Lyla teleported away from Erza and Jellal fighting Midnight. She trusted they'd figure it out. Erza at least. Jellal on the other hand… She didn't know why they defended each other. That blue-haired bitch caused Erza extreme pain and suffering as well as the people around her. Lyla would have killed him if Midnight hadn't taken up her time and Erza protested. But whatever explanation they had for whatever terms they were on, it would have to wait. The teen needed to regroup with everyone else at the King's Summit where Laura and the others were.
Her metal soles made a thump when taking a step on the strange dirt that made up the ground, her elastic clothes stretched with her movements and made an annoying sound at her joints. She had been sweating so much after her magic literally bleeding out of her and the combat she had to face. Lyla was hungry, tired, weak, and emotionally drained. Her mind was foggy and overflowing with too many thoughts. Too many memories. She needed to sleep for the night, then a meal, then a shower. Maybe she should look for some more clothes when she returns to Magnolia too.
The mage stopped. She felt another person's magic. At first, she thought it was Brain, but then it changed rapidly. Lyla sprinted in the direction of the magic. There on the ground, she saw an unconscious Brain in the middle of ruined terrain. Stone jutting from the ground, buildings demolished, and the floor covered in craters and cracks. Brain's black tattoos all over his body pulsed with golden light.
It only took a second for the intensity of the tattoos light to grow. Lyla shielded her eyes with her forearm, squinting at the man. The light dimmed into nothing and left everything how it was when she arrived. Nothing had changed.
A few seconds of peaceful silence. Then Lyla had to work to keep her balance as the ground shook and created a rumbling. It only stopped once Brain stood up. Lyla had fallen to the floor. She saw his skin had turned lighter, paler. He wore his hair differently as well. He defeated her friend's easily as she watched.
He turned his head to reveal red eyes. Even the sclera. "Ah…" His grin sent Lyla chills. She shivered when he turned and took a few steps closer. "Hello."
"Z-Zero." Her voice shook. So many memories. The fog only cleared up around them. That's all her mind could focus on. The feeling of these memories and what they had left.
"I remember you. Quite an impressive specimen." He took agonizingly slow steps towards the teenager, her anxiety forcing her to choose between running or staying. She couldn't choose, which made it worse.
"I've seen that you've grown. Quite irritating I couldn't watch you, but that other me wanted to keep me locked tight."
She tried to stop her lips from quivering. She wasn't a child. "I've grown. Yes. W-which is why you should be more cautious." Lyla stood up. She decided to fight, screw running or pretending. "My power has multiplied since the last we've met…"
Zero laughed, denting the shield Lyla hid behind. "How fun it would be to destroy you!" A crack. "But you could destroy more in a minute than I ever could in a year."
And another.
"All of that destruction would be targeted at you!" Lyla screamed, fury and terror bubbling throughout her voice.
His grin grew as he pried at the cracks he had previously made.
"It would, wouldn't it?"
Zero continued to laugh maniacally. He turned his back and walked away. Lyla screamed and cast dark clouds in his direction. He held his hand out and sent an overpowering spell towards her. The spell exploded and sent her crashing through several buildings, all of them crumbling to ruins.
The horror continued his way to destruction, leaving Lyla horrified. Her brain couldn't handle it. It couldn't deal with the stress. The fear. She sat there and cried as blood and dark magic trickled down her body. She had grown in power, but only magical power.
A high-pitched humming sounded and Lyla stopped sniffling. She saw it from the canon on Nirvana. A bright white light laced with darkness collected at the head of it. Lyla stood up, watching the weapon charged in order to fire at Caitshelter.
Nothing could be done. No one had enough magic to stop it. Not even if they all teamed together.
The canon shot a beam of dark magic. One so large it could wipe out the whole village. And it most likely will.
Something caught Lyla's eye. In the night sky, magic fell like a spear and damaged one of Nirvana's back legs. Lyla fell back to the ground at Nirvana tilted back. The beam lifted just high enough to dodge Caitshelter. Five more large spears of magic struck down onto the abandoned city of Nirvana. The canon powered down and dirt kicked up from the area Lyla sat in.
From the ground, she saw a shadow float over her. There up top flew Christina. So much magic coming from it. The big blue pegasus had damaged and exposed machinery, but it still worked enough to save Caitshelter from destruction.
"Can you hear me? Somebody, respond! If you are safe, please respond!" Hibiki's voice echoed in the shadow mage's head. Telepathy.
"You made it just in time, Hibiki." Lyla tried to put on her snarky attitude, but she couldn't. Not right now. She was too exhausted.
"That voice… Hibiki!" Erza's voice echoed.
"Lyla-san. Erza-san? And little Wendy-chan! You're okay!"
"I happen to be here too…" Ichiya's tired voice came in. Lyla hadn't known he made it to Nirvana.
"Now how the hell did you get Christina up and running?" She asked, her throat tightening and her face turning red. She had her forearm laid over her eyes.
"Lyon-san's using Maker magic as a stand-in for the wing they destroyed." Hibiki began explaining, "they" being Oracion Seis, "Sherry-san's marionette skills and Rin's air magic are holding the damaged hull together. That attack just now was Eve's snow magic."
"You guys…" Carla sounded so tearfully grateful. Lyla still had some to share. So many people would have died if they hadn't shown up.
"I fused my magic with some of Christina's magic bombs, but they didn't even take out a single leg…" Eve's voice grew strained, "...despite… how powerful they are… Plus… that was the last… of my magic power…"
"Pull yourself together, Eve!" Ren told the boy.
"You all did so well." Lyla croaked. She heard the wizards struggle to keep up their part in holding Christina together. They were weak from exhaustion and she didn't blame them.
"There's one thing I need you to hear." Hibiki told the wizards on Nirvana, "It took a while, but I finally found it in the Archive!"
"A way to stop Nirvana!" Zero's voice boomed in Lyla's head. The man laughed as he ravished everyone's surprised and fearful responses. "Six pipes leading to lacrima. Destroy all at once and Nirvana won't be able to fire another blast. Oh, how wonderful of a plan!"
"He hijacked my telepathy?!"
"Such pointlessness. Twenty minutes until the next Nirvana blast is fully charged." His horrid laughing finally died down, "I am Zero. Master Zero of the Oracion Seis. First, allow me to commend you. To think there's someone else who can use the same Archive magic as Brain…"
Tears. Her horrible eye with tainted magic and the other normal, tears streamed down her face.
"I now intend to destroy everything! I started by destroying four of your friends. A Dragon Slayer, an ice Make wizard, a celestial wizard, and a previous subject of mine."
Laura.
"Previous subject?" Erza echoed her thoughts.
Zero chuckled, "Oh, and a cat." completely blowing her off. They could deduce who he had referred to, but at least he didn't say any names. He probably didn't remember her name anyway.
"Destroying all lacrima at once is a good way -the only way- to stop Nirvana. However, I'm standing in front of one of them at this very moment." He laughed some more, "As long as I'm here, destroying them simultaneously will be impossible!"
Then he cut out, stopping his telepathy.
"If we're to destroy the six lacrima all at the same time, then our only option is to split up and head for all six spots."
"Who was that?!" Lyla bolted up from the ground hearing the man's voice. It sounded so familiar. Was it? Was he still alive?
"Lyla!" Erza exclaimed as if just remembering she was there. "Eh- No one. Forget you heard anything."
She wiped the magic and tears from her eyes as she spoke, "We have more to worry about right now, but know I will ask about this later."
Everything fell silent. She held her breath as she waited for a response.
"Understood."
Now, to find six candidates to destroy the lacrima. Erza, Ichiya, Lyla, and a supposed fourth person the shadow wizard agreed to ignore for the moment. At most, they needed three more people.
"Laura." Lyla called through Hibiki's telepathy, "Laura please get up."
In the air, she watched Christina fall. They had become too weak and couldn't keep it flying any longer.
Wendy called for Natsu, Sherry called for Lucy, Lyon called for Gray, and Carla called for Happy. Now Lyla only hoped they would wake up. They didn't hear any response for what felt like an eternity.
"We… hear you…" Natsu grunt, his voice breathy. Whatever had Zero done to them?
"Six lacrimas… at the same time…" Gray stated, breathing deeply from exhaustion.
"One lucky person's gonna get the chance to thrash Zero too… right?" Lucy chimed in, equally as weak as the others.
"Eighteen minutes left…" Happy counted down the time, "We have to protect Carla and Wendy's guild!"
"I barely know any of you," Laura finally spoke. Lyla's heart jumped with relief. "but I wouldn't want my home to be destroyed, so I'll keep Wendy's safe."
Enough. Everything is fine for now. Lyla wiped away all of her tears and finally stopped acting like a baby. Thinking over it again, they would all have to use the power they could get to fight Zero. She would gladly join the fight.
"M-My telepathy is about to cut out…" Hibiki's spoke feebly, "I sent a map into your heads. I've numbered each lacrima."
"We'll pick a number to go to," Laura told him.
Lyla could see a blue progress bar above her head. Once it completely filled with orange, she could see the map Hibiki was talking about.
"One!" Laura and Natsu yelled.
"Two!" Gray followed. Lucy claimed three, Ichiya claimed four, Erza took five.
"Then I will-" The same familiar voice from before got cut off.
Lyla saw Christina run into the forest a ways away, a trail of smoke following it. Using a little bit of her magic, she teleported behind where it would seem to land. Less than a minute.
She used her magic to create long, thick ropes that sprouted from magic circles on the trees. They flew at Christina and wrapped around most of the outside. Perspiration gathered on her forehead, beads of sweat dripped down her face as she pulled the ropes back into the magic circles. The tension of the ropes slowed Christina enough to soften the crash.
The airship flew into the dirt, creating a trail and destroying trees. It ground to a gentle halt rather than another headlong crash. When it slowed enough, Lyla cut off all the magical power she was exerting. She had nothing left to give. Blackness crept around her vision. She saw the canopy of trees, then the starry sky. Something hit her head before the black edging her vision completely swallowed her.
_
Sorren stood in front of the master uncomfortably. He knew this was going to happen eventually. He didn't even have a choice in the matter.
"Sorren, you are like one of my own children to me. I am only worried about my children's safety. Please just answer the question," Makarov pleaded. "Where are Lyla and Laura?"
The young man remained silent for a little longer before sighing. "I don't know. Lyla said she was going on a job with Laura and told me I couldn't come along," he pouted. Laura was stealing his friend and he didn't like that. So what if they were childhood friends? He had been there for Lyla more than Laura had, even though it had only been months since they met. "And Lyla told me to tell you not to worry if someone comes looking for her here."
"It's just as I feared," the guild master grumbled. "That child is more trouble than she is worth."
"What do you mean?"
"It doesn't matter. Go enjoy yourself." The old man waved Sorren away, "And stop pouting. We are Fairy Tail wizards-"
"And we are strong."
"Stronger. Together."
Sorren nodded and stood up, slowly walking to exit the room.
"If it interests you, there's free booze downstairs."
That lifted his spirits, but he still worried about his friend's safety.
"Why do I have to deal with such troublesome brats?" Makarov muttered to himself when the younger wizard had left. He took the letter on the desk he had received 4 months ago. It simply read, Lyla must not be involved with Oracion Seis.
_
The shadow wizard grunted in pain. She opened her eyes, her vision fuzzy and her head ready to topple over. She could make out something dark blonde and soft blue.
"Lyla. Lyla-chan, are you okay?"
His voice sounded familiar. "Hibi- Agh!" She tried sitting up, but everything hurt. The pain hit her like Christina crashing into the earth.
"Relax, you put a lot of stress on yourself." The Pegasus' used a soothing voice. The teen could tell he's had some experience with women in distress.
"You did too…" She pressed her palm against her eye, magic trickled down her cheek. Her hair had been stained by it. It wasn't as bad as when she was on Nirvana, so everything aching must be her overexertion of all her magical, mental, emotional, and physical abilities.
She tried sitting herself up. Hibiki helped her even when she tried reassuring him she'd be fine.
"If you want to help… Can you still use your archive magic?"
He still had scratches and dirt all over his face. His hair was a mess and his soft blue shirt looked like it would never be clean. Behind him, resting partially in the ground, was what was left of Christina. Smoke floated from inside it and she worried that it would catch the forest on fire, but so many trees had been pushed and thrown from their roots that it left a large clearing. She saw Eve, Ren, Lyon, and Sherry resting.
"I can try for you. What do you need?"
Lyla wobbled on her legs while standing up, Hibiki, of course, at her side in case she fell. Her clothes had been torn and covered in as much grime as everything else. Her hair was knotted and sticking to her face thanks to sweat, blood, and whatever else that black liquid was, her limbs were half numb, and the smell of smoke and burnt metal mixed awfully together with the stench the wizards were giving off.
"I wanted to look into the 'Bureau of Magical Development' and it's database. You might have to do some hacking."
He smirked, "I think we can make arrangements for that."
Taking a step past her, he opened his archive magic and typed on the golden keyboard. Many windows flashed by on the screen with writing and code filling them. How long had she been out for him to recover enough magical power?
"Here we are. I don't know what you have to do with this place. Everything's classified on even those who worked there."
Lyla walked to the screen, Hibiki stepping aside. Warily, she placed her hands on the keyboard. "Would you mind not watching me? This is a private matter…"
Luckily for her, this lady's man respected ladies' wishes. He walked away as she searched in the B.M.D. Database.
He waited a short ways away, trying to keep up his archive magic. He felt exhausted, still low on magical energy, but enough to aid the Fairy Tail wizard. He stood behind Lyla, not meaning to look at the screen. He saw the text that made no sense when the teen's head cut off his view, but he could clearly see the words "Experiment S" next to a profile picture of a young girl. The child had the same color hair as Lyla, with the same eye bandaged in the photo as the one Lyla always covered.
The young woman standing in front of him took a deep, shaky breath in. Whatever she was looking for, she must have found it. He didn't know how long he could keep up his magic, but he would try to last until she had finished everything she needed to do. He turned around, sat down, and tried to forget about what little he saw. It seemed horrible and something that Lyla would want him to not know.
A/N: Hello! I hope you enjoyed reading this so far. If you did, please, review or, maybe, even favorite? Pwease? It just absolutely makes my day and Syaleo's day whenever we see that people enjoy our stories! Thanks for reading!