Ultimate Fairy
Chapter 64: Tenrou Island
Part III
…
Last time on Ultimate Fairy…
Kevin was reminded of the first time he met the doctor when he didn't know that time creature was his old assistant and when they fought Eon "Ok for a minute let's say this is legit, what's the game plan and how-" he said pausing not sure what to say "How will we find Ben?" he asked him wondering what state his best friend would be in.
"Paradox said I should have medical ready." Max said his voice wavering a bit.
Kevin hated this always wondering what state his friend was in, wondering how they'd find him, but to hear that he needed medical help upon finding him was hard and confirmed some of the more depressing thoughts.
"Listen when we find him, we will help him no matter what." Max said to him needing to keep himself grounded as he had one thing keeping him together, a purple flower that Paradox had left, and if it meant what he thought Ben was in safe hands with someone he trusted with his life.
"And why aren't we telling Gwen, she is the only one who could heal him." Kevin said as he and Ben trusted her with their lives.
"I take grave offense to that Mr Levin." Azmuth said appearing in the room with Eunice in tow "My medical team is here ready to treat Ben upon arrival as apparently someone thought I needed help." he said looking at Eunice who smiled nervously.
"I didn't send them sir, I just informed Myaxx of possible harm to Ben and asked for any available staff, our current patients were low and we only took the excess staff." Eunice said as she wanted to be ready for anything and Myaxx being one of the few friends she had given they both answered to Azmuth was happy to assist as she had a great deal of respect for Ben given he annoyed Azmuth to no apparent end.
Azmuth sighed as the group commandeered a medical ship, he knew he was outnumbered as these people loved Ben and would risk everything to help him as Ben would've done the same without question "How much time?" he asked as Paradox gave Max an exact frame of time, which was rare given the time traveler's nature.
"12 hours." Max said feeling his age catch up with him as each minute felt longer than anything.
"Before you ask I have fully upgraded the med bay and upgraded the plumber ships scanners if Ben is going to be when and where Paradox said, they will find him." Azmuth said as that was how he kept busy waiting for Ben.
"Just so we're all clear, Gwen is gonna murder all of us when she finds out we knew about this." Kevin said as they didn't tell Gwen as she had been stressing over finding Ben, but to give hope and have it taken away was not something any of them could do to her.
…
Natsu held his breath and closed his eyes trying to focus on his sense of smell and hearing only, he blocked out his other senses and soon found what he was looking for, he looked at Mira and raised his fingers igniting the tips spelling out something.
'Enemies.' Mira thought reading his tips admiring him a bit for thinking of a quiet way to speak for once in his life, she was going thinking of how to ask for more when he raised his hand and showed only two fingers 'Maybe next year, I'll nominate you.' she thought as Natsu was impressing her right now and it seemed being with Ben made him actually think more "Wendy should be fine soon, but I am having trouble ejecting this spirit." she said as that was true as the spirit's hold was not magical, she didn't even know if her spell could work as this was her first time attempting it and it was on a non-magical species.
Natsu kept his eyes on Mira and positioned himself with where he thought the enemy was.
'Not a bad plan.' Mira thought as it was dumb to turn your back on the enemy, but the way they were positioned made it so they could both attack the enemy that was aiming for the other's back.
…
"What's the plan Zs'Skayr." Wendy said punching him in the face "We're on even ground and you're losing some inch by inch!" she said not wanting to give him more control over her than he already had.
"You know your father has that same wit, he never shuts up." Zs'Skayr said in annoyance "I will take great pleasure shutting you up again, permanently." he said as while he hated to admit it, he was losing ground of control and needed something to tip the scales.
…
Natsu and Mira felt the air get heavier and felt the tension in the air build by the second.
"So how long for Wendy?" Natsu asked her curiously as she caught his silent message.
"Too long." Mira said to him as she could keep the spell going, but all her progress would stop if she was not in direct contact with Wendy.
Both of them didn't waste time acting when they saw someone attack the other from behind.
Natsu saw a hardened vine aimed from behind Mira saw it going for her neck and grabbed it and pulled it with incredible force bringing the culprit forward.
Mira saw a large wolfman lunge at Natsu's back and jumped kicking him in the face "You're Anubis." she said as she talked to Ben in detail about Wendy's first mission and knew exactly who this was "You know you both made my day, you and the ghostly ass." she said as she smiled somewhat vindictively as she fully intended to perform a Take Over on both Anubis and Zs'Skayr when he was out of Wendy.
"I don't know you." Natsu said to the man getting a good whiff of him before using the end of the vine he still had and slammed him onto the ground before igniting it "You have mana!" he said angrily as there were only two people whom he knew that had mana and one of them was unconscious near them and possessed to add on top of it.
"Just my luck a fire mage." Azuma said to himself "And I stole this mana from some old hag and it feels incredible!" he said as the power was still coursing through his veins.
Natsu froze not knowing anyone that fit that bill "Doesn't matter, I'm gonna turn you into a campfire." he said guessing by the vine he was still burning, this man was some type of nature mage like Droy or Laki.
"Please, do you think you can defeat me?" Azuma asked as he saw the look in Natsu's eyes it was more animalistic compared to Zancrow's and not as psychotic and arrogant, to be honest, he was rethinking his statement.
Natsu ignited both his fists "No I think, I can burn you to a smoldering mess." he said charging Azuma.
"So came running back to your old master?" Mira asked Anubis tauntingly, she knew what he could do having fought Blitzwolfer earlier and with her Cleo form she knew what to expect from his bandages.
"And who are you, Tennyson's bitch?" Anubis asked very curious as he wanted a name to whom Tennyson loved and wanted to end that woman's life in order to make him suffer.
Mira chuckled at that "No, but you'll be mine, when I use my magic on you." she said finding a bit funny someone confused her for Erza or rather Ben's girlfriend.
Anubis growled, but he reached into his bandages and pulled out a purple crystal.
"Corrodium." Mira said recognizing it immediately as Ben didn't skip out on that either and transformed into her Bride of Frankenstrike form and saw the way he held it, which confused her "Are you, gonna try and stab us with that?" she asked letting out some chuckles "Listen you dumb mutt, I'm immune and he can BURN your little toy." she said mockingly wondering what the point was as it took a town on non-mages days to turn.
"It's not meant for you." Anubis said opening his mouth and began howling.
Mira covered her ears, but was surprised by Anubis throwing the crystal, it took less than a second to notice where it was heading, she looked behind her and raised her hand firing a blast of lightning at the crystal and just as her lightning was gonna touch it a bandage wrapped around her wrist pulling it to the side and she watched painfully as Wendy got stabbed by the corrodium in her abdomen.
…
"No!" Grandeeney said as the black skies glowed purple and all the purple flowers that started to turn blue began to wither.
…
Wendy felt it, in her body and down her spine when Zs'Scayr smiled that the tables had turned, she looked down too her stomach and saw a purple glow.
"Looks like you are being silenced, Tennyson." Zs'Skayr said seeing Wendy drop "One Tennyson down, another to go." he said as Wendy still struggled "You just don't know when to die, do you." he said as Wendy may have lost all her strength but she still gave him a look that screamed she'd murder him.
…
"Wendy!" Natsu said seeing Wendy be stabbed, he was currently being restrained by Azuma and literally exploded with fire burning Azuma's vines holding him in place.
Mira shot lightning at Anubis' muzzle making him yelp in pain.
Both ran to Wendy and reached for the corrodium in her stomach.
"Too late." Zs'Skayr-Wendy said breaking Mira's magic circle and sent both of them flying back "Thank you Anubis." she said admiring the corrodium stabbing her stomach.
"Master!" Anubis said a bit slurred as Mira's lightning hurt his muzzle, but he still bowed to his master.
"Now, so many choices on who to kill, Natsu I owe you for those burns." Zs'Skayr-Wendy said as she was pissed about that "Azuma, my other jailer." she said as Azuma was the one assigned to him when Hades ripped out his eye.
"Are we outnumbered?" Natsu asked Mira as he wondered how this fight would go now that Zs'Skayr-Wendy was in the mix.
"Not sure." Mira said as she was unsure if this was going to be a two-way battle or a three-way one as Zs'Skayr-Wendy didn't seem to like AZuma or Natsu.
"Let me make this easy for you Natsu." Zs'Skayr-Wendy said raising her hand and blasted, Azuma in his chest.
Azuma looked down and trembled seeing a large purple mark on it and soon began to cough up blood.
"Choke Azuma, because that's all you can do, you won't die a warrior, you'll die like a human no big battle, nothing but a slow and painful death." Zs'Skayr-Wendy said with a sadistic smile seeing him fall.
"Heal him now!" Natsu said as while he hated helping the enemy, especially in these circumstances of war, if he died he didn't want Wendy to feel responsible.
"No, be glad I know you're radioactive and she's immune." Zs'Skayr-Wendy said knowing Natsu had tasted Cobra's poison and was radioactive, while Mira's demon souls gave her a strong resistance to poisons and had forms resistant to corrodium.
Azuma glared and raised his hand at her.
Mira watched in surprise seeing insects or more accurately beetles appear on Azuma's hand and his eyes glowed purple and soon a swarm left and attacked Wendy.
"Of course." Zs'Skayr-Wendy said in annoyance "You have a Thep Khufan DNA." she said as remembering Zancrow had transformed earlier into a Loban, she saw the wound she had given him partially heal.
Natsu felt a bit relieved seeing the wound and poison heal "We're gonna beat you, ghost." he said angrily.
"And how are you going to do that savage?" Zs'Skayr-Wendy asked mockingly, but became tense as both he and Mira smiled.
"Black Wing Boom Blast!" a familiar voice cried out striking Zs'Skayr-Wendy from behind.
Natsu seeing his favorite knight arrive decided to follow her lead and struck Azuma sucker punching him.
Mira smiled transforming into her Satin Soul she blasted Anubis "About time you showed up what happened?" she asked her rival.
"The rune knights have been having trouble with beasts like that." Erza said motioning to the downed Azuma as he was still healing "What is her situation?" she asked looking at Wendy's body.
"It was going well, but fluffy over there stabbed her." Mira said as Anubis picked himself up and growled at them "You know I've always wanted a fur rug, Lisanna always threw a fit, but you, I think she'll make an exception." she said as she was eager to personally skin him.
"Erza, if I can get a hit on her I can burn that crystal and burn that bastard out." Natsu said showing her some golden fire.
Erza spotted Azuma getting up "We will buy you time, Mira crush his soul please." she said as Mira gave her a smile that scream many vindictive emotions and sadistry.
…
Ultear Milkovich was rarely surprised, but seeing Gray Fullbuster waiting for her looking at her with a look that screamed he knew things a look she used quite often on people, it was odd and strangely awkward to be caught by it.
"I know." Gray said to her simply.
"Oh and what exactly is it you know Mr Fullbuster?" Ultear asked both fishing for what he knew as his stare made her uncomfortable and she wanted it to end.
"You're Ur's daughter, you were trained by Brain, and you're here to find Zeref for the one true magic." he said as she looked at him in total and complete shock that he knew all this "But that's not what you want, you want to go back in time and remove me and Leon from the Ur's life and be with your mom, who you claim you hate." he said seeing the look of shock and surprise in her eyes.
Ultear was shocked by that answer as it struck so many chords in her, but what shook her was wondering how he knew that and how he could know that.
"I time traveled and know you asked Hades about that spell as you found it in his library and know that using it costs the user their life." Gray said to her seeing look at him with even more shock.
"H-How!?" Ultear asked demanding to know how he did this wondering how he could have time traveled.
"That would be my doing Ms Milkovich." Paradox said as he arrived "A pleasure to see you again, gumball?" he asked her seeing her shocked face as a no "Oh dear is that the time we're late." he said taking out his pocket watch.
Before anything could be said all three of them were transported.
Ultear looked around and saw she was looking at stars all around her "Where are we?" she asked Paradox.
"Where isn't the question you should be asking my dear, but when." Paradox said as both of them found themselves near a small but familiar home.
Gray and Ultear had many good and bad memories and emotions tied to this place, but it got much worse as they saw Ur walk out of the home half-naked.
"C'mon you little rugrats, we got training to do!" Ur said calling out hearing many feet pattering on the floor of the home.
They all saw Leon leave first a smile plastered onto his face eager to start, Gray was soon to follow having the scowl he still had to this present day, but the most shocking was a little girl that followed behind.
"T-That's me." Ultear said in shock seeing her younger self here "This never happened, I never lived in this home with them, this is all a lie!" she said to Paradox.
"Correction, this was a possible future, did you know that Brain had been planning on leaving his post when your mother went to him for you to be tested?" Paradox asked pointlessly knowing she was in denial "You were producing much magical power for your body to handle as bad as Brain was he did save your life, but that's not the point with Brain gone in this timeline you had a doctor that didn't have the power or the gall to cross your mother, you were treated, but it got better after you met Gray and Leon, they taught you what your mother taught them as she had many reservations on you being a mage." he said to her.
"Gray Lyon put some clothes on you pervs." the young Ultear said throwing snowballs at them.
"Watch it." Gray said throwing some back.
The group watched Ur smiling at her kids "C'mon everyone we got training to do lets go." she said running half-naked in the snow her kids following her lead.
"We all live different lives when something happens however small or what choices we can make." Paradox said to them "Do you know what happened about a month ago involving a woman named Daphne?" he asked Ultear.
"Yes, Ben Tennyson gained a dragon form, I and master Hades monitored him much more closely then." Ultear said as the power of a dragon no matter how much Zancrow believed was not something to scoff at.
"Yes, but do you know that if Gray had not done that, then Ben would be grievously wounded?" Paradox asked getting surprised looks from Gray and Ultear "My dear boy you made a grand mistake, but there were worse outcomes, you see without the new and improved Laserscale, Ben couldn't have empowered the Dragon Slayers to beat the Dorma Anim, if you simply told Ben and Natsu about Daphne, she would have been sent to prison and the town not destroyed, but Ben wouldn't have Laserscale the way he is now." he said to him.
Gray listened to him closely and didn't know what he felt as he felt relief that his choice accomplished something, but he still felt the overwhelming guilt from how injured Ben was.
"And you my dear, had you called out to your mother that day, do you know what might have happened?" Paradox said showing her the last time she saw her mother alive.
Gray saw him and Leon training and laughing with Ur, but from the angle he was at Ultear could be seen in the distance looking beaten and very hypothermic.
"Mommy." the young Ultear said causing the group to stop laughing and look to Ultear and rush to her side.
Ultear watched as time moved a bit fast stopping in some cases seeing her mother run to the small house seeing her cry and bring her to a nearby fire trying to warm her up calling her name repeatedly, she then saw her mother begrudgingly leave for work and saw Gray and Leon in what she guessed was her room and saw them spend time with her as she lied in bed healing, she saw them try to make her smile both of them going as far to make it snow inside the room and cracked a small smile when Ultear showed up and started screaming at them.
"We are not destined for pain Ultear, we live by our choices and how the choices affect us is by how much we let them." Paradox said bringing them back to the present "Now that you know what you know, what will you do?" he asked her curiously.
"Don't you already know?" Ultear asked him as she had many thoughts running through her mind, but she thought this man knew about every choice she would make.
"On the contrary, my dear, people who have time powers are a bit trickier to follow on the time stream, and there are infinite choices that can happen in this moment with whatever you decide now." Paradox said to her.
Ultear felt powerful now knowing the gravity of what choice could do and after everything she was shown, everything that could've happened she felt her life and anger had been pointless, everything she had done meaningless, she looked at her guild mark and focused her magic into her hand and placed it on the mark making it disappear.
"Excellent decision my dear, now I believe we have some familiar faces to see." Paradox said as they disappeared from sight.
…
"Come out boy!" Hades said looking for Ben as moments ago during their most recent clash he vanished from sight.
'This is not good.' Ben thought to himself looking down seeing the Omnitrix was literally our of power 'All I have is mana and that won't help me much.' he thought as he thought that was a way to lead Hades away, he charged a small mana ball and let it roam in the opposite direction he went in 'Need to keep an eye out for anyone.' he thought his eyes glowing a bright pink "Ok need to find some help." he said as his eyes looked around trying to see if he could find a familiar magic signature.
"Hello, Ben." Paradox said to him appearing without making a sound "Come along let's have a chat." he said as he walked and Ben followed.
"You rarely show up this often." Ben said behind the man following him as he guessed that Paradox was leading him somewhere important.
"True my dear boy, but this place is a spot where time is more fluid, the opposite of Los Solidad, it is very fun." Paradox said to him with a smile "But this is not the time for chit chat I am afraid." he said as he stopped in a small clearing near a river "Ben I am going to ask you to do something very hard, but if you do it many lives can be saved." he said seeing Ben gain a steely focus on him "You need to wait here." he said to him.
"You want me to wait?" Ben asked him wondering why he was asking him to do that.
"Ben I understand doing nothing is against every instinct you have, but it is in your best interest to stay here." Paradox said pointing to the Omnitrix "You now have a partial charge in your Omnitrix, you don't have enough to stay Ultimate for long should you use it, the odds are more than even with your friends, and finally if you leave this spot, you will be unable to save Wendy." he said to him seeing his shock "No spoilers Ben." he said sadly seeing the desperate and begging look in his eyes "It is time to end a chapter of your life Ben, something will end here." he said as Ben sighed from his vagueness.
"So if I leave, my daughter is in danger." Ben said to him as he hated times like this "Can you do me a favor and deliver a message?" he asked seeing the time traveler nod and told him what to deliver.
"Oh and before I forget, here you are." Paradox said tossing him his sword "Keep a firm grip Ben." he said before he left.
…
Erza was angry as her opponent had fled from her after she had cut everything he sent her way to ribbons both literally and figuratively, his bandages, insect swarms, tree vines, everything cut down, she exhausted much of her magic, but she knew he was out as well, she heard movement and readied her sword and relaxed seeing Mira, but she did not look well "What happened to you?" she asked as she didn't think Mira would have any problems with Anubis.
"That thing was two souls in one, was not prepared for that." Mira said as she was blindside when she took him over seeing both Anubis minus the bandages and a mummy similar to Snare-Oh "Where's the wood guy?" she asked her rival seeing her angry scowl "Escaped, wow losing your touch, is he wounded?" she asked as that was the best one could get with an escaping enemy disable them to avoid later battles when she got a nod she relaxed.
They heard movement nearby and readied themselves, but saw Natsu looking a bit worse for wear, he has slash marks and burns on his body.
"Wendy got away." Natsu said to them "I got blindsided by Zancrow, he wanted to kill me and Wendy, I couldn't let him hurt her or fight her." he said as it was a hard choice but he made it.
They both sighed and given what they had seen and fought actual members of the dark guild they understood his choice better than he knew.
"This is bad, does Ben even know he's in danger?" Mira asked as someone had to have seen him by now.
"I was unable to tell him the specifics." Makarov said coming from behind Natsu and Verdona following behind.
All of them look confused as they looked at the woman seeing the confidence in her smile and her eyes, it looked incredibly familiar to all of them.
"You." Verdona said walking to Erza making the scarlet knight feel a wave of tenseness she hadn't felt before from another person "You're the one dating my grandson." she said as Erza, Mira, and Natsu were shocked.
"You are so screwed." Mira said to her rival seeing Verdona flash her mana eyes at them.
"You make my grandson happy, keep it that way and we'll get along just fine, but I have one demand." Verdona said seeing Erza was still tense "Wendy is a treasure I assure you, but I want more." she said to her.
"More?" Erza asked her not following.
'She isn't.' Mira thought as her jaw fell from the boldness of this woman 'Damn wish she was my grandma.' she thought as this woman was awesome.
"I want more great grand babies, seriously you live together and share a room!" Verdona said and complained like a child not caring Erza was turning as red as her hair.
…
"Can I get some water?" Rex asked very wounded his jacket very ripped up as he stood at the head of the council ship.
Lahar looked to one of the grunts and they got the silent message "Thank you for helping us restrain the enemy troops." he said as Rex disabled the prisoners they had and helped restrained the enemies that tried to liberate them.
"You can thank me by keeping a tighter leash on your men." Rex said holding a folder up "Your men are idiots, I recovered this from one of them, they are doing a survey on the island." he said to him as he read through it "Can I ask what the Council's problem is, I mean what is the big gain from them taking down or discrediting Fairy Tail?" he asked as during his time with Providence many had tried to discredit him and the agency for some agenda, Hunter Cain and Van Kleiss came to mind.
"Can I ask how?" Lahar asked him seeing Rex look at him oddly "How is your guild so, well built and always so ahead of the council?" he asked as he never understood that.
Rex didn't need to even think "We do the right thing, we are willing to put our lives on the line for others not for duty or any other reason, that's what it means to be a hero, are you willing to lay your life down knowing you could die Lahar?" he asked as he had heard of the man and had seen some of his actions.
Lahar took a minute as he believed in doing his duty, but wondered if he could do what Rex had asked, he wondered if he could lay his life down as he had always been about duty, he wondered if that was what held him back and why the Fairy Tail mage did so well, they did it because it was the right thing, not what they were supposed to do or that it was expected of them, he was now envious of that.
"Listen, I think we got most of the soldiers ok, I'm gonna take off and see if I can find my people." Rex said as he mostly stayed to make sure Grimoire Heart lost most of its forces and that they stayed out of play, with most of the ships filled he felt satisfied, the guard finally brought him a bottle of water and he downed it and let it hit his face and soon built his wings and took off.
Lahar watched him fly away thinking heavily on what was said between them.
…
'Damn it!' Gajeel thought in exhaustion as he faced some assholes who turned into Ben's more monster aliens "I fucking hate this shit!" he yelled out "I'm supposed to be in my element." he said as this was war another name for violence and combat areas he thought he strived in, but this is different than when he worked for Phantom Lord.
'Stop whining brat.' a familiar voice said in the back of his mind.
Gajeel hated his past and he hated to recall it, but his mind wouldn't stop pestering him.
'You are a Dragon Slayer, MY Dragon Slayer, you are an apex predator, a beast at the top of the food chain, iron isn't just your element you ARE iron, your soul, your attacks, your resolve, your actions, make them as sharp as a blade and wield them as the weapons they are!' Metalicana's voice said ringing in his ears from years ago.
'Whatever old man, but what can I do?' Gajeel thought using the greatest skill he had, his ability to analyze 'I can't find Ben's scent or Wendy's, everyone is scattered and I don't know who needs help, the airship is heavily guarded, but what do I have NOW.' he thought to himself before realizing something as he looked down to Kawazu and Yomazu, two animal like people he fought that work for Grimoire Heart "Information gathering." he said as he liked when he could rough up the people he got info from.
Both men looked at Gajeel in fear, when they had found him, he looked sickly, but when they got up close and personal they saw a monster.
…
"Hey you're gonna be ok, hey look at me you're gonna be fine." Cana said tears in her eyes as she held Lucy closely.
Lucy smiled at Cana weakly clutching her side where she had a gash on her side, Bluenote Stinger had clashed with Gildarts and it was a standstill the man was a savage, but in the end he managed to get the drop on Gildarts changing the gravity making him lose speed of his last physical blow taking him down, Bluenote then focused his sights on Cana as she began casting Fairy Glitter, but she stood in his way and took the blow meant for Cana, Gildarts and Cana saw this in horror seeing Lucy take a blow, both of them used all the magic they could muster and shot Bluenote with as much magic power as possible.
Gildarts looked at Lucy's wound and it looked bad 'Spacial magic.' he thought as it was hard magic to use as even his Crush magic was a spacial type "Cana this isn't an ordinary wound, she's not healing, we need to take care of this now or she can bleed out." he said calmly as it was a likely possibility.
Cana shook but nodded "What do we do?" she asked needing to know what to do to help her friend.
"First we need to get rid of the spacial magic around her wound, my crush magic should be able to help, but I need you to help guide me." Gildarts said seeing her look at him in surprise "Still getting used to having my old arm back and my hands aren't meant for steady work, I've seen you pull off card shots and draw them with precision, we need that to help Lucy, so guide my hands Cana." he said knowing that Cana would do the job best guiding him.
Cana held Gildarts hands, the hands of her father, her best friend needed her to do this "I need you to focus your magic as condensed as possible and focus on the edge of the wound." she said as she saw his hands glow white and the light was dim, she placed his hands over the infected part of the wound and watched as the spacial magic dissipated.
"You know I hear talking helps." Gildarts said to her as he focused on his magic control more than he ever had before "Why do you want to be S-class?" he asked her curiously.
Cana choked back a laugh "I thought it'd make my dad proud." she said to him being both vague and brutally honest.
"He's not proud of you already?" Gildarts asked as Cana was one of their best mages, she may have not been the most combative, but he just witnessed her pull off one of the three sacred fairy spells to their guild, and that took both effort and heart.
"It's not that, it's more that he doesn't know about me." Cana said to him not knowing why she was, but she remembered what Wendy said to her about trying her best and doing her best.
Gildarts was a little confused by that answer and noticed Cana lifted his hands "Any ideas how to seal this wound?" he asked seeing Cana pull out a card and a large bandage appeared and pulled out a flask.
"Sorry Luce, this is gonna burn, this is pure vodka." Cana said as she kept the strong stuff on hand for her potential victory passing the trial or another defeat, she poured some on the bandage and placed it on her seeing her wince "Sorry I don't carry salve." she said as booze was her friend and she rarely got serious wounds.
"Oh man that hurt." Lucy said wishing she had a doctor celestial spirit.
"Hey you two, you did good." Gildarts said to them "Now all we need to do is find the others." he said as they needed to regroup.
"Might be harder than you think." a familiar voice said catching their attention as they looked to see Loki in a more disastrous state than usual, but by his side was a fairly dressed goat man "We need to get out of here, this place is becoming too dangerous." he said as he didn't like what was happening on the island.
"Hate to agree, but maybe a strategic retreat is in order." Gildarts said to them "I'm low on magic so is Cana and Lucy is wounded." he said to them.
"Not only that but these guys are using dark magic like magic that is dangerous to the life force." Loki said as magic like that was not unheard of as life force was powerful and to sacrifice it usually brought or summoned great power to the individual.
"Zoldeo was not your fault my friend, it was his own greed for power that was his downfall." the goat man said weakly "Greetings to you all, my name is Capricorn." he said doing a weak bow, but in the state he was in they understood.
"Someone's dead?" Lucy asked looking at them weakly.
Capricorn knew who this was and bit his tongue, he was honestly glad Zoldeo was dead after possessing him for so long "Yes, but he died of his own choices my lady, Loki speaks of you highly." he said as he had asked Loki about Lucy and all he heard was good things.
"Keep on flirting lion boy." Cana said jokingly.
"Loki, I must go, can you please give her-!?" Capricorn was saying before he vanished and a golden key dropped in his place.
Everyone was a bit silent and asked Loki for details as they walked through the rain Loki carrying Lucy as he gave her the previously vanished goat's key.
Gildarts pittied Loki learning that resisting possession caused his attacker to die, he had some similar experiences with enemies who fought him literally using their life force 'But it's not his fault that person died.' he thought to himself as that was not Loki's cross to bare.
"Loki have you seen Ben?" Lucy asked him wondering if he had seen him.
Loki paused for a moment "Yeah I saw him." he said collecting himself "He was fighting Grimiore Heart's master, it looked pretty even, but I think Ben lost." he said as he could still feel Hades' foul magic, his magic being light made him sensitive to certain dark magic.
That certainly made them all nervous 'Someone on Ben's level and he won.' was their collective thoughts.
'I need to build up my magic power.' Gildarts thought as he now felt they should retreat to somewhere safe even more now.
…
Mira sighed as she stared at the newest souls she acquired, it was hard to subjugate souls deepening on how powerful they were, it was actually this reason why the master put a restriction on one of her Take Over souls, Halphas.
The Mummy was silent, Mira was thinking he may have been mute, which worked out fine for her as it gave him one less means to complain, but she could sense his hatred and vile thoughts toward her, humanity, and especially Ben.
The Loban was acting exactly like how she expected a savage dog and his emotions were dark even by some of her Take Over's standards, she was honestly surprised by what she saw from his memories.
Both were well restrained inside Mira's mind as her inner world was somewhat hard to escape, she based it on the the guild hall, it was well forteified and a place that often gave her strength as it held her dearest memories and those memories gave her strength to fight the evil she used in her magic, whenever she fully absorbed a soul it would vanish becoming part of her, but it took time for certain mages to absorb them to fully have control 'Halphas should still be lurking around.' she thought thinking of one soul in particular as she had yet to fully absorb her.
"Let me go girl and I promise, your end will be swift!" the Loban said to her angrily.
"Hmmm no." Mira said cutely "You hurt Wendy." she said calmly, but her anger was clear "Your friend over there is gonna be easy to absorb, I have bits and pieces from Ben on his form so it shouldn't take to long, but when he's gone, it'll be just you and me, I'll make your last moments of existence hurt and whatever piece of you survives inside me, I'll have you watch as I make sure Ben and Wendy have a happy life, two of the people that beat you happy forever." she said knowing it was a the worst punishment for an enemy to know their greatest foe was happy while only they could watch.
Both saw Mira vanish from thin air leaving them to their slow demise.
…
Mira opened her eyes smiling at the anger the two souls were unleashing happy to piss them off, she looked at the others as they were taking a momentary rest 'We'll need as much power as we can muster.' she thought as they needed to defeat Hades and Zs'Skayr-Wendy.
"Where is Ben?" Erza asked no one in particular.
"He's close." Verdona said to her getting some looks "He's going to face Wendy, we must not interfere under any circumstances." she said to them as Paradox told her this must happen between them.
"You want us to LET him fight his daughter, your great-granddaughter?" Natsu asked her as if she was insane "No!" he said to her "We can't let him fight alone, he can't fight Wendy, he won't fight her, he'd never raise a hand to her!" he said as Wendy was one of the only pepole Ben would never harm.
Erza agreed wholely as she remembered Zs'Skayr's 'hostage exchange' when he possessed a young Gwen Tennyson "This isn't a fight Ben can win." she said as Zs'Skayr held all the cards.
"He doesn't need to win, he needs to survive." Verdona said as that was what needed to happen for them to win it all 'This will not end you Wendy, I swear on my life.' she thought encasing them in a mana sphere and flew upward.
"Why can't we intervene?" Makarov asked her.
"Time travlers, foresight, and the ability to manipulate time." Verdona said to them "I rarely like these abilities where one has so much power or so much faith on what should be instead of what could be." she said as cementing ones self to an event was dumb in her opinion.
"Our lives aren't set in stone, we make our lives into what they are, we're not someones puppets!" Natsu said as he knew that where they were now, was because of their choices not someone else's.
Verdona smiled "Exactlty, but in this particular case I am a bit biased as if we intervene there is a strong likely hood that Ben or Wendy will die." she said losing her smile "No more questions." she said waving her hand as her mana sphere became invisible and they landed near Ben as he sat waiting.
"Ah Verdona I see you've arrived." Paradox said appearing the sphere "Hello everyone, gumball?" he asked getting a nod from Natsu "Finally someone who says yes." he said as he tossed one to Natsu "Oh and Natsu Ben has a message for you." he said to him seeing Natsu almost choke on his gumball "He says and I quote 'Natsu I've been put on the sidelines, leaving this fight to you, I know you can win if you put your heart and soul into it, keep everyone safe, I trust you and if you see Erza and Wendy tell them I love them.' end quote." he said seeing the emotions on Natsu and Erza's faces.
Natsu's face showed determination and anger, not wanting to let Ben down, but felt as he already had.
Erza felt her gut wrench feeling a bit undeserving of Ben's love when she couldn't save Wendy.
…
Patience was not a virtue Ben had as he sat on the ground bitterly hating that he had to wait and wasn't helping in the battle.
"Dad?" Wendy's voice asked getting Ben's attention as he looked to see Wendy behind a bush.
"Wendy!" Ben said in relief "Oh man you would not believe today, are you ok?" he asked seeing she looked a little rough around the edges.
"Yeah, fought some dark guild members, I kicked their butts." Wendy said raising her hand.
"Now that's what I like to hear, way to-!?" Ben was saying till he was cut as he was blasted in the chest burning through his shirt, his jacket fully intact.
"Wow I gotta say, I couldn't believe it was this easy to get the drop on you." 'Wendy' said to him "I mean just wow, I mean the look of surprise on your face is just delicious." she said as she gained certain ghostly features.
"Corrodium detected." the Omnitrix said loudly.
"Of course, it's you!" Ben said putting the pieces together "I should have fried you instead of locking you back in the Omnitrix." he said as it didn't take him long to put the pieces together.
Zs'Skayr-Wendy just laughed "Finally there's that vindictive side I love to see, it's what makes us so alike." she said with a smile.
Ben glared but quickly looked down at the Omnitrix 'I have half of a full charge.' he thought to himself 'Keep talking bastard.' he thought as that was one of the few weaknesses this alien had, he couldn't stop monologuing to save his life "We're nothing alike." he said to him.
"You see that's were you're wrong Tennyson, your daughter is becoming rather skilled at mana, did you know she is an empath now?" Zs'Skayr-Wendy said with a smile "She senses how nervous you become when you use mana, but I know it's not nerves." she said taking a deep breath as if relishing in it "It's FEAR!" she said happily in slight euphoria.
Ben hated him but felt sad his daughter could sense his unease whenever they practiced with mana.
Zs'Skayr-Wendy held out her hand and the staff of ages appeared "Didn't want to be the only one unarmed." she said with a smirk seeing his sword "I know all your moves Ben, you practically signed your death warrant when you taught her." she said as Ben taught Wendy as much as he could.
"Give me someone good!" Ben said popping up the dial of the Omnitrix "Wildvine!" he said before realizing who he had.
"Wildvine?" Zs'Skayr-Wendy said in surprise seeing the plant creature.
"You know one of these days I am going to have Azmuth reboot you!" Wildvine said looking at the Omnitrix "Let's go you Halloween rip off we end this today!" he said extending his hand forward and grabbing hold of Wendy's body.
"Wendy developed some new tricks behind your back." Zs'Skayr-Wendy said as she activated her Miasma Dragon Mode and saw Wildvine's arm turn from green to purple.
Wildvine was no stranger to poisons "Funny thing about being a parent, you have instincts to what your kid is doing." he said as his arm bloomed with purple flowers letting out purple mist "How about you use your own tricks." he said cockily.
"Not a bad idea." Zs'Skayr-Wendy said as she tore through the vines holding her, she raised one of her hands revealing longer extended nails "Next these will tear out your heart." she said gleefully.
"Guess I'm gonna have to disable you another way." Wildvine said slamming the Omnitrix dial "Ampfibian!" he said looking at his sword "Time to get serious." he said as his sword became a set of nunchucks "I don't breathe." he said as with Wendy's poison ability he couldn't risk using aliens that could breathe.
"Miasma Dragon Wing Attack!" Zs'Skayr-Wendy said loudly not caring if Ben could or couldn't breathe, all she cared about was his pain.
Ampfibian had to take the hit needing to get close as he began to strike Wendy with the nunchucks switching between his arms with each strike.
Zs'Skayr-Wendy winced at every strike and when she tried a return strike it went through Ampfibian.
"Must suck I can be intangible, but you can't!" Ampfibian said shocking Zs'Skayr-Wendy as her hand was still 'in' him "You're not the only one who plays with shadows!" he said as he disappeared.
Zs'Skayr-Wendy looked around before she was blasted from behind and when she turned around she was blasted from her side and another.
'I can't keep fighting like this.' Ampfibian thought as he needed to speed this up, he used his legs to hold her arms down and placed his hands on her head 'I hope this works!' he thought to himself as his tendrils electrified.
Both screamed in pain.
…
'Damn it, that hurt.' Ampfibian thought to himself looking at a field of flowers all of which were dying and purple "Wendy!" he said calling out.
"She is not here Ben Tennyson." a voice said behind Ampfibian as he turned around to come face to face with a dragon.
"Grandeeney." Ampfibian said not even needing to ask as Wendy described her is such detail it was as if he met her in person "I won't ask or bother for specifics, but can you help me save Wendy?" he asked seeing her downcast expression as all the answer he needed "Can you tell me where to FIND her?" he asked as she said nothing but raise a claw and tapped his head.
"Save our daughter Ben Tennyson and make this vile creature pay." Grandeeney said as Amphibian vanished in a blinding light.
Ampfibian found himself in a purple void and guessed he was somewhere deeper inside Wendy's mind "Don't have to tell me twice." he said to himself as he began to wander till he spotted a familiar dark blue and rushed to it "Hey kid." he said cradling Wendy in his upper arms seeing how pale she was "Listen I need you to hear me." he said seeing her struggle to open her eyes "Ok listen I know this bastard and I know you, I can feel you fighting even now ok, this idiot is a parasite alright he has no strength of his own the strength you think he has is the strength he's been feeding off of you, so stop him." he said with a smile seeing her open her eyes seeing a familiar set of brown.
Wendy saw him and smiled, but soon lost her smile seeing another familiar face behind Ben.
'Finally!' Zs'Skayr thought going for the kill, but stopped as he was shocked intensely.
"Gotta love two sets of hands." Ampfibian said as his lower arms were touching Zs'Skayr "You think I'd be dumb enough to trust your dumbass not to stab me in the back?" he asked sarcastically.
Zs'Skayr glared at him hating the fact that he had become so predictable to his worst enemy.
"This is gonna end." Amphibian said as the purple void disappeared and they were back in the field of flowers.
"What did you do!?" Zs'Skayr demanded as he felt his hold weaken.
"You think I was twiddling my thumbs when I got in here, I have been reaching into Wendy's mind pushing you to the surface, my kid now has a fighting chance, all I have to is one more thing." Amphibian said as he slammed the dial no longer inside Wendy's mind.
"No, I refuse to let Tennyson live another day!" Zs'Skayr said about to regain control until he felt something grab his tail.
"Round two freak!" Wendy said angrily slamming him into the ground.
"I need to start killing you Tennyson's from the start, you're all more trouble than you are worth!" Zs'Skayr said knowing he needed to act fast.
…
"Chromastone!" Chromastone said loudly as he picked up Wendy "Man I really hate this stuff." he said placing his hand on the corrodium crystal absorbing it "Omnitrix scan for genetic and radioactive damage." he said as a beam shot and scanned Wendy.
"Mild corrodium exposure do you wish to repair?" the Omnitrix asked him.
"Sometimes I wonder if Azmuth makes you ask just to piss me off, yes!" Chromastone said as he wondered in what universe he'd say no to healing someone, he turned back to human and saw Wendy's stab wound vanish not leaving a scar on her.
Ben looked at Wendy's jacket seeing it had been put through the ringer, he took off his own green jacket and blanketed her with it, he saw her ghostly features vanish and saw her eyes twitching a bit "About time Wendy, so how'd beating that-!?" he was saying till he felt a small bit of pain in his chest feeling a warmth coming from it and looked down, seeing Wendy's hand had stabbed him, he saw his blood leak onto Wendy's hand and coughed some up landing on his jacket.
"Look at me!" Zs'Skayr-Wendy said locking eyes with Ben "I want to see the life leave your eyes damn it, I want to feel your last heart beat!" she said vindictiely as her purple eyes flashed pink "Damn it no not now!" she yelled as her eyes became fully pink.
"You may have possessed my body and my mind, but I was able to look into yours as well bastard you wanted mana so bad have a taste of it!" Wendy said pulling her hand out of Ben's chest "Botigs Zaborito Carpis Nebegear Gais Liphan Intruders Utien!" she said her eyes shining a bright pink before her mana exploded outwardly.
Ben watched as Zs'Skayr was ejected from Wendy's body, but he was also sent flying back as a result from how powerful Wendy's spell was, he landed in the river and felt his world go dark.
Zs'Skayr was burning slightly from the intensity of the spell, but he saw the blood on the ground and the blood in the water "They say drowning is a peaceful way to die, I hope it isn't Tennyson." he said smiling happily "Finally, he's dead, Ben Ten is gone!" he yelled in victory.
Wendy picked herself up and starred at her bloodied hand and at the jacket covering her, she was on her knees crying as she held the jacket close 'I killed him.' she thought as she was to weak to do anything 'I was too weak again!' she thought as she killed Ben, she killed her father, the man that took her in, spent time with her, and loved her unconditionally "I won't be weak, not anymore, your gonna pay!" she said growling out.
Zs'Skayr turned around and saw a massive amount of wind blowing from Wendy, her face was lowered, but he saw her eyes glowing red and an image of a certain sky dragon appeared behind her "You're out of power child, while I have used none of my own!" he said blasting Wendy seeing her not even flinch.
"Cute." Wendy said not even fazed, she raised her hand "Adficio potentia." she said as multiple tendrils restraining him "Now burn, Gir igi-nu!" she said as her tendrils became white with light and shined so bright it was almost blinding.
Zs'Skayr scramed in agony from the tendrils holding him becoming light "You will pay for that child, I killed one Tennyson today, let us make it two-!?" he was saying before he was silencedby a pink and gold sphere placed around him.
"Wendy are you alright?" Verdona asked seeing the girl look to the ground seeing tears drop from her face hitting the ground "Mavis Mira if you'd be so kind." she said as she went over to Erza knowing the girl needed familiar faces.
"So this is they guy." Mira said seeing the evil that was Zs'Skayr "I've never done a Take Over with another spell involved." she said to Mavis as she, Makarov, and Verdona made the sphere that was keeping him prisoner.
"It shouldn't be a problem my dear, your guild mark will maintain the spell as you use yours and finally we can close this chapter on Ben's life, no more monsters from the past." Paradox said to her.
Mira nodded and placed a hand on the sphere seeing the ghost have a temper tantrum on the inside as she performed her Take Over after she finished she saw her mark glow pink and gold for a few moments and soon she heard Zs'Skayr's painful screams.
"Where is Ben." Erza said demandingly to Paradox as he wasn't in the water.
"Exactly where he needs to be." Paradox said holding some clothing "The war is coming to its climax, Ben should be along shortly before then." he said as he then went to Wendy "My dear, I want you to know I never really do this, but here is a spoiler, Ben is alive and well and he loves you no matter what, he knows it was not you that stabbed him." he said seeing the surprise look in Wendy's eyes as she watched him vanish.
…
Ben's body drifted along with the river's current, but something was protecting his body in his unconscious state.
"Error genetic damage detected, error unable to repair under current conditions, standby." the Omnitrix said as the dial popped up and went down again turning Ben into Water Hazard "Re-attempting genetic repair." it said as Water Hazard's hands began absorbing the water "Molecular form destabilized, attempting genetic reconstitution via genetic repair, standby." it said as the Omnitrix turned a bright baby blue "Ready to attempt." it said before the Omntrix dial on Ben shined brightly and while Ben reverted back to human, there was someone else in the water as well.
The two were pulled out before they got very far and lay them on the ground.
Ben weakly opened his eyes and saw two blobs in his vision, he blacked out again and slept.
…
Hades had returned to his ship as Ben had seemingly vanished, he decided to wait patiently as he knew Ben would return, that was just how Fairy Tail was and that young man truly had the guild's hopes and values burned to his very core, it was a bit nostalgic, but he knew Ben would eventually succumb and be under his rule 'Ultimate power is within my grasp.' he thought as when he had Ben, he would also have the Omnitrix a source of unlimited and unfathomable power.
…
The Rust Bucket ship laid on the water a half mile from the coordinates Paradox gave, Kevin was monitoring the space closely as knowing both Ben and Paradox something grand was going to happen or something dangerous and explosive 'Not gonna let my ship get trashed too.' he thought as he chuckled as he knew Ben would make his mark on his return.
"Any signs yet?" Max asked over the comms every hour on the dot.
Kevin sighed "Nope just water." he said to him "And I have my scanners drawing all the power from my, besides communications nothing else in on Max." he said as he had all power going to his sensors to alert him to the slightest change.
Max hung up the line as they kept waiting.
"Just a few hours Levin, just a few hours." Kevin said as he waited patiently, he wondered what happened to Ben and what he had been doing, but most of all he hoped Ben was alright "Come home Ben, we miss you." he said as he was all alone so he didn't have a need to hide how he felt, in all honesty before Paradox told them Ben was alive he listened to the news with people thinking Ben was dead, the first time he heard that his mind ran a mile a minute with terrible thoughts of if possibly being true, that his best friend and brother was gone, and he cried.
The calm ocean waters were patient as expecting the same thing Kevin was, the return of Ben Tennyson.
Author's Note-Ok everyone not sure how I did with Ben fighting Zs'Skayr, but hoped it was alright, now the next chapter should be the final Tenrou chapter, and the final battle with Hades there will be new players involved so Hades will have an even tougher time, the battle lines have been changed and redrawn Hades has more power and the guild has to fight despite how much magic was lost and their injuries, for Ben's injury I felt that would be the best way to remove him temporarily, now I bet you are all eager to see Ben return I am too and for the fight after Hades, I won't lie hoping for the best and I think I can get really violent with what is to come and c'mon who isn't excited for THAT fight, anyway hoping this chapter was ok, it got a bit difficult with certain scenes, but I hope it turned out at least ok all the same.