Chapter 29: Destiny
I-I'm...Alive?!
How is that possible? The Etherion had fired! What does this mean?
"Kuma!"
Looking up, Cobalt was there. He gave a watery smile and ran towards me with inhumane speed. "Thank goodness! Your alive!" I hug him back because I was alive. WE were alive. After seven years of considering my fate as inevitable Im here right now.
But the battle wasnt over. "I know.. I know."
Neeya woke up and looked confused. "We're alive...? But we didnt make it out in time..." I just hold Cobalt and Neeya. We were safe. But what about Mom?!
"Neeya...we need to get...to the top of...the...tower." I stood up, still feeling weak. Magic energy practically BLARED through my feet, I was blind when it came to finding people. It was actually painful without shoes. So much magical energy was trying to penetrate through my feet that you could hear my skin sizzle. As if Cobalt knew that, he picked me up bridal style. He frowned as Neeya jumps up to poke her tounge out at him.
"Why? Kuma you could go blind if you stepped on this lacrima again!" How did he know that? "Lacrima...?"
The whole sensing thing with my feet connected with my actual sight. If Im just standing on tons of magical energy like that, I could loose my sight. Even now I can see that my eyesight is going hazy.
"I...dont care! I have...to find...Mom and Uncle N!" Neeya had smiled at me and nodded. Growing her wings she tightened her hold on me with her tail and lifted up. Cobalt sighed and followed us towards an opening on the side of the tower. There was water down below so he munipulated that and made what look like jets under the soles of his feet.
"Im coming with you."
Nodding with a smile we take off towards the top of the tower. "Whoa your lighter than Koga, Kuma!" Neeya yelled as she went a little faster. "Well he is a guy!" Cobalt laughed as the water jets went faster. "I'll tell you right now, Cobalt. Since it seems we all survived, Jellal will be like the boss of any challenge. Dont do anything stupid."
"*Snort* I'll like to think of it as 'heroic'!"
"Cobalt!"
The blue haired boy laughed with a nod of his head. Looking back up I glance at the stars, knowing that it will NOT be my last time seeing them alive!
I smirked with joy and victory in mind.
-Normal PoV-
"MOM!"
Erza and Jellal turned around to see two kids and a cat land on the giant lacrima. Erza sighed in relief and she smiled despite the fact Jellal was planning to kill them all.
"Thank God!" She yelled and Jellal chuckled. Kuma flinched when her feet touched the lacrima and she gave out a small yelp. Cobalt used his water magic to cover her feet so she wont have to be carried. They needed every ounce of energy they could get there hands on.
"How charming! So Kuma, have you figured out why the tower felt empty?" He paused to see her reaction. She had 'tch'ed and smiled a cocky grin. "Yeah yeah sure! Whatever lets just go ahead and DESTROY IT!" She grabbed Cobalt's hand and they ran towards a paticularly large and jagged edge of the tower. Erza stood and tried to run after them but she was blocked by Jellal.
"What are you two doing?! Get out of here!"
"My my."
Everyone heads turned to see Seagrain. He chuckled softly and walked towards Jellal, hands in his trench coats pockets. Erza and Kuma's muscles stiffened and Seagrain chuckled.
"Seagrain, what are you doing here?" Erza questioned and the man snickered.
"I remember the first time I ran into you." Jellal smiled too and continued where Seagrain left off. "You were escorting your master of the guild to a magic council meeting to deliver a written apology for property destruction." Seagrain chuckled casually. "And the time I ran into Kuma at her school. She kept giving me evil glares like I was her future murderer. Cant say I blame the girls though. We DO look alike."
Kuma unconciously loosened her grip on Cobalt's hand but he tightened his fingers around hers. He wouldnt let her go. No time soon anyways.
"Well what do you expect?! I know youve been spying on me and reporting me back to your brother! If you wanted to help him, why didnt you report him to the Magic Coucil?! Lives have been lost!" Erza yelled. You could tell she was more than pissed.
"And I learned more and more blueprints of the R-System were repeadetly detected missing during the past 7 years on either Mom's birthday or mine! The only people who could even get into that room were magic council members ever scince I stole some. Security is tighter than ever. Was it some twisted game to make my mind spin?!"
Jellal and Seagrain shared a glance and they both laughed. "So that's it..." Erza's voice held realization. "You two have been conspiring with one another."
"Conspiring?" Seagrain repeated.
"Not exactly." Jellal mused.
The two...merged? That was the only way Cobalt could explain. Together they had actual magic energy that made his knees want to buckle. Jellal smiled and tightened his fist, energy swirling throuought his whole body.
"That's more like it." He murmured. Erza and Kuma's blood got cold. "He is seriously pshyco! He split himself in half...for eight years...just for this?" Kuma whispered horseley. He was always ten steps ahead. She wasnt so sure they could stop them in his tracks any longer because when she fought him earlier he didnt even have all of his power on him. Now he was complete and she was going blind.
But now was not the time to waver. Squeezing Cobalt's hand they began to run towards the piece of lacrima again. "FANCY TRICK, JELLAL!" Cobalt yelled. "WE HAVE ONE TWO!" Kuma finished.
Cobalt and Kuma let out a fierce kick towards the lacrima and it cracked. Jellal realized what they were doing and growled. "What the hell do you think your doing?!" He questioned, even though he knew. They smiled and Jellal went after Cobalt, but Kuma interfered.
"What's wrong Jellal? We're only fooling around! Cmon, we're teenagers!" Jellal grunted as he sent a punch but Kuma dodged with her tounge sticking out. Little did he realize was that she was leading him away from Cobalt so he could keep smashing.
"Why are you still being so uncooperative?! Zeref is your father! Wouldnt you want to ressurect him?! The man who gave you life?!"
"I only have one dad and his name is Mystogan! Besides Im one of the million reasons this tower is up and running, I deserve to play around with it! Just call me a scientest experimenting her own work!"
The blue haired man was getting sick of this brat's attitude! He sped up the pace a little, not wanting to use meteor just yet. He could tell he got her now because her eyes widened just the slightest and she had to resort to blocking the majority of his attacks. He heard her murmer something along the lines of "Damnit, cant adjust!"
Cobalt seeing she was on the ropes began to speed up his attempts to destroying certain places of the tower. Suddenly he heard "IVE HAD ENOUGH!" Kuma went flying back towards Erza and the woman caught her. "Could you be anymore reckless?!" She screamed and Kuma just coughed and laughed. She flinched and clutched her stomach.
"Ive been workin on it. Ya know, working on my rebellious streak for when we get home."
The tip of Titania's lips turned upward before settling back into a hard line. Jellal had caught up with Cobalt and was now proceeding to kick the living crap out of him. Cobalt seemed to be letting him throw him around and he just got back up with a smirk. For the last time though he was knocked down and he couldnt get back up.
Oh but did Jellal cause GLORIOUS damage!
"JELLAL!"
Erza screamed and a sword appeared in her left hand. She swung and swung but Jellal pushed her out of the way. She got back on her own feet, slammed her hand down, and another sword appeared from the ground. Erza Scarlet kept hacking and slicing at Jellal but he just laughed like a crazed psycho.
Cobalt's water orbs around Kuma's feet disspersed which meant he was unconcious. The heels of her feet grazed the lacrima and she cried out in pain. Their little stunt caused more magic energy to leak through and that was bad. Everything was turning black yet she was awake. Neeya tied her tail behind Kuma without warning and lifted her up. "We have to go! You. WILL. Go. Blind!" Shaking her head, Neeya just levitates so her feet wont take anymore damage.
Blinking rapidly she heard her mother scream and she turned towards that direction. She couldnt see anything! "Mom?!" She yelled and Jellal let out a cackle.
"O great and powerful Zeref! I call upon you to take this woman's flesh!"
"PLEASE, JELLAL!"
"What's happening?! What's going on?! MOM?!" Jellal continued to laugh. "Your a fool, Kuma! You knew you would go blind, DIDN'T YOU?! HAHAHAHAHA! Sad really because now you cant watch your precious savior's death!" Kuma froze. Erza was going to...die?!
She couldnt see a damn thing.
"Neeya! Ahg...urgh..Let go of me!" She kept struggling to be let loose but Neeya's tail tightened. "I cant! You'll be blind permanately if you hit anymore raw magic power!"
"I'd rather be blind than motherless!" She snapped back, reaching for her cat's tail when she heard a more than familiar voice.
"Sorry, but you cant have Erza! She's an important part of our Fairy Tail Family!"
Kuma never felt so relieved. "Uncle Natsu!" She cried out and she heard wind. "Neeya, why are you carrying Kuma? Cant she walk?" Natsu questioned with concern creeping into his voice. "If she touches the lacrima her feet will burn. Her feet is connected to her sight and she's already blind." There were gasps of shock and Kuma felt a strong hand cover her eyes. "...Blind...?" It was Natsu she knew.
"It's temporary!" She said quickly.
"MIGHT!" Neeya snapped, her voice cracking. "MIGHT be temporary!" Kuma could smell salt water and she knew it wasnt from the ocean beneath them. Neeya snifiled. Natsu's hand went from her eyes to her back and pulled her into a hug. "Then we'll just have to get out as fast as possible!" He touched the bottom of her feet and she choked on a scream. Erza's hands were on her next, lifting her leg by the calf gently to expect the bottom of her feet. What she saw horrified her.
"Kuma! Your feet is...PURE BLACK!" Kuma flinched and nodded. "Yeah Ive been absorbing a little to much magic energy."
Natsu and Erza shared a glance. Why was she making this sound like it's no big deal? Natsu sighed and stood up, knowing Erza couldnt move like she wanted to he punched her in the gut and knocked her out. Kuma heard it and asked what the hell just happened. Neeya explained breifly and Kuma frowned.
Cobalt sat up and looked up with a start. He looked over to see an angry Natsu, unconcious Erza and crying Kuma. He made his way back to her and pressed his palms to the bottom of her feet. She cried harder but as his water magic swirled around her, she seemed more calm and tranquil. And one second at a time, slowly but surley, a little bit of color came back to her eyes. She couldnt make out people but she did see colors all around and she could tell by those colors what was what. Kuma wrapped her arms around Cobalt and smiled looking over at her Uncle Natsu. Cobalt wrapped her feet in water again and Neeya let her wings relax finally.
"What sort of sick satisfaction do you recieve by knocking out a fallen comrade?" Jellal questioned, raising a brow. Natsu's fist tightened as he stared down at Erza.
"She was crying."
Kuma's eyes widened. Was her mother really crying? She's never seen that before. Well once but she didnt like to remember it.
"I look up to Erza, I dont want to see her like that. She's always been a strong and confident woman. I dont want to see her crying. I want her to wake up smiling again." Natsu set himself on fire and glared at Jellal with murderous intent. "And when she wakes up from this nightmare, I want her to feel like her old self again. TO GET TO HER YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME!"
A.N: We are almost finished with the Tower of Heaven arc! YESS! After Tower of Heaven will ease our way into Thunder palace with a little Demon Hunter filler. As requested will have some LaLu moments but also some JuGeel moments as well.