Juvia had seen many shocking things in her life, but learning that the man they were facing was Gray's father was perhaps among the most surprising. He was relentless in his attacks, almost cruel like he wanted Gray to hate him. Juvia did her best to swing in with back up where she could, but she could tell Gray was barely seeing her as he fought. He was focused on the man in front of them with a singular intensity that Juvia had never seen before. Oh, how she longed for his attention to be focused on her with such passion at any other time.
Juvia would admit she'd been a bit distracted at first. This was what Gray would look like when he was older, right? So debonair. She felt herself flushing at the very thought, but the fight had turned too serious for the distraction fairly quickly. Both she and Gray were barely avoiding what could be horrific attacks if they landed. The man's ice felt nothing like Gray's. It was scary.
Gray was pulling out all the stops, using his magic in ways she'd never seen him use it. He had to get creative because otherwise their opponent literally just ate the ice Gray threw at him. Gray created cannons and hurtled a huge rock through the air. It struck the man in the face and startled him. Juvia took that moment to try a water slicer. The man was immune to ice attacks, but that didn't mean he was immune to water attacks. If she got lucky and worked one in before he noticed maybe she could knock sense into the man. This was Gray's father after all. They should be rejoicing in having found one another again.
She didn't get lucky though. He'd been surprised by the rock. He'd even started to give Gray an appreciative look as she threw her magic his way, but he saw her movement and responded with his ice. With hardly a blink Juvia found the bottom half of her body encased in ice so thick she knew if she tried to move she'd crack in half. She was frozen to the spot by both the magic and an overwhelming sense of horror at the feeling.
"Juvia!"
Gray's cry of her name filled her with warmth, but as she lifted her head she felt fear pin her again. A massive bullet of ice raced her way and Gray was still too far away, moving almost in slow motion to her racing thoughts. Juvia couldn't move. Gray was throwing magic her way but it wouldn't be in time, would it? She tried to shift into her water form but it only sort of felt right, like the rest of her was freezing to match her legs. Ice hit her head on and Juvia was sure she was dying for a minute. The world went dark with pain. She felt dizzy and unfocused.
Juvia cracked open an eye. A wall of Gray's ice had half blocked the attack. It had probably saved her life. Gray was there, knelt near her legs and apparently melting his father's ice because she collapsed to the ground.
"I'm sorry." She managed. She'd gotten in the way. Every time she tried to help Gray she felt like she just got in the way. If he responded she didn't hear it. She was fading in and out and the rush of her own heartbeat filled her ears.
One second he was there in front of her. Then she blinked her eyes open again and he was fighting in the distance. There was shouting and Gray moved with confidence. Juvia tried to roll over and felt her eyes drift closed again for a second. When they blinked open again it was to a heartbreaking sound she'd never heard before. Gray was sobbing.
Juvia didn't care that she was dizzy, or that her neck and side ached. She forced herself to her knees and crawled his direction.
Gray was knelt on the ground holding his father who looked a lot less intimidating now. He gave Gray a smile. "We're proud of you." Were the man's last words as Juvia approached. He burst into a shower of light before she could even make herself known. Juvia didn't know what to make of it. What had shifted the man's demeanor? What had stopped the fight? Why had he disappeared? What had Juvia missed?
It didn't matter. Gray was in pain. Nothing mattered but that.
Juvia crawled forward until she was on the same jagged sheet of ice that he was and only hesitated a brief moment before she wrapped him in her arms. For once he didn't seem embarrassed by it. He leaned forward, head resting on her uninjured shoulder as he wept.
"Juvia is sorry." She whispered, tears brimming in her eyes too. Juvia knew pain. Juvia had lost her parents when she was young. She had been cast out and ridiculed her whole life for her inability to stop the rain that plagued her. Until she met Gray. Juvia wished she could spare him the pain of loss that so obviously plagued him now, but Juvia didn't know how to do that. So, they cried together.
Finding Erza probably would have been simpler if the damned castle wasn't falling apart under his feet. Several times he turned corners, following the vague direction of his point-me spell and nearly put himself through a giant hole in the floor that disappeared into darkness. He knew that there probably wasn't a harmless glue trap waiting for him at the bottom of these ones.
When he did eventually stumble upon Erza it was to find her struggling through a fight with two opponents. A third person stood off to the rear of the crumbling room messing with floating sigils that laced around a huge ball of light. Before Harry even made himself known he threw a body bind at the third man in the back. The man dropped will a yelp of alarm that had the other two turning his way in confusion.
"Get up you dolt."
Erza was pinned to the ground, gasping in pain in a way Harry had never seen her do. The woman pinning her had turned to the man Harry had just body bound and was giving him a condescending look. The third figure in the room looked like a walking skeleton. Harry's eyes narrowed at the puncture wound running through the man he'd just bound. Was someone running around raising the dead?
He dropped from the staircase he'd climbed into the room with a thud that drew attention his way. His eyes were trained on the woman pinning Erza. Erza was breathing heavily, eyes clenched shut and her armor absolutely pulverized around her. A few strips of cloth barely covered Erza's body. Normally it would've made him uncomfortable. Right now he could hardly notice past the rising rage directed at the person who'd so obviously put her in such a state. It was one thing when Erza intentionally chose to wear revealing outfits. It was a whole other matter now that she'd obviously been forcibly stripped by her opponent. "You'll want to remove your foot." He said, tone icy.
Erza froze where she'd been squirming under the woman's foot. A second later she was turning hopeful eyes his way like she was seeing a ghost.
"And who might you be?" the woman hadn't removed her foot. In fact, she seemed to lean forward and put just slightly more pressure on Erza's sternum. Erza gasped under the pressure.
Harry didn't bother with a response. He sent out a wave of magic that pushed the woman off of Erza. She slid back, trying to gain traction as Harry approached his friend.
"Alright, Erza?" he asked, offering her a hand. Erza's attackers maintained their stances across the room. Erza took his hand and pulled herself up. She was breathing raggedly, but requipped into new armor as soon as she was up again.
"Been better." She offered, voice sounding more stable than she looked.
"How interesting." The woman took two steps forward and surveyed Harry like a piece of meat. "Your magic doesn't feel quite like the pathetic attempts humans usually make. And your form doesn't seem quite accurate either."
Harry wrinkled his nose in distaste. "You're one to talk." He looked meaningfully down at her legs. "Did you miss the day when they showed human feet in school or were you trying to make it look like your mother was a chicken?" Huge taloned claws like a bird's extended from the woman's legs.
The woman grinned, not at all offended at the insult. "This one's form isn't meant to be human passing." She offered instead. "No… yours is though. Are you even human, this one wonders?"
"Of course he is!" Erza whipped in front of him like she was shielding him from the other woman's predatory view. Erza shook slightly. Harry chose to interpret it as exhaustion, but the wild look in Erza's eyes probably meant it was more fear than anything else and that detail made something tighten in his chest uncomfortably.
"Human he might have been once." The weird skeleton thing in the back offered, seeming almost delighted as he looked at Harry. "Now one of the living dead. Much like my masterpiece, Absolute Zero."
"Absolute Zero…" Harry repeated to himself, confused. It clicked after a moment. "Ah, you must be the one who raised the inferius back there."
"Inferius?" Erza had angled herself as Harry talked trying to get him in her field of vision without taking her eyes off the threat in the room. "Living dead?"
Harry offered her a sympathetic look. "Inferius is an ancient term used by my people to refer to dead raised back to life as living puppets. They had a simple solution that was quite effective though."
Behind the necromancer the man who'd been laying stock still, trapped in Harry's spell, burst into flame as Harry casually willed him to do so.
"Fire is indeed a risk for the dead brought back to life." The necromancer seemed almost gleeful.
"We needed him." The woman looked less pleased.
"I've been searching for ways to improve my creations." The necromancer ignored his companion and settled Harry with an enthusiastic look. "Whoever created you must have very advanced curses. I could learn so much just by picking you apart in a lab."
Harry scoffed. Erza tensed.
"Must this one indulge your obsession?" the woman across from them asked.
"I've been indulging yours." The necromancer shot back. This earned a hum of amusement from the woman. The mildly reduced rage started to boil back up at the appreciative way the woman eyed Erza.
"Well, I think I've had enough of this. Erza?" Harry asked bitingly.
Erza nodded.
Harry lanced out at the woman again. She was closest. He'd intended to catch her in a body bind. A field of hazy black erupted in front of him. His magic seemed to eat into the mist for a moment before disappearing as the mist moved to swallow Harry whole. Submerged in the darkness Harry found himself face to face with the necromancer who seemed to have teleported with the strange mist. The skeletal face leered at him from the inky black. Harry took a hasty step back, but he found himself absolutely enveloped by whatever the mist was. It was denser than normal mist, and seemed to push in around him. There was a yell from outside the mist that must have been Erza's.
The feel of the mist was disconcerting, like vertigo mixed with being in a dark room. A piercing pain in Harry's abdomen made him gasp and he looked down to find a dagger buried there up to the guard. The necromancer slid it up, cutting like someone might for a dissection before he could even find the mental strength to react. He latched onto the hand driving the blade down to stop it from going further.
"You'll find it hard to fight my curses with your magic repressed." The necromancer said, voice full of challenging mirth. "Let me see what makes you tick."
"Harry!" Erza called his name, but he had no idea from where and he was a bit preoccupied with not being gutted right that moment. His magic wasn't turning the weird skeleton into a rock so he wasn't just bluffing about Harry's magic being off.
Harry winced against the pain, but he stared down the necromancer. "I'm afraid you'll be disappointed." He said, tension leaking into his tone from the pain and irritation. "I'm not like your mindless puppets. No one made me but myself."
"Then you'll spill your secrets to me with your words." The necromancer said, wrenching his arm free easier than Harry would've liked. He pulled the knife down the rest of the way to hit a hip bone.
Harry gasped and glared, eyes tightened. "Pass." He grit his teeth together, mind racing through options. One of the necromancer's earlier statements raced through his mind. "You said my magic was repressed by your curses?"
"Indeed." The necromancer withdrew the blade and marveled at it for a moment. Not an ounce of blood marred the blade. Instead a thick, amber colored liquid dripped from its end.
Magic in this newly reformed world was odd. Sectioned into its different elements and uses almost like categories. Curses Harry knew though. Curses had always existed in the magic he knew. If the skeletal being in front of him could use curses then Harry was going to take a bet and say he could probably do it too.
"Care to test which of our curses is stronger then?" He growled and searched his mind quickly for the strongest curse he could think of. "Fiendfyre."
The fire burst into being in front of Harry and spread outward like a sentient being, engulfing the necromancer quicker than he could react. The strange mist pulled back toward the necromancer. Without its support Harry found himself suddenly on the ground, blinking back the dizzy feeling of having a rug pulled from under his feet.
The necromancer was writhing and screaming as the flames continued to grow. They spread further and further. The mist seemed to be trying to quell the flames but it was dissipating as its caster was clearly losing strength. Harry locked the waves of flame in his vision and forced them to quell. The flame fought back for a moment. Fiendfyre had always been a dangerous magic. It was as likely to consume its caster as their intended target, but with Harry's control increasing and the sheer power of his will the flames snuffed. Tendrils of smoke lifted from the skeleton man's corpse.
Erza and the other woman were frozen mid-fight staring at where the snuffed wall of flame had been and the charbroiled necromancer left behind. Harry put a hand to his injury and winced even as a well of nausea hit him. He'd just killed someone. It wasn't the first time he'd taken a life, but that made it no easier. Even with the anger and disgust radiating through his being at the man's actions he felt guilt gnaw at him.
His knees wobbled as he forced himself back to his feet. That seemed to break whatever momentary shock Erza was in. She roughly pushed the other woman off of her and rushed Harry's way.
"That was quite the display." The woman straightened, surveying Harry curiously. Her animosity must have faded somewhat as she didn't seem to be about to attack and she let Erza push her off without any sort of struggle.
"I'm fine, Erza." Harry waved off the red head's hands floating near his stomach. He might have been nearly vivisected, but it didn't hurt as bad as it should. And there was no blood. If he were anyone else an injury this bad would likely be fatal.
Harry hadn't really been focusing on the necromancer at the time, but the same amber liquid that man had been studying on the blade was seeping out of Harry now slowly. Harry slapped a hand over the wound and forced his blissfully unsealed magic to start repairing the damage. The skin knit back together. He'd have to do the bare minimum for now. The woman opposite of them was still an active threat and she was circling them like a predator now.
"You have curse power." The woman continued. "Does that mean you're one of Master Zeref's creations?"
Harry snorted. "Gross, no." He offered the woman a glare.
She tilted her head marginally as if she were trying to puzzle him out.
"I don't take pleasure in killing." Harry said, standing a bit straighter. "Or in hurting others. But if you're going to stay here and threaten this world I will end you."
Erza's hand on his bicep tightened minutely. The woman considered him for a long moment.
"Do you know why the books of Zeref were created?" she asked, conversationally.
It was delivered like they were having a conversation over lunch, nonchalant and curious. Harry just stared at her, not sure where she was going with this.
"The books of Zeref are demons that were created to serve our lord Zeref. Of these books the strongest is called END." She spelled out the letters significantly. "Without END we will never be able to realize Master Zeref's wishes. We would be purposeless. Our existence would mean nothing."
Harry frowned. "Life doesn't exist to fulfill some ultimate goal." He countered. "We have to find our own answers to what is worth doing. Senseless violence and death doesn't solve anything. It never does."
She shook her head slowly like he was an uncomprehending child. She opened her mouth to continue whatever pointless diatribe she believed in, but she cut herself short at Erza's gasp.
"What is that?"
Lucy peeled her eyes open to the sound of fighting. Loud crashes and explosions sounded around her. She tried to sit up, but a gentle hand on her shoulder gave her pause. It was only then that she took note of the fact that she was laying in someone's lap.
"Glad to see you awake."
"Loke?" The name was barely comprehensible even to her. She was exhausted. Her whole body felt like it had been put through a bug zapper. Her skin tingled like a live electric current was running through it.
"The one and only." Loke's face swam into view as he bent over her. "That was a close call Lucy. I'm still not sure how you did that."
"Did what?" she asked, brain too tired to think. The words slurred again. Lightning arched over their heads and Loke ducked down a little closer, obviously trying to shield her. She felt a little more alert at the obvious danger nearby. She must've tensed because Loke gave her a reproving look.
"Natsu and Gajeel have it handled. If they didn't I would be jumping in." Loke offered, nodding toward the fight Lucy couldn't see.
Natsu and Gajeel were working together? That didn't sound great. The two didn't get along at all. They were more likely to take each other out than an opponent. Lucy wasn't sure she could will herself to move into the fight right that moment though. "How are…" She'd meant to ask how he was still there. She'd felt both his and Virgo's gates close. Before she could complete the thought that memory jogged more of the altercation before she'd passed out. She'd used Harry's magic, hadn't she? The words had come, unbidden and whispered, from her subconscious in Harry's voice. Some had been spells she'd seen him use. Others she could vividly remember from the memories she'd gotten from him. How had she used them? "How are you here?" Lucy asked, breathlessly.
"I forced my own gate open." Loke answered. It was hardly the first time Loke had done it. He liked to pop into the guild from time to time in the past. He also came to her rescue occasionally. It might be the first time she'd ever seen him do it right after he'd been dismissed in a fight. Though perhaps that was because he hadn't been injured or even properly dismissed. His gate closing had happened subconsciously, like a part of her knew the drain on her magic would be too high if she kept him summoned AND performed the spells she'd done. She felt more exhausted than she had when she cast the Urano Metria spell.
Another explosion erupted somewhere off to the side. Lucy could hear Natsu make a really loud complaint as a brisk breeze drifted across the area. It was comforting to hear the dragon slayer's voice again after the weird spell had made him disappear earlier.
"Is everything okay over here?"
Lucy tilted her head to the side just enough to spot an approaching Juvia. She looked roughed up. She'd likely been caught in all the fighting that was going on. Most noticeably though her clothing was tattered and she was absolutely littered with scrapes and bruises. A large one went from collar bone to chin like she'd taken a strike directly to the neck.
"Lucy's fine, just magically exhausted." Loke answered for her when she didn't say anything. In actuality Lucy was fighting to stay awake right now. Natsu's voice drifted closer.
"We had it under control!" Natsu complained loudly.
"Yeah, sure, and what were you gonna do when he died and released all the demon particles?" Gray's voice asked, humorless.
"I'd've figured something out!" Natsu yelled back.
"Let it go, Salamander." Gajeel's heavy voice was unmistakable in the mix even though Lucy heard it far less often. "We'll just have to settle this another time. Unless you're chicken."
Lucy wanted to roll her eyes. Leave it to this group to antagonize each other even in the middle of a crisis.
"Hey, you okay Lucy?" Natsu was within her line of sight now. Her heart did an involuntary flip at the way his angry expression changed into one of worry when their eyes met.
"Doing great." She managed weakly, only half sarcastic. She was drained, but she didn't feel much else. Even the strange electric feeling of Harry's magic was fading now into the static of exhaustion.
"You should get her back to the base camp." Gray gestured off to the side in a specific direction. "Last I saw Cana was keeping all the injured grouped there. You can bring the blood too."
"Yeah right!" Natsu jeered immediately. "You just want all the good fights to yourself! Lucy said she's fine so she's fine!"
"She's laying on the ground half dead! What did you do cook your own brain in that fight?" Gray yelled back, tone icier than usual. Lucy saw Juvia shift like she wanted to say something, but she held back.
"It's fine." Loke cut in before they could argue more. "I can take Lucy back."
"I was gonna go try to find some people anyway. Got separated on the way over here." Gajeel said, not meeting anyone's eyes. So, he was offering to escort them. That was distinctly… un-Gajeel like.
Natsu tensed and Lucy assumed he was about to argue some point or another, but when Lucy's eyes made it to his face it was to find an expression of terror had shifted into place. Not many things frightened Natsu, but he was shaking and his eyes were blown wide. Natsu being that frightened made Lucy feel more awake than she had since drifting into consciousness.
"What's wrong with Salamander?" Gajeel seemed to notice next. Everyone's eyes shifted Natsu's way at the question though.
Natsu's gaze snapped to Gajeel. "Can't you hear it?" he asked, voice sounding off.
Gajeel gave him an incredulous look, but after a second he seemed to focus and his eyes went wide as well.
"Acnologia." Natsu said the name like a curse.
Lucy's heart started to race. She was just able to pull herself into a sitting position with the surge of adrenaline that hit her. What in the world was Acnologia doing here? They'd barely survived their first encounter with the raging dragon. How were they going to survive this time?
Harry stood next to a somewhat terrified looking Erza. Both women had their eyes turned skyward and were watching the fast-approaching shape on the horizon. It was just barely visible against the dusky backdrop of twilight.
"Is that a dragon?" he asked, confused. He'd been told time and again that dragons had disappeared from this world, but here he was for the second time in a year coming into contact with them. Clearly they weren't as dead as everyone seemed to think they were.
"Not just any dragon, Acnologia." Erza's voice was caught between awe and fear.
It took him a moment to place why he'd heard that name before. This was the dragon that had attacked Tenrou Island. It was the reason Erza and everyone else involved in the last round of trials had been put into stasis for seven long years. It had gotten much closer now and seemed to be building up an attack if the flow of energy he could feel going into it was anything to judge by. Sure enough, after another second a ray of light shot from the dragon's mouth and ripped through the ground indiscriminately. It didn't seem to have been aiming for anything in particular. Maybe it just liked to announce its presence with wanton destruction.
Before it could fire off the second shot it was building up a second dragon erupted onto the scene from nearby, startling all three of them. It plowed into Acnologia's form and the two hurtled further away from the occupied ruins.
"Well, this isn't something you see every day." Harry muttered. Across the demolished room the woman they'd been fighting tensed, drawing Harry's attention. Her gaze was unfocused like she was listening to someone talk to her rather than paying attention to the world around her. Her face went through a full range of emotions.
"Natsu?" Erza sounded unsure. Harry glanced back to see a jet of fire streaming up toward the battling dragons. The figure at the front of the fire did seem human. A blast of light erupted around the two dragons moments after the figure caught up. Erza gasped. "Natsu!"
In the moment Harry had taken his eyes off of the other woman she'd apparently made her move. "Organic link complete."
She was standing upside down on the ball of light he'd spotted earlier. She looked less human now too. Her features had bled to an almost hawkish appearance.
"This one has become one with the Face detonation switch in lieu of a suitable magic user." A timer popped up large and foreboding behind her. It began to tick down from an hour.
"What have you done?" Erza cried, looking at the massive number of circles popping up. The circles of light started to paint the half crumbled walls of the room until there was nearly no spot free of them.
"It's quite simple. If you wish to stop the detonation of Face all you have to do is kill this one." She said, grinning. "Do not think it an easy task. Witness this one's etherious form, and tremble before Kyoka of the Slave Planet."
Erza stepped in front of Harry, taking the hit the woman dealt as she lanced forward with incredible speed. Harry had barely been able to see the movement at all. Erza's armor shattered like glass and she staggered back a step, but levelled a furious glare Kyoka's way. Kyoka opened her mouth and screamed like she was expending a great deal of physical effort. The countdown rushed through twenty minutes in less than five seconds.
"Harry, the timer."
Harry hesitated. His eyes lingered on Kyoka. She'd said she was the detonator and that the only way to stop the magic was to take her out. He pushed himself to the strange floating glyphs in the air anyway. Maybe Erza was even less comfortable with killing than he was.
"You've been down this road before Erza." Kyoka taunted as Harry tried to figure out exactly what he was looking at and how he might stop it. "You cannot defeat this one. Every moment that passes makes this one's strength increase. Such is the power of this one's etherious form."
Kyoka bellowed behind him and the countdown ticked lower again. Pain settled over him simultaneously like a blanket. The very air touching him felt like fire on his skin. His partially healed wound was like a million claws tearing him from the inside. Erza screamed in agony. The sound hurt more than the magic did. Harry could feel his breathing coming in sharp bursts as he panicked and tried to decipher the completely alien sigils in front of him at the same time.
"Do you feel this one's magic amplifying your pain, Erza. It seems some of this one's magic has washed over onto your comrade too." Kyoka gave an eerie laugh. "This one gladly gives her life for the cause of bringing back master END. This one will die when the Face bombs explode, but this one will move to the next life knowing that she has taken this wretched human world with her and revived Master END!" Kyoka ranted. "Does it bring back memories of the torture chamber Erza? Show this one your despair."
He couldn't understand what Erza thought he'd be able to do. He couldn't figure out what any of the weird buttons were supposed to do and the short bursts of his magic he'd sent in were doing nothing. He couldn't stop anything like this and his friend was suffering behind him while the timer ticked lower. Erza gasped, like screaming was beyond her. Something in the back of his mind pleaded for her sake. Kyoka bellowed. Harry twisted, ignoring his pain. They both knew the solution. It was written bold in front of them even if it was distasteful. He hoped Erza could forgive him for making it.
Minerva wandered off once she made sure the girl made it back to the Fairy Tail base camp. She felt out of place in the little group of closely knit people. They all shuffled around and helped each other without question. It wasn't something she was used to no matter how much she'd craved it her whole life.
Her meeting with Erza and the strange kid outside of the Sun Village had given her pause. She wasn't sure what exactly it was that she saw that started the nagging thought that maybe she'd made a mistake, maybe she was straying down the wrong path. Maybe it was the sheer power she'd witnessed from the boy and yet he'd still been more open with his emotions than she'd ever been. Maybe it was the way he'd expressed weakness and still been accepted, welcomed by the people close to him. She'd seen that with Fairy Tail at the games as well.
It made her bitter at first.
Her whole life had convinced her that the actions of Fairy Tail had been for show back then. A way to save public face while maintaining the strict contingencies that a guild needed to remain powerful. The more times she watched their members take a beating and then get back up with the support of those around them the more she realized that maybe she'd been mistaken.
Her father had beaten his rules of strength into her, quite literally. The more she saw of the outside world the more she was convinced he'd been wrong. These other guilds were full of people so much stronger than Saber Tooth had been and yet they were infinitely kinder.
She'd considered finding her way back to Saber Tooth. Erza had said that Sting was running the guild. Maybe they would accept a failure like her now that her father no longer ran the guild. The shame of having run from the consequences of her own failure gnawed at the pit of her stomach even as she felt herself swaying in favor of returning.
Then she'd been waylaid when she made it back to Succubus Eye, still in thought. Her guildmates were gone, dead by Kyoka's hand. Minerva found herself at the demon's mercy shortly thereafter.
Knowing what she knew now her fate could certainly have been worse. Erza had been tortured relentlessly for information all because Kyoka had taken a different kind of interest in the red head. Minerva had just been forced into becoming a demon. She hadn't been harmed, just had her humanity stripped from her like another layer of her dignity sacrificed for power. It was a familiar burden, and though she resented it, she at least found it easier to bear.
When she'd run into Erza on the staircase she hadn't been sure how to react. Erza seemed unsure as well. That's likely the only thing that kept them from snapping into old habits. Both sensed hesitation in the other. Both were there against their will, and when her hand was forced Minerva chose Fairy Tail. She chose kindness because she'd always craved it and always been denied. Kyoka meant more suffering, more might means right logic. Minerva had found the choice easier than she would've suspected even with the embarrassment of shouldering her past actions toward those she was now allied with.
And now, here she was wandering the ruins of Tartaros' base. She didn't know how many of the nine gates still stood, but from the slowly quieting battlefields Minerva would guess that their fights were slowly failing. She didn't know how specifically, but she knew Fairy Tail would win this altercation in the end. They always seemed to find their strength when the cards were all down on the table.
It was a surprise when she stumbled across the Fairy Tail fire dragon slayer. It was a greater surprise to find him mid-fight with a man who seemed determined to keep a book clutched in his hands. It must be important to hold it even as flaming fists came his way. Some distant part of her mind that was not entirely her own supplied the name 'Mard Geer' for the man the Fairy Tail mage was fighting. Another demon. The leader of this group she'd been forced into. Minerva's rage boiled unsettlingly under her skin.
Her fingers twitched and the book found itself in her hands quite suddenly thanks to her territory magic. It was hefty and smelled of old leather and warm parchment. Black eyes locked with hers and she felt a shiver rip through her frame.
"You're that chick from Saber Tooth." The dragon slayer seemed to have spotted her too. His eyes flicked to the book she was holding.
Mard Geer shifted into a deceptively relaxed stance. She could see the anger roiling beneath the surface. "Kyoka's little experiment." He hummed thoughtfully. "You should be out fighting the Fairy Tail invaders like a good little puppet, shouldn't you?"
Minerva gave him her fiercest glare. "I'm not some plaything for you or your demons to treat as a puppet. I follow my own path."
A sneer curled one half of the demon's face. "Do you?" he asked, snide in that perfectly polite way that was so frustrating to her. "How interesting. Perhaps we should make this a bit more interesting then."
Mard Geer threw a hand out to the side in a dramatic fashion and then drew it back toward his chest. A plant erupted from the ground.
"This is my prison flower." He said, stroking the plant that halted near him. "It's much like the containment tanks you were altered in, but with a more… direct dose. I think it's time for a family reunion."
The petals of the grotesque flower peeled back and dropped a familiar form. Minerva felt her mouth go dry. She took a step back. Whatever expression she was making seemed to amuse the demon.
"Isn't that the old guild master from Saber Tooth?"
Minerva nodded at the question absently. She'd seen Sting shoot him through his chest. She'd assumed he was dead. She'd hoped he was dead.
"Minerva." The massive form of her father greeted coolly.
"Father…" she greeted, confused and shaken. The arm holding the book lowered. "They made you into a demon too?"
"Made me?" his voice boomed with condescension she hadn't heard in months. Her chest ached. "I sought them out to become more powerful. That is where you and I have always differed Minerva. I have always sought to be strong. You have always cowered from that strength like a mewling child."
Old, deep-seated hate started to churn in her gut.
"What sort of way is that for a dad to talk to their kid?" the dragon slayer was looking at her father with open disdain. "Family is supposed to love one another."
Minerva turned disbelieving eyes his way. Her father scoffed. Mard Geer chuckled.
"Jiemma has gained power to surpass most of the nine gates. My newest servant."
Minerva's father cast a glare over his shoulder.
"You think one who has amassed power such as this would serve you?" the old man asked, callously. He never had been one for sentimental things like 'repaying debts'. "When I have removed this stain on my legacy from the world I shall come for you."
Minerva felt like a spear of ice shot through her chest at those words. She clutched the book uncomfortably tight even as her father shot across the short distance to her. She moved the book in her hands to the dragon slayer's hands and jumped backward, away from the oncoming rush. She could see him fumble the book for a second before delivering a shit eating grin to the demon in front of him. Apparently, he'd been after the book. A moment later though he caught her eyes in a very obvious 'should I be helping you' look. She shook her head. She would deal with her father. It was a fight that was perhaps past due. Sting should never have had to do what he did. If she'd found the courage to stand up to her father years ago the tragedies that had befallen her comrades might never have happened.
"You always were a disappointment." Jiemma's voice cut into her thoughts with precision. "Always too eager to run from a fight instead of standing your ground. I had hoped the lesson would stick, but I never had much luck teaching you strength."
She seethed. "I learned your strength. It's a façade for a bitter old man too afraid to face his own mortality."
Jiemma punched down and Minerva moved herself with her magic, switching places so that his hand drilled into the ground. She whipped a kick at his head and was satisfied momentarily when the hit landed. Jiemma grabbed her leg and swung her into the ground with enough force to drive the air from her lungs.
"I had thought you valuable as a vessel to continue my bloodline." Jiemma drove a fist down into her ribcage before she could recover and she saw starbursts of color ring her vision. "But even in that respect you have failed me. A pathetic waste of my resources and time. Worthless even as a woman."
Jiemma pulled back, staring down at her for a moment before twisting away.
Never enough. Minerva had never been enough for her father. Not once in her life had he ever greeted her with a smile or a simple word of pride or congratulations. The closest she had ever gotten was when she was eight and she had returned to the guild having learned to use her magic properly. He'd told her she could sleep inside that night instead of in the forest where she'd been outcast to for weeks.
Tears sprang unbidden to her eyes and spilled over her cheeks.
She'd never wanted anything but for the man to love her, to be proud of her. She just wanted to be loved, was that so horrible? Was she really such a burden? So weak for that one request?
Everyone around her found love, acceptance. Even the useless, the weak, the poor. Only Minerva was left alone and unwanted.
No.
Erza's face flashed in her mind. That wasn't true. People had reached out to her, hadn't they? She'd been offered acceptance and she'd rejected it because it wasn't from the man in front of her. She was a fool.
Minerva lifted herself from the crater her father's fists had driven her into. Her ribs ached. Several were probably broken, but she couldn't find the will to care. She seethed. Her whole life she'd wanted Jiemma to care. Still he disregarded her as weak. She grit her teeth against the pain and the rage. If he would turn his back on her now, dismiss everything that she was… everything she had worked so hard to become… then let it be his downfall.
Her hand glowed with power. Her eyes gleamed in a vicious glare. "Territory." She hissed and drew her hand downward. Her target came with it, still beating. "Explosion." Her father's empty chest cavity erupted in a fountain of gore.
She dropped his heart to the ground and smashed it beneath her boot. "Have I earned your praise now, father?" she spat.
Harry barely made it two steps before the pain made him drop to his knees. It multiplied ten-fold, then one hundred as he got closer to the center of Kyoka's spell. It was little wonder the steadfast Erza had barely been able to move when he'd found her earlier. This magic was cruel and inhumane. Perfect for someone who considered themselves a demon.
Harry could feel every nerve ending in his body firing at once like his body was rebelling against existing. Not a novel concept for him, but certainly a new feeling. He'd never been in more pain in his life. He'd take being impaled on the roof top a hundred times over this agony. He was certain he screamed, but the sound fell short after a moment. Screaming hurt too, the vibration in his ears and pull on his chest.
He cracked open an eye. Erza was motionless, her face a rictus of pain. He had to help her. His own pain wasn't important. Hers was. He had to help. His magic pulsed as if annoyed with his lack of thought. He reached out to it. It soothed the nerves along his arms as he sent it at Erza. He just had to stop her pain. That was his goal right? That was what this had been about? He couldn't think through the horrific feeling.
He landed on his hands, breathing heavily and trying to think. He had to think. They were doing something. Something important. The bombs. They had to stop the bombs. He gasped as the pain renewed itself for some reason and then continued to amplify. A foot drove itself into his stomach right where the partially healed wound was. It was too much. He felt like his brain was overloading with sensation. He grabbed the foot and willed as much of a body bind as he could manage into the body attached. His arm spasmed and he let go as the pain started to ease for some reason his mind was beyond comprehending right that moment. All at once it stopped, like a wave of normalcy crashing back over him. The lack of pain was startling. His nerve endings felt like tiny zaps of lightning lacing across his skin. He felt like he was going to vomit, but he lifted his head instead.
Erza was there, shaking violently, still holding the sword through Kyoka's chest. Erza was pale, and she looked like she felt as awful as he did. The timer barely visible over her shoulder read 1:27 and was frozen in place. Kyoka slid off the sword, crashing to the ground with a macabre thud. Erza followed a moment later, all energy seeming to leave her legs.
Harry ignored his nausea and smarting senses and forced himself up and over to her. "Are you okay?" he asked, stabilizing her before she could fall the rest of the way to the ground. It was a stupid question neither of them was alright at that moment.
"Doin' great." Was Erza's sarcastic reply, but there was no heat in the statement. She gave him a small smile. "Better than if you hadn't shown up." She admitted.
"Nah, you would've figured it out." He said with a shaky grin. "Already had Kyoka on the ropes didn't you?"
"D-don't celebrate yet."
Harry turned icy eyes toward the demon behind him. She was clearly barely alive, clinging to the last dregs of consciousness.
"T-this one may not… have accom…plished her goals… but she may still…. end you." Kyoka started to glow sigils filled the air around the room.
Harry didn't care how much he hurt. He forced himself to his feet, tugging Erza up after him. Erza looked panicked. He grimaced against the pain in his stomach and apparated just as the world erupted around them. Harry had never apparated mid-explosion. It didn't go well.
Harry and Erza were ripped out of apparation mid-flight. Harry let out a shout of pain as he slammed into stone. He just barely managed to keep his grip on Erza who slammed into the stone with him. She went limp. Still breathing though. She must've hit her head. He didn't have time to check. The ground was shifting around them. Explosions still rocking the unstable ruins. He had to get them out of there. He swept her legs up into his arms and cast a feather light charm on both himself and Erza. He pushed off the rock, jumping as hard as he possibly could. He didn't trust apparation after that first failure. He'd have do this the hard way.
The explosions seemed to have stopped but the ruins were still shifting on their unsteady foundation. Harry vanished a wall that toppled toward them and threatened to flatten them, but the floor he'd landed on was splintering. He pushed off again sailing clear of the top of a jagged wall and landing in the midst of familiar faces with a pained grunt.
By the time Minerva finished her fight the dragon slayer seemed to have pulled his to a close as well with the help of another Fairy Tail member who'd shown up. Mard Geer laid, splayed out on the crumbled stone looking dazed and thoroughly beaten. Weirdly though the two Fairy Tail members were arguing and the book she'd stolen seemed to be at the center of the issue.
With a small gesture the book disappeared from the hand of the black haired, shirtless boy who was facing the dragon slayer and reappeared in her own. She felt emotionally numb, but she very much wasn't in the mood for the two to start duking it out now of all times. They'd taken down Tartaros from the looks of things. The two dragons still raged in the air above them, but the fighting here on the ground was coming to an end. Comrades shouldn't be fighting one another.
"I'll hold on to this for now, I think." She said, tucking the book under one arm and giving them a challenging look.
"Isn't she the chick that beat Lucy up in the games?" the black haired one asked, shifting into a defensive stance. Minerva gave him a less than pleased look at that descriptor. Had they not managed to learn her name. Actually, she didn't remember theirs either. Maybe that was fair. Still, it wasn't the most flattering way to remember her. Maybe that was her own fault though.
A series of explosions shook the wreckage around them and with her injuries Minerva was hard pressed to keep her footing in that moment. The floor under them tilted dangerously as the ruins resettled again and two figures came bouncing out of the smoke looking singed.
It was Erza and the boy she'd found her with at the Sun Village. The boy had one arm wrapped around Erza's chest like he'd been doing the majority of the supporting in their escape from whatever they'd been running from. Likely the explosion that had just rocked the place. He looked exhausted and a bit panicked. Erza looked rough herself. Many more bruises decorated her skin than the last time Minerva had seen her and she was almost nude, just a few tatters of cloth on top and underwear that hung on by the barest thread on the bottom.
The boy seemed to gauge that the ground beneath them wasn't about to give and he flopped backward with large, exaggerated breaths. Though maybe they weren't all theatrics. His hand rose to his face shakily to push back his fringe.
"Harry?" the other two Fairy Tail mages seemed distracted from the whole book ordeal by the arrival of their guildmates.
The boy's head swiveled their direction. "Oh Natsu, Gray. Hi." He offered a wave, arm still wrapped firmly around Erza who hadn't so much as shifted yet.
"Is Erza okay?" Minerva felt the words leave her mouth and still couldn't believe she was the one who'd asked them. The boy's head turned her way. A flicker of something went through his expression. Then he narrowed his eyes like he was trying to remember something. Finally, a subtle shiver seemed to go through him followed by a sharp wince before he blinked.
"You're the woman from the Sun Village." He acknowledged, watching her with a blank expression. His eyes shifted to Erza and he seemed to consider he for a moment before turning back. "Erza's fine, just asleep. What are you doing here?"
It was a valid question.
"Tartaros kidnapped me and forced me to go through a demon conversion." She gave the shortest answer she could think of.
He nodded like that actually made sense to him. His head laid back on the ground and his eyes closed for a second. He didn't offer her consolation or apologies which she surprisingly found herself thankful for.
He sighed and turned back to his guildmates. "Do either of you have a connection to Warren?"
"Shouldn't you have a connection to Warren if we do?" the other black-haired boy asked, looking skeptical.
Harry just shook his head and closed his eyes again like he was concentrating on something. Maybe he was just tired. He looked like he'd been through hell. The dragon slayer put two fingers to his forehead. "Yo, Warren, you there?"
"Yup, we got a connection." The other supplied. Minerva deduced that the guild must have a telepath amongst their ranks. She wasn't sure why this Harry kid couldn't connect though.
"Let them know I found Erza and she's safe, and that Face shouldn't be a problem anymore."
The dragon slayer relayed the information and winced at something that came back over the connection. "Wendy wants to talk to you."
Harry waved off the comment with a small shake of his head. His eyes were still closed. "Warren won't be able to make it past my mental shields. I'm fine though. Just tired. We'll make our way back soon. Is everyone where I left them?"
"Yup." Was the answer to that question after it was relayed.
A roar from the sky drew everyone's attention up. "Igneel." The dragon slayer sounded a bit distressed.
"Igneel?" Harry repeated the word. Minerva saw him crack an eye open and track the raging dragons above them for a moment. "That's your father up there?"
Well, that statement threw Minerva for a loop. One of those dragons was the dragon slayer's father? Hadn't Sting and Rouge slayed their dragons? She'd thought all dragon slayers had the same story. How odd.
"He's losing."
The statement from Harry was so quiet Minerva barely heard it, but apparently the dragon slayer did. He puffed up indignantly.
"Igneel won't lose!" he yelled, glaring. "He can't! He made me a promise."
Harry pushed himself up with a strange noise that was somewhere between a wheeze and a grunt of pain. "Gray, can you take Erza please." The other boy complied.
Harry may have complained that he was tired, but he moved with a certainty that said he was still very capable of doing anything that needed to be done even with one hand pressed very firmly against his stomach. Perhaps he meant emotionally tired. If he'd had even half the day Minerva had then she could sympathize with the idea.
"Which one is Igneel?" Harry asked, moving over to the dragon slayer.
The dragon slayer pointed, anger apparently forgotten in place of his pride. "Him, the red one. He's a fire dragon after all."
Harry looked amused. "Of course."
Minerva watched the battling dragons with awe. She'd never have suspected she would see a dragon in her life time. Now she'd borne witness to them twice.
"The blue one…" she said, watching it light up. "It's about to…"
BOOM! Magic lanced across the ruins and the group struggled to stay on their feet as the ruin once more shifted. A giant piece of the floor broke lose and Mard Geer disappeared into the chasm that had opened below.
"Stay close!"
She heard Harry yell over the cacophonous noise. She tried to follow the directive. She suspected he knew some sort of protection spell or something to keep the stones and explosions at bay at the very least and she was shaky on her feet anyway. She didn't want to test her luck trying to dodge all of this on her own in a solo escape attempt.
"Is that thing aiming for us?!" the other black haired boy's voice was more distant. "It's getting surprisingly close!"
"Igneel will…" the dragon slayer's voice cut off for a second, and then more urgently he screamed the name. "IGNEEL!"
Minerva barely managed to squint skyward through the dust. The red dragon had taken a hit. It looked bad. He was losing altitude already.
"Natsu!" Harry called after the dragon slayer as he bolted forward, but rubble was shifting around them and Harry seemed to be struggling to keep the rest of the group safe especially with an unconscious Erza amongst them. A wall fell directly where he and Minerva were huddled together. He barely looked at it and it disappeared to her immense surprise. "Argh! Damn it!"
Minerva moved closer, trying to reduce some of the area he had to cover. The building was collapsing around them. It had been unsteady before, but the attack seemed to have brought down something structural. They needed to move. A section of the floor near her feet broke away and she was peering into a void she very much didn't want to end up at the bottom of.
"We need to get to steady ground or we'll end up buried." Minerva shouted above the noise. Harry nodded. With one hand lifted he started a retreat to Erza and the boy holding her. Minerva followed so she wouldn't be crushed. A particularly large chunk of wall fell their way and he simply glared at it. It too vanished from sight. Minerva swallowed back nervousness at the casual displays of magic that she knew had to be harder than he was letting on. Especially so after having obviously fought his own battles that day. As soon as they were close enough to the other two Harry motioned for them to move in close.
"On three I'll move us." He looked at Minerva specifically. "Hold on tight and don't fight it."
She wasn't sure what that warning meant until he counted to three and the world squeezed around her. As soon as her perception returned to normal she wrenched herself away from him and clutched her ribs as her stomach roiled with nausea.
"Second times the charm I guess." She heard Harry mutter looking pale himself. "Sorry, I know it's not pleasant." He offered louder so she could hear with a sympathetic tone.
The trip had been unpleasant, but the result was worth it. The ground was no longer shaking. They were nowhere near the ruins from the look of it. They were just outside of them amongst the fields that skirted Magnolia. Above them the battle raged. Minerva felt her jaw drop.
"That's a lot of dragons." Harry said weakly, following her line of sight. Indeed, the original dragon seemed to have dropped from the race, but several more had taken its place now. Minerva found her eyes drawn to one made of the purest white she'd ever seen. It swirled gracefully in the sky before letting out a burst of magic that was probably twenty feet across. It was awe inspiring.
"Good evening."
Everyone seemed to startle at the suddenness of the voice even if its tone was almost gentle. A man was approaching up the side of the hill. He wore a mild expression and to Minerva's surprise was looking her way.
"I was hoping to have that back. It's very precious to me after all." He motioned toward the book she was still clinging to. It was pressed against her chest in a steadying way.
"Zeref." The boy holding Erza said the name. Minerva felt herself freeze.
This was Zeref? The Zeref? This was the black sorcerer responsible for all the demons they'd encountered? She shifted nervously.
Harry stepped in front of her. He wasn't pushing a hand to his stomach any more, almost like he didn't want to look like he had any injuries or weaknesses in front of the man facing them. She could still see through the gap in his legs. Zeref seemed surprised, and then almost thoughtful as he looked at the boy in front of her.
"How intriguing." He said, eyes roving over Harry's form. If he were looking at Minerva like that she wasn't sure she'd be able to hold her ground like Harry was doing.
"You should leave now." Harry's voice was stern, commanding. It was like he wasn't afraid of the terrifying man in front of them at all. Which was silly. That was Zeref! The book disappeared from Minerva's arms and a moment later Zeref held it aloft.
"I came for this." He said waving the book just a bit. "And possibly to settle things with Natsu. Alas, Acnologia has come to delay that again."
"What does Natsu have to do with this?" Harry's tone turned defensive. His body tensed. Minerva begged mentally for him not to pick a fight. They'd so nearly made it through this night. She didn't think they'd survive deliberately picking a fight with the most powerful known sorcerer in the world.
Zeref turned his gaze back their way from the sky and Minerva swore his eyes glowed red, the smile slipped from his face. "Everything." He answered almost ominously. "Though perhaps… other options might have made themselves available."
Minerva didn't know what that meant but a barely coherent noise of distaste seemed to come out of the boy shielding her.
"I wonder if you've learned an answer to my question." Zeref said, smile less pleasant than it had been. It was creepy. He almost looked angry, but his curiosity seemed to keep it at bay. "I've waited a very long time to hear it."
"What question?" Harry sounded confused. Minerva felt confused. Had the two met before?
Was it Minerva's imagination or did Zeref look almost disappointed with Harry's question about his question?
"For tonight, shall we call it even?" Zeref said, serene smile sliding back into place and masking that underlying look of hatred. He turned, took two steps down the hill, and vanished in a cloud of smoke.
A beat of silence spread over the hill before Harry broke it with a sigh. "Is everyone okay to move? I think it would be best if we found the rest of the guild sooner rather than later. I don't trust that we're the only ones he might look for."
Minerva didn't argue despite her aching ribs. She'd take walking in pain over being left alone on a hillside where Zeref had just been any day.
The day had been hard for Wendy, and she'd found it nigh impossible to tell Harry to leave when they finally reconnected with the majority of the guild. Erza needed him more than Wendy did though. She regretted it even more when he'd barely been gone half an hour and her whole body felt like it was doused in liquid flame.
She'd heard the shouting as she collapsed to the ground, vaguely felt the hands touching her, but every ounce of her focus was on the searing pain. It felt like something was caught in her chest trying to claw its way out. When it finally receded it was to find two dragons battling in the sky. Porlyusica and someone else must've moved her to the area with the other injured because she wasn't where she'd been before. She was near a break in the stone that let her see the dueling dragons in the sky, and she watched mesmerized by the sight.
Then, all too suddenly, the tension of her guildmates and the actual identity of one of those dragons fully registered. Acnologia. A second dragon was dueling the dragon of her nightmares.
An explosion rang out from the ruins behind the small make-shift camp and the ruins started to collapse. Wendy stared as she pushed herself up. The day had long turned into night, but it just kept getting worse.
"Please let them be okay." She prayed as she looked at the rising dust and smoke.
Not two minutes later Wendy had her answer.
"Yo, Warren, you there?" Natsu's voice chirped through everyone's mind. Wendy jumped a little.
"Natsu! You idiot! Keep the line clear unless it's an emergency!" Cana yelled back.
Wendy laughed slightly at Cana's response. A weird sense of normalcy in the middle of a day filled with nothing but horror.
"Harry just found us. He found Erza and they're both good. He said Face shouldn't be a problem anymore."
A cheer went up that wasn't purely physical from the group around her. All the guild members still lost in the ruins seemed to have heard the news too and were joining in.
"Is Harry there?" Wendy asked. "Can I talk to him?"
"Yeah, why didn't he just tell us himself?" Cana asked, confused.
A moment of silence met that. Wendy supposed Natsu was relaying the questions to Harry.
"He says Warren can't get past his mental shields or something. I dunno. He says he's fine though. He wants to know if you guys are still where he left you."
"You think we moved in the middle of this mess?" Cana snapped.
Silence answered that. Maybe they'd had to move. A roar split the sky and Wendy looked up in time to see the red dragon losing altitude in a controlled spiral. A beam of light flew through the air and absolutely levelled part of the ruins. Wendy almost asked someone to reach back out and make sure the others were okay, but the pain was suddenly back and she let out a gasp, clutching her chest. Wind whipped around her for a moment, kicking up dirt and rocks.
"Wendy!?" Carla's voice sounded frightened.
The pain came to a crescendo and it felt like something ripped itself free from her very soul. She fell backward with a sharp cry and watched with tear blurred eyes as a familiar white dragon flew away from her.
"Wendy!" Carla was at her side, as were Cana and Elfman who'd been closest. Everyone seemed to be floundering, unsure how to help as tears ran down her face.
"Forgive me, Wendy. We'll talk soon."
"Grandeeny…" she whispered the name, afraid the dragon in front of her eyes would disappear if she said it too loudly.
Wendy had dreamed of seeing her mother again. She'd never dreamed it would be like this though. Had Grandeeny been inside of her all along? What did that mean? Why had she never said anything?
More dragons came pouring into the night sky. They were gathering, fighting back Acnologia like the first dragon had been. The fire dragon. Wendy put two and two together and traced the line through the night sky where the dragon had gone down. It must have been Igneel. Was Natsu okay? Was Igneel?
It was all too much. So, when the crunch of gravel alerted everyone to the arrival of Harry, Gray, Erza, and Minerva Wendy was the first to react. She ran forward and buried herself in his stomach. She heard his gasp with what seemed to be pain, but before she could pull away he'd wrapped her in his arms and pulled her close. Her legs wobbled and he scooped her up and moved off to a wall on the side. He slid down it and their position was so reminiscent of the one earlier that same day that Wendy couldn't stop the tears from falling any longer. She sobbed in pain and confusion until the tears felt dried out and she felt somewhat better. She felt warm and safe and at some point she must have drifted off to sleep because when she eventually jostled awake it was to find Harry staring into the blue eyes of her mother who had lowered herself to their height.
"Grandeeny." Her voice sounded shaky even to herself.
"Wendy." Grandeeny said, gentle and slightly amused. "You did well today."
Wendy scrubbed at her face, embarrassed as Harry helped her up. He winced as he forced himself to his feet beside her.
"And such strange family you've found." Grandeeny's amusement hadn't left her tone, but she turned her eyes to Harry for a moment. "You take good care of Wendy, but you should take better care of yourself. I'll approve if you meet that condition."
Harry let out a surprised laugh, then winced again and Wendy had to wonder how bad the wound had to be for Grandeeny to be pointing it out like that.
"I'm so glad to see you." Wendy's hands came together uncertainly as she looked at her mother. "I thought… I thought you might be dead."
Grandeeny looked slightly sadder at that comment and Wendy felt herself falter for disappointing her by not believing hard enough. Of course Grandeeny was alive. Grandeeny was amazing!
"The thought is half true, my child."
Wendy froze.
"Long ago Acnologia stripped my soul from my body. We dragons whom had passed our lineage on to humans chose to enter our slayers bodies to protect you. Our presence helped to provide you with antibodies which will prevent you from becoming dragons yourselves like Acnologia long before you."
Wendy didn't know how to process that. She stared, numbly.
"We hoped to one day rid this world of Acnologia for your sakes as well. Though we have failed, it was enough that we were able to protect you here considering how weak we have become. We are but pale shades of ourselves now."
"But then…" Wendy voice shook. "Grandeeny…"
"Forgive me, child." The words were kind and sympathetic, everything Grandeeny had always been in her life. "I always wished I could do more for you, but my time grows short."
Wendy could already see the first rays of rising sunlight filtering through Grandeeny. Her breath hitched.
"I know you will face greater challenges than I could ever picture for you." Her mother offered. "But your growth over the last few years tells me you will manage to surpass them."
Grandeeny's eyes shifted to Harry and the two didn't say a word, but something passed between them in that moment before Grandeeny looked back her way.
"I have to go now."
"Grandeeny, no!" Wendy could feel the tears starting to fall again. She'd just gotten her mother back. This wasn't fair! "Grandeeny!"
"I love you, Wendy." Were the last words Wendy heard before her mother vanished into the bright light of sunrise and Wendy felt her world shatter around her.
Apologies for the absence you guys. My grandma died very suddenly and I haven't been in the best place to write... or even function for that matter.
The past couple of weeks have been hard. Even so, I will try to have the final chapter out soonish. Though it's more an epilogue/wrap up for this section of the story than an actual chapter.
Much love, be safe this holiday season guys.
~Kanathia