Gajeel spat blood and slammed his fist into the ground. All around him, the fighting closed in on the rest of the village. Millianna lay against one of the huts, trying to get back up and protect a small family of Exceeds. Kagura continued to hold off the Quartum Army, but a few Dragon Slayers had splintered off from tearing down Gajeel to focus on her, making her divide her attention. Zash stood over him, delivering another swift kick to the face that knocked Gajeel's head back.
Lily cried out for him but had to engage another Dragon Slayer.
Meanwhile, Sting and Rogue watched in horror.
"You know," Gajeel said through a bloody mouth as Zash raised his head. He rested Gajeel back against a broken, burned-down hut. Was it the Queen's? "I gotta admit something to you, prick."
"What? Make it good. They'll be your last words."
"The only thing keeping me going is the thought that there's no way I could get beat by a guy like you," Gajeel said. He raised his chin. "Because you're nothing compared to Salamander. Hey, at least he didn't need that many friends to help him. Next time you wanna prove you're tough? Take a guy on one on one."
"History won't care about how I defeated you, only that I did," Zash said. "It's a pity you aren't Second Generation. We could use your powers in the Empire. Perhaps we'll find your dragon and rip its heart out to get its power."
Gajeel laughed along with Zash, then lurched, slamming his head under Zash's chin. Blood sprayed from Zash's mouth. Gajeel punched him once, twice, before Lindara came zipping back with enough punches to soften Gajeel up for another fire-infused punch from Zash, sending him through the building and out the other side.
The Iron Dragon Slayer rested his head back, groaning. Yup, he could feel it draining.
His magic, his life, his will.
Strangely, he heard Makarov, of all people, begging him to get up. He heard Levy, too, but her voice was weaker. Last time he was in a position like this it was because of those two from Grimoire Heart.
He grabbed at the grass around him. Zash, Lindara, and Johan approached. Zash's fists lit up into two powerful beacons of harrowing flame. Gajeel sighed, difficult though it was to do even that.
"Alright then," he said. "You gonna make it quick?"
"You don't deserve quick," Lindara said.
"Nah," Gajeel said. "But I can take it."
Zash smirked. "Atta boy."
He lurched but was stopped as a spear ran through his shoulder, and Gajeel was slowly dragged away. Leaping over him were dozens of Exceeds, fa ew of whom were actually soldiers. They'd picked up farming tools, and pitchforks, or just used their paws to assault the Dragon Slayers. Johan jumped, quite scared, while Zash managed to recover quickly.
It took quite a few Exceeds to drag Gajeel away from everything, but Lindara dealt with the initial wave handily. Smoke rose from a few that'd been struck by her quick lightning.
Gajeel spotted Sting and Rogue watching from afar atop a hut as if searching for something. Had they lost sight of Frosch and Lector? Where had those two run off to, anyway?
"Be still, Gajeel."
His eyes widened. He managed to sit up, but couldn't move much beyond it.
"Queenie, you gotta run," Gajeel said.
"This is the final stand of my people," Queen Shaggotte said. "I am in no position to abandon them."
Her lone wing flared. The Exceeds gaped at her.
"I must stand and defend those who would once defend us! My Exceeds, to arms! Keep the Dragon Slayers at bay, and tend to Gajeel's wounds."
Quickly, they followed their queen's orders. Pieces of metal were thrown Gajeel's way, some of it dented, and broken, but it was at least something. He wordlessly thanked them and began digging in as soldiers peeled off from the battle at the walls to lend support. Kagura took on the brunt of it but was probably relieved to not have to worry too much about allies.
Zash roared and punched through one Exceed soldier, causing screams to ripple out. Many had tears, either of sadness or abject fear, but fought on anyway.
Gajeel at last managed to get to his feet and tried to summon his strength but Johan broke their line with a powerful gust of wind. It took Gajeel off his feet.
Zash aimed a hand at him. "You're dead!"
A fireball shot out at them. A lone Exceed dove in front of Gajeel, their wing glistening brilliantly in the shadow of the flames that were going to extinguish Gajeel's life. Instead, as they took the brunt, Gajeel only slid back, managing to use it to get to a knee.
The flames settled around him. Exceeds lay sprawled or crawled all around him, the iron they were going to lend him still aflame. The only one dead, eyes wide open but with a faint smile on her face, was the one they all wept for. The one they couldn't lose, the one who marshaled them into this new world with nothing but bravery in her heart.
"Heh," Zash said. "Didn't have regicide on the mind today, but, oh well."
Lindara and Johan stood next to him. Gajeel knelt next to the queen, grasping two of the flaming bits of iron from Zash.
"Come on, Queenie, get up," Gajeel said.
But her body was stone cold. Zash's shadow loomed.
"Time to finish the job," he said and raised his hand again.
Quickly, his eyes moved up, and he managed to move back as two more Exceeds flew into him, knocking him back. Lindara and Johan quickly swatted them down.
Frosch.
Lector.
"These damn pests!" Zash roared. "Wipe them out, you two!"
Before they could, as they charged their magic, Frosch and Lector were quickly swept away from the battlefield, and Lindara and Johan were forced back. A man in a white aura, and one in a black aura, stood at the fringe of the burning hut.
"Don't touch them," Sting said.
"This ends, Zash," Rogue said.
Gajeel's hands bled from the metal that still burned in his hands. He quickly chomped down on it, looking for any further strength, when, suddenly, his belly burned.
And he doubled over, screaming.
The Exceeds were quick to whip around in concern at this as Gajeel crumpled but felt compelled to, even still, eat even more of the flaming iron. Lindara and Johan had recovered from their surprise, preparing further magic as Gajeel felt his come back. His strength returned.
And he rose, but not as the Iron Dragon Slayer.
"Get the Queen outta here," he said, finally getting back on his feet for the first time in several minutes. He raised his head. "Sting and Rogue, watch them. I'll take it from here. Guess you two ain't so bad now."
"The hell is going on?" Zash asked, pointing at Gajeel. "Why…why is he…?"
"Onfire?" Sting asked. "No way. Did—did you manage to consume Zash's flames?"
Gajeel stepped by the two of them. He wasn't necessarily on fire, but the steel coating his body, running through his very being, was supercharged with heat. Rather than the typical grey color, it instead ran hot with deep orange, singing the ground he trod upon with every step.
"Guess you and Salamander ain't the only ones to pull this little trick," Gajeel said. "Boy, I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees the new strongest Fire Dragon Slayer around."
"It won't help," Zash said. "Even if you had Sting and Rogue at your side, they're washed-up traitors. Their actions here have given me more than enough reason to see them dead immediately. Go ahead and delay their deaths by once again challenging us again."
"Kagura will make sure Kiyl and Kristine are taken care of," Gajeel said. "If you want, Thomas can come back and get a beating again."
Sting and Rogue, without another word, harried the Exceeds away. The Queen went with them, her body carefully carried off by those still alive. Several lay around Gajeel, knocked out or dead.
With a surge, he flared his aura and forced Zash back, away from them. He parried blows from Johan and Lindara, and the four settled back near the middle of the village.
They still carried themselves with the swagger of determined victors. They sneered, and made little asides, all while the village burned around them and Exceeds lay dead or dying.
It was about time to remove those little smirks from their faces. Starting with Zash Caine.
Gajeel flared his aura, catching wisps of his hair in his vision. It was unknotted from battle, and there were streaks of orange in it now. Additionally, his aura didn't crackle like it usually did, but it held a fiery edge to it, as it, too, was about to become a piece of flame for his arsenal.
The Imperial Dragon Slayers attacked again, in unison, likely in some sort of coordinated assault. Gajeel absorbed the weaker blow from Johan to get him in close before using him as a barricade for Lindara's assault, and at last, flinging them both aside to slam his head into Zash's. The man immediately began bleeding.
In a group, Zash knew how to operate well, because he could hide his own weaknesses. A wall though Zash was, he was ultimately made of glass.
Gajeel slammed his burning fist into Zash's chest and then pursued, catching him and melting the skin on his face before slamming him into the ground and pouncing away from Lindara's chase. She was going to be quite annoying quite quickly. Best to end her first, actually.
She pursued him into the sky, summoning a flurry of lighting around her. Gajeel charged up his attack.
"Purgatory Iron Dragon Slayer Roar!"
The spell impacted her before she could mount a good enough defense, forming a crater in the ground and leaving her completely still. Gajeel, foolishly, forgot about Johan, and was caught in a spell of the man's making, twisting and turning in a tornado as Zash prepared his ultimate attack, it seemed. Gajeel had no means of getting himself free, seemingly, until he shot a Purgatory Iron Dragon Club into the ground to anchor himself, letting the winds lash him but ultimately leaving him still.
However, air was going to quickly become a problem. He was running out of it in the vortex. He had one shot, one perfect chance to knock Johan either out or render him incapable of firing the spell.
Behind his back, he created three kana, then let himself go, waited a moment, and cast the three through the vortex as fast as he could.
As it turned out, he didn't have to hit Johan. The man was, simply, a coward, and broke his concentration on the spell to duck out of the way. Gajeel landed. Zash took advantage of his momentary recovery, a magnificent inferno that—could—impress even Natsu. Zash roared a laugh. Gajeel smiled, and as Zash launched the spell wordlessly, Gajeel caught it.
In his normal form, maybe he would've felt the heat. Maybe he wouldn't have been able to take it. But a new flame burned in him, one that coursed through his body, threatening to melt the very iron in his body.
It was the fire of those who could not stand for themselves, the fire that burned to bring retribution for not just one fallen queen, but another. One that would show the Empire a beacon of hope from so small a place as a village of flying, talking cats.
"That all you got?" Gajeel shouted over the flames and took a step. "Come on, Zash! Take me seriously why dontcha!"
He punched the massive plume of fire away, and it exploded in the sky above, washing the entire village in a nigh-unbearable warmth. Gajeel didn't sweat. It didn't bother him all that much, anyway.
He re-engaged Zash, the two exchanging punches before Gajeel scored a fine hit on Zash and tossed him aside, opening him up for a clear strike on Johan. Gajeel leaped, avoiding the man's attack to spin Gajeel away, and cast Purgatory Iron Dragon Lance. It scored across Johan's arm, nearly severing it seemed, and sent the man flying back.
Gajeel landed. A quick survey of the area showed that the battle, overall, was not going against them. The tide had turned. All the Exceeds were fighting, and Kagura, unimpeded, could easily handle the Quartum Army.
The two Dragon Slayers, Kiyl and Kristine, dove upon her. Sting and Rogue leaped into battle behind them, surprising them with their speed. Kagura made a quick judgment. Seeing four Dragon Slayers, all of whom were sporting Imperial clothing, and feeling the pressure of the remaining Fourth Generation soldiers, she unsheathed her blade.
Its magic might almost overwhelm Gajeel, and its pure pressure forced Kiyl and Kristine to immediately back off. Sting and Rogue, though, continued, and in Kagura's first strike, she immediately wiped out what foes remained around her, and Sting and Rogue, it seemed were caught in the crossfire.
No time to see more, though, as Johan and Zash recovered, preparing a horrid sham of a Unison Raid in front of him. Zash had also called Thomas over, who attempted to bind Gajeel to the shadows lurching from some of the nearby buildings.
It was their final gasp, their last assault on Gajeel. He raised his hand to Lily, who was coming in the defense of his friend. Gajeel closed his fists.
"Alright," he said. "Let's see what you got."
"End this!" Zash roared, and, at once, those three Dragon Slayers unleashed their might. Gajeel tilted his head up at it.
Not bad.
Not enough.
"Dragon Slayer Secret Art!"Gajeel roared, and his voice carried not just throughout the village, but the valley, out into anyone who would dare mess with the cats. "Karma Demon: Purgatory Spiral!"
He launched at the winds carrying both fire and darkness, at the very breeze from hell itself, and did so without blinking. Gajeel contorted once, and sent his legs spinning, forming a drill not just of metal but fire, torching through the spell that the Empire's Dragon Division cast its final hopes toward. Gajeel broke through with ease, and slammed the drill right into Zash, bursting out through the man's chest while the power exploded around him, whipping out against Johan and Thomas. Gajeel landed.
"Purgatory Iron Dragon Roar!"
The spell blasted against Johan before he hit the floor, wiping him out. As Thomas recovered, preparing a sneak attack, a fast but heavy blade swung down from the skies above, as sent by the greatest Exceed, and skewered him where he stood.
The fires around the village slowly dwindled as Gajeel took a massive inhale. He maintained his new form, even though the only two Imperial Dragon Slayers to survive, Kiyl and Kristine, were making a hasty escape. Kagura watched them show, sheathing Archenemy as she knelt by the two that were still down near her. Frosch and Lector sprinted to their old friends, too.
Lily landed next to Gajeel. Gajeel looked at his friend and nodded. It'd be in poor taste to make a quip, considering how most all of the Exceeds who knew what was going on were quickly flocking to Queen Shaggotte's body, untouched by the flames of Gajeel's new form.
He'd made sure to protect her dignity. Thankfully, in that, he succeeded.
Millianna was the only one of the rebels who'd been knocked out—though Kagura believed it was less from battle and more the stress of seeing so many Exceed in duress about them—and was placed aside to rest with some of their finest healers. Gajeel helped Kagura, Lily, and Nichiya in recovering the bodies of the fallen soldiers. The Fourth Generation Dragon Slayers had all been destroyed beyond repair, but some of their helms were put up on posts around the village as a warning.
It took Gajeel some time before he was able to get around to Sting and Rogue, partly because he wanted to help directly with the Exceeds in their recovery efforts regarding the immediate aftereffects of the battle. Much of the village was demolished, but that, at last, could be rebuilt.
Nichiya took quick command of everything. His voice occasionally cracked, and his demeanor diminished, but the moment he saw the wandering, sad eyes of his people he stood strong.
Night fell as Gajeel at last arrived at Sting and Rogue's makeshift tent. Frosch and Lector were with the two of them. Gajeel folded his arms.
"That was some stunt you pulled," he said. "Actually betraying the Empire like that."
"The Exceeds are innocent in everything," Sting said.
Gajeel raised an eyebrow. "As if everyone else you two ever torched before this wasn't?"
Sting lowered his head. Rogue raised his left arm and clasped Sting's shoulder. Gajeel grimaced.
In Kagura's attack, she made sure not to spare anyone around her. She didn't regret her actions, and Sting and Rogue, when they came to, didn't begrudge her what she'd done. As a result, Sting lost his left arm, and Rogue his right.
The two had, already, tried to find a workaround. Rogue, at least, could extend a physical shadow out from his arm, much the same way Kip created his talons. Sting refused to do the same.
"Maybe with time," apparently he told Kagura, "but not right now."
"Look, if you left the Empire you left the Empire, but I don't wanna see either of you trying to pull anything," Gajeel said. "Got it?"
Rogue nodded while Sting stared ahead. After a moment, he did nod. He patted Lector's head, who didn't seem hesitant about it.
"We were just talking," Sting said, "about how we should leave, anyway."
"I agree."
"Not just…here. Fiore. Ishgar. Kagura seems to think it's a good idea."
"Staying here is a burden, for you and for us," Rogue said.
"Hard to argue." Gajeel sighed. If Kagura had agreed, it was good enough for him. He didn't mind having to deal with the two but was wary of their flakiness on possibly going back to the Empire after what she'd done. "With you reliably out of our hair, we can move a lot more efficiently."
The Dragon Division would be down to four—effectively three, given that Kip was a mole—with two of them running scared and the other a spineless coward who was going to get his face caved in by Natsu at the first chance. The Quartum Army had been eliminated.
The stand at the Exceed Village wasn't just a major defensive hold.
It was a decisive rebel victory.
"There's something you can help us with if you're up for it," Gajeel said.
Both perked up.
"Follow me."
They did so without a second thought. Frosch and Lector followed. Gajeel led them to the dead Imperial Dragon Slayers—Thomas, Johan, Linda, and Zash—as Exceed surgeons were carefully removing the different lacrima from their bodies. Kagura oversaw it, her arms folded.
"The rebellion could use these," Gajeel said and eyed the two. "Right?"
Sting pursed his lips. He knelt down before Zash's lacrima, then took it in his hand. Rogue watched. The Exceeds warily stepped back.
"No," Sting said and crushed it. The Exceeds gasped until they saw the trail of black smoke rising out from the lacrima.
"How'd you know?" Rogue asked.
Gajeel smiled. "Good guess. Figured when Zeref mined the lacrima out of God Serena's body, he wouldn't want to just let them run free if things ever got out of hand."
It, Gajeel realized, made him wonder just what was going on with Kip. Wouldn't Zeref want to eliminate Kip, having sensed that he was acting against the rebellion? The only way Zerefwouldn'twas if Kip was a triple agent—unlikely, the dude passed all of Wendy's checks—or Zeref somehow didn't know.
One by one, Sting and Rogue crushed the remaining lacrima. It did suck since it meant removing power from the rebels' hands, but it was better that losing allies to Zeref's command.
"Be off with you, then," Kagura said, staring down Sting and Rogue.
The two sighed, almost relieved in a way. They looked down to their Exceed partners.
"Wanna stay here?" Sting asked.
"We understand if you do," Rogue said.
The two Exceeds shook their heads, padded over to the two Dragon Slayers, and rested their heads upon the Dragon Slayers' legs.
"Let's just be together for a bit," Lector said.
"Frosch would like that a lot," Frosch said.
Sting buckled over, bringing Lector into an embrace, and poorly managed to hide his tears. Rogue wiped his eyes as Frosch scrambled up his friend's body and gave him as big a hug as he could.
There was a long, long path before Sting and Rogue. Maybe they'd never truly recover from it. They'd wear the scar of Kagura's wrath—a rightful one-forever. Gajeel contemplated asking Sting about Yukino, but that was a question better left to himself.
They were out of the village soon after, kneeling before the graves Gajeel had started. They muttered their respects and then were gone, into the mists of the night.
Lily came around and helped Gajeel dig the graves, and right around midnight the remainder of the village came, and the vigil was held. Of course, Queen Shaggotte got the largest reception, but no tears were spared for the fallen.
Gajeel and Kagura, and even Millianna who'd woken up and was surprisingly consolable, let the Exceeds have their moment.
"We have to go in the morning," Kagura said beneath the procession.
They stood several feet away in the burned husk of a village hut, likely something that'd been someone's home.
"There's much to report on for Hisui," Kagura said. "Sting and Rogue's departure, the defeat the Dragon Division had, the damage done here."
"Not to mention the Dark Wizards that came around earlier," Millianna said.
Gajeel had almost completely forgotten about that. The fight with them felt like it was weeks ago.
"I gotta stick around here for at least another day or so," Gajeel said. "I think she'll be alright with that. Wanna make sure these guys are alright." He looked at Lily. "That they're all okay. Plus, I might be able to help with repairs. I don't know."
Millianna smiled at him. "You're a good man, Gajeel."
"We've done well," Kagura said.
He wanted to snarl. It wasn't good enough. So many of them were dead. The Exceeds had nothing to do with this damn war, and yet there they were mourning. He rubbed his eyes, staving off the absolute exhaustion that the day brought with it.
In the morning, he and Lily would do all they could. Gajeel made a conscious effort to be with his friend as much as he could. He didn't know what he could say to the guy, he'd never been great with words, but at least he'd be there.
He watched them lower Queen Shaggotte into her extravagant grave. He watched them mourn. There were no more fires around the village, only the ghosts of smoke rising from the burning huts. The moon and stars provided the only light available to the Exceeds.
It was still more than enough to reveal the tears streaming down their faces, twinkling in the night's light that caught the beauty of the lives they'd lost.