"Feeling better?"

Nashi glared at the prince, who smiled back at her. Then she looked at her restraints, and tried igniting them.

"I can tell what you're trying to do, and I will inform you ahead of time that that's magic-sealing stone. Now answer my question: are you feeling better?"

Nashi huffed. "Well, I was electrocuted several times by those dragon friends of yours, so that wasn't so fun."

"Oh, sorry about them. They can be a bit rough. Although to be fair, if they hadn't been rough, you may have escaped."

"And what about my dad? He was with me at the time, so I'd like to know what happened to him."

"Oh, the older dragonslayer? We let him escape, as he wasn't worth the trouble, but he did manage to heavily injure two dragons, even though we sent three to fight him."

Nashi snickered for a moment, then burst out laughing.

The prince looked at her, confused.

Nashi continued to laugh for about half a minute, then settled down. "You think he wasn't worth the trouble?" she scoffed. "Well, prepare to get a lot of your troops hurt!"

"I don't think your general will let them go to so much trouble as to rescue one wizard."

"Oh, the general won't have a say in it," Nashi corrected. "You don't know a thing about Natsu Dragneel, or anybody in Fairy Tail. You should have been there during the Alvarez-Ishgar war! I mean, to be fair, I wasn't born until three years after that, but if you even live in Ishgar or Alakitasia, you know the story."

The prince sighed. "Well, even if they do, they'll probably get themselves killed."

"But you'll lose way more of your own soldiers."

"That is true. But that magic you have, it's worth it."

Nashi sighed. "Are you so sure about that?"

"You don't know the full potential of those tattoos, do you, young celestial mage? Do you know how long we've been trying to obtain that power? How I could turn the tides of the war?"

"Really, now? Well, I'm pretty sure you'd have to be a celestial spirit mage to hold it."

The prince chuckled and pulled a golden key out of his pocket. Nashi's eyes widened as she recognized the wave symbols drawn on it.

"Aquarius…"

"Oh, you know this key? Yeah, my family's had it for about twenty or so years. What's with the surprised look? You should have noticed by now that celestial spirit magic tends to run in royal families. I've heard that even your own queen is a celestial spirit mage."

Nashi's eyes narrowed out of fury. "You are going to give that key back."

"'Back', you say? My dear child, this key is mine."

Nashi seethed. "That key belongs to my mom! She's been searching for it ever since she found out it had respawned. Aquarius is her oldest friend! Give it back!"

The prince sighed. "The previous key was sacrificed by the previous owner, which, by what you said, I'm going to deduce was your mother. Unfortunately, she chose to sacrifice the key of Aquarius. It belongs to the family of Mongh now."

Nashi glared at the prince, then realized this was getting her nowhere. She looked around the room, seeing the pointed ceiling and the candles. "What is this place, anyway?"

"It's a temple for the Eastern Zodiac," the prince explained. "Being here will make it easier to extract the power from you."

"I see."

"Now, convincing you to give us that power will also make things easier, but one step at a time."

Nashi sighed. "I wonder what you have in mind."

William opened her eyes, breaking her focus. "It's no use!" she complained. "I've lost her scent among the crowd of other scents."

Merlin looked over at Elkhart. "What about that thing you used to track us by our guildmarks?"

Elkhart shook his head. "I told you, the map only covers Ishgar and Alakitasia."

Hisoka gritted his teeth with impatience. "Is it possible you could somehow trace it off map?"

"Well, I designed it just to display on a map."

"I know," Hisoka cut off. "However, if the map is detecting a signal of your own making, shouldn't you somehow be able to track it as well?"

"I'm not sure," Elkhart admitted.

"Do you know how to find out?"

Elkhart shook his head. "I would have to recreate the signal."

Hisoka opened his overcoat, revealing his guildmark. "Use this."

Elkhart looked at Hisoka for a second, then down at his Dragon King guildmark, and then back up at Hisoka. "It's going to be tricky without the tools I used…"

Hisoka gave a tch of annoyance.

"…but I'll give it a shot." He placed a hand on Hisoka's arm. Instantly, he felt the calming effect that Hisoka had on those he touched, which helped him focus. He got a feel for the magic emanating from Hisoka's guildmark, and how it differed from the rest of his magic. He singled out and recognized the tracking magic he had placed that only he could detect. Then he scanned for the same signal in other locations, closing his eyes and focusing all of his senses on the surrounding ethernanos. He then opened his eyes and pointed a few degrees south of east. "There," he directed. "About eighty-seven kilometers."

Akane smiled. "Good job." He looked over at Torden's head. "Oi! Torden, did you hear that? About eighty-seven kilometers slightly south of east."

"There's a human temple there, if I recall correctly," Torden replied. "They may be using the energy from that temple to do something to your friend."

"Like steal her powers," Hisoka suggested.

"Well, then let's go," William insisted. "We've got no time to…" She was cut off as the others watched something behind her flash by, spraying a small amount of blood into the air as it went. William's eyes widened in pain, and she fell off of Torden's back.

"Will!" Merlin, Emma and Akane simultaneously screamed. Akane leapt off of Torden's back, diving towards William as she plummeted towards the ground. He grabbed William and then sprouted his wings, slowing down their fall, but too late to avoid a rough landing as they skidded to the ground.

"Oi. Will. Can you hear me?" Akane's eyes widened as he removed a hand from her back and found it to be covered in blood. He turned her over to find a gigantic slash wound across her back. "No… not again…" He looked up to see two soldiers standing before him, one of them holding what looked like a sharpened boomerang, which then dematerialized and was replaced by a katana.

Hisoka was about to jump himself as he watched the scene below.

"Wait!" Emma requested. "Take me down with you!"

"And me," added Merlin. "Akane needs our help fighting those two."

Hisoka looked between the two of them, listening to their brainwaves. "I can tell that's not the main reason, but you're right. Akane needs help." He grabbed one of the siblings in each arm, then leaped off of Torden. "And I promise I'll save your sister!" He sprouted his wings, slowing their fall so that they landed with a soft thud. The two attackers turned towards them, and Hisoka recognized one of them. "Jochi?"

Jochi grinned at Hisoka. "Do I know you?" he asked.

Hisoka glared at him. "I know you're messing with me. Kwatatsu no Tekken!" He lunged forward as water condensed and wrapped around his fist. Jochi dodged out of the way easily, and Hisoka continued forward, sliding into a kneeling position next to Akane and William.

"A feint?" Jochi looked over at Hisoka, then turned back just in time to be hit in the stomach by an iron club, while his ally leaped out of the way of a steel one.

Hisoka looked down at William. She was lying face-down to minimize blood loss, with Akane's hands pressed against the wound. "How is she?" He could no longer hear any conscious brainwaves from William, and he could see that she had lost a lot of blood. As he looked up at Akane, he could see tears in his eyes, and could detect that his friend was upset and frantic.

"Take a guess!" Akane snapped. "Can't you just heal her?"

Torden looked down at the scene below, then turned his head as far as he could towards Elkhart. "Shouldn't we help them?"

"I think Hisoka plans to fly back up here with William," Elkhart replied. "We need to make sure we're at a safe distance from the fight."

Torden turned his head back towards the fight that was starting.

"I'll get her back to Torden, where I can safely heal her," explained Hisoka.

"We'll cover for you," Akane replied.

"In fact, you should go on without us," added Merlin as he took another swing at the requip soldier. "After what they just did to Will, I have a bone to pick with them. Tell Thomas, okay?"

Emma and Akane nodded in agreement, and Hisoka replied with a nod of acknowledgement. Then he wrapped his arms securely around William's body, and sprouted his wings, flying directly up towards Torden.

The requip soldier saw this, and requipped her boomerang, taking a shot at the two dragonslayers. However, no sooner had the boomerang left her hand than the red-haired dragonslayer jumped between her and the target.

Akane held up his right arm, which was now much more difficult as it had been impaled by a sharp-edged boomerang. "You're a pretty good shot with this thing," he admitted, "to hit a person who was a kilometer up in the air and leave a wound like you did." A look of fury crossed his face. "However, I have protected Will for the good part of the past five-and-a-half months, so anybody who injures her that badly is a permanent enemy of mine! Shinkuryuu no Tekken!" His left fist was engulfed in crimson energy. He missed entirely, as he was right-handed, and his opponent was quite agile.

"It's no use speaking to her," Jochi notified as he threw up an energy shield against Emma's attack. "I'm afraid she doesn't speak West Common as well as I do."

"Then I'll just have to convey it! Shinkuryuu no Kagizume!" His foot was engulfed in crimson energy, and he swung at the requip soldier, who dodged out of the way.

"Kouryuukon!" Merlin's steel club extended into her face. This time, she didn't have time to dodge, and she was knocked to the ground.

"Tetsuryuuken!" Emma's iron club turned into a blade, and she slashed straight through Jochi's shield.

Hisoka took one last look at the fight below, then called to Torden. "Let's go!" He turned back to William and placed his hands on the wound. Water condensed around his hands, and the wound began to close. Torden pulled forward, slowly accelerating to a point where the wind was whipping in Hisoka and Elkhart's faces.

"What about the others?" Thomas asked.

"They said they'd stay and fight," replied Hisoka.

"Are you sure we can leave them?" asked Elkhart.

"This is their fight," Hisoka replied. "Let's just keep moving. The sooner we get there, the less likely something bad will happen to Nashi."

The soldiers charged, but were soon blasted off of their feet as the ground beneath them exploded into hundreds of evenly-sized cubes.

"Moo!" Taurus swung his axe at the soldiers, knocking several dozen of them aside.

"Shall I punish you?" Virgo asked, then swung her chains, flinging debris at the soldiers.

"Good job, guys!" Lucy praised her spirits as she dashed forward and began fighting soldiers with her bare hands.

"Karyuu no Houkou!"

"Tenryuu no Houkou!"

Natsu and Wendy both unleashed their breath weapons on the same area, creating a gigantic firestorm that incapacitated large numbers of soldiers. Gray slashed through soldier after soldier with his ice blades. Eventually, the area was cleared, and the team charged towards the camp.

As the team ran into the center of the camp. Everybody except Natsu, Happy and Lucy stopped.

"Go on without us," Wendy urged.

Natsu nodded, remembering the plan. He looked around, trying to sense the general's magic. It was difficult, as he had only seen him a few times. However, after about a minute of searching, he pinpointed the location of the tent.

"This way!" Natsu ran towards the general's tent, and Lucy and her spirits, as well as Happy, followed. "Karyuu no Kouen!" Natsu brought his hands together, blasting the tent off of its supports and revealing a man who was looking surprisingly calm and collected as he sat at his desk, considering the tent he was in had just been thrown off by a fiery explosion. Natsu stormed over and grabbed the man by his shirt collar, pulling him close. "Where is she?!" A look of rage crossed Natsu's face.

"I am afraid you will have to be a little bit more specific," the general replied. "There are lots of 'she's in this camp."

"My daughter!" Natsu screamed. "The one you captured for her powers five hours ago!"

"Cherry blossom hair, like his," Lucy added. She wasn't shouting like her husband, but the look on her face showed just as much fury.

"I'm afraid we'll have to punish you if you don't tell us," Virgo warned, raising her hands martial-arts-style.

The general maintained his bored look as Natsu pressed his forehead against his. "Well, that just so happens to be a military secret. I am not allowed to tell the enemy."

"So you'll sacrifice your life to keep that secret?" Natsu inquired.

"I would," the general admitted. "However, you are invading my camp, so I have the right to attack you." He jammed his fist into Natsu's stomach. A strange force emanated from the impact, and Natsu was sent flying backwards. "You remember my magic, don't you?" He stomped a foot on the ground, creating a huge array of cracks, and then a massive shockwave that tossed all of his opponents back like dolls. "Now, I would give up my life to defend a military secret. However, I am also confident that I can take all of you on – confident enough that I will bet a military secret. Defeat me, and I will tell you what you wish to know."

Natsu got to his feet. "Honestly, you're making this harder than it needs to be, but sure! If that's what it takes for you to talk, we'll do it! Karyuu no Yuwakashi!" His body lit up once more, this time radiating so much heat that everything around them either burned or melted. The people and their clothes, on the other hand, were unaffected. Natsu showed an expression of surprise and frustration as he realized the Baildagch general was unharmed.

"I'm sorry to say I can redirect thermal energy as well as normal kinetic energy," the general explained. "If that's the best that you can do, how can you expect to defeat me?"

"There's no such thing as 'the best we can do'," Natsu retorted. "When the going gets tough, we improvise."

Lucy nodded, then ran forward, landing a kick on the general, who instantly brought her entire body to a stop, then palmed her foot, sending her flying backwards.

Natsu looked where she had been thrown. "Lucy!" Then he looked back to the general, knowing it would be foolish to let himself get distracted. Besides, Lucy couldn't be taken down that easily. "Karyuu no Tekken!" He swung a flame-engulfed fist at the general, but once again, his strike was brought to a full stop. He did, however, manage to burn the general's glove before he was thrown back.

The general sighed and took his glove off, tossing it aside. "I unfortunately cannot protect my clothes as well as I can protect myself."

Natsu gave a tsk of annoyance. "Well, now I see why you were so confident. This reminds me of when I fought Gildarts back on Tenroujima."

"We're almost there," Torden notified

"Good." Hisoka looked at the stars above. "It's getting a bit late, and I would really like to save Nashi as soon as possible."

"The real question," Elkhart noted, "is what we're going to do with William. She's still unconscious and vulnerable, so we can't take her into any fights."

Hisoka thought for a moment. "I think I'll set up a rune barrier around her. I've done a lot of reading, so I know a bit of rune magic. I should at least be able to make sure she doesn't get caught up in anything."

Elkhart nodded. "That works, though I can also do rune magic."

Hisoka looked ahead of them. There appeared to be a very squarely designed building, with an inward-curving pointed roof. It was still about five kilometers away. "Is that it?"

"It is," Torden confirmed.

Hisoka squinted and realized that the temple was being guarded by three – no – four dragons. His stomach fell as he realized they were staring right at them. He also noticed that Torden had stopped in his tracks and was just hovering there, implying that he had also noticed them.

Elkhart noticed the sudden stop and looked over. A look of dread crossed his face. "We may have a problem."

Hisoka focused. "I sense a fire dragon, an iron dragon and two…" His eyes widened in surprise. "…two river dragons." He looked down at Torden. "That's weird. River dragons don't normally reside too far away from a body of fresh water. Is there something like that nearby?"

"There is," Torden replied. "There's a lake about two kilometers east of that temple."

The fire dragon took off straight towards them. Soon after their conversation, it came to a stop next to Torden.

"What is the meaning of this?" the fire dragon inquired. "You have three people and a cat on your back, and they all have the mark of the mage guild Fairy Tail."

Hisoka scooted over to Elkhart and William, and started healing William a bit more. She made a bit of noise, and Hisoka stopped. He didn't want her regaining consciousness immediately, as she didn't know what was going on.

"These are prisoners," Torden replied. "I was asked to take them to the prince."

The fire dragon glared at them. "That blonde kid and the girl smell like dragonslayers."

"Why do you think I was asked to take them in?"

"And they are in no way restrained or incapacitated." Before anyone could come up with a response, the fire dragon's talons ignited, and he slashed at Torden, knocking the three humans into the air. Hisoka quickly sprouted his wings and grabbed Elkhart and William. He looked over and saw that the other three dragons were flying towards them. He dove to the ground and set down Elkhart.

At this point, William's eyes fluttered open. "Wha…?"

"We got attacked," Hisoka explained. "Then Akane, Emma and Merlin stayed behind to fight the attackers, and now the rest of us are being attacked by four dragons." He leaped out of the way just as a gigantic iron pillar slammed down on where he had been standing.

William struggled out of Hisoka's arms, and got to her feet. Then she clutched her forehead and dropped to her knees.

"Careful," Hisoka warned. "You lost a lot of blood, which my magic cannot restore."

William nodded, then planted a fist in the ground. "Kouryuushougai!" Steel bars shot up and formed a cage just in time to block a second pillar attack from the iron dragon. She smiled. "It seems the carbon hasn't worn off."

Elkhart threw up his hands, diverting a blast of fire away from himself. He looked over at Hisoka and William. "William, can you fight?"

"Not very well," William replied. "I still can't even stand for more than four minutes. But I can defend myself just fine."

Elkhart nodded and looked up at Hisoka. "Hisoka, I'm afraid we'll have to stay here and fight. You go on without us."

Hisoka's eyes widened in surprise. "Elkhart, you're not even a dragonslayer, and neither Thomas nor William can't fight!"

"And you can heal Nashi if any harm comes to her," Elkhart argued. "Besides, I'm pretty powerful. I don't need dragonslayer magic."

"And I can continue healing William," Thomas added. "I have a bit of healing magic myself."

Hisoka seethed and looked down at William and Thomas, who both nodded. He looked up at Torden, who was dealing with both of the river dragons. He ran out of William's cage, and pointed at Elkhart and William. "You two had better survive, and then we'll all go home together!" He pointed up at Torden. "That goes for you, too, Torden! Don't die!" He flew off in the direction of the temple.

Nashi's ears perked up at the sound of fighting outside the temple. Then she watched as the physician lowered the weirdly-shaped lacrima towards the tattoos. The lacrima lit up, and Nashi felt a sucking sensation, like something trying to tug her magic away. She tried tearing away her restraints, but they were bolted to the board. She responded by clinging to her energy. She would not let it be taken from her like this.

The prince sighed and said something in Baildagch to the physician, who sighed and turned off the device. Instantly, the tugging sensation subsided. The prince walked over to Nashi. "This machine is, admittedly, susceptible to willpower. However, I will say that we have a way of forcibly extracting that power which will result in permanent damage to your body." He leaned in close to Nashi's face. "So, do we have a deal?"

Nashi glared at the prince, then slammed her forehead directly into his nose. He reeled back in pain, and started clutching it. "I learned that from someone else who really gets on my nerves. Also, I may not be too emotionally attached to the power of the Eastern Zodiac myself, but I can't let you have it. The way you talk about it suggests that you'll get a huge advantage against the resistance, and quite frankly, I will protect the entire continent of Ishgar if I have to."

The prince removed the hand from his nose, and Nashi could see a bit of blood dripping from it. "I'll take that as a 'no'," he deduced, continuing to remain calm. He then held out a hand, and a sword materialized out of thin air. "This is from my sister's requip inventory, but I imagine she'll be fine with me using it for this purpose."

Nashi's eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen.

"I won't deface your guildmark," the prince reassured, "despite how disrespectful you've been, I will respect your guild. We just need the Zodiac markings, after all." He walked around to Nashi's right, and raised the sword.

Hisoka heard a scream from the temple. His eyes widened and he picked up speed. Then he crashed through the roof, landing among three people, one of whom was nailed to a human-sized board with what looked like magic-sealing stone, and was also the girl he had heard screaming.

He got to his feet. "Nashi, are you al…" His eyes widened as he got a better look at Nashi's condition. "…right…?" he stared in horror at the heavily bleeding stump where Nashi's right arm had been. He looked over at the man to her right, who was holding the arm in one hand, and a bloodstained sword in the other. He looked down at Nashi, her face twisted in pain.

"Sorry you had to see me like this…" Nashi apologized.

"Oh, I have nothing to be mad at you about," Hisoka cut her off. He looked back at the man with the sword, a look of rage like nothing Nashi had ever seen before crossing his face. "You, on the other hand… you just hurt someone precious to me!" The air around him took on a bluish glow as his magic charged up. "You're not getting off so easily!"

Well, this wasn't exactly planned. I mean, I established that the Baildagch really wanted those powers, and then I realized they'd totally go to lengths like this to get them. Anyway, hope you enjoyed!