Chapter 7

"Mr Freed needs to work harder on his runes." By Negi

"… and that's what really happened."

Mystogan's eyes widened as he attempted to take in all the information that he had just received. To think, Earthland and his homeland were not in two different dimensions and the very thing that everyone had believed was restoring their land's magic was in fact sapping it away.

"I'm sorry; it's just that… this is just a bit too much to take in all at once."

Arika gave a kind smile. "I know it's a lot to take in. It might take a while for it all to sink in."

"So Loke is really your…?" Mystogan began.

"He is." Arika said, cutting him off. "It's the reason he's so protective of me, I am more than just his former owner."

The masked mage then asked, "Will you ever tell him who you really are?"

"Maybe when he regains his memory…" Arika answered sadly. "I lost all rights to that position the day we left him behind. I am no longer worthy of that title."

Before either of them could say another word, a wall of runes surrounded them. Mystogan attempted to blasted the obstacle away with his staff only to have the orb of magic energy rebound straight back at him.

"What's going on?" Mystogan stammered.

"We'll soon find out."

Arika hesitantly pushed her hand against the rune wall and a set of words formed:

"To leave this area,

You must be the last man left standing."

Arika concluded, "Someone is trying to turn us against each other."

"So do we have to fight to escape this prison?" Mystogan asked.

His companion smirked. "No, we don't need to fight because…" she then raised her voice. "The rules state that there must only man left standing to leave the area and I am a woman not a man."

As if she had used her Magic Cancelling abilities, the runes faded away, leaving them a clear path to the guild.

Mystogan was dumbstruck. "How did you do that?" he asked.

"I was a politician." Arika stated. "My job was to find loopholes in the rules and exploit them to our advantage."

With that, the pair headed off towards Fairy Tail guild while verbally destroying several more rune barriers on the way.

{~~~}

Evergreen knew she had lost. She was backed up against a wall with Erza staring her down, ready to attack. Evergreen couldn't escape without risking losing her an arm or leg to the Titania's blades and she quite liked having all her limbs attached to her body.

The Fairy Queen had demanded that she release the people she held under Stone Eyes. The only way for the magic to come undone was for her to be unable to supply magic to keep the spell active. She would either have to leave the area, which was practically impossible with Freed's runes in place, or be knocked unconscious.

Evergreen then remembered that she had the ability to turn everyone she held captive into rubble with a single thought. She smirked; it was perfect bargaining material to getting out of the situation. She opened her mouth, prepared to strike a deal with Erza, but then something hit her like a ton of bricks. What would happen if she actually did destroy her petrified captives, whether by accident or the slim chance that Erza wouldn't let her go? There'd be no more Cana drinking in the back, no more Mirajane welcoming them back after every job. There'd be no more Juvia or Bisca or Levy or Lucy… or Negi.

Sighing, Evergreen revealed to Erza what it took to undo the petrification which led to the Titania knocking her out with the hilt of her blade.

{~~~}

Negi looked around; he was in his room in Fairy Tail guild, alone. He had remembered that Evergreen was with him and that he had told her that he had been trying to learn Archive and talked about the festival then Evergreen started to apologize then she lowered her glasses and… then he was alone. Negi concluded that Evergreen had used her Stone Eyes on him and, since he was now free, had either left Magnolia or was unconscious.

He shivered slightly at the thought that the Stone Eyes magic had been used on him. Ever since he had first seen it been used, Negi had always feared it. Whenever he had seen the Stone Eyes in action, a feeling of fear and dread washed over him. The images of a burning village, a pretty blonde lady's legs turning to stone and breaking off, an old man with a beard and robe slowly turning to stone and a cloaked warrior holding a horned and winged humanoid beast by the neck often flickered in the back of his mind. Unlike other times, these memories were clear and vivid and were what he believed made up the core of who he was.

Putting memories of snow and fire aside, Negi staggered out of his room to find out what was going on.

{~~~}

"Karyū no Tekken!" Natsu roared as another flaming fist met with the rune wall, only to be thrown back.

"Can you keep it down, Salamander?!" Gajeel yelled as Natsu crashed into the opposite wall.

"Both of you keep it down." Arika said calmly before returning to assist Levy decode the rune wall.

Mystogan leaned against the wall as the pair of dragon slayers silenced at the Calamity Queen's command. He and Arika had arrived minutes earlier and were filled in by Levy about the Fight Festival and the Thunder Lacrimas that now surround Magnolia. They attempted to leave and try to help bring an end to this only to be stopped by the same rune wall that prevented Natsu and Gajeel from leaving, which was odd since all of them were under the age of eighty. Hoping that there was a way to remove the barrier without rewriting it, Arika had joined Levy in trying to find a way to decode the runes.

Mystogan felt completely useless as he couldn't make heads or tails of the runes, prevent Natsu and Gajeel or help the Guildmaster's failing health. A set of gentle footsteps caused him to turn around to find Negi entering the room.

"Hello Mr Mystogan." The boy said while raising his had in greeting.

"What are you doing here?" Mystogan questioned hostilely. As Laxus's apprentice, it was assumed that Negi held some sort of part in his teacher's battle plan. Natsu and Gajeel growled and Levy glared at him. Arika simply looked away.

"Trying to find out what's going on." Negi answered while ignoring the death glares being sent his way.

"Where have you been?" Nastu asked.

Negi voice dropped to a whisper. "Petrified upstairs."

The hostility was quickly replaced by a stunned silence; Negi was a victim of this situation like they were.

Deciding to give her so- the boy some answers, Arika explained how Laxus had pitted the guild members against each other by petrifying the contestants of the Miss Fairy Tail competition and then used Thunder Palace to keep the fire going and how they were trying to decode Freed's runes.

Negi crossed his arms and closed his eyes to think. The rule had stated that those over eighty couldn't leave the building yet they somehow met the requirements despite them all being under forty. His eyes then flicked opened when an idea struck him. "Do any of you know your magic age?"

After not receiving an answer, he explained. "A magic age his how long a certain type of magic has been in a mage's body; for example: if a mage learn Re-equip when they were sixteen and they are now twenty, their magic age for Re-equip would be four. Someone's magic age can exceed their physical age if they have magic passed down through blood, whether from a transplant or an ancestor. It is extremely rare for magics that can be learnt from scratch to be passed down through blood, it is generally Ancient or 'Lost' magics, like Dragon-slaying magic, that are passed down through blood. For example: if a mage has dragon's lacrima implanted into them that is a hundred years old or is blood adopted by a hundred year old dragon to learn Dragon-slaying magic, their magic age would automatically become a hundred."

Arika nodded in understanding, her Magic Cancel, as well as some other magics, have been passed down her family line for generations and she was certain that Natsu and Gajeel's foster dragon parents were centuries old and that the magic in Mystogan's staves has been in them for decades.

"So how's that supposed to get us out of here?" Natsu asked, he didn't understand the explanation completely and had condensed it to 'old magic makes us old'.

"Like this." Negi touched the tip of his staff against the rune wall and mutter an incantation. A sphere of golden runes manifested on the staff's tip before it dispersed along the wall and caused it to shatter. He gave a sheepish smile. "I've been decoding Mr Freed's runes for the past few months so I kind of know their pattern."

Natsu and Gajeel wasted no time in running off to find Laxus and were soon followed by Mystogan. Levy returned inside the guild to take care of the ill Grandmaster while Negi headed towards the outskirts of town. Arika tailed him from a distance. While she did care for the boy, he had decoded the runes a bit too fast for her liking and she had to make sure he didn't double cross them. They may be of the same blood but the past has proven that they could still be betrayed and corrupted.

{~~~}

This chapter was a little longer than usual… hope you like it!

Sorry for the long wait, I kind of lost my USB, had a writers' block and had a lot of homework to deal with but that's all out of the way now (hopefully).

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