"Where is Natsu and Erza, Happy?" Lucy asked as they made their way through the woods. Happy rubbed the back of his head and looked around them confusedly.
"Well, they were going to fight that dog guy and bushy eyebrows when I left to come check on you. But during then, I saw Gray leaving and running towards the temple again! So I want us to go and check on him but I'm sure Natsu and Erza already figured this out and are probably on their way too." Happy explained to the blonde.
"Okay, that's actually really helpful Happy. Do you think we'll run into them?" Happy shrugged and settled into the blonde's arm.
"I'd say that's pretty likely. I'm sure Marie is on her way too, the reason she didn't come with me right away was because she was consoling the elder of the village after those two guys knocked over Bobo's grave." Lucy growled and gripped Happy tighter at the thought. Though she didn't voice her thoughts to the blue cat. A few minutes later, after running through the woods, a body crashed into her.
"Lucy! Are you okay?!" The voice called. It was Marie, she had actually caught up to them. Lucy snickered playfully with a smile.
"Of course, but you almost knocked me down flying into me like that. I'm kinda injured and wet you know. Aquarius did me in better than Sherry did." Marie smiled and snuggled close to the blonde. Walking in silence again, they finally made it to the temple. And just outside of it, was Erza fighting a lot of small fry. It wasn't as if they were trouble, but the sheer amount was getting to the redhead.
"What do we do?" Happy asked in worry.
"We help her, hopefully you're right and Natsu figured out where Gray is. Erza needs us here." Lucy said in determination, letting go of the blue cat. She jumped into the fight and leaned her back up against Erza's back. The requip mage turned around and sighed in relief.
"I'm so glad you're here.
...
"Where the hell did that ice freak go?" Natsu mumbled, digging his nose into the ground, trying to find a scent. Smirking when the familiar scent of cologne and ice hit his nose. He ran towards the temple and looked up at the purple moon. He had a feeling they were going to try and use the spell again. He went to the pillars of the temple and sucked in a breath.
Going on only one side of the temple, he used his fire dragon roar to destroy the pillars on only one side of the temple, effectively making it so the moonlight wouldn't hit Deliora. He smiled at his work and began to look for Gray once more. That's when he came across Lyon.
"So, you're Gray's friend huh?" The man said, rather uninterested. Natsu frowned.
"Yeah, and the guy who's gonna take you down!" Lyon smirked and prepared for Natsu's first attack, but just then, Gray blasted through the wall and stood in front of Natsu. "Hey frosty, what the hell is the big idea!? Get out of the way so I can fight this guy!"
"I won't allow you to Natsu. This fight is mine. Just leave!"
"I was here first."
"So what!? This is my fight, I called it!" Gray turned away from Natsu and to Lyon. "Lyon. I'm tired of beating around the bush. Either stop it right now or I'll have to go all out." The ice mage said ominously. Lyon wasn't fazed by his words and cackled.
"Oh yeah? How're you going to do that? I beat you last time, remember?" Lyon's words died out once Gray got into a certain and familiar position. He bent his knees slightly and spread his legs. He held his arms in front of him and crossed them, glaring at Lyon. "You wouldn't...you wouldn't you coward!"
"Try me," Gray said as he panted. Magic swirled around his body. "Either stop it right now and go home, or both of us won't leave the Island alive." Lyon stood still for a moment before he began to laugh again. Gray faltered for a moment, before giving Lyon a huff.
"Do you honestly believe iced shell will stop me? My men are so loyal to me, they'll revive me. What's another three years?! Everyone is so committed to defeating Deliora, they wouldn't rest until I was revived again to kill him!" Gray shook his head.
"Then for the time being, I'll put the world at rest! Iced she-" He was suddenly punched in the face. He gasped and landed on his bottom, looking up to see Natsu glaring at him. "The hell was that for Natsu!"
"Stupid stripper! Killing yourself won't get save the world. You heard him, he'll just be revived and it'll start all over again. That would be a waste of life. I don't know about this whole killing your master, but if she sacrificed herself for your safety and sealing away a powerful demon, then don't feel guilty! Feel thankful she gave you that life in the first place, so don't throw it away!" Natsu huffed, clenching his fist. Gray gave the pink haired man wide eyes.
"Natsu..." Just as Gray was going to say something else, a small man ran in and up to Lyon.
"Master Reitei, we have some new on the temple. It's been tipped so that the moonlight can't shine on Deliora." The small man explained.
"How did that happen, Zalty?"
"Why don't you ask the dragon slayer that?" Natsu smirked, but instead of the small man quivering, he just gave Natsu a smirk back. Then, the temple shook, slowly rising back up to become level again.
"What's the big idea?!" Natsu shouted. He pointed to the Zalty with a glare. "What did you do?" The masked man grinned and ran out. Natsu began to run after him, but turned back to look at the ice mage still on his ass. "Remeber what I said. Don't sacrifice yourself and make everyone feel bad. You don't die for your friends, you live for them." And with that, he left. Gray stood up and smiled at where Natsu left. He was right. Gray knew he was right.
"Alright. I guess he's right. Never thought I'd say that." Gray chuckled. Lyon rolled his eyes.
"How is it that you can murder our Master and still allow yourself to be happy." Gray clenched his fist.
"At least I allowed myself to become happy again. You trained for years just to destroy some demon who was already defeated. Why is it that you can torment the poor people of the village, try and melt our Master's body, and act like I'm the bad guy!?" Lyon hardened his gaze, Gray feel the anger than surround the other ice mage.
"You don't understand anything that I went through. Surpassing Ur was my entire life and you took that away when you tried to go off and defeat Deliora yourself. We told you it was too reckless and you didn't listen to a word we said. Ur then had to sacrifice herself just for your sake. I didn't know what to do with my life, I hated the idea of a guild!" Lyon explained in pure anger with pain laced into his voice. Gray looked away and turned back to the light haired mage with an almost pleading expression in his eyes.
"Please just give up on destroying Deliora." Gray said as he stepped closer to Lyon.
"What are you talking about? Who do you think you are?" Lyon narrowed his eyes.
"Lyon," Gray mumbled while he looked at his reflection staring back at him on the ice below him. "Ur is still alive okay?" Gray stopped right in front of Lyon and began to explain. "You and I know that Ur's body was turned into that ice that sealed Deliora away, but that ice is still Ur, she lives on as that ice. The same you're melting. If you melt it, you'll kill her." Gray paused, a painful memory resurfacing. "I made a promise to Ur never to tell you this information, because she knew you would try to save her by melting it."
Lyon looked away from Gray, a frustrated expression etched on his face. Gray almost sighed, maybe he would finally get it and stop. "Gray..." Lyon mumbled, stepping closer to the blacked hair mage. Gray felt nervous and tried to step away, but stopped as a sudden pain filled him. His eyes widened as he coughed up some blood, letting it run down his lip.
"I already knew that." Lyon said as he pulled out a sword from his body. Gray doubled over in pain. He knew this whole time and hadn't cared. "That ice isn't Ur anymore, she is long gone. All that is a obstacle in my way to victory." Gray breathed heavily and stood up, looking at Lyon with utter disgust. Gray the lunged at Lyon and punched his jaw from under him. Lyon flew back, but caught his footing.
"What?" he yelled in shock. "How are you even standing?"
"I was hoping I could get you to stop, but I see I that the only way to stop you is to defeat you. I won't allow you to win." Gray created an ice bow, shooting arrows at Lyon simultaneously. Though as expected, Lyon dodged and landed smoothly. But Gray was already a step ahead, kicking him in the face by the time he landed. He flew back again and landed harshly on the ice. Gray ran up to him and kicked him in the gut, not bothering to use his magic. He still didn't want to kill Lyon.
Gray watched as the other ice mage slowly stood, leaning against the wall. He glared murderously at Gray. "You can't do this to me!" He paused to catch his breath. "I can't let that happen! Ice make, snow tiger!" Gray dipped backwards as the ice tiger tried to attack him.
"Ice make, prison!" Gray shouted as he trapped the tiger inside a huge ice cage. He stood on top of the cage and watched as Lyon tried to get the ice tiger out. "Like I said before Lyon, one handed maker magic is unbalanced and dangerous. And won't be reliable in situations where it really counts." Lyon gasped and let the ice tiger disappear. Gray used his magic one last time, in hopes this would defeat Lyon without killing him. "Ice make, bazooka!"
"What are you doing Gray!"
"I'm sorry Lyon, but this fight was over before it started." He shot a giant blast of ice magic from the bazooka and hit right on target. Lyon was left there in it's wake, ripped clothes and wide open mouth. The mage fell to the ground with tears in his eyes.
"Why..." Lyon then promptly passed out. Gray was relieved it was over, but couldnt bring himself to smile. He winced when he felt his wound sting his side. He held his hand over his wound, coving it in ice.
"Damn, I should of done this right after I was stabbed."
...
"Dammit! Stop running from me!" Natsu yelled as he chased Zalty down the temple. The short man only laughed. "And how did you fix the temple anyway!? I know I completely destroyed the thing!" That's when Zalty stopped running and looked back at Natsu with a smile.
"Want me to show you?" Natsu froze, looking up as a large piece of concrete fell onto him. He managed to pound his fist through it, only for it to reverse back into the temple. Natsu gasped and looked at Zalty. "I use ark of time, a lost magic much like your and that girl's dragon slaying powers. I can reverse the time of any object or speed it up. Just now, I sped up the temple to about a hundred years in the future, then went back to present day." Natsu looked at the mage in surprise. Only for Zalty to run away.
"Hey wait, I'm not done with you!" As he ran behind the man, he could smell what seemed to be perfume. Why did this guy smell like women's perfume? He was more of a weirdo that Natsu originally thought. They ran their way to back at Deliora's location. Though Natsu ignored the monster. Just then, Zalty attacked, using a baseball sized lacrima. Slamming it into Natsu's gut.
He broke the lacrima the second time around, only for it to reform and slam into the back of his head. Zalty laughed, "it's useless you know? I can just reform it a million times again and again." Natsu growled.
"If that's the case, then I want some answers instead of pointlessly fight you. Why are you on Lyon's side? What do you gain by teaming up with him, he's going to be the one defeating Deliora." Zalty looked surprised by his question. Then answered with a smirk.
"Me? Lyon is a fool! When he fails at killing Deliora, I will take over! I will use the demon with my ark of time magic and control him, he'll be able to destroy countless villages under me!" He crackled. Natsu sucked in a breath. This guy was worse than Lyon! Natsu used this time to sneak up on the distracted mage. Natsu jumped up on the rock Zalty was on and punched him so hard he fell off into the water.
"That wasn't very nice," the short man tsked, holding his cheek. "You know, that's pretty cowardly, attacking someone not paying attention."
Natsu grinned. "Whatever works." As he went to attack Zalty again, it was Gray's voice that stopped him. He turned to the ice mage before back to Zalty. "I don't have time for you. All I have to say is if you try to interfere with Fairy Tail again, I'll personally make sure you fail." Natsu ran up to Gray and wrapped his arms around his neck.
"Flame brain...so glad you're here for once." Natsu rolled his eyes, but was caught off guard when the temple shook violently with a roar. The moonlight was melting Deliora again. And this time, the ice was breaking all around the demon. Gray gasped as he heard a piercing roar once more.
"Deliora! He's awake!" A new voice screamed. Both Fairy Tail men looked at the Injured Lyon crawling to Deliora. "I must defeat him!" Gray got out of Natsu's grip and hit Lyon over the head.
"Take a nap. I'm done hearing your voice." Lyon, was once again, knocked unconscious by Gray. The black haired mage walked up to Deliora whose body was almost exposed to the air. He formed ice shell again, and was again, stopped by Natsu. "Out of the way, Natsu." He said with a glare.
"If I stopped you before than what makes you think I'll let you try again." He got quiet and he left his position. He walked over to the demon just as he finally broke out of the ice. Natsu lit his hand on fire and waited until the demon attacked first.
"Natsu you idiot, stop. What makes you think you can stop him?"
"Because I refuse to lose!" Deliora lifted a first and slammed it down of Natsu, who only countered with his own small flaming fist. There was a silence in the air, Deliora frozen. Just then, the demon's fist cracked all the way up his arm and around his body. He then shattered into millions of pieces. Natsu's eyes widened.
"He was already dead..." Gray gasped, watching as small pieces of the Demon fell to the ground. Gray chuckled as tears came to his face once more. "Thank you Ur. You saved the world from a horrendous demon..."
"That was anticlimactic." Natsu said with a groan. "I was hoping for an epic fight!" He grinned, pumping his fist in the air. Gray laughed at Natsu while they made their way out of the cave. Only for Gray to turn around with a sigh. He picked Lyon up and traveled with Natsu to the surface. He set him down and began to work on his wounds.
They all met up with the others shortly. Natsu and Happy glad to see each other, while Lucy scolded the dragon slayer on his wounds. "You shouldn't be so reckless Natsu. Look at you, you're all beat up."
"Don't be such a worry wart Lucy, I'm fine. And the demon was dead anyway, all it took was one punch and he shattered. Besides, you're one to talk, you look just as bad as I do." Lucy looked away with a pout on her face. She sighed and sat on her knees.
"Fine. But at least let me patch you up. You have a huge bump in the back of your head, you're covered in scratches, and your gut is purple." He grinned while she used items from the village to work on Natsu. Lucy's face became tinted with red as she spread a remedy for bruises on his abdomen. Though he was completely oblivious.
"Does this mean the mission is over?" Marie asked suddenly, looking at Erza. The mage crossed her arms while glaring at Lyon while Gray slapped a bandage over his head.
"No, we still need to fix the villagers." Erza said firmly.
"I thought that getting rid of Deliora would get rid of the curse?" Lucy argued, grabbing a band aid and carefully placing it over Natsu's cheek. Leaning into his face to get a better look at where the scratch was. Natsu leaned back slightly, getting nervous at her close proximity.
"Just think about it for a moment. My crew and I practically bathed in the moondrip and we're totally unaffected. At least physically. I wouldn't trust them, we hadn't been hiding our preperations at all and not once had I seen any villager come close to us. Even if they claimed they tried. Something is up with them..." Lyon then trailed off.
"That's right...so was this whole Deliora thing unrelated and we did all that work for nothing!?" Marie exclaimed in a panic.
"There's only one way to find out," Erza mumbled. "Lyon, if any of you try anything, I won't go so easy on all of you."
"There's no point now. Deliora was already dead and I'm so beat up I can't move. Just get out of here." Gray smiled and walked away with the others. Lyon crossed his arms and looked away from Gray's smile. They made it back to the village, the elderly man getting in their face once more about the moon. They were all surprised, seeing the village back to normal. Natsu shook his head at the thought of it being that Zalty guy.
"How did this happen?" Lucy asked as she walked around the town, finally dropping down to Bobo's grave, picking it back up. "I hope you rest in peace now..." she whispered. The elderly man was behind her with a troubled expression.
"We had to take his life when he turned into a demon and rampaged on the town. It breaks my heart to this day..." he sighed, looking at Lucy with a sad smile. "We're all wondering how you all brought the village back to normal." Lucy shook her head.
"It wasn't us but I'm certainly glad it's back to normal now." Shs smiled as she stood up.
"Then there is only one more request I asked of you...you must destroy the moon!" He yelled out. Lucy almost rolled her at that one.
"Yes, but can we gather everyone here?" Erza asked as both Lucy and the elder mad it back to her team. The older man grudgingly allowed it and gathered everyone in front of Erza. "So, the curse started about three years ago, correct?" She hummed, walking back and forth. They all nodded at her. "Why didn't you investigate then?" They looked quite nervous.
"Too be honest we did, but everyone we got close we would end back up here." A villager in front explained. Just as Erza was about to speak, she fell into the hidden pitfall. She squeaked as she fell. Gray blushed slightly at that.
"That was sorta cute..." He mumbled. She picked herself up like nothing happened while Lucy hid behind Natsu.
"I figured it out, but I will need Natsu's assistance." Natsu piped up and nodded as he followed her to a watch tower. They climbed up the tower while Erza transformed into a new piece of armor. "This particular armor is called Giant's Armor. With your help, I'll be able to destroy the moon. I need you to use your flaming fist to blast the back of my spear. Erza explained. Natsu nodded excitedly.
"This is gonna be so cool!"
"When I say go, you blast my spear." She commanded. She got in position and steadied her spear, and began to throw it. "Now!" She yelled as Natsu punched her spear, letting it blast into the air at high speed and shatter the moon. Lucy gasped as the crack went beyond the moon and shattered something that was between the moon and the village. The villagers gasped and waited for the transformation back into humans, but it never came. They all looked around in confusion.
"Why didn't it work?" One of them asked.
"Don't you all remember always being demons?" Erza asked, standing in front of them all. All of them were set in deep thought.
"I-I think I remember now. But then why were we deceived into thinking we were originally human?" Another asked. Erza smiled and began to answer their questions.
"Because the moon drip only affected demons. It altered your mind into thinking you were human, which is why you couldn't get close to the temple. Being demons, anyone that has to do with darkness is not allowed to be near the temple. And what we cracked in the sky was the moon drip, the gas had hardened into a crystal dome top that made the moon seem like it was purple." They all cried of happiness. Though the elder was still upset.
"Then Bobo was killed for nothing..."
"Not quite!" A new voice shouted. It was Bobo! Except in demon form. His father gasped before running into him.
"Bobo! Son! You're alive after all!" The only man sobbed.
"Pops!" He grinned back.
"I thought we killed you!" Bobo laughed.
"A stab to the chest can't kill a demon. Strangely I was the only one unaffected by the moon drip and had to leave because everyone was acting so weird." The demons cheered with joy and spread their demonic wings, flying up in the air to celebrate. Natsu smiled as he planted his hands on his hips.
"You know from here...they sorta look like angels."
Morning
"I think it might scar..." Lucy mumbled, leaning into Gray's face as she looked intently at the scar that formed on his forehead. Gray crossed his arms and shrugged.
"Doesn't matter to me. As long as it's visible."
"On your face?"
"Sure. I'd rather have visible scars than the ones you can't see, you know?" Lucy puffed up her cheeks in a laugh.
"Ah a smooth talker I see."
"So, invisible scars?" Natsu scoffed as he munched on fire.
"Shut up Natsu," Gray growled. "Everytime I try to say something cool, you go and ruin it!"
"How was that cool?"
"How could we ever repay you all?" The older demon smiled. Erza shook her head and gave the man and his son a smile.
"It's not neccessary to pay us anything," from behind her, Lucy and Gray complained loudly at Erza who ignored them. "Though, we would still like that golden key if it's alight with you." That's when Sherry, Yuka, and Toby made their way to the village and stood in front of the Fairy Tail mages. Lucy narrowed her eyes at Sherry and got into a fighting stance. Only for them to bow to them all and apologize.
"We just want to come around and apologize. We only wanted Deliora destroyed since he was the ones that attacked us all when we were younger." Sherry explained with tears in her eyes. Lucy smiled softly.
"Why don't you all join us for breakfast before we leave then?" Erza said with a smile. They grinned and began to walk closer to the other mages.
"Lyon would be here too, but we forced him to rest." Everyone nodded at Yuka's words and enjoyed their meal throughly before they all got up to leave. Lucy stuffed the last of her meal in and smiled largely, happy she was the only one getting something out of the mission. While everyone else left the Island with a sad frown on their face, Lucy and Erza left with a content smile. Lucy sickly waved to Sherry and Lyon as they slowly went off on their ship.
"So now what Lyon?" Yuka asked Lyon as they hobbled away from the fleeting ship.
"Well, Yuka, you always spoke so highly of Lamia Scale. Correct?"
"Yes." Yuka smiled.
"I think joining a guild doesn't sound so bad then." Lyon smiled, thinking about Gray's expression around his friends.
"Land sweet land!" Lucy laughed as they jumped off the boat. Natsu agreed with her and kissed the ground. As they made their way back to the guild, Gray crossed his arms.
"I still can't believe we got no reward!" Gray pouted. Natsu nodded, he had no food at home so he really needed the reward.
"Stop complaining guys!" Lucy smiled.
"No fair! You got something but we didn't!" Happy complained. She smirked. "Let's sell it!" Happy smiled and her smirk disappeared, which was replaced by a glare that could kill. Marie snickered along with Happy when Lucy looked directly at him.
"Take that back fleabag!" Everyone froze suddenly, confusing Lucy who was still turned to Happy so she had no idea was in front of her. When she turned around, her mouth hung wide open at the scene. There was the guildhall, completely destroyed, giant iron rods sticking out of it. Everyone quickly ran inside, following the ruckus down in the basement.
"What happened!" Erza said with clenched teeth. Mira looked down at the floor as she handed a mug to Makarov as he gulped it down.
"Phantom Lord. They attacked the guild during the night. I was first to notice it and immediately contacted Masted about it. Cowards!" Mira cried..
"We have to fight back gramps!" Natsu yelled in anger. Though Makarov only hiccuped and downed the last of his drink. He smiled with happiness and flew off his stool.
"Got to go to the can" He mumbled, walking away from the mages. Everyone was visibly upset by what was going on, but Mira tried to reason with them on the Master's behavior.
"Guys. He is just as upset but he knows we can't do anything about it because of the magic council's rule. We're not allowed to have an armed fight with another guild."
"Oh but they can!" Lucy scoffed.
"We'd both be to blame if we fought back. It could even result in the disbandment of the guild. We just have ignore this." Mira sighed, tears gathering in her eyes. Lucy looked away with a troubled look. She didn't want to, but she had to back down for the guild.
...
"Plue, I wonder what we'll do about the situation. I know Natsu wants to charge into Phantom right now, but with the council's rule, it would only cause more problems," Lucy sighed to her spirit. Marie, Happy, and Natsu should of already been home by now. She wanted to go take a walk alone though to clear her mind. Just as she opened the door to their small cottage, she screamed when seeing two unwanted guests.
"What are you doing here!?" She yelled to Gray and Erza. Natsu crossed his arms and watched the exchange between them all. She could tell he was still upset.
"Since Natsu's house is in the woods its very likely that Phantom doesn't know where you guys live. Master assumed that they might have each of our addresses so he asked us to all stick together." Erza explained. She then went to snoop into Lucy's things. "Woah! Do you actually wear these?" Erza asked with a blush as she held up some of Lucy's underwear. Gray blushed as Lucy shoved them back in her drawer.
"Get outta there!" Just as Lucy was going to walk into the bathroom to change, she noticed Gray reading her story. She kicked him away and held her papers securely in her arms. She sat on her knees and glared at Gray.
"Hey! I wanted to know what happened to Iris!" Gray said as he sat up.
"No!" Was all Lucy could say as her face went red. She stuffed her papers neatly on her desk. And walked back to her hammock, laying back with a sigh. Her friends sure were nosy about her things. It was exhausting. At least Natsu wasn't causing her any trouble. She then smelled something foul and looked at both Gray and Natsu. "Gray and Natsu, take a shower you two stink." Lucy held her nose and turned away from the two boys.
"Yes, please do. I can barely stand to be near you two." Erza glared. Gray shuffled quickly into the bathroom, getting dibs on the shower first. After he was done, Lucy shoved the pouting Natsu in the bathroom next. She changed her clothes quickly before hand though. Once everyone was nice and clean, they all laid down. Gray next to Erza on the floor. Lucy and Natsu in their hammocks while their respective cats slept on top of them.
Natsu and Lucy were awoken by a scream. It sounded like Levy. Lucy jumped up with a panicked gasped and ran out the door, dashing her way to her friend. Natsu and the others followed after her quickly. Once Lucy made it up to where she smelled Levy's scent, she noticed the gathering of people and pushed past them. She slowed her step when she looked up at the scene before her. Bloody and bolted up on a tree was Shadow Gear. Levy, Jet, and Droy. With Phantom Lord's guild mark smeared onto Levy's abdomen.
Lucy sniffed as she felt tears run down her face. Wiping them away, she climbed the tree silently and brought them all down to the ground. Laying them carefully on the grass. Natsu made his way to her form as she cried over Levy's body.
"Lucy, don't cry. We'll get revenge on Phantom Lord. I promise." Natsu growled.
"W-why Levy...why Shadow Gear?" Lucy sobbed in her hands. Natsu brought her body close to him awkwardly, trying to console her. She managed to wipe her tears away and stared sadly at Shadow Gear. Makarov came up to the three unconscious mages and broke his staff in pure anger.
"I can handle the guild home being ripped apart, but when you drag my children into this...it's unforgivable. I will destroy Phantom Lord!" Master screamed through gritted teeth. Lucy nodded with intense frown.
She promised she would get back at the one who did this to her friend.