PART I – Resolution
Chapter XXV – Civil War
IMPORTANT NEWS: You may or may not have heard of this, but the European Parliament will have a session on the 4th of July to support or oppose the project of law concerning copyrights. Long story short, they want to control and censor ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING European people want to post online. Our posts will be compared with the models of their ridiculously huge database and censored if it matches with one of them. Meaning we also won't be able to see these posts anymore… If it happens, we'll be isolated from the rest of the world and deprived of our freedom to express ourselves and create (farewell fanarts, fanfictions and such). Unfortunately, a lot of European writers will be forced to stop writing fanfictions as they won't be allowed to post them anymore, myself including.
Nothing's done yet and we still can try to stop this. You only have to sign the petition on this site: "saveyourinternet . eu"
I know this seems impossible, but the threat is real and we have to act!
"I can believe things that are true and things that aren't true and I can believe things where nobody knows if they're true or not.
I can believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and the Beatles and Marilyn Monroe and Elvis and Mister Ed. Listen - I believe that people are perfectable, that knowledge is infinite, that the world is run by secret banking cartels and is visited by aliens on a regular basis, nice ones that look like wrinkled lemurs and bad ones who mutilate cattle and want our water and our women.
I believe that the future sucks and I believe that the future rocks and I believe that one day White Buffalo Woman is going to come back and kick everyone's ass. I believe that all men are just overgrown boys with deep problems communicating and that the decline in good sex in America is coincident with the decline in drive-in movie theaters from state to state.
I believe that all politicians are unprincipled crooks and I still believe that they are better than the alternative. I believe that California is going to sink into the sea when the big one comes, while Florida is going to dissolve into madness and alligators and toxic waste.
I believe that antibacterial soap is destroying our resistance to dirt and disease so that one day we'll all be wiped out by the common cold like martians in War of the Worlds.
I believe that the greatest poets of the last century were Edith Sitwell and Don Marquis, that jade is dried dragon sperm, and that thousands of years ago in a former life I was a one-armed Siberian shaman.
I believe that mankind's destiny lies in the stars. I believe that candy really did taste better when I was a kid, that it's aerodynamically impossible for a bumble bee to fly, that light is a wave and a particle, that there's a cat in a box somewhere who's alive and dead at the same time (although if they don't ever open the box to feed it it'll eventually just be two different kinds of dead), and that there are stars in the universe billions of years older than the universe itself.
I believe in a personal god who cares about me and worries and oversees everything I do. I believe in an impersonal god who set the universe in motion and went off to hang with her girlfriends and doesn't even know that I'm alive. I believe in an empty and godless universe of causal chaos, background noise, and sheer blind luck.
I believe that anyone who says sex is overrated just hasn't done it properly. I believe that anyone who claims to know what's going on will lie about the little things too.
I believe in absolute honesty and sensible social lies. I believe in a woman's right to choose, a baby's right to live, that while all human life is sacred there's nothing wrong with the death penalty if you can trust the legal system implicitly, and that no one but a moron would ever trust the legal system.
I believe that life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you're alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it."
― Neil Gaiman, American Gods
All of a sudden, friends and families got torn apart, people who were supposed to be trustworthy betrayed their friends and loved ones, people who were believed to be invincible collapsed under the weight of the disaster. It happened very quickly too. There was no official announcement made, no representative, no messenger. And what triggered it all was even more unexpected. Something that was supposed to be absolutely impossible happened and terrified a specific group of people. As soon as the news reached the Academy, they knew that the war had started.
13 hours earlier
"You look terrible," Loke smiled when Lucy opened the door.
She smirked and lightly punched his shoulder.
"Look who's talking," she retorted, "you look like you haven't slept in ages. Since when do you have those huge dark circles?"
He sent her an accusatory look and pointed at her cast.
"Maybe since one of my friends decided to try out as many ways to die as possible."
He was angry. Of course, he was angry. Even Lucy was angry at herself. When she came to the Academy, she was a scared little girl with huge trust issues and almost no will to live on. The only thing she had back then was her thirst for revenge. Little by little, though, the people she met here and the ones she was reunited with managed to change her. But as she started to feel safe with them, especially around Natsu, she also started to become careless.
"It won't happen again," she promised. "From now on, I swear I'll be someone you can trust and rely on."
Loke stopped and gently grabbed her uninjured arm to make her turn around and face him.
"I already trust you with my life," he assured. "It never changed and it never will."
He looked so solemn that it made Lucy remember that even if Loke's past mostly remained a mystery, he was a man who had been through a lot too. He knew how precious a life was and probably understood how Lucy felt at the moment. She smiled sadly, wondering if there would come a time when he felt safe enough to tell her about him.
"I know," she lightly squeezed his hand to thank him.
He smiled back, kissed her forehead and resumed walking.
"Oh yeah," he snapped his fingers, "do you know what happened to Mira? I was coming back to my room last night and..."
"Coming back from where?"
"From the room of a nurse that needed my help to take something bothersome off," he answered naturally.
"Take what off?"
"Her clothes. Anyway, I saw Mira crying as she walked out of the general's building."
Now, this surprised Lucy. Mira was crying last night? Why? She had been overjoyed when Lucy got out of the bus and her mood only got better when she heard that she wasn't suffering from any serious injury. It was true that Mira stayed with the other officers in Makarov's office after Lucy left to go to sleep, but the others all looked normal.
"I don't know," Lucy admitted, "but I'll definitely ask her about it."
A long moment passed in silence and Loke started to feel uncomfortable.
"So," he went on, "I heard from the others that there would only be one less fight this morning since Bacchus wins by default. Too bad, I'm sure you'd have kicked his ass. The draw for the afternoon have been displayed, by the way."
"I'm not so sure about that," Lucy laughed. "Bacchus is strong and he hates me."
"Nah, he doesn't," Loke countered. "He's just an idiot."
"If you say so... So, what about this afternoon's fights?"
A bright smile illuminated his face and he unconsciously started to walk faster, dragging Lucy by her hand.
"Oh, right! We're gonna have some impressive battles today! You already know about Jellal going against Gajeel and Clive against Gray, right? After that, there will be a two hour break and the first fight of the afternoon will be Zancrow versus Sting. It will be interesting, but the really big show comes right after Sting's fight: the commander will face Doriate! You know, the huge guy always wearing a weird scarf?"
Doriate was a huge second year that didn't talk much and wasn't really close to anybody. He did look like he was on pretty good terms with Bakel, though. He'd be no match for the commander.
"And the last fight will be Elfman's," Loke went on. "He's going against a weird guy named Kain, it'll be a piece of cake."
Lucy didn't know this Kain guy, but she figured Loke knew what he was talking about. If he said Elfman would win his fight easily, he probably would.
They kept talking about the fights and the participants as they walked toward the Arena. The weather was good and Lucy's wounds weren't really painful anymore. They were reaching the field when they heard a voice calling for Lucy. Makarov was running toward her while waving his hand with a big smile. He coughed his lungs out when he got to her, though.
"I'm glad... to see you," he was out of breath, but still looked overjoyed. "I had some... something to tell you... ha... sorry about this... I'm too old to go running around..."
"It's fine," Lucy smiled patiently. "We still have about twenty minutes before the first fight. Take your time, we don't want you to have a heart attack."
The old general glared at her and Lucy supposed he was trying to look menacing, but he was obviously amused.
"It won't take me that long... damn brat. As I was saying, you know we sent a team to your mom's location. Well, things didn't exactly go as planned, but..."
Makarov didn't really look worried, but the words he used didn't sound very reassuring either. Lucy was starting to wonder if the old man was teasing her as payback for making fun of him...
"Did something happen to her?" she asked. "Did they find her?"
Makarov scratched the back of his head with a silly smile and laughed.
"Well, it'd be more accurate to say that she was the one who found them," he said. "She managed to neutralize them all and it took quite a while before they managed to convince her that they weren't bad guys."
Lucy massaged the bridge of her nose with her right hand and sighed.
"I'm sorry about that, I should have warned you..."
The small general laughed wholeheartedly at that and patted the young woman's butt since he couldn't reach her shoulder.
"Don't worry, don't worry!"
"Hey," Loke interrupted, "I'll tell the commander about that."
"I don't know what you're talking about," the general whistled. "Anyway, your mom already knocked out three guys who came for her last night. My team's bringing them back and we'll interrogate them here. Your mom refused to come with us, though."
"Well," Lucy smiled, "that's not really surpri..."
"Hey guys!" Gray appeared at the corner of the path behind the Arena and waved at them. "They're gonna start soon, come on!"
The conversation ended right there since even Makarov also wanted to see the fights. Everyone knew Jellal was actually a fearsome fighter, he just rarely got serious. Everyone was excited, save for Gajeel maybe.
Makarov took his seat in the front gallery since he was the head of the Academy and Lucy was allowed to go wait with the other participants even though she couldn't fight anymore. The commander was still there when she arrived with Loke. He was dressed in simple military pants and a tight black tank top that showed just how well built he was. The participants had each been given a proper protective gear, but the commander apparently wanted to show off. He was in the middle of a conversation with Gajeel when he saw her and just casually walked away from his still talking friend. Ignoring Gajeel's threats and insults, he came to stand in front of Lucy and smiled at her with a confident attitude she couldn't help but find sexy.
"Aren't we looking lively for someone who almost died a few hours ago?" he smiled, obviously still resenting her for her stupid actions of the night before.
"Luckily, I'm tougher than I look," she smiled timidly. "And I have awesome friends, it helped a lot to have them with me."
The commander chortled and shook his head with a sigh.
"You can't say something like that, it's cheating." She laughed at this and he shrugged. "Well, at least let me write something on your cast."
He wrote ''Blockhead'' on the cast.
oOo
"Alright, will the fighters please enter the ring?" the presenter asked with a strangely shrill voice.
Jellal and Gajeel both appeared on each side of the Arena, triggering loud applause from the stands. They were both dressed in their combat uniform, just like every other participant save for the commander. Even from her spot several meters above the fighting ring Lucy could see that Gajeel looked very nervous. Maybe she should go sit with Levy in case her small friend needed comfort after Gajeel's defeat? Should she feel guilty about the fact that she was convinced that Jellal would beat Gajeel?
"Look at him," Gray snickered, "that idiot's so tense he won't be able to throw a decent punch."
"You wouldn't look any better if you were in his shoes," Natsu retorted.
Gray grimaced at this.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he growled. "I'm going against Clive right after this..."
Right, poor Gray would be defeated on his first day too...
"Now, ladies and gentlemen," the presenter went on with his annoyingly high-pitched voice. "Our referee had to go back home because of a personal matter. So, please, welcome our new referee, mister Nad!"
A young man with dark red hair then entered the ring as well, waving at the spectators. He was tall and looked pretty strong, Lucy could see that his body was quite muscular despite the referee tunic he was wearing. When he turned around to wave at the spectators around the participants, his eyes met hers and time froze. No way... A bright smile lightened his face and he started jumping on the spot, madly waving at her.
"Lulu!" he yelled like an over enthusiastic kid. "Lulu, it's me! I'm here!"
Dan... Lucy hid her face behind her uninjured hand as she started admiring the floor of the balcony. What in the world was that dumb man doing here? From the seat next to her, Lucy heard a deeply displeased groan.
"Did that dumbass switch two letters of his name to come here?" the commander sighed.
Since Dan wouldn't stop jumping and waving at her with his signature childish smile, the spectators started laughing and searching for that ''Lulu person'' he was shouting to. Shit, it was getting dangerous, her friends were supposed to be the only ones to know about her being a girl...
"Hey, referee," the presenter shouted, "stop being a moron and do your job properly, you goddamn bastard!"
Lucy sighed... Seriously, what was wrong with this weird academy?
It took several more minutes, but Dan did end up focusing on the fight. Surprisingly, Gajeel landed the first blow and Jellal received a powerful punch to the stomach. He didn't give his opponent any time to recover and threw a kick to his side and another punch to his jaw. Lucy's eyes widened when Jellal's knee actually touched the ground. Was Gajeel actually stronger than a man able to fight on par with the commander? Her friend didn't get carried away in the slightest and stayed entirely focused on his opponent, never giving him a chance to counter attack. He punched him, kicked him, cornered him. Soon enough, though, Lucy and her friends realized that Gajeel wasn't hitting Jellal with all his strength. The young man only hit specific spots and used a lot of technical moves to destabilize his opponent, but he was doing his best not to hurt him. Lucy frowned. With this level of attacks, Jellal should have been able to block him.
"Guess he wasn't ready for that," the commander sighed beside her.
"What do you mean?"
"Just look."
Just a moment later, Jellal dodged Gajeel's blow and stood back up. He rubbed his bruised jaw and massaged the back of his neck.
"You're really good," he told Gajeel, "I'm impressed. I hope we'll get to spar again in the future." As he said all that, Gajeel jumped forward to land a new, more powerful punch. "The only thing is," Jellal went on, "you're too kind."
One punch was all it took him to knock Gajeel out. But what a freaking monstrous punch was it! Taking advantage of Gajeel's speed and lack of balance, Jellal slightly slid to the side, lifted his clenched fist and brought it down with terrific strength. There was no way a normal human being could have taken such a blow to the head and still stand. Dan immediately jumped into action to stop the fight, but Jellal obviously didn't intend to do anything more than that. Gajeel was unconscious, the fight was over.
"Did he really have to go that far?" Lucy grumbled, not understanding the need to hit a friend that hard.
"He was right," Natsu retorted. "Gajeel's too kind when he fights. He can't keep it up if he wants to survive what's to come. He won't be able to protect anybody if he can't bring himself to fight seriously. It was a harsh lesson, but he had to receive it."
"Boys are brutes," the young woman said without much conviction.
The commander chortled and nodded, stepping away from the railing.
"You're right," he agreed. "Come on, let's go to the infirmary."
Jellal was walking out of the infirmary when they got there and it didn't look like the two men were on bad terms, so Lucy figured they had talked about what being a man that solves everything with his fists meant and that they were still comrades. Gajeel barked at them when they entered the room, told them there was no way he'd really be hurt from a single punch and threatened to break their legs if they didn't go back to the Arena.
"I want one of you to tell me how the playboy's fight against Clive went," he smirked, obviously already knowing how this fight was going to end.
Still, they obeyed and walked back to the balcony. On their way there, they met Loke in a corridor. The man had a huge smile plastered on his face and it usually meant he was up to something.
"Gramps told me I was allowed to watch the fights from the participants' balcony," he declared, looking very pleased.
"Why?"
Loke sent the commander a very mischievous look before putting his arm around Lucy's shoulder.
"Because he knows that we love each other too much to be separated even a little," he answered. "It's already hard enough for us not to share the same room anymore!"
The commander rolled his eyes, but didn't say or do anything else. He seemed to be much more patient with Loke lately.
"Alright, if you say so," he shrugged. "Let's go back, then."
As soon as they got back, Lucy saw Dan's smile widen as the man started to jump and wave at her once more. This time she couldn't help smiling back, he looked like a cute puppy. The commander obviously saw that and immediately frowned at her.
"What? Come on, don't tell me this is your type of man..."
Lucy arched a brow at him and smirked as she was given a perfect opportunity to tease the commander, but Loke beat her to it.
"Aw, look at this," he laughed, "the commander's jealous."
"Hell no..."
Lucy silently thanked God or whoever it was that allowed Loke to be here with them at the moment, because he was doing a very good job.
"Man, you don't sound convin..."
"Shut up, the fight's gonna start."
It did start soon after that: Gray sent a powerful punch that Clive stopped with one hand. The lieutenant-colonel then bent forward and whispered something in his ear. Gray hesitated, so Clive took his stance. This wasn't even close to the stance the commander had taught them, though. His feet were farther away from each other, his arms weren't in the best position to guard his body and only his right hand was balled into a fist. They hadn't been trained to fight against someone using this type of martial arts. Still, Gray attacked again. In the very next second, he was lying on the ground with Clive's feet on his throat. Dan ordered him to back away and Clive did, but not before giving Gray the only warning he'd get.
"Don't get up."
The crowd of spectators cheered for Gray, he wasn't injured enough to lose yet. Lucy was sure that he was still able to fight. But Gray stayed down and waited for Dan to count to ten. The only explanation he gave his friends after that was: ''He's a monster''.
Everyone obviously used the two hour break to get something to eat and talk about the fights that ended and the ones that were still to come. Dan joined them as if it was totally normal for him to be there and told them that Ultear was the one that ordered him to come since she wanted someone to keep an eye on things during the Tournament and his face was completely unknown of the Octagon. Beside Dan, Erza, Levy, Cana and Mira joined the boys and Lucy to eat. Lucy kept observing Mira while they were talking, but the colonel didn't look like she had cried recently and she was behaving normally.
At some point during their meal, Lucy saw Natsu tense and glare at something behind her. A second later, a large hand landed on her shoulder and Bacchus sat beside her. He told her he was sorry about her arm and said he would have liked to face her to see who was the strongest. He also apologized for his behavior and admitted that he had been an ass, to quote him.
"I know you're a good guy," he smiled at her, then looked at Cana with very serious eyes. "I needed someone to wake me up and you did."
That being said, he stood up and took Cana's hand to go God knew where. Juvia actually dared ask if they should follow her since she was worried about Cana, but Mira gladly explained her that it wouldn't be necessary.
"Dude, you shouldn't eat that," Loke told Sting as the latter was putting a weird pink thing in his mouth, "it looks and smells like rotten fish..."
"Don't worry," Sting retorted with a large, confident smile, "it's gonna reinforce my strength and endurance!"
"But what is it made of?" Erza asked.
It was funny how seeing that even the doctor was worried didn't stop Sting from swallowing the thing.
"I'm not sure," he grinned, "but it tastes horrible!"
"I think someone's trying to poison you..." his brother stated.
His idiot brother laughed and patted his shoulder.
"No way! What are ya..." he frowned and everyone could see that his face started to turn green. "Damn..."
He ran to the toilets and Rogue sighed before getting up with Erza to go take care of him. As Lucy's friend laughed at Sting, the young woman caught a glimpse of a large body with white hair walking toward the Arena. She waved at him when she recognized him.
"Hey Elfman! Wanna eat with us?"
He froze when he heard her call his name and tried to nod, smile and wave at the same time before declining her offer.
"Sorry, Lisanna's waiting for me," he said before running off.
Lucy frowned, but Gray and Loke had fortunately seen that too and were just as confused as she was. They asked Mira about it, but she gulped, shrugged and told them that he was nervous about his upcoming fight. Their obviously doubtful looks made Mira understand that they were going to question her more, so she ran away as well.
"What's wrong, captain?" Dan laughed at Natsu before putting his arm around his shoulders as if they were best friends, which obviously displeased the commander. "You look scary when you frown at people like that!"
"I'm not a captain," he retorted, shrugging Dan's arm off him. "And mind your own business."
"So cold," Dan laughed, "I'm lucky Lucy's nicer! Oh, sorry, I just used her real name... But you guys already knew, right? I totally forgot that her being a girl's supposed to be a secret! Oh wait, I shouldn't say things like that out loud, right? But really, who would have thought..."
The commander grabbed him by the collar of his shirt before he could endanger Lucy anymore than he already had.
"Listen here, you moron," he growled. "If you say one more word, I'll strangle you."
"Roger," Dan laughed.
Lucy sighed and decided that she needed a moment of quiet before going back to the Arena. She stood up and told her friends she'd join them later.
"I'll go check on Erza and Sting," she explained as she walked away.
Dan and the others looked at her in silence for about two minutes before the former frowned at the commander.
"She ran away because of you," he grumbled.
"It totally was your fault," the commander retorted.
"She was afraid because you're such a violent man, captain."
Natsu did end up trying to strangle Dan, which resulted in a huge brawl with the other participants and recruits around them.
Lucy sighed when she entered the medical wing and was met with nothing but silence. She had forgotten just how nice it felt to be alone in a quiet place. She climbed the stairs to Erza's office and knocked when she got there. The redhead opened the door for her and Lucy couldn't help noticing how agitated she looked.
"What's wrong?" Lucy asked. "Is Sting going to die?"
Erza frowned.
"What? No, he'll be fine. I made him throw that thing up and gave him a medicine. He'll be entirely back to normal in less than half an hour."
"Well, that's good?" Lucy hesitated. "You look like you're having a heart attack."
Suddenly, for the first time since she met her, Lucy saw tears appear in the corner of her friend's eyes. Erza shook her head and turned around to hide her face from Lucy. The young woman obviously didn't let her and came to stand right in front of the doctor, taking her right hand in hers. She wished she could take both, but she just had to go and break her arm... Her friend being the tough woman she knew too well refused to burst into tears, but just seeing her watery eyes and her scared expression broke Lucy's heart.
"What's wrong, Erza?" she asked, starting to panic. "You're scaring me..."
"I... I don't know what I should do..."
Lucy managed to have Erza sit down and waited for her to be calm enough to explain what was wrong. At first, the only words she could make out were ''Jellal'' and ''can't''. It took about ten minutes, but Erza did manage to calm down and eventually told Lucy about what was going on. When she stopped talking, Lucy was so shocked she didn't know if she wanted to cry, laugh, hug Erza or hit somebody.
"He can't go," Lucy agreed. "Things have changed, Ultear will understand."
Erza smiled sadly and shook her head.
"This isn't how things work," she retorted weakly. "Especially at war."
Lucy wanted to tell her that she was wrong and she'd do something about it. She wanted to tell her that everything would be fine and she didn't need to worry, but she knew things weren't that easy. She had no idea how things would unfold now that Erza was in that situation, but one thing was for sure and that was that Lucy would be there for her, no matter what. It was the only thing she could promise, so she did. Erza smiled at her, but the door opened before she could say anything.
"The presenter just said that the order of the fights had been changed since Sting was out for now," Gray said. "Natsu's going first, his fight will start soon. Wait, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," Lucy immediately answered, "girls stuff. We'll be there in a second, thanks for telling us."
"You're welcome..."
Still looking pretty worried, Gray did walk out of the office and closed the door behind him. Erza wiped the very few tears she had allowed to run down her cheeks and stood up. She washed her face before leaving the office and when the girls reached the Arena, no one could have guessed that Erza had cried.
The commander was still there when she arrived with Erza and he was still dressed with his simple military pants and tank top that would protect him from absolutely nothing. Lucy figured he was on his way to the ring when they got there because her friends were waving at him and wishing good luck, but he stopped when he saw her.
"You ran here when you heard I was going first?" he smirked.
"You wish," she retorted. "I'm here to laugh at you when you lose."
The commander nodded and, still smirking, bent down so he could talk with a lower voice and be heard only by her.
"And if I win?" he asked. "Will you reward me?"
Lucy blushed madly and she inwardly cursed herself because she knew perfectly well that it was exactly what the commander wanted to see. He smirked even more when he saw her reaction, but she didn't get a chance to answer since the first fight was about to start.
"Number 8 and number 10, please come to the fighting area."
"I can't believe that bastard dared say such a bold thing," Loke said with a huge smile on his face.
Well, it wasn't the first time he was teasing her like that, it just seemed to happen more frequently. Lucy smiled when the commander finally entered the ring and turned around to wave at them, what a weird change in character in such a short time. Too focused on the fighters shaking hands in the ring, Lucy missed Loke's sad smile as well as Elfman's absence.
When Dan started the fight, Doriate jumped backwards to get away from the commander. Lucy figured he wanted to stay away from him until he found an opening in the commander's guard. His opponent obviously didn't give him any time to form a strategy and ran after him, never letting his guard down. Lucy was surprised at how careful Doriate was, she was sure he'd be a brute with shit for brains. The commander's first hits didn't land at all, Doriate parried them all and continued observing his opponent.
Finally seeing an opening, Doriate gave the commander a powerful kick that hit his side. Ignoring the shocked whispers of the crowd and the outraged cries of Natsu's friends from the balcony, Doriate smirked and jumped on the occasion to finish the commander off. He threw a punch to his jaw, another one to his stomach, a second kick to the same side...
"What the hell are you doing, Natsu!?" Gray yelled.
Lucy understood where he was coming from, this wasn't going the way everyone had expected it to go. Doriate was a tall guy with a strong body and great fighting abilities, but the commander was so much better than him. What was he doing taking all these blows? Lucy didn't know where this impulse came from, but it was so sudden and unexpected that she only realized what she was doing the moment she did it. The moment the commander's knee touched the ground, she clutched the railing and took a deep breath in to make sure her voice would reach him.
"Natsu!" she yelled. "You're losing the bet!"
Even from where she stood, she managed to catch the smug smirk that suddenly appeared on the commander's lips. Doriate threw another powerful punch, but the commander caught this one as if he had been up against a young child. Keeping Doriate's fist in his clenched hand, the commander slowly stood back up. As he rose, his grip on his opponent's fist grew stronger and Doriate soon found himself kneeling and desperately scratching at Natsu's hand to free it. When it was clear for everyone who was dominating who in this fight, the commander clenched his fist and lifted it above Doriate's face.
"Give up," he ordered.
Doriate knew very well this was the only chance he'd get, it didn't even take him three seconds to make his decision.
"I give up!" he yelled. "I give up, stop the fight!"
Dan did just that, a dumbfounded look on his face. Almost everyone was confused at what had just happened. Lucy and Loke understood it perfectly well, though. The commander turned to face the balcony with a very smug smirk when the fight was officially over and mouthed for Lucy.
"Wait there, I'm coming for my reward."
"He played with Doriate to make it look like he was losing," Loke laughed, "and get you to say something stupid like you'd grant him the reward he asked for. Nice job, bastard."
Since Sting had entirely recovered from his food poisoning, which really impressed Lucy (just how tough was that boy?), the referee and the general agreed to let him fight right after the commander. He was walking toward the stairs when he saw the commander climb the last steps. The latter thanked Sting for his words of congratulation and wished him good luck for his fight, but the only one he really wanted to see was hiding behind a very amused Loke. Natsu patted his shoulder and lightly pushed him to the side, which Loke didn't resist at all, before grabbing the blonde's wrist and pulling her to him.
"We'll be right back," he said, dragging her out of the balcony.
The other participants stared at them with very confused eyes until Gray silently interrogated Loke, the latter smiling even more.
"You really want me to tell you?" he asked Gray.
"… No, thanks."
"Very well, if you insist the... wait, no? What do you mean ''no''? Get back here, I wanna tell somebody!"
oOo
"Um..." Lucy gulped nervously, "we're going to miss Sting's fight."
"He'll win," Natsu assured. "More importantly, you sure took your sweet time before encouraging me. I was being beaten pretty badly, you know?"
"Oh please," she scoffed, "you were faking it all."
The commander's smirk widened at this and he didn't even bother denying it. After they had left the balcony, Natsu had dragged her down the stairs and along several corridors until he had opened a door and pulled her inside behind him. They now were in what appeared to be a small storage room for training material.
"Whatever," he retorted, "a bet's a bet and you lost it."
"I never officially agreed to it..." the young woman tried to protest, knowing perfectly well that she was screwed.
Though, if she was to admit the truth, she was thrilled with this situation. Who wouldn't be in her place? Natsu himself had to know how she felt about him, the fact that he was behaving like that with her had to mean that he didn't mind it, right?
"You're not getting out of this one," he warned, his smug smile still in place. "Now, how about you give me my reward?"
The young woman gulped and did her best to try to hide that she really liked where this was going. It had only been several months since she had entered the academy, but it had been more than enough time to realize that the commander wasn't the kind boy she had met so many years before anymore. He was still kind, even though he didn't want it to be obvious, but he was no little boy anymore. And she was no little girl anymore either.
"Fine," she smiled back. "I get to choose what kind of reward I give, right?"
The commander's smirk finally disappeared as the look in his eyes turned more intense. Lucy couldn't feel an ounce of hostility in him, but she realized that they were done playing.
"No," he retorted. "I'll take it directly."
A hand on the wall by her head and the other cradling her face, his large hand enveloping both her cheek and neck, he leaned forward. For a second, Lucy was back in the club where they had danced together and almost kissed. Now, she knew that even back then the commander already knew who she was. The main difference was that the commander had hesitated at the time, not sure if he was allowed to go that far. He didn't hesitate at all this time. Lucy had imagined this moment so many times before that she had about a hundred different scenarios in mind. Obviously, the commander followed none of them. It wasn't the furious, heated kiss she fantasized about when taking hot, long showers, nor was it the delicate and sweet kiss she imagined after reading a love story.
He was gentle with her, but not the point one could call him delicate. The sudden press of his lips against hers only surprised her because even if she had been waiting for it, her mind hadn't expected it to happen in reality. The hand on the wall was quick to leave it so it could settle on her waist as the hand on her cheek slid to the back of her neck, fingertips sliding into her hair and his thumb caressing her jaw. The fingers of her only intact hand gripped the fabric of his shirt as she leaned up into the kiss, lips parting in surrender as he completely overwhelmed her.
Lucy had been waiting for this moment for so long that she soon started to fear the moment it would stop. Feeling the heat spread from her face to her entire body, she gripped his shirt tighter and pulled him closer, earning a satisfied groan from him. His own body was tense and burning hot under her hand, reacting with a shudder of pleasure to each of her caresses. He pulled away when he heard her whimper because of the pressure on her injured arm, but she immediately pulled him back to her.
Despite how close and intimate they were, they both realized that this kiss they were sharing, though delightful, was still far too innocent and wouldn't be enough to completely satisfy them. They were both growing restless and needy, both forgetting where they were and unconsciously ignoring the little voice of reason trying to warn them that things would become very complicated if they were to get caught.
Luckily, or not, a small group of people ran by the room they were hiding in while making a lot of noise. From what Lucy could understand, they were civilians that were here to watch the fights, meaning they had nothing to do in such a place. The commander straightened up and sighed as he glared at the door. He smiled at Lucy and gently brushed his thumb against her lower lip, debating whether he should enjoy his time with her for a bit longer or stop playing with fire.
Unfortunately for Lucy, he chose the latter.
"I'll go deal with them," he breathed. "Thanks for the reward."
Lucy's back immediately went to rest against the door and she slid down to the floor. It took her five full minutes to calm down enough to stand back up and her heart kept hammering in her chest even after that. Maybe she should reward him more frequently.
She was still trying to hide the small smile of satisfaction that refused to fade away when she joined the others to look at Sting's fight. Seeing their serious faces, though, she started to worry and her smile naturally disappeared. Even the commander was entirely focused on the fight and Lucy soon understood why. Sting and his opponent, Zancrow, were still standing, but they were both covered in wounds. Sting had blood all over his left eye and nasty bruises on his temple, hands and arms. Lucy didn't dare imagine what kind of wounds were hidden beneath his shirt... Zancrow was just as injured and was obviously struggling to keep standing up.
"They're incredible..." Gray breathed. "You should have seen that."
"Where have you guys been?" Gajeel asked. "You missed one hell of a fight."
Panting heavily, the two men glared at each other and analyzed each movement in wait of the right opportunity to attack.
"Yes," Juvia agreed, "it's been pretty intense till now."
Loke turned mischievous eyes to his friends and smirked.
"Guess everybody's fired up today."
Lastly, Zancrow heavily fell to his knees and admitted defeat. Sighing in relief and joy, Sting turned his back to his defeated enemy and waved at his friends with a bright smile. Most of them, including Lucy, waved back with a smile just as bright, but Natsu and Gray didn't.
"Idiot!" Gray yelled. "Look out!"
Sting was wounded and exhausted, it took him far more time than it should have to assimilate Gray's words and react to them. Behind him, Zancrow had jumped to his feet and was throwing a terrible punch aiming for Sting's head. Lucy couldn't believe he still had so much strength left despite being this wounded. Zancrow's fist collided heavily with Dan's hand. The referee had jumped in between the men to stop Zancrow's attack.
"No cheating," he smirked before crushing Zancrow's fist in his hand.
Sting won the fight and Zancrow won a trip to the hospital, Dan had broken several bones in his hand. Dan had to apologize for harming a recruit and he did so with a bright smile on his face, saying: ''Sorry, Gramps, I guess I can't control my amazing strength!''. He also ran to Lucy to ask if she had seen his heroic rescue of Sting and if she had fallen for him now that she knew how strong he was. Though he was being annoying, Lucy had to admit that he was quite an impressive man, indeed.
Elfman's fight ended much faster than anybody had expected. His opponent was no weakling, but he wasn't in the right state of mind for this. Well, to be honest, it was Elfman that wasn't in the right state of mind. Kain entered the ring with his hands in his pockets and a small, amused smile on his face. He was taking part in this to have some fun, nothing more. Elfman was dead serious.
Kain took several heavy punches from Elfman before understanding that this fight wouldn't be friendly. He tried to fight back, but Elfman took advantage of his lack of balance to get behind him and applied a neck crank to choke him. Kain struggled and tried to resist Elfman's hold, but ultimately had to give up.
When Dan officially ended the fight and Elfman was declared the winner, most of the crowd remained silent and only some faint clapping was heard. None of the participants applauded and instead frowned at the man who refused to look at anybody and walked out of the ring without showing any concern for his opponent. This definitely wasn't the Elfman they knew.
"What the hell was that?" Gray grumbled, reflecting everyone's thoughts.
It took over two hours for every civilian to leave the Academy and the commander disappeared with Mira right before the evacuation started. As they walked out of the Arena, Lucy and her friends noticed that the only officers left to oversee the evacuation of the civilians weren't high ranked. Even after every civilian had been escorted out of the academy, there was no sign of Erza, Natsu, Laxus, Mira or the other officers. Even Dan was nowhere to be found. Lucy and her friends got dinner much later than usual, but they weren't the only ones in that situation and the cook had been warned that this would happen a lot during the Tournament. Elfman was still nowhere to be found.
When they exited the refectory, Gray asked them all to gather in his room to have a small party. Everyone obviously agreed, including Lucy. The truth was that after the kiss she had shared with the commander in that storage room, she couldn't help but feel agitated the more she thought about finding him in their room tonight. They both were healthy young adults that were obviously very attracted to each other, it wouldn't be surprising if things got serious between them, right? Though her stupid cast would get in the way... Suddenly, as the recruits were all heading back to their rooms, a faint crackling sound could be heard through the whole campus and Lucy soon understood that the town's loudspeakers had been turned on. As the voice started to transmit the official message, the general alarm started to ring through the whole town.
"Your attention, please," the robotic female voice called. "Dangerous criminals have escaped from prison. The authorities are already taking care of this problem. Everyone is to stay at home with the door locked from the inside. Your attention, please. Dangerous criminals have esca..."
"Lucy!" someone yelled.
The moment she turned around, the general lighting system was shut off and the emergency lights were turned on. The commander grabbed her shoulders before gently taking her jaw in his hands.
"Don't leave my side," he ordered before grabbing her hand and turning to address the recruits that were still outside despite the very late hour. "Everybody, go back to the main building, right now!"
Natsu's serious eyes and voice made them all understand that he was dead serious, so everyone obeyed him and ran to the main building.
"What's happening?" Gajeel yelled as he ran beside Natsu.
"I'll tell you once everyone's inside," the commander promised. "Hurry up!"
Once inside, Lucy found herself surrounded by hundreds of confused recruits that were mostly drunk or exhausted. She was lucky that most of her friends were with her, but Mira and Erza were nowhere to be seen.
"Hey," Gray patted her shoulder. "Isn't that Erza?"
She turned around and saw her redhead friend walking toward her through the crowd. Lucy ignored the commander's protests and ran to her. It was dangerous for her to stand in the middle of such an agitated crowd.
"Erza," she hugged her friend with her only arm when she finally reached her. "Where's Jellal? What's happening?"
The doctor clenched her jaw and did her best not to let any emotion show on her face as she answered Lucy's question.
"Jellal's getting ready to leave," she said. "Ultear ordered him to go to Frego right away with Warrod and Kagura."
Lucy froze and opened wide, shocked eyes. What the hell was happening?
"Why?" she asked. "Did you tell him about it?"
Erza gulped and shook her head weakly.
"I couldn't tell him," she replied with a weak, trembling voice.
Like she had done earlier in the office, Lucy took her friend's hand and used her gentlest voice to talk to her.
"You have to tell him," she said, "it's his baby as well."
For a moment, the doctor didn't react in any way. Lucy wasn't sure if it was a good thing that she didn't look as fragile anymore, but she figured it was better if she wasn't crying. Finally, Erza sniffed and wiped her eyes even though there was no tear to wipe.
"You want me to ask him to choose between his family and his country?" she asked.
Startled, Lucy squeezed her friend's hand a bit tighter.
"What do you mean?"
Erza frowned when she realized that Lucy didn't know about the situation. Natsu was beside her in an instant and his warm hand comforted her the moment it gently settled on her shoulder.
"Luce, you really should let me talk before leaving on your own like that..."
She frowned when she noticed that his eyes matched the sad tone he had just used, but didn't have the time to interrogate him. All eyes suddenly turned to the top of the stairs where Makarov stood with Laxus and Clive. She had never seen them look so solemn before.
"I won't beat around the bush," Makarov said. "Half an hour ago, the Octagon sent a message to all the military institutions of the country stating that I'm officially a traitor."
Saying they were shocked wouldn't even begin to describe the state of mind of the recruits who were silently listening to the general's words. Still, nobody dared say a word.
"Most of the officers working here are already on my side," the general went on, "and will support me in this war against the Octagon. I won't force any of you to stay here, though. The only thing I can tell you is that I will keep loving you all like I would my own children no matter what you decide to do. I did things I believed to be the right things to do. I've always and always will fight for Justice and for the sake of my compatriots. I know it's hard to believe after everything you've been taught, but the Octagon is a criminal institution. Today, you have to make a choice as well, I hope you'll make the right one."
A long moment passed with the recruits animatedly talking among themselves. Natsu, still holding Lucy's hand, walked toward the stairs. Loke, Gray, Gajeel, Erza, Juvia, Cana, Levy, Sting, Rogue, Jet, Alzack, Bisca, every person Lucy had come to befriend during her time at the Academy followed them and went to stand by the stairs to show their support to the general. After that, almost every single recruit of the Academy started smirking proudly and went to stand in front of the stairs with their right hand on their heart as a sign of loyalty. Some recruits did walk out of the building, though, probably afraid of the consequences. The recruits that hesitated at first quickly joined their friends and with each of them that swore their loyalty to the general, Lucy could see new tears of happiness run down the old officer's cheeks.
"General!" Bob entered the room at full speed and sweating like crazy. "This is bad! Someone opened the first security gate! I sent three teams to secure the second and third gates!"
Makarov nodded at Bob, who didn't look like an old eccentric fool at all anymore.
"Good job, Bob," he said. "Who opened the door?"
Bob sent a sad look at Mirajane, who was now standing near Laxus.
"Elfman Strauss, sir."
A moment of silence that lasted a hundred years in Lucy's mind passed before the general sighed.
"I see..." he said, sounding and looking heartbroken.
"You're fucking kidding me," Gajeel breathed.
Elfman Strauss had betrayed them. Lucy noticed despite the shock that none of the officers looked surprised, only saddened. Then, Juvia's plan to unmask Kyoka's spy would have led them to Elfman... The blonde searched the crowd until she found Juvia.
"Elfman was the spy?" she asked, her voice trembling.
Juvia nodded, her voice refusing to come out, but her eyes saying how sorry she was. No freaking way... The commander squeezed her hand a bit tighter to comfort her when he noticed how down she looked, but it didn't work as much as it should have. Elfman was a member of ''the gang'', he was a close friend and had their unconditional love and trust. So why...
"I know that many of you loved that man dearly," the general said, "and there's no reason for you to stop loving him. Elfman's a good man, he must have his reasons..."
Though he said these words to everyone, it was obvious that they were really meant for Mira. Her own brother was openly siding with the enemy...
"I'm sure everyone's confused or scared," the general went on, "I understand that and I feel the same, I assure you. But I also know that you all are brave soldiers that trained under the best instructors ever. With your help, we will put a stop to the Octagon's schemes and free the prisoners that have unfairly been locked up."
"And we can start right away," Laxus went on for his grandfather. "While most of us will stay here and defend the Academy against the Octagon, we'll send two elite teams out for a rescue mission. With the help of the Rose's Tear, we're going to find and bring back the prisoners that escaped the Pandemonium. We absolutely have to find them before the Octagon does, because among them is a very important man."
"That's right," Gildarts confirmed. "The leader of the resistance movement, Jude Heartfilia."
End of Part I – Resolution
Well, well, where to start? First and foremost, thank so very much to everyone who got this far with me. I received lots of kind reviews from adorable readers that never stopped supporting me even when I myself wasn't sure if I was doing good enough or not. With this 25th chapter, we've finished the first half of this story, meaning that everything coming from now on will be totally essential to the story and plot development.
I really wish I could write about everything you guys want me to write, I received lots of messages from readers saying they got really attached to the characters. I have to be honest with you, some of them will die. Some of them will have their past revealed and it won't be pretty. Some of them will lose so much they'll wish they had died. Of course, I won't only make them suffer! There will be moments of unconditional love, admirable loyalty and forever lasting friendship as well.
No matter what, I'll stay true to the spirit of the story and try to give you the most beautiful story I can write. After Dauntless is over, I'll try to do even better with The Last Valkyrie, it will be my personal challenge!
If we manage to stop the new law concerning the copyrights in the EU, I'll soon start posting a new story called Ouroboros' Mercy that will be the best story I've ever written. I can already assure you that it will be far better than Dauntless and The Last Valkyrie!
Alright, this is it for now. We'll meet again in Part II – Freedom!