Lucy found herself holding on tight to her fork, but her mind was drawing a blank. Weeks ago, she would've had escape routes planned out, she would've been aware of the time to make an excuse to go do something else.
Among the humdrum of dulled political talk, while the waiters moved about, and as life moved on, Lucy felt hers come to a complete, total stop.
"Now," Axel said, his voice still calm. He examined his drink. "I want you to understand that I did have…quite a violent reaction. There may be a few people dead. Don't worry about it. And, when I first heard what you'd been up to, I didn't think I could live with myself. It took me a lot of time to come to terms with all of this but, then again, I should've known this could happen. You were a Fairy Tail wizard, after all."
People…dead? Because he learned Lucy was a traitor?
"I figured that you wouldn't actually ever use Lullaby. You're too weak, you wouldn't kill yourself if it meant taking down just one other person. You're not the one to jump out when everyone else is down, Lucy. You had to operate in the shadows. A spy, right? Now, here's the tricky part: I haven't figured out your contact, or contacts, yet. I mean, when I found it, it was made to all sound so obvious. You're bad at it, Lucy, real bad.
"To be honest, the only thing you've ever been good at is your looks. I mean you look great tonight. I'd bang the brains right out of you." Axel shrugged. "Maybe I will. Gotta let Brandish have her way with you, first, unless she just hands over your keys. Don't try to run out of the city, either. We all are watching you. Make a wrong move and, well, I guess it's up to August to dole out your punishment, but I'm hoping he saves enough of you for me. Just the good bits."
Axel sighed. He took a drink as if giving Lucy a chance to talk. Warm tears slid down her face. There wasn't anything she could do.
"How did you find out?" Lucy asked, her voice so small she barely heard it.
"A good friend of yours told on you," Axel said. "I wish I found out directly, but, they thought wiser. I could've killed you on the spot—well, I had to wait to line up someone after you, if things went south. And look, Lucy, there's still time to save yourself. Go to Brandish, pledge your undying fealty, and then come home, and we'll make sweet love. You'll get pregnant, we'll have wonderful babies, and the Empire will flourish. It's that easy!"
It took more willpower than Lucy thought she had in herself to not vomit all over the place. She stared at the fork, the knife. She wouldn't be quick enough to use them, not against a trained Dragon Slayer.
Between seeing Brandish and the end of that meeting, she would either be dead or finding a way more peaceful route to death than…Axel.
"I don't mean to hold you up," Axel said. He stood, signaling the waiters to come collect their things. "Hurry along, Lucy. We'll be together again soon, I promise."
Lucy swallowed the lump in her throat. Everyone around her was watching them. Everyone around them, it seemed, knew. She wasn't Lucy the rising member of the Twilight Empire, she was Lucy the failed spy from Fairy Tail.
Slowly, Lucy got to her feet and began the walk to her doom.
The new Edolas Fairy Tail place was humongous. Natsu imagined their guild hall getting a nice redo once the whole business with the Twilight Empire was finally wrapped up. Something with…four stories! A whole training ground! And no S-Class exclusivity!
The Earth Landers were welcomed warmly by their Edolas counterparts. Natsu quickly reacquainted himself with all of everyone's unique traits. Edo Gray was being dragged across the guild hall by a stern Edo Juvia. The tall, slender Edo Wendy approached them and greeted the group warmly. Edo Cana did the same, as did Edo Mira while the shy Edo Elfman slunk up behind her.
Natsu took in a deep breath but showed a great smile for Edo Macao, Wacaba, Warren, Jet, Droy, Reedus, Nab, and the others he'd…never see again on Earth Land. They were all smiles, too, but there was a particular warmth behind them. Maybe they knew. Maybe they didn't. What mattered was they were all together.
Yukino did seem to know, as she bowed her head to them and apologized. They weren't sure what she was apologizing for, but they were definitely happy to see her in the first place.
Irene captured everyone's attention. Whispers rippled around the room, as she made way for Jellal, who was greeted to great renown.
Lucy Ashley jumped out of the woodwork, it seemed, to try and get Jellal into a headlock but he easily dodged it and patted her on the head.
"Hey, you jerk, I wanted to thank you for bringing these chumps home!" Lucy exclaimed. She turned. "Hey! Nasha! Get over here, meet your alternate dimension family!"
Natsu Dragion meekly grinned. "Ah, yup, there she goes. My darling wife."
"Wife?" Natsu burst, spinning around to his double. "You two got hitched? That's nuts."
"Yeah. Gray and Juvia, too. They had a lot more of a…calm wedding than we did."
Juvia almost exploded. "My love! Gray! Did you hear that? We get married! We probably have wonderful, wonderful lovemaking every night!"
Gray's face turned beet red. No, deeper than that.
"Can we leave?" Gray asked.
Natsu surveyed the hall further. It was well furnished, despite its size. It was alive, abuzz, with activity even though it was so far from the capital. He beamed at it all.
Look at how they were doing. Thriving. The last he saw them, they were down on their luck, struggling to get by and hide from the monarchy. But they rose above all that, they continued fighting and managed to become…well, quite something. Merchants, if Natsu remembered correctly, or a traveling group like that.
A lot had gone down since they were in Edolas.
"Come on, let's have a look around," Natsu Dragion said. "D—do you wanna join me?"
"Yeah!" Natsu exclaimed.
A little boy rushed by them. Natsu dodged to avoid his step. Brat looked kinda like Gray. No wonder Natsu was ready to punt him across the room.
Dragion showed Natsu to their fully stocked bar as well as some of their meeting rooms, and, most proudly of all, there was the garage replete with all kinds of vehicles. Amazed though Happy was to see all of it, Natsu was ready to keel over at the thought of having to ride in one. Dragion grinned at them.
Something clattered around near one of the cars. Dragion was quick to move, dashing across the room until he found the culprit.
"Oh, hey, you can't be here! You've gotta be more careful!"
Dragion returned with a little girl next to him. She had quite the pouty face, a rebellious expression no doubt. She had long pink hair and a scarf wrapped around her neck extending down to her arms. She fiddled with it while she toddled over, a wrench in hand.
She leered at Natsu.
"Oh. I've heard of you. My daddy says that you breathe fire. Is that true? Well? Is it? Do it, dragon boy!"
"Nasha!" Dragion exclaimed.
Natsu leered.
Hold on.
"He's your dad?"
Lucy Ashley slammed the door to the room open.
"There you are, sweetie!" she exclaimed.
Happy pointed a paw to Natsu Dragion, then to the approaching Lucy Ashley, who slung the little girl into her arms and gave Natsu Dragion a kiss on the cheek.
"You two have kids?" Natsu shouted.
"Who is your father?" Erza asked.
The little boy, Greige a spitting image of the child Gray she once knew from their earliest days in the Fairy Tail guild, shrugged and gestured at Gray Surge and Edo Juvia—Juvia Surge—nonchalantly.
"Them. Hey. Aren't you a badass knight? What're you doing palling around with a Dragion lookalike?"
"Gray!" Natsu roared from deep within the guild hall.
He reemerged. Irene cocked an eyebrow. Erza raised both, while, clearly, Wendy's head was spinning. Juvia, their Earth Land Juvia, was already getting Gray fitted for rings while seeing what she did, or didn't, like about Griege's apparel.
"You keep your son away from my daughter!" Natsu shouted.
Everyone in the guild hall snickered.
Gray balled a fist and pointed an accusatory finger at Natsu.
"Don't let her influence corrupt him, Flame Brain!"
Natsu snarled, Gray the same, and the two charged one another.
A young woman, who looked like quite the blend of Lucy and Natsu emerged with Lucy Ashley, Natsu Dragion, and Happy. She joined Griege in watching their alternate-universe fathers tumble into a brawl that quickly consumed others in the guild.
Jellal shut his eyes and shook his head. Irene found it amusing. Yukino watched it studiously, while Edo Wendy and Earth Land Wendy were in an enchanting conversation between themselves, Cana, Edo Laki, and Edo Mira.
It was exactly how Fairy Tail was meant to be.
And it was never how their guild could be.
The sensation wasn't simply distant, it was at the fringe of Erza's memory. So many members of the guild were gone and dead, others were well beyond their reach. She mournfully watched Edo Levi scold her two friends, watched as Edo Mira and waved Lucy Ashley over.
It was all so electric and alive. It was all so brimming with joy and positivity. The Twilight Empire tried and failed to break into this world, all after it'd shattered their world.
Thanks to him, the man was able to stoically, and safely, watch the chaos go down.
"Jellal," Erza said, catching his attention. "We need to talk."
"I know what it is you'd say, Erza," Jellal said. "But I have to turn you down. There's nothing for me on Earth Land anymore. Everyone is dead. I must guard this place."
"Dead?" Erza asked. "Jellal, you don't know about Meredy, about Crime Sorciere?"
"They were all wiped out."
"No. No, far from it." She approached him. "She leads them, Jellal, and it's a tough fight but she's doing so well. They're alive, Jellal."
Jellal stared at Erza. She had no reason to lie to him, and he had no reason to deny the words coming from his mouth. It'd been long enough that they could be no mere illusion.
"That…" Jellal balled a fist. "Good. I'm glad."
"Come back, Jellal. They need you."
Irene stepped forward, a cold wave moving with her. "Erza, sweet girl. Don't you see how at peace Jellal is now?"
Erza turned to the woman. There. Her first act against them, and it was to hold the Fairies back from fighting the Twilight Empire. Her allegiance was as clear as ever.
"He needn't go back to struggle, he needn't worry about the fight. His friends will carry it on. Perhaps, if they're wise, they'll find a way here. Let that world rot. It has already fallen, why bother with it? If I thought there any hope for a better future, I'd have stayed."
"Be quiet," Erza said, harsh but low so nobody heard the snap. "Don't tell us about giving up a fight, Imperial."
Irene shook her head. "Silly girl. You have no idea what you're doing but you'll lecture me?"
"That world won't rot so long as there is hope, and there is hope within Jellal," Erza said. "You can save more than just these people in Edolas, Jellal. This is your chance, your sign, to come home. Help your friends."
"And risk losing them again," Jellal muttered.
"Or save them!" Erza exclaimed.
"Fighting in the war against August and the Empress is pointless for all of you," Irene said. "If he wanted, August could wipe out all of the rebellion in one fell swoop. He gets a kick out of it. How does it feel being a toy, Erza?"
"We're wizards, not toys."
Irene rolled her eyes. "So trite. Damn it all, Erza, get it through your head. Jellal has his happy ending, and this is your chance to have your own. Be with your family."
"I am."
"No." Irene stepped closer, leveling with Erza. "No, your real family, Erza."
Erza leered. "What? What do you mean?"
Irene pursed her lips, then clicked her tongue and gave Erza a brief smirk that consumed Erza, though not nearly as much as her following words,
"Because as your mother, I would simply die to know you lost your life in a pointless fight." She pointed to Natsu and Wendy. "And you would be handing Zeref, August, however, the ultimate key to victory with those two right there."
The two were at the edge of the village by the time Gajeel got the word out to move the soldiers up and get civilians to the safest places around. Even though the soldiers were in position—some even able to beef up like Lily though not to nearly as powerful a decree—they held stance away from Gajeel and Kagura, who themselves were blocking the new entrants from the trembling duo behind them.
Gajeel folded his arms. A breeze swept through the village. Kagura lowered her hand to her sword, Archenemy. Lily and Millianna stood behind the two, protecting Frosch and Lector who couldn't help themselves when they heard the news.
The village came to a hush. Sting and Rogue emerged through the gate uncontested, per Gajeel and Kagura's request. They looked rougher than when Gajeel last saw them: worn from the road, their clothes dirty, eyes haggard. Gone were the days of pristine robes and cloaks, gone were the two who stood atop the world as the preeminent Dragon Slayers.
Normally, Exceeds would've loved to welcome Dragon Slayers into their ranks, given their experience on Edolas with the Earth Land ones. It was probably strange to raise weapons against them, though this time there was no illusion of malcontent, like the lie they'd been fed by that crock of a king. Their weapons would be incrediblyineffective,of course, but the gumption was there. Gajeel appreciated that.
"Rogue," Frosch muttered from behind Lily.
The Dragon Slayer's expression softened. Lily placed a hand on his giant blade. Rogue snarled. Sting stepped forward.
"We've only come for Frosch and Lector," Sting said. "We're not here for a fight."
"You get their permission to head out with you first?" Gajeel asked. "Ain't letting you get anywhere close to them until I hear it."
Sting's expression matched Rogue's. "Hey, come on Lector. Let's split."
Silence. One that shocked Sting. He held out his hand and knelt down. Rogue did the same for Frosch, beckoning the frog-suited Exceed on.
"We can leave now," Rogue said.
"We're not with the Empire anymore. We left so we could find you, get away from all of this," Sting said.
Gajeel didn't buy it. A bad act.
"We—we can't leave these folks!" Lector exclaimed. "We're safe here."
"Frosch is scared of the Empire," Frosch said.
"We're not with them anymore," Rogue said, keeping his voice soft.
Something tickled Gajeel's nose. It was distant, but growing. Kagura's ears perked. She must've noticed it, too.
"We were kicked out," Sting said, his voice sunken. "For our…uselessness. We don't mean anything to them anymore. So we had to get you, had to find—"
"And when you did mean something to them, did we mean anything to you?" Lector burst.
Sting's eyes widened, while Rogue bowed his head.
"Cuz I don't think someone would just let their best friend get turned into a friggin' magic crystal to be gobbled up!" Lector exclaimed. "'Or let their best friend run away without even noticing!"
"Frosch had to find Lector," Frosch said. Gajeel could hear the tears.
"We're different now!" Sting exclaimed but still didn't make a move toward them.
He simply balled his fist. Violence wouldn't help them prove a point. Actions would, sure, but good deeds. Basically, nothing like what they'd been doing as Captains of the Twilight Empire. Plus, it didn't help their little ruse that they still wore Imperial clothing. Maybe it was all they had, or maybe they were just that stupid.
"We are!" Sting shouted, his voice carrying across the village. "We are, damn it. After what happened with the capital, with all of that shit in the Grand Magic Games, we lost our touch. We lost everything. We didn't even have you guys! But now we can take it all back. The Empire is dead to us. We're dead to it. All we need is you."
"Where is Yukino?" Lector asked, and Sting paled. Rogue couldn't even face them. "If you really did change, why not find her? She's your wife! Wait, I know where she is."
"Fairy Tail," Frosch finished.
Sting balled a fist. "Fairy Tail." He glared right at Gajeel. "You stole it all from us. You ruined our lives!"
"Which is it?" Gajeel asked. "The Empire ruined you? Or we did? Hmm. I can see one thing in common with both. Maybe the problem has always just been you."
Kagura removed Archenemy from her side, keeping it in its sheath. Gajeel was stoic. Sting snarled as his magic swelled around him. Yup.
Real different, this guy.
"It'll be alright," Gajeel said, glancing at Frosch and Lector, who were both in tears at the sight of their old friends. Maybe they'd been good once, but, like the Twilight Empire was wont to do, they were ruined. "They can't hurt you."
"Not anymore," Lector muttered.
"Don't hurt Rogue," Frosch bumbled.
"Gajeel."
Gajeel spun, and rather than a force of light or shadow, something else surged down toward the Exceeds. The soldiers dove out of the way as a massive fireball landed at the gate, obliterating it. Sting and Rogue dashed off.
Gajeel lowered into his defensive stance as the flames quickly spread. They scoured the wooden walls of the village, torching them.
A cackle broke over the sound of screams and shouts from the soldiers.
"Looks like we've got a whole mess here. Good thing we showed up to clean it all up!"
Sting and Rogue, from where they stood, whipped around in confusion. It was obviously an Imperial, but Gajeel didn't recognize the guy as he emerged from the flames. He had a thick mustache and short beard, with well-built muscles all around. A cigar hung from his mouth that got burned away in the deep orange flames.
"Who the hell is this guy?" Gajeel asked.
"Zash Caine," Kagura said. "Dragon Slayer of some sort of fire variation."
"Purgatory, Miss Mikazuchi," Zash said. "And that'sCaptainZash Caine to all of you. Eh. You won't have to worry about it for long. We'll have all you kitty-cats rounded up in a second to be turned into some nice fuel for the Empire. And you three little rebels? Well. You'll skip purgatory and go straight to hell."
Gajeel laughed. "Why don't you let me take this idiot, Kagura? I've got some good experience with fire Dragon Slayers."
"Right," Kagura said. "I'll help the Exceeds."
"You'll need it," Zash said and raised his hand.
In a swift motion, as he swung it down, dozens of black-clad soldiers leaped over or through the flames of the village walls, landing in offensive stances poised to strike. It was a pincer move that forced the Exceeds soldiers further into the village.
The Quartum Army, the largest force of it Gajeel had seen, had arrived.
They ignored Sting and Rogue. Kagura faced them. Millianna rushed to Gajeel's side while Lily made sure to keep Frosch and Lector behind him.
"Thank you, Sting and Rogue, for performing one final valiant act for the Empire," Zash said. "I'll burn you two traitors up later."
Ah. So they had been telling the truth.
They just also happened to be incredibly stupid.
Zash closed his fist, fire forming in it. He opened his mouth to cast a spell but before he could utter it or cast his flames, Gajeel launched himself, and his arm, forward, punching Zash right in the mouth, and beginning the battle to defend the Exceed village.
Magnolia was once the most beautiful sight in the world, particularly during Fantasia season. The skies were almost always blue, the town abuzz with life and springing with some sort of hope. All of it, always, stemmed from the Fairy Tail guild hall.
None of that stood anymore.
Nobody lived in Magnolia, nothing grew, and the clouds were a dark grey. It was likely as a result of a curse, as the rest of the world around Magnolia was, for the most part in terms of its climate, pretty normal.
"One of the great sins of the Twilight Empire," Freed muttered. "The devastation of the old world's beauty, in place of a new one's progress."
"I must admit," Makarov said. "Restoring this place may not be a mere matter of rebuilding. To instill a sense of home in Magnolia, to return it to even a shred of what we knew it as, may take years. Generations, even."
"And it starts with weeding out the pest that's in our home," Laxus said.
"Be still," Makarov said. "Do not go into this hastily. Remember what I told you of the Spriggan Twelve. Going into this fight with a hot head won't do you any good."
He glanced at Ivan, who couldn't meet their eyes.
Laxus didn't bother. His father was sticking around just to show Dimaria that he'd held up his end of the deal. In a fight, the guy was harmless, Freed, Evergreen, or Bickslow alone could handle him easily.
"I agree, Gramps, but that doesn't mean we have to avoid it," Laxus said. "Come on."
Makarov balled his fists. "I remember my life in this place as a little boy. I remember what it smelled like, what it felt like. The sights of the vendors, the gondoliers in the streams. Now they've dried up, now they've burned away. Indeed, Freed, this is one of the great sins. Repentance is due."
Together, they made their way through the wild and into the obliterated gates of Magnolia. For a while, they were alone save for the sound of soft footsteps upon the ashen ground. Gray and black husks stood all around, pillars of a bygone era reduced to nothing more than haunting memories.
Strangely, there were no signs of any of Dimaria's taunts. Nothing that invited frustration, or a preemptive attack.
Wordlessly, the group followed the road toward the guild hall. It was of course gone, destroyed in the attacks executed personally by Zeref as aided by Ivan. But if Dimaria was going to be anywhere to try and demoralize them, it'd be in the guild hall.
Or, so they thought. What they found instead was nothing. No walls, no structure, just a blank space where once there'd been a gathering place of family. Laxus couldn't even touch the ashes of his old home, one he'd been exiled from for being an idiot.
Makarov stared at its emptiness, his gaze as far gone as the guild hall itself. The Thunder Tribe were, poorly, masking their tears. Laxus at last locked eyes with his father, but the two shared no words. There weren't any left between them.
"Hey! If you're looking for your fight at a poetically fighting spot, come on down here!"
Ivan almost jumped out of his skin. Lightning crackled from Laxus's fists as he and the others faced the muscular blonde woman all the way down the hill in front of the devastated Kardia Cathedral.
Of course. The last place Laxus took his stand against Fairy Tail.
The last place, in her mind, he'd ever fight. It was where he died as a member of Fairy Tail, after all. She was there to finish the job.
They made their way down. Dimaria walked back into the cathedral. Some structurally critical pillars remained but all the stained glass was gone, the room blown wide open to allow all visitors.
Evergreen gasped as they rounded the corner, and, at last, Dimaria's diorama was clear before them. This time, though, it was not merely visages of them, nor their friends. It was them.
There, bodies broken and bleeding yet not entirely dead, lay Romeo, Laki, Lisanna, Flare Corona, Max, and Cana. Their small voices were silenced one by one as Dimaria strode about, her blade moving with speed so fast Laxus swore she was teleporting, and they all died upon the ruined ground.
She saved the final one for last, raising his head and glowering at him.
Laxus, to his own surprise, sighed at the sight.
Dimaria dropped the body. "What the hell is wrong with you, tough guy? Like seeing your friends get killed?"
"Nah, not particularly something I enjoy," Laxus said. "But, I do like knowing they're at least safe from a piece of shit like you."
"What?"
Laxus pointed to the body she'd hoisted up—the crumbled half-corpse of Gildarts. "Think he'd die to someone like you? Please. Drop the act, father."
Dimaria sneered. "Yes, Ivan, best us drop it. Clearly, this tactic won't work." She folded her arms, gesturing at Laxus. "His kid, right? Yeah, guess his dumbass genes didn't rub off on you. Grampie? Maybe Ivan got his idiocy from you?"
"You've defiled our town for the final time, Dimaria Yesta. Your day of reckoning is here!"
"I'd shake in my boots if there wasn't a mountain of corpses for every person who said that to me," Dimaria said.
The wind blew in, spilling debris and ash around them.
"We good, Ivan?" Dimaria asked.
"Y—yes, General Yesta."
"Perfect. Well, it was nice to see a little family reunion, but, time to wrap this up. I hope you learned your lesson, Ivan, and had a little fun with these guys. Make sure to say goodbye."
"Laxus," Ivan muttered. "I'm sorry."
Before Laxus could ask for clarification, he spotted the ash in the air freeze around Dimaria.
Then, all around him, time came to a sudden, complete stop.