Hey everyone! I'm so so so so so sorry for not updating in three weeks... I'm such a terrible person T^T I've been really busy with school and stuff, so sorry for not being able to update this last chapter! I made this chapter extra long, so I hope you enjoy :)
Chapter 10: It's All Over
Aurora's POV
We were losing. More dark shadow monsters erupted from various places as Cain cackled loudly. Around me, my fellow nakama attempted to fight against these demons, only to fall one by one ... defeated. I looked to the side and saw Rogue trying to control and/or eat the shadows (as he is the shadow dragon slayer), but for every one he defeated, two more came to life. Those who were not fighting the shadows were instead fighting each other. I saw Desdemona's eyes flash from person to person, gaining control over their own body and using them to fight against their family and friends.
I leaned over my knees and panted heavily. This fight has been going on for hours! None of us were strong enough to beat the both of them combined. Erza was becoming exhausted from having to re-equip every few minutes, Lucy was tired from calling out too many of her spirits, and even Gildarts was having trouble trying to destroy all the monsters without hurting his own family.
"What's wrong, Fairy Tail?" Desdemona spat, her orange eyes gleaming dangerously. "You can't handle the two of us? Are you really that weak? Hmm, and I thought that these mages would be a hard catch, Cain."
"Indeed, I believed so as well." Cain replied as more monsters appeared.
Shouts of pain and fear reached my ears once again. No ... this is too much ... all because of me ... all because of my stupid actions ... all because I couldn't let Sting go ... all because I love him ... my friends and family were getting hurt.
"GAH!" I cried out. Stupid Aurora... focus! I looked to my side and saw a shadow monster biting at my leg.
"Aurora!" Sting yelled out panicked. He made his way towards me, but I stopped him before he did.
I kicked the damn mutt and ignored the feeling of skin peeling away. Turning to the mage hunters, I shouted, "Why?! Why are you doing this to us?!"
Chuckling darkly, Cain and Desdemona faced me. "We do need a job, right? This job just happens to be the most simple, fun, and easy one for us, right Cain?" Desdemona said.
"Right," he answered, "this job is also very high-paying, so the more mages we capture, the more money we receive. So hurry up and either die or fall unconscious. We need to bring you back to our employers."
"But how?!" I shouted back, "You're mages too! How could you do this to us? How could you betray your own kind for your own gain? Don't you feel any remorse? Don't you feel any guild in knowing that you're killing those who are like you? HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS WITHOUT FEELING GUILTY?!"
Cain and Desdemona only smirked before saying together, "With ease."
The mage hunters turned away to continue their assaults. But I don't give up that easily. Jumping in front of them, I spread my arms out and cried out again, "Stop! I won't let you hurt my nakama any longer!"
Desdemona scoffed before twirling a purple strand of hair around her finger. Her orange eyes flashed dangerously as she said, "You should just give up, little girl. Step down before I lose my patience with you."
"No!" I replied defiantly. I didn't notice Sting running towards me to protect me.
"... No?" Desdemona narrowed her flashing eyes as she hissed angrily, "What do you mean by ... "no"?"
"I will not give up!" I yelled back in a loud voice, loud enough for everyone to hear. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sting freeze in shock (and pride) as well as the heads of my friends and family turning towards me. "I will not back down to you nor Cain! I'm a Fairy Tail mage, and I won't back down without a fight! As a Fairy Tail mage, I'll always protect my nakama. To protect my friends, I'd go against anyone! That's a Fairy Tail mage!"
Those who were still conscious shouted in agreement and got back up to fight against these mage hunters with renewed vigor.
Cain looked as though he were about to explode in anger. "Oh, so you wanna go?" He seethed angrily.
I smirked, "Yeah! I'm all fired up!" (In the background, I heard Natsu yell a "Hey!")
Cain prepared to conjure up more shadow monsters before Desdemona placed her hand on his shoulder. "Cain, let me deal with this one. You go play with the others."
Sighing, Cain stepped away to turn his attention on the other mages.
Desdemona stepped up so that we were a mere meter away from each other. "So," she started, "you'd do anything to protect your ... nakama, am I right?"
Not liking where this was going, I readied a stance. "Yes."
The purple-haired smirked. "Well then, let's see how you feel being the cause of their pain!"
My eyes widened. No... she couldn't possibly mean... I lunged at her, only for the bitch to look me in the eyes with her orange ones. Suddenly, I couldn't feel a thing in my body. I couldn't move a muscle. I could only watch, and even talking was a tedious task.
"Y-you bitch!" I managed to get out.
Desdemona giggled darkly, "Let's have some fun, shall we?"
Using her magic, she forced me into the crowd of my family. I struggled to break out of her control, but it was no use. Without warning, a moon dragon's roar erupted from my mouth and into the crowd. Luckily, they jumped away at the very last second.
"Jeez Aurora!" someone shouted, "watch where you're pointing that thing!"
My eyes teared up dramatically as I shouted numerous apologies... in my head.
This went on for a while: Desdemona making me attack my family and them jumping out of the way. After a few more moments, the mage huntress groaned before smirking a little.
"Why don't we make this more interesting?" she asked.
"No... thank... you..." I groaned. Gosh, it was hard to talk.
"... How about I make you attack ... the one you love?"
Once she mentioned the word "love", I unknowingly glanced towards my mate, who was fighting against a small group of monsters. He looked so amazing fighting off those monsters... Sting was panting only a little bit as little droplets of sweat dripped down his forehead... He landed another white dragon's punch onto a shadow monster, obliterating it completely. I continued to admire the one I love until a dark chuckle broke me out of my thoughts.
"Found him." Desdemona said evilly.
Oh shi- I felt another tug on my body as the bitch launched me in front of my mate.
"Aurora?" Sting asked me confused, "What are you doing –"
Desdemona (through me) lit up my hand with moonlight and tried to punch Sting in the face, only for him to dodge and grab my fist.
"What are you doing?!" Sting repeated.
I tried to tell him that it wasn't me ... that I would never hurt him, but my lips remained sealed as my body twisted from his grip and kicked him hard on the chest. With a grunt, my mate flew back quite a few meters and landed on the cold ground in pain. My heart squeezed in pain and guilt as I saw Sting stand back up. He walked towards me until we were faced to face and looked at me with hurt and confusion evident in his eyes.
"Why, Aurora? What's going on?"
I couldn't say anything and only managed to get a single tear out. I watched as Sting's eyes went from confusion, to shock, to guilt, and finally, to understanding.
In a low growl, my boyfriend asked me, "Where's the fucktard who did this to you?"
Inwardly, I was laughing my pants off at his choice of words, but outwardly, my eyes flicked towards Desdemona. Without wasting another second, Sting bounded for the purple-haired bitch.
"You!" Sting seethed, "Let Aurora go from your magic, now!"
Before he reached her, Desdemona clucked her tongue and shook her head. "Foolish boy," she started. Another tug pulled me forwards. "Never turn your back from a fight!" With that, another moon dragon's roar bubbled my mouth towards my mate. Sting quickly countered that with his own white dragon's roar, causing the two to collide and explode. Once everything settled, Sting took off towards Desdemona again.
"Stop using my girlfriend and mate to fight for you! Fight me yourself like a real man!" In the background, I hear Elfman shout out a "Man!"
Meanwhile, I once again found myself in front of Sting, both of us exchanging blows. We were thankfully dodging each one, but it took all the concentration I had to restrain myself. I could tell that Sting was holding back as well. We didn't want to hurt each other.
Desdemona laughed maniacally. "Give up, little girl! I'm surprised you lasted this long without me taking full control over you. However, it won't be long until I gain full control over you and make your nakama suffer."
"Coward!" Sting yelled at her, "How are you so perfectly comfortable with sending your own people to a life of torture and pain?!"
Cain suddenly jumped in next to Desdemona, "Life is pain! Anyone who says differently is selling something." In the midst of their argument, I remained still (because I couldn't move) and glanced around the room in shock. Nearly everyone else was unconscious and had multiple wounds over their bodies. I couldn't believe this. All of my family and friends, save for a few who were still fighting the shadow monsters, were down. An angered cry broke my train of thoughts.
"You know nothing you insolent boy!" Cain seethed. I watched as Desdemona laid a hand on her partner's shoulders in an attempt to calm him down. She then turned to us again.
"Mages like you don't deserve to live." She said calmly. Jeez, her tone is so much different than before ... wait, what did she say?!
"What the hell do you mean?" Sting shouted, "Mages and humans, there shouldn't even be a barrier between us! So what if we have magical energy inside us? We still feel, touch, see, hear, taste, and love. We still feel pain and heartache, and we still feel joy and happiness. We are living, just like any other human and creature out there!"
Wow. I would have clapped for his powerful speech... but I still can't move.
"That is where you're wrong!" Cain yelled back. "Mages are nothing but empty shells. They can't feel a thing! They don't feel love, guilt, or sympathy. They don't care about anything else in the world besides themselves. They are selfish beings that would do anything that would benefit them."
Sting scoffed. "Oh really? You must be talking about yourselves then, 'cause the mages I know would do anything to protect their family."
Desdemona shook her head. "Then you don't know a thing about the outside world. Many years ago, when Cain and I were just children –"
"Desdemona." Cain warned.
The woman shrugged. "What? They're going to be captured soon enough anyways, and I feel like having story time." After receiving a grunt from her childhood friend, she continued. "Cain's and my family were on a camping trip. We were all having fun sitting by the fire and telling ghost stories, until a group of people walked in on us. They seemed suspicious from the start, but we paid no mind and invited the group to eat with us. Not too long after, the group stood up with evil smirks and attacked us. Not with weapons, but with magic. They brutally slaughtered our friends, siblings, and parents in front of us. My mother managed to hide the two of us in a nook under an uprooted tree before she too was murdered. The mages killed, took away our families, and left us behind as orphans.
However, a team of scientists soon arrived on the scene and found us there. They took us in and taught us everything we needed to know about mages and magic. They even implanted some sort of drug in us that gave us magic abilities. From that incident on, we vowed to wipe all the mages off the face of the earth. Think of it as our little mission. It's been pretty successful."
"Alright then ... sorry for your ... loss?" Sting questioned while scratching the back of his head. Turning serious, he continued, "But that doesn't mean that all mages are like them! Look at us! We're mages! We protect our families and friends. Hell, we have to hide from people like you in order to protect both ourselves and our nakama. Not all mages are like those dark mages, just like how not all people are like criminals."
"Whatever," Cain said, "let's just get back to work."
"Right, and I believe it's time to get more serious." Desdemona agreed.
I was launched back into battle with Sting, the only change being there were five times more shadow monsters encircling us. It was taking me even more of my concentration to both hold myself back from hurting Sting and avoid getting slaughtered by the shadow monsters.
"Don't worry Aurora," Sting whispered, "Everything's going to be alright."
Minutes passed and the effects of using all this magic energy and concentration weighed down on me. My head was pounding heavily and my entire body was aching. I could feel myself submitting to Desdemona, but no. I mentally slapped myself. I must keep fighting it. However, with another moon dragon's wing attack, I collapsed on the ground, not yet unconscious.
I heard Sting shouting out to me in worry as well as my other friends (who were still conscious). But... I was so... tired. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I took a... quick... nap...
"Aurora! Watch out!" Erza yelled.
I quickly jolted out of my stupor and found a shadow monster not too far away from me shoot a dark beam. It was getting closer. I tried to get myself to move, but all my efforts were in vain (damn you Desdemona). I squeezed my eyes shut. Just as I was about to be skewered by the shadow-spear-beam-thing, I saw (through my eyelids) another shadow jump in front of me.
A warm liquid splashed across my face. Feeling a deep sense of dread settling deep within my gut, I opened my eyes wearily. Upon opening them, I felt my heart shatter into pieces.
"S-Sting?"
3rd Person POV
Those who were still awake/fighting watched in shock as Sting jumped in between Aurora and the beam. They watched in fear, pity, and anger as the beam ripped through the teen's chest and blood splattered onto Aurora's face. And they watched as Aurora screamed in anger and grief.
"STING!" Aurora screamed.
"Aren't you supposed to be controlling her?" Cain asked Desdemona.
The woman paled. "I-I'm supposed to ... S-she broke out of my hold."
"What?!" The two mage hunters turned back to see the silver-haired mage stand up and sway a bit.
"Hurry up, Cain!" Desdemona shouted frantically. "Finish her off!"
"R-right." More shadow monsters were summoned and bounded towards the dragon slayer.
However, the entire room suddenly became filled with suffocating magical energy and a blinding silver light. Everyone shielded their eyes and struggled to breath. Where was all this coming from? Only a mighty roar answered their questions.
Standing in Aurora's place was a beautiful silver dragon that took up half the space in the room. Her scales shimmered brightly in the light and hues of blue scattered in the air. A long, powerful tail swished from side to side and four muscular limbs bent in preparation. A pair of dark, red eyes eyed the mage hunters menacingly. Oh, and there was a crescent moon between her eyes.
"W-what the hell?" Desdemona whimpered.
Wendy, one of the few who were still awake, gasped in awe. "Aurora achieved the final dragon slayer secret art."
"How come we haven't heard of it?" Cain asked annoyed.
"Well duh," Gajeel replied, "it's called a "secret art" for a reason."
With another roar, a strong beam of moonlight shot out of Aurora's jaw. She managed to take out all the shadow monsters with one sweep of her head and without harming her nakama. Once all the shadow monsters disintegrated, Aurora turned to the two mage hunters with a sadistic grin.
"Oh how fun it will be to watch the two of you ... suffer" she rumbled deep in the back of her throat.
Cain and Desdemona cringed in fear and attempted to fight the terrifying dragon, only to be wacked by a single paw into the wall. Aurora chuckled as she heard two satisfying snaps. The mage hunters landed heavily on the ground and, despite their futile attempts, could not get up. Still wanting more than just broken bones, the dragon easily picked the two up in her jaw and tossed the helpless mage hunters into the air, only to catch them again and repeat the process. Aurora hummed in delight as Cain and Desdemona screamed and writhed in pain. Once the two became nothing more than a sack of flesh and crushed bones, the mighty dragon popped the skulls of the mage hunters with a single bite.
The rest of the room watched in fear as Aurora spat out the remains of the dead hunters. Although they knew that this side of Aurora would come out if her mate got hurt, it was still very frightening that one of their family members... well... killed people... and so brutally too. However, even though Aurora killed the two mage hunters, she still saved all of Fairy Tail.
Another blinding flash filled the room as Aurora switched back from a dragon to her normal, human self.
Aurora's POV
Just in case you're wondering, no. I don't have a split personality. I know what I did to those bastards, and I don't regret it. Well... maybe a little. I still taste blood in my mouth...
Sting...
After fully switching back, I quickly sprinted to my mate, ignoring all the aches and looks of fear people were giving me. I needed to get to my mate.
I found Wendy hunched over him, trying to heal him. A small glimmer of hope flared up in my heart when I saw his wound slowly closing. But the rest of me just stared on in sadness. It was hopeless. There was a huge, gaping hole in his chest! And the blood... there was so much blood... Why... Why won't it stop?!
I fell on my knees with a cry and struggled to crawl closer to my mate, the love of my life. Shaking, I grabbed onto Sting's cold hands and wept.
"S-Sting," I choked out, "everything's go-going to be al-alright!" I tried to smile and moved his hair out of his clouded eyes. "D-don't you see? Wendy's h-healing you! You're gonna be f-fine!"
I felt all eyes on me. I could feel the looks of pity burning into the back of my head. I don't need their pity. I need my Sting.
"Aurora," Wendy interrupted my thoughts in a quiet voice, "He already lost so much blood ... I don't think he's going to make i-"
"SHUT UP!" I snapped. Wendy flinched back, frightened for her life. But I couldn't give a damn. "Don't fuck with me! I know he's going to be okay! Sting will be alright! Everything's going to be okay..." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the green glow around Wendy's hands die out as she backed away. Rage built up inside of me.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I shouted hysterically. I let go of Sting's hands momentarily to yank the little girl's hands back towards my mate's bleeding chest. "You have to heal him Wendy! Please, heal him!"
"That's ENOUGH Aurora!" Makarov yelled. Wendy was pulled out of my grasp as I wailed louder than before. "Wendy is already magically drained, she can't help Sting now! There's nothing any of us can do. And get a hold of yourself! Look at that hole in your mate's chest. Tell me that that's not serious and he'll live.
I cried even louder and clutched my head, rocking back and forth on my heels. "No... Sting's gonna live. He's going to be okay. Everything's alright... Sting's gonna live." I murmured. Tears flooded my vision as I continued to rock back and forth, whispering those words over and over again. I vaguely heard the others trying to break me out of my stupor. All I could think about was Sting. That is, until someone tried to pull me away.
"NO!' I screeched. I yanked myself out of the hold of the person who was trying to pull me away from my mate. Ignoring the protests of those around me, I threw myself over my mate once again.
"Sting!" I wept "Wake up! Please! You're going to be okay! Please Sting... DON'T LEAVE ME!" I continued to cry on what was left of his chest, ignoring the blood that was seeping into my tattered clothes. The others finally backed away, much to my content, to give me space. After what seemed like hours, I felt a hand pat my head. I snarled, about to rip that person's head off until I noticed that it was Sting who did it.
"A-Aurora..." he gasped.
"Sting?!" I cried. I grabbed his hand and stared into his clouded eyes. "Oh Sting! Don't worry! You're going to be okay! You're going to be healed and we'll continue to live! We're going to get out of this mess and grow old together. Sting, everything's going to be alri-"
"No," Sting whispered. A lone tear streaked down his cheek as he continued. "Listen, Aurora, I want you to keep living."
"W-what are you talking about?" I cried. He hit me on the back of my head.
"As I was saying, I want you to keep on living without me. I want you to fall in love, get married, have kids, and grow old."
I frowned and cried out louder, "No Sting! I'm in love with you! I want to grow old with you!"
He smiled sadly, "Aurora, I'm not going to make it –" Sting coughed violently. Blood came spurting out of his mouth as he choked on his own blood.
"S-Sting?!" I shouted. I turned him over to his side as blood dribbled out of his mouth. After what seemed like forever, he turned back onto his back to face me, blood still trickling down his lips and his eyes hazed over.
"Aurora," Sting whispered, loud enough for only a dragon slayer to hear, "I love you." With that, my lover went limp.
"Sting?" I whispered. No response. "STING!" I shouted, "STING, WAKE UP! Don't you DARE die on me!" I could still hear his heartbeat, but it was getting fainter.
Turning to the crowd around us, I shouted, "Someone do something!" When nobody moved, I wailed loudly and rested my head on his chest, trying to savor what was left of his warmth. I felt his heartbeat go slower... and slower... until I had to strain my ears to hear it.
No. I'm sorry, Sting, but I can't live in a world without you. Once I met you, there wasn't a possibility of me loving another. I can't, don't, and will never live without you.
And then I kissed Sting on the lips.
3rd POV
Fairy Tail watched on in shock and sadness as Aurora kissed Sting on the lips. Silent tears streamed out of the poor girl's eyes and landed softly on the boy's pale cheeks. It was a sad moment indeed.
"What the hell is she doing?!" Laxus' loud and booming voice filled the air. The other dragon slayers paled when they knew what he was getting at. Without getting a chance to explain to the confused mages, two bright lights filled the air, as well as Aurora's screams. Everyone quickly ran to Aurora's side, only to find her lying next to Sting.
On Aurora's right shoulder blade was a white dragon. On Sting's was a silver dragon.
They were now officially mates.
Sting's POV
It's been about 12 years since that incident. When Aurora had kissed me, sealing the bond between us mates, she took away half my wounds, including ½ of my chest wound, which caused us to still have serious injuries, but only so much that it would still allow us to live. While we were recuperating, my dad managed to change all of Lauren's and Jason's memories of magic and of us into ones of just ... random teenage shit. They don't know us anymore. After all that, some families of Fairy Tail moved away to join other mage groups while others created their own. As for us Fairy Tail mages, we moved to a different, more remote town where we rebuilt the underground room with the rest of the Fairy Tail mages. Stupid mage hunters haven't been able to track us down yet.
I grinned happily as I watched Aurora play with our year-old daughter, the silver ring on her ring finger glimmering. Aurora smiled brightly and made baby noises as our daughter laughed in delight. I chuckled and looked at the matching ring on my left ring finger. So much has happened these past 12 years, from us moving, to attending college together, to getting jobs, to getting married, and to having our beautiful baby girl. If it hadn't been for Aurora, none of this could have happened, although when she had kissed me, there was a strong possibility that she could have died as well.
I continued watching my family until a loud fart ripped through the air.
Aurora coughed and smirked evilly. "Oh Sting," she sang, "It's your turn to change the diaper."
I groaned and threw my hands up in the air dramatically. "Fine!"
I got off the couch and picked up our little bundle of joy. Right before leaving, I pecked my wife on the lips.
"I love you, Aurora."
She blushed madly and replied, "Love you too... now get back to that diaper."
THE END