Chapter 18

Cavalry

With Team Natsu…

Natsu, unable to sleep no matter what he did to get comfortable, finally got up from his spot beside his wife, grabbed his scarf out of habit, and walked a short distance away from the camp until he came to the edge of the woods. He stopped and leaned up against the trunk of a large oak tree. There, he lifted his face to the night sky and stared into the infinite space of stars. The moon's silvery glow bathed him in a radiant nightlight, almost like it wanted to wash away his doubts and concerns.

Unfortunately, it wasn't working. Nothing like that would work on the Dragon Slayer now.

Natsu couldn't stop thinking about Alu. Ever since Sting had warned him and the other Fairy Tail wizards about that soul-stealer, his anxiety of finding his daughter in time had risen to a very high level. So high that it was all but suffocating him.

Ever since Natsu had become a father, he had developed a kind of sixth sense that subconsciously alerted him whenever Alu was in danger. And right now, he was feeling this sense more than ever before. It was like a dark ghost was whispering in his mind that if he didn't find Alu in time, he would never see her alive again.

Natsu wanted to go on ahead and find Alu, but Erza ordered everyone to rest for the night. Naturally, Natsu protested against it, but Erza forced him to change his mind the moment she punched him in the stomach. Even now, he was still feeling the pain of her fist in his gut.

Still, he couldn't get his mind of Alu. No amount of pain would be enough to do that.

Natsu clutched the scarf in his hands and looked down at it.

"Igneel," he whispered solemnly to himself, "I wish you were here. I need to know what to do. What would you do in this situation?"

"Natsu?"

Natsu turned his head around to see who had spoken to his name. Lucy stood behind him with an exhausted look in her chocolate brown eyes.

"Oh, Lucy." Natsu said. "Sorry, did I wake you up?"

"No, I couldn't sleep." Lucy lowered her head sadly. "Looks like you couldn't either. You're worried about Alu, too, aren't you?"

Natsu glanced down before turning away. That was enough to tell Lucy that he was more than worried about their daughter. He was trying to be strong about it, but even she could tell that his spirit was starting to waver.

He couldn't bear this alone. Nor should he have to.

Natsu was there to comfort Lucy last night, now it was her turn to do the same for him.

Lucy moved forward and hugged her husband from behind. She wrapped her arms securely around his torso and rested her head against the nape of his neck. Natsu felt her gesture and looked back at the blonde-haired woman. Her warmth reached through his skin and seemed to calm his soul almost instantly.

"Don't worry." Lucy whispered. "Alu will be fine. She takes after you, remember? She has your fighting spirit."

Natsu tightened his mouth a little.

"We'll find Alu." Lucy continued. "We'll find her and we'll bring her home."

Natsu paused for a moment, listening to those same words that he had spoken to Lucy not too long ago. Only now, they seemed to be more comforting since they came from her voice. Natsu lowered his head, covering his eyes in the shadows of his bangs. He then gave a small smile of assurance and lifted his right hand to clasp Lucy's arm.

"Yeah," he whispered. "We'll find her."

Back in the forest; just a few miles ahead…

Aquarius staggered back and panted heavily. This evil version of Leo was a lot stronger than she had anticipated. Although she had managed to land a few blows on him, the most she did was just shatter the weaker parts of his armor. It wasn't enough to cause him any serious injuries.

However, Neo Leo really did some real damage to her. She was covered with scratches and bruises. Her injuries would've been a lot worse if she didn't devote most of her energy to defending herself.

Aquarius was doing her best to keep a fearless expression, she couldn't deny the fact that this Dark Spirit was making her wary. Something about him was wrong. She could feel it.

"Impossible!" Aquarius thought fearfully. "How can he be so strong?! What kind of power is this?!"

"Well," Neo Leo sneered mockingly, "I expected more from the great and mighty Aquarius of the Zodiac. But what should you expect from a weak woman, even if you are a Spirit. I bet those injuries hurt a lot. But that's what you get when you dress so scantily."

"Damn you!" Aquarius snarled in a poisonous tone.

"Oh, and there's one more thing you should know." Neo Leo continued. "Our master has graciously granted us the power to end a Spirit's life. Just one fatal blow, and you'll be erased from existence."

Aquarius scowled deeper and sweat began to roll down her face. That wasn't a bluff and she knew it. As if these Neo Spirits weren't dangerous enough. She was going up a deadly force.

"Do it now, Neo Leo." Ivan commanded with malicious victory. "End this Spirit's existence."

"Gladly." Neo Leo grinned savagely.

Neo Leo raised his right hand towards Aquarius and summoned the Dark Regulus. He curved his fingers like they were claws as Dark Regulus began to grow larger around his hand. Aquarius braced herself for another attack. She swallowed hard, realizing that she unless she could end the fight quickly, she wasn't going to last much longer.

But just as Neo Leo was about to unleash his attack, a girl's voice suddenly shouted,

"OPEN! GATE OF THE SEA GOAT! CAPRICORN!"

The next thing that Aquarius, Neo Leo, and Ivan knew, there was a flash of blue light and something large charged out of the trees.

Capricorn the Sea Goat rushed forward at Neo Leo and kicked him away. Neo Leo turned his attention to Capricorn and the two began to fight hand-to-hand. While Neo Leo's punch attacks had the Dark Regulus for extra power, Capricorn was quick to dodge the Dark Spirit's attack. On top of that, he was able to land a few good blows on Neo Leo. The whole time, Capricorn just maintained a calm and stoic composure.

Aquarius stared in confusion. Just where did Capricorn come from?

"Aquarius!"

Aquarius looked over to see who called out her name and saw Alu, Aries, and Violet emerge from the shadows of the woods. The trio rushed over to the Water Spirit and immediately got down to her level when they reached her.

"You okay, Aquarius?" Alu asked.

"What the hell are you doing back here?!" Aquarius snapped at the pink-haired girl. "I told you run!"

"Yeah, well I never listen." Alu said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Besides, there's no way I could look my mom in the eye again if I knew you died because of me."

Aquarius narrowed her eyes at Alu. The young wizard ignored those eyes and stood up. She then turned away with a glare.

"Aries, Violet," she said, "make sure Aquarius is okay. I can handle this."

"Don't push yourself too hard, Alu." Aries fearfully warned. "You used a lot of Magic taking down Neo Virgo."

"Don't worry about me, I've still got my Celestial Magic. But there's something I need to know."

"Alu, be careful." Violet whimpered.

Alu paused for only a moment before suddenly dashing towards the fight between Capricorn and Neo Leo. Hearing his key holder approaching, Capricorn leapt aside just as Alu reached them. Before Neo Leo knew what was happening, Alu had leapt up and roundhouse kicked him in the face. She followed it up with another kick to his chest. This caused the armored Spirit to stumble back a bit. He looked back up with a vicious scowl at Alu as she landed back onto her feet and took a defensive stance.

"Nicely done as always, Lady Alu." Capricorn commented.

"Thanks, Capricorn." Alu replied. "But it's not over yet."

"Pest!" Neo Leo growled, glaring at Alu. "You're just a pathetic girl!"

"Never underestimate us females!" Alu snarled. "We're strong in our own ways and don't you forget it! 'Cuz if you do, I'll hit you where it hurts!"

"You little whelp! How dare you talk to me like that!"

Alu looked past the Dark Lion Spirit and at Ivan. She narrowed her eyes even more when she saw that he was watching all of this with a sinisterly amused expression. Alu had seen enough villains in her life to know that that kind of expression meant that he saw this whole fight as nothing but a game to him. A feeling of disgust towards that man rose up inside her and made her bare her teeth.

"Ivan, I've got some questions for you!" she said forcefully.

"Don't you dare speak to my master, girl!" Neo Leo raged.

Ivan stepped forward.

"It's alright, Leo," he said coolly. "You may stand down now."

Ivan then took out one of those blood-red keys. With a swipe of his arm, he closed Neo Leo's gate, making the Dark Lion Spirit disappear instantly.

"Capricorn," Alu said, "I need you to go back."

"Are you sure, Lady Alu?" Capricorn asked.

"Yeah, don't worry. I'll be fine. I've got this under control."

"Very well then, my lady." Capricorn bowed respectfully.

With that, the Sea Goat Spirit vanished in a small flash of light.

Alu let out a deep exhale and forced herself to stand up tall. She rarely summoned Capricorn. The reason was because he was one of the Spirits that took up a large amount of her Celestial Magic just to summon, let alone keep his gate open. She could already feel a big chunk of her Celestial Magic depleted already. She would probably be able to summon one more Spirit after that.

But she couldn't let Ivan see she was weakened. Her best chance was to get Ivan talking, and keep him talking until she got enough Magic Power back. She knew it would take some time getting her Dragon Slayer Magic back, but this was her only strategy right now.

Plus, she did have some questions to ask.

"So," Ivan sneered at Alu, "you decided to come back. You here to surrender like a good little girl?"

"Pfft, not in a million years." Alu replied contemptuously. "But there's no way I'm running away either. That's not the kind of person I am."

"Well, aren't you brave." Ivan grinned. "Or you're just plain stupid. Must've gotten that from your father."

Alu narrowed her eyes and gave a sly grin.

"Yeah, I did," she said proudly. "After all, like you pointed out before, we do have an uncanny resemblance. And being stupidly brave is what we Dragneels are known for."

Ivan just dismissed that statement.

"Though I must ask," he said, "how did you get past my Virgo?"

Alu's expression changed to a dead-pan frown, and she held up the chard skikigami doll. That was enough to make Ivan give a subtle expression of surprise for a moment.

"I didn't get past her, I defeated her." Alu said, crumbling the paper doll with one hand. "So you stole Yukino's soul and combined her Celestial Magic with your Skikigami Magic to create a set of phony Spirits. Am I right?"

"Correct." Ivan said, smirking evilly. "You certainly are clever; I'll give you that much. I bet you got that from your mother. Because I know your father wasn't all that smart."

Alu scowled harder a gave a deep growl. That was a mocking statement and she knew it.

"My dad's a lot smarter than you think," she rebuked. "How do you think he's managed to win all his battles? But that's not important now. I got something to ask you: are you doing all this just so you can become some kind of Celestial Dragon Slayer?"

When Aquarius heard Alu's question, she jolted in shock. However, since Ivan's attention was on Alu, and Alu had her back to the Water Spirit, neither one of them saw her reaction. The only ones who managed to notice were Aries and Violet. They both turned to Aquarius and saw that she had a rare expression of concern on her face.

"I don't see why I should have to tell you that." Ivan glared at Alu. "But if you want to know, the answer is yes."

Alu glared back.

"Why?" she asked. "Why go through all this trouble?"

"I thought it was obvious." Ivan replied wickedly. "To take down Fairy Tail once and for all."

"Oh, really." Alu said sarcastically, putting her hands on her hips. "Didn't you try that years ago at the Grand Magic Games? I was told that Fairy Tail kicked your butt so hard that you didn't show your face for eighteen years."

Ivan's scowl deepened at that remark and he clenched his jaw. Alu couldn't help but smirk when she saw that she had struck a nerve.

"You're calling me a coward?!" Ivan shouted. "I lived in the shadows all of these years so I could prepare a more effective plan to take down your guild! And since I couldn't get my hands on the Lumen Historie, I had to find another power source!"

"And you decided to learn how to steal souls just so you could become more powerful?" Alu glared. "Talk about lazy. Sure sounds like the coward's way to me."

"Why you little…!" Ivan growled.

"How did you learn Curse Power, anyway?" Alu interrupted. "My mom and dad told me that only Demons could use that Power. And while you act like one, even I can tell you're not a Demon."

Ivan paused for a moment. His face had changed from angry to very pensive. Alu could only guess what was going on inside his head. Still, it made her apprehensive. It was clear that he was planning something. After all, she just asked him a simple question. It shouldn't take him this much time just to think of an answer.

Then, a devious smile began to grow across Ivan's face. Alu immediately noticed it a braced herself for whatever was going to come out of his mouth.

"I have your father to thank for that." Ivan said manipulatively.

"What?!" Alu jolted, her eyes flashing with surprise.

"Didn't your parents ever disclose anything to you about Tartaros?" Ivan asked maliciously. "It was the Dark Guild that nearly wiped out Magnolia. And it was all for the sole purpose of awakening their true master, E.N.D. Or should I say, Etherious Natsu Dragneel. Your father. It was your father who invented Curses. All I did was incorporate one of them to help achieve my plans. So, in a way, he was one who made it possible for me to take Yukino's soul."

By this time, Alu had lowered her head, covering her eyes hidden by her bangs and shadows. She clenched her fists so hard that they began to shake by the force of her grip.

Ivan smiled with malicious victory. Surely, Alu's reaction meant he had gotten to her and was close to breaking her spirit. He decided to take this opportunity to mock the teenaged girl.

"What's the matter; cat got your tongue? Oh, so sorry. Did your parents keep the truth from you? Must be really hard to find out about it this way. To think that they would lie to their own daughter…"

Alu's body suddenly lit up with an aura of whitish-orange flames. Ivan jolted in shock and stepped back. The shikigami doll in Alu's hand burned away in an instant. Aries, Aquarius, and Violet all watched with worried and concerned expressions as Alu lifted her head. The young wizard scowled savagely at Ivan, her eyes full of untainted anger.

In that moment, Alu looked almost demonic herself. Not only had she inherited her Natsu's physical features, she also inherited some of his facial expressions. And one of them was definitely Natsu's scowl.

"You shut up!" Alu shouted at Ivan with fury. "My parents told me about E.N.D. a long time ago! They may annoy me to pieces, but they've never lied to me! And the fact that you use a power that is part of my dad's dark past just to complete some stupid Spell is unforgivable!"

"That fire!" Ivan gasped. "You're a Dragon Slayer, too?!"

"I don't care what your goal is, pal!" Alu raged on. "You're an enemy of Fairy Tail, and that gives me more than enough reason to fight you! And because you're after my dad, that makes you MY enemy, too! I won't let you have his soul! I'll stop you with the power he gave me!"

Alu charged forward with incredible speed.

"ALU, NO!" Aries cried in distress.

But Alu didn't listen. She was solely focused on the man in front of her. She was determined to take him down.

"FIRE DRAGON WING ATT-AUGH!"

Alu was suddenly hit with a powerful blow to the stomach. She howled in agony as she flew backwards and landed hard on the ground. The impact was so great that she bounced off of the earth and twirled in the air for a moment before landing again. She laid where she was for a moment, gasping and grimacing in pain.

"Alu!" Violet yelled as she prepared to fly over to her friend.

"No guys, stay back!" Alu commanded through gritted teeth.

Alu turned her head around to see what had struck her. To her wide-eye surprise, she saw that a Neo version of Taurus stood protectively in front of Ivan. This version of Taurus was vastly different than the one Alu knew. He was dressed in a fancy tuxedo with a metal mask over his face, and he had a book in his hand right hand.

"You shall not harm our master." Neo Taurus said with dignity.

"He's got one of Taurus?!" Alu strained.

Alu clutched the spot on her stomach where Neo Taurus had kicked her. It had sent such huge shockwave through her body that all of her limbs had gone numb. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't seem to get to her feet. She could barely lift herself up.

"Ugh, not cool," she grimaced. "This isn't good."

"Nicely done, Neo Taurus." Ivan sneered. "Now take this girl down. But keep her alive. She still has some use."

"As you wish, sir." Neo Taurus replied.

Alu tensed as the dark version of Taurus leapt high into the sky. When he reached the height of his jump, he lowered his fist to her direction and shot down. Alu braced herself to the blow that would surely knock her out.

"ALU!" Aries cried as she got up from her spot and ran over to her friend.

But Aries knew she wasn't going to make it in time. Neo Taurus was closing in too fast.

However, just before Neo Taurus landed that devastating blow to Alu's head, something slithered out of the shadows and snatched the girl up in its grip. Alu yelped she was quickly yanked away from her spot by a shadow. Neo Taurus missed Alu by just a few inches, and his punch left a deep hole in the earth.

Aries stopped dead in her tracks and stared in wonder when she saw what was happening. Aquarius and Violet both gasped when they saw the shadow beneath Alu begin to change form.

Alu felt a set of hands grab her securely around her shoulders and under her knees. She was then lifted up off the ground as the shadow began to take on a three-dimensional shape. She blinked in confusion for a moment when she felt warmth up against the left side of her body. She snapped her head around to see what was there.

To her surprise and utter relief, it was a man that she knew. An ally of Fairy Tail.

"That was a close one," the man said as he looked down at Alu. "Are you okay?"

"It's Rogue!" Alu exclaimed gleefully.

"ALU, LOOK OUT!" Violet suddenly screeched.

Both Alu and Rogue looked over just in time to see Neo Taurus charging straight towards them. Rogue tensed himself and prepared to leap out of the way.

However, before he could make another move, there was lilac light suddenly began to grow above everyone. Everyone in the area stopped and looked up to see what was going on.

To their surprise, a bunch of glowing orbs were gather up together just meters above them.

"Wait, that's…!" Ivan began to say with shock.

However, before the dark wizard could finish that statement, a voice that belonged to a teenaged boy suddenly shouted,

"FLASH FORWARD!"

All the glowing orbs suddenly shot straight down towards their target, which was Neo Taurus. They moved so fast that the artificial Spirit had no time to dodge out of the way. The impact all of those orbs gave with that blow was to such an insane level that it forced Neo Taurus to the ground. When the attack had stop, and all the orbs merged back into one, Neo Taurus laid flat on the ground, groaning in discomfort.

Alu, Rogue, Aries, Aquarius, and Violet watched the orb as it floated away from the Dark Spirit. It traveled and precise path through the air and towards a group of four people that were emerging from the forest. All of them were dressed long, dark blue cloaks with the hoods down, revealing each member's face and identity.

One was a tall man with blue hair, dark brown eyes, and a crimson tattoo over his right eye. Two of the members were both women. One had long, snowy white hair and sharp, light brown eyes. The other, who looked obviously younger than the first, had petunia pink hair and olive-green eyes.

The fourth member, who was the youngest in the group, and was in the front, was the one the Magic orb went to.

He was a teenaged boy who was just slightly older than Alu. He had short scarlet red hair, dark brown eyes, and a red tattoo above his right eye.

Alu's eyes widened when she recognized who those people were.

It was Crime Sorcière, the infamous independent guild. And allies of Fairy Tail.

And the members that were present were none other than Meldy, Sorano Agria, Jellal Fernandes, and his son, Eagle Fernandes.

Aquarius stared at the newcomers for a second before giving a small grin.

"Well," she said to herself, "looks like the cavalry's arrived."