Author's Note: I'm back for what seems like it will be my final time writing on Traveling Mage, Karina. Will Tanzeru forgive Karina? Will their job hold more surprises than anticipated? What will become of Tanzeru and Karina? All these questions and more will be answered here, hopefully. So here it is, the final chapter, 'A Curse Till the End'. Read and enjoy!

Chapter 10:
A Curse Till the End

I awoke to the morning sun rays glimmering through the trees. Despite my new look on life, I woke up in a panic. I had a nightmare that I couldn't explain or even understand. It was blurry, but I saw dragons and lightning. They were both tearing through the skies themselves. It seemed almost unnatural and ominous. But, I couldn't see anything else, after that it all just went… blank.

Luxus lazily sat up and yawned. He looked up at me and grunted wearily, "What's up with you? You look like you had a nightmare or something."

Maybe, this dream had no real meaning. It was probably nothing. "Nah, it's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Wasn't planning to worry but whatever. When do we set out?"

I grabbed my bag and slung it on my back as I demanded, "Now! The sooner, the better."

Truthfully, that dream had me a little shaken up and I was afraid that something bad might have happened to Tanzeru and the others. I just wanted to check on everyone as soon as possible.

So Luxus and I set off heading east from where we were. The village wasn't too far. On our way, we saw a tall, slightly rounded man wearing a white coat. He had a grey, full beard and wore glasses, though he was clearly middle-aged. He was stroking his beard with one hand as he pointed in numerous directions. It seemed as if he was confused, almost as if he was lost. Recognizing the jolly, old man, I yelled, "Gramps! Over here!"

He turned slightly and laughed a bit under his breath. I ran towards him, Luxus trailing behind me, grumbling to himself about something.

"You recognize me, right gramps?"

With a chuckle, he responded, "I may not be the best in memory but, there are only two people in this world that call me gramps. Probably from the fact, I have no children."

I looked at him a bit, surprised that he could remember anything. Then I realized something and quickly asked, "Then tell me, what's my name?"

Almost immediately, he said, "Now's not the time for games, I got lost on my way back to the village. Could any of you help me out?"

Luxus slowly and with a slight tone of distaste, pointed out, "We're on our way to the village too."

I just stood in silence as the two spoke, surprised at how easily and quickly he changed the topic. He would always do something like that when he didn't want to admit his own forgetfulness and even today, it still works out in his favor.

"Hey this is no time for you to be daydreaming, we going or not?" Luxus growled. It seems that while I was spacing out, Luxus agreed to let Dr. Helios come with us. We were heading to his place anyway.

We started walking again with our newly added companion. The three of us remained silent, coming from three totally different backgrounds, there were actually very few things we could all relate to. Soon, Dr. Helios broke the awkward silence as he questioned Luxus, "Tanzeru, I don't quite remember you being blond, when did you do that?"

Quickly I corrected him, "No, no, no. That's not Tanzeru."

Ignoring me, he continued to question, "That scar across your eye is new, too. Wasn't the scar on your shoulder down to your elbow or somewhere along those lines?"

"Like I said that's not Tanzeru." still trying to convince him. Again, I was completely ignored.

"Come to think of it, your eyes weren't that color either."

Finally I snapped yelling, "Listen to me, damn. I said, that's not Tanzeru!"

"Then who is it?"

"That's Luxus, he introduced himself to you, remember?"

Surprised, he turned towards Luxus and yelled, "Tanzeru, when did you change your name to Luxus! What kind of name is that anyway?"

By this time, Luxus was angrily gritting his teeth with a smile of insanity on his face. He gripped the doctor and yelled, "What are you, deaf! Or are you just plain stupid? Didn't she just say I'm not Tanzeru! I never was and never will be, okay! Now get it through your thick friggin' skull!"

I knew I should have done something, but it was actually kind of funny. After Luxus shook the doctor until he fainted, he cooled off and we had to carry the sleeping doctor. By we, I meant Luxus since it was his fault anyway.

Soon, we arrived to Dr. Helios' home and that's when it struck me. Like electricity stunned every fiber of my being, I was stopped cold in my tracks. Suddenly, I had a vision, or more like another piece of the puzzling dream I had earlier.

Again, I saw the dragons and lightning ripping through the skies, but, in addition to that, I saw a black-haired woman. She was standing on top of the largest dragon that seemed to be leading the others. This dragon, was much different from the others. It was… truly sinister, evil literally leaked from beneath its scales. Then, that woman, she was even more ominous,… no… she was pure, concentrated evil, the dragon stood no comparison to her. Her appearance was deceitful, I could have easily been fooled, but something in my mind was telling me not to judge a book by its cover. It revealed to me her true form, something, extremely… terrifying. Then sinfully, she snickered, as if she was piercing my soul through my dream. I felt like someone had me in a strangle-hold while driving a knife through my heart.

…

"Hey. HEY, Karina! You still with us?"

I snapped away from my vision and held my head. It was all so much to take in at once, but for some reason, I felt that it was still only the beginning. Like, there was more, much more I'll have to deal with. Still, it scared me, down to the marrow of my very bones, I was really, sincerely, genuinely terrified.

"Gee Karina, you've been acting weird all day, what's up?" Luxus grumbled with underlined concern.

"It's nothing. Like I said, don't worry about it."

Silently he muttered, "You saying that isn't gonna help my situation."

Pretending I didn't hear him, I arrogantly asked, "Excuse me, something you wanna say?"

Mockingly he used and repeated my own words against me. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Shrugging it off, we proceeded to the entrance when the old doctor spontaneously yelled, "Wait! I've got to… got to…", then slowly and calmly he snored his way back into his dreamland. Although I tried to hold it in, I couldn't help but burst into laughter, while Luxus on the other hand, gave an irritated sigh. It was a good way to ease the tension at least.

I opened the front door since Luxus had his hands full. As soon as I swung the door open, I was greeted by a heated iron pillar flying into my stomach that, in turn, sent me flying back into a tree. Thankfully, I was able to throw it off of me. Normally that would have hurt a lot, but after a night of training from Luxus, that was nothing. Of course, that didn't make me any less angry as I yelled, "What the hell is wrong with you two! Fighting first thing in the morning!"

Gajeel and Natsu were gripping each other as they looked at me and simultaneously, and with no form of care, said "Oh, welcome back."

I balled my fist, holding back the anger and the words that might have accidentally slipped out as I thought to myself, "That's all I get, 'oh, welcome back.', screw them!"

"No hi for me huh, and here I thought you guys would miss me." Luxus said sarcastically realizing that the two didn't even realize he was there.

Natsu let go of Gajeel, hopped up, and screamed with fire coming out of his mouth, "Luxus, Fight me!"

He was silenced by Luxus' foot in his face as Luxus angrily spoke, "You're too excited first thing in the morning."

Ignoring Natsu, whom was stomping around, yelling nonsense and breathing fire, Gajeel coldly asked, "What are you doing here, Luxus?"

Luxus remained silent, I could feel the cold atmosphere between the two from where I was. It was intense, so to stop the trouble from brewing, I quickly defended, "I brought him with me."

Expecting Gajeel to get angry or something, he shocked me. "Okay then, who's the old geezer taking a nap of his shoulder?", he said, pointing to a snoring Dr. Helios who still laid peacefully across Luxus' shoulder.

As Luxus lowered the doctor down, he grunted, "I actually forgot I was carrying him for a second there."

He violently shook Dr. Helios until I held his hands back and yelled, "What are you trying to do, kill him!"

Luxus argued, "That ain't gonna kill him so easy."

Dr. Helios peeked his eyes open and blinked a few time. "My, my, what am I doing here? Don't tell me I'm lost again."

Out of pity, I tapped his shoulder and pointed towards the house and said, "You're home, remember."

That's when it hit me and I asked, "Where are the others? All the noise we're making down here, even if they were sleeping we would have woken them up."

Natsu suddenly stopped rampaging and answered me, "Oh, they went on a tour of the village with Shiruna. I didn't want to go and metal head over there just wanted to copy me."

"I think it was the other way around, you copied me."

Again the two were butting heads and fighting. "Why do they want a tour?"

Gajeel grunted in breaths as he fought Natsu, "After we only took out like thirty out of the hundreds of 'em flying, and none of the thirty were dragons, Erza thought it would be a good idea if we set up stations and fight where we'll be most effective or something."

"I see, well I guess it's okay if we…" my sentence was cut short as I experienced another piece of the dream. This time, I could see the whole setting instead of just the sky. The area seemed familiar, it looked like a broken down version of the village. Corpses were scattered about, it was like a post-apocalyptic scene from a movie. Shiruna was standing in the middle of the village staring at me with a wicked smirk lining her cheeks. I turned my head and could see the members of Fairy Tail, even Luxus, laying in defeat. I ran into the forest, but Shiruna followed close-by. I turned back, but what I saw was Shiruna transforming into the evil woman who was standing on top of the dragon earlier. I reached Dr. Helios' home, only to discover it in crumbles, Natsu and Gajeel under the rubble unconscious. I was severely confused, unable to figure out what was going on, and why I was seeing all this.

"Yo, you're spacing out again." Luxus said standing in the entrance of the house, Dr. Helios standing right next to him. That dream, it couldn't be coincidence. I pulled Luxus and Dr. Helios away from the building since they were the closest to me and I yelled to Gajeel and Natsu, "You guys! Quit playing, get out there, now!"

They simply stared at me questionably but right now, there wasn't any time to explain so I yelled again, this time with panic evident in my voice, "This isn't a game! Seriously guys, get out of there!"

Just as I spoke, a large dragon, almost as big as the one from my dream, swooped down and drew lightning from its mouth. It blasted out the lightning like a cannon beam. The blast produced a blinding light that engulfed the entire building. I could only hear Natsu and Gajeel's screams as the lightning struck them, my eyes bolted shut from the light.

As the lightning finally dispersed, I peeked my eyes open. Soon my narrowed eyes grew wide as I realized my dream was coming true, in a way. Natsu and Gajeel were buried under rubble and rocks left over from the collapsed building, unconscious. It wasn't in the exact order of my dream but it was still too eerie to ignore.

"What the hell just happened?" Luxus asked, still trying to understand what was going on.

Dr. Helios stared at the sight where his home once stood in shock and disbelief. Everyone was trying to piece together this impossible puzzle, and I just got another piece. Another vision popped into my head. This time I saw Tanzeru, holding his bleeding arm as his scar reopened. He was on his knees and was staring up at the sky. Suddenly, almost spontaneously, the largest lightning bolt I had ever seen, tore the skies as it ripped down swiftly towards Tanzeru. There was definitely impact since I saw an explosion that stretched throughout the entire forest. It seems that,… I may have just witnessed… Tanzeru's death.

I rushed towards the village pulling Luxus along with me, and Dr. Helios on my back. He wasn't much of a runner and right now, time is everything.

I was definitely relieved to see the village still inside it's happy state, everything just seemed a bit quiet. Come to think of it, where was everyone? No one was outside, and I couldn't see anyone inside the buildings. No sign of Tanzeru and the others, no sign of anyone.

"What has happened to my village? Where are the people?" Dr. Helios asked with great concern. It was definitely a mystery.

Soon I heard footsteps steadily stroll behind us. Slowly I turned my head, and out the corner of my eye, I could see a smirk lining someone's face. I quickly turned completely around to reveal it was Shiruna.

"Who are you, and where is the rest of Fairy Tail?" I sneered.

"What is the meaning of this Shiruna, do you know what is going on?" Dr. Helios questioned.

In the blink of an eye, she was standing in front of him. "Your research was a great help doctor, but now I'm afraid it's time for you to die…", and just like that Dr. Helios fell to the floor, knife embedded in his stomach and blood draining from his mouth.

"You bastard." I grunted as I attacked her. I was so angry, I wasn't even thinking as I fought, I made it easy for her to read my moves and dodge my attacks. However, she didn't count on Luxus attacking from behind as she just barely dodged his lightning-powered punch.

"Such annoying pests!" she mocked as a dragon swooped down to pick her up. It was the same dragon that was leading the rest in my vision. As the dragon ascended, Shiruna transformed before our eyes. She became that woman of pure evil, or maybe, that's who Shiruna truly was.

Luxus pointed up at her with anger in his eyes and lightning sparking from his headphones. "Why are you here, Urtear!"

She remained silent, her smirk gradually growing longer. The dragon, along with the crew behind it, flew away in the opposite direction leaving behind the echoes from her fiendish, mocking laugh. I wanted to kill her, I wanted to kill her so bad, but right now, first things first. I have to find out what she was talking about. However, it didn't seem that Luxus had the same idea as I did, as all I could see was the cloud of dust that trailed behind him as he chased after them. I would have stopped him, but by the time I realized, he was too far gone.

I kneeled at Dr. Helios' side as he choked and coughed. I wasn't a doctor, and he couldn't heal himself, so this might just be the end. He started to mutter something but I couldn't quite hear him. "What did you say?"

"I should have trusted my instinct, she seemed like such a nice girl. How could she? Why did she rob me of my research, after all those years I put into it. After my father died trying to solve this. Why?"

I knew he was a doctor, but as far as I observed, he wasn't researching anything. He would study magic a lot despite the fact he didn't have any power to speak of, but that was about it. "What research are you talking about?"

"Listen carefully, I don't know how much time I have left, so I should at least tell you. This is probably the one thing, I can never forget. About fifty years ago, my father became a very well known professor. Everyone knew the name Sebastian Helios. His research, a theory to generate dragons, a plan no one had ever seen before. He was obsessed with getting this done right, the only thing that came before research was family. However, he couldn't figure out what he needed, he never came close, though his concept was very practical. After years of research, he died in a lab accident and the only thing recovered was his notes from the theory. Everyone was afraid to take on the challenge, they were about to destroy the thing he lived, and consequently died for. That's when I decided to take on my father's work and discovered the missing ingredient. In order to generate the perfect dragon, you needed…" Suddenly his face grew grim.

I edged him on to complete his story, "You needed…"

He turned his head in remorse as he said, "A countless number of sacrifices had to be made and also,… you had to acquire a large amount of DNA similar to that of the dragons from the legend. When I found out, I immediately hid the research away, searching for new answers, starting from square one. Only Shiruna knew where the lab was hidden, but I never thought she would betray me."

I thought about his story for a while and I realized. "The only DNA that could be remotely similar to the dragons', would be…"

"The children of the original lightning dragon-slayer. But I heard they were all killed off, which is why I was surprised when I met you and you told me your story."

"But I'm right here, she couldn't have gotten any DNA from me and developed those dragons so quickly. This problem had started from before she even met me, and what about the demons, where do they fit in?"

"They're probably just the earlier attempts gone wrong before they actually started to look like real dragons. As for the DNA, she couldn't have gotten it, unless it turns out you are not the only direct descendant left."

"The only other member of my family is… my mother…" I grew silent, realizing that since I left that place, I haven't even heard from my mother. It could be possible… no, I couldn't let such a thought enter my head. "So, she perfected the dragon, that was the big one in the middle, right?"

After a long moment of silence, I turned back towards Dr. Helios and realized his eyes were closed as he laid motionless. Thunder sounded in the clouds, so I decided to follow those dragons and that Urtear person, leaving Dr. Helios' body behind, after I wrapped him in his own coat, to protect his body from rain and cold weather.

As I went deeper into the village, thunder began to roar and lightning began to strike. Still, the village looked the same, only missing the people who inhabit it. I began to think about all the faces I remember from when I was growing here, and I was lost in my own happy memories. Sadly, that meant that I lost sight of my surroundings, I didn't even realize when I was surrounded. All I know is that the second I remembered what I was doing, was the same time I realized that there were dragons on all sides of me. Now that they were close, they did look like dragons with rotting skin and incomplete appendages.

"You know, you claim to be unlucky but, for an idiot like you to survive so long was sheer luck on its own." That woman's voice echoed from above my head, but I couldn't see her. "You can't even tell the difference between reality and the illusion right before your eyes."

"Where are you? What illusion are you talking about?"

When I asked this question, the dragons dispersed, and the village was shifting shape. Finally, the ugly truth revealed itself. The scene from my vision, corpses laying across the village ground and hanging out of windows, the buildings and houses destroyed beyond recognition, and Luxus, defeated, but thankfully not dead. The rest of Fairy Tail was no where to be found.

"This was the easy job, I killed them years ago. All I had to do was have certain people create an illusion for me using the council's name, and of course, I took on the role of the most interactive member of the village."

"Where are they?"

"Who, Fairy Tail? Last time I checked, they were playing with my specially bred pets. No matter how much you kill them, they just regenerate and continue to fight."

I was getting really angry, this was the first time I was filled with so much rage and hate! I'm sure, even she could see it, that's why she continued to taunt.

"You know, acquiring the DNA wasn't all that hard either, especially after I found out that there was someone working right there at the 'Tower of Heaven'. I had Gerard send her over alive, since the fresher the sample, the better the result. She didn't seem afraid of death, but after I told her how I was going to kill her, she said to me 'The spirit never truly dies if you live your life true to yourself.' It was so foolish, I had to remember that joke as I killed her."

"Foolish?" I sneered, my rage was obvious in my tone of voice. "Foolish is what you call a person who sacrifices their humanity for an evil dream like yours."

"You are just like her, she spoke about you all the way up to her final moments. After extracting as much DNA as I could get, I was able to create the dragon you see before you. Although he seems perfect, he's not nearly at the desired level, I need a bit more DNA to genuinely perfect him. That's why your appearance was so well timed."

I was about to argue again, but was interrupted when I sensed a large amount of lightning building up. I remembered how in my dream, Tanzeru was struck by a large amount of lightning. This could be it here, and with all my power, I have to stop it from happening.

I turned away from Urtear and ran towards the place the lightning was building up. I could see a vast amount of her little 'experiments', flying through the sky. As I ran, I could feel a chill run up my spine as Urtear smirked and had the dragon whisk her away.

I ran through the village and ended up back in the forest. My path was lined by my defeated allies' unconscious bodies. Happy, Lucy, Gray, Charle and Wendy, even Erza, but I didn't have time to stop.

As I drew nearer to Tanzeru, I could see him. As depicted in my vision, Tanzeru was on his knees staring up to the sky, holding his open wound. It was obvious there was a fearsome battle, Tanzeru couldn't have survived on his own, so I thank the members of Fairy Tail, I know they protected him. Now, it's my turn to change Tanzeru's fate around.

That's when it hit me, what was possibly the final piece of that vision. My worried and panicked expression rose to a smile as I ran towards Tanzeru. I know now, it wasn't Tanzeru's death that I saw, it was my own. Whatever, I would proudly accept this death knowing that I was repaying my debt to Tanzeru after taking away his happiness.

When I finally reached him, before he could say a word, I snatched him and pushed him away, that way, he wouldn't be too close and get hit accidentally. He looked at me with narrowed eyes, as if his vision was blurred, but I simply turned to him and smiled. I was happy knowing I was finally doing something to honor those who got hurt thanks to me. The Fairy Tail members including Erza my old friend, Luxus, Dr. Helios, the villagers, even Tanzeru, were all hurt thanks to my existence, yet they were all so kind to me. I would gladly take this hit on their behalf.

When the lightning hit, I was caught directly in the center. I was in the most pain I had ever experienced in my life when the blast consumed me, but for some reason I was still smiling even as the tears flowed from my eyes. I fell to my knees and then down to the floor as my body began to shut down in me.

The powerful blast was still shooting down on me even after I was inside that thing for a good five minutes and it didn't seem to be getting any weaker. I could hear Tanzeru screaming my name the whole time. I could faintly see Tanzeru's wild tears. I was just about ready to pass on until I saw Tanzeru get up and run towards me.

I mustered up some strength and yelled, "Tanzeru, NO!", though my cries fell on deaf ears as he got closer.

I closed my eyes in pain, I didn't want to see Tanzeru get struck, but I couldn't get up to stop him. After I didn't hear a scream and the pressure from that lightning seemed to disappear, I peeked my eyes open to see Tanzeru standing right above me, but also an orb-like shield over the both of us. I turned my head to the side and could see the Fairy Tail members, excluding Gajeel and Natsu, walking (and some limping), towards us. I heard one of them say, "An absorption orb, I've never actually seen it before. It's a lost magic."

Magic, huh. I thought to myself as I looked back at Tanzeru's weeping face. I was about to congratulate him on his newly found magic. "Tanzeru, you…"

"Why didn't you come back?" he sobbed.

When he asked that, I was shocked, I didn't even expect it. "What are you talking about?"

"After we fight, after we separate, you always come back in a few minutes and cheer me up. But, why didn't you come back this time?" He started to get choked up on his own words. "I was waiting for you!"

"Tanzeru, I…"

A menacingly annoying voice interrupted us with a snicker. "A heart-warming reunion isn't it. Too bad that boy's flimsy magic won't hold up for long." Urtear announced.

What she said was true, I could see that the shield was ready to give way any moment now, but Tanzeru was still struggling to keep it up. His entire body was shaking, and his injury seemed to be worsening. I couldn't let him keep this up otherwise, we'd both be dead.

I slowly lifted my hand to cuff his cheek and smile at him. Soon, even his face started to soften up to a small smile. I traced my hand down his neck and down to his chest where the Fairy Tail Logo was. I knew he was in good hands and found a family that could protect him, and I trust them, even Natsu even though he really pissed me off sometimes.

"Tanzeru, listen carefully." He responded with a simple nod of the head to show he was listening.

"Live on, Live long, and Live strong. But most of all, live life the way you want to, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Be happy and enjoy every day to its fullest extent. Live for my sake, for your parents' sake, but most importantly, live for your own sake."

I saw Tanzeru's smile fall as he probably realized what I was about to do. I drew a small bit of lightning into my hand, and with its force, pushed him away. Far enough away so that he couldn't get hit. All I was thinking at that moment was, "Lightning really was… a curse till the end I guess."

Tanzeru got back up and attempted to run back towards me but Erza and Luxus stopped him. I could hear Tanzeru screaming and yelling, bawling like mad as they held him down. When I saw that I thought, "It may have been a curse till the end, but… at least it was the reason I ended up being so close to him, the best thing to ever happen in my life."

Soon, I felt the crushing pressure from that lightning blast press down on me yet again, but this time it was over quickly. It was the last remnants of the magic, so it wasn't as fierce as before, thanks to Tanzeru's absorption magic that is.

My eyes were squinted as I battled death. I couldn't even control breathing, sometimes I would stop while other times I would take in large amounts that feel like they could burst my lungs. Finally it was over and I felt my body slowly start to relax and slip away. I closed my eyes and embraced what was going to be my eternal peaceful rest.

-Fairy Tail- (From Narrator's Point of View)

Tanzeru was finally able to break loose of Erza and Luxus' grip, but a little too late to save his beloved sister. He ran to her side and fell to his knees. His physical pain was nothing compared to how torn up he felt on the inside. Tanzeru unleashed an ocean of tears as he held onto his sister's lifeless hand.

"Finally! Now, I can create the perfect dragon with this last bit of DNA." Urtear announced as her dragon swooped down out of the sky. They hovered just above Karina. The Fairy Tail members were ready to fight, but before they could move Tanzeru let out an angry growl. His misty blew eyes grew intense as electric sparks released from his body.

"What's happening to Tanzeru?" Wendy whimpered.

"Well it was absorption magic." Erza noted.

Gray added, "I see, all that magic he absorbed is now looking for a place to come out."

Tanzeru glared up at Urtear, his eyes daring her to make the wrong move. She smirked and said, "You don't scare me." She reached out to snatch Karina's body, but before she could, Tanzeru had already gripped the nose of her dragon.

Tanzeru's blast normally wouldn't have killed her, but due to the dragon's moist skin, the blast would have been multiplied, and that could be a huge problem. Just as Tanzeru released the magic, Urtear leaped onto one of the weaker dragons. She watched her creations be destroyed beyond recognition as the only dragon remaining whisked her away, out of their sights.

Releasing magic foreign to Tanzeru's body, so it collapsed after using so much of it. Tanzeru fell to the ground, facing his older sister and he peeked a smile.

Sudden rushing footsteps were heard coming towards them. A group of Council officers and knights came towards them. It appears they were warned of some dragon activity and they knew of Dr. Helios' research, so the Council knew it was something to worry about it. They observed the situation around them, and along with some brief interrogation, they helped the Fairies and Luxus back towards town, digging up Natsu and Gajeel from under the pile of rubble where they were fast asleep. A few of the officers and knights stayed back with Karina's body until a medical team arrived.

The members of Fairy Tail were escorted back to the train station after being treated for their injuries. Tanzeru made up in his mind that he was going to live the lifestyle Karina told him to with her last breaths. This, he vowed on his family's gravestones.

-~-~-~-~The End-~-~-~-~

Author's Note: Thanks for supporting Traveling Mage, Karina straight up to the end. Special thanks to Queen of Weirdness who reviewed almost every chapter and reminded me that people were still reading this story. Hope you enjoyed! See you, Bye Bye!