I regret nothing. And yes, I have triple checked this chapter before publishing it. It's meant to be like that. All is as it should be.
And don't worry, I've got a pretty good head start for the next one. Also (though I will still put aside more time of my day for writing) I am upping my review goal to 1200; let's do this!
And thank you Silverflow, for going back and commenting on every chapter. :) It made my day seeing all of those emails.
Chapter Sixty Three – Tower of Heaven, Part One
After over a month of planning, we figured out our plan of attack. The kids – and even adults – spent most of their time training, and Makarov, Mavis and I were planning out everything I could think of, using everything I knew.
Layla and Jude weren't exactly happy about it, but Lucy and Brandish were coming along. They had already told them that if they weren't allowed to come willingly, they'd sneak along, and likely get more hurt in doing so. Because of this, and the constant arguing, the two adults relented, and decided to let them come along; though neither of them liked it, and they both grew paler as D Day grew closer.
They also decided to all stay in Magnolia, because apparently Jude had gotten a house there, just in case they needed to stay in town for a bit. They would drop by the guild every day, and spend time training with the others.
Layla, however, spent most of her time snuggling with Lucy and Brandish when they weren't training; and while they were, Yukino (and Kagura, when she allowed it).
Lucy also tended to have Ophiuchus out on a near-permanent basis while in the guild, because he liked playing with Yukino when he was in a smaller form. Yukino, along with Kagura, Jet, Droy, and Reedus, who would be sitting the mission out, tended to spend time together out of everyone's way. Though Jet, Droy and Reedus all continued to practice magic, and Kagura started with a makeshift sword, something Hercules or Perseus would spend time teaching her (more constants that Lucy had out, though never at the same time.)
Hercules and Perseus were almost as bad as Corvus and Loke.
Almost.
Makarov wasn't happy about my suggestion of cancelling the Fantasia parade. Because of the timing, it would be easier to just skip the parade and rescue them. Makarov was upset because it had never been cancelled. I pointed out that since people always came to visit and that since we would probably get more people this year because of the incidents we caused at the games, cancelling the parade as well would amp up the hype even more.
And so I won the argument.
While we weren't able to do much of anything with the Cana's cards or my locating magic – unfortunately, there seemed to be something blocking a majority of the island – we were luckily still able to find it, because of Ultear's memories of the previous timeline.
And then it was time to attack.
"Is everyone ready?" I asked.
They all nodded. We didn't want too large of a raiding party (it would draw too much attention) but all of our group was there, with the exception of the five I mentioned previously.
Makarov dropped anchor, and our boat stopped. We were far away enough that the Tower wouldn't be able to spot us, but it wouldn't be too far to get everyone.
Laxus was still green.
"Lucy, you're a go!" I said to her.
She gave a determined nod. "Open, Gate of the Chameleon! Chamaeleon!"
With a burst of light, a lizard-like man appeared before us. "How may I help you, My Lady?" He asked, tipping his hat over to Lucy.
"Cam, it's time for the plan!"
He took a look around at the surroundings and nodded. "Whenever you're ready."
Juvia took a deep breath and jumped over the edge of the boat, into one of the smaller ones we were using.
We clamored after her, getting on our own boats. Eventually, five boats were in the water and we were settled in.
Cam, rushed before us, his arms stretching out for yards and yards until he encompassed all of the boats, his arms finally connecting to form a gigantic circle. "As long as you do not leave this area, we will be unnoticed."
Lucy nodded, and we turned to Juvia, who took a deep breath and raised a hand. Behind all of us, small waves surfaced, pushing all five boats forwards. I reached out and took her other hand, channeling some magic into her. Juvia was much better at control when it came to water, but I was good enough with Neptune to give her some back up and extra power.
The five boats neared the docks, and we all pulled to a halt.
"Remember the drill, everyone!" I said. "Be smart about this! And be careful. Stay with your partners."
Everyone nodded, and exchanged glances with their partner, with the exceptions of the ones without partners (aka Gildarts and Makarov).
We all activated out invisibility bracelets – like the ones that Freed had originally created when we fought Gildarts, but improved. It had replaced the space on my wrist that originally held the inhibiting bracelets. Ultear wasn't wearing hers either. This was no time for holding back.
I looked at the teams we had. Me and Laxus, Lucy and Brandish, Cana and Juvia, Gray and Lyon, Ultear and Evergreen, Levy and Freed, Nab and Bickslow, Macao and Enno, Wakaba and Erigor, Silver and Ur…
"Alright," I said calmly, taking a deep breath. "Let's go."
Another explosion sounded.
"Gee, great!" Laxus shouted sarcastically from next to me. "I'm sure that won't alert any guards!"
"Oh, shut up!" I yelled.
Jobs were split pretty simply; Cana, Juvia, Levy and Freed were to take on the magical alarm system that was blocking my location magic from working, as well as taking down as much spare weapons they could get a hand on.
Another explosion went off.
Things had started out pretty calmly, though I hadn't expected it to stay that way.
It was Fairy Tail, which means that sooner or later, things will become extremely chaotic.
And it did.
Unfortunately, it was sooner.
"I don't understand," I muttered, putting my head in my hands as we ran. "We don't even have Natsu yet."
"Who the hell is Natsu?" Laxus asked.
"A menace to society," I muttered. "I love him, but we're going to have to teach him a lot. Including common sense."
Another explosion went off, and an alarm sounded.
"You did pair Gray and Lyon together," Laxus said, running after me, while I was chasing after a card I made for Erza.
"Well, yeah, but still!" I said, running. "They know better!"
"Well, it could have also been Gildarts," Laxus continued. "Or hell, even Cana. You've spent most of your time planning this out, but when we were sparring, I found out that Cana has a new love for explosives. So, it was actually probably her."
"Great," I grumbled.
This was the biggest problem. The alarm system that was currently going off was what was also stopping my cards from tracking anyone down. I could still make the cards, but it wouldn't connect. Now though, I had whipped out the card and continued on my way.
Another explosion, louder than the other ones.
"Now that was probably Gildarts," Laxus muttered from beside me.
Most of the kids were working on trying to sneak out the captives back to the boats (where Juvia would be after they took down the system) and the adults were trying to subdue as much cultists as they possibly could before the fighting started.
My biggest goal was to save the kids before Erza lost her eye or Rob died. In addition to this, once the kids learned about the rebellion we were doing, it was likely that Jellal wouldn't hesitate to use his magical power, which is why I was heading there immediately.
After all, according to Corvus, he had magical stored in his Astral Container from the last time around.
Their spirit had started the rebellion last time, and their passion would help rise other's spirits again.
But we had to hurry now that the alarms were going off – the guards would probably try to squash the rebellion, and they might just start straight-out hurting the slaves.
We rounded the corner, and stopped at the sight. "Nobody move, or the kid gets it! And then you'll be next!" the guard hissed.
He held one of their odd weapons up to Erza's neck. It buzzed with electricity dangerously.
Laxus smirked.
We walked into the room, invisible, and took positions; Laxus right next to Erza, and me in between the next line of guards and the other slaves, with Erza and the other guard in the middle.
"Ready?" I whispered. Our invisibility bracelets didn't stop sound, but as long as I was quiet enough, Laxus is the only person who would hear me, anyway, with his dragon hearing.
He nodded at me.
I was first. And I used a spell that I said I would only use on dangerous enemies – on those who really deserved it.
"Mars's Wave of Agony!" I shouted, and a wave of fire bellowed to the line of guards. They let out shrieks and screams as the fire consumed them, leaving them on the floor, their skin turned into burnt flesh.
They deserve it, I thought sickly, turning back to everyone else. Besides, they were still alive.
The guard holding Erza, let her go in a panic and started waving his tazer-like weapon in the air. "I'm warning you!"
Laxus cut off the invisibility rune, and stood there. "Warning me about what?"
It was then that the guard spotted his charcoal-like comrades, burnt up on the floor behind him. He had previously been facing the other way. His jaw dropped in horror, and he began to shake, before taking his weapon and sending a burst of electricity at Laxus.
Laxus opened his mouth and swallowed it whole.
The guard dropped his weapon in shock. "M-Monster!" he cried.
"Monster?" Laxus's voice hovered on a dangerous level, and he began to spark dangerously, his magical energy level rising. "Monster? Me? You're calling me a monster? You?" his voice became a whisper. "I'm not the one torturing people."
The guard screamed and fainted.
Laxus stared at him in shock, his magical level dropping in surprise. "Really? Really? Are you fucking kidding me? I didn't even do anything!"
I snorted, deactivating my invisibility rune. "Don't complain!"
"It was going to be totally badass! And he ruined it." Laxus kicked the unconscious guard.
I rolled my eyes, turning back to the prisoners. "Hello. I'm Elle, and this is Laxus. We're from Fairy Tail, and we're here to rescue you."
"You're the kids from the LS!" a kid, who I recognized as Sho, cried.
I sighed.
"No." Erza stepped forward. "They're kids from Grandpa Rob's guild."
"Laxus?" a voice croaked. "Is that you?"
Rob stepped forward, looking at Laxus. "My, how you've grown. And what happened to your eye?"
"Ivan," I said flatly. "He's no longer with us."
Rob's eyes widened. "Ivan is dead?"
"No, he was excommunicated," Laxus said, rolling his eyes. "Elle just likes being dramatic."
"At least I'm not a tsundere," I replied.
"I'm not a tsundere!"
Rob began to laugh. "It's nice to see that Fairy Tail hasn't changed since I've been gone."
I smiled at him. "No, we're much the -"
The whole building shook.
"Now that was Gildarts," Laxus said.
I sighed and turned to the rest of the prisoners. "We're going to get you out of here. You might have to fight your way out, so grab your shovels. They haven't been feeding you much, but you've been doing hard labor, which means that you're strong. Don't worry about their weapons – we'll take care of that."
I turned to Jellal. "Jellal Fernandez," I said.
He blinked at me. "Yes?"
"How well can you use your magic?"
He looked away. "Not well. I'm not quite sure what to do with it."
"That's fine," I said. "Have you mediated?"
"I've been helping him," Rob said. "But we haven't had much, if any chance to do so."
I shook my head. "It's fine. Everyone, grab your things, and your shovels, and let's head out."
As we walked through the corridors, helping other people out of their own cells, people tended to form into groups. Erza, Jellal, and the rest of her group stuck close with Grandpa Rob and us, who were leading the charge.
"Wally, I've got a question for you," I asked him as we walked.
"What is it?" he asked curiously.
"Do you know where your brother is?"
He deflated. "No. Sometimes we would spend time together when we were working, but he was mostly kept in a different section from ours. And a week or two ago, someone came and took him away."
My heart started racing, and I was sure that I froze for a bit before I continued. "What do you mean? What did they look like?"
"They had dark skin, and white hair," Wally said.
"He was really tall, too!" Milliana piped up.
"He would mutter a lot," Jellal said. "Something about a girl ruining his plans, and how he needed to fix things and move his plans up."
My heart stopped and my mind raced to catch up.
In the original timeline, when Ultear saw what happened with her mom, she turned around and ran back to the Bureau. Brain continued to test on her, until she overloaded the circuit, and he realized she would be a bad match for him because he wanted to use Body Link magic.
But this time around…we shut down the Bureau. Not only did Brain lose Ultear, he lost all of his other test subjects. So…
That lead to him taking the Oracion Seis earlier this time around, when before he didn't collect them until after Jellal was in charge.
Was this my fault?
I shook it out of my mind. I would save them. I refused to leave the group of them to Brain's horrors. I could only hope that they were being better treated than they were here, though compared to what Ultear went through, I have no idea how true that was.
We kept going.
"Jellal, what do you know about your magic?" I asked him.
"Nothing," he said, sighing.
"You have something called Heavenly Body Magic," I said, as we moved through the building. "It's a type of Stellar Magic, and it's also a magic that has run through your family for ages."
Rob sighed. "Of course! The Fernandez Clan is known for producing Stellar Mages."
"Stellar Mages?" Erza asked.
"There are five types of stellar mages," I said, starting off.
"But three of them are considered Lost Magics," Rob said, absolute.
"Not true," I said.
He looked at me. "I don't know what you're saying, my dear. It's been long known that the other types have faded out. Most people won't even know what I mean, if I mention Priestesses of the Moon."
I smiled at him. "That's true, but I happen to know that they'll be resurfacing soon. After all…" I smirked. "I have Planetary Magic."
His eyes widened. "You do?"
"What's that?" Simon asked.
"It's another type of Stellar Magic," I said. "But it's probably considered the least pure."
"Now what do you mean by that?" Rob asked. "Planetary Magic is said to be extraordinary!"
"It's is!" I argued. "But it's based on the elements. On a magical level, Celestial Spirit Magic is probably the purest form of magic there is, with exception of the One Magic. Heavenly Body Magic is the Caster Form of Celestial Spirit Magic, in which it takes the same type of magic and energy, but instead of connecting it to the heavens to summon others, it's used to power one's own body."
"Really?" Jellal asked, curious.
I nodded. "For instance, take the spell Meteor. It's speeds you up, and makes you extremely fast – fast as a meteor, hence the name."
"Wow…" he breathed.
"Could I do that, too?" Erza asked.
"If you wanted to, you could learn Heavenly Body Magic," I admitted. "Technically, just about anyone could learn any type of magic. But it wouldn't be very strong as you would with your regular magic."
"My regular magic?" she asked.
I nodded. "Don't worry. I'll teach it to you, because I tend to use it as well. But I'm nowhere near as strong as you would be, once you've learned how to harness your magic."
"Regulus Impact!" a cry came, and a guard came flying our way.
I glared at the culprit. "Loke, go home! You're not contracted, it'll be harder for you to be here."
"No way!" he yelled, punching another guard. "I'm a member of Fairy Tail, too, and if that DAMN BIRD is fighting then SO AM I!"
"You're just upset because I'm stronger than you," Corvus said, coming out of the shadows and punching a guard trying to get a drop on Loke.
"Shut up, Corvus!" Loke shouted. "When I'm contracted to Lucy, I'll be more powerful than you and you know it. CATS beat BIRDS! Everyone knows that. And I am the Leader of the Zodiac! Are you the leader of anything?"
Corvus scoffed. "I'm a platinum key. I don't need to be the leader of anything. You know as well as I do that I'm higher than any gold keys."
"Stop being racist!" I yelled. Is racist the right word? Keyist? Colorist?...Metalist?
They both looked at me and I glared at them. "We're running a rescue mission, this is not the time for the two of you to get into your stupid dick measuring argument!"
"What's that mean?" Millianna, who was currently seven, asked.
"Nothing, dearest," I said absently, running a hand through her hair.
She purred.
Is she part cat? Is she related to Michello?...I just don't understand…
Not going to stop me from petting her, though.
"You guys seriously need to stop," I glared at the two of them.
"Who are these guys?" Wally asked.
"Friends," I said. I looked at Jellal. "Jellal, these two are Celestial Spirits, a type of Stellar Magic. This is Leo, the Lion, though he goes by Loke, and this is Corvus, the Crow. Both of them are strong enough to come out here on their own, without needing someone to summon them."
Rob stared at Corvus in amazement, after I confirmed his thoughts. "There's another Celestial Mage contracted to a Platinum Spirit?"
I snorted. "Lucy is contracted to the four lowest platinum spirits. She's not strong enough for the top three, so I haven't given those keys to her yet."
He stared at me in amazement. "You've got all of the Platinum Keys?"
"Yep," I said, before I sensed someone. "Oh shit. Venus's Reflective Shield!"
The golden light solidified between the group of slaves and the guards trying to attack.
"Laxus!" I yelled.
"On it!" he replied, activating his Lightning Body and jumping ahead around the shield, appearing behind each guard and giving them a swift kick mixed with lightning on their lower back, before moving onto the next one.
Within seconds, they were all down.
"Done," he said.
"Really?" I asked sarcastically. "I couldn't tell."
We continued, shuffling around corners before we came to the main spot in the lower floor.
"Oh shit!" I yelled, throwing up Venus's shield again.
We had arrived just to hear the end of Lucy's attack. "Shine! Urano Metria!"
The planets flew towards the line of soldiers, pummeling all of them and sending them to the floor.
I pulled down the shield. "Damn it, Lucy, watch where you're aiming that thing!"
She laughed. "Don't be such a baby, Ellie-nee! I didn't even use Gemini, much less Star Dress!"
"What the hell?" Rob cried. "Star Dress. This is the Celestial Mage? How old are you?"
"I'm eight!" Lucy smiled up at him. Corvus jumped down through the shadows, appearing next to Lucy and striking a guard who was trying to get back up.
"Thanks, Corvus!" Lucy smiled.
"Anything for my Princess!" Corvus said, trying to be gallant and dipping into a bow. It was ruined by Loke bursting into laughter.
"Don't make fun of me!" Corvus yelled, turning to him. "I know for a fact you've said the same thing to her!"
"Guys, stop being idiots and keep fighting," I shouted to them. Honestly, I don't understand why I even try sometimes. I really pity Lucy when she gets older.
She's going to be their Erza.
Despite their constant arguing, Corvus and Loke functioned much on the same level as Natsu and Gray did. Despite their constant fighting, they still fought well together and were…friends. Maybe. I'm not really sure about that part.
"Activate emergency protocol!" someone yelled.
I smirked. It didn't matter what they had for emergency protocol, because they wouldn't be able to-