ANNOUNCEMENT:
Hey everybody, Ghost here.
It's been quite a while since I updated this one, and I do sincerely apologize for that.
Um, this may sound bad, but I'm putting a pin in this one. Writer's block hit me like a freight train when I started trying to write this next arc, in no small part because it would've thrown huge and I mean HUGE sections of canon straight out the window. I guess this is how it feels to bite off more than I can chew.
HOWEVER!
I am not done with this story.
I'm hitting my ultimate big red button.
THE MAD LITTLE SLICE OF HEAVEN - REVISED AND EXPANDED EDITION IS NOW LIVE.
That's right, I'm going through revising, expanding and republishing the whole darn thing to see if 2.0 can get a bit farther. It may wind up going in a different direction, but I'm fine with that.
The first 23 chapters (plus the first omake) have been posted on both FFN and AO3, and I will be continuing to post on a biweekly basis on Sundays as long as I am able. We're currently into Part 2, the Mattachu Arc, which will likely be seeing the heaviest revision and expansion of the entire story.
Please feel free to check it out, and I'm once again very sorry it came to this.
Thank you all for your support of this story, I definitely couldn't have gotten as far as I have with it without all of you.
And now it is time for the final Reviewer Replies:
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GodsReader15: Thank you very much, I'm terribly sorry it took so long but yes, here we go again! (^_^)
Raidentensho: I'm very glad you enjoyed it, Erza and Jerry's romance will play out a little bit differently in the R&E Edition, I do hope you'll enjoy it.
Prometo: (cackles) Yep! That's exactly the reaction I was going for!
Dark DrawerJ: I certainly hope it will be, I'm very glad you enjoyed it.
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And last but not least, before we go, here's what was finished of the next chapter:
Chapter 45 – Opening Salvo
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Before anyone could even blink, Jellal moved, shooting across the room in a burst of light to slug Erza out through the front wall. Erza went flying through the air, the force of the hit flinging her nearly a hundred yards and rolling another dozen before she managed to catch herself, already requipping into her Flight Armor only for that glowing fist to impact her jaw again as Jellal covered the distance in an instant and smacked her a hundred yards further.
Erza went to move and found she couldn't, something had rooted her in place watching helplessly as Jellal landed in front of her, "Say hello to Bind Snake. I want to make sure you watch this." He moved aside and gestured with an evil smirk to reveal a meteor hurtling towards the manor that everyone else was still in.
Erza managed to force her jaw free of the paralyzing magic and screamed with every ounce of air she had, "RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!"
"Too late," Jellal declared as the meteor crashed into the manor and it seemed to explode from the impact. With Jellal's telekinesis holding them in place through the blast wave as the earth shook from the impact, Erza couldn't even sag in horror as her vision cleared and she took in the obliterated remnants of the manor in the settling dust cloud and massive crater, "No…"
Then Jellal's fingers curled into her hair and yanked her back to explain right in her ear, "I've been thinking of all the best ways to torment your little savior, what do you think will be the best way to break him?" Erza's eyes went wide as a very much not human anymore tongue ran up her throat from her collarbone to her jaw before that unhinged yellow gaze met hers, "I think I'll string up what's left of you in front of your Guild Hall for him to find after I drag you home and break you. If I'd had a bit more time, I'd have done that with Sorano, but you know something? I like this better. Instead of the woman he loves openly, I'll break the one he's pining for and never give him the chance to tell you how he really feels! You have to admit…"
That sick grin grew so wide Erza could see his very back molars, "This is a much more fitting end to the story I started with the Tower. I'll end your career as a heroine the same way I started it, losing all your friends and being tortured for my amusement!"
Erza's heart threatened to stop in sheer horror as she realized who was behind what was happening. The Author of Woe threw back Jellal's head and laughed as the defiled and reanimated corpse of Erza's childhood sweetheart started to drag her away.
Before we go too much further though, I should probably back up and fill you in on what all had happened prior to Fiore's most frightful Halloween in living memory with some things I managed to find out after the fact during the investigation into exactly how such a complete and utter SHITSHOW came to be.
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==October 2nd, X784==
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As the guards started lowering Jellal's frozen corpse into the as ordered extra deep grave in the catacombs beneath Black Vox, one paused, "Wait a second, did he just twitch?"
It was not a mere twitch. A split second later an icy fist snapped up and clocked the guard in jaw, sending him crumpling to the floor. Frozen hands and feet lashed out like serpents, moving in ways human bodies simply were not meant to, and in seconds Jellal's frozen corpse spun to the floor, a little eyeball made of ice materializing in the frozen crusting over his forehead to pilot his corpse. The second strongest of the Seven Kin had one more mission to fulfill, whether he was alive to do so or not.
Let nobody say Black Vox's security wasn't up to snuff, the alarms started blaring the instant the first guard hit the floor. The hallways throughout the entire complex were sealed by thick magic sealing stone walls as the entire sector was flooded with knockout gas. It didn't even slow the corpse puppet down as it spread the ice covering it to the fallen forms of the guards whose necks it snapped effortlessly. The four guards rose as fresh ice puppets and as one they dropped to a knee and channeled their mistress's magic. Ice sculptures of roses ripped apart the walls, tearing open the stone surrounding the magic proof bulkheads, and as the ice vanished into water, the frozen corpses advanced, each seeming to know exactly where they were going.
In the third hallway they broke into, the bulkhead rose, and a squadron of armored guards charged through armed with magic flamethrowers. The corpses waved in unison and the magic flamethrowers collapsed into rust, leaving their wielders vulnerable as the frozen corpses charged, their piloting eyes glowing with vicious red magic. Black Vox's control room acted quickly and resealed the bulkhead before any of the corpses could get through. The guards breathed a sigh of relief only to notice in mounting horror the patches of frost growing on them. They fought in vain to break the vines of ice that were growing and ripping their armor apart, burrowing into their flesh and killing them. None survived, and a few moments later as their bodies went cold, their corpses began forcing open the bulkheads with their armor protecting the magic that animated them into far stronger than human puppets.
In Black Vox's Control Room, Warden Torch Endeavor ground his teeth, "Damn. DAMN HER! Send word to the Magic Council at once that Councilwoman Ultear Milkovich is a traitor! Keep those puppets away from the cells and lead them to me at the third floor, junction 14B. That little ice witch wants to play with fire? I'll show her fire."
"No good sir! Something's jamming our signal! We're cut off from the outside!"
Torch swore again, "Do we have control of the prison's systems still?"
"Yessir! We seem to still be in full control. I'll send back up to the third floor to reinforce you!"
"NO!" Torch snapped, "Focus on evacuating! We have to warn the Council and the world at large! If I'm unable to stop them, then we'll be looking at a mass breakout. Judging by how those ice puppets are converting those who confront them, we need to assume that anyone we throw against them will only be transformed into one of their allies. Don't feed their numbers, get out of here and get the warning out! Be prepared to meet further resistance once you get outside. They've been smart enough to cut off our communications, expect to find all of Grimoire Heart out there waiting for you and looking for blood. I need one volunteer to stay here and keep trying to get through to the Council, operate the bulkheads and man the defenses."
"You've got one," his apprentice and second in command Mona Caldera declared as she snapped him a salute, shoving the man at the control panel aside, "The rest of you get out of here, leave this to us and warn the Council. I'll open your route to the armory and then the gate. Haul ass! There's no time to waste, those things are breaking through the bulkheads quick!"
The rest of the control room staff stared at her in shock for a moment until Torch erupted in a little burst of flames, "You heard her! MOVE!" A chorus of 'Yessirs!' heralded the swift evacuation of the control room. Torch looked at Mona, "Thank you Mona."
Mona grinned with false bravado, "Don't worry Chief! Now go fry those stupid popsicles!"
Torch nodded, "Right. I'll leave things here to you then." And so, he left. Mona wanted to believe he'd succeed, but some part of her knew he wouldn't be coming back.
Then the bulkhead slammed shut and sealed the Command Room, Mona spun wide-eyed, "What?!"
A deep gurgling laugh sounded from the control board, and Mona backed away rapidly as black mist burbled up from between the controls. "Allow me to…introduce myself…" the Grim Reaper chuckled. Torch and the others could only stare in horror at the impenetrable bulkhead as Mona's screams were blared over the speakers. Then the lights went out.
Torch immediately lit a fire in his hands and flinched in surprise and snuffed it out with a yelp of pain as his own fire burned him. "What the hell?!"
Any further questioning was cut off as he realized he couldn't hear his own voice. Then he realized he couldn't hear any of his men either. A moment later searing pain ripped through his body and sent him to the floor in an instant where he writhed in agony as every brush of the floor against his skin felt like being stuck with a red hot branding iron.
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==Meanwhile==
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Fifteen minutes later, the magic keeping the cells sealed was released and prisoners began to flow into the central 'yard'. Azuma of the Seven Kin glanced around and quickly spotted the ice puppet that had freed him and the others. He recoiled in disgust and then scowled, "Ultear, why?" Why are you defiling the corpse of your own lover?! Our comrade! My rival!
"He would've done the same with any of us," Ultear replied simply through a little speaker that grew from the ice on Jellal's shoulder, "Ready to make a statement?"
BANG!
Azuma snorted as a loud impact of something on metal rang out through the cell block, "Who do you take me for? Of course I am. Rustyrose, are you ready?"
BANG!
As another loud impact echoed through the cell block, Rustyrose slicked up his pompadour with a grin and held his hand to the side, "From the air to carry my sound, come now Horn of the Rallying Mound!"
BANG!
As the source of the banging cut loose another thunderous note, in a whirl of magic a megaphone the size of a horse appeared in front of Rustyrose, and in his very best announcement voice he called out to the other prisoners, "Ladies, gentlemen, dark wizards of all ages!"
BANG!
"For those who do not know us, we are Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory! By our hands you have your freedom!"
BANG!
"Will you join us, the strongest dark guild in all Ishgar to bring about a world of ultimate magic?"
BANG!
"Or will you turn down our generous offer and die where you stand?"
BANG!
"WHAT IS THAT WRETCHED BANGING?!"
BANG!
A ripple of muttering ran through the prisoners, not a single one had failed to hear Rustyrose's words. The Seven Kin were among the most infamously powerful dark wizards on the continent. None within the walls of the prison had gone without knowing of them, and most would not be foolish enough to discount their power… or so they had thought.
BANG!
Cutting through the murmur of the crowd came a deep thundering laugh that echoed off the walls of the cell block, "Is that a challenge I hear?"
BANG!
"If you are fool enough to accept it," Azuma declared boldly as he stepped forward, arms folded as he gathered his power and tried to focus in on the source of the mocking laughter.
Before he could though, there was a screech of metal tearing as the one banging on the metal of the highest security cell in the entire prison finally ripped through his containment. The entire space, previously dimly lit, was suddenly a whirl of motion and eye searing un-light that set the instincts of all who saw it screaming a warning. Every light was snuffed out. Every scrap of darkness and shadow writhed and stretched, as though being ripped from its place like flesh from bone to reveal the un-light beneath it. The shadows flew through the air, coalescing around the fist and form of a figure prying apart the egg like cell that had contained it.
In the gray scale of un-light that was left in the wake of the darkness being torn from its place, eerie green flames provided the only true light. Licking out along the crack formed by the hands steadily prying the shell open, in moments those unnatural flames illuminated what seemed to be a living silhouette with glowing yellow eyes and horns. The darkness moved out and enveloped the metal that had been a cell and crushed it, molding it like wet clay until it formed a throne, floating above the floor in the heart of the green flames.
"Mooore importantly," the silhouette drawled in a raspy nasal voice as it sprawled into the throne it had made, "Did I just heeear someone claim, that there was a guild mooore POWERFUL than the ORACION SEIS?!"
"Fosfosfosfos…why yes Ben, I believe you did," echoed another voice, soft and tired but with a threatening quality that made hairs stand on end. The source of this voice was quickly revealed to be a man with starkly white hair, covered in rough, ropy, shoddily stitched together scars. Even his white lab coat was covered in obvious stitches like it had been cut apart and put back together with parts from two or three other coats. The man's eyes had a subdued but mad spark in them as he shuffled forward from one of the back rows of cells, "I wonder if they're actually up to trying to prove it."
"HOOHOOHOOHOOOO!" cackled a fourth voice as another cell was casually and quite forcibly blown apart to reveal a man with wild frizzy white hair in the dirty and faded garb of a circus ringmaster gesturing grandly with white gloved hands, "It should make for a wonderful show either way don't you agree Atlas?!"
"Yeah…" drawled the first voice, the one that had laughed as a spark of light gave away its owner's position. A man in the garb of a pirate with white hair and a proud smirk was standing atop one of the highest cells, looking down at them, waving out the match he'd just lit his cigar with. "The real question though, is what to do with the small fries?"
"The Oracion Seis has no need of weaklings," the silhouetted figure on the throne declared, venom dripping from his voice as he said 'weaklings' with the same amount of contempt as 'worthless trash'. Azuma was far from the only one sliding into a ready position, but as a bead of sweat rolled down his temple, he wondered privately if he might be the only one with a chance of surviving this. They're strong, he noted, Stronger than Zancrow, probably stronger than me, but how MUCH stronger?
"Atlas," the figure on the throne drawled, "Be a good sport, and toss us a cigar."
The pirate grinned and casually tossed three cigars that moved with speed that could only be magic, flying into the hands of his three comrades and immediately lighting. Azuma felt his gut clench as the effects of the cigars were immediately apparent upon the three figures taking deep draughts from them. Skin was tightening, backs were straightening. Muscles atrophied from lack of use and malnourishment were filling back out. There's no mistake, Azuma realized, He's returning them to their physical prime…
"If none of these looowlifes make the cut for your crew Atlas," the figure on the throne drawled, his voice steadily changing as he grew younger, "Then feel free to dispose of them. I'm sure you're, rather eager to…stretch."
"I propose a challenge," Azuma declared, thinking quickly, "I am Azuma, strongest of the Seven Kin. I will face one of your number in single combat, winner take all."
"I am disinclined, to acquiesce, to your request," the figure on the throne declared, "So instead, I'll make you a counter offer. Drop to your knees RIGHT! NOW! and swear loyalty to the Oracion Seis… and we'll let you live. Or," he added, "You can of course refuse…and DIIIIIIIIIE!" the green flames roared into an inferno around him with his suddenly furious roar, different from the previous intermittent screaming.
Before Azuma could reply to the clearly deranged man, the prison was filled with the sound of drums and bagpipes. Almost as soon as they began, loud crashes began to echo through the facility. "Someone's really bringing the house down," the ringmaster declared curiously.
"With somebody else's face," the pirate added, watching something only he could see, that Azuma realized belatedly was the source of the crashing.
That source was a moment later made apparent as the warden, Torch Endeavor, burst into the central holding facility, cloaked in gold and white fire that burned with holy radiance. He was dragging two limp figures along the ground by their heads as the music burst through loud and proud. Azuma, Zancrow, Rustyrose, Caprico and Ultear's Jellal puppet stepped back in shock as they recognized the two figures in Torch Endeavors hands.
"Pride of the Highland Fire Mages, Wizard Saint, Torch Endeavor!" the pirate announced excitedly, "You've gotten old, but you haven't lost a step!"
"Holy shit," Zancrow whispered, "Is that who I think it is?"
"Yes," Caprico declared nervously, "There's no mistaking it. That's them."
"He beat Kyoka and Keyes?" Rustyrose asked, too stunned to even be poetic about it.
"Damn right I haven't Red Hand!" Wizard Saint Torch Endeavor declared proudly as he smashed the heads of the two demons that had tried to ensure the first mass breakout in the history of Black Vox together with such force that they splattered like eggs, "Now all of you, back in your cells or have your sentences shortened to the next five minutes."
Silence reigned for a moment and then the figure on the throne started chuckling, a moment later belting out a laugh that instilled dread in all who heard it as he stood, clapping. "Bravo, Warden Endeavor. You've managed to take out two of the world's most over-glorified homunculi. A TEMPORARY victory at best, due to their nature, but nevertheless, an impressive victory. You even managed to make me laugh… that's not something that many people can do. However," he added, "If you SINCERELY BELIEVE you're strong enough to fight all four of us at once, well then… I'm afraid you are just sorely mistaken, NOT AS SORE AS YOU'RE GOING TO BE THOUGH!" he roared before adding calmly, "Atlas, try to leave enough for the good Doctor to work with."
The pirate sighed with a smile and ruffled his pale green hair that had been white a few moments before, "You know me too well Ben." He stepped off his perch and dropped a hundred feet to the ground, landing straight legged with nary a wince and striding forward as the prisoners parted around him warily. He noticed them almost as an afterthought, quickly scanning the crowd with a look of contempt, "Pathetic, the lot of you."
He seemed to vibrate for a moment, and then he disappeared. Or at least, to most of those watching he disappeared. Azuma could just barely see a blur as the old pirate moved, weaving through the crowd of dark wizards, each of them infamous and dangerous their own right, most of them former masters of dark guilds. Every single one of them had been judged weak, worthless trash.
When Atlas stilled again and resumed a normal gait strolling away from the crowd of inmates he'd landed in the middle of, those he'd judged weak fell to the ground clutching at the searing pain in their necks and chests. It was only then that they realized they were already dead, hearts and throats scattered across the floor in the blink of an eye with bloody craters left where Atlas's hands had struck. The pirate snapped his hands to the side in a motion almost too fast to see, twin sprays of blood flying off from where it had coated his hands as he advanced on the warden, grinning savagely.
Azuma stared in awe, That wasn't magic…he killed them all with pure brute physical POWER… what kind of monster have we unleashed? Let none say that Azuma did not enjoy a strong opponent, it was what he lived for. What he had just seen though? To call the sweat he broke out in as he realized how outmatched he was pure ice would only slightly undersell how cold it was. The amount of magic one would need on tap to fuel that kind of raw physical power was…terrifying to consider.
Atlas started to move with a bit of bounce in his step, "Pierre, a bit of music! Let's send the Warden off in style!"
"YOU KNOW ME SO WELL!" Pierre crowed as the Warden's war drums were suddenly cut short as the Fiend Ringmaster's hat appeared in his hand. Pierre set the hat to his head with a deranged smirk and the sound of a calliope began to play.
As all eyes turned to the impending showdown, Azuma took the opportunity to grab his comrades and disappear with them down through the earth, tunneling away to the outside as fast as he could. Before any of them could ask what had gotten into him, Azuma was flinging all of them over his shoulders and running as fast as he could for Grimoire Heart's airship that was waiting outside with the boarding ramp down, "GET US OUT OF HEEEEEEEEERE!"
Bluenote Stinger was waiting for him at the bottom of the ramp, eyes boggling with confusion as he saw Azuma running, very clearly in terror. "Azuma! What has gotten into you?!"
Azuma didn't even slow down, racing past Bluenote into the relative safety of the ship having still not set his comrades down as he roared, "RAISE THE BOARDING PLANK NOW YOU FOOLS! BENEDI C'TUNO IS STILL ALIVE!"
Before Bluenote could ask who the hell Benedi C'tuno was, Black Vox erupted with green flames boiling out of every opening and shadows ripping through the walls as something shaped like a man but not emerged from within bellowing, "AND WHEEERE… DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!"
As the boarding ramp began to rise, and the airship with it, Bluenote leapt from it to the ground, a mad glint in his eyes, "Let's fly!"
"BLUENOTE GET BACK IN HERE!" Grimoire Heart's Master Hades roared through the airship's speakers, "HE'LL TEAR YOU APART!"
"Wha-HRK!" Bluenote didn't even have time to ask his question before a blade made of shadow ripped through him. As he turned to look in shock at the sharp wide blade jutting from his gut, he saw with horror that it had nearly bisected him vertically. Then he started screaming as unearthly green flames began to burn him alive and the shadows ripping apart Black Vox lashed out to snatch the airship out of the sky.
"I don't recall giving you permission to go anywhere," Benedi C'tuno drawled as he strode forward, setting a pipe to his mouth as his shadows towed Grimoire Heart's airship back to him. The ship suddenly tilted and Grimoire Heart's Jupiter Cannon extended, fully prepped and ready to fire. C'tuno raised an eyebrow, "A Jupiter Cannon?!"
BWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The cannon's power was actually stronger than a standard model, more comparable to the ultra beefed up Uranus cannons of the northern continent Giltena, and it kept up the beam for longer than a normal model as well. In the presence of its power, entire armies would be nothing but dust on the breeze. The entire world seemed to turn white as the cannon unleashed its fury, and the energy beam plowed a well a hundred feet deep into the ground. The rest of the kingdom mistook the impact for either a minor earthquake or a nearby wizard battle. Yes, the entire kingdom. As far as Levy and I've been able to find record of, that's the first time a Jupiter Cannon had ever been pointed down and not forwards.
It was also one of the few times a Jupiter Cannon did NOT destroy its target. The number of incidents where that's happened can be counted on an average person's fingers with a few left over. As the dust started to settle, C'tuno waved his hand and the dust was blown away by a shockwave. "Well now, that was pretty cute. So cute it makes me want to hurl with disgust at how pathetic you are!" he bellowed as he started to storm towards the airship, "Now then, I smell a naughty little brat on that ship. Although," he chuckled, "as old as I am now, I suppose YOU'RE ALL INSOLENT BRATS! IT'S TIME FOR A LESSON ON WHAT A REAL DARK WIZARD CAN DO!" He raised his hand with his fingers curled like claws, "Get back down here…"
With sharp yanking motion, Grimoire Heart's airship was snatched back to the ground, crushing what was left of Bluenote and crumpling the lower decks like a tin can and instantly mashing everyone caught in them to bloody paste. The strongest dark wizard on Ishgar strode forward, a chuckle building into a full on psychotic laugh as the remaining wizards of Grimoire Heart struggled to ready themselves for what they knew with dreadful instinctual certainty would be a probably be a massacre.
Then, just as C'tuno was about to reach the wrecked airship, it vanished in a flash of golden light as space itself seemed to ripple and rip his shadows apart. C'tuno tilted his head in confusion and then a piece of paper fluttered out of a smaller flash of golden light. A tendril of shadow yanked it from the air and C'tuno unfolded it to read and then started laughing, "Well played 'Granger Siblings', well played indeed!" He turned and strode back towards Black Vox still chuckling as he tossed the paper over his shoulder where it ignited and burned away to nothing before hitting the ground.
When he took his third step, a massive blast erupted from the ground beneath him as a lava vent was torn open. The ensuing eruption buried him and all of Black Vox along with everyone in it before hardening in seconds into a shell of solid stone as though it had been there for a thousand years.
It didn't stop them, but it took a week for them to dig themselves out. By our estimates in the aftermath, that week is the only reason that Halloween didn't end very differently.
A part of me is very upset with three of my four eldest children for time travelling, brazenly provoking one of the most dangerous dark wizards alive, saving the hides of an entire guild of dark wizards, creating a volcano the size of Vesuvius and then setting it off in an attempt to bury four of the deadliest dark wizards Ishgar's ever seen.
The other part of me is extremely proud of them.
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==October 10th, X784==
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The church in the village of Hortensia was a humble one, but well kept. It had been for longer than the vast majority of people could remember, and for the same amount of time it had been home to the same pastor. He had once been a tall and powerfully built man with a deep booming voice. Ninety years later though, the once massive pastor was so old, wrinkled, stooped and feeble that few if any would guess he had once been strong.
His congregation had been nearly razed to the ground almost ten years previously when the cultists responsible for the Tower of Heaven had rampaged across the region. The old pastor's village had been the only one in the region to remain safe, and those within its boundaries the only ones unharmed and untaken.
The general consensus since then was that the old pastor was a saint, as he had gathered everyone together into the little church that afternoon citing a great calamity coming. When the cultists had stormed into the town, the old pastor had remained outside.
When he unlocked the door to the church the following morning, the cultists were all on their knees praying, tears in their eyes as they repented and turned themselves in to the Rune Knights that caught up to them.
Tonight, the old pastor had just finished the evening service, and as he closed the door to the church behind the last of his congregation, wishing them a pleasant evening, his ears, sharp even in old age heard the door to his own quarters click shut. As he locked the church's large oak front door, he heard heavy boots clop across the floor to the front pew.
"Well now," the old pastor mused, "It must be a heavy burden of sin indeed for you to wait until everyone's left to come in for a confessional."
"Don't bother Father. No need to forgive me Chaplain, for I have sinned…" declared the man in the front pew casually before shooting an utterly evil smirk over his shoulder, "And I aim to sin a lot more too."
"You look very spry old friend," the pastor mused as he hobbled back to the front.
"And you look old!" the unrepentant sinner laughed before holding up what looked like an ominously glowing green sausage, "I can fix that for you."
"…And lead us not into temptation," the old pastor recited, "but deliver us from evil."
His oldest friend offered him a light to the green cigar with a grin, "It's good to see you Chappie."
The old pastor's voice deepened and regained its former resonance as the effects of the cigar took hold, "To our most invigorating reunion. Have our, other compatriots returned?"
"C'tuno's got a bug up his bounty," Red Handed Atlas replied dryly, "Apparently Zeref's little science experiments and some other bunch of wimps have pulled together a pair of new Dark Guilds that can rival the current iteration of the Seis."
"Yes, the current generation lack a bit of the old guard's might," the former Ship's Chaplain of the Storm Queen declared, "I suppose he wants to remind the world what it is to fear the dark?"
"Glad to see you haven't lost your talent for nailing that blowhard's drama," Atlas smirked, "Are any of the rest of the crew still alive?"
"It appears this world agrees with them as well as you and I," the Chaplain replied with a smile, "Even Howler is still alive."
Atlas actually sat up a little straighter, "Seriously?! What about his cancer?! I thought he only had a year or two left!"
"With a little help from a local healer I was able to excise it," the Chaplain and ship's doctor replied with a shrug, "Really, even your abilities are not so uncommon here. I've heard tell of many wizards in this newer generation knocking down mountains. Why, a few months back on a visit to Magnolia, I heard of one of Fairy Tail's up and coming wizards who upended a mountain on himself entirely by mistake, and their ace Gildarts is rumored to routinely decimate entire towns by mistake. I can only imagine how terrific his strength when he's fighting intentionally must be."
Atlas looked at him with an excited glint in his eye, "Well now, sounds like I might actually have some fun! How about the ladies? Have they gotten cuter? Has Fiore got a cute princess?"
"Hmph, I suppose somethings never change," the Chaplain replied with a smirk, "Yes, she is apparently quite the lovely young lady. I'm sure you'll be delighted to make her acquaintance."
Atlas let out a pleased growl and rose to his feet, "Well then Chappie, if you're up for it, then let's go round up the crew. I do believe it's time for our comeback tour!"
"Aye Captain, oh…and welcome back."
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==October 31st==
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We landed at the edge of the Zentopian church's headquarters and were met by a tiny but adorable girl with brown hair in leggings and a yellow and red dress, and…a pale blue version of Happy in a little bishop hat with glasses? I disassembled my Card Car and we made our way over to them.
"Welcome, we are the Zentopian Legion Platoon," the girl declared proudly as she and the Happy-cat saluted, "You must be the wizards from Fairy Tail the Archbishop told us would be arriving."
"We are," Mira declared with a smile as I felt a very strange surge of emotion from Mystogan, "Mirajane Strauss and Mystogan of Fairy Tail's S-Class along with several of our guildmates. We've got the first piece already."
The little girl went pale and her eyes went wide, "You do?!" She immediately started looking around and then upon spotting Lucy sprinted over to her, caught her hand and started dragging her into the building, "COME ON! WE CAN'T BE OUT IN THE OPEN WITH THAT!"
The Happy-cat flew up on his wings, "Please forgive Coco's impatience, but she is right, it is imperative that we do not allow any pieces of the Infinity Clock to fall into the wrong hands. Having it out in the open is just asking for trouble. If you will please follow us inside, the rest of the Legion Platoon is waiting."
"Of course," Mira agreed and we followed the Happy-cat and the little girl inside. I glanced over at Mystogan and connected to him with my telepathy, You okay bro?
Her counterpart in Edolas is like an adopted niece to me, Mystogan explained grimly, She didn't even recognize you, which means she wouldn't know me. It's… disconcerting to put it lightly.
I grimaced, I see. Look on the bright side though, it means that whatever beef you have with your family in Edolas, you won't have to have it with her. You can be actually family again.
I heard a flicker of hope light in Mystogan as that registered with him and I think he was smiling behind his mask, I hope you're right.
I nodded to him and then connected to Mira, Are you alright? You seem nervous.
How can I not be nervous? She thought back, This is the Zentopian Grand Sanctuary, what if we meet the Archbishop?! I don't know what churches are like where you're from, but it's a super big deal. He's the spiritual father of half of Ishgar! I've been following Zentopian teachings since I was a little girl, this is…
A step below meeting a God incarnate? I supplied as she tried to think of an adequate way to describe it.
She shot me a smile, Not quite that thankfully, but maybe more like the entire Magic Council in one person who rules morality and spirituality instead of magic.
Then you shouldn't have any problems, I thought back with a gentle smile, You're one of the kindest people I know. Then I mused, So it's basically like meeting the Pope then.
Pope?
The equivalent position where I'm from, instead of Zentopia, we have the Catholic Church, headed up by the Pope who is the head of the Cardinals who are the heads of all the Archbishops. I just hope these guys are a bit more agreeable, I mused, The Church is as bad as the Mage's Association. Seriously…
Memories of a man in the garb of a priest deflecting automatic gunfire with swords and holding his own against HEROIC SPIRITS flashed through my mind, That Kotomine guy was freakin' SCARY. He'd be S-Class here easy, and I don't think he was even one of their top guys! If we're meeting an equivalent bunch to the Burial Agency, then I'm more scared of them than I am of the Balam Alliance.
Burial Agency? Mira thought back with a glance at me.
They'd be Wizard Saints here, I explained, An entire hit squad of ultra dogmatic Wizard Saints who don't compromise and are willing to wipe entire cities off the map to get rid of one demon or vampire. Geez I'm sweating…I really, REALLY hope that's not who we're meeting…
Wouldn't they be on our side? Mira asked with growing concern.
In the sense that they wouldn't kill us until the threat of the Balam Alliance was dealt with maybe, I acknowledged, but we'd be SCREWED if they decided we were heretics, which the Church where I'm from considers all mages by default…
Then I blinked as I saw a face from my nightmares round the corner with a grin and blood dripping from his hands, "SPEAK OF THE DEVIL! RUN!"
(…)
(…)
(transmission interrupted)
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…Meanwhile…
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"PRINCESS HISUI HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED?!" Master exclaimed.
"Yeah! They're saying Red Handed Atlas did it! The whole kingdom's in an uproar!" Max explained, "I hear the king's mobilized the entire army and begging for every guild in the kingdom to try and find them!"
Master was quiet for a moment and then Gildarts looked over at him, "What do you wanna do Master?"
Master exhaled, "Cana, are you able to do a prediction and locator spell right now?"
Cana tossed out her cards, "Of course." She scanned the cards, her mind whirling as they threw her for a loop, "What the fuck? That's…"
"What's wrong?" Gildarts asked as everyone who could see the cards leaned closer like any of them actually knew what the cards meant.
Cana swept the cards back into the deck, reshuffled and threw them back out, her breath coming shallow and quick as the same set looked back at her in the exact same positions. "What. The actual. Fuck?" she reiterated.
"Is the princess gonna be okay?" Max asked nervously.
"There is something I'm missing here…" Cana muttered before throwing out another set of three cards in a line and tilting her head in confusion at the results. The King of Pentacles reversed, the Ten of Cups and the Ten of Pentacles? Cana tilted her head and then her eyes went wide as the meaning of the cards clicked, "What?"
She slapped her hand down across the cards so that she was touching all three and closed her eyes. They flew right back open as Atlas's reason to abduct the princess was revealed to her, "Ho. Ly. SHIT."
Cana gathered her cards back into her deck and stood, wobbling ever so slightly as she realized that maybe she had overdone it just a smidge. Gildarts immediately reached out and steadied her as she declared quickly, "We have to get to Crocus. NOW. The princess will be fine unless Tartaros or Grimoire Heart manage to kill Atlas, and he's one of the toughest old bastards alive. The King on the other hand is in a lot of danger."
"What?! What's coming for the King?!"
"The Balam Alliance has collapsed," Cana explained briskly as she headed for the door, "The Oracion Seis plans for Gasparde Corpstitch to raise an army of zombies to combat Grimoire Heart and Tartaros. But for zombies, they need bodies. If we don't hurry, Crocus will be turned into a mass grave to announce their return while the army's out scouring the countryside trying to find the princess."
"And with that many zombies, the army will be easily overrun when they get back and added to their forces," Makarov growled, "Damn it! Can we get there in time?!"
Cana wasted no time in pulling out the card that could call me, "Jerry! I need you to send Virgo and Loke to me right now, the Oracion Seis is about to storm the Capitol!"
There was no answer. How could there be? I was out cold. Meanwhile the Kirei Kotomine clone who should not be here but was anyway had clocked me, trounced the entire team on his own and was making off on a flying pirate ship with the only part of the Infinity Clock we'd been able to procure.