Ch. 9- Nirvana's True Form
Fairy Tail © Hiro Mashima
Story and OCs © Me
"Wait a minute," Lucy said as she glanced over at the defeated Angel. "What just happened? How come she looks all beat up, now?!"
"Because you did it!" Haru exclaimed. "You defeated Angel, all on your own! Do you seriously not remember?!"
"I remember Hibiki grabbing me," Lucy replied, "but the rest is a blur!"
"How could you not remember yourself doing something so awesome?!" Haru questioned. "Natsu, you saw her, right?!"
Natsu, who was still stuck on the raft, only groaned in distress from his motion sickness.
"Oh, that's right!" Lucy exclaimed as she and Haru hurried to go help the Fire Dragon Slayer... but then, there was a bark of warning from Blue Fang, causing the girls to turn around and see Angel standing up, still holding Caelum in her hand with a crazed grin on her face.
"Holy crap!" Haru cursed.
"We... we cannot lose...!" Angel said with a bloodied grin. "Oración Seis... will NOT lose!"
"Jeez, lady, don't you ever quit?!" Haru questioned while Blue Fang growled at her, his fur bristling as he prepared to charge if need be while Angel pressed a switch on Caelum, causing the mechanical spirit to turn into its cannon form.
"If I'm going down," she said, "then I'm taking you with me!" She then laughed maniacally as Caelum fired an energy beam at Lucy, who gasped in horror as she tried to will her body to dodge, but she was too exhausted from using the Urano Metria, not to mention using up most of her magic, to do so.
"DUCK!" Haru cried as she dove at Lucy and pushed her down... but even if the Beast Wizard hadn't done so, it wouldn't have mattered, because the beam somehow ended up changing course, missing Lucy completely and destroying the tree that Natsu's raft was tied to!
"W... wha...?!" Angel whispered. "But... how?!" She then groaned as she finally felt all her strength leave her... and she began to fall backwards.
'My prayer...' she thought. 'My prayer was to vanish far away into the sky...!'
"But... this is the water!" she complained as she finally collapsed in the river while Lucy and Haru sat up, panting heavily.
"That was a close one!" Haru exclaimed. "Lucy, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I think so," Lucy replied. "I mean... I'm exhausted, but I'm alive."
Haru smiled at the Celestial Spirit Wizard. "You were amazing, Lucy... and I'm not just talking about that spell you did. The way you stood up for Aries... it was awesome!"
Lucy only smiled back and said, "I only did what felt right, you know?"
"Hehe!" Haru grinned. "I heard that!"
"Heeeelp... meeeee...!"
Lucy and Haru gasped as they turned to see that Natsu was now slowly drifting downstream on the raft, groaning in misery as his stomach churned with nausea.
"Oh, crap!" Haru cursed. "We forgot about Natsu!"
"Hold on, Natsu!" Lucy called as she, Haru, and Blue Fang waded through the water after him. "We're coming!"
"Hang in there, bro!" Haru cried... but meanwhile, Happy still remained encased in a block of ice.
'Hey... what about me?!' thought the blue cat as he remained frozen.
"Natsu! Reach out to us!" Lucy called as she reached her hand out to him, prompting Natsu to reach his hand out in turn... and though he was a bit shaky, he managed to clasp his hand around Lucy's wrist. However, there was just one problem.
Lucy didn't pull him off, but instead, he ended up pulling her onto the raft!
"Wait!" Lucy cried. "Natsu! What are you doing?!"
"Oh, no!" Haru shouted as she grabbed onto Lucy's other hand. "Hang on! I got-"
Before any of them could react fast enough, Haru soon found herself being yanked onto the raft, as well, and to make matters even worse, the raft had gotten in a fast current, which pulled all three of them right into the rapids!
"OH, NOOOOOOOO!" Lucy and Haru screamed as they found themselves being pulled downstream by the incredibly fast current, and meanwhile, an anxious Blue Fang could only whine as he saw his partner get sent adrift, leaving him alone on the more shallow, calmer part of the river. The waters thrashed and threw the trio about, breaking the logs and ropes that held the raft together, and while the girls held on for dear life, Natsu was still dazed from his motion sickness and was unable to so much as move, and the rapids weren't doing much to quell his upset stomach or his sense of balance. It was then that Haru looked up, only to gasp in horror... for up ahead was a roaring waterfall!
"Lucy! Grab onto Natsu!" Haru cried, and Lucy soon pulled the Salamander close to her, pressing his face into her bosom... just as the raft finally went over the falls, sending them all screaming as they plummeted towards the bottom and plunged into the river's depths, the world soon growing dark around them as they hit the water.
The sound of bubbles churning was all that was heard... followed by silence.
XXX
She didn't know for how long she was out... but she did know that she was alive, because for one thing, she could hear the sound of birdsongs in the distance, and for another, she felt something warm, yet, and a little sticky slide up her cheek, causing her to groan as she opened her eyes. At first, everything was a blur, but as her eyes adjusted, she saw that she was staring at the black, shiny nose of her favorite silver wolf.
"Blue Fang?" Haru asked while Blue Fang panted happily and barked before he began to lick her face some more, causing her to laugh. "Aww... I'm happy to see you, too, boy!" She then looked up at the sky and noticed that it had changed from blue to a deep orange, showing that it was almost dusk. Not just that, but the Light of Nirvana was still shooting up into the sky... except now, it had changed from black to white.
"The light... it changed colors," Haru noticed.
"Haru?"
Haru turned around to see Natsu and Lucy... who, for some reason, were wearing blue clothing with golden embroidery. Lucy even had a bandage around her arm from when Gemini cut her with Caelum.
"Natsu! Lucy!" Haru exclaimed. "You guys are okay! But... what happened? How did we even get on land?" She paused. "And... why are you two wearing matching outfits?"
"Virgo saved us," Lucy replied, "and she also gave us new clothes."
"Well, at least you guys are all right," Haru said.
"Yeah, we are," Natsu replied, "except I can't find Happy anywhere."
"Uh... oops," Haru muttered in realization. "We left Happy back there with Hibiki!"
"I knew we were forgetting something!" Lucy cried. "Sorry, Natsu!"
"Well... all we can do is hope that he can catch up to us," Natsu said.
"By the way, do you feel better, now, bro?" Haru asked.
"I feel awesome now that I'm not on that raft!" Natsu answered before he blew out a puff of flames from his mouth, causing the Beast Wizard and the Celestial Spirit Wizard to smile.
"Anyway, we're close to Nirvana, now," Lucy pointed out as she noticed the light up ahead, "but have you noticed? The light changed color."
"Yeah, I have noticed," Haru replied. "I'm actually kinda worried... do you think it's because Jellal is there?"
"Jellal...!" Natsu growled. "Come on! We gotta hurry and catch up to that guy!"
Suddenly, they heard the sound of a twig snapping, causing them to turn and see Sherry stumbling out of the shrubbery.
"Sherry?!" Lucy asked. "It's you!"
"Hey, wait a sec!" Natsu exclaimed. "Didn't I see you on Galuna before?"
"Seriously?" Lucy asked, incredulously before she approached Sherry. "Sherry, are you-"
"Hold it!" Haru exclaimed as she held her arm out in front of her. "Something's off..."
As Lucy and Natsu got a closer look, they gasped as they saw that Sherry was walking rather off-kilter... and she had a dark look in her eyes.
"I found you..." Sherry hissed, hatefully. "Fairy Tail..."
"Oh, no...!" Lucy whispered in horror. "Don't tell me!"
"What's up with her?" Natsu asked as he glared at the Doll Wizard, who grinned as she made two giant hands made out of soil and moss grow out of the ground, causing them to gasp.
"Crap!" Haru cursed while Blue Fang growled at Sherry. "She's under Nirvana's influence!"
"Wait, what?!" Natsu questioned. "What does that mean?!"
Before Sherry could follow through with her attack... she was suddenly tackled from behind by Gray, who grabbed her in a chokehold!
"Gray!" Haru and Lucy cried while the Ice-Make Wizard pinned Sherry to the ground.
"Dammit, you crazy bitch!" Gray shouted. "Get a hold of yourself!"
"Arrrggh! Let go of me!" Sherry screamed. "How are you still alive?! I thought I killed you!"
"What's goin' on with her?!" Natsu asked.
"After this black light showed up, she started to attack me outta nowhere!" Gray answered.
"Well, you were acting pretty weird, too!" Natsu pointed out.
"Gray, listen to me!" Haru cried. "It's not her fault!"
"Natsu, the Gray that attacked you was a fake!" Lucy exclaimed.
"I said let go!" Sherry shouted. "I must avenge Lyon's death! LET ME GO!"
"What kind of nonsense are you spouting now, Sherry?" a familiar voice called out, causing Sherry to gasp as she and the others looked up to see Lyon, covered in scratches and slightly bruised, but otherwise alive!
"L... Lyon...?!" Sherry whispered.
"What happened to you?" Haru asked. "You look like hell!"
"It's a long story," Lyon replied.
"Heh," Gray smirked as he pointed his thumb at his fellow disciple. "You think a guy like him would get himself killed, just like that? You don't know him as well as you do, do you?"
"Well, if you ask me, you Fairy Tail wizards are much harder to kill," Lyon pointed, causing Natsu to glare at him.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" the Fire Dragon Slayer asked with a growl in his voice.
"What are you getting all hot and bothered about?" Lucy asked in exasperation while Haru giggled.
"That's my bro," she said while Blue Fang happily wagged his tail. As for Sherry, her eyes welled up with tears as a smile of relief formed on her face before she sighed and collapsed on the ground.
"Thank goodness," she whispered... and soon after, a wisp of white light suddenly emerged from her body before it flew away into the sky and disappeared.
"What the hell was that?" Natsu asked.
"It must be a small part of Nirvana," Lucy replied. "It possessed her."
"So I was right, then," Gray said, "but can someone please fill me in on what's going on?"
"Yeah, me, too!" Natsu added.
"Well, you see-" Haru began before she was suddenly cut off by a huge tremor, causing everyone to gasp as they tried to keep their balance.
"What's going on?!" Lyon questioned.
"I don't know!" Lucy replied.
"Look! The light!" Gray shouted as he pointed toward the light... which was beginning to grow bigger, and as it grew, the tremors became stronger. That's when something began to emerge from the ground, which began to break apart.
"RUN!" Haru shouted as she and the others turned and ran in the other direction. However, while Lyon was able to outrun whatever it was while carrying an unconscious Sherry, Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Haru, and Blue Fang ended up getting lifted high into the air by what looked like some sort of stone structure!
"What is this thing?!" Lucy asked in shock.
"Ugh... I think I'm gonna be sick...!" Natsu groaned, his face turning green as he held his stomach.
"Oh, come on, bro!" Haru complained. "Keep it together!" She then looked around and saw many other stone structures around them... six of them to be exact... and that's when she saw something that shook her to the core: a huge city on a giant stone platform, which was being supported by the stone pillars.
"Holy hell...!" Gray whispered in disbelief. "What is this thing?!"
"I think it's... Nirvana's true form!" Haru exclaimed.
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