CHAPTER 7:

SWANSONG

They found themselves learning at Kunugi Station that Eisenwald had hijacked the train, booting off the passengers, and making off with it. The army was investigating. "Why a train?" Lucy mused. "You have a great deal more freedom to travel with a carriage or a car like this, or a boat."

"It's obvious," Gray muttered grimly. "Trains have the advantage of speed. They're trying to get somewhere quickly enough to do maximum damage."

"The army's been called in, so they should be caught soon," Lucy muttered. "Or at least located."

"I hope you're right, Lucy," Erza said as they drove away. "The next station is Oshibana, and that's quite a large town. If we're lucky, they'll have stopped there…and we can get to them before they can figure out how to use Lullaby…"

As they skidded around a corner, heading through the outskirts of Oshibana, Gray yelled, "Erza, slow down! The SE plug is swelling!"

"Let it!" Erza snarled. "If they play Lullaby, people will die en masse! And we don't know exactly what they want! It could be just an attack on the populace, or maybe they have political targets in mind! We may be in for a lot of strife!"

"And if you push this thing too hard, you'll use up your magic! We may need that!" Gray snapped.

"I'll fight them with a damned splintery stick if I have to, and in any case, I have you to watch my back!" Erza snapped back.

They found themselves outside Oshibana Station, where a large crowd had gathered. The army was cordoning off the area, and a station guard was announcing some cockamamie story about maintenance dealing with a derailed train. Erza pushed through, the others in tow (including a part-comatose Natsu), and demanded, of the guard, "What's the situation?!"

"Who're you?" the guard asked, only for Erza to headbutt the man.

"Erza!" Lucy protested.

"I need someone with quick answers!" Erza snapped, and seemed about to repeat, only for her next target to yelp.

"Okay, okay! An army platoon went in to face off against attackers from Eisenwald, but hadn't returned!" the guard babbled. "The Eisenwald guys haven't come out either!"

After a moment, Erza said, "We're from Fairy Tail. We'll try to deal with the situation." And with that, she marched up the stairs, Lucy and the others following.

As they did so, Lucy noted the soldiers, some dead, others injured, sprawled on the stairs. "An entire platoon wiped out?" Lucy asked.

"Their opponents were the entirety of a wizard guild," Erza noted grimly. "Ordinary soldiers couldn't take those on…"

They headed to the platform, finding the Eisenwald members gathered near the train they hijacked, with a thin, lanky man wielding a scythe perched on top of the train. Lucy recognised him from descriptions of Erigor. "Welcome, Fairy Tail," the man said contemptuously, peering at them with sunken eyes. "We've been eagerly awaiting your arrival."

"Erigor," Erza muttered.

Lucy hurriedly began jostling Natsu awake, only for the familiar voice of the man who had attacked her and Natsu on the train to sneer, "You pesky flies! Because of you, I…"

"Calm down, Kage!" one of his comrades snapped.

Natsu began to sit up. "That voice…"

Erza glared at Erigor. "And what are you after? Your answer determines what I do with you."

Erigor sneered. "We're just playing. We don't get much work, so we've got time to kill. Oops, bad pun." As his guild laughed, Erigor used wind music to fly into the air. "Of course, you idiots are really dense if you don't realise how special this station is." After a moment, Erigor flew over to a PA loudspeaker, saying, "Bzzt! Time's up!"

Erza and Lucy caught on simultaneously. "You're going to broadcast Lullaby!" they yelled simultaneously.

Erigor laughed, his malevolent mirth echoing around the stilled station. "How many people are gathered outside? Hundreds? Thousands? If I play it loud, over these speakers, those imbeciles will be dropping like flies! Maybe the whole town would die off!"

"You bastard!" Erza snapped. "You're talking about mass murder!"

"I'm talking about a purge!" Erigor sneered back. "The removal of people who don't know or care about the removal of the rights of others! They tout their own rights and only work to preserve their own way of life! It's a sin to live in ignorance of the follies and inequalities of this world, and the Reaper will mete out this just punishment! AND THE SENTENCE IS DEATH!"

As Erigor perched near one of the massive windows, Lucy retorted, "This is rich, coming from the people who take others' lives with abandon! Hypocrite!"

"Pot, meet Kettle," Erigor laughed. "We're here for our right to rule, and when we do, we can turn the past into a palimpsest, and take absolute control of the future!"

Lucy, after a moment, said quietly to Erza, "Can you fly?"

"No."

"Okay. I can, and I'm ready to try Trance again. Do you want me to teach him the gravity of the situation?"

Erza shot Lucy a smile. "By all means…but be careful. He's not called the Reaper out of hyperbole."

"Oh no you don't!" Kage yelled, about to hit her, only for Natsu to attack.

With that, as Natsu and the others prepared to fight, Lucy called up to Erigor, "Okay, you've got a choice. Either you come down here and fight like a man, or I come up there!"

The Reaper of Eisenwald sneered. "Big words, little girl. I want you to try and bring me down to your level."

"Right." And with that, Lucy leapt into the air, falling into Trance, and speeding at Erigor, whose eyes widened comically as Lucy yelled, "Demi!"

The dark orb of energy pressed Erigor to the ledge in front of the window. As Lucy landed on the ledge, he grunted, "What…what the hell was that?"

Lucy didn't respond, save by intoning, "Stop." Erigor froze. And then, Lucy began rifling through his clothes. It took some time, but she finally managed to fish the Lullaby flute out. She then flew out into the middle of the station. She held it up. To the Eisenwald members who stared at her in astonishment, she yelled, "You see this? Well, say goodbye to Lullaby!" And with that, she tossed it straight up into the air, and then concentrated, before unleashing her most potent spell on it.

"ULTIMA!"

The glowing orb of azure energy enveloped the demonic flute, raw magical power growing in size, before detonating in a brilliant flash, the explosion pushing Lucy back, as well as shattered the windows of the station, glass raining down everywhere. Shrieks from the Eisenwald mages, pretty amusing considering that they were willing to be party to mass murder, erupted.

But as Lucy blinked the flare of light from her eyes, she realised that it wasn't going to be easy.

The flute was charred, smoke pouring from it…but not ordinary smoke. It was an oddly-coloured smoke. And the flute itself seemed to be twisting and warping as she watched. Then, as it began to fall, it snarled, in a flanging, demonic voice, "You…you shall be the first I will feast on!"

Lucy watched in horror as the flute began changing, growing in size until it became a twisted, demonic form that reached up to the vast roof of the station platform they were in. It looked like something grown out of gnarled wood, with three eyes set in a leering face, holes in its torso and arms, hunched over. "And you will be but the beginning! I will feast on the souls of everyone here, in this station, in this city, and across the world!"

There was only one answer Lucy had to such a pronouncement, even as she saw Erza change her armour in a strobe of light.

"Flare."

Orange particles of energy coalesced around Lullaby's demonic form, only to explode outwards in a contained magical explosion. Erza, now equipped with winged, rather exposing armour, surrounded by swords, began attacking. Natsu and Gray leapt into the fray themselves, while most of Eisenwald, Lucy noted with disgust, were either cowering or fleeing. However, the one named Kage, after a moment's hesitation, attacked Lullaby.

Suddenly, Lucy found herself grabbed from behind. "You bitch," Erigor's voice snarled. "You tried to make a fool of me, Erigor the Reaper. Well, I…GURK!"

The reason for his interruption was that Lucy had used a Thundaga spell on him, causing the Reaper of Eisenwald to convulse, and then drop to the ground, whereupon one of his underlings caught him. Lucy fired off another Stop spell to keep them from getting away, before she returned to the fray, firing off spells at Lullaby.

"INSECTS!" Lullaby roared. "I WILL MAKE A FEAST OF ALL YOUR SOULS!"

"NOW!" Gray yelled, and with that, Gray, Erza, Natsu, and Lucy fired off their strongest attacks, Lucy firing off another Ultima. The beast roared in agony, before it stiffened, and toppled, demolishing a good chunk of the railway station in the process…

The wrath of the authorities was partially mitigated by the fact that they handed over Eisenwald, though some had already fled, and a few who had had a change of heart, like Kage, willingly handed themselves in. Erigor, once the Stop spell had worn off, had ranted and raved about how his chance to kill the Guild Masters had been stolen from him. Apparently, the real plan was to use Oshibana as a decoy, and then have Erigor flee to the nearby town Clover, where the Guild Masters were having their meeting. He would have trapped any pursuers in Oshibana using his wind magic.

They eventually made it back to Magnolia after giving their statements (well, everyone but Natsu and Happy, having no patience for anything remotely like proper procedure) and enduring the wrath of the authorities. Still, the demolition of the train station was a relatively small price to pay, considering what chaos could have been unleashed by one of Zeref's artifacts in Oshibana…or on Clover.

They had to wait a while longer for Makarov to make it back from his meeting. Erza reiterated her promise to have her sparring match with Natsu before long, and even set a date a few days' hence. However, she seemed to want to talk to Lucy shortly afterwards.

"You acquitted yourself very well. That magic you used was impressive," the magic knight said. "And your plan to destroy Lullaby was…well, good, considering we did not know it would turn into that demon. Was that your most powerful spell?"

"Pretty much, but as you saw, it caused quite a bit of collateral damage, even before I hit the demon proper with it," Lucy said. "And my Trance form boosts my magic and other attributes."

The redhead looked Lucy up and down appraisingly, before she nodded. "While targeting Erigor like that was risky, you took him by surprise, and used what you could to ensure he wasn't a threat. Well done. Especially given what he planned. That being said, word will spread of your abilities. And you're not invincible."

"I know. Believe me, I know that better than anyone here," Lucy said quietly.

Erza frowned at such a pronouncement. "I spoke to Mira. She said that your father is Jude Heartfilia. I apologise if this sounds demeaning, but I would have thought such a lifestyle as yours must have been would have left you less prepared for situations like this."

Lucy shook her head. "Erza…you don't know much about me. One day, I could trust you enough to tell you more. Or maybe if Master Makarov or Mirajane trust you enough, they can tell you. Or Loke."

After a moment, Erza nodded. "I understand. There are things from my past that I do not wish shared. I would prefer to earn your trust than to go behind your back. However, I am curious. Why do you trust Loke enough for him to know your past? I would have thought his lechery would have made you wary of him."

"Let's just say that we have friends in common," Lucy said. "He's a good guy once you get past that, anyway."

"Very well. Given what happened, I am grateful to you for everything you did to help us against Eisenwald. It's rare to have a Celestial Mage who can use such powerful offensive magic in addition to it. And Natsu told me you have healing magic too. That will be useful on further missions."

Lucy chuckled, and when Erza looked askance at her, Lucy said, "You just remind me of someone I knew, a long time ago. Very much a warrior like you. A friend, and a sister, really. Her name was Celes Chere."

"Where is she?" Erza asked.

"Somewhere far away, sadly," Lucy said with a wistful look on her face. "A shame, really. I think you would have gotten along with her swimmingly."

"I'll take your word for it, Lucy," Erza said, nodding at her.

Lucy returned the nod, and found herself sitting, staring into, really, nothing. She thought of her friends she left behind. She wondered how her human self was doing, in a world without magic. And she wondered where her fellow Espers, including her own father, went.

Maybe they went into oblivion. Maybe only she was given the chance to be reborn, given how she only had a brief life as Terra. Maybe she had a purpose here.

Well, she certainly did now. Beating people like Eisenwald was worthwhile. She could hear her friends cheering her on. Locke, Edgar, Sabin, Celes, Cyan, Gau, Shadow, Strago, Relm, Setzer, Mog, Umaro, Gogo…yes, she could hear them…and she smiled to herself.

Still, she had a new life now. And she was determined to live it, not burdened by her past life, but rather, spurred on by it. She would use her magic to help people, and she would do that as part of Fairy Tail…

CHAPTER 7 ANNOTATIONS:

So, Eisenwald has been defeated, and Lucy and Erza are becoming friends. But will the events of Galuna Island cause a rift before their friendship can truly begin?

And yes, I am doing a time-skip over that 'false trial' BS to just before the Galuna Island arc.

Akuma-Heika: I'm not sure yet, but I'm leaning towards no, though they may yet appear in some capacity…

No numbered annotations this time!