heh, a little large (but I didn't feel satisfied until I ended it where it is.)
Alex woke with a start, sleep not coming easy for him, and as he attempted to go back he realized it was morning already.
With a sigh Alex got up with a reluctant stretch before getting ready for the day. With nothing else to do, he sat on the bed and waited, leg bouncing impatiently. After little more than an hour he heard a faint tapping sound. He got up from where he was sitting and opened the door before he went about doubling checking his kit.
"Uh, hello." The person pushed the door hesitantly, "Master jose said-"
"- for me to be by the sky prison." Alex said, cutting the man off without looking up "I will be there shortly."
The person left without another word. Moments later, Alex followed suit, and as he passed through the main hall he noticed that only a few people were missing. Undoubtedly they were in position in the guild hall or the town.
He was sitting in the shadow of a nearby rock when it started to drizzle. Alex stood and looked down the path and sure enough two people were walking up while a third was being suspended in a water bubble, one person walking was none other than Sol. The other, "Juvia" alex spat, electricity started sparking off him. Juvia glared at alex and the drizzle turned into a downpour. Sol didn't seem to notice the exchange as he politely took Lucy heartfilia and proceeded to merge with the stone and start climbing up to one of the cells.
"Juvia would not be here if someone did their job."
The sparking stopped Alex rubbed his eyes tiredly, "Yeah, yeah, I know."
Eventually Sol arrived and they started back down from where they came. Alex perked up at their movement, "Wait, where are you going?"
It was Sol who responded "Non non non, now our job is done, we are telling the guildmaster as such." And with that they went, leaving Alex alone once more.
Eventually the rain stopped, the rain woman no longer being nearby, and Alex went back to his rock to try dry off. Without realizing it, tired as he was, Alex's head began to droop. Within moments he fell sound asleep.
Alex was not sure how much time had passed, but eventually he heard a quiet crunch, then a felt a light tap. Alex wiped the bug irritating him away and continued his peaceful slumber. Seconds later he felt something immensely cold and sharp punch through him, he bolted up wide-eyed with shock.
"Ah, Alex good to see that you're awake." Master Jose said just as his shade dissipated. Alex scrambled to his feet.
"Master! I… was not expecting to see you."
"Oh don't worry, I just came to talk to our new acquaintance." He made his way to the base of the tower "Also you might want to stay hidden, Alex, we may have guests soon."
"Yes sir!" Alex saluted and turned to move away as Master Jose Levitated up the tower. Alex hid in a rocky outcropping farther from the tower, concealing himself in a shadowed nook.
It was only a short time later when he heard someone making their way towards his position., Rather than standing up and revealing himself, Alex waited until the person passed by. Unsurprisingly it was one of Fairy Tail's stronger mages, Natsu Dragneel, and his blue cat. Alex glared at him and drew his dagger from its sheath, he wanted to spit in disgust but knew at this distance he would be heard. He never liked blades, but Alex had to follow orders and protect the guild that sheltered him for so long, even if it meant erasing someone else's existence.
Natsu stopped suddenly, looking around. Alex, only a few steps away, readied himself as Natsu sniffed the air and Alex knew he had strike right then and there. Then he heard something making him pause. It barely audible, but he heard nonetheless. Alex, without thinking, looked up at the tower. There he saw her, Lucy, plummeting down to the earth. And he just watched in surprise, watched as she was caught by, or more appropriately landed on, natsu.
Alex dropped the dagger feeling a wave of defeat, not only he missed his chance he also couldn't bring himself to commit the deed. "I failed." Suddenly sensing something, Alex looked up-
Whump
He staggered under the sudden blow to his head, or would have, if he had not been held up by his collar. Alex with his hood knocked down, stared straight into the eyes of Natsu Dragneel and for the first time in a long time, Alex felt and intense fear and the need to run away. The eyes before his own held nothing but danger. But as Alex was being overcome by fear, he remembered, he could take on anyone who got too close, and this mage was holding him up.
Alex, smirking, grabbed Natsu's wrist, feeling his lighting course through. And nothing happened. Alex felt cold, his magic had failed him.
"Wha-" another blow and everything faded to black before he finished his words.
When Alex woke, his hands were bound in front of him and he was sitting on the floor in a small room. Slowly the rest of his senses came back to him and he could hear voices.
"So, why did you bring him here?"
"Well, I thought he would know something that we didn't." Alex looked up at the speaker. It was none other than the guy who had knocked him out, Natsu.
"Looks like he's awake." Alex looked up at the other voice he had heard. It was a woman he had vaguely heard of before, Cana Alberona.
"What does phantom lord plan to do next?"
She stared down at him, willing him to answer. Alex refused to speak, locking his jaw. Even though he failed the guild by not fulfilling his orders, he would not willingly betray them. They questioned him for hours or maybe an hour. Alex could not tell how much time had passed. There was no clock on the wall and there were no windows in the room. Eventually they gave up on questioning him when it became clear he was not going to speak and left him alone. As soon as they left, Alex immediately wormed his way to the door. He pressed his ear against it, trying to find out any information he could
It took a few moments, but then he heard a mess of voices talking amongst themselves and over each other. Someone talking about explosive lacrima with a few others, someone else nearby was crying.
"No good. I can't tell where Mystogan is." he heard cana say to someone.
"That's too bad. "He heard another woman, Mirajane by the sound of the voice, respond.
"If they're really after Lucy then they'll attack again soon. We have a lot of injured people already, this is bad."
"The master is seriously hurt and we can't find Mystogan. You're our only hope now, Laxus."
Alex heard a noise from what must have been Laxus. Whatever he had said, the others must not have found agreeable.
"Please, come back. Fairy tail is in trouble." Someone was pleading with him.
Alex perked up at that, if Laxus, Mystogan and Makarov are not here, then the fight could be winnable. If Master Jose moved fast enough.
"Man, that old man is pathetic." he heard Laxus laugh. "It's not my problem. Deal with it yourselves."
Alex stopped squirming out of his bonds in surprise. To turn your back so easily on your guild, to betray and abandon those that care about you just like that with a laugh, that was beyond wrong. It went beyond everything Alex believed. Alex gave a wry grin to himself, of course he was not in a position to talk, sitting in a storage room, probably in the basement, after being captured by the enemy and having no chance of escape at the moment.
Just then, as he was contemplating his chances, he felt, more than heard, a deep rumble.
"Quick, outside!" he heard someone yell and everyone left the hall. Most likely they were going to face what threat awaited them. Alex had a feeling his guild had arrived.
Alex struggled to get free of his bonds, failing at getting his hands free but still managing to get them in front of his body, rather than behind. Feeling more balanced, Alex made his way to his feet and tested the door. It was locked but with a surge of lightning, he melted the locking mechanism and shoved it open.
The hall was empty and he set about looking for something to cut the ropes on his wrists. There were no knives laying around so Alex improvised, grabbing a bottle. He smashed it against the bar and broke it, creating jagged pieces. As he was doing so, there was another rumbling, this time closer.
Alex cut himself free and saw his kit lying on the floor nearby. He grabbed it before stealthily making his way up the stairs. He peaked around the corner to see where everyone was.
Most of the guild was peering out the front, oblivious to his escape. Best keep it that way, he decided and snuck out the back. He went around the building, ducking under windows and saw the Phantom guild walking across the lake. The actual guild building was walking towards the town. Alex stopped to taking in the sheer absurdity of the moment.
He had known most of the guild funds went to secret projects, but this was just ridiculous. Just then the building shifted and a giant tube extended. The tube started collecting energy and Alex stumbled back, realizing it for the weapon it was. He had heard rumors of these weapons of destruction but never before had he seen one with his own eyes. A magical convergence canon. He stared in horror. This was pure madness.
There was a flash and the canon fired.
Alex expected the town to be destroyed, but the blast was stopped by Ezra, much to his surprise. The rumors about the legendary Fairy Queen were more than just talk. Just then he heard a buzzing in his ears.
"Stop her" someone spoke and Alex looked around in surprise, "Wha-"
"Stop her on Jose's orders."
Then the buzzing stopped and the voice was gone. Alex looked around, confused on where the voice had come from before looking back at Ezra. The woman had taken quite the hit, but she was still moving. He had no idea how he was supposed to take on an opponent like her.
Jose's voice boomed, echoing across the area, "Neither Makarov nor Erza can fight for you now. Victory is now beyond your grasp! Hand over Lucy Heartfilia." Alex looked over at the fairy tail group, wondering what they would do.
"To hell with that! What guild would just hand one of their members over? Lucy is one of us." They responded fiercely and with certainty. But the loudest voice was none other than Erza Scarlet. "We would rather die than betray one of our own!" Battered, she stood strong and fierce.
Alex felt moved by the sight before him. This is what a guild was supposed to be. People who worked and cared for each other. Unyielding even in the face of defeat. It was then that the shades attacked.
Much to their credit, fairy tail were holding their own in the fight. But holding their own wouldn't be enough. Not for this.
A shade lunged for Wabaka, lightning streaked across and hit the shade, staggering it. The shade turned, another bolt and the thing began to disintegrate. Wabaka turned and was promptly attacked by another, this time the fiend passed right through him.
Alex heard Macao start yelling about the shades. Alex was a little less concerned, but the numbers were favoring the shades. Before he could think about what he was doing, Alex did his best the even the odds into Fairy Tail's favor. He would worry about the consequences later.
After fighting a few of the shades, getting rid of them and aiding some of the guild members, Alex faced off against two shades. One lunged and Alex sidestepped, hitting it with a lightning coated fist. His hand went numb at the contact but the shade disintegrated. Alex stood to face his last opponent when someone shoved into him, moving him out of the way of a surprise attack. Alex instinctively twisted as he stumbled back and saw a clawed shade swipe for him, and hit the person who pushed him instead.
He caught the person as they fell, shock coursing through his body. "Verna! No! How, why?" She gave a small smile and mumbled something unintelligible, her face ashen. Alex carefully set his friend down on the ground. The shade made to swipe at Alex again. Furious, Alex responded by letting lightning course over his left side. The shade hit him and was destroyed upon contact.
"Ah, I see the traitor has shown up then. And Alex you turned as well? A pity, I really had hopes for you. Oh well, you will be destroyed with the rest of the vermin then."
The shades retreated for a moment, just as the canon began glowing and pulsing before stopping as it died. There was a beat of silenced surprise.
"Natsu must have disabled it." Cana commented, breaking the quiet.
"Well he better take Jose down, and fast, because that won't stop him for long." Alex grunted as he lifted Verna and carried her towards the guild hall, "Damn you're heavy."
"Not fat," she mumbled "you're weak." Alex rolled his eyes.
"I didn't say fat, just didn't expect this."
He, along with some help from Macao, carried Verna to where the rest of the injured were resting past the guild. Alex looked up and saw the Phantom guild, now standing and drawing a magic circle.
He staggered down the empty road, halfway to the fight, before he collapsed against a house.
Alex watched as the circle was formed and watched as mirajane was pinned by the mechanical arms. He wanted to go but he was exhausted. He had taken one too many hits and used more magic than ever. Alex had reached his limit and it frustrated him. Never before had he felt so hopeless and weak. He could do nothing but watch.
So he watched until eventually the expanding circle stopped and dissipated. He then watched as the entire guild collapsed. But something did not feel right. Alex looked around, muttering to himself.
"Jose, gotta take Jose down." Alex could not even call him Master, not anymore.
He looked around as he began to move once more. The fairies had won, destroying the guild that had attacked them. But it had come at a price.