Fairytale of Doom

By CrimsonStarbird

Chapter Twenty-Five – Hearts Ablaze, Banners High

The Beast's Castle was both more and less beautiful in real life than Lucy had imagined it. More, because it had every right to be contorted and ugly under the weight of the curse at this point in the fairytale, but the sunlight painted it in a welcoming rose gold, a suitable backdrop for Belle and the Beast's blossoming romance. But also less, because it was hard to think of any place as beautiful when it had the goddamn Tower of Heaven sticking up out of the middle of it. There were too many awful memories attached to that place.

Well, at least Lucy had known it was coming. She had had plenty of time to grill Levy and Jellal on their adventures while on their way back to Belle's village earlier. Besides, for her, the Tower of Heaven had only been a single frightening night, one amongst the many dangerous adventures that comprised life in Fairy Tail's strongest team.

That wasn't true for everyone, though, and she couldn't help glancing over her shoulder, seeking out her scarlet-haired friend.

However, there was no need for concern, because Levy was a step ahead of her. She was walking alongside Erza, pressing her for every last detail from Erza's miscast role as Mulan. It was clear that Erza had caught on to Levy's attempt at distraction – just as it was clear that not even Levy's verbal avalanche could blind her to a huge evil tower tacked on to a fairytale castle – but she appreciated the gesture too much to not play along.

Predictably, Jellal was watching the two of them carefully while keeping his distance. Even though he could see that Levy was dealing with the situation, Lucy guessed that he retained a sense of responsibility for everything she was going through.

That meant the only member of their group who wasn't aware of the significance of the building for Erza was Laxus… no, scratch that. Laxus wasn't an idiot; he just didn't seem to mind people thinking he was. Lucy had a feeling he'd realized straight away that Levy was worried about Erza, and only hadn't said anything because he knew it wasn't any of his business. So he trailed along at the back of their group, noticing everything and not butting in.

They were an odd group, Lucy thought. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been on an adventure characterized by awkward dynamics and cautious silences instead of rowdiness and destruction. She'd never thought she would miss the chaos of Team Natsu. Even the property damage that always followed in their wake would be welcome if they could direct it towards that evil tower.

Fortunately, once they were inside, the regal hall that greeted them was all princely grandeur and no nightmares from the past. Their misfit group could relax a lot more once safely inside the walls of Levy's favourite fairytale.

"This way," the bookworm in question told them cheerfully, leading them through the empty corridors with the confidence of someone who had watched a certain movie a few too many times. "We may be too late for the Be Our Guest scene, but I bet the staff here will provide food for us anyway, given their generosity."

Spurred on by the promise of food, Lucy picked up the pace. She could almost hear the champagne bottles being uncorked and living cutlery parading their wares with a song and a dance… no, wait, the sounds of revelry weren't in her memory; they were actually coming from up ahead. Had someone started eating without them?

And if the familiar voice that drifted through the open door in front of them was any indication, she wasn't the only one feeling a bit miffed about that fact. "The hell do you two think yer doin'?"

"Eating breakfast," came the cool-as-ice response. "Obviously."

"That don't look like no breakfast I've ever seen."

This time, it was a woman who responded. "Haven't you heard of bottomless brunch?"

Someone gave a deliberate cough. "Actually, mademoiselle," another voice ventured, "ze champagne is not supposed to be opened until ze evening…"

There was the very loud, very deliberate pop of a cork.

Lucy found herself rolling her eyes. She must not have been the only one, either, because the woman spoke up again: "Oh, don't be such a spoilsport. Here, put this on ice for me."

Someone thumped the table. "That ain't the point! This is supposed to be the glorious reprise of my big musical number! What're ya doin' right in the middle of it?"

Lucy was running now, a grin breaking further across her face with every step. She burst into the banquet hall – and she didn't have eyes for the spectacular brunch or the wonderful surroundings or the fact that a talking candlestick and agitated clock had come to life from one of her favourite stories. All she cared about were the familiar faces that were right here in front of her.

Their friends had been scattered and lost, and now, finally, everything was coming together.

As far as Fairy Tail reunions went, this one was actually quite calm. They were in someone else's castle, after all, and notwithstanding all the bottles Cana had opened before their arrival, they mostly agreed that it was too early for champagne. Since not all of them had landed in a story with such a ready supply of provisions, it seemed they would rather eat the food than start a fight with it. Even Erza had perked up after the animated furniture had wheeled out a huge strawberries-and-cream cake to replace the wedding monstrosity that Gaston had ruined.

And besides, Lucy was the last person who would complain about a lack of brawling. She was more than happy to sit and eat and chat with her friends, reunited at last. It wasn't quite perfect – she couldn't help the wave of sympathy every time she saw Juvia open her mouth to try and join in, only to fall back again in silence, and it was no doubt an absolute coincidence that Lucy hadn't met Gray's eyes or vice versa – but it still felt like…

Like they really had a chance, now.

Not even stripping them of their magic and casting them into unknown roles in an unknown world had been able to stop them from finding each other.

Was this everyone, then? She stood up to get a better view over Erza's massive cake, so that she could do a headcount. Erza, misunderstanding completely, tapped her glass for silence.

Now everyone was looking expectantly at Lucy, who had frozen halfway out of her seat. "Oh n-no, I'm not doing a speech," she laughed nervously. Then again, while she had everyone's attention, she might as well use it. "I was just wondering, is this everyone? Has anyone met one of our friends in this world who isn't sat at the table right now?"

Quiet murmurs ran round the table, mages retracing the steps of their adventures in the world thus far. One by one, the musings died away without affirmation.

Then, with a groan, Gray raised his hand. "Yeah, I have. Natsu. I ran into him at the palace when he was practising for the ball with the Ugly Stepsisters."

"Why did you two split up?" Erza demanded.

"It's not my fault that I got kidnapped!" Gray shot back. "Besides, Natsu probably wouldn't have come with me anyway. Too busy hanging around with his new best friend."

"New best friend?" Lucy echoed, feeling slightly offended.

Then she pictured Natsu dancing with Anastasia or Drizella, and felt extremely offended.

"Zeref," Gray said bluntly.

Lucy's mental picture got momentarily weirder.

Then it shattered, at the same time as Erza jumped to her feet. "Are you telling me that Zeref is in this world too?"

"He is," Gray confirmed grimly. "I've seen him."

"Is he alone?" Erza persisted. "Has anyone run into any of the Spriggan Twelve?"

This time, they were all relieved when the various murmurings faded without a single confirmation.

"That makes sense," Lucy ventured. "The First Master did say that she had activated this spell to try and trap Zeref in the first place. Maybe we just got dragged along with him by accident."

Erza nodded once. "An accident that has nevertheless provided us with an unparalleled opportunity. If Zeref is also trapped here, he should be as powerless as us. We must take this chance to put an end to him before we return!"

She was positively glowering at Gray as she said it, as if to demand how he had the nerve to turn up for breakfast without having assassinated at least one Black Mage, but he just shrugged defensively. "Yeah, that's what I said, but Flame-Brain was having none of it. He said that he and Zeref have an accord and they're not gonna fight each other until they're back in Fiore."

Cana's airy tones broke the stunned silence. "I assume you're paraphrasing," she observed, spinning her champagne flute lightly between her fingers. "There's no way Natsu would use the word 'accord'. I doubt he even knows what it means."

"Did someone say 'accordion'?" Gajeel jumped in enthusiastically.

Erza's left fist slammed onto the table so hard that the food jumped and the dishes flinched in a somewhat unnerving combination. "This is no time for foolishness! Something must be wrong with Natsu if he is opposed to fighting Zeref. You saw how eagerly he dashed off to face him when the Alvarez army first broached our shores. Zeref must have tricked or threatened him in some way – and it's up to us to save him."

"I don't think we should rush off without a plan, though," Lucy voiced doubtfully. "We may be in another world, but this is still the Black Mage Zeref we're talking about. Besides, some of us have managed to recover some magic artefacts in this world – who's to say Zeref hasn't done the same? Maybe that's why Natsu is siding with him! He's being magically controlled!"

"All the more reason why we need to get him out of there!" Erza retorted.

"I know, I'm not saying we shouldn't, only that we need to slow down and think things through rather than just charging in…"

Levy politely raised her hand into the air. "I'm with Lucy here. We need to be cautious. And we can't just ignore all the other enemies we've made, either. Gaston is bound to attack the castle after the wedding fiasco earlier, and I wouldn't be surprised if Maleficent comes back for revenge-"

"You're the one who told me to stop following the Mulan story, Levy," Erza pointed out.

"There's a difference between not following it and ignoring it completely. Keeping in mind key story events which haven't yet happened may stop us from being blindsided when-"

Almost as if they'd planned it, a certain fretting teapot suddenly bounced along the length of the table, crying out, "Invaders! Invaders are approaching! The castle is under attack!"

There was silence as Levy tried not to look too smug.

Lucy suggested, "How about we fight off Gaston, secure the Beast's Castle, and then use it as a base from which to rescue Natsu?"

"…Very well," Erza conceded with a sigh, yet her eyes only blazed sharper. "I will face Gaston myself, and take revenge for the wedding cake he ruined."

Lucy blinked. "And for him trying to force you to marry him, right?"

"Yes, that too."

"No, you won't," Laxus said flatly.

There was a noise of outrage from Erza, though it was drowned out by the sharp intakes of breath from everyone else at the table.

Laxus alone did not look impressed, and he continued, "When are you going to learn that charging off alone and challenging villains to single combat isn't a smart thing for you to do right now? There are eight other experienced, competent, and brave combatants in this room right now. Let's not send the person with a broken arm out as our champion."

"That scumbag is no match for me-"

"It doesn't always have to be you, Erza. You can fight again once your arm has healed."

"I suppose you want the glory, don't you?" Erza bit back. "That's your thing, after all."

"I want the job to be done by the person best suited for it." Laxus folded his arms. "If anyone who isn't crippled by injury would like to volunteer, I'll happily back them."

There weren't many people in Fairy Tail who would openly go against Erza… but of those who would, almost all of them were in that banquet hall right now.

"I wanna fight Gaston!" Gajeel crowed, smacking one hand into the palm of the other. "That bastard's gotta pay!"

"…What did Gaston do to you?" Levy wondered. "You're not even in his story!"

"Oh, I stole his wallet."

"…"

"But then he got mad-"

"Completely understandable," Lucy muttered.

"-and he started singin' a godawful song about how many eggs he eats-"

Juvia was not the only person who facepalmed.

"-and I've gotta face him in a glorious three-hour musical showdown to determine who is the best performer!"

Erza gave Laxus a withering look. "You're siding with him over me?"

To his credit, even when caught between Erza's glare and Gajeel's foolishness, Laxus stuck to his guns. "Yes. I believe he has a better chance of winning than you do right now. In fact, you could probably improve your own odds by taking a leaf out of Gajeel's book and challenging this Gaston to a sing-off instead of a swordfight."

Predictably, this suggestion left Erza looking truly murderous. Lucy strongly suspected that averting a bloodbath was the only reason why Jellal stood up suddenly, placing his hands flat on the table and jumping into an argument he was normally too smart to touch with a ten-foot pole. "Let me fight Gaston," he said firmly. "I'm the Beast. He's my enemy, and it was while fighting me that he faced his downfall in the original story."

It averted the crisis for the point-five of a second that it took Levy to get to her feet, too. "You only know that because I told you," she refuted. "Gaston has been my fictional nemesis since I was a child. I should get to defeat him, and not least because I can point out the exact part of the castle which is due to crumble during the fight and send him plummeting to his death! Can anyone else do that?"

"Well, yeah, I can," Cana interjected. "Beauty and the Beast is a classic; I've seen it loads of times. Plus, I haven't got to do anything cool so far, so it's only fair to let me fight him."

"This isn't about your ego, Cana!" Erza snapped.

"No, apparently, it's about yours," came Cana's casual retort. "Otherwise you wouldn't be so determined to fight him yourself when you're clearly the worst person for the job."

For a moment, it seemed even Erza struggled for words. "I am not-"

"If we're looking for practical suitability, it has to be me," Gray interjected, throwing his hat into the ring for probably the same reason Jellal had earlier. Then again, given the spark in his eyes, Lucy thought there was every chance that he had done it just because throwing away his clothes was what Gray did, ring or no ring. "I've beaten one villain already in this world. Ursula."

Lucy jumped on the change of topic. "How? Did you ram her through the heart with a shipwreck?"

Cana sniggered. "More like, he whacked her round the head with an oar."

"Does that even count?" Levy wondered. "I'm pretty sure she can come back from that…"

"Of course it counts!"

"Well, we also faced a villain," Lucy explained. "Maleficent. And what's more, I picked up a genuine magical artefact in the process, so if anyone should be fighting Gaston, it's me: the only one of us with actual powers here!"

Cana and Gray exchanged glances. "Couldn't you just… give the magical artefact to someone else?" Cana wondered.

"No," Lucy bit out. No way in hell were they playing that game.

"Why not?"

"Yeah, Lucy, tell them why not," Levy giggled.

"Because- because it's mine, okay?" she snapped. "Besides, I don't even want to fight Gaston, I'm not a battle-crazed idiot like some of you, I'm just trying to show you how stupid this whole conversation is if we can't even agree on what our goal should be or which criteria are the most important!"

Drawing attention to the logical issue, as was so often the case in Fairy Tail, turned out to be a mistake. Just like that, they were off again, talking louder and fiercer in order to prove that they weren't the ones putting forward stupid arguments, everyone else was. Lumière and Cogsworth had long since dived for cover. Everyone was on their feet now, ready to join the argument, ready to join the fight-

A shrill whistle burst through the chaos. Lucy flinched; the two Dragon Slayers actively recoiled, Laxus wincing and Gajeel slapping his hands over his ears. The sound came again, long and yet frantic, a drill slowly turning in their eardrums, and the argument became suddenly less important than finding the source of that tuneless sound.

Which turned out to be Juvia, who had a harmonica raised to her lips.

"Don't, Juve," Gajeel murmured weakly, hands still cupped over his ears. "I've already gotta crush one man for crimes against music. Don't make me add ya to the list as well."

Juvia didn't smile back, though. And nor did Lucy – she should have thought about Juvia and her current condition so much sooner. Here they were, eight people shouting over each other, without a care for the ninth member of their team, who couldn't talk at all.

With slightly trembling hands, Juvia held up a serviette on which she had written: please can we just fortify the castle?

"Yeah, of course," Levy spoke up, sounding as guilty as Lucy felt. "We'll make sure we're safe here first, and then we'll decide our next course of action. That's a good idea, right?"

This was met with a round of awkward nods from the others.

They all shuffled off to find tasks to do. Some went to scavenge weapons from the armoury; others went to find a lookout tower from which to track Gaston's approach; all of them were keen to find a job far away from everyone else. The unfinished argument had left them unsettled, uncomfortable in each other's presence.

Erza was giving orders to the regiment of furniture in the dining hall. Deciding it was best to stay well out of her way, Lucy slipped out to try and find something to barricade the hallway windows with, only to find that Gray had had the same idea. Nope, nope, nope. Fortunately, he hadn't seen her, so she ducked back out of there and headed to the castle's main entrance.

Levy was already there. She would do, Lucy thought. There wasn't much that could go wrong when talking to Levy.

Sure enough, her friend greeted her with a rueful grin. "I thought things were supposed to be better now that we're all together."

"What, haven't you missed the Fairy Tail craziness?" Lucy teased, trying to lighten the mood; Levy's comment had hit a bit too close to home.

"No," Levy said flatly. "Give me another fight with Maleficent any day."

"You really will be fighting Gaston one on one at this rate." Through the window, Lucy could glimpse a torch that must have belonged to someone in Gaston's mob – distant, but rapidly getting closer. "They're coming. Here, help me barricade the door."

With Levy's help, she heaved the wooden beam into place across the great double doors.

"That should keep him out for a bit," Lucy observed happily, dusting off her hands. "Shall we go and see if-"

Something slammed into the far side of the doors.

Squeaking in fright, Lucy tried to jump and twist and raise her magic shield all at once, and was lucky just to remain on her feet. "Already?" she hissed at the doors, now silent again, now somehow terrifying. "I can't even hear the mob singing…"

The impact came again. The barricade strained, but held.

Letting out a shaky breath, Lucy adopted what she hoped was an intimidating defensive stance and didn't just look like she was trying to get as much of her body as possible behind the shield.

"You hold him off," Levy was whispering. "Then I'll lure him up to the top of the castle. I may not be his Belle, but he's not going to like the idea of any woman thinking she's better than him in a fight."

Lucy nodded.

The doors trembled beneath the sound of thunder trying to force its way inside. One strike, two strikes, and-

"Oi! Let me in!"

Lucy and Levy exchanged glances. "That doesn't sound like Gaston," Levy voiced doubtfully.

"I thought he was more of a bring your guns, bring your knives, we'll save the village and our lives kind of guy," Lucy agreed.

The hammering came again. "I know you're in there! Lucy, Erza, Ice Princess! I can smell your scent trails leading right up to the doors! Let me in already!"

Creeping up to the barricaded door, Lucy peered through the crack. A familiar onyx eye glowered back from beneath a mob of pink hair. Natsu looked haggard and irritated, but not like he'd just tried to kidnap and marry Erza, which was good enough for her.

"Alright, alright, give us a chance." Together, Lucy and Levy managed to hoist the beam away from the door and pull it open.

Into the castle stepped their very own pink-haired Dragon Slayer. The hair was important, because if not for it, Lucy might have struggled to recognize him. Natsu, their Natsu, their sandal-wearing bare-chested scarf-adorned Dragon Slayer, who wasn't just ready to fight at the drop of a hat but carried a supply of hats with him in case he ever needed an excuse, was dressed like he'd just run away from a ball.

Give him a princess on his arm, and he'd look like he belonged in this world.

Lucy edged slowly away from him. She didn't want to tempt fate.

"Natsu!" Levy cried. "What are you doing here? Gray told us you had been captured by Zeref!"

It wasn't the flash of fury on Natsu's face that surprised Lucy – it was how quickly it vanished. Like he'd not meant for them to see it. Like there was something secret about his perfectly justified hate for the man trying to destroy their guild.

His shrug, though, was classic Natsu nonchalance. "He tried to trick me, but I was too smart for him. I got away."

"You… were too smart for the four-hundred-year-old genius mage, who was going strategy for strategy with the Fairy Tactician right before we got dragged in here?" Lucy frowned.

"He ain't that impressive in real life," Natsu sniffed. "Anyway, we don't have time for this. I know his plan, and we've gotta move quick if we're gonna beat him back home and save our friends."

"Okay." Lucy tried not to sound too impressed, in case the fairytale world and its goddamn forced marriages read too much into a perfectly normal compliment, but if Natsu really had been off outsmarting Zeref while she'd been accidentally ruining every story she'd blundered into, she had to hand it to him.

"Tell us, Natsu." This was Erza, and her presence alone made it an order. She was striding into the entrance hall, and the others were appearing now too, drawn by the commotion, expecting a fight and finding a chance that they might not have to.

All their friends stood in a semicircle around Natsu and the doors, waiting.

"Right, so, you know this place was created by the First Master and Fairy Heart, right? Well, it split Fairy Heart into three components in this world, one for each of the three Great Fairy Magics. There's a sword in an avalanche, a shield in a castle that looked like the guildhall, and a person that I thought was Cana based on smell. We've gotta find all three, and then we can use 'em to get back to reality. Plus, that means Fairy Heart will come with us, and Zeref will be stuck here, so he won't be able to get his hands on the First Master no matter what."

Silence fell over the group. Natsu glanced from one to another, looking antsy. "Well? What're you all waiting for? We need to find these artefacts before Zeref does!"

"I think we already have them, Natsu," Lucy spoke up, raising her arm. "This is the Shield of Virtue. From what you've said, I assume it represents Fairy Sphere. Though why it has such stupid activation conditions when the real spell has nothing of the sort, I have no idea…"

Levy came to her rescue, overriding her grumbles before anyone could ask. "And we think Laxus has another – the Sword of Truth." As everyone turned to the Lightning Dragon Slayer, he tapped the sheathed sword at his side. Levy continued, "Given who has it, I assume that one represents Fairy Law."

Erza added, "He cannot draw the sword, but at least it is in our possession."

Laxus's gaze flashed to Erza, a lightning strike, as if demanding to know why she'd felt the need to bring that up – but he seemed to change his mind, and the lightning faded without thunder.

"And yeah, I have the third," Cana chimed in. She rolled up the right sleeve of Sleeping Beauty's dress, revealing the elegant markings of Fairy Glitter on her skin. "The Good Fairies explained it to me. You know how in Sleeping Beauty, baby Aurora is given the gift of beauty and the gift of song before Maleficent interrupts the party? After she curses the baby, the third Good Fairy, Merryweather, uses her blessing to reduce the effects of the curse from death to sleep. Well, here, I avoided the consequences of the curse entirely by not touching any spindles, so Merryweather's blessing became the power to smite evil instead."

There was a dubious silence.

"Yeah, I know," Cana shrugged. "But I already had Fairy Glitter in my possession when I was dragged here. I'd been using it to break the First Master out of the crystal. I guess the fairytale world had to work its story around the facts somehow."

Lucy nodded. "I see."

"So," Levy wondered, glancing round the hall of Fairy Tail mages and settling on Erza as their spokesperson. "We've gathered the pieces of Fairy Heart. What do we do now?"

But it wasn't Erza who answered.

Nor was it Natsu, or Laxus, or any of the resident experts on fairytales voicing their opinions.

Into the Beast's Castle stepped the last person they wanted to see. "Now," Zeref told them coolly, "you give them to me."

A/N: Uh-oh. Drama incoming. ~CS