I'm the worst at updating frequently, I swear to God.
Enjoy!
The city of Magnolia had seen it's fair share of hardships. It had been destroyed and rebuilt who knew how many times, it's citizens some of the most battle-hardened in the country. Some could argue that was because the resident guild, Fairy Tail, were troublemakers. And they were. But usually they weren't the ones doing the destroying, rather they rebuilt.
Despite this, the city had not deigned to kick them out. A guild so popular and strong did wonders for a cities tourism and revenue. After all, Fairy Tail was famous, it's members known across the continent and beyond. Who would kick Erza Scarlet or Natsu Dragneel out? No one sane. Speaking of sane, that sanity of some members were always called into question.
Like now, as members of the guild spread across the city like ants, keeping a network of information and communication going as they tracked two different people across the city.
That was were Takara found herself, standing in the city center, reading a magazine she'd bought from a nearby convenience store. She paid no mind to the articles she pretended to read, merely making it seem as thought she was not paying anyone any mind. In truth, the woman focused her senses on everyone who walked near her, trying to figure out if they were the Child of Nyx that was after her. She'd spent the last few days like this, wandering around and waiting for an attack as Fairy Tail members wandered around and kept an eye on her. She'd seen them sometimes, slinking around in the corner of her eye. Sometimes she saw someone she knew, like Drake or Damien,but other time she saw people she didn't know but recognised from the guild. This network of communication had to run deep for them to keep tabs on the whole city.
"You're spending too much time on that page,"
Takara flinched as the voice in her ear voiced it's opinion, making her turn the page. Takara reached up to push her hair away from her face, taking a chance to flick the lacrima earring.
"Don't surprise me like that," she murmured irritably as the person on the other end groaned. Today it seemed she was being relayed information by Simon, who seemed to take issue with how she was portraying innocence.
"No one reads a picture spread that long," Simon replied, "It's not my fault your focused elsewhere."
"That's what you told me to do. Keep my ears open."
Yeah, well, focus on looking alone and unaware." Takara opted to ignore his jabs, focusing on reading the pages. "You're doing it again," Simon said. Takara grimaced at this.
"Sorry, I didn't get to practice my reading comprehension in prison, asshole," she hissed angrily. "I read a bit slow, okay?"
"Focus, you're crumpling the magazine." Focus? Focus?! All she'd been doing for days was focus! She'd been on her feet for three days straight trying to lure out a Child of Nyx, and so far nothing had happened. Her patience was reaching it's limits, and it was racing towards the finish line.
"Put someone else on comms before I lose composure," Takara hissed. Simon actually obliged her here, the headset clearly being passed to someone else.
"Hey sis," Tetsu's voice came, "Simon making you angry?"
"You know the answer to that," Takara murmured as she rolled up the magazine and began to walk away. "He's so no-nonsense it grinds my fucking gears."
"Yeah, he's like that," Tetsu said. "Don't worry, it doesn't get more tolerable when you get to know him."
"Great," she said. She wandered through the streets and pretended to look around at the sights, having already seen Kardia Cathedral and the Sola Tree a million fucking times. God, if she just shouted for one to come out, would something happen? Or would she just look like some kind of crazy person? She was seriously weighing these options.
"Takara, whatever you do, don't look behind you." Tetsu's voice sent a chill down Takara's spine, and she froze in place. What did that mean? Was there someone behind her? Oh God, she'd been kidding when she wanted something to happen!
"W-What's happening?" She asked weakly as she tried to disappear into the crowd of people on the street.
"Woman in leather is following you. Elise has been making sure she's following you, and she is. Just stay calm, we're waiting to see what happens." Takara did her best to focus on looking as innocent as possible, but knowing that someone was tailing her made that next to impossible to do. She wanted nothing more than to look over her shoulder and try and find the woman Tetsu had told her about, but she opted not too.
Instead, she walked inside a nearby grocery store.
She realised as she entered it was a bad idea, as now she was in an enclosed space just waiting for someone to find her. But at the same time, she kinda hoped that being in such a space would allow her to find the woman after her. She wanted nothing more than to see her. She somewhat hoped she'd find some sort of demon after her, but that didn't make sense. She was at best a woman, nothing more. If she stood out, she'd be too easy to tail. Why was this so damn stressful?!
"We've got people cornering you guys in the store," Tetsu said quietly, "leave when you want, she's cornered." Takara felt a bit more at ease at this, taking a shaky breath. Deciding leaving without buying something would be weird, she grabbed a bottle of soda and made for the cashier. She smiled shakily as the young woman rang her up, and then did her best to not run for the door.
She never made it there.
As she reached for the door handle, a sharp edge pressed into her back as someone grabbed her arm. She froze as the grip on her tightened, and she swallowed hard. Fuck, she'd been caught.
"Fancy seeing an escapee here," a woman's voice said, completely calm. Takara just laughed awkwardly.
"I don't know what you-"
"Cut the crap, Takara," the woman replied, "I know it's you." Takara exhaled loudly at this, frowning.
"What do you want?" She asked weakly.
"What I want is for you and I to do on a little walk," the woman replied. "Oh, and I'll make sure your friends don't try and save you. After all, they couldn't be doing a worse job of being unseen."
God damn it.
"I-I-" Takara started, but the woman wasn't done. With one swift motion she raised a hand, grabbed the earring in Takara's ear, and ripped it clean out. Holding in a gasp of pain as her ear was ripped open, the woman pressed the blade even further into her back.
"No communication either, smart one," she said, "now, walk. We've got to go and find your friend." Ignoring the feeling of blood trickling down her neck, Takara walked stiffly out of the store and into the street. The woman walked slightly behind her to give the impression they were just two friends, and no one was none the wiser as they walked.
"Why're you doing this?" Takara asked, figuring that playing innocent was her best bet. "I don't deserve to be in that place."
"Says every prisoner ever," the woman replied. "I don't care what your reasons are. I was ordered to bring you back, so I'll bring you back, That's all there is too it." Takara frowned at this, running through a list of things she could do. It wouldn't be too hard to summon her magic to her back, which would make it impossible for the woman to stab her. But that would be preemptive of her. She had no idea what magic this woman was capable of, and making such a rash decision might get her even more hurt than she was. Her best option for now would be to play along until she saw an opening.
While she walked along, Takara kept her eyes open for anyone who might be attempting a rescue. A few times she thought she saw Elise through the crowds, but she couldn't be sure. After all, she was still remaining unseen.
"Your friends are persistent," the woman said as they turned a corner, "some short girl's been tailing us for a while now. Know her?" Takara didn't answer. "I wonder why she's being so quiet. Could it be Fairy Tail doesn't want to destroy their hometown again? I would hope they'd minimise the damages after so many years of rebuilding."
"I wouldn't know," she answered quietly. Soon the pair came across the Sola Tree in it's small park, and Takara noted a significant lack of people in this area. No matter where she looked she saw either no one or people walking away from them, and she was clearly not the only one who noticed.
"They're up to something," her captor said as he grip on Takara's arm tightened. "Come on, let's-!"
Before she could complete her sentence, both her and Takara saw something abnormal. Something that was a problem.
Green gas was floating across the park towards them.
"Takara run!' Listening on instinct, Takara drove her elbow into her captor's stomach and made a run for it when she was released. She ran away from both the woman and the gas, as her captor made the same decision. The gas hung in the air between them, making it impossible for the woman to get any closer.
"You okay?" Takara turned to see Drake and Elise behind her, both of them clearly ready for a fight.
"Yeah, totally," Takara answered as she wiped blood from her neck. "I'm okay."
"Sorry we didn't get to you earlier," Drake said as he stepped forward. "I didn't want to gas an area so full of people."
"That was you?" Takara asked. Drake nodded and, with a whirl of his hand the gas in the air flew towards him and gathered in his open palm, where it resided as he showed her.
"Cyanide Breath likes to get fancy with his abilities," Elise said.
"Sorry Nail Face, I guess I'm just cooler than you." The trio turned their attention to the woman who had attacked, who was watching them warily.
"Seems I'll need to get my target back," she said, "Or would you rather just hand her over?"
"I think we both know that isn't going to happen," Elise replied. The woman laughed at this.
"Of course, of course. Because Fairy Tail is still on track for their revenge."
Jason barely had time to acknowledge that Takara had been attacked before he had been beset upon by his own enemy. He could only hope that whoever was going after Takara was less annoying.
"You seem irritated, Dolos," Eris said. Jason grimaced at this.
"Would you stop calling me that?" He hissed. Eris laughed. The young woman had multicoloured hair and eyes, and for some reason was wearing a rather fashionable black dress. Was the gimmick supposed to be the discord between her appearance and clothes? He didn't get it.
"But it's your name, brother," she replied.
"I am no brother of yours," Jason replied. "I left that fucked up family, Penny." He knew he was playing with fire by using Eris' real name, and he could see the flicker of annoyance on her face. If it did anything but annoy her in passing, though, she didn't show it.
"Oh please," she said, "if you'd just admit you want to come back, I'm sure the rest of us could talk to Hades."
"You really do just love to live up to your name, huh?" He asked with his arms crossed, "nothing would create more chaos in your ranks then trying to bring me back." Eris smirked at this, putting her hands on her hips.
"What can I say?" She asked, "It's what I do."
"I noticed that," Jason replied as he looked behind him. There, poised against one another, was Steph and Ultear. Both girls glared daggers at each other, an effect of Eris' magic.
"Steph, how many times do I have to say it?!" Ultear shouted angrily, "We don't know what her magic is, we can't just rush in!"
"None of you have any idea what you're talking about!" Steph shouted back as she crackled with electricity. "If we'd rushed in, she'd already have been dealt with! No wonder you always wonder if you're weak, all you do is wait and wait until it's too late to do anything! I can't possible imagine how Keiko died now!" Ultear let out a bone chilling laugh.
"Oh yes, I want to hear about strength from the second-rate Dreyar!" She countered, "No one even knows your name outside the guild, you nobody! Damien's name is known throughout the country, but you? You'll die unknown and unloved! What's it like constantly being second-best in everything?!"
With this, Steph launched a massive lightning bolt at Ultear, who disappeared into a puddle to dodge it. She reformed a ways away and launched an array of icicles at Steph, who blitzed into the air to get away from it. Jason watched uneasily, knowing there was nothing he could do to get them to stop. This was Eris' doing.
"What, did you forget?" Eris asked, "I can cause discord even between the closest of friends."
"I remember," Jason replied as he watched the girls fight, "I just forgot how personal you make them get."
"Discord is easily caused when the underlying worries are so blatant," Eris replied, "when you want to piss a short man off, you don't attacked his face. You attack what he's insecure about."
It made sense. The easiest way to piss someone off was to bring to light their insecurities. For Ultear, it seems one of her fears was her lack of strength. That she wasn't good enough to protect people, like whoever Keiko was.
For Steph, it seemed she was afraid of always being 'Damien's sister' and no one else of note. That her brother would be remembered, and she would only be a footnote in his history instead of having her own.
Using these insecurities, Eris used her magic to amplify the fear and have it be addressed by someone they're supposed to trust, someone on their side. And just like that, chaos and discord ensued. Of course it should be noted that neither Steph or Ultear had completely control of their faculties at the moment, obviously because of Eris.
"I assume you mean to bring me back to Tartarus now?" Jason asked. Eris giggled.
"Yes, as soon as Nemesis brings your friend back here," she said. So Nemesis was the other Child of Nyx here. Made sense, he supposed. both made use of the enemies strength and weaknesses instead of using their own power. Against an enemy like Fairy Tail, that worked best.
"Well I hate to say, Penny, but I won't be going back with you. I don't belong there." Eris rolled her eyes.
"Of course you do, silly," she said, "you betrayed us, just like Apate did! Should have known, honestly, both of you being personifications of deceit and whatnot. It was in your bones to betray!"
"Don't you dare speak ill of Sarah," Jason warned. "Or else."
"Or else what, Dolos?" Eris demanded. "You'll hit me? Make me feel bad? Please. Apate was a dumb bitch. The Olympians gave us everything, and she tried to kill Zeus? Seriously? Not only that, but she drags you into her schemes. I thought you better than that."
"Is that what they told you happened?" Jason demanded, feeling his temper unhinging. "Because from what I know, my sister found out about what they were going to do and tried to run. And got caught."
"And what were The Olympians going to do, hm? Save the world? Stop the King from rising?"
"Attack innocents! Condone the rape of a teenage girl! For fuck sake, Penny, are you that brainwashed?! They were going to go as far as they needed to, and they were willing to go way too far!"
"Is there a 'too far' when we're talking about the potential end of the human race?" Eris asked. "Are you saying that the lives of a few hundred or thousand people, or the innocence of one girl, is worth more than the billions of lives it would be saving?"
"Are you saying you could live with yourself if you watched all of that happen?" Jason asked. Eris nodded.
"Of course, moron," she said, her eyes flashing with anger. "You and Apate were always like this. Some pair of saints who wandered into the wrong guild. Let me give you a piece of advice, Jason: Sometimes there is no other way. Sometimes you have to do horrible, unspeakable things in order to get to the best ending. If I have to condone the killing of hundreds to save billions, or the torture and rape of a teenage girl to save the world, I'd do it. You know what people like you and Apate never do right, Dolos? You never have another way. You preach all this horseshit about going to far and how it's evil, but when the spotlight is on you, you cower behind excuses. What plan do you have to stop the King? Do you have one, even after a decade in prison to think about it?"
Jason gave her no answer.
"And there it is," Eris continued, "No answer, just like all the times Zeus pained himself over this. Even after he retracted his willingness to let her be raped, and his willingness to stop the massacre of innocents, he did what he had to do. He still fired a weapon on this city, and he still hurt innocents because he had too. Because if he didn't, than the enemy wins. Is that what you want, Jason? Do you want Pythia's visions to come true?"
"I want us to be able to look at ourselves in the mirror once it's over!" Jason replied, "I want us to retain our humanity!"
"Our humanity means fuck all if there's no 'humanity' left to define what it means," Eris countered, "Zeus tossed his away, because he had too. I watched him go through the mental strain, the torture, of having to do the things he did to kids. But he never stopped, because he knew the other outcome."
"Than I suppose there's no agreeing, is there?" Jason asked. Eris chuckled weakly, looking at the ground.
"I suppose not," she said, "You always were stubborn. Too think I used to crush on you."
"Yeah, to think." Eris sighed and brought her hands up, multicoloured orbs spawning in her hands.
"Well come then, Dolos. Let's see who's right."
I'm seriously gonna try to get updates out on time. I swear to God, I will. I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!
Chapter 360: Children Of Nyx