Chapter 37: Pain of the Past

LUCY POV

Dashing into the fray of battle, I could see that a number of guild members were already fighting. The Strauss siblings were in their respective Take Overs and were fighting at least five enemy on their own. Gray and Juvia were fighting back-to-back, their magic working well together. I watched Alzack and Bisca whip themselves and their guns around with practiced ease. Asuka was nowhere in sight, but I assumed that she was somewhere safe, away from here. I could see Romeo supporting his father. Gajeel looked pissed as expected, but he was snarling towards some enemy, Levy and Lily by his side. I couldn't see anybody else from where I was standing and I silently prayed for their safety.

A figure dressed in dark clothing lunged toward us and before I could even get my whip out, Natsu punched the guy into the ground with a flaming fist. I looked at him and gasped at the change that had overcome him. Usually as he fights, he taunts, he grins, and gives the aura that he is having fun. None of that was present now. Instead, his eyes were narrowed in concentration and disgust, a permanent scowl on his face. His entire body tensed and he ducked as an enemy's body was thrown from behind over his head. The focus present in his body language was intimidating and he let out a dark snarl before dashing away, leaving Happy and me behind.

Happy looked after him for a moment before saying, "Lucy. Come on! We have to fight!" He clenched his paws into fists and rose them up. The blue cat looked terrified beyond measure, but if he was putting a brave face on, then I would too. I pulled out a key from my belt and called out Taurus, using Star Dress. Natsu was currently out of sight, but I figured I would run into him again eventually, so I began to knock the enemy out.

The soldiers and mages weren't really that powerful, but what made this ordeal exhausting was that the enemy just kept on coming, and these weren't like the illusions I had fought some time ago. These were all real people. I could see Zeref still standing at the front of his ship, watching the fight with little emotion. I didn't know how much time had passed, but I guessed a few hours as the sun was now high in the sky. I had just used my whip to fling one of the enemy to an unknown location when I heard a voice shout "Sky Dragon Wing Attack!"

I knew that young voice from anywhere, and I dashed over towards the sound, to find Wendy and Carla, facing off against three other mages at the same time. Wendy was using Dragon Force, her usually blue hair now bright pink and her skin dotted with faint scales. With a swipe of her arm, a strong blast of wind followed and blew the enemy away. She noticed me and ran up to me, "Lucy! You're okay!" She looked around me and then frowned, "I thought Natsu would be with you."

I shrugged responding, "He ran off. I'm sure I'll run into him at some point. How are you doing?"

She sighed and Carla answered, "We're okay for now, but this is getting tiring." As she spoke, Wendy faded out of Dragon Force, her usual appearance showing up again. The white cat said, "Wendy doesn't know for how long she can keep this up. Staying in Dragon Force isn't an option, but switching back and forth isn't much better. When are the others supposed to arrive?"

I swiped with my whip, taking down several other people and responded, "Before nightfall if I had to guess. They could get here any time." Then I remembered something from a little over a week before. I asked her, "Is this the vision you had? The one after Yaseika went ballistic at the hospital? The one that was so horrific?

Carla hesitated for a moment before saying, "It has not come to pass. But at the moment, it is still going to happen. Anytime within the next 24 hours."

Wendy cried out, "What?! That soon?"

Carla held her head low, "Most likely less time than that."

I was in shock before I finally managed to ask, "Carla. What did you see?"

The Exceed hesitated yet again before finally answering, "Since I first got the premonition, some things have come to make more sense as we learn more about this war and Yaseika. Even so, perhaps knowing adds more horror." I gasped and she continued quickly, "In the vision, I watched something that looked like Yaseika, I couldn't tell for sure because it was dark, scream and be encased flame and darkness. A red dragon and a black dragon equally fought each other and rampaged around Magnolia, destroying everything in its path with burning flames. People were screaming for their loved ones. I also watched the Book of END open and a figure step out of it. Then the future goes dark. I can't see what happens next."

I could do nothing but stand where I was blankly. I didn't know what to say. That future was dark. Very dark. Very bad. END was going to rise? If that happened, there's no telling what would follow.

I could see Happy trembling as he said, "So the red and black dragons are Yaseika and Acnologia? And if she's destroying Magnolia, does that mean…she loses herself?" His voice was tiny and I could tell he was on the verge of tears.

Carla hung her head low and said, "I do not know. For some reason, the future after today is very vague, and I can't see what is coming." I remembered the words that I had seen in the Book of Requirement, about how Yaseika was going to die today. I shuddered and I thought to myself. Yaseika…what is it that you know…? What is it you aren't telling us?

Yaseika had seemed very calm at the possibility that she was going to die. She wasn't afraid of death, and from what she's been telling us all this time, I gathered that it's something that she actually wants. Still, she seemed to be worried about what was coming. I just wanted to know what it is she does.

Just then I heard a keening cry from farther away. I didn't recognize it, but Wendy immediately tensed and began running. She shouted, "Erza!" My chest felt as though it turned to ice as I took off after the young girl. After lunging through the violence and people that surrounded us from all directions, we found Erza, her hand on her sword, one knee on the ground. A large gash was visible across the stretch of her back, dying her clothes in crimson. She was breathing heavily, and I turned to face the person she was going against. Although, person may not have been the best description.

The enemy she was facing had the head of a snake, while the body of a lion supported it. Its orange colored eyes were alluring, and as it caught my gaze, I realized that I could not look away. I began to walk forward without even thinking, just to get closer to those eyes that were so beautiful…so hypnotizing…I could hear people singing an angelic hymn in my mind. My entire body felt as though it was floating in the air. I was in so much peace. I just needed to be closer to those eyes…

"LUCY!"

I heard somebody scream my name as I was yanked to the side, landing on the ground painfully. I blinked a few times to realize that the snake/lion beast was biting the ground, right around where I had been standing. I turned to the side to see black hair, and after my vision cleared, I murmured, "Gray?"

He sighed, "Jeez Lucy, you nearly gave us a heart attack." I looked back towards the beast when he turned my face towards him and said, "Don't look at the eyes. It will take control of your mind and make you go to it to be killed. Let Erza handle this."

As he spoke, I looked up at the redhead only to see that she had covered her eyes with some sort of cloth. She held the sword in her hand tenderly, her entire body tense. I turned away and looked around me. Much of the fighting was still going on, but it felt as though Fairy Tail was going strong. We had a chance. We could do this.

I heard a heroic cry and I turned back to see Erza standing over the beast, triumphant. Even though I couldn't see her eyes, I guessed that they were bright with victory. Then I noticed something shifting behind her.

I couldn't see what it was, but I heard Gray scream, "ERZA! LOOK OUT!" She turned around and just in time, I managed to see another magical snake-lion beast. Though this one seemed slimmer, it attacked with similar strength. Too quickly for even Erza to get out of the way. The fangs of the beast were lunging towards Erza's upper torso when a blur of purple flitted in front of her.

When the dust cleared, I could see a figure standing, her arm out in front of her, the beast biting deep into it. Her eye didn't even flinch as she punched the beast in the snout, knocking it unconscious immediately, allowing her arm to be free from the jaw.

I gasped, "Yaseika!"

She turned at the sound of my voice, only to see all of our shocked expressions, Erza's most of all. She shrugged, "You need to keep your guard up. All of you. I didn't expect this from you Titania." Yaseika's arm dropped limply at her side, blood spilling profusely from the wound.

Wendy cried out, "Your arm! I need to give you medical treatment immediately." But as the young girl took a step forward, Yaseika shook her head and held her arm up. In awe, we all watched as the jagged wound sewed itself up, stitching itself back together until it looked as though it hadn't been cut in the first place. With the exception of all of the blood.

Erza murmured, "How? Even a dragon background or being half dragon shouldn't give you the power of regeneration. You may be able to heal faster, but nobody can heal that fast without some other kind of magic. How are you doing that?"

Yaseika's eye flashed slightly and she took an arrow out of her quiver and stabbed behind her. An enemy that had been trying to attack her from behind fell to the ground, lifeless. She placed the arrow right back in the quiver.

She spoke hurriedly, "There is no time to explain now. Where is Natsu?"

I answered, "I don't know. He ran off a while ago. I haven't seen him since." Just then, a thought passed through my mind and my heart jumped in my chest. What if he had already used that magic on his arm? What if he was in trouble? Or worse? Yaseika said she would…contain…him. If she hasn't seen him, does it mean that it's too late?

Yaseika took one look at my face and said, "He is fine. I need to tell him something. Immediately. As well as give you something, Titania."

Erza's eyes widened at the sound of her name, when a loud sound came from above us. I looked up only to see that the armada of airships was beginning to drop something to the ground. It looked like…packages?

As they got closer and closer to the ground, Yaseika's eye widened and she shouted, "If you do not wish to die, RUN!" I had no idea what she had seen, but it couldn't be good. But there was no time. The packages were too close. There was no way to flee.

Just then, a large black and white barrier began to form over the whole sky, creating a filmy barrier between the armada, and those of us on the ground. I watched as the packages made contact with the barrier and burst into a number of explosions. It would have looked beautiful had I not known that that could have happened down here and hurt and killed us if it wasn't for the barrier.

As the last of the explosions faded, the barrier began to crack and shattered into countless droplets of light and shadow. I gasped. Light and shadow? That means…

I heard somebody groan nearby, "Good thing we thought of that in time." I turned towards the voice to see the two dragon slayers breathing heavily, the last of the tendrils of magic from the spell they had cast fading into the air.

I shouted, "Sting! Rogue!"

The former gave off a cocky grin and said, "No big deal. Right?" His face was scrunched up in discomfort, as he held his side. Clearly he had been hurt some time before. For him to be able to pull that off with a smile reminded me so much of Natsu.

Rogue smiled faintly at his partner's words but the smile nearly faded at the sight of Yaseika. He, as well as Sting after a moment, ran up to us and said, "You guys okay?" Even though he was referring to all of us, he was looking directly at Yaseika as he asked it. It was clear that he was referencing the blood on her clothes. She didn't appear to acknowledge him at all.

Wendy answered him, "This enemy with a snake head was attacking Erza. She managed to beat it, but then another showed up. Erza would have been a goner if Yaseika hadn't shown up when she did. Yaseika got her arm pretty badly hurt though, but she managed to heal herself. Somehow. We are all okay though."

Then I heard a voice that I had been searching for all of this time, "Why are you bleeding Yaseika?" We turned towards the noise to see Natsu standing there. As I had hoped, he was standing there with barely a scratch on him, the bandages still wrapped tightly around his arm. Still, the dark aura that had been around him before was still there, and it worried me.

She shrugged but Erza answered, "She's fine Natsu. We can exchange stories later. She was just saying she was going to give me something and that she had something she needed to tell you, Natsu."

Yaseika spoke then, "Yes. First, Natsu." She closed her eye and spoke gravely, "That spell on your arm. I know what it does." His eyes widened in shock but she continued, "Do not interrupt me as we do not have a lot of time. It will do what you want. It will weaken the Black Wizard to the point that he can be easily defeated. However," Her eye snapped open, "You must not use the spell until after the Black Dragon has been taken care of."

Gray stiffened and he asked, "What are you talking about?"

She looked at him, coldness and seriousness in her eyes, "The Black Dragon will arrive sometime soon, before nightfall. This chaos will draw him here. Natsu, you must not face the Black Wizard until the dragon has been defeated."

Natsu's eyes narrowed and he asked, "Why not?"

She spoke quickly, "I cannot explain now. Titania." She reached into her quiver and from it withdrew an arrow that took my breath away. It was pitch black, the point impossibly sharp. But what was surprising was the power pulsing from it. It was a multitude of magic, the different types swirling together, creating a magic that I had never even once imagined.

Yaseika spoke, "This is the weapon I have been developing for over the past fifteen years. Any magic I have encountered over that time has condensed itself within this single arrow. This arrow, shot directly at a weakened dragon's heart, will kill it." She held it out to Erza, "I give it to you. I have faith that you will shoot straight and true."

Erza asked, suspicion lacing her tone, "Why don't we use the weapon as soon as Acnologia arrives? It will not place as many people at risk."

Yaseika's eye narrowed and she tensed, "This will only work when the dragon is at its weakest. It is the closest to Slayer Magic I could develop without actually being Slayer magic. I may not be able to use the arrow. I need you to shoot the wild dragon." I watched Carla freeze up at Yaseika's words. I could tell that she was thinking about the premonition she had told us about. I became nervous too. Something about Yaseika's words felt wrong. Very wrong. They sounded very practiced, and while she has spoken to us before with no emotion at all, it felt as though this time we were being forced, Yaseika leading the helm. Was it because of something she knows?

Erza hesitated for a moment, before slowly taking the arrow out of Yaseika's hands. Yaseika said, facing away from us, "There are more things that should be said, but I cannot tell you any more."

Natsu's eyebrows narrowed in confusion, but before anything else could be said, something else happened.

Dust began to billow around us and the wind picked up significantly. I looked up and shock ran through me as I saw that the airship Zeref was on was directly above us now. He was looking down at us with cold black eyes, and he swiped his hand to the side. A figure jumped down from the ship, at least a hundred feet from above us. While the figure fell quickly, time had felt as though it had frozen. That figure made me feel very anxious, adding to that from before.

The figure landed on the ground, the sound of breaking bones echoing in my ears. I cringed at the noise, and the others did as well, with the exception of Yaseika. Instead, she was looking at the figure with a scowl. She appeared to recognize whoever this was.

She growled, "Blaze."

The figure stood up, the sound of shifting bones reaching my ears. The dust cleared and I was shocked to see what was there, to say the least.

The person standing there was wearing black leather clothing, covering nearly every inch of his body. It gave him an overall punk look. What was visible though were his hands and head, both of which nearly made me scream. Instead of skin, I could see the bones of his hands, every single one of them. And the head wasn't just a head. It was a skull, the sockets of the eyes staring ominously in our direction.

The person, who Yaseika called Blaze, cracked his neck, pretty much literally because it was all bone, and gave a complete toothy grin. Except, in contrast to Natsu's usual smile, this was completely full of mirth and contempt. He spoke, his voice dark and gravely, "What's the matter sweetheart? Don't you want to say hi to your Johnny Blaze?" He cackled and a chill went down my spine. This guy was bad news, and not just in the magic way. His entire persona just screamed "CREEP" at me.

I did scream a little though when his entire body burst into flames, giving his skeletal form and even more evil look. I felt Natsu at my side in an instant, a hand on my shoulder. Somehow, it managed to calm my racing heart just a little bit. But then Natsu growled towards Blaze, making my heart jump again.

Yaseika barely even flinched, but I could sense an even harsher coldness emanating from her now more than ever before. She spoke, "I'm not your sweetheart. You are nothing to me. You are a demon from the Book of Zeref. I should have killed you before when I had the chance." At the mention of his demon heritage, I sensed Gray beginning to draw on his magic, the darker Devil Slaying Magic.

Blaze sighed overdramatically and held his chest crying out, "You wound me so! True, I am a demon, servant to Lord Zeref. He has requested that I come down here and provide him some entertainment. Besides," he looked directly at her as he said this, "You know that killing me would only add to the list." Before anybody could even ask what he meant by that, his 'eyes' changed minutely, and he chanted, "Look into my eyes, Yaseika Dragneel, daughter of Igneel." She did immediately, to everybody's surprise as he continued chanting, "Your hands have been stained by the blood of the innocent. Look into my eyes and feel their pain. Feel their sorrow. Feel all of their suffering."

At first, nothing appeared to happen until Yaseika began to whimper. None of us moved a muscle as her whimpering became louder, into gasps. She held her head in her hands and began to groan, her eye shut tightly. It snapped open and I was shocked to see that her eye was no longer purple, but was slowly being consumed by an ashy blackness, even consuming the white of her eye. Her hands left her head and hugged herself tightly, as she began to scream. I had never imagined that she would scream in pain. She just got her entire forearm bitten through and she didn't even flinch. But hearing her scream in pain now caused fear to spike in my chest.

Her screaming turned from soft to nearly bloodcurdling when Rogue broke the silence of the observers, screaming at Blaze, "Stop it! What are you doing to her?!"

Blaze's gaze shifted away from Yaseika to Rogue and the moment his gaze shifted, Yaseika fell to the ground gasping and holding her side. Perhaps I imagined it, but I thought I could see tears sliding down her face as well. This shocked me to the core. Blaze frowned at us and muttered, "Man. You guys are no fun. You guys are all goody goody two-shoes. I can't use my Penance Stare on you."

Natsu snarled and stepped in front of me asking, "What's a Penance Stare?"

Blaze chuckled and turned his 'eyes' back towards Yaseika, who was still on the ground, looking down. He said, "It is a part of my magic. Anybody that I command to look into my eyes shall experience the pain and suffering of those that the person has killed, both directly and indirectly." He sauntered over towards Yaseika and picked her up by the chin and said, "This one's got a list of people dead because of her a mile and a half long. It kills normal people." I heard everybody gasp when he shrugged, "The spell won't kill her, don't worry. I found that out many years ago when I first encountered her. But I am just doing my job." Yaseika was forced to look into Blaze's eyes again and she began to scream incessantly.

Rogue lunged towards Blaze, a wild look in his eyes screaming, "You leave her alone!" A shadow fist made contact with Blaze's skull, but he didn't even shift an inch. Instead, his skull, which had been forced lopsided by the punch simply cracked a few times back into place.

Blaze smirked at Rogue's shocked expression and said, "I won't leave alone. For you see, my job is to make her go mad."

As he spoke, Yaseika was beginning to writhe in his arms, screaming. She scared all of us by screeching, "Striker! NOO! I don't want to kill! Kill more! Kill more! IGNEEL!"

Blaze tilted his head and said, "I see. She caused the death of her own foster father as a result of her own blindness and anger. So she must feel his pain at the moment of death as well." He sighed, but he did not look away from Yaseika. He spoke to all of us, "I must make her insane for my Lord Zeref. For he says that if I do that, I will be rewarded with everything I could want, and Yaseika herself. For you see," he grinned maliciously, "Once she goes mad, she will be like clay for Lord Zeref. Clay to be molded into whatever he sees fit. She will be begging to help him end humanity and I will be able to have her."

Her screams reached their peak and I couldn't even imagine the pain that she was feeling. If what she said before was accurate, then it can be assumed that she killed hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people over the time when her mind was consumed by chaos. And adding the deaths that she may have accidentally caused, the amount of victims is uncountable. She was feeling the pain of every one of them. Yaseika did say that she couldn't die, but that didn't mean she couldn't go mad, and if she felt this pain for much longer, she definitely would. If she went mad, there was no telling what could happen.

Rogue and Natsu moved together then, faster than I had ever seen them. Rogue went after Blaze, more rage in his eyes than I had ever seen before, kicking him in the stomach now, forcing him backwards and into the dust. Surprisingly, Natsu lunged towards Yaseika, his fist colliding with her stomach. The air was forced out of her lungs and her eye fluttered before she closed it and went limp. She fell into his arms and he held her carefully.

That caused a little bit of commotion. Wendy cried out, "Natsu! What are you doing?!" Rogue began to growl towards Natsu and I thought for sure a fight was going to start.

But then he turned towards us, and I could see tears falling down his cheeks now. He croaked, "He was hurting her. So much. He needs to be in eye contact with her, so I made it so she wasn't able to look at him." His body was wracked with sobs and my heart ached at seeing him so conflicted. I knew that he had done the right thing, and as Rogue let his fighting stance down, I knew that he agreed with Natsu too.

Still, something had to be done about Blaze. He would be back any second. Erza began to bark orders, the arrow that Yaseika had given her glowing with light before vanishing. I assumed she put it in her Requip storage and she said, "Natsu, give Yaseika to Rogue. Lucy, Wendy and Carla go with Rogue to bring Yaseika to the guild hall. That is the temporary emergency infirmary. Yaseika can rest until she feels ready to fight again. Natsu. Sting. We need to keep on fighting now and take out these fodder. Look," she pointed up to the sky, and I watched as countless shadows were dropping out of the air armada, "More demons are arriving. Blaze was just the beginning. We need to help the others. Gray. I leave Blaze to you. I assume you can handle him best since he is a fire demon."

Nobody argued with her orders. They made sense and while I could tell that Natsu and Rogue were not happy about not fighting Blaze, they left quietly. I was watching Rogue with curiosity as we walked towards the guild hall. His actions regarding Yaseika were a bit suspicious for the fact that he barely knew her, but then I realized something.

Without even thinking I asked Rogue, "Rogue? Are you in love with Yaseika?"

He froze at my words and I nearly walked right into him. He held his head low and a few moments passed before he finally said, "Yaseika and I are dragon slayer mates. I do love her."

I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that. I gasped and I wanted to ask him more when he coldly told me, "I'll tell you what you want to know later. Right now, I need to make sure that she is safe." With that, Wendy, Rogue, and I walked down to the guild hall in silence in order to provide a peaceful rest for Yaseika.

Dang this chapter was sooo long compared to my other ones but I couldn't figure out where to end it so it just kept coming out. Anyways, hope you all enjoyed this installment.

Blaze is based off of the Ghost Rider. Main differences are that Blaze is a jerk and playboy and he can walk around during the day. He does not have a "human" appearance.