Yes, another update. We're almost done! I can't help it!
Enjoy!
"Almost all battles for the final day of the Games have been completed, and at this point it's anyone's game!"
"By anyone you must mean either Fairy Tail or Sabertooth, right Ross?" Hisui asked, making the other commentator laughed. "Because it's honestly only one of the other at this point."
"Fair enough, your Majesty! After all those two are extremely close!"
Azzie knew this was not for the sake of drama. Fairy Tail and Sabertooth were mere points away from each other. Fairy Tail had 101 points, and Sabertooth had 106. The Games was anyone's to win, even though Terra was the only leader still standing.
"This is intense." Tetsu said from Azzie's left. "I hope they don't come up short."
"Even if they do..." Katsuchi said. "The strength they've displayed after being subjected to an attack outside of a fair fight...It's incredible." Azzie smiled as she thought back to the concluded fights and the ones that were currently ongoing.
"They're Fairy Tail." She said. "It's in their blood. We witnessed them do something similar when you guys blasted Crime Sociere's airship out of the sky." Katsuchi laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck.
"I suppose you got me there." he said. "But back then...I never could've imagined I'd be here cheering for them."
"That we can agree on."Tetsu said. "I wholly expected that day to end with us washing their blood off of our hands." Azzie remembered the day well. It was the day they're lives had done a complete one eighty from the dark place they were pointing.
"No point in dwelling on it." She said. "All we can do now is hope they come out on top."
Keita slashed at Elise's midsection, causing the girl to fly back and through another wall. Keita went after her without remorse, knowing he had no choice. He found the girl lying in the wreckage, so he grabbed her by the head and concentrated. He needed to just...
"Get the fuck off of me!" A club to the face prevented him from absorbing the darkness, and he staggered back in surprise. Using Dragon Force, he'd been throwing Elise all over the place in his attempt to just knock her out cold and help her. But she was making in exceedingly difficult to do so, and it was starting to get on his nerves.
"This is crazy..." he hissed. "I need to end this now, I'm not playing around." Elise just laughed darkly at this.
"Then come and end it, if you're so god damn tough! oh wait!" She cackled again. "How could you?! I beat you once, and I'm going to do it again! Then I'll go find your teammate Blake and do it to him as well! And then Terra! And, heh, fuck it, Nashi and Damien could use a throw around too! then I'll go find the others as well!" Keita stared at the ground as she ranted. "It's over, Keita! You can't best me!"
He laughed.
"You're fucking crazy." he stated calmly, watching the soulless eyes she had, which narrowed at him. "Attacking your own friends? Just how merciless have you become?"
"Enough to know I don't need no fucking friends!" Elise shouted. "What friends would lie to me?! Tell me that my past is what they say it is?! That I wasn't raped?!"
"They were trying to protect you!" Keita shouted back. "I heard what Drake said through your memories! He just wanted the Elise he knew back!"
"That Elise is dead!" She screamed, making Keita's eyes widen in surprise. Despite the anger and maliciousness he felt from her, tears were streaming down her face. "That girl...That bitch...She's gone! She died that day she was raped! And do you know what replaced her?!"
"I've got an idea." Keita whispered under his breath. Elise laughed and gestured to herself.
"This! This is the true Elise Redfox! The one from before is gone, and this is what replaced her! But thanks to my friends and that fucker Mest, I was lead to believe that I did still exist to some degree! But I don't!"
"Stop telling yourself that!" Keita shouted, now getting even angrier. "You do still exist!"
"You don't know a FUCKING THING!"
"Oh yeah?! I know enough about you, Elise Redfox!" Elise didn't sarcastically reply, so Keita raised a few fingers to count off what he knew. "You're loud, annoying, abrasive, rude, don't know when to shut your mouth, and...!"
"What the fuck are you trying to prove?!" Elise screamed, grabbing her head and looking down. "It's a good thing she's gone! That Elise was foolish enough to believe that no one would try and do what happened to her, that she was going to grow up normal, lead a normal life, and...!"
"And the Elise Redfox I was lead to believe 'existed' is one of the strongest girls I've ever met!" Elise fell silent, and Keita narrowed his eyes at her. "If the ruse this Mest put you under was who you were before, than I refuse to believe someone so strong willed and powerful could feel such a way! Your still in there, and I know it! This isn't you, Elise, and you know it!"
"SHUT UP!" Tendrils of darkness shot out from Elise's head, but Keita ignored them. He was one with them, he cared not for it. "THAT GIRL...SHE'S GONE...I AM ELISE REDFOX!"
"No." Keita said. "You're the fucked up manifestation of her own negativity powered by my shadows trying to take her place. And I refuse to allow you to fall that far!" Keita dodged the lashing tendrils of darkness and punched Elise backwards, but the girl just slid across the ground before looking up.
"You're starting to piss me off..." She hissed. "I think defeating you won't be enough. I might just kill you."
"Talk all the trash you want." Keita said, cracking his knuckles. "I'm not going to let you fall." Elise went after him, but Keita dodged the majority of her attacks and dealt her even more damage than she could even hope to dish out in her enraged random attacks. Sh tried to uppercut him, but he grabbed her fist and swung her into the dirt. Elise screamed in rage and drove her foot into his face, which hurt, and then knocked the wind out of him with a Iron Club to the stomach. He looked up just in time to be on the receiving end of an Iron Dragon Roar, which just like the other times he'd been hit by it, cut up his clothes and the skin wherever it hit.
The pain was nullified however, by the pure determination Keita felt.
He needed to save her.
It was his fault, after all.
Sprinting towards her, Keita delivered a series of punches that caused the iron scales all over her body to chip and crack, pieces falling away and revealing her bruised skin beneath. He was really giving it too her.
Maybe he was going her a bit too much.
Despite how Elise, in this state, refused to ever comment on her own state as she probably felt fine, her body would only take so much punishment before it caved on her. He needed to end this before he ended her.
"What's the matter, Keita?!" Elise yelled as he paused before delivering another punch. "You're pausing!"
"Just wondering how the girl who beat me a few days ago is sucking so bad." He said, trying to distract her so he could formulate some form of plan.
"She's right here!" Elise shouted back angrily. "And I'm going to beat you again!"
"Go ahead and try." The girl went after Keita relentlessly, but her attacks faded through him uselessly. She screamed in anger, and roared at him, but it still had no effect.
"You know what I find the funniest out of all of this?!" Elise said, cackling. "you think you understand! Just because you say what happened to me doesn't even compete with understanding! What Elise feels is...HAHAHAHAHA! It's so fucking pathetic!" Keita looked down at the ground.
"Of course I don't understand." he hissed. "I've never been raped. I've never once even come close to a situation that I could use to relate to you. But..."
"Sorry, Keita...But you won't be seeing much of your Mom anymore."
His fathers words from so many years before came back to him for the first time in many years, and he gritted his teeth at the memory.
"But I do what it's like to be in a family torn apart by negativity..." Shadows leaked from his figure as he clenched his teeth. "And I refuse to let you do the same to yours!"
"What in the fucking are you even talking about?!" Keita laughed, this time darkly like she often had.
"You know Elise, I don't know much about you..." He said. "Apart from how much you annoy me. But your friends, your family...I can tell even from watching at a distance how much they care about you."
"Huh?"
"And I am not going to let you fall into that pitfall." He growled. "Even if I have to walk you through the next stage of your life..."
"Huh? Why? Did you guys have another fight?"
"Just...Leave it."
"I will not let your family suffer the same consequences as mine."
His reasoning wouldn't make sense to her in the state she was in.
But Keita knew what would happen afterwards.
She'd get mad at her friends, blame the memory rewrite on them, and that distrust and anger would tear apart the people he so closely associated with family.
And he wasn't going to allow that.
Because what he'd gone through made him so angry...No one else should have to go through it.
Keita melted into the ground and soared beneath Elise. In the void between her and the ground, Keita brought his hands together.
"Dragon Slayer Secret Art!" he shouted, shadows forming into a circle on the ground between them. Elise looked down in surprise before she laughed.
"Oh, so we're playing that way?!| She asked, her body glowing grey and black. The Scaled Armor of the Iron Dragon-God.
Elise was steeling herself for the blow, and it was exactly what Keita wanted her to do.
"Shadow Eclipse!" He shouted, allowing the attack to charge up to the point of near return, and he heard Elise laughing.
"You know this armor can't be broken, you fool!| She screamed. It's over! You'll drain what's left of your power, and I'll...!"
Keita left and ground and materialized in front of Elise, who wasn't looking at him. He grabbed her by the arms, causing her to yelp in surprise, and he acted quickly. He forced er arms out of the way of her head and touched her temples with his fingers.
He could feel it. His shadows were definitely in there, increasing the manipulative force of her negativity.
I'm taking back what's mine, Elise. It's for your own good.
And so Keita did so. He concentrated, and felt his shadows leaving Elise and returning to the rightful body. His body.
Elise was screaming, he could hear her. But he ignored her, and focused on taking back what was his.
Slowly but surely, the darkness from inside Elise started to fade. After a moment, Keita opened his own eyes and saw that Elise's normal eyes had returned, no longer plagued with darkness.
"...K-Keita..." She whispered weakly.
Keita socked her in the mouth, throwing her flat on her back.
She didn't move again.
...It's done. Her negativity's hold on her has been relinquished.
"Is this is for Elise Redfox?!" Ross asked, and Elise didn't move for the longest time, making Keita's heart race. Would she stand? He wasn't sure he had the heart to fight her if she did.
I think this is it for her, Ross." Hisui said. "Keita Cheney has earned Sabertooth another point." This put them at 107 points. Keita took a deep breath and looked up towards the lacrima in the sky.
"Listen up, Ross!" he shouted, steeling his resolve. "I forfeit to Fairy Tail!"
Damien's head was killing him. He'd woken up in an alleyway with no idea how he;d even gotten there, but he sensed a strange urgency to return somewhere. He didn't really know exactly where, but his body was on autopilot back to the location in question.
"Jeez, what the hell happened?" he asked no one in particular. "I remember running into Bella and it all went white..."
"What a display! Keita Cheney put don Elise Redfox, only to forfeit to Fairy Tail!" Damien looked up at the lacrima vision to find this was true, as they and Sabertooth gained a single point.
"Damn this is close." he said. "I wonder why Keita forfeit..."
Damien furrowed his brow in confusion as he reached what appeared to be a completely devastated portion of the city. Everything looked demolished, but he had no idea what from.
"Wow, someone did a number here." he said. Looking around, he spotted someone sitting up against a partially destroyed wall, and his eyes widened. "Terra?" The girl in question turned to look at him, and their eyes met.
And Damien's flickered down, making his cheeks flush.
"Why aren't you wearing a shirt?" He asked her weakly, making Terra slowly look down. After a few seconds of staring at herself, Terra's face went red as well and she quickly wrapped her arms around herself.
"Don't look at me, you pervert!" She shouted, making Damien avert his eyes quickly. Terra scrambled around and found her shirt, which she quickly threw on over herself. "Asshole..." She hissed, making Damien roll his eyes.
"i didn't do anything..." he muttered.
"Like hell you didn't!" Terra said, brandishing a finger at him. "You're an idiot, that's what!...Wait, no, Xisplate said you wouldn't remember anything..." This caught Damien's attention.
"Xisplate?" he asked. "Did he speak with you." Terra just watched Damien before her cheeks flushed an even deeper shade of red and she refused to look Damien in the eyes.
"T-That's not important." She said. "What is is that I beat Bella, and now I'm going to beat you too!" Damien looked around and , soon enough, saw the unconscious blonde resting against a piece of debris. He smirked.
"You're already winded." He told her. "There's no point."
"I have enough left you beat your ass."
"Bring it."
Keita could hear Elise already trying to get up from his punch, but he neglected to look her way.
He could hear her crying.
"I..." She croaked weakly, making Keita's heart hurt from how absolutely crushed she sounded. "I was..."
He didn't have the heart to speak.
"P-Phantom Dove..." She whispered, her cries only becoming more audible. "A-Apocalypse...I-I was...I was..."
"...Yeah." He said lowly. "I suppose you were." Her cries became sobs, and Keita turned to look over his was on her knees, head in her hands, muffled sobs coming from her.
He felt so bad.
This was his fault.
"They...They raped me...The things they did...A-And Mest...Just erased it...?!"
"...Yeah..."
Elise's sobs became damn near uncontrolled.
"Who..." She whispered. "...Who even am I?!"
Keita couldn't handle this. He started to walk.
Not away.
Towards her.
"How do I even know that was the last layer of memories they implanted in my head?!" Elise asked miserably. "Am I even who they say I am?!"
Keita didn't offer her a response.
"Is Elise my real name?! Am I really an Iron Dragon Slayer?! WHO AM I?!"
Keita dropped to his knees and wrapped Elise in his embrace, pressing her head into his shoulder. This stunned her into momentary silence.
"K-Keita?" She asked shakily. Keita lowered his gaze to the ground and tightened his grip on her.
"I'm so fucking sorry." He whispered. "I pushed you too far. It's my fault you relived that torture, the memories...The rape." Elise's breaths were shallow as he tiny body shook in his grasp.
"Did you...See?" She asked. Keita did not respond, and she started to cry even louder. "You saw me like that...H-How fucking pathetic!"
"Stop it." he said. "You're better than this."
"N-No I'm not...You saw it yourself, knowing before destroyed me!"
"But you're still here, aren't you?"
"Only because they took the knowledge away from me!"
"Elise you are not that weak or pathetic." Keita broke away from her and met her teary gaze with a determined one. "You're strong. So strong. You can't let this own you. It doesn't constitute who you are as a person."
"...I can't just forget what happened...I won't let them do that again."
"Then don't." he said. "Carry it with you for the rest of your life. But own it, and grow stronger and more caring." Keita looked down. "When I was little...my parents fought a lot. And they split up."
"..."
"I was so mad for so long. It was my fault, after all. I was the problematic kid. They were the perfect couple while my sister grew up but when I was born, they fell apart." Keita looked down at the ground. "I got them divorced."
"T-That's not even close to the same thing, Keita."
"I wouldn't dare say it is." He replied earnestly. "But I let the thought that I was the reason describe me for years, even though I wasn't. My sister confirmed that. It made me even more quiet and reserved, it made me mad at my parents...It made me push my big sister away, and I'm still feeling the after effects of that."
"I-I don't understand what you're trying to say..."
"I'm saying I don't want you to go down the route I did." He whispered. "Because that route is a slippery slop to a really dark place. And I don't want to see you go there."
"..."
"I'll help you. I'll stand by you if you want me too. We'll face your future together, okay?" Elise was crying quietly, her body shaking.
"W-Why are you willing to do that for me?" She asked. "You don't even like me that much..."
"Not true. You're an amazing person. Also, it's my fault you remember at all. I refuse to just do that to you and walk away to leave you alone to deal with it. I'll stand by you, if you want me too. So, what do you say?"
Elise's cheeks were stained with tears that still refused to stop falling, but her eyes were wide as she stared at Keita, cheeks slightly tinged pink underneath the tears. After a few moments, she started to sob again, and pressed herself into Keita and buried her face in his shoulder.
"...S-Shut the fuck up, Keita..." Keita smiled weakly as he rubbed her back, sobs growing louder and louder.
"Can do."
Aw, ain't that sweet? I think? Maybe? I'l leave that to you guys. I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!