A distant thump woke Freed out of his nightmare. His dreams were often filled with the day him and his team found Lucy chained in that basement. Her dull pleas to end her life still haunted his mind. Running a hand down his face, he sat up, flinging the covers off him as he swung his legs to plant his feet on the floor. He doubted he would be able to go back to sleep, perhaps some tea would soothe his mind.

A loud crash had him instantly shooting to his feet. Swinging his door open, he ran as quickly as he could to Lucy's room. He heard the adjacent room doors swing open as he quickly opened the door to her room. Flicking on the overhead light, he gasped.

Lucy was kneeling on the ground, her hair tightly grasped in her hand as she swung her head into the nightstand. "Lucy!" He shouted in horror as he slid to kneel next to her, grabbing her shoulders to keep her from doing it again.

She turned her attention to him and screamed, shocking him to his core. She flailed her arms, knocking his away and slammed her head against the nightstand again. "Shit, Lucy stop!" He shouted as he reached for her, but she just swatted his arms away.

Suddenly, Laxus dropped to his knees behind her, caging her arms with his own. He gritted his teeth at the force of her trying to get away. Screaming, she thrashed her head from side to side while she clawed at Laxus' arm with her left hand. Laxus grunted as her nails broke his skin. "Shit, blondie. Calm down, it's us." Her head swung back, bashing against his forehead and he saw stars as his head fell back, his grip around her tightening.

Evergreen sobbed as she stood in the doorway, her hand covering her mouth as she whispered, "what's happening?"

Bickslow clenched his teeth as he called upon his magic, his jaw going slack when he saw her soul.

Freed grabbed her face in his hands, his face serious as he wiped the blood from her cheek with his thumb. Her screams grew louder when their eyes connected, and he frowned at the hatred swimming within their depths. "Lucy, focus." He commanded. "I know you're in there, so you need to fight! I'm right here, you're safe!" Her screams died into growls as she looked into his eyes. It was the first time her eyes had been focused on anything, but this was not what he was expecting in the slightest. "That's it, Lucy, breathe. You're safe." He sighed in relief when she seemed to calm down. Laxus blinked his eyes as his vision refocused and he watched the interaction.

Suddenly, her eyes grew darker as she screamed once again, whipping her head to bite down on Freed's hand. A shout of pain left him when she broke the skin and Laxus cursed. "We need to sedate her!"

Evergreen broke out of her terrified stupor and dropped down next to Freed. "Lucy, look at me." The girl let go of Freed's hand and turned her attention to the woman, Freed immediately pulling his hand to his chest. Evergreen was shocked at the look in her eyes. The girl screamed louder as she slashed her nails over Laxus' arm. "Lucy!" Evergreen called upon her magic and lifted her glasses when the girl's eyes refocused on her. Her angry scream was cut off as she turned into stone. Evergreen put her hand over her mouth, her eyes slamming shut as her tears spilled. She hated doing that to her, but she had no other choice.

Laxus groaned as he sat back, cradling his bleeding arm to his chest. "What the hell happened?"

Freed shook his head as he closed his hand over his bleeding one, the look on her petrified face making his heart clench painfully. "I don't know."

"H-Her soul." Bickslow shakily spoke. "It's in one piece again, b-but it's darker... so much darker."

"What the hell do we do?" Evergreen whimpered.

"We're gonna need back up with this." Freed said as he looked at their leader.

Laxus sighed and laid his head back against the bed. "Yeah. I'll go get Jellal." He wasn't in too much of a hurry to get up since his head was still spinning slightly, but he didn't want to leave Lucy as a stone statue for long either. So, with a grunt, he picked himself off the floor. Damn she put up a fight, he was hurting.

Evergreen put a hand on Freed's shoulder. "Should I call for Wendy?"

Freed shook his head. "We can wait until morning." It was still the dead of night, he didn't want to make that girl work so hard at this hour.


Cobra's eyes shot open when he heard a distressed soul enter the perimeter. He sat up to listen closer. His eyebrows drew together when he realized who it was. Laxus' soul never sounded like that. Grabbing the shirt that he had tossed to the side earlier that night, he quickly put it on and exited his tent. Ripping open the tent door beside him, he shouted, "Jellal!'

Said man let out a slightly girlish shriek as he bolted upright. Seeing that it was just Cobra, he put a hand over his heart as he exhaled loudly. "What the fuck, man?"

Cobra would have laughed in the man's face, but hearing what was coming out of the rapidly approaching Laxus' soul, he would just have to memorize that reaction for later. "Blondie needs our help and quick."

Jellal's eyes widened at the man's serious tone, so he wasted no time in putting a shirt on and following after him. He saw Laxus entering the clearing, so they went to meet him halfway. His eyes grew wide when he saw the bloody arm the man was cradling to his chest. "What the hell happened?"

Laxus grunted when he came to a stop in front of them. "Lucy... she just started going crazy. Evergreen had to turn her to stone to get her to stop hurting herself."

"Sounds a lot worse than that." Cobra mumbled as his mouth formed a grim line.

"Shit." Jellal swiped a hand through his hair. "Let's hurry then."

"Right." Laxus grunted as the two sped off. He took a deep breath before he went after them, right back the way he came.

Jellal burst through the front door, but came to a stop as he waited for Laxus to catch up, Cobra coming to a stop next to him. "Where is she?"

"Upstairs." Laxus pointed as he grit his teeth at the pain traveling up his arm.

Jellal jogged up the stairs and saw Evergreen standing in a doorway, so he assumed she was there. He frowned at her tears as he moved past her, and his eyes immediately honed in on the statue kneeling on the ground in a furious silent scream.

"Jesus fucking christ." Cobra muttered as he stared at the statue. He couldn't hear her soul while she was stone, but the expression on her face said a lot. His eyes moved to Bickslow, who had his head clutched in his hands as he sat on the floor.

"Did this come out of nowhere?" Jellal asked Freed as he finished writing runes around the statue.

Freed looked at him as he sheathed his sword. "Yes. She was normal when I put her to bed."

"She did smile yesterday." Bickslow whispered dejectedly.

Jellal just stared at the statue as he heard Laxus enter the room. "Is the room secure?"

"Yes." Freed answered. "She's confined to a small space, so she shouldn't be able to use anything in the room."

Jellal nodded. "Release her then."

Evergreen sighed and closed her eyes, not quite ready to see the blonde girl like that again, but she released her magic on her anyways.

With a pop, the stone broke and Lucy braced herself with her left hand as she fell forward, soft growls emitting from her bared teeth. Jellal crouch down about a foot away from her, Freed's runes glowing as the barrier appeared in a small square around her. "Can you hear me, Lucy?"

Her head snapped up at his voice and she snarled at him, before she screamed and launched herself at him. She didn't get very far since she crashed into the barrier, Jellal backing up slightly in shock. He had never seen the girl this mad before, and she had been through a lot.

She clutched her hair and slammed her head into the barrier, her screams slightly muffled by the barrier, which was Freed's doing. He knew those screams would add to his nightmares. He crouched down next to Jellal. "'Lucy, can you hear me?" His heard cracked as she kept banging her head against the barrier, her eyes clamped shut as tears began streaming down her cheeks. He put his hand against the barrier as he began to call her name more forcefully. "Lucy!"

Cobra's eyes went wide, his lips parting open while he listened to her soul as it shouted over and over, "get out! Get out! Get it out!" He stepped closer to the barrier, her actions beginning to make sense in his mind, though it was still terrifying to watch. "There's something inside of her, she's trying to get it out."

They all looked at Cobra in confusion. "What do you mean?" Evergreen asked.

"In her soul, she's screaming for something to get out. It's why she keeps banging her head against the barrier." He explained.

Freed's eyes widened and his head whipped to the look at Bickslow in the corner. "Bickslow, use your magic!"

"Huh?" His face scrunched in confused agony, her screams were really starting to get to him.

Freed huffed as he stood up. "You can control souls, you moron! Separate her soul from whatever's in there!"

Bickslow's eyes widened as she shot to his feet, he hadn't thought of that. "Right," he grunted as stepped up to the barrier, Jellal and Freed both moving out of his way. Taking off his visor, he frowned as he called on his magic, his eyes glowing green as he focused on the girl. "Figure eyes," he whispered. He had tried to do this to her once before, and he hated that he was doing it again, even though it was for a good reason. Instantly, he good feel two different souls inside of her, both fighting against the other. He grit his teeth as he tried to take hold of the foreign soul and push it out. Him and Lucy's souls fought alongside each other as they pushed the dark soul out.

The room gasped when Lucy's body suddenly went limp and she fell to the ground, a black smoke seeping from her body. They were frozen as they watched the smoke slowly swirl in the air, becoming thicker and thicker until its form emerged.

A girl stood next to Lucy's body. She was identical to her, only her skin was slightly grey and her hair was black, wisping behind her as if she was underwater. Black rags adorned her upper and lower body, barely covering her. Her black eyes were hard as she stared at all the people in the room.

"It's the clone." Laxus whispered in awe into the now silent room.

"What do you want from her?" Freed almost growled as he clenched the hilt of his sword, everyone was standing in a defensive position.

The clone didn't respond, it only bared its teeth in a sadistic grin.

Laxus growled, shoving through everyone and pounding his fist on the barrier. "What do you want?!"

Its grin dropped as it looked at the hulking man. His eyes were filled with rage as they connected with the dark orbs of the clone. It took a step towards him, but froze when everyone in the room readied their magic, the shift in the air palpable. What sounded like a low hiss came from the clone, right before it turned back into smoke. The smoke flew straight through the barrier and back out the window.

"Shit!' Freed cursed, him and Jellal running to the window to try and see where it went. Unfortunately, it was too dark to see anything clearly. With a sigh, Freed turned back around and unsheathed his sword to undo the runes.

"What the fuck was that?" Bickslow asked himself in a low voice, but no one answered him, they were too shocked.

Freed knelt down, gently picking Lucy up from the ground before he looked at his leader. "This isn't over."

"Not by a long shot." Laxus growled, running a hand through his hair before he turned to leave the room.

"C'mon, Cobra." Jellal said as he moved towards the door. "Let's scout the area."

"I'll join you." Bickslow said as he followed the two out of the room.

Evergreen approached the bed as Freed was laying the girl down and lifting the covers over her. "Do you think it will come back?"

"Most likely." Freed frowned, grabbing a chair and sitting down next to the bed. "There's no telling when though."

Evergreen wiped her tears as she stepped up to the bed. "We'll make sure it never hurts you again," she whispered as she ran her fingers through the girl's short hair.

Freed put his elbows on his knees as his mind went over what had just happened. That thing had gone straight through his runes, which meant they were completely useless. He would have to think of some kind of defense against the creature for them to have any kind of hope to protect Lucy. He looked at the unconscious girl's face as Evergreen crawled into the bed and laid down next to her. His eyes grew hard as he stared at her, he vowed to himself that he would never let that happen again. On his honor, he would protect her.