I hope I do not disappoint. I must have rewritten it twenty or so times!

Enjoy.

Chapter Forty Nine - Deliora

Two cards went off at once.

I've had this problem before; with Laki and Max.

But I learned from that problem, and checked what was wrong with the cards.

And this is where the real problem was.

The first card that went off was Ultear's card, and she was sending her emergency flare through it – which meant Gray had probably decided it was time to go after Deliora.

The problem with that, of course, was that we didn't have Silver.

And then Silver's monitoring card went off. He was alone (fucking finally).

I didn't realize I had started hyperventilating until Laxus shocked me. It surprised me that he did it again, after last time.

"Elle, get your head in the game!" he shouted. "What's the plan?"

I slowed my breathing, and took off my cuffs. Unlike last time, my magic flared to life, eager to help me. Alright, that was a good sign. Maybe luck was on our side today. "Right. Game. Plan. What's the plan?"

I started pacing. "What's the plan what's the plan what'stheplan whatstheplanwhatstheplan-"

I stopped. "Alright, here's what we're going to do."

Laxus nodded, paying close attention.

"You will use this card-" I gave him Silver's, "-in order to find the person linked with it. Then you'll shock him, and restart his heart. Understood?"

He nodded. "Then what?"

I handed him one more card. "Use this to find me, and then come to me and bring him with you. I'll stall as long as possible."

He froze, his hand hovering over the last card. "Stall?"

I nodded. "We need to do this, Laxus, or else we'll fail. We're going up against a demon, remember?"

He gave me a long look in, staring into my eyes, before he pulled the card from my hand and embraced me.

"Be safe," he whispered.

And then, in a flash, he was gone.

It seemed wrong to fight a demon during the day.

I gripped Ultear's card, and teleported to her side. By now, the other three cards with her were sending off their own crazy signals, and it's thanks to the cards that I understood what was happening and was able to stop it in time.

"I will seal away your darkness, Gray. Iced She-"

I punched Ur Milkovich in the face.

She hit the ground, and the surprise of a woman appearing out of nowhere to punch its opponent in the face was enough to stun Deliora long enough for me to get a type of Venus's Reflective Shield up around him.

My magic sprung to attention, locking him inside a dome, almost effortlessly, and while it seemed oddly suspicious, I accepted it and turned back to the situation at hand, watching Deliora test the shield.

He banged on the barrier, only to find it held up. Roaring did nothing but send his beam back at him, and he seemed hesitant to try that again. Spreading my arms wider to help keep the constant flow of energy, I kept my back to Deliora and faced the Ice Contingent. I knew that Ultear, or at least someone would warn me if something was wrong with my shield.

Plus, with how my magic was today, I'd probably sense it first.

"What…why would you-" Ur started.

I glared at her. "You have three children all looking up to you, don't you dare do this!"

In addition to that, it seemed she still had her leg this time around, which was convenient.

"But-" she started.

"I understand wanting to go out in a noble way, I really do," I said.

It's better than a car crash, at least.

"But I also know that there's a better way to do this, one in which we all survive. So I can't let you do that."

"I-" she started.

"Listen to her, Mama!" Ultear said, breaking free of the spell of the kids seemed to be under. Not surprising, considering that they just saw their mother/mentor about to commit suicide. She seemed to snap the boys out of it, and they turned to see her with the rest of us. "This is Nee-san! I trust her, she knows what to do!"

"Ultear, don't be irrational-" Ur began.

"I'm not being irrational!" Ultear yelled, before calming down. "Mama, please. I promise you, she knew things she shouldn't."

"It's true, I know a lot of things I shouldn't," I said, agreeing. My magic surged in agreement, and I was once again, slightly scared by the sentience my magic seemed to be showing.

But this was so not the time, so I put it out of my mind.

There was a flash of light, and Laxus appeared behind me, leaving Silver lying on the ground. "Elle, we've got a problem. He's in a coma."

I froze before shouting, "What the hell do you mean, 'he's in a coma'?"

"I mean he's in a fucking coma, how could I be any clearer?" Laxus asked.

I switched Venus over to the cards (I know Porlyusica said not to use them, but it was kinda an emergency) and I knelt down and started shaking Silver's unconscious body. "Wake up, dammit! Now is not the time for a nap, you need to wake the fuck up!"

"This is your Nee-san?" Lyon deadpanned.

"Is that my dad?" Gray asked.

We ignored them. "Elle, I already told you, he's in a coma!" Laxus yelled.

"FUCK!" I yelled.

A roar rang through the city, and Laxus spun around to finally acknowledge the demon being held back by my cards and power alone.

"The hell is that?" Laxus asked.

"That," I began, "is a stars-be-damned, motherfucking, gigantic-ass demon."

I slapped Silver in the face. "And you need to fucking wake up so you can kill it!"

"Please tell me you had a Plan B!" Laxus shouted.

"This already was Plan B!" I shrieked, slapping Silver again. "Do you really think I'd be smacking him so much if I had another plan?"

"Honestly?" Laxus asked. "Yeah. Definitely seems like something you'd do."

"Seriously," Gray said. "Is that my dad? Because I remember him dying."

We, once again, ignored him.

I dropped Silver's body, trying to think. "I just…fuck! I wish Lucy was here."

"Lucy?" Laxus asked. "Lucy? What about GILDARTS?"

"I don't know what would happen if Gildarts went up against a demon!" I shouted. "For all I know, it might just split Deliora into a bunch of tiny, human-sized Delioras, and I would honestly prefer this one! Lucy has the purest type of magic out there, and if she used Gemini, and they were both wearing a Gemini Star Dress, she could potentially quadruple her own power and use Urano Metria."

Laxus paled. "Remind me to never piss her off."

I started to pace. "I may have another plan. It's fucking INSANE though."

It was insane. For all I knew, I could be getting fictional universes confused.

Damn fanfiction. Damn myself for reading so much of it.

Damn Mashima, too, for being such a pain in my ass.

"Ultear," I turned to her. "I need your help."

"What do you need, Nee-san?" she asked.

"Do you know what Arc of Time is?" I asked.

She hesitated. "They mentioned it a few times at the Bureau, but I'm not quite sure what it is."

That's right, she didn't really know until she met Master Hades.

"Then you need to meditate. Now," I commanded. "You have two sets of specialized magic, and you're going to need to use the second one, even if you haven't used it before. Think you can do that?"

She nodded grimly. "I can try."

"Good," I said. I turned to Ur. "Ur, what do you know about magical transfers?"

"Not much," she said. "Why?"

"Do you know if you can force a magical transfer?" I asked.

"I'm almost positive the answer is no," Laxus said.

"I think he's right," Ur admitted.

"Don't care," I said. "Gonna try anyway."

I turned to the youngest of us. "Gray, grab your father's arm."

He jerked. "Oh, so now you want to talk to me." He paused, contemplating. "You mean…it's really my father?"

I nodded. "Yeah, he didn't die completely, and he's fully alive now, just…" I kicked Silver, "…asleep."

The boys sweatdropped.

"Please stop hitting my dad," Gray said.

Ultear began glowing a bright, acid green color, and she shouted in triumph. "I got it, Nee-san! Now what?"

"Gray!" I gestured to his father, and with his right arm, Gray grabbed Silver's – the one with the devil slayer tattoo.

"Ultear, we're going to force a magical transfer," I said.

"Is that possible?" she asked.

"Under normal circumstances, I don't think so, but I think we'll be able to pull it off," I said. "You see, I know for a fact that in the future, Silver will transfer his powers over to Gray. Since you now control Arc of Time, you're going to use that to search into the future and activate the transfer early."

Ultear couldn't control living things, which is why this was a bit difficult. However, I know she could manipulate plant life. So, if she searches for the magic, and only the magic, and brings it back from the future, it could actually work.

You know, maybe.

"You really think I can do that?" she asked, awed.

A sudden banging from Deliora brought her back to reality, and the cards holding up the shield snapped.

I flung my arms out again as the shield flickered, but this time my magic seemed fickle; it supported the shield, but it didn't feel right.

"You have to," I said, straining. "I know...you can do it."

There was more banging on the shield between us, and I gasped as a felt a large bruise form on my back. Another pound sent another wave of agony across my back, and I bit my lips and prayed that he wouldn't use his beam on the shield.

Before I didn't feel a thing, but now it seemed as if the shield was connected to my body. Something had changed.

Ultear nodded, though frightened, and followed my instructions, concentrating over the grasped arms.

I turned to Lyon and Ur, still straining and trying to not pay attention to the pain surfacing on my body as Deliora hit the shield a second time. "We're going to take down Deliora, and here's part of the plan. You ready?"

They nodded, listening attentively.

"You guys are going to need to freeze Deliora's jaw shut," I said. "That way he can't roar. I'm sure that eventually he'll be fine with roaring anyway, even if it means destroying his jaw, but that beam he shoots causes the most amount of damage. Stopping him from roaring and firing it will be the first way to beat him."

They nodded, and I turned to Laxus, who was watching Ultear, Silver and Gray curiously. "Laxus, I'm going to need you to activate your lightning form and fly around to Deliora's back. Over there, you'll need to send the strongest thing you can manage straight at his spine." I tapped at my lower back, so he could see, my arms still shaking.

Another bang formed another bruise on my back, and I had the feeling that I would be sleeping on my stomach for awhile.

There was a gasp from Gray as the devil slaying symbol appeared on his arm. "I can feel it," he said. "It's…it's really cold. Kinda hurts."

So cold it burns, eh?

I shook off the thought and looked at them. "Alright guys, I don't think that it will last very long, so here's what we're going to do. Ultear, I want you to weaken Deliora's joints. Speed it so far forward in time that they will collapse in on itself."

Now that the magical transfer had actually happened, I was a bit worried about this part. Could Deliora even be weakened by sending him through time like that? I don't think he fit the 'living' standards, though, so maybe it would work.

"We'll…" she said quietly. "I'm…kinda low on magical power."

"Don't sweat it," I said, straining to requip out a shit-ton of cards. My magical strength was fine, but with how it was acting, I didn't want to move much in order to keep the shield stabilized. I sent them in Ultear's direction and they landed in the snow in front of her. "You start running low, use the magic from these. It should help keep you running."

And would hopefully be enough to send his joints a few hundred years through time.

She nodded.

Deliora pounded on the barrier and a painful hit crashed into my lower back, sending shock waves through my legs.

I took a deep breath, trying to breathe out the pain and turned to Gray, tossing a bunch of cards in his direction, too. "I highly doubt that this new magic will last long, but it's called Devil Slaying Magic. Now, all slayers have a breath attack. A dragon slayer has a Roar, a god slayer has a Bellow, and a devil slayer has a Rage. So you're going to cast a rage directly where Deliora's heart should be."

He hesitated. "How?"

"Gather this new magic into your mouth and let it build. Focus all your magical power on it," I said. "And use the cards to make it stronger."

"Is everyone ready?" I asked, still straining.

They all nodded.

"On three, I'm going to let down the shield, and use a type of Earth Magic to keep Deliora in place. I doubt it will hold him long, so we all have to move the second it happens."

They all nodded.

"One."

My arms strained, and Laxus flickered with lightning. Gray's magic began to build, and Ultear seemed to be in a mix between meditating and getting ready to cast magic.

"Two."

Lyon and Ur nodded at each other, and Deliora seemed to realize that something was going on. Watching him from over my shoulder, I watched as he raised his arm to hit the shield one last time.

Five hits were enough, thank you very much.

"Three."

I spun around and dropped the shield, putting as much magic into Arms of the Earth that I could. Thousands of vines, some larger than me, sprouted out of the ground, shooting towards the sky and wrapping around Deliora, pinning him down.

Lyon froze Deliora's mouth shut, stopping it from roaring, and Ur layered over it and froze around Deliora's head, blinding and deafening it, too.

Ultear was glowing an acid green color, and clutching all of the cards I had given her. She began to shake, and it seemed as if Deliora was shaking in tandem with her, even beginning to glow the same color.

Laxus had disappeared in a flash, and a large lightning strike hit Deliora's lower back, crippling him with the help of Ultear's magic.

And Gray opened his mouth, and I realized too late that I hadn't told him the full incantation, but it didn't matter. He shouted, "Ice Devil's Rage!" and an inferno of ice escaped from his mouth and went straight through Deliora's heart, leaving nothing but a large hole behind.

Time seemed to stop, and then Deliora collapsed, with the only thing holding him up being the vines from my spell.

I stopped the spell and I collapsed onto my knees, exhausted.

The vines vanished, and Deliora fell to the ground, dead.

"We did it…" Ultear breathed.

Gray seemed thrilled. "I defeated Deliora! I really did it! A demon from the Books of Zeref-"

Laxus punched him, and Gray hit the ground. At our looks, he shrugged. "What? He was pissing me off."

That's right, I forgot how annoying Gray could be as a kid. The reason he ran off was because he thought he could take Deliora out on his own.

Ugh. And 'defeating' Deliora was probably only going to make it worse.

There was a groan from the right. "What…happened?"

I turned my shocked eyes over to see Silver Fullbuster sitting up, rubbing his head.

"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me," I said. "Now you wake up?"

He looked around, taking in the group of us, Deliora's dead body (which had smoke coming off of it), and Gray, who was sitting up and rubbing his head in a manner similar to his fathers.

"Gray?" he asked.

"Dad?" Gray asked.

And then there was much shouting and blubbering and I tuned it out and shifted on the ground, kicking my legs out and leaning back onto my hands.

"Now what, Nee-san?" Ultear asked, coming up next to me.

I looked at her. "How do you feel about joining a guild?"

She blinked. "Are you a member?"

I nodded.

She spun around. "Mama, we're going to join a guild!"

Ur looked away from Deliora, which she had been staring at for the past several minutes. "What?"

"I want to join Nee-san's guild!" Ultear said. "Please, please Mama!"

"My guild is also in a much warmer place," I said. "And it will be a good place to practice magic, since they'll be unused to a warmer environment."

Please please please please, I thought.

Because if they didn't join after everything we just did, I was going to blow a gasket.

I don't even know what that means.

But it sounds like explosions, so I'm using it.

I'd also try to beat the shit out of someone.

Probably Silver, for being a dick during the fight.

Ur sighed. "Ultear, you…really want to join?"

Ultear nodded frantically.

PLEASE!

"Fine," Ur said, sighing. "We'll finish up the year here, training, and then we'll move to the guild. Alright?"

"Us too?" Lyon asked.

Ur hugged him. "You're always welcome with me, you know that, right?"

Lyon nodded, and I realized that I had no clue what happened to his family.

Gray and Silver had finished blubbering in the corner, and had joined the rest of us. "What now?" Gray asked, staring at Deliora's body.

Suddenly Ur gasped, and hugged both Laxus and I. "What were you kids thinking! Going after Deliora like that!"

"Hey, it worked out in the end, right?" I said, having trouble breathing. Her tight hug was bothering my back.

"Elle?" Laxus asked.

"I'll be fine," I said, before quietly whispering, "later," under my breath, so Laxus would let it go for now.

Ur let go of us and continued to lecture us, but eventually stopped when she realized it wasn't doing any good.

She sighed, and the group of us fell to the ground, all just relaxing in the snow.

I began to giggle, and turned to the person lying next to me. "Hey, Laxus?"

"Yeah?" he asked. I sat up.

"How about we leave a gift for the magic council?" I asked, jerking my head at Deliora.

His jaw dropped. "No way. You're serious?"

Now, I'm pretty sure that Deliora was out of the Magic Council's jurisdiction (we weren't exactly in Fiore, after all), but I didn't care.

I nodded to Laxus's question and got up, climbing onto Deliora's body, starting up Mars. Carefully, using the hole Gray made as a base, I burned the Fairy Tail symbol into Deliora's body (which only worked when Silver came up and froze the holes after I made them) and requipped a very large tarp.

"What's that for?" Laxus asked.

"You'll see," I said. I got down and began to write out, in large, block letters, YOU'RE FUCKING WELCOME - FAIRY TAIL. I also drew out the guild's symbol next to the signature.

Laxus began laughing, and the others started snickering, too.

"Alright, guys," I said, requipping out some coloring utensils. "Help me color this in, and tomorrow morning, the Council is going to wake up with a large, dead demon on their lawn, and this tarp hanging over it."

Laxus was full blown laughing now, and he knelt beside me to help me decorate the tarp. "Man, I wish I could see their faces!"

"I've got a few recording lacrimas I'll leave behind," I said. "And I'll also see if I can get Yajima to put his memory in one of Cana's Cards."

I'll probably wait a bit before I teleport Deliora, so my magic can replenish. I still haven't put the cuffs back on yet, because my container was nearly empty. It seemed easy to use all of the magic in the heat of the moment - it seemed almost as if it was endless. But now that it was done, I realized there was barely any left. The moment I had finished with Mars, it seemed my endless supply just sort of vanished.

Generally, I'm pretty sure people are able to tell when they're getting low on their magic - it's a part of the body's system. Like with fire. If you start to burn yourself, you feel pain, so you know to stop.

There should be some sort of warning that I was depleting my energy, (and I've even felt it before) but there was nothing.

I mentally put it on a list for Porlyusica. I'm sure she would know what to do.

"Do you do this a lot in your guild?" Lyon asked, looking at the tarp, and bringing me back to the present.

"Sort of," Laxus said, snorting.

"It sounds kinda fun," Gray said, a wistful look on his face.

"Hey, we'll be joining at the end of your training, remember?" Silver said, nudging his son.

Gray smiled up at him.

I realized that with the exception of fooling around with Natsu and the others, and fighting, Gray rarely ever smiled.

Maybe that's one thing I'll be able to change, I thought to myself as the others joined us around the tarp and started decorating.

Gaskets, by the way, are part of an engine.

I used to think the expression was 'blow a casket' though, and so was very confused as a child.

Also... Some reassurance that you all still like this story after the chapter would be nice. My anxiety is kinda acting up.