Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix

Chapter 50:- Fire in the Sky


From the moment that the chains burst out of Hades' palm, Makarov was already in motion. He leapt straight into the path of the attack and seized both the chains in his hands just behind the hooked ends, bringing them together and heaving them to one side. His arms grew suddenly massive - completely disproportionate to his body - and the muscles in them bulged as he swung the chains like a massive whip. Hades' feet left the ground, propelled towards the end of the beach by Makarov's swing but he was quick to cut off the attack so the chains vanished into thin air, allowing him to spin gracefully through the air and land on his feet.

"You wish to battle me again, boy?" he snorted. "You may recall that didn't go so well for you last time."

"That matters not," Makarov glowered, stepping forward to confront his old Master away from the others. "You may be more powerful than me but that is no reason for me to back down and allow you to harm my brats. To allow you to further besmirch the name of Fairy Tail. To allow your darkness to mock my father, who was your friend right up until the day he died."

"Hmm?" Hades raised a brow in apparent bemusement. "Your father? Whatever are you talking about?"

"…Excuse me?" Makarov blinked, having expected a snide comment but not that. "My father, Yuri Dreyar. He was one of your partners, was he not? From even before you became one of the founding fathers of the guild."

"I have not the faintest idea who you mean," Hades grunted, raising his hand and pointing two fingers at Makarov like a gun. "But it matters not. You are a fool if you think the outcome of this battle will be any different to our last, but let us see if you can do better against me this time, shall we?"

Makarov was momentarily confused as hell. Surely Hades had not forgotten about Yuri. Fairy Tail had been such a big part of his life once… descending into darkness had done nothing to alter his memories of that time and yet now he claimed he couldn't remember one of his closest friends. There was something extremely odd about that.

But he didn't get a chance to contemplate it for long because a flurry of small purple energy bolts came pulsing out of Hades' fingers like bullets. Makarov swung his arm, magnifying its size to sweep them aside, ignoring the angry welts they left on his skin on contact, and sent his arm thundering down on top of Hades like a falling mountain.

Hades' hands lashed out and more chains erupted out of them to ensnare around Makarov's gigantic wrist and allow Hades to swing himself out of the way before whirling around and heaving on the chains, so this time he was the one who pulled Makarov off his feet. He swung the little Master around into the nearby rocks crashing and scraping him against them as he passed before tossing him down the beach and releasing the chains. Makarov created a ditch in the sand as he skidded across it and Hades mercilessly fired a beam of purple energy from his hand which lanced down the ditch and slammed into Makarov, consuming him in smoke from the resulting explosion.

But it turned out Makarov had protecting himself with a glowing spherical shield of light at the last second, and even before the smoke cleared he'd thrust his hand right down into the sand. A colossal wave of light energy surged through sand to concentrate beneath Hades' feet and erupt upwards in a huge spherical blast that mushroomed upwards like a nuclear bomb. But Hades remained entirely unaffected because he too thrust his hand downwards at the last second and allowed dark energy to leave his own hand, forming a shield that carried him upwards atop Makarov's attack and then absorbed it moments later.

Hades' hands danced into an erratic pattern which caused three large purple rings to appear in the air high above Makarov, on top of the other with the highest being the largest. They looked like they were made of glowing letters like Freed's runes - but these were not runes. They were seals. Hades crushed his fingers into a fist and shouted, "AMATERASU GOJŪSAN SHIKI!" And instantly a titanic blast of purple energy lanced downwards with the force of a lightning bolt, except far larger and creating a shockwave that threw everything around it flying.

Makarov retaliated instantly with a hand gesture of his own and sent an equally large blast of light shattering upwards in response, a great pillar of light energy that entirely enshrouded his body and struck the falling attack head-on. The two strained against each other with such force that nearby rocks a good fifty feet away crumbled to pieces under the resulting shockwaves until they eventually exploded together. The shock of the blast knocked Makarov backwards and forced him to dig his hands into the beach and enlarge them to bring himself to a skidding halt. But Hades was already upon him and his chains seized both of Makarov's feet, hoisting him up and into the air and crashing him down against the rocks, whereupon a storm of energy bullets from Hades' fingers followed and blasted into him.

"GGGGOOOOWWAAAAAAHHHHH!" Makarov yelled as they ripped into his robes and the bandages which were still covering his body from before. Unlike most of the other members of his guild he still had not had enough time to fully recover from the wounds inflicted on him by both Hades and Acnologia and now Hades was tearing into him once more. But he diligently refused to give up and fired energy out of his feet to vaporise the rocks around him and pulse him up and out of the way of Hades' bullet attacks, his hands slamming together in front of him and three magic circles forming in front of him. Each of them blasted a huge ray of destructive light upon Hades, two of them curving around to come in from the sides.

But despite his advanced age, Hades remained as agile as he ever did and gracefully sprang into a backflip that allowed the light blasts to smash together in front of him. The gigantic burst they emitted carried Hades away but once again the chains burst forth like grappling hooks, sinking deep into the cliffs on either side of Makarov and allowing Hades to reverse his trajectory and come hurtling forwards, his foot outstretched and aiming for Makarov's chest. Due to the remnants of his own light attack, Makarov almost didn't see him coming. But when he did, he didn't run. Instead he burst forwards, growing exponentially until he was the size of an elephant and ramming Hades aside with one sweep of his massive fist.

This time Hades hit the ground hard and rolled a couple of feet, grunting in pain. But it was a smooth transition back to his feet all the same, and he pulled nonchalantly on his beard to get some of the sand out of it. "Hmm," he said. "It appears you've learned a little from our last encounter, boy. But I'm afraid it will not be enough."

"You cannot hit me with the same attack you hit me with before that ended our bout," Makarov noted as he shrank back to normal size. "The blast from something like that would also hit your comrades over there. And whatever has become of you, I believe you still care about your comrades somewhat, do you not? Even if you have chosen different comrades now."

"Heh. Quite right," Hades nodded. "I will not make a move that would strike them down. But I will not have to make that move. There are many other spells that I can hit you with instead, which will keep collateral damage to a minimum."

Once again his hands flew into motions that Makarov almost couldn't follow with the eye and he cried, "AMATERASU NANAJŪHACHI SHIKI!" and abruptly four more circular seals appeared in the air above Hades' head. But suddenly one of them span rapidly and fired out towards Makarov like a gigantic discus or buzzsaw. Makarov leapt upwards so the spinning seal tore a line in the sand beneath him but it also detonated with storm of energy that smashed into Makarov and sent him arcing away along the beach, his clothes steaming. Twisting around in mid-air, Makarov was able to land on his feet but another of the seals was already roaring towards him, with the other two in hot pursuit.

Gritting his teeth, Makarov bulged upwards at incredible speed, growing to the size of a large whale in the space of three seconds and his body blazing once again with that yellowish aura. The three seals crashed in towards his right foot which Makarov was able to lift out of the way before they could strike it but the massive explosion of energy that followed when the three of them hit the sand was still enough to knock him for a loop and send him stumbling backwards into the surf, the ground juddering under his massive footfalls. And suddenly Hades was up in front of him, slamming his hand into Makarov's chest right atop the red guild mark at the base of his ribs.

The storm of energy that fulminated out of Hades' hand was enough to lift even the enormous Makarov off his feet and sending him smashing down onto his back in the sea with enough force to create a miniature tidal wave, swamping half the beach and soaking many of the DA members watching the battle to the skin. But even as he fell, Makarov's foot came up to smash into Hades and send him sailing back into the cliff-face hard enough to fracture the rock with the mere impact of his body.

And yet still he was able to get up and brush himself off, wincing slightly but none the worse for wear while Makarov sat up and clutched at his ribs, grimacing with obvious pain.

"My apologies, Makarov," Hades said, as energy began to accumulate in his palm once more. "To have to beat down down a second time like this. But I assure you, there will not be a third."

"No matter how many times you beat us down, Fairy Tail will continue to get back up," Makarov growled. "Did not Mavis Vermillion teach you that back when she was alive?"

"I am grateful to Mavis and to Fairy Tail for starting me on my path," Hades replied simply. "But now I am the teacher, not her or you. And I shall teach you when the time to give up truly is."

Makarov frowned. So he did remember Mavis but didn't remember Yuri… there was something very odd indeed about that. But he didn't have much time to debate because another huge cannon blast of Amaterasu magic came hurtling his way and he was forced to shrink back to his regular size to dodge it.


"Oh my, looks like they're really going at each other," Morgana observed casually. Even she was secretly impressed with the astonishing display of power both sides of the battle where displaying but she had long since perfected the art of not allowing her true feelings to reach her face. "Not that I can blame them. From what I gather there's quite a bit of history between those two."

"What did you do?" Gildarts demanded. "I thought that Master Hades was supposed to be dead. How could have possibly…?"

"Hush," Morgana raised her hand, without even looking Gildarts' way. "I'm not speaking with you right now. It is Dumbledore that I wish to speak with at this moment."

"And what would you have to say to me?" Dumbledore asked. "If you would be so kind as to lift the barrier preventing Disapparition of this island that would be remarkably appreciated, but I am guessing that is not on your agenda."

"Indeed not," Morgana chuckled. The Headmaster of Hogwarts was currently exuding an aura of power the like of which he rarely displayed to anyone under any circumstances but Morgana stared him right in the eye, entirely unflinching. "I believe that I know the answer to this already, but nevertheless I felt should ask… have you considered joining me, Albus?"

"Joining you?"

"Yes. Allying yourself with me ever since you learned that I might be coming back. It would be a wise course to take and you are a wise man, but that is not the main reason I ask. I intend to rule this country once again, and perhaps begin a new and magical empire that spans the world with Albion… or Great Britain or the United Kingdom or whatever it's calling itself these days… at is heart. I wish to create the world I longed for back in the days of Camelot… a new world order, with benevolent magic users as the overlords over all, including the Muggles. A world where those with magic no longer have to hide themselves away in fear of persecution. Does that sound… familiar… to you?"

Gildarts glanced sideways at Dumbledore and noticed the elderly man had gone remarkably stiff, his guard noticeably lowering and his face looking almost stricken.

"That is what you wanted once, isn't it?" Morgana asked. "Don't think I didn't know that - like I told Tom Riddle, I've been keeping my eyes on promising magical individuals all these years. I had hope that you and Gellert would actually achieve what I could not while I was locked away in a cave, you were both such talented young men, especially for this day and age. How frustrated I was when that brother of yours got in the way like that."

"Aberforth… was right," Dumbledore said quietly. "My ambition and arrogance back then - it drove me too far."

"But can you not see that your morals were in the right place?" Morgana asked. "You wanted a world free from division, free from cruelty and xenophobia. The very same kind that caused your little sister so much damage and got your father sent to prison. That's what I am trying to achieve so why stand in my way? At the very least if you're not willing to join me can you not just stand back and let me do what needs to be done… for the greater good?"

Dumbledore winced visibly, his eyes screwed shut and his hands momentarily trembling, anguish written right across every wrinkle in his face before finally he said, "Your intentions… seem noble on the surface. I have always desired the world you speak of where wizard kind and Muggles can live together in peace."

His eyes slowly drifted open, his gaze locking upon Morgana's own as his robes began to swirl beneath him in an unseen wind. "But while that may be a strong motivator for you, your true desire is power for yourself. You were not the only one who worked to bring about a kingdom where magic and Muggle could live together in peace back in Camelot. Merlin did the same and you fought him and King Arthur every step of the way because you wanted to be the one on the throne.

"Yes, it is true I wanted to create a world where magic held dominion, but I only ever wanted that power to protect my loved ones. Never for myself. But you do want it for yourself. You have nobody you want to protect. And I could never dishonour the memory of my sister… by throwing in with someone like you."

"A pity," Morgana sighed, shaking her head. "You would have made a powerful ally indeed. I suppose I shall have to destroy you now. You will never get to see a world where magic and Muggle can live together in peace."

"Maybe not," Gildarts suddenly piped up, drawing both of their attentions his way. "But he knows people who do come from one. My world is a world where magical and non-magical live and prosper together. And we do so without grand magical overlords - we work together with the people to achieve what we would struggle to do alone. Heck, our own King isn't even magical in the slightest."

He pounded his chest and grinned mightily. "Fairy Tail is living proof that we don't need your way to build a better world, my Lady. You should be the one joining us, not the other way around… and may I say for a fifteen-hundred year old woman would do look particularly fine."

Morgana scowled. "You have no right," she growled. "You're an alien to us - you haven't seen what the magical have been put through at the hands of the Muggles in my world. You have no right at all to tell me how I should do things. And you, Dumbledore… you leave me little alternative. Allow me to show you just how out of your depth you are against me."

Dumbledore was the first to react and swished his wand through the air, the sand from the beach instantly lifting up and plastering in all around Morgana's body, forming a tight cocoon that began to encase her from the ankles up towards her neck like a crust. Morgana's eyes flashed yellow and the cocoon shredded to pieces before he could finish, her hand punching forwards with fist clenched, the sand forming into a dozen javelins and slamming through the air at incredible speed, forcing Dumbledore to lash them out to the sides and send them shooting away. But the spears turned around almost as soon as they were deflected and came back again, until they were disintegrated into nothing with a blast of Gildarts' Crash Magic.

Bolting forwards, Gildarts lashed hand down into the ground and a tremendous wave of magic thundered across the beach, splitting it into squares that were thrown up in all directions like a gigantic wave. But Morgana leapt upwards and flung her arms out to either side, hovering in mid-air as if she had suddenly become absolutely weightless and bringing her hands crashing together before her. Instantly the sky erupted with a dozen massive lightning bolts that streaked down around her to pummel the ground around Gildarts and Dumbledore, one of them striking Gildarts full in the chest and actually lifting him off the ground to send him crashing onto his back, blasting a huge hole in the beach beneath him by accident as he did so.

Dumbledore was able to evade the attack though by conjuring four huge metal pillars out of the ground around him which attracted the lightning and sent sparks racing up and down the metal constructs, only for him to uproot them and send them lashing up towards Morgana like a the world's biggest spears. Morgana's fist clenched and the pillars all rusted away to nothingness before they reached her, flakes of orange falling to the ground like snow, but Dumbledore had already followed up with a spell that conjured up multiple balls of fire that warped into the shape of birds, each one looking similar to a phoenix but twice the size, which swept in towards Morgana from multiple angles at once.

Apparently unconcerned, Morgana conjured a watery sphere around herself that pulsed outwards in all directions like a shockwave, extinguishing the birds and smashing straight into Dumbledore. Though the elderly man was able to produce a shield at the last second the force of the water wall was enough to toss him backwards and send him sliding back through the sand, but before he'd even come to a stop Morgana had conjured a wall of fire right along the length of the beach from the edge of the water to the cliffs. Lashing her hand outwards, the flaming wall swept across the sand in a veritable firestorm, consuming everything in its path and bearing down on not just the combatants, but the students nearby.

But Gildarts was up and on his feet and he ran forwards, sweeping his arm up and splitting the fire wall into pieces with a flex of his fingers. He concentrated an explosion of Crash Magic beneath his feet which sent him hurtling upwards to seize Morgana by the front of her robes and hurl her down towards the beach. He raised his fist and muttered, "Don't really like hitting ladies but in your case…" and a huge blast of Crash Magic was sent thundering straight down after her.

But Morgana had already clasped her hands together and vanished into thin air before she could hit the ground, the magical attack vaporising a huge section of the beach but otherwise hitting absolutely nothing. Gildarts gasped as he felt the telltale rush of magic and turned around to find Morgana had re-appeared directly above him and had just generated what appeared to be a gigantic cone of rock that resembled a massive drill, which she fired down at him, spinning wildly as it went and seeking to tear him apart. Gildarts lashed one arm up and punched the oncoming projectile, smashing it to smithereens with a single blow, but suddenly all the pieces of rock pummelled in around him, smashing into him over and over and pile-driving him into the beach, completely burying him under what looked like a small mountain of the stuff.

Morgana landed nearby and spread her hands out, transforming the rocks on top of Gildarts into ice and fusing them together, hoping to encase him in the freezing material, but before she could complete the task Dumbledore had rejoined the fray. Morgana spotted him twirling his wand and forming what appeared to be a dozen arrows mad entirely out of acid and flinging them at her. Unconcerned, Morgana raised a magical shield to defend herself but was taken off guard when she was struck in the back instead, burning at her skin and the back of her dress and flinging her forwards onto her face. Grimacing she immediately pushed herself to her feet and passed a hand over her back, the wound and the dress both fixing over rapidly as she sent a huge windstorm out of her hand at Dumbledore only for it to unfaze him entirely. She blinked in momentary confusion, but as he twirled his wand to ready his next spell she realised what was going on.

"Oooh, I see. You've warped my sense of reality so I can see you somewhere you're not," she said, watching as Dumbledore swirled his wand in a circle to conjure up with looked like a massive stunning spell. "That's clever to be sure. But I see through it."

Dumbledore fired the spell with incredible force but Morgana turned her back on the incoming attack and smashed her hand against what looked like thin air. The spell suddenly rebounded back at Dumbledore and as he blocked Morgana swung her arms up and tore the spell on the area apart, the real Dumbledore suddenly appearing in front of her. She swept across the gap between them, turning aside an enormous flaming sphere he sent her way and snapping her fingers, which caused Dumbledore's half-moon glasses to suddenly turn completely opaque. He stumbled backwards, half-blinded, but he only just had time to tear the glasses away before Morgana seized his hand and wordlessly caused him to sink into the sand right up to his knees, jamming Dumbledore's wand up against his own throat.

"You think having this wand makes you powerful enough to face me, do you?" Morgana smirked at him. "Oh, yes I know exactly what this wand is and I know it's allegiance will pass to me when I kill you. But not even the Elder Wand is comparable to the true might of the Old Religion. You yourself proved it wasn't unbeatable when you took if from dear old Gellert after all."

"Truly, you are mighty," Dumbledore grunted. "But even if I stand no chance against you I will protect my students until the very end."

"Your students wouldn't need protecting if you joined me. Now if any of them die it will be on your hands. Think about that in the afterlife."

Dumbledore shut his eyes and almost immediately a searingly bright flash of light erupted from the tip of his wand. But that's all it was, just light, and it made Morgana stumble backwards, suddenly half-blinded herself, which gave Dumbledore the chance to hit her with an incredibly powerful Battering Hex which sent her rocketing back across the beach just as Gildarts exploded up out of the icy prison she'd attempted to trap him in. Huge pools of Crash Magic erupted out of his hands and curved to form two huge wrecking balls of swirling white energy that smashed in towards Morgana from either side. As she pulled to a halt, she was able to take control of one and reverse its trajectory, forcing Gildarts to thrust his hands out and rip through his own magic, the resulting explosion heaving him into the air and forcing him to backflip to land next to Dumbledore. But the other Crash sphere descended on Morgana and erupted upwards into a great pillar of energy that made half the island shake as soon as it made contact.

Both Gildarts and Dumbledore stood side by side, waiting form the smoke to clear and find out what had just happened. But before that could happen another whirlwind ripped into existence between them and the Crash site, Morgana appearing right in the middle of it with her hair frazzled and the sleeves of her dress slightly tattered, but otherwise none the worse for wear. She'd thrown up a shield to defend herself and then transported herself out of the way just before her shield could be overwhelmed.

"I was quite right. You are both very powerful indeed," she smiled at them, genuinely congratulatory. "But allow me to show you what being a High Priestess of the Old Religion really means."

And suddenly the air erupted around Dumbledore and Gildarts - cloud, sand, wind, rain and lightning lashing and crackling in at them from all sides, blasting into them like a super concentrated storm had just sprung up right in their immediate vicinity. Both of them shielded their faces with arms and Protego spell alike but they were both very quickly hefted off the ground and sent swirling round and round the storm, yelling as it battered against both their bodies with absolute ruthlessness. Fortunately Dumbledore managed to hit Gildarts with a Banishing Charm that sent him flying out of the attack and Gildarts managed to seize Dumbledore's wrist and yank him along for the ride, the both of them tumbling to a stop a short distance away. Gildarts quickly heaved himself up and helped Dumbledore up to his feet, only to find the storm to already descending upon them again.

"Jeez… she's tough," Gildarts muttered. "I don't know what I was expecting but she's damn strong."

"She is the most powerful sorceress ever to exist on my world. It is no surprise really," Dumbledore remarked.

"Then I suppose the real question is, how much of her power is she using?" Gildarts observed, standing up and creating a ball of Crash Magic inside the Storm Sphere to tear it apart from the inside. "Is she going all out against us or is she still toying with us?"

"Difficult to say. It could be either."

"Then I suggest we find out, don't you?"

"Indeed."


Mavis watched from up above with eyes wide, a tumult of emotions tumbling through her ethereal body all at once. She could barely wrap her head around what she was seeing - she knew that Precht had fallen to darkness but to see him like he was right now, tearing into Makarov with what looked like absolutely no remorse whatsoever… it burned at her heart. Precht has always been the most standoffish of the other three who helped found her guild, a little bit more of a loner than the other two, but he'd always been a good man. And somehow Zeref had managed to make him fall into darkness without even wanting or trying to do so.

She was sorely tempted to go down there and intervene - reveal herself to Precht and beg him to stop. But she knew that would do no good. He'd fallen too far to listen to even her now and she would also reveal her existence to the enemy if she did. Morgana seemed to know a great many things so it was possible she already knew about Mavis' presence as well, but if Mavis understood Morgana's history correctly then she knew all this stuff from staring through crystals for thousands of years. And even through crystals, Morgana shouldn't be able to see Mavis' astral body unless Mavis specifically allowed her to. Which she hadn't. That meant there was at least a ninety-five percent chance that Morgana and the rest of the enemy didn't know Mavis was there.

It would be a poor decision to change that. Even for the sake of a former friend.

Her mind raced. She knew full well that Makarov could not defeat Precht by himself and she calculated a strong likelihood that Morgana was not using all of her power at the moment, though she was using a considerable amount. Based on what Mavis could feel of her magic, she would guess that Morgana was not as powerful as Precht but she was definitely stronger than Bluenote. But she didn't have enough data to know whether Gildarts and Dumbledore could prevail against her, especially since it looked as though Morgana's magic was capable of just about anything.

And with the DA next to exhausted nearby, they were dangerously close to two great battles and had nowhere to go.

"We need to regroup," Mavis realised. "All of us together. We're all spread apart at the moment but if we can create a united front, maybe together we can push them back."

Her mind made up, the First Master swept into action, rushing away from the intense battles upon the beach and rushing into the forest where she knew some of the others were still battling.


"GWWAAAAHHHHHH!" Scorpio yelled as he was sent thundering backwards. Voldemort had appeared in front of him and fired some kind of sticky gunk from his wand that plastered itself over the Scorpion Spirit's tail cannon and rendered it useless, then following up sharply with a curse that would have shattered every bone in his body if he had been a human. It was enough to fling the Spirit off his feet and crash into his side against a nearby tree.

But before Voldemort could take advantage of the gap in the defences he'd just made he was forced to turn aside over a score of rapid Stunning Spells and Disarming Charms from Harry, Ron and Hermione, all firing upon him at the same time as Lucy hurried over to check on Scorpio. And that gave Aquarius enough time to sweep in towards him and swing herself into a watery tornado that poured from her urn and almost engulfed Voldemort, ensuring he had to Disapparate to as the liquid pulsed out in all directions.

"YOU DARE STRIKE MY BOYFRIEND LIKE THAT!" Aquarius raged, several veins in her forehead twitching and her expression what could only be described as livid. "I'LL KILL YOU, YOU NO-NOSED FREAK!"

"I'll see you and your boyfriend sinking to the bottom of the sea where your kind belongs," Voldemort sneered, retaliating against the water with a huge heat-wave from his wand, the air turning so hot that the water began to turn to steam.

"Scorpio, are you okay?" Lucy asked as she knelt down beside him.

Scorpio grinned and made his usual pincer hand-gesture, though he was obviously in pain. "We are… I'm good, yeah. But I don't know if I'll be much more help to you today I'm afraid."

"I understand," Lucy nodded. "You did great. Have a break, okay?"

Scorpio nodded and vanished into thin air and Lucy stood up, trying to decide whether to call out Loke or Taurus to continue the fight alongside Aquarius. She had to pick carefully - she'd increased her magic enough to summon two Spirits but she still had a way to go before she could summon Spirits continuously without fear of her magic running out, and she'd already summoned a bunch today. The next gate she opened would be the last one she'd be able to open for a while.

But before she could make a decision, the fight was suddenly interrupted by none other than a pack of wolves, which surged out of the woods and leapt upon the startled Voldemort before he could blink. He yelled as two of them tore at his robes and one of them ripped their teeth into his arm but with a loud CRACK he Disapparated, taking several of the wolves with him. When he re-appeared some distance away he swung around with a wide Banishing Charm that threw the wolves away from him, firing rapid Killing Curses their way.

But the wolves proved to be quick on their feet and ran in circles around him, the rest of the pack joining them to make faux charges at him and leap away when he tried to retaliated. Voldemort Disapparated again, but the pack picked up his scent the moment he reappeared and charged for him again, with Aquarius getting quickly in between the Dark Lord and his chosen targets.

"Harry!" Sirius cried as he, Lupin, Neville and Hagrid all hurried out of the woods together. "Thank Merlin, you're alright!"

"Don't think we would have been if it weren't for Lucy and her Spirits," Harry muttered, though his own relief that the others were alright was palpable. "Voldemort… he's just too powerful for me to fight."

"He's too powerful for almost anyone from our world to fight, Harry," Lupin said, glancing up to watch Aquarius and the wolves keeping him busy. "We should take advantage of this opportunity and get out of here while we can."

"I couldn't agree more," said Mavis as she whooshed in upon the group. "Almost everyone on the island is fighting, and the destruction is growing. Morgana has joined the battle herself… and so has Master Hades."

"Hades!?" Lucy cried in alarm. "But… but I thought…"

"As did we all," Mavis interrupted quickly, biting her lip. "I don't know why he is back, but he is. Fortunately Master Makarov has arrived as well, along with Laxus and Bickslow, but at the moment there are many injured and I honestly don't know who will prevail. But if we are to oppose them, we should do so as a united front and if worst comes to worst… I need Fairy Tail together. I'll need the power of our bonds to help me create another Fairy Sphere to protect those who can't run away. It's a last resort… but not even Morgana or Hades will be able to harm the children in there so it's something. As of yet nobody has died, but how long before that remains the case?"

"We need to get back to others," Ron agreed, his face white. "Ginny… Fred and George… we can't let them die."

"Agreed," Hermione nodded. "Come on, now's our chance. Let's run! We'll pick up the others on the way!"

"But what about Voldemort?" Harry hissed. "He'll chase us as soon as we run and we can't outrun him while he can still Apparate and we can't."

"Open!" Lucy raised up a new golden key. "Gate of the Twins, Gemini!"

"Piri piri!" the twins cried as they popped into existence before them. "We seem to be getting used a lot these days," one of them remarked.

"Take Harry's shape," Lucy instructed them. "Then go and help Aquarius with Voldemort. With any luck, he'll think you're the real Harry and make you his priority."

"Gotcha!" the twins said together and touched Harry's shoulder, poofing into smoke and re-emerging as an identical copy of Harry, including clothes and the cuts and scrapes he'd attained in the fight so far. They immediately ran over towards Voldemort while the rest took the opportunity to run, Hagrid taking the initiative and running behind Harry to screen the real one from Voldemort's view.

"STUPEFY!" Gemini-Harry shouted as they ran up beside Aquarius and lashed their wand out. Voldemort easily parried the blow and grinned sadistically at him.

"Just as reckless as ever I see, Harry," he crowed. "I was wondering how much longer you would hide behind your friends."

"You won't be killing any of them today," Gemini-Harry growled, in a very convincing impersonation. "You won't be killing anyone that I care about ever again!"

"You are mistaken, Harry. I have every intention of being kind to you after I kill you. I will send everyone you know and love to join you in the afterlife. Is that not thoughtful of me? AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Gemini-Harry dodged to keep up the charade and Aquarius swept her urn across again, cannoning water bubbles at Voldemort once more while the others made their getaway relatively unnoticed.


Natsu hammered his fist straight into Zancrow's chin and spun around to deliver a gut-busting blow straight to the Inferi's gut, a blast of fire erupting from his hands to add power to the punch, but Zancrow managed to remain on his feet even as he skidded backwards. His blank, sightless eyes rolled backwards in his head, but it only took him half a second to recover and his hands blazed with swirling black flames that morphed themselves into what looked like a pair of enormous jaws. Natsu tensed, recognising this attack - it was the one Zancrow had used on him before, trapping him in the black flames and seeking to turn him to ash.

This was Natsu's chance to try and eat Zancrow's flames once again, like last time. He had no idea if the combination of dragon and god flames would work on this… undead creature… but right now he had no further options. So he braced himself for the incoming attack, readying himself to empty his magical power once again.

But just as Zancrow lunged forwards and brought his powers crashing in towards Natsu, something seized Natsu by the back and hoisted him into the air and out of the way, Zancrow's attack smashing together beneath him instead.

"Phew, that was close," Happy breathed, the cat having recovered enough from earlier to whisk Natsu up and away.

"Happy, what are you doing? I was about to try something on him!"

"Orders from the First, Natsu. We're all regrouping at the beach - we got to help the Master against Hades and Morgana."

"Gramps? He's here too!? What about Laxus and Bick… wait, did you say Hades!?"

"Questions later, Natsu! We're being chased!" Happy shouted and Natsu looked down to see Zancrow bounding after them at alarming speed, black flames spewing out of his feet to allow him to rocket across gaps between the trees as he leapt from branch to branch in rapid pursuit of the Exceed. Happy whisked himself in loops around the trees in an attempt to lose their pursuer but Zancrow was persistent, and the way he would sometimes scramble across the thicker branches on all fours was almost inhumane.

But up ahead, Natsu could see Azuma locked in a full scale brawl with Lisanna and Freed - his fellow Fairy Tail mages holding their own but looking considerably more exhausted than Azuma himself all the same.

Abruptly Lisanna looked up, as if able to sense Natsu coming their way. Her expression hardened slightly as she cried, "Freed! Quick! Switch opponents with Natsu!"

"Huh?" Freed blinked, just dodging another sweeping branch from Azuma and gasping when he noticed Natsu and Happy rocketing in towards them with Zancrow hard on their heels. He got the message and grinned, veering off just as Azuma sent a volley of four branches racing upwards towards Lisanna in the hope of ensnaring her limbs once again.

But this time Lisanna saw the attack coming and all four of said limbs lashed out at the same time, seizing the branches in her hands and the claws of her feet and holding them back, her strength enhanced by her draconic form. Azuma blinked in momentary surprise but he started the chain reaction of explosions down the branches all the same. But even as he did so Lisanna blasted fire from her jaws straight down the middle of the branches, and the moment she did so Happy swung Natsu through the gap and let him go. The blue cat shot out of the way the moment Lisanna's breath attack struck Natsu and simultaneously engulfed him propelled him forwards towards the startled Azuma.

"KARYUU NO KENKAKU! Natsu bellowed, igniting his body with his own fire that melded with Lisanna's to create a massive fireball. Azuma hurriedly erected a couple of other branches as a shield but Natsu came in at a literally blazing speed, slamming into them headfirst with a colossal explosion as his and Lisanna's flames shredded through the branches and sent Azuma flying away, his chest blackened and smoking and his goatee singed. The branches had shielded him from the full brunt of the attack but it was still large enough to cause some severe damage nonetheless.

Freed, meanwhile, arced towards Zancrow and readied his sword. Zancrow lobbed a huge ball of black fire at him, but with one eye glowing dark purple he cried, "YAMI NO ECRITURE: KYOZETSU!" He slashed the blade across the incoming attack and a bright rune appeared across the surface of the fire for a split second, sending it crashing back the way it had come to wash over Zancrow and propel him backwards to the ground, skidding himself to a halt by digging his fingers into the turf. But even as he stood up, Freed was already upon him, taking advantage of his brief opportunity to carve his sword down with an additional cry of, "METSU!"

Zancrow's hand lashed out to seize the sword blade, the weapon cutting deep into his palm. But even though that didn't seem to affect him much the huge blast of purple energy that erupted from the blade a split second later did, tearing his hand free and sending him hurtling away to dig a trench through the ground with his body as he went. Freed didn't stop to wait and see where he ended up - instead he veered himself back up to rejoin Natsu and Lisanna as the Dragon Slayer was seized by Happy before he could fall.

"Come on! This way!" Natsu cried, as Happy steered him away.

"What's going on, Natsu?" Freed asked, even as he and Lisanna fell into line behind him without a second thought. "Are we retreating?"

"Regrouping," Natsu replied. "Apparently the First wants us to meet up with the others on the beach."

"Who?" Freed blinked, having not met the ghost of Mavis yet.

"They're coming after us," Lisanna noted without answering the question, looking over her shoulder. It seemed that their dual strikes had given them a headstart on Azuma and Zancrow but the both of them were still going strong and were chasing after them now - the God Slayer motoring across the ground at high speed while Azuma transported himself rapidly from tree to tree.

"Look, there's Lucy up ahead!" Happy shouted, and indeed he was right - they were catching up with Lucy and Harry's group as they barrelled towards the beach up ahead.

"They're not going fast enough to evade those two behind us," Lisanna pointed out. "Quick, let's take a detour, make sure they're not attacked."

"Good idea," Natsu nodded as Happy arced away to the side, with the others in pursuit, drawing Zancrow and Azuma the long way round as they went.


Voldemort leered as he spun himself around unleashed a powerful shockwave from his wand that crashed straight into Aquarius and floored her, the Water Bearer crashing down onto her back and rolling away a short distance. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Dark Lord surged forwards towards Harry, turning aside his attempt an an Impediment Jinx and seized him by the neck, his wand arcing up and over to point straight between Harry's eyes.

"I'd rather have an audience for the moment I finally kill you, Harry Potter," he sneered. "But don't worry - I'll be sure to present your corpse to Dumbledore when I am done."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Harry grinned, and Voldemort blinked in surprise as his eyes turned black and he suddenly popped loose of Voldemort's grip by poofing into two small blue creatures outside the reach of his fingers. "I think our job keeping you distracted is done," Gemini said, before they vanished back to the Spirit World.

It took Voldemort a second to process the fact he'd been tricked.

Then…

"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed in frustration, his hand squeezing his wand so hard it was a wonder he didn't snap it in two. Moments later and he was struck head on by a tidal wave from Aquarius' urn that heaved him backwards, tumbling over and over in the flood and thrashing to break free and get some air. Aquarius watched him go with a smirk but Voldemort was eventually able to right himself and Disapparate, vanishing from the wave and from Aquarius' sight.

The mermaid shouldered her urn and chuckled. "Well that was satisfying," she said. "But I guess there's not much more I can do here either."

She turned to look in the direction that the others had fled, a sombre smile on her face.

"Good luck, Lucy," she murmured, before she vanished in a shower of sparks.


Things were still as violent as ever back on the rocks next to the beach. Bluenote had taken his battle up into the sky, using his gravity mage to keep himself off the floor, but Laxus, Mirajane and Juvia had all followed him up there, swirling all around him and striking at him from any angle they could.

Wendy caught Ultear in a windstorm before the Time Mage aged the ground beneath Wendy's feet and caused her to tumble into a deep pit, before whirling around the manually block a punch that Gray had sent her way and grunting as it encased her arms in ice, only for the ice to melt a second later.

Meredy leapt into a backwards somersault to avoid Elfman's fists smashing down upon her and swung a volley of swords at him, only for Elfman to turn to stone thanks to Evergreen's eyes so the swords bounced harmlessly off him, the Beast returning to normal as soon as the attack stopped.

Caprico had managed to grab hold of two of Bickslow's dolls and was allowing them to lift him into the air, his legs lashing out to kick the other dolls away until Pantherlily swept his blade up from beneath him and he was forced to heave himself out of the way and twist aside as the two dolls he'd been holding opened fire on him again.

Gajeel was slammed onto his back by a powerful blow from Kain but even as he did so his feet lanced out as Iron Dragon Clubs to crash into the big man's stomach at the same time, knocking him back with the wind smashed out of him, though he was still able to defend himself from a volley of Gajeel's spears but turning himself into what looked like diamond.

Cana's Allosaurus had latched its teeth around the Gale Belfast's neck and pinned it down against the cliff, allowing Cana herself to leap from the saddle and run up the dinosaur's neck to thrust her spear into the roof of the Gale Belfast's wide mouth.

Rustyrose leapt backwards just in time to avoid a flaming sword from Erza in her Flame Empress Armour, but the Titania gracefully spun around and Requip into her Purgatory Armour, ruthlessly slamming her spiked sword down atop him and driving him down into the ground beneath the shield he'd managed to conjure just in time, though she was forced to dodge away a second later as his Jet Black Sword arced out from behind the shield and sought to impale her.

And it was all this that Mavis Vermillion flew over next as she rushed back towards the beach.

"FAIRY TAIL TO ME!" she shouted, her voice registering with all the Fairy Tail mages (and Laxus) but unnoticed by anyone from Grimoire Heart. "FALL BACK TO THE BEACH! WE HAVE TO PROTECT THE STUDENTS!"

As one, the Fairy Tail mages backed away from their opponents and looked over to the beach, the colossal explosions tearing their way across the sand from the two simultaneous battles going on there. Morgana ripping the air asunder in her ferocious duel with Gildarts and Dumbledore while Hades hurled Makarov backwards with a spectacular blast of Amaterasu Magic. Most of them had been two pre-occupied to notice Hades' return to the island but what drew their eye the most were the terrified students huddled together in the surf, most of them cowering under the relentless bursts of magic that pounded down dangerously close to them from almost all sides. McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout stood at the fore with wands out, but they all knew that if either of the battles got too close there wasn't a thing they could do to defend their charges from such spectacular firepower.

Erza kicked herself off from Rustyrose's shield and raised her sword high. "To the beach!" she yelled. "We must drive them back before someone gets killed! Come on!"

And without another word she rushed forwards, clad in her Soaring Armour, and whooshed across the rocks towards the beach. And with various degrees of reluctance the other Fairy Tail mages hurried after her, abandoning their previous battles. But not without a couple of parting shots, as seen when Gajeel slammed himself into Kain one last time before scooping the injured Levy up in his arms bridal style and dashing after Erza, or when Laxus hammered both his hands into the top of Bluenote's head and sent him crashing back towards the ground while the Lightning Mage himself twisted himself through the air and away. Gray formed an ice slide across the ground that allowed him to rush away before Ultear could stop him while Evergreen and Pantherlily seized their respective battle partners and took them to the air. Not to mention Cana's Allosaurus thundered through Grimoire Heart's ranks, forcing Rustyrose to dodge away to avoid being squashed underfoot.

But the Grimoire Heart mages were quick to let them go, mostly because they were rather distracted themselves. Rustyrose and Kain in particular were staring, wide-eyed, in the direction of Master Hades.

"I… I don't… believe it…" Rustyrose whispered, unable to fathom what he was seeing. "He's… He's really here."

"That's not one of your imaginary creations then?" Kain asked, with what could only be described as desperate hope.

"No… that's the real deal!"

"She did it," Kain whispered. "She fulfilled her promise. She brought him back from the dead! Woo-wee! She said she was going to but… I didn't dare… I didn't think…"

"None of us did," Bluenote growled as he strode forwards, nursing the top of his head and limping slightly but not out for the count yet by any means. "But if Master Hades is back, there's only one thing for us to do. Come. To the aid of our Master!"

And with that, the Grimoire Heart mages - real and imagined alike, hurried forwards as one in pursuit of Fairy Tail.


Another burst of chains from Hades' hands that sought to wrap around Makarov's neck was stopped short when Erza streaked in from the side and slashed clean through them. The Titania whipped around at blazing speed and flung herself at Hades, but despite the unexpected interruption to his battle he moved with speed, seizing both of Erza's twin swords before she could hack them in at him. He heaved Erza around and threw her away, then wrapped a chain around her feet before she could land and dragged her in a full circle across the sand, until something fiery came crashing down on him from above.

"HAAAAAADEEEEEEEESSSSSS!" Natsu cried as he slammed his fist down on the back of the Second Master's head. Hades was bent double by the attack and released his grip on Erza, but he twisted around sharply and hammered his elbow into Natsu's gut, knocking spittle out of him before seizing him by the face and tossing him away. Both Natsu and Erza were able to roll back to their feet even as Makarov pushed himself back up as well.

"Erza… Natsu…" Makarov grunted, clutching his stomach and smiling despite his extremely battered body. "Thank Mavis you're both alright. Is everyone…?"

"We're all fine, Master," Erza nodded with a wide smile. "Every one of us is alive and well."

Hades raised a brow and smirked, leaping backwards to dodge a dual strike from behind from Lisanna and Freed, the both of them skidding to a halt alongside their companions (with Makarov blinking in surprise at Lisanna's new form) even as Azuma and Zancrow bounded down the rocks behind Hades. Not far away, Morgana found herself under attack as well as Wendy swept in, carried by Charla, and aimed a wind-fuelled kick for her face. The witch blocked it easily with both her arms, but it pulsed her back a little and she was forced transport herself out of the way as Juvia, Gray and Mirajane all struck attacks down on her at once.

And at about the same time, Harry and his group finally emerged from the trees, pausing momentarily to watch as the Fairy Tail mages began to bunch together, forming a protective semi-circle around the other students. Seizing Harry's arm, Sirius cried, "Come on, let's get down there quickly. Before…"

*CRACK*

Voldemort appeared not far away and looked around quickly, spotting Harry and the others and raising his wand in a bid to cast a fatal spell before any of them could react. But a loud crashing sound rent the air and he only had a split second to realise that a huge blast of lightning was careening down towards him and he Disapparated again moments before it struck the spot where he'd just been.

"You lot better move your asses," Laxus suggested as he landed next to them. Harry blinked, gaping openly at the huge lightning shaped scar that cut its way across Laxus' face, but both Ron and Hermione seized his arms and pushed him forwards, with Remus and Sirius leading the way down the rocks and running pell-mell across the remnants of the beach as the other Fairy Tail mages closed the gaps in the semi-circle.

"Harry!" Dumbledore cried when he spotted the young boy and darted over towards him at a surprising turn of speed for such an elderly man. He gripped Harry's shoulder and appeared to check him over for injuries. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Harry nodded. "But Voldemort… and Morgana…"

"I am aware," Dumbledore nodded, ushering Harry quickly into the protective circle only for Harry to turn around and push himself into place as one of the protectors between Lisanna and Lucy. And he wasn't the only one. Ron, Hermione and Neville all did the same, standing shoulder

to shoulder with other Fairy Tail members, their wands drawn and bravely pointed outwards. Sirius, Remus and Hagrid all did the same, as did the other teachers and some of the less injured members of the DA which included Fred and Ginny. The latter ended up next to Harry himself, glowering out defiantly at Hades even though she was quite clearly as scared as most of the other DA members behind her.

"Ginny, you should get back," Harry suggested.

"Are you?" Ginny glanced at him out the corner of her eye. "I'll be damned if I'm just going to stand back there cowering like a little girl. If you're stupid enough to stand up here at the front and defy these guys then so am I. Even if…"

She trailed off when suddenly Voldemort himself re-appeared with a loud crack on the edge of the beach, standing imperiously on top of one of the few remaining large rocks in the area and his blood-red eyes glowering down at the amassed defenders. Ginny trailed off, unable to tear her eyes away from the Dark Lord… and the same was true for everyone else from the DA. They were transfixed, eyes and mouths agape with horror. Most of them had never seen this man before, but they knew on sight who he was.

Harry almost laughed humourlessly. "Well… I guess if there's anyone here who still thought I was making it up when I said he was back… that's not the case anymore."

"Unfortunately their realisation will be short-lived, Harry," Voldemort stated as he moved forward, his wand poised like a serpent ready to strike even as the Grimoire Heart mages began to gather around, forming a wall of their own to stand directly across from the defenders. "Not a single one of them will be leaving this island to tell others about it. Tell me, was it your idea to bring them all on this fun little field trip? I rather hope it was. All their deaths will be on your hands if that's the case."

Neville visibly winced, trying his absolute best not to melt into a puddle of fear. He would have almost certainly fallen to his knees if Gray hadn't gripped his shoulder to both reassure him and hold him up.

But after that there was something of a lull in the fighting for the first time. It was not lost on any of the Fairy Tail mages that even though every single one of them that had been on Tenroujima when Acnologia had attacked was now reassembled for the first time, before them stood every member of Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory, also reformed for the first time right before their eyes, along with the Master and Ace of the guild. Granted not all of them were real… or alive… and Fairy Tail outnumbered them by almost two to one. But they'd already proven well on two separate occasions that even with lesser numbers they would not be easy opponents to take down.

The air was gradually supercharging, each side now waiting to see if the other would make the first move.

And the first to move turned out to be Morgana, who strode out away from her compatriots to stand alone before the assembled defenders.

"Mages of Fairy Tail," she smiled, opening her arms wide and almost invitingly. "I now offer you a choice. Again, I feel I know what the answer will be, but I feel that I must offer it all the same."

"And what choice would you have to offer us exactly?" Makarov asked, taking a single step forward and speaking on behalf of his entire guild.

"Quite simple. You can continue to resist us, or you can step aside. This may be your island on which we stand right now but it is not your world. You have no place here and its affairs do not concern you, which means you have no reason to fight for it. Especially since you are currently fighting to stop the Queen from assuming her own rightful throne. If anything that makes you rebels in a world you do not belong in.

"If you step aside now, and do not resist us in any way then I promise you all amnesty. Not a single one of you will not be harmed. Not only that, but I have made a promise to find a way to send Grimoire Heart back home as soon as I have accumulated enough power to do so. And I offer you the same. I will not ask you to fight for me, but as long as you don't fight against me I will allow you to go home as soon as I find a way to let you. But continue to fight me and I will see to it that each of you will remain in this world forever… buried in its earth."

"You would let us all go in peace?" Makarov raised a brow, before his gaze turned to Hades. "And what the assembled men and women of Grimoire Heart lined up behind you? Are they so willing to offer us the same terms?"

Hades' moustache twitched as he smirked. "The Lady Morgana and I have already discussed this, Makarov. And I happen to agree with her judgement."

"Master? What are you saying? Should we not crush them while we can?" Rustyrose protested, but Hades raised a hand and cut him off before he could say any more.

"Fighting in the name of vengeance is nothing but petty, Rustyrose," he said gruffly. "Our previous quarrel with Fairy Tail was only because it was their island upon which Zeref was hiding himself. Had that not been the case we would have had no need to start war with them. Now the situation has changed and if anything, Fairy Tail has the same goal as we do now. To go home. Why fight each other when we both want the same thing? It is illogical. Which is why I suggest you comply with the Lady Morgana's terms, Makarov. Whatever fight exists between Fairy Tail and Grimoire Heart… it could be put on hold until we are both back where we belong. You only need to say the word."

Makarov's brow furrowed, clearly sceptical. But before he could say anything or even think it over, Natsu took a step forward, his teeth bared and his scarf billowing out behind him a rush of heat that enveloped his body.

"Fat chance of any of us taking your stupid deal, Hades," he growled. "Sure I wanna get home to the guild but we've already made friends with the people of this world. People these bozos want to grind into the dirt beneath their heels," he jabbed a finger accusingly at Morgana and Voldemort. "No way we're gonna abandon them to them. And definitely not to you."

"That's right," Lucy agreed fiercely. "They took us in and gave us places to stay when we needed them most. Our place in this fight was cemented the moment they did that."

"Plus it's not just them. There a whole damn world at stake here," Gray snarled. "We'd never sleep easy again if let you run riot through it even if everyone in this dimension was a total asshole."

"And it wouldn't be the first time we've found ourselves in another world and done our part to free it from oppression and make it a better place," Erza declared.

"A Man does not sit back and let destruction happen right in front of him," Elfman growled.

"And we won't be letting you punks off easy after the crap you pulled our island, twice," Gajeel clenched his fist.

"And when we've beaten you all once again, we'll find our own way back," Lisanna nodded. "We don't need that witch's help for that. No matter how long it takes us, we'll find it."

Makarov chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, it appears my brats have spoken. But even if they hadn't, I would agree with them. Fairy Tail will never turn a blind eye to the suffering of others, Precht. As a Founding Father of the guild, you should know that."

"Well then, the road ahead is clear," Morgana smirked. "As they say in this day and age, it is your funeral. You stand in our way, so every one of you will be destroyed. I won't even let the cats survive."

Everyone on the battlefield immediately tensed, including several Death Eaters who had regained consciousness and moved to join up with their Lord while the others had been talking. The ground began to rumble as both sides prepared their magic, everyone waiting for the first move to be made and spark an astronomical showdown between both sides, with Mavis invisibly hovering over her side with her hands clasped together, preparing a Fairy Sphere to enclose the injured students if need be.

But just as Natsu was about to make that first move:-

"HHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRR!"

Hands slammed over ears as the air almost seemed torn apart by the spectacular roar that echoed across the entire island. Morgana was one of the few who didn't cover her ears but she was instantly on the alert, gasping and stepping back to look around wildly. "That roar," she gasped. "I… I know that roar!"

"So do I," Lisanna realised, her eye instantly being drawn up to the sky. "It's…"

WHHHOOOOOOOOOSSSHHHH!

A massive plume of fire gushed past the enormous Tenrou Tree like a falling meteor aiming itself right for the beach. But then an enormous shape powered itself out of the flames, great wings beating shockwaves in the air, enormous fangs bared and bronze scales glinting in the light of the sun. Screams tore from the mouths of several Hogwarts students while everyone else gaped in open astonishment as the massive dragon arced its way above their heads to momentarily bathe them all in his shadow.

"KILGHARRAH!" Lisanna cheered. "IT'S KILGHARRAH!"

"OH YEAH!" Natsu whooped, pumping both his fists into the air at the same time. "WAY TO GO, OLD MAN DRAGON!"

"NO!" Morgana screamed, her face creased with fury as the dragon beat his wings to come around for another pass. "NOT YOU! NOT NOW! SOMEBODY ATTACK HIM!"

The Inferious Zancrow bounded forwards and blasted a huge burst of black flames from his mouth up at the incoming dragon. Kilgharrah swept one claw out and brushed it aside as it it was an irritating fly and swooped low over the beach, the slipstream of his wings knocking several people off their feet as he slammed his tail down into the sand, sweeping it towards the Grimoire Heart members, Voldemort and Morgana and forcing them to leap or transport themselves away, but it still struck Zancrow and the fake Ultear head on and smashed them both backwards. The fake Meredy lashed a volley of Maguilty Sodom blades up at him while Rustyrose fired his Jet Black Sword, only for both to bounce right off his scales completely harmlessly as he veered around again.

"Wha-!?" Rustyrose gasped. "But… But my Jet Black Sword can cut through anything! How…?"

THUD! THUD!

Kilgharrah swept himself around to land upon the beach, stalking his way back towards the action like world's most enormous lizard, his wings held wide like shields blocking out the light. Bluenote hurried forwards and increased the gravity exponentially and these seemed to have an effect upon the great lizard, squashing him down upon his belly and flattening his wings to the sand, but even as his chin was pushed down to the ground his still belched forth a massive burst of flame from his mouth that rushed down the beach, cannoned Bluenote backwards with a roar of pain and sought to engulf Morgana and all of her allies at once. Morgana desperately threw up a magical shield that funnelled the flames up into the sky like a geyser, though she was obviously hard pressed to maintain it and was pushed to her knees with the effort of doing so.

"DAMN YOU!" Morgana bellowed at him when the flames finally diminished. "DAMN YOU, GREAT DRAGON! WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO MESS WITH ME EVEN NOW!?"

"You should know the answer to that, Morgana," Kilgharrah's rich voice rolled over them all, striking awe into everybody who was actually from this universe. "As long as you continue to fight for your own selfishness, we dragons will be here to do our part in putting an end to it!"

"We dragons!?" Morgana gasped, taking another step back in sudden fear. "Then…!?"

Suddenly she noticed she'd once again been submerged in shadow and her head snapped upwards just in time to see another massive shape come surging down towards them from directly above, dropping down upon them like a dragon-shaped bomb and spitting flames before it as it went. Another shield was swiftly erected, this time aided by some of Azuma's branches, but again the flames were only just barely stopped and they tore through Azuma's defence like fire through paper. The other dragon veered off and twisted itself around in a manner far more agile than Kilgharrah. It was smaller than him but still massive, and its scales were pure white which heavily reminded Wendy of her own Sky Dragon mother, Grandine. But this was not Grandine - it was more lizard-like in appearance and had no feathers.

"…You…!" Morgana growled at her, if anything looking even more angry than when Kilgharrah had appeared.

"Long time, no see. Right, Morgana?" the other dragon smirked in a voice that was quite clearly female. Her long slender neck arced upwards as her nostrils belched smoke. "Would have been nicer if our time apart could have been quite a bit longer if you catch my drift."

"Aithusa…" Lisanna whispered. "That's… she must be the other Old Dragon Kilgharrah mentioned - Aithusa."

"I can't believe it," Hagrid was practically crying. "I can't believe what I'm seeing here."

"Nor can I," said Dumbledore. "And believe me, that's saying something."

But… why are they here? Lisanna thought, extending her mind outwards to tap into her telepathy. Did you lot have something to do with this?

You're welcome, Igneel chuckled. Soon as we realised Morgana and Master Hades had joined the battle we reached out and called for them.

We didn't expect them to get here quite so fast but that was pretty good timing, Grandine agreed. And since this is an extremely remote location they decided to come and lend a claw.

Ssh, I'm trying to watch the awesomeness! Metalicana chided the others, just as both Kilgharrah and Aithusa flung themselves forwards, half-running and half-flying, to propel themselves in towards the enemy from either side even as Fairy Tail tightened their circle and stepped back into the surf to try and keep the students out of the firing line.

Morgana raised her hand above her head, her teeth gritting as clouds gathered in the air far above her and she magically hurled a cascade of lightning down, bending it to her will and launching it at the incoming Aithusa. She pulled to a halt and folded her wings over her face, just as the lightning hurtled into her at full force. At the same time, Hades stepped forward to face the Kilgharrah, his hand sweeping into a rapid pattern and several enormous seals whipping into existence around the Great Dragon, consuming him in a spectacular blast of purple energy that rocketed skywards to the height of the Tenrou Tree itself and threw most of the nearest people to it backwards even when they were a good fifty feet away.

And yet moments later Kilgharrah stepped from the smoke while Aithusa lowered her wings, both the dragons shaking their heads slightly but otherwise completely unharmed.

"Well, that was unexpected," Kilgharrah noted. "I haven't felt magic powerful enough to give me an itch like that in a millennium."

"But that kind of thing didn't work on us then, Morgana. And it won't work on us now," Aithusa agreed.

"You traitorous lizard!" Morgana growled at the white dragon.

"You're right, I was. The day I healed you," Aithusa's yellow eyes narrowed. Then she surged into the air, Kilgharrah doing the same, and twin infernos pulsing down upon Morgana, Voldemort, and all the Grimoire Heart mages simultaneously, raging torrents of fire on such a massive scale that the heat was almost blistering even to the dragons' allies, making many of them jump into the sea in a bid to cool off.

Split second judgement alone saved the entire group from being melted in the furnace. Morgana whirled around and seized Master Hades, using her magic to transport them both away while Voldemort and any of his Death Eaters still standing Disapparated quickly. That left most of Grimoire Heart in the firing line right up until Rustyrose screamed, "CAPRICO!"

The goat-man clapped his hands together and suddenly all of the Grimoire Heart members vanished into thin air, along with all the unconscious Death Eaters in the area. He sprouted a slender, winged jetpack from nowhere and zipped himself out of the way, carrying the others with him in the same way Erza carried her armours everywhere she went in an alternate dimension. The twin bolts of fire gushed down over where they had all just been a fraction of a second after Caprico zipped out of the way, his tufted tail still catching fire and forcing him to put it out.

"…Jeez…" Gray whispered, trying to create an icy floor in a bid to keep everyone cool only for it to melt almost instantly. "These guys… they're incredible."

"And now I see where my magical resistance comes from in this form," Lisanna whispered. No wonder she had even survived the Killing Curse if Kilgharrah could shrug off such a spectacular blow from Master Hades as if it was nothing. All of Fairy Tail were remembering well how absolutely none of their attacks, even those of the Dragon Slayers, had affected Acnologia at all. It seemed these two dragons of the Old Religion were little different in that regard.

Morgana, who had re-appeared nearby, cursed. She knew full well there was no way that any of the people around her had a hope of beating Kilgharrah or Aithusa. Even together their chances were slim. So instead she yelled, "MAKE FOR THE AIRSHIP! WE HAVE TO RETREAT! PICK UP AS MANY OF OUR FORCES AS YOU CAN ON THE WAY!"

"You heard her!" Hades called up to Caprico as he zinged across the sky above. "We fall back to fight another day."

"Yes, Master Hades," Caprico nodded and zipped his way off through the trees, Aithusa curving around to follow him and her long neck snaking through the branches to snap her jaws down just shy of his hooves and blast flame into the trees after him, which he was only just able to avoid. Kilgharrah descended hard upon Morgana and Hades, and if they hadn't transported themselves away at the last second his foot would had crushed them flat, though it did still cleave a huge pit in the ground with but a single swipe. And Voldemort dashed across the rocks, turning to give one last scathing look at Harry and debating whether to try and make one last attempt at killing him, until Kilgharrah turned his golden eyes upon him and fire billowed from his jaws after him. Voldemort rasped in Parseltongue and Nagini swept out of a nearby bush, allowing her Master to seize them and Apparate back to the airships just as the flames consumed the back of his black cloak, forcing him to put them out with water from his wand when he arrived.

Caprico zinged his way through the trees, scouting out and finding more unconscious or confused Death Eaters and scooping them up into his Recall space before he made his way to the ship, guided there by Rustyrose's thought processes. By the time he arrived, Hades had already got it off the ground, mentally controlling it to rise high and swing around to face the dragons while Caprico landed and released those he'd recalled onto the deck, including Ultear and Meredy before all three of the imagined members disappeared into thin air.

The battle zone was a good distance away from where the airship had been parked but the dragons spotted it anyway and rushed into the air towards him, sweeping in like two enormous homing pigeons and fire cascading from their jaws in preparation for another attack.

But the ship got one in first, Hades thrusting his hand forward to extend the immense Jupiter cannon on the top. The immense blast that erupted from the tip was easily avoided by both dragons until suddenly Kilgharrah realised that its trajectory meant it would crash right into the spot where the wizards, witches and mages were gathered. His immediate response was to veer himself around and get in front of the blast allowing it to strike him head-on and plough him backwards a little, beating his wings furiously to keep it from reaching its target. Aithusa ploughed on ahead but Hades and Bluenote acted together to slow her up - huge chains lashing from Hades' hands to seize her back feet while the other ends fired back to the island and embedded themselves in deep in the rock. This, combined with an intense wave of Bluenote's gravity magic, was enough to jerk her to a halt as the ship turned itself around.

"Fire up the engines!" Hades commanded and Rustyrose and Azuma were quick to do just that. Without further ado the ship rushed into the distance at its top speed which was an incredibly fast pace. And by the time Aithusa had broken herself free of the rocks and Kilgharrah had got himself back into the air - his scales blackened but otherwise fine - the ship was nowhere to be seen.

"They got away," Aithusa grumbled to her compatriot. "Ugh, if we'd only been a bit quicker, you and I could have ended it here and now, gramps."

"How many times must I tell you not to call me that, hatchling?" Kilgharrah rolled his golden eyes. "Regardless, perhaps we could have ended it, but it seems Morgana has not lost her talent from being able to hide from our eyes when she wishes to. And you know as well as I do that…"

"…That everything happens for a reason. Yeah, yeah, I know," the white dragon chuckled. "Still, that was fun even if it was brief."

"Come. There are things we must discuss with the humans," Kilgharrah rumbled, steering himself around and leading the way back down to the beach.


Even most of the Fairy Tail mages were lost for words as the dragons came in to land heavily in front of them. The enemy that they'd been battering at for ages had been driven away almost instantly by the might of these two great creatures. But their awe was nothing compared to the Order and DA members, all of which were quite frankly gobsmacked.

"That was… just…" Ron found himself having to sit down as they stared down at the humans together. "I… I can't… b-believe…"

"I must be dreaming," whispered Hermione.

"Well I ruddy well hope I'm not dreamin'!" Hagrid yelled, rushing forwards and actually bouncing on the balls of his feet like a five year old in a sweet shop, looking up at the two dragons in unsuppressed delight. "I've been dreamin' abou' this kind of encounter for all my life so please tell me this ain't one of 'em. Are you really dragons from the olden days? Like what Lisanna said still existed?"

"That we are, half-giant," Kilgharrah chuckled. "I am the one who trained her to unlock her Dragon Soul magic myself."

"Yer magnificent!" Hagrid exulted without the slightest hint of hesitancy. "Yeh have ter be the most amazin' creatures I've ever clapped eyes on. I… I'm just… I have no words ter describe this moment."

"Oh go on, do try," Aithusa chuckled, lowering her snout and actually nuzzling at him, crooning as she allowed him to tentatively pat her between her nostrils. "I do miss being praised by mortals and I've decided I rather like you."

Hagrid looked as though he might faint with happiness.

"Thank you so much for coming to our rescue, the both of you," Lisanna smiled as she stepped forwards as well, some of the other, bolder members of the group following behind her at a short distance. "Who knows what would have happened if you hadn't turned up right then?"

"Yeah, but how did you know we needed help?" Natsu asked excitedly, a question which made Lisanna tense nervously, remembering well what Igneel had said would happen if Natsu found out that his dragon father was inside him.

"We didn't," Kilgharrah lied smoothly, also remembering well. "The Old Religion told us to come to this area and when we saw what was happening we reacted accordingly, young Dragon Slayer. A pity it didn't warn us they had an airship to escape the island upon or we would have been sure to find and destroy that first."

Yeah, we didn't know about that, Metalicana's voice echoed in Lisanna's head. Pity that, would have been helpful to try trapping them here.

"So these are the ones then?" Aithusa asked, regarding not only Lisanna and Natsu but also Gajeel and Wendy - the other two dragon-raised mages having stepped closer to the front as well. "Wow… you're very small aren't you?" she poked her nose in close to Wendy and smiled at her toothily. "Quite a bitesize little Dragon Slayer, ain'tcha?"

"Um… I guess…" Wendy whispered, reverently dipping her head. "It's… it's so nice to meet you. To hear a dragon's voice again after… after so long."

"Eh, Metalicana's bigger than the both of you," Gajeel shrugged. Though he then frowned and murmured, "Although maybe he just seemed it cos I was smaller back then."

"Hey, Lisanna, do you think you could get a Dragon Soul form for this one as well?" Natsu asked excitedly. "Er… what's your name again?"

"Aithusa," the white dragon snorted a poof of smoke into Natsu's face cheekily. "And oh yes, most certainly she could get a form of me, but there probably wouldn't be much point if she did. My magic is exactly the same as Kilgharrah's and… as he is fond of reminding me… he is older and more powerful than I am anyway so it wouldn't really help her any."

"I remind you that I am only fond of pointing out you are younger than I, not that I am stronger," Kilgharrah cleared his huge throat. "Regardless, it is nice to view everyone here with my own eyes at last." His gaze lingered for a moment on Harry, who noticed and took a step backwards. There weren't many things that made him nervous anymore but he was still trying to fathom that he was standing in front of a talking dragon, and that even it appeared to glance specifically towards his forehead which left Harry under no illusion that this dragon knew exactly who he was. "Very interesting indeed," Kilgharrah mused without taking his eyes away from the young boy. "Now I am seeing you all, I think it is clear… that we can expect great things from you."

Harry swallowed. This dragon reminded him of the wand-maker Ollivander. Heck, even his voice sounded slightly similar.

The next to speak was Makarov, the tiny Master clearing his throat and stepping forwards alongside Dumbledore and looking up to the dragons. "Frankly I still don't understand the full extent of this situation," Makarov replied. "But you dragons have my sincerest thanks."

"And mine," Dumbledore agreed. "I would rather not dwell on what could have happened if you had not appeared but I there is a high chance that one if not several of my students would have lost their lives."

"Our pleasure," Aithusa rumbled. "We haven't had a chance to rampage like that for quite some time. Humans and your ridiculous levels of urbanisation mean we haven't been able to find any places to go all out where someone's house wouldn't be destroyed. This island is a refreshing change of pace."

"Indeed," Kilgharrah noted as he lay down upon his stomach, actually crossing one of his front legs over the other casually and lowering his head close to the two elderly masters. "But still, there are things we must discuss. You are Makarov Dreyar and Albus Dumbledore, are you not?"

"That is correct," Dumbledore nodded. "How did you know this?"

"We dragons have the gift of far sight. We know a great many things. Not everything of course, but many things nonetheless."

"Is that so? Maybe I should hire you to teach Divination then."

Kilgharrah chuckled. "Oh I can only imagine the look on the faces of the students. But more to the point… am I correct in assuming that there was one amongst the enemy who really ought not to have been there? Or more precisely… should have been dead?"

"I do not know," Makarov mused, turning back to look at the others questioningly. "Was there?"

"Well…" Lisanna cleared her throat. "We had heard that Master Hades had been killed by Zeref before this whole disaster that sucked us into another world began. But I guess we must have been mistaken…"

"Master Hades," Kilgharrah interrupted. "He was the elderly man with the long beard who hit me with that purple magic?"

"Indeed, that was him," Makarov nodded.

"I thought so. There was no mistake in what you heard. That man most definitely died."

"But how is that possible?" Dumbledore frowned, while Makarov took a step backwards in disbelief, the shocking news that the Second Master had been killed passing through him like a bombshell. "There is no spell that can truly revive the dead."

"Then you have answered the question right there. He has not truly been resurrected."

"What do you mean?"

"Tell me, Headmaster," Kilgharrah murmured sombrely. "What do you know of Sir Lancelot?"

"…You are referring to one of the Knights of the Round Table from the reign of King Arthur?"

"I am indeed. What do you know about him?"

This was an odd question from Dumbledore's viewpoint but he decided to play ball. "Accounts about him differ as with most aspects of Arthurian Legend, but most agree that he was the bravest and most noble of all of King Arthur's knights. One who would lay down his life for his King without hesitation if necessary. But it also says that he was in love with Arthur's Queen, Guinevere, and that the two of them had an affair. Some accounts say that there was no love between the marriage of Arthur and Guinevere so Arthur tried to cover up the affair when he found about it without attempting to stop it. Others say that Lancelot eventually snapped and tried to steal Guinevere away."

"Much of that is correct," Kilgharrah said, almost nostalgically. "And much of it is not. It is certainly true that Lancelot was the bravest and most noble of the Knights of the Round Table. And he did indeed lay down his life for his King and his friends without hesitation. But when it comes to his relationship with Queen Guinevere, the accounts are mostly wrong. He did love her, but Guinevere and Arthur were in love with each other. And though Guinevere did once have feelings for Lancelot, he would never have tried to interfere with the marriage of his King and Queen. Not of his own free will anyway.

But Morgana… she was another story. As you have no doubt observed she is convinced that the throne of Albion is hers by right. And Guinevere used to be her servant girl, back in the days she actually lived in Camelot with Arthur. She was filled with revulsion at the idea that Guinevere would become Queen. And by the time Arthur proposed to Guinevere, Lancelot had already died. Which was why Morgana used a Coin of Necromancy, forged by the High Priestesses of the Old Religion, to resurrect Lancelot as a Shade."

"A Shade?" Dumbledore frowned, his brow creasing in worry. "I have heard of such creatures, but nobody believes they exist anymore."

"That is because they haven't for thousands of years. Necromancy is not only one of the darkest magical arts but also one of the most complex. And a Shade is a resurrected soul that inhabits its former body, but it has absolutely no free will of its own. It is but a servant of the one who resurrected it, following their every instruction without question and to the letter. I suppose you could compare it to the Imperius Curse but it is not the same, as the Shade was literally born to serve.

"That is why Lancelot, who would never do anything to harm Arthur or Guinevere of his own accord, went back to Camelot and made up a story to explain how he was still alive, then used a magical bracelet to enchant Guinevere and have an affair with her while deliberately making sure Arthur found out about it. It was all Morgana's cruel plan to split Arthur and Guinevere up out of pure spite and for a time it even worked. But it left an unfortunate stain on Lancelot's reputation that time has been unable to wash away."

"They didn't realise he was a Shade?" Dumbledore asked.

"At the time, magic was still outlawed in Camelot and Merlin was still keeping his power secret. There was no way he could prove to Arthur that Lancelot was a Shade without magical means, which forced him to keep quiet about it. By the time Arthur learned the truth about Merlin and could finally be told the truth, the damage to Lancelot's memory was done."

"That is excruciatingly cruel."

"But…" Makarov whispered. "Are you saying that Master Precht… or Hades, rather… has become a Shade? Just like this Lancelot person?"

"That is what I am saying, yes," Kilgharrah nodded. "There was a spike in power from the Old Religion earlier today that could only have come from someone gaining access to the Realm of the Dead. The old Hades is essentially gone. What you saw was his real body, and it even had his real soul inside it. But now he is nothing but Morgana's servant. He will mindlessly follow her to the ends of the Earth, if she wills it."

"It was in the news that one of the Death Eaters, Bellatrix, stole a strange coin from a Muggle museum this week," Dumbledore mused.

"But why!?" Makarov growled. "Why would she do this to him?"

"Morgana is manipulative," Aithusa took over the narrative bitterly. "She always has been. She believes herself the unquestionable ruler of all she surveys but she's clever enough not to make everyone around her think the same. Voldemort… no doubt she has promised him that the two of them will rule together, but she considers him nothing but her underling now. She'll use sweet, seductive words to make him think they are equals in her mind and she may even be planning to keep that charade up after she becomes a conqueror. Or she may decide to dispose of him when she no longer has need of his services and install a loyalist in his place.

"As for Grimoire Heart… well… it is likely Morgana realised that they would never agree to become her servants. She wants them to be, but they are powerful enough to challenge her so she wouldn't try to outright suppress them. And that is why she has chosen to resurrect their leader in such a manner. Grimoire Heart follows Master Hades without question… and now Master Hades follows Morgana without question. She's using him as a tool to subjugate Grimoire Heart to her cause without them realising she's doing it."

"…Manipulative doesn't even begin to describe that," whispered Erza in horror, which was echoed across the faces of most of the people around her.

"But… won't they realise what she's doing?" Wendy asked hopefully. "Won't they guess that their guild master is a Shade now?"

"Unlikely," Kilgharrah stated. "Shades possess much of their former personality and if Morgana wishes for Hades to make the others believe that he and Morgana are partners rather than master and servant, that is what Hades will do. The biggest flaw in using Shades in this manner is that Shades don't have perfect memories of their past lives - they remember only what their summoner knows about the people around them. That is how Merlin discovered something was wrong with Lancelot. Lancelot was one of the few who knew Merlin had magic but Morgana did not know, which meant that Lancelot did not know either when he became a Shade. But no doubt Morgana has been using the last few days to surreptitiously grill the Grimoire Heart members around her for information about Hades, quizzing them about their relationship with him and his past, to make minimise the chance of one of them figuring out something was wrong."

"…I see," Makarov whispered. "Then that explains why Precht did not remember anything about my father, Yuri. Perhaps Precht didn't mention him to any of his subordinates so they couldn't tell this Morgana about him."

"Precisely. She is asserting herself as the true leader without publicly stating it," Kilgharrah nodded. "You can't rebel against one leader when you believe that three have formed a partnership. And that is what everyone following Morgana, with the sole exception of her new Shade, now believes has happened."

"I can't believe this," Makarov clenched his fist angrily, his moustache bristling as he was filled with the urge to punch something. "Whether he formed a Dark Guild or not, Master Precht deserved better than this. To have his soul trapped in his own body and used as a mere pawn, there is nobody who deserves such a fate."

"Don't worry, Gramps," Natsu said as he stood up alongside the diminutive Master and smiled down at him. "Now that you're here, we're all back together at last. We were able to take down Grimoire Heart before and we'll find a way to do it again, along with anyone they ally themselves with in this world. Or in any world. Morgana can build the largest army ever and we'll still knock them all back. Because that's what we do, isn't it? We fight."

Makarov turned back to look out at all of his assembled children, all of whom had identical smiles to Natsu's own. Happy leaping up and down on the sand, Gajeel helping Levy stay upright, Evergreen slinging her arms around Freed and Bickslow's shoulders and pulling them in close, Lucy high-fiving Mirajane and Juvia at the same time… every one of them there together at last.

"Of course, you're right," chuckled Makarov. "And we have another reason to take this woman down. For all his faults, Precht was a founding member of our guild. A desecration on him is a desecration on our history, whether it comes from him personally or from an outside cause. And we will take this Shade down, along with all those who follow him and all those he serves. But for now, I think we've all earned a rest. And now that the fighting has died down, I do believe there are many introductions to be made."

And he was quite right. Makarov, Freed, Bickslow and Laxus all had quite a bit of catching up to do on that front. As Wendy hurried over to the DA members to quickly fix up some of the more serious injuries the others began making the rounds, introducing everyone they could to the four newcomers and swamping them with a list of names that all but Freed would take time to remember.

But Gajeel was the one to accost Harry and say, "Oi kid. I told you didn't I? That Laxus has a way bigger lightning scar than you do."

"Yeah… yeah, you did," Harry nodded, unable to deny what Gajeel said. He was currently thanking any god in existence that his scar did not sweep over his eye like that. It looked badass as heck, but it would have been absolutely impossible for him to hide it without some kind of magic to change his appearance.

"Hoh?" Laxus stepped forward, towering over Harry and staring down at him. "You've got a lightning shaped scar too have you?"

"Yes, right here," Harry nodded, pushing back his fringe enough for Laxus to get a look at it. "I've had since I was a year old… it's not as impressive as yours though, is it?"

"Why? Cos mine's bigger?" Laxus raised a brow and his own lightning scar shifted with it. "Size doesn't mean squat with a scar, kid. What matters is how you got them. Which would you prefer, a massive scar across your arm because you walked into a glass door and broke it, or a tiny scar across your nose because you just managed to dodge a swipe from some giant monster?"

"Well… that's true, I guess. But what if you wish the thing that gave you your scar never happened?" Harry asked sombrely.

"Changes nothing," Laxus shrugged. "It happened. Wishing it hadn't isn't going to do you any favours. The scar reminds you of where you came from but as long as you wish for it to be gone, you'll be doing nothing but running away. If you don't embrace the past… you can't move on to the future."

"You… sound like your talking from experience."

"Yeah well, I reckon just about everyone here has stuff from their past they wish hadn't happened. Some of us just have more of that in their pasts than others."

Before Harry could question Laxus any further, Natsu came barrelling out of nowhere to roar, "LAXUS! FIGHT ME! I'M GONNA WHOOP YOUR GWWOORK!" But he didn't get any further because Laxus had swung a lightning-covered fist at him and sent him crashing face-first into the ground.

"Guess some things never change, huh, Natsu?" Laxus smirked without looking down at the floored Fire Dragon Slayer.

"Kya-ha! Which part would that be?" Bickslow cackled as he walked over. "The part where he challenges you, or the part where you smash him down the moment he…?"

The Seith Mage stopped, his body freezing up and his gaze locking on Harry in what could clearly be described as horror. Harry started but before he could react any further Bickslow had moved closer, tearing the sallet away from his face so he could look at Harry clearly and blinking multiple times as if trying to clear his vision.

"Holy crap," Bickslow whispered, his breath rattling in sheer disbelief. "Kid… what the hell is wrong with your soul?"