IMPORTANT: I posted a chapter last week, but the website was acting up on me, and it didn't show the story as updated. So, make sure to go read the previous chapter before reading this one!
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, all I own are my OCs
Blayze didn't breathe as Raven strode up to them and raked her eyes- violet eyes Blayze noticed- over Lucy and Natsu's forms before stopping and crossing her arms over her chest. Her eyebrows gradually rose higher as she took in Lucy's scraped up body and Natsu's pale, sickly skin color.
"What the hell happened to you two?" she asked bluntly.
Lucy sighed wearily. "It's a long story, but basically, I fought off Angel while Natsu was laid up with motion sickness."
Raven's eyes slid to Natsu. "You let her fight the battle all alone?"
"It wasn't my fault! The raft kept moving back and forth the whole time!" he complained.
A vein ticked on Lucy's forehead. "Are you kidding me?! It didn't move an inch!"
Raven's lips curled up into a smirk as the two mages continued to bicker, and Blayze's brow furrowed. Had he been wrong about Lilith getting control? Both of Raven's amused eyes were solid violet, and she was acting like herself. It didn't make sense. He had been so sure...
"Where have you been?" he asked, crossing his arms.
Natsu and Lucy looked at Raven also, waiting for an answer. Raven's eyes flicked to his for only a second before turning her gaze to the waterfall behind them. Blayze's own eyes narrowed. Why wasn't she looking at him?
Raven tossed her messy ponytail over her shoulder. "While I was fighting the dark guild, I heard someone else wandering close by, so once I was done with the guild, I went to make sure that it wasn't someone from the Oracion Seis. But, whoever it was must've heard me coming because when I got there, the person was gone. I started to get a bad feeling, so I kept trying to track them down. But, they just kept going deeper and deeper into the forest until they just up and disappeared. My guess is that whoever it was was trying to lure me away from you guys so that I wouldn't be able to help fight Angel."
"It makes sense," Lucy murmured. "You're an S-Class mage, so they saw you as the biggest threat."
"They didn't want to risk fighting you and losing," Natsu mused.
Raven nodded. "Exactly."
Blayze stayed silent, a frown tugging at his lips. Her story didn't make sense. He had never known Raven to not be able to track someone down. Thanks to her Shadow Travel, she always caught up to the person she was tracking with ease. But, according to her story, she hadn't even caught a glimpse of the person that was supposedly luring her away. Dread coiled in his stomach.
Raven was lying.
He sprouted his wings and drifted up so that he was at eye level with them.
"Raven," he said.
Her eyes drifted over to him, and he locked his gaze onto hers.
"Jellal is here. He's the one that unsealed Nirvana."
His eyes bored into hers, waiting for surprise or anger to light them.
But it never came.
Her eyes remained blank, borderline bored, as if she were silently wondering why the hell she was supposed to care.
Blayze's eyes widened as the realization hit him, and Lilith's eyes lit up with surprise before curiosity settled in.
She tilted her head to the left, loose strands of hair obscuring her right eye from view.
"What did I do that tipped you off?" she asked, genuine curiosity lighting up her face.
His mouth tightened, and he slowly maneuvered himself so that he was floating behind Natsu and Lucy, paws ready to grab onto them.
"You didn't react to hearing Jellal's name," he said tensely, briefly wondering if he shouldn't have told her that.
"Damn," she murmured, shaking her head softly. "So simple, yet so revealing. I'll have to be more careful next time, won't I?"
Lucy and Natsu's eyes were bouncing between them, confusion written on their faces.
"Um, what are you guys talking about?" Lucy asked.
Blayze's paws carefully grabbed the collars of their shirts. "There isn't going to be a next time."
Lilith's sharp grin was savage. "Now, we both know that's not true."
Fast as a viper, Lilith whipped her leg around at Natsu and Lucy, and if Blayze hadn't been so prepared for her attack, the kick would have landed. But, Blayze yanked the mages back with all of his strength, and they stumbled backwards, eyes wide with shock.
"Nicely done, kitty," Lilith purred, her grin widening.
"What the hell is going on?" Natsu shouted.
Blayze's mouth opened then closed. What was he supposed to say? How was he going to explain this?
As it turned out, he didn't need to come up with an explanation because Lucy did it for him.
"It's Nirvana's magic," she said, her face pale. "It switched her to the dark side."
Lilith eyed the blonde, and Blayze waited tensely for her to spill the truth about herself. But, instead, Lilith remained oddly silent as amusement and cruel enjoyment lit up her face.
"Yes, that is what happened, isn't it?" she breathed out before throwing a punch at them.
Blayze darted to Lucy and Natsu, expecting Lilith to go after them, but at the last second, she switched directions, and her fist caught Blayze in the gut, knocking the breath out of him and sending him flying into the water behind them.
Over the ringing in his ears, he heard the distinct sound of bones breaking and Lucy's pained scream.
"No," he groaned, pushing himself onto his knees. He looked up, blinking the water out of his eyes and saw Lucy lying on the ground, clutching her side.
Broken ribs, he thought faintly before looking back to see Lilith and Natsu engaged in a fight.
Natsu was on the offensive, throwing all kinds of punches and kicks, but Lilith dodged all of them with ease and grace. Neither of them, he noted, were using their magic. Natsu, because he didn't want to actually hurt Raven; he was just trying to knock her out as quickly as possible. And Lilith, he knew, wasn't using her magic because she wasn't stupid. She knew that she couldn't use fire magic on the Fire Dragon Slayer. After all, Natsu had proved time and time again that he could ingest any type of fire, and it only made him stronger.
Eventually, Lilith grew bored of their fight, and when Natsu's back was turned to her, she threw a hard kick that sent him crashing into the trees. As if sensing his eyes on her, Lilith turned to Blayze with a wild grin and brushed the hair out of her eyes before winking at him, blue swirling around in her right eye.
"Fire Dragon Roar!"
Lilith turned lazily as a tornado of fire came spiraling towards her, and Blayze closed his eyes, already knowing what would happen.
As the attack stopped, and the dust settled, Blayze wasn't surprised to see Lilith standing in the same spot, completely unscathed. Natsu's jaw dropped as Lilith tilted her head at him, hair covering her right eye once again.
"What a pathetic excuse for fire magic."
With a shout, Natsu ran at her fists blazing.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Lilith ducked her head and kicked Natsu's legs out from under him in one seamless move.
He landed on his back with a thud, and Lilith pounced on him, throwing punch after punch.
"No, Raven, stop!" Blayze shouted, sprouting his wings and darting over to them.
Without looking up, Lilith backhanded Blayze across the face with enough force to send him flying into Lucy like a bullet. She cried out as he rammed into her side, and black dots danced across his vision.
"I'm sorry, Lucy," he said hoarsely.
She grimaced, still holding onto her side tightly. "It's okay. It's not your fault."
Lilith giggled suddenly, bringing their attention to her. She was standing above a bloodied, barely conscious Natsu with her fingers hovering over her mouth as manic laughter escaped her. But, it wasn't Natsu she was laughing at; instead, she closed her eyes and seemed to laugh at something that only she could hear.
Tears blurred his vision as he realized what she found so funny.
Raven.
After their last mission when Lilith had taken control, Raven had reluctantly explained to him that although Lilith was in control of her body, she didn't have complete control of her mind. She said that it was like being trapped in a cell in her own head. She was aware of everything that Lilith was doing and could even converse with her, but she couldn't stop her. She had told him in a voice, free of all emotion, that she had screamed and pleaded until her voice was hoarse for Lilith to stop, but all Lilith had done was laugh at her desperation.
And that was exactly what she was doing now.
After a few minutes, Lilith calmed down and swept her eyes over the three of them, and she almost looked disappointed.
"I was expecting so much more than that pathetic attempt of a fight," she said, walking over to Blayze and Lucy.
He could feel Lucy trembling against his back, and he grasped her hand as Lilith knelt down in front of them and grabbed Blayze's chin tightly, forcing him to look her in the eyes.
"How does it feel, kitty, to watch your beloved partner do such horrible things?" she murmured so that only he could hear. "I can tell you how she feels. She is in agony right now, knowing that it's her hands causing this pain and that she can't do a single thing to stop it."
Her head cocked to the side as if listening to something.
"She's begging me to stop, to let go of you, to not hurt you," she said, squeezing his chin so tightly it hurt. "She's throwing herself against the barrier in her mind, trying so hard to break through. But, she knows that that's not enough, that it will never be enough. And you, kitty, won't be able to bring her back, not this time. I'll admit that I was caught off guard when you threw yourself in front of me last time, and that surprise cost me... but not today."
The tears he had been holding back finally slipped free, and Lilith grinned widely before shoving him back into Lucy and standing up. She walked away from them and, with a lazy wave, disappeared into the forest.
Lilith strolled through the forest, reveling in the feeling of being surrounded by such powerful dark magic. She felt it twisting and curling in the air around her, and she breathed in deeply, absorbing it into her own magic. She let out the breath slowly, lips curling up into a smile at the almost euphoric feeling.
But, of course, that feeling was short lived when her head throbbed painfully.
She winced and snarled, "Would you stop doing that?!"
It doesn't feel good does it? Raven growled, Having someone constantly clawing against your mind, trying to force their way in?
Lilith rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic. I don't force my way into your head; I simply wait for the opportunity to present itself, and I take it. It's not my fault that your mind is so damn weak."
The only reason you ever gain control is because you have the power of dark magic surrounding you, Raven snapped, Without that, you're nothing.
Fire simmered in Lilith's veins, and she tightened the leash in her mind, Raven's presence growing fainter.
"Don't forget who has the power here, girl," Lilith hissed. "I am in control with the power of Nirvana only making me stronger; meanwhile, your precious friends are weak and vulnerable. Shall I go find more of them and do to them what I did to your cat and the others?"
Silence... and a trickle of fear.
Lilith let out a breath and grinned. "That's better."
Just for good measure, she kept the leash on Raven tight, keeping the girl in the deep recesses of her own mind.
Lilith growled in annoyance as her hair got caught in yet another bush. She muttered to herself as she picked out the strands that were wrapped around the thorns in the bush. When they still didn't come out, a strangled shout came out of her mouth, and she whipped out a dagger, readying to chop it off.
Don't you dare cut off my hair, you bitch! Raven shouted, her voice echoing faintly from the dark corner that Lilith had shoved her into.
"Don't be such a girl!" Lilith snapped. "It's only a small piece anyway."
Lilith ignored Raven's outraged shriek as she swung the dagger down... and then proceeded to drop it as the ground beneath her gave a violent lurch.
"Oomph!"
She faceplanted into the dirt and struggled to sit up as the ground cracked and groaned, and the shaking got worse. With a wild jerk, the ground beneath her rose into the air, and she yelped as her hair tore free from the bush.
"What the hell is this?!"
The stone leg continued to rise higher and higher until a clawed foot came out of the ground, and it came to a sudden halt. Looking up, Lilith saw several other legs emerging from the earth, and in the middle of it all was what looked to be a city in ruins.
She stood on shaky legs and tilted her head, taking in the sight and the dark magic that radiated from the very center of it.
"This must be Nirvana's final stage," she murmured.
With her curiosity now peaked, she made to walk forward when the leg lurched to the side. A wave of nausea rolled through her as Nirvana started to move, the stone legs trembling with each step.
"Damn dragon slayers and their motion sickness," she muttered through gritted teeth.
Serves you right, came Raven's muffled voice.
"Tch... shut up."
She forced herself to ignore the nausea and continued to make her way to Nirvana's center.
Explosions rocked Nirvana, one after another. It had been going on for a while now, and it was starting to make Lilith's head pound. From the sound of it, it seemed that everyone but her was engaged in some kind of battle. For once though, she didn't mind, because her goal wasn't to fight Raven's pathetic guild mates... no, what she wanted was Nirvana's power. If she could get to its source, then she could absorb the magic for herself.
And she would be unstoppable.
And Raven... Raven would be shoved so far into her own mind that she would cease to exist, and this body would finally belong wholly to Lilith. Never again would she be pushed to the side, locked away, muzzled like a rabid dog that needed to be put down.
You're even more psychotic than I thought, if you think that I'll ever allow that to happen, Raven said faintly.
"I think that you'll soon find that you have no say in the matter," Lilith said, coming to a stop as she heard several people conversing somewhere to her left. She blinked, realizing that the explosions and fighting had stopped at some point, and now, all was quiet.
She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, finding the scents of Erza, Wendy, Carla, and someone she didn't recognize. Her eyes slowly opened, and a smirk pulled at her lips. Without giving it a second thought, she allowed her hair to cover her right eye, shoved her hands in her pant pockets, and strolled around the corner, coming face to face with the small group.
"Well, it's about time I found someone," she called out, lowering her voice to Raven's usual timbre.
Erza's head whipped around, and her face broke into a relieved grin.
"Raven, thank God you're okay," Erza said, turning around. The redhead looked like she wanted to rush forward and hug her, but for some reason, she stayed rooted in place.
"Same here. Last I saw you, you were dying from Cobra's venom, but it looks like Wendy got to you in time," she said, glancing at the small dragon slayer. "Thank you for saving her, Wendy."
The young girl blushed. "It was the least I could do."
"Who is this?"
Lilith turned from Wendy and stared as Erza hastily tried to shove someone behind her, but whoever it was stepped around Erza to look at Lilith.
Blue hair.
A red tattoo placed over brown eyes.
Rage, the likes of which she had never felt before, coursed through her like a wildfire, and Lilith choked as that damned leash wrapped around her throat and wrenched her back.
The instant Raven came back into her body, shadows erupted around her, and she launched herself forward.
"Shadow Dragon's Iron Fist!"
She targeted Jellal's chest and sent him flying into the building behind him, the impact causing the walls to collapse around him.
Before she could do anything else, a hand latched onto her arm and held her back.
"Raven, stop," Erza said firmly. "Jellal is not the enemy."
Raven stared at her incredulously. "What are you talking about? Of course he's the enemy! Have you forgotten what he did to you?!"
Erza's eyes hardened. "Of course not, but now is not the time for this. I know you're confused, and it's too long a story to tell now. All you need to know is that Jellal is on our side. His memory has been wiped clean, and he tried to stop Nirvana before it could enter its last stage."
"But I failed," he added, slowly picking himself up.
Raven ground her teeth together, resisting the urge to beat him to a pulp. Erza kept a restraining hand on her, just in case.
"You can't just give up!" Carla shouted, pulling Raven's attention to her and Wendy. "Our guild is in danger of being destroyed at any minute! Don't turn your back on your comrades. There must be something we can do-"
Carla was cut off as Nirvana shook violently beneath them.
"What was that?!" Erza exclaimed.
"Whatever it is, it isn't good," Raven muttered.
They ran over to the edge, and the sight before them sent chills down her spine.
Nirvana was preparing to strike, a large swirl of magic pointing right at the small guild below.
"That's Cait Shelter!" Wendy cried.
"What's going on? So much magic power... he's going to fire Nirvana!" Erza shouted, her face pale.
Sharp pain pierced Raven's skull, and she stumbled back, clutching her head.
"No, no, no," she mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut. "Not again."
You don't stand a chance, Lilith hissed.
Raven ignored her and threw every bit of her concentration and power into keeping the barrier up. She couldn't let Lilith take control again, not now.
Nirvana fired suddenly, and Raven grabbed onto the wall next to her in order to stay up as a harsh wind came blowing at them. She shielded her eyes and watched in horror as a beam of magic shot at the guild.
Wendy screamed, and they all waited for the attack to hit... but it never did. Instead, the beam moved and struck just above the guild, missing it by only a few feet. As the dust settled, they all let out relieved breaths at the sight of Cait Shelter still standing.
"What happened?" Jellal asked.
A shadow passed over them, and Raven looked up in shock.
"No way," Erza breathed.
Flying above them was Christina. The magic bomber had seen better days, but it was functioning. And that was all that mattered.
"Do you read me? Someone, anyone, respond."
Raven started at the voice in her head before she realized that it was Hibiki. Judging by the looks on the others faces, they had heard it to.
"Please let me know that you're okay."
"I know that voice," Erza said, smiling. "It's Hibiki."
"Yeah," Wendy grinned.
"Erza and Wendy, good to know that you're alive and well," Hibiki said.
Raven let out a breath. "I never thought that I'd be glad to hear his voice."
Hibiki chuckled. "I'm glad to hear your voice to, Raven."
"Raven?"
She froze as Blayze's voice filled her head.
"Raven... is that you?"
Her chest tightened at the worry in his tone. After everything she had done to him earlier... and he was worried about her.
Her eyes stung as she answered him in a slightly shaky voice. "Yeah, it's me, buddy."
She could have sworn she heard a sob leave his throat.
"Are you okay?" she asked him, her voice steadying.
He cleared his throat. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, and Master Ichiya is with me as well."
Her nose scrunched up. "Why are you with him?"
"I'm glad to hear that you're both okay," Hibiki cut in.
Erza shook her head. "I can't believe it. I never expected to see the magic bomber fly again."
"How'd you get her flying again?" Wendy asked curiously.
"Hard work," Hibiki answered, and Raven listened silently as he explained that Lyon, Ren, and Sherry were keeping it in the air, while Eve had used his magic to fire it at one of Nirvana's legs.
"We owe you one," Erza said.
"I'm sure you can tell... that everyone here is running low on magical energy now," Hibiki said quietly. "I'm afraid we can't attack from the ship anymore. The powers too low. Just flying this far... was hard enough, but don't worry. We're gonna be fine. Now, listen up. There's one last thing, a bit of good news. I know how to stop Nirvana!"
Raven tensed as anger rushed through her, but not her own. She slammed her power into the barrier as Lilith tried to claw her way through. With all of her focus on Lilith, she only faintly heard Hibiki explain that the six appendages all contained lacramas that were sucking magic energy from the earth in order to power Nirvana. But, if all six lacramas were destroyed at the same time, then Nirvana would shut down.
Raven started as Hibiki downloaded a timer into her head with the countdown set to twenty minutes. Almost instantly, the barrier in her mind cracked, and Raven shut out everything around her.
You are not going to take this opportunity away from me! Lilith raged, throwing herself against the barrier.
Lilith was desperate now, Raven realized, knowing that she only had a small window to take Nirvana's power for herself. If Lilith got control now, she would take out everyone around her before they could destroy the lacramas, and then, all hope would be lost.
But Raven was willing to do anything to keep that from happening.
It took her a moment to realize that hands were shaking her shoulders, and someone was calling her name. She blinked up Erza, who was standing in front of her looking worried.
"What's wrong?" Erza asked, brows furrowed.
Raven sucked in a deep breath and looked at her with hard eyes.
"I need you to knock me out."
Erza sweatdropped, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Wendy and Carla gaping at her.
"Why would I do that?" Erza demanded.
"There's no time to explain," Raven said.
Erza raised a brow and crossed her arms. "I'm not doing it without an explanation."
Raven sighed through her nose, recognizing the stubborn look on Erza's face. "Nirvana seems to have a stronger hold on me than anyone else. I already hurt-" She paused, working her jaw. "I already hurt Blayze, Natsu, and Lucy, and I refuse to let anything like that happen again. But, it's taking everything in me right now to resist Nirvana's magic, and I... I don't think I can hold it off much longer. So, I need you to knock me out because that's the only way that I can be sure that I won't hurt anyone."
Erza stared at her for a long minute before seeming to come to a decision.
She nodded. "Okay, I'll do it."
Raven closed her eyes and let out a relieved breath. "Thank y-"
An armored fist connected with her temple, and all she heard was a mumbled apology before the world went black.
Erza paced in front of the giant lacrama, her Black Wing armor at the ready. The timer Hibiki placed in her head informed her that there were only two minutes left until it was time to destroy the lacrama. She could only pray that the others were at their posts and ready as well.
Footsteps echoed down the dark corridor, and Erza tensed, bringing her sword up.
Nobody should be coming this way, she thought warily. Who could it possibly be?
Her eyes widened as the figure stepped into the light of the room.
Raven's dark curls had come out of their ponytail and hung wildly around her face, and a dark bruise was forming around her temple. But what had Erza tensing even more were her eyes. Her right eye was a blazing blue, while her left was violet with wisps of blue streaking through it.
"Looks like you should have hit me harder," Raven said, her voice slightly higher than usual.
Before Erza had the chance to respond, blinding blue fire erupted around the dragon slayer and shot out around the room, encasing them in a circle of flames.
Sweat dripped down Erza's face as the heat reached her. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before. The heat was nearly unbearable, and it was getting harder to breath with every second that went by.
Raven, however, looked completely unfazed by the raging inferno and lifted a hand into the air before bringing it down sharply. Blue flames came spiraling toward Erza, and she jumped to the side, flinching as the scorching heat brushed her arm as it barreled past her.
Wincing, she looked down to see the armor on her arm melting.
Girlish laughter brought her attention back to Raven, who was grinning at her.
"You've never felt fire like mine before, have you?" she asked. "That's because mine is one of a kind."
Erza gasped and ducked as a ball of fire hurtled toward her and exploded into the wall behind her. The room shook as the wall crumbled and turned to ash.
A warning bell went off in her head as the timer reached one minute. She had to hurry up and end this, now.
"Requip: Heaven's Wheel!"
With her armor in place, she summoned fifty swords and pointed them at Raven.
"If you don't end this right now, Raven, then I will."
Raven's grin only broadened, revealing her fangs.
"Let's see what you can do, Erza Scarlet."
With a shout, Erza sent her swords flying.
Raven didn't move; in fact, she didn't even look concerned. Erza understood why, when a second later, a wall of blue fire shot up in front of her like a shield... and none of her swords made it through.
The instant her swords touched the flames, they melted until there was nothing but a puddle of liquid metal in front of Raven.
Erza wiped the sweat from her forehead and slowly backed up until her back came in contact with the column that held the lacrama as the timer hit ten seconds. She watched as Raven held out her hands and summoned a ball of fire, the size of the lacrama itself, and faced Erza.
With three seconds left on the clock, Erza leaped into the air, and Raven threw the ball of fire after her. At the last second, she twisted to the side and watched as the attack hit the lacrama and exploded.
Erza went flying backwards and crashed into a wall as Nirvana shuddered, and it's magic winked out like a light. In the same moment, she heard a sharp gasp, and she watched in horror as Raven's eyes rolled back into her head, and the ground gave out beneath her.
Woo! That was my longest chapter yet, and I'm super happy with how it turned out! At first, I was kind of worried that I wouldn't be able to portray Lilith the way that I wanted, but I actually really loved writing her character!
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and if you haven't yet, go check out my Tumblr: 'dreamerwithapen1' where you can find some moodboards that I made for Raven:)
Until next time!