Last time: They stormed the house to save Natsu.

Now: It's time for Mason and Zen to pay.

Chapter 14- Father and Son

With one last blast of his magic, Gray froze the last of the shadow's that were coming after him. He looked around to confirm the figures were not coming after him anymore. It was done, for now. He let out a tired sigh and wiped the sweat from his brow. He needed to find the others. Moving back towards the house, as the figures pushed their fight almost back towards Spruceville, Gray kept his eyes peeled for Erza and Gajeel, hoping they were okay. He also hoped the team inside to save Natsu were okay too.

As he approached his initial covered spot, he saw Erza in her Nakagami armor slash through the last few shadow figures that surrounded the front of the house. He moved through the trees and brush to join her. Erza quickly swiveled on her heel to attack him, but stopped short when she realized it was him.

"Oh Gray," Erza breathed out. "Thank goodness. You alright?"

"A little bruised, but I'm fine," Gray said. He looked around. "Where's Gajeel?"

"Right here," the iron dragon slayer's voice spoke from behind him.

Gray nearly launched ten feet into the air and quickly rotated to see Gajeel emerge from the shadow's, literally. Gray put a hand to his chest to calm his heavily beating heart. "What the hell, man? You trying to scare the crap out of me?"

"Maybe a little bit," Gajeel smirked.

"Gajeel, you okay?" Erza asked, completely unphased by his sudden appearance.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Gajeel said, rolling out his shoulders. "Those shadow freaks were annoying as hell though."

"Where did they come from?" Erza asked, looking around for the source of the figures.

"They came from the house," Gray stated. "I think they were from Zen."

The door to the house opened at that moment, as if on cue, and the clouds seemed to darken. The three wizards took up a defensive stance and readied to attack whatever came out of the house. A figure appeared. It looked like an older version of Mason, but he didn't look… right. His skin looked sickly and gray. His hair was pitch black. His clothes which might have been considered normal blues and grays looked discolored and darkened. And his eyes were black as night with the pupil being a sharp white color. This… thing looked like a living embodiment of a shadow consuming a normal person.

"Fairy Tail wizards," the figure spoke gravely. His voice was distorted and sounded like it came from the depths of hell. "You will pay for interfering." He raised his hand and a blast of shadows flew at them.

"Nakagami Starlight!" Erza cried, slashing forward with her spear.

Her magic slashed cleanly through the shadows, dispersing them.

"Are you Zen? Where's Natsu?" Gray demanded.

The figure tilted his head to the side. "He is safe for now. But you all will pay for getting involved. Now go my shadow, consume."

A large shadow shot out from under his feet and launched at them. Erza swung her spear again, but the shadow quickly reformed and continued to pursue them. Gray tried freezing it, but to no avail. Gajeel even tried to absorb it, but the shadow just kept coming. Soon it was around their feet and ankles, dragging them down into the darkness. All three of them struggled to move and escape as they slowly sank into the shadows.

"Perish," Zen commanded.

"You'll regret this," Erza growled as the shadows reached their waist. "Fairy Tail will see to it."

"I look forward to it," Zen said, smiling maliciously. His teeth shone in the off white of his shadowed form.

"Gajeel, do something!" Gray pleaded, trying to use his magic, but nothing was working.

"I'm trying!" Gajeel barked through gritted teeth.

Soon the shadow consumed them whole and slowly retracted back to Zen. "Good riddance," he said quietly.

As the shadow reached his ankles to fully disappear back inside of him, a hand shot out of the shadow and grabbed him by the shin. Zen looked down in confusion, and before he could react, he was thrown backwards into the doorframe of the house. The frame snapped on his impact and he dropped to his knees.

"What the hell?" Zen questioned, stunned.

From his shadow that had stopped trying to retract into him, Gajeel Redfox emerged looking rather pissed.

"How is this possible?" Zen gaped.

"You were too focused on Natsu that you forgot about the Iron Dragon slayer," Gajeel commented, smugly. "The one who learned to consume shadows. And now," his body slowly changed into his iron shadow form again, "you're going to regret turning my friends into shadows."

"Save Natsu!" Krysta cried down to the others as she launched herself at Mason. She tackled him back and away from the cellar entrance.

Krysta and Mason tumbled away with Krysta pinning him to the floor a fair distance from the opening. She kept his wrists in place and had to shake the deja vu of their previous brawl from her mind. Mason seemed dazed, but he recomposed himself quickly and looked up at her. A leering smile came to his face as he realized the position they were in.

"My, aren't we a bit forward," Mason commented, eyeing her chest.

"Shut up, you pervert," Krysta snapped.

She swung her baton at his head, but he caught the baton and twisted her wrist to the side. Krysta gasped as she struggled to keep her grip on the baton. He then shoved her off of him and Krysta dropped the baton as she rolled aside. Mason climbed to his feet and glared down at Krysta.

"You and your friends won't win," Mason said, glaring down at her. "Give up now."

"Not a chance," Krysta said, glaring up at him.

She jumped to her feet and swung at his gut with her fist. Mason brought his arm in and caught her fist instead. She smirked and that distracted him from the chair she summoned from a nearby desk to smack him in the back. Mason gasped and stumbled forward, releasing Krysta's hand. Stepping aside, she lashed out with another push of her magic and sent him flying across the room right into Pantherlily's sword.

Mason had to think fast and quickly dodge the exceed's large blade. But as he dodged, he was met with Loke's glowing fist that got him in the chest. Mason hit the floor with a pained thud and gasp. Krysta, Pantherlily, and Loke all surrounded Mason with Lily's sword pointed at his neck.

"What was that about giving up?" Krysta asked, smirking.

Mason started to chuckle before it built into a maniacal laugh. "You are all fools. Don't you remember what I can do?" He transformed before their very eyes, using his take over magic, and became Master Makarov.

The three of them stared in shock. Suddenly, he made his left hand ten times the normal size and swung at the three Fairy Tail wizards. Krysta, Loke, and Pantherlily were smashed together by the large hand and sent into a nearby wall, knocking over containers and barrels of various items. Mason then transformed into Lyon Vastia and launched a wave of ice birds at them.

"Regulus light!" Loke called and blasted the birds with his magic.

With the birds turning to steam from the blast, Pantherlily lunged forward and swung his sword at Mason. Dodging left and right, being backed up, Mason evaded the blade as it cut close a few times. Pantherlily swung for his head and Mason ducked. But as he straightened up, a large microscope flew at him from across the room. He didn't move quickly enough. It clipped his shoulder causing him to turn back into himself and stumble to his knees. The microscope impacted the floor just beyond a work table across the room near the cellar exit.

Biting back a curse, Mason glanced at his shoulder and saw that the shirt was torn and the skin was bruising severely. He growled and changed his form again, turning into Jet from Team Shadow Gear. He launched forward and sped around the room. Quick as lightning, Mason sped past Loke, Pantherlily, and Krysta. He swept Loke's legs out from under him, sending him to the floor. He punched Pantherlily across the jaw, staggering him. And he grabbed Krysta by the shoulders and slammed her into the wall at the base of the basement stairs, denting the wall.

Krysta gasped out, feeling the wind be knocked out of her, and winced as old bruises from her back injuries came back with a vengeance. And with a newly broken rib and heavily bruised shoulder as her right one hit something dense in the wall. Mason transformed again, going from Jet to Gray this time. The familiar face of the man she cared for most glared at her as Mason pretended to be the ice wizard. She glared back at him.

"Change back," Krysta demanded.

"Why?" Mason asked, curiously with Gray's voice. When she didn't answer, an even more curious brow piqued. "Oh, does this face mean something to you? It does, doesn't it?" He snickered. "Then you're finished. You wouldn't dare hurt the man you love."

Krysta looked at Mason, furious. She couldn't bring herself to hurt Gray, but this wasn't Gray, and she had to remind herself of that. She raised her hand and lifted a few books behind Mason. She pulled towards herself and the books flew, impacting with his back. He grunted and groaned, loosening his grip on her shoulders.

"Loke!" Krysta called.

"Regulus Impact!" Loke called, shooting a beam of magic at Mason.

The magic struck true and sent Mason to the ground, away from Krysta. She faltered and leaned heavily against the wall, rubbing her right shoulder gingerly. She looked past Loke and Mason and spotted Lucy and Wendy grabbing Natsu. She then directed her attention back to Mason and Loke as the spirit stalked forward.

"That's my best friend's face, jerk," Loke growled, sounding like a lion. "I'm going to kick your ass for abusing it like this."

Mason laughed. "Did I hurt your feelings, little spirit?" He asked rhetorically. "Well, that's too bad." He raised a hand and launched ice spikes at Loke.

The ice flew and Loke dodged. But the ice managed to snag Loke's clothes and pinned him to the farther wall.

Mason dropped Gray's form and returned to himself. "This is getting boring. Where is the real fight? Whe-" He stopped when he heard something across the room. He turned his head and saw Lucy standing before the cellar opening. He quickly glanced at the device and saw that Natsu was gone. Mason snarled. "Hey! Get back here!" He barked.

Transforming again, Mason turned into Jura from Lamia Scale and moved into a stance as if to launch a large boulder or part of the floor.

"You're fighting with me, you bastard!" Krysta growled out with a grimace.

Before he could do anything, Krysta used her magic and slammed Mason backwards into the banister for the stairs, breaking it on impact due to the larger frame he took. Krysta noticed that gave Lucy a clear opening to flee. Once the celestial wizard was safely down into the cellar, Krysta used her magic and moved a large crate over the entrance, sealing it off.

The earth around her suddenly shifted and Krysta was quickly swallowed up to her shoulders by the ground. She struggled to escape and move as Mason peeled himself off the banister. He transformed again, this time into Jellal, or to be more accurate, Siegrain from the Magic Council. And he stalked towards Krysta with a look of pure murder on his face.

Mason knelt down before Krysta and grabbed her chin. He forced her to look up at him. "I've had enough games with you three. And I'm getting Natsu back," he hissed.

Krysta tried to remove her chin from his hand, but he held firm and she grimaced.

"Iron Dragon Sword!" Gajeel called, swinging his arm out at Zen.

The jagged edges caught Zen and slammed him back into the wall of the house, pinning him in place. Zen gasped and tried to escape the arm, but to no avail. Gajeel then dragged Zen along the house, creating a dent in the plaster that ran the length of the drag. Once he reached the corner of the house, he threw Zen off into the dismantled woods. Zen landed with a grunt and staggered to one knee.

"Charge my shadows," Zen summoned, extending his hand out.

From his fingertips, several shadows flew out and attacked Gajeel. They looked like demonic ghosts in the daylight.

"Iron Shadow Dragon Roar!" Gajeel yelled.

His magic impacted the shadows and sent them away. Gajeel then charged forward and swung the sword in several quick slashes at Zen. The man dodged left and right and below the blade, trying to avoid being cut in half.

Zen reached out again. "Shadow limb!"

Suddenly from his own shadow form, a large black, shadow-like hand launched out and grabbed Gajeel. It crushed his torso and pinned his arms to his side, preventing them from being able to move. Gajeel struggled in the vice grip. It felt like he wasn't being held by anything and by the strongest and biggest claw at the same time. It was an odd sensation. Zen swung Gajeel around like a pom pom. Gajeel tried not to turn green as the intense motion was causing his motion sickness to briefly flare. That irritated him. This wasn't a damn vehicle and he was reacting like Natsu might. The large hand slammed Gajeel into the house, the dirt, the trees and then flung him up into the air like a kid would with a ball.

Gajeel released a yelp in shock at suddenly being several stories up in the air, and without Lily to catch his fall. If he didn't figure out how he was going to land, he was going to be flattened like a pancake when he hit the ground. He started to fall back towards the earth and noticed Zen below him. A couple of ideas came to mind. One involved him just body slamming the freak from high above and having Zen break his fall. It might kill the man, but it could work. The second was just trying to catch onto one of the still standing trees and hope that they would cushion his landing somewhat. Then a third idea came to mind and he liked this one the best. Turning into a shadow himself, Gajeel reached out and grabbed Zen by the shoulders once he was within reach. He then dragged him down into the ground and into the shadow realm.

Normally this realm was dark, but he could still see the world in a distorted light. LIke looking through a really burnt mirror or something similar to it. But whatever this void was was different from what he was used to. He could tell which way was up from his incredible sense of smell.

In the darkness, the two clashed back and forth, neither really able to see each other. Both of their shadow-like forms made them practically invisible to the other. But their punches and kicks were landing on both of them. A few got Gajeel in the cheek, the chest, and one in the groin. He mentally cursed at that one. But he knew he landed a few good hits himself as he heard Zen grunt and groan following impact. Gajeel then snagged what he hoped was Zen's shirt, and yanked him up and out of the ground, out of the shadows. He threw him at the house, breaking a front window and Zen landing inside.

Zen didn't reappear and Gajeel felt himself relax slightly, but he kept his guard up as the sun hadn't returned yet from behind the clouds. He did, however, take the opportunity to try and find Erza and Gray in the shadow realm, but he didn't see them. Where was this guy keeping them? Or were their two planes of shadows not connected? He would need to get into Zen's shadow then to save them if that was the case. Poking his head back out, he saw Zen climbing to his feet and looking out the window, furious.

"You are quite skilled, but you don't understand what you are dealing with," Zen said, his voice sounding like a chisel across a stone. "I am shadows and you will become one, just like your friends."

Suddenly all of the shadows in the area, from the house, the trees, and whatever else produced a large menacing shadow that swarmed towards Gajeel. They lunged down and attacked Gajeel, wrapping him up in a large ball of darkness.

"What is with this guy?" Pantherlily groused quietly to Loke. He was subtly trying to remove the ice daggers while Mason was distracted with Krysta. "I've never seen take over magic like this before."

"That's because it's not take over magic," Loke stated, quietly. "It took me watching him change a couple times to understand. He is using mimic magic and a very advanced kind. I'd say he's almost on par with Gemini's ability to replicate others."

"But he can only use a spell at a time from each of them," Lily pointed out, removing the last dagger.

"Which means he can only attack with what he has seen before," Loke smirked. "I know how we beat him." He cleared his throat and called out. "Wow, you transformed into Siegrain? Really? I mean Lucy is more of a threat than that guy."

"Hell, I'd rather spar Levy," Pantherlily said, playing along. "She's tougher than Gajeel."

Mason glared over to them. "What are you two blabbering about?"

"Oh, just that your parlor trick is so obvious and your mimic magic is a joke," Loke stated simply. "You make the Strauss siblings and Gemini look better by comparison."

"That's because they are," Lily added.

Loke fist pumped him for that burn.

Mason straightened up and cracked his knuckles before turning back into himself. "You saw through my spells did you? You forgot about a very important one." He threw his hand out and suddenly nullified their magic.

Lily instantly shrank down to exceed size. Loke's gate was forced closed, causing the spirit to disappear. Mason turned to Krysta, grabbed her by her shirt, and pulled her from the earth he had forced her into. He nullified her magic and tossed her aside like a bag of potatoes.

"You foolish wizards are no match for me," Mason declared with a loud "ha!"

Krysta glared up at him as she pulled herself to one knee. She glanced down and noticed her baton within her reach. She looked up at Mason again. "I'm tired of this stupid cat and mouse game we are playing. It's time I taught you some manners," she hissed.

"I'd like to see you try," Mason commented, wryly.

Krysta grabbed the baton and lunged forward. In an instant, she swiped for his legs, which he seemed to predict by leaping over her swing, but she quickly followed through with her right leg swing up for a roundhouse kick to his face. The kick hit the mark and Mason staggered. Krysta did not hesitate to follow it with another series of vicious swings of the baton. She jabbed him in the ribs, knocked him in the back, slammed it into the top of his head, and swiped out his right knee cap. Mason fell to his knees, completely taken off guard and disoriented by Krysta's quick martial arts skills.

She then lashed out with another strike with the baton across the jawline and sent him to the floor. He spat blood, in a daze, from a split lip. She walked over and planted her foot not so kindly onto his chest, applying enough pressure to make him wince. He tried to remove her foot, but she held firm.

"This ends here," Krysta huffed. "But I have one question before I knock you into next year, how the hell do you know who I am?"

Mason smirked, his lips red with blood. "We used to be in school together back in Lotus City. I was even at your master's funeral."

"You're lying. You're just a monster who helps his father with insane and dangerous experiments," Krysta said, firmly. She didn't want to believe there was a connection between them or their pasts. "And you made an enemy of Fairy Tail. An enemy of mine. If this is your idea of making amends or trying to get my attention, then you've truly lost your mind." She knocked him against the side of the head, knocking him out. "You're just like my mother." She growled out under her breath. She took a careful step back and turned away from Mason, fuming.

Pantherlily approached the unconscious and well beaten man. He snagged a magic nullification cuff from a nearby table as he approached and tied Mason up. He glanced up at Krysta and furrowed his brow. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," Krysta said, quietly. There was a chill to her tone. "You?"

"Yeah, I'm good," Pantherlily said, nodding. "I wonder how the others are doing." He voiced after a moment.

She gave no response as she kept her back to him. He frowned and decided to give her her space. He dragged Mason's body to tie it up to a nearby pipe.

A black orb floated in the air before the window. Zen climbed back out into the front yard and approached the orb made of shadow. He stared at it for a moment, admiring the shift of his precious shadows keeping the boy in place. It slowly started to shrink as it absorbed Gajeel into his infinite nightmare. Zen dropped his shadow form and the sky returned to normal, but the sphere remained.

"Such a shame," Zen said, his voice back to normal. "I could have used all of your powers alongside Natsu's, but oh well. The shadows will keep you company. Forever."

He turned to head back into the house to resume his work. As he took a couple of steps, a muffled thud pounded against the side of the orb. Zen turned and furrowed his brow. The sphere pounded again, a visible bulge appeared in the side of it before retracting. After one more pound of the orb, a metal sword pierced through and sliced the sphere in half. Gajeel fell from the orb and landed in a crouch. Behind him, Gray Fullbuster and Erza Scarlet fell out and landed on the dirt with a thud. They were both unconscious.

"What? How?" Zen gasped. "You shouldn't even be alive."

"Yeah, well you thought wrong," Gajeel said, smirking. "And now, I'm going to kick your ass."

Zen tried to take his shadow form again and was met with a sudden lack of magic energy. He had used too much of it and he could feel himself wanying. This wasn't good. He turned and hustled for the door. If he could get Mason's attention, then his son could finish this fight while he took a quick break to regain his energy.

But Gajeel charged forward. He pointed his arm out. It changed from the sword into a sharp, pointed tip. "Iron Dragon Slayer, Demon logs!" He cried out.

A series of spear heads fired from Gajeel's arm and flew at Zen. The man was quick to evade as many as he could, but several caught him. He was slashed across the arms and legs, before three lucky ones snagged his torn clothing and pinned him to the earth. Gajeel approached and pointed the sharp, spear-like arm at Zen.

"Do ya give up?" Gajeel asked.

"Never!" Zen cried.

Gajeel rolled his eyes and turned his hand into his lance. He brought it down and knocked Zen on the head, knocking him out. "What an idiot," he grumbled.

He looked back over to Erza and Gray who were laying on the ground unconscious. He hurried to their sides and quickly checked to see if they were in fact still alive. He found their pulses and audibly sighed. He was worn out and desperately needed a snack. Glancing around, Gajeel looked for some iron to munch on while he waited for the others down stairs to finish and for the two here with him to wake up.

Review!