If I had been capable of feeling anything at the moment, I would probably be filled with relief that I had decided to spare the irritating woman. While she was still filled with retorts that made her sound like a four-year-old throwing a tantrum, she was at the very least giving me directions as I ever so pulled her through town; studiously ignoring the concerned looks were being thrown by various townspeople.

It wasn't until I was led to the outskirts of town that I actually began to feel grateful that I kept the annoying woman alive. Yes, I wished that I didn't have to listen to her make snide comments, but as soon as I saw the forest, I knew that I would never be able to find Novus Ordo's hideout on my own.

There was a slight amount of poetic irony here that I absolutely despised... Screw poetry.

Despite the obvious drawbacks, there really was no choice but to keep moving on, entering into the trees as I hoped beyond all hope that Laxus would come walking out as a last-ditch effort to save me from getting lost. Even as the town slowly disappeared behind me I continued hoping for that, but there was no luck... Nothing but the trees, and if you haven't picked up on this yet, nature doesn't like me, nor do I like it... It's a mutual dislike.

Thankfully, the woman didn't pick up on my intense dislike of my situation as she led me through the bushes. I could feel her fuming the entire time, but I could care less about that, there were bigger things for me to worry about, which was topped by the fact that Laxus' presence had been fading slightly.

It really was odd, normally if I could feel Laxus' presence it meant that I could track him down by his heartbeat; however, there was something blocking me from him. It was vaguely apparent to me that we were getting closer, but it was so subtle that there would have been no way for me to actually track it.

Just like the last two times, Novus Ordo had turned their hideout into a bit of a rat's nest. I grilled the woman as much as I could as we walked and it became more and more apparent that she only knew the basics. It seemed that Novus Ordo had brought her in for the sole purpose of being an in-town contact and while she had been to the base once or twice, that was the extent of her involvement with the main guild.

Did that make feel worse about the fact that I was undoubtedly going to kill her? Not at all. She had organized all three of the kidnappings that had happened recently, which included Laxus. When I asked her what they wanted Laxus for, her eyes practically froze and she clammed up, even when I threatened her with an excruciating death she remained quiet.

Obviously, she really believed in what was happening here, which was the only black mark I needed to give her. Any organization whose sole purpose was to harm others was bad in my mind... Was that a bit hypocritical of me? A bit, yes, but I really couldn't bring myself to care.

I suppose I had some idea of what was happening, if they had taken on the name of Novus Ordo, it only made sense that they held some of the same goals. Creating a new generation of mages was what the original guild wanted to achieve and they were trying to do that by infusing people without magical potential with pure magic, which acted like poison to the body. It was a disgusting practice and as far as I knew, none of the victims survived. 

That's probably why I felt such a large amount of anxiety for Laxus... If I lost him to this assholes, I wasn't sure I would be able to contain myself. 

As I navigated my way around a large pack of forest vulcans, my heart rate began to pick up for no obvious reason and I began to drag the woman as quickly as I could without alerting the whole forest to my presence. Something was happening, though I wasn't sure what.

"Are we close?" I bit out, just barely managing to hold back my powers.

By this point, the woman was able to walk a bit more on her own, but my accelerated pace practically pulled her off her feet, "Y-Yes!" She yelped, though I didn't necessarily pay too much attention to her, "Just over this-this hill is the entrance." Her voice tremored as I pulled her off her feet again, "Slow down would you, y-you're going to pull my arm-" 

Unfortunately for her, I wasn't stupid, as soon as her voice began to rise in volume I dragged her just a little closer to me and covered her mouth with my hand, "Try that shit again and I'll make you watch as I kill all your comrades with your blood," I whispered into her ear as my hand strayed to my belt where a variety of knives were being kept. "Now, you were reluctant to answer this before, but I'll give you one more chance to tell me; how many people are usually on patrol when you go there? You have five seconds."

The anxious feeling that had been increasing receded slightly, allowing me the presence of mind to not stab her in the side just yet as I pulled out the longest of my hidden knives, one that I had coated earlier with a potent neurotoxin, "Five."

For some reason, I couldn't feel the heartbeats that were supposedly close by, yet there were obvious signs in the surrounding area that people were close by, the birds weren't chirping as they had been the rest of the time we had been out here and I could faintly pick up the sounds of footfalls nearby, it was beyond frustrating to not since people who were obviously there.

"Four." The woman attempted to jerk away from me as she shook her head harshly, she was so loyal to her cause, it was almost admirable.

"Three." Two small pricks of warmth began to roll down the back of my hand as the woman continued to shake her head, too bad that her side was the opposite of mine.

"Two." It was unfortunate, she was going to die anyway but that if she had cooperated, I wouldn't have made her suffer. She wasn't going to help me, that much was obvious. 

"Too late." Without any ceremony, I jabbed my knife into her thigh and dragged it causing a fountain of blood to erupt from her. I could feel her scream in agony against my hand, but I didn't allow any sound to erupt, not just yet, it was only going to get worse when her mind registered the neurotoxin.

Blood coated my hand, which I quickly brought to my mouth as I licked off one of my fingers, allowing her blood to enter my system. Immediately I could feel her heartbeat just a little bit better as I controlled a small amount of the blood that was already beginning to pool on the ground to rise in the air and encircle me, the feeling was intoxicating... The song of her blood caused a tremor to run through me as I tried to resist the temptation to drain her of every drop of blood and absorb it.

She hadn't stopped screaming against my hand since the moment the blade entered her and now those were mixing with choked sobs as she tried to get enough air. "Scream loud, my little bait." I crooned in her ear as I released her completely and took a step away, the blood I had grabbed control of swirling heavily around me as she did as I said and allowed the trees to echo with the sounds of her pain. (Holy crap... Does anyone else get the feeling that Ember isn't exactly a 'good guy'? She's sadistic AF)

Immediately, I picked up on three heartbeats coming our way, even if she did manage to warn them of me, it was already too late. Those guards were the lucky ones, if they played their cards right, they would survive this, the same couldn't be said for the rest once I had found Laxus.

My vision was almost completely red as I walked towards where the men had come from, silent as the ghost I had once been named for, I could see the outline of the trees but that was about it, everything else was washed away as blood clouded my mind.

It wasn't until I crossed some invisible barrier that I began to sense other people's heartbeat. So they were using an advanced barrier, were they? Smart idea, it would have taken me weeks to find this place if I hadn't had a guide. There were probably thirty heartbeats hidden by the shield, and yet I still couldn't feel Laxus'.

For a moment I stood frozen, paralyzed by the thought that I had come all this way for nothing. I had been lucky to find this place so quickly; if I was forced to go back and investigate... I might not make it in time. My nails bit into my legs as my breathing picked up, there were so many people who would be devastated if Laxus didn't make it back in time... 

Including me.

I was pulled out of my head by something sharp cutting into my shoulder. The blood that was still swirling around me had reacted to my momentary breakdown and was now swirling around me erratically, each drop as sharp as ice.

No, I could still feel Laxus' presence and it was closer than ever... They had used one shield that was capable of blocking me, who's to say that they couldn't use a second one as another layer of protection?

It took a moment, but eventually, I calmed down slightly, enough to where my nails were no longer cutting into my skin. My window of time I needed to get inside the cave system without immediately alerting everyone was almost up, there was no doubt that those guards would be reporting suspicious activity and my bait would be dead soon, so my time was almost up.

My feet made no sound as I ran towards the entrance of the cave, It was amazing how this guild followed such similar patterns, each of the times before this Novus Ordo had holed up in a cave system like the rats they were as well. Sure this made my life a bit harder, but it was interesting to think about for sure.

Several groups of people were moving through the cave, I could faintly hear their chatter with my enhanced hearing, yet it all seemed relatively normal. There was nothing major to guide me in the right direction, which was just about enough to send me back towards a panic attack, but I forced myself back just in time and began to make my way towards one of the groups.

I needed information, and the closest group was a good place to start, I could always move on once I established the fact that they had no useful information.

They were close, but it turned out that it was just a group headed to what made up their mess hall for lunch... It was about noon, wasn't it? I had completely lost track of the time, though food was the furthest thought from my mind. The more I listened, the more I realized that they had no relevant information, so I moved on.

This repeated two or three more times, there would occasionally be mentions of a 'dragon', but they were quickly shut up as their comrades cut over them, looking around furtively. Apparently, Laxus, who was obviously the dragon, was a forbidden topic, though I had no idea why that would be. 

It wasn't until I hunted down two people passing in the halls that I got any real information... Thank god there were still idiots everywhere.

"Are you coming from the dragon?" The lady I had been shadowing for less than a minute asked as she approached a colleague in a lab coat, who simply sighed and shook his head.

"Would you stop it already?" The man grumbled as he shoved his hands deep into his pockets, "You know the bosses don't want us talking about it and you're already in enough trouble, to begin with."

So the woman was known for being loose-lipped, was she? Well, that worked out in my favor.

A dismissive air surrounded the woman as she giggled slightly, "What? Do you really buy into that whole paranoid crap? If someone really got in here, we would be done, whether or not they found out about anything specific."

I hated to admit it, but the woman was right; even if I just chose to walk away at this point, I would likely be able to make a pretty good case for this guild to all be thrown in jail.

It seemed that this wasn't the first conversation these two had had about this, as he sighed heavily, "That's not the point, word has it that one of our town operatives was found dead in the forest outside, not far from here, whoever's after us could be coming for blood."

This seemed to strike some kind of chord with the woman, who finally looked down and sighed as she tapped her clipboard, "Yeah, I was hoping that was just some kind of joke. They won't say who it was, but... I can't help but feel that Kennedy was... Well, nevermind." A clearly fake laugh bubbled from her as she waved dismissively again, "It's like I said, if someone has snuck in here, then either they'll get caught and nothing more will come of it, or we're screwed, no point in worrying!" 

The man opened his mouth several times as he struggled to find something to say, but the lady didn't seem to keen on giving him a chance, "Don't worry about it, you idiot, just go get lunch! I'm just going to check in on the project. I heard they were close to breaking through."

So my bait had more connections here... Oh well.

As soon as I thought that, a terrible feeling began to build in the pit of my stomach once more... What the hell was this? It was like my whole body was getting ready to jump off a cliff. Could the project be...?

It was clear that the man was exhausted as he ran his hand through his hair, "Yeah, my guess is that they'll get the lacrima out pretty quick now... I wish I could say I was excited, but once it's out, I'll be the one working around the clock to finish everything up."

Lacrima? My breath froze in my throat. They couldn't be talking about Laxus' dragon lacrima, could they? Blood bubbled up from my pants as I unconsciously dug my nails into my legs again

, I don't know how they knew about his lacrima, but if they took it out... Laxus wouldn't be able to survive.

I remembered him telling me about his childhood once, before he had completely turned into a closed off dick, he said his heart had been weak and the magic of the lacrima was a big reason he had grown up healthy. No doubt his body had become dependent on that power.

The two people continued to talk for another minute before they parted, though I was aware of none of it, my brain was far to caught up in the implications of what they had been saying. My body moved after the woman automatically, following her through the twisting tunnels as my brain remained numb.

It remained that way until we reached a door that had been meticulously molded into the rocks that surrounded it, even if I wasn't already on high alert this would have been suspicious, as this was the only door I had seen besides the entrance one, everything else was left in the natural rock formations.

The woman poked a lacrima and scanned her hand as she opened the door, likely as some kind of advanced locking system... This whole thing screamed money and influence, which made the smallest part of my brain that wasn't worrying about Laxus wonder exactly who was behind this whole operation. It certainly wasn't just some random group of people with a vendetta against magic.

All of this occurred in the moments before the door opened, while I was still mostly coherent... The moment the door opened all rational though abandoned me as the shielding that surrounded the room cracked open and my mind was sent reeling by the scent and feeling of blood hitting me like a truck.

It certainly wasn't just any random person's blood either, this was blood that was more familiar to me than my own was at this point... 

This was Laxus' blood.

Thank god there was a heartbeat that reached me, but immediately my brain focused on the fact that he was hurt badly with a razor-like intensity and I lost control of my limbs. All I knew was that I was flying forward faster than I had ever moved before and the ramming into the woman I had been following. Apparently there was a blade in my hand as the sensation of blood rushing over my fingers filled me and my magic began to rattle at the bars of it's cage.

Normally I would have just ignored this, but my brain was in no shape to heed reality, so naturally, the beast broke free.

I already had small amounts of blood swirling around me thanks to my bait earlier, but now, as my vision faded entirely to red, I could feel the sensation of what felt like a calming pool lapping at my consciousness. there was a small part of me that recognized that people were dying all around me, I could still slightly hear the screams of people surrounding me, but the liquid that I was surrounded in was so alluring...

So calm...

So warm...

Safe...

Protected...

"Oi, Coal Head."  I looked around lazily, it was our day off, one of the first that we had taken in the two years I had been a member of their team. Bicklow, Freed, and Ever had already dragged The Spark Plug out by his ear, informing him that they were going on an involuntary shopping trip.

I knew the real reason, of course, Ever was sick of the stupid leather jacket that the teenager insisted was the coolest thing he owned. Normally, we would all just leave him alone and allow him to make whatever choices he wanted, but the jacket had been through one to many adventures... It seriously smelled like something had curled up inside it and died... Well, that and he was outgrowing it faster than he wanted to admit.

As one of the most cautious spenders of the group, I was immediately nixed from joining in on project Jacket Removal, as I saw no issue with Laxus having a beloved item of clothing... Even if I really did want him to clean it more often for the sake of my sensitive nose.

That meant that I had the whole day to myself, a rare thing for me, and something that I had originally planned to take full advantage of by rearranging the weapons display in my room.

Unfortunately...

"Did you seriously not hear me? I'm talking to you, Coal Head!" 

It seemed as though he was somehow able to escape his captors and now wanted to bug me. "I heard you Spark Plug, I just didn't want to answer." My voice held all the long-suffering of a frustrated parent as I walked down the hall towards my room, hoping that he would catch my hint and just go away.

Laxus grumbled slightly as he fell into step behind me, "Well that was rude." He murmured, "I just wanted to see what you were up to."

The hall was long, and while I had emptied out rooms for all of the Thunder God Tribe to use when we stayed here, I doubted that that was his destination, "Nothing," I said dismissively, looking back at him with a raised eyebrow, "Don't you have three people who have specifically asked you to hang out with them today?"

It was quite amusing to see Laxus frustrated, his whole face scrunched inwards and he raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, acting far more mature he was,"Yes, but I don't want to be with them right now, they're irritating."

I couldn't keep the chuckle in at that, if only he knew how much time they had spent plotting ways to make him stay with them. "They want you to get rid of the jacket, don't they?" 

That shut him right up, he never did like to admit that others were right. It wasn't until we made it clear to the end of the hall and my bedroom door did he speak again, "I don't see what's so wrong with it." He muttered petulantly as I opened the door.

Well this was a bind, if I abandoned him now to have a day to myself like I wanted, then I would have to deal with him pouting for the rest of the week... What did I value more, my sanity now or my sanity in the future? It was an incredibly difficult decision...

"Fine, you can come in, just don't touch any of my weapons or you'll be one of my new test dummies." I sighed, opening the door wider and motioning for him to enter, "Now get in before the rest of them come looking for you."

He didn't smile at my offer, he never smiled if he could help it, but I had been around the irritable Spark Plug for long enough to know that he truly did appreciate my offer as he wasted no time in entering. This was damn tedious, but it was better than having Ever or Bickslow here picking over every single thing I had hanging around, which included a human skull that had been hanging around since I first inherited the room.

Not that I was attached to anything in here besides my weapons, I was just to lazy to empty the place of all my mentors' possessions. 

As I firmly shut the door behind Laxus, he made himself comfortable by dropping heavily on my bed and staring up at the ceiling as I began the long awaited process of pulling down all my weapons and cleaning them so they could be rearranged.

"Do you know why they want me to get rid of it?" He asked after a few minutes of pleasant silence.

My hands didn't stop moving as I was in the middle of cleaning an antique battle axe, "Maybe because it smells like you're wearing a rotting corpse?" I said dryly, frowning as I tried to get a small crevasse that was evading my cleaning cloth.

This wasn't the first time I had mentioned this to him, he knew my opinion on his jacket well enough, normally he would  have some witty retort for me, but I knew he was concerned about it by the unusual silence I was greeted with, "Listen, if your that worried about it, you can go through some of the clothes in there." I said with a sigh, turning to look at the moody teenager, "Most of the shit in the closet is stuff that I've never touched, the quality is pretty high too, my mentors never really tolerated anything but the best."

I normally never talked about my mentors, so I could tell that he was brimming with questions, but a sharp glance from me must have broadcast my lack of desire to reveal anything else, as he shook his head quickly and jumped up. It wasn't often that I allowed people to explore around my personal space... So why was I inviting him to do so now?

The question swirled around in my mind a few times, but I was quick to brush it off in favor of  continuing to clean, allowing my mind to wander peacefully as I listened to him making small comments about some of the items before he stuck his head back out, "Why do you keep all this crap, it's not like you use any of it."

"Do you not see all the shit in there?" I was quick to respond, setting aside the now finished war axe that I was sure had never been used before, "It would be a pain in the ass to clean it all out, besides, I don't have enough stuff to make it look full."

"Well that makes sense," He muttered before ducking back in and calling out to me, "But why do I get the feeling that you're lying?"

That was the first thing he had said that caught my attention enough for me to stop polishing whatever was in my hands, "What are you talking about, Spark Plug? Why would I lie about clothes?"

My attention was stuck on the weapon in my hands, though I couldn't tell you what it was for the life of me... That was such a weird question.

"I guess," Came his answer, "But it's not just the clothes, is it? It took us the better part of a year to get you to remove the expensive ornaments you had hanging around here. I don't know, maybe I've misread the situation, but it seems like you're hanging on to the past for some reason."

What? 

A shock went through me as I blinked slowly, there was no way... I just didn't care enough to get rid of all the crap, that was all it had ever been.

"Everything we've been able to learn about your past has been terrible. It's just like you to take this as a complement, so don't let it go to your head, but your life before us sucked... If it were me, I would be throwing shit out left and right, just to get rid of the bad memories." 

Why was my mind catching on this so much? It was a simple thing, but for some reason it felt... Significant.

"Hell, I don't even know why I brought it up, but I guess... Well..." He stopped for a moment and I was lost in the current of my mind as I tried to unravel this deceptively simple conversation until a hand landed on my shoulder, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that none of us want you to be held back by your past. We're a team now, so you can use us to help replace your shitty memories. Got that, Coal Head?"

My breath caught as the liquid around me was disturbed by the memory... That's right, that was when Laxus found his cloak among some of my mentors' old things... It was such a random memory... One that I hadn't even thought about in years, yet...

"You aren't alone any more."

It was such a simple statement... One that he said not even knowing the affect it had on me.

You aren't alone anymore.

As the liquid continued to stir, my mind tried to find the peace that I felt only moments before, but something was stopping me.

You aren't alone anymore.

There was something I needed to do, something important, but what could it be? What could be more important than the liquid?

You aren't alone anymore.

Wait... That's right... I was looking for someone, I was mad... Someone was in danger... But who?

"Coal Head"

It was like a bolt of lightning traveled down my spine as I woke from whatever trance I had been in and looked around frantically. It took a moment to reorient myself, but there was a stabilizing factor in the room helping me to stay calm, even as I saw the amount of blood that was coating every surface.

I could feel small lines of a cold, sticky liquid running down my arms and legs, yet I avoided looking down, I didn't want to see further proof of the monster that I knew I had unleashed.

How long had I been out? There had been no sense of time while I was trapped in my mind... Was it too late? No, Laxus' heartbeat was still present, even if it was weak.

It took longer than I would have liked, but eventually I was able to look away from the drained bodies and walls to try and find the person I did all this for, only to see an operating table in a room that was adjacent to where I currently was with a small hint of electric blond on top of it.

My feet moved before my brain and in an instant I was beside the table, looking down in horror at my best friend, completely ignoring the two other heartbeats in the room. Laxus was paler than I had ever seen him, his skin a pale white that contrasted greatly with the red that flecked his face.

I could physically feel my heart stutter as I looked further down, only to see a large, gaping hole in his chest that showcased exactly why he looked so fragile. Blood was pooling up in the cavity, yet I could very clearly see his beating heart, as well as the sides of his lungs... It was apparent that this operation was not made with his survival in mind. 

The other two heartbeats in the room began edging away from me as stood frozen in horror. Who would be able to fix this? Porlyusica? Maybe, but it I was right, then I would definitely need someone to reinsert the lacrima. 

Speaking of which... My hand snapped up as I caused the blood of my many victim to rise off the floor. I knew that I had absorbed a lot of it, but there was still plenty for me to use, "Where is it?" I ground out, finally looking up at the two scientists who had been trying to make an escape of the room.

Both of them were watching me with haunted eyes, but I really couldn't bring myself to care as one quickly pulled a hand behind his back, "W-What... What do you mean?" He gasped out as the other one tugged on the man's arm desperately.

"It's not worth it," Scientist number two hissed into the first one's ear.

I was past allowing my anger to control me, I had too many other things to worry about, namely keeping Laxus alive, "She's right, you know." I said quietly, forcing the blood to circle around the two scientists menacingly while I kept one hand on Laxus' shoulder reassuringly, "In fact, if you two help me get the help I need for this man, then I can guarantee you'll survive this with your lives."

~~~~~~~~~

I hope Laxus wasn't to OOC in the flashback... or that the flashback wasn't too out of place, it's late and late night judgement is not always sound judgement... Let me know what you thought!

-klypso01