​When your head is where your feet were, when everything is dark and there's no way out, just look into the face of your enemy, smile through the blood, and say, 'I'm winning.'

—Anonymous

CHAPTER SEVEN: No way...

As Lisanna was brought into the room, for once she didn't struggle. She deserved it—debt for her sins. Her poor sister... Mira... still laying against the wall. The door was shut and locked, though it wouldn't do much good if she wasn't already exhausted. She collapsed onto the ground, legs burning from running away from Mira before she was caught. As she watched, though, a body she first thought as deceased started to move. Gajeel, she recognized, the man who always hung around Levy and munched on iron.

"Go," he pleaded, eyes searching her face as if the memory of her was already fading. He was just able to reach her, and she felt magic fill her with energy, before he collapsed.

She tried to pick him up, destroy his chains, but to no avail. Sorry, Gajeel-san, she thought. I'll come back with help.

She got off the floor, and quickly kicked down the door and ran, hearing alarms blaring behind her. She wasn't coming back without help. No way...

•••

When Lisanna made it to the stairs, she came face-to-face with a surprised Lucy, their faces mirroring each other. "Quickly," Lucy whispered bringing her around a corner just as they heard footsteps run past, voices shouting. Their captors.

"G-Gajeel," Lisanna gasped, out of breath. "Mira... Natsu...?"

"I know," Lucy comforted. "We'll be back, but first we need to find a certain prisoner."

"Who? A-And, why?"

"Junichi. She's been here since forever. She can help us."

"How do you know?" Lisanna asked quickly, whispering slightly.

"Lahar. He said she's in a lower floor. Basement four, I believe."

Lisanna nodded, before squishing herself against the wall as more footsteps sounded and shadows flickered across the walls. Lucy squeezed her friend comfortingly as the guard passed. Lisanna remembered, "So, what are we going to do? They won't just let us take her."

Even in the dark, Lisanna could see the broad grin her friend held. "Well, then, it's time for a prison break, isn't it?" she asked rhetorically. It was then that Lisanna knew Lucy was just as insane as her teammates—just more sneaky about it.

***

Juvia found it strange that she didn't feel her Gray plushie in her arms, or her see her Gray posters as she opened her eyes. Then the room focused, and she found herself face-to-face with her guild mate Natsu in her face. Juvia squeaked reflexively, backing up, before blinking as she took in her surroundings.

"Where are we...?"

Natsu adopted a serious look. "I don't know. I can smell blood... death..." He turned to Juvia. "What happened?" She sifted through her memories. S-class trials... Tenroujima... Acnologia. She didn't need to say anything to tell that Natsu remembered as he ran his fingers through his hair.

It was then that where she was finally sank in completely, as the fog of sleep lifted from her mind. It was a small room, nothing important. It had one door, and, considering, it made her wonder why Natsu didn't knock it down, if anything out of curiosity rather than intelligence. That was answered for her as he suddenly turned towards the door and asked, "Should we try it?"

"Hai. (Yes) Why didn't you before...?"

He looked down. "I didn't want to leave you alone."

Juvia blushed slightly, having that been the first time that someone said anything like that to her. Abruptly, Natsu stood up, and his hand caught on fire. "Fire Dragon's... Iron Fist!" he shouted. She resisted the urge to shush him as it was already too late. She froze up as Natsu carelessly walked outside. What if there was someone outside?

Again, she was answered as they were swept into darkness, the lights going out one by one in a row. As the lights next to them shut off, they were wrapped into shadows, unable to see one thing from another. Luckily, it seemed Natsu could use his nose, but he complained about the blood so much she didn't have the heart to make him.

They stepped forward cautiously, after making their way towards each other. She gripped his wrist as she almost slammed into a wall. Pitch-black indeed. It was then that a door down the hallway opened, spreading light into the room. Juvia squinted, her eyes unadjusted to the sudden glow. A silhouette made its way towards them, relaxed and ambling.

Her eyes widened as she realized who it was.

•••

Katsu considered that Iron Dragonslayer from where he stood. It was a strange case, that one. Moving your magical energy from one person to another to allow the recipient to escape... that wasn't a basic skill. How powerful was this Fairy Tail mage, really?

•••

Romeo realized at that moment that the voice he kept hearing over and over in his head sounded familiar. At first, it was just gibberish, garbled and practically word salad, but now it was focused. "Warren?" he shouted in his mind, astonished.

•••

Doranbolt noticed Lahar was missing. Of course, he only noticed when he went to annoy—ahem, chat with—his friend. The door was ajar, the light on, a document on the desk.

Now, being a naturally-curious blackmail-curious type of person, Doranbolt immediately approached the desk.

He picked up the file, reading its contents, before he dropped it, sending papers scattering across the room.

No way...

—

4 pages, 1022 words

Published: 9 November 2015

—

Yes, this is a filler. No, I don't care. (Sorry, but I have a huge project due tomorrow, and it's already 11:42pm, and... yeah.)

​Oh, and the Juvia x Natsu is because it's one of my and my friends' crack pairings. Yes, I'm that shameless.

VOTES:

Laxus x Lucy: 11

Gajeel x Lucy: 9

Sting x Lucy: 5

Rogue x Lucy: 4

Gajeel x Levy: 3

Laxus x Lucy x Gajeel: 1

Aw, not much RoLu! Where's the looooveee?

(Btw, the people who are like, "Uh, where's the votes coming from?" It's from my account, QueenFandom, on Quotev.)