Beta-ed by xenosaiyan and MasterPrince713
"It seems the Crash Magic wasn't enough to make everyone stop fighting."
Blake growled at Sienna's observation, but she could hardly dispute it. When the two faunus had heard distant crashes of thunder, they'd rushed out of the depths of the eastern tower, realizing that the others had somehow landed amidst the mountains of rubble from the central tower. In hindsight, Blake should have known that was going to happen. Fairy Tail never did go the easy, or sane, route.
Now, she fluttered over the chasm from high above, her Griffon wings fluttering behind her. Sienna hovered beside her, a small gravity vortex suspending a wobbling boulder as her footing. Down below, the canyons of the rubble stretched for nearly half a mile from one tower to the other, the rocks forming tunnels through the ruin between the open crevices that hid where most would travel.
But there were certainly identifiable landmarks for the cat faunus to orient herself by. In the center of the chaos was a giant dome of some sort of pink, fluffy substance. Of course, despite all her extensive travels throughout the world and time itself, Blake had only ever encountered one pink fluffy substance capable of holding up a mess of boulders that huge.
"I don't suppose the Celestial Spirit that Salem picked out for Jaune's Ascension was Aries by any chance?"
Sienna scratched her chin. "I don't recall if she mentioned it. Though his Ascension shouldn't have finished so quickly… unless… ugh. Cinder."
Blake scowled. "You think she sabotaged it?"
"More likely she rushed it trying to prove herself to Summer or some other nonsense," Sienna scoffed derisively. "First Adam, now her. Is it really so difficult for the young to do just do what they're told?"
"Did I?" Blake challenged. "Did you?"
Sienna let out a humorous snort. "Touché. Which of our sides do you think is responsible for that?"
Blake followed Sienna's arm to the gigantic pink ice wall splitting the sky south of the wool dome. A maiden's mystical signature blazed right next to the enormous glacier, but the color of the ice was odd for something they'd conjured. It looked more like the descriptions she'd heard of Gray's Devil Slayer powers. Had the Ice-Make Wizard found Cinder and attacked? Had the Crash Magic surge resulted from that?
And if not, did the constant roar of thunder and earthquakes north of the wool dome hide the source?
"No idea," Blake murmured, her eyes flicking north. "What do you think is happening up there? I don't sense a maiden up there."
Sienna frowned. "Hazel. It seems even the old have trouble controlling their emotions."
"Yet you trust them with the world," Blake grumbled. She pointed to the western tower. "There are two maiden signatures. I'd bet good lien it's Summer and Raven, and that means Yang, who can get everyone to cool their jets. We can rendezvous with their group and start bringing everyone together—"
"And by the time we do, these other fights will have reached their conclusions, and someone will be dead," Sienna pointed out. "And if that happens, no matter who it is, our alliance is shot. Which if a third party is behind this attack, is likely their exact goal."
"What makes you think our alliance isn't shot already?" Blake argued. "Your benevolent dictatorship isn't exactly an appealing extreme."
"Extremes are never appealing. That does not mean they're not necessary," Sienna shot back.
"When?" Blake demanded, whirling on her old mentor in midair, glaring at her amber eyes to orange. "Cinder causing The Fall forced Summer to act prematurely in Atlas. Adam trying to assassinate you got him killed. When has going to extremes ever actually solved the problem they were trying to solve?!"
Sienna held her accusatory stare, meeting it with pride and certainty forged from decades of fighting a never-ending war. "Tell me, when your friend Weiss told you what happened to her in Atlas, did she happen to mention Operation Godmother's Haven?"
"No. Why? What is it?" Blake asked. She'd anticipated Sienna to bring up some of her tried and true rhetoric of violent resistance, the kind that had swayed the cat faunus to her way of thinking back during the initiation White Fang split. Not some trio of random-seeming words that Weiss apparently knew some hidden meaning about.
"I thought not. Summer said she had her sister investigate it, but I suppose it was a small part of her experience there in the end," Sienna remarked. "Do you remember back when the White Fang was transitioning from your father's leadership to my own?"
"Hard to forget," Blake tersely answered. The White Fang's rank-and-file clamoring for Sienna's more aggressive strategies of self-defense, the kingdoms' governments demanding that her father and his nonviolent rhetoric remain at the head of the organization, The Hunters for Humanity spewing hatred wherever they went, the political pressure building to a boiling point from every side… her own denouncement of her parents as she flocked to Adam's new banner. It was not a time in her life that she liked thinking back on. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Sienna chuckled. "Did you ever wonder why Mistral didn't follow through on its threats of war against Menagerie when your father stepped down?"
"The Hunters for Humanity overplayed their hand. They murdered a councilman and his daughter, and everyone saw them for the monsters they were," Blake stated. "Doesn't seem to be an example in your favor."
"That was months after I took leadership. If they were going to follow through on their threats to declare war, they would have already done it. Benjamin Autumn was the only one on the council who was against it, and he couldn't stop it," Sienna explained. "But Atlas Intelligence could. And did. They sent in three agents and had them bribe, bully, blackmail, and assassinate their way to stalling the war vote on the docket until they could manipulate enough support to defeat the declaration on the floor."
"I'm sure Councilman Autumn was grateful for the support," Blake snarked.
"He wasn't. He was furious when he discovered that Atlas was subverting Mistral's politics and threatened to expose the entire operation."
"Well, he obviously didn't—"
Blake's words stuck in her throat, her eyes widening as she connected the dots of the councilman's fate.
"His moral code could not allow the ends to justify the means. And because of that, Atlas Intelligence had no choice but to make the most of his death," Sienna revealed, floating closer to Blake as the cat faunus fluttered in midair, stunned. "Menagerie would not have lasted a week in a war against Mistral. Hundreds of thousands would have died when they invaded the island, and the Hunters for Humanity would have had free reign to lynch hundreds on the mainland. In all likelihood, Atlas Intelligence saved our people that day. And all it cost was the life of one councilman, and the innocence of one child. It's not a deal I'd like to make… but I'd still call that a bargain."
Blake gulped, sensing no lie in Sienna's story, especially if she was so open about Weiss's ability to verify it. And she remembered what Menagerie was like before her father had time to rule: destitute, vulnerable, and corrupt. If Mistral had declared war, the faunus island would have burned. But the idea that Atlas Intelligence had violated the sovereignty of another kingdom, subverted the ideals of democracy, and murdered one of her people's staunchest allies to do it made her want to puke.
And one detail, in particular, pricked her suspicions.
"A child's… innocence," she murmured. "What do you mean?"
Sienna shrugged. "Adam had his brand. Cinder's scars are… less visible, if not less obvious. Ironic, I suppose. We became terrorists in response to Benjamin Autumn's death and his daughter pressganged us into the attack that required our dissolution."
"Whatever she has become, whatever she has done, she has because of my failures."
Bile boiled up the back of Blake's throat, Summer's words about being responsible for everything Cinder had become suddenly making themselves so much clearer. To save hundreds of thousands of faunus, COMMAND ESR had truly tossed aside any ideals she might have clung to. And the worst part was that it had worked. Peace had reigned for over a decade and no one was any the wiser about the horrible sins needed to bring it about. No wonder the Gate of the Maiden claimed that only a monster could save the world.
Rage swelled and surged within the Black Fairy. Some of it at Sienna and Summer and all the other idols that had proven less than what she and her friend had thought them to be, but not most of it. No, the majority of her fury was reserved for the scum that had made them have to wonder if they were necessary. Her blood boiled at the thought of The Hunters for Humanity who'd lynched them, at the councils who'd used her people as scapegoats, at Jacques Schnee who'd profited off their suffering without regret, for the Umbral Spirit King who even now demanded their genocide for a crime no being on Remnant save Salem had played any part in. The whispers of the Grimm she'd absorbed bit into her mind, stoking the fires of her anger, her righteous wrath against those who just couldn't leave them alone! They just wanted to be left alone! Was that really such a sin that needed to be KiLLeD, CUll—
Blake vigorously shook her head, wiping the leaking streams of Seram's Madness from her mind.
No. No, she'd gone down that road before, lived the despair and desperation sparked by righteous anger. There was power in it, but too often than not, the price was more than the justice had been worth. She'd seen that when she'd taken Yang's arm at Beacon, and she only had to look to Adam to see where such a path led if it was followed to its natural end. No matter how good the fury felt…
"I will not be a monster," Blake snarled, her voice strong like black steel.
"You don't need to be," Sienna said. "We'll do it for you. All you need to do is let us. Just stand aside and then stand with us when the real war begins. Dark deeds are meant to be done in the dark where no one can see them, so let us monsters take care of them."
It made sense. Summer certainly didn't seem like she wanted Ruby or Yang to join Atlas Intelligence. Fairy Tail had been called a guild of monsters more than once, and if they couldn't fill the part now, Salem's cabal was more than willing. Some level of monstrousness was necessary.
"You go make sure Hazel doesn't do something stupid," Blake told Sienna. "I'll head to Summer and Raven and start rallying everyone together. We can hit things from both ends. Fair enough?"
Sienna smiled. "I believe that will do just fine. Be careful, Blake. Until we know what destroyed Hell's Core, there could be danger around every corner."
"Right," Blake muttered, her old mentor floating off towards the distant crash of thunder.
Some level of monstrousness was necessary, but evil prevailed when the good did nothing. She could not join Salem's band, but could she stand by and do nothing? Let the horror of conquest happen and just be satisfied that she wasn't directly causing it? That was far too close to running away from the problem for her taste.
And yet, for now, what else could she do but run to her friends?
Blake flapped her wings and soared off towards the western tower. Hopefully, once she'd reached Summer and Raven's maiden signatures, and more importantly Yang who was with them, she could start to formulate an actual plan.
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"No."
Raven had never been so grateful to hear her brother denied something he so desperately wanted. With her body prevented from taking any hostile action against Summer, she'd been terrified that her old leader would follow through on her declarations to 'do what must be done' and there would have been nothing she could do about it. She and Qrow may not have been on anything even remotely resembling good terms, but she didn't want him to die. Even if he did, for some reason.
"No?" Qrow queried, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. "Why?"
"I don't need a reason not to kill someone," Summer declared, looking over her teammate with aghast horror. "Let alone you."
"But you'll do it if you have one, right?" Qrow demanded, rising to his feet and stomping into his leader's face. "You killed James. Why should any of us be any different?"
"Because you're family."
Raven wished those words had come from Summer. But they hadn't.
The four members of Team STRQ whipped around to the rubble wall, Yang, Carla, and Penny clambering into the cavern. Well, Yang and Penny clambered in. Carla just sat on Yang's shoulder.
Raven felt her daughter's glare on her back for a moment, Tai even taking care to step between them. But Yang quickly landed her gaze on her uncle, filled with just as much love and devotion as her previous words.
Qrow laughed in her face, a haunted, broken thing. "The ends justify the means doesn't know exceptions for family, firecracker. Only useful people. And I've long outlived my usefulness."
Carla leapt off Yang's shoulder and fluttered towards him. "Qrow, we talked about this before."
Yang and Raven's eyes both immediately widened, mother and daughter for once sharing their emotions. Even Summer's face went ghost white at the Exceed's revelation.
"Talked about this before…" Tai murmured, gazing at his partner in horror. "Qrow, how long have you wanted to kill yours—"
"It doesn't matter! And neither does that whole "live for your friends" bullshit from before," Qrow snarled, whirling away from Carla and back to Summer. "As long as I'm alive, my semblance will hound everyone and everything around me. Doesn't matter if I support you or not, as long as I'm alive, misfortune will hound you. You need to maximize your chances against the Umbral Spirit King, don't you?! There's your damn reason, so do it already! You can't ignore that—
"Edward Caspian."
Qrow blinked. "Huh? Who the hell is that?"
"Edward Caspian is a veteran huntsman, currently living in Vacuo," Summer revealed, forcing her chin high like a queen even as she failed to hide the tremble in her throat. "His semblance possesses the immensely useful ability to negate another person's semblance."
Qrow reeled back. "You mean—"
"There's also Clover Ebi, head of the Ace Operatives of Atlas and holder of the passive semblance of Good Fortune, an ability that should cancel out with your Misfortune," Summer continued, advancing on Qrow and startling the huntsman back. "Do you want me to go on? I've put together quite a few dossiers over the years."
"What…" Qrow stuttered, his face pale and his crimson eyes cracked. "What do you mean? Dossiers for what?"
Raven gulped, a tear tumbling down her cheek. "For you, you idiot."
"Exactly," Summer confirmed, almost insulted that he'd had to ask. "I'm perfectly aware of how dangerous your semblance can be. But I've had ten years to look for ways around it and perhaps the most dangerous intelligence network on Remnant to help me."
Qrow's gaze fell to the floor. "But… why? Why, when you could just kill me and be done with it?"
"Because I don't want to kill you, you moron! I didn't want to kill James! I don't want to kill anyone! I will always… look for a way…" Summer shouted, only for her voice to falter with despair. Her palm rose and covered her face in shame. "Sometimes for longer than I should. Sometimes… when just biting the bullet would have saved more lives."
"Mom…" Yang murmured.
Summer wiped a set of prickling tears from her eyes and took in a deep, but shaky breath. She grabbed Qrow's chin and gently forced his face up to meet her gaze. "Even if I hadn't found a way, why would you ever want to die?"
"Because I'm tired," Qrow sighed. "Tired of being a failure. Tired of dragging everyone I love into the darkness."
"When have you ever done that?!" Summer demanded. "You began in darkness, true, but you had no control over that. And when you were given a chance at light, you took it without a second thought. You think so much about how your semblance gets in your way, but even with it hampering you all your life, you've still managed to become the greatest huntsman on Remnant. A teammate, a partner, an uncle. A friend like no other. You can't ignore that."
"I'm a drunk who can turn into a bird," Qrow mumbled. "What use is that against the king of all Grimm?"
"I don't know," Summer confessed. "We'll just have to find out. Up for it?"
Qrow sniffled, his shoulders shaking and his head shuddering into a nod, Yang coming forward to engulf him in a gentle hug. Tai, stunned by the extent of his partner's suicidal thoughts, couldn't find a thing to say.
Raven shuddered. Perhaps the most dangerous thing about Summer wasn't her strategic mind or her new mystical strength, but her heart. Even now, even as they had crashed maiden against maiden, it was still there, bleeding as ever. Despite everything, it was still her. Still capable of gripping their frayed spirits and lifting them up from even the darkest depths of despair.
And as she turned away from Qrow and strode towards Raven, the Spring Maiden had no fear that her former leader would kill her. She had no need to and as she'd just shown, she would only kill if she thought she needed to.
No, Raven feared she'd find another way, that she'd shatter the bandit's newfound resolve, that she'd turn back into a monster. That she'd thank her friend for it when it was all done.
"It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies. More, to stand up to your friends," Summer said. "But this is not the time, Raven. We need to keep the peace until we find out what caused that Crash Magic blast. Can you promise me you won't cause trouble until then?"
Raven's lip quivered, unable to lie and doubtful she'd be believed if she did. "I can't. Because if I stop, if I compromise with you for even a moment… I won't be able to stop myself from joining you. I love you too much."
Yang scoffed. "Hypocrite."
"No. It is difficult to tell the difference between a hypocrite and someone who's in the process of changing their mind, but there is a stark difference," Summer said, her hand rising to warmly caress Raven's auraless cheek even as The Gate shook with impotent rage. "I'm proud of you, partner. No matter how… frustrating you are, I am proud of you. I suppose that might mean I love you too much as well. But until everyone is safe from whatever caused that explosion, I can't have you getting in my way."
"Sleep."
The command washed over Raven like a warm breeze, soft and comforting. Her eyes fluttered shut, both Summer and Tai running to catch her as she fell. Her final thought before darkness claimed her was that she'd done her best, given everything she had to do the right thing, without chance of reward or salvation.
It wasn't a surprise that she'd received neither.
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Carla gulped as Raven crumpled like a sack of bricks. The Macro Curse had incapacitated the heaviest hitter in their group the moment her aura had fallen, but it seemed Summer wasn't arrogant enough to risk giving her old partner a more general command and having the bandit squirm her way through some loophole. Until the Gate of the Maiden changed her command, or the curse died with her, the Spring Maiden would sleep. Unable to fight… or portal Fairy Tail to safety.
Granted, as Summer gently passed her partner into Taiyang's arms, her husband glaring at her with eyes full of tears and fury, Carla noted that the latter possibility had already been substantially handicapped. Without an anchor outside the castle, it didn't matter whether Raven was awake or not. They were all trapped in Salem's domain with no real way out.
"Take care of her and stay here," Summer told Tai, rising to her feet and looking to the rest of the group. "All of you, wait here. Raven's maiden signature will act as a beacon to gather everyone here. In the meantime, I'll head out and find any stragglers who might be in trouble. Wherever our differences of opinion on the best way to handle the Umbral Spirit King, we can discuss them after everyone is safe."
"What difference of opinion?" Tai snidely prodded. "If we disagree, we'll just be put to sleep."
Summer took in a deep breath but couldn't keep her body from trembling. She may have expected to be hated by her teammates, but she had not been able to anticipate how. Whatever had transpired when Raven had attacked her, the calm, implacable exterior of the woman who conquered Atlas was cracking.
Unfortunately, Carla was fully aware that even with her foe's crumbling psychological state, they did not possess the ability to overpower Summer if they tried to fight as Raven had. And she could also, begrudgingly, admit that the Gate of the Maiden's current plan was not a bad one, nor did it put the Fairy Tail allies in an overly terrible position. With Summer gone and Yang doubtlessly desiring to join her beloved mother on her scouting, Carla, Penny, Tai, and Qrow could put their heads together and come up with a plan.
Summer approached Yang and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Yang, I know you're not going to want to hear this, but I need you to stay here—"
"It's okay, mom," The Devil Slayer reassured her with a smile. "I know you'll be okay."
Summer's eyes widened in surprise for a moment before her face morphed into a mask of loving pride, a balm that soothed over her fracturing facade. Chains slipped back over her emotions, healing her wavering determination just a fraction.
Meanwhile, Carla kicked herself for lying to Yang about her Future Vision. She'd already had a mountain of reservations about her choice then and it was already coming back to bite them.
No, no, maybe this was good. Maybe they could use this. Summer was either placing Yang with them out of a motherly desire to make sure her daughter was far out of the possible combat or manipulative stratagem to ensure she had a spy to keep them from coming up with any escape plans, possibly both. But if the Yellow Fairy was separated from her long-lost mother, maybe they could start chipping away at her worship for the woman? Maybe?
Mother and daughter embraced in a short but tight embrace, looking at each other as if their kin were the world's most beautiful diamond.
Carla sighed. They had their work cut out for them.
Summer separated from Yang and headed for the dark hall up further into the tower, only to pause as the electric whir of crackling energy sounded through the cavern. Carla turned to see Penny once more pointing her emerald lasers at the Gate of the Maiden's back, all her swords combined into a single gigantic beam.
"Penny," Yang said, gingerly reaching out to her friend. "Please, we've been through this before—"
"You said you needed a reason to kill someone," Penny snarled, ignoring the Devil Slayer for her target. "You've given me several."
Summer let out a deep, hoarse breath. Carla's fur stood on end as her animal instincts recognized the difference between this release and the Spirit Slayer's previous resigned sighs.
The chains were slipping. If any more pressure was applied, the beast underneath would break loose. A beast with determination equal to Erza but without any of the Titania's moral limits. Not Summer Rose, but the monster she had so desperately tried to become.
"I know you haven't forgotten Amity, Penny. You know full well what each of us are capable of," COMMAND ESR spoke, her voice forcefully, lethally, calm, like a taut wire about to snap. "You can wait here conscious, or you can wait here unconscious. But you will be waiting here."
It was a long moment, perhaps the longest Carla had felt since everything she'd ever thought she'd known changed on Edolas. Summer had defeated Raven without even entering her Eclipse Etherious Form. Penny had used magic a grand total of one time in her life. If she fired on the Winter Maiden, the others would move to defend her, but they wouldn't be able to win. And then they'd all end up in a cursed sleep.
"Penny," Carla whispered, shuffling closer to the machias girl, praying she'd give in to fear and see sense. "Don't."
Penny's teeth gnashed against each other, her blades shaking on their strings. "I ran from her at Amity. I told everyone to run, and I told Weiss not to go back. Winter was captured because of me. Weiss and Gray have spent the last months suffering because of me."
"That wasn't your fault, Penny," Yang assured her. "You made the best choice you could with the info you had at the time."
Carla had the feeling that Yang was referring to the running away from a 'friend' as the mistake, but she wasn't going to turn down the emotional backup.
The Exceed flew to Penny's shoulder and grasped the metal muscle in her paw. "You did everything you could. You know that."
"Of course I know that!" Penny shouted. "So why am I still so angry at myself? Why do I feel that I should have done more?!"
"Because feelings blind us. And they make us see things that might not be there," Summer pronounced. "They're frustrating paradoxes. They create almost all of life's problems and yet it probably wouldn't be worth living without them. We can't get rid of them, and when we try they just buck back harder. Doesn't matter how long you live, you'll always be their puppet. We all are."
The Gate of the Maiden resumed walking forward. "Fire. Or don't. You know which choice leads where."
It was several tense seconds, Penny's fingers twitching as Yang's legs readied to jump in the beam's path if she fired. And Summer just kept walking, the beast having deemed the gnats would be let be if they did not do anything worth swatting them for.
At last, the beast vanished into the darkness. Penny's laser faded from the room and her swords clattered to the ground. The young girl sank to her knees and let out a visceral scream of despair, Yang rushing to her side to wrap her friend in a hug.
Carla could only turn to look over the rest of the rubble-filled cavern, Taiyang staring at a shivering Qrow as he held an unconscious Raven in his arms. Team STRQ, reunited and shattered once more.
They needed a plan. They needed to do something!
But what could they do in the depths of despair?
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At the base of the western tower, there was nothing. Just rubble and dust and darkness, the castle ruins barren and lifeless.
And yet, while there was not a person in sight…
"Is he… are they following us?"
… there were voices.
"I don't think so. They… he… I don't sense any metal moving towards us."
"What if he took out the spike you planted in him? What if he used Ren's Crash Magic to destroy it?! What if—"
"Nora, that's possible, but he'd probably be leaving a bigger trail of destruction. I think we can drop the invisibility."
"Right… right…"
In the blink of an eye, two young women, two wizards, two huntresses, shimmered into existence at the base of the tower. Both redheads sagged around the black obsidian of the remaining castle wall and instantly slide down to the ground, panting hard.
For the first time since they'd arrived in Salem's domain, Pyrrha allowed herself to relax just a fraction. Her mesh armor, which had been repaired back on Patch from the onslaught it suffered from Cinder at Haven, strained against her heaving muscles, sweat pouring down her skin.
When the central tower had come down, they'd only been saved by Jaune throwing up his enormous dome of wool around what used to be Neo-Hell's Core. Boulders had hammered down from outside, Pyrrha frantically using her semblance to chuck whatever metal remnants of the laboratory's devices she could find at Jaune to keep her mutated partner at bay. Then, once the thunder of the collapsing castle ceased, Nora had shrouded them with invisibility and Pyrrha had booked them out and away with one Meteor after another.
"We're… we're safe," Nora sighed. "We got away. We… we ran. We ran away and left them behind."
Pyrrha gulped, her own heart thundering with similar reprimands. "We… we didn't have a choice. We lost Gray. The two of us can't beat a Gate, let alone… whatever that was."
"It was Jaune. Jaune and Ren," Nora growled. "Our teammates, our partners, our… our…"
"I know, Nora," Pyrrha said. "We had no choice."
"There's always a choice!" Nora yelled, more to herself than her friend. "They never would have left us behind. We should have stayed and kept fighting—"
"No!" Pyrrha barked, unwilling to allow the mantra that had egged her on at Haven to infect her and her friend. She whirled on Nora and snatched up her teammate by her collar. "We didn't know how to separate Ren, or fix whatever that machine did to Jaune, or how to fight them without being absorbed ourselves!"
Nora glanced away, unable to meet Pyrrha's eyes. "What if… what if whatever Cinder did them can't be undone—"
"Thinking like that isn't going to do us any good right now! We have to find the others and regroup. They know more about the Nine Demon Gates and how to counteract their curses," Pyrrha commanded, her eyes flickering to the western tower beside them. "There are two maiden signatures up there. With Emerald back by the Core, that means one of them is Raven."
"And the other is Esper Rosenflos," Nora fearfully murmured. "What if she's already gotten to the others?"
"You can keep us hidden until we find out one way or another," Pyrrha encouraged. "Ren said we do this together, right?"
"We did. And we lost together, like he said."
"No, we lost apart," Pyrrha pointed out. "We rushed in out of fear instead of looking for the others. We can repeat that mistake now. Not when the stakes are so high."
Nora finally looked up at her, the huntress's bubbly confidence nowhere to be seen. "Are you sure?"
"I am."
The hammer-wielder pointed back towards the ruins of the castle. "Then should we go there instead?"
Pyrrha was about to remind Nora that going back to the wool dome most certainly was not an option, but when her gaze flickered over there, her emerald eyes widened at what her teammate was actually pointing at.
A giant wall of pink ice. Devil Slayer Ice.
"Gray," Pyrrha whispered. "How did we miss that?"
"We were running for our lives after watching our boyfriends get mutated into an unholy abomination," Nora brokenly explained. "Our attention was pretty shot."
Pyrrha gulped. That ice wall was right on top of the maiden signature from Neo-Hell's Core. It was entirely possible that Gray was facing off with Cinder and her team, alone.
Should they run back? It would take more time, he was farther away than those in the western tower, but they did have Meteor. Or would their presence merely draw Jaune to the Devil Slayer? If that happened, they'd be outnumbered four-to-three and massively outgunned wizard to wizard. But they couldn't just leave him alone, they had to keep fighting—
Pyrrha caught herself and smacked her cheeks. Fear had its benefits, but the need to act, to jump into a righteous battle, would not help them. It'd just get them all killed. Though, her thoughts weren't entirely incorrect. They couldn't leave Gray alone. But they also had to trust him to take care of himself.
"We head for Raven," Pyrrha decided. "Gray is one of the most powerful wizards in Fairy Tail. He can take care of himself long enough for us to get a team together that can actually help him."
"But what if we're too late—"
"We're not going to be any help to him if all we do is show up exhausted and give Cinder more targets," Pyrrha said. She rose to her feet, helping Nora do the same. "We need to go, Nora."
"Huh. Go? Leave Ren?" Nora murmured, a snort that wanted to be a carefree laugh croaking from her lips. "Don't think I've ever done that."
Pyrrha shot her teammate a look of sympathy before shuffling her into the tower. It broke her heart to leave Jaune and Ren behind, but Nora? Nora, who cared so strongly and so deeply, and would have died for Jaune after knowing him for a week? Who was now separated from her oldest friend and dearest love in the worst possible way? It was proof of her strength that she was able to hold back her tears until they were out of danger.
Nora had lent Pyrrha her strength and heart for so long, supported her even when Pyrrha had fought her tooth and nail. She'd ripped the Invincible Girl down from her pedestal and refused to allow her to collapse into dust back on Patch. She and Jaune and Ren and all her friends had carried Pyrrha forward when she'd struggled to walk.
Now, with Nora stumbling under the weight of despair, Pyrrha would carry her. No matter how dark the road, they would move forward.
After all, there had to be a bit of light somewhere down the line.
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Grandeeny always said, "Look for the light, and you can often find it. But if you look for the dark, and it will be all you ever see."
Well, Wendy was looking pretty darn hard for the light, but she couldn't see anything!
The Sky Dragon Slayer panted as sweat poured down her muscles, the rubble hill she'd stood upon a moment before replaced with a circle of flickering fires and soaking wet dust. Her Dragonforce mane remained strong, but even its pink sheen was losing its luster. At her side, Oscar laid hunched over the Long Memory, hacking out clout after clout of blood.
And looming over them both was the Gate of the Bull.
Running had only served Wendy and Oscar so well. While the Maiden of the Sky could outpace Hazel in pure speed, she couldn't escape the range of his elemental attacks, especially when she had to carry Oscar as well. The wounds her ally had incurred from his reckless use of his Time Magic on himself had also refused to stay closed from her brief battlefield healing, reopening, and threatening to kill the young farmboy as she held him in her arms.
Unfortunately, since she couldn't heal him and dodge Hazel at the same time, they'd eventually had to stand and fight north of the wool dome. That had gone better than their last try at fighting the hulking behemoth, Wendy had managed to keep from being stuck in another hole and consistently stood between him and his true target, but no matter what they hit him with, The Gate of the Bull just wouldn't go down. Tornado after cyclone after Sky Dragon Roar, boosted by swarms of time-displaced boulders and every enchantment she had time to throw up, and every last one was nullified in turn by some sort of calamity.
"I know this might not be the most welcome observation," Irene spoke up. "But we seem to be quite outmatched."
"I am aware," Wendy hissed. "Any ideas?"
"None you'll like."
Another lightning bolt. Another firestorm. Another desperate dodge on a swift wind. Another thunderous roar.
"I'll take anything!" Wendy demanded.
Irene sighed. "Very well. Give up."
Wendy frowned. The High Enchanter was right. She didn't like it.
She glanced back at Oscar, clutching a hand over his chest. "You want to let him kill them?"
"Eh, 'want' is a strong word. I have nothing against the poor boy or the old man, but if you continue to fight this bull, he'll make steak out of you," Irene warned. "You can't win this one, shrimp. There's no enchantment I can teach you in the next few seconds that will suddenly turn the tide. He's going to kill Oscar and Ozma, and you if you fight him. If you stand down, only they will die, and you can join Salem's circle. The farmboy's recklessness has already put them both at death's door and you can't say they wouldn't prefer if you made it out alive if they couldn't."
"I prefer if we all made it out alive," Wendy growled, cartwheeling back as Hazel fist sent an earthquake through the ground she'd just stood upon. "And joining Salem? Conquering the world?"
Irene shrugged. "Conquest isn't always bad for the conquered. Alakitasia was a bed of poverty and disease before Zeref united the continent. Ishgar may have considered him a tyrant, but he was beloved by his people for good reason."
"And he was willing to erase them all when he reset the timeline," Wendy countered, though she couldn't deny the former Spriggan had something of a point. "Besides, I'm not letting Oscar die. I'm not crossing that line."
"Damn it, Wendy! If you want to live, you're going to have to cross some sort of line!" Irene shouted, fear dominating the normally imperious woman's face. "Help or not, you couldn't beat me. You couldn't beat End. You can't beat Hazel either, but he isn't going to let sentimentality stand in his way if you're standing between him and his target!"
"Sky Dragon's Wind Wave!" Wendy cried, sweeping her arms out and sending a screaming tornado straight for Hazel.
The Gate the Bull unleashed a hail of fire and explosions, the typhoon battered but able to press onward. Unfortunately, with its strength so reduced, Hazel was able to ram through the weakened winds, charging straight through the tornado and peeling two of his arms back for a massive strike on Wendy.
The Sky Dragon Slayer made to jump away, but a trio of lightning bolts crashed down around her, cutting off her escape just as her enemy closed. She was trapped, unable to avoid the blow. She crossed her arms over each other, gathering what wind she could to cushion the attack…
"Arc of Time: Double Accel!"
Only for Oscar to blur in front of her, time magic curling off his body. He slammed the Long Memory into the ground, and the Shield of Memory rose over the pair to protect them once more. Hazel's fists hammered down into the barrier, thundering down over and over again, but the emerald dome held.
Oscar, on the other hand, was no longer throwing up clouts of blood. No, now a small puddle of his was pouring out of his lips.
"You idiot!" Wendy cried, her hands flying to his chest with every ounce of healing magic she had. "You just made your wounds worse! I don't know if I can heal this fast enough!"
Oscar winced. "Sorry. But I couldn't just let you di—bargh!"
Another bout of blood interrupted his words, but Wendy understood the sentiment. Which didn't make Irene's mournful gaze any easier to bear.
"He's going to die, shrimp," the High Enchanter pronounced. "If he wasn't before, that last spell sealed his fate. His heart is tearing itself apart faster than you can heal it. Don't die for your friend, live for him."
"I am going to live," Wendy insisted. "Me, and my friends, are going to live."
Oscar cracked a smile, the Shield of Memory warping with effort as Hazel pounded down on it with all four of his arms. "Thanks… I'm glad to be your friend."
Irene sighed. "I admire your optimism. But if you don't surrender, then you have to fight, and you don't stand a chance of healing him if you have to fight—"
"Ice Devil's Zeroth Long Swords!"
Suddenly, two dozen blades of pink ice soared down from the sky crashing down over the combatants. The Shield of Memory protected Wendy and Oscar, but Hazel howled as he was finally pushed back by the relentless hail of projectiles. He may have felt no pain, but his body's vulnerability to that specific magic packed a punch he couldn't ignore.
A radiant smile bloomed over Wendy's face, Oscar dropping the Shield of Memory as their savior landed in front of them, a familiar Exceed fluttering beside him. "Gray! Happy!"
The Ice Devil Slayer shot them a reassuring smile, his care and concern visible even through the manifestation of his Full Demon Form. "Glad you're alright." He noticed Oscar hunched over his cane and winced. "Well, mostly."
Wendy grabbed the time wizard and pulled him up to his feet. "I need to heal him. Can you handle this?"
Gray glanced towards Hazel, the titanic Gate lumbering towards the wizards. "For a friend? Easy."
"Don't underestimate him. He may be angry, but he's got a lot of power to back it up," Happy warned. The demonic Exceed transformed into his humanoid state, grasping both Wendy and Oscar in his arms, close enough for the Sky Dragon Slayer to continue her healing. "I'll take you guys somewhere safe."
He blasted off into the sky, Gray throwing up a wall of ice to block a bolt of lightning Hazel threw to try and shoot them down.
As they soared, Wendy shared a look with a frowning Irene.
"Your faith has been rewarded this time, shrimp," The Queen of Dragons admitted. "But what will you do when it isn't?"
Wendy didn't have an answer for that, nor did she think she could risk responding in Happy's presence. She still wasn't sure if she could tip off her old friend to her new ally's existence.
"Happy?" she said. "Where are you taking us?"
"Neo-Hell's Core," Happy replied. "We'll find what we need to revive Natsu there."
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Should she have killed Emerald?
The thought haunted Cinder's mind as she watched the green-haired thief dig into the glacier wall with her white-hot flame. It had taken a few tries for her to get it right, but she'd successfully melted away the pink ice enough to allow Mercury's forearms, calves, and the upper half of his face to wiggle free. His gray eyes pleaded with his allies to hurry up, steam rising from every scrap of flesh the Devil Slayer ice touched.
All the while, Cinder's eyes flickered all around the field of ruin. Even if Gray Fullbuster had decided to just leave them for some reason, that didn't mean other Fairy Tail monsters wouldn't be coming out of the woodwork any time soon. The giant ice wall was hardly inconspicuous. And here she was not even as powerful as she was at Haven.
That was the heart of the fear in her mind. She could have killed Emerald and let Mercury die and no one would have been the wiser. She would have the Fall Maiden powers back, would have been strong enough to protect herself. But she didn't. And she didn't even fully understand why.
She wanted to be better for Teacher, but Emerald had made it quite clear that her efforts were meaningless, that she was nothing. So why had she risked everything for nothing when she needed power to protect herself and Teacher from—
"You."
Cinder's eyes widened, the familiar, horrifying voice washing over Cinder and freezing her soul in terror. Emerald glanced back at the direction the voice came from, Mercury paling as it was already within his sights.
"Geht meh ohut. Geht meh ohut!" he screamed, his voice muffled by the ice covering his mouth. Emerald pressed her white-hot flame further into the glacier, far less paying less attention to carefully carving him out in exchange for rapid speed. Cinder, her body shivering, turned around towards the source of the feral snarl.
Like a figure from her literal nightmares, Erza Scarlet emerged from the surrounding rubbles, a sword in hand as she stalked towards the Eclipse Etherious trio.
Cinder's breathing accelerated, shallow pants rushing in and out of her lungs, her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides. Flashes of Haven bombarded her head, twin blades of fire and ice tearing her from the sky, a long blade stabbing her through the gut, Scarlet refusing to go down while ramming her into the vault… locking her in the vault…
So much heat… for so many years… alone…
Until she died. Until she…
She was weak. She was weak.
She was going to die! She was going to die!
She was going to die!
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Should she have killed Qrow?
The thought wouldn't leave Summer alone as she dashed through the halls of the western tower. Raven and Tai's nonsensical denouncements had frayed at her mind, but none of them had torn her apart inside like her final teammate begging her to end his life. Both for how it showed her just how frayed his mental state had become… and because she knew that it was a very real possibility that she might one day have to follow through on his request.
She'd spent years searching for ways to suppress or counteract Qrow's semblance, determined to use the time she had until Ruby and Yang returned from the past and the war truly began to find a way to save him. Because he wasn't wrong. It was their duty to maximize their chances against the Umbral Spirit King and Misfortune was potentially a dangerous weakness. And as much care as she'd taken studying Clover and Caspian's semblances, she couldn't be one hundred percent sure they would work as intended until they were put into practice.
And if they didn't work… what then? Did she continue searching for a semblance that could negate Misfortune? Or did she do what she had to do? Her purpose was to be the monster where a monster was needed, not a monster except when it was hard for her. It would be an insult to every innocent life she'd taken if she started playing favorites to protect her own loved ones. And from a practical standpoint, there was what happened with James.
She could have killed him before the failsafe became necessary, assassinated him and pinned it on Jacques or Adam. Winter would have succeeded him as general and would have been much more malleable. But she'd wanted to take the chance that she had enough time, time for Ozpin to reincarnate and be convinced to join their side, time for him to reveal the truth to James and make him believe it. Time ran out, the failsafe became necessary and because she didn't realize it, because she couldn't admit it, Arthur went behind her back, and Willow Schnee died a death that she could have prevented. If she'd only she'd not wavered and had the will to push aside her meaningless sentimentality.
Was that trap of compassion chaining her now? Had she truly learned nothing from everyone who had died from her weakness? She had to be kind where she could, but if she couldn't, she had to do what had to be done—
The hiss of frost cut through Summer's thoughts, the dark castle hall suddenly filled with frozen mist. The floor, walls, and ceiling were covered in thick layers of familiar black ice, creeping and inching forward across the obsidian.
"Ice God's Jotunheim," Summer whispered, yanking her foot out of the ice before it could settle. She glanced around the corridor, the shadows seeming to creep all around as they hid their mistress. "Weiss! I know you're there. I know what you feel towards me. But we don't have the luxury of-"
"I don't need your justifications, Esper!"
Summer's eyes shot skyward, the familiar voice booming down from above. The ceiling right above her cracked and splintered, a dark armored figure, an Arma Gigas, descending with its gigantic sword swinging forth to strike. The Gate of the Maiden tried to leap back, but the arc of the slash carried out a rush of ice, striking the Spirit Slayer right in the chest. She went flying back into the wall, gasping as the glacier cracked from the sheer force of the impact.
The black Arma Gigas stood at its full height, towering over its Eclipse Etherious prey, its blade, more a massive hunk of ice and phantasmal steel than a sword, was held up, ready to attack, to butcher. From within the Grimm's dark helmet, a pair of cold blue eyes somehow blazed with searing azure fire.
"I just need you dead!" Weiss screamed, already charging for her vengeance.
Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!
Go Forth and Conquer!
