Chapter 11: An Alliance at the Start
Riku was sitting on the nearest bed, watching Erza as she zoomed about the room, a ball of energy the likes of which he hadn't seen in years, maybe ever. She was telling him all about her adventures since he left: the battle of Fairy Tail, Oracion Seis, and Edolas. She paused to give him a sympathetic look.
"I sort of hoped I'd see you, or at least your Edolas version," she said. Then heat rushed across her cheeks as she added, "You didn't get to say good-bye to Mystogan!"
Riku managed to gulp in enough air to say, "No, but I said good bye when we split up."
"Oh good," she replied, taking a stray bunch of hair and running her hands through them as quickly as she was speaking. The she was off on her explanation of what happened on Tenrou Island. It wasn't until she got to Acnologia's appearance that she paused and caught his eyes. Scarlet crossed her cheeks again and she sat down on the bed next to him, facing him.
"Am I overwhelming you with information," she asked.
"No,no," Riku said. "Cana filled me in on a bit of it before. It's just..."
"What," she asked with an edge to her voice that sounded more like the old tough Erza he was more use to.
Riku felt a comfortable smile break across his face. "It's just I haven't seen you in seven years, so I'm glad to see not much has changed."
"Well, a lot has changed," Erza said.
"I mean between us," Riku clarified. "It feels just like no time has passed at all."
"Good," Erza said beaming.
"Tell me about how you all were able to sleep for seven years," Riku encouraged her, pushing her knee with his own.
"Let's see," Erza said, leaning back on her hands and looking at the ceiling in thought. "I went to Master and told him the boat was almost ready to take us back to the guild, but then the air turned. It was some sort of ominous force. I tried to ignore it, but then a strange rumbling started. We tried to laugh it off, but we couldn't when we heard that deafening dragon roar. That's when we saw him approaching- the giant, black Dragon of Apocalypse- Acnologia. Gildarts told us to run for the ship and we tried, but Acnologia landed in front of us, blocking our way. Wendy tried to talk to it, but it started attacking us."
Riku felt his back teeth come together hard, eyes narrowing at the story, though Erza didn''t notice. Her eyes were closed now, relaying the details as accurately as she could.
"Master used his Giant and grabbed Acnologia, giving us time to run, but you know how Fairy Tail is. We couldn't let Master have all the fun, so we came back and combined our power to attack. Acnologia prepared to use his Dragon's Roar and we were losing hope, but Natsu started encouraging all of us. I admit, if it wasn't for that, even I would have lost hope," Erza said opening her eyes. "All I could think of was that this was Acnologia, the dragon Riku was looking for and here he was, about to destroy us all. Of course he didn't. First Master protected us from the roar and we woke up feeling like no time had passed, but it had been seven years."
"I'm sorry."
Erza looked back at Riku now, seeing his face darkened with anger. "Sorry," she asked, "for what?"
"I should have been there," Riku said. "I should have been able to protect you all."
"How could you have known," Erza asked with a shrug. "We all made it out and now we know Acnologia is still alive. You can find him if you still want."
"I searched for seven years," Riku said, gritting his teeth and staring at his clenched fist, though not really seeing it. "I looked and followed every clue, no matter how small. I went all the way to Alvarez and only then did I find a recent nest of his. But I was too late. If only I'd been faster and found him sooner, I could have stopped him from ever showing up at Tenrou at all. None of this would have happened. It's all my fault."
There was silence in response and Riku felt an all too familiar rage bubbling in his gut, distant but growing closer by the moment. His own destructive & uncontrollable power hidden deep within, but not controlled and not forgotten. He had gotten this power from Acnologia. What would stop him from destroying his friends the same way his father had attempted?
He felt Erza's arms wrap around him and for a moment, he was shocked by the embrace. Then, he slowly moved his arms up to return the hug, laying his forehead into her shoulder and the darkness it provided. The bubbling rage lessened and then disappeared. Riku was suddenly very tired.
"We can't choose our past," Erza's voice said calmly. "We can only choose our future path."
Riku didn't make any noise of response, but he released the hug as Erza moved to sit down again.
"Jellal is also trying to choose his own path," she said and Riku looked up quickly. Her expression said it all.
"So they did help enhance your powers," Riku said skeptically. "You trust him after everything that happened at the Tower?"
"Riku," she said gently. "A lot has happened since the tower. He helped us and went to prison for his crimes."
"He obviously didn't stay," Riku retorted.
"They says there is dark magic every year at the games, perhaps related to Zeref," Erza replied.
"He told me," Riku snapped, turning away as a child might. A small smile of amusement tugged at Erza's mouth. "You want me to help them, don't you," he pouted, crossing his arms.
"We trust him enough to help out," Erza said. "All of the Fairy Tail team is going to be on the look out during the games. It could be helpful to have someone outside the games to keep an eye."
"Isn't that why he has his new friends," Riku countered. Erza raised an eyebrow and Riku sighed. "I know what you mean," he said feeling defeat coming. "Fine. I'll keep an eye out in town during the games while they are forced to stay hidden. But, I'm not doing this for him, I'm doing it for Fairy Tail."
"Thank you," Erza beamed so brightly that Riku felt a heat cross his cheeks. She held out an envelope for him. "This says where to meet them. I found it in the room when I was searching it when I first arrived."
"So, he figured I'd be here and able to get this from you," grunted Riku. He made an annoyed sound and took the letter. "Fine. I'll meet them."
...
Riku made it to the outskirts of the city just as a gunshot rang through the air. Turning, Riku could see raised platforms going into some kind of tangle of streets in the center of Crocus' sky. Some kind of giant pumpkin-headed hologram was also there, butt Riku was too far away to hear what was being said.
"We've been waiting for you," said an ominous voice, making chills run down Riku's spine. He turned, instinctively reaching up to grab his sword and drawing it as he turned to see... Ultear.
"Give a guy some warning," Riku said, putting his sword back on his back. "You nearly scared me to death."
"What? I didn't do anything," Ultear snapped, looking embarrassed.
"Don't say such villain stuff," Riku retorted. "Who says 'we've been waiting for you' like that? Sounds like you're about to disembowel me."
"That's disgusting, I would never disembowel someone," Ultear said, putting her nose in the air haughtily.
"Sorry I'm not more familiar with your work," Riku said with a shrug. He spotted Meredy peering into the orb Ultear had been holding. He moved to look over her shoulder. Within it were rapidly changing screens.
"Is this lacrima vision," Riku demanded.
"It's tapped into the lacrima vision in Crocus," Meredy said. " Can you believe there are one hundred and four teams this year? Only the top eight will actually compete!"
"Did you invite me up here just to watch the Grand Magic Games," Riku asked crossing his arms. "And where is Jellal?"
"We did not invite you to watch with us," Ultear said, motioning to a spot for Riku to sit. "We invited you to discuss our plan."
Riku squatted in the spot Ultear motioned to, quietly listening as Ultear laid out their plan.
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