Chapter 16: Coming Back to the Guild
Galuna Island, village
"We are going to destroy that moon right now!" Erza says with a serious face.
Natsu cheers in excitement as the others cry out in shock behind him with wide eyes.
"We'll destroy that moon and everyone will return to their original forms!" Erza announces as all the villagers look towards her in awe at what she said causing all of them to cheer for joy.
"Will we get to see the moon destroyed right before our eyes?"
"We'll finally be back to our normal selves!"
"If we're gonna destroy the moon, wouldn't being on top of the ruins help? It's higher up than here." Natsu says as he runs up to Erza.
"No, this will do." Erza states confusing Natsu. "And the villagers can't get near the ruins."
"Destroy the moon? Well this is Erza we're talking about, but still…" Gray says as Lucy has her eyes widen still in shock.
"W-what does she plan on doing?" Lucy wonders.
"Quite heart-racing, don't you think?" Happy says.
"In a lot of ways…" Lucy says as she closes her eyes.
"This is the Giant Armor. It powers up by ability to throw. And…" Erza holds out her right hand as a red magic circle appears and a massive spear appears as she grips it. "The Lance of Haja, which repels the darkness."
"Awesome! So you'll chunk that at the moon and blow it up?" Natsu yells in excitement again as his eyes widens. Behind him, Happy has his eyes closed as Lucy's, Gray's, and Sakura's eyes are darken.
"Seriously, that's not gonna work." The four thought.
"However, I do not think it will reach the moon with only this. That's why I want you to give me a boost with your flame's power." Erza says confusing Natsu. "When I thought the spear, hit the back-end of the lance as hard as you can. By combining the throwing power of the Giant Armor and your flames, we will destroy that moon!"
"All right! Got ya!" Natsu agrees.
"Let's go!" Erza says as she and Natsu head off to the village tower.
"Why are the two of them so into this?" Gray questions as his and Lucy's eyes are shock and confused looks on their faces while Happy seems to be marvel at them.
"They're not actually going to destroy the moon, right?" Lucy asks with a worried tone.
"Nope, not a chance." Sakura says waving her hand in front of her face.
Erza and Natsu made their way to the watch tower in the village, climbing to the top, Natsu stands behind Erza as she looks up towards the purple moon. She lifts her spear, making sure it is pointing right towards at the moon as then the gem on her right gauntlet begins to light up, a red magic circle appears below it. She pulls back on her spear.
"Natsu!" Erza yells signaling Natsu who slams his fire fist into the rear-end of the spear. Two poles on the side of the spear at the top erupts as flames shoot out from them, destroying the top of the watch tower except for the platform.
"Whoa!" Happy yells as Gray looks at this annoyed while Lucy's eyes are blank and her mouth hangs open in shock.
"Holy…" Gray says.
"They're destroying stuff again!" Lucy exclaims.
From the tower the spear flies forward into the air at high speed, the fire continues to erupt from the poles leaving smoke behind as a trail for the others to see where it is as everyone gasps in shock and awe.
"Reach it!" Erza shouts.
The spear continues flying upwards, soon only appearing as a twinkle in the sky with the smoke trail being the only thing to identify it as everyone continues to look up. It then hits something as everyone sees the spear disappears in a flash of light as then a crack appears on the moon. The villagers all gasp in joy at what they see, as Gray's and Lucy's heads enlarge, eyes widen in shock and their mouths drop open.
"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Lucy and Gray yell in shock.
The crack on the moon begins to expand until it's beyond the moon and breaks apart revealing a white moon as purple glass shards fall from the sky as there to be more purple glass around the moon. Seeing this confuses the villagers as well as everyone.
"The moon?" Natsu says.
"That's…" Moka says.
"Glass? I see! Latias!" Sakura calls and Latias goes in front of her. "Dragon Pulse!"
Latias fires a multicolored dragon-shaped beam of energy from its mouth at the sky and an orb of pink energy from the forest shoots also at the sky, destroying more of the purple glass and revealing the dark blue sky behind it.
"That move just now…" Sakura says and looks at the forest as a shadow comes out.
"It wasn't the moon that she broke and Latias shot… it was the sky?" Lucy questions as the purple glass disintegrates into purple dust and begins falling all around the wizards and the villagers.
"It wasn't just Latias that shoot it." Sakura says making Lucy to look at her.
"What do you mean by that, Sakura?" Lucy asks and at the corner of her eye, she sees a creature with a blue, swan-like body with a yellow underside. It has pink eyes, a dark pink, round tuft on its head, and a pointed, beak-like snout. There are yellow, crescent-shaped ornaments on the sides of its head. It also has glowing, pink, ring-like wings on its sides and back with paw like protrusions resting on its chest.
"Cresselia." Sakura calls.
"Cresselia?" Lucy repeats as Sakura gets her Zukan out and points at it.
"Cresselia, the Lunar Pokémon. Shining particles are released from Cresselia's wings like a veil, and it is said to represent the crescent moon." It says.
"What's going on?!" Natsu questions.
"This island was covered by an evil lens." Erza explains.
"A lens?" Natsu repeats.
"A gas was release during the creation of the moon drip. That gas crystallized and became a lens covering the sky. It's thanks to the lens that the moon looked purple."
The villagers are surrounded by glowing yellow light around themselves, all of them look down with confusion on their faces.
"With the evil lens broken, this island's true nature should return." Erza says.
However, as the light dies down, the villagers remain in their demonic forms for some reason, confusing them and the others, except Erza.
"They're not… going back to normal?" Gray questions.
"Oh no…" Happy says sadden by this.
"No. Everything is the way it should be." Erza says as she gets off the tower, switching back into her normal armor as everyone looks at her. "The evil lens didn't affect their bodies. It affected their memories." Erza says.
"Their memories?" Lucy asks.
"The false memory that they become demons during the night." Erza says.
"What is the meaning of this? You don't mean…" Lucy says.
"That's how it is." Erza states scaring Lucy, Happy, and Gray as sweat flies from them. "They were demons from the start."
"E—H!" Lucy and Happy scream as Happy flies off while Lucy topples to the ground on her feet while holding the side of her head and her eyes are widened in complete shock.
"S-seriously?" Gray asks as he and one of the demon villagers stare at each other face to face.
"Y-yeah… Now that you mention it. I'm still a bit confused…"
"They all have the power to change into humans. They ended up thinking that their human forms were who they really were. That was the false memory that the moon drip caused in them." Erza explains.
"But why were Lyon and the other okay?" Lucy asks.
"Because they are human. It seems like it only affects the memories of demons. It's also because they are demon that they can't get near those ruins. Being of darkness could never get near ruins that have absorbed so much holy light."
"Impressive!" A voice from behind the group says. "I'm glad I trusted this to you." The group turns around and are completely shocked by who they see before them. "Wizards… Thank you!" It was the man who had brought them to the island in the first place, the chief's son, Bobo, now as a purple demon.
"It's the ghost!" Lucy and Happy cries out in horror as they hug each other with their eyes go blank and widening in fear as their jaws drop open.
"The dude from the boat?!" Gray shouts.
"But how?!" Sakura questions.
As Moka looks at the demon before them, he begins to shake. "Bobo…"
"But, you're…"
"Eh?"
"We don't die from being stabbed in the chest." Bobo says as he places his right hand over his chest and begins laughing.
"You disappeared from the boat…" Gray says and Bobo disappears before their eyes causing Gray, Lucy and Happy to freak out, but Sakura notices what he really did as she looks up. Gray and the other notice this and look up as well and drop their jaws at what they see. Bobo is in the air above them with massive long demonic wings.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth back then. I was the only one who gained back my memories, so I left this island. Since all the people of the village thought they were human they were all scared of me!" Bobo says as he begins laughing again.
"Bobo…" Moka calls again as tears begin to appear in his eyes. Suddenly, the chief sprouts his own wings and flies towards his son. "Bobo!" Moka cries out in joy as tears stream down his face, flying and grabbing his son around his neck. Hugging him tightly that Bobo's eyes pops out before Moka stops and backs away to look at his son.
"Finally back to normal, huh pops?" Bobo asks.
All the villagers look up and then look at each other, smiling once more as they all sprout wings and fly up into the air.
"He's alive!"
"Bobo's still alive!"
"All right!"
The Fairy Tail wizards look up and smiles at the sight.
"A Demon Island indeed…" Erza says.
"But you know… just looking at all their faces… They look less like devils… and more like angels." Natsu says as the moon shines down on the flying demons.
The group continues to smile at the sight, glad to see of the villagers happy.
"Tonight we're having a feast! A demon feast!"
"I bet a demon's feast is gonna get kind of rowdy…" Lucy says.
"Aye…" Happy agrees and Sakura giggles.
~An hour later~
The village is now full of talking and laughter. Everyone sits down to enjoy the massive amount of food. Natsu though is eating fire off the sticks, sucking them right off instantly into his mouth. Gray sits a bit away from the others with a coconut bowl in his hand as he drinks from it.
"Are your injuries feeling better" A familiar female voice asks as Gray looks towards the person.
"Aren't you…" Gray says as before him was a demon girl.
"Have you forgotten?" The female demon asks as she reverts into her human form, revealing herself to be the girl Gray met during the day.
"Oh, you're the one…" Gray says as behind the demon are three other female demons of different looks.
"Do you recognize me now?" The girl asks as she changes back into her demon form.
"Yeah."
Then one of the demon girls kneels behind him with her hands over her chest. "Ever since you came to this village, we think you're just the greatest, Gray-san!" The demon girl says in excitement as she swings her body.
"Yeah! You're super cool!" Another demon says as she kneels to his left.
The other demon girl bends down in front of him. "But you like us better in our human forms, don't you?"
"I wouldn't say that exactly… I think this look kind of works for you." Gray says causing the three to cry out in happiness as flowers appear around them and flying off.
"Gray-san's so kind, I knew it!"
"We're full of confidence!"
"Let's dance together! We'll the groovy demon's dance!"
The three along with the other demon girl grab Gray and begins to walk away with him. Gray unsure what to do and finds this a bit embarrassing as some of the villagers notice this and can't help but grin in joy.
"So Gray's popular with those kind of girls, huh?" Lucy humorously says.
"He looks like he's having a lot of fun." Happy says.
"It is as he says…" The village chief says and Lucy, Erza, and Happy look towards at him. "We all feel that our appearance is a weakness, so we never interacted with any other islands."
"That's why we started the rumor that Galuna Island was cursed." Bobo says.
"So that's why the people at the port were scared of the island." Lucy says.
Moka chuckles. "But from now on, I think we'll be able to get along better with the people from the continent. We should cooperate and help each other."
Erza nods her head in agreement. "If you speak to them in this way, it won't matter how you look, you'll understood."
"By the way, where's Sakura?" Lucy asks noticing Sakura isn't around.
"Now that you mentioned it…" Happy says.
"Everyone!" Sakura shouts and everyone looks at where she is and sees that she is wearing a pink and white marching outfit with Aiko and Latias beside her. "Please watch out Performance!"
"I wonder what she's going to do?" Lucy asks.
"Aiko, Swift! Latias, Psychic!"
Aiko jumps into the air and swishes its tail, releasing multiple yellow stars with golden sparkles around them and Latias' eyes glows in light blue as the stars becomes outlined in light blue, controlling them to fly above the villagers.
"Wow!" Lucy says.
"Pretty!" Happy says.
The stars then gather above Sakura and points her hand at it.
"Aiko use Shadow Ball! Latias use Dragon Breath!" Sakura orders and Aiko forms a black and purple ball of energy with black static around it above her mouth as light blue waves of energy start swirling around Latias. Aiko then fires the ball and Latias fires a light blue beam of energy from its mouth simultaneously at the stars, colliding them into dusts of yellow, blue, and purple. Everyone is in awe from the dusts as they look up.
"We're going to finish this!" Sakura exclaims and Aiko and Latias go on opposite direction, facing each other. "Aiko use Moonblast! Latias use Dragon Pulse!"
Aiko spreads her feelers wide open and forms an orb of pink energy in front of her mouth and fires it as Latias fires a multicolored dragon-shaped beam of energy from her mouth. The two attacks make a beautiful collision as Sakura, Aiko and Latias makes a pose.
"Finish!" Sakura shouts, causing everyone to clap at the performance.
"That was amazing, Sakura!" Lucy cheers as Happy jumps up and down.
"Fantastic." Erza says as she claps her hands.
Unknown to everyone, two people walk through the entrance to the village and towards the village center where everyone gathered before stopping just a few feet away from them. Some of the villagers notice this and one by one, people look over and spot the two intruders.
"Hey!"
"What?"
Soon everyone's attention was drawn towards where the two figures stand. It was two of Lyon's friends, Sherry and Yuka. Sherry has a serious expression as Yuka stands with his hands behind his back and grins.
"Those are… Reitei's pals?"
Gray, who is surrounded by the demon girls turn away from them and look towards the two.
"Gray-san…"
"Leave them to us. Don't worry." Gray assures them.
Lucy and Happy still sit down looking at them as Erza stands up. Natsu is oblivious to the situation as he takes another bite of fire on a stick before looking over.
"What do you want?" Erza asks.
"You guys did Reitei Lyon pretty good… He can't even move." Yuka says.
"We have come to pay you back." Sherry says.
"Wait a second!" Lucy says as she stands up. "Didn't you hear? We and Lyon have already…"
"That's a separate issue." Yuka interrupts.
"We will end this once and for all." Sherry says.
"Cool! Show me what you got!' Natsu says as he gets up and rushes forward, lighting up his hand to fight them.
"Wait!" Bobo yells as the others look at him. "We can't keep relying on you for everything!" Bobo says.
"Yeah, that's right!"
"We have to protect our own village!"
I can appreciate the sentiment." Erza says as she steps forward. "However, leave this matter to me." Erza then walks towards the two and stops a few meters away from them.
"Fairy Tail's Titania? You did me quite a service on that beach." Sherry says.
"This will be a worthy opponent." Yuka says.
"Watch out, Erza! That woman can manipulate rocks and trees!" Lucy yells out warning her.
"And weird eyebrows dude can neutralize magic!" Natsu yells out as well.
"I see. Then I better finish this up before they can pull any tricks!" Erza states as she charges forward and quickly delivers a roundhouse kick to Sherry, sending he flying. Quickly turning her attention towards Yuka who is frightened by what just happened, she twists around and punches him right across the face, sending him flying as well. Both of them hit the ground hard as the villagers and others all stare in shock and awe at how fast she took them down.
"Awesome!" Natsu says.
"She's strong barehanded!" Lucy says.
"Such is Erza-sama." Happy states.
"'Sama'?" Lucy says confused by Happy's title as she closes her eyes.
Sherry sits up instead of trying to continue the fight.
"Impressive." She says.
She and Yuka both get back on their feet, Yuka having his right hand to his chin from the punch Erza gave him as he then looks at Erza with a sincere look on his face.
"It's true… We're no match." Yuka says.
"Huh?" Lucy says.
"Could it be that you two…" Sakura trails off.
Sadden looks appear on the two's face as they look at the ground.
"I know this doesn't atone for our actions, but we wanted to finish things off." Yuka says.
"So that's what they mean by 'pay back'." Happy says.
"We heard from Reitei-sama. Thanks to you, we're free of out hatred for Deliora." Sherry says.
"Oh, so you guys also…" Gray says realizing who they were as well.
"Our towns were destroyed when we were kids. Our friends and family burned to ashes." Yuka says.
"Reitei-sama was finally going to defeat Deliora. That's why we follow him." Sherry says.
"But that's still no reason to hurt innocent people in the process." Yuka adds.
"We hated Deliora so much, we ended up becoming no better than it was. We forgot… love." Sherry finishes as another heard appears next to her head.
"Alrighty!" Natsu suddenly yells out, surprising everyone as he appears behind Sherry and Yuka, putting his hands on their shoulders with a massive grin on his face. "Come here and eat with us!"
"But, we were your enemies!" Yuka states.
"If I eat with a lot of calories, my weight will…" Sherry didn't finish her sentence as Natsu squeezes them tightly against him.
"No complaining! Have fun!" Natsu yells as he drags them along. The two find themselves at a table surround by the villagers who are all wide-eyed and sweat with confusion on why they are there now. "Now, let's live it up!" He yells in excitement as his head enlarges.
Eventually, everyone accepts the two and the party goes back into full swings.
~The next morning~
After a long night of celebrating, everyone had a good night sleep and are now beginning to wake up. Natsu is awake and eating more fire from some sticks.
"Where'd 'brows and the chick go?" Natsu wonders as he looks around.
"After they couldn't eat any more, they left." Happy tells him.
Lucy blinks her eyes a few times and tilts her head a little as she looks at the scar that is on Gray's forehead above his left eyes. Gray on the other hand, looks annoyed as he looks away from her and Sakura stands on the other side of him.
"It looks like you'll be left with a scar." Lucy says.
"I'm sorry. If I did a little better at healing…" Sakura says.
"Huh? It doesn't bother me." Gray says.
"It's on your face!" Lucy points out.
"I don't care where I get scarred. As long as they can be seen." Gray says.
"Oh, that's deep!" Lucy says as she turns her head away and winks at him.
"Huh? What's a wound you can't see?" Natsu questions still holding the sticks with fire on them as he looks down at Gray with an annoyed look on his face.
"Quiet, you! When I say something cool, don't step all over it!" Gray states.
"That was cool?"
~A few minutes later~
"W-what? You won't take the reward?" Moka questions in shock as the rest of the villagers gather as the Fairy Tail wizards are about to head out.
"That's right. Your gratitude is all we need." Erza replies.
"Oh no, no, no…"
"This was not a job our guild officially accepted. Just a few idiots running off to do a job on their own." Erza says as behind her, Natsu and Gray are at each other throats as they both push against each other's face with anger looks on them.
Moka chuckles lightly. "Even so, that doesn't change the fact that you saved us. If I say this is not a reward for the guild, but it's a 'thanks' to our friends for saving us, would you accept it?"
Hearing this made Natsu and Gray stop fighting as they and Lucy look towards Erza.
"It's hard to say no when you put it that way." Erza says.
The villagers gasp in joy, Lucy, Natsu and Gray also gasps.
"70 million jewel!" Gray says.
"All right!" Lucy yells.
"However taking it would be against the guild's principles. We'll be happy to take only the key you offered as the reward." Erza says to the stunned villagers.
"We don't want that!' Natsu and Gray cries out as their eyes and pupils widen.
"Hell yeah we do!" Lucy screams with wide-opened and blank eyes.
"I'll be happy to take you back to Hargeon." Bobo offers.
"No, I have a ship ready." Erza says, confusing the others.
At the beach
A massive pirate ship was anchored at the beach as the villagers, Gray, Lucy, Natsu and Sakura are dumbfounded from the sight of a pirate ship that Erza used to get to the island.
"A pirate ship!" Gray exclaims.
"You hijacked it?" Lucy questions while covering her chest.
"Such is…" Happy says.
"Ane-san!" A short stubby old man cheers out as behind him are the rest of the crew, also seeming excited at seeing Erza.
"'Ane-san'?" Lucy questions.
"They seem to have taken a liking to me." Erza says.
"Such is Erza-sama." Happy says.
"Enough with 'sama' already!" Lucy tells him.
"All you mates come on board as well!" The pirate captain calls out.
"Mates?" Gray questions.
"Eww! I don't want to board that!" Lucy complains again covering her chest as sweat flies off from her face.
"I'll be happy to swim instead!" Natsu says with a grin as he looks at Lucy.
"Not happening!" Lucy yells at him.
Lucy along with the others board the pirate ship and soon set off back to Hargeon. The villagers all waving and cheering goodbye to the Fairy Tail wizards.
"Thank you very much, everyone!" Bobo yells.
The group looks back with smiles on their faces except for Natsu who is leaning over the side of the ship due to his motion sickness.
"Stay well!" Lucy yells back.
"Come back and dance with us again!"
"Good luck with your work!"
"Fairy Tail's the best!"
"Come see us anytime!"
Sakura then spots Cresselia floating above the forest before it flies into it.
"See you later, Cresselia." Sakura mutters.
~Later~
Magnolia
The bells of the church rings, echoing throughout the city as the group finally arrives back to the city and are on their way back to the guild.
"We're back!" Natsu cheers out as everyone in the group was in a happy mood.
"Back!" Happy cheers out as well as he flies beside Natsu.
"But man… all that work and one key is all we get?" Gray says.
"And it was a full-blown S Class Quest too." Happy say.
"But, Lucy should be glad since she got a new key." Sakura says.
"Also, it wasn't a proper job. This much is just about right." Erza says as she pulls her cart.
"Yup, yup! No complaints!" Lucy says.
Yeah, because like Sakura said, you got your key, Lucy!" Happy says and flies up to her. "Let's sell it!"
"You thieving cat!" Lucy says in shock. "Besides, there are only 12 of the Gold 'Zodiac' keys in the whole world! They're super-duper rare, see."
Natsu chuckles as he looks back at her. "That cow and maid?"
"As I progress, my Spirits will get way stronger!" Lucy complains.
"So, what's the key we got this time?" Gray asks.
"The Archer, Sagittarius!" Lucy says giving a thumb up.
"Isn't that half man, half horse?!" Gray asks as he turns to her as a thought bubble appearing above his head imagining of a blue horse in t-shirt and jeans. Lucy somehow sees this.
"No, I think it's the other way around." Lucy says as another thought bubble appears below her of a centaur which shoots away the image that Gray imagined with its bow and arrow.
Natsu thinks something else entirely different as he imagines a sunflower with a face and tentacles for feet.
"That's not a man or a horse." Lucy says with her eyes closed.
"Easygoing, aren't we? You haven't forgotten that you'll be punished when we get back have you?" Erza reminds them. Everyone immediately looks back at her with uneasy looks on their faces as Natsu's eyes widen, Gray squints and grits his teeth.
"Punishment?" Natsu says and they jump in front of her.
"I thought we'd dropped that already!" Lucy says with sweat flying from her.
"Don't be silly. Accepting your action was a field decision on my part. You still must receive your punishment." Erza says.
"Oh, no!" Lucy says as this shocks the others.
"I think you should be mostly forgiven for what happened this time. However, your judge will me the master. And I have no intention of defending you. So be prepared to take your punishment."
"He's not going to make us do that, is he?" Happy questions with a really worried look on his face as then Gray's eyes go blank and a terrified look appears on his face with Natsu also gaining a worried look.
Suddenly, Gray turns around and bends down on the ground holding his hair with an extreme horrified look as sweat flies from his face and grits his teeth in horror.
"WAIT A SEC! I NEVER WANT TO DO THAT AGAIN!" Gray screams out terrifying Lucy and Sakura.
"What is that?!" Lucy questions as she begins shaking at what he's talking about. As Lucy is shaking in hear with her eyes blank and sweat flying from her face with Sakura giving of a terrified look at what he's talking about. Natsu then appears next to Lucy.
"Don't sweat it. We did a good job, so gramps'll be impressed!" Natsu says stopping from her panicking as she looks at him as Natsu gives her a grin and a pat on her shoulder.
Lucy squints her eyes at him. "How frightfully positive of you…" Lucy says in a deadpanned tone.
"No, I think it's pretty much decided already. I look forward to it." Erza says as she looks at Natsu.
Natsu is still smiling as Lucy and Sakura look at Erza. Then both of them notices Natsu begins sweating like crazy, causing Lucy and Sakura to be terrified again. Before he knew it, Natsu found himself being drag away back to the guild by Erza.
"NO—!" Natsu screams as Lucy and Sakura look on as they are shaking in fear, hearing Natsu cry out. "Not that! Anything but that! No–!"
Lucy looks back at Gray and sees him still on the ground as she couldn't take it anymore. "Like I said! What the heck is that?! Tell me!" Lucy cries out.