A man was sitting on a throne-like chair on a slightly raised platform, a smirk of satisfaction on his face.
A woman was standing to his right with a slightly insane grin on her own face as she looked at the floor below them.
There were three people there, on their knees in submission and sporting furious yet frightful expressions as they glared up at the two people above them.
One of them was a man who's known as Defense Minister Darton.
The other man is known as Colonel Arcadios, Chief of the Cherry Blossom Holy Knight Squadron.
And finally, in between the two men, was a man named Toma E. Fiore, the king who rules over the kingdom.
Strangely enough, even though there wasn't anyone behind them, they haven't made any attempts to run away. In fact, despite the rage and humiliation in their postures, they haven't even made a move to get up.
The man on the chair raised on eyebrow at their expressions. "What?" he asked in a nonchalant tone. "What did I do to warrant those looks you're giving me?"
The woman next to him cackled in amusement as the three men's glares harshened.
"Now," he said as he turned his attention to the king, "I need you to answer my question."
"Why would I do anything to help you?!" Toma snarled. "You are an enemy to Fiore! You need to be thrown in jail or put down like the rabid animal you are!"
The man glared at him hatefully. He turned to the woman who was kneeling on his left with green hair and gripped her around the neck.
He squeezed as she gasped for air and clawed at his hand.
"No - wait!" Toma cried out. "Please! Don't hurt my daughter, I beg of you!"
Hisui E. Fiore was turning slightly blue due to lack of air.
"Stop it!" Arcadios yelled out as he watched his princess struggle to live.
"Alright!" Toma said desperately, "Alright! I'll answer any question you have! Please, just let her go!"
The man smirked. "But of course your majesty," he said mockingly as he let the princess go.
Hisui gasped for air as she hit the ground, her vision blurry as tears streamed down her face in anger, fear, and humiliation.
"What is your question?" Toma bit out through gritted teeth.
"The Magic Council is in charge of things concerning the guilds, correct?"
Toma frowned. "Yes," he admitted, "but that is common knowledge. Why did you need me to answer that?"
"My question has a part two," the man said with an eye roll.
Darton's glare at the man for his blatant disrespect of his king worsened.
"Keep your anger in check little pest," the woman said as she looked at him. "I won't hesitate to inflict wounds upon you to cause the utmost pain."
Darton flinched and dropped his gaze to the ground, knowing just exactly what the psycho lady in front of him can do.
"Ask your other question," Arcadios snapped.
The woman glared at him and made to move towards him but the man next to her held up a hand.
"No need to cause unnecessary bloodshed Tsubaki," the man said to the newly named Tsubaki. "I will let it slide this once."
Tsubaki frowned but nodded nonetheless. "As you wish Enzo."
The man, Enzo, turned to look back at the king. "The Magic Council is in charge of the guilds, that is true. However, isn't it also true that after the fall of the old council, the new one that is created answers directly to you? And that you can use their Rune Knights if you had a valid reason?"
Toma didn't reply, too stunned to form words. This of course had the effect of irritating Enzo.
He backhanded Hisui, causing her to cry out in shock as she fell back...but she mostly felt pain.
Toma gasped. "No, please- "
"Is. It. True?!" he roared.
"Yes!" Toma sobbed. "It's true! Now please! Please don't hurt her!"
Enzo made a 'tch' sound before he picked Hisui up again by her neck. Before her father can protest the abuse his daughter is going through, Enzo roughly threw her towards the Colonel, who caught her instantly.
"Princess!" Arcadios called out as he looked his lady over for any injuries.
"Tsubaki," Enzo looked to her. "Please escort the colonel, the princess, and the defense minister back to their cell. Toma shall stay with me."
Tsubaki plastered on another of her crazy grins. "But of course," she nearly purred.
Hisui's face went pale before she fainted.
Arcadios and Darton didn't look much better.
"I do hope you two won't try anything," Enzo said in a way that sounded nonchalant but was actually a warning. "I don't think I need to demonstrate again what happens if you cross me."
With that sentence hanging in the air, Tsubaki escorted Arcadios, Darton, and the unconscious princess to the dungeon cells.
Now, it was just Toma and Enzo.
"What do you want from me?" Toma demanded harshly.
Enzo's face gained a sadistic smile. "You are going to contact the Magic Council."
Toma stared at him warily. "And say what?"
If possible, Enzo's smile became even more sadistic. A sinister laugh escaped his lips as he got up to walked towards the downed king.
"Don't worry," he said with evil practically radiating from his aura. "I'll tell you what to say."
~wWw~
"Aw man! I almost had it!" Romeo called out.
Natsu grinned. "Maybe," he said with a shrug.
The two of them were outside and behind the Fairy Tail guildhall. Ever since the temporary disbandment of Team Natsu, the fire dragon slayer and his exceed have been spending most of their time helping Romeo out with his fire magic.
Not that Romeo was complaining. After all, it was more time with his 'nii-san'.
"Let me do it one more time Natsu-nii," Romeo pleaded.
Natsu sighed. "Alright," he said resignedly. Romeo had unfortunately picked up Natsu's stubbornness.
Romeo took a deep breath before launching himself skyward. Flipping forward, he brought his fire-coated leg around in an arc, causing an arc of fire to fling out towards Natsu.
He dodged it.
"Nice Romeo," Natsu said. "You're getting better."
"Aye sir!" Happy said from the sidelines.
He grinned at both of them, happiness practically coming off him in waves. His gaze shifted to the guild and his grin faded.
"Hey guys?" he said timidly. "Do you think things will be okay?"
Natsu and Happy exchanged looks, knowing exactly what the young fire mage was talking about.
It's been about two months since Lucy, Wendy, and Carla left the guild and things were slowly getting back to normal.
Of course there would be times when situations came up that reminded them of their missing friends.
Like when Levy got a new book that she's been waiting for, but didn't get the chance to share the experience with Lucy, her best friend and fellow bookworm. There seemed to be a dark cloud that hung around her for the remainder of that day.
Or when Mirajane was bandaging some guild members after a bar fight and she remembered all the times she and Wendy would talk while they took care of everyone.
Or even when Happy got into one of his 'fish are the world's best delicacy' speeches and Lily would think back to all the times Carla was able to shut him up.
But it seems that not everyone was in the mood to move on.
Erza has become even scarier than memory told them she could be.
And they've seen her in plenty of scary situations.
Because of her new attitude, everyone has mostly been avoiding her.
Even Laxus finds her actions to be highly intolerable. And coming from the guy that tried to take over the guild seven years ago, that was saying something.
"I don't know," Natsu answered truthfully.
"Is Erza really acting like that because Jellal is traveling with Lucy?"
Natsu shrugged. "I guess. I mean, she and Jellal went through some tough shit together and I guess that type of thing bonds people on a deep level. And she's probably upset that Lucy gets to spend all this time with him instead of her."
Romeo looked between him and Happy. "So, the whole reason she's acting like a demon straight from the pit of hell...is because she's jealous?" he asked incredulously.
"Aye sir!" Happy commented.
"Wow," Romeo said after a moment. "I'm starting to see why my dad drinks."
~wWw~
Erza was walking through town towards the train station.
She was able to snag a paper off the job board that would take her towards Crocus.
She wasn't paying attention to where she was walking, so she ended up bumping into a lot of people.
The people who did manage to see her coming steered clear.
It was obvious that Magnolia's Titania wasn't her usual self. Her hair was frazzled, her eyes looked like they had bags underneath them, and her whole body was tense.
She bumped into someone again, but this time it was someone who knew her personally.
"Erza!"
Erza focused her eyes and saw Mirajane in front of her, along with Lisanna and Elfman. It appears that they were on their way to the guild from another job.
"Mira," Erza answered her cry with a curt nod. She turned so she could walk around them but Mira grabbed her wrist.
"We need to talk."
Erza looked back at her to tell her exactly where she can shove that statement but the look in her eye stopped her.
This wasn't the kind and loving Mira. Right now, she was Demon Mira, the takeover mage who could kick anyone's ass if she wanted to.
Erza nodded slowly. "Alright."
Mira nodded and turned to her siblings. "I'll see you guys at the guild."
"Okay nee-san," Lisanna said. She started pushing Elfman, who seemed to hesitate, towards the guild.
Mira could have sworn she heard "It's not manly to leave our big sister alone with a demon!" but she could have just been imagining things.
Without waiting for Erza to speak, Mira dragged her off to the side away from prying eyes and ears.
Letting go of her wrist she said, "Alright, spill it. What the hell is going on with you?"
Erza narrowed her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Bullshit!" Mira hissed. "You know exactly what I am talking about!"
Erza remained silent, her mouth setting into a thin line.
"Fine I'll talk," Mira said angrily. "I know that you're upset about finding out Lucy, Wendy, and Carla are with Jellal and Meredy, but you're mainly upset that Lucy and Jellal are spending time together."
Erza looked furious. "You-" she stared saying but Mira cut her off.
"Shut up, I'm the one talking now." Mira snapped. "You're upset that it's not you who's spending time with Jellal, you're upset that you don't get to see him and Lucy does, you're upset you aren't getting close to him, you're upset that it's Lucy who gets to be with Jellal, and notyou."
Erza snarled and lashed out with a punch. But her anger made her sloppy and Mira easily caught her fist.
"You need a serious reality check," Mira snarled. "You should be happy that your friend is getting help from a powerful mage. You should be happy that she's trying to get stronger to protect us. You should be happy that she's doing something that she chose for ourselves. But no, because to you, she just has something that you want. You need to take a step back and think. You need to take a look in the mirror to see what...person, you're starting to become, because I can guarantee you that if you keep acting like this to us, to your nakama, you'll look around one day and realize that no one is behind you. Get it together Scarlet!"
With that, Mirajane walked away, leaving a shocked and pensive redhead behind her.
~wWw~
Lucy gulped in huge amounts of air after she resurfaced from the ocean.
Today, was kind of an 'off' day. Wendy, Carla, and Meredy decided to go exploring some more, promising that they'll be extra careful.
And Lucy and Jellal decided to go swimming and maybe get to see more of the aquatic animals that live around the island.
They haven't gone far, only about a hundred yards from the island. They've just dove deep enough to see a pod of fish before Lucy came back up for air.
A splash behind her indicated that Jellal resurfaced too.
"That was amazing!" he said as she turned to face him. His grin was wide and excited.
Lucy couldn't keep the answering grin off her face. "It truly was," she answered. "Although, I did hoped to see some dolphins out here."
"Well we still have some time," Jellal said as he took her hand.
He kissed the back of it and then he kissed her before pulling back to say, "C'mon, let's keep diving."
And so they did.
The rest of their afternoon was spent in the water looking at the animals. Before they went back, they ran into a couple of dolphins that were a pale shade of pink, much to Lucy's joy.
Needless to say, they were both happy by the time they got back to their camp. Lucy quickly summoned Virgo so she and Jellal can change into some dry clothes. It was around that time that the girls got back.
Meredy was the first to spot them and waved at them. "Hey guys, how'd the swim thing go?"
"It was fun!" Lucy replied excitedly. "We even saw some dolphins!"
Wendy let out a gasp. "Aww really?" she asked with stars in her eyes. "I wish I could've seen them!"
"I'll take you tomorrow," Lucy offered. Wendy merely grinned excitedly in response.
"It's getting late," Carla noted as she looked towards the sky. "We'd better get ready to get some sleep."
She let her transformation drop so that she was in her original exceed form.
Lucy nodded at her. "Good idea."
"Can I sing something before we go to bed?" Meredy asked.
Lucy smiled and let out a laugh. "Sure."
Meredy, Wendy, and sometimes Carla have begun singing a lot, a habit they picked up from Lucy. And sometimes, like now, they'd ask to sing something before they go to bed.
"What song are you going to sing?" Jellal asked as he wrapped an arm around Lucy's shoulders and allowed her to rest her head on his.
"Actually, Ultear sung this to me when I was younger," Meredy admitted.
That got everyone's attention.
"Then go ahead Meredy," Lucy said softly.
Staring into the light of the fire they had made earlier, Meredy lost herself in memories as she started singing.
"Futatsu boshi wa matataku
Yume no tochuu de
KATTOAUTO sa
"Kanashii yume miteta you na
Naze darou ka,
Omoidasenakute
"Fukaku ikio
Suikonda nara
Saa, ikanakya teki ga matteru."
As she sung, a few tears dropped from Meredy's eyes but her voice didn't waver. Seeing that she wasn't faltering or giving into the sadness, Jellal didn't interrupt her.
"Nee, kimi wa doko ni iru no?
Kizutsuite mo soredemo ii
"Hikari no ya o hanate
Kono me wa ima teki o
Toraeta
"Shikabane o
Koeru no sa
VARUKIRII
"Mou nido o
Aenaku naru no nara
"Kono mide
Batsu mo ukeyou
Saa kenotore
"I'm still alive so wake up
Senjou e."
Meredy looked at everyone and saw smiles on their faces.
"That was beautiful Meredy," Lucy said.
"Hai," Wendy said in agreement.
"The way you sung it was amazing," Jellal imputed.
"Yes," Carla nodded. "It certainly was."
Meredy blushed. "ArigatÅ," she said softly.
Lucy yawned and smiled. "Alright minna," she said, "it's time for us to go to bed."
"Alright," Wendy said as she glanced at the sky. The sun was dipping below the horizon. If they wanted to get up early, they should sleep now.
One by one, they all laid down and drifted off to sleep until the only ones awake were Jellal and Lucy.
"I'm proud of her," Jellal said as he stared at Meredy. "This was a big step in her overcoming Ultear's death."
Lucy nodded as she too looked over at the young girl. "We'll all be there for her," she said.
Jellal looked to her for a moment before pressing a lingering kiss to her lips.
"What was that for?" Lucy asked with a smile and a blush on her face.
"For just being you," he said simply.
Lucy chuckled and laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes.
Sleep soon came for both of them after that.
~wWw~
It was early in the morning on Tenrou Island. The birds were chirping, the wind was lightly blowing, and what little of the sun that was up was shining threw the trees.
The five human occupants of the island were all peacefully asleep, with not a care on the world.
Well, they used to be.
Carla bolted straight up from her sleep.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
A/N: The song Meredy sang is actually an opening for an anime show I watch called Twin Star Exorcists. I personally like it so you might want to check it out. Just thought you guys would like to know. R&R