Chapter 21

Repressing Rage

"Stop it, Agnar! Why are you doing this?!"

"You of all people should know why! These monsters have brought nothing but suffering among mankind! Think about what they did to your whole clan! Your family!"

"How can you say that?! And how can you justify what you're doing?! These Dragons have fought to protect and save us! They are our comrades! How could you just turn on them like this?!"

"You're one to talk! You turned your back on this world a long time ago when you sided with the Dragons!"

"What?! No! I never-!"

"It was YOU who brought mankind into this war! It was because of you that the Dragons attacked in the first place! You betrayed both men and Dragons! Don't lecture me about betrayal when you're a traitor on both sides!"

"No! NO! THAT'S NOT TRUE!"

"It is true! YOU started this war!"

"No. No! That's not…! That's not…!"

"Alu! Wake up!"

Alu's eyes snapped wide open and she gasped for air. Her senses snapped together the moment she heard the sound of a teenaged boy calling out to her. The moment she was awake, jackknifed up into a sitting position.

"Hey, take it easy!" a sweet, familiar female voice said.

Alu panted heavily for a moment looking around. She was lying on very comfortable pink wool that was about three inches thick. Both Aries and Eagle were knelt down right next to her. Aries was on Alu's right while Eagle was on her left.

Eagle was just a little taller than Alu. He greatly resembled his father, Jellal, but his hair was the exact same shade of scarlet as his mother, Erza.

Like all members of Crime Sorciére, he donned a blue and white cloak with a large hood that was currently down. Underneath his cloak, he had on a grayish long-sleeved shirt with dark blue trousers with a silvery colored belt around his waist, and oak-brown boots on his feet. On his wrists, and covering most of his lower arms, were silvery gauntlets that held the lacrima's he used with his Arc of Time Magic.

"Eagle?" Alu blinked. "Aries?"

"You okay?" Eagle asked.

"I…I think so." Alu nodded slowly. She then jolted up and looked around quickly. "But where's Ivan?"

"I'm afraid he got away."

Alu turned to see who had spoken and saw Jellal sitting on a fallen tree log in front of a campfire just a few feet away from her. And he wasn't the only one. All around the campfire were Sorano, Meldy, Aquarius, Violet, and Frosch. Each of them were also sitting on logs. Rogue, on the other hand, was standing over a large pot that was over the campfire. He was stirring around the contents inside, occasionally taking out the wooden spoon to examine the soup to see if it was ready or not.

Of course, the moment Alu started to come around, they had turned their attention to her.

Alu brought a hand up to her chest to try and calm her rapidly beating heart. She shivered a bit as she slowly inhaled and exhaled deep breaths. Her face had gone a little pale, and cold sweat covered her whole forehead.

"You sure you're okay?" Eagle asked, concerned.

"I…yeah." Alu hesitated, giving a dazed expression. "But what happened?"

"You don't remember?" Meldy inquired.

Alu fell silent for a moment and narrowed eyes down at her knees, trying to recall her memories.

"I remember Aquarius saying some cryptic stuff to me, but…I don't really remember much after that." Alu looked back up at the others. "Why? What happened?"

"Well," Sorano shrugged, "to put it simply, you suddenly powered up and saved us from having all of our Magic drained. Then after that, you blew up three of Ivan's Spirits with your new white fire."

"Huh?" Alu straightened in surprise. "White fire?"

"Yeah," Eagle confirmed, "your flames turned white for a moment."

Alu stared at the scarlet-haired boy for a second with a look of absolute befuddlement. She then moved her gazed down to her right hand. She slowly lifted her hand up and held out in front of her. With only a second of hesitation, Alu summoned her Dragon Slayer Magic.

What she saw made her gasp in surprise. Everyone else widened their eyes when they saw the girl's flame.

Alu's fire was no longer pale, sickly orange. It was radiant white. Not only that, but it felt stronger than before. And the way the flame flickered was different from normal fire. It was subtle and beautiful in its movements. But its light was bright and warm, like she was holding a star in the palm of her hand.

"Looks like that power you got is permanent." Jellal stated, impressed.

"But…how?" Alu breathed, completely shocked.

Alu then remembered what happened before her world became hazy. She turned to Aquarius. The Water Spirit glanced at Alu for only a second before turning her head away to avoid the girl's eyes.

"Aquarius, did you…?"

"I just gave you a small upgrade, that's all." Aquarius admitted, sounding rather disinterested. "We were in a pinch and you were the only one who was left to fight."

Alu blinked again and let the white flame in her hand burn out. Before she could say anything else, she felt a deep, and slightly painful rumble in her belly, which was accompanied by a loud, moaning growl. Alu grimaced with embarrassment and curled in on herself the muffle the hunger pains of her stomach. Her face only got even more red when every eye in the group turned to look at her.

"Why don't you come and get some supper." Rogue suggested. "The soup's just about ready."

"Okay, sure." Alu mumbled.

With Eagle and Aries nearby to support her if necessary, Alu slowly got to her feet and walked over to the campfire. Jellal scooted over and allowed a place for Alu and Eagle to sit. Once her key holder was in her place, Aries walked around the group to sit down beside Aquarius.

"Frocsh, will you give me a hand?" Rogue asked, turning to his Exceed partner.

"Sure thing, Rogue." Frosch agreed happily.

The Shadow Dragon Slayer used the wooden spoon to scoop the soup out of the pot, and poured it into ten wooden bowls. As he did, little green Exceed passed them out one by one to everyone around the fire. He stared with Alu, and then moved onto Aries, Aquarius, Violet, Meldy, Sorano, Eagle, and finally Jellal.

"This smells good, Rogue." Meldy complimented.

"Hmm," Sorano hummed contently as she took a taste of it, "it tastes good, too. I'm actually impressed."

"Well," Rogue shrugged modestly as he poured some soup for Frosch, "I'm not as good as Yukino. But she did teach me a thing or two."

Despite being ravenous, and the fact that bowl full of delicious fish soup was placed in her lap, Alu didn't react too much. Normally, she would've immediately gulped down the food the second she got her hands on it. But this time, she just stared down into the broth as the smell wafted up to her in the form of vapor. The aroma made her stomach beg for food, but she seemed to have lost all sense of consciousness to her hunger. She just stared down into the bowl with a wooden expression.

It was only when she felt a light nudge against her left shoulder that she came back to reality. She looked over to see Eagle looking back at her with a concerned.

"Hey, you sure you're okay?" he asked caringly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Alu replied unconvincingly. "Just…a lot's happened, you know."

"Well, you better eat while the soup's still hot." Eagle advised. "You need to get your strength back up."

Alu just made a soft grunt of acknowledgement before bringing the bowl up to her mouth. The moment the savory soup made contact with her tongue, she began slurping down as much as she could. After a while, she brought the bowl down a little bit to chew up the pieces of fish meat and vegetables her mouth had collected. Once she had swallowed all of that, she repeated the process until she had devoured every last drop of soup.

For a while, everyone just ate in silence. They were all just as hungry as the young Dragon Slayer girl, and they just wanted to get some food in them before they did anything else.

Once everyone had eaten their fill, they all let out big sighs of content.

"Thanks a lot, Rogue." Violet said with a smile. "That was delicious."

"I'm glad you liked it." Rogue nodded graciously.

"Well," Jellal spoke up, placing his empty bowl down at his feet, "now that we've ate our fill, I think we should now discuss this whole matter with Ivan."

The moment that hateful man's name was spoken, a wave of fearful resentment passed through everyone. Rogue and Sorano reacted with clenched fists and deep scowls. Meldy's expression grew serious. Violet and Frosch looked at one another with worried expressions. Aries turned to Aquarius, but the Water Spirit avoided eye contact.

Alu looked down, making her bangs cover her eyes in shadows. She tightened her grip around the bowl in her hands, almost like she wanted to crush the poor thing. At the same time, she curled her lips into her mouth and bit down on them and scowled.

Several images of Ivan's wicked face flashed in her mind. It sent a shiver down her spine, but it also made her chest burn with hatred. Every fiber of her being loathed that man with a burning passion. She was so angry that it was a wonder that she didn't set the wooden bowl on fire.

Eagle saw Alu's reaction, but didn't say anything. He just looked at her with concern.

Jellal sensed everyone's apprehension and anger. He was feeling the same way about the whole situation with the former Raven Tail Guild Master. However, as the leader of Crime Sorciére, he had to keep a cool head.

"I guess I should start by explaining why Meldy, Sorano, Eagle, and myself are out here," he said calmly. "A few weeks ago, the Magic Library had been broken into. After the Magic Council did their investigation, we snuck in to do some snooping around of our own."

"It turns out that some books had been stolen from special chambers." Meldy interjected. "Apparently, whatever was inside them was privileged information. As we did more investigation, we found that the books that had been stolen were related to four things."

"Those things in question were the Dark Guild Tartaros, Historia Magic, Celestial Magic, and anything related to souls." Sorano said, narrowing her eyes. "And after encountering Ivan just hours ago, it makes more sense now. I think it's safe to say that he's the one who stole those books."

"As for what those books contained," Jellal replied, "beyond their subject matter, we're not quite sure. All I can assume is that they are somehow connected Ivan's ability to create his own set of Celestial Spirits."

"They might be imitations," Aquarius spoke up, "but they are no joking matter. Ivan gave them the ability to slay us true Celestial Spirits."

Aries shivered in fear and curled up slightly, bringing both her hands up to her heart. Strangely, Sorano saw the Golden Ram Spirit's reaction and gave small, almost unnoticeable frown. Of course, she looked away quickly to avoid being noticed.

"Anyway," Jellal continued, "it's clear that Ivan's gotten stronger, and more dangerous."

"And he's got Yukino's soul." Rogue said, clenching his fists and doing his best to restrain his anger. "No doubt he learned how to steal souls through the information about Tartaros. As for how he learned to harness her power, I don't know."

"Either way, we have to stop him." Jellal said. "The rest of Crime Sorciére are out looking for more clues as we speak. The fact that all of us met up here is purely coincidence."

The leader of the independent guild then turned to the pink-haired girl sitting next to him. He fell silent for a moment when he saw just how tense she was.

It wasn't just him either. The moment everyone saw Alu's face, they became nervous.

Alu was staring at the fire with a scowl on her face. Her eyes had a slight demonic look to them, which was to be expected. For those who knew Alu, the fact that she would get a demonic look when she was mad was natural for her. It was only depending on the intensity of her anger that made the expression vary from mild to dangerously scary. Nearly all the muscles her body were taut, as if she was getting ready to pounce on someone.

Jellal hesitated for a second. Finally, he took a deep breath and spoke in a calm voice.

"Alu, would you mind telling us why you're out here?"

Alu's eyes slowly moved to look at Jellal for a moment. Although the blue-haired man knew the scowl she had wasn't directed at him, he still got a nervous vibe when she looked at him. Alu then shifted her gaze back to the fire in front of her.

"I'm out here because I'm on a mission to repair Aquarius's Key." Alu said in a low voice. "I didn't know about Ivan until we bumped into him."

Alu's hands tightened, threatening to crush the bowl she was holding. Eagle swallowed hard before reaching over and taking the dish from the girl's hands. Alu didn't notice it, nor did she care. She just curled her fingers up into fists that were clenched so hard that her nails dug into her palms.

"And that coward is after my dad," she growled viciously. "I swear, if he so much as lays a finger on him, I'll burn him into a pile of ashes."

"And just how do you plan to do that?" a voice asked sarcastically.

Alu looked up sharply to the one who asked her that question. Aquarius had turned back to give Alu a stern expression. This made Alu narrow her eyes.

"After we've repaired your key, I'm gonna find him myself and kick his butt." Alu stated with absolute certainty.

"I don't think that's a wise idea, Alu." Meldy said as gently as she could. "I think it would be best if you went back to Fairy Tail after you're done with your mission."

"And let Ivan get away with what he's done!?" Alu snapped.

Everyone turned to look at Alu with sudden expressions of worry. Well, everyone except for Aquarius that is.

"I-I didn't say that." Meldy stuttered, leaning back in her seat. "I'm just saying that it would better if you returned to Fairy Tail until Ivan is dealt with."

Alu tensed even more and stood up quickly. This was enough to make Jellal and Eagle move away from her slightly.

"You except me to sit by and let Ivan hunt down my dad like an assassin?!" Alu yelled angrily. "No way! I'm not going to stand by and let Ivan get away with this! This is personal now!"

"Alu, calm down." Eagle said as calmly as he could. "We understand why you would be upset, but you saw how powerful Ivan is."

"I could care less about his power!" Alu shouted at the scarlet-haired boy, making him jump and cower in on himself. "I don't care what he's trying to do! He's after my dad and that's more than enough reason for me to fight him!"

Seeing the girl's temper getting out of control, Aquarius rose up.

"Then you're going to end up dead!" she stated harshly.

Alu gritted her teeth and deepened her scowl as she turned towards Aquarius. The Water Bearer stared straight back at the girl, looking her in the eye.

"You really think you can take him on as you are now?!" Aquarius continued in her angry tone. "The only reason you could this time was because everyone here came to help you! Open your eyes, scruff munchkin! You're not strong enough or powerful enough to take him on by yourself! You fight him now, he's gonna kill you!"

That only infuriated Alu even more. She was already on a short fuse because of the recent events. Those words ignited the bomb inside her, and she lost it.

"THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK!" Alu screamed, her voice filled with painful rage. "THAT'S WHAT EVERYONE THINKS! I'M NOT A WEAK LINK! AND I'M NOT A TRAITOR!"

After that, there was dead silence. Everyone stared at Alu with stunned expressions. They could see just by her body language that she was filled to the brim with ire. At the same time, there seemed to be an aching look in her eyes, like she was trying so hard to repress an emotion that was desperate to break through. It was unclear of what she was going to do next.

Finally, Alu winced and turned around quickly. She vaulted over the log she was sitting on and dashed off into the woods.

"Alu, wait!" Aries called out, reaching her hand towards the direction her key holder disappeared in.

But it was in vain. Alu had already disappeared into the shadows of the trees.

"What's wrong with her?" Sorano asked, blinking with bewilderment.

"And did she mean by "traitor"?" Rogue asked.

"You got me." Frosch answered innocently. "But she seemed really upset about something."

"You think?" Violet said sarcastically. "She seemed more than a little upset to me."

"Maybe…one of us should go talk to her." Eagle suggested.

"I'll go." Aries volunteered.

However, just before the Golden Ram Spirit was about to get up, Aquarius shot a hand out to silently tell her to remain seated.

"Let me talk to her," she ordered. "You all just stay here. After all, you still need to regain your strength. Not to mention, you need to come up with a plan to stop Ivan."

"Are you sure you can handle this on your own?" Jellal asked, concerned.

"Don't worry," Aquarius replied, "I can handle her."

"Okay then. Good luck."

Aquarius gave a single nod. Then she left the camp circle and headed off in the direction that Alu ran off in.

Aries watched her fellow Celestial Spirit as she vanished into the forest. She bit her lip with worry. She clasped her hands together and hoped that things between Alu and Aquarius would turn out better than she was expecting.

Although considering how things were going, she didn't have much to bet on with that.

All she could do was wait for them to return. And if they came back with more bruises and scratches then she and the others would know the worst had happened.