Forever a Family Chapter 10
I'd intended to put this off for a few more days, but then Mashima decided to FINALLY give us some manner of NaLi shipping for the first time since the end of the Edolas Arc, so i figured i'd celebrate. So, one and all, sit back, relax, and enjoy the next chapter!
It's a bit of a trade off for this chapter. It's longer than usual, but next chapter's shorter than usual, so enjoy. My apologies if things seem a bit out of order, trying to keep four fights running concurrently in a Fanfic isn't easy. It seemed okay when i read through it, but you never know...
Disclaimer: I have not acquired Fairy Tail since the last chapter. It still belongs to Mashima.
"Damn it." Grey mutters as he and Pantherlily dominate the pathetic mages who attacked them, "What's the deal here? I thought the only thing out here was that black haired dude, now we've got a whole guild after us? And how'd they even get here? The island's supposed to be inaccessible except by member of the guild."
"I do not know." Pantherlily answers, "If this is the level of the enemy force, we will have no trouble with them."
"I doubt it." Grey replies, "Come on. Let's find some of the others. Can you smell anyone nearby?"
"Lucy is over here." He says, running off into the forest with Grey right behind him, "What makes you so sure that the enemy isn't limited to weaklings?"
"Grimoire heart's a member of the Balam Alliance." Grey replies, "I fought with another of their member guild, Oracion Seis. The guild only had six members, but they were all incredibly strong. No number of weaklings could have beaten them. I find it hard to believe that a guild like that would ally itself with someone so much weaker. My guess is that they've got a few members on par with Oracion Seis. Those are the ones we have to beat."
"Are they that strong?"
"I'm afraid so." Grey sighs, "It took one of the wizard saints to defeat one of their members without assistance. Gildarts and the Master are the only ones in the guild with that kind of power. Maybe Erza too, but I wouldn't bet my life on it. Our best bet is to regroup with someone else. The last thing we want to do is get cornered by one of them when we're alone."
"Someone like meh?" A voice chuckles to the side, and both of them skid to a stop.
From the trees, a man charged towards them. He wore a long green robe with a red trim. In his hand was a long spear with a curved blade. Pantherlily assumed his battle form, and moved to meet him. The man's speed was far greater than he'd expected, and it took everything he had to dodge the blows. Luckily, Grey had regained his senses after the surprise attack.
"Ice make: Floor!" Grey casts, and Pantherlily jumps into the air. The ice spread across the forest floor, send the man sliding uncontrollably. As he crashes into a tree, Pantherlily lands and slams his fist into the man's neck. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he stopped moving.
"I'd best take this." Lily says, grabbing the man's spear, but the moment he did, the spear and the man both vanished into small balls of light.
"What was that?" Grey asks, sliding over to lily.
"I don't know." He admits, "But I don't think this battle is over."
Sensing an incoming attack, Lily grabs Grey's shirt and pulls him away just as two arrows pass through where their heads had been mere moments before.
"Looks like you're right!" Grey says, turning to face the direction of the attack. An archer was on a nearby tree limb, two arrows already notched and aimed at them. "Ice Make Shield!" Grey shouts as the arrows fly towards them. Both arrows lodge themselves into his shield, just barely stopping.
"You'd best be careful." Lily says, reverting to his smaller form, "I cannot sustain my battle form any longer."
"Go find Lucy and Loke." Grey orders, facing the archer, "It's a safe bet that this guys the same as the last one. In that case, the one controlling him is somewhere close by. We'll need all the help we can get."
"I'll go now." Lily says, flying into the tree behind them as the sound of more arrows colliding with another hastily made shield rang out behind him. Within minutes, the sounds of the battle had vanished completely, which troubled him, but he continued his task.
"Lucy!" He calls, running out of the forest just behind them, "Loke! I need your help!"
"What's wrong?" Loke asks, rushing over to him.
"Grey and I were attacked." He says, pointing into the forest, "He needs help."
"Lead the way." Lucy nods, grabbing a hold of her whip.
As quickly as he could, Lily led the two mages back through the woods. Were it not for his sense of smell, he likely wouldn't have made it. The trees seemed to change as they got closer, and several times he found himself facing the complete opposite direction with no knowledge of how it had happened.
"Some kind of magic." Loke says after Lily corrects their path again, "Somehow, they're altering or senses without us knowing. Doesn't seem to work for very long though."
"Then we'd better hurry." Lily says, leading them back towards the battleground. Almost a minute later, they were greeted by the sounds of a battle up ahead. Loke jumped into action, leaping far ahead of them.
"Regulas Punch!" Loke shouts and a blinding light envelope the area for a brief second. Lily and Lucy rush into the clearing a second later to find It covered in ice with a slightly wounded Grey, and about twenty bodies, all of which evaporate the same as the first one.
"Sure took your sweet time getting here." Grey smirks, accepting Loke's hand and climbing back to his feet.
"Hey, I saved your life just now." Loke jokes, "You could at least so some gratitude."
"I had it covered."
"So you say." Loke shrugs, "Anyway, what now?"
"Well, if the last time was any indication, he'll mock us for a few seconds, and then send twice as many guys after us." Grey says, catching his breath, "He's done that the last couple times."
"This time, Meh will be your opponent." The voice calls back, and Loke stiffens suddenly on edge. A man walks calmly into the clearing. He was easily the tallest of them all, with bulging muscles hiding behind a tight fighting black jacket. On his back was what looked like a jetpack. His most distinctive feature was the pair of goat horns sticking out of his head.
"So that's how it is." Loke says, walking forward and placing himself in front of Lucy and Grey, "You use Human Subjugation magic, don't you?"
"That's correct." The goat man answers, "So you can see that you cannot defeat meh."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Loke says, reverting to his true form as Leo the Lion, "I am the leader of the Zodiacs, Leo. Are you really so arrogant as to fight me, Capricorn the Goat?"
"Leo the lion…" The man smiles, "Indeed you are strong. Perhaps you could prove a challenge."
"Lok-"Lucy starts, but Loke cuts her off, "Grey, you and Lily need to get Lucy out of here. I'll handle this myself."
"You can't be serious!" Grey protests, grabbing him by the arm, "This guy's way too strong for you to fight on your own."
"And with his magic at work, you would only be a burden." Loke replies coldly, looking into his friend's eye, "I need you to take care of Lucy."
"Lucy..?" The goat spirit says thoughtfully as Grey starts dragging Lucy away, "It cannot be…" this eyes grew wide as he stares into Lucy's eyes, "LUCY HEARTFILA!" With a wave of his hand, Grey shrunk to a small blue ball of energy and shot off into the sky.
"Grey!" Lucy gasps, watching him fly away, only for Lily to transform back to his battle form and dragging her away.
"Go!" Loke shouts, intercepting a kick that would have taken Lucy's head off, "Protect her!"
"LOKE!" Lucy yells back, struggling against her to companion who was pulling her into the forest.
"I'll be back." He promises, taking his eyes off his opponent for just a second. That second was all that Capricorn needed to score a blow across Loke's chest, knocking the wind out of him. While Loke was down, Capricorn took off after them, only to fall into a hole.
"Forgive me, Princess." Virgo says, standing behind them, "But I took the liberty of opening my own gate. I will accept my punishment later."
"Thanks, Virgo." Loke says, getting back up, "Go after Lucy. I'll handle this."
"As you wish." Virgo bows, disappearing into a hole again.
"Damn her..!" Capricorn growls, climbing out of the hole.
"A lucky kick won't beat me." Loke says firmly, "And if you turn your back to me, I will cut you down without hesitation."
"Indeed." Capricorn admits, "Were I to fight fairly, there is little hope of me prevailing against you."
"Answer me, Capricorn." Loke growls, ignoring his response, "Why are you trying to attack Lucy? When you were contracted to Lucy's mother?"
"That's exactly why!" Capricorn shouts, "She cannot be allowed to live, or else I'll never control this form!"
"Capricorn…" Loke gasps, "So that's it. You broke the Taboo. You're not Capricorn, just some imposter using his form. You're a human who thought he could subjugate a spirit, right?"
"I didn't think!" He laughs wildly, "I know I can! As long as that girl is dead, Capricorn would be mine! I'll live for all eternity!"
"You're a joke." Loke counters, preparing himself for battle, "Sorry to do this, Capricorn, but I'll just have to beat you until he's gone. It's nothing personal."
"You?!" He laughs, "Never! A worthless puppet like you could never defeat me!"
"Shut up." Loke roars, "If your goal is to kill Lucy, I'll fight to my last breath. "
"Why fight?" Capricorn grins, "When I can end this now? It's as you say. A lesser zodiac could not defeat you, and no human in my collection would have that power either."
"So, you'll forfeit?" Loke laughs, "I doubt that."
"Huma Raise!" Capricorn laughs as Dark magic flows from his hands, engulfing Loke's entire body.
'This spell…' Loke thinks quickly as he feels his consciousness slipping. "You want me then?" He roars, channeling all of his magic into one blow, "Not a chance! Regulas Impact!" The punch sent Capricorn flying, the magic enveloping his entire body, but the presence of something in his mind wasn't gone. If anything, it had gotten even stronger.
"It's far too late for that…" A voice chuckles inside his head, "You're mine. I should be thanking you. With this, I will have an eternal HUMAN form."
"Never going to happen." Loke shouts back, gritting his teeth as Capricorn got back up, the power of Regulas gathered into his hand.
"Regulas Impact!" The Goat man shouts, slamming his fist into Loke's stomach. The light passed through Loke, dragging with it a small, creepy looking man with wild hair. With a scream, the man turned to lights and vanished.
"Kain and Caprico?" Hades muses as he feels the powers of two of his commanders disappear, "I'm impressed. And it looks like Meredy has been defeated as well. Makarov's brats are better than I gave them credit for."
"Shall I go?" A rough voice asks from behind him, along with it came a sudden increase in gravity that denoted the arrival of his second in command.
Hades ponders the decision briefly before nodding his head, "The time has come to end this war. Go, Bluenote."
"Understood."
"Forgive me, Mavis." Hades says aloud to no one, "I had hoped to not have to loose him upon your final resting place, but I have no choice. Know that your guild will fall swiftly."
"What's going on?" Grey gasps as he starts hurtling through the air. Beneath him, he could see Lucy and Loke, along with that goat dude and Pantherlily, "Let me out of this thing!" Grey shouts, banging on the inside of the sphere, but nothing happened. He continued to soar across the sky, further and further away from his comrades. Eventually, the shell starts to break.
"Alright!" Grey laughs as he breaks free, "Ice Make: Slide!" The ice forms a spiral shaped slide underneath him, taking him into a clearing.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" a voice shouts, and the bottom of his slide melts away in the overwhelming heat, causing Grey to crash into the ground.
"Watch where you're aiming, pyro!" He shouts, looking up to see Levy, Gajeel, and Lisanna battling against two silver beasts and a weird dude with a red arm that moved faster than his eye could follow.
"Grey?" Levy asks, running over to him, "Sorry about that. Lisanna was trying to hit that thing, but it moved aside and well…"
"No problem." He says, cutting her off as one of the beats charged towards them, "Ice make: Spikes!" The creature ran straight into the spikes without stopping, impaling it all over, but not stopping it as it barreled towards them. Grey grabs Levy and rolls out of the way, "What the hell is this thing?" He asks the bookish mage.
"I don't know." She answers as the beast turns around to charge again, "That guy, he uses magic that can create whatever he imagines. There's no way of knowing what special abilities these things might have, but nothing we use seems to do more than slow them own."
"So it's like my Maker Magic." Grey growls, "This should work then. Ice Make: Sub-zero!" The blue magic wraps around his hands, and he punches the approaching creature. IT let out a long wail of pain as ice crept up its body, freezing it completely solid.
"Great!" Levy claps as Gajeel shatters the ice sculpture with an Iron Dragon's pole arm and Lisanna melted the remaining pieces with another roar.
"I see another fairy has come to join the fun." Rustyrose smiles, looking over at Grey, "But your efforts are futile. You may defeat Belches as many times as you wish, but I can simply recreate it." True to this words, the creature reappeared right next to the other one, both walking in sync with each other to stand in front of him.
"I don't give a damn." Grey shrugs, inadvertently stripping, "You come onto our island, mess with our friends, and you actually think we care what you can or can't do? We'll kick your ass on principle buddy. And every one of those ugly things are just as guilty as you are. Bring it."
"I see you are also foolishly overconfident." Rustyrose nods, "Very well" With a snap of his fingers, both beasts vanish, "Then you leave me no choice."
"Getting rid of your goons?" Gajeel spits, "Now who's overconfident?"
"We shall see-" Rustyrose laughs, spreading his arms wide, "How confident you are after you've seen the view from the Tower Of Dingir!"
The ground beneath their feet begins to tremble as Chains wrap themselves around all four Fairy tail mages, binding them to the top of an ever growing tower.
"What the hell….!" Grey shouts, struggling against the bonds.
"I can't break these things!" Gajeel roars, as the tower stops moving.
"Of course not." Rustyrose says, his voice seemingly echoing in the sky, "This is the tower of the Gods, upon which the unworthy are sacrificed. Rejoice! For your deaths will bring about the creations of a new world! The Ultimate Magic World lies just around the corner!"
With a snap of his fingers, the tower begins to heat up and then explodes, sending them crashing back to the ground.
Elfman and Evergreen, despite their quick defeat at Erza's hands, made a fairly powerful team. Between Elfman's beast soul, and Evergreen's Stone Eyes, the attacking mages were destroyed in moments.
"Why is Grimoire Heart here?" Elfman growls, grabbing one of the unpetrified mages by the neck. The only response he got was a low gurgling sound as the man kept clawing at his throat, trying to pry the fingers away from his neck.
"I-I-I don't know." He finally chokes out, "Only the top nine actually know what the plan is! We're just supposed to take all you fairies down! I swear! I don't know what's going on!"
"I see." Evergreen says, taking off her glasses, "Then good bye." With a look of horror, the man turns to stone.
"Should we try and find the others?" Elfman asks, only for the ground to start shaking beneath him. A moment later, there was a massive explosion and a column of flames visible from the other side of the island.
"What was that?" Evergreen pants, getting back up, her eyes fixed on the place where the flames had been a moment earlier.
"I don't know." Elfman replies, trying his hardest to ignore a sinking feeling in his gut, "But it's not good."
"That would be Rustyrose, I believe." A calm voice says from the tree behind them. Both mages immediately turn around, trying to find the person who spoke. Instead, the voice kept talking, "His tower of Dingir makes for quite the flashy finish, wouldn't you agree?"
"Who are you!?" Evergreen shouts, looking all around the area for the mystery man.
"My name? Azuma." He replies easily, and a face appears on the tree in front of them, "I am one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory."
"So you're one of the top nine this guy was talking about?" Elfman asks, unnerved as the man walks out of the tree.
"I am. And in answer to your question, our goal is the creation of a new world order." Azuma says, looking at them both as casual annoyances, "Tell me. Where can I find The Demon, Mirajane?"
"What do you want with Mirajane?" Elfman growls, his arm transforming into beast soul.
"I seek to fight the very strongest." He replies, "On this island, that would be, in order, Makarov, Erza, and Mirajane. The first two have already fallen, thus leaving only the third."
"Impossible." Evergreen smirks, "Even if Erza was defeated, no one is capable of defeating the master."
"I'm afraid that's where you are wrong." He smiles cruelly, "It was Master Hades who brought your master down. And Erza fell in battle against my companion, Meredy, though she herself was killed in the act. Now, tell me the location of the demon, and I will move on. You two are of no concern."
"Good luck." Evergreen says, taking off her glasses again, "Stone ey-"before she could finish, the ground exploded at her feet, throwing her into the air where she was grabbed by thick tree roots.
"Those eyes of yours are no threat." He says calmly, his eyes shut, "Because I can kill you both with my eyes closed. I will ask once more. Where is the demon?"
"Soul Extinction." A voice says from behind the tree, and all three pairs of eyes turn towards the voice just as a wave of black magic tears the forest in half.
Mirajane stepped forward in her Satan soul, looking over at her brother, "Grab Evergreen and Leave." She orders as Azuma climbs out of the rubble.
"I'm not leaving!" Elfman shouts, only to be backhanded by his sister and sent flying.
"That wasn't a request." She says, her eyes never moving from the man in front of her. With a wave of her hand, the roots holding evergreen burned away, and she was thrown back to Elfman, "get lost. You're in my way."
"So you're the demon." Azuma smiles, cracking his neck, "Truly impressive. I can tell that this will be an enjoyable battle."
"I wish I could say the same." She retorts weakly, "But I haven't got the magic to beat you. That said, I'm more than willing to give it a try."
"I see." He says thoughtfully, "Your magic is not replenished? That could prove a problem."
Suddenly, she could feel her strength returning. Incredibly, she felt like the battle with Lisanna had never happened.
"What's going on?" She asks, looking at her opponent.
"I wish to fight the strong." He repeats himself, "I have no desire to fight a woman who cannot even defend herself. That would make me no better than a common thug. Thus, I restored to you your power. Are you dissatisfied?"
"I wouldn't say that." She answers, "But I can't help but wonder how you did that?"
He simply laughs, "Shall we get started, Demon?"
"I'd prefer to end it." She replies, "Satan Soul: Satri." For the second time in a single day, Mirajane took on her most powerful form. Despite that, the man across from her wasn't frightened the way that Lisanna and Juvia had been. In fact, his grin widened.
"AH!" he laughs, "Yes, that's it! Such a wonderful magic! Truly you've earned your epitaph the demon!"
Without waiting for him to finish his praise, Mirajane punched him straight in the face. His body bent backwards like paper, but aside from a slight grimace, he gave no indication that he'd even felt her punch. To the contrary, he just smiles again, this time delivering an uppercut from his bent position strong enough to send her crashing into the lowest branches of the Tenrou Tree.
After only a moment to regain her focus, she leapt off the branch and charges Azuma, a fireball in her hands. Azuma faces her again, this time retaliating with a barrage of branches that erupted from the trees around them, all of which were burned to cinders by the flaming demon. Again the two clashed, but this time neither side gave an inch. Azuma remained stationary, almost as if he were rooted to the ground.
"Oh?" Azuma smiles again, turning back towards Mirajane, "I cannot say if this is good news for you or not, but it would seem your friends are back."
Mira gasps, turning around to see Elfman and Evergreen charging towards them, "Run!" She shouts, "You're no match for him! Get out of here!"
"I won't!" Elfman roars back, taking on a full Beast Soul, "This is a fight for Fairy Tail! I'd be a failure as a man and as a brother if I let you fight him alone!"
"Admirable, but pointless.' Azuma says, his roots wrapping around both mages, "They would only get in our way. Rest assured that so long as you fight, I will not harm them."
"You'd better not." Mira replies, rushing in for another exchange of fists.
Zancrow smirks, kicking Juvia hard in the ribs, "Did you actually think you had a chance? Did you actually think any of you had a chance?"
"Shut up." Juvia grunts out, ignoring her broken ribs, "You might kill me, but my friends will not lose."
"Cocky to the end, are you?" He smirks, his hand covered in black fire, "Let's see if you're still so cocky while I take my time to kill you. We'll make a game out of it! All you have to do is say, 'Please Master Zancrow, kill this worthless fairy.' And I'll kill you. Sounds fun, right?"
Juvia lets out a whimper of pain as he plants his knee into her chest, but her mouth is firmly shut, determined to never say a word. Her face feels hot as Zancrow inches his flaming hand closer and closer to her face. Above her, she could hear footsteps approaching, but it didn't stop Zancrow, who laughed wildly as he slammed his flaming hand down onto her face.
Despite her earlier attempts to be silent, she let out a bloodcurdling scream as the fire burned her face over and over again, and she hardly even noticed that the hand was removed, violently, as Zancrow with thrown backwards with enough force to drop a bull elephant.
"Freed, Bixlow, watch her." A firm voice says, and two strong sets of hands help her up. Struggling to open her eyes, she could just make out the back of a tall man wearing a long and tattered black cloak. He had short, slicked back orange hair.
"Gildarts…?" She asks weakly.
"Don't talk." He says calmly, "You've taken some real damage. We've got to get you to Wendy soon. I'm sorry we didn't get here sooner."
"Who the hell are you?" Zancrow asks, holding his blooded nose.
"I should be asking you that question." Gildarts glares, and releases his full magic power, taking a single step towards the blond haired psycho and his army of cowardly goons, "You would torture this innocent girl and not expect some sort of retaliation? A worthless rat like you has no right to even stand in that admirable young lady's presence! Normally, I'd have a few questions for you, but right now, I'm not thinking straight. Sorry, this is the end."
Before he could reply, Gildarts slammed his elbow into the back of Zancrow's head, sending the fire god slayer face first into the solid rock beneath him. The impact left a crater that swallowed the entire group of Grimoire mages, but Gildarts wasn't done there.
"Crash Overload." He says, focusing his destructive crash magic into his right hand. Advancing on the sniveling mages, he slams his fist into the back of Zancrow's skull. The force broke completely through the surface of the island, flooding the crater he had made with sea water and dragging the Grimoire heart mages into the depths.
Juvia couldn't see what had happened, as her eyes were too damaged, but a minute later, Gildarts was kneeling beside her. "I'm sorry." He says sincerely, "we should have been here sooner."
"W-w-what happened?" She asks weakly, trying to avoid moving at all to lessen the pain.
"He's gone." Gildarts answer, "Let's get you to Wendy. After that, I'm bringing Grimoire Heart down myself."
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu roars, sending the wave of fire at his opponent, who just laughs as the fire dissipates long before it could reach her.
"Is that all?" She asks, "I thought you were going to defeat me, but if that's all you've got, this won't even be a challenge."
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" Natsu shouts next, aiming only one of the fire whips at Ultear while the other wrapped itself around the tree she was in.
"Scary." She laughs, jumping to another tree as the first one burns, "But you won't be able to beat me with something as weak as that."
"We'll see." Natsu says, leaping towards her again, only for something naked to crash into him.
"Ow…" Grey mutters, getting back to his feet, "That was too close. What happened to the others?"
"Mrmph mmmrpph!" Natsu protests, his words muffled by Grey's foot on his face.
The ice make wizard looks down and frowns, "What the hell are you doing down there, ya pyro?"
Natsu growls and throws Grey into a tree, "You crashed into ME!"
"It's not like I had a choice." Grey Protests, looking over at Mest and Wendy, "What the hell happened to Wendy? Did that bastard attack her?"
"No. Actually, he saved her." Natsu replies, "So what happened?"
"I fought one of those Grimoire Heart guys." He sighs, "He beat me, Lisanna, Levy, and Gajeel at the same time."
"Lisanna?" Natsu asks sharply, jumping to the side as Ultear finally grows tired of waiting around.
"Yeah." Grey says, jumping down next to him, "You go check on her. I'll handle… Ur?"
"Don't call me that!" Ultear shouts, before her expression softens just a bit, "So, you're Grey Fullbuster. My mother's student."
"You're…" Grey mutters, remembering the conversation he'd had with his foster mother so many years ago, "Ultear."
"So, you know me." She smiles, "Good."
"Grey, you can't beat her on your own!" Natsu says as Grey takes a step towards the leader of the Seven Kin.
"No, Natsu." He answers, "I've got to do this. Alone. Take the others and go find Lisanna."
"Grey…" Natsu mutters, but the look in his friend's eyes convinced him, "Alright. But don't you get killed."
"Not a chance." Grey smirks as Natsu picks up Mest and Wendy before running into the forest. Ultear, strangely, made no attempts to stop them.
"That was awfully nice of you." He says after a few minutes of staring at each other, "Letting them go like that."
"Why wouldn't I?" She asks, "There's no reason for us to fight. If I'd known you were here, I would have found you sooner. You are the only one capable of fulfilling my mother's wish."
"Ur's wish?" Grey asks cautiously as Ultear nods sadly.
""Did my mother ever talk about my father?"
"Her past was always a bit... tough." Grey sighs, "IT was hard enough to get her to open up about you. After that, we just kind of let it be."
"My father was killed by Hades." She says calmly, leaning up against a nearby tree, "My mother spent years foiling Grimoire Hearts operations in the north while she was honing her skills in an effort to kill Hades. She succeeded in creating a spell that was strong enough, but before she could use it… Well, you know what happened better than I do."
"A spell that could kill Hades?" Grey frowns, "Don't tell me…"
"That's right. My mother's last spell. Her trump card meant to kill Hades. The Iced Shell." Ultear smiles sadly, "Right now, there are only two people in the world that can cast that spell, her disciples. You and Lyon. It's for that exact reason that he's been so uneasy about moving out into the open. He was afraid of that magic, Grey. If the operation wasn't completely vital, he would never have come here and risked fighting you because he knows you could fulfill my mother last wish and kill him."
"What about you?" Grey asks, "If you're so dead set on fulfilling Ur's wish, why are you in Grimoire Heart?"
"I didn't inherit my mother's strength." She replies, shaking her head, "My mother was strong enough that even we of the Seven Kin would be no match for her as a group. I'm not so powerful. I knew that if I tried to act as my mother did, I would throw away my life without any meaning. So I infiltrated Grimoire Heart, intending to Gain Hades' trust so I could end him myself. Unfortunately, he has no openings. No weakness. There's nothing I can do."
"So you would just hand over Zeref?" Grey asks, and Ultear winces slightly.
"That was never my intention." She sighs, "Zeref is immensely powerful, even while he's asleep. If I had him, even Hades wouldn't be able to move against me. I have a boat prepared along the west edge of the island. I'm going to take Zeref back to the mainland and seal him away forever. But no seal I can cast would be able to hold up against Hades. IF this is going to work…"
"I've got to kill him." Grey says, clenching his fist, "I got it."
"You realize that…"
"I know." Grey cuts her off, "Don't forget that I watched Ur use it. When I use the Iced Shell, I might as well be dead too. I'm not doing this for Ur, and I'm certainly not doing this for you. This is for Fairy Tail. Get Zeref off the island and Leave Hades to me."
With that firm declaration, Grey ran off into the forest, leaving Ultear in the clearing with a ghost of a smile on her face.
Well, only a few more chapters left in the S-Class Exam arc. That said, i wouldn't expect everything to go as you might thinkt. I've got a few surprises left in story for you, but like always you'll have to wait to find out what. Next chapter, you'll see Mirajane get REALLY serious, and i finally give you a hint about Erza's condition. As always, reviews are welcome.