Elfman had only closed his eyes for a few minutes feeling completely exhausted from his extreme training session, when the sky flashed with a bright golden hue. He squinted against the brilliance of it until the shadows of several figures made the light more bearable. He shaded his eyes trying to make out what was going on when the sounds of arguing met his ears.
"Damn it Laxus, you never listen to me!" Lucy scolded her cousin who merely laughed at her, waving her indignation off like she was joking around with him.
"Lu, you really need to lighten up, I left good men to handle the details, and I called Freed and Ever to help out. We are covered, the council will be back up and running by the time we find our target." Laxus put a heavy hand on his cousin's blonde hair, ruffling it playfully.
"That's not the point Laxus! I asked you to handle it, specifically you." She pitched to bridge of her nose squeezing her eyes shut in hopes of getting across that he was trotting on her last nerve.
"And miss all the glory of wiping out Zeref? Hell no! Do you really think I'd let you go without me after everything we've done to get here?" Laxus quirked an eyebrow at Lucy while he patiently waited for an answer. She floundered with her words for a moment, unable to find a suitable response for the questions asked.
"Come on Lucy, it's not like you weren't expecting him to disobey orders." Natsu added playfully, coming to the blonde man's aide.
"Laxus was going to stay behind? You're joking right Lucy-nee there's no way you actually expected him to sit on his hands while we're all here having fun!" Wendy was amused by the exchange, but she knew Lucy was happy to have everyone back together again even if she protested it at the time being.
"Are you all conspiring against me? I swear you all met in secret and decided how exactly you were going to annoy me to death!" Lucy demanded, grabbing fists full of her hair.
"Lu-chan calm down, everything will work out just fine. We have each other, and that's what matters." Levy leaned into her husband's side with a content smile.
"Work out? You expect it to just work out? We are going up against some super powerful opponents with loads of unknown information still… and you are not even listening to me any more are you?" Indeed Levy had turned her full attention back onto her husband, which Lucy tried to ignore.
"Why are you so jumpy anyway, isn't it better to have reinforcements?" Laxus hummed as he went about exploring their new surroundings.
"We have too many people, we are becoming far too easy to spot." Lucy sighed. "Romeo needs to go home as well; Macao will skin me alive if he finds out I have him with us." Said dark haired mage expressed his own opinion letting the others know that he was in for the long haul just as much as everyone else. Lucy was almost at her wits end when she spotted Elfman lying on the ground a few yards away. She raised an amused eyebrow in his direction as she examined the expression on his face.
"I got left behind somehow, didn't I?" It wasn't quite a question nor a solid statement, his expression a cross between amusement and annoyance. The massive mage was sure that neither of his temporary teammates had been anywhere around him until that very moment, and he wasn't sure if either of them had even realized that they had left him behind. Natsu rubbed the back of his neck with a nervous chuckle while Gajeel ignored the situation all together.
"They brought reinforcements, since you know where we are going now." Lucy answered with a comforting smile. She could see Elfman's features begin to relax as he processed the situation a little more thoroughly.
"O-oh, that's good I guess." Elfman picked himself up off the ground and grabbed the maps that he had procured in the town ready to share the information that he had gathered. Lucy stepped forward and allowed the large man to explain everything that was marked on the map patiently. The others gave the two some space, allowing Laxus and Natsu some time to glare at their captive who had a sash tied over his eyes.
"Why do you think Lucy wanted to bring this ass hat with us?" Natsu breathed in a way that only Laxus would be able to pick it up.
"Hell if I know, I wanted to lock him up with the rest of the scum that Lucy threw in prison." Laxus growled in a very low voice. Natsu let out a slow breath to calm his nerves, Lucy's mind was on overdrive and she was unintentionally flooding their connection with her concerns. He hated the fact that he could hear all her thoughts at once, but couldn't completely make sense of all of them since they came to him partially muddled together.
He was certain of one thing though, Elfman's lead was a good one since it was at the forefront of every thought she had. Objective number one was in view now and they were about to get into the biggest fight of their lives. He could already feel the rush of adrenaline pouring through his veins.
"You've never summoned me before, what is this about?" A dark haired man narrowed his eyes at the seemingly youthful master as he bowed his head, not from respect but from habit.
"So you are still awake then?" The question was greeted with an unintelligible grunt from the dark haired man. "You have a job to complete. You are to do so as soon as possible so that I can continue my plan." Two sets of piercing dark eyes made contact, and the room's temperature began to rise with the tension between the two men.
"I wasn't able to kill either of them when they were nothing but ignorant children, what makes you think I can do it now that they are both fully awakened?" His voice was even, but laced with venom in every syllable.
"That is simple; you will kill them with your own two hands this time around. I will not tolerate failure this time Zeref." It had been a long time since the dark haired man had heard that name, he never realized just how much a person could despise something as much as a name, but as the other man's tongue let it slip, the mage felt himself cringe in disgust.
"And what will you do if I can't, it's not like you can kill me, you've been trying to do that for the past four hundred years." The fire of hatred lit Zeref's dark eyes as he challenged the authority of the young lord.
"You know as well as I do that I can't do something as reckless as kill you, after all I'll need you once they are dead." An evil smirk twisted his almost handsome features into something cruel and terrible.
"I'm all too aware of that." Zeref growled. "Do you want to give me any other orders?" He again bowed out of habit.
"Destroy Natsu Dragneel, but bring his wife to me in one piece." The young lord folded his arms over his chest with a wicked smile. "I have something special planned for her and our little friend Bastion." His smooth voice was twisted with excitement and he let out a low laugh.
"And what am I to do with the others?" Zeref kept his voice as even as possible; the man not even ten feet from him was his own flesh and blood, but he no longer considered him as such. No, Zeref had removed all affiliations to living beings when he realized what his life had in store for him.
"Do as you wish, they are meaningless bugs as far as I'm concerned." The man flicked his wrist dismissively to drive his point home.
Lucy felt a shiver creep up her spine and she couldn't keep from bracing herself by rubbing at her upper arms to fight off the sudden chill.
"You ok there?" Gajeel asked from the side.
"I'll be fine once we get to a hotel; it's too damn cold out tonight." Lucy answered, waving her hand in the air to stave off his concern. She knew what it really was though, her intuition was kicking into high gear, and she could sense the trouble that was brewing on the horizon. Natsu didn't have to say anything as he made his way to the back where his wife was, he wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders letting the heat from his body soak comfort and warmth around the blonde woman.
"We're almost there." Elfman called from the front.
The hotel wasn't nearly as nice as the last one they had stayed at as a group. Their reserve funds were finally starting to run low so they had no choice in the matter, they would just have to make do with what they could afford for now. With how large the team had grown, it was unavoidable to rent several rooms and everyone bunked down for the night.
When morning came, Lucy was the first one out of bed, she made sure to be as quiet as possible when taking the ropes that bound Bastion and dragging him with her into the hall. She was quick to summon her guardian spirits before taking the prisoner away from the small hotel. Slowly she made her way across town to a place where no one would be able to overhear their conversation, she was careful to make sure no one was on their trail the whole time.
"The coast is clear Lucy." Loki leaned against a tree watching as his master circled the man who was still bound and gagged.
"Thank you Loki, do you mind sticking around for a while?" The lion spirit gave a nod as he watched Lucy sink down to her knees beside the man. Lupus and Lynx kept watch on the out skirts of the small clearing so they could warn Lucy if they sensed the enemy's approach, while Vulpi took up residence against a tree opposite from the stupid lion.
Carefully Lucy took the gag from Bastion's mouth which resulted in a string of foul curses that made Lucy cringe back slightly. He wanted to know where he was, and why she of all people was there with him. Lucy decided it would be best to leave the bandana over his eyes for safety, even though the magic draining ropes were still wrapped securely around every exposed limb the man possessed.
"Why do you continue to torture me?" His breath had become labored from his lengthy round of screaming, and Lucy could feel the pain in his body come to a boiling point. She felt sorry for this man, who had once been a dear friend of her.
"What have they done to you Bastion?" Lucy whispered as she softly put her hands on either side of his temples.
"Get away from me! Don't touch me, I'll kill you!" He struggled under the restrains trying desperately to get out of her grasps, but it did him no good.
Lucy took a deep breath before she began to use a spell she had prepared just for this instance. It took an hour before she was completely finished, but when she was done the feelings of satisfaction overtook her exhaustion. Slowly she slipped the fabric from his eyes giving him an encouraging smile.
"Welcome back Bastion." She could see the tears well up in his eyes and she assumed that he was finally able to see things clearly. Lucy knew there was something unnatural about the holes in Bastion's thought patterns, and she had been right to suspect so. A deep rooted spell was coded to wipe him of every need that didn't pertain to the basic survival, magic usage, and his need for revenge against Lucy which had been egged on by false memories.
She took her time to go through his real memories now that the spell had been lifted. She could see everything more clearly now that he was an open book, and sympathy washed over her in waves. Bastion had been fighting to keep himself conscious for years, knowing that when he let go that he would be used as an instrument to defeat two of the great kings' descendants. It seemed he had been doing a great job of it till Lucy disappears all those years ago with the rest of the S-class exam participants, that was when the spell finally took over.
"L-Lucy, what have I done?" His eyes were as wide as saucers, and she could see his sincerity clear as day.
"Nothing, that wasn't really you, Bastion. There was no way you could have stopped yourself, but it'll be alright now. You're back to being you, so we can be friends again." Lucy gave him a small smile. She was relieved that everything had worked out this way, because she had really begun to believe that all the damage to his mind had been by her hand when they were nothing more than children.
"They'll find you Lucy, they'll find you again!" Bastion cried out in alarm.
"I'm aware of that Bastion, and I have to face them, both of them." Lucy settled on the ground, and dispelled the ropes that bound her captive. "Everyone knew this day would come, and I'm ready to face my fate."
The red haired man just stared at the woman he had loved since he was a small child, his heart aching to comfort her when he knew that it was the very last thing she needed at the moment. He finally had his senses back thanks to her, and here they were talking as though this was their final farewell. He didn't want that, he couldn't have her go off to face them all alone.
"I'm not alone Bastion." He froze, for a moment he had forgotten that she could read his heart as though it were an open book. "I need to get back, are you coming with me?" The red head nodded weakly before they both got back to their feet. The Royal guard maintained their presence, forming a barrier between the two mages and the rest of the world, all of them on high alert. Something big was coming; they could all feel it now. It had now become a waiting game to see who would be able to strike first.
Erza let her mouth hang open for a moment, unsure of what to say. She tried to digest the words that had come from the ice mage but it just wasn't adding up.
"I don't understand." She finally looked up from the ground to meet his cool blue eyes once more.
"I said Laxus called back-up and left. He said there was a family issue to take care of." Gray shrugged. "Can I get back to work now; Jellal expected this paper work an hour ago." Gray shifted the stack of papers nervously.
"I'll come with you; I need to ask him something anyway." Erza hurriedly took the stack of papers motioning for Gray to lead the way. Her mind was working a mile a mile a minute at the development, there was only one thing that all of this could mean, and Erza was determined to get to the bottom of it even if she had to break some eggs to get the information she desired.
They passed a room that was half way in shambles, and Erza raised a brow at Ultear who ignored the red head in favor of finishing her work. Erza could feel that uncomfortable knot in her stomach tighten as she decided to ask Gray what had happened there once out of ear shot.
"Tell me what happened here." Erza demanded, leaving no room for the ice mage to argue back.
"Lucy and Levy had to take the council by force." Gray answered easily. "It looked worse when we first got here." Gray rounded another corner and pushed open a large set of double doors.
"Finally Gray, did you get lost again or something?" Jellal asked without looking up from the desk.
"No, and I wasn't lost the first time, I just took a detour." Gray defended.
"Whatever you say, did you bring the documents I asked for?" Again the blue haired mage didn't lift his eyes from the desk as he scribbled down notes to the side.
"Yeah, I think I got all of them." Erza made her way to the desk, and unceremoniously dropped the papers on the edge of the desk.
"Be more careful Gr-" Jellal looked up in time to see Erza raise her brow at him. "Erza, what a pleasant surprise, what brings you here?" The red head crossed her arms over her chest, a stern look on her face.
"Lucy's gone after them." She stated simply.
"I figured as much. Laxus was in a rush to get out of here which means he must have realized the same thing. Unfortunately for us, I have no clue where he was heading since Lucy never told us where she and Levy were staying." Erza could hear the concern in his voice, and decided that she was going to find the blonde mage if it was the last thing she would ever do.
"You have a lycrima here right, we could try to contact her and see what the hell she's planning." Jellal was slightly taken back by how on edge Erza seemed, she had always kept a calm exterior never allowing her personal feelings to cloud her judgment. Something about the way she was acting made him feel nervous as well.
"Sorry to intrude, but I'm sure they are gone by now." The three mages turned to see the old man that Lucy had left in charge as he slowly entered the room.
"What makes you think that old man?" Gray asked callously.
"When her majesty was her, I overheard them talking about joining up with the others. She collapsed shortly after that. I doubt the little one realized I was still within ear shot, but from what I gathered Lady Lucy was hurt severely during the battle." Erza's hands clenched into balls at her side, she knew something had been off about Lucy during that announcement. She knew something was wrong, why hadn't she come earlier? She could have helped them!
"Erza, Lucy is fine." Gray tried to reason with the red haired woman who looked as though she were about to go on the war path.
"She may be fine now, but that doesn't mean she will stay that way for much longer. You can feel it too can't you Jellal?" She turned her dark gaze on the man behind the desk. His eyes narrowed in response, and he nodded curtly.
"What are you two talking about?" Gray wanted to rip his hair out in frustration, he always seemed to be out of the loop these days, and he absolutely hated that.
"Zeref has made his presence know." Jellal answered simply. "He is on his way to where ever Lucy is."
"We have to get there! We have to help her!" Gray screamed franticly.
"It is out of your hands young ones, as much as it is out of mine." The old man stepped up next to Erza and laid a comforting hand on her arm. "The time for the three kings to fight has come. Soon there will be one victor and the world's fate will be decided."
Who will strike first? Zeref is heading their way, are they finally ready for the fight that will change their lives forever? How will the others react to Bastion now that the spell is finally broken? Find out all this and more next week!