...Also Happy New Crisis or whatever.
Chapter Four - Dominoes, Part Two
The guild was utterly silent.
"She's amazing!" Freed whispered.
"Hell, yeah she is!" Cana shouted, hi-fiving Freed, who reluctantly participated.
"She's terrifying," Makarov groaned. "All that paperwork…"
The familiar refrain from their Master broke most of the shock and everyone quickly grouped up and gossiped about what they saw since Elle, Laxus, and The Dark Lord Zeref (!?) were quiet as they made their way through some woods.
"I can't believe my mother is alive," Erza said quietly.
"And a DRAGON!" Natsu shouted.
"I can't believe Ur's daughter is alive and that this Elle lady has a way to resurrect my Master," Gray said.
"I can't believe that Natsu is the brother of the Dark Wizard Zeref," Lucy said.
The guild paused. "Yeah, that one wins," Cana said, nodding.
"Alright," I said, rubbing my hands back and forth. "Honestly, the Exceed is gonna be the hardest to convince."
"The what?" Laxus asked.
I waved him off. "The flying, talking cat with wings. And Happy's crush."
"There are more of him?" Laxus asked, horrified.
"Of course. They're from Mystogan's universe."
"His what?"
"Mystogan is from a parallel dimension to us called Edolas. Everyone has counterparts there."
Laxus started to look sickly again.
I smirked. "I thought you wanted to know everything about the timeline."
He glared at me. "I hate you."
"No, you don't~" I sang, skipping forward and stopping in front of Cait Shelter.
"Hello," I said to the Master. "I'm here to give Wendy actual human interaction since you guys are all ghosts."
"They're what?" Laxus asked from behind me. I ignored him.
"I don't think I've ever seen Laxus lose his cool like this," Mira commented.
"Oh, this was very common back when Ella-sama was still around," Freed said, while the others nodded in agreement.
"When Elle starts doing things Laxus is lucky to get a few sentences in," Cana said. "Like the time we rescued Levy from kidnappers. He had no idea what he was doing."
"The time you what?" half the guild cried.
"Later," Levy waved them off, still intently watching the screen. Beside her, Freed was taking notes on Elle's actions and upcoming plans, interspersing them with his own thoughts.
Roubal gave me an odd look before calling out, "Wendy! Carla! Visitors for you!"
"Coming!"
Wendy ran out of the hut towards us excitedly…before tripping on a rock and falling flat on the ground.
I wonder if that's like a curse on small anime girls or something. At least it never affected me. Or anyone else I knew when we were younger. Hmm...maybe it's a Sky Maiden thing.
"Owie!" she cried, grabbing her scraped-up knee.
"God, you're so adorable," I said, sitting next to her and using Saturn's Healing Winds.
I have Sky Magic too, though, technically... I never tripped on ridiculously small rocks, though...unless I don't count because of the other elements?
Whatever.
"You have Healing Magic, too?" she asked eagerly, her eyes wide.
"Yep!" I said, smiling at her. "My name is Elle. I'm friends with Jellal, and I'm here to take you to come join or visit our guild if you want."
"Absolutely not!" a new voice shrieked.
Carla came running up. "I've seen what will happen if she does that and she is forbidden!"
"Woah, who is that?!" Happy shouted, flying up to the screen.
"Aw, it's love at first sight!" Mira crooned.
"Elle wasn't joking about that crush at all," Cana snorted.
"It just proves the cat is shallow," Bickslow said, his babies repeating 'shallow' after him.
"Or it could just be that Happy's never seen another Exceed before," Lucy pointed out.
"Thank you, Lucy!" Happy said, throwing himself at her. "The rest of you are all a bunch of meanies!"
"Or it could just be that Happy got his hopes up because he knows Elle knows the future so if she says he has a crush on her it has to be right," Levy remarked.
"No!" Happy shouted, flying back to the screen. "She's perfect!"
"Carla!" Wendy said, staring at the cat. "What are you talking about?"
"See, Carla has premonitions of the future," I explained, feeling like facepalming for not realizing that Carla would've been able to see the other timeline. I knew she'd be hard to convince just because she was kinda stuck-up at this point in time, but the extra knowledge could make it harder to convince her. On the other hand...
Turning to the cat, I said, "If you can see the other timeline, then you should know why she has to join us." I jerked my head over to the ghosts.
Carla started crying. "I don't want her to have to go through it all!"
"That's what I'm here for!" I said. "To help stop it from getting that bad. But are you really saying that you think she shouldn't join us? We're her family."
"Yes, please join us," Happy said. "Natsu, is this love?."
"Why are ya asking me?" He asked the cat.
"I don't know you," Carla accused.
I rolled my eyes. "That's because I'm new. I'm the one messing with the timeline. I'm trying to make things better. Besides, you recognize Laxus, don't you?"
Carla reluctantly nodded.
"What?" Wendy asked, confused.
Laxus sighed. "Just let it go, kid, it'll make sense eventually. Go with the flow for now."
The older members of the guild snickered at Laxus.
"WAIT! Does this mean she already knows me from last time around!?" Happy yelled, before throwing himself at Natsu and Lucy. "What if she HATES me?"
"I think it says something about your own personality if the first thing you think she'll feel is hatred," Lucy said dryly. "But you've already got friends here, so you should be fine."
"Besides!" Natsu said happily. "What if it means she already likes you back!"
Carla harrumphed, crossing her arms. "What about him?" She jerked her head over to Zeref. "He's evil."
"Don't be mean, he's cursed," I said, rolling my eyes. "And I found a way to stop him from going crazy, so he's not evil right now."
"But he could be later!" she protested.
"Carla, that's not nice," Wendy said, frowning. "If he's under a curse it's not his fault."
"It's his fault he got cursed!" Carla said.
"I mean…that's true, but it doesn't mean it's not unfair," I said, shrugging. "He's good and on our side now, and I also just avoided all the problems with Grimoire Heart, Tartaros, and Alvarez. So, Wendy won't have to worry about any of that stuff now. You're welcome."
Carla opened her mouth and paused, thinking. She seemed shocked, and unsure of what to say.
"She's got to be dropping information bombs like that on purpose," Gray muttered.
"She is," everyone who grew up with her said in unison.
"I want to see Jellal-nii, Carla," Wendy insisted.
"Besides, we'll help her with her training," I said. "Our guild is full of dragon slayers! Well, it will be."
Wendy gasped. "There are dragon slayers in your guild?"
"Yep," I said, smiling. "Natsu's the Fire Dragon Slayer, and his father, Igneel, disappeared the same day Grandeeney did. Our healer is also a version of Grandeeney from an alternate universe, and has some spells and notes that Grandeeney left for you."
"She's what?" Laxus asked. "Porlyusica?"
"Yep. She's also your grandmother by the way. She says that because you're such an ass now, she's glad she never told you."
"WHAT? Elle, are you joking?"
"No."
"YOU AND PORLYUSICA?" Macao and Wakaba shouted at Makarov in shock. He just sighed.
"And the revelations just keep coming!" Erza said, amazed.
Laxus slumped over, shocked.
I shrugged as I turned back to Wendy, who looked at him worriedly. "He'll be fine, just give him time to process," I said, smiling at her. "So, you wanna come?"
Wendy looked back at Roubal, her master, warily. "But…"
"Wendy," Roubal said. "You know our guild is very secular. It's because we're all ghosts. The only reason we're still here is to watch over Nirvana, our greatest sin. After that, we'll move on."
"I mean, like…I could probably make Mest use his magic to wipe everyone's memories and history of Nirvana so they forget about it," I suggested. "That way you can stay."
He smiled. "Thank you, young lady, but we do not want to stay. We want to move on."
I nodded. "Gotcha, I'll put destroying Nirvana on our To Do list. It'll probably be like a week before we can take care of it though, we need to build a woman a body and take back our guildmembers and pick up some more dragon slayers and de-possess a Wizard Saint and un-lacrimize a Queen...not in that order. And like, I know for a fact that Dark Guilds won't go after Nirvana for a few months or so."
"How many bombs does she have?" Gray was simultaneously amazed and horrified.
Roubal nodded, extremely unsure of what to make of me (probably). "...That is fine." He turned to Wendy, who was crying. "I'm glad this young lady came to take you to her guild. You need people who are living in the moment, Wendy."
Wendy was still crying. "I'll come back and visit before Elle-san takes care of Nirvana, I promise!"
Roubal smiled at her. "I just wish for you to be happy, child. And your happiness here will not last forever. We will move on sooner or later."
Still crying, Wendy nodded, and went around giving people hugs. I turned to Carla. "You have stuff you want to bring?"
She huffed and crossed her arms, but gestured to their hut, where I began to requip items away.
"Yay! She's gonna join our guild!" Happy shouted excitedly as he flew in loops.
"Yeah, we got another dragon slayer!" Max shouted, and the rest of them burst into cheers.
"If you really remember the other timeline, you know she'll be happy in Fairy Tail," I said softly. "And you will, too."
She said nothing for a moment, before quietly speaking, "I know, but I still want to avoid all of that hardship for her."
I smiled at her. "I understand that. One of the reasons I'm interfering is to hopefully prevent some of the worst of happening. But even then, I acknowledge that I can't fix everything."
I had no choice but to accept that after being gone for ten years.
"And my changes will also make new hardships. There will always be something for us to face, I just want us more prepared and more united for when they come," I finished.
The guild quieted at Elle's words. Erza nodded, turning to Freed. "I can finally see why you like this woman," she told Freed. "Despite her chaos, it seems she can be very wise."
"I'm fine with Ella-sama's chaos!" Freed stammered.
"He's not," Bickslow told the rest of the guild.
"Elle's brilliant," Cana nodded, turning to Erza. "You just don't notice most of the time because everything's on fire."
Makarov frowned. "I don't recall Elle ever actually blowing things up..."
"I mean figuratively."
Carla gave me a long look, before finally nodding. "You're not…incorrect," she said, somewhat stiffly, but she seemed much more relaxed now than she had before this conversation.
I finished requipping everything and we made our way back outside.
Laxus was keeping an eye on Wendy as she ran around hugging her guild members, and Zeref was speaking quietly with Roubal, probably about the protections and properties of Nirvana. It occurred to me that Nirvana was one of the few things Fairy Tail had to deal with that wasn't connected to Zeref. Huh.
"Alright, we're ready to go. Wendy?" I asked her.
She straightened, still a bit nervous. "Yes, Elle-san?"
"We're going to be going to a place called Tartaros," I started explaining. "And we're going to talk to two members away from the rest. Now, Tartaros is a dark guild, and each member is a demon. These members, though, are special, because one demon is a necromancer, and is currently reanimating the person we're looking for. Since Zeref here is somewhat responsible for the demons' creations (long story) he's going to help convince the demon to turn over the body to us, and using Laxus's lightning and my healing magic, we're going to try to bring him back to life. If you don't want to join us for the mission, that's fine, and I understand. If you do want to come with, I was hoping you'd help with the healing. Your power is a lot more specialized in that than mine is."
Makarov groaned. "Elle, you could just stay away from the dark guild."
"I've known this woman for five seconds and even I can say that that's not going to happen," Elfman grunted.
Wendy was quiet, looking at the ground and thinking. She looked up; to me, then Carla, then Laxus and Zeref, and back to me. "I want to help."
I gave her a small smile. "I thought you might. Alright, everyone, gather round so I can teleport us."
I grabbed Laxus's hand and Zeref's, and Laxus reached out his other hand to Wendy, who smiled at him gently and took it, holding Carla against her chest with her other arm.
"You got the location?" Zeref asked, sending it to me telepathically.
"Yep," I nodded, turning back to Roubal and the rest of Cait Shelter. "We'll see you guys in a week or so!"
They waved at us as we teleported away.
The four of us landed among some ruins.
"Well, isn't this setting just perfect," Laxus said sarcastically.
"They are demons," Zeref pointed out. "Keyes, specifically, is a necromancer. I'm not too surprised he'd be in a place like this."
"He's got a point!" I said. "At least these are just destroyed buildings. It could be a destroyed graveyard."
"Why does it need to be destroyed?" Carla muttered in the background.
Laxus tilted his head at my point. "Still creepy, though."
"You okay, Wendy?" I asked her, as she shivered a bit. She clutched Carla tighter to her.
"Just nervous," she admitted. "I've never done any dangerous missions."
"In case there is a confrontation," I said, "I'd like you to stay out of the way and behind Laxus."
"What if you need help?" Laxus asked.
"I'll signal you," I said, waving it off.
"What's the signal?" he asked.
"You'll know," I smirked, and he groaned.
"He's coming," Zeref said, looking off into the distance.
A few feet away from us, the air shimmered, and Keyes formed. He looked...a lot...more...in person. I don't even know what word to use. Just more.
I heard Wendy let out a small yelp at his appearance, and she shrunk behind Laxus, who crossed his arms and looked intimidating.
"That's so creepy!" Lucy yelled, while the rest of the guild made similar noises of fear and disgust.
"Hello, Keyes," Zeref said quietly.
"My Dark Lord Zeref," Keyes' sickly voice rasped. "Such a…strange way to be united with our creator."
Zeref nodded. "Forgive me, I had business elsewhere. However, I have returned to oversee you all. I have heard that you managed to properly reanimate a corpse. Quite the achievement."
"Indeed," Keyes nodded, though since he didn't have a chin, it was more of a bow.
"And the man's spirit and personality is intact?" Zeref pressed. "The body is in good physical condition?"
Keyes tilted his head (or leaned to the side, I get that I seemed to be oddly focused on his lack of a chin but honestly that was like the weirdest part of him to me now that he was no longer animated and also it distracted from the gross parts a bit so whatever). "It is. I assume you'd like to intervene?"
"Yes. My friends here would like to try bringing him back to life, rather than just reanimating him. While they attempt to restart his heart, you'd have to release him from your control. Will you do so?"
Keyes leaned forward again, and smiled, his lips parting and pulling at the strings sewing them shut. I began to miss how less-gross he appeared when animated on a screen as opposed to real life.
Behind me, Carla was covering Wendy's eyes.
More shouts of disgust and fear came from the guild.
"I will," Keyes agreed.
A few members let out whoops of joy.
"However…" he continued.
They all fell silent.
"First, you must convince him of your intentions, if you wish him to be free," Keyes finished, still smiling sickly.
I sighed. "Of course, I will. Yeah, I figured."
I turned to Laxus. "I'm hoping to solve this peacefully but if it becomes a fight, wait for the signal."
"You still haven't said when the signal is," Laxus said, crossing his arms. Wendy was grasping onto one of his legs.
"You'll know it," I said. "But a head's up; this idiot is as stubborn as his son is."
Laxus's eyes widened. "Wait, we know his son? Who's his son?"
"More bombs?" Gray asked. "Can she slow down for five seconds."
"No," Cana told him.
"Why're you so upset about the info anyway?" Natsu asked Gray, narrowing his eyes.
"Just a feeling..."
"You'll know when you see him," I said, turning back to Keyes.
"Any moment, now," Keyes smiled again.
As he got silent, the small crunch of footsteps was heard and a man entered a clearing in the middle of the ruins we stood in.
"Oh, shit," Laxus said, upon seeing Silver.
"Language," Carla hissed, sinking her nails into his leg. He glared at her.
Everyone in the guild looked from the screen, back to Gray, who was staring at the screen in shock. "Yep," he said weakly. "That's the feeling. My dad died years ago."
"Well, yeah," Natsu said. "That's what the Elle lady said!"
Gray glared at him and started building his magic before Lucy put a hand on his shoulder. "Ellie-nee is my role model for a reason, Gray. If anyone can revive him completely, it's her. Don't lose hope yet. We have no idea how this is going to turn out."
Gray slowly untensed. "Thanks, Lucy."
Two beams of light appeared next to them, and Corvus and Loke both appeared, before turning to glare at each other.
"Good, you're here," Phoenix said, straightening up from beside Makarov. "Elle's being nutty so I thought we'd fill you in."
Corvus visibly straightened, raising an eyebrow. "Elle's back?"
"She's back," Lucy said, smiling at him.
I took a deep breath and took a few steps forward. Silver looked at me, to Keyes, to the dragon slayers, and to Zeref. "What's going on, here?" he asked warily.
Keyes gestured to me. "This lady has a proposition for you."
Silver looked at me warily. "No thanks, you're not my type."
I raised an eyebrow. "Please, you think you can handle me?"
Laxus choked behind me.
"I don't get it," Wendy whispered.
"You don't need to," Carla hissed back.
"I'm here because we might have a way to properly bring your body back to life," I said.
He crossed his arms and leaned back again. "Uh-huh."
Was this going well? I honestly couldn't tell. "Using a mix of Lightning Magic and Healing Magic-"
Silver held up a hand. "Let me stop you right there. I don't need to be 'brought back to life'. I'm good the way I am. I have a mission here, and then I'm gone. I don't have any reason to 'live'."
Gray made a small choked sound and Erza hugged him to her breastplate.
"But you do!" I said. "One of our guildmembers is your son! Gray Fullbuster is still-"
In an instant, he froze me solid, just like he had with Sun Village, or Natsu in Tartaros's base. "Do not say that name to me."
I was surrounded by freezing cold.
Laxus gasped and took a small step forward.
The guild gasped, having never seen someone frozen like that.
"Can you do that?" Natsu asked Gray.
"No," he said, still astonished.
Getting ahold of myself, (so cold so cold so COLD) I used Pluto's Body and stepped out of the statue when his back was turned. "That's rude, you know," I said. Silver whirled back around to stare at me as I leaned forward and rapped my knuckles on the ice statue. "Do you think we could get money if we sold this?"
Laxus facepalmed.
Silver's eyes narrowed. "I'll admit, I'm impressed. I've never seen someone break free of that."
I shrugged. "Do what you gotta do. Anyway, Gray is a member of our guild and would be happy to have his father back."
He tensed up again. "Do. Not. Say. That name. Gray is dead."
"He is not, and I can prove it," I said, searching for the memory cards I had in my requip space.
"Oh sure, because you come here with the Black Wizard Zeref and that means I can trust you," Silver ranted, his eyes going a bit crazy. "My son is dead! Deliora killed him. That demon killed my wife and my son and you'll stand here with its creator, telling me lies! I'll destroy you!"
Ugh. Maybe Zeref would help us in the longer run with Tartaros but I should've made him stay hidden for this, fucking duh.
"Fine," I shouted, powering up my own magic as his magic intensity increased. "Plan A failed. Diplomacy is out, time to go the Natsu route. If you won't listen to reason," I ran at him. "Then I'll just beat it into you!"