A/N: Okay, so here's the new chapter. This is actually only the part one of the chapter 12. I realized that this chapter would be way too long if I posted it in its original length. And since ffnet's system puts these line spacings between the lines so if I posted this chapter in full in one go, it would probably pass 20 pages, lol. So you get this chapter in two parts.
And as always, I do not own Fairy Tail or the characters from the manga/anime. Those belong to Mr. Hiro Mashima. I only own the storyline, and the characters you can't recognize.
Chapter 12: The Last Piece
As Crocus was getting taken over by the Soulless Army, and people tried to find shelter on the streets from the feared group, Regina looked at the devastation and horror in the city with satisfaction. No matter how much those people tried to fight back, they couldn't win. Even just a small touch from the Soulless, a human being would be turned into one of them at once. It was what made them unbeatable. Regina was very proud of her ability to control these legendary creatures – only if magic power was to disappear from the world would the Soulless cease to exist.
Regina looked into the sky. Clouds were already began to gather over the city.
Soon, before the people in the city could even notice it, the storm that would change their lives would begin.
-.-.-.-
Lisanna looked out of the window in the white room – she had finally found one – and felt tears forming into her eyes as she saw Crocus getting taken over by the Soulless while explosions and fire took over the parts soldiers were trying to protect. So many people were left behind, and they were chased by the creatures Regina controlled. It made Lisanna feel so much guilt that she wished she could never be saved.
What would that kind of life be like?
She hated herself now more than ever before.
When she was with the Shamans, she had had so much hope for a better future, but now it was all gone. She had heard from Lucy that Regina had destroyed the whole island because Lisanna and Pure Light's Bless had been there. That meant the destruction of Shamans was Lisanna's fault.
"It's not really your fault, Lisanna", Regina's voice said. "They did something they were not supposed to do a long time ago, which made them traitors. It was their time to pay for that betrayal. It was just a happy coincidence that you happened to be there as well."
"Please stop talking to me", Lisanna told her, feeling angry.
She was angry at herself, and to Regina as well. That woman tricked her into setting her free ten years ago, and now – as the result – the world was going to pay the price for that sin.
"You shouldn't let self pity and self hatred get to you, Lisanna", Regina mocked her. "You know how strong that darkness in your soul is."
"Leave me alone!" Lisanna yelled in her mind but only had Regina's laughter as an answer. Although, the dark sorceress wasn't lying.
Lisanna was able to feel the power rising inside her. She closed her eyes and tried to calm down so the darkness wouldn't take her soul once more. It would set Lucy into a real danger. Lisanna looked at the blonde who was sleeping in the corner in her dirty clothes.
I can't let myself hurt you the same way I hurt those innocent people at the library in Capa, Lisanna thought.
But it was a thought that came to her mind too late: her chest was hit with unbearable pain that made her fall to her knees.
Why did it take over her?
Just like that...?
Lisanna was unable to stop it. She could only feel tears falling from her eyes as she noticed black lines appearing on her skin. She saw them appearing on her face as well. Her eyes began to change color from blue to orange.
No! This can't be happening! Lisanna yelled in her mind as she felt the old feelings from three years ago to come back to her.
It was the last moment Lisanna Strauss had control over her mind as the black smoke covered her up. In the middle of that smoke, it was pitch black. And she only heard the echoes of the accusing voices of everyone in Fairy Tail.
"How could you do such a thing?!"
"You're a monster, Lisanna!"
"You have no rights to call yourself a mage of this guild!"
"You should just leave and pretend you were never here!"
"You're a traitor, now be gone!"
Lisanna put her hands on her ears.
Those voices were lying as always. Nobody in the guild would say things like that, even if Lisanna did do a horrible mistake by listening to Regina's whispers on that day when she first acknowledged that Natsu had already moved on – that he had someone else he loved.
Lisanna had always had hope when it came to Natsu. Even in Edolas, she had always hoped that he would be waiting for her. But, when she went back to Earthland, it didn't take long to realize that the boy had moved on to someone else. Even though Lisanna tried to forget that, and decided to make a move on him, he always got distracted when Lucy Heartfilia appeared out of nowhere. And the two of them did everything together.
Lisanna was devastated.
How could she be so stupid? Of course Natsu would eventually find someone else to be with! She should have kept that in mind as well. But she didn't. She was too excited that she could finally be with Natsu again that it blinded her completely.
"You could always make Natsu Dragneel forget Lucy Heartfilia's existence", whispered a voice in the depths of her mind.
Lisanna stopped walking.
"Who's there?" she said aloud, looking around on the rainy streets of Magnolia.
There was nobody there.
"I am someone who can help you with your little problem with Lucy Heartfilia", whispered a voice in her mind again.
"I don't have a problem with Lucy. I'm totally accepting hers and Natsu's relationship", Lisanna denied at once.
"I see. Well, if I told you that there is a way to get what you want, would you take that chance?"
"What do you mean?" Lisanna asked, scared of how tempting that offer sounded. There was a way to get Natsu to like her just like he did years ago?
"There is a magic potion that will make Natsu Dragneel forget Lucy Heartfilia. It's called Memory Loss Potion", woman in her mind whispered.
"That Potion is forbidden by law! I refuse to use it and break the law!" Lisanna said, wondering what had she been thinking when she started to listen to this... menace. Yes, that what her presence in her mind felt like – menacing and dangerous.
"Well, if you wish to live with pain when your beloved Natsu finally gets together with Lucy, be my guest. This is a onetime offer. If you refuse now, you won't get another chance, Lisanna Strauss", voice answered.
Lisanna wasn't sure what she should do. Offer was both dangerous and illegal but oh-so-very tempting. A little bit more time with Natsu wouldn't hurt, right? At this moment of desperation Lisanna would do anything – and she did mean anything – to get to spend more time with her beloved Natsu Dragneel.
"What do I have to do make this Potion?" she asked from the voice, not realizing what kind of a consequences it might have years later.
Or the fact that she had just walked into Regina Heartfilia's trap which had been exactly what the dark sorceress had wanted to happen.
"Yeah, who would even love a woman like you, Lisanna? You made me drink a forbidden Potion! You should go to prison!"
That was the last straw. If Natsu's true feelings were of pure hate, Lisanna should just give up. There was no point in fighting anymore. She sighed and put her hands down.
Mocking voices turned into mocking laughter that became louder and louder.
Lisanna did nothing to stop it.
This was exactly what she deserved for betraying everyone.
"Please take me, darkness", she whispered, and that was the last moment of control she remembered.
Once the smoke around her disappeared, she saw Regina Heartfilia standing in front of her.
"I have a mission for you, Lisanna Strauss. I want you to stop Natsu and Happy from getting to the temple. Only Nora is allowed because she holds the missing pieces of Lucy Heartfilia's soul inside her soul. Once she and Lucy has joined together, we can proceed with our plan", dark sorceress said.
"Yes, Master. Your words are my command", Lisanna answered, and she walked out of the white room.
-.-.-.-
Natsu, Nora and Happy had just arrived to the floating fortress' main entrance, which was a huge door on the top of the stone stairs in the front yard. They opened the door and snuck in. The entrance hall was big and brightly lit. It was also a very dusty place, and there was spider webs everywhere on the pillars that kept the ceiling from falling down. On the other side of the room there was another door on top of another set of stairs that went upstairs and two smaller doors on the left and right sides of the room.
"Which door should we take?" Natsu asked quietly so that nobody would hear them.
Their plan was to get Lucy out quietly, and then take her somewhere where she would be safe until the sorceress was dead.
"I say we take one of the side doors", Nora whispered. "I'm pretty sure the big one's heavily guarded on the other side."
"Which one?" Happy asked.
Nora closed her eyes, and a golden aura appeared around her. Then she opened her eyes and pointed at the left side door.
"The room where Lucy's held in is in that direction."
Natsu and Happy nodded.
The trio hurried as quietly as possible through the door to a new corridor. On the floor there was a old, dirty red carpet. On the left side there were windows from where they were able to see a thunderstorm taking place outside. Rain pitter-pattered on the windows as the lightning stroke – causing the whole corridor lit up. On the right side of the corridor there was three gargoyle statues that looked both suspicious.
Natsu and Nora glanced at each other and took few steps forward.
Gargoyles' heads turned to their direction at once.
"They're enchanted by dark magic", mumbled Nora in a very quiet voice. It was so quiet that only Natsu was able to hear it.
"Let's just walk on", she added.
Natsu nodded and followed her lead as Nora walked past the gargoyles without even looking at them anymore. Natsu and Happy did the same. Gargoyles followed their every move with their dark lacrima eyes, but they didn't do anything else. Once the trio had gotten past them, gargoyles' heads turned back to the windows.
"I thought they were going to attack us", Happy said quietly as he sat on Natsu's head.
"They might have done so if we had touched them", Nora answered as she went to the next door. "Which is why I think it's better if we don't touch anything in this castle."
Natsu agreed.
Nora opened the door. It was a dark, empty corridor with stairs that went to the next floor. Nora went outside and took out one of the celestial spirit golden keys.
Natsu and Happy followed. Once the door closed behind them, a circle of black smoke appeared around them. And from the smoke appeared a small group of Soulless.
"Natsu, use fire on them! Now!" Nora yelled at once, as she put her hand up. "Open! Gate of the Lion, Leo!"
"I would have appeared without being called, honey", Loki's voice said.
"Loki?!" Natsu yelled as he punched a group of Soulless with Fire Dragon's Claws, causing them to disappear.
"Good to see you, Natsu. But let's chat more later", Loki said. "Regulus, give me power", he added as his fists began to shine in golden light. He then punched two Soulless into face which made them disappear.
Nora was using Lucy's whip to destroy countless enemies at one strike as fast as she could, and to Natsu, she looked rather annoyed that their plan of a quiet rescue mission had failed. Natsu was definitely able to relate to that feeling – he was pretty sure that they would end up facing something more powerful before they found Lucy.
-.-.-.-
Once the short battle was finished, the group stood in one place for a moment just to be ready if more Soulless appeared, but it was soon clear that it was over for now. Happy was floating in the air on his wings and looked around the staircase – carpet on the floor was on fire, and there was some cracks on the wall and on the floor but otherwise there was no damage. At least the group wasn't hurt.
"Are you going to join us now? Lucy might be happy to see you", Natsu asked Loki.
"I can't", he answered. "These distortions in the spacetime are affecting my presence too severely in this world. I must go back while I still can. We know you can save her without our help."
And with that, he disappeared with a pop.
"What does he mean by getting affected by the spacetime distortions?" Happy asked quietly as he descended from the air and was caught by Natsu.
"It means that the connection between this world and the Celestial Spirit World has weakened. I'm not able to call spirits every time I try. It's because the distortions are interrupting the connection. Lucy noticed it for the first time two years ago, and it has only gotten worse after that", Nora explained as they continued following the stairs to the second floor. "But everything should be fixed once I join Lucy and someone beats the living shit out of that woman. At least I hope it fixes everything."
In the second floor they saw another long dusty corridor. There were dead flowers in the vases between the countless doors on left and right and above those flower vases and tables there were old paintings which were also very dusty.
"Hmm, it seems that I can't sense which door we should use so we should probably open them all", Nora said. "But Lucy is somewhere very high up in this castle, so we should be looking for stairs that goes up."
Happy and Natsu nodded and moved to the left side of the corridor.
There was a huge window which Happy happened to look out – he noticed Crocus was on fire. Almost half of the houses were covered up in flames while citizens were guided through the evacuation gates outside of town. Outside the city there were trains where people hurried into. Happy couldn't help but wonder where those trains were headed to.
"Nothing here", Natsu said, and closed the first door he had opened, bringing Happy back from his thoughts.
Natsu went to the next door, and shook his head again because the room did not include stairs. He walked to the third door and opened it. He was about to close it, but then decided otherwise and walked in.
"This one has Regina's scent all over it", he whispered as an answer to Happy's silent question. "I was thinking of looking around a bit. We might as well try to find her weakness as well and use it on her."
"Good idea", Happy answered and rose on his wings again in the old, dusty room.
He looked around. It was a very luxurious room by the looks of it; there was a huge bed on the one side of the room, a book shelf full of old books, a table and two chairs. Windows to the room where all broken and the velvet curtains that had once been whole, where now wrecked and mostly hang out hopelessly from the window. Underneath one of the broken window there was also a small couch which had once been red by the looks of it, but now rain and the years had covered it up with mold and weird plants Happy couldn't recognize.
"Happy, come here", Natsu said from a room that Happy hadn't noticed yet. He followed Natsu's voice there and noticed that it was a room made for children.
"What is this?" Happy asked, looking around.
Everything in this room was messed up. The small bed looked like the owner had left in a hurry. Shelves and cabinets were all open and emptied. On the floor there were toys everywhere.
"She had children", Natsu said, surprised. "It is true then. Luce and Regina are related."
"You didn't believe it?" Happy asked.
"Not when she said so. You know villains always messes with our minds by telling lies. I didn't believe what she did but now I'm sure it was true", Natsu explained. "But I wonder who was the man Regina was able to have a family with and what happened?"
"I think the only way we can find that out is to go back in time", said Nora's voice from behind them. She was leaning into the door frame when Happy looked at her and stepped into the room.
"Judging by the looks of this room, the kid was either taken away from her or the husband noticed something was wrong with Regina, took the kid – or kids – with him and left her here alone", she said.
"How do you explain the broken windows in the bedroom?" Natsu asked.
"Someone could have done that after this place became deserted or it was Regina's outburst that caused them to break or maybe there was a war between Reana and Fiore and some soldiers came through those windows. We won't know unless we dig deeper, but right now we have other business to attend to", Nora said. "We need to stick to our plans to get Lucy out of here."
Happy and Natsu nodded as an answer and then the boys followed Nora back to the corridor.
"I found the staircase hidden behind a cloth on the right end of this corridor", Nora said before they even asked anything.
Boys just followed her quietly while looking around so no Soulless could surprise them like last time.
-.-.-.-
In the lightly lit throne room Regina watched as the poor little group was desperately trying to save Lucy Heartfilia from one of her dark lacrima balls. Without even knowing that by helping her, they would give the final strike of death to the timeline as they knew it. Regina smiled as she watched the three – Natsu Dragneel, Nora and Happy – go further up of the floors of her fortress. Not that it really mattered to her. She wanted them to come, which is why she had used a spell on the building that did not allow Natsu to get his motion sickness.
Although it would have been very amusing if he did get it while meeting the person he most certainly did not wish to meet on the top floor. Nora would be the only one who would meet Lucy while Natsu and his stupid cat would meet their demise in Lisanna's hands.
"Soon I will have everything I have dreamed of", Regina said and looked at one of the paintings in the throne room wall. "Soon you, Theo, will also know your place in my beautiful plan", she added.
The painting that had been painted of her long deceased husband Theodore Darcas did not answer to her but it still made her smile. Even he would feel Regina's wrath from the future once Horologium Saeculum was activated.
And Regina was going to make sure that he wouldn't forget it.
-.-.-.-
Natsu, Happy and Nora were forced to go into hiding because the whole fourth floor was full of Soulless. They had to find another way to get to the top floor without getting into a deadly fight with this many Soulless against them. Natsu was sure that there was almost 100 of them. And even with his Dragon Slayer Magic, he knew he wouldn't take this many Soulless in one go without destroying the whole corridor. So, the trio returned to the third floor and tried to find another way back up.
"I think we should just go and clear the fourth floor", Natsu said after they had been looking for clues of another route for 15 minutes. No matter what they had done in the rooms of the third floor, they found nothing.
"We can't take them all on", Nora said, while looking at the wall close to a huge bed. "I'm incapable of using Lucy's magic now, Happy can only fly – no offence, Happy – and you could destroy the whole floor with one Fire Dragon's Breath, Natsu. And what's more, you might even ruin our chances in getting to Lucy so I think it's better if we find another route."
"What kind of route can we use then?" Happy asked.
"Easy", Nora said and opened a small doorway to a dark corridor. "We use these secret passageways to avoid the fourth floor. I can sense these will take us to her."
"Alright then, let's go", Natsu said and pushed Nora into the corridor.
Happy followed him and Natsu closed the door. "I heard someone coming", he whispered in the darkness.
"Then we should hurry", Nora whispered back and put on a flashlight. "This item is awesome. It was expensive as hell, but worth of all the money", she added while she walked forward.
Happy and Natsu followed her. They soon found a old staircase which went upstairs.
"I wonder how far that goes", Happy whispered.
"Hopefully to the top floor so we can avoid all enemies for now", Nora answered. "Let's move."
Trio did so. Only voice that they heard came from the metal staircase as their shoes hit the steps. They didn't dare to say anything to one another in case the Soulless heard them. Getting ambushed on a old stairwell would not been nice at all.
Natsu was about to sneeze more than he could count on their journey in the paradise of dust and eventually he had to stop walking so he could cover his mouth and nose with his muffler. Nora and Happy covered theirs as with a piece of cloth Nora offered to Happy. Then the journey continued – until Nora accidentally stepped into a trick step and screamed in surprise. She was able to pull herself back up and looked at Natsu and Happy.
"I think it would be best if we hurry up. They might have heard me", she whispered.
"Good idea", Natsu answered and jumped over the trick stair.
Nora turned around and ran the stairs up. There she swore hard.
Natsu and Happy followed her and noticed that there was no more stairs to follow. "Damn, what now?"
"We just have to hope that there isn't many Soulless on this floor... whatever floor it is", Nora said and went to the left door. "Check the other one, Natsu."
Natsu nodded and went to the door on the right. He opened it a little bit and saw a empty living room there. Everything was destroyed. Even the black piano was in pieces. All curtains were on the floor and again, all windows were broken so rain easily got into the room, making everything smell disgusting and look moldy.
"What do you see, Natsu?" Nora asked quietly.
"A completely destroyed living room. You?"
"I see a empty corridor with a plate that says fifth floor but my senses are telling me to use your door."
Natsu nodded and stepped into the room – even though he didn't even want to, and looked around more. He noticed another door on the left side of the door he had just used and walked to it. Nora and Happy followed him. Nora nodded and Natsu opened the red door. There was a new corridor which was, thankfully, empty of all enemies. He stepped out and looked around again. It was a lot similar to the second floor with its design, but this corridor wasn't as dusty and dirty as the previous ones had been. This one was actually clean which was a sign that there were people living in these rooms. Maybe Regina's maids?
"Lucy is being held in the sixth floor", Nora said. "We'll take these stairs up there", she added as she hurried to the staircase that went upstairs. Natsu and Happy followed her. Natsu was already feeling excited. He would finally see Lucy again!
"Look out!" Happy yelled suddenly and grabbed Natsu and rose up to the air.
Natsu only blinked as his heart raced. He had almost been by the Soulless! Nora was surrounded by them with no way out.
"I gotta help her!" Natsu said and used Fire Dragon's Breath on the group of those black things. They all disappeared at once. And so did parts of the wall too. And the carpet. And all flammable wall decorations as well. Nora looked at him a annoyed look in her eyes.
"What did I tell you about using that breath in this castle, Natsu?" she asked.
"That I'm allowed to use it when you're in danger?" Natsu said.
"No, I told you to be careful so we won't fall down to the ground and die before Lucy is safe. Let's just go. I will make Lucy beat you up later", Nora said and ran away to the sixth floor as Happy and Natsu descended back to the floor.
"This woman is not very nice compared to Luce", Happy said.
"But she has the same temper as Luce", Natsu said grinning. "Let's go, buddy, our best friend is waiting for us!"
When they reached the sixth floor, Natsu had to cover his eyes because it was so bright. It was completely white. There was huge windows on both sides of it and they showed the storm outside had gotten more fierce than it had been earlier. Lightning's strikes made this white corridor even more bright, and Natsu who had gotten used to the more dimly lit corridors and almost dark secret passageways had to blink for a moment until his eyes got used to this brightness. He looked around and noticed a huge white door on the other end of the corridor.
"I can sense Lucy in that room", Nora said. "Let's go."
"Let's do that", Natsu said, grinning.
He was so close he could feel himself turn back to the way he used to be when Lucy was still in Fairy Tail. He would get all those happy days back, and that would be awesome. He also noticed he already began to make plans on future missions and even thought of telling her how he felt.
As they reached the huge door, they realized they didn't know how to open it. But they didn't have to even figure it out because the moment Nora put his hand on it, it opened before their eyes. Room behind the door was covered in white mist, and it was just as white as the corridor was. Natsu, Happy and Nora glanced at each other and nodded. It was time to do what they came here to do. Nora entered the room first. The door began to close behind her.
"Nora!" Happy yelled.
Nora turned around just in time to see the door close. Then a black javelin appeared out of nowhere in front of Natsu and Happy, followed by a swirl of black smoke from where appeared a girl with white short hair and orange eyes.
"Lisanna!" Natsu yelled. "Step out of the way!"
"No", Lisanna said as she took one of the Javelins into her hand. "I've been given an order to keep you out of the white room, and I'm surely going to do so."
"What the hell has happened to you?! This isn't you!"
Lisanna just smiled. "Let's just say that I have been given a great gift from the Queen of Darkness, and I will gladly use it on you to see how it works before she lets me to go kill every survivor in Crocus."
She snapped her fingers and a line of seven Javelins appeared to the air over her.
"Care to play a little game, Dragneel?" she asked as she swinged her hand and Javelins flew right at Natsu who dodged them all by jumping backwards.
Happy eventually grabbed him by the back and they tried to escape from the deadly rain of Dark Javelins.
-.-.-.-
"Natsu! Happy!" Nora yelled at the door, while she tried to push it open to help them. It was evident that someone had attacked them. She could hear the voices of a battle clearly. But the door did not budge.
She sighed.
How could she be so stupid to not to know that there would be an ambush in the top floor?!
Sting would laugh his head off if he knew, Nora thought as she turned around, feeling so ashamed.
"And why didn't I say goodbyes to him? Or even kiss him goodbye?" Nora whispered.
Now that she was reaching the end of her journey, all she could think about was the fact that she didn't even say goodbyes to the man she loved so much.
"I must have hurt him... Sting, I'm sorry..."
"Nora..." said a voice in the mist. "Nora..."
"What's that?" Nora said, looking around, and getting to a battle stance in case there was some other surprises coming up.
"Don't be afraid, Nora..." voice said again. "There are no dangers in the mist. I will keep you safe, my warrior. Come, save the Seeress."
Nora calmed down.
This voice didn't have the same menacing tone in it as there was when Regina Heartfilia spoke. This new voice was a very kind one. Nora looked back at the closed door behind her and hoped that Natsu and Happy would survive the battle against Lisanna. Nora was sure that it was her they were fighting against because Regina herself was sitting down in her own room somewhere in the castle, waiting for the right moment to use Horologium Saeculum.
Wait, what did that woman just call Lucy? A Seeress or something? Nora thought, remembering the weird name the mysterious voice had given Lucy.
"What do you mean by calling Lucy a 'Seeress'?" she said aloud.
"We don't have time for questions, Nora. You must hurry", mysterious voice said.
The mist disappeared along with the presence of that mysterious woman and Nora was able to see what was behind the mist – a ancient looking temple-ish room where everything was made of stone. She looked back at the huge door and noticed it was also now made of stone. Had the white room been nothing but an illusion? Was this the real room Lucy was held a prisoner?
"Well, no matter what it is, I will definitely get past this", Nora said and hurried forward. She was still very sad about leaving Sting behind without saying goodbyes. She was also worried about Natsu and Happy. But the door didn't reopen, so she had to go forward and save Lucy herself. It was the best thing to do.
"Nora, leave! It's a trap!" yelled Lucy's voice from somewhere upstairs.
Nora couldn't locate her because there was too much echo.
"I'm sorry, Lucy, but I have to save you for Fairy Tail's sake. No matter what", Nora mumbled as she entered the first active elevator to the next floor.
-.-.-.-
Lucy Heartfilia had been dragged from the white room to this weird temple-ish room by Regina herself few moments ago. Then she was told to wait there until Nora comes to her. Lucy had tried to ask where Lisanna had gone off to, but Regina only smiled and left the room. It was right at that moment that Lucy knew.
It was a trap.
Nora and the other rescuers who would come to her would be ambushed and probably imprisoned. She was hoping she could find a way out of this castle before that, but then she had felt it – Nora was close. Really close. She was already in the temple, coming towards Lucy in a hurry.
"Nora, leave! It's a trap!" she yelled automatically, but got no answer.
Lucy felt tears in her eyes. She had done so much to try to prevent Horologium Saeculum from getting activated and everyone else wanted to come and save her! This definitely wasn't what Lucy had had in her mind when she had done whatever it was during the last three years.
It sucks that I can't remember everything, Lucy thought and brushed away the tears. Nora has all the important memories...
"I'm here!" Nora's voice yelled from the bottom of the stone stairs. "I'm going to save you..." She climbed the stairs while she began to shine golden light. Lucy reacted to it the same way. She stood up from the stone floor and waited for Nora to get up. Once she did, her eyes were already full of tears.
"Please tell Sting I love him and that I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye to him", she just said as she took Lucy's hands into hers. "Promise me you tell him that, Lucy!"
"I will tell him", Lucy said. "And you do know that once we have become one again, Regina will activate Horologium Saeculum, right?"
Nora just smiled. "You will fix it. I know you will. That salmon haired guy who loves you came all this way to save you because he believes that too!"
That took Lucy by surprise. Natsu was in the castle too?
"Natsu is here, too?" she asked.
"He was ambushed by Lisanna but he will come here when he's done with that battle", Nora said as she turned into golden light.
"You will see him soon, Lucy", she added as she turned into countless small golden light balls that flew into Lucy's body.
A bright wave of golden light covered every corner of the room as forgotten memories began to flow through Lucy Heartfilia's mind.
As she was about to lose conciousness, she could have swore she heard his voice calling her name.
-.-.-.-
While Nora was hurrying to save Lucy behind the door, Natsu was too busy with fighting against Lisanna, who seemed to be unbeatable. Her ways to use those Dark Javelins was something that Natsu hadn't expected to see. She used them like a professional who had been doing this for years, and that really bothered him. Did he really even have a chance against this new, evil, Dark Lisanna? Her level of power was a lot higher than ever before.
"It's a sad thing that you can't see how your precious Lucy regains her lost memories", Lisanna said as she walked calmly towards Natsu and Happy, who were gasping for air from all the jumping in order to avoid all the sharp Javelins.
"I assume the last piece has reached the temple hall. She would join Lucy, and my Master would be able to unleash the horrors of Horologium Saeculum."
"We will not let you do that", Natsu said. "We will stop you both."
"You trying to stop me has proven me that you are weak at heart, Dragneel. Once the spell is activated, there is no way to stop it anymore. And by the looks of it, your side is going to lose this battle. So why don't you just give in and accept your fate?" Lisanna asked as she pointed one of the Javelins at Natsu's neck.
"I could also kill you if you ask me nicely. I'm feeling very generous on this day of joy. If you die, Lucy will not survive her fall into darkness either."
She looked at Natsu's horrified expression.
"Oh, you didn't know, did you? Master Regina will turn her into a tool of darkness as well once the spell is activated. If you're dead, her soul will be weak enough and she would become like me."
"I'm not going to let that happen!" Natsu said, finding new powers of determination from inside him. He pushed the Javelin out of the way and punched Lisanna with all of his might.
Lisanna then snapped her fingers and more Javelins appeared. They imprisoned Natsu completely between them.
"I could give you this last strike of mercy now, Dragneel. Then she would feel it but –" she stopped talking and looked back at the door, which was about to open.
A bright golden wave of light came out of it.
It made Lisanna cuss and then disappear into the black swirl of smoke. Javelins around Natsu also disappeared into thin air.
"What's that?!" Happy asked. "Why is it coming towards us?!"
"I don't care what it is! I'm gonna go get Lucy!" Natsu said. "Let's fly, Happy!"
"Aye sir!" Happy said as he grabbed him and they flew through the golden waves of light that came out of the room towards the centre of all of it. Centre of light was so bright that it made lose his eyesight for a moment but the smell he got from the light was definitely –
"Lucy!" he yelled as he reached out to the light to grab her by the hand but instead he flew into the light along with Happy.
A/N: So this is the chapter 12 part one. On thursday I will post the next chapter (or the part 2 of chapter 12) which will include lots and lots Lucy. It's also one of my favorite chapters, and I've been waiting to get to write these things down for you guys to read.
Also, I made a soundtrack for the story which has tracks mostly from Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Tales of Xillia soundtracks. If you want to get to the right feeling, search from youtube for these tracks:
Nobuo Uematsu – Drifting (Final Fantasy VIII OST) / Lisanna scene
Hitoshi Sakimoto – Infiltration (Final Fantasy XII OST) / Nora, Happy & Natsu scene
Yoko Shimomura – Villains Of A Sort (Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts 2 OST) / Regina scene
Nobuo Uematsu – Intruders (Final Fantasy VIII OST) / Nora, Happy & Natsu scene 2
Masashi Hamauzu – The Vestige (Final Fantasy XIII OST) / Nora scene
Yoko Shimomura – The 13th Dilemma (Kingdom Hearts 2 OST) / Lisanna vs. Natsu battle + Natsu flies to Lucy with Happy