Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail
Breakout Part 1
Arriving back in Clover Town was a relatively simple affair for Edmond and his wizard companions. However by the time they reached it, the moon had fully risen, and all of them were ready to find a place to settle down for the night. Lucy had outright refused to step out of town before she got a shower. Finding an inn was a simple affair, and after convincing Natsu that, yes, they should all have seperate rooms, they all found themselves beginning to settle down.
Lucy stepped out of her rented bathroom and sighed as the steam followed her out of the room. The bedroom was very obviously meant for a single person or couple given the single queen sized bed, a fact that Lucy had no quarrels with given the relatively cheap price. She sighed as she opened up the small pack she kept on her at almost all times. The pajamas stored within were quickly equipped on her person as she considered the quest her and Natsu had pretty blindly accepted. The fact that it's Erigor makes me concerned, but Natsu beat him the last time, plus we've certainly gotten stronger since then. She thought to herself. Although there is Edmond, who can use cosmic-based magic. It sounds powerful, but I've never heard of it before. Maybe Levy knows something about it. I'll have to ask her when I get back to the guild.
Lucy turned off the light in her room and slipped under the covers, closing her eyes to get some sleep. Although it's still really strange that he's only had this magic for a week… I don't like to accuse people of things, but I doubt he's being completely honest, or there's something he's omitting. Lucy's mind continued to wander as she stirred in the bed. And his friend can make some kind of weapon that can destroy a city… As she remembered that point of dialogue, her mind seemed to freeze as she considered that.
"Just what kind of magic can HE use!?" Lucy yelled to herself as she shot up from the bed, a panicked expression on her face, but no one to see it. "Oh jeez! What have we gotten ourselves into?" She lamented, holding her head as she felt a headache beginning to form. She looked onto her bedside table, where her keys rested, and plucked a silver key from the ring. "Open! Gate of Canis Minor! Nikola!" She said aloud as she summoned a small shaking snowman with a carrot for a nose. She reached down and clutched the small summon in her arms, bringing it up to her head to look at it.
"Oh geez Plue, what am I going to do?" She asked rhetorically, but the Celestial Spirit just continued to shake before it shrugged. "I figured as much." she said while her head hung low. She brought it closer into a hug as she sat back down on the bed. "Whatever it is that we get into, I'm going to be relying on all of you guys to get me through, alright?" The spirit only looked up at her and gave the mage a thumbs up. She smiled sweetly at it in response before both her and the spirit laid down to rest. The spirit later returned home after Lucy had fallen asleep.
"So what's Ginville like?" Natsu asked curiously as Edmond checked out of his room, signaling that they could continue on their journey. They were all collected in the inn's lounge, a few other customers there, but they were among the most unique in appearance.
"It's a pretty normal town… if you don't count the bandit problems and whatnot." Edmond said as he began to walk towards the exit of the building.
"So no special places to visit or… wizard guild…" Natsu said, listing off different things he thought might be of interest in a town. They exited the building and began to follow the road out of town in the direction of Ginville.
"Or a fish market! Do you have a fish market?" Happy suddenly exclaimed, Resulting in Lucy face-palming, irritated at the cat's obsession with seafood.
"No… Ginville is landlocked as far as I know. There's a lake somewhere, but I never went." Edmond answered honestly, which made Lucy cross her arms and level him a suspicious gaze.
"Well, you're the one from Ginville, shouldn't you know it best?" Lucy asked skeptically, but Edmond merely shrugged.
"Haven't been there very long, so I wouldn't say I know the place like the back of my hand or anything." Edmond said casually, but Lucy hummed suspiciously, Natsu giving her a curious look. Happy and Natsu looked at each other before shrugging, not knowing why Lucy was acting so strange around Edmond, but also not too willing to pry into it. They passed by the last building of the town before they were fully on the road to Ginville. Happy yawned lazily as he landed his whole body on Natsu's head.
"I'm tired, I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when we get there." Happy said, and immediately began snoring. Edmond glanced behind him with a raised eyebrow, but deciding it wasn't really anything unusual, he just shrugged.
"We've barely started the journey!" Lucy said in exasperation. She shook her head in disappointment. Natsu sighed contently as they travelled along the road, simply enjoying the sights of the peaceful land around them. The path had started out in the plains, and along the route of several farms, but swiftly switched to more forested areas that stretched for miles. Ginville is really out of reach. Not only does it not have a train station, but it's not mentioned in most maps of Fiore, at least I snagged a map of the areas around Clover Town. I guess that shouldn't be too surprising, but It seems like it's in the middle of nowhere for no reason. Lucy thought as they travelled, her feet growing more tired with each step.
"So what's your friend like?" Natsu's sudden question made Edmond glance back at the dragon slayer, as he hummed to think of an answer.
"Well, his name is Harry. I've known him for… what? Ten years now? Maybe longer actually…" Edmond said a bit distantly, and Natsu let out a small 'wow'.
"You guys must be super close then huh?" Natsu surmised, Happy still sleeping soundly atop his head.
"We're practically brothers in that sense, but we couldn't be more different though." Edmond said, seeming to reminisce a bit. Lucy decided to listen carefully, while she couldn't say she entirely trusted Edmond, any information on someone that could just make a weapon as devastating as what he said, then she needed to be careful. "Harry is really smart, as in, smart enough that things he thinks about I sometimes never even consider. Plus, he's nice, even if he might seem a bit cold on the outside." Edmond said, making Natsu nod as he walked along.
"Huh. Sounds like a cool guy." Natsu commented idly, Lucy hummed as she heard that. Well if he's nice maybe he wouldn't make a weapon? But at the same time if he was forced to do so, then if what Edmond says is true, he would have the smarts to do it… As Lucy considered that, Natsu spoke up. "Man, whoever those guys are, they are in a rush, and they're headed right for us too." The dragon slayer's sudden statement made the other two wizards pause, and look at him with curious looks.
"What guys?" Edmond asked, "I don't see any-" Wait. Natsu has super senses… so there probably are people coming this way. Uh oh. Right as that thought crossed his mind, Vines sprung from the ground beneath him, and within a second, he was encased in a plant-based cocoon. "That figures." Edmond says right before the vines reached his head, covering his head and mouth.
"Edmond!" Lucy exclaimed in worry, and before she could say anything else, a multitude of rough looking men emerged from the brush in front of them, blocking their path. Natsu glared at them, his fist igniting in fire as Edmond struggled to get free.
"Alright! Time to get fired up!" Natsu said in excitement as Happy finally woke up. The pink-haired mage jumped and struck at the vines around Edmond's feet, the plants not only catching alight, but also being thrown off of a good portion of Edmond's legs. Muffled panicked screams could be heard from the vines as Edmond felt the intense heat on his legs. Happy jumped off of Natsu's head and flew up above them, observing the scene.
"Natsu! Be careful! You'll hurt him!" Lucy exclaimed, quickly bringing out a golden key as Natsu grabbed the rest of the vines and tore them off of Edmond's form, revealing his stunned expression. Edmond recovered and got into his casting stance. He glared at his enemies along with Lucy while Natsu smiled excitedly. "Open! Gate of the Giant Crab! Cancer!" Lucy exclaimed, pointing her golden key down wards, activating a magic circle, allowing a skinny man to appear. He wore a sky blue shirt with stripes, along with black pants with a chain sticking out of the right pocket, and a pair of plain looking green-tinted glasses. He also sported two pairs of scissors, six crab-like legs from his back, and strange claw-like protrusions from his red corn-row hair.
"Cancer!" He exclaimed while striking a strange pose with his scissors. Edmond glanced back at the celestial spirit with a slightly awed expression, before his gaze re-focused on the bandits in front of him. A particular bandit came forward, a smug grin on his face, with oddly green clothes amongst the rabble that mostly hadd browns or grays. I think that's the same guy that got Harry, so he's the one that can control vines. Edmond thought to himself, observing his opponents.
"Erigor figured you'd get some help of some kind. We had some of our sneakier guys follow you, making sure to slow you down!" He said smugly, making Edmond glare at him intently. Damn… now that I think about it, If I count the day Ginville was attacked for a second time, They've had Harry for nearly two days now. I've been working fast, but how much work could Harry get done by now? Edmond asked himself as the bandits got ready to strike. "And this is where your little rescue mission stops!" The bandit said angrily, many of the bandits charging at them all at once.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu exclaimed, a large pillar of fire emerging from his mouth towards the charging bandits. The bandits all stopped, and several were thrown back, the heat of the flames scoring their skin. The plant magic user, however, created a wall of thick vines in front of himself, causing the flames to burn around him and saving a few other bandits from the dragon slayer's magic. Natsu beamed "Hey, you're pretty tough!" He exclaimed excitedly. The bandits stared angrily at the wizard.
"I didn't expect the Salamander to show up." The lead bandit said with a look of surprise. Then it changed to a wry smirk "Oh, the boss is going to be really happy to hear about how we beat you into a pulp after we finish with you!"
Natsu smirked yet again "Well I'd like to see you try!" As he said this, the dragon slayer got into his fighting stance, indicating he was ready for a brawl.
Edmond followed suit, summoning forth a whip in his hand. Both the groups stood for a moment, waiting to see who would take the first blow. Natsu, of course, being the most impatient one charged at the bandits, his hands alight with flames. As he charged, the plant-wizard began pulling vines from the ground in an attempt to halt the dragon slayer's charge, but Natsu skillfully dodged his attacks, remembering watching Edmond get swallowed up by said vines only moments ago.
As Natsu clashed with the plant wizard, Edmond turned his attention to the other bandits and gave his whip a hard swing. They stayed back in an attempt to keep out of reach, but Edmond merely willed the whip to extend further and struck five different bandits all at once. They cried in pain as they were sent back several feet into the bandits behind them. They got up shortly after though, hurt, but not fully stopped. Then a blue and red blur sped by him, and in the next moment, the ten bandits in front of him had their hair cut in the most ridiculous of ways. Cancer was behind the group, holding his scissors as he looked behind him as the bandits seemed to panic over their hair being ruined.
"Alright Cancer!" Lucy cried happily, seeing her spirit take the group down. Then from next to her, the bush rustled a bit, catching her attention. From the same bush a bandit jumped out, a sword held high as he aimed to strike her down. Well isn't this cliche' Edmond thought as he swiftly moved his whip around, the tendril wrapping around the man's midsection, keeping him in the air.
"H-Hey!" The bandit said, attempting to break free from the whip's hold. He was promptly flung into the same group Cancer had attacked, throwing all of them into a large pile on the ground. It was about that time Natsu threw several bandits into the same pile, throwing all of them around the road, many of them having parts of their clothes on fire. However one particular wizard was missing from those on the ground.
Natsu dodged another large cluster of vines that came for him, the vines instead digging into the ground where he was. The vines came back up around him as if to trap him in a cage, forcing the dragonslayer to jump out of the trap.
"Man, you're annoying." Natsu said as he sent a torrent of flames from his mouth to attack the vine wizard, who promptly rose another wall to negate the attack. The bandit just smiled sinisterly at the dragonslayer. "Happy lets take care of this guy!" Natsu yelled with a smile, and the small blue cat flew in from behind Natsu and grabbed the back of the pink-haired man's clothes.
"Aye sir! Let's show him what we're made of!" Happy exclaimed determinedly, before the two of them flew forward with speed at the vine mage. In response, the opposing wizard shot forth two clusters of vines to attack each of Natsu's sides. He had both fists alight, ready to combat the plants before a yell caught his attention.
"Cosmic make! Sword!" Edmond exclaimed, summoning a comic sword with his magic and slicing down on the vine column on Natsu's right, the whole plant being taken down. Another cry caught the dragon slayer's ears as Cancer rushed forward and sliced the other vine column, the plant falling to the ground in perfectly cut chunks.
"Ebi!" Cancer said, his raspy voice a welcome one as Happy charged with Natsu towards the wizard, both of them yelling with a battlecry. Despite all this however, the vine mage kept a confident smile on his face. A large figure stood in front of him right as Natsu attacked, his fist colliding with the newcomer.
"What? Did you think I was the only one left?" The vine wizard mocked as Happy flew Natsu back and away from the duo. The new bandit had on dark clothes, and had a gruff looking face as he glared at the opposing group of wizards. Edmond let out a small gasp as he saw him, recognizing the man from the first attack on Ginville.
"I remember this guy! Be careful! He's all different kinds of tough!" Edmond warned, gripping his sword tighter. Lucy nodded as Cancer readied himself as well.
"Tough huh? We'll show him just how tough we are too!" Natsu declared confidently, Happy raising with him to better look over their two opponents. The five prepared to go at it once again, their battle only just beginning.
(The day before, Erigor's hideout)
Harry awoke groggily to the feeling of his body being pushed and pulled lightly. Hands were on his left shoulder, being responsible for the awakening movements. He rose his head slowly to see Madison gently shaking him, but upon the sight of his open eyes, she immediately stopped and stepped back, a slightly fearful expression on her face. She's scared. They all probably are. Who am I kidding, I'm scared too. Harry thought pitifully, sitting up, realizing that he had slept sitting by the work table, his plans drawn out thoroughly.
"Damn. Must've passed out while I was working." Harry said to himself silently, looking at his plans. He glanced back over to Madison, seeing her two younger siblings behind her legs, watching him carefully. His back ached as he stretched it out, groaning as his stiff spine was worked from it's uncomfortable position.
"Alright I guess we should get some things straight." Harry began, shifting to his three juniors, looking at them seriously. "So, Erigor has asked me to make a weapon for him, and he's assigned you guys to help me. Did anyone bother to tell you all that?" Madison nodded slowly. "Good. So you all should know…" Harry began, splaying his finger out, activating a magic circle. "...I'm a wizard, and magic will be a pretty big factor in making this thing." The two younger ones now eyed him with awe, but the oldest was now even more on edge. Harry looked around him, noticing the light of the early morning sun peeking through the cracks and edges of the building. "Not that we're actually going to finish it that is."
Their eyes collectively widened at that statement. Harry merely smirked, and while unsure how they might take it, he needed them to know his intentions if they were going to help him.
"We're gonna make a way out of here." Harry said, bringing up a second set of blueprints that had been hidden under the table. He handed them to the oldest and her eyes widened at what she saw. She handed it to the younger children with a warning to be careful with them. They grabbed the papers eagerly and stared in wonder at the design.
"Is that a good idea?" Madison asked cautiously, worry in her voice. She glanced down at her siblings, both of them looked back at her after her question. The oldest being the most sceptical, I expected that, but good to know that she seems to take responsibility for these two pretty seriously. Harry mused, a nostalgic smile on his face for a brief moment. Reminds me of myself when I was younger.
"Well, it's either that, wait here for something bad to happen… or make the weapon and doom thousands." Harry said bluntly, making the girl flinch a bit. She was about to respond, but Jake beat her to it, the middle sibling speaking out.
"I think we should at least try." Jake said, a determination in his eyes. Sally merely nodded along, already on the idea. Madison looked to Harry who gave a small nod, an assurance that he believed he could get them out of here. Madison reluctantly sighed and nodded, agreeing to help in the plan. Harry smiled, glad that everyone was along for the plan. At least they're trusting, but how on earth did they get here anyway? Harry thought both with curiosity and some despair, wondering what kind of dark realities this world could have.
"I have to ask though…" Harry said, both curiosity and caution in the expression on his face. "...How did these guys wind up capturing you?" The siblings looked down sadly at that question, Harry immediately regretting asking it, but still wishing to know the answer.
"It was… a few months ago." Madison began, looking away, but willing to answer. "Erigor and what remained of the Eisenwald guild came through our town… we didn't want any trouble with them, but they began making demands, but a lot of the towns people didn't appreciate that. So we started to fight back… and it ended badly…" Harry didn't need any more elaboration on what that meant. "They took us as part of our town's 'punishment' before they left. We haven't seen our town or parents since." Harry nodded remorsefully, while he was still unfamiliar with this world, he understood what that might mean for them.
"Don't worry. Once we get out of here, I'll do my best to make sure you all get home safe." Harry said with finality, and while Madison didn't look entirely convinced that any of this would work, she nodded nonetheless. Her two younger siblings nodded as well, Jake seemingly the most determined out of the three of them. "Alright, so they're going to check up on us each day while we work. Meaning we need to make it look like we're constructing the weapon. Which is why we'll be starting with it first. So do any of you know how to carve?" The resounding silence made his heart drop.
Hours later and some basic woodworking knowledge passed down from one generation to the next, and Harry had managed to get the kids working on the base of the 'weapon'. He had yet to come up with a name, nor did he really care too considering it would never be usable. Insead he tried his best to find metal scraps that could fit into his armor easily. Thankfully there was a particular large plate of iron that had been used for what looked to be a fridge that could easily suffice as the breastplate, and broken down into leggings. The plate was thick, and hard for him to carry, but that was a good thing. He wouldn't be able to rely on his magic to absorb all the damage from attacks, so he needed to be sure that the plates would be enough to stop, at the very least, a scythe going faster than he could blink. He was still doubtful considering what he remembered Edmond telling him about the series, and the scale of some fights, but he would just have to work with what he had.
Speaking of his magic, Harry had quickly found that his enchantments had the potential to be incredibly powerful if used correctly. The problem is the required power to make the enchantments, and the power to keep them active. He experimented with a few small plates of iron to get a feel for how it felt to enchant them. It was more difficult than enchanting wood, but Harry noticed that depending on the size of the plate, varied how hard it was to enchant, and subsequently, how much energy it took.
Which brought Harry to another conclusion about his magic, that it required a great deal of magical energy to use regularly, something that unfortunately, he did not have. After only experimenting with the plates, Harry felt as if half his magic had been sapped. He only used it on the pieces he could use, but he was merely testing the waters. Is it because I'm new to magic or is it because of the magic itself? I'll have to start keeping a journal and hopefully ask someone more knowledgeable on magic itself when we get out of here. About the time that went through Harry's mind, the doors to the warehouse burst open, shocking the kids, and making the only wizard within jump a bit from his position by the table.
"Rise and sh-!" Erigor began cockily before he realized that the four of them appeared to already be up and about. He glanced to the Over-Enchant wizard who was sitting at the only table in the building, with a little more than a dozen small to medium sized iron pieces placed in front of them, with one of them straight up being the back of a fridge, minus the lacrima and magical circuits that it had once upon a time. "Well well, looks like you all have been busy." He says with a surprisingly satisfied look on his face. The kids continued working on the base for the weapon, or more specifically, the wheels that would 'drive' it. Erigor approached Harry, who got up from his position to greet his captor.
"Erigor." Harry said, a slight edge to his voice. This only caused Erigor to smirk more as he snapped his fingers, at which, several of his men came in with barrels that were full of items that Harry was familiar with and yet had also never seen up close. "Are those… lacrimas?" Harry asked, his eyes wide at the sight.
"Sure are, two of the barrels are full of lacrimas that are fully charged while the other three have lacrimas that aren't. I suspect you'll put them to good use." Erirgor said almost challengingly, and Harry merely nodded his head.
"What kind of lacrimas are they?" Harry asked, walking up to the lacrimas that were charged based on their slight glow. They consisted of many different sizes and shapes. Most though were spherical, with some being the size of a man's chest
"Plain. We stole them from a lacrima factory and none of them had been shipped to become a use for something. We figured we'd at least be able to sell them somewhere, but then you showed up and we found an even better use for them. Making that weapon." Harry resisted the urge to clench his fists, deciding to instead sigh in exasperation.
"I get it. These will at least make the enchanting process much quicker." Harry said, an idea coming to his mind on how to link the lacrimas to his own magical core. Erigor nodded, unsure of how exactly they would be useful, but he would leave that to the egghead. Erigor made to leave, somewhat content that his captive would continue to work. Although, he still had a sinking feeling in his gut about the wizard. Then again, he got that feeling anytime he had captured mages. The barn doors closed behind him, and the wind mage took note of one of his men approaching him at a jog. Gartal if Erigior remembered.
"Boss, we tracked that cosmic mage, and he's set off towards Magnolia. Pretty sure he's going to get some of those Fairy Tail flies to stop us." He said with a huff and slightly nervous expression, and Erigor's neutral expression turned into a deep scowl.
"Destroy the train tracks when he gets to Magnolia then, and if he's still headed towards us, I'll send some of our better mages to deal with them." The grunt nodded before he ran off to enact Erigor's orders. Erigor himself looked back at the warehouse and glared. That's why I had a bad feeling. If those Fairy Tail wizards get here, the egghead won't hesitate to help them. Which just means we need to keep them from getting here. Erigor smiled viciously as a final thought ran through his mind. And if that doesn't work, I can always kill the egghead and render their little quest pointless.
Harry wiped the sweat from his brow as he forced magic to surge through his channels, enchanting an old cloth glove with what he required. Once he was done, he grabbed the length of rope he had enchanted only a few moments earlier and wrapped one end around a charged spherical lacrima, and the other around the wrist of the glove. He stretched out his hand, the enchanted glove uncomfortable due to its age, but hopefully functional as he gave a mental command to his magic to activate the enchantment on it. The result was instintaneous as the glove used the rope to channel magic from the lacrima directly to Harry's magical core. 'Allows for magic to be transferred' was the basic enchantment he had on the rope, and although relatively simple, the length was what made that particular one hard to create. On the glove he had put 'Absorbs magic from a physical source to supply the wearer', and while the magic being supplied was a relatively slow process, it was still much faster than waiting for his magic core to re-supply on it's own.
Harry made a mental note to make a more efficient version of this system and to further research the magical cores of mages when he got back to Ginville. In retrospect, he should have done that to begin with, but his curiosity about the different forms of magic had overshadowed the need to know the fundamentals of magic theory.
"If I ever get out of here, I am definitely going to rip Edmond a new one. He could have at least explained a few more things to me before we started guarding a village." Harry said to himself as he created an enchantment on a gun-like tool that would be invaluable to creating both the armor and the fake weapon. He attached a new rope from the tool to another charged lacrima and pointed it at an untouched piece of metal. The gun was much wider than the ones he had made for the town, and it glowed slightly as it appeared to 'scan' the piece of iron, making a low humming noise. The iron shifted and bent according to Harry's will, the tool allowing him to do so, but requiring a great deal of focus. It formed into the shape he wanted, and the tool managed to punch out the holes in the new dome shaped iron. He nodded in satisfaction at how quickly it was complete.
The iron plate was now an identical replica to the original Mark 1 helmet design from Iron Man. He could decide later on personal touches, as at the moment, it would be quicker to copy from an idea he already had than go straight into making something completely original. He made the tool shape the helmet again, splitting it in half, and managing to form the hinge at the top of the helmet with the same process. Although splitting the piece in half had required him to focus on one piece at a time.
Once he was finished, his stomach decided to announce that it was lunch time, with the children having mostly managed to carve out some rough wheels for the base of the 'weapon'. Madison came over to him, and noticed the newly formed helmet, surprise evident on her face at the speed at which he had created it. Jake and Sally both came rushing up to get a better look, Madison unable to stop them.
"Is that the helmet?" Jake asked excitedly, eyeing the piece of armor with wonder. Harry simply nodded, looking at the lacrimas strapped to him and the tool, frowning at how dim they had both become. "It looks so cool!" He said excitedly, but Harry grabbed the helmet and put it behind one of the scrap boxes, and away from sight.
"Everything else should take less time than the helmet, but we're going to need to make a stand for the armor so I can actually get in it." Harry quickly explained, the two younger siblings frowning a bit at not being able to see the helmet anymore. "We can get started on that once they bring us some lunch." That was when Sally suddenly announced something that was an inevitable reality for all of them.
"I need to go to the bathroom." Sally said, looking down in embarrassment, and Harry merely sighed, looking to the others and quickly realizing that they all probably needed to go. As did himself.
"Alright, let me go talk to the guards."
Night approached quickly for Harry as he worked diligently on the armor, making a frame for the whole suit first and then shaping plates second. Harry had managed to get most of the suit built by the time the sun had set thanks to his new tool, which he had decided to name, Molder. While a bit generic, it was accurate as all the tool did was shape and mold material to whatever form or shape the user wanted as long as they had a clear vision in their head. It couldn't break down material or weld material together so Harry was forced to choose carefully on which plates he used this tool on, as he could shape the pieces to tear them in half like he did with the helmet. So unless he made a completely different tool, he won't be able to make anything bigger than what he already has without flattening plates out and making them thinner.
Although the suit wasn't the only thing he had been working on. A second Molder he had made for Madison to use to assist in making the weapon, allowing them to work quicker and make the project look more complete. There were also three flat pieces of wood he made to re-charge lacrimas, all thanks to the glove recharge system he had made, allowing for increased progress in the enchanting department.
I really hope this plan works… I mean, I'm only going to have to fight a whole band of rogue wizards on my own using a suit that I basically hobbled together… Harry thought dejectedly before he shook his head. No, it's got to work. For my sake, and for those kids. If I work into the night, then I should be able to apply all the enchantments, and probably use all of the lacrimas doing so. Harry hummed as he looked to the fake weapon, which now had wooden cylinders on its backside resembling a missile launch system. Then he glanced at the large crate he had emptied out to be the hiding place for the suit, the suit's frame and the armor plates he had just finished staring back at him.
"I need to start on the frame before the plates." Harry said, eyeing the metal frame for his suit as it stood sturdily in the crate. "It won't do any good if I can't move in the damn thing." He said as he stood up and began to enchant the framing with enchantments that would help with movement, speed, and strength. He grimaced, the magic being sapped from him more intense than his previous enchantment efforts.
Madison eyed Harry with a slightly worried expression, watching him work diligently. They had only recently finished eating dinner, and yet he was already back to working. Her siblings were taking a break from all the work, drawing pictures in the dirt section of the warehouse with sticks. She herself was taking a breather, even if the 'Molder' made their jobs a lot easier, it burned through lacrimas rather quickly.
Madison walked away and back to where her siblings were and glanced over their shoulders to see what they were drawing. Jake was drawing rather quickly, apparently trying to get his creation just right, while Sally was lazily drawing what looked to be flowers with bees buzzing around them. Madison smiled mournfully, as it had been months since they had seen anything so picturesque. Then she glanced over to Jake's and finally realized what he was drawing. To her surprise he was drawing a picture of the suit of armor Harry had made grabbing a cartoonishly drawn Erigor by the throat. At least, that's what she thought it was.
"Look big sister! You think we'll be able to see Mr. Harry beat up Erigor?" Jake asked excitedly with a smile, making Madison look back to where Harry was working. He hasn't been overly social with us this whole time, mostly leaving us to work, but still, he's been kinder than anyone else in this camp. If he does fight Erigor, I hope we're nowhere near it. Madison thought to herself before turning around to look at her younger brother with a reprimanding glare.
"If he does get into a fight, none of us are going to watch it. You remember the plan don't you?" Madison said in an authoritative tone, making Jake nod with a pout. Sally also nodded, even though the question wasn't directed at her. Madison nodded in satisfaction at her siblings before they returned to their doodling. She looked back towards Harry, his form illuminated by the light from his magic, and the small glowing cube on his desk. I just hope we get out of here alive… We'll be putting our trust in you.
Harry swayed tiredly as he put the final piece of armor on his creation, but none of which were enchanted. Lacrimas were still charging behind him, and many more empty ones were waiting to be charged, but he had done it, and now it was only a matter of time before he would enchant the plates with protective scripts. There were places where he couldn't put armor pieces due to the necessity of movement, but it would protect him from most forms of frontal assaults. He put the side of the crate back up to conceal the suit, and looked around. He realized that he was the only one still awake, with only the light from the two glowing blocks to illuminate his surroundings.
It's got to be way past midnight now, but it was worth it. In the morning we just need to get all these lacrima charged up, enchant the suit and then we'll be ready to move forward with our plans. Harry surmised as he walked to the vacant bed, laying down on it with a sigh. I really hope this works, because otherwise, well, I don't have a backup plan. Harry's thoughts continued into the night as he thought about what might happen during the escape, most of them centering around Erigor. If we could just find a time where he wasn't around, then I'm sure we could bust out of this joint fairly easily. Harry breathed out heavily as he attempted to get some sleep, his mind slowly falling into slumber from the work he had done that day.
Harry woke up to the sound of voices as he laid in bed, not yet willing to open his eyes. Although he could recognize Madison's soft voice, the sound of another adult male's voice was unfamiliar. Thankfully he had woken up enough to hear and listen in on the conversation.
"So he was working all night huh?" A gruff voice asked as the sound of a foot being tapped impatiently came with it.
"Yes sir. He was up all night making these plates for the weapon." Madison's voice came out gentle and timid, most likely due to her fear of the dark mages, and what they might do to her and her siblings. Harry shot up from his bed, a slightly panicked expression on his face as he quickly glanced to madison and the bandit, with one thought running through his mind. Did she rat me out!? However that panic was soon followed by confusion at seeing the plates he had experimented with laid out, and then seeing Madison and the bandit both look to him, his face bore an expression of relief, even if he tried to reign it in due to present company.
"Is that so?" The bandit questioned, looking at the various metal plates, and then the large weapon, which now looked like a cross between a derby car and a SAM system. "And where exactly are these plates supposed to go?" He asked, looking to both Madison and the newly awakened Harry.
"The power source." Harry immediately replied, getting out of the bed and walking up to him, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes. "Can't very well use a weapon without a power source, and these plates will ensure that it's protected from someone targeting it specifically." Harry's answer was quick, and made the bandit hum before he grumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'I wanna beat this guy's brains out so much'. Harry decided to ignore the comment.
"Whatever, just make sure you don't slack off. Erigor and a few of our guys had to go take care of something, but they'll be back shortly." He said angrily, before he stomped off and closed the barn doors behind him, leaving them alone. Ergor's going to be gone? Harry thought with both excitement and trepidation. If I can get those plates done in time...
"Madison." Harry said, still staring at the doors, realizing that this might be his only chance at escape with Erigor gone. "Start charging lacrimas, I'll make a few more charging pads, but if we're going to get out of here, now is the time." Madison realized his intentions, and while hesitant, did as she was told as Harry grabbed a loose piece of wood to make it into something that could charge a lacrima. I need to work really fast… at least I have the kids to help me, even if they can't use magic. It's nearly time to start this breakout.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu's yell echoed across the area as a pillar of fire was sent streaming for the two opposing dark wizards. A wall of vines came up to stop the flames, shielding both the plant wizard and the larger one. However once the flames had died down, the vines were charred heavily, but managed to stay strong. The larger wizard suddenly jumped up from behind the wall of vines and brought his clasped hands down where Edmond was, the cosmic wizard being forced to jump back. The resulting impact formed a small crater where his hands were, making Edmond stare at him in shock.
"What's wrong? Scared?" The large man teased, finally speaking up with a cocky grin. Edmond, despite worrying about the crater the man had caused, managed to grin himself.
"Nope, just surprised you can actually do some damage." Edmond said with no small amount of snark, gripping his cosmic sword just a little tighter. The larger mage seemed to take offense to this as he charged, Edmond side-stepping and swinging with his sword, only for magical sparks to fly as it bounced off of the man's raised forearm. What? Edmond thought, confusion maring his face. I remember he was tough, but not this tough. Edmond thought as he hesitated, a moment that was taken advantage of by the opposing man. A fist rocketed forward towards Edmond, the cosmic mage attempting to block the strike with his sword, only for the cosmic manifestation to shatter, warp, and fade. The fist found its mark as the man hit his chest, Edmond being sent back several feet, his back impacting with a tree roughly, the bark flying off.
"Damn it." Edmond said, gripping his chest with one hand, glaring at the opposing mage harshly. If this guy is anything like typical Fairy Tail dark mages and antagonists, then this'll probably work. "What kind of magic is that!?" He questioned aloud, the large mage merely chuckling before crossing his arms, a superior glare leveled at Edmond.
"Body reinforcement magic." The burly mage said with a grunt "Just like how mages are more durable due to the magic flowin' through them, My magic simply amplifies that to an extra degree… or four." He said confidently, holding his head high with an air of superiority, expecting his opponent to be impressed by his magic.
"Is that so?" Edmond stated, a sly grin forming on his lips "Well if that's the case then this shouldn't take too long at all!"
"Eh? What are you talking about?!" Edmond's opponent asked "Are you lookin' to get beaten to a pulp?"
"Trust me meathead, I'm not the one who's going to get beaten!" Edmond then released his sword construct, preparing for his next attack. The Body Reinforcement wizard growled and charged at Edmond, but Edmond dodged without a moment to spare, the burly wizard punching the tree causing bark to shoot out from where he struck it.
"Edmond, I really don't think you should make him mad, he looks really tough." Lucy warned. Edmond looked back at her, then returned his gaze to his opponent. He thought about what his next action would be. He looked at the tree where the wizard punched a sizable crack in the wood. I got it. He thought to himself, an idea popping into his head.
As the reinforcement mage charged him, Harry dodged his attacks repeatedly, doing his best to position the mage exactly where he wanted him. "I gotta admit, you're fast for being such a pathetic wizard!"
Edmond smirked "I hate to admit it, but I'm not that fast. You're just too slow!" The bandit's eyes lit up with fire, and he yelled as he began furiously throwing punches at the young wizard.
Edmond managed to get the bandit into position, and as the reinforcement mage attacked him, Edmond released a spell. Cosmic Make: Anvil! He called out as a cosmic anvil made of soft-blue glowing energy hurled itself towards the large man, who easily dodged the projectile.
The bandit then stepped forwards and grabbed Edmond's coller "You missed." he said, readying a fist in his hand.
"Did I?" Edmond said, looking behind the bandit. The large man looked back, and released Edmond as a tree the anvil had struck began to fall towards him. Edmond managed to duck out of the way, but the bandit wasn't fast enough and was crushed by the tree. Edmond ran over to Lucy quickly "That's not going to keep him down long. I need you to summon Taurus to distract him when he gets back up."
"Ok, but what are you planning?" Lucy asked, confusion in her voice. Edmond merely smiled as he looked back at her, not saying much else. Lucy seemed to pause though as she remembered what exactly he said. "And how did you know I ha-" But was interrupted by their opponent.
As the bandit retrieved his footing, Edmond summoned his whip again, lashing the bandit with multiple quick attacks. The bandit put his arms up in a guard, causing the whips to have even less effect. Lucy retrieved Taurus' key from her bag "Open, Gate of the Golden Bull: Taurus!" As she summoned the spirit, a giant humanoid bull wielding a great-axe appeared.
"MOOOOOO!" Taurus yelled out "What seems to be the trouble, Miss Lucy?" Tuarus asked, readying for a fight.
"Taurus, I need you to distract him!" Lucy commanded the spirit, pointing towards the large bandit.
"No trouble miss Lucy, and maybe after this you could give me a smoooch!" Taurus mooed as he charged the bandit, who turned towards him acknowledging the new threat.
As Taurus swung his axe, the bandit began to backpedal, now attempting to evade the oncoming attacks from the spirit. Edmond returned to Lucy's side, the two watching the fight from a safe distance.
"Alright Lucy, now when I give the signal I need you to send Taurus back, but I'm going to need a little time." Edmond explained to the wizard.
"Alright, but I still don't know what you're planning." Lucy said, deciding to trust Edmond for now.
Upon Lucy saying this, Edmond stepped into his casting stance, charging his magic. He watched Taurus and the bandit duke it out for a short while. Edmond noticed that the bandit wasn't that much smaller than Taurus, so it seemed that he might have the speed advantage.
On one of Taurus' attacks, however, the bandit managed to grab Taurus' axe, causing the two to engage in a contest of strength. Lucy's eyes widened "Holy crap, he's actually holding Taurus back!"
"Mooo, well, you're pretty tough for a human." Taurus said to the bandit, who didn't answer. It was clear he was struggling at this point to even keep this up.
Edmond concentrated on his magic, and finally arrived to a point where he felt he was ready. He looked over to Lucy and gave her a nod which she returned "Alright Taurus, that's enough!"
"Aw, but It was just getting gooood." Taurus said as he disappeared into a cloud of smoke, the bandit staggering from suddenly losing the weight he was pressing against.
Edmond stepped forward, readying his magic construct "Cosmic Make!" He yelled out as a giant handle began to form from his hands as he began to swing his newly forming weapon. As the handle reached the top of his swing he called out his summon "War Hammer!" He cried as a familiar hammerhead formed at the end of the handle, albeit this one significantly larger than the last.
The bandit was barely able to brace from losing his balance as the giant hammer came crashing down onto him, creating a large crater where he stood. Edmond released the hammer, it's form continuing to persist. He looked towards the crater, where he could see the bandit's arms and legs protruding from beneath the hammerhead, the bandit unable to move. Edmond sighed, content with the outcome.
Then he noticed something. He watched in horror as the hammer began to pulse like his sword did from days earlier. "Uh, Edmond. What's going on?" Lucy asked as she watched the hammer. Edmond quickly realized what this meant.
"Get down!" He yelled at Lucy, tackling her to keep her from getting hurt by the impending explosion. He stopped to watch as the hammer began violently pulsing, it's size warping rapidly. Before he could say anything else, the hammer exploded in an awesome disruption of cosmic energy, much bigger than that of the sword he created days earlier. Lucy yelped from the tackle, and shut her eyes tight as the explosion happened, not willing to open her eyes to see the result.
Meanwhile, Natsu was fighting the plant wizard, the plant wizard seemed to be able to keep Natsu at bay with his vine shields, albeit barely so. The young dragon slayer was proving to be much harder to deal with than he would have hoped. "I gotta hand it to ya, you're even stronger than I've heard. Although, that's not really saying that much." the bandit jeered.
Natsu simply smirked "Well then you must have pretty rotten sources, because this isn't anything compared to other guys I've fought!"
The bandit grimaced. I need to get past this guy, but I can't do that if he keeps burning my vine walls away, he thought. But then they both heard a loud explosion nearby, and he became distracted as he looked around for his partner, only to see Edmond and Lucy standing up from the ground, his partner nowhere in sight.
"You got distracted!" Natsu yelled as he came in to deliver a right hook to the bandit's jaw "Fire Dragon: Iron Fist!" he yelled out as he delivered a strong magical punch to the bandit's midsection, hurling him several feet back and knocking him unconscious.
As the smoke cleared and the dust settled, Edmond stood and offered a hand to Lucy, who accepted it. "What was that Edmond?" She asked the young man.
"That was a side effect of my inexperience I'm afraid." Edmond explained "If I lose concentration or don't focus hard enough, my weapon will still form, but it'll be unstable and explode."
Lucy stared in bewilderment "So, you mean you knew that could happen?" she asked, to which Edmond nodded. Lucy then proceeded to smack Edmond square across the head "You idiot! You could have gotten us killed!" She yelled, Edmond covering the top of his head.
"I'm sorry, geez. I didn't mean for it to happen!" he apologized. Damn, that hurts way more than I thought it would have. Edmond looked over to where Natsu was, a confident grin on the dragonslayer's face. Happy floated next to him, looking at their downed opponents.
"Looks like Edmond took out the big guy too!" Happy said, stating the obvious, Natsu walking over to Edmond and Lucy, offering his congratulations.
"Good work you two! Now we just need to get these guys to a Rune Knight station, and we can probably continue on to helping out your friend. Edmond looked at Natsu dumbly for a moment. Rune Knights? What the hell are Rune Knights? Did I forget something or is this something completely brand new? Is this… an alternate Fairy Tail universe!? Edmond momentarily panicked before remembering that with him and Harry merely existing this was already an alternate universe from canon.
"Sounds good!" Lucy agreed, before turning to Edmond, a rather pleased smile on her face. "Once we get to Ginville you can get us to the Rune Knight station right?" Edmond stood motionless, unsure of how to respond to the sudden questioning, realizing that this was probably something that should be common knowledge if Lucy was mentioning it so casually.
"Um…" He paused, nervously looking at the bandits that were unconscious on the ground as Natsu began to tie them up with rope he had in his backpack. "Well, I don't think Ginville has a Rune Knight station, or if it does, I haven't seen one." Edmond admitted, leaving out the fact he didn't even know what a Rune Knight was. Lucy was shocked.
"Really? No Rune Knight station?" She asked, first with shock, and then with cautious concern. Her earlier doubts about the man coming to the surface again, the thought of a town not having a Rune Knight station hard to believe.
"Sometimes it's like that with towns that are really out of reach. Instead they rely on their own guard or militia." Natsu said casually, having finished tying up two tougher bandits with their weaker companions that had fallen earlier in the battle. Edmond swiftly nodded, and affirmed that Ginville had its own form of guards. Lucy seemed unconvinced, and as they set off in the direction of Ginville, the bandits being dragged along by Natsu, while Lucy kept a decent pace from Edmond.
Aw man! Not even more than a day after meeting Fairy Tail, and already one of them doesn't trust me. Edmond lamented, trying his best to look calm and unaffected by her behavior. He knew that Lucy was one of the smarter people in canon, and thinking back, he could have been more careful with his words. Natsu didn't seem to care either way, a blessing considering his rather… troubling circumstances. I guess I'll just have to earn her trust back in some way. Hopefully when we rescue Harry and sees that everything I've been saying is… mostly true, then she won't distance herself. Edmond resigned himself to walking, but they soon saw Ginville in the distance as they got to the top of a hill, Lucy's eyes widening slightly at the sight.
"Well, we're here."
Erigor floated above a hilltop overlooking Ginville with a scowl as he saw the fairies enter the town. The men he had brought along couldn't see from where he was, but seemed to get the gist about what was going on. Thankfully though, the two he had sent after them had accomplished their goal. Buying time, and weakening them. Even still, now that they're at the town, I can't go for an all out attack, force wasn't strong enough the first time with two amateur mages. With the Salamander fly there, they won't stand a chance. I don't feel like testing my luck against him this time either… Erigor thought as he considered what to do next. But… If they go after the hideout we could meet them halfway, jump them, surround them, and then not only will I have that weapon… but Salamander's head to put on it.
"Boss, what's the plan?" One of his men asked below him, a curious expression on his face. Erigor floated down to face his men, winds swirling around his form that kept him afloat. His smile was not lost on them.
"Simple. We ambush them when they go on the offensive. They want to rescue their little friend, and we're going to take advantage of their predictability." Erigor said, beginning to float away from the town. "We set up an ambush and wait for them to come to us." Erigor said, a cocky laugh leaving his lips as his men followed, eager to destroy their opponents.
Harry panted heavily as he felt magic being sucked from him, his enchantment being applied to the final plate. He grabbed it and headed over to the armor frame, everything but the chest piece now in place. Behind where the chest piece was, laid a spherical lacrima, brimming with magical energy, meant to be the main power source for the suit. It was one of the smaller ones he found in the barrels, being enough to not be a hindrance, but still making the chest piece stick out further than he had originally intended.
"But barring doing very dangerous surgery on myself to implant a lacrima in my chest, this is what's necessary." Harry said to himself humorously, placing the chest piece into the frame, a locking sound coming from it, signaling that it was firmly in place. Unlike the Mark 1 though, there was no hole to proudly display the power source, instead it was completely covered up in metal, looking like a sloped design that could belong to a WWII era tank. Other than that , the suit was nearly identical to the original Mark 1. He looked to the kids, who were now solely focused on charging lacrimas to prepare for their final escape. Only that all of the lacrimas they were charging were turning an angry shade of red.
"Overcharged and volatile lacrimas, enough to make a bunker buster when they explode… not the greatest of ideas, but it will definitely be eye catching." Harry said to himself as the lacrimas piled up at the far end of the warehouse. He looked to the one normally charged lacrima he had left himself to energize his magic reserves before the fight. The kids looked at him, pausing in their work as he said this to himself, a small smile gracing his lips. "Don't worry about me, just thinking out loud." They returned to waiting for the lacrima to charge, Hary sitting down and strapping himself to his 'Recharge-glove'.
Welp, once I'm a bit more into it, and as many of these lacrimas are charged as can be, we'll blast out of here. With the thrusters on the suit, and handles for the kids to hang on for dear life, we should be able to get out of here without fighting anyone… just need to step outside and get the hell outta dodge while Madison activates the detonator I gave her. Harry thought to himself, once again going over the strategy, and hoping he would be able to stick to it. Then his mind began to think of all the ways the plan could go horribly wrong, with more than one being his own fault. He shook his head. One way or another, we're getting out of here, and hopefully none of us will die in the process.
Author's notes.
Another chapter done, another 9,000 or so words added. I know that this chapter was rather extensive and quite wordy at times, but I wanted to somewhat dive into the intricacies of Harry's magic without going over every single enchantment that he put on his suit. If that IS something you would like to see, say so and I might make a list of enchantments, but for now, I'm keeping it simple so we can move on with the story.
The next chapter will be very action oriented and finish up with this 'mini-arc' allowing the following chapters to move on with more 'Fairy Tail' things. Such as the guild, the characters within, etc. etc.
Edmond's magic will also be further explored in the future, and as of now, he does not have full control over bigger and more complex things he creates, causing them to… explode. Eventually he will gain more control over his magic, but that will come later in the series. But anyways, I hope you all enjoyed that chapter, and as always…
Thanks for reading!