Chapter 24:

Abi sat in her cell for hours, her stomach rumbling and her body aching. The guards stopped by to confirm Lucy and Yukino's "escape" and laugh about Fairy Tail's hare-brained rescue attempt. Why was Fairy Tail imprisoned anyway? And that white-haired female officer? Maybe they got involved with whatever the kingdom had planned with the lacrima. The guards didn't bring Abi food or water, and the Praesidio's mouth grew parched. She opted to lying on the disgusting, stiff old cot, hands still tethered behind her back. Abi fell in and out of sleep, hoping to pass her eternal imprisonment until food or an inspiration for escape came along.

Abi got her wish when a clock chimed loudly. The noise was loud enough that it could be heard all the way down in the prison. The Praesidio lifted her head up and looked around. Must be midnight. But for some reason, the clock kept ringing. The blonde woman knit her eyebrows together. What was happening? The walls began to shake and she looked around wildly. What was going on? Distant shouts filled the air, and the ceiling rumbled as though thunder rolled through the castle.

Laxus? The thief struggled upright to stand, finding her heartbeat accelerating at the thought of the Dragon Slayer coming to help her. Abi bit back the hope almost instantly, grinding her her teeth in frustration. "What the hell is wrong with me?" She snarled at herself.

The world seemed to answer as the walls shook again, and a beam cracked overhead. The thief scrambled backwards as the the ceiling creaked and moaned from something happening upstairs. A dark magic power suddenly filled the air, and Abi's eyes went wide. That felt like…

Impossible. The hairs on the thief's forearms stood straight up. The Praesidio grit her teeth and looked up at the ceiling, trying to locate just where that familiar energy was coming from.

The ceiling shook again, and metal groaned. Dust and crushed stone rained down from the quaking walls. I need to get out of here before the castle comes down. The bars in the middle buckled and bent under the stress of whatever was going on upstairs. Abi eyed the bending bars warily and cursed the magic suppression cuffs pulling her hands behind her back. If the cuffs were on her front, she could have slammed the metal against it.

If she didn't have them on at all, she could bend the bars by enhancing her own strength.

The Praesidio bristled as another way of ancient, evil magic washed over the castle. Something began to hum, and vibrations shook the old castle structures. Abi's teeth chattered in her scull as the frequencies triggered ancient instincts within her. Something deep inside the Praesidio stirred as vibrations carried through the stones and into her body.

It was dark and bottomless, winding its tendrils though her heart. The feeling called to her, begging to be released. Her true power screamed to be released but the cuffs held it all at bay. The tension caused a painful headache and a cool sweat spread across her skin. Abi's tangled blonde hair stuck to the nape of her neck and exposed shoulder blades.

The stones and cell wall collapsed under the pressure, and a deep roar reverberated through the castle, although she could have been hearing things.

Abi opened her eyes and gaped at the destroyed cell door. Freedom. "Holy shit."

Not one to pass up an opportunity, the tan woman scrambled up and clambered over the hole in the wall. The castle structure trembled and shook. Abi grit her teeth and looked around. Something powerful was in the castle… a demon? She shivered at the thought.

Blueprints… blueprints… She tried to recall the location of the jail cells. It was somewhere in the north east, lower part of the castle. The thief grit her teeth as she realized she had no idea how to get out of the castle. Guess it's time to hope for the best.

Abi discovered a winding staircase leading up somewhere. Finding this to be promising, the Praesidio followed the steps until she came up to what seemed to be the first floor of Mercurius Castle. The ornate hallways and bright lighting temporarily blinded the thief, and she blinked as she looked around the well lit hall.

For some reason, there were absolutely no guards in sight. Something was very wrong. Abi bristled: what was going on? An earth shattering roar seemed to answer the thief's question.

Mercurius Castle trembled as a deafening, inhuman bellow swept across the land. Fine oil paintings trembled and turned sideways from the vibrations and a nearby marble bust of a woman fell over and shattered against the ground. The chandeliers swung precariously overhead. Suddenly, one crashed to the ground in a rain of crystals.

Abi felt her brain rattle in her scull as she fell into the doorway, precariously balancing on her two legs. Every hair on her body stood straight up as an overwhelming display of ancient magic swept across the land. It wasn't evil magic, but Abi had never felt something so powerful, so primordial.

"I swear if it's some mythical creature…" The Praesidio muttered under her breath as the fearful tremor ceased. Abi needed to find an exit before Mercurius came crashing down. Whatever was outside was clearly bad news, but she would take her chances.

She grunted with effort as she pulled herself off of the doorway and danced around the destroyed chandelier and broken crystal. The blonde thief teetered with imbalance as she tried to run down the hall. The shackles tethering her wrists behind her back caused her entire torso to rotate with each step, and the exaggerated rotation hindered her speed. In addition to her wounds from Laxus, a painful numbness spread across her shoulders and arms. Abi promised to herself she would find whoever designed these magic suppression cuffs.

The complex began to shake and rumble again, and Abi bristled as distant explosions and shouts floated from the outside. It sounded like wizarding war was taking place. Was it part of the games? The thief couldn't pinpoint its location, but there was an overwhelming display of magic power coming from… everywhere.

Her blue eyes narrowed as she relied on her instincts to navigate the winding castle. The castle was eerily empty, and her footsteps and ragged breath echoed down the hall. Abi couldn't help but stare mournfully at the beautiful works of art and wealth that adorned the hall. If I had my hands free… the thief tried to ignore the ache of leaving such nice, unguarded valuables alone.

Abi kept moving. Something primordial guided her steps. Magic pulled her left and right, telling her to take each turn and hallway in the castle. She didn't know where she was going, but her magic attracted to something, like a magnet.

Abi turned a corner and cautiously made her way to the room at the end of the hall. She padded into a grand sunroom that overlooked the palace gardens, which were draped in a strange shadow of the night. A thick Persian rug covered the floor, and a lavish set of pale yellow velvet furniture expertly set up around the room. Beautiful flowers of all colors set in vases and vines adorned the walls and mahogany side tables. Large, floor to ceiling stain-glass windows made up the entire curved wall. Unfortunately, the room lacked an essential feature: a door to the outside.

The thief glanced over her shoulder and wondered if she should push her luck and search for a more viable exit. However, guards were most likely posted on any main entry or exit point of the castle. This room could actually be a boon to the escaping blonde. Abi remembered an old adage from her childhood as she eyed the stain glass windows warily.

"Anything's a door if you run fast enough," She reassured herself. The Praesidio crossed the sunroom with a few, wobbly strides and charged the glass. It shattered around her as she threw her shoulder into the pane. Abi tumbled onto the garden ground and sat upright, shaking the shards out of her hair.

She looked up at the moon and gasped when she saw its blood red color. An eclipse?! How ominous. All around her, the sounds of bloodshed and magic filled the air. Explosions of magic shook the earth like a continuous thunderstorm, and something inhuman howled. The hairs on Abi's forearms stood straight up. There was definitely a battle going on, and powerful magic was at play tonight.

Aside from the Domus Flau, Mercurius Castle was the tallest structure in Crocus. The garden Abi entered provided her a limited view of city. But the urban sprawl the lay before her was utterly unrecognizable from the days before. Bodies, magic, metal, and debris lay strewn across the cobblestone and fallen structures. Roofs caved in as though some giant foot steps through the houses. The castle didn't fare much better, as scorch marks and broken windows marred the royal facade. A red moon painted the the magnificent city in bloody shadows.

Fear gripped the Praesidio and she wondered what could have caused all this destruction, but instincts pushed aside questions. A buzzing filled her brain, and the thing calling her grew stronger. Abi looked to her left, sensing that way would lead her out of the gardens. But to the right… her heart surged towards whatever lay around the castle's corner. The Praesidio grit her teeth.

The blonde woman tilted her head up to the sky and groaned angrily at the blood moon, "I'm going to regret this."

She turned to the right and ran down the garden's cobblestone path, further into the Mercurious complex. The destruction became more severe the further she ran toward whatever was calling her. The garden had been demolished in certain areas; something ripped huge, ancient trees from their roots and flattened the large hedges. Massive craters punched through the fine cobblestone paths and formed a large pattern… almost like paw prints. But what kind of animal could wreak this type of destruction?

Abi's instincts went haywire and her heart thudded in her throat. Her teal eyes darted around her surroundings, scanning for any potential threat. The buzzing in her mind grew louder and louder. Abi recognized her path from her previous tours of the castle; she was approaching on the main palace courtyard and entrance.

Suddenly, a very strange entourage came running in the opposite direction.

A large man in white armor carried a green haired woman in a short white dress. He looked familiar, but the aquiline helmet obscured his identity. The knight didn't notice Abi as they ran past, cradling the pale, voluptuous woman in his armored arms. A third, tiny naked man followed behind them, screaming his apologies. "I'm sorry, princess Husui! Please look away! Avert your eyes!"

Princess?! Abi stopped and stared with an open mouth as the princess of Fiore, her apparent royal guard, and some strange member of the court sprinted past the escaped prisoner. The short man with the scar across his nose flushed red when he saw Abi, and then his thick eyebrows lowered in suspicion.

The thief looked every bit like a deranged escaped convict: if Abi had seen herself on the street, she would have called the police. Handcuffs aside, her ripped and charred clothing barely covered her battered body, and dirt, sticks, and a day and a half of jail made her thick blonde tresses look like a birds nest. She had a crazed, hungry look in her eye that could only come from two days without food, and a defensive expression that made others put their hands on their wallets and weapons.

The short, naked old man must have decided he had bigger problems because he said nothing and continued following the princess. Abi took a steadying breath and pushed forward, her long legs extending into a faster run. What the hell is going on over there? Explosions and magic shook the very foundations of the castle, but the thing calling to Abi forced her to run into her apparent doom.

Abi rounded the corner and arrived at the front of the castle. People normally occupied the courtyard constantly. During the day, it served as a popular bazar for merchants, royal propaganda, and a starting point for castle tours. A cheery, elaborate fountain made to look like an intricate rose bush bubbled in the center, and beautiful colored houses and stores faced the gleaming castle gate.

Now, those buildings were grey and covered with soot and debris. The fountain had cracked and water spilled over the cobblestone bricks. The thick, beautiful stone entrance had been ripped up and torn apart. Rubble covered the destroyed grounds, and instead of the large castle doors, a familiar green and gold embroidered gate towered above the castle. The Eclipse Gate. Abi could have kicked herself for ignoring the file in Darton's office. In the gate's center, the Morphos Lacrima hummed; its frequency vibrated in time with the buzzing in Abi's scull. So that's what was calling me.

The haunting sight of the desolate castle set Abi on edge, but it was the thing in the sky made her stop in her tracks…

No.

No fucking way.
Abi's mouth gaped as a green scaled dragon floated about thirty feet above the castle rooftop. Two small figures followed closely, their magic lighting up like tiny fireworks against his thick hide. The brilliant green dragon roared in the night sky and kept batting at them as though they were pesky flies. The figures moved quickly around him, narrowly avoiding his large swipes. One figure hit the dragon on the back of the neck and forced the beast to fall a few feet. The dragon beat his great wings to stay in the air, and the force of the resulting wind caused the tiles on the rooftops to shake.

So many questions flooded Abi's mind. A part of her wanted to turn around and run right back into prison. There was another distant roar, and Abi turned around to see a giant flaming dragon. The thief blanched. How the hell was she going to get out of this city? Where did all these dragons come from?

Still, the beacon that drew her to this courtyard still called to her. Abi turned and gazed at the Morphos Lacrima imbedding in the massive gate. Her ancestors called to her, and the Praesidio's heart jumped. She was so… close. But the shackles around her arms would not allow her to steal the lacrima.

The magic suppression cuffs could get Abi killed in more ways than one. Did she remain at the castle and hide until the danger passed, or venture into the battleground? The conflict could provide essential cover for her escape, but— the dragon roared overhead. Abi glanced up at the scene above her, once again in awe of the mythical beast.

The jade colored dragon backhanded one of the attacking figures and sent them soaring into a building a few blocks away.

"Mira!" A young girl's voice exclaimed. Wendy. Fairy Tail. Of course that guild was fighting dragons. Abi grimaced with distaste, ugh, what good people. The girl in the sky blasted the dragon with a pale green beam of power and raced towards her fallen ally. The dragon roared and moved like he was going to pursue the two wizards. Then, the green beast paused and sniffed the air. He cocked his head to the side.

Uh oh.

The thief had been around Laxus enough to recognize when a dragon caught a scent. It was time to go.

Abi fixed her eyes on the destroyed townhouses on the other side of the palace entrance. She needed to get out of the palace. If the thief reached those buildings, she could dodge between the alleys where the beast couldn't follow. The thief broke into a sprint to reach safety. Unfortunately, the dragon's sharp green eyes fell on the fleeing woman.

"Now… where are you going, little appetizer?" The green dragon boomed, spreading his lips wide over his fangs in a gruesome smile. Blood and human remains stained his teeth, but Abi couldn't tell if it was from this battle or meals prior. He opened his maw and the ground began to quake as energy began to gather around the dragon.

If I get to the other end of the courtyard, I'm safe, the thief kept repeating. Abi pushed her legs to move faster, but it wasn't enough. She glanced up to see a bright pink wave of power come barreling down towards her. The thief managed to get out a scream before she was knocked to the ground by the force of the attack. The beast's powerful magic split the bricks around her and swirled around her body.

His power was suffocating— more consuming than any magic she had ever felt before. The intensity of it rattled Abi's brain and a hot pink light engulfed her vision. Everything burned. This is the end, the thief thought remorsefully. And then, suddenly, it was over.

She groaned, face first in the ground. Her stunned mind took a few moments to process she was not dead. It took a few more to realize she was still in danger. I need to move. Zirconis landed atop four buildings and crushed the structures, effectively sealing off the exit Abi sought to use. The force of his landing caused a small shockwave to pass through the open area. The ground rippled and lurched beneath her. She lay stunned on the broken cobblestone, her ears ringing and mind reeling from the events that just occurred. That power… how am I still alive?

"Mmmm, perfect…" Zirconis mused as he ran a long tongue over his fangs.

An unusual chill passed over the thief's body, and she grunted. Abi moved a hand beneath her shoulder and propped herself up.

"Wait a second…" Her teal eyes went wide as she stared at her hand, as though she'd never seen it before. The magic-suppressing cuffs were gone… and so were all her clothes. Abi flushed beet red. The Praesidio scrambled up, trying to cover her breasts. She looked up at the Jade dragon in outrage, "You pervert!"

Zirconis scowled as he swiped his claw forward and snatched Abi off the ground. His dry, reptilian hand closed firmly around her body, making it hard to breath. Abi beat her fists against his scales and screamed in anger as he took her off the ground. The green dragon lifted her up in the air and peered down at the struggling woman with his large, slitted eye.

"You humans always call me a pervert, but none of you understand how disgusting clothes are!" His rancid breath bathed Abi in the smell of death and rotting flesh caught between his massive fangs. She gagged as she tried everything she could to break his grip. His thick tongue serpentine twisted in his mouth, and Abi's eyes widened with absolute terror.

"I mean really! Do you understand how hard it is to pick armor out of teeth this big?!" Unfortunately, Zirconis gestured a lot when he spoke. He continued lecturing his soon-to-be-food about the difficulties clothing causes in a dragon's gastrointestinal track, moving his fist this way and that. Abi turned positively green. If she had eaten anything the past day and a half, she would have thrown it up with a vengeance.

She didn't notice her body start to grow hot. The blonde woman was getting tossed around so much, she didn't see the pale glow gloss over her coppery skin. The pain and aches began to disappear from her body. All the suppressed magic began to flow through her body— free of the magic-cuffs and free of the necklace. When Abi finally noticed the return of her power amid Zirconis's torturous address, it was too late to reign it in. The Praesidio's dark power curled tight inside her and and for a moment, everything went quiet. Magic flowed toward Abi and sank through her pores. The veins tracing up her arms glowed white and began to spread to her chest.

"…I mean, sure, the hellfire steel sometimes works as a toothpick, but its so hard to- AH!"

Magic exploded out of Abi's skin, enveloping her entire body in a blinding white light. It bathed the forum in her energy and the searing sensation of pure magic power made Zirconis roar in surprise. The dragon opened his palm instinctually, flinging Abi through the air. The powerful creature was not actually injured in the slightest, but, like someone getting stung by a sweat-bee, the sharp prick caught him off guard.

Freezing air blasted Abi's naked body and she screamed in surprise. Rooftops flashed beneath her and Abi's eyes grew wide with terror as she careened towards a very sturdy-looking bell tower. The building raced to meet her, and she curled into a ball. This is the end. At this speed, she would surely die.

The thief cried out as she collided with something far more pleasant than gothic architecture. Strong arms wrapped around her torso and knees, pulling her into thick, strong muscles. A volatile magic power enveloped them, and in a blinding flash, Abi safely on a rooftop, cradled into a man's chest like a football. The thief trembled from adrenaline and clutched at her savior's silk shirt. She didn't need to look up to know who had saved her. A dark fur-lined coat swirled his shoulders and tickled her bare skin.

Abi had never felt so happy to see Laxus Dreyar.

Title fight coming up next! I really enjoyed writing this chapter and the next. I'm still editing my next chapter because it may or may not be one of the most important to this story (and one of my favorites to write). All i can tell you is get excited.