Well everyone, this is it. The conclusion to the subplot of Jade and Emberlla. For the former, this plot point has been building up ever since chapter 44. However, for Emberella, the wait to this conclusion had in fact been much, much longer. Chapter 11. That's 83 chapters...and quite a few years that this has been building up to.

Safe to say, I really, REALLY want to know what you all think of this chapter, since it's been building up for so long. I'm honestly not sure if I can even fully deliver on bringing a satisfying conclusion to it. However, I've tried my best to do so, and even enlisted the help of Ankoholic to help write certain sections of this chapter.

I eagerly look forward for what you all have to say about this chapter, so I won't delay for any longer.

Credit Ankoholic for writing certain sections, Callous and Sorarocks for being editors for this chapter, and every single one of you who has read the story this far on this journey of ours.


Tully Village. Three days ago.

Jade Ladro couldn't believe that she was actually going through with this. Emberella, her adoptive mother for the last few years of her life, had entrusted her with an important task: the elimination of a potential threat. Jade was no stranger to assassination, the green-haired woman having performed many of them in the past for her mother's sake. Never before had she failed in her missions, no target had escaped her sight. She was an expert in the field, through and through, all thanks to her mother's intense training.

But there was something different about this particular assignment. Two things as a matter of fact. The first was that she actually knew the target personally. Bronze Orebdorff had been a former mage under Emberella's employ and was among one of her best. Powerful yet loyal, he had been the only one of her mother's entourages that she had a pleasant rapport with. She wouldn't have gone as far as to call him a friend per se, but he had looked out for her several times whereas the others cared only for themselves.

Yet, here and now, her mother wanted him dead, simply for the potential risk that he had towards their operation. As far as Jade was concerned, it was completely unnecessary. Bronze had been loyal through and through and swore that he wouldn't rat out their plans to anyone, not even his new family. Yet despite this, Emberella had ordered the hit.

However, there was one other aspect of this job that was radically different from her other assassinations Jade had done thus far. The inclusion of his family. Killing was nothing new to Jade, but prior to this, the only ones she had killed had been either dark mages who refused to cooperate with her mother, or corrupt members of the magic council. They were all scum of the earth, and after her first few kills, she had scarcely felt a thing.

But not this time.

These were no corrupt officials or dark mages. Why, she wasn't certain any of them besides Bronze could even use any magic. They were just a family consisting of a mother in her late thirties and her two young children, a boy and a girl who couldn't have been older than ten. All because of the potential risk that they knew what was going on. Having to kill Bronze was a hard enough sell as it was, but to kill them as well? It made her stomach churn.

Currently she was waiting just outside of their house, having used her years of expertise to encroach on them without being noticed. She held a pistol in her right hand, the weapon shaking in her hand ever so slightly as she pressed her back against the wall. She could hear their every word, and they were as happy as could be. The daughter was talking about a fun field trip she and her classroom would be taking in the next few days, while her older brother made a few jealous remarks, with his father quickly chastising him to wait for his own chance.

I'll… I'll make it painless, Jade thought as she turned the corner, her hallucinations already taking hold over the family so they wouldn't see her…or the deaths of their family. One quick shot to the head for each and they won't know what happened. It's… It's the best I can do.

Her shaking hands made aiming up the first shot much more difficult than it had any right to be. They were practically sitting still at the dinner table, she couldn't have asked for a better target, so why was this so damn hard!?

Come on, come on, just pull the damn trigger! Jade chastised herself. The sooner you put an end to this, the sooner you can go back home and… and… and–

And what? Help her mother steal the free will of all of her new friends? All so Emberella could destroy the Fiore Magic Council for her revenge? Who was to say it would even stop there? All of Ishgar, and even Guiltina had their own faction of the Magic Council, so what would stop Emberella from wanting to branch out even further?

She had fully expected Sosuke to have spoken to her by now, speaking to her with his typical "wiser than thou" attitude in an attempt to talk her out of going along with her mother's plan, but the spirit dwelling within her had been completely silent ever since she had gotten on the train to Tully Village. For once, she had actually hoped he would have spoken up, and yet, like he had during the duration of her entire trip, Sosuke had remained entirely silent.

As she looked at the family, her eyes began to seemingly play tricks on her, as each of them was replaced by a face that had grown near and dear to her. Candice. Natsu. Wendy. Bambietta. By the time her mother's plan was done, their minds would be sealed away, made into lifeless drones with the sole purpose of battle. A fate worse than death.

This family, Fairy Tail, Candice… She was about to throw all their lives away just for Emberella's ambition.

As she shakily lined up her shot at Bronze's head, she could feel tears trickle down her cheeks. Certainly, someone would stop her, right? Perhaps a good Samaritan would stop her, or perhaps maybe Erza had come to check up on her. Hell, at this point she was praying that Sosuke Aizen would intervene and take control of her body once more, but just as she was about to pull the trigger, a horrid realization crossed her mind. There was only one person that could put an end to this and save not only this family… but her own as well.

Everything after that was a blur in Jade's mind as she took off running. She ran as far as her legs could carry her, not stopping for even a moment's respite until she found herself well out of Tully Village and completely out of breath in the middle of the surrounding forest. She panted as she tried to catch her breath before she looked at the gun in her hand.

"Damn it!" Jade screamed as she tossed her gun to the ground. Her legs wobbled until they simply gave out, the woman falling to her hands and knees as her emotions reached their peak. "I don't… I don't… I don't want to do this anymore!" She sobbed out.

"So, you've finally come to understand your heart's true desire, have you?"

As Jade's eyes widened, one Sosuke Aizen materialized before her eyes, garbed in the attire he wore during his time as the ruler of Las Noches. "It's been a long time coming, Miss Ladro."

Jade was not amused. "And just where the hell have you been!?" She exclaimed. "I almost killed Bronze! I almost killed his family! His wife! His children! Why the hell didn't you try to talk me out of all of this!?"

"Because you needed to come to this conclusion by yourself."

Jade gasped, her eyes widening at his words as her tears continued to trickle around her eyes. "I…" She tried to speak, but words failed her, her emotional state simply not allowing for it.

Seeing that he had her full attention, Aizen offered her a placid smile. "Had I chosen to intervene or speak to you on the ride over, you would simply believe this to have been the results of my words rather than your own feelings. Had that been the case, then you may have ended up faltering during a crucial moment in the upcoming Battle of Fairy Tail. But now…you see that these feelings are entirely your own."

….

Silence fell between the two, with not a single word spoken between either of them. A gust of wind ran through the air, alongside a few chirping birds. But between the two of them…nothing.

However, like all things, the silence was not to last.

Jade glanced to her side, unable to look him in the eye. "Much as I hate to admit it… you have a point."

"I usually do," Aizen told her, forcing her to roll her eyes. "So, what do you wish to do now?"

Jade turned her attention towards him once more. "I… don't know," Jade responded, surprised by his choice of words. "But…I thought you would have told me it was time we went to stop my mother."

"What I desire and what you desire are two different things," Aizen told her. "I wish to stop your mother to ensure the protection of vital allies in the battle to come. Your mother wanted your assistance to use them to help eradicate the Magic Council. But what is it that you desire?"

Jade remained silent for a few seconds before she responded. "I… I want to convince my mother that she's going down the wrong path. That we don't have to keep killing people. That we can stay in Fairy Tail," Her gaze fell to the ground. "That we can be happy."

Aizen nodded. "A step in the right direction, but a misguided one. Up until now, you've tried to have the best of both worlds, enjoying the company of your mother and your new friends. But I'm certain that you've come to realize now that to have both of these simultaneously is an impossibility. Your mother desires revenge above all else. Even more than your happiness."

Jade shook her head. "You're wrong! She cares about me, she–"

"Perhaps, at one point, she did," Aizen interrupted her. "And perhaps she still cares for you to an extent even now. But do you truly believe she has your best interests at heart anymore? That she would place your desires above her own? Truly?"

Jade's mind flashed to the past, recalling how her mother had reacted to her own desires to settle down. How she had scolded her, chastised her, even slapped her. And the pain that had come along with it.

Met with silence, Sosuke Aizen continued. "You know the answer better than almost anyone else. In fact, I suspect you've already known since I stopped your attempt at taking your own life. The mother that you used to know and love no longer exists. You've simply allowed your adoration of her to distort the facts. Your denial up until now was completely understandable. After all, people tend to avoid the truth when reality doesn't match up with one's own wants and expectations. However, I'm certain that you understand what I'm trying to tell you now, do you not?"

Jade slowly nodded her head as she spoke the words for herself. "Admiration…is the furthest thing from understanding."

Aizen smiled. "Now, allow me to ask you this one more time: what is it that you desire?"

Jade's expression began to slowly shift from one of abject misery to one of stubborn determination as a spark returned to her eyes. Rising to her feet, she clenched her fists before herself. "I want… I want to save my friends!"

Aizen smirked. "Excellent. Let's make haste and head on the next train to Magnolia. I plan on teaching you a thing or two on our ride over."


Magnolia, present day.

(Song of choice: Samidare Naruto Shippuden OST)

"Explain yourself this instant. Just what do you think you're doing… Jade?" Emberella spoke with barely contained vitriol.

"Something I should have done a long time ago, Emberella," Jade answered as she drew her twin pistols from behind her back, her eyes not leaving Emberella for even a second.

Emberella glared at Jade, a hint of something wild in her eyes before a corner of her mouth tilted upwards. A chuckle slipped out, then two. Emberella threw her head back as she descended into full blown laughter. "Hahaha! Oh, I see! This is your idea of a joke, isn't it? While I find your sense of humor to be poorly timed, you couldn't have returned at a more perfect time. Things haven't been going as smoothly as we hoped, so your assistance could really help turn the tide."

"Oh, this is no joke," Jade said before she pointed her left gun at the dark mage before her. "I'm here for one reason and one reason only: to save my friends."

Emberella narrowed her eyes at her adopted daughter, her voice clipped. "Now's a very bad time for you to start having your rebellious phase, dear. If you settle down right now and be a good girl, I'll let this incident slide, and we can get right back to business."

Jade simply cocked her gun. "That's not going to happen. Sorry, but I've made too many connections here that I'd rather not lose."

Emberella raised an eyebrow before she snarled. "Connections? Have you forgotten everything I've done for you? I was the one who saved you from some monsters and took you off the street. Everything you are you owe to me. Not Fairy Tail, and certainly not that slut you like to hang around with."

Jade's expression softened before she spoke with a more somber tone. "It's true. I owe you more than words could begin to describe. I would have died if it wasn't for you. I loved you like you were my own mother; I really did. But… After the last few months, after you abandoned me, you stopped being the woman I loved. As far as I can tell, she's dead now. Has been for a long time."

Barely disguised hurt flashed across Emberella's face. "Jade. Don't make me do this. You don't want it."

"You're right. I don't want this. Any of it," Jade told her bluntly. "If I could, I would do whatever I could for us to stay in Fairy Tail and live the rest of our lives together in the guild. I've never wanted anything else more in my entire life. But I know you won't let that happen. I tried, and I tried, and I tried, but you just won't listen!"

Frustration boiled over into hot tears, but Jade didn't dare take her eyes off of the figure standing before her. "Every single time, you turned it down! We have had so many chances to leave it all behind, but you refuse. You refuse to be happy, and you insist on dragging everyone else down with you. So, I had a hard choice to make. My mother… or my friends."

Jade narrowed her eyes as she aimed her gun back at her mother. "I've made my choice. Now you can make yours. Either you can put this whole thing aside and we can try to work something out with Master Makarov, you can run away, and I'll swear myself to secrecy… or we do this the hard way."

Emberella's teeth were clenched so hard she swore one would break as a single tear fell from her eye. "You once promised me that you would do whatever it took to make me happy. Does that mean nothing to you now, Jade?"

The green haired woman shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I've made another promise."

"Another promise? To whom?" Emberella asked.

"To no one but myself. That I would never let anyone hurt my friends," Jade told her. "Not even you."

Emberella scowled. "Fine then, be that way. I'll just have to beat you into submission along with the others!"

(Song of Choice: Vector to the Heavens Xion, Kingdom Hearts 3)

The two women glared at one another, each one taking a tentative step forward, their breath held to a complete halt. A gust of wind blew between the two of them, with autumn leaves caught up in the breeze. Their eyes met, filled with a mixture of sorrow and determination, each one clenching the weapons in their hands. Then, as soon as the gust of wind faded away… they charged.

Jade aimed both of her pistols at her adoptive mother and pulled the trigger in her left, but Emberella leapt over the bullet before she swiped her hands at the incoming projectiles as a wave of fire fired out. Jade ducked underneath the flames, only to take note of the encroaching shadow of Emberella. She leapt back as Emberella slammed her foot where Jade had once been before she swung one of her kusarigama blades at her.

Emberella moved to the left to evade Jade's sickle-like blade, all the while trying to shoot at her mother as she fired three more rounds with her remaining pistol. Unfortunately, Emberella managed to duck under the first bullet before she spun out of the way of the other two. Yanking her sickle blade off of the ground and back towards her, Emberella jumped above the blade as it approached her from behind. Seeing a potential opening, Jade fired off several more shots as her mother floated in midair, but her mother soared above the attack with the flames on her feet.

"Frenzied Flame: Searing Eyes!"

Emberella's eyes gave off a distinct yellow glow before they fired out a flurry of flames that danced towards Jade once they hit the ground. Jade leapt back to avoid the fiery blast before she aimed her gun and tried to fire at her once more, only for Emberella to move her head to the side.

"Predictable," Emberella exclaimed as she floated in the skies with her flames before she cocked her left arm back as she formed a fire orb in her hand. "Frenzied Flame: Sweltering Pitch."

She tossed the flaming orb at Jade, only for the green-haired assassin to swing her kusarigama's blade in a rapid rotation, dispelling the flame with her weapon before she tossed her blade back at her mother, only for the dark mage to form a blade of fire in her right hand before she blocked it.

Emberella soared in fast as Jade tried to recall her weapon back to her on time, but Emberella was too quick for her, slamming her heel onto Jade's stomach, forcing her to roll across the ground. Jade quickly rolled out of the way as Emberella slammed her heels into the ground where she had once been before Jade jumped to her feet and flung out her weapon. Emberella dodged to the right, but she didn't avoid the attack in its entirety, as the tip of Kurisigma's blade cut into her cheek slightly.

Narrowing her eyes, Emberella pointed both of her hands at Jade before she spoke coldly. "Frenzied Flame: Hellfire Blitz."

A constant barrage of fireballs shot from Emberella's hands, forcing Jade on the defensive. She deflected the first dozen or so with her kusarigama blades as she moved them in a rapid rotation, but as several dozen more were added in, Jade tossed one of her blades at a nearby rooftop and hoisted herself away from the bombardment of flame.

Just as she got onto the roof, however, her mother crashed onto the other side of it. Jade fired out another shot from her gun, with Emberella firing off a fireball from her hands to stop the attack. However, to her surprise, the bullet shot through the attack and grazed her left shoulder, forcing her to cry out.

Emberella glared at Jade. "Are you actually using your anti-magic bullets against me? To think, you would have the gall to–"

Jade didn't bother to respond with words and simply fired off another two shots with her pair of guns. Emberella soared into the sky to evade as her eyes glowed yellow with flame once more before a burst of frenzied flame shot from her eyes. Knowing that if her mother's attack hit her, it would cause some serious damage, Jade simply jumped backwards to another rooftop, quickly reaching into her pockets to reload her weapon, but just as she finished, her mother had soared right behind her and attempted to swipe at her head with a flaming strike.

Jade just barely managed to dodge underneath the strike, feeling the heat of the strike as it passed under her chin before she kicked at Emberella's stomach, forcing her mother to cough out before Jade swung her blade at her mother's chest. The dark mage quickly brought a blade of flame into her right hand to block the attack and tried to fire off a short blast of flame at her daughter point blank. Jade's eyes widened as she raised up her remaining weapon to block the attack as best as she could, only for the attack to send her off of the rooftop.

As she fell from up high, Jade quickly took notice of a nearby lamppost and fired her kusarigama around it and flung herself around it before she launched herself back at her mother, the heel of her foot slamming into Emberella's face. Her adoptive mother cried out in pain before her entire right arm coated itself with flame before she glared at Jade.

"Frenzied Flame: Swirling Purgatory!"

A flaming vortex of fire swirled out from Emberella's arm as it shot towards Jade. The attack hit its mark, burning Jade's arms as she brought up her weapons to block the attack, but just as the attack let up, Emberella slammed her knee onto Jade's stomach, forcing her to cough up some bile before she gave her daughter a punch across the right cheek.

Jade skidded across the rooftop before she brandished both of her weapons as they began to rotate around her. She tossed one of the blades at her mother who blocked the attack with her blade of fire, only for the remaining chain to wrap around Emberella's stomach. Her eyes widening as she felt the barbed chains cut into her waist, the dark mage was flung from the rooftop to the ground below, with Jade swiftly jumping down after her.

Don't let your guard down for even a moment, Aizen warned her from the confines of her own mind. It'll take much more than that to win this battle.

"Oh, trust me, I know," Jade responded.

For almost as long as she had raised her, Jade had considered Emberella the strongest person she had ever met. While that was no longer the case thanks to the likes of Erza, Laxus, Makarov, and even Ulquiorra, that did little to change the fact that she knew Emberella was still an incredibly powerful wizard. Any mistake, even one which would have normally been considered insignificant, could cost her victory.

Worst of all was, despite all of this, despite her steeled resolve, she still really didn't want to do this. This was not a fight fought out of desire, but of necessity.

Just then, a pillar of fire shot up into the sky, Emberella glaring at Jade before she forcibly ripped the chains off of her body, revealing the damaged skin underneath. "You're making a mistake, dear. I think it's about time I showed you why that is." Emberella shot up to the sky then as both of her arms began to engulf themselves in flame before she uttered her next attack.

"Frenzied Flame: Swirling Purgatory of Lamentation!"

Now firing two swirling vortexes of flame, Jade was forced on the run. However, as both vortexes hit the ground, the two shot up into the sky and formed into a flaming tornado that spun its way towards Jade. Jade ran as fast as she could, but despite how fast her legs would carry her, it simply wasn't enough. Soon the flaming vortex caught up with her, and she cried out as the flames wrapped around her body.

Emberella simply stared at the sight before she sighed and turned around, her blade of fire stopping an incoming attack from a kusarigama as Jade came off from another rooftop where she attempted to aim a another shot with her spare gun, but Emberella simply grabbed the barbed chain with a flame clad hand and yanked on it, forcing Jade off of the rooftop and down to the ground.

"Did you really think I'd fall for such an illusion?" Emberella said as she looked down at Jade. "I know full well you could have used your weapon to escape to the rooftops yet again in such a scenario. How could I have not noticed such an important detail?"

Jade said nothing as she got up to her feet, her blades whirling around her before she began to toss them at Emberella. However, none knew how Jade fought with her weapons better than her mother, allowing her to move through the chains and blades as she slowly closed in on Jade before she finally decided to counter with her weapon.

"Just what has become of my daughter?" Emberella hissed, parrying the thrown kusarigama. "I thought I had trained you better than this. Not enough to best me, but you should be capable of so much more. If you were trying to kill me, then your best bet would have been to simply sneak up behind me as I attempted to kill that so-called shinigami and shoot me in the back of the head. Tell me, has the weakness of Fairy Tail's morals become your own?"

Emberella lowered her gaze, her voice lowering to match. "You're complicit in all of this as well, you know, no matter how much you deny it. I took on the burden of the Chicken Fangs and became their rising star in an attempt to make it as great as it could be, all so we could one day topple the magic council before I would move onto the next guild. And, as I recall, you were all for it."

She then frowned. "But as you know, Fairy Tail complicated things. As long as they exist, my plans would always be in jeopardy. So, to avoid such an event from repeating itself, I felt that taking their power for my own would be for the best. Until today, you were silent, well aware of what was to come. Yet here you are, fighting your own mother to try and carry the burden of Fairy Tail."

Emberella looked past her own shoulder at the guildhall of the very guild she was talking about before she continued. "Such foolishness. Don't you know what I'm doing will be for the guild's own best interest? If I don't step in, they'll simply wind up as victims of the Magic Council in the future. As far as the council is concerned, they are already considered a potential risk. The moment they are seen as too much of a danger by those in charge, they'll be eradicated, just like my family was. At least this way they won't end up in cages for the rest of their days, if not outright killed. It's for their own good, really."

Jade scoffed at Emberella's words. "Just who do you think you're trying to fool here? Have you become so consumed by your desire for revenge that you're starting to lie to yourself, or are you really that desperate to convince me?"

Emberella snarled as she came soaring in with the soles of her shoes bursting with flames as she tried to swing her sword down at her daughter. Jade flipped back to dodge the initial strike as her mother's blade melted the ground beneath her before she followed up her attack with another charge. Jade moved her blade to block her mother's strike, though Jade's own feet skidded against the ground.

"I asked you time and time again for us to live with Fairy Tail, yet each time you chastised me like I was a child!" Jade shouted as she tried to swing her other blade at her mother, the dark mage flipping over the attack before she landed on her feet. "We could have started over fresh in the guild, and no one would have been any the wiser! Do you think I'm doing this because I want to!?"

"Do you think I am!?" Emberella snapped, pushing harder against Jade's willpower and form, their blades locked. "Do you think I want to fight you!? YOU!? But you're not giving me any other choice!"

Emberella's eyes flickered with fiery power once more, flames bursting out and colliding with Jade. At such close range, she had no chance to avoid them. Jade was thrown back, going through a wall as the flames dissipated.

Emberella was quiet for a moment, staring at her. She could see Jade pulling herself back up, still willing to fight through the pain.

"But..." Emberella mumbled, her voice a low whisper. "I suppose I'm not giving you any other choice either, am I?"

She gritted her teeth, her eyes trailing their gaze across the floor, causing flames to consume it and rise, dividing the battlefield.

"I'm giving you this chance, daughter. Stand aside and obey. Don't make me hurt you any further. You're not who I'm after."

Jade weakly got up from the ground as she looked back at her mother. "No, I don't suppose I am. You want to annihilate the Magic Council to its last member. This whole time I had hoped you would have let it all go after you killed Crawford… but I see now you won't be satisfied with anything less than burning everything to the ground."

Jade slowly reached into her pouch and began to reload her weapon as she continued. "If that's all you wanted then I wouldn't have cared. Far as I'm concerned, the whole thing is run by a bunch of self-serving bureaucrats that only want to further their own careers. They can all go to Hell for all I care."

She then aimed her gun back at her mother. "But the fact that you insist on bringing my friends into this, that I can't stand for. They've been nothing but kind to us all this time. Like we were family! Everytime I felt like I was crushed by the immense guilt of what I was about to do, they always helped me back onto my feet! I've never been happier in my entire life. They've been kind to you too, I know they have, I've seen it. But you never let that stop you for even an instant now have you!? All you've ever cared about is using them for your damn revenge!"

"They're a means to an end," Emberella said, the light of the fires dancing across her eyes as if they were from Hell itself. "They always have been. But you, Jade..."


9 years ago. The outskirts of Lupinus Town.

(Song of choice: Neji and Hinata, Naruto OST)

"I suppose the Chicken Fangs guild will suffice for now."

Emberella sighed as she looked down at the list of various guilds she had 'scouted' over the last few weeks. None of the guilds that were prime for the picking were exceptionally large or useful in the grand scheme of things, but she supposed that's how it would have to be at the start. Certainly, she had plenty of minor dark guilds under her sway, but their power was also rather insignificant. No, if she were to topple the Magic Council for what they had done, she would need an army.

She wasn't too worried about the Magic Council making a move on her once she entered any of these guilds either. The Magic Council had simply declared what had happened to her family to have been a tragic mishap. If she showed herself years after her disappearance, she could easily use a cover story for how she had simply gone into a life of retirement before she had decided to come back into the wizarding world. Killing her entire family because of their secrets was one thing, but wiping out an entire guild to get to her? Unlikely. Furthermore, while Crawford may have been completely desperate to rid himself of her due to the urging of Tartaros, she was now under the protection of Grimoire Heart. Not even they would risk the wrath of Master Hades.

Emberella placed two fingers under her chin then as she looked through the list. "Well, I suppose I should get going before–"

"No, please, somebody help!"

Emberella turned her head towards the direction of the distinctly young voice before heading in its direction, more out of curiosity than anything else. Her eyes only widened slightly as she saw the source of the cry of distress.

A young girl with green hair and red eyes, probably no older than nine years old, pressed her back against a nearby tree trunk as three massive cyclopes made their way towards the young girl, her face filled with absolute terror. Each of the monsters licked its lips as they looked down at their soon to be meal.

"I shay we eats her raw," one of them said as he cracked his knuckles.

"No no, I think it'll be far better if we cook her alive first. The screams she'll emit will be a delight to the ears." Another one added.

The last one shook his head. "I saw we just crush her to a pulp with my club. We can use the blood for some fine drink once we pool it all together!"

Emberella closed her eyes at the sight. The poor thing probably got separated from her parents during a trip gone wrong and had gotten herself into quite the mess. While unfortunate, it wasn't exactly her problem. Sure, the parents would probably be extremely grateful towards her afterwards, but she doubted there would be much in the way of recompense for her, given the girl's tattered and worn clothing.

Still… Something about the young girl made her reminisce about days gone past. About her own daughter. Yes… Her daughter Bridget would have been almost about the same age as this girl right now if she still lived, wouldn't she?

"Enough! I say we just kill the girl now and figure out what we'll do with her later!" One of the cyclopes shouted before he swung his club down at the young girl as she closed her eyes and let out a terrified shriek. Yet just before the club could connect, the trio of monsters were blasted from the side of an immense wave of fire, burning their skin a charcoal black before they all fell to the ground, dead.

The little girl slowly blinked her eyes open several times before she noticed Emberella right before her, with the charred corpses right behind her. Almost instantly the young girl clenched onto Emberella's body as she cried. Emberella slowly stroked the young girl's hair then as she let out subtle shushing sounds, trying to calm her down.

"There there, it's alright now. They won't be able to hurt you anymore," Emberella told the young girl.

The girl looked up at Emberella, small tears still trickling down her eyes. "T-Thank you so much. I thought, I thought I was gonna–" The young girl struggled to say before Emberella shushed her once more.

"It's alright now," she reassured the girl. "Now, let's get you back to your parents. I'm sure they must be worried sick."

"I… I don't have any," the young girl told her, surprising Emberella. "I ran away from my home. It was an orphanage, but they never fed us properly, and the people in charge are hardly ever around! When my best friend left, I couldn't stand being there any longer, so I ran! I just wanted to be anywhere else but there!"

As the young girl cried into her arms once more, Emberella's thoughts began to race. She very well couldn't just leave this young girl here, but it also seemed like she most certainly did not want to return wherever she had come from. There were a few other options she could think of that could have sufficed, but as she continued to hear the young girls whimpering, she couldn't help but recall her own little girl's cries.

"Would you like to come with me, little one?" Emberella asked the crying girl, snapping her out of her crying.

"W-what?" She asked, surprised by the woman's words.

"I said, would you like to come with me?" Emberella asked her as she gave her a smile. "I can't promise you the most comfortable of lives, but I'll see to it that you'll never go hungry again. I can give you a purpose. One that you would have never been able to find within that horrible orphanage."

The young girl stared up at her, her mind no doubt trying to think about what she wanted, before she hugged Emberella once more. "I'll do it! I just… I just want somewhere to belong."

Emberella's smile increased as she continued to pet the young girl's head. "Atta girl. Now then, tell me, what's your name, dear?"

"It's Jade… Jade Ladro." She quickly stammered.

"Well, Jade, from this moment on… I'll be your new mother."


"Raising you into the assassin that you became was one of the highlights of the last few years of my life, Jade," Emberella told her with a somber tone. "You grew up strong, just as I always hoped you would. You were the perfect underling, my shadow who would obey my every command without question. I was so proud of you. But now…"

"Please, Mom… It's not too late," Jade took another step forward, her own emotions coming back up to the forefront and her will briefly faltering. "Come on, let's stop this… I can talk to Master Makarov about all of this and–"

"No!" Emberella snapped, clenching her fists so hard that her nails drew blood. "It's too late for that. Far too late. Blind idealism is the stuff of fairy tales and you're... proving that you're nothing more than a child truly blinded by it. I can't go back. Not now. Not after everything they took away from me!"

"Crawford is dead!" Jade shouted at her. "Isn't that enough?! The one responsible–"

"The system that put him in charge and allowed for all of this to happen still stands!" Emberella shouted as she swung her right arm back. "What's to say the next head won't do the same thing to some other family!? No, I plan to kill all of the former and current members to insure that the Magic Council in Fiore, no, all of Ishgar will cease to be!'

"That's insane!" Jade told her. "Do you know how much chaos that would bring about!? How much time that would all take!? You'd never be able to–"

"Enough!" Emberella shouted as a vortex of dark yellow flames surrounded her as her own eyes began to glow. "I've humored you long enough, Jade. If you're truly going to stand in my way despite everything I've done for you… then you're as good as dead to me."

(Song of choice: Need to be Strong. Naruto OST)

Then, moving far faster than she had before, Emberella dashed towards Jade, the soles of her feet clad in flame. Jade tried her best to unleash a barrage of bullets at her adoptive "mother," but Emberella's newfound speed allowed her to easily move through the hail of bullets before she grabbed onto Jade's throat and slammed her to the ground. Jade cried out as she tried to kick Emberella off of her, but her kicks seemed to do nothing more than irritate her "mother" as tears flowed from her flaming eyes.

"I thought you of all people would have understood how I felt, Jade!" She screamed before she lifted her daughter up by her neck only to then kick her away, cracking some of Jade's ribs as she rolled across the ground. She coughed up some blood as she tried to get up, but just as she got onto her hands and knees did Emberella already grab her by her emerald hair and slam her knee into Jade's face, cracking her skull. Jade tried to shoot at her with one of her pistols, but Emberella simply swatted the gun away before she slapped her "daughter" hard across the face, leaving a searing burn mark across her right cheek.

Jade's tears flowed down her face, both from the physical pain of her mother's strikes as well as the emotional pain of knowing it was Emberella behind the pain in the first place. She swung both of her kusarigama at her "mother" in an attempt to keep her away, but Emberella simply grabbed both of the barbed chains before she yanked them, and Jade, back towards her before she performed a kick on Jade's chin, sending her through the roof of the building they were in before she sped above Jade in the air and performed a spinning kick on her "daughter's" head, sending her crashing to the streets of Magnolia.

"Jade, no!" Cana cried out as she tried to prepare one of her cards, only for her to feel a hand atop of her own. She looked over at Rukia, who shook her head.

"Rukia!? What are you doing!?" Cana shouted at her. "If I don't do something soon then-"

"I know, but right now we need to wait for a proper opening to really hit Emberella with everything we have. We're almost out of power as it is." Rukia told her. "We only have one opportunity left. If we waste it-"

"If we don't do something quick then Jade's going to die!" Cana shouted at her. "We need to–"

"Have faith in her," Rukia told her as calmly as she could as she looked towards where Jade landed. "I was told by Bambietta and the others that she has… let's say some unexpected assistance within her. I can only pray he's guiding her through all of this."

As Jade coughed and sputtered, she noticed her "mother" slowly trotting over to her as she weakly prepared her weapons. Her legs shook as she got up to her feet as she panted before a familiar voice called out within her.

Not yet. Aizen told her. You need to wait for a surefire hit before you use–

I know, damn it! Jade shouted at him internally as she began to close her eyes. I've got just enough magic to pull this off, all I have to do is just-

Before she could speak to Aizen any further, she quickly noticed her mother pointing both of her hands at her and a barrage of yellow hellfire made its way towards her. Jade flipped and weaved through the barrage as best she could, deflecting whatever fire she had to as she tried to make her way through the onslaught, but just as the attack ceased, she noticed her mother out of the corner of her eye standing right behind her.

"Emberella, wait, I–"

*Shank!*

Only for Emberella's hand to clad itself in flame as she thrust it forward, bursting through Jade's stomach. The dark-skinned woman let out an agonized scream as her blood covered the street below. Emberella looked over at Jade as she frowned at her, her face lacking any sort of emotion.

"I warned you, did I not? To stand down?" Emberella said as she covered Jade's face with her other hand. Jade glanced at her mother with horrified eyes as it began to cover itself with flame as her mother looked away.

"I'll do what I can to make it quick from here on out." The fire began to build up around her entire arm. "But honestly, what did you expect? What other outcome could there have possibly been other than your defeat? Foolish girl. I taught you everything that you know as an assassin."

"Well, almost everything."

Emberella's eyes shot open as the 'Jade' in her grasp vanished as she turned around to notice her daughter pointing her gun at her behind her back. A massive orb of blue light began to form around her pistol as energy began to build up around it. Her 'daughter' was giving her a rather somber expression, before it quickly turned into one of determination.

Emberella's calm exterior quickly turned into one of fury. "You damn–"

"Spirit Gun!"

The massive orb of light slammed into Emberella's chest as it shot forward, carrying her, and the bullet of light through building after building before it erupted into a pillar of light in one of Magnolia's canals, the shockwave of the attack reaching all the way to where she stood.

Jade panted and wheezed for about twenty or so seconds before she fell to the ground, completely, totally and utterly exhausted. The "Spirit Gun" was the move that Aizen had tried to teach her on her two-day trip back in Magnolia. Supposedly, it allowed her to use her own internal power for exponentially powerful attacks. Truthfully, she was far from mastering the technique. She could only hope to fire a single shot by pouring all of her magic into one shot. However, as a result, the spell itself was significantly more powerful.

"I… I did it?" Jade asked herself as she panted. "I… I actually did it! I won! I–"

MOVE!

Her eyes widened as she heard Aizen in a very rare instance of extreme concern before a flaming arrow shot down from the sky, impaling her right in the stomach. Emberella slowly floated down from the sky, her dress torn up in several spots and her body covered in cuts and bruises as she glared down at her daughter, panting in fury.

"I must admit Jade, I never once thought you would have had such an attack like that in your arsenal. Had I not formed a barrier of flame at the last moment, you very well might have taken me out with that attack."

(Song of choice: Torn Apart, Bleach)

Jade couldn't help but cough and hack up more blood as she tried to reach for her weapons, but Emberella promptly kicked them away before she slammed her heel down on Jade's stomach, forcing Jade to vomit up more blood. However, the flame wizard was far from finished, as Emberella picked Jade up by the neck, as her eyes burned with hatred. "It hurts, doesn't it?" Emberella asked Jade before she kneed her 'daughter' in the stomach, causing her further discomfort. "Well, for what it's worth, I'm not getting any enjoyment out of this either. But if you truly wish to stand in my way, if I can't have you… then no one can!"

Emberella's fist crashed into Jade's face over and over, causing the woman to cry out with each punch as her blood began to cover the street's below. Her nose had already been broken after the first hit, and she swore she could feel several more cracks forming on her cheek and jawbone. Never before had she known such agony, and it was all coming from the woman she used to admire above all else.

From the woman she used to call 'mom.'

After landing one last punch which resonated throughout the street with a sickening crunch, Emberella looked at the defeated Jade in her grasp. "Look at you, battered and beaten like a dog. Is this really how you want to die Jade? Well? Is it?"

When she was met with only silence, Emberella scowled and promptly threw Jade to the ground, the ground below cracking as her back made contact. Jade glanced up weakly in hopes of finding any of her mother in Emberella's eyes, but all that met her was a scornful gaze. As if to emphasize her disdain, Emberella's right foot came to rest atop of Jade's chest with an uncomfortable weight.

"Now, submit, and I'll allow you to whimper away like a dog with its tail between its legs."

Jade could barely even breathe, let alone speak. Even still, she forced herself to respond. "No… I refuse. I can't let you–"

"You idiot!" Emberella slammed her foot down on her daughter several more times, each one eliciting silent, breathless screams. Finally satisfied, Emberella looked down at her daughter. She frowned at the beaten form of Jade as she clenched her fists, her body shaking before she screamed at her.

"Why did you make me do this!?" Emberella demanded of Jade. "Use your damn head, you stupid girl! You and I could have been so much more than this meager guild could have ever given us! Tell me, when the Magic Council shuts this guild down, what will you still have!?"

Jade could only weakly stutter her answer, her voice soft and barely audible. "My friends… I'd still have my friends."

Emberella scoffed before she pointed her right hand at Jade as it ignited with flames. "You foolish, insolent child. I was the one who raised you. I was the one who gave you a roof over your head. I was the first one to ever truly take care of you! The child is always supposed to listen to their parents because they know what's best! You think that your friends give a damn about you!? Tell me, where are they now!? Face it, Jade, you're all alone!"

The fire covering her hand only began to increase in intensity as Emberella's face twisted in manic fury. "Any child who disobeys their parent so foolishly needs to be thoroughly punished. You speak as if you knew what was best for you, but the truth of the matter was that line of thought led you to your demise!" Emberella closed her eyes as she prepared for the final blow.

"Goodbye, my foolish daughter. You only have yourself to blame for this."

Time seemed to slow down for Jade then as it seemed the inevitable was to come. Sosuke had gone completely silent, no doubt knowing any and all advice he could offer was probably futile. Still, despite the pain she was in, despite the fact that her life was so close to its end, Jade found she felt little regret.

It's strange. Here I thought I'd end up dying with all sorts of regerts. But… I really don't. I guess… I kinda knew this was how it was gonna end. I just wish… I just wish I got to see you one last time.

Emberella's ball of fire seemed to reach its apex in size as it approached double the width of a basketball before the attack was shot down. All Jade could do now was simply close her eyes and await the bitter end.

Sorry… Candi.

Only it never came.

Jade could feel a pair of hands pick her up by her shoulders until her entire body was lifted off the ground and moved. Slowly, she began to flutter her eyes open before her jaw dropped as she soon saw just whom her savior was. "C-Candi?"

Candice looked down at Jade before she gave her a worried glance. "Hey. You doing alright, Jade?"

Jade weakly nodded her head, Candice giving a small smile in return. "I see. That's good. I was really worried for a second there, but I guess it's nothing Wendy can't fix."

Emberella meanwhile looked at the quincy with a look of confusion and fury. She was able to move Jade out of the way of my attack despite my firing at almost point blank-range? Ridiculous! Only the likes of Laxus should have that kind of speed. Wait a minute…The green hair… Emberella scowled then, as her eyes bore into Candice's back. She's the one who took Jade away from me!

Candice knelt down as she pressed Jade against a nearby building and gave her a wink. "You just sit tight right there, okay, Jade? I'll take it from here."

Jade gave Candice a worried look, despite her injuries. "C-Candi, wait, that woman is-"

"Your mom? Yeah, I overheard some of the shit she said," Candice interrupted as she looked back towards Emberella. "Honestly, it kinda explains why you were acting so weird for a while there."

"Candi, I never–"

But before Jade could properly explain, Candice pressed a single finger over Jade's lips before she closed her eyes and gave her a cheeky grin. "Hey, relax. I know that this whole thing must have been eating away at you like crazy for the last few months. But you don't have to place all of that worry on your shoulders anymore, Jade. Because, from this moment on–"

The quincy's grin turned sharp as she turned and glared at Emberella, her eyes filled with an anger that Jade had never before seen on her best friend's face as her entire body was surrounded by blue currents of electricity. "I'm gonna be the one to kick her ass."

Emberella simply looked at Candice with a look of befuddlement before she began to chuckle slightly, her shoulders moving up and down before it brought out into a hysterical laughter. As her mad laughter began to die down, she looked at Candice with a crazed look in her eyes. "You!? You think you can defeat me!? How utterly ridiculous!" Her lips curled upwards as her crazed expression seemed to only intensify. "But that's fine by me! By all means, try! Honestly, you've been a thorn in my side for quite some time, so disposing of you myself will be a trea–"

*BAM!*

As Emberella was sent flying through another building, Candice now stood with her Blut-enhanced arm outstretched. She proceeded to rotate her neck and crack her knuckles, never taking her eyes off of the pile of rubble into which Emberella had landed. "Come on, get your ass back up. I've got a real asswhooping planned for you after what you put Jade through," Candice spat. "Because no one hurts my best friend and gets away with it."

A pillar of fire shot out from the building Emberella crashed into before the flame wizard shot up into the sky, glaring at Candice with fury. "Don't get cocky just because you got a lucky shot in. If that's the best you can do with your magic, then you don't have anywhere near what it takes for me to consider you a threat."

Candice could only grin as the voltage around her intensified. "Oh, don't you worry. I've got plenty more in store for you from where that came from!"

Emberella smirked. "Good. I'll enjoy watching that arrogance fade away as I show you just how outclassed you truly are, you harlot."

The two sized each other up as their respective elements swirled around them, each one looking for an opening for their next attack. Several tense seconds passed before, almost simultaneously, they both made their moves.

(Song of choice: 1130 TYBW full orchestra choir, 38 seconds in, Bleach TYBW OST)

Candice and Emberella shot towards one another, Candice wielding her dual short swords while Emberella prepared blades of flame in her hands. The two clashed midair as a shockwave of blue lightning and yellow fire filled the air. Emberella swung her blade down at Candice but was met with only air as the quincy vanished from sight. She immediately pivoted and blocked the follow-up attack from Candice upon the quincy appearing behind her. Had she the time, Emberella would have rolled her eyes at the maneuver.

"Predictable!" Emberella shouted at Candice as she struck out with her blades, only for Candice to duck underneath the strike and deliver a kick to Emberella's stomach, sending her flying. The fire mage prepared a flaming bow in her hands as she narrowed her eyes and shot an arrow of flame at Candice, only for the green-haired quincy to respond with an arrow of her own as she created her bow. The two arrows collided with one another in a shower of sparks and embers, before countless arrows filled the air in an unholy combination of lightning and flame, one always canceling the other out.

Tired of the stalemate, Candice generated a bolt of lightning in her hand and tossed it at Emberella, but the dark mage deflected it with one of her flame blades before she ignited the soles of her feet and soared towards Candice. The quincy was quick to block the oncoming onslaught of Emberella's blades, moving her arms as best as she could to keep up, but eventually Emberella overwhelmed her as her right blade managed to sneak past Candice's guard and graze her shoulder, cutting and searing it simultaneously.

"Gah, fuck off!" Candice screamed before she grabbed Emberella by the throat and proceeded to tackle her through a nearby building to the ground. Emberella glared up at Candice as her eyes began to glow before the flames erupted out from her eyes and shot Candice up into the air, burning her skin. Emberella then rocketed upward, slamming the heel of her left foot into Candice's stomach, hurtling the quincy higher into the air.

Emberella tried to soar past Candice for a follow up strike to her back, but the moment she had, Candice disappeared from the strike in a flash of blue sparks. She appeared right behind Emberella as she swung one of her short swords at her, but the fire wizard spun around mid-air to avoid the attack, and she pointed her left hand at the quincy.

"Frenzied Flame: Blast of Madness!"

An almost laser-like blast of fire hurtled towards Candice, forcing her to soar above the strike before she formed lightning along her right hand and tossed it right at Emberella. Emberella leapt back to evade attack before she cocked her hand back as a flaming orb formed into her hand, while Candice prepared a shot with her newly formed bow.

"Frenzied Flame: Sweltering Pitch!"

"Galvano Blast!"

Candice watched as her lightning-empowered Heilig Pfeil shot through Emberella's fireball and slammed into the flame mage's stomach, forcing her into the ground in a new cloud of dust and rubble. Unfortunately, before Candice could follow up, Emberella had already come rocketing out of said dust cloud with a furious expression and her flame blades at the ready once more, a seared shut wound the only sign that Candice's arrow had done any damage. Candice quickly switched back to her own blades as well just as Emberella was about to strike before the two began exchanging a flurry of blows.

A blow aimed at Candice's neck, a thrust towards Emberella's chest, reishi and flame blade clashed in the skies of Magnolia. Emberella tried to slash Candice with her right blade, but Candice leapt above the attack and slammed her foot down on Emberella's head. The dark mage snarled as she tried to strike at Candice again, but the quincy spun around mid-air as she pivoted around behind Emberella and swung her left blade down Emberella's back, leaving a nasty cut that forced the other to cry out.

Emberella snarled in fury before she turned around, her eyes glowing dark yellow. "Frenzied Flame: Searing Eyes!"

A burst of dancing flame shot towards Candice, but the quincy simply smirked as she practically skated around the fire before she moved in towards Emberella and sliced her down the chest. Having suffered a second slash to her body, Emberella snapped. With an indignant shout, she enshrouded herself with flame before tackling Candice, sending the two of them careening to the ground before Candice's back crashed against the concrete.

Candice kicked Emberella off of her, but Emberella quickly followed up with a flaming drop kick on Candice, the quincy only narrowly avoiding it by rolling out of the way. Getting to her feet as quickly as she could, Candice fired multiple Heilig Pfeil at Emberella, only for Jade's "mother" to deflect each of the incoming shots with her blades before she soared in and landed a flaming kick on Candice's stomach.

With a yell, the green-haired quincy bashed her elbow into Emberella's face before she swung her sword down at Emberella. However, she was just too late, her spiritual steel met condensed flame as Emberella managed to deflect the swing in time. Annoyed, Candice tried to hit Emberella on the neck, but the fire surrounding the dark mage seemed to harden, stopping the blow. Candice's eyes widened with surprise before Emberella sneered and attempted to thrust her remaining sword at Candice's body, only for it too to clang against her body as blue lines covered it.

"Blut Vene, huh?" Emberella remarked before she quickly leapt back to avoid a dual strike from Candice's swords before the dark mage pointed both of her hands at the quincy. "Then let's see how well you'll handle this!? Frenzied Flames: Hellfire Blitz!"

As several dozen fireballs shot towards Candice, the quincy took up into the air before she formed her bow and tried to toss several bolts of lightning at Emberella, but as the fire mage glanced up, she simply moved both of her hands upward as her barrage of fire balls followed along with it. Flame clashed with electricity, and while Candice's lightning bolts were stronger than Emberella's flames individually, the sheer volume Emberella was firing began to quickly overwhelm Candice's lightning.

Fortunately, Candice knew better than to continue a firefight she could no longer win, and rather than simply continue in a losing battle, she clad her entire body in Blut Vene before she dashed through the barrage of fire. While the damage of the flames wasn't entirely negated, it had been enough for her to force her way through the barrage, taking Emberella completely by surprise before she focused her schrift into her twin blades.

"Take this!" Candice shouted as her blades, now covered in green lightning, slashed through Emberella's own and across her stomach. Emberella cried out in pain before her entire left arm clad itself in flame and narrowed her eyes at Candice, her mind overtaken by rage.

"Frenzied Flame: Swirling Purgatory!"

The vortex of fire swirled towards Candice, prompting her to switch from Vene to Arterie before she cocked her right hand back and transformed one of her swords into a bolt of lightning.

"Galvano Javelin!"

Much like before, Candice's lightning pierced through Emberella's flames. Knowing that this attack was more powerful than the one she had been hit with before, Emberella formed a flaming barrier around her body just as the attack was about to connect. For a few seconds, it seemed as if the barrier would hold, but then, much to Emberella's shock and horror, the bolt of lightning blasted through the barrier and right onto her chest. The dark mage let out a cry of agony as electricity ran through her body. However, just as the attack's side effects ended, and before she could get a chance to catch her breath, Candice had slammed her right foot down on Emberella, cracking some of her ribs before Candice formed another bolt of lightning in her hand and blasted Emberella with it, forcing her to the ground.

Candice panted for a few seconds in an attempt to catch her breath before she looked down at Emberella, the woman glaring right back at her as she clenched at the earth beneath her. Damn, this bitch can really fight, huh? Much as Candice hated to admit it, she had to almost go all out right from the start. While she was no doubt landing more definitive blows than Emberella had, it hadn't changed the fact that the battle was still hard fought.

I can see why Jade had such a hard time with her, Candice thought. One mess up, and I could be in for a real world of hurt.

Emberella slowly got up to her feet as Candice continued to catch her breath before the flame wizard spat out some blood from her mouth, her eyes never once leaving the quincy. "I'll give you some credit Miss Catnipp. It's been a long time since I was pushed so hard in a fight. At least Jade managed to get attached to someone strong while I was away."

Candice shrugged as she smirked, happy to take an extra moment for a breather. "Eh, what can I say? Your daughter's got some good taste. I don't just mean that figuratively by the way, some of the restaurants she's taken me to have been amazing."

Emberella chuckled despite herself. "Yes, well, she did have a knack for finding the best places to dine in while we were out and about. I suppose I'll miss that culinary intuition of hers once I finish the both of you off."

Candice's playful smirk was almost immediately replaced with one of anger as she scowled at Emberella. "What the fuck is your problem!? When me and Jade were on the road, she had nothing but the best things to say about you! You've raised her for years and now you're just willing to toss her aside!?"

"I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand," Emberella said with a frown. "Who are you to talk about attachment's anyways? You're always going around sleeping with whomever suits your fancy before you move onto your next lay. Honestly, it's pathetic."

Candice grit her teeth and clenched her hands before she responded. "Yeah, ok. I sleep around a lot, you got me there. It might seem like I just go from person to person looking for my next romp, and there's definitely some truth there. But when it comes to the people in the guild, I can find a connection I can keep going back to, ya know? Not just the people I sleep with either. Mirajane's great for all kinds of gossip I wanna hear, Cana's the only woman I know that can out drink me and then some, Natsu's the kinda guy you always want to have your back, and Erza' and Makarov are the only authority figures in my life that I've actually liked."

She then smirked. "Hell, that's not even counting Bambi and Lil. I've known those two for years and they're the best damn friends I could ever have, and those two regai aren't too bad to have around either. Hell, I've even started to come around on that Ulquiorra. Never thought I'd find myself thinking of an Arrancar as a comrade but here we are. And Jade…"

Candices smile turned more sincere then. "Jade's…Jades the one who's always got my back. Even when I'm about to do something really stupid, or when I drag her into some really stupid bull shit, I can always count on her to be there for me. She's loyal through and through. Something I wish I had been a while back. Sure, she can be a bit of a stick in the mud at times but…I know she'd be willing to do anything for me and I'd do the same for her as well."

Candice closed her eyes then, her mind filled by her dear friend. "Yeah, she's always been there for me. Honestly, sometimes I think she's too good for me. But despite all of that, she choses stick by me, ya know? And that's the kind of friend you gotta keep, no matter what."

"Loyalty you say?" Emberella spoke as her frown somehow increased. "Loyalty? Yes, she chose you, someone she hasn't even known for even a year, over me, her own mother." Her eyes narrowed at Candice as her eyes began to glow. "You weren't the one who took her in. Who raised her. I was the one who taught her how to fight. How to survive. I was the one who was always there for her, not you. You? You're just the closest thing the poor thing got attached to once I was forced to leave Chicken Fangs. Do you honestly think it's something about you that she appreciates? Please, the girl is nothing but damaged goods, desperate for a connection. You just happened to the one who found her first. Nothing more."

"And how does that make me any different from you then, huh!?" Candice demanded. "Jade told me about how this amazing woman came into her life and saved her from a bunch of monsters before she took her in! What if it was Master Makarov who had been there that day, huh? Or someone else that would actually put her care and happiness above their own! You're not anything special either! She didn't have to learn to be a fighter, or learn all that other stuff you may have taught her! All Jade ever wanted, all she ever needed, was for someone to love her damn it!"

"I did love her!" Emberella snapped. "I raised her myself! What, did you think I only raised her to be some perfect weapon for me or something! I taught her how to fight, how to kill, so she could survive! I already lost one child who couldn't protect herself, and I wasn't about to lose another!"

She then looked away from Candice. "But the minute she placed her own desires above her own mothers…She lost the right to be my daughter."

"That's…not what mothers are supposed to do."

"Hmm?" Emberella responded, surprised by Candice's words. "Come again?"

"I said, that's not how a mother is supposed to be!" Candice shouted at her. "So, you'll only love your daughter as long as she's useful to you, is that it!? That's beyond fucked up! Mothers are supposed to care about their child regardless of whether or not they turn out the way they want them to, regardless of whether they listen to them or not! A mother is-"

"What would you possibly know about being a mother!?" Emberella screamed as she tossed a fireball at Candice. The quincy ducked underneath the flamming orb before she dashed over to Emberella and clenched on her right wrist before she glared into her eyes.

"I know enough, you damn bitch!" Candice shouted before she grabbed onto the collar of Embrella's dress and punched her across the face before she continued. "My mother and I didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things when I reached my teen years! She wanted me to be a nice and proper lady and I can assure you I was anything but that! But even still, even still, she loved me regardless! Every day she could, she'd see me off to school! She'd make, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, because she cared! I never told her this before I left home because I was a stupid little shit head, but I know she loved me, and I loved her back!"

Candice punched Emberella once more, causing her to roll across the ground before the quincy spat in her direction. "So don't tell me I don't know a damn thing about being a mom, because I clearly know more about it than you ever have."

Emberella glared at Candice as she wobbled and got up to her feet, her face filled with a kind of anger that would have disturbed even some of the most courageous of men. "Don't talk as if you understand what I've been through, you damn whore," As she spoke her words filled with vitriol, the right half of her skin began to clad itself in a black marking. "You don't know the pain of losing your entire family. Of coming home to find the charred corpse of your own daughter. I swore I'd get revenge on the ones responsible."

Soon the dark substance began to clad itself over her arms and legs as well, as a dark purple flame began to surround Emberella's body. "And to get that revenge, I'll use everything, and everyone necessary until I burn the Magic Council to cinders!"

Candice's eyes widened as she felt Emberella's power beginning to rise, along with a strange and sharp discomfort from the purple flames Emberella's body was emitting. "What the hell!? Her powers just shot up like crazy! The hell is-

But before Candice could give the matter anymore thought, Emberella took a deep breath as she bent her body back before she let out a mighty shout. "Fire Devil's Rage!"

(Song of choice: Natsu vs Future Rouge, Fairy Tail OST)

A massive torrent of purple fire shot out from Emberella's mouth, encroaching on Candice far faster than she had expected. The quincy just narrowly managed to leap over the massive attack, but as she glanced down, her eyes widened at the trail of destruction the attack had wrought, leaving only molten earth in its wake. What?! That's insane! Good thing I didn't get hit by that or else I'd have been in some real pain, even with Blut Ven-

"Fire Devils Searing Talon!"

Much to Candice's shock, Emberella had already appeared above her, slamming her foot down on her head and sending Candice hurtling towards the ground. Candice crashed on her hands and knees and quickly rolled out of the way of Emberella as she slammed her feet where she had once been before Candice formed her bow and took aim. "Ok, no! We are so not doing this transformation power up bullshit! Galvano Blast!"

Emberella just sneered at the oncoming arrow before she cocked back her left fist as it clad itself with purple flame before she punched the arrow as hard as she could. "Fire Devils Searing Fist!"

The flames around her fists destroyed Candice's lightning before they shot out a purple bullet made of fire right towards Candice. Candice leapt over the attack before she went rushing in with her blades, but as she swung her sword down onto Emberella's neck, the dark mage simply grabbed it with two of her fingers, both digits clad in purple fire before she sneered at Candice.

"What, that's it?" Emberella chastised Candice before she casually snapped the weapon in her hand before the fingers on her right hand lit up with flame as she cocked her right hand back. "Fire Devil's Searing Claw Strike!"

Candice braced herself for the oncoming attack by activating blut vene, but as Emberella swung her hand struck against Candice's skin, Candice howled in pain as Emberella's flaming nails cut into her skin. Candice placed her right hand on Emberella's head before she fired off a bolt of lightning point blank on her head, but while the attack blew Emberella's head back a bit, the fire mage still looked at her with a crazed grin before she grabbed Candice by the face and slammed her to the ground, as her expression turned more manic.

"Now, let's go for a little ride, shall we!?"

Emberella began to run across the street, dragging the quincy through molten terrain before she lifted Candice up and proceeded to slam her feet against her chin, sending her high into the air. Candice spun and spun as she soared through the air as she tried to bring herself to a complete stop before she glared down at Emberella, quickly forming her bow as she took aim.

"Licht Regen!"

While she hadn't exactly mastered the move to the extent that Uryu, Quilge and Liltotto had, she was still more than proficient enough, unleashing an onslaught of 800 arrows down at Emberella. However, Jade's 'mother' didn't seem the least bit concerned as she engulfed her left arm with purple flames.

"Oh, you think a little light show like that can stop me!? Here, let me show you some real fireworks! Fire Devil's Searing Wave!"

The black-haired woman swung her hand towards the barrage of arrows, as a massive wave of fire shot out from her hand and incinerated all of the arrows of light. Candice ducked under the attack as she tried to fire out more Heilig Pfeil at Emberella, but the fire wizard managed to leap and dodge through the barrage of arrows till she leapt up into the air and delivered a flaming kick to Candice's stomach, forcing her to cough up some blood before she was sent careening away.

"Get back here, I have so much more pain in store for you!" Emberella told her as she gave chase to the quincy. Candice righted herself midair as she took aim focused her schrift into her Heilig Pfeil before she took her shot.

"Galvano Blast!"

The arrow of lightning hurtled towards Emberella, but the fire wizard simply clad her entire body with a purple flame, flying through the blast as she grabbed Candice by the throat with her left hand and tackled her through a nearby building and to the ground below.

Emberella smirked as she looked down at the Quincy, tightening the grip around Candice's throat. "Not so talkative now, are you? But then again, I suppose a woman like you is used to taking a pounding, aren't you?"

Snarling with anger Candice activated Blut Arterie and tried used her left hand to try to free herself from Embreall's choking grip while at the same timing punching away at the side of Embrella's head with her right. However, it proved to be futile as the crazed mage lifted her up, her punches barley enough to even cause Emberella to flinch. She gave Candice a quick chortle before she reared back her right hand as a swirling vortex of fire formed around her fist and brought it down on Candice's belly. "Fire Devil's Searing Vortex Fist!"

"Errrrryyyyyaaaaaaggghhhh!"

Candice couldn't help but scream as she was sent hurtling across the air, her momentum out of control. She stretched out her right hand then to grip onto a nearby building before she took off with Hirenkyaku to attempt a sneak attack from behind. However, just before she could strike at her with her fist, Emberella ducked underneath her strike before she kicked Candice in the chin and grabbed onto her left leg. Smirking with malicious intent, the flame wizard began to spin around on the ground, flames cladding her body before it shot upwards in a massive pillar of flame, engulfing the quincy in the fire before she tossed Candice up high and sneered.

"Fire Devil's Rage!"

Once more a burst of purple flame shot out from Emberella's mouth as it hurtled towards Candice. The quincy had only just managed to regain control of her senses before she noticed the oncoming strike before she formed her twin swords into her hands and transformed the weapon into a bow and loaded up her blade as a makeshift arrow before she fired it in an attempt to counter Emberella's spell.

"Galvano Javelin!"

Purple flames clashed with blue lightning, and at first it seemed that Candice's attack had a chance of overpowering Emberella's flames. However, much to Candice's horror the lightning was swiftly overwhelmed before the attack hurtled towards Candice. "Shit!" The quincy cursed before her legs began to glow before she vanished away from the attack, with not a moment to spare.

Emberella grinned before she turned around, as Candice appeared right behind her and gave the quincy a mocking clap of approval. "Very nice, I didn't think there was time to dodge. That's quite the handy trick."

Candice grinned. "You like that one huh? I personally rather not use it unless I don't have to, but your stupid ass power up's left me with no choice but to use Blitzrakete Schritt!"

Then, before Emberella knew what happened, Candice sped behind Emberella, a shallow cut forming around the flame wizard's chest as the quincy turned around. Candice smirked, as her confidence returned in full. "See, how do you like that, huh? Looks like I'm too fast for ya now!"

She then used Hirenkyaku to dash in for another slash. Then another, and another, and another. As Candice continued to slash away, Emberella's body began to take more and more damage. Admittedly, all of the cuts she was inflecting were quite shallow, but that didn't deter her in the slightest, as Candice glared at the flame wizard. It'll take a while, but long as I can keep up this momentum, I can take her down!

However, just as Candice went in for one last strike, her sword slashing against Emberella's belly, the dark mage grasped onto Candice's hand before she could speed away, eliciting a gasp from Candice. "No, damn it!" She cursed.

Emberella smirked at Candice as the quincy desperately tried to pull herself free, before she quickly grasped onto the quincys other hand as well. "I'll admit it, that speed of yours was simply too much for me to catch up with. Were you a bit stronger, you might have even won. But you can be the fastest person in the world, and it won't mean a damn thing if you can't move!"

Emberella then let go of Candice' right hand as her own imbued itself with fire before she reared it back and attempted to punch Candice across the face. Her eyes going wide at the incoming attack, Candice activated Blut Vene just before her fist made impact. However, in spite of her last-minute defensive maneuver, it mattered little, as Embrella's fist crashed into Candice's nose, breaking the cartilage and snapping her head back as she let out a scream of pain…only for Emberella's fist to slam into Candice's face yet again.

Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*

Again and again did Emberella punch away at Candice, her head snapping back and forth with each punch. The quincy wanted nothing more than to free herself from her current predicament, to focus her Schrift through her body to give Emberella enough of an electric shock so she could free herself, but the flame wizard was simply too relentless with her assault. She tried to swing her remaining sword at Emberlla's side, hoping that it would be enough to free her from Emberella's grasp, but it was of no use, her blade only giving the flame wizard a superficial cut as she continued to wail away at her.

All Candice could do now…was simply endure her torment.

Emberella began to cackle as she continued her relentless onslaught on Candice's face, her face contorting with manic glee. It serves her right for what she's done! Emberella told herself as she punched the quincy in the face yet again. She's the reason why Jade decided to abandon me! Well, I'll make her see just what happens when disobedient children decide they know what's best over their own mother! Yes, she'll rue the day that she ever-

"The Prayers Fountain!

"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren!"

Emberella's eyes shot wide open as a massive torrent of water to wash over her, before both she and the water were engulfed in a blast of snow. As the snow dust cleared, the two could see Emberella was completely engulfed in nice, save for her right hand which held onto Candice's neck.

Candice let out a painful groan as she slowly opened her eyes, smirking at the frozen Emberella before she let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh jeez, cut it a little close there, don't ya think?" Candice told the approaching Cana and Rukia as she freed herself from Emberella's grasp. "Pretty sure that beating gave me a concussion."

Cana rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, you're welcome and all that. Don't need to thank us or anything, really."

Candice chuckled at Cana's little jab at her. "Oh, come on, you know I'd never get mad at my favorite drinking buddy."

Cana gave Candice a small smile as Rukia spoke up next. "My apologies, but I felt it would be best if we waited for the right opportunity for us to strike. We figured if we did it too soon, we'd lose the element of surprise. At least now it seems like we managed to finally put her down."

"Yeah, and not a moment too soon," Candice said with exhaustion. "The hell kind of magic was that anyways? It almost felt like a dragon slayers, or even that Jackass God slayer we dealt with in the tower of heaven."

Cana shrugged. 'Who knows? Who cares? At least now we'll-"

"Fire Devil's Searing Tornado!"

Candice, Rukia, and Cana's eyes shot wide open before the ice over Emberella's body began to melt almost instantly as a vortex of purple flame formed over her body and expanded into a massive tornado. The three Fairy Tail Wizards were flung up into the sky as the swirling fire scorched their skin as they spun out of control through the air until at last, the twister of flame faded away and all three of them crashed to the ground.

Candice groaned in pain as she glanced over towards Cana and Rukia as they laid sprawled out against the ground. They were alive, thankfully, but unconscious. Letting out a groan that equally conveyed her pain and frustration, she attempted to get back up to her feet…only for the heel of Emberella's shoe to slam itself into the back of Candice's head, slamming her face first into the ground.

Emberella sneered as she ground her foot against Candice's head, as she let out a sinister chuckle. "Well Miss Catnip, now that those two pieces of trash have been taken care of, it's just you and me. It's truly a shame that I've decided to dispose of you, you would have made for an excellent addition to my makeshift army. It's not often that I find someone who can withstand such a brutal onslaught of my Devil Slaying Magic after all."

"Devil…Slaying…Magic?" Candice barley uttered before Emberella slammed her foot against the back of the quincy's head once more, as she let out a panful squeal. "Errrraggggghhhh!"

Emberella simply chuckled at Candice's tormented scream. "Yes, think of it like how Dragon Slaying Magic operates, but instead of it being tailor made for killing dragons, its main purpose is for killing demons. But while you may not be a devil, as you can see, it's still rather potent, no?"

It was a type of magic that she had learned during her time in Grimoire Heart as a former member of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. Master Hades had seen her potential with flame magic, and thus decided to teach her the magic to help her truly excel. It was a perfect deal for the both of them. For Hades, it had allowed him to gain a secret weapon, should Tartaros one day attempt to strike against him, and gave himself a brand new, and exceptionally powerful wizard under his thrall.

For Emberella, however, it was the perfect magic for her to learn once she had finally burned the Magic Council to the ground and focused her efforts on Tartaros. They too had been complicit in what had happened to her family, and thus they two would perish. That, however, was a day far, far into the future after Master Hades had completed his own plans for the Grand Magic world and the Magic Council had been brought to its knees.

For now…she had to dispose of the eyesore before her eyes.

The devil slayer raised up her foot, only to slam it against the back of Candice's head several more times as she glared down at the quincy. Scoffing, Emberella lifted Candice up by her long green locks before she turned her around and clenched her left hand around Candice's throat, choking the quincy in her grasp. Emberella smirked, hoping to see a look of horror that was no doubt on Candice's face…only to be met with disappointment.

She looked tired, her face a bloody mess, and a black eye on her right side, but despite her own condition, she glared down at Emberella as best she could in spite of the pain she was in. "Is that…all you got?" Candice told her before she weakly chuckled. "I've been in bar fights that hurt more than this."

Emberella simply scoffed at her defiance. "Honestly, I don't know what Jade sees in you. You're not the most beautiful woman in the guild, nor the strongest. You're impulsive, brash and rude as a mull, and sleep around like a whore. So tell me, just what is it about you that took her away from me, hmmm? What's so damn special about you!?"

"Because she's always there for me when I need her most."

(Song of choice: Man of the world, Naruto Shippuden OST)

Emberella's eyes shot wide open as Jade's voice had unexpectedly called out to her. Turning around, she could see her 'daughter' slowly limping towards her, her body covered in all sorts of cuts, burns and bruises. She looked like she could barely even stand, let alone move. But despite this, despite just how absolutely horrid she looked…she was still giving her 'mother' a determined glance.

"...Jade." Her mother whispered, surprised to see the woman standing before her.

Jade shot Candice a brief glance, as their eyes met for just a moment before she looked back at Emberella. "Yeah, Candi's rude as hell. She has hardly any table manners, she drinks all the damn time, sleeps with anyone that catches her eye, cares way too much about her hair and she's really, really damn stubborn when she makes up her mind on something. Honestly, she's so insufferable."

Jade's lips curled up into a smile then. "But she's also someone that tells me just how great I really am. That I mean something to her. Every time I doubted myself, she was always trying to cheer me up. That I was the best damn thing that ever happened to her, and you know what? She's the same for me. Because I know no matter what happens Candi will always be there to fight for me no matter what!"

Jade then looked away, unable to look her 'mother' in the eye.

"Unlike you."

Emberella's eyes widened a little more before she snarled. "Is this just because I left you behind after the disaster at Chicken Fangs? You stupid, ungrateful brat! I had more important things to do than to scour the country to find where you ended up! A guild to control, and a council to topple! I would have found you eventually, so why couldn't you have just been a good girl and simply tried to find me!?"

"Tried to find you? I did nothing but look for you!" Jade shouted. "I looked high and low, and I was running out of money! I couldn't get any jobs in the local guilds, not after your stunt at Chicken Fang's failed, because I didn't want to take the risk I'd be questioned about you! I starved because I wanted to make sure you wouldn't get hurt because of me! Because I thought you loved me!"

Emberella cackled at Jade. "Of course I loved you dear! But any good child would have simply kept on waiting till they were found! But instead, you found yourself attached to this damn harlot of a wizard!" She then sneered as she lifted up the exhausted quincy as her entire body began to cloak itself in fire. "But I can still take you back, my dear Jade. All I simply have to do…is remove the one obstacle that took you away from me in the first place. Then I'll be all you have left."

The fire then seeped from her hand and onto Candice herself, the green haired woman letting out an immense scream of pain as the flames licked at her body.

"No, don't!" Jade pleaded as tears began to fall from her eyes. "I'll do anything you want, anything, just please, don't kill her!"

Emberella raised an eye at that. "Oh? Anything?"

Jade nodded. "Yes, anything! I'll be your shadow again, I'll even sell my body for money, just please, anything but that!"

Emberella stared at Jade before she smirked. "Such a good girl. I knew that you would see reason eventually," She then turned her gaze towards Candice, her expression changing from manic joy to fury before she speared her hand as purple flames began to concentrate around it and cocked it back. "But you need to learn your lesson properly!"

"NO!"

As Emberella's arm began to move towards Candice to impale her through the chest, the former Sternritter found her gaze looking not towards the oncoming attack…but at the dear friend who had pledged everything she could in an attempt to save her life. The friend who had taken Candice out from a very dark place. A friend that she had come to value more than almost any other. A friend who she could always rely on.

A friend who gave her a purpose and all of the memories that came with it.

(Song of choice: Gentle Hands, Naruto Shippuden.)


"Why are you helping me?" Jade asked. "Didn't you push me in?"

"Wow, were you blackout drunk or something? You tripped cause you were so drunk you couldn't tell your ass from your head," Candice said. "As for why…I dunno. I just wanna."

"You just…want to?" Jade asked.

"What? You got a fucking problem with that," Candice said, down at the girl's ankles, finishing getting the hose untangled. She got to her feet. "I'm Candice. Don't tell me your name, don't particularly care. But, I'll tell you what, you pay for my food and lodging and we can travel together."

"Um, why?"

"I know when someone's reached rock bottom. You don't have to tell me about it, but you watch my back, I watch yours till we get bored of each other." Candice gave her hand for Jade to shake. "Deal?"

Jade's gaze narrowed. She thought to swat Candice's hand away and tell her where to go, but Candice had helped her out and she didn't seem to want much in return. "Fine, deal," Jade said, shaking her hand.


She had already been through so much when they first met.


"I swore to myself when I joined Fairy Tail that I'd never leave another friend behind ever again," Candice said, her eyes filled with determination. "Not anyone in the guild, not Lil, not Bambi, and especially not you. You've always been there for me, no matter what stupid shit I've gotten into. Honestly, you have no idea what it means to have someone like that in my life after all the people I've lost. And because of that, because of that, I-"

Her entire body was covered in lightning then before she took off into a charge to attack the dark guild master. "I WON'T LET THIS BASTARD TAKE YOU AWAY!"


They had both suffered to protect one another.


"I'm...really not that good of a friend Candi." Jade told Candice, her face looking rather demure.

Without warning, Candice grabbed one of Jade's hands before she looked into Jade's eyes. "Oh come on, what's this? You're supposed to be the one cheering me up, not vice versa. Remember what I told you back at Akane Resort? You're the best damn thing to have happened to me since I got here. I meant it then and I mean it now."

"I...I know." Jade finally spoke up. "But...maybe you'd be better off without me."

"Bullshit. Without you, I'd have spent all of the jewel in my wallet in the first month I found myself in Fiore." Candice said before she smiled. "You keep me focused. That's something that the others have always had a hard time doing back in the Wandenreich. Sure, I know I tend to groan and roll my eyes every time you're a buzzkill, but that's usually because I know you're right."

She then slowly lifted Jade's head up with one finger as her train slowly began to pull up behind her. "So don't doubt yourself alright? Because no matter what anyone else says about you...you'll always matter to me."


And this...was how it was all going to end?

"CANDICE!"

Candice couldn't help but weakly look up at Jade, her best friends' eyes filled with tears as utter anguish erupted from her voice, horror evident in her eyes. Candice closed her eyes then, as sparks of electricity began to build up around her. All of this time, you've just needed someone to look out for you, like a real friend. But you weren't the only person looking for someone to fill a hole in their heart. After what happened with Bambi, I HATED myself. You were the first person to show me that I could make up for it. That I could be more than just some punk who roamed the streets.

As her own tears began to fall from her eyes, so did tiny bits of electricity.

You don't deserve this. You're not just some thief I found off of the streets.

The electricity that surrounded Candice intensified.

You're not just some tool for that damn bitch to use as she pleases.

Candices body began to tense up.

You're not just some girl that happens to have Sosuke Aizen inside of her either.

Lightning began to emit around her eyes in place of her tears as a gust of wind began to pick up around her.

YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND!

*CRACKOW!*

The sound of thunder rang throughout Magnolia as a massive green bolt of electricity shot up and enveloped Candice, electrocuting Emberella in the process as she let out a yelp of pain. She released her grip on Candice's green locks, only for a lightning fast impact to slam into her face. Emberella suddenly found herself soaring through the air, unable to stop her momentum before she crashed through the wall of a nearby building, the devil slayer crying out in pain from the surprisingly powerful blow. She snarled before she picked herself out of the wall and she glared back at Candice, only for her eyes widen at the one responsible. "W-what!? What the hell is that?!"

(Song of choice: Stardust Crusaders. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3)

The reason for her surprise was quite evident. Right behind green haired Quincy's shoulders was a single pair of green lighting shaped wings, flickering in and out of existence as if it were some sort of dying lightbulb. Candice stomped towards her, the quincy's face laced with a stone-cold fury. "Listen here, you worthless piece of shit," Candice snarled. "You can hurt me all you want. I've already died before, so I can take it. Break my bones, burn my skin, hell, you can even ruin my hair. It'll all be fine eventually. But the heart of my best friend? That's off limits!"

The wings behind Candice's shoulders solidified in a bright green light as she floated above the ground, lightning sparkling off of her skin and shooting off all around her before she took off in a burst of blinding speed and slammed her fist onto Emberella's face, the attack sending her through the other side of the building.

"So don't you ever, ever make Jade cry in front of me again!" Candice screamed with fury as she threw her left hand to the side, green lightning sparkling off of her body.

A large purple pillar of flame shot out from behind the building before the dark mage shot up into the sky, her entire body clad in flame."Me? I'm not the one who brought all of this suffering onto her! You are!"

Emberella soared down, her flames greatly boosting her speed as she reared her left hand back in an attempt to strike Candice down. However, just as she attempted to slam her fist into Candice's face, quincy dodged to the left, then the right with Emberella trying to follow through with her attack. Again and again, she tried to strike at Candice, but the Quincy was now dodging and weaving through Emberella's flurry of attacks with ease as the flame wizard continued her rant. "You're the reason Jade abandoned me! You're the reason why I had to hurt her! You're the reason she -gah!"

But before Emberella could continue with both her rant and onslaught, Candice grabbed onto one of Emberella's wrists and she had kneed the woman in the stomach, forcing her to bend over. Snarling with rage Candice grabbed Emberella by the collar of her dress and shouted into her face. "My fault!? I'm not the one who beat her black and blue for wanting to settle down in the guild!"

Candice delivered a lightning enhanced left hook to the side of Emberella's head, forcing her to cry out as Candice continued. "All she ever wanted was a place to belong! For people to accept her for who she was! A family! That was supposed to be your job damn it, and you fucked it up!"

Emberella tried to grasp at Candice's face, but the Quincy simply grabbed Emberella by the wrist and swung her hard, breaking a nearby lamppost in two before the dark mage clad herself in fire and kicked Candice hard on the head. The Quincy grunted in pain from the kick, but her grip did not lessen before she jumped up into the air and slammed Emberella down hard in the ground, and a massive crack ran down the entire street.

Emberella cried out as her back hit against the ground, only to clad her right leg with fire as she kicked Candice hard on the chest. "Fire Devil's Searing Talon!"

The blow had been intense enough to finally force Candice to let go of Emberella's arm, allowing the Devil Slayer a chance to properly follow up with her next attack as flames concentrated around her fingers. "Fire Devil's Searing Claw!" It was a futile effort, however, as Candice ducked underneath the attack with ease, and then, with unimaginable speed, slammed her elbow into Emberella's face, knocking the Devil Slayer back several feet.

Candice glared at Emberella, lighting coursing around her eyes. "Don't go blaming me for Jade abandoning you when the only person there is to blame is you! The only thing Jade ever wanted, the only thing she ever needed, was for someone to always be there when she needed them most, not just when she listened to whatever you wanted!"

"Shut up!" Emberella screamed as she slammed a flaming fist to the right of Candice's head, then a left before she continued her relentless assault. "Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up! We would have stayed a happy family if you never entered our lives!"

But before her next flaming strike went for her head, Candice grabbed onto the attack, narrowed her eyes and slammed her forehead onto Emberella's, the dark mage taking several steps back as a result as blood dripped from her nose.

"Bullshit!" Candice yelled. "As long as you wanted to destroy the Magic Council, you wouldn't have ever let her have friends of her own! That's no way for anyone to live, let alone your own daughter! Sooner or later this was bound to happen!"

Emberella snarled at Candice word's as two flaming orbs of fire appeared in her hands. "I'm her mother, I'm all the help, and company she would have ever needed! Fire Devil's -"

Bam!*

Not allowing her the opportunity to finish, Candice punched her hard across the face before she pressed a hand against Emberella's chest. Green Electricity focused around her palm before she blasted the lightning point blank, lightning erupting from her back. The flame mage stumbled several steps back, as she panted and wheezed.

"That doesn't make you a mother," Candice spat at her. "That makes you a control freak."

"Damn you!"

Emberella took off in a charge as she tried to swing at Candice wildly, abandoning anymore form or technique in a desperate and frantic bid to land some kind of hit, but it availed her nothing. Then, after one last strike passed her by, Candice let out an angry shout and slammed her knee onto Emberella's stomach, forcing to cough up blood as she stepped back. However, Candice was far from finished and vanished right before Emberella eyes and slammed her fist underneath the devil slayers chin. Emberella went soaring up into the sky then, righting herself midflight, and unleashed a torrent of purple flame down towards Candice…only for her to vanish from Emberellas sight yet again as Candice kicked her hard in the back, bending her spine before she crashed to the ground.

Emberella snarled before she brought herself up to her feet. "No, no, no! I've come too far to let it end here!" Emberella proclaimed as several dozen spears of flame appeared behind her. "And I won't let some harlot be the reason why it's all gone straight to hell! Now begone! Fire Devils Searing Impalement!"

A dozen or so spears of flame shot towards Candice, but Candice slammed her right hand to the ground and a powerful bolt of green lightning traveled across the ground, dissipating all of the flames and forcing Emberella to move out of the way.

"You damn harlot!" Emberella declared as her heels skid against the ground. "I'll burn you down to the very bone! You will rue the day-"

*Bam!*

Yet before Emberella could get another word off, Candice had already flown across the street and punched her hard across the face, cracking her jawbone and ceasing her rant. However, before Embrella could go flying away, Candice had grabbed her by the arm and yanked Emberella forward only to punch her across the face even harder, cracking her skull as she rolled across the street.

"Unless you plan on getting on your hands and feet to grovel to Jade for forgiveness, I don't want to hear another word out of that damn mouth of yours," Candice spat as she glared at Emberella as she got up to her feet.

"Errrrrraaaaaagghhhhhhhh!"

Emberella let off a furious scream before she took a deep breath and fired out a blast of fire from her mouth, the flames so intense that they melted the nearby brick without even touching it. "Fire Devil's Rage!"

Candice, however, simply narrowed her eyes at the torrent of flame before she formed a bow in her hand and took aim.

"Galvano Blast!"

The green lightning arrow blasted through the torrent of purple flame, slamming into Emberella and forcing her to scream in pain as electricity flowed through her entire body. As the lightning faded, Emberella fell to her hands and knees, panting with exhaustion as the electricity finally began to fade from her aching muscles.

"This... Isn't…Over!" The Devil Slayer proclaimed as flames began to surround her before she took off into the air and the flames surrounding her began to swirl. "I won't lose…Not now! Not to the likes of you! My daughter-

"Shut the fuck up!"

Emberella's eyes shot open as she heard Candice's voice right behind her before the devil slayer spun around and blasted a wave of fire out of the palm of her right hand at the quincy, only for Candice to appear right behind her yet again and punched her right across the face once more hurtling her up into the Quincy looked absolutely livid as she glared at Emberella, her fists clenching in fury before she shot through the air. "Don't you dare call her that anymore. You've lost the right for that the moment you laid a hand on her!"

Emberella tried to brace herself for whatever the Quincy had in store for her crossing her arms in an attempt to protect herself, but Candice punched right through her guard, sending her hurtling towards the ground, only for Candice to appear right below her and kicked Emberella up into the sky with a lightning imbued kick, sending a painful shock throughout Emberella's body as she soared even higher.

Yet even now, Candice was far from finished with her foe, as she almost instantly appeared right next to her and slammed her fist right onto Emberella's right cheek, breaking her jawbone and sending her hurtling towards the outskirts of Magnolia… only for Candice to appear behind her yet again and kicked Emberella up even further into the sky.

Emberella soared through the air before she used her flames to stop her momentum. As the devils slayers gaze turned downwards towards Candice, Emberella gnashed her teeth and simply pointed a hand at her, before fire concentrated around it. "Fire Devil's Searing Vortex Fist!" She shouted before she cocked her hand back and punched it towards Candice.

However, just before the attack could make contact, Candice's body surrounded itself with lightning, dispersing her attack, much to the devil slayer's disbelief. "What!? No, this is-"

*CRACKOW!*

Shooting through the sky with a thunder-like clap behind her, Candice soared through the air, slamming her fist into Emberella's stomach. The devil slayer lurched forward as blood erupted from her mouth, before lightning coursed through her entire body. Then, as green electricity began to engulf them both, Candice grabbed Emberella by the face before the pair went soaring through Magnolia's skyline, as a streak of green lightning traveled throughout.

Emberella screamed in anguish, the pain unlike any she had felt in her entire tenure as a mage. She clad her body with flames, hoping that this would get Candice to release her grip. However, this seemed to only give the quincy more reason to intensify it, as Emberella could feel the bones in her face beginning to crack more and more.

I don't understand! What's going on!? Where did all of this power come from!? Emberella screamed as her fearful eyes looked into Candice's piercing green eyes. Just what the hell are these quincy!?

However, just when it seemed as if the brutal onslaught would never end, Candice released Emberella from her grasp, only to vanish right behind her, her leg held up high before she brought down one last, lightning enhanced kick to the back of Emberella's head, crashing her to the ground as a stroke of lighting followed along with her, shattering the ground smashing the devil slayers back into the ground.

Emberella managed to weakly glance up towards Candice as her hands gripped the ground before she shakily rose up to her feet.

"No." She proclaimed as fire began to swirl around her once more. "No,...no, no, no! I won't stop here. I can't stop here. My baby girl…my family, will be avenged. Even if I have to burn you, Jade, this entire town and all of Ishgar into cinders!"

A gargantuan Blade of Flame formed above her head as a swirling vortex constantly spewed out along the blade's edge, as Emberella began to cackle like a mad woman. This was it, her strongest technique! No one had ever seen this move and ever lived to tell about it, no one!

"This is it quincy, my ultimate technique! Once I kill you, I'll be able to enact my final plan and control everyone in this whole guild! Your friends will become nothing more than mindless puppets for me to use to destroy the Magic council once and for all! Now take this! Fire Devil's Secret Art: Swirling Blade of Torment!"

As the destructive purple flame shot towards Candice, the Quincy cocked her right hand back as a mass of green lightning began to envelope it and grew to a size that was twice the length and width of her own body, the electrical current sparking around her arm as she prepared to unleash her most powerful technique on the woman whom she so utterly despised.

"ELECTROCUTION!"

The mass of lightning clashed against Emberella's flames as the opposing elements clashed in a beautiful yet destructive display of green and purple, each letting out small sparks, akin to that of a firework as they crashed into one another. However, the clash was beautiful as it was short, as Candice's immense bolt of lightning shot through Emberella's flames and hurtled towards her. Emberella put up a barrier of flame around her right arm at just the last second, but it was quickly and totally overwhelmed s her entire body engulfed by the gigantic bolt of lightning, forcing her to elect an intense scream of utter agony.

"EEEEEERRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"

The green lightning shot upwards into the sky, forming into a bright green pillar of light until the attack faded away at last. As the dust began to settle, Candice refused to let her guard down as she glanced down in the newly formed crater she had created in the middle of the street.

There lay Emberella, and she had most certainly seen better days. Her entire right arm has been burnt almost down to the bone, and almost half of her hair from the neck down had been completely incinerated. Candice had almost thought she had won there and then, but as Emberella weakly started to get up to her feet, Candice appeared right in front of her before she prepared another bolt of lightning in her hand, preparing to strike her down once and for all.

"W-wait!"

Surprised at the tone of voice Emberella had used, the Quincy dispelled the lightning that had formed into her hand as Emberella gave her a very different look than she had before. Gone were the crazed, furious or and manic look in her eyes. Instead, it had been replaced with an expression filled with remorse.

"L-listen…I know I can't defeat you…That much has been made completely clear to me," Emberella said sadly. "I…I surrender. You win."

Candice scoffed at the dark mage, setting both of her hands down. "Tch, well it's about damn time you saw a losing battle when you saw one."

Emberella closed her eyes, relieved to have brought an end to her beating. "Yes well, I never thought I'd run into such a powerful wizard outside of Fairy Tail's S class. A mistake on my part. However…I have an offer I wish to make of the two of you." Emberella stated.

Candice raised an eyebrow, curiosity getting the better of her. "You what?" She asked incredulously.

Emberella opened up her eyes then, as she looked pleefully into Candice's. "I know that I can't defeat you in a fight. That much is clear. And my daughter clearly thinks highly of you. So…how's about you consider joining us?"

Candice immediately scoffed. "Work for you!? As if! Why in earth would I-"

"I possess a vast fortune from my…more unscrupulous activities." Emberella informed Candice as she weakly began to get up. However, as soon she got to her feet, she clenched her left fist behind her back as she began to concentrate a ball of flame around it. "I originally used it to pay all the underlings under my command...but I think you would be a much more appealing option. So either work for me…or simply settle down somewhere else with Jade, and it can all be yours."

The ball of fire only intensified in Emberellas hand as she smirked at the quincy, Candice's face obscured by the visor of her hat, as Quincy glanced downwards. Emberella chuckled as she continued to concentrate her magic. "Yes, it can all belong to the two of you, as long as you simply stay out of my way. Quite the deal…Wouldn't you say!?"

The orb of fire concentrated around her hand before she sneered and thrust her left fist forward, fully intending in an attempt to impale Quincy right through the stomach!

*Clasp!*

Only for Candice's hand to snap out and clench around Emberella's wrist, squeezing it tightly despite the flame that has formed around and forcing Emberella to cry out. "Agh! Aggghhhhhhh!"

Candice spat at the ground as her eyes filled with fury bore into Emberella's. "Good fucking grief, even if you weren't lying about the money, you really are a complete piece of shit, aren't you?"

The Quincy then adjusted her hat, forcing it to the side before she glared at the woman with such an intense gaze that it sent a shiver of fear down the experienced assassins spine. "What you owe Jade-"

Emberella let out a terrified whimper as Candice' grip around her wrist tightened like a vice, the quincy rearing back her fist as green lightning engulfed it in a chaotic sparkle.

"Can never be repaid with money!"

*CRACKAOW!*

Candice's fist slammed right into Emberella's face, cracking her skull once again, along with shattering her nose as her head cocked back from the strike…only for Candice's electrified fist slammed into her face again.

*BAM!*

And again.

*BAM!* *BAM!*

And again!

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

And again!

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

And again.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

Over, and over and over and over, did Candices fist slam into Emberella. The face, stomach, throat, and chest, Candice was relentless as she let out a cry of absolute fury as she continuously unleashed a brutal onslaught of punches, each one delivered faster than the last.

Emberella couldn't move, her body unable to respond as she was pummeled by the Quincy. 100 punches, 200, 300, and so on, no one, not even Candice herself kept count of just how many times she wailed on her enemy, her voice roaring out with pure raw emotion until finally she landed one last, lightning enchanted uppercut, sending Emberella high into the sky.

The Devil Slayer hung up in the air for several seconds, eyes were completely white and jaw agape before she crashed to the ground, her body hanging off from one of Magnolia's canal's that ran throughout the town.

Candice glared over towards the woman's prone body as her halo finally began to fade away before she fell onto her back, the former Sternritter completely spent.

But the ache of her body didn't bother her in the slightest. The battle was over, and the end, that was what mattered most.

Or so she had thought.

While the Quincy laid on her back, completely spent, Emberella's eyes shot wide open. It wasn't that Candice hadn't won the fight per se. As a matter of fact she has done just that, the Devil slayer almost finding it impossible to move her body. Still, with a great deal of effort, and with the help of her flames propelling her back off the ground, she was able to pull herself upward and weakly pulled out a vial filled with a bizzare red liquid.

How unfortunate for you, Quincy! The mage thought as she glanced at the curse vial in her hands. You practically defeated me with that last move of yours. But once I drink this, both my body and power will be completely restored, while you remain utterly helpless!

She let out a mad cackle then, recapturing Candices attention as she turned her head at the laughing flame wizard…and the vial she held in her hand.

"No…". Candice muttered weakly. She knew exactly what that vial could do, having experienced it first hand against her and Bambietta's battle with Ikaruga.

Emberella's smirk only increased then as she saw the look of absolute terror on Candice's face. "Oh, you know what this is, don't you? That's right, it's a curse potion! One drink of this and I'll be as good as new! How ironic that a vial made from Tartaros would wind up becoming the source of my salvation!"

Candice tried to get up to her feet, to do something, but it appeared whatever power she had gained to take down Emberella came with its side effects, as she fell to the ground, unable to move. No…no, not like this! She dreaded. She couldn't just let it end here, she just couldn't. Not after all of this! Bambietta was counting on her! Jade was counting on her. Fairy Tail was counting on her. She had to win, she just had to!

She closed her eyes as she doubled her efforts, her body slowly lifting itself from the ground.

It was simply too late, however, as Emberella had used her flames to form into elongated arms, helping herself up to her feet. She opened up the vial with her mouth, spitting the lid away before she sneered at the struggling Candice as she lifted up the bottle towards her face. "It's game over for you, Quinc-"

*BANG!*

The sound of the gunshot rang throughout the street, followed by a deathly silence. Candices eyes fluttered open, before she gasped

There was Emberella, holding the vial filled with the curse potion…or rather, what had remained. The vial had completely shattered, its contents spilled all over Emberella's body…along with her own blood. Most noticeable of all, however, was that Emberella's right eye had been shot out, the entirety of it completely mashed into bits.

The dark mage found herself feeling incredibly weak, unable to even scream despite the immense pain she was in. She could only weakly glanced over to the one responsible, as Jade Ladro pointed her gun at her 'mother', as tears streamed down her eyes.

Emberella weakly reached out to Jade with her left hand, as a single tear fell down from her remaining eye. "J-Jade…I-"

Then, before she could utter another word, she fell backwards and right into the water canal right behind her, her body rapidly swept away by the current.

Jade's arms shook like a leaf, her own tears stinging against her eyes. Slowly, she lowered her gun, before she closed her eyes and glanced away from where her mother had once stood.

"Goodbye…Mom."

Jade felt her leg's beginning to shake as she lost her strength, her body's current condition and the intense emotional duress she found herself in made standing a complete impossibility. However, just as she was about to fall to the ground, she found herself caught in the tight, and warm embrace of Candice Catnipp, the Quincy moving her broken and battered body to support her friend in spite of her own injuries in her desperate time of need.

(Song of choice: Here to Stay Bleach OST 2)

Jade weakly looked over at Candice, the Quincy using every ounce of will power she had to keep herself standing as tears continued to flow down Jade's eyes. "Candi…I…I-"

Candice gave her a weak smile in return as her body trembled. "It's alright Jade. You can let it out…. I'll understand."

Jade could only look up at Candice, before she gave the quincy a weak embrace and openly sobbed into her arms. It was over. At long last, her nightmare had finally come to an end. Her friends were safe, the guild was safe. Candice was safe.

But at what cost?

"I had to do it, you know? I couldn't risk her drinking that potion so I…I took the shot.," Jade sobbed into Candice's arms. "It had to be this way. She…she wasn't the woman who took me in. Not anymore. And I know …I know that she would have rather died than lived a life in prison. I just…I just had to put her out of her misery."

But despite her own words, despite the fact it had become abundantly clear that the woman she used to call 'mother' had ceased to be…She had still taken her life. No matter how she spun it in her head, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself overwise…it still didn't take the pain away.

Candice, embracing her even tighter, no doubt suspected the same thing. "Yeah, I know. You did what you had to do. So don't you worry bout a thing, alright? I won't leave you like she did. I promise. No matter what happens, come hell or high water…I'm here to stay."

Jade couldn't say anything as she broke down into an inconsolable mess. She simply cried and cried in the embrace of the person who she had come to cherish above all else. But while she couldn't express it herself, Candice's words touched her to the very core of her being. To know that no matter what would happen…her best friend would always be there for her.

These weren't just fancy words or platitudes, no Candice had shown her, time and again, that she had sincerely meant them. From the time she had tried to save her when she had been taken into Fairy Tail's custody, to the time she was endangered by the guild master of Trinity Raven, to this very moment, Candice had proven that she was indeed here to stay. No matter what.

Jade could only sob, her emotions far too raw and uncontrollable to put her gratitude into words. But where as her mouth was only able to wail…the same could not be said about the confines of her own mind.

Candi…Thank you.

The two embraced for several minutes, letting the emotional trauma of everything they had gone through simmer down before Candice finally let go of Jade, weakly rose up to her feet and gave her friend a small smile. "Well, I better get going."

"Get going?" Jade asked, her mind full of confusion before she realized just what Candice had in mind. "Candi, you can't possibly think you're going to stop Laxus in your current condition! He'll-"

"I have to try Jade," Candice told her as she weakly took a step forward. "Relax, I'm not going to fight him. Pretty sure that boats already sailed. But there's something that only I can do…So I have to go."

Jade could only stare at Candice before she closed her eyes. She wanted to plead with her, to make sure she didn't do anything stupid, to keep her right by her side just a little bit longer…but she didn't. A small smile made itself across her lips as she looked up at the quincy. "Even if I tried to stop you…there's nothing I could really do, is there?"

Candice shook her head before she grinned. "Not in a million years."

"Typical Candi…" Jade said softly before her smile grew ever so slightly. ."Alright, fine. Just please…don't die on me."

Candice chuckled at Jade's worry. "Good grief Jade, I'll be fine. After all…I'm pretty sure I won't be alone."

Jade chuckled right back. "Right, After all, we're-"

Candice turned around, as she began to make her way towards the guild, her mouth opening in unison with her closest friend.

"Wizards of Fairy Tail."

Then, slowly yet surely, Candice Catnipp began her trek to Kardia Cathedral. The Battle of Fairy Tail had started with Laxus Dreyer and it was going to end with him.

She would make certain of that.


Well, that wraps up everything there, more or less. It certainty was a long, grueling, hard-fought battle, but at least now it's finally over. Jade is no longer stuck under the thrall of her 'mother' and it was all thanks to Candice. However, as I'm sure you're all more than well aware, we still have the battle with Laxus up ahead, and if you thought THIS was a hard fought emotional roller-coaster...well, you haven't seen anything yet.

I worked REALLY hard on this chapter, to be honest, so it would mean the world to me to get your thoughts on this chapter.

MPFs:

Jade: 2300

Jade: Spirit Gun: 4200

Emberella: 3500

Candice: 3800

Emberella (Devil Slaying): 6000

Candice Incomplete Vollstandig: 7600