*A/N- So trying to figure out what college I want to go to is stressful, and so is trying to pass Pre-Cal. Even though I made a 25 on the ACT I may not be able to get a good scholarship because I think my GPA might be too low. I barely passed Algebra 2 (literally I had like a 60) and I'm probably going to end up with much of the same in Pre-Cal. Math is my worst subject. The only reason I was able to make a 25 on the ACT is because both my reading and Grammar scores were in the thirties (go figure) so it evened out with my less than satisfactory math and science scores. (I'm talking mid-teens to low twenties.) So I just have a lot going on. I really like the idea of the block schedule that Tusculum in Tennessee has, AND they have an anime club. (Lol) ANYWAY- life is just a lot right now. Like, there's no way I can be a senior, I'm not really about to go out into the real world. This is all just a dream right? I'm still fourteen and I just slept in and missed school and just had the world's worst dream, right?
Sadly, I know that's not true, but whatever. Who says I have to grow up to be a grown up? I can procrastinate applying to colleges by writing NEND, right? *internal screaming*
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Last time on In the END: Jellal has been taken over by the Possession Magic user, Avery, and is being forced to fight Erza. Meredy is down for the count, and Erza is forced to fight Jellal at full strength in order to stay alive. Gray is facing off against Harmony, a woman who can use her magic to shatter the ice that Gray conjures. Wendy is fighting Cardinal, a man who uses water magic, and is finished playing around. He's determined to destroy Wendy to teach her a lesson, but Wendy is determined to defeat Cardinal in battle to make her guild mates proud. Lucy is struggling against an opponent who uses hair that is sharp like wire to fight. She summoned Cancer to try and cut it, but it didn't work! Lucy has been wounded in her stomach and is bleeding heavily, the situation is dire, and she is desperate to find a way to fight Vasti.
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"Jellal," Erza breathed, understanding hitting her like a brick wall. Avery's spell hadn't been aimed at Erza, but Jellal, who had been standing behind her.
She gazed up into his now vacant face and felt rage build up within her. How dare this woman take hold of Jellal's mind? He'd been through enough, been forced to do enough. Now he was reliving the pain of being possessed. Erza had no idea if he was still conscious in there somewhere, or if he would remember any of this once she'd saved him.
One thing was clear however, Avery had to pay for this.
Erza knew that she couldn't show any sort of weakness, or else Avery would take advantage of that and make Jellal kill her. She couldn't allow that to happen, not only for herself, but for Jellal and her family at Fairy Tail. She thought back to the lesson that she had learned the last time she and Jellal had crossed swords.
You don't die for your friends, you live for them!
This time, she would need to teach that lesson to Jellal. It was his turn to realize that the people he loved needed him alive. She remembered what Jellal had said that time before the Grand Magic Games, about not being strong enough to live, and not deserving too either. She had slapped him then, but this time she would be doing much worse than slapping him. She closed her eyes briefly.
"Forgive me for this, Jellal. I can't show you any mercy." All of this happened in the space of a heart beat.
Erza opened her eyes and pushed up with all of her might, thrusting to her feet and throwing her arms above her head. The blade bit deeper into Jellal's leg, and Erza ignored the voice in her head that said that if she severed the wrong thing he'd never be able to walk again.
Focus, she thought, Wendy and Porlyusica will be able to fix whatever parts of him you manage to break. It's time to pull out all the stops.
Jellal was thrown onto his back by the force of Erza's sudden motion. His feet in the air and his head on the ground, his surprise distracted him momentarily. Erza dropped his feet and took the opportunity of his preoccupation to lunge at Avery again. Her swords sliced through the air sending curved blades of light hurdling through the air at Avery. She squealed and leapt to the side, closer to the back of the Dark Guild hall.
"Meteor!" She heard Jellal say, his voice sounding hollow. Jellal was engulfed in a yellow light, and he shot towards her, so fast that Erza couldn't even lift her swords in defense. She was thrown back into the wall.
All the air whooshed out of her lungs and stars exploded momentarily in her vision. But she didn't need her vision, she could sense Jellal's aura coming for her, and she could hear his labored breathing. Possibly a good sign, she thought, maybe he's started to fight the spell.
"Requip, Flight Armor!" She darted out of Jellal's path just in time. She heard his fist connect with the stone, and the explosive sound of the wall shattering and crumbling. She spun around, blinking the spots out of her vision, but Jellal was nowhere to be seen. Something collided with the side of Erza's face, and she was sent flying to the side.
I've forgotten how fast he is, she thought. It'd been so long since she'd seen him in battle. She hit the ground with enough force to click her teeth together, but she used the impact to orient herself. She turned in the air and braced her hands and feet against the ground. Ignoring the rocks and bits of rubble biting into her flesh, she used the momentum to spring herself forward.
She grit her teeth as she and Jellal sped at each other head on. Wendy can fix whatever part of him you break, she reminded herself. She twisted in the air, aiming two strikes at Jellal's chest. She saw his punch to her stomach coming and shifted so that it barely grazed her. However, she felt both of her attacks make full contact, and as her feet hit the ground and she spun around and to a halt Erza saw his blood hit the ground.
Ignoring the mixed feelings of satisfaction and remorse she felt at seeing his blood, she lunged at him again, giving him- or rather, Avery- no time to recover. She switched swords in mid strike, exchanging her Flight Armor swords for her Purgatory sword. As much as she hated to use it against him, she knew it would pack a bigger punch and would be more likely to incapacitated him in one strike.
She swung with all of her might, willing the fight to be over so she could take out Avery once and for all, but Jellal leapt into the air, avoiding her horizontal swing. He flipped over in the air above her, and landed on the blade. Damn, Avery is smart, taking advantage of my slower movements because I'm using a heavier sword.
Jellal launched himself towards her, his close proximity barely giving her time to react. She summoned a sword with her other hand and brought it quickly up to block his strike. His fist connected with the blade of her sword, and blood spattered her face. He was attacking with no regard to his physical safety, because Avery didn't care how badly he hurt himself in the process, as long as he took her out as well.
No, Erza thought, that's not right, she's probably hoping that we will take each other out, that way there will be no one left to fight her. Come on, Erza, think. There have to be more weaknesses to her magic. What are they?
Her eyes scanned the battle ground quickly in between Jellal's attacks. She attacked just often enough that Avery wouldn't notice that she wasn't paying attention to the fight anymore. Suddenly, when she did a pirouette to avoid an attack, it hit her. Meredy was lying on the ground, still unconscious behind the guild hall. She can only control one person at a time, Erza thought. She tucked this information away, waiting for an opportunity to use it. All the while, she was thinking hard, doing her best to find more weaknesses to be exploited.
Jellal took a step back from her, and made a hand gesture that she recognized.
Dammit! She thought, Grand Chariot!
"Requip! Adamantine armor!" Her swords disappeared and her hands became weighed down with the two halves of the shield that she had once used to stop the Jupiter cannon. She locked them together and set them hard on the ground, bracing herself as Jellal finished the spell. The beams of light smashed against the magical barrier created by her armor, but were unable to penetrate it. It took a force like Jupiter to destroy her strongest armor, and Jellal's Grand Chariot spell, while powerful, was nothing compared to that.
It occurred to Erza that she was hidden from Avery's view behind this shield, and that she could use that to her advantage. She pictured in her mind where Avery had been before she summoned her Adamantine Armor. She Requipped silently into her Armadura armor and leapt out from behind the shield sending an energy blast at Avery as she did it.
Avery cried out in shock and threw her arms up to cover her face. Erza watched in horror as Jellal jumped in front of the blast, much like he had protected Meredy from the falling rock. The energy collided with him, and he cried out in pain as it wracked his body with spasms and sent him flying back through the air. He collided with the wall in the weak spot that he'd created earlier with his punch, and flew through it.
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"Star Dress, Capricorn form!" I grinned smugly at Vasti. Clothing from the Celestial Spirit World was more durable than clothing from our world, and it would provide better protection from Vasti's hair. Not to mention that my Capricorn Star Dress provided by far the most coverage. It was a suit just like Capricorn's, with long pants and a jacket, not to mention that it granted me better agility and skills in hand-to-hand combat.
"What, you think that just because you can change your clothes, you can defeat me?"
I didn't dignify that with a response. Instead I ran at her, ducking and dodging the hair. As I leapt through a gap two feet off the ground I was grateful for the boost in agility this Star Dress provided. I would never have been able to pull off some of those moves without it. As I did a flip in midair to avoid being cut by the hair I saw her expression change from condescending to disbelief, then rage.
"How dare you trick me!" She cried, "that's no normal clothing, it's enchanted to give you greater agility!"
"That's right!" I said, pulling off another impressive move that would have been otherwise impossible for me to achieve. "And I'm going to take you down!"
"Foolish girl, all I have to do is block your access!" She raised her hands out in front of her and clenched her fists, and the strands of hair contracted violently around me. A few strands managed to cut the exposed skin of my hands and face, but my Star Dress protected the rest of me as intended.
I glanced around, looking for a gap to jump through, but there wasn't one large enough for me to fit. While my Capricorn form would grant me better agility, it couldn't shrink me down so I could fit into holes half my size. Damn it, I thought, what do I do now? I'm a sitting duck!
"Now to get rid of that ridiculous crab." With a lazy flick of her wrist Vasti sent her sword flying at Cancer, who was standing about 10 feet behind me. The sword pierced him right in the heart, and sent him back home to the Celestial Spirit World.
"Cancer!" I cried.
"Now, to take care of you!" She flung her sword at me, aiming at my heart, I threw myself to the side, but couldn't go very far. The hair had trapped me in the square foot of ground that I had landed on. I gritted my teeth as the hair sliced my skin open and tore at my clothes, but I couldn't get far enough out of the way. The sword buried itself hilt deep into my left shoulder, blinding me with pain, but missing my heart. I screamed again when she yanked the sword back out.
"My, you are a troublesome one. You just won't die." She raised her sword to her mouth and licked the blood coated blade. "I do love it when they put up a fight, though."
I raised a hand to my new wound, my vision blurring slightly. I have to beat her now before I pass out,I thought. I've lost so much blood. I could already feel my blood flowing down my arm and curling around my fingers before falling to the ground. My shirt and coat were damp with blood from the wound in my side. I tried lifting my arm, but winced and gave up. It's no use, I can't use it like this. At least it wasn't my right arm. I can still fight.
I lifted my whip up with one hand, my mind whirling for a new battle plan. I couldn't get to her, and neither could any of my attacks with my whip. I could switch back to Taurus form and use Earth Wave, but that might cause the hair to shift too, and I could get killed. My mind spun, trying to think of a spirit I could summon, or a long range attack I could use. Immediately Loke's Regulus Impact came to mind, but I couldn't use that move in Leo Form, and I couldn't summon him and have him do it, because there was no room for him anywhere.
If only I could get around this hair, I thought. If I could just fit through these holes, or jump over, or go under. That's it! I thought. I can go under!
"Star Dress, Virgo Form!" My clothes changed, and immediately tunneled into the ground, escaping before Vasti could attack. "Open, Gate of the Maiden!" I cried, sinking to my knees.
Virgo appeared out of the ground in front of me, bowing despite the limited room.
"How may I help you, Princess?" She asked. Above us Vasti began swearing, saying something about how my tunneling act wouldn't save me now.
"Virgo," I said, placing a hand on my shoulder, "can you close off the tunnel so she can't get in?"
"But if I block it off you won't be able to breathe," She replied.
"I can't worry about that yet, I have to keep her from killing me right now."
"As you wish, princess." I winced as the light in the tunnel winked out. "Will there be anything else?"
"Yea, can you enlarge this chamber? And maybe find something to give us some light?" There was a rustling of fabric, a slight clicking noise, and our little hole was filled with light. I looked at the source, a small circular object that Virgo was holding in her hand.
"Will this do, Princess?" She asked.
"Yea, that's great, what is it?"
"It's a flashlight from the Celestial Spirit World," She replied, enlarging our hole so we could both sit comfortably.
"That's really cool," I said. I used the light to survey the amount of blood staining my black and white dress. I knew I had to stop the bleeding soon, or I would be a gonner. Slowly, I reached up and took off the decorative, unattached sleeve that came with the maid outfit. I tried to tie it one-handed around my shoulder, but couldn't.
"Here, allow me, Princess," Virgo took the sleeve from me and tied it tightly around my wound.
"Thanks," I said. I sighed and looked down at the wound in my side. One of my sleeves wouldn't be long enough to wrap around my waist and tie. It would have to stay uncovered for now, at least until I could find someone who was carrying bandages. "I need you to dig a tunnel across the field so I'll end up right behind Vasti so I can attack."
"Of course, Princess," Virgo replied. She turned and began tunneling, and I followed after her on my hands and knees. Once we reached our desired point of exit Virgo turned to me.
"Are you ready, Princess?" I nodded.
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"What the hell?" Gray groaned as he picked himself up off the ground. "She can shatter my ice with her magic?"
"It looks like I was right," Harmony sighed sadly, "you're just an Ice Make wizard, you can't even fight me."
"I've got more than one trick up my sleeve," Gray said.
"Then let's see it then," Harmony replied.
"Ice make-"
"Oops, too slow," Harmony chirped. She threw out her hand, and the room started spinning.
The walls moved around Gray, out of control. He felt like the room was spinning wildly around him. All of the sudden something struck his back, hard, and he was looking up at the ceiling. He had fallen, but he didn't remember falling. The ceiling was still spinning around him.
What the hell, Gray wondered, can she move the world too?
He heard Harmony laughing darkly, and then the room stopped moving. Gray struggled to his feet, nauseous, to see Harmony standing exactly where she had been, completely unrumpled.
What's going on? He wondered, trying to regain his balance. Harmony snickered, and the room started spinning violently again. It wasn't very long until he was on his back again, feeling his breakfast rising up his throat. He couldn't get a hold of himself. For some reason the shifting of the earth wasn't bothering Harmony, she stood stock still.
The room stopped spinning again, and Gray struggled to his feet again, leaning on the wall, his balance was still shaky. He looked at Harmony, his mind churning to try and figure out what was happening. It wasn't until he tried to take a step and the room spun again that he realized.
It's my balance that she's changing. The thought struck him suddenly, and he knew it was right, but he still didn't know how to fight against it. She must have been creating sound waves so violent that they threw off his equilibrium, but how does one counter that? He could freeze his ears shut, but Harmony could shatter the ice and do the same thing over again.
If she can do that to my balance, he thought grimly, what else can she do?
He had underestimated how dangerous this sound magic user was going to be. He might lose this fight.
"Oh I can see the gears turning in your mind. You must have realized it by now, what I've been doing? It's a pity though, the confusion on your face was so pathetically cute. You looked like a puppy that couldn't figure out why there's water falling from the sky!"
That's a weird simile, Gray thought briefly.
"Yeah," He replied, "you've been using your sound magic to throw off my balance."
"It's a shame there's no way to counter it," She drawled, then she attacked.
This time, now that Gray knew what was going on, he kept his back to the wall and slid slowly down until he sat, dizzy but supported, on the ground. He tried focusing on Harmony, but she was moving all over his field of vision. That didn't matter, he just needed to know her general direction anyway.
"Ice Make, Unlimited!" He cried, casting the spell down the hall at her. He knew she would shatter the ice, but with their being so much of it she would surely be caught up in the blast.
He knew that it had worked when the room gradually came back into focus. He waited briefly for his stomach to settle before he struggled to his feet. His eyes fell on Harmony, who was groaning on the ground. With a huff she sat up, glaring at Gray.
"Well aren't you clever," she snapped. She climbed to her feet, rubbing her backside and sneering. "I'll admit that was a smart move, but you can't expect that to work again. If that's the only trick that you have up your sleeve then you have no chance of winning."
"Talk about one trick ponies," Gray replied, still feeling as if he were going to vomit. "All you've done so far is use your sounds to break my ice and throw off my balance."
"So you think I'm a one trick pony," Harmony said, her voice a quiet challenge. "How adorable. I've been going easy on you this whole time. If you would like to see the other weapons in my arsenal, then I'd be glad to show you."
Gray knew that he had made a mistake by teasing the lady. Now he was going to be in real trouble, because he couldn't defend against sound waves that could shatter his ice. Well, not easily anyway. There was that other thing, but he hadn't quite been able to master that yet. Still, if he didn't figure out a way to defeat Harmony without it, he might have too.
He covered his ears as she threw her hands out in a futile attempt to block out the sound. If it worked at all to muffle the sound he couldn't tell. It was beyond anything he'd ever heard before. He felt a pressure behind his eyes, slowly building up and up until he thought his eyes were going to explode. Oh my God, Gray thought, that's what she wants. She's trying to rupture something. He risked removing his hands from his ears to cast a spell. When he did he noticed his palms were covered in blood, and he could feel something trickling down his face, likely even more blood.
"Ice make, Cannon!" He cried, shooting an ice projectile so large at harmony that she couldn't dodge it in the small hallway.
She flexed her fingers and several things happened at once. Both masses of ice exploded, but so did the wall to Gray's right. He was thrown to the side as the cannon on his shoulder exploded, slicing and embedding shards of ice into his face, neck, shoulders, and head. The wall buckled inward and obstructed his view of his opponent, who he had seen starting to fall. His knee hit the ground painfully and he saw a streak of blue amongst the rubble fly across the hall and slam into the wall before tumbling to the ground.
Jellal? Gray wondered, what the hell?
As the dust settled he got to his feet, feeling blood flowing down his neck and shoulder and onto his exposed chest and back. He peered through the still settling dust at the person who had been thrown through the wall at him.
"Seriously?" He cried when he realized who it was. It had been Jellal, which meant there could only be one person behind this. "You almost killed me again!" He cried out of the Jellal made hole at Erza. He had no idea why she had attacked one of their comrades, but he trusted she had good reason.
"I'm going to have to take like three showers to get all of this dust off!"
"That wouldn't happen if you wore a shirt!" She called back. He glanced down at himself, registering for the first time that he was shirtless.
"Shut up," he retorted. At least he still had his pants on. He heard Harmony getting to her feet and he turned around to face her. She looked at Jellal, confused, then back up at Gray.
"Who the hell is this?" She asked, seemingly forgetting that they had been in the middle of a battle. Gray noticed, with a small rush of satisfaction, that there were numerous tears in her kimono and small bleeding cuts on her exposed skin. At least he wasn't the only one bleeding.
"His name's Jellal," Gray told her. As he said this Jellal stirred and sat up. "Are you alright man?" Jellal didn't respond. His face hung lax, his eyes blank. Gray took a step back, alarmed, and watched as Jellal climbed out of the hole without looking at either of them.
"Jellal Fernandez?" His opponent asked incredulously. "The Jellal Fernandez?"
"That's the one," Gray replied, confused. "Why?"
"He's the moron who blew it at the Tower of Heaven!" She said, a harsh laugh escaping from her. "What's he doing here?"
"He's with us," Gray said, peering out of the hole after him. He saw Erza and Jellal fighting, while another woman stood off to the side with her hands extended towards the pair. A moment of confusion gave way to a wash of realization that Jellal was being controlled. Not again, Gray thought. He gazed worriedly out of the hole at Erza, but then decided to worry about himself. Erza could handle herself.
"How pathetic, he lost one fight and then converted. How sad."
"It's not quite that simple," Gray said, but didn't elaborate. "But that's besides the point. Ice Make, Ax!"
He swung the large ax at Harmony, pushing her back several steps as she dodged, too surprised to use her sound to shatter it. Her kimono ripped where the ax hit, but he barely missed wounding her. Dammit, he thought, throwing the ax to the side as Harmony thrust out her hands, shattering the ice. Gray created another ax and threw it at her. She sidestepped it and it smashed against the wall at the end of the hall way.
With a start he remembered the men he'd been fighting earlier who'd had real swords, that wouldn't be so easily shattered.
"Ice Make, Wall!" He said, barely allowing himself time to finish the spell before he leapt back down the hallway and turned the corner, snatching a sword from one of the unconscious men as the wall of ice shattered.
He flung himself back around the corner and launched at Harmony, not giving her time to react before he was within striking distance. He swung his sword, and was surprised by how much heavier it was than the ones made of ice that he used. Sword play was Erza's thing, so he was no master, but the thing was metal and sharp, so it was sure to pack a punch.
His slower movement due to the unfamiliar weapon allowed her to step back just enough so the wound she received wasn't too serious. Still, her blood sprayed from the wound as she cried out, slipping on the dust from the shattered wall and falling over. Gray extended his sword so that the point rested at the base of Harmony's throat, feeling triumphant.
"I win," he said. If he had been expecting her to look afraid he was sorely disappointed. As he looked down into her eyes he saw only anger and annoyance. She reached up and grabbed the point of the sword, and his eyes widened as small droplets of her blood dripped onto her chest.
"You seem to forget my power!" She said angrily. She thrust the tip of the sword away and extended her bloodied palm towards him.
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Erza heard a cry of, "Seriously? Again?" From a very indignant Gray, and she would have laughed at the coincidence and Gray's irritation if she hadn't been so worried about Jellal and furious about Avery's use of his body as a shield.
Gray's head peaked out of the hole, glaring at Erza. She noticed, but didn't comment, on the fact that he was now covered in what seemed to be his own blood.
"You almost killed me again! I'm going to have to take like three showers just to get all of the dust from these walls off of me!"
"If you would put on a shirt you wouldn't have that problem!" Erza cried, unable to resist. Gray looked down at himself, seeming to realize for the first time that he was half naked again.
"Shut up!" He replied. Seeming to decide that the conversation was over, Gray's head disappeared again.
Erza rolled her eyes and faced Avery.
"Now there is nothing standing in between you and your punishment," Erza growled, taking a menacing step forward.
Avery took a frightened step back.
"You've got no one else to control. You'll find you won't be able to take control of me, I've trained to be resilient against such attacks with Warren for years." Erza felt something invisible brush against the barriers in her mind, Avery trying futilely to seize Erza's mind from her.
"N-no way," Avery stammered.
"I've discovered three weaknesses in your magic," Erza said confidently. "The first is that, since the nature of your magic is to control others, your body is weak. The second is that you can only control one wizard at once, or else surely you would have taken control of both Meredy and Jellal at the beginning of the fight and used them to kill the rest of us." Erza stopped her slow, menacing steps in Avery's direction and slammed the blade of her sword into the ground.
"The third weakness is people like me, who have mental barriers put up against your particular brand of magic." Avery screamed in fright as Erza yanked her sword from the ground and swung it overhead.
Mid-swing Erza noticed a sudden change in Avery's demeanor. Erza stopped her attack as a groan issued from the hole in the wall she had sent Jellal through. Seconds later, before Erza had the opportunity to react, Jellal climbed out of the hole, his face slack and blank once more.
"And you my dear," Avery said, extending her hand so that Jellal advanced on Erza, "have weaknesses as well." Her voice had taken on its previous mocking and confident tone. "The first being this young man, who it's obvious that you care for, no matter how hard you try to hide it. You could never cause him any real harm, unlike him at this point. He has absolutely no reservations about hurting you."
Jellal sprang forward, swinging rapidly at Erza. She dodged each of his blows, allowing herself to be forced further and further back, until she was in the backyard of the guild hall. She busied herself with fending him off while she came up with another strategy.
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"And what would that lesson be?" Wendy asked contemptuously.
"Never to take on someone bigger than you!"
"Your size doesn't mean a thing," Wendy declared, "what matters is skill, strength, and wit. My friends make me strong, so I'll never lose to you!" Wendy was surprised at her own audacity. She never said things like that, but she didn't need to tell Cardinal that.
"Is that so? I don't see any of your friends with you right now, so how can they make you stronger if they aren't even here with you?"
"My friends are always with me in spirit. I know that they have faith in me and they believe I can take care of myself. Their confidence in me makes me strong. I won't lose to you because I want to make all of the others proud!"
"My, isn't that sweet?" Cardinal mocked, "but it's not as you've said it is. No matter what you say, you're friends can't help you if they're not here with you." Cardinal held his hands out straight and aimed a jet stream of water at Wendy.
"Water Cannon!" He cried. Wendy jumped into the air to avoid the attack and used the wind to propel herself over Cardinal to land behind him. Without pause she leapt forward and aimed a kick at his back. "Sky Dragon's Claw!" She cried. Cardinal turned and caught her foot in his hand and sent her flying backwards.
She flew several feet through the air, so far she passed behind the back of the cults guild hall. While she was flying through the air she laid eyes on Erza, who was busy fending off the attacks of a passive looking Jellal.
"Jellal what are you doing?" Wendy called, "Why are you attacking Erza?"
Both Jellal and Erza spun to face Wendy at the same time. Jellal held up his hands and began casting a spell at Wendy. She hit the ground and rolled violently, bouncing up slightly and making impact with the ground again. The breath was knocked out of her, but she opened her eyes and found Jellal and Erza again. She saw Erza attack Jellal and diverted his attention away from Wendy. As Wendy watched Jellal ducked dexterously out Erza's attack path and kicked her in the middle of the back, knocking her to her knees.
"Erza!" Wendy cried, searching for the cause of Jellal's sudden insanity. She spotted it a few yards away from where Erza and Jellal were fighting, a woman with purple hair had her hands extended towards Jellal like she was controlling him. Meredy lay on the ground, unconscious, at her feet. All of this happened in a matter of seconds. Wendy rose to her knees, only to be knocked back down.
"Don't look away from your opponent!" Cardinal cried, kicking Wendy right in the face. She cried out as the force of the blow sent her tumbling across the ground.
"Wendy!" Erza called. Wendy's scream had obviously attracted her attention. Jellal used her distraction to punch Erza in the face, and she was knocked back several feet.
"Don't worry about me, Erza!" Wendy said, spitting blood on the ground, "You focus on saving Jellal!"
"How noble," Cardinal knocked, lunging at Wendy again. His fist was encased in water, no doubt to make his punch stronger. Wendy ducked under his fist, his velocity carrying him past her.
"Sky Dragon's Claw!" Wendy cried kicking his exposed midsection hard. He was thrown up and over her, flying through the air. His back slammed against a tree and he slid to the ground. Wendy took the opportunity to turn and face Erza.
"Vernier lle Vernier" Wendy cried, and two magic circles appeared, one under herself and one under Erza. Wendy had seen how quickly Jellal could move during the Grand Magic Games and she knew that the increased speed spell would be of great help to Erza. Magical aura built up around Erza as she looked around in awe, surprised by the sudden strength.
"Amuzu lle Amuzu!" (*FT Wikia has the English chant for this being 'arms' but in Japanese she pronounces it like this and it just sounds cooler.) This spell increases the damage output of Erza's arms, and Wendy just hoped that it helped.
"Wendy, don't worry about me, focus on your fight!" Erza cried, dodging another attack from Jellal. Noticing her increased speed and strength as she swung at him, the corners of her mouth perked slightly. "Thank you, Wendy!" She said.
"I told you not to look away from your opponent!" Cardinal cried, however, Wendy had heard him coming, and used her extra speed to dodge at the last minute. She had cast those spells for both her and Erza.
"Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!" She cried, sending the funnels of air at Cardinals back. Despite her support magic taking effect on her, she couldn't deny she'd used up a lot of magical power.
Time to eat, she thought, inhaling deeply. I need to finish this soon, so I can help Erza.
As Cardinal got to her feet, Wendy finished her meal and opened her eyes.
"Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Sky Drill!" Wendy cried. The funnel of air descended upon them, locking Wendy and Cardinal into an arena of air. She began to contract the funnel so that it scraped Cardinals back, and he cried out.
This was no ordinary funnel of air, if the edges of it touched you, you'd be shredded. Blood dripped to the ground from the wound the Sky Drill had inflicted upon Cardinal. The barrier pushed him farther and farther forward, until Wendy contracted it even further, he was now so close there would be no avoiding her attacks.
"Sky Dragon Roar!" She cried, putting everything she had into the attack. It sent Cardinal reeling into the wall, and then through it. His skin was torn and shredded as he passed through the wall and continued through the air until he struck a tree at the edge of the forest and slid to the ground, and didn't move again. She had done it. Wendy had beaten him!
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Once again the world started spinning uncontrollably. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground again. He heard Harmony laughing scornfully at him.
"How do you expect to defeat me when you can't even stand up?" She cried. Gray looked up at her, or more, he looked up at the three of her that were shifting through his vision so that he didn't know which one of them was real.
This is it then, he thought, I have to use it.
He closed his eyes to try and block out the dizziness he was feeling, and focused. He would have to use his Ice Devil Slayer Magic, even if he hadn't completely mastered it. He'd have to go to Porlyusica to put himself right again after the magic turned most of his body black, but that was a small price to pay.
"Ice Make," He said, opening his eyes, "Silver!"
Before the spell had fully formed the incessant spinning of the room stopped, and he was able to make out Harmony's eyes widening and her fleeing down the side hallway. The unique, unbreakable, unmeltable ice coated the hallway, and probably would have consumed everything in the building if he hadn't stopped it. He didn't want to harm the rest of Crime Sorciere, who were on their way downstairs to start destroying the monsters.
Gray got to his feet and followed Harmony down the hallway, careful to watch out for any ambush she may try to make. He didn't think she would try anything, however, judging by his face when he had come out with that spell. She didn't know what it was, and she was terrified of it.
As she should be.
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I burst out of the ground right after Virgo, taking Vasti by surprise. Before she had even managed to turn around fully Virgo and I had kicked her hard in both sides. Vasti let out a strangled cry as Virgo punched her in the face, knocking her back several feet.
Vasti turned and slung her sword at me, but now that I wasn't surrounded by her hair I dodged it easily.
"So I see that you've got a few tricks up your sleeves," She cried, "But that won't help you defeat me!" She held her hands out and made a complicated gesture, shouting, "Death Cradle."
The hair between her fingers glowed red again, and formed a complex cat's cradle I've never seen before. In a flash, that same one appeared around me. The strands connected to her fingers all connected and formed a circle in the middle, and when she pulled her hands apart slowly, the hole contracted. The hair that surrounded me did the same thing, binding my limbs tightly to my torso.
Damn it, how do I get out of this mess? I thought.
"It's time that you died, once and for all!" Vasti cried. She flung her sword at me, and I closed my eyes, bracing for impact, but it never came.
"I'm afraid that's not going to happen." Virgo said. She had blocked the attack with the iron shackles that she wore around her wrists. "I won't allow you to harm my mistress!" Virgo attacked full force as Vasti laughed.
"As if you could stop me!"
Virgo swung her arms out wide, attempting to knock Vasti out with the heavy chain that was attached to her shackles. Vasti blocked the chain with her sword and punched Virgo in the stomach. I could hear the breath whoosh out of her from where I was at, but I was helpless to step in. I struggled to free myself from my bonds as Virgo used her free hand to aim a punch at Vasti's side. Vasti blocked the blow, but Virgo used Vasti's distraction to her own benefit. When Vasti blocked Virgos chain, the chain had wrapped around the sword, and now Virgo used the chain to tear the sword out of Vasti's grip, and then her distraction from that to kick her hard in the side.
"Right," Vasti said through gritted teeth, "you're a troublesome one. But even if I can't use my sword, your mistress is still dead." Vasti snapped her fingers, and my air was cut off.
I tried to breath in, panicked, and realized what had happened, she'd wrapped a hair around my neck and pulled it just tight enough to strangle me.
"Vir-go," I mouthed. "Help me."
"Lucy!" She cried. My vision started to blur, and it became difficult to tell what was happening. Judging by the sound alone, Virgo might have seized Vasti's sword off the ground and attempted to cut the hair that was strangling me, but Vasti pulled it out of her hands by the hair that was attached to the hilt.
"Oh no, it won't be that easy!" Vasti had said. I squinted my eyes at Virgo, trying to make out what she was doing. It looked like her back was turned to me, and her voice was slightly muffled, like she were talking away from me.
"Taurus! Lucy needs your help, get over here!" She called.
Oh right, I thought, I never sent him home, he was posted at the door.
My vision started turning black when I heard a loud Moo, and felt a ground shaking crash as Taurus presumably landed next to me.
"Cut the hair that's strangling Lucy!"
"I'll save you Miss Loocy!" He said.
I heard his axe swish through the air and land with a thud in the dirt, and the pressure around my neck vanished, the severed hair falling to the ground. I took a heaving breath and coughed. My vision was clearing again, so I was able to watch as Taurus cut the hair that was holding me in place and caught me before I fell to the ground.
"Thank you Taurus," I wheezed.
"Don't mention it, you know I promised I'd always protect you!"
I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. My head cleared slightly, and when I opened my eyes I could see Taurus's face clearly.
"Thanks, I can stand now." I got to my feet, and Taurus offered his arm to steady myself. I took it gratefully, and looked around to get my bearings. That's when my eyes landed on something terrible. Natsu on all fours, hacking up blood.
"Natsu!" I called as he collapsed. "NATSU!" His opponent was nowhere in sight, which I took to mean that he had defeated them. No! I thought, NO! I won't let him die. I took off in his direction without thinking, and heard Vasti calling after me.
"Oh no you don't!" I looked over my shoulder just in time to see her throw her sword at me again. I gasped, but Taurus was faster. He knocked the sword from the air, and severed the hair that she had been using to manipulate it.
"Go and help Natsu, we'll hold off this one!" He said, giving me the thumbs up. I grinned at him and returned the gesture before sprinting off to Natsu's side.
When I reached him I dropped to my knees by his side grabbed his shoulders. Oh no, I thought, is all of this blood his?
Suddenly, the air was sucked out of my lungs, and I couldn't breathe again. A cackle to my right caught my attention as my vision started to black out again. I could just make out the person who Natsu had been fighting climbing to their feet.
"I must say, I wasn't expecting him to hit me with something like that, however, even an attack of that caliber won't be enough to finish me off."
"Lucy!" Happy cried, "Haneul uses Air Death Magic, she can suck all of the air out of your lungs!" Well that explains a lot, I thought. I pulled a key from my belt.
"Open, Gate of the Clock Constellation, Horologium," I mouthed, forcing out the tiniest bit of air. The words weren't even a whisper, but I knew that they would work. Horologium appeared next to me, and I opened the door and climbed inside, bringing Happy and Natsu with me.
When I closed the door, I suddenly became able to breathe again. Just like I thought. She can't control the air inside Horologium. I took in several heaving breaths, and waited until my vision returned to check on Natsu.
"Natsu, Natsu! Are you alright? Can you hear me?"
"Lu-cy," he murmured. Blood bubbled up from his mouth and dribbled down his chin.
"What happened to you?" I asked, terrified.
"Lung-ruptured," he said. His eyelids fluttered, and then opened. He looked hazily at me, and I could tell he was in bad shape because of how much trouble he seemed to be having just focusing his eyes. I glanced out of the glass door, looking to where Haneul was standing, staring, peeved, at Horologium. As I watched she looked over at something off to the side, and she lifted a hand lazily.
As the magic circle from whatever spell she had just cast appeared I wondered what she was doing. I didn't have to wonder long, I could sense it the moment Virgo and Taurus went back home. Shortly afterward Vasti walked into my line of sight, and began speaking to Haneul, pointing at us. I panicked, now I had to defeat two impossible opponents, on my own. Natsu was in too bad condition to fight.
What do I do?
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*A/N- Alright, another chapter finished! I just wanted to thank those of you who have been leaving long, thoughtful reviews. They mean so much, and they really do help so much! Thank you so much! Happy Labor Day!