Just Misunderstood

Chapter 18

Zero


He saw her scarlet hair, her pale skin, her wide brown eyes as she threw herself on the edge of the tower, her hand outstretched. Air rushed by him as he fell, he couldn't hear anything else. He saw the dark sky above him, clouds shifting slowly and stars radiated light dully. His hair whipped around his face, his magic fluttered right under the surface of his skin. He heard a loud cackle and a crackling thud as Brain hit the ground below him, the magic around his ankles fizzled away. Only mere seconds and he would die too, he closed his eyes.

-maybe it was for the best-

Then right as he would have hit the ground, his body exploded in purple magic. A gasp was ripped from his mouth as he hit solid stone, but not nearly as hard as he should have. He sat up, a cough ripping its way through his throat. "Midnight!" He heard Erza's voice yell suddenly. She was by his side in an instant, her hands going to his face. He pushed her away slowly and smiled lightly before pulling himself away and emptying the contents of his stomach off the side of the tower.

"What happened?" He choked out, Erza shook her head.

"We have no idea," she looked down, "You just disappeared in gold and purple and then landed up here, gold magic putting you down gently."

"Purple and gold-," he was cut off when the same colors flurried into existence next to him.

Lucy landed gracefully on her feet while Hibiki fell to his knees, he held his head in pain. Lucy barely had time to look up before she was pulled into a bone-crushing hug. Red and black hair blocked her vision and she stood still. Gray and Erza holding her tight, Lucy didn't know what to do. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest but her mind didn't register what that meant.

They both pulled away as Erza wiped tears off her face, "Lucy?" She said quietly.

Her eyes still shone a dull gold. "What?" The redhead whispered, "The spell didn't break?"

"How? Brain is dead," Gray whispered.

Midnight's mouth opened to speak but Hibiki spoke up as he untied Natsu who was still in and out of consciousness, "Nirvana is still active," he opened Archive, "It is headed somewhere, it has set coordinates," he looked towards the direction they were going, a small town laid in the horizon, "It has a command to destroy."

"Destroy what?" Gray asked.

"Cait Shelter," Midnight and Natsu said in sync. Wendy jerked up.

"What does my guild have to do with this?" She asked as she stepped up.

Midnight stood, "They were the ones that originally sealed Nirvana," he looked at Wendy, "They are the only ones that can seal it again."

"So we just have to destroy Nirvana?" Natsu said as he stood, rubbing his red wrists, he eyed Midnight but he determined after the dark haired mage just saved him and killed Brain he could be trusted, at least for a little while. Hibiki smiled wide as he turned Archive around for everyone to see.

"There is a way to stop Nirvana. At the base of each leg, there is a lacrima, they power the whole thing, and," he paused for a few moments, typing quickly on the keyboard, "They have to be destroyed all at once, if not they will just rebuild each other."

Erza wiped her face, "Jellal and I will get one, I don't fully trust him to go alone yet," Jellal sank into himself, a sad expression crossing his face.

Gray nodded, "You guys get the one furthest to the front," he turned towards Hibiki, "I'll get the one right of that."

Lyon offered to take the next one, and then Jura who had just joined them said he would take one as well, as he had been tending to Eve and Ren who were both still injured. Even Wendy had not been able to heal them both completely. Natsu laughed as he half hung off Lucy's shoulder, "I can bring Luce with me to another one," Midnight shook his head quickly.

"No, she comes with me," the dark-haired mage said. Natsu audibly growled, "She is my responsibility until Cobra returns."

Natsu laughed, "Excuse me?" He stepped up to Midnight, the shorter mage looked up at Natsu.

"She is special to Cobra and I'm not letting something happen to her while he is gone, so, no, she isn't going with some fire mage that has done nothing but gets in the way this entire battle."

"Cobra?" Lucy whispered while she held her head in her hands, she stumbled a bit, "Ugh, my head," she looked up, "Is Cobra okay?"

Midnight stepped towards her and pressed his hand against her forehead, "You're warm," he looked at Erza, "She's fighting the spell, but it's taking a lot of energy."

"You guys should go," Erza began. Midnight was already shaking his head, "No, listen to me, she isn't any help like this, take her to Cait Shelter, evacuate the guild and the town, in case we can't destroy the orbs," Midnight looked at where Lucy was trembling, her eyes flickering slightly, sweat covered her body and her face was flushed with heat. He closed his eyes and nodded slowly, "You took care of Brain, let us do the rest." She spoke again.

"Fine," he grabbed Lucy, "Can you do it one more time," she nodded slowly, "I'll help," he whispered. Black and gold magic swirled together slowly in her hand, and she pushed the orb into Midnight's chest, she looked towards the horizon. And then they both were gone with a quick intake of air.

Erza closed her eyes and looked up, mumbling a quick prayer to whoever could help and then she turned to the group, "Split up, pair up if needed, Hibiki will keep us in contact," she looked to him, "Stay here, keep us connected, try to reach Midnight and Luce," she thought for a moment, "See if you can get in contact with Cobra and the rest, wherever they are."

He nodded quickly, his fingers already typing, a presence appeared in their minds, and in a deep hacker voice he smiled and "I'm in," echoed in their heads.

"Fabulous," Gray sighed, and with that, the group dispersed, all going to defeat the evil the Oracion Seis had revived.

-JM-

Erza and Jellal slid down the slope of the circular room, the glowing lacrima of magic in front of them. "Erza," Jellal whispered slowly.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know why, but I feel as though this is my fault, but, but I don't remember," he looked into her eyes, "I feel like I have done some awful things to you."

She sucked in a quick breath and smiled, "You'll remember soon, your memories will return, and you don't need to apologize, I realized it wasn't you, it never was," she sighed and put her finger to her ear, triggering Archive's telepathy, "We are at the lacrima at one o'clock."

Multiple sounds of confirmation reached her mind and she nodded.

"Here at three o'clock," Gray's voice said, Lyon's following up at five, and the rest slowly confirmed their arrival.

"Guys," Hibiki's voice warned, "We gotta do this at the same time, even a few seconds off and it'll fail," they all held their breath as he typed quickly, "I believe their might even be a type of fail-safe, if one is destroyed they will repair it and they will attack. I don't know how strong it will be, but I imagine it's best not to risk it."

"Yeah, so don't screw it up guys," Midnight's grainy voice sounded on Archive.

"Oh, by the way, I got through to him and Lucy," Hibiki said with a smirk.

"What about Cobra?" Lucy's small voice said.

Natsu's heart squeezed painfully and he scoffed, Hibiki ignored it, "No not yet, they are out of range."

"Where did you drop them?" Midnight asked Lucy as they stumbled into the Cait Shelter town.

"Magnolia," she said as she limped forward, people of Cait Shelter looked at her with curiosity, but as eyes laid on Midnight they froze in fear.

He stopped and looked at her, "Damn that far?" he put his hands up as wizards stepped from huts and houses.

"We have to go, good luck," Midnight whispered and the Archive call dropped with his hand, Lucy stood next to him, her hands following suit.

"Who are you?" An elderly man croaked as he stepped from the guild hall.

-JM-

Hibiki scoffed as Midnight cut off the call, "It seems they are there, alright gang," he took a deep breath, "Everyone ready?" Many sounds of confirmation resonated throughout their minds, and Hibiki smiled, "Okay, One, Two, Three - GO!" He yelled. Erza jumped forward, swords launching forward and impaling themselves into the deep glass of the crystal, large cracks grew out from the swords and the lacrima shattered, roars of magic from the dragon slayers broke their own lacrimas. Both Gray and Lyon's shattering easily, the same with Jura's. Hibiki held his breath, and the roaring sound of Nirvana stopped. The legs began to slip and he felt the weight start to drop, "Good job gang, now, get the hell out of here."

Cheers of joy sounded from them and then sounds of sudden fear. They rushed out of the crumbling towers and into the open air of Nirvana. "The drops to high, what do we do?" Jellal said as they all met up at the edge. Rumblings of anger and devastation roared around them, houses and towers collapsing alike around them. The legs of Nirvana completely slipped and the body dropped, screams of panic filled the air. The tops of tree Rubble fell with them and then suddenly, liquid earth covered them, the mud protected them as the fell into another pool of dirt and water. Erza coughed as she pulled herself from the pool of thick mud, "What?" The rest rose from the pool and looked around, questions evident on their faces.

"Sorry about the mess, the best thing we could do without Luce," a deep voice said from the tree lining. Cobra stepped out of the forest, a smile on his face but concern masked in his eyes.

"Ah yes, sorry about it, not the cleanest plan," Hoteye said, "My magic isn't the prettiest."

Erza laughed and helped Wendy out of the mud, "It worked just fine, we have no room to complain." They brushed themselves off the best they could, but the group was still covered head to toe. "How did you guys get here from Magnolia so fast?"

Cobra smiled and held up Loke's key, "We had a little help," he looked around, "Where's Lucy?"

"She went ahead with Midnight to Cait Shelter, to warn them in case we couldn't stop Nirvana in time," Natsu said as he stepped forward, his face set into a scowl.

Cobra's eyes widened, "Midnight is helping?"

Erza nodded, "He saved Lucy from Brain, and then," she looked at the group, "he killed him."

Cobra's face paled, "Killed? Was it Brain or-," he was cut off by a voice in his head.

"It was Brain, Zero didn't emerge," Midnight's voice sounded.

Hibiki scoffed, "Now Cobra's connected."

"Zero? Who is Zero?"

The Oracion Seis looked around at each other, "That's Brain's alter ego, he lives within him, and once Brain is defeated, he will emerge," Angel said slowly.

"What?" Erza started, "Why weren't we informed of this sooner?"

"Because, he wasn't just defeated, he was killed. Zero didn't have time to come out," Midnight whispered.

"We got lucky," Cobra sighed.

"I still killed my father, call that luck I guess," Midnight whispered angrily.

"Why are you fucking whispering?" Cobra hissed, "And where the hell is Lucy, isn't she with you?"

"I am here, we are trying to convince these people that we are not going to hurt them, and talking out loud to no one isn't going to help," Lucy whispered, her voice was monotone.

Cobra's shoulders slumped, "Stupid to think that Brain's spell would break with his death," he grumbled.

"Yeah, she's fighting it though, but I don't think she will ever be truly free of it unless we can find a way to break it completely," Erza said.

Cobra smirked, and held up Leo's key again, "Oh well, good thing we found a way," he smiled wide.

Angel grinned next to him, "Hopefully anyway," she grabbed the key and held it close, "I'll explain, Leo went and spoke to the King, and asked for," she stopped. An icy chill ran through the air, and Cobra tensed, his ears ringing painfully. He groaned while holding his head.

"What's happening?" Midnight's distressed voice said through Archive. But with a sudden chill running through his spine he knew. Erza stumbled back as she glanced behind Cobra. Green mist soaked into the forest, casting an evil and cold disturbance across the trees. A man stood tall, a wide grin on his face, eyes as red as blood.

"Well, well, look who came back?" He laughed loudly, "Makes this easier for me."

Green magic exploded around the Oracion Seis and they were all thrown in all directions, Cobra collided with Jellal he two toppled to the ground, the dragon slayer jumped up, Cubellios hissing loudly on his shoulder.

"Zero," Cobra growled, "I knew that was too convenient."

He laughed, "Now tell me before I kill you, where is our beautiful Lucilia?" He leaned forward his face mere inches away from Cobra's? "I need to teach that little bitch a lesson."

Zero was on the ground before any of them could react, Cobra's boot pressed against his cheek, his heel digging into the soft flesh. He leaned down and bared his teeth, poison dripped from his canines and he hissed, "I wanna see you fucking try."