Warning! Character death, disturbing imagery.
Summary: Demons run when a good man goes to war.
Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail.
Day 4: Angels & Demons
succumb to the shadows
Demons run when a good man goes to war
Night will fall and drown the sun
When a good man goes to war
The field was a desolate black, dark like the charred remains of the once beautiful green. Thick smoke fogged the surroundings making it hard to see and signaling the aftermath of destruction, only further dampening the spirits of the surviving. But it was war, and war was never pleasant.
Shouts and screams tore through the silence of the night, the attempted courage and anguished cries only lighting the battlefield alight with renewed vigour – they were tired, but they had to fight.
It all seemed to happen in the blink of an eye, when the country was invaded and all of a sudden it was ruination and annihilation. Who knew the neighbouring Bosco would set it sights on the riches of Fiore? The attack was sudden and brutal. It was least expected, but the advantage of surprise allowed the successful wreckage of large parts of Fiore. It was war, and all of Fiore's mages were deployed to fight.
Mirajane had never wanted a part in war. She was the peace-loving barmaid and part-time S Class Mage of Fairy Tail, and never ensued in meaningless fighting nor destruction. But there was nothing she could do to even try to prevent the battles, it was defense, and not offense. In the field of blazing red and mournful black, she could only close her eyes and pretend that it was all a dream – that all the members of the guild were still alive, drinking and partying and going out on jobs, and not fighting to their deaths in an attempt to avenge their fallen comrades. Her heart clenched painfully every time she thought of those who sacrificed to stop the war. They would never be forgotten and they would be honoured.
Her sobs only intensified even while she fought off waves of non-mage soldiers, her blasts irregular as the sadness washed over her eyes and flowed down her cheeks. It was no time to cry, but it was also no time to have cohesion in her thoughts. All she knew how to do was to push back the enemy line, prevent them from coming onto Magnolia soil- but she wanted to scream in rejection and crumble to a heap from the destruction. Of her country, her guild, and her soul.
Bright flashing lightning brought her to focus immediately, and she watched as Laxus fought his hardest against one of the strongest mages from Bosco's top mage guild. She could see he was trying to bring their fight away from the frontline, away from the less powerful mages and non-mage soldiers, and away from her.
"Go!" a voice shouted at her, and she looked down to see Erza rushing to her aid with Jellal not far behind, disarming and knocking out the seemingly never ending wave of soldiers. "Go to Laxus, We'll handle it here."
A nod of appreciation sent her way, Mirajane sped in the direction of the flashing yellow, all the while dodging blasts of magic that were both targeted at her and not. She arrived just in time to block an attack sent at Laxus, using her Satan Soul magic to counter it before it hit him. The resulting explosion gave her a chance to reach his side safely, and no words were needed as they shared a quick, but tight embrace, glad that the other was safe.
"Mira, why did you come?" Laxus asked, his frown deepening as the smoke began to clear. "I don't want to admit it but… he's tough. Get away from here, and stay safe."
Steadying herself to join the fight, Mirajane could only let out a tortured, strangled laugh. "There's no such thing as safe anymore."
Crackling electricity was his only response, as their opponent began to clap slowly. "Lovebirds on the battlefield, what a sight to behold," the man mocked, his shoulder-length brown hair sticking to his face and neck whether due to the blood or sweat, it was hard to tell, but the matching brown – or what seemed like brown, it was so charred and stained with red it was hard to tell – coat only served to make him seem larger in might. "I had a lover, too, before the war took her away."
"Cut the crap. None of us wanted this war, you can take your hatred out on your own King. He was the one who invaded our country."
The man cackled. "Poor Fioreans, don't have a single clue about the dirt in your monarchy. You're a funny man, but it's too bad I'm sworn to loyalty for my country."
Both Laxus and Mirajane were prepared when the man striked, launching himself towards them with his fist already coated with magic. Although they'd never once fought together before, covering for each other came as a second nature to them and their cooperation was almost a harmony with the way they complemented each other as they fought. A hit meant for Laxus would be blocked by Mirajane, and vice versa, and it was even easy for them to land a few hits amongst the exchanged blows. A powerful Lightning Dragon's Roar sent the man flying backwards, and when he emerged again wiping blood with the back of his hand, he was not alone.
"There's two of him?"
The same sinister smirk only looking more cunning when duplicated, and Mirajane swallowed around a dry throat as the men strolled forward, angrier and smugger than ever.
"Figured one of me and two of you was pretty unfair, you know? I had to call my twin – the only possible way to beat the combination of love," one of them said, and Mirajane took him to be the original foe.
"Don't be fooled, Mira, that's Duplication Magic, only one of him should be real."
A high-pitched, exaggerated laughter followed Laxus' statement. "That's basic, Duplication Magic, young man. I'm the real deal. I've created a living, breathing twin. Equally strong and even if you kill me, you won't kill the other!"
With that said, the fight began again, this time with Mira and Laxus each facing a different (or the same?) opponent. Mirajane knew she was no match for the man, she was exhausted from her previous fighting and she was certain her magic was depleting alarmingly quickly, but she couldn't afford to lose. Her loss would mean Laxus' loss as well, and she could not allow that to happen.
But she could only block her opponent as he delivered a barrage of attacks, his movements so fast she could only just keep up without being able to return counterattacks of her own. A loud, painful scream tore through the night, a scream that Mirajane recognised to be Lucy's and causing her to momentarily lose focus, but it was enough for her to sustain a direct hit from the man's punch and tossing her out into the field like a ragdoll.
"Mira!" Laxus' bellowed. Mirajane wanted to tell him that she was alright, and that he didn't have to worry, but his lack of attention for a fraction of a second proved fatal, and she could only watch, wide-eyed, as a beam of concentrated magic channeled through Laxus' head.
"Laxus!"
Crashing to the ground just as Laxus was struck down, Mirajane's lips parted in a silent scream as she took in the sight, her arrival at his side immediate as she shot forward and dropped to her knees.
Her fingers trembled vigourously as she hovered them over his still body – there was nothing she could do, and she knew it, knew it from the countless deaths she had to witness, but none of them had felt like her life was stripped away from her. She could barely feel her heart as it was tortured by her emotions, she could only fall over his body as she begged for something, anything, to feel a slight movement, or to hear shallow breathing, but there was nothing to prove her worse fears wrong.
The first thing she could hear was anguished howling, a wailing so loud and so mournful it shocked her as it realised it was her own. Clutching the crumbled pillar of support she required in her life, Mirajane could only sob at how suddenly he was taken away from her.
"No, no… Laxus… no…" The golden lightning that illuminated her life flickered into oblivion in an instant, but she could still feel the ghost of his love in her empty soul, the most important thing ripped from her brutally and crushed in a matter of seconds. His warmth seemed a thing of the past as she watched the remnants of his life bleed through the hole in his head.
Manic laughter disturbed her in her mourning and she rudely brought back to the present as she felt a painful pull in her hair, tugging her up to meet… three faces?
"I'm sorry beautiful, but I lied. I'm actually part of a triplet!" The smoking end of another of the trio's fists alerted Mirajane to the fact that he was the culprit, but his choice of words only brought about fury.
"Don't call me beautiful. Only Laxus can call me that."
"Too bad he's gone, eh?"
Red.
She could only see red as she found her balance and stood, the sudden surge of power was overwhelming – it reminded her of the first time she took over a demon, but no, this was much, much stronger. Power welled up within her in a gush; there was no turning back now, she knew. The desire for revenge was the fuel for her to give in to the dark magic inside her.
"Humans are the real demons."
A deep purple blur was the only thing visible as Mirajane grabbed Laxus' murderer by the throat and dragged him through the burning ground, the burst of magic completely disintegrating him, as if he never existed in the first place. The man finally knew how to feel fear as he watched his two replicas disappear, the second burning up in a purple orb that encased him and poisoned him from the inside out. Dark purple eyes stared deep into his panicked irises, the intent swimming in them so clear he knew he already had one foot in the grave.
"L-look, if you let me go, I'll negotiate with my King to end the war!"
The hand around his neck only tightened by the second, and his attempts to break free only angered her even more. Screaming in pain as magic welled up in her hands and dug into his flesh, he could only stare in shock as her pupils dilated and he was slowly murdered. It would be his first and last time seeing a real demon.
With deep, resonating cry as a symbol of power and pain, the Demon stood shrouded in purple, her black tail swishing as she slowly headed in the direction of the main battle.
"There won't be a war. It will be a one-sided annihilation."
Demons run, but count the cost
The battle's won, but the child is lost
When a good man goes to war
