Chapter 131: Aliens & Demons & More Aliens, Oh My!
Now, I'm sure those of you who can count have noticed that this is not, in fact, Chapter 130. There is a simple explanation for this; Chapter 130 got . . complicated, and I haven't actually finished it yet. What I get for writing parts of the story out of order and procrastinating for a month . . point is, it'll be finished soon, and when it is I'll post it and then edit the chapter order when I get to the next update. In the meantime, let's start the Tarty party!
. . . I regret saying that . .
A/N
A/N
"Hey. Kid. Are you coming or what?" Jackal growled. The Etherious lashed his tail in irritation.
His companion climbed over the last tree in their path. "I am hundreds of years old," he retorted, adjusting his glasses.
"Yeah, so am I. That don't mean jack shit," the blond snorted.
His companion was a tall, black-haired man with spectacles and a suit. "You have to appreciate that this is not exactly my preferred terrain," he huffed.
"Well, we're here now. So why don't you stop wasting time by running your mouth," Jackal rolled his eyes. "Or does the great, immortal TFEI love the sound of his own voice so much he can't bear to stop talking?"
"I've told you before, just call me Fifty-Four," the other man instructed. "We seem to have arrived," Fifty-Four added.
"Still a stupid name. Don't any of your lot have any personality?" Jackal scoffed, looking up at the massive, cylindrical mesa before them. At the flattened peak sat a tall building, the headquarters of the Magic Council. "Well, no reason to delay," With that, he leapt upwards, flying into the air and reaching the top of the mountain in an instant.
The Etherious landed on the headquarters' rear battlement and got his bearings, surprising a guard. "Uh - who are you?" he demanded, pointing a spear at him.
Jackal decided he wasn't worth talking to and slapped a claw on the blade of his spear. "Explosion," he hissed, pouring his Curse into the object, and the soldier's guts splattered across the walkway.
A couple of attendants who had been close enough to witness the event immediately screamed and fled. Jackal let them go; they'd die in a moment anyway. Now, what would be the best thing to blow up to make sure every single member of the Council died? . . . Trick question. The answer, of course, was EVERYTHING.
He slammed his palms down on the stone and his curse rapidly spread, suffusing every inch of the entire complex with glowing light. For the briefest second, the Magic Council Headquarters lit up like a Christmas tree . . and then it all exploded with a blinding burst of power, debris flying in every direction, attendants and guards and everyone except Jackal vanishing in the explosive force.
He landed easily in the debris and immediately searched the rubble. Fifty-Four had warned him that at least one member of the council would survive the blast, and . . there! Master Org, he thought.
Jackal pounced, his fist slamming the trapped councilman's head into the dirt and smiling ferally. "You can't be alive. Killing all of you was the whole point. Your pals played along but I guess you need some convincing," Gold light played across his claws. "Explosion,"
"Damn you!" a voice interrupted, and Jackal looked up to see a guard lying before him. He shrugged. Unimportant.
"Doranbolt. Run away," the councilman growled.
"I can't do that!" Doranbolt protested, and Jackal cocked an eyebrow. Doranbolt?
"There's no reason for you to die with the rest of us," Org commanded.
"Hate to burst your bubble, but there's no running from my explosions," Jackal hissed.
"Leave, do it now!"
"I'm bored," Jackal hissed, and with a burst of Curse, the councilman's head exploded.
When the light cleared, there was someone in front of him.
Doranbolt looked up, realising he had been saved from the blast. "Th-thank you," he looked up at the unfamiliar man in a suit who had shielded him from the blast with his body. "Who are you?"
Fifty-Four turned, light flashing off his glasses. "Don't thank me yet," he scoffed, and suddenly red smog burst out of his body, wrapping around Doranbolt's body and hoisting him into the air. The man's skin and clothes blistered, splitting and disintegrating, and a metal mask appeared from inside his skull, with red lights forming eyes and a mouth. Doranbolt screamed, shocked by the visage of the TFEI.
"Subject l0cated. 1n1t1at1ng fluctl1ght dupl1cat10n," Fifty-Four droned, and red lights shot from its eyes and scanned Doranbolt. The magic resolved back into skin, forming cloth and hair and quickly forming into an exact copy of the man.
"Whoa. That was intense," Jackal nodded in approval.
"We may not be as flashy as you Etherious, but the TFEI have some tricks," Fifty-Four snorted. "Now, to dispose of the original," With a wave of his hand, a portal opened under Doranbolt's feet, and with a final scream, the man sunk into it.
"Why do you care so much about infiltrating Fairy Tail, anyway?" Jackal asked, honestly curious. "I know what you said, that that guy is a secret member of Fairy Tail who was spying on the Magic Council for them, but . . so what?"
Fifty-Four/Doranbolt snorted. "Fairy Tail is more important than you can possibly comprehend," he replied. "Now, let's see if Mest's Magic is working for me," he muttered, before suddenly vanishing.
Irritated, Jackal waited for a moment, but quickly realised he wasn't coming back. "Fine! I'll just go kill my next target! Damn aliens . ."
-[CoT]-
It had been almost three months since Erik, Siria, Yurei and Cal had joined the Phoenix's Eye Wizarding Guild.
Incidentally, that made it the longest stretch of time since Tyria had joined the guild with no major life-threatening events transpiring. (Time travel notwithstanding.) Of course, there was the day-to-day peril that was the life of a guild wizard, but there were no hunters bent on genocide, no immortal monsters, no shadowy cabals trying to take control of time. (She still could hardly believe that had happened twice.)
Life was good, Tyria reflected one morning at the guild. Life was quiet.
She was going to jinx it, wasn't she? Any minute now, something catastrophic would happen and put the entire guild at risk.
As if on cue, the door swung open, and the outside light shining in briefly dazzled Tyria. She squinted, focusing on the arriving figures.
It was just Fleur, Eve and Blanca. Blanca, as usual, was shouting about something. Eve was trying to pacify her, and Fleur was . . gesturing to someone.
Tyria frowned, seeing a short girl with pale skin and long black hair stumble through the door, a vacant look in her eyes. She was wearing a large black coat, and looked . . plain. She raised her head and looked around the guild, but the Electrian had the impression that she wasn't really seeing any of it.
Suddenly, but predictably, Pierce was there. "Hey," he looked at the girl, who seemed only slightly older than Grace, before questioningly eyeing the three witches. "Who's this?"
"Suou," the girl in question mumbled. Fleur made to sign something, then paused, remembering Pierce didn't know sign language, and pulled out a notebook. Eve began, "Well, um, we found her in the street, and -"
"I'm the best at explaining so I'll explain!" Blanca snapped. "We found her in the street and she was mumbling and blocking my path and I was just going to leave her but then she said -"
"TF . . EI," Suou, assuming that was her name, mumbled. And somehow the word was louder than Blanca's shouting.
Pierce stiffened. "You know something about TFEI? What?" he urgently demanded.
"Damaged," Suou blankly stared at him with unfocused eyes.
"What's going on?" Tyria had joined the discussion.
"Round up everyone who's here. I think we'll all want to hear this," Pierce declared.
-[CoT]-
"You know something about those monsters?" Cal immediately demanded. Some members, including Boomer and Siria, were out on jobs, and as usual Faraday was nowhere to be found, but Master and the rest of the S-Class wizards, as well as the remainder of Team Pierce, were all present.
Fleur signed something, which Totomaru translated. "She's not much of a talker. She might have some kind of mental problem,"
Suou minutely nodded. "Damaged," she quietly agreed. "Ostracised . . ignored . . useless,"
"Who are you talking about?" Master Feng questioned, eyeing the girl closely.
"Mental problem sounds right. Her thoughts are scrambled. I can barely comprehend them," Erik reported.
"I . . ran, I . . couldn't take it . . the Canopy . . the others . . worthless to them . . not to you,"
"Wait," It suddenly hit Tyria. "Are you a TFEI?" Everyone blinked at this, and were even more shocked when Suou weakly nodded.
"You're one of them?!" Cal growled, but Pierce put a hand on his shoulder. "Hold on,"
"You don't want to be part of their group anymore, though, do you?" Master questioned, soothingly rubbing Suou's back. She was rewarded with a head-shake. "Cold," she mumbled. "You're all . . so bright . . and they're . . I'm . . so cold," She reached a shivering, halting hand out towards Pierce, but her limb suddenly went limp and fell back to her side.
"I don't trust her," No one expected Ariel to pipe up, and several Phoenixes looked at her in surprise. "Suou, was it? If you're a TFEI, show us your real form. That red smoke with the mask we've all heard about,"
"Hold on, are we sure that's wise?" Master Feng questioned, but Suou was already nodding vacantly. Everyone watched in reviled fascination as her skin and clothes peeled away, hair spontaneously combusting. Smoke coloured a sickly pink shade rippled outwards, and her face disintegrated, revealing a metal mask with jagged eye holes.
Everyone gasped, shocked by the sight of the TFEI's true form. But those who were familiar with the sight gasped for a different reason.
There was a massive crack running through Suou's metal mask-face. A jagged gash that crossed from her chin to her left eye, with an iron plate joining the two broken halves together. The pink magic of her body danced around erratically, sometimes spasming out into spikes or collapsing into little eddies, like a lacrima-vision with a bad signal.
Just as quickly, the TFEI shrunk back downwards, her human shell reforming with its eyes shut and hands clutching her chest.
"That was unexpected," Sarph mumbled.
Ariel looked conflicted. TFEI were supposed to be indestructible . . Suou was damaged. Some kind of fundamental flaw in her design that was beyond repair, most likely. Was she so mistreated by the Canopy for her defect that she had been driven to betrayal? This was surprising . . this was unprecedented! Cardinal had to be made aware.
"So that's a TFEI," Totomaru mumbled, looking surprised.
Suou clutched her chest, choked out a repetition of "Damaged," and promptly threw up all over Phoenix's Eye.
Pierce, Cal, Tyria, Blanca and Eve all took a moment to process the fact that they were covered in TFEI vomit. Cal in particular regarded the pink fluid with irritation. "This is not endearing me towards TFEIs," he growled.
"Let's go shower," Tyria agreed.
As the five traipsed off, Sarph took over the interrogation. "So, what can you tell us about the Sky Canopy Dominion?"
Suou's head slowly turned, and she raised a trembling finger, indicating Artorias. "Me?" the Blood Wizard blinked.
"You have . ." The damaged girl stumbled over the words. Everyone looked at Artorias in surprise. Was he a TFEI hiding among them? "Very . . pretty eyes,"
Several wizards fell over in shock, including Lync, Master and Erik. "That's not relevant!" Blanca snapped.
"Oh. Well, thank you," Artorias replied, looking unsure of how to take the compliment. Donna, meanwhile, seemed to be stifling the impulse to put a new crack in Suou's hidden metal face.
"What about the Canopy?" Sarph pressed.
"Can't . . tell . . show," Suou mumbled. She took a halting step forwards, then another, making for the door with an unsteady gait.
"You want to show us something," Master Feng surmised.
"I'll go with her," Alice suddenly piped up. "So will I," Ariel agreed, still eyeing Suou suspiciously.
"You're not going anywhere without me," Lync informed his girlfriend, and Fleur also stepped forwards, nodding resolutely. "You're going?" Totomaru questioned, surprised.
In response, the mute Petal witch nodded and signed, "I brought her to the guild, she's my responsibility,"
Totomaru nodded his understanding. "Well, I'm coming with you,"
"That seems like a full group to me," Feng declared. Artorias raised an eyebrow. "None of them are powerhouses," he pointed out. "If they run into trouble . ."
"Don't forget, Masquerade's on that team too," the guildmaster retorted, and her strongest brat nodded, conceding the point.
"Guys, she's getting away," Lync pointed out, and everyone turned to see Suou already at the door to the guild hall and still walking.
"We have our mission, then. Follow the mysterious girl!" Alice smiled, determined, and took point, the other four members of the team falling in behind her. The rest of Phoenix's Eye watched them go, and the doors swung shut.
"Do you think they'll be alright?" Sarph asked.
"I'm sure of it. That girl is an enigma, but I didn't sense any malice from her," Feng assured him.
Pierce suddenly rejoined the group, Tyria in tow. "What did we miss?"
-[CoT]-
Lahar didn't know what had happened. Everything seemed fine, then that man with a tail appeared and . . and now he was buried under a mountain of rubble.
He couldn't feel his right leg. He was pretty certain that he'd cracked at least a couple of ribs, and his left arm was not only trapped under a girder, but he was fairly certain that it wasn't supposed to bend like that.
It suddenly hit him that he was dying.
"What a pathetic way to die," Lahar mumbled to himself. His right arm still worked, and he felt his face. Somehow his glasses had survived, and he pulled them off, setting them in front of him. For all his life he'd worked with the Magic Council. He'd tried to make a difference, to do good . . but it had led to this. It was all gone in a flash. Was his life really so insignificant that he could wake up one morning totally satisfied that today would be a day like any other, and now suddenly there was nothing left but a slow, painful death?
"Is this how you want your life to end? Off-screen, gone in an instant by the whim of someone incomparably more powerful than you?"
"No . . no, this isn't right! This isn't fair . . there has to be something more I can do," Lahar was fairly certain that he'd lost enough blood that he was hallucinating. Because it sounded like there was some sourceless, female, almost familiar voice talking to him.
"There is," Suddenly, his vision was filled with blue light. Lahar gasped, instinctively covering his eyes.
When he opened them, there was someone before him. A woman, only with glittering blue skin, transparent and glowing, with faint patterns of green and purple light underneath. Her eyes were bright, white expanses with tiny pinpricks like stars within them, and a pair of wide, blue-white wings like those of a butterfly were spread behind her, while a whip-like, feline tail stiffly twitched behind her.
Lahar suddenly realised what was going on. "Are you an angel?" he mumbled. That had to be it. He had died and this angel had come to take his soul to the afterlife.
She giggled. "No. Good guess, though. You can call me Fairy Blue,"
"Right," the councilman mumbled.
She knelt down, and extended a hand. "Take my hand," Fairy Blue encouraged him.
"So we can go to the afterlife? Yeah, alright . ." Lahar semi-coherently mumbled, slapping at the blue woman's palm.
"Nope, not the afterlife. This world's not done with you yet, Lahar. And I'm going to need your help," Fairy Blue's see-through fingers wrapped around his, and everything turned white.
A/N
A/N
So! This chapter (which ended up shorter than I wanted), we have two new TFEIs!
Also, I just want to make it clear that no, not ALL of the blue TFEI like Ariel, Yuki, Asakura, Yui and yes, Fairy Blue, are female. It's just the way things worked out - Yui, Yuki and Asakura are all characters from other shows who came female, and honestly I created Ariel before coming up with any of the super-spy time alien mystery stuff. And Fairy Blue has to be female because [SPOILERS]. Trust me, I've thought everything out and it's all very complicated but the skewed gender ratio is a necessary side effect.
Although TFEI are technically genderless . . and Cardinal's male . . a case could be made that Cardinal finds the idea of an all-girl organisation appealing . . I won't say that's canon but I also won't say it isn't. Peace!
