Ciella's P.O.V
We had won. The Oracion Seis were all defeated. Zero was defeated. Nirvana was destroyed. We all just stood there, watching as Nirvana crumbled to the ground. After a long and extremely tough battle, we could finally say that it was over.
All of us there by Christina's wreckage cheered when we saw it go down.
"We won!" I shouted to Lyon, grabbing him and pulling him into a hug. I could feel him stiffen at the suddenness and pulled back, "oh, erm, sorry." I apologised awkwardly scratching the back of my head.
"No it's fine." He said giving a small chuckle.
"Ciella!" I heard a voice cry, and a bundle of fur flying into me knocked me to the floor. I winced as I felt a pain in my side. Well, I would be surprised if I didn't have a couple of cracked ribs. Iwa then sat up on my stomach, "we won Ciella!" She cheered and I laughed with her.
"Yes we did." I said, sitting up and giving my friend a hug. It was finally over.
But suddenly our good moods died down when Hibiki asked, "but how do we know the others made it out alive?"
I looked to where Nirvana had once stood. All of them. Jura. Erza. Natsu, Gray and Lucy. Wendy. Carla and Happy. Ichiya. Even Jellal and Hoteye. They were all up there when it went down. But knowing them, they wouldn't have given up. Somehow, I knew they were still around.
"I have a feeling they're all alive." I spoke up in the silence.
Sherry smiled at me, "I get that feeling to, those pesky fairies never give up."
"And we all know that Jura would've gotten himself out." Lyon agreed.
"Master Ichiya would never us down like that." Eve spoke up timidly.
"Yeah." Ren continued.
"I'm sure they all made it out." Hibiki stated with a smile.
"But I could use Earth Sense to check for definite if you want." I joked after a pause.
Lyon scoffed at this, hitting me over the back the head lightly, "yeah, like we're going to let you use anymore magic energy after saving us like that. I doubt you even have any magic energy left like the rest of us."
"Ow." I said lightly, laughing, "I was joking you know."
"Yeah, I know, but it sometimes takes a lot to get something into your thick skull." He continued on, and I stood up at that.
"You wanna say that again Ice For Brains!" I said angrily.
"You heard exactly what I said Dirtmonger."
"Here they go again." I heard an exasperated Sherry sigh. But before our fight could go any further, our injuries began to play up, and I felt a pain in my side. I heard Lyon wince as well clutching his shoulder.
"For now, I think we should get our rest before setting out to find the others." Hibiki laughed. I smiled before finding a tree nearby to rest against, and sat down leaning my back against it.
Iwa sat down beside me, giving me a knowing smirk.
"What?" I asked her.
She climbed up and whispered in my ear, "you liiiiike him." She looked over to Lyon who was sitting at his own tree across the clearing.
"Shut it you stupid cat. We're just friends." I whispered back in disbelief at her actions. Where did she get this ridiculous idea from?
"Don't deny it. You totally doooo-"
"Don't know about you Iwa, but I'm totally beat." I interrupted my partner, changing the subject.
"I'm actually alright now Ciella, thank you so much for asking." She replied sarcastically. I shook my head. This cat.
After a few hours of sleep, i woke and looked up to the sky to see the sun was about to rise. Getting up from my sitting position, I began to climb the tree I was leaning against so I would get a better view. I always loved to watch the sunrise, I suppose this was a reflex of always getting up early to watch it, despite how extremely tired I was.
I managed to get to quite a high branch and sat on it without too much trouble from my injuries, getting a clearer view from of the sky. My attention was so focused on it I didn't even hear someone coming to join me until they spoke up.
"What are you doing all the way up here?" I jumped at hearing my friends voice, looking to see Lyon standing on the branch below, holding the branch I sat on for support.
"Watching the sunrise." I told him, turning back to face the sky.
"Why do you always do that. It's always gonna be the same anyway. The sun rises, that's it."
"No," I disagreed with him, "every sunrise is different, yes. But I have a feeling this ones going to be extra special."
"If you say so." He said adeptly. He'll see. Just in a few minutes.
I was right. The sunrise that morning was special. The sky glowed such a bright crimson, and it flooded the whole sky with its light. For some reason, it reminded me of Erza's hair, and made me wonder if the others were watching this. I hoped they were, it brought a sense of hope. The world is age once more, and it forever will be.
"It's beautiful." I breathed.
"You're right, it is." Lyon spoke up, and I smirked and turned to him.
"Is this you admitting that I was right before?"
"I never said that." He quickly defended himself.
"You literally just sai-"
"Oh shut up."
We both laughed, and we were sat like that for a while, watching the sun rise higher. Until it was time to go and look for the others.
We had agreed to head to the nearest civilisation in hopes of finding them, hoping that they would've headed there as well. And that turned out to be the Cait Shelter guild hall. We were right, once we got there, we found the others waiting for us.
They told us what had happened. Natsu had faced down Zero with the help of Jellal, who had gotten Wendy to destroy the Lacrima he was assigned. And he wins against him. All the Lacrima were destroyed, and they all managed to escape in time. Jura had found Wendy and Carla and gotten them out, and Hoteye had helped out Jellal and Natsu. The others managed to find their own ways.
But that was when an army of rune knights from the newly reformed magic council, along with a captain of one of their custody enforcement units, Lahar. They had taken all the Oracion Seis members into custody, including Hoteye. Jura had promised him to keep searching for his younger brother for him, and it turns out that his brother is and old friend of Erza's. They also took Jellal, arresting him for his past crimes against the council and the world. Then they just left, leaving a heartbroken Erza.
But now here we were, at the Cait Shelter guild, where they let us recuperate and rest whilst out injuries healed. They also provided us with some new clothes. But I wasn't too sure about them.
"Ooh, this is adorable." I heard Lucy squeal as she looked at the new outfit she had on. A dark pink bikini top, with a long white and dark pink skirt with a slit up the thigh. She had a yellow choker on that had white sashes hanging off, wrapped around her back and stomach. Her hair was tied back in two braids with a pink flower at each side.
"Yeah yeah, you look cute and all. But you're not nearly as sexy as me." Sherry said as she admired the outfit she had been provided with. A red strapless tube top that had orange dots and patterns on it, and fringes at the bottom. She wore a purple skirt with white frills and some red material hanging down the front, tied up with a pale mint green sash at the top, blacK leggings underneath. On her arms were pale cream coloured sleeves that had material hanging down from them, hm giving the impression of wings.
"Everyone in the village is a member of the guild." Wendy piped up. She looked absolutely adorable in her green halter neck, open backed dress that three arrows like stripes running up and down at the top, coloured in pastel blue, green and yellow, "Cait Shelters famous for its pretty textiles and clothes."
"These clothes are pretty and all, but do I have to wear them? They're not exactly me." I piped up from behind the curtain that was behind the mirror.
"Oh just come out already Ciella." Sherry said exasperatedly.
"Fine." I groaned, before stepping out to reveal myself dressed in a dark blue coloured one-sleeved crop top, a white sash wrapped around both arm. On my bottom half was a short skirt like Sherrys, except mine was a light cream colour, and had a red sash tied off at the side. I had bandages wrapped around my waist and non-sleeved arm covering up the wounds I had gained.
My feet were also covered black sandals that wrapped around my calves up to my knees. Instead of being all over the place like usual, the top half of my hair was braided back, courtesy of Sherry.
"Oh, Ciella, you look amazing. Those clothes suit you so much." Sherry squealed.
"Really?" I asked sarcastically.
"Here come look." She guided me to the mirror to see my reflection.
"Well, at least they're my colours." I said in defeat.
"So are these like, traditional Nirvit styles?" Lucy asked Wendy.
"I never really thought of it that way before. But I guess it makes the most sense huh." Wendy replied.
Sherry turned to face her, "I still can't believe that you didn't know that everyone in this guild but you is a descendant of the Nirvit."
"Well yeah, I am the only one that joined after it was formed." Wendy reminded her.
"Come try this on Erza," Lucy turned to the red head sitting with her arms crossed, "I know how you live a costume change."
Erza looked up, before saying sadly, "yes, I suppose."
Lucy looked down sadly.
"And I'm guessing you don't know when Caut Shelter joined the league of guilds along with the others do you?" Sherry continued to ask Wendy, "I don't want to be rude, but I hadn't even heard of your guild before we were all thrown together. I know every guild can't be as popular as mine but still-"
"Sherry." I scolded, cutting her off an hitting her arm. She looked at me and shrugged and I just shook my head and rolled my eyes. I love this girl, but she can be a pain in the butt sometimes.
"Come to think of it," Lucy spoke up, "I hadn't either."
"Oh I don't know," Wendy spoke up before sweat dropping and fidgeting her fingers, "wow I didn't realise we were so obscure."
"This is all very interesting, but everyone is waiting on us." Carla reminded.
After Erza got changed, we headed outside to stand with everyone else. And as soon as Iwa caught site of me, she started laughing.
"That's right," I told her off, sarcastically, "laugh it off. Totally not killing my self esteem here."
We stood together, in front of the rest of the Cait Shelter guild, Wendy and Carla stood beside their master.
"Fairy Tail. Blue Pegasus. Lamia Scale. Not to mention Wendy and Carla. I commend your efforts in not only defeating the Oracion Seis but saving out r village from Nirvanas wrath." Their guild master spoke up, "speaking as a representative of our regional guild league, I Roubal, offer my deepest gratitude. Thank you. We are in your debt." He held a hand to his chest, bowing slightly.
"We were happy to help you! Master Roubaul." Ichiya spoke up, dropping into his weird Interpretive dance mode, and I groaned, "it was a hard won victory, against a ferocious opponent. But in the deepest and darkest depths of the spell, light shined down on us. It was the bright and warming glow of true friendship! We followed it all the way to victory!"
"Well said master!" The Trimens clapped.
"Mehn."Ichiya breathed.
"Does anyone give me the permission to punch that guy in the face?" I asked.
"Please do." Lyon encouraged me.
"Don't Ciella." Jura warned and I sighed. I just really wanted to punch him in the face because he was starting to annoy me.
"The bright and warming glowed probably coming from the spotlight he's hogging." Gray deadpanned.
"No joke." Lucy agreed, "And by the way did he even fight anyone?"
"I suppose it over now." Sherry said to us from next to me. I smiled sadly at that. There might not be a chance in a while that I'd get to work with these people again.
"You three should know, I'm proud of you." Jura said, putting his arm round my shoulders and clutching both Sherry and Lyons shoulders.
"Thank you sir." Lyon said.
"Yeah, thank you." I smiled up at my mentor.
"Hey!" Natsu shouted, his fist in the air, "we deserve a victory party!"
"Aye sir!" Happy jumped up to agree with him.
Then the weirdest thing happened that I'm really don't want to relive. But Ichiya and the Trimens burst into the bizarre routine, Ichiya holding a carrot up like a microphone. Like I said, weird.
"Party sounds great!" Gray exclaimed, and suddenly, he was shirtless.
"Please keep your clothes on!" Lucy shouted, eyes wide. Lyon laughed and he was shirtless to, again. "You to buddy!"
So I did what I do best. I punched them both in the face.
They stumbled back slightly from the force, before Lyon recovered and turned back to me.
"Hey what was that for?"
"Yeah, why'd you punch us?" Gray asked.
"If I remember correctly, during our fight wit Racer, I said, and I quote, 'Please refrain from stripping in front of me before I punch you both in the face.' I was just making good on my word." I explained with a casual shrug.
"So is Cait Shelter feeling like getting down?" Ichiya asked while the Trimens kept chanting "oh yes!" While doing their weird little dance.
Even Lucy, Gray and Natsu joins in and I couldn't help but laugh. Wendy then shouted out, but realised the rest of her guild was standing still, blank looks on their faces. Everyone immediately paused in their tracks at seeing this
A long pause overcame the atmosphere, as everyone began to question in their heads what was going on.
"I'm truly sorry." Roubaul began, "I've neglected my duty to tell you about the Nirvit people. Lease accept my sincere apology."
"Well it's not like that's going to stop us from partying!" Happy cried out. By the looks on their faces, I don't think that's what they were meaning.
"But we'll listen to whatever you might have to say." Natsu finished, he turned to Happy, "right."
"Aye, sir."
I saw Roubaul turn to face Wendy, "it's alright master," she reassured, "you don't have to tell us if you don't want to."
"It is important that I ask everyone to please listen closely to the tale I am about to tell." Roubaul turned to all of us, "first let me clear the air about something. The truth is we are not descendants of the Nirvit people."
"What?" Wendy questioned with a gasp.
"Indeed we are the Nirvits themselves." My eyes widened. These people. They were the Nirvits? The ones who created Nirvana and sealed it away? "And many yeas ago, four hundred to be exact, Nirvana was created, fashioned by my hands."
"By you?" Lyon questioned.
"I don't believe it." I heard Lucy say.
"Four hundred years ago?" Happy looked confused. We all were.
"How can this be?" I said under my breath.
"I thought I'd my dream of Nirvana was made a reality," Roubaul continued to explain, "I could end the vastly wars tearing the world apart. I would do so by reversing the morality of those whose minds were set on the destruction of others. We made our home there, and we took great joy of what we'd accomplished through peace. We were a shining beacon of light in a once shadowy world. However, despite our best intentions we could not change the fact that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Nirvana had brought light to what was once a terrible darkness, not by chasing it away but by absorbing it so to speak. The work yearns for balance and order. The light serves no purpose without the darkness. And vice versa. Light is born from darkness, and darkness is born from light. The two are forever intertwined."
"Yeah that's exactly how it played out for us." Gray said, a thoughtful look on his face.
"All the world evil, taken from those whose hearts were once consumed with it, was transferred to the peace loving Nirvit."
"It was." Wendy spoke up quietly.
"It was a nightmare." Roubaul continued, closing his eyes, "engulfed in rage and hatred, we slaughtered each other until no one was left standing."
I heard Ichiya make a sound of disbelief, I couldn't quite believe it myself. A once peaceful people consumed by the flames of war and darkness. So tragic.
"That's not quite true," Roubaul opened his eyes again, "for I am the only survivor. Then again in this particular situation the word survivor is a little misleading. In truth my body had ceased to function many years ago. What you see before you now is a projection of the man I once was."
Wendy gasped at this. I knew this must be extremely hard on her to hear. These were the people she had grown up with for the past several years.
"As punishment for my sins, I this powerless spirit have stood assembled over my creation for four hundred years. Keeping my weary eyes open for the one who at last could destroy Nirvana, and consign it to the pages of history," he then gave a small smile, "and now, my pause can be vacated for that person has been found." He finished gravely.
"No. Why didn't you tell me?" Wendy questioned.
Roubaul let out a small noise, and all around, the people of the Cait Shelter guild began to shimmer and disappear. My eyes widened at this, only imagining how heartbreaking this must be for Wendy.
"What's happening?!" She cried out fearfully, seeing those she grew up with disappear. They were her family, "Don't go!"
"You can't just leave us!" Carla called out indignantly, "Magana! Babelle!"
"Everyone's disappearing, right in front of our eyes." Hibiki said disbelievingly.
"Why are you doing this?" Wendy sobbed, tears falling from her eyes as she watched her family disappear before her eyes, "please don't go!"
"I've deceived you Wendy, for that I am deeply sorry." Roubaul apologised, "all your fellow guild members were spectres. They we're nothing but illusions."
"Are you kidding me!" Natsu shouted out.
"Illusions with their own personalities?" Lyon questioned.
"That takes powerful creation magic." Jura informed.
"That poor girl." I breathed out, looking at Wendy heartbrokenly crying out.
The illusions kept on disappearing, becoming less and less, and Roubaul spoke up again, "for many years, I lived in this deserted village alone, always keeping a watchful eye over Nirvana. Until one day a boy came to me, with a companion needing help." Wendy's eyes widened in a realisation of something, "his eyes burned with such intensity and sincerity that I simply had no choice but to take the little girl in. I had resigned myself to a solitary existence, but there she was. I filled the village with apparitions o she wouldn't be alone."
"So you created an entire guild just for Wendy?" Lucy asked, a hand over her mouth.
"No one I cared for was a real person?! How could you do something so cruel to me master?!" Wendy screamed out, her hands on her head. I feel tears welling up in my eyes at the sight. This little girl was losing everything so fast.
"Don't fret my dear. Calm down." Master Roubaul was finally the last remaining one of the guild members, "neither you nor Carla need those imaginary friends." He pointed to Wendy who stood in front of all of us, "you're surrounded by real friends who care for you." He gave off a soft chuckle, as he too started to shimmer, and Wendy's cries grew louder, "a bright future awaits you. Embrace it with open arms."
As he disappeared, Wendy ran towards him, "master!" She screamed out.
"To each and every one of you, I owe my deepest gratitude. I know I can leave Wendy and Carla in your hands."
He finally disappeared into a cloud of shimmering dust, and was blown away into the air. Wendy continued to sob, as her blue guild mark faded from her arm. She fell to her knees, shouting out for her guild master. Everyone of us stood watching the heartbreaking scene. She had lost everything, in such a short space of time, her whole family. A family, a guild that was made for her. A guild for one.
Finally, Erza came up and kneeled behind her, placing a hand into Wendy's shoulder in comfort, as the little girl sobbed.
"I know all too well," she spoke up, "the pain of losing a loved one. But you'll heal. We'll help you." Wendy looked back at her, tears falling freely from her eyes, "come with us, be a part of Fairy Tail."
Wendy had decided to take up Erza's offer, and agreed to join Fairy Tail. We were still at the Cait Shelter guild, saying our goodbyes and getting ready to leave. Fairy Tail themselves were about to go to take a ship back to Magnolia.
"Mehn. May your parfum grace my nostrils again Miss Erza. And miss Lucy." Ichiya said, still striking out his weird poses.
"Be sure to come visit us whenever you feel like it." Eve offered.
"When you do be prepared for the best night Blue Pegasus can offer." Alright, if you could stop with the flirting Hibiki that would be great.
"Give my warmest regards to Master Makarov." Jura smiled at them.
"Oh and Gray, fix that stripping habit." Lyon teased lightly.
"Like you have any room to talk ya bonehead." Gray commented back. Of course, they were both shirtless again. I was seriously getting tired of this.
"Do you guys seriously need to punch you again? Or do I need to make good on my other threat." I piped up from next to Lyon. They both sweat dropped and I felt pretty proud of myself.
"Question," Lucy appeared out of nowhere, "what do we do about those two?"
She was staring at the other side of the room where Sherry and Ren were staring each other down and blushing, Sherry with her arms crossed and Ren with a hand in his pocket.
"Well, aren't you running off with your little friends?" Sherry questioned.
"Yeah, and just so you know I'm not gonna miss you." Ren said back to her. Oh, something definitely happened between those two.
"Sherry?" Lyon questioned.
"Ren?" Eve questioned.
"They're so in looove." Happy and Iwa piped up at the same time. I laughed, but yet I had thought going through my head. Seeing what happened with Wendy, it's made me realise how important family really is. I think it's about time I-
"Are you alright Ciella? You look troubled." My thoughts were interrupted as Jura placed his hand on my shoulder.
I sighed. I'll need to ask him first. So I looked up at him.
"Yeah, but I was just wondering. With your permission, would I be able to travel back with the Fairy Tail guild to Magnolia? I've decided there's something I need to do."
"I understand. You may go."
"Thanks Jura."
With that, I said my goodbyes to the guys from Blue Pegasus, and quickly said goodbye to Lyon and Sherry for the time being. They asked where I was going, so I explained that there was someone I needed to see. I had ordered Iwa to go back to the guild with them, claiming that this was something I needed to do on my own. This was long awaited after all.
Then I caught up to the Fairy Tail wizards, who were just about to board the boat.
"Hey guys, is there any possibility that I could travel back with you? There's someone in your guild I need to see." I asked them.
"Who would you need to see from our guild?" Natsu asked suspiciously.
"Are you really that dense Natsu?" Gray deadpanned.
"Who did she tell us her brother was?" Lucy explained to him.
A look of realisation came over his face. "Oh. Ohhhhh."
"Yes, it's fine, you may come with us. I'm sure your brother would be happy to see you." Erza said, a smile on her face.
I have my own smile, and boarded the boat with them. I was worried about my motion sickness, but Wendy cast a spell on me that would prevent that for a while. It was fun seeing the antic a these guys get up to, and the whole journey they were telling me about stories of their journeys. They even told me their side of the tale of what happened on Galuna Island. Lucy also told me about gaining three new Celestial keys from this mission. Angels old zodiac spirits whose contracts with her were broken now she was locked up. Scorpio, Aries and Gemini. Hearing these stories about Fairy Tail made me smile. It was good to know that my brother was in a guild full of these kinds of people. It would be good for him.
Looking off into the distance, I sighed. Here I come Gajeel, I just hope your not angry with me. But I think you just might be. And if so, I'm sorry. But I'm coming to see you again.
Preview
Chapter 11 - Big Brother
Ciella and the others arrive in Magnolia, and after three long years, Ciella is finally reunited with her older brother. But just how will he react?