The doors of the guild were flung open with a deafening crash shocking the brawl going on within to a silent standstill, some frozen in the act of striking their opponents, as a group of armed men led by a woman with ice white hair and 'don't fuck with me, weaklings' attitude strode in. She wore tight black leather pants and a cropped shirt with long sleeves ending in wide bell note sleeves trimmed in a thick strip of black material.
Master Makarov, recognising the woman and the soldiers that flanked her, jumped down from his perch on the bar top and made his way toward her. He knew there had to be a reason the magic council sent her, the 'Fallen Angel of Fiore' or as some liked to call her 'The Saints Sinner' referring to her connection to the ten wizard saints.
"Can I help you?" he enquired. The woman looked down at him with cold obsidian eyes, like to two chips of black ice and handed him a scroll of parchment from within the folds of her sleeve.
"By order of the Magic Council we are here to arrest Lisanna Strauss." She replied, her voice devoid of any and all emotion. Her fine, regal face was set in a stone mask of indifference, the only thing marring her perfect features was an horrific burn that curled around her left eye and down over her cheek.
"What are the charges?" Makarov enquired loudly as the guild erupted into shouts of protest. This silenced them once more as they waited expectantly for an answer; a pink haired boy gripped the white haired take over mage as they moved closer through the crowd toward their master. Lisanna clung pathetically to Natsu, feigning fear to earn sympathy from the dragon slayer.
"The charges against her are thus: the use of the forbidden spell, Memory Lock, upon her fellow Guild members. Consorting with and attempting to enlist the help of the Assassins Guild Nightshade Strike and the attempted murder and assault of former Fairy Tail member Lucy Heartfilia and her un-born child." The woman replied.
"Lisanna wouldn't do that! You're lying! And there's never been anyone called Lucy in our Guild, we would remember her if there was." Natsu yelled, pulling Lisanna behind him to 'protect' her.
The woman cocked an eyebrow at him, noticing the pained and angry look on the face of the Master; clearly the old man was the only one who remembered the poor girl. Well, luckily or un-luckily for them she was about to change that.
"As I previously stated, she is accused of using the forbidden spell Memory Lock upon you all. The spell is used to wipe all memory of a person; event or thing from a person's or group of peoples memory. To cast it upon a large group of people however, you require something that links them all together, in your case the accused used your guild marks as a link. Your master does not bear one upon his flesh and as one of the ten wizard saints was immune from the spells effects therefore he may corroborate anything I say." She replied coldly her eyes never leaving the stupid boys face as he attempted to process what she was saying.
A tall scarlet haired woman moved to stand beside the Master, her armour clinking as she walked and looked down at him with confusion and worry in her eyes.
"Is what this woman says true Master?" She enquired, her voice booming effortlessly across the room.
"Yes child, what she says is true." The Master replied his voice full or regret and anger, his small fists clenched at his sides in anger. "Is there a way to reverse the spell?" He asked of the white haired woman before him. She inclined her head in assent and motioned for one of the men behind her to come forward; he rushed to her side, handing her another scroll which she opened and began to read from.
"Redde nunc mihi iam furtum memoria sit, ut ante autem vivebam tempore simul recordati sint relationes reficerentur, vitam revocetur fiat, fiat vobis olim meminisse vita communis." She cried, her words filled with an unspeakable power and majesty, echoing off each other till it was all anyone could hear. It echoed down to the depths of their souls and unlocked floods of images, of memories and feelings; some collapsed clutching their heads while others stood there with pained looks on their faces as the spell took hold. Lisanna looked murderous as all her hard work came undone before her eyes, everything she had done for nothing thanks to this bitch!
"Damnit! Why did you have to ruin everything! How did you find out? This wasn't supposed to end like this." Lisanna shrieked as she moved to attack the white haired woman in front of her only to be stopped by a circle of runes surrounding her, preventing her moving anywhere.
The white haired woman walked slowly toward her, ignoring the keening and horrified exclamations of the guild as they finally realised what and who they had forgotten, the heels of her black boots clicking on the floor.
"Lisanna Strauss, you are hereby under arrest. What you have done is deplorable and what you inflicted upon that poor girl…in all my days I have never seen anything quite so disgusting as what you visited upon that girl. It was a miracle she survived. Do you have anything to say of yourself before we take you away to await trial for your crimes?" she asked the takeover mage who simply sneered at her.
"She took everything from me; she was just my replacement anyway! What right did she have to stay when she was no longer needed? I came back, they didn't need her anymore but she stayed. She fucking deserved what I did, the little whore!" She screeched her once pretty face contorting into a vile and cruel imitation of her former expression.
"She deserved to be used as a punching bag? To have almost every bone in her body broken, to have her skin shredded, to be burned and branded and whipped? She deserved you stamping on her stomach to try and kill her unborn child?" The woman asked, raising an eyebrow at the utter vicious nature of the girl in front of her.
"Oh god, lu-chan…" Levy cried, throwing herself into Gajeel's arms, her eyes filling with tears even as the Iron Dragon slayers filled with horror and disgust.
Erza collapsed to the floor, shocked to the depths of her soul, beside the master clutching her scarlet hair as she tried to stop the scream threatening to make it's way out of her throat.
Gray punched a frozen fist through the nearest table, splintering into tiny pieces as tears ran down his face in hot scalding rivulets that dropped to the floor below him.
Natsu…Natsu was stood beside Lisanna as the enormity of what he had allowed to happen to his best friend, his nakama, the girl he loved sank into his mind and heart and began a burning hatred and anger that he had never felt before. There were not words for what he felt; Lisanna's betrayal, the horror of what she had done the guilt pain and self-hatred of not being there for Lucy pumped through his blood like a poison.
"The girl was lucky someone who knew her witnessed the attack and was able to get her to a medic otherwise they might have died. Luckily they both survived."
Lisanna's eyes widened.
"The baby lived?" she exclaimed.
"Yes, both mother and child are alive and well. No thanks to you or your fellow guild members…" The woman replied but before she could say more she was cut off by the Master.
"You said someone who knew her helped save her, may I ask who?"
The woman gave him a thin smile that did not reach her eyes as she lifted a hand and made a 'come here' gesture with her hand to someone in the ranks of soldiers behind her. They parted to reveal a tall muscular blonde man with flashing electric blue eyes, a lightning bolt shaped scar over one of them, and his signature sound pod wrapped around his neck.
"Laxus here is the only reason Miss Heartfilia and her child are alive right now." She told the assembled guild members. "Now, if you don't mind I shall be taking Miss Strauss into custody. She has an appointment with the Magic Council and I'd really hate for her to be late."
The woman motioned for the soldiers to secure the prisoner which they rushed to do, she hadn't earned her title for nothing; she ruled with an iron fist, showed no mercy and rarely compassion. She was truly an avenging angel, her thoughts ever preoccupied with bringing those who had wronged to heel and making sure justice was upheld.
"Do you…do you know where Lucy is?" Erza whispered her voice heartbreakingly soft. That is, if you had a heart.
"Indeed I do but I can guarantee Miss Heartfilia will not wish to see any of you."
"What do you mean, why wouldn't she want to see us?" Someone demanded followed closely by several angry outcries of agreement; if possible the white haired Wizard's eyes became colder still as she gazed upon the assembled members of Fairy Tail.
"You cannot hate as deeply as she now hates you without first having loved as deeply and whole heartedly as she did. The girl will not see you as you hurt her dearly, your penance for your crime shall be to live on knowing you may not see her again." She said with such deadly calm and quiet that you could literally feel the temperature in the room drop. She turned her back on the guild and began to walk away stopping momentarily beside Laxus as she remembered one last thing. She turned to regard the pink haired Dragon slayer and called his name.
"I feel I should offer you congratulations, belated though they may be, on the birth of your daughter. You can tell she is the daughter of the great Salamander just by looking at her, except for her eyes: she has her mother's eyes." She called over to the pink haired wizard. His eyes widened in shock.