Frustration and tension began to build in place of the fear that had taken root in his abdomen, and suddenly Bastion found himself ramming his balled fists into the floor, cursing silently.
Lucy would never forgive him if he gave up now, not in this life or the next. All other feelings slipped away as a burning determination set his veins on fire with adrenalin. He would get out of his prison, and rescue his friend some how; it was a promise made to no one, but that didn't matter.
His hands reached out to grab the bars of his prison, the palms of his hands burned against the anti-magic material, but Bastion held firm in hopes that his will would return to him.
"Lucy is in trouble." The group turned to see the orange haired spirit coming in from the opposite side of the clearing. His head was lowered, his glasses completely missing, and his usually pristine suit was smoking in places where it had caught fire.
"Trouble?" Levy's eyes grew three sizes as she took in the sight of her friend.
"What the hell - - are we - - waiting - - around here for - - then?" A rough voice ground out between heavy breaths. Laxus had pushed himself into a sitting position, holding on to the side which held the wound that had nearly taken his life. No one had even noticed that the blonde man had come round until that moment, but it was clear that he was in no shape to be moving around yet. Levy moved over to his side, trying to push the lightning mage back into the ground. Her actions were met with hisses of irritation as Laxus pushed her out of the way.
It didn't take long for Gajeel to decide that Laxus couldn't be reasoned with, so he helped the other man to his feet. Levy threw her hands in the air in exasperation, clearly annoyed with her husband for becoming Laxus' accomplice.
"I can't take you with me." Natsu refused to look the others in the eye as he took a step back. "This is something I need to do by myself."
Lucy followed her captor down a long passageway, and onto a spiral stair case. She took careful steps during their descent, knowing the further they progressed the more moisture would be collecting on the stone slabs. In spirit form her senses were almost akin to that of a dragon slayer; she could hear Maso's every breath, even smell the tang of his insanity.
It was clear that they were below ground at this point, and she couldn't stop images of her dreams from surfacing.
A sigh escaped her as they finally came to a landing, in front of a massive black door. The cavern lay beyond that door, for it was the gateway into a dimension that a brave dragon gave her life to seal. Anger bubbled up in Lucy's stomach, but she pushed it back down while maintaining her false smile.
So many had already given their all for this day, so many had fallen victim to this ancient feud; it was time for it all to come to an end. The line would end with her, and with Maso.
A growl ripped itself from the back of Wendy's throat against her will. Something about the intruders was familiar to the young dragon slayer, though she could not seem to place their smell. The black hoods that covered the upper portions of their faces did nothing to help her in her quest to remember where she knew them.
Waves of power wafted off of the gang of cloaked intruders in an all to tangible sense, Wendy could visibly see that her friends could sense it as well. Gray had taken a defensive stance and Erza had her eyes narrowed as if she were trying to read the situation on a deeper level. One thing she knew for certain was that they were extremely dangerous, every last one of them, and their little group was outnumbered five to one by these skilled mages.
This was an attack, a well planned attack, considering that her nose hadn't pickup up the scent of intruders until only moments before they had crossed the threshold. Word must have spread about the fall of the counsel's defeat by this point, and evil from far and wide would come now to take advantage of the situation. As if to confirm her mental read on the situation, the pressure in the room skyrocketed to something the blue haired mage had only felt a few times in her short life.
It only took a moment to realize what was about to happen, before a bolt of lightning struck one of the lycrima screens.
The enemy didn't say a word as they launched into a full on assault, targeting both the lycrima system and the mages that stood before them. For Wendy it felt as though the world had gone into slow motion as she reacted to the new situation. This was her redemption, her way to prove that she need not have been sent away. A feeling of overwhelming excitement began to course through her veins as she battled back wave after wave of black coated mages. Yes she had missed the first signs of an attack, she knew that her big brothers would give her a hard time about that, but she was certain that she would make them proud of her.
That's right, when you guys get back I'll show you that you were wrong about me.
A howl echoed through the cavernous room as Wendy launched her breath attack, knocking back another wave of opponents. She sent several kicks enhanced with her wind magic taking down her fair share of the bunch, but they just kept coming. She wondered if there would ever be an end to them.
Erza was right on the wind mage's tail, re-quiping into her Lightning Empress armor, before hurling herself in the direction of the enemy who had cast the first spell. The room shook beneath their feet with every new explosion, accompanied by shrill cries of agony from both parties.
Gray was taking on a mob of his own, while Ultear shouted instructions to the members of her team. The Fairy Tail Mages were scattered at this point, taking on opponents three at a time. Plums of smoke from Erza billowed when she changed into her Flame Empress armor, effectively charring a good number of her targets.
The furthest from the action was Elfman and Romeo, too stunned to do much more than watch as an all out war broke out. Dozens of enemies filtering through the now broken doorway at a time, in a stream of nearly unending battles. It was not until a gravely voice raised above the chaos that their attention was brought back to earth.
"To think the Alliance would act this quickly after the council fell." He made a click sound with his tongue, shaking his head sadly.
"That can't be true, we took care of the dark guilds before hand!" Romeo defended.
"You think that they do not have a skill mage in the way of sight? I'm sure at least one of the guilds was aware enough to hide themselves or at least a group of their strongest. There are surely some of the Earth Kings men here as well." A grim smile lit the old man's face. Romeo opened his mouth, ready to give an answer when the elder man gave a brief goodbye.
Romeo was confused for a moment, wondering why the man would do such a thing in the middle of a battle field.
It wasn't merely a second later when a massive shard of lycrima came crashing down from the viewing system, slicing the crippled old man in two. Blood splattered forth in sickly streams, coating Romeo from head to toe. His hand shook as he reached out in vain for the old man, trying to help him move out of range, but it was already to late.
A scream echoed through the room, meeting Wendy's ears as the potency of spilled blood assaulted her nose. She knew that voice; it was Romeo.
Her heart pounded painfully in her chest as she spun on her heels, scanning the room for the dark haired boy. Her feet began to move without permission from the rest of her when she caught sight of his light skin slashed with the crimson of blood. He was kneeling, his whole body shaking violently, while the massive white haired mage beside him just stared with wide eyes. Fear was creeping along her veins making every detail far more vivid than she wanted.
She watched him collapse forward, his body trembling and then he was still.
Levy was on the verge of exploding in anger. "What the hell d-" a heavy hand was clamped over her mouth before she could finish her question. Her usually soft gaze hardened as she turned to see her husband shaking his head in defeat.
"We can't stop him from going alone, even if we fought him about it. I hate to admit it, but Salamander is stronger than us, it would be a pointless waste of time." Gajeel's callused hand dropped away from Levy's mouth slowly, allowing time for his words to sink in.
"B-but Lucy is in t-trouble!" Her small face shown bright red with the effort of holding back her tears. She looked over at Laxus for support, but he wouldn't meet her gaze.
"Levy, please." Natsu's voice was thick with emotion, he was scared, and Levy knew it.
"The longer we wait the less time we have." Loki added calmly from his position.
"So what? Do you expect us to just wait here for you?" Strands of her blue hair had slipped free, and were masking her face by this point. She was glad for it, since she knew that in the moment her behavior was no better than a spoiled child.
"Send us to Era." All heads turned in the direction of Laxus now. "We are all hurt pretty bad, and the kid can heal. Send us to Era to be with Wendy."
No time was wasted as Natsu set to work on a gateway. Era would be safe for his family, and he would meet them there after he rescued Lucy.
"Go on ahead, I'll bring Lucy once we've finished our business with that psycho." Natsu tried his best to give the others an encouraging smile, even though he knew it was only a pathetic attempt. He could tell that none of them were buying his facade anyway, so he soon let it slip into a solid frown. "Come on Loki, I might need you to help me track her."
Maso had taken a large ornate silver key from the depths of his regal overcoat. He fumbled with the slick handle, Lucy knew this even though he was hiding it all from view. Without thinking, she released the block she had placed between herself and the rest of the world. She saw through Maso's eyes, and felt his needs as if they were her own. The pain of living a meaningless life for so many centuries rocked her to the core, and if she had been new the the feeling she would have surely fallen to her knees in agony.
Silently she thanked Gray for inadvertently preparing her for this moment. Experiencing all of a persons pain in one go was not an easy task, to put it lightly. Above everything else Maso feared his own death, and the uncertainty that it brought. Lucy could empathize with the man on that subject if nothing else.
The time was getting closer every moment, with every breath she took it was one closer to the decision that she had made. Natsu would be furious if he knew what she was planning. A small smile ghosted across her face at the thought of her beloved husband, and his goofy nature, but it was quickly wiped from her face when she remember that she had left him alone to face Zeref.
The Celestial Spirit Mage had faith in her partner, yes, but the idea of Natsu being able to take a person's life was something she never had considered before this whole mess. He was a fighter, born and breed, there was no denying that, but he was also a gentle soul. She loved him more than she could ever express with words, and she knew the same was true vice versa. Soon she would be leaving her partner alone.
Lucy took a deep breath in an attempt to gather all of her courage. For all the times she had spouted ideals about how she and Natsu were going to save the world, she never thought it would be quite this hard. Death was the unknown, and when she let herself dwell on the subject an icy fear came creeping up over her. She prayed that when the time came that she could find the courage to do what was necessary.
A click brought the blond out of her silent ruminating, and she raised her head to see the heavy door swing open. She swallowed hard before following the dark haired man who was swallowed by the darkness.