What the hell is going on..?"

'... Ah, a moment My Lady...' Seyre replied softly, her attention already turning back to the others- who had kept on their incredulous questions totally unaware of Aisha's interrupt, or the fact that the Thunder Legion could only be heard by their group.

"... D-Drennios used the Collar on Frea's neck to Transport her to him, we got Transported with her... We are currently in what I think is a throne room... It's large, with lots of pools of water..." Freed explained as the questions ceased,

"The God-King snatched you..?!" Shae hissed,

"... W-what happened...?! Is D-Drennios...?" Talarr asked hesitantly,

"... We fought with Drennios for awhile, he is currently subdued and sitting in a Cage I made... We've decided on not moving anywhere just yet... Laxus is with us now too." Freed explained lowly, Talarr audibly gulped at the words. He could not fathom it, he didn't want to even imagine it at all...The God-King... In a cage...?!

That was like... Blasphemy... Ahh...!

Talarr swallowed again and shook himself rather roughly, tossing the thoughts and feelings away. It didn't matter right then, or the bit about Laxus being there either, more importantly-

"I-is the Energess alright..?!" Talarr asked next, urgently so and the rather long pause for an answer made them all stiffen, their pulses picking up.

"... She... She's not doing very well..."

.:+:.

Slightly Earlier-

They'd told Laxus everything.

All about what happened at Fairy Hills, about the Collar that had been placed on Frea's neck and been hurting her, and how it did so every time her Magic so much as moved. They apologized profusely for not telling him about that terrible Collar, or telling anyone else in the Guild- and they told him shakily about what it had done while Frea was up in that Tower. How it burned her, leaving those terribly dark jagged markings and burns all around her neck and down her shoulders and chest, how it got damaged in the middle of the Rite to open that Door, and how it kept hurting her even when her Magic was being stripped from her forcefully. They recanted breathlessly what state she'd been in when the Tower fell and Freed and Bixlow had rushed to catch her and Talarr, and how damaged the Collar had been still after that- so much so Corbynn had had to mad dash to pry the Lacrima off and save it exploding where it was around the Energy Dragon Slayer's neck.

And they told him about Frea not having been breathing even after the Collar had been subdued, about Talarr rushing to try and stabilize her again, and keep her body from shutting down. And then how Talarr had been doing everything he could to fix the sheer amount of damage Frea had sustained when they got back to the Ilaen's workshop, and how he did stabilize her, but she was still weak and should never have been moved. They told him how she should never have been snatched away by the God-King to where they now sat, and about how delirious she had been even back in Talarr's workshop, and how much she'd struggled against them and forced Gray to have to calm her down.

And then they told him about Frea being dragged under the water, despite everything they tried to do to not let it happen. They told him they got her out as quickly as possible, but it didn't matter- the damage had been done and what followed was... Awful.

They told Laxus everything, their voices rushed and shaking, and the more they recanted, the more teary-eyed and frantic they were becoming. They were talking so fast, their voices muffling together in places where one person took over without warning, and then they kept interjecting and overlapping each other still. They explained it all, rushed and skipping many of the finer details, but it did not matter- what they told him was more than enough to get the whole picture, and let it start to sink in just how bad all of this was... Worse than he could have even anticipated.

And Laxus listened to it all without saying a word, he didn't have to say anything or ask any questions, he knew the Thunder Legion would get to it all. So he just stayed quiet, rigid and quickly growing more and more uneasy, agitated, restless... He stayed there silent as the grave and fixed on everything they said, while his attention only ever wavered for one thing; her.

To Frea in his hold, to every shallow, hitching breath, the quick tenor of her breathing and the incessant shivering that had taken her entire body hostage. She remained cold as ice against him regardless of the close contact or the warmth the Dyann draped over her was supposed to bring with it, her already pale face going ten shades whiter until she looked little more than a ghost... And for it she was shaking less fervently, her body growing quickly too weak to even keep the trembling up. Her breathing was getting shallower by the minute, more raspy, and he felt his stomach tying itself into a million knots.

This was worse than what had happened after Era-

The Thunder Legion had only just gotten through a shaky recant of the water and trying to calm Frea down afterwards when suddenly the Chatterbox Links on their arms lit up and they heard the Guild in their heads- but they paid it very little mind all the way until mention of them came into the picture. Even Freed answering the questions asked by the others were done with his attention on barely on the conversation, and Evergreen, Bixlow's and Laxus' attention were nowhere near it at all. They were more focused on Frea, they could all tell she was quickly getting worse and they were fidgeting more and more, panic settling in on an all time high. She was bobbing barely in and out of something so, so close to consciousness, but she never got there. And as the color drained from her face completely she shuddered violently in Laxus hold, her eyes fluttering open for half a second as her breathing hitched. Her fingers curled weakly around the Dyann over her chest, her expression twisting as she grit her teeth, a shaky hiss escaping her.

"... She... She's not doing very well..." Freed's reply to Talarr was scarcely above a whisper, his eyes found Frea just as the rest did, and they felt their blood turning to ice.

What... What were they supposed to do..?

Frea got jolted back into something awake enough she wasn't floating in a sickening pitch black dark, her mind struggling to make sense of the chill that had settled into her very bones, everything going numb and refusing proper movement. She felt like she was freezing but it wasn't enough she didn't feel anything... She was mostly numb, save some terribly hot and agonizing feeling in her chest that would not go away.

Hot and heavy and it felt like it rushed outward from her center, every breath was torture, and getting harder and harder to take in. And trying to breathe at all was further agony... Every beat of her heart felt like rocks getting smashed down on top of her, reverberating through her bones and sending electric pain through every inch of her.

...t...this...

Her breathing hitched again, the little she managed to take in not at all near close enough- her chest was getting heavier, tighter... Harder to keep...

... W...why...?

She heard her heart pounding in her ears, heavy and booming and painful too. Every thump growing faster, more frantic, and a million times more painful.

... My... My chest... It...

... I... I can't...

She tried to force her eyes open, little flashes of things making their way across her vision too blurred and dotted by hundreds of dark black splotches. She saw the big hulky figure of someone above her, around her, engulfing her... She could feel it only barely, and she could hardly catch his scent and the smell of his blood and burned flesh mixed in- but she knew it was him though. In a world filled with nothing but pain and a worsening suffocating feeling she latched on to him, and to what she was feeling, and how... How...

"... L... La...xus..." She barely managed his name, it broke too much between shallow, somewhat strangled gasps for air- but he heard it. He was instantly aware of her eyes fighting to open, her voice, and the accelerated pace of her breathing. He hissed, frowning deeply as he shook his head rather curtly, though she certainly wasn't in any state to understand or even see the gesture.

"Don't talk, Frea." he told her quietly, she was struggling enough to breath without trying to say something. Her face twisted in pain, her breath hitching again as her hand found a slow, shaky place on her chest and her eyes fluttered open just long enough he caught a sliver of those silver eyes of hers, glassy and unfocused, and her head shook once.

"...s...some...thing... i...is... w...wr...ong..." Was the next thing she only barely managed to form into words, and he blinked, his eyes narrowing to slits.

Of course something was wrong, what the hell was she-?

"... M...my... He...art... H...hurts..."

He faltered, her voice had dropped so low he barely heard the next struggled bit at all- but he did hear it, and it almost felt like he'd gotten shot in the stomach by the words.

Her...What...?

His eyes flashed, his attention instantly shifting away from the sound of her strained breathing and the worsening raspyness in her lungs. He forced his ears to lock not on that, but instead go underneath it and settle on what he immediately knew he should have been paying more attention to.

He heard her heart, pounding, racing- beating way, way too hard. So hard it was almost deafening, and panic set in instantly, one thought racing through his mind in that instant and wiping all others clean.

It shouldn't be beating that fast, it shouldn't be beating that hard, or it's gonna-

The breakneck thump thump thump of her heart on his ears ceased.

His ears rung as the pounding gave way into deadly silence and his world felt like it tipped, terror rushing through him like complete and utter wildfire. Everything stopped right then, his own heart, his own breathing, time, all of it. For three seconds he did not move, he heard nothing at all- for three seconds his world stalled, just like her heart... And for three seconds that felt like a million years, he heard nothing- until the thumping started anew, just as hard, just as fast, but now so very, very uneven.

He felt Frea's entire body cringe, her muscles locking and recoiling under the sudden stall of her own heart- and then the jarring and agonizing feel of it starting back up again, still too fast, still too painful. She sucked in a breath of air that choked off right away, her body curling forward just a little as she coughed, the breath raspy and shallow and wheezy.

And then the heart beats broke off again, another three seconds of nothing, a wrench of complete stillness thrown in a rhythm to fast to properly keep count with- before dumping right back into too fast, too hard, and more and more uneven. She cringed again, every time as the second round of three-second stillness hit, and then the third, and they just kept coming. Every time her breathing got worse, shallower, more struggling- if she wasn't getting enough air before, she definitely wasn't now.

Her heart keeps... Skipping... Stopping and then... S..shit...

Laxus froze without meaning too, for those first 9 or so seconds, and he could not do anything. He knew he had to, he shouldn't have frozen at all, the fear that hit him just then should not have hit as hard as it did... But fuck...

... What was he supposed to do...?

He swallowed hard, his eyes snapping off Frea, panic getting worse and adrenaline coursing though him on an ultrahigh for it. His hold on Frea tightened slightly, eyes flashing and ignoring the teary, petrified faces on the Thunder Legion- he did not have time. His mind was racing, he was instantly rushing and he knew time was ticking away faster than he had time to contend with, he could not be too slow, not right now.

"Oi, Ilaen- you're a doctor, right?!" Laxus snapped hotly, his voice tense and urgent on their minds as the Telepathic Link ferried his words through to Talarr- or whatever the hell his name was, Laxus wasn't sure, and he didn't care. He didn't even wait for Talarr's terrified and shaking reply, there was no time.

"Frea's heart ain't beating right, at this rate it's gonna give out and fast!" Laxus snapped hotly, the Thunder Legion bristling at the words and the edge in their leader's voice. But more their hearts skipped a beat to see the subtle hints of fear in Laxus' eyes, and the way his hands trembled where he held Frea, though his voice was the steadiest it had ever been.

"Get your ass up here and save her, now!"

.:+:.

There was no time to breathe, there was very little time at all to think- Laxus' order rang heavy on all their heads and Talarr the most, his mind a whirl and terror rushing through him without end.

He knew it, he'd seen it- he knew already her heart had been damaged and started to beat irregularly before all of this, and he'd dismissed it. It had gone away, it had- but he should have known better.

He should not have left- but he couldn't wallow in it, he had to go, without hesitation.

Talarr's voice lost the stammer and the shaking in an instant, steadiness and hyper-focus settling in as he barked an order for those in the God-King's Hall to stay where they were and head further inside. He directed them through those great big doors at the top of the steps and into a place only two people had stepped for more than an age- Talarr himself, and the King he had sworn, and rebelled against.

The Ilaen was already moving, his bloody and bandaged hands shoving into his jacket pockets and gripping tight of three Magic Beans. He tossed one to shatter on the floor and open a Portal, throwing the last two toward Corbynn and ordering the boy and the others to go to his workshop with Seyre and grab what he needed. He had stepped through the Portal without pause to see if they did as he said, the room full of Barrier Controls gave way to high-arching roofs, the air cold and wet and dark. He started forward at a run as soon as he stepped through the Portal, ignoring the nauseous sensation that came with it and not pausing even a second. He darted up after the group of the Thunder Legion and Laxus only just now reaching the top of the steps, the Energess held close in the blonde man's arms and struggling for any air at all.

Talarr caught up with them in seconds, beckoning the grand doors at the end of the room to swing wide open with a wave of his hand, and ignoring the Cage to which the King lay quiet. The Ilaen's attention found Frea and divided from her only to hastily read the information that came into his eyeline via his Scan-Glasses, and keep his footing as he ushered them forward.

Urgent, rushed, and scared- but steady anyway. He had to be.

"Quickly, bring her in here!"

Talarr swept ahead of all of them, disappearing through the doors and into what lay beyond with the Thunder Legion close behind, the trio only lagging slightly to let Laxus stay ahead of them and Frea with him. They stuck close, hearts pounding and eyes glassy, their stomachs curling for the awful strangled gasping from the woman in their leader's arms and the hushed, tense words spoke by Laxus as he hurried after the Ilaen.

"... Shit, just breathe Frea... Hold on... Hold on..."

The grand doors gave way to an even grander room- but it lay dark, musty, and messy even, as if it hadn't been bothered to be kept up in more than an age. The stone walls were cracked, the tables and chairs thrown about haphazardly, furniture upturned or just covered in cloaks and sheets and other things.

But they did not give the room much a glance, or the state of it at all- they turned quickly to the right and through an archway into another section, Talarr a few steps ahead still. The Ilaen swept into the round space of the attached room, straight passed a bed and further in still toward the far wall, and a space filled in cabinets and tables, supplies, herbs- what have you.

And there among the tools and everything else, was a big, clean, smooth, metal and stone table connected with wires to Lacrima and the like. All around its edges and on every flat surface of the table were inscribed Runes, intricate, and so many of them of all different kinds- much more than had been on the Prototype Table in Talarr's workshop. Even from just a quick glance, that table paled in comparison to the one Talarr stepped up to now, his hands tapping quickly against the table and bringing the Runes to life. They lit up in a pale blue glow, half a dozen screens popping up at the head of the table and the Lacrima attached to it humming to life.

"Lay her on here..!" Talarr ordered sharply of the Lightning Dragon Slayer, Laxus following the order with no hesitation on his part and easing Frea onto the flat surface of the table as gently as was possible. As soon as he pulled his hands away a see-through dome of blue-green Magic sprung up from the table and engulfed Frea within it, dulling down slightly the sound of her gasping and the uneven thundering of her struggling heart on his ears. He could hear the pressure increase from the dome, smell the air more potent and fresh inside- it was probably meant to help her breathe better, though it seemed to do little just then, and Laxus cast the Ilaen a tense stare.

Talarr's fingers were tapping madly against the screens, his eyes flashing behind his glasses as his attention on the screens diverted when he shot the Energess a look, and then he quickly stepped away from the screens altogether. Talarr rounded the table without a word, reaching his hands inside the Dome around Frea with no resistance and trailing his finger in a line just above her. The Dyann tied around her chest holding her arm in place sliced up it's length in a clean line that mirrored the motion of his finger, and he pulled the cut cloth away quickly, supporting her right arm as best he could and lowering it to the table, grimacing at the rapid up and down of her chest and how useless it was. He could see the rhythm of her heartbeat painted across one of the screens, the rapidity of it, the way it kept skipping- and how it was getting worse and more frequent.

Shit shit shit- work faster...!

He waved his hand, beckoning a screen closer to him and simultaneously gesturing toward one of the nearby tables. "Hand me that box there." Talarr instructed of Evergreen, who was closest to said box sitting on the table near the edge. Talarr did not wait for her to reply or move, he was already on to the next thing, a screen following him as he typed away on it with one hand and moved himself to a different space, his other hand digging in a cabinet in search of something. The dome around Frea turned a more yellow color as he kept searching for whatever he wanted, a subtle waft of heat catching Laxus' attention from where he still stood at the tableside, his lips pulling into a tight line as he kept a wary eye on Frea and Talarr both.

"... not enough blood-flow, stimulate circulation... Warm her up... Slow heart rate... Stop it working so hard... And not... Properly... Tch, where the hell is-? Ah..!" Talarr muttered to himself as his searching hand found what he was looking for, a bottle filled with a icy blue liquid. He turned from the cabinet, abandoning his typing as Evergreen met him halfway and handed off the little black box. He opened it with little grace, pulling out another bottle of some other sort of liquid- and then dumping amounts of both into an empty glass.

The sound of hurrying feet caught his attention, Seyre darting inside the little room with an armful of other things, supplies and whatnot- and a little glass filled with silvery liquid. She handed the glass off to Talarr before setting the other things she was carrying down, the Ilaen dumping the new liquid into his concoction and then headed off again before Seyre was even done. Gray, Juvia, Shae and Corbynn drew up at the very edge of the space, hanging back with the Thunder Legion who had backed up too- to give Talarr and Seyre space, though Laxus didn't budge an inch.

Talarr pulled his liquid mix up into a needle, the point of it easily sliding into Frea's flesh as he emptied it in full, handing the needle off to Seyre. He kept going, mixing more things, fiddling further with the table, he and Seyre working quickly and in tandem with each other the whole way through. They'd gotten up here and into this room and done all they had in a matter of a few minutes, working frantically and against time- trying to stay ahead of the situation and do something to help before Frea got any worse.

The whole thing was a mad-dash and Talarr never stopped moving, or doing something. But even his quick actions didn't earn anything positive- not nearly good enough, and the Ilaen's face paled when the rhythm of the Energess' heart cut out again, and the stillness lasted much longer than anytime before it. Laxus' face twisted at it too, stiff in his spot for hearing the sudden silence and the way Frea's gasping choked off with it.

Talarr darted away from his mixing at a table and toward the Energess, the Ilaen clearing the space before her heart ended the stall and fell right back into it's uneven, jarring tenor again. Frea let out a low, weak hiss, her muscles tensing again as she coughed- but it was barely a cough at all. Her raggedy gasping was getting worse, she was getting weaker and weaker with every second, she wasn't hardly moving anymore in reaction to the pain- she was out of it and slipping further away into some place they didn't want her to go.

Laxus shot a glare at Talarr, his teeth gritting and the Ilaen felt the look without ever needing to see it, and he knew what it meant, he realized it just as soon as Laxus did.

If things kept on like this, the next time her heart skipped a few seconds too long would be the last time. It wouldn't come back.

"... Tch... Please... Please... Energess stay with us..." Talarr muttered lowly, his fingers tapping against a screen again. Strings made up of Magic sprouted off the table as he did so, winding themselves around Frea's chest and pulsing in white light up their lengths. Laxus could feel little bursts of electricity prick at the air, the sensation coming off the strings and coming in rhythm with the pulse of light they gave off. Frea flinched at them, the stillness and quiet she'd been sinking into brought to a halt as her body tensed slightly under the little bursts of current making contact with her body. They sunk in deep, not powerful enough to do damage, but enough to hurt- and badly so given the rhythm of the Electric-Strings was quite different from the one her heart had fallen into... But that was the point.

Talarr grimaced at the sudden show of pain, a heavy bead of sweat dripping down his jaw as he adjusted the current this way and that- he tried every combination he could think of, using the table and the Strings and directing the bursts of electricity with what near perfect precision the Surgical Table allowed him. He was trying to interrupt the rhythm her heart had fallen into, steer away to something less dangerous, slow down, stop skipping, stabilize- anything. What he had tried so far had done little to none, and this was the only thing left that he knew he could do and actually have a chance of it working- even if it was unpleasant.

Frea cringed again, her fingers twitching and her body following suit as the bursts of electrical current became enough she started to fidget, and fight the contact of the strings. The attempts weren't backed by enough strength to do much, but her moving at all wasn't going to do anything but maybe make things worse.

Laxus' hands came down gently on Frea's wrists to keep her still, the blonde moving long before Talarr had a chance to try and warn him from not doing it at all- lest the electricity from the strings travel into Laxus with the contact... But Laxus did not flinch or react to the bursts of current that prickled against his palms. It did not phase him in the slightest, and Talarr realized near right away he shouldn't have worried about it at all. He was a Lightning Dragon Slayer, after all.

Laxus grimaced, his eyes locked on to Frea and nothing else as Talarr kept on with what he was doing, tense and silent as he tried one sort of pattern, another, upped the strength of the Electric-String, the pace- all of it. Every inch of it made Frea cringe more, and more harshly as the seconds ticked by and her heart still refused to settle- but her pushing against his hands did nothing but grow fainter... He could hear her heart still, and feel her pulse against his hands- it was irregular and apt to stay that way, faltering for milliseconds over and over again and always fighting against Talarr's attempts with the Electric-String.

It wasn't working, he couldn't get it right, couldn't manipulate the rhythm in that single, precise way that would force it to even out again- Talarr fiddled with every setting he could and it wasn't enough. It wasn't precise enough- and he had to be precise, lest the electricity he was sending into her heart not only fail to help, but also stop it altogether, and with complete ease if he did not tread lightly. One wrong move and-

"... P-Porlyusica...!?"

The shocked murmur near the entrance was only barely heard by either Talarr or Laxus before a head of fiery pink hair swept up beside the Ilaen. The Old Lady did not hesitate, she did not give a single thought to the shocked looks or questions on where she came from- there was no time to be had trying to talk or explain things, she'd been told enough by Aisha and Seyre a few minutes beforehand, and before being rushed here through several different Beans. The second she'd heard the words 'her heart isn't beating right', the Old Lady had demanded she be brought straight to the Energy Dragon Slayer's side- a million worst fears and case-scenarios rushing through her mind.

Porlyusica placed herself directly beside Talarr, her red eyes scanning the scene before her in seconds and immediately finding the screens full of data and charts and images. The screens seemed mostly jumbled messes to anyone that didn't know what they were looking at, but Porlyusica did, and her face fell as fear flashed across her usually stern expression.

She expected bad, but this was terrible- her heart wasn't the only thing in bad shape. All of her was.

The Old Lady hissed under her breath, her eyes narrowed to slits and taking it all in in rapidity, before she took note of what Talarr was doing and she swallowed hard. She had to focus on one thing at a time,

"How long have you been trying at this?" She asked of Talarr and he blinked, faltering for only half a second before he seemed to realize who she was, and he bit the inside of his cheek.

"Six or seven minutes." He mumbled and Porlyusica grimaced at it, stepping a pace from Talarr and fiddling with one of the screens as she looked through what it had to offer.

"... It's not working." The Old Lady muttered,

"I know, but I already tried to slow her heart using sedatives and other medicines- but they aren't having any affect. This is the only thing that'll work quickly enough, I just can't get enough precision in to make it work." Talarr replied quickly, "... She's suffocating, she won't last much longer without oxygen getting to her organs properly, regardless if her heart stops or not." He kept on fast as before, and Porlyusica nodded stiffly, her eyes narrowing at the screen. She already knew all of what he said, and she knew what he was doing now was the best option at the moment- it was the one thing that had any chance at working quickly enough, but he was having no luck, clearly.

Her mind was racing, all her knowledge and skills paired with what he said, what the screens had told her, and what she'd seen before- and her eyes flashed when her thoughts clicked together.

Not enough precision

"Cease with that, your Magic Tools won't work fast enough. You'll spend too long trying and it'll be to slow." Porlyusica ordered of Talarr sharply, the Ilaen jumping slightly at the order but the Old Lady's eyes had snapped over to Laxus, and the blonde stiffened under the intensity of the look. "Listen to me very carefully- you have to use your Magic to try and alter the electrical pulses controlling the rhythm of her heart." Porlyusica told Laxus quickly and sharply, the blonde's eyes flashing at the words.

Talarr jumped, his eyes going wide behind his glasses and fixed to the Old Woman in shock- he realized as soon as she said the words where she was heading- but the Old Lady was not done, and her eyes did not leave Laxus. She kept on, quick and straight to the point.

"Use your Magic to control the way the pulses are moving, get them to slow down, ease her heart out of this awful pace and toward something more controlled and even. You have to manipulate the current of the electrical pulses connected to her heart, force it to stop skipping, and to slow down." Porlyusica told Laxus lowly, her expression tense and her eyes steady on him. He could see the fear in her expression, but she kept it mostly hidden behind steadiness now as she told him quickly what to do, and Laxus swallowed hard despite himself.

She was telling him to literally... Force his Magic into Frea's heart and mess with it.

Her heart

"You felt what these were doing, yes?" Porlyusica pressed still, gesturing toward the Electric-Strings and he grimaced at it. "You have to do the same thing, but your Magic will reach deeper than these can, and you have absolute control over the current- this needs to be precise and controlled. Magic Tools can't get to that level of precision, but you can. This is your Magic and you have to be absolutely precise with it- it will only work if you are." Porlyusica murmured lowly, her eyes flashing as Laxus hesitated a heartbeat longer. "This is the only way to try and save her, and avoid her heart giving out altogether. You need to work quickly, and carefully." Porlyusica pressed still, urgently so and he frowned a little more, but nodded stiffly anyway.

"... Got it..." Laxus grumbled lowly, his eyes moving back to Frea and his shoulders hunching slightly despite himself.

She wanted him to mess with her heart, damn it... Literally mess with her heart.

His stomach knotted at the thought of it, he instantly recoiled to the idea, but hell- there wasn't much choice. He knew it immediately from the look on the Old Woman's face and the severity of her tone, and he grit his teeth. There was no time to be squeamish about it, she didn't have time for him to be that way.

It didn't matter if he didn't want to do it, and he knew instantly he had to be careful, and that this was gonna suck... He had no idea what he was doing in the first place, but to force his Magic to travel into her body and into her heart and manipulate it?

This was gonna really suck... And it was gonna hurt her, no matter how careful he would be, or how out of it she was.

Laxus' hands left Frea's wrists, his torn up hands cached in dry blood and aqua blue gaze flashing as he pressed them lightly against her chest, just over her heart and his stomach churning further for the pounding he could feel against her ribs. His eyes fell closed and his jaw clenched, his attention on everything and everyone else becoming null as he settled in on the frantic pounding, the sensation of it and then further down... He could feel the little bursts of electricity, the ones ingrained into her heart like they were everyone else's, though he had never dared go this far to actually feel them under his hands, and least of all use his Magic to manipulate them.

He grit his teeth further for the thought but did it anyway, his Magic flaring under his touch and small bits of yellow sinking in, traveling down toward her heart on a direct line, intent on overtaking the smaller pricks of current that had her heart beating too fast, and too hard, and skipping, and all else.

As soon as he started he felt her tense, her gasping hitching in a shaky hiss and her body arching underneath him. Since he'd let his eyes drop closed in order to better concentrate on his Magic and what he was doing, he did not see the way her face twisted- but he knew it did anyway. He heard the way she winced, felt the way she started to squirm underneath his hands and he grimaced, keeping on anyway- even when she groaned and started moving enough that Talarr and Porlyusica had to hold her down to keep her still enough it didn't interfere with what he was doing.

He felt the electrical bursts bounce off his Magic, resistant against what he was doing, and she cringed again for it. A sharp yelp of pain escaped her, and he had to push his hands down a little harder to keep her more still.

Shit

Little bits of yellow sparked off his hands and he kept on, directing his Magic to push passed that little bit of resistance, and swallowing it up whole. His stomach churned for the sensation of letting his Magic push further and circle about her heart, the rhythm of it clashing terribly with the slower one he was trying to alter it toward. He could feel every beat of it, every jerk, every prickle of electricity and the way her body and the organ flinched at the unwanted currents of static and electricity... and he felt every ripple of current that moved outward and shuddered through the rest of her body in reaction to it. He felt the resistance spike and she yelled again, his shoulders hunching against it.

... Damn it... I...

Her heart skipped a beat again and the resistance tapered to near nothing. Enough every subtle thought was enough to steer the opposing current in the way he wanted, and even just a split second of thinking earned an immediate result- it was too easy, and he hated it.

One little, tiny, minuscule movement on his part he could either help her... Or just as easily kill her. In only half a second, or less.

He swallowed hard, his expression twisting slightly.

He had to block that out, he had to focus... He had to block out the way she was wincing, the way she squirmed still, the unpleasant feeling in his core, and the awful sensation that came with knowing everything he did was causing pain.

... Damn it, get a hold of yourself... Concentrate...

He moved his Magic carefully, seizing that all too easy control and manipulation and directing the electric bursts into a different rhythm, something slower and more controlled. Anything that would cease this breakneck speed and violent pounding that wasn't doing anything to help her at all, and instead had her spiraling and unable to breath. That jolting and uneven pace that kept skipping, and would lead to nothing but stillness and silence... That stillness and silence he'd lived through before and did not need a repeat of.

Tch...

Frea yelped again, her body under his hands jerking more violently than before and he held his breath against it, his eyes scrunching closed tighter.

It was taking longer than he liked, but he didn't dare push it. He just kept going, careful and deliberate, no matter how much more she flinched, or the way she hissed in pain and shuddered underneath it. He kept on with his attention desperately trying to fix on nothing but his Magic and what he was influencing, and what misstepping might mean.

When her heart eventually did start to even out, it was slow coming and agonizingly so. It felt like years before anything he did had enough effect, but eventually her rigid body underneath him slowly relaxed, though it didn't come fast enough... nor did her pain fade quickly enough either, as her heart eased to something more normal at his careful, tense direction.

She was getting quieter, her strangled gasping tapering off into low wheezy pants, and her body no longer pushing against him... The pounding of her heart under his hands lessened too, and he bent his head a little, letting out the breath he'd been holding. His eyes cracked open halfway, settling on her face and the hints of pain still etched into her expression.

Porlyusica said something, something like 'keep going' or 'it's working' but he barely heard her at all. He didn't need to be told, he could feel it under his hands, and his own heart twisted when Frea flinched one more time, weakly so.

She looked awful, pale as a ghost and so... So frail, and pained, and he swallowed hard against it.

All the shit that had happened was already bad enough, everything the Thunder Legion had told him made his blood boil and his stomach churn all at once... but this...?

Having to do this...? Even if it was supposed to... save her...?

He hated how rigid his body was, how much his shoulders had hunched and even the subtle shaking of his hands against her chest. His heart was pounding nearly as loudly as hers had been, and he felt nauseous. Hell, his body was slashed apart and burned all over and he should have been barely standing- but none of his pain made a dent at all. It didn't even register, not under the sick feeling gripping tightly to him, and how knotted he felt.

... Shit... I'm sorry, Frea...

---

Hello!

We finally are getting to the end of all this mess in Adgnei!

... and of course we finally got a reunion in this one too, but not quite the happy and releived one ;w;

I do hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway, though!

As always, thank you guys so much for sticking with me for so long! QwQ I appreciate every single one of you!

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