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It had to be some cruel joke. A miscalculation, Nashi spouting the wrong numbers for the coordinates.
He was aiming for Magnolia.
Nashi felt like she'd been doused with ice water, her fire extinguished along with any hope of winning this fight. Apocalypse was aiming for Magnolia, her home, where her guild and family was, along with countless civilians and she'd failed to stop the launch.
She'd failed.
It was over.
She'd lost.
Nashi felt like she was falling into a abyss, a cold dark endless hole in which she was tormented by the thought of the cannon firing. Apocalypse yawned.
"Something the matter?" Apocalypse asked.
"You..." Nashi murmured, voice barely audible. "You're aiming for..."
"Ah, so you've finally figured it out." Apocalypse grinned, a look much akin to a predator closing in on it's wounded prey. "Yes, the cannon has locked onto Magnolia. The Olympians ordered me to destroy Fairy Tail, so I intend to."
"W-Why..."
"Hell if I know, I'm just carrying the orders out."
"Are you insane?!" Nashi roared, tears falling from her eyes out of frustration. "Do you have any idea how many innocent lives you're condemning?! The amount of people that have no affiliation to the guild or anything to do with this?! How can you be so shrouded in darkness you can't...!"
"Do you honestly think I care about any of that?" Nashi's froze at these words, watching Apocalypse glower at her, an aura of trouble radiating from him. "I care nothing for your guild, your family, or any of those people. I got an order, I carry it out. That's what I do." Nashi felt hollow at these words, any shred of humanity she felt Apocalypse might have had disappearing quickly like a whisper in the wind.
"You're a monster." Nashi hissed, clenching her fists as more tears fell. "You have no respect for something as basic as human life. How can you, as a human being, kill so many people and not be fazed by it?!" Apocalypse snickered and broke out into laughter, his arms still crossed.
"Monster?!" Apocalypse roared. "Me?! Oh that is a good one Dragneel! That was a good one! Out of the two people occupying this room right now, I'm the monster?! Too funny!"
"W-What...?"
"Doesn't matter." Apocalypse replied, ceasing his laughing so quickly Nashi spared a thought to wonder how much of it had been genuine. "None of this matters. It's not like you'll be alive to see the cannon fire anyway." Nashi felt a rock settle in her stomach as Apocalypse said this.
"Come again?" Nashi whispered. Apocalypse smiled, but it was devoid of any warmth a smile should've held.
"You can't honestly have thought you'd leave here with your life, did you?" To prove his point, a magic circle formed on Nashi's stomach and exploded immediately, sending her toward the wall and right through it. She landed in another tunnel, this one leading both left and right. Apocalypse laughed as she struggled to stand. "It isn't polite to keep your killer waiting, Nashi!"
Nashi could no longer hear him, for she no longer cared. There was only one thing Nashi cared about in that moment, one thing running through her mind. He was a predator, she was his prey. In this kind of situation, there was only one thing the prey had in mind, one thing to keep itself alive just that much longer.
Run.
Mami watched Ken typing on his Archive so fast his hands were a blur, but no one else was doing anything.
"What're you doing?" Elise finally asked.
"..."
"Ken?" Elise asked again, getting no response.
"It's no use, sadly." Taro told her. "If Ken gets like that, not even Mami taking her shirt off could draw him out of it." Mami disliked the analogy, but it was the truth. Ken was so focused not even she could rip him out of it. Elise groaned and swung her head back, staring at the roof.
"What do we do?" She asked weakly, no one had a response though. "If Nashi doesn't stop it, we're done for."
"We'll have to have faith, it's all we can do." Akio replied quietly. "Although she's injured, none of us would be any help. Not to mention we have no idea how she got to where she is." The facts were against them there. Mami sighed and watched Ken typing away, watching as various different simulations of explosions ran across the screen. He seemed to be simulating the blast.
"if I just cross reference that with..." ken jumped and stared at his screen in shock. "Eh...Nashi? What is it?"
Simon watched in shock as the hundreds on icicles launched at Lennix, so many in so many different places Lennix had no where to dodge to. All of the icicles collided in the same place and through up a small explosion. Lennix gave an angered roar from Ultear's confusing attacks and charged through it, hands glowing white. He attempted to strike Ultear with it, and to Simon's shock, she let him. She sailed backwards from the blow but landed gracefully.
"Ul?" Simon asked warily. Ultear grinned.
"Yes?" She asked sweetly.
"Where did you learn to do that?" He didn't get a reply, instead she snapped her fingers. The exact area Lennix had hit her started to glow. However, it was the corresponding area on Lennix's body, not hers. The man was blown back by his own explosion, stolen by Ultear's new magic. The same explosion happened a few more times, and all Simon could do as try and figure out how she was doing it.
"That's my little secret." She replied with a smile, and Simon jut watched her. "Hey, pass me a sword." Simon took a minute to register the request, but quickly summoned a sword from his inventory and handed it to her. She threw it into the air and it multiplied, at last thirty of those swords now hovered over the area Lennix had landed. Said man recovered just in time to see them pointing at him from all directions, and he gulped.
"What is this magic?" Simon heard him hiss. "Illusions? Telekinesis? What...?"
"Listen up!" Ultear shouted to him, standing just outside the perimeter the swords had made. "Unless you want everyone sword pointing at you to run you though, answer my questions. Okay?" Lennix pressed his mouth into a thin line as he and Ultear watched each other. Finally, Lennix sighed and sat back down in his crater.
"What do you want to know?" Ultear smiled.
"Good boy. Now, where exactly is Apocalypse?"
"Don't know. Same goes for the cannon." The swords inched a bit closer, and Lennix flinched. "I don't know, seriously." Ultear frowned.
"Then I guess you don't know anything useful, either." She said, and Lennix nodded in agreement to her statement. "What use are you, then?"
"None, you might as well kill me." Lennix replied with a grin. "That's the beauty of this plan, see. The less I know, the less detrimental I am to the plan should I be defeated. I honestly couldn't tell you if I wanted too." Simon walked up next to Ultear, who seemed frustrated.
"Everything okay?"
"Magnolia."
"E-Eh?" Ultear turned to stare at him, her eyes full of conflict.
"Apocalypse is aiming for Magnolia." She repeated more clearly, and Simon's eyes widened.
"How do you know?" he demanded, and Ultear sighed.
"Ramin told me and then escaped." She filled him in. "I don't know if he was joking or not, but we can't afford to take that risk right now. Even if he was kidding, Apocalypse is still on his way to that cannon."
"I know. Maybe we should...!" An explosion cut him off and he turned back to find the building Lennix had been near collapsing, knocking a few swords out of place. Lennix took his chance, escaping through the opening and through the wreckage. Simon soared to the other side of the street to try and catch him, but all he saw were civilians scattering and no sign of Lennix.
He'd gotten away.
"Damn it!" Simon shouted, slamming his fist into the wall next to him. "How'd he get away so fast?"
"We don't have time to worry." Ultear told him. "Lennix is a small problem compared to what we're going to have to deal with soon. Where's the airship, do you know?" Simon considered her question and looked around.
"That way, I think." he replied, pointing behind them. "Why?"
"We need to get news back home." She replied. "I don't know if it'll be enough, but if we can send a warning back home, the city might get evacuated before the strike." Simon nodded in agreement and soared up into the sky, spotting the airship in the direction he'd pointed. He returned to the earth and nodded and Ultear, both of them taking off towards it. Simon used this time to consider their situation more thoroughly.
If Apocalypse really was aiming for Magnolia, they had a problem. He didn't know if anyone was on the mans tail, but that wasn't his concern right now. They needed to get this information back home so they could evacuate the city.
All that mattered right now was saving their home.
All Nashi heard in the hallowed halls she was running in was her own labored breathing. She just kept taking turn after turn, having no more clue which one went than the last. All she cared about was distancing herself from the man trying to kill her. Her body was in such a horrible shape she could barely run properly, but she didn't have the peace of mind to care about that.
What do I do? What do I do?!
These were the only words Nashi was able to think about, which only amplified her fear and anxiety. For the first time in her life, not knowing what to do terrified her. If she didn't figure this out, everyone in Magnolia would die.
WHAT DO I DO?!
Nashi tripped over her own feet and slammed down hard on the floor. She didn't move, her injured body refusing to move for her. She had hurt, she was exhausted, and she was scared.
And alone.
"Nashi~" She heard calling from down the empty hallway behind her. "Where'd you go? Come back!" Nashi squeaked in fear and scrambled from her position on the ground, managing to crawl around the nearest corner and sit against the wall. She covered her mouth with her hands as she heard Apocalypse approaching, his footsteps gradually growing louder and louder.
...W-What do I...
"Ah, stop being so hard on me Nashi." Apocalypse said. "All I want to do is kill you. Is that so much to ask for?" Nashi eyes stung fro the tears, so she closed them and waited for the inevitable. Slowly but surely, Apocalypse walked towards her, and she waited.
Until the steps started to fade away.
Nashi opened her eyes and looked around, the footsteps still fading away. He'd walked in a different direction then where she had hiding, presumably just guessing her location. Nashi slowly brought her hands away from her mouth and stared at them, watching them shake uncontrollably.
"What...Do I..." Nashi clenched her teeth in frustration as images of her family and the city as a whole passed through her mind. More tears threatened to fall as she grabbed her head in anger. "What do I do?! Everyone's going to die because I failed!" She hissed. "I...I can't do anything...I'm useless..."
Her entire body shock in fear. She felt like her brain was overloading from anxiety. Nashi couldn't stop crying and silently freaking out before finally, she stopped and slowly leaned back against the wall, eyes still streaming. Her body twitching randomly. She slowly raised two fingers to her forehead, and took a shaky breath.
"Ken?" She whispered.
"Eh?...Nashi? What is it?"
"..."
"Nashi?"
"...I-I'm scared Ken." Nashi whispered, hearing Ken make a surprised sound. "I-I-I feel like I'm dying...I-I'm scared."
"Are you hurt? What's happening?!"
"..."
"Nashi?! Nashi answer me!"
"W-What do I do..."
"I-I don't know..."
"P-P-Please Ken, I'm freaking out..." Silence followed her statement, and Nashi felt tears welling up for another round of dry heaving. "I-If I don't do s-something, e-everyone's going too..."
"It's okay to be afraid Nashi." Nashi was silenced by this comment, and waited for Ken to continue as he sighed. "You're allowed to look death in the face and admit you're not completely fine with it. Everyone gets scared, even the most courageous of warriors."
"I-I'm perfectly fine being afraid of death."
"Then stop using it as an excuse to give up." Nashi felt her eyes widen, the air leaving her lungs. "Stop telling yourself this is the end, that you can't do anything. You're the girl who learned what most people do in their lifetime in a couple months. You've defeated men as evil as hell itself and stared death in the face before, that much I know. Why is now any different? Why is it now you chose to give in to that fear?"
...Ken was right. Nashi had been faced with certain death before. Caged like an animal by Phantom Dove, fighting the Dorma Anim in Edolas, taking on Katsuchi and Tetsu, two God Slayers who abilities rivaled her own, talked down Damien when he was out of control, faced the Master of Devil Advocate running on only fumes, and a three way last mage standing match.
Why was now making her so scared?
"...The others." Nashi finally breathed, voice steadier than before.
"What?"
"No other fight has been on such a high caliber before." Nashi breathed. "Never before have I fought a threat so looming, so imminent. Even the Edolas invasion King Simon had planned would've been stopped by others if we fell." Nashi took a deep breath.
"My decisions have never been so critical." She whispered. "I've never had to fight with so many other lives on the line without them even knowing. I've never felt the weight of an entire city of my shoulders, every life there on the line."
"...Nashi..."
"That's why I can't do this." Nashi breathed, tears threatening to return as the full gravity of her words set in. "I can't make any decisions with so many lives counting on it...I can't make the choice that could be the difference between life and death for those I love."
"Than make your decisions based on what they would want." Nashi remained quiet. "What would those people want you to do Nashi? Fight for them, or roll over and accept defeat?"
"Ken, I c-can't..."
"What will you do Nashi?!" Ken shouted, startling Nashi. "Are you going to slump and give up on thousands of lives, or are you going to roll the die and take the fucking chance to save them all?! This isn't a difficult fucking question!" Nashi stared at the wall opposite her, wide eyed.
She thought of her mother, a woman so kind it was criminal.
She thought of her father, a strong man who despite what she liked to believe, was incredibly soft on the inside.
She thought of Magnolia, her home, and everyone who lived there who was in danger.
She thought of the rest of the guild. Master Laxus, Mira, Gray, Juvia, Erza, Kinana, Rocky, Sammy, Gajeel, Levy...
...She thought of her unborn baby sibling.
Nashi's fists clenched and her eyes narrowed.
"...Thanks Ken." She said, confidence oozing into her voice. "I needed that."
"No problem. Now, take a deep breath and tell me. What. Are. You. Going. To. Do?" Nashi pressed her mouth into a thin line and thought it over, weighing her options. What exactly could she do?
Apocalypse is after an Etherion Cannon.
Ken's voice echoed in Nashi's memory, sparking an idea. Where exactly was the cannon? In this underground facility somewhere? If that was the case...
"Hey, Ken. I need you to run a simulation for me."
"Anything, what is it?" Nashi took a deep breath and smiled weakly to herself.
"Give me a size comparison between Silverridge and Magnolia."
This chapter doe. I really liked writing it, so I hope you guys enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get, hmm, eight?