Hi everyone!
This is chapter 13; hope you enjoy!
Last Chapter
"Why did you tell me to come here, Minerva? Is it the main course already?"
Minerva laughed. "Heavens, no. That was just beverages before. It's starters now. And trust me when I say that things will start off with a bang."
The trek up the mountain was silent.
Lucy felt out of place amongst all those S-Class mages and S-Class mages-to-be. She stuck by the Exceeds, because the air around them wasn't as suffocating.
Every time a new monster or challenge appeared, the others would take it out before Lucy could even touch her keys. A hydra went up in flames. A manticore froze. A tsuchigumo was sliced into pieces in the blink of an eye. A chimera was electrocuted. Half a dozen kappas were impaled by iron poles.
They had no shortage of rage to unleash.
When they finally reached the summit, Lucy felt uneasy. Porlyusica had said 'dangers'. She hadn't felt like the trip up had been all too dangerous. A couple of monsters here and there and then BAM they were at the top.
And there was the tree.
Porlyusica had described it in such detail that Lucy knew exactly what it looked like even though she'd never even heard of it. The tree was tall and towering and reminded her of oak trees. Or the cherry blossom trees in Magnolia.
There were three silver fruits on the tree. According to Porlyusica, they were the cure to the poison spreading in Levy and Mira's bodies. The group glanced around warily. There was no sign of any other living being.
To Lucy's left, Erza took a tentative step forward and the entire group tensed. And then all Lucy saw was red.
The explosion rocked the very mountain. The dust cleared, and a single figure stood in front of the plant. She had green hair.
"You!"
The woman merely stared at them, ignoring Natsu's outburst.
"We saved your life! And you're working for Minerva? We should've just left you to die!"
Lucy frowned at him. "We don't know if she is. Don't assume."
She eyed the dragon slayer coldly. "I would have survived without you. But really, thank you, o kind sir," she said dryly. "It was a very sweet gesture."
Natsu growled. He made to lunge forward, but someone else beat him to it.
A flash of lightning from Lucy's right flew towards the woman. She looked at Laxus and the lightning veered to the side, obliterating a rock. Lucy gulped.
"Who are you?" Erza demanded, her grip tight on her sword. The woman observed the group.
"I am Mikino Takara."
Lucy waited but the woman revealed no more. She gathered her courage. "Why are you here?"
Mikino's eyes flashed towards her and Lucy was startled by her cold, silver eyes. "To delay your mission."
In a stark, white room, two bodies lay, unconscious, as poison continued to travel through their body.
Lucy yelped as she ducked under a tree's flailing branches. What was with that, anyway? Who just bent trees and attacks and could even kind of manipulate Natsu's fire?
She dodged to the side as Gray ran past her, frustration clear on his face as his ice turned to water. Again. How could they all be having so much trouble with one mage? They had two S-Class mages with them!
Lucy glanced at the blur of fighting as Gray and Natsu flew back and rocks exploded from their impact. She clenched her teeth. "Gate of the Lion, I open thee: Leo!"
There was a golden shimmer before the spirit appeared. "Lucy, my love."
"Thanks for coming, Leo. Can you-"
"Loke."
"Hm?"
"I'd prefer it if you called me Loke."
Lucy looked at the spirit's face. He was a good actor but she could tell that the fact that she'd called him 'Leo' had upset him. She chose not to comment on it. "Sure. So, Loke, would you be able to give them a hand? I have a feeling that this woman is an elemental mage, which is why Natsu and Gray are having some trouble."
"Anything for you."
There was a golden blur and Loke flew into the fray. Lucy felt rather useless. Until she saw the tree. Unguarded.
With a determined grin, she ran to the tree, her hand on her whip at all times. She looked at the battle. It was still going strong. It was now or never.
Lucy took a deep breath and grabbed one of the silver fruits. Immediately, the ground started rumbling.
The group engaged in battle stopped briefly as the remaining fruits glowed silver and cracks split the uneven ground. Lucy stared at the fruit in her hand, astonished.
"Everyone! Retreat! Back to the guild!" Erza's voice found her through the chaos of the crumbling mountain and the Fairy Tail group fled.
Lucy didn't look back to see where Mikino had gone.
Minerva's face was cold and amused, and it terrified Mikino.
She wasn't afraid of many things but the pure pleasure in Minerva's face was enough to send a lion running.
"I am so glad I invested in you, Mikino," Minerva drawled, tracing a long, red fingernail around her communication lacrima. For a second, the connection went static but Minerva flicked it once and it returned, full blast. Mikino wasn't sure she wanted to keep seeing Minerva's face.
"What was the point of my presence? It did not prevent them from getting the antidote."
"That wasn't the point, my dear," Minerva said idly, inspecting her nail polish. "The point is, now that they have the antidote, we lift their hopes and then crush them in the most heartrendingly dramatic way. We're getting to the main course now!"
Mikino tried not to seem disgusted.
"Right. Call me if you need anything else done."
She didn't bother with the 'ma'am'.
"How long will making the antidote take, Porlyusica-san?"
The healer glanced at the young dragon slayer. "A day to make and a week to brew. You must keep up your efforts."
Wendy's face was paler than usual and despite Carla's protests, she had not rested since the group had gone to get the antidote fruit. Lucy feared she would collapse. But they all knew she wouldn't stop.
A week passed quickly but not quickly enough for Lucy. She stayed by Levy and Mira's side when she wasn't writing, reading, eating or sleeping and she felt like the entire guild was waiting with bated breath.
And when they woke, it felt like the world unfroze.
Yet it felt like there was little to no time for celebration as the information the two girls revealed was less than pleasant.
"Frankly, I don't want to explode," Laxus remarked, glancing at the lacrimas as if they were going to spontaneously combust. "Is there another way?"
"Minerva wouldn't have allowed it," Erza replied, her voice tight with barely contained anger. Lucy felt the pool of guilt inside her expand.
"It's a choice. A sacrifice. Remember that note? 'Who is the lamb being led to the slaughterhouse'. That's another way of saying 'who will be sacrificed," Levy sighed, rubbing her temples. Lucy didn't think it was fair that they had to work as soon as they woke but they were on a time limit and who knew when Minerva would strike again?
"So she's making us choose between the dragon slayers and Lucy?" Lisanna exploded angrily. "That's bullshit!"
Gray scowled and looked at the window, as if he could find Minerva through his strong will alone. "We'll find Minerva. And we'll be prepared. She won't catch us off guard again. And she won't hurt anyone else." He glanced at Juvia and Lucy felt her heart melt for the two. "We need to start looking for Minerva. Now. Warren will be back with his team tomorrow, from their scouting mission."
No one noticed that in the corner of the room, a white haired mage gazed fearfully at the note in her hand.
The two girls rested in bed for a week, simply because of the damage the spell had inflicted. According to Levy, the antidote was vile. And she had to drink it every single day.
Lucy showed Levy all the writing she'd done. One day, as the girls ate their breakfast in a cute café, Lucy produced a thick, leather bound book.
"Levy-chan…I think this is for you."
Levy took one look at the novel and squealed. Loudly. "LU-CHAN! You finished it! Oh, I'm so proud of you!"
The two girls chatted all morning but Lucy was itching to tell her best friend something. Something about her time as Sleeping Beauty and a certain Iron Dragon Slayer.
"So…has Gajeel talked to you at all?"
A blush decorated Levy's cheeks. "Not really, Lu-chan. He just said, 'Good to see you back, shrimp' and walked off. He knows I hate it when he calls me 'shrimp'!"
Lucy grinned. "Well, I'm sure he failed to mention that he was by your side nearly as much as I was, which is to say, every day."
"Lu-chan! No teasing the sick and injured!"
"You're not even sick anymore!"
"That's besides the point!"
Three weeks had passed since Lucy had seen Minerva or Mikino. Unlike with anyone she had encountered since she'd woken up, Mikino made her feel strange. Like her mind was being tickled but she couldn't catch the person tickling her. It was strange and Lucy felt unnerved.
The guild wasn't as loud and rowdy as usual. An unusual air of concentration lingered and centred on a group of Fairy Tail's strongest mages. Plus Lucy.
"We could lure her out?"
"She'd probably realise it's a trap before we even move."
"What about a request to meet her?"
"Hmm…maybe. We can ask to meet her then attack her all at once? Even she can't fight against an entire guild."
"We cannot defeat her."
Everyone looked at Mira. Her hair shadowed her face and an air of defeat and acceptance hung around her. Erza squared her jaw.
"Yes, we can! We will not know until we try-"
"There's no point!"
Erza fell silent and looked surprised at the helplessness on Mira's face. "I...she told me something. She gave me a note." A small silence. "The spell won't break even if Minerva dies. Lucy won't get her memories back. The memories are connected to the mage's life force and if she dies, the memories will vanish. Originally, the mage who cast the spell would give the victim their memories but in this case…"
"We already have the memories and we can't give them back if we don't want our dragon slayers exploding," Gray realised. "Mira, why didn't you mention this earlier?"
"I…I didn't know what we would do and I didn't want everyone to just sit around, depressed," Mira replied sadly, hanging her head. Lisanna placed a comforting hand on her sister's shoulder.
"Don't worry, Mira-nee! There's definitely a point in defeating Minerva; no one gets away with hurting Fairy Tail!"
A large cheer was heard from many miles away, emanating from the Fairy Tail guild. Beer flowed freely and thoughts and ideas were exchanged, for the sake of their friends and their family. Because to them, nakama meant more than anything.
Meanwhile, a green-haired woman observed from afar. The smallest of smiles adorned her lips.
That's chapter 13! I hope you enjoyed it. I'm planning on writing a couple more chapter then wrapping it up because I don't really want this to drag on longer than necessary.
Also, URGENT MESSAGE!
I'm going on a holiday during the summer holidays and I won't get back till mid January. This means that the fic may have to be put on hold for now. I'll try to write whenever I can but chances are I won't really get time. I'm so sorry! If I can, I'll try get a chapter up on Thursday, before I fly out on Friday. Thanks to everyone for your continual support!
Reviews are appreciated! :)