"Lyon." Gray breathed, not believing that his old friend was dead. "Ciella."
"No." Sherry cried, "Are they- How could this happen?"
"They would never give up that easily," Gray convinced himself, making an icy slide that reached to the bottom of the cliff, "let's find them." He quickly jumped down the slide, in search to find both of them.
"Lyon, Ciella. They're gone forever." Sherry continued to sob, before a dark look came over her face, "somebody's gotta pay."
Deeper into the forest in different locations, Jura had come to face down the Oracion Seis member Hoteye, a Mage that uses earth Magic to. And Natsu had returned to Lucy, Hibiki and Erza, who was only falling into a worse state. He quickly woke up Wendy, who panicked and apologised for what Brain made her do, but he was willing to overlook it, if she saved Erza's life. With that, Wendy quickly got to the task of healing their friend.
As with what Wendy had done, the recently revived by Wendy's healing Magic, Jellal Fernandez, once an enemy of Erza, Natsu, Gray and Lucy, was now walking through the forest, towards a large purple emanating light. This was the sealed away state of Nirvana.
But he wasn't alone.
I don't know what it is about this guy, but I can't hear his inner voice, Cobra thought to himself as he was hid out of sight behind a group of rocks, if I could, I wouldn't have to follow him around and spy on him like this.
Suddenly, Jellal came to a stop and stared up at a large tree with chains hanging from it, that had a purple glow emo mating from the trunk.
"I know the Woodsea well," Cobra said to himself, "But I've never seen this place before." Then a look of realisation came across his face, and he smirked, "Looks like brain was onto something, could this be where Nirvana is sealed?"
Then Jellal placed his hand on the trunk, and the glow got brighter, and smoke was released. As Cobra laughed, a strange column of light was shot up into the sky. This weapon, had the ability to turn light into darkness.
At last, we've found it, our future! Cobra shouted in his head.
The light was mixed with a black glow, and swirls of black smoke were sent out over the canopy of the forest.
From their different positions throughout the forest, everyone could see the dark light that had just appeared.
"That beam of light but shot up out of nowhere!" Gray said, and arm across his face to try and keep shielding from the bright glow, "Oh no, don't tell me they've already found Nirvana?!"
From behind him, Sherry looked up at the boy, with a wide eyed, dark look in her eye. Being on the verge of light and darkness itself, Nirvana is sure to have an influence on her.
In the entrance of their hideout, Brain and the recently woken up Midnight watched on.
"So it happened?" Midnight commented.
"Yes," Brain spoke up, "Nirvana, is ours."
Midnight turned his head to his leader whilst saying, "congratulations are in order. Now if you'll excuse me there are some pesky guild wizards I need to eliminate. Don't wait up for me. You should go to the light, father."
Back with Gray and Sherry, Gray was lifting up fallen tree logs out of the way, in search of Lyon and Ciella.
"I know they've got to be around here somewhere."
A dark aura surrounded Sherry, as she thought to herself, someone's gotta pay for what happened to my friend and my love.
"WHERE ARE YOU YOU?! ANSWER ME LYON! CIELLA!" Gray shouted out into the area, but received no answer, "HEY! CAN YOU HEAR ME?! LYON!"
Suddenly, Sherrys eyes widened as they landed on Gray.
He's the one.
Jura and Hoteye's battle had been interrupted due the revelation of Nirvanas wake.
"What happened?" Jura asked, "what's that light?"
"It's Nirvana! Oh yeah!" Hoteye cheered, and Jura turned back to him, "There's no reason for you to get worked up, its main operation hasn't been activated yet. The light simply means its seal has been broken. It's also a sign that we're about to rolling in dough. Oh yeah!" Hoteye explained before laughing to himself childishly.
Fighting this buffoon would be a waste of my time, on the other hand, defeating the Oracion Seis is the sole purpose of our mission. Should I stay here and fight? Or should I go stop Nirvana? Jura thought to himself, internally battling with himself on what to do, and a look of angry distress came into his face.
"Money! MONEY! WE'RE ABOUT TO BECOME INCREDIBLY WEALTHY!" Hoteye shouted, throwing his arms into the air.
Until his eyes widened and he let out noises of struggling and distress. Jura looked confused as he stood there and watched as Hoteye let out a scream, covering his eyes with his hands.
His own eyes then widened.
"What has gotten into him?" He questioned to himself.
After the wake of Nirvana, Natsu ran off in search of Jellal. Erza, who had woken up and suddenly disappeared. Due to the nature of Nirvanas Magic, Hibiki knocked out Wendy, who was blaming herself for the resurrection of Jellal, therefore blaming herself for unlocking Nirvana, so she wouldn't fall prey to the darkness. As Hibiki explained to Lucy, Carla, Iwa and Happy the effect of Nirvanas Magic, Gray had continued searching relentlessly for Lyon and Ciella. But Sherry had summoned a multitude of think vines, her gaze never releasing itself from Gray, who hadn't noticed the change in the woman behind him.
"I feel like a dummy!" Happy exclaimed, "nothing you say makes any sense to me."
"It's actually simple if you think about it." Iwa spoke up to him.
"That's because you are a dummy." Carla intervened, "allow me to spell it out for you, now that Nirvanas seal is broken, it has the power to turn good hearts evil. And those with evil hearts good. Do you get it now blockhead?"
Behind Sherry, her vines had formed into one of her dolls, and the dark look in her eye only grew. Nirvana had effected her because of her need to blame someone for the death of her friends, and there was only one other person around. The negative emotions inside her had caused her good heart to turn evil.
"If only that person didn't exist. Whose fault is it that I'm in pain. Why does this always happen to me? These pessimistic thoughts can attract Nirvana and allow it to take control." Hibiki explained.
Gray was surprised when he suddenly was grabbed from behind by a multitude of vines. "What the-" he cried out as the vibes lifted him into the air and tightened their grip. He groaned in pain as he get himself being squeezed by the vines that were tied around him.
The vines let him go as he fell unconscious, and Sherry only stared into t a blank space in front of her.
"I have avenged you my beloved, sweet Lyon. Both you and Ciella." She said in a dark tone, "who shall be my next victim? One of his friends? Another member of the Fairy Tail guild?"
Hoteye was still holding his head and screaming in pain.
"Money! Money! Money! Money!" He kept repeating over and over.
"It's as if he's been possessed." Jura exclaimed in confusion.
"Moneyyyyyyy" Hoteye screamed out, before sharply bringing his head back to face Jura, a sparkling look in his eye, "is the root of all evil. Oh yeah!"
Juras eyes widened comically, "that's not what you said just a minute ago-"
"You see," Hoteye began to explain whilst crying, "I've been desperately searching for my long lost younger brother. And I thought if I accumulated enough money, I'd be able to find him. Oh yeah. However, I now realise it was foolish of me to think that way. I was wrong."
"Huh?" Jura gasped, his eyes still widened at Hoteye's outburst.
"Jura! Why don't we bury the hatchet and become friends! Oh yeah!" Hoteye cried out, "the world around us is overflowing with love. Oh yeah! Filled to bursting with such sweet compassion. Anything is possible when you have the power of love on your side. Oh yeah!"
He lunged at Jura, pulling him into a tight hug whilst still crying.
"What do you say we work together to put an end to my former comrades plans? We must reach them the wonders of peace, love and harmony. Are you with me?"
Jura was speechless, until he managed to gasp out, "Yeah... Sure."
He was extremely confused with Hoteye's sudden change of attitude.
Eve was desperately running through the forest, firing his snow attacks behind him desperately. He and Ren had decided to split, as they hadn't yet known that Wendy was rescued. Eve had gone off to look for her, whilst Rem headed off to Nirvana.
But that was when Eve ran into one of the Oracion Seis. Suddenly, he was knocked to the ground and the dust cleared to reveal Midnight standing behind him.
"One down and eight to go." Midnight accounted.
"Man, he's so much stronger than me. My magics useless against him." Eve muttered fearfully, after seeing the extent of what Midnights Magic was.
"Hey," Midnight said, walking up and looking down on Eve, "you still alive down there?"
Eve groaned and tried to get to his knees, but all that was heard from him next was a terrified scream, and Midnight saying darkly, "I love watching my prey suffer."
"So whenever Nirvana is fully activated, everybody in the alliance could suddenly turn evil?" Lucy said to Hibiki as they ran through the forest in search of Natsu, Wendy held up on Hibikis back and the cats flying through the air beside them.
"I have one question." Happy spoke up seriously, "I understand the part about it turning us evil, but does that mean it'll turn the dark guild guys good?"
"It's possible," Hibiki said, "but there's no way of knowing for sure. What makes Nirvana truly terrifying is the fact that it can be controlled to do whatever the castor sees fit."
"What?" Lucy questioned.
"Let me explain," Hibiki began again, "let's say that a wizard was to use Nirvana against a guild, they could have the members start killing each other. Or make them go to war with another guild for no reason. And they barely have to lift a finger."
"Seriously?" Lucy said fearfully.
"We've gotta find a way to stop it and fast. Otherwise, the light guilds will be wiped out."
Hibiki, Lucy and the cats had finally caught up to Natsu, to see him on a raft in the river, suffering from his motion sickness, and Gray standing over him with a spear of ice.
But they quickly discerned that it wasn't Gray. But it was Gemini. Soon after, Angel appeared before them, and they discovered that she too was a Celestial Wizard. The fight was tough on Lucy, as Angel had the advantage of knowing how the celestial spirits related to each other, knowledge Lucy did not have.
Aquarius was quickly subdued as Angel summoned Scorpio, Aquarius' boyfriend, and they quickly disappeared off together. Then when Lucy brought Loke, or rather Leo the lion, the leader of the zodiac spirits, forth, Angel had her trump card. She was the one who killed Karen Lilica of Blue Pegasus, Loke's former contractor, and as such, gained all of Karen spirits with the exception of Loke, as he was banished from the celestial spirit world as it was seen he was the one responsible for Karen's death. That was the punishment for a celestial spirit who broke one of their laws. In gaining Karen's spirits, Angel summoned Aries to fight, a dear friend of Loke's who he had protected from Karen's mistreatment.
Despite the two of them being friends, they still fought against each other for their contractors. Angel, not seeing this coming, summoned one of her silver keys, Caelum the chisel. She ordered the spirit to shoot Loke and Aries, sending back to the Celestial Spirit World. Lucy was being beaten, and was almost killed by Gemini.
But Gemini, hearing in Lucy's head and thoughts of how much she loved her spirits. She treated them as friends and not toys or shields. They refused to kill her, which made Angela get, and she dismissed them. Hibiki, who had been on the edge of dark and light after hearing that Angel had been the one to kill Karen, a former friend of his, seemed like he was going to kill Lucy, but instead used his archive to upload spells into Lucy's head. She used one of them, Urano Metria, to finally defeat Angel.
Being defeated, Angel revealed her prayer. To vanish into the sky, like an Angel, pure as white. Lucy, trying to get Natsu off of the raft, had got dragged down the current with him, down the river. They were sent over the edge of the waterfall, leaving behind Hibiki, the cats and Angel.
Further into the forest, Ren had also come to face Midnight, but as the same with Eve, he was easily defeated, Midnights Magic being too powerful for him to combat against.
Erza was running through the forest, required back into her usual armour. She had overheard Natsu mention Jellal, and was trying to find him.
As the sun was setting, Wendy and Carla were talking on a hill away from the battle that we're going on, and Wendy revealed to her feline friend her past with Jellal, and how he had looked after her and they had travelled together after Wendy's dragon had disappeared. She then told her how Jellal had to go off on his own, and that it was too dangerous for Wendy. He left her at the Cait Shelter guild which had resided in a small secluded village, the residence made up of only the guild members. She never saw him again after that. But the Jellal from Wendy's past isn't who it may seem. And Cait Shelter isn't wal hat it may seem either.
Natsu and Lucy had woken up on the shore, wearing different sets of clothes that Lucy's spirit. Virgo had provided them with whilst the were unconscious. They had seen that they were closer to the light of Nirvana, but it changed colour, looking a stark white against the red sky from the sunset. A rustling in the bushes was heard though, startling them, and Sherry emerged, her eyes looking dead.
"Sherry!" Lucy called out, "I'm glad you're alright, but did you have to scare me?"
"Hey I know you," Natsu muttered, a thoughtful look on his face, "weren't you on Bigtuna Island? Where are the dog and the dude with the eyebrows." He said, referring to Sherrys friends Toby and Yuka.
"It was Galuna Island and you've seen her since then." Lucy argued back at Natsus forgetful and dense nature.
"It's all your fault," Sherry said quietly, coming to a stop in front of them, "You Fairy Tail member are to blame."
"Excuse me?" Lucy questioned.
Sherry laughed, and hands made out of the wood from the trees reached out to grab the two Fairy Tail wizards. But icy spikes came up out of the ground and stopped them.
"I've had enough of you!" Gray shouted, running out of the forest and putting his arm around Sherrys neck, and shoving her to the ground.
"Is she okay?" Lucy asked, looking concerned.
"I think she might be possessed." Gray said, looking up at his two friends whilst still holding Sherry down.
"Get off of me." She screeched from under his hold, "you'll pay for what you did to my love and my best friend. You'll never leave this forest."
"She's been acting strange since that light showed up." Gray explained, "have you seen anything weird?"
Natsu looked at him angrily, "Yeah I owe you a kick in the teeth for that trick you pulled."
"Huh?" Gray said confused at what Natsu was meaning.
"Natsu that wasn't really Gray back there." Lucy tried to calm him.
"You won't escape me," Sherry shouted again, "I swear on my life I'll avenge them."
"Avenge us for what exactly?" A familiar smooth voice called from the tree line.
Sherry and Gray gasped at seeing two familiar figures.
"I would've thought you had more faith in us than that." The other figure spoke up.
"Is it really you?" Sherry breathed out in relief.
"Of course, they're a whole lot tougher than they look." Gray said to her, letting her go.
Ciella's P.O.V (flashback)
With all the force I had, I jumped at Racer, wrapping my arms around him, and sending us both off the cliff edge.
I guess I always knew, that my friends would be the death of me.
"No! What are you doing?" Gray shouted.
"No, Ciella, Lyon!" Sherry shouted. Why did she shout to Lyon as well?
As the beeping grew faster, I felt a pair a strong arms wrap themselves around me. It was like everything as in slow motion, as I turned my head to see my friends white hair out the corner of my eye.
No, Lyon, what are you doing? I did this to save you.
Lyon reached his arm past me, encased in ice with a sharp edge, and cut the bomb from Racers torso. But it wouldn't be enough to get us away from the blast. Gathering my thoughts quickly, I focused and encased the three of us in a protective rock covering. Sandwiched between the two of them, I heard and felt the impact of the explosion outside the protective casing. After a couple of seconds I felt us hit the ground before rolling to stop, the rock crumbling away, but the blast was still heading towards us, as it was larger than we thought. Lyon quickly put up a shield of ice in from of us, preventing the blast from coming any further.
I tried to get up, but I had used a lot of my Magic energy creating that barrier around us, and I had already drained quite a lot today as well, using Earth Sense three times as well as fighting against Racer. Not being able to help it, I collapsed on the ground as the explosion dissipated.
"Ciella." I heard Lyons panicked voice, and felt myself get rolled into my back. Looking up, I saw his blurry image kneeling over me, "are you alright?"
"I'm fine," I answered weakly, closing my eyes, "I just need to rest for a bit."
The last thing I heard before falling unconscious was Lyon muttering under his breath, "you're such an idiot."
Third Person P.O.V
Sighing, Lyon stood and wobbled slightly, before bending down and picking Ciella up, slinging her over his shoulder. She was much lighter than he originally thought, but that would just make her easy to carry.
He then walked over and grabbed the collar of the unconscious Racers jacket, and dragging him further into the forest, to get them away from the smoke of the explosion. Finding an alright spot to rest and recover himself, and unceremoniously dropped Racer to the ground, before gently placing Ciella down onto the ground, making sure she wasn't uncomfortable. She looked utterly exhausted and beat up, hair messier than usual, her black vest was torn, exposing her abdomen, scrapes and bruises all over her arms and stomach from Racers hits. The edges of her blue open fronted waistcoat vest were frayed, and her knee high socks had numerous holes in them. The edges of her shorts were ripped and her boots her worn out. He had to admit that he'd never seen her as beat up as this, but it was a tough fight for the both of them.
Looking around the small clearing, he spotted a flash of white. Going I'ver to investigate, he found his jacket that he had lost earlier, but how did it get all the way out here. He wasn't going to question it, and shrugged it on, leaving only his chest and torso revealed.
Sitting himself down against the trunk of tree near Ciella's sleeping form, he thought back to how she didn't even hesitate in shoving herself at Racer and sending them off the cliff. He didn't even know why he had jumped after her, he just knew that he couldn't let his friend die. No matter how many times they argued or got into fights, he still cared for her. She was his friend after all. But thinking back to her doing that, and risking her life to save them, he couldn't help but being up the memories of other times she had done that. It seems to be a recurring thing. Every time they were on a job and found themselves in serious trouble, Ciella would always be the one to instantly risk her life to protect them. Though she's never done something with this high a chance of her actually dying, he still wanted to know why she did it.
Ciella's P.O.V
My eyes fluttered open, and the first thing I noticed was the sun was setting. The second thing I noticed was that i was in a different place than before, I could no longer see the cliff we had just jumped off. The third thing was that Racer was lying unconscious a few metres away. The final thing was that Lyon was staring down at me, seeing that I was awake.
I groaned in pain, holding my head as I sat up. That's fight really took it out of me.
"Why must you be so stupid?" I heard Lyons voice reverberate into my ears.
I glared up at him, not really in the mood for him staring a fight, "Nows really not the best time to be starting a fight Lyon." I told him.
"I'm not trying to start a fight. I'm simply asking a question. Why must you be so stupid?" He retorted.
"And what exactly does that mean?"
A silence fell over the two of us, neither of us saying anything, until Lyon broke it by sighing.
"I'm talking about you always doing something like this." I looked up to him in confusion, wondering what he was meaning, "I mean you risking your life like that. Every single job we go on that has ended up with us getting into serious trouble, you're always the one that has put your life at risk to save the rest of us. It was no different on that cliff, except that this time there was a very high possibility of you dying. I want to know why you do it. Why you're always the one to risk your own life without even thinking."
He was getting louder as he went on, taking on a more demanding tone in his voice. I sighed and looked down, crossing my legs.
"Why do you care now? It's not like you've ever said anything about it in the past." I said bitterly.
Looking up into his eyes, a moment of tension passed between us, before he was the one to look away.
"Because you could have actually died this time. And I don't want to lose you." He paused for a moment, "no matter how many times we may argue or get into fights, that doesn't dispel the fact that you've become one of my closest friends, and I care about you. So please, tell me why you do it. I want to know."
The silence befell the area around us again, before I lifted my knees up and hugged them to body.
"Let me ask you something Lyon, what do you see when you look at me?"
He gave a startle look before asking, "what's that got to do with it?"
"Just answer it Lyon. When you first met me, first got to know me, what exactly did you see?"
There was slight pause before Lyon answered, "I saw someone who may have seemed distant at first, but was actually caring once you got to know her. I saw a powerful wizard who never let her friends go-"
"There you have it." I interrupted him.
"What?"
"'A powerful wizard'. That's what people think of about me. People who have only seen me a the student of the wizard Saint Jura, they've thought that the student of him must be extremely powerful if he's the one teaching her. But they don't know what I was like before I came to Lamia Scale."
"What does that mean?" I looked up at him to see the curious look in his eye.
"I haven't always been this way," I began, "when I was younger, and first had the dragon Lacrima implanted in me, it was supposed to give me the power of a Dragon Slayer. But the thing is, I had trouble harnessing and controlling that power. I found that I could never use it at will."
"So you had trouble with using magic? What's that got to do with it?" Lyon questioned. I looked away, distantly remembering what happened.
"Everything." I continued to explain, "because I could never use my own Magic to defend myself, my brother was always the one that had to protect me after our foster father Metalicana disappeared. Every time we ran into trouble, he'd always be the one risking his life to protect me. And I could never return the favour. All because my magic was both difficult to use and unpredictable."
I paused before finishing the story, "there's the answer to your question. I risk my life because I want to protect those I care about, because I couldn't help protect my brother when I was younger. It's my way of redeeming that. I care about all of you. You, Sherry, Toby, Yuka, and Jura. I want to be there for all of you because I don't want any of you to die. So there you have it."
"I see." Was all he said, before silence fell over us again, neither of us willing to break it. Until Lyon was the perpetrator once more by standing up, and holding a hand out to me.
"Come on, we should get moving to find the others." I nodded and took his hand, allowing him to help me to my feet. But I had my own question, which I voiced as he turned around to head towards Racer who still lay on the floor.
"Wait, now that I've answered your question, I want you to answer mine."
He stopped in his tracks and turned his head to the side to look back at me.
"What is it?"
"Why did you jump after me?"
He was silent for a while, before speaking up.
"I wanted to make sure you didn't die."
I looked at him, feeling tears well up slightly.
"You may be willing to risk your life for us, but have you ever thought about how it would affect us if you did die one of these days? We would all grieve. We would never be the same, because we all care about you to. None of us would want you to die for us. We're all there for each other, and don't you forget that." I lowered my head, feeling a stray tear leave a snap path running down my face.
Running up to Lyon, I wrapped my arms around his torso, not even caring about his reaction. He stiffened slightly as I leaned into his back.
"You're a good friend Lyon. Thank you." I whispered quietly.
I felt him relax, before I felt a warm hand place itself over one of my own.
"No, I should be thanking you. All of you. You, Sherry, Yuka and Toby have all shown me how important friends are. I'd do anything for any of you."
We stood like that for a bit of time, before I let my arms release Lyon, and he turned to me, placing his hands on my shoulders.
"Don't you dare ever do something as stupid as that again."
I nodded, letting my head fall.
"Come on," he said, turning and grabbing the back of Racers jacket, "let's go find the others now."
I followed him, smiling, before saying, "first, let me find a decent rock to eat."
And soon enough, after I had gained some energy back from eating the rock, we found who we were looking for.
"It was closer than we'd care to admit," Lyon began to explain to them, "even after I put some distance between us and the bomb, it took everything we had to keep the blast at bay."
"It took us both a while to recover."
"It sounds as if you two had as rough a time as we did." Lucy commented.
"Wow Natsu, where'd you find that getup?" Lyon teased, noticing the change of clothes Natsu had been provided with, a blue shirt with yellow strips on it, a white sash around his hips and orange trousers. And of am course his scaly scarf was still around his neck.
Well, at least I know he's back to his normal self.
"Why?! You jealous?!" Natsu shouted in annoyance.
"I seriously doubt that's the case." Lucy commented.
That's when Sherry collapsed, tears in her eyes, and mumbling something about love. Black smoke then rose out of her body.
"Woah what's that?" Natsu asked.
"I told you guys she seemed like she was possessed." Gray answered.
Oh Sherry, what did you get yourself into?
"No kidding," Lucy mumbled, before looking at the white light in the distance, "we're running out of time."
She was right. We needed to stop the Oracion Seis. And soon to.
Preview
Oracion Seis Arc: Chapter 8 - Nirvanas Wake
The allied forces must continue to work together to take down the rest of the Oracion Seis members. Half of them have been defeated, and only three remain. Or so they thought. And as Nirvanas final stages true form is revealed, it's a race against time to destroy it, before it reaches its target. The Cait Shelter guild.