White Eclipse
Chapter 45

"This is way beyond some games. These two guilds hate each other. This has been far worse than Fairy Tail and Sabertooth last year." Ultear stood next to the seated Siegrain as she watched Takeru and Natsu stare each other down. "The city is in complete ruins and they're not done. Dragon slayer magic at it's finest I guess."
"Nothing but reckless magic really." Siegrain chimed in. "There's no art to the chaos anymore. That's all dragon slayers are..reckless strength. But soon enough..I'll put an end to all of it."

"Brainwashed? Okay, let me get this straight. They somehow brainwashed me into believing that I was one of them instead of a Tartaros mage?"
Daityas nods. "We don't know how, because we weren't there. But they got you and Taya both. We only knew one way to reverse the effects, so we did what we had to do. And poisoned you. Well...we meant to poison Taya, but that Takeru guy drunk the liquid instead, and then brainwashed you killed yourself in order to save him. It was an entire mess of things but you get it."
"No, I don't. But whatever. I'm here now...again? Whatever. I'm here."
"Don't leave us again." Sora said as she continued sitting on Arc's shoulders, patting him on the head.
"Of course not.."

Everything was quiet aside from the uproar of their auras and the occasional pieces of rubble falling from it's position. Between the thick strands of darkness and shadows, and the fiery aura infused with lightning, the entire area shook again as cracks in the ground slowly began to form from just the pressure.
Almost simultaneously, Takeru and Natsu lunge towards each other. Both swing a right fist towards their opponent, slamming them into their right jaw. Both take a single step back from the blow. Takeru quickly swings a hard right high kick, yet Natsu blocks it with both arms up, the force of the kick sending him sliding a good bit until he dug his feet into the ground. Pushing his leg away, Natsu quickly follows up with a left uppercut, slamming into Takeru's stomach. Takeru retaliates with a right uppercut to the same area against Natsu. He tries to follow with a leg sweep but Natsu leaps into the air. He then creates an orb of lightning and flames in each hand, combining them into one well sized orb. On the ground, Takeru was doing the same, except he didn't combine them. His darkness and shadow mixed orbs began growing in his palms as he waited for Natsu to fire; which he did. Takeru threw the orb in his right hand towards the incoming dazzling blaze Natsu tossed towards him. They meet in the middle with an explosive collision. Through the smoke, Natsu comes diving towards Takeru, throwing a hard right punch. Tak dodges by swaying out of the way, and as Natsu's fist slams into the ground, Takeru quickly slams a kick to the Salamander's gut. He then quickly hops over Natsu and slams the orb of darkness and shadow magic into the spine of Natsu, causing a huge explosion. Natsu goes tumbling out from the explosion as Takeru goes sliding the opposite direction from the force of his own attack. Natsu quickly kips up after tumbling back a few times but stays down on one knee as he pants heavily. Takeru begins breathing heavily as well, but stays on his feet. Seeing that Natsu was still awake and ready to go, Tak quickly fires a huge roar, just under the size of the one he KO'ed Gajeel with. Natsu makes his way to his feet as the roar comes hurling towards him. He inhales the air around him, and then quickly fires a Lightning Flame Dragon's roar. The two attacks collide into a struggle with so far, neither side giving an inch.
"They're even!" Romeo shouted.
"Bite your tongue squirt." Reve replied. "No ones even with a White Eclipse mage. You're either weaker or you're luckier." Reve sat next to the rest of the White Eclipse mages who competed. Everyone was in bandages. Luke had just joined them as well. Wendy comes running back back to the Fairy Tail group as well.
"How's Lucy!?" Levy asked as Wendy panted a bit from her running.
Wendy caught her breath and nodded with a small smile. "She's okay! She just needs rest!"
"That's good." Makarov and Mavis both sighed as Wendy leaned back over the railing to watch the fight.
"What I miss?" She asked.
"A lot, yet nothing." Laxus answered. "These two are in a total deadlock."
"Oh...come on Natsu!"
The two funnels continued to give no leeway, until Takeru winced a bit from recent injuries. This gave Natsu the beginning push he needed. He gave it his all as the Lightning flame roar begins to push the Darkness Shadow roar back and back. In a matter of seconds, Takeru could now see Natsu's roar cover over his own, but he wasn't about to call it quits. He had an idea. "This is gonna be risky." He thought to himself as he activated his shadow mode. By this time, Natsu's lightning flame roar completely engulfs Takeru.
"It swallowed him whole!?"
"Yes and no, Kairi. Just keep watching." Sidney told the Angel take over mage. "It's a bold move. But I mean, strategy and conservativeness was thrown out the window a long time ago."
The lightning Flame roar slams into the building at the end of the street, causing it to quickly collapse from the attack. As Natsu was about to end his attack.. "Solid fist... Of the Darkness Shadow Dragon!" Appearing right in front of Natsu, out of the funnel of lightning and fire, and now out of his shadow mode, Takeru slams a heavily infused darkness and shadow magic right fist into the bridge of Natsu's nose in a downward motion. The Salamander quickly goes crashing into the ground, leaving a crater three times his size.
"He's out cold!" Kairi yelled!
"Don't delay it! Count him out judge!" Heather added.
"Natsu!" Wendy and Levy yelled in unison, looking on at the dragon slayer who has yet to move.
Takeru stood over Natsu, panting heavily. He held his follow through as his knuckles dripped the blood of his opponent. Burn marks were placed all over the exposed skin of the Shadow dragon.
"What are you waiting for! Count him out damn!" Selene yelled towards the screen while all of Fairy Tail watched in silence.
Calium chuckled at the girls' excitement. "Even in such a mess, all they care about is being the best they can be. Sidney and Reve have really delivered the message to these brats." Sidney and Calium look at each other. Sidney nods as Calium smiles. Calium then looks back at Reve, who takes his eyes off the screen to look back at the guild master, giving him a small smile and a bandaged thumbs up.
The lacrima screen zooms by Takeru and hovers over Natsu. After a few seconds...
"Eh...heh... Smarts." Natsu's fingers begin to move; just enough for the lacrima screen to deem him still available to fight. He then slowly pushes up on his hands, staying on his palms and knees for a few seconds. Drops of blood drip from his nose and onto the ground. "It takes a bold mage to pull that off. I hope we can fight again Takeru. When we're both fresh."
Takeru begins to seethe. "How can you talk to me like you're going to win!? You can barely stand! And why don't you stay DOWN!?" Takeru raised a leg, getting ready to stomp Natsu's head in. But before he could raise it any higher, a surge of lightning comes over him, temporarily paralyzing him. "Gah! I can't..move!"
Natsu forces himself up to his feet as he lets out a low laugh. "Ehehe..."
Laxus could do nothing but grin as he watched his lightning mage be used effectively. "That kid is so annoying."
Upon reaching his feet, Natsu wobbled back and forth a bit, but then slammed his fists together,
Reigniting his lightning flame mode that had seemingly died out after the blow he took from Takeru. "Iron fist..." Takeru's eyes widen, still unable to move. Natsu rears back as he slides to right under Takeru. "Of the Lightning Flame...Dragon!" Natsu swings a wild and heavy overhead punch, filled with lightning flame magic. The punch slams right under Takeru's right eye. The mage immediately goes flying backwards before hitting the ground. Sliding on his back, he finally comes to a stop, not moving.
"...He's out." Arc says looking on. "That pink haired kid put everything he had into that one. There was no holding back from that punch."
"So Fairy Tail wins!? I knew not to bet with Tobias! Pay me my jewels!" Kiora smirks as she folds her arms in satisfaction.
"Oi! That bloke really let that Tak fellow have it eh?" Maggie looked on, almost impressed.
"Love tap, love tap." Sora started singing as she called her hands together.
"Well at least it's over." Mithril stated, standing behind all of them. Kiora jumped a bit as she turned to him. "Damn Mithril! I forgot your big ass was back there."
Mithril ignores her comment as he stays glued to the screen.
The mini lacrima screen appears again, this time hovering over Takeru for a few seconds.

You're so annoying."
It was Natsu's turn to be in shock. Takeru makes his way up to one knee, holding a hand over his right eye, yet, blood could still be seen dripping from the right side of his hand, leaking through.
"You're annoying...who would want to fight you? You try to defy laws. You don't know when to stop. You're brick headed. But... I can't complain. I'm the same way, so I'm told. But no matter how far we want to go Salamander..."
Takeru begins to let his aura fluctuate once more. This time, no shaking happened as he was on his last leg, just like Natsu. "No matter how far we want to go...the truth is, even our souls have a limit." Takeru then concentrates all the magic he had left into his right fist. "Lets see who's limit is reached first."
"I see where this is going. And I accept." Natsu does the same as Takeru, concentrating his remaining magic into his right fist. He then holds it by his side as he glares at Tak. "And by the way. My soul doesn't have a limit. My friends fuel it, and as long as their breathing, so will I."
"Stop patronizing me with your speeches like I'm some helpless soul, you're really pissing me off! You think I don't know about family!? Those who share the same guild insignia as me...they're all I have. And they're all I need!" Upon finishing his statement, Takeru planted his back foot hard into the ground, and then took off towards Natsu Dragneel. Natsu does the same, bringing up a bit of the ground with him as he let out a yell, his arm cocked back behind his head. As they meet in the middle, Takeru and Natsu both slams their punches into each other. Both punches slam between their opponent's eyes. A massive shockwave was caused, as a huge crater formed under them, with a lone small pillar that they both stood on. For a few seconds no one moved, but then, both dragon slayers fall backwards into the crater they created. They both plummet to the bottom of the crater. Takeru landed face first as Natsu slammed down on his back.
"Oh my god." Kairi covered her mouth in suspense, waiting for whatever would happen next.
"Takeru.."
"Natsu.." Selene and Lucy both look on, waiting.
"Lucy! You shouldn't be up!" Levy said, but Lucy ignored her, too busy looking on. She made her way to the front of the group, waiting. "Come on Natsu."
The lacrima screen floats around them both.
"Ladies and gentlemen. It seems we have a double knockout, but since this is the last fight of the entire games, the first one to their feet and can stand in a stable manner will win it all for their guild.
"Takeru get up right now!" Reve immediately stood, despite the pain he was in. He then yelled at the top of his lungs, not caring if Tak could here or not. "Get up! You're a standing position away from winning!"
"Come on Tak!" Kairi and Heather shouted in unison.
"You can do it..." Selene whispered as she clasped her hands together, watching with concern.
"Natsu!" Happy screamed.
"Come on Salamander! I've put you through worse!" Gajeel roared out. "You have to stand up!"
"Natsu!" The rest of the guild begin to erupt in chants of the Salamander's name. All but Lucy, who just stares at the screen. She then throws her hand in the air, causing everyone in Fairy Tail to stop as she forms the Fairy Tail hand sign with her ascended hand. The rest of the guild follows her lead, holding their hands in the air as they watched.
"Come on Tak.." Takeru's eyes flutter open as well as Natsu's. The shadow dragon slowly makes his way to his hands and knees, panting uncontrollably as he did so. Natsu rolls over to his stomach slowly. He too makes it to his palms and knees. He then slowly goes to one knee as he gasped for air. Shaky, Takeru was on his feet, but still had his hands on the ground, hunched over. His arms and legs both felt like jelly as he huffed out in frustration, trying to push himself up. Natsu continued huffing. On one knee he stayed.
"Natsu's not making any progress!" Romeo cried out. Mirajane merely pats him on the shoulder with her free hand and smiled. Romeo looks up at her and blinks. He then nods as he kept his arm up, waiting for his hero to stand.
Natsu forced himself up by his hands, now in a crouching stance, trying to force his jello like legs to straighten. Takeru on the other hand...Takeru bared his teeth as he yelled to himself. He then, in one motion, pushed himself off of his hands and stood up completely straight.
"HE'S UP!" Reve roared as the rest of White Eclipse joined in, cheering for their guild mate. Selene smiled as Takeru gave out a roar of victory as he wobbled. He wobbled, and wobbled...Takeru then fell back over in a slow motion, landing on his back. White Eclipse went dead quiet as Natsu continued to push himself up slowly, finally making his way to his feet. The Salamander wobbled, and wobbled...then stopped. An X came over Takeru's face on the screen, then Natsu's face was enlarged as he, and Fairy Tail, were claimed the victors of the Grand Magic Games.
"Natsu did it!" Romeo and the others begin to cheer joyously. Lucy merely gave a soft smile towards the screen. "I knew he would.."
Everyone in White Eclipse was in complete shock. Half of them had their mouths covered while the other half looked on with shocked expressions.
"He lost..."
".../We/ lost.."
"I can't..."
No one could speak properly. They stared at the screen as if it was just a bad dream, while Fairy Tail continued to cheer. The crowd also joins in the uproar from the amazing fight they witnessed from start to end.

.
"Pay up Tobias!" Ruika yelled as she gave a cut of the jewel and brownies to Sora, Maggie and Kiora.
"...Tch. Technically he did stand first." Tobias scoffed as he tossed his jewel towards Ruika. She catches it and splits the rest with the other girls.
"I knew not to bet with you. I'm so glad I didn't make that decision." Kiora ran her hands through the jewel as Daityas turned around.
"Change of plans." The Hells flames demon slayer spoke, garnering everyone's attention. "We're gonna speed up the process of the lacrima we planted.
"What's the rush mate?" Maggie asked, while counting her earnings.
"I just want the vermin out of the way before they actually become a problem."
"A problem?" Kiora laughed a bit. "No ones a problem for Tartaros. Except Tobias, but that's a different kind of problem."
"I hate you."
"I love you too you little shit."
"Damn...shut up." Daityas ran his hand through his hair before he continued. "As I was saying. We're speeding up the process. We had a nice vacation, but it's time. So, who wants to attack Magnolia? I believe we have lacrima set there."
Tobias was the first to raise his hand. "Me! I'll bring em down to there knees!"
Kiora and magi then raise their hands at the same time, right behind Tobias. "Us! Us! We're the best team!" They yelled out in unison.
"Well, first come first serve." Daityas says as he grins. "So Maggie and Kiora..."
"Kiora and Maggie." Kiora coughed out.
"You two will attack Magnolia in a few days. I want a vivid plan to how you're going to do it before you go."
"Umm...I had my hand up first.." Tobias says, still waving his ascended hand.
"Consider it done bossman!" Kiora said in a mocking tone, saluting Daityas in an animation fashion.
"...right. Rugal, take us back home."
Rugal conjures a light green magic circle, opening a portal as the Tartaros mages begin to sink into it. "Soon, Magnolia will suffer the wrath, of the Fatal Embodiment. Kiora is the name, shadows is my game. HA...haha! MWAHAHA!"
"Kiora!"
She immediately straightens up and gives a cough. "Sorry...got excited.

.

Takeru opens his eyes, upon waking up from his unconsciousness. After his vision comes to, he notices the entire guild around him as he sat up in the bed. "...Hey..."
"How you feeling champ?" Zalen asked.
"Like I've taken a hammer to the skull." He says as he holds his head, feeling the bandages around his skull.
"Well, you don't have any real injuries." Zain told him. "But you should take it easy for just a bit." Zain then turns to Kairi. "That reminds me. Lets get that knee brace off of you Kairi. You should be good by now."
"Right!" Kairi smiles as she happily walks over and hops on the counter for Zain to handle his business.
Sidney pats Takeru on the shoulder, and then tugs his scarf as a sign of respect. "You did well Takeru. You're definitely our hero of this years games. Your soul is a determined one so keep your head up."
Tak nodded, taking in the new respect that the SS class mage had for him. He then slides off the bed. "Whoa there." Selene says. "Don't you think you should relax?"
Takeru shakes his head. "I'm okay. I'm just ready to go home."
"Boy aren't we all!" Waiston yelled. "Hey Reve, we should train a bit earlier for next years Games right!?"
"...Sorry, I won't be here to train."
"What?"
Reve looked up from the chair he was sitting in. The entire guild stared at him waiting for an explanation. "I've decided, to travel. I'm really slacking, and I basically cost us the tournament. So, I'm leaving for a while. Starting today."
"...I'm going with you." Zalen says as he looks for his bag.
"No...I'm going alone. Sorry Zalen but I need this."
"But...! Taya aren't you gonna say anything?!"
Tayakata merely crosses her arms, keeping her eyes away from Reve as he stands.
"I'm about to leave in a few minutes. You guys be safe. Takeru..." Reve looks over at the bandaged dragon slayer. "Great fight man. You really outdid me. And I'm proud of you."
Acknowledging, Takeru doesn't say anything as he begins to watch Reve walk out of the room with his bag over his shoulder, and his hand holding up a W until he disappeared.
"Reve..."

.

In the crowd of Fairies, Romeo and Wendy were held up high by their hands as Jason took a picture of the two kids holding the trophy by their handles. There was nothing but smiles all around as the continued to celebrate in the middle of the arena.
"You're amazing Natsu!" Romeo says as he hugs his mentor.
"Ehe..I can't do it without you guys." The humble dragon slayer rubs the back of his head as he laughs with Romeo.
"So no party this time huh?" Lucy asked as she looked at Erza.
"Siegrain has really shut everything down. It's a shock that he allowed the games to finish, even though he shortened them. Anyways. Lets not let him ruin our celebration."
"Back to back titles!" Gray yelled as he appeared shirtless.
"Gray-Sama!" Juvia hugged around the shirtless mage, but Gray was too pumped and happy for the win to even notice.
"Their amazing you know." Mirajane stated as she stood with Laxus off to the side.
"You had a big part too. Don't forget that." Laxus added. "We all did." She turns and smiles at Laxus as he does the same, giving a small smirk.
"Alright brats! Since there's no celebration here this year! Everyone is invited to Fairy Tail for drinks! Lets go!" Makarov shouted as he leaped in the air. The picture Jason took now covered the newest issue of Sorcière Weekly. The title simply stated, "Defending champs once again."

.
"I can't believe he left..." Zalen sat on the right side of the second carriage as they made their way back home. It took three to carry the entire guild back home.
"It takes a coward to leave.." Taya says as she continues looking out to the snow behind the carriage as the neared White Eclipse.
"Don't say that! He...had a reason."
"And what was that Zalen? A loss? That's not a reason to leave. But whatever. I don't care anyways."
Nami sighed as she looked at her sister. "Lets just all relax once we get home. I hear hot springs calling our names."
The carriage comes to a stop as they all hop out. Nami stretches out with her eyes closed as she was the first one out the second carriage. She then walked forward, opening her eyes. What she saw stopped her dead in her tracks
"Oh...no..." From the first carriage, Takeru, Selene, Kuro, Kairi, Waiston and Skye were already in front of the burned down guild. The others join them as they all stared at what no longer existed.
"The guild..." Skye whimpered.
"Did...we leave something on?" Kairi asked.
"No..." Kuro walked towards the guild's ashes. He walked "inside" of what was left as he made his way to where his room was. "I know what happened.." He whispered to himself. Entering to where his room used to be, he walked over to where his nightstand used to be, and began to dig.
"Well... Whatever happened.. We can't stay here tonight. Lets go get a hotel in Magnolia until we can rebuild.."
Taya stood there. She knew along with Kuro exactly what happened. "Taya..Kuro...come on." Calium called out.
After a bit of digging, Kuro picked up what was left of his picture. The picture he kept ever since he was a kid. He looked at it, and all that was left, was him. His mentor, Mary was completely burned off of the picture. "I'll catch up later." Kuro stated.
"Daityas.." Taya murmured under her breath. Nami then pulled on her shoulder. "Lets go.."
"Kuro.."
"I said I'll catch up.."
Kuro kept looking at the picture as everyone finally left.

"I'm sorry...

He'll pay for this.."