Chapter 12
A/N: I published this in 2015? The hell?
"An endurance test? Is that all they're giving us?" Erza asks as Natsu comes up to their area overlooking the entire arena.
"Yeah, they don't give a lot. Makes it more fair."
"But what if we don't pick the right person?" Lucy asks and they all look to her. "What if it's physical endurance and we pick the wrong one?" Natsu then looks over to Ultear then Erza and smiles.
"You should do it." He says to the blonde and she seems taken aback.
"Why me? I just said it might be physical endurance. Erza would be better."
"It will most likely be magical endurance, which you are the best at in our team." Erza says and Gray places his hands on his hips. After training with the blonde, she can confidently say that Lucy has a natural affinity for magic control, and she got the hang of it far faster than Erza herself had.
"And you're stubborn enough to win if it's physical." The ice mage adds and everyone nods. She purses her lips before scanning the group and she just smiles.
"Okay. I'll win this." She nods her head and races down to the arena, with each step her determination grows.
"Since when has Crime Sorciere been planning on competing?" Natsu asks as he turns to Ultear.
"Jellal told me last night." She admits with a shrug and Natsu then nods.
"They'll be hard to beat." Gray adds as he leans against the balcony to get a better look at their competitors. "Jellal was a Wizard Saint, wasn't he?"
"Yeah, but Meredy's nothing to laugh at. I don't know Flare, but both Cobra and Hoteye are good."
"They go by Erik and Richard now." Ultear adds and the pinkette snorts.
"Well that's a downgrade."
"I believe those are their real names, Natsu, so I would avoid making fun of them for something out of their control." Erza says and her eyes dare him to say something else. Before the pinkette can mention that he is in fact no longer afraid of her, Gray speaks up.
"Didn't we beat them years ago?"
"Yeah. We got them out of jail on the promise of them joining Crime Sorciere," Ultear says and they all nod in acceptance. They all then look down to see each team member out on the field. They hadn't noticed anything happen, but now eight thin but hopefully sturdy poles are erected in a circle around the middle. Everyone is looking at the poles, trying to figure out what the game will be.
"The endurance test is simple." The pumpkin man then holds out a ball similar to Ultear's own orb. "This ball glows when magic is put into it. You just have to always keep it glowing and the last person standing wins." He then points to the poles. "All while balancing on your pole. We'll start once everyone is ready." Orga of Sabertooth jumps and roughly lands on his pole, much to the amusement of the now cheering crowd. Lucy stares in shock at the tall pole, unsure of what to do and flicks her eyes to her team. Feeling a rush of her known stubbornness, she brings out her whip when she notices a notch on the pole. In one fell swoop she latches on the notch and throws herself up and over the pole. The wind rushes past her but as she reaches the top she yanks on the whip, effectively jolting her and nearly stopping her ascent. Fear bubbles up in her as she realizes she hadn't necessarily thought her actions through and she almost misses the small platform at the top. When she reaches the platform she manages to firmly place one foot on it and leans all of her weight on that foot. She makes a spectacle of herself and waves her arms around but manages to stay on the platform.
"Dear Mavis." She breathes out a sigh of relief before subtly looking to her team
"Yes Lucy!" Her attention is then drawn to the entire guild in the stands, cheering them on with a large banner. At the end of the small banner are the letters 'A' and 'B' put on like an afterthought. The blonde then looks down to see others slowly scaling the pole. The only one's on their poles are herself, Orga, Juvia, Jura, and Meredy. After some time, the other teams manage to crawl their way up to the pole, much to the amusement of the chuckling crowd.
"Seems everyone had the same idea of not using magic." Meredy comments as she looks around the panting mages. The orbs then seem to come out from the poles they stand on and float in front of each mage. Lucy takes hers and its cold to the touch but extremely smooth. She can't help but imagine that this is what Ultear's orb must feel like, but probably more used unless Ultear always keeps it in perfect condition. For a second Lucy tests the orb and figures out how to put magic into it, an easy feat, and it dimly glows from the center and floats off her palm. When she stops it heavily falls back down but is no longer cold to the touch.
"Another rule is that It will have to be bright enough to see." The pumpkin says before raising a horn. "On your mark. Get set. Go!" Immediately all of the orbs rise and glow brightly. Lucy closes her eyes and remembers the little training she had received from Erza. She lessens her output as much as she can to maintain the right glow, but then makes it take up so little of her magic it's laughable. She opens her eyes and openly smirks I could last two days like this! Already, Beth from Mermaid Heel is perspiring and Warcry howls to take away from the flickering of his own orb.
Lucy sweat drops at their struggle, Either this is hard, or they're weak.
"Sensory Link." Lucy hears Meredy says under her breath, and a pink magic strand hits Beth before spreading to an unsuspecting Hibiki.
"What?" He looks at the heart imprint on his wrist before glancing to Meredy and Beth, the magic and exhaustion immediately hitting him. All the mages suddenly become acutely aware that they don't just have to last, but be the last ones standing.
"With the first game getting underway, I'm your announcer, Chapati Lola." He finally introduces himself and the competitors can't help but think it's awful timing. "With me today is former council member Yajima-san. Thank you for joining us, Yajima-san."
"My pleasure." Lucy rolls her eyes. She learned to love Yajima, however in the middle of the first game is not the time for all they're doing!
"And for Day One's special guest, we have the beautiful Miss Fiore, Jenny Realight-san of Blue Pegasus."
"Cheer for us!" At that, almost all men in the stadium do cheer for her, but not so much for the failing HIbiki.
"This is interesting, having two Fairy Tail Teams compete, will that become an issue?"
"From my experience with Fairy Tail," Yajima begins and looks down at the guild in the stands, "they'll still fight just as hard. It won't be about working together to win for Fairy Tail, but about showing which team is better." Fairy Tail then cheers at his words and some people find it both amusing and concerning.
"They're ruthless." Jenny states blandly causing a laugh to erupt from the mages.
"Yes we are!" Gramps says as he pumps a fist in the air, joined by his rowdy companions.
"For the Games, the scoring is simple. First place gets 10 points, Second gets 8 points, Third gets 6 points, Fourth gets four points, Fifth gets three, going on until eight gets zero points." Beth soon falls and Hibiki, thanks to the link, falls right after. "Right on time. Seems Mermaid Heel exits this on the bottom, with Blue Pegasus getting one point."
"No, Hibiki!" Jenny cries for her fallen guildmate. Soon after, Warcry faints from mere exhaustion.
"Seems Warcry used up his magic too quickly. Quatro Cerberus gets its first two points." Yajima notes, having seen how bright the man decided to keep his orb at. Jura simply glances around, his orb remaining bright with little effort from the man himself. Orga looks to Jura and narrows his eyes at the wizard saint before increasing his magical input.
"Oh! What a development! Orga of Sabertooth has just challenged Jura, one of the Ten Wizard Saints. They're both going strong, you think Orga has a chance?"
"Of course not. Jura is one of the strongest mages in the country." Jenny immediately shoots down much to Orga's irritation.
"There are a few people stubborn enough to outlast even Wizard Saints. Perhaps Orga's one of them." Yajima then adds as his eyes flick to Fairy Tail and their beastly mages. Orga probably isn't one of them, Fairy Tail took them all.
As all the attention is on the two 'battling' mages, Lucy closes her eyes and decides she isn't just going to sit and wait for someone to attack her. Taurus! She mentally summons the spirit at risk of slightly draining her magic, and she succeeds as she feels a warmth flood her before she opens her eyes to see Taurus waiting on the ground beneath her. Only the few who had seen him before recognize the bull as he raises his axe.
"For Loocy!" He swings it and hits it against Meredy's pole. It cracks the pole and Meredy shakes, eyes wide in shock as she looks over to the blonde.
"Lucy!?" She shouts and looks down to see Taurus aim at the pole again. "Dammit!" The pole then cracks up the side and Meredy knows she can't win with her pole unfit to even stand. The pinkette then looks to the blonde with a smirk and Lucy knows exactly what she's thinking.
"Wait, wait, Meredy, it's just a game!" She shouts as Meredy bends her knees.
"And some mages are taking this into their own hands." Jenny notices while Yajima and Chapati are more focused on Orga and Jura. "Come on, Lucy!"
"Meredy, please!"
"We're gonna win this year!" Meredy shouts as her pole begins to topple over. She then drops her orb, giving into her team's three points. Everyone watches as she abandons her orb and shoots out her arm, activating her magic so many teal swords appear. "Maguilty Sodom!" The swords then launch towards Lucy. The blonde stares at her friend, she supposes Meredy is a friend, and narrows her eyes. One sword cuts her arm and a thin stream of blood comes soon after the blade passes. The next sword comes right for her and Lucy dodges with mild ease. But, with all her attention on the swords, she then looks up to see Meredy herself coming right at her.
"KYA!" Lucy squeals as Meredy collides with her, forcing the orb to fall from her hand and both of them to fall off the pole. "ARIES!" The lamb then appears and with a quick sorry she creates a pink cloud that catches the falling mages and lays them softly on the ground. "Thanks, Aries." The lamb spirit then shyly bows before disappearing in golden dust and a cloud of pink. Lucy tries to glare at Meredy but after a moment just smiles.
"After that… interesting development, Fairy Tail A exits with four points!"
"Since when could you summon your spirits like that?" Meredy asks as Lucy dismisses Taurus who leaves with a long moo.
"I've been training. I kept accidentally doing it, so last night I figured out how to summon them on purpose." She admits with a laugh. When they reach the edge of the stadium they look back to see Jura, Orga, and Juvia still going strong. "Juvia's not gonna win."
"She might if you convince Gray to say something to her." Meredy jokes and they laugh at the mere thought of Juvia going crazy over winning for Gray. "She'd win for sure."
"Yeah, but I don't want her to win." The blonde then winks and Meredy shrugs.
"Oh well." They then go their separate ways towards their teams, Lucy not feeling as down as she thought she should considering she only got her team four points. On her way up, she hears the muffled sound of the crowd, but she can't tell what exactly is going on. Once she's at the top of her tower, she sees that Juvia is no longer on one of the poles.
"What happened?" She innocently asks and Natsu sniggers.
"Juvia turned to Gray for approval and he turned away from her. She fell from a broken heart." Natsu says and at the end motions to the stadium where Lucy can see Gajeel carrying her off.
"And with Fairy Tail B claiming third, it's just Orga and Jura battling it out." Chapati claims and everyone cheers at the intense battle, for how boring it is for the watching audience.
"Orga won't win." Ultear states and Natsu nods from his spot beside her.
"This is a long battle between warriors." Erza states before crossing her arms.
Time seems to pass slowly and Lucy feels the pain in her feet spread from her heels and up her legs, practically stinging her and begging her to sit. Everyone is getting antsy as the commentators try to find any little thing they can talk about to entertain the people watching.
"Was that a wobble on Orga's part?"
"I don't know, Chapita-san. Someone quit already!" Jenny complains, absolutely tired of the waiting and waiting. "Don't forget we still have the battles!" She cries out as a last-ditch effort to be done with the game.
"Battles?" Lucy then asks, suddenly taken away from the pain of her feet. "You mean I have to fight today?" Ultear then shakes her head and Lucy leans against the nearby wall in relief.
"A person from each team battles another person." Natsu explains and strokes his chin.
"Then they would be wise to conserve their energy." Erza states and places her hands on the ledge. "I hope they do."
"You want to face Jura at full strength?" Gray asks. He doesn't know anyone who may want to do that, except maybe the hard-headed Natsu of seven years ago.
"Not necessarily," Erza states as she looks at the Wizard Saint, "but I would not feel worthy of a win against anyone not at full strength." They all nod at her words, aware of how Fairy Tail appreciates honorable battles and honorable wins. They then turn as they see the sigh in Orga's shoulders before he stops powering his orb and lets it fall into his hands.
"I'll let you have this." He states, allowing for no true winner. "But when we meet on the field, that won't be the case." He states before hopping off his pole. Soon after, Jura jumps from his own and softly lands on the ground, the only evidence that he actually touched it coming from the disturbance of the uppermost layer of dirt.
"FINALLY!" Jenny shouts in delight and everyone sweat drops at her obvious discontent with the prior challenge.
"And with that, Sabertooth takes eight points, and Lamia Scale takes the overall lead with ten points!"
"But it's way too early in the week to tell." Yajima adds and Chapati nods in understanding.
"Right. And now onto the battle portion! The winner gets their team ten points, and if it's a tie both teams get five points. Jenny, would you do the honors?"
"Of course!" She then takes the paper from Chapati and clears her throat. "The first battle… oh, how interesting. These guilds are pretty close, so we'll see how this goes. First is Fairy Tail A's Erza Scarlet..."
"What, against Fairy Tail B?" Natsu jokes but Erza doesn't seem in the laughing mood.
"Against Crime Sorciere's Jellal Fernandes." The two mages immediately make eye contact from their tower's and Erza smiles at him before jumping into the arena. Jellal follows soon after and in a flourish as he removes his robe.
"It gets interesting right off the bat." Ultear says with a cracked grin. Both her and Natsu are more than aware of the strengths of Jellal and Erza, after all. Whoever picked this setup knows what they're doing.
"Jellal."
"Hey, Erza," He says with a smile and Jenny looks down at the two.
"How interesting," Yajima says and there's a hum of agreement from Chapati who just pretends to understand. "For those of you who don't understand, these two have known each other for a long time. So this is not just a battle between guild's but also friends if I'm not mistaken."
"I will not go easy on you," Erza says as she stands parallel to her target.
"I wouldn't expect you to." Jellal nods before they both turn to the odd pumpkin mascot.
"Alrighty! On your mark, get set! Go-pumpkii!" The crowd only has a short moment before the intense battle begins. Immediately Erza transforms into her metallic dress as she makes multiple swords appear. She stands poised for attack and for each sword she launches at Jellal, he easily dodges using his lightning-fast speed.
The fast movements aren't caught by the audience but they feel the shockwaves and have to cover their eyes to protect themselves from all the dust. The entire arena seems to be encased so no one can see except for flashes of light from clashing metal.
"Wow..." Everyone stares in awe at the two. Each hit causes a ripple to go across the stadium and some hats go flying.
"Fairy Tail's insane." Jenny comments as the fighters get into a deadlock. On the screens, everyone can see their veins pulsing and arms trembling. Erza has a sword out while Jellal is blocking with magic focused on his palms.
"I bet they'll tie." Ultear suddenly says and her team just stares while Natsu laughs.
"You're on. My money's on Jellal." He states and to everyone's surprise the two are quick to place some jewels on the bannister.
"How often do you bet against each other?" Lucy asks with a slight laugh. They had set the same amount out, they probably bet about everything.
"Let's just say I have a tendency to win and he doesn't like to lose." Natsu just pouts in the corner as they all laugh at the pinkette with an apparent losing streak.
"Do you want to lose again? You bet against Erza, ya know." Gray states. He doesn't need to remind Natsu of how terrifying the woman can be.
"Jellal will win! He will!" Natsu states with a raised fist. Sadly, he said it a bit too loudly and gained many odd glances.
"Well, my bet's on Erza." Gray states and places his own jewels in the pile. Lucy stares at her team and decides she may as well side with the person with a winning streak.
"I'm with Ultear." And the small pile grows to a considerable size. And just in time too.
While the battle hadn't exactly reached an impossible extent that would have demolished the stadium, it was still at a vicious level that left everyone frozen in anticipation. With ripples of magic and shouts for victory, the flashes of Jellal and the metallic rings from Erza's weapons are enough to hold everyone in suspense.
By their third deadlock, the two are obviously becoming slowly exhausted. They're not going easy and are only holding back for the sake of the audience. The strain of fighting to win honorably without excess damage is a toll for anyone. And at the rate they're going, a stalemate in Ultear and Lucy's favor is inevitable.
When Jellal smirks, Natsu finds himself doing the same. He wasn't sure Jellal and him would come to the same conclusion but he betted on the chance all the same. Seems he'll be winning the jackpot.
"I love you." His words are lost to many but those that had been able to keep up with the action. Immediately Erza goes beat red, her face blending with her roots as her eyes swirl at the words the man had shamelessly spoken.
"I - ah - uh - yuh - you -" She quickly becomes a stuttering mess and loses all concentration just as Jellal thought she would. And so she soon falls on her back with eyes swirling in embarrassment. For someone with such revealing armor, she is quickly flustered by the idea of love, but of course they are two entirely different things.
"And I guess the winner is Jellal?" Chapati says after a moment where Erza stays down. She's seen still mumbling in a confused state that leaves many people stuck between laughing or staying in their stunned silence. "10 points for Crime Sorciere!"
"Thank you!" Natsu laughs maniacally as he swipes the jewels for himself and puts them in a pocket dimension. The team would go rescue Erza but Jellal takes that job from them.
Fairy Tail sits in astonishment at the development. They are familiar with Erza's weakness when it comes to small embarrassing things, but to lose a match?! Why do their wizards have such odd weaknesses? For such a strong guild, it's laughable.
After the more boring battles (Ren defeats Arana and Orga destroys Warcry,) the last battle is called and all the crowd wants to know is who is going to fight.
"For the last battle of the day between Fairy Tail B and Lamia Scale, it will be..." Yajima takes a moment to unfold the card and everyone sits in anticipation. "Fairy Tail B's Cana Alberona against Lamia Scales Jura Neekis!"
"Oh hell no." Cana says blandly as she looks across her team. "Why couldn't it have been Laxus? Can I tap out! Choose Laxus!" She shouts out but they all ignore her. "Oh fine. Let's go." She then jumps into the arena and takes a swig of her handy flask before looking at Jura.
"You drink before a battle?"
"Not always. But I will for this one." She states which just gets a laugh from him. At the edge of the arena, Bacchus toasts for her and does a small 'whoop' in affirmation for his fellow drinker.
"If I recall, Fairy Tail members are brave enough already." She then smirks.
"Definitely. I need to be foolish for this." She then chokes out another laugh and takes another swig. "Gotta get 'all fired up,' ya know? He'd've fought ya." At that Jura laughs and can't help but nod.
"I believe he tried to back when we fought Oracion Seis." He states and Fairy Tail is soon caught laughing much to Natsu's mild embarrassment. Surprisingly, the laughter spreads and Natsu ponders on if the news spread or the laughter is contagious.
"I'm better now, right?" He asks with a pout but they only respond with more laughter.
"Sure you are." Ultear comforts but she sends Gray a wink.
The match begins but unlike the other battles, the two take some time to size the other up. Cana isn't foolish enough to rush in head first and Jura is too level headed.
"Well, why the hell not?" She beams and raises her arm and stares Jura down. "I invoke..." her arm glows and Jura can feel her intent clearly. A dark sign appears on her forearm and the magic stored in the insignia is nothing to laugh at. He's familiar with Fairy Tail and the last thing he should ever do is underestimate any of its members. As soon as the magic really begins to power up, Jura can feel fear travel down his spine and he knows he needs to act now if he wants to win.
He's quick to put his hands together and charges his own spell. The crowd is immediately entranced. While it seems slow paced, the magic thrumming in the air holds the suspense. This battle will only be fun to watch if they pay close attention.
"Fairy Glitter!"
"Rock Mountain!" The Great Fairy Magic hits full force against the Wizard Saint's ultimate defense. The light from Cana's spell blinds everyone for a moment and everyone feels the deafening boom reverberate through their chest as it slams against the armored rocks.
The air seems to still and everyone holds their breath in anticipation as the dust seems to take forever to settle. Silently, both teams pray. While Jura is a Wizard Saint, they don't need to know Fairy Glitter is a legendary spell to know it's too strong to use casually.
When the dust settles, everyone stares in complete shock to see both mages standing. Cana stands with a drunken blush across her cheeks but her eyes are half lidded in magic exhaustion. They then watch the rock mountain - or what's left of it - crumble into dust with an equally exhausted Jura behind it.
No one moves, no one breathes.
After another moment, Cana falls onto her back. For a second Fairy Tail is worried, but when she gives a stuttering snore they just fall at her antics.
An exhausted, drunken slumber.
Everyone assumes Jura had won by default, however he just looks to Cana and cracks a grin.
"Full of surprises, that guild..." And he falls right on his face.
The stadium became overrun in excitement at the fight. A Wizard Saint had lost? With a single attack? From this drunken nobody?
"What? Jura lost!" Jenny shouts out and Chapati can hardly respond. Yajima finds himself laughing at the odd development.
"Never underestimate Fairy Tail! The teams tie for five points." For how short the battle had been, the audience didn't seem to mind one bit. Their excitement doesn't dwindle in the slightest as teams gather their fallen and leave their assigned areas.
"And that's the end of Day One! As we can see the rankings, Sabertooth is making a comeback, having first place with 18 points all thanks to Orga! In a close second is Lamia Scale at 15 points all thanks to Jura! Third is Crime Sorciere with 13 points, fourth is both Blue Pegasus and Fairy Tail B, tieing with 11 points, Fairy Tail A lucked out with 4 points, Quatro Cerberus stands with 2 points, and poor Mermaid Heel still has zero points in eighth place."
"However, a lot can happen in a week." Yajima adds. "We wish luck to the guilds in tomorrow's events!"
Soon afterwards, Fairy Tail is, of course, partying in the Honey Bone Lodge. They cheer at having made it through the first day, they rally around both Lucy and Juvia at their points earned and they jeer at Sabertooth and any other team out to get them.
After all, they are the strongest, the best. (But that's not what's important to them, it never has been.)
It doesn't take long for them to notice a glaring absence, though: none of the Dragneel's are present. Even Asuka had begun asking around for her fellow child, how the exceeds ran out of entertainment is beyond them.
Outside, the trio can be found laying in the grass, stargazing. While some cloud wisps streak across the sky, they do nothing to obstruct the beautiful view. Instead, Sonya is able to stare in pure awe as Ultear and Natsu point out different star formations. Ultear points out every constellation she can see, while in between Natsu shows the draconic constellations - because every star is a fallen dragon - he says whenever Sonya asks for a Dragon Tale.
Sonya drifts in and out of consciousness and Natsu and Ultear slow their stories, repeating words and entire constellations when she's too dazed to process what they say.
She lays between them and above her perfect head, Natsu and Ultear share a short kiss, the love in their eyes clear.
"So, tell me," Ultear whispers with a playful smirk, "where did you imagine we'd live?" Natsu laughs for a moment and runs his fingers through Sonya's dark hair.
"Other than a cave?" The soft laughter hardly echoes but it does in their ears. Because the first time she asked him that, he genuinely always thought it'd be a cave. After her teasing, he explained how it would be nothing like the one with Igneel. They'd have all the human necessities and then some, because he was going to spoil Sonya. But it was still in a cave and Ultear refused to let that one small fact go. "How about… near a small village." He says after a moment and Ultear really looks at him. His eyes are turned upward as he really does think in ways he hadn't before. "Maybe in a small farmhouse, with a big yard to train in, or whatever Sonya wants. Maybe she'll do runes or-"
"Or stargaze." They slow and turn back to their beautiful child.
"Or stargaze." He then looks into Ultear's deep eyes and she meets him dead on. "And not a small house. A big one, with plenty of space for all the pets she might bring home, or souvenirs. And plenty of walls for her - us to paint constellations." Ultear can picture it just as well as Natsu, and it fills their hearts in a newfound and hopeful joy.
Maybe it's possible.
The next day, the Games begin as they will for the next couple of days.
"Welcome to the second day of the Grand Magic Games!" The entire stadium cheers and screams. They stomp their feet as if it were a challenge to break their seating. But it doesn't last long. After all, the event had already begun and the mages have started their advance.
"For today's challenge, we have Lyon for Lamia Scale, Gray Fullbuster from Fairy Tail A and Gajeel from B, Crime Sorciere has put out Richard, Ren represents Blue Pegasus, Quatro Cerberus sent out Rocker, and finally, in the lead, Yukino stands for Sabertooth!" Not so many people cheer as they're all focused on the event. It's a mix of defense and attack, something that makes Gray smirk. "It's quite simple: they have to protect their guild insignia and destroy their opponents."
"Simple my ass," Gray bemoans as he hears the other mages begin. But even if they had known the challenge, who else could have done it? Maybe Ultear, but even then, who? So Gray had immediately created many Fairy Tail insignias in ice. The only difference between A and B being a small letter attached to the tail, so he carelessly makes both just to be that much more confusing.
But how am I gonna find the others? Gray races up stairs to try and scout the area while keeping his insignia in his line of sight. There's no way to hunt down another without putting yourself at risk.
By the time he reaches the top of the building, Gray can see most everything. But, it's not enough.
Then the chaos ensues. The mages are frantic and left scrambling to figure out how in the hell they're supposed to succeed.
"Everyone thinks it's either attack or defend," Ultear says as they watch their teammates struggle. Many mages focus on attack, and Richard makes most of the floor act in his liquid benefit.
"One point for Crime Sorciere! Minus one for Quatro Cerberus!" In the distance, the cries of Quatro Cerberus are ignored.
"Gate of the Paired Fish Key..." Lucy catches the incantation immediately and her eyes begin sweeping the screens and arena, "Pisces!" Suddenly, two large fish come from their golden gate in a hardly audible ding.
"Eh! She - she's a celestial mage!" Lucy shrieks and they all turn to watch the Sabertooth mage.
"Pisces," she says calmly and the two fish hardly turn to look at her, "go have some fun." The spirits race from her without another direction needed. In the meantime, she then summons a second spirit - Libra. "We'll have company soon."
And they do. Rocker and Arana had immediately raced to where the spirit was summoned. Meanwhile, Pisces rampages. Gray can only watch flabbergasted as the two large spirits plow through every single ice sculpture.
"Wow! In one move, Sabertooth gains three points from Fairy Tail A, Mermaid Heel, and Quatro Cerberus!" Gray growls as a new insignia pops up right beside him.
"So that's how this works?" He groans and kicks his own insignia for extra measure.
Yukino makes quick work of anyone who comes for her, well, Libra makes quick work of them so they're all stuck kneeling before her.
"Gajeel has gotten a point for Fairy Tail B, minus one for Lamia Scale - oh! Lamia Scale gets one point, minus one from Quatro Cerberus. And Gray finally scores a point, minus one for Mermaid Heel!-"
"Hm," Gray pauses to wipe his brow. "That Libra is convenient." With Rocker and Arana stuck underneath Libra, their insignias are fair game - were, were fair game. Then they appeared beside their person and the insignias were for Yukino to destroy and rack up points.
"One point for Lamia Scale, minus one for Fairy Tail B."
"Dammit!" Gray growls. I haven't done anything! He doesn't have the senses of a dragon slayer, and while his magic is technically unlimited, this hasn't figured out how to make it work in this scenario.
"That... " Natsu blanches as they watch the minigame. He couldn't say the challenge was awful - it was a decent idea, with insignia hunting and mage-on-mage action. Except - there are flaws. Natsu narrows his eyes and looks past the commentators and towards the castle in the distance. "I don't think that was the original challenge."
"It did seem thrown together," Erza admits with her own sagely nod. And while Lucy refuses to remove her eyes from Yukino, she pops into the conversation.
"But why? Wouldn't they have the games decided months in advance?"
"Yeah, they do," Ultear says, "unless something were to change all of a sudden."
"She has Libra and Pisces." Lucy suddenly says and they all look at her. She's half focused on them, but her eyes shine as she stares at the golden keys. "There's another celestial mage. Well, except - wait, she reminds you of Angel, doesn't she?"
"Angel - oh, you mean Sorano?" Ultear says and Lucy glitches for a moment before mechanically nodding.
"Yeah, Sorano."
"And that's a wrap! Let's see what we've got!" The buildings disappear and Yukino banishes her spirits. "Sabertooth takes ten points in first place, with Crime Sorciere pulling in close and taking eight points. Fairy Tail B gets six, Lamia Scale four, Fairy Tail A pulled three points, then there's Blue Pegasus with two, Mermaid Heel with one, and lastly Quatro Cerberus got no points."
"Quatro Cerberus? More like Quatro Puppy - haha!"
"Yajima-san! You're mic!" But the damage was done, it was too late, and soon the entire stadium is more keen to call the guild Puppy puppy! In the distance, Warcry cries out at the change. "W-well, now onto the battle portions. Up first is Toby of Blue Pegasus against…"
"Toby?" Natsu echos and his eyes find the dog man. "Toby-Toby? From Galuna Island?" The pinkette then barks out a laugh as he watches Cobra - no, Erik enter the arena as well. "Toby should just quit." He says in a snorted laugh, one that Ultear is quick to echo - although it's much less joining him in laughter as it is laughing at him.
The battle ends as quickly as it had begun, with Erik being a slayer of poison and Toby not being the smartest mage in the arena.
"Okay, well, ten points to Crime Sorciere! Up next, we have Fairy Tail A's Gray Fullbuster,"
"Me?"
"Against Quatro Pup - Cerberus! Quatro Cerberus'... Bacchus!"
"Quatro Cerberus, this'll be a piece of cake."
"This will, in fact, not be a piece of cake, and I can attest to that," Erza says with a glare to her teammate. "Don't underestimate him. I went toe-to-toe with him once, he is not to be taken lightly."
"Well," Gray pauses for a moment before smirking, "I'm stronger. And after that challenge, if it can be called that, I need to redeem myself." He cracks his knuckles and jumps into the arena, soon followed by Bacchus and his bottle.
"Gray Fullbuster - I heard all about you, back in the day," Bacchus slurs as he turns his gaze to the balcony, "n' Titania? What a battle we had, didn' we?" Erza doesn't bother responding and Gray cracks a smirk.
"So you've fought Erza, eh? That makes this more exciting," the ice mage says and that makes Bacchus whoop in excitement.
"You Fairy Tail mages are something else, ain'tcha!" And they wait for the go ahead from Chapati.
Neither of them launch. Instead, they wait and analyze each other across the distance. All Erza had told him was that Bacchus specialized in hand-to-hand combat and that's something Gray can work with.
But all Bacchus really knows is he does ice like Lyon. Gray can assume that back then there wasn't too much information other than he makes things from ice.
So, he spreads his stance and places a fist in his hand. These are the grand Magic Games, after all, and he ought to give them a show.
He whispers under his breath and the ground below him glows a bright blue.
A large wall of ice shoots up and out, curling as a ramp that easily shadows a third of the audience.
Bacchus jumps back and howls at the structure.
"Whoa! Fairy Tail's crazy!" He then cackles and grabs his flask. "Let's have some fun!" And he takes a swig. But Gray isn't fooled, so he prepares his next move, his shirt and anger to the wind.
The battle continues with Gray skating on his ice, using it as a clear advantage to escape Bacchus' grasp. However, said grasp was dangerous. Gray was smart and used distanced attacks but he's never been one to back down from a challenge.
In the last five minutes, however, that shifted.
They were both exhausted, bruises blossoming on every visible inch of skin - which is a lot. Gray's proven too agile and resilient, Bacchus durable and strong.
So, in the last five minutes as they pant and breathe through the pain, Gray looks to the clock. 4:44… 43,42,41,40…
So he cracks a smirk and raises his head.
"What'dya say..." he pants before leaning back and gasping into the sky, "we finish this the old fashioned way." Bacchus drunkenly cackles at that and they face each other.
"You Fairy Tail mages," He laughs but there's a gleam in his eyes.
They bend their knees and raise fists.
In a burst of strength, they launch, a cry on their lips. They meet in the center, a clash of fists and wills as the air around them ripples and sparks.
They shout and growl and bite but neither budge. In a flash of light and excess magic, and in the nick of time, they fly backwards. They each fall to the sand and neither has the energy to get back up.
So, they laugh.
Gray never thought he'd have a rival with someone from another guild.
"And I believe that is a tie. Five points each! And what a battle of wills that was, I think we've witnessed something here today." The stadium cheers and shouts, screaming for their new favorites.
It was an inspiring battle of both magic and wills. One that left the audience shimmering for the next show.
Natsu and Ultear left Gray to Erza and Lucy, seeing how they had been so excited by the battle. But he's brought to the infirmary, of course, so he barely catches the call for Fairy Tail B's Juvia Locksar and Blue Pegasus' Jenny Realight!
The match between Juvia and Jenny followed and they're all thankful Gray wasn't there to witness it. Of course, Juvia won. Without Gray, she really is just pure strength. But with Gray, people should be wary that her strength doesn't diminish in the slightest.
Beneath the stadium, however, Gray was stuck with Wendy faithfully at his side.
They hear the faint echos of Chapati calling out Juvia's win and the next contestant, one of which was Yukino Agria.
"Yukino? She's the Celestial Mage!" Lucy jumps up with a squeal but then stops and looks to Gray. He's conscious, just sore and tired. It's weird, knowing he won't really participate for the rest of the games but he brought his team in points.
So he tells Lucy to watch the match and tell him about it later.
The battle between Kagura and Yukino was one Lucy had to leave Gray to see. She needed to see the sort of tricks Yukino would pull.
And she wasn't disappointed.
"What? The Thirteenth Gate?" She screeches at the sight. She's strong, Lucy can't help but recognize.
But she isn't stronger than her, and that thought catches the blonde by surprise.
Yeah, Yukino has a great new key, but then what? Kagura defeats her easily and while Lucy isn't sure she would have won, she would have done better than that.
"And that's a wrap for Day Two! We leave with a new lineup! Crime Sorciere stands in the lead with a whooping 31 points. In second is Sabertooth, third stands Fairy Tail B with 22 points. Lamia Scale sits comfortably in fourth place with 19 points, then Blue Pegasus holds fifth with 18 points. Fairy Tail A holds sixth place with 12 points, then Mermaid Heel with ten, and lastly Quatro Pup-Cerberus is in last place with seven points. And with that, we end Day Two of the games, see you all tomorrow!"
With the announcements over, the civilians swarm for the exits, chattering about the craziness that had made up the day.
The guilds hang back, some going to the infirmaries, some lagging behind to discuss strategies.
Fairy Tail crowded the infirmary for Gray, asking how he was feeling and congratulating him on earning eight points. It wasn't easy, they all know that, but it was beautiful.
Especially that battle with Bacchus.
Natsu and Ultear hung back for everyone else to crowd Gray. Not that they felt any less warm at the battles won today. Not at all, but they were more pressed to lean over Sonya and ask what she thought, and she beamed up at them and moved her hands everywhere as she spoke.
"Where's Gray?" She finally asks, but the parents eye the crowd and Natsu knows they'll be heading back soon. So they postpone until they're at the Honey Bone Lodge.
They walk through the dark streets. They decided to go as a group, so the second they exit eyes are on them.
Whispers erupt on the sidelines but Fairy Tail doesn't bat an eye.
Although Sonya does throw her own sort of fit.
"Why can't I hold their hands?" Sonya asks Bisca. Most of them hear it and there's no question as to who the 'them' is. Some of them see Ultear's expression crack, but it only does so in her eyes flicking to the ground. They stay trained on the pavement for a moment before she looks back up, straight ahead as if nothing had happened.
"They're going to get a lot of attention soon," Alzack says softly and Sonya tilts her head, face screwed up.
"Okay? But they're still my parents, right?"
They hear the inhale Natsu takes, sharp and shocking. He even stops but before anyone can nudge him he's back in pace - beside Ultear.
He whispers to her, low and right in her ear. None of them quite catch what they say as she shakes her head, nudges his side, before really listening and nodding.
She's the next to stop. Natsu heads back for the front, stuck waving and people calling out just to make sure it's really him. He's always been in the spot light and seven years hadn't change that.
On the other hand, Ultear has appeared beside Sonya and takes hold of one of her hands. She stays in the middle between Bisca and Alzack but her grip on her child is clear and she brushes that small and his her thumb.
"What about Papa?" And that they know they can't budge on.
"We've talked about how famous Papa is, right?"
"Yeah..." Sonya already knows what her mother is gonna say.
"That doesn't mean he isn't your Papa, you know," Ultear says with a light squeeze of her daughter's hand. And Sonya responds with a nod more than anything.
Ultear knows Natsu doesn't miss that but he can't do anything just yet.
When they step into the Honey Bone Lodge, Natsu stops at the door and steps back. Only when Ultear and Sonya walk in does he move.
"DoGotcha!" He shouts and scoops her up. She screams, a high trill of laughter that echoes through their ears.
They would be mad if it weren't so pure. So they partake in letting Natsu be the best parent he can be, shoveling her full of ice cream and love, and a good dinner, of course, one with all the nutrients she could need and want.
She calls for Gray, then remembering that she had seen a lot of him today and she had heard too much about him to not be obsessed for a moment.
Gray takes Natsu's seat as the pinkette heads for the bar.
"Gray, how did you make such a big wall?" She beams at him.
"You know, your mom can make a bigger wall."
"No way, really?" She beams up and Gray gets the feeling that, of the two parents, Natsu's probably the one who stays and fights while Ultear takes Sonya. But between the two parents… that makes sense, he supposes. Ultear's time and ice magic would do better being near Sonya, better for defense than Natsu's fire.
Throughout it all, Natsu caught the whispers. He's sure it must be odd, him refusing to act so fatherly with his daughter in public. He know they have questions. And he'd answer them in a heartbeat. But instead they choose to gossip and it isn't the sort of thing he would just announce without warning. No, but hopefully they'll help themselves to the answer. That would make it easier for him.
"They're really adamant that Sonya stay out of the public eye," Laxus says and cocks a brow, "too adamant. I mean, come on, they have all of Fairy Tail and Crime Sorciere." He huffs and some of the people around him can't help agree. He's at a table that, of course, has his old Thunder God Tribe. But then there's his new team, the one for the games, excluding the heaviest drinker, and at the table right next to them sits Lucy and Levy.
"They trust us," Lucy says but the words come out softly, all of them hearing the question.
Beside them, Juvia twitches and finally peels her eyes away from Gray.
"Juvia knows," she says lowly and she refuses to take her eyes away from her drink. "Juvia knows why."
"What?" Lucy almost glitches because why does Juvia, of all of them, know? Had he really told Juvia before her, before anyone on Team Natsu? The blonde wasn't going to sit there feeling sorry for a lack of trust because that wasn't the case. She couldn't fabricate some sort of issue. Although, it still hurt and she was going to ask Natsu about it later.
"Why?" Mira prods and Juvia then looks up.
"I asked Meredy," she admits and Lucy almost bangs her head against the table. Of course, Meredy. Because Natsu would have told them first, so it couldn't have been him. It's surely not a story that only he would know. "She wouldn't give Juvia the details, but apparently someone found out about Sonya. About her being their daughter," Juvia says with a nod towards the parents. It doesn't help that Gray has now joined their conversation. "And then a Dark Guild found out."
"Oh," the word falls from their lips. Oh, indeed. They know about Crime Sorciere and Natsu's involvement but what did that even mean?
It meant enemies. The sort of enemies that should never be allowed to know you weakness. Clearly, Ultear and Natsu, probably the strongest of that guild, have a blaringly obvious weakness in the form of a little ball of sunshine.
"They almost killed her, Meredy said," Juvia admits and their hearts drop. Sonya, almost killed? How?
No wonder Natsu nor Ultear cared about the strength of their friends in the matter. How could it matter when they, the strongest people they know, almost failed? They would fight tooth and nail for Sonya, after all. And while all of them would they are more than aware of how strong a protective Natsu is. There's a reason he beat the Dark Guild Master's in each battle and not Erza.
Juvia doesn't tell them the entire story. She just repeats that, really, she doesn't know. And she doesn't think Meredy does either. All she knows is that the parents got a bit loose in their protectiveness, taking Sonya out and surrounding her with love in public. And then the Dark Guild swooped in and they almost lost her.
They stutter out of the conversation as a familiar voice approaches. By now, Lucy has fallen silent. Her unfocused gaze is trained on her glass as her thoughts run wild. As they do, she's a writer, after all.
So, Natsu stops and steals a chair. He doesn't pay attention to the other table - maybe he hadn't heard their conversation. Although no doubt he had, after all, he's a dragon slayer.
Now that gets Lucy's attention. She startles at the movement and looks up.
"Natsu!" Lucy calls out and blinks her previous thoughts away. "What're you doing here?"
"Getting a drink," he says with a nod to the bar. "Plus, Sonya's interrogating Gray." Lucy looks and sees that, yes, Gray is with Sonya just then. The Sonya that was almost not here today. What would Natsu be like now had they lost her? He probably wouldn't be alive, Lucy thinks, because Natsu wouldn't let Sonya be hurt, not while he still breathed. "Hey, I, uh, need your help," he says, eyes flicking to be more on Sonya than Lucy.
"Uh, oh, yeah, of course. With what?" Natsu smiles at her softly and nods.
"I wanna sneak Sonya into the booth. But I think we'd need a spirit's help." Lucy almost giggles at the question. She wants him to just take her, but then again who was she to argue with a protective parent.
"How cute. Of course we'll help," she says with a smile and Natsu laughs alongside her, a deep laugh that rattles his chest and shocks Lucy because that's different. He laughs like a grown man rather than her young best friend. "And I'm sorry."
"Huh?"
"I… tried to make you stay. And with something so stupid, too," She says and looks into her glass. She knows they can all hear her say this but she doesn't care. Knowing Fairy Tail, they would have figured out about her stupid deal any way. "But I'm not weak, so how can I bribe you with a strength I already have."
Natsu laughs again, it's higher and loud in proud howl. He doesn't slam his hand on the table but he does place it strongly and levels Lucy with a bright and open gaze.
"I'm proud of you, Luce!" And Lucy beams back at him. "Alright, I'm gonna grab me and Ultear our drinks, but you should catch up on Levy's story. And Luce?" She tilts her head and his smile softens, "thank you."
A/N: I've fallen in love with this story, which is kinda odd, and it's thanks to y'all. When I started it, I wasn't really that into it. But the hell so many people follow this story I have to love it (I say as I haven't updated in so many months.) Also, I've rewritten the first chapter of this story.