Jura and Erza were barely puffing when they defeated the dark guild Dark Tidings. With a single spell, Jura had the guild trapped in pockets of earth, bending it so it held them in a vice grip. Erza didn't bother requipping, just summoned some swords and used the flat side to knock them out, the earth being the only thing keeping them upright.
Erza requipped her swords, sending them back into their pocket dimension. Jura muttered a spell, ensuring the earth would stay put for as long as the spell was in action. He looked at Erza, her face in a grim line. They met each other's eyes and nodded, before turning and running back into the forest.
"You know Miss Scarlet, the Council has had you in their sights for a while." Jura said, his voice steady despite their sprinting.
"Care to elaborate, Jura?" She replied, her armour clinking as she ran, not even puffed.
"Since Seigrain vanished, we have an opening on the 10 wizard Saints. You would be an ideal candidate." He said, knowing the Titania was not one for small talk.
"I'm flattered, however my loyalty is to Fairy Tail," she said, internally beaming at the praise. She may be a warrior, but she was still a person and not immune to praise.
"I am still a member of Lamia Scale, you could maintain your position with Fairy Tail. I know now isn't the best time but please consider it. You'd be an asset." Jura said, smiling at the younger girl.
Erza looked away, a faint flush on her cheeks. I can't get distracted, Lucy needs me to focus. I cannot let her down, Erza thought, pushing away the slight disappointment she felt. It was pathetic, she shouldn't be acting like this. She had a job to do, a friend to save and a world to protect. Everything else is second.
She turned to him once her fave calmed from it's red state. "I shall consider it, but first let's focus on our current mission."
Jura just nodded, wholeheartedly agreeing. This attitude of hers, the fierce determination she exhibited was why he named her in the first place. Without another word, they kept running, hoping against hope that they wouldn't be too late.
Ren stood calmly, an orb of air surrounding his opponents. He smirked confidently when he saw them stumble, clawing at the air, desperate to breathe. He wasn't cruel, he wouldn't let them suffer. All he wanted was for them to pass out, not die!
Beside him, Eve grinned and let out a huge burst of snow. The cold air and condensed water smacked into his opponents, burying them under the icy layers. He looked over to see Ren had dissolved his magic, their enemies collapsed from the lack of oxygen.
"Ren, can you move them together?" Eve asked, looking st his friend.
Ren smirked and nodded, using his Air Magic to swoop them together. Somehow none of them woke up, just groaned as they landed in a pile.
"Great job Ren!" Eve cheered, using his magic to move the layers of snow in a way that would make it harder for them to move.
"You two, Eve. Hey have you seen Boss?" Ren asked, realising that their master was missing.
"I'm sure he'll come back soon. He'd never forgive us if we didn't save Lucy, Erza would be devastated." Eve said.
They nodded and sprinted off in the direction they thought their enemy was, determined to save the world and in the process, a beautiful girl.
"They are so adorable!" Sherry screamed, metaphorical hearts in her eyes as she gazed at the small pink things the dark guild had drawn.
"Not the time Sherry. Stay focused!" Lyon hissed, inwardly cursing his friends obsession with cute things. "Ice-Make Dragonflies!" He called creating a swarm of tiny glittering ice bugs that attacked the small teddy bear creatures, sending them flying.
"This isn't love but I guess I'll make an exception. Marionette, Rock Doll!" Sherry called, using her magic to animate the rocks and defeat the small beings, ignoring the ache in her heart.
"Clever, but can you defeat this?" The lead called, and the two Lamias watched as they scribbled, before a brilliant white light appeared before them.
When it faded, their jaws dropped. They had only ever heard about these beings in stories, thankfully never facing one. It was huge, eerily reminiscent of a dragon. Natsu would be helpful right about now, Lyon thought, mentally trying to work out their best course of action.
"I got this Lyon. Marionette: Puppeteer!" Sherry called, her body encased in pink magic.
The eyes of the Wyvern glowed an answering pink, and the creature turned back to its creators. With a fearsome shriek it dive bombed them making them scream and scatter. Sherry gritted her teeth, focusing all her energy on the creatures. Lyon saw a sliver of sweat on her brow, and focused his own magic.
"Ice-Make: Swan Wings!" He called, doing his signature pose and glowing an icy blue.
A shroud of ice appeared, shaping itself into individual wings. The wings sharpened into blades, the sharp edge refracting the light. Lyon hollered, pushing the blades wings at the enemies. They screamed, feeling the blades dig into them and the chill deep into their bones. With their focus gone, the colossal Wyvern shimmered before blinking out of existance. With a look at each other and a nod, Lyon created his titan feet spell, crushing them underfoot. Sherry created a rock doll, directing it to wrap itself around then. Once satisfied that the guild was aptly defeated she cut off the connection, leaving them trapped
"Get their pencils and pens then we better hurry," Lyon said, and Sherry nodded before running over and prying their equipment out of the guilds hands.
"Come on, love, we had better hurry. I can't imagine that the Celestial Mage will survive much longer," Sherry said.
Lyon nodded, trying to push away thoughts about how devastated Gray would be if she died. The boy tried to deny it but he'd known him for years. He knew his tells when he liked someone and as much as he loathed to admit it, he had decent taste.
"Right you are Sherry, let's go see if anyone else needs a hand."
And with that they were off, sprinting into the foliage.
"Gray, how much longer is he going to keep punching that man?" Carla asked, a look of horror on her prim face.
Gray sighed, shaking his head fondly. "Until he answers most likely." He replied, a small smile flirting with the edges of his lips.
"Surely he cannot think that is helpful?" She said uncertainty ringing clear in her voice.
"That's Natsu for you. He's very much act now, ask questions later," Gray said, smirking slightly as he watched his friend pummel the guy.
"It doesn't matter what you do, you will lose." Natsu screamed when he heard that, before doubling his efforts with his fists.
"Natsu." Gray called, making him pause and looked at his friend. "Come on, use your nose. We don't need him."
Natsu thought for a moment, mulling it over. Instead of replying he wound up for one lastbouch, letting fire sheath his hand. He let his hand fly, smirking at the loud crunch that he heard when his first made contact. "That's for delaying us." He sneered before getting up and jogging over to his friends
"You are right Gray, we don't need him. Give me a moment to find Happy's scent." Hevsaid, only to be interrupted by Carla clearing her throat.
"You are presuming they are together. I think it would be more prudent to find Wendy's scent, she is the one they are after, not the tomcat,"
Gray and Natsu looked at each other and shrugged. "It's your nose man, your choice." Gray said, stepping back.
Natsu pulled a face as he thought about his options. He knew Carla had merit and the sooner they found Wendy the sooner Luce would be okay. There was really no reason not to track the blue haired girl, the only argument he could think of was he knew Happy's scent. He knew he could track him, plus his own scent was on the cat too from all their time together. Even Luce's scent was there. He didn't know Wendy at all, so the odds of him picking out her scent was slim to none. It really would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Hell, that would be easier.
"Honestly, I don't know Wendy's scent that well. I can find Happy's anywhere though. I'm not sure it's worth the risk," Natsu said, frowning as he tried to figure out the right decision.
"Even if Wendy isn't with him still he's bound to know where she is." Gray pointed out, ignoring the dread he felt pooling in his stomach.
"Yea Icicle that's a good point! Okay I'm tracking Happy!" Natsu cheered, pumping his hands. "I'm all fired up!" He screamed, racing forward leaving his friends in the dust.
"Come on, we better follow him." Gray said, racing after his friend.
Carla sighed, looking up at the sky. Don't worry Wendy, no matter what, I'll find you. She thought before pushing out her wings and zooming after the others.
"Finally, we are here," Gajeel ground out, staring at the cafe.
It was nothing special really, at least in his opinion. He knew Levy would love it, claiming the colour wasn't black but actually navy, and the hanging basket of white flowers made the colour pop. Hell, she'd likely even say that the name, Bluebell Bakery was cute, all with stars in her eyes.
"It's quite beautiful, Gajeel-sama. Juvia thinks Levy would think so too," She said, her eyes gleaming with unconcealed mischief.
Gajeel groaned, regretting telling her that they were dating. The girl was persistent, though he always knew that from her obsession with the walking Ice-Cube. He looked at her and gave her a warning growl, to which she just smiled, unfortunately knowing he'd never hurt her. God just thinking about how she got the information out of him pissed him off.
Rain was falling in sheets around them, softening the mud. Every step Gajeel took made the mud flick onto his paints.
"Can't you do something about this stupid rain?" He growled to his partner, pissed that his perfectly spiked hair was flat against his head.
"Juvia could, but for a price." She said smugly, making Gajeel mentally curse her, her ancestors and even her future descendants to hell.
"What do you want." He ground out, his eyebrow twitching.
"Juvia sees how you look at Levy-sama. Juvia wants to know the truth of Gajeel feelings." She said, smiling smugly.
He called her every name under the sun, cursing her every breath. Groaning at his misfortune, he looked at her suspiciously. "You will keep the rain up if I don't tell you, won't you." He said, not even bothering to phrase it like a question.
"Juvia will." She said grinning.
"Ugh fine. We are dating. It's not serious and don't tell anyone okay runt!" He said, a fierce blush on his cheeks.
"Ahh Juvia promises!" She screamed, jumping up and down in excitement. Without another word the rain cleared up, letting beautiful sunlight filter through.
Groaning, Gajeel stormed off, still cursing stupid rain woman.
Sighing, Gajeel stormed into the place, not even bothering to keep it open for his friend. He wasn't exactly feeling very friendly at the moment. He scanned the room, ignoring the decorations in principle. When he saw who he needed he stormed over, internally smirking at the sound of his heavy iron boots on the ground.
"Emuella," He said in the way of creating, roughly pulling out a chair.
"Good to see you too Gajeel. It's nice to see your manners have improved too," She smirked, batting her eyelashes and crossing her arms under her expansive chest.
"Whatever. We don't have time for pleasantries. Just give us the information." He demanded, glaring at her.
Instead of replying she looked over as Juvia walked in. She stood up and waved her over, a large smile on her face. "Juvia! It's great to see you girl!" Emuella exclaimed, pulling the Rain Woman into a hug.
"Juvia is happy to see you too,Emuella-San. Have you been well?" Juvia said politely, hugging the other woman into a hug.
"Enough pleasantries, just tell us what you know." Gajeel said, his already limited patience wearing thin.
"You've never changed, have you Gaj?" Emuella said, an amused smile on her face. "Okay well here are all the names of the dark guilds affiliated with the Oracion Seis. I'm not sure of their exact roles but they are all the ones that we are aware of that have pledged to them." She carried on.
"How did you even get this information?" Gajeel snapped, leaning back on backrest.
"How do you think? I'm part of the dark guilds." She said, rolling her eyes. "My dad is the guildmaster of Blood Stone, so I have the connections."
"What the fuck?" He snapped, glaring at her. "And we should trust you why? You are probably off to go tell Daddy Dearest about this entire conversation," Gajeel snapped, glaring at the sandy haired woman before him.
"Please, my dad won't even know I took this. My duplication magic is a big help for stealing things after all," she said smirking, making Gajeel return it despite himself.
"Good work," He said simply, not bothering to elaborate.
" Juvia misses us being in a guild together, Emuella-san." Juvia said, remembering their time in Phantom Lord before Emuella's father started his own guild.
"I miss you too, Juvs. Once everything is settled maybe we can hang out sometime," Emuella said, smiling softly at her friend.
"That would be lovely," Juvia said, smiling.
"I need to get going, but I'll keep in contact ok," Emuella said, smiling as she got up.
"Good to see you again, Gajeel. By Juvs," she said, smiling before standing up and sauntering out of the building.
"Come on, we need to go meet more people on behalf of Grampa," Gajeel said standing up and pocketing the paper.
He got up and stomped out of the room, not even bothering to wait for Juvia. She'd catch up. She always did.
I'm all his life, Loke had never felt so powerless. Sure the situation with Karen was horrific, but this took the cake. He loved her with every fibre of his being so seeing the blonde goddess writhing in pain… he didn't have a word to describe how much he hated it. He knew they'd never be together, it was forbidden. But the thing about love is that if it's true it can take on many shapes without losing potency, and his love for his master, his Lucy was the pure kind, enabling it to transform into a deep familial and protective devotion.
"Big brother, will Princess be okay?" Virgo asked, pooling into the material realm in a cloud of stardust.
"She will be okay. Virgo, I know you just got here but can you please get s tourniquet from the Celestial Realm? It's the only thing that can keep her from dying." Like said, the panic in his eyes juxtaposing the calmness in his voice.
Without a word, Virgo bowed and disappeared back into their world. Loke sighed and kept caressing Lucy's face, hoping it brought her even a little comfort.
"She'll be okay, don't worry." Hibiki said, still typing away on his computer.
Loke didn't reply, just gazed at his mistress. What could he say? That he had no faith? That he desperately hoped she'd be okay but he could feel her life force weakening? Neither of those would do, so instead he said nothing.
Hibiki sighed, wishing he could comfort the other male. If it was one of his brothers he'd be the same, so he understood his pain to a degree. He kept trying to think of something to say to break the tension when the sound of a stick cracking slashed through the silence, making both men freeze.
Loke tensed and looked at the clearing, preparing to defend his master. Hibiki stood tall, his front to where the sound was. Straining his ears, Loke reluctantly placed Lucy's head on the floor and got up, crouching like a lion before her. He didn't care what he had to face, he'd protect her. No matter the danger.
Afterall, a Celestial Spirit always keeps his promise.
Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed this update. I know that there was no Colu Lalu or Galu just one sided Lolu and implied Gralu bit it's a slow process. I wanted to look into what the others are doing. I always imagined that Erza would be handpicked as a wizard saint so wanted to add that in here. Next chapter there will be some Lalu and the battle between Gray and Racer, among other fun things!
As always, I thank you for all your support. I'm really enjoying writing this and I hope it brings you, the reader some joy. Whether you review, favourite or whatever or not, thank you for taking the time to read it, it means a lot to me.
Take care and until next time,
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