Episode 014: Image of the Unstoppable
Like yesterday, there was an obvious difference in the air around the Fairy Tail guild. While most of the earlier stigma that had been caused by Ragna's actions two days prior (both sets) had essentially been settled, there was still the looming threat that was Titania Erza herself. The redhead was supposedly returning that day and no doubt whatever words or punishment she had for him would be much more intense than any he'd gotten from Makarov or anyone else in the guild. Lucy and most of the regulars seemed nervous at the idea of being in the splash zone, but Natsu looked almost… eager. Mira was smiling and continuing business like nothing was wrong, a clear contrast today especially. Then there was the man himself, Ragna's face had been oddly stoic though he could reasonably assume he wasn't in for an easy day.
"I almost wish she'd just show up so we can get it over with," Macao muttered before he took a long swig from his morning tankard to help calm his nerves. "I hate just sitting here and waiting for the chaos to start."
"After all of those other times that we've seen her chew someone out you'd think we'd all have gotten used to it by now, but…" Wakaba grimaced. "She's still finding new ways to terrify us all each and every misstep."
"Here's a thought, you both could head out and try to get a job done," Ragna bluntly suggested. "I'm the only one that has to face her wrath so there's no reason you gotta stick around." He didn't get a response as the two men continued their drinking. "Don't complain about your damn safety if you're prioritizing booze over it!"
"Forget it, you're not going to get through to either of them like that," Cana said before taking her own swing of beer… from a tankard that was nearly her size. "If you'd like, I can do a card reading of how today might end up going for you."
"Pass, not a real big fan of fortune telling. And I'm pretty damned adverse to destiny," the Reaper denied. "You don't seem all that nervous yourself."
"I am, but the beer's helping me hide it," Cana said. "So be ready for at least a couple more top offs before the day's done."
"The hell is your liver made out of? And that can't be healthy," Ragna said slightly awestruck. Shaking his head, he cleared what tables he could and headed back to the front desk with Mira. "Everyone's here like they're either waiting for a funeral or performance."
"So a tragedy play?" she suggested with a tilt of her head.
"I guess, but it's not going to come to that," he told her firmly.
"You must be confident; there's not even a fresh strawberry cake waiting for Erza," Mira noted, glancing at the half-filled cake stand.
"Please, I'm above bribery. I'll say what needs to be said and deal with whatever fallout there's going to be, that's on me."
"Noble of you, but what about Natsu and Happy?"
"That's their own damn fault for the bet, I hold no responsibility there."
"Even if Happy's been petrified all morning?" the receptionist asked as she glanced to unblinking Happy sitting next to Natsu. If they hadn't already checked earlier anyone might've thought that this was a body double.
"Eh, he's probably got at least two more lives," Ragna said in a bit of dark humor. "But I'm not counting on them for much anyways, I'm just making sure they follow through out of principle."
"So another dad moment from you," Mira realized before turning thoughtful. "Couldn't you try something like that with Erza? She did call you father once."
"Not gonna bother; nothing's going to stop her when it comes to guild business, especially if it's this serious." If Mira had an argument for him, she didn't get a chance to say it as Ragna's one eye seemed to look directly at the front door. "She's here."
The sudden heavy step outside sent the already calmer guild into complete silence. There hadn't appeared to be that much force behind such a simple step, but a noticeable ripple appeared in Cana's oversized drink. Several members of the guild gave audible gulps as the strongest Fairy Tail wizard made her way into the guild. Glancing around for Natsu, the Reaper found that his pink haired team member had vanished. Had he really gone back on his word and booked it? The Reaper didn't think so, but something about it still had a pit forming in his stomach. As Erza finally took a few steps right towards him, everyone could see that she was not pleased and her constant glare at him told them she'd already heard the news.
'Here we go,' Ragna thought, ready for whatever lecture he was in-
CRASH!
Natsu had returned with... a bunch of blank white paper taped to his hair to clumsily turn it white, glasses with only a green right lens (he hadn't even gotten that right), a black shirt promoting some indie wizard band beneath a red cloak (blanket), horribly torn black jeans, metal bucklers taped to the top of each of his sandals, and his left arm in a cloth cast (again, wrong side). He even had small elevator blocks underneath his shoes to try and make up the height difference, but it wasn't enough and just made the overall appearance that much more obnoxious.
"I'M RAGNA, DAMMIT! GET REAL AND FIGHT ME!"
Erza had gone still at the sheer absurdity alone.
"…Am I allowed to be offended here or do I have to settle with near-crippling disappointment?" he questioned.
"No one would blame you if you felt both, moreso surprised at the near part," Mira answered, unable to keep from staring.
"Natsu… what are you doing?" Erza answered once she finally found her voice.
"Wha-! I'm Ragna, dammit! I already told ya to make like an egg and fight me!"
"That doesn't even make any sense!" a mortified Lucy screamed.
Erza broke the imposter's concentration by simply pointing to the man in question behind him.
"WHAT THE-!? WHY DIDN'T YOU HIDE LIKE HAPPY TOLD YOU TO!?"
"Cat didn't tell me jack," the Reaper informed since the cat had been petrified of the impending doom all that morning. Actually, the feline wasn't where he'd been sitting just a moment ago, so where had he-?
"PLEASE DON'T KILL OUR DAD!" Happy sobbed hysterically. "HE WAS JUST TRYING TO KEEP LUCY AND LEVI SAFE! HE DIDN'T MEAN TO KILL ANYONE ERZA! HAVE SOME MERCY ON HIM!"
"…That's a nice plea for me…" Ragna began before glancing behind him. "Only thing that ruins it is that you're using me as a shield."
"THE PLEA'S FOR ME! I ALREADY TOLD YOU THAT I'M RAGNA, DAMMIT! FIGHT ME!" Apparently, this one didn't know when to quit.
"Natsu, get out of that horrendous costume," Erza ordered.
"Tch, would've fooled her if you'd bothered hiding," Natsu muttered under his breath. The implication that she'd be so easily tricked seemed to only worsen Erza's mood as she headed over to the Reaper.
"I don't suppose I can take that little display as punishment enough?" he tried, knowing full well that negotiations never seemed to work for him.
"…Ragna," she began by just saying the man's name as everyone in the guild tensed as she was about to bring the hammer down. "I need you for a job."
Silence from the onlookers.
"There's a job out there that you need me for?" the Reaper questioned.
"Indeed, and we need to leave immediately." She wasn't asking.
"…Right," he said, throwing his apron back onto a nearby hook. "I'll be back soon."
"Erza," came Natsu's voice as the pink hair was peeling the taped paper off his head.
"Give it a rest; she isn't going to fall for it," Lucy tried to tell him.
"This isn't about that; Ragna or not I still want a fight." That… at least gave Erza pause. Everyone else was questioning what little sanity Natsu had left. "Come on, that Lullaby demon went down way too quickly. Don't you really want to see what I can do going all out?"
"I'll admit I'm a bit curious," the redhead admitted. "And you did seem to have improved with what little I saw of you." She gave a small smile. "Very well, I accept your challenge and you'll get your fight soon enough. But for now, Ragna and I have… work to do."
'The way that she said work just now was terrifying,' Lucy considered as Ragna followed Erza out of the guild. "Think he'll be okay?"
"I'll get his coffin ready," Happy sighed.
"THEN GO OUT AND HELP HIM!" Lucy screamed.
"If I had to guess, he'll probably come back in the same condition you did," Levi figured. "If he was kicked out of the guild or worse, I doubt that Erza would bother drawing it out like this. Ragna's no doubt going to be sore as can be by the end of this, but he should be… okay?" Far from certain with that affair as it was, she then turned to Natsu. "But you really want to take her on? You know what she's capable of, right?"
"Yeah, and I'm ready to give her the fight of a lifetime!" Natsu declared. "I'M ALL FIRED UP NOW!" He turned to Lucy with an eager smile. "Let's go on the hardest mission available as a warmup!"
'I guess I should support him and working like this will keep our team from worrying about Dad,' Lucy thought. "One condition: NO VULCANS."
"Cross my heart; I'll check the board and make sure there's not a single Vulcan on this job!" Natsu gave an earnest effort and looked over all information to ensure Lucy's request was met. However…
There would be MANY Vulcans on this job.
Outside with Ragna and Erza, the man was trying his best to address his current situation without setting off the woman in front of him (difficult for a man of his… talents).
"So, what's the job?" he asked, figuring he was due at least that much.
"You'll find out when we get there," Erza told him unyieldingly.
"Okay, but how are we getting to our job?" he tried again.
"We'll be taking the train for most of it, but we'll be walking for a good amount afterwards." An answer to the point.
"…I'll notice that you aren't bringing along any luggage," Ragna stated, testing Erza's limits just a bit.
"This job will be done by day's end; I'll see to it." The solid scowl on her face was almost a challenge to make the two late.
"Right," was all the Reaper said in response. He decided it was best to stay quiet starting now, Erza seemed like she was about to snap at him or worse at any moment and while he wasn't one to back down, he also decided not to flat out invite that kind of trouble.
"Hey guys! Wait up!" That had been Gray's voice. A visible tick mark appeared on Erza's forehead as they were interrupted, but turned and whipped her head around with a scowl harsh enough for the Ice user to go cold… so pretty damn harsh. "Uh… well…"
"Yes, Gray?" Her voice was sweet and motherly… her expression was not.
"I… just thought I should hand this off to Ragna," Gray said, slowly inching forward towards Ragna, as if Erza was going to do whatever she'd already planned for him. Handing him this last second delivery, Ragna saw that the item in question was a letter. "From Juvia."
'She wrote to me? Why not-?' he considered before smirking despite the situation he was in. "So I got a letter… meanwhile she sent you an entire novel's worth of her writing."
"What the-? How'd you know that?" Gray's surprise was genuine, it would have to be to keep him from fleeing Erza ASAP.
"Cana's been teaching me a bit of fortune telling," he explained sarcastically… before realization hit him of how literally these two could take an offhand remark. "I'm joking. But thanks for the delivery."
"No problem and… good luck," Gray said before barely mustering a nod to Erza and running off as fast as his legs could carry him. Anyone could tell that he was terrified, even someone as dense as well… Gray himself. For now, Ragna just had to hope he was ready for whatever everyone was so fearful of.
Later -The Train Ride-
'She gotta do that here?' Ragna thought to himself with a bit of annoyance as Erza sharpened one of her many, many blades with a portable whetstone from where she sat right across from him. Her expression didn't make it seem like she was trying to intimidate him, but Ragna had to wonder how nervous she'd be unintentionally making someone with her actions. Rolling his good eye and ignoring it as best he could, he opened Juvia's letter to finally begin reading.
"May I ask who this Juvia is?" Erza questioned, though she didn't take her eyes off her work.
"When Gray and I went on one of our jobs to grab an ingredient, she'd gotten to accepting it before either of us could. She was understanding of our situation, so we ended up working together and made a pretty damn good team," he said with a bittersweet smile. "I don't know all the details, but she seemed to have been in a pretty dark place for a while. I think… the two of us were able to break through some of that, just by being there for her that one day."
"Really?" Erza asked as she thought that information over. "What guild does she belong to?"
"Phantom Lord if I'm remembering that right. Why? Don't approve of us working with other guilds?"
"I didn't mean it like that, I was just curious. Phantom Lord though seems… hmm…" Erza ceased in her work for just a moment to gather her thoughts. "Jose, their guild master, has something of a competition with our guild master and possibly Fairy Tail as a whole. I don't know too much about it, but Makarov did say that he's been taking said rivalry fairly seriously during their last few meetings. But if he's still allowing her to work with members of our guild, it may only be a surface level matter."
"Can't say I know anything about that, and her letting us join was sort of a last second matter in the first place. Doesn't seem to bring anything up in her letter either." Erza nodded and only proceeded in her work. While she appeared neutral as usual, Ragna could easily tell that she was still rather curious about what was actually written. "There's not much substance in the letter; just thanking me for helping her out during our job and what ended up happening after plus a little of her own going-ons. Apparently she's leaving for a big solo job of her own, so I won't be hearing from her for at least a bit."
"Ah, so it wasn't another love letter." Ragna's good eye blinked a fair few times at that assessment before looking in shock to Erza for answers. "On my travels I'd heard about you sweeping single women, those already taken, and even widows off their feet with your honeyed words and gentleman mannerisms."
Ragna took a painfully deep breath.
"First with Lucy and the ape, now this. Erza… you're really shitty at picking up rumors."
No one would dare think of talking to her like that if she was in a good mood. And if they were in Ragna's position you would bet that they'd be staying dead silent unless spoken to.
"…I am?"
"Yeah."
"…Oh."
One side benefit of Ragna's attitude; he was so blunt that even Erza had to question herself.
"Besides, if anything it's Gray that she's completely fallen for."
"And knowing him, he doesn't have the slightest idea," Erza guessed. At least she had the right idea there. "Not too surprising."
"You seem to know him pretty well. Natsu too now that I think about it," Ragna noted. Erza was silent before reaching into her pocket (not her Requip magic) and bringing out a small piece of paper to offer him. Ragna took it, only to realize that it was a group photo from when they were kids.
Erza was easily recognizable as a glaring figure of authority, Natsu and Grey were already scowling at each other, and Cana was in the background drinking juice… at least he hoped it was juice since she was still a kid in the photo. Ragna then saw that there were other members of the crew that were far less recognizable. Elfman, while still pretty big for a kid, seemed to be much less confident and pretty darn shy. Mira was there too and while she appeared the same size and age as Erza, her mannerism was completely different as she was dressed an abrasive rebel (he made a mental note to bring that up to her later). But strangest of all was another silver haired girl standing next to Natsu who was laughing happily. Her features made it clear that she was somehow related to Mira and Elfman… but he'd never seen her around the guild.
"Nice to see the group as a bunch of little tykes, but who's this other girl?" There was a noticeable grimace from Erza as she took the photo back.
"That's… their little sister… Lizana." It was rare for Ragna to see Erza this unconfident, but he didn't comment for the moment. "Sorry, I… with how much you've been working with her I thought Mira would've told you about her by now…"
"She hadn't," he answered seriously. "But I think I can tell there's a lot going on there; I won't bring it up to her or Elfman." Erza gave a solemn nod at the promise, but it did little to help her composure. Though he'd just read it, Ragna brought Juvia's letter to read again while Erza went back to work on her sword. Neither one of them said a word the remainder of their train ride.
The Wastelands
"Alright, you set up this big claim of needing more for some job just so that you can get me out here without anyone else to see this." Much like Ragna had claimed, the two were miles and miles from any nearby town. The rocky desert terrain housed no life whatsoever and seemed the perfect arena for whatever Erza had planned for him. Ragna had to wonder how many times she'd hosted training sessions here. "You heard the news from two days ago… so I want to know what you have to say about it."
"You're the one that just said that I'm horrible at picking up rumors," Erza reminded with a scowl. "I want to hear your side of the story; tell me what really happened."
"And you'll trust what I have to say?"
"It depends on how well you tell it."
With that Ragna explained himself, though there really wasn't all that much to say. He didn't defend the actions he took all that much or try to cast himself in a heroic light, just stating all of the facts that Erza needed to hear from him. She didn't see the need to ask any questions while he was talking, nor did she ever change her expression. Instead she was laser focused as Ragna recounted what had brought him to taking his first life in this world, the action of doing so, and the fallout he'd taken note of afterwards.
"And that's all I've got to say about that mess," Ragna said, a serious glare in his eye. "I know that you probably don't need to or want to hear it from me, but if I had to do it again… I wouldn't hesitate."
"I'm not at all surprised," Erza agreed. "Ever since I first met you, I've had the impression that you were the type of person that would do whatever was needed to keep those you cared about safe." Her expression hadn't softened in the slightest, in fact it only looked sterner. "But if you're serious, then that would mean that you're due to go down one of the darkest roads of the kingdom. People could start fearing you just as much as any Dark Guild, possibly even worse."
"Like I said, if that's the price that needs to be paid then I won't hesitate," Ragna answered sternly. He remained perfectly still as Erza put her hand out and used her Requip magic to bring out the same sword that she'd performed maintenance on during their train ride. A heavy wind blew between the two in their silence. "What are you doing?"
"Making sure that you never get to that point."
(Cue Persona 4 Golden I'll Face Myself)
Despite the severity of her words, her piercing glare, and the gesture of the redhead arming herself… Ragna actually gave a toothy smirk as he brought his own Gilgamesh XIII blade out. He noticed that this weapon seemed to have a new sort of weight when he carried it now, like it had a new burden now that its original owner was gone. The Reaper couldn't let this distract him though, not with a battle ready Erza standing in front of him.
"Luckily this doesn't seem like you're not expelling me from the guild, arresting me, or executing me," he started. "You just want to do everything possible so I'm never put in that position again."
"Right, and that entails making sure I know what you're truly capable of," she said pointing the sword directly at him. "This isn't some basic spar for fun, treat this seriously or you'll end up regretting it."
"Same to you."
Both fighters participated in an opening charge as their blades clashed causing a shockwave to echo throughout the wastelands. Despite his one arm handicap, Ragna had managed to match Erza's strength with his own and the traded blows appeared to be equal. Erza then performed a stab forward which her target dodged before moving to Ragna's right and entering the Reaper's blind spot. By now Ragna had earned more than enough experience with his opponents trying to take advantage of his paralyzed eye and predictably blocked Erza's incoming underhand slash before performing his own overhanded one. While she avoided the attack by leaping back, Ragna's attack caused a huge tremor and resulted in a long crack in the earth.
In Erza's defensive backstep, she'd taken the opportunity to change weapon from a sword to a halberd and she used the additional range it granted to thrust with the weapon's lance head. Ragna blocked the attack and deflected it to one side, but Erza used the force to turn into a full body axe swing from the other. The Reaper leaped over the vicious attack before flipping over and bringing a powerful blow down, one that Erza was forced to switch to a tower shield to block. The resulting shockwave roughly tore through the wastelands and made a deep crater.
Recovering from Ragna's attack, she quickly swapped her shield for a two-handed greatsword. While Ragna's current weapon could have matched her own style, he decided to go his own path and instead changed over to the scythe previously belonging to Erigor. While this gave him his own advantage in weapon length, maintaining that required that he keep Erza out which he did with a wide but quick slash that Erza deflected before rushing in with an overhead slash. Adjusting his hold on the scythe so it was closer to the blade, Ragna struck the attack but allowed the force to push him back into the proper range to get a proper full length slash that had Erza on the defensive. While she blocked the attack, she also realized she wouldn't be able to get past Ragna's advantageous range in one simple push.
Engaging him at his preferred range, she clashed with Ragna's swing from her right before blocking his immediate conversion to slash at her other side. Still unable to use his right arm for anything, Ragna instead gave a hefty kick to the ground and sent a cloud of dirt and debris at his opponent. Erza seemed to scowl at the move, even though it did little to impair her vision as her sword swing was easily enough to dissipate the attack and enter a blade lock with Ragna's scythe. The two exchanged a heated glare as they struggled against each other, though their weapons didn't even shake as the opposing forces pushed forward with all their might.
Erza then surprised Ragna by surrendering the lock and stepping back, leaving him to slash where she'd been standing as she barely dodged his blade. She then tried to attack Ragna with a horizontal slash while he was recovering from the attack, but he low profiled the move by countering with a low slash with his scythe. Now Erza leaped over with her own forward flip to bring her blade down on Ragna, but instead of blocking he spun his entire body into a sky-reaching slash. The clash that resulted disarmed both fighters of their weapons, leaving them to return to their own Requip storages.
Both pulling their next weapons out of storage, Erza raised a surprised eyebrow while Ragna smirked as they had both drawn katanas in unison with no additional prompting. This was only a brief pause however, as Ragna initiated the opening charge this round. Erza dodged his attack without difficulty and countered, leaving Ragna to avoid and retaliate with his own attack. In the dance of blades that followed, neither sword contacted the other for several swings as it was more a contest of agility than power. Eventually though, Erza was the one to push forward and finally deflected Ragna's attack before stepping in with a heavy attack that Ragna blocked and allowed to push him back and reset them both. With Erza's gradually increasing scowl, it almost seemed like Ragna was trying to get under her skin.
In the next katana match that followed, Ragna and Erza both seemed to be fighting completely at ease despite the quick and destructive blows shared between the two, creating shockwaves from both merely the force behind their sword swings and the resulting contact, leaving long gashes in the terrain and rocky plateaus reduced to nothing but rubble. In fact, the only moment of any real note from this series of encounters was when Erza sent her sword back into storage, but without pulling out a new armament in its place.
(End theme)
"What gives? Had enough?" Even if Ragna put his own weapon away in kind, he knew that it was far from over with Erza. In fact, he might've been even closer to her supposed bad side now than when she'd first grilled him on the details that had brought them to this point.
"Not nearly, I want to know why you're treating this as a game despite being told not to," she ordered. "No alternative magics, you haven't brought out any of your weapon's unique abilities, and you're far too calm in this fight."
"What can I say, sometimes being level-headed in the heat of the moment is the only way to do it," he responded sarcastically. "It's when I start to lose that control that I'm really in deep shit."
"And you still think that you're in control now?" Erza demanded.
(Cue BlazBlue Black and White Extended)
"Of course I do; even though you're eager to point the finger at me, you're still the one between us that's really holding back." Erza raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Even if you were using your armor, which you're not, the way you're fighting is way too lax if you wanted to come all out right from the gates like everyone says that you do. I was just waiting for you to get serious so things could really get started between us. I want to get a real taste of that so-called Hell that everyone's been warning me about like crazy."
"…Be careful what you ask for."
Erza's clothing then glowed with a blinding light as she adorned the Black Winged armor Ragna had seen her wearing when they'd faced down the Lullaby demon, but he knew that he'd likely only witnessed a still devastating fraction of its output back then; now it was time to feel the full force targeted directly against him.
"If you're going to be this cocky in the middle of a fight, then it's time our little warmup ended," Erza instructed as she brandished a double headed battle-axe, twirling the weapon before pointing it squarely at the Reaper. "Now… show me what you can really do."
Ragna still hadn't learned his lesson yet.
"Heh, you gotta make me first."
Now just the takeoff from their opening charge was enough to create a massive shockwave that tore at the very foundations of their arena as they barreled towards one another. Ragna summoned his Gilgamesh sword in the middle of the charge and made a viscous swing while Erza answered in kind. Now the resulting completely shattered any remaining rock formations around them as well as the ground beneath leaving them to continue their fight in an even deeper crater of their own making. Ragna gave a grunt under the force of the attack and backstepped as Erza brought her axe down and left a massive fissure where he'd been standing. Clashing their blades once more only continued the emerging series of earthquakes that was merely beginning.
Focusing on his speed for the moment, Ragna made a straight charge only to dive to the side as he entered Erza's weapon range. The lead for her initial slash to miss him, but she managed to redirect her weapon easily and clashed as he came at her from her exposed flank. Leaping up into the air, Ragna flipped forward as he brought a powerful blow down upon the redhead, but Erza's preemptively swung with her own overwhelming attack and while the attack clashed, Ragna was sent off balance in the air. Another slash against Ragna's midair guard sent him flying back, but amazingly the Reaper managed to anchor himself the instant he hit the ground. Erza still took advantage of the time she'd just made for herself, but instead of performing a charge against the Reaper she began her casting to switch armors.
'She's changing in the middle of a fight?' Ragna considered right before the light around Erza dissipated and it revealed her in an armor resembling that of an angelic knight carrying a longsword in each hand. '…Something tells me she's not putting that on to show any mercy. So what's it really-?' Pointing her hand forward, countless blades appeared behind Erza before they launched at Ragna resembling machine gunfire. 'THIS SHIT AGAIN!?'
Without his usual Barrier Ars Magus, Ragna was forced to settle for the next best thing. Switching his weapon out, he went back to the Vanish Brother's frying pan and ducked behind it as a shield. The extra area kept him safe from the attack, but the item was barely holding as Erza's blades continued to restlessly assault it. Not that it even mattered that much, because then Ragna took notice that the blades were surrounding him from all directions, trapping him inside a dome or sharpened steel. Erza then sent them flying inward leaving Ragna no room to escape and to get him to yield once she had him pinned, only for his weapon to change back into a katana and with a mere flash of his blade all of her countless swords were knocked away in that instant. Not deterred, Erza set up her swords and performed the same technique again, but this time she also charged into the fight herself.
Ragna wasn't knocking back every blade as he fought her head on, some he was forced to weave though as he clashed with her held longswords or one of the blades that got a little too close to them. One time she even gathered the swords around her in a vicious circle to charge the Reaper, but he even managed to leap over and avoid that at the last instant all while deflecting the countless assault of floating blades that hunted him. Over fifty blades before he'd even touched the ground and not a single one got through.
'That's certainly something,' Erza internally admitted, though she focused Ragna down at a distance as he continued to deflect the blades coming in from all around him. He wasn't making any further pushes to her, but without Erza herself getting involved the Reaper was handling this usual daunting technique with a strange sense of ease. 'It's like he's fought against something like this before, but how? And where? He's…'
Another wave of her hand sent all of her weapons back to storage, but she was still adorned with her current armor. Ragna remained on guard, keeping his curved sword out as he prepared for her next move though he could tell that she was oddly hesitant for the middle of a fight. It wasn't that she was pondering her options or wondering whether or not Ragna would be able to take what she was considering, more like she was reluctant to bring out whatever the already selected option was. This pause lasted only a second in real time, but it was still a noticeable lapse before Erza's body was once again coated in light as she dawned her next armor. This gear set was much less covering, now only having wrappings to cover her chest with red hakama pants to serve as leggings. Her weapon style of choice was a long katana in each hand, again matching Ragna's weapon type.
'Fighting an entire fricken wardrobe here,' Ragna thought. 'Well, more like an armory.'
Erza then moved so fast that for an instant she escaped even his sight. If it wasn't for his still recovering sixth sense she'd have gotten him with just that rush, no questions asked. As it stood be barely managed to guard before she rushed around to the other side and their katanas clashed again. Unleashing a rapid three hit combo on the Reaper's frantic guard, Erza barely had to move to dodge Ragna's retaliating roundhouse kick before moving into a parallel slash with her two swords which Ragna knocked away with a heavy swing. Coming back around for the next series of blade strike, the two barely appeared to move before the end result of countless slashes in the span of an instant was made clear, destroying the air around them and the ground they'd before standing on save for two small foot footholds in midair that just barely began to fall.
Erza vanished from sight once more and Ragna did likewise as the two seemed to soar around the wastelands; they moved faster than the human eye could track and the shockwaves from their clashes seemed both random and sudden. Any attack that wasn't met instead left long and deep gashes along the ground as the damage only seemed to escalate. In fact it might've gone much further if the two hadn't finally come to a standstill by entering a blade lock, finally anchoring them in place as they fought for domination of the clash.
"You're smiling…" Erza noted as the two struggled against each other's blades, their faces mere inches from the others.
"I am?" The Reaper was truly surprised before giving a faint chuckle. "Sorry, but… how can I not when you're giving me all this? No hatred, no bullshit, just the two of us fighting each other with everything we've got!" 'I don't think I've ever actually enjoyed being pushed like this, but maybe that's just how things are now.' The sudden burst of magic energy that followed from Ragna's blade actually blasted her back, leaving the redhead to dig her feet into the ground as she slid back. "COME ON! I AIN'T DONE YET!"
"Nor am I…" she began as her lips twitched in the briefest of smirks. "And I wouldn't mind seeing this go for a while longer… Provided you can last that long."
"I won't disappoint."
Erza leaped back at him faster than she'd ever gone before, Ragna instantly readied his sword to parry the attack…
…only to find that the match had fallen out of their control.
(End theme)
From out of nowhere, thick and wicked bolts of electricity shot out at the two and forced them to stop their charge and they both cut through the magic and faced down the direction the attack had come from.
"Aw, sorry about that," though the voice attached (which was uncomfortably similar to Ragna's own) hardly sounded sorry in the slightest. It's owner and their current attacker was a scruffy blond haired man with a thick jacket and a lightning bolt scar over his right eye. His arms surged with a few leftover traces of his yellow lightning magic. "You guys were really starting to go heat up there, and I was getting worried that either Erza was going to eviscerate a cripple or…" It was barely noticeable, but even with his shit-eatting smirk his eyes did tighten slightly with a glare. "I was about to watch a fellow S-Rank lose outright."
"Neither of us were in that danger, Laxus," Erza said, though she was clearly agitated by the man before her. She allowed her weapons and armor to return to her Requip storage so Ragna sent his katana back as well.
"Oh ho, so Erza's got a fan of her magic," the new arrival noted with a mocking laugh. "Don't kid yourself old man, no one's been able to get into this one's good graces." When he didn't respond, Erza realized that Ragna was actually keeping himself silent. His scowl was probably the sharpest she'd ever seen it, but he still didn't make a move. "What? Is your eye and arm not the only two things you're missing? Did your hearing give out too, or are you just senile?"
A wayward glance to Erza told Ragna that she was waiting for him to introduce himself to the new arrival. He didn't like it, but decided to comply. "I go by Ra-"
"Don't care."
Ragna's scowl dissipated long enough to give Erza an exasperated look, one which was starting to leak through for her as well.
"So what brought you here in the first place? It's been a while since you've been back to the guild," Erza questioned.
"I saw you guys fighting in the distance and thought I might as well watch for some mindless entertainment, but I was just about ready to fall asleep watching that snoozefest. Same reason why I haven't been back to the guild, no one there comes even close to being worth my time." He then directed a smirk directly at Ragna. "Though I heard something about this new blonde piece of eye candy that joined up. Maybe I'll make a special trip to see if she's worth taking for myself."
Had this been the same Ragna from not all that long ago, he would've already felt the sting of Laxus's insulting taunts and he'd have been plenty pissed. With what he'd just said, it would've been enough to send him over the edge and engage his BlazBlue (if he had it)... but he'd grown since then and had started to lead without pure rage. Instead of falling into Laxus's game...
"Go ahead and try; she's easily enough to turn you down and kick your balls straight off."
He gave a different kind of Ragna response. Erza gave a few startled blinks while Laxus just gave a hefty laugh.
"So the geezer's got a mouth on him after all! I like it!" Laxus then closed the distance between the two and got right up in Ragna's face. "Problem is I've gotta set an example to the rest of the guild and talking back to your S-Rank betters is worthy of a healthy beating."
A harsh aura of electricity surrounded Laxus as the two stared each other down, Ragna not breaking his scowl; despite the cut the lightning caused to his cheek. It was deep enough that it began bleeding, but he didn't even flinch.
"ENOUGH." Erza's demand full of authority was enough for Lauxus's lightning to finally fade, but otherwise his demeanor hadn't changed. "I was here with Ragna on business; you know as well as I do that we don't tolerate interference with other wizards."
"...Like I said earlier, I was just trying to lend either of you a needed...hand." Laxus's last pause had been due to the cut he'd delivered to Ragna. While it might not have been the most severe thing he could've done even with just his aura alone, watching the damage heal right in front of him to leave no trace of injury was enough to at least get his interest for a moment. "Whatever, tell the old man I'll be back in a week. I'm not done spending my last paycheck."
'At least he's heading the opposite direction that we'll be going,' Ragna thought. Even if he could take pride in knowing that Laxus hadn't sent himself off like a certain mint-haired antagonist, that didn't mean he wanted to be anywhere near him. He turned his attention back to Erza. "So… was that as huge a mood killer for you as it was for me?"
"Unfortunately, I think it was. We'll have to call it here after all," she said, sounding disappointed.
"Hell of a rush though, so thanks for giving me a good workout," he commended.
"You still didn't use everything that you had; your output of physical ability may have increased substantially, but you didn't use your basic magics or even your weapon's abilities," Erza again assessed.
"They're not strong enough yet," he defended. "Against your run of the mill thugs and monsters they can come in handy and I even worked on them a bit in a spar with Natsu, but magic's still hardly my strong suit. Smashing stuff or cleaving it apart is what I'm best at and I could only use what I could count on with you." He then gave a soft chuckle. "Like you were using every weapon and armor set available to you."
"…Fair enough," she finally decided before smiling at the Reaper. "I can honestly say that I had fun as well, so thank you for the match. And you held your temper with Laxus better than I thought you'd be able to; if Natsu were here, just the interruption would've sent him immediately into a rage."
'That's not too hard to see, I get the feeling that asshole likes to throw his weight around a lot at the guild and Natsu's not the type to take that shit lying down. Doesn't help that he was using those insults and…' "You'd think that if he really wanted to make me angry, he'd have brought up what happened with XII."
"He's the type that would have, meaning he didn't know. In fact, I can guess the only reason anyone in our guild knows is because you made a point to make sure anyone present knew and Laxus hasn't been back in a while." A fair guess, but something else was bothering Ragna now.
"If they're the only ones that know, then how the hell did you ever find out? You weren't there when I told the guild and you wouldn't have had any way of finding out unless someone told you before you got back."
"…Someone did tell me." Ragna could see her discomfort as she hesitated. "It was Siegrain; one of the two Magic Counsel wizards that we encountered after defeating Lullaby." Ragna figured that someone important as that could have made the discovery of his actions especially if it had been a job specifically for the council, but again this only led to more questions.
"How did you two… meet up?" he tried carefully, knowing this person was a sore subject for her.
"He was in the area of my last job on his own business, at least that's what he claimed." Ragna took some solace in the fact that Erza didn't trust him either, though it was hard to know how heavy that distrust was without knowing her history… but he knew better than to push that too soon. "Changing subject to something lighter, I think you more than completed the job that I needed you for."
"I… guess? I mean is it really worth it to keep this front up? I mean everyone knows why you really took me out of the guild, they were even talking about it all of yesterday and this morning."
"Front for what? I said I had a job that I needed your assistance with and you were willing to comply at my asking. The job giver has made you swear secrecy however, both on the job's details and their own identity."
"That's… probably not going to work," Ragna admitted honestly.
"Is there anyone in our Guild who would say otherwise?" Erza asked confidently, so confidently that Ragna was the blindsided one now. "With all of that settled, I think it's time that we handled your reward."
"My what? Even with this whole job front, you really think I deserve something?" Erza merely gestured to the destroyed terrain around them, both to indicate what Ragna had survived and what his effort had (offhandedly) created. "I mean… I guess I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. So what were you thinking?"
"That much is easy."
That Afternoon -Fairy Tail-
"I said I was sorry, but how was that my fault?" Natsu groaned. After the job Lucy had just been put through, even Natsu felt bad enough that he decided to pay for the blonde's dinner. "Even our guide said that he'd never seen Vulcans migrate into the area like that before, there was no way I could've accounted for that."
"I'm still the one that had to get kidnapped! And I had five of those things making advances at me!" Lucy whined after the understandably trying day she'd been through.
"I wonder if maybe they somehow knew she was in the area and made a point to follow her?" Happy asked from the table's corner.
"Don't even joke like that! I don't want this to be a permanent thing!" she cried.
"I'm sure your luck will turn around for the better soon," Mira tried to promise with a bright smile as she brought the table their orders. "In just a little more time Sorcerer's Weekly won't have enough pages to list all of your accomplishments."
'Mirajane is just the best,' Lucy thought with sparkles in her eyes at the kind words she'd just been given.
"By the way, you think… Dad's doing okay?" Natsu asked, leaving Lucy to pause as the normally upbeat Fire Breather actually seemed worried. "I don't know how long they were supposed to take on their job or how far they were supposed to travel, but we ended up getting back before they did."
"I dunno, but I hope so," Happy said genuinely. "Some of us can't tell what Erza's thinking at the best of times, so her asking our Dad all mysterious-like… who knows what's going to happen. At least she wasn't outright angry."
"I get the feeling that he'll be okay; he doesn't scare easily," Mira said, her sudden faith in the Reaper surprising the entire table considering what he was up against. "What? He's never been afraid of Erza before."
"That might just be his thickheadedness talking though," Happy realized.
"I don't disagree, but be nice," Lucy scolded right before the door to the guild opened. Everyone immediately turned as Erza made her way into the guild… followed by a seemingly unharmed Ragna. Lucy could at least take solace in that, but then the two headed over towards their table and she had to endure the insane pressure that Erza's mere presence brought. All pairs of eyes in the guild were on them. "Um… H-How did it go?"
"…Almost perfectly," Erza eventually responded. "Ragna proved to be exactly the kind of help I wanted on this job. Aside from a small interruption towards the end, the job went off without a hitch."
"Does that mean you two didn't fi-?" Natsu's question was silenced before it was finished by a harsh glare from the redhead. "I-I mean that's great guys, way to go! Must have really made a ton of money on it."
"About that…" Ragna began slowly, knowing he owed Erza enough to keep this odd cover… and what he was saying was at least true enough. "Erza ended up taking all of the money that we made on this job, but in exchange I managed to get two whole ingredients from here."
"Two at once?" Mira repeated before the realization dawned on her. "Oh, so that's why you'd left on those two S-Rank quests for a few days."
"Exactly. Ragna can't access the S-Rank board up above," Erza explained. "And since he helped me with this rather important task, I was still able to let him earn them as his reward."
"Hold on," Natsu said, seeming to double check the math on his fingers. "Then that means you've got everything!"
"Yep, we made a stop on our way back to drop off all of the ingredients. All I gotta do is head out tomorrow, grab my elixir, and I should finally have my damn eye and arm working again. I think I may finally be in the clear."
"That's amazing news!" Lucy cheered with a bright smile. "We should totally do something to celebrate tonight!"
"Aye! Let's go out on one last late night mission!" Happy declared.
"THEN I'D JUST HAVE TO PUT UP WITH EVEN MORE VULCANS!" Lucy screamed. At the monster's name, Ragna turned to glare at Natsu as the likely culprit, but the fire user waved his hands before him to declare innocence.
"It's already late and it's not like you have the cure for your condition yet," Makarov commented, making everyone aware of the guild leader's keen attention to the conversation (despite his constant drinking that day). "Besides, shouldn't you be helping Mira with the dinner rush?"
'Is he planning something? Sure as hell sounds like it.' "Guess you got a point there; let's save the whole celebration tomorrow when we're sure it's worked. Last thing I want is to celebrate and have the whole thing be a bust."
"Excellent, tomorrow it is!" Makarov said joyfully. Now it was obvious to Ragna that the old man was going to try something, but considering that he was the reason he was getting restored in the first place he decided he'd play along. Maybe it'd at least be enjoyable chaos.
'Enjoyable chaos…' Ragna thought silently before looking around the guild and… actually taking it all in for once. 'Like you'd find anything else in Fairy Tail.'
Author's Notes
Storm_VII over on AO3 now! I'll be posting chapter edits both there and here on FF, so come over and engage with me there if that's your preference.
And that just about wraps up the filler arc of this story and I don't have any further plans for one past this so we'll be sticking straight to the story with maybe a filler chapter in between certain arcs. We'll still have one last chapter of this current filler arc, but this one's more of a bonus, fun filled write instead of anything all too serious. Once that's done, we'll be returning to the Fairy Tail canon proper.
For those of you that were curious, my original plan was to give Erza this chapter to fight Ragna while the next chapter would put him on a different job where he runs across Laxus and then we get to the bonus the time after that. While it would've given them a bit more time together, you guys wanted things to start moving forward, and I decided that Lauxs will get his moments later. And giving Erza two ingredients to get for Ragna instead of one didn't seem like a large stretch anyways, she's got access to S-Rank quests to help him with ingredients so it made sense enough… Also Erza getting extra credit out of nowhere is fairly in line for Fairy Tail.
All that said, let's get to the review responses.
Peanutsaber: Sorry, no real plans to address that aspect of Ragna.
Dragon lord Sye 101: I mean... it's not official yet but we'll see how it goes for now.
Wlyman2009: Too busy picking his jaw off the floor after that flirting attempt.
Sarcasm Sage 626: Thanks for the lengthy review, I had a lot of fun with that chapter and I'm hoping the next one is even more hilarious.
Shadow-Ragna: Not sure what I'm going to change with that particular character if much at all, but I'm open to suggestions at the very least.
NiceScourge: Thanks, hearing that I've really captured the feel of certain characters is the best compliment I could have been given.
Wiz: Take over magic... huh, hadn't even considered that for Ragna. As for Rachel, I'm planning on keeping Ragna as the only character here.
EnteTheSlayer: Reactions incoming! Look forward to it!
P3R50N54: Yeah, crazy worlds for both but at least one seems just a little more accepting of him.
Randomguy2178: Erza already knew, but I doubt that what he tried helped.
Gm9000: Oh, there was no doubt. Besides, I still had a plot point I needed to use up.
That's all for now! I'll be seeing you guys for the last filler and a chapter I'm very much looking forward to! Ciao!
Happy: WAIT! WHAT ABOUT ME!