Yes, I am alive! However, I'm barely alive in one class at school. I need to live, and I'm afraid I won't be able to update until I reach a safe zone. For that, I'm sorry.

I did want to update on this particular date. Why? Today's 11/12/13!

Chapter 31

Out of a Fairy Tale

"I'm sorry for your injuries!" Wendy apologized profusely.

Chelia smiled, even though she could barely bring herself up from the strain of her battle. "No, don't be, Wendy. You should be proud now!"

Fairy Tail 50P

The sharp stench of iron hit Wendy's nose hard, making her gag. Even Chelia, a God Slayer, covered her nose. "Ugh, what stinks?" she complained.

"It's blood," Wendy realized, forcing herself to smell the air. "It's far away...but someone's bleeding badly."

"I really don't want to do this. Niebel could already be on death's door!" Mizuno argued as the two Imperial Guardians followed the blood trail.

'Cool it, Pretty Boy,' Jigumo grunted in Mizuno's mind. 'Don't forget that Sasori can hear you. Not only that, look up.'

The Imperial Guardians glanced at the sky; a dark blue Lacrima Vision Camera surveyed them, taking in their every move. "We're being watched," Avian said simply.

"Why don't we follow his orders then?" Mizuno produced a slightly dirt-covered scarf from his pocket. The Imperial Guardian of the East took off his mask to make sure he was seeing clearly.

"How did you get Niebel's scarf?"

"Niebel, you need to stop," Glacia pleaded with her younger brother, who continued to carry her half-paralyzed body. "Stop it! You'll kill yourself!"

Niebel flew above the ground, taking extra care not to hit anything with his right leg. Blood spilled from his broken ankle, leaving behind a crimson river with every distance he flew. However, with his strength diminishing, he wouldn't be able to hold Glacia for long.

"...This way," he heard Mizuno's voice say from a distance. "...Too easy. ...left a breadcrumb trail."

"Gh!" Niebel plopped himself down on a boulder, crying out when his ankle lightly hit the giant rock.

"Niebel..." Glacia slowly sat up, trying to get herself off of him. The side effects of Sasori's "antidote" made it quite difficult to move.

Niebel raised his right hand shakily; his palm darkened in some areas until an encircled bear appeared.

Hear me, my cohort!
I am an Imperial Guardian,
The master of the northern lands!
Appear before me,
Under the contract that we share!
Open, Gate of the Guardian of the North!

Niebel thrust his hand out, his magic seal a beacon in the dying afternoon. A large white and furry shape lumbered out of the seal; it stretched its mouth open wide to yawn, a low growl resonating from its throat.

"Is that—?"

"Over here! They're this way!" Mizuno's voice declared.

"Quiet down," Avian responded softly. "They might—"

"Boreas, get Sissy away from here." Acting as fast as he could, Niebel placed Glacia on the back of the white bear.

The great white bear frowned at the sight of Niebel's right ankle. "That's —none of your concern," Niebel panted. "Now get going."

Boreas moaned his dissent. "Boreas is right," Glacia agreed. "Come with us, Niebel."

"Sissy..." Niebel flew over to Glacia, hovering beside the bear as he wrapped his arms around his sister. "You saved me years ago...you cared for me and raised me. Now...I want to protect you this time."

The Dragon Slayer released Glacia and flew back. "Boreas! By the power invested in me, as the Imperial Guardian of the North, leave!"

Boreas the bear roared before charging away, his feet pounding against the ground. Glacia looked back and called out to Niebel, who simply watched them vanish into the dying afternoon. Niebel knelt precariously, placing his hands on the wet land. Niebel's seal appeared under him, glowing with blinding radiance.

"There he is!"

"Crown of Boreas!" Ice erupted from the earth, reaching into the sky while curving. The outer layer of ice pillars resembled the petals of a blooming flower; more 'petals' rose above the outer shell. With each layer, the new pillars were taller than the previous. The final result took the form of an enormous blooming ice flower.

Avian and Mizuno halted in their tracks, taking in the giant ice formation before them. "Niebel's defense," Avian noted. "He only uses it when he knows everything has failed."

"Unfortunately for him," Mizuno interjected. "His own blood will give him away."

Sasori glanced back at the woman, glowering. "You're her, aren't you? The girl with impossible speed: nickname Mercury, am I right?"

The woman labelled as Mercury shrugged. "Your sources are correct. However, I'm afraid I don't quite live up to mein title. I vas fast enough to save my benefactor; but not enough to save Glacia."

"Even so, I want to confirm something." Sasori removed his hand from his chest. "The leader of Mermaid Heel, I want to see just how fast you really are. Do you deserve your title, or is it a misnomer?"

Mercury snorted. "I don't vant to."

"Eh what? Come again?" Jigumo muttered.

"Don't get me wrong, but I fight only ze finest, ze victor. And you have yet to finish off Cheney," Mercury informed. "Though I have no doubt that he vill slaughter you for kissing Glacia."

"Is that right?" Jigumo laughed from his position. "What about—me?" The spider master returned to his feet, feeling Sasori's control over him weakening. He twisted his neck, wincing as it popped. "Call me the Spider King...if you dare."

Mercury smirked in amusement. "Vell then, Spider King. I'll gladly fight you...but only if you can catch me." As she spun on her heel, she called out, "Rogue Cheney!"

Rogue looked at the woman, who looked back at him. "Vunce you finish this man...Come find me. Don't disappoint." With her message delivered, Mercury disappeared and Jigumo ran off in pursuit.

A number of thoughts ran through Rogue's mind. First of all, who did the woman think she was to just tell him to find her after his battle? He was capable of choosing his own opponent, for crying out loud! Yet a part of him felt a burning desire to clash with Mercury.

"Unfortunately, you won't be able to live up to her expectation." Serket the scorpion vanished in a burst of light. "Once I'm done with you, I'll be free to take Glacia."

"Touch her again and I'll kill you," Rogue almost snarled, flexing his hands.

"Touchy touchy," Sasori laughed. "I picked a pretty possessive little dragon."

"Dragons weren't known for sharing."

"You know what's funny? We know who our opponent is, yet we never formally introduced ourselves."

The Dragon Slayer was completely annoyed with the man before him. "You want to know who I am? Fine. Rogue Cheney, Twin Dragon of Sabertooth."

"That's more like it. I am Sasori, the Scorpion King." Sasori ripped his cape off and tossed it into the air. "Master of Imperial Snow, at your service."

Wendy tracked down the scent of blood, which led her to what appeared to be an enormous blooming flower, made of ice. Move from her periphery caused her to hide behind a petal. Her nose picked up the person's scent. It's Niebel's! she thought. But...if he's bleeding...who injured him?

Wendy peered from her hiding place, frowning in confusion when her eyes landed on not Niebel, but Avian. The Imperial Guardian of the East swiveled his head, making Wendy retreat before he could see her.

Niebel, on the other hand, sat with his back against one of the pillars. His breaths were short as the pain of his broken right ankle took its toll on him. His enhanced sense of smell picked up Avian's scent, which was very close to him. Mizuno's odor was close too, but it was distant, nowhere near him.

Niebel peeked from his position; Avian was still searching for him, but he never came near his pillar. Niebel looked away and sighed quietly.

"Hey, Niebel." Niebel jolted in shock; Mizuno stood before him, waving his hand as if in greeting. Niebel was scared: how the hell did Mizuno evade his nose? He was nowhere near before! "I'm guessing you're wondering how I avoided your nose. Well, Nieb..." Mizuno pointed to a bloody scarf in his coat pocket. "You're already familiar with your own scent, and that's your Achilles' Heel. No offense to your ankle," he added. "Dragon Slayers can't notice what they always smell."

"We're at a stalemate: you're injured, and I don't want to hurt you. Let's make a deal, Niebel," Mizuno proposed. "Stay with us, stay with Imperial Snow. The rest of us, the Imperial Guard, will defend you from Sasori. All you have to do is tell us where Glacia is."

Niebel huffed defiantly. "After that...what? So...Sasori can...keep Sissy prisoner, keep all of us prisoner? You...the rest of the Imperial Guard...we don't want to follow his orders...but we have to. That's the law of the Imperial Guard: to serve the master."

"We have no other option," another voice joined in; Avian stood on the pillar that Niebel leaned on.

"We always have another option," the youngest Guardian insisted through his pain. "We can rebel."

Avian shook his head in disagreement. "Niebel...it's not that simple. From the day we were made Guardians, our highest law was always the master's orders. Failure to comply...meant death."

"Between life and death...who wouldn't choose life?" Mizuno added.

Avian's right hand and Mizuno's left radiated magic as they prepared their spells. "One last chance, Niebel: where is Glacia?" Mizuno asked, his voice eerily reminiscent of Sasori's.

Niebel tried to back away as Avian joined Mizuno before him, but his strength left him. "Y-you don't have to do this."

"No," Avian said. "But you didn't have to refuse either."

Niebel crossed his arms before himself in a last ditch effort to defend himself as light flooded the general area. He braced himself for the impact—"Sky Dragon's Roar!"

Niebel opened his eyes in time to see a whirlwind toss the older Imperial Guardians back. A petite figure landed gracefully, their back to him. "You're...Fairy Tail..." His last memory of the Sky Dragon Slayer was one where he froze her to death—and then burned her to a crisp. "Even though I hurt you...and insulted you...why are you here?"

Wendy didn't respond for a while. When she did, she looked back at Niebel, smiling. "To do all that for your sister...even going against your own team—you're not a horrible person at all!"

His eyes stung as tears threatened to spill. Niebel wondered if all of Fairy Tail was like this: ready to forgive, to let it all be water under the bridge. "I..." He swallowed his pride as an Imperial Guardian and said, "I give up. I'm sorry."

Fairy Tail 51P

"Niebel!" The Ice Dragon Slayer jumped, scared out of his wits as two figures trekked back up. Wendy noticed Niebel's expression and wheeled around: Avian was back on his feet, and Mizuno followed suit. "Do you really think," Mizuno began, "you can give up so easily?"

"The Imperial Guard serves the master to their death. Why do you think we were created?" Avian scolded, preparing his magic.

"You guys are Niebel's friends!" Wendy cried. "Why are you doing this?"

"They're...not acting on their own..." Niebel tried to sit up. "This...is Sasori's power. The master of the Imperial Guard can command his guardians however he wishes, and they have to obey."

"So how do I get them out of it?"

"Defeat them! Try to go for Mizuno first; Avian's stronger when he fights with a partner!" Niebel recommended.

"Just as I thought: if Glacia fails, Niebel's sure to follow," Sasori muttered as he swiftly ducked, narrowly avoiding kick to his chest.

"What are you going on about?"

Sasori brushed this off and answered back with his own question, while his fist was caught by Rogue. "Why are you so determined to protect a girl you only knew for a week?"

"...She's spirited," Rogue answered quietly, but due to their near, Sasori was able to hear him. "She's gentle...a crybaby even...but she's not afraid to put her foot down on something..."

"Tears that could bring a god to their knees?" Sasori recalled, pushing Rogue back with his elbow into his chest. For both men, their chests were their greatest weakness. "In the old days, the tears of dragons were believed to grant eternal youth, or even the strength of an imperial army. You, however, don't quite live up to that!" The mages were caught in the same dilemma: their magic was fading quickly, so they knew it had to be conserved. And they both planned to use their last bit of magic to land the finishing blow. "Someone like you, an outsider who never knew her, has no right to be near her!" he yelled, punching Rogue in the face.

The Shadow Dragon Slayer wiped some blood away. "And your twisted 'love' gives you that right?" he challenged.

"Silence!" Sasori produced poisoned needles from his pocket and hurled them at Rogue, who ducked to avoid being punctured to death. "I am Imperial Snow's master! The finest Guardian who defended Glacia, her Imperial Highness, in the past! I'm the only one worthy of her! Weaklings like you and Dobengal—aren't even fit to look at her!"

"Do you really think she'd allow you to hold her prisoner?"

"In time she'll come to love me." Sasori sidestepped an uppercut. "I know what she wants—and I am what she needs. Glacia just needs to see it."

"You're delusional," Rogue admonished.

"A simple cottage...a small villa... I'll give that to her."

"Simple? Small? You were spouting that she only deserves the finest, but you won't give her that? A girl like her deserves a palace!"

Sasori leaped back as Rogue lunged forward. "And do you know how she spent the first four years of her life?" Sasori howled. "Locked away in a castle—guarded by a dragon!" Rogue nearly hesitated as the image of a scared child hiding from a colossal dragon crossed his mind. "Unless you want to tell me you couldn't even deduce that!" he added, kicking his foot against the ground to launch himself into the air until he was behind Rogue. Sasori then kicked his heel against Rogue, only for it to pass through and for Rogue to dissipate. "It does make you wonder how she exists. Glacia practically came straight out of a fairy tale."

Sasori waited for an answer. What he didn't see was Rogue creeping up from his shadow, his shadowy fist ready for the kill.

As his fist flew, so did Sasori's hand—which clamped around Rogue's throat. The Shadow Dragon Slayer gasped for air as the crushing grip on his throat tightened. It was then that he noticed the young guild master's hand: thick and armored, curved and claw-like—just like a pincer!

"One by one, they will all fall," Sasori said darkly, clenching his pincer.

"Shattering Light—"

"Wrath of Typhon!" A large gust of wind bellowed, making its presence known. Wendy couldn't move out of the way as ceasing the spell would cause her greatest spell to turn against her. But if she couldn't dodge it—Her worries disappeared as a large mirror appeared before the wind barrier and absorbed the Unison Raid spell. "Niebel!" Wendy cried.

"Just do it!" Niebel yelled back, moving the mirror out of the way.

"You're not supposed to fight!" Avian exclaimed as Wendy moved her arms counterclockwise.

"Can we just talk?" Mizuno added, sweating as the ice mirror glowed blue, a sign that it was ready to release its magic.

"Sky Drill!" At the same time the wind barrier contracted inwards on the Imperial Guardians, the Unison Raid spell burst out of the mirror. The spells ran along each other before they merged; Wendy couldn't believe how destructive Sky Drill became when combined with another element. But the hurricane that forced the opposition back several meters back convinced her. The last she saw of the Guardians was Avian throwing himself in front, taking on the brunt of the attack.

Niebel floated back up, though he could only hover a few inches off the ground.

"You shouldn't move." Wendy led Niebel over to a rock for him to sit on. "You could get gangrene like this."

"But I —"

"Just sit!" The Sky Dragon Slayer tried to force her ice counterpart to sit; Niebel's ankle bounced lightly, but it still made him wince. Wendy picked up a broken tree branch: it was the perfect length and it was sturdy enough to use as a splint. Not too far away was Niebel's scarf, which Mizuno used to trick Niebel's nose.

"...Why are you helping me?" Niebel asked. "Even though I mocked you...and hurt you...why are you doing this?"

Wendy tore the bloody scarf in thirds and began to tie one-third around his broken ankle, wrapping it tightly. "Because...inside, you're a boy who would do everything for the sister he loves. I heard a lot of stuff: you asked your guild to raise her from the dead; you went against them to keep her safe; and you got injured when you tried to protect her. You did all that for the girl who raised and cared for you. All of that on the third day...you were lonely, weren't you?"

The splint was set in place, but Niebel's mind drifted off as Wendy began to heal his ankle. Her words struck a chord in him, but one question dominated his thoughts: What would he do now?

Imperial Snow had been his residence since he was four, but only Glacia made it feel like home. Well, maybe Jigumo, too: the self-proclaimed Spider King was like an older brother to him. But now that he turned against Sasori...could he really stay? Niebel wasn't sure if Sasori would let him remain and forgive easily. But would the Scorpion King let him go too? Most likely, he would assemble the Imperial Guardians to stop him.

Niebel remembered how Avian threw himself before Mizuno before they were forced downhill. "Wait. Was Avian defeated first?"

Wendy blinked, tracing back to Imperial Guardians' defeat. "Avian took on the brunt of the attack. But our score didn't change."

"So if Avian did that, then Mizuno must still be standing, unless..." Niebel shot up like a bullet, floating higher than before. "We gotta find them!"

"Wait, what's wrong?" Wendy called, running after her fellow Dragon Slayer.

Niebel came to stop as he came across a plateau, devoid of competitors except for an unconscious body with purple hair and a barely conscious one with turquoise hair. "Mizuno!"

"The Imperial Guard must never fall," Mizuno sputtered, struggling to stand. But his strength left him as he fell back down. Niebel stopped before him, his wings keeping him in the air. "And we must never fall in order."

"Mizuno..."

Mizuno fell on his back, unable to sit up any longer. "Ah, and I was trying to last until Jigumo fell." He looked up at Niebel. "Nieb...now that the Imperial Guard has failed...have we lost our meaning? Were we simply Sasori's pawns?"

"Don't say that about yourself," Niebel begged, trying to get Mizuno into a standing position. The mirror mage simply pushed Niebel away.

"Niebel...when this is over...All three of us... the rest of the Guard...will scatter. Tell Jigumo, if you see the cocky bastard...to hold on a bit longer."

Mizuno's eyes closed; the mage felt rather fatigued and welcomed the land of dreams with an open mind.

Fairy Tail 53P

Niebel heard Wendy join him, though she stood a ways from him. 'Tell Jigumo, if you see the cocky bastard...to hold on a bit longer.' If Mizuno said that...

"Oh no," Niebel groaned, holding his head. "Avian did fall first. I shouldn't have given up so easily!"

"What's wrong? Why is it important to know who falls first?" Wendy asked.

"Avian and Mizuno, Jigumo and I—we all make up the Imperial Guardians," Niebel began to fill in. "I'm north, Avian's east; Mizuno and Jigumo are south and west respectively."

"What about Sasori?"

Niebel shook his head. "He doesn't count anymore, he's the master—I know it's against the rules!" he added when Wendy opened her mouth; somehow he knew what she would say. "Jigumo only told this to me once...but Sasori made a deal with someone to gain power...but the others were afraid, so they used an Organic Link to put that away."

Wendy began to catch on. "No...you guys aren't—"

"Exactly: the Imperial Guard was originally just a group of S-Class wizards; now we serve as the guardians of the Organic Link! It can only break if we're defeated in order—north, east, south, and west!"

"And what happens...if all four are defeated?"

Meanwhile, Rogue struggled to breathe as Sasori's pincer-like hand squeezed his neck. Black spots danced in front of his eyes. Sasori's eyes, on the other hand, glittered with malice; mismatched blue and purple darkened into pure black.

Niebel shook his head. "If even one is defeated...Sasori...he's a monster."