Gray's POV
I raced my way towards the temple in lightning fast speed. For some reason, I keep remembering Ur's sacrifice in my head. How she gave up her own life for the sake of Lyon and mine's. Maybe if I wasn't so arrogant and hot-headed, then I probably could have avoided this. But I can't alter the past, I can only fix the present. That's what I plan to do. I think about performing Iced Shell on Lyon, so he doesn't get a chance to fight Deliora, but soon shake it off. I mean if they can melt it with Moon Drip.
I run inside and head for the top floor, where I hear the fighting. I see half the area in a shell of ice and decide to punch it. I open to see Natsu and Lyon. I slowly walk over to the both of them. "Leave him to me. I got a score to settle with him," I tell Natsu without taking my eyes off Lyon.
"No way man! You already lost to him!" Natsu whines like a child.
"That ain't happening this time. I'm planning to finish what I started."
"You're awfully confident," Lyon states with a bored expression.
"You're right about one thing, Lyon. Ur's death is my fault, but you're not any better. You threatened my comrades, harmed the villagers, and now ruining the very thing Ur gave her life to. It's about time we both face our punishment," I tell him. I think again about doing Iced Shell, but this time I might do it. I hope I can trick him into backing out because I still know it is worthless in the end. I also hope Natsu doesn't fall for it.
I stretch my arms, crossing them. My legs are spread apart, and I lean my body forward. "That position, don't tell me you're going to perform Iced Shell!" Lyon cries out in shock.
"If you value your life, then you turn the villagers back to normal. And you will leave this island." I start activating the spell and glare at Lyon.
"Like you have the guts to go through with it." I amplify the spell even more to speed it up. Now ice shards spread out, giving it a cold blast of air. Lyon tries his magic to eradicate the spell, but it blows up in his face. Natsu has to put his arms up in defense to protect himself while urging me to stop.
"For a long time, I didn't think Ur's death was my fault, but it was. It's about time I own up to my mistake. If I have to end my life because of it, then let it be."
"Stop it now!"
"Time to pick! Live or die?"
"You'll never go through with it."
"Watch me!" I take up a notch without fully acknowledging it. When I do, I can't stop it. Natsu, Erza, Fairy Tail, I'm sorry, but I think my time is up. Thank you for the best ten years of my life. I'll cherish it in the afterlife. I close my eyes to let the spell come over me. I feel my body turning into ice and cracking. Lyon still doesn't believe I won't go through with it, but at this point I can't stop it. "ICED SHELL!" I almost clap my hands to seal the deal when Natsu punches me and stops the spell. I fall to the ground and look at him in disbelief. "Natsu!"
"What? You can't just show up actin' all dandy and steal the show! Get to the back of the line!" Natsu demands with a smirk.
"Back of the line?" I ask almost hesitantly."
"Y'know I showed up first, so this my fight!"
"Your fight? Buddy when I got here I said leave him to me! YOU DEAF?!"
"I heard it all right. But after ye' said it, I declared I fight him before you!" Having enough of his childish behavior, I grab him by the scarf and look at him in the eye.
"I don't care who said what. I got a score to settle with him, so drop it. If I have to die for it, then let me!" He grabs my wrist tightly and glares at me menacingly.
"Oh yeah? How is dying settling this? Sounds to me like you're runnin' away." I look at him in shock when I realize what he means. Before I could say anything to him, the building started shaking. That's when I notice how everything starts to feel like they are going back into place. Great! The moonlight is gonna shine on the stupid demon again! I betta' end this fast, or else it's too late.
Then a short guy with green hair, a weird looking mask, a cloak, runs into Lyon. They take the liberty of discussing how the short guy fixed the temple for the ceremony, indicating that night has fallen. "What's the big deal? How'd you fix it?" Natsu practically whines. The short guy laughs and runs off to start the ceremony. Natsu spits out fire and runs after him.
"Natsu!" I call out to him. He stops shortly before looking at me.
"I'm leaving you to finish this guy off. You better not lose," he says, fixing his direction back to the exit. "'Cause this time ain't only 'bout you."
"I know. It's for Fairy Tail." He runs off, leaving me with Lyon at last.
"You two are quite the pair," Lyon comments. I face him, giving him my full attention.
"Tell me something. When I tried to use the spell, you were counting on the people to save you from if I were to freeze you right?" I ask with a bored expression.
"Indeed. My allies are just as devoted as I am. You would've been finished. Now tell me, are you willing to still fight me?" I think for a moment what he says. Honestly, I have no desire to fight him. I still wish to respect Ur's last wishes, but I have broken it to bring back some sense into Lyon. "You must be fooling yourself if y-"
"That's enough."
"What's the utter meaning of this?"
"Just forget about Deliora.
"Begging really? Does your guild have a dentist to pull out your fangs? Because right now, you're a kid, who screwed up something, and is asking to be forgiven."
"Lyon, you gotta know this. Ur is still alive." He looks at me in shock, and I continue, "Iced Shell doesn't kill its caster, but merely uses their body as the defense to keep it sealed. So the ice you have been melting, has been killing Ur this entire time. I'm sorry I never told you. I promised her I wouldn't." I look down and think about her last words that I fail to notice Lyon coming closer.
"Of course," he mutters before stepping in front of me. I become astonished, but before I could say anything, he uses his magic to summon a snow tiger within my right kidney. I groan lowly and fall back in pain to my right side, which is currently bleeding heavily. My eyes slowly start to blur as I try to keep my conscience. "She is nothing more than dead now. I assure you." He cancels the magic, and I am left with a hole in my right side. It starts to bleed out heavily as my breath becomes shorter.
"You knew.." I barely voice out.
"Knowing is one thing while believing is another. If you really believe she is alive, then you're dumber than that flame idiot." He circles towards my legs. I try to get up, but fail, and my body is shaking constantly. I feel like I might lose consciousness soon if I don't freeze my wound. With the little strength I have, I freeze it. I slowly stand up with wobbly legs, which might give out, and get my bearings straight. It hurts a lot, but I need to beat him for Fairy Tail and Ur's sake.
"You knew..and you-" breathing heavily as I talk-"still went ahead and did it. I'm gonna make you pay!" I punch his left cheek with enough force that he gets tumbled into a wall. He gasps in shock at my new found strength, which is nothing more than adrenaline at this point if I use it right. "I thought I could've saved you, but I give up."
"You want the title of star pupil? Well sorry to crush your dreams, but I have to go fight Deliora soon. I'd rather not waste my magic on this pointless fight."
"Fine by me. We will just use our fists."
"Very well." I charge at him with my right fist, but I get hit in the wound by his right hand strongly. "Our first lesson. Always aim for your opponent's weak spot." I start to fall before I try again with my previous attack to get kneed in the same area again. I landed on the floor with a crash. He steps away to give me a chance at this fight. I get up, clutching my wound, and stare at him. He charges at me, delivering a punch to my left then right. Followed by a right uppercut, then finished with a knee to the face. I step back barely, groaning.
"It's a shame. Your fists are as weak as your magic," he insults me. I try to punch him again, but this time he kicks me in the face, sending me flying into the wall. I land roughly on it and slide down slowly.
"This fight reminds me of someone else I spared with." I redo my attack, but once again get sent flying into the wall, but harder this time. Natsu. I remember a specific day when we fought. Master and Erza joined us as referees to make sure we didn't kill each other. We fought until we both landed on the ground. I remember looking up at the sky that day, and I hated how peaceful it looked. Why? Simple because everything at the time felt so messed up. Seeing something so peaceful, just made me angrier. I start to breathe heavily, and I can hear his breathing too.
"That settles it. I win."
"No." He turns around to see me standing up. "This fight is far from over."
He starts to shake from anger. "I should've killed you when I had the chance." He charges at me, and I do the same. We punch each other in the face, but my fist has more power, thus it sends him crashing into the ice. He comes back and elbows me in the face. I refuse to give up against him since I didn't give up against Natsu. I headbutt Lyon, and he knees me in the chin. I get sent back and run up to him. He delivers a swift uppercut, and I punch his left arm, and he punches my right cheek.
We keep punching each other in the chest and face continuously, and it reminds me of how I fought Natsu that day. I got in the last hit. I kick him in the face, sending him into a wall. He falls slowly to the ground. I watch him stand in pain as he uses the wall for support. "The Cold Emperor bested in battle by the likes of you!" Lyon growls in pain. "I won't stand to lose to you!"
"Then stand up and fight!" I urge him. With some new will, he manages to stand on his own two feet without any support. His breathing is heavy, but there is a look of determination in his eye. He takes his right hand out and makes a dragon. It dashes towards me, taking me into the air whilst directly attacking my fatal wound. I groan in pain in an attempt to mask desire to scream. I use my elbow to break the head. I tumble backwards until I hit the ice wall. At this point, my whole body is throbbing in pain, especially my right side. I have several bruises and scratches that are ridiculous.
I cough up some blood from the impact and clutch my side. I wearily stand up and wipe the blood from my mouth and glare at Lyon. "What the hell! I thought we agreed on no magic?" I question.
"Don't act like a fool! This fight is pointless and utter waste of my time. Deliora will be resurrected." He has a crazy look of despair and superiority that starts to linger in his eyes. "Alas, after years of hard work, my dream will come true. And no one shall stand in my way!" He rages.
"I ain't lettin' that go down," I drawl out. I stand up in a fighting position as my body aches to rest. I can't give up now, not when I stop it. Lyon still thinks he can win this fight and take out the demon. He starts to explain how close everything is. "Maybe you don't get it. That Zalty guy sure is weird, but his magic is amazing. But don't underestimate Natsu." I grin happily. "The minute you do, fate will bite you back."
He dissolves the ice around us and starts to think for a moment. I take that to my advantage and punch him in the jaw, sending him back slightly. He looks to be in shock, but soon wears off. He backs up and makes some apes. Since my injuries are wearing me down, both the apes strike me with barely any time to defend. I fall back and grunt in despair. I make some lances and destroy the apes with it while trying to hit Lyon. He narrowly dodges it and gets beside me to kick. I catch his leg with my left and punch him in the gut with my right.
He drops to the ground as I let go. He makes some waves of ice, but that gets blocked with my own. In the middle of it, there looks a path to make above the wave. I run up to the top and see Lyon in the same position, which gives me a chance. I jump down with my right fist hitting the ground first. Encasing my fist in ice, I spread a scatter of ice into the ground directly towards Lyon at fast speeds. He doesn't dodge and takes it head on and lands a few meters away. Except he shatters into pieces.
My eyes widen when I feel him behind me. He has fists encased in ice, taking the shape of a lion. I turn around to try to dodge, but fail. He delivers a blow to my gut. I stand back clutching it and cough up blood, only to be hit with another to my face. He catches me in a position where I am unable to dodge. He continues to punch me until he finishes it off with one blow, which makes me to the ground. My vision starts to see red as I feel a gash of blood seep from a new wound. Lyon's body is just as bad as mine, but he is in better condition than I am. He stands over me to make one last shot. I use the ground to freeze a little bit of the area until it reaches Lyon's hand and stops him from the final attack. I back out of the position and stand.
He wastes no time in breaking the ice and stands to glare at me. I am about to make another move, when the raging growl of Deliora. The very one that I never forgot. My eyes widen anxiously before reverting back to normal. The ground shakes from the roar, which makes me wonder just how loud it will be when it is fully released. "The ice has begun melting away from the ceremony. There is no point in stopping it now," he sneers proudly.
A pang of guilt strings my heart. Ur sacrificed everything for our future, and now only to be destroyed by a numb skull of an idiot. Lyon always had an admiration to defeat Ur, but somewhere along the line, he failed to see the life around him. He became unstable to a point where harming and manipulating people became the norm. His obsession turned into a far dangerous outcome than I think Ur imagined. "You really are hellbent on seeing this through," I mutter angrily.
"Of course! There is no stopping anything now! You and your friends failed!" he finishes off. He makes a pack of eagles that are sharp as blades to attack me. I dodge a few before making a shield. More starts to pour down until a one big approaches from above. It dives for me, but I move to my left to avoid. "I waited three years to make this happen."
"You wasted three years for a stupid plan?" I inquire in disbelief.
"You have no right to belittle me! You spent the decade wasting your life away in a wizard guild!" he retorts.
"That's because I listened to what Ur said." He becomes silent and stares at me unknowingly. "I went West and like she said, there were so many powerful wizards, especially Fairy Tail," I defend myself. I think back to how I met Gramps. His love and help made me who I am today. I simply can't abandon my friends, when I'm not ready myself. Gramps probably thought about the Moon Drip spell when I first asked him to revive back Ur. I tell Lyon when I first went to Fairy Tail. "Now that I think about it, Gramps probably knew 'bout this," I comment.
"This doesn't change a thing. All my life I had one goal, and I will accomplish it!" He howls. Charging at me again, I keep dodging his attack. He tries to make countless blows to my face and stomach, but fails. But in between it, I manage to find the gap as to how long his attacks are going at. Within a small time frame, I quickly make a sword and destroy his attack. I yell at him and slash my sword through his chest only to be fooled by the clone again. I didn't even notice when he made one.
He gets behind me once again and makes a tiger. It leaps at me, and I back flip into the air. Making my creation position with my hands, I quickly make a cage. It is built higher than I would've thought, but it gives the height advantage. The tiger tries various attempts to get out of the cage, but fails miserably and continues to roar. I get down from the cage and stand in front of Lyon. "Rule number one: single casting Maker magic is unbalanced. Your creations will fail you when you need them the most," I state. I slowly walk closer to him as he tries to get his tiger out of the cage.
I decide to finish off this battle once and for all with one shot. It is obvious that his magic started to drain him the moment his snow tiger failed to get out. Maker magic takes a lot of concentration to pull off any creation. Single casting Maker magic is not nearly as powerful as using both hands. And in the end, it takes up more magic by using one hand than two. You could master single casting, but when it comes to magic reserves, it will fail. I get into my position and a large magic circle summons beneath me. I stretch my hands to my side in the position of a rocket launcher. An ice canon is made within seconds and clutch onto the handle tightly.
"Ice-Make: Canon!" I cast a powerful beam of ice towards Lyon. The power of the cannon is too much for me to properly hold my ground, and I almost trip performing it. His injuries make it hard for him to move or create any magic to block the hit. As it draws near him, he lets out an ear piercing scream as it hits. Smoke clouds the surrounding area and with my limited vision, I barely see a hole in the wall. Dust clears, and Lyon falls back onto the ground harshly. There seems to be a large wound drawing out from his right shoulder and the body has particles of my ice surrounding him. He faints, and I drop to the ground. "That took a lot of me physically than I thought. Judging by the roar, the ice is melting much too quickly for it to hold out any longer. Using the Iced Shell will be useless, so fighting it will be the only option," I ramble out loud my thoughts.
I pant heavily for a few minutes to relax my aching muscles. I get up to get down to Deliora when the roar from it makes me freeze in my tracks. The very roar that haunted me when I was child until now. I would never forget something like this, which pushes me harder to get stronger. I sigh to calm down my racing heartbeat and clear my mind of any distractions. Thank you for saving my life Ur. I don't think I could ever repay you, but let me honor your memory by defeating Deliora. I clench my fists and head down in full determination.
Natsu's POV
The Zalty guy is starting to get on my nerves. His ability to change an object's time is annoying. I should be thankful it doesn't work on living creatures, or else we would be in serious trouble. I try to make several attempts to hit him with my magic, but it is useless. And now, the ice already melted at the waist of the demon. Not only that, but when it roared, my ears died.
Zalty keeps mocking me and hitting me continuously. which gives me no time for a counter attack. He however, is generous to provide an explanation for reviving the demon. Pure madness in my opinion if you just want to revive to control it for your own benefits. But the weirdest part of all of this, might be his scent. You think for a guy he would not smell like women's perfume, unless for something else entirely.
He starts to lose his cool and sends me several lacrima balls my way. Getting fed up, I decide to use my magic to break it once again. But this time, breaking the lacrima might cause an explosion since there are several. Providing a smoke screen, I jump above and punch the guy square in the face before he could dodge. He goes flying into the cave floor.
The large cave ultimately has tons of cracks. Especially the floor, now that the ice is melting, water fills the cracks in a tremendous speed. Tons of large and small rocks followed by some crystals, but nothing too major for making profit of. I see the purple glow disappear from above, and the ice completely melts. Deliora roars once more, but this time more powerful. I smell Gray behind me, and I check to see he is staring at the demon. "Hey whatcha' doin' down here?" I ask cheerfully.
"Natsu," he follows with. Gray has this distant tone in his voice, which almost sounds like guilt.
"Well there is nothin' we can do now, but destroy the thing." I jump down from the rock to get to his level.
"I guess you're right," he mutters. Behind him, we both see Lyon crawl his way towards us. He has a fanatical look in his eye that freaks me out. He starts sputtering nonsense, which we look sadly at him. He still wants to fight it even after taking a beating from Gray. I'll admit the guy is stubborn and determined, but this is nuts.
Deliora howls once more. "I waited all my life for this moment. And now it's coming true," he admits. He looks at the demon in awe. "She was strong, but still lost to that thing." He stands up slowly. "My dream will be fulfilled." Gray smacks him at the pressure point. Lyon falls, and Gray ushers me to fight it. I smile at him and get ready.
"I'll try my best to freeze it in its tracks while you attack it. If we combine our attacks together, then we can take it out," he explains, and I nod. Deliora takes a foot on our ground and swings its tail towards us. We jump back, and Gray temporarily freezes it in its track. It howls and starts to swing its fist. I jump to counter it with my own.
"Fire Dragon: Iron Fist!" I cast my spell. I'm in mid-air, and I almost fall, but Gray creates a pillar of ice for my support. Successfully landing on the ice, it becomes a battle of strength and power. I scream my war cry and with enough power, the demon starts to crack. The hand falls off, and I draw back my hand in shock. "I'm much stronger than I thought," I mutter while looking at my hand in amazement. The rest of the body soon follows and everyone else looks at it in shock.
The parts of the body enter the water, causing a massive splashes. The sound of it almost feels as though we are in an earthquake. "For ten years. the demon was rotting in the shell. What we witnessed was its last dying breath," Lyon mutters weakly. I smell a hint of salt coming from, but I don't have a clue to why he is crying.
I turn to Gray with a smile. "Your teacher was pretty awesome!" I compliment him. He starts to cry, and I grin with my eyes closed. I turn around to see Lucy and Happy coming. Happy hugs me, and I feel Erza's presence behind me. I scream and try to run, but she grabs me. I look away from and look at Gray helping Lyon. I am happy that it is over, and I got to fight another demon.
Lucy's POV
We head of the cave outside near the sea. Natsu and Happy are practically glowing from taking down the beast. Erza and I on the other hand, are thinking of more possibilities of lifting the curse. We both figured that Deliora is not the cause, considering Moon Drip is in the play. To be totally honest, those villagers hidin' something. Now that Deliora and Lyon are out of the way, we can finally go ask about it. But what's pissing me off, is I smell Ultear's scent. This makes no sense! Why is she here? My thoughts scramble on and on before abruptly halting when the boys start to panic.
"The demon had nothing to do with the curse. It is simply the intense magic energy from the Moon Drip spell that affected them," Erza explains to them. I do not bother to voice my opinions. I walk straight to Lyon for questions.
"You've been on this island for three years, which is also the same time the moon started going crazy. Mind tellin' me why you haven't been affected?" I interrogate him .
"To be honest, I don't have a clue." I raise my eyebrow and look at him. The others do the same for him to continue. "It is true we have been since the moon started to glow purple. We knew there was a village here, but we didn't bother visiting them. Not once."
"That starts to fit in with my idea. Why didn't they bother to check it out? I mean the light is so bright, it's hard not to miss it." I put a hand to my chin and my forehead.
"The villagers weren't transformed by the Moon Drip. In fact, it doesn't have any effect on the human body." He finally looks at me.
"Yeah right! You're just saying to get off the hook for what you pulled!" Natsu accuses Lyon dramatically.
"Just think about it. I have been exposed to it as long as they have, yet I'm still human. As well as my associates," Lyon calmly explains.
"Well it's official. They're hidin' something. I mean Moon Drip is a scared and pure spell, so turning into demons isn't exactly well pure. Unless.." I trail off. My mind goes into overdrive. Of course! Now it makes sense! The spell must have affected whatever spell the villagers had on. So essentially, the villagers must have been demons in the first place! I can only guess two reasons why they'd hide it. One, they must have forgotten due to the intensity of Moon Drip. Two, they must have been scared to tell us they were demons in the first place. But that needs a little more thought on it.
"Lucy, you okay?" Happy asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Not really. But I think I know what caused the curse or whatever you call it in the first place," I say happily. Everyone looks at me in shock. "But first, we need to go to the village for answers. They're the only ones to give it. Then I think I might have a way to destroy the moon." The boys' jaws drop to the floor while Erza has a contemplating look on her face. I mean it makes sense. The moon is only purple here while everywhere else is um.. white. So it would make sense that the area must be surrounded by some gas that crystallized into a cloud. Break that, and we get the villagers back to normal.
"You seriously believe we can destroy the moon?" Gray asks unbelievably.
"Yep." He mutters something under his breath, and I ignore what he says.
"Awesome!" Natsu cheers before facing Lyon. "But we ain't done with you yet. You des-" he gets cut off by Erza, who puts her hand on his mouth.
"Enough. They did what they believed was the right reason to go about it. No need to make them dwell on it any further." She lets go of him and starts to walk to the village.
"'Bout time. Thought we weren't gonna ever get there," I tell her before running off again. I just want to get off this island once and for all. My sleep schedule flew out the window in the past 24 hours, and I prefer to sleep on a soft bed. The others soon catch up and reach the storage area. We look around to see nobody around, and Gray goes off to find medicine.
"Hey guys!" a man that looks like a green lizard runs in. "Good you made. There is something you need to check out." We follow him to where the village is located. Once we are there, we are in shock. The village is completely restored back to its original state. We all look around to make sure it is real. I clench my fists and look down at the ground. Why is she here? I can smell she was here. First she rebuilds the temple to finish the ceremony, and now restores the village. I seriously am getting tired of being played for a fool. Surely she knows I'll ask questions 'bout this soon.
Natsu taps the house to check if it is real and mutters something about a guy restoring something about time. I sigh to calm down my burning nerves. If I think too much into it now, I will not be able to focus on the mission. I walk up to the chief. I am happy to see Bobo's grave back in place. "You and your friends used magic to restore the village?" he asks.
"Yeah somethin' like that," I mutter silently under my breath. He stands up to thank me.
"However, when are going to destroy the moon?" He gives me a crazy look, resulting in me backing away from him a little bit.
"Uh right 'bout now." I throw my hands up in defense while sweat narrowly sprawls down my body.
"Destroying the moon is an easy task," Erza says in my defense. I hear Happy and Gray muttering how crazy Erza and I must have gotten. "However, before I do that, I'd like you all to answer a few questions for us. If you would, can you call your people for a brief meeting?" The chief gathers everyone to the center of the village while we stand on the opposing side. Erza is in front of us with a serious look on our face. "Let me get my facts straight. The first time everyone started to take on these demonic forms, was when the moon started going purple is that correct?"
"Yes. During the day, we are fine. But when the moon comes out, we transform," the chief answers clearly.
"It has been three years since the transformation started, correct?" Erza starts to walk to her right without right. For some reason, I have a feeling she'll fall into a hole.
"Yes, I suppose it has been a long time."
"We discovered that a Moon Drip ceremony has been taking place every night on this island for the past three years. It produces a beam of powerful and bright light, that it is impossible to miss." She then walks straight into a hole, which was somehow suspiciously there. She screamed like a girl, that I forgot she was a woman. With her new demeanor, I find it hard to believe she is a girl sometimes. Moments like that, definitely bring some good opportunities for teasing. The boys are shocked by her screaming like a girl, but I merely have a satisfactory grin on my face.
She walks out the hole and starts to talk again like nothing just happened. "Haven't you all wondered where the light came from?" she asks with folded arms. I want to laugh so badly, but keep it inside for later. She punched me earlier back when we entered the temple, so I am not going to let off the hook that easily. Payback will be my friend this time. All villagers have a weird expression on their face. "I fail to understand why any of you haven't gone to investigate."
"We would have, but according to village law, we aren't allowed near that temple." Everyone starts to mutter among themselves. I just about have had enough of their lying.
"Does village law really matter when your people are hurting?" I ask angrily. At this point, they are using the excuse to justify the fact they cannot get near the temple. "I mean you wouldn't have asked the council or guilds for help. So can you please tell us what is going on?"
"To be honest, we don't know ourselves. Allow me to explain. We have tried to investigate, but every time we would get near the temple, we find ourselves back at the village gates," the chief responds. I finally sigh in satisfaction. My theory all falls into place, so now the only thing left is to show them the truth. And I have a good idea Erza caught on to what I meant.
"I see. I get it now," Erza answers. She starts towards a tower while she requips. Her outfit changes to a bulky yellow armor with blue patterns and cat-like ears on her head. She also has some massive leggings, gloves, arms, and boots, that could pass for a barefoot. The shoes and gloves are blue whilst in the upper part of the arm, shows some skin. The torso has a layer like structure while her chest suit designs. In the midsection, there is a red cross symbol . Her shoulder pads to touch her body, but merely leaves a hollow area."Lucy, come here. I need your help destroying the moon." I smirk and walk up to her. I hear the boys shout in shock.
"Geez take ya' a while didn't it. I could've already done it if-" I stop what I say when I see her glare and intimidating aura. I silently follow her lead.
"Now that you are done talking, we are going to destroy the moon." I nod while everyone else looks at us. "This is the only way to change the villagers back to normal." Everyone cheers, and the boys look at us in disbelief.
"I'm guessing you wanna do it from here, so everyone can see." I get closer to her.
"Indeed. Since they cannot go near the temple, here will suffice." I nod again. Though I am curious to why she needs my help with this. To me, it looks like she is ready to take it by herself. "This is Giant Armor. This allows my strength to increase, and to throw further." She sticks her hand out to requip a spear of the same design. The top has some weird symbols while the bottom is just a base and the same color of her armor. Oddly enough, the spear is taller than her. I wonder why she uses it with this armor. "This is the Spear Of Haja. It repels darkness."
"So yer' gonna use the spear to knock it out of the sky?" I look at her in some awe.
"Yes, but I'm afraid I need more strength that this armor cannot give me. Thus, I'll need your star energy to for a boost. Now, we need to time our attack perfectly. When I get ready to throw the spear, I need you to use your energy to cause a powerful explosion to cause the spear to hit its mark."
"Sounds easy enough." I shrug.
"Very well. Follow me then." We make it to the top of the tower. She takes up her stance, and I ready my magic. The bottom of the spear glows yellow. "Now!" I punch the back of the spear with my energy and make the energy explode. The top of the tower explodes, but the spear is sent flying off into the air. "I must say I'm impressed you figured this out rather quickly."
"I guess. The situation seemed easy to begin with, but I just needed the right answers."
"Good job though. But never call me slow again, or else you will fear the day you make the mistake." I nod my head rapidly at her comment. She's much scarier than I remember, which is not a good thing for me. Even if I do tease her, I have to make sure I make it out alive afterwards. We watch as the spear shatters the sky or rather the crystallized gas membrane. Everyone gasps from the truth while I smile. The rest of the membrane shatters and the sky is back to normal. Everyone glows for a moment before returning to normal forms as demons. "Now that has been broken, everything should return back to normal." She has a small smile on her face. I nod.
We both head down to explain what happened. "Uh..I think you guys messed something up. They're not turning back to humans," Natsu questions.
"That's because these are their true forms." Erza then explains what happened. The boys run around like crazy interrogating the villagers. I smile and giggle at their actions. I cannot help but frown for the people who died. They probably remembered everything, but the others did not catch on. I sigh and look up at the sky for a moment of peace. "Something wrong?"
"They had to kill the people who practically remembered being demons. So I guess in the end, it was for nothing." I sigh again.
"I suppose so, but they had to do what they thought was right." She places a hand on my shoulder.
"Yeah, been hearin' a lot of that. Kinda sick of it." She gives me a soft look. "I just wanna go home!" I whine. She hits me in the head with remorse. "What the hell was that about? Are you tryna' to start a fight with me?"
"That was for being disrespectful. We can fight later, but I assure you I will win." She smirks. Just when I am about to punch her, a guy comes up.
"Man you wizards are good detectives," somebody says. We turn around to see Bobo in his demon form. Gray and I shout in surprise. "I really owe you one. Thanks!"
"How are you alive?" I blutter out.
"Getting stabbed in the chest, did hurt. But I'm a demon, your gonna have to try harder to kill me." He laughs. Gray and I both look at him crazily.
"But on the boat." Bobo spreads his wings and flies into the air. My mouth hangs open and my eyes have stars in them. I wanna have wings! It'd be so freakin' awesome!"
"Sorry I had to lie to you. Everyone went crazy when the transformation took place. Weirdest part was that everyone thought they were cursed humans." He chuckles. The chief tears up and spreads his own wings. He dashes to hug his son, and the two share a bonding moment. Soon everyone else does the same.
"They're demons all right," Erza comments with a small smile.
"I don't know," Natsu jumps in. "From here, they kinda look like angels." We all smile and look at the villagers.
"Demons or not, they look so cool! Seriously I want those wings!" I exclaim. Natsu agrees, but the others give us a stupid look. I shrug it off and smile. The moment between Bobo and the chief, reminds me what might happen when I find Celeste. Wherever she is, I hope she is watching me from the stars. The chief announces a feast. All the villagers fly down and prepare everything while I go help Gray get patched up. After that is done, the meals are all ready and we join them. "Man, so much food! I don't know what to choose from," I say, stuffing my face with some meat.
"Indeed. There is a lot to choose from," Erza comments while taking a bite from her food. We eat and talk with the villagers. For demons, they know how to throw a party. Off in the distance, I hear Gray being swooned by the ladies. I snicker silently, but Erza catches me. "What are you laughing about?"
"Gray's the ladies man right now. Frosty doesn't even know what's happening to him." I point at where Gray is. He is being led to somewhere to learn how to dance like a demon. She smiles at the sight and elbows me in the gut. I groan and clutch my stomach.
"You mustn't insult him like this. Frankly, I think he deserves a little bit of the attention after everything." She goes back to drinking her water. I silently curse her and swear revenge once we get back.
"I must admit I was wrong about humans," the chief says. We all turn for him to continue. "We spent years thinking they'd judge us by our appearance. We made up the curse to keep people away."
"One hell of a lie you guys got goin'. Nobody wanted to even come close to this island thanks to it," I say.
"It is a shame we did." My face slowly softens. "After meeting you, our faith in humans has been restored. We can finally have the confidence to go to other lands and befriend new people."
"That's good. Friendship is an emotional bond that transcends one's own physical appearance," Erza comments. We all smile and back to our food. Erza and I start talking before I choke on my food. She pats my back harshly that I am over the table. She apologizes, and I give her a wary smile. We spend some more time like that before Sherry and Yuka show up. "How may we help you?" Erza stands up and gets closer to them.
"We've come to pay you a visit in the Cold Emperor's wishes. He is so banged up right now, he can't even move a limb," Yuka answers confidently.
"So Lyon didn't mention the part where we called truce?" I ask skeptically.
"That doesn't matter to us. We wanted to settle things our way." Yuka smirks. Natsu prepares to fight before being shot down by the chief and Bobo, who wish to take care of the situation by themselves. Erza declines them and steps up to face Sherry and Yuka.
"Titania of Fairy Tail. I've great stories about you. I didn't think I'd get the chance to meet you," Sherry states.
"Pinkie over there controls inanimate objects," I holler.
"Don't even try magic on mega brows," Natsu jumps in. Erza sprints and kicks in the gut. Following swiftly, she elbows Yuka in the chin. Both of them collapse and grunt in pain. They get up slowly, holding their painful sides carefully. They soon explain their reasons for joining Lyon and apologize for the trouble. Seems everybody had a grudge to kill Deliora for the pain the demon caused a decade ago. Natsu gets behind them and ushers them to join the party, which they try to decline. But Natsu did not have any of it and forces them to sit down at the table. "All right! Now I'm ready to partay!" I snicker at his childish attitude and go along with the rest of the party.
We partied until we dropped like flies. I walk up to see Erza's head leaning on my shoulder, sleeping comfortably. My stomach growls silently, and my face heats up in embarrassment. I nudge Erza, and she gets up soon. "I'm gonna eat some sunlight, wanna get some food?" I offer. She nods and sets off. After breakfast, I join up with the boys, and Erza goes to pack up her stuff and collect something. I already have a souvenir from this place, so I am satisfied. I see Gray sitting on the ground with an agitated look on his face while Natsu munches on fire. I sit beside Gray and inspect his face. "Looks like that's gonna leave a scar." I point to the left side of his forehead, where the scar resides, almost hidden by his bangs.
"Whatever like I care," he mutters and looks away.
"On your face?" I ask slightly in shock.
"I don't mind having them as long as I can see them. It's the ones you can't see that hurt the most," he says smoothly.
"Didn't take you for a smooth talker." Natsu retorts a different answer, and the boys almost get into an argument. "Now, let's pack up and go home. I wanna sleep in my own bed after all of this craziness." We grab our stuff and stand at the front of the entrance. I go to greet the chief for the reward, and Erza comes along.
"Thank you for all the help the council and your guild has done. We are truly honored," the chief says proudly.
"It's not sweat. The job was a piece of cake even though there were some complications. We are glad to have helped you and your people," I respond. They give us seven million jewels and a Zodiac key. I celebrate in my head, and split the money in half with Erza. The boys come whining towards me.
"It ain't fair that you and Erza get all the money," Natsu whines like a child.
"It also isn't fair to trick someone into going on an S-class mission without permission, molten brains," I retort. We bicker back and forth before Erza splits us up with a death glare. We visibly shrink and get away from her. "Don't think you're getting away with callin' me a princess, ashy."
"We'll settle this when we go back to Magnolia." He smashes his head to mine.
"Sounds good to me. 'Bout time someone put you in your place." We separate and go our different ways. Erza leads us to the shore, where we see a massive pirate ship. They greet Erza with an esteem title. "O hoi me beauty?" I feel like she hijacked the ship somewhere at port, but I am not the mood to be fighting with her, considering we have to ride a boat back to Hargeon.
"That's right. They have become quite fond of me." I do not even bother answering her and sigh breathlessly. I stare off at the distance, praying maybe an animal could come and drop us off at Hargeon, but I would be fooling myself. I sulk, not caring who is watching. The pirates usher us to come aboard, and I get a weird chill up my spine.
"I don't think I'm ready." I stare at the ship.
"If you wanna swim, I'll join ya'," Natsu declares.
"I'm not that desperate moron!" I yell at him and get aboard. I start to feel green already as well as Natsu. I get to the railings and slump half my body over it. The villagers wave goodbye to us, but I am too sick to respond. Erza picks me up and lays my head in her lap as she takes on the floor. She runs her hands through my and I grumble curses under my breath. "I hate transportation!" I whine weakly. She does something because the next I am asleep.
I walk up and see we are in Magnolia, and I'm laying on Erza's pile of suitcases. I slip off before I get sick anymore. "Look who is awake," Gray teases. I glare at him and stretch. "I still can't believe that we didn't get a single thing from the reward. Maybe we could sell your gate key and get something out of it."
"Think about it, and I will kill you. The Zodiac keys are hard to come by, and I'm lucky to even five. Besides, I promised a friend I'd care for them if I ever got my hands on all of them." My softens, thinking about Layla's final promises. Gray must have noticed the look on my face, and changes the topic slightly.
"So which one of the Zodiacs did you get?" He stuffs his hands in his pockets. We all stop to talk.
"Sagittarius, a centaur." He spins back around to question it. An image of his version of a centaur appears, and I explain to him what it really looks like. Natsu has a weird image of a creepy flower. "That's not even close." I feel shivers up my spine from his image.
"You're all so carefree. It is as if you forgot that you face punishment when we get to the guild," Erza comments, pulling her load. The boys go to her to try to look for ways out of the punishment. I grin, knowing I am not going to be involved. "You as well will be receiving punishment from me for not keeping your promise." She points at me. I pale visibly.
"It's not like I had any choice! I didn't think it was the mission until we got there! You can't blame me for something I had no clue for," I beg frantically. She simply shakes her head while I internally plant a grave. It wasn't even my fault! This is what I get for being nice to her! Ugh, I hate her logic. I groan angrily. All of a sudden, Gray is clutching his head with complete fear in his eyes. "What's wrong with frosty?" I ask Happy.
"You're lucky you are getting punished by Erza. Master is gonna probably make us do that again." Happy pales and flies off. The cat has no clue how psycho Erza is on her own. I have seen what she is capable of with my own two hands. She is worse than any other being on this planet. Never piss her off, unless you have a death wish. She can make your worst realities come to life once she finds out.
"What is that?" I question Natsu, who seems to be unfazed by the idea of punishment. He has this happy smile on his face, which throws off the entire atmosphere. Erza then ruins his smile. To me, it sounds like the Master will take great pleasure in punishing the boys. Erza picks him by the collar and drags him away while he pleads. Gray still is shaking from the thing he cannot stand. I sigh at the situation and look at the sky. It seems peaceful, but a horrible feeling in my gut is telling me that it will end soon. "I must be going crazy," I mutter silently.
This feeling does not seem to go away, but intensifies greatly. Praying that the feeling will go away, a simple thought ruins it all. It's all your fault. Shaking off the feeling, I walk quietly to the guild. Gray eventually catches up with me and his expression seems calmer. "Something wrong?" he asks.
"Not sure. I have a bad feeling something is gonna go down, and it'll be my fault," I answer him sadly.
"Well we don't know what is coming, let alone it being your fault, so don't sweat on it. If it does come, then we will deal with it," he reassures me. I nod, feeling my mood getting better. "Now c'mon let's get back to the guild. Erza's gonna yell at us if we don't." I chuckle and go to the guild.
Narrator's POV
At Era, a mischievous plan settles uneasily. Ultear heads to Siegrain's office to report her failure on the retrieval mission. She sighs and runs her hands through her hair. The hallway is seemingly empty and dark, giving her a satisfying feeling. Knowing how her mother is involved with sealing Deliora, makes her furious. All she ever wanted was to be loved by her mother, but that was a dream taken away from a very young age.
Her wasn't easy, taken from home only to be abandoned by her mother. She was experimented on for her immense power, but overtime she grew to detest the idea. A few years later when she finally was free, she started researching magic that would allow her to alter the flow of time. Arc of Time, a lost magic that allows the user change an object's flow of time, however, it has no effect on living creatures. Reluctantly, there was a dark guild that was willing to change that.
Finding Zeref started to become her lifelong mission. By using him, she'd be able to create a new world where she can alter everything. She is so consumed by the idea of love and hatred, that she fails to see how everyone around her is suffering. She has killed and manipulated many lives into her bidding. Remorse is the only feeling she fails to lack. She has Jellal under the touch of hand, leaving the man in an empty shell of who he was forced to turn into. If she ever did feel the guilt of her actions, then no amount of retribution will ever make up for the pain she has caused.
She knocks on the door and comes in. "I'm quite disappointed Deliora didn't work out," she says, getting closer to Siegrain.
"Indeed, but we had no way of knowing that was in its last stages. For better or worse, this will prove useful later on for unsealing any other demons. I'd say it was a minor setback." Siegrain puts his book away and focuses on Ultear. "I will be more thorough next time. Sorry for wasting your time."
"That's fine. It was a good trip down memory lane. I would've hoped that wench's magic wasn't so powerful. It would've made the job easier." She sighs and puts away the mask she was holding.
"You shouldn't speak of your mother that way. Don't cause her to shed another tear," he states calmly. Though he has been a long time since he felt parental love, he respects his deceased parents. Oftentimes going back to his hometown to visit their resting place. "Your mother was a fantastic wizard. If I were to compare power, then I'd say she would've become one of the ten Wizard Saints. She is quite loved and respected."
"Don't give her too much credit. She was no saint. Her devotion to magic was what got her killed in the first place. It is no shocking news that my father left her. She may look like an angel to the public eye, but underneath it all is a heartless woman," Ultear argues defensively.
"They say the greater loss a person suffers, the more they triumph over."
"I hardly believe I was anything of a big loss. I might have been a damp in her progress." Her starts to slowly twitch. Her anger slowly boils. It pains her to see everyone compliment how great her mother was, but fails to see the bad deeds she has caused. Ultear watched and heard for years how everyone praised her mother, but that admiration slowly turned into hatred for Ultear. She would give up everything to once again love her mother and not hate her.
"Who knows, maybe she took on those students to fill the void yo-" Siegrain is cut off by Ultear placing a finger on his mouth.
"Can we not discuss this any further? Let's move onto the next phase." She sighs, allowing her anger to cool.
"Ultear your face. It's swollen." She holds her hand to her face and panics wildly. Flailing her hands in the air while trying to bite back the pain. Siegrain chuckles lightly at her delayed reaction. "You're just feeling it now?"
"That idiot Natsu punched me!" she exclaims angrily.
"Speaking of him, how was he? Did you find him worthy?" The curiosity in his eyes gives away his excitement.
"I didn't have to use half my power on him, but he is growing stronger. He rivals Lucy's own strength. If I had to compare, then I'd say they're matched right now."
"I'm not surprised." He turns his head and clenches his hand. "He's Igneel's son while Lucy is Celeste's daughter. Both hold impressive power and destruction rightfully to their dragons. I need them both to shine brightly for my dream to come true." He turns to Ultear. "Lucy was on the island. Did she find you?"
"Surprisingly no. She was somewhere else, and I managed to keep my distance from her, however, she was suspicious of me. I know for a fact she sensed me, and the fact I fixed the temple and village. It won't be long until she starts to ask questions."
"I'm well aware. Any news on the Galactis Guild?"
"From what I hear, they're working with Jude Heartfilia for a big mission, and somehow Phantom Lord is involved. Something about all of this is very suspicious."
"Indeed. Lucy ran away from her foster father about a year ago now, you don't think they're trying to forcefully get her back. If such conflict does go down, the council will go into a frenzy. It will be a violation of the Guild Treaty Act."
"I'm sure they wouldn't be that stupid to go through such extremes. And if they do, we will disband the guilds, but sadly can't touch Jude. The man has too much power to his name."
"Whatever the reason, it will cause a good distraction from our own plans. Tell Galactis that the plan is set into motion. But make sure to tell them to stay away from the Heartfilias'. It would cause great troubles if they were to be disbanded as well." Ultear nods and leaves to make the calls. He sets back into his desk and stares out the window. "Just a little more Erza Scarlet. Enjoy your remaining days before they fade away."
And Done! I wanted to end the Galuna Arc shortly simply for the fact that bigger stuff will be going down in the next two arcs. And I had ideas to go into depth about Gray's life later on in a better setting. The Galactis Guild will have a heavy role into this story and will come up often. They are a light guild with dark intentions is all I can say. Now the story will start to get more serious, but will have its humorous and happy mood.
It will take some time for the oc's to make a move on the story primarily because of how I plan to run the story.
Anyways until then, c'ya in the next chapter!
I DO NOT OWN THE PLOT OR CHARACTERS APART FROM THE ALTERATIONS I MAKE WITH MY OWN OCS AND PLOT. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA.