Friendship: The Convergence
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Have heart, my dear
We're bound to be afraid
Even if it's just for a few days
Making up for all this mess
(Run ~ Snow Patrol)
"My dear, please stop crying.", a voice inside her spoke to Lucy.
"But these people, they're doing something to me. I'll never see my friends again.", Lucy answered. She did not know why but she trusted the voice.
"I know, my dear. I'm sorry this is my fault.", the voice apologized and Lucy felt her eyebrows furrow.
"Your fault?", Lucy asked and the voice sighed in her head
"Yes if I hadn't hid inside you so many bad things would not have happened."
"Who are you? And what do you mean?", Lucy wondered
"My name is Stella." an image appeared before Lucy's mind. A tall woman with soft features, her eyes glowed golden, as did her hair. "I'm the goddess of the stars and the sun.
"When you were a young child you were terribly ill. On the verge of death. Your parents were desperate. Your mother, being one of the strongest celestial mage in history begged the stars to help her. She thought she asked her friends, when in truth her cries reached beyond them. They reached me.
"She did not know that I visited you one night. I saw you struggling. Heard you crying. Saw your parents desperate and in grief. They were about to lose their child. You grew weaker and weaker and I- I- I couldn't watch this any longer.
"I used my powers. For a minute I thought I was too late. That you were dead.", the goddess sounded sad and a memory sparked in Lucy.
This had happened in her dream "But I wasn't. You saved my life.", she felt so much gratitude towards the goddess.
"And by doing so I brought such great threat and pain to you. You survived and I was about to return to my place amongst the stars when he tried to pull me to him. This wretched wizard. Because of him my sister was lost. Hiding even from me. I- he- he wanted my power and I was afraid of him.
"So I hid inside you. I thought I was safe that he would never come and find me. He almost did. He just... He thought I was inside your mother. She had seen it coming, how I don't know. Maybe she sensed him somehow. They fought and your mother lost. I am the reason he killed your mother.", the goddess explained and Lucy felt sadness. And closure.
All those years she had wondered how and why her mother had to go.
"Who were you so afraid of, you're a goddess?"
"A very strong, old and ruthless man. You met him, my dear.", the goddess told Lucy and she knew the answer before the goddess had to utter his name.
"Zeref."
"What do they have to do with every thing?", Lucy asked thinking about the sisterhood.
"Initially nothing. They just want to wake me. They think I owe them for their worshipping me. They want to rule me through you. To bring forth their new world.", Stella explained and Lucy was suddenly worried.
"Will they hurt my friends?", she asked and Stella answered
"I'm afraid so. But I don't want that. I don't want to bring you even more pain. The convergence will happen. But together we can keep them at bay. I want to wake, I want to resume my form. But as a debt I want to grant you my powers. This way you will stop them.", Stella explained.
The resolve was firm in Lucy's mind. She would allow the convergence. She would keep her friends safe. And get stronger.
Natsu and Gray were about to leave the guild after Cana's words. They would run to the temple of the stars and look there, but Gildarts held them back.
There was no need for them to rush to the other temple when there already was another team investigating. He threatened to take them both out and ordered them to rest.
Laxus, Evergreen, Bixlow, Mira, Elfman and Lisanna returned late in the night. They looked angry.
As soon as Natsu grew aware of their presence he was up and hurried over to them. Gray was close behind him.
"They'd been gone as soon as we reached them. But Evergreen and Mira were cornering a woman. Her cloak was white. She was part of the sisterhood.", Laxus explained and Mira sighed
"We couldn't hold her. She mumbled some words and disappeared. But she spoke of another temple. The temple of union.", she explained and Levy shot up from her seat to run to the pile of books she and Freed had taken.
She browsed through one quickly and exclaimed when she stopped on a page.
"The temple of union is a temple that has been destroyed by Zeref out of anger in the year X777. The legend around it says that who ever shall destroy the temple of union shall suffer. It is rumoured to have been at the top of a mountain right between Hargeon and Crocus.", she read and suddenly the guild looked away again.
Before the master could utter one word, Gray and Natsu had gotten around Gildarts and were out the door. No one could stop them. They were going to the temple of union to save Juvia and Lucy.
The brotherhood brought Juvia to another temple and Luna explained to her that this was the temple of union. The brotherhood must have, together with the sisterhood reinstalled it.
This would be the place where the convergence would be held at, once her sister was found. She told Juvia to be patient. She did not know how long the sisterhood would need to find her sister.
Juvia remained calm. They put Juvia on the floor of a stone basin. Luna explained that she and her sister would make water appear once the convergence started.
Juvia floated, her eyes open, looking around her. They were on top of a mountain, that she could see. She waited. It was night she counted the stars. Luna kept her company.
Juvia did not know how long she waited when the women in their white cloaks appeared. She was surprised to see Lucy in a similar position than her. She smiled at the coincidence and noticed Lucy's eyes shining golden.
The brotherhood took their places around the basin and, once Lucy was positioned inside the basin as well, the women of the sisterhood placed themselves between them.
She stopped floating and was let down gently. When her feet touched the ground, she looked over to Lucy to find her in a similar position.
The women of the sisterhood started a song in a different language and the men of the brotherhood started speaking a different chant than what she had heard before.
Juvia looked at Lucy, who nodded at her and in unison the started walking into the middle. First they took each other's hands, then they moved into an embrace. Hugging each other around the waist they looked into the sky and let Luna and Stella take over.
Juvia felt Luna grow stronger and stronger inside her and let her soul merge into the goddess'. Around them water appeared. Silver water and golden. It spiralled around them into the sky.
When the water came down again in silver and golden rain poured down upon them.
The brotherhood and the sisterhood chanted louder until Luna spoke through Juvia.
"ENOUGH!", she declared. The cults around them stopped chanting and Lucy's mouth opened with Stella's voice
"You think you can control us. That you have the right."
"You want to use us to extinct those mages for whom friendship is a higher value than the worship of a god.", Luna sounded angry and her sister continued
"You want to use us to create your world. You want to kill in our name. Bring terror."
"You should never call yourselves believers. You shall never speak in our name. You shall never use your prayers to bring destruction."
Stella agreed with her sister and declared "You are nothing but two groups of fools. We will not kill you, for this is the difference between us. You shall however be punished. May you never speak those words, may you never sing those songs, ever again."
A magic power circle went out from the two figures in the middle. Juvia could feel their magic powers disappear. The goddesses had ripped them of their magic. She saw several members of the cult trying to talk, but their voices were mute.
She could see the fear on their faces and they scattered away.
Juvia knew the time had come. For her to let go again. To learn with Luna. To embrace their connection. She smiled at Lucy and was glad that she was not alone.
They would return. Bolder, Stronger. Wiser.
Gray and Natsu hurried up the stairs to the temple. A horde of men and women ran past them, but they did not care. They wanted to reach Juvia and Lucy. They had seen the beam of silver and golden water reach into the sky. The higher they reached, the harder the rain got.
Once they had reached the top of the stairs, they called out to them. Then they saw them.
In the middle of a lake of the silver and golden water.
They called out helplessly as they saw them being lowered into the water.
Natsu watched Lucy close her eyes and whisper goodbye to him.
He hardly noticed Gray diving into the water beside him in the rush to swim to Lucy. The way in the water seemed endless but when he got Lucy and tangled her away from Juvia, who was pulled away by Gray, he hurried back to the stone.
He pulled Lucy out and checked her pulse.
None.
She was not breathing either.
Desperation welled up in his eyes and he looked over to Gray who was busy trying to revive Juvia. Soon he too tried to give Lucy air and to get her heart beating again.
Minute by minute passed and when Erza, Gildarts and the master finally found them they saw the two of them crying, still not letting go of their loved ones.
Okay I know what this looks like but please stick with the story. It might not be the way you think it is.