updated 2023/11/16, replacing chapter 14.
Phoenix, we're all counting on you here, Natsu. Yea, I'm actually pretty happy with the way things are going. Hmm. ELA. Nah, I think END has a far more ominous ring to it, yanno? But, I mean, who knows what might happen? I'm sure the Gajeel and Laxus interactions will be electrifying. They'll really be up to date with current events, I imagine. The other people in the guild may have to steel themselves though. Whew, that's a bit of weight off my shoulders… Yeh, whadda coincidence! Haha. Hey, I call everyone buddy. Or pal. Or dude. Friendo if I'm in a weird mood. (Kinda like the word skedaddle. I'm surprised skedaddle hasn't appeared in my writing more often actually…) It just sorta slips out sometimes. I can try and avoid doing so if it bugs you. (What would a female version of buddy be, anyway? Buddete? Budda? Buddha?) and hey, I might have said this before, I don't know, but I too am a girl.(note from the future: heh.) Hey, I'm super excited to get this written up! Aww, you're making me blush again… (Is this a super secret plot to turn me into a tomato? I'm watching you…)
Earlier…
Natsu doesn't stop running until he's sure Erza isn't chasing him anymore, her anger still ringing in his ears. He has his magic back, at least, but against an S-Class mage… he finds a room to duck into, pressing his back to the door with a huff.
Fuck.
Well. It was nice being a member of Fairy Tail while it lasted. Even if Erza meant what she had said earlier about facing problems together, there was no way she meant it now.
She was so angry.
He had hoped she'd catch on, but… apparently not. So, that complicated things— or, well, technically— it made them easier, it just meant that his chances of every getting along with another Fairy Tail wizard ever again were slim to none. Damn it.
Hang on, was that yelling?
For the first time since stepping inside, Natsu takes a look at the room that he's in.
Cats.
In a word, cats.
In a few more words, Natsu didn't know that this much cat-themed furniture was made, let alone sold to… whoever owned this room.
Right, the yelling. It sounds familiar. Happy? He traces it to a familiar looking card on one of the (cat themed) dressers.
Yeah, that's Happy. Oh— just like the card magic that brought him here… before everything went wrong.
Would Jellal notice if he freed Happy? Would he care?
Natsu already lost his place in the guild, so… the mementos were all he had.
"Natsu!" The little blue cat sobs out, noticing him. "Help me!"
He's sending a burst of raw water magic into the card before he fully realizes what he's doing. The enchantment peels apart like soggy paper, and a wet Happy is spat out onto the dresser.
"You saved me!" The cat sobs gratefully, lurching forwards to grip Natsu's vest and smear a teary face into the fabric.
Natsu hovers his hands uncertainly over Happy, uncertain how to proceed, when he's struck by a terrible thought. Happy's so young. According to Lucy, barely six. He's vulnerable. It would be so easy for Jellal to…
"Get off of me," Natsu snarls, finding the cats scruff and pulling him away. "I was just testing my magic against those cards, get lost."
Happy blinks big, confused eyes at him. "Natsu…?"
"I said get lost," he repeats, and he flings Happy away. As expected, he catches himself with his Aera magic, but the confusion is draining into hurt. Natsu pulls his magic into a water dragon talon, hooked and menacing over his hand, "or do I need to practice magic on you too?"
"You're— you're mean!" Happy shouts, somewhere between a realization and an attempt to lash out, to hurt Natsu back. He whips out of the room, but not before Natsu sees the tears welling in his eyes.
He doesn't feel much better himself.
The room plunged into black. Natsu shakes his hands out, and then summons a fistful of fire— the enchanted flames do nothing to pierce the veil. Magical darkness, then, which means—
He finds the mage with his senses just a second before the man opens his mouth to speak. "I thought I saw a Fairy Tail mage in here."
Jellal could have at least let his underlings know what he had planned. Unless he thought making this harder was funny, which— based off of the brief introduction Natsu had to the guy, he didn't doubt it. Still, the guy continued.
"I must have been mistaken." Ouch, that stung. "Jellal is making you do this, isn't he?"
Okay, now Natsu was confused. Unless— unless this guy thought the only surveillance on Natsu was visual, making his introduction an alibi for the darkness that let them speak. In which case, the guy could've been a little clearer about his motives.
"Yeah," Natsu says, letting the fire around his fist flicker out.
"I thought so. Here," mystery guy says, tossing something Natsu's direction. He figures the trajectory out of sound alone, swinging a hand out to snatch something out of midair.
Wait a minute, he knew this thing. The size, the shape, the weight, the texture of finely carved metal that always felt, just slightly, like it was shifting to the touch— this was Grotee's ring. As soon as that realization sets in, he requips it away, unwilling to risk— well, anything.
"I don't know who else has one," mystery guy says, "except for Jellal."
"I'm not planning on going after him until everything else is safe." Natsu says, still feeling on edge, but— less so.
"I wasn't suggesting you did. No, I wanted to— if Jellal has you working for him, he must think you're strong. Please, whatever he has planned for Erza— don't let him do it. If you promise me you'll stop him, I'll do everything I can to get the rest of your stuff back."
Natsu was hardly about to let Jellal do whatever he wanted anyway, but an ally would be invaluable right now. Especially if this guy meant it, and so far all evidence pointed towards yes, he did. Wholeheartedly.
"I promise," he says, feeling the weight of the words settle in the dark between them.
That very dark lifts a second later, revealing a tall man with a steel jaw. He's rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry about that, I saw a Fairy Tail guild symbol and panicked."
"No harm done," Natsu says, aware that his body language is wary but unwilling to change it.
"Right, right. I still feel bad, though, so… apparently Erza's moving up the southwest stairs. Shou is keeping an eye on her, but he won't confront her until Jellal gives the go ahead. Uh, you might want to hurry, before he gets impatient…"
Natsu nods grimly, slipping past steel-jaw. It takes him a moment to orient himself, but not long, and he takes off at a run.
Okay, an S-Class mage. He can't let himself get taken out, but he can't take out Erza either— and he can't be obvious about it. Erza will probably be aiming to incapacitate, not kill, at least…
Ugh. Some part of him misses the days of distant past, before Empra had properly gotten through to him— it was so much easier to just hit things without worrying about it too much. The rest of him is too busy figuring out exactly how best to go about this.
This time, because she's ready for it, she hears Natsu coming before he attacks. She brings a blade up to catch his punch on the flat, a burst of flame licking over the edges— he must know about her Flame Empress armour, then, and this is his way of ensuring that even with magic, it doesn't look like he's pulling his punches. Perfect!
Requip puts her in said armour right away, just in time to catch his follow up kick. The flames scatter harmlessly against the red metal, barely warming it, something that he must notice because he puts distance between them.
Flame Empress is one of her more restrictive armours, and therefor not preferred, but for situations like this, it's ideal. Designed after a koi fish, it's made out of thick plates of overlapping metal, imprinted with scales. There are fins on her calves and forearms to vent heat, as well as down her spine— and the headpiece keeps hair back while also protecting her face, fins spreading back over her ears.
Plus, the magic channels in the accompanying blade allow her to funnel her raw magic into flame magic, something that help Natsu regain any magical stamina he may have lost.
Truthfully, she still had yet to fully wrap her head around the idea of eating raw elements— it had been one thing, to see him consume water or ice in such a way, and entirely another to see him do so with fire— but she couldn't deny that it worked.
Natsu is looking at her warily— right, right, can't let the ruse drop, not after all the work she and Natsu put in to maintain it. It was a good thing that Lucy and Gray were such good listeners.
"So you show your face again," she says, tone dark. He inhales, sharp, and Erza has to remind herself that this is just pretend— pretend, until she can get to Jellal, and. Fix things. Get to Jellal and fix things, one way or another.
Natsu doesn't respond, but he throws another fistful of fire her way. The thick metal of the Flame Empress armour absorbs it once more, but Natsu doesn't step back this time— instead, he swings around into a kick aimed at her face.
Despite lacking a proper helmet— more of a hairpiece, diadem, and facial guard in one— the Flame Empress's protection does spread to bare skin. Despite that, Erza catches the kick on a gauntlet— unwilling to be kicked in the head— twists her wrist around to grip his ankle, and then turns his own momentum against him, executing a neat flip. He catches himself on his hands instead of slamming into the ground— good— and Erza chases him with her blade, fire soaked metal sinking into the ground where his chest would have been had he moved slower. He gives her a wide eyed glance before lashing out, catching her armoured chest with a fire propelled kick that pushes her back out of his space. The sword peels out of the ground as she refuses to let go of it.
Natsu flicks eyes between her flaming sword, her armour, as he stands, and an idea seems to come to him. He widens his stance, inhaling deeply— but before he can enact whatever he's planning, they're interrupted.
"Hello, everyone." Jellal. He keeps speaking, but her mind glazes over it. She's never heard his adult voice, but he's instantly familiar— not only as the boy who used to be her friend, but practically the same voice as his twin, Siegrain. There's just a touch of… something wrong, with it. She wonders if any of her friends ever realized. Perhaps they did, since Wally and Milliana were so easy to talk around."The magic council has decided to fire Etherion upon us. We have twenty minutes— use them wisely!"
Erza runs that last sequence of words over again in her head, separating out the important bits. Etherion, twenty minutes.
"… Etherion?" Natsu says, tone vaguely like he hasn't even realized he's spoke aloud.
"An immensely powerful spell," Erza replies, "enough to instantly level cities. If used on the Tower… there will be nothing left but a hole to the ocean floor."
She remembers their act a moment later, tightens her grip on her blade.
"…level? But— you need to get out of here, then!" Natsu says, tone rich with urgency. Erza supposes this is dire enough a situation to warrant dropping the act, if they're all about to be vapourized.
Why was Jellal so calm about it? How could her gentle-hearted friend have changed so much?
"Colluding with the enemy?" A casual voice asks from behind them, and Erza turns, finding Shou leaning casually against a wall. He's twirling a card idly between his fingers— from this distance, the face looks blank.
Natsu must see something different, though, because he stiffens, indecision warring on his face. Shou must have something, then— maybe something to do with the card? She narrows her eyes, trying to track the card's spinning face.
She's not entirely sure, but there might be a discoloured pile near the middle, a smear of just-off-white and light grey.
Could that be…?
"Did you know about Etherion?" Natsu asks, taking a step forwards.
Shou halts the card— back towards them— and then straightens. "No. But… Jellal must have a plan. He's the only one who knows how the Tower works— how to get us all to Heaven."
Erza thinks she might hear Natsu mutter "oh, you'll be going to heaven one way or another," but she can't be totally sure.
"I thought the R-System was supposed to bring back Zeref," Erza says, every inch of her hopeful that she'll be able to pull Shou around like she did Wally and Milliana.
"Yes, who'll bring about Heaven," Shou says, "and all it will take is you, Erza! After you left us here, the least you could do is die for us."
Silence. Erza can't even begin to find a rebuttal. He's right, after all— she did leave them here. For eight years, she lived free while they toiled away to complete the tower.
There are still guards, and Erza still doesn't know what that means.
"Erza is a good person," Natsu says, voice filled with quiet conviction.
Shou stiffens, and a dark look passes over his face. "No, she isn't."
He takes the card more firmly in hand, hands moving as if to destroy it, but Erza pulls herself out of her mire, already moving, Flame Empress peeling off of her as she lunges into her flight armour, flaming blade replaced by a long spear.
She's dealt with card mages before— Cana, for example— and she knows how their magic works. Near impenetrable from the inside, yet easily broken from the out. If she were to crumple the card up, it would do nothing more than release it's contents— crumpled, likely, but intact— but Shou, as the mage who the cards magic are linked to, would likely destroy the contents wholesale. Something she absolutely cannot allow to happen.
That certainty means she doesn't hesitate to slice the card in Shou's grip in two.
The two halves tear free from his grasp from the sheer force of wind that she generates in her passing, before bursting into bright, shining light— and Natsu's scarf flutters to the ground, perfectly whole.
In an excess of caution, Erza had swung high, avoiding the scarf with her blade entirely, but that meant she had grazed Shou's palm. He jerks back, hissing in breath from between gritted teeth, and Erza turns back with an apology on her lips only to see Natsu in the same stance he had assumed before— Shou throws himself backward, Erza requipping back into Flame Empress— and then a tidal wave of fire fills the corridor.
By the time it clears, Natsu, Shou, and the scarf are gone.
Seventeen minutes remain.
Juvia draws up short in a corridor, facing a dog faced man. He smirks, flexing his fingers, tipped in poisonous green.
With a snarl, he leaps at her, fingertips crackling with magical energy.
Hmm.
Juvia reaches forwards, forming a band of water around one of his wrists, before yanking his hand up and towards his chest. Surprised by the movement, he does nothing to resist, and his own magic electrocutes him into unconsciousness.
"That's right," Eyebrows says, "I am an anti-magic mage! No spell nor celestial spirit can approach me!"
He doesn't look that physically tough, though…
Lucy reaches for her whip.
Fifteen minutes remain, probably. Gray hasn't been paying as close attention as he should have been to the countdown, considering that out of the shittastic pile, it was nothing but a scoop on top.
Besides, some part of him reasoned, he wasn't going to back off while Deliora, Lyon, Erza were here. And he owed Natsu a solid piece of his mind, delivered via physical force, for turning his back on them.
It hadn't been hard, necessarily, to find Lyon. Gray just had to put himself in the right mindset— if he had Deliora— had Ur— somewhere, and was planning something with them, then he'd probably park himself high above their resting spot as well. Most of the challenge had come from navigating the tower, which was as confusing as it was poorly built.
Gray enters into a room high above Deliora, the hollow core of the tower visible through a balcony, on the railing of which Lyon rests.
"Gray," he greets, as soon as Gray steps in. He turns, casual.
In another time, in another place, Gray would put himself at risk to gather information— what Lyon thought he was doing, how he thought he was doing it. He probably would have nearly killed himself for it, pushing at the edges of his mortality because that was fucking Deliora down there, and if Lyon had stupid ideas in his head about rescuing Ur then it was Gray's job to personally kick his ass.
This time, fuelled on a cocktail of potent emotion— mostly being 'unbelievably pissed', with a healthy dose of 'get people the hell out of here before Etherion goes off'— Gray surges forwards.
He might have consistently lost their duels as children, but Gray's time in Fairy Tail has strengthened him beyond belief. And, when Lyon goes to defend himself, he uses one hand to make instead of two.
His defeat is as swift as it is brutal, though Gray pulls back short of causing permanent damage. Lyon had the upper hand in their first encounter due to surprise and the sheer number of Ice Make creatures he had been able to pull off, and it had gone to his head— he wasn't prepared for the inverse situation at all.
Whatever. Gray could shout at him for being the idiot he was later. Right now his priority was getting him the hell out of here, dealing with Natsu, and hauling Erza and Lucy out with him. And Juvia. And Erza's old friends.
Gray reaches down to haul the unconscious bundle of Lyon's body over, intending to freeze his hands together, when he notices something. Lyon's wearing an open jacket with no shirt underneath— glimmering against his skin is a familiar looking necklace. Gray frowned, trying to recall where he had seen that last— it certainly wasn't on Lyon. Was it a momento from Ur? no, she didn't have the chance— and she wasn't one for jewellery anyway.
He's super close to dismissing the oddity and leaving when the memory strikes him. One of the long nights on that island, the five of them sitting up around a campfire. They had gotten soaked to the bone because Erza wanted to expand the survey into the kinds of fish found in the area, and Lucy had come face to face with a shark and panicked, summoning Aquarius. They were roasting some of the fish that had washed up with them— though Happy took his raw— when Natsu pulled off his scarf to wring it out. An entire other fish had popped out of the fabric, something that set them all to laughing, but something on Natsu had caught the firelight, caught Gray's eye. A diamond necklace on a thin chain, just like this one.
The odds of that being a coincidence were slim, especially when Gray took the necklace off of Lyon and realized it wasn't just a normal white diamond— there was a miniature snowstorm raging inside.
Was this just further evidence that Natsu had turned on them? Or was it something else?
Gray didn't know.
He went to stuff the necklace in a pocket, only to discover he lost his pants at some point. And his shirt. Aggrieved, he settled for fastening it around his own neck, the diamond cold against his skin. Then he formed an ice ramp all the way to the bottom of the tower, and sent Lyon down with a shove. He could pick him up later.
Turning to continue his way up the tower, he came face-to-face with Juvia, who held his clothes. Oh, nice. She handed them over with a slight flush, and he redressed.
"You should get out of here," Gray says, gesturing to the slide behind them as he tugged on his pants.
"No," Juvia says, "Juvia will stay. Juvia's magic can carry many people, so Juvia won't leave until everyone else does too."
He can't exactly fault her for sharing his own thought process.
"Alright, but if there's less then five minutes left, you bail, alright? I'm not leaving without my guildmates, but you don't have to come down with us."
Juvia frowns, a stubborn slant to her shoulders, but she doesn't say anything. Yeah, she'd fit right in at Fairy Tail. Hopefully Gray will get the chance to ask her to join. No, he definitely will, because they're all making it out of this.
Eleven minutes remain.
There's no way they're going to make it out of this, Natsu knows. Not if Etherion fires unimpeded. Even if they all left the tower right this second, moved away as fast as possible, the wave would catch them. You can't vaporize that much land, that much water, without the ocean retaliating. It would be a tsunami. The currents would kill them all.
He staggers, catching himself on the wall and gasping for air. The roar he had used to get away from Erza had been pushing it, he knows, with his pathetic magic container, but he couldn't afford to falter now.
At least he got his scarf back, and tucked safely away in requip space.
Erza told him about Etherion. Why would she do that? She should be interested in nothing more than removing his head from his shoulders. Maybe the announcement had just surprised her, but then— she had gone after Shou, who was much further away.
She had gotten his scarf back.
He couldn't make sense of it, and trying made his head swim.
Whirl would understand, right? Natsu didn't have the time or the magic to rescue her armband. She would be sad, but she would understand, right?
Maybe she wouldn't.
Kyu wouldn't.
How long left? He realizes that he's staggered to a stop, and that he's just been focusing on breathing for a while now. Movement is a distant concept.
Not for the first time, anger wells up— what the hell is wrong with him. He had been so capable when he was younger, his magic had been powerful. He could have done twenty roars in a row. Just one shouldn't have depleted him this much. It was pathetic.
It wasn't going to matter in a little bit anyways, one way or another. He just had to keep moving, keep going up.
Keep moving.
Keep moving.
Keep moving.
The attack is a surprise. It probably would have taken him out wholesale if it wasn't for the fact he had already switched to ice— instead, the icy halberd shatters against him and he inhales the magic in it almost before he realizes what he's doing.
The taste is familiar, and he raises his head to find Gray's furious face staring back at him. There's an unfamiliar blue haired woman hovering behind him, looking vaguely uncertain, but he barely gets a chance to take her in before Gray is hurling another avalanche of ice his way.
It's cold, but it's nothing compared to what Kyu's magic had been.
"Damn it," Gray snaps, frustration radiating off of him— "what the hell is wrong with you?"
Natsu grits his teeth, straightens. However unintentional, Gray is his second wind, his head already feeling less foggy.
"How long do we have left?" Natsu asks, because he truly has no clue.
"What the hell does it matter to you," Gray snaps, tense. "Did you think you could just turn on Fairy Tail without consequence? If Erza won't take you out, I will."
"I need to know how long we have," Natsu stresses, pushing the rest of Gray's comments aside. They won't matter soon anyway.
Gray doesn't respond, shifting into his make stance, but the woman behind him does.
"Eight minutes," she says, eyes hard. Natsu isn't sure what she's seeing that Gray isn't. Natsu, quite frankly, isn't super sure who she is.
Gray's stance falters, and he looks back at her with wide eyes. Is he surprised that she spoke up? No— he didn't know either.
As he moves, the light catches something. Around his neck— Kyu's necklace.
Oh. Good. It's safe, then. Just the armband is left at risk, and there's nothing at all Natsu can do.
Still. Just eight minutes isn't a lot to work with.
Without further regard for either of them, he takes off.
Lucy drags both eyebrows and dog guy to the same boat that Sherry is on. Taurus deposits white haired guy, and vanishes with a dutiful snort. Wally and Milliana are already there, both of them fighting tears, and Lucy turns to squint into the sky above the tower.
Erza had better show up soon, and she had better bring everyone else with her.
Her eyes catch a patch of sky just lightly darker than the rest, tiny, and she raises her arms, waving. The patch hesitates, and then dives like an eagle— Lucy barely has time to brace herself before Happy is slamming into her. He's crying, big tears rolling down his tiny face, and Lucy tucks her arms around him as his wings vanish.
"Natsu was mean to meee!" He whimpers, paws kneading against Lucy's skin in a bid for comfort.
"He was mean? Natsu?" The idea is antithetical to his very being— Lucy wouldn't think him capable of it.
"Yeah! He told me to get lost! An' he threatened to use his magic on me!" Happy sobs, shivering, and Lucy holds him closer.
"Oh, Happy. I'm sure he must have had a reason," she says, staring at the tower. Was that just Natsu's method of making sure Happy was clear of Etherion? If it was, it needed work. When Erza dragged him down here, they were going to have words.
And that was going to be any second now.
Any… second…
Shou's life was, in a word, horrible. Just… horrible.
And yet, every time he thought— this is it, surely it cannot get more horrible from here— without fail, it would.
He didn't remember life before the tower.
He remembered the adrenaline of successfully digging an escape route, his plan come to fruition.
He remembered the horror of being caught, of Erza paying for it.
He remembered the joy of turning back on their guards, bodies strengthened by years of cruel labour.
He remembered watching the boats burn.
He remembered believing Jellal.
And now, he's doubting.
Because— Jellal had changed, that day. They all had, anger and fear and betrayal taking root, but Jellal had been different even before that.
Jellal had blamed Erza for burning the boats, and Jellal never blamed Erza for anything.
Erza left them here for eight years, and she never told anyone. No one.
Jellal never hurt him.
Erza did.
Clutching his bleeding hand, Shou's thoughts spiral, swirl into mush.
He does not know which to believe.
Erza? Jellal? Erza? Jellal? Erza, who had her eye carved out for him? Jellal, who sheltered and provided and protected him? Erza, who freed him? Erza, who burned the boats? Jellal, who enslaved him again, but taught him magic? Jellal, who saved them from the burned boats? Erza, who had no reason to burn the boats? Jellal, who, with his new ambition, had every reason?
Erza? Jellal? Erza? Jellal?
… Zeref?
Four minutes.
Erza stalks the tower like a tiger, eyes catching every shadowed corner, every promise of movement. These halls are unfamiliar, new, and sound carries strangely in them. There's barely any time at all left, but that doesn't stop her, or put any hesitation in her step.
A shift.
Requip puts a blade in her hand and she sinks it to the hilt in shadow, prompting a flash of movement. She follows, blade carving the wall until the shadow runs out of space, and Simon is spat out.
Erza's gut twists, looking at him. Her fault, like all of this. Her weakness, her hesitation, her thoughtlessness. If she had just been a little more aware of her surroundings back then, he wouldn't have to live missing an eye.
"Erza," he says, uncomfortable.
"Simon," she returns.
"You need to get out of here," he says.
"Not without Jellal."
"He's a lost cause, Erza. The Jellal we knew as kids is gone— he's been gone ever since he burned the boats."
You knew? Erza wonders. Of course Simon knew. He never said anything to the others, did he.
"I have to do something," Erza says. "And I have to retrieve Natsu, and Gray, and Lucy."
"Lucy is out," Simon says, "as is everyone but Natsu, Gray, Jellal, and you. Erza, please. Don't let this tower kill you."
"I will not be leaving without my guildmates," Erza says, steel in her tone.
Simon studies her for a long moment. Erza tightens her grasp on her blade— if he thinks that she will falter because of the past between them if he tries to stop her, he has another think coming— but he doesn't.
"Okay," he says, yielding. "But I'm not leaving without you. Besides, I owe Natsu a favour. We'll face Jellal together."
Erza would much prefer if he did leave, truthfully. But there's no time to argue, and despite earlier thoughts she doesn't think she could truly bring herself to raise her blade against him.
"Alright."
Two minutes.
If he had thought about it, Empra's lightning would have gotten him up there fastest— but he doesn't know if he would have had magic left over. So he runs, and two people run after him, and together the three of them reach the top of the Tower of Heaven with barely a minute left.
The magic circles are already bright against the sky, concentric rings of pure magical energy.
Natsu spares a glance for Gray, who's face is open and pale, and then the blue haired woman, who looks nothing but determined.
It's too late to tell them to get lost— it had been too late the moment Etherion was announced, but Natsu wishes they weren't here.
He had been avoiding thinking of it, but this was probably going to kill him.
Kyu hadn't out and out taught him as many spells as the others— more than Grotee, but less than Igneel, Empra, and Whirl. He had relied on intuition, instinct, and the lessons other dragons passed on.
So the few spells Kyu did pass down were important— and more than that, powerful.
Every type of dragon magic had its special attributes. This was ice's;
Thirty seconds. Go time.
Planting himself, reaching as deeply as he could into his narrow well of magic, Natsu thrust his hands upwards, into the sky. A thin spire sprouted between his palms, spiralling, refracting into the sky. As it grew it widened, flattened, a perfect mirror face staring back up at Etherion.
"Ice Dragons Reflection Shield."
The drain on his magic was immediate. It was harsh. He barely had the edges shaped, and they were beginning to crumble. Ten seconds, he just had to hold it. With disregard for everything else, he had to hold it.
His hands were beginning to tremble. He had to hold them steady, couldn't afford to destabilize the mirror.
Eight.
It felt like the world was pushing down on his shoulders, pressure building and popping in his ears. He was vaguely aware that he was clenching his jaw hard enough to hurt.
Six.
He wasn't going to hold it.
Five.
His nose was bleeding.
Four.
Another pair of hands wrapped around his, lending support and strength. Ice magic flowed up the spire, not creating on its own, but aiding what was already built.
Three.
Gray's face pressed close to his, the proximity a necessity of the stance. He looked conflicted, and still angry, but his hands around Natsu's were steady.
Two.
Natsu's legs tried to buckle, but another pair of hands found him, held him up.
One.
Etherion fired.
The beam of concentrated magical energy lashed down, but most of the work was already done. The reflective surface of the spell groaned under the onslaught, but it held. Etherion redoubled, trembled, pushed down on them like a dying star, but the shield held.
Natsu's focus narrowed to the thin spire of magic in his hands and nothing more— still, the shield held.
Etherion met itself, magic reflected tearing through magic still being cast, the destructive force of the spell tearing through the magic circles and then through the atmosphere beyond, leaving a circular gap in the cloud layer.
"Holy shit," someone breathes, close to Natsu's ear.
He can't maintain the spell any longer. He's somewhere past empty and well into hollow. The spire crumbles, and leads everything into black.