White Eclipse
Chapter 49

Rugal was already plotting the destruction of Magnolia. Sitting alone just outside of the underground castle known as Tartaros, the light green haired mage sat cross armed as he kept his eyes closed, breathing slowly.
"Look at him, tryna be all mysterious and stuff. You ain't cool Rugal."
Kiora and Maggie peered around the corner, spying on Rugal.
"I wonder what the bloke is plotting."
"Don't know Maggie, not a mind reader here."
"Wow, someone's a bit snippy aren't we love?"
Kiora turns back around the corner and slumps down to the ground.
"Sorry, it's just...we had it! We had Taya pinned. We had Magnolia in the fryer. We had it all! We were about to be the all time best. The favorites. And somehow, those assholes pulled off a miracle. Miracles don't exist, so how did they do it!?"
Maggie pats Kiora on top of the head.
"Cheer up mate. We just made a couple minuscule mistakes is all. And if we did that and failed, there's no way anyone else here can succeed where we failed. We're the best team here remember?"
Kiora nodded repeatedly while sniffling in an animated fashion. "I remember..!"
"Atta girl, now, lets see if Mr. Meditation over here made any progress."
"Right."
Kiora stands back up as they both once again peer around the corner, only to see Sora creeping up behind Rugal.
"What is that brat doing?" They both asked simultaneously.
Sora pops her head onto Rugal's right shoulder. "Hi!"
Rugal slowly opens his eyes to Sora's voice as he huffs out a bit.
"Yes Sora?"
"Whatcha doin?" Sora looked at Rugal with her big blue eyes, keeping an innocent face.
"Thinking about a plan in destroying that town Magnolia..."
"Does your plan include me?" Sora continued to look at Rugal, giving him the innocent look.
"...You want in huh?"
"You know Daityas won't let me do it alone. So take me with you please! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-"
Rugal huffed. "Alright alright. I'll have to start over in planning this now, but we can work together."
"Yay!" Sora shouted with glee as she wrapped her arms around Rugal's neck, hugging him. "I won't let you down!"
"You couldn't let me down if you tried, Sora."
Kiora and Maggie continue looking on with a blank stare.
"How?" Kiora finally blinked.
"She's always getting her way.."
Ruika then peers around the corner under them both in a mocking fashion.
"What are we looking at?"
Startled, Kiora and Maggie fall over. Now brushing themselves off as they stand, Kiora turns to Ruika. "Why are you sneaking up on people!?"
Ruika blinks. "I should be asking you that."
"If you must know, Ruika, we were trying to see what this bloody wanker Rugal was gonna do. Since we're sure it's gonna fail, you'll be up soon. Any idea of what you're gonna do?"
Ruika smiles as she shakes her head. "Not interested. I already got what I want." She flashed her keys, showing her two new additions on her key ring.
Maggie stares, and then blinks a couple of times, staring at the gate of the lion and snake charmer. She then notices the black lines around the key them both.
"You've been in the book of Zeref haven't you?" Maggie grins at Ruika as her eyes flash in guilt.
"N-no! And you better not tell either!"
Kiora face palms at Ruika. "Great cover Ru. You're a natural."
"Anyways failures. Loke and Ophiuchus are mine and mine alone. I now have the strongest collection of keys. Unlike you two, I'm prepared for the new world once Zeref awakens."
Kiora's left eye twitches a little. "She just called me Tobias."
"No she didn't? She called you...Oh."
[From his room off scene, Tobias sneezes.]
"Welp!" Ruika smiles as she begins twirling her keys on her finger and walks off. "See ya around."
"...Yeah...see ya."

.
"Last chance to decline Erza Scarlet. This whole situation can be avoided you know." Aloysis stood with his hands crossed behind his back as he waited for her to make a move. White Eclipse was making their exit as the two continued to stand off.
Erza's body began to glow as she stared down the former Silent Sanctum Ace. "I'm not going to stand by while someone like you is allowed to join what's supposed to be security to the country." She reappeared in her Fire Empress armor, now standing with her sword gripped in both hands. "Here I come!"
She lifts off the ground just inches as she charges Aloy with her sword reared back.
"You don't have to make an announcement, I see you."
Aloysis watches as she charges in, and as Erza swings down a vertical strike, Aloysis sways with limited movement, dodging the sword completely. He then slams a kick into Erza's sternum, kicking the requip mage into the air with little effort. All while still having his hands behind his back. Erza goes soaring into the air. When she recovers, she looks down, only to see Aloysis was now missing. All she saw was Odin, watching and smirking.
"Erza behind you!" Natsu screamed out, but it was too late. As Erza turned around, Aloysis was in his Meteor state, and slams a spinning kick into her jaw, sending her plummeting hard into the ground below. On impact, clouds of dirt form around Erza, but once they disappear, she stood up, hunching over a bit only to find herself surrounded by six magic circles. "Third rapture." With a snap of his fingers, an explosion of raw magic comes firing out of each magic seal simultaneously. All six surround and collide with Erza, causing her to let out a loud shriek of pain as more smoke covered the area.
"Shit! Erza!" Natsu called out for the S class mage, but not a sound was made. As the smoke cleared once again, Erza was flat on her back in ruined armor, barely moving. The only thing moving was her chest as she gave out slow breaths. Aloysis slowly walked over to the quickly defeated Erza. "Erza Scarlet, you are hereby under arrest for attempted assault on an officer and captain of the Council." Aloysis pulled out his cuffs as Erza slowly struggled her way to her knees. Keeping her head down in shame, she held out her arms, ready to receive the cuffs around her wrists. "E-Erza..." Lucy watched with her hands over her mouth as Aloysis slaps the cuffs over Erza's wrists, helping her to her feet in the process.
"I'll be fine, just head back to the guild and talk to Master about what happened with the Tartaros mages."
Still in a bit of shock, Natsu nods as the others also take in the agreement, yet they continued watching Odin and Aloysis escort Erza out of Magnolia, heading towards the council headquarters.
"What now!?" Natsu shouted.
"We're going to head back to the guild like she said." Mirajane added. "We have to inform Master what happened."
"We can't just leave without Erza!"
Natsu took a step forward, only to have Gajeel grab him by the shoulder."
"Idiot...this isn't some guild you can fight. You'll be adding more problems fighting the council. Though I want to just as bad, use your damn head for once."
Growling a bit, Natsu knew Gajeel was right, and finally succumbs to the obvious option. "Lets go.."

.
"Okay, Amigo." Luke was the last one to entire the Inn's lobby as White Eclipse all say around Taya, waiting for whatever she had to say. "What's so important that we missed Erza getting arrested?"
"You're not burned again are you?" Aira asked inquisitively.
"Does she looked burned?" Kairi gave Aira a look as if the girl wasn't all there in the head.
"She could be hiding it!"
Cygnus cleared his throat to break up the mini squabble. "So what's the news, Taya?"
Tayakata looked around at her guild mates, seeing their faces, unaware of the bomb she was about to drop on them. She swallows, then was about to speak before interrupted once more.
"Hey where's Kuro?" Zalen asked.
"Should we wait for him too?"
"Come to think about it.." Nami chimed in. "We haven't seen Kuro since we saw the guild. I hope he's alright."
"About Kuro..."
Everyone immediately turned to Taya from her words as the dark vector mage clenched a fist then relaxed it. She kept her head down as she began to speak. By this time Calium had come downstairs and now stood behind his kids, only making it harder for Taya to speak.
"I ran into Daityas this morning...before the whole attack Magnolia. But when I got there...he and Kuro were already fighting...-"
"So he did burn down the guild." Waiston punches the wall beside him, startling the non mages walking through the inn.
"Listen... I joined Kuro in helping him fight Daityas but... He cut me off. I couldn't get around the wall of fire and.."
"No..." Zalen could already tell where this was headed. Sidney, Jack and Waiston also had it click in their minds as well.
"Kuro...tried sacrificing himself to destroy Daityas... I'm sorry.." The lobby was nothing but silence as everyone looked at Taya in disbelief and shock.
"Kuro.." Nami stood in disbelief with everyone else, not even sure how to react to the news.
Zalen however, kicks down the closest table in front of him, and was about to do the same to the next piece of furniture until Cygnus grabs him, trying to calm him down as he goes into a frenzy of frustrated yells.
Sidney looks over at Taya. "Is Daityas.."
Taya shook her head, indicating that Daityas was still alive and well. "He's completely fine... Kuro turned to ashes, and he left."
"Damn..." Takeru stood against the wall with his arms folded and eyes closed. "He must be some kind of strong." The Shadow Dragon Slayer thought to himself.
"I know what you're thinking." Selene mumbled to Tak. "And dismiss it right now."
Takeru nods, but does the exact opposite, staying in his own thoughts. "I'll beat him, for Kuro I guess, but I'll beat the guy."
Selene just looks at Takeru, and shakes her head. "Dangerous kid."
Calium then walked to the middle of the room. His face showed grievance, yet he stood tall as he addressed the mourning mages. "I know it hurts, but the last thing Kuro would want us to do is cry over him. We need to try our best to move ahead. Sidney just came back from the council about these guys, and now we see the reason why we have to follow the council guards orders and take these guys out before they get us. It's never easy hurling someone so young, but Kuro had all of you in mind when he did what he did. Don't ever forget that. Now, we need to regroup. It's become our responsibility to protect this city along with ye other guilds, and since we live pretty far to answer any distress call, we'll be staying here until the attacks stop and we can stop Tartaros."
Skye, who was sitting on the ground, pulls her knees to her chest as she cradles herself. "I miss our home though."
"Same here." Waiston sighed out. "But there's nothing to go back to. And we have to stay here now. Reve was right, we got what we asked for when we did what we did."
Skye looks up at Waiston with a confused look. "What do you mean?"
"Remember? Before we all went out on the job frenzy that for us attention, Reve told us the plan and the consequences." He then raises a finger as he speaks in quotes from Reve. "Once we succeed, being the best in Fiore will be our only reward. With that, will come heavy favors being asked from us. Things that we don't want to do, we'll be forced to, due to reputation alone."
"Oh yeah..." Skye sighs again. "He was dead on."
"Alright. Enough mourning and moping around for today. We have things to prepare for." Jack places his flask down as he stands up and walks over towards Sidney and Calium."
"I agree..." Taya stood as well. "We need a plan of action."
"I say we bring the fight to them." Takeru says as he stands up from leaning against the wall. "It's the only reasonable thing to do."
"Yeah, lets rush into a guild, that we have no idea where it's located, and fight a slew of super powered merciless mages." Jack scoffed at Takeru as he folded his arms. "Come on now Tak. This isn't the games anymore."
"Quiet. Here's what's going to happen. We're all gonna sit tight until the next attack. My dragon slayers. It's your job to get a whiff of the attackers next time so that we can track them to Tartaros. Simple as that."
"Your the boss old man." Takeru then spins around and heads up to his "room" as everyone else begins to disperse.
"I should find Reve."
"Leave Reve be, Sidney." Calium shook his head at the Ghost Mage as he continued. "That boy wants to find himself, let him. No need to bother him. We never went looking for you when you left. He needs this."
After a few seconds of blank staring, Sidney nods, and then disappears back to the roof of the inn. Leaving Calium standing alone in the lobby.
"...Fiore is in trouble. And if Reve is out of the country, then that's better for him. At least someone will survive..."

.

"Okay okay! What about this!?" Sora smiled with excitement as she sat across from Rugal looking down at a chess board styled surface. On it, were a few pieces on one side, and a scale figurine of Magnolia on the opposite side. She picked up a piece that looked exactly like her and moved it directly in front of Magnolia. She then picked up the piece that looked exactly like Rugal and placed it behind the city figurine. "What if, I take the front, and you attack from the back. That way, once they run from me, they'll all run right into you! Right into your portal thingy!"
"Hm.." Rugal strokes his chin as he listens. "Okay, but don't forget about the mages. What about Fairy Tail and the others?"
"Well!" Sora begins moving the other pieces to surround the Magnolia piece. "That's where my shadow puppets can come in! I'll make them attack the mages while we level the city! Speeding up Daityas's lacrima process yes?"
Rugal nods, and then gives the young girl a smile. "Well look at you, got this all planned out huh?"
Sora smiles back once again. "I figure, with your dimension magic, no one can escape, making the lacrima process that much faster when everyone is slaughtered."
"Sora!" Ruika yelled from the hallways. Her voice echoed through the empty corridors, easily reaching the little girl's ears.
"WHAT!?"
"Come feed your friend!"
Sora huffs. "Excuse me, Rugal! Don't plan without me!" Sora hops down and runs off from the waving Rugal, who turns back to the board. Sora continues her brisk run even when she spots Ruika, snatching the bowl of gruel out of her hands.
"Okay, ride." Ruika shrugs and then begins walking the opposite way.
A few hallway turns later, Sora opens a door and skips inside. In the room was nothing but empty cells, all except the last one. In the last cell, was a chained up Meredy. Bruised and beaten, she quickly awakes as Sora opens the cell door.
"Ew, Kiora and Maggie played too rough with you." Sora blinked at Meredy, looking at her bruises. "This is why all the dolls are in my room." Sora laughed a bit as she dropped the bowl right in front of Meredy. She then began skipping out of the cell. "You should wait for that to stop bubbling or you may die. Not even Mithril or Arc can eat that stuff!"
"P-please.." Sora turns around to hear the pleading Meredy. "Please help me... You're too young to be so evil..."
Sora stares at the other pink haired mage for a bit. She then gives a cheerful smile towards Meredy. "Evil? Tartaros isn't evil, we're just right. And no one else excepts the truth. So Tartaros does what you're supposed to do, force the truth onto them." As Sora finished up her statement, a small magic circle appeared in front of Meredy. A shadowy figure arose, all black with yellow eyes and blood red finger tips that were dripping with blood. The shadow being now stood in front of the mage with a sinister smile that ranged from ear to ear if it had any. Meredy's eyes widen in absolute shock and fear as Sora walks out. "Now, open wide so my puppet can feed you!"
As Sora walks out and closes the door behind her, she skips back off as loud screams were being heard from the prison room.

.

Entering through the front door of the Council Headquarters, Odin and Aloysis escorted Erza down the hallway and was headed towards the prison halls until he spotted Siegrain and Ultear surrounded by Correll Lahar and Doranbolt. They all catch glimpse of Erza and the two captains walking towards them and stop conversation.
"Hm?" Siegrain looked at the scarlet haired mage with a small grin, and then walked towards her. "Well what happened here? Don't tell me you tried to fight Aloysis? I knew you weren't ready to meet my second in command, Erza."
Erza slowly looked up at Siegrain with hatred as she was powerless to throw a punch, no matter how bad she wanted to. "This is why no one can trust you, Seigrain. You brought the ace of Silent Sanctum onto your team of mindless followers."
"You're not helping your case." Aloy interrupted. Siegrain held up a hand to stop Aloy from speaking. He then placed a finger under Erza's chin as he edged closer to her. "Dear Erza. I can't afford for you to be getting into trouble right now. You're way too valuable right now."
"I'm not a tool for you to use, bastard!"
"Ever so feisty." Siegrain then looks up at Aloy. "You've wasted your time Aloysis. Release Erza Scarlet and meet us in the conference room. We have much to prepare for. Odin, join us."
Siegrain turns and begins walking away. Ultear gives Erza a condescending smirk as she then follows Siegrian out. Correll follows right behind Ultear for obvious reasons.
"If you need any medical assistance,
Erza, talk to the guards up front." Lahar bows as he and Doranbolt walk to catch up with the others.
"I'll be fine." Erza begins massaging her wrists as Aloysis releases the cuffs from her. She then exchanges glares with Aloysis as he and Odin begin walking off.
"You know the way out. I'm sure this isn't the last one we'll meet, Erza; and when that time comes, not even Siegrain can save you."
"Tch." Now fully standing, Erza continues to stare down Aloysis until she finally turns back to walk out of the council building.
"Aloysis...he's too strong to be a councilmen. I don't trust him, no matter what he says.."

"Siegrain."
Siegrain turns as Odin catches up to the group walking, Correll nearly bumping into Ultear from walking so close.
"Odin. What is it?"
"Do you really think we should let her go like that?"
"Relax." Siegrian slowly grins as he turned back around.

"Erza Scarlet is far too important for what I have planned. Daityas will most likely revive Zeref. So I'm gonna need her, and the rest of those reckless fairies out their..

..in order for my plan to work."