[A/N: so sorry this came out later than expected! school resumed again and i've found that i will not have much time to update as frequently as i like... I've read all your awesome reviews and i'd be lying to you guys if i just said i was happy; i'm quite elated and proud of myself for doing so! doing something like this is not easy... nothing ever is but i'm still gonna try my hardest (and smartest)!
still trying to build up a lot of historical info from an Assassin viewpoint as well as add fictional elements like backstories and factions (canonical and non-canonical alike not to mention a PoE) so that this story will hopefully flesh out in a way that everyone can enjoy. this definitely explains why i'm writing companion fics compared to standalones; i may try a prequel to this story when this is done!
in the meantime, ask me anything in relation to this story if you have questions and i'll answer in the next chapter! Read Enjoyably, Review Constructively and many thanks!
benie {benny} ]
TEN: The Advent of Satan
Mirajane
It happened all of a sudden.
They had been stuck like this for what seemed an eternity but now, the faeries had finally been set free from their stone prisons.
Stumbling immediately after their restoration, the six girls as well as two dragon slayers and one master looked towards the counter to see who had defeated Evergreen. There were exclamations of confusion for some and others were not able to recall anything at all since their petrification. Their eyes met the screen and saw the game report flashing its latest piece of news.
Erza vs. Evergreen
Victor: Erza
She turned around as Master began filling the rest on the Battle of Fairy Tail and felt a little tickle behind her ear. She reached for it and felt a small piece of paper, instantly remembering that Vergil had placed it there earlier. She quickly took and unfolded it to read its contents in neat, tidy and cursive handwriting.
"Mira,
It is undoubtedly good news that you can read this in your hands. This "Battle of Fairy Tail" nonsense has been set up by one of your own guild members, a man by the name of Laxus; his motive to rebuild a strong Fairy Tail based on pure power and strength alone. This is up to you whether you want to believe me or not. He is working with his bodyguards in this plan but their numbers I know not.
In any case, the people of Magnolia are fearful of the Fairies' actions as of this morning and the uncertainty of the future is putting them on edge. Even I do not know what will happen when you read this, or when Laxus gets his way which I hope not. Many of Fairy Tail has been critically wounded but the Assassins have been ordered to give them immediate medical treatment as much as possible and I do not know how much longer our resources will hold.
If you can, stop Laxus.
I am not able to do so as of this moment. It seems that there have been more dark mages that are seeking to infiltrate the town and they all seem to be hired independent mages working for a certain guild temporarily. I should be engaged in combat with the first of nine mages by the time you read this letter to the end, otherwise I would be looking actively instead but that does not matter.
I know that Magnolia will not fall today and neither will Fairy Tail. I have complete trust in you and your guild to see that this veiled threat is quelled.
Safety and peace,
Ghost"
"What's that?" Mira heard Cana's voice by her ear, apparently looking at what she was reading.
"Ghost wrote a letter," the barmaid replied, folding it and quickly stashing it in her pocket in case any of the other faeries saw her reading the letter.
"What did he say?" Cana pressed, concern written all over her face.
"He gave a brief summary of the "Battle of Fairy Tail" as far as he knows it."
"So is Master," Cana pointed over her shoulder with a thumb. The two of them listened in on what Master was saying to the other faeries and fell silent.
"The "Battle of Fairy Tail"?!" Lucy asked, not able to come to grips with that phrase.
"Laxus pulled a thing like that?" Cana interjected; just as confused as the stellar spirit mage was after having listened to Makarov's version of the battle.
"…but either way, it's all over now." Master gave them a small smile before continuing, "Now that all of you are de-petrified, Laxus can't possibly keep up this ridiculous game any longer."
"Still…" Mira's voice dropped down in concern, "what about everyone who was caught in Fried's traps and seriously got hurt?"
"That's right!" Bisca agreed. "Laxus had better see some punishment for this; we can't simply tolerate it!"
"Oh, you can be sure I'll give him a proper seeing to later!" Makarov growled. "Damn you Laxus! You've gone too far this time!" he roared afterward.
"Hold it a second!" Natsu called for order, raising his right hand to attract attention to him.
As far as Mira knew Natsu, he had certainly matured in the past few hours being cooped up in the guild with nothing in particular to fight about. She listened to him talking about how it was nothing wrong to have a ranking system within the guild, impressing even her.
Natsu's maturity was not meant to last, sadly.
"Let start the Battle of Fairy Tail, round 2! Who wants to try me, huh~~~?!"
"Enough!" Master yelled indignantly, not wanting another unexplainable catastrophe on his hands.
Natsu's ramblings continued on for a few moments before something caught her eye.
"Huh?" she looked at the guild entrance, lines covering the exit. "What's that…?"
Everyone looked in fear around the guild hall as a picture of a skull and crossbones appeared out of nowhere, the skull having a lightning bolt cover the right eye socket. In an instant, there were more of these symbols everywhere, flooding the guild.
"What?!" someone shouted out. "The enchantment display boards are flooding the guild!"
"Can ya hear me, old man? And everyone from the guild too…" Laxus's voice boomed through the guild hall, magically magnified as the display boards circled around them, each of the same garish design smiling malevolently at the group.
"Laxus…" Mira heard Natsu mutter.
"It looks like we've lost one of our rules…" the lightning mage declared, "So I'm going instate a new one.
"So as to keep the Battle of Fairy Tail moving," there was a dramatic pause in which Mira feared the worst thing possible that she could think of.
"I've activated the Hall of Thunder."
"The Hall of Thunder?!" Master gasped, his eyes opened in fear, ready to pop out anytime.
"Only one hour and ten minutes remain… Do you think you can defeat us?" Laxus taunted his grandfather, "Or will you play nice and retire? "Master"… ? HAHAHAHAHAH!"
Master visibly fumed up in newfound anger, shouting, "What on earth are you trying, Laxus?! Are you trying to drag innocent civilians into this?!
"NGHH!"
"Jii-jii!" ("Old man!")
"What's wrong?!"
Makarov fell to the ground, clutching his heart as the onlookers were stunned, unable to do anything because of the recent instatement of a new rule.
"This is bad!" Mirajane quickly sprinted into action, making a dash for the medicine cabinet upstairs in the Master's office. "He needs his medicine!"
"At a time like this….!" Bisca wailed angrily.
"Master," Levy pleaded, "get a hold of yourself, please!"
Mira ran up the stairs as fast as her heels would allow her to and found Master Makarov's office and barged her way in. Spotting the medicine cabinet in the far corner of the room near the window, she rushed and snatched it off the shelf that it sat on before her head instinctively turned to look out of the window,
To see that the sky was filled with thunder lacrima.
Laxus! I thought you were bluffing… Why are you doing this? Is this what you truly want out of all this? To hurt innocent lives just to get what you want?
She dashed back down the stairs.
"It's terrible!" she shouted. "Everyone… Look outside!" the last few words she spoke quavered with fear and a hint of sorrow for the events that had recently transpired.
As the group heads upstairs to see what Mira saw earlier, the barmaid gingerly picked the master up and carried him to the guild's resting rooms that doubled as the infirmary. She placed him on the bed nearest to the window that faced Lake Sciliora and covered him with a blanket to keep him warm. She gave him his medicine, as quickly as she could to lessen his pain and he coughed in a fit before calming his heart down and rested, his face still contorted with pain and was now in a comatose state.
As she prepared to leave the infirmary to check on the other members, they rushed in, this time carrying Bisca who had been severely electrocuted and burned into shock. Her body still twitched as the faeries laid her down on the bed nearest to the door and Mira attended to her as well.
Vergil
~ Earlier ~
"I need you to head down to the South gate and find this mage known as the "Siren" and stop her. Think you can do that for me?"
"I will get it done, Master Thorn," Ghost replied, "Rest assured that I will not let anymore dark mages trespass on our home as much as they already have."
"Safety and peace then, Assassin," Master Thorn replied through the lacrima ball, "You will need it more than we do."
"Likewise to you as well," Ghost cut off the connection.
He was halfway across Magnolia when he had suddenly run into a covered person from head to toe in the middle of a junction near the west edge of Magnolia.
"Steady, friend," the man held Ghost as the Assassin bumped into him.
"My apologies, but I'm~" Ghost stopped short, having been cut off.
"Ghost?"
"Mystogan?"
"It has been awhile," the mage spoke, "But I'm afraid that I cannot stay and talk."
"So you have heard about this situation," the Assassin replied.
"Indeed I have and I don't have much time to waste." Mystogan slung his staff back onto his shoulder. "I need a favour from you."
"Quickly then," said Ghost, "I too am pressed for time."
"The wounded," Mystogan paused, "can you bring them to safety?"
"My brothers are already doing that as we speak," the white hood nodded in reply. "This Laxus needs to be stopped as soon as possible."
"Agreed."
"Then let me help you in a cooperative assault."
"No," the mage stopped him short. "It's not wise to do such a thing. If you were to help one of the most formidable in Fairy Tail, Laxus will not hold back on anyone, even if the Master of Fairy Tail were to personally engage him in a one on one battle."
"Hmm," Ghost scratched his chin, "since it is seen that way, then I suppose helping you would clearly be no help at all. I should be going now, and you should too."
"See you soon."
"Safety and peace," the Assassin bade Mystogan goodbye as he began sprinting off into the distance, clamouring onto the roofs to gain a visual advantage and find the Siren.
He reached the gate and did not find any highlighted target in his Eagle Sense. Using his Eagle Sense to see through the walls and across far distances, he immediately found her, the woman almost nearing the city hall steps just two blocks northeast from his current position.
Without thinking, he ran at a dead sprint, spotting a cable that ran across the square and over his current target's shadow and leapt up to bear down on her in a tackle. As he did so, several civilians jumped back in surprise at the sudden appearance of one of their fond protectors.
"It's them!" they cried out. "What is he doing?"
"Yes," the target cried out above the questions, "What the hell are you doing?!"
The Assassin spun her around and was visibly surprised to have been sent flying back with a good kick to the chest by the Siren, recovering quickly in a three point crouch at the same time she got up, wary of his presence and intentions.
She was roughly in her mid-thirties, he guessed, and wore a revealing outfit, even with the harness that she wore over her chest that held a backpack in place. Her shirt showed ample cleavage, her chest mounds nestled freely in its folds and her trousers were tight fitting. Her raven hair was tied up in a bun, revealing her defined features and strangely alluring eyes.
But that was not what he was after. His eyes gazed at her chest, where he saw a hint of a guild emblem. There on her left breast, a little tail stuck out before she began to attack him with a screech, piercing his eardrums.
He frantically covered his ears and began moving to the nearest cover, only to realise that it was useless. Innocents were running wildly about and causing much confusion, to which he blended and escaped the sonar attack.
Sonar magic. It is a wonder that she is called the Siren. There should be a visible weakness here that I can exploit.
He had to think fast; the crowds were clearing the square.
In the midst of the chaos, he hid behind a push cart that was selling accessories with his back against the cart, thinking of a viable distraction before planning his next move. Readying a thunder bomb, he peeked out of his cover and lobbed it at her once he was sure that she was preoccupied and facing the wrong direction.
She was quick to react and let out another screech at the incoming bomb, exploding it and sending herself backwards and onto the ground with an audible thud, followed by a lovely grunt.
Ghost had seen that and was wondering about the uses of gunpowder mixed with respiratory poisons before she randomly casted a sonar blast at the next cart.
CRASH.
He kept his head down and quickly looked for another piece of cover before realising that the next one was a good sprint away; he would definitely be detected. Grimacing to himself, he cussed silently at the fact that he had never thought about a defense against sonar magic.
She has the advantage of distance now. How do I close the distance between us?
He activated his Eagle Sense and realised that he could pre-emptively predict her next strike, complete with trajectory lines. From the looks of it, she would attack in three, two, one.
"AHHH!" she sang in his direction.
He darted straight for the next piece of cover which was a cuboid flowerpot and accidentally threw an incendiary bomb, initially thinking that he was holding another thunder bomb. She detonated it once more with her sonar magic, but the liquid flames found their mark and began singeing her clothes.
He peered around the corner of the flowerpot to see her batting away the flames that had caught her and immediately took the chance to run in and strike. He made a mad dash for her, too fast to actually see, and punched her square on the abdomen, extinguishing the flames and sending her crashing to the ground again. He quickly pounced on her and grazed her shins with his clawed hand and held her by the neck with his right.
In response, her legs wrapped themselves around his neck and she brought him over her body and sending him head first into the ground as well, however not having the incapacitating result that she had hoped, Ghost using the motion to safely recover with a roll. He pounced on her again and she sang at him, forcefully pushing him away with a trajectory of a thrown ball and into one of the shop windows, creating a din.
"What's the matter, weakling?!" she called out, her perfect voice laced with poison and sore from the gunpowder that she had mistakably inhaled from the thunder bomb. "No magic to use? Don't worry, I'll make sure you get some of me before I'm done here, white hoodie."
Shaking his head as he got up into a crouch, he found himself in a flower shop and saw his primary weapon against her.
He frantically searched for poisons he knew would have a somewhat lasting effect on her throat, long enough for him to subdue her and he found it.
Distilled datura plant powder.
He began constructing his datura bombs, calculating the correct dosage of poison in his mind before filling the rest of the clay shell with gunpowder.
"Come on, hoodie!" the Siren taunted, "I know you're in there somewhere! Come out and let's end this!"
Not yet. Let us improvise this several notches higher.
Using his Eagle Sense once more, he saw her approaching and saw the perspective future of her during the undeniably imminent attack.
Here goes…
He deliberately sent a tripwire mine away from her to distract her. It landed at the steps of the city hall just as he had hoped it would.
"Hah! You missed!" he saw the Siren looking at the mine for a few seconds before turning back to the wrecked flower shop in his Eagle Sense. She approached closer and peered over the window ledge to see that he had disappeared.
"Hoodie! Where did you go?!" she sang in her dangerous sing-song voice.
That few seconds spent distracting her was enough for the Ghost Assassin to scramble to the roofs, with the help of his hidden rope blade. His exit was through the back door and it was as silent as he could possibly execute the manoeuvre. Back at the cable where he traversed across before he tackled the Siren, he held the datura bomb in his hand and tossed it at the tripwire mine, exploding both explosives with a bang and alerting the Siren. He quickly lay prone on the roof to avoid detection as she cautiously walked over to inspect the second distraction.
Her back turned to him, he saw her walk right into the dust cloud of datura powder and she began to cough, clutching her throat and wondering what was going on.
He had nothing to fear from the datura poison; his facemask took care of that by filtering the particles in the air.
Taking the opportunity to strike, he sprinted across the cable and pounced on her from on high with his hidden blade drawn, crumpling her under his weight and crashing onto the marble steps.
"AHHHaaack!"
"There we go," Ghost spoke. "At least that has been taken care of for now."
"What have you done?!" the Siren rasped.
"Mildly poisoned you," he nonchalantly responded as his eyes became fixed on the peeking tail guild emblem that was now more visible since he singed her shirt just a couple of harrowing minutes ago.
A tail just like a fairy's? What is the meaning of all this?
With his claw, he pulled back the fabric hiding the guild mark to reveal a capital letter 'R' with an 'X' in it, one of the tails of the letter 'R' ending in a tail just like the guild emblem of Fairy Tail.
"What's this?" Ghost spoke, clearly amused at the fact that there was a similar guild to Fairy Tail. "Care to explain?"
"Screw you," she huffed.
"Trust me," Ghost's voice changed from jovial sarcasm to a dead serious growl. "You do not want and never want to screw me after this. I suggest that you tell what is going on."
"In. Your. Dreams." The Siren was clearly defiant about this.
"Not if I send you there first," he ended with a punch to the temple, knocking her out. He did not kill her, mainly because she had no weapons to fight with save her voice.
Getting up, he took out the communication lacrima and took a picture of the strange guild emblem and reporting in his objective to Master Thorn.
"Good work, boy," Thorn's voice could be heard with a hint of approval. "This here's the guild emblem of Raven Tail, but I'm sure that's not what you're calling me in for."
"Actually," Ghost spoke calmly, "I am."
"Fine then, questions later. Is the Siren dead?"
"She is not," the Ghost Assassin replied. "She was not carrying any weapons, even after I had knocked her out with a mild dosage of datura poison. It seems that her potency in magic lies with sonar."
"Great deduction," the bureau leader complimented with sarcasm in his voice, "I had hoped you would be able to find a solution while the other Assassins across the city were dealing with other, less pressing threats."
"I am touched," Ghost returned the sarcasm.
"Take extra care that she is down and out of the count," Master Thorn warned, "I don't want any more surprises popping up if she were to find friends of her own to join with."
"I will see to it at once. Any more further instructions?"
"Once you're done, oversee that the evacuation of the eastern town is unhindered at White Bridge; those Fairies have really gone overboard this time."
"Understood, master."
"Thorn out."
Turning back to face the passed out Siren on the ground, he looked about for a piece of rope to made sure that she was not able to get up and back into infiltrating Magnolia's defenses.
"Legionnaire!"
Ghost turned around to see that there were a few innocents stepping out of the safety of the town hall. "Do you have any rope?" he asked them.
A young woman quickly headed back inside while the rest slowly and cautiously walked out to see the Siren on the ground, passed out. As the young woman returned with the rope, the Siren stirred in her sleep and without another thought, the Assassin grabbed her by the crown of her hair, rudely waking her up, before slamming her head down onto the marble steps to knock her out cold.
He quickly cut the long rope in two and tied both her hands and her feet tightly, not taking any chances with the amount of civilians here in and around the town hall area.
"Hold her inside," the Assassin told them, "We do not want her friends to come knocking so soon."
Satisfied with his work, he began heading to White Bridge to take care of the evacuation. Taking to the rooftops, he marked the place in his mind's map and began free-running across the various and numerous rooftops of different heights and dimensions, sometimes vaulting over useless banisters or rolling onto an adjacent landing before dropping down onto a window garden landing. He rushed there as quickly as he could and reached there to see that the evacuation was progressing smoothly under the treacherous buzz of the thunder palace overhead.
White Bridge, the only bridge in eastern Magnolia to span across the great river from which Lake Sciliora ends. The white marble used to construct the bridge is inlaid with concrete to make sure that the bridge does not soak in the water and collapse.
Finding a suitable spot on which he had a bird's eye view of the bridge, he sat down and took out his codex book and started a new entry in his personal article, writing the date neatly in the top corner and wrote a title on the right side of the page. He began to write about the day's events since lunch (morning had been rather uneventful) and wrote a very detailed account of his recent battle with the Siren of Raven Tail.
Once that section was done, he flipped the pages to the magics tab and started a new entry, detailing down sonar magic as much as he could remember about it; its pros and cons, its several flaws and advantages. He was about to write the last word when something caught his attention from the corner of his eye.
A jet of water flowing upwards? No, but it is ricocheting off an invisible barrier… It cannot be… Juvia Lockser? Where is she going t~
Oh no.
Ghost had seen Juvia attack and destroy the thunder lacrima with one of her water spells, knowing that it was already a bad idea to begin with. He saw her obliterate the lacrima without incident, before she was brutally shocked by lightning from where the destroyed lacrima was positioned. Electricity mercilessly coursed through her body, paralysing her as she fell back to the ground with a visible thud, his ears picking up a small whine from a considerable distance away.
His eyes trained in on her falling form and found Cana who, unable to catch her, quickly ran to her side to make sure that she was alright.
"FREED!" he heard Cana's roar of rage, fuelled by grief over the actions of one of their own.
Mirajane
"Nee-chan," Elfman protested, "that's enough." He hobbled slowly as Mirajane supported him. "I can walk on my own…" he gently protested once more.
"There's nothing else that I can do," she tried to reason, "so at least let me do this…"
The two siblings continued walking on the dirt path, nearing White Bridge as it loomed into view.
BOOM.
The Strauss siblings looked up at the source of the sound and saw that the bridge had been blasted apart at their bank of the river. Marble bricks were sent in many different directions, none getting anywhere near the two of them but they did see a person falling down to the ground with the wreck, screaming a high pitched voice.
"Cana!"
"What?" Elfman stood there, rather bewildered at the scene that met their eyes.
Rolling to face the top of the bridge with a grunt, rage filling her eyes, she ignored the two siblings as a shadow loomed overhead.
"You're tough." said the voice of Freed Justine. "I suppose that's to be expected of a guild veteran."
"Freed!" Elfman gasped. "Shit! At a time like this!" he cursed under his breath, not expecting to run into another member of the Raijinshu that very same day.
"Take it back…"Cana's voice trembled with rage on every syllable that it rested on, before getting up and yelling at him, "Take back what you said about Juvia being a "Phantom Girl" this instant!"
Suddenly, she was being choked by an invisible force, clutching her own neck to try and prevent herself from losing to Freed to no avail. She passed out onto the rubble with a gasp as Mira and Elfman were asking her what was going on.
They saw her limp form crashing onto the broken bricks.
"Cana!" Mira called out to no avail.
"Dammit all!" Elfman sprang into action, quickly climbing up the rubble to face Freed, leader of the Raijinshu.
As he clambered up, Freed spoke with the same indifferent grace that he had used with Cana only moments ago.
"Are you to be my next opponent, Elfman?" the rune mage questioned.
"SHADDUP!"
"Well, I say that," Freed mused to himself before continuing, "But you have already lost to Ever; you have no right to return to the game."
"SHADDUP!"
"Stop this nonsense already, Freed!" Mira shouted. "Aren't we supposed to be comrades?!"
"We were, once.
"However, in this game, the purpose of which is to recreate that structure, such notions crumble to nothing," he replied to her as Elfman drew nearer. He raised his sword in a relaxed stance and spoke, "Laxus's enemy is my enemy."
Elfman was swiped by the swordsman in a flash and runes appeared on his chest instead of the usually expected blood.
"What the..?!" Elfman cussed in uncertainty.
"A piece once defeated is thereafter forbidden from returning to the game," Freed spoke, "Those who break this rule shall be subjected to a fate worse than death.
"Yami no Ecriture: Pain."
Elfman felt the effects immediately, not knowing what it was that was making himself curl up in pain before mildly screaming as both of Freed's eyes, one normal and the other purpled with magic, looked on disapprovingly.
"No!" Mira raised a hand to her mouth, fear and concern for her younger brother apparent.
"AAAGHHH!"
"Elfman!" Mira gasped.
"Yami no Ecriture: Fear!"
"AAAGHHH!"
"Stop this Freed!" Mira yelled above Elfman's screaming. "Elfman can't fight any longer!"
"Yami no Ecriture: Suffering!"
"Please Freed!" she pleaded on deaf ears. "I'll do whatever you want, just stop this!" tears threatened to stream down her face as she looked on at the horror of which her brother was mentally experiencing.
"Yami no Ecriture:
"Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain!"
Elfman could not take it anymore; Mira could see that his body was on the verge of giving up and she could so nothing about it.
"NOOOO!" her tears fell as she screamed for her only remaining sibling, clasping her head and wishing herself to snap out of this horrible nightmare.
"Yami no Ecriture:…"
"STOP!"
"Annihilation."
That last word struck a chord within her as Freed pulled his sword back for the finishing blow. Time seemed to stop for her as her mind seemed to contemplate the alternate meanings of "Annihilation".
Death?
That feeling was terrible and it wreaked havoc on her since the premature and unfortunate passing of her sister Lisanna. This time, it was her younger brother who was about to be killed by someone she knew,
And this time, was also the time that she would be unable to do anything as well.
Mira's life had been riddled with pangs of severe loss at certain stages of her nineteen years of life, the very first being a little rabbit that she had kept as a pet at a very young age. She spent her time playing and taking care of it, until it met its death in the jaws of a feral dog, barely past its first year as a rabbit. The dog was put down for her sympathy but it did not heal her wound; no one could bring the dead back.
Her second severe loss was that of a friend who she held dearly, the poor girl having had suffered from a chronic disease and quietly passed on in her slumber. Mira had known the girl for quite a bit and her death had taken its toll on her. That was the time she began building her shell of rebellion and strength, discarding frilly dresses for tank tops which revealed midriff and mini-skirts that went up so high, even for a nine-year old at that time.
The next blow came at twelve, a few months past her birthday. Her mother was stricken with some unknown chronic disease and there was no possible cure for it. Mira did everything that she could to save her but even then it was not enough. Her passing dealt a huge blow to the Strauss family, affecting their livelihood and finances. Her father went fell into depression over the loss and was subsequently fired from jobs, forced to relocate their house many times and she was often sent to the streets to beg for money, where she developed her magic into intimidating out many purses for food and other necessities. Her father passed not long after, leaving little Mira, twelve, her younger brother Elfman, eleven, and younger sister Lisanna, ten, as orphans to fend for themselves.
The three siblings ventured far and wide to find a home for themselves and eventually chanced upon a low-ranking guild, being sent off to another because of her destructive behaviour when other guys would hit on her or her sister in cheek. One guild after another, the three Take-Over siblings, as they were now beginning to be known as, were repeatedly sent across far and wide until they had found Fairy Tail, nestled in Magnolia, and a guild full of extraordinary mages.
Things were peaceful for the next five years, until the "Demon" herself chose the assignment that would kill her sister, her own sibling.
In Lisanna's last moments, she remembered that she had been severely wounded by Elfman's failed Take-Over and was out of the count, leaving only Lisanna, who smiled and tried to coax her brother to calm down before being viciously swiped as well but not surviving it indefinitely. That event caused Mirajane to fall into magical depression and revert back to her old smiley self when she was very, very young.
Now, her brother was to meet the same fate that Lisanna met with two years ago.
"Mira-nee…"
Lisanna… why did you have to die? I should have been the one instead…
As she remembered Lisanna, something within Mirajane, unlocked.
Vergil
"AAAAGGHHHHHH!"
Mira.
Ghost snapped his head towards the direction of the opposite bank to see that a section of the bridge had been taken out by another force, this time, creating an upturn of dirt, debris and wind it its wake. Dust clouds immediately shrouded the east bank and that attracted the attention of the evacuating civilians.
He quickly fired a shot with his hidden gun up in the air to quell the chaos and stood up, to direct the flow of congestion to the south gate instead and let the fairies settle their own scores.
Turning back to the dust cloud, his Eagle Sense caught something that he had never expected out of a kind and gentle barmaid.
A demon.
He felt an odd chill which sent shivers down his spine but continued looking at Mirajane's Take-Over, not believing what he actually saw.
This demon is on a whole new level than that which I have seen and encountered on other assassination missions.
What power does she have? Why do I feel like cowering in fear?
Unable to tear away his gaze from the terrible beauty that was Satan Soul, he sat down on the roof and watched, his jaw slack and codex in his hands, sketching her new physique down and taking down notes as fast as his hand would allow.
Mirajane
I swore to myself that I would never let the demon within me resurface again. I swore never to lay my demon eyes on my nakama.
And yet here I am, a hypocrite of my word, fighting against the very person who I once had a fancy for. I will not hold back and lose any more lives that are precious to me.
Mira's Satan Soul immediately pounced upon an astonished Freed, who barely evaded the lightning quick attack by providing himself with wings through his Ecriture of darkness and flying away as the demon Mirajane smashed through the bridge, destroying it in her rage to end Freed's calculated insanity.
She saw that he was relieved that she had no wings to pursue him but that did not change anything.
I am going to wipe that smile off your face; I am going to swipe that mouth off your face.
She sprouted wings on her back to the rune mage's surprise, shocking him that the once lovely barmaid had released her inner demon. He was too shocked to move out of her attack, and was even more so when she punched him in the next instant, sending him rolling backwards in the air before catching himself.
"I will eliminate you," declared the demon with a voice full of dark conviction.
It was then that Freed realised who he had pissed off.
She bore down on him in a flash again, this time her boot connecting with his abdomen, causing him to cough and gasp as he flew backwards towards the White Bridge.
He managed to recover and flew under an untouched section of the bridge and Mira quickly decided to pursue him and go for an attack once more.
"It may be forbidden," Freed panted to himself, "but I have no choice at this stage…
"Only a demon can master a demon! Yami no Ecriture…DARKNESS!"
Mira saw him cast his demonic spell onto himself but was not fazed by his sudden change in appearance and his abilities. His only flaw was that he turned to face her when he should have continued running.
She pulled back a fist as he did at the same time and when they were close enough, their fists connected in a punch, creating a shockwave that broke down rock and marble.
The fist fight that ensued was quick and deadly but due to the both of them being demons, they attacked each other ferociously, taking their fight higher in the sky where they were free to duke it out.
Freed managed to grab her tail by some luck and with a yell, threw her into the river with as much force and speed that his demon arms could muster.
Mira crashed into the river with a huge splash, disappearing beneath the waters before a whirlpool spontaneously began to form where she disappeared.
Freed looked down at the whirlpool before realising that it was not natural, the swirls became faster with every rotation to reveal Mirajane harnessing the river with her bare hands, rapidly spinning over and over again to bring her next attack to its greatest damage potential.
When she was done, she sent the whirlpool shooting at the rune mage.
He was caught in it, bewildered by the amount of magical power that she had before gasping for breath as the water dispersed into tiny droplets, not knowing that Mira was not taking any chances with the man who had tried to take away her only remaining family.
She gave him a head butt and let him reel back at a safe distance before shooting a fireball of pure, dark energy at him. The blast engulfed him and for a moment, darkened the once clear blue sky.
Vergil
He did not have to shield his eyes but he did it out of fear as the evil explosion occurred above his position.
It was at this point that Mira had sent Freed crashing to the ground, the point where the skirmish began a few metres away from Cana's limp form, his clothes all torn and tattered.
He is going to get it…he is going to die…
Mirajane
Die you coward!
Mira bore down on Freed who made no attempt to escape her clutches as she wrapped a hand around his neck and pulled the other back, curled into a fist.
On top of him, she shot her fist forward at Freed's face.
"Mira-nee?"
WHOOSH.
She stopped her hand just before his nose, resulting in a shockwave of air blowing away the dust.
No…I can't kill. I promised her to live on, not take my life. How am I supposed to do that if I take someone else's?
Mira transformed back into her human self and continued sitting on Freed, her desire to fight long gone and extinguished. He became confused at her sudden change of heart and appearance.
"This battle…" she said softly, "It's so meaningless, don't you think?"
"Pity for the defeated, Mirajane?" Freed's voice hardened at her words. "Just finish it…"
"We're nakama, you know, fellow members of the same guild…" she continued on, ignoring him as she thought about how they were all family before continuing. "Smiling together…Laughing together…Walking together…"
"Sh…Shut up! I have only one nakama: Laxus!"
"That's not true though, is it?" she asked him in her usual kind and gentle voice. "I'm sure you must have realised…
"I don't think it's completely such a bad thing to cling to one single person, but you have many people around you. People are always connected to one another.
"You see," she reached out and took his hand, "just reach out your hand, and there's someone right here…" Her eyes began to water as she thought about herself when she was younger, "It's when people realise how lonely it is being on their own…that they start to become kind. You know that really, don't you?"
She looked down into his eyes and saw that they were tearing droplets of regret, Freed shaking all over at what he just heard in a terrible feeling that he had never encountered before.
"I never…wanted…to do all this…" he sniffed as he let the tears fall.
"I know… I know," she comforted him with a smile, "Let's all enjoy the Harvest Festival together next year, okay?"
"You just can't beat that girl," Cana smiled, standing next to Elfman, who was cradling Juvia in his arms.
Vergil
To be frank with himself, he was rendered speechless when Mira performed her Take-Over.
He became fearful when Freed Justine's runes had no effect on her whatsoever.
He almost wet his pants when she casted that evil explosion.
Needless to say, he was stunned by her.
Vergil had watched the entire exchange of blows and spells between Freed and Mira and watched as she swatted aside every single thing that he threw at her effortlessly. He also watched on as she bore down to deliver the final punch before holding back, sparing the rune mage.
That battle was recorded down in his codex and he had a good view of the skirmish as it happened.
Now, he was concerned, his friend's strength utterly spent as well as her wounded guild mates. He looked down at the evacuating crowds before turning his eye back to the other side of the lake, about a hundred metres away.
Her welfare is more important now; Laxus needs to be dealt with as soon as possible before the thunder palace activates. If she can stop him along with the other S-class mages in her guild, the townsfolk will not have to evacuate out of their homes.
Getting up from his sitting position on the roof, he looked down to the street and saw many people rushing frantically for the exit out of Magnolia. The townsfolk were packed like sardines and there was no way that a lone Assassin could push through the mess and come out of the other end unscathed. Searching for a place on the ground where he could land and run off to Mira, he found a petal cart parked at the riverbank. The cart was a tad too far for a usual leap of faith and was too shallow for a cushioned landing.
He still had to try.
Taking a few steps back, he visualised himself leaping off the roof and into the petal cart with ease as he calculated the height and distance which he would have to clear. When he was ready, he ran for it.
As his legs left the roof with a powerful jump, Ghost began swinging his arms to try and pull himself over the seemingly far distance with the inadequate height that he leapt off.
I am going to make it.
He immediately flipped in mid-air onto his back and flailed his limbs to improve drag before landing with a crash into the petal cart, sending sakura petals flying everywhere. The cart did not break, but the inertia of the person who landed in it carried it forward, unhinging the wheel locks and causing the cart to slowly roll down the riverbank.
Realising his mistake, he quickly scrambled out like a little child and narrowly managed to save himself from soaking his robes wet.
That was way too close. Never, ever, do that again.
He faced the broken bridge and his eye saw a path across the rubble to where Mira was.
He ran at a column before running up its face and hanging by his fingers. Shimmying around until his back was facing a lower ledge, he jumped, ejecting backwards from the wall and catching the tiny marble ledge with his left claw before steadying himself with his other hand and pulling himself up onto a higher foothold before scaling the wall sideways, leaping over a gap and landing with perfect precision on a beam.
Running up an adjacent wall, he pulled himself up onto the walkway and sprinted across the undamaged section of bridge before reaching the other end of the damaged bridge, jumping across the gap and catching the lowest ledge near the flowing waters by the tips of his fingers. From there he slowly climbed up and pulled himself over as he reached the other end of bridge to see Cana and Elfman standing to one side as the latter carried an incapacitated Juvia, both looking on at Mira, who was sitting on top of Freed and was talking to him.
Ghost watched on as Mira got up to allow Freed to stand before the little group began heading back to Fairy Tail when she noticed the Assassin.
"Ghost?" he saw her raised eyebrows in curiosity. "What are you doing here?"
"I was concerned when I heard you scream from across the bridge," he simply replied, earning a look of approval from Cana while Elfman was wondering who in the world this man was as Freed continued to lie down on the ground, the occasional sniffle coming from him.
"I'm fine," she told him.
"Not to me you are," he observed her bruises under her ruined dress before looking over at Cana, Elfman and Juvia, all scoring injuries of their own. "Let me treat your wounds as best as I can before you head back."
"Are you sure?" she walked over to him. He sensed Elfman tense up as Mira drew near.
"Absolutely," he replied calmly to her. He then turned to the rest, "Have a seat while I do whatever that I can."
The group opted that Juvia be taken care of first, since her wounds were severe burns and that she was still under the effects of shock.
Ghost got down to her as Elfman lay her against a rock, propping her into a sitting position as the Assassin examined her burns. After a while, he reached into his light pack and took out a small bottle of ointment and gently rubbed it into her wounds, the gentle pressure slowly waking her up.
"Gray-sama…" Juvia moaned.
"Rest now. He will come for you later," Ghost told her.
"Gray-sama is not here?"
"Save your strength," he spoke. "You will need it later."
"Who are you?" she asked dreamily, as if her Gray-sama was there watching over her.
"Someone who is of no concern to you yet. Keep still and rest."
"Okay, Juvia will keep still and rest," she closed her eyes and fell asleep as Ghost got up and began walking over to Elfman.
"A man lets women go first," he rasped, his wounds not doing him any good.
"Come on, Elfman," Cana rolled her eyes at him, "You're in no shape to be moving around anymore than I am, just let him treat you, you big oaf!"
"Hey!"
"Do as she says Elfman," Mira interjected for Cana. "Please?"
He heaved a defeated sigh and motioned for the Assassin to draw closer so that his wounds could be attended to.
"Hmm…" Ghost spoke grimly as he ran a diagnosis. "These wounds will not heal by tomorrow, I am afraid. I will do what I can to ease the pain for you."
"Some healer you are," Elfman grumbled quietly, only enough for the Assassin to hear.
"I am not. I take lives or I save them," he replied calmly, "but I cannot restore health the way a doctor can. Your physical injuries are beyond my control but I can give you something that will ease your mind off the terrible ordeal you had to suffer."
"I'm not a mad man," the Take-Over mage growled under his breath.
"And I am sure that you will never be," said Ghost as he took out a chocolate bar and handed it to him, as well as one of the anaesthetic smelling salts that he usually used when there was no available doctor nearby.
"Chocolate?" Elfman raised it up for Cana and Mira to see. "Really? Really manly," he finished sarcastically.
"You do not like it?" Ghost asked, concerned.
"Are you trying to pull something off?!"
"Give it a rest already, Elfman!" Cana scolded him, boring her eyes into the back of his head as if it would accomplish whatever dark fantasy she wished.
Realising that his help would no longer be appreciated, the Assassin got up and moved on to Cana, seeing that her throat was constricted and only told her to drink warm water to soothe her throat and take care not to over exert herself for the time being. He examined her back and found several scratches, taking extra care to wash them before she swatted him away to drink some alcohol.
I guess that works too…
Vergil then turned to face Mira, his eyes falling onto the sight of a rather shallow gash from her fight with demon Freed, a tiny stream of blood flowing down due to the barmaid trying to keep it in and was trembling as she did so.
Mirajane
She held her left bicep in an attempt to hide her scratch from Vergil as he turned, hoping that she could act out and fool him into believing her that she was alright. Mira instinctively turned away from him as he looked and wondered whether or not he would come and investigate.
"Come on," his voice cooed gently into her ear. "Let me see it."
"I'm fine."
"You are not." Ghost's left hand held her left bicep and slowly spun her around. Mira did not give up though.
"I'm okay, really," she protested.
"Then let me see it then, if you have nothing to fear," he challenged.
"But—but," she stammered, "I'm really fine."
"Not the way I see it," he commented. "Come on."
She relented, wincing as she let go of her arm to let the Assassin see it, holding it up with his hands.
"Only this wound?"
"Some bruises here and there but, yeah."
"You've been mildly poisoned; that is why it hurts and stings," he told her after a while of looking at it. "A scratch like that can be fixed up in no time but I need to draw the poison out first, is that okay?"
"Is it painful?"
"Yes, unfortunately for you," he replied, "but your arm will not be affected in the long run. Have a seat."
The two of them sat down a short distance away from the group at the riverbank before Vergil folded up the lower half of his facemask in front of her.
"What are you going to do?"
"Are you afraid of pain?"
"Yes…"
"Then, do you something to bite?"
"Bite? Why?" she asked, confused.
"It will hurt," he told her. He then unbuckled his chest belt that held the pouches and folded it before placing it in between her jaws.
Without warning, he sucked on her arm.
Mira had never felt anything like this in a long time and her jaws immediately clamped down on the belt as the Assassin did his work. There was a moment of reprieve for her as he paused to spit out the contents of Freed's claw poison before going in once more.
"Ungh!" she moaned in pain. In response, he placed his right hand on her back to comfort her and drew circles with his hand to ease her.
How much poison went in? It hurts so bad…make it stop please…
She felt relief after about five seconds or so, tears streaming down her eyes as Vergil spat out the last of the poison onto the ground and washed his mouth with some water from the river. He turned back to face her and she slapped him.
SMACK!
"Ow!"
"That hurt!" she cried.
"It is supposed to," he told her indignantly. "Poison is very difficult to deal with once it enters the bloodstream! You are very lucky that this wound is only a graze."
"Am I done?" she deflated in tiredness, the effects of the battle now getting to her.
"Not yet."
"HUH?!"
"But the worse is already over," he quickly added. "All I need to do now is to clean and sanitise the wound and dress it. Is that too much for you?"
"N-No," she spoke uncertainly.
"I will make this as quickly as I can."
That part of Ghost tending to her wounds was less painful and the only part where she winced was when he wiped her bicep with an alcohol swab, as if a wasp had stung her there. She held on to his hip (clearly avoiding his left arm), as the stinging sensations jostled her nerves.
"Um," Mira slowly asked him as the Assassin wrapped her arm with a roll of linen. "Did you see the fight with Freed just now?"
"Fight?" he replied, his eye steeled on making sure the bandage wrap was as comfortable as much as possible.
"Battle with Freed? Did you see any of that?"
"No."
Thank God; I don't want him to see me in such a demonic form and make him think that I am some liar, pretending that I don't have any magic.
"There," he announced, "Done. Did you feel any more pain?"
"No," she replied with bleary eyes. "Thank you," she gave him a quick hug, unaware that Elfman was watching the entire exchange part of the time, especially the part where she hugged Ghost.
The both of them got up and headed back to the group and Mira saw Ghost teetering off to see Freed but uncertain or not whether he should at least be checked for severe wounds.
"Go ahead," she told him kindly, folding down his facemask, "He's as good a friend as any of us."
She watched with motherly eyes as the Assassin attended to Freed, the latter's face immediately changing into an expression of suspicion a Ghost. Without a word, Vergil patched him up as best as he could and managed to help the rune mage stand up before walking back to Juvia to check on her.
"Hey you!" Mira turned her head in shock to see Elfman pointing a finger at Ghost in an accusatory manner. "Are you the person who's been seeing my sister?"
"You seem to be in a relationship with her," Freed commented darkly as well, drawing his sword and pointing it at his back as he pulled up next to Elfman.
There was a distance of about three metres between them as Cana stepped aside but began to try and talk them out of attacking the seemingly suspicious person in the funny white hood.
Vergil…
She watched with great fear as he stood up and turned to face them, not knowing how he would fare against two accomplished mages on his own.
As he lifted his head up to look at them, the air was suddenly still.
She quickly made a motion to stand in between the staring contest when Cana grabbed her by the arm, her face showing fear as she did so.
"Are you crazy, wanting to die an early death?!"
"What?"
Cana pointed at both Freed and Elfman, who sported the exact same fearful expressions from the undaunted ones just moments earlier.
Freed
What power is this?
This man seems more malevolent than Laxus and the Raijinshu! How is this possible? Even if all of us perform a unison raid on this man, I doubt we'll be able to scratch him one tiny bit! Why is he just standing there? Is he daring either of us to attack?
Elfman
What is this feeling? Why is it that I suddenly feel so scared?
How is it that a manly man as manly as my manly self can become so afraid of this person? Who in the world is he? Is he daring me to attack him?
I dare not… I'm not manly enough to fight him.
Cana
Cana watched as the white hooded monk turned tail to leave, walking in her direction, given that she was at the end of the bridge. The card mage unknowingly stepped aside for fear of some sudden attack, bumping into Mira who did not seem quite bothered at the very least.
"Bye, Ghost!" she waved jovially, "I hope to see you soon!"
Has Mira gone mad?!
Cana looked at the back of Ghost the monk, his robes fluttering about and his few weapons glinting in the sunlight. To Mira's response, he gave a casual two fingered salute, not even turning back to formally greet her and his greeting was silent as a rock. He maintained the goodbye until the edge of the ruined bridge before he jumped down and out of sight.
Mirajane
She was undoubtedly curious as to what was going on when both Freed and Elfman confronted Ghost about their relationship. It was strangely gloomy and somewhat despondent, Mira could feel that, but it had no effect on her somehow and she had no idea why.
As soon as Vergil leapt out of sight, the atmosphere instantly changed from gloomy to sunny, catching her in surprise to see the other three relieved and Juvia slowly stirring in her sleep.
They don't look like they know what's happened to them. What really happened just now Vergil? Did you learn some magic again? What could you have possibly discovered?
Laxus is the last man standing now. There is still some time left before the hall of thunder activates and Magnolia is destroyed. I hope that someone from the guild can stop him and make him realise his mistake in time for the Fantasia parade.