Wendy hadn't known what to expect from this venture.
It was her first time meeting wizards from such powerful guilds, and she had been so nervous that she tripped and fell flat on her face when she recognized them. Her humiliation had only been compounded when she realized Natsu Dragneel had been there as well.
She had been trying to find other Dragon Slayers since Jellal dropped her off with Cait Shelter. And when she had heard about Natsu, she felt hope rise in her heart. Someone else who had a draconic foster parent. Someone else who would believe she wasn't crazy.
But remembering what the mission was cooled her enthusiasm. Searching out the Oracion Seis to rescue another child? That was terrifying.
She had been assigned to Jura as a partner, his Earth magic providing the best complement to her Sky Dragon Slayer magic. In addition, he was the most experienced fighter in the group and his style was well suited to defending her if necessary.
So she had been very confused when someone moving way too fast had started harrying Jura from the front. But she didn't stay still. She acted. There was another girl out here who was captured and they needed to find her and stop this Dark Guild before they could hurt anyone else.
But as she moved to try and help Jura, she felt something was wrong with the air around her. It was too still, too-
Darkness closed over her before she could even scream.
When she could see again, she was in a cave somewhere, with a man who she recognized as Brain, the leader of the Oracion Seis, and a girl with green hair who looked like the hostage they were supposed to rescue. Brain was ordering her to heal a man restrained in a sort of coffin. A man she knew.
Wendy swallowed.
She knew that Jellal was a wanted criminal. She had overhead her guild master talking about the mess the Magic Council was in after it was discovered that two of their most prominent members were in reality leaders of the Balam Alliance.
But she didn't see how much of a choice she had. They could easily hurt the girl, Faerun, their hostage. And she wasn't an official wizard.
What was more, this was Jellal. He was more important to Wendy than anyone else except Carla and Grandeeney. Even if he was a criminal, she owed him too much. She had to help.
So Wendy knelt by the coffin's side as Fae cradled Jellal's head in her hands and she started to work. She kept on glancing at Fae, fear, worry and nerves singing in the back of her mind. It didn't look like the other girl had been hurt, but she definitely wasn't alright either. She seemed to be mentally absent, her movements were mechanical, her eyes glazed and staring straight ahead. She took a breath, screwing up her courage to speak in spite of the enemies who were waiting a short distance away for them to finish their work.
"I'm Wendy." She whispered finally. "You're Fae, right?" This got a reaction, though she almost wished it hadn't. Fae's empty eyes turned towards her, the barest flicker of acknowledgement in them. Wendy forced down her fear, though she couldn't keep her hands from trembling.
What did they do to you?
From what the Fairy Tail mages had said, Fae was lively and energetic. She was smart, active and affectionately termed their little sister. Wendy had been touched by how they referred to her so casually.
(Natsu and Gray had broken some furniture during their first meeting. Lucy had scolded them, saying that Fae wasn't there to fix what they destroyed.
"Yeah, we know." Natsu replied as Gray rummaged through the wreckage of what had once been a rather nice piece of furniture. "We just wanted to bring her something that we had with us so she can see what we've been up to without her."
"You broke a chair just to-!"
"Nah, breaking it was an accident, but since it's a lost cause, may as well get her something from it!")
They loved her. They were her family.
It would hurt them to see her like this.
"Your friends are coming." Wendy told her in the quietest, but fiercest whisper she could manage. "They're coming, and they'll get both of us out. I promise..."
"She can't hear you." Brain called carelessly. "Not really. The child known as Faerun is dead. She is once again Garden 2.0."
"But...this is-" Brain cut her off with a fond smile that made Wendy shudder.
"You're young, Sky Sorceress, and you do not understand. G-2.0 adopted the name and identity of an amnesiac child wizard to infiltrate the Fairy Tail guild, neither knowing or questioning why she did so. She needed to be withdrawn from them to revert to her natural state." Wendy rebelled heavily at the notion.
She had watched the Fantasia Parade via lacrima. She had seen how Fae acted and heard about who she was. She refused to believe that this quiet automaton was who she was meant to be.
Wendy ignored the man watching them work and focused on healing Jellal.
She hadn't seen him in years, but there was no mistaking his features. He had the same mark on his face and everything. She had been a little hurt that he's never checked up on her in the years since he had left her with Cait Shelter. But that was no reason to not heal him right now.
"G-2.0. Go with Midnight. Assist him in subduing Titania." Fae rose mechanically and moved over to the other wizard's side. Midnight looked annoyed.
"Why me? Send her with Angel or something. Or Cobra."
"No arguments." Brain said, hands folded over each other as he held his staff. "Titania is without a doubt the greatest threat the Light guilds have sent against us. And we know from our experience with the R-system that threatening G-2.0 will make her lie down and stop fighting."
Wendy wished desperately that her communications lacrima hadn't been taken so she could warn Erza that a trap was being laid for her. But they were aware that his situation was a possibility at the very least. It would turn out all right eventually...
Hopefully.
She pushed a little harder with her healing magic.
Please, Jellal... please wake up! Fae needs help! I need help!
Then it was as though Jellal's own magic system revived. It was as though she had been pouring water into a glass before. But now he was drinking from it, draining it. He was suddenly healing much faster than before.
His eyes opened. Wendy's heart lifted with hope for a second-
But she saw no recognition in his gaze.
"Grand Chariot." Jellal was suddenly moving. Faster than anything Wendy had ever seen or felt. She was tucked under one arm and Fae was taken under another and they were flying away...No, not flying, Jellal was just running really fast.
Wendy could only hope that they were safer with Jellal than they had been with Brain.
-vVv-
Loke was tailing Orion closely as they ran through the forest.
Orion had picked up a relatively fresh trail for Fae and had been pushing hard to catch up. He hadn't needed to learn her scent. When the Celestial Spirit King went to visit the mortal world, and came back with a mortal's scent on him, it made the constellations sit up and pay attention. Most of them were now very eager to meet both the Celestial Wizard who had earned the King's respect and the young Rune Wizard with the power to recognize Leo for who he was, and the heart to defend him against even the king's judgement.
The hound growled and picked up his pace.
"A new trail. More than simply her. Others are with her. She is being carried, at a very swift rate. She has not been harmed."
That was a relief.
"Any idea who?" Orion chuffed.
"No. It is not any of the mortals who had recent contact with your wizard." Loke didn't know any of them who could move at that rate anyway. Pure Speed Magic was rare, and he knew Blue Pegasus didn't have one.
He had kept an eye on his old guild even as he had waited to die. And he was personally quite glad that he hadn't needed to face any of them. While he had been relieved of the worst of his guilt, he didn't want to trigger any more bad memories. If this situation hadn't gone to hell with Fae being abducted again, he would have rather not been summoned anywhere near them.
At a low bark from Orion, Loke increased his speed to match the stride of the large, battle scarred hunting dog. They didn't know who had Fae, and from the lack of communication, it wasn't one of the allied guild wizards who had her.
"The trail is getting fresher." Orion reported. "Whoever is carrying her has slowed his pace and is attempting to cover their trail." His head turned to the side and he emitted a low growl. "I smell a snake..."
The forewarning was enough for them to jump clear as a jet of poison arced out of the sky, splattering on the ground with a hiss.
Loke looked up, a human male with magenta hair stood there, standing on the back of a larged, winged purple snake.
"You weren't with them before." He remarked, looking at them with narrowed eyes and intense concentration. "Where'd you two come from? Unless..." Dark eyes flicked over them and the man smiled.
"What are you smiling for?" Loke asked, keeping his voice from dropping into a growl. This guy was clearly a threat who used the time tested method of being a jackass to provoke his opponents.
"You're both Celestial Spirits. You don't think in Common, just a bunch of random gibberish." Mind reader? Not important.
Orion let out a low snarl and a bark.
"He has been near the child!" Loke's demeanor changed from defensive to much more aggressive. He didn't hide the roar from his words as he spoke.
"Where is Fae?!" This elicited a reaction, not from the man, but the snake. It's head rolled as the wings continued to beat to keep it and its rider aloft.
"We don't have her." He said lazily, folding his arms and looking them over. "But I am supposed to bring her back from wherever Jellal took her to." Jellal!
Loke knew the name if not the man. He had heard the story of what had happened, but had also been told about the additional conflict. How the final battle hadn't been to defeat Jellal, but to try and save him from whatever was inhabiting his body. If he had Fae and he was acting as his true self...then she was safe. But if he had reverted, then she would be in even more danger.
"If you and the dog are saving me the trouble of tracking her down, we may as well just sit back and watch you work and just take her when you find her for us." Loke's fists clenched and he reached out to the stars that formed his constellation for strength, feeding the same strength into Orion.
There was no way this could go down without a fight.
"Orion." Loke said shortly. "Keep to the trail." He lashed out with a direct punch into the air and the enemy pair swerved to dodge-
The faintest ripple in the air alerted the snake and it managed to bunch its coils to the side awkwardly in midair to avoid a streak of light that had shot down from the sky.
Orion will find Fae and help her get away from Jellal. And he's faster than I am anyway, I've just been slowing him down. I'll handle skinning the snake.
Loke didn't often like to play on his immortality like this, but if the poison shot was anything to judge by, a normal human would certainly have trouble against this wizard. To him, all poison did was smell bad and maybe sting a bit. It couldn't hurt him in the long run.
Loke boosted his dodge with a burst of light from his feet as the snake lashed out with a snap. His fist came up and batted aside another blast of poison meant to douse him, this time spat by the wizard.
I am friends with Natsu, and I know Gajeel. Sooner or later, these people spitting stuff that humans have no right to be eating will stop surprising me.
-vVv-
Erza was growling with frustration as she faced her opponent. She and Lucy were having some serious trouble with this enemy. He seemed to have some kind of spatial warping magic. Lucy was keeping her distance, since she wasn't as able to recover from a deadly clothing mishap as Erza. Charla, who had insisted on accompanying them, was hiding a short distance away.
Their opponent was continually using space to twist her weapons back at her, or towards Lucy, when he wasn't trying to turn her into a puppet via her own armor. He had already almost managed to strangle her twice. And even now, he was turning her Purgatory armor against her, the sharp ridges and spikes pressing against her skin. Only a concentrated flare of magic, thinking of metal and strength, made it so the armor only bruised instead of penetrating her skin.
It was something she mostly did on instinct in any given fight. Unfortunately, that defensive method of absorbing damage tended to take most of a wizard's strength. Even Erza couldn't keep it up for very long.
Come on, where's the weakness? She thought, jumping back to allow one of Lucy's Celestial Spirits, Taurus, to charge through while she freed herself.
An obvious advantage was that Midnight couldn't warp anything that came from the Celestial Spirit Realm. His manipulations appeared to be limited to this world's materials. But even then, he was a tenacious and difficult opponent to catch, using anything in his surroundings to protect himself.
There had to be a pattern.
While Taurus was pressing him, Lucy darted forward to join the fray and Erza barely restrained herself from crying out. They were having her stay back for a reason-!
Lucy had a glint in her eye as she uncoiled her whip and let it fly with unerring precision.
It caught Midnight on the face, making him yell and curse in pain and twist himself in space to put more distance between them.
"Gotcha!" Lucy cheered. "You can only twist one substance at a time! You either have to be defending yourself from attacks with the air around you or be concentrating on more distant materials!"
Erza felt a surge of pride at the girl's observation. Lucy was still relatively new to the guild and to fighting, but her intellect and observation skills were second to none. Midnight was disoriented by the hit and staggered, snarling with frustration.
"Good eye, Lucy!" She saw something change in the air. It looked to her like a shadow had split off of Midnight and was moving independent of him. Erza shifted her stance, forcing her armor to cooperate with her as she started to move. But more importantly, she subtly closed her one real eye, sacrificing her depth perception in favor of guarding herself against illusions.
Lucy and Taurus together continued to press the false projection, Erza caught her breath and circled the fight. She wanted to appear as though she was waiting for an opening, but in truth, she was moving to continue to keep the real Midnight in her sight. He was trying to distance himself from the fight, trying to lock onto Lucy's whip no doubt. He might not be able to affect things from the Spirit Realm, but Lucy's whip was not immune to such a manipulation. It would be a neat way of eliminating them both.
Erza thought through the armor she had in her collection. There was bound to be clothing that Midnight couldn't turn against her.
Yes, this will do. Now, he can't do space and material at the same time. So if he's focused on Lucy and her things...
Erza requipped a polearm and struck Midnight on the side of the head while he should have been hidden under an illusion. His hand reached out, her Infinity Robe wrapped around her neck, trying to cut off her air-
It simply stretched, causing no issues with her breathing. Midnight had only a second to realize his mistake before the flat of Taurus' ax caught him and sent him flying into a tree.
"Nice swing!" Lucy cheered her Spirit on, cracking her whip as she swung it around. Instead of aiming it at Midnight, she used it to cut the flying carpet out of the air as it attempted to fly to it's master's side.
Midnight then lay motionless.
Lucy acted first, approaching cautiously and checking their unconscious enemy.
"He's out." She said, straightening with a sigh of relief. "Taurus: You were amazing."
"Any chance I earned a-"
"You don't get to talk to me about a smooch until Fae is back with us and safe!" She snapped, irritated with his one track mind, but she blew out her anger quickly enough. "Head on back. I need Virgo." Erza gave Lucy an odd look.
"Why that spirit in particular?" The pink haired Maiden was a powerful spirit, but their enemy was already defeated and Lucy wasn't the type to kick a downed dog.
"Well, she always goes on about punishment...and it turns out she has a pretty impressive collection of chains, ropes and restraints. It'll be something he can't use his magic to escape from."
"Well thought." Virgo brought them the restraints and they set about securing their prisoner. But a small voice calling out made them pause.
"Erza? Natsu? Someone?"
"Fae?"
-vVv-
"Tell me where she is!"
Natsu roared in fury, pouring down as much concentrated fire as he could on the man who had claimed to be behind Fae's kidnapping. He hadn't wanted to believe him at first, but his nose didn't lie. Brain had recently been near Fae. She was supposed to be back home in the guild! She was a kid!
"Your friend is gone." Brain said calmly. "It is mine once again."
Natsu felt the fire in his belly scorch even hotter as he pushed flames out from his feet, sending him rocketing straight down at his enemy.
"Fire Dragon Sword Horn!"
Brain was spouting something about their goal, activating some old magic device that was buried somewhere around here to take over the world or something. After taking Natsu's attack head on, though, he shut up about that, thankfully. He impacted the ground with a grunt Natsu only heard thanks to his sharp hearing. He was good at taking hits, good enough that Natsu had to pay attention to know if he was making progress. But he didn't want to knock him out right away. The bastard still had to tell him where Fae was!
Happy swooped in and quickly caught Natsu by his vest to keep him from falling right on top of Brain.
"Natsu, be careful! He can't tell us where she is if you knock him out!"
"You let me worry about that!" Several streamers of dark energy lanced upwards from the ground. Happy flew to the side, avoiding the attack, Natsu aiding his partner by shooting some more fire from his feet to push them out of the way.
Happy set Natsu on the ground and he immediately homed in on the white haired enemy wizard, who was trying to get up.
"I don't care what you think you've done to Fae! We're not going home without her!"
The ground started to shake.
Oh come on! The ground isn't supposed to do that!
Just as his stomach started to roil, Happy picked him up again, keeping him from making an unwanted mess of this fight. Natsu sent two separate streams of fire streaking towards the place where he had last seen the wizard claiming to have turned Fae against them.
"You are blinded by the idea...that it wanted to be there in the first place." Dark beams of magic cut through Natsu's fire and he quickly spread his arms, flaring his magic to keep the attack from hitting Happy. As long as the ground kept on shaking, Natsu knew he had to stay airborne if he wanted to get answers out of this joker.
"Why wouldn't she want to be there? It's home!"
The dark wizard's smile made Natsu get a cold shiver of disgust.
"It was it's assignment to gain vital information on you. All your weaknesses and flaws in the structure while becoming your critical weakness." The cold shiver vanished, replaced by red hot fury.
-vVv-
Happy felt his fur stand on end. Natsu was vibrating slightly, barely noticeable if he hadn't been holding him aloft. But he suddenly felt as though the wizard was about to explode.
Completely oblivious to the building heat around the Dragon Slayer, Brain continued.
"Originally, the plan was to hold it hostage to force your guild into an unconditional surrender. But I think now it would be vastly more amusing to have G-2.0 execute you all itself. On the one hand, you are dying at the hands of one you claim to have loved. And how long would that love last before one of you fought back and destroyed it?" Happy barely needed to keep Natsu aloft now. The heat he was generating was creating a sizable thermal.
This guy does not know when to shut up. The flying cat shivered. Natsu's been trying to get him to talk about where Fae is. But now he's just gonna fry him like a trout for saying all that crap.
Happy felt Natsu tensing, shifting his body downward. He would want Happy to drop him in just a few more seconds. As soon as he had built up enough magic power...
"Shut up..." Natsu's voice was seething with rage and literal heat. Brain didn't stop, in fact he seemed eager, leaning forward, focused completely on Natsu, but dropping his guard.
"It is just a G-project. A test run for the program. Meant to be disposable as soon as its mission was complete-"
"I said shut up." Natsu's voice was a literal growl now, having left all humanity behind it. He brought his fists close together. "And stop calling her an 'it'. She's Celeste D Faerun, a Fairy Tail wizard. She's not your pawn, and you aren't going to touch her ever again!"
It was at this moment that Brain realized that antagonizing this dragon slayer was going to have very different results than he anticipated.
"Fire Dragon Scorching Whirlwind!" Natsu put his hands together, his magic circle appearing under Brain's feet and a raging tornado of fire flinging him upward into the sky. He didn't even have time to yell before Natsu, flown into position by Happy, pounded him back into the ground with enough force to leave a large, smoking crater.
"Natsu, you over did it again!" Happy protested. "How's he gonna tell us where she is now?"
"He still is." Natsu growled. "Take a whiff off him." Happy cast about, sniffing deeply before his wings flared with extra magic with joy and hope.
"That's Fae's scent! He was near her, so we just gotta follow his trail to find her!"
"So what are you waiting for? We got a Fae to find!"
"Aye, sir!"
-vVv-
The departing wizards failed to notice that the tattoos on Brain's face were starting to fade. Where there had once been six, there were now only four.
-vVv-
Lucy watched with wide eyes as Fae stumbled out of the woods, clothes torn and dirty, but she was alive and seemingly unharmed.
The relief she felt at the sight was palpable, making her shoulders relax.
Erza remained tense and vigilant.
"Were you followed?" Fae shook her head, eyes watering slightly.
"I don't think so." Erza dismissed her sword and grabbed Fae in a tight hug.
"Thank goodness you're alright. We were worried sick about you."
"This time, it was not my fault." Fae mumbled. "Stupid dark guild..." She paused and looked at their still unconscious prisoner. "Who's that?"
"A member of the Oracion Seis." Lucy replied, coiling her whip. She caught sight of Fae's face paling slightly. "What's wrong?"
"He's the one who met my kidnappers and brought me here." The girl's arms were covered in goosebumps and she seemed on the verge of retreating from Midnight's unconscious form.
Erza performed her usual questioning of Fae, trying to both reassure herself that she was unharmed and determine where the remaining members of the Oracion Seis were located.
But Lucy felt something in the air that set her teeth on edge. It was familiar, but foreign. Like a memory that had become stagnant with time and distance. She tried not to let her unease show to Erza or Fae as she moved to circle through the woods, trying to locate the direction Fae had come from. If she had passed this way, then Loke and Orion the Hound would be following as well.
So she was out of sight when she heard a strangled cry of alarm from Erza, but she found what was making her so uneasy.
There was a woman wearing a white feathered dress, hidden in the trees. She was holding a golden Celestial Spirit Key.
The familiar feeling that had been bothering Lucy?
Someone else opening a Spirit's gate.
Foreign?
The last time Lucy had felt someone summoning another spirit had been when she had been practicing with her mother. And this woman's magic felt nothing like Layla Heartfilia's.
Months of combat jobs and practice came to bear as Lucy sent her whip flying out towards the woman's hand. If she could knock her key out of her hands, then she wouldn't be able to communicate with whatever summon she had attacking Erza and Fae. There were only 12 Golden Keys, and Lucy knew all of them by heart from the stories her mother had told her. But she couldn't identify which one she was using from this distance.
Lucy's aim was true. She hit the other Celestial Wizard's hand and forced her to drop the key she held. She reacted quickly, retreating away from Lucy's advance. Without the key she needed to speak aloud to her spirit, which meant Lucy would get a chance to identify them.
"Gemini!" Gemini. The Twins. Fae- It wasn't Fae!
Anger burned in Lucy's stomach as she brought her whip around again for another attack. Gemini, still wearing Fae's face but in a strange, unearthly expression that never would have graced the real girl's features, darted forward. A white sphere of energy appeared around the spirit and her wizard, the same shield Fae had used to protect herself from Bickslow's dolls.
"Did you at least finish off the other one?" The wizard snapped in an arrogant tone, further cementing Lucy's dislike of her. Completely aside from using Fae's face and knowledge to trick them, this kind of self entitled person was someone Lucy had hated being around as a girl. But considering her family's connections and social circle, it had been inevitable.
"You summoned me back before I could." Gemini answered. "This girl's body and reflexes aren't conditioned for lethal force." Of course it isn't, Fae's a child not an assassin! So Gemini had gotten the drop on Erza, but not managed to do permanent harm. That was good to know.
"You can give me your excuses later." The woman sniffed. "Just destroy this girl already."
"You need a major attitude change, lady." Lucy growled at her opponent. Speaking like this to anyone was a no-go. But to her contracted Spirit?
The white haired woman sneered.
"It's Angel, Lucy Heartfilia. You can at least know the name of the one who'll leave your body for the crows and claim your keys. Gemini tells me you have an impressive collection."
The fire of anger in Lucy's belly was stoking higher and higher the more Angel spoke. But she clamped down on her temper and gave the sweetest smile she could.
"One. You're awfully confident for someone to had to resort to a cheap shot to even lay a finger on Erza." Any second now. The shield is still up, but... "And two: You'll get my spirits over my dead body." From the few seconds Lucy had known this woman, she knew she would rather die than allow her keys to fall into her hands. It was an old rule of Celestial Mages. Right of Conquest. If one summoner overcame another in a significant way, made them surrender or killed them, they could force contracts with keys from the defeated wizard.
I won't let it happen. Not to any of you!
Erza was coming out of the other side of the trees, looking thunderous
"Erza, she's a Celestial Spirit Wizard contracted to the Golden Spirit, Gemini. She's had her copy all of Fae's abilities." And her limitations as well. That meant that with enough damage, 'Fae' would have no choice but to drop the shield.
Erza got the message and summoned a large two handed sword.
Lucy palmed her key ring.
We've got trouble. Another Celestial Spirit Wizard.
"Open: Gate of the Maiden, Virgo!" She commanded. Summoning her spirits formally let them know she needed them for work. And the preliminary message told them what kind of work.
Virgo appeared, curtsying to Lucy.
"Ready to deliver some punishment, Princess."
"Good." We need to press that shield as hard and fast as we can. Go from below, Erza and I will take front and back.
Virgo then burrowed her way underground as Erza and Lucy rushed from both sides.
The shield was composed of hot light that burned faintly whenever Lucy's bare skin got to close. And it certainly held up to the assault, but it was getting noticeably thinner and weaker the longer she and Erza attacked it and Gemini was starting to show some strain as well. Wearing Fae's face, it made for a painful image, but Lucy gritted her teeth and forged on.
It wasn't her.
But it was still a Celestial Spirit. And that wasn't much better.
"Switch!" Angel ordered sharply. Gemini dropped the shield and raced towards Lucy. Erza and Virgo continued to pressure Angel, who summoned a Silver Spirit, Caelum the Chisel, she thought, to keep them at bay. Lucy managed to dodge back, but not fast enough to avoid Gemini's hand brushing her arm.
Her form blurred for a second.
Fae's green hair lightened to golden blonde, she shot up in height and her eyes shifted from ethernano blue to brown.
Lucy was soon looking at a mirror image of herself. Her shock was palpable enough to make her hesitate.
Smirking at her briefly, Gemini turned, and in Lucy's voice called.
"Virgo, attack Erza!" Panic ripped through Lucy as her Spirit was clearly confused at the order. It was a fully valid order, since Gemini was replicating everything about Lucy, down to the magic that powered the contract she and Virgo had.
But the order was clear. And Virgo, though she hesitated, turned towards Erza. The S-Class wizard's face was grim as she lifted her sword, ready to finish the fight in a single stroke.
"No!" Lucy's heart was in her throat. She knew anything that happened to Virgo here wasn't permanent. She would simply be 'magically deported' back to the Celestial Spirit realm to recuperate her strength enough to remake a physical form. But that didn't mean that they couldn't be in pain throughout the process.
"Close, Gate of the Maiden!" Erza's strike swished through the air where Virgo had been. Lucy knew she had to act quickly. If Gemini could mimic her magic enough to interfere with the orders she gave her spirits, then she could possibly also use the copy of her keys sitting at her belt to resummon them against her.
And if that was the case, she wanted to take no chances.
Another precise whip strike and Lucy had nabbed the key ring from Gemini's belt. It disappeared as soon as it left her proximity, and better still, it didn't reappear after a few seconds. Lucy then needed to dodge an energy blast from Angel's other spirit.
"What was that?" Angel asked in a mocking tone. "You sent away the one thing that was keeping this fight somewhat fair. She'll just reform and be back tomorrow." Lucy bristled at the tone and the implication that she was the weak link in the fight.
"Just because she can survive an attack like that doesn't mean that she should have to!"
Angel sniffed.
"It's your life on the line. If you can't use the tools you have, you don't deserve those keys."
Lucy had discovered new heights of rage after joining Fairy Tail. Her temper had been pushed to all kinds of new levels of tolerance and patience.
But all that vanished in a single instance of fury.
She could feel that she had emitted a brief burst of raw magical energy from her outrage at this...monster's words. Erza was pausing, watching her carefully. Waiting for her to say something...
Lucy ran her hands over the length of her whip, letting the familiar tensile strength of the leather ground her fury into something she could work with.
"Erza. Please stay out this."
"Are you sure, Lucy?"
"It's personal." Lucy said curtly.
She called them tools. She called my friends tools and expects me to sacrifice them to keep myself safe. She expects me to be like her.
I'm not her.
I love my spirits. They are my family, not my shields. And she wants to take them.
Another thing Lucy had learned and learned well, was the Fairy Tail response to those who threatened their family.
"...I understand." Erza said finally. She leapt back, clearly withdrawing from the fight.
"Well, if that's the case: Gemini, copy her." Angel ordered cooly, pointing at Erza. Gemini wordlessly started to obey, her outline blurring in the air with a faint glow.
"Points for trying." Lucy admitted, "But that's not gonna go so well." Then she moving on the attack.
"Hey!" Angel yelped as Lucy unleashed a barrage of attacks on her opponent, trying to get a hold of a limb to pull her off balance. "What do you think you're doing!? You fight the Spirit, not me!" The whip coiled around her wrist and Lucy, planted her feet, yanking her closer and sinking a fist into her gut, knocking the wind out of her.
"The first rule of a Celestial Spirit Wizard is being in tune with your contracted Spirit. Even an amateur can tell when a Spirit is bottoming out on magic power." Lucy then gestured back to Gemini, who was on her knees, shaking slightly as he eyes widened as she tried to complete the transformation.
"Some spells are stronger than others. And Gemini's ability to copy magic has to take a lot out of her. You've had her mimic both Fae and me in less than ten minutes. From a Story Mage to a Celestial Spirit Wizard. Completely different people, completely different magic. If you had an actual contract instead of this slavery, you'd be able to feed your magic power to her and sustain the transformation as long as your power lasts." Gemini lifted her head, staring at Lucy with wide eyes. Lucy knew that look. It was how Fae looked when she was reading something from the past.
Gemini is learning something with her magic. What is she hearing? From me or from Erza? She was caught in between the two of them, unable to complete the transformation for lack of magic power. But the order was compelling her to keep trying.
I'll finish this quickly, Gemini. Lucy vowed. I promise, I won't let her hurt you anymore.
Lucy took a hit to the torso, and she rolled back with the punch. It wasn't that strong of a blow, Angel clearly wasn't a close range fighter, but she still snapped her whip around to lash at her legs, even as she rolled to avoid another blast from Caelum.
"Open: Gate of the Scorpion: Scorpio!" A dark skinned man with a red metallic scorpion tail appeared. "Blast her!" Angel coughed, trying to regain her wind from where Lucy had socked her.
Wind and sand started to gather around the tip of Scorpio's tail. Lucy continued to move until she was in the right position. I need water, and the river is just over this way. Now she just had to weather the hit. She called her magic up around her the way Natsu had told her. The power coating her skin absorbed the worst of the damage from the localized sandstorm that came flying at her. She was a bit disoriented, as she flew through the air, branches tearing at her body. Landing in the river brought her to her senses.
Her hand went to her keys.
Aquarius, I need you.
And regardless of how the Water Bearer acted, or what she said when Lucy summoned her, she would always come.
The mermaid caught Lucy under the arms and quickly delivered her to the surface, her water jar spitting out a dome of water that caught the rest of the sand and turned it to mud.
"Stupid girl." The Spirit muttered. "What kind of mess have you gotten yourself into now?"
"A woman who claims to be a Celestial Spirit Wizard trying to kill her spirits by giving them orders they don't have the magic power to follow." Lucy replied hotly. "She almost made Gemini kill herself."
"Themselves." Aquarius corrected, hefting her jar up as streams of water shot out to intercept yet another sandstorm. "They're the Twins, there's two of them, for all that they transform into one individual. And you call yourself a Celestial Mage." But she did not protest the fact that there was a summoner giving orders with no regard for her spirits. "Who's the jackass that's dirtying my water!?" She shrieked over the howl of the wind.
The sandstorm stopped abruptly and Lucy leaned aside cautiously to try and get a look at what Angel was doing.
"Babe, is that you?"
-vVv-
"But we have to help her!" Erza gave Hibiki of Blue Pegasus a flat look.
"Lucy is more than capable of defeating this woman on her own."
"I'm not saying she isn't, but these wizards are all extremely dangerous. We agreed to team up against them, that's why we formed this alliance!" The well dressed young man insisted, trying to move past Erza to the battleground of the dueling Celestial Spirit Mages.
But Titania had taken her stance and would not be moved.
"Lucy has claimed this fight, Hibiki Lates. Do not interfere." But in spite of her firm words, Erza still had two swords planted point first in the ground before her, and she was ready to rush in to protect her guild mate.
But there had been a fervent burning light in Lucy's eyes as she glared at Angel. Whatever she had seen in her opponent, it was something Lucy couldn't abide and was taking upon herself to remove. She had grown since joining their family.
Her gauntleted hands tightened on the hilts of her swords as she watched.
I believe in you, Lucy. Win this fight.
-vVv-
"Scorpio!" The other Spirit looked as confused as the Water Bearer was horrified.
"This girl is your wizard? I didn't know that." Scorpio glanced at Angel, a steely glint flickering in his eyes. "If that's the case, then sorry Angel. Conflict of interest. You're gonna need to get someone else out here." Angel did not look like she was happy with that at all.
"What the hell are you talking about? What kind of rule is that?!"
"Because they're together, having them fight wouldn't be violating any summoning laws, just a really insensitive move." Lucy supplied, looking at her suddenly very shy and terrified Spirit. Is this even the same woman? She's completely different when she's around Scorpio!
"You can kiss and make up later, just kill her already!"
The Spirit looked at her steadily.
"You're ordering me to kill someone."
"Yes, you dimwit! Kill this sorry excuse for a wizard already!"
"You, my master, want me, a Golden Spirit, to kill Lucy Heartfilia, a Celestial Spirit Wizard? Directly?"
"Have I been speaking another language this whole time, just get on with it already, idiot!"
This actually made Scorpio grin.
"Been waiting a long time to say this: Hell no, woman. I can't break Celestial Law, even at the behest of my wizard. Peace, I'm out!" And with that, Scorpio started to vanish. Lucy was suddenly aware of a lethal glare being directed at her from Aquarius.
"I didn't dismiss you, You can't just leave!" The white haired summoner shrieked. Lucy touched her key to see what Aquarius wanted.
You had better pray that you didn't screw up my relationship with my boyfriend by making me yell at him! Her mental voice rattled against the inside of Lucy's head, making it ache.
I actually didn't-
Send me back now and don't call me again for a week! I've got some major damage control to do thanks to you!
I really don't see how this is my fault, but ok!
"Close, Gate of the Waterbearer." Lucy intoned, letting Aquarius vanished back to the Celestial Spirit Realm. Even as she did so, she darted for Angel. If she could just get in a few solid hits while she was distracted...
Lucy's kick was hastily and sloppily blocked by Angel's raised forearm as she fell back with a cry. Lucy didn't let up, pressing with punches and kicks as fast and hard as she could. She wasn't a hand to hand fighter typically, but she was clearly more practiced at it than Angel. Even the lightest blows made her reel even as she blocked them.
"Useless creatures, you can't do anything right!" She snarled, "Caelum! Blast her already!"
The Chisel had been hanging in the air, dormant and motionless for as long as Angel's attention had been diverted. But it reactivated now, circling to home in on its target. Lucy had to break off her attack to duck for cover behind a tree.
She wasn't sure if this was just her imagination, but Caelum was a suspiciously lousy shot. He was getting close to her, but never actually made contact.
Lucy ran through her list of available spirits that might be able to help her.
Horologium could certainly protect her, but would be hurt by the fire.
Crux wasn't a combat spirit and wasn't available for fights as per his contract.
Lyra she could only summon a few times a month and wasn't much for a fight anyway.
Plue was cute and good company, but not what she needed.
Virgo and Taurus were both tired from her calling on them previously.
Another blast from Caelum sheared through the tree just above Lucy's head and she cursed under her breath as she darted for better shelter. She was still soaking wet from the river and the natural debris of the forest was sticking to her everything and her wet clothes were slowing her down. She made it to a large boulder by the river bank, but didn't have anywhere else to run to.
I need someone to keep Caelum occupied while I get close.
She quickly checked her magic levels and those of her spirits, running her fingers over her keys.
Loke's light blasts would be really useful in throwing off Caelum's aim, but he was still out looking for Fae, the real Fae. Angel was laughing crazily as she ordered her Spirit to keep firing. Each laser blast melting a little way through her cover.
Right, one option. Saggitarius, I need your help.
Without her even issuing the command to open his Gate, he came, kneeling with her behind her cover. Lucy kept her hand on his key as she explained what she needed.
Can you do it?
He saluted silently in response, looking remarkably serious for his somewhat odd appearance.
They both darted out on different sides of the boulder and the split second it took for Caelum to change targets was all the Archer needed.
Lucy didn't know how, but his arrows were somehow intercepting each energy blast in midair, causing an explosion of sparks to burst at each point of impact. It didn't matter how fast the bolts came, there was always an arrow there to block it. Or so she assumed since she wasn't fried as she ran at Angel. She didn't run headlong, but weaved back and forth in case Caelum changed targets.
Lucy focused on where she wanted to hit. On the place that would end the fight. Angel had been favoring her left side, somewhere where she knew she had landed a solid punch to the hip. Just one more blow, placed just right and she would be down and helpless.
Lucy's forward momentum was abruptly arrested by a wall of dark pink, fluffy...wool? It quickly grew around her and was very hard to get through.
Another Spirit stood there by Angel's side, looking apologetic as she trapped Lucy in the substance that appeared to be coming from her hands.
Angel had a triumphant sneer.
"Got you!" She shoved the other Spirit out of the way harshly and stalked towards Lucy, flicking a knife into her hands with an unsettling ease. "If my useless pets can't kill you for me, I guess I'll just have to get personal as well."
"Miss Lucy!" Saggtarius brayed in alarm, a few arrows broke off from his protective volley that kept Caelum weaving in the air and launched at the wool keeping her in place. The arrows sank into the fluff and stuck, but it didn't seem to have done anything.
"Figures you only want to get personal after you've gotten someone else to do the hard part." Lucy jibbed, testing her limbs. My legs are stuck, but I can still move one of my hands. She looked at the new Spirit then with narrowed eyes. Something about her seemed familiar...Like she had heard about her.
It hit her like lightning.
"Aries!" The Spirit actually flinched at the sound of her name, looking at her with tear filled eyes.
"I'm sorry, ma'am!" Hearing how afraid and guilty the Spirit sounded, even as Angel took her sweet time coming towards her, Lucy hefted her keys, one golden key in particular glinting in the sunlight.
"Aries, I'll get you back to Leo! I promise, you will see him again!" The words had an affect. As Aries eyes' focused on Loke's key, the wool keeping Lucy's whip hand pinned loosened. It was a poor angle and she couldn't get enough momentum for a good hit, but the sharp tip still slashed Angel across the face. Lucy automatically pulled it back for another blow. Angel was in range of her weapon, but not yet close enough to use her knife. This was her chance.
"You're one to talk about cheap shots." Angel seethed, a nasty smirk forming on her face. "You may pretend to be all high and mighty, but you're just like me. Low blow, tricks and dirty fighting." Lucy cracked her whip again, using the wool she was caught in to stabilize herself.
"I'm a wizard in a combat guild." She said tightly. "I fight people like you because you need to be stopped and no one else can do that. And yeah, I use strategy and tricks all the time. Beats getting into a slug fest with morons who have more magic than brains. But you don't get to say that we are the same because I promise you we're not. We are nothing alike!" Angel managed to retreat to a safe range again, clearly irritated with how long the fight was going on.
I wish I could summon two Golden Spirits at once and have Cancer cut me out of this. Lucy thought, but as she struggled, she was starting to realize something about the wool that held her in place.
If she tried to move quickly and suddenly, it would harden and catch her. But a slow, deliberate movement let her make a little forward progress. She kept this up as she talked. As long as Angel was distracted, and angered by what she said, she wasn't fighting or giving orders to impede Lucy's progress.
"But this?" She held up her keys again, showing the lion headed one. "This wasn't a trick, this was a promise I made a long time ago. Loke is my friend and I promised to do whatever I could to take care of and protect him when I accepted his key. I don't know Gemini, but I promised them that you would never be able to hurt them again. I just promised Aries that she would see her friend again, and I will keep my word! If I go back on a promise to any spirit, how can I be fit to hold their contract and fight beside them!?" Almost there...
Angel's pretty face was looking ugly with wrath as she opened her mouth, cleary to try and order Caelum or Aries to do something. But there came a loud thunk and Angel's eyes rolled back in her head and she fell to the ground, unconscious.
Lucy was shocked.
Erza was shocked.
Hibiki was staring in open mouthed wonder.
Virgo simply curtsied to the unconscious Angel, face and voice cold and factual.
"By order of the King, you are stripped of your rights and privileges as a Summoner for mistreating the Spirits under your care and ordering them to harm another Celestial Spirit wizard with lethal force. All your contracts previously established by right of Conquest have been dissolved."
"Virgo, what are you doing here? I didn't summon you!" Lucy was too shocked to think clearly even as the wool around her hips and legs vanished like smoke. The Maiden simply looked at her, chin lifted with pride and satisfaction. There was an actual hint of emotion in her eyes, an echo of life that Lucy had never seen since she first saw her as a pawn of Duke Everlue.
"I decided to return under my own power in case you needed any more assistance."
A surge of warm affection almost choked Lucy with tears as she looked at the pink haired maiden.
From Loke, she knew that a Spirit opening their own gate was a tremendous risk and cost. Aries couldn't have lasted a few days in the world under her own power. It was uncomfortable to the point of pain for whatever Spirit tried it. And since Virgo had already been out earlier that day, and was injured from having faced Erza...
"And I needed it. Thank you, Virgo." The chain wearing maid curtsied deeply to her.
"You're most welcome, Lucy."