Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or Fate Stay Night, any resemblance to any other Fairy Tail or Fate Stay Night fan fiction is coincidental and plagiarism is not intended. No flames please, constructive criticism only.
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King Faust gripped his staff tightly as he looked out over the city, fury surging through him as he began quickly going over back up plans. Clearly what happened was the work of the King of Heroes. Only she had even the possibility of getting into the Ark and destroying the Titan. He barely noticed Byro walking up to him.
"Your highness as you ordered I have adjusted the Anima, it will activate as soon as the Grail reaches full capacity. " Byro stated dutifully with a bow.
"Very good Byro, they stole the titan from me, but my Holy Grail isn't just one use so I can make the wish for a proper body here and then go Earthland and complete my wish." Faust chuckled. "They may have delayed me but they haven't stopped me."
"The Dragon Slayer magic has been transferred; we can begin the shift to activate the Dragon Chain cannon whenever you wish," Byro reported holding out a large black key with the image of a dragon engraved on the handle.
"Good, I-"
A loud explosion suddenly rocked the city and a plume of smoke started rising from the western gate of the city. Faintly he could hear yelling and the sounds of battle.
"What is it now!" The King growled with frustration.
"Your highness!" Coco ran in quickly "Fairy Tail has come out of hiding and they are attacking the western gate!" She reported urgently.
"Damn it all, they must be after my Holy Grail. But they'll never have it!" Faust vowed. "Send Sugarboy and Hughes take a division of soldiers to stop them!"
"That's not all, the guard near the royal treasury report that the King of Hero's attacked and stole the Dorma Anim!"
"The Dorma Anim? Curse it all but she might not know how to use it." Byro suggested trying to look on the bright side.
"Damn it when the Dragon Chain cannon is ready, fire it towards the island with the lacrima and smash it into Extallia immediately!" The king ordered furiously.
"At once my lord." Byro bowed and quickly ran to carry out his orders.
" The Dragon Chain cannon? BUT WAIT!" Coco cried out fearfully causing Byro to pause. "Pantherlilly is still up there. He could be killed."
"And what of it?" The king asked coldly glaring at her "He'll be proud to die for his new kingdom. Especially as it heralds the end of the kingdom which banished him even after he served them so loyally."
"But he's our comrade!" Coco objected tears welling up in her eyes. "And he's my friend!"
"Enough, you are in the presence of the king, the matter is closed, Pantherlilly's sacrifice will bring about everlasting magic power!" Byro snapped angrily.
"NO, I WON'T LET YOU!" Coco cried as she snatched the key away from him and began to run.
"COCO COME BACK HERE!" Byro demanded as she ran to escape.
Coco didn't make it very far however as a black gauntlet clad fist drove itself into her stomach just as she reached the door. She coughed as the air was driven from her lungs. The key dropped from her hands and was caught by the free hand of her attacker who tossed her into the hallway where she crashed into the wall. Through her blurry and darkening vision, she saw captain Knightwalker approaching the king with the key.
'No...Panther-lilly, I'm sorry.' Coco thought as she saw Archer giving her a sad look before she turned away and stood behind her partner.
Ignoring the girl Knightwalker returned the key to Byro, who took it back with relief.
"Excellent work Captain Knightwalker that was one annoyance avoided." Faust praised her.
"Should I throw her in the dungeon?" She inquired motioning towards Coco with her head.
"No, it would be a waste of time and resources," Faust responded dismissively. "What I need you to do is-"
"IRON DRAGONS ROAR!" The four had scarcely time to react to the bellow as the room exploded as a tornado of sharp metal shards blasted the wall open destroying the balcony in the process. Sending the King and Byro backwards into the room.
When the dust settled they saw a tall and muscular young man with long, spiky black hair, red eyes with slitted dark pupils, flying in the air, aided by a blue exceed.
"HEY MORONS!" He yelled at them tauntingly. "I'M GAJEEL REDFOX THE IRON DRAGONSLAYER!"
"Another dragonslayer?!" Byro exclaimed with disbelief.
"He must have been hiding out this entire time." Faust realised.
"I'M GONNA FREE MY GUILD FROM YOUR LACRIMA AND YOU CAN'T STOP ME!" He yelled mockingly before flying off toward the lacrima.
"GRRRR Knightwalker, Archer take everyone who's left and get after him!" Faust bellowed furiously "I'll join you soon, Byro fire the dragon chain cannon and then finish off Fairy Tail!"
"Yes, Sir!" They all echoed. Everyone then rushed off to complete their orders. None noticing that Coco was no longer lying in the hallway nor the patter of footsteps running away.
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Gray quickly and carefully moved with Mystogan slumped over his shoulder, they ducked between pillars and hid behind statues and other things to avoid the soldiers who were running around in a panic.
"Quickly, the king wants us to get after that dragon slayer."
"Yeah we need to protect the lacrima or we'll never have unlimited magical power."
They watched from their hiding place as the soldiers ran from sight but did not come out until the hallway was dead silent.
"How much farther?" Gray asked as he began taking the weakened Mystogan down the hallway fast so as not to be caught by any other soldiers who might come down the hall.
"It's right here," Mystogan said motioning to an open doorway which led down some stairs and into darkness.
The sound of their footsteps bounced off of the walls as they headed down the staircase.
"It's a good thing we ran into Happy and Carla," Gray commented as they kept descending deeper and deeper. "Was that part of your plan too?"
"No, just a stroke of good fortune I'm afraid. Sorry to disappoint you" Mystogan chuckled. "It's too bad Natsu ran off on his own earlier, but at least he knows what to do now. He'll regroup with the others and they'll go up and protect the lacrima."
"We're here," Gray observed as they finally came to the bottom of the stairs and entered a room with an ethereal golden light emanating from the doorway.
Passing through they saw a large cavernous room with towering statues, which were quite clearly magical, Gray could feel the magical energy coming off of them. But what drew his attention the seemingly small unassuming golden chalice which sat in a podium in the centre of the statues.
"Is that it?" Gray asked in awe.
"That's it the Holy Grail," Mystogan told him as he removed himself from Gray and hobbled over to the grail and past it looking at the statues. "First the anima."
He raised a hand and a light screen appeared, Mystogan put a hand on it and small red magic circles appeared around his fingertips where they met the screen. He dragged them closer together forming a circle with them. Then small red lines began connecting the circles before they all met in the centre. The result vaguely resembled a gear of sorts.
"Is that a gear?" Gray asked curiously.
"Yes, the king designed the Anima himself," Mystogan explained as he began turning the gear to the right, which was going slower than Gray thought it would, it seemed like Mystogan was having trouble like he was trying to move something heavy.
"Hey, do you need help with that?"
"No it's fine, it's just my diminished powers taking their toll as my body adjusts that's all," Mystogan grunted as he kept turning his hand thus the gear, finally after a few agonising moments the gear had turned one hundred and 180 degrees to the right, Mystogan promptly took his hand off the screen and the gear vanished replaced with an information box.
Warning: Anima Reversion command activated, confirm?
Mystogan pressed the button which said Confirm.
Beginning Anima Reversal Cycle
The screen vanished, blue lines of energy snaked up to the statues whose eyes flashed an ethereal blue colour for a moment before seemingly going inert again.
"So is that it?" Gray asked a bit disappointed.
"Yes, it will take a while but everyone trapped in the lacrima will be restored to the way they were in Earthland, safe and sound," Mystogan reassured him as he made his way back to Gray.
"Ok, so what now? Back to the throne room?"
"No, first I need to take care of this." Mystogan turned to face the Holy Grail, he summoned Arondight into his hand and raised it above his head. "Arondight, my powers are nearly gone, but please help me to put down one last evil. As if in response the sword began to glow with a blue light much like that of a clear lake surface. However as quickly as the light came it began to fade, quickly Mystogan brought it down upon the golden chalice, as this happened the blue energy burst outwards briefly blinding Gray.
When his vision returned he reflexively caught Mystogan who had fallen backwards, now looking even more exhausted.
"I'm finished, my powers are almost gone, I won't be able to help you fight," Mystogan informed him through gasps.
"You cracked it." Gray pointed to the Chalice which now had a large crack going from near the rim down the stem. "But it wasn't destroyed."
"Good, if we destroy then the king will become unpredictable, there's no telling what he might do, even massacre his own people, he's not human anymore," Mystogan told him.
"Nothing's ever easy is it?" Gray grumbled as Arondight vanished.
"Nothing worth doing ever is," Mystogan replied a weak grin, suddenly his knees buckled from under him but luckily he was caught by Gray before he hit the ground.
"Woah, you need to rest man, you're barely on your feet," Gray said insistently.
"Take me to the throne room, I can rest up there out of sight." Mystogan relented. "From here on out it's up to Natsu and the others."
"Knowing that fire breather he's probably found the others already," Gray commented as he began to help Mystogan up the stairs.
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Erza, Wendy and Lucy had finally met up in the bare empty treasury room of the royal palace which Lucy had thoroughly looted. They had noticed the loud ruckus which had started in the city causing guards to scramble and try to deal with it.
"It seems as though the guards have scrambled to deal with that noise out in the city," Erza commented.
"It seems like someone is attacking, who could it be?" Wendy asked as the rumbling paused for a moment only to happen again.
"It's the Edolas Fairy Tail!" a familiar voice informed them bursting through the doors.
They all looked to see Natsu standing there slightly out of breath.
"Natsu, you're ok!" Wendy said with relief.
"How did you escape?" Erza asked curiously.
"Gray was sent by Mystogan to bust me out," Natsu answered catching his breath.
"Mystogan?" Erza parroted the name of the most mysterious member of their guild.
"Yeah, he knows a lot about what's going on and he has a plan to get everyone home and back to normal." Natsu explained, "He's the one who convinced the Edolas Fairy Tail to attack and keep the guards busy."
"Wendy!" The girl in question looked up as a white ball of fur crashed into her arms hugging her desperately as if she would disappear if she let go.
"Carla, you're back." Wendy sniffled at the return of her missing friend but was cut off by Carla's tears.
"Wendy, please forgive I never wanted too...you have to believe that I am your friend..." Carla kept tripping over her words trying to express her feelings only to stop as Wendy hugging her tightly.
"Don't worry Carla. I know." Wendy reassured her continuing to hug her, only to become confused as Carla suddenly stiffened in her arms.
"Wendy...this is..." Carla trailed off and Wendy felt a stab of pain as Carla prodded her on the chest.
"Ouch! Carla, what was that...for?" Wendy trailed off as Carla lifted her shirt to reveal a sharp point protruding from between her ribs.
"It would seem that your body is approaching its limits," Lucy observed. "If the two fakers do not confront each other soon, then those words will start piercing your organs."
"So we need to find Archer, but she could be anywhere," Erza said.
"I know!" A new voice cried as a girl ran into the room. "I can tell you where she'll be but you have to help!"
"Wait, who are you and how'd you find us?" Natsu asked.
"I'm Coco the Assistant Chief of Staff." She explained before getting back on topic. "Please, the king is going to kill my friend Pantherlilly to get the magic power he needs!"
"Pantherlilly, he's the Exceed we saw in the ambush earlier," Carla said. "The tall black one wearing a royal army uniform."
"So why's he gonna kill him?" Natsu asked rather angry at the fact that the king would sacrifice one of his men so callously.
"To get the magic power he needs the King will fire the dragon chain cannon at the lacrima and slam it into Extalia. But he sent Pantherlilly to guard it earlier so he'll die when it does." Coco explained quickly and fearfully.
"If they do that then our guild they'll be lost forever," Natsu growled. "There's no way I'll let that happen."
"Alright, but what about Archer where is she?" Carla demanded, getting into Coco's face.
"Well your friend the dragonslayer with black hair caused a ruckus and is headed up to lacrima now, the Royal Army, along with the King, Captain Knightwalker and Archer are getting ready to pursue him, so she'll be there soon," Coco revealed quickly.
"Don't worry, we'll save your friend and ours too," Natsu stated firmly punch his hand with a flaming fist.
"Someone needs to go up and warn the Exceeds." Wendy cried.
"No, I'm not going back there!" Carla snapped surprising her friend. "I couldn't care less about what happens to those horrible creatures!" Wendy looked shocked and tried to interject but stopped when she saw the tears in Carla's eyes "Besides we're going to stop the attack anyway so there's no need."
"Carla, even if we stop them from smashing the lacrima the royal army might still have other weapons, they did turn the Exceed army into lacrima's too." Wendy knelt before Carla. "Come on, It's not about being human or Exceed if there's something we can do as fellow living beings then we have to do it."
'Save the Exceeds?' Carl's angry thoughts at the Exceeds drifted to Lucky and his wife Marl whom she and Happy had stayed with briefly to evade the army. They didn't deserve anything the kingdom had planned, and who knows how many others had their eggs stolen by the queen. In the end, she couldn't help it, Wendy was right. "Fine." She conceded." I'll go."
"If we can get to the stables we use my Legion Legy to get up there, he's faster than any other the royal army has." Coco declared. "We just need to get there."
"Through here then," Lucy said having opened a gateway directly to the Legion stables. "You two, through that one." She pointed to another gateway she had opened for Wendy and Carla.
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Finally, Gajeel had arrived with Happy on the island which contained the giant lacrima which had been made from Magnolia's towns residents and Fairy Tail.
"It's so huge." Happy exclaimed looking the lacrima which had to be the size of a small mountain.
"It's size must be relative to the amount of energy it has." Gajeel theorised.
"I'll bet most of it is Gildarts then." Happy stated before a loud rumbling sound from below caught the attention of the two.
They both went to the edge of the island and looked down to see the royal city transforming. The city's inner part raised to become higher than the out edge and in the centre of that, a large barrel extended out of the city.
"Crap that must the dragon chain cannon Mystogan talked about," Gajeel grumbled.
"Correct!" Gajeel barely dodged as a huge sword sliced the part of the ground he had just been standing on.
There was a tall Exceed with black fur and wings floating just off the island with a large sword in his hands.
"Captain of the royal army's First Magic Warfare Unit, Pantherlilly." He introduced himself. "My current operation is dependent on this lacrima, make one wrong move AND YOU'RE DEAD!" he charged and attacked Gajeel again this time slicing off the part of the floating island, leaving less room for the Iron Dragon Slayer to stand on.
"That's a really big sword." Happy commented on the sword which was larger than Pantherlilly was.
"Tell me about it," Gajeel grunted before looking Pantherlilly in the eyes. "Hey if you're one of these super cats then why are you fighting for the other side?"
"That choice was made LONG AGO!" Pantherlilly brought his sword down Gajeel who managed to catch it much to the Exceed's surprise. "How did you-"
"Iron dragon scales aren't any ordinary metal," Gajeel informed him. "But back on topic."
"The queen is an evil liar, with no compassion for other living creatures, that is behind me now, it's built on lies and bodies of other living creatures!" Pantherlilly yelled pressing more into his attack.
"And the King is any better?" Gajeel shot back. "Maybe not, but at least his goal will benefit everyone and not just HIMSELF!"
Pantherilly made to press harder only for Gajeel to shatter the blade to pieces.
"He shattered my Bustermarm sword." The Exceed warrior gasped only to be surprised as Gajeel leapt up and punched him into the island.
"I'm guessing you didn't fit in there, I know all about that feeling brother." Gajeel sympathised landing nearby. "So I'm gonna make you my cat!
"WHAT?!" Happy cried incredulously.
"But first I'm gonna have to teach you that I'm way stronger than you kitty!" Gajeel yelled with a smirk, putting his hands together before his mouth. "IRON DRAGONS ROAR!"
Pantherlilly barely had time to react as the tornado of metal swallowed him. Gajeel smirked however as the attack was about to finish he widened his eyes as the large Exceed suddenly popped up out of the roar straight in front of him.
"Royal Army knocking!" He then proceeded to slug Gajeel in the face with such force that he flew and crashed into a smaller floating island nearby.
"Gajeel!" Happy called out as he flew over to the man who was rubbing his face as the dust cleared. "Are you ok?"
"No, if I hadn't used my iron dragon scales at the last second then I'm sure my jaw would be in pieces," Gajeel grumbled as pain shot through his face. "How did you do that? My roar didn't even scratch you besides that fancy armour of yours."
"It's a trick Archer taught me," Pantherlily answered with a smirk. "As an Exceed I can use magic in Edolas in a similar manner to the way you Earthlanders use your magic, Archer calls it reinforcement, it allows me to use magic energy to increase my strength and durability. I'm afraid your little love taps won't do you any good from here on out."
"Good, that means I don't have to worry about breaking you by mistake!" Gajeel laughed lunging for Pantherlilly once again.
Happy stood back and watched as Gajeel covered himself with his iron dragon scales to enhance his strength and engaged in a slugging match with Pantherlilly, the loser was only a matter of who would give out first.
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In the streets of Extalia proper, a crowd of Exceed had their attention drawn to a large golden ripple that appeared in the middle of the street.
"What do you think it is?"
"Did the humans make it?"
"Don't be ridiculous, the humans wouldn't dare come up here never put something like this here."
"But then who-"
The mumbling and speculation were interrupted a Carla and Wendy popped through the portal which closed behind them.
"If she could just move people with that thing then why doesn't she just bring everyone up here?" Carla grumbled.
"Just let it go, Carla, you know Lucy just does what she wants." Wendy sighed.
"I know but that doesn't mean I have to like it," Carla grumbled before perking upon spotting the royal palace. "Look, the Queen is bound to be inside."
"But what about these people?" Wendy asked looking at the crowd of Exceeds.
"Look it's that Fallen again and she's brought a human up here."
"It'll just be a waste of time, if we get the Queen to understand then they'll listen to her." Carla insisted.
"Stop!" Nadi demanded as he made his way through the crowd to stand opposite Wendy and Carla. "You two cannot be here, Fallens and humans are forbidden from entering Extallia under any circumstances."
"Listen, the king of Edolas is a reincarnate, a mage you have to know what that means!" Wendy told him sternly, Nadi noticeably flinched as this information. "He was never fooled, he went along with your charade so he could force his laws onto the people of Edolas without much of a fight."
"But now he is nearing his goal and doesn't need the Queen or Extalia anymore except as fuel for his plan." Carla continued. "He's going to slam that giant lacrima into Extalia. He has already turned your army into a lacrima below in the city,
"As if Extalia's Royal Guard could be defeated by mere humans." A bearded Exceed scoffed.
"Stop talking nonsense." A female sneered.
"Listen you have no way to fight him, you must help us convince the queen to evacuate Extalia before-"
A loud boom and roar stopped the conversation dead. Everyone looked to a massive chain with the head of a dragon had slammed into the bottom of the lacrima island and began to burrow its way in firmly attaching itself to it. Mere moments after the lacrima contained Magnolia and Fairy Tail turned a rather hostile shade of red.
"Oh dear, this is terrible," Nadi whispered to himself panicking and knowing the jig was up.
"That must be the dragon chain cannon." Carla gasped.
"We need to hurry up." Wendy breathed knowing they were running of time.
"So the humans are attacking."
"I didn't think they'd be stupid enough to revolt."
"They must not realise the Queen's true power."
"She'll use her magic and wipe them all out."
"Oh no, this is very bad, what will we do?" Nadi wondered his aloud thoughts unheard the by the crowd who were speaking praises and confident statements about their queen and her power.
"Set aside your fear Nadi." Queen Shagotte said having come down from the palace of her accord.
"Your highness, the human King was a reincarnate all this time, a mage," Nadi informed her fearfully, causing the other elders to gulp. "I don't think he ever believed in the first place.
"If that's true then why did he not simply attack before?" Muganto asked with confusion.
"Because he needed my reputation, isn't that right?" Shagotte asked Nadi who nodded.
"Yes, the reputation we built, was used by him to enact his harsh laws and keep the humans from rebelling against him," Nadi told them.
"But now his plain is near fruition, he no longer needs her or us." Mejeer realised with a sad sigh.
"What should we do?" Mysdroy asked.
"First, we must end this charade." Shagotte insisted he began to open up her robe, and before the other elders could object she had removed it completely revealing that she had only a single wing, causing the people around to all gasp, save for the elders and Nadi.