Phantom Girl

by bibliosophia

"Phantom Lord's famous for not getting along with Fairy Tail. I actually fretted deciding which one I wanted to join. After all, their reputation is nearly as nuts as Fairy Tail's!" Lucy helps a Dragon Slayer defeat some slavers, and in exchange he invites her to join his guild! ...no, not that Dragon Slayer. No, not that guild.

26. Clash at Cardia Cathedral

A/N: This chapter is slightly over fourteen thousand words. I figured I ought to warn people.

---

Mira noticed the lacrima ranged around Magnolia as she soared over the town. Sparks crackled between them like a floating electric fence. Laxus's magic. She hit the square outside the cathedral feet first, and stormed up the steps. She flung open the great doors one-handed and burst in. Erza and Laxus were already embroiled in combat. As Erza pivoted to throw a kick into Laxus's throat, Mira's scream of rage rebounced off the cathedral walls.

"Laxus! How dare you? How dare you!"

The moment of distraction cost Erza. Her head snapped round. Laxus caught her foot and hurled her away. She crashed to the floor and scrambled back to her feet.

"Mira!"

"Demon Mirajane, too!" Laxus said. "This just gets better and better!"

"You stole our souls and turned us against our family!" Mira shouted. "Laxus, how dare you? When did you sink so low? I will annihilate you for this!"

Erza raised her sword. "We can't let him go unpunished, Mira. Let's take him down together!"

Laxus grinned and held out a hand, palm out. "Erza Titania and the Demon Mirajane, at the same time? This must be my lucky day!" Lightning crackled around his hands. "Come on!"

Mira lunged for him with a cry of rage, her fist drawn back for a powerful punch. Laxus caught the blow on his forearm and then lashed out, hurling her away. Mira spun in midair and landed on all fours. Her claws scored trenches into the floor. Erza darted in from the opposite direction and struck at Laxus' side with her longsword. He grabbed the blade between both hands, a protective layer of lightning crackling over his skin, and fired electricity down the blade into Erza's body. Her body spasmed, fingers locking tight around the hilt of her sword, and then the magic flung her away from Laxus. She twisted to land on her hands and flipped back to her feet. Her armour glowed and melted into the Lightning Empress armour.

"The Lightning Empress armour?" Laxus said, and laughed. "You seriously think that'll protect you from my thunder?"

Mira howled, a wordless demonic sound with undercurrents that sent cold chills down the back of Erza's neck. Laxus glanced over at her. "Hey. Don't get angry just yet. It'd be a waste," he said. "Don't you want to know what I'm planning with all those thunder lacrima first?"

"... thunder lacrima?" Erza said. "What thunder lacrima?"

"What are you plotting, Laxus?" Mira demanded.

"The Hall of Thunder. I daresay you've heard of it?"

Erza gasped. "That was the spell you've set up around the town? That could kill everyone in Magnolia!"

"If you can't have the guild, then you'll destroy it? How disgusting," Mira said. "That proves how unsuitable you are to be master."

"Ow," Laxus said, and chuckled. "I forgot how harsh you are in your demon form, Mira."

"Mira! Keep him here for now," Erza said. She turned towards the door. "I'll go and destroy every last one of those lacrima!"

"You can't!" Laxus said, and let out a wild peal of laughter. "The lacrima are protected with Organic Link Magic. Any damage you inflict on them will be reflected back onto you. You wouldn't survive taking down one! Not with your puny power! And while you've been standing there lecturing me, the clock's been ticking down!"

He spun around and pointed to the display board. Mira gasped. Erza cursed.

"Laxus, you swine!"

"I don't know what the hell the old man's thinking," Laxus said. "Does he not give a shit what happens to this town?... well, neither do I! I'll raze it to the ground!"

There were thirty-two seconds left until the activation of the Hall of Thunder.

---

"Hey! Everyone, can you still hear me?" Warren yelled, all across Magnolia. "Quit just lying around, people! Get up!"

The streets were full of civilians, some still in their fancy dress costumes for the festival - dozens of witches, pirates and animals of all sorts flooding towards the roads out of the city. From high up, anyone would be able to see crowds of townspeople already gathered on the hills around Magnolia.

"There's no time left!" Warren said. "We have to take out as many of those lacrimas as we can, with all the power we have! We can't let Laxus destroy the town!"

Cana hauled Gray onto the roof of the toy store, out of the way of the fleeing crowds. "We'll get a better shot from up here," she said.

Wakaba's voice came over the telepathic link. "Macao, you better just lie down and take a nap. I doubt you can handle it!"

"Hey! Big words from an old fart!" Macao said. "I'll take down twice as many as you will!"

Gray pressed his fist against his palm and threw up both hands. "Ice-Make: Lance!" A magical seal formed in front of him and ice spears burst out of it, shooting high into the air. "Reach them!" Gray yelled.

Cana drew three cards from her bag and hurled them into the sky. "Projectile Cards!" The cards shot towards the distant lacrima like bullets. Chico soared high over the roof of the toy shop and swiped both hands down through the air, creating a beam of green energy. Elfman, still in his Beast Soul takeover, tore the flat top from a table and hurled it at the lacrima like a discus. All over Magnolia, Fairy Tail mages fired off attacks at the sky.

Lucy couldn't hear the telepathic conversation, but she saw the spells arcing high into the sky. They were attacking the lacrima? Was time up already? Loke had gone, and she didn't have the strength left to open another gate of the zodiac. Caelum would be too badly damaged to fire. There wasn't anything she could do.

The civilians in the street around her looked up at the sky, with shouts of "What are those?", "What's going on?" and "What are those idiots doing now?"

"Excuse me!" Lucy shouted, over the chaos. "Don't freak out, but can you please all head towards the centre of town?"

The citizens of Fairy Tail's town didn't respond well to being told not to panic. They fled screaming.

Above Magnolia, dozens of the thunder lacrima exploded with cracks and clouds of thick black smoke. Sparks crackled around Gray and Cana, and then they were struck down by the full force of their own spells. All over the town, Fairies howled and crumpled to the streets as lightning blazed around them.

---

Information boxes began to pop up all over the display board. MAX: 1. GRAY: 3. CANA: 3. REEDUS: 1. ALZACK: 1. They piled up, layering on top of each other until not a trace of the display board was left.

It wasn't enough. There were still one hundred and eighty-four lacrima remaining. The timer hit zero.

A sign flashed up. AWAITING ACTIVATION.

Laxus burst out laughing. "This is it! The old man is going to regret not giving in! I'll turn Magnolia to rubble! There'll be nothing left!"

"The Hall of Thunder needs activation?" Erza said, stunned. Well, Laxus wouldn't want to blow up the town by accident...

"Then we won't give him a chance to activate it!" Mira said, and charged Laxus, screaming. She threw a punch at him that would have shattered stone. He caught her arm and hit her in the face so hard her head snapped back. Erza yelled. As Laxus drew his fist back to punch her again, Mira grabbed hold of his arm, twisted and wrapped both legs around his middle. Her wings unfurled from her back. The added weight pulled Laxus off-balance. Mira rolled back, landing on her hands, and tossed Laxus over her head. He landed on his back with a wheeze as the impact knocked the air out of his lungs. Erza moved in to attack. Laxus slapped a palm against the stone floor. "Lightning Eruption!"

Lightning burst out of the ground below Erza and Mira, hurling them both into the air. Mira cried out. Electricity crackled through Erza's armour, but the protective spells layered into the fabric kept it from reaching her skin. She landed on her feet and threw her sword aside. It had disappeared back into her armoury before it hit the ground. She snatched the lightning spear out of the air in its place and slammed the foot of the shaft into the ground. A shield of blue-white electricity materialised in front of the spear.

"You're trying to use lightning magic against me? Don't you know what happens when two mages of the same type clash, Erza?" Laxus shouted. "The winner is determined by who has the most power and skill!"

"And by the strength of their heart," Erza retorted. "You should have learned that from the master!" She braced herself. "You won't be able to blast through this, Laxus!"

Laxus took the bait. He hurled a bolt of lightning at her. Erza gritted her teeth and leant her weight into the staff. Erza's shield absorbed the electricity, but Laxus poured more power into the attack until lightning raged around the edges of the shield and reached out jagged tendrils towards her skin. Her eyes watered from the glare. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled from static electricity and the air had the sharp metallic tang of ozone. Sparks flickered between the twin points of the spear. The shield was collapsing.

While Laxus had been trying to bludgeon through Erza's shield, though, Mira had scrambled to her feet.

"Laxus!" She hurled herself at him again. He spun to meet her charge. They exchanged blows so fast it was a blur, both trying to batter down the other's defences. Sparks of electricity and flickers of dark energy flashed between them. Erza bent over for a moment, with her hands on her knees, to catch her breath, and then wearily straightened up and switched out her lightning spear for a curved saber with a purple-wrapped hilt. She couldn't risk charging in now, though; Mira and Laxus' battle was too fast and violent, and there was too great a chance that she would attack Laxus and accidentally impale Mira. Damn it!

Mira spun aside from a blow, dark energy gathering between her hands, and Laxus caught hold of her tail. He swung her over his head and spiked her into the floor. Mira howled, twisted and tried to scythe his legs out from under him with a leg sweep. Laxus jumped over it.

The instant before he landed on her chest, Mira flung up one hand, conjuring a spiral of seething purple energy and a magical seal. "Evil Push!" Laxus was blasted into the air.

Mira sagged against the ground, wheezing. Erza broke into a run. The Lightning Empress Armour dissolved into the Black Wing Armour in mid-stride. "Moon Flash!" Her wings snapped down. She shot past Laxus, her blade leaving glowing white arcs behind it which slashed into Laxus. He roared and transformed into lightning. Erza dropped back to the ground and spun, sword raised again to ward off an attack. Laxus shot to the top of a column and transformed back. "Thunder Bullets!"

A hissing ball of sparks formed around his right fist and spat out tiny concentrated orbs of lightning with the speed of a machine gun. Mira was hit under the ribs and knocked convulsing to the floor. Erza switched back to the Lightning Empress armour and threw both forearms up over her head. The bullets ricocheted off her gauntlets. Yellow flashed in the corner of her vision, and she just had a moment to realise that wasn't a thunder bullet before a boot slammed into her chest. Erza was flung backwards and sent skidding across the floor, into Mira. Lightning crackled across her breastplate and flickered out.

"Are you still awake?" Laxus said, and bared his teeth as Erza tried to push herself up.

"Mira," she gasped. "Mira!"

"Gonna kill him," Mira wheezed. Her eyes were crazed, the pupils narrowed to slits. "Not even ashes left-"

Erza groped for her sword.

"I'm getting really bored of that armour, Erza!" Laxus said. "I'll overload it!" He thrust one fist into the air. "Resound, roar of thunder!" Lightning flashed around him. A great ball of concentrated electricity began to grow above them.

"Why is he doing this?" Mira rasped.

"He's crazy," Erza hissed back. Her twitching fingers brushed the hilt of her sword.

"No," Mira said. "Why is he doing this when he could be activating the Hall of Thunder?"

Laxus stopped. Sparks ran up his arm to join the massive orb of lightning hanging over their heads.

"I think he heard you," Erza rasped. She set the point of her saber into a crack between two paving stones and hauled herself to her knees.

Laxus looked over his shoulder. The sign on the display board blinked on and off.

AWAITING ACTIVATION.

Laxus looked at it like he'd forgotten what it was.

"...why aren't you activating the Hall of Thunder?" Erza croaked. "You had a shot. Why didn't you take it?" Nobody just forgot that their superweapon was sitting right there waiting to be set off, did they?

"...Shut up!" Laxus said.

"Activate the Hall of Thunder!" Mira said. "Do it! Do it now, Laxus!"

"Shut up!"

"You were bluffing! You never meant to go through with it!" Mira said.

"We should have realised sooner," Erza said. "What good would destroying Magnolia do you? You were just trying to intimidate the master into stepping down, Laxus, and you failed!" She pushed herself up to her knees. "It's over!"

"It is not over!" Laxus screamed.

"What are you going to do now?" Mira demanded. "How can you keep this going? How do you imagine you'll seize control of the guild now?"

Laxus snarled. Lightning erupted from the ground around him, so bright Erza had to cover her eyes with her hand. Electricity snapped between his bared teeth and bled out of his eyes. "By force!" he shouted. "What was I thinking, trying to make a bargain with the old man? I should have relied on my own power from the start! My power is the core of my identity!"

"He's lost control," Mira said. "Laxus, you've lost your mind!"

"Shut up!" Laxus shouted, white with fury. "I'll make you shut up!" He threw his arm in the air again. "Resound, roar of thunder! Fall from the sky and turn everything to ash!"

Erza looked up. The lightning storm came crashing down. Mira's cry of fury was drowned out by the boom of thunder. The spell blew a massive crater in the floor of the cathedral and threw up a vast rolling cloud of stone dust. A column toppled with a crash that shook the cathedral from its foundations to its two belltowers. Laxus's demented laughter reverberated from the walls. "Hahahaha! How are you going to stop me now?" The dust settled slowly. Laxus stopped laughing.

Erza was still on her knees, but now she was leaning on her lightning spear. The Lightning Empress Armour was ruined. Her greaves, gauntlets and shoulder guards were scattered around her in pieces, the fabric of the skirt was shredded and the breastplate was hanging on by a scrap of leather. The shaft of the spear had cracked right down the middle. The twin points had been almost melted, and the drum linking the twin points to the shaft had burst open. Erza had caught the blast with the spear, and channeled it down through the foundations of the cathedral into the earth.

Laxus bared his teeth. "Still alive, huh? You don't know when to give up, do you, Erza?"

"We're mages of Fairy Tail. We'll never give up," Erza said. "You'd have to kill us all to take over, Laxus!"

Laxus just grinned. "Are you volunteering to be first?" He spread out his hands. Sparks jumped between his fingers. "Come on, Fairy Tail! I'll destroy every last one of you!"

Erza made a disgusted noise and climbed laboriously to her feet. "My life... has been bought too dearly for me to let you take it away now." Her legs shook, but her voice was steady. "After... after what happened at the Tower of Heaven, I had to have a lot of my armours reforged."

Laxus scowled. "So?"

"So I had a new one made, while I was doing it." The ragged remains of the Lightning Empress armour sloughed away. They were replaced by a suit of pink plate armour, with intricate wing-shaped decorations on the shoulder guards and headdress. "The Armadura Fairy Armour! The reason it bears the guild's name is obvious." Behind her, Mira rose to her feet with a hiss that was half pain and half barely-contained rage.

"Fairy Armour?" Laxus said. "I'll enjoy smashing that to pieces!"

"Let's go, Mira!" Erza said. She sprang to one side. Mira charged dark energy between her hands and fired the beam at Laxus. "Demon Blast!" Before the spell hit, Laxus transformed into lightning again and shot out of the way, up one of the cathedral's great columns. The blast carved a neat semicircle into the side of the column under him. Laxus transformed back at the apex of the column and hurled lightning down at Mira. She caught the barrage on a glowing purple shield.

"Laxus!" Erza shouted, and attacked him from the other direction. As she slashed her sword through the air, it left behind arcs of brilliant green energy which shot towards Laxus. He summoned up a shield of lightning, but the impact still hurled him across the cathedral, into the chancel. It barely slowed him down for a second. He rolled back to his feet and leapt onto the altar. "You should understand this, both of you!" he shouted, electricity crackling in his palm. "Don't you see how pathetic the guild has become? We're a laughingstock!" He flung the lightning at them. Mira shot up the wall like a lizard, claws digging holes in the stone. Erza switched her sword for one with a non-conductive ceramic blade and slashed through the bolt of lightning. It hit the ground on either side of her. "The guild is stronger than it's ever been, because of the bonds between all our mages!" she shouted. "You can't make the guild stronger by destroying that!"

"The most important thing is that everyone is happy," Mira ground out from between her serrated teeth.

"Is this even about the guild?" Erza demanded. "Turning us against the rest of the guild, filthy tricks like that - you just want to punish everyone for laughing at one joke!"

"I won't tolerate that sort of disrespect!" Laxus roared. "Do you expect me to just take that?"

"Erza, I heard a joke from Gray recently. I think he picked it up from Lucy," Mira said. "Why doesn't Mystogan visit the guild more often?"

"...I don't know. Why doesn't Mystogan visit the guild more often," Erza said.

"It's understandable, isn't it?" Mira said. "If I had a boyfriend who wore fur with leopard-print, I would be ashamed to show my face as well."

There was a long, empty pause. Erza forced a laugh.

"Shut up!" Laxus roared. "Shut up! I'll kill you both!" He flung out both hands, palms down. "Lightning Eruption!"

All across the cathedral, lightning burst out of the floor. Erza and Mira were both hurled into the air, screaming. Mira's wings unfolded and battered at the air, keeping her aloft. Erza twisted in mid-fall and managed to catch the railing of the choir gallery. She swung there, feet kicking desperately. Eight feet below, a sea of lightning raged across the floor of the cathedral, licking at the columns and the edges of the altar. Laxus howled with deranged laughter.

Mira dived for Laxus and threw a punch at his face. He caught her arm. She slammed her forehead into the bridge of his nose. He staggered back but didn't let go. She twisted her forearm, grabbed hold of his wrist, and they traded a barrage of punches too fast to even see.

Erza hauled herself onto the railing of the choir gallery and ran along it. She leapt down onto the altar, sword drawn back for a strike. Caught between the two of them, Laxus roared and hurled them both away with a gigantic blast of electricity. Mira was flung through the pipe organ, with a crash of breaking wood and the scream of twisting metal and a loud, discordant noise as she smashed through the keyboard.

Erza hit the floor of the cathedral with a scream as the electricity coursed through her body. "Heaven's Wheel Armour!" The Armadura Fairy Armour its powerful defensive enchantments vanished, searing electricity coursed through her body. Erza screamed louder and threw out a hand. A dozen swords appeared floating all around her. She closed her hand into a fist, and all twelve swords drove themselves a foot deep into the floor of the cathedral. They acted as lightning rods, drawing the electricity away. Erza shot into the air and tumbled over the railing of the choir loft.

"Hahahahah! Is this the best the old man has to offer?" Laxus shouted. He turned, arms spread wide. "This is pathe-"

Mira clawed herself out of the ruined organ and dragged a long pipe from the wreckage. She hurled the pipe at Laxus like a spear. It hit him square in the ribs. The impact threw him off the altar and sent him crashing to the floor. He scrambled back to his feet, snarling, but Erza didn't give him time to launch another attack.

"Circle Sword! Dance, my blades!" She was balanced on the railing of the choir gallery. Half a dozen swords spun around her like a whirlwind. She raised the twin swords of the Heaven's Wheel armour over her head, brought them both down hard with a cry of exertion and sent the swords flying at Laxus. He threw his arms up over his head defensively and bellowed with rage as the swords slashed into him. Mira shot in under his guard and slammed her palm, burning with dark energy, into his chest. The detonation blasted Laxus back.

"Re-quip!" Erza switched back to the Armadura Fairy armour and the two one-handed swords that came with it. She slashed the swords through the air, and sent arcs of green energy scything towards Laxus. They knocked him back and rolled him over and over.

"Now, Mira!" Erza shouted. "Fairy Piercing Sword!" Her swords blazed with green light.

A glassy orb materialised between Mira's hands, and grew darker as she poured more energy into it until it seemed to suck in all the light in the cathedral. "Fire!" Erza's bolt of green light and the Soul Extinction struck at the same time. The flash of light was blinding, and then the force of the blast threw both Erza and Mirajane off their feet and sent them skidding across the floor. It ripped the paving stones apart. It blew the base of a column into gravel and flying stone shrapnel, bringing the rest of the column crashing down. High above, the cathedral bells rang in their towers as the cathedral shook around them.

"Did it work?" Erza said, blinking the afterimages from her eyes and spitting out dust.

Laxus's voice echoed out of the dust cloud. "That's all the power you two can muster up?" Erza hissed between her teeth and raised her sword, all her muscles tensed to meet a sudden attack. Mira dropped into a crouch, talons raised and fangs bared. "I'm disgusted, that you can call yourselves S-rank mages of Fairy Tail." The dust settled, slowly. Laxus was on his feet and standing up straight. There was an open gash at his hairline, and blood ran down his face over his scar. Blood soaked through his shirt around dozens of slashes from Erza's swords. More blood crusted his nostrils from the headbutt Mira had given him, and one eye was starting to swell up. In a few hours, he wouldn't have an inch of skin that wasn't bruised black. His taut, mad grin hadn't flickered.

"How is he still standing?" Mira said. Her tail lashed back and forth behind her. "That's impossible! Is he that strong?"

They were both tired, Erza remembered, with a tremor of apprehension. They'd been fighting all day, even if they didn't remember it.

"It's simple, really," Laxus said. "I kept it a secret, because I hate the old man's lectures. But I'll share it with you specially." His bared teeth grew longer and sharper. His muscles bulged until the seams of his shirt gave way.

"What's he doing?" Mira said.

Erza shook her head and settled back into a fighting stance. Sweat was making her hands slippery. She tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword.

Tendons stood out like steel cables in Laxus's neck. Scales formed on his forearms. He looked like... a dragon.

No. That couldn't possibly be right-

Laxus drew in a deep breath, and threw back his head. Sparks flashed between his teeth. "Lightning Dragon's Roar!" A massive blast of churning electricity burst from his mouth.

"Mira, look out!" Erza screamed. It was already too late. The storm hit them. It hurled them back off their feet and sent them crashing to the ground, limbs spasming and white flashing in their vision. It ploughed a deep furrow in the stone floor of the cathedral, and when the spell was exhausted, it left Mira and Erza sprawled on the ground. The Fairy Armadura armour had cracked clean across the breastplate. Mira's Satan Soul Take Over dissolved into wisps of smoke. Her long maroon dress hung in shreds. Her hair tumbled across her face.

"Mira!" Erza gasped. Mira didn't move. Erza tried to push herself up, but her limbs wouldn't obey. Her muscles twitched uncontrollably. She tasted acid in the back of her mouth.

"Oh? You two are still alive?" Laxus said. "I'll finish you off, then." He rolled his shoulders and raised both hands, fingers spread. How was he still standing? They'd thrown everything they had at him, and Erza had fought Natsu enough times to know that Dragon Slayer magic didn't make anyone invincible. Was he that strong?

Power was nothing to do with it, she realised with a shudder. This was pure insanity flooding through Laxus, keeping him on his feet and laughing. They'd thrown everything they had at him, but he was too far gone to even feel the pain. "You two, Mystogan, the old man, the little trash mages in the guild, everyone in the town - I'll wipe you all out!" A ball of light began to grow between his hands. It was so small, but the level of magical energy emanating from it kept Erza and Mira down from sheer crushing pressure. It felt like a weight on her back pressing Erza into the ground, pressing the air out of her lungs. The feeling was familiar, somehow, not anything she'd felt before, but something she'd been told about by the older guild members...

Mira's eyes fluttered open. "What is it? This power..."

The spell Master Makarov had used against Ivan, years ago. "Fairy Law!"

"Laxus, stop!" Erza screamed. "This is insane!"

The magic kept growing. Waves of power crashed and roiled against the walls of the cathedral. Laxus howled.

"Laxus!" Levy screamed. "Stop!" She was in the doorway, clutching at the doorframe to stay upright against the pressure.

"Levy, run!" Mira shouted, even though it was hopeless. There was no escape from Fairy Law.

"Laxus!" Levy shouted. Her voice cracked. "The master is... your grandfather is.. he's dying!" Laxus's eyes widened.

Dying? The word struck clean through Erza's armour. A heavy weight dropped into her stomach. Her heart stuttered in her chest. She twisted to look behind her. Tears were streaming down Levy's face.

"So please, come and see him!"

"The master... dying?" Erza rasped.

"No," Mira said. "No. No!"

Levy's face twisted, trying to hold back sobs.

"Perfect timing!" Laxus said. Fairy Law burned between his hands. "Looks like my chances of making master just went up again!"

Levy covered her mouth with her hands. "Laxus!"

"You bastard," Erza said. "You bastard!"

Laxus roared with laughter. "Disappear, Fairy Tail! I'll build it up again from scratch! Everyone will cower in fear before my ultimate guild!"

"Laxus, you can't! These are your comrades!" Mira shouted, struggling to push herself up. Levy fell to her knees by the door.

Laxus brought his hands together. "I invoke Fairy Law!"

The spell washed over the cathedral. It bleached all colour from the world and left nothing behind but stark white light, as cold and pure as glacial ice, without malice or mercy. It washed over the Fairy Tail mages' unconscious bodies in the streets, over Gray, Cana and Chico as they lay senseless on the roof of the toy store. There was time for Lucy to see the spell coming, but no time to run or even scream. Magnolia was swallowed up in light.

When the spell faded away, dust drifted around Laxus and lapped the pillars of the cathedral. The bodies of Erza, Mira and Levy were no more than dim outlines in the haze. Laxus panted for breath. His mouth twisted into a savage grin. "I've... surpassed the old man..."

Levy coughed.

Laxus looked up.

Erza pushed herself up on one elbow, grimacing with pain. "Are you two all right?"

Laxus stared at her, his mouth hanging open. "Im- impossible," he said. Why were they not dead? He'd cast the spell perfectly!

"I think so," Levy said. "What about Mira?"

Mira turned her head slightly until she could see them. "I thought we were supposed to be dead?"

"What the fuck is going on?" Laxus bellowed. He looked at his hands, as if he was trying to see how they'd failed him. "How can anyone survive an attack of that magnitude?"

A voice answered him from the cathedral entrance. "All the guild mages and the townspeople are safe." Levy looked around, startled.

"Freed!" Laxus said.

"Not a single person was hurt," Freed said. His hair was dishevelled, his coat hung open and his eyes were bloodshot, and he was smiling. It was a dull, exhausted smile, but it was there.

"That's not possible!" Laxus shouted. "My Fairy Law was perfect!"

"It looks like your power isn't the only thing you inherited from the master," Freed said. "Fairy Law only targets those people the caster considers their enemies. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Laxus's lips skinned back over his teeth. He stared blindly at Freed, chest heaving. "You can't lie to your magic," Freed said. "This is how you really feel."

"No!" Laxus shook his head violently. "Anyone who gets in my way is my enemy! They're my enemies!"

"Laxus, stop. Please stop," Freed said. "Just go and see Makarov-" He took a step forward.

"I don't care what the hell happens to that old fart!" Laxus shouted. Electricity blazed up around him. "I'm not his grandson! I'm me! I'm Laxus!" His voice rose to an enraged howl. "I'm Laxus!"

"We know who you are!" Erza shouted. "You're a mage of Fairy Tail! And you should act like one!" The Armadura Armour cracked and sloughed away as she pushed herself to her knees, leaving her in her plain blue skirt and white blouse. "Do you think anyone cares just because you two are related by blood? The guild is our family! We're all family, Laxus! How can you expect to be our master if you don't understand that?" She tried to stand and slipped sideways.

"You're the one who doesn't understand!" Laxus screamed at her. "You don't understand anything!"

"We're supposed to be guildmates, Laxus!" Mira said. She clambered to her feet, swaying, and leant on a column. "It doesn't matter what anyone understands! Do you think anyone understood what it was like for Elfman and me, when Lisanna-" Her voice cracked. "Nobody could understand that, but they all stood by us when we needed them! Because that's what being in a guild is about!" She took a lurching step towards him. "Even if nobody understands, they'd all be there for you, if you reached out to them!"

"Shut up! I don't need any advice from you!" Laxus shouted at her. "You're not the master, Mira!"

"How can you expect to rule the guild if you refuse to be a part of it?" Mira said. "That's why Master Makarov can't let you have the guild, Laxus! You've been here all your life, I don't understand why you won't be a part of the guild with us!"

"Shut up!" Laxus bellowed. "I'll wipe you off the face of the earth, Mira!"

"Mira, get back!" Erza shouted.

Mira took another tottering step towards Laxus, because Regular Mira was crazier than Satan Soul Mira could ever be. "You can still stop," she said.

"No!" Laxus roared. "No! Shut up!" He raised both hands, lightning crackling between them.

"Stop, Laxus!" Freed shouted. "If you use that spell now-!"

Laxus didn't listen. The lightning formed into the shape of a spear.

"Mira!" Erza screamed. She tried to scrabble to her knees. "Mira, no!"

"Laxus, stop, you could kill her!" Freed shouted.

"Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd!" Laxus hurled the spear at Mira. She didn't even have the strength left to dodge.

The spell hit with a flash and a boom of thunder. Erza cried out. Mira had thrown her hands over her face a split second before the spell hit. She peeked out warily between her fingers, and gasped.

Freed was sprawled on the ground at her feet. Smoke drifted from his charred coat and shirt.

"Oh, no," Mira whispered.

Laxus had gone white. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open. "Freed," he said, in a very thin voice. "Oh, shit. Freed!"

---

It was decided, in light of the lack of Fairy Tail mages who weren't injured and the trouble caused to the citizens of Magnolia by Laxus's attempt to kill them all, that the Fantasia parade would be postponed by one day. (It was also universally agreed that the repair fees could come out of Laxus's bank account.) The next morning, the Fairies all gathered at the guild hall early and, for lack of anything else to do, Lucy joined them there. Mira was telling the story of the fight against Laxus when she arrived, so she settled down on the bench opposite and listened.

"-I just don't understand why Freed did that," Mira said, at the end, her chin resting on her hand. Almost every inch of her skin was covered in bandages, one of her arms was in a sling and her face was dotted with colourful butterfly-pattern plasters. "He's always been Laxus's most devoted follower!"

"Uh," Lucy said. "Loke and I fought him a bit before that, and I might have implied that Laxus would get arrested and publically executed if he kept going with all the attempted murder and it would be all Freed's fault if he was. Apparently he hadn't realised that before then?" Mira and Gray blinked at her. "I might have... stated that more than implied it," Lucy added. "Or... yelled it at him loudly. Maybe he felt guilty?"

"Oh, maybe," Gray said.

"Poor Freed," Mira said.

"He was trying to kill me," Lucy pointed out defensively.

Mira blew out a long breath. "I suppose that explains everything, then."

"What? No, I had more questions!" Lucy said. "You guys seriously have a spell that selectively annihilates anyone you think of as an enemy?"

"Fairy Law? Yes, that's what it does," Mira said. "We thought only the master could do it."

"So... in the Phantom war, why was that not the first thing he did?" Lucy said. "'Oh, there're Phantoms outside. Fairy Law!'... that would have been a very short war. Why doesn't the master cast it every morning before breakfast just to be on the safe side?"

"Oh, you have to really think of someone as your enemy for it to work," Mira said. "The rank-and-file mages and even the Element Four weren't really our enemies. They were just trying to get you back, or following Jose's orders. Jose was our only true enemy there, wasn't he?"

Fairies clearly found it very difficult to think of anyone as an enemy.

"And Laxus is a Dragon Slayer?" Lucy said. "Since when? Is everybody a Dragon Slayer?" She looked at Gray. "Did I tell you how Ryos suddenly pulled a Shadow Dragon's Roar out of nowhere back in that tower?"

"Yeah, isn't Dragon Slayer magic supposed to be rare?" Gray said. "Natsu never met any others before Gajeel. At least, not that he knew about."

"...maybe," Lucy theorized, "they were just avoiding him."

"Excuse me," Erza called. Lucy looked around as Erza limped out of the clinic. She called out again. "Excuse me!" She leant on her crutch and stared for a moment at the Fairies. They didn't seem to have heard her. The conversation was as noisy as ever, if a little less cheerful. "Silence!" Erza roared.

Everybody shut up. Macao mimed zipping his mouth closed. Erza switched back to a friendly smile.

"Thanks to Porlyusica's hard work, it looks like the master's out of danger," she said. "You can stop worrying. He's going to be just fine."

The Fairies burst into noisy exultation. The whoops and banging of tankards on tables was almost deafening. Lucy scrunched up her face and covered her ears with her hands. "The old man's all right, then? Huh. He's pretty resilient."

"Heh. I could have told you the old man wouldn't go out that easy," Gray said.

Erza raised a hand for quiet again. "Still, his years are certainly wearing on him... if he's put under too much stress his condition could worsen. I'd like everyone to keep that in mind." She smiled sweetly. The Fairies gave a collective shudder.

"Are we really doing the Fantasia parade with the guild in this state?" Elfman said.

"The master wanted it to go ahead, so," Mira said, and shrugged. "And you could say that at times like this, we need it more than ever."

"Do the civilians still want it to go ahead?" Gray asked. "I've seen the outfit I'm expected to wear. It looks ridiculous enough without being spattered in tomatoes."

"...ridiculous?" Mirajane said. "You think your costume's ridiculous?"

"Yeah. Which idiot decided to dress me up as a prince?" Gray said. Mira's lower lip trembled. Tears welled up in her huge sky-blue eyes. Gray blanched. "It was you? Mira- I didn't mean it was ridiculous, it's just a bit... frilly?"

Mira covered her face with her hands and wept.

"Mira! Why are you crying?" Elfman demanded. "I swore I would never see my sister's tears again! Gray, how could you make her cry?"

"It was only over a costume!" Gray snapped. "Stop looking if it bothers you that much!"

Lucy took her drink off the table and held it to her chest a moment before Elfman upended the table leaping at Gray. "A man doesn't care if he looks ridiculous!"

"Then you must be the manliest man of them all - ow!" That conversation rapidly devolved into yelling and loud crashing noises. Lucy was glad that the upended table blocked her view.

"I'm looking forward to watching the parade," she volunteered.

"Watching?" Mira said, and wiped away her tears. "You're taking part, silly!"

"What?" said Lucy. "I'm not a member of Fairy Tail. I'm not a member of anything."

"Then it's not like you have any other guild you have to stay loyal to," Mira said. "And we've had civilians join in before. Gildarts' wife took part, the first year after they were married." Good for Gildarts and his wife, then. "And one year we had a float with three dark guild mages on it - I mean, they were tied up and it was only because they'd been captured that day by coincidence, but we all thought they really added something to the festival!" She clasped Lucy's hand. "But we wanted you to join in because we wanted to show how much we appreciate all the help you gave us. We wanted to make you sort of an honorary Fairy!"

It would probably be rude to say 'I don't want to be an honorary Fairy, and I think all your friendship has addled your brains.'

"Also," Mira said, "everyone else is hurt, and we're already asking everyone who can still get around to take part." Lucy guessed that the 'asking' involved Mira asking nicely with a sweet smile and Elfman standing behind her.

Although, from the story Mira had just told them, she probably wouldn't need Elfman's help.

"It's important that we put on a good show tomorrow so the civilians will believe that we haven't been weakened by Laxus's, uh, little tantrum. That's why Erza and I agreed we'd still join in." What was their float's theme going to be? The walking dead?

"It's not that I don't want to," Lucy said, although it really, really was that she didn't want to. "Gajeel, Ryos and Juvia are all planning to meet me at the station in a few hours. If they'd rather move straight on..."

"But if they don't mind, would you join in?"

Lucy looked at Mirajane's huge melting blue eyes and said "...kay."

Mirajane made to clap her hands, remembered one was in a sling and did a happy little wiggle instead. "Oh, good! I have the perfect costume for you! You'll look so-" She stopped. Her eyes widened. The front door of the guildhall swung open, letting in a ray of sunlight blocked by a tall, broad-shouldered shadow. There was a heavy tread on the wooden boards.

Lucy looked around and drew in a shocked breath. "Laxus!" She reached for her keys. Mira caught her wrist. "Wait!"

"Are you crazy? He could have a vest of explosive lacrima or something!" Lucy hissed back. "He basically is an explosive lacrima!"

The rest of the Fairies shared her alarm.

"You!"

"You've got some nerve, wanting to see the master after this!"

Laxus glared at them like he couldn't believe they had the nerve to get in his way. Behind the overturned table, Gray and Elfman scrambled to their feet and squared up for another fight.

"Leave it," Erza said, limping in front of the angry Fairies and holding out an arm to block their path. Laxus glared at her, all fury and seething resentment.

Erza met his stare quietly and said "He's in the medical office." Laxus didn't move. Erza pointed. "It's through there."

"Oi! Erza!" Jet protested. Laxus brushed past her and stomped into the medical office. The door closed behind him.

Erza turned away, leant on her crutch and rubbed her hands together. "Well, it's time we started preparing for the Fantasia!"

"Hey," Gray said. "Are you sure it's all right to just let Laxus go in there like that?"

Erza looked at Mira, who nodded. "It'll be fine," Erza said.

---

Laxus leant against the wall of the medical office, arms folded tightly across his chest. "What a pack of noisy troublemakers."

Lying in bed against the far wall, Makarov stared at the ceiling. Laxus's mouth turned down at the corners, and he glowered at a vase of flowers on the window sill as if he found it personally offensive. After a few seconds that stretched out to an eternity, Makarov pushed himself up and shuffled to the edge of the bed to look at his grandson.

"Laxus... do you understand what you've done here?" If Laxus had glared at that vase of flowers any harder, it would have quite literally burst into flame. "Look me in the eyes." Laxus met Makarov's gaze, his jaw set and his knuckles white. "Do you know what this guild is?" Makarov asked. "It's a gathering place for comrades in arms. It's an agency to take missions. For some kids who don't have any family, it's even their home. It does not belong to you." Makarov picked his words carefully. He didn't want there to be any misunderstanding; if there could be one time Laxus would understand him, he prayed it would be now. "This guild was built on the trust, and the honour, of each individual guild member, and that's how we've formed stronger bonds here than you'll find anywhere else." Laxus stared at the floor. "You violated that honour, and you put your comrades' lives in danger," Makarov said. "That is not a crime I can forgive."

Laxus exhaled, slowly. "I understand." His fist clenched. He looked down at it. "I just wanted... to make the guild stronger..."

Makarov blinked at him, and then blew out an exasperated breath and slid down from the bed. "You're always so awkward. Relax a little, can't you?" Laxus kept his stare on the floor. "If you do, you might find yourself seeing things you'd missed up until now, hearing words you'd never heard before..." He forced a smile. "Life is to be enjoyed, you know."

Laxus still didn't raise his head.

"Freed will be all right, Laxus," Makarov said. "Young people are wonderfully durable. Otherwise, I could never have brought up so many of them." And it would take more than a direct lightning strike to make Freed stop trailing after Laxus.

"I know," Laxus said. He shifted his weight, shut his eyes and scrubbed a hand across his face. "He's not weak-" He broke off and kicked his heel irritably against the wall.

Makarov sighed. "You know... watching you grow up was my reason for living. I didn't need you to be strong, or smart... all I wanted was for you to be happy. That would have been enough for me."

A tremor ran through Laxus's shoulders.

"Laxus..." Makarov's hands shook. He balled them into tight fists and drew in a deep breath. "You are hereby excommunicated from this guild."

Laxus's eyes widened, and a sharp angry flush flared across his cheekbones. He swallowed. "Yeah. Sorry for the trouble." He turned sharply on his heel, his long coat snapping out behind him, and headed for the door. Makarov turned away, stared at the opposite wall and folded his arms tight, gripping the fabric of his robe until his knuckles went white.

Laxus paused with his hand on the doorhandle. "Old man." His voice was surprisingly soft. "Take care of yourself."

Makarov didn't turn around, so Laxus wouldn't see the tears flooding down his face. "Just go."

---

"Oi! Freed! I saw you moving there!" Evergreen poked him viciously in the ribs. In defiance of visiting procedure and all respect for invalids, she and Bickslow had both aggressively occupied large areas of Freed's bed: Evergreen was sitting on his pillow, leaning against the headboard and reading a magazine, while Bickslow sprawled across the foot of the bed with his arms and legs hanging off each side. "Quit playing dead already! We know you're all right! You've had worse shocks than that from sparring!"

"Or walking in on Evergreen in the shower," Bickslow said. Evergreen kicked him unceremoniously off the bed. "Ow!"

Freed opened his eyes. "Evergreen? Bickslow? What happened to-"

Evergreen cut him off there. "First question, do you know where we are?"

Freed looked around at the empty room. There were three other beds Evergreen and Bickslow could have plunked themselves down on, with curtain rails between each one. Tfhere were coarse blue sheets, flowers on the windowsill, and signs reminding the staff to wash their hands.

"Magnolia Hospital," he said.

"Correct! Well done! Second question," Evergreen said, "is how much do you want to get a bagel, on a scale of one to not ever shutting up about it?"

Freed opened and shut his mouth for a few seconds, and then said "...what?"

"You woke up briefly yesterday evening convinced that we were in Oak Town, of all places," Evergreen said, "and then you had a twenty-minute conversation with one of Bickslow's dolls about how you wanted to get a bagel. Though by conversation, I mean that you said, 'I want to get a bagel' and it said 'a bagel?' and you said 'a bagel' and your little chat only got more inane from there." Freed stared at her. "You were pretty heavily sedated."

"That was so funny," Bickslow said, from the floor.

"So funny, so funny!" the dolls agreed.

"I don't care about bagels!" Freed said. "What happened? Is Laxus all right?" He pushed himself up, wincing.

"He's... got all the same bits he had yesterday morning," said Evergreen. "We haven't seen him." Her lower lip trembled. "He's been lying low and avoiding us. What a ridiculous man!" She leant over Freed. "What happened? Mira said you jumped in front of one of Laxus's attacks!"

"I failed him," Freed said, and closed his eyes. Hot tears ran down his face.

Evergreen and Bickslow exchanged alarmed looks.

"So you tried to commit suicide by lightning bolt?" Evergreen said. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"I-" Freed hesitated, and looked down at his hands, folded in his lap. "Mira and Erza were both weakened. If either of them had been hit by that attack, they could have been killed, and then Laxus would have been arrested and - Is he all right?"

Evergreen and Bickslow looked at him, then around at the hospital ward.

"After he electrocuted you, he sort of... just... stopped," Evergreen said. "He stormed out of the cathedral. Erza and Mira brought you over here. We didn't see him or hear anything about him after that. This morning he showed up at the guild hall to see Makarov, and the old man told him to leave."

"Leave the guild hall?" Freed said.

"No, Freed. Not the guild hall," Evergreen said.

Freed shuddered and leant forward to rest his head on his knees. "This is my fault," he said. "I never wanted... to do all this-" He hiccuped. Tears started to drip down his cheeks. "I obeyed because it was Laxus's orders, but I should have realised it was a reckless plan! I let him go ahead, I helped him, and now he's been expelled from the guild-" He covered his face with his hands. "I failed him!"

"Yeah," Evergreen said. "You did terribly."

"You should feel really bad about that," Bickslow agreed.

Freed rolled over to bury his face in the pillow, as if he meant to smother himself to death as punishment.

"We're being facetious, you idiot," Evergreen said, and smacked him with her fan. She sighed. "I mean, obviously we still completely support Laxus for master, king, president and God... but it is possible that declaring war on the guild wasn't the best way to accomplish that." She screwed up her face with disgust. "I can't believe I went down to the two useless ones from Shadow Gear. And the cat."

Bickslow cackled. "The cat!"

"The cat, the cat!" the dolls sang. Evergreen yanked Freed's pillow out from under his head and threw it at Bickslow.

"Ow!" said Freed.

Bickslow dodged and scrambled under the bed, where Evergreen couldn't get him.

"Do you know who Bickslow was beaten by?" Evergreen said. "Gray, Cana - Cana who's been in for S-rank four times and not won it - and that girl in the cat hat, I don't even know her name, she talkslike... thiiis? She stole Bickslow's dolls, ate them and then shot him with their own lasers."

"Oh, man, Evergreen, you didn't have to tell him that," Bickslow said.

"Do you want to know how he got his dolls back? He tried intimidation, and that didn't work," Evergreen said, "so he fell down on the floor and clutched her knees and cried until she let his babies go out of pure mortification." She lolled her head back, flapped her hands and did a reasonable imitation of Bickslow writhing in misery on the floor. "'My babies! My baaaaaaaabies!' Just like that." She snapped her fan open and fanned herself vigorously. "Ugh. It's disgusting to see a grown man behave like that."

Bickslow poked his head out from under the bed and said "It's disgusting to see you without your makeup in the morning." He stuck out his tongue. "Naaaah!"

"We're not falling for your story about saving Laxus from killing anyone, Freed," Evergreen told him. "This is obvious petty one-upsmanship. You found out how we went down and realised that the only way you could humiliate yourself more than we humiliated ourselves was by leaping directly in front of one of Laxus's attacks."

"If Laxus has been exiled," Freed said, and swallowed, "I assume we share the same fate?"

"We'd better," Evergreen said. "I'll quit if they don't expel me! I'm not staying without Laxus!"

"We all committed the same crime, didn't we?" Bickslow said, as he crawled out from under the bed.

"Didn't we? Didn't we?" the dolls agreed.

"What would we do without Laxus, anyway? What would be the point in staying if he's not in the guild?" Evergreen folded her arms and scowled. "We can't be the Thunder God Tribe if we haven't got a Thunder God!"

"I don't know what I'd do without Laxus," Bickslow said. "We follow him, not the old man." ("Not the old man, not the old man," the dolls chimed in.) "But relax, Evergreen. Everyone's way ticked off at us, they're bound to kick us out."

"Good!" Evergreen said. She turned back to Freed. "We were only allowed in here because Mira and Erza promised we'd be on our best behaviour and Bickslow's creepy dolls wouldn't come on hospital property. Ugh. It's like being in nursery school."

Freed looked at Bickslow's dolls, floating about behind his head as usual.

"You don't want to know how he smuggled them in," Evergreen said. "Bickslow, throw me back that pillow." Bickslow obligingly tossed it at her face. She caught it before it could knock her glasses off, plumped it up and put it behind her back.

"Evergreen, isn't that mine?" Freed said.

"You woke up, you're not an invalid any more," Evergreen said, and scooped her magazine back off the nightstand. She flipped it open and stared grimly at an advert for waterproof mascara.

"What do we do now, then?" Freed asked, after a few minutes.

"Whatever Laxus tells us to do. When he shows up," Evergreen said. Freed opened his mouth. "So long as it's not 'rob a bank', or something, Freed, fine! God!" She realised she'd been staring at an advert for waterproof mascara for three minutes and turned the page so violently it ripped.

Bickslow idly juggled his dolls.

Half an hour later, the door to their ward opened. All three looked up immediately, and Bickslow sent his dolls shooting under the bed.

They all heaved disappointed sighs when they saw that it wasn't Laxus. It was Makarov, leaning on a staff, with Mirajane hovering over him. She was all wrapped up in bandages and had one arm in a sling.

"Time for the lecture!" Bickslow muttered under his breath.

"Time for the lecture!" the dolls agreed, loudly and happily, from under the bed.

Freed winced. Mirajane blinked a few times.

"'Fraid so," Makarov agreed cheerily, and waved. "Hi there! How are you kids doing?"

Evergreen scowled, tossed her magazine aside and folded her arms tightly across her chest. "Fine."

"Are you feeling all right, Freed?" Mirajane asked, with a bright smile. He nodded shortly.

Makarov looked at their expressions - Evergreen's hard and cold, Freed looking intently at his hands, and Bickslow grinning like a loon as he waited to see what Makarov would pull out - and sighed.

"Do you kids understand what you've done here?"

There was mutinous silence from the Thunder God Tribe.

"I like to think that Fairy Tail's different to other guilds. A little special," Makarov said. "When Master Mavis founded this guild, she built it on the trust and honour of each individual guild member. That's how we've formed stronger bonds between our mages here than you'd find in any other guild... not to say that Bob and Goldmine aren't doing a good job with their own brats."

Evergreen scowled and fiddled with her fan. Bickslow had stopped smiling. Freed had bowed his head.

"What you and Laxus did yesterday was a violation of that honour," Makarov said. "And, worse, you put your comrades' lives in danger. That is not a crime I can forgive."

"We don't want your forgiveness!" Evergreen said. "Why would we?"

"You already threw Laxus out," Bickslow said. Makarov made a pained grimace. "If you weren't going to chuck us, too, we'd quit. We're not going to ask you real nicely not to kick us out."

"I didn't expect you to care if I forgave you or not!" Makarov said. "Stubborn brats. Honestly..." He sighed. "I've spent long enough telling all you kids not to care what anyone else says. I'm only an old man. What does my opinion matter? All that matters is that you do what you, yourselves, believe is right." He looked at them all, in turn. "Do you believe that what you did was right?" He looked around at the hospital ward. "Where did it get you?"

Evergreen didn't have an answer for that. She subsided into angry silence.

"We're not going to apologise for following Laxus, either," Bickslow said, but not very loudly.

"Apologise for following Laxus!" the dolls chorused. "Apologise for following Laxus!"

"Augh! Babies, zip it!"

"Hm," Makarov said. "Freed, didn't I ask you to make sure Laxus didn't go doing anything stupid?"

Freed's face burned. "Yes... I'm sorry. I failed." He bowed his head, and therefore missed Evergreen and Bickslow staring at him as if he were a vile traitor.

"Under the circumstances, it might have been better for Laxus if you three hadn't followed him," Makarov said shortly.

Mirajane took a step forward. "It's not always a bad thing to cling to one person, I think," she said. "But you all have any number of people all around you. If you reach out, there's someone right there."

"Unfortunately, though, you kids haven't left me much choice," Makarov said. "Freed, Evergreen, Bickslow... I hereby excommunicate you all from Fairy Tail." Mirajane bowed her head.

Freed closed his eyes. "I understand."

Evergreen nodded mutely. Bickslow nodded as well, his mouth drooping at the corners.

"You may not know this - I don't think you three were ever around for a leaving party - but there are three rules that those mages leaving our guild are required to follow," Makarov said. "The first is that you must never reveal confidential information about the guild or the guild mages to anybody else, for as long as you live. The second is that you must never use clients or contacts that you met through being in the guild for personal gain."

Standard requirements. Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen all nodded briefly.

"The third rule... is that though our paths diverge here, you must continue to live out your lives with all your strength!"

The three of them looked up in surprise.

"You must never consider your own lives to be insignificant, and you must never, ever forget the friends that you made here!" Makarov said. "Because we will not forget you."

Evergreen started. Freed's lower lip trembled. Tears spilled down his cheeks.

"I would have liked to give you brats another chance," Makarov said. "It's a shame to lose four kids on one day. If the civilians hadn't realised how serious the trouble was... but that's neither here nor there. It'd have been too much of a risk to leave them in ignorance." He glanced at Mira, who stepped back and opened the door. "If you feel like coming back in a few months, I'll see what I can do for you. I wish you good luck."

He and Mira left the Thunder God Tribe sitting silently on Freed's bed.

---

Outside, on the street, Makarov carefully climbed down the steps outside the hospital. His staff thumped on the stone. He let out a long sigh. Mirajane turned quickly to see if he needed help, and saw his downcast face.

"It's sad that you had to do this, master," she said, "but I think it'll probably be good for them." She smiled sadly. "It's when people first feel lonely that they start to become kind."

---

"Lucy! ... and Gajeel and Ryos," Juvia called, as she came into the train station's cafe. She was hugging a massive cuddly toy turtle. "Juvia is so pleased to see you! How was Lucy's festival?"

"About that..." Lucy said. "Okay, first question, have you noticed me buzzing? Apparently I buzz now?"

"Like a bee?" Juvia said, puzzled.

"She means that weird thing in her magical signature," Gajeel said.

"Oh. Yes, Lucy has always done that." Juvia looked at the other two. "...Lucy has always done that, yes?"

"Nope. Started a few months ago, after some job she did," Gajeel said. He was stretched out across the bench on the opposite side of the booth, boots on the table, eating nuts out of a paper bag. Unless they were bolts. Lucy had never been able to keep those two straight.

"I ate part of a chthonian," Lucy said. "Don't make that face. It tried to eat me first!" She gestured at the other two. "Can you believe these two saw me come back from a mission all weird and just didn't mention it?"

"Hey! How were we supposed to know you weren't doing it on purpose?" Gajeel demanded.

"Why would I do that on purpose?" Lucy flared up. "Ugh! Just... please don't worry, Juvia, but can you guys tell me if it gets any worse?"

"It hasn't since Juvia has known Lucy," Juvia said, frowning. "Juvia will pay close attention." Ryos was watching Lucy with interest, as if she were a new science project.

"Thanks. Second question, is Lahar with you?"

Juvia shook her head. "We separated in Hargeon Town this morning."

"...this morning?" Lucy said, and raised an eyebrow.

"Lieutenant Lahar stayed at a colleague's, and offered to pay for my hotel room. He is very gentlemanly." There was a long pause, before she pouted. "Juvia would not mind that much if he wasn't."

"Ugh. Didn't need to know that," Gajeel said.

"Aw," Lucy said, and patted Juvia on the shoulder. "There, there. But seriously, Laxus just tried to murder everyone in Magnolia and Fairy Tail's trying so hard to brush it under the rug, I didn't want to ruin their hard work by talking about it in front of your cop boyfriend."

Juvia nearly dropped her turtle. "What? Oh no! Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Listen, you do know about Makarov's grandson Laxus, right?" She told them the story. It took nearly a quarter of an hour, because she kept having to shush Gajeel for interrupting. "... and then Makarov officially threw him out this morning, so hopefully he's miles away by now."

"How the hell is that guy a Dragon Slayer?" Gajeel said. "That's impossible!"

"Yeah, because you guys learned it from being raised by actual dragons, right? That's the qualification?" Lucy said. "But unless Makarov's been hiding it really well none of the Dreyars are dragons."

Gajeel cursed and slouched down on his bench, muttering something about secret dragon slayer training waste of time grrr.

"Ryos might really be the only sane Dragon Slayer there is," Lucy said, and turned to him. "Ryos, please promise you won't turn evil or crazy on me."

"I'll try not to," Ryos said.

"How was the Secret Dragon Slayer Training, anyway?"

"There were chili peppers," Ryos said.

Lucy blinked, and mouthed did you eat them? at him. Ryos waited a second, until Gajeel was distracted fishing out the last nut from his paper bag, and then mimed lifting something to his mouth, palming it and tossing it casually over his shoulder. "Good!" Lucy said. "Uh... Juvia? Are you okay?"

Juvia's huge, terrified eyes were barely peeking out from over her giant cuddly toy turtle. "Lucy could have been killed!"

"...I wasn't, though," Lucy said. "That counts, right? I get points for that?"

Juvia hugged her turtle and shut her eyes. "Lucy is right. Lucy is able to look after herself and clearly since she is all right now, there was nothing for Juvia to worry about..." She opened her eyes. "Juvia will never let Lucy leave her sight again!"

"Juvia. Breathe," Lucy said. "But, okay, seriously, the important thing is that they rescheduled the parade to tonight, and they want me to be in it, and I don't want to. Can you guys tell them that we urgently have to be on the other side of the country or something?"

"Why do they want Lucy to be in their parade?" Juvia said.

"Because I helped out and they want to show their appreciation and they've run out of people who haven't been obviously punched in the face," Lucy said. "I'm not even in Fairy Tail! I don't want to stand on their floats wearing a silly costume! I'll look... think about how that'll look! What if people see me?" Dressing up in miniskirts and tank tops was one thing, because she looked cute, but dancing around in a silly costume on a float for Fairy Tail?

"Silly costume?" Gajeel said.

"Juvia thinks Lucy should accept their offer," Juvia said. "They are trying to be nice, and she does not think they have ulterior motives. It can also only endear you to the Fairies, and Juvia knows Lucy has been trying to achieve a polite business relationship with them since she acquired the key of the Lion."

"Yeah, and, I want to see Ashley in a silly costume," said Gajeel.

"Um, in the interests of self-preservation, I'm going to agree with Gajeel," Ryos said, "but it does sound like they're just trying to be nice. You should join in. We'll all watch."

"And laugh," Gajeel said. "Gihihihi!"

Lucy stared at them, speechless with betrayal. You could always rely on your teammates to stab you in the back.

"Oh, fine," she said. "You guys are jerks."

---

Half an hour before the first floats rolled out, the guildhall was in chaos as the Fairies struggled with fastening the zippers on their costumes and covering up the worst bruises with inches-deep makeup. Outside, the floats were being hurriedly put together. There hadn't been enough space to do it inside. Mira's float had a huge artificial lily in the middle, which Lucy thought Mira was meant to emerge from like some sort of classical goddess. Her band were setting up their instruments around the base. Mickey Chickentiger was tuning her guitar, while another girl was doing scales on her flute, and Mikuni Shin and another guy set up the drumkit. Mikuni had practically crawled under it to... attach... pedals? Drum things? Lucy didn't even know.

"This is great! I thought we were gonna miss the parade for sure!" Mickey hollered at her bandmates. Mikuni Shin jumped and hit his head on the cymbal.

"My face is fine!" Jet said, swatting one of the Fairy girls away as she attacked him with a powder puff.

"Jet, sit still!" Levy called to him, from where she was rehearsing her high-kicks for the Miss Fairy Tail float. "The lights are going to be bright. You don't want to look washed out, do you?"

"...No, Levy," Jet agreed meekly.

"Breathe out, Bisca!" Cana ordered, struggling with the laces on Bisca's corset.

"Can't breathe out more," Bisca wheezed.

"Then stop eating so much cake!" Cana said. "Tell Alzack not to take you out to dinner so much-"

Bisca wheezed indignantly and flailed at her. "-oh, whoops," Cana said, "I had the laces tangled up. You can start breathing again now."

Those three were all wearing tiny miniskirts, thigh-high stockings and corsets for the Miss Fairy Tail float. Master Makarov was definitely a pervert.

Erza was talking to Gray, while she helped him get into his costume. She stopped fiddling with a zip to press the balls of her hands against her eyes. Lucy caught the tail-end of what she was saying. "-just don't know what's-"

"He's been in the guild for six years. An S-ranker for two," Gray said. "I don't think anyone could hold down that many full-time jobs."

"I suppose," Erza said. "How likely could it be, that he really did have an- Lucy?"

"An Lucy?" Gray said, and saw Lucy coming. His face closed up. "Hi."

"What are you doing?"

"Helping Gray into his costume," Erza said. "Actually, it's helpful that you're here now. This part needs two pairs of hands." She indicated for Lucy to grab the other side of the jacket. "Pull down the toggle - no, to the left, inside the jacket-"

Gray wriggled. Erza smacked him.

"Why does it have to be so complicated?" Lucy said.

"So that he can't get out of it in the middle of the parade," Erza said.

Lucy giggled. Gray scowled at her. Lucy put on a serious face and fastened the bits Erza told her to until Gray was effectively padlocked into his costume, and then stood back while Erza literally padlocked him into his costume.

"This isn't necessary," Gray said.

"That was what we thought last year," Erza said. "Do I have to remind you what happened last year?"

Lucy hid a giggle behind her hand.

"Thanks for the help," Gray said, and stomped off, as well as anyone can stomp while fastening into a froofy prince outfit. For her part, Lucy was wearing a leotard and spangly gauze. Mira had gone with a starry theme.

Erza perched on the edge of her float and brought up the control screen for her requip arsenal.

"...wow, that's a lot of swords," Lucy said. Erza flipped to the second page, which contained an equally terrifying number of bladed implements.

"I'm just selecting the weapons I'll use for my display," she said.

"Oh, for, like, maximum intimidation?" Lucy said.

"Hmm. A little, I suppose," Erza said, glancing away from the display screen. "It's difficult. Many of my favourite blades will need care before I can use them again. I was considering doing a duplication spell on the two swords designed to match my Heaven's Wheel armour, but of course those two have a very thin and exposed tang, which isn't the fashion at the moment."

"Uh...huh," Lucy said.

"I had one blade which would have been ideal," Erza said, "but unfortunately that was the one I was wielding when you dropped the market pavilion on me."

"Oh. You remember that," Lucy said. So she also remembered that Lucy'd yelled at her about Sho.

There was a long and supremely awkward pause.

"Are you mad?" Lucy asked.

"I wouldn't fault you for dropping the pavilion on me. It was a sensible use of the environment and it didn't do me any serious harm," Erza said, because she was some sort of robot monster.

"I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings. It was a cheap trick," Lucy said. She twisted her fingers together. "But... I'd still do it again."

Erza's eyes narrowed. Her mouth set into a hard line.

"Because you were chasing me with a sword and I'd rather hurt your feelings than have you stab me," Lucy said. "Although..." She looked at Erza's expression. "...I guess I only delayed the stabbing a little?" There was a brief pause. Lucy squirmed under Erza's flat, unblinking stare. "I'm sorry, but... I'm really not a nice person! I never said I was!"

"Are you a good person?" Erza asked.

"Probably not," Lucy said, with a sigh.

Erza raised one hand and flexed her fingers. As the bright lights of the floats snapped on, they gleamed on her metal gauntlets.

"You're going to punch me, aren't you," Lucy said, with grim foreboding.

"That's how we do things in Fairy Tail," Erza said.

"You guys are crazy," Lucy said, and screwed up her eyes. "Not in the face!" She hunched up her shoulders defensively and waited for Erza to smack her into the floor.

The blow didn't come. She cracked one eye open and peeked out. Erza was just watching her squirm.

"Okay, this is just mean," Lucy said.

"I owe you some thanks," Erza said. "Back at the Tower of Heaven. When Je - that thing first attacked. You inflicted some damage on it, didn't you?"

It took Lucy a second to remember. "Oh, yeah. I summoned Aquarius and she knocked him - sorry, 'it' - into a wall. It didn't seem like it hurt him that much, though." She scuffed the toe of her boot across the floor.

"It did. And if that thing hadn't already been injured, I might not have won," Erza said. "Which is why I'm not going to hit you now."

"Oh. Thank you," said Lucy.

Erza's eyes darkened. "But never mention Sho like that again."

Lucy meekly mimed zipping her mouth shut, though of course she would in a second if it was a choice between that and getting run through like a kebab. She really wasn't a very nice person. She changed the subject. "How are Wally and Millianna doing, anyway?"

The harshness faded out of Erza's face, though the corners of her mouth just turned down further. "It's very slow. It's likely that nothing will be done until - and unless - the Council can be reformed. They're keeping cheerful, though. They don't seem to realise the severity of their situation." She sighed. "There's a lot of confusion over what they can actually be charged with. They were throwing treason around, but we don't actually know which nation either of them should belong to. Wally doesn't remember where he came from and Millianna was born on the island, which no longer exists." She rubbed her forehead wearily.

"I hope the Council gets back together soon, then," Lucy said.

Erza murmured some thanks.

A whistle blew. Cana had climbed onto her float, so everyone could see her. "Ten minutes, everyone!"

"Thank you, Cana!" Mira called back, and ran outside to her float.

"I had best get to my float. Please be sure to put on a good show!" Erza said, and hurried off. Good show. Right. Lucy looked at her keys.

Fireworks exploded in the night sky overhead as the floats rolled out onto Magnolia's main street. The pavements were already packed with people, some of them even dressed up as Fairy Tail mages. They burst into applause as the parade rolled into sight. Four girls wearing bikinis and fairy wings led the way, because Makarov was a colossal pervert. There was one float shaped like a giant fish, with a model of the blue flying cat sitting on top of it eating another fish. Three Fairies danced around inside the fish's mouth, dressed as... a carrot? A clove of garlic? Lucy didn't even know. Clouds of sparkles and soap bubbles in the shapes of hearts and the Fairy Tail guild mark drifted around the parade. Macao shot purple fire into the sky and shaped it into a heart, and Wakaba fired a smoke arrow through it. Levy, Cana and Bisca did a dance routine, waving banners, and winked and blew kisses to the crowd. Gray created a soaring castle out of ice. Mirajane emerged from her lily to rapturous applause and screams of "Mira! Marry me!" She smiled and raised a hand to the ecstatic crowd in graceful acknowledgement, and then ruined it completely by transforming into a giant lizard. She clambered down the float to the microphone stand, nearly knocking over Mikuni's drumkit, and transformed back into her real form to take up the microphone. She lifted it to her mouth.

"Hi, Magnolia Town!" They screamed adulation. Mira smiled and waved. "I've got a song for you! It's called R.P.G. - Rockin' Playing Game!" She gestured to her band. "Hit it!" They burst into a quick rock song. Mira's clothes glowed and transformed into a black crop top and leather miniskirt. The crowd roared so loudly they almost drowned out the song. Erza's float was designed simply, like a stage. She was dressed like a valkyrie in a golden breastplate, full red and gold skirts and a winged headdress. A wheel of swords spun around her.

Master Makarov was on the last float, heralded by shouts of "There's the master!" and "Hey, old man!" He was wearing a bow-tie bigger than his head and a hat with kitty ears. He hopped from foot to foot and waved down at the crowd.

Lucy was walking behind Erza's float. She really should do something.

First, she was going to stop walking. "Open, Gate of the Chariot! Auriga!" An ornate two-wheeled chariot materialised in front of her. Auriga's torso grew out of the front like a figurehead on a ship. He flicked the reins as Lucy hopped aboard. "Where would you like to go today, ma'am?"

"Follow those floats," Lucy ordered.

Auriga looked at the floats rolling through Magnolia with all the speed of a glacier, sighed a little and said "As you wish, ma'am."

Lucy spun her keyring in her hand. Who to start with? "Open, Gate of the Bull! Taurus!"

Taurus appeared in a flash of light. "Miss Lucy's body is the-" Then he got distracted by a buxom woman in the crowd. "Phwoar!"

"Oi!" Lucy grabbed him by the collar around his neck and yanked on it so the cowbell jangled. "Don't be a pervert when I'm trying to show you off!" She let go and pointed up at the haze of glitter and soap bubbles. "Taurus! Axe Aldebaran!" Taurus swept his axe through the air, catching the drifting decorations on the flat of the blade, and then spun the axe in his hands. The glitter and bubbles wrapped around the blade and transformed into a whirlwind. With a cry of exertion, Taurus swung his axe up and fired the spell into the sky. The column of glitter rose high into the sky and collapsed, showering the crowd in sparkles.

"Nice one, Taurus!" Lucy said, and clapped her hands. "Close, Gate of the Bull!" With one last wave to the buxom woman in the crowd, Taurus disappeared. Who next? It wasn't one of Cancer's contracted days, and "Open, Gate of the Waterbearer! Aquarius!" A flash of starlight coalesced into Aquarius levitating in midair with her water jar under her arm. Her eyes opened. Her mouth twisted into a snarl. "Close, Gate of the Waterbearer!" Lucy said, before Aquarius could do anything or make a snide comment about Lucy not having a boyfriend, and the mermaid vanished with a pop. "Open, Gate of the Little Bear! Ursa Minor!" The audience had protested Aquarius's abrupt disappearance, but that changed to a squeal when Ursa Minor dropped into Lucy's arms. She held the little bear up. Ursa Minor - who really was just an animate teddy bear - blinked his big liquid dark eyes and sucked on one of his paws. Every woman in the crowd, and a good portion of the men, spontaneously melted into a puddle. If Lucy kept Ursa Minor out too long, though, Ursa Major would turn up and start yelling at her for keeping Ursa Minor up past his bedtime and also being a total buttass.

"Close, Gate of the Little Bear! Open, Gate of the Clock!" Horologium materialised, his arms and legs and head popped out, and he announced "It is now thirty-two minutes past seven in the evening!"

"Close, Gate of the Clock!" Lucy said, and spun her keyring in her hand. It wasn't one of the three days a month that she could summon Lyra, and summoning Andromeda would be a bit of a risk. What if she turned into someone's dead relative? That would be awkward, and Lucy didn't necessarily want it getting out that she had an Andromeda key now anyway. Serpens was incredibly pretty, in Lucy's opinion, but for some reason other people tended to go 'ew! Get it away from me!' instead. Lucy hoped that didn't hurt Serpens's feelings. She reached a decision.

"Open, Gate of the Lion! Leo!"

Loke appeared in a flash of supernova light and sprang up into the chariot. "Good evening! Your prince is here, Lucy!" He noticed the crowd and turned to offer them all a wave and a dazzling smile.

"Show-off," Lucy said. "Do something impressive!"

"Aren't I impressive enough just standing here?" Loke asked. He slung an arm around Lucy's shoulders and raised a hand, fingers spread. Against a wall over the crowd's head, a projection appeared of a sea of flowers and, in the middle, in thick dark letters, MARRY ME, LUCY!

"Say yes!" someone in the crowd hollered.

Lucy put a hand flat on Loke's face and pushed him away. "That's enough out of you now!"

The parade was moving slowly past Magnolia Hospital. Lucy glanced up at the windows and thought she saw a flicker of green hair.

"Everybody please shush now! I've got another song and I want everyone to hear it!" Mira shouted. Though she was several floats away, Lucy could hear her clearly over her microphone. The crowd obediently quieted down. "This is one of my favourites. I like to sing it when I see someone setting off on a new adventure... Anyway, you might know it already, it's called Snow Fairy!"

One of her guitarists started to play a simple tune, and then after a few bars the other guitarist and the flutist broke in to make the song quicker and more energetic. Loke had raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know she meant to sing this one..."

"What's the matter?" Lucy asked.

"Oh, yeah! Now can you hear the voice that's calling out to you?" Mira sang.

"Oh, yeah!" the crowd roared.

Though I know its shouts have caused its overuse?"

"Oh, yeah!" Loke shouted along with everyone else.

"But will you stay until your heart can hear it through?"

"Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!"

"What's special about this particular song?" Lucy asked.

"Don't worry about it," Loke said, which wasn't an answer. Lucy hopped down from the chariot and ran on ahead, weaving through the Fairies until she could see Mira's float.

"-when you're not here to share your laughter with me, I just can't find my inspiration, but it's-" Mira sang out, and eighty voices rose behind hers like a tide as they burst into the chorus. "Snowing, keep going, be honest and smile as we're approaching, evoking, the clock to keep repeating over!" Mira spun her finger in the air. "But Fairy, where you going, I'm holding all the light to your way!"

Oh. Right. Lucy's face cracked involuntarily into a smile.

Mira didn't need the microphone any more. Her voice couldn't have carried over the roar. She tossed it aside and raised her hand, index finger pointed at the sky. Every Fairy followed suit, even the master; Makarov jabbed his finger at the sky, clenched his other fist and stared at the crowd like he was going into battle. The shout rang through the streets of Magnolia.

"This light will shine upon a brand new day!"

---

A few hours after the Fantasia, Freed was sitting on the hospital bed pulling on his boots. The three of them planned to be out of Magnolia by morning. Where they would go after that... Bickslow had suggested that they throw a handful of dirt in the air and go whichever way it blew, and while Freed and Evergreen usually hated to follow any suggestion of Bickslow's, they didn't actually have any better ideas.

There was a sharp rat-a-tat on the door.

"We're leaving, aren't we? Quit bugging us!" Evergreen shouted. The door swung open. Evergreen gaped. Freed yelped and dropped his boot.

"Boss!" Bickslow said. "Boss, boss!" the dolls mimicked.

Laxus looked down at the floor and raised a hand. "Hey-"

He didn't get any further than that before three enthusiastic tacklehugs pinned him to the door.

---

A/N: Mira's song is the first anime opening, 'Snow Fairy' by Funkist, translated into English by youtube user LanceChui.

The trouble with writing an AU that sticks close to canon is that everyone knows in advance what the heartwarming moments are supposed to be, so I have to try to change them up. I'm not sure how well it worked.

This story is now officially twice the length of my actual novel. It is now longer than Uncle Tom's Cabin. When I post the next chapter, it'll be longer than Great Expectations. This is worrying me slightly.