Chapter 25: Wishes Fall from the Heavens

This is another long chapter, so be ready to sit down for a while till the end. I do not explain about Yaseika in this chapter, but it is coming soon.

LUCY POV

This is crazy!

Natsu suspects that Gray might somehow be related to Avatar! We got to the site of Avatar's base and managed to sneak in. Then Natsu being Natsu screamed out Gray's name. I chastised him only for a figure to turn around the corner. With a pang, I recognized him. He looked drastically different: his hair was longer and spikier, and his body was almost half covered by an evil blackness. He was wearing a long coat, similar to the outfit that I first met him in. But his cool dark blue eyes were the same. He scoffed at us and muttered, "It's you." His voice was dark, filled with more scathing that I had only heard him use against those who followed Zeref. But here he was, one of the top soldiers of the Black Wizard.

Natsu and Gray briefly exchanged words and began to fight, harder than I had ever seen them go against each other. Only when Gray's coat had flown off during the fight did I see his chest where he guild mark usually was. Instead of the proud Fairy Tail mark, the guild mark of Avatar appeared in white on his darkened skin. He smirked at my surprise and said, "Fairy Tail is dead. I erased its mark with my own hands."

I ended up slapping him in the face. I didn't really think about it, but it just kind of happened. I was so angry at his disregard for what Fairy Tail stood for. But my anger caused Happy, Natsu and I to all get captured. After a while, I was about to be tortured for information and eventually killed when the guy that was holding the knife froze. Literally.

All of our restraints felt like they were becoming cold and eventually shattered because of the temperature. We were so confused, especially when Gray came around the corner, without any black marks, using a very small lacrima. Natsu looked ready to fight when Gray tossed him the lacrima and told him to put it to his ear. Natsu looked hesitant, but he did and nearly dropped the lacrima. Natsu jumped and screeched, "Erza!"

Long story short, Erza had been requested to investigate the dark guild Avatar by Jellal and his independent guild. She had enlisted Gray's help after hearing about his condition. Gray had learned from Porlyusica how to control the marks at will. He used it in order to cover his Fairy Tail mark with that of Avatar. His black guild mark still shone proudly on his upper chest. But, using this ability, he infiltrated the ranks of the dark guild in order to hopefully find out information and eventually take them down. I asked why Juvia didn't know about this. Gray looked upset and Erza answered over the lacrima that she was the one that forbade Gray from telling Juvia about the plan. The fewer people that knew the truth, the less of a chance of being caught. However, she did say that the infiltration wasn't meant to last this long.

It only kept going because Gray discovered that he only infiltrated one branch. All of the branches were due to gather today in order to sacrifice the members of a town in order to summon the Black Wizard. That's where we were going now, in order to stop them. Erza said that she would meet us there when she could.

*Time skip because I don't feel like explaining the fight too much*

NATSU POV

We won.

These guys weren't even that much of a challenge, probably because of all the training I did. Everyone else seemed to get stronger too. Erza had a few new armors, Gray seemed good at using his Devil Slaying Magic, Wendy can access Dragon Force at will, and Juvia appeared healthy again to fight at our side. Lucy had gotten way stronger too. She gained magic that was similar to Erza's, which made her scary but more badass too.

Levy, Metalhead, and Lily all appeared in order to arrest all of the dark guild members and it looked like that the current threat was over. But then I heard Gray say, "You're Frosch from Sabertooth right?" I instantly panicked and turned to see that the Exceed in question was standing there, with Rogue nowhere in sight. I instantly panicked and realized that Rogue had broken his promise. I was about to intervene when Gray picked up Frosch and hugged him, exclaiming how cute he was.

It was then that I looked at the two of them together, Gray looking happier than I had seen him for a while, laughing out loud. I determined that the threat that Future Rogue had warned me about was over. Frosch was not in danger and Gray clearly was not evil. Thus, the future was saved. Still, I think that the fact that Gray was to kill Frosch in Future Rogue's timeline will remain secret. I don't know a lot about time, but I don't want to accidently mess it up. So I won't tell anybody the truth. Not Rogue, not Gray and not Lucy.

Seeing her after all this time made me feel so happy. I hadn't wanted to leave her before, but I didn't have a choice back then. I felt bad because she had to go through the loss of losing Aquarius and Fairy Tail all by herself. But we were all together as a team again. Things can only get better.

Then I heard footsteps quickly approaching. I turned around to see Rogue, Sting, and Lector running up to us. Rogue was a bit annoyed at Frosch running off on his own, but he was overall cool with it. Things were finally calming down when I sensed a familiar presence. It felt comforting, but at the same time dangerous.

I froze up mid-sentence, and the others asked what was wrong. Then I noticed that Rogue's eyes had dilated more and began to breathe heavily. Did we sense the same being?

Then somebody shouted, "Look! Something's falling from the sky!" They pointed upwards and following their pointing, I could see a small figure falling from a very high height. The figure was covered in black, so I couldn't tell who it was, but before I could even react, Rogue jumped into action.

ROGUE POV

This feeling. I sense her. I sense Yaseika nearby.

I don't understand why I would be aware of her presence so accurately. I had only met her the one time. It was only a minute later that Natsu seemed to react as well. When I looked up at the sky and saw the figure falling, I didn't even think. My body just moved on its own. I leaped up as high as I could and managed to catch the free-falling figure in my arms about 20 feet away from the ground.

I landed hard on my feet, and noticed that I was breathing heavily. I've done more strenuous things before without having a problem. Why was my body panicking now?

I could hear the others surround me as I examined the twitching and writhing body in my arms. The face was covered by a black cloak, as was the rest of the body. But I could feel something hard on one of the sides. Pulling the cloak back, I could hear gasps erupting from around me. Her hair was the same length as the last time I saw her, but now the red had appeared to consume more of the blue, leaving only a few inches of blue left. The symbol on her black eyepatch was pulsing with a bright light.

There was no question. This was definitely Yaseika.

I felt somebody pull me away from her and I reacted on instinct. I could feel the shadows inside of me react to the loss when Sting put a hand on my shoulder. I calmed instantly and I began to question myself: why was I reacting so strongly? I barely even knew her.

Moves were made to bring her back to the city where Sabertooth was situated as Magnolia was too far away at the moment. Since the moment I had caught her, I found myself drifting to her side, carefully watching over her body that was still moving on its own. Her eye was shut tightly and I could see her eye moving furiously under the closed lid. A nightmare perhaps? Then why had she fallen from the sky?

*a few hours later*

Yaseika still hasn't woken up.

She appeared to open her eye at one point and she looked right at me, but it was only a moment later that she collapsed again. It was determined that for that moment, she was unconscious, but still had her eyes open occasionally. Every once in a while she would say something in her sleep. Sometimes it was muttered, other times she screamed so loudly I thought that she had to be awake. But still she lay in the bed.

The doctors attempted to remove the eyepatch from Yaseika's face in order to see the condition of the other eye, but each time someone touched it, the symbol flashed and the person retracted their hand as they had been electrocuted. It was minor, but there was no feasible way to remove the eyepatch. It was then that the little blue girl, Levy I think, said that the symbol on Yaseika's eyepatch meant "to seal, to contain" in a dead language. Erza ended up voicing aloud her concerns regarding the statements of Mard Geer, as well as the mystery that surrounded Yaseika's current condition. More questions were being formed and the only person that could give answers wasn't in a position to do so.

The Fairies, including those on the Council, ended up leaving to go around town to see if anybody knew anything. They were due back any minute now. I think Sting and Lector were really worried, as I didn't want to move from my spot. Only Frosch stayed by me. He was worried too, but he remained to comfort me, and it worked. It was like I was frozen here.

Then I heard a sharp but calm voice, "Where is this? When?" I raised my head to see a purple colored eye look at me, a serene expression on her face. It was the first time I had seen her so calm, it was hard to imagine that the last time I saw her, she snarled at my presence. Now she seemed relaxed. None of those rumors could be true about her.

Then I remembered that she had asked me a question. I answered her with caution, "You are in the host city of Sabertooth. It is August 20, Year X792." I could sense Sting and Lector move closer behind me, but they didn't interrupt. I continued, "Your name is Yaseika Dragneel, correct?"

I could see her stiffen at first, but then she calmed and said, "Yes."

I spoke some more, "My name is Rogue Cheney. Do you remember me?"

Her eye narrowed and she replied, hesitantly, "Yes. Tartaros. Mard Geer. You attempted to help me. Why?"

I was taken aback by her question and honestly did not know what she was talking about, but she continued, "I fell. You tried to help me. I got angry. Yet you are still alive. Why are you kind to me?" Her sentences were mixing together and blurring into one large one, such that I couldn't understand her.

I smelt Natsu and the others returning. They would be here momentarily. So I decided to ask, "You are close to Natsu right? You grew up together?"

I don't know what I said, but saying that caused her to jump up and snarl at me. She was standing on her bed, an arrow already notched in her bow. Her eye was dark, and her expression was feral and angry. I didn't even see her summon the bow… Gone was the calm and complacent girl that I had seen at first. Now what remained was somebody that was enshrouded by hatred and contempt. Is this the other side of Yaseika Mard Geer was talking about…? Had it been triggered through the conversation…?

Just then, Natsu and the others chose this time to walk in. At first, Natsu was excited to see Yaseika awake, before Erza stopped him from getting closer. Yaseika's gaze fell on Natsu and she instantly began to grin. But this grin wasn't like Natsu's. This one was malicious and filled with dangerous intent. With a yell, she lunged towards Natsu, her bow somehow gone and instead reaching her hands out, heading for Natsu's neck with lightning speed…

Sorry to leave it like that guys, but this chapter is officially over. What has gotten into Yaseika? Why did she fall from the sky? What's up with Rogue?

I discovered that there is no given name for the city that Sabertooth resides in. I didn't feel like giving it an original name. Go figure.