Sovereign: I would like to thank GoldenRoseTanya, Lightmoon54, splitheart1120, Nadeshiko Redfox and Assault Godzilla for reviewing! Now, get ready for an action-packed chapter...
Chapter 27: The Shocking Truth
Everybody is now in the palace garden. Estelle is sitting at the pond, crying her eyes out for the loss of her friend. She is sitting between Wendy, Lihua, Juvia and Mirajane who are all trying to comfort her.
"Estelle, please stop crying…" Wendy said sadly.
"Yes Estelle, don't worry. We'll find him." Mirajane said to her while rubbing Estelle's back.
Nearby the fountain, Jellal is holding a lacrima ball, talking to Ultear and Meredy. Darren, CC, Judith, Yuri, Takuto, Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Gray, Happy and Charle are all gathering around him.
"Ultear, Meredy, are you getting a lock-on on Relius's coordinates?" Jellal asked the two.
"Hang on, master Jellal." Meredy, who is holding the lacrima ball, replied to Jellal.
"But I am getting them now." Ultear, who is standing behind Meredy, added as she watches her orb. "I got them. He is located in a mansion approximately 10.4 kilometers northwest from your current location.
"10.4 kilometers from Kalafina?" Darren said. "That would be the village of Finsley."
"Thanks for your help Ultear." Jellal said, nodding his head. "I appreciate it."
"You're welcome, master." Ultear said to him before Jellal and Meredy turn off their lacrima balls.
Jellal puts away his lacrima ball and turns to the others. "Let's head there right away before Relius does anything to Carl." Jellal said.
Gray pounds his fists together angrily. "Let's show that bastard alchemist a few tricks up our sleeves." He said.
Darren and CC turn to each other. Everybody watch as Darren removes his bandages around his body, revealing his wounds. "You ready CC?" Darren asked.
"Yes." CC nods her head. Everybody watch in awe as CC places her hands on Darren's wounds. She turns back into blood and goes back into Darren's body and his wounds immediately disappear.
Darren turns to the others. "Let's go save Carl." He said.
"It's all my fault…" Estelle sobbed. Darren turns to the princess. "Carl is going to become an experiment all because of me."
Darren glared at Estelle and walks over to her. Wendy, Lihua, Juvia and Mirajane watched in shock as Darren lifts Estelle's chin up and slaps her across her cheek.
"Ack!" Estelle yelped as her cheek is stung.
"Get a hold of yourself Estelle! Do you want to save your friend or sit here and helplessly wait for the worse?" Darren scolded her.
Estelle sniffed and wipes her tears away before standing up and looks up at Darren with a frown. "Right, I'm sorry. I wish to save Carl!" She said.
"Good." Darren nods his head.
"Darren." Judith called. Darren turns to the krityan and Judith hands him a new black jacket and white singlet she has sew for him.
Darren smiles as he takes the clothing. "Thank you Judith." He puts on the clothes and takes out his cross necklace from his pocket. Judith smiles as he puts it on. "I promise I won't break it again."
Judith places her hands on his shoulders and nods her head, "I'm sure you won't this time."
Darren turns to everybody else with a serious frown, "Let's move out."
"But Finsley is over 10 kilometres away from our location. How can we get there in time?" Wendy asked.
Darren turns to the sky dragon slayer and smirked, "Don't worry; I know how we can get there in time."
Carl let out a soft moan as he slowly regains consciousness. He slowly opens his eyes and his vision was groggy. He blinks his eyes a few times and his vision now becomes clear. When he regains his sight, he turns his head around and discovers that he is trapped inside a glass container cell. So that is why he is feeling warm and sweat are rolling down the sides of his head. Outside of the glass cell, he sees that he is in some sort of laboratory room. The walls of the room were made of bricks and there are many contraptions and machines. Carl tries to move his body, wondering what he is tied to. He tries turning his wrists, but he felt that they are chained. He looks up and sees that his wrists are tied with a pair of chains that are connected to the ceiling. He then looks down and sees that his ankles are cuffed with another chain.
Carl closes his eyes as they become teary. Why? Why is his own father doing this to him? What kind of father would do this to his own child? He was relieved to be reunited with his father, but never thought he would turn out to be an insane psychopathic alchemist who would do experiments on his own son.
Then, he hears the door of the room opens. Carl looks up and sees his father entering the room and walking over to him.
"Father…" He moaned.
"You are awake, son." Relius sneered. "I'm still impressed by your sacrifice to save Princess Estellise."
"Father…" Carl narrows his eyes at him. "Why are you doing this? And where is mom and Ada?"
"Ah yes, Ignis and Ada Clover." Relius said as he rubs his chin. "Sadly, both of them are no longer living."
"Don't lie to me father!" Carl shouted angrily.
"Oh but I'm sorry son. I'm not lying." Relius adjusts his mask before explaining what happened. "You see, a day before the destruction of Kalafina, your mother Ignis found out that I killed Alfred and took up his identity. She knew that all along, I was a spy working for Alahorn and that I was going to infiltrate the a palace and kill the royal family, so I had no choice but to kill her."
"How could you father?" Carl said as his face is now distorted with anger. "She was your wife!"
"So what?" Relius shrugs. "Wives are just used to create children."
"You really are a sick father…" Carl uttered.
"That's not all I want to say. Ada in turn watched me kill your mother and I knew she quickly ran to your room and help you escape the city. I knew that I still have a mission to do so I decided to let her off and continue on with my mission to infiltrate the palace. What is so surprising to me is that after the destruction of Kalafina, she actually came back to me. She wanted to fight me one-on-one to avenge Ignis's death in the name of the Clover family." Relius then let out a laugh and slaps his forehead. Carl simply narrows his eyes and grits his teeth in rage due to his utter hate and anger towards his father right now. "But of course, I was the more superior fighter in the end and Ada too met her end. But before she died, her final words she delivered to me were…'Carl will make you pay'." A smirk appears on his face. "Like that's going to happen now that I have you bound, Carl Clover."
Carl hangs his head in both anger and sadness. Anger is due to the fact that his father is responsible for the deaths of his mother and sister and sadness is due to the fact that they can never be a family again. A tear freely rolls down his cheek.
Relius frowned as he places his hand on the glass cell. "What's wrong son? You shouldn't be showing signs of weakness. My creation mustn't be weak."
Meanwhile, a Temzan armored vehicle is driving down the road and heading its way to Relius's location. Erza is in the driver's seat and controlling the steering wheel. Darren is sitting at the passenger seats while the others are sitting in the back of the vehicle. Natsu is sitting at the very back of the vehicle, occasionally vomiting into a metal bucket.
"Please get better Natsu. We need you to rescue Carl!" Happy said as he pats Natsu on the back.
"Well, we're screwed." Gray said, folding his arms and rolling his eyes.
"Does he always do that when he rides on a vehicle?" Darren asked Erza.
"He sure does." Erza chuckled. "By the way, this is an interesting vehicle the Temzan military has."
"Yeah." Darren said to Erza as he folds his arms. "This is the Buffalo vehicle. It's the army's standard troop carrier truck. It's built with strong magic-resistant metal armor and can be driven on any terrain. Fortunately, there are still a few undamaged ones hidden beneath the palace."
"Magic-resistant metal armor huh?" Erza smirked as she turns her head to Darren. "I think my guild could really use one of these vehicles."
Yuri turns to Estelle who is sitting next to him. Estelle has her fists placed on her thighs and has a sad frown on her face. "Estelle, don't worry. We'll save him." Yuri assured as he places his hand on her shoulder.
"I hope we can reach him in time." Estelle murmured.
"Carl must be very close to you." Yuri said.
"Yes." Estelle nods her head. "He's not just my bodyguard; he was like a family to me. I don't have any siblings all my life. I was the only child. Carl let me experienced how it's like being a big sister and having someone around your age by your side."
"Yeah, I never had any siblings too." Yuri said, turning his head away. "So my parents really put in a lot of stress and pressure upon me since I'm the only one who's going to succeed my father's throne. I never get to experience much of my childhood. Most of my life, I was taught and trained to be a politician and a soldier."
Yuri then widens his eyes in surprise when he felt Estelle resting her head on his shoulder. He turns to her as Estelle pulls a strand of hair away from her eyes.
"I guess both of us have something in common. I'm so sorry for the way I acted back at the palace." Estelle said.
Yuri smirked at her. "It's alright Estelle, no offence taken. And don't worry, like I said, we will save Carl."
"He's right Estelle." Lucy, who is sitting on the other side, spoke up. "We will save him together. We will not let Relius take the life of a friend of ours, for we are Fairy Tail."
Estelle smiled at her. "Thanks." She said.
"It's good to see you smiling again!" Wendy said happily.
Darren and his companions now walk through the village of Finsley. Finsley was a small fishing village but an important port to the Kingdom of Temza. It is the northernmost settlement in the kingdom. The entire village is deserted and the houses have boarded up and became run down over the years.
"It's so sad that a place that used to be lively has become abandoned." Juvia said sadly as she clasps her hands together.
"This place must have been evacuated after the destruction of Kalafina." Darren said in sorrow.
"I still couldn't believe it was my grandfather who destroyed my kingdom…" Estelle said, lowering her head in sadness.
"Estelle, don't blame your grandfather. Relius and Cornelia were the ones who turn him into a monster. They're the causes, not your grandfather." Natsu said to her.
"Yes." Estelle lifts her head up and frowned. "You're right. When we're done with them, I'll do whatever it takes to restore this kingdom to its former glory."
"Anyways, why would Relius hide in a fishing village?" Charle asked.
"Because this isn't just a fishing village." Darren narrows his eyes. "It's also the home to Dr. Spinoza, a famous Temzan scientist. He owns a mansion near this village. Seeing that Relius is an alchemist, it's obvious he's hiding there."
Darren and his companions arrived at the said mansion. It was large wooden house that had two floors and is located at the top of a slope. Also outside the mansion was a large garden filled with withered flowers and grass.
"Whoa! It's huge!" Lucy said, widening her eyes at the sight of the huge mansion.
"Right. But we are not here to be amazed by its architecture; we're here to rescue Carl." Erza said to her.
"Hang on Carl," Darren said as he sheathes out his katana. "We're coming for you." Everybody else nods their heads as Natsu, Gray, Juvia, Jellal and Wendy curl their hands into fists, Mirajane transforms into her Satan Soul: Halphas form, Erza gets dressed into her Heaven's Wheel Armor, and Lucy, Judith, Estelle, Yuri and Takuto draw out their weapons.
"Happy, Charle, you two stay here." Natsu said to the exceeds.
"But what can we do while you guys are inside?" Happy asked.
"You two can take care of Lihua." Lucy replied. Happy and Charle turn to Lihua, whom Darren is currently talking to. He kneels down to her level and pats her head.
"Stay here while we're gone." Darren said to Lihua softly. Lihua nods her head.
"Let's go!" Erza yelled. Everybody then head towards the entrance of the mansion while Happy, Charle and Lihua stayed behind and watched.
"Good luck you guys…" Charle said.
Erza kicks open the doors and everybody walk into the mansion cautiously. The foyer of the mansion was dark and quiet.
"Natsu, give us some light." Lucy said to the Fire Dragon Slayer.
"Right." Natsu said before lighting his fist in flames.
"Stay close together at all times." Erza said to everyone as they slowly walk through the mansion.
Unbeknownst to them, as they enter the mansion, Relius is watching them through a lacrima-vision. The masked alchemist laughed as he watched. "Your friends never ceased to amaze me, Carl Clover." He said before deactivating the lacrima-vision.
"Just you wait father, they will find you and make you pay." Carl said, giving him a glare.
Relius turns to his son and a rectangular control panel magically appears in front of him. "First, they must prove themselves worthy to face me." He said before pressing a button.
Everybody gasped and stopped when they heard Relius's voice which is being said throughout the mansion hallways.
"Hello there, wizards of Fairy Tail and allies of Carl Clover. I never thought I would have guests coming into my mansion without any invitation." Relius said.
"RELIUS! Where's Carl Clover?!" Darren shouted angrily.
"Oh don't worry, Darren Leong. Carl is safe for now. But if you guys wish to save him, you must prepare yourselves for what awaits you first!"
With that, Relius signs off. Suddenly, all the doors at both sides of the hallways open. Everybody quickly got together in a circle and get into their fighting stances.
"Get ready, everyone!" Erza yelled, holding her swords in front of her.
Then, several grey-skinned human beings walk out of the rooms and they all let out moans as they stagger towards the heroes. Everybody widen their eyes and gape their mouths open in horror. They examine their enemies. They have grey skins and their eyes are completely blue without any pupils. Their mouths are always hanging open and their ribcages and vertebrae are exposed. They were called by Relius as husks.
"What…are they?" Jellal managed to say out.
"I can't believe he did this…" Yuri said.
"What do you mean?" Darren asked the prince of Alahorn.
"Back at the capital, I discovered wooden crates with corpses inside them. When I got captured, Relius revealed to me that he and Cornelia were absorbing their lives away from their bodies and making my father an immortal."
"So all these beings…are people whom Relius and Cornelia absorbed their lives from?!" Lucy said in complete terror.
"Not to mention, back at the palace, he was trying to turn me into his personal creation, just like Darren…" Estelle added as her body starts to feel cold in horror.
"So not only these people have their lives taken away, but were also failed experiments to Relius and Cornelia?!" Judith cried.
Everybody back away as the husks stagger closer to them.
"What do we do?! Should we attack them?" Mirajane asked.
"But these are innocent human beings right?!" Wendy replied. "They aren't working for the Alahornian army so they are just civilians!"
Suddenly, Darren yelled angrily as he charged towards the husks. He sliced off four husks in half with one swing of his katana.
"Darren!" Judith cried in horror as Darren breathed heavily.
"Guys! It doesn't matter if they were innocent or not…because they are already dead!" Darren said before he runs off and continues fighting the husks.
Juvia turns her head and gasped in horror as a husk goes near her and tries to grab her but Erza quickly goes over to him and slashes him with one of her swords.
"He's right…" Erza said as the husk slumps to the ground. "These people are no longer alive! EVERYONE! ATTACK!"
Gray and Takuto yell as they charge towards the husks.
"Ice-Make: Cold Excalibur!" Gray shouted as he uses his ice magic to create a huge broadsword. He then swings his broadsword, killing off six husks in one swing. Takuto jumps into the air and yells as he lands in front of two husks and slashes both of them down with both of his swords.
Lucy let out a cry as she swings her Fleuve d'etoiles whip at two husks, taking them down in one swing. She turns around and swings her whip at another husk. She ties the husk up with her whip and then twirls around, swinging him to the wall, crashing him.
Natsu let out a ferocious yell as he punches a husk with his flaming fist, sending him stumbling through the floor.
"Relius…" Natsu growled angrily. "YOU WILL PAY FOR YOU DID TO THESE PEOPLE!" He turns around and punches another husk in the face. Another husk stagger over to him on the right but Natsu quickly turns to him, grabs him by his neck and tosses him into the air. He then turns his head and punches another husk in the gut, then lifts his leg up and kicks him in the chest, sending him sprawling through the floor.
Several more husks approach Natsu. Natsu, using all of his rage and anger, delivers a powerful dragon roar attack at the husks.
"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" Natsu yelled as he blew huge amount of flames at the husks, burning them into ashes.
Jellal points his finger at a group of husks and shoots a ray of dark magic at them, evaporating them into ashes.
Wendy stood behind him and jumps into the air.
"Sky Dragon's Claw!" She yelled as she swings her leg down and generates a huge amount of wind, sending several husks flying into the air.
"Great work, Wendy." Jellal said as he turns to the Sky Dragon Slayer with a smirk.
Wendy lands safely on the floor and turns to Jellal. "It's good to be fighting alongside with you again Jellal." She smiled.
Juvia extends out her hand and creates a water lock at six husks, trapping all of them in one giant water bubble.
"GRAY!" Juvia shouted.
"Right!" Gray replied as he uses his ice magic to freeze the bubble. He then clutches his hand into a fist, crashing it into pieces.
Yuri and Estelle stood next to each other as they take down countless husks with their swords.
"I never thought I would be fighting alongside with a Temzan." Yuri said as he swings his sword vertically at a husk, slicing him in half.
"So do I, vice-versa." Estelle replied as she knocks a husk back with her shield before stabbing him in the chest with her sword.
Yuri charges towards four husks. "DRAGON SWARM!" He shouted as he jumps into the air and let loose a series of horizontal strikes at the husks while in midair. When he lands on the ground, the husks collapse behind.
Darren and Judith stood close to each other as more husks approach them.
"Judith!" Darren said as he readies his katana.
"Right!" Judith replied as she holds her spear tightly. The two charge towards the husks.
"Moonlight Havoc!" Judith yelled as she swings her spear vertically at a husk. She jumps in the air and does a spinning kick at her face.
Darren yells as he swings his katana horizontally at a husk. He sees a husk behind him and quickly turns around and slashes his stomach in another horizontal swing of his katana. He now jumps in the air and does a critical overhead strike at another husk and slicing her body in half.
Judith now tosses a spear at a husk and stabs him in the chest. She runs over to the husk, jumps over him as she grabs the hilt of her spear and as she lands behind him, swings the husk over her and smashes him to the floor. She removes her spear and swings her spear horizontally at another husk.
Mirajane takes down a husk by swinging her claws at his chest. Nearby, Darren tackles a husk down to the ground and stabs his katana at his face. The two turn their heads and see more husks coming out from a room. Mirajane turns to Darren and said to him, "Shall we work together Darren?"
"Lets." Darren replied to her as he removes his katana. Mirajane extends a hand and Darren grabs it. She pulls him up as Darren transforms his left arm into his demonic arm. Mirajane uses both of her hands to create a huge sphere of dark magic.
"EVIL EXPLOSION!" Mirajane yelled as she launches the sphere over to the husks.
"DEMONIC BLAST!" Darren yelled as he fires a huge blast of demonic magic. With the powerful combination of both Mirajane and Darren's attacks, it sends the huge group of husks flying and getting vaporized into dust.
Natsu jumps in the air and does a spinning kick at a husk while Lucy swings her whip and let loose a series of attacks, slashing down several husks.
"You're getting stronger Lucy." Natsu said to her as he grabs a husk by his head and lifts him up.
"Thanks Natsu." Lucy smiled as she pants heavily. Natsu then turns to the husk and punches him in the face, sending him stumbling through the ground.
Erza swings her swords horizontally at a husk while takuto swings his Star Sword Emeraude vertically at another. Takuto looks up and sees that he has an opening to the stairs leading to the second floor of the mansion.
"Takuto! We'll hold them off! Find carl Clover!" Erza said to Takuto.
"Got it!" Takuto nods his head before running off to the stairs. 'Hang on Carl! We're coming for ya!'
Takuto kicks the door open and enters Relius's lab. Immediately, Takuto sees Carl being chained in his glass cell.
"Carl!" He yelled at him. Carl looks up and gasped.
"Takuto!" He cried.
"Ah, you must be Takuto Tsunashi." Relius spoke up. Taktuo gasped and turns around to see Relius standing behind him.
Takuto grits his teeth and draws out his Star Swords at him. "Release Carl now or I will slice you into pieces!" He yelled at the masked alchemist.
"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you…" Relius smirked evilly. He lifts up his right hand and snaps his fingers. A curtain then falls off, revealing another glass cell next to Carl's.
Takuto turns around and upon seeing the glass cell, widens his eyes and gape his mouth open much to his horror.
Inside the glass cell was Wako Agemaki. Her wrists were also tied to a pair of chains connected to the ceiling and her ankles are cuffed too. Wako lifts her head up and gasped upon seeing her husband.
"Takuto!" Wako cried as tears form in her eyes.
"WAKO!" Takuto shouted in horror. Suddenly, he gasped in pain as Relius punches him hard in the back, causing him to drop his Star Swords and fell to his knees.
"NO!" Carl cried.
"TAKUTO!" Wako cried again, this time with tears rolling down her cheeks. Takuto grits his teeth as Relius pulls his hair back and lifts his head up.
"Now…watch as I torture your wife and friend." Relius smirks evilly as a control panel magically appears in front of you.
"No, please…" Takuto begged. But Relius ignores his pleas and activates the torture cells. Immediately, both Carl and Wako let ear-piercing screams as the cells electrocute them.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
Tears freely flow down Takuto's cheeks as he helplessly watched in horror. He let out a cry of horror.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
END OF CHAPTER
Sovereign: Can our heroes still save Carl and Wako? Stay tune and read and review!
