Firefall || Fairy Tail

74 : l u c y ' s . p l a n

Erza swam closer, her hands finding Anna's shoulders to shake the older mage, "There has to be a way to save them!"

But the Celestial Wizard shook, still not able to bring her gaze up to meet anyone in the eye, "Only thing we can do is pray they save themselves."

Trails of steam rose from the water around the Phoenix Slayer, her mind whirling through everything. And the more she thought, the angrier she got.

"Damn it all!" Kia punched the water in front of her, the outburst catching everyone else's attention. None of them were fully prepared for her semi-contained rage or the way her magic seemed to be going out of control.

"You should have just let me handle it, Anna." Her voice had dropped, but the harshness was crystal clear.

The Celestial Wizard had finally looked up, locking her brown eyes with onyx ones. "It could have-"

"Just leave it." The pinkette turned away as reigned in the magic leaking out with her emotions. She was going to need everything she could still muster. 'I can't just stay here. I can think of a plan while I'm moving.'

And she wasted no time to start swimming in the direction the Black Dragon had gone. "What's done is done."

Completely shocked by the tone and coldness coming from the girl she had known most of her life, Erza stepped up to question her and defend Anna. "Kia, you can't blame everything on her."

But she only slowed to keep from shouting over her strokes, "Erza, don't get involved when you don't understand the whole situation."

How could she not understand the whole situation? Kia had stood in front of her and the rest of Fairy Tail, explaining her dark past. "But-"

"She's right." Everyone turned to look as Anna spoke, "I changed the plan, because I thought I could-"

"I said to just leave it." Kia cut her off before she could say anything more. The rest of her sentence would have just caused an actual uproar from everyone in the water around them.

'Dwelling on the why isn't going to do any of them any good right now.' The pinkette started swimming again, "Just stick to the rest of it."

The Celestial Wizard felt her chest tighten as she watched the pinkette beginning to pull away from them. She bit her lower lip to stop it from shaking, before she couldn't take it anymore, moving forward herself, "But I had to try, Kia! You don't deserve-"

"Anna..." She didn't raise her voice as she stopped, but the flatness of her tone still stopped the blonde mid-sentence again. Kia looked back over her shoulder to lock eyes with her, "I accepted things when I rewrote my book. There was no going back and there still isn't." She turned away again, "Just take care of them when they all come home."

They all felt the surge of magic that came off the Phoenix Slayer, causing the water to disperse around her, giving her enough room to summon her flaming wings on her back.

||~x~||

With the sudden arrival of Mest, Erza got an expedited trip back to land. Now the large group of mages in Magnolia had circled up to hear what Titania had to share with them. Not only members of Fairy Tail, but also many from Sabertooth and almost all of Crime Sorciere stood ready for answers and their next course of action.

"You're saying Natsu and the rest of the Dragon Slayers are currently trapped inside this mysterious rift in time," Makarov sat in thought, "and what's more, Acnologia's spirit's in there with them?"

A smile of near triumph crossed Gray's features, "That means all they gotta go is beat him, and then they'll get out!"

"Since Laxus is in there, it'll be no problem!" Bixlow shared his sentiment, but his friend was much more logical about the situation.