There's a light. I can see it shining. It's so soft, like the gentle glitter of a solitary star and it was warm too, almost like a blanket of surreal softness. It took me a moment to realise, but when I opened my eyes, the light was me. In my own darkness, I was shining. Shining. I'm still here, this does not mean it is over, it is only just beginning.
With a breath I closed my fist. Good. If I can move my hand, then I can still fight. If I can still think, I can plan. If I can still breathe, then I am living! Come now, search with soul to find strength. You possess the soul of an angel deep within you as well as a demon, you should be able to defeat this evil, it is what you were made for, Faerie. Do not give up just yet, fight!
Taking a moment to store my energy, my eyes opened to reveal an intense white light which shone outwards the same moment a powerful force from the outside came crashing down into my world of darkness, causing my heart to burn with the raging emotion as I recalled my friends. Lucy, Levy, Natsu, everyone, I am coming. I will save them, I must protect them, I cannot let them down this time! With all the strength I could muster, a resonating roar echoed from my mind and out into the open world, a brilliant burst of light blasting away my prison as the light tunnelled into the sky, making it rain with stars as I stepped free.
I felt surreal, almost as if I were walking on air as I walked away from Alegria's restraints, seeing that I had been snatched away from my friends and tossed into a dark corner of the prison, however it had been shattered by someone, completely broken apart. We were no longer flying, in fact we were on the ground and I could sense a great presence that was both familiar and friendly. "Celestial Spirit King!" I realised with a gasp, searching around to hone in on his location, however someone else's scent caught my attention first. Lucy.
Quickly I turned around, running towards her as I followed the weak scent until finally, she was in sight. I flew over a pile of rubble, sliding down easily as I called out to her. "Lucy!"
"F-Fae? Is that…you?" She questioned whilst laying completely flat on her back. She was wearing different clothes to how I last remember her wearing, the top half of her hair separated into two bunches and I recognised the tattoo mark on her chest as the one Aquarius also had. Amazing, had Lucy somehow attained some of Aquarius's power? There was a broken key in Lucy's hand and she had been crying, however she was trying to smile at me as I lifted her up into my embrace.
"It's alright, you're safe now." I assured her softly, cradling her head into my neck as my arms wrapped around her. "You've done a great job Lucy, you can let us handle the rest." Stroking her hair I listened to her shaky breaths as I transformed into my healing form, enveloping her in a soft light as I focused on healing whatever I could. There was a painful looking injury to her leg, a dark burn mark as if something had tried to blow off her foot so I focused my attention on that.
"Fae…look out…" Lucy whispered and I opened my eyes, seeing one of the other demons approaching and I tightened my grip on Lucy, snarling as my wings fluttered threateningly. They were very small and would not allow us a quick getaway, I'd have to transform. Before I could do so, however, I sensed someone else approaching at a fast pace straight towards us, so I merely smirked as the fish like demon approached.
"What happened? Does this mean even Jackal and Lamy were defeated by this little brat?" He muttered angrily, looking around him to his fallen fellow before turning his harsh glare upon us, meeting my glare. "This is exactly why I told them to kill her immediately. Now you too shall die with her, insolent wretches!" A large bladed arm was lifted, however I did not even flinch, hearing footsteps pounding behind us and as the blade was swung, a shadow leaped overhead and pounded an iron fist directly into the demon's face.
"Gajeel." I welcomed with a warm voice as he stood protectively in front of us both as I continued to heal Lucy. "Excellent timing."
"Impossible! How are there more of you?! The only human left alive should have been that little girl!" I objected to her calling Lucy little, however I did not voice my concerns as at the moment we had more pressing matters at hand. Lucy was still weak and injured but now we were facing a demon. A powerful looking demon at that.
My eyes caught a swirling dark mist overhead, however before it could strike down and attack Juvia appeared with a powerful Water Nebula to block the necromancer's way as it aimed for Gajeel. Her face was wrought with determination, the large spiralling body of water demonstrating only a fraction of her capability. "Juvia." I smiled again, relaxing further. The odds were looking better.
"How about I put you on ice?" A voice suggested, Juvia starting in surprise as her water was frozen over but Gray rushed into view, giving a yell as he blocked the other ice user's magic with a rather equal measure.
"Silver's ice was cancelled out?!" The necromancer gaped in shock however my attention now snapped the arrival of Tempesta, who calmly faced us all before he whispered something, blasting a huge plume of fire straight for us. Before I could throw out my hand, Natsu dropped seemingly from the heavens to swallow it all whole, gulping down the flames before smirking.
"I don't really know what's going on but somehow I get the feeling that you really saved our asses Lucy." He said and I saw a smile touch Lucy's lips as she slumped further against me in my protective embrace, holding her ready to fly in case things got a little too messy. "Well now. Lookie here. Some really tough looking dudes all lined up for us, now that's what I call hospitality!" Natsu grinned before pumping a fist against his palm. "I'm all fired up."
"Trust you Natsu to be excited about facing off four demons." I sighed softly, shaking my head before chuckling. "I'll leave them to you guys, I'll look after Lucy. She's pretty beat up." Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, forming a line in front of Lucy and I to protect us.
"So your sneaky plan seems to have hit a bump in the road! Whatcha gonna do now?" Natsu teased with a smirk, however I noticed that Gray seemed a little shifty, he was tense and uncomfortable. Something was a little off and, as I looked ahead, I noticed that the guy named Silver was paying particular attention to him. "Hey, that's the bastard who froze that Giant's Village!"
"Huh? His stench reminds me of yours, icicle." Gajeel murmured so I took a deep breath, realising that it was fairly similar, though something was really off with Silver's. It lacked palpability, like it was papery and faded, almost as if it were…dead. No, it couldn't be, right? Without warning Silver suddenly darted forwards, shooting past Natsu and the others to grasp Gray by the arm, everyone crying out in alarm as Silver smirked.
"This runt's mine."
"Gray!" Juvia screeched in horror as the two of them disappeared with a flash, ending their scent trail. Where the heck did they go?! There was no time to question as Tempesta quickly formed several cyclones around us, causing a high intensity of wind to sap our strength but I moved out of the way, jumping from left to right with Lucy in my arms until we were both a safe distance away.
"We have to help!" She whispered desperately, trying to get up but she immediately flinched and cried out in pain, going weak once more as I lay her back down on the ground, one arm around her to support her weight.
"It's alright Lucy, the others can handle it. Right now I need to keep you stable as you've used a dangerous amount of your magical power, you could have seriously injured your mental wellbeing or even gotten yourself killed by doing whatever it is you did." I warned her, warm eyes refusing to show fear or concern, helping to relax her as she was surrounded by a golden light. "Now please stay still. I'm not as fast at this as Wendy, so it'll take me some time."
"Okay." She agreed, closing her eyes to let me concentrate. Already I could hear the battle going badly. The others were being taken down hit by hit, their magic barely putting scratches on the demons as they easily either avoided, blocked or countered every move. Things were certainly not going our way and Lucy's healing was going slower than anticipated. Whoever had hurt her had done a thorough job, this was probably something best left to Wendy but I couldn't just leave her like this. "Fae…that's enough. Save your strength." Lucy murmured, reaching up and taking my hand as she took deep breaths. "They're going to need us."
"But Lucy, your wounds…" Her eyes opened and the undying resolve silenced me, burning orbs of fierce determination taking me by surprise before I relaxed, giving a single nod of my head. "Alright, but you stay here with me. You're in no condition to fight anymore, you've done more than enough." So I kept her close, both arms wrapped around her to keep her warm as I watched the battles.
I flinched as Juvia was slashed by the necromancer, my instincts wanting to rush over and take him to pieces but Lucy was still shivering and weak. I couldn't leave her undefended. Please, everyone, give it your all! I watched as Juvia fought back, growing angry by something the necromancer had said, I could feel the burning passion in her heart and it felt as if her energy was feeding mine, I felt stronger by the second.
"Humans…don't just exist to acquiesce to your whims!" She thundered, gathering her water attack with one hand and sent it directly at her target who seemed to melt and flow easily, shifting shape to avoid being struck.
"No matter how you struggle, I will kill you." His creepy voice whispered, making me grit my teeth and hold onto Lucy a little tighter. "And use your corpse to slaughter your friends."
"No! JUVIA WON'T LET YOU!" She cried out as she was caught around the wrist, suddenly going still before yelping in pain, the tight grasp of the necromancer restraining her as both Lucy and I called out her name at the same time in fear. We both moved to rise to our feet and save her but before we could do so, Lucy was torn away from my arms and I too was restrained by skeletal bodies with astral smoke drifting about them like ghostly embodiments of nightmares.
"Lucy!" I tried to break free and get to her but for skeletons, these things were surprisingly strong and I was held back, though it took three of them to successfully hold me as my tiny wings flurried aggressively.
"This is the city of the dead. To Keith, it's arsenal." The weird shark demon explained and for a moment, I frowned. The necromancer was called Keith? Don't make me laugh. For someone who looked like they had just walked out of a child's worst nightmare, that was the most uninspiring name they could have possibly come up with. All the same, this necromancer was now trying to hurt Lucy as well as Juvia. I won't stand for it!
"Territory Purification." My voice thrummed with power as I started to glow, opening my palms where two balls of light appeared and started to expand. "Banishment!" A large pulse arced out around me, causing the skeletons to screech as they shattered the moment the light made contact, my body balanced on one foot which was standing on point, hands coming together slowly with two fingers pointing outwards, guiding my movements. "Angel's Halo, Purify."
As the magic surged within me the healing art of angels spread outward, cancelling out the necromancer's ability to control the skeletons for as long as I maintained the spell, which of course seriously ticked him off. "What is this?! What magic is this to have been able to undo my necromancy?!" He thundered, still wrapping Juvia up in ribbons of darkness. My eyes opened, revealing burning orbs.
"Release Juvia immediately." I commanded, a slight echo tinging on my voice as the entire area remained tinged in a golden hue, supressing Keith's ability to raise people and skeletons from the dead. "Natsu, Gajeel, he can't use his ability so long as I maintain this territory barrier, hurry up and take them out!" I ordered and the two of them instantly charged straight back into battle.
"Right!" Keith snarled, perturbed by my insolence as he continued to hold onto Juvia, who was still struggling.
"Now let her go!"
"Foolish human, I do not negotiate. I only…destroy." My eyes were filled with horror as Juvia became encased, staring helplessly as I failed to even twitch to her aid as with a final breath of death filled air, Juvia was gone. In her place stood mere emptiness as Keith snorted quietly. "One down." No, impossible! Juvia, Juvia! I was about to yell and transform, however before I could do so, Keith's robes started to bulge, making us all stop and stare as he balked. "What…what is this?!"
"Don't tell me she's…" Natsu began as the two boys stared in absolute astonishment, open mouthed as I maintained the territory. In my heart I could feel Juvia crying, I could feel the anguish as she fought back against Keith who was crying out in terror, shouting endlessly until finally with a great whoosh of water and movement, he was split apart as Juvia appeared with a shout to the heavens.
"Even if they change form, feelings always remain in the heart! That's what I believe to be the strength of human love!" Juvia! I cannot believe it, she defeated Keith! The other two demons stood in shock as I dropped the barrier, allowing my form to fade back to normal as my wings disappeared. For a moment Juvia stood still, crying silently with trembling shoulders until finally, her strength waned and she started to fall.
"Juvia!" Both Lucy and I surged forwards, catching her arms and together we held her on the ground, keeping her supported as we looked over her with worried gazes. "Juvia?"
"Magical barrier particles." Tempesta murmured softly and immediately my heart thumped in my chest for fear.
"They were in Keith's body, so of course they infected her as well." The other demon added, though they were talking to themselves. Those damn particles, that's what Laxus and the rest of the Thunder Legion had been infected with, what should I do? I'm low on magic power as it is, the most I could do is simply suppress the effects from worsening for a very short time. Juvia stirred in our arms, eyes still closed but she was wincing in pain, struggling for breath.
"Juvia wanted…to see Gray…again…" Lucy and I looked at one another before together we pulled her into our embrace, her words bringing new resolve to my heart. I don't care how much magic it takes. If it'll save Juvia, I'll give it all to her! There has to be a way to fix this. I'll attempt a purification, see if that works.
"Don't worry." Lucy whispered to her softly. "I know you'll be able to see him soon."
"Okay…" She whispered before going absolutely still. My body glowed, my healer form returning as I nodded to Lucy.
"I'll do my best but I cannot promise anything." I informed her before I rested one hand on Juvia's head and the other over her stomach whilst Lucy held her, breathing calmly to focus before I uttered the spells under my breath to try and eradicate as much of the particles as I possibly could.
"I grow bored of these games." Tempesta announced, though I hardly paid attention, my focus solely on Juvia.
"Yeah. It's about time we take them seriously. Forget that they're humans and treat them as dragon mages." The other demon agreed before I sensed a surge of dark energy, making me crack open an eye to see them being swallowed by intimidating levels of light which began to shift and change their very forms. "It seems that unless we use the real powers of etherious, we won't be able to destroy them."
"Then let's turn it up a notch!" Tempesta agreed, giving a roar before the two of them finished their transformations. They were true monstrous demons, but now they looked the part. What was worse I sensed an even greater wealth of power surging from them which did not make me hopeful about our chances. All the same, I have faith in Natsu and Gajeel as they have a few tricks up their own sleeves as well. After all, they have their own upgraded versions of their dragon slayer art.
"Lightning Flame Dragon mode!" Natsu yelled, igniting himself in flames which crackled with high voltage electricity, Gajeel also transforming to become black iron, shadows drifting from his eyes and hair.
"Iron Shadow Dragon mode!" I couldn't hold back a smirk. Those two, just as they showed off their dual modes, they started to bicker and fight about who was stronger. Honestly, if I had a hand free I'd smack them both and tell them to get on with it. Sure enough, when they actually got down to their fighting, they were enough to terrify even the demons themselves. There was just something about their raw power which burned from their depths of their determination which made it feel like no obstacle on earth could stand in their way. I would loathe to be their enemy even now.
Of course, being so powerful, they still couldn't keep their heads in the game and started arguing again when they accidentally punched one another. How can they be so carefree at a time like this? This is a matter of life and death, not a time for insulting about how weak a punch was! I was about to turn around and kick both their asses for being stupid when Lucy's warning suddenly screeched in my ear, cutting off all sound of arguments.
"Fae look out!" I turned my head only to receive a blow to the face, almost shattering my cheekbone as I was flung backwards with a gasp, a clawed hand opening to strike directly into my gut as I released a scream, the pain causing it to fly from my lips in shock before I hit the ground and glowered hotly at Tempesta as he stood over me.
"I do not take blows lightly. This is what you've had coming to you." He growled under his breath, flexing his fingers however when he paused to actually look at me, he blinked, stopping in surprise. My hand was still held out, glowing softly as I struggled to breathe, my other hand gripping my bleeding wounds whilst I remained focused on healing Juvia. "You…you are still so focused on your friend, even when death stares you in the face?"
"Juvia is a friend worth dying for." I spat out bitterly as both Natsu and Gajeel roared.
"Leave Fae alone, you're battle is with us!" Natsu bellowed, starting to fire himself up as Gajeel did the same with a colourful array of insults aimed at Tempesta, however the sea demon's dark voice stopped us all.
"I invite you…into the deep seas of Hades." He murmured, raising his hands and with them, oceans of water suddenly appeared behind him, sickly smelling and dark like they were storming within. "Plunge into darkness!" The roaring waves rose above him and I acted quickly, leaping into the air to deliver a kick to Tempesta's face, knocking him aside as my wings appeared in a pearly white flash, one arm grasping Lucy around the middle as the other picked up Juvia.
"Hold on!" I commanded in a serious voice, taking deep breaths as my stomach continued to bleed but I ignored it for now and sprung up into the air, the force of my jump cracking the stone as we all rose up into the skies to avoid the deadly looking water. There's no way we should get caught up in that, it smells nothing like ordinary water. In fact I'm pretty sure there's a lot of carbon in there which would be poisonous to us humans. "Natsu, Gajeel, get away!" I yelled in warning but too late, watching helplessly as they were swallowed.
"Natsu!" Lucy shouted and struggled, trying to dive into the water to save him but I flapped my wings to carry us all away, wanting to at least get her and Juvia to safety but with my strength beginning to fail, the most I could do was fly us to the highest point of the ruined fortress before my wings gave out and disappeared, my body caked in sweat. "Oh, Fae! You're really badly hurt, tell me what to do!" I gave a weak smile.
"You wouldn't happen to know any doctor spirits, would you?" I asked her teasingly before I shuddered, falling on my side whilst holding onto Juvia, my other hand holding onto the stones to keep us above water level as it continued to rise. "Don't touch the water, it'll poison you if you do." I warned, making Lucy squeak in fear and hastily scramble to get higher, trying to hold onto me as well. I was so tired, I could barely keep my eyes open. "Lucy…I need to rest for a little bit. Can you make sure Juvia doesn't fall?"
"Huh?! Y-yes! I can do that, don't worry, I'll look after both of you." She promised and her reassurance put a soft smile on my face as I exhaled, relaxing as she took Juvia's weight, allowing me to rest for a few moments.
"Thank you…Lucy…"