A few moments earlier, in the Eastern Forest where the Daimou's home are at.
Wendy with Charla are currently in the house's living room where they are looking after Ikki with Kiara.
Currently, Wendy watches Ikki who reaches his hands out to Charla's tail that is moving side to side, the young boy trying to catch it, but Charla keeps moving her tail to play along.
"I don't get why this child is so fascinated with my tail" said Charla with a smile and then sigh.
"well, your tail is kinda fluffy like Kiara, Charla" said Wendy while smiling. Ikki yelps as he tried jumping to reach and catch Charla's tail, but the child failed and keeps on trying to catch it.
Wendy with Charla babysits Ikki with Kiara while Ikaruga is currently resting at the bedroom, doing her pastime which is knitting as it has been a good hobby for her over the passing 7 years.
Ikki started whining as he has been trying to catch Charla's tail and keep on failing, irritating and annoying the boy. Kiara squealed before the Pop Fox went near Ikki and showed him her fluffy tail. Ikki smiles as he started rubbing his hands against her fluffy tail with happy giggles.
"in the end, he chose Kiara's fluffier tail, huh?" said Charla with a sigh while Wendy giggles. "just what…" added Charla before her eyes widen and quivers.
Charla sees Natsu stood in a dark cave where he is surrounded by dozens of white demonic masks, all with glowing red eyes. Then she sees a large Edo styled palace where Gojin, Raikou, Kazane, Yamika, Akari, Daichi, and Ayame standing in front of a man who is sitting behind a curtain that covered his identity. By the shadow of the man appeared the shadow of a serpent with glowing yellow eyes.
Lastly she sees a large circle with numerous amounts of unrecognizable symbols where Ikaruga stood in the middle before a burst of light came forth from the circle and she sees a large black silhouette of a serpent like creature that has eight heads with multiple pair of glowing eyes.
"w-what….what was that vision?!" thought Charla with a fearful look while placing a paw to her forehead.
"Charla?" Wendy called out to the Exceed, seeing her action. "something wrong?"
"n-nothing" lied Charla, not wanting to tell of her vision. Wendy blinked her eyes twice as she soon heard someone holler from the front door.
Wendy stood up and went to answer the door while Charla stayed in the room to look after Ikki who keeps on playing with Kiara's fluffy tail.
Wendy slides the front door open as she is met with Lisanna and Elfman, both carrying lots of grocery bags.
"ah, Lisanna-san, Elfman-san" Wendy greeted the two siblings before they entered the home to put the grocery away in the kitchen.
"man, do Natsu has a lot of groceries that needed to be bought," said Elfman while carrying in two crates filled with either vegetable, fruits, spices, and bread.
"he has a family of four to feed after all, Elf-niichan" said Lisanna before seeing Ikaruga coming into the kitchen while carrying Ikki and having Kiara riding on her shoulder.
"thank you" said Ikaruga with a smile. "I'm sorry for the trouble"
"don't worry, we always be there to lend a hand" said Lisanna with a smile before she got near and petted Ikki's head, the child giggling a bit to the affection. "especially for this little one"
Ikaruga smiles before her eyes widen when she sensed something as she turns to her side while Kiara is growling with her fur standing up.
"what's wrong?" asked Wendy before the roof suddenly blew up out of nowhere.
"what the!?" exclaimed Lisanna as everyone covers their head from the falling rubble before Elfman raises his arms up over her and Wendy, protecting the two.
Ikki cries from the surprising fright while Ikaruga protects her child with her whole body, some of the falling rubble fell on her body but the mother protected him no matter what.
Before long, a woman with long and wavy navy blue hair, wears a black and blue kunoichi outfit that has armor platings covering the right shoulder down to the right hand, long white sash tied around the waist, white scarf around her neck, black knee socks, and brown gettas came appearing into the room as she wields a long blue naginata that was swung right at Elfman who got caught off guard.
"Guaaah!" shouted Elfman as he got sent flying through the kitchen's wall and out of the house.
"Mizuki-han!?" said Ikaruga in surprise to the mysterious woman who spins her naginata and then swung its blade right at Lisanna but she got blocked by Kiara who lunged at her face and started scratching her claws on the woman's face.
Lisanna takes the opportunity to get Ikaruga and the others out while leaving Kiara who keeps on scratching the woman's face while the attacker is dealing with her.
Everyone got out of the home before they got face to face with another woman with pearl white hair that has a red headband on top, wears sleeveless white kimono with pink sakura petals design, long skirt which has both sides split open, wears black knee socks and red high heeled single pointed gettas. the other mysterious woman wields a bow while pulling an arrow on its string that is aimed at the group.
"Akari-han?!" said Ikaruga before the mysterious woman fired her arrow as the group dodged and the arrow struck the house which exploded in a bright white explosion.
"Kyaaa!" everyone screamed as they fell to the ground while burning rubbles and debris flew everywhere around them.
The mysterious woman named Akari takes another arrow from behind her back as she pulls it on the string of her bow and aimed at Lisanna who is getting up but was soon confronted by Elfman in his Beast Soul, the man charging right at her.
"MAN!" shouted Elfman as he charges right at Akari who jumps away to dodge a hammer punch from the hulking man. Akari soon landed on a nearby tree's branch and aimed her bow and arrow at Elfman who growls at her.
"I don't know who you are nor why you attack us all the sudden!" shouted Elfman angrily "But if you think you can just come and hurt us, you got another thing coming!"
Akari keens her eyes and hardened her gaze at Elfman as she pulled the arrow hard on her bow's string before firing it. Elfman jumping away as the arrow fired at the ground before causing an explosion.
"magic imbued arrows?!" said Elfman before he landed on the ground and made a dash then a jump at Akari who is reloading her arrows. "take it like a man!"
Before Elfman's attack could land a hit on Akari, Mizuki appeared behind Elfman as the blue haired woman struck the man's back with her weapon causing his attack a failure.
"Gaaah!" shouted Elfman as he crashed to the ground while bleeding from a nasty cut on his back that is caused from the naginata's blade.
"Elf-niichan/Elfman-san!" shouted Wendy and Lisanna.
Mizuki landed on another tree's branch near Akari's as she leaned her weapon against her shoulder while also having Kiara in a small net strapped to her waist, before glancing at Lisanna and Wendy.
"finish the rest, Akari" said Mizuki to Akari who nodded while aiming her bow and arrow at the two and was about to fire when the tree she is standing by the branch of suddenly shakes violently by Elfman who had gotten back up and punched the tree.
"like I let you!" shouted Elfman as he grabs the tree and use all his strength to pull it right out of the ground. Akari jumps away as she landed on the ground a few feet away before she sees Elfman charging right at her. "MAN!"
"such an annoying man" said Akari as she pulls two arrows on her bow and fired at Elfman. The two arrow's arrowheads glows white before creating an energy chain between the two that wraps around Elfman's body and spins around before both arrowheads collide causing an explosion on the man.
"Gaaah!" shouted Elfman as the explosion caused smoke to cover the area around him.
"Elf-niichan!" exclaimed Lisanna before she sees Elfman falling to the ground out of his Beast Soul, the Middle Strauss Sibling is knocked out from Akari's attack.
Mizuki and Akari soon turn their attention to the group as they readied their weapons against them. Lisanna and Wendy turning hostile as they prepared their magic but Ikaruga soon got in between the two groups.
"Ikaruga?!" "please get out of the way!" "you're going to get hurt!" exclaimed Lisanna and the others.
"cease your actions at once, Mizuki-han, Akari-han." Said Ikaruga with a stern look. "I order you"
"our orders from the Emperor are to return to Lingyue with you and to destroy anything that appears similar to Lingyue, meaning your home, the building of Fairy Tail, and the cave where the Lingyue Eien no Sakura Ki lies upon." Said Mizuki as she swung her naginata to the side before her pose turns into a battle stance with her weapon. "even if you are the Empress, our orders from the Emperor is not to be denied"
"both of you, stand down at once" said Ikaruga as she hardened her gaze at Mizuki and Akari who stood in their places. "this is my order as an Empress"
The atmosphere in the air suddenly turned tense as no one spoke a word except for Ikki whose cries rang out while in his mother's arms. After a few minutes, Mizuki and Akari lowered down their weapons before they slowly went down to their knees and bowed.
"We heed your command, Empress" said Mizuki and Akira in unison to Ikaruga whose hard gaze slowly softens before she turns to Lisanna and Wendy who are looking confused and surprised.
"please, take care of him" said Ikaruga as she slowly walks to the two and passes Ikki to Lisanna, the child still cries as he reaches his hands out to his mother, Ikaruga smiled sadly as she pecks his forehead and caresses his head. "be a good boy, alright?"
Ikki looks at his mother with a confused look as Ikaruga gave him a loving smile before she slowly takes a few steps back and backed away from her child with Lisanna and Wendy, Ikki's cries came back as the child reaches his hands to her while wanting to be in her embrace.
Ikaruga turns around as she walks towards Mizuki and Akari who stood up, both women look at the pink haired woman who went pass in between the two before soon following her.
"w-wait….Wait, Ikaruga!" exclaimed Lisanna, her mind just realizing what is going on. "where are you going!?"
"Ikaruga-san!" shouted Wendy but Ikaruga just disappears into the woods with Akari and Mizuki as they vanish into thin air.
Upon the present time. somewhere in the sky above, the Dragon Celestial Spirit, Draco zooms through the clouds and flies in the air; the Celestial Spirit has Natsu with Makarov riding on his head as they are heading back to Magnolia.
The Fourth Master of Fairy Tail having a serious and fearful look as Draco zooms through the clouds and the three soon sees Magnolia where there are smoke coming from the Fairy Tail Guild itself.
"the guild!" said Makarov with a surprised look.
"get there now, Draco!" exclaimed Natsu before gritting his teeth.
"hang on" said Draco before he flies even faster towards Magnolia.
Later on, Natsu and Makarov jumped off Draco when the Celestial Spirit Dragon got near Magnolia. The two Guild Masters landing on the street, a few feet away from the Guild.
Draco disappears into the Celestial Spirit world while Natsu and Makarov went near their guild with their eyes wide and shocked. The guild is nearly destroyed as every member of the guild are all either getting taken away to the hospital on stretchers with the help of other members who have bandages wrapped around their body and some citizens, some were helping members trapped under rubble, some were aiding those who are injured before they were taken away on stretchers.
"just what…" muttered Makarov before both hear the sound of a child's crying nearby. "a child's cry?"
Natsu hears the cry as it is the sound of Ikki's cry, the father immediately followed the cries as Makarov followed behind.
Entering into the wrecked guild, Natsu and Makarov finds everyone in a negative foul, and sour mood as if the attack on the guild, brought down their morals.
Natsu looks around before he hears Ikki's cries near as he turns to his side and sees Lisanna with Lucy near the wrecked bar, trying to calm the child. The father went to his son as everyone sees their guild masters returning back.
"Natsu!" said Lisanna and the nearby members as Natsu got near and takes Ikki into his arm. Ikki's cries and wails as Natsu holds him close before his artificial hand equipped onto his left side. The mechanical hand twitching before it started to move.
"what has happened here?" said Makarov, standing nearby.
"we got attacked" said Mira while getting her injuries healed by Wendy who is pouring a lot of her magic. "by four people who just came out of nowhere"
"they said that they have orders to destroy everything" said Erza who is nearby, the Scarlet Knight helping Gajeel down on a chair. "everything that Natsu made"
"I made?" said Natsu while calming Ikki down before his eyes widen a bit. "Gojin.."
"how much damage did they made?" said Makarov while looking around. "and how many casualties?"
"no sever casualties, they just wrecked up the guild hard" said Lucy before frowning. "but…"
"wait….where are Gray, Gildarts, and the others?" said Natsu before looking around as he has already calmed Ikki down, the child cried himself to sleep. He turns to look at Mira. "and where are Ikaruga and the twins?"
Mira frowned before tears started to well up in her eyes. Natsu's face slowly turned into fear as he imagined something that he never wanted to imagine in his life.
At the Magnolia Hospital, the building is packed with injured members of Fairy Tail who are all getting treated by the nurses and the doctors.
In one room, Porlyusica is tending to Freed, Bickslow, Evergreen, Laxus, and Elfman, all five of them has bandages on their whole body. the Guild Medic frowns as to see their injuries before she turns and sees Natsu pass the room, the Guild Master having a frantic look. Porlyusica soon sees Makarov, Lucy, Erza, and Mira running behind.
"what were those fools doing.." muttered Porlyusica with a frown while shaking her head. "a guild without its Master won't be strong"
Natsu runs past injured patients, nurses, and doctors as he looks around the side to side and front for any sign of his family.
"Natsu! wait! You mustn't!" exclaimed Makarov as he and the others followed Natsu from behind.
Natsu ignores the old man as he keeps on running before he caught sight of Gildarts with Juvia coming out of the room. The Fourth Guild Master bolted to them as Gildarts sees Natsu.
"where are they!?" exclaimed Natsu to them.
"Natsu, wait. You need to calm down first" said Gildarts while raising both hands to him.
"I said where are they!?" exclaimed Natsu, the man is a frantic father who needs to see if his family are safe or not.
"Natsu-san, please! Gray-sama is inside with Haruo-kun and he is.." said Juvia as her statement caught Natsu's attention.
"what?" said Natsu as he looks at her. "Gray is with Haruo….then…what about Ikaruga and Haruka…aren't they with them?"
"it's…" said Juvia with a frown before looking down. "Haruo-kun…"
"what..what happened to Haruo?" said Natsu before he grabs Juvia's shoulders and shakes her. "what happened to Haruo!?"
"Natsu! calm down!" exclaimed Gildarts as he grabs Natsu's hands away from the Water Mage before his collar got grabbed by the Salmon haired mage.
"don't you dare tell me to calm down!" shouted Natsu with rage in his eyes "what happened to my son?!"
"that's…" said Gildarts before looking away, not wanting to answer the father.
Natsu having enough, barge his way into the room, Gildarts and Juvia trying to stop him but the salmon haired man had entered in and his eyes sees the content of the room.
The room's light is not present as the windows were covered in the shades, candles are lit around the area as there is only a single bed in the middle where there is someone resting upon it and someone beside it.
Natsu took a few steps forward slowly, his eyes were quivering as he sees Haruo on the bed, the child's eyes are closed while his body is covered with a white blanket up to his neck, beside the bed is Gray who sat on a chair with a down look.
"Haruo?" Natsu called out to his son as he made his way to the other side of his bed and sees his son just laid on the bed, his chest not even moving while he sleeps. "Haruo?"
Makarov and the others arrived near the room as they see the occupants and their face turned grim. Natsu got close to Haruo as he lifted his son's head gently with his artificial left arm before placing his right hand on his son's cheek.
"Haruo? Wake up..i'm home…Haruo" said Natsu as tears started to well up in his eyes, Natsu's right hand felt just how cold his son's cheek and no air coming out of his nose. "Haruo? Please…wake up"
Tears drips down on Haruo's face as Natsu's eyes overfilled with tears while the man gritted his teeth hard to the point that they would break any second longer.
"I'm sorry….Natsu…..Haruo…he won't…" muttered Gray with tears sliding down his cheeks. "i….i couldn't…save him…."
"Haruo…" Natsu leans his forehead against his son's as the father's tears endlessly drips down. "…Haruo!"
Everyone near the room turns away as they too shed some tears for the father who has lost his wife, his only daughter, and one of his own sons.
"HARUO!" Natsu screamed out as his tears rage endlessly and his grieving wails echoed out of the room and into the hospital itself.
That's a wrap!
Bye bye
