I was super tired when I started writing this so it may be off. Also, this story is now cross posted on AO3. And, in response to an anonymous reviewer: Do you mean Dragon Force and Dragon Aspect? If you do, I have to agree. I will cover that portion in my story, but we aren't quite there yet, so stay tuned! Also, I'm going to start updating a chapter once a week, on Fridays! So, look forward to that! This chapter is 2,666 words long, spooky! I also had to divide the original chapter into three parts, it was just getting too long to do! There isn't too much action in this one, but there will be plenty in the next two. Please Review and enjoy!
Fairy Tail returned to their beat up guildhall, a small portion of them splitting away from the rest to bring their master to the East Forest. Apparently, an old friend of Makarov's lives there, and specializes in healing, specifically magic related illnesses. Folkvar had stayed with the group that went to the guildhall, considering he was no healer. He wouldn't be able to help Makarov much. He did know a few healing spells, most not very strong but worked in a pinch.
Folkvar spent some of his time once they returned healing himself and everyone else. He hadn't sustained much injury in the fight with Phantom Lord, but his guildmates weren't so lucky. He healed the worst off few first, and only a decent amount. He didn't want to use up all his magicka on one person then have to wait hours for enough to start healing the next. The majority of them still had a lot of healing to do by the time he did run out of magicka, but they were a little better off now.
The rest of the guild was busy making plans for their next attack, gathering supplies, or just trying to relax some after what they all just went through. It wasn't long before Lucy and Natsu entered, the former looking quite glum. After a bit of time, word got around that Phantom Lord had kidnapped Lucy, and Natsu was the one responsible for bringing her back. Folkvar sat at one of the tables that were unoccupied, trying to recharge his magicka while listening in on the different conversations going on.
"Don't worry. We'll get 'em back for this." Gray turned to Lucy, trying to comfort her. She let out a small groan in response before hesitantly replying.
"I know. I'm not worried about that. It's just… All my fault." She looked like she was about to cry.
Elfman was the next to approach. "Being targeted by dangerous people is just one of the downsides of being rich. At least you're protected by a real man like me."
"Hey, would you give it a rest already?!" Gray snapped at him, sending a glare over his shoulder.
Happy was the next to try and talk with Lucy. "I gotta say, I was shocked when I heard the news. Why'd you hide the truth from us, Lucy?"
That got a lot of attention from the little group, all waiting for her answer.
"I wasn't trying to hide anything. I mean, there's no way to bring up the fact that I'm a runaway in casual conversation. I've been gone for a year, and my father hasn't cared. Now all of a sudden he wants to force me to come home? He's done all those horrible things just to get me to go back. I hate his guts!" She paused, trying to get ahold of her emotions once more. "Still, if I hadn't run away in the first place, none of this would have ever happened…"
Elfman was quick to try and rebuke the statement. "Come on. Don't be ridiculous. Your dad's the one to blame-"
"Idiot!" Gray snapped at him once more.
Elfman quickly realized his mistake, trying to cover it. "Uh, ha, I mean, it's Phantom's fault!"
Lucy shook her head. "No. I'm the one who brought trouble to the guild, and it's all because of my own selfish choices. I'm so very sorry. I'm just going to go back home and hopefully all this will be over with."
"I don't know about that." Natsu mused out loud, causing Lucy to look up at him. "I can't see ya playing the part of the pretty princess sitting around in your mansion. Laughing with us in this filthy guild hall, going on adventures even though you freak out all the time, that's who you really are."
Lucy sighed, looking away as Natsu continued. "You said you wanted to stay with us, right? Why would you ever go back to the place you ran away from? Come on, who're you trying to kid? You're Lucy of Fairy Tail. No more runnin' 'cause you belong here with us."
Lucy began to cry, the others trying to cheer her up. Folkvar turned his attention away from them, not wanting to watch the poor girl cry. Instead, his focus was drawn to where Mirajane was talking to someone through a crystal ball. Or rather, a lacrima he heard someone call it.
"Master's seriously injured, and we can't seem to locate Mystogan. You're the only one left that we can turn to. Help us, Laxus." Mira asked through the lacrima, causing the person on the other side to groan. "We could really use you about now. Fairy Tail is in terrible danger."
Laxus, however, wasn't taking this seriously. "Wow, Makarov's freaking pathetic!" HE paused to laugh. "I don't see how this is remotely my problem. You're big girls, so deal with it yourselves."
"So you're not gonna help us?!" Cana exclaimed in disbelief.
"Of course not. Why would I? That senile old toad started this, why do I have to clean up his mess?"
This guy, Laxus, was getting on Folkvar's nerves. Fairy Tail was supposed to be like a family, was it not? How could someone treat their family like this? Mira continued to try and reason with him.
"Please, Laxus, Phantom's trying to kidnap Lucy."
"Who? Do I even know her?" Was Laxus's immediate response before he remembered. "Oh, wait, is it that new girl? I'll tell ya what, if you can talk Blondie into being my woman, I'll do anything she wants."
Folkvar stood abruptly, walking with barely restrained anger over to the Lacrima."You are such a disgusting fool! If you refuse to help your own guild, what's the point in being in one?!"
"Oh, who's this? Picked up another weakling, did you? Why don't you go on and play with your magic with the others, let the real wizards talk."
"I can assure you, I am no weakling. I have faced far greater challenges that you would even know in your lifetime. I'm warning you now, Laxus, do not take me as a fool. You will regret it." Folkvar growled, eyes narrowing at the image displayed on the lacrima.
"Are you sure you want to talk that way to a guy you're begging to help you? Do me a favor, if that geezer manages to pull through this, tell him he's over the hill and he should hand the guild over to me!" Laxus laughed wickedly.
Folkvar was about to make a scathing reply when Mirajane shattered the lacrima. He looked over to her in surprise to find that she was sobbing now, too.
"Mira…" He didn't know what else to say.
"I don't understand. How can someone in Fairy Tail be so heartless and cruel? I can't just sit her and watch. I have to join the others and fight." She turned, taking a few steps away.
It was then that Cana stood up. "Wait, don't be ridiculous!"
Mira just continued. "I feel totally useless being stuck here at the guild hall. I want to help."
Cana placed her hand on Mira's shoulder. "I understand, but you'll only get in the way as you are now. Even if you were once an S Class wizard."
Folkvar placed his hand on her unoccupied shoulder, squeezing reassuringly. "Do not worry. You have me now. I promise, we'll make Phantom pay for this."
Suddenly, there was a big crash and the earth shook, alerting everyone in the guild. Alzack soon rushed down the stairs into the basement, a look of terror on his face.
"Outside!" He shouted in fright.
Everyone rushed outside to the back of the guild hall, where they were met with an astonishing sight. It looked like one of those Dwemer ruins grew mechanical legs, and was headed straight for their guild.
"What is that thing?!" Natsu exclaimed.
"It's a guild hall with ginormous legs!" Happy responded.
"Is it Phantom?" Loke breathed in shock.
"How do we fight that thing?!" Another member disbelievingly asked.
"I never anticipated this…" Erza, who was in only a towel, gazed at the walking guild hall, astonished. "I can't believe they'd go to such extremes to attack us."
Then a panel in the front of the guild hall opened up, and what looked to be a giant cannon sprouted from the opening. Then a ton of dark energy started forming at the end of it.
"Run! Get out of here now!" Erza commanded the people of Fairy Tail, although no one listened. She then lunged forwards, running towards the cannon. She Requipped as she ran, stopping at the edge of the water.
"Erza!"
"Don't be stupid!"
"What are you doing?!" Her guildmates called after her.
"Protecting the guildhall!" She announced boldly.
"That's her Adamantine Armor!"
"Is she gonna try to block the cannon's shot?!"
"But there's no way her armor's gonna hold up against a blast that strong!"
"You're just risking your life, this is ridiculous!" Her guildmates all objected. Natsu tried to go after her, but Gray held him back.
"We're not gonna be able to stop her. We just gotta have faith in her!" Gray tried to talk reason into Natsu. Folkvar didn't like this situation, either. But it was as Gray said, there was nothing they could do to stop her. Besides, even though Folkvar was sure he could deflect something that powerful with a well timed Shout, he wasn't sure if he could cover such a large diameter.
The cannon fired, parting the water as the shot of condensed magic energy flew past. Erza put her shields together, and a large magic circle appeared. The shot blasted against it, kicking up a lot of wind. Erza's armor began to crumble, and eventually shattered when the blast gave out, throwing her back.
"I don't believe this. She actually managed to stop it." Macao uttered in disbelief.
"Once again, Erza's the manliest one in the guild." Elfman commented.
Cana was quick to point out the consequences of Erza's actions, though. "Yeah, but look."
Erza was lying prone on the ground, panting heavily. She was injured. Natsu, now free from Gray, ran up to her.
"You okay?! Say something!"
"Makarov has fallen," Jose's voice rang through the speakers coming from their guild hall. "And Erza can no longer stand. Any chance of victory has slipped through your fingers. Surrender Lucy Heartfilia Immediately. You have no choice."
Jose was met with vehement protest from Fairy Tail. "That's not gonna happen!"
"Like any guild would hand over their own to a monster like you!"
"You hear that?! Lucy's staying put!"
Cheers echoed around the injured guild, ready to fight for their friend. Folkvar stayed quiet, trying to quell his rage before he lost control of it and does something he regrets.
"We would never betray her like that! You'd have to kill us first!" Erza proclaimed loudly.
Natsu joined in on their revolt. "You can stop asking now, 'cause we're not going to give you any other answer! We're taking every single one of you jerks down!"
Jose growled at their insufferable behavior. "If death is what you want, I'll give you a second helping of Jupiter! You've got fifteen minutes to ponder the folly of your actions!"
The members of Fairy Tail began murmuring in concern, they surely wouldn't be able to withstand another attack like that, not without Erza. Folkvar might be able to deflect it, if he played his cards right, but it was still very risky. Not to mention, it wasn't a permanent solution. Phantom would keep firing until they were gone, or until their cannon didn't work anymore. Then, hundreds of phantom soldiers came flying out of the massive invading guildhall, on their way to attack Fairy Tail.
"You're in quite a quandary, aren't you, Fairy Tail?" Jose's voice rang out once more, "There are only two ways this situation can play out. Either my troops will tear you apart, or you'll be blown away by Jupiter."
Macao was incredulous. "Are you kidding me?! If he fires at us he'll kill his own men!"
"No, he's gonna do it." Cana deadpanned.
Folkvar nodded in agreement. "Aye. These are shades, they aren't real people. It won't matter if they are destroyed or not. He'll just make more."
"You saying they're ghosts?!" Alzack fretted.
"Something along those lines." Folkvar confirmed.
"We've got to do something to take out that Jupiter cannon." Cana declared.
Natsu enthusiastically volunteered. "I'm gonna smash that thing to pieces! I only got fifteen minutes to wreck it, right?"
Cana nodded and hummed in confirmation.
"Come on, Happy!"
"Aye, sir!" Natsu ran off, Happy picking him up and flying him up to Jupiter.
"Okay, Elfman, we're going to storm the place, too!" Gray ran to catch up to Natsu and Happy with Elfman in tow.
"And we'll stay here to protect the guildhall! You with me?!"
Cana was met with a chorus of agreement. Folkvar chose to stay behind as well, for now. He had experience with ghostly enemies, he would be useful here. Besides, if Natsu, Gray, and Elfman did fail, they'd need him to try and block the next shot from Jupiter. He started slashing through shades with the rest of the guild, making quick work of them. They were easy to take down, but the problem wasn't their strength, it was their numbers. Eventually a few overwhelmed some of the Fairy Tail members enough to touch them.
"I feel so weak, I can't even stand…" Wakaba groaned, collapsing.
"Wakaba! Man, what the heck are these things?!" Macao ran over to help his friend.
"Whatever you do, just don't let them touch you!" Loke announced as he engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the spectral invaders.
Come on, Natsu. Destroy that thing so I don't have to try and deflect it. Folkvar thought as he continued to fight the shades. Time was ticking down. It didn't help the shades were regenerating faster than they could kill them. One minute left.
"This isn't looking good…"
"Why's he taking so long?!" A few of the guild members started to get worried.
Folkvar stepped towards where Erza had once stood, where she previously deflected the last blast. He had to be ready to try so himself.
"Wait, you're not serious?! He's gonna try the same thing as Erza!"
"But he doesn't have Adamantine Armor like Erza had!" The members of Fairy Tail were getting even more concerned.
"Just because I don't have the same kind of armor doesn't mean I can't deflect it with something else." He responded simply.
Then suddenly, the cannon exploded in magic energy, taking it down.
"Hey, check it out! They blew it up!"
"Yeah, they did! The Jupiter cannon's been destroyed just in time!" Fairy Tail cheered.
Folkvar sighed in relief, He really didn't want to risk blocking that cannon's blast with one of his shouts. He wasn't sure if he really could. Then suddenly, Phantom Lord's guildhall started to transform.
"No way. You've gotta be kidding me." Cana spoke in disbelief.
"The Giant. Phantom's most powerful weapon." Loke looked on in awe at the giant robot shape the guildhall transformed into.
"They're coming to attack again." Alzack growled, reloading his gun.
"Giants and ghosts? How are we supposed to handle this?" Bisca cynically murmured.
"Just focus on these things for now. We'll let Natsu take care of the Giant for us." Cana directed.
"Sure, but what about his motion sickness?" One of the guild members questioned, causing everyone else to groan.
Folkvar sighed. If Natsu really did get motion sick that easily, he was going to need more help. Especially now with what he saw next. The Giant was drawing a magic circle.
"Look at the size of it! A black wave that size would wipe out the entire city!" Loke exclaimed.
With that statement, Folkvar made up his mind. He would join the fight on the Giant.
