Chapter Twenty Six

A/N: This chapter got so long I had to divide it!! Just a heads up, there are 3 chapters left!! (#the feels when you're not ready for TBA to end)

OKAY. O K A Y. I JUST NEED TO VENT FOR A SEC. HUGE SHOUTOUT TO @insideiamasadflower FOR THEIR HELLA AMAZING FANART. I MEAN LOOK AT THIS. AMAZING, I SWEAR. PLEASE FOLLOW THEM, THEY ARE SO COOL *clenches fist dramatically*

Side note: THANK YOU ALL FOR 1K FOLLOWERS!! When I first joined Wattpad I didn't even think I'd get 10 followers, nevertheless 1000! I'm really so damn grateful for you all and the support you give me to keep writing. Because of that, I have a special surprise coming your way. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)‎

Also, I apologize for the events of this chapter. *cough* Uh... *flies away*

- - - -

★ Gray's POV ★

A pounding headache alerted me to my immediate discomfort, and I had the eerie, bone-chilling feeling that someone was staring right at me.

I opened my eyes to see a glass, semi-translucent material cupped around me. I quickly realized I was lying on my side, somehow having fell asleep on the floor. Head throbbing, I pulled myself into a sitting position and viewed my surroundings.

I was still in the secret underground, and I realized a circle of people had formed to watch me. I knew they were all scientists; they were all clad in perfectly ironed white lab coats and looking at me curiously, like I was a lab specimen.

Pulling myself up into a standing position, I quickly realized I was in a strange containment dome, much like the cylinder of purifying liquid I lived in for a few days. Without even considering how the dome got there, my only thought was how to get out of it.

"Hey, let me out of here, you crazy people!" I banged on the glassy material of the walls. Confusion and panic setting inside of me, I desperately looked for Natsu, to make sure he was alright.

I saw him in the corner of the room, unconscious. He was huddled up in a ball, with a pained, scrunched-up look on his face. Is that always how he looked when he slept? I couldn't help but wonder. What was he dreaming about, anyway?

I turn around, looking for the exit of the containment cube. Instead, I become face to face with Hypnosia, also commonly known as the evil bitch who ruined everything. I still couldn't see their face, and that infuriated me to no end. Why were they so hell-bent on hiding their identity to me?

In an attempt to step forward to match their intensity, I tripped from the chains on my ankles and fell to my knees on the floor. I clenched my fists and hissed in pain, rubbing my sore shins. Then it hit me; why was I the one in the cage? There wasn't a thing special about me... I wasn't one of their weird experiments... So why?

The scientists gathered around my glass cage seem prepared for something monumental. One has a video camera to document it, several had pens and clipboards at the ready, and one older man - seemingly the leader of the branch - held a dangerous-looking needle in his hand. The serum, which was bright blue, looked almost radioactive, and knowing that he would be using it soon sent a shiver down my spine.

I looked at Hypnosia again, studying them intently. Their smile was full of malice, and yet I knew I had seen it before. Their bubbly laugh, their voice, and their hands; it was all so familiar and it angered me that I couldn't see behind their hood.

Surely I wouldn't have known Hypnosia. It was impossible. I would've known something, obviously. Still, it irked me, and I couldn't shake off the feeling.

"Mr. Fullbuster, I think it's due time for you to learn about your friend over there," The leader spoke. His voice was muffled through the glass, yet I listened to intently I could hear him loud and clear. My fists clenched at my sides and I glared at him, but he didn't seem to be fazed by it.

"Here at the Hakai Laboratory, we take great pride in our Fusion Projects. So far, we are the first institute to discover the scientific technology to create fusions of abandoned, unwanted humans and animals," He began, looking prideful of his work. It disgusted me so much, I nearly felt sick.

"Abandoned? Unwanted?" I repeated incredulously. "How can you say that about a person? Everyone has someone in this world, and you take away that potential for them."

"But with that, I give them the greatests gifts they could ask for," He pointed out. "They get unimaginable superhuman powers, just like Thirteen over there. People would kill for wings like his."

"And the price of those wings?!" I shouted, banging my fists on the glass. The scientist flinched from the noise, but didn't show the shock in his face. "Natsu's had to live in a cage for thirteen years of his life, and the last five of them have been spent hiding in fear from you sick people! Why would anyone choose something like wings for an awful life such as that?"

"The Angel Experiments are a completely different story altogether," Asano narrowed his eyes. "Don't like you know everything, Mr. Fullbuster. Every Angel is expected to die at a certain age. They may seem strong, but on the inside, they are weak. Your boyfriend was supposed to die on his thirteenth birthday, but as you can see, he's here now, alive and well."

"He's definitely not well," I mumbled under my breath irritably. And he's not my boyfriend, I thought to myself.

"You see, after he escaped just over five years ago, we discovered something momentous about Thirteen. He was almost at his expiration date, only a few more months left to live, really, so we were doing extra experiments to see what it was that was killing off the other angels and was going to kill him too."

I clenched my fists, anger bubbling up inside of me. "He's not one of your experiments," I hissed. "He has rights," My voice choked up, and I cursed myself for getting so emotional in a stressful time like this.

"That's where you're wrong, Mr. Fullbuster," Asano shook his head solemnly, like I wasn't understanding this big problem. "Because really, that's all that Thirteen is. And it's all he will ever be. Nothing more than an experiment."

"How can you say that about another human being?" I screamed. "Don't you look at yourself in the mirror and realize what a mistake you're making; ripping away the lives of innocent children and forcing them into your fucked-up science fair projects? And for what? What good does this do for you?"

Asano cracked a lopsided smirk. "That, Mr. Fullbuster, is what we're going to figure out today."

"W-what do you mean by-"

I stopped talking when I saw Hypnosia move out of their place in the corner, circling around the dome prison to where Natsu was collapsed on the floor. He looked so damaged, covered in bruises and about ten pounds lighter. They'd been starving him, most likely, even though he needed more calories than the average human required. I could tell he was in pain, and that fact made my heart pound harder as Hypnosia knelt by his unconscious body, using a needle of their own to get some of Natsu's blood from his arm.

Natsu's head moved as he flinched subconsciously, and I saw the look of pain that made my heart drop to my stomach. Please no, I thought, stepping closer. My hand pressed against the glass, wishing for nothing more than to reach out to him and pull him away from these insanely dangerous people.

"Thirteen is the only one of the Angel Experiments who lived past his expiration date," Asano repeated himself as Hypnosia capped the vial of blood. "The studies showed traces of acid in his blood, which one day began to rapidly reproduce. We had never seen anything like it, and when Natsu grew out of control and escaped that same day, we were never able to learn what it was."

"After a lot of thought and study on some of the blood samples we managed to collect, we learned that it was the key to mutation," Asano continued, eyes flickering over to Natsu's body. "Mixing the animal DNA with this miracle acid could make any regular human invincible, and therefore superhuman."

"We've been perfecting the serum for five years now, but we needed that last ingredient; enough of Thirteen's acidic blood. None of the other angels reported to have this acid, so he was the only one. For a while, we thought it was going to be impossible to finish the serum, because we believed he had died. However, when we started to see newspaper reports of a magical flying superhero in Starlight City, well, it was just a matter of time until we struck back and brought him back where he belongs," His lips curved up into a smile that sent a chill down my spine. "I've been waiting for this day for years," He muttered to himself, so softly I almost didn't hear him through the dome.

"Congratulations, sir," Hypnosia giggled, walking back to hand the vial to him with a flourish of her hand. It was nearly in his hands when I saw a flash of black and pink and an exclaim of pain. "Hey!"

Everything happened at once, so quickly I barely registered it all. Natsu had flashed across the room with lightning speed, kicking the blood out of Hypnosia's hands before they could give it to Asano. It skittered to the floor, and Hypnosia and Natsu rushed to get to it first.

Natsu moved faster, however, and he kicked Hypnosia in the shin and ducked under her as she doubled over. Natsu moved towards me, hysterically searching around for a way out of the dome. He reached out towards me, the only barrier between us being the thin sheet of glass. When he couldn't find a switch to remove it, he curled his fingers into a tight fist, prepared to smash the glass himself.

Duck, he mouthed, winding his hand back. I stepped back as far as I could, shielding my face by crossing my arms and bracing the incoming impact. I waited, but it never came, because before he could smash through the dome, the cold voice of Hypnosia stopped him in his tracks.

"Stop moving," She commanded in that sultry-voiced tone she used to control others' actions. "Put your hand by your side."

Natsu stood statue still, the frustration apparent in his facial expression as he automatically lowered his arm. I watched his eyes, widened with fear, stare me down apologetically as Hypnosia demanded for him to step away from the dome.

Natsu watched, horrified, as Hypnosia stepped closer. She knelt down and pressed on the keypad that Natsu must've missed before. She punched in a code and the dome opened up and slid down into the ground, allowing me to breathe in fresh air again.

Asano approached Hypnosia, handing her the serum. She plucked the vial of blood from Natsu's tight grip, prying his fingers away to grab it. She unscrewed the nozzle and poured it all into the blue serum, the colors swirling together to make a dangerously-radioactive purple. It bubbled and made a fizzling noise, and I thought it would explode, and it looked like Asano thought it would too, judging by the appalled look on his face. Hypnosia's expression was covered by their hood, but as the glow of the serum lit up the inside of their hood, I noticed the soft hook of a nose. Freckles. An excited smile.

Hypnosia moved closer, stepping up on the platform. I backed up as far away as I could from her, but the chains on my ankles restricted me from moving anywhere. "This is for the greater good, Gray," She told me. She got on one knee and positioned the needle by my neck. I squirmed away, yanking against the chains to break free.

"I'm so sorry," She whispered, so softly only I could hear her. I saw a trickle of a tear falling down her face before it dropped off her chin and onto the floor.

I wasn't prepared for what happened next. For the second time, Natsu practically teleported next to Hypnosia and ripped off their hood. Blonde locks of hair tumbled down, framing the face of my best friend, Lucy.

It felt like all the air had been knocked out of me. I wheezed, unable to contain my surprise and fear. Was it really her? The same brown eyes, freckled face, the dazzling smile? It was, I realized, feeling like the world was constricting on me. My brain was swirling, and I couldn't make a cogent sentence.

"Lucy?" I managed to gasp out, my voice cracking. "H-how could you do this to me...?"

She was crying. But it was too late to go back on her mistake, because she pushed the needle syringe into my skin and pressed down.

The serum was injected into my bloodstream, but the pain couldn't match the one in my heart, of the heartbreak and betrayal I felt that threw my world upside down and left me for dead.