Chapter 13
Time...
"What do you mean there's no time left?" Carla yelled to Wendy.
Wendy was silent and just quietly looked at Angel. Once Angel nodded, Wendy said, "It's time to end this. Now."
A small vortex of wind wrapped around Wendy until it grew into a wide tornado, the wind turned into a visible white color to blind everyone.
"Wendy!" Carla cried and her wings sprout from her back. She prepared to fly to Wendy even under these windy circumstances.
Meanwhile, Lucy ran to Loke's side despite all the wind crashing against her, she begged him to stay in the world, for him to not move on to the afterlife.
"It's my time…" Loke smiled grimly to Lucy. His whole body was clear and sparkly, like a star.
"No!" Lucy shouted while violently shaking Loke. "You're only disappearing because you can't manage to stay in the human realm too long, right? In that case, I can close your gate for you!"
"Lucy stop! You'll kill yourself too!" Loke's eyes were wide.
"I won't give up even if you do. No don't leave before I finish this!" Lucy shouted. "Close! Gate of the Lion! Loke! -er Leo!" She repeated the spell over and over again until she herself started to glow.
"Stop!" Loke screeched.
"Interesting…" Angel was barely heard through all the commotion Wendy was creating.
Suddenly, Gajeel erupted from his last position and started running to Wendy with all her had. "IT'S NOT OVER UNTIL YOU TELL ME WHO THE HELL I AM!" he roared loudly, loudly enough to be heard throughout all of Magnolia. Gajeel tore through all the wind with his whole body clad in iron scales. Finally he managed to lay eyes on Wendy behind all the wind.
"Got you! Iron Dragon's Club!" Gajeel's arm transformed into a large steel club and it headed to Wendy.
Wendy, however, didn't have a reaction. Instead, she slowly closed her eyes. An ominous spell came from her lips. "Dragon Force."
"What?" Gajeel said as he remembered that Natsu said the exact same spell in their previous battle.
All the air around them froze. Gajeel looked at Wendy as her hair turned bright pink hair and eyes, The hair curved upwards and white scales formed around her skin.
He had a bad feeling about this. His head quickly turned to the direction of Carla and Levy. "Watch out!" He yelled as he he tried to run to both Carla and Levy, to cover them both from the upcoming attack.
"Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!" All the air that had frozen had suddenly moved outward to then transform into a giant, sharp wave of wind headed in all directions to sweep up everything and tear everything until nothing is left.
Gajeel braced himself for the attack. There was no way he would leave this with no scars.
"ENOUGH!"
The lethal wind stopped blowing and the airs turned peaceful. All eyes turned to Wendy, no they all turned to the giant figure standing near Loke and Lucy.
"The Celestial Spirit King?" Loke gasped in complete surprise.
"What?" Wendy gasped, along with Gajeel and Carla who had no idea what was going on anymore.
"Even more interesting," Angel stated.
"Enough with this senseless fighting," the Spirit King said.
Despite what the Celestial King said, Angel held up two gold keys. "Are you kidding me?! This is an opportunity of the lifetime. If I take the head of the spirit king then I can control the whole Celestial Spirit World!" She laughed with the face craving for power. "Open, gate of the ram, gate of the twins! Aries and Gemini!" Despite her holding the keys up in the air, nothing happened.
"Did you forget that I'm the Celestial Spirit King? The spirits wouldn't fight me, especially for a sad, sadistic celestial spirit mage like you!" The Celestial Spirit King laughed.
"GAHHH!" Angel screeched in frustration.
"Would you want me to fight you while you are unable to fight? So-ra-no."
Angel was silent. She then turned her head down and admitted defeat. "Wendy, let's go."
Wendy nodded.
"Hey I'm not done with you yet!" Gajeel yelled, frustrated at this defeat.
"Just leave her be…" A soft voice gently said. Seemed like Levy finally woke up.
"I don't listen to people shorter than me." Gajeel growled, which earned him a smack on the head. He then found that Wendy and Angel were no longer seen.
"Shh…" Levy said as she closed her eyes and leaned on Gajeel.
"Don't lean on me!"
Loke and the Celestial Spirit King stared at each other.
"Why're you here?" Loke asked.
The Celestial Spirit King ignored him. Instead, his attention was focused on Lucy. "You're trying to close my friend's gate. Why?"
"Because Loke doesn't deserve this," Lucy stated, while breathing heavily. "He didn't kill Karen, Angel did!"
"Rules are rules."
"What rules? Do you just like to stand by idly while your fellow celestial spirits get beat up. You're a horrible king!"
The king was taken aback by Lucy's words. "I still can't change the rules."
"Well if you can't, then I will!" Lucy spat at the king's shoes.
"Lucy!" Loke whispered, terrified. "That's not how people should treat kings!"
"I will and I do if it's the only way to save a friend's life!"
"You're going to get everyone killed!" Loke said, then he looked at the Spirit King. He was wearing one hell of a poker face…
"Close! Gate of the Lion, Leo!" Lucy cried again.
"Stop Lucy!"
"No… keep going." The Celestial Spirit King stated.
"Are you crazy? She'll die!" Loke frantically cried.
"Close! Gate of the Lion, Leo!"
"STOP!"
"Close! Gate of the Lion, Leo!" She cried one last time. Lucy stared at Loke who was barely visible now. "Come on! Work!"
She was about to chant once more when a hand grabbed her. "Stop Lucy, that's enough," Loke smiled. "My time is up."
"You can't say that!" Lucy shouted. She turned to look for Loke but he was gone now. "NO!"
The Celestial Spirit king nodded and disappeared.
"What?" Lucy looked horrified. Loke was gone. "It can't end like this!"
"It actually can."
"What!" She turned her head to the voice. It was Loke. "Loke? Is that you? You're in a suit and you have hair that's spikier…"
"That's how I normally look."
"Really? Does that mean… you can go back to the Celestial Spirit World?"
"Yep. The king decided to make an exception for me due to your resolve to help me." Loke patted her head "Thank you."
Lucy smiled. "Really? Thanks. Now I can take a break now, I'm tired."
"Speaking of breaks…" Loke took a few pieces of paper from his pocket. "Here, tickets to Akane resort. A really great place for vacation. Consider it a gift for helping me. Now I must return back to the Celestial Spirit World. See you."
"Bye," Lucy said as she grabbed the tickets. "Four tickets..?" She looked at Gajeel, Levy, and Carla who were watching the whole time. "Do you guys want to come?"
"Yeah!" Levy smiled but cringed because of her head injury.
"Okay, we'll go as soon as we check our injuries," Lucy smiled back.
"Speaking of head injuries.." Levy said as she thought she was forgetting something.
"THERE YOU ARE!" An old cranky voice interrupted the peacefulness. It was Porlyusica holding a broom broken in half.
"On second thought, let's go now!" Levy sweatdropped.
"Aye!"
~Tower of Heaven~~~
(With Gray and Juvia)
Gray wiped off sweat from his bare chest. "Looks like the Rockstar fraud is finally done for," he sighed.
"Yeah! All thanks to Gray-sama and Juvia!" Juvia cheered.
"Okay let's go!" Gray started to the next flight of stairs but he stopped when he heard a person walk down the stairs. It was a woman with bright pink hair, and blood stained clothing.
"Are you a friend of Salamander?" she asked.
"Yeah…" Gray answered, reluctant.
"Well, you should probably get out of here. There's an Etherion cannon that's about to hit this tower."
"What's an Etherion cannon?"
"It's a magical weapon that can destroy an entire country."
"What!" Gray's spine chilled, and not because he's an ice mage. "I have to say thanks for the information, but I have to catch up to Natsu!" At that, Gray was off to climb the next set of stairs, followed by Juvia.
Gray arrived to the next floor to find a bridge, and a lot of blood. He took note of this and quickened his pace to the next flight of stairs. Finally, they reached the point where they could see the backs of two people slowly move forward.
"Natsu!"
The two figures turned around. "Woah, Gray you're still alive?" Natsu asked in sarcastic surprise.
"I'm not a weakling! And look at you, you look more bloody and roughed up than me."
"That's because you fought some small fry. But forget that, I can smell some more company coming this way."
As he said that, four new figures appeared a few steps up the stairs.
"Who are you?" Gray asked while getting into his fighting position.
One of them, a big muscular man, said, "We mean you no harm. We found out about Jellal's evil plans. He's going to kill Erza."
Natsu shot Gray an I told you so look. "And who are you people to Erza?" Natsu asked.
"We're her childhood friends! My name is Milliana!" A girl with cat ears chirped.
"I'm Simon," said the muscular man and he pointed to two other guys. "The blonde's name is Sho and the other is Wally."
Natsu, on reflex, covered his mouth when he saw Wally. He remembered tasting a bit of gun powder…
"And what business do you have with us?" Ultear asked.
"We want you guys to save her! We're… not strong enough…" Sho admitted.
"We were going to do that anyway." Natsu pushed Sho back. "Gray, you take these guys out of here. The etherion is going to fire about any time now and I want you guys a million miles away from here when that happens."
"But-" Gray was interrupted by Natsu who pushed him down the stairs. "Gah!"
"Okay," Natsu pointed to Juvia. "You're in charge of bringing everyone here and getting them to leave."
"J-Juvia's in charge?"
"Hey!" Sho shouted angrily. "We're helping too!"
"No, you're not." Natsu pushed Sho down the stairs this time. "Now does anyone else want me to push them down the stairs?"
Milliana and Wally shook their heads as they followed Juvia down the Tower of Heaven. Natsu's gaze stayed on Simon, who didn't move.
"I'm going with you."
"I'm not a seer, but if you come with us, I prophesy your death." Natsu glared at Simon.
"Then let it be a noble death. I just want to help Erza for once." Simon announced.
"You're an idiot," Ultear commented.
"Okay then. Ultear, you protect Simon and I'll fight Jellal." Natsu ordered.
"It should be the other way around. No actually, I think I should push you down the stairs along with the others. Going up there in your condition would be suicide." She crossed her arms in defiance.
"Okay, then let's all go up now," Natsu muttered.
The group of three continued to climb up the stairs until they passed a window. The sky was illuminated by bright blueness.
"Hey look, it's a blue shooting star." Natsu noticed.
"That would appear to be Etherion head straight for us." Ultear corrected.
"Oh."
"Why are you being calm like this, we might die!" Simon rose his voice.
"Don't worry, we won't die." Natsu waved it off like it was no big deal.
"What do you mean?" Simon questioned.
"You'll know when it hits this tower."
(With Gray and the others.)
"We managed to escape the tower and get on this boat, but why is the sky so bright? I'm pretty sure it's not day." Sho squinted to cover his eyes from the bright light a bit.
"No that's the Etherion cannon! Everyone on the boat now!" Gray yelled as he threw Juvia and himself onto the boat. "Come on!"
Just as the rest of the group dove onto the boat, Gray pushed the boat off with great force and they set sail under the bright blue light. They all ducked their heads low as if that could lessen the impact of the blast.
Five seconds later, nothing happened. Gray dared to look up and he found that this 'etherion blast' was frozen in place. "What the hell?"
"Gray-sama, is that what Etherion is supposed to do?" Juvia asked while she kept one eye closed.
"I have no idea, but let's get out of here while we have the chance." Gray muttered as he took the paddles and paddled as fast as he could.
Good Luck! Natsu!
(With Natsu, Ultear, and Simon.)
"You froze the Etherion in time?" Simon's eye twitched. "It would seem that I have underestimated you two."
"Ultear, how long until it unfreezes?" Natsu asked.
"Just enough so that your friends don't get caught up in the blast." Ultear broke a sweat.
"Will you be okay? You don't look okay."
"I'm fine."
"You're clearly not. Which means I get to fight Jellal." Natsu sheepishly smiled.
"Shut up."
Natsu laughed but he stopped himself. Looks like the Etherion is about to hit this place. Everyone, prepare yourselves!"
The three mages braced themselves as they watched Etherion resume back in time and crash into the tower in less than a split second. The impact sent the ocean into pandemonium, giant waves vibrating all over the sea. The tower itself was in no better condition than the ocean. The whole island shook crazily, and the light from the Etherion was too bright for anyone to see anything. But with enough time the tower finally stabilized and the island ceased to shake. Surprisingly, instead of the Etherion destroying the tower, the Etherion fused with it.
"Are we okay?" Natsu called and opened his eyes to find that the whole tower turned into crystallized Etherion Lacrima. He tilted his head. "I feel like I've seen this before."
"I'm… alive?" Simon asked himself.
"Present." Ultear muttered.
"Good, let's go!" Natsu cheered. "To beat Jellal to a pulp and save Erza!"
To be continued next chapter!
Woo, I'm on a roll! Please Review to add more steam to my imagination! xD
Looks like these arcs are wrapping up. Sorry for just adding Milliana, Sho, Wally, and Simon there out of no where. I didn't know what else to do... Anyways, you huys should be fine if you read the manga/watched the anime. If you have any problems, then tell me. :P
Thank you reviewers! :P
Guest: Thanks! Even though you're nameless, I really appreciate your reviews! Although I don't know how to reply about that Wendy part. XD. T-H-A-N-K-S-Y-O-U! Sorry, I had too much sugar. :3
Tobias97: I initially didn't know how to first react to your review and I still don't. At first I thought you were mad at me but now I think you're mad at the people who supposedly killed Erza but didn't, if that makes sense XD. Thanks for your review! Hearing someone say good chapter is feels like I aced a test! :D