Author's Note 1: Okay, this chapter might piss off a lot of people. But just remember that this is my story and if you don't like it, then don't read. Also, I don't own anything except my OCs and original magic.
Chapter 13: Elemental Massacre
Things were solemn at the Fairy Tail Guild. The members who attacked Phantom Lord were having their injures treated while Makarov was left in the care of Porlyusica, a reclusive ally and medicine woman who lived in the East Forrest. In the meantime, Fairy Tail was attempting to recall all the members on active missions back to the guild. However, Laxus and his team were difficult due to Laxus being...Laxus.
Zeke on the other hand was currently in his room, explaining the situation to Mystogan via a communication lacrima.
"So long story short, we need you to come back to the guild. And this time you can't put a sleeping spell on everyone." When he got nothing but silence, the archer just scowled. "Look man, I know you're still hurting about what happened to Lisanna, but right now we really need you!"
Mystogan looked at his fellow guildmate before nodding. "I'll see what I can do."
"I'll take that as a yes." Zeke said as he ended the call. He turned and saw the picture of him and his friends as children and sighed before grabbing his pendant and heading for the guild. He eventually reached it and was surprised to see Lucy on the verge of tears with Alyssa putting a comforting hand on her shoulder while Natsu, Happy & Alexander looked on concern. "What's going on?"
Lucy explained about how she was the daughter of the businessman Jude Heartfilia. About a few months ago, Lucy decided to run away from home when he tried to force her into an arranged marriage just to gain a partnership with a railroad tycoon, regardless of her objections. Tired of being considered a pawn of his, the blonde heiress decided to pursue her lifelong dream of being a guild wizard, roaming around until she came across Team Morningstar in Hargeon.
"If I didn't run away, Levy and her team wouldn't be in hospital, Master wouldn't be near death and your guys.." However, she was silenced as Alyssa gave her a comforting hug.
"Don't blame yourself Lucy." The amazonian woman said as she comforted her friend.
"Ya, if it's anyone's fault, it's your dad for hiring those Phantom jerks." Natsu stated.
"Aye." Happy replied with a nod.
"They're right." The team turned and saw Amelia and Lyle looking at them. "Nothing good comes from placing blame on yourself. You're not the one who hurt our comrades, so you shouldn't feel like this is your fault."
Water started to form in Lucy's eyes from the words of her friends and her idol. However, the guild started to shake as if an earthquake were occurring.
"What was that?!" Gray asked.
"Everyone!" The guild turned and saw Alzack on the stairway with a panicked look on his face. "You gotta come outside and see this!"
The Fairy Tail members did just that and exited towards the cliffside of the guild hall. What they saw freaked them out and caused a few of their jaws to drop.
"What the hell is that?!" Elfman yelled.
"It's huge!" Alyssa shouted.
"By the Celestial King." Alexander said with his eye widened in shock.
"Oh just f*&cking balls!" Natsu & Zeke yelled.
"It's a walking guild hall!" Happy shouted. And indeed, the massive structure marching towards Fairy Tail from the sea was the main Phantom Lord castle headquarters with large mechanical arms and legs.
"Is that Phantom?" A nervous Macao asked.
"You gotta be kidding me! How're we supposed to fight something like that?" Wakaba yelled.
"I never imagined they would attack us with such extremes!" A towel-clad Erza stated.
"I've heard rumors about this...thing." Amelia said, getting everyone's attention. "It's Phantom Lord's secret weapon; the Super Mage Giant Phantom Mk-II. And if the rumors were true..."
But the conversation was stopped as the castle gate and revealed a colossal cannon pointed right at them.
"Everybody, get down!" Erza ordered as she ran ahead. "Requip: Adamantine Armor!" In a flash of light, the redhead was now adorned in a dark blue & white armor armed with two large shields on the gauntlets. She slammed the two halves together to form a complete shield which in turn created a massive magic circle in front of her. "I won't let you destroy out guild!"
"Is she serious?!" Zeke asked as Alyssa looked on at her rival with concern. But as everyone's attention was drawn ahead, nobody noticed a certain cloaked wizard holding a circular cobalt shield.
"Gray, let's back her up!" Ur yelled as she started gathering magical energy around her.
"Got it!" Gray responded to his master as they both got into the same pose.
"Ice Make: Rampart!" The two spells converged and created a massive wall of ice in front of Erza.
"I'll help too!" Lyle said as he placed his fingers on his bracelet. "Absorption: Gold!" As soon as he body turned to gold, he created a wall of gold behind the Ice Rampart and separated from it just as the massive cannon fired.
The combined Ice Rampart managed hold the blast for a bit until it cracked and started barraging the gold wall. But the golden wall soon reached its melting point and blasted through, hitting Erza's magic barrier and causing the Requip Wizard to grit her teeth as she held the blast back. Cracks started appearing in her armor until the blast faded. With a slight smile on her face, Erza's requipped back into her Heart-Cruz armor and fainted, caught by Alyssa.
"Nice job, Tin Can." Alyssa said with a smile of her own.
"VERY IMPRESSIVE FAIRY TAIL." Jose's voice boomed over the magical speaker system. "BUT EVEN IF YOU MANAGED TO BLOCK THE FIRST BLAST, IT'S OBVIOUS THAT YOU DON'T HAVE THE CAPABILITIES TO STOP ANOTHER. SO HAND OVER LUCY HEARTFILIA OR I SHALL BLOW YOU ALL TO KINGDOM COME!"
"You're out of your mind if you think that's gonna happen!" Alzack shouted as he requipped his twin pistols.
"You think we'd just surrender our friend!?" Bisca said alongside her partner.
"I don't sell out my comrades and neither does my crew!" Alexander proclaimed.
"Aye-aye, Captain!" Marianne & the Star Liberators replied.
"Lucy's not going anywhere! She's one of us and that's how it's going to stay!" Macao shouted as most of the guild said their own piece. Hearing all this made Lucy's eyes start to tear up.
"THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE! I WON'T ASK AGAIN!"
The blonde Celestial wizard started to shake as she remembered what had happened to the guild, Team Shadow Gear and Makarov. 'I...I should just give myself up...I don't want anyone to suffer because of me...'
"If you want Lucy, you'll have to go through us!" Zeke yelled as he summoned his longbow.
"That's right! We'd rather die than give up one of our friends!" Alyssa shouted as her magical energy started to form around her.
"Our answer isn't going to change no matter what! So shut the hell up!" Natsu yelled as he pointed at the walking guild.
Hearing her team, her friends saying this brought tears to her eyes and she covered her mouth. 'Everyone...thank you!'
Amelia conjured up her crossbow as she glared at the Giant Phantom. "You heard us, Jose. And now we're going to take you Phantom bastards down!"
"TAKE US DOWN? IN THAT CASE, I'LL HAVE TO SHOW YOU JUST HOW POWERLESS YOU LOT TRULY ARE!" Jose replied. "THE NEXT BLAST OF THE JUPITER CANNON WILL RAIN HELL UPON YOU WITH EVEN MORE POWER! SO SAVOR THE NEXT FIFTEEN MINUTES OF YOUR LIVES BECAUSE THEY WILL BE YOUR LAST!"
"Shit!" Elfman scowled.
"They're going to fire it again so soon?!" Loki said with sweat running down his forehead.
"It took Erza, Gray, Ur and Myself to stop it. I don't think we'll be able to do that again." Lyle stated with a frown until he saw a swarm of ghost-like creatures emerging from the castle and heading towards them. "Heads up! We got Shade soldiers coming in!"
"Oh great. So if the shades don't rip us to shreds, the giant cannon will finish the job." Wakaba groaned.
"Then we'll have to destroy the Jupiter Cannon before it fires again." Amelia stated before turning to her guildmates. "We'll have to split into two teams. While the majority us ward off the shades, we'll send another team in to destroy the cannon."
"And if the stealth team fails?" Cana asked.
"I got this." Alexander chimed in before turning to his crew. "Prepare the Jabberwocky for combat! If we can't destroy the cannon, we can at least knock it off course by blowing its legs off."
The crew nodded, heading towards the anchored ship with their captain.
"Good we have a backup plan. And as for the team, it'll consist of myself, Lyle, Gray, Elfman, Zeke, Natsu, Alyssa & Happy. Macao, Ur, think you two can lead the ground forces hear."
Macao gave a thumbs up and Ur smirked. "Leave to us. And good luck up there, Gray."
Gray nodded to his master. "No problem." He turned to Cana and Elfman saw his teammates looking at each other with slight concern.
"Don't worry. Team Maelstrom will be back together before you know it!" The tall man stated, making his teammates look at him.
"Maelstrom?" Cana asked.
"Alright, let's do this!" Natsu yelled as the eight wizards ran towards the cliff. "Gray!"
"On it! Ice Make: Stairs!" The Ice Wizard yelled as he slammed his hands against the ground, creating a large flight of stairs that the Moringstar/Cross Hair/Maelstrom team climbed up until they were standing the barrel of the cannon.
"Not the safest place to start, but it'll do." Alyssa said as the group moved on ahead, reaching a room with a giant Lacrima in the center with a giant timer above it.
"That must be the power source." Zeke reasoned.
"Whoa, now that's one big lacrima!" Happy commented.
"I don't care how big it is! It's no match for a real man!" Elfman yelled as his arm was transformed into his Iron Bull arm.
"Wait, this seems way to easy." Amelia said. As if an answer, the group was forced to evade a large wave of orange fire and they turned, seeing Totomaru with his sword drawn out.
"We meet again."
"Totomaru." Amelia said.
"I don't care who you are! Anyone who stands in our way is going down!" Natsu yelled, leaping at the ninja-themed wizard with his fists on fire. However, Totomaru's eyes glowed and suddenly the dragon-slayer was punched in the face with his own ignited fist.
"Probable should've mentioned that he can control all fire magic." The green & white clad archer stated with a sweat drop.
"Oh come on!" The salmon-haired wizard said. Totomaru jumped with his sword out, but Alyssa dashed forward and caught the blade in between her palms.
"I got this guy! Destroy the lacrima!" The orange-haired woman said as the two jumped away from each other.
"It doesn't matter if you destroy the lacrima! The Jupiter Cannon is tied to the power of Elemental Four. As long as even one of us stands, the cannon will still fire!" Totomaru gloated.
"Looks like it's divide and conquer." Zeke said.
"You'll have to get past me first!" The black & white haired wizard said as he launched another barrage of orange fire. Alyssa and Natsu evaded the attacks, the amazonian woman quickly put on her purple arm guards. "I'll handle Mr. Samurai! You guys go after the rest of the Element Four."
Natsu and Happy nodded before leaving the room with the others.
"You're either incredibly brave or incredibly foolish." Totomaru stated as he covered his sword in blue fire.
"I've heard people call me both." Alyssa said as she cracked her knuckles. Totomaru unleashed another barrage of fire, which Alyssa evaded with ease. "Come on, you call that fire? My boyfriend's flames are hotter than that!"
Hearing this made the ninja-themed wizard scowl and he charged at his amazonian foe. But his swings were deflected by Alyssa using her arm guards to block the strikes.
"My turn! Speed Queen: Hundred-Strike Punch!" Before Totomaru could react, he was punched a hundred times and knocked back. Taking this chance, Alyssa faced down the giant lacrima and gathered vibrational energy in between her palms.
"Speed Queen: Vibration Blast!" The orange-haired woman tossed the blast, creating a tiny crack in the massive crystal. "Looks like I might be at this for a while."
Back at the ground battle...
"No way!" Lucy yelled at Mirajane. As the rest of their guildmates battled against the shade army, Mirajane suggested that Lucy should be taken to one of Fairy Tail's safehouses while the barmaid used her transformation magic, distracting Jose by transforming herself into Lucy.
"This is for your safety."
"Everyone's putting their lives on the line because of me! You can't expect me to just sit around and do nothing!" The blonde wizard replied.
"But..."
"This argument is pointless." The two woman turned and saw a familiar cloaked figure walking towards them. Mirajane gasped at the sight of the man.
"Mystogan."
"That's Mystogan?" Lucy said, surprised at the sight of one of Fairy Tail's strongest wizards.
"If she wants to fight alongside her comrades, that is her decision." The cloaked man said, turning his eyes towards the blonde. "Is fighting with us what your heart truly desires?"
Lucy looked at the man before a determined expression appeared on her face and she nodded. "I'm proud to be a Fairy Tail wizard. If they'll fight for me, then I'll fight for them."
Underneath his clothing, Mystogan smiled. "Very well then." He grabbed the handle on his back and pulled out his sword, revealing a blade of black metal. "Let us vanquish our enemies."
"Right." Lucy said with a nod, pulling out one of her spirit keys and the two charged ahead to join the battle, Mirajane looking on in astonishment.
'He actually came to fight with us.'
"Don't let them through! Ice Make: Spikes!" Ur chanted, creating spiky pillars that impaled and destroyed several Shades. Another wave were about to attack from above until...
"Sword Art: Crescent Slash!" A yellow crescent wave destroyed the shades, making the Fairy Tail wizards turn and look in shock, seeing Mystogan and Lucy, the former having drawn his sword.
"Is that Mystogan?!" Max yelled.
"He's actually here?" Cana asked.
"Lady Heartfilia, if you want to join in, now would be the opportune moment." Mystogan stated.
"Got ya! Open - Gate of the Archer, Sagittarius!" Out of the gate came a man dressed in a rather odd horse costume and a bow & arrow.
"Miss Lucy, how may I be of service?" The archer spirit asked with a salute.
"I need your help taking down these shade creatures." The blonde explained.
"Very well." The spirit loaded his bow with some arrows and fired, destroying three shades. Underneath his cloths, Mystogan gave a smile at the sight of the new spirit.
'It seems to be my fate to fight alongside an archer.' He thought to himself before his blade glowed with a yellow aura, taking a combat stance as he stared down some oncoming shades. "Now then, have at you!"
In one of the castle corridors, Elfman was searching through his part as the team had split up to quickly find the Element 4. The white-haired man stopped when he felt a magic aura behind him and turned, seeing a man form out of the floor.
"Salut!" Sol greeted as he swayed.
Elfman glared at the weird lanky man as he took off his jacket, getting the feeling that this was going to be a tough fight. "You're one of the Element 4, aren't you?"
"Correct! My name is Sol. But you may call me Monsieur Sol."
"Perfect timing! All I have to do is kick your ass and the Jupiter Cannon will lose most of its power. Beast Arm: Black Bull!" Elfman chanted, transforming his arm into a bestial form.
"Oh? Do you honestly think transforming only your right arm will give you a fighting chance against me? It seems the rumors about you were true." Sol said as he evaded a punch from Elfman that shattered the floor underneath.
"Shut up! A real man doesn't care about rumors!" The Take Over Wizard yelled as the thin man keep evading his punches.
"I know all about you...or rather, I know many details when it comes to the wizards of Fairy Tail."
"Do you ever stop talking?!" Elfman threw another punch but the lanky wizard just jumped over and landed, staring straight at him.
"I believe you used to have a little sister, right?" Sol said, surprising Elfman and giving the lanky man a chance to cast a spell. "Sable Dance!"
The white-haired wizard was forced to cover his eyes as a sandstorm manifested around him.
"Roche Concerto!" Sol yelled out and a barrage of rock pelted Elfman from below, making the massive man scowl. "If I recall correctly, you attempted to perform a Full-Body Take Over a few years back. But it went wrong and went berserk. So your darling little sister gave her life to stop you from going on a rampage."
In front of Elfman, the ground started to morph, transforming into statues of Lisanna, each of them with a scared expression on their face. Seeing this made the Take Over wizard moved his head down, obscuring his eyes as Sol prepared another attack.
"And the trauma from her death has resulted in you never using the Full-Body Take Over again." Sol said as the floor beneath him started to move. "You keep on boasting about being a real man, but it's just a cover to hide how weak you really are! Someone who killed his own baby sister has no right to speak of such things. So as a gentleman, I shall end you with my most powerful attack to show you what a real man is capable of. Platre Sonata!"
As Sol finished his speech, a massive fist appeared and moved towards his taller opponent. However, instead of being sent flying, Elfman stopped the massive fist with his Beast Arm, making the monocle-wearing chap widen his eyes in shock.
"Is that your game plan?" Elfman said, his usual boisterous nature no longer there as he held back the massive earth fist. "Taunting me with what I already know? I know that my sister died because I was reckless. I know that it's my fault. Do you honestly think you can say anything to me that I haven't already said to myself." The white-haired wizard lifted his head, giving Sol a glare that terrified him. Purple magical energy started appearing around Elfman as cracks started appearing on the fist. "Here's a little lesson about being a real man. A real man acknowledges his mistakes but doesn't let them define him! He uses them to improve himself and make sure to never repeat that mistake!"
With a clench of his fist, the Platre Sonata shattered. A purple magic circle appeared over Elfman as he started pumping his magical energy all throughout his body.
"Take-Over: Beast Soul!" With a powerful yell, the magic circle came down, engulfing Elfman in a blinding light.
'He's actually using a Full-Body Take Over?!' Sol thought himself as he covered his eyes. When he opened them, he gasped as he saw that the wizard in front of him had transformed into the same beast that had lead to Lisanna's death.
"Still think I'm weak? Then try this!" Before Sol could react, the now fully-transformed Elfman charged and unleashed a powerful & massive punch, causing a crater to appear as the skinny man landed. The monstrous wizard roared as he threw in some more punches for good measure, creating more cracks in the floor. When he was finished, Sol was lying unconscious in the crater, smoke coming from his wounds. With another roar, Elfman's body glowed and he transformed back into his normal form, glaring at the knocked out Phantom Lord wizard. "Now that's what a real man is capable of."
Meanwhile, Zeke was running through the halls of the mobile fortress, looking for one of the Element 4. Deciding to get a bird's eye view, he exited onto the top of one of the arms. What he saw was terrifying as the arms were slowing drawing a giant magic circle in the air in front of it. 'That's a goddamn Abyss Break circle! At that size, it'll destroy all of Magnolia along with us! Is Phantom that desperate?!'
But much to the archer's surprise, storm clouds suddenly appeared overhead and it quickly started raining. "What the...it was clear a second ago."
"Drip, drip, drop." Zeke turned and saw a certain water wizard walking towards him. "Hello. My name is Juvia, and I am the Rain Woman of the Element Four. Drip, drip, drop."
The brunette looked at the water wizard and stood up. 'So she's the one who almost kidnapped Lucy.'
"I must say I'm impressed your guild was able to strike down two of the Elements. However, you must not underestimate the remaining two." Juvia said as the two opposing wizards stared down. However, a blush soon appeared on Zeke's face as he turned away.
"Okay then. You win." He said as he started to walk away, baffling the blue-haired woman. As he was walking away, the brunette felt his heart rate continue to sky rocket. 'What the hell is wrong with me?!' Zeke thought to himself as his emotional and logical sides started to duke it out.
'I can't hurt her.' His heart said. 'She's too beautiful!.'
'But we must fight!' His logic retorted. 'She's an enemy of Fairy Tail!'
'Dude, did you see how big her knoc...' His lust started to say.
"Water Lock!" Thankfully, Zeke's inner torment was silenced as he suddenly found himself trapped in a sphere of swirling water. He turned and saw Juvia glaring at him.
"I don't know what kind of trick this is, but it won't work on me." She with a stern expression. Holding in his breath, Zeke pulled out and activated his Spiral Sword, slicing open the sphere of water and jumping out.
"He broke my Water Lock?" Juvia asked in shock as her soaked opponent landed.
"That was stupid of me. Letting my guard down like that." Zeke said as he conjured up his longbow and a series of energy arrows. "Alright, I'll fight you. Arch Shot: Rapid Succession!" He fired a stream of arrows that pierced Juvia's body. However, the archer looked in shock as the body parts that were hit simply turned into water.
"My body is made entirely of water. Surprised, drip, drip, drop?" Juvia said as she returned her body to an uninjured state, Zeke watching in astonishment. The rain woman then held her hand out as a blue magic circle appeared. "Water Slicer!"
The leader of Team Morningstar narrowly avoided the blades of water, seeing the ones that he evaded slice through some spikes behind him. "When given the proper amount of force, water is strong enough to rip through steel. Underestimate its power and you'll find yourself in a world of pain." Juvia explained as Zeke prepared another attack.
"Arch Shot: Seeker Arrow!" The archer fired the homing attack that pierced his opponent's body and he quickly motioned it as fast as he could to slice through her repeatably. However, Juvia just kept turning her body into water as the energy arrow pierced her until it disappeared.
"Can't you see that you're just wasting your time? You attacks have no effect on my body made of water." The blue-haired woman stated as she reconstituted herself, making the archer scowl.
'Damn she's right. My attacks just go right through her.' He thought to himself before remembering how he broke out of the Water Lock. 'But if I use my Spiral Sword, that might actually do damage to...' Suddenly, a wave a revulsion hit the brunette even as he thought about using the disruption weapon against his opponent. 'Why...why do I feel sick just even thinking of it? She's my enemy!'
"No matter what attack you use, you cannot beat me. You and guild have no chance, so just give up Miss Lucy Heartfilia and you may yet walk away." Juvia said.
"I doubt that." Zeke replied, snapping out of his inner turmoil. "Even if we just gave Lucy to you guys, your master would still try to destroy us." He looked at her with steel determination. "And Lucy's my friend. I don't know how you treat friends in Phantom Lord, but in Fairy Tail, we look after our friends!'
Seeing his determination brought a strange sensation to Juvia's chest, but she chose to ignore it as she prepared her next attack. "Very well." She pushed her arm out as boiling water blasted towards Zeke who jumped out of the way.
'So she can alter the temperature of the water too.' The brunette exclaimed as he felt the heat coming off the next series of water attacks, being forced to evade the curving torrent of boiling water as a plan started to formulate in his head. 'No choice then! I can't pull my punches!' He carefully landed and aimed another arrow as Juvia calmly walked towards him.
"Ever since the day I was born, I have been followed by the rain. It gives me strength and makes me invincible." The rain woman said before raising her arm up and created another magic circle, a torrent of boiling water forming. "Prepare to be scalded!"
But before she could launch her attack, Zeke fired a Drill Arrow spell and the floor under Juvia, surprising the water wizard as she fell through the new opening. 'Wait for it.' He said to himself as he started preparing his next spell. Suddenly, a geyser of scalding water burst from underneath him. "Shield Up!" Zeke quickly created a shield before he was too burned, the geyser pushing him into the air. It dissipated as he noticed Juvia jumping out of the hole and quickly created five energy arrows that he quickly fired, each of them landing and embedding themselves in a different location, Juvia not noticing.
"It's all over now!" She yelled as she fired another torrent of boiling water at her airborne opponent. However, Zeke spun out of the way as he landed a few feet away from the water wizard.
"Got ya!" The archer yelled as he brought his right hand forward, extending his pointer and middle finger that created a magic circle in front of them. The five arrows that Zeke had fired earlier glowed as the quickly formed a pentagon barrier, creating reflective green walls and a matching roof that contained Juvia.
"What kind of magic is this?" Juvia asked as she launched boiling water from both her hands at the walls, only to be shocked as they had no effect.
"This part one of my ultimate spell." Zeke said, getting the blue-haired woman's attention. "A five-point barrier that won't break as long as I will it."
"And Part two?" The rain woman asked.
"Part Two is me blowing up the shield and you inside it." The archer replied. "And while I'm positive you'd be able to rebuild yourself after my attack, doing so would drain you of your remaining magic energy. And it doesn't take a lot of energy for me to use my sword." The rain woman looked in shock as she came to the same realization as Zeke did earlier. "It's the weakness of all wizards. No matter how powerful they are, their energy is finite."
Juvia just lowered her head, hiding her eyes from her opponent. "Do it then. Finish me." She whispered.
"What was that?" Zeke asked, noticing that her body started to tremble. She lifted up her head, shocking the archer as he saw tears running down her eyes.
"Just end it! You'd be doing me a favor by ending my gloomy existence!" Juvia cried out.
"W-What the hell are talking about?" The brunette said, flabbergasted by the rain woman's response even as he continued to keep the barrier up. Seeing as how this was the end, Juvia decided to unload all her inner pain out.
"I've said it before. I'm a rain woman. Everywhere I go, the rain follows and brings gloom with it." The blue-haired woman said, thinking back to her childhood and all the cruel things the other children said when they thought she wasn't around. How her only boyfriend had left her because of it. "I've never seen a clear sky or the sun."
As the tears continued to fall down her face, the rain started falling down harder. Zeke noticed the heavier rain fall and then looked back at the crying woman in his barrier. 'The rain...she's connected to it.'
"The only ones who accepted me with open arms was Phantom Lord, and I've failed them!" Juvia cried out as she got on her knees and held herself as she cried some more. Seeing this made Zeke feel like something was broken inside of him and decided to take a gamble. As the blue-haired woman was distracted by her breakdown, he cancelled the barrier and made his longbow returned to the sub-space in his pendant. He walked towards the crying woman and did something that utterly surprised her. He gave her a hug.
"W-What are you doing?" Juvia asked. "We're enemies."
"None of that matters right now." Zeke whispered. "I don't want to fight you anymore."
The blue-haired woman didn't know how to react to this as the archer continued to hold her. As he did this, Zeke starting thinking back to when he would see Natsu just looking alone when he first joined the guild, how Alyssa broke down as she told her friends about what happened to her family, and how Lisanna's death left him and his friends feeling empty and Jack distancing himself from his former friends. "You know, there's times when I think about how me and my friends would've turned out if we hadn't meet each other. Would we have become bitter at our losses? Would we have let the darkness overtake us? But I soon forget that when I realize we did make through those gloomy times, because we each had someone to turn to whenever we were at our lowest. And I feel that that's something you've never had."
Juvia looked to the sky in shock at these words even as he continued. "So for just this moment, let me be that person you can open up to and share your pain." And hearing this made more tears fall down Juvia's face as she embraced the brunette archer back, not noticing the rain had started to lighten up.
"I've tried to make it stop all my life, but I can't." She cried out.
"It's okay." Zeke replied. "To be honest, I don't mind the rain that much."
Hearing this brought that feeling in Juvia's chest again until she noticed a light coming from the sky. The two wizards let go of each and looked up, seeing the sky starting to clear up.
"Well, would you look at that." Zeke said as he looked up.
"The blue sky..." Juvia said as she looked up in astonishment, the tears rolling down her face now becoming tears of joy. "It's beautiful." She looked back at the brunette wizard and saw him looking up before turning his attention back towards her.
"Like I said, sometimes you just need someone to turn to when you're feeling down." Zeke said with a smile. Seeing this brought made Juvia's heart skip a beat and a light blush appeared on her face.
'Why is my heart beating so fast?' She thought to herself as she looked at the brunette. "Could...could he be..."
Elsewhere, Amelia was running through the building. However, she was soon forced to evade an explosion of air. The strawberry blonde looked up and saw Aria of the Element 4 walking towards.
"Oh how sorrowful! My comrades have all been defeated! But even more so, now I'll have to handle all of you! So sad!" The blinded man said with tears running down his eyes. While this would freak any other wizard out, Amelia was undeterred as she summoned her crossbow and aimed at the crying man.
"So you're Aria of the Air? Got to admit, I didn't expect to be the crying type. Now how about you be a nice little wizard and surrender before I fire an arrow in your ass?" The white & green-clad wizard stated with a no-nonsense attitude.
"Such vulgarity from a famous wizard! How tragic!" Growling annoyed, Amelia fired an arrow, but the large blinded man disappeared in a burst of air before reappearing behind her. The S-Class wizard dodged as Aria unleashed a barrage of pressurized air.
'He's big but he's fast. Must be using his Airspace magic to increase his speed.' Amelia thought to herself as she continued to evade the attacks. 'But time's of the essence, so I can't pull any punches.' She held her crossbow upward, a magic circle appeared on her holding hand. "Arch Shot: Sphere Arrow!" She fired an arrow that transformed into a ball of energy before bursting and unleashing a rain of energy arrows that Aria evaded with his magic, not seeing that five arrows were embedded in the floor in a certain formation.
"Such despair, you missed! And I now I'll have end you." Aria said as he started to unravel the bandages around his eyes. However, Amelia just smirked as she held her right hand out.
"Gotcha." A magic circle appeared in front of her hand and a five-point barrier similar to the one Zeke had used earlier, surprising Aria. "Now what was that about ending me?"
Aria just looked at the barrier that surrounded him in shock and looked at the blonde archer with a pleading look and tears in his eyes. "Please don't."
"Okay."
"Truly?" He asked, until he saw his enemy's smirk.
"Nope. Pentagram Calamity!" With a snap of her fingers, the Airspace wizard was consumed in a massive tower of green magic energy, his scream echoing through the halls. When the energy faded, Aria stood there, nearly burnt to a crisp before falling forward.
'And that's the last of the Element 4.' She thought to herself, having remembered about what the crying man had said before. The archer turned and started walking away. 'So that takes care of the Jupiter Cannon. Now all that's left is the Unholy Trinity and their guild master, Jose. I hope you're ready you coward, cause we're going to show what happens when you mess with Fairy Tail!'
To be continued...
Author's Note 2: Hey guys, sorry this chapter came out so late. But as you could probably tell, I was a bit worried about releasing this one until I said to myself: "It's my story, I shouldn't be afraid to face the wrath of the shippers!" So let's address the elephant in the room.
Yes, Zeke & Juvia will be love interests. Again, no offense to the Gruvia fans out there, but I've never been really behind GrayXJuvia despite the Rain Woman being one of my favorite Fairy Tail ladies. But to me, Gray just seemed a bit too mean to Juvia at times. And maybe this is my own inexperience with love, but I would kill to have such a cute girl being crazy about me!
But don't worry, Gray's already got a developing relationship with a certain heavy drinker. So he won't be forever alone.
As for Lucy not being sent to a safehouse, she didn't lose her keys like in the canon, so she has no reason not to be in the fight.
And for Elfman, I always a fan of the seemingly simple tough guys who has a hidden intelligent side. Not genius level intellect, but enough to know when someone's trying to screw with his mind.
(We see chibi Natsu and Happy running down the corridors.)
Natsu: I can't believe I didn't get to fight any of Element 4!
Happy: Well, you kind of did fight that ninja guy. But then again, he did make you punch yourself.
Natsu: Thanks for reminding me.
Happy: But hey, maybe we can get the jump on one of the Unholy Trinity!
Natsu: Sounds like a plan to me!
Happy: Next Time: Disaster times Three! I won't stand on the sidelines, 'cause I'm a wizard too!
Please remember to read, review and help this fic by editing the TV Tropes page! See ya next time!
