[Re-edited 03.05.23]

Happy Thursday, I know, I know, I am super late. Forgive me!

My life blew up in my face a bit last weekend, and to be honest, it has been a rough few days. But I'm back, and with a nice long chapter to hopefully, make up for it a bit.

I hope the action-heavy chapter ahead is worth the wait.

25

-Anima-

Natsu watched the petit bluenette run around the large machines with uncontained excitement. "This is so cool—" she squealed before abruptly shutting her mouth, turning robotically to fix him with a sheepish look. A blush covered her cheeks as she realized what she'd just said. "Uh—you know, aside from powering it with dragon slayers…" she hastily added. Natsu chuckled and waved off the tactless comment and Edo Levy went back to bouncing around the large panels, examining the technology, as she tried to discern the purpose of the extraction equipment.

"She's weirder than our Levy..." Happy mumbled near his ear.

Natsu eyed the blue cat with a mirthful grin, the blue cat had attached himself to his shoulder as soon as the two had been reunited. "Now, now Hap, that's not polite. Our Levy can be pretty damn weird."

They laughed together as Happy began relaying descriptions of the other Edolas counterparts he'd met so far. It left Natsu with a feeling of overwhelming relief, knowing all his friends were safe because the Fairy Tail of this world had aided them in their journey...

Natsu's attention drifted to his partner who Wendy was currently assessing, the Water Slayer wasn't hiding his impatience as she unravelled the bandages to get a better look at his injury. His complaints dissolved into a hiss of pain as the material was pulled off the wound under his ribs, but that only lasted for a brief moment. He continued to swear he was fine, he'd feel much better once he got out of the lab and knocked some Knightwalker heads in. The words fell on deaf ears where Wendy was concerned, but Natsu fully agreed with that sentiment.

After Levy had snapped off a series of fist-sized balls of fire and water to replenish their magic, Natsu had been good and ready, to throw himself into the fight as well. Wendy was having none of it from Haru though. "You can't fight with this injury Haru, you'll lose too much blood. So how about you stop complaining, sit still, and let me work?!" the Sky Slayer snapped as she set her sky magic to properly closing the hole in his side.

Looking over to the open door as a large explosion shook the castle walls again, Natsu caught sight of Gajeel careening by, sent flying by some unseen attack. He was followed shortly after by a new enemy wearing a suit of gaudy pink armour in close pursuit. Raising an eyebrow in curiosity and amusement, Natsu rose to his feet and stretched enjoying the satisfying pops in his spine. "Alright, I'm going in!" he announced with a toothy grin as he cracked his knuckles, "don't take too long, Haru!"

The water mage clicked his tongue in annoyance, his gaze dropping to take in the warning look Wendy had fixed on him, just daring him to rush her. The corner of his mouth twitched upward with nervous energy. The small teen was imposing as ever when she was working on a wounded comrade. She growled through bared teeth at him before turning to the departing fire mage, "Natsu, before you leave, I need some new bandages," she said.

Natsu paused in the doorway, smirking at the exacerbated look on his partner's face as he requipped a roll of fresh bandages and tossed them to Wendy. "Happy, stay and help the girls if they need it," he instructed. The answering 'Aye,' followed him into the chaotic hallway.

. . .

Natsu had barely entered the hall only to be greeted by a pair of airborne, beaten guardsmen soaring toward him. He held up a hand and the resulting burst of flames halted their collision course. He narrowed his eyes at the charred men crumpled on the floor at his feet before shifting over the rest of the battle, trying to get his bearings. The Knightwalkers were nowhere to be seen, as far as he could tell, and Gajeel and the strange, pink-armoured man were gone as well, presumably down the hall somewhere. Mira was also noticeably absent, but Lucy appeared to have been the one that had knocked out the guards who had been unceremoniously tossed in his direction. The stellar mage was currently locked in the midst of an ongoing battle, and hadn't yet noticed his arrival.

Standing a few feet behind both Leo and Virgo, her whip unfurled with the ethernano crackling at her feet, Lucy stared down a woman with purple hair and a large war hammer propped over her shoulder. It was a wonder the weight of the weapon didn't cause the girl to buckle under it, given its size. Natsu approached the blonde to stand beside her while continuing to assess the situation.

The woman cocked her head at his arrival. "Ah, if it isn't one of Lady Erza's dragons," she chirped with a giddy smile, "I shall return you to your cage and be rewarded." Natsu scowled, flames already licking at his skin in response to the snap of irritation that ran through him. No chance in hell was he letting someone chain him up again. "I am Rouge, Lieutenant of the Lady Erza's Magic Enforcement Unit."

"So, what I'm hearing, is the Knightwalkers ran scared and left a bunch of underlings to do their work. Cowards..."

The girl gave a deranged giggle. "Oh no, no, you simply aren't worth their time, little dragon," she countered happily, seemingly enjoying the chance to battle. Natsu couldn't begin to fathom why... It had been immediately apparent to him, that Lucy had held the upper hand for most of the battle. The blonde looked relatively unscathed, but her opponent was covered in injuries from head to toe and had a subtle waver to her stance.

Considering that, he was curious as to why Lucy seemed tense and hadn't gone in to finish off the fight yet. Clearly, he was missing some crucial information.

Natsu cast a sidelong glance to Lucy in silent question. Without taking her eyes off Rouge, Lucy pivoted toward him and gestured toward her shoulder where her shirt had been partially blown away. The swell of her upper breast and shoulder that had been revealed was marked with a strange gold seal that Natsu couldn't make heads or tails of. "She has the power to seal elemental magic, and Star Reform is light attribute..." the stellar mage explained in a bitter tone. Her opponent's grin only widened as Lucy added, "whatever you do, don't let her touch you with the face of her hammer."

Natsu eyed the mark appraisingly, if a little apprehensively. "How are your spirits still here?" he asked.

"Far as I can tell, she can only seal caster type magic, not holder type," she informed.

Lucy was done answering questions though. Natsu knew the smug look on the lieutenant's face was pissing her off. It pissed him off too, that look told them Rouge thought she had this fight won already. The blonde leapt forward, cracking her whip at the woman, and taking that as a signal, Leo and Virgo both launched back into compound her attacks. The fire mage stayed back for now, analyzing the hammer and its wielder's tactics. For someone who seemed to be just barely clinging to a slim chance of victory, Rouge was way too collected and confident for his comfort.

Their enemy wasn't countering any strikes, she just continued to dance around the trio's coordinated attacks, keeping her distance and waiting for…something.

Backup? Natsu considered. Whatever the case, she was definitely stalling, but for what?

Natsu skimmed over the battle, over each of the fighters, until he honed in on Leo's form flickering subtly. It was barely perceptible, but it was there. He grit his teeth. That's it!

Lucy rarely fought with two spirits at a time, certainly not two of her most powerful. She relied mostly on her own caster magic, using it masterfully, in conjunction with a single spirit's attacks. But with her Star Reform sealed, Lucy had been forced to summon Leo and Virgo simultaneously and bare the exponential drain on her magic stores. It was only a matter of time before Lucy was out of magic and Rouge was simply buying that time. If Lucy's magic was completely drained, it would force Natsu to get in closer and risk having his magic sealed as well.

They'd be sitting ducks. Even for a woman who was already, essentially, beaten.

"Lucy! She's just stalling until you're out of magic and she can seal mine—" he warned.

Rouge's eyes widened in surprise. By the look Lucy gave him, she'd figured that out too, but hadn't decided what to do about it, yet. "We just gotta take her down in one good shot!" Natsu declared.

Lucy returned the cocky grin with one of her own and the foursome reflexively surrounded the lieutenant without having to discuss a strategy, all preparing for a combined attack. But before they could launch their planned assault, Rouge spun, gripping her weapon as the shaft extended suddenly, the hammer crashed right through Virgo's middle, forcing her back to the spirit realm before slamming into Lucy.

By the stunned look on the stellar mage's face, it was clear, this was a previously unknown ability of Rouge's weapon and it had caught her completely off guard. Extinguishing his flames, Natsu Flashed-Stepped into the hammer's path, instinctually putting his body between Lucy's and their enemy as he caught her. They tumbled, and slid across the floor in a tangle of limbs and before he could recover to get some distance between themselves and Rouge, a strike took him in the back.

"Natsu! Are you okay?" she asked concernedly when he was knocked forward from where he'd been shielding her beneath him. He clenched his jaw at the strange sensation that spread from the center of the hit and radiated down his limbs. Strangest of all, the strike itself hadn't hurt a bit.

"Shit." Natsu bit out, it didn't take a genius to know what that hit had been. Looking over his shoulder, he found absolute glee spreading over Rouge's face as she dropped the body of the hammer into the ground and leaned onto its shaft casually, as though daring him to make a move without his fire.

Natsu stood and attempted to get a look at his back, he could barely make out the edges of a red mark. Growling as he tore his destroyed vest off, he turned so that Lucy could get a look. The blonde ran the flat of her hand over the red seal now marring the tan skin between his shoulder blades as he held out a palm to confirm that his fire had indeed been cut off. "Shit," he repeated. He'd literally had access to his fire for all of ten minutes before she'd gone and sealed it away...

She was going to pay dearly for that.

. . .

"Natsu, we need to retreat," the blonde whispered into his ear urgently, gripping his shoulder tightly as they both kept their focus trained on the lieutenant.

He shook his head, pink hair tickled her ear as he did so. "We'll be okay Luce, she's barely on her feet as it is." Still sensing her tension, he turned to look over his shoulder at her again, "hey, trust me okay?"

A flash of that signature toothy grin and Lucy found herself nodding back without hesitation. The Fire Slayer had that ability with almost everyone, but it was definitely her weakness.

"You must be kidding, neither of you have any magic, you can't take me down with brute force alone."

"Lucy already won this fight; you're only standing because you took the cowardly way out."

Rouge scoffed, "It doesn't matter how I win this fight, so long as I do."

"Well unfortunately for you, I'm going to take you down even with your underhanded tactics," Natsu vowed.

Their opponent's face darkened as she took the hammer's shaft in both hands again and slid a foot behind her into an offensive stance. Lucy retreated a safe distance. Being unsure of the fire mage's strategy, she decided to follow his earlier decision to observe and wait for an effective moment to jump in. Lucy watched as Natsu leapt back, dodging the swing of the large war hammer, but their names being called stole her attention away from the fight. Behind them, Haru was standing in the middle of the hall a fair distance back, taking in the multitude of downed guards and the ensuing battle.

"Haru! Great timing," she cheered, running back to meet him and launching into a brief summary of the battle and Rouge's weapon. The blonde was confident that with Haru's arrival back on scene they'd be fine, he could deal the arrogant woman an easy finishing blow, with an unexpected long-range attack.

But before he moved to join Natsu, the fire mage's taunting reached their ears, "—but you only sealed my fire," he was saying challengingly.

Lucy's eyebrows shot up as she whirled around to view the fight again. Haru was gawking, and the stellar mage couldn't only assume her expression was the mirror image. They watched in stunned silence as Natsu's body arched back in familiar preparation, magic pressure building as the air started crackling around him.

"Lightning Dragon's ROAR!"

"WHAAA?!" Lucy screeched as the encompassing stream of lightning burst from Natsu's mouth, colliding with the purple haired woman and tearing a scream from her throat. The hammer went flying down the hall, crashing with a resounding clang and Rouge hit the ground hard, sliding back with it.

The residual static continued to cling to the slayer's body, charging the air around him as he stomped toward the lieutenant. She lay unmoving on the stone floor, her eyes wide in shock. "B-but how?" she asked in shaky voice. Lucy and Haru both ran to join the fire mage as their downed enemy twitched from the static that continued to numb her body, "I was told d-dragon slayers only have one e-element."

"Guess you were misinformed," Natsu stated pridefully before her head lulled to the side, passing out cold.

Haru was still staring at his fellow dragon slayer in wonder. Lucy pondered how long Natsu had had access to a second element, if even Haru looked bewildered.

"When the hell did you pick up that trick?" Haru asked incredulously.

Turning back to face them, Natsu grinned wildly. "I got the idea after we powered up on that ethernano crystal. I thought maybe if I worked on absorbing another element, it would help me access Dragon Force again, and hopefully at will eventually," he explained. "So I recruited Laxus' help in some extra training!"

"Is that where you've been disappearing to in the evenings?!" Lucy squawked in irritation. With a mischievous grin, Natsu threw an arm around her shoulders, dragging her toward him so he could nip at her ear, purposely riling her up further. She swatted him away.

Haru watched the pair in a deadpan. "I just assumed you were doing—" he paused, apparently rethinking his words, and pointed at Lucy instead.

Irritation fuelled by her embarrassment at his implication had her rounding from the annoying fire mage to him instantly. Lucy smacked an open palm hard over his shoulder in reprimand, "Don't talk about my sex life so flippantly!" she snapped. A bright red blush painted her cheeks as soon as the words left her mouth, realizing just what she'd said. Natsu buckled over in laughter beside her, much to her further annoyance, so she smacked him too.

Glossing over the playful quarrel that sprung up between them, Haru interrupted, "Did you succeed? –Dragon Force, I mean?"

Grinning sheepishly, Natsu shook his head. "Nah, but after being hit by countless full power lightning roars—Laxus is a monster—" he added, paling slightly as he thought back to the older dragon slayer's idea of training. Lucy had seen a few of the S-Class mage's spells before, he used them on occasion to shut the guild up when the Master needed their attention. He could be a little sadistic and at least as prideful as Erza with how fast he could get their rowdy guildmates to snap to attention. If Natsu had been training with him, then Lucy thought he might be lucky to have survived those sessions.

Natsu finally shook himself from whatever memories plagued him. "Well, I guess I took on enough lightning for it to mesh with my own magic. I've been able to use some basic lightning dragon magic ever since... Though, my lightening isn't nearly as powerful as Laxus', and generally I can only use it in combination with my fire, unless it's been sealed, apparently."

Haru pursed his lips in consideration as he pondered this new development and Natsu went back to teasing Lucy, until the echo of heavy foot falls behind them had the trio pausing. Gajeel was stomping toward them when Edo Levy burst out of the laboratory with an air of frantic energy, just in time to collide with the Iron Slayer, sending them both sprawling on the ground. The observing mages all sweat-dropped at the scene before approaching their comrades.

Gajeel growled, roughly tossing the small woman off his frame, "Geez woman, watch where you're going!" he barked.

She rounded immediately, jabbing a finger into his face, "You should treat women more delicately, you oversized trash can!"

The two launched into an argument as the others watched on. Haru's eyebrows slowly drawing closer together in frustration. "Oi! Shut up! We are still in enemy territory, just give us a report!"

Red eyes shifted to the Water Slayer standing over him with his arms crossed over his chest, clearly unimpressed with the order, but he relented anyway. "That pink reject is down, asshole kept turning my iron to liquid," he grumbled, "so I turned him to a pile of mush." A deranged quirk pulled at the corner of his mouth and Lucy shivered at the expression. He was kinda scary, maybe it was all the piercings, or maybe he was just innately intimidating, she couldn't decide. Wendy cautiously poked her head out into the hall before approaching them as well, flanked by both flying cats.

"And the machine is converting dragon slayer magic to raw ethernano, probably to power something—"

"The Anima Project," Natsu supplied, "that's what Byro said."

"—Well wherever, or whatever the new Anima Project is, it's off site. I found these huge cables being fed out of the lab. I bet if we can find, and destroy the source, we can put a stop to Faust's plans."

"Alright then, that should be the obvious priority. Does anyone know where Mira went?" Haru asked, looking around the group.

Lucy nodded, "After the Knightwalkers, I tried to stop her, but," she shrugged a shoulder, "Mira is stubborn."

The dragon slayers all laughed, that was a well-known fact, right up there with her matchmaking. Even before regaining her magic, Mira was hopelessly stubborn, as were many of the girls in the guild for that matter.

"I checked in with Erza earlier, while Wendy was patching me up, they've managed to get Edo Mira out, and it sounds like they took out a couple of the Elite Guard as well. They split up, Erza and Gray are headed after Faust, I think you all should as well, that's bound to be Anima's source and it will be heavily protected."

Natsu and Lucy shared a look, nodding, "Where are you going then?" the fire mage asked.

"Wendy and I will go after Mira, and the Knightwalkers."

Mira

Okay, so maybe it wasn't her brightest decision to go after both of the Knightwalkers at once, even given Edo Erza's injuries from their earlier altercation. The hunters' teamwork was immaculate, she supposed that was to be expected, they were able to take advantage of every slight hole she unwittingly allowed into her defense. Begrudgingly, she admitted to herself that she probably should have waited for at least one of her comrades to be able to join her pursuit, but she made the snap judgement. Reckless as it was, at least it was only putting herself in danger this time. Mira simply hadn't wanted to allow the dangerous pair the moment to regroup and recover, all she had to do was hold them off until her comrades could get to her.

She was exhausted and though she still had a decent amount of her magic stores, if she didn't start landing hits soon, it wouldn't matter. Every time she thought she'd connect a strike on one, the other would swoop into block or counter, and to top that off, her opponents played off each others attacks flawlessly. It was infuriating. One on one, she could take these two, of that she was confident, but together… She was going to need back up.

Mira was confident it was only a matter of time before her comrades arrived though.

She smirked up at the redhead as she skipped back multiple times to dodge a series of successive strikes from her blade and unleashed a pulse of demonic magic that was answered and dissipated with the twirling of the other woman's weapon. It brought up memories of fighting her own Erza when they were just girls, growing up, resentful of the world and burying their torment in a rivalry...

Mira snapped her wings to propel herself out of the way of another strike and flung another Evil Orb to meet and cancel a sphere of concentrated blizzard magic that Edo Haru had launched.

"Why do you keep fighting?" he asked her blandly when the blizzard blew apart and the resulting winds pressed back around him.

Mira's eyebrows knit together as she looked at him with an incredulous expression, did he really not understand?

He reiterated that there was no way she could possibly defeat them both, so there should be no point in trying. Mira relaxed from the defensive posture she'd adopted as she considered him. "If coming out victorious seemed impossible but abandoning the fight would mean not being able to save Erza, would you keep fighting?" she asked, in place of answering.

He gaped, his eyes darting over to his redheaded partner before Mira's tactic backfired. Hard.

Apparently furious with the scenario she had proposed, he forwent responding to her comment to instead, vanish and reappear before her in the blink of an eye. He struck out hard with his weapon, before she could react and sent her spinning back into the adjacent wall. Mira cried out at the impact and sucked in a breath as she pried herself out of the deep indent her body had formed in the collision. She stumbled forward a few steps just in time for the infuriated hunter to slam into her side with brutal kick, and then sent another round of concentrated drills of blizzard magic to chase her down. Unable to dodge any of it, she took the full force of each attack and choked out a mouthful of blood when her body hit the ground to slide across the hall.

Dizziness enveloped her as she tried to press herself up to defend from further attacks. Once again, she found herself considering the recklessness of her decision to chase after the Knightwalkers alone.

Mira shakily got back to her feet and absently noticed that Edo Haru seemed to have subtly placed himself between her and his partner. Mira gathered her magic power between her palms, bending into her knees as she did so, a dark ball of magic built up and she drew it back before thrusting her palms forward, "Soul Extinctor!" A giant wave of power swallowed her opponents and bathed their surroundings in a deep purple energy, the takeover mage hinged and dropped her hands onto her knees, panting for air.

The smoke cleared to reveal heavily damaged stone floor but neither of the Knightwalkers. Mira tensed immediately and swivelled her head searching for the missing pair. She was sure she'd seen her spell hit them both and had expected to find them down, or at the very least, injured. Suddenly Edo Erza shot forward and struck Mira from behind straight in the ribs, her mouth opened in a soundless scream and her eyes widened as she caught sight of Edo Haru building up magic power around his staff, preparing to catch her as her body was whipped across the room.

Screwing her eyes shut, Mira crossed her arms in front of her face and braced for the hit, but then gusts of wind were derailing the incoming spell and someone had caught her midair. Mira's eyes flew open to find her Haru above her, glaring back at his counterpart as he slid back on the balls of his feet with her cradled safely in his arms. Wendy stood across the room with balled fists as she stared down the other Erza, and Carla floated above her.

"I'm gonna go ahead and cut in here…" Haru announced as he eased Mira back down to her feet, keeping a supportive arm around her waist. He glanced down to ensure she was relatively uninjured, before returning the challenging look to Edo Haru. "This asshole is mine," Haru informed her, as swirls of water began to build up around them, he double clicked his tongue derisively at the declaration.

"Fine by me, I have a bone to pick with Erza for running a blade through you... and claiming you belonged to her—" Mira muttered in addition. She paused, gaze flickering over to the curious blue eyes now fixed on her, before moving away to confront her opponent without addressing the comment.

Lucy

The group was following the fire mage's nose through the maze of halls, hopefully, toward Erza and the rest of their comrades. Lucy stayed right on Natsu's heels as they wound deeper into the castle. The corridors were teeming with more and more guardsmen, but none posed much of a threat and the mages continued to knock them out cold, without slowing their progress. Not even Happy had a problem sending the occasional enemy flying with a smack from a heavy fish.

Natsu hadn't bothered to requip a new top to replace his destroyed vest and Lucy kept finding herself appreciating his hard trained physique, even as they wandered toward their next dangerous battle. Now was clearly not the time for such indulgences, she internally berated herself. Her own shirt could use a replacement as well, she considered absently. The men they encountered continued to openly ogle her nearly exposed chest, barely noticing when she charged up her whip's magic to send them all flying. Clothing mishaps aside, apparently, Natsu was having no luck locating Erza's or Gray's scents, so the little patience he ever possessed, was dwindling fast.

After blasting away another group of guards, he reached out to seize the lone man his flames spared. Having just witnessed the rest of his squad be battered around with a massive iron club and subsequently charred to a crisp, the guard cowered in Natsu's clutches, eyes frantically darting between the two dragon slayers leading their group.

"You're going to lead us to the Anima Project," Natsu commanded dryly, "—or," he gestured toward his fellow dragon slayer.

"Or you get acquainted with my fists," Gajeel finished as he draped an arm over the fire mage's nearest shoulder to glare down at the captive. That threat wouldn't have been nearly as terrifying, had his left fist not morphed into a large-serrated blade as he spoke. Flickers of fire licked at the edges of Natsu's fangs as his mouth opened in a sadistic grin and the guard immediately paled and threw his hand out to point a shaky finger down the hall.

"Good choice," the two slayers chimed together before sauntering off in that direction. Natsu dragged their hostage behind him as he and Gajeel returned to chatting casually as though they weren't in the middle of enemy territory. Lucy and Edo Levy exchanged a look, both rolling their eyes as the followed after the (occasionally terrifying) men.

A few more twisting corridors and passages found the foursome confronted with increasing numbers of guards. Lucy thought the heavy guard presence was a decent indicator that they were nearing something that the Capital deemed worth protecting. Natsu and Gajeel sent a combined roar of fire and iron shrapnel down the wide span of the hall, pushing a large wave of people spinning back in cries of pain. Their victems' bodies abruptly froze in midair before being flung carelessly to the outside edges, opening a path for another man to move unhindered toward them.

"Who are you?" Natsu immediately demanded of the newcomer. The man ahead clearly had access to a magic weapon, so it was likely there were dealing with another member of Faust's Elite Guards. He had bright white streaks through a mop of deep purple hair, and arrows for eyebrows, Lucy decided he was another eccentric freak that she probably wasn't going to want to deal with.

"Captain Hughes, of the Third Magic War Division," the man cheered, as though being introduced to a crowd of adoring fans. He waved the wand-like weapon in a dramatic flourish causing the levitation of a few of the downed guards around him, and with a flick of the wand, flung them back at the mages like cannon balls. The four scattered to the sides, dodging the men-turned weapons with wide eyes. What the hell kinda magic weapon were the dealing with now? "And Command Tact—" he pointed the weapon and traced lazy patterns in the air before him with a smug expression, "grants me control over anything metal."

Lucy had to hand it to the Kingdom's engineers, they'd come up with some incredibly diverse and creative weapons… Seriously, this guy had literally just used people as weapons by controlling the suits of armour they were wearing. She was so, unbelievably, over it, hopefully they could take Arrow-Brows down quickly.

Lucy snagged a key from her belt, but as she was in the middle of the chant to summon Scorpio, she snapped her jaw shut and froze in her movements. His tail was metal… Virgo's chains were metal… Sagittarius' arrows and Cancer's scissors could be used against them as well. Command Tact certainly reduced her options...

Natsu and Gajeel had already thrown themselves into the battle, much to the dragon slayers' detriment, as Hughes quickly took advantage of Gajeel's element. Every attack the Iron Slayer threw was directed back at Natsu and he was already sporting a few bruises and bumps from taking various iron enhanced hits. As usual, the fire mage was adapting quickly to focusing his attacks on Hughes while staying hyperaware of his comrade's position.

He dropped to his knees and slid under the extended iron pillar of his fellow dragon slayer, "GAJEEL! Stop attacking with iron magic!" Natsu barked angrily and received Gajeel's equally angry rebuttal.

"The last jackass turned my iron to liquid, and now this jackass is trying to control my iron?! Not a chance man, I'm going to knock his teeth out!"

"NO, you're going to knock MY teeth out!"

"Then maybe you should stay out of my way!"

"Or you could stop being weak enough to control!"

Lucy watched the two squabble in the middle of the fight, with irritated fascination, as Edo Levy leapt forward trying to take advantage of the distraction to shoot off a multitude of magic bullets at their foe. The blonde slapped the palm of her hand over her face in exacerbation, already predicting the inevitable result, this Levy was much more brash than her own friend.

As predicted, the guns were torn from her hands and flew through the air to clock both of the arguing dragon slayers in the back of their heads before spinning to shower an array of bullets back on them. Happy shot forward, snagging a stunned Levy out of the path of a couple bullets as the others hinged, dodged, jumped and danced out of the way while Hughes pointed at them and roared with laughter.

Glaring at the hysteric commander, Lucy ran her fingers across the comforting warmth of her keys, she had plenty of spirits that couldn't be used against her. She wanted to give Leo more time to rest, and had no water to summon Aquarius... but two Lucys could be better than one, she thought. Smirking, Lucy pulled at Gemini's key.

"Uh uh!" Hughes scolded, flicking the wand and tearing the gold ring from her hands, the keys flew through the air, straight into her enemy's waiting hand. He grinned wildly and bowed as though completing a trick, straightening he spun the ring around his index finger as he took in the fury dawning over the stellar mage's face. No one got away with taking her keys.

"I am going to enjoy taking my keys back from you, when you are flat on your fucking back, defeated!" Lucy promised, swearing uncharacteristically. She heard Natsu laugh and cheer his support behind her statement and glanced over at her comrades.

Natsu had Gajeel in a headlock, attempting to prevent him from using his iron magic spells and Hughes clearly thought their plight was the single most amusing thing he could witness. Gajeel coated his entire left arm in iron and aimed a hook toward the Natsu's face, but of course, the attack never landed. Instead, both guys were lifted into the air and fired across the room, right into the unsuspecting blonde and all three went down in a crumpled pile.

Lucy groaned, trying unsuccessfully, to shove the two heavy dragon slayers off of her and then Natsu noticed that Gajeel's face had landed squarely in the valley of her breasts. He was up instantly, and in a flash, the iron mage was being whipped back across the room at Hughes in a shower of flames.

Growling possessively, Natsu reached down and pulled Lucy back to her feet. "Together, Lucy," he said cryptically. The stellar mage returned his look with a grin, she knew exactly what he was going for, though they hadn't pulled it off without issue yet. She pivoted away slightly to press her back into his as they both extended their inside arms, palms forward and Lucy began drawing the power of her star magic to a concentrated point around their palms. The gold magic built up with a blinding light as Natsu began feeding intense fire into her magic, the orb of swirling light and fire continued to build.

Lucy occasionally tagged along on the Twin Dragons' sparring sessions and recently she and Natsu had begun playing around with various Unison Raids while Haru did his ocean drills. Though their own magic affinities were much more stable and compatible than fire and water, getting the timing and input balanced to perfection was incredibly challenging. Lucy released a slow exhale as their combined magic neared its threshold and the couple braced themselves further to stabilize the explosive power of the spell.

Hughes' focus latched onto the devastating power pulsing off the two across from him and he thrust his weapon out, aggressively waving it across the open space before him. Gajeel let out a series of curses and angry sounds as his body was ripped off the ground again by the magic of the commander's wand but just before he could be flung into the preoccupied mages to deflect the attack, Happy intervened. The blue cat shot across the room, tossing Edo Levy toward the iron slayer, she tackled his form right out of the air to go spinning across the room, and Happy whipped around to snag the wand out of their enemy's grip before he could react.

With a cheer, Happy flew upward to distance himself from the impending attack, and Natsu slammed another palm of fire into the Unison Raid, "Fire Dragon's SHOOTING STAR!"

The ball of explosive power shot forward and overtook Hughes, his scream of pain filled the corridor as his body soared back to crash into the adjacent wall. Lucy bounced on the balls of her feet and shouted in celebration as Natsu wrapped his arms around her waist to lift and spin her around. No time like mid battle to nail a new spell, she looked up to take in Natsu's usual toothy grin taking over his face.

Happy flew over and dropped the wand into Lucy's open palm, "Thanks Happy!" she praised as she checked on their enemy. The magic power settled to reveal Hughes' splayed out on the ground, smoke rising from his charred clothing. Lucy rose to her toes to press a quick kiss to Natsu's lips before spinning to stalk over to the commander.

She came to a stop and hinged forward, looking down at the wide eyes of Hughes, his pupils so small only the whites of his eyes were easily noticeable. Lucy reached down to relieve him of her keys and let them jingle over his face, "No one gets away with taking my keys. MY friends," she growled. A surge of satisfaction flew through her when he visibly flinched at the combination of danger and pride that surrounded her. "But," she smiled, holding his own magic tool out, "I'm a better person than you, so I will return your weapon..." she announced. With a mischievous grin, she snapped the weapon in half and dropped the remnants on his chest before turning to saunter back to her team.

Haru

A ball of deep purple magic cut its path between Haru and his opponent and crashed into Edo Erza across the hall. Haru couldn't help the prideful smirk that pulled the corner of his mouth upward as Mira gave chase, wild white hair whipping around her. Now that the battle was back to one on one, and Wendy was enhancing them with support spells, Mira was having little difficulty taking the upper hand in the battle. Haru wasn't experiencing too much of a challenge either, given his counterpart's attention seemed to be getting increasingly divided by the redhead's pained cries. But as the two women advanced their fight further down the hall, Edo Haru seemed less distracted and more enraged by the water mage's interference.

Snows built up and concentrated into spikes of ice around the tip of Edo Haru's staff and he lunged forward, jabbing the blade forward and the icicles followed the same trajectory. Haru flipped back a couple times as the spikes pierced into the stone floor. Remaining in a defensive stance, he eyed the cracks spreading outward from the impacts. This was no ordinary ice, ordinary ice would have shattered on contact with stone... Haru had only ever seen Gray's magic do this kind of damage.

This was getting interesting...

Lifting his gaze back to his double, Haru charged straight into the whiteout blizzard, relying on his nose to guide a water-enhanced kick into the other man's side. Haru reached out blindly, gripping onto whatever his hands could find purchase on and his opponent did the same. They exchanged random, barely effective, strikes through the low visibility.

"Water Dragon's raging whirlpool!" Haru called, frustrated by the dense snows, the turbulent waters cut through the blizzard. As soon as they were both revealed, Edo Haru planted a forefoot and swung the metal staff upward with icy power wrapped around the blade. It sliced straight across the Water Slayer's shoulder and upper arm and froze it instantly, numbing it completely. Haru shattered the ice by simply straightening his elbow forcefully and flexed his stiff fingers, trying to ease sensation back. Originally, Haru had thought the weapon was only capable of conjuring blizzards and ice, but it was more than that... There was something dynamic and intense about the magic it produced, and most disconcerting, the magic signature felt familiar.

Edo Haru paused, dropping the butt of the staff into the ground as he observed him. "Figured it out, didn't you?" the hunter asked in a condescending tone and Haru turned cold eyes on him, still trying to grasp the information dawning on him.

"How?!"

"When you spend years hunting and experiencing the awesome potential of lacrima-based dragon slayer magic… It would become natural to experiment with ways to control that power for yourself, don't you think? Unfortunately, none of the lacrima I extracted ever seemed to translate to the power I expected." Edo Haru shrugged a shoulder, completely nonchalant with his heinous admissions. "Then couple years ago, I came across a dragon slayer who had no such enhancements. So imagine my surprise to learn that lacrima power paled in comparison to true dragon slayer magic..."

Haru's eyes narrowed dangerously at the implications. The other man twirled the staff between his hands before planting it again, a maniac grin spread across his face as his fingertips grazed the sleek metal. "The Blizzard Dragon Slayer," he said, giving name to his weapon, "it only seemed appropriate to honour the original bearer of my power... wouldn't you say, Water Dragon Slayer?"

A chill crawled down Haru's spine, "Disgusting enough that you hunt and use us like batteries, but the fact you've stripped a dragon slayer of their magic, their essence," he growled through clenched teeth, "to use it to hunt their own kind, is appalling."

"I've got another weapon lined up for yours... Water and ice make a deadly combination, wouldn't you agree?" he asked rhetorically again. The icy winds built up once more, swirling around them as the bluish aura cloaked the staff that Edo Haru maneuvered in a single dextrous hand.

Haru's eyes flashed, baring his teeth in anger, but he had to agree with his counterpart about the combination. "Unfortunately for you, this is where our fight ends."

The hunter laughed hysterically at the statement, before cutting off quickly in shock as Haru arched back, arms extended outward as he began deeply inhaling the entirety of the dragon-born magic. Vaguely, Haru considered that he'd likely regret this later, but with a little luck, ice being a state of water would make it close enough to his own element to avoid major repercussions. He swallowed the last drags of the blizzard and turned sharp blue eyes on his counterpart. The other Haru was frantically swiping his weapon through the air, with no results, he gaped in shock and the Water Slayer dropped a hand to his hip arrogantly, the corner of his mouth quirking upward cockily. He'd succeeded in stripping every bit of the dragon slayer magic from the weapon, leaving an empty and fairly useless hull.

"No way I'd allow a fellow slayer's power to remain in your hands."

With another deep inhale and the blue scales of Drive State fluttering across his cheeks and arms, Haru snapped forward. "Blizzard-Water Dragon's ROAR!"

The hunter's pupils blew wide in a wave of terror, driving the staff into the ground, he vaulted upward to avoid the bulk of raging water and ice that barrelled down on him. The outer edge of the breath attack still caught and sent him flying down the hall, but Edo Haru flipped back and managed to get his feet under him just in time to absorb some of the impact. The momentum of Haru's attack sent him sliding down the hall, driving a deep groove into the floor where he'd thrust the point of his blade down to slow himself.

Edo Haru buckled forward, dropping a forearm to his knee and gasped for breath. Eyes flicking back when he heard his red-haired partner scream, he spun to catch her just in time to avoid their collision.

All three of the Fairy Tail mages advanced on the downed pair and Edo Haru's eyes skipped between them anxiously. Facing assured defeat, he brought his fingers to his lips to produce a piercing whistle. Then, cradling his partner in his arms protectively, he ran toward one of the open air arches, and leapt from the castle walls.

Haru and Mira both ran after him, gripping the barrier to lean over and watched as one of the Knightwalkers' flying beasts whipped through the air far below. It caught the falling partners and with a powerful beat of its wings, it shot away at astounding speeds, providing a tactical retreat.

Mira cursed, stepping a foot up on the ledge, wings spreading behind her with the intension to give chase again, but Haru grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She pulled against his grip and he responded by simply wrapping her into a tighter embrace, "Mira, stop! Why are you so determined to take them down?!" he growled, "we already beat them."

She looked up, irritation plain in her eyes as Carla cleared her throat to catch their attention. The pair tore their eyes away from each other to look at the white cat and Wendy standing a few feet away.

"We should find the others immediately," Carla commanded stoically. When Mira's tension eased in his arms, Haru experimentally loosened his grip until he was sure she wasn't going to go speeding off after the Knightwalker's again. The takeover mage glanced back out at the now vacant skies, the Kightwalkers were long gone by now. Releasing her transformation, Mira sighed and nodded, and the four set off through the halls toward the throne room, and King Faust.

Natsu and his comrades stood in front of what the guard announced was the Anima Project they sought. He returned to desperately pleading for his release a second later, still terrified of the pair of dragon slayers that kept him restrained. Natsu granted his plea, albeit with a final imparting threat and the man whirled around, sprinting from the chamber with a yelp of fear.

From his side, Lucy reached up and clutched Natsu's upper arm, a sure sign she was feeling nervous. Natsu, completely captivated by the sight before them, barely registered the gesture, though the warmth of her hand became comforting. The Anima Project felt familiar, like déjà vu, but it was a recent project, and one constructed in a different world, so what sense would that make?

Ahead, a massive doorway loomed over them, connected to nowhere physically. Immediately, Edo Levy squealed excitedly and skipped over to it, bouncing sporadically around the structure as she analyzed the intricate machinery. The Fairy Tail mages simply observed her child-like enthusiasm, remaining fixed in their spots. "What is this…?" Lucy trailed off uncertainly as the petit bluenette dropped into a squat and awed over the connection points of a pair of heavy cables at the base of the doorway.

"This is it! The extracted magic power is feeding this—" Levy tore her eyes off the machine to trail over the rest of them and waved her hand indiscriminately at the device, "—whatever this is."

"This, is the Anima Project's final stage, Eclipse," a voice boomed behind them. Edo Levy froze in her studies, eyes widening at the site behind them and Natsu shifted to look back over his shoulder as well, surprised that he hadn't picked up on the new-arrivals. Too distracted. Natsu berated himself internally, he couldn't afford to let himself get distracted now.

Now standing in the entrance to the large chamber, a tall man with a long white beard and hair that tumbled around his shoulders was studying them with cold appraising eyes. The walled Kingdom's symbol emblazoned on the crown upon his head, King Faust tapped an ornate staff on the intricate mosaic pattern of the floor as numerous guards pooled in to surround them.

A/N. Thanks again for all your patience, and the encouraging PMs I received over my mini-hiatus. I truly appreciate you all for sticking with me, 25 chapters in now!

One more big battle chapter in Edolas, and then some fluff and mini-interlude chapters to look forward to.

Due to the additional crazy in my life, and the final semester of school starting up this week, I will be dropping to a once-a-week update schedule. So, expect weekend updates going forward, at least until things ease up a bit for me.

Thank you, thank you to suzaanoelofse01, valerioux and FireShifter for reviewing last chapter!

See you all Saturday!

R&R.

xx Loka Muse