Chapter 4
Battle of Stella
Out in the forest, after night had fallen, Wendy complimented on the beauty she saw, although Happy saw the fruit above, despite Carla telling him not to eat it.
"We'll set up camp here for the night," Erza said to them.
"I agree, Erza. The rest of us will set up tents so that we can sleep in them," agreed Leafa.
"I just hope they don't find us again," added Gray.
"Then we gotta sleep in shifts," replied Natsu.
"I concur. While someone's on guard, the rest of us can get some sleep. That way, if there are any enemies nearby, we'll wake up and take care of them," chimed Yui.
"From what we heard Sora say, they plan on using the Dragon Cry to extinguish all the stellanium," said Erza, after they ste up the campfire.
"But how do we know that's possible?" asked Wendy.
"Say it does work, then the whole country goes bankrupt?" wondered the ice maker.
"Whatever the reason is, that staff is far too dangerous in the hands of someone that's pure evil," replied Asuna.
"As for what Sonya said, there's a ceremony that's about to start tomorrow night," added Kirito.
"We only have till then to get it back," sighed Lucy, causing Cody to place a comforting arm around her.
Of course, Happy did manage to get some fruit from the tree and start eating it, which made Carla annoyed at him.
"Carla, I believe Happy may be right about how we shouldn't even think about stressing over the situation. Believe me, it's best not to overthink these things, and I'm fairly certain that Wendy would say the same thing to you," interjected Sora.
He turned to the others.
"Our orders still stand. We need to recover the Dragon Cry before Animus, Zash, and their allies attempt to use it to turn Fiore into a wasteland along with the people living in it. If there are no further objections, I believe this concludes our meeting. Get some rest, while we have someone on lookout. Dismissed," he said.
"Permission to be on guard duty, Sora," Lucy spoke up.
Sora turned to Erza.
"Granted," she replied.
Lucy sat by herself in the forest that night, thinking about what Sonya had said about the Dragon Cry, but her mind seemed distant. She wasn't sure why Sonya wanted the Dragon Cry to stay in Stella, until she heard a set of footsteps approach her from behind.
"Hey, you seem troubled. Is something wrong, Lucy?" Cody asked her.
"It's not that, it's just my turn at guard duty," she replied.
Despite this, even though Natsu would most-likely eavesdrop on their conversation, Cody sat beside her, and gently rested his hand on Lucy's shoulder.
"I'm glad you're taking this time to take the first watch for any intruders, but I can tell that you seem sad for some reason. It's almost like something's bugging you," he said.
"Well, it's… I was thinking about why we were sent here. If we fulfill our mission, this whole island could be destroyed," Lucy explained.
"Lucy, you know just as well as I do, that neither Sora nor Natsu would allow that to happen at all. The loss of life, whether it's the people, plants, and animals would just break their hearts, and they'd end up becoming so consumed by despair, that it'd end up leading to the darkness taking hold of them, which in turn would unleash a darker side of themselves that lingers in their hearts. To Sora, it's Vanitas, the combined sentient darkness of himself and Ventus. But to Natsu, I'm not so sure what it is at this time. Now me, for example, it's Berserker, the demon in my heart, courtesy of my father, who I still despise for leaving me, and watching my mother die. But after being raised by other people who were kind, I slowly started to feel like a better person. That's when I decided to cover up my identity by using the name, Ulrich Grayson. However, even though I saw you dancing on the stage in that bar, it was almost as if I saw an actual angel before me, even though we were tasked with taking Zash's ring, so that we could take the Dragon Cry from under his nose, until things suddenly got out of hand for us. Sure the patrons in that bar, Altair, loved your dancing, but I didn't want to blow our cover and compromise the mission, even though I nearly got taken over by the shadow of envy, which would pretty much get me in big trouble with Erza, much like how Natsu and Gray would get in trouble with her if they started clamoring with each other, which in turn would lead to our enemies taking advantage of their situation to get a lot of innocent people killed. That's something that they'd neither forgive nor forget. But, putting that aside for now, I do remember what Carla said about how the night sky is filled with stars, which is a breathtaking sight to behold. I want to know if what she said was true, if you're okay with it, that is," replied Cody.
"Sorry, you know I'm wearing a skirt," countered Lucy.
But Cody slowly stood up.
"I know, but you can trust me on this one. Don't worry, I asked Yang to make sure that Natsu doesn't get any perverted ideas while she takes the second watch, with Sora's explicit permission of course," he assured her.
It did make Lucy a little happy to hear that, and so the two of them clambered up a nearby tree, so that they could look at what Carla had mentioned to them before during their trip to the Kingdom of Stella. When they reached the top, Cody gently took Lucy's hand, and gently pulled her up. What she saw amazed her, and she realized that Wendy's companion was correct about the night sky filled with stars that contained many constellations. The celestial mage looked up into the sky in awe.
"I've never seen anything like it. It's beautiful," she said, looking up in awe.
"Yeah, it is. And so are you, Lucy. After all, Twilight and Sora do like looking at the stars, so I kind of felt like doing the same thing with you. Besides, a chance like this doesn't come easily, which is why you always have to keep your chin up," replied Cody.
"You're right," smiled Lucy.
She slowly clambered up, and sat beside him, placing her hand on his.
"Cody, I wish we could always be like this, sitting on a hilltop, looking at the stars in the sky above as we are now. It's moments like these that make me wish they could truly be like this forever. Also, I've heard that there are times when people could wish upon stars, so that their dreams would come true," said the celestial mage.
(Time for a musical moment, because Lucy's going to sing a song a about wishing upon a star to Cody, so play Celtic Woman's cover of When You Wish Upon A Star from Pinocchio)
Lucy:
When you wish upon a star,
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires will come to you
If your heart is in your dream,
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do
Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing...
Like a bolt out of the blue,
Fate steps in and sees you through...
When you wish upon a star,
Your dreams come true
Your dreams come true
Even as Lucy sang to Cody, Sora suddenly began to think that she truly had a beautiful voice that sounded very much like Weiss and Minako's voices when he heard them sing, but then the same could be said for everyone else who was asleep that night, save for Yang who was pulling guard duty in her stead, but she too began to hear Lucy's singing as well, which also made her think of Weiss as well. However, even most of her friends within Fairy Tail suddenly began to shed tears when they heard her singing, even Natsu, who was surprised by the sound of her voice, making him cry softly in his sleep.
Lucy:
If your heart is in your dream,
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true
When you wish upon a star,
Your dreams come true
When Lucy finished singing, both she and Cody looked into each other's eyes, and the two of them shared a passionate kiss with each other, before they clambered down to the campfire and fell asleep in each other's embrace in their tent. However, the next day, the Stella Guards were now on patrol for the intruders, with Sephiroth leading them. Gajeel, Panther Lily, Levy, and Juvia were surprised.
"Oh, so there are more of them. Hehehehehehehe… Dispose of them at once. Leave no witnesses," he said, with a cruel smile.
The captain nodded, but Gajeel was itching for a battle. However, Juvia was still searching for Gray. Far away from the kingdom, Teams Natsu and SKYYYLAARC were now rushing back to their allies.
"There's some sort of commotion ahead of us," warned Erza.
"Kirito, follow me," Gray said to the Dark Knight.
Despite Wendy's warnings, Natsu saw the soldiers, along with Ydoc, whom Asuka decided to battle, having heard everything about him from Cody. This gave the requip mage the edge she needed, and she took them down.
"Head to the temple. Asuna and I will handle this bunch!" she called to her comrades.
As they fought, Natsu was surprised to see that Happy had turned red, and so was the cat, until they were defeated.
"Very impressive, Erza Scarlet. Thanks to my connection to Cody, I've learned all I need to know about you. However, there's someone else who'd like to say hello to you," he grinned.
"Ydoc is correct, Red Haired Swordswoman," smirked Swan.
"Erza, take care of that wench! I'll handle Ydoc!" Asuna said.
Erza nodded, even as the other woman led her away from the battlefield. In the city streets, Gray and Kirito were now running as fast as their legs would carry them, when they saw Juvia approach them.
"You guys," she greeted them.
"Sorry for showing up alongside Gray, Juvia, but it looks like things have truly escalated out of control, now that Stella's been placed under martial law," Kirito explained.
But even as the water mage was relieved, Doll appeared and prepared to fight them, as he summoned forth Francois and Catlynn to his side.
"You again! You're gonna pay for our humiliation!" he growled furiously.
"Kirito's right, Juvia. He needs to pay, so let's take him together," agreed Gray.
As the trio prepared for battle, the remaining members of Team Natsu were still racing to the city, when another of the Three Stars, Gapri, tried to ambush them.
"So slow," he quipped.
Yang growled angrily, but Ruby rested her hand on her shoulder.
"Yang, some of us should stay and help Wendy and Carla deal with him," she said.
"We appreciate the backup, Ruby," replied the younger dragonslayer.
Confusion settled on Happy's features, as Carla changed into her human form, but Natsu had to agree, along with Sora.
"Okay, but be careful," warned Sora.
"He's right, girls. Have at 'em," agreed Natsu, and they hurried away, while Happy whined.
The battle was now beginning as Wendy released her restraints, while Yang and Ruby readied their weapons for battle. Gapri was surprised as he was sent flying right into Yang's fists of fury.
"ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA!" she cried out, pummeling him furiously.
"Listen guys, I gotta go rescue those girls that are still trapped in that dungeon," Lucy said to them.
"You gonna be okay alone?" questioned Natsu.
"She's not going alone, Natsu, because I'm going with her," interjected Cody.
"Cody's got a valid point, even though I have many more friends with me," she added.
Natsu nodded, knowing that she was right, and he hurried off with Sora, Leafa, Yumi, and Asuka joining him and Happy. Meanwhile, inside the castle, Sonya was now looking at the staff, thinking about what Sora, Natsu, and the others had said. However, she still took hold of the Dragon Cry, and began to suspect that the dragon slayer was right.
"Sonya," two voices said.
It was Animus and Nuno.
"Your majesty, Sir Nuno," she gasped.
"The time has come to cleanse this world, but first, you will give the king the Dragon Cry at once, regardless of the suffering of the people. That is Animus' destiny," Nuno said.
Sonya was aghast, but in the dungeon below, Cody and Lucy had managed to get the girls out of their cells, and told them to run. Suddenly, Zash came bounding down the stairs, enraged, forcing them to prepare for battle.
"What in the hell is going on here!?" he demanded.
"Zash! Your days of harming innocent women for blood rituals are over! It's time to end your madness for good!" declared Cody.
Lucy nodded, then called forth the Sea-Goat, Capricorn, as well as changed into her stardress bearing his symbol, right as the minister attempted to use his Evil Eye on them. It was no good, because they were wearing shades that dispelled it.
"It's kind of pathetic. Your spell can't work if our eyes are covered," she said.
"Impressive, Lady Lucy. Magnificently done yet again," agreed Capricorn, and he changed at Zash.
He struck him with a mighty lick, sending him back. The distraction seemed to work to their advantage, as Virgo opened the doors, as well as beckoned the prisoners to flee. However, the minister wasn't done yet, he called Red Knife, a big hungry hell-hound to his side.
"Get back here!" Cody yelled after him.
"Cody, let him go for now," Lucy said to her boyfriend.
"I'll follow him," Virgo said to them.
"Okay, but be careful, Virgo," he replied, after cooling off for a bit. And allowed her to go.