REPOSTING because I changed the summary.
Hey, dear readers. How are you doing today?
I apologize for how late this chapter is. You might think it's because the last one didn't reach 5 reviews like I wanted, but that's not the reason why I took so long to update.
I just took advantage of the lack of response to take some time off writing Demons. Instead I focused on college, going back to reading and working on a short story I've been planning for weeks.
But now I am back! So be prepared because the next chapters of this story will be even more twisted and intense than the previous ones.
A big thank you to Lieutenant Myst and the Guest who left a review for chapter 6. Here's the latter's reply: I didn't plan on including Gildarts in this story, hence why I never even mentioned him before. However, with Cana's death I feel there needs to be a scene with him, so I'll add him in later chapters.
One more thing before I get to the chapter: Do you guys remember the CHALLENGE I set out in chapter 5? I was disappointed no one took it, but you'll get your answer at the end of this chapter anyways. Pay close attention to that last scene, it gives many hints towards Zeref's motives and you might even figure out Acnologia's true identity.
Happy reading, everyone! Don't forget to review, follow and favorite.
Black-Pearl Jam
And now my bitter hands
Cradle broken glass
Of what was everything
All the pictures have
All been washed in black
September 22nd, X791… 3:35 PM
Princess Hisui sat down, hands holding onto her knees while Colonel Arcadius stood in front of her, watching the door to the cottage, sword in hand. It had been over 15 minutes since Dorenbolt had left and they couldn't deny that his disappearance had made them nervous.
While they waited for his return, they'd discussed the situation they were currently facing and one conclusion was reached: whether they wanted or not, trusting Jellal and his allies was their only chance of staying alive.
After all, Tartarus had more than proved themselves a great threat by destroying the Magic Council and Hisui didn't want to become the next victim. She wasn't a pushover like many thought she might be; her strength was undeniable and she'd do anything to keep her kingdom safe. In order to do that, though, she would need to stay alive.
As much as Arcadius tried to convince her it wasn't a good idea to trust Jellal, she refuted his arguments and reminded him that he and Dorenbolt had saved her. Whatever their reasons were, they didn't want her to die, so she should safe with them.
Besides, as she thought it through, Hisui realized that no matter what Jellal had done in the past, it was clear he wasn't the same person anymore. She'd seen it over the past seven years, had watched as him and his unofficial guild worked on freeing their world from darkness by taking down many dark guilds.
She had also seen during the Grand Magic Games how much he could care about someone, having heard of his encounter with Erza Scarlet on the 7th of July and later being witness to their bond during the night of the Grand Ball. So Hisui knew that not only was Jellal capable of good, but he had clearly been trying to become a better person.
For that reason, she was willing to give him a chance.
Her train of thought was broken by a loud noise as the door to the cottage suddenly opened. In came three members of the infamous Oracion Seis. Midnight was being held by Angel and Racer and was clearly injured.
"Sorry to barge in like this, your majesty." The white haired woman was quick to apologize while they placed the unconscious mage on the ground.
"Damn it! What are we going to do now?" Racer complained, panicked.
"I don't know. It's not like our magic can heal him." She replied, worried.
"I can help with that." Their eyes turned to the princess, eyebrows raised in confusion.
"You can?" Angel asked and Hisui nodded.
"I can conjure a spirit to heal his wounds, he should be fine." She reassured. As much as she didn't trust them, they weren't the enemy here.
"Why would you do that?" Racer asked rather harshly, clearly surprised by her suggestion.
Before she could answer, there was a bright light that dissipated to reveal the king, Darton, Richard, Cobra, Dorenbolt and Jellal.
"Finally!" Hisui exclaimed, but her expression turned to worried once she watched them place the latter on the ground.
"Daughter, are you alright?" The king was quick to ask as he raced towards her and she knelt down so they could hug.
"What happened?" Angel asked, eyes widening.
"The explosions." It was Cobra's simple response; his face was pale and jaw tense.
"Jellal used all of his magic trying to stop them." Dorenbolt elaborated, turning to the princess, who broke apart from the hug. "He exhausted himself to the point that his heart stopped beating, but thankfully we managed to revive him."
"Thank goodness." Hisui placed a hand on her nervous heart.
"He's not out of the woods yet." Cobra was quick to add. "If we don't get him help, he will be dead." She nodded.
"I was just telling your comrades about how I can conjure up a powerful spirit to heal them." They stared at her in surprise as she reached inside her dress pocket for a crystal key.
"Which gate does it open?" Angel was curious, never having seen one like it before.
"I can summon the celestial spirit king with this key." Hisui replied, making many eyes widen. "My father and I wanted to make a contract with him after what happened during the Games and he agreed."
They nodded to her explanation, still in shock. A few seconds later the immense being known as the celestial spirit king appeared in front of them. "What can I do for you, milady?" He turned to the princess with a soft smile.
"Your majesty, I ask for your help in healing Jellal and his comrade. They bravely thought to keep me safe and ended up getting hurt in the process, so I owe them." He nodded to her request, smile becoming larger.
"Then I owe them as well." He turned to look around the room. "Do not worry. Both of them will live, but I can't promise you'll all get through the battle ahead."
With that said, the king picked his sword and walked towards Jellal, placing it close to his chest. After muttering a few inaudible words, the sword began to glow and it wasn't long before they heard a deep breath as dark green eyes finally opened.
A few hours later, in Tartarus hideout…
Many minutes after summoning the celestial spirit king, Lucy found herself knocked on the ground, drained of magic and energy.
"Jackal should have killed her when he had the chance. But I'll do it now." She heard the shark-like demon say as he approached her, just before pulling out a sword. For a moment she was worried, since she could barely move, much less fight him. However, as it turned out, she had nothing to worry about.
Miraculously enough, Gajeel showed up out of no where and came to her rescue, a sword of his own blocking the attack. Although she didn't understand how he could be there when the underworld king's curse had eliminated all of her friends, she didn't waste time wondering about it.
There were more pressing matters to worry about, like the fact Wendy and Carla had been gone too long and FACE could be activated any minute now.
"This can't be. I thought that the girl was the only remaining survival." The demon stared in confusion at the iron dragon slayer just before another one showed up.
"It would appear that Mard Geer's allegria curse has been lifted. But still, the fairies will fall." He had a skeleton face and body, making Lucy cringe in horror. "It is their fate." Just as he sent an attack towards the unsuspecting Gajeel, many swords suddenly appeared and blocked it.
"I don't think so." She stared in surprise at the familiar pinkette who stood by Lyon's side while he glared at her.
"Will you stop using magic?" The ice mage scolded while stepping in front of her as an attack came towards them.
"Sorry, I keep forgetting." She apologized; hands resting on her stomach as she stepped back.
"Meredy?" The two of them glanced towards the blonde; clearly worried.
"Are you okay, Lucy?" Meredy asked just before yet another demon showed up, coming to a stop in front of the group. He mumbled something they couldn't understand before a wall of fire appeared.
"Wow, Lucy. I don't know how you did it, but you saved the day." A smile took over Lucy's face as Natsu came to the rescue, eating all of the fire and leaving the enemies frozen in shock.
"You are one tough lady." Gajeel agreed, sending a smirk her way.
"Now we'll work together to finish what you started." Meredy said, stepping away from Lyon's protection and kneeling down by the celestial wizard's side.
"Meredy, I beg of you, stay out of this fight." The ice mage turned to her with desperation and she nodded.
"Don't worry, I'll just stay with Lucy." She reassured him and a relieved look came upon his face.
"We'll protect you, Lucy. Count on it." The last arrival made them all turn their heads to face Fairy Tail's ice mage. Gray looked worse than they'd ever seen; his skin was much too pale, his clothes were gone with the exception of the pair of black pants, his face showed only anger and desperation and his hands kept grabbing at the spot where his necklace used to be.
"Are you okay, man?" Natsu asked, concerned for his friend. Lyon and Gajeel also gave him worried looks.
"Not even close." Gray replied, sighing. "Let's just get this over with so that I can find Juvia." They nodded before Meredy lifted Lucy into her arms with difficulty and carried her away from the fight while the others faced their enemies, determined.
"Juvia?" Said the skeleton demon while staring at them with interest.
"Where is she?" Gajeel asked while taking a step forward.
"So they're looking for the girl. Does that mean her memories have returned?" The former wondered just before the shark-like demon spoke.
"I'm certain Lord Zeref was quick to capture her." He snarled and the four standing mages glared.
"We'll get her back." Lyon determinately said.
"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you." The voice was familiar and their eyes widened once they faced the man that had just arrived at the scene. His appearance was the same, although it was clear something had changed. He wore an armor this time; one they'd never seen before and the eyes that stared at them were cold and lost.
"Dad?" Gray asked, unsure whether to be relieved that Silver was still alive.
"Hello, Gray." Before he could ask more, the skeleton spoke.
"I was wondering when you would join us, Silver." The black haired man turned to him and they quickly noticed how he tensed.
"I bet you were." He shook his head, avoiding everyone's eyes.
"Are you okay, dad? What did they do to you?" Gray asked, worried.
"I'm sorry, son. I didn't want it to end up like this." He was confused by his father's words, but only a second later everything became clear.
"Now, Silver, eliminate him." They watched as Silver tensed even more and shook his head, but obeyed the skeleton's order nonetheless and charged towards the unsuspecting ice mage. Gray was so caught by surprise that he just stood there, shocked.
Thankfully, instead of killing him like they expected, Silver simply took ahold of his son's wrist and suddenly they disappeared.
"Where did they go?" Lucy wondered while attempting to sit up with Meredy's help.
"We can worry about that later. These guys are serious." Natsu replied, eyeing the remaining three demons. Gajeel and Lyon nodded in agreement.
"He can take care of himself." The former said, shrugging.
"Be careful, Gray." Lyon whispered, worried. He knew Juvia would never forgive them or herself if something happened to him. He wanted to go after Gray, but knew he couldn't leave Meredy and the others.
Winning this battle was their priority, so they decided to focus on that for the moment.
Erza walked through the ruins of what used to be Tartarus' fortress, lost in thought. A lot had happened since Gray, Gajeel and Levy had rescued her from Kyoka, but she remained the same. Broken. Hopeless. Sorrowful. Torn apart by the knowledge that the man she loved was dead.
She didn't know where she was going, all she knew is that she had to keep going. Keep walking so that her mind wouldn't be lost in dark thoughts; as if that would help.
She knew that her friends were worried, but she couldn't face them yet. First she needed to get herself together.
At the very least she wasn't weakened anymore. Porlyusica had given her a potion to heal her wounds and return her magic power, so one might say Erza was herself again. But she wasn't. The person she used to be before Jellal's death was long gone, as much as she hated to admit it.
It was strange, she'd never imagined that one day the cliché of "losing yourself after losing the one you love" would apply to her, had always assumed she was stronger than that. But the pain of losing him was so overwhelming that it just took over her.
He was all she could think about as her cruel mind replayed all the moments they had shared together. She remembered every time he had kissed her, hugged her and told her he loved her. Every time he had sacrificed himself for her and saved her. It hurt; like she had never imagined it would.
The tears kept coming and she no longer tried to stop them. Her heart was broken and the last thing she wanted was to be strong, so she just allowed herself to cry and mourn.
It had been like this for the past 15 minutes, until fate chose to be cruel once again and the familiar voice that haunted her mind was heard.
"I've been looking for you, Erza." Her eyes met the purple orbs of the enemy.
"What do you want?" She muttered, not caring at all about the danger she was in.
"You seem so broken. Had I known Jellal's death would affect you so much, I'd have done it a long time ago." Kyoka smirked, delighted. "Don't worry now, you'll be with him soon enough." She took a step, lifting the familiar whip that made Erza's face pale.
"But first, I'll finish what I started." And then the whip was coming down on her and as the pain pierced her, fear was replaced by anger. She remembered how Kyoka was the one who tortured her and probably killed Jellal too. She needed to make her pay for it, so Erza quickly reequipped into Heaven's Will armor and prepared to take revenge.
"Mirajane?" The voice was faded, but familiar. She couldn't figure out where from, though, because her mind wasn't working 100%. Her entire body felt like drained and she'd never been more exhausted in her life.
"Perhaps you should give her more time, Chelia." Another voice, so familiar, but who was it?
"Yeah, you're right." Mirajane took a few deep breaths as her consciousness slowly returned. Once memories of the past events came to mind, her eyes opened frantically and she almost jumped.
"Whoah, careful." The pinkette was clearly caught by surprise as she gently pushed the she-devil down again.
"Where? How?" Blue eyes stared at the duo in confusion and Jura explained.
"After Lyon explained what was happening, we gathered our forces and waited his signal that he'd found Tartarus' fortress. We received it about half an hour ago."
"Jura and I joined together to look for him, but found you instead." Chelia added, blue eyes concerned. "When we arrived, you weren't breathing and your heart had stopped, but I still managed to heal you."
"Really?" Mira was surprised, but she knew why that was.
"That must have been a tough battle." Jura said, motioning to the two bodies on the floor. Both Seilah and Cana remained unmoving, lifeless.
"It was." The she-devil attempted to sit up and managed, with Chelia's help. She was still very weak and, worst of all, she couldn't feel her magic. "I can't feel it."
"Feel what?" The pinkette asked, concerned.
"My magic." Mirajane swallowed hard as tears threatened to fall.
"Just give it time. I'm sure you'll be fine." Jura reassured her.
"I need to…Elfman and Lisanna." She turned to the body beside her, which she had believed to be her sister.
"We'll help you look for them." Chelia said, gently.
"Thank you." They helped her stand up, but it proved impossible as Mirajane stumbled and almost lost consciousness again.
"I'll carry her. Can you take the body?" Jura said while taking her in his arms.
"Sure." The pinkette nodded before using her magic to create a bubble made of air where she placed Cana's body.
They began walking away, not even glancing towards Seilah's lifeless form. She was gone, defeated at last by the daughter of her greatest enemy. But her memory would remain and the Strauss siblings would never forget the monster that tore their family apart.
At Fairy Tail's guild hall… 6:55 PM
It was truly a horrific sight; the once beautiful building reduced to nothing but ashes. The lack of bodies was the only comfort they had as they stared in shock at the ruins.
It had been a few hours since the celestial spirit king had healed Jellal and Midnight and they had taken that time to rest and think of a strategy to defeat Tartarus. While Racer had suggested they track the demons down, Angel had reminded him that they'd been doing that for the past few weeks and had failed. So they had waited. For what, they weren't sure.
In the meantime, Hisui and Arcadius had been filled in on everything they knew about the demons and, surprisingly enough, the princess had insisted on joining them in their quest. King Thomas had been more reluctant, but after she reminded him of the Grand Magic Games and how they needed to make up for what happened then, he agreed to help.
So while him and Darton left the cottage and went to the palace to gather their army, Hisui stayed with the Oracion Seis, Jellal and Dorenbolt. In the end, they decided to go after Tartarus' probable next target: the Fairy Tail guild.
Jellal had insisted they go there sooner, but the others had agreed it was best to wait a while. They were still injured from the explosions caused by the demons and needed time to recover before going against Tartarus once again. So that's why 3 hours passed before they finally decided to go to Fairy Tail's guildhall.
As Dorenbolt used his magic to teleport them there, the blue haired man's fears became a reality when they were faced with the ruins of the guild hall.
"I don't believe this!" Hisui was frozen in fear as Arcadius stepped protectively in front of her.
"They can't be gone." Angel shook her head.
"I'm sure they found a way, those idiots are too strong to be taken out just like that." Racer quickly said and Midnight and Cobra nodded.
"I remember when I fought Natsu, he wouldn't back down even after I poisoned him." The latter remembered.
"But if they're not here, where are they?" Midnight asked.
"We need to find them." Jellal said and they sensed the desperation he felt. They knew he was probably thinking about Erza and that brought a smile to Hisui's face.
"I'm sure she's fine." His eyes widened.
"What?" She laughed.
"Erza Scarlet; she's the one you're thinking of, isn't she?" He opened and closed his mouth a few times.
"How…How do you know?" Cobra rolled his eyes.
"Please, everyone knows you're in love with her." Midnight smirked.
"You haven't exactly done a great job at hiding it." Jellal nodded slowly, color returning to his face.
"I guess I haven't." He sighed before a determined look came upon his face. "I need to find her."
"I know how you feel." Cobra told him, honestly. "We will find them." A surprised look came upon Hisui's face, but before she could ask who he was looking for, they heard two voices shouting.
"Jellal?" Jellal's eyes widened once he spotted a familiar face from Fairy Tail.
"Are you…Lisanna?" He tried to remember the girl's name and she nodded while coming to a stop. The man with blue hair and red eyes stood behind her, a look of suspicion on his face.
"What are you guys doing here?" He motioned to the Oracion Seis, who immediately tensed.
"Easy there, Bixlow. They're on our side. Right?" Lisanna told him before turning to Jellal.
"Yes. We're all on the same side." He confirmed.
"Where are the others? Are they okay?" Dorenbolt asked, worried for his old friends.
"From what Warren told us, they seem to be fine." Lisanna replied and Jellal sighed in relief.
"Thank goodness." She smiled at his reaction.
"You were worried about Erza, weren't you?" He nodded.
"Is she alright?" Fear rose once again once the couple shared worried looks.
"She was captured by Tartarus, so we don't know how she is. But the others are at their fortress now, so you should be able to find her easily." Many eyes widened at these news.
"So you were able to locate them?" Hisui asked, surprised.
"Not exactly." Bixlow replied. "From what Warren told us, they came to Magnolia before the guild exploded, probably wanting to watch it, those sick bastards."
"But that was almost an hour ago, now everyone's scattered in the outskirts of Magnolia and probably fighting against Tartarus." Lisanna finished.
"So this is our chance to make a move." Cobra said, smiling.
"Yes. It's time for us to eliminate this enemy." Midnight agreed.
"Agreed. Arcadius, can you go back to the palace and warn my father that Tartarus are here?" Hisui turned to her most trusted advisor.
"Princess, I couldn't possibly leave you here." He immediately tensed, glancing towards the others.
"I know, but someone needs to go back and I want to help Fairy Tail." She replied, looking determined.
"We can keep an eye on the princess." They turned to the new voice and were faced with Blue Pegasus' strongest team, except for Ren.
"It would be an honor to protect her majesty." Eve winked and Hisui raised a brow.
"I thought you guys were going after Tartarus." Bixlow turned to them, confused.
"We decided to come help Fairy Tail first." Jenny explained, smiling.
"After all, making sure our allies were okay was more important than chasing after the enemy." Itchia explained.
"Thanks, you guys." Bixlow told them, smiling.
"No problem. Now, don't we have a dark guild to find?" Hibiki said, raising a brow. Everyone else nodded.
"Let's go." Oracion Seis began walking away, following Lisanna and Bixlow since they were the only ones who knew the way. Jellal followed them a moment later, eager to be reunited with Erza; while Dorenbolt told them he was worried for Wendy's safety before disappearing.
"See? I'll be fine." The princess reassured Arcadius and he finally gave in.
"Alright." He sighed before turning to Blue Pegasus' elite, a threatening look on his face. "But if anything happens to the princess, I will hold you accountable." They nodded.
"Very well, then. I'll be back soon." With one last worried look, he started running in the direction of the train station, hoping he could catch an early one to Crocus.
"Shall we get going, your majesty?" Eve was by the princess' side in a minute and she smiled before nodding.
"We shall." They sped up their movement while trying to catch up with the others.
In that moment, it seemed like everything was falling into place as they finally moved towards the enemy, ready to strike back. What they didn't know, though, is that their fates were already sealed and not everyone would come out alive from this war.
With Gray and Silver... 7:20 PM
Gray found himself knocked on the ground, Silver standing in front of him. He was still having a hard time understanding what was happening. One minute he had been with Erza, then all of sudden he was being pulled into a red substance and lost consciousness for a few minutes.
Then, when he woke up, he found himself all alone in the outskirts of Magnolia. He had walked around for a few minutes, searching for his friends, when he heard them. Honestly, when he'd reached the group, his mind had still been focused on Juvia, his worry for her growing. But it all changed once he saw Silver.
For the past two days he had been crazy worried about his father's disappearance, thinking he might even be dead. And although he was relieved to learn that Tartarus hadn't killed him, they had clearly done something to him.
"Dad, why did you do that?" Gray managed to stand up and eyed his father warily.
"You shouldn've have come here, Gray." Silver shook his head as a sword appeared on his hand
"What did they do to you?" The ice mage wondered once again.
"You need to leave, before they make me hurt you." The older man warned, but it was too late. He could hear Keyes giving the order once again through telepathy.
"What?" Gray barely managed to dodge as Silver launched at him, the sword scrapping his arm. "Ouch."
"No, no, no. I'm sorry." The older man's face paled and he let go of the weapon.
"You need to stay strong, dad. Fight them." Gray yelled and for a moment Silver's expression softened into a sad look, but fear soon replaced it once the next order came. Use Deliora's powers to strike him down.
"No." He shook his head, unwilling. Pain coursed through his body and he sighed. It wasn't as if he had much of a choice.
"What are you doing?" Gray asked once his father closed his eyes and stepped away. His eyes widened a moment later when a laser beam shot from Silver's hand. Once again, the ice mage barely managed to dodge it by throwing himself on the ground.
"What is this magic?" He looked behind him at the destruction it had caused and his face paled once he remembered. "No way."
"They gave me Deliora's power, thinking it would make things more interesting." Silver scoffed, shaking his head.
"Deliora... But how?" Gray was confused.
"Like they plan on doing to her, Gray. They turned me into one of them." Another pained look crossed Silver's face.
"They turned you...into a demon?" The older man didn't reply, instead his eyes closed once again as many more lasers shot from his hands.
Unable to avoid them all, Gray used his magic to conjure a shield before standing up. He could tell that Silver was trying to resist Tartarus' control, but it was clearly a losing fight.
"Come on, dad. You can do it." His shield was destroyed as the lasers kept on coming and he was forced to step back, hiding behind a rock.
"You can't hide forever, Gray. You need to stop being a coward and face me." Although his father's words were threatening, Gray understood the hidden meaning behind them. The only way to save Silver from himself was to fight seriously, but how could he hurt his own father?
"I can't." The ice mage shook his head just as the rock behind him was pierced. The entire place was destroyed; every rock had been turned to ashes and fire spread across the land. It was like his worst nightmare had come to life, once again.
Stop playing around, Silver. Finish him off. Keyes was clearly unamused and Silver sighed. He couldn't keep fighting for much longer. Soon enough he would succumb to the demon's control and the last thing he wanted was to hurt his son.
Thankfully, an idea came to mind. So he stopped his attacks before using telepathy to contact the one person who could save him and Gray.
With Lucy and the others... 7:30 PM
"Damn it, stop doing that!" Natsu complained as his chosen opponent used wind to dissipate his fire.
"You should just give up." Tempester, as they came to learn, mocked.
"Never!" The dragon slayer charged full force, just as Gajeel did.
"Will you shut up already?" He used iron dragon sword to try to hit Torafusa, to no avail.
"I've never seen Gajeel and Natsu struggle so much." Lucy commented from her spot sitting by Meredy's side.
"I'm worried, Lucy." The pinkette's gaze never left Lyon, who fought against Keyes.
"You're playing with people's lives." The ice mage yelled at the demon after learning of his use of the necromancer curse to have corpses do his biding. He had also learned about how Keyes had cast a spell on Silver that prevented him from telling the truth about Tartarus and now it controlled his actions.
"Such a delicious, ironic tragedy. Father and son meeting their ends at the hands of each other. I couldn't have thought of a better story myself." The demon delighted in the knowledge that he was the reason Gray and Silver would die, since he was the one forcing them to fight against each other.
Even though Silver wasn't one of his corpses, as he had made clear, the ice mage was still just a puppet under Tartarus' control.
"You are disgusting." Lyon yelled before sending a pack of eagles towards him, but they didn't even touch the demon.
"What's even more tragic is your tale." Keyes continued, smirking. "Being in love with the same woman who loved the boy, such a pity."
"Shut up!" The ice mage immediately tensed.
"Tell me, do you wonder if she'll choose you once he is gone?" Meredy swallowed hard, that demon sure knew just what to say to break someone. "Or are you afraid that she'll continue to despise you?"
"She doesn't." Lyon said, though there was uncertainty in his tone.
"Oh, but she does. Surely the only reason she still puts up with you is because you are his brother. Otherwise she would've cut you off a long time ago."
"Lyon!" Meredy screamed, standing up and taking a step forward once the ice mage was enveloped in a ball of dark energy. Thankfully, he was quick to freeze it and free himself.
"I see." There was a smirk on the demon's face as he stared between the two. "So Juvia Lockser isn't the only one who's stolen your heart."
"I already told you to shut up!" Lyon sent a huge snow dragon towards him, but it was quickly destroyed.
"Such strength, but it won't be enough to protect either of them." Keyes mocked just before redirecting his curse towards the pinkette.
"No, Meredy!" The pinkette was frozen in shock, hands resting on her stomach as she worried for her child.
Thankfully, she was saved as Lucy quickly stood up and jumped in front of her, getting hit instead.
"Lucy!" Meredy caught her and both fell to the ground. Upon inspecting the blonde, she was relieved to learn that she was still breathing, although the wound on her stomach was worriesome.
"You'll pay for this!" Lyon yelled in anger before sending an even more powerful attack towards the demon.
As Meredy watched the demon finally be thrown back, she realized that Lyon wouldn't be able to defeat him on his own. He needed help.
"Lyon, I have an idea on how we can defeat him. You're not going to like it, though." She told him while taking off her cape and pressing it against Lucy's wound.
"What is it?" He turned around to face her.
"We can do a unison raid." Lyon immediately shook his head.
"No. You can't use magic." She sighed before letting go of the cape and standing up.
"You know I wouldn't do anything that could put our child's life at risk unless it was absolutely necessary." Meredy gave him a desperate look. "We have to do this before he kills us all."
"But…" He had taken a few steps away from the fight and towards her.
"It will be okay." She reassured him; closing the distance between them before her arms wrapped around his torso in a much needed hug.
"Meredy, I…" He gulped, feeling tears threatening to fall. For a few seconds they stayed like that, holding each other, until GAdele yelled a warning that the fight wasn't over yet.
"We must do this, for her sake." Meredy said once they pulled apart from and he placed a hand on top of her stomach, still unsure.
"She is right. You must defeat Keyes, it's the only way to stop Tartarus from activating FACE." His eyes widened as Silver's familiar voice was heard.
"Silver? Why are you contacting me?" Lyon was confused.
"Because I know that you care about Gray." The ice mage tensed. "If you don't stop Keyes, he'll force me to kill my son. I'm trying to resist his control, but I'm not strong enough." Lyon took in a sharp breath.
"So I don't have a choice." The only way he'd be able to pull it off was with Meredy's help, he couldn't do it alone. So he sighed.
"Okay, let's do this." She nodded before taking his hand before both turned around to face their enemy. Keyes was smirking, but his amused expression soon changed to fear as the couple chanted the words that would be his undoing.
Meanwhile, on Tenrou Island...
"Unison Raid." Zeref watched with a surprised smile as Lyon and Meredy's spell worked out just perfectly and soon enough Keyes began to disintegrate before disappearing.
"So it's all going according to plan." He whispered to himself before changing the book's image to show Erza and Kyoka's battle. "It won't be long now before all of the nine demon gates are eliminated." He then diverted his attention from the book, glancing instead towards the tombstone in front of him. The coffin that had been buried there was long gone, as well as the body inside it.
"I did exactly as you would've wanted me to, mother. But now it's time to stop giving humanity second chances it doesn't deserve." He closed the book before kneeling down by the tombstone, careful not to fall into the earthly hole beside it. Using his dark magic, a bouquet of dead flowers appeared and he placed it there.
"I can't believe he had the nerve to take you away once again, but I will get you back." Zeref said while gently running his fingers through the name engraved on the tombstone; Laura Dragneel.
After letting out a sigh, he stood up and opened the book once again. "Now, show me Juvia Lockser. It's time to test my theory and see if JULIET will truly become the most powerful etherion."
So, thoughts?
Jerza fans, are you still there? Now that Jellal's alive and back in action, you can expect a lot of scenes with him and Erza in later chapters.
What did you think of the whole story with Hisui conjuring the celestial spirit king and her decision to aid Jellal and Oracion Seis? Was it believable?
On another topic, what do you think is happening with Mirajane? Just a clue: her state when Chelia found her wasn't just due to demon slaying powers or using too much magic. There is something else going on with her, which will be revealed soon.
As for Lyredy fans, are you happy with this chapter? I'm sure you would've preferred to see Juvia fighting against Keyes like in the anime, but since she's trapped, I had to replace her with someone. Using Lyon seemed like a great idea to me and the perfect way to foreshadow his relationship with Silver while developing the one with Meredy and Gray.
Lastly, what did you think of Silver vs Gray? Next chapter you'll learn a LOT about his story, including his unknown connection to the Strauss family (SPOILER ALERT) and the reason why he joined Tartarus.
Next Chapter: Finally Free
Summary: While Silver fills Gray in on his story, Elfman finally learns of Mirajane's fate and the truth about Lisanna. As they try to take it all in, Juvia faces a shocking revelation herself once Zeref finally returns. Will Fairy Tail ever learn of her fate and stop Zeref from transforming her into E.N.D? Or will this war take away humanity's last chance?
VERY IMPORTANT: I forgot to ask before. Out of the following couples, which one would you like to see more?
1-Sting x Yukino
2- Cobra x Kinana
3-Midnight x Angel
I have scenes planned for all of them, but am unsure which one do to first. So let me know what you guys think!
You have until Wednesday to decide, which is when I'll post chapter 8.
Have a great day!