Chapter 18: Under Arrest

Erik lay on his back and stared at the sky. Just thinking made his muscles hurt. On the one hand, they had defeated the Oracion Seis. (Erik shoved the thoughts of the children he'd once known down deep and locked them away. He couldn't think about that again right now.) On the other hand… there had been a miniature zombie apocalypse. Caused by Wendy when her powers had been inverted for evil. Erik had always known that dragonslayers who were actually trained by dragons were more powerful but… yikes. Wendy and her undead army were not something that he was going to be forgetting any time soon. It hadn't been a very big army, but then it hadn't needed to be. Brain had come prepared with the corpses of some damn powerful wizards.

Poor kid. She was going to be devastated when she woke up and found out what Brain had made her do.

Cubelios shifted her head on Erik's chest and let out a gusty snake sigh. Erik was inclined to agree with her sentiment. Fighting that bearded guy with the eye patch had been exhausting. He would have hated to fight him while he was still alive and at full power. The ground wasn't shaking any more from the footsteps of Nirvana, so he was going to assume that the others had figured out how to stop it. It had probably involved Natsu doing something really stupid and impressive. Well, somebody would come along and find him sooner or later.

He wondered absently where Simon had gotten to. He'd been pretty upset about that whole Wendy and the zombies thing. Not that he blamed him. Erik had been pretty upset about the Wendy and the zombies thing, too. She was only, what? Twelve? Thirteen? Wendy hadn't deserved to go through any of that.

His head ached. Erik was just profoundly grateful that none of the zombie wizards had thought to overload his hearing. Speaking of hearing….

Somebody was coming. A lot of somebodies actually. Erik could count at least twenty separate sets of feet. Probably more than that, but his concentration was shot. Erik frowned and tried to focus. He could just make out the faint jingle of… weapons. Ah, the Magic Council had finally gotten off their asses and decided to do something. It was about time.

Ever so slowly Erik raised one hand and began scratching the sensitive underside of Cubelios's chin. She flickered her tongue in contentment and gave her wings a small, fluttering stretch. She was just as exhausted as he was and also a bit disappointed at not getting a second shot at biting Brain. When they got back home, he was going to give her three whole rats – she had definitely earned them. And he was going to drink an entire pitcher of belladonna neat with a strychnine chaser because he deserved it.

Hopefully the morons the Council had sent had brought a stretcher with them – walking sounded like way too much effort at the moment. Erik was drained.

More footsteps coming from the other direction. He could just make out the faint but distinctive clank of Erza's casual armor. At least one of his guildmates was alright. Good.

A shadow fell across Erik's face. He levered open an eyelid that he hadn't noticed was shut. A man in official white robes and glasses was staring down at him. Was the Council actually capable of sending reinforcements in a timely manner?

"Took you long enough," Erik grumbled and let his eye slip back shut again. Cubelios let out an exhausted hiss of agreement.

"Cobra, you are under arrest for aiding and abetting the dark guild known as Oracion Seis."

Both of Erik's eyes abruptly popped open.

"WHAT?!"

"You are bound by law and magic to-"

"I'm a Fairy Tail wizard, you dumbass!" Erik snarled as he struggled against the hands that were suddenly reaching out to restrain him from all sides. He hadn't been kidding about being magically and physically drained. He probably couldn't have fended off Reedus at the moment let alone ten well-rested guards. Cubelios reared back and flared her wings protectively over Erik. If she hadn't been equally as tired, she would have already been spitting venom in Glasses Guy's face by now.

A few of the smarter guards backed up, but not enough of them. Erik took the opportunity to scrabble at his coat. If he could just get it off and show them his guild mark….

Fwp.

To most ears, the sound would have been barely audible. To Erik's ears, it resounded like a thunderclap.

A dart sprouted out of the side of Cubelios's neck.

Time slowed down. Cubelios sank to the ground, her eyes going foggy.

Erik screamed in rage, and everything went red.

Adrenaline surged through his veins, and he lunged at the nearest man's face, his fingers hooked into claws. Somewhere along the way, he blacked out from shear fury.

When Erik finally came to, there was someone sitting on his chest. It was…

"Loke?" Erik wheezed.

"Ah, good, you're coherent again. Cubelios is fine – it was just a tranquillizer dart." Loke stood and brushed himself off.

"-unprovoked assault of a Fairy Tail wizard!" That was Erza's voice ringing loud and clear and full of righteous indignation.

"Erza, please, there's no need to get nasty." Jellal was using his razor-sharp calm voice that bled the unwary dry. "We don't need to lower ourselves to name calling-"

"Indeed, I admit mistakes were made-" Glasses Guy's voice began, but Jellal cut him off smoothly.

"-The best course of action would, of course, be to file charges of gross negligence against him."

There was a sound like tightly restrained spluttering, and Erik stopped listen. The bastard deserved whatever Jellal did to him.

"Is everyone okay?" Erik asked, lifting himself up on one elbow.

"All limbs present, accounted for, and still attached." Simon sat down next to him. His arm was in a sling. "Nothing that won't heal in a week or two."

Erik nodded, not fully paying attention, because he'd finally spotted Cubelios. Wendy was crouched next to her, her hands glowing blue with magic. The blue-haired girl looked pale and drawn. Dark circles ringed the bottoms of her eyes. She offered Charle a tremulous smile which became more steady and honest as Cubelios began to stir.

Erik flopped back down with a sigh of relief. Cubelios was going to be alright. He could pass out in peace.

A/N: Evil healers are scary.