"Just think of it like a giant octopus! Being on the back of an animal doesn't bother you, does it?"
"And an octopus in the woods is all kinds of wrong!"
Fairy Tail was supposed to have some of the strongest wizards in the guilds. There are even two dragon slayers! So how on Earthland is one of them being beaten by motion sickness?!
Laura stood up, careful with her balance. Lyla was further behind them but they didn't have time to help. Laura trusted her skills. Gray and Lucy were still on their stomachs trying to convince Natsu he wasn't on a vehicle so he didn't vomit instead of fight. Laura had lost her patience and would make her way to the city on Nirvana by herself.
A leg moved forward and planted itself into the ground, shaking the whole machine. Laura fell back to the floor to catch herself. Natsu began to slide off. He stopped, but another leg moved and he further down the tube. No one could catch him as he fell off and gravity pulled him into the forest below.
"He's dead." Laura murmured. She had forgotten about Happy the annoying cat, who swooped in with his white feathered wings and grabbed Natsu. "Damn it."
Nirvana took another step, shaking the three wizards still on the leg. Once the shaking stopped, Laura jumped up and sprinted for the ancient city. She reached the end of the leg.
"Sound Burst!" She shouted. She gathered and enhanced the sound of her footsteps and used that to propel her above the towering stone wall. She landed on the silent road. Around her were degrading stone buildings. Their former shape could no longer be recognized and they would only continue to crumble. Laura couldn't understand how they were still standing.
In the distance, she could hear Natsu's yelling. She turned her head in his direction at the top of the tallest tower in the city. She could hear Brain and Natsu's magic along with someone else's. She encountered it before earlier in the day. Cobra? Their magic was faint, but not too far to be unheard.
Laura ran to the tower. The sooner she could beat the Brain the sooner everyone could go back to Magnolia. Lyla's stronger but, with Nirvana's power, she wouldn't last long.
Using Sound Burst again, she enhanced the power of the air hitting her as she ran to push her along and increase her speed. If she limited how powerful she made the noise, it wouldn't be able to hurt her ears.
Light in the sky took Laura's attention away from the tower. It was Natsu's fire magic. He fought Cobra, who stood on his… flying snake? Since when do snakes fly? Laura ignored the weird details and rushed to the fight. She couldn't fly, but she could hit Cobra with a spell if Natsu kept him distracted a while longer. She leaped onto one of the roofs and prepared herself to go half deaf again as she cast a spell.
Just before she could collect enough magical energy, Cobra's magic changed. Instead of sound magic, Laura could hear more poisonous magic. Cobra slashed at Natsu with his hands with black and red streams of magic flowing everywhere. Natsu had been hit, but he could still fight. He dived at Cobra with his hand covered in flames. Cobra's spell ran into his and they created a mighty explosion of magic and light.
Laura used Sound Burst again to dash to where Salamander landed after being blown out of the sky. She reached him before Happy. He landed on the roof of a building with rubble and stone all over.
"Laura! Since when did you get here?" Happy asked.
"Not long after you." She replied, then looked at Natsu. He had already gotten motion sick and had bruises. "Let me take over." She told Happy.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I'm a sound wizard too. Salamander got hit with his attack, didn't he? Poison?"
"Like I'll let you steal my fight!" Natsu yelled, "Hap-" Then he covered his mouth to keep from vomiting. Laura looked to the cat, who she had convinced. He grabbed the back of her cloak and flew her up to Cobra. He stood on the back of the flying serpent.
"Another sound wizard? Is that fire-breathing idiot already too weak from my poison?" Cobra asked with a cocky grin.
You can hear my thoughts, you can hear my memories, but I can also hear you…
"I'll admit I'm surprised your ears are good, but you can't do as much as me. I'm a poison dragon slayer and you are just some unskilled orphan."
"Orphan?" Happy murmured.
"Fly," Laura ordered, and Happy charged straight at the enemy.
"You already lost!" Cobra shouted as he dodged Laura's kick, "You went through every spell you can do! It's hilarious how weak you actually are."
"There's this thing called 'improvising.'"
Laura solidified the wind around her fist to create crystal-like armor around it and landed a hit across his jaw, magnifying the sound from the swing of her arm to attack with more force. She flew past him and could hear the snake's tail moving to hit her and dodged.
"Poison Dragon Scales!" Cobra cast, black and red scale-shaped magic shooting out from his magic circle. Laura could hear them coming and leaned to steer Happy away from the attack. One scale managed to scrape her arm.
She charged at him, a whip of crystallized pink magic formed in her hand and whistled through the air at him from one side while her armored fist came at him from the other side. He had no way to dodge. Her fist collided with his upper arm and shoved him off of the flying snake. She felt something wet trickle down her ear.
"You're not much of a dragon, more like a worthless wyrm." Laura didn't remember the difference, but Lyla had once talked about dragons and wyrms being related, but the dragons didn't like to acknowledge that.
"Cubellios!" Her opponent yelled. The flying reptile dove down to rescue him immediately.
"Oh no, you don't!" Laura yelled and flicked the whip at the serpent's wings. She missed and Cubellios caught Cobra. "Rahhhhh!" she screamed in rage and tried to wrap the whip around the snake's wings again. It missed again. "Happy, dive at them!"
"Hah!" The man laughed. "You can't even use that right! Why on Earthland would you waste magic power with that? You can't even protect your friend." He smirked knowingly. He cast another spell, launching poisoned scales at her again.
"Happy!" She shrieked. The cat dropped like a stone to avoid them but another one scratched her other arm. Laura had already begun to feel the effects of the first cut.
The flying cat groaned, "You're heavy…" He sounded sick.
The only good thing about this whole thing was her opponent wasn't using the arm she hit. That meant she had done some damage. Though he had done plenty to her.
Cobra laughed again. "Looks like your time is almost up." His laughter kept echoing in her ears. Her rage grew with each echo. Her teeth clenched and her fists tightened. The crystal whip and armor had faded away. Something pulled her magic all into a place inside of her. Her head pounded louder and louder with Cobra's echoes until she could make out a whisper.
It's almost done, Cubellios. You're doing a great job.
Her fists loosen and her teeth unclenched and formed a look of shock, confusion, and realization. This whisper hadn't sounded like her. A man spoke in her head. She could hear the words so clearly. She could picture so many images- Memories that weren't hers. They belonged to Cobra…
The Tower of Heaven. The R-System. What Lyla had told her about before. Where Jellal had come from. Cobra was only a child, like Erza. The same time at the same tall and twisted tower of magic and suffering.
The memories left her and Laura noticed the buildings were growing taller. No, they were sinking. Happy had grown weak from the poison when he and Natsu were fighting.
The poison will take care of them. She heard Cobra's thoughts. Or should she still call him "Cobra"? After all, she could hear his real name.
"I'm sorry," the blue cat apologized. "I can't hold on much longer."
This power suddenly hit her. Laura's lips peeled back to show teeth. Lyla's maniacal side had infected her.
"Stay awake a little longer," She said through a crazed smile, "We're on even ground now…"
Happy did as told and used what energy he had left to keep Laura above ground.
"You think you'll last against my poison?" The dragon slayer derided. Laura knew Happy wouldn't last, but she could stay conscious long enough to beat him. Both her arms were half numb and the poison spread through the rest of her body, but whatever her sound magic gave her also offered a chance.
"Of course!" Laura claimed confidently. She held her hand out and cast Solid Weapon: Whip. The sound from her words compressed into a long strand starting from her palm and solidified into a whip. She stole the idea from Lucy, but it proved itself useful for this fight.
Laura cracked her whip through the air, Cobra dodging with ease. He wore a smug expression. She didn't need his thoughts to know he saw her as some stupid child.
The whip finally hit him and he fell forward with a yell. Cubellios caught him before he reached the ground.
"I like this... improvisation." A new word she heard. Whispers in her head grew louder into Cobra's voice. How did I not hear her attack?
"You're nowhere near beating me. The poison is already taking care of you. Although I am sad." He seemed genuinely unhappy.
She coughed a little, it was harder to move. "Why?"
"You know sound magic. I could teach you so much. We could be friends."
A strange offer… Laura didn't trust it.
"I'm sorry too, Erik." Her voice grew weak. The poison must have been really strong. "I understand what your life was like."
Their backstories weren't too different from one another. They lived in two different settings, but both had relied on one person to grow up with. Only one person in their lives. No one else mattered. Laura understood that and knew Cobra didn't mean "friends" like She and Lyla; Cobra and Cubellios.
"Happy,"
"Hm?"
Laura stared directly into Cobra's eyes. He could hear her, of course, but her ability to hear him had started to fade. Whatever actions she took to cause it in the first place were unknown to her.
"Land. See if Salamander's hungry."
He nodded and fly off, quickly catching on. Cobra read Laura's thoughts. She focused on an image. Only one. She forgot about her plan long enough for the image to burn into her and make her face go pale. Shallow breathing, watery vision. Her ears grew deaf to everything but her rapid heartbeat.
It stopped. Silence. Her brain stopped processing. Nothing came or went. ...Silence…
...Silence…
...Silence…
…..
…..
…
"SOUND BURST!"
"Cubellios!"
Laura propelled herself into the air. "SOLID WEAPON: GREATSWORD!"
"Poison Dragon Spiral Jaw!"
Cobra leaped from the serpent's back and spun around with streams of poison magic flooding from his feet. He sent a powerful kick. At the same time, Laura swung her sword downward and used the sound of the air to lift her above Cobra's attack range.
The poison hit the ground with enough power to crack the stone ground down the road and into a tall tower with a ball of ember at the top. The target: it had flames lapping at the chill air of the night. It crashed and set the area into a crumbling pit of fire.
Gravity decided to take its turn in this sky battle and drag Laura back to the city of Nirvana. The flames. The sun reminded her of them. Even sitting in front of a campfire risked her mental and emotional health.
"Crystal Armour!" She tried not to yell, but fear took control. The sound of the crackling fire and Natsu eating it solidified around her. This one useful spell that kept her safe during years apart from Lyla continued to do its job. It was nothing like Erza's Requip, but it gave an opaque set of armor that formed around her. Laura saw her mother use it once, but it didn't help the women the last time she saw flames spread this far.
She crashed into the roof of a decaying building, rock and stone falling on top of her. The armor protected her, but the poison drained her energy quicker and it began to crack. Laura waited for the crackling to stop and the Dragon Slayer spells to be cast before crawling out of what once stood a building.
Natsu had devoured all of the oranges and reds, now using them in his fight. Laura's armor cracked several times more before blowing away in shards. She laid there with heavy breaths and more blood dripping from her ear. Only one, so she wouldn't have to ask for Wendy's help. At least until Brain was dead. The realization that she would have to use more spells like this hit her before exhaustion pulled her to unconsciousness.
A/N: Hey! Sorry, it's a little late, but I didn't forget. I... just was busy. My pet bird escaped and I'm trying to find him. I hope you enjoyed.
