Fairy Tail: Journeyman

Chapter 29: Just Rest

"DOC! DOC!"

I heard distant shouting and clanging. But every sound reached me across an ocean of silence.

"Hurry, put her over there!"

Every sensation was dulled to the point that I couldn't even be sure I was sensing anything at all.

"It's spreading!"

"Doc what's going on?!"

There was a burning echoing out from my abdomen. I thought maybe it should hurt, but my eyes faded in and out, leaving the sensation as a spreading, buzzing warmth as opposed to hot coals.

My eyes fluttered closed.

"Keep her awake!"

"LUCY! .... LU..... he.."

'Natsu?'

I didn't know that a place could be so dark. The chasm of lightlessness spread out so far I began to doubt my own existence.

Perhaps, this was death? Just an endless expanse of nothing.

I shrunk, feeling for my knees and clutching them close to my chest. The feeling comforted me, giving me at least some solace that part of me was real.

"Welcome back."

The voice sent a shudder throughout my body as I recognized the light tones.

"Who-Who's there?" My voice quaked, my eyes unable to confirm what my ears had heard.

"Oh, please. We've already been through this. Don't you remember?"

I didn't respond, my mouth dry and tongue numb.

There was a deep sigh.

My stomach turned as I felt the world around me morph and twist, greys mixing with the darkest hues of black.

As the swirls stabilized, I found myself sitting in a pile of grey and black rubble. Although it seemed as if the rocks should be digging into my legs, I still felt nothing, the senselessness causing my breath to shallow.

I lifted my head gazing out across what looked like a field of broken stones. Even the sky was a dark grey, the whole scene devoid of any color or life.

"Recognize it?" The voice chuckled lightly. "You should."

As it called from behind me, I turned to meet it, it's tall and slender form entirely pitch black. I gasped as I stared longer, realizing that the slender physique, and dark hair pulled halfway back looked more and more familiar.

"Yo-You're..." I stammered.

The dark creature adopted a mocking tone. "I-I-I'm what?" She flicked her hair back as she started walking closer to my crumpled form. "Have you figured it out yet?"

My whole body began to shudder the longer I stared at her.

I gulped. "You're... me?"

She stopped abruptly as she bit out the words. "NO. I'm BETTER than you." She took a deep breath as she kept walking closing to the center of the rubble. "And yet here I am..." Her fingers brushed a cracked pillar. "Trapped in the darkness you create."

"So that makes you my-"

"Your shadow. There you go. And for double prizes the final question!" She wiped her hands on her skirt before tucking them behind her back. "Where are we?"

I stood up, staring once again at the ruined area we occupied. My eyes traveled up a pillar that was still half-way standing. Attached at the end were the pieces of a broken wooden sign. The symbol I would have recognized anywhere.