putting out fires
Characters: Erza Scarlet, Jellal Fernandes
Summary: But how were they supposed to deal with all of this?
Still the Deities AU
"Sherry has declared war on Edolas."
Five words were enough to have the scarlet-haired Goddess Erza entirely sober and painfully aware of reality again. The noises the ballroom faded away until they were entirely gone and the Goddess of War turned around, facing someone who was rarely present in the Garden because the God of High Sciences (such as astrology and music) was usually rather busy, inspiring talented musicians, making artists paint a little better.
"Where did you hear this rumour?" the goddess asked, lithe fingers wrapping themselves around the sword she carried even today, even during the celebration of someone's birthday. She did not want to believe this, did not want to believe this was happening to her.
"Laxus," he replied calmly, erasing any chance that it might be a joke because Laxus did not kid around and he did not start pointless rumours. "And I am willed to bet that he heard it from Cana. So maybe I should have said that Sherry plans to declare war on Edolas."
"That's my city."
"A city that insulted her personally lately, not only in behaviour but also by declaring her dead. She has to do something or people will start to doubt her existence, meaning that her powers will fade," he remarked, face straight and emotionless. "You know how this will end. Either she takes your city or she drags you to court."
"Court would mean Jura, Gildarts, Urania and Ivan in this kind of matter, right?" Erza asked as she frowned deeply as she considered this. "Jura is Sherry's friend, calls himself her brother, Urania is the mother of Lyon who basically worships the ground Sherry walks on, Ivan hates me for reasons unknown and Gildarts has yet to oppose Urania in a trial."
No one knew why the court for war affairs consisted of those four gods. Jura, the tall god with the broad shoulders, made sense, of course. He was the God of Impartiality and was not one to take sides unless it was well-justified. Even Gildarts as Destroyer of Worlds made sense in a way. Someone had to deal out the punishment after all. Ivan, two-faced and dangerous as he was, was also far wiser than most people cared to remember and he was careful, patient even. He often kept others from rushing into a foolish decision.
But Urania? The winter woman, the one with blood colder than ice or so they said. Her objectives were obscure at best, casually ridiculing everyone's attempts to figure out what she was planning, what she truly wanted. Erza did not trust her half as much as she should and probably could. She always wondered what the older woman was thinking, what was going on behind the raven orbs. Erza was a goddess who valued protection and she was devoted to the protection of the Garden and having a deity with the power to destroy the garden in one go in a world not too far away made her worry slightly at times.
No.
Erza was not one for messing with this woman. Urania was old, indeed older than time. Her wisdom easily kept up with Makarov's and Makarov had been one of the second generation, the first to be born from the Chaos Mavis and Zeref had created.
But messing with Sherry alone, with Sherry when she was not hiding behind the council was possible, was not all that foolish. Because Sherry on her own was weak, bound by rules she would never dare to bend, to touch. The pink-haired woman was maybe courageous enough to take on Edolas, a city of warfare, but she was not brave enough to withstand Erza's anger.
And the Goddess of War was angry.
Erza rushed through the crowd, leaving Jellal behind, her usually pretty face contorted in anger. She kept looking for the wild mass of pink and as she found it, she grabbed Sherry's arm and attempted to drag her away, only to be met with Lyon's fittingly cold hand. Of course. Sherry was rarely seen without the Ice God nearby and the red-haired woman slowly let go of the other goddess' arm.
"What are you planning?" Erza hissed, angry because she had never believed that Sherry of all people would ever attempt such a thing. But the Goddess of Love and Beauty had a dangerous, an animalistic side as well, one ruled by pride and not by rational decisions.
"Why do you care?" the woman with the pink hair asked calmly before she turned away. "People who disgrace me, who insult me and claim I do not exist – they will learn to fear me."
"How will you do it, anyway?" Erza hissed, using her height to tower over the shorter woman.
"There are countries with strong armies that have already enough of Edolas," she replied, voice terribly nonchalant and even, as of it would not touch her at all. "I do not, we do not plan to rush in there like a fool and destroy everything in sight."
Lyon nodded, face solemn.
Edolas fell.
And Erza stood on the hill.
She heard the screams, saw the fire. Natsu or Romeo had joined Sherry's side, probably remembering one of the too many favours they owed the Goddess of Love or out of fear of what the woman was capable off. It was not betrayal, was it?
Somewhere in the distance, a wolf was howling. It was no surprise that Lyon's wolves, wolves with fur as white as snow, had followed their master into the battle.
Erza's jaw clenched.
She had not expected this. She had not expected Juvia to come to Sherry's aid. They had been rivals only a few centuries ago or at least had seen each other that way. She had not believed that Gray would help his brother. So many had turned against Edolas even though they would gain nothing out of this. Well, they could pay their many debts. Many owed Sherry their happiness and even more owed Lyon their lives.
The Goddess of War closed her eyes.
Lyon and Sherry were the only deities who had openly joined their battle, who moved in synch as they had always done, sealing the city's fate. But it was Juvia who had let the war ships pass the ocean with ease, Chelia and Wendy who had been the winds beneath their sails. The strength of gods was a blade tempered with loyalty – it made the blade even more dangerous, sharper. Erza knew that either Natsu or Romeo had blessed the fire the archers used. It was obvious.
She cursed under her breath.
Loyalties were dangerous. Always had been. Always would be. If things were different, if it was only Sherry, she could stop them because Sherry worked within in the minds and hearts, rarely even bothered to shed blood. But Lyon was at her side, just like always. And Lyon did not follow Sherry into her battles out of loyalty. He followed her out of love just like she followed him because she loved him. This was the secret reason that was no secret at all.
Edolas was doomed.
Sherry had cursed the armies of both towns. Only those who believed in love and those with pure hearts would survive the night. And all those who were not killed in a fight. The children of the town and many others were safe. This was Erza's single consolation. Sherry was not heartless, far from it, actually. Yet she was moody and easy to anger when someone was foolish enough to insult her.
In the distance, she heard people wonder about the origin of those weird soldiers who moved like the air was water. Erza bit back to urge to grown. Sherry was grace personified but there was always something about her. She was ocean-born the way Lyon was ice-born. Maybe this was why they were always together, why they had this unnatural pull to each other.
Funny, the red-haired warrior mused, how she could see this while Sherry's eyes were full of untold stories, while all Lyon ever did to show his love was to humour her when she wanted to go to the realms of humans for some matchmaking. Sherry was afraid to pull him closer because it might easily mean to lose him and he was so afraid of losing her the way he had lost his locked-away mother centuries ago that he followed her every step. It was a dancelike pattern, just far more dangerous.
"Erza."
She had heard Jellal approaching so she did not flinch as she turned and opened her eyes. "Hey," she said softly, her hazel eyes finding the burning town again.
"Juvia is sending a rainstorm at midnight," he said, standing behind her.
"Thank you," she muttered. She knew that he had convinced the water deity because Juvia was more Sherry's friend than she was Erza's – old debts might be involved there but then again, who did not owe Sherry something? – and Juvia took her loyalties more serious than most people which was part of the reason why Erza liked her.
"You know, you could have stopped Sherry," he went on as he sighed. "She is still bitter about your claim that love does not belong onto the battlefield."
"This was centuries ago."
"Minerva felt like it was time to remind Sherry of this."
"Damn bitch."
"Language, Erza, language."
"You hate her as much as I do – and that says something. She had to go and remind Sherry of what I said, right? And if Sherry had given me the time to explain, I would have told her that love is the most dreadful aspect of war. Look at Lyon, he is doing this for love," Erza said, her face darkening as she spotted a dash of pink on a roof. "He would be better off if he was not in love with her. See, you are happy. You are not fighting. Love makes people do terrible things."
"I am not fighting because I am not in love with Sherry," he said with a sigh.
"True," she nodded calmly, reaching out to take his hand.
"Let's go," he smiled, a first raindrop darkening his hair.
She lowered her head as she took up following him. It was time to leave. The rain Jellal asked Juvia for had already come and this meant that it was over and that Gildarts would arrive soon to deliver the final punishment. It always happened.
Just before Erza faded into another dimension, however, she saw that it was not Gildarts who stood on the highest tower, signalling the end of Edolas. It was someone else.
Ivan.