I'd Freeze the Heavens for You

Hostages

It took a few days, but finally Fairy Tail broke the charm over the giant maze. When Alzack made it through to reach Bisca in the cabin at the end of the labyrinth, the barrier lowered, and suddenly everyone could come through. By then, most of the monsters were defeated, and Erza led the way with no second guesses on where to turn along the maze's paths.

They all met up at the cabin on the snowy hill, and they saw for themselves how Lucy and Gray cuddled together by the fire, while Wendy and Romeo seemed a little closer and sat with their thighs touching. Alzack and Bisca were discussing about possibly having another child. It seemed the maze worked at bringing together couples in love.

Once they were all gathered, Wisteria led them outside, along a snowy path, to a spot with runes. She had no magic of her own, but she relied on Whitehall's runes to teleport to his castle. She brought all of them along with a cold glare in her eyes. Finally, after years of watching others suffer, she would see justice come to this madman.

They marched through stone hallways lined with tapestries that looked very old and items of heraldry from before the Fiore royal family took the throne. Finally, they came to a vast library with a fireplace crackling. In front of the fire was a large chair with a high back. As they glanced around, they saw a morbid scene. Within the library were numerous bodies, mostly women, frozen within slabs of ice, their faces trapped with expressions of pain, horror, and sadness. These coffins of ice were hung up like trophies, placed in areas so light refracted through the ice and highlighted those ghastly faces. Lucy shivered as she realized just how close she came to being one of these decorations.

"Salutations and my warmest congratulations, wizards of Fairy Tail," Whitehall said, staring at the hearth and nonchalantly smoking a pipe. "This maze was my masterpiece, and you've defeated it. Really, I don't know what else I can do with my life after losing interest in this game."

"You lose, Whitehall," Erza stated sharply. "You will face trial with the Magic Council. If you come peacefully, we won't harm you."

"Lose? Me?" He spun the chair around and gazed at the group while puffing on a long-stemmed pipe. "Do you really think you've won? You've defeated a child's game, a puzzle, a simple maze."

Gray scoffed. That labyrinth was anything but simple.

"Facing me?" He snickered softly. "Well, that's a completely different game."

Erza readied herself, prepared for him to fight.

"Oh, I won't attack you," he told the wizards. "You see..." He chuckled with a gleeful grin. "...you've already lost."

Suddenly, they saw runes lighting up all around the room.

"Did you naively assume that I would come with you willingly? Do you really think," he whispered with a crazed grin, "that you can defeat me? Here? In my own castle? You walked in here not realizing you were stepping into a whole other challenge. I have runes set up everywhere. A snap of my fingers, and you'll all die a slow and delightfully excruciating death."

Erza held still. "Levy?"

She looked around in a panic. "I ... I would need time. The dialect is strange, and the syntax..."

"Oh course, my dear," Whitehall interrupted. "It's encoded. I knew you had a runes translator in your group. Like I said, I prepared. Always think three steps ahead of your opponent. I knew Wisteria would betray me; she's been waiting for the opportunity, and you were it. I realized that your group had already solved my maze. It got boring after that. So I had plenty of time to prepare," he smirked. "I'm not going to those ninnies in the Magic Council, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it."