BlackLynx17: I did not do my best in fixing the mistakes in this chapter, it was so long and I'm so tired right now. Sorry for all the ones I'm sure you will be reading. On another note, that won't stop the story from being so good. Enjoy this chapter, this story is coming to an end in five more chapters.
Elements Of The Heart
Chapter 36
Dragon Master
"You carry a big heart for such a dark element."
Gajeel blinked hearing this and started looking around for the voice. It didn't sound like anybody that was currently here, but where else could the voice had come from? It was such a soft and light voice he thought it was Cosmos whispering, but when he looked at her she shook her head.
"Then again, all of you small elements carry such big hearts."
A warm feeling started flooding inside of everyone, right where there heart was. It felt like it was burning, surging through their blood, warming up their entire body.
"What's happening?" Natsu asked touching his own heart.
"Natsu look, that red light is getting bigger!" Lucy yelled.
All Elements and dragon's eyes turned to the floor, seeing the bright light indeed glow stronger, covering up the entire floor. Metalicana grabbed Gajeel and leaped back to his pedestal, Cosmos doing the same leaving the ground floor completely empty.
"She's here." Igneel said.
"Who Igneel?" Natsu asked.
The red light started going through the floor, appearing in front them floating and glowing. The red light started changing colors slowly, expanding shape and forming into what looked like a child. All of a sudden the lights vanished into sparks and a little girl appeared. Her eyes were a brilliant green, her long snow blonde hair touching the ground behind her, small wings on her head, a mysterious smile on her lips.
The eight dragons all bowed their heads to the little girl and the Elements stared at them before looking at the girl beneath them. Just who exactly was she, was what each of them was wondering.
"Rise my friends, there's no need for formalities." The girl spoke.
"We must show our respects to the dragon master though, Master." Hikari said gently.
"Hehehe, Hikari you're still the same. Igneel, Metalicana, Cosmos, Grandine, Raijin, Yuki, Kohaku. It's been such a long time since we've last met! I know you all must be worried about your friends, but rest assured I've been taking great care of all of the dragons." The dragon master smiled.
"That's good to know." Cosmos sighed out a lot.
"We all knew they would be in good hands dragon master." Raijin said.
"Hopefully none of them have been too much of a handful." Grandine said.
"Nothing I can't handle, but for the eight of you. I've been watching over all of you as well, ever since I gave you the responsibilities to take care of my people, and I can't say that I'm very happy nor proud."
All the dragon's dropped their heads once again, this time for a different reason though. Natsu stared at Igneel's defeat expression and simply didn't get it.
"Now wait, hold on a second. Who in the world is this chick?!" Natsu yelled.
"You would be wise to keep your mouth zipped brat in front of the dragon Master." Metalicana growled.
"Settle down Metalicana, I'm sure all of our heirs are curious. Natsu is just the only one with the courage to speak up." Igneel said looking down at him.
"The eight elements, of course. Bring them here." The dragon master said and raised her hands.
All of a sudden, Gray, Juvia, Natsu, Lucy, Levy, Gajeel, Doranbolt, and Wendy all found themselves being pulled and tugged over to the glowing girl. They were all brought in front of her, dropped on their feet and brought to their knees in front of such a pure being. She was incredibly beautiful, they all thought, one secretly happy that she wasn't the smallest person in the room anymore.
The dragon master smiled kindly at all of them as she walked over, touching each ones cheeks and examining them.
"You eight are really something extraordinary, I was cheering for you all the whole time along with your saviors. I must thank each and every one of you for breaking the wretched barriers that have been keeping my dragon friends apart. Thank you Juvia." Dragon Master said patting her cheek.
"Thank you Gray." She said next touching Gray's cheek. And she continued to do the same as she walked down the line, giving small smiles as she showed her gratitude, "thank you Natsu, thank you Lucy, thank you Levy, thank you Gajeel, thank you Doranbolt, and thank you Wendy. I was really hoping for you and Doranbolt to get together, so much denial between the two of it. It was hard to watch at sometimes." Dragon Master said.
Doranbolt laughed as Wendy blushed in embarrassment, trying to hide herself my looking down. The dragon master laughed, her voice filling the room, and the dragon's all settled down on their pedestal over her. Natsu cleared his voice to interrupted her and catch her attention.
"I'm sorry, Dragon Master? But who are you, what are you doing here, what are we doing here, and are we going to die here? Or can we return home?" Natsu asked the questions that were rolling around in his mind.
"Oh of course, you all are wondering about me aren't you? Of course you would seeing how these eight great beast are listening to me so easily. To them they call me Dragon Master, but you eight can all call me Mavis, and I guess you can consider me your savior's savior?" Mavis said.
"Wait, what? Our savior's savior?!" Levy squeaked out.
Mavis hummed and nodded, "yes, it's hard to explain. Actually, maybe it's not. So you all know we live on a planet called Earthland right? Well that planet was originally ruled by dragons, and the humans that lived there, which are us, were all slaves until the moment I was born. I was born with special powers that controlled the dragons and became their Master, hence the name Dragon Master. I wanted to help my people, so I offered the dragon's the idea of instead of making humans their slaves, that instead they should make them their children."
"Hold on, children? So Grandine is all my Element's Mother?!" Wendy gasped.
Mavis giggled and shook her head, "No, I didn't mean in a literal way. More as in, to take the humans under their wings. So that is what happened, the dragon's all started separating the humans into groups and started teaching them all their magic. Each dragon had a different magic element, which is why humans evolved into Elements. I hand picked these eight dragons to watch over humanity while the other dragons went to a different realm with me to live to in peace."
"Hold on, I'm confused. My great, great something Grandfather was there to create the Water Element. We were all living underwater, separated and alone. If you sent the dragons to watch over us, then how come we were all separated? And if we adapted into the Elements that we are, then how come we could live underwater?"
Mavis frowned and turned her head to glare at her friends, "because some dragons were impatient during the process and wanted most humans to themselves; they started blessing their powers on whoever they could find and reach leaving no humans for any other dragon."
Kohaku bowed his head and apologized.
"So my people evolved from humans to Water Element and then to Ice Element?" Gray asked.
"Precisely!" Mavis said.
"I understand, but at the same time I'm still confused." Natsu said.
"I know what you mean, but basically what you telling us is that you're our real savior? Right?" Doranbolt asked.
"In other words yes, though these are the dragons that watched over, raised, and took care of you all." Mavis said.
"Great, one question answered, now for the other four. Why did you suddenly just come up from the floor? Were you that red light from before? And what are we doing here?" Natsu asked.
"I was the one who summoned you all here. Once each of you broke the barriers I used up my magic to transport you all here, including your saviors. I needed to restore my magic to project myself though, so that's why I was resting right underneath you as the red light." Mavis said.
"So you summoned us here, not our dragons. Why?" Lucy asked.
"Because I wanted to show my gratitude to you all for reuniting Earthland again! Plus I was hoping you all could talk some sense into the dragons that needed sense talking into. Grandine, Raijun, Kohaku, Yuki, Cosmos and Metalicana. The six of you started this pointless separation, I hope from the past 1000 years you've learned something from it. Unless all of you can make up and live in harmony, I'm afraid that your heirs will have to stay here until I can find better replacements to protect them." Mavis lectured.
"That's not fair Mavis! It's not my fault that Raijun had to go and grow tired of me! I just couldn't stand being with him any longer knowing he didn't love me!" Grandine complained.
"What on Earthland are you talking about Grandine? Growing tired of you, I was head over heels in love with you!"
"You're lying! I came to visit you one evening only to find that you were in Hikari's territory! I heard the two talking about me behind my back! If you didn't love me anymore Raijun you could have just said so! If you didn't want to be together you should have said something! You didn't have to sneak around and lie to me! I was so mad at you, so furious I couldn't stand talking or seeing you so I made that barrier to keep you away from me!" Grandine cried at the end.
Raijun was shocked hearing all of this and jerked his head back, blinking his eyes before he leaned over to wrap his tail gently around Grandine's.
"Grandine... you fool." Raijun said.
Grandine twitched and roared loudly at him, causing Raijin to chuckle.
"WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT?!" She roared.
"We've been separated for 1000 years all because of a simple misunderstanding. Grandine, I love you. I've loved you since the first time I've laid eyes on you and I've continued to love you throughout the years we've been separate." Raijun grinned.
"You have?" Grandine whispered.
Raijun chuckled as he nodded.
"Then why were you talking about me to Hikari?"
"Well maybe if you were actually listening in closely enough, then you would have known I was asking her advice about having you live with me." Raijin said.
Grandine blinked, "what?"
"I was going to ask if you wanted to fuse our Elements together Grandine, I was going to ask if we could really be together forever."
Grandine started sniffing, tears filling up her eyes as she fly herself into Raijun.
"AW! RAIJUIN! I'M SO, SO, SO SORRY! IT'S ALL MY FAULT, I'M SUCH AN IDIOT! I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! OF COURSE I'LL BE TOGETHER WITH YOU FOREVER!"
Raijun chuckled as he nuzzled his snout against her, "I'm glad to hear."
"Hooray! Happy ending!" Wendy cheered.
Doranbolt chuckled and walked over to where their saviors were cuddling together.
"Excuse me Miss Grandine, I'd like to formally introduce myself as Doranbolt Gryder, heir of Raijun's element, and ask if it would be alright to marry your heir." He bowed.
Grandine giggled and nodded her head several times over, "of course, sure, why not? This way we'll really would have connected our Elements together Raijin." She said not sparing a glance at Doranbolt, but waved her claw at him.
Doranbolt sweat-dropped while Wendy blushed, rushing to Doranbolt's side to hug his back. Doranbolt turned and smile down at Wendy, who smiled back up at him behind her blush.
"He'll make me very happy Grandine, so you won't have to worry about me or our people. They're going to be in good hands." Wendy said.
Grandine finally spared a glance down and smiled, nodding her head, "I have no doubt about that."
"Well there's two dragons that have made up, now for the other four." Mavis said turning her head around.
"Kohaku, you were the one who was stealing up humans right? To make them your younger siblings?" Juvia asked walking forward.
"Exactly! Because everyone else was sure to hog all of them! I had to get to them first!" Kohaku said.
"You wanted to be a big brother though right? You wanted to prove that you could be a better one than Yuki?" She continued.
"Right! I could be ten times the brother he ever was to me, nicer, kinder, better!"
"Weren't you trying to be like him though?" Juvia asked.
"Yes!" Kohaku said, then blinked and started stuttering, "no, wait, no! I didn't mean to say yes! I-I!"
Juvia walked closer, smiling lightly up at her savior, "the truth is that you love your big brother don't you? He never took notice to you though, huh? Or appreciated anything you could do? Or even praise you at all for that matter? So you wanted to go and prove to him how special and strong you could really be."
Yuki, astonished, blinked and looked at his little brother. "Kohaku? Is this true?"
"And I was just thinking about letting you back into my Element Juvia, you can forget about that now." Kohaku growled.
"Kohaku? Is this really how you've been feeling?" Yuki asked.
Kohaku glared at his big brother and turned his head, "well it wouldn't be a hundred percent lie!"
"Kohaku... I had no idea. I never meant... Kohaku, you're my younger brother. You know how proud I am of you, you know how much I love and care for you. If you ever thought different, I'm sorry if I made you believe that. Of course I was proud, super proud! Out of all the Elements in the world, you were chosen to be one of the main eight along side me. I was the proudest dragon of them all over you." Yuki tried to explain.
"Yeah, right." Kohaku mumbled, looking the other way.
"It's true Yuki, I couldn't have asked for a better younger brother. I thought you would have realized that, but instead you have to go off and run away from me and ignore me when I tried to reach out. The only reason I started taking some of your elements was because I was trying to get your attention, I was trying to have you talk to me Kohaku."
"Well You didn't have to steal my Elements!" Kohaku yelled.
"Well if you would have talked to me in the first place, then I wouldn't have done any of that! Why in the world were you ignoring me in the first place?!" Yuki yelled.
"You probably weren't showing him enough attention, were you busy Yuki before you became our savior?" Gray asked.
Yuki twitched, "well there was a lot of things to do in order to take care of humanity."
"So you were too busy, and all Kohaku probably wanted was to spend some time with his big brother. It's obvious he has a big brother complex." Gray nodded.
"Obviously." Juvia nodded in agreement.
"I DO NOT!" Kohaku roared.
"Kohaku, I had no idea. I'm flattered, really." Yuki said widening his eyes.
"I DO NOT HAVE A BIG BROTHER COMPLEX!" He roared even loudly.
Juvia started giggling, followed by Yuki laughed out loud as well. Gray joined shortly after and Kohaku, Kohaku couldn't stop the twitch of a smile from coming to his lips before he started laughing as well.
"I'm sorry Kohaku if I ever made you feel less important. You are my only little brother in the world, you know that? You mean so much to me."
Kohaku looked at Yuki out the corner of his eyes, "more than your precious Elements?"
Yuki grinned, "more than my precious Elements."
Kohaku blushed and turned away again, he leaned a little bit closer to where his brother was though and mumbled under his breath.
"I guess... I can forgive you then."
Yuki grinned and reached over, ruffling his brother's head, "that's great! And I swear once we return back to our world I'll shower you with attention and everything! There won't be a single Ice Dragon who doesn't know who my little brother is, although there isn't one anyway since I've been talking about you none stop to them."
Kohaku finally showed a grand smile of his own to his big brother. Juvia jumped up and clapped in success while Gray grinned.
"We get to keep our Saviors." Juvia cheered.
"Thankfully, now that I'm finally able to greet Iceberg there's no way I want him to vanish. Especially after all he's done for my family." Gray cheered as well.
"And then there was two."
"Obviously Cosmos has done nothing wrong and proven herself as a great savior. I'm the one who was too cocky, I'm the only one who deserves to return back home." Metalicana said.
"Will you shut up?! Do you thank I want some other power hyped dragon ordering my people around?! Hell no! Why don't you take responsibility for your mistakes and work with me to help our Element? Instead of running away from your problems, again!" Gajeel yelled.
"He's right Metalicana, you can do better this time. I'll be here to help you, everyone will." Cosmos smiled gently.
"I don't need any of you. I'm tired of all this acting as a savior, it's too much and not at all what I thought it was cracked up to be. I am done with all of this nonsense."
"If that is what you wish for Metalicana, I'm sorry for ever putting such a great burden on you." Mavis said waving her hands.
"Wait a minute! Hold on! Metalicana, you don't really mean this. You're acting like Gajeel right now, saying one thing to protect him, to protect your people, but you're underestimating them just like how Gajeel underestimated me!" Levy said walking over.
"I'm smart enough to make my own decisions and strong enough to live through them. He had no right taking that choice away from me just like how you have no right taking that choice away from your people!" Levy yelled.
Gajeel clenched his fists and looked the other way. So they weren't all happy, kissy, make up, she still held some lingering hatred for him. Of course she would, Gajeel was going to make sure to make it up to her once they got back.
"I'm not considered a savior in my own Element, Earth Element. It's obvious that they've chosen." Metalicana said.
"Gajeel's here asking you to come back, to help. He's asking you for your help Metalicana, and you owe it to him, and everyone else you abandon to help and dedicate your life to trying to make it up to them! You can quit when you've made it up to everyone who you've abandoned!" Levy argued.
"She's right, you don't have the choice to quit and leave until you make it up to each of your Elements. Unless you're a man who goes back on his commitments and a weakling who runs away from his problem." Gajeel insulted.
Metalicana looked down at the two determined Elements and sighed out, "can't you see that the Shadow Element would be better in someone else's hands?"
"As king over them I think I'll decide what's better for my people." Gajeel said.
"Give in Metalicana, they don't want to see you go just like I don't. We're friends, remember? Or well, at least we used to be." Cosmos smiled sadly, bowing her head down.
Metalicana kept a blank face, "... still friends."
Cosmos looked up slightly.
"Thank you... for helping my people."
A huge grin appeared on Cosmos's face as she leaned back up, her tail wagging behind her as she cheered. "No problem at all! That is what friend's do after all, help each other with whatever they need! No need for thanks at all! I'm just so happy-"
"ENOUGH COSMOS!" Metalicana roared.
"Oops, sorry." Cosmos giggled.
Metalicana glanced over at the dragon master and frowned, "there, you happy? We all made up, we're all good. Now can we each return to our little corners of the world?!"
"Sure, I'm happy. In order to make sure such a thing doesn't happen again though everyone, I'm going to have to add a new Element that will watch over all of you." Mavis said.
The dragons all groaned, those who weren't in love and were busy making lovy dovy eyes at each other.
"Fair enough, I rather have a new Element that can prevent such a thing from happening again than staying blocked off." Igneel said.
"Agreed, what Element is it going to be though? Iron? Rock? Psychic? Poison?" Hikari listened.
Mavis giggled and raised her hands up in there air, a rainbow colored energy ball appearing in her hand. The room started spinning, all the pictures of walls fading away, the dragons falling onto the level where their Element's stood all in front of them, everyone staring at Mavis. She lowered the ball into her hands before separating them into eight pieces.
"Gray, Juvia, Wendy, Doranbolt, Natsu, Lucy, Gajeel, Levy. You eight shall be the new Element, guardians over your saviors and over each other. You eight shall protect that peace that has once again been restored and create a beautiful new world where new Elements can come and everyone can live in peace and harmony. You eight shall be the Elements of the Heart." Mavis said spreading out her hands.
The eight lights flew to each of the eight Elements, engraving themselves into each and every one of them. Gray's tattoo was lifted and in it's replacement was several spirals around a heart. Juvia was given the same thing on her wrist, as well as the other Elements.
"Cute!" Wendy cheered.
"More like stupid, we couldn't be given a cooler Element name? And who's going to be our dragon this time? A pink, heart shaped one that breaths out rainbows?" Gajeel snorted.
"Really? That would be so adorable!" Wendy cheered.
Doranbolt sighed loudly and shook his head.
"This Element was created because of the love each of you had for one another. It was what gave me the strength to help you break the barriers, love. Love is what gives me power so I guess you could call me you're dragon, but I'm leaving you eight in charge without my guidance. This will probably be the last time you eight see me, unless problems arrive again. I have no doubt in my mind though that you eight will be able to take care of it with the feelings from your heart so strong."
The eight Elements all blushed as they looked at their loved ones. Mavis giggled into the palm of her hand before she started levitating up.
"It is time for me to take my leave. I'm so grateful that I was able to meet you eight, I know I made the right decision now letting humans and dragons live together. The marks I gave each of you is prove of your Element and my strength for whenever you need it. It'll also bring you back here, to be face to face with your saviors and meet back with one another, though the barriers will be all gone now. You all will able to visit in your own lands, remember to keep the peace though.
"Grandine, Raijin, Igneel, Cosmos, Hikari, Metalicana, Yuki, Kohaku, keep up the good work and try to not get too blinded. I'll see you all very soon back in our realm. Take care everyone, and know I'm all proud of you." Mavis said before she vanished.
"Wow. Well that's great and everything, she didn't explain how we are going to get back though!" Gajeel yelled.
"Simple you idiot, by using us." Metalicana said.
"Hold on though, I don't want to leave just yet. Grandine, when I return are you going to return with me in your dragon form?" Wendy asked.
Grandine parted from her beloved and shook her head, "No Wendy. What wonderful thing Mavis did was split our world into two realms, one where you Elements ruled and one where us dragon's run free. She has not given us permission yet to be in your world in our real forms, so I'm afraid we'll return back with you all as our savior forms." She explained.
"Hold on, I thought you all were our saviors though? Didn't she assign each of you to protect and watch over us? Why wouldn't she give you your true forms?" Doranbolt asked.
"You were not there when dragons ruled the world my boy. Though Mavis loves us, she loves her people more and wanted to make sure we could do nothing to harm any of you." Igneel said.
"That's unfair though, for you to be stuck as a cloud? How will you be able to meet Raijun?" Wendy nearly cried.
"Oh dear Wendy, is that what you're worrying about? Silly little girl, we'll still be able to meet." Grandine said.
"Really?" Wendy sniffed.
"Our forms in your realm is just like how Mavis's was when she appeared before us, just an appearance. Our real forms are back in our realm where dragons are allowed to roam free. We can connect our consciousness back and forth between the realms, but we truly live with her in her realm. We aren't trapped or anything here, but once Grandine and everyone set up those barriers no other dragons could come visit, including our Master. She must have been so worried about us." Raijun said.
"It's all in the past now, we can all try and make it up to her once we return home." Cosmos smiled.
"Is there any other questions one would like to ask before we start sending you back home?" Yuki asked.
"What exactly did Mavis mean by us becoming new Elements? Is she expecting us to use our powers to make the Elements get along?" Lucy asked.
"More or less, yes. She is expecting you eight to not only bring peace with the Elements in your section, but with all the Elements. You eight are going to be seeing each other for a long, long, long time now, so you better start getting along." Cosmos giggled.
"I don't think we'll have a problem with that! Doranbolt, could we honeymoon in the Earth Land? I always wanted to visit there! That or the Fire Land!" Wendy started bouncing up and down.
Lucy started giggling, "I wouldn't mind a honeymoon in the Sky Land, what do you say Natsu?"
"I always wondered what clouds tasted like, sounds like a plan." Natsu chuckled.
"I just want to know how we're going to get back, in case none of you were seeing I left my people in a horrible state and my brother about to get jumped by my own people." Gajeel said.
"Right, right, just use that seal of yours and you can go back." Metalicana said.
"Seal?" Gajeel said looking at his wrist.
The seal on his arm started glowing. Gajeel reached out his hand for Levy's and held it tight in his own.
"You ready?" He asked.
Levy looked over and nodded, "though I do have more questions, I'm starting to worry about Rogue as well. Besides, it's not like we won't be able to meet again. Good bye Cosmos, I'll see you soon." Levy smiled and waved at her savior.
"Good bye McGarden, I'll see you as well." Cosmos smiled.
"It was nice to meet you Metalicana, along with everybody else! I look forward to visiting you in the future!" Levy grinned waving.
Her mark started glowing as well, the two Element's glowing together along with their dragons. All of a sudden they vanished, leaving everyone else there.
"It's about time we return home as well Wendy, with the barrier gone our Elements are sure to be in a state of frenzy." Doranbolt said.
"Yeah, plus I just left Happy, Charlie, and Pantherlily alone with your cousin. It was nice meeting you everyone as well, see you all soon! Bye Grandine, Raijun! I love you both very much, I'll be sure to visit once everything is in order again." Wendy smiled.
"Good bye my little Wendy, I'll see you shortly." Grandine smiled.
"Bye Grandine, Raijun. I'll be sure to start getting my act together." Doranbolt nodded.
"You better, because if you don't Grandine is going to kill me." Raijuin chuckled.
They were the next to disappear, followed by the Water and Ice Elements.
"Come on Gray, we should be getting home." Juvia smiled.
"Right, Natsu was it? If I remember correctly our lands are complete opposites right? Doesn't mean we can't get along though. I look forward in visiting you." Gray said.
Natsu grinned, "likewise! Safe trip you two."
"Thanks, good bye everyone. Kohaku, try to remember you're a big dragon okay? Enough temper tantrums and I'll be sure to give you treats next time I visit." Juvia said.
"Really?! I mean, ke-kem, of course. And by the way, you don't have to leave the waters. I, um, unbanish you." Kohaku said looking down, blushing lightly.
Juvia giggled, "thank you Kohaku. Good bye."
"I'll see you soon Iceberg." Gray chuckled.
"Right back at you Fullbuster." Yuki said disappearing.
"I guess this just leaves us." Hikari smiled at Igneel.
"Yup, ready whenever you are children." Igneel smiled.
"Hold on, I want to enjoy this for a little bit longer." Natsu whispered, cupping Lucy's cheek.
"Lucy, you really are so beautiful... I think I prefer your light self though." Natsu winked.
"Oh Natsu," Lucy giggled with a light blush, "is there no way that Natsu will be able to see me? Or me him?" She asked turning to her dragons.
"There may be nothing that we can do Lucy as your saviors." Hikari said.
"But maybe there's something you two can do, thanks to your new powers with Mavis. Try and break the barrier in your worlds once again, and maybe you'll be able to show your true forms." Igneel finished off.
"Got it! If it works you got to thank Mavis for me again, alright Igneel?" Natsu smiled.
"Alright boy." Igneel smiled.
"Well Lucy, ready to meet my family?" Natsu asked looking at her.
Lucy blinked, taking in everything about Natsu. His features, his hair, his eyes, his smile. This wasn't going to be the last time she saw it.
"Yes, bye Hikari, Igneel."
The remaining Elements left, and then the room became empty and locked up... waiting for the Elements to all return once more.