Chapter 17

Piercing Eyes

Porlyusica handed the doll off to Vóreia, who held it with delicate care while the old lady went back in.

Arania had been convinced that Platina was Glacia. In reality, Platina was a doll version of her.

"Platina..." Vóreia hugged the doll close to her, forgetting that her guild mates were still there. A small sob racked the Exceed's body. "I can't believe it...I can't believe I threw you away last year. But you came back..."

~Flashback~

Through eyes blurred by tears, Vóreia stuffed everything that she owned into her bag. She had considered packing Glacia's belongings too, but what was the point of packing for a dead person?

Even with that logic, Vóreia couldn't bring herself to ditch certain items. Not the broken, blue-tinted sunglasses that Rogue had given to Lector, who in turn gave it to her. Not Glacia's cloak, made for her by the Ice Dragon herself. Not even the doll made for her by—

Vóreia narrowed her eyes at the doll. Even its appearance seemed to mock her. The doll was a miniature version of Glacia, made by the man who murdered her.

Fury overruled rational thinking. The twin-tailed Exceed grabbed the doll, her paws clenched around it as she flew towards the window. Vóreia opened the window and flung it outside.

Sobs took over her body as she fell on the bed, crying her eyes out.

Outside, the doll lied in a large puddle, helpless. It couldn't move. The only thing it could do was endure the relentless rain.

Unbeknownst to Vóreia, a small masked figure picked up the doll. Reaching into their pocket, they used their handkerchief to dry off most of the object.

The masked person glared at the window from where the doll was thrown.

Sherry shook in horrified awe at the current entry.

X779, November 8

Master approved. Using the dragon scale, we're going to create the greatest weapon the world has ever seen. A weapon against the black dragon.

Nearly everyone in the guild is devoted to this experiment. We're all young, but as long as the older members are watching over, we'll be all right. We're using the lab under the guild.

Glacia and Vóreia are the only ones that don't know. I intend to keep it that way.

Well, wish me luck. From here on, this is my life's work:

Project TI-26A8

A weapon against Acnologia, Sherry thought, her hands shaking. But did they succeed? Her fingers fumbled for a moment, and she ended up skipping ahead five years.

X784, December 22

Nearly everyone involved in the labs wanted to terminate the experiment. They said I was crazy, but who's the real crazy one: me or the guys who approved of my plan?

Project TI-26A8 now resembles a little winged snake. A very tiny one. You need a microscope to see her. But she still contains unimaginable power. Proof: Even while she was in her test tube home, she made the entire lab blow up. It looks like she proved their point.

Today is the last day that Project TI-26A8 will live. Tomorrow, she'll cease to exist.

Wait...Glacia...There's still a chance! I just have to act fast!

Sherry flipped to the next page, as the entry for that date continued.

She agreed. I can't believe how eager to please she is!

Project TI-26A8 is happy, too. At least, I think that was a smile when I transferred her to the syringe. She's living inside a Dragon Slayer now.

I know I'll face excommunication for this. I might even face death for doing this to Glacia. That's why I altered her memories. No one can know about what I've done.

Sherry looked up from the journal, closing it quietly. Whoever wrote this...how could they have done this? Wasn't it enough to trick a child into hosting an engineered weapon?

Wait...The Doll Play mage stopped in her tracks. A Dragon Slayer for a host...and whatever the weapon was...

Sherry gasped in realization. "No way...it couldn't be..."

A small cough behind her told Sherry that she wasn't alone. She spun around, gulping when she saw Sasori with a sad look.

"How much did you read?" he asked.

Sherry backed away slowly, holding the journal out to him. "I-I didn't read all of it—"

All oxygen left her body as she fainted. The journal fell, but Sherry's unconscious body was caught by the gladiator of Imperial Snow. A scorpion scuttled back onto Sasori's shoulder.

"But you read some of it," Sasori finished for the poisoned female. "Now that you know, we can't let you roam free either."

Small hands pushed away rubble and debris, their owner hellbent on finding whatever was underneath. A rock was lifted, and a slender hand was unearthed. More rocks were tossed aside. Finally, a dead girl's body was discovered.

"Niebel? Hey, Nieb, wake up."

Rubbing his eyes, Niebel couldn't help but yawn as today's final scores appeared on the Lacrima Vision.

Sabertooth 66P
Mermaid Heel 61P
Imperial Snow 42P
Fairy Tail A 42P
Lamia Scale 41P
Fairy Tail B 26P
Blue Pegasus 17P
Quatro Cerberus 1P

So what happened?

Somehow, Fairy Tail B's Mirajane and Freed had been put against Blue Pegasus' Jenny and Hibiki. Freed had gotten faster at writing runes and trapped the couple in a barrier. Together with the Demon, he defeated Hibiki while Mirajane went for Jenny.

And then there was the so-called 'main' event.

Putting Quatro Cerberus against Sabertooth was like getting a puppy to wound a tiger. In this case, literally.

Quatro Cerberus was slaughtered. They didn't last a single minute against Sabertooth without Orga frying them to bits. Rufus didn't have to lift a single finger.

"Moving on, tomorrow's final game will involve all five participants of each team! Rest well, eat well, and fight well! Good night!"

The Twin Dragons of Sabertooth walked back to the Luxembourg, accompanied by their Exceed companions.

From the opposite direction, Avian was accompanied by Niebel. The Imperial Guardian of the East had a small triumphant visage whereas Niebel was contemplative.

Right when the Imperial Guardians and the Twin Dragons passed each other, Niebel asked, "That thing you call your darkness...where is it?"

Sting looked back at Niebel. "Come again?"

"Niebel," Avian warned.

Rogue stopped in his tracks. It sounded like he said it out of the blue—but somehow he knew Niebel directed it towards him. He turned his head slightly. "Can you clarify yourself?"

Niebel pivoted on one heel to face Rogue. "I don't get it. Sissy said everyone has darkness. As long as there's good, there's always bad. But from you...there is no darkness."

Sting laughed. "Kid, you must be blind. Rogue doesn't have darkness—he is darkness."

But Niebel shook his head. "So being the White Dragon Slayer, would I be right if I said you were good? Were you good when you hurt Sissy's guild yesterday?"

That shut Sting up, but Lector protested, "He was getting revenge for our guild's pride! That's Sting-kun's justice!"

"No—that's a lie, isn't it?" Niebel turned away from the Twin Dragons. "Right now...that thing you call darkness—" The boy faced Rogue again, his resemblance to his older sister more defined than ever. "—are just pent up emotions ready to burst."

"Niebel!" Avian scolded.

The Ice Dragon Slayer ignored his superior and walked off, ignoring his comrade's call and the Twin Dragons' frustration.

Avian sighed. "I'm very sorry about Niebel's behavior. He was just so attached to Glacia, so—"

"Let me guess, a sister complex?" Sting smirked.

Avian glared at Sting. "Indeed." He sighed. "But...sometimes...we just have to cut the boy some slack. After all, the only person who relate to his horrible past—that would be Glacia."

Rogue relaxed a bit, not knowing that he had prepared to attack during Niebel's preaching.

Avian bowed. "Excuse me." He strolled past Rogue, doing so, he uttered several words that only Shadow Dragon Slayer could hear. "However..." The Imperial Guardian of the East smirked. "I apologized for Niebel—but I can't seem to do the same for myself. Rogue Cheney—you're such a sap. You act like Princess Glacia's death affected you alone—but all I see is a young man who still throws tantrums. Niebel—you should really see him. Once, he used to be a happy-go-lucky child. But you should see what he can do in battle now—I believe you've already witnessed the match between him and the Sky Dragon of Fairy Tail."

A freezing, yet singed image of Wendy forced its way into Rogue's mind.

"I think you can already tell that that wasn't even his full strength. No—he wants only the people who draw his anger to feel his true power, all for the sake of Imperial Snow's princess," Avian concluded. "Princess Glacia's will is Niebel's strength. That's why he's the Ice Dragon Slayer. To Niebel, an outsider like you has no right to come between that."

Avian marched off, feeling Rogue's pent up anger towards him. But he knew he was right; and if Rogue lashed out at him, he'd only prove his point.

"What was that about?" Sting inquired. Even with his enhanced hearing, he couldn't hear Avian's words.

Turning away from the direction where the Imperial Guardians left, Rogue walked past his team mates. "Just his death wish. Let's go."

Sting stared after his best friend. It couldn't have just been the other guy's death wish—not with the look on Rogue's face.

"You boy!" The Twin Dragons spun around once again. A gypsy woman holding a crystal ball stood beside a small tent. At least, she looked like a gypsy in Sting's eyes: very worn sandals, a myriad of necklaces around her neck, a ragged cloak over a dress, and a veil covering half her face. The gypsy must have been young, judging by the curves her dress was showing off. A hood covered her hair. "Would you like to have your fortune told?" she drawled.

Silence.

"No, we were just heading back," Rogue said calmly, but with a touch of impatience.

"Are you sure?" The gypsy held up a Jewel. "I believe you forgot this."

Eyes widening, Sting reached into his pocket, swearing as his hands found nothing but cloth. "Lady, I don't know who you are, but give me back my money before I—"

"A girl!" The duo froze, so did their Exceed. The fortune teller held her crystal ball out to them. "A girl—with beauty like that of the princess. No, she was beautiful—for she was a princess."

Sting scoffed. "You just overheard us, old hag. Tell us something we don't know."

The veil covered the fortune teller's eyes, so they were able to see her grin. "Blue eyes—glacier, weren't they?—that pierced deeper than what any sword could. Pity it was a sword arm that pierced her heart."

Now that caught their attention. Only a handful of mages knew the exact details of Glacia's death—the rest only knew that Dobengal had killed her.

The crystal ball cleared. Within it, a white haired girl smiled back at them, waving. "Trapped between light and darkness—she wasn't allowed to move on—"

"Fine."

Sting glanced at Rogue in surprise. "Excuse me?"

The Shadow Dragon Slayer ignored his partner, stepping forward until he was just a few feet away from the gypsy. "You already took the Jewels, and you obviously have no intention of returning them," Rogue said.

"Hey!" Sting yelled.

"And I'm not one to attack a woman," he continued. "Fine, I'll play along."

The fortune teller grinned. She led Rogue towards her tent, and the two disappeared behind the curtains.

"Will Rogue be okay?" Frosch asked.

"I dunno." Lector scratched his head. "I just hope he knows what he's doing." The red Exceed looked at Sting, who had a strange expression on his face. "Sting-kun, what's wrong?"

"...Was he sure that gypsy wasn't—you know—one of those?" Sting emphasized the last bit.

"One of what?" Lector asked.

"I just thought—a woman and Rogue, plus the tent—"

If Lector could blush, he would be dark red. "Sting-kun, that's gross!"

As soon as Rogue went in, it was sensory overload for his nose. He could smell a multitude of fragrant herbs—and the incense that was just lit wasn't helping either.

"Come, sit." The fortune teller gestured to a plain chair opposite of an ornate one across the table. Rogue sat down while the gypsy woman grabbed a drawstring bag and a deck of cards. After much consideration, she also placed a large circular disc on the table.

The gypsy shoved the deck into Rogue's hands. "Cut, please."

After hesitantly cutting the cards and returning them, the woman spread the cards out in a straight line. "Pick three, any three. And put them anywhere on this disc."

Rogue's hand stopped just above the cards. Before, he was certain. Now, he had his doubts.

The gypsy huffed. "Boy, we can sit here all night and I'll charge by the hour, or you can hurry up and I'll settle for the money I stole!"

Glaring at her, Rogue plucked three cards from the deck, placing them together, side by side.

The cards flipped over individually. The first showed a person in a purple cape, a chestplate, sandals, and an ancient war helmet. "The Gladiator," the gypsy said. As she said this, Rogue's thoughts immediately went to Sasori of Imperial Snow.

The second one revealed a person in dark clothes and a mask wielding throwing stars. "The Ninja." He didn't need to dig deeper to know what this one represented.

The final card was one of an armored person on a horse, a sword at his side. "And the Knight. You placed them all under Mars, the planet of war," she continued.

"And?"

The gypsy ignored Rogue's inquiry, taking the bag beside her and opening it slightly. "Just take one."

One what? he thought as he reached his hand into the bag. His fingers closed around something with feathers. Whatever it was, it started burning up. Rogue pulled his hand out, and a tiny firebird flew free.

"The phoenix," the gypsy stated. "The symbol of return."

"Return what?" he inquired.

The gypsy smiled. The phoenix settled down on a section of the circular board marked by a symbol associated with women.

"Venus—the planet of love."

Jigumo opened the basement door for Niebel, who scrunched up his face in disgust at the spider thread everywhere. But once he found what he was looking for, the boy stepped over threads to his objective.

The smaller cocoon had grown to the size of an infant, and it was glowing blue.

The larger of the cocoons on the spiderweb had constricted entirely around whatever was inside. Niebel touched one of the threads attached to that cocoon. "Is it almost done?"

Right then, the thread he touched lost its opaqueness. It turned clearer, more transparent.

"Almost," Jigumo agreed, placing a hand on his spiderweb. "Just a bit longer, we're almost done removing it."

As he said this, a tiny spider scuttled out of his pocket, an object with a cord attached to its back. Moving quickly, the spider rushed for the door, meeting a sandaled foot outside. A hand reached for the cord, fiddling with it as the owner brought it close to their mouth. Attached to the cord was an ivory whistle with carvings to make it look like a scorpion without its pinchers.

Sasori smiled apologetically, though he knew no one could see or hear him. "Sorry, Niebel. That's not the only thing we removed."

I do not own Fairy Tail or the fine works of Hiro Mashima. Nor do I know anything about fortune telling!

And now, an author's note:

Like I said, I'm still unsure of myself. I want to rewrite Tiamat so it's a bit more serious, but then there are the people who don't want it rewritten. I'm not deleting the original story, I need it as my guide. So to those of you who don't want Tiamat rewritten, you don't have to read the revised version, the original will still be there.

So I set up a poll on my profile: Should I or should I not rewrite Tiamat? There are only two choices: yes or no.

Remember, not voting is NOT an answer, so don't be shy! You should be proud! Your votes will affect my decision!

Hurry up and vote, people!