A Wishful Thought (A Note From The Author): Oh man. I'm sorry for the crappy shortness of the last chapter. D: But here is my attempted redemption? XD So yes. This chapter will be the conclusion of the arc. :') I want to say something really badly, but it'll spoil what happens in this chapter, so I'm just going to shut up. And I wanted to get this out around my birthday as a present to you guys! XD Aren't you proud of me? My birthday isn't actually until July 6, but I figured it would be nice to update a bit earlier.
Oh, but before I do that! XD THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS, AND I'M SORRY FOR MY LAZINESS, AND THAT I DIDN'T REPLY TO ALL OF THEM. O_O; *dies* I lurf you guys? XP
Since they receive more credit, those people are: Kaze no Uchiha, JustPikachu, Hayate x Hinagiku Fan, randomstuff1900, miyame-chan, eelgirl13, SnowCrystals, racerabbit, Riniel von Lazuard, and Thegirlwhowatchstars. YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!
Oh! And I'd also like to introduce you all to my new beta for this story, Ree-Vance. :)
Ehem. I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL. There, ya happy? ;D
It was like in that one second, Juvia's heart just stopped beating. She couldn't help it. The randomness was too much to bear. Jellal simply stared at her, absolutely no expression on his face, not realizing how important it was for her to find him. Didn't he just hear her super long speech? It was imperative that he come with her, to make Erza happy!
And so, Juvia talked slowly, almost as though she was explaining something to a young child, "Jellal-San, you have to come back with Juvia. . ."
Gradually, his eyes widened, and he began to back away from her, eyes setting themselves downcast. "No. . .I can't leave. They contain me here. . . . they protect the others from me. I can't leave. . . I. . .I . . . . I'm a monster. . . ."
Juvia blinked. What just happened? "Jellal, you don't understand. . . You hav-" She cut herself off as she involuntarily flinched at his sudden clenched hand.
"I. . . . Don't understand?" He brought his gaze to look at her, the light from the floating sphere by his head illuminating his features ghoulishly, making the anger on his face look more menacing than before. "I think it seems that. . . . you don't understand."
Juvia's eyes widened as she dodged the ball of light that he sent flying at her, staring in shock at the wall that it hit, the one which she didn't even realize had had words inscribed on it because her back had been to it the whole time. As the light burst into flames, licking the walls with their orange glow, Juvia scanned the walls, reading the eerie messages, and attempting to interpret the strange symbols scrawled onto it.
The knife pierces no more.
The ice will be haunted by the water itself.
The angel fallen from the sky, will abandon all that she owns to save the sinner from hell.
The flames will consume the fairy from the inside.
The fairy will lose its wings, and suffer.
Juvia couldn't help but shiver at the cryptic words. What exactly did any of this mean? Was it random gibberish, or was it a strange proposal of the future? Though she hated to admit it, Juvia knew that the latter was probably true. Yet, why were these words inscribed here? Did Jellal really write them? And by fairy, he couldn't possibly mean. . .
Slowly, she forced herself to meet Jellal's gaze again. His expression was unreadable, but nonetheless, it creeped her out. "You. . . need to. . . leave. Now." He himself was shaking, and his words were beginning to come out as rasps. The dim lighting made it eerie; the only light source in the room being the flames that continued to lick the graphics on the wall, making his face looked even more ghastly then it previously had. But it was obvious that the flames weren't exactly flames, or else the prison wall itself would have burned down by now. "Leave. . . Leave. . . Hurry. . ."
Thoughts and decisions began to plague her mind. What was she supposed to do? Part of her begged her to listen to Jellal's warning, but another part of her insisted that she continue to try and gather information to bring back to Natsu if she couldn't convince Jellal to escape with her now.
Juvia wished she had made her decision quicker.
It seemed as though Jellal had deemed that she was refusing to leave, and suddenly it was like all the saneness he had left in his body oozed out, leaving only little fragments of sanity and bitter nothingness. With a hollow yell, he flung himself at Juvia his hands illuminated with the glow of magic. What kind, Juvia hoped she didn't have to find out.
Lisanna flew as fast as her little wings would take her. But as a fly, it was quite the difficult thing to do.
Eventually, she caught up to the guards that were on the third floor, her wings beginning to ache, and her heart thumping desperately within her chest. She was already beginning to feel dazed which symbolized that soon she would be out of magical energy. Part of her knew that she should probably stop using magic. But the other, larger part of her insisted that Juvia was more important than saving her magical energy.
As she flew by, her eyes scanned every crook and nanny of the corridor. Lisanna tried to tune out the continuous yelling of the prisoners, and the angry shouts from the prison guards, but it was all no use. It was impossible to get rid of all the noise.
It took a while, but soon she had reached the end of the third floor. And still, there was no sign of Juvia whatsoever. A frown tugged at Lisanna's lips, but she did nothing.
She raked her brain for some possible explanation to it all, but a sudden BOOM! interrupted her thoughts. She blinked in confusion, but as she looked at the prisoners nearby, it seemed like they hadn't heard a thing.
BOOM! Her acute fly ears automatically tuned in to the noise, and she soon realized that the sound was extremely faint. She quietly waited for it to happen again, so she could possibly tell where the noise was coming from.
BOOM! Lisanna's eyes instantly turned her body to face what she had originally thought was a wall, but what she now realized seemed to be a safe like door. Only somewhat surprised but mostly suspicious, Lisanna quickly scanned her eyes over the door, desperately looking for an entrance. Spotting a small keyhole, she flew towards it, and forced herself through.
A soft thud was what ended up breaking Jellal's sudden fury to Juvia's surprise.
The young man collapsed to the floor, throwing his head into his arms, pulling at his hair and screaming. "Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT!" Juvia stared at him in shock, not knowing what to do. Jellal then moved to scratching away at his face desperately.
For a second, Juvia remembered the thud she had heard. The one that had shaken Jellal out of his reverie. Now somewhat curious, Juvia slowly made her way over to the body that seemed to come out of nowhere that was spread out in an exhausted heap on the cold jail floor. But it didn't take long for the blue haired mage to recognize the body that was now so close to her.
"Lisanna! ?"
The white-haired woman before her sighed with relief. "Juvia. . . you. . ."
"Make it stop. . . MAKE IT STOP!"
Lisanna's eyes widened with a mixture of worry and fright and even a little bit of curiosity, and she struggled to get up so that she could get a better view of the man huddled miserably in the corner. But Juvia held her down before she could see Jellal having a breakdown. "W-We need to get out of here. . . quickly!"
They didn't have time though, as Jellal flung himself at the two women.
Juvia's eyes widened as she grabbed Lisanna, and narrowly dodged Jellal's blow. His right fist was covered in angry, black flames, while his left fist was jagged with the sharp spikes of ice. His eyes were pure, blank darkness now, and the mere sight of it made Juvia shiver.
"J-Juvia! What's going—"
Juvia simply shook her head, signaling Lisanna to stop talking, and managed to create a thin wall of water in an attempt to block the blow of Jellal's left fist. It didn't exactly work since Jellal's fist had easily penetrated through the wall, and Juvia couldn't stop herself from squeaking.
This isn't good. . . I still haven't regained enough magical energy to put up a good enough fight against this guy. . .
The spiked ice that covered Jellal's hand burst into smaller, even sharper, pieces, and homed their way to both Juvia and Lisanna.
Their eyes simultaneously widened, and Lisanna wiggled free of Juvia's grip so that she could dodge better. Juvia realized this too, and while Lisanna dodged to the right, Juvia dodged to the left. Though they managed to dodge most of the blows, each of them had a few of the points lodged into the arms and sides.
Lisanna winced as she pulled one out. They were splinter like, and though each shard was small, it hurt like hell.
Juvia noticed this too, but didn't have time to try and get them out, for Jellal had already launched a black ball of intense heat in her direction. Juvia's eyes widened in shock, but luckily, she still had her quick reflexes on her side. She managed to rush some water in the direction of the sphere of fire. She knew that though water should dissipate the flames, Jellal's fire was probably extremely strong. Meaning that it would only weaken the power slightly.
But she didn't expect the fire to go through it like it was nothing.
Lisanna, who had moved to look at Juvia as soon as she heard the sounds of fire being made, shrieked in a mixture of both shock and surprise as a large ball of fire met the water mage's body.
The flames licked Juvia's skin, and she couldn't stop the piercing scream from erupting through the air. The scorching heat ate away at her skin, at her hair, at her eyes. The pain was insufferably immense, and Juvia was unable to think straight. She immediately fell to the floor, scratching at the flames as though that would make them disappear, but it seemed to only fuel the flames more.
"Juvia! Your water!"
Lisanna's words were barely heard over Juvia's screams of anguish, but some part of the water mage understood what she meant. In a desperate attempt to douse the flames, Juvia coated herself in cool water. She heard the hiss of the flames as they slowly began to disappear, but Juvia still couldn't stop herself from wincing from her severe burns. What was even worse was the fact that she wasn't able to maintain her water state for long with the lack of her magical energy, and the water disappeared after a few, mere seconds.
Thankfully, only a few of the flames had reappeared, and Juvia had regained some amount of her mind back to figure out a way to get rid of them.
Lisanna, knowing that Juvia would need some time to recuperate, had transformed into a jaguar and launched herself at Jellal, hoping to catch him by surprise. Jellal was unfazed however, and quickly turned to Lisanna, managing to pick her up while she tackled him and flinging her to the wall of the jail cell.
She whimpered, white spots beginning to invade her vision. She was immediately tossed out of her transformation, and it was a struggle for her to even stand. Lisanna felt dizzy, but nevertheless forced herself over towards Jellal, blindly swinging blows at him.
All of these blows were easily blocked by him, and she didn't even realize that he had kicked her in the stomach until she felt her head smash against the wall once more.
The pain was blinding.
Lisanna's eyelids flickered as she resisted the urge to go unconscious. She felt the feeling begin to overtake her, but she knew that she needed to remain awake if she was to save Juvia and get them out of here. Or if worse came to worse. . . To just get Juvia out.
Another piercing scream echoed throughout the jail cell, and the high pitch of it was enough to make Lisanna more alert. The pain in her head was beginning to go away, but she could feel the acute pains in her side from Jellal's shards of ice. She hadn't managed to remove most of them, and now that she had moved a lot, the pain had intensified. Still, Lisanna looked up in the direction of the scream, and shrieked when she saw Jellal's firm grip around Juvia's neck. The water mage had finally gotten rid of the flames that were on her, and was struggling to escape Jellal's grasp. Her face was turning a sickening shade of purple, and the sight itself was enough for Lisanna to feel a rush of adrenaline pulse through her veins.
The burst of adrenaline was enough to give her more magical energy. . . Enough to put up a decent distraction.
With a menacing growl, Lisanna transformed into a puma, and eagerly pounced onto Jellal's back. Surprised by the sudden weight, Jellal released his hold on Juvia. He had thought that Lisanna had passed out, and wasn't expecting her to resist going into an unconscious state.
With a frustrated yell, he shot a sphere of what seemed like pure darkness in her direction. Using her quick reflexes, Lisanna managed to dodge it while she left a long, deep scratch on Jellal's face.
Jellal let out a small hiss in pain, but it was quickly replaced with anger and a need to cause pain.
Juvia on the other hand was rubbing her throat gingerly, whimpering softly from the lasting effects of Jellal's grip on her neck, and the pulsating pain of the shards of ice that were still lodged in her side, not to mention the severe throbbing of all the burns that coated her skin.
She managed to look up at Jellal and Lisanna avidly fighting, and couldn't stop herself from feeling confused.
Juvia doesn't understand. . . Jellal-Sama was so nice to Juvia before. . . But when Juvia asked him to leave, he suddenly got so angry. . .
She couldn't stop a tear from slipping out of her eye. It's all Juvia's fault. . . If Juvia had just left when he said to leave, then maybe Juvia and Lisanna wouldn't be in this mess. . .
"JUVIA! RUN!"
Juvia blinked at Lisanna's words, not believing what she was hearing. Lisanna was constantly changing into different animals, some that the water mage had never seen before in her life. Lisanna and Jellal were fighting each other mercilessly though, and Juvia felt a sharp pang of guilt for not doing more to help.
"I'LL DISTRACT HIM! YOU HAVE TO FIND WENDY AND LEAVE!"
Jellal roared angrily at her words, and seemed to suddenly fight with more strength and agility. Juvia's eyes were wide, and she slowly shook her head. She opened her mouth to say, "No! Juvia won't leave without you!", but all that came out was a hoarse croak.
It was then that Juvia realized that even if she wanted to listen to Lisanna and make her leave, she couldn't. She just didn't have the energy to.
Lisanna seemed to realize this too. She transformed herself back into human form, and performed a series of flips towards the water mage. Somehow, she had managed to pin Jellal down with some of his own shards of ice. Of course, it was nothing that was too difficult to escape from. Lisanna stopped in front of Juvia, and Juvia couldn't help but let even more tears leak out of her eyes.
Lisanna's pure, silky white hair was now matted and coated with blood. Her innocent face was bruised and scarred, and her clothes were tattered. Through the holes, Juvia could see several more bruises and a whole lot of blood flowing from her sides, arms, and shoulders. Her eyes were determined, but at the same time they held an immense amount of sadness. The younger mage reached out to embrace Juvia in a hug, and the water mage wasn't too surprised when she felt both herself and Lisanna wince.
But she was surprised when she felt a surge of energy course through her, waking her up, and making her more aware of everything that was happening. Juvia gasped as she realized what it was.
Lisanna's magical energy.
"Juvia, please. . . You have to get out of here. Find Wendy, and escape. . . You have to tell. . . Tell Natsu. . ." The white-haired mage's voice cracked at the name of her longtime friend, and tears began to fall from her eyes. "I-I don't know what will happen to me, but you have to promise that you'll make it back! Tell Mira and Elfman that I love them, and that I'm sorry that I have to go away again when I just got back!" She was yelling now, though she probably didn't realize it. Her eyes were shut as though it would help her get through this challenging time. "And Natsu. . .Oh, God. . . Tell Natsu that I lo—"
Lisanna was cut off as she felt a sharp, pointed object slice down her back. She turned in fright to see Jellal slowly walking towards both her and Juvia, his eyes still empty and devoid of emotion. He was controlling another shard of ice that was penetrating Lisanna's skin, scarring it permanently.
Lisanna choked on another sob, before lightly pushing Juvia away from her. "Go. . . Please. . ."
Juvia was at a loss of words. She felt highly invigorated, which could only mean that Lisanna had given Juvia most of her energy. Which only meant that Lisanna didn't have much of her own. . . "Juvia won't lea—"
"NOW!" Lisanna roared, her fist changing into the shape of a giant one as she charged Jellal.
Juvia shook her head and moved to help Lisanna, but was gripped instead by what seemed to be a furry tail. She winced at the tight grasp, and briefly managed to turn her head and saw that it also belonged to Lisanna. The tail, still wrapped around Juvia's waist, rushed her to the door's keyhole and kept her there, waiting for Juvia to transform into water and make her escape.
At first, Juvia resisted the grip of the tail, but when she did that, the grip only tightened. It was then that she realized that she was causing Lisanna to waste energy since Lisanna was using a good amount of it to force Juvia to escape when she could be using it instead to fight Jellal.
Fight Jellal. . .Oh, how is Juvia going to tell Natsu-Sama?
With a single, "Lisanna! I promise, I'll come back for you!" Juvia transformed into water, and escaped through the keyhole.
Lisanna choked back another sob, but continued to fight Jellal. She could feel herself swaying from lack of stamina and willpower. Now that Juvia had escaped, there was nothing to worry about but herself. Jellal easily caught her off guard, and threw her to the ground.
Lisanna shrieked as she felt the sharp pain in her back from being slammed to the ground. A foot was roughly planted onto her stomach. She managed to make out Jellal's dark, empty eyes through the darkness, and it only made her smile sadly, "You. . . You're not like what I expected you'd be. . ."
Jellal simply grimaced at her, and planted his foot even more heavily onto her frail body. "I am who I am." His eyes began to cloud, and suddenly they weren't so cold anymore. He looked around, seemingly confused, before his eyes met hers. With a gasp of surprise, he immediately stepped off of Lisanna, and dashed to a corner. "What did I. . . Who are you?"
Lisanna attempted to sit up to look at him, but she felt like she couldn't. Her body was going numb, and her head continued to spin. Is this what it feels like. . . to be dying?
She opened her mouth to respond to the man with blue hair, but found no words to come out. Natsu. . . Mira. . . Elfman. . .I'm sorry. . . I. . . I lov—
Lisanna's world went black.
A Wishful Thought: Whoa. I'm hoping that the foreshadowing wasn't too obvious, but I still think it was. XD
Did you like the ending? Ah, Lisanna is so noble! Ooooh, I liked this chapter so much! It was a lot of fun to write!
REVIEW.