It was now night time in the city of Crocus. The hype from the first day of the Grand Magic Games calmed down most of the people watching, so the streets were rather quiet. In Bar Sun, members of White Eclipse, Fairy Tail, and Qautro Cerberus enjoyed the rest of their night before day two of the games started. It was evident that most of the dragon slayers present were still seething with anger from Daryan's speech hours before. "Tch…" Natsu was obviously the most annoyed and irritated, refusing to talk to most people while he tapped his foot on the floor, crossing his arms as he sat at a table.
"Natsu, are you still mad?" Lucy asked while gently placing a hand on Natsu's shoulder. Lucy could feel the tension in Natsu's body, so she wanted to be careful not to upset him any farther.
"I'm fine," Natsu replied rather shortly. "I'll tear that asshole apart before the games end, just wait."
"Gajeel, is everything okay?" Levy asked the iron dragon slayer, who just let out a grunt, continuing with his piece of iron that he was eating, not giving the script mage a response.
"That guild is filled with characters…" Makarov said while letting out a sigh.
"Is it true?" Wendy asked Makarov, looking towards the master with a look that said she could burst into tears with the wrong phrasing. "Is she not coming back…?"
"O-of course it's not true!" Makarov replied, though he honestly couldn't shake what Daryan said off as false. "Your dragon, along with all the others, will return one day."
"That better be true…" Waiston commented from the other side of the bar, chewing on a piece of ice aggressively.
"I've never seen someone eat ice with such aggression…" Cynthia blinked a few times.
"He's not worth it, ya know," Bacchus replied while taking a seat at the bar, next to Cana, ordering himself a drink as usual. "He'll get what's coming to 'im soon enough."
"I agree, people like that usual get their just desserts in due time, heh," Jack smirked slightly before taking a seat next to Bacchus.
"Jack? You son of a bitch, how've ya been!?" Bacchus exclaimed with a friendly grin.
"You know each other?" Cana blinked a few times as she ordered herself a drink.
"Damn right! Only person I know who could probably outdrink me," Bacchus said with a smirk. "Probably."
"Is that a challenge I hear?" Jack said with a smirk.
"Oi! Don't leave me out of this one!" Cana said while slamming her current mug onto the table.
"Anyway…" Mirajane said while diverting the subject to a different matter. "We're in third place for now."
"Just for now!" Romeo said with a large grin. "But just wait, Fairy Tail will end up on top once again!"
"That's the spirit!" Macao said while patting his son on the shoulder, a proud grin on his face. "We managed to win last time, so this year won't be any different!"
"I think you might wanna get those delusions outta your head, old man…" Reve said with a smirk, though Taya quickly thwacked the gunslinger on the top of his head. "Ow! What'd you do that for!?"
"We're not here to cause fights, Reve," Taya replied while crossing her arms. "The games are only going to get tougher from here, so we need to think on who will be taking on the next event."
"Tch, strategy, fine…" Reve let out a sigh; Reve then looked over, seeing Kairi's attempt to have Heather forget about the incident by forcing a the contents of a bottle of alcohol down the slayer's throat, causing her to succumb to complete intoxication. "…I'm going to ignore that."
"They're both drunk…" Luke said with a sigh.
Amongst all the talking, Cynthia started to wander off, looking around for something that could cheer her members up. As she did so, she noticed a letter slide in under the door. "Huh?" Cynthia opened the door somewhat, though she didn't see anyone there. "That's odd…" She then looked down, picking up the letter. "Addressed to…Gray Fullbuster? Is this another love note from Juvia?" With a sigh, Cynthia looked around for Gray, only to be proven wrong as Juvia sat herself right next to her beloved ice mage, nearly smothering him with affection he really didn't want. "Gray!" Cynthia called out to the mage, causing him to turn around hurriedly.
"Huh? What is it?" Gray asked as he looked towards Cynthia.
"This is for you!" Cynthia exclaimed while holding out the letter, though Juvia started to seethe with rage and jealously.
"Is this a love letter from a love rival!?" Juvia growled.
"…I don't read other people's stuff…" Cynthia replied while taking a casual step back away from Juvia while Gray took the letter.
"Huh…?" Gray raised a brow as he read the letter. The handwriting was familiar to him, but he couldn't figure out whose hand writing it was. Gray then stood up, and began to walk outside. "I'll be back."
"Juvia will come to!" Juvia started after Gray, but she found her feet frozen to the floor as Gray walked out. "Gray-samaaaa! Come back to Juvia!"
"You really need to stop that…" Cynthia mumbled.
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Erza visited Mermaid Heel's room in the hotel. She had multiple things she wanted to discuss with Kagura. Erza knocked on the room down loud enough for anyone to hear, and it opened slowly, and to her surprise, Melody was the one who answer, causing Erza's eyes to widen somewhat, but she quickly regained her composure. "Is Kagura in there?"
"Hm? Kagura? You're her friend, right?" Melody asked as her eyes narrowed. "Have we met before…you seem awfully familiar…Oh, I'm sorry, you wanna see her, don't you? Well, she's not exactly in the greatest of moods, so…don't say I didn't warn ya!" With a nod, Melody opened the door, skipping out of the room as she went somewhere else. Erza stepped inside, closing the door behind her. On the bed, sitting up, was Kagura; amazingly, there were no bandages and such around her person; not a scratch as on the mermaid.
"Erza," Kagura replied at the sound of the door closing as she averted her eyes from the scarlet haired mage to the window outside, pretending to admire the beautiful night sky.
"Are you okay?" Erza asked while leaning on the wall somewhat.
"I'm fine," Kagura replied, obviously too prideful to admit otherwise. "What did you come in here for?"
"This was one of them…and secondly, I wanted to talk to you about Melody." Erza replied as her face gained a somewhat serious expression.
"Melody?" Kagura blinked, turning her head to face Erza with a somewhat confused expression. "What about her? She's been a part of this guild after she assisted me during Grimoire Heart's attack."
"What…?" Erza shook her head slowly. "That's not right…that was the Melody who was a part of a dark guild almost a year ago; she participated in the operation that led to my defeat…and another one weeks later which White Eclipse and Fairy Tail put a stop to."
"This is the first time I'm hearing about this…" Kagura crossed her arms, looking to Erza with somewhat disbelief. "When I found her, she had no recollection on her who she was, she could only remember her name and magic."
"What…?" Erza blinked a few times. "She lost her memory…?"
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Gray walked down the unusually quiet streets of Crocus, not paying attention to where he was going, which resulted in him bumping into none other than his rival, Lyon. "Oi!" Gray shouted, feeling as though Lyon was at fault even though it was his fault. "Watch where you're going!"
"Me?!" Lyon narrowed his eyes at Gray, snarling somewhat. "You're the one who bumped into me, you idiot!"
"Yeah, you!" Gray shouted, taking his hands out of his coat pockets.
"What's going on here…?" Ultear asked as she approached the two ice make mages. Gray was thoroughly surprised to see Ultear, while Lyon had no idea on who she was.
"Who is this?" Lyon asked Gray.
"You don't know?" Gray sighed.
"I heard some fighting…" Ultear replied.
"Those two never learned when to stop fighting…" Ur sighed as she walked out of the shadows; her very appearance shocking the three mages before her.
"W-What!?" Gray's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at the sight of his former teacher.
"U-Ur…?!"
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Back at Bar Sun, Cana was out cold from the drinking battle, while Bacchus and Jack were still going, both swaying in their seats; the match could've gone either way at this point, but both remaining contestants passed out on the table, swirls in their eyes from intoxication. "W-Wild…" Bacchus managed to whisper before passing out completely.
"Well…that was a little more entertaining than I thought it was going to be…" Reve blinked a few times, and then yawned. "Alright, it's starting to get late, White Eclipse, let's head back to the hotel, we're gonna need rest for the day."
"Oi…Gimme a sec…" Luke said while he picked up the intoxicated Heather at this point, carrying her bridal style. "Who wants to get the other one?"
"I will!" Skye replied immediately, running over to Kairi and lifted her up. "Ready!"
"See you chumps tomorrow," Reve said as he dragged Jack out, White Eclipse following.
"It's not that late…" Cynthia frowned a little. "We can spend some more time out, right? I don't wanna go to bed yet!"
"I dunno about you guys…" Lucy stood up while stretching, giving a quiet yawn as she did so. "But I'm beat…I'm gonna head back early, okay?"
"Stay safe, Lucy-san!" Wendy nodded while giving a smile.
"I will! See you guys tomorrow!" Lucy gave her usual smile and left Bar Sun, beginning her trek back to the hotel, whistling to herself as she walked through the quiet streets without a care in the world. Her carefree attitude for the night quickly vanished with an unknown figure shoulder tackled her into the nearby alley, causing the celestial mage to let out a surprised and pained yelp as she tumbled across the ground, but she managed to catch herself, hopping up as she looked for her assailant. "Who!?" Before Lucy could see her attacker again, a funnel of flames came her way, but she quickly rolled out of the way, now looking in the direction of which the attack came from.
"You missed…" Ruika sighed somewhat as she walked out of the shadows, shaking her head to her spirit, Draco, which was a dragon, but in a humanoid form.
"Oh well excuse me!" The hot headed spirit replied.
"Y-You're?!" Lucy's eyes widened as she recognized her attacker from several months ago during the Fiore's End crisis.
"Ugh, you're so annoying…Don't worry, I'll make this quick. Ruika pointed towards Lucy once again, commanding Draco to unleash another funnel of fire towards Lucy.
Lucy just got her bearings straight, so she was able to jump the side, avoiding the flames once again. She attempted to make an escape by heading to the entrance of the alleyway first to call for backup, but she comically slammed into a rune wall, comically sliding down the wall before standing up. "What the heck!?"
"Trying to run away, are we? Good luck with that, that Rune Barrier isn't going down until this battle is over, read it for yourself," Ruika said with a slight smirk.
"This barrier won't go down until one of the Celestial Spirit mages within it goes down?" Lucty read, her eyes widening once again. "Who did this?!"
"That would be me, Heartfilia," Tobias replied from the rooftop above. "I've been studying some rune magic, and I'm glad I get to see its first use a success!"
"Tobias, shut up," Ruika demanded. "You're giving me a headache."
"I can't even brag anymore now…yeesh…" Tobias sighed. "Welp, don't fuck up, Ruika," Tobias nodded, and then vanished from sight.
"I guess you really want to fight, huh?" Lucy asked as she placed a hand on her waist, reaching for her key pouch.
"Yes, it only took you five minutes to realize it! Gosh…" Ruika sighed.
"Alright, fine, I'll give you a fight!" Lucy shouted as she pulled out a key. "Gate of the Golden Bull, I open thee! Taurus!" The key in Lucy's possession gave off a golden shimmer, seconds later Taurus rose from the ground with a confident moo.
"Oh, it's this one," Ruika tilted her head somewhat. "Draco, get rid of it."
"Yeah, yeah," Draco replied before unleashing yet another funnel of flames towards Lucy and her spirit.
"Taurus!" Lucy shouted.
"I'll do anything to protect Lucy-sama and her nice body!" Taurus shouted while reaching behind his back, pulling out his large axe and swung it forward, using Draco's flames the coat the axe with fire. "MOOO!" Taurus then swung his flaming axe down towards Ruika and Draco.
"Annoying spirit…" Ruika groaned somewhat as she and her spirit jumped back, though she wasn't expecting Taurus' resulting impact with the ground to send a flaming shockwave towards them. Ruika jumped into the air once again, but Draco was too slow to dodge, so he slid back a little, taking the brunt of the attack. "Draco, quit messing around!" Ruika shouted. Draco didn't respond, but instead he coated his fist in fire magic and dashed towards Taurus, landing a potent haymaker to the cow spirit's jaw, sending him sliding back across the ground, right next to Lucy.
"Are you okay?!" Lucy asked her trusted spirit.
"I'm fine!" Taurus replied as he rolled his neck, gripping his axe once again as he dashed towards the opposing spirit, aiming powerful blows with his earth shattering axe, but Draco managed to dodge with relative ease, much to the dismay of Lucy and her spirit. So he swung once again, and this one was a direct hit. The flaming axe slammed into Draco for a direct hit, causing him to fly back, although even with this heavy damage, he didn't leave the field just uet.
"Grr…" Lucy eyed the opposing spirit mage, now looking down to pull out another key, but as she did so, she noticed a small shadow quickly increasing in size. When she looked up, she noticed another one of Ruika's spirits, Orion, coming down with his sword. "Ah!" Lucy shouted out as she rolled to the side, hitting the alley wall as Orion struck the ground with his blade.
"Ah, I missed..!" Orion shouted.
"Lucy-sama!" Taurus turned, but that proved to be a mistake as Draco slammed a fiery fist into Taurus's jaw, sending him sliding back across the ground once again.
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine!" Lucy nodded, pulling out another key after. "Gate of the Scorpion, I open thee! Scorpio!" A magic circle appeared, in which Scorpio poofed out of it seconds after.
"We are!" Scorpio shouted while aiming his stinger towards Draco. "Sand Buster!" Scorpio unleashed a tornado of sand upon the dragon spirit, but Orion stepped in the way quickly, his sword changing into an almost indestructible shield, which took the hit fairly well, but Orion slid back as a result.
"He blocked it?" Lucy grit her teeth slightly and then pulled out her whip, prepared to use it if things started to go any farther south for her and her spirits.
"Pathetic…" Ruika scoffed. "I can't wait to kill you with your own keys…Draco, Orion, finish this!"
"Yes, Ruika! Anything for you!" Orion nodded; the spirit then held his sword up as Draco sprayed flames on it, lighting the sword in brilliant flames.
"Taurus, Scorpio!" Lucy shouted as she pointed forward.
"We are!" Scorpio grinned as he pointed his stinger towards Taurus, unleashing a torrent of sand in the bull's direction. Taurus then wrapped the sand around his axe, creating their signature double technique, Sandstorm Axe Aldebaran. The two spirits, Orion and Taurus lunged towards each other, sending their magically boosted weapons at each other simultaneously, which resulted in a powerful clash, only lasting for about three seconds before the power became too great, and resulted in a powerful explosion that blew all the combatants back, the spirits getting the worst of it as they all turned into golden fuzz before fading back into the spirit world.
"Scorpio…Taurus, you two helped a lot…" Lucy said with a smile and nod as her two spirits faded from Earthland for the time being.
"Tch, we're not done here!" Ruika exclaimed at Lucy, getting the blonde's attention once again.
"I know that!" Lucy replied, pulling out one key from her pouch, raising it into the air. "I can count on this one…" She thought to herself as her key began to shine brilliantly. "Gate of the-!" Before Lucy could finish, a small knife flew in from nowhere, slicing the back of her hand. With a yelp of pain and surprise, Lucy retracted her now bleeding hand, but as a result, the golden key in her hand flew and hit the ground in front of Ruika, who now smirked victoriously. "W-Who…?!"
"Ah, I see I still got my aim…" Byron smirked as he walked out of the shadows of the alleyway.
"W-What?! What's he doing here? I thought it was only us!?" Lucy winced as she covered her bleeding hand, looking towards Ruika angrily.
"The runes said they weren't going down until one of us falls," Ruika replied. "But, if someone was here before the runes came up, the rules obviously don't apply to them. You really are a stupid blonde…" Ruika shook her head and sighed after; but her expression changed into a smirk as she bent down, keeping her eyes on the distressed Lucy, and picked up the golden key resting at her feet, applying it to her own keychain. "That's better."
"H-Hey! Give that back!" Lucy shouted.
"Not a chance; that was just one out of the many I want from you," Ruika replied. "I told you that I was going to get your keys, and I'm not one to forget what I say."
A golden light appeared around Byron's hands as he requipped a scythe, identical to the grim reapers. "Oh, this is gonna be fun…" Byron's expression changed into a grin.
Lucy's eyes widened slightly as the reality of what may happen to her started to set in. "N-No…" She looked around for any signs of potential help, but that was futile. It didn't take long for the celestial spirit mage to realize that not only was she outnumbered, she was outmatched.