As before, if you're not up-to-date with the manga (or at least to chapter 400) then SPOILERS for a major plot point!


Cloaked in Darkness

As Laxus fell, Fried stood frozen for the longest and most terrible moment of his life. He was utterly abandoned. Evergreen and Bixlow, his constant companions and two of the people he held most precious to him, were gone. Yajima, their host and employer, and long-time friend to the Master, was gone. Laxus, the point of light he had followed from almost the moment he had set foot in the guild, had fallen.

Fried was completely alone.

And he had hesitated too long already; the poison was working deeper and deeper. It hurt. He'd never felt anything like it. It was worse than the Tower Rustyrose had trapped him and Bixlow in. Worse than Soul Extinction. Worse even than catching the edge of Raging Bolt one day when he had moved a fraction of a second too slow.

It was a pain that ran through every cell, bleeding into his eyes, his chest, his fingers, across and into his skin, everywhere that his magic gathered.

All he had left was Laxus' direct order. Take them home.

But... but how? He couldn't lift Bixlow, let alone Laxus, not on his own. Even if he could, the poison mist had filled the town and there was no way that he could walk to the edge of the fog before it overwhelmed him.

There was only one option left to him.

He was going to have to use his magic, the magic that was burning away inside him, the magic that was killing him.

Wings would be too slow; it would take him at least ten minutes to reach Fairy Tail from here, and by the time he got one person to the safety of the guildhall, the other three would be dead. If he wanted to get them all out of there, he was going to have to use the teleportation runes and take them through the InBetween. Even then, he could only take one person at a time.

His lungs were desperate for air, but he dared not take another breath. Who knew how much poison there was in his system already, and what damage it had already done? He couldn't hesitate any more. He had his orders. Now he had to fulfil them.

Darkness buzzed in front of his eyes as he took three hurried steps forwards, bringing him to Yajima's side and knelt down. Even though the emotional side of Fried's mind was screaming at him to take Ever, Bixlow, Laxus first, cold logic coolly and quietly shut that side down. Yajima was the smallest and oldest of them. His body could not handle as much of the poison as those of the younger, taller mages. He had to go first, or he would certainly die.

Fried refused to think about the possibility that by taking Yajima first, he could easily be dooming one of the others. He could not afford to change his mind.

Take them home.

He was not looking forwards to this. The InBetween was uncomfortable at best, and in his current state it could be fatal. A single lapse in concentration would lock him and whoever he was carrying inside the InBetween forever.

With considerable effort, fighting agonised muscles with every movement, Fried managed to pull Yajima's small body into the protective shelter of one arm and stand up. With the unused arm, he reached out in front of him and began to sketch purple letters in an ancient dialect on the black acid of the air.

Violet light poured out of nowhere, surrounding him and his burden completely. Magic stretching to its utmost, Fried read between the lines of the world's story and walked into the white blank spaces in between the words.

And there, he wrote himself.

Who am I?

I am Fried Justine. I am a rune-mage of Fairy Tail. I am the captain of the Thunder Legion. I write the rules, and the world obeys.

Who do I bring InBetween with me?

I bring Yajima, erstwhile member of the Magic Council, friend to the Master of my guild, owner of the 8-Island restaurant. He uses Flattening Magic, but can also cook with magic. He is a kind and honest man, generous and understanding, though he prefers to remain silent even when something is wrong. He cares deeply for my guild, and has often protected it from foes that cannot be fought with force.

His magic flickered, reading the runes he had written. As long as it built up an accurate – and unique – picture of both of them, it would open a path to the place Fried wished to go. That was how this magic worked. If he had not described the travellers well enough, or if he lost focus on where he wanted to appear, they would never arrive, and would wander in the purple-dark space of the InBetween until the world broke apart.

Please, please let it be enough...

The violet light vanished, leaving only ink-black space. InBetween, there was no sound, no touch, no taste, no smell, no magic. There was only the faintest hint of purple in the otherwise sightless not-quite-place, just enough to tell him that his magic was still holding him together, the narrative that strung words beside each other to make sentences, paragraphs, chapters, stories that were his and were him. He wrote himself to the darkness, and the darkness read him.

Then the light suddenly flared to brilliance, cracking through the black and ripping him out of the InBetween into the centre of the guildhall, runes piecing his body back together bit by bit. His feet slammed into the floor, sending shockwaves through him and forcing him to stagger to his knees. He barely managed to pull Yajima close enough to protect him from hitting the floor as well.

But he had made it.

Shocked cries and gasps suddenly roared up around him as the nearest people noticed the newcomers. All of a sudden, he realised that his guildmates were beginning to step towards him, wanting to help, wondering why a member of the famed Thunder Legion had materialised in the middle of the floor, cradling the unconscious body of an old man.

No! They mustn't!

"Don't come any closer!" His voice broke, dissolving into coughs, but he had no chance to recover as Mirajane stepped forwards. He could feel the black mist catch in his coat, his hair, his skin, dragging itself behind him and corrupting the clean air of the guildhall, threatening to poison them all. "No!"

The magic that bubbled up to form the words of the rune-barrier burnt in his veins, searing through his heart even as Mirajane's outstretched hand ran up against the enchantment, keeping her safe, keeping her away from the swirling death within. He gritted his teeth against the pain; he had only brought one of them home so far. There were still three more out there, dying inch by inch for every second he wasted here.

He had to go back, back into death with only hope to give him strength.

"Fried, what are you doing?!" Mirajane shrieked, but he had already taken the deepest breath he dared and plunged back into the InBetween.