Ch.12
"Freid, how are you doing with your research?" Master Makarov asked after entering the library.
"It's extremely difficult Master. I've looked into all the portal spell books I can find. I'm unable to find the book Juvia had given me with the spell she used." Freid sighed angrily. "I feel this is all my fault. If I hadn't agreed to learn the spell…"
"Juvia is the one who used it. You merely assisted in her understanding of creating a portal. It doesn't matter if it was you, or someone else. In the end, it was Juvia." Makarov said, patting Freid's back.
"Master, may I see Juvia? I would like to speak with her." Makarov shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Freid. She is still unwilling to talk anyone on the magic council. Wendy was able to see her yesterday, but the reaction Juvia had was not good. No one can see her."
"Maybe she'll see me." Freid and Makarov spun towards the door. Gray was standing there, fully clothed, "I need to see her, Gramps. I know she'll talk to me. She's already told the council I'm the only one she'll talk to."
"Gray! When did you get back? I thought you had left on a job!" Makarov silently thanked his lucky stars that Gray was here.
"I was going to. I've been so worried about Juvia, Natsu and Lucy that I put it off." Gray admitted.
Makarov told Freid to take a break, and had Gray follow him to Juvia's cell in the basement, "Here we are. Be careful, Gray. Juvia isn't herself."
Gray waited until Master Makarov had left, and approached the cell by himself. "Juvia." He called. Juvia was laying on the bed, asleep, "Juvia!" He called a bit louder. She didn't stir.
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In Juvia's mind, she was falling. Wendy's spell had helped her to relax, and she had even fallen asleep. Much to the joy of the creatures.
"Lucy Heartfilia will be back soon, Juvia! You must do it! Kill her when she returns!"
"Kill all of Fairy Tail Juvia! Only then will you have Gray!"
"Yes! Kill them, we will drain their magic and feed it to our mother."
"Once they are dead, she will return!"
"And then we eat this world! And then destroy the shadow hunters in the next!"
"Why are you doing this to Juvia!" she called out. The creatures looked at her, their eyes burning fire in their faces.
"Juvia has been chosen. The mother is fair and will give Juvia her true love. In return, Juvia must help her become powerful! She must destroy the ones who hurt her!"
"Juvia will not hurt her friends!" She yelled out.
"It is too late. Lucy Heartfilia and Natsu Dragneel are already on their way to their death." A creature approached her. He ripped her dress up, revealing her guild mark. "The mother wishes to give you a gift for your help." The creature laughed. She felt a sharp pain in her mark. She screamed.
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"JUVIA! JUVIA!" Gray shook her awake. Strictly speaking, he hadn't been allowed to actually enter her cell. When she had started screaming in her sleep, he had made a key and entered.
"Gr…Gray-Sama!" Juvia threw herself into his chest and cried. He held her as tears poured down her face. "Gray-Sama! Juvia is so scared! Juvia has to kill Lucy! Juvia doesn't know what to do!" She sobbed.
Gray pushed her back and held her shoulders, "Why do you have to kill Lucy?" He asked straight out.
Juvia cried harder, "They are making Juvia do it!" her body shook, "Lilith's shadows are making Juvia do it! They will not leave Juvia alone! They are taking control of Juvia!"
"Who is Lilith? What are the shadows?" He tried desperately to not shake her.
"Ju…Juvia bought a necklace from a jewellery merchant. Her name is Lilith. She told Juvia the necklace was enchanted to make Gray fall in love with Juvia." She sniffled, avoiding Gray's eyes, "After that, these shadows have followed Juvia everywhere. Juvia cannot eat or sleep or think without them telling Juvia to kill her friends."
"Juvia, do you know why they want you to kill your friends?"
"They…they said Juvia was chosen to help the mother become powerful again." She looked up, "Juvia will not do it!" she declared, "Juvia will not hurt her friends!"
Gray pulled her close again, "I know you won't, Juvia." He whispered quietly.
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"We get to go home?!" Lucy and Natsu couldn't believe the news. This boy had been sent by the council to help them!
"Yes," the boy said, "That's why I'm here! They figured out how to open a bridge between these two worlds. It'll be open again soon, so I'm glad I found you! I'm Marius, by the way." The boy said, holding out his hand.
Lucy shook his hand, "It's nice to meet you. Thank you for saving us!"
"Yea…You said the council sent you?" Natsu questioned. This guy had a weird stink to him. Natsu didn't like it one bit.
"Yea. They built a portal and managed to send me here. I used a tracking spell to find you." He said, holding up a hair brush. The brush was Lucy's. Clearly taken from her bathroom.
"You were in my apartment?!" She smacked Marius on the back of his head,
"Ouch! Yes! How else was I supposed to find you here?" He grumbled, rubbing his head.
"When do we go home?" Natsu asked, "How much time do we have?"
Marius looked at him, "I'd say five minutes." He said.
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"Clary! CLARY!" Isabelle yelled, "Have you seen Natsu and Lucy!? I lost them!"
Clary pulled herself away from Jace, "No! I haven't seen them since we got here!" She yelled back.
"I saw them go that way!" Simon shouted, pointing towards the room at the back.
"Hey, that room looks familiar! Do you think they finally got together?!" Jace joined in.
"Oh! I hope so! Let's go see!" Isabelle spun away from the group and danced her way over to the door. She was about to open it when she tensed up. Simon knew that look. Jace and Clary did the same thing.
Clary unwrapped a bracelet from her wrist and pulled a stele out of the admas band. Jace pulled a seraph blade out of his boot. Isabelle gripped her whip.
"There's a demon in there. A strong one from the feel." Isabelle said. She turned the knob and threw the door open.
Natsu and Lucy were there with a boy with blue hair. "Hey guys! This is Marius! He's from Earthland!" Lucy introduced happily, "He's taking us home!"
"He's not taking you anywhere." Jace said, activating the seraph blade.
"Step away from our friends, demon!" Isabelle called out, twisting her whip dangerously in her hands.
"Demon? Guys, calm down! He's here to help us! Marius, help us out! Tell them you're not a demon!" Lucy pleaded.
Marius had turned from pleasant and charming to dangerous looking. He bared his teeth and held his hands out, shooting streams of acid from the tips of his fingers. "You heard the girl, Herondale. Leave us alone. I'm going to take her home." He snarled.
"You think I'd believe someone like you?" Jace tackled the demon and held his seraph blade to his throat, "I'm going to ask you this once, got it? Who sent you to collect Lucy and Natsu and why?" The demon raised his hands to Jace's face. They were promptly tied up with Isabelle's whip.
"Hah! Like I'd tell you, shadowhunter!" Marius spat. Clary couldn't help but think this was very similar to how she and Jace had first met.
"Tell us now," Jace said. Lucy stood there in shock. They were going to destroy her only chance to get home!
"I thought you were a fake," Natsu joined in. He pushed Jace off of Marius, and grabbed him by the collar. He shoved him against a wall both hands lit. Marius hissed in pain at the heat, "Now answer Jace! Who are you and what do you want with us!? Tell us, or I'll burn you to a pile of ash!" Marius laughed as the room brightened.
"I am returning you home! You are Lilith's prize now, mage's of Fairy Tail!" He laughed. The room grew brighter and brighter. The floor opened up. A familiar swirling hole swallowed them.
"NATSU!" Lucy screamed, trying to reach his hand.
"CLARY! IZZY!" Jace screamed, searching for his family.
The brightness suddenly faded and they hit solid ground.
"Ouch!" Isabelle sat up and rubbed her back, "Is everyone okay?" She looked around. Jace, Clary and Simon all groaned in response.
"Yea," Simon groaned. He then looked around as his eyes adjusted, "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore though…" The rest of the group looked around. They were on a cobbled street in front of a large building. It had the same symbol Lucy and Natsu wore.
"Lucy! We're home!" They looked over to see Natsu spinning Lucy around in joy. They were laughing and Lucy was crying.
"I can't believe it! It was only two days, but it feels like forever!" Lucy cried. She was so happy, she almost kissed Natsu full on the mouth. She would have, if she hadn't caught sight of the shadowhunters in a pile behind him. "Oh no…You're here to?"
"Apparently so." Jace said, brushing himself off.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Natsu grinned. He grabbed Lucy's hand and waved at the group to join them. "Welcome to Fairy Tail guys!" He was ecstatic to be home. When they were all together at the door, Natsu kicked it in. "HEY EVERYONE!" He yelled, "WE'RE BACK!" The whole guild stopped in their tracks. They stared at the couple in the doorway.
"NATSU! LUCY! SOMEONE GET MASTER!"
"WHERE WERE YOU!?"
"I WAS SO WORRIED!"
"I HAVE TO TELL WENDY!"
"ONLY A MAN COULD COME BACK WITH A GIRLFRIEND!"
They were surrounded with welcomes and questions. They tried to answer everything as best as they could. They introduced Simon and Isabelle and Clary and Jace to the members of Fairy Tail. They were welcomed in the traditional Fairy Tail way. Lots of drinks, lots of food and lots of talk.
"Oi! Flame brain! You're back!?" Natsu glared and spun around.
"What was that ice princess!?"
"Hey! No need for name calling!"
"I didn't call you anything, popsicle!"
"Fire breath!"
"Icicle!"
Clary looked at Gray. Natsu hadn't been lying when he said him and Alec looked and sounded alike.
"You guys should get out of the way." Lucy said as she stood up, "Things are going to get pretty exciting in a minute…"
"What do you mean…AHHH!" Isabelle dove under the table as a chunk of ice narrowly missed her head. Clary wasn't quite as lucky. Her beautiful hair had come into contact with a rogue ball of fire from Natsu.
"My hair! My hair!" She patted it out, and joined Isabelle under the table.
"This is so cool!" Simon yelled excitedly. A battle between fire and ice magic was too amazing to hide from! It wasn't until Jace saved him from a flying chair, he agreed he should probably hide as well.
"NATSU!" A loud voice yelled out. The fight immediately stopped. A small man in an orange jacket made his way through the crowd, "I should have known you'd be at the center of this! And Lucy!" He turned on Lucy, "My dear, Lucy! I can't believe you two are back! Where did you go? How did you get back? Come with me to my office. Bring your guests as well." He said, pointing to the four shadowhunters under the table.
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"So, you were brought back by a boy named Marius? And he said he was on the magic council? He must be new, I've never met him." Makarov said after they finished their story.
"Yes. Master, I know it was only two days, but it felt like forever. It's so good to be back!" Lucy couldn't stop grinning.
"Two days? Lucy, you and Natsu were gone almost a week!" He showed them his desk calendar, proving it was in fact, almost a week since they had left.
"Ah! My rent is due!" Lucy cried, losing all joy at being home.
"It's fine, Lucy. Fairy Tail paid your rent already." Makarov turned red as Lucy enveloped him a giant hug.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She cried.
"Excuse, Master Makarov?" Jace asked, politely, "Going back to this Marius guy. He's a demon, not a warlock…err… mage. In our world, we're known as shadow hunters. We kill demons that come into our world and keep them from draining it. Do have any idea why he would help bring Natsu and Lucy home?"
Makarov shook his head, "The only demons we have ever had problems with are from the book of Zeref." He said, "They are powerful demons, but easily handled if one knows their weakness."
"He mentioned a person named Lilith." Natsu said suddenly, "Does Lilith have anything to do with demons?"
"If Lilith is involved, it probably does."
"Lilith is involved." Gray was mysteriously standing by the door. It seemed to be his signature cool- guy entrance. "I don't know who Lilith is, but Juvia spoke to me. She said shadow creatures of Lilith are following her. They're the ones who made her get rid of Natsu and Lucy."
"Didn't I kill Lilith?" Simon asked, a memory suddenly resurfacing.
"You only killed her on Earth. When demons die, the just go back to their dimension. You have to kill them in their home dimension to actually kill them." Jace explained.
"Oh." Simon sat back, slightly disappointed.
"She said they want her to kill all of Fairy Tail once Lucy is disposed of. It'll power Lilith or something like that." Gray finished.
"You're kidding." Isabelle sat forward, "We need Alec here." She rubbed her eyes, "He's a walking demon encyclopedia."
"I think you shadowhunters need to tell us about Lilith." Gray demanded. He thought of Juvia. She was still locked in her cell fighting these shadow creatures all by herself. He had held her for a long time. He didn't want to admit it, but he knew he was developing feelings for her. To hell with that, he was finally acknowledging the feelings he'd had for some time. He was going to save her.
