Possession Magic
Chapter 5: Pasts Revealed
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the characters involved except Slicer.
Lucy sighed as she sat at the counter of the bar.
"What's wrong?" Mirajane asked
"I'm completely broke, and if I don't get some money soon I won't be able to afford my rent." She replied
"Why don't you go out on a job?" Mirajane asked
"I can't, with my team's destruction record. I'm afraid they'd destroy the place." Lucy replied
"Slicer isn't so bad… but, in that case I've got a job for you." She said
"Really?" Lucy asked
"Yep. Here"
Mirajane handed Lucy a piece of paper. As Lucy read it Natsu and Gray approached
"Oi, Lucy, have you seen Slicer?" Natsu asked
She ignored him as she continued to read.
"Lucy?" Gray asked
"This is perfect!" She suddenly shouted surprising the two boys
"What is it?" Natsu asked
"A job that's perfect for me. All I've got to do is advertise this play." She said happily
"That's all? How much?" Natsu asked
"Enough to cover my rent for this month." Lucy proclaimed
At that moment Slicer and Erza walked in "What's going on?" Erza asked
"Lucy found a job." Natsu stated pointing his thumb at Lucy.
Slicer stepped over and bent down over the counter, examining the paper. He stood and shook his head
"I don't have the time for this." He said before stepping over to the job board
"Well, looks like we're going on our own then." Natsu said grinning
Lucy nodded
(A/N I never really liked the play, and so to recite the whole thing would bore me to tears… sorry, but it'd pretty much be me restating the play since nothing's changed. Gonna jump to the hotel with Loke.)
After completing their job at the playhouse, Lucy and Team Natsu were currently resting at a hotel. Natsu and Gray were sitting in the hot springs while Lucy and Erza were doing the same on the women's side.
The door to the guy's slid open and Slicer stepped in
"Slicer?" Natsu asked seeing him
"Natsu, what are you doing here?" He asked
"We finished the job at the playhouse, and you?" Natsu asked
"I finished the job I took; I had to catch some bandits. They surrendered when I absorbed the soul of their leader." Slicer said as he dipped into the water.
Natsu and Gray noticed that while Slicer was still above the water he wasn't actually all that tall, his hat covered for maybe a third of his actual height, granted he wasn't exceedingly short like Makarov. They also noticed his eyes were eerily creepy without the rest of his attire. He closed them and dipped down so he was covering his mouth with water.
Natsu slid over toward Gray and whispered to him "Have you ever noticed his eyes before now?"
"Not really, I've been more worried about his magic." Gray replied
"I know, but his eyes, they're not normal." Natsu stated
"Like yours are, slanty eyes?" Gray asked
"What are you saying droopy eyes?" Natsu asked getting in his face
"I said you've got slanty eyes, and I don't want to stare at them so get out of my face."
"Oh yeah!" Natsu asked standing up
"Yeah!" Gray shouted standing up with him so now they were both knee deep in water.
"Guys," Slicer said as he emerged from the water so his neck was just above the water
"What!?" They asked him
"You were talking about my eyes weren't you?" Slicer asked
The two stopped and looked at each other awkwardly before sitting in the water
The trio sat in silence for a few minutes.
"Are you curious?"
"More than you know."
Slicer sighed "I guess I better tell you a little about my past, at least, to explain the part about my eyes."
"Well, when I was little, I lived in a small village, at least, I lived nearby, I was an orphan and I lived with a nice elderly couple while I trained with Celes through most of the day. One day a group of bandits attacked the village and they would've burned it to the ground if I hadn't used my magic… unfortunately I used the wrong spell, I absorbed the souls of everyone in the village. I went to Celes about it and she told me that because of my use of my roar first, I was branded as a soulless. As soon as she said the words I felt my eyes burn, and when it stopped I ran to a nearby pond and looked in, my innocent brown eyes had turned into the glowing green eyes of a soulless. Fortunately no one except Celes knew what a soulless was, so people assumed I was just a weird child. I finished my training with Celes and one day, she just, disappeared."
Slicer sat in silence for a few minutes, and Natsu looked at Gray.
"So, you actually ate their souls?" Natsu asked
"Yes, and if I continued to eat souls I'd eventually turn into a soulless, and then I'd be a being of complete magical energy. I'd rather just stay alive, so I asked Celes about a way to stay me. She told me it was possible, since I had so little magic power as a child, she explained to me that as a Ghost Dragon Slayer I can eat the magical part of the soul to instantly increase and replenish my magic power, but it would still turn me into a soulless, eventually she told me of an idea: I eat the physical embodiment part of someone's soul, so they remained the same and I would be able to expand my magic power, the way this worked was I wouldn't get stronger like everyone else, I would only grow stronger when I used up the magic from my current form, It would be replaced by a new one and my magic power would be increase with theirs, those phantom lord wizards are first on my list, after them I'll use the people of my village." He said
"Why?" Natsu asked
"Well, when I eat the physical embodiment of the soul, I take away their spirit's form, so they travel around the world waiting to pass on until I use their form. I used the people from my village first, so I ran out of magic a lot when I was young, but now I can go a few days between transformations."
"And how many members of your village are left?" Gray asked
"The man who took care of me, the village head, and the candy store man." Slicer answered
"Why save them until last?" Natsu asked
"The village head was always nice to me, but he taught me the laws of the world. The old man because he was like my father and the candy store man would always give me a treat when I came back from training with Celes."
The trio sat in silence for a half hour before Slicer stood up. "If you'll excuse me, I better go back inside."
They nodded solemnly as he stepped out of the water. As he crossed the threshold of the door he looked back at them "Also, I'd prefer you not talk about this story to anyone else."
They nodded again.
Meanwhile, Lucy and Erza had left the water and were currently waiting in the room. They were talking, just talking about things when the door opened and Natsu and Gray walked in. They were back to their normal selves.
"So, what are we doing now?" Natsu asked
"Pillow war?" Gray asked him
"Yes!" Natsu shouted as he threw one at Erza. She caught it and began to throw them in rapid fire mode at the others. Lucy took one to the head and flew out of the room. She landed in the yard and sighed.
"I'll leave them to it." She stood up and went for a walk with Pluu and Happy. As they were walking two men approached her and tried to kidnap her, but Loke came to her rescue.
"Loke! Thanks." She said gratefully
"It was nothing." Loke said turning away to leave
"No, I want to repay you this time." She said grabbing his arm
"It's fine." He said trying to pull away
She kept her hand on his arm, eventually he agreed to a drink. They ended up sitting in a small drink shop, sitting at the bar. Loke said something to Lucy about not having much time left, and when he realized what he said, he claimed it was a line he used to pick up girls, which got him a slap from Lucy who stormed out behind him. He remained behind, looking sadly at the floor.
The group eventually left the area and returned to Magnolia where they went to work repairing the guild hall. That night, Lucy was sitting at home, when a thought occurred to her. She summoned Crux who she interrogated about Loke, she didn't get a lot, but managed to piece something together and rushed out to find him. Natsu and the rest of the guild was looking for him. Lucy found him at a tomb in a waterfall valley. There he explained what was going on, about his past, how he was Leo, king of the golden gate spirits and how his last owner abused Aries, and now he was paying for letting her die.
"I won't let you die!" Lucy shouted as she tried to give him her magic energy
"Lucy stop! I need to do this." He said
"No! I'll change the rules, you don't deserve this!" she shouted
Suddenly the ground began to shake and the spirit king appeared, He explained the rules again and Lucy showed him that she was determined when she somehow managed to summon all her spirits. The spirit king and Loke were impressed with this and the king gave Lucy Loke's key and opened his gate allowing him into the spirit world.
The next day Lucy summoned Loke to explain what had happened, he also gave Lucy some tickets to a resort. Lucy accepted the tickets and the group set off.
They spent the whole day playing on the beach, and when night rolled around they spent it in the casino. As they spent their night gambling away a group of four entered the building and quickly tracked down everyone, subduing them and kidnapped Erza.
"What's going on?" Lucy asked as Slicer cut her bonds
"I don't know, I was up in the room when I heard an explosion down here. I came down to find everyone gone. There was a large hole blown through the wall. I was hoping someone could tell me a little more."
"Somebody attacked us. It was a girl with a cat fetish, she tied me up and some other guy showed up with Erza. They kidnapped her."
Slicer finished cutting the bonds and led Lucy out of the room, they found Natsu lying in a large sphere, Slicer walked up and slugged him, waking him up.
"Where is he!?" Natsu asked as he stood "Where is that block guy?"
"Block guy?" Slicer asked
"Yeah, he shot me and took off! He said something about kidnapping Erza!"
"We'll worry about that later. Right now we need to find Gray." Slicer said
Natsu calmed down and nodded. They headed into another room to find Gray and Juvia getting up from a pile of rubble.
"What happened?" Gray asked
"A wizard tried to attack you, Gray-san. Juvia saved you by absorbing you in her water form." Juvia explained
"Oh, thanks Juvia." Gray said calmly, he looked at the others.
"Where's Erza?" he asked
"Those guys took off with her." Slicer explained
"Hey, where's Happy?" Gray asked
Natsu looked around quickly.
"I bet that girl with the cat-theme took him." Slicer said
Natsu shouted in anger, fire spewing from his mouth. "We're going to rescue them!"
Lucy nodded "But we don't even know where they're going."
"I do." Slicer told them before running toward a nearby door.
The group looked at each other before following him. They arrived at the beach to see a small craft on the horizon.
"Juvia. You can manipulate water correct?" Slicer asked her
"Yes, Juvia uses Water Magic." She replied
"Let me possess you, I'll give you a fraction of my magic power and you can ferry us across the water to where they're going." Slicer stated
Juvia thought about it for a moment before agreeing.
Slicer disappeared inside her and Juvia felt a strange magic flow through her body. When she summoned the water it had a slight purple tint to it. The group was surrounded by a water bubble before Juvia rolled them off the beach and after Erza's kidnappers.
Meanwhile, on the ship. Erza was tied up to a poll; one of her kidnappers was talking to her. He was a blond man with dark skin; he was wearing a bathrobe over a shirt and pants.
"Sis, you can't keep this up. You knew you'd have to come back eventually." The man said to her
Erza remained quiet.
"Sis, say something." He told her
"Sho…" She told him
He smiled "So you remember me."
"Yes." She replied
"Then why did you betray us! Do you remember that?" He shouted at her
She remained quiet. "Sho, let me requip. Please, I don't feel safe going near that place without my armor."
"No can do sis." Sho replied before leaving
Juvia's group was slowing making headway on the ship, Natsu was getting motion sick in the back as they moved along the water.
"What's the plan?" Gray asked
"We're going to rescue Erza, simple." Natsu answered before throwing up more
"It won't be that simple." Slicer said shaking his head
"What's your plan then?" Lucy asked
"We'll need to rescue Erza before they get where they're going, if they arrive at their destination then we'll be outnumbered." Slicer told her
The group nodded and Juvia sped up the water sphere. They eventually arrived in a docking port area and saw they were surrounded by soldiers. They split up, each taking out a large amount of the soldiers. Slicer saw a line of them and brought his head back, his cheeks swelling. "Gōsutodoragon no hoko".
The soldiers were surrounded by a large blast of purple energy, the souls of the dead reaching out and attacking them. Their fear caused them to drop to their knees, the physical portions of their souls emerging from their bodies. Slicer bent back and began to suck in air, eventually the souls followed, disappearing into his mouth. He turned to see the rest of the group finish off the soldiers.
"Everyone upstairs!" Slicer called, extending an arm and indicating a nearby staircase. The group ran toward the staircase and followed it up all the floors they could. They arrived in a large open dining room with a long table and chairs, there they saw Erza looking around.
"Erza!" the group called.
She noticed them and frowned "What are you all doing here?" She asked.
"We came to rescue you!" Natsu shouted.
She smiled slightly. "You shouldn't have come, but it's alright now, you need to get out of here." She told them
"What about you?" Slicer asked, he didn't seem to be upset with the idea that Erza wanted to stay and the rest of them to leave.
"I have business here." She said.
"Let us help you then." Slicer told her.
"No, it'll be too dangerous, I can't ask that of you." She told them.
"I'm staying, whether you like it or not." Slicer told her.
She glared at him. "Did you just tell me no?"
He remained unfased. "Yes, I did."
Erza calmed and smirked. "Fine then, you can stay."
The group nodded and followed Erza up another flight of stairs. As they ascended Natsu rushed off on his own to find the guy who shot him, but instead found the cat girl's room. He tried on one of her cat costumes and ended up getting stuck, after a comical fight between him and the block guy, whom he found out was Wally, and the cat girl, Milianna, saving him. He eventually defeated them both and escaped with Happy.
After their escape, Natsu and Happy noticed a large amount of mouths appearing on the walls of the tower, A voice echoed through the tower, and told them they were all part of the "paradise game", where you have to fight your way to the top of the tower. Natsu attempted to cheat by having Happy fly him to the top, but was interrupted by an owl-man named Fukuro. The two begin their battle, meanwhile the rest of the group had been split up after the announcement of the paradise game. Slicer was making his way to the top of the tower, so far he'd met no opposition.
As the others continued their respective fights throughout the tower Slicer arrived at the top floor to find the source of the voice. He introduced himself as Jellal Fernandes.
"You're the one that kidnapped Erza, right?" Slicer asked, anger bubbling over in his voice.
"I was the one who sent the others, yes." Jellal replied.
"Why?" Slicer shouted at him.
"Why? She's needed, here at the R-system."
"R-system?"
"Yes, a massive tower that is designed to revive Zeref, the black wizard!"
Slicer's eyes widened. "You can't, once someone dies they are to remain dead."
"Oh, but what about you Ghost Dragon Slayer?"
As the two continued to argue Erza arrived and began to fight Jellal, during their fight the others finished their encounters and met at the top of the tower, but as everyone arrived the Magic Council had been debating what to do with the tower. They arrived at the decision to fire the ultimate magic weapon, Etherion. The giant magic beam fired, destroying the outer shell of the tower, revealing a giant lacrima. As the Fairy Tail wizards arrived at the top of the tower, Erza was getting beat. Natsu and Slicer jumped in, Natsu grabbed Erza and looked down at her.
"Hey, Erza, what kind of wizard are you? We need to finish our job, we can't make Lucy's rent on time if we don't." Natsu said.
Erza smiled weakly. "Natsu, I can't move."
Natsu grinned, then began to tickle her. After she calmed down she told him.
"Natsu, leave, Jellal is too strong, you won't be able to beat him."
Natsu glared up at Jellal.
"Natsu! Listen to me!"
Natsu looked down at Erza and smiled "Don't worry, I'll win this and we'll all go home." He said before knocking Erza out and laying her nearby.
"Slicer." Natsu said
"Yes?"
"Give me some of your magic power."
"Understood." Slicer disappeared inside Natsu's body
"There, I've given you what I can."
"Thanks."
Natsu charged Jellal and began to battle with him, seeming to have the upper hand. After a few minutes of fighting Jellal tells Natsu he just wanted to test the Dragon Slayer abilities. He proceeded to beat Natsu, dealing a small amount of damage to the tower.
"Hm, that won't help." He said "Destroying the lacrima will disrupt the process."
Natsu stood up with a grin on his face. "Is that so? Well, Fairy Tail wizards specialize in property damage." He lifted his fists and slammed them to the floor destroying a large piece of the lacrima.
Slicer emerged from Natsu's body and continued to destroy the tower while Natsu resumed his fight with Jellal, destroying what he could.
"This has gone on long enough." Jellal said, he lifted his hand and aimed it at Natsu. "Grand Chariot!"
Erza woke up and saw the battle, she quickly threw herself in front of Natsu. "Jellal, stop!" She shouted.
He smiled wickedly at them. "You fools, it doesn't matter now. I don't need you anymore Erza!"
As the attack almost closed in on them a silhouette of a figure appeared to take the attack. Erza and Natsu looked down to see the large figure of Simon, one of their attackers.
"Simon, why would you do this?" Erza asked, bending down next to him.
"I've done enough evil in this world, I figured I could try and do something good before I died." He said with a sad smile before his wounds overcame him. His head lolled to the side.
"Ha, what a fool, sacrificing himself to protect you." Jellal said
Slicer ran over to stand with Erza.
"Shut up!" Natsu shouted at him
The group looked at him and saw he was eating the lacrima that was infused with Etherion. Slicer bent down and tried a piece of the magic crystal, he nodded and proceeded to eat some as well.
"Fools, you won't be able to escape, I'll kill you all right here!" Jellal said
"Shut up!" Slicer and Natsu shouted punching him together.
Slicer and Natsu bent down to consume more of the lacrima. Jellal stood up and glared at them,
"I won't allow you to escape!" He shouted lifting into the air. "Abyss Break!" He lifted his fingers above his head and began to bring them down in a circle, about halfway through Natsu and Slicer began to rampage, unable to control the massive magic power of Etherion. Jellal grinned with a sudden pain in his side stopped his attack. Erza's fight with him earlier had left with him with a major wound.
"No matter, I'll finish this now." He said as he began to descend toward them rapidly.
Natsu and Slicer suddenly stopped before looking up at Jellal. Large amounts of their respective element poured off their bodies, their skin was inscribed with scale designs and their eyes glared at Jellal.
The two leapt into the air and knocked Jellal to the ground.
"Iron claws of the Ghost Dragon!" Slicer dropped down and sliced through Jellal.
"Iron fist of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu followed up, slamming his flaming fist into his back.
Jellal threw himself up and to his feet.
"Karyūnohōkō!" Natsu released a large blast of fire
"Gōsutodoragon no hoko" Slicer released a large blast of spiritual energy.
The two attacks collided with Jellal sending him reeling. As he crashed into the tower the building began to shake.
"What's happening?" Natsu asked.
"The tower can't handle the destruction that Natsu and Slicer inflicted. It's destabilizing! It will most likely explode!" Erza explained.
The group looked among themselves, Erza looked at a piece of Lacrima that looked large enough to fit her. She smiled sadly to herself before stepping toward it. She lifted her arms and was beginning to be absorbed.
"Erza!" Natsu shouted.
"What are you doing!?" Slicer called.
She smiled at them. "I'm allowing you to live, a world without my friends in it isn't a world worth seeing." She said before being completely absorbed by the Larcrima.
As she was absorbed Erza saw a scene in Magnolia, the whole of Fairy Tail was clustered around a grave, her grave, they were all sad and crying. Natsu and Slicer were fighting off a group of funeral attendees because they refused to believe Erza was dead. Erza began to cry, realizing her mistake.
As she began to try and figure a way out a light blinded her. When it faded she saw her friends running toward her.
"Wha…" She looked up to see Natsu with a purple aura around him. "Natsu…" She said slowly
Natsu looked down at her, he was crying. "Don't ever do something like that again." He told her. "I couldn't imagine a world without you…"
As he finished Slicer appeared next to them, the purple aura fading from Natsu. He put a hand on Erza's shoulder and nodded once.
The group crowded around them and began to bombard Erza with worries and condolences.
After three days, Natsu and Slicer had slept off the effects of Etherion, the group plus Wally, Meliana and Sho were sitting on the beach. The three former enemies slipped off quietly onto a raft. Erza noticed them leave and as they were pushing off she shouted at them.
"Where are you going?" She asked them
They turned to see her, Lucy, Slicer, Gray, and Natsu. The group smiled as the trio sailed away. Erza activated her farewell armor and recited the leaving speech for any member leaving Fairy Tail. The trio cried as Natsu, Slicer, Gray, and Lucy set off a fireworks display for them.
After another few days the Fairy Tail wizards went back to the guild.