After having spent some time in the hot springs with medicinal herbs, Lucy and I had accompanied Cana to finally reveal to Gildarts that she was in fact his daughter. I had waited for this moment since my best friend and first admitted to me that Gildarts Clive was her father, and as I watched the tender scene unfold I could not help but feel tears rise to my eyes. Sure, Gildarts had messed the mood up a little by listing off countless names of the women he'd slept with, but when he finally realised just whose daughter Cana was, he had completely unravelled to reveal himself to be a sensitive and caring soul. He'd held Cana close and asked her permission to allow him to love her and be a proper father.
Crying and laughing at the same time, I winked at Lucy who grinned back at me, the two of us high fiving the other as Natsu and Happy just stared in blank shock at the pair of them. Well, I think this might just have turned my day on its head and made it become a pretty awesome day! Then came the roar. It shook the trees until they shed their leaves, falling in spiralling streams as the ground trembled, animals fled and I felt my ears ring from the powerful and downright terrifying sound. Gildarts reacted by pulling Cana closer to him, safeguarding her immediately as Lucy and I sprang for one another with sharp squeaks of fear.
"What the heck is that?!" We chorused together, trembling like shaking tree branches in unison. The roar just kept on going without stopping, making me wonder if we had accidentally woken up some kind of ancient beast that had been hibernating on the island or something.
"We've got to go, now!" Gildarts called to the four of us, already having seized Cana by the hand to race back to camp. "Natsu, hurry!" Letting go of Lucy I ran with the others all the way back to the camp, seeing everybody else was in just a confused state as we were.
"Erza!" I ran directly to my sister and quickly grabbed hold of her arm, worriedly looking around me as she naturally lifted the arm I was holding to shield me, already in a defensive stance. For a tense few moments, nothing happened, but then Lily pointed to the sky and above us we saw little more than the black shape of a winged creature rising high above us, so large that it blocked out the sun. A dragon. Everyone panicked, staring in horror and shock as the dragon continued to come ever closer towards us. "Erza, I thought dragons were extinct." I whispered, tightening my grip on my sister as I nearly lost my voice for fear.
"Evidently we were mistaken. Don't worry Zera, I shall protect you."
"From that?! Big sis, I think we'd better run." Only Natsu didn't seem overly alarmed at the sighting of a dragon, and even if he did, then he hid it very well.
"I knew it, the dragons are still alive!"
"It is the black dragon from the Apocalypse Revelations. Acnologia." Completely ignoring the key word apocalypse, Natsu lifted his fist and shook it at the black dragon, yelling at the top of his lungs in order to try and catch its attention.
"Hey listen you! If you know where Igneel is, you'd better tell me right now! Also Grandeeney and Metalicana too!" Shut up Natsu! We don't want that thing spotting us or coming over here! Too late, however, as the dragon suddenly dove down directly for us, landing with a colossal earth shake and a roar which bent the trees backwards from the force of its breath. I would not want to go up against that thing. I'd definitely be the first to die.
"RUN!" Gildarts flung out his arm and bellowed, shocking me with the fact of how frightened he sounded. Gildarts was as tough as they came and perhaps the strongest wizard in our guild, he never showed fear, so it wasn't exactly inspiring or encouraging for him to look like he'd just seen hell's gates opening to claim his soul. Before we could even turn around to flee, Acnologia began to attack us, using his powerful tail, wings and roars to shatter the ground underneath our feet, sweep aside entire groves of trees.
Erza seized me around the middle and flung us both to the ground out of the way of falling debris, rising up to shield me from it as I instinctively curled into a pathetic little ball. "It's okay, just run! Run back to the ship, getting home to Fairy Tail is our top priority!" She directed, strongly lifting me to my feet and helping me to run faster as we all made for the docks, stopping only when we realised that Natsu wasn't following and that Master Makarov had taken a stance against Acnologia himself.
"Master!"
"Run to the ship!" He began to grow in size, reaching a height and magnitude I had never witnessed before until he stood just as tall as Acnologia the dragon, using his giant arms to grasp hold of his neck and grapple with him. Master…what are you thinking?!
"He can't stand up to that thing!" Gray yelled, carrying Juvia over one shoulder as her leg was too injured for her to run. We all agreed, making to start back and agreeing that we would help the master take out this dragon by any means necessary to make sure our master didn't get hurt, but his powerful and echoing words stopped us all.
"Can't you follow your master's final order, you damn brats?!" No way, not his final order, that can't be! Master Makarov will definitely pull through, he's powerful enough to destroy continents, this is just one measly, winged and oversized lizard. There's no chance he won't win, right?
"Like hell I will! I'm the dragon slayer here and if that thing needs an enemy, then I'll-!" His words were cut off when Laxus of all people grabbed him by the back of his shirt and started to drag him away, pulling him back from the dragon in order to follow Master Makarov's direction. We did start to run, but the more steps we took, the slower we all became, as if our hearts all agreed in unison that this wasn't right. Sure, the master had ordered us to run, but we were all stubborn, disobedient and a little bit excessive. There was no way we were going to let him stand alone and face this monster. No way.
Natsu pulled free first, racing backwards as I then turned on my heel, pulling my hand out of Erza's. "Zera?" Clenching my fists, I felt more afraid now than I had done all day, but I still didn't want to run away, but neither could I find the courage to move forward either.
"I'm not running. I can't. That's our old man out there, the only guy who's ever been like a father to me, and the same goes for most of us here." Clenching my teeth together, I trembled as the tears of terror continued to fall. "Please, help me big sister. I…I'm too afraid move and I'm shaking all over. Will you help me and give me a little push? Will you come with me?" Blinking only for a moment, Erza took my hand once more, her beautiful face smiling at me with loving understanding.
"Of course I will Zera. I'd follow you anywhere." Then, turning to the others, Erza lifted her hand to summon a sword, pointing it directly at Acnologia. "Let's go everyone, for the master!" Without hesitation we all ran forwards with a yell, heading directly for Acnologia. Erza pulled me with her, giving me that first push I needed to then continue on my own as I held out my hand to bring out my strongest bow, though it was not much. Whatever I could do, I was going to do it. For the master, for my friends and for all of Fairy Tail.
"Cosmic Agent – Dancing Nebula!" I aimed directly for Acnologia's eyes, releasing the arrow which spiralled with a pretty array of colours before it struck and a bright burst of white and sparks like stars flashed before him, causing him to roar and whip his head as my friends all flung everything they had at the dragon. We gave it everything we had, but even with the combined attacks of three dragon slayers, nothing we did hurt him. It was like he was completely immune to our attacks and we were nothing more than a minor inconvenience for him.
My worst fears were realised when we were all flung backwards with a single flap of his giant wings. I landed in a heap on top of Cana, accidentally digging my elbow into her back. "Sorry! I'm so sorry Cana!"
"Quit apologising and just get off me already Zee! Your butt is bony as hell!" Scrambling to get off her we both crouched down low, recovering from the counter strike and feeling drained, lethargic and weak. "Damn it, nothing we did seemed to have any effect at all. What is up with this thing?"
"I don't know, but it's flying over us now and I don't like the look of it!" Holding my breath I watched as the air began to swirl like a vacuum as it began to inhale, chest swelling to an incomprehensible size in order to accommodate the increased air.
"It's a breath attack!"
"Is it trying to erase the entire island?" It probably was to be honest. Seeing as it hadn't spoken a word or given any indication as to why it was here, perhaps destruction was its primal instinct and it just wanted to destroy everything it came across.
"Anyone with defensive magic, bring forth everything you have!" My sister ordered as I staggered to my feet, clutching my side which had started to hurt again.
"But Erza, there's no time for a fully formed defensive spell, we'd have to layer up numerous smaller spells to achieve the same effect in such a short amount of time." I said to her before then turning to Freed and Levy. "You guys on board for this?"
"Let's do it! No time to waste, there are plenty of defensive word-based magic we can use!" Nodding in agreement, Lisanna yelled for everybody to concentrate their power on myself, Levy and Freed, Mirajane suggesting that we all hold hands. Immediately I stretched out my own to my sister, taking a deep breath for bravery as she gave my fingers a gentle squeeze. We can do this, but we have to be fast.
"There's no way this is ending here, come on!" Natsu cheered as he helped Lucy up to her feet, her own voice crying out in agreement. Gray also joined in, declaring that our combined strength was nothing to be messed with and that we were going to show that old fossil just exactly what we Fairy Tail wizards were made of. One by one we all linked hands and as we did so, I felt a surge in our power as our hearts connected once more, bringing us all together. With one hand in Erza's and the other in Cana's, I closed my eyes as a bright light enveloped us, filling my entire body with a warmth that I would never forget in my entire life.
It continued to intensify until it completely enveloped us all, and the last thing I was aware of was holding Cana's and Erza's hands in mine, thinking of home and Fairy Tail and how much I wished I could see everybody again. It was a beautiful dream.