Hello, everyone! I'm so sorry this took so long to write. Not only did I find difficulty in reading it, but I've also had tons of tests to study for and video games to play. I must say I'm pretty nervous about what everyone will think of this chapter. Anyways, here comes the warning. THIS CHAPTER IS RATED M FOR GRAPHIC VIOLENCE. IF YOU CAN'T READ THE CHAPTER BUT DON'T WANT TO MISS OUT ON THE STORY, SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM AUTHOR NOTES FOR A SYNOPSIS. I also don't own Fairy Tail. If I did, the current filler arc would never have existed.
Wendy and Jade dashed through the forest to try and find Ava while the Exceeds followed them with their pure white wings. Jade could faintly "see" that everyone else had almost reached their intended targets. Her Sight Magic could only reach so far, so it was only a matter of time until she would lose sight of the rest of the group. She then finally caught sight of a clearing that was teeming with magical energy. "Get ready," she said quietly to Wendy, "we are almost there." A few seconds later, the tree line broke for a moment and introduced the girls and cats to a peaceful forest clearing. It was covered with wisps of tall grass and a single ancient tree stump. The surrounding forest was so thick that you couldn't see more than three feet out into the thicket. The girls cautiously approached the stump and decided to go back-to-back and take up a defensive stance. Their muscles were tensed up and their focus far more acute.
All of a sudden, a raspy, whisper-like voice glided in from the forest. "So, you've come to find Daniel, eh?" Jade searched for the source of the voice and found a mass in the shape of a woman with high amounts of magical energy. It had to be Ava. "I'm afraid your efforts are futile. You will never make it past me." The figure came closer and closer to the blind girl.
"Wendy, she is on my side," she quickly alerted. Wendy turned her head at her with a confused face.
"What do you mean?" she asked with alarm, "She's over on my side!" They further tensed up and faced their respective enemies. The figure on Jade's side smirked and came within a foot of her. Jade covered her right fist with thorns and green, magical energy and launched it at the woman's face.
"Forest Dragon: Iron Fist!" she chanted in the process to activate the full spell. She made contact and sent Ava flying back into a tree. Jade leaped to follow up her attack, but screeched to a halt. The figure had taken on a new shape. It was slightly taller as well as older and had longer, straw-like hair. Jade's eyes widened in shock as she slowly recognized the new woman. "Mom?" she whimpered, shocked that her mother had not only survived, but that she was just injured by her own daughter. Tears welled in Jade's eyes and she embraced the woman. She bathed in her maternal warmth and familiar lavender scent with the utmost joy. "I am so sorry; I thought you were someone else! Please forgive me!" Jade's mom hugged her back and gently stroked her head.
Suddenly, Jade noticed something wrong: she could no longer detect Wendy or the Exceeds. Just as she realized this, she felt a sharp pain in her back. She released her mother and jumped back onto the stump. She hissed in pain as her examining hand found the dagger-like gash right next to her spine. Blood gushed out of the injury and stained her pure white dress. When Jade looked back to find her mother, Ava's shape had taken her place.
"What have you done to my mother?!" Jade exclaimed with pain in her voice. A devilish grin crept across Ava's face and she let out a snicker.
"This is the true nature of my magic: Psych Maim. I crawl into your inner most thoughts and find the best ways to mess with your head. I can even make you hallucinate." Jade growled and dashed towards the witch. The Dragon Slayer enveloped her right hand in diamond and swung at Ava's face. The fist made contact and hammered Ava to the ground, causing a small crater to form. She then proceeded to beat Ava's face into the ground more and more with her jewel-encrusted fist. Jade could not forgive her for using her mother's voice and body to hurt her. Ava flailed about, kicking and punching Jade with all her might. The Dragon Slayer took each hit and returned it two-fold. What Jade didn't know, though, was that she had actually been hitting Wendy, not Ava. The hallucinations went beyond those of sight; it even manipulated magical senses.
Meanwhile, Happy and Carla watched in horror as Jade unknowingly attacked Wendy. They were so shocked that they couldn't move. The two of them were fine a moment ago, so what caused the attack? Carla then spotted some movement at the edge of the clearing from the corner of her eye. When she looked more carefully, she realized that it was Ava standing on the sidelines, observing her handiwork. "Happy," Carla whispered, "That's the enemy, Ava over there. She must be the reason why Jade has gone berserk!"
"What can we do about it, though?" Happy asked frightfully. "We can't break up the fight between Wendy and Jade, and we can't defeat Ava ourselves." Carla thought this over for a moment. Ava's behavior must be for a reason, right? Firstly, her magic didn't appear to be affecting the Exceeds. They aren't exactly hidden, so she would've used it on them as well, right? This could be because the spell has limitations in terms of how many can be effected by it at one time. Secondly, why is she standing all the way over at the edge when most ranged versions of invisible magic, such as telepathy, are stronger when the user is closer? Maybe this spell requires a serious amount of concentration in order to not only activate, but sustain. Any interruption by the fight could break concentration, and thus the spell. Thirdly, in what ways did Ava's magic affect Jade and Wendy? The two of them are compatible, especially while fighting together, and even if Jade showed hostility towards Wendy, Wendy would never fight back because she would never want to hurt an ally. Maybe it's an enraging spell? No, their attacks are too deliberate to be driven by blind anger. They're attacking with a specific purpose, as if they thought of each other as enemies. That's it! Ava's magic is making them hallucinate in some way that makes each other look like enemies. It must be messing with Jade's Sight Magic, too.
"Okay Happy, I've got a plan," Carla whispered confidently, "We're going to attack Ava." Happy gave an utterly shocked face. Carla reassured, "Don't worry; we don't need to defeat her. We just need to break her concentration. Once we do, Wendy and Jade should come to their senses and attack Ava, too. Understand?" Happy nodded and prepared for battle. In seconds, the two of them charged Ava and used their cat claws to scratch her face. She cried out in pain and shot her hands up to her face, breaking her spell in the process. Wendy and Jade quickly came to their senses and noticed that they'd been attacking each other.
Jade looked horrified and jumped off of her. "I am so sorry, Wendy! I had no idea, I did not mean to!"
"You'll have to save the apologies for later," Carla yelled at the two young girls, "because we can't hold her off for much longer!" The Dragon Slayers sprinted at Ava and took a deep breath. The Exceeds flew out of the way, giving the girls space to deal damage.
"Sky Dragon's..." Wendy called.
"Water Dragon's..." Jade shouted.
"Roar!" they both casted, sending a large beam of air and water hurtling toward Ava. Before she could even react, she was hit square in the chest and slammed against a tree, knocking the wind out of her. The girls smiled and ran to the Happy and Carla, who were at the central tree stump. They reunited with a group hug and some apologies.
"Again," Jade said to Wendy, noticing the bruises on her face, "I am so very sorry for attacking you. I thought you were Ava."
Wendy gave a reassuring smile. "It's okay. I actually thought you were Ava, too."
"Chances are she was manipulating what you could see and hear," Carla analyzed, "Let's just be thankful that nobody got seriously hurt."
Everyone smiled it off and was ready to move on. But then, it happened. In Jade's mind, she heard one line that sent her over the edge.
"It's all your fault."
Flashes of her past flew through her mind; the murder of her parents, Xanchii disappearing, and now hurting Wendy. Her mind was being manipulated to think that everything bad that had happened around her was entirely caused by her. Her mental state quickly crumbled, and her magic became unstable. Grief took over and started to change her. She let out a woeful and pain-filled scream. Then, her body started to change. Her finger and toe nails became sharper, longer, and darker. Her fingers and toes also elongated, taking the shape of lizard-like claws. Pitch black scales grew on her hands and feet, reaching to her elbows and knees. Next, her shins snapped right in the middle and jutted backwards, creating a digitigrade appearance. At the base of her spine, a long, thick tail grew with similar scales and a black fur tip. Tears streamed down Jade's face, showing how truly painful this transformation was. Happy and Carla backed away from her with terror tight on their face while Wendy cautiously approached her.
"Jade... a-are you okay?" The only reply she received was more ear-shattering screams of agony. Jade's teeth all became razor sharp and her ears became long and pointed. Then a pair of black foot-long horns sprouted from her forehead, curving upwards with a slight corkscrew. Finally, her irises and sclera became jet black and small wisps of visible, black, magical energy poured from each corner of her eyes like licks of fire. In fact, her magic power was so unstable that it stained her beautiful white dress into an ugly gray color.
"J-J-Jade?" Wendy whimpered, horrified of her comrade's new form. Jade faced Wendy and looked deeply into her chocolate eyes. Then, she let out a beastly roar so loud that it shook the ground and scared away every bird in a fifteen mile radius. She then grabbed Wendy's face with one of her monstrous hands and life's her two feet off the ground. She desperately struggled to escape her powerful grip, but with no success. Instead, Jade slowly tightened her grip more and more. The Exceeds could do nothing more than watch in paralyzing fear. Then, once the small girl's skull couldn't take any more pressure, it crumbled and collapsed upon itself. The black claws squeezed all the way through Wendy's brain matter and left nothing more than bone fragments and red mush falling to the ground. The rest of Wendy's body quickly followed, landing on the grass with a heart-wrenching thud. Blood poured out of the neck, painting the ground crimson and causing the flying cars to fall into hysteria.
"Wendy!" Carla miserably shouted as loud as she could. She wanted nothing more than to vomit at the sight of her best friend's corpse on the ground. The overwhelming smell of blood filled the cat's sensitive nostrils and caused tears to form in her eyes as if lemon juice had been dumped into them. Happy stared to sob uncontrollably, almost losing the strength he needed to stay in the air.
Ava smirked as she watched her handiwork. Causing Jade to go insane would be much easier than eliminating the intruders herself. This way she wouldn't have to dirty her own hands. Suddenly, Jade turned to face Ava, her black eyes piercing her just-as-black soul. Fear flooded throughout the cruel mage instantly. She was too injured to run and her magic had lost any sort of effect on Jade. She sprinted to Ava and seized her throat with both of her gnarled hands. She then proceeded to slowly and leisurely constrict her neck, taking care to make it as miserable as possible. Ava flailed about and desperately clawed at Jade's hands, only to have her fingernails ripped off by the strong scales. Her eyes bulged out and face began to turn purple. Once she became tired of playing with her prey, Jade quickly squelched her throat and broke her neck, killing her effortlessly.
Before Jade had enough time to go after the helpless cats, Gray, Natsu, and Lucy entered the clearing. When the three of them noticed Wendy's corpse, they wanted to gag. The pile of blood, bone, and brain matter disgusted all of them beyond belief. Lucy couldn't suppress her disgust and spilled her stomach's contents beside her. Gray averted his eyes as best as he could, but still felt violently ill. Natsu could do nothing to relive himself; his nose was too sensitive to ignore the wretched scent of blood and death. He looked at Jade, who had blood dripping from her claws and murderous intent gleaming in her eyes.
"What the fuck is going on here?" he asked silently but very angrily. "I called Warren to ask for back-up because I smelled Achnologia, but all I see is a single demon. How could it kill Wendy? How could it feel no remorse?" Flames engulfed the Fire Dragon Slayer's entire body, craving for vengeance.
Happy called out to Natsu, "It's not a demon! It's Jade, she's gone berserk!"
"Don't screw around with me!" Natsu shouted, "There's no way a Fairy Tail guild member could kill one of their own! It must be one of Zeref's demons!" Gray and Lucy calmed themselves down and joined Natsu's side. Gray created his Ice Sword while Lucy pulled out Leo's key. Before any of the three could make their first move, Jade lunged at Lucy at break-neck speed. She then swiped one of her claws at her throat, cleanly decapitating her. The blonde's head fell to the ground, followed shortly by the rest of her body. Now it was Natsu's turn to snap. He wailed with a miserable combination of grief, rage, and disbelief. He charged at Jade with his fists ablaze.
"Fire Dragon: Iron Fist!" he casted. Jade covered her hand in dark magic and punched back with double the force. Their punches collided and Natsu's arm bones shattered. There were multiple compound fractures and his shoulder was dislocated. He stared at his mangled arm in total disbelief, words unable to escape his lips. Then, Jade grabbed his arms and ripped them from his shoulders. Next, his legs followed the same fate. Natsu could do nothing but fall to the ground and bleed out.
Gray was horrified. He wanted to run, get away from this monster, but his legs refused to budge. Jade quickly jumped at him and pierced her claws through his chest until she reached his spine. She crushed two of his vertebrae, causing Gray to scream in pain and his legs to go limp. Now he really couldn't run and save himself. Jade then proceeded to rip his body in half and throw his legs and torso on opposite sides of the clearing. Like Natsu, Gray was forced to lay on the ground and wait for death.
Happy and Carla, however, could still get help. They flew away towards Erza's direction, tears staining their faces. Jade stayed put, not noticing that the cats had fled. She paced back and forth in the clearing, waiting for more prey to wander in her territory. Before long, movement from the forest caught her attention. What appeared to be the entire Fairy Tail guild marched to the edge with rage plastered on their faces. She then saw Makarov make his way to the front of the angry mob.
He growled, "You have committed unimaginable crimes to Fairy Tail. It's time to put you down... Jade!"
First, the summary: Wendy, Jade, Happy, and Carla found and defeated Ava in the forest clearing, who had magic that could read and manipulate peoples' minds. Right after the fight, Ava whispered to Jade, "It's all your fault," and caused her to snap. She turned into a black half-dragon monster and went on a murderous rampage. She killed, in this order, Wendy, Ava, Lucy, Natsu, and Gray. The chapter ended with the guild arriving at the clearing and Makarov being angry. And there you have chapter 10! The next chapter will likely be rated M for violence, too, but it's not definite. As always, I love to see R&Rs, especially constructive criticism. See you guys later and have a nice day!
Katie Llama