Hi everyone! I'm so sorry for the uber long wait, but here is the next chapter for Team Natsu and the One Ring as well as the final part to The Fellowship of the Ring. After this, I will be working on The Two Towers. Yay! And incase you don't hear from me again by Christmas, I'd like to wish you all a Merry Christmas! This is my early Christmas present to you all, so I hope you find this chapter to your liking. :) I know this chapter is like uber long compared to the previous chapters, but it will compensate for the uber long wait you all had to endure because of my writers block. Anywho, enough of my rambling. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure it's already clear by now that I am unfortunately not the owner of Fairy Tail or Lord of the Rings. They belong to Hiro Mashima and J.R.R. Tolkein respectively. Well at least Tolkein owns the books anyway. I don't remember who made the movies. But either way, I don't own it. Ok, I'm shutting up now. Onto the chapter.
Chapter 12 The Breaking of the Fellowship
They soon made land by nightfall to stop and make camp and rest for the night. Lucy decided to use this opportunity to get in some more archery training and decided to sneak away from the group for a bit, though she didn't wander too far before summoning Sagittarius to help work on her archery, as well as wanting to set up contracts with her new spirits that Galadriel had given her so that she would be able to summon them to help her out if she ever needed to.
Juvia remained near the river for a while to replenish her magic energy -not that she needed to since she hadn't been in any battles yet since arriving in Middle Earth, but from what Gray had filled her in on about the enemies in this world, she wanted to be prepared to fight alongside her comrades incase they ever did happen to come across anymore enemies. She suddenly gasped when she suddenly sensed something paddling its way down the river after them while she had a hand in the water.
"Gollum, he has tracked us since Moria," Aragorn suddenly spoke up quietly from behind her, making her jump and spin around to face him.
"Gollum?" Juvia questioned, confused as she was still new to the Fellowship and knew nothing of Gollum or of Moria for that matter since she only just joined them back in Lothlorien. "Should I get rid of him?" she asked and was just about to create a huge wave to wash Gollum back upriver only for Aragorn to stop her.
"No, just leave him be for now. He will not bother us as long as we do not bother him," he told her. Juvia just nodded before going back over to where Gray was, just as Boromir soon approached Aragorn and began arguing with him that Minas Tirith would be the safer road to take where they could regroup to strike out for Mordor from a place of strength which Aragorn was against doing so saying that he would not lead the ring within a hundred leagues of Gondor.
Meanwhile, Natsu had suddenly gone off to look for Lucy and found her setting up contracts for her new Celestial spirits. "Hey Luce, whatcha doin'?"
Lucy jumped in surprise as she hadn't been expecting him to suddenly sneak up on her as she turned towards him. "Oh, Natsu, it's just you. I just wanted to get in a little more archery practice is all, and set up contracts for my new spirits too while I'm at it," she replied.
"Uh huh, and you look like you're about to fall asleep," Natsu suddenly pointed out as Lucy stifled a yawn.
Lucy just shook her head. "But I can't sleep yet, I still...need...more...-" Natsu quickly caught her as she suddenly fell over from exhaustion, "...practice...," she finished sleepily before falling asleep in his arms as he carried her back and laid her down so she could sleep.
The next day the Fellowship set out again in the boats rowing down the river once more. Aragorn had suddenly pointed out the Argonath, which were a pair of rather large statues, that they happened to be passing by as the Fellowship and Team Natsu all gazed up at them in awe.
"Hey so why does it look like they wanna give us a high five?" Natsu suddenly asked stupidly which ended up ruining the moment of awe, though the Fellowship was suddenly confused as to what he meant by 'high five'. Natsu just grinned. "Happy?"
"Aye sir!" the blue Exceed replied while picking up his Dragon Slayer partner and flying up to the statues.
"Natsu, Happy, the two of you come back down here!" Aragorn called out to them just as Natsu had suddenly high-fived one of the statues while pretending to engage in casual conversation with it.
"Yo, how's it goin'?" the Fire Dragon Slayer said while high-fiving the statue, before Happy then flew him over to the other statue to hive five it as well, "Must be tough for ya, bein' a giant statue and all."
"Lucy facepalmed, sighing. "I really wish I had a staff to whack them on the head with," she muttered. Though no sooner had she said that, that was when the pendant that Galadriel had given her suddenly began to glow and suddenly transform into a staff made of beautiful glittering stardust that appeared in her hand much to the surprise and confusion of the Fellowship.
Natsu and Happy then returned to their boat once more. "Well, now that that's outta my sys" WHACK! "-tem... Ow! Ok, who did that?" he suddenly demanded while rubbing his now sore head, while Lucy was just smirking in satisfaction as she held her newfound staff in her hand.
"What do you know? Worked like a charm," the Celestial Wizard stated in smug satisfaction, much to the amusement of most of the Fellowship when she also whacked Happy on the head as well despite still wondering where the staff suddenly came from all of a sudden.
"Owie! My poor noggin!" Happy whined while rubbing his now sore head.
"Well it serves you both right for behaving like idiots," Carla reprimanded him.
Lucy was just still smirking smugly as she continued holding her new staff as she was now seen looking it over. I wonder if this is what Galadriel meant by the 'other use' that pendant would have. Sure came in handy to whack a couple of idiots that's for sure, she thought to herself. "Ok then, as of now I hereby name this staff the Stardust Staff!" Lucy declared while raising it up high, before suddenly realizing something, "Uh, but how do I make it change back into a pendant when I don't need to use it anymore?"
"It looks like it just did change back," Frodo suddenly told her, as Lucy then looked to see that he was right as she placed the pendant back around her neck so she would know where it was incase she needed to use her Stardust Staff again.
"You know, I think Lucy might actually be Gandalf's long lost granddaughter or something," Pippin suddenly commented as a bit of light humor to Lucy whacking Natsu and Happy with a staff the way Gandalf used to and causing the Celestial Wizard to suddenly become embarrassed and flustered by it.
"Uh... Ehehehe...," she said sheepishly in reply to that while rubbing the back of her head.
This suddenly got the rest of the Fellowship joining and adding their comments as well which further added to Lucy's embarrassment.
"Well if the rumors are true, perhaps Gandalf and Galadriel had a fling and had a few kids of their own one of which grew up and became the mother of Lucy, and thus making her their granddaughter," Legolas joked, and suddenly making Lucy start to turn red at that.
"And not only that, she also seems to take more after her grandmother Galadriel than her grandfather," Gimli agreed while joining in on the joke.
Aragorn, being a bit more respectful, just shook his head slightly at their jokes despite still being amused at teasing the Celestial Wizard about it. "Though I'll admit that she does fit being Gandalf's granddaughter," he admitted as he still couldn't resist adding his own teasing comment as well.
"That's enough with the jokes already, can't you see you've embarrassed her enough already now?" Boromir told them, as Lucy was indeed still turning red and had pulled Gandalf's hat down over her face to hide her embarrassment while mumbling "There goes my self-esteem..."
Though it didn't help when Natsu and Happy both suddenly burst out laughing at all the jokes being made about Lucy being Gandalf's granddaughter, until a stern glare from Erza immediately shut them up.
"It's alright Lucy, you know they were only teasing," Erza assured the still embarrassed Celestial Wizard.
"Yeah, plus it's impossible for that so-called rumor to actually be true. Otherwise Lucy's mom would have actually been from here and somehow fell through a portal to our world and married Lucy's dad followed by Lucy eventually being born. There's no way it would even make sense," Gray pointed out dryly to Legolas' joke about it.
Legolas had been about to comment on that by pointing out that the 'falling through a portal' bit wouldn't be that farfetched considering that was how Team Natsu had ended up here, but decided against it as would probably only serve to further Lucy's embarrassment. And unfortunately, Gray's helpful comment only made it worse for the Celestial Wizard. "Gray... Shut up, you're not helping!" Lucy squeaked out through her embarrassment.
"What? I was just trying to point out-... N-Nevermind...," Gray suddenly said nervously at seeing Erza turn her glare onto him to get him to shut up.
Wendy and Carla, and even the hobbits, were trying to help comfort Lucy as well. And even Natsu and Happy, once they eventually stopped thinking it was funny, decided to help comfort Lucy as well.
Lucy just sighed as she suddenly pulled out her new gate keys from Galadriel and began looking at them realizing that she needed to set up contracts with them. As she looked them over, she saw that they were only a set of five bronze Celestial Spirit gate keys that were each labelled with the names of each spirit engraved on each key respectively -which was most likely Galadriel's doing to help Lucy learn the names of each spirit and practice pronouncing them. She was so focused on trying to pronounce the names engraved into each key that she suddenly didn't notice that the boats were being rowed towards land again as they began nearing a waterfall just up ahead a few feet in front of them, until she looked up and saw everyone now stepping out of the boats as she then followed suit.
"We'll cross the lake at nightfall, hide the boats and continue on foot. We approach Mordor from the north," Aragorn then announced once they had finished unloading the boats and getting a small campfire going, though much to Natsu's protests that he wasn't allowed to help get the fire going.
Gimli suddenly spoke up while sarcastically pointing out that it was just a simple way of finding their way through Emun Muil which was an impassable labyrinth of razor sharp rocks. "And after that it get even better! Festering, stinking marshlands far as the eye can see," the dwarf continued to rant.
"That is our road. I suggest you take some rest and recover your strength, Master Dwarf," Aragorn replied to which Gimli ended up taking great offense to.
Meanwhile, Lucy had wandered off and found a secluded area to get in some more training and also to set up contracts with her new spirits. Though her sudden absence from the group wasn't what got everyone's attention when Merry had suddenly pointed out, "Where's Frodo?"
The Fellowship then looked over towards the hobbits at hearing that only to notice that the Ringbearer had indeed gone and wandered off somewhere.
"Even better question is, where's Boromir?" Carla suddenly pointed as well as she suddenly began to worry about her vision she saw as they were leaving Lothlorien.
"Aye, and Gray and Lucy are gone too. Maybe they went off to get all lovey-dovey somewhere," Happy suddenly said cheekily just to mess with Juvia a bit.
"What?! Gray-darling, how dare you run off to cheat on me with that hussy! Unforgivable! I won't stand for it!" Juvia exclaimed jealously, which ended up earning confused stares from the Fellowship at her sudden outburst as they already knew Gray and Lucy weren't like that towards each other.
Rolling her eyes at Happy's comment and Juvia's jealous outburst about Gray, Carla's mind worriedly returned to her vision once more. Wait a minute, the vision never showed anything about Lucy... Just Boromir trying to take the ring from Frodo, and then after that it was either Gray or Erza... She suddenly gasped out loud worriedly, though her thoughts were interrupted when Aragorn suddenly spoke.
"Alright, Natsu and Erza come with me to go look for them. The rest of you stay here," he said as Natsu and Erza went with him to go look for Frodo, Boromir, Gray, and Lucy, unaware that the Celestial Wizard was only just off getting some more training in.
"Wait!" Carla suddenly called after them while flying over to catch up with them. "When we were still leaving Lothlorien, I ended up having another vision. It was very vague this time, but I think Boromir's gonna try to take the ring from Frodo...," she explained worriedly. "And that's not all, another part of it showed either Gray or Erza trying to take the ring too but I couldn't tell for sure then... But there was nothing about Lucy in it though that was for sure."
"Well since I'm obviously still right here, then that means...," Erza's eyes suddenly widened worriedly at realizing something, "That Balrog demon back in Moria... Out of all of us, Gray was traumatized the most by it due to his memories of Deliora from his childhood... But the Gray we know wouldn't be that stupid..." Though a part of her hated to admit it, she somehow found herself doubting her own words especially after everything they've been through so far since they first arrived in Middle Earth.
"I suppose there's only one way we're going to find out. We must find Frodo, and Boromir and Gray as well," Aragorn replied.
"Just leave Gray to me. If he does end up doing something stupid, then I'll just beat him back to his senses if I have to," Natsu suddenly said fiercely with his fiery fist slamming into the palm of his other hand before taking off to go find Gray, while Aragorn and Erza had no choice but to agree to that as they also took off to go find Frodo and Boromir.
Meanwhile
Gray had also wandered off to a secluded area, unaware that Frodo was nearby in that same area, as he was deep in thought over how stupid he had acted back in Moria when he had attempted to use Iced Shell on the Balrog. Damn... If only I had used my Devil Slayer Magic, I probably could have been able to help Gandalf defeat that demon. Instead I was so stupid and decided to attempt an Iced Shell... I'm so pathetic...
His thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly heard voices talking nearby and peeked over to see, much to his surprise, not only Frodo but also Boromir showing there up as well The man could be seen gathering wood while talking to the hobbit. Great, could my luck get any worse? Gray thought dryly as he watched the scene unfold. Just then he suddenly heard a voice chuckling in his head, followed by the same whispering voice from the ring he and his friends had heard back in Rivendell. So Ice Wizard, you're saying you wish you could have used your Devil Slayer Magic against the Balrog back in Moria? Yup, my luck just got worse... And I just had to go and say it,Gray deadpanned, though it was more to himself than to the voice from the ring. The voice chuckled again. I told you that I would succeed in breaking all of you Fairy Tail wizards eventually, and it appears I will be starting with you after all, Gray Fullbuster. You became overemotional and attempted to use Iced Shell on the Balrog in Moria when you could have easily just used your Devil Slayer Magic... Ah, go jump into a boiling lake of lava... Oh wait, that's exactly where you're headed, Gray sarcastically retorted to try to get the voice out of his head. The voice chuckled darkly. That icy humor of yours won't be enough to prevent me from breaking you, you know. Remember Deliora killing your parents when you were still just a child? You were powerless to avenge their deaths then, and it ended up costing Ur her life when she sacrificed herself by using Iced Shell to seal the demon away... Gray suddenly began to tremble a bit at the reminder of Deliora but clenched his fists to try to hide it, though he suddenly found his mind starting to slip a little despite doing his best to resist. ...And even now you were still powerless to prevent Gandalf's death at the hands of the Balrog back in Moria. But there is still another demon you could be able to stand a chance against. Zeref's ultimate demon, END. I can tell you END's identity and provide you with all the power you need to kill him...
Meanwhile
While Gray was slowly falling to the temptation that the ring was offering him, Boromir had suddenly thrown down the wood he had been gathering and lunged towards Frodo and began struggling with the hobbit in an attempt to take the ring from him. Frodo quickly managed to slip the ring onto his finger and shoved Boromir off of him and began to run off to try to make his escape.
"I see your mind... You will take the ring to Sauron! You will betray us! You'll go to your death... And the death of us all! Curse you! Curse you, and all the Halflings!" Boromir could now be heard shouting while looking around for the now invisible hobbit. Just then an ice trail suddenly appeared underneath him from seemingly out of nowhere and causing him to slip on it as the ice just continued to go on past him until it reached the invisible hobbit and freezing his feet, and all the way up his legs, to keep him in place from trying to run away before he could get very far. Fortunately, that little slip on the ice was what had ended up bringing Boromir back to his senses as he suddenly began to realize what he had done, while Frodo was now suddenly staring in shock as Gray suddenly began to approach him.
"Gray... Not you too...," the frightened hobbit said while slipping the ring back off of his finger, becoming visible once more, though he was still unable to try to get away due to the ice keeping his legs frozen to the ground. What shocked Frodo the most, however, was Gray's appearance as the Ice Wizard suddenly had black markings that had appeared on him which were the markings from his Ice Devil Slayer Magic.
"I'll be taking the ring so I can find and kill Zeref's ultimate demon, END," Gray said darkly, his voice suddenly sounding as cold as the ice magic he controls, as he continued to approach the hobbit.
Frodo, still unable to get away due to his feet and legs still being frozen to the ground, and despite not being familiar with the names Zeref or END that the Ice Wizard just mentioned, knew he had to defend himself and fast as he quickly managed to draw Sting out of its sheath and hold it out in front of him in an attempt to prevent Gray from coming any closer.
Meanwhile
Lucy had just finished her archery training session with Sagittarius and was now pulling out her new gate keys to begin setting up contracts with the new spirits when she suddenly ended up sensing danger that made her pause, one key halfway raised in midair, her eyes widening worriedly in fear. "This is... Gray's magic I'm sensing, but something's off... I have to find Frodo, I have a feeling he might be in danger!" she said worriedly while putting her keys away for now as she hurried off to try to find Frodo.
Back with Gray and Frodo
"Stay away! You're not yourself, Gray... The Gray I first met back in the Shire wouldn't try to do something like this," Frodo was saying fearfully with Sting out and pointed towards the Ice Wizard, though the hobbit hoped he could try to get him to come back to his senses. "Think of your friends..."
Gray chuckled darkly. "Sorry, but I'm through with Fairy Tail. They're only holding me back from my goal to destroy END," he replied coldly as he began making his way around the sword that was pointed at him before continuing to approach the hobbit.
"Oh yeah?! That's enough, Gray!" Lucy's voice suddenly shouted from behind the Ice Wizard after taking a moment to catch her breath from running all the way here, as she gasped in shock at the sight of Gray with black markings on him.
"Lucy!" Frodo suddenly said, glad to see her, but then suddenly becoming fearful of her intentions for showing up now as well.
"It's ok Frodo, I'm here to help you," Lucy assured the frightened hobbit. "I was in the middle of getting some more training in until I suddenly sensed something off and had a bad feeling you might be in danger, so I hurried here as fast as I could," she said before then turning towards the Ice Wizard. "What's the meaning of this, Gray?! The Gray I know would never turn his back on Fairy Tail, or let himself become possessed like this!"
Gray, annoyed by her sudden appearance interrupting him, simply scoffed. "Then maybe you don't really know me at all. And like I said, to hell with Fairy Tail. The only thing I care about now is killing END to fulfill my dad's last wish, just as soon as I'm able to find out his identity. And for that, I need the ring," he replied coldly.
Lucy glared at him with her bangs covering her eyes as she suddenly walked up and slapped him hard right across the face. "How dare you! You call yourself a Fairy Tail wizard?! Snap out of it, Gray!" she told him while standing protectively in front of Frodo.
"Outta my way, Lucy!" Gray retorted while suddenly shoving her aside and onto the ground.
Frodo, still with Sting out while holding tightly onto the ring in his other hand, suddenly swung his sword out and stabbed it into Gray's outstretched arm to prevent him from trying to take the ring and causing the Ice Wizard to wince and cry out as he clutched his arm with blood now pouring from the wound that the hobbit inflicted. "I don't want to hurt you, Gray, but you left me with no choice. I have to defend myself somehow...!" the still frightened hobbit told him, though it only ended up making Gray more annoyed as he suddenly lashed out by freezing Sting as well as all the way up the hobbit's arm that was holding the sword in order to prevent him from continuing to fight back.
"Gray, that's enough! You need to come back to your senses!" Lucy suddenly shouted at him again after pulling herself back onto her feet once more.
"The hell is wrong with you, Gray?!" Natsu suddenly demanded while showing up just in the nick of time and punching the Ice Wizard in the face with a flaming fist, right at the same time Lucy had suddenly delivered a Lucy Kick, that sent him skidding back from the hobbit a ways.
Natsu blinked in surprise at suddenly seeing the Celestial Wizard there as well. "Eh? Lucy, what're you doing h- Er, nevermind... Just get Frodo outta here! I'll deal with Gray," he told her before unleashing some of his flames towards the still frozen hobbit in order to melt the ice and free him but being careful not to burn him accidently.
"Right. Thanks, Natsu," Lucy replied, glad the Fire Dragon Slayer had showed up just in time to help, as she went over to help Frodo out. "Come on, I'm right behind you. Hurry, while Natsu's keeping Gray busy!" she told the hobbit as she hurried to get him out of there, knowing that she had to have faith in Natsu to bring Gray back to his senses.
"Natsu, I should have figured you'd show up sooner or later. But I'm not about to let you get in my way either," Gray said coldly while getting back onto his feet once more after managing to recover from the Fire Dragon Slayer knocking him down.
"Oh yeah? Well I'm gonna stop you and bring you back to your senses whether you like it or not!" Natsu shot back while cracking his knuckles and prepared himself for the fight of his life. "So bring it on! I'm all fired up!" he declared with his fists on fire. But just before he had a chance to begin fighting, he suddenly heard a dark chuckle sounding from in his mind.
Natsu Dragneel, or rather Etherius Natsu Dragneel the ultimate demon from the Book of Zeref. Eh? I dunno what you're talkin' about, but I sure as hell ain't no demon. Especially not one of Zeref's demons. I'm a human just like the rest of my friends, and I'm only here to bring Gray back to his senses, Natsu found himself retorting to that. The voice chuckled again. Of course I know that you yourself are not aware of it, but it does explain the immense power that I sensed hidden deep inside of you back in Rivendell. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but now I am fairly certain. You and Gray were fated to fight like this. Now awaken, END, and fight with Gray to the death! And no sooner had the voice had declared that, Natsu suddenly found himself getting hotter and hotter by the minute despite doing his best to resist. No way... I just said... I'm no demon...! he managed to say as he was now breathing heavily in his attempt to resist.
Gray Fullbuster, behold END as promised! Or also known as Etherious Natsu Dragneel, always close by and you had no idea, the voice then spoke into Gray's mind again while announcing END's presence to the Ice Wizard who was suddenly noticing the change in the Fire Dragon Slayer.
Meanwhile, back in Earth Land in the Alvarez Empire
Zeref had suddenly noticed the Book of END start to glow briefly in his hand.
"Natsu...," he spoke quietly as he began to wonder if Natsu had suddenly awakened already.
Back in Middle Earth
Gray suddenly chuckled darkly and gave a sinister smirk. "Well well, who would have guessed that END was always close by this whole time and I never even noticed?" he said while lunging forward to attack Natsu who was doing his best to fight back while trying to resist at the same time.
"Natsu?" Lucy suddenly gasped worriedly before glaring over at Gray. "That's enough Gray, now you're taking it too far! Natsu's your friend, remember?!" she shouted to him.
"Lu...cy... I told you to get Frodo... outta here...!" Natsu suddenly told her while still breathing heavily as he still continued to try to resist the ring's power trying to force END to awaken. "I don't know... what's happening to me, but... I don't wanna end up hurting either of you accidently. If I did... I'd never be able to forgive myself...!"
Lucy, still looking worried, just nodded firmly before turning back towards Frodo. "Come on, we need to go find Erza or Aragorn."
Frodo nodded, sheathing Sting once more as he quickly followed her out of that area. Though Lucy kept worriedly glancing back over her shoulder at Natsu and Gray still fighting each other, knowing she had to have faith in Natsu to try to bring Gray back to his senses and hope that Erza would show up soon to help out as well. Fortunately, once they were far enough away from the two brawlers, Lucy and Frodo indeed both soon ended up running into Erza and Aragorn who had still been out looking for them.
"Frodo?" Aragorn suddenly said after he and Erza had soon found the hobbit and Celestial Wizard.
"And Lucy," Erza added in surprise as she hadn't expected Lucy to be with Frodo.
"Erza, thank goodness!" Lucy said, relieved that they had ended up running into both the Titania and Aragorn.
"It has taken Boromir... And Gray too," Frodo told them.
Erza's eyes widened in shock. "What?" she asked worriedly, though it was right at the same time Aragorn had asked "Where is the ring?"
"S-Stay away!" Frodo said fearfully while suddenly backing away from them, while Lucy just watched worriedly.
"Frodo, I swore to protect you," Aragorn said while approaching the hobbit cautiously.
Erza nodded. "He's right, and right now I was just merely worried about what you said about Gray just now. Where is he now if I may ask?" she asked the hobbit worriedly while also cautiously approaching him as well.
"He's back that way," Frodo replied while pointing in the direction he and Lucy came from before running into Erza and Aragorn. "Natsu's there too, he showed up to try to help bring Gray back to his senses," he added before then looking over at Aragorn and replying to him as well. "And can you protect me from yourselves? Would you destroy it?" he said while opening his hand up to reveal the ring to him, and to Erza as well.
Erza suddenly found herself being drawn to the ring for a moment as it suddenly began whispering to her. Erza Scarlet, if only you had been there to prevent Gray from being corrupted. He is beyond all reasoning now due to his goal to kill END. If you wish to save him, then take the ring and use the power to help you. Erza just remained standing there shocked and trembling as she managed to tightly shut her eyes as though that would block out the voice that way.
Lucy just watched her friend worriedly, wondering what she would do, though it was Frodo who suddenly chose that moment to speak up. "Erza?" the hobbit asked worriedly while looking up at her.
The redhead blinked to snap out of it as she looked over to notice that Aragorn had suddenly knelt down and gently closed the hobbit's hand over the ring while saying "I would have gone with you until the end, to the fires of Mordor."
Erza nodded in agreement with that. "He's right. And besides, that cursed ring has just crossed the line after what it did to Gray. I must go and bring him back to his senses if I can," the Titania said firmly.
Frodo nodded as he watched her hurry off to find Gray and Natsu before turning back towards Aragorn.
Lucy watched her friend until she was out of sight before glancing back at Aragorn as well. "Just so you know, Frodo and I will be parting ways to continue this quest on our own," she suddenly spoke while exchanging a knowing glance with the hobbit before looking back over at Aragorn. "Please don't tell Natsu. He'll only try to follow, even though he'll be needed here with the rest of you."
Frodo nodded in agreement with her. "And look after the others. Especially Sam, he will not understand."
Aragorn nodded in understanding. "I understand," he told them before suddenly noticing Frodo's sheathed sword and quickly standing and drawing his own sword out.
Lucy looked confused for a moment until she noticed Frodo glance down at his side and pull Sting out part way and saw that it was glowing blue which could only mean one thing... Lucy's eyes widened, while Frodo glanced back up at Aragorn who suddenly told him to run.
"Come on, we better hurry and do as he says," Lucy told the hobbit, as Frodo nodded and sheathed Sting once more before hurrying after her, while Aragorn then turned to face the approaching orcs as he held his sword up in preparation to fight them.
Meanwhile
The still possessed Gray was still fighting a now fully transformed END, despite Natsu still trying to fight it, while they were each unaware of the real enemies fast approaching as they just continued exchanging blows with one another. Fortunately, Ezra suddenly arrived just in time while throwing herself between her two friends right as their magics were about to deliver a final blow at each other and managed to stop them from being almost about to kill each other. They both just stared at her in surprise as both their magics suddenly began to die down.
"You idiots! What are you thinking, letting yourselves become possessed like this?" Ezra demanded with tears flowing down her face at the sight of seeing both of her friends like this.
"Er...za...," Natsu managed say as he suddenly found himself returning to normal and his flames dying down as well.
Gray on the other hand, was still possessed and tried to shove his way past the Titania in order to continue fighting END. "Outta my way, Erza!" he demanded coldly. She suddenly shot him a piercing glare as he tried to fight back, though seeing him like this also terrified her despite doing her best to hide it as she knew she had to bring him back to his senses somehow.
"That's enough, Gray! If you insist on continuing, then you leave me no choice," Ezra said firmly with one hand restraining him while her other hand curled into a fist which she used to punch the possessed Ice Wizard in the gut to knock him unconscious before then picking him up and throwing him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes before then turning to Natsu. "And as for you, Natsu," she added, making him flinch at her stern glare, "Frodo and Lucy may have told me what happened, but I still expect a full explanation for your actions. Understand?"
Natsu gulped nervously under her stern glare. "Yes ma'am...," he replied as he was too afraid of her at the moment to even begin to explain that he was just trying to stop Gray before the ring started to try to get a hold of him as well.
Ezra nodded. "Good. Now let's head back to the others n-" She suddenly paused at failing to notice that, while she had been busy dealing with Gray, they were suddenly being surrounded by orcs and Uruk-hai. She cursed as she suddenly turned to glare at Natsu who suddenly shrank back in fear. "You fool! Now look what you two have done, your fighting has alerted the enemy to our presence!"
Natsu gulped nervously, too afraid to respond for fear of invoking her wrath further.
Erza just sighed. "No matter, it looks we're just gonna have to fight our way through in order to get back to the others," she said before suddenly setting the still unconscious Gray down in a secluded area for a moment before then Requipping and preparing to fight.
Natsu gave a feral grin. "Oh yeah, bring 'em on! I'm all fired up!" he declared with his fists ignited as he charged in and began helping Erza with taking out orcs.
Back in the Alvarez Empire
The Book of END suddenly stopped glowing, leading Zeref to believe that it was only temporary, though he suddenly had a feeling that some other evil force was drawing END out.
Back in Middle Earth
Lucy and Frodo were still running through the forest, with a few orcs right behind them. The Celestial Wizard suddenly turned and fired a few arrows at the orcs and killing some of them, before turning back to see Frodo duck behind a tree to hide and hurried to join him. Right across from the Ringbearer and Celestial Wizard, Merry and Pippin along with Wendy and Carla had suddenly peeked out from their hiding place at seeing their two friends suddenly hiding there.
"Lucy," Wendy quietly called out, while at the same time Merry and Pippin were also trying to get Frodo to quickly come over to them.
Lucy just shook her head and placed a finger to her lips, motioning the Sky Dragon Slayer as well as Merry and Pippin to stay quiet.
Wendy just looked worried but knew she had to do something to help her friend as she suddenly found herself leaping out of the bushes along with Merry and Pippin much to Carla's protests of their recklessness of just throwing themselves out into the open like that at first though she reluctantly jumped out with them as well, which suddenly ended up causing the orcs and Uruk-hai to turn and notice them as they were now soon heading their way.
"Run Frodo, go," Merry told Frodo while briefly glancing over at him and Lucy.
"You too Lucy, I just hope you know what you're doing," Carla added, as Merry and Pippin could now suddenly be seen calling the orcs over to them as a diversion for Frodo and Lucy to quickly get out of there.
Wendy joined in as well. "Hey uglies, come get us if you can!" she shouted to the orcs.
Carla sighed. "Now that was real mature, Wendy," she sarcastically stated as she watched Frodo and Lucy hurry out of there before then flying off after Wendy, Merry, and Pippin.
Though Lucy suddenly paused a moment before taking out a couple Zodiac Keys and summoned Taurus and Sagittarius. "Help Wendy, Carla, Merry, and Pippin deal with these orcs," she told them while ignoring Taurus pervertedly trying to make a pass at her as usual.
"You got it, Lucy!" Sagittarius agreed while randomly saluting at nothing as he always did.
"And then I get that smooooch later?" Taurus asked hopefully in his usual perverted manner as he and Sagittarius then took off to help out Wendy, Carla, Merry and Pippin, while Lucy then took off to catch up to Frodo.
As Merry, Pippin, Wendy, and Carla continued to run through the trees with the orcs hot on their trail until they suddenly began to be surrounded by orcs suddenly coming at them from all sides. Wendy suddenly stepped forward in front of the hobbits protectively and took up a fighting stance.
"Sky Dragon Roar!" she shouted and blowing a large group of them away right as they were soon joined by Taurus and Sagittarius arriving to back her up.
Unfortunately, more orcs continued to come at them. Even Taurus and Sagittarius began to find themselves outnumbered, and just as the hobbits and Carla were just getting ready to back Wendy and the two Celestial Spirits up that was when from seemingly out of nowhere Boromir could suddenly be seen charging to their rescue and began killing orcs that were coming at them with Taurus and Sagittarius still continuing to help take out orcs and Uruk-hai as well. Glad to see Boromir show up to their rescue, Wendy, Carla, and the hobbits began to help take out orcs as well.
Meanwhile
Natsu and Erza had ended up joining up with Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli as they continued to take out orcs in their area as well. Gray had come to by then after managing to recover from Erza knocking him unconscious in order to bring him back to his senses and had joined in to help take out orcs and Uruk-hai as well.
During the battle, Natsu suddenly began sniffing as he somehow sensed something off about the weapons the enemies were equipped with. "Hey guys, there's somethin' off about the weapons these orcs are using. They smell like they're enhanced with Earth Land magic," he suddenly pointed out.
Gray and Erza were both suddenly appeared shocked at hearing Natsu's discovery, while Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli were suddenly wondering what they meant though they were soon convinced when they got a good look at the enemies weapons and realized that the weapons did seem out of place here in Middle Earth.
"At least that explains why these orcs seems harder to defeat compared the orcs we fought back in the mines," Gray pointed out.
Erza had suddenly knocked down an Uruk-hai before then reaching down and picking him up to interrogate him. "Answer me! Where did you get these weapons?!" she demanded before then comically headbutting him into unconsciousness when he refused to answer and proceeded to do so in a comical fashion until she got to one Uruk-hai who suddenly sneered in response to her interrogation and replied that the White Wizard had made an alliance with two Dark Guilds from Earth Land and that together with magic and technology they will destroy the lands of Men.
Erza suddenly appeared shocked at hearing that as she ran the Uruk-hai through with her sword once he was finished. "Thank you for that information, but I'm afraid we're not gonna allow that to happen," she said before looking over at the others who had been listening in on her interrogation while continuing to take out Uruk-hai at the same time. Though Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli found her interrogation methods to be rather questionable, especially during a battle, as they had also gone over and killed the few Uruk-hai that she had just comically knocked unconscious for refusing to answer her.
"Once this battle's over, gather as many of these magic weapons as you can!" Erza then told them.
As they continued fighting, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli had managed to pick up a few of the magic weapons from a few Uruk-hai they killed while keeping one each for themselves to use to their advantage against their enemies while the rest were given to Erza who stored them inside her Requip storage for safekeeping.
Legolas was now seen fighting with a curved sword that fires wind slashes at the enemies, while Gimli now had a magic warhammer that he could throw at the enemies which could also unleashing light and call upon back to him which he seemed to be enjoying a little too much as he continued to take out Uruk-hai in competition with Legolas to see how many they could kill by the end of the battle. While Aragorn also now had a pair of magic longswords enhanced with fire to burn enemies as well as darkness that can affect beings of darkness as well.
Just then a horn could suddenly be heard sounding in the distance that suddenly got their attention.
"The Horn of Gondor," Legolas suddenly said at recognizing it.
Aragorn also recognized it as well which meant Boromir was in need of assistance. "Natsu, Erza, you two come with me," he suddenly told the Fire Dragon Slayer and Titania.
Erza nodded firmly. "Right," she replied as she and Natsu hurried after Aragorn to go assist Boromir.
"Aye aye, sir! Right behind ya!" Natsu added while following as well, and the three of them were now fighting their way through orcs as they began making their way to where Boromir was, while Gray stayed behind to continue helping Legolas and Gimli with taking out orcs in their area and even decided to join in on their kill-count competition with Natsu also doing the same even as he continued to follow Erza and Aragorn to assist Boromir.
Back with Boromir, Wendy, Carla, Merry, and Pippin
Boromir continued taking out orcs while also continuing to blow the Horn of Gondor as well, while Wendy, Carla, and the hobbits continued to help him as best they could. Taurus and Sagittarius, however, suddenly ended up having to return to the Celestial Spirit World to rest and recuperate though not before they suddenly pointed out that they sensed something off about the weapons the Uruk-hai were equipped with and sensed that they were enhanced with magic from Earth Land before they soon disappeared back to the Celestial Spirit World to rest and recuperate.
Wendy and Carla were suddenly shocked as they too suddenly ended up sensing that weapons the Uruk-hai were using were indeed enhanced with Earth Land magic, as Wendy had also picked up on the scent of it as well.
Merry and Pippin were confused by what the Sky Dragon Slayer and White Exceed meant about the Uruk-hai's weapons. Boromir, however, had picked up on it and decided to use that to his advantage as he killed another Uruk-hai and took its weapon which was a greatsword that uses ice which he used to continue taking out orcs and Uruk-hai while continuing to blow the Horn of Gondor once more as well before suddenly turning to take out an Uruk-hai that was about to attack him from behind.
Wendy and Carla continued to help out as well, with Wendy unleashing a Sky Dragon Wing Attack while Carla was using her elven dagger from Galadriel to help take out Uruk-hai as well.
Merry and Pippin continued doing their best to help out as well as they began throwing things at the orcs from where they were standing behind Boromir, as more orcs just kept coming and trying to surround him.
Just then an Uruk-hai suddenly released an arrow from his bow as it was sent flying straight towards Boromir and causing him to stumble back a bit as hit him. Merry, Pippin, Wendy, and Carla suddenly looked on in shock at seeing the arrow hit Boromir as he suddenly dropped to his knees from the blow though he was suddenly back up again and continuing to take out more orcs that continued to come at him.
The same Uruk-hai suddenly released another arrow that hit Boromir again and knocked him down again for a moment, but once again he was suddenly back up and killing more orcs that came at him. Wendy suddenly couldn't take it anymore and was suddenly trying to get him to stay still so she could heal him, but Boromir just ignored her at the moment while knowing that he had to continue fighting and protecting them until the others could arrive.
Just then a third arrow suddenly hit him causing him to drop to his knees once again. Merry and Pippin were still watching in shock after seeing Boromir suddenly hit by a third arrow now and suddenly charged in with swords drawn to try to help him out only to suddenly find themselves being picked up by a couple orcs and carried off. Another orc had suddenly grabbed Carla as well and tied her wings up before shoving her into a small sack and tying it closed to keep her from escaping, followed by another orc grabbing Wendy as well, as she and Carla were being carried off as well while Boromir could only watch sorrowfully at not being able to protect them until the others could arrive as the orcs just continued to hurry on past him now after managing to capture Wendy, Carla, Merry, and Pippin.
The same Uruk-hai who had fired the arrows into him was now suddenly standing right in front of him prepared to finish him off as he had his bow raised with another arrow aimed at him, as Boromir just looked up ready to accept his fate. Just then a stream of fire suddenly came from seemingly out of nowhere which was revealed to be Natsu's Fire Dragon Roar, followed by Aragorn and Erza leaping out and knocking the Uruk-hai away while not giving him a chance to finish Boromir off. The Uruk-hai was back up once more and now fighting against Aragorn, Natsu and Erza. Luckily they were three against one as Aragorn and Erza both managed to run the Uruk-hai through with their swords, though Aragorn had pulled his sword back out before swinging it at the Uruk-hai and decapitating him, while Natsu finished him off by unleashing a Fire Dragon Roar to burn him to a crisp. The three of them then quickly made their way over to see to Boromir afterwards.
"They took the little ones... and Wendy and Carla as well," Boromir managed to say, shocking Natsu and Erza at hearing that Wendy and Carla were captured as well.
"What...?" Erza said in shock, while Natsu could be seen angrily clenching his fists and wanting to go after them to rescue their captured friends.
"Frodo... Where is Frodo?" Boromir continued to say while suddenly asking about Frodo this time.
"It's ok, he's safe. He has Lucy with him for protection," Erza replied.
Aragorn nodded. "We let Frodo go."
"Then you did what I could not... I tried to take the ring from him...," Boromir confessed to them.
Erza sighed. "You weren't the only one, Gray did as well."
Aragorn nodded. "The ring is beyond our reach now."
"Forgive me, I did not see... I have failed you all," Boromir continued to say.
"In that case, we're gonna make sure you live so you can make it up to Frodo by atoning for your actions," Natsu suddenly cut in, "But we're not just gonna sit back and watch another member of our group die right in front of us. Especially not after losing Gandalf back in the mines!" he said determinedly.
Erza nodded as she stood up for a moment and Requipped, changing into her Caduceus Armor much to the surprise of Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli at seeing the strange non-armor outfit. "Natsu, Gray, let's get to work," she then said after noticing Gray rejoin them along with Legolas and Gimli after they had just finished off the rest of the orcs in their area and bringing back a bunch of the magic weapons with them which Erza then sent to her Requip storage for safekeeping.
"You're seriously pulling out the nurse outfit here in Middle Earth, Erza?" Gray suddenly asked dryly.
"Yes, is there a problem with it?" Erza asked sternly which immediately made him shut up. "That's what I thought. Now then, first... Natsu, I need you to cauterize the wound with your flames while Gray carefully pulls out the arrows and then he'll also freeze the wound. And lastly, I'll be there to bandage the wound," she explained while going over how they were to go about saving Boromir despite not having Wendy with them currently.
"You're not gonna do the bandages in a comical fashion like you did on Tenrou Island, are you?" Gray suddenly asked once again dryly, which ended up causing Natsu to suddenly burst out laughing at remembering that until Erza shot them both a stern look.
"Did I say this was a laughing matter, Natsu? This is no time to be comical, now both of you get moving!" she ordered.
"Y-Yes ma'am!" Natsu and Gray both exclaimed frantically in fear at her wrath, while Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli all just sweatdropped at her commanding tone.
They soon got to work on Boromir's wound. Natsu began using his flames just enough to cauterize the wound while Gray carefully pulled out the arrows one at a time before then freezing the wound once all of the arrows were out. Boromir winced, but otherwise allowed them to continue.
Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli just stood off to the side as the Fairy Tail wizards worked on trying to save Boromir. Aragorn was actually grateful that the three Fairy Tail wizards had decided to step in to save Boromir in time when they did, while Legolas amazed by Erza's Caduceus Armor and its capabilities, while Gimli seemed to appreciate more of the fanservice though he kept that to himself.
Once Natsu and Gray were finished with their part, Erza then got out the healing wrap bandages and began carefully wrapping them around the wound unlike the comical fashion she displayed back on Tenrou Island much to the surprise of Natsu and Gray as they had almost expected her to pull something like that again though they kept that commentary to themselves for fear of invoking the Titania's wrath upon them while she was still busy wrapping the bandages around Boromir's wound.
Meanwhile
By the river near their campsite, Lucy could be seen going through the provisions they got when they left Lothlorien as she began packing more than enough supplies and lembas bread for her and Frodo for the long journey that lay ahead of them, but still left plenty for the others to use as well. She suddenly paused a moment at sensing Taurus and Sagittarius returning to the Celestial Spirit World and gently placed a hand on said two Gold Keys at her side with the rest of her keys. "Rest up you two, you earned it," she said. Before she resumed getting their provisions ready, she glanced briefly over at Frodo who was standing in front of one of the boats with the ring just sitting in the palm of his hand.
Meanwhile
While Sam was still running through the forest looking for Frodo, Juvia could also be seen running through the forest as well trying to find Gray and ended up running into Happy who had also been flying around looking for Natsu and the others and the two just continued to look for their friends together.
Back with Lucy and Frodo
Frodo still just stood there, the ring still just sitting in the palm of his hand and tears in his eyes as he thought back to Gandalf's words back in Moria after he had said that he wished the ring had never come to him and that none of this had happened.
Lucy had just finished getting their provision ready before going over to him while looking at him worriedly. "Hey, it'll be ok," she assured him gently, knowing he was probably thinking about Gandalf as she too was still saddened over losing him back in Moria as well. "Anyway, I think we're all set now," she added while tossing the pack stuffed with their supply of lembas bread for their journey into the boat.
Frodo then closed his hand over the ring before placing it into his shirt pocket before then glancing up at Lucy and nodded. "Let's go then," he replied before going over to begin pushing the boat out towards the water.
Adjusting Gandalf's hat on top of her head, Lucy followed and jumped into the boat after him.
That was when Sam suddenly came running out of the forest towards them right as the boat was taking off. "Frodo, Lucy!" he called out as he ran towards the water.
Lucy's eyes widened at suddenly noticing him. "Sam?" she said in surprise as she watched him wade out further into the water. "We should go back for him, Frodo, now that he already managed to find us."
Frodo, however, just shook his head. "Go back, Sam! Lucy and I are going to Mordor alone!" he called back to his friend.
"Of course you are, and I'm comin' with you!" Sam called back as he just continued to wade through the water towards the boat.
"You can't swim!" Frodo told him, as Sam was suddenly deep enough that he was now attempting to swim the rest of the way over to them. "Sam!"
Lucy gasped in horror as Sam soon started to sink under the water. "Hang on Sam, we're coming back for you!" she shouted frantically as she and Frodo began turning the boat around to go back for him.
Just then, something suddenly dove into the water out of nowhere right at that moment with a huge splash as Juvia was now suddenly swimming down to rescue the drowning hobbit. "I've got you, Sam," Juvia's watery-sounding voice said as her Water Magic surrounded the hobbit before suddenly launching him up into the air out of the water. "Happy!" she then called out.
"Aye!" Happy replied as he managed to grab Sam midair before then proceeding to lower him safely down onto the boat much to Frodo and Lucy's relief as they had been turning around to come back for him.
"Sam, are you ok?" Lucy asked worriedly once he was safe on the boat with them.
Sam nodded after a moment of coughing and sputtering and taking a moment to catching his breath. "I should be now, thanks to Miss Juvia and Happy," he replied, as Lucy gave a sigh of relief and smiled as she patted him on the back.
Happy grinned and gave a thumbs up. "Glad we could help," he said while swooping down to sit next to them in the boat.
Juvia nodded as she pulled herself up into the boat with them as well. "We were actually just trying to find Gray and the others, but it's a good thing we showed up when we did to help out when Sam was in trouble."
Sam nodded gratefully before turning back towards Frodo. "I made a promise, Mr. Frodo. A promise. 'Don't you leave him, Samwise Gamgee.' And I don't mean to," he told his best friend.
"Oh Sam," Frodo said as he embraced him, with Sam returning the embrace.
Lucy smiled sweetly at the two friends and hoping against hope that nothing would be able to break that loyal friendship during the long journey ahead of them. "Well come on then, we have a long journey ahead of us," she said as they continued to row across to the other side of the river.
Once Natsu, Gray, and Erza had finished treating Boromir's wound, Boromir would need to be carried as his body is still tired and injured. Without Wendy's healing elixir, it all rested on Erza's Caduceus Armor to do its job instead.
When they soon returned to their campsite near the river, Legolas had suddenly readied a boat for them to prepare to go after Frodo, Sam, Lucy, Happy and Juvia. "Hurry, Frodo and the others have reached the eastern shore!" he called over to the others.
"And Lucy and Happy are part of that group too, we gotta follow 'em!" Natsu agreed as he was prepared to board the boat.
Legolas, however, suddenly paused to look over at Aragorn who glanced over to watch the retreating forms of Frodo, Sam, Lucy, Happy and Juvia on the other side of the river as they began to disappear from view behind the trees.
"You mean not to follow them," Legolas realized.
"Frodo's fate is no longer in our hands," Aragorn stated which ended up getting the others' attention at hearing that.
"Hold on, what do you mean exactly?" Gray suddenly asked him.
"That it has all been in vain, the Fellowship has failed," Gimli answered in reply to Gray's question, which Boromir had to agree with as well.
"So that's it? You're suggesting we just give up?" Erza then asked.
Aragorn looked over at all of them. "Not if we hold true to each other. We will not abandon Merry, Pippin, Wendy, and Carla to torment and death. Not while we have strength left," he told them determinedly as their new quest was now to rescue their captured friends.
"But I still wanna go with Frodo and Lucy and their group! Even if I have to swim across, I'm still going after them!" Natsu protested only to suddenly be stopped by Boromir before he could even attempt to go after them.
"You know they can handle themselves, have faith in them," Boromir told him.
"And it would give Frodo and his group less attention from the enemy while on their way to Mordor," Legolas agreed.
Natsu just continued to grumble about it. "Fine," he reluctantly agreed.
"And don't forget that we also need to go stop Saruman and his two Dark Guild allies, otherwise who knows what kind of untold destruction they could cause if the combine their powers and technologies in their armies. Especially from what we've seen of these orcs or Uruk-hai, or whatever these ones wanna be called, with the magic weapons they were equipped with," Gray suddenly pointed out to remind them of, that had took them all by surprise.
Gimli nodded in agreement as he examined his new magic lightning warhammer to be intricately made and durable.
With the new magic weapons that Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas, and Gimli acquired along with the rest stored away by Erza for safekeeping, they then prepared to begin the chase.
"Leave all that can be spared behind, we travel light. Let's hunt some orc," Aragorn then said as the others all hurried off after him, with Natsu picking up the scent with his sniffing and tracking.
"The sooner we find horses to ride the better though," Erza pointed out while following right after Legolas and Gimli, with Gray and Boromir following close behind.
Meanwhile
Frodo, Sam, Lucy, Juvia, and Happy were now walking up a rocky cliff overlooking Mordor off in the distance.
"That's Mordor? It actually looks creepy now that we're seeing it for the first time," Happy suddenly said nervously.
"No duh, Happy. It is the home of the enemy after all. Were you expecting it to be all sunshine and rainbows or something?" Lucy replied sarcastically at his stating the obvious despite being freaked out at seeing Mordor off in the distance herself as well, though the blue Exceed suddenly couldn't resist bursting out laughing stupidly at the 'sunshine and rainbows' bit though Lucy just ignored his stupidity.
Frodo nodded. "I hope the others find a safer road."
"Strider'll look after 'em," Sam said reassuringly.
Juvia suddenly sniffled tearfully. "My beloved Gray, I miss you already!" she wailed dramatically.
"Easy there, Miss Juvia. You'll see Gray again, have faith," Sam assured her as he and Frodo were doing their best to avoid getting caught up in her waterworks over her melodrama of missing Gray already.
"You're right. Then in that case...," Juvia replied after calming down as she then turned around so she was facing back the way they came from while calling out, "Gray my love, take care and please be safe! I'll miss you!"
Lucy and Happy both just sweatdropped but otherwise just let the Water Mage have her Gray withdrawal moment.
Frodo just gave a small light chuckle. "In any case, I'm glad to have you all with me," he said while glancing at each of them in turn.
And with that said, the group continued on in the direction of Mordor.
Also credit to Warmachine375 for some of the ideas that helped me be able to complete this chapter. The magic enhanced weapons from Earth Land that the Uruk-hai were equipped with which the Fellowship gathered as many as they could after the battle for Erza to store away in her Requip storage for safekeeping, as well as the idea for Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir to each use one of the weapons to their advantage against the Uruk-hai were all ideas that Warmachine375 gave to help me out. As well as the Game of Thrones reference or whatever to the weapon Boromir picked up which was apparently supposed to relate to Sean Bean's character from Game of Thrones or something. Don't ask, I know practically nothing about Game of Thrones. You wanna know about that reference, then ask Warmachine375 who actually knows that better.
And to all Lord of the Rings fans who don't like Boromir being killed off, he lives in this story. Credit for the method Natsu, Gray, and Erza used for saving Boromir also goes to Warmachine375. As well as the Caduceus Armor that Warmachine375 made up. Here's a description of the Caduceus Armor that Warmachine375 did:
Caduceus Armor - that allows Erza to put people in a kind of stasis with its bandage wraps where their wounds won't get worse, and they can even heal small injuries.
This is based on the idea of Erza wrapping around her injured comrades albeit in a comical fashion in Tenrou Island arc. But this time in this story, she will do it with care and seriousness.
Appearance: The Caduceus Armor takes form of a combat hospital uniform dress which has an exposed cleavage with a nurse cap, a pattern of hearts on her sleeves and a pair of wings.
Weaponry: Paradise Whip - Erza in her Caduceus Armor uses a whip made from multiple bladed pieces joined together and it allows her to attack enemies who dare try hurting her and the injured comrade she is working to save.
Humorously, Erza said she took a hint from Lucy's whipping style and taught her that for some few tips.
Ha ha! Fear the awesomeness of Caduceus Armor. Muahahahahaha! Lol! Just kidding.
Anyway, I think I got it all. Oh yeah! And the idea for the two Dark Guilds mentioned that ally with Saruman, credit goes to Warmachine375 for that. And although said two Dark Guilds were not revealed yet, they will be introduced soon. For now, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Read and review. Your comments are appreciated.
Wow, this is the first time I've actually done a long author's note. Warmachine must be rubbing off on me. Lol! Just a joke.
Anyway, TTFN. Ta-ta for now.
