The Girl From Then
"A dragon has appeared in the city!" Mysdroy, one of the Extalia elders said.
"To think a beast of such a calibre would show itself here! Martam, another said, "What are we to do? There is no way to defeat such creature!"
"We cannot defeat," a female voice said, "At this point, there is only one thing we can do."
"Queen Shagotte!"
"We must beg for the dragon's mercy," the Queen said as she rose from her throne, "And to do that, we must tell them the truth."
(in the city)
Särakaotus inhaled, as dark masses began to gather in his mouth. Wendy could recognize that he was going to use his breath attack, and immediately moved to try and intervene.
"Wait!" Out of nowhere, Pantherlily swooped in, and held up his arms in front of Särakaotus.
"Sir Pantherlily?" Nadi asked in surprise. No other Exceed really took much notice to who the new Exceed was, aside from the one who was currently in between them and the dragon. Särakaotus paused and glanced down at Pantherlily.
"Who are you, that would stand against me?" he demanded.
"I beg you!" Pantherlily said, "I know that the Kingdom of Edolas wronged you horribly, but these Exceeds have done nothing to you!"
"In my dreams I saw this kingdom," Särakaotus responded, "It is because of them that I was tormented for so long. And I've seen what these Exceeds have done, their actions were what drove the people of Edolas to do what they did. Extalia does not deserve to live. It must taste dragon justice"
"Su… Surely you can be dissuaded from destroying us!" Nadi said as he hopped forward, sweating a flood, "Surely this land is not worthy of your attention!"
"Lord Nadi!" Pantherlily said, astounded that the noble was calling his own kingdom unworthy.
"Any kingdom that played a hand in my suffering, no matter how direct or indirect, is very much worthy of my attention."
"The Queen will stop you!" Särakaotus glanced down at another Exceed, who was trembling, trying hard to be brave. Unfortunately, under a dragon's gaze, that proved very difficult.
"Is that an attempt at a threat, little kitten?" Särakaotus asked, arching an eye crest.
"The Queen's a goddess!" another Exceed cried, "She can smite you from existence with a mere flick of her paw."
"Is that so?" Särakaotus responded, before rearing up, and opening his wings in display, "Very well great Queen, I am ready! Take your divine power and smite me from existence!" He waited for a few moments, before looking back down.
"Nothing," he said, "It appears your queen has nothing to challenge me." The Exceeds just all stared up in horror, as the beast glared down at them.
"No… it will come… the Queen will destroy you," one Exceed stammered.
"She has to! She's our goddess!" Soon many Exceeds were crying for their queen, for her to come and save them the dragon, but nothing came.
"When I'm finished, all that remain of this island will be a waste," Särakaotus said, "Probably for the best. The humans have been deferring to weaklings like for too long. Its time they saw you for what you really were." He then inhaled again, before preparing to seal the fate of the Exceeds before him.
"Wait!" Särakaotus stopped abruptly upon the hearing of that voice. Wendy pushed her way forward, before falling to her knees before the dragon.
"Wendy!" Carla cried.
"I beg of you!" she said, "An honorable dragon such as yourself should lower himself to such a horror! It is so far beneath you!" Särakaotus stared at Wendy in silence, but there was something in his eyes…
"Tell me your name, little human," he said. Wendy looked up in surprise.
"Wendy Marvel," she said, "Daughter of the Sky Dragon, Grandeeney. I am the sister of the one who freed you, Natsu Dragneel, son of Igneel the Fire Dragon." However, Särakaotus stopped paying attention rather promptly after he heard "Wendy".
"Its you," he murmured, "Its really you." He then reached out with one of his claws towards the girl.
"NO!" Carla cried, jumping forward, but to everyone's surprise, the claw gently caressed Wendy's cheek.
"All these centuries," Särakaotus said, "I thought it would be only with immense fortune that I would see you again. Appears that immense fortune is now here."
"I'm… I'm sorry," Wendy said, "But I've never seen you before." Särakaotus looked at Wendy carefully.
"No, I suppose you would not," he said, his tail swishing behind him, "But I also suppose does not matter."
"Please don't hurt these people!" Wendy said, "They've done nothing! There's no reason to destroy this kingdom!"
"He has all the reason." Everyone turned, including Särakaotus to see a female Exceed approaching, dressed so extravagantly it was rather ridiculous.
"Your Majesty!" Nadi said.
"Queen Shagotte," Pantherlily whispered in the sight of the Queen.
"Its the Queen!"
"Just wait you overgrown gecko! The Queen's here to destroy you!" Särakaotus paid no heed in the least to that comment, and kept his gaze on the queen.
"Hear my words," the Queen, Shagotte, said, "There is no illusion of what is going on now. This dragon has the power to annihilate this entire kingdom if he so chooses. So its time that a decision is made."
"You're going to destroy the dragon right?" Shagotte remained silent, as she began to drop her cloak. Everyone stared in shock, as the Queen fully exposed herself.
"I am no queen, much less a goddess," she said, "I am but one more humble Exceed." Shagotte then revealed herself in fully. She was indeed just one more Exceed, but what set her apart, was her single wing on her left shoulder, much to everyone's shock, Carla the most, Särakaotus the least. So their goddess is even lesser then they are? he thought, as he studied the situation before them. He'd experienced stories like those before in his time, this was nothing new.
"Wendy, Carla, I have to apologize for how you were treated," Shagotte said, "I shouldn't have let this happen." She then looked up to Särakaotus.
"And Särakaotus, I also must apologize to you," she said, "I know that for four centuries you were tortured, treated like a tool. It was because of me, and the lie that was formulated, that the humans ripped so much from you."
"No, the blame falls to us, the Elders," one of the Elders said, "We made up the image of the Queen. At one point, the Exceeds were a weak race that the humans walked all over."
"So you invented a story of divinity to earn their respect," Särakaotus said.
"Precisely. And as a means of helping our kin to earn, or at least achieve, its self-respect, we made everyone Extalia believe in the power of the Queen, who was a goddess. All just a huge bluff."
"The idea of us deciding who lives and dies, that was completely made up. There is no real power here, save for Shagotte's ability to see into the future. That allowed us to see when a human would die."
"So that way you could make it seem like she decided for them to die," Wendy murmured.
"No… no…," one Exceed said.
"That's not true, she is a goddess!" another said.
"Hurry up and destroy the dragon! Save us all!"
"You fools!" Carla cried.
"Carla," Wendy whispered.
"You ordered Happy and I to kill our friends!" Carla said, "Memories were implanted in my head! You ordered us to kill our friends!"
"That's…," Nadi began.
"It is very unlikely that is the case," Särakaotus interrupted. All eyes went up to the dragon, who had boosted himself up, now balancing on a pair of claws that were on his wings, with his front arms folded.
"What do you know?!" Carla demanded, "You were rotting under the palace for hundreds of years!" If the Eclipse Dragon was insulted, he didn't show it.
"It was just outright stated that they have no real power," Särakaotus said, "Do you really think that an Exceed could kill a human? They're not that stupid as to send you on a mission that would almost assuredly fail. I will not claim knowledge to the situation with the memories, but if you really believe that you were sent to kill the Dragon Slayers, you're a fool."
"He's right," Shagotte said, "You're completely innocent in all respects. But I still hurt you more than any other." She then held up a sword, and tossed it at Carla's feet, much to everyone's shock, especially Pantherlily's.
"Please judge me! You who love both humans and Exceeds!" Carla was silent, as she stared at the sword before her, as the Exceeds cried.
"If the dragon is to destroy this land, then let me destroyed with it," Shagotte said. Carla then picked up the sword.
"Carla don't!" Wendy cried. The Exceeds all sobbed and cried. Pantherlily clenched his fists, not knowing what to do. Särakaotus watched in silence, but his tail flicked behind him. For the first time in a while, he wasn't sure what would happen.
"Don't just give up!" Carla cried, "Isn't this your home! Aren't you going to stand up for it! We can't let our home be destroyed! I won't let it be destroyed!" Everyone stared at her, Shagotte harder than anyone else, tears streaming down her eyes. Wendy smiled slightly at the sight. Särakaotus narrowed his eyes, as his folded arms tensed slightly.
"The child's right," Pantherlily said, as he approached the Queen, falling to one knee, "This is our home. We must not let it fall to ruin."
"Lily," Shagotte whispered, "Why… why are you here? This kingdom has done nothing but wrong you. We punished you when you did what was right." Pantherlily clenched his fists, as well as his teeth.
(Flashback)
"Why in the Queen's name did you save a human child?" one Elder snapped. In the Queen's Royal Chamber, Pantherlily knelt before the throne. Cradled in his arms was a bandaged child.
"He was wounded, and in danger," Pantherlily answered, "I could not live with myself knowing that I let him die."
"Have you forgotten the law?" an Elder demanded.
"Its forbidden to bring a human to Extalia!"
"Are you suggesting I let it die?"
"That's exactly what we're suggesting! What's a human to us!" During this, Shagotte stood behind them, staring at the floor, biting her lip.
"For this crime, you are deemed a Fallen, and hereby banished from Extalia!" Pantherlily looked up in shock, as Shagotte struggled not to cry, which nobody noticed.
(End Flashback)
"Your Majesty," Pantherlily said, "I won't lie to you. I hate this land. It was built on lies and arrogance, but despite all of that. Its my home, and these are my people. And I will protect them!" Soon every Exceed started crying out in their support of Carla, and their declaration to fight for their kingdom.
"We will fight you dragon!"
"We won't let you destroy our kingdom!" Särakaotus watched all of this in silence. He then took a breath.
"Everyone here knows that there is no way of stopping me if I do destroy this kingdom," he said, "And yet you still insist on fighting." He then looked down at Wendy, who also stood strong, ready to fight.
"In light of the connection that there seems to be with the Sky Maiden, I will spare your land," the Eclipse Dragon announced. The Exceeds all looked up in shock at his statement.
"You would spare this land, after all that was done to you?" Shagotte asked. Särakaotus looked up at the night sky.
"In my anger, I became reckless," he said, "I became a true monster, something I never desired to be. I took out my rage on innocent people, destroying a nation in the process."
"What will you do now?" Wendy asked.
"Well, how fares Earthland?" Särakaotus asked her, "How are my kin?" Wendy paused, before looking down at the ground.
"All the dragons disappeared seven years ago," she said, "There are all gone." Särakaotus blinked, but Wendy could tell that he was shocked far more than his face indicated.
"So he succeeded," he muttered. Wendy looked up, but decided not to push it.
"I must now leave," Särakaotus said, opening his wings, and flapping into the air, "I must have an understanding of what must be done." With that, he soared away, as the Exceeds cheered. Shagotte could only stand in silence at the sight of what was happening.
"Wait!" Wendy called, running after the dragon. Carla looked at her.
"Follow her," Shagotte said weakly, smiling. Carla was silent in surprise, before nodding, flying after Wendy, and picking her up.
(at the island)
The guild had since been huddled around Lucy, or more specifically Haru.
"He's just so cute, Lu!" Levy said, as she put a finger up to Haru, who giggled and grabbed at it.
"He certainly is," Juvia said, "Juvia can't wait to teach him how to swim!" Lucy smiled, as did Natsu, before he noticed Cocoa standing apart.
"Come over here!" he called, "Come meet my son!" Cocoa looked over briefly, tears still in her eyes, before she started walking over to see Haru. Haru looked up at the girl, and giggled.
"He likes you," Lucy said.
"But… I tried to kill him," Cocoa said.
"No, you're king did," Lucy said, "You had nothing to do with what almost happened to me, or Haru." Cocoa was silent, but then looked at the smiling baby again. And then she realized what this child was: hope. In all this destruction, in all this bleakness, there was this spot of hope. This spot of a future. And Cocoa couldn't help but smile.
"You could come with us," Natsu said, surprising Cocoa, "We'd be happy to let you into Fairy Tail, and show you the ropes!"
"First we need to get back to Earthland," Erza said, "As to how…"
"I may be able to offer some assistance," a familiar voice said. Everyone turned, and saw Mystogan floating up on a small white legion.
"Mystogan!" Erza said.
"Sorry for my lateness," the masked man said as he hopped off the legion onto the island, "I was closing up the remaining Animas. But it was thanks to Natsu that they were all sent back. Everyone's safe now." The entire guild was overjoyed to hear those words, but then Gajeel saw something coming from Extalia.
"Its the dragon!" he said. Everyone turned, and indeed saw Särakaotus flying away from Extalia.
"But, the island's intact," Cocoa said, "It spared them."
"And its… coming this way!" Levy cried. Indeed, the dragon was flying in their direction, and everyone recoiled back, save for Natsu and Mystogan, who both stood their ground. He's the one, Särakaotus thought as he flew forward, He's the one who freed me. I have to repay that debt, I have to… Then, from below, a massive beam of light shot out, skewering Särakaotus right through the abdomen. The dragon let out a deafening roar, as he plummeted to the ground, to everyone's shock.
"Särakaotus!" Wendy cried, as Carla flew them down after him. Everyone looked down, and saw rising from the ruins of the capital, a towering metal monstrosity, that could only be described as draconic.
(below)
"My kingdom has been destroyed," Faust muttered as the lights of the machine lit up around him, "I will ensure that I will drag Extalia down with me!"
Note: Seems Särakaotus knows Wendy somehow.
I decided to end it where I did mostly because this chapter was supposed to be focused primarily on Extalia and what Särakaotus was doing up there. Obviously the Dragon Slayers are going to be fighting the Droma Anim again, but there's going to be another twist that I feel people will like.
Be sure to review. Something is wrong with the site, so the new reviews wouldn't show up. Hopefully it'll be fixed.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
I'm sorry, but I got to do this rant. I read a review on TV Tropes calling Fairy Tail a "copy and paste" of One Piece. First of all, not only is One Piece not the bastion of originality that a lot of people insist it is, seeing as many of the concepts they say Fairy Tail took from One Piece were in turn taken from Dragon Ball, but also that Fairy Tail does certain things better than One Piece. Not to mention how Fairy Tail seems to have tons of ass pulls where was One Piece is completely innocent (*cough Gears *cough Sanji's fire leg *cough Zoro's sudden ability to cut steal *cough etc). With that in mind, I'm now going to do a list of things that I believe Fairy Tail does better than One Piece. Alright, let's get started:
Pacing: I will always argue that One Piece greatest weakness, is its got terrible pacing. Oda seems to believe he needs to give every minute detail a big description that takes up whole chapters, and a result, the series drags. I remember the Impel Down Arc, and how it seemed to last forever, with something new always popping up to make the arc longer than it needed to be. This goes to such an extent, that I sometimes can't even tell what the conflict is, like what's going on in the current arc. Fairy Tail is much better paced. We see the conflict, we see the antagonists, and we get going. I think about the flashbacks we get, and how we get a lot of Zeref's backstory in one chapter. Why? Because the focus was on the important details. The longest flashback I've seen in FT was three chapters. The shortest in OP was five, and the last one was ten I think. We also can't forget that 800+ chapters in, and we still don't know anything new about the One Piece, Devil Fruits, or Poneglyphs.
Self-Containment: One thing I'm worried about with One Piece is how much is going on. Including the main cast, we've got four major factions that are vying for their own goals, and so much going on, its hard to keep track. Its like in Game of Thrones, where those so much happening, its hard to tell how its going to be wrapped up. There are also so many details and plot points, that I can't really tell what is and isn't important.
Giving Physicality: This is the same problem I've seen Kishimoto do in Naruto. Oda seems to think that he needs to give physical explanations to Devil Fruits, like how Kishimoto seems to give physicality to Chaka, using medical and scientific terms when describing. However, its never needed. These are fantasy stories, and as such, we don't need an explanation for how Devil Fruits work; these things exist in this world, that's all the explanation needed. Mashima doesn't give us any physics behind the magic; its magic, and that's all we need to know, because its a fantasy. Imagine if in Lord of the Rings, Tolkein started giving details as to how the One Ring was affecting Frodo's brain. It would damage the fantastical element, and give it less wonder.
Anyway, that's my rant. But I had to get it out of my system, and I dare not do it on YouTube. Tch, could you imagine? Take note, I do like One Piece, a lot actually. But I've seen so many rants saying how Fairy Tail so horrible, and how One Piece is a godsend. Its unfair to harp on one series shortcomings, and ignore another's. On a different note, I wonder why the majority of the reviews on Tropes are negative.