Music of the Spheres

by Teninshigen

I'd always been good at understanding things - be it science or language, comprehension came naturally to me. But what I couldn't understand, was the kind of power that can turn the tears of the dying into laughter. That knowledge was beyond me. But now, in this new world, I have a chance to grasp it, to understand it - the power of Fairy Tail. (Self-Insert; Lucy/OC)

11. X - Collapse

"LUCY KICK!"

'...Well,' I thought to myself, as I tried to remember which way was up, what my name was, and why I could taste dirt. 'That went about as well as I expected.'

Having made my way to the shore, following the shining, golden presence of Lucy's Magic, I found my teammate leaning on a tree, breathing heavily and apparently completely unable to focus her eyes properly. She bore some scratches, and a few bruises - but otherwise, she seemed fine. Some distance away from her was Sherry, laid out on the sand with a throbbing red fist-imprint on one cheek, totally out of it.

I had promptly wrapped Lucy in my duster until such a time as she could put on another shirt, since hers had apparently been lost at some point in the confrontation. That done, I led the dizzy Mage back to the village, keeping her upright as her inner ear started to stabilise, her mind re-booting after its Aquarius-facilitated trip through the washing machine.

Once we reached the village, we met up with Natsu and Happy. The Dragon Slayer had broken out of the ice sphere somehow (he declined to share the exact circumstances), and brought Gray back, passing him over to the villagers to recover from getting himself beaten up.

He had also stated, quite firmly, that I was buying him dinner when we got back home - when I saw the shark that two villagers were dragging into the house he and Gray had slept in the previous night, I decided that I probably didn't want to push the issue.

Sometime during that conversation with Natsu though, Lucy had apparently regained enough of her senses to remember the exact circumstances leading to the ordeal she'd just gone through. My first warning was a low, growling voice hissing my name past gritted teeth.

I didn't get a second warning, so much as I got kicked in the head.

'Note to self:' I considered, lying face-down in the dirt, having skidded several metres by my reckoning. 'Apparently Lucy is capable of performing a kick to the head without a running start, at point-blank range, and without jumping. Again: I love Magic.'

Well, that was assuming that Magic was augmenting Lucy's natural physicality, because I might not have been a biologist but I was still fairly sure that Mother Nature would have called bullshit somewhere along that line of evolution.

I pushed myself back to my feet with a certain degree of effort, spitting out a mouth-full of leaves and mud that I spent a full minute coughing and spitting to get rid of. That done (around the corner of a nearby house, although I felt that the noise alone was probably rather unpleasant for anyone else to listen to), I came back around to follow the furrow I'd dug in the ground to where Lucy was standing, arms crossed and glaring, still wearing my duster.

'I swear, she wears that thing almost as often as I do.'

It was a bit ridiculous on her; Lucy was almost half a foot shorter than I was, and although her torso was...deeper...than mine, I was wider across the shoulders and in the arm. Thus, the hem of the coat fell to the same height as the hem of her skirt, and her hands only protruded from the sleeves because she had rolled them up.

She looked...well, adorable was the wrong word. Cute was a much better fit.

I kept my thoughts on the matter off my face, though - after all, she had every right to be angry at me, and if I just started going ga-ga over her appearance rather than listening to her, it would just piss her off more.

"Why?" She asked simply, one foot tapping, eyes boring into my own as if she could see right through me.

On the off chance that she could, in fact, do that very thing, I chose to simply be honest. "Because I trust you, Lucy."

A raised eyebrow on her part prompted me to continue, so I did. "I knew you could handle her, and I didn't want us to end up in a two-on-three; I didn't know if they had any particular experience working together, so they might have been a more credible threat as a group than any of them were as individuals. So, since I knew you could handle her, I got the other two out of there to give you space."

The blonde narrowed her eyes. "That's not all though, is it?"

I shifted a bit, rather uncomfortable under her continued glare, before letting out a sigh. "It's just...well, you know that Natsu, Gray and I are all fighters?" Her eyes narrowed further, and I hurriedly continued my explanation. "Well, the three of us all have a good amount of combat experience - but you still have less than we do, which isn't me saying you're weak!" I almost-shouted, raising my hands as Lucy's glare seemed ready to set me aflame even over a two-metre divide. "I know you're not - I just thought that, if I was hovering over your shoulder every time we got in a fight, you wouldn't get the chance to reach your potential."

Several seconds passed, and I lowered my hands cautiously when I didn't hear charging footsteps or feel my skin beginning to blister. I promptly discovered that Lucy had closed the distance between us, her narrowed eyes scanning my own for something - though I had no idea what, exactly, from only inches away.

One way or another, she seemed at least partially satisfied, as she reached up and around to whack the back of my head - though without putting any real force behind it. "Well, I suppose I can't argue with that." She grumbled, leaning forward again and prompting me to lean back. "But if you're going to be trying to give me learning opportunities, you will be letting me return the favour."

I blinked a couple of times, a feeling of dread settling in my stomach as my teammate's eyes took on a disturbing gleam. "...How so?"

"I might be the one with the least combat experience, but you-" she poked me in the chest, and I resisted the urge to jump back and start hissing like my cat used to, "have the least social experience." My sinking feeling grew worse, and the blonde grinned triumphantly. "So, when we get back home, prepare for the Lucy Learning Experience - I promised I'd cure that shyness of yours, after all!"

My stomach hit rock bottom, and as a Gravity Mage, I felt I was qualified to say that the heavy feeling was about two steps from turning me into a singularity.

Not just because I was going to have to interact with - shudder - people...but because Natsu was still standing off to the side.

And he was grinning.

'...I wonder, is it wrong of me that I'm suddenly glad we'll be facing Phantom Lord when we get back to Magnolia?' I wondered, standing up straight once Lucy had stopped leaning toward me, the blonde heading into the house Natsu and Gray were sleeping in, presumably to find herself another shirt.

"WHY IS THERE A SHARK IN HERE?!"

---

With Lucy fully dressed once more, and Natsu's shark wrapped in leaves taken from the canopies around the town to prevent spoiling and to blunt the smell, the three of us plus Happy sat down to fill each other in on our experiences.

I described my showdown with Yuka and Toby, Natsu gave a quick recounting of his journey from the sea, to the hill and then back to the village, while Lucy explained how Sherry had taken control of her Celestial Spirits - only to seal her own fate when she tried to put Aquarius under her control, resulting in the Spirit attacking both Mages and Lucy gaining the opportunity to lay out the other woman with a mean right hook.

"So, I left Yuka and Toby tied up in the forest," I noted, raising two fingers on one of my hands. "Lucy KO'd Sherry down on the beach, that damn mouse is either dead or catatonic. That leaves Lyon, the cultists and the other guy."

The other two Mages in the room turned to me, giving me strange looks. "Other guy? Declan, what 'other guy'?"

I blinked a few times, then bit my lip and cursed internally. 'Fuck - I forgot, Ultear only made her appearance after Natsu wrecked the temple. Alright Ross, how can you play this off...'

"Um..." I glanced between my teammates, Lucy narrowing her gaze at me once more.

"Declan...is there something you aren't telling us?"

I rubbed the back of my head with one hand, closing my eyes so they couldn't give me away. "I...don't think so?" 'Come on, come on, think, think, THINK - AH, that mighty work.'

"I mean...I mentioned that I'm a Magic Sensor, right?"

Lucy and Natsu both blinked several times, glancing at one another and then shaking their heads in tandem before looking back. "No...no, you didn't," Lucy sighed. "So you can sense Magic...well, that explains how no-one ever seems to sneak up on you..." She looked up, narrowing her eyes again. "That's how you knew Everlue was spying on us back in Shirotsume as well, isn't it?"

I nodded, and the blonde folded her arms. "Why didn't you mention this earlier? The ability to accurately sense Magic is usually an advanced skill; the people with a natural talent for it tend to be the ones with very little magical power of their own, too."

I ducked my head a bit. "You...never asked?" The warning glare Lucy shot at me prompted a raising of my hands in surrender, and I sighed. "I just...don't like talking about myself, alright? It's just the way I am."

Lucy's glare softened, and she huffed out a breath. "You're even more shy than I thought, aren't you?" I glared right back at her, but the Celestial Spirit Mage just smiled it off. "Oh well - I'll get to know you properly soon enough, Declan; just you wait."

I very carefully did not shudder, and instead decided that a topic change was the better part of valour. "Anyway, there was someone else there." I told them, bringing Lucy's attention away from her decision to 'draw me out of my shell' - and distracting Natsu from where his grin was threatening to reach all the way a round to the back of his head and tie itself in a knot.

"They were powerful; on the same level as Lyon, if not more." I was basically making this up - I hadn't actually felt Ultear's presence, and that worried me. Mostly because I knew that she was on the Magic Council, and that she was at least S-Ranked; which meant that if I couldn't sense her presence, she was capable of actively hiding herself from Magic Sensors like me, and that she was doing so at the moment.

So, either she knew about my abilities and my presence, and thus was actively hiding herself...or she was always concealing herself.

I didn't know which idea scared me more - the idea that I was already known to her and Jellal, or the idea that Ultear had such perfect control of her abilities that, despite her immense magical power, she could erase her presence without even really paying attention.

Well, either way, I knew that she wasn't going to go all-out here unless I somehow threw things way out of alignment - and I wasn't planning on doing so, for the almost singular reason that I had no desire to face down Ultear at her full power, not even with Gray, Natsu, Lucy and Erza on my side. Not yet, at any rate.

Which reminded me that Erza was probably on the island by now - in fact, it was likely she had been for a while; she would have set out not long after Gray, if Makarov had gone along with the plan I'd put forward to him. The fact that she hadn't stepped in yet probably meant that we were doing an okay job though, so I decided I shouldn't be worrying about her at the moment.

"Their signature was...old, but new at the same time. Looping between the two." I was actually just imagining what it would probably be like, but I didn't want to just straight-up say 'She uses Time Magic' - after all, I could identify the various types of Magic our opponents used now, but once we passed the Fantasia Parade, I would only be able to make educated guesses - and if my sensing suddenly dropped in quality, it could raise awkward questions.

Regardless of Lucy's determination, I felt that it would be best for all concerned if my history remained just that - history, and of little interest to the present.

"Old but new...?" Lucy muttered, cupping her chin for a moment before huffing, sitting back in her chair. "Well, at least we know they're there - they won't be such a surprise that way."

Natsu was grinning, cracking his knuckles happily. "Hehehe...so, you guys didn't take all the fights! Alright, let's go up there and start tracking those guys down so we can beat them up and free the villagers!"

Lucy and I glanced at one another, and I looked over at the Dragon Slayer. "And what about Gray?"

Natsu started for a moment, then let out a hum, sinking into his chair much as Lucy had. "Yeah...I guess we should wait 'till he's up and about again. That way, he'll have to admit I've beaten him when I go right through that Lyon guy!"

I sighed at the reasoning, but Lucy seemed to find it amusing. "Oh?" She hummed, smirking at the Dragon Slayer from her seat. "Go through him? The same Mage who turned you into a snowball?"

I snorted as the blonde chuckled to herself, Natsu glaring at both of us and folding his arms defiantly. "He just caught me off guard!" He declared, wisps of amber flame curling out from between his lips. "In a straight fight, I'll beat him for sure!"

"If you say so, Natsu." I placated him, levering myself out of my seat and heading for the door. "I'm gonna check on Gray again, then I'll turn in - you guys might wanna do the same; we'll go after Lyon and his buddies again as soon as Gray's up."

Closing the door to the building behind me, I headed down the road - heading for the another house a little ways down, where one of the villagers had offered to look after the Ice Mage for the night.

I knocked on the door, and a few moments later the demon/woman - demon woman? - pulled it open. She had green skin, two small fangs protruding over her upper lip and relatively short purple horns curving up from above her pointed ears. She gave me a quick smile and a nod - the villagers were all quite pleased that we'd fended off the Mages coming after their village - before letting me in, leading me quickly to where Gray was resting, several blankets being used as a mattress over the usual wooden mat, with bandages wrapped around his middle and over his shoulder and more blankets forming a pillow.

I nodded to the woman (it felt like the most fitting description; she acted like one and she had the basic physiology, no matter her other traits), and she returned the gesture before heading off somewhere - leaving me and the Ice Mage be.

I looked down at the other teen for several long moments, regarding him without speaking, as his chest continued to rise and fall. Soon enough though, I broke the quiet. "Has Natsu already chewed you out for letting yourself get your ass kicked?"

Silence reigned again for several moments longer before the Mage grunted, his eyes remaining closed. "Yeah - the damn flame-brain yelled at me then started running like an idiot." His eyes opened, the dark orbs looking up at me. "Are you thinking of doing it again? 'Cause if you do, I will kick your ass."

I chuckled, shaking my head. "Nah - I get that Natsu has some leeway, but I'm not in any position to be telling you off." I huffed out a breath. "I just wanted to say...you know, I'm not even really sure. I just look at that Lyon guy, and the way he gets to you, and I wonder - 'Why do you let him get under your skin?'."

The Ice Mage opened his mouth, but I waved him off with one hand. "I mean yeah, sure you shoulder at least some of the guilt for your teacher's death - but that guy's dumping it all on you, and you just let him. He goes on about how you shouldn't even be allowed to say her name, but he's spitting on her memory. He's a total bloody hypocrite...and you haven't properly called him on it. You just let him waffle on, getting more depressed and then getting the shit kicked out of you."

The Ice Mage glared up at me. "You going somewhere with this, Ross?"

I shrugged. "I'm not even sure, to be honest. I just felt like maybe you could use a reminder, to go with Natsu's boost - that whatever he says, you know what happened, and you've been making up for it every day since. You've been living the life your teacher saved for you, doing good for the people of Fiore and just being Gray Fullbuster, Mage of Fairy Tail and badass extraordinaire."

I pushed myself to my feet, heading back to the door. "I might not be Ur - I might not even have met her - but I can tell what kind of person she was just by watching you. And I can say...that no matter what Lyon says, I'm sure you're the one she's most proud of."

I reached the door, opening it to step outside, when Gray's voice came from behind me. "Hey, Ross."

I looked back over my shoulder, meeting his eyes in the purple moonlight - his stare appraising, and a melancholy grin on his lips. "I think...that they'd be proud of you too. Whoever they were."

I felt a lump in my throat that seemed to fall down into my stomach, my hand tightening on the doorknob as the Ice Mage turned back to face the ceiling, closing his eyes again. "Now get out of here - I gotta sleep so I can kick Lyon's ass. And once I'm done with him, I'm coming after you - so you'd better be ready."

I took a few moments to unfreeze, relaxing my grip, letting my throat open up once more, the beat of my heart slip back from the ticking of a bomb to the simple drumbeat of life. "Gotcha." I replied, though my voice was quiet and husky. "Get well soon, Gray."

And with that, I closed the door behind me, heading for the house where Lucy and I were sleeping without really seeing, barely cognisant of the world around me as I lay down on the mat, my duster tucked under my head as I descended into the land of dreams, chasing a sprite with sandy hair that I could never seem to hold on to.

---

Across the curtain...

Lucy gently lowered the curtain that was acting as the partition between the two 'rooms' in the little house, biting her lower lip as she settled back onto the wooden-mat bed, drawing the blanket up below her chest.

She had opened the window on her side of the building for a few moments, wanting to make sure the place was aired out as it felt a bit stuffy, when Declan had half-emerged from the building where she knew Gray was resting; the window looked out onto the street, and her natural curiosity had prompted her to keep an ear open as she studied her teammate from where she was leaning on the window sill.

She couldn't hear the exact words they'd spoken - but she had seen the way Declan had stiffened abruptly, and she almost imagined she could hear the squeal of the doorknob as it compressed in his grip. When he had closed the door behind him, the teen had walked as if in a daze, not even noticing as she surreptitiously closed the window, or when she lifted the curtain enough to look below it and watch as he used his coat as a pillow without paying any real attention, his eyes a million miles away as he settled down.

Even now, she could hear the rustle of fabric, and slight squeaks of leather - he was moving much more than he had the previous night, his sleep restless.

The more she got to know Declan, the more she wondered if he was really just shy. She knew he had been truthful when he said he didn't like talking about himself, but there had been a certain determination - a grim twist to his mouth and the set of his jaw - that made her think that it wasn't just personal preference that had him holding his tongue.

The Heartfilia heiress (by line of inheritance, if not by choice) frowned, thinking back to everything she knew about Declan Ross.

She knew that he wasn't socially adept; though he seemed perfectly capable of playing word games and pushing people's buttons, even analysing them, he only kept a small social circle, and whenever the conversation turned away from a select few topics (combat or books, really) he seemed to retreat.

She knew that he was intelligent - he had displayed it several times, and the variety of uses he had discovered for his Magic was evidence of his imagination and problem-solving abilities.

She also knew that he was a good person; always willing to lend a hand, though she noticed that he tended to do so more for her than for anyone else she had seen. Then again, they were neighbours and it wasn't like Natsu, Gray or Erza really needed help, so...

That led her to a thought that had a red flush rising in her cheeks - that she was almost certain he was interested in her.

From the day she had met him in Hargeon, Declan had stood with her. From his repulsing of the Vulcan on Mt Hakobe, to his interception of Natsu's idea for the Everlue job (it had been fairly easy to put together - Declan had forgotten the poster for the job when he dragged Natsu out, and she could easily see where Natsu's thoughts could have gone when he noticed the special notice for the job), to his instant defence of her at the gates of the village, Declan had acted in her interest more than she thought he'd acted in his own.

Of course, even if those could all have just been Declan being Declan, the conversation they'd had on the boat, his little comment on the docks and the way he acted during their conversations were more than enough to cement the idea in her head.

Lucy was no stranger to people admiring her looks - she had made use of men's weakness for her form on more than one occasion, and she knew she was pretty. Even among Mages like Erza and Mirajane, she felt she could hold her own in the looks department. But still, the vast majority of the men who had showed such an interest in her had been...well...

She idly glanced over to where she knew Natsu was sleeping, and toward the front gates of the village.

...They had been less than ideal, in more than one respect.

It was seemingly an incredibly rare thing to find a male who wasn't a rampant pervert of some kind, let alone one who shared her interests and could match her thought-for-thought. It wasn't like he was all that bad-looking, either - perhaps he wasn't on the same level as the men in the...fashion-magazines...she had read before, but he was far from ugly, and his physique was up there with any of them.

Or, so she felt - quite literally, as she'd been in contact with it more than once in the past couple of weeks.

It was another point in his favour, she felt - that he'd proven more than once that he had more than self-control than to let his hands wander, or his eyes for that matter. He stole looks occasionally, and she'd noticed that certain habits of hers could break his train of thought for a while - but he always recovered, picking up where he'd left off and not letting it impact too heavily.

There was also his confidence - a trait that she had always looked for. No matter the situation they were in (well, except when she got involved - then, he tended to fold like a house of cards, though she wondered about that; particularly with that day's 'learning opportunity'), Declan always kept his head on straight. He didn't run off like Natsu was prone to do, though he seemed to enjoy the thrill of combat; he didn't have the confrontational self-assurance of Gray either. He was simply...focussed; as if he had devoted too much concentration to the job at hand to ever worry about failing.

These were the things she knew about Declan Ross - but tonight, with this sudden knock to his usual demeanour, she recalled one thing that hadn't really registered to her before:

He never seemed to get angry.

Not even when he was facing Bora or Everlue and the Vanish Brothers; not when he was tossing bricks at Lyon or taunting Sherry. Not even really when they were walking to Hargeon, although she had seen him at least get irritated there.

No - she had never seen him go beyond the point of irritation. Whenever she thought he probably should have been, when Natsu got riled up, Gray started glaring and even she herself started to grit her teeth...

Declan's brow just furrowed a bit, and he kept on going like it was business as usual.

Yes...the more she thought about it, she felt that there were one or two intrinsic pieces of Declan Ross that she was missing, things that would tie together all the other pieces of the puzzle.

And if she happened to start getting closer to him in the name of solving the mystery...well, she didn't think she'd mind very much.

Her cheeks flushed again, as the Celestial Spirit Mage settled down to sleep at last, a small smile curling her lips as she drifted off into pleasant dreams.

---

Across the room, though neither of its occupants would know it, the Gravity Mage's restless movements slowed, then halted - and as the night wore on, a tiny smile began to pull at the corners of his lips.

---

Declan's POV

The next morning, when Lucy, Natsu, Happy and I were all standing in the street, ready to begin the day, Gray walked out to join us, bandages in place, his expression focussed.

Lucy looked more than a little concerned about him going back into combat so soon after sustaining his injuries, but she held her own council and didn't say anything as we headed out of the gate, in the direction of the temple.

We walked in silence for a few minutes, before I spoke up. "So - what's the plan?"

The others all glanced at me, then back to one another as they considered. Natsu's eyes brightened only moments later, and he rubbed his hands together. "Hehehe...I had a great idea!" He declared, and I gestured for him to share it.

"The moonlight coming through that hole in the temple is what's melting the ice, right?" We all nodded, and the Dragon Slayer grinned, lifting up a clenched fist. "Then it's simple - we stop the moonlight from reaching the secret cavern!"

"Yeah, but how are we gonna do that?" Gray asked, one eyebrow raised.

Natsu's grin widened. "We tilt the temple sideways!"

There were a few seconds of silence while we considered, and I saw Lucy frowning. "Tilt the temple?" She asked, sounding rather disbelieving. "Can we really do that?"

I shrugged, while Natsu kept grinning and a smile slowly made its way across Gray's face. "Shouldn't be too hard," I mused. "If we get into the foundations and wreck half of them, the whole thing'll be skewed as all Hell - we might even demolish the place."

I frowned. "Though, we might have to pay for that..."

I shook my head. "Well, it'll cost more to repay all the damages that'll occur if Deliora gets free - and nothing'll ever make up for the lives it takes." I looked over at Natsu, whose grin widened even further as he punched one fist into the air.

"Alright - a chance to cut loose!"

Gray shook his head as we continued on, while Lucy let out a sigh. "First Kemu Zaleon's missing book, and now an archaeological site that's probably never been investigated properly...are Fairy Tail the enemies of all culture or something?"

I glanced over at our teammates, quite cheerful at the prospect of some wide-scale demolition, then considered the general mayhem and insurance-bankrupting property damage that was the norm when Fairy Tail got involved in a situation.

"...At least we seem to have an appreciation for fine alcohol?"

Judging by the headslap I received, I don't think that was what she wanted to hear.

---

Since we were walking in a straight line to the temple, it only took us about half an hour to make our way there from the village. Once we got within viewing distance, Gray, Happy, Lucy and I were treated to the sight of Natsu's 'Ninja Mode', as we kept low and moving fast to get inside the temple without being observed.

Once we were there, it took another hour of searching before we found a staircase leading down - rather than the massive hole in the centre of the hall, that is. Following it down, we emerged on a level full of supporting pillars - the foundations, as had been our target all along.

"Right then," I clapped my hands together, surveying the stone pillars as they rose to the ceiling, probably about twelve feet above us. "Let's get to it, shall we? Remember, start at the end closest to the far wall and then move back - if this place collapses, at least it won't fall on us that way."

""""Right!"""" The team confirmed, before multicoloured light began to fill the space.

Lucy opened Taurus' gate, and the Celestial Spirit brandished his battleaxe, sprinting to the far end of the room before beginning to fell pillars as easily as if they were trees.

Natsu's fists and feet burst into flames before he took off, blazing haymakers and roundhouse-kicks tearing large chunks of stone from the support columns, if they didn't turn them to dust or snap them.

Misty water vapour rose around Gray as he moved, summoning axes, swords, hammers and even a cannon, swinging and firing at each pillar in turn, wrecking each structure with ease.

I myself first laid both my hands on the furthest column from where I'd started, closing my eyes and taking a breath as I isolated the structure from all the other mass around me. When I had a grip on it, I started my 'column of discs' exercise again, breaking down the stone into sand with a tumultuous grinding noise.

Once I had a large, floating sphere of sand, I held it in front of my upraised palms, pointing them at the next column in line and furrowing my brow as I focussed on what I wanted.

'Not a sphere...a rectangle. Not a cuboid, not a square or a cube, a rectangle - as thin as a blade, as thin as paper, all compressed down, all controlled, all focussed...'

Without an object already being present for me to extrapolate from, shaping a gravitational field to certain dimensions was an exercise in fine control and pure willpower. That meant that, at least for now, I wasn't able to do anything fancy; while I might one day be capable of forming any shape I could imagine with any material I could lay hands on, at the moment even doing this much took almost all my focus.

Still, it worked - as I watched through the merest slit of a gap below my eyelid, the rocky sand compressed itself, taking on the appearance of stone once more as it all pressed together, forming a rectangular plane at roughly the thickness of a single grain of sand.

Taking a deep breath, I swiped my hands to the right as if I was swinging a sword, guiding the sand with the gesture, then brought it back around a few inches higher.

There was a moment of pause, as I wondered if the sand hadn't just broken and flowed around the pillar in front of me...

Then I kicked at the section between the two slices I'd made, and the whole thing popped right out, smooth-sanded material showing at the points where it had once been part of the greater whole.

I gave a satisfied nod internally, although I was too focussed at the moment to actualise the gesture. I'd been working to perfect this shaping ability of mine in my spare time, lately - and when it worked, the results were just what I felt I would be needing soon.

Of course, it didn't always work properly - if I lost focus, the entire thing would either fall apart, or it would at least lose its form - making it about as useful as any other cloud of sand.

'Better to make use of it while it lasts.'

Bringing my hands up once more, I let out a long breath - then, launched the blade forwards, spinning like a discus as it shot across the room, passing through the columns in the row I was dealing with, until it reached the end...

Then, it came right back around, a few inches higher, passing through stone as if it wasn't even there before coming to a dead halt in front of my hands, which had been raised to the current level of its flight.

I finally let myself relax, the tightly-compressed blade falling from the air in a loose cloud of stone particles as I walked past it, massaging my temples as I headed back to the staircase we'd all come down.

The others joined me there quickly, all having demolished their areas, and shot questioning looks at me, then at my 'undamaged' pillars. "What gives, Declan?" Natsu asked, glancing at the columns. "Couldn't you break them?"

I shot the Dragon Slayer a raised eyebrow, then shook my head. "Hardly, Natsu." I lifted one hand, aiming along the line of columns and reaching forward with my Magic alone, my fingers tensing slightly as I steadied my breathing. "But one of us needs a sense of dramatic timing."

And with that, I pulled my arm back, intoning "Bansho Ten'in!" as I did so.

The detached segments of the pillars, all of which I'd been feeling out with my Magic, shot out of their positions as one - taking with them what little structural support the temple yet possessed.

There was a massive, rumbling crash from above and all around us, and my teammates and I watched as hundreds of tonnes of stone fell in a landslide, burying that side of the room, doing likely irreparable damage to the foundations even beyond what we'd already done.

I smiled to myself, nodding in satisfaction. "Yes...quite nice."

Natsu nodded, smiling too. "I guess I see what you mean - it's kinda cool actually watching when we break stuff. I don't even notice usually!"

Gray nodded and Happy gave an 'Aye!', allowing Lucy and I more than enough time to twitch our eyebrows in sync. 'I decided I was going to curtail these guys' habit of negating the value of their missions in property damage...' I moaned internally. 'But it's been barely two weeks, and I'm already doing it consciously!'

I knew that these were extenuating circumstances, but still, it felt almost like my mission had failed before it began...

"You bastards..."

The cold, harsh voice, coming from above us, drew each of our attention quickly - smiles vanished from faces and were replaced by scowls as Lyon Vastia looked down on us, a harsh glare on his features as his eyes betrayed his fury.

The Mage was standing three or four floors above our position, looking down through empty space which had once been host to several floors. Then again, that was the Fairy Tail Renovation Scheme for you - it tended to take 'ease of access' to a whole new level.

"What is the meaning of this?!" He demanded, his voice almost shaking with rage, as we started preparing for battle - Lucy going for her keys, Natsu and Gray's respective elements beginning to manifest about them, while I rested one hand each on Lucy and Natsu's shoulders, managing to reach over and snag Gray by routing my own Magic through Natsu's gravitational field, and began the process of lifting us into the air.

We drew level with Lyon fairly quickly, coming to rest on the edge of the hole, the Ice Mage still trying to glare us all into submission as the floor began to ice over around him, the air rapidly becoming inhospitably cold - to Lucy in particular, I noticed, as her choice of wardrobe was, as usual, about as much use for thermal insulation as Swiss cheese was useful for a construction material.

"With the temple tilted like this..." Natsu grinned, although it was far more sinister now, "there's no way for you to shine the moonlight on that Demon."

Lyon's glare worsened, but I wasn't focussed on him - no, my attention was reserved entirely for the figure standing just far enough away from him to not really register in the minds of my teammates...but I had been looking for them.

Ultear - or, in this disguise, 'Zalty' - was a stooped-over, masculine figure dressed in a reddish-brown, loose shirt and dark trousers, beneath a cloak that was grayish-green on the outside, but the same colour as their trousers on the inside. Their hair was a long, forest-green mane running from beneath the mask they wore and down their back like a thick lawn, with two bangs falling down the shoulders. The mask itself was red and yellow primarily, with a blue symbol on the forehead like a hollow diamond, and four white horns protruding from it - one from each cheek, and two rising from the temples.

It made them look rather like a demon of some kind, or perhaps a shaman - and no-one would ever make the connection between the figure standing there, and the Magic Council Member Ultear Milkovich.

Well - no-one without my advantages, anyway.

Zalty's (easier to refer to them as such now - it would keep me from blurting out her real name and getting all of us in deep shit) eyes, hidden by the dark lenses in their mask, had been on Natsu as the speaker - but now, as if sensing my attention, they turned towards me.

I stared into the dark glass for several moments, the constant, unnerving smile on Zalty's lips not even twitching as I did so, and I got so focussed that I startled when Natsu and Gray abruptly started butting heads.

"You get out of here, flame-brain; Lyon's my fight, so don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong!"

"You already got beaten once! Move over and give someone else a shot; besides, you didn't call it!"

The Dragon Slayer and the Ice Mage kept glaring at each other from close-in, and I let out a long sigh. "It makes me wonder just how badly our S-Class Mages get on, if this is the strongest team our Guild can field." I commented, walking over to the two and casually drawing my hands back.

Twin judicious applications of force later, the two rivals were gripping their foreheads and moaning, having had their skulls cracked together. "Bicker later," I told them, keeping my eyes on Leon and Zalty - the latter of whom seemed to have found an extra inch or so of 'smile' somewhere in their cheek muscles. "For now, Gray can take him on - Natsu, you can get the next one...or, if Gray fucks up again, just take over."

Gray glared daggers at me, and Natsu grumbled - but he took a step back, folding his arms and glaring intently at both the Ice Mages in the room.

'Well, if I can't get them to work together, I can at least keep them out from under each others' feet.' I sighed internally, before turning back to Zalty, moving up to stand with Lucy - who, I noted happily, hadn't released the Key of the Crab yet.

The blonde glanced at me, and I saw a little smile pull at the corners of her lips. "So, are you going to go running off and leave me with all the hard work again?"

I shook my head, frowning a little; honestly, though I understood that it was good for her, straight-up abandoning my friend and teammate like that still didn't sit well with me, much as I may have justified it to myself. "Nope - this'll be a team exercise."

Lucy turned her focus back to the green-haired Mage before us, who had yet to turn their gaze away from me since I focussed on them. "This is the 'other guy'...right, Declan?"

I nodded, cracking my knuckles and waggling my fingers a few times. "Yup."

My teammate let out a long breath, before drawing her whip in one hand, raising Cancer's key into the air as she did so. "Alright then - let's do this!"

"Right!" I confirmed, lowering myself into a three-point crouch and narrowing my focus down to Zalty, whose grin had only widened.

"So...you two are targeting little old me then?" The figure stood up a bit straighter, hands going to their sides, freed of the cloak. "I suppose I'll have to be serious then..."

The stare-down continued for several seconds more - then, the Mage suddenly gestured at his own feet, and the stone of the floor aged away and broke apart in seconds, allowing the figure to fall down to the floor below with a laugh and a parting comment.

"But first, I must allow Lord Reitei's plan to continue!"

I blinked several times at the floor where Zalty had vanished - seconds after breaking apart, it had flown back together again in a textbook display of entropy being thrown into reverse. Then, I cursed, ran over to that spot, and slammed my palm onto the floor. "Shinra Tensei!"

The flagstones blew out, and I immediately dropped through the newly-generated opening to the next level...but there was no sign of Zalty at all, and they were still hidden from my sensing abilities. "Dammit..."

Lucy dropped down through the hole too, landing in a crouch beside me, scanning the area - and not a second too soon, as the area above us exploded into life, ice flying every which way in forms that we could only guess at with a stone floor between us and them.

Lucy glanced back up at the hole, where frost was creeping around the edges and across the ceiling, and gulped. "Phew...I guess it's a good thing we got out of there."

"Yeah," I agreed, scanning the area once more, hoping for a clue. "Unfortunately, that guy's disappeared - and he seemed pretty sure that he could somehow keep Lyon's plan on the rails."

I wasn't entirely sure how he'd manage that, though - we'd defeated all three of Reitei's lieutenants. Then again, we hadn't run into any of those cultist followers of his...perhaps some of them had returned?

I couldn't be sure, but even as I considered it, I could feel a rumbling through the stone of the temple that not even the battle going on above us could explain. My teammate went to ask a question, but instead found herself going to hands and knees, as I did, when the gradient that all the floors had settled onto with the dramatic collapse of the temple's foundations suddenly levelled out, and I knew that from outside, the entire structure had just resumed its usual appearance - as if nothing had ever happened to it at all.

Largely because, now, it hadn't - that aspect of its personal history had been completely erased by the reversal of entropy.

'Truly, there are few things more terrifying in this world than the ability to manipulate one of the fundamental dimensions on a whim.' I paused for a moment. 'Says the guy who has control over one of the four fundamental phenomena of the universe.'

Sometimes, the idea of 'power' could become rather skewed in a world where ten percent of the population violated thermodynamics, conservation of mass and energy, as well as the understood laws of nature, on a daily basis.

One way or another though, the temple had been put to rights - that meant that Moon Drip was likely in play once more, with at least one worshipper up on the roof performing the ritual.

"How..." Lucy gasped, shaking slightly even on her hands and knees. "How is that...what was that?"

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts to once again focus on my objective - combating Zalty. "Well, we know what Zalty's power is now." I commented, climbing to my feet and offering Lucy my hand.

She took it, clutching tight as if for stability - probably needing to work off the shock of having had a cornerstone of her universe turned upside down. 'Time moves Forward' had become 'Time moves Backward' for a few seconds, there; anyone witnessing that for the first time could be forgiven for losing their shit for a little while.

Except me, of course - but I didn't really have enough feeling to spare for things like this.

Shock was a novelty that wore off for me a long time ago.

'...Man, I kinda wish I'd said that out loud. Note to self: work that into some kind of badass boast later on.'

As I was thinking, my teammate calmed down enough to release my hand, once more retrieving her whip - she hadn't released Cancer's Key for even an instant during the demonstration of Arc of Time. "That was...Time Magic, wasn't it?" She muttered, taking deep breaths and scanning the area rapidly.

"Yeah." I agreed. "But at least we know it doesn't work on people; if it did, we'd probably have been rewound along with the temple."

"Ah...you're a sharp one, aren't you?"

Lucy and I spun as one to face Zalty's voice; the Mage had managed to get behind us, probably climbing up through the floor, if I had to guess. Their smile was still spread wide on their face, though the black gaze flitted between my face and Lucy's now. "Most people wouldn't have been able to guess that off the bat; you've ruined my big reveal!"

I huffed out a breath, while at the same time focussing most of my attention on a spot to Zalty's left. "I don't get what it is with Mages like you and your show-boating - haven't you ever heard of combat pragmatism?"

"So says Mr. 'Dramatic Timing'..." Lucy muttered beside me, and I almost twitched an eyebrow. Zalty seemed to hear her, and started chuckling.

"Ah, you say that, but doesn't every Mage like to show off a little? What's the point of having Magic without a little...spectacle?"

My features drew into a scowl, irritation rising in me. "You talk about spectacle, like this is some kind of show - some kind of game. Yet, the man you follow was willing to have innocent villagers put to death to further his plans; and he's willing to put thousands more at risk by releasing Deliora."

Zalty's smile didn't budge an inch. "Well, that's the nature of spectacle, isn't it? It's fast and it's flashy - if a few people get hurt, well, that's just showbiz."

I felt my scowl deepen, but besides a smouldering weight in my chest, my anger didn't rise beyond that - still, even this much was rather impressive for me. "Entertainment at the expense of others isn't spectacle - it's sadism." I raised my right hand to aim just slightly to the Mage's right-hand-side, which Lucy - who, I idly noted, had been glancing my way while I spoke with Zalty - took as a cue to raise her Key again. "Now, defend yourself! Shinra Tensei!"

The blast of force raced away from my open palm, while beside me, Lucy recited a quick incantation - then, plunged the golden Key into the empty air, producing a show of golden light at the rapidly-forming figure of The Great Crab.

In the meantime, Zalty, perceiving the onrushing attack, leapt left to avoid it - as I had rather expected to be the case, Ultear wasn't about to break character and just break my technique apart, and as my attack was off-centre she moved in the direction which took her furthest from the strike.

Zalty let out a startled yell as they passed an invisible line, suddenly going from 'sideways leap' to 'falling like a rock'. I had used the time while we were conversing to ramp up the gravity in a concentrated area just to the Mage's left more and more, and the acceleration was more than enough to catch the green-haired figure off guard, resulting in a rather undignified - but impressive - faceplant, as their upper body's acceleration left their legs dragging behind them, allowing the force of the fall to land almost entirely on Zalty's face.

Much as I'd expected to happen, the gravitational field broke apart seconds after Zalty entered it - Ultear's magical power fought mine off with ease, even though it had taken just long enough for the initial strike of the attack to make it through. Still, the Mage was on the ground, and by the time they could climb to their feet, cracks in their mask reversing even as we watched, Cancer had finished forming.

His hair was black, and braided in red cornrows that end in a shape like a crab's pincers. He was, as always, dressed in a blue striped shirt and dark trousers, boots on his feet. There was a ring chain in his right pocket, and a hairdresser's tool bag on the left side of his belt. He wore a golden necklace, and his eyes were covered by sunglasses with green lenses. His skin was a tanned orange, and he carried a pair of scissors with handles like a crab's pincers in each hand.

All in all, he might not have looked too out of place in a hairdresser's back on Earth - if not for the six crab legs sticking out of his back, anyway.

A stray beam of light caused a gleam on his sunglasses, and the Spirit looked to his contractor. "Hey, Lucy - what hairstyle would you like today, ebi?"

"No styling today, Cancer!" Lucy called, while Zalty was quickly getting to his feet. "I need you to beat the guy with green hair!"

"You got it, ebi!" He declared, brandishing his scissors in a cross-armed position, hands resting on opposite shoulders and his body tilted forward into a sprinter's position.

With a kick off, the Celestial Spirit hurtled forward - causing Zalty to roll quickly sideways, getting out of the way of the charge and summoning a crystalline sphere from...somewhere. I didn't quite see; I just knew that it wasn't there one moment, and in the next second it was.

"Well well, a Zodiac Key? That's impressive - let's see how he does against my Arc of Time!"

The sphere, which had been hovering in the air, shot towards Cancer in an instant - only to become bisected just as quickly, the two halves parting and flying to either side of the Celestial Spirit.

'...Those are some fucking ridiculously sharp scissors. Then again, I cut things with sand - so I suppose I can't be calling bullshit.'

Perspective could be so weird sometimes.

Cancer ran forward once the sphere had been sliced apart...only for the projectile to reform itself in seconds and reverse direction, heading right for the Celestial Spirit's unprotected back...

Whereupon I raised my hand, sighting carefully, and intoned "Bansho Ten'in!"

My Magic took hold of the object's mass, hooking into the phenomenon of depressed space/time that its mere existence generated at my behest, and my magical power was put to work in pulling it towards me - acting in direct opposition to Ultear's magical power, and bringing the two into conflict.

The ensuing battle of wills was, for the short time it lasted, brutal - and not in my favour. I had to strain with all my might just to restrain the sphere, instantly feeling sweat bead on my forehead and a tattoo beat drum inside my head, a headache throbbing into existence like I'd been stabbed with an ice-pick. 'And to think, this likely isn't even half her power...'

Still, my grip on the projectile did its job, restraining it and letting Cancer get in close. This time though, he was forced to back off by Zalty's orbiting debris field, scrounged from the walls, floor and ceiling - the Mage having aged the structure to the point of collapse in order to gather material - and he hopped back to stand beside Lucy and I, huffing out a quick breath. "This guy's a real bad hair day, ebi."

'...Well, I guess I couldn't have expected him not to use the hair puns at some point...'

"I'll go in with you this time," I informed the spirit, keeping my eyes trained on where Zalty stood with an orbiting belt of stone. "I'll go high and try to get behind him, if you approach from the front - you're faster than me, so you should be fine if he starts tossing those rocks at you."

Cancer glanced at me, then looked behind him to Lucy. 'Oh, right- Lucy's his contractor, not me. Should've remember that.'

Out loud, I said, "Sorry, Lucy - didn't think for a minute there. You okay with that idea?"

The blonde blinked once or twice, then her features became resolved and she grasped her whip with both hands. "Almost - Declan, you take me with you above him; I'll try and get my whip on him from there."

I hesitated momentarily, then nodded, laying a hand on her shoulder and lifting us both off the ground. We accelerated forward rapidly, making use of the high ceilings to level off above Zalty's head but without being at risk of breaking into the floor above us, Cancer darting forward beneath us and seeming to attract most of Zalty's focus.

Still, though the Mage seemed to have their attention largely on Cancer, several objects hurtled towards us - a dilemma I held off on resolving until they were just outside of arm's length to make sure we were as close as possible, before shouting "Shinra Tensei!" and blowing them out of the air, leaving an empty space for my teammate to aim through.

The Celestial Spirit Mage's aim was true, and her bullwhip cracked through the air, circling around Zalty's upraised arm in a second - then, with a bit of help from me, the Mage was dragged into the air with a startled shout, spun in one full rotation, and then tossed back to the floor with a crash.

My teammate and I spun a couple of times with our remaining momentum, but fetched up with my right side facing down - perfect for me to raise my hand once more, while my Magic reached up behind me and grabbed a hold of the ceiling. "Shinra Tensei: Precipitation!" I declared, loosing first the concussive wave that was the signature of this most basic technique...

While above the target area, gravity tugged hard at the ceiling, breaking it loose and allowing a pile of debris to fall down in the wake of the force wave.

I likened the idea to a vacuum; as if all the gravity in an area had flexed downward, and the area above had its own gravity increase to try and fill the avoid, dragging any mass in that direction along with it.

It was really just a combination of my Gravity Hammer and Shinra Tensei techniques, and only truly applicable indoors, but no matter its mechanics, it proved itself useful.

Unfortunately, not useful enough - as proven when I had to jink Lucy and I sideways to dodge the crystal orb once more, spying a rather rough-looking Zalty on the edge of the debris area as I did so. I couldn't keep my eyes on them unfortunately - the sphere was on us quickly, and I had to focus on manoeuvring to avoid crashing myself and Lucy into any walls, ceilings or floors.

Next to me, I felt my teammate shift slightly, the muscles in her shoulder tensing momentarily - then there was crack of displaced air, a straining sensation not unlike when we had lifted Zalty, and a cry of effort from Lucy which culminated in the sound of shattering crystal.

With a momentary reprieve, I quickly landed us on the floor, glancing over to see that Lucy still had her whip in hand, and that the self-repairing remains of the crystal ball were gathering together in mid-air several feet behind where we'd been. 'Incredible - she managed to snag that thing mid-air with her whip and then smash it, probably using the remaining tangential velocity from when I was turning us.'

"Cancer!" Lucy called. "Go now!"

"Right, ebi!" The Celestial Spirit declared, leaning forward again before kicking off; this time, without Zalty having their orb to act as a mobile defence.

The Mage attempted to use the remaining debris in orbit around their form...but they had yet to properly regain what had been lost in the mad scramble to get out from under the double-threat Shinra Tensei variant, and what rocks there were didn't even slow Cancer down as he easily sliced through them.

There was a momentary bright flash of light and the sound of blades, followed by a rush of wind...and then Cancer was past Zalty, arms extended to either side, scissors closed.

A moment's pause resulted in the green mane of Zalty's hair exploding into fine follicles and seeming to disperse into thin air, leaving Zalty standing for a short time before toppling over, seemingly out for the count.

I didn't buy it for an instant; especially not since 'Zalty' was entirely a magical disguise, and thus that hadn't been 'real' hair. But still, I had no wish to provoke Ultear - so, I let out a long breath, placing my hands on my knees as I made sure my lungs were getting enough air.

"Thank you, Cancer." Lucy smiled, bowing her head to the Celestial Spirit - a motion which I quickly stood up and copied, drawing some of the hairdressing crab's attention.

"Hm...so you're Lucy's new friend, ebi?" I blinked a couple of times as the Celestial Spirit leaned forward, seeming to examine me from behind his lenses. "Your hairstyle suits you; let me know when it needs maintained, ebi."

"Ah...thank you?" I hazarded, drawing a nod from Cancer as he looked back over at Lucy, who was giving him a strange look.

"See ya, Lucy - I'll cut your hair for you next time, ebi."

The blonde blinked, then shook her head, offering a smile and another inclination of the head. "'Till next time, Cancer - great work today."

The Celestial Spirit vanished in a cloud of golden light, while Lucy just stared at where he'd been standing, not really seeing what was there. I waited a few moments, then broke the silence. "So...is it normal, for Cancer to offer people haircuts like that?"

"Not like that..." Lucy replied, absent-mindedly. "He makes comments, but he basically said he'd be fine with being summoned for just your haircut - except, he's never done that for anyone but me..."

As my teammate was still staring at nothing, I decided that I'd move away from this subject, and instead looked back over to where Zalty had been - I was unsurprised to discover that the 'unconscious' Mage had vanished, seemingly into thin air.

I was considering whether to draw attention to it...when a sound like every animal in the world dying at once filled the air, and my focus was abruptly pulled elsewhere.

I clapped my hands over my ears, Lucy doing the same thing beside me - the howling stopped a few moments later, but we were both reluctant to pull away our protection - a decision for which we were rewarded only seconds later, when a second rendition split the air, coming unmistakably from below us. "What is that?!" Lucy asked, shouting to be heard while I shook my head reflexively.

"Deliora!" I shouted back. "It's gotta be!"

My teammate paled quickly, but I grabbed her shoulder. "Come on - we've gotta find the others!"

With her gravitational field subsumed by mine, we quickly reached the floor above, entering the 'throne room' where Lyon had been sitting before we came along and made a concerted effort to wreck his shit, his face and his day - not necessarily in that order, but achieving all of them anyway.

'It's like Oshibana Station...' I pondered, staring at the devastation momentarily. 'Only more...well, wrecked.'

The entire room looked like it had been transplanted from an ice age - there wasn't a brick without great, jutting shards of frozen moisture hanging from it, with many half-formed structures and shattered piles of ice and stone lying around, debris from the battle.

I could see the crumpled form of Lyon, fallen on his face in front of a large hole in the wall; but I moved my attention over to Natsu, Gray and Happy quickly.

Natsu was pulling Gray to his feet, and I noticed that there was no ice encrusted on the Ice Mage's abdomen; it seemed that Lyon hadn't managed to get in a surreptitious stabbing. Happy was flying above them, circling rather like a startled bird.

Gray looked over to us as Lucy and I approached, quickly scanning the area behind us and the hole we'd come through. "Did you get the other guy?"

"We did," I nodded. "But we'll swap stories later - right now, we gotta get down to that cavern. If Deliora's free, our best shot at dealing with it, one way or another, is right now - when it's still waking up."

"Right." Gray nodded, features resolved and stoic - I could easily tell that, even now, he was preparing to use the Iced Shell technique and seal the Demon away once more.

I didn't comment on that aloud though, instead turning and running for the hole we'd first used to enter the room, then dropping down two floors to land on the temple's ground floor - the rest of my teammates following suit, before we all ran together in the direction of the temple entrance.

Once we reached it, we all jumped into the dark void that had once been covered by the hall's floor, falling quickly but under complete control as Lucy grabbed my hand and Natsu's, with Gray's shoulder under my other hand. I flipped us before we touched the ground, and then we were off; sprinting down the joining tunnel, before bursting into the now-lit cavern, where the massive, icy boulder that had once contained Deliora had been reduced to so much water on the floor of the cavern.

I could see how Gray flinched, a myriad emotions flitting across his features before they hardened once more, anger now visible in his clenched fists just as determination was in his jaw.

Still, I only had so much attention for the Ice Mage - particularly when the massive, blue form of Deliora stood before us, empty black eyes seeming focussed on our position, the tainted sensation of corruption radiating from its body like a dark sun.

The five of us just stared for a few moments, adjusting to the weight of Deliora's presence, the crawling horror of its aura. Then, Natsu shook it off; Gray followed quickly, then me - Lucy took a deep breath and her hand, which had been trembling in the air, went for her keys. Happy had got himself together as well, flying up towards the ceiling, circling in preparation for whatever role he might have to fulfil.

"Well, it's revived, and we're here now..." Natsu said, his fists clenching and flames beginning to spark around him. "Alright, guys - let's take this thing down!"

We all prepared for action, leaning to send our weights in the correction directions for evasion or a forward charge - but that came to a halt when a deranged laugh, wet with what I knew must be blood in the progenitor's throat, sounded through the cavern. "It's impossible..." Lyon Vastia babbled, the sound of liquid in his words, a madness in his eyes as he crawled across the stone floor of the cavern, looking for all the world like the risen dead.

'To have been so close behind us, even in that state...' I grimaced, as the Ice Mage dragged himself upright, as if preparing to fight the Demon before us. 'He either knew a shortcut of some kind, or he actually managed to drag himself this far at the same pace we used to run.' If there was anything that would have assured me of the madness that had grown in Lyon, it would have been that.

The white-haired man stood, hunched over and wavering but standing nonetheless, and began to raise his hands...

Only for Gray to send him crumpling back to the floor with a single strike to the side of the neck, before walking forward - beyond the line our team had formed. "You've done enough, Lyon..." The Ice Mage said, taking a deep breath. "Just leave it to me now..." He settled into a stance - knees bent, arms stretched to their limits, crossing at the elbows. "I'll seal Deliora myself!"

Instantly, the icy signature of Gray's Magic shot skyward, growing exponentially more powerful as he focussed, powerful enough to appear as a glowing sphere of white light around him. The Mage's dark hair began to wave in an unnatural wind, the water around his legs stirring as he prepared what he perceived as the only thing that could salvage this situation.

"Iced Shell...!" Lyon cursed, despite the gargling overture of the blood in his throat. "Don't, Gray! Do you know how long it took to melt that ice this time?!" The madman tried once more to regain his feet, failing miserably but continuing to speak, his tone becoming strident, almost a scream. "I'll just do it again - eventually, I'll challenge Deliora once more, and you'll have died for nothing!"

Ur's other student, still preparing his spell, grunted. "But still - now, here, I can stop this; this, is the only thing I can do...the only thing that can be done."

At that, another voice was heard - one that the two Ice Mages had forgotten about for a moment, but one that didn't take such ignorance as a reason to leave the situation be. "The only thing? Don't get a big head, you damn ice-cube."

Natsu Dragneel, his scarf and waistcoat fluttering in the wind, stepped forward - past the glowing light of the Iced Shell, into the water, to stand in front of Gray and face down Deliora directly. There was no fear; no hesitation and no anxiety. There was simply anger, and resolve - more than I thought anyone could possibly display in a situation like this.

"I'll fight it."

A few seconds passed after that announcement, both Ice Mages in the cavern having been stunned into insensibility, before Gray's angry voice rose again. "You damn moron - get out of the way! Move!"

The Dragon Slayer turned - just a bit; enough to look back over his shoulder at the Ice Mage, resolve still alight in him. "The last time you went to use that spell, I stopped you 'cause I didn't want you to die just yet." His eyes narrowed, boring straight into Gray. "Didn't you hear me then? Or did my voice not reach you?"

The stunned Ice Mage just stared, as his long-time rival turned back to Deliora, glaring with all his might at the Demon. "Go on then - cast that spell, if you really want to..." Natsu continued, orange light gathering around his fists.

"BUT I WON'T QUIT UNTIL I'M DEAD!"

Deliora let out another roar, one massive blue arm rearing back, rising as if to hammer in a particularly recalcitrant nail - Gray yelled a warning while Lucy had drawn a Key, but couldn't seem to get beyond that - as if she had completely blanked on what she could possibly do.

As for me...despite my knowledge, how I knew this would end, the sight of the Demon rearing back and preparing to swing was enough to go straight past all the 'surety' I held in my own preparedness, and instead trigger the responses I'd been building up ever since I arrived in Earthland.

I stepped forward, past Gray, to stand beside Natsu - raising both my hands, aiming down an intercept course with Deliora's arm, ready to soften or repulse the attack...

The attack that never came.

As soon as Deliora's arm reached the peak of the wind-up, just when it was ready to start coming down again in order to smash us all flat - the limb stopped. The rest of Deliora did likewise, all motion ceasing for a few moments...until the shaking began.

Tremors ran across the Demon's skin, shaking its limbs visibly until - with a massive crack - the upraised arm snapped in half around the elbow, fracturing and breaking apart like there had been C4 in there, the forearm falling down Deliora's back while dust and larger debris scattered into the air and began bouncing down the blue corpse.

And a corpse it was; for even as the arm exploded, massive cracks and fissures began to appear, splitting open along the length of Deliora's body, the entire thing seeming more and more like a statue...until something finally gave, and Deliora fell apart, falling down with a roar like an avalanche, blue rock cascading everywhere.

"It can't be..." Lyon gasped, the madness suddenly gone from his tone - instead, he sounded almost scared. "All this time...Deliora was...already dead...?"

The rockslide continued, and I absent-mindedly knocked away anything that might have landed on us; while most of my attention remained on the collapse of Deliora, much as Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Happy were.

Lyon himself wasn't looking; he was staring at the floor of the cavern, hands curled into impotent fists. "For ten years, Deliora was subsumed by Ur's ice..." He whispered, more to himself than to anyone else - though his voice carried anyway. "And that whole time...we were watching its last moment."

One fist rose, striking the ground...and was swiftly followed by liquid, as tears fell from Lyon's eyes. There was no more madness there - just an overwhelming sorrow, and a deep-seated grief. "I never had a chance..." He whispered. "I'll never...surpass Ur..."

The final pebbles of the Deliora landslide ceased, pattering across the floor while rock continued to shift, settling into a massive pile of dark blue stones. Similarly blue dust was thick in the air, although none of us noticed it - we just stared at what had once been a Demon, the scene settling into our memories...until Natsu turned back to Gray. "Gray...your teacher was awesome."

The Ice Mage didn't answer - he remained standing in place, staring at the place where Deliora had stood, slowly raising one hand to his face.

I couldn't see his eyes - but there was a telltale sparkle on his cheeks. "Thank you, Ur..." He whispered, barely loud enough for even Natsu to hear, I imagined. "Thank you so much..."

Natsu watched him for a moment, then broke into a wide smile - then turned around, intercepting Happy as the cat dive-bombed him with a joyful cry, the feline burying himself in the Dragon Slayer's chest as the teen laughed.

I lowered my hands - no more falling debris, no more need for a point defence - and let out a long breath, idly placing one hand over my heart underneath my duster. 'A mile a minute...' I noted, feeling the organ's attempts to break free of my rib-cage and possibly take up a life of tango, if its enthusiasm was anything to go by. 'That was...exhilarating.'

I turned away from Natsu and Gray, looking over to where Lucy was standing.

The Celestial Spirit Mage was a little ways back from where we were, seemingly taking in the sight of all of us together - Deliora's wreckage in the background, Natsu and Happy smiling, Gray quietly weeping, and her eyes fell on me.

For a moment, she looked scared - perhaps a little ashamed. I frowned, then stopped when that seemed to make it worse. Instead, I climbed back out of the water and onto the rocky floor of the cavern, heading over to the blonde. When I drew level with her, I hid another frown - she wouldn't meet my eyes.

I blew out a breath. "Lucy, why won't you look at me?" When that didn't elicit a response, I narrowed my eyes a bit. "Ah - am I too ugly perhaps, for the Princess' eyes? Oh for shame - I knew I should have bought a helmet!"

The Celestial Spirit Mage suddenly looked up, mouth open - likely to protest, though whether it was the truth of my statement or my use of the title I wasn't sure - and found herself meeting my eyes, quickly taking on a 'deer in the headlights' look.

I just smiled, reaching out with one hand to give her shoulder a quick squeeze. "Thanks for watching my back, Lucy - and thanks for backing me up against that Arc of Time guy, too; you did brilliantly."

The blonde stared up at me for a few seconds, still meeting my eyes, before letting out a small sigh and returning my smile. "Well, I'm your partner, remember? That means I have to back you up."

I blinked a couple of times, my smile widening when I remember telling her much the same thing on the train platform in Magnolia - then, I raised an eyebrow. "Partner?"

Lucy nodded, turning a little red. "Yeah - like our own mini-team. Unless..."

Her voice shifted to a quiet, insecure tone - at the same time, her eyes dropped, her hands drawing together at her lower back and one boot scuffed the ground gently. "You don't want me?"

I folded faster so fast even I barely noticed I'd done it, pulling the blonde into a side-hug almost on reflex. "Not at all," I assured her. "I couldn't ask for anyone better."

There was about a second where we remained like that - then, I heard muffled laughter as Lucy shook slightly beside me, and my mind caught up with the rest of me. I retrieved my arm quickly, taking a too-quick sidestep from the Celestial Spirit Mage as she giggled into her hand, eyes alight with mirth as she smiled widely.

I stared at her for a few seconds, feeling my cheeks reddening by the second, before turning away and crossing my arms. "That was just unfair."

"Well, consider it part of your learning experience!" Lucy declared, still smiling widely. "You'd better get used to it - you're not going to get rid of me now, Declan Ross; not in a million years!"

I stared at her for a few moments longer, and as I did so, sandy hair and a mischievous smile once again laid themselves over the Mage's features...

Until I blinked, and the spectre was gone - only Lucy stood there, smiling brightly.

I let out a huff of breath, then turned back around properly. "Very well then, Princess - this knight, oh so humble may he be, will stand at your side."

The blonde let out a huff of her own, then extended a hand. "Partners then?"

I rolled my eyes, but reached forward myself, taking hold of the proffered hand - then, with a smirk, I bent over quickly and kissed the back, gently retrieving my own hand. Lucy stared for a few seconds, flushing bright red before she remembered to bring her hand back to her side. "Partners." I confirmed, before abruptly remembering the others, and glancing over toward the trio...

All of whom were smirking in our direction.

'...Oh, Mirajane is going to have a field-day with this.'

I let out a sorrowful breath of air, before shaking my head to clear it and raising my voice a bit to call over. "C'mon, you lot - if you've got everything out of your systems, we've still got a job to complete."

That got their attention, and Lucy's as well. "But...didn't we do that? Deliora's been destroyed, so won't the villagers go back to normal now?"

I shook my head. "Not quite, Lucy - remember, it wasn't Deliora that caused the change in the villagers; it was the Moon Drip. Just because Deliora's finally bitten the dust doesn't meant that the villagers will automatically return to normal."

Natsu and Happy glanced at one another, then shrugged. "So, let's just go and heal them all real quick!"

Lucy let out a sigh, while Gray, who was leaning against a rock nearby, raised an eyebrow. "And how are we gonna do that?"

My teammates glanced at one another, before Gray turned to face behind him - and towards Lyon, who had pushed himself up into a sitting position, reclining against a rock and just staring at the ceiling.

As we approached, he looked down from his perusal of the cavern's stalactites to glance at us, not showing fear or even anger as we arrayed ourselves in a semi-circle. 'I guess he's like me, at the moment - too burned out to give a shit about anything.'

He'd pass that stage in a little while, if he was anything like me - unfortunately though, he might never be the same again. 'Hmph. Of all the people I could have felt empathy with, it turns out to be this guy...'

"Yo, Lyon." Gray began, drawing the other Ice Mage's gaze over to him. "That Moon Drip spell of yours - how do we cure its effects?"

The white-haired man blinked, the only sign of surprise or intrigue he displayed before asking "Effects?"

"Don't act like you don't know!" Natsu growled, light flaring around his hands for a moment. "It turned all the people in the village into demons! Several of them have died already!"

Lyon blinked again, then shook his head slightly. "That's the first I've heard of it," he admitted, meeting Natsu's glare with an apathetic lack of caring. "In the three years we've been here, not once have the villagers approached us - and we've never tried to contact them, either."

"Seriously?" Gray muttered. "Not once in three years?"

Lyon's shoulders moved slightly in what might have been a shrug. "Well in any case, I can't tell you about curing any effects...though, I have doubts about our ritual causing anything like that anyway."

Natsu growled again, leaning forward a bit. "Don't tell me you're going to try and say you didn't do anything wrong!"

Lyon blinked again, totally unfazed by the sight of an angry Dragon Slayer getting in his face. "Well, we've been basking in that same light for three years - and it's never had any effect on us."

Natsu blinked rapidly as he considered that, and I raised one hand, dropping a fist onto it. "Right - that's it."

The others turned to look at me, and I grinned. "I know what happened to the villagers; the last piece of the puzzle just fell into place."

My teammates blinked a few times, and I turned, ready to head for the exit... Then paused, holding in place and gathering quizzical looks from my teammates before glancing back over my shoulder, toward Lyon. "Just tell me one thing..." I began, drawing the Ice Mage's attention. "The others who were working with you...are they the same as you and Gray?"

For the first time since Deliora had collapsed, Lyon exhibited emotion - a quick flash of fear, transitioning to anger and then - with a glance towards Gray - something akin to understanding. "...Yes," he said at last. "They are."

I nodded, turning back toward the exit. "Yuka and Toby were tied to a log in a clearing, the last time I saw them," I commented. "Although they might be free by now. Sherry was knocked out on the beach; I'm sure she's awake at this point. I don't know what happened to the others, but we haven't seen any of them."

Lyon grunted, leaning back against the rock. "Sherry woke up hours ago - she was the one who finished the Moon Drip ritual."

"Ah - I had wondered about that." I began walking once more, raising one hand to wave over my shoulder as I did. "My name's Declan; Declan Ross. May we meet again, Lyon - under better circumstances, preferably."

I kept walking out of the cavern without waiting for a reply, followed quickly by Natsu and Lucy - the two of them seemed to understand that something important had happened in that little conversation, but weren't sure what - or perhaps, they were simply too considerate to ask.

One way or another, Gray caught up with us after we ascended the same staircase we had used the night before, and we began the trek back to the village in a quiet, companionable silence.

Well, until...

"So Declan, Lucy, when's the wedding?"

'...Fuck.'

---

Once we returned to the village and explained that the Mages who had been threatening them had been dealt with, and that the thing they were attempting to unseal (we decided against mentioning Deliora by name - no need to cause a panic after the fact) had been neutralised, there was a great deal of relief all around...

Then once the Mayor came forward, there was a hush - and this time, Lucy pushed me forward; probably because I'd been a smug bastard and not explained what I had 'figured out' on the way back, despite much pleading on her part. She hadn't dared go any further than that, since Happy had been churning out innuendo and questions about our upcoming marriage ceremony like they'd make him money, while Natsu and Gray both grinned and joined in when they could.

'And of course, if I ask, she'll say it's a 'learning experience'. Cunning woman; that phrase is as catch-all as 'For the Greater Good'.'

When the elderly demon approached, I inclined my head. "Mayor; I believe I have the solution to your problem."

More susurrations ran through the crowd at that, and the Mayor himself seemed to perk up immediately. "You are sure, young Mage?"

I bobbed my head a bit from side to side. "I am quite confident, yes; certainly, I believe this will resolve the issue."

The Mayor smiled, relief and gratitude shining through despite his inhuman visage. "Then please, do so - we'll help however we can."

"Thank you." I inclined my head again, then stood a bit straighter, glancing around. "Do you have a particularly open space we can use? Preferably an elevated one."

One of the nearby villagers coughed to draw attention, then pointed toward the village wall. "There are several posts around the walls with plenty of room; would one of those do?"

"Yes, thank you." I turned to my teammates, and began issuing instructions. "Lucy, if you don't mind bothering him again, I'd like you to summon Cancer - we're going to need his cutting abilities. Gray, Natsu, you two take a quick rest while I go and grab a tree; get something to eat, take care of any injuries you've got. Happy, you do the same - lend them a hand if they need something fetched."

They all nodded, moving to do as I'd asked, while I hopped over the village wall and uprooted a likely-looking candidate from the treeline, ferrying it back over the divide and standing it upright in the middle of the village.

By that time, Cancer had already materialised - and was talking hair-care with the Mayor, specifically about how to properly maintain facial hair.

I noticed that Lucy was watching with a certain exasperated fondness; an expression that suited her so well, I almost thought she glowed in the moonlight.

When she turned in my direction and met my eyes, I realised I'd been staring, and quickly turned away to examine the unearthed tree I'd collected, which prompted Lucy to request Cancer break off his conversation and lend me a hand - or his scissors.

A quick consultation later, the Great Crab set to work with his usual efficiency - seconds after he began, excess material fell away from the tree until what remained was effectively a robust, weighty javelin, wide at the base and ready for throwing.

Giving the Celestial Spirit my thanks, I carted the weapon over to where Gray was eating soup alongside a gaggle of several female demons, seemingly oblivious to the looks they were giving him as he got the food in him. 'It's a good thing Juvia isn't here,' I noted idly, even while I was asking him to ice over the javelin internally and externally, though preferably not enough to cause the sap within to expand too much. 'Hm - I wonder, could I help those two get together? if I can, should I? I mean, I have no idea how they'd get along as a couple - though, I don't think it'd be that bad a match, all things said.'

I shelved those thoughts for such a time as when Phantom Lord had been put down like the rabid dog it was, and the few good seeds within it could be moved to better soil. At the moment, I was returning to Natsu, asking him to follow me up to the platform.

We gained a following as we headed there, and by the time I flew us both quickly up to the guard post, it seemed like all of the village must have turned out to see what we were going to do.

"So, Declan, what's the plan?" Natsu asked, rubbing his hands together in anticipation and eyeing the massive weapon I was carrying.

"Pretty simple, Natsu." I replied. "We're gonna break the purple moon."

The Dragon Slayer blinked, then grinned. "ALRIGHT! LET'S DO IT!"

I smiled, the enthusiasm not yet having had time to become irritating, and gestured for Natsu to stand behind me. "Okay - I'm gonna line up the shot and make a gravity corridor..." I saw his blank look, and continued. "They're what let me move really fast, like a corridor you walk down, getting faster as you go." Natsu nodded his understanding, and I continued. "Anyway, I'll line it up; but I need you to really get it going. So, I'll need you to punch the back of end of this," I patted the overlarge javelin, "as hard as you can. Cancer left most of the structural durability alone, and Gray already froze it to harden it more, so hopefully you won't break it."

The Dragon Slayer nodded, grinning. "Hit it hard - right up my alley!"

I nodded, then turned to face the purple moon where it hung in the sky, narrowing my eyes as I raised my right arm, the back of my hand hovering above my shoulder, the javelin resting on my palm with my fingers facing away from the head. I adjusted my footing until I was properly oriented, then cast my Magic out in front of me - I pumped enough magical power into the effect that my Magic Circle formed multiple times along the path of the gravity corridor, spinning gently and giving me a visual cue.

Pulling my arm back and lifting one leg to get a bit more oomph out of my body's movement, I let out a deep breath - then, nodded. "Now, Natsu!"

There was a flare of light and heat behind me, and just as I was throwing the javelin, an absolutely incredible force added itself to my own, launching the javelin forward like a bat out of Hell, right into the gravity corridor.

My Magic's acceleration grabbed the javelin and it went from being just a blur to almost leaving my ability to view entirely, shooting into the sky like a rocket as we watched after it.

I shaded my eyes as I tracked its upward progress, smiling a little to myself. "Four!" I called softly, and a few seconds later, I heard the first crack.

Gasps and shouts could be heard from the crowd below us as dark cracks began to spread out from a point centred on the moon as seen from the village -then, sections of the purple night sky began falling away like glass and dissipating, starting a chain reaction which spread through the sky above Galuna Island, until the unnatural purple of the Moon Drip had been replaced by the familiar midnight tones of a natural night-time.

I nodded happily, clapping Natsu on the shoulder. "Nice work, Natsu. Thanks for the help; I don't think I could have got it that high without you."

The Dragon Slayer grinned. "No problem, Declan - now let's get down; I'm hungry!"

'Colour me surprised.' I thought to myself, as the two of us dropped down from atop the wall and into the crowd of confused, milling villagers. Among them, Gray and Lucy were looking utterly bamboozled, and approached us quickly as got down.

"Declan, what was that? The sky broke, and...the villagers didn't go back to normal?"

I smiled. "Actually, Lucy, they did - do you remember what I told you our first night here?"

Lucy's eyes unfocussed for a moment, before she blinked a couple of times and formed an 'o' shape with her mouth. "The Moon Drip - you said it makes a lens!"

I nodded. "Exactly. That was affecting the moonlight, which in turn affected the villagers - the reason being that, unlike Lyon and the others, the villagers weren't humans at all; they were actually demons."

Gray and Lucy's jaws dropped. ""Seriously?!""

I glanced over at a few villagers who were listening in, and they all nodded, if a bit slowly. "Yup - why do you think they call this place the 'Island of Demons'?"

My teammates took a few moments to process that, and were just getting there when a vaguely familiar voice spoke up from the edge of the crowd, happiness and a bit of awe audible in it. "You guys actually broke the curse...this is amazing; I'm so glad I left this in your hands."

We turned to face the voice, as did several of the villagers - revealing the fully-demonic form of Bobo, who waved at us. "Thank you, Mages!"

Lucy and Happy grabbed onto one another as the closest things at hand and then hid behind me, while Gray looked a bit shaken - only Natsu seemed to be taking all this in stride. "Are you that sailor?!" Gray asked, while the other two were gibbering about ghosts.

At the same time, the Mayor was staring at Bobo as if he couldn't comprehend what he was saying, while the villagers were looking confused, their gazes shifting back and forth between Bobo and the stone memorial which served as his grave. As their confused exclamations rose, Bobo just laughed. "We're demons! It'll take more than being stabbed in the chest to kill one of us!"

Gray was still staring, although Happy and Lucy had grown brave enough to peek over one of my shoulders apiece, which probably looked rather odd from an observer's perspective. "But...didn't you disappear from the boat?"

Bobo grinned, then abruptly vanished in a vague blur of movement - re-materialising several metres above his previous position, supported by dark wings previously concealed beneath his cloak. "I'm sorry I didn't explain back then," he called down. "But I was the only one to keep my memory, so I had to leave - with everyone else thinking they were human, I was scared to stick around."

As Bobo was giving his explanation, the Mayor had been shaking slightly in place - when it concluded, the elderly demon suddenly spread wings of his own and launched himself into the sky crying his son's name, wrapping the other demon in a mid-air hug.

They were soon joined by others, as more and more of the villagers spread their wings and took to the air, laughing and letting loose joyous shouts as they swirled around one another beneath the pure moonlight of the island.

My teammates and I all looked up at it, smiling to ourselves. "You know..." Natsu commented, still smiling widely. "They might call this place Demon Island...but like this, they look more like angels."

I chuckled, shaking my head a bit. "I guess they do, at that."

The villagers began floating down again, the smiling, laughing duo of Bobo and the Mayor at the centre, and the village came to life in a rush of exuberance and celebration.

"We're gonna have a feast! A demon feast!"

My teammates and I glanced at one another, then shrugged - free food was, regardless of world, race, Magic or circumstance, still free food.

---

Overlooking the Village

In the trees on the outskirts of the village, the cloaked figure of Zalty - minus all hair, and looking quite worse for wear - crouched on a branch, overlooking the villagers and their guests.

Beside them floated the crystal sphere which had been used as a weapon earlier that day, now broadcasting the sound an image of the person on the other end to Zalty and vice-versa.

"So, have you seen everything you wanted to see?" Zalty asked, glancing at the sphere.

"I have," came the reply - smooth, cultured and charismatic as always, even without anyone nearby to benefit from the role. "Those Fairy Tail Mages performed far better than expected, didn't they?"

"Indeed they did," Zalty agreed. "The Heartfilia and the Anchor in particular were quick off the mark with those brains of theirs - with those two working with the Salamander and Fullbuster...well, the Titania didn't even have to get involved at all."

"It was rather impressive," the voice from the sphere noted. "I almost hope they don't get in our way."

The figure of Zalty reached up to their mask, pulling it away from their face. As it detached, the hunched stature, manic face and shamanic garb all vanished in white smoke.

In Zalty's place, Ultear Milkovich stood tall. Her eyes were dark grey, set in naturally porcelain skin below raven hair which fell to just below her shoulder blades. She was dressed in a white kimono-top, only her left arm bearing a sleeve, and a skirt in the same style ending above her knees. The top was held closed by an orange-yellow sash around her abdomen, and she wore sandals on her feet. Around her neck was a leather collar.

"Yes..." She murmured, staring down at the village - her gaze lingering longer on another dark-haired user of Ice-Make Magic than it did anywhere else. "Almost."