Even with the city in ruins, Erza knew Magnolia intricately. It was her home, no matter where she travelled, how long she was gone or how it looked upon her return. Every old nook, every old cranny was familiar, and soon every new one would be, too, if she had her way. But not today. Today she had no patience for studying the town's additions—or in some cases, subtractions (sometimes there were huge holes in the earth, and likewise, sometimes the ground looked like it had been hauled up and smashed together mercilessly to form the ugliest rubble mountains). Her mind was elsewhere. She kept her steps long and didn't feel at all guilty for Levy huffing from many paces back as she fought to keep up. She kept her eyes forward and only regretted that Gajeel lingered behind with Levy so she couldn't burn a hole through his body.
Not that she needed to wait long for an altercation.
"It's just business, Erza. You know, you'll be able to visit him in jail, right? I'll put in a good word, too. If Jellal has good behaviour in the first few months, I can get him moved out of the maximum security section and you can even have conjugal visits."
That pulled the redhead to a stop beside what used to be the pharmaceutical building. It had been raided months and months ago, pillaged for anything of value, then condemned. Now, almost a year later, it was taped off with a 'Rebuilding' sign stamped to a pile of splinters that used to be the front door.
"A conjugal visit. Is that what you think I want, Gajeel?"
"Well…" He laughed awkwardly, searching for the man he used to be, trying to be glib, trying to make light of a shitty situation.
"No, Erza," Levy spoke, saving Gajeel a lot of pain. "We know that's not what you want. Heck, we don't want to have to arrest him. We're bound to do the right thing, though."
Erza felt tears press at her eyes. She smothered them. They didn't have time for this shit. She couldn't help the feeling of betrayal that tried to choke her, though. It just wouldn't be silenced. "All I can think is that you used me to get to him. It's not something I think anyone that was once a member of Fairy Tail would do—has a year apart truly changed you so much?"
"What? No, Erza. Jellal isn't our main purpose here," Levy assured her.
Erza's hands felt sweaty in her gauntlets despite the cooling season. "I wish I could believe you."
"It's true. I would never do that, no matter if I was ordered to or not."
Erza finally turned to look at them. Levy looked like she was about to melt where she stood; even Gajeel looked uncomfortable. "If it's so true, then why didn't you tell me you were part of the council?"
Levy was on the verge of evasion; she came through at the last minute. "Our mission is supposed to be secret. It was handed down by Chairman Draculos Hyberion himself. Recently, there's been a powerful force moving across Fiore, hitting spots where great magical catastrophes have left residual magic in the earth. After the person's passed through the area, the earth has been stripped of the power. We followed them here, to Magnolia. It's a hotspot after the Tartarus incident."
Erza chewed that over, compiling Levy's expressions, her intonation, her delivery, looking for flaws in her words—flaws meant lies, and lies meant that her fury was justified. Levy's performance was faultless. Either she was the Queen of Liars, or she was telling the truth. "And Jellal just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time."
"Something like that," Gajeel said.
"Have you told the council he's here?"
"I'm going to have to file a complete report, Erza," Gajeel replied.
"Or you could not," she said, hopeful.
He said not unkindly, "If I don't, it'll be me, Lily and Levy in jail. And you, too."
Erza entertained hitting him. "Why are you being like this?"
"Because, it's the right thing," Gajeel said.
Erza closed the distance between them; she didn't even remember moving. "There was a time when you didn't know what that meant. He's doing good work with Crime Sorciere. He's putting his life on the line to help us. He saved Wendy." Well, he got Cheria and brought her back so she could save Wendy. Semantics.
He weathered her words like an old captain. "I'm not denying any of that, Erza."
Erza didn't know what to say so she twisted on her heel and kept moving, needing to do something, otherwise she'd say terrible things that she didn't necessarily mean. Under her feet, pieces of cobble and bits of gravel rolled, trying to drag her down to the ground. She barely paid attention to her ankles wobbling, thinking of some way to be true to her guild and her country and to Jellal. She felt like a rat in a maze, pulled apart by her heart and her mind. Reason had never felt so elusive.
Coming around the corner, the guardhouse came into view. It was an ugly building in the light of the bright, bright sun. So ugly, in fact, Erza thought even darkness couldn't make it look better. Out front of the dead gardens stood a woman in a black and white garment that showed more than it covered. Despite her clothing trying to draw the eye to her body, her hair was what caught Erza's attention, scarlet like blood, a beacon. Erza's stomach dropped seeing her, though she couldn't have said why.
The woman leaned into a single guard, one hand on his chin, the other producing something white and square. The man opened his hand and she deposited it in his palm. Erza got close enough to hear her say, "Remember, she can't be left alive."
"Yes, Lady Eileen. What about the devil slayer?"
"You won't have to worry about him. His number is up. Just do your bit."
"Am I going to die?"
She brushed her fingers over his face. "Probably. But you'll die doing something for me, isn't that worth it, Riley, dear?"
Erza heard his breath come out in a small whoosh. "Yes."
"Good boy." She tapped his cheek and stood. Her gaze slid right over to Erza's. Erza felt her stomach drop again. She pushed the feeling aside, not wanting to give it a name, though if she were honest with herself, it would have been fear. There was something about this woman. Maybe it was the way her hands weren't quite human, long nails and thick scales, or the coldness in her eyes. Or the sensation she had of looking in the mirror. Whatever it was, it wasn't something that was easily dismissed.
The woman straightened her scarlet hair after a pre-autumn gust grabbed it, and approached confidently. "Hello, Councilmen. I'm disappointed you survived. And Erza. It's been a very, very long time."
Erza's shoulders had never felt stiffer. "Do we know each other?"
"Once. Shame you don't remember me." She pouted. "Just as well." She looked over her shoulder to where Riley Ackles still stood. "Hurry up, Riley. Clock's ticking."
The man shivered. "I don't want to hurt anyone."
"Remember, that girl is preventing his Majesty from his eternal peace. Your sacrifice is important."
"…Yes, Lady." He started to move, legs like two stiff pillars.
"Stay where you are," Erza commanded. The fear was even more potent now with the woman's words rolling around in her head. 'His number is up.'
The guard kept walking.
"I said wait," Erza repeated.
Looking over his shoulder, Riley looked like he wanted to listen, but his body just wouldn't cooperate.
"I'll get him," Levy said and moved.
The woman lifted her hand and the ground beneath Levy's feet bent. The girl was flat on her ass looking up at the sky before she really registered what happened.
Gajeel swore. His first instinct was to help her up but he hardly dared to take his eyes off the woman before him. "She's the one that's been collecting the magic, Erza. Levy and I saw her the other day. She had a stone she was gathering it into."
The woman smiled. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I am Eileen Belserion, former Queen of the Dragons. But you may call me Lady Eileen. I am his Majesty's most trusted advisor, his right hand."
"His Majesty?" Erza kept her attention divided, partially watching Levy get to her feet—she seemed unharmed—partially watching Riley Ackles inch away—he seemed torn—and partially watching the woman before her—she seemed on the verge of violence. The power seeping out of her body made Erza's skin crawl. If she thought it would help any, she'd attempt to rub the goose bumps from her arms.
"Of course," Eileen laughed. "You know him as the dark mage, Zeref, but in the Alvarez Empire, he is Emperor Spriggan."
Zeref… "What does Zeref want with Gray?" He was the only devil slayer Erza knew of.
"So curious…"
Erza called a sword to hand. "Speak, or I'll cut the truth from you."
"You truly are your mother's daughter, aren't you?"
Erza didn't ask her what she meant, afraid that it was a ploy to distract her. "Speak."
Eileen bowed her head. "Very well. His death. While our friend Riley takes care of Lucy Heartfilia, Akio will finally do what she was born to and destroy Gray Fullbuster."
In Erza's periphery, Levy was catching up with Riley and reaching for her magic. To prevent another mishap like before, Erza asked her questions, pumping Eileen for information and buying Levy time. "Why target them?"
Candid now, Eileen said, "It is his Majesty's belief that Lucy Heartfilia's death will bring END into this world. Once that happens, Gray Fullbuster is the only one that can stop him, so…" She drew her finger over her neck, a soft smile on her ruby lips. "You understand."
Levy's magic took hold, a thick iron cage coming into being and dropping around Riley. He didn't stop even when he ran into the bars, a zombie. Eileen didn't break eye contact with Erza as she flicked out her wrist, simultaneously dissolving the iron cage and sending Levy flying again. Their captive was on the loose once more.
Erza didn't have to move, Gajeel was already on it, though his methods were far more ruthless than Erza would have expected. The ground around Riley erupted in spikes sharp enough to impale. Most of them formed a barricade, but one found home in Riley's shoulder, the wound not fatal but certainly debilitating. Unnervingly, the man didn't scream. He didn't clutch the area, he only paled and attempted to keep walking, sliding further and further onto the spike, a mindless beast.
Erza's chest got tight. "What's wrong with him?"
"He has one job, Erza, and one alone, and he'll do anything in his power to complete it," Eileen told her. "And I'll do everything in my power to make sure he's allowed to continue."
Erza tightened her grip on her sword and brought on her Heaven's Wheel armour. "And I'll do everything in my power to stop you."
"Likewise." Several meters away, Levy got to her feet and brushed herself off, facing Eileen more directly. Gajeel, too, turned his gaze away from the impaled guard, deciding that for now, he was going nowhere.
Eileen raised one thin brow. "Three against one. Those aren't very fair odds. Let's even them some and try to get you closer to your target, Riley." She raised her hands. Erza felt her sword and her armour get incredibly heavy. It wasn't long before she realized what was happening. A gravity well. She opened her mouth to shout a warning just as Levy's and Gajeel's legs collapsed. Tugged down by the invisible force and then hit with a disgusting amount of power, there was no time to scream.
Automatically, Erza attempted to go to them. So bogged down, moving was difficult. Not that there was any time. The ground beneath her feet shivered, the air filled again with a different kind of power, and then everything was morphing, the landscape folding and unfolding, turning itself inside out.
The only thing Erza could do was drop to her knees and press her palms against the ground. Her armour distorted and pressed into her body painfully, undergoing gravitational torsion. Unlike Levy and Gajeel, she had plenty of time to scream. It didn't help anything.
As quickly as the magic came, it left again. In its wake, Erza panted, a process more difficult now that her armour was so malformed, and tried to get her bearings. She couldn't feel the ground through her gauntlets to be sure that what she was seeing was correct. Gone was the grass, in its place gravel. How?
"Now it's just you and me, Erza," Eileen said from not so far away.
Get up. Get up.
Limbs shaking, Erza got to her knees and then her feet and looked around. Nothing made sense. Suddenly, the guardhouse wasn't near the Thorn and Thistle but the community center on the north side of town, and beside that was the old age home. In the distance, she saw the heap that was the guild hall, and next to that, the council satellite office. Way, way to the west was the old school. Erza didn't need to be closer to see the man hobbling toward the door. So far away, there wasn't anything she could do.
It was with numbness that Laxus watched Mira drop to her knees before the fallen woman and gather the bundled child into her arms. Seconds passed. Then the keening started and he knew the boy was dead. He could see the blood and the limpness but had hoped...
Out of the sky, Happy spiraled down on white feathered wings, panic in his eyes. "Mira!"
Laxus moved only after everyone else had already started to converge. He didn't want to know what that woman had said with her last breath. The only thing he wanted was to grieve his own loss. To get revenge. To rebuild Fairy Tail and see if that made him feel better. It wasn't what fate handed to him, though.
In hearing distance now, Happy's strangled and panicked voice came to him. "There're fires on the horizon. And she said what Gajeel said—an army is coming. They're going to be here soon. Like today."
Mira pumped him for information. She was good like that. "An army?"
"Yes. They're marching across Fiore destroying towns and killing hundreds. Gajeel thinks Magnolia's their target." He kept blathering. Laxus only heard part of it, more concerned with a blonde haired woman stepping up over the crest of the hill, a small armed and armoured force behind her. The wind played through her shoulder-length hair, twisting it around her face. She walked calmly, collectedly, a sword at her hip, armour on her shoulders. That was definitely an attack force if Laxus had ever seen one. The woman was familiar. So, so familiar. Laxus searched his memory and was slammed into the night before, watching the fires lap happily at Gramps' feet. His mouth felt dry. He moved past Mira and the others; the dead didn't speak, not to him. The living, however…
Mira raised her voice. "Where are you going?"
Laxus replied, "If Happy's right, this looks like an advance force."
Silence followed the observation, then, "I think you might be on to something there." Bickslow was at his side again, lifting his hand to block out the blinding sun.
Laxus said, "How do you feel about getting some answers?"
"Whatever you say, boss." Freed and Evergreen joined Bickslow.
As the coming force mounted the hill, Laxus counted sixteen soldiers, plus their leader, to their seven—nine, if you counted Lily and Happy. It wasn't amazing odds, but he was confident they could take them.
If he was having doubts about their intentions, there was no room for misconceptions as one of the soldiers, not so far away now, lifted a longbow and loosed an arrow. Laxus burned it out of the sky well before it sank into a person, his lightning faster.
"Could be they don't want to talk," Bickslow mused.
Mira abandoned the dead woman and child and jogged to their sides. The wind caught her dress and twisted it at her feet but it never betrayed her. "I guess we'll have to make them." Her blasé attitude was totally given up into panic as the ground shook and then the world started to change. The fall to the ground was ungraceful, but Mira wasn't alone. Everyone went down and held on for dear life as the landscape changed before their very eyes. The soldiers kept coming, seeming unaffected.
Lucy dressed methodically, sliding into the loose-fitting dark purple long-sleeved dress Virgo left behind and then into a pair of black suede slouch boots. Her damp hair left dark blotches on the dress's shoulders, and lower, in the center of her back. She dried it one final time with the ratty towel she found in the small closet beside the door, then braided it over her shoulder. Finished, she turned and regarded Natsu. He'd donned his celestial-delivered outfit and looked stark in all the black. His face was paler than usual, his hair brighter. But his eyes… they had never been so dark.
With her body aching in the best way, Lucy went to him and fixed the collar of his jacket. His skin was still so cold beneath her hands, despite the scalding shower, despite the warmer clothes. Unwilling to think about what that meant, she weaved her fingers through his hair and stood on tiptoe for a kiss. Natsu obliged her. It was still so strange. She still thought about the hollow in her chest, the place that was scooped out when he left. Now that he was back it felt like it had been plugged up again, but the stopper didn't fit quite right. Maybe because you feel him slipping away again…
She didn't want to give the thought a foothold so she banished it before she really considered what it meant.
Natsu's hands looped around her waist, his fingers dug shamelessly into her backside; he deepened the kiss, pouring into it a wealth of unsaid words. He squeezed her body, feeling everything he could while his tongue abutted hers. Lucy felt her head emptying again.
It didn't last for long. The ground beneath her feet rumbled and then she was hit with the strongest case of vertigo. Staying vertical was an impossibility. Natsu broke away from her and fell seconds before she did, more susceptible to the change. Tangled together, almost nose-to-nose, his already pale face went several shades whiter while the world inverted. Lucy would have backed up, fearful of his motion sickness getting the better of him, but it lasted for only a moment and then everything was steady again.
Dust drifted down from the ceiling, one of the small fissures in the tile growing to an impressive crack that allowed the sun and a seagull's cry to leach through.
Lucy was the first to break the silence, Natsu still trying to get his bearings. "What the heck was that?"
Down the hall, a door opened and banged closed. "Lucy!"
Her name was said by a familiar voice that brimmed with panic. Lucy's heart beat hard.
"Lucy, where are you?"
Natsu sat up, his black clothes covered in dust again. "Who is that?"
"Riley Ackles," Lucy supplied and got to her feet, fixing her dress around her thighs once more.
"Riley… that guard?" If Natsu wasn't so disoriented, there might have even been a touch of discontent to his voice. As it was, he was still getting used to the idea that the world was stationary once more.
"Yeah." And he sounded scared.
"Lucy!"
Lucy hurried across the room and unlocked the door. She was about to tear it back but Natsu's strangled and uncertain voice stopped her. "Wait." She looked back over her shoulder. Natsu was to his knees now, sweat beaded on his brow. The scales on his hand were doing strange things again, bursting through his skin up past his wrist. Lucy imagined that in seconds, they took over the majority of his arm. The coat prevented her from confirming that.
"What is it?"
Footsteps hurried down the hall. A heavy feeling that had very little to do with motion sickness settled in the dragon slayer's chest. His eyes narrowed. "Get away from the door."
"Something's going—"
"Lucy!" Natsu's voice was like a whip. The warning came too late; Lucy was slower than the bullet that smashed through the wood and splintered it a million times. It slammed into her shoulder, the wound not fatal but definitely messy. Blood burst and soaked her dress, her neck, and into her hair, the contrasting colours shockingly blunt. The pain would come after. For now, Lucy fell on her butt and stared in dumb shock as the door opened and Riley Ackles came through, his handsome face looking slightly manic, and yet, somehow a little bit dull. In one hand he clutched something small, holding on to it as one might a prize, in the other was his gun, held like a deadly snake. Lucy looked away from the gun only because in her periphery she saw his mouth moving, lips forming the same pattern. She tuned into his words with some effort.
"Lucy Heartfilia will die," he repeated again and again. "Master END will live. Lucy Heartfilia will die. Master END will live. So Master Zeref can die." He aimed his gun with a shaking hand.
Lucy stared down the barrel of the guard-issued pistol. It seemed impossibly dark, impossibly long, an eye looking through her. Riley's tendons tightened, muscles flexed. A body blocked Lucy's view just as the gun went off again, the shot so loud she went temporarily deaf. Hot spray hit her in the face, her nose, her cheek, her lashes. Lucy blinked and blinked, trying to clear her vision. Before she had any success, sudden and intense power tried to smother her. Her skin was crawling. Unable to see much, sound guided her senses. A gross wet squelch, accompanied by a furious scream came to her ears. Something hit the floor. Sprayed again, Lucy knew it was blood by the heady iron smell it held.
She cleared her vision just in time to see Riley fall limp to the ground. He was half the man he used to be, throat torn open, arm missing, the stump heavily bleeding. The other half of his arm found home steps away, fingers twitching.
Hitching breath brought her to Natsu. He held his ribs with a hand that wasn't his and moved toward the door with great purpose. She called him back, his name a weak wisp out of her mouth. He looked over his shoulder only briefly, eyes twin onyx pits. Familiar and not.
She couldn't gather the courage to try again before he exited.
Seconds passed in graveyard quiet. Then Lucy got to her feet, unable to sit still while the world caught flame.
If it wasn't the world twisting, it was the overbearing power that seemed to get stuck in Gray's throat. There was hardly time to scramble from Juvia's side and lurch a few steps away. The chalkboard wall guided him to his knees when his legs wouldn't lock. There he heaved; there wasn't much in his stomach, a little bit of last night's whisky, a little bit of water. His throat and nose burned; his head hurt worse. He did what he could to keep his knees out of the sick, but truly, his mind was elsewhere. On keeping all of his insides inside for one thing, on doing what he could to block Juvia from the crushing nausea. He was doing a shit job; he could see it on her face when she came to his side.
"Gray-sama." She placed one cool hand in the center of his back, the other on his forehead, always caring more about him than herself. "Gray-sama, are you alright?"
Answering aloud was what people who were not intricately connected did. This was the first time in several long hours that Gray was glad that he'd done the sensory link. There was something absolutely liberating about not having to pretend. He was hit with another wave of nausea. There was something here, in the school. A demon. Or… maybe two. Panting in sour smelling air, Gray sieved through the conflicting power filling up the school and realized he recognized both energies. One that was uniquely Natsu's, and the other…
It was unfortunate that Akio didn't die that first time. Even as he thought that, a sharp pain bloomed in his side.
Juvia, too, went white and clutched the area. "What's happening?"
Through a suddenly aching jaw, Gray growled, "Meredy." Meredy was being attacked, and if he had to guess, it was by the demon Akio. Who knew if anyone was there to help protect her? "We have to go."
"Gray-sama…"
He got it, it was hard to walk, it was hard to think, it was hard to breathe. But… "If she kills Meredy while we're all connected…"
He didn't have to finish, Juvia remembered clearly the last time she and Gray were tied together like this. She grabbed his hand and hauled him to his feet. Gray wiped his mouth on his sleeve and spat on the floor.
In the hallway, the light from the sun filtered through some windows without glass. Air whooshed through. It was windy outside. Gray expected to be breathing fresh air, but all he could smell was smoke and blood. He didn't dare to look outside, afraid of what he'd see. One thing at a time.
A sharp pop echoing through the hallway made his blood run cold. The sound of a gun was unmistakable. A furious scream chased it. All of the hair on the back of Gray's neck stood on end. Devil slayer magic pushed at the barrier it was still trapped within, longing to get out. Whatever Eileen had done to him, it was breaking apart, but not fast enough. Fits and spurts of devil slayer magic wasn't going to be enough to kill END. And what about Akio? Who knew?
Gray didn't have to wonder which room he could find Akio in because ten metres down the hall, she opened the door for him, using Jellal's body as a battering ram. The man flew effortlessly until he hit the opposite wall, then, coming to an abrupt halt, he sat there, dazed, and let it all sink in.
Gray felt rage that wasn't his own and knew Meredy was awake and fighting. He lurched through debris—broken bits of door, a metal desk leg, some bits of soggy paper. Inside the room, through dust and raining bits of insulation, Gray found Meredy against the far wall, holding her arm, a fierce snarl on her lips. For all her fury and determination, she looked worse for wear, suffering in the same way he and Juvia were. Her opponent was as eerie as ever, with her pink hair and black as pitch eyes. Akio looked damaged, though, and slightly deranged for it. Frostbite had killed half of her body, necrotized the skin and turned it blue-black. Her movements were truncated and slow, but still faster than Meredy's. As Meredy turned to assess the newcomers, Akio attacked, lunging with demon-like speed, claws bared.
Gray acted without thought, pushing at the magic-inhibiting barrier until he found a crack in the façade that magic could sneak out. A pillar of ice appeared. It hit Akio in the face hard enough that it knocked her back several steps. She snarled and redoubled her efforts, more determined than ever to get to Meredy. This time, Gray had more trouble forcing the magic out. Juvia's water magic took its place. Akio easily batted it aside. She grabbed for Meredy and was successful, twisting her arm in front of Meredy's body then grabbing her by the hair while she lay her stump against the girl's throat, cutting off her air-supply. Gray felt his own airway shorten. He sucked in breath after breath, slowly, as calmly as he could, telling himself not to panic. Panic meant a loss of control, and that almost always meant failure.
"Let her go." Breathy words weren't great for threatening. He'd be embarrassed if he wasn't so scared for Juvia and Meredy.
Akio gritted sharp teeth—only one half of her lips worked, the other side too badly damaged. "No, devil slayer. Lady Eileen told me you willingly married your senses with this girl. Your bodies experience the same pain. Which means, I don't have to mess around trying to kill you. This girl will do well enough."
Meredy's eyes were wide. She stood on tiptoe trying to ease some of the pressure on her neck. It was mostly for naught, all Gray could do was choke. It's not real. You're not the one suffocating. It didn't matter what he said, he felt it as clearly as if it were. He reached for sputtering magic again, digging, digging, trying to force it out.
"Goodbye, Gray Fullbuster." Akio's fingers loosened on Merdy's hair, her arm dropped away from the girl's neck. For a split second, Gray could breathe. And then he was suffocating again as Akio adjusted her grip and grabbed Meredy by the throat. Fresh wounds spat blood down Gray's collarbone; black spots appeared before his eyes.
Come on, come on. A little bit of devil slayer's magic came to him, enough to rot Akio's left leg and force her to use the wall as support. And then nothing, a dried up well.
Maker magic would have to do.
Even that was being troublesome. Just focus. Unable to breathe, unable to think, Gray watched Juvia fall to her knees beside him, her face as red as apples. It was tempting to join her.
Always, Natsu thought he knew who he was. Even when things were blurry and he couldn't remember what others could—things about his past, his family, the people that loved him, the life he lived before Igneel—he knew who he was in his heart. He was Natsu Dragneel, Igneel's son, Fairy Tail's fire dragon slayer, Happy's best friend, and then Lucy's, too. That was all he needed. But that was before Tartarus threatened his family. Before he almost lost everything. Now… filling in the blanks was like getting to know himself all over again. He was Natsu Dragneel, Zeref's brother, the demon END, Lucy's lover. For all of the new things, he was still Igneel's son. He thought of that to hold on to something familiar, hoping that tie to his former self would make the hard decisions a little easier to bear when it came time.
Walking down the hall, scalding tile, igniting dust and melting glass effortlessly, feeling powerful and bizarre and nearly possessed, he thought, 'Cut the thread. Cut the thread.' He thought of Lucy looking up with her doe eyes, shocked and uncomprehending as a possessed guard aimed his gun and pulled the trigger. Natsu's side twanged when he relieved the moment, letting him know he hadn't gotten out unscathed. At least it's just you. At least it's not Lucy. At least she'll be okay. Maybe. She was bleeding. She'll be fine.
His senses tugged him into a classroom he didn't recognize, tuned into something he couldn't quite name. He saw her there, black and pink and grey, a demon on the verge of collapse but still more powerful than the girl she wrung the life out of. Meredy pushed weakly at her captor's arms, cheeks wet, mouth glistening with spit, mucus coming out of her nose. Choking someone to death was hardly pretty and hardly quick. It had gone on long enough that Meredy's heart was slowing. Natsu didn't wonder why the creature didn't do something a little more efficient, like snap her neck or tear out her heart. He could see just by looking at her that she was poisoned, demented and twisted, the worst part of his brother personified. It broke his heart. And it made him furious. He knew this creature. This was the one Zeref showed him. The one that was killing the girls. The one that stole from Lucy and tried to lure him out.
Very faintly, he was aware of Gray on the ground, fighting to just stay on his knees, and beside him, Juvia who had flirted with death so many times in the last day, all he could do was pity her. Natsu stepped around them both, knowing that they were burned by the fire he couldn't seem to shake but unable to do much about it.
The demon holding Meredy lifted her gaze and looked upon him. The only way to describe the expression on her face was reverence. "Master END."
Master END. Etherious. Natsu embraced her words and felt a surge of power beneath his skin. "Let her go."
Akio's breathing increased. She was afraid, he could feel it. "Lady Eileen says I must—"
There was no time to argue. Not that he could. All he could feel was violence and an intense urge. He needed to get out. He even knew where he needed to go. The church's bell tower. Diplomacy was never his strong suit anyway.
Akio didn't finish her sentence. It was hard to speak without a throat. She burned down to ash before she could miss the vital body part. Meredy fell to the floor, singed, coughing, but alive.
Resigned to blood and fire, Natsu moved on. Zeref was waiting.
