A Railgun In Fairy Tail, The Soul Slayer Chronicles: Book 6, Love

Why Does Love Hurt?

Mikoto opened her eyes... she was lying on a barren white floor in a blank white hallway full of nothing but doorways. She stood up and rubbed her eyes.. looking down at herself, she noticed she was wearing a black open leather jacket with white fur around the collar area... and the open part was held together by a small chain with a cross emblem in the center.. looking a bit like the insignia of Tokwadai Middle School. she wore a white shirt under the jacket that revealed some of her cleavage (that was embarrassing..). She also wore leather black gloves. Around her waist she wore an assortment of leather belts. around the back of her waist she wore some short black faults with white fur along the edges like the collar of her jacket.. beneath her black short skirt, she wore black, extremely form fitting shorts...

If Mikoto were to sum up what she thought she looked like, she would have thought it looked a bit like somebody had combined Ichigo's bankai form with some combat clothing from the popular video game Kingdom Hearts. What scared her though.. was that she had seen this look before...

5 years ago, before the time skip, and before the war on Dravis, Mikoto had been trying to look up combat clothing that mages normally wore, because she felt that if this was the job she was going to be doing, she needed to be better equiped. She had come across this set of clothes in a catalog, and thought the whole Dark Cool look was amazing (Though she found a Gekota themed hoodie too, and was rather torn between it..). Erza had discouraged her from buying it though, because she felt Mikoto didn't exactly need it. Though the clothing was made specifically to last in battle and not be torn up by an electric charge generated by it's user, Erza worried that the clothes, using another magic and all, might hurt Mikoto as an Esper... (That was later discovered to be not true, as magic devices that use their own magic power rather then the Esper's don't have the same harmful effects, as proved with Accelerator and his magically enhanced choker.)

Mikoto had kept the cutout of the catalog under her pillow though.. even when she felt she could buy it.. she decided to keep the desired look a secret.. out of her secret yearning to one day wear it.. but still she hadn't felt sure whether she should..

It was one of those secrets you kept just for the sake of keeping a few nice close secrets.

The fact that she was wearing it now.. meant Asgawrath was reminding Mikoto, that no matter what she tried to hide, he knew every inch of her.. that he knew her better then she knew herself.. that no matter what.. she would never hide from him.. that the only thing to do.. would be to submit to him completely.

Mikoto clenched her gloved fist angrilly, resisting the urge to strip off all her clothes on the spot in defiance... (that would make Kon have one heck of a nosebleed.)

She looked around the white halls. Was she in another Insane Asylum? "Touma!? Natsu!? Ulquiorra!? Kurotsuchi!?"

No answer... she knew Natsu and Touma at least couldn't be recreated or destroyed.. which meant they must have all been moved to seperate areas around the entire... well.. this entire world... whatever it had been remade into..

Mikoto then noticed a strange looking hatch on the side of the hall.. there was a metal latch on the hatch.. and words saying: "Take a Look"

Mikoto shakily edged her hand to the handle, and pulled it up... and she looked through the opening in the wall to see.. nothing.. nothng but pitch blackness... a pitch blackness which she knew.. "It's all empty.."

"That is right..." Behind Mikoto, Asgawrath appeared. "I see now that your will is unshakable.. your spirit can't be broken the way Othinus almost succeeded in breaking Touma Kamijou.. however.. your body can be broken.."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mikoto asked. "You can't make me submit to you.. not unless I willingly do so.."

"Yes.. that would normally be the case.." said Asgawrath. "But Szayl Aporro developed this architectural structure here for me.. in case that would prove fruitless.. you see.. currently, this is the only thing that exists in the entire emptiness of nonexistance.. as you have seen just now.. but somewhere within.. are Natsu Dragneel, Touma Kamijou, and Ulquiorra Cifer.. I know that you probably wouldn't care much for Mayuri Kurotsuchi... but.. if you submit to me... I will let them live.. even in the new worlds of darkness I create.. they will survive for eternity unharmed... that.. is my current offer.. and on the other side of the coin.. we have Szayl Aporro's invention here.. the more you are worn down physically in this world.. the more the magical connections in your brain to the Lance of Gungnir are bonded by a special reitsu.."