A/N: YAS! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

Chapter 44: Blood Rage John

April 17, X792 – Morning

What should have been a warm rain around Pluvia had quickly turned into icy droplets, the drop in temperature being due to the ice magic now filling the guild. People all around the guild had begun to shiver, but many of them pressed on through the cold to fight off the men and women that had invaded their home.

Though, there were four men that showed no signs that the cold even bothered them. They were all too focused on the two Black Skull members standing before them, a heated stare down having been going on. They hadn't noticed the temperature or the numerous fights going on around them or even what Securus had just done on the ship below them. It all came down to this first move. The first move would ignite everything and it would determine how the rest of the battle would play out. Careful choices had to be made and it appeared that all participants understood this.

And then all it took was a twitch of a muscle and all the pent-up tension was released in a wave of magic from all sides.

Roberts threw his arm forward, his iced sparrows bursting forward. The wave expanded across the area, the birds aimed to hit outside of the main battle area as well.

Eli was the first to approach the attack, his red flames igniting and rising into the air despite the pouring rain. The high temperature rolling off the man's body was enough to melt many of the icy birds, quickly catching Roberts' attention if the quirk of an eyebrow meant anything.

"You have caught my interest," Roberts said, looking straight at Eli, "But it seems that your fire was not enough to melt all of them," he added, motioning behind the group.

Eli and John looked behind them to see several of the birds had hit members of their guild, frozen blue blotches already forming on their skin. Eli whipped his head back around to glare at Roberts, his red fire growing in his anger.

"Red Fire's Inferno!" Eli shouted, punching both his fists forward to unleash a tornado of his fire upon Roberts.

"Brimefrost Make: Double Dome," Roberts said calmly as his magic encased him within two domes. Eli's fire easily melted the first dome and had managed to work its way through half of the second one. By the time the flames dispersed, a ring of ice was all that was left, pieces still melting and dripping around Roberts. Roberts' sharp brown eyes were fixed on Eli for a long moment, keeping the fire mage from seeing the icy path heading his way with the intense stare.

Roberts took a step forward, causing Eli's body to tense up and prepare for another attack. Though, he didn't even have the time to think of a spell let alone create one before Roberts was suddenly in front of him, the blonde man using the iced pathway to boost his speed. The ice mage had taken up his rapier, covering the blade in his burning ice and bringing it down upon Eli's neck. The only thing that stopped him from decapitating the fire mage was a blade being held at his own neck.

"I was beginning to wonder when you were going to make a move," Roberts said, knowing who the cutlass against his neck belonged to.

"I can't rush into battle, not against someone like you," John said, keeping a steady grip on his blade.

"Smart man," Roberts said, "But I hope you have not forgotten the full extent of my magic."

At that comment, ice began to cover John's sword, traveling up the blade at a rapid pace. John dropped the sword before the ice could touch his hand and quickly grabbed onto Roberts with the now empty hand. It would only take a matter of seconds before he finished bringing down his own sword on Eli's neck.

"Void Skip!" John said as soon as his hand came down on Roberts. The two blinked out of sight and reappeared a few good yards from Eli, allowing the fire mage to take in a breath of relief. John then let go of Roberts before the man had a chance to ice the area he was holding on to.

"What are you going to do now, John?" Roberts asked as he straightened out his clothes, "You no longer have your blade. And you cannot just keep skipping around me."

John only stared in response, trying to formulate a plan in his head for his next attack.

"What has become of you, John?" Roberts continued, a small smirk appearing under his mask, "You never hesitated so much like this when we worked together. Where is Privateer Morang? Where is Blood Rage John?"

John flinched at this question. He had hoped that Roberts would keep his mouth shut about that title and everything that came with it. Blood red filled his memories. The screams and tears amplified tenfold in his mind. Everything blurred together. All the fighting and killing. All the fires and destruction. And he had been right there in the thick of it. Had been the cause of all of it. And when his mind finally stopped spinning, all that was left was a bloodied, beautiful woman in his arms, staring blankly up at him.

"I thought that might spark something in you," Roberts said, his voice cutting and cold.

"You shut your mouth!" John snapped, his usually calm gray eyes turning into hard steel when they locked with man's in front of him.

"Ah, there we are. Those are the eyes I remember. Let us see if we can uncover more of the real you," Roberts said, "I wonder if your guild knows the real you. Have you told them about all the horrible things you have done? You talk of sins and atonement, but do they have any clue as to why you have those things weighing you down?"

"Shut up!" John shouted, falling more and more into his anger the longer the man spoke.

"Your reaction tells me you have not," Roberts said, "Shall I tell them for you? Shall I tell them how you gained the name Blood Rage John? It is such a wonderful tale full of destruction and tragedy, don't you think?"

John let out another shout as he created a new cutlass made of his Void Magic. The black blade shot forward to strike Roberts, but the man easily dodged it.

"Brimefrost Make: Stairs," he said as he flipped back onto the first step, "Sparrows," he added, creating another horde of icy birds just for good measure, "I know exactly how you fight, John. Even when you are angry like this," he said, jumping over another swipe of the magic blade, "And you cannot follow me up onto these stairs without burning yourself in the process," he added as he made his way further up the stairs.

John could only let out another roar of a shout as he poured more of his magic into his blade. It began to change and elongate until it had changed into a scythe. John normally liked to work with cutlasses or daggers, but there were times that a longer weapon worked better. He swung the black weapon forward, the blade cutting right into the thick ice of the stairs like they were butter. The black blade of the scythe seemed to suck out the magic infused in the stairs, causing the half he had cut through to melt away into a puddle and was washed away by the pouring rain around them.

"He might not be able to follow you," Eli said as he ran back onto the scene and jumped up onto the half of the stairs that were left. He slammed down onto the ice in a wave of red fire, the flames continuing to waft off him as he faced Roberts with a smirk, "But I can."

. : + : .

As soon as that twitch was made at the beginning of the battle, Seth wasted no time on igniting one of his tattoos, listening to the advice that John had given him about aerial attacks being the best to use against the woman before him.

"Chimera Shift: Eagle!" he said, the eagle wings tattoo on his back glowing brightly. Soon, a pair of large eagle wings expanded from his back, the rain simply rolling off of them when the golden-brown feathers were fully extended. He then looked down at Gamu, "You ready?"

"Ready," Gamu answered as he jumped up onto Seth's shoulders.

"Seems like you have a game plan already," Seth said with a smile.

"Cordelia was hurt," he said, "I've decided to fight."

"Good choice," Seth said, beginning to move his wings up and down as hard as he could, "Hope you don't mind heights."

"I like heights!" Gamu said with his own smile.

"Another good choice," he said as they finally lifted off the ground.

"Just because you aren't on my Flower Bed, doesn't mean I can't fight you," Rika said, staring up at them.

"I'd rather not fight you, really," Seth said, "You're an important figure in the fairy world. I think I'd get in trouble if I hurt you too much."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, "Fairy world? Were you drinking before this?"

"You must know. You have the mark of the Flower Queen."

"I am no queen. I am a member of the Black Skulls. That is all."

"But you are!" Seth retorted, already beginning to feel frustrated. He knew that mark. All in the fairy realm knew that mark. She was the Flower Queen and if she was here in the world of Earthland, then it must be causing problems in the fairy world. At least within the realm of the forest fairies. Without their queen to guide them and watch over them, they were surely lost and without protection. He was surprised he hadn't known of this problem before now, but he supposed it had been a while since he had spoken to anyone from the fairy world, "You are the Flower Queen!"

"I am not!" she shouted, as she began to slowly raise both of her arms. The ground behind her began to rumble, and once she had shot both of her arms up into the air, four large roses stood tall behind her, their stems full of large, thick thorns, "Thorn Shooter!" she said as the four roses began to spin rapidly and shoot off their thorns in all directions.

Seth watched as the thorns raced towards him, forcing him to fly up higher to dodge them. Though, it seemed that Gamu was less than impressed with this attack as he jumped off Seth's shoulders.

"Porcupine Armor!" he said, covering his entire body with needles. He spun a few times to help block the thorns a bit more, causing the thorns to bounce off him, "Quills!" he said, shooting the needles covering his right arm towards Rika.

"Bullet Seed!" Rika shouted, aiming her tulip guns at the onslaught of needs and thread. The seeds did the trick and knocked the needles off course.

Though, this didn't stop Gamu from pushing forward. He quickly shot off the needles on his left arm, the silver spines aiming right for Rika. They hit their mark this time, wrapping around Rika's right arm. Once they were tied tightly around her arm, Gamu pulled on the threads to pull himself down faster towards her. He retracted the needles around his feet and he slammed her down onto the flower bed, standing right on top of her stomach.

"Booster Shot," he said, creating more needles on his right hand. They came halfway out from his fingertips, Gamu moving his hand forward to lodge them into her neck.

"Gamu, wait!" Seth shouted. He hadn't expected the man to be so cutthroat about the fight. It seemed that the man really had decided to take this fight seriously and put all his focus on it. He let out a small sigh of relief when Gamu's hand stopped an inch away from Rika's neck.

Gamu looked up at Seth with a confused stare, "But she helped hurt Cordelia."

"I know," Seth said, "And I don't want her to get away with it, but she's a very confused woman. We can't kill her."

"The hell I'm confused!" Rika shouted, "Thorn Dagger!" she said, grabbing one of the thorns from the roses behind her with her free arm.

With Gamu looking up at Seth, he didn't see the attack coming until it was too late. She sliced across her, managing to cut across Gamu's chest. Blood spurted out and stained his tank top, causing the hold on her to loosen as he jumped back away from her and fell onto the slick grass of the flower bed. He pressed a hand onto his chest, but luckily it appeared that the wound wasn't too deep.

"I am not a queen! And fairies don't exist!"

Seth narrowed his eyes after she had wounded Gamu and with her denying the world she belonged to. He flew straight down at her just as she was picking herself back up and ridding herself of the thread around her arm. He would have to get over the fact that he couldn't hurt this woman for now. She obviously meant to hurt, even kill them, so he would have to rough her up enough until she would listen to him.

Rika's eyes widened as she watched Seth's large form flying right at her. He came to a sudden stop, the air that his wings created in the stop was enough to push Rika back down onto her butt and skid across her flower bed until she reached the very edge of it.

"You are a queen," Seth stated in a loud and steady tone, "But that title won't have me looking away when you hurt the people important to me. I want to help you, but not at the risk of the lives of the people around me."

"I don't need your help!" Rika said, "You clearly have the wrong person! I'll keep saying it! I'm not a queen! I'm a pirate!"

"A pirate," Seth repeated, frowning down at the scowling woman, "How can you not know what you are? Haven't you ever questioned your abilities? You can talk to the trees and plants and the forests themselves, right?"

Rika looked shocked for a moment, caught off guard that the man floating in front of her knew of her abilities.

"How do you know that?" she asked as she stood back up, her dagger still at the ready.

"Because I have seen the fairy world. I have spoken with the people that live there. I have learned how their world works. Each section of their world is ruled by kings and queens. And you belong to the forest realm. That rose marking on you is enough to prove it," he said, pointing to the blue marking on her stomach, "Where were you before the Black Skulls?"

"I…I…" Rika tried to answer him, but no words came out. She couldn't remember anything before the Black Skulls. She had always been with Madmartigan and his crew. Sure, she had questioned where she had come from, but there was nothing to do about it when she couldn't remember a single thing about her past. She just continued moving forward with her crewmates and had found her purpose in protecting them.

"And I guarantee that if your captain recognized that marking as well, that he only kept you around because of it."

Rika froze when he spoke those words. She couldn't believe them. She just couldn't. Madmartigan had taken her in and given her a home. It might not have been the nicest of homes, but it was still a home nonetheless. When she had nothing but her name and the clothes on her back, he took her in. He just couldn't be the type of man to use her to his advantage. The man in front of her had to be lying. He was lying about everything! Madmartigan had saved her!

"Liar!" she shouted as she jumped back to her feet and swung the dagger at him, "My captain is a good man! And there's no such thing as fairies! You're only telling me lies to take advantage of the fight! But I won't let that happen!"

Rika continued moving forward and swinging her dagger around erratically, making it easy for Seth to dodge her attacks. He continued floating backwards until he had enough of it.

"Then I'll show you the truth if you refuse to believe," Seth said before slamming a fist into the woman's gut. She coughed hard as the air rushed out of her lungs. She fell to her knees, wrapping her arms around her stomach, "That should keep you in place long enough," he said as he powered up a second tattoo, that being the fairy wings on his back, "Chimera Shift: Seraphim!" he announced. His eagle wings stayed in place, but now above them was a pair of white, angelic wings.

He stood before Rika, practically glowing under the darkened skies of Pluvia, staring down at her with a straight face. Though, his green eyes bore into her with such intensity that she had a hard time looking away. It was hard to deny anything he had told her in that moment. All the things about fairies and her being a queen. How could one deny them when he was looking at her with such honesty and determination?

But then the memory of Madmartigan saving her came back tenfold. That was her first memory since she had awoken to the life she was living now. How could anyone ask her to deny the man that had given her a home for something she didn't believe in? It was almost cruel to ask her to turn away her crew. To turn away the people she had protected these past six years. She just couldn't do it.

Seth gave her one last hard look before turning away from her and moving down to Gamu.

"Sorry for making you wait a bit here," Seth said as he pressed a hand to Gamu's wound. A bright, white light began to emit from his hand and move over the cut, easily healing the shallow slice.

"I still don't believe you," Rika said lowly.

Seth whipped around to face her, "Even in the face of magic coming directly from fairies?!" he shouted, now becoming angry with her constant denial of everything that was staring her straight in the face, "These wings and the healing abilities that come with it are from the fairies themselves. And if that's not proof enough for you, you use their magic too! How can you deny what you yourself use?! You cannot be so foolish or blind! Why do you think it's called Forest Queen Magic?!"

"That's just a name! It means nothing!"

"Stop denying the people that took care of you! Stop denying the people that love you! It's disgraceful!"

"They're. Not. Real!"

As she shouted the last word, she slammed her fists down, causing an eruption of giant roses and tulips to completely circle around them. She then raised her fists upwards, releasing an onslaught of thorns and bullet seeds.

"I am no queen of the fairies!" she continued shouting as she released more and more of the attacks towards Seth and Gamu.

Seth grabbed onto Gamu and threw him onto his back as he took off into the air. Rika had the seeds and thorns following them, but the added speed from the eagle wings kept Seth just ahead of them.

"We gotta stop her. Can you tie down her arms again?" Seth asked, glancing back at Gamu.

"Yeah," he said, popping out more of his needles, "Quills!" he said as he shot the first round at her right arm again.

In her anger, Rika missed the needles and thread coming towards her. They easily wrapped around her arm tightly, only causing her anger to rise more. She tore through the enhanced thread with her dagger, glaring up at the pair again and sending more attacks their way.

"I am a Black Skull!"

"Keep sending needles her way," Seth said as he blew away a large grouping of seeds and thorns with his wings.

Gamu simply nodded his head and shot out another round of needles and thread. They wrapped around her arm again, but this time he sent out another wave of needles to trap her other arm before she cut his threads. He pulled them tightly, easily lifting her off the deck of the ship.

Seth then took off at a high speed as soon as he saw that she was captured, moving out of range of her roses and tulips, "Will you listen to me now?!" he called down to her.

"No! You're just lying! Trying to turn me against my family!"

"That is no family! Your captain is just using you! Hoping that one day you'll open the door to the fairy world so he can invade it!"

"You don't know my captain!"

"He's very bad," Gamu said, "A very bad man."

"He's right!" Seth said, cutting Rika off when she opened her mouth, "Your captain cares for nothing but power. With old worlds come old treasures and old power. He'd toss you aside as soon as he had that!"

"You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Why is it so hard for you to see the truth?!"

"No matter what you say, they are my family! You fight for yours, so why is mine any different?! I love them with the same fierceness that you love your own! Why is that so wrong?!"

Seth went quiet. It was hard to tell her she was wrong with a statement like that, but he knew that she was still wrong. Madmartigan was surely using her, keeping her around until the day the door opened for her again to the fairy world. Seth wouldn't be able to live with himself if that really did happen.

In his silence, Rika managed to grab onto the thread and began pulling herself up towards the pair. Gamu's face scrunched up as he began to try to shake her off, but with the threads being tied around her arms and the tight hold she had on them, it was hard to do so.

"Seth. Seth!" he called out, bringing the large man out of his thoughts.

Though, it seemed a second too late as the woman had climbed high enough to have just enough use of her arms to swing the dagger forward, aiming it straight for Seth's chest.

"Pin Cushion!" Gamu said as he summoned dozens of needles and pushed them into the woman's chest. Gamu understood that Seth didn't want to kill the woman, but he wasn't going to let her kill someone he was close to. Seth had quickly become a good friend and he wasn't going to lose him when he could prevent it. He knew how losing someone felt and he never wanted to go through that feeling again.

The needles sunk into her skin, blood seeping out from the holes that were being created. Her eyes widened at the stinging pain, not having expected the second man to react so quickly. She soon released the threads she had been holding onto, her body falling backwards.

Seth's own eyes were wide; the fight having turned in a way that he had been wishing to avoid. He didn't want to kill the woman since he knew what that would do to the fairy world. It would only create chaos and pain for the people that lived there. But he couldn't be upset for the move Gamu had just made. Rika had been aiming to kill him and Gamu had simply protected him. Still, everything had only grown worse throughout the fight with Rika and Seth worried that she would never believe him now.

They watched as Rika fell towards the ground, the threads around her arms loosening at Gamu's will. The roses and tulips on her flower bed moved inwards to catch her before she slammed down onto the deck.

"Queen's Graces," she said as she pulled out a cocoon shaped seed and pushed it into the ground. She normally left this spell to heal her allies, but there were times that called for using it on herself, and this was one of those times. The seed began to grow larger and larger until it was big enough to fit her entire body into it. The cocoon popped open, waiting for her to crawl inside so it could heal her.

Just as her flowers helped her roll into it and it began to close around, Seth floated down to hang just above her. He hoped what he had to say would at least stick with her and have her questioning things.

"If you're so sure about your captain and that fairies don't exist," he said, looking her straight in the eye, "Then go ask him yourself why he had you join his crew."

Rika said nothing and kept her eyes fixed on the large man, but Seth saw something spark in her eyes. He was certain then that his words would stay in her mind for now and that would have to be enough for the time being, especially considering that he and Gamu had been shoved away from her by her flowers; the roses and tulips aiming to hurt anyone that came near their now cocooned master.

. : + : .

With every step that Eli took up the stairs, he left behind a melted footprint. But he didn't pay much attention to the path he was leaving, having his focus solely on Roberts.

"I almost beheaded you once. Do you not think I will try for it again?" Roberts asked, having to keep his focus on both John and Eli, making it hard to watch all movements from both men.

"I hope to hell you aren't a one trick pony," Eli huffed, "That would be kinda boring and pathetic."

"Hmm," Roberts hummed, "But if the trick works it would be such a waste not to use it," he said as he held out his sword towards Eli, encasing the blade in his ice again.

"Red Fire's Blazing Sword!" Eli said, a long sword made of his red fire appearing in his right hand. He didn't waste any more time in moving forward to attack Roberts, slicing his fire blade downwards at the man.

Roberts easily deflected the attack, his own enhanced sword slicing Eli's blade in half. Eli only smirked in response as he surged more magic into the sword to repair it, not missing a single beat as he spun to slam the sword into Roberts' side. Roberts managed to block the attack again, though he felt the whoosh of heat that came from the red sword at his side. The two continued this way with their blades of ice and fire slamming into each other and sending up sparks of the burning elements.

Though, their fight was soon interrupted due to the stairs shaking violently. They looked down to see John still slamming his black scythe against the ice, becoming successful in chopping away enough of the ice to have the stairs barely being able to stand on their own.

Upon seeing the stairs swaying, John disappeared into a Void Skip, reappearing in between Roberts and Eli. He swung his blade across Roberts' wrist, causing the man to drop his sword and pull his wrist back in pain from the magic draining damage it had done.

With his good hand, Roberts threw it outwards, "Scatter!" he shouted to the icy sparrows his still had floating behind him. The birds exploded outwards, flying across the ship, hitting any person in their path. Many of the people hit were guild members, causing Roberts to smirk underneath his mask, "Looks like I am going to take some of your people from you today. What do you think of that, Blood Rage John?"

A violent red exploded through his mind again, his anger growing tenfold. John let himself fall into that anger, his steel eyes baring down on Roberts. He swung his scythe backwards, not hearing Eli's shouts of protest and pain as the void weapon traveled through his middle. Eli fell backwards off the stairs, slamming down onto the deck, John never once having taken notice of his current battle partner. Instead, the man continued focusing all his anger and power on Roberts, swinging the scythe forward again and slicing it through Roberts' middle.

Roberts let out a grunt of pain as he stumbled backwards on the stairs. John moved forward on him again, releasing his scythe for now as he grabbed onto Roberts' shoulders and slammed his knee right into his gut.

With all the weight moving to one side of the stairs, they finally began to tip over and fall towards the deck, taking Roberts and John down with them. John kept a tight hold onto the blonde man as they crashed onto the deck, Roberts falling on his back and John plowing his knee deeper into the man's stomach.

Roberts let out a strangled cough, having to take in a large gulp of air afterwards to try and catch his breath. Though, John didn't give him a single second to breathe as he slammed a fist across his face.

"This is what you wanted, right?!" John shouted as he threw another fist across the man's face, "You wanted to me to let go, right?! To be a man like you, right?!" he said as he continued pummeling the man across the face, blood spurting out from Roberts' mouth and nose, "You wanted to see Blood Rage John, right?! Well you have him!" he roared as one particularly hard punch had Roberts' nose crunching in response under it.

"Holy shit! John!" Eli shouted, having forced himself up.

He ignored the numbing pain that the scythe had left behind and launched himself towards the void mage. There was blood everywhere. Across the deck, covering Roberts' face, and all over John's hands. Eli couldn't believe how much there was and that John was still slamming fist after fist against the blonde's face. If Eli didn't do something soon, he was sure that Roberts wouldn't have a face left under all that blood.

"That's enough, John! You made your point!" Eli shouted as he grabbed the man in a chokehold. He pulled tighter and tighter, shocked at how much force it was taking to even slow the man down. Finally, after what seemed like hours, the chokehold started to take effect. John's punching began to slow down until his arms were eventually hanging limply at his sides. The rest of his body soon went limp as he passed out from the hold, Eli finally letting up at that point.

Eli stared down at the bloodied face of Roberts, seeing the man cough up more of the red liquid and hearing him groan in pain. Eli almost felt sorry for the man, but he had been asking for it by egging John on like he had been. The fire mage's head snapped up when a pair of feet appeared next to Roberts. He saw that it was an underling that had come onto the ship with Roberts and Rika. The man looked ready to attack Eli, but there was hesitation in his movements when he saw what Roberts looked like.

"Unless you want to having a matching face to his, I suggest you pick him up and get the fuck out of here," Eli said, glaring hotly at the man.

The nameless man didn't waste any time in grabbing Roberts and making a run for their ship, Eli seeing that someone else had down the same with Rika's cocooned body.

Eli looked back down at the unconscious John laying in front of him, his eyes moving over the man's bloodied hands and over towards the puddle of blood that was now being washed away by Pluvia's constant rain.

"Christ," he muttered as he looked away from the blood and up into the gray skies.

A/N: And there we are! I hope you enjoyed it!

Holy crap! Who knew John had something like that in him! You never know what people are capable of until you push them to their limit. Roberts might have to think again about bringing up John's past in the future!

But I really had a lot of fun writing this chapter with both fights and revealing pieces about John, Seth, and Rika. So I hope you all enjoyed it too!

And CHA! We're over 600 reviews! That's just super awesome! Thanks for sticking with the story! I really am happy to have all you lovely readers and hear from you about the story! I hope you all continue to enjoy the story!

I think that's about it for this time around.

See you all again soon in the next chapter!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson