Lucy ran as she chased after Natsu. Mira-san had asked her to help keep an eye on the trouble prone dragon slayer, who had ran off to Mt Hakobe to save Macao.
That idiot! Still, how did he managed to disappear in such a short amount of time?!
"You might want to wear more clothes if you are going to go after Natsu, Mt Hakobe is snowing all year round. Beware of the vulcans as well, they can be quite vicious."
Lucy stopped near the doors of the guild to turn at the direction of the voice who spoke to her.
"Over here."
Lucy looked towards her right where a guy with black hair and eyes was reading a book without looking up at her while speaking. He seemed to be sitting on... air? Lucy would have missed him due to the fact that this guy was sitting in a quiet corner partially hidden by the pillars. Was this the guy that spoke to her? It is her first day here in Fairy Tail, and she didn't think she saw him during the guild brawls she experienced when she first stepped through the doors of the Fairy Tail guild building earlier today.
"T-Thank you."
"No problem, you better get moving soon if you want to catch up to Natsu."
Lucy inwardly cursed as she resumed her run to catch up to Natsu, she will thank her guild mate later, right now she had a pyromaniac dragon slayer to catch up to. That guild mate of hers seemed to share a love for books as well, maybe they can be good friends?
That is a thought for later. Now where can she get some more clothes to ward off the cold while she made her way to Natsu?
"We are back~~"
"Welcome back, Natsu, Lucy, Happy. From the looks of it, you guys found Macao?"
"We sure did!" Natsu grinned happily as he sat down on a stool where the bar table was. The sun was almost down when they finally returned from Mt Hakobe and returned Macao back to his son, Romeo. Lucy needed to go back to the guild where she had left her backpack to collect it before finding a place to stay for the night. Natsu had offered to let her crash at his place, but Lucy had decided to see if there were other options available.
She had reached the limit of Natsu's antics for one day. It would be preferable to keep a healthy distance away from him at least in the short while
There were still many members of the guild that were loitering around in the guild hall. Lucy looked around, the guy who had gave her good advise earlier today before she went to Mt Hakobe with Natsu isn't present. Had he already left?
"Looking for anyone, Lucy?"
"Ah, Mira-san!" Lucy turned around to address Mira, who had talked to her. "I was just trying to find someone who advised me to grab some extra clothing to wear before going to Mt Hakobe because this guy-" She kicked Natsu on the shin, which he replied with a cry of pain. "-didn't bother to warn me beforehand of the unique climate of the mountain." Lucy huffed. "Thank the stars that I managed to find some clothing on my way there to help keep out the cold."
"How does that person look like?" Mira asked as she continued to serve drinks to the various members of the guild near them that were still loitering around.
"He's about this tall." Lucy gestured with her hands as she tried to remember what that guild mate of hers looked like, he didn't have any notable features other than the colour of his hair and eyes. "He has black hair and eyes, and wears a dark blue jacket on him. I can't really remember much about him other than that. OH! He was reading a book while sitting on air? It's weird but that's how it looks like. He was sitting behind the pillars over there." Lucy completed her description by pointing at the corner where the mysterious man used to occupy.
"Luigi must have meant El!" Happy told Mira while holding up his paws. "Only El floats around while reading books!"
"ARGH! That reminds me!" Natsu suddenly stood up in agitation while bathing himself in flames once more. "Mira! Where's El?! I want a rematch!"
Mira simply gave another smile as she raised one hand to cover her mouth as if trying to hold back her laughter. "El just went on a long mission with Yukino, Natsu. You won't see them for quite some time ranging from weeks to months."
Lucy ignored Natsu's screams of frustration as he walked off to start another guild brawl. She turned to Mira instead. "Mira-san, so that guy that helped me is called El?"
"His name is Elden Tyrell, to be exact. All of us here just called him El." Mira said with a loving smile as she handed a drink to Lucy.
"Aye! And he's Mira's boyfriend! They are in looooooovveeeee." Happy chimed in as he ate his fish that he took out from his backpack.
"WHAT?! How did no one know about this?! It's not reported in the Sorcerer!" Lucy exclaimed as she leaned in closer to Mira.
Mira laughed out loud as she moved to sit beside Lucy. "It's not something we liked to publicise to the world, Lucy, we like our privacy. But if you want to know, it has been that way for nearly two years now. The guild helps by keeping it a secret for us. My fans would probably be in an uproar if they knew about my relationship status, I trust that you will do the same as well? Please?"
Lucy nodded in acknowledgment as she took a sip of her drink. She can see why Mira did what she did. Mira is often a model for the Sorcerer Magazine and she has a large fanbase. Hell would be raised if anyone from the public knew that she had entered into a relationship. She can say goodbye to a life of peace and quiet.
"What's he like? Your boyfriend, I mean. He must be pretty special if he caught your eye. How did he managed to woo you?" Lucy's eyes sparkled in excitement at the thought of getting such a juicy piece of news. She have first hand information on one of the most beautiful models in Fiore!
"Mira wooed him, actually." Happy remarked as he continued to munch on his fish without looking up. "They were good friends for a loooong time, but El is a very shy guy back then. He still is, but it's a lot better now. He definitely won't strike up a conversation with you like that if it was two years ago. Mira got fed up and demanded if he wanted her to be his girlfriend, which he agreed."
Mira put a hand up to her cheek as she had a dreamy expression on her face. "Ah, those were good times. El can be infuriating like that. He's a recluse, but he's got a good heart. He just needs a little encouragement to come out of his shell. El can be very romantic actually."
Lucy eagerly listened to Mira as she digested the news internally. Elden Tyrell? That name does ring a bell...where had she heard it before?
"What's wrong, Luigi?" Happy had finished eating his fish as he raised a paw to pat her on the arm.
"IT'S LUCY! STOP CALLING MY NAME WRONG ON PURPOSE!"
Lucy turned to look at Happy, who had now hid half his body behind Mira while doing a faux trembling of his entire body and put on a pitiful look. "Mira...Luigi's scary..."
"YOU DAMN KITTY CAT!"
It had been an enjoyable two months in Fairy Tail. Lucy had went on various missions with Natsu and some of the other members. She also met more members like Lisanna, Levy, Jet, Droy and many others. They were fun to spend time with despite the destructive tendencies displayed by most members of the guild. She had also just got herself a golden zodiac key from the mission on Galuna Island and she cannot stop fawning over it.
Life is good.
Lucy made idle talk with Erza, Natsu, Gray and Happy as she tried to explain the rarity of the 12 golden zodiac keys. They had just completed the mission on Galuna Island and the group had reached the edge of Magnolia. To her surprise, they seemed to know about this information already, even though Celestial Spirit magic is a rare form of magic.
"Yeah, we know. Yukino's a Celestial Spirit mage like you too. You two are the only Celestial Spirit mages in our guild." Gray replied offhandedly. Upon seeing Lucy's shocked expression, Gray inquired further. "You didn't see her in the guild?"
"She's on a long mission with El, squinty eyes, won't be back for quite some time."
"What do you call me? Ash-for-brains?!"
"Come fight me, popsicle!"
A fist to both of their heads silenced the bickering duo, courtesy of Erza. She looked to Lucy before speaking.
"I'm surprised you didn't know about Yukino, Lucy. I thought Mira, Elfman, or Lisanna would have talked to you about Yukino. Yukino may not be related to them by blood, but they treat her like their own little sister. They looked really alike too."
"Aye! Yukino have a few of those golden keys as well! One of them are a pair of fish!" Happy said the last sentence while drooling from the thought of eating such big fishes.
"W-WHAT?! There's another Celestial Spirit mage in Fairy Tail? And I don't know about it? She also has a few of the zodiac keys?!" Lucy's heart dipped a little in disappointment. She had wanted to collect all twelve of the zodiac keys, seems like it is impossible now.
"I think little Yuki-chan have like...three of those golden keys?" Natsu said as he adopted a thinking pose. "A human-cat, a weird lady, and a pair of fish. The cat is actually pretty strong too."
Cat? Does that mean the gate of the lion, Leo? A pair of fish? That has to be Pisces!
"I think you would get along well with Yukino, Lucy. She loves her spirits just as much as you do." Gray commented as he continued to walk forward
Erza stopped to turn around to face the rest of the group. "Enough talk. Now...let's get to the guild and decide on your punishment."
"AH! We forgot about that!"
N-No way...
It's all her fault. If only she didn't run away from home, this wouldn't have happened to Fairy Tail! Team Shadowgear wouldn't have got injured, Master wouldn't be in critical condition, members of the guild wouldn't have been injured in the fight with the Phantoms, and that... that thing wouldn't be making its way towards the guild hall now!
"Wha-What is that...?"
"Is it...Phantom?!"
"The guild is walking..."
Erza had rushed out of the bathrooms clad in only a towel around her body. Like the rest of the guild, she stared at the walking monstrosity in shock.
"I never imagined...they'd attack us like this."
"What should we do?!"
A large cannon appeared at the front of the walking guild hall of Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail watched as it began to charge up magical energy to fire a blast of condensed magical energy onto their guild hall.
"THIS IS BAD! EVERYBODY, GET DOWN!" Erza screamed out loud as she dashed to the front of the guild hall.
"Erza!"
"What are you going to do?!"
"Get back here! Erza!"
The members of Fairy Tail watched in a mixture of shock and amazement as Erza requipped into an armour with many thick metal plates as she screamed for the rest of Fairy Tail to get down. Lucy idly noted that one of the members called it the Herculean Armour.
The cannon from Phantom Lord fired as everyone covered their heads and lay prone onto the ground. Many of them were trying to use their own bodies to shield the other members. Elfman was trying to cover Mira, and Gray was holding onto Natsu to prevent him from running up to Erza, who had decided to shield the blast from the Fairy Tail's guild hall and the members behind her.
Lucy and the rest of Fairy Tail watched as the blast of condensed magical energy got closer and closer to Erza. If it hit her...
"Erzaaaa!"
"Damn it Natsu, stop moving! Have faith in Erza!"
It was then a miracle happened.
"Everyone get down! Erza! Leave it to me! BARRIER-MAKE: FAIRY GATES!"
Lucy watched in amazement as five set of doors, each looking exactly like the ones that guard Fairy Tail's guild hall, appeared in a straight row in front of Erza and stood in the way between the blast of energy from the cannon and their scarlet haired mage. The door seemed to be made up of some ethereal solid construct that shimmered in gold as it stood proud and tall against the attack.
"IT'S ELDEN! HE'S BACK!"
"WE ARE SAVED!"
"GO ELDEN! GO ERZA! SHOW THEM WHO'S BOSS!"
The members of Fairy Tail watched as the blast of magical energy obliterated the first set of doors and proceeded to destroy the second set, and the third, and the fourth. But each time the blast of condensed magic hit one of those walls it will lose its power and its momentum slowed down significantly. The attack hit the final set of doors as it creaked and groaned against the strain it faced from the attack. Cracks started to appear on the doors as Lucy saw Erza bracing herself from the impending attack, intending to use herself as a human shield if necessary.
Erza's help wasn't needed.
The final set of doors held, Erza and the rest of Fairy Tail remained untouched by the blast.
"YAHOO!"
"WE DID IT!"
Loud shouts of joy could be heard as everyone celebrated their success in surviving that blast. Was that the power of Elden Tyrell, one of the S Class mages of Fairy Tail? Lucy had asked Mira a little about him ever since he found out that Mira was dating the Aegis of Fairy Tail, an elusive member that even the famed reporter, Jason, did not managed to take a picture of him. However, words of his powers spread far and wide across Fiore, and he was recognised as one of the strongest mages in Fairy Tail.
A black haired man wearing a dark blue jacket floated down from the air with a young white-bluish haired girl, which looked about 11 years of age, in front of the guild members with their backs facing them. The man looked visibly drained as he nearly stumbled onto the ground upon landing, and it was only when the young girl supported him did he avoid a faceplant onto the ground.
"Huff..huff... is everyone alright? Erza? You ok?"
"We are alright thanks to you. But what about you?! Are you ok?!"
The black haired man, which Lucy recognised to be the same man who had gave her that friendly advice on her first day in Fairy Tail waved away Erza's concerns as he stood up shakily.
This is Elden Tyrell, the Aegis of Fairy Tail.
"I'm fine, just give me a while to catch my breath. I'm glad I made it in time. Is that really Phantom Lord?!"
"It is." Erza responded as she requipped back into her Heart Kreuz Armour. "There will be a second wave soon, get ready."
"EL! YUKINO!"
Lucy watched as the Strauss siblings ran up to the duo and Mira quickly checked them over for any signs of injury.
"We are fine, Mira. We need to focus on the enemy now. What do we know about them? What are our forces?"
Mira bit her lower lip as she held onto Elden. "They ambushed Team Shadowgear and they are injured and resting. Master's critically injured and he is at Porlyusica's. They are after Lucy, our newest guild member. There are many injured members as well. We had attacked one of the Phantom's hideout previously where Master got himself injured and we were forced to retreat."
Elden muttered something inaudible under his breath before their attention was taken away by something else.
A loud voice boomed over the speakers from Phantom Lord's guild hall. The voice was unmistakably Jose's.
"You don't stand a chance. Hand over Lucy Heartphilia right now."
A wave of protests emerged from the Fairy Tail members as they defended Lucy, who tried to hold back her tears from such display of supportive actions from her guild members. What did she do to deserve such wonderful people?
"WE'D RATHER DIE THAN GIVE UP ON OUR COMRADE!" Erza screamed at Jose.
"OUR ANSWER WON'T CHANGE NO MATTER WHAT! WE WILL TAKE YOU DOWN!" Natsu roared at Jose, visibly angered by the audacity of Jose's demands.
"I see..." Jose replied with a hint of rage in his deceptively calm voice. "Then we'll fire an even bigger and stronger Jupiter! NOW STRUGGLE IN THIS 15 MINUTE TERROR UNTIL IT'S RELOADED!"
"What?!"
"Jupiter...They'll...fire it again?!"
"El could stop one of those, but he can't block them forever!"
"Look! Their soldiers are coming out!"
"No way! Aren't they just going to fire Jupiter?"
"Feel the pain, Fairy Tail. You have two choices." Jose's sickening voice could be heard loud and clear once again. "Get killed by my soldiers, or die by Jupiter."
"Impossible...is he going to kill his men with Jupiter as well? H-He's just threaten-"
"Oh for the love of Mavis. Shut up. You overgrown clown."
Elden stood up confidently as Mira supported his shaky form by his side, he probably is still trying to recover from a sudden loss of his magic when he used it to defend the guild. A powerful surge of magical energy swept through the area around him as the air around him distorted. Elden made his way to the front of Fairy Tail with help from Mira as he looked to Phantom Lord's guild hall.
"A clown like you would never understand the meaning of a guild. That will be your downfall." Ethereal constructs appeared around him and Mira. This time they shone an otherworldly blue. The constructs materialised in a form similar to a rib cage as skeletal arms grew on its side. "We are Fairy Tail. We protect our own and we don't bow to anyone, and certainly not to a clown that only knows how to parade around flaunting the mascara on his face." Cheers could be heard from the rest of the guild as the construct grew a skeletal head as well, before more constructs that looked like muscle fibers filled out the bones rapidly. "Like what Natsu said, we will take you down, and you are going down hard."
The ethereal construct with only its upper body visible screeched as it continue to grow in size. A layer of skin grew over it before a set of armour materialised over it and the ethereal warrior held a crossbow in its hands with a huge arrow loaded on it, primed and ready to fire.
"We choose neither of your options, and we certainly don't need fucking 15 minutes to take your Jupiter cannon down. You and your lackeys might want to step aside, by the way. I don't want to stain my hands with your filthy blood in case I accidentally kill any of you."
The ethereal construct fired the large arrow towards the Jupiter cannon at high speeds and Lucy watched in amazement as the arrow destroyed the cannon and continue to pierce through and emerged from the other end of the Phantom Lord guild hall before dissipating into thin air.
"There, you have our answer. Clown."
"Y-You...YOU WILL BE THE FIRST ONE I KILL, YOU VERMIN!"
Jose's shades swarmed out from the Phantom Lord guild hall towards Fairy Tail. It won't be long before they reached the guild hall. The Phantom Lord's guild also visibly transformed into a humanoid gigantic robot much to the horror of Fairy Tail, and it is making its way here.
"Alright! Everyone listen up!" Elden turned around to face the rest of Fairy Tail as his voice took on an authoritative tone, cutting off their stares towards the gigantic robot. "Macao! Wakaba! Go to the basement and grab whatever lacrima bombs you can find in the guild's basement! I know they are still there! You guys will be in charge of our artillery! Get more people with you if you need help! Alzack! Bisca! You guys will be in charge of the defense on the left side! Cana! You will be in charge of the right side! Natsu! Gray! Elfman! Erza! I need you to go up there to Phantom Lord and destroy the Element Four! Happy! Go with Natsu! I will stay with Mira here to help in defending the guild! All of you stay away from Jose! None of you are capable of fighting him! Just make sure to bring down the Element Four! Lucy, whoever you are! You are with me and Mira! Jose cannot snatch you away from right under our eyes! Warren! You are with me as well! We need your powers to link with everyone! Make sure you establish a connection for Erza's group for them to be able to contact each other! Mira and I will defend the center! The rest of you, split yourselves! Either help Macao and Wakaba, or help in the defense on the right and left sides, or the center! Now, MOVE!"
"Don't worry about us going up to Phantom Lord's building, Elden. We will win." Erza said to Elden as she ran off with the others who also were tasked to bring the Element Four down.
"Stay safe, Erza. The rest of you too."
"Don't worry about that, we will kick their ass!"
"AYE!"
"Time to be a MAN!"
"I will just freeze their ass off."
Seeing that their small but elite attack force running off towards the Phantom's building, the rest of Fairy Tail burst into a flurry of movements as they split themselves up equally. Some of them ran back to the guild's basement with Macao and Wakaba, some of them organised the defenses with the temporary leaders that Elden had appointed. Lucy ran up to where Mira and Elden was. Elden had slumped a little after the speech, looking drained.
"El! You need to rest! You lost too much magic! You cannot fight a war after pulling off your best techniques like that! Leave the fighting to me!"
Elden merely shook his head. "Like you said, this is a war, Mira. There is no rest. Either we live or we die, Jose won't show mercy." He briefly hugged Mira and gave a light kiss on her forehead. "I will do my best to stay alive, so you better do the same too."
Mira just gave Elden a tight hug before pulling away, with a steely gaze in her eyes. Any of her usual cheery demeanor is now gone. Right now Mira isn't the cheerful barmaid, but the she-demon and S Class mage of Fairy Tail.
"We're ready to help too, El-niichan!"
Elden merely patted the young girl who was with him fondly on the head as she walked up to him together with Lisanna.
"Just promise me you will stay safe, Yukino. Call out Loke or Ophiuchus if you need to. If you are in any danger or cannot continue fighting any longer, retreat to safety, understood?"
"Don't worry, El. I will keep an eye on Yukino."
"Thanks, Lisanna."
Elden turned to face Lucy, who was watching their interactions a short distance away, and Elden looked at her with a smile in his eyes. "You must be Lucy. I don't think this is the best time to do introductions, but I am Elden. Just call me El. Make sure that you stay behind me and Mira or be in our line of sight at all times. Don't worry, we will win this, and then we can all go back home together."
Lucy trembled as she tried very hard not to cry. Lisanna wrapped her arms around her in a comforting hug.
"Everything's fine, Lucy. You can stay with me or Yukino during the fight! She's a Celestial Sprit mage like you too! It would be interesting to watch!"
"Really?!" The young girl, now identified as Yukino, perked up at Lisanna's words. "You are a Celestial Spirit mage too?! How many-"
"They are coming. Prepare yourselves."
Fairy Tail prepared themselves as the waves of shades got closer and closer to them. The giant robot lumbered up from behind the shades.
"Tsk...if only my magical reserves were full, I can pull off a Stage III and destroy that stupid robot."
"Hush, dear. Just concentrate on the shades for now, and hope that Elfman and the others will defeat the Element Four."
"He will win, Mira. He had already mastered the Full Body Take Over. The rest will win their battles too. They are strong."
"I know."
Small diamond shaped barriers as thin as than paper appeared around Elden. They are glowing in pink, similar to the petals of sakura petals, and are roughly the size of fingernails. They appeared by the thousands and part of them swirled around Elden and the other part surrounded Yukino and Lucy as well. It looks as if they are surrounded in a field of falling sakura petals.
"Yukino, Lucy. Stay within the petals and fight from there. Your spirits can do the fighting for you on the outside of my barriers. Make sure you stay safe."
Any further conversations were cut off as the first wave of shades were near enough to clash with the Fairy Tail members that made up their front lines any moment now. Elden walked up to the front once again with huge mass of the pink petals swirling angrily around him as he whispered the name of his technique.
"Barrier-Make: Senbonzakura."
AN: So yeah, I took the idea of an offensive attack using barriers from Bleach. Canon has now started and we can start to see the changes that Elden's presence have in the FT verse. Mira and Elden have officially paired up in this chapter as well.
Let me know what you think, and I hoped you enjoyed this chapter.