Chapter 5: Fatal battles

Recap:

"Why do you need her now? All those facts belong to the past! They are ancient history!" Makarov was the only one who could speak from the Fairy Tail part. The others were too shocked to even make a sound.

"Water symbolizes life and a water dragon is the only one that can beat Acnologia. But for summoning the dragon we have to use a certain dragon slayer's blood and chant the magic words that can put her under our control. After the end of the ritual, the dragon has to defeat the dragon slayer and kill him so as to stay awake. That's why we need Juvia. We will use her so as to wake her mother from her deep sleep."

"You mean that…" Gray couldn't even finish his thought before Jose speaks again.

"Yes you pathetic ice mage. Juvia is the water dragon slayer."


"We are going to wake her mother and use her to control Acnologia. If we can defeat Acnologia we will have under our control two powerful dragons and we will rule over this earth. With these dragons following our commands, we will control life and death. We will be invincible!" Jose laughed hysterically not being able to restrain his thirst for revenge.

"And then we will kill you disgusting fairies because we have tolerated your existence enough! Nothing and no one will be able to stop us after that!" Bluenote added with an ironic smirk.

"There is no way you will succeed your plans. This is bullshit!" Makarov yelled but he got ignored from the members of the Oracion Phantom's Heart.

The fairies tried to understand what they had just learned but it was too much for them. Their enemies would sacrifice Juvia and wake up a water dragon. And after that they would use the water dragon to control Acnologia. If they achieved that goal they would be truly invincible. All the Fairy Tail members remembered with a lot of accuracy the fight with the dragon of the Apocalypse. Back to Tenroujima Island when they did the S-class exams and defeated Grimoire Heart, they combined all of their powers to counterattack Acnologia but they didn't even wound him. How they would defeat him now? And on top of that they had to face all their previous major enemies. They couldn't defeat him when he was alone, how they could possibly win now with all these mages protecting him?

Feelings that Gray didn't want to experience and scared him filled his heart: sadness, fear, terror, despair. These feelings made him feel weak, but he didn't have the luxury to flinch. He had to save Juvia. He had to save her not only for the sake of the world, but also because he couldn't stand the idea of losing her. He knew he was selfish: he actually didn't care about the rest of the world. His only purpose was to save the woman he loved. Loved?

Yeah, you idiot! Better late than never! You finally understood what you felt about her! You had to think that you will lose her so as to admit that you love her? You are such a hopeless guy! , a voice inside of him yelled at him with all his might. He didn't even have the power to tell the voice to shut up. He knew that everything it said was true. He didn't have to hide it from himself anymore. He finally understood that he loved Juvia with all his heart.

"And now please excuse us. We have to continue the ritual because we are running out of time. You can watch if you like. I am sure Juvia would want you to witness her sacrifice. Anyway, you can only watch from afar. It's not that you can do anything else." Brain stated with an irritating tone.

"Fried, Levy what's your status?" Makarov asked anxiously.

"They have done a very good job with the runes, Gramps. It's very difficult to break them." Levy stated trying to hide her tears.

"Please hurry my children." He could only hope that they would make it in time.

Their enemies turned their backs on them and faced the main attraction, Juvia who was looking at her nakamas with loving and worried eyes at the same time. She had finally learned what their enemies needed her and she was terrified about the consequences. If they achieved their plans, her friends and the whole world would be in danger. Her love of her life would be in danger. When she came alone to face Erigor for the second time she thought that her friends would be safe, but she was so wrong. Even if they didn't fight the enemy right away, they would defend the innocent people and they would finally end up fighting with them. What I was thinking? Why I acted so selfishly? If I had talked to them maybe we would find a solution… All the things I did were because I love them and I wanted them to be safe… I wanted him to be safe…

Jose approached Juvia with devilish eyes and holding a silver dagger in his right hand.

"Don't dare to touch her you evil son of a bitch!" Gray yelled in agony, but he got ignored too. Jose just smiled ironically and put the dagger onto Juvia's flesh. He drew the knife along her hand causing a wound deep enough to let her blood slip along her curved body and into the bowl that was placed underneath her. He was too cautious not to make a fatal wound because Juvia had to be alive so as to complete the ritual. She left a small groan because of the pain and she started to feel her eyes become heavy.

"You bastard!" Gajeel and Gray yelled at the same time and started to punch the rune barrier again and again.

"Stop it! Please stop!" Mirajane,Wendy, Lisanna and Cana cried but Jose didn't slow down his movements.

"Jose, stop these nonsense immediately!" Makarov demanded while all the other members of Fairy Tail stood tensed beside him. Everyone seemed ready to attack because they couldn't stand what was happening to their friend. But there was nothing that they could do because of that damned rune barrier.

"Now is time to witness the power that I am going to unleash Makarov! A new era is about to begin and we are going to be the rulers of the new world!" Jose yelled and he extended the dagger and made an identical wound across Juvia's other hand. Juvia let another groan slip through her mouth and tears began to roll on her face. If she lost more blood, she would eventually collapse. Her blood slowly filled the cup that had been placed below her feet and Jose grasped it eagerly inside his hands.

"The time has come my fellow mages and we are going to achieve our goal! Now is the time to take our revenge!" Bluenote, Jose and Brain yelled and their followers cheered about the news.

When the cheers hushed, Jose sipped from the cup with Juvia's blood. He took a large sip from her blood, he almost drained the cup, and he started to tremble. Suddenly a small cloud covered his eyes and when the cloud disappeared his eyes had become a deep blue, like Juvia's eyes.

"Now that the time has come and the stars gave their consent, I call upon the powerful water dragon to wake. I wish her power to unleash and let me grant my wish. O, great Water Dragon, the fountain of life wake and give me the power I desire." He chanted loudly and the clear skies filled with clouds. Thunders hit the earth and the water of the lake formed a shield in front of the cave. Everyone was watching with caught breath the scenery that unfolded below their eyes. The evil mages were watching with admiration the entrance of the cave while the fairies were terrified of the things that were about to come.

Makarov cursed when he saw the water shield break and the water dragon emerge from the depths of the dark cave. Its magnificent gigantic form walked gracefully its way outside the cave with its blue wings folded near the torso. Its body was covered with blue scales and its huge black-blue nails dug the earth while it was walking. Its long blue tail formed small waves of wind when it moved. Its eyes were deep blue, like Juvia's eyes and a golden tattoo with the shape of fallen teardrops was designed across her face. The same pattern encircled its whole body. The dragon was confused about its summoning, but when it saw what was happening, its confusion changed to anger.

"Welcome back Aquamarina. I am glad to see that you are alright." Jose said with his current blue eyes glowing with excitement.

"What have you done Jose? There is no way you could summon me, unless…" the dragon watched around her and saw Juvia tied onto the cross. She recognized her immediately because of the characteristic blue hair and blue eyes that seemed hollow at the moment. "What have you done to my daughter, you traitor?" Aquamarina yelled angrily with her inner voice (the dragons are creatures of higher intelligence than people and can communicate with telepathy, so they can speak to everyone they want without using their mouth).

"I have done nothing to her… yet." Jose smiled slyly.

"You bastard-" the dragon tried to attack to Jose but she quickly retrieved her paw without hitting her target. The dragon's eyes were full of agony when she realized what was happening.

"You seriously thought that I would let you free so easily? Your daughter's blood seems so useful after all." Jose was ready to laugh but he restrained himself. He knew that if he went with it too far he would eventually lose the influence that he had on Aquamarina.

"I thought that you were our friend, Jose. When Gregory and I chose to transform into dragons so as to save humanity from Acnologia we entrusted our daughter's fate to your hands. You swore to raise her well and protect her. Why are you doing this now?" the dragon tried to attack again but she would just obey Jose's orders and stay to the ground.

"I was never your friend Aquamarina. I was around you only because I wanted power and you were naïve enough to show me how to get it. It was an easy task to deceive you and I enjoyed it a lot. You and Gregory were just a bunch of fools that taught me unconsciously how to gain power. When Gregory died and you fell to sleep I got rid of Juvia because I didn't want to raise her. I gave her to some foster parents but they abandoned her as well because she was too depressing. I took her to Phantom Lord only because I remembered how powerful she was. I thought that she could be useful. When I learned that Acnologia returned I made up this plan of using you and Acnologia to conquer the world and defeat these fairies, your daughter's current family." He finally laughed because he was no longer able to restrain himself.

"Do you think that I am going to let you hurt my daughter? I will do anything in my power to stop you and your evil plans, you disgusting worm."

"You cannot do otherwise, my dear Aquamarina. Actually, I am not going to harm your daughter. You will. You will kill her with your own hands so as to stay awake and help me fulfill my plans."

"This is not going to happen!" Aquamarina growled and was ready to roar when a dark shadow appeared in front of her and blocked her vision.

"You are under my control Aquamarina. You should get used to it because you are the one who will help me defeat Acnologia.

"I am not going to cooperate with you and lead my daughter to death and myself to an eternal obedience to you! Never!"

"You don't have any other choice. You will kill your daughter and then you will kill those fairies that wait outside the rune barrier." He showed with his thin finger at the angry Fairy Tail members.

Bluenote and Brain untied Juvia from the cross and let her stand alone in front of her mother. The wounds hadn't healed and she felt weak. She knew that she couldn't protect herself from a powerful attack against her. She didn't have the power to defeat her mother. Her mother? This dragon that was standing in front of her was her real mother? She couldn't believe it. But again, she had to protect her loved ones. Even though she was her mother, Fairy Tail is her family now and she would protect them with her life. She just had to endure enough attacks until Fried and Levy could solve the rune barrier. She had to try. She felt like betraying her family if she didn't even do so.

"Now, my beautiful dragon, obey my orders and destroy your daughter. And when you do so, there will be no turning back. You will obey my orders forever." He ordered and and his eyes glowed when he finished his sentence.

"No, no!" the dragon yelled and her body acted instinctively obeying Jose's orders. Her paws with the extended nails rushed towards Juvia trying to hit her with all her strength. Before yelling once more, Aquamarina's eyes shadowed and lost their glow. She started moving like she was being manipulated from Jose and attacked Juvia again and again without realizing what she was doing. Juvia dodged the attacks a few seconds before the dragon's paws hit the targets. Usually she was faster, but now because of the big loss of her blood she felt weaker and heavier. She looked towards the rune barrier and she saw Gray's face looking at her with worried eyes. At least they were safe at the moment. She felt herself smiling at him, before a huge nail dig itself into her arm. The dragon finally hit the target and stared at her bleeding daughter with an expressionless face.

Gray couldn't stand the sight of the fight. Juvia was wounded and could barely stand and he was on the other side of this stupid barrier that forbade him to go and save her. He cursed himself for not being able to help her and prayed for her to stay alive until he would find a solution to the problem.

Juvia continued to dodge the attacks barely in time and this fact irritated Jose. He should finish quickly with Juvia so as to continue with his plan. Juvia had to die, but she didn't seem to admit her defeat so easily. Jose would admit that: Juvia was skilled and courageous for continuing to fight against the water dragon. Knowing that these ground attacks wouldn't do any immediate harm to Juvia, he ordered Aquamarina to fly into the air and perform a powerful roar. She blindly followed his orders and flew into the sky.

"Roar of the water dragon!" Juvia heard the water dragon yell and saw a huge water wave directed to her. The attack was ruthless and hit Juvia pretty hard, but in the end she managed to turn into her Sierra form and step away from the dragon with a few injuries. Jose thought that this was the ultimate weapon and he should order Aquamarina to attack again with her roar. But he didn't measure a side-effect of the attack. The dragon's roar was so powerful that broke the rune barrier which restrained the Fairy Tail members from attacking.

Gray felt the change about the rune barrier and yelled to master Makarov.

"Gramps the barrier is down!" he cried with all his strength.

"Go my brats and beat the crap out of these idiots! They shouldn't have messed up with our guild!" Makarov ordered and the guild members rushed towards the fight eager to help Juvia and defeat their enemies once again.

"Jose the rune barrier broke!" Brain yelled.

"Defend the dragon. Keep the fairies out of the battle." Jose ordered and the evil mages started to clash with the fairies.

Gray tried to run towards Juvia so as to help her defeat the dragon but Erigor blocked his way.

"Long time no see Gray. Let's see if you are worthy of an opponent like Natsu was." He smirked ironically.

"I don't have the time to deal with you right now. Step aside you jackass." He growled.

"I am not going to let you intervene with our business. I shall not let you pass."

"Well, I guess I have to kick your butt first." Gray forced a lifeless smile form onto his face. Before giving the opportunity to Erigor to react, Gray shot his ice make lances towards him. Gray thought that he could catch him off guard and finish him off quickly, but Erigor was too calm.

"You didn't even flinch." Gray said surprised and saw Erigor prepare himself to counterattack.

"Now is my turn." Erigor grinned. "Wind Blade!"

"Ice Make Shield!" Gray yelled but the airy blades were too powerful and broke his shield into small pieces.

"How you…" Gray was shocked from Erigor's improvement. He knew he was stronger than before, but he couldn't imagine how much power he gained through all these years.

"You seem shocked. Let me show you how strong I got." Erigor smirked and attacked again.

"Storm Bringer!" he yelled and a huge tornado formed between his hands. When it reached the desired size, Erigor unleashed the tornado that hit Gray in his right arm.

Gray felt the pain from his wound, but he didn't let himself grow weak. He had to defeat him quickly and go to Juvia. He stripped from his blouse and tried to stand still.

"Emera Baram!" Erigor yelled using his strongest spell before Gray could react. A huge halo of light was generated around his hands, from which a large, concentrated blast of wind blades was fired towards Gray trying to slice him up. Gray thought that this was the end. He was careless and he had allowed Erigor to take the upper hand and beat him. But if he lost what would happen to Juvia? If she saw him dead, she would collapse as well. He had to fight for her. An image of Juvia smiling at him with her blue curls fall gracefully onto her shoulders and her slim body stand awkwardly in front of him penetrated into his mind and gave him the motivation that he needed to survive. He wanted to see her smile like that once again. "Ice Make Cocoon!" he growled the only spell that could save him.

"An easy win." Erigor murmured after he saw his tornado devour Gray and tried to leave when he felt a cold blade sinking into his torso. His eyes were full of shock and he turned to see Gray stabbing him with his ice make sword.

"How you escaped the attack?" he couldn't even speak now, his mouth was full with blood.

"I can't afford to lose. I have something very important to fight for." Gray stated and gave the fatal strike to Erigor. He left him lying unconscious and bleeding onto the ground and he walked quickly to the place Juvia fought.

Before reaching the master battlefield, Gray looked around and saw the other battles that took place at the same time. Master Makarov was fighting against Jose, Laxus was fighting against Bluenote and Gajeel with Elfman made war on Brain. Fried, Evergreen and Bickslow battled against the Sol, Aria and Totomaru while Mirajane and Lisanna fought Midnight. Cana, Macao and Wakaba were fighting with Angel and Cobra. The Shadow gear team with Levy, Reedus and Max were fighting against Rustyrose and Kain Hikaru while Azack, Bisca and Warren were fighting against Yomazu and Kawazu. Everyone seemed that they could manage their enemies so Gray run to where Juvia was.

When he reached the scene, he saw Laki trying to restrain the dragon while Wendy was healing Juvia's wounds. Before Wendy could finish the healing, Gray reached Juvia and saw how bad her wounds were. Cold sweat rolled on her face as she struggled to overcome her wounds.

"Juvia I am here." Gray took her into his arms and tried to comfort her.

"Gray-sama. Gray-sama is that you?" Juvia opened hastily her eyes and saw Gray standing above her head.

"Yes, I am here for you Juvia. We will fight together. I will fight for you, even if it means that I have to give up my own life." he promised.

"Gray-sama …" before she could say another word, Laki landed abruptly next to Gray with wounds from the dragon's attack onto her face, torso, arms and legs.

"Laki, are you ok?" Wendy and Gray asked simultaneously.

"I am ok. But I couldn't restrict the dragon. I am so sorry…"

"Laki-chan, don't worry please. Juvia is sure that Laki-chan did everything she could. Now is Juvia's turn to fight her mother."
"But I haven't finished with your healing Juvia! You are still very weak-" Wendy tried to protest but Juvia cut her off.

"Juvia is fine Wendy-chan, don't worry about her. Now that she has seen her loved ones once more she gained strength and she can face any difficulties." Juvia stood up and approached the angry dragon that was getting prepared to attack them once again.

"Wendy-chan and Gray-sama please take Laki-chan some place safe. I don't want you to get hurt.

She turned her back on them and started to march towards the dragon. Before making two full steps she felt a warm hand catching her own bloody one. She turned her face and saw Gray smiling at her warmly.

"Gray-sama…"

"We will face it together. I am never gonna leave you alone. I suffered enough while you were away. I don't want to experience that feeling again." He felt awkward for revealing his feelings but he had promised to himself that he would never leave Juvia alone again.

Juvia was so overwhelmed from Gray's answer. She thought that she would never have the chance to hear his voice again and now she heard him say those things about her… Even though she was hurt with almost fatal wounds, even though everything seemed doomed she felt like she was in her own private paradise. Even though she felt her life slip through her hands, she felt more alive than ever at the same time. She felt like she could face anything only with his warm hand holding hers. Before she could tell him how much his word meant to her, the dragon roared towards them destroying everything in its path with his furious eyes glowing with the flame of anger.


A/N: What will happen with Juvia and Gray? They managed to dodge Aquamarina's attack or they caught into her tremendous roar? How Gray and Juvia will fight against such a powerful dragon? I was thinking about a unison raid (I was inspired from the awesome cover of the chapter 283) Tell me your opinion with a review :) Hope you enjoy reading it as much I enjoyed writing it :)