Rissy quickly stood up, straightening out her clothes in the process, after her talk with Fawn-Amber she realised that she needed to tell her nakama the truth no matter how hard it was.
Part of her knew deep down that they wouldn't judge but the other part strived to keep her past buried for as long as possible, not wanting to delve back into the dark memories.
"I guess it's time for me to go..." Rissy sighed, there was a silence from Fawn-Amber, which was unusual as the old tree was usually quite talkative.
"Fawn... Fawn-Amber?" She whispered as she as started to shake one of her branches, only to get no response from the tree.
She could eel her once relaxed aura was now replaced by an intense and alert one.
"I'm sensing an evil in the forest..." Fawn-Amber said grimly, finally breaking her silence
"Evil?" Rissy asked confused.
"Yes, I sense great evil and hatred...coming this way" Fawn-Amber concluded.
Rissy didn't like the sound of that, she took her palm took a few steps forward, her head raised slightly so she could gather a sense of this evil. Taking in a familiar scent she suddenly stiffened.
"Fawn-Amber, I'm sorry, I've lead this evil right here to your forest..." Rissy said sadly, her head hung with shame.
"Rissy, it was not your intention, however I will do my best to protect you..." Fawn-Amber stated
"What do you mean?" Rissy asked
"As Leora's daughter all life in the forest has your best interest, we will fight beside you..." Fawn-Amber explained, causing Rissy to smile.
"Rissy !" Called a familiar voice.
Rissy turned to see Lavender flying towards her with the blonde celestial mage not too far behind.
"Rissy, we've been looking everywhere for you!" Lavender cried as she latched herself onto Rissy's legs.
"Yeah, we heard about your argument with Natsu so we came to find you" Lucy said between pants, he hands placed on her knees.
"Look guys, I appreciate this but you need to go, now!" Rissy exclaimed as she started to usher Lucy out of the forest.
"What,, Rissy, what's go-" Lucy started.
"Something bad is going to happen and you two can't be here" Rissy hissed.
Lavender let go of Rissy's legs and flew up to her eye level, a sad expression on her face.
"Rissy-Chan, it's Elijah, isn't it..." She said sadly.
Rissy was silent.
"Elijah...?" Lucy asked confused, then she gasped a look of realisation on her face "Natsu was right, you are hiding something!"
"Lavender take Lucy and go back to the guild..." Rissy told her partner.
"But Rissy-Chan..." Lavender whispered, not wanting to leave her friend alone.
"no buts go now!" She demanded, causing Rissy to sadly nod and wrap her tail around an un-expectant Lucy's waist and fly back to the guild.
Cries of birds spread throughout the forest as they flew from the trees and filled the skies, the grass and trees started to lose their colour as if something was draining the life of the nature itself.
Rissy could hear soft footsteps coming towards her and swiftly turned around to see the last person she wanted to see but the first person she expected to arrive.
With a smug smile drawn upon his lips Elijah spoke, his voice sending shivers down her spine and Rissy swore that for a moment she saw multiple trees shiver at the sound of his voice too.
"Hello Clarissa..."
She instantly stiffened, her hands clenching into tight fists.
"Don't call me that" She growled through gritted teeth, she remembered once before when Elijah would always refer to her by her birth name as he knew how much it would annoy her, it was once a sign of affection as only one person had dared to use that name for her however now that one person saying her name, coming from is lips only caused her to feel nothing but hatred.
"Aww don't be like that..." Elijah said in a playful tone "You used to love it when I called you by your full name"
"Yeah, used to..." She growled as she stood in fighting stance.
"Oh so we are getting straight to the second battle" Elijah said smiling, he outstretched his hands, gathering large amounts of magic energy, causing the earth beneath her feet to rumble.
"Yeah and this time, I won't go so easy on you..." She hissed, causing Elijah to smile once more.
"That's what I like to hear"
The two of them stood in complete silence; the only sounds were given from the wind rustling through the trees.
Rissy could feel the forest was tense, due to Elijah's presence the tree's must have been on edge.
Suddenly Elijah abruptly lifted his arms into the air, causing numerous amounts of rocks to levitate; he then sent them straight for Rissy.
With her fairy like agility, Rissy was able to successfully dodge most of the rocks, often jumping and diving out of the way.
She turned around, a large amount coming her way, without enough time to dodge the attack, she lifted her hands in the air, causing a tree to suddenly grow and shield her from the oncoming attack.
"Thanks..." She whispered to the tree as she sent it back to its previous size.
She quickly turned to find Elijah slowly clapping, a wide grin upon his face.
"My, my, you seem to improve each time we battle..." He applauded.
"Someone has to..." She grinned, a toothy grin spread across her face.
"Fairy Dragon's Roar!" she shouted, suddenly her attack flew straight for Elijah a large beam of multi coloured light.
Elijah smiled, and then summoned a large amount of rocks to him to form a shield; it didn't completely block the attack however it dulled the impact, causing the rock shield to shatter into many small pieces.
"You have to do better than that..." He teased as he summoned a large amount of rocks; the rocks formed a tomb around Rissy, trapping her.
However to his surprise the tomb shattered, revealing Rissy who had a multicoloured light surrounding her fists.
"You have to do better than that..." She said between pants, causing Elijah to growl.
He decided to up his game and sent multiple attacks her way, he sent rocks flying towards her, which she dodged and attempted to trap her underneath a large amount of rocks, only for her to shatter them with her 'fairy dragon's roar'.
"Enough!" He shouted as he stomped his foot on the ground causing it to crack, Rissy's attempts to evade the crack were in vain as the crack grew wider she fell, only to grab ahold of te grass in attempt to not plummet to her death.
"So this is how it ends..." He hissed as he raised his foot in an attempt t stamp on her hands.
She closed her eyes, waiting for the impact, only it never came.
She heard the sound of a surprised shout and suddenly opened her eyes.
Opening them she found Elijah dangling in the air, upside down by legs.
She noticed the branches of multiple trees had wrapped themselves around the earth mage's legs.
"Release me!" He shouted as he struggled out of their hold.
"Leave this forest at once!" Fawn-Amber shouted.
Rissy managed to scramble up and ran over to the large tree.
"Fawn-Amber, leave him, this is my fight!" Rissy shouted, trying to grab the tree's attention.
"Rissy, he is endangering all life to the forest and must be disposed of!" Fawn-Amber bellowed, her voice echoing through the forest.
"Let me fight him and if I...fail then you can deal with him" Rissy suggested.
There was a short silence.
Then a soft thud as Elijah fell to the ground.
"Do what you must..." Fawn-Amber sighed
Rissy nodded then walked over to the earth mage who was lying on the ground in pain.
"I guess we better continue with the fight..." He said with a smile
After arriving back at the guild, Lavender didn't say a word, Lucy glanced over at the glum looking exceed as they landed not too far from the guild.
The exceed's eyes were glassy from the tears and every so often her lips would quiver and she glance longingly towards the direction from where they came.
Lucy knew that something wasn't right; from where Lavender had mentioned the name 'Elijah' it was as if this person was some sort of evil being.
Perhaps this 'Elijah' was the very reason why Team Natsu had found Rissy in that state on the mountain.
"Lavender..." Lucy called the exceed, causing her to jump as if she was deep in thought.
"Lucy..." Lavender sighed sadly.
"Who's Elijah?" Lucy asked as she knelt down on the ground.
"Well..." Lavender started only to be interrupted when the guild doors slammed open, revealing Natsu and Gray flying to the ground with an angry Erza behind.
"Natsu...!"Lucy shouted as she stood up.
"Luce, it was the ice block's fault!" Natsu shouted as he quickly stood up.
"Clearly, ash brain, it was yours!" Gray countered as he too stood up.
"Both of you are at fault!" Erza shouted as she smashed their skulls together, causing them to both fall to the ground.
"Natsu, you were right, Rissy is hiding something...!" Lucy gasped as she grabbed hold of the dragon slayer.
"I am...?" He said confused, then he stood up again "Course I was right, Luce!"
"What's Rissy hiding?" Erza asked as she walked over to the celestial mage.
"I'm not too sure, but t has something to do with an Elijah" Lucy sighed.
Natsu turned to Lavender staring intently at the small exceed and causing her to shiver.
"Who is Elijah?" he asked.
Lavender was silent, she truned trying to avoid Natsu's gaze, only to realise that there was no escape.
She twiddled her paws, her head hung, then slowly looked up to meet Natsu's gaze.
"Rissy-Chan is going to hate me!" Lavender wailed.
"Lavender, I'm sure it'll be fine just tell us who he is" Lucy said softly.
Lavender looked at all the mages in turn then slowly nodded her head.
"Elijah was Rissy-Chan's boyfriend..." Lavender started.
"Boyfriend!" Natsu shouted, only to get a punch from Erza.
"Don't interrupt!" Erza shouted to the pink haired mage, who lay on the floor in pain.
"He was...but now he's evil and is always following Rissy-Chan!" Lavender sobbed.
"Did he follow you guys to the mountain where we found you?" Gray asked, putting two and two together.
Lavender nodded.
"Rissy-Chan had a fight with him..." She sniffed.
"I'm going to kill him..." Natsu growled.
"Natsu, we can't just go barging over there!" Lucy shouted.
"She's my sister and in trouble!" Natsu shouted before he ran off.
"Wait for me!" Lavender shouted as she flew after him.
"Guys!" Lucy shouted
"Leave them, they're just worried..." Gray sighed, an arm behind his head and mysteriously only in his boxers.
"Lucy go and alert Wendy" Erza said, her hand on Lucy's shoulder.
"Wendy?" Lucy said confused
"If you are right and Elijah is here, he'll most like have a fight with Rissy" Erza explained
Lucy nodded and ran inside to find the dragon slayer.
"Gray, alert Master of the situation, he might know who this Elijah is..." Erza said
Gray nodded and walked into the guild, leaving Erza to go after the fire dragon slayer and lilac exceed.
She aimed multiple punches at the earth mage, only for him to block all them; she aimed one punch for his face, only for him to grab hold of her wrist.
She struggled to get her wrist out of his hold and aimed a punch for his stomach with her free hand only for him to grab that wrist as well and crush it painfully; a sickening crunching sound filled the forest, causing her to cry out in pain.
"Hurts, doesn't it...?"He asked, however it sounded more like a statement.
"Bastard...!" She hissed, trying to fight back the pain as Elijah tightened his hold on her already broken wrist.
"Always have something to say" He said smiling "That's my gir-"
His gaze suddenly landed on the mark on the inside of her wrist.
"Is that a Fairy Tail mark...?" He asked, only to get no answer from Rissy. "You actually became one of the fairies!"
"Shut up!" Rissy spat, struggling once more to escape his hold.
"I wonder, did you tell them about your past...about us?" He hissed.
"No, not yet!" She shouted, tears blurring her vision.
Elijah smiled at her reaction, he had struck a nerve and her knew it.
"Afraid they might cast you out!" He shouted in her face
"Shut up!" She shouted, tears rolling down her face
"Afraid that they'll ate you because of this!" He shouted as he released his hold on her injured wrist and lifted the hem of her top, where he knew the mark would be.
There on her left side of her abdomen was a scar, a scar forming the shape of a three headed dragon, the mark of the dark guild known as Draco Fire.
Rissy stood frozen in place, the past that she had tried so hard to hide, and had been uprooted before her eyes.
Elijah stood, eyes, transfixed on the scar that was once the Draco Fire guild insignia.
He couldn't believe that Rissy, herself had cut the own mark out of her skin, in an attempt to forget about the guild an an attempt to forget about him.
She instantly raised he knee and delivered a harsh blow to Elijah's stomach sending him to his knees and causing him to release his hold on her wrist.
"I didn't know that you were that desperate to forget me..." Elijah gasped as he staggered up.
"It wasn't only to forget you but to forget everything, the things that happened, and the things that I did..." Rissy said sadly.
"You know your past is nothing to be ashamed of..." Elijah sighed.
"Yes it is!" Rissy shouted as more tears rolled down her face "I was a different person then!"
Elijah sighed
"We could have ruled the world together all that power, no one could have stood n our way..." He sighed.
"That power, it changed you...and it was never yours to begin with" Rissy hissed
Elijah stiffened
"That power, this power...it belongs to me and me alone!" Elijah shouted he suddenly raised his hands, the ground starting to shake; he sent rocks flying towards Rissy.
She dodged most of them; however one caught her by surprise, and sent her flying to the ground.
"You killed innocent people to get that power!" Rissy shouted, she lay on the ground, unable to get up.
Her vision was once more clouded as more tears threatened to escape.
"They were an unfortunate side effect..." He sad coldly
"How can you say that?" Rissy exclaimed as she tried to stand once ore, only to fall straight back to the ground as the muscles in her body were screaming in pain.
"The Elijah I knew would never say that..."
"The person you once knew is dead..." He spat as he summoned a large amount of magic energy.
"I was afraid you'll say that..." Rissy said weakly as she tried to keep her eyes open.
"I still have some mercy...enough to put you out of your misery..."
He gathered a small amount of magic energy, about to deliver the killing blow on Rissy's weak body only to be stopped by a branch wrapping itself around his wrist.
"Let go!" He hissed as he struggled to release his arm.
"No harm shall come to the daughter of Leora!" Fawn-Amber shouted
"Fawn-Amber..." Rissy whispered.
"Hush, child, your friends are here..." Fawn-Amber said softly.
Rissy smiled and let her eyes close, and let the darkness claim her.
"Rissy-Chan!" Lavender shouted as she flew over to the motionless body of the pink haired girl.
Natsu ran not too far behind and placed two shaky fingers against the side of her neck, he breathed a sigh of relief once he realised that she was still alive.
He turned to hear growls of frustration from a dark haired youth, his arms wrapped in...Tree branches
"Elijah..." Lavender whispered
Causing Natsu to growl, for he was the person who was responsible for his sisters condition...twice.
"The resemblance is uncanny..." Elijah hissed as he looked up at Natsu.
Natsu growled.
Elijah just chuckled.
"You know she isn't as innocent as you think..." He laughed before he disappeared.
"Natsu!" Erza shouted.
Natsu turned to find her standing not too far behind him.
She glanced over to Rissy's motionless body, where Lavender was sitting beside her.
"We should take her back to the guild" Erza suggested
Natsu nodded, and then picked Rissy up in his arms, trying not to hurt her even more.
Lavender walked beside him and Erza in front, Natsu couldn't help but think about what Elijah had said before "You know she isn't as innocent as you think..." he wanted to know what he had meant however he felt that the only person who could explain was K.O in his arms.
Him and his sister needed to talk.