Happy Wednesday.
COVID just locked my city down again, so I'm out of work for a month or so… I suppose, that means more time for writing and creating. I hope you're all doing well in these crazy times!

~Onward

17

-Their Bond-

"Interesting point. Fire is also light," Jude pointed out with a victorious grin, "and if it is light, it is mine to control."

I don't understand! If you can control anyone with light attributed magic coursing through them, why haven't you just used your magic on ME and been done with it?!" Lucy screamed, terrified for her best friend who was walking toward her with blackened flames dancing between his outstretched hands.

"It crossed my mind," Jude replied bluntly. "But if the spell were to break at a crucial moment, say a business venture, or your wedding, I could lose everything."

"So, no qualms with literally stealing my freedom, not that I expected anything more from you," Lucy spat. Natsu chose that moment to slam the separate balls of black flames together and threw the newly formed globe of fire at her in what she recognized as a tainted form of his Brilliant Flame attack. Her eyes widened in terror, the spell was too large and too fast to dodge, Lucy threw her arms up to block her face and the giant spinning ball of fire clipped her shoulder. Despite the grazing hit, her body still spun to the side under its force and she landed hard on her opposite shoulder. A blistering cold spread deeply through her shoulder, it was an odd sensation, an intense burn that left her skin angry and red, but the impact itself, had been ice cold.

But...

Lucy ran her fingertips over the injury after pushing herself up onto her knees and set an appraising eye on her pink-haired friend. Natsu's face was still unreadable, his eyes cold and distant, lacking recognition. But Lucy was sure of one thing now...

Natsu had missed her, and Natsu never misses his shot on an unmoving target.

He was fighting the spell, and realizing that, seemed to set ablaze the tiny embers of hope she harboured. If Natsu hadn't given up, she wouldn't either. She'd break him out of it. "Now I gotta fire in my belly!" she cheered loudly.

The Dragon Slayer's attention snapped in her direction at his familiar battle chant, he blinked slowly, and for a moment, Lucy thought she'd already broken through to him. His eyes dimmed again though, and the black flames swelled around his fists again as he refocused on their fight. Resolution washed through every inch of her, answering his corrupted fire.

"Alright Natsu! LISTEN UP! We are going to take down my father together!"

Lucy was still feeling the effects of Wendy's enhancements, and the young girl vowed she would continue to support her in any way she could. The stellar mage charged in, stretching out low to skid by Natsu's feet and quickly spun to kick an outstretched leg. Leaping out of the reach of her kick, the fire mage responded with a fiery punch but pulled it back last minute to miss her chin. Lucy smiled, catching the emotions warring across his face, but didn't hesitate to use the the opportunity he'd provided her. Whipping a hard left hook into his ear, she sent him sprawling with merciless precision.

Natsu groaned and glared up at her.

"Thanks, Natsu, keep fighting the darkness," she told him fondly. The familiar green flecked through his eyes for a brief second before he shook it off, rolled back, and flipped up to his feet again. He bolted straight for her, throwing a barrage of fire laced hits at her, and she skipped back to create some space. Running around Natsu in a wide arc, Lucy caught Wendy's eye, from where she stood toward the outside of the room. "WENDY!"

The young dragon slayer chimed a confirmation, reading Lucy's plan without her having to say a word. Arching back with a deep inhale, she unleashed a perfectly positioned breath attack, catching Lucy's form and allowing her to ride the trajectory of her attack. A starry light exploded off Lucy's whip as she let it loose behind her, the blonde rotated midair and planted a foot square in the middle of Natsu's chest, driving him back. When his body arched back through the air, Lucy flew by him and snapped her whip out to wrap around his lower leg. She anchored her back foot, gripped the whip with a second hand and swung him around, slamming his body down to slide across the ground. Normally, she didn't think she'd be able to throw Natsu around like this, so she knew he was still pulling his punches, and judging by her father's expression, he'd come to the same conclusion. And he was pissed.

She couldn't resist the urge to rub salt in the wound.

"Guess your control over light isn't as absolute as you thought!" she shouted in taunt. Her father's eyes, the same brown she shared, though so icy in comparison, darkened as he met her gaze. Natsu's flames burst off him, orange flaring through the dark as he got back to his feet, only to be overwhelmed in black again. The pink-haired mage sucked in a long breath and roared out a torrent of dark flames that tore up shards of crystal in its wake. Lucy tried to dodge, knowing the spell's span would be too great, but Wendy had her back again. A burst of wind swept around her, pushing her the rest of the way out of the attack's path. "Nice save Wendy! Thanks!"

Recovering quickly, Lucy dragged a hand along the floor to slow her momentum and then, taking a leap of faith, she ran straight for the residual flames. Sprinting through the dark fire, she cringed as the freezing flames licked at her skin. Lucy burst out of the cover and dove at Natsu, wrapping her arms around his waist trapping one of his arms at his side. "Natsu! Please, it's me, follow my voice!" Lucy cried out.

He froze, the muscles of his jaw working in silent protest and black fire erupted off of him. Lucy responded in turn, releasing her own magic. Black and gold collided. If her father's magic was the exact opposite of hers, making it her weakness, then it stood to reason that hers, was his weakness as well. Light had as much potential to banish the darkness as was true of the reverse and Lucy was determined to steal the darkness away from Natsu. Their magic flared and his flames burned into her skin, but she fought on undeterred; crying his name in an elongated scream as her magic grew and began to push back the darkened flames.

Then, suddenly Natsu was screaming her name right back, and his true fire burst off him, bright and golden with a radiating warmth that soothed her injuries. Lucy recalled that the flames he wielded in Seven when they'd been caught in the rune trap, hadn't burned her or Erza then, either. 'Purifying Flames,' she thought in wonder, an embodiment of light and just like her star magic, this spell would never harm his comrades.

Lucy's eyes shifted up to find Natsu looking back down at her in astonishment, and then his usual toothy grin was back in place. "Thanks for calling out to me Lucy," he told her softly. Her arms were still wrapped tightly around his middle and he wrapped his one free arm around her shoulders, dropping his forehead to hers in a momentary reprieve. The warmth of his skin on hers, and his incredibly intimate gesture sent an indescribable happiness coursing through her, along with a host of other emotion she didn't have the time to ponder.

"Welcome back, Natsu..."

Haru

They'd been fighting for a while, and Ultear's orb was really starting to piss him off.

Haru had landed a few lucky shots but getting close enough to her to take advantage of her poor physical combat skills was proving rather difficult. He'd have to get creative. The time mage's orb whipped around and connected hard with the back of his head, knocking him forward. He shoulder rolled out of the force before planting his foot and pivoting in his half kneel, taking a deep inhale as he did so, Haru roared a destructive blast of water back at her. Caught off guard by his quick decision to shoulder roll and thus effectively use her attack to his advantage, Ultear was unable to dodge the full blast.

Undaunted by the destructive wall of water that rushed toward her, she responded with a second's thought. Haru gawked at the stance he was more than familiar with as she laid a closed fist against her open palm. The air around him suddenly presented a slight chill as she chanted, "Ice Make: rose shield!" His breath attack crashed into an interwoven pattern of ice, a large shield in the form of an intricate rose. The water he'd unleashed broke against its petals, spraying outward to bathe the room in a mist that left a film of moisture on the crystal floor.

Didn't see that one coming.

Irritation clung to him as much as the water that had dampened their clothing and the battlefield. They both watched each other closely, considering, and Haru analyzed his opponent as if she were someone totally new and unpredictable now. It was clear she'd still taken some damage from the attack before her shield had fully appeared. It was also suddenly more than clear to him, that Arc of Time was not her primary magic however often she relied on it. What he'd just seen had been an instinctual reliance on a magic she was obviously well versed in. Her true magic, one that must have been with her since the very first moment she'd manifested the potential to wield magic. Why then, would she keep it hidden? A trump card? Or something else?

No matter.

"Okay then," Haru muttered as he crouched and planted his hand to the ground, "Water Dragon's geyser!"

A tower of water erupted from the floor right under the apparent ice mage and she was propelled upward. Not missing the opportunity, Haru dissolved into his Flash Steps, arching across the space and appeared right above her to deliver a devastating hammer kick right below her chest. The wind was torn from her lungs as she hit the ground and she rolled to the side coughing up a splatter of blood. She wasn't down for long though. Standing, she swiped at the blood on her lip with the back of her hand, fixing the Water Slayer with a deadly look.

Spreading her arms wide, a lacrima orb appeared over each palm and with a flick of her wrists they were both sailing through the air to deliver a multitude of blows. Haru attempted to dodge or block, but the orbs were small and so unpredictable it was near impossible. He whipped up a whirlpool around him to slow the blows and began firing off precise water bullets, aiming to knock the crystals out of the air. After multiple shots, he finally shattered one but just as he went to celebrate the orb reformed itself with her Arc of Time.

Shit. Forgot about that little trick.

Haru paused to watch the pair of lacrimi return to orbit around Ultear's form as she stood casually with her palms up. "What do you intend to achieve here?" he asked her suddenly, the question that had been buzzing incessantly in his head finally getting the best of him. "If gathering the books of Zeref was never about using their power to bolster the magic council's, then what?"

Ultear pursed her lips, considering. "Have you ever considered that the legends around Zeref might not be accurate?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Maybe, his existence was never the evil that it was made out to be, Zeref had the potential to change this world, maybe for the better," she supplied vaguely.

"The Black Mage killed tens of thousands of innocent people! Even gone, the demons he unleashed on the world continue to take numerous lives!" Haru's emotions raged at her suggestion. Eira… and Gray's master and family... How could anyone possibly think a force like Zeref, could be anything but absolute evil?

"Lasting and meaningful change requires the purging of unnecessary excess weight." Her posture found a cocky stance as she ran a hand lazily through her long hair, "everything we do, we do for Zeref."

"Zeref is long DEAD!"

She smirked and Haru flinched at the conviction that crossed her face. "That's awfully short sighted of you, Haru."

Could they really bring Zeref back?

The assuredness in her stance and tone forced him to ponder the impossible thought frantically. The blue in Haru's eyes flashed back to her, water magic pulsing up around him again in response. He was done talking. The unspoken end of the conversation didn't escape Ultear's attention either and she blocked Haru's charge with another wall of frozen vines.

Haru would take her down, he had to. However, her masterful combination of the ice and time magics under her control made that much easier said than done.

Natsu

Natsu stood back beside Wendy, fighting his instincts to aid Lucy as he watched her go toe to toe with her father. The opposing star magics collided in streams of gold and black, painting the crystal room with glittering specs of light that made it feel like they were literally standing amidst the night sky. If Natsu wasn't so worried about the blonde, he would be challenged to take his eyes off it, it was nothing short of mesmerizing.

"Natsu," Wendy asked in a small nervous voice, "why aren't we helping?"

"This is Lucy's fight Wendy, and I know she can handle it," he assured the girl with a second's hesitation. He smiled down at her and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders to hold her against his side. Natsu cheered as Lucy's magic coated fist slammed into her father's temple, before his eyes shifted back to the preteen beside him. "We'll be ready to provide back up, if she needs it," he added.

Sparks flew as magic enhanced strikes were thrown and blocked, thrown and landed, and with every attack, Jude's patience dwindled and his fury grew more uncontrolled. He lashed out at Lucy and Natsu cringed as the blonde took a sharp kick to middle of her stomach, her body buckled in half and went flying back across the room. Flash-Stepping behind her, Natsu caught her form and slid back on his toes until their momentum was halted.

"You good Lucy?"

"Yeah!"

The determination in her voice was unmistakable as she shot back into the battle, completely undeterred by the hit. With her comrades providing a little back up, she had the confidence to finally take her life back from her father entirely. She would never again live with his threats hanging over her head after this day. Lucy charged forward, a fist cocked and magic whipping around her form, and Jude met her attack head on with a punch of his own ready to meet hers. The power of the impact of their fists sent a shockwave out around the room, prompting Wendy to bring her arms up in front of her to brace against the resulting winds. Waves of gold and black continued to pulse out, shattering chunks of crystal from the surrounding walls, but in the end, Jude's power was still overwhelming Lucy's.

Lucy cried out as the dark magic overtook hers and clawed its way down her body before exploding. She went flying again and this time, Wendy summoned a cushion of swirling air to catch her form, preventing further injury. Lucy dropped back to the ground landing on one knee and eyed her father as she wrestled with her own breath.

It was strange, her magic power didn't usually hold out this long, she'd summoned multiple spirits and been going at this battle ruthlessly with her star magic. So why? —The ethernano— that's it… The ethernano pouring over the tower seemed to cling to every molecule of air in their environment. So, there was at least four times the amount of ethernano to replenish their magic containers than usual, it was like fighting in a giant magic battery. Of course, that meant her father, and their enemies could draw on the same benefits. But…

A smile crossed Lucy's face, and when Jude saw it, his confidence actually faltered momentarily. That just meant she'd have to take him down in one shot, and she had just the spell. One she didn't normally have enough power to accomplish.

"Natsu! Wendy! Hold him off for me!" she shouted, and without questioning, the Dragon Slayers jumped into action, putting themselves between her and her father. She closed her eyes, took in a steadying breath and exhaled as her magic pressure began to increase. "Survey the Heavens, open the Heavens…" she started in a bare whisper. Gold light swirled around her and her hair whipped around her with it, "all the stars, far and wide, show me thy appearance with such shine." Jude immediately knew the incantation, terror pulled at his expression and he began erratically firing attacks at her.

"NOT happening!" Natsu yelled, and he and Wendy darted in between the spells, cancelling them out with blasts of fire and wind.

"Oh Tetrabiblos… I am the Ruler of the Stars… Aspect become complete… Open thy malevolent gate."

As the field of bright golden magic grew to encompass the entire room, pushing back the darkness, Jude began trying to steal the light of her spell in desperation.

"Oh 88 stars of the heaven, SHINE!" Jude's dark magic began to encroach at the edges of the spell, but then Lucy's eyes shot open, and her power vastly overwhelmed his. "Urano Metria!"

Natsu's eyes widened in amazement as the spell tore up the crystalline ground around Lucy in a wide-spanning, shallow crater. Then the vibrant gold magic ripped forward, carving a long crevasse in its wake before tearing straight through Jude's body. Arching through the air, his body fell limply to the ground, and then it was over, just like that.

Pride in the blonde flooded through the Fire Slayer, she was absolutely incredible. Wendy already had their comrade in an embrace and was jumping up and down, cheering with her. Natsu just watched on, a dumbfounded smile pulling at this face and with one last look at Jude, he crossed the room to stand in front of girls. In an instinctual gesture, he placed his hand on the top of Lucy's head, and gave her a beaming smile.

"You were amazing Lucy."

Haru

Fairy Tail had always relied on Haru as was one of their stronger tacticians, he had a natural gift of analyzing an enemy's strengths and weaknesses even in the midst of battle. His ability to do so even surpassed Natsu's, and the fire mage's mind, mid-fight, was nothing to scoff at either. Ultear was clearly also gifted in this area, and she was reading him like a book, it was seriously getting under Haru's skin. But as he continued to trade blows with her, and she began relying more and more on her Ice Make, presumably due to its offensive capabilities, two realizations dawned on him.

Haru berated himself for not realizing it sooner. Ultear had first revealed her ice magic when he'd started pushing back her orbs. So his first more obvious realization came in noticing that Arc of Time was incredibly powerful lost magic, but as an offensive magic, it was lacking. To win, she needed her ice magic, which had his second thought dawning on him not long after. Haru chuckled under his breath, feeling rather stupid for accepting his reputation as a tactician and not considering what should have been an obvious possibility much sooner in his experience as a mage. He ran a hand through his bangs, pushing his hair out of his face as he refocused sharp blue eyes on his opponent.

Irritated by his sudden laughter, Ultear raged, "What the hell are you laughing about?!"

Haru noticed she wasn't planning to wait to see if he'd answer though, she was already slamming both palms into the ground. In a burst of purple-hued magic, a garden of ice erupted from the crystal floor in tangles of iced vines and roses charged toward Haru in waves. Unaffected, Haru kept a fairly relaxed stance. Her attack provided the perfect means to test his theory. Extending an arm in front of him with his palm forward, he calmly considered the powerful spell, focusing on its innate magic signature until it was a mere meter away.

"Melt," he said flatly, and as predicted, the massive garden melted instantly. The entangled form of the rose-adorned ice vines dissolved and splashed down around them both, sending up a spray of water that had them both soaked in seconds. Ultear's eyes blew wide and Haru fixed her with a cocky smirk, even as he shook the water from his hair. Then, dragging the toe edge of his boot in a half-circle behind his body, he lowered his weight into deep offensive stance. His hands stilled, next to his right hip palms pressed together as vibrant blue pulses of his magic grew. The incredible volume of water was slowly drawn to him, in time with his gradually opening hands as Ultear remained speechless.

"Ice is just a state of water," he told her as the water continued to build up more and more around him, "and water, will always bend to MY will!" With that declaration, Haru whipped around once, gathering speed as he followed the arc of the water and thrusted both hands back in her direction. "Water Dragon's typhoon!"

Ultear was frozen in place, slack jawed as she watched the scene play out in absolute shock. Vaguely, she realized she should teleport out of there, but she couldn't get herself to move an inch, even with her brain screaming at her. She found herself both terrified and mesmerized by the display or power. The potential of the Twin Dragons really was more than she or Jellal had considered possible. Haru unleashed the brutal torrent of water on her, and it tore a scream from her lungs as the storming waters submerged her. The destructive magic tore right through the wall behind her and Ultear sailed through it, carried with the massive waves.

Hinged forward to drop his hands to his knees, Haru took a couple deep breaths as rays from the sun outside filtered in to sparkle off the crystal surfaces. Part of him hadn't really wanted to take their fight to such a serious level. After spending a couple weeks with Ultear and Meredy, he really hadn't been left with the impression that she was the evil person she seemed to be at a surface glance. That said, she had some dangerously misguided beliefs that couldn't be ignored... And she'd messed with Fairy Tail and his friends, taking them, right before his eyes, so for that, if nothing else, she'd deserved everything he'd dished out.

He pressed himself back up once he had his breathing back under control and made his way over to the giant hole in the wall. Leaning against it, he eyed the downed time mage sprawled on the sandy shore not far from the tower's walls. She laid with her limps splayed out, unmoving and staring up at the bright blue expanse of sky as tears slipped down her cheeks. Seeing the genuine emotion only solidified his thoughts surrounding the mysterious raven-haired woman. Haru didn't think anyone who was truly evil could wear the emotional pain of having their dreams (again, however misguided) dashed, so freely.

"Hey, instead of wasting your life chasing after your delusional perfect world, maybe you should find moments and people in this world worth living for. You might be surprised how close to perfect this world can be, with the right people around you," he said.

Ultear's eyes shifted from the sky to meet his, though she made no other effort to move. The derisive look she fixed him with, told him without question, that she wasn't ready to give up the notion of Zeref, or her perfect magic world for a second. He shrugged a shoulder, pushing off the wall to turn away from her, "Or you know, you can stay lost in the darkness," he called back coldly as he walked away.

Haru headed for the stairs and began climbing instead. He had to find Natsu, and take down Siegrain, Ultear was a problem for another day.

. . .

As he wound his way up the tower, Haru ran into Gray and Juvia, both looking a little battle worn themselves, but otherwise fine. Gray had a pink-haired girl slung over his back that Haru quickly recognized as Meredy. He couldn't say he was totally surprised to learn she was skulking around the tower as well, because the young girl was never far from Ultear's side. He ached for her a bit, the girl clearly loved Ultear, but Ultear was too stuck dwelling on a different version of the world to notice what she had in this one.

Gray tried to give him a quick rundown of the fight, but Juvia interrupted to gush about how valiant the ice mage had been when he'd offered to surrender himself to save her life. According to Juvia, Meredy had had the two of them under a Body Link spell and was determined to have the two fight to the death. She'd wanted to prove that there were no relationships that wouldn't face a betrayal at some point, but Gray had countered that he and Juvia had known each other only a matter of hours, and even still, he would never betray a friend.

Haru glanced between the grimace on Gray's face as Juvia's face lit up while relaying the story. She pranced over to him and wrapped her arms around his, pressing her cheek agains this shoulder as she sighed happily. That only increased the look of distress on the ice mage's face, as he tried, and failed to unlatch the girl from his arm. Haru chuckled at the scene, bemused by the previously unknown facets of his fellow water mage's personality. He found himself momentarily relieved his own actions in rescuing her, hadn't resulted in the same. She was a quirky one, to be sure.

Resolving to tease his comrade when they were all safely home, he interjected to pull the bluenette's attention back to their current situation. "That's great Juvia, Gray's a real catch... and single," he couldn't resist adding. He was rewarded with the snap of incredulity in dark blue hues, which had Haru grinning widely. "I've got a favour to ask though, think you can hit me with your water magic?"

Juvia blinked a couple times at him before releasing Gray's arm and nodding, the memory of the nature of his Dragon Slayer magic replacing the initial confusion on her expression.

"Water Nebula!" Juvia shouted, whipping up a wave of water that Haru greedily inhaled before the magic could splash to the floor. Running the back of his hand across his mouth he gave her a small smile, already feeling much more prepared for the next looming fight. The ethernano in the air was helpful to be sure, but the magic containers of slayers were so vast that this was a much more efficient way to replenish the major deficit to his magic.

"Thanks Juvia, I owe you one. Can you two start evacuating the slaves on the lower levels?" he asked, "I passed quite a few on my way up and promised we'd help."

"Yeah, of course," Gray responded, "what about you man?"

"I'm going to find Natsu and the girls... Finish what I started with Siegrain."

Gray and Juvia nodded their confirmation. "Be careful man," the ice mage said, throwing up a high-five as he passed by Haru, taking off in the opposite direction.

. . .

It didn't take much longer before Haru found the floor his missing comrades were on; he knew they'd be there before he even laid eyes on them. Not because his senses had improved any, but due to the spectacular scale of damage to this level. If they weren't here currently, then he knew they wouldn't be far off. But as he rounded the top of the stairs and slid to a stop at the edge of the chamber, he caught sight of Natsu and Wendy close to the center of the room with their backs to him. They seemed to be watching something on the other end, and as Haru approached he realized Lucy was kneeling next to a seemingly unconscious blonde man. Haru walked up next to Natsu and slapped an arm over his shoulder, and the pink-haired dragon slayer jolted in surprise of his sudden arrival.

"Haru, holy shit, you've looked better," his friend laughed heartily at his expense.

Haru gave him an irritated dry look in return, "If you think I look bad, you need a mirror man."

Wendy's attention moved from their blonde comrade to the Twin Dragons as they both broke into laughter and dragged each other into a rather aggressive hug. Wendy watched their strange display of affection, before Lucy's triumphant cheer broke all the dragon slayers from their current activities. Lucy stood, holding a tarnished gold key in her hand. Pressing it between her palms, she let her magic flare around it and revealed the key to have returned to its original glittering gold a few seconds later.

Leo was free.

Free to do whatever he wanted. To protect his friends however he wanted, to live his life however he wanted. Lucy closed her eyes briefly and smiled. Haru watched their blonde friend slump down on to the floor, allowing apparent exhaustion to finally wash over her. Wendy left them to approach her now, offering to heal her injuries as Lucy attached Leo's key to her ring. Unconcerned, Natsu restarted the debate over who looked worse for wear from their battles, pulling Haru's attention back to him. Arching a brow at his partner, Haru determined that Lucy was obviously okay, he was certain the pink-haired mage would be with Wendy, fussing over her state otherwise.

Knowing that, he answered Natsu's goading remarks. "You literally have half a shirt on, at least my clothes are intact," Haru retorted, laughing as he gestured to the scraps of Natsu's shirt. The fire mage looked down at the state of his clothes and grumbled before shamelessly stripping what was left of his shirt and pants. Haru didn't miss the bright pink blush to cover Lucy's cheeks as the girls rejoined them at that exact moment. Grinning as her brown eyes raked over the form of his best friend, Haru nudged her with his elbow teasingly. "Bet you can't decide if that was unfortunate, or perfect timing on your part."

The stellar mage turned an even brighter shade of pink and rounded on him in a snap of fury fuelled by her embarrassment. "It is a perfectly normal reaction to a man randomly stripping with no warning!" she retorted.

"Right, because you lose your composure every time Gray strips… Multiple times a day, mind you," he countered sarcastically. She slapped her hands over her face, trying to hide her heated cheeks from her companions' attentions and Haru listened as Lucy rambled at him in usual Lucy fashion, denying everything as though he didn't have eyes...

Meanwhile, Natsu had shrugged into his signature combination of white trousers and charcoal, gold-trimmed vest that he'd requipped and was busy fastening the belt with their partnership's dragon insignia to cinch it at his hips. He had missed the entire interaction between them and was completely oblivious as to what was causing Lucy's distress and Haru's amusement. Watching them now with pursed lips as he tried to figure it out, Natsu pulled his scarf from his requip space and seemed to disregard the mystery with a simple declaration. "You guys are so weird..." Squeezing the scaled fabric in his fist, he let out a content exhale, ignoring Lucy's resulting complaints. The Fire Slayer glanced back at her with a toothy smile, "sure sure Loonie, you're totally normal," he said as he wrapped the scarf around his neck. "Ah, that feels better!"

. . .

Natsu crossed his arms as he looked between each of his comrades. He could tell Lucy was exhausted physically and magically from that last spell, even as she renewed her squabbling with Haru... Whatever that was about. Wendy was also looking a little worn out, she was still young, and she'd been going hard with support and offensive spells for a while now. Haru on the other hand, appeared to be fine, despite the state of his appearance. Natsu idly wondered if he'd found some water to power up on somewhere, he'd kill to get his hands on some fire…

"Okay, what's the plan then?" Natsu asked, deferring to Haru. He wasn't sure he had all the information due to his earlier capture, and he was also curious to see what the water mage was thinking.

"Unfortunately, I think our best plan of action would be to split up again. We need to prioritize the prisoners' safety and get them out of the tower. Gray and Juvia—" Natsu cut him off to voice his surprise that the bluenette was still with them, and Lucy cuffed him on the back of the head for interrupting before gesturing for Haru to continue causing both dragon slayers to chuckle. "As I was saying… Gray and Juvia are already evacuating the lower levels, but I passed more on my way up. And I assume there will be some above us as well..." Natsu nodded, confirming his suspicions. "So if Lucy and Wendy can escort them all out, once we've gathered the rest, then we wouldn't have to worry about innocents getting caught up in whatever fights we have ahead."

"Leave it to us!" Wendy said, looking to Lucy for agreement. The stellar mage nodded as well, still focused on the remaining plan yet to be discussed.

Turning to address Natsu specifically, Haru added, "I think it would be helpful if you requip a communication lacrima and send for a Rune Knight sea division to help get the slaves to safety."

A communication lacrima appeared in Natsu's hand in silent agreement to Haru's request and he hastily contacted the remnants of the Magic Council. Yajima and Makarov had departed for Era shortly after Dragon Soul had departed for the tower, aiming to diplomatically get Grand Doma freed and the council relatively unified under his command again. Haru was relieved to hear they'd already been successfully in doing just that, so getting support from the Rune Knights turned out to be quite simple. Natsu relayed the necessary information to the remaining council members, and Haru provided the coordinates of the Tower of Heaven so they could send ships and knights to assist.

Securing the Knights' and their ships was a win, but the small victory came with a major set back as well. Just like that, Fairy Tail had a narrow time limit on getting this mission completed. It was true that they needed the Rune Knights and the ships they could provide to get the slaves to safety, not to mention rehabilitating them in the aftermath. But now they ran the risk that Siegrain (or Jellal, as Natsu had corrected them) might bolt when the Knights arrived. If he got away before they could take him down, they were sure it wouldn't take long before Jellal was coming up with new plans to see Zeref's perfect world become reality.

"We have an hour, possibly less, to take Jellal down," Natsu stated as the lacrima disappeared from his palm. He stood, looking between the girls, "can we count on you both to evacuate the tower?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Lucy chanted, smiling down at Wendy who her gave her a thumbs up.

"Alright then," Natsu replied, running a heated hand through his bangs to spiked them back up. Eyes turning to Haru who was back on his feet as well, a hand resting lazily on his hip. "You ready, Haru?"

Returning the toothy grin Natsu gave him, Haru gave a sharp nod. "If Jellal's so fascinated with the power of dragon slayers, it's only right we give him a first-hand experience."

"Yeah! Let's kick this guy's ass!"

A/N. One more chapter in Heaven, and then Harvest Festival fluff and a chill fun chapter to break from all the fights! Fight choreography is a bitch to write, so I'm looking forward to the break from battles :P

See you all Saturday!

R&R.

~LokaMuse