AN: Finally got this up! Thank you for sticking with this fic. I am working on the finishing chapters, so please sit tight! :D

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail doesn't belong to me.

Rated M

Levy groaned deep in her throat.

The first thing her mind registered was that she was lying on something hard and cold. The second was that everything ached. Her back, her neck, her arms. There was a dull pain lying along the muscles of her limbs and her body screamed back at her when she moved.

The third was that she realized she wasn't the only person in the room.

"She's up."

The voice boomed through her head, and Levy groaned once again.

"Bring him in here," another voice commanded. "I want her to see it."

Levy dared to open her eyes. Brightness engulfed her vision, binding her. She blinked until her eyes adjusted to the light, finally recognizing the blobs as they slowly molded into objects.

She laid on top of a small bed, the mattress bare and dirty. The air smelled old, stagnant, like the place hasn't been used in years. Beside her was a wall of stone, torches lined along the wall for light. There was a window high above where she laid and the late afternoon sun shined through the glass, blinding her further.

Levy shielded her face as she sat up. She rubbed her eyes. For some reason, they itched.

"Garan's magic takes a bit getting used to," a voice told her. "Your eyes are gonna sting and your bones are gonna ache for a while."

Garan?

Levy wasn't expecting to see a ground littered with rocks and dirt. She wasn't expecting to see four stone walls surrounding her with a cracked ceiling that looked as if it could collapse onto her at any moment. And she certainly wasn't expecting to come face to face with four very strange and very tough looking people.

One she immediately recognized as the man who abducted her. Even without his weapons, Garan looked every as bit as dangerous as he was with them.

The two other men were a set of the ugliest twins she had ever seen. They were lanky to the point where it seemed grotesque and unnatural. The length of their arms reached to the ground. Their shoulders were wide but their necks were short. They both had the same long blond greasy hair, but what was most unusual about them were their eyes. They both had an eerie glow to them.

The last one was a woman, so beautiful. Her skin was the color of dark almond, her long hair black, straight, with an unearthly shine. Everything about her looked normal enough if it wasn't for her eyes. They too, held a deep and strange glow.

Levy swallowed thickly, fear rising to the back of her throat like bile.

No doubt that these people were powerful and capable wizards.

Just then, the door behind them opened, and a short, fat man with white facial hair entered. With him, he rolled a wheel barrel into the room and set it to the side. Levy had the nerve to veer her eyes over to the pile of...whatever it was, it smelled of death.

"You remember Xaris, don't you?" Garan asked her with an even stare as he motioned over toward the barrel with a simple wave of his hand. "You remember my son?"

Levys heart jumped as her stomach flipped and flopped. No, that couldn't actually be...

Garan approached the barrel. Carefully, and with a calmness that frightened Levy to her core, he gently placed each limb out in front of her. She couldn't mask the horror on her face at the bloodied hands, the ripped flesh of the legs, and oh, god, was that his head?!

"The work of your Dragon Slayer, Miss McGarden," Garan simply stated. The calmness in his actions, words, his voice, surely masked the rage he was no doubt feeling.

For the strangest reason, Levy wanted to point out that they weren't together anymore, but she knew that small tidbit would make very little difference in the matter.

Instead, her face paled as she adverted her eyes away from him, careful to avoid looking at the pile of limbs in front of her. So that's why Garan looked so familiar to her. Xaris, his son, Master of the Wild Guards, Master of the dark guild.

The same dark guild that was after her.

"Wh-what do you want?" Levy managed to ask.

"You are the one of best Script mages in all of Fiore," Garan stated, his eyes on her now. "Your knowledge in ancient languages and the ability to decipher them has given you fame, Miss McGarden. Perhaps attention you'd probably rather not have."

Levy almost snorted but had half of a mind to remind herself of where she was. Garan looked like the type to not take disrespect so kindly.

"And as it so happens, I need your particular skill," Garan said. He reached toward the woman who handed him a medium sized book. He placed it carefully on the table between them. "Translate this book, and you'll be on your way."

She stared at the book, its black leather cover void of any markings. Her eyes swept her surroundings, weighed down by the heavy air around her. It all sounded so simple. But was it really? Things that were too good to be true often were. And people usually don't leave from places like this alive.

"I..." Levy began. She needed time to think. Think of a way to escape, think of a way to contact Fairy Tail. Think of something other than this. "I will need references, codices, manuscripts."

Garan smiled and motioned for her to follow. "This way."

Levy gulped. Her eyes shifted to the three that stood remaining and reluctantly obeyed.

Levy rubbed her face and yawned. She had been staring at these books for hours and her eyes were starting to cross. She had half the book translated, which she came to realize only held one spell.

She crossed reference just about every symbol, every letter she could find. Something was missing, and she had a feeling Garan gave her all she needed. Had she skipped over something vital? It would greatly help if she knew exactly what she was translating.

"Life..." Levy read over her notes. "Letter, life being, energy back...translation...transmutation?...no, that's not right. What am I getting wrong?"

"In my youth, there was tale of a boy with incredible magic power."

Levy stiffened at the sound of Garan's voice. She'd been so immersed in the books, she didn't hear him enter. Or, perhaps he had been watching her this entire time?

"This was before the time of dragons, before magic was widely used and accepted," he continued speaking as he approached Levy. He waved a hand, magic flowing from his fingers to create a projection at his side.

Levy frowned. It's image shown a burning hut in a village with a little black haired boy crying over what seemed to be his younger brother. His parents laid hanging overhead, without life.

"They say he was the darkness itself. A plague had spread to a village, killing nearly every inhabitant. Those that survived were cursed. In their bitterness, they needed someone to blame." Garan looked toward the projection, the image changing. "The loss of loved ones can make people do cruel..."

This time it showed the same boy working with his magic. Courses of failed attempts, frustration and anger engraved his face. But finally, he got the magic right, his face showing one of complete happiness as he watched his dead brother open his eyes again.

"...but amazing things." He seemed to be at awe at the imagery he had created. "Despite losing his parents, the loss of his brother was just too much to bear." The projection's image faded white and Garan was watching her again. "Don't you find it odd that something born from love could be labeled 'dark magic'?"

Levy's heart pumped wildly in her chest at the prospect of acquiring such a powerful and forbidden spell. The thought of that type of magic landing in the wrong hands...

A magic that can bring the dead back to life...

"Reanimation...?" Then something seem to click in her head. "Oh yeah, that's right!" Levy exclaimed. She turned to scribble more of her notes down on paper. "The t and r were so similar in their shapes, I simply hadn't realized it before. It was so elementary, that I was too smart to see it..."

She made quick work with the rest of the translation, the presence of Garan a few feet away from her, watching, had posed to be very distracting. A man that was most likely capable of snuffing the very existence of herself in a second the moment she finished the job was a very real reality to her.

"This..." Levy began, reading her notes. Her frown deepened into one of unease and fear. "This is the incantation spell to summon the dead back to life..."

"Correct." Garan confirmed for her.

"It's Black Arts," Levy continued, shaking her head. "Not only that, it's a self-sacrificial spell that uses Letter magic."

She looked at him now, feeling betrayed despite him being an enemy to her. He had promised that she would be able to leave once she finished the translation, but from what she understood, she had just become very vital in what he needed to do.

"And...and that's why you wanted me to translate, isn't it? You needed someone who uses Solid Script magic to know because...because you also know that this spell kills the caster. It takes their life, their letter magic and their energy and transfers it into the body of the dead."

His behavior and attitude made sense when he showed her his son's dead body. He meant exchange her life for his.

"Such forbidden magic." Levy backed away from the book as if it held some sort of disease now. Perhaps in a way, it did. "Even having this is considered highly illegal and could land you in prison for the rest of your life."

"I'm impressed you managed to translate the spell in such a short amount of time." His praise set an uncomfortable heaviness in her belly. "The others weren't quite as fast..."

The others...what did he mean by that?

"If you think I am willing to be a participant in your zombie apocalypse, you have surely mistaken me for someone else." Levy's conviction was unmoving as she met his eyes. He will not intimidate her any further. "I will not be made into one of your puppets, no matter what you do to me."

Garan smiled at her. She expected an angry reaction, but she had reminded herself that this was a man that seem to always get what he wanted.

"Look, Levy," Garan commanded.

As if she was under some kind of spell, Levy turned her head and veered her eyes over to the glowing projection. As clear as day, she could see Gajeel sitting with Mira and Cana right in the middle of the Fairy Tail guild. They seemed to be having a great time together. With a frown, she noticed Lucy had her arm wrapped around Gajeel's neck, her heart skipping when she saw the blond lean onto him, her mouth close to his ear. She had whispered something to him, and he found it extremely amusing.

"And listen," Garan instructed.

"Gihihi." Gajeel laughed, his grin on full view to her. "Damn right she was! That pipsqueak wouldn't know what to do with one if it came up and slapped her right in the face!"

Mira giggled, setting herself right on his lap. "Levy is barely a woman, Gajeel. How could you ever find her attractive to begin with?" she asked with a flirtatious smile. "Especially around us." For emphasis, Mira pressed her ample chest against his.

Gajeel, who seemed to be enjoying this immensely, gave the Take-Over mage that devilish grin that Levy was so used to seeing directed at her.

"Oh, Mira, knock it off, you know I saw him first," Cana said with a mock glare. "And since he and Levy are no longer together, that means it's free rein do to this."

Cana pulled him next to her, descending her mouth against his. The kiss was slow, sensual, much like the kisses that Gajeel gave her when they were together.

"Hey, hey!" Lucy cried. She pulled at Gajeel's hair, ripping the two apart from their kiss. "It's my turn now!"

When she heard Gajeel's low moan, Levy turned away from the projection, not wanting to see anymore of their betrayal. Tears began to sting her eyes, pooling just beneath the surface. She tried to fight them away, but they came anyway. Embarrassed and ashamed, Levy buried her face in her hands and cried. So her silly insecurities weren't just silly, after all. She had believed Gajeel when he said that he didn't care about them, and like the little girl she was, she believed him when he told her that he loved her.

She sensed Garan kneel before her, and with a surprising softness, his hand patted the back of her head. She felt a sharp sting at the base of her neck, but the moment she registered the pain, it disappeared.

"They hurt you, Levy," she heard Garan say to her. "Make them hurt in return."

Her chest ached, and the pain continued to flow into her. Levy wasn't the one to dwell much on the past, but there was an undeniable need to bask in her heartache and feel the pain. Gajeel hurt her, and it looked like he didn't care in the least about how she felt about it. Anger pushed in, and like a lifeline, Levy latched onto the emotion. She nursed it, nurtured it, and felt it grow inside her.

So, he thinks he can just discard me like I'm trash?

There was a small voice inside her heart that told her what she saw was a lie, but Levy viciously snuffed it out and buried it down. No, it wasn't a lie. What she saw with her own eyes was the truth. A person like Gajeel, with his dark and twisted nature, could never change, and it was egotistical of her to believe that she had the power to make him do just that.

They hurt you.

She was a naive fool to think he held an ounce of emotion for her. Gajeel wasn't a creature of love, nor has he ever been. Men like him only notice the physical aspects of a relationship and what they can get out of it. And once he saw that she didn't meet his standards, he discarded her and searched elsewhere. It didn't look like he had to search far, either. Little did she know that Mira, Cana and Lucy were all in line for a bite.

Make them hurt.

Levy felt the anger take hold of her. She welcomed and embraced it as a new kind of power surge through her blood. It cemented itself deep inside. It nestled, burrowing further into her heart. She became blind with her anger, accepting it as it took over, and Levy herself receded into the deepest recess of her soul.

Make them hurt!

Levy smirked, her eyes holding a powerful ire in their gaze.

"I will."