Chapter 2
Running is a big pain in the ass.
I don't think you can understand how horrible it feels to run. Why would anyone want to run this much? To get in shape? Ha! Not worth it. My knees feel like they're going to jab out of my skin, and my muscles are stretching too much, and the burning, oh my Mavis… I really don't think this is good for me. Can't help but wonder how ridiculous I look compared to these other people.
Erza turns her head around to look at me. "I have to get to the front," she said, slowly beginning to let go of my hand, "If you need help, shout really loud, understood?"
I open my mouth to say something back, but Erza doesn't wait for a response. She lets go of my hand, making me almost stumble and fall at the sudden change in velocity. As I look back up, Erza's disappeared, practically leaving me for dead. I grouch under my breath, sucking it up before beginning a run on my own. I already know I'm running 10x slower than I was with Erza to guide me, because people are now passing me at an embarrassing rate.
"Why is she so slow?" I can hear someone mutter to my upper right. Naturally, I shoot my 'what the hell did you just say' glare at him.
"What was that, Pinky?" I growl loudly, attracting some attention.
Pinky spun around, rolling up his sleeves and skidding to a stop. "WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME, BLONDIE?"
I stop when I reach him, smiling playfully before rubbing his hair in. "Pinky," I respond slyly, before continuing to run ahead of him. I can't stop smiling; his face was priceless, and my teasing has never bothered Erza as much as it just did him.
"WHEN WE GET OUT OF HERE, I DEMAND A FIGHT, YOU HEAR BLONDIE?" he yells loudly, catching up to my pace easily. "I'LL BURN YOU TO A CRISP!"
"I can handle you," I snort, wanting to grab his strange scarf and taunt it against him. However, I knew that would just cause more running, and my legs were dying enough already.
The pink haired boy laughed mockingly, "You? Handle me? HAHAHAHAH! What a joke! You can try, but you won't with those pair of chicken legs," he remarked, gripping my hand before running at the fucking speed of light.
Mavis Vermillion.
I wasn't even keeping up with him—he was dragging me across the floor. I couldn't bring my eyes up to look at what was ahead of me! I had an astonishing feeling of déjà vu, where have I had this feeling before? Oh, right, with Erza a few damn minutes ago! "Let go of me!" I slapped his hand in attempt to free myself, to no avail.
"Heck no! They're already catching up, silly!" he answered, running even further at the sound of his own statement. My heart skips a beat when his words sink in, and the first thing I do is turn my head behind me. I gasp as I stare at the guards clothed in the familiar uniform—or armor—chase us down. They're gaining momentum, and their figures keep getting larger. Some have begun to shoot darts, though we're too far away for them to be accurate with the aim. I shiver horribly at the mere sight, and I bet that my eyes are the size of watermelons. "Yo, Erza! Heads up, we gotta move faster!"
The people ahead of me roar in determination, causing me to leap suddenly. "FOR OUR FAMILY!" they all shout in unison, all of them thrusting their fists in the air, including Pinky who's still dragging me across the floor.
There's no way in hell all of these people are related! What family are they talking about?! Ugh, more questions for Lucy!
Suddenly everyone's running faster than they were before, screaming and roaring in determination.
"Why… did you have… to be so slow… and so heavy?!" Pinky growls under his breath, his words soaked in annoyance and frustration.
I gasp, about to make another snapback. Instead, I flinch as I feel something engrave itself onto the back of my left arm. No way.
"Got one!" I hear a guard behind me yell in triumph, causing me to whimper like a hurt puppy. My vision begins to blacken, the edges softening, as I feel myself exhaling for the last time as Pinky grunts and slings me over his shoulder. I fight to stay awake and know what's happening, but it's just too hard. I know better not to fight the drugs, so somehow, I end up managing to fall asleep during the most exciting day of my life.
x
Meanwhile
Erza skidded to a stop rather quickly. With one hand, she whipped out her walky talky and pulled it to her mouth, and with her other hand, she was ushering the rest of her squad to go running past her.
"Eden!" Erza shouted into her walky talky, the fury of a thousand lions in her tone. "Has something not foreseeable come in your way? We're being chased down by the guards because you failed your part! How come you didn't warn our squad? Are you alright? What went wrong? Do you copy?"
...
...
...
"Eden? Don't make me laugh, Erza, it's obvious who this girl is."
Of course. Of course he would've had to slithered his way into this. "Fernandez," Erza scowled, poisonous venom and hatred dripping off each syllable. Her alertness had soared to new heights now that she knew he was involved.
"What kind of code name is Eden? I'm assuming you didn't pick it, because it's easy to tell where Eden becomes derived from Levy McGarden," Jellal spat at her, enjoying this greatly. "Even the most naïve could figure out something so simple."
"Do not touch her. I swear to Vermillion, if you touch a hair on her OR Jet OR Droy's head, I will personally—"
"Scarlet," Jellal clicked his tongue, interrupting her rudely, "No, not so soon. After I personally interrogate them, I'll hold them as hostages for only a week, does that sound plausible to you? That should be enough time for you to come to your senses and give all of our, well, I'll say it: prisoners, back. And when you do, we can make a deal of sorts."
Erza shook her head at the thought of all of it, especially meeting that bastard face-to-face. "What's your plan for them, Jellal? What are you going to do to them?"
From the other side of the conversation, Jellal cocked an eyebrow. "Are we back on the first name basis now? Not even a honorific? Hm, I wonder: do you still foster feelings for me?"
"Tell me!"
All that responded was laughter from the other side. Strangely childish sounding, evil laughter. Not the kind you would want to hear of.
Erza's eyes widened as she choked on her own voice, "No. Do not. Don't you dare."
"I have a habit of getting it my way, do you see now? And I will resort to extreme measures to get what I want. I do hope you come to your senses, because not only do we have Miss Levy here, we have the rest of your squads, including the little boy," Jellal continued, delivering more and more bad news.
She clenched her teeth hard, her anger vibrating throughout every single muscle in her body. Romeo, that idiot. How could he disobey my commands... is he the reason that the plan didn't go according to action? I was so meticulous about everything after all... dammit!
"If you surrender right now, I might not have to interrogate any of them after all," he persuasively said. "What do you say, Erza? My guards are already there, and I'm sure you realized that we have reactivated Miss Heartfilia's tracking chip by now. You can't escape anymore, can you? Make it easy for all of us."
She crushed the walky talky in her hand, silencing his voice, causing for blood to draw from her palms. Metallic pieces of the walky talky flew in the air and fell to the ground below her. He's too stubborn. He hates to lose; he has to win, Erza thought, as she ran towards Natsu and Lucy. It's gonna be a rough fight.
Erza quickly realized that Lucy had been darted, and was unconscious. A smile spread on her face. "Perfect, makes my job a lot easier," she whispered to herself.
"Natsu!" she yelled, causing Natsu to skid to a stop. He saluted his leader in the most childish way possible.
"Yes sir?" he asked, but Erza had no time to waste. When she caught up to him, she pulled Lucy away from his grasp and whipped out her rondel. "What are you—oi, ERZA!"
As quickly and smoothly as she could, she slit a cut onto Lucy's right hand. Natsu gasped as if he was the one in pain, and it took a chunk of Erza's willpower not to turn around and look at him. Lucy remained unconscious as Erza used the rondel and scooped out the tracking chip inside of her. It began to beep as it became exposed to the air, apart from Lucy's body. Blood spurred from her right hand, and although Erza could've possibly disabled her, she had no choice. She tossed the tracking chip away in a random direction and picked up Lucy, ready to hand her to Natsu bridal style, until she realized with horror that Natsu was darted.
He was sprawled against the floor, a dart engraved onto the back of his neck.
"PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!" a guard with a megaphone shouted angrily, and suddenly an influx of darts headed their way.
Erza slung Lucy over one shoulder, and Natsu over another, and began to run in a zig zag pattern, dodging darts the best she could. Erza, alongside with Natsu and Lucy, was the only person who had yet to escape. She was all alone.
Lucy's blood from her right hand continued to drip, leaving an easily detectable path for the guards. Erza cursed herself, doing her best to support Natsu and Lucy, though it was difficult considering she was basically carrying two people who both weighed the same as her.
She looked up, seeing the end of the tunnel, the metallic doors halfway shut. The rest of her squad was cheering her on, shouting words of encouragement, and lots of "come on!" hand signals came her way. The younger ones were jumping up and down, and the older ones were waving her over ferociously. Erza smiled at the spirit of Fairy Tail, as pride for the guild began to fill her up.
Unfortunately, as she was distracted, a dart hit her foot, and although it didn't puncture her skin, it caused her to trip, slip and fall. Lucy and Natsu slid their way to the doors, just on the eve of shutting. The guild screamed almost harmoniously, as Erza desperately tried to get up on her own, but another dart found its way to the back of her spine. "No!" a scream of shock and desperation found its way out of her mouth, causing the guild to scream back at her.
Elfman Strauss began to cry genuine tears, heartbroken as he ran up to the two bodies of Natsu and Lucy. As if they were rag dolls, he scooped both of them up with one arm, wishing he could reach out to Erza and scoop her up as well. It was too late though, and he knew that. She was simply too far away for him to scoop and return. She couldn't make it. Roughly, he wiped his tears with his free arm and shook his head. "BE A MAN!" he screamed at himself, turning back around, as he ran back towards the doors.
Erza looked up from her position on the ground, watching Elfman retreat with Natsu and Lucy with him. A smile found it's way to her face, quickly replaced by the realization of her failure. Footsteps quickly approached Erza, confirming that it was over.
"I can't believe this! Erza Knightwalker is a betrayer!"
"I thought you were a better warrior than this, Erza. It's a shame you ended up disloyal."
"I knew it! I knew there was something wrong with her!"
"Is she the one who is behind the invasion? You've got be bloody kidding me."
"Hurry up! She might try to pull something."
Tears began to fall from her face as the guards reached Erza, lurching her up by the arms and handcuffing her hands behind her back. Hand...cuffs...? Are they really necessary? Erza thought as her eyes fluttered shut. I'm as good as gone by now...
A guild, by definition, has three meanings. One of them, is as followed: an association of people for mutual aid or the pursuit of a common goal.
Therefore, even in this AU, Fairy Tail is still considered a guild ;)
Short chapter! Gomenasai ~ ;x Just felt wrong to continue this chapter after that last scene. Sigh.
—- Alice