Gregorion stared out at the ocean, watching the crater that Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney's new draconic forms created. The Winged Gate was in shambles, and the beach was almost unrecognizable. Dozens of bits of boat floated along the shoreline, and yet there was no sign of Vothorm anywhere.
Well, not on the beach. Gregorion titled his head up, continuing to look east. His concentration was momentarily snapped when Atlas flew in next to him.
"We've not seen him anywhere," Atlas said. "Sure he is dead."
"He is escaped," Gregorion said, and looked out at sea again, straining his draconic senses. "He is alive."
Atlas fell silent, somber. "What a shame. Those boys…"
"Those boys served us well," Gregorion said.
Atlas reared his head back up. "Served us? They could have died for us! Lord Gregorion, you must understand that they are more than just weapons."
"I did not bring you back from the dead to preach to me, Atlas," Gregorion said. "I ask for your council."
"You did not resurrect me," Atlas said, but didn't turn away. The old beast's flames were not just of his skin, but clearly of his heart. Gregorion felt a pinch of admiration toward the old dragon. Unlike Gregorion, who was still young, only two hundred years old or so, Atlas was aged and experienced. That alone ranked him high in Gregorion's list of trustworthy allies.
But the Dragon Slayers? Atlas seemed to notice this thought process, and neered at Gregorion through his flaming skull of a face.
"What is it?" Gregorion asked.
"You realize that they were the ones to defeat Acnologia, whom you were so afraid of," Atlas said, and held up a hand. "As well as conquer the Black Wizard and ultimately overthrow the untenable powers of E.N.D., what King Igneel feared above all."
"I realize that this was many years ago, and that without our abilities, they never would have overthrown Vothorm," Gregorion said. "Which, even then, he still lives."
"He's not immortal," Atlas said. "And he is weak. We must strike while we can."
"And expose ourselves to the world?" Gregorion asked. He shook his head. "Only a fool would do that, Atlas."
"How unexposed are we for the Dragon Slayers to have found us without aid?" Atlas asked. "It is only a matter of time before Earth-land once more realizes that the dragons have returned."
"And you think it best to arrive by destroying a reincarnated deity?" Gregorion asked. "Truly old age has made you senile."
Atlas stared at Gregorion, letting his searing hot flames lull and fill the void of silence that came with being so high up in Yaxen.
"We should never have placed ourselves in this situation," Gregorion said. "It was you and the humans who did this."
"We?"
"You dragons of old. Igneel and the like."
"You'd dare disrespect the greatest dragon who ever lived?"
Gregorion's cold eyes shifted toward Atlas, whose flames quivered. "The greatest dragon who ever lived sits before you, nave. Remember that."
"It is not our fault Vothorm lives."
"It is the fault of the humans you protect and love."
"Then what would you have done?" Atlas asked.
Gregorion glowered at Atlas, ensuring that the flaming dragon could feel all the power within him. Atlas did not flinch. Gregorion tensed his muscles, and Atlas just grinned, taking to the skies a few feet.
"I thought as much," Atlas said. "If you need me, my Lord, I'll be around. Please do not hesitate to reach out."
"Leave, then," Gregorion said, and with a few flaps of fire wings, Atlas was gone and Gregorion was alone upon his golden throne high above the city.
He sighed, letting a little plume of smoke from his mouth. He wondered how long Vothorm would hide and try to flee from the watchful gaze of the human wizarding world.
Gregorion then worried—worried?—for the humans. When Vothorm did return, he would do so with great vengeance, and far more allies. Whatever damage he'd done, whomever he'd killed or harmed, was given just a taste of his innate abilities. Gregorion raised a hand to his scaly chin. As a reincarnate, how much power could Vothorm attain? Would it be possibly for him to return to his feel deity form?
If so, Gregorion and the dragons would have no choice but to step in. If it took the combined efforts of Igneel, his allies, and the devil itself in the form of Acnologia, Gregorion would need to step into the fight and destroy Vothorm.
After all, he realized, it should only be fitting for the old God of Destruction to bow to the new Dragon of Destruction.
Sonya laid the wet cloth upon Alli's head. Her sister's breathing was faint as it'd been the last few days. She gazed across the room, to all those who could fit in the infirmary. Romeo, Tyla, Asuka, Lisanna, Lucy were all in this room; at least, those were the ones Sonya could recognize. Everyone in Fairy Tail suffered the same afflictions of immense pain, being worryingly ill, or being unconscious from the massive drain of magic power.
Sonya gripped Alli's hand. It felt frozen, but her pulse was still there. She rubbed her hand on Alli's trying to generate some heat and comfort there.
She could still see that horrifying moment in her mind's eye. One moment they were all sitting, laughing, having a bit of drink. Then Alli's face started to turn pale and she and Tyla were starting to tire out a bit. And then, in just a blink, Alli fell back, her face devoid of color. Tyla also just dropped to the ground, and it seemed to have a ripple effect. Lucy tripped over herself, Cana fell off a bench. Gray, who was still weakened from his battle against Claudia, immediately lost the ability to stand and crumpled to his knees.
Porlyusica immediately had Sonya and her men getting people in motion so she could tend to them. She moved directly to Mira, to make sure that she and Jori were going to be okay. The only one that seemed relatively capable of standing from time to time was Laxus, who could only get so far as moving to Mira's bed and checking on her before the exhaustion settled back in.
A few of Lucy's spirits had been summoned to try and help. Sonya definitely found them to be some interesting folk, but didn't try to get to know them too well.
She heard Porlyusica walking around nearby in the hallway, basically giving Alli a signal to get up and move, since she would do her hourly check-ups on this room. Sonya had no idea how the old woman was able to stay on her feet for solong.
Sonya bent over and kissed Alli's brow before getting up and moving to the side as Virgo and Cancer stepped into the room, headed straight for Lucy's bed. They knelt at her side, worry written clear as day across their face. Sonya quickly left before Porylusica could get in and berate her for wasting time.
She turned into the corridor and then walked out and into the main part of the hospital. Since the guild hall was still in ruins, they had nowhere else to turn to but one of Magnolia's own hospital buildings. Fairy Tail took up most of them, and thankfully, not too many denizens of the city needed medical attention following the battle.
The chill night air was nestled in nicely. Sonya tugged at her cloak, which was one from Stella but gave nothing away of her business. The guards stationed about the building, Sonya had lied to the hospital, were brought from Crocus especially, to ensure the safety of Queen Hisui's friends in Fairy Tail. Sonya also made up the fact that she'd once been one of Queen Hisui's handmaidens, and the lie made her feel strange. Zash, her abusive captor for decades of her life, would always make up a lie like that.
She felt a bit of bile rise in her mouth. How she would love to see what was going on with Fairy Tail happen to him. He was, thankfully, dead and often placed out of memory. Every so often he would appear in a nightmare, but then, Sonya would dream of fighting alongside her sister in glorious combat to save Stella against their witch of a mother.
Her heart sank again. Mother…
Alli and Sonya saw to it that Claudia's body was discarded. They placed her on a boat and set her off into the bay behind Magnolia, and then, using their magic, torched the boat until the wood rotted and it sank to the depths, carrying their mother with it. Sonya wondered if her body was sinking, and, scarily, did not feel fear that she would wake. She would not be remorseful if Claudia were to suddenly awaken at the bottom of the bay with no power to swim up, leaving her to suffocate and drown.
Sonya closed her eyes and felt a tear brimming. Was it because she'd been subjugated to that life? Claudia left her to drown in Animus's powers; she left her to play the puppet to a mad king who wanted nothing more than power and revenge. And then, when Claudia finally returned, she tried to kill Alli, the only one who had ever come close to understanding what Claudia put them through. But Alli only came after four centuries of living every moment with another voice begging to break free.
It'd been Claudia who imposed that; it'd been Claudia who let Alli suffer for so long. So, if she were to wake…good. Let her feel this suffering.
She shook her head. No, this was wrong. Alli wouldn't think like this, would she? Sonya didn't bear to think of Alli agreeing to this form of torture.
Mumbling down below quickly turned to chatter. Sonya's ears perked and she turned to look to the entryway to the hospital, where a few of the nurses were gathered. A crowd was starting to form. Sonya nudged her way closer to the front, trying to see what the crowd looked at.
She had to exit the building, walking into the brisk Magnolia air, and continued to gaze about. She caught a glimpse of red and moved faster. Was someone bleeding, was it bad? She pushed through the crowd until she broke free.
"Ah, Sonya," Erza said, holding Mest over her shoulder. "You're here."
Sonya nodded. Erza smiled and opened her mouth to speak, but fell to her knees. Sonya sprinted forward. "Erza!"
She slid on the pavement, scraping her knees and tearing holes into her leggings, and managed to catch them both. Her back muscles groaned but she was able to keep them both from hitting the ground.
"Someone, help me!" she exclaimed, and a long shadow loomed in front of her.
"Sure thing, lady," a grizzly voice said behind her, and Sonya felt some of the weight off of her shoulders go away.
As she stood, someone else picked up Erza off her body. Sonya pushed herself, and turned to see a handsome man with a red mark on his face carrying Erza in his arms. He bore both anger and sadness in his face. The other man, a sharp-nosed blonde guy in a runner's suit, held Mest.
Sonya felt a tingle in her back and turned to see four other individuals walking by her. One was a man with red hair that had a scar on his eye, the other was a woman with purple hair clinging close to the one-eyed man, another was a woman in a revealing one-piece and cloak with white hair holding a wand, and the final was a timid looking short guy with dark purple hair and a white streak, carrying very faint aura about him.
All four, presumably wizards, strode into the hospital around them. Sonya watched them, stunned at how they just walked in, and listened to the crowd around her.
"Was that Jellal?" "Didn't she used to be in Fairy Tail?" "I heard he was a Dragon Slayer." "Are they going to kill Erza?"
Someone rested a hand on Sonya's shoulder and Sonya felt someone lean in close behind her. "Isn't it a bit dangerous for a queen to stand so openly in the public?"
Sonya spun around, and a woman with big, long pink hair wearing a low-cut red dress and ear-muffs smiled at her. She was adorable, but, quite touchy. Sonya blushed, realizing that she was staring somewhere she shouldn't.
"Shall we just go inside then?" she asked.
The woman nodded. "Of course. We've much to discuss."
"We?" Sonya asked, and the woman nudged her inside.
Sonya moved into the hallway, which was now lit. The four that'd walked by her were all seated now, not talking to each other. The pink-haired woman shut he door behind her and sighed.
"How does it feel to be back home, Kinana?" the pink-haired woman asked.
The woman in the green dress with purple hair sat up, still leaned against the one-eyed man. "It'd be better if we didn't have to stare at the remains of the guild hall."
"I'm sorry about that," the pink-haired woman said.
The one-eyed man sat up a bit. "Meldy, how long is Jellal going to be? We don't have all night, we should keep moving soon."
Meldy rested her hands on her hips. "Shouldn't be too long, I imagine he's just going to be checking up on Erza."
"Typical," the white-haired woman said.
"At least we have a little downtime before now and getting back on the road," Meldy said. "We should resupply before leaving town."
"Excuse me," Sonya said, holding out her hand. "But, um, who are you?"
Meldy turned and smiled at Sonya. "I'm sorry, I completely forgot you were here for a second. We are Royal Sorciere, premiere wizarding league of Queen Hisui herself, on a quest to find and eliminate dark wizards."
"Such as the ones that did this to Fairy Tail," the one-eyed man said, and pointed to Meldy. "Despite the fact that this was probably all done by a god."
"And not a nice one," the purple and white-haired man said.
"You mean Vothorm," Sonya said.
"Jellal was right, you aren't totally out of the loop," Meldy said. "But he isn't who we hunt. Not at the moment."
"Why not?" Sonya asked. "Wouldn't defeating him undo the spell?"
"Unfortunately, what's happened here isn't the result of a simple spell."
Sonya followed the sound of the speaker and rested her eyes on the blue-haired, cloaked man that first appeared. The blonde man followed after him, quickly walking to a chair and sitting down, sighing with relief. Ms. Porylusica appeared from the hallway and stood next to him.
"The Great Tenrou Tree, which grants Fairy Tail mages protection, was destroyed," Porlyusica said.
"But I still don't understand," Meldy said. "If the tree only grants protection, how come they've all lost their magic?"
"Because that was not all that was lost," the blue-haired man said. "The grave of their First Master was also destroyed."
"Mavis's creation of Fairy Tail has given root to all magic in the Fairy Tail wizards," Porylusica said. "The only way for them, now, to get their magic back would be to revoke their status as a Fairy Tail guild member."
"Or?" Cobra asked. "I know you, Jellal, you're thinking of a way out of this."
"Indeed," Jellal said. "Because there is a way out of this. Inverse Magic."
"Jellal, you musn't," Porylusica said. "That is a Lost Magic, far too dangerous…"
Jellal shook his head. "I have to try, or Erza and everyone else will die, Porlyusica. There's nothing you can do, and you know it. All we do if we do not act is delay the inevitable."
"So, Inverse Magic," Meldy said.
"There were many who carried this magic years ago, and several were killed as they began to join nefarious Dark Guilds," Jellal said. "I know of one that lives, one that would allow us to kill two birds with one stone." He smiled to Meldy, and the rest of Royal Sorciere. "He was a prisoner in Edolas, an accomplice of Harloc and Vothorm."
Sonya's heart raced. So, there was a way to save Alli! She looked about the room, to this group. When she looked to Jellal, she found their gazes matching.
"Your Highness," Jellal said. "It would be wise for you to either ride out to Crocus to seek defenses to protect Fairy Tail, or return to Stella, where you shall be safe."
"No," Sonya said. "If you have a means of saving my sister and all of Fairy Tail, then I have no choice but to join you."
She let her hand fill with the magic of Stellanium, took a few steps forward, and held her hand out.
"You'd risk your life to fight with strangers?" Jellal asked.
"I've done worse," Sonya said, "and if doing this at the cost of my life is my repentance, then so be it."
"Royal Sorciere was built off of redemption," Jellal said. "Of taking men and women that had no future and giving them another chance. I don't know what you've done or failed to do, but if it means having an ally so brave as you?"
He stepped forward, filling his own hand with golden magic, and clasped her hand.
"Congratulations, you are now an official ally with the kingdom and country of Stella," Sonya said.
"Congratulations to you as well," Jellal said, and an insignia formed along Sonya's arm. "You are now a member of Royal Sorciere."
END OF ARC THREE
*phew* What a ride. Finally got to delve into so many ideas I've been having, like Demonic Will, Dragon Ultima Force, and Sonya joining a Fiore guild. Definitely didn't expect parts of this arc to go where they did, but that's the magic of Fairy Tail: it's a never-ending adventure full of twists and turns!
I'll be taking a break for a few days, but I'll be back by the end of the week for the start of our next arc : "Royal Sorciere"/"The Fall of Fairy Tail" Stay tuned to see what happens next, and as always, thanks so much for reading! :D