Gajeel awoke with the sensation of being dumped onto a hard, earthen floor. He blinked groggily, trying to remember where he was. He couldn't recognise his surroundings. There was earth beneath him and rocks all around. The air felt a little thin…was he on a mountain?
"Back are we, Metal-kun?" Gajeel felt his heart vice at the familiar voice. He looked up and his eyes widened. Behind Aurakana was an enormous metal sphere, partially buried within the earth. It must have been a hundred metres in diameter. The metal was blueish silver and Gajeel recognized the smell instantly. Starmetal – the same as the fragment, the same as the staffs.
"Behold, the Ark!" Aurakana was in full on melodramatic mode now, arms spread wide, face split into a massive grin.
"The Ark…Ashang?" Gajeel asked incoherently. His head was spinning from pain, fatigue and blood loss. He pulled himself upright, using a boulder for support. "It was here? I thought Ashang returned to the stars."
"Psh, those uneducated fools believe Ashang to be an alien. It is true that this metal is not of this Earth, mind. It can only be forged by the joining of two celestial forces." He took the three staffs that he had acquired and planted them in the ground at equal intervals around the Ark.
"I want you to see the truth, slayer." He leapt onto a large rock overlooking the procession, and then began to move his hands in arcane patterns. A magical circle appeared around the Ark, joining the three staffs. They shone with a silver light, as the circle glowed gold. The very top of the Ark began to recede, the sphere opening, until it had faded away entirely.
Gajeel couldn't believe what he was seeing as the occupant awoke after a four century slumber.
"Arise! Ashang, dragon of the moon!" It…it was magnificent. Its scales shone with a silvery blue lustre. Its wings faded into glowing silver feathers. Its head was narrow and noble, delicate and refined for such a large beast.
And then, cobalt blue eyes snapped open, to focus on the impudent whelp that had awoken it.
"Who are you?" Its voice was melodious and Gajeel instantly recognized that this dragon was female.
"Don't you recognize your brother, dearest sister?" Aurakana leered.
"I can smell my brother's magic on you…but I also smell his death!" In an instant, Ashang lashed out with a breath, almost like a laser beam. It looked down, realising that the small human had already dodged it and was close by. Dragon force, Ashang thought as golden light engulfed it. It shook its body, not badly hurt from that attack.
"Tch, you are brother's student alright. Mastered the use of the celestial light."
"I know that you are weaker than your brother, whom I killed. And it is daytime, where the strength disparity is even greater. Let's not fight, just give me what I want."
"Hmph. You wish to learn Moon Dragon-slaying magic in order to combine the two elements?" She asked, knowing the answer.
"Yes! Make me the all powerful Eclipse Dragon!" He shouted. Gajeel, on his feet now, was listening intently. Had this been his goal all along? It made sense that he knew the myth's true origins, if his father had been around for the event. Ashang narrowed her eyes.
"I refuse." A claw descended, but with his light speed dash, Aurakana easily dodged it.
"Ah? Well thankfully, I never needed your cooperation. I will forcibly remove the magic from your corpse. As you know, the three staffs were made to seal you away, in case the wyrms ever returned to the Earth once again. Your kindness meant that you chose to sleep, to protect future generations, while your brother would maintain a vigil in your absence."
He scowled. "But that kindness was weak. I slew your brother while he slept. Even dragons have vulnerable throats while sleeping. And I didn't just bring the staffs here. I brought you some opponents!" He made a series of gestures and the staffs glowed, resummoning the wyrms in a blaze of light.
Ashang looked up as Magana, Miraina and Mahouna appeared in a triangle around it. They saw Ashang, and the reaction was instantaneous. Screeching hate, they surged at the dragon, mouths biting through scales, serpentine bodies winding around her, seeking to immobilize her. She roared and bucked, trying to dislodge them.
"No!" Gajeel roared, and Aurakana appeared, inches in front of him. "What the fuck are ya doing? Dragon's are rare! They need to be protected, not killed!"
"Anything that stands in my way is to be obliterated. In fact, I think you've served your purpose. I wanted to let a fellow slayer get to see a dragon one last time before the end. Goodbye, Iron Dragon." He raised a hand and Gajeel was sent into hard rock by a beam of light. He collapsed, defeated. He had nothing left. "Still alive? I'll be more careful this time."
"Stop!"
With amusement across his features Aurakana turned. Gajeel looked with horror. No! Why had she come?
Levy stood there, breathing coming in heavy gasps. She clutched her bloody flank with one hand, and she was clearly trembling just to stay on her feet. Over the last few days she'd picked up an enormous amount of injuries.
"Run, you idiot!" Gajeel roared.
"No, I won't leave you!" She shouted back. "I'll stay by your side!"
She held her hands out towards Aurakana who still under the influence of dragon force, burst out laughing.
"Go on! Give it your best shot!" He spread his arms wide.
"Levy! You have no magic left! Run!"
"For you…I'll surpass my weakness!" Gajeel blinked. Where was this rush of magic coming from? "Solid Script: Conflagration!"
Aurakana screamed as he was instantly speared by the enormously powerful fire spell, hurtling backwards at incredible velocity. Gajeel was amazed. When had she learnt this? Inferno was hard for her, but she'd moved on to a thirteen letter spell?
For you, ya moron.
Levy tried not to collapse. She honestly had no idea how she'd been able to do that, but she knew that it wasn't enough. She needed to save Gajeel, so she did it again.
"Solid Script: Voltaic Lance!" The two letter electrical attack appeared at the same time as Aurakana, who had carelessly moved to stand in front of her, assuming her spent. He cried out again as the spear-like electrical wave sent him right back to where he'd started.
"Levy! Run fer fuck's sake! Please!" Gajeel was pleading now.
"No! I won't lea…gurkh!" A hand closed around her throat, lifting her off of the ground. She tried her contact spells, but she literally had no magical power left. Aurakana's face moved from incandescent fury to the realisation that he was back in control. He delivered a tiny rabbit punch to her stomach, mocking. Again and again, and she squeaked pathetically with each blow. He exerted a little more power, punching her in the ribs. She screamed as she felt bone give way.
"Jeez. Strong enough to put a scratch on me in dragon force mode, but so weak that even using one percent of my power is enough to badly hurt you." He laughed. "This is why women shouldn't fight. Pitiful." Without looking, he put a hand behind him and blasted Gajeel as he came at him. Roaring in pain, Gajeel flew backwards, slamming through one of the staffs before hitting rock and kicking up a huge dust cloud.
"Gajeel!" Levy shouted as loud as she could. She looked down as a palm was placed against her chest.
"I'm going to kill you now. Are you scared?" His face was cruelty incarnate.
"F…fuck you," she gasped. He grinned. Looking at each other, they both blinked. They glanced back at where Gajeel had fallen. The place where magical power was gathering.
"Since I first saw that shard, I wanted to try eating this stuff," Gajeel said between mouthfuls, the staff quickly disappearing. "It's fucking delicious. What was it you said? This metal is not of this earth? Dragon force is activated by eating special versions of your element?"
Gajeel got to his feet, fatigue falling away, pain disappearing. He stood, shoulders square, face set with bloody murder. His body was covered by iron scales…no, not iron, they gleamed in the light, silver and blue. He was covered by starmetal. Gajeel was using dragon force.
"What…," Aurakana managed before a fist took him in the face, catapulting him off of the peak and into a nearby spire. With his other hand, Gajeel cradled Levy as she fell. He gently laid her onto the ground.
"Please wait, I'll be back in five minutes."
"Okay," she said breathlessly, and Gajeel leapt into the sky. He scanned the rock face below, looking for signs of life. His eyes flared, and he screamed as he spun around, grabbing the front of Aurakana's shirt.
"I'm fucking fed up of ya motherfucking fuckers always fucking appearing behind me!" He hurled the sun dragon back into the ground. Lances of light shot back up at him, but his reflective scales transferred ninety percent of the power away from him. "Heh, plebeian element ya said?"
"You bastard!" Aurakana yelled, breathing in sunlight.
"Sun Dragon's Roar!"
"Iron Dragon's Roar!"
The metal blades penetrated the sunbeam with ease, engulfing Aurakana. His body was lacerated hundreds of times. His face was displaying his disbelief for all to see.
"But…we were even before…," he croaked.
"Gihi, I told ya to fight me when I was fresh!" Gajeel finally landed before Aurakana. "I fought weaklings with dragon force before; ya ain't as special as ya think."
"No…no! I am the Sun Dragon Slayer! The slayer of the most powerful element!" He surged up, fists glowing, and he and Gajeel went back and forth in brief but insanely fast melee. At last, Aurakana slammed back into the ground, blood erupting from his mouth. "H…how?"
"Second Origin…Dragon Force…but more importantly, you laid a hand on the woman I love." Gajeel raised his right fist, turning it into a whirling drill, cloaked in blue energy. "This is the drill that pierces hell itself! Slayer Art: Iron…no…Starmetal Bore Cannon!" Gajeel slammed the drill into Aurakana, prostrate on the ground, making a crater ten metres wide, with one ruined human at the centre.
Ashang was badly beaten, wounds covering her body. Miraina came at her again, but in an instant, the Time-wyrm split in two down the middle, sliced like a French loaf. Ashang felt a small weight on her head. Gajeel's god sword retracted.
"Ready to show these insects a dragon's power?" Gajeel asked. Ashang didn't know who this was, but the scent of love around him, the scent of a permanent mate made her like him. How long had it been since her and Aurakana…she began to breathe in, as did the human.
The two roars combined, catching Magana and Mahouna in their cyclone. They screeched as they were obliterated by the collective might of two dragons.
There was a lot to talk about. Gajeel gently held levy on his lap as she looked up with amazement at the powerful creature. Gajeel's power had faded, but he'd picked up both remaining sceptres. They may be useful in the future. The dragon was casting moonglow on all three of them, a weak healing spell that sped up etharno absorption, more quickly refilling their depleted magical power and speeding natural regeneration.
"Let me start from the beginning," Ashang said. "It was four hundred years ago, and Aurakana, the actual dragon, not that man who took his name, was my mate. We lived here together, coexisting with the humans peacefully. We helped to cultivate the wasteland by our magic…light brings life with it."
She looked up at the sky, at the sun, reminiscing.
"Then Xeref came, and brought three demons to ruin the land. Seeing that we were too powerful for them, they changed tactics. The three of them purposefully sent themselves into a void to banish Aurakana." Tears flowed. "Because I loved him, I took his place, shielding myself with the starmetal Ark. It protected me from destruction. Aurakana promised to find a way to rescue me."
"The spell was to transport me to their realm, where they could beat me three on one. But by shielding myself, they got stuck there, the magic interrupted. Aurakana fashioned three staffs and gave them to the humans for safe keeping. He vowed to rescue me once the humans were strong enough to beat the wyrms themselves."
"You waited all that time for us humans?" Levy asked, amazed.
"Dragons don't measure time like us. They live for so long that a few centuries is no big deal," Gajeel said.
"And with our mated bond, we could still hear each other, feel our hearts. I thought something had happened to him, but since I could feel his magic, I hoped that he was okay. But it was HIM!" Her voice became angry. Then she felt depressed…to lose that bond…for a dragon it was shattering. But she drew strength from the bond before her. She leant down, placing her head as close to the ground as possible to get a close up view. Levy quailed but Gajeel was unperturbed. "You're really small, aren't you?"
Levy made an expression of horror. "Why say that?"
"She means both of us Shrimp," Gajeel reassured, and Levy calmed down.
"No, I mean her," the dragon went on and Levy made the expression again. "I've never seen someone so small! I'm not familiar with mammals, but can this one provide enough milk for your offspring?"
"Gajeel…I don't like this dragon," Levy said quietly.
Gajeel laughed. "Yeah, Metalicana was that way too!"
"Be careful with this one, Iron Dragon. I can see from here that she is precious."
"Oh, she's that alright!" Gajeel grinned, tussling her hair. Levy smiled, despite being a bit embarrassed.
In return, Ashang listened to the events of the dragons disappearing and the dragon king festival. They spoke of Natsu and Wendy, Sting and Rogue, and even Laxus and Cobra.
"I have much to learn. I believe I will search out others of my kind." She flexed her wings experimentally. She looked back down at them. "But first, I have a gift for you, Iron Dragon."
"Huh?"
"That bastard wanted my power. Would you like it instead?"
"Huh?" Gajeel repeated. Ashang sighed and spoke slowly, as if talking to a child.
"He wanted me to teach him Moon Dragon Slaying Magic. I am not willing to take the time to teach you, but...," She held a claw up and she produced a glowing sphere, which looked like a translucent moon. "...I can implant you with this lacryma."
"Huh?"
"Oh dear...listen. This is a dragon-slaying lacryma, like your friend Laxus has. If I implant this within you, you will become third generation dragon slayer, like those Sabretooth mages you mentioned earlier. However, unlike them, you will have two elements to play with."
"Like Salamander?" Gajeel got to his feet in excitement, dumping Levy on the ground.
"I thought I was precious...," she moaned.
"Hmph. Unlike the thunder-flame dragon, this will be a stronger fusion. You will not suffer the sickness of an unusual element to you. Starmetal is a fusion of moonrock and solar energy. I would imagine Iron plus lunar energy will grant a similar form. This will hurt, but do you want it?"
Gajeel looked up at the lacryma, considering.
Well, I leave it up to you guys to decide. Should Gajeel take it and become a Tsukitetsuryuu? (Moon-Iron Dragon)
Would it be too mary-sue? Would it be awesome?
"Won't it make him like the vampires from Twilight?" Levy asked.
Huh?
"I mean, he'll be stronger at night and he'll be covered with shiny scales, so he'll glitter..."
Oh crap. Think of him like a werewolf instead, gaining power with the moon.
"Like Jacob?"
No! Like a badass black wolf. Jeez. And no, I'm not giving it to Levy. -.-
"Awww..."
Well, that spells the end of the fighting for now. Next chapter will be plot wrap up, and then we'll be back to cuddly, fluffy stuff for a little while. I'm sorry if this chapter wrapped up things a bit quickly, but that's just how it went.
Oh, and thank you for 100 reviews. Your support makes me very happy on the inside! :)