The Sword and the Storm
Chapter 5: Phantoms and Fairies
Disclaimer: I do not own fairy tail. Hope y'all enjoy
"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." -Elie Wiesel
-LINE BREAK-
It took two days for Gajeel to rile fairy tail up enough to return, and Katsuro spent all the time he could trying to find a way to help Juvia. He explored all open areas of the castle that he could access, and even snuck into a few areas not open to general members, but it appeared that the lacrima was hidden in an area Katsuro could not reach without alerting Porla to his treachery. The rest of his time was spent helping Juvia come to terms with her job. Juvia at first thought of it as simply kidnapping, but the nature mage had multiple talks with her to convince her it was just another job to be done.
He hoped he had gotten through to her, but feared she would still suffer mentally from this, and vowed to himself to be there for Juvia should she need it. The closer to go time they got, however, the more firm Juvia got. She was finding her sense of steel, the will of iron that carried her to Phantom despite the hurts that the world heaped on her, the conviction that allowed her to survive countless S-class missions that would have killed lesser mages. She was Juvia of the Deep, and she would complete the contract to the best of her ability and feel regret, guilt, and sadness later.
When the Iron DragonSlayer burst through the doors 48-ish hours after Porla informed them he had left, Juvia was ready to get this over with. He kept a brisk pace all the way to Porla's office, his face unreadable. Katsuro heard the door to the study slam, and thought. 'Redfox is even more moody than usual… wonder what happened?'
He returned to the main hall after around forty five minutes, and made straight for Katsuro and Juvia's corner booth. Once he was there, he grunted. "Master said it's time. I'm gonna go tell the prick then you'll be off. Here's the picture of the chick, her address is on the back of the photo." After slapping the photograph on the table, he went off looking for Sol.
"It's about that time." Katsuro softly voiced after a moment of staring at the blonde in the photo.
"So it is." Juvia concurred wearily.
"Be careful Juvia, I'm not gonna be there to help you this time." he joked weakly.
"Juvia is always careful, It's you that has gotten hurt the most on our mission record so far." she retorted with a small smile before standing up and striding for the front door. Katsuro stayed at the table, put his head in his hands, and groaned loudly. Once he finished bemoaning their situation, he decided to go and search for the lacrima one more time, because if he could find it, then he still had a chance to catch up to Juvia. Whether or not Juvia would decide against the mission if he destroyed the crystal was a toss up between her loyalty to Porla and her morals, but Katsuro had a decent idea of which one she would choose.
The nature mage had already searched the castle mostly from top to bottom, but the atrium remained under heavy watch by guards that Jose stationed there. If he could sneak past them and get through, then he could check the last area he was aware of not having searched. If he got caught, then he was confident is his ability to bullshit Porla enough to at least lessen his punishment.
He climbed the stairwell leading up to the top floor quickly, and had to do a double take once he saw the door that had until now been under constant guard by at least four mages at a time completely unguarded. Katsuro kept a low profile and moved stealthily, not believing his luck would ever be this good. He opened the door just enough to slip in, but the large wooden entrance still managed to creak loudly enough to make him cringe. Once inside, he was unable to stifle a gasp at the size of the weapon within. The gargantuan cannon was at least half the size of one of the towers shouldered against the castle, though it was much thinner. There was a giant spherical lacrime above the cannon connected to it by cables, but there were also cables leading to four other lacrima scattered throughout the room.
The smaller crystals were the color of their respective elements: red, blue, green, and gray. Katsuro took a completely wild guess that the blue one was the lacrima connected to Juvia's magic, and sauntered over to it. At this point he'd given up on being quiet, and his boots were echoing off the tile floor. Just as he was going to reach out and touch the crystal, a throat loudly cleared behind him.
He jumped nearly a foot in the air and spun around, spotting Porla staring at him, unimpressed. "When my guards informed me that you were snooping around here, I had hoped you would have left this area well enough alone once you saw I did not want any trespassers… I see now that I was mistaken."
"What can I say, I'm an adventurous spirit, I like exploring. Showing me a hidden area I'm not supposed to go in is like placing a sign on the door saying 'open for business'. Add that with the fact that the guards were gone, I honestly couldn't resist." Katsuro admitted.
Jose's face grew hard. "I want to believe you, truly I do. But I chose to remove my guards to see what exactly you wanted from this room, not on some whim or accident. If you truly just wanted to know what was in here, why did you gravitate so quickly to our mutual acquaintance's lacrima crystal? Has Miss Lockser been telling guild secrets?"
"I don't know what you mean. I was just curious, and I'm rather fond of the color blue." his stance shifted from a casual one to defensive, tensed one ready for a fight.
"My boy, I have lived a long life, and in all those years, I have been made a fool of very few times. We both know why you're here, what you are trying to do. Do us both a courtesy and admit it."
Katsuro gave a put upon sign, as though it was a great effort to speak. "Fine… I suppose I can admit that I was here to smash the lacrima, as it gives you power over Juvia that would make her do things she wouldn't normally do, such as oh I don't know, kidnapping someone innocent!" he shouted the last part, dropping the guise of cordiality altogether.
"First off, no one is innocent in this world. I don't know how you've made it so far as a mage and haven't learned that lesson yet. Secondly, the Element Four knew what they were signing up for when they granted me permission to connect them to these lacrima, I did not force them into it. The only one that even has problems performing contracts that I assign has ever been Juvia. She allows her morals, her-her sense of what is right to get between her and the job. That is not a healthy way for a mage to function, as occasionally, and this does happen, we are forced to choose jobs without a happy ending to get paid!" he raised his own voice, though his was raspier than Katsuro's. "Sometimes there is no right, only wrong! In our line of work we must accept that, or you simply can't make it."
"I guess we'll have to agree to disagree there. I believe in being a mage without having to sacrifice my principles. Just because you failed at it doesn't mean everyone will." Katsuro taunted.
"I failed… ME! I am Jose Porla, Wizard Saint, Guild Master, one of the most powerful mages in Fiore! If I say it isn't possible I think I know what I am referring to." Porla roared.
"Fine, let me rephrase that. Just because you never had any morals to begin with, doesn't mean all mages must be the same."
"You should have joined those weaklings at fairy tail… the dribble you spout would fit in much better there." he growled.
"No wonder they irk you so much, they represent your theory's flaws. They show that you aren't right, that mages can reach greatness without sacrificing themselves."
"I will make you regret those words, brat."
"You might try, but I'll still win in the end." Katsuro stated.
"Oh, and how would you go about that?"
"By destroying this Lacrima right behind me!" he quickly spun, drawing his sword as he went to bring it down on the crystal, but the nature mage felt a… presence of some sort pass through him, and as it went Katsuro felt as though the thing absorbed what felt like half his magical energy in one fell swoop. Dropping his sword, he fell to a knee, gasping.
"I'm sure you are just dying to know what you felt just then." Jose glibly stated,
"Would be nice…" he croaked.
"That would be my shade magic. I can spawn phantoms that will pass through you and absorb magical energy as they go, feeding it back to me. There is no earth here, boy. No potted plants, no nature of any sort. You are out of your element, literally. Katsuro Toran, you stand no chance against me here. Surrender now, and I shall remove your guild mark and send you on your way."
"See, I would do that, but I'm close to Juvia, she's probably my only friend. And my father, he always told me that friends and family were worth fighting for. I didn't get the chance to fight for him, but I have a chance here to fight for Juvia. All I gotta do is take out this lacrima, I don't have to beat you. Just one crystal stands between me and victory. It isn't a matter of you overpowering me, the question is can you stop me in my tracks!" Katsuro gloated, drawing his wakizashi, picking his katana up off the ground, and standing up once again.
Glancing to his left, then to his right, he noticed Porla had summoned a dozen of the shades, and the numbers were still increasing the longer he stared. By the time he turned to dash at the lacrima, there were already two dozen zooming right at him. He was sprinting all out, trying to get to the thing before they could get to him. He raised both blades high above his head, smashing them down on the crystal once, twice, the most he was managing was scratching them at present.
Katsuro was forced on the move by the encroaching spirits, running around the room dodging them at random as they popped up. The mage went to go to the crystal for another attempt, and saw that Porla had surrounded it with shades.
"Shit." he muttered under his breath, changing his route once again to make a move for Porla himself, but was forced to turn again upon seeing Porla had his own ghostly guards flanking him.
"Fuck it, you wanna play, I'll play Porla!" he thundered, charging back at the crystal. He passed straight through another ghost, stumbling as it absorbed more of his magic, recovering quickly nonetheless. Another ghost, at this point Katsuro was pale, but still moving forward, though his pace had slowed significantly. As he passed through the final ghost between him and the crystal, he dropped once again to his knees, his vision blurry and body too heavy to move.
"Bas-bastard." he breathed.
"You should have taken my offer, brat. Now you're paying the price. Aria, take him to the dungeons!" the same doors Katsuro passed through opened again, and a tall man wearing a blindfold and a green fedora walked in, his coat of the same color trailing around his ankles.
"As you wish, Master. But still, it's such a tragedy! The hero fails to secure his beloved's freedom! Such sadness!" Katsuro could easily see why Juvia called him insane now, even half unconscious his mind still understood that guy was completely off his rocker.
"And make sure you cuff him! I wouldn't want him to escape before Juvia returns, that could complicate the mission with how close they've become." Jose commanded.
"Oh, also Aria. Once you're done, give his swords to Gajeel. I wouldn't want to leave them lying in plain sight, and I remember him saying he wanted to taste them." he chuckled.
"If that metal head touches my swords I'll shove his arms down his throat next!" katsuro slurred, still on the precipice of sleep.
"Shush brat, your opinion is neither wanted nor needed. Matter of fact, Aria, send him to the sandman before you cuff him."
"Yes sir." he put a large hand on Katsuro's shoulder, and he felt the last dregs of his magic sucked out of him, knocking him out instantly.
-LINE BREAK-
When he woke, Katsuro almost felt too weak to even breathe, forget moving. He was laying on a plain cot in a small brick-walled cell, two iron doors with barred windows revealing both a door to the outside and a door into Phantom castle's bowels. The nature mage was forced to be content with the view of the sky and clouds from the outer door, as he was sure he couldn't get up to actually look outside.
Katsuro was unsure how long he'd been asleep for, but he put it somewhere between not very long or over a day, definitely one of the two. His musing was put on hold by a bang in a cell to his right.
"Hey! Blue Girl, weirdo! Let me out of here! What did I do to you guys anyway. For that matter, what did Fairy Tail do to Phantom to make you all destroy our guild hall and crucify our friends!"
'Survey says it was over a day, not a short nap…' he thought humorously. He tried to answer her but he was so weak all that came out was a slight croak.
"Hello! I'm sure that someone out there can hear me! I don't think you guys would just dump me specifically in a cell and leave me here. There are stronger mages you could've taken if you wanted to weaken Fairy Tail, so you took me for a reason!" he reasoned loudly.
'Fairly smart deduction. Wonder if she's already guessing it's about her name.'
"Yes, I can hear you Miss Lucy. Hold on just a moment while I come in." he heard Porla speak, before a series of clanks signified the door unlocking, followed by a louder clank of the door closing back.
"Now that we are face to face, I shall endeavor to answer any questions you may have."
"Why the hell did you have me kidnapped!" she snapped.
"I think you know the answer to that just as well as I do… Miss Heartfilia."
"W-w-what?! How do you know that name?" she panicked.
"Simple. Your father contracted my guild to return you to him."
"I should have guessed he'd have a hand in this somehow… but that doesn't explain why you destroyed Fairy Tail's guild hall or hurt Levy, Jet, and Droy."
"That was Gajeel's doing, I'm afraid. I needed him to rile Fairy Tail up so they would be distracted when you were taken. A sort of sleight of hand, you see. Keep their eyes on one thing, while something completely different is going on elsewhere." he explained.
'Bullshit, he just wants Fairy Tail gone and saw his opportunity.' Katsuro thought mutinously.
"So… this is my fault." Lucy murmured sadly.
"Not entirely. I will admit to holding a strong dislike of Fairy Tail, and I chose this job to put in motion a plan to rid me of Makarov and his band of fools. Taking your father's job was just the match that lit the flame, as it were."
"They won't let you get away with this, you know! Fairy Tail will come for me!" she yelled defiantly.
"That's exactly what I'm counting on, my dear," Porla Laughed. "You didn't expect me to face Fairy Tail on their turf, did you? No, I'll make them come to us!"
"Since you're answering questions, I don't suppose you'd tell me about a way out of here, would you?" he would have laughed at her attempt to sound sultry to Porla if he could, Katsuro doubted the man even had a sex drive.
"I will indeed. It is just through that door there. It's even unlocked. Go on, check."
Katsuro heard rusty hinges moving, followed by a scream.
"You're crazy! Why would you put a door on the side of a freaking cliff!"
"One can never say that Phantom holds anyone prisoner. They have a way out, every cell." he laughed again.
The next thing he heard was Porla's screech, and subsequent collapse onto the floor.
"That… was not very nice." he groaned.
"That's what you get for taking me hostage, old man!"
"Watch your tone, girl, or I may yet throw you out of that door!"
In the distance, as faint as a whisper, Katsuro thought he heard someone shouting. He thought he imagined it at first, as a matter of fact. But when it persisted, growing slightly louder as it came closer, though still so faint it could be missed, he knew it actually was someone screaming, Lucy's name to be specific. Apparently she heard it too, for her next words were. "You know what… I think I will take the exit. Because he'll catch me." she spoke softly, fondly, clearly close to whoever it was. He heard Porla's urgent shout to stop, but it was too late, the winds were already taking her scream when the door swung shut once again.
It hurt like hell, but Katsuro was sure that nothing could wipe the smile off his face that he gained at listening to Jose's scream of rage. A few moments passed while the Guildmaster collected himself, then the door to his own cell opened, revealing a slightly red-faced Jose.
Seeing he was awake, Porla spat. "I suppose you found that very funny, didn't you."
Katsuro just did his best to smile wider, still too weak to do much else
"Since you thought it was so funny, why don't you join her!" he picked up Katsuro by the collar, slammed open the door, and tossed him out into the open air. Katsuro's eyes widened dramatically as he got one last look at Porla, having not expected him to snap and actually murder him.
He fell quickly, his eyes blurring with tears as he watched the rapidly approaching ground, unable to even voice a last word. He closed his eyes before he knew he would impact and thought. 'Damn, guess I won't be able to help Juvia after all, sorry.'
The nature mage opened his eyes a few seconds later to see that he was floating a few feet off the ground, suspended by a… winged blue cat? 'Fairy tail mages sure are weird.' he reflected.
"I got him Natsu! I caught him!"
"Nice catch buddy! Bring him down."
"Aye sir! but uh Natsu, you should know this guy has a Phantom guild mark."
"What? Why did he fall out of a cell door then?" Lucy questioned.
Katsuro summoned every ounce of strength he had, and uttered, "Help…" then promptly passed back out.
-POV CHANGE-
By the time they hit Magnolia, Juvia was nearly at the point of performing a pagan sacrificial ritual to replace Sol with Katsuro with how tired she was of him. The entire trip over had been nothing but gloating about himself, grumbling about Katsuro or over exaggerating how strong he was in their match. Or, and this was Juvia's favorite, calling his victory a fluke and saying that next time he'd win for sure.
To say the least, Sol's personality was an acquired taste Juvia just could not acquire. Even going by train, the trip had still nearly gotten on her last nerve. When they exited the train, Juvia tried to speed walk to get some distance between them, but the bastards long legs gave him an advantage on Juvia that she couldn't outrun without being visibly rude.
Surprisingly, they didn't encounter a single fairy tail mage while they were making their way to Lucy's apartment. Juvia thought it was awfully suspicious, but Sol assured her that it was all part of Master Porla's plan. Unfortunately her home was empty, so the duo were forced to set up watch and wait for her to return. When she did, her arms held a small celestial spirit, which looked similar to a snowman, but she was oblivious to her surroundings. Juvia chose to get up close to ensure it was actually the Heartfilia heiress.
She got within speaking distance, and spoke softly. "Lucy?" she inquired.
When the girl turned to face her, Juvia was completely sure it was the same woman from the photo. "Juvia is afraid she must ask you to come with her. Please do not try to fight, Juvia has no wish to harm you, but she will do what she must to capture you."
"Who are y-wait, You're from Phantom, aren't you! Are you the ones that hurt Levy, Jet, and Droy?" she angrily demanded, hands flying to her keys.
Juvia sighed sadly, and motioned with her hand. "Water Lock." Suddenly water flew up from the canal they were standing beside, and formed a sphere around Lucy, and a strong current unhooked her keys from her belt and dropped them on the pavement. Lucy held her breath as long as she could, but soon she passed out, and Juvia dropped her to the ground.
"I shall carry her to the master, mademoiselle. Jose will wish for us to return to headquarters post haste in case of retaliation."
"Then let's go. Juvia wants to be done with this as soon as possible."
They warily waited at the train station for nearly 3 minutes to catch the next one to Oak Town, watching carefully for any mages coming from the general direction of Fairy Tail. their luck held true however, and they boarded the train without problems.
That same luck lasted all the way back to Phantom, but once they entered the doors they saw mages running around like chickens with their heads cut off, attempting to treat wounded Phantom mages that were sprawled out on the tables and floor. Juvia wondered what happened, but Sol urged her to go report to the master while he carried Lucy to the dungeon cells.
His study was pristine as ever, and Porla was sitting at his desk filling out a stack of paperwork nearly half as tall as Juvia. He smiled ruefully at her upon her entrance. "The bane of Guildmasters the world across, Miss Lockser… Paperwork. I'm sure it's driven many a man to madness. But I digress, I assume the capture of the Heartfilia girl was a success."
"Sol is taking her to the dungeons as we speak, master. Might Juvia ask what happened while we were away?"
"Our diversion happened. As I said before, I had this all planned out. We riled up Fairy Tail enough for them to attack here, but I knew for a fact that Lucy had just returned from a mission and was unlikely to join them in the assault so soon after her return. But with most of their guild storming our Magnolia branch, we were able to clear them out of Magnolia town so you could go in unimpeded and collect the target. What you saw down there were the injuries our side incurred during the fight."
"Did we win?"
"Oh yes!" he cackled. "I tricked Makarov into thinking I was there, when the entire time it was an illusion with Aria hidden away to take his magical energy. Last I saw he was half dead on the floor. Fairy Tail is leaderless, very soon we will be able to finish them off."
"That's… nice Juvia supposes." she said for lack of anything else coming to mind.
"Indeed it is. Though not all the news I have for you is nice, I'm afraid."
"News for Juvia? What is it?" she asked concernedly.
"I'm afraid your friend, Mister Toran, has left Phantom Lord while you were away. He came to my office, said he could not support an outright guild war and asked me to remove his mark. He did tell me to say goodbye to you, though, and that you were a good friend for the time he was here."
"J-Juvia doesn't understand…" she whispered, her eyes growing moist.
"Yes it is a shame. The boy truly did have potential, and I saw how happy you two were around each other, but I suppose everyone has their limits on what they'll do."
"Juvia… understands. May she be dismissed, master?" her voice shook only slightly, betraying her inner emotions. Otherwise, she had turned her face to a blank mask that hid everything inside.
"Yes. I am sorry for your separation from your friend. Some alone time to come to terms with everything might be best."
"Thank you." with that she left his office, mind whirring.
'Did he really leave Juvia… she doesn't think he would, especially with all the talks they had the past few days. The real question is, did the master do something to him? Did he find the lacrima and force Jose's hand? Ugh there's too much that could have happened while Juvia was gone! She just hopes he's alright.' she finished concernedly.
"Psst, rain woman, get over here." a voice hissed from a side room.
"Gajeel?" she warily inquired.
"Yea, get your ass in here now. We gotta talk."
"What's going on? We were never that close so Juvia doesn't-"
"It's about your boy toy, the nature mage."
Juvia froze for a moment, then asked lowly. "What about him?"
"Porla did something to him. I don't know what, but Aria gave me the bastard's swords
and told me to keep 'em away from you."
"Then why tell me?"
"Because I've got dragon slayer hearing, and I remember him saying these are his dad's
swords. I might be a dick at times, but even I can respect sentimental value. Hell I've got nothing of my dad from when he disappeared years ago. I don't know where he is, but the fact that the master gave me these ain't a good sign."
"Juvia agrees. Will you… give Juvia the swords? So she can return them once she finds him?" Juvia refused to even think about him being dead.
"Yea, here." he pulled them from behind his back, and Juvia clung onto them like a
lifeline, storing them in her water body so no one would know she had them.
Gajeel was about to walk off, but Juvia grabbed his wrist and muttered. "Thank you, Gajeel, you didn't have to do this, it really means a lot. Juvia and Katsuro both owe you for this."
"Don't bring it up. Ever. Can't have people ruining my reputation." he smirked and shook his wrist free, strolling off with his hands in his pockets.
Juvia stared after him for a moment, not believing this new side to Gajeel actually existed, before her brain caught up with the events and she began panicking, wondering what actually happened to her friend for him to leave behind possibly his two most valued possessions.
She searched the castle up and down for any sign of him, but came up short on all accounts. She even asked Sol if he'd seen anyone down in the dungeons, but he simply said that the dungeon was empty when he dropped the Heartfilia girl in a cell. She couldn't go down there to check sadly, because by the time she'd checked the other parts of the castle, Jose was already down there speaking to Lucy.
It was a subdued Juvia that made her way to her and Katsuro's booth. She couldn't focus on a book to read, having tried but just stared at a page for over twenty minutes worrying over her missing friend. She was startled out of her musings when Porla stormed into the guildhall, red-faced, and clearly absolutely livid. The noise level dropped to the point you could hear a pin drop as guild members, both injured and non injured, stared at their furious master.
"We're going back to Magnolia! This time we'll wipe out Fairy Tail in its entirety! Along with the ground around it! Phantom Keep operators, prepare to mobilize!" a few witches and wizards sprang up around the guild hall and started climbing the stairs up to the command room, the same room that controlled both the jupiter cannon and Phantom Lord's secret trump card, their ability to relocate their guild hall through the use of giant spider legs that carry the castle wherever Porla wants.
"Here we go again." Gajeel muttered from behind her, startling her.
"Juvia just wants this to end so she can find Katsuro." she said aggravatedly.
"Eh, at least this'll give me another chance to fight Salamander. Bastard got a few lucky hits on me at the Magnolia guild branch." he grunted.
"Juvia hopes you enjoy yourself." she absent-mindedly added.
"You know I will." Gajeel laughed.
-POV CHANGE-
Katsuro woke with a mighty groan stretching his limbs, both relishing and cringing at the pops he heard. Opening his eyes, the room he was in was completely devoid of other people, something he took as a blessing at this point in time. The room itself was small, everything located in close quarters and packed together to leave a clear walking lane. The nature mage was slow in rising, all his limbs still stiff from disuse over the past who knows how long. This was a definite improvement over last time, though, as he could move again, and he was out of his cell!
He turned his back to the door to look at a portrait of a pink haired woman standing next to three others, the one of whom he clearly recognized was Porla, albeit a younger one. Suddenly he was whacked in the back of the head by a wooden stick, and nearly dropped the picture on the floor in his rush to grab onto the bashed area. He spun around to find the pink haired lady from the picture, however she too had aged, and grown old.
"Sit down!" she punctuated both words with more whacks.
"Alright, alright! Chill out!" he pleaded, practically sprinting back to his bed.
"Stay there while I go fetch your medicine." apparently she had grown old AND crotchety. He saw her open a door to another room, and saw a second bed, with a short old man lying in it, unconscious with a green tinge to his skin. When she returned, she carried a tray laden with different bottles. After practically forcing him to drink from two of them, she stomped outside and left him alone once again. He could still hear her screeching from outside, nevertheless, but alone.
"Hurry up! The sooner he and Makarov are gone, the sooner I can go back to my solitude. He's ready to leave, at least, though he won't be up to very much fighting until his magical core replenishes. Make sure he takes it easy, if he winds up back here I'll wind up treating a concussion along with magical exhaustion." Katsuro winced at this. "Go! What are you waiting for, an invitation?"
He was treated to not one, but four people entering the small abode. He remembered Lucy's face from the picture, but the other three were strangers to him. They stared at each other for a few moments, before the pink haired male broke the silence. "So, wanna tell us what the hell happened?"
Katsuro chuckled mirthlessly. "That… is a long and convoluted story that I'd rather not go into."
The armored redhead spoke up next. "We would prefer if you could at least explain enough to let us judge whether or not we can trust you. Whether you were in their cells or not, you still bear the Phantom Lord guild sigil, that alone casts you into doubt."
The nature mage sighed. "I guess I can do that much, considering I'm mainly alive because of you guys… tell me, did I imagine a flying blue haired cat, or was that real. Because it's outrageous enough that I believe I could've imagined it."
"That's my buddy, Happy. I'm Natsu!" pinky explained.
"Alright, well tell Happy he has my thanks. Pretty sure I'd be a stain outside Phantom Castle if it wasn't for him."
"Now will you tell us why the hell Phantom's doing all this?" the shirtless man questioned.
"Two reasons. One is that her father, Jude Heartfilia, put out a contract to bring her back to him and our Guildmaster is a serious brown-noser in that he liked to create influence for phantom everywhere he can. He saw this job as an in with the upper class I'm assuming. The second is that he has a hate boner for Fairy Tail. he seriously loathes you all and would be perfectly happy to wipe you off the map. He saw the job as an opportunity to start that."
"That explains Phantom's involvement, but what about you? Why were you in a cell, let alone thrown out to die." the armored one asked.
"Because I betrayed them," he shrugged. "Porla was forcing someone I cared about to do something she didn't want to do, namely Kidnapping you, Lucy. I tried to find a way to free her from the advantage he held, but I was found out. The situation was not advantageous for me, and I got my ass handed to me and my magic drained. When Lucy escaped, he stormed into my cell and… I don't know, I guess he decided killing me was stress relief. I was still too weak to move so I couldn't really fight back, he just tossed me out the door like a sack of potatoes."
"Wait… the blue girl, the one with blue hair and clothes, was she your friend?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah, that's Juvia. She didn't want to take the job, but she was kind of forced to because one of Phantom's secret weapons utilizes a lacrima connected to her magic. Porla could've drained her until she collapsed and then some with that thing. She didn't have any choice in the matter so please don't judge her too harshly." he spoke quickly trying to allay any hard feelings she might have gotten from her capture.
"Have this conversation outside of my house, you damn kids!" the old crone yelled, sending all of them running out of the house when she picked up her broom.
They stopped near the edge of the forest, and Katsuro started laughing, laughing so hard he fell on his ass, which set off Lucy and Natsu, though the redhead and stripper maintained their decorum, they were still chuckling. "I thought about it when the cat rescued me, now I'll say it. You Fairy Tail mages sure are weird."
"Nah, we're awesome!" Natsu boasted.
"Interesting, at the least." the stripper amended.
The group sat there for a moment, then Katsuro got back up and told them. "Well this has been great, but I need to get back to Phantom and try to find a way to help Juvia. I'll tear that fucking castle down brick by brick if that's what it takes to get to that lacrima."
"We'll help you, we've got a score to settle anyway. These bastards destroyed our guildhall, hurt our friends, and kidnapped Lucy! I think it's time we kicked some Phantom ass." Natsu declared.
"We shouldn't be hasty Natsu. With the master injured, we are at an extreme disadvantage against Porla. Remember, he is still a wizard saint, whether he is good or evil he is very powerful."
"Come on Erza, we can't just leave this guy hanging! He needs our help and he seems like a good guy!"
"I never said we wouldn't help him, just that we shouldn't be hasty. We must be cautious in dealing with Jose."
"For what it's worth I agree with Erza, we weren't careful the first time and look at what happened. I think we're lucky the master survived. That could've been much worse. We got lucky." shirtless stated.
"Shut up Ice-crotch, no one asked for your opinion!"
"No one did for yours either fire brains!"
"Natsu! Grey! Now is not the time!" Erza asserted, bashing their heads together hard enough to make Katsuro wince in sympathy.
Lucy tapped Katsuro on the shoulder. "You might as well come back with us to our guild hall. You'll have our help, but we still need to make a plan before we go charging in there to fight them again."
"I can't ask you all to do that for-"
"You're not. We're doing it for us just as much as you. You heard Natsu. You heard what they did to us. We're just allying with you to take them down." she smiled at him.
"Damn it… fine. Let's go then." Natsu cheered at his acceptance, and began leading them back to Fairy Tail energetically, dragging Lucy along by her hand.
It was a short trip back to their guild hall, or what was left after Gajeel's assault. He was led down into the basement, where resided a bunch of mages who looked defeated. They were huddled in quiet groups, muttering amongst themselves.
They grew quiet as Katsuro walked by with Team Natsu, looking at the new mage. He went straight up to the bar and asked the lady behind the counter for water, as it felt like he hadn't had anything to drink besides the medicine from earlier for days. She gave him a wide smile, entirely unlike the rest of the guild, and got his drink quickly.
"Thank you." he murmured around his cup.
"No problem." the white haired woman chirped.
Natsu beckoned him back over to them after he'd dragged over a few chairs to an empty table. Once he meandered back over and sat down, the quintet began talking shop, but they were interrupted shortly into their planning by a brunette in either a bikini or just a bra, Katsuro couldn't really tell from their table, shouting about how Phantom Lord was outside. The group ran up the stairs, outside the ruined guild hall, expecting to see mages swarming the place. It was only when they looked out into the water that Katsuro muttered. "What the holy shit… Juvia didn't tell me about this." there was a giant castle marching towards them over the sea. Katsuro recognized this castle, hell he was thrown out of it! It was Phantom Keep, and the Jupiter Cannon was on full display, appearing fully operational and ready for use.
"We need to Evacuate the area now!" Katsuro shouted urgently.
"Mages of Fairy Tail… I come before you with an ultimatum. Surrender Lucy Heartfilia to me within one hour, or face extermination!" Porla's voice echoed across the water.
-CHAPTER END-
AN: man I was full of inspiration for sword and the storm this week! Hopefully I'll be able to finish out phantom lord arc before i switch over to writing for fresh start or wandering mage or DOF. but who knows. Anywho hope y'all enjoyed R&R pls. See y'all next time.