"I see…"
Totomaru frowns. He can feel the ground under his feet, but he cannot see it. There is a void underneath him, and space, stars and the milky way around him.
He tries to produce fire, but it extinguishes. He can breathe, but there is no oxygen.
"This… is an illusion."
Instantly, the atmosphere dissipates, tearing away like cotton candy to reveal the isolated Lacrima chamber once more.
Cana whines, arms resting at the back of her head as she purses her lips.
"Thought it'd last longer! Too bad, then," Cana says, "I'm not really good with opponents that are smart and calculative. They figure it all out so quickly."
"That was not a strong illusion at all," Totomaru says, "I suppose you are not an illusionist — you are a multi-talented mage with various skills in multiple aspects, but you likely hold mastery in none of them."
"I'll ask you to refrain from any constructive criticism," Cana says, "I'm so cute and insecure, I might just start crying."
"Oh, that would be mortifying," Totomaru chuckles in good nature, not believing it for a second.
"Fancy a bit of divine reading, my kind sir?" Cana reaches toward her card holder. "I've been told my fortunes are incredibly accurate."
Totomaru laughs in exasperation. "Unfortunately, I don't subscribe to something so superstitious and whimsical. If I had to choose, I'd say I'm a man of science."
"Awh, so boring!" The card in her hand is the Five of Wands, reversed. "The cards are telling me we should shake hands, apologize to each other, and then go on a date."
"I don't know what that card means, but I'm very confident it doesn't say that!"
Natsu has blown half of the chargers of the Jupiter lacrima. It can still be activated, but Cana's starting to wonder if that's not in their plans, since there doesn't seem to be any urgency in this area.
Well, whatever.
"Then let's see what my next card says," she reaches for her holster once more, "let's hope it's something useful~ I really should have grabbed another of Erza's weapons before I got here, what a shame."
Totomaru scowls.
"You really aren't taking me seriously at all, are you?"
"Of course I'm taking you seriously! How rude," Cana pouts. But the corners of her mouth twitch, and her smile is strained almost in an attempt to hide her amusement.
Totomaru clicks his tongue. Red and blue fire winds around him, chasing each other toward Cana's feet before colliding in a loud, very bombastic explosion.
Cana doesn't escape it in time, emerging from the dust with a shoe burned and blood trailing down a heavy burn around her calf. She draws two cards.
"Death and Lovers," she declares, bracing her good foot against the ground, arm swinging down before she brings it back up along with a hedge of ice from under Totomaru's feet.
Totomaru leaps in time with the ice, but slides on the surface and crashes indignantly against a particularly sharp spot. He winces, burning the surface under him for a grip before leaping toward the many footholds from the lacrima contraptions around.
"You've got a lot of tricks up your sleeve. I don't even know what to expect," Totomaru says. "I can see why you're an 'eternal S-class candidate'. It must be hard working with magic that's too vague for its own good. You have potential, but you lack the raw power to directly stand up to the other S-class prospectives in your guild."
"Oh, that's it baby," Cana blows him a kiss. "Praise me more, that's new. I'm liking the idea of that date now."
"Could you drop that already?!"
Totomaru sends another smudge of blue and red fire at her again, and Cana starts running across the room, kicking off her one remaining heel and making her way toward the lacrima, ducking behind obstacles so the explosions would just barely buffer.
"There's no use running! You're still taking damage!"
Cana winces when the sparks eat through her shirt, peppering her skin the further she goes, she climbs up the Jupiter Lacrima, leaps toward the ceiling borders, and scamper back toward the structural embellishments, but the fires chase and explode mere inches by her feet. Totomaru was quick, and his fire hovers in multitudes, surrounding Cana in seconds.
Two additional balls of fire come at her from the front, and Cana curses. She ducks aside, and the fires in front and behind her collide.
They ignite with a detonation scale four times as horrible as before, the thunderous explosion sending a pain so sharp thorugh her ear, she screams. She's blown off her feet and avoids the heart of the blast, but she collapses from far too high onto the ground, sprawled and cradling her ruptured eardrum.
Totomaru scoffs.
"There was no point in running, was there?" he mocks. "I'll finish you off right now, I've wasted enough time."
Four more balls of fire spiral toward Cana, and the girl only manages to lift her head before the explosions spark before her.
Totomaru sighs, turning away. He's willing to be clean and cruel to win a fight, but he's not a fan of watching until the end—
—no, he turns back.
(Is Cana smiling?)
His eyes widen as a flash of remarkable light shed through the card in her hand, and once the explosion burst apart field of vision and clouded the entire place with smoke, Totomaru had a horrible sinking feeling in his gut.
He looks around at the scale of the damage in the room around him.
While he had been chasing Cana around, the room had been wrecked by all of the fireballs he sent out. The lacrima, so strong and impenetrable, was now shred down of its embellishments, and pounded upon with wood and debris from the ceiling and walls. There's a particularly soot-filled spot. The chargers— Natsu only destroyed half of them, and yet, they were all destroyed now.
When did that happen? Totomaru was not aware.
When, and how did he forget… he isn't the kind to be impervious to his own scale of destruction. He was usually careful, so why…?
"Phew!" Cana sighs, standing up, very dusty, cradling her injured ear.
The Chariot card deactivates in her hand.
"The Charioteer has a firm handle on composure and control, an authority to keep things in line," she says. "As long as this card is active and I am confident I can win… no attack can hit me. Though, just once a day."
Totomaru hisses in disbelief. "What utter nonsense! There's no magic that can absolutely cancel magic in this world! At least, not so easily!"
"It's about believing ," Cana says, "with a heart that believes, even a skeevy, conniving fortune teller on the streets can become a great wizard, you know?"
Totomaru curses, stepping back— but his feet are grounded.
There are cards cutting into his trouser legs, pinning them to the ground. They're solid as steel, and he can't get free unless he tears right through the fabric.
"You witch—!!" Totomaru snaps, kicking off his shoes because the fucking cards were nailed to the damn ground what the fuck, "come to think of it, with Ryos around, you shouldn't have been able to run so fast— what tricks have you pulled?!"
"Tricks, oh no no, I've shown you my cards from the very beginning!" Cana says. "Literally, I mean. It's kind of the law of Card magic, I have to display my cards for them to take effect at all. So it's very useful for me when my opponent clearly doesn't know anything about my skillset."
Totomaru's confused.
Very confused.
Cana doesn't move. Her injuries are heavy, but she's handling them well. Her movements are just a little sluggish, now that he looks carefully— so Ryos' general debuff is still in effect.
So the one that's not reacting properly is… him?
"Illusions!" he realized, with horror. The one from the start! He thought he broke out of it!
Abruptly, the world pulls into place. As soon as he verbalized it, the world flicked like a light switch, and suddenly, his vision clears . He hadn't even realized something had been shrouding it, and he still doesn't understand what it is.
Totomaru's feet lose all strength, and his head explodes with pain.
He howls, clutching his head. He crumbles to the ground, and a wave of horrible, horrible acid churns in his gut, and he's emptying his stomach before he knows it, unable to even hold himself back or attempt to keep his dignity in any way.
"I showed you, dummy," Cana says, raising the Five of Wands in her hands. "The Five of Wands, reversed. I acknowledge you are different from me, and thus, we avoid direct conflict. Thanks so much for destroying the lacrima for me! Couldn't have done it without you, sweetie. Don't ask me about the nausea. I don't know why that happens either."
Totomaru curses.
It's all he can do to stay on his hands as his world wavers and wobbles.
"What—" he chokes out, to the world that's similarly underwater, in outer space, and beneath the ground at the same time, "you. You, what have you done—"
"And The Moon," Cana beams, "did you know that the Moon also represents deception, lack of clarity, and misinterpretation ? I really love it when my opponents set themselves up so nicely for me."
Totomaru grimaces in disgust.
"Now then, I owe you for a ruptured eardrum and a burned foot, so…"
Cana makes a few conclusive steps forward to the highly vulnerable Totomaru, crouching down right before him and smiling innocently, cradling her knees like a schoolgirl.
"...Mama Enno always taught me to pay things back threefold. So no hard feelings, yeah?" Cana winks. "You still owe me a date, by the way."
Totomaru is hereby terrified of women.
Cana climbs out of the cannon barrel, Max finding her at the entrance, head hanging down from above to look in
"Ah, Cana!" Max says.
"Oh, you caught up!" Cana beams, meeting him in an impromptu high five that he returns on instinct before pondering on the purpose of it. There was none. "So, you guys cleaned up the Phantom goons?"
"The humans, pretty much. The specters are endless!" Max groans. "I know Master Jose's a Wizard Saint, but this is ridiculous, and we're getting tired so much faster than usual, too…"
Cana climbs up to the top of the cannon barrel with a huff.
"I'm out," Cana says, "head's ringing. Can't hear you well."
"Yikes," Max hisses, catching sight of her bleeding ear, red trailing heavily down her arm. "Before that— which way did Elfman go?"
"...Elf?" Cana frowns. "What about him?"
Max sighs, shifting his foot, uncomfortable. "I don't have a good feeling about any of this. I know we decided he was fine being alone now, but… you know."
Cana curses. Instincts are best to be trusted in this guild. "Give me a table."
Max immediately rises a handful of sand, forming just enough for a small platform of sand to hover at their arm level.
Cana takes out her cards, not bothering to shuffle or clean her hands before taking out three cards and laying them face down.
"...the Hanged Man," she hisses, the card in the center. "He's not doing great in his fight. He's fighting… the Hermit?"
"The Element Four… but which one?" Max frowns. "You don't think one of them has some kind of mental magic that messes with your psyche? There's also the air element that dealt down Gramps, too…"
"Wha— Elfman's the worst against that, no matter the option!" Cana hisses. "Maybe the Fire elemental was the best choice for him… I'm so worried, what the hell."
The last card is the Tower.
"...you think that means the head of the golem?"
"No, sometimes it's much simpler than that," Cana says, pointing behind them, to the windows lining the chest area of the golem. "This is probably as simple as 'directly above us'. Try the torso platform over there."
Max stares, incredulous.
Cana scowls. "You don't trust my fortunes all of a sudden?"
Max holds up his hands defensively. "I do. I promise I do. I believe you," he says, very disbelieving. "I'll go now, thanks for the fortune, Cana."
"You're very ungrateful!"
"I better hurry, don't wanna waste my time—"
"I can hear you dismissing me!"
Max rides a wave of sand to the higher platform, landing with a harried, crumbly skid against surprisingly worn-out stone floors.
He frowns, laying a hand on the floor.
"Damn. It's turning into sand from how much it's been pulled apart and abused," he says. "If this were my family plot I'd be crying."
"Non, non."
Max jumps in surprise.
Sol emerges from the ground to his right, the ground pulling away like mochi to form the distinct silhouette of something that might be human. Sol fixes his monocle and smiles.
"The esteemed halls of Phantom Lord are lined with well-aged bricks rich in history. They may be old, but they still hold up well," Sol says. "They are not meant for crops to grow."
Max frowns. "Earth isn't wine. It doesn't age well."
"Non. I respectfully disagree."
Max purses his lips at that, arms crossing, unsatisfied. "Please, elaborate."
"Oh, I may?" Sol adjusts his monocle, straightening just so. He spins almost cheerfully, pulling apart some more ground to form a table and chair, rippling apart the bricks in the process. "Then I will take you up on the offer! Please, take a seat as I prepare my statement. Let us engage in some fruitful debate today."
Max stares, horrified, at the state of the ground under his feet. The intrinsically-lined bricks were now all displaced, cracked, and uneven. Sure they were worn out to begin with, but there was charm in its vintage sporadicality. Now…
"Take a seat, young man," Sol invites.
Max's fists clench. "You utter vandal!"
"What?" Sol bobbles the chair in surprise at the sudden sharp tone. "Have I offended you?" he looks between Max and the tea he's just prepared. "Are you a coffee person?"
Max's teeth grinds. His hands are in the air, exasperated, "you can't be serious! You can't just— do this!"
"P- Pardon?"
"Have you no respect for mother nature?" Max goes off immediately, throwing himself right into a spiel, complete with gesticulations and intonations at perfect times. "As a fellow user in the elemental spectrum of Earth, I am ashamed of you! I am. ASHAMED. To be regarded in the same general category as you!"
"Hey! I may not understand why you are upset, but I recognize insults when they are thrown at me!"
"Apologize to the earth you stand on!"
"I AM the earth YOU stand on, though?!"
Max lashes out immediately. "Then. All the disrespect to you!"
Sol gasps theatrically, hand at his chest like a shocked maiden. "Ingrate!"
"Oh bring it on!" Max yells, sand rising from the crumbles in the ground and lining his feet, shrouding his arm, clouding the air as would a swarm of flies in the plagues of Egypt. "Sand Wave!"
"You believe sand may defeat the most solid of earth?" Sol scoffs, "non, non, non! This battle is hopeless from the outset!"
"If you knew basic damn science you would know sand comes from rocks being worn down with enough effort and time," Max scowls. "Don't underestimate me!"
Max runs across from Sol, slamming two fistfuls of sand in a vortex upon him— but Sol retreats to the ground, emerging elsewhere.
Max curses when a tendril of earth whips at him punching into his shoulder, leaving a heavy, throbbing bruise. He curses, scrambling for purchase and barely buffering against the next attack that comes his way.
"You are much out of your league," Sol says, "what a disappointment. You were all talk, after all."
"Agh, shut up!" Max snaps, "I got so mad I forgot you were S-class. Not my wisest moment, I get it already!"
He couldn't just run away now, either.
The ceiling plunges down in the form of fists, and Max drops to his knees, not making it in time to avoid the thundering slam through his skull that sends the world into colours of a different value.
He hits the ground in a limp heap, teeth clenching as hard as he can, eyes squeezing shut. His head is cold— hot, he doesn't know. He just knows that's blood, and he can't get up.
If he's lucky, that's just a light concussion.
"I suppose it's over," Sol sighs, a distance away. "I've taken care of the pests in this wing, I should inspect Juvia's as well. She is out on important matters, I must fill in for her!" he deems, before slowly, steadily, trailing away.
It would be wiser to stay down and give up, like the pathetic weak fighter he is.
And yet— he can't do that.
This is hopeless, but he can't—
Squeezing his eyes shut, Max focuses on breathing.
The ground is in his favour. It's more sand than earth, so Max should have the ability to wield it better than Sol— and yet, the differences in their experience, battle instincts, and sheer magical power— they were filling in that gap so easily. It wasn't fair.
'Becoming one' with your element was academically considered the peak of an elemental mage's journey. Sol was clearly so much more advanced as a mage and as an academic. Why did Max even bother? Is he an idiot?
His body was eating into the ground, the ground rising in hard, painful stone, parasiting into his body, morphing him into Sol's liking as it consumed him with regret, after regret, after regret.
"Soon, you'll be just like your despicable friend over there. I had thought you were honourable, but you have no respect!" Sol scoffs. "You deserve to be put on display by his side, I reckon! It is befitting. Fairy Tail is really full of unpleasant ones!"
Sol shakes his head in disappointment, waving his arm dismissively in the direction—
—in the direction of a fully petrified Elfman Strauss, frozen as he reached out toward something in his arms that weren't there.
His eyes are seized in fear, his mouth calling out a name with a voice that wasn't there, but Max heard vividly. Elfman's just two steps before tears, because he'd lost the ability to sob and scream so long ago. He'd always turn into himself and curl up into indifference, because that's the only way he knew how to suppress himself.
(Max remembers hearing Elfman pleading for forgiveness through his nightmares vidily, as do everyone that stay in Fairy Tail's male dorms.)
(No one in Fairy Tail blames Elfman for his crimes.)
(How could they, when Elfman's so vividly haunted by his own existence?)
Max wrenches back into reality so instantly, so quickly— it was as if someone had poured icy water all over him.
Sand, when wet, becomes mud.
That is why, Max can only stare sluggishly and miserably at Elfman's expressions frozen in such palpable despair— and he is filled with such unspeakable rage , he screams without thinking.
His eyes affix on Sol's distant figure at the end of the long hall, and he's ripping his arms away from the rocks, ignoring the way his skin tears and his bones half-stone protest, clatter, and shift. He ignores it all.
"You FUCKER, GET BACK HERE!"
Max is not strong. He knows that better than anyone.
That is why, when he screams, he fights, loud and flamboyant and relentless, without tactic nor style, just explosion and burst as he roars for attention against the weight in his feet and the painful clatter in his bones.
The array of earthen spikes spear through his torso and arm. The wall behind him shatters as he's sent flying skyward with the force of the spear, right into the air, plunging through the sky and falling down, down—
—right into armoured and scaled claws, accompanied by the settle of wings flapping in the air.
"--ax! M— ma…x, MAX!"
Lucy— no, that's Mirajane, since she's flying? Mirajane's eyes wide with horror as she desperately calls, desperately pleading for him to stay awake.
Max sighs. "Ahhh," he murmurs. "I'm so lame."
He doesn't hear what comes next, but he knows Mirajane puts him down somewhere.
Well, what was he even planning, anyways? That he would be able to win against an S-class as a mediocre mage if he's angry enough? How laughable. He's not that kind of a wizard. He's barely much of a wizard, to begin with.
He sighs, looking toward the sky.
"...thanks," Mirajane says. "I'm sorry, I—"
"Just go," Max dismisses, waving his better arm about. "Go get Elfman so we can get all of this over with. I'll be taking a nap here."
Max turns away, so he doesn't see the way Mirajane bites her lip in frustration.
She stands, eyes resolved, turning toward the torso platform where Sol stood, fixing his monocle as their eyes meet in a silent declaration.
"Oh? How strange… Lucy Heartfilia is here," Sol frowns. "Non, non. That cannot be."
Mirajane has made herself a reputation for long, modest dresses. So the fact that she was wearing casual shorts and tees must be a dissonance.
"Yes, I'm here! I was sick of running away!" Mirajane yells, putting on a show immediately. "I'm right here, so if you want me, come get me yourself, you cowards!"
Sol grimaces. "Master Jose… what are the orders?"
Nothing speaks, for a moment. People are beginning to notice Mira up there, from Fairy Tail members knowing it's Mira, to other Phantom members jumping at the chance to get a good contribution in.
The shadow under Sol's feet bubbles.
"[It doesn't matter.]"
The announcement comes cold. It reverberates, through not just Sol's shadow, but everyone's, like the revenant of the golem itself, solemn and hollow.
"[Even if you weren't obviously a fake… did you really think I'd have any care for Lucy Heartfilia now? Are you mocking me, Mirajane?]"
Mirajane curses, but she doesn't get to spread her wings out before the tendrils of shadows rise from the ground, winding around her feet and arms, binding her in place.
Jose's magic—!!
Abruptly, spectres emerge all around her, surrounding her in seconds. She gasps.
"[If you want to be the center of attention so much, then, I'll oblige]" Jose's voice sings in mockery. "[Give her hell, Phantoms!]"
There's a cheer from fallen and rising Phantom Lord members as they hail at the idea of new fun. Mirajane feels the reverberations of the roar through the ground, and she's bound too tightly in place to escape. She curses.
Her nails cut into her palms, desperately, desperately— but her transformation rises from her feet and ends at her knees, refusing to go any further.
She curses, louder.
A spectre runs through her, sapping away what little magic she had left along with her disguise of Lucy, and she falls to her knees, cradling herself, helpless. She sobs.
"No! No," she knows that people are coming closer any second. Sol is still looking down at her from so far away, disappointed. "I can't do anything…"
She can't protect anyone. Max is only going to be in danger if he stays here, but she can't get him out of here. She's at their mercy now.
(How could she be so pathetic?)
She's helpless, on the ground, unable to move. She pulls harshly against the bindings, bruising her limbs but to no avail. She can only wait for the inevitable— she doesn't know what she can do.
("I don't know what I can do," Mirajane had pleaded back then, too. "He took over the Beast and lost control… I can't fight him. I can't help you, I think he broke my legs… I can't do anything…")
("It's okay, Mira-nee! I'll try something, okay? We're bringing Elf-niichan back with us. It'll be okay. It'll be okay…")
"We found her!"
"Woah, she's one hot chick!"
"What do we do about the guy?"
"Haha, leave him!'
"He's kind of in the way, though! Throw him off the edge or something."
Mirajane clenches her teeth in frustration. The small fries that had fallen and avoided the Fairy Tail members had crowded around her, leaving the guild members on the bottom platform fighting spectres, calling her name, but unable to help.
"Crap– Mira! Max!"
"We need to get up there!"
"How, we can't fly, and the road up is covered by spectres and phantom members!"
(Mirajane can only wait to be saved.)
"Hey, Miss Mirajane! How's it like living with a brother that murdered his own sister?"
And everything stops. She does not see any of the people around her, taking her shoulder and grabbing at her hair— she only looks up toward where Sol once stood. He still stand there, but beside him, a few Phantom members have a statue of Elfman by their side as they pose and jeer at it.
And oh. Oh, Elfman looks so afraid. He looks so afraid.
(Who was it?)
(Who made him show that expression again?)
Elfman is petrified reaching somewhere downward, and from here— he's looking right in her direction, calling for her, pleading for his big sister.
Anything, to save him.
(And something inside Mirajane immediately, instantly, snaps .)
A magic spell circle opens under her feet, larger, larger— and Mirajane roars , fists clenched and hair rising with the sheer palpable magic. She screams, lashing right out, startling and throwing off all around her as the force of magic rises and ripples, a force wave sending them all flying back and off the arm of the golem, scattering in horror.
"Woah, what the fuck?!"
"Crap, get out! Get out of the way!"
Mirajane hated violence. Elfman was meek and weak-hearted Both of those statements are lies, because Lisanna was the only one that was ever the embodiment of pacifism and peace in their hearts, and she was sweet enough for both of them.
So Mirajane wanted to be an angel, a flower fairy, if it meant Elfman could smile again. She wanted to be the kind and dear sister. She wanted to be beautiful, kind, and gentle, just like Lisanna, to fill in the gaps she left behind.
So neither of them would have to be reminded of their mistakes, borne from unthinking violence , ever again. So they wouldn't have to remember how Lisanna died, the injuries that broke her so thoroughly she was blinded by sheer agony in her final moments, unable to even see her sister one last time before her eyes closed.
(But fuck that.)
(Fuck all that.)
If it's for her brother, Mira's willing to be a demon. She's willing to become the embodiment of senseless violence and cruelty, the representation of evil, Satan itself.
Anything, as long as it's for him.
(How could she have forgotten that?)
Mirajane feels her skin tear and pull into place. She feels her clothes shift away for armor and scales and talons. She groans through the horns that emerge and curve around to frame her face, and her teeth bulge into the fangs that she was once so proud of for how it matches Natsu's and gave them a name as family. She started to hate them, when she realized how much her normal teeth resembled Lisanna's instead.
But now… it didn't matter.
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY BROTHER WITH THOSE FILTHY HANDS!"
Elfman doesn't understand much when he awakes.
He just knows Mirajane is sitting beside him, sobbing incoherently, cradling him— and there is destruction. So much destruction around him.
Sol lays lifeless upon shattered rubble, buried three feet in the ground halfway. The heaps of carnage around him are even more horrifying. No one seems to be dead, just unconscious and traumatized— and they all look, not toward him, but toward Mirajane in fear.
"...did I do this?" Elfman asks.
Just to make sure.
Mirajane shakes her head, smearing away her tears. Her hair is loose. Her hands are chapped and bruised. The lasting remnants of Satan soul paint her hands black, because she still hasn't composed herself enough to shift the skin around there back to the spotless texture of a gravure model.
"No…" she looks toward him. "I did." Then, lunging forward to wrap him in her arms, "I'm so glad you're alright, Elfman."
Elfman hugs back.
Maybe this is fine.
If he's a monster, then he can be assured that, at the very least, he's not alone.
"I'm sorry, Sis," he whispers, feeling the bite of tears rising back to him. "Sorry for making you do this. It's because I—"
Mirajane shakes her head. "I've never once regretted becoming a demon, Elfman. Because I did it for you. For both of you. And I'll never hesitate, ever again."
They cry, and mourn.
And they're both alive.
Erza looks down from the head of the golem, just in time to catch Mirajane whipping through the air in all her feral glory, slamming right into the golem and sending a violent quake through the air.
"Well… I guess I don't have to worry about that," she deems.
She can't help but smile, proud.
Erza's almost at the Guild Master's hall, but someone stops her in her tracks— Aria of the Heavens, standing before the hall, his eyes blindfolded, tears streaming down his face. His hands are held in a prayer, and he sighs.
"How miserable," he mourns, "how miserable, all of you are…"
Erza draws her sword immediately.
"Do you not feel sad, Titania?"
Erza raises a brow. "Sad? For what?"
"For everything," Aria says. "For the world, full of misery, hate, and tragedy… for the world, that can only continue to fight. For people, who only have malice and disagreements. For everything."
Erza scowls. "I do not believe you have the right to be upset for any of that. Your guild picked the battle."
"Yes, we did. But if your acceptance of the battle is the effect of our actions… our actions, too, were the effect of the young heiress being discovered in your guild. And the young heiress, too, ran away as an effect of her father's treatment, of her desire to find independence… shall we go further?"
Aria pulls away his blindfold, his red eyes finding Erza's scarlet hair scatter in the wind, matching the crimson dun of the red carpet under their feet.
"The root of the issue is none of our business, and yet, we face the consequences for it. Do you not feel sad?" Aria asks once more. "Humanity is fated to go on like this, never to let go of hatred. We don't even know where this hatred between our guild stems from, and yet, we take it within our hearts, and pass it along from generations to generations. It is so saddening…So, so, saddening…"
Erza's face remains indifferent.
"You, too, have suffered at the hands of humans, have you not?" Aria directs his sermon to her. "I am sorry for you, and I am sad for you."
Erza's eyes narrow immediately. "I do not require your sympathy."
Aria hums in acknowledgement, a sad smile on his face.
"That, too, makes me sad," he admits. He holds his hands up again. "You have listened to me. That is a first, and I am grateful. Then, shall we begin our battle?"
Erza points her sword forward. "It was no problem at all, you have given me some insight that I will ponder upon at a later date. Regardless, I will not hold back."
"You are a kind child," Aria says, sincerely. "So kind, I'm sad once again, that we must fight."
Aria takes magic.
Erza has a lot of that, but even Master Makarov fell against it.
"For mages, their magic is their life force. The older you are, the more dependent you become to your magic, as you've spent longer kneading it into your very being, strengthening your body until it can no longer support itself without that magic running through your veins," Aria says. "Now, tell me, Titania. Have you reached that level?"
Erza did not need to answer. She rests on one knee, arms shaking as she holds her sword up. There are circles under her eyes and her face is starkly pale. She has to strain to keep upright.
But she is alive, and she can continue moving.
"I see. You are not at that level yet," Aria says. "Don't be ashamed. Master Makarov is much older and stronger than any of us. We must be humble and accept it."
"I do not care for surpassing the Master!" Erza says, her voice coming out harsher than intended due to the effort it takes to stay awake. She stands up, raising her sword forward, trembling. "You've taken all my magic. Now, fight me for real!"
Aria frowns. "This battle is over, Titania."
No, it isn't.
Erza puts one foot before the other. The shadows drag her feet, but she pulls on forward.
"I do not need more than just this single sword in my hand," she declares. "As long as my feet work and my heart beats strong, I will continue to fight!"
"Admirable, but fruitless," Aria declares, winds whipping to life around him. "A mage weakened by Magic Deficiency can never stand up to one with overabundance."
Erza proves him wrong very quickly.
Her blade splices through the wind, severing the pressure right from its core. Aria's eyes widen, but the next gust of wind is easily avoided, and Erza follows the tornado's path to bring her sword down, using the velocity to her advantage.
"You're kidding—!!"
"You rely too much on your magic, Aria!"
Erza declares, landing on a foot, before leaping upward, crossing another tide of winds, merging into a hurricane that shatters with the flick of her blade— and finally, she finds herself right before Aria, a blade at his neck.
"A mage is not the amount of magic one has, but the heart of one's will to connect with others," Erza says. "My magic is not overwhelming strength or the ability to fight across the sky… my magic is not to create an infinite amount of swords. My magic, from the very beginning… has always been my determination, resilience, and the endurance to fight for the ones I love. You can take from me my swords and my magic power— you will never take away what I am!"
Aria falls to his knees, befcause he knows now. He cannot summon anymore wind, lest he hits himself in the process. He cannot take her magic, for she has none, and she will fight, even dead on her feet.
She will fight on, until she is truly free .
One cannot capture a fairy in their hands, not even a master of the winds. A fairy does not soar on their wings, but on the dust of their footsteps, shining with the abundance of their meaning to live.
Aria's eyes close.
"...I admit defeat."
There is nothing else he can do as the butt of the sword comes harshly down upon the back of his skull, and he knows nothing else.
Erza falls to his knees with a sigh.
"Alright, next is…"
"Yeah, that's far enough," Jose says, and Erza jerks upright in time to see Jose emerge from the Guild Master's Hall.
Erza jumps back, but the shadows emerge as a large hand, and it clasps around her face so quickly, the sluggish pull in her shadows makes it impossible to avoid.
Natsu emerges in a house.
A familiar house.
Romeo gasps at the sight of him popping up from the shadows, and Loe turns around in shock.
"Natsu?!"
"What the— this is Mama Enno's house?!" Natsu lifts his head in surprise. His feet are still heavy— Levy is on the bed, Lucy on the armchair beside it. He guess Jet and Droy are outside. Ryos can reach a horrifying distance.
(But if he sent Natsu here, then…)
"GET DOWN!" Natsu yells immediately, throwing up a handful of fire into the ceiling right as a metal pillar plunges into the roof, shattering it and driving deeply into the ground.
Fire and iron scrape past each other, diverting each others' path just enough to hit no one but each other.
Loke hisses, lunging for Lucy, covering her from the spray of sawdust. Romeo holds onto the bed, and Levy groans, struggling to sit up.
"Wha—"
Lucy holds her breath as she startled awake, horrified.
"Stop targeting the weak, you piece of crap!" Natsu yells.
The iron foot retracts, but Natsu grabs onto it immediately, arm burning a grip onto the solid just long enough to get pulled up with him. Gajeel winces at the burn, but pulls his foot up faster, wider– and flings natsu into the air.
Gajeel doesn't respond to that taunt. Instead, he turns back to the room, where Romeo looks up in horror and Levy's eyes are held toward him in fear as she clenches the sheets— and he averts his eyes.
"Ryos! Get the heiress and report back to Master Jose!" he commands. "...I'll deal with Natsu here."
Black tendrils of shadows immediately emerge from the ground, and Lucy gasps.
"That's Jose's magic!"
Gajeel scoffs. "No it fucking isn't!"
It doesn't matter. Loke's hands gleam with light as he swings a fist around, and the wisps of black crumbles in an instant.
His eyes widen, realizing something. "He's right… it's weaker."
"That's good news!" Lucy says.
"You're so mean, Big Brother Loke!" Romeo balks, halfway through helping Levy get up and leading her out. "Hurry, hurry!"
Levy winces, bobbling on one foot, holding onto Romeo to meander pas the furniture as quickly as they can. "I'm okay, I'm okay…"
"What the— Loke! Ryos is trying his damn best, okay?! He's fucking incredible!" Natsu snaps, "He sent me all the way here from the guild! How fucking cool is that?!"
"Natsu, whose side are you on?!?" Loke yells back, mortified.
"You shut the hell up and get your damn own!" Gajeel snarls at Natsu.
"Hah?" Natsu snarls right back, "get my own? Bitch, you obviously can't handle your own. He's mine now, fucker . Ryos listens to me."
"No the fuck he don't."
"Yes the shit he do."
"RYOS! TELL THIS BITCH YOU DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!"
"DON'T TELL HIM, RYOS! LET HIM BE CONFUSED LIKE THE DUMBASS HE IS!"
"STOP YELLING, HE'S NEVER GOING TO COME OUT IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP!"
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH."
"Shh, Romeo, no watching," Levy whispers, covering her ears, arm resting heavily against the boy. "You'll catch the stupid. Let's hurry out of here."
Romeo stares between them, slightly amazed, but continues walking. "Mages are so cool."
"Romeo, no."
"Lucy, can you get up?" Loke asks, also in hushed voices.
Lucy nods. She cradles the flask bracelet with confusion.
"What on EARTH is happening in ma'HOUSE?!"
All movement stops in horror as a tall woman in heels kicks the door down with explosive vigour.
Enno is holding a dented pan in one hand and a bottle of disinfectant in the other. Even Ryos peeks out of the shadows, wide-eyed with horror as the woman glares at everything with the most unamused expression ever.
She clicks her tongue indignantly.
"First y'all barged in like no one's business. I had the night shift and I'm running on two minutes of sleep. I don't have makeup on. Then you bring my fucking ex hubby in and subject me to his presence. AND THEN YOU BREAK MY ROOF."
Gajeel looks over to see Natsu's face pale as he holds his breath.
Natsu takes one tiny inch of a step back and Enno barks , "I can SEE YOU, BRAT!" Then she turns to Gajeel, "you're the culprit, bitch, don't you think you're getting out of here alive if you run away now! ALL OF YOU," Loke, Lucy, and Romeo jump in surprise, "you better clean this shit up before you go!"
"YES MAMA ENNO WE ARE SORRY!"
"...Good," Enno deems.
Enno inspects the work, nodding sagely. Natsu and Gajeel are on their knees right outside the front door of this house, awkwardly waiting for her assessment to be over.
"Alright, now, I don't care what you destroy," Enno says. "What did I always say about destroying buildings and causing trouble?"
"...I can do it as long as I don't get caught," Natsu murmurs. "...Sorry, Mama Enno."
"Exactly. You get caught, you're paying for it, and you are going up and apologizing whether you are wrong or not!" she says. "So don't get caught next time! I'm disappointed in you."
Gajeel is speechless. Utterly appalled.
"Alright," Enno says, huffing, satisfied. "Now get out of here, and fight outside. And what did I say about dead and bleeding bodies?"
"As long as it's not in front of your doorstep," Natsu says, deadpanned.
"Good. As long as you understand," Enno pats him gently on the head, ruffling his hair a little. She waves at him like she's dismissing a dog or cat, "Now scram, because the injured need to rest."
The second the door begins to swing closed, Natsu rises and slams a fist into Gajeel's face.
"BITCH!"
"FUCKER!"
"Ryos still idolizes ME, not you! This is why! Ryos is better than th– WAIT," Gajeel winds around, horrified, "WHERE IS RYOS?!" Loke and Lucy are gone, too.
Natsu jeers. "Ryos loves me!"
"Did you brainwash him!? I thought better of you!"
"JUST ADMIT DEFEAT ALREADY!"
Natsu groans, gaining distance before winding up fire at his arm.
"Fire Dragon's— TALONS!" he swings a violent lunge, and Gajeel's brow twitches in annoyance before he leans back for an easy dodge.
A single swing of the foot sharply upward, and Natsu gets socked right up the jaw with a metal foot. Gajeel immediately brings the same leg right back down in an axe kick.
It nails Natsu right in the middle of the spine, earning a sharp gasp as he crumbles painfully to the ground, air knocked out of him.
Gajeel's teeth grinds.
"I've had just about enough of you shit," Gajeel mutters.
Natsu grunts, balling a fist. "Fire Dragon's—" he throws his head up with a breath of fire, "ROAR!"
Gajeel sidesteps it, kicking Natsu across the face from the side.
"You preach pride and honour and all that nonsense. I've never seen a bigger damn hypocrite than you!" Gajeel snaps.
Natsu hisses, lunging forward bodily, knee and head slamming into Gajeel's figure, throwing him off his feet.
"I'm not a hypocrite!" Natsu yells, "you're the last person I want to hear any shit from, you despicable—"
"Despicable?" Gajeel snarks, kicking him in the gut, sending him right off. "Tell me, Natsu. Who are you fighting for? For that chick I nailed to the tree? For the princess called Lucy? Since when were you such a gentleman?"
"They're my comrades in the same guild," Natsu grinds his teeth. "Not that you would understand. You don't care for anyone."
"Right," Gajeel scoffs. "That's why they all smell absolutely nothing like you, right?"
Natsu falls silent.
"You think I don't know you?" Gajeel says. "You think I don't know how possessive you are? How much you fight me for pack superiority? You think I won't know?"
Natsu's eyes are wide, his fist clenched. He looks down.
"Tell me, Spitfire," Gajeel says. "Do you actually care for anyone in this guild you claim to love? Do you actually give a shit about this town?"
Natsu doesn't say a thing.
And that's answer enough.
"That's none of your business," Natsu says. "I am fighting because you picked a fight with us. I am fighting because you hurt my guild and Lucy asked for help. I am fighting because you're in my territory and I don't agree with your methods."
"Those are the truth," Gajeel says, "but since when were you the kind to follow orders?"
Natsu mentions so many things that seem to go without saying. He's fighting because the guild is hurt. Of course, he does, he's a member.
He has not mentioned himself yet.
"You aren't angry for your guild members," Gajeel says, hand at his chest. "The only person you feel anger for, toward, is me, right? You're angry at me, for doing something so cruel. You couldn't give more or less of a crap if the person I nailed to the tree was that girl, or the guy that ran off with the princess, some random shopkeeper from the city, a fucking tourist, or even your Master. They're all the same to you."
"Don't you DARE try to rank them in your standards!" Natsu snaps, "I'm not like you! I don't classify my important people in levels —"
"Try to lie to me again!" Gajeel shouts.
Natsu clamps shut.
"You don't trust them," Gajeel says.
"I do," Natsu insists. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Then," Gajeel challenges, "why are you announcing your attacks before you use them? 'Fire Dragon' this, 'Fire Dragon' that… Are you trying to mock me? Are you a toddler that doesn't even know how to roar without reminding yourself what to do?"
Natsu doesn't even look up.
Gajeel scoffs. "You always stay silent when you're uncomfortable.. So, fine, then. I'll take that as your answer."
Natsu bites his bottom lip.
"Spitfire," Gajeel says, "why are you staying in your guild, when you clearly so fucking hate it? What makes your situation any different from my own?"
Natsu's teeth grind, and when he finally looks up again, his eyes are bubbled with fear and frustration.
"Stop talking like you understand anything," he says. "Stop talking. You don't understand anything. You don't understand a single thing!"
(Ah, Natsu remembers this.)
(He remembers being told this.)
(He remembers exactly what he shouted at Lucy when she told him those words, 'you don't understand'.)
('How are any of us supposed to understand when all you do is hide and lie and try to solve things yourself?')
( Ah , Natsu is such a hypocrite, and he's so painfully aware of it, he hates himself, hates himself, hates himself so much.)
Natsu is afraid. Afraid of being read, afraid of being understood.
(Because he is afraid of what will happen, once someone knows .)
(He is afraid, because he's now in far too deep to pretend to be anyone except 'Salamander Natsu'.)
"Tell me, Natsu Dragneel," Gajeel growls, "I hold onto Ryos because I love him. Do you no longer know how to love anything at all?"
(Dragneel. Dragneel. Dragneel.)
(Love.)
"Of course I know how to love something," Natsu says. "I'm the most possessive person you know. I fight you for the kids all the time. Little Blue is still mine ."
"Then why aren't you holding onto her?"
Natsu doesn't know how to answer that.
"Have you even tried to look for her? For your little Sunshine?" Gajeel asks. "I've been trapped in my cage. What is your excuse?"
(Stop.)
(Enough already. Enough.)
Natsu's hands burn, trialing up his arm, across his sleeves, consuming all the way into his scarf and eating into his hair.
"I'm not listening anymore," Natsu says.
"What happened to you in the seven years I was gone?" Gajeel demands.
Natsu screams, "SHUT UP ALREADY!"
His voice shatters. He runs forward, no rhyme nor reason, flames burning hotter than heat can go, fire burning so infernally Gajeel's iron bends under the fist as he flies into the woods, trees failing to cushion his flight path.
"This is why I hate you," Natsu says. "I was going to understand you."
He was going to forgive Gajeel. He knew things turned out horribly when it came to protecting the kids. He knew it didn't justify it, but they were brothers, they were fellow dragons. He understood the desperation.
He wanted to forgive Gajeel. He wanted to make up. He wanted to go back to those days they just fought over childish nothings, full of fury but never malice.
And yet.
"You've never allowed us to understand you," Gajeel says, grunting as he rises from the debris, dusting off splinters and charred wood, spitting out a mouthful of blood and a tooth. "And yet, you go on tirades about it. I fucking hate you too, you fucking spoiled brat."
Gajeel's hands are heavily bruised. Natsu charges toward him without another word, fire churning through his feet and rocketing him forward.
The next explosion consumes the entire forest.
"So Aquarius gave me this? Why?"
"Ah, uh… I wouldn't know," Loke says, averting his eyes, looking around quickly. "I filled it with water for ya. You can use water magic out of it."
"For real?! That's cool! But why didn't she fill it up in the first place? She's kinda stingy," Lucy beams, running alongside him. "But how'd you know that?"
"What? How'd I— she said so. Yeah, she talked. To me. After you left, kinda. She told me. She explained it," Loke fumbles. He also doesn't want to admit he drank every drop of the water that was in that flask. Lucy would ask so many questions. It's deadly toxic to humans, like raw Ethernano would be. "I don't know, okay?! Just— you'll figure it out! Anyways, the kid's catching up!"
"Right!"
Lucy continues to stare skeptically at Loke, but she dismisses it in favour of focusing on the road. They finally make it to their destination— Fairy Tail's safehouse in the corner of town.
Shutting the doors behind them, Loks turns around, Lucy standing behind him apprehensively.
"You sure he'll chase us in here?"
"He's been ordered to catch us. If Natsu and Gajeel's treatment of him is any indicator, he's a kid that listens to orders," Loke says. "Plus, it's more tactical to be in a closed area when fighting the shadows."
Lucy frowns. "Isn't it usually the other way around? There are also a lot of shadows in here. Maybe more, since we don't have the sun."
Loke chuckles. "Not always. Not for me."
They stay silent for a minute, looking around them warily. The slightest haze of the shadows around them indicate that Ryos is, in fact, here.
"If you won't show yourself first, then I guess we'll make the first move," Loke declares, hands lighting up with light.
"Woah! Ring magic is so versatile!" Lucy looks over, "wait, did you have a ring like that?"
"Lucy, I'm a shy guy, so please, if you stare at me so much, I'm going to get nervous and mess up," Loke pleads, "please look away."
Lucy squints, pouting. "Liar! You're the boldest dummy playboy I've ever seen."
Loke's smile wrinkles, but he crouches down and plants his hands on the ground. A wave of light ripples through the ground instantly, crawling up the wall in a scan and permeating through the ceiling—
—-the shadows run and gather and flicker, until Ryos drops out the center of the ceiling before all shadows disappeared, biting down on his bottom lip in frustration.
Ryos finally reveals his form, scruffy black hair clot against pale skin, his heavy cloak trailing fully to the ground, slits around the side revealing his arms against dark sleeves.
Loke and Lucy fall immediately silent.
Lucy covers her mouth. "Wait… but you're so young ," she whispers, mortified.
Ryos' brow twitches. He says nothing, waiting for the beam of light to dim, before beginning to slide back into the shadows once more.
"What— hold on, you brat!" Loke steps forward, reaching toward Ryos immediately with a fierce grab at his collar.
Bursts of shadow whips split apart from under Ryos' cloak, sliding out from the slits in the cloak and piercing through Loke's shoulder before he could step back from it.
"Loke!" Lucy calls. "I see… we eliminated all the shadows but his clothes still create some… it's better not to get close to him! I'll fight! You focus on generating light!"
Loke blinks in surprise. "I can fight too…"
"No," Lucy says, "you can't."
She holds out the flask before her, twisting it open and holding it toward him affrontingly. "I can tell, you know! Your magic power's running all weird right now! You're far from being in condition to fight!"
"Neither are you," Loke says. "What do you think you can do without any of your spirits?"
"Yes, but I have this!" Lucy says, holding up the flask bracelet, Lionrock. "This much is enough to deal with a kid, don't you think?"
"...not a kid."
Lucy and Loke turned to Ryos.
His shadows rise like smoke from under his cape, and his teeth grinds, his eyes burn, irritated.
"I'm not a kid," he says. "I'm strong. I'm a proud—" He stops himself. There are frustrated tears in his eyes. "I'm not a burden," his voice is so, so soft. It's as if he's trying to convince himself of his own words, black fog unwillingly escaping his mouth with every movement of his lips. "I'm the child of an Elemental, too."
Lucy steps back, confused. "Wait, kid— I don't think you should fight like that—"
"Shadow Dragon's…" he whispers, hands clenching halfway like claws, reaching up to his mouth as he takes a deep, intensive breath. "ROAR!"
"Wha– No way!" Lucy gasps.
"A dragon slayer?!" Loke throws himself before them both immediately, "LUCY, GET DOWN!"
Regulus flares to life, and Lucy ducks under her arms as she feels Loke's back press into her font, and they simply brace themselves against the blast as strongly as they can, the light blinding them all as they clash against the roar of the shadow dragon and erupts, shattering everything around it.
Loke immediately falls to his knees, breathing heavily, clenching his chest, eating in the agony that courses through his very veins. His breath hitches, and his form flickers and glitches, and he curls deeper into himself, doing his best to stay intact.
He is so grateful for that flask of Celestial Fountain water right now. Thank you, Aquarius, I'll never call you scary ever again. Oh my god.
"Loke! LOKE!"
Lucy calls toward him. Thankfully, she's completely unharmed.
It's giving him a headache. He's just got a refill and he's just used it all up. His clothes are shredded and he can't think straight. Everything's foggy and he can't see— it's the effect of the Shadow Dragon's breath.
He squeezes his eyes shut and breathes out.
"I'll leave… the rest to you—" he gives in, "you can fight for me, right, Lucy?"
Lucy is silent for a surprised moment. Then, she nods. "Yes!" she resolves. "Stay here and rest, I'll take care of it! "
Loke smiles.
Lucy stands firm, pulling Lionrock over her wrist and tightening it in place, smiling at the way a spiral of water surrounds her hand immediately.
Ryos breathes heavily, clearly strained by the breath, his mouth smoking as he spit something dark out, wiping his mouth and cringing.
"I'm going to defeat you and bring you back to Master Jose," Ryos says. "I'm strong, too. I can do this alone."
Lucy frowns. "You're one uncute kid."
Ryos slides into the shadows, emerging under Lucy's feet. Lucy leaps, flipping back in a high somersault. She lashes down with a spray of water, and Ryos ducks under his cloak, leaving holes in the fabric but himself unharmed.
"It's not very strong!" Lucy hikes up onto the second floor ledge, pulling herself up by the railing. "But the area of attack is wide…"
Ryos slides back into the shadows, emerging footfirst right behind Lucy.
Lucy yelps, leaping right back around the railing once more, using it to swing herself to the ceiling fan, grabbing onto the blades and maneuvering herself up with her feet.
"There are shadows there too, Lucy!" Loke warns.
Lucy leaps off the ceiling fan right before Ryos emerging from the ceiling with a shadow-clad fist. It pounds against her shoulder, and she winces as the shadow shreds through skin.
Lucy sends a lash of water his way, but it dissipates, not causing more than a graze as it hits. It just didn't have enough force.
Lucy curses, falling all the way down to the ground. She hugs herself into a preparatory position and Loke catches her safely.
"What are you, a cheerleader?"
"Quiet, I had to survive, okay, I learned things," Lucy complains. "What's with Lionrock? It's not strong, it's not binding… it's not far enough of a range to use as a projectile weapon, either. How do I use a weapon like this?"
"...You're using it wrong," Loke says. "You're wasting the water just firing it out like that. You have a limited supply in that small flask."
Lucy frowns. "What else am I supposed to do, then?"
Loke sighs, spinning around a kick right as Ryos launches out with an elbow. He sends the kid flying back into the shadows, and he hisses.
"What does Lionrock look like to you?"
"...a bracelet? A bottle?" Lucy doesn't know where this conversation was going. "I guess if I stretch, a huge ring?"
Loke sighs. "What about a handle?"
Lucy stares at him, utterly confused. Then she takes the bracelet off and holds it as one would a tambourine. The opening of the flask can be twisted open like a bottle cap… wait, this kind of looks like a monkey bar handle? So it's meant to be held onto?
"OH," she realizes, taking out her whip. The back end of the hilt also had a screw opening, usually for adornments, since this is a decorative whip. She looks at Loke, realizing that she is an idiot. "OH."
"Stop repeating yourself."
"OH!" Lucy screams, "WAIT, give me a second! A second!"
"Calm down."
Loke spins around just in time to send a blast of light in Ryos' face. Ryos screams, abruptly blinded.
Loke ducks away, and Lucy winds her whip back, holding it by the bangle. A surge of magic passes through the bracelet as the carving light up blue in Aquarius' trademarks, and water surges through the length of the whip, spiralling it with a coursing flow of water.
"Here goes nothing!" Lucy declares, throwing down her whip, dragging it forward with the weight, ripping right through the ground with the force of a water vortex, crushing through with explosive bursts equivalent to a pressure washer.
Ryos recovers just enough of his sight to slide into the ground once more, but the ground tears apart along with his shadows, and he escapes only for the waters to chase. Lucy races against him, water spraying so violently across the area every drop felt like acid upon his skin, burning through his cloak bit by bit.
He finally stumbles back, his cloak in shreds, his hands scalded, his feet losing the strength to try again.
Loke seizes him by the wrist, and Ryos curses. His hand flickers, but Loke holds on tighter, disallowing him from phasing back into the form of a shadow.
"I can't— why—?!"
Ryos curses as Loke lifts him off the ground by the scruff with one arm.
"You need your feet to be on the ground to go into the shadows," Loke says. "And as long as it's me that's touching you, you can't go into either of our sleeve shadows, either."
Ryos frowns. "That's impossible. What are you?"
"That doesn't matter," Loke says.
Lucy grins, stepping forward with the whip once more. "We can keep going, kiddo. Be my guest!"
Ryos curses.
But there's nothing he can do.
"I can't… lose," he mutters. "I… and Gajeel will…"
Lucy sighs, stepping up to him, holstering the whip at her belt. "Look, it sounds like you've got it tough, too. But it'll be fine, alright?" she says. "Who's scaring ya?"
Ryos shrinks into himself, reaching up to cover his head, insecure now that his trusty cloak no longer hid his body language. He averts his eyes.
"...Master…"
"Ah, Jose," Lucy says, smiling warmly. "He scares me too! But it'll be alright! As long as you stay with us, Jose can't touch you, I promise that."
Ryos purses his lips, disbelieving. "He can always find me. Our shadows are connected."
"You're the Shadow Dragon Slayer," Loke says. "If his magic is in your shadow, then eat it, kid. Have you never thought of that?"
"Eat what ," Lucy says, "what?"
Loke raises a brow. "Lucy, are you not aware that Dragon Slayers eat… nevermind, that doesn't matter. But Ryos, listen to me. You let go of all your shadows that are in Jose's range, and then you eat the rest. Jose's distracted right now, so do it quickly. If anything goes wrong, I'll use my light magic, alright? You've got nothing to worry about."
Ryos frowns. "And why should I trust any of you?"
Lucy and Loke's eyes meet.
"No one in this world can be trusted. Everyone abandons me after a while," Ryos says, "even Skiadrum did. I'm just a burden to Gajeel. Master Jose wouldn't think twice to kill me. There's no one I can trust in this world, and you're just using me too."
Lucy's fists clench.
"That's right. We're just using you, so the members of our guild can fight without worry," she says. Loke hisses at her, startled by how crude she was being— but Lucy's eyes are firm and resolved. "I'm using you to my benefit, but take a calm look at me and think things through. Am I really the only one benefitting from this?"
Ryos' pauses in surprise.
Lucy takes his hands dearly. "What do you want, Ryos? And what do you need to achieve it? You want to run from Jose, don't you? Then wouldn't it be most tactical to use us right now, use our powers to your benefit, so you can finally be free? "
Ryos couldn't help but stare, wide-eyed, at the implication.
She's right. But Ryos had just always been too afraid, too meek, to take bold action like that. He's never been confident enough to employ a plan like. He's always been simply passively obeying orders.
(Can he really…?)
"Decide right now!" Lucy raises her voice, and Ryos jumps with urgency. "Don't hesitate. Trust your instincts, kid, or you'll never get another chance again!"
Ryos feels the answer come out of his throat before he thinks it through, his eyes burning with a selfish, childish desire. He's afraid, so afraid, and yet, he only thinks of how he should be honest. He doesn't think of the how or why— just the do .
"I want to be free," Ryos says, "I want to be free, I'll do what you say, so help me."
In the forest, charred and fire extinguished, Natsu sits, winded,stands in a field of burned leaves, with Gajeel by his feet, sprawled and unmoving, but not unconscious. He heaves, catching his breath, knowing more than anyone that the fight is over for both of them.
Natsu's hands tremble, his eyes are wide— and his breathing doesn't come smooth. He doesn't think. He thinks nothing at all. He falls to his knees, and simply stares at Gajeel's fallen form.
Ryos is not watching. Makarov cannot see him from here. There is no one around.
"I do love you," Natsu whispers. "Of course I do."
"Liar," Gajeel says. "You'd have killed me if you did."
Natsu's breath hitches, because he's right. Natsu loves Gajeel, of course he does— but it's not the sincere, genuine love that Gajeel has for Ryos, or Erza has for the Master, or Lucy has for her spirits.
Natsu cannot love the same way as anyone else, because he is not manufactured to.
He cannot love, for he is fated to kill the thing he loves most. He cannot divert from that path, he cannot allow anything to come in the way. For his sake, for Zeref's, and for the world's sake— he cannot.
"It's okay, though," Gajeel says. "We can stay as we've always been. That suits us just enough. Everything else is just semantics. There's nothing wrong with you."
Natsu crumbles to pieces. Everything is wrong with me.
"I want to love Fairy Tail, too," he admits, frustrated, and the tears don't even come. His voice shatters and bites, he cannot control the way it all hurts . "I want to. I promise I really, really do."
Gajeel lifts himself up, and reaches over to pull Natsu in by the scruff, so their heads rested against each other.
"Sorry for leaving you alone for seven years," Gajeel said. "I was dumb. I was so focused on the kids, I forgot you were still one, too."
They all were.
"I wasn't alone," Natsu says. And I'm not a kid. "I had Laxus. I had friends."
"But you were alone," Gajeel says. "The kids don't remember about you, but I do."
(And nothing changes. Never, for Gajeel. Not his emotions, not his resolve.)
This time, too. Gajeel's right. So Natsu simply bites his lip and buries his nails into the skin of his palms— and he lowers his head, something short of a cry leaving his throat.
When the weight in their legs are abruptly freed, the members of Fairy Tail lift their heads to the sky, and recognize not the loss of Ryos' hold, but the vibrant, comforting warmth of Master Makarov descending upon them.
Jose's roof shatters, and Makarov finds him with a foot upon Erza's head, her armour shattered around her, her body wedged between debris and a crater, unconscious.
"Skip the pleasantries," Jose says, "today is the day the Fairies die. If you must curse someone, curse the heiress, that brought this calamity upon you."
Makarov shakes his head. "We've all got skeletons in our closets, Jose," he says. "It changes nothing if one of us has monsters, demons, or phantoms instead. If a child runs my way… it is simply the job of the elders to look past those sealed doors and find a way into their hearts."
"What utter nonsense!" Jose snarls. "Even now, you simply preach your ridiculous ideologies. You're frustrating to interact with, you old coot!"
"I believe we're past the point of coming to an understanding," Makarov deems with a disappointed sigh. "Very well. I will give you to the count of three."
The Fairies won't lose.
The Specters never get any headway. Laki and Gray form a shield and structure around the guild hall, and the injured are quickly brought into safety. Once the shadows lost their hold on Fairy Tail, they came back with renewed vigour— the exhausted Phantom Lord members stood no chance.
Mirajane stands before the guild, and no one dares approach. Even the Specters yield, recognizing a greater darkness, heeling to the superior.
Lucy and Loke return to Enno's house with Ryos by their side. Levy, Jet and Droy are awake, if not active, and they want to hear everything that's going on. Ryos is more than happy to give them a breakdown of everything, because he's watched it all.
The heavenward light falls upon them, judgment, a striking call.
"Fairy Law is invoked!"