Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. White Sea and the Pradeshes belong to Desna.

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hat the group rescuing Sorano's angel had not accounted for in their plans to escape Pergrande was the berserkers, genetically and magically mutated man-beasts controlled by a 'handler'. Merging animals of various sorts with the men the creatures used to be gave them extreme levels of strength, stamina, and speed as well as senses rivaling those of a dragon slayer and, in some cases, wings. The berserkers themselves were almost mindless killing machines guided and controled by the handler they were linked to.

Sawyer, Richard, and Macbeth had been hit by the first one about half an hour after the rest of their group had flown off toward Magnolia. Sawyer had almost lost a leg to the cat-lizard beast. Without Erik's poison to fight infection or Sorano's new healing spells he was thinking he might still lose the thing. He hadn't mentioned it to the others but it wasn't healing as it should and it had grown inflamed. He had felt the heat radiating from the flesh the last time he changed the bandage.

While a future with one leg or just plain dying from the infection bothered him, it didn't weigh on him nearly as much as the fact that he was useless to his brothers in this condition. Worse than useless. He was slowing them down. They spend far more time hiding and letting him rest than they did traveling, and when they were on the move they had to protect him from any enemies who managed to find the group.

He had his little explosives hobby to help out a bit. He had tinkered with such things even more since joining Fairy tail. He could make all sorts of booms. Big, little, fiery, not so fiery. He had even managed to make one with flames Natsu said tasted good. He was almost out of supplies though. He was seriously thinking about turning himself into a bomb and feeding it to the next pack of berserkers they came across. Going out with a bang suited him just fine if it protected his brothers.

Sure he had made new friends and would rather get home alive then dead, but... Richard had his brother traveling to join him. His real blood brother. Millianna was to young to remember Sawyer even was her cousin let alone actually care if he never came back. Macbeth had grown so close to Lucy as well as the green haired rune mage. Those two getting home was more important than his useless, one legged ass. Though he knew better than to tell them he felt that way. He had mentioned them leaving him behind once. They hadn't reacted well.

They were resting underground at the moment. They had discovered that if Richard took them deep enough the berserkers couldn't smell them. They couldn't stay down there though. Air was a limited resource and being this deep ment they had mud and water issues.

Avoiding water, getting fresh air, and determining where the hell they were and where the hell they were going all forced them to the surface rather frequently. They could travel underground a bit, but they had discovered the hard way that Richard had no way of telling when they were about to breach an underground water source.

"Air's getting thin, Rich. We'd better wake Beth and head up." Once more. The next time they rested he would clean out his pack and then... make sure to take as many monsters with him as he could.

"Agreed. The earth is becoming wet enough to lose stability as well." Sawyer forced himself to stand as Richard gently woke their sleeping brother. He leaned against the muddy wall and tried to ignore the throbbing pain in his leg as Macbeth traced a glowing purple rune on his forearm to help himself stay awake and alert. It was far from the first rune they had seen him use on this mission and Sawyer was extremely grateful to Freed for what he had taught their brother.

"How long was I asleep?" Sawyer and Richard both shrugged. "Hmm. Feels like...early evening. Three and a half hours, maybe three quarters." And that right there was why nobody bothered to keep time around Macbeth. His magic basically was a clock. Macbeth wrapped his arm in a dirty cloth to prevent the glowing rune from giving away their location in the fading light. "How is your leg?" Sawyer tried to smile to assuage the worry in those red eyes.

"I'm fine bro. It's still attached ain't it?" Macbeth rolled his eyes, but Sawyer could see his flippancy had the desired affect.

"Here." Macbeth pulled his arm over his shoulders. "Lean on me while Richard takes us up." One more way he was endangering them. Holding Sawyer up left Macbeth vulnerable when they came out. He also knew Richard would try to carry him after they were above ground, which he did. Soon as he had the ground leveled out the big man scooped him up and started walking.

They kept up a brisk walk for about an hour and a half with only a short water break. Then the berserkers hit, five this time. If Sawyer had been battleworthy they could have taken them. As it was. He was regretting the cowardice that had him delaying the making of his final bomb. He had just wanted to spend a few hore hours with his brothers. Now his brothers would die with him for his selfishness.

A loud boom shook the ground itself and the night was suddenly lit up with gold and silver light. Flashes of pale yellow filled the air with electricity and the shadows seeming to dance through the light despite how bright it was. There seemed to be... People all around them now. At least four of them. Not attacking them, but... Killing the berserkers. It made no sense. They were still in Pergrande. Why were these people fighting as their allies?

The light faded to a dim glow and Sawyer gaped at the berserkers, all dead on the ground, and the five people who had slain them. A tall blond woman was the source of the gold light, and a big man with long dark hair the source of the silver. There was another dark haired man, dressed all in black, smirking at them. There was a big ass green haired man with a big ass sword. One Sawyer recognized from pictures at the guild. Laxus Dreyer, exiled Fairy Tail wizard, S-class lightning dragon slayer. The Thunder Legion still considered him their leader.

"Laxus." Macbeth was using that cold, slightly happy voice he used to use when he was Midnight. It always creeped Sawyer out when he did that. "You are here...why?"

"Cuz apparently risking your wellbeing is reason enough for Freed to break full demon in the fucking guildhall."

"Freed," Macbeth dropped the creepy voice. Thank Mavis. "Did...what?"

"You're injured." The big dark-haired one was staring intently at him where he sat sprawled in the mud where Richard had dropped him. "We should go before they come back. We can talk about this after we get up."

He stepped toward him and Macbeth's eyes flashed red. He threw his hands out and little demonic things began to crawl out of the ground. He wasn't at full power, but it was close enough for his illusions to be pretty damn scary. All five of the newer arrivals took battle stances. Those weilding light magics began to glow, or in Laxus's case crackle.

"And what reason have we to trust you?" Aaand creepy, dramatic voice was back. Laxus growled at them.

"You fucking know who I am!"

"Yes. The traitor. Freed Justine is loyal to a fault and so very trusting. You however... I know not." If the situation weren't so dangerous Sawyer would probably mock at Macbeth's dramatics. The one in black dropped his weapons and raised his hands. When he spoke it was with a smooth, coaxing, singsong voice.

"Come on now handsome. Would we have killed of the big uglies if we ment you harm?" Macbeth sneered at him. That probably would have had a greater affect if he wasn't covered in mud. "Don't be like that. You trust Bixy Boy yeah?"

"Bickslow is a brother in arms. Oh Yeah! And a beloved comrade!"

"Then there is no reason not to trust us." He pointed at himself and the two glowing people. "Brother, brother, sister. All good!" The demonic illusion began to fade away. "And we're here for Zen's sake." And trust nullified. Only Pergrande would know about them rescuing Zen. Sawyer yanked a small bomb from his pack, the demons came back with friends, and the earth began to shift under them. The smooth talker vanished, only to reappear right behind Sawyer with his hand covering the one holding the bomb. "Woah. That's a strong reaction. Let's not blow us all away shall we?"

"What baby brother failed to mention." The blond woman said, rolling her eyes. "Is that Zen is a brother too. He's safe, by the way. At Fairy Tail." Macbeth tipped his head to the side.

"And the world bleeding? Polaris?"

"Interdimensional portal." The dark haired man spoke calmly. "Your celestial wizard passed through the portal. When she left this world it was as if her mate bond with Erik was severed. She has returned and they have recovered." That was what they needed. They all three relaxed and released toeir magic. Sawyer used his thumb to flip the pin around and render his little bomb harmless. And yes he was just that good. He had practiced that move. A lot. The big greenhaired man eyed where the little demons had been and grinned.

"Those were totally harmless weren't they?" Macbeth just gave him this creepy little one sided smile.

"We need to get that infection seen to before it turns septic." The big man who had first noted his injury strode forward. "My name is Cristoff. I'm a healer."

"Infection!" Macbeth gasped and rushed toward him. "Why didn't you say anything?" Sawyer waved him away as Cristoff picked him up.

"There was nothing you could do about it. So no point. I was slowing us down enough as it was." The blond woman latched onto Richard's shoulder.

"Somebody grab Bluffy." Macbeth made an offended noise as Laxus grabbed his shoulder. The big green haired man grabbed onto Cristoff's shoulder and then the whole world lit up and tilted. When everything settled again they were on the deck of a flying contraption similar to that Cristina thing they had blown up their last day as the Oracion Seis, and there were people everywhere.

They were bustled down to the infirmary by Cristoff and a brunette named Xally who was apparently another sister. The mud covered Macbeth was shoved into a shower. He would have stayed with Sawyer, but the woman threatened to strip him right there and wash him with her own magic. It was one of those Lucy type threats you took seriously without thinking about it, because somehow you just knew she ment it.

Sawyer was shocked at how well and how quickly Cristoff was able to heal his leg. He was told he still needed rest, but his leg would be one hundred percent in no time. Now that they were safe, his leg was on the mend, and they were surrounded by Bickslow's very large family he was feeling quite relieved that he had been to selfish to go out with a bang. It would have totally blown.

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To be continued.