updated 2023/11/25, replacing chapters 15 and 16.
a side note: i've noticed something going a little wonky with the chapters... it seems this site isn't really build to ship-of-theseus your own fic. it does? knock on wood? seem to be fixing itself as often as it breaks, so, that's something, i suppose. er, to be specific, chapter 7 was changed back to be the original version? but, according to my live preview/the manager of the fic itself, the replacement chapter was up and fine. i couldn't do anything to edit/fix it, it just fixed itself. So, with that Said, the foolproof method for reading this fic correctly is gonna be over on ao3. i genuinely don't have any control over chapters blipping in and out of existence.
Phoenix, well, you'll just have to find out. ...it might be. Maaaaybe. Yeh, Jellal ain't done yet. He's rather steadfast for a lunatic, ain't he? Yeh, I think Natsu does something in this chapter that'll really help that bond along. Mhm. I see your tomato-turning spell is at work once more!
Guest, one, two, this is new, three, four, a guest is at the door, five, six, I hope this sticks, seven, eight, I won't be late, nine, ten, I'll share it then, eleven, twelve, and in we delve! Oh, is that how you spell his name? Whoops... Eh, I'm sure no one will notice... Shu has been possessed! The armband has been destroyed! Yeh, a real bummer. ASAP, got it. And you shall know! Mostly. Maybe. A little.
Phoenix(1), those scenes are real heartbreaking, so of course I can't leave you for too long! Ooh-hoho! You're the first person to bring that up! Hahaha! Well, to be totally honest, I didn't like this arc too much, nor did I like the Galuna Island arc, so I decided to mash them together. And hey, it worked out surprisingly well. Ah, I'm glad to hear that. Well, not the iPad troubles, but that this cheered you up. Thankfully my iPad doesn't do the same thing, despite its age. (Although loading up word is always a struggle…) aw, you flatter me so. I am trying to hold back on the trauma, but then again Natsu seems pretty mad… haha, yep, lying low is not Fairy Tail's specialty.
Guest(1), A, B, C, D, E, F, G, this review it pleases me, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, I imagine quite surprised is how Jellal will be, Q, R, S, T, U, V, Deloria's gone Lyon will see, W, X, Y, and Z, Natsu's a real butt-kicker, heehee! More coming right up! I'm looking forward to seeing this play out too, I've been thinking about it so much I had a dream about it and it was beautiful… I'd like to quote Hetalia back, but unfortunately I haven't watched it yet… well, if you lose your mind, you better find it quick so you can read!
Phoenix(2), gah, reading this made me so happy I flailed a little… People are looking at me strangely now… Eh. You know, I've never really spared much thought on their ages. Personally, I view Natsu as older than Lucy, but hey, if you want it to be consecutive, who am I to stop you? Ur… You'll have to wait and see with Ur. Laxus, I am so gonna have fun with Laxus… **happy flailing**
Phoenix(3), worry not, my friend. It's just I decided to do something kinda special for a twentieth chapter, plus this fic is hitting its anniversary, so this chapter is twenty pages long in word! (Or it was. I had these responses pre-saved. Oh well.) Not including the authors notes, which take up two to three pages on their own. :) the twenty ninth, huh? Well, check the bottom authors note! And hey, you can consider this chapter a gift from me! **more happy flailing**
Guest(2), Jingle bells, I've dropped bombshells, there is no need to rage~ A brand new show, now this you know, you may read on my friend. Haha, no worries, I was just working on a longer chapter. No desperation and/or mind-losing required!
Guest(3), I know, right! How exciting! I would have updated before seven, but two things lined up against me. First, it's Phoenix's birthday on the 29th, so this chapter is kinda like a gift to them. Second, I got this email at seven thirty. Kinda hard to update at a time that has already passed. Sorry!
Guest(4), aw, thanks for your concern! Don't worry, the worst thing that's happened to me lately is I missed an episode of a tv show I'm not too interested in, and it's on Netflix anyway (It's great background noise).
Phoenix(4), woohoo! **small eruption of streamers** …shush I'm on time. Hey, this fic would be nothing without you and people like you. Man, it's kinda crazy to think it's been a whole year. Just… Wow. Lemme take this in for a sec. Really though, I can't tell you how much your positive words mean to me!
Phoenix(5), ooh this is kind of a sad chapter. Oh no. Hey, I'll try and get a happier chapter by today, alright? And hey, you're not bugging me. You're like this little ray of sunshine in my life that just cheers me up every time I see a review from you. I'm pretty much the opposite of busy actually. I'd say the most exciting thing to happen to me recently is I forgot I had my window open completely so when the bind blew my curtains just about smothered me. (Hey, you seem a little down. If there's anything I can do to help, just let me know, alright? Because I'll do what I can, because you aren't a bother, you're an actual genuine person who takes time out of their day and their life to read what I've written, and you take your precious time and complement me and that just blows me away every time. So please, of there's anything on your mind that I can help with, let me know.)
Something isn't right. The tower is supposed to be complete, a gleaming masterpiece of magic, a shining beacon to all those who worship, a promise. But twenty minutes have passed and it's still flawed metal and stone.
Jellal sits in the throne, legs crossed, elbow propped up on one of the armrests and head propped up on that. His free hand idly spins the armband as his magic flickers through every security lacrima installed in the place.
Unimportant, unimportant, unimportant. A cluster of people at the docks— unimportant. Erza and Simon approaching— unimportant.
Deliora. Hmm. He'll need a full scope on the situation, but he may have an idea if the worst has come to pass.
Ah-hah! The very highest lacrima finally yields results— the spy, the ice wizard, and the failure. Jellal tucks the armband away and flickers out of his seat, making for them.
Let Erza and Simon come— he could deal with them later. For now, he had some disappointments to deal with.
Now, what happened up here? He can feel the magical residue in the air— Etherion was here. Etherion and something else. He flicks his mind to Siegrain, finds the magic council in chaos.
"Nothing has ever deflected Etherion like that!" someone is howling. Siegrain flicks his fingers at Ultear, signalling her to wait. His plan is not totally unrecoverable, but.
This is bad. He needs more information on what happened, so he leaves Siegrain to that as his mind returns to himself.
There they are. The disappointment is out cold on the floor, blood trickling down his face. The ice mage is pacing, nearby, agitated, and the little spy looks deeply conflicted.
"Ah hah," he hears himself say. The ice mage whirls to look at him, hands radiating frost, but Jellal is past him already, lifting the disappointment by his collar. "Thought you could work against me, did you?"
He gives the disappointment a shake, though he doesn't rouse to consciousness.
He has to step out of the way of an ice-made lance, eyes flicking to the ice mage.
"Put him down," the boy growls. Interesting, interesting. The disappointment is a traitor, for all he cares, and yet the ice mage acts in defence of him anyways.
"You are Jellal," the spy says.
"And you're the little spy," he returns, relishing the way her eyes widen. Really, she must have thought him foolish; nothing, and nobody, existed on this island without his Lords divine providence. Jellal noticed her the moment she first arrived, weeks ago, watched her as she crept about, fed her info, and, after she left, led her back. All for this moment: the fear in her eyes before he would kill her.
She recoils, leaning back, water magic coiling around her hands.
"Ah, ah, ah," Jellal tuts, holding Natsu in front of him like a shield, "Wouldn't want to hurt him now, would we?"
She falters, water dripping, but the ice mage does not— he flings another Lance at Jellal.
True to his promise, Jellal holds Natsu between them, expecting the ice to pierce the disappointment through. Instead, it meets his skin and shatters, sharp chunks gliding past him to cut into Jellals cheek.
"Would we," taunts the ice mage.
Ah. Hm. Well, that was a shame. He had quite been looking forwards to the torment of ally hurting ally. He drops the disappointment, and in the next moment he's folding the ice mage over his fist, speed enhanced by his heavenly body magic. The boy gags, and Jellal takes his chin with his knee, snapping his head back. The spy tries to retaliate, but Jellal is faster, a hand steaming radiant magic finding the back of her head and slamming her face first into the ground. The ice mage hits the ground barely a second later.
Jellal wasn't at full strength, not with Siegrain still in action, but that was disappointingly quick. They were likely depleted from whatever they did to stop Etherion.
He takes each of them in hand, drags them to the edge of the tower. The benefit of having such a narrow spire: it's very easy to throw people over the edge. It's no effort at all to drop them over, watch their bodies disappear. With a fall from this height, they're dead— they just haven't hit the ground yet.
Hm. He could do the same with the dragon slayer, but despite how lacklustre his performance so far had been, he still had some use.
Siegrain brings him a speck of information— Etherion was deflected by ice magic.
Jellal has no further use for his magic council counterpart— and with Erza so close, he needs the magical energy. Siegrain gives Ultear the signal to destroy Etherion, and returns himself to Jellal.
As the two minds meld back into one, Jellal hoists the disappointment's limp body over his shoulder, a new plan formulating around three key points— the tremendous amount of power Deliora holds, Iced Shell, and the dragon slayer on his shoulder.
Happy sees them first.
He's scrubbing at the last of the tears, fur spiked up in clumps, when he glances upwards to see— something. Lucy is still reeling over seeing death come so close before, seemingly, turning around mid-air, as if changing its mind.
"They're falling!" Happy shrieks, and he whips out of Lucy's arms, shooting into the sky. Who—? Lucy follows his trajectory, makes out two dark blurs. Happy intercepts one, jerking and struggling against the weight; the other continues to tumble.
Lucy can't tell who it is from this distance, this speed, but that doesn't matter.
Acting on sheer instinct, her hands fly to her keys. One leaps into her palm, cool metal, and words push themselves into her mind, magic opening the gap between dimensions as she shouts "Open! Gate of the eagle!"
That she does not know the eagle does not matter— she feels as if she could change reality itself if it meant saving whoever is falling.
Celestial energy peaks, and a heavenly bell rings out as the gate opens, nothing more than a vague feathered blur shooting upwards, into the sky. The eagle peaks next to the faller, flips, hooks its talons into their clothes. Happy comes down heavily with the other one in hand, breathing heavily, but Lucy's eyes are glued to her summon as it catches the wind again, turning the terminal fall into a swoop. It's— nothing short of elegant, to be frank. Happy's catch was more of a mid-air collision barely gone right— one could be forgiven for assuming this one to be a practiced art form.
Which is kind of a weird thing to be thinking about a weird celestial eagle snatching someone from certain death, but before she can carry that thought any further, they're circling around for a gentle landing.
It's Juvia, which means— that's Gray, in an equally unconscious state, Happy curled up pitifully against his chest. Someone— someone had to have thrown them over the edge. Someone—
Someone is going to pay for this.
Lucy, however angry she may be, is a woman of priorities, which does mean she has an apology to make. It's a terrible habit to gain, summoning spirits before making a contract.
The eagle is idly grooming, tugging feathers into place, so they likely don't mind too much. Still. Lucy takes a moment to take them in before speaking— their head is a distinctive white, with a soft, otherworldly luminescence to it. Their eyes, one of which is fixed on Lucy, are a vibrant yellow. The pupils have tiny stars flecked across them. The rest of their body is a deep, muted purple, broken up rarely by singular white feathers. Their talons are capped in silver, the only adornment they have.
"Hello," Lucy says, "I'm so sorry about summoning you without making a contract."
"Quite alright," the eagle responds. "I pushed it onto you, anyway— I do so hate to see humans hitting the ground, so messy— quite the summoner you must be, to respond so readily to a mere silver key!"
"Thank you?" Lucy says, though it comes out as more of a question than she intends. This guy is very… chatty. She's not completely sure how to respond to the comment about people hitting the ground, and it makes her vaguely nauseous to imagine. Thankfully, the eagle spares her.
"My name is Aquila. I can change size, or zap things, though not both at once. I am unavailable on days ending with Y."
Oh, he's going right for the contract process now— fair enough, Lucy supposes. Hang on, wait a minute.
"Day's ending with Y? Isn't that, that's every day."
He tilts his head, and blinks. His eyes make a quiet snkt sound as he does so. "Day's beginning with Y."
That's. That's still every day, just in the opposite direction.
"You're available every day?" Lucy asks, just to clarify.
"Yes, except for the last of each month. Excluding leap years. Your name?"
He could have just said that. Lucy buries the twinge of irritation. "I'm Lucy Ashley, it's an honour to meet you— and to be your summoner." She dips her head in a tiny bow, something Aquila returns in kind. Then she glances down at Juvia, over at Gray, and that anger rises up again.
"Hey, listen— could you carry me up the tower?"
The first thing Gray is aware of is a rumbling spot of warmth bundled against his chest, and a lingering grossness in his mouth. Happy? But what is Happy… he brings up a hand to support the cat as he sits up, squinting down at the cat. Did Happy get him out of there?
Hang on, what about Juvia, then— or Natsu?
Just thinking Natsu's name brings up another pang of conflicting emotions. Really, what the hell does that guy think he's up to? Gray's gonna drag him back to the guild, and then kick his ass for this whole ordeal. A plan that necessitates finding the damn guy, a plan that also involves kicking Jellal's ass. Damn, that guy was fast as hell. As if summoned, his stomach and chin ache in unison, and he realizes that his mouth tastes so gross because he had bitten his tongue.
For the first time, he gives his surroundings some attention. There's Happy, of course, who's looking up at him idly, paws curled into his own chest. "Gray?" He says, blinking slowly, but Gray turns his head away, finding Juvia also unconscious, a few feet away. Did Happy carry them both? They're…
They're at the bottom of the tower again.
There's a boat full of people, some of whom are trying to get his attention. He recognizes Erza's old friends, but there's no urgency in acknowledging them. Back at the bottom, he's close to Deliora again— and Lyon isn't around. He must still be in the tower.
His teeth have stuck together, and he works them apart, wincing at the fresh pangs from both his jaw and his tongue. He's lucky— nothing broken, and he had only barely caught his tongue, not bitten clean through. "Look after Juvia," he says to Happy, placing the cat on her chest.
Happy doesn't protest at all, which does set off some warning bells in Gray's head. Did Jellal hurt him too? Or is he strained from carrying two people at once?
"Hey, wait—" one of the boat people is saying, but Gray couldn't give less of a shit, Erza's old friends or not. He takes a staggering step, then another. Finds his stride. Speeds up.
He's maybe four feet away from the entrance when he hears it, that noise.
The noise that haunts his dreams. That's followed him since childhood. The noise that killed his parents, killed Ur, killed his relationship with Lyon. The noise of despair.
Deliora's roar.
It sounds exactly like he remembers.
The other ice mage, the idiotic one— killing one of Lord Zeref's divine creations, really— has acted on his own, though to Jellal's benefit. The spell containing Deliora has weakened again, though not enough to free the demon entirely— only sound escapes, and Jellal takes a moment to appreciate it.
The other ice mage is breathing heavy, bruised, one wrist bleeding. He looks elated, euphoric. His hands, both of them, ready to create, ready to strike out at Lord Zeref's beast. Impermissible. Jellal disables him with a swift strike to the back of the head, uncaring as he crumples to the ground, unconscious.
The weakening of Deliora's ice can only be a boon, Lord Zeref's blessing on Jellal's plan. Besides, with the dragon slayer in his current state… Jellal takes a moment to assess.
His magic signature is odd. Strangely muted, reduced, somehow. There's the barest trickling of magic keeping him alive, and something more— something else, maybe— under that. Jellal does not care to probe more.
If Lord Zeref has given his blessing, then this plan will work. Jellal need only have faith.
It takes him a moment longer than he would like to admit to recall what was said about Natsu. His mind is shifting, always, a sliding playground of information. A small price to pay, for his Lord being so close. If only others could be so lucky.
His magic is arcane in alignment, and for a moment he curses himself in his haste to do away with Lyon. Gray seemed confident in his use of ice magic against the boy, and the vanishing echoes that still call themself Siegrain finally find the information he needs.
Five elemental affinities, immunities to each. Admitted only to Ultear after some gentle prodding, an ability to consume magic to replenish his own— a vile ability, the man had called it, you see why I wanted to prevent anyone learning about it— but Jellal only sees a path forwards.
He calls up a ball of heavenly magic, cracks Natsu's mouth open, and drops it inside.
Nothing happens.
The faint sound of footsteps pounding over distant stone, gaining with every step. Not Erza, but then who? Jellal turns, curious, and as such he misses the moment Natsu snaps awake.
A fist, made sharp, heavy, and cold by ice slams into his back, tossing him. Jellal catches himself midair with his heavenly body magic, hands already seeking out a spell of retribution, but the boy only collapses to all fours. One hand comes up to press at his throat as he gags, body trembling. Rejecting the magic? Interesting. Perhaps the elemental affinities effect more than just what he's immune to.
Jellal sets himself down, retrieves the armband. The boy likely though he could act swiftly enough to recover it— tragic for him, then.
He spins the armband idly, growing swiftly bored of the pathetic show of illness. The boy does seem truly ill, but Jellal has no time for that. He lands a swift kick to his ribs, knocking him over. That, at least, jars him out of the gagging, but he just pales, fingers scrabbling across his chest like he can lift the magic out.
Jellal holds the armband up to where it can be seen, tightens his grip just so, and watches as the dragon slayer goes painfully still. Once he's certain that he has every inch of the dragon's attention, he gestures, broadly, at iced shell.
Deliora wheezes out another cry.
Jellal cannot know this, but it's by pure luck— pure, simple, luck— that this works at all.
Natsu— barely awake, more delirious than sentient, trapped in a vortex of memory from the sight of the armband, staggers to his feet, limps forwards. He feels on fire, but not in his usual way. He feels as if he is dying.
But then Kyu's teachings were always more instinct than training.
(And something deeper than that, something that will not yet fully awake, something notices Deliora.)
He places one hand, flat, against the spell, feels the mix of magic within. Separates out the elements. Were he in his right mind, he would be frantic, thinking a way out, but he couldn't be further out of himself.
Ice starts from his palm in a jagged burst, a firm white against the shallow blue of Iced Shell.
Unlike Reflection Shield, this is a spell he's never had the opportunity to practice— frankly, it was one he wondered why Kyu bothered to teach him at all.
Iced Shell is near impenetrable, it's only weaknesses obscure enough to hardly matter at all. The moon drip ceremony, with origins lost to time, only the bare essence of it recalled and used, and one other spell. One dragon spell.
This spell does not have a name, it simply is. The ice injected into Iced Shell is as if a thousand tiny mirrors, each building on the next, building the magic in Iced Shell into two separate forms. The first drops, small against the roaring backdrop of Deliora.
Distantly, Natsu hears an agonized cry. It sounds familiar. His nose is bleeding again. Deliora's magic pulses to life, swelling. Natsu staggers, remains standing. His rational mind is gone, survival instinct tells him to back up, get away. He's drawn by instinct to familiar smell, and again, pure luck interferes. Natsu, barely in control of himself, muscles spamming from the mixture of potent magical exhaustion and digestion of a foreign magic, slams into Gray without even a thought of slowing down. Gray, who had been preparing to cast Iced Shell himself.
The impact jars him out of the spell, and they go down in a tangle. Behind them, Deliora rises, inexorable.
The sound of it's grating howl mixed with wild laughter, Jellal's wild laughter. The salvaged pieces of his plan click together, perfectly. Heavenly body takes him to the demons head, face. There is no intelligent thought in its eyes— whatever life had been there was sapped away into Iced Shell, leaving a monster of raw magic power behind.
Zeref lashes forwards, catches Deliora's forehead. The demon bellows wildly, magic power spewing forwards, retaliation against its god. Zeref reaches past the bounds of Jellal's fragile human mind, activating the lacrima embedded along the entire tower. The lacrima find Deliora, a well of raw magic power, and do exactly what they're supposed to; they absorb.
It isn't the sudden, dramatic transformation that it was supposed to be. Etherion was the ideal, the dream, what it all led up towards, but Etherion is gone. The shift should have been instant, but it wasn't. It climbs in thick, crystalline spires, piece by piece.
Deliora crumples, folding in on itself as it's magic power feeds into the resurrection of its god. The crystal crests, swallows the last of the stone, lacrima swelling with potential. Now he needs only Erza, his sacrifice, the final piece.
Mind empty of anything else, Jellal leaves.
Four people find their footing in the ashes of Deliora. Gray pulls himself up, muttering 'what the hell, what the hell,' a frantic rhythm, a prayer. Deliora is… gone. For good. For real. He brings Natsu up with him, supporting the dragon slayer with trembling arms. Natsu, once on his feet, remains up, but his eyes are blank— Gray doesn't know what's wrong with him, and cannot find the words to ask.
It is then that Gray looses his balance. He tries to recover it, but he can't. He looks down.
His leg up to the knee is missing.
There is no pain. No disconnect. He can still feel it. It simply… isn't there anymore.
Gray goes down hard, eyes fixed on the blank space where his leg is supposed to be, mind uncomprehending. A flash of white catches his eye, a flat white expanse, a rectangle, a card. His leg is on the card— and as he watches, his other foot vanishes off of his other leg, appears on the card. He's being drawn into it, he realizes. Magic.
The process seems accelerated by realization, and Gray blinks to find himself looking up at the world. A quick check— every limb is still attached— and then he lunges forwards, slams into some kind of invisible barrier separating him from reality.
"Hey!" he shouts, angry. "Let me outta here!"
A hand the size of a building come out of nowhere, lifts him. His perspective shifts dizzily, over ceiling and wall until it settles on a boys face.
He doesn't look very old, blond haired, dark skin. His eyes are flaring in and out of focus, and he muses aloud— "harder than it looks. Oh well."
"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Gray snaps, pounding a fist against that invisible wall. He doesn't get an answer— the boy just drops him.
If being picked up was dizzying, then this is nothing short of nauseating. The world flips end over end as the card he's trapped in flutters away. He sees the newly crystalline walls of the tower. He sees Natsu, half-turning to face them. And then he sees nothing at all— the card landing face-down.
"Okay," Zeref muses aloud, "one more go."
This boys magic is intensely useful— Ultear only wishes that he was less useless without her direct command. Pulling the strings as directly as she is, she loses a lot of the magical proficiency that Shou has. It still works, but the delay could kneecap her plans.
However, with Gray out of the way, the only one left in this room to deal with is the catatonic dragon slayer. He had been helpful and hurtful in parts, and Ultear wanted him to pay for the wrench he had thrown into their plans. Jellal had been hasty in leaving— of course he had, with his fixation on Erza— so Ultear, as always, had to do the dirty work.
Not that she necessarily minds. She steps into the role of Zeref willingly and joyfully, all for the purpose of bringing him back.
Zeref flips another card in Shou's fingers, finds his magical reserves, and spins it out in a casual throw to the dragon slayer. It catches him in the elbow, drawing his arm up to that point into the paper.
Zeref maintains a steady flow of magic, recalling exactly how it worked with Gray, and the card begins to draw the rest of the dragon slayer in.
He reacts almost too quickly for her to notice.
His head snaps down to stare at his vanishing arm, and his other hand comes up high, ice crackling over it. A clean, cold, cutting edge.
Zeref throws them backwards, prepared for the dragon slayer to come after Shou, but he doesn't. He brings his hand, the ice blade, down on his own shoulder.
A giggle bubbles out of Ultear— he's going to cut his own arm off!
She reaches forwards, planning to feed more of Shou's magic into the card, just to see what happens. Something moves behind the dragon slayer, catches the ice as he brings it down for a second messy cut.
It can't be Lyon, or Gray, who are both trapped in cards, and Ultear didn't hear anyone else coming.
It looks like…
It looks like a ghost.
She loses her grasp on Shou's magic, the card spitting out Natsu's arm before fluttering to the ground, useless. Stares. Tries to make sense of what she's seeing, can't.
That can't be her.
Ultear turns and runs.
ah, aquila! i've literally been holding onto this guy for years :) I don't remember if i ever got around to mentioning it, but it always bugged me that Lucy never really gets more silver keys. there are a lot of constellations! use them! he's much weaker than any of the zodiacs, but that's okay because i love him. ~ShadeShadow