Hola, happy weekend! Here comes Deliora, hope you all enjoy the new chapter!
12
It didn't take Erza long to drag the relevant information out of their captives, as the four cultists clung to each other in a shivering mess in the far corner of the ice prison. Under the redhead's glare, they spewed out all the details of lifelong plans to track down the demons of the book of Zeref, working on a theory that uniting the demons would somehow revive the black wizard. The Fairy Tail mages had exchanged considering looks with one another, while Erza demanded to know how they possibly thought that a group of idiots with no magic power could bring the demons under their control. The cultist in the middle looked at her like she was crazy, and explained that they hadn't planned to control Deliora, they hoped to seal it, (and the other demons), long enough to unite them, assuming that would bring Zeref back and he would control the demonic power. Erza couldn't fathom how they'd come to that conclusion, it all seemed pretty farfetched to her, that said, Zeref's cultists had never been the most reasonable groups. Another of their captors piped up and mentioned that part of what their network of followers strived to do was collect the ancient books the demons sprung from, and their leader was currently in possession of Deliora's.
Ultear stepped forward with a calculating look on her face, "where is your leader now," she asked plainly. Natsu watched her out of the corner of his eye, he didn't trust her in the slightest. According to the sleezy reporter, she and Meredy had manipulated another group of cultists and had tried to seal the ice demon, but they had failed to a devastating magnitude, nearly losing their lives. But if this book really meant they could seal, and possibly control Deliora… well, he didn't like the look of interest on her face at all. Glancing at Lucy, he determined she had similar thoughts, her arms were crossed under chest and she was openly staring down the time mage with narrowed eyes.
"Like we'd tell you that," a couple of the captives barked back.
Erza ran the tip of her sword across the bars of the prison, before a demonic look crossed her face and she whirled around slicing clear through the bars. The top of the prison slid off and crashed onto the ground, a shallow gash appeared straight through the chests of two of the four cult members, who's arms shot up in the air in surrender. "The leader and our mages are northwest of the village scouting for the demon," all four screeched in unison.
The redhead nodded in approval, slamming the point of her sword down into the ground and leaned on the hilt as she turned her attention to the rest of the team. They nodded, all silently agreeing to trail after the cult mages and relieve them of any of Zeref's books in their possession.
"I think we should split up into two teams." Erza began, and the group turned to face her, "I want Haru and Gray on one team each due to their past experience with Deliora. In addition, I'm splitting up Natsu and Haru, we could use a dragon's senses on each team." The mentioned mages nodded, agreeing with the choice. "Ultear, you and Meredy will be splitting up as well, I won't pretend to trust your motives, and we will not let you out of our sights."
"That's fine, I would prefer the opportunity for us to keep our eyes on you, as well." Ultear countered glaring at the scarlet knight, the two stared each other down, dangerous intent radiating off the two women.
"Okay, listen up!" Erza held her sword up into the air over her head, "team one: Gray, Natsu, Lucy and Meredy."
Natsu cheered and slung an arm around Gray and Lucy's shoulders, "alright team, we're going to crush this!"
"Team two: Haru, Lyon, Ultear and myself," Haru and Lyon bumped fists, both ready to take on their literal past demons.
Erza's team
Erza's team moved westward through the village, planning to head north in a wide arc and hopefully come up behind their targets as Natsu's team does the opposite, moving north first and west in an arc to pin down their enemy. Ultear walked just ahead of the redhead with an arm lazily held in front of her, a crystalline orb balanced on her wrist at the ready, Erza watched her carefully wishing she could make heads or tails of the mage before her. The boys behind her each surveyed one side of the street they strolled along, Haru's senses working overtime to track unknown smells, easier said than done with a village occupied with hundreds of Zeref's followers.
Reaching the outskirts of the village, the group continued farther into the wilderness before turning in a wide loop, "I'm picking up some new smells, I think." Haru mentioned, he still couldn't be totally sure with so many smells overwhelming him.
"Up front then!" Erza commanded, Haru nodded and passed the others following the new smells, he telepathically contacted Natsu to inform his team that they were on the trail of new smells outside the village.
"I am not sensing any mages, or anything at all, for that matter… something is interfering with my nose," Natsu's voice echoed through his mind.
"Interesting, there's a lot of smells challenging my ability to track, but I wouldn't say I'm getting interference. Be careful, Natsu." He warned his partner, before cutting the link, the smells he was trailing were getting stronger and he gestured at the rest of his team to keep close.
Ducking behind some small boulders, Erza leaned out to peer around a rock at a group of five individuals in dark cloaks conversing in a circle.
Making out their conversation with his enhanced hearing, Haru relayed what he was hearing, "They're talking about the location of the demon, apparently slightly northeast from here, in the mountains," Haru informed Erza and their team telepathically to ensure their stealth. "Sounds like they plan to try to trap Deliora with the rune anti magic unison raid, to give their leader, Zoldaf, a chance to prepare the book."
"WHAT?! Are they out of their minds or just stupid!" The scarlet mage seethed, "don't they realize that anti magic can't suppress demonic power? They'll all die."
"We'll save their dumbasses, if we can. They're misguided, but they don't deserve to die."
"Call it, Haru." Erza requested due to his telepathy not allowing intercommunication.
"Let's go team, hit 'em hard, and fast, before they know what's happening!"
The four leapt out from behind the boulders they were hiding behind, Lyon releasing dozens of ice eagles, as Erza called dozens of shining swords and used her telekinetic abilities to send them flying. The ice and knight magic bombarding the unsuspecting cult members, the magic exploding on impact and sending up a cloud of dirt and debris. Haru bolted forward, vaulting over a rock while sending out a whirlpool attack that immediately surrounded and trapped the group of rogue mages.
"We're looking for a book," Erza announced as she stopped in front of the whirling water, cocking a hip to the side, "perhaps you can help us."
Natsu's Team
Running into thick forest, Natsu huffed in irritation, "I still can't smell a damn thing, not even the three of you and you're right next to me," he growled out. He couldn't decide what could possibly be dulling his senses so spectacularly, pushing the frustration aside he waved to his team to follow and they sprinted forward according to Haru's directions. The four found themselves bursting out of the tree line when the forest ended abruptly into a decimated stretch of barren ground that had been thoroughly scorched.
"What the hell happened here," Natsu questioned through clenched teeth.
"This was Deliora." Gray told them flatly, the girls gasped behind him and Natsu turned eyeing the ice mage as the group, silently assessing his friend's mental state as they continued along the dry cracked ground on full guard.
A deafening roar devastated the silence surrounding them, Natsu slapped his hands over his ears and cringed forward, screwing his eyes shut. Lucy and Gray leapt to the front, putting themselves between the fire mage and the direction of the sound. Lucy did not like the anxious tension that Gray was wearing like a second skin, "was that…" The ice mage paid her no attention, his eyes wide and skin paler than normal as a concentrated beam of energy shot down from the mountain range, carving a line in the ground in front of them. The energy exploded outward trailing the beam, and the resulting pulse of power sent the mages flying back with a shared scream. Landing hard on his upper back, Natsu back rolled driving a foot down into the ground under him and skidded to a stop on all fours looking around wildly for the source.
Glancing left and right, he saw Gray pushing himself up on his butt and Lucy on her stomach with her elbows propping herself up to his left and Meredy flat on her back a few feet to his right. "Everyone okay," he called loudly, receiving a round of groans.
As the dust from the explosion settled, the mages watched a beast the size of a two-story house and as black as night stomp toward them. Gray froze, glued to his spot as he watched the embodiment of his childhood trauma. Fire burst off Natsu as he vanished into his flash steps magic, his crimson scales already burning across his skin as he moved to meet the beast on the field. Deliora swiped a large armoured arm out in an arch along the ground, Natsu brought his forearms up in front of him, getting pushed back just from the wind alone. He jumped forward onto the demon's arm and ran up, vaulting over a swipe of its' large claws and launched a full-power breath attack at Deliora's head. Completely unphased, a second explosive beam shot from Deliora's mouth and Natsu flipped out of the way, a hand landing on a spike to spring up onto the demon's shoulder.
As he continued to dodge the lumbering strikes from the demon, trading barely effective fire attacks in retaliation, Natsu caught a glimpse of Virgo popping up after drilling a series of holes around the demon. The ground beneath them cracked loudly and collapsed in a gigantic hole, dropping the ice demon into earth up to its's arms slightly immobilizing it.
"Star reform: shatter!" The stellar mage had joined the fray as compressed golden magic rained down from the skies.
"Maguilty sodum!" A multitude of teal blades whirled around the demon and shot into the most vulnerable parts of its' body.
"Fire dragon's secret arts," Natsu ran up the back of the demon's neck, springing into the air high over its' body and spiraled down toward Deliora's head like a drill, with fire streaming outward, "crimson lotus: exploding flame blade!"
The attacks hit their marks, but Deliora's roar pierced the air again, disorienting Natsu immediately and he took the full force of a back hand from the demon and was sent flying back. "NATSU!" Lucy screamed, throwing her body to the side with her arms wide catching his form with leg braced behind her, but the impact from Deliora's strike proved too powerful. Lucy lost her footing and they both went tumbling head over heel, rolling back and ended up sprawled on the ground. The blonde still had her arms wrapped protectively around the fire mage who rolled to the side coughing up blood.
A scream filled their ears and Lucy looked up from man in her arms to see Meredy's body crash into the ground hard, sliding back in a cloud of dirt. "No… all of that, and we didn't leave a single scratch," the blonde whispered.
Deliora sucked in air and shot another powerful blast of energy at the helpless group, Lucy wrapped her arms tighter around Natsu and squeezed her eyes shut. "Ice make, shield!" Gray charged forward in front of his comrades, arms outstretched as a massive wall of ice manifested before them, he cringed as the attack crashed into the shield. Putting everything he had into maintaining the shield to protect his friends, his feet dug into the ground as the ice began to chip and crack until it shattered in a shower of shards. The ice mage released a pained grunt and dropped to his knees, panting for breath, but he'd succeeded in warding off the attack.
'Am I still not strong enough? Are WE not strong enough to end this? Shit, I can't believe I've dragged my comrades into this.' Gray thought frantically as he looked over his shoulder at Natsu and Lucy just now struggling to get back to their feet.
Erza's team
"Is she always like this," Lyon questioned Haru who was standing stalk still next to him, the corner of his lip twitching upwards as he watched his scarlet guildmate. Without looking at him, the water slayer just nodded twice, Erza had torn Zoldaf out of the water vortex and currently had a fist full of his cloak and was smacking his head back and forth relentlessly as she yelled questions, that she didn't give him time to answer…
"I suggest you hand over the black magic books in your possession," she growled, a shadow falling over her eyes as she glared down at the bruised and battered man in her grips.
She drew back a fist for another strike, "Erza, try not to kill hi—" A huge blast interrupted Haru, shattering the quiet, and the whole group froze turning to take in the plumes of smoke pouring into the sky to the east.
"NATSU, Natsu! Can you hear me?!" Haru called telepathically in desperation as cold fear crawled up his spine, "Natsu, please, tell me you guys are okay!" Another explosion tore a line through the sky in the distance.
"FUCK, we need to get over there, NOW!" Haru demanded, as Erza fixed him with a surprised look. "My link with Natsu has been severed, they're in real trouble, I can feel it."
"My connection with Meredy has also been cut off," Ultear added in alarm.
Terror flickered across Erza's face as she turned her attention back to Zoldaf, "times up, our friends are in trouble, so I don't have time to play around with you anymore. Book. NOW. Or you face my wrath." Taking in the absolute rage on her face, the cult leader shielded his face with his arms as a bright light glowed and a pair of books dropped onto the dirt between them. "Smart decision," the redhead tossed the man back into the water spell still raging behind him, and requipped the two books away. The other three were already racing in the direction of the explosion as a spire of golden light shot into the sky and shattered into a storm of falling stars.
"That's Lucy's magic, they're definitely there!" Erza announced as she caught up to her teammates in a flash and they charged eastward.
. . .
Bursting into the desolate landscape behind Deliora, Erza's team came to an abrupt stop scanning the area looking for their comrades, surveying the damage, and finally, took in the imposing demon. Deliora turned glowing red eyes on the newcomers and thrashed a leg out at them before spewing another stream of demonic power through the air around them. The four mages scattered, dodging the assaults. Erza sprinted around the demon swinging her body back as her momentum carried her forward under the heavy swing of Deliora's arm, righting herself with a hand on the ground as she donned her flight armour. She sped out of range of the beast's physical attacks and rounded in front of it to skid to a stop in front of Natsu's team. They were grouped together in various positions of recovery, Gray was at Meredy's side, she seemed to be unconscious as far as Erza could tell from the distance. Lucy had one of Natsu's arms slung over her shoulder, her shirt was stained with blood, her own or Natsu's Erza wasn't sure, they both looked awful. She was incredibly relieved to at least her guildmates were all on their feet.
Erza didn't bother asking if they were alright, she could tell they were in rough shape, and new they'd just tell her they were fine anyways. Instead, she requipped Deliora's book and held it out to the stellar mage, "see if you can figure out how to seal Deliora back into this book." Lucy dropped to her knees, carefully bringing the fire mage down with her, and gingerly accepted the worn leather book.
"Natsu," the blonde looked at the man next to her, and he requipped her wind reader glasses without her saying a word. She nodded her thanks and turned her attention back to her scarlet friend, "cover me, as long as you can," she popped on the red glasses and began speed reading. Erza pivoted in time to see a massive tidal wave crash into the demon from behind. Reacting reflexively, she instantly clad herself in lightning empress armour, she charged back into the fray aiming to buy Lucy as much time as possible. Swirling her staff over her head she gathered electricity and released a storm of lightning bolts to rain down on Deliora. Haru materialized next to her out of arches of water and the two skid to a stop seemingly reading each other's thoughts, the water mage's magic exploded in power and cerulean scales replaced pale skin. Thrusting his hands forward as a deep blue magic pulsed before his hands growing rapidly, Erza widened her stance and spun her lightning staff above her again, electricity building up around her.
"Dragon slayer's secret arts," as torrents of water swelled and raged around the Haru and Erza, the redhead stopped her swirling blade and fused an overwhelming charge of lightning into the watery magic. "Ocean's vengeance: surging tsunami!" Haru roared, launching toward the ice demon with the power of the ocean seething with a living thunderstorm raging around him, he crashed into demon's chest as the torrential water crashed into it and spectacular bolts of lightning burst out shocking the drenched demon. Deliora cried out its' displeasure before snatching the water slayer out of the air in a clawed grip, and fired another explosive beam that Erza barely managed to dive out the way of. Haru gave an agonized scream as claws dug into him, and the redhead screamed out for him.
"NATSU!" Gray shouted as Natsu, struggled to his feet, his eyes alight with the same fire that coated his body as his partners screams pierced his ears. Ice magic built up and in a flash of blue a giant ice hammer appeared in his grip, Gray pivoted swinging the hammer around just as Natsu shot into the path of his swing, his feet planting into hammer. Riding the power of Gray's ice hammer, the fire mage vanished in a stream of fire and flew forward at blinding speeds, "fire dragon king's demolition fist!" Natsu's fist connected with Deliora's arm causing the beast to release Haru in a heap. Gripping the demon's wrist, he swung around and launched back to the ground catching his partner and flash stepping back to the relative safety of their gathered group.
Natsu reappeared in a flare of fire, looking down at the water mage, Gray was over his shoulder instantly. Haru's eyes were screwed shut and breathing hard, large gashes in his shoulder, upper arm and side were bleeding heavily, but he was conscious. Hearing Natsu and Gray talking at him frantically, he cracked an eye open to find both hovering over him, "Natsu… I need you to—" Haru choked on blood his hand pressing into his ribs, "—close these wounds."
"What, Haru, I can't do that..."
"Wendy isn't here, we are nowhere near medical services. Just DO IT!"
Natsu cringed as he watched his friend fading in and out of consciousness, "wait, I can seal his wounds with ice." Gray interjected, his hands glowed with his blue magic as he leaned forward and the ice spread out across the gashes as Haru lost the battle to stay awake.
"I've got it!" Lucy shouted, "I've got the ritual chant to seal Deliora, do you guys think you can distract and keep Deliora pinned down long enough for me to recite it?"
The ice mages glanced at each other before turning determined looks on Lucy in confirmation, Erza and Natsu grinned and nodded, and Ultear sounded her agreement from her spot holding Meredy.
"Let's finish this!"
The five mages charged out to surround the demon, as Lucy began reciting the scripture in a language none of her comrades recognized, bathed in a golden glow and arms outstretched palms up. From each of Deliora's sides Gray and Lyon both slammed palms into the ground sending a wave of ice spires shooting up from the ground in larger and larger sizes trapping the lower part of the demon's body between them. Deliora sent a bolt of demonic power that blasted into the ground exploding in a fiery torrent that erupted around Natsu, he quickly inhaled, his scales reappearing with the reinstatement of fire drive.
"You'll pay for what you did to Gray," Natsu warned as he shot upward into the demon's jaw with a sword horn, "and Lyon," he spun in the air throwing a talon attack into its' temple, "and HARU! Crimson lotus: fire dragon's fist." Natsu sent a barrage of fire enhanced fists down all over the beast. Erza dodged a strike from Deliora, jumping and springing off its' forearm clothed only in her clear heart clothing, she rained a flurry or strikes from demon blade Benizakura all over the demon's body.
A giant black-red magic circle appeared below Deliora, and its' body flickered momentarily, red eyes narrowed as its' gaze fell on Lucy who couldn't be aware of her surroundings in her trance state. The demon sucked in the air ready to launch another devastating breath attack to halt the blonde's work, "NO YOU DON'T! Fire dragon's brilliant flame!" Natsu threw a giant ball of fire, from Deliora's shoulder, into the side of demon's head knocking the attack's trajectory off and obliterating a wide chunk of the encroaching forest.
Lucy's voice suddenly echoed all around them, and with a few more words, her chanting abruptly ended. Pitch black energy burst from the magic circle under Deliora, and the five mages leapt away, skipping backward to provide a wide girth around the beast. Blinding light burst off Lucy towering into the sky, warm golden light filtered over the dark magic circle and poured over the demon, purifying its' demonic aura. The beast roared an ear-splitting cry as it slashed at the light engulfing it, before the bright light flickered out leaving just empty space. Deliora's book floated in the air where the demon once stood before dropping to the ground landing on its' spine and landing open, magic power flipping the pages as the magic circle shrunk and vanished. Lucy wobbled on her feet and collapsed sideways, but Gray caught her, supporting her weight. All the mages watched in shock as the demonic pressure winked out completely, Ultear was the first to move as stepped forward to make a grab at the book. However, Erza slashed her katana down between her and the demon's book turning demonic look of her own on time mage.
"Don't move, don't think I haven't realized your arc of time could potentially act on this book."
Ultear clicked her tongue in annoyance as her glare met the scarlet mages'.
Gray and Lucy joined their gathered comrades, the blonde favouring an injured leg, "that was a little sketchy for a while there… but in the end, that was almost anti climatic," she laughed.
"All thanks to you Luce!" Natsu cheered bouncing up to her and pulling her into a bear hug, "you were amazing." She murmured a thanks that was muffled by his scarf as she buried her face in his shoulder just grateful it was all over and her friends were okay. Natsu turned his gaze over her shoulder at the standoff between the raven and scarlet haired women when he noticed their respective magic pressure spiking. The pinkette sighed, placed a hand on Lucy's head before pivoting and rounding over to Zeref's book, the warring women didn't take notice until Natsu had stomped a flaming foot onto the book instantly turning it to ash, a demonic energy burst out of the book. "Oops," he said mischievously, shrugging as Ultear whirled on him.
"What have you done?!" She demanded, and Natsu simply crossed his arms in response, she approached and ran magic coated hands over the pile of ash attempting to take the book back to the past. To the surrounding mage's surprise, Deliora's book materialized in a shimmering glow, its' ancient language scrawled across the cover in deep black lettering. Natsu's eyes widened as Ultear picked up the book with a smug look, but that faded when she cracked the book open and she screeched out launching into a flurry of rather childish complaints.
Leaning over her shoulder to get a look, Erza found all the book's pages to be entirely blank and burst out laughing. From his spot in front of them Natsu adopted Ultear's earlier smug expression, "purifying dragon flames," he explained simply.
Ultear's eye twitched as she sunk to her knees and slumped forward, dropping the book back into the dirt, "no, two years of work, for nothing." Feeling a small hand squeezing her shoulder, the time mage found Meredy at her side, an eye swollen shut and her other arm appeared to be broken.
The young mage kneeled next to her, "it can't be helped, we should be grateful to be alive." She smiled weakly at Ultear, "and at the very least, we know that Deliora can never be used against us."
Erza tried to demand who 'us' was, briefly ignoring the redhead, Ultear stood and pulled Meredy up with her, supporting her young comrade. Her eyes drifted closed and a small smile pulled at her lips, "we can't tell you that, and though you won't believe this, we are not your enemies… we'll be seeing you around." The space around them warped and the two women vanished.
The Fairy Tail mages gaped, "if we aren't enemies, you'd think they could have at least taken us with them," Lucy exclaimed hysterically. Natsu returned to the group, stopping next to the blonde with Haru draped over his back.
"Oh well. Let's get moving, I don't know about the rest of you, but I am starving!"
"Always thinking about your stomach, ash for brains."
"Oh, can it, ice princess, I am too hungry to deal with your shit."
. . .
"Enforcement knights?!" Natsu yelped out, they had just made it back to the village to find it crawling with knights clad in deep purple and gold tunics over armour. They appeared to be storming buildings and dragging the cultists out into the streets sending them away in flashes of light, presumably for trial.
A captain, flanked by four men broke off from the unit and marched over to Natsu, his comrades similarly flanking him. "What is your purpose here, you don't appear to be Zeref worshippers."
"We aren't." Erza interjected with a hand on the fire mage's shoulder.
"Mind explaining what a group of Fiore mages is doing mixed up in the middle of the biggest threat to Seven's national security?" The captain asked coldly pointing at the mark on Gray's exposed chest.
Erza's eyes narrowed as she sent an appraising look at her comrade, the rest of them had managed to keep their guild marks hidden. Gray sweat dropped as he became suddenly aware of his lack of clothing, again, he scratched the back of his head laughing nervously. "We were on a mission to rescue our comrades, a reporter with the Seven Star paper told us rumours of Deliora wreaking havoc on your country. As our friends had gotten wrapped up in the mess, we chose to provide aid." The scarlet mage explained, purposefully leaving out the details of Fiore's Magic Council's involvement.
"I see. You're telling me you Fiore mages engaged the demon Deliora?"
Erza nodded, holding out the demon's empty book to the captain, "Deliora will no longer pose a threat to Seven."
The captain took the book and flipped through the blank pages; lips pursed in interest. "Hm, well we will need to question the lot of you anyway, and we will be contacting your Magic Council for verification regardless."
Paling slightly at the prospects of dealing with the council, Natsu growled under his breath. "Fine. But we have injured comrades that need care first." He announced, as though he wasn't sporting multiple bad injuries himself. The captain paused taking in the rough state of the mages spread before him, he motioned to a couple of his men who stepped forward wielding spatial magic, and the group vanished in a flash.
1 week later
The Fairy Tail mages breathed a collective and exaggerated sigh of relief as they stepped onto the platform at Magnolia station, Natsu and Haru bolting off the train cheering for freedom in unison. The group stood together briefly, just looking out over their beloved city, they had left well over a month ago and the beautiful city scape had them smiling widely. Unfortunately, they hadn't been able to contact Makorav or their guildmates due to the vast distance and interference of Seven's royal knights while they were held for interrogation. They understood their family was likely worried sick having not heard from them in weeks, so they hurriedly made their way to the guild hall to finally reunite with the rest of Fairy Tail.
The group was exhausted, it had been a long week, the captain's men had transported them to the capital city of Seven, and the group had been issued rooms in the royal army's headquarters. Medical mages had addressed their various injuries and they'd been provided with hearty meals and lavish accommodations, over all they'd been treated like heroes between hours of questioning. One day the captain that had taken them into custody, informed them that Fiore's Magic Council representative, Ultear, had arrived in their defense. Spinning a story of how the ice demon posed a significant threat to all of Ishgar and the National Council had put a request in of Fairy Tail to assist the country of Seven with its' eradication. She claimed she wasn't sure how the mission proposal hadn't been delivered to their own Magic Council, Erza and Natsu sweat dropped as they listened to the tall tale. But in the end, the royal knights of Seven had accepted Deliora's blank tome and granted the mages freedom and they were finally headed home.
The large castle-like guild loomed in the distance, the bright orange flag marking Fairy Tail flapping at the center calling them home. Lucy skipped forward hands shooting into the air, "home sweet home," she cried out before breaking into a run, the fire mage echoed her sentiment and overtook her in seconds.
"That's the spirit! Come on you guys let's go home!" He shouted enthusiastically, looking back at the group as he ran forward with an ear to ear grin. They all exchanged grins of their own, and ran after the carefree idiot, all five of them crashing through the large doors and plowing into the guild hall at the same time. They announced their arrival to a mix of relief and excitement. Happy flew across the hall like a speeding bullet, slamming into Natsu's chest bawling, quickly switching over to Haru blubbering all over his shoulder, before finally burying his head in Lucy's chest streaming words out incoherently. Lucy sighed and stroked the cat's head whispering apologies for scaring the little guy, he perked up and demanded they each buy him fish to make up for it. As that drama died down, they were quickly surrounded and tackled into group hugs as their guildmates cried and cheered at their return.
Levy stalked forward with a furious look on her face, stopping in front of Haru who blinked down at her before she slapped him, hard. His eyes widened and his hand rose to his cheek as the small script mage spun on her heel launching a furious back hand into Gray's face as well. The entire group froze looking between the guys and Levy who was shaking, "how could you… how could you two use me like that." She looked up as tears streamed down her cheeks, "if something had happened to you, I would never have been able to forgive myself."
"Levy… I am sorry, we never meant to hurt you." Gray said quietly, the guilt weighing down on him.
Haru pulled the small bluenette into an embrace, but she sobbed more and weakly smacked at him trying to push him away. As he brought her to arms distance, Lucy moved to her side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and Levy turned into the blonde's chest. "Levy, we are sorry we scared you. Though we may have gone about it the wrong way, you were integral in helping Gray, Lyon and myself finally gain closure so we can move forward with all of you. There is no way I will ever be able to express my thanks." Shifting her face from Lucy's shoulder, Levy met the water slayer's eyes, a small smile graced her face and she nodded. She was still angry, but her relief to have all her friends back safe and sound overwhelmed that tenfold, and she was genuinely glad that she could help them.
"I hate to interrupt this heartwarming reunion…" a voice sounded behind them, "but did I hear you say 'might' have gone about this the wrong way?!" Giant hands wrapped around Haru and Gray respectively as their bodies were forcibly turned to face the positively enraged look on the master's face.
"Scarrry," the rescue team chorused behind them, "I'd take on Deliora again, before I'd want to face Gramps when he's angry." Natsu added as the rest of the Fairy Tail mages back away to put distance between them.
"I can't fathom what you two idiots thought you were doing, you're supposed to be more level-headed than that, or has Natsu been rubbing off on you?!" Makorav ignored the indignant 'hey' that sounded from the fire mage across the hall. "You WILL be facing punishment, and I will make Deliora look like a kitten in comparison," the elderly man smirked, satisfied with the rightly terrified looks that fell over his brat's faces. "But," he dropped them on their butts, "for now, I need Natsu and Erza in my office right away, for mission report."
Natsu, from his spot at the bar turned and pouted at the stairs watching their master make his way up to his office on the second floor, the scarlet mage already on his heels. Downing the shot of fire whiskey Mira had handed him, he sighed and patted Haru on the shoulder in sympathy as he passed him to make his way up to the office.
. . .
Lucy watched the fire mage leave, sipping on a milkshake that Mira had handed her and listening to the chatter of a few guildmates at the bar.
"I'm so relieved you all made it back safe," Mira's voice snapped Lucy's attention back to the barmaid, the blonde smiled at her friend.
"Honestly, it was hard being away for so long, and not being able to tell you all we were okay."
"That feeling is mutual, Warren tried countless times to contact Haru, and I can't tell you how many hours I spent trying to track your team down." Her eyes dropped to the counter she was absently wiping at, despite it already being spotless. "I was terrified that I'd lose more people precious to me," she whispered so softly that Lucy wasn't sure she'd heard her correctly. But the pain clouding Mira's normally bright eyes, confirmed everything she needed to know, Lucy gave her a small smile and reached for Mira's hand.
Squeezing her hand, her small smile turned into a confident grin as blue eyes rose to meet hers, "it would take more than some crazy destructive demon from the most powerful black mage ever, to tear all of us apart." Mira blinked at her, before laughing heartily at her ridiculous comment, and echoed her agreement. As Mira left Lucy to approach Cana calling for another round of drinks, Lucy swivelled on her stool and let her eyes drift around the hall before landing on her two raven haired comrades. She walked over to join Gray and Haru at a table they were both slumped over, "for a couple guys that helped kick Deliora's ass into oblivion, you certainly don't look very happy." Sitting down next to Gray and taking a sip of her treat, she smiled. "Could it be… you're both just scared little girls, worrying over master's punishment," she teased with a finger tapping on her chin.
Both of the boys' gaze shifted to her, irritation plain on their faces, "laugh it up Lucy," Gray growled. Her grin widened in response, as she patted his shoulder in mock comfort and he swatted her hand away.
"What are these punishments like anyway?"
"Awful."
"Brutal."
"Hell."
"Absolute Hell."
Lucy paled, listening to them trade descriptors for their master's sadistic tendencies, "oh come on, you guys must be exaggerating a little."
"Nah, they're definitely dead men walking." Natsu announced with a toothy grin as he approached them, having finished his debrief with the master. Dropping on to the bench next to Haru, nudging his partner in the arm with an elbow. "Eh, Haru?" The pinkette began howling with unrestrained laughter, "what a turn of events, usually it's me facing punishment, Haru never has!"
Haru dropped his forehead into the tabletop with an audible groan, "can't be helped, we fucked up," he mumbled.
"Yeah ya did." Natsu's laughter cut off as he snapped his jaw shut, and he fixed the guys each with a cold stare in turn, "I would have helped, you know." He glared at Haru, "you and I, are supposed to be partners," he scolded before turning to Gray, "and rivalry aside, you're still one of my most trusted friends." Natsu paused taking in the ice mage's surprised expression, prompting him to hastily add, "but you tell anyone I said that, and I will deny it."
Lucy's eyes widened at the tension, but it broke just as quickly as all three men around her burst out laughing at the addition to Natsu's statement. Her eyes shifted around the table, nope, she'd never figure out boys and people say girls are confusing. "You know, I've been thinking," Gray began, watching his three guildmates, "this team took down the Oración Seis, and a demon of the book of Zeref." The three nodded back, smiling as if it seemed like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Well yeah, we're the strongest team!" Natsu bragged, "what's your point though?"
"We should make this team official, the four of us, and Erza."
"Don't forget me!" Happy cheered flying over and landing in front of the ice mage pointing an accusing finger at Gray's nose. He laughed, adding Happy's name to appease the blue cat. Natsu shared a look with Haru who grinned back at the idea, before looking to Lucy cocking his head in question to gage her opinion.
"Go on adventures with my best friends? Do you even need to ask?" Lucy chirped with a wide grin of her own. Gray held an open palm out and Natsu returned the gesture with a strong grip, Haru and Lucy threw their palms on top of the handshake.
"So, does our team have a name?" The blonde asked pursing her lips in consideration.
"Dragon Soul." Natsu shot a brilliant toothy smile at them all.
"I like it," Erza said as she appeared next to the fire mage, a hand on her hip, "so our team is finally official then?"
Across the guild hall, from a spot seated on the bar top, Makorav froze, his beer dropped from his hands and the liquid sloshing into a puddle on the floor. He started mumbling 'not those five,' on repeat as Mira patted him on the shoulder and giggled.
A/N. That's a wrap. Coming up, a couple fluffier set up chapters, before moving on. I think I have rewritten the next arc so many times I have to reread it myself to see what I finally settled on haha. Excited to share it with you all, enjoy the weekend!
Catch you all Wednesday for the next update.
R&R.
xx Loka Muse