Hey guys. Please excuse the delay to this chapter but while Friday is the day I usually try and update by, this time I was hindered by the fact that I moved into my university flat for the first time on Thursday and spent two days doing virtually no writing because I was trying to sort everything out. But I shall endeavour to get back on track as soon as possible, and I hope that uni doesn't take me away from the keyboard too much, though of course uni does have to be my top priority so if it does, there's nothing I can do about it. But we shall see how it goes.
Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix
Chapter 13:- Ministry Mayhem
"Look, guys… this really isn't a good idea," Tonks murmured as she pretending to check out a menu in her hands, biting her lip as she fought to keep herself from looking around at all the Muggles. She was sitting at a table in a pub off of Whitehall, London and despite the fact she was certain none of the other members of the Ministry out of the Order of the Phoenix knew about her friendship with the Fairy Tail members, being so close to the Ministry headquarters meant it was highly possible there would be one or two people she knew around somewhere.
And considering she was sitting with just about all the Fairy Tail members she knew right now, if there was another Ministry member around it might lead to a couple of questions.
Well, that wasn't precisely true. All the human members of the guild were sitting at another table together, and the Exceed were keeping themselves hidden away on the roof. She herself was actually sitting at her own table with Mad-Eye Moody, who had a bowler hat pulled down slightly over his magical eye so that the Muggles wouldn't see it.
She'd just come to Grimmauld Place briefly to check on Gray, Juvia and Lisanna after a long and well-deserved rest, only to discover that all of Fairy Tail except Mavis were present and all looking rather concerned. It wasn't until then that she learned that the Sphere within the Ministry had faded and now they were all insisting that they head out immediately to join them, or at least go somewhere that they could be close by.
Gajeel in particular had been adamant that they get going now. And whenever Tonks had asked why they needed to go, he just replied, "In case something happens."
"In case what happens?"
"I dunno! Something."
"Do you think this something's going to happen?"
"I don't know if anything's going to happen but just in case something does, we want to be there."
And the conversation had circled around like that several times before Moody finally put his wooden foot down with a loud thunk and declared that they could consent to taking Fairy Tail somewhere they could at least receive a vague understanding of what was going on down below, but that they'd have to do their best to blend in with their surroundings, so to speak.
Which was why they were all sitting in the pub right now, Moody's one real eye staring down at his menu while the eye that had given him his nickname was currently swivelling around in its socket, unseen by the others and looking almost straight downwards through his own chin and the ground beneath them.
Fairy Tail were doing their best to remain casual. Gajeel was quaffing a beer that he'd bought with money Tonks had given him. The man at the bar had asked him for identification, but Gajeel had just given him a look and he'd quickly filled the glass up without asking again. Wendy and Juvia were running their hands through their hair as if comparing them, hoping to give anyone who noticed their blue locks the impression that they'd been rather impressively died. And Lisanna elbowed Gray in the ribs whenever his hand started to pull his shirt up seemingly of its own accord.
To be frank, they weren't doing the best job in the world at blending in, but the grizzled, scarred form of Moody was actually drawing far more attention than they were. Everyone just seemed to notice him like he was setting off warning bells in their heads before they had even set eyes on him.
But he ignored them and focused on staring through the floor.
"It doesn't matter if this is a bad idea or not," Gray stated firmly as he folded his arms, grunting as Lisanna elbowed him for the fifth time since they'd sat down. "Our friends are down there and we'll be damned if we're going to leave them."
"But I thought you said this Gildarts was the most powerful member of your guild," Tonks pointed out. "Surely he, of all people, is the someone you don't need to worry about too much. Or your friend if she's with him."
"Nevertheless, it just wouldn't feel right to sit back and do absolutely nothing. Even if there's nothing we can do, it does make us feel a little better to be… involved somehow."
"I don't see much of a difference, honestly," Gajeel grunted. "Between sitting where we're sitting now and hanging out somewhere else. We should be going in there, trying to bust them out. That's what the Salamander would be doing, don't you think?"
"Well, that just makes me glad that he's not been released from his Sphere yet," Gray scoffed. "You weren't even there the last time something like this happened, when Erza got taken by the Council for show. The idiot went charging in there and made everything worse. He actually tried to convince the Council that he was the real Erza by dressing in a wig and armour he made out of a freaking barrel!"
"GEEHEE! Oh, not that I do wish I could have seen," Gajeel snorted.
"And what are you going to do if something actually does go a bit sour down there?" Tonks questioned.
There was a beat of silence before Wendy rubbed the back of her head and said, "Probably make things a lot worse anyway. Like Natsu-san would."
"Oh brilliant," Tonks sighed. "This idea just keeps sounding better and better. Mad-Eye, why did you let them come here?"
"Ssh, I'm trying to concentrate," Moody growled slightly as he focused down through the floor. "The further I'm trying to see through things the more I have to strain the magic… but I think that I can see the Wizengamot chamber from here if I push myself hard enough… there seems to be a small girl sitting in the chair in the middle… short girl, orange dress… blue hair again - well, isn't that a surprise?"
"That's sounds like Levy-san alright," Juvia raised her head slightly. "Moody-san can see Levy-san from here?"
"Just," Moody confirmed. "My eye can see through solid objects for up to three-hundred yards if I stretch it far enough."
"Well, don't leave us in suspense, man - what's going on down there?"
"She doesn't look happy," Moody said gruffly, his eye twitching minutely beneath his hat. "In fact she looks rather distressed."
"What?" Gajeel bristled slightly. "The hell are they doing to her?"
"It looks like they're just talking."
"What about?"
"Oh yes, I of course have magical ears that can hear whatever my eye sees," Moody turned glower at him slightly while his eye remained fixed on the events below. "She's talking to the Minister and the Wizengamot though so it must be an interrogation."
"Why would they interrogate Levy?" Lisanna's eyes widened slightly. "There's nothing about Levy's personality that could make anyone believe she was a dangerous or even an untrustworthy person."
"I won't pretend to know what's going through Fudge's mind these days," Moody snorted. "And people call me mad." But then he stiffened slightly and said, "Ah…"
"Ah? What's ah? What's going on?" Gajeel snapped.
"Gajeel-kun!" Juvia gripped his arm slightly to prevent him from rising out of his seat and doing who-knew-what? "Moody-san… what's happening?"
"They've called in some Dementors."
Tonks stiffened, a shiver passing down her spine at the mere name. "Oh no… they wouldn't… surely they wouldn't."
"Wouldn't what? What's a Dementor?" Wendy hugged herself, shuddering at Tonks' reaction to them alone.
"Dementors are about the closest thing to a demon we have in this world," Moody wrinkled what remained of his nose. "Creatures that feast on human happiness, draw it out from the air around them as if they're sucking it up through a straw. And when they're done, all anyone who gets close to them is left with is their worst experiences, which are get replayed in their minds over and over again. Spend too long in a Dementors company and people have a tendency to go truly insane, which is what often happens to people sent to Azkaban the wizard prison, where the Dementors act as guards for the Ministry."
Gajeel's hand was now gripping the table so hard he was splintering the wood, while Gray's glass of water had frozen solid in his hand. Even Juvia and Lisanna were looking slightly thunderous.
"They'd bring… creatures like that… close to one of our friends?" Gray's snarl sounded slightly feral.
"Why would they even employ creatures like that!?" Lisanna gasped. "That's… surely that's inhumane."
"It's not like we're happy about it," Tonks protested. "But having the Dementors on our side and guarding a small minority of horrible people is better than having them against us and roaming free across the land. It was a compromise we came up with to prevent them from wreaking havoc on everyone."
"It doesn't look like your friend's reacting well to them," Moody observed. "No, that's definitely a rather violent reaction. She must have one or two horrible memories in her past somewhere."
Gajeel stiffened even more, something that Juvia and Gray both noticed. The Iron Dragon Slayer's eyes were wide but his slitted pupils had shrank to dots, this teeth gritted so hard they would have snapped if he were an ordinary human.
If Levy was reliving some terrible memories then that meant… could one of them be… the one about him?
Abruptly Gajeel surged up from his seat and roared, "That's it! I'm going in!" and he suddenly barrelled out across the room, slamming an unfortunate waiter across a table as he passed and busting the door straight off his hinges as he ploughed into the street.
"Gajeel! Gajeel stop!" Tonks gasped, leaping up and tripping over in a single fluid motion, but she was thankfully caught by Lisanna even as Gray and Juvia thundered out after them.
"Sorry," Lisanna said grimly, as Wendy pushed her way up as well, the both of them helping Tonks back to her feet. "But remember what Gray said about us doing what we felt was best for our friends no matter what? Well… looks like this is one of those times."
"Looks like they might not be needed," Moody said almost conversationally. "The big man down there's just smashed down half the Wizengamot hall and taken the girl off."
"Then hopefully it won't be too difficult to find them," Wendy replied, before she and Lisanna dashed out the door after the others. Tonks ran after them, pausing at the entrance as she watched Whitehall dissolve into chaos - it seemed Gajeel had smashed the hood of a taxi to mulch as he'd run across the street and all the Muggles were gasping and pointing as the three Exceed, who had clearly noticed something was happening, swooped down from overhead to join Fairy Tail as they ran.
"Oh god, this is a disaster," Tonks murmured to herself as she reached for her wand, preparing herself for trouble. "But, how are they planning to get down there? There's no main entrance to the Ministry. There's only the Floo, Apparition and the…"
Her words died in her throat when she saw Gajeel bolt down one particular side-street, closely followed by the others. A side-street that contained…
"Oh no. How did they know about the visitor's entrance?" she gasped.
"I told them about it," Moody growled as he stepped up beside her.
"You told… MAD-EYE!" Tonks yelled at him. "WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING!?"
"The way I saw it, there were only ever going to be two outcomes to this encounter once the Sphere in the Ministry went down," Moody turned to face her with both eyes, though one still couldn't be seen. "Either everything would go smoothly and the Ministry might gain some new allies in a fight they're so far refusing to fight. But that what sounded far-fetched. This was the far more likely alternative."
"What and you thought you'd just… help them do it!" Tonks blustered.
"Put it this way, Nymphadora," Mad-Eye actually grinned, albeit a little lopsidedly. "Whatever happens here today, perhaps the Ministry will start heeding the advice I myself give to everyone - CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"
"I knew you were going to do that," Tonks wiped some spittle from her cheek.
Gajeel pounded forwards down the street until his gaze sighted on the red, windowed box thing that Moody had told him would be there. The concept of telephone boxes was lost on him, but that wasn't what that really was anyway. He thundered straight for it, the growl in his throat building up into a roar as he ran.
"Gajeel-kun, slow down!" Juvia shouted as the others struggled to keep up.
"What's going on down there!" Lily called as he swooped in low overhead.
"It doesn't matter what's going on down there! What matters is we're going in and getting them out!" Gajeel bellowed.
"How are you planning to…?" Charla started to ask, but then Gajeel suddenly hurled himself upwards into a colossal flying leap that almost took him up to the height of the building roofs around him. The Iron Dragon Slayer set his sights on the telephone box and channelled his magic into his legs.
"METSURYUU OUGI!" he roared as a magic circle formed beneath his feet and his legs suddenly morphed into a large, furiously spinning drill. "GOUMA: TETSURASEN!" He plunged down like a falling bomb and slammed into the top of the telephone box, shredding it to shrapnel in an instant flat and smashing into the ground beneath it, throwing up chunks of concrete everywhere as he burst down through the space beneath it, down, down, down…
Until he suddenly emerged out in a large room filled with people, crashing through the ceiling with a spray of dirt and sending several witches and wizards diving for cover as he morphed his legs back to normal and slammed into the floor so hard he splintered the tiles. He looked up, ignoring the screaming, the yelling and the sudden frenzy of activity that began all around him, ignoring the high walls, the impressive architecture and the golden statues in a fountain nearby, focusing all his attention to his nose as he searched for anything familiar.
"Gajeel, don't go rushing in so fast!" Lily chided him as he swept out of the hole Gajeel had made in the ceiling, closely followed by Happy, who was carrying Gray.
But Gajeel ignored his Exceed when he caught a sniff and said, "This way, quick!" and plunged into the crowd, who parted before him like the Sea of Reeds before Moses except for a few Aurors who were trying to fight their way to the front.
"Damn, and I thought he was the one who always pointed out how messed up things were," Gray muttered as he took off after him, the two Exceed right behind him. One of the Aurors managed to make his way to the front as they ran but Gray swept his arm to one side and conjured up an ice shield that the unfortunate Auror ran straight into with a solid thunk.
A couple of moments later and Lisanna dropped through the opening with her arms morphed into wings, flaring them to swoop low over the heads of the crowd, closely followed by Charla carrying Wendy and Juvia, bursting down on her own as a jet of water and reforming on the ground.
"There they go!" Wendy pointed to where Gajeel and Gray were disappearing into the distance.
"Come on, let's go after them," Juvia shouted.
"No, wait!" Lisanna interrupted, flapping over to them and landing in front of them smoothly. "Gajeel and Gray are capable of looking after themselves. We don't all need to go to the same place! But since we're here, we should work on trying to find a way to free those Clippers."
"You mean the birds?" Wendy blinked.
"Oh, come on, Lisanna," Charla wrinkled her nose. "I know they're innocent but are they really our top priority right now?"
"Maybe not, but I have faith that Gajeel, Gray, Happy and Lily will be more than enough to cover our top priority," Lisanna reasoned. "And since we're here we might as well do both the things we came here to do. Those birds are relying on us too."
"She has a point," Wendy stated. "But we'd better make a decision soon. Look!" she pointed across the room to where the wizarding security were trying to calm the crowd, many of whom were trying to dash for the exits covering their heads, but several of them were running right towards them, wands being drawn.
Juvia hesitated, looking down in the direction where Gray had gone and longing to go after him and watch his back as well as Gajeel's, but she clenched her fist and said, "Juvia knows Gajeel-kun and Gray-sama are up to the task. Juvia believes in them too. Juvia says we go for the birds."
"Alright," Wendy lifted her head and started using her own Dragon Slayer's sense of smell to take stock of her surroundings. "Got them!" she cried. "This way!" She pointed ahead and Charla whooshed off in the direction she indicated. A couple of spells were thrown up at them but Charla zig-zagged rapidly and easily dodged, and moments later the wizards firing the spells were bowled over by a wall of water as Juvia ploughed over their heads, flanked by a winged Lisanna.
And Tonks arrived in the hall shortly afterwards to watch the last of the mayhem unfolding as the girls rushed their way into another corridor.
"Well… how's this one going to be hidden from the public I wonder," she muttered to herself as she hurried to join the bedlam.
From the moment that Gildarts rushed out of the broken wall, people were there trying to block his way. The noises of the explosions he'd made busting out of his cell and getting Levy out of the interrogation room had certainly attracted a fair amount of attention and as he rounded a corner he saw a group of about ten witches and wizards running towards him.
"Stop!" One of them yelled as he pointed his wand ahead right at Gildarts. "Surrender in the name of the Ministry!"
Gildarts grimaced - most of these guys seemed to be fairly decent guys so he didn't want to do anything to hurt them if he could manage it. So he merely slammed his fist into the wall and ran off, down a different corridor instead, the corner behind him fracturing into dozens of pieces and falling in on itself like a landslide, blocking off the corridor and causing the security behind it to come skidding to a halt to avoid running slap-bang into it.
"Nnnn… nooo… keep… keep away… stay away…" Levy spasmed slightly on his shoulder, batting at the air with her arms as if trying to ward away an evil spirit weakly.
"Just hold on, Levy. We're getting you to safety," Mavis assured her, looking over her shoulder as the four Dementors pursuing them rounded the bend and swept through the air towards them, scabbed hands scraping at the air in a disturbingly zombie-like way. "Gildarts, those things are gaining."
"Well, let's see if we can't slow them down," Gildarts grunted as he spun around on the spot. "Because for some reason I mind the idea of hurting them a lot less. RRRRRHHHHAAAAAAGHH!" he bellowed as he slammed the palm of his real hand down to the ground, bursting his Crash magic down the corridor to seemingly splinter the floor and both walls into fractured, even bits, the cracks running past the Dementors.
As they approached, Gildarts couldn't help but feel several shivers running up his spine the like of which he'd not experienced for a long time, along with a terrible gnawing in gut that created an almost unfamiliar sense of despair, but Gildarts blocked it out, clenching his teeth and bursting the splintered floor and wars inwards in a colossal explosion. The Dementors screeched as they were suddenly smashed from seemingly all sides by flying bits of rubble that fell in around them, burying them in a veritable landslide.
Gildarts had no idea whether that would work on such creatures or even hold them back for long, but he didn't need to wait to find out. He turned and ran on. "First, how do we get out of here?" he asked.
"I don't know the layout very well, but we need to find the elevators," Mavis replied.
"The what?"
"The small rooms that move around on their own to take people places!"
"Oh, those. Well, where are…"
"Stop! Stop right there!" Scrimgeour's voice bellowed as Gildarts rounded another corner with no idea where he was going whatsoever. Gildarts hesitated as Scrimgeour, whom he had judged to be a decent enough man for sure, and several other Aurors, came charging in towards him.
"Don't make me hurt you guys!" Gildarts shouted across at them. "Just let us leave!"
"Can't do that! Surrender immediately or we'll have to use extreme force!" Scrimgeour replied, his wand at the ready even as he ran.
Gildarts grimaced and spun around with a swish of his cloak to run in the opposite direction. But as he did, he heard Scrimgeour shouted, "You asked for it. Now, men!"
"Stupefy!" multiple voices shout all at once and Gildarts felt the rush of an incoming attack behind him, spinning about to see several red streaks of light surging in towards him like speeding bullets. Gildarts gritted his teeth and thrust his hand forwards, generating a wall of criss-crossing lines across the whole corridors like a shield, and when the spells hit the wall they burst into teensy pieces that scattered to the wind.
Many of the Aurors actually pulled to a stop to ogle at that, but Scrimgeour pressed on with a couple of the others anyway.
"Now who's asking for it?" Gildarts asked as he seized a wall with one hand and tore a huge strip of it the size of himself away from the rest, hefting it over his head and lobbing it down the corridor like an enormous, square javelin. The Aurors yelled and skidded to a halt, Scrimgeour firing a Reductor curse up at the wall to try and break it, only for the flying wall piece to break into dozens of smaller bits under the effects of Gildarts' magic. The Reductor curse pulverised only one of these smaller cubes while the others rained down to collide with stomachs, chests, arms and legs… one of them connected with Scrimgeour's cheek and knocked him backwards and off his feet, dazed and smarting.
"This way, Gildarts! It's this way!" Mavis waved from the end of the corridor and Gildarts hurried off after her, hearing the clamour of more wizards coming in his ears. But it took him another couple of corners before he ran into something else - one man who was blocking his path ahead. Gildarts reacted instinctively, seizing the man by the front of his robes and preparing to swing him out of the way, when Mavis stopped him with, "Gildarts, no! That's Kingsley. He's one of the Order I mentioned before."
"Oh… right…" Gildarts let go, immediately but his arm movement had already yanked Kingsley to the side and he crashed into the wall slightly, but was stopped from falling over when Gildarts steadied his shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"Grateful that you're accompanied by a ghost mentor certainly," Kingsley chuckled wryly as he pushed himself upright. "Look, Gildarts, isn't it? I just want to quickly apologise on behalf of the Order and the wider Ministry for what's happened here today. Suffice to say the Minister has had… a lot on his proverbial plate recently and he may have acted rather rashly out of fear…"
"I'm afraid now's probably not the time to apologise on the behalf of your government," Gildarts stated simply. "I'm taking Levy out of here and as far away from those… creatures… as possible."
"Mm okay… I can walk…" Levy protested slightly, kicking a little from her place over Gildarts' shoulder, prompting Gildarts to slowly lower her to the ground, but hold her steady as she wobbled a little.
"Kingsley, can we get out of here? Can't you Apparate them out?" Mavis asked.
"Unfortunately no," Kingsley shook his head. "There are Anti-Apparition Wards throughout the Ministry in all rooms except the Atrium, designed to protect Ministry officials from surprise attacks by wizarding terrorists… And even if I took you away in the Atrium, people would definitely see me do it. I fear you will need to make your own way out now. Unless I can convince you to stay and try and sort this out diplomatically."
"Do you think that would actually happen in the current situation?" Mavis asked. "People who bring in those creatures as extra security because of one girl with a magic they didn't even understand most likely won't be willing to handle things diplomatically after the damage that's been done now. I fear we'll have to make our escape now and hope that we can make peace with the Ministry when we all have cooler heads."
Kingsley grimaced, turning around at the sound of rushing footsteps a few corridors away, heading right for them. "You're right," he said. "Alright then, listen. You're on Level Ten right now and the Atrium is the big room with the golden statue fountain on Level Eight. You can escape from there via Floo Powder if you wish. Mavis, you can show these two how to do it."
"Then we need to get to the lifts," Mavis nodded.
"That won't work," Kingsley replied quickly. "The Ministry's being put into lockdown and all the lifts have been stopped. You can't use them anymore."
"Then how do we get up two floors?" Levy asked a little weakly, still trying to recover her strength.
"The hard way," Gildarts replied immediately, as the shouting grew much closer. "But first," he suddenly slammed his fist into Kingsley's gut and the Auror gasped and stumbled backwards, clutching at his stomach and wheezing. "Sorry, have to make it look like you're not helping us," Gildarts apologised before he gripped Levy tightly in his arms and focused his magic down towards his feet. Levy gasped as she felt the floor cracking underneath them, felt as if an inferno of magical energy was brewing all around her as Gildarts' body glowed brightly for a moment…
And then Gildarts blasted his magic into the floor to not only shatter it, but propel himself straight upwards like he'd been fired out of a cannon, wrapping his arms tightly around a screaming Levy and angling himself so his shoulders were the first thing to smash into the ceiling and crash straight through it as if it was made of paper, blasting it to bits as they shot up into the ninth level above.
Levy got only a fleeting glimpse of the room beyond, and it was certainly a very big room - with a ceiling so high above that it reminded Levy of the Kardia Cathedral back home in Magnolia, but instead of stain glass windows and columns it was filled with what looked like dozens of rows of immensely tall shelves absolutely covered with strange-looking glass orbs.
But as Gildarts punched his way through the floor directly beneath one of these shelves and therefore splintered it to shards as he crashed straight through it, the strange room was very promptly thrown into chaos as large bits of shelf and orbs went flying everywhere, smashing into other shelves and knocking them over and creating a chain reaction through the room with countless glass orbs raining down to the floor and smashing to fragments against it even as more shelves were overturned.
But through it all, Gildarts still rocketed upwards even to the high ceiling and smashed his way through that one too, leaving the practically collapsing room behind.
They emerged onto the eighth floor in a fountain of brick, tiles, wood and other bits of building; a couple of wizards falling backwards in shock as the floor erupted in front of them and scrambling backwards as Gildarts landed next to the gaping hole he'd just made with a swish of his cloak. Levy stumbled backwards slightly as he let go of her, gasping for breath and rather wide-eyed.
"Are you okay?" Gildarts asked, as Mavis rose up through the hole to meet them.
"I… I think so…" Levy leaned over the edge of the hole to look down and see several Aurors gather underneath it, gaping in disbelief. A couple of them aimed their wands up and fired spells at her, but she quickly dodged backwards. "I think we'd better go though."
"Indeed," Gildarts nodded. "Let's move!"
Wendy's foot accidentally knocked the hat off yet another witch as Charla whipped her around another corner just high enough to avoid actually kicking the startled woman in the face. The Sky Dragon Slayer was constantly sniffing the air, tilting her head around and able to see Lisanna and Juvia through the corner of her eye behind her, one turned to water and pulsing herself along through the air and the other with wide wings that pretty much touched either side of the corridors she was swooping down.
"Getting any closer, Wendy?" Lisanna shouted.
"Not really!" Wendy called back. "The smell keeps fading and getting stronger. I think that it might be coming from above."
"Then we need to find some stairs or something!" Juvia called. "Has anyone seen any since we got in here?"
"No, not… wait!" Wendy cried as they whooshed past some kind of metal doors, Charla practically screeching to a halt as Juvia and Lisanna had to pull back to keep themselves from crashing into her. "The smell… it was a bit stronger through those doors!"
"Alright… but Juvia doesn't see a door handle…" Juvia frowned slightly. "How do we get through."
"We'll have to get through the traditional Fairy Tail way," Lisanna replied as she landed in front of the doors, shifted into her giant rabbit form and planted her back feet on the wall behind her, kicking off from it like a springboard to catapult herself into the door of the elevator. A fraction of a second before impact she morphed again into her giant penguin shape, which was the heaviest of her Take-Overs. And the force of the collision was enough to tear the doors out of their moorings as Lisanna punched through into the empty space beyond.
Lisanna gasped as she suddenly realised she was in open air, but even as she started to fall she shifted back into her bird form and flared her wings, catching herself to fly back up. Wendy and Charla came through the doors to meet her, Wendy looking around and sniffing urgently, before declaring, "Up! The smells coming from above."
"Lead on, Wendy!" Lisanna called as Charla transported the Sky Dragon Slayer up higher, followed closely by the others.
They had to weave in and out of the metal tracks that carried the lifts all around the building until Wendy pointed to another door and cried, "I think that's the one we have to go through now."
"Alright then, its Juvia's turn," Juvia curved her body over Wendy's head and streaked in towards the door, spinning herself in a vicious corkscrew with her arms out to the side and crying, "WATER SLICER!"
Multiple water blades peeled away from her spinning hands to form a rough circle of high-pressure projectiles that crashed into the doors and managed to cut their way clean through to the other side. Juvia washed through the gap that dropped out into the room beyond, settling on the ground and noting a large sign in front of her that read; 'Level 4 - Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.'
"This looks like the place," she noted as the other girls joined her.
"I hope the others are okay," Wendy noted. "They may have run into more trouble than us."
"Well, there's really not much we can do for them up here. We should focus on finding the birds, though how we're going to get them out of the Ministry is anyone's guess."
"One step at a time," Lisanna noted. "But we'll think of something. We'll have to."
"Get outta my way!" Gajeel bellowed as he heaved an unfortunate Auror that had gotten in his way around by his robes and sent him crashing into three others as they made their way out of another corridor.
Gray was right behind him, creating a wall of ice to prevent several other Aurors from following them now that he's established that the girls weren't following. But he could tell that while they certainly had gained the element of surprise with their sudden entrance to the Ministry, which have been a very big help in bulldozing their way through everyone so far, the forces of the Ministry now seemed to be rallying, and were converging on their location, trying to come from all directions at once.
"Gajeel, are they close!" he yelled as several spells hit his ice wall, including one that caused a couple of cracks to appear in the other side.
"Not far away now!" Gajeel replied. "I can smell them much more clearly now!"
"But we're surrounded now!" Happy yelled from next to Gray's legs, watching as several robed men came running in from both the corridors that Gray had not blocked off. They'd found themselves at a T-junction and were now several spells of various colours came lancing in from both directions. Gajeel had no clue what any of them did but he flattened himself against a wall to avoid them and growled as he morphed his hand into a club.
"Then we'll just have to tear our way through!" he snarled.
"Oi! Gajeel, these guys aren't supposed to be our enemies you know!" Gray yelled at him, grimacing as his shield took another battering from a Bludgeoning Hex. "We should try and do this with the minimum number of horrific injuries!"
"Tell that to them!" Gajeel growled.
"Urgh, there's no room to swing my sword in here!" Lily groaned as he gripped his currently small blade. "I'll just end up slicing through the walls!"
"That might not be such a bad thing at this point cos there's no room for dodging either!" Gray called, the group of four crouching for cover from the spells around the corner next to Gray's shield even as the Aurors drew in closer. The Ice Mage whirled around, slamming his hands together and generating an Ice Cannon in his hands, which he propped up against the wall. "We'll have to be quick! Lily, take that and wait for my word."
Lily wanted to ask what he was meant to do with it when he was given the word since he couldn't exactly fire the thing himself, but there was no time so he did as bid and grew into his battle form, seizing the cannon and valiantly ignoring the fierce chill it instantly created in his hands.
"Clear a path for us, Gajeel!" Gray called.
"Geehee! My pleasure," Gajeel sprang to his feet furiously swung his fist towards the wall in front of them. The iron club that lengthened from it punched through the stonework with ease to create a gaping hole, and moments later the other arm shot up to widen the gap until it was easily large enough for people to get through.
"Now, Lily!" Gray shouted as he bounded out into the corridor to face one group of approaching Aurors and slammed his hands into the ground to call, "ICE GEYSER!" and conjuring up a veritable tidal wave of icy shards that washed down the walls and sent several of the front-running Aurors flying as it crashed into them, bowling them over. And then he spun around to face the other way, to see Lily already in position.
The big Exceed had guessed what Gray was planning and was crouched behind him with the cannon pointed at the oncoming Aurors, who hesitated at the sight of the huge cat levelling the weapon at them and what had happened to the others. But Gray didn't give them a chance to recuperate, seizing the back of the cannon and generating his magic into it, firing the icy blast down the hallway to envelop several of the Auror and send them crashing back into one another like skittles.
"Thanks, Lily," Gray nodded, as he dispelled the cannon. "Molding Magic may be fast, but having it already waiting for you makes it even faster."
"Come on, let's move it!" Gajeel shot through the hole he'd made, the others close behind him.
A few more turns later and suddenly something rounded another corner and ran slap-bang into Gajeel, literally smacking into his chest and yelping as it lost its balance and toppled backwards onto its backside. Gajeel, fortunately, was quick enough to pull to a halt and found himself looking down at a wide-eyed, breathless Levy.
Even Gajeel couldn't deny the surge of relief that washed right through him at the sight of her, looking a little worse for wear but otherwise okay. His face split into a grin and he said, "Hey, Shorty. Ya miss me?"
But the grin faltered slightly when he saw that Levy was looking up at him not with relief… but with terror. Her pupils had shrunk into dots, her body was shaking slightly, her breath was coming out in ragged gasps and it looked like every muscle in her was trying to seize up on her at once.
"Oi… Levy… what's wrong?" Gajeel stepped forwards and reached down towards her, but Levy screamed and kicked up at him, knocking his hand away. Gajeel recoiled, not hurt but rather shocked as Levy scrambled backwards like a panicked animal.
"Levy! It's me!" Gajeel stepped forwards, but Levy flinched and covered her face with her arms, closing her eyes as if bracing for an impact. "What's gotten into you?"
"Stay away!" Levy shouted, shoving herself to her feet just as Gildarts, Mavis and the rest of Gajeel's group all caught up with them. Levy immediately fled back to Gildarts and hid behind him, putting him between herself and Gajeel as she clutched her head and bit her lip, quivering like a scared rabbit.
"She's just had a rather traumatic experience," Gildarts noted. "I'm not sure what happened exactly, but it hasn't left me in the best of tempers I can tell you."
"Levy…" Gajeel started again, but the mere sound of his voice was enough to make Levy flinch. She turned around slowly, peering around Gildarts to look him in his studded face, but even though he was frowning in apparent concern… she could also see a savage, sneering grin plastered across his features in her mind's eye. She could also hear his cackling laugh echoing in her memory, could practically feel the places where his iron fists had once smashed into her like a dull itch.
"Now now. No screaming. I want the pathetic trash you call friends to find out about this when they wake up next morning and not before. But there's quite a bit of time left until dawn… which means plenty of time left for some fun, don't you agree?"
Those words, which had once come from his mouth, were ringing through her brain, memories that she'd tried very hard to bury and never remember forced back up to the front of her mind by the Dementors. And now, when she looked at him… she just couldn't help but remember it all over again.
Stop it, Levy, stop it! Stopitstopitstopitstopit! Look at him, he's worried about you! You should be happy, not scared! He'd never say that to you now, never do that to you now! Look at the mark on his shoulder! He's Fairy Tail. He's a friend now, and you know he is! So why are you scared of him again?
That was what her heart and conscience was screaming at her, her instincts seemed to be trying to overrule her rational thoughts and the memories within her screaming, Enemy! Phantom Lord! Run! Hide! Fear him! Enemy! And those thoughts forced her to look away, eyes screwed shut and teeth gritted with frustration.
Gajeel himself could feel his fist clenching so hard he had to turn his palm to iron to stop his nails from drawing his own blood. His fear had practically been confirmed. Moody had said that the Dementors caused people to relive their worst memories. And despite everything that had happened since he'd joined Fairy Tail, all the progress he'd made to resolve things with the girl he'd so viciously beaten… it was like it had all been undone in an instant flat!
Of course what he did to her would be one of her worst memories. No matter how many years passed by, that would always be the case.
"Shit," he muttered to himself under his breath and looked away and summing up the situation in what he felt to be a pretty adequate manner with that one word.
"Gildarts!" Happy cheered as he hovered over to the big man. "So you really are here! Wow, its so good to see you."
"And you," Gildarts smirked wryly. "Though this may not be the best time for a reunion. We still need to get to the Atrium place and get out of here."
"But we can't yet," Happy shook his head. "Charla and the others aren't here - Wendy and Lisanna and Juvia… we got separated from them somehow."
"Where the heck could they all have gone?" Gray muttered irritably.
"Most likely to try and find the Clippers," Mavis replied. "Getting them out was another one of our goals of course."
"Yeah, but now!?" Gray scoffed. "Of all times they do that now?"
"On the contrary I think it was the right call," Mavis stated. "If we'd left them here and escaped ourselves then its likely they'd realise the Clippers are just as alien to this universe as we are, and possibly exterminate them since they don't belong here. We may never get another chance to save them than this."
"…Fair point…" Gray noted. "But how do we find them now? Gajeel, can you track them?"
"I believe I know where they will have gone," Mavis pointed upwards. "The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is on Level Four - I saw it on the floor plan of my tour earlier. We must head up there."
"But the transport up there's been shut down," Gildarts pointed out.
"Well then we'll make our own transport," Gray stated. "Come on… let's…"
He stopped talking suddenly, his eyes widening as the hair stood up on the back of his neck. His whole body had suddenly gone frigid, as if he'd been dunked into a lake of freezing water and Gray couldn't remember the last time he'd actually felt cold. Especially not cold this biting.
"Guuh… what's happening!?" Gajeel had stiffened too. Gildarts' eyes widened slightly and he swore under his breath as the tails of both the Exceed stood up straight.
"Not more of them…" Gildarts cursed, as a wizard ran into the hallway nearby, pointing towards them and crying, "There they are. Quick, subdue them!" Before many, many tall cloaked figures wafted around the corner and swept down it towards the gathered Fairy Tail members. And down the hall where Gildarts and Levy had just come from, more of them emerged.
"What… what are those things!?" Happy yelled.
"What… what's wrong with me?" Lily's hands were clutching his stomach. "Why do I feel this way?"
"Are these… those Dementor things?" Gajeel sucked in a breath through his teeth before he suddenly clutched his head, gasping as a feeling of despair washed over him like a pit opening inside him and seeking to swallow him up from within. As the Dementors drew closer, a faint voice began to ring in his ears… was that his own?
"Metalicana…! Hey, Metalicana, where are you!? Get… get back here, you… you… damn dragon! This isn't funny anymore. Where've you gone!…. Please, come back!"
All around him the others were having similar reactions. Gray's was perhaps the most violent, falling to his knees and clutching his stomach as if he was going to be sick, the sounds of burning and screaming and a terrible, grating, booming roar - one that he would never forget - seeking to shatter his eardrums even now when it was just a memory. Sweat was beginning to spring up across his whole body as vague images of the huge bestial demon laying waste to his hometown swept through his consciousness, as well as the terrible image of his father's broken body with the massive gash torn across his left temple.
"N… No…" he gasped. "D…Dad… Deliora… not… not this…"
Even the Exceed were reacting harshly. Happy had fallen onto his backside and was shaking like a leaf as he too heard his own voice. "My… my mission… was to kill Natsu," shortly accompanied by Charla's screams of despair as the black Exceed named Nadi told them about how their friendship with the Dragon Slayers was all a lie. While Lily was clenching his fists and clenching his fangs so tightly he could probably chew through iron himself as he heard the words again, "You are now made one of the Fallen, and are banished from Extalia…"
"No… no, no, no, no, no…" Levy had practically shrunk into a ball, covering her head as the harsh laughter began to ring in her ears once more. "Not again… go away… just go away…"
Mavis looked round in horror as each of her guild members began to succumb to the Dementors effects, shaking and gasping as their memories tried to drag them downwards, as the horrible wraiths themselves slowly drew in towards them, their horrible breath filling the air almost gleefully as if they sensed they were winning. What should she do? What could she do?
Even Gildarts stumbled slightly, one hand covering one side of his face and panting for breath as several memories seemed to flash through his head in rapid succession.
"Cornelia, why… can't we try a little more?"
"I'm sorry, Gildarts, really I am… but you're never around. You're too involved with your work, always going away on jobs. I can't stand being alone so much anymore and I just don't think this is part of you that you can change… I'm sorry… I want a divorce…"
Then another memory:-
"Stop this, Ivan! Stop this now or I'm going to have to stop you! Don't make me do this!"
"Step aside, Gildarts! This has nothing to do with you, this has to do solely with me and my father."
"Ivan, I'm warning you…"
And another - the almost mocking roar that shook the mountain he was standing on as Acnologia descended on him with a blur of speed that belied his enormous size and the ghost of the searing, indescribable agony as in a flash what felt like a third of his entire body was torn from the rest of him in a single, brutal strike.
"Guuuhnn…" Gildarts growled slightly as he looked up at the Dementors gliding in ever closer, imprinting the most horrendous moments of his life back and all the others with their own pasts. He felt his fist clenching as he tried to block out the memories, but the more he tried to ignore them they more they seemed to press down on him. But now the Dementors were reaching their hands forwards grasping towards the closest of their targets.
He had to do something…
Cana! his mind suddenly screamed at him.
Think of Cana! Think of how indescribably happy you were when you'd got over the shock of her being your daughter. How you watched the daughter you never knew you had growing over the years. How she said she was glad to have met you, how she let you, despite having not known who she was for eighteen years, have the right to love her!
That moment had, perhaps, been the happiest moment of his life, and it was certainly the freshest of his best ones in his memory. And as he focused on it, he felt the despair inside him lessen as if his memory of Cana was somehow buoying him up. The other memories seemed to be purged from his head and his gaze became hard as steel as he suddenly sprang forwards like a giant leaping panther, seizing a Dementor's scabby hand in his own moments before it touched Gray.
The Dementor actually screeched and jerked back slightly but, with a face of stone-cold fury, Gildarts smashed his hand and the Dementors own hand into the hooded face, knocking it back even further and summoning an immense amount of Crash power into his palm. With a roar of power, a massive white blast of energy detonated from his palm and flooded down the corridor, washing over all the Dementors from that side of the group and fracturing the top layer of the walls, floor and ceiling into pieces.
The wizard who'd been escorting the Dementors could only gape from where he was peering around the corner, watching in absolute disbelief… as lines appeared across the bodies of all the Dementors… and several seconds later, they disintegrated into tiny pieces which then vanished into thin air, bits of black cloak drifting down to the floor. The other Dementors coming from the other direction screeched and immediately backed off, sensing that which was surely impossible… other Dementors… had been killed?
Gildarts looked over at the rest of the Dementors and raised his hand at them, but they got the message and quickly retreated, bumping into each other in their haste to get away from this man. Gildarts smirked with satisfaction as the rest of Fairy Tail began to come round, before turning back to the lone wizard watching them, who cringed slightly as their eyes met.
"I don't know why this Ministry has creatures like those things in their employ," Gildarts said to him. "But I believe I already said. We will do anything to protect each other. And let me tell you… for as long as you still want any of those things anywhere near one of us… then you have made an enemy out of Fairy Tail. Go and tell your Minister that."
The wizard gasped and dashed off like he had the devil chasing him. Gildarts smirked in satisfaction before he gripped Gray's shoulder and hauled him to his feet. "Come on, you lot. We need to regroup with the others. The sooner we're out of here the better!"
"I hear that," Gray moaned, clutching his head, but hurrying off.
"Gajeel, lead the way," Gildarts instructed.
Gajeel took one last look at the still visibly distressed Levy, who was still trying hard to keep away from him and grimaced, but nodded. "Follow me."