Me: Welcome to Chapter 25 of Beyond the Stars! Wow, I cannot believe I actually managed to make a story this long in Fairy Tail archives! Making a fanfiction is one thing but making sure that it is successful and that it has sense is another. We're at the point of the climax now and soon this story will come to a conclusion. Thank you for all the favourites, the reviews and all the support you have all given me. Actually, I wanted to dedicate this fanfiction to a friend of mine who has been reading this since day one of this story. She was the one who I really told all the time when I was done with the next chapter and what not. Oh by the way, I don't own Fairy Tail! I only own Katherine Dumas, the concept of her powers, the split personalities and the plotline of this fanfiction!
Chapter 25 – Give me back my body, bitch!
I froze in fear as I found images fading fast from my mind. What was that guy's name? Why was he here in my mind? Where did that all come from? Who did I just fight? Oh God, my memory's screwing up and heck – I have no fucking idea what she did to me! I quickly summoned my blades as I launched myself towards Eve, swinging and whirling my blades to cut through whatever she threw at me. A smirk curved up her lips – damn, I wanna wipe that smirk on the floor with my fist as use her as a freakin' floor polisher! What did she do to me? Never mind, I have to concentrate on beating this bitch! I tumbled out of another wave that shot past me as the silver thread revealed some silver woman-shaped figure. Heh, at least this one doesn't look like eve just yanked her out of my brain! With a huge smirk, I launched myself towards her as her wave attacks started flying out towards me like crazy.
"I guess even the Iron Dragon could not satisfy your lust for battle," Eve snapped her fingers as the silver figure took a more definite shape, revealing Cheongsam Lady.
Shit, I'm totally fucked! It's Minerva and how did she sit well in my memories!?
Minerva launched herself towards me with white wave blasts curving back and forth, trying to smash me into the ground. I jumped and sprinted out of the way before she could blast me aside. Suddenly, her hand slammed into my face as she reappeared out of some white hole and knocked me straight into the ground. What the crap – she can teleport too? She's so fucking overpowered, stupid bitch! I rolled out of the way before giving her a kick to her chin and swinging my blades, shooting more blades from behind me. I summoned another set of blades before throwing it towards her to which she just blocked using some wave-particle white thingamajig!
"Tch, she was one of the other people on my list I didn't want to mess with," I bit my lower lip, twisting my body in the air and landing my blade against her wave shield. "If she managed to stop Iolanthe and I and we were using Excalibur back then, at least I know she's not that screwy."
I threw a quick jab to her face that she easily parried before throwing a kick to my face. Squatting low to dodge, I swept her off her feet as she came falling down. Yeesh, that sounded so wrong. Minerva rushed towards me once again with a straight kick towards my ribs, forcing me to sidestep and grab her leg. Her face suddenly became distraught as I twisted her leg and flipped her over onto the ground, shoving my blade into her spine. Minerva cried soundlessly before she shattered into tiny little shards, fading into the dust. Wow, that was... sad. Damn, what's with-? Shit, who was she again?
"Yes, keep on fighting – do you realize what you're doing," Eve chuckled lightly as she summoned a throne made out of roses in my head, folding her legs elegantly. "Then again, you were always very aggressive and impulsive when it came to achieving victory."
My eyes widened as I noticed the images floating throughout the sky and looking at how the orange door had shattered and vanished. She drew out another silver thread and revealed someone Maegara and I thought we wouldn't see again: Ivan Dreyar. There he stood with his all his garbage man beard glory. Geez, someone ought to tell him to have his beard shaved! He can make fifteen sweaters with that kind of beard and moustache! I glanced around the gardens of my memories as I saw images of Gray flashing before me, the images of how the wolves saved my life and some other members with some tattoo. Crap, she's deteriorating the rest of my memories! Hold up, if I understand this right – if Eve can give life to shit and my memories are suddenly appear and begin fighting me, if I destroy them...
No shit Sherlock, you only realized now after smashing the other guy and some random Chinese-looking lady? You're so slow, boss.
Shut the hell up, it's not easy to multi-task while trying to stay alive!
"What the hell are you trying to accomplish, lady," I hissed darkly before summoning a violet circle, drawing a whole treasury of blades from behind me. "Even if you do get my body – you can't use it! I'll keep fighting you until you're nothing but squat and until I'm nothing left!"
Eve showed some slight amount of surprise. Serves you right, bitch, for staying in my body like some freeloader! However, she smiled lightly at me and started walking as her body started showing some clothes that resembled my orange yukata that Loke bought me as she popped open an umbrella. She gave me a demure smile, pulling out more silver strings from the air. Shit, shit, shit, who she going to summon now?
"Then I might as well reduce you into nothing then while I go have a talk with your friend then," Eve smiled before walking away as multiple figures started appearing before me. "Get rid of her."
Their bodies looked like they were made of black sand their eyes flashed yellow before letting out demonic howls, flashing their forms of magic before my face. Damn, this is like Bogeyman land but a whole lot worse with a little bit of mind-fuck! I'm just gonna refer to them as Black this and black that so at least I could tell the difference! Black Laki launched herself towards me with black wood sprouting from her hands and making huge axes trying to chop me down. Her face soon had that psychotic murderer grin and then Black Jet zoomed towards me and tried to land a kick on my face that I blocked with both my hands crossed but not before the Black White Lizard decided to kick my back – okay, that was weird but anyway, and sent me straight to the floor. Stupid shit, that hurt! Geez, couldn't this woman just fight me straight?
"Hercules," I reached out for my wolf-raised self as she nodded, vanishing and fusing into my body.
I heard the bright green door crack from a distance and shatter into nothing but glass shards. Really though, I couldn't really care now as I've got three idiots lobbying at me and trying to whoop my ass! As Jet dashed towards me to land a kick, I caught his foot and began crushing it in my bare hand. He really chose the wrong bitch to deal with! I hurled him around before slamming him into Laki, causing her to turn into nothing but black sand. Well, she wasn't too big a loss in my memory but I could feel my head spinning now before Sting Eucliffe came charging into my view. Flinging Jet aside, I started blocking Sting's white dragon claw thing as he tried to rip off my shirt. Dude, I know I'm pretty but no thanks. I don't go for perverts! I threw Sting over my body with a kick throw until Jet kicked through him and turned him into black sand. I waited for the agonizing pain but nothing came. Heck, I still remember who the White Lizard was! Why?
Maybe because you didn't hit him, Boss.
Great but now I'm left with Jet! I'd rather forget the White Lizard than Speedy over here!
Of all the shitty people of Sabertooth to remember, I remember him. Geez, what a pain – I think he's someone my mind could do better without! Damn it; stop making the Fairy Tail members come alive! I don't think I can keep fighting them. My eyes widened when a claw came straight towards my face before the body changed into a wild pouncing tiger. I grabbed the creature by the neck and punched a hole straight through its stomach, letting the tiger hang limply in my grasp. My eyes widened in horror; shit, it's Lisanna! Her body then faded and I felt a stabbing pain shoot through my head as I fell to the ground. Jet then kicked me over. Damn, I'm losing to someone who was one of the weaker guys on Fairy Tail! He tossed me over as Elfman suddenly came rampaging in my view and I immediately caught Jet and let Droy and Elfman punch holes into him, which sent me flying a few leagues. Hold up, if they're from my memories they should at least have some of the original's personality right?
I glanced at the other people that suddenly started appearing, lengthening my vocal chords to copy a man's voice. "You really wanna have a fight with me Ash-for-Brains!"
Hah, spending time with Gray gave me enough time to at least mimic his voice.
The black version of Pinky suddenly turned towards the black version of Gray with his yellow eyes blazing with fury. "I can beat ya any day, Underwear Prince!"
Suddenly, all the members of Fairy Tail suddenly stopped fighting and I wanted face-palm. Even in my memories, these two idiots would continue fighting each other until the end of time. Don't these dimwits have anything better to do with their lives? A black Cana suddenly lost her battle-sense before she raised a huge beer keg and began drinking! The black version of Fairy Tail soon began chanting and rooting on for whoever they wanted to win. Although, that's kind of odd – where is Erza? She's usually the one knocking some common sense back into those two nitwits when they decided to go destroy crap again. Modern day Medusa was there too before she got hit by one of Psycho dude's dolls and dissipated back into black sand. Elfman took a healthy hit from Laxus who got annoyed by his yapping about being a man. Tears began to fall from my eyes as I smiled at the scene. Yep, this is how Fairy Tail was. We fight each other day and night but when someone else fights us – we will defend each other until the very end. Laxus himself vanished after he took a stray shot from Juvia who dissipated after Gray accidentally crashed on her. I could've sworn Water Lady had hearts in her eyes before she turned into nothing but dust.
"Natsu, Gray!"
I froze fearfully; I knew that voice anywhere as a black version of Erza stepped out with her yellow eyes blazing with malice. Crap, crap, crap – this woman's gonna butcher me! Not only that, she's the strongest of Fairy Tail and damn, even Natsu and Gray are scared shitless! Wait, there has to be someone who can stop her. I racked my brains quickly while looking at the other Fairy Tail members that froze in fear for Titania. Heck, even I'm scared shitless by Erza at some point in life. I mean who isn't when she has some power that's similar to Maegara and that she can do it fifty times better than I can? Summoning two hundred swords? Yep, doable only by Erza Scarlet! She really isn't someone I want to fight!
"Aren't you two supposed to be good friends," Erza suddenly summoned a sword made of jet-black sand as her yellow eyes started to gleam evilly.
"Aye," the two wizards immediately slung their arms on each other's shoulders, smiling sheepishly and abashedly at the warrior woman.
Damn, now's my chance!
While Erza started scolding the other members of Fairy Tail, I called my other versions of myself before moving away quietly as much as possible. I have to find Eve before she screws up the rest of my body and starts screwing up the rest of Fairy Tail. I can't let her destroy everything I worked so hard for. I started looking amongst the black sand guys – there was Natsu, Gray, Erza, Bisca, Alzack, Cana, Bixlow, Freed, Wendy, Happy, Charle and some of the other members. Suddenly, a black ice eagle smashed into Gray and revealed the other ice guy from Lamia Scale. Shit, this is a full-scale guild war!
"I didn't know you were here as well, Fullbuster," Lyon grinned darkly as his hand started to glow with black ice.
Wait, so these guys do have some sense of consciousness!
"Well guess what Snow cone," I imitated Gray's voice again; I knew I was gonna regret this big time. "Juvia's mine and you can't have her! I just had sex with her!"
Blech, I started slapping my tongue in disgust. I can't believe I just said that! Hope it gets Lyon fired up enough to blow him up to pieces! Fair enough, I could see Lyon's yellow eyes sparkling and glimmering with murder as he launched himself at Gray.
"How dare you touch my lady," Lyon roared – yes, he literally roared! I didn't know the guy had it in him. "Ice Make: Dragon!"
As an ice dragon rushed towards Gray, black Gray summoned a huge shield and blocked it before rushing towards Lyon. "I didn't say anything, asshole!"
A huge smirk appeared on my lips; damn, I feel bad for Gray though. He's like my brother and I just subjected him to humiliation and a whole smash brigade for allegedly screwing with Juvia. Hey, I know how the whole making babies thing works okay? Now, once either him or Lyon is defeated – I need someone who would go full blow destruction. I checked the people fighting and pretty soon, Old Man Jura's been trying to stop Lyon from clobbering Gray who was trying to justify his innocence. Heck even I know that Gray isn't that desperate to get laid. Old Man Jura's one option, those first two fights – I think they would've done something too if only I could remember. Oh well, there's only one person I know who could destroy indiscriminately when something goes wrong especially with one specific thing.
"Erza," I swallowed hard and nervously; damn it, this is all or nothing. "I kinda saved you three strawberry shortcakes but," – I pointed towards the whole group of Fairy Tail members along with the mixture of other guys. "Those guys ate it all."
I waited for the impact until I saw Erza completely frozen. She looked like hell decided to visit her as her face suddenly contorted into anger. Shit, run, run, run, I am not staying here and getting slaughtered by an insane Erza when her strawberry shortcake had been defiled or had been completely eaten and she's on a craving for some. I feel bad for Jellal though – he's gonna have to deal with that when he decides to marry her.
"MURDERERS!"
I stared agape as Erza changed into her Heaven's Wheel armour, seething in rage. Damn, I don't wanna be here to be at the receiving end of her fury but heck – this is gonna be fun. Swords started appearing behind Erza as her eyes started glowing vengefully. Swords launched from behind her as Wendy vanished as well after taking a hit from one of Erza's swords despite trying to blow it away. Natsu started running around, screaming for dear life and Gray started jumping around and Lyon squeaked like a little girl before running away. Jura clapped his hands and started summoning huge stone walls which Black Erza rushed towards and kicked a hole into the wall. Damn, remind me never to take her Strawberry Shortcake. As they started fighting each other with stray blasts disappearing and the smoke rising from the mess, I slowly began to creep around while taking note of those who weren't there. I think I saw Black Versions of Sabertooth and Mermaid Heel running around along with the black drunken dude from Quattro Cerberus. After that, I saw Black Meredy swooping in to protect the black version Ultear only to be blasted by Erza's wrath.
"Erza," – I clucked my tongue in annoyance; could my day get any worse?
The whole fighting stopped when Jellal had suddenly appeared and grabbed her hand, staring straight into her eyes. Well, they do look good together despite Fernandez being a complete megalomaniac back then. He did say someone possessed him to do stuff so; this is probably his real personality. Well, Erza just stopped her wrath and her eyes completely widened as Jellal managed to hold her down and everyone was staring at them. Wait, shit now is my chance! Without warning, I darted forward without looking back as Erza heard my footsteps before letting out an enraged howl.
"GET HER!"
I could care less about fighting them right now but what I'm worried about is who I'm going to fight. The guild masters hadn't showed up and I'm pretty surprised that Eve couldn't just summon them to beat the shit out of me. But whatever, good for me. I dismissed my Hercules armour before running into the forests, jumping through the thicket of bushes and trees, dodging branches, swinging up trees like a monkey – damn it, I'm becoming Tarzan! I could still hear Erza's enraged screams along with the other members of Fairy Tail.
"Holy Cow," I ducked as a huge fireball narrowly missed my head before I smirked in confidence, yelling behind me. "You missed me!"
Based on what I saw, the only people who weren't there were the guild masters, Mira, Levy, Lucy, Layla Ashley, Polyrusca and Loke... No, I can't fight them! Guild Masters – no shit Sherlock for obvious reasons! I don't want to be pummelled by Mavis Vermillion and Makarov at the same time! That's like asking for a death wish and fighting the angels of Heaven rushing all down at you for some form divine intervention! Jiemma – Tch, as much as I hate the stupid bastard – I remember how he snapped my ribs as if they were made of toothpicks and how he threw me against the wall before charging me down like some berserk bull that hadn't had a good meal in ages and would just eat anything. Levy's a really sweet girl – bookworm and all. She's the one who taught me how to read, how to understand humans better and supported me when my powers were completely shit diddly useless. But wait, there's something lacking! I know there's something there but I can't figure out what! Sheesh, even I'm not that dense to not notice that she's going gaga over some guy. And becoming an amnesiac isn't helping! I hope I don't forget Lucy and fighting Polyrusca is fighting the grand master of Broom-Fu! No thanks!
Why don't you help her after this, boss? When you get out?
Yeah, let's hope I can get the heck out of here!
But Loke was a totally different story...
He may have just rammed through my door on that night as a bloodied victim and told me that he was a freakin' zodiac sign. I chuckled wistfully, upon remembering the first time he dragged me to Fairy Tail. Everyone welcomed me with a huge party and he was always there. When I was unconscious, he stayed there and he didn't even touch me. Well, he better stay true to that otherwise I'm gonna blow his ass to the moon! I bit my lower lip when I remembered how warm he was. It reminded me on how things should be. This whole war is driving everyone insane – fires burning, screams echoing to the sky and corpses piling on top of one another. I shuddered and remembered how bloodied Loke was the last time. Forget it, I'm not going to see that! I'm going to make sure that NEVER happens! Why? It's simple...
You lliiiiike him...
Shut up you stupid conscience! I don't like him!
Oh right, you llloooove him~.
Give me ten minutes and let me beat up my conscience, yeah?
After ten minutes of beating and shutting up my mini-self, I glanced at my hands and remembered the warmth that surged through my body. The musky scent filled my nose as I could feel his arms wrapping around my body. Damn it, who am I kidding? He already knows the darkest shit about me and he's pretty much accepted it since day one! I don't know if I should...
"W-wait," my younger self nearly fell over as her body began to tremble. "Please, slow down."
I glanced back, watching the darkened halls slowly light up with Natsu's flame and the howls of the angry mob getting louder. Geez, this is like a fucked up representation of that movie Levy made me watch with a guy trying to bring back a guy by zapping him with a bolt of lightning! "Shit, we don't have time! Come on, get up!"
"Running will not merit us anything," Iolanthe narrowed her eyes at me, drawing her sword. "Katherine, I shall hold them off. You bring the others and find Eve-sama. Once there and once you destroy her, I am certain all these memories will stop trying to consume and destroy you. Can you not hear them? Their desperate cries and begs for mercy?"
I stared at her stupidly until I closed my eyes. Soon, their voices started to echo wildly in my mind. Screams and cries for mercy and horror bounced back and forth in the forest floor as the leaves began to rustle wildly with remorse and regret.
Katherine, run! Please!
Katherine, we don't want to hurt you!
You're my nakama... I can't stop fighting!
Katherine – forgive me... Please punch me after this!
Kevyn, get the hell out of here before I hurt you!
Damn it fairy, what the fuck did you do to my brain?! Make it stop!
Tears started to slip out of my eyes; not all of their memories had been corrupted after all! There has to be something that can restore them back to normal if they were corrupted by Eve's touch! If there's still a part of them that's still them, I have a chance to change them back. Wait, I need some purifying agent. Too bad I can't just conjure stuff like Polyrusca. I can't just go mindlessly chopping them down! That's how I lost some of them the last time! Using Excalibur? No – that would just annihilate them in a single strike! Think, there has to be a way to bring those memories back! Wait, this is my mind! Memories don't just fade away – they're just there! Somewhere...
"Do you feel it now, Katharos," Eve's oh-so-I'm-sexy-and-I-know-it voice started echoing throughout the forest; stupid bitch, wait until I butcher you to pieces and then resurrect you just so I can mutilate you and then have Natsu burn you into barbecue and have Erza chop you to pieces before I mince you into little cubes of dead meat! "This is true Fear! Do you not know what being human has done to you? It has made you weak! It made you clingy... There is no way you can hurt your so-called comrades!"
I clenched my hands into fists until my knuckles turned white. I stood my ground as the thundering stomps of the rampaging angry mob got louder. Their howls and screams caused the trees to shudder and tremble violently as I stood my ground. What exactly could I do? Facing the whole battalion won't gain me anything nor will it make anything better but it's better than running away. As the rushes of black sand revealed their demonic howls and cries along with their blazing yellow eyes, I walked up to the sand before extending my hand. I have to try!
"This is my mind," I stared determinedly at the tidal wave of sand; a soft warm feeling started bubbling inside me. "And what I say goes! This is the mind and body of Katherine Dumas of Fairy Tail! My memories are not yours to touch and corrupt!"
Slowly, my other selves began to vanish and merge with my body as I could feel the power rushing through my veins. I won't have Eve doing whatever shit she wants in my body! Fuck that, I'm going to make her pay! I'll wake up my other memories! The black sand mob suddenly stopped as a bright white light shined on me as I found something or more like someone standing beside me. Suddenly, some of my memories rushed back. Images of people started flashing through my mind like how Lisanna made me those delicious chicken sandwiches and how Gajeel and I beat the shit out of each other. Soon, I found Rust Bucket and Lisanna standing next to me. Lisanna smiled happily at me before determinedly looking at the black sand.
"Good to see ya, Metal Factory Reject," I grinned as his image began to glow and fade.
"Don't you dare lose," Gajeel smirked at me before he turned into little particles and I felt a new form of vigour kick in.
Lisanna nodded and smiled before fading away herself. "You won't lose as long as your nakama stand next to you."
I watched the black sand howl and rage towards me as I narrowed my eyes. Fuck this corruption, I'm not letting Eve take me down if it's the last thing I'll ever do!
"I know you're an evil bitch Eve," I hissed darkly as the black sand rushed on faster to engulf me, stretching out my arm. "But your time is way over! This is my mind and this is my world! I won't let you touch it!"
The moment my finger touched the black sand, everything turned into a bright white light as my memories slowly returned to normal coloured selves. Erza stared in shock and amazement and Gray stared at his skin as it changed from blackened sand into his flesh. Natsu ran his fingers through his salmon hair and the other Fairy Tail members started finding themselves back to normal. Gold sand started zooming all over the place and they all greeted with me with a smile. Slowly they started fading away back into my memory except Gray, Erza and Natsu.
"Don't worry, we'll wait for you," Natsu grinned childishly before vanishing into my memories.
Erza and Gray nodded determinedly as I turned away and smirked at the black gate standing before me, sneering at Eve.
"Time for you to give me back my body, bitch!"
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That's chapter 25! Please don't forget to review! No review = no update!