Fading
.
.
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Forty-Three Hours Remain
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"There!" Freed exclaimed, backing away from where the enchantment had dropped around them. He reached his hand through the glittering of descending runes towards Levy. "Quickly now! Before the Empress realises it has been done! If she thinks something has happened to Levy there is no telling how dangerous the situation will become."
.
"Yea and I thought that past Nei was crazy, this one's berserk," Bickslow added absently. "To top it off, she's like crazy obsessed with Levy. It's really weird…" He tipped his gaze to the side with a grim expression as he watched the skies pollute with static. "And the big guy'll be here any minute. This place is as good as ash so we might wanna find cover and soon."
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Levy squeezed out of the opening in the rubble with Freed's aid, Evergreen close to her side. Neirah's absent gaze was drawn to the offering of Freed's hand and she quickly turned her head to face the others. She shook her head decisively to clear herself from her daze. "I can't," she whispered weakly. "Mirajane and the others… they'll be caught in the crossfire!"
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"Neirah, we've been over this!" Laxus thundered impatiently. "This isn't our fucking world!"
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"But they are our friends!" She demanded, turning away defiantly. "Friends that might still have information we need."
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"Neirah!" Laxus expelled a weighty sigh as he watched her charge backwards from whence she came.
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"They must not've figured it out yet," Gajeel grumbled dismally. Keeping Levy closely behind him as the ground started to quake with the thunder crackling around them. "Man, not the stealthiest guy six years from yesterday, are you?"
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Freed turned his gaze to the horizon with a sullen look of defeat on his features. "When you can level half a continent with one wrathful strike, you don't have to be…"
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Neirah avoided the sight of crimson static crawling across the ocean's surface from the nearby banks. Be it fear for her friends or fear to see what her husband had become, she fled back through the tunnel she had escaped with nervously. If Laxus was close enough to affect the tide rolling in the bay, he was too close.
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"Shadow!" Levy exclaimed frantically. "Gajeel, we can't let her go back! Her future self is down there!"
.
"Yea, well future Sparky is up here," Gajeel rumbled cautiously. He swiftly readjusted Levy back behind him in defence. "Pick yer poison…"
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"Laxus, aren't you going to go after her?!"
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"Tsk, when the hell have I ever chased after that woman to save her reckless hide?" Laxus snorted in amusement. "Even if she pisses me the hell off sometimes, she can look after her damn self."
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Evergreen watched helplessly as the storm approached, her fear close to paralysing her entirely. She looked down into the ruins in which she'd just escaped, her heart racing with her certainty.
.
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"Big sister, are you ok?" Lisanna whimpered worrisomely. "Jet, bring more blankets. Her fever won't break."
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Mirajane clutched her head, tears streaming down her face. "Lisanna… you have to go."
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"But Mira! We can't leave you here with t-"
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"I said go!" Mira demanded. She shoved her little sister away from where she was doctoring the sickly she-devil, the act forcing Mirajane to wince in agony over her actions. Lisanna's startled and hurt gasp filled Mira's ears. "Lisanna… I'm sorry," she whimpered, shaking desperately with fever. "Please, you have to go… Something's wrong with me…"
.
"She got sick so quickly…" Jet observed, silently delivering the blankets that Lisanna had requested. "She's not herself… Do you think…?"
.
"No!" Lisanna shouted whilst throwing her palms into the soggy dirt. She flexed her trembling fingers, tears joining their presence. "They won't take Mira away from me too!" She demanded hysterically. "She's strong!"
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Mira trembled weakly, her wide gaze flickering lifelessly as she began to lose control of her thoughts. "Please Lisanna," she whispered grimly. "I don't want to hurt you…"
.
.
Neirah was nearing the break in the tunnel that would lead her to the others when a sharp jerk was dragging her back by her wrist. She cried out in surprise but was quickly silenced by the sight of an ally. "Evergreen!"
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"You can't go back," Evergreen assured her sternly. "If it's knowledge you're worried for, I have everything that they had if not more. If it's for fear of our safety, Laxus is right! You can't jeopardise your safety for ours! Not when you have the power to stop all this from ever happening!"
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Neirah's breathing hitched as she stared into the certain features of a woman she had been at odds with since the day they'd met. "There's a chance that I can stop her!" She defended weakly.
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"Yes!" Evergreen demanded confidently enough to make Neirah flinch with the woman's conviction. "There is." Neirah's trembling gaze searched her ally's for a long time. "But you need Freed's help."
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"What do we do now?" Gajeel asked openly to rattled company. "I ain't leavin' the kid."
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Laxus lingered at the iron dragon slayers back in thought. To say that they'd been caught between a rock and a hard place was an understatement and Neirah's flighty attitude towards the situation's severity wasn't helping.
.
"Well, well, well."
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Laxus flinched with the toxic sound of venomous hissing at his back, eerily familiar but sickeningly foreign.
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"So, the beast finally rears its ugly head."
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Laxus slowly turned to face his wife; but not the one that he had arrived beside. This one had a sick and sinister expression curling her arrogant lips into a malicious scowl, a hollow glow behind her reptilian gaze as it narrowed on him vindictively. It was the thing he hated most about his wife, those molten golden eyes. "Now I just know you aren't talking to me," he rumbled sternly, glaring right back at the woman in cool detachment.
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Neirah's expression staggered uncertainly with the low uttering of his words. 'He spoke,' she thought nervously. 'The beast never speaks…'
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"Huh? Who're you talkin' t-" Gajeel was silenced when Laxus held his arm out and forced him back.
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"Get the girls out of here. Now."
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"Bu-"
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Levy raised her arm and slowly ushered Gajeel to the side behind the cover they'd managed to retain. "Listen to me," Levy assured him bravely. "We need to find shelter from this battle and quickly. Laxus will follow."
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"Laxus you can't-!" Freed was cut short by Neirah's infuriated bellow.
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"Where have you taken my precious Levy, you filthy animal?!" She demanded from atop her perch, a shadowed whip appearing at her side. Laxus narrowed his gaze on the use of her reaper magic as if it were natural to her. It was magic she'd sworn she'd never use again in X791.
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"Open your damn eyes," he demanded impatiently. He casually directed her attention to the girl bound to the rubble alongside him with an extended arm beneath his cloak. "If that's all you're after, then take her and make tracks!"
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Neirah's gaze flashed hot with arrogance as she turned up her nose at him, rage burning behind her amber irises as Levy began to stir. "You still reek of my brother," she snarled. Her gaze refused to break his. "My vision has never been clearer…"
.
"Course he smells like me, I'm right here."
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"Gajeel!" Levy exclaimed. Even though she struggled, she was held back around her waist by Freed as she clamoured to reach her delusional husband.
.
"What is that imbecile doing!?" Freed demanded. "Laxus told us to leave!"
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"Yea well not all of us listen to Laxus," Gajeel grumbled. He broadly took his comrade's side, refusing to abandon him in the face of danger. "So there, I'm alive. You can stop tryin' to kill each other now."
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Laxus drew his palm swiftly up between his eyes. "Good, right, piss off the girl with the bladed whip."
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Neirah was taken aback, her wide gaze trembling as her brother approached her. "It's a trick," she whispered weakly. "There's no… no way…"
.
"Yep. Totally fine," Gajeel assured her. He held his arms out and did a little spin before looking up towards her perch with a cocky grin. "Wanna come down here and give yer big brother a hug?"
.
"Mistress Neirah!" The future Levy cried in outrage. "Watch out! They used the same trick on me! That phantom is an imposter aiding in the enemy cause!"
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The Levy from the past caught her breath, her soft gaze watching as her future-self flailed wrathfully behind her binds. 'She called Shadow 'Neirah',' she thought quietly. 'I can't imagine the pain she felt when she lost Gajeel but is she really so blind that she can't see that we're here to help?'
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"I will destroy you all."
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Their party flinched with Neirah's devastated hiss, her darkened expression widening with her deranged wrath.
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"YOU WILL ALL DIE BY MY HAND!"
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Laxus grabbed Gajeel by the collar and raked him back behind cover as the shadow of her weapon sliced through the earth in the same spot he once stood. "What'd I say about pissing off the girl with the whip, huh?" He demanded, shoving Gajeel around the corner. "Now move!"
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"I won't let you escape!" They heard her call.
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Laxus took a deep breath, grinding his teeth in frustration. 'Damn it Neirah, you picked a real bad time to play the hero and the villain all at once,' he thought desperately. He flinched when Neirah's pained bellow was heard from behind the rumble they'd slipped behind. Just to be sure, he peeked over the ledge to assure the Neirah in pain wasn't his. Sure enough, he watched a future Neirah and Mirajane in heated combat. "Mira? What the hell is she thinking?"
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"This way!" Evergreen called, attracting his full attention. He turned to face the fairy only to be relieved with the sight of his wife at her side. "If we go quickly we should be able to get out of here before Laxus shows up!"
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'I guess this works too,' Laxus thought hopefully. He took one last look at the sadistic dominatrix his wife had become and then quickly chased after them.
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Gajeel cast his gaze towards Laxus as they slithered through the remains of Hargeon that Evergreen had been capable of familiarising herself with over the time she'd spent with the Fairy Tail refugees. "You ok?" Gajeel rumbled gently in concern. His careful gaze observed the shift in his ally's haunted expression.
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"She's not the woman I married," Laxus assured him coldly. He shifted his gaze out front of their party to where Neirah and Evergreen conversed.
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"There should be a way out of the city not far from here!" Evergreen demanded. "Elfman used it frequently when he and Lisanna were trying to smuggle in supplies…"
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"Are you really ok with leavin' him behind like that?" Bickslow inquired softly.
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Evergreen's pale expression dimmed painfully as she pressed forwards. "I have to be… for all of us," she murmured weakly. "I have to believe that Neirah and Laxus can set this right in the past before any of this ever happened. If I don't… it is accurate to assume that… it's only a matter of time before we all fall to their brutality."
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Neirah reached out and laid her hand on Evergreen's arm for comfort. "We will… I promise."
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"There! I see the break in the city limits!" Freed exclaimed positively. "Just past that pier!"
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"I can't believe it!" Bickslow celebrated enthusiastically. "We managed to escape the big guy twice in one-"
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Expressions faltered in devastation as the darkened sky lit up like it had been split opened to bleed upon the earth.
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"Just had to say it…" Gajeel grumbled bleakly. "Y'know," he started edgily. "We may be in the future but… I see an awful lot of our past comin' up lately."
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Neirah stumbled backwards a step before Bickslow caught her staggering and adjusted her to her original position. "Don't run, Nei," Bickslow informed her wearily. "That'll only make him want it more."
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Levy watched Neirah's lower lip tremble before tears were finally meeting the agonised tremors. Levy slowly reached out and took Gajeel's hand tightly in hers. "What do we do?" She whispered weakly.
.
"Well, we ain't dead yet," Gajeel started slowly. He shifted his stance so that Levy was at his back once more. "And for me, that's sayin' somethin'." Gajeel flinched when the next crack of lightning revealed a desolate crimson gaze in the eyes of a man he'd once dared to call brother. He forced a dry swallow down his throat, the enemy's gaze piercing him with a predatory hunger. He took another slow step forwards. "Maybe he's just on his way to get at the other Sha-"
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The instant a crimson flash illuminated the south pier above Gajeel's head, it was too late. Levy's wail of agony sliced the air as she was thrown back by the sheer force of impact moments before the winded script mage struck the earth. "Gajeel!"
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Gajeel panted breathlessly as he watched the smoke clear around him. He slowly staggered to his feet, his gaze meeting a confused, yet relieved, Levy's. He redirected his attention, his heart racing with panic.
Laxus glared back at the dark image of himself, his breathing instantly laboured and body wracked with the immediately devastating pain of his own attack. His resolve was unshaken when he caught his own attention, the shadow of what he'd become narrowing an impatient gaze on the man trembling in the wake of an attack that would see most overcome beyond defiance.
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"No! Laxus!" Freed nervously called to the man, desperate to reach out to his friend, but before Freed could tend to the wounded, Laxus had thrown his arm out to signal silence.
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"Go," he growled hoarsely in demand. "Get Neirah up to speed." He groaned, one eyelid collapsing over his agonised gaze with the sharp pain piercing him. "I'll catch up when I'm done here." Laxus flinched, his stern expression softening when he felt Neirah gently slide a couple of her fingers between his.
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"Come as soon as you're able," she whispered weakly. He was almost disappointed that she didn't try to stop him as she released his hand to take the lead of their following.
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Laxus drew in a couple hard breaths before a confident smile was curling his lips. At the same time, he was eager as hell to tear himself apart. "Yea… this won't take long."
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"Laxus! His lightning isn't like yours anymore!" Freed called out frantically. "You can't jus- Eagh!"
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"Water nebula!"
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"Freed!" Evergreen called out helplessly.
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"Juvia knew that we would find you here, you miserable rats!"
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Freed climbed to his feet only to have Juvia trap him inside her water lock moments after her brutal assault. "Traitors!" She demanded. "Siding with the Master's enemies! Fairy Tail is dead! Juvia will see to it that anyone bearing its mark will be destroyed!"
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Neirah stood up straight and displayed a confident scowl, tearing her cloak from her body to reveal Fairy Tail's crest on her chest above her heart. "Fairy Tail is alive," she corrected swiftly. "And as long as I draw breath I will fight to keep it that way."
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Neirah didn't waver as the rage and agony took hold of Juvia's expression similarly to the way it had for Levy and the Empress. They seemed to be affected consciously in confusion for a small moment before their derangement was intensifying. If what she had heard was true, she was responsible for Gray Fullbuster's death. Sister or not, Juvia would have never forgiven her.
.
With Juvia's inner confliction, she released Freed in order to focus on her objective. "Neirah," he whimpered quietly. "Do not let her magic… touch you…"
Neirah didn't have a lot of time to think as Juvia's devastated wail pierced the air, the tides rising in the bay with her wrath. "The rest of you get to safety. Laxus and I will hold them off as long as we can and then catch up with you." Her ears rang with Juvia's furious words as her strewn insults collided with the emptying walls of her mind. She listened to her friends escape before narrowing her gaze on Juvia. "Come to think of it, I don't think I like how chummy you've gotten with my husband," she crooned. "Let's say we remedy that."
.
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"I was hopin' you'd show up…" Laxus unclipped his cloak and dropped it to the earth at his side to avoid hindering his mobility. "You're a real piece of work, y'know that?" He patronised. "You show up and the guy you roasted almost a year ago is standin' with a mirrored image of yourself and you've got nothin' to say about it?" There was a hitch in his breath when his observation was responded to with a low growl, crimson eyes narrowing darkly with intent. "Hmn, not real chatty are you…?"
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Laxus grunted in agony as the man across the pier plummeted into him with full force in the time it took him to blink. "Damn it!" He cursed bitterly, skidding to a stop on his heels. "Quiet and quick... just what I needed after a hit like that…"
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Laxus watched the way his future-self moved, and soon, he was all too aware of why he had such a brutal reputation. There was no thought in his process, nothing but a sheet of red in front of his eyes that inspired him to kill everything in sight. He drew back his arms to defend against the statically charged combat situation he was forced into. 'Freed's right… Lightning shouldn't hurt like this,' he thought bitterly. He charged his own fist before driving it into the jaw of his opponent, but to his dismay, all his counterpart did was snap his head back into place and blast him into the debris of Hargeon's port town.
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Laxus coughed out an agonised breath as he checked to see if he'd actually been folded in half, but despite the unbearable pressure in his gut, he seemed to remain relatively linear. 'Shit… His attacks are tearin' me apart, but mine just glance right off.'
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He had just enough time to catch his breath before another vicious flash of crimson lightning was raining down on his head. He cried out in anguish as he was driven further back into the cities remains by the brute before him.
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He nearly choked on a mouthful of blood before expelling the rocky dust that began to settle around his trajectory and in his lungs. "Damn it… Never been the mouse in the old cat n' mouse routine before…" He raised his weary gaze to where he watched himself approach, there was no hesitation in his stride. In the dark man's eyes, he was already as good as dead.
.
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"You filthy WITCH!" Juvia wailed her insults as daggers of boiling water rained from the sky onto the ruins of Hargeon. "You killed him! You killed Juvia's beloved!"
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Neirah weaved her body through the air, flipping toe-over-head backwards towards cover. 'Juvia's magic isn't just more powerful. There's something different about it,' she thought humbly. She raised her arms in front of her. "Expel devastation!" Her shadowy casting blanketed the field to her demands in order to negate all elemental effects. "I don't appreciate having to use these despicable spells!" She bellowed. "Spells I swore I'd never use again!"
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She charged towards the deranged water wizard with her hand to her side. "Reaper's shadow – EXECUTIONER!" Juvia's expression didn't once falter as the summoning of Neirah's shadow scythe cut through her immovable figure. She caught her breath in a moment of panic for her impudence, watching Juvia's water body slowly regenerate around her.
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"You cannot cut through Juvia's body like you did her darling Gray's!"
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Neirah threw her body to the side and rolled out of the way of the funnel of water plummeting towards her. She gasped for breath and quickly dropped into the shadows to skirt around the cyclones ripping up the city around them. Then, she scampered up towards the high ground and leapt towards the water wizard. "Shadowed lightning dragon's black rain!"
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Neirah quickly dropped to the earth as fast as she could, dodging her enemy's sporadic attacks as her agonised wails pierced the port. 'That's right, water and electricity don't mix…' A low groan found her throat as she watched the water in the bay rise with Juvia's fury.
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"I will submerge this entire city in water and then boil anyone who paddles to the surface!"
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Neirah ground her teeth with her decision, climbing to her feet with a determined whimper. "I can't let you do that," she whispered. 'I'd really hoped to reserve my power for defence against my future-self, but I see now that we aren't going to make it back without a fight.' She closed her eyes, the tidal of Juvia's attack glowing with the light surrounding Neirah's dainty figure.
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"Hellfire's final judgment!" She ordered her attack, the black wave of her spell nullifying any magical content of Juvia's casting. As the rain fell from the heavens around them, she drew back her hand and opened the gates of infinity. "Now face infinity's!"
.
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Laxus was weakening in spirit as he was driven back into the dirt again by his merciless enemy. His attacks were useless and in the moment, he was nothing more than a scratching post for the disturbed lion set on tearing him to pieces.
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He watched the man perched on a nearby roof, glowering down at the mess he was sure he'd become. He could feel the dust of the city's remains clotting his open wounds, and if he wasn't so pissed off that he was being jolted around like a rag doll, he wouldn't have been able to deny that the red leaking into his vision was actually the blood from a split in his brow.
.
If nothing else, in his final conscious moments during his struggle against the beast, he was granted a better look at what he'd become. He knew full well that the man could have ended him in a single blow. He felt the insane amount of power rip through his body when he took the strike directed at Gajeel. Then the strangest thing happened. He started to hold back; if that was what you could consider a single-sided annihilation.
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Unlike the Empress, the man before him was barely human. Long black claws extended permanently from thick fingertips, onyx and crimson scales permanently dotting heavily inked, distended forearms. And if the lifeless look in his crimson eyes beneath three haggard scars wasn't feral enough, the hot clouds of steam seething from his flared nostrils in every breath was case enough. He was wrath incarnate, but what bugged him the most about the sight, was that he could still see it. He couldn't figure out why the monster was showing mercy to the person he knew from experience he hated most in the world.
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Himself.
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He ground his teeth defiantly and spoke through the impatient scowl. "I don't suppose you'd just tell me what's pissin' you off so I can just go home and fix it?"
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"Oh ho ho, Laxus, look how adorably pathetic you are! I never thought I'd see the day!"
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He turned his attention to the rubble around him, searching for the muffled feminine giggling echoing in his ears. He didn't recognise the voice, but he was almost certain it was the voice of an enemy.
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"I love it…"
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He growled lightly and looked up into his own merciless expression as the sky crackled with electricity above him. "Guess she wasn't talkin' about you, huh?" It kind of irritated him that those would be the last words he ever spoke. He scanned his thoughts quickly in hopes of finding a way out of his predicament, but the search was in vain. Instead, he watched his darker counterpart's arm rise, silently praying someone would sever it from his own body.
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"I don't think so, pal!"
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Laxus blinked a couple of times as he watched himself eat iron, the force of the attack throwing the vacant presence across the port. "You got no idea how good it feels to do that and not get yelled at!" He quickly turned his head to the retraction of the pillar, watching the fist emitting it pump with enthusiasm. "Now we're even, Sparky." Gajeel cast him a wicked grin before leaping down alongside him from the rubble he'd perched on. "Come on, let's get you back to the others before big n' ugly gets back up."
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Laxus' brow furrowed grimly. "You know with the amount of people callin' me ugly today I think I'm gonna walk out of this with a complex."
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"Gee, you don't have enough of those? But to be fair, if you walk outta this at all yer winnin'," Gajeel crooned supportively. "Man, he got you good. Might be a bad time, but can you walk?"
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"I'll manage," Laxus assured him swiftly. "You got a plan B for when he gets back up?"
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"Enchant!"
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Laxus flinched and turned to where Freed had completed his enchantment around the port.
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"Plan B," Gajeel mused supportively.
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"We have to hurry…" Freed rushed out weakly. "I don't have anything strong enough to hold him for long so I set a simple delay. There is power in simplicity. We have twenty minutes."
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"I told you guys to get outta here," Laxus breathed out feebly.
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"And I told em' I don't listen to you," Gajeel mocked, hitching the wounded man's arm up over his shoulders. "Come on, we gotta disappear."
.
"Laxus?"
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Gajeel whirled around to face where Neirah was staggering to catch up with them. "Shads."
Neirah panted weakly and slowed to join their side. "You came back," she observed. "Is the other Laxus…"
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"Not even close," Laxus rumbled in defeat. "I don't even think he broke a fucking sweat."
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Neirah's gaze widened in terror as she joined his side. "No… that's… impossible," she defended vaguely. "I mean, Juvia was certainly more powerful than she used to be, but I was still able to defeat her…" Laxus diverted his attention with a sharp pain coursing through his body and in the next moment he was feeling incredibly vacant in presence. "Laxus…? What is it?" Neirah cooed worrisomely.
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"We have to get him back to the others immediately," Freed demanded. "He's been exposed to his own magic."
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"But… that shouldn't really matter should it…?" Neirah flinched as Laxus fell to his knees despite Gajeel's attempts to keep him standing. "Laxus!"
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His breathing grew laboured and his mind blank with the fading of her voice. He heard some ramblings as his world darkened, about getting him to safety. Medical attention and what not. But the only voice he wanted to listen to was the one that kept whispering death in his ears.
.
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"How delightful."
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Like an infuriated jungle cat circling its cage as its prey danced just outside its reach, an inhuman Laxus turned to glare past Freed's enchantment and face the woman who set his blood on fire. Neirah stepped forwards, her delicate toes a breath away from the barrier. "I came to find the little mouse you scared away and here I find the cat himself." She traced one long nail along the edges of the enchantment, Levy close to her side.
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"I see the day hasn't been a complete loss." Levy sighed blissfully, harbouring images of Fairy Tail's refuge in shambles and bathed in the scent of death.
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"Levy, darling," Neirah mused wantonly. "Put a leash on my new pet, would you?"
.
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"No… Daddy..! Daddy!"
.
Juvia fled up the stairs, careful not to trip on the hem of her lengthy sundress as she rushed. She found Lyra's bedside and quickly rested her hand on the distressed child's brow. "Lyra, Lyra sweetie, wake up." Juvia was startled when the young girl leapt into her arms and sobbed weakly against her breast.
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"Daddy's in trouble," Lyra whimpered through trembling breaths. "Daddy…" Her words were hard to understand as she forced them through her devastated moans. "We have to help him…"
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Juvia held Lyra in her arms carefully and stroked the back of the frail girl's head. "Shh, it's just a dream. Your mommy and daddy are fine."
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"Daddy." She whimpered again, her eyes seeing past the walls around them. "Save him, mommy…" She blinked back large tears from over shimmering blue eyes. "I want my daddy…"
.
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Thirty-Seven Hours Remain
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His head was light as he rolled it to one side against his pillow. He vaguely felt someone at his side fussing with the blanket that was pulled over his chest, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out who it was. He opened his eyes, wondering why the sensation was so unfamiliar to him, and he was dismayed to see that the person shedding tears over his condition was his wife. "Neirah?"
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"You're awake," she gently observed. "I was… so worried…"
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"Are we?"
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"Back at Natsu's... Our future selves must have collided because we don't seem to have been followed here..."
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His heart sank. Nothing about her felt familiar to him; not her scent or the way she stared back at him through a vulnerable and tear streaked expression. Panic started to shake the walls of his chest. He slowly sat up against the floor and laid his head in one heavy palm. "I-I can't…"
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"Laxus, you should rest," she fretted uncertainly. "You were really badly-"
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He silenced her with the quizzical look on his features as he swung around to face her looking like a dog that had just been kicked. He searched her face, the tone of her voice, but nothing about her seemed familiar despite him knowing exactly who she was. "Neirah?" He found himself repeating.
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Neirah's lips trembled as she watched his vacant expression search for stability in the dimly lit room to one side of Lucy and Natsu's humble abode.
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There was a lifeless flicker in his expression for a moment that forced his brow knotted tight with discomfort. He was trying his hardest to listen to the sounds of her speaking, breathing, but his thoughts managed to drown it all out against his will. His fingers trembled as they reached out to her, trying to grasp any familiarity they could. But as his fingers grew closer, the only thing that had become clear in his mind was the desire he had to stop her breath from meeting her lips altogether.
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"Laxus?" She murmured weakly, nervously shuffling away from the fingers stretching out towards her. "What's wrong…?" Her whimper was shrill as he laid his fingers against her face, the tension in his hand mirroring on the grip he had on her flesh. She gently shook her head, watching his gaze flicker blankly before her. "What are you..?"
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Neirah squealed shrilly as she was dragged forward less than gently and as she collapsed against his chest, his lips crashed possessively against hers. She trembled weakly with the strength he'd used to hold her against him, and she could only ever remember one moment he'd ever kissed her hard enough to make her lips ache.
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He was afraid.
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She didn't pull away from his passion, but she didn't embrace it. Something was wrong. His immoderate actions were forcing his hands to tremble, and he couldn't control the strength in which he held his delicate bride. He could barely breathe when he pulled away from her, or perhaps he didn't want to draw breath any longer. He pressed his brow to hers, his fingers desperately searching for familiarity in the embrace he'd trapped her within. "Something's wrong," he rumbled weakly. "Neirah, I can't…"
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"Can you hear me?" She repeated, unbeknown to him previously. "Laxus, I'm trying to explain-"
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"Something's wrong with me," he all but snarled. He flexed his fingers against her skin as they trembled with restraint. "I want… I feel like I'm …"
.
Neirah drew her hands to his face and took him firmly between them. She forced him away from her and looked deep into his erratic gaze. "Laxus," she demanded, stroking his bangs from his perspiration dampened brow. "Laxus you need to pay attention to what I'm saying."
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His trembling gaze finally found hers, his whisper weak with the weight of his heart in his chest. "I don't want to hurt you… Not again… Neirah…"
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"You're sick," she explained weakly. She finally released him so that he could stare blankly towards the wall. "Levy and I figured out why everyone was acting so strangely. It was the same reason I was able to defeat Juvia so easily while you struggled with your future self." Her heart was breaking as she watched him fight the demons festering inside him, demons he worked so hard to bury. "Lyra was right… something did make us sick," she assured him. She trembled as he turned his devastated gaze back towards her. "Freed figured out a way to protect he and the Thunder Legion from its effects, but he didn't have time to help us before we ran into trouble."
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"What did he do to me?"
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Neirah's lower lip trembled with the hollow presence of his consciousness, he was trying so hard to hear her out. "Levy says that it's referred to as a forbidden living magic. It's a magic that manifests in the victim like a virus, taunting their consciousness with subliminal signals of the caster's decision. It's parasitic. Once it becomes part of a magic user, it is spread between individuals through their own magic. She said that it hasn't been practised in centuries though because of its volatile nature. The caster has no control over it once it starts, nor are they immune."
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"I hear you talking… but I can't… I just feel like…"
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"The basic elements set forth by this spell were hate over love," Neirah whispered softly. "Whoever cast this spell wanted people who loved each other the most to want each other dead. That's why everyone has lost touch with their moralities. The more love the person felt for another, the more seriously they were affected." Neirah watched him stare back at her vacantly, the heavy rise and fall of his chest trying to keep up with his desperate need for clarity. She reached out and gently ran her fingers over his dangerously tight forearms, seriously hoping that he didn't break out into a panic attack before the other's returned.
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"Shortly after we arrived back at Natsu and Lucy's home, Erza brought Lisanna to us… They were the only two to survive when Neirah and Levy attacked. She said that Mira was infected when my future-self killed her brother… but because Lisanna wasn't touched by Neirah's magic, she simply mourned. It confirmed everything."
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Laxus slowly shook his head, lost in a dimension that seemed to float between worlds. "Get it out," he silently begged in a husky tone. "Neirah… blood. It's all I ca- want…" He threw his head down and grasped the roots of his hair, grinding his teeth as tightly as he sealed his eyelids. "I want you dead!" He demanded through hoarse whimpers. "If we go back to the past… like this." Neirah cried out in surprise as he drove his fist through the floorboards beneath him. "HOW DO WE KNOW THAT WE DIDN'T BRING THIS THING BACK WITH US?!"
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"Laxus calm down," she cautioned through her tears. "Don't confuse the situation."
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He raked his arm away from her and denied her presence entirely. "I can't hear my own thoughts. I can't hear my own fucking thoughts!" He warned her darkly. "I just have-"
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Neirah whimpered in alarm for a second time beneath his demanding kiss, but she didn't close her eyes to linger. 'The way his future-self was affected… like an animal…' She whimpered softly and laced her fingers tightly with the one's he'd laid against her neck. 'He's redirecting the impulses lustfully rather than responding violently…'
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Neirah's deep gaze flooded with tears as he pulled away from her and displayed his own watering gaze. "You have to fix this," he begged. His widened gaze trembled, hot streams of agony reaching the barred teeth of his grimace. "I can't lose you again…"
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She gently took his hand in hers and laid it down in the blankets covering his lap. "Wait for me," she whispered tenderly. "Levy and Freed are trying to figure out if it's safe for me to use my infinite sky spells on you under this magic's influence. It seems the caster targeted you first. They have something out for you. It's possible it is in the parameters of the original casting that my magic will accelerate the process." She watched him drop his head, conflicted tears pooling on the dusty boards between them. "Do you remember the last time I had to pull black magic from inside you?"
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"I don't care," he whined. "Nothing would hurt more than… Not that… Anything but-"
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Neirah gently leant forwards and held his head to her breast in comfort as he cried. "And you think losing you would hurt me less?" She demanded. "Taking your life from two bright-eyed children with my own hands?" She laid her lips against his head and trembled along with him. "My magic has always been dangerous, to begin with… I need to be sure…"
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"Go," he demanded feverishly. "Before it gets worse… before I…"
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Neirah gently leant forwards and pressed her lips to his shuddering brow. "We're a team," she whispered soothingly. "You won't fight this alone…"
