x394
The night was quiet and cold, with the sky clear and the stars visible.
Yoru sighed contently as he flew through the sky. Large, dark blue wings spread outward, blocking out the stars temporarily to the people down in the city below, but none of them ran in fear of the dragon. Yoru was not the kind of dragon that attacked humans. None of the dragons in Verasil did.
No, instead humans and dragons lived in peace and harmony in Verasil, unlike the ones in Ishgar. The dragons in Verasil were perfectly content with living alongside humans. They protected them, worked with them, and most importantly, sang with them.
Even with as far up in the air as he was, he could still hear the song that the dragons in the city were currently singing. It was something Verasil dragons valued over all else.
The dragons in Ishgar destroyed, rampaged, and killed, and the ones out west were unbelievably worse from what Yoru had heard–attacking cities and killing humans was one thing, but eating them was an entirely separate problem–but the ones in Verasil created songs, and dances, which they would then perform alongside the very same humans they protected.
It was something none of them would give up for anything.
Unfortunately, this might be his last chance at witnessing the beauty that was a city-wide harmony, for he had a job he needed to do. One that involved changing the path of time. As much as he hated the idea, it had to be done. There was no other path that they could follow. All of the others ended in darkness and hate.
He closed his eyes and sighed. Yeah, it had to be done. There was nothing else they could do. Not anymore.
xXxOxXx
x793
"Where are Percy and Kiku?" a woman asked while she polished her daggers. She had blue hair, which sparkled, like stars in the night sky, and bright green eyes. She was wearing a light purple shirt with darker purple jeans, a thin, grey jacket, and black, calf high boots. Her name was Yami Silverbell.
"Uhh... Last I checked, they went down to Dragon's Gate," her brother responded. He had messy orange hair, like marigolds in soft sunlight, and amber eyes. He wore a white shirt with orange accents, with a light grey vest over it, and dark blue jeans. Finally, he had an amber necklace, tied loosely around his neck by multiple strings. His name was Y'Shirin.
"The Gate? Why would they be down by the Gate? We can't open it anyway," she examined her handiwork, then sheathed the daggers.
He shrugged unhelpfully, "You know us. None of us can stay away from it."
Meanwhile, Percy and Kiku walked into the underground temple housing the large Gate.
"The more I look at it, the more questions I have," Percy said. He had messy brown hair, which was long enough to just barely reach his shoulders, and blue eyes. He wore a long sleeved shirt, which was mostly white, with a dark grey accent over his shoulders, and lighter grey sleeves, as well as blue jeans.
Kiku sighed, "Well, we can't expect the answers to be handed to us. So we're better off searching," she stated. She had short, dark grey hair that was black at the roots, and wore mostly black clothing with silver accents on the shirt, and a blindfold over her eyes.
The Gate stood, almost mockingly, over them, as if it was purposefully withholding the information they wanted. Surrounding the Gate were several lacrima orbs, each radiating magic.
"Nine orbs, nine elements, nine keys," Percy thought aloud. "Fire, Iron, Sky, Lightning, Poison, White, and Shadow."
"Don't forget Night and Day," Kiku said. Despite the fact that she couldn't see them, she still knew they were there and what they were. He hummed. How could he miss them? They sat above the others, as if they ruled over the rest. "The question is: How do we unlock it?" Percy asked after staring at the orbs for a few moments.
"The bigger question is: What awaits us inside?" Kiku asked. It had to be powerful if someone went through this much effort to keep it locked.
"We better get back to the others. The King wants us," Percy spoke up, deciding to ignore the questions for now.
"Oh right, I forgot. What does he want us for?" Kiku asked, following him.
"If what Y'Shirin told us is true, and it usually is, then he wants us to go to Ishgar. Fiore, specifically."
Kiku stopped, "What? What for?" The King never usually sends them so far out of their way, so this was concerning, to say the least. Percy stopped as well, turning to look back at her, grinning his signature, contagious grin.
"He wants us to find Dragon Slayers."
xXxOxXx
"Dragon Slayers?! He's joking!" the Captain of the guard–Mord Shield–ranted and raved as he paced back and forth. "Everybody knows Dragon Slayers don't exist anymore!" With the fact that the dragons were gone, there was no point in learning that type of magic anymore. Not to mention, it was highly believed that the same thing that wiped out the dragons also wiped out their Slayers.
"There have been reports that there were seven of them seen in Ishgar," Kiku said. "Travelers from Fiore coming to Verasil have stories to tell about it all the time." Yami nodded, "Ishgar is known for selling dragon lacrimas in their black markets. It doesn't surprise me that at least seven people were able to get their hands on them."
"Remember this dragon?" Percy stood before a mosaic, pointing up at it with a grin. It was of two dragons fighting, one black with blue markings, and the other a shadowy inky near-black purple. The inky dragon took up most of the mosaic, with its opponent fighting through the waves of magic.
"We've all heard the tale of Acnologia, yes," Mord nodded. "And whatever the hell it was that he protected us from." Everyone knew the story that the mosaic told. The dragons had all started dropping like flies. Every day, a new corpse was found. Everyone believed that the inky mass that called itself a monster was to blame. When Acnologia killed it, the citizens of Verasil revered him as the dragons' avenger.
However, Yami had her doubts.
"Well, the reports say that these seven Slayers actually managed to take him down!" Percy exclaimed. Mord merely shook his head, "Still doesn't explain why he wants to find these guys."
"Revenge, maybe?" Y'Shirin offered. "These guys did kill our so-called 'divine protector,' afterall." Yami shook her head and argued, "We can't punish people for atrocities committed on Fioran soil. There's nothing the King could do, even if he did want revenge."
"Nobody said it had to be punishable by our actual laws," Kiku said. Yami rubbed her forehead, "We're not assassins either. If our own King doesn't know his guard well enough to realize that revenge simply isn't a thing we can do.." she paused, sighing, "This isn't about revenge. This is likely about the Gate.."
"The Gate?" Mord asked, "How would this be at all about that dusty old thing?"
"With all due respect, sir, that 'dusty old thing' is a part of our history," Yami started, then continued, "Think about it, it was sealed by dragons. Who better to open it than people who wield their magic?"
"Makes sense to me!" Percy said cheerfully.
"The Gate requires nine keys, so why is the King only asking for seven?"
"Seven is all we could find in Fiore," Kiku said. "His majesty likely wants to keep them in a place where he can keep an eye on them until we find the last two."
"Only the dragons would know how long that would take," he sighed irritably. "I don't see the point, personally, but if the King says jump, we jump."
"No, we ask how high first, then we jump," Percy chuckled cheekily, earning a disgruntled look from the Captain, "Smith, this is serious."
"I know, I know!" Percy held his hands up in mock surrender.
Yami chuckled quietly.
"Something funny, Silverbell?" the Captain asked. In response, Yami quickly cleared her throat and said, "He's right, Percival. We should start getting ready for the trip if we want to make it there within a reasonable timeframe."
Y'Shirin rubbed his hands together, "Then let's get to it! The sooner we get there, the sooner we can find these Slayers, and the sooner we can come back."
In spite of her brother's enthusiasm, Yami had a sinking suspicion it wouldn't actually be that easy.
Especially since she herself knew where the last two keys were.
xXxOxXx
Lucy ran alongside her friends through a town that, quite frankly, had absolutely no right to be as big as it was. For one, it meant a bigger target for her own friends to end up destroying in their attempt to get the job done. For another, it made finding their actual target so much harder than it needed to be. "So who're we after?" she asked Erza, who ran alongside her.
"Someone named Malef. He'll steal whatever he can get his hands on and murder whoever tries to stop him. A hefty bounty has been placed on his head for a while now," Erza responded. "Apparently, he came to Fiore to escape his crimes."
"Didn't seem to help him much, all things considered," Gray commented from Lucy's left. "Why escape your home to evade punishment, only to cause more trouble in the place you fled to?"
"He was likely hoping that he could continue in secret here, where nobody knows who he is, only to mess up and get caught again," Lucy answered. Erza nodded, "Yep, and we have to catch him before he escapes again."
"Alright! Let's find this guy! I've been itching for a good fight!" Natsu roared, pumping his fist. "Aye, sir!" Happy exclaimed in agreement.
"Just be careful!" Erza warned, "He specializes in Mimic Magic. He can create several different illusions of himself at once, so be aware!"
"He won't be able to escape me! I'll be able to track him down with my sense of smell!" Natsu exclaimed. "Do try to be careful anyway, Natsu! We don't know how powerful this guy even is!" Lucy said worriedly.
"Oh come on, how bad could this possibly be?" Gray smirked at her. Lucy sighed and rolled her eyes. Those two would never change, but in all honesty, she hoped they never would.
Natsu sniffed the air, then smirked, "Hah! Already got his scent! Follow me!"
"I do too!" Wendy exclaimed, then sped up slightly in order to run alongside Natsu.
Lucy quickly pulled out her keyring, already forming an idea in her mind of which spirits she would need to summon. Maybe Sagittarius, who could shoot multiple arrows at once to hit multiple clones, raising the chances of finding the real Malef. Or maybe either Loke or Virgo if Malef was by himself.
However, before she could make up her mind, a blast of magic shot up into the air just behind some buildings, causing everyone to pause.
"The hell was that?" Gray demanded. Natsu narrowed his eyes, "Only one way to find out. Let's go!"
Before Lucy could object to that idea, Natsu–closely followed by Happy, Gray and Erza–took off running. Carla scoffed and crossed her arms, "So reckless.."
Lucy and Wendy shared a look, before shrugging and hurrying after the others.
Once the three of them caught up to the others, they were immediately dumbfounded–but also partially awed–by what they saw. In the middle of the street was Malef, who was doing his absolute damndest to dodge the attacks of four other people.
One of them–a girl with sparkly blue hair–wielded a pair of daggers and charged Malef faster than Lucy could see. Unfortunately for her, Malef always seemed faster than she did. The second person–a man with orange hair and a longsword–tried to sneak up behind him, only for his sword to phase through him. "Damn, another clone!"
Malef cackled maniacally, "You really thought you could beat me here? You couldn't even catch me back in Verasil!" He continued laughing as he used his magic, splitting into ten different people.
"I know which one's real," Natsu hissed, then leapt into the battle, shooting his fiery roar at the real Malef.
Malef gasped, then leapt out of the way of the blast. Unfortunately for him, this broke his concentration and caused the clones to vanish. He growled, "How did you-?!"
A second woman–with near-black hair and a blindfold over her eyes–held up her hand, launching a soundwave from her palm, effectively cutting Malef off and sending him flying. "We appreciate the help!" she told Natsu with a grin. He smirked back, "As if I was going to sit by and watch you guys hog all the fun!"
"That attack.." the bluenette murmured.
Wendy nodded fervently, "Yeah! It's his breath weapon! I can do one too, but mine isn't as powerful.."
The woman blinked, then said, "I see.."
Erza leapt at Malef, summoning twin swords to her hands before slashing at him. He dodged most of the attacks, only for the second man–this one with brown hair and a broadsword–to strike him from behind, leaving a nasty slash on his back.
He cried out in agony before the other man kicked him to the ground, then pinned him by stepping on his back. "Next time, before you brag, actually have the skill to back it up," he smirked.
"That was incredible! Which Guild are you guys from?" Lucy asked.
"Well, we're not actually from any Guilds here," the bluenette stated. She straightened up as her daggers disappeared in a flash of light, then said, "We are from the Kingdom of Verasil. My name is Yami Silverbell, and these people with me are my brother, Y'Shirin," she paused to gestured to the orange-haired man, "And our friends, Percival Smith and Kiku Pyre," she gestured to the brunette, then the black-haired respectively.
"But you can just call me Percy," he winked.
'Wow.. the siblings are really pretty..' Lucy thought, then shook her head fervently, 'No no no! What am I thinking?!' She lifted her head again, hoping the darkness of dusk hid the pink tinting her cheeks. Gray glanced at her curiously, and Kiku chuckled quietly, but she ignored the two of them.
"Cool, nice to meet you! I'm Natsu Dragneel, and these are my friends!" Once everyone had properly introduced themselves, he continued, "Isn't Verasil really far away from Fiore?" Y'Shirin nodded, "Far away from Ishgar completely. It's a separate continent across the sea," he explained.
"Wow.." Erza murmured, "What brings you all so far out of your way?" she asked.
"We're here on very important instructions from our king," Percy stated. "And it looks like we have our work cut out for us."
"What do you mean by that?" Carla asked. She didn't really trust these guys all that well. Sure she may just be overprotective, but given everything they've all been through, she had every right to be.
"We are here on a very important mission. A mission to find Dragon Slayers," Yami stated.
Wendy gasped quietly and Natsu was now massively alert. Happy sat on Natsu's shoulder while Carla hovered in front of Wendy protectively. "Why the Dragon Slayers specifically?"
Before one of the Verasilans could respond, Erza cut in, "We should probably head back to Magnolia first… Master Makarov will want to hear what you have to say if it's that important," she stated. Her voice was calm, but her eyes were filled with distrust.
"Whatever feels ideal.. But please understand that we are in.. a bit of a hurry, to say the least," Y'Shirin said.
"I apologize, but we can't afford to be hasty. We will continue this at the Guildhall after we turn in Malef to the authorities," Erza explained. "Please understand that the past few times we've dealt with people who claimed to need Dragon Slayers, it did not turn out all that desirable."
"Of course," Yami nodded. Natsu eyed her, not making any attempt to hide his distrust. 'What could they possibly need with Dragon Slayers? I don't like this..' he thought.
And yet, when he looked into Yami and Y'Shirin's eyes, he couldn't tell if he should distrust them or not. Those eyes felt far more familiar than they should've.
Malef tried to push himself up in spite of Percy holding him down, "Don't listen to these… freaks.. That damned bastard King has been trying to open that Gate for years, and these assholes can't stay away from it..!"
"You try to warn them, yet you fail to provide a reason as to why they should trust the words of a thief and murderer, Malef," Kiku stated bluntly.
"I grew up in Verasil too..! There's something very wrong with that King they follow..! Why do you think I ran away all those years ago..?!" he coughed and spat. Percy rolled his eyes and picked him up, "Fortunately for you, we cannot punish you on Fioran soil. Hopefully their knights will take more mercy on you than we would."
"What is he talking about?" Lucy demanded. "What is this Gate?"
Yami sighed, "As your friend–Erza, correct?" When Erza nodded, she continued, "As Erza here has stated, this is a conversation best shared with your Guildmaster. I'd hate to repeat myself more than need be."
"Alright.." Lucy murmured, sounding unsure.
"For now, we all should rest," Percy tossed Malef over to the Fairy Tail members. "You can turn him in and accept the bounty," he grinned. "The rest of us are going back to our hotel so we can catch some sleep. We'll see you around, alright?"
xXxOxXx
After the Verasilans left, and Malef was turned into the proper authorities, the group made their way back to the hotel.
"I don't know how much I trust this," Lucy admitted. "Some strangers from a faraway kingdom show up and claim they need Dragon Slayers? Doesn't that sound weird to anybody else?"
"And then there's what that thief said," Carla stated, "Something about a Gate, and their King.."
"I was worried about that too.." Wendy admitted quietly.
"He could've just been saying whatever he could to keep himself out of trouble. You know how criminals are," Gray said, trying to assure them. "Aside from his words, which I'm not sure I'd trust, we have no reason not to trust them for now. We'll listen to what they have to say and make a decision from there."
Lucy nodded, "Yeah.. yeah.. It's best to be smart about this.."
"I do have to wonder about why they want us, though," Wendy said, placing her hand to her chin. "Do they need all seven of us, or just a couple? Are we related to this strange Gate at all?" She groaned, "I have so many questions!"
"We can ask when we get back to the Guild. For now, I'm starving!" Natsu complained.
"Always thinking with your stomach," Lucy chided lightly, smirking. Natsu chuckled.
xXxOxXx
Later that night, Yami and Percy stood on the balcony of their hotel room, long after the Fairy Tail members left for their own hotel.
"Are we really doing this? Wasn't the whole idea to keep them away from the Gate?" Percy asked.
"We have no choice.. We have to do as the King says.." Yami sighed. "We'll figure something out once we get back to Verasil, but we cannot come back empty handed, else the King will be suspicious.." She sighed and crossed her arms while Percy leaned against the railing. "I hope we do. I don't know what's inside that Gate, but I don't want the King to have it.." Percy admitted.
"Indeed.." she looked up at the stars longingly, as if hoping they would give her the answers they needed. Percy saw the loning in her eyes and placed his hand over one of hers, "Don't worry. We'll figure something out."
"I hope so.." she leaned into him. He wrapped an arm around her, gently rubbing her arm with a thumb as he rested his head on top of hers.
"I know so. Everything will work out just fine. You'll see," Percy kissed her forehead. "Now, we should just get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow." Yami smiled and nodded, "Yeah.. Yeah. Let's sleep.."
She wished she had as much confidence as he did, but she couldn't help the warm feeling in her chest that maybe everything would work out just fine. She looked back up at the stars one last time, then smiled again.
Yeah. Everything would be fine.