My Light and My Darkness

Mystogan is WHO NOW?

A sudden overwhelming sense of magic power fills the building, causing both me and Laxus to look up. Mystogan is here. Laxus just smirks, “Ah, hey Mystogan. You actually showed up. Hahahaha. I’m surprised you’re here, I didn’t think this game would be of any interest to you.” Mystogan, almost as if he didn’t hear him, responds with, “If you bring down the Thunder Palace right now, we MAY be able to convince the citizens that it was part of the festival.” “Is that really why you came back? Give me a break. You’re looking for a piece of the action, you wanna know who the strongest in Fairy Tail is. You or me?” Laxus responds tauntingly. Mystogan replies simply, “Don’t be so quick to rule out Erza.” Laxus looks like Mystogan has said the stupidest thing in the world. “Are you kidding me? Sure the girl’s got spunk, but she’s still weak.” This clearly amuses Mystogan, “Huh, you think she’s weak. You’re either blind, or more ignorant than I thought.” “Nothing against her, but I think we can both agree that we’re stronger. It’s clear that one of us is Fairy Tail’s top wizard. The question is, who deserves the title?” Mystogan looks at him with disgust in his eyes, “If you see the world in such simple terms, perhaps you are blind.”

Laxus is growing tired of this conversation already. “I’m sick of talking about it. Let’s settle this, here and now, Mystogan. Hmph. Or should I say-” Before I get to hear what Laxus is about to say, Mystogan immediately sends an attack at him, Laxus countering it perfectly. The shocks of the collision of their magic blows all around us and even out of the building. I’m struggling to stay upright, seeing as I stood up not too long ago. I’m trying to protect Rosie from the blast or any pieces of concrete that might be flying around. Mystogan takes a defensive stance with one of his many staffs in hand. “Tell me, how do you know about that?” His confusion adds fuel to the fire that is Laxus’ pride. “Oops, did I strike a nerve? It’s a rare treat to see you lose your cool like that. I’ve got a deal for ya. Beat me, and I swear I’ll tell you everything I know.” Mystogan, as intimidating as ever, responds, “You’re going to regret that statement Laxus. You’re about to witness magic the likes of which you’ve never seen before.” He shouldn’t have said that. All that threat will do is make him more cocky. “Oh I’m so scared! Go ahead and show me what you got ya freak!! I’m dying to see how much stronger I am!”

Mystogan places all his staffs in front of him, causing a magic circle to appear beneath him and Laxus. “Skyscraper.” Mystogan’s spell causes the floor beneath us to erupt, throwing us all into the air. Rosie grabs me and flies away while Laxus keeps going higher. We land on the ground and see the entire church had been blown to bits. That’s impossible. Some kind of monster starts to split open the sky and drag Laxus into it. It’s utterly horrifying. “What kind of magic is this?!” Laxus shouts in fear, I’ve never seen him so scared. I’m just as terrified. Suddenly the monster is ripped in two by Laxus lightning, and we’re back in Kardia Cathedral, not destroyed, and Laxus starts laughing. “Now that’s funny! Did you seriously think you could defeat me using some kind of stupid illusion?!” What? That was an illusion? But it looked so real. “Impressive. But it seems you’re still a bit slow on the uptake.” Suddenly a layer of five magic circles appear above Laxus. “What?” He says breathlessly. “Five Layer Magic Circle. Sacred Saw.” Laxus doesn’t look phased by the magic circles above him, considering he just placed a lightning one beneath Mystogan. “You think I’m the slow one huh?!” The lightning erupts around Mystogan, shocking him crazily. Mystogan, now floating in the air, puts his pointer fingers together in front of him in an attempt to attack Laxus, however, Laxus is quicker than he is, and he zooms around in a flash of lightning and lands a hit on Mystogan. They both come back to their previous positions on the ground. “Haha. Now that’s more like it!”

Suddenly out of seemingly nowhere, Erza and Natsu show up at the same time, “So here you are.” They say at the same time, drawing the attention of everyone in the building. Natsu and Erza acknowledge each other, and then direct their attention towards Mystogan. Neither of them seeming to notice Rosie and I are here. I don’t even think Mystogan noticed. “Hold on, who the heck is that guy?!” Natsu asks, looking at Mystogan. Erza answers his question, “It’s Mystogan.” The aforementioned man looks at Erza shocked, and fearful. I don’t know why. He’s distracted, leaving him wide open, a chance that Laxus takes. He shoots a bolt of lightning straight at Mystogan’s face, destroying the garments he was wearing to cover his hair and face. Revealing who he really is, and the man that looks back at Erza is, Jellal?! Erza looks at him, tears forming in her eyes. I don't know much about her history other than she trusted him and he betrayed her, like it was a bad betrayal. Natsu was pissed about it and condition for a while, not that he seemed to care or even notice. his fight with Jellal left him in a weak state for a while. Not that he seemed to care, or even notice. Mystogan, or should I say Jellal, looked at Erza nervously. Natsu just seemed completely confused as to how he was here. “Jellal? You’re alive?” This piqued Laxus’ interest. “Oh? So you know this guy?” He questioned with a smirk. They all just stood there, no one really knowing what to do or say. Natsu spoke up, “Wait, I don’t get it. So Mystogan is really Jellal?” Erza tried to speak but she didn’t know what to say, Jellal just looked completely guilt ridden. “Erza, please forgive me. I was afraid you’d see this. I’m not your friend Jellal. I do know of him, but I’m not him. I’m sorry, I must be going.” He then disappears into thin air. Natsu tries to stop him, “Hey! Wait up!” but he’s already gone. “Well that made my brain hurt. I can’t think about it right now. Alright man! It’s you against me! I’m gonna take care of this clown! That cool with you?!” Erza doesn’t answer him, she just stands there, frozen in shock. “Wake up!” It’s too late though, Laxus attacks her viciously with his lightning, “That’s quite a face you’re making there, girly! UGLY!!” He then throws her away, just making Natsu angrier, “That’s enough!! I told you you’re mine you jerk! Let’s go!!” Laxus just looks at Natsu and hurts his feelings by mentioning how he didn’t even notice he was there. Rosie and I run over to Erza to check on her. She’s laying on the ground on her stomach. I put my hand on her back, “Erza, I don’t know what just happened there, but you can’t let your guard down around Laxus. Not with how he is right now.” She looks up at me confused, “Candy? How long have you been here? Are you alright?” She asks, noticing how I’m holding my stomach. Laxus throwing me against the wall earlier caused more damage than I thought. I smile at her and say, “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine. I’m more worried about you. Laxus knew what he was doing when he revealed Mystogan’s face to you. He’ll get some sense knocked into him sooner or later.” Natsu had charged at Laxus by now and they were now fully engaged in a fight. Erza tries to get up, “Natsu..” I help her in any way I can.

I’m obviously sick of Laxus’ little game, and she can tell. She’s now up to kneeling on one knee when she turns to me and places a hand on my shoulder, “Candy, be honest with me. Did you and the rest of the Thunder Legion actually want to do any of this?” I look at her with concern and uncertainty in my eyes, “No. We were up for a challenge, but we never wanted it to get this far. We had planned to stop him if he took it too far, but Freed went back on his word, and now here we are.” I look at the ground, and then look up at Laxus as he fights Natsu, “That’s not the Laxus we agreed to follow. That man is a monster, and he won’t give Laxus back without a fight.” She looks at me understandingly, then looks up at the fight. “Be careful!” Erza shouts to him. “I’m okay, you don’t gotta worry about me.” He spoke too soon, because Laxus comes right back at him and after trading punches, he throws Natsu away. I didn’t even notice Erza got up fully until she’s knocking Natsu out and glaring at Laxus. “Not nice.” He says while smirking at her. She requips into her nightwing armor and holds her sword toward Laxus, “Now tell me Laxus, what is it you put in the sky?!” He just starts laughing, “Hahahaha, that would be my Thunder Palace!” She scowls at him and says, “You’re absolutely despicable! To think that you would even attempt to attack your hometown.” He just keeps laughing and says, “Honestly it breaks my heart. But that’s just the way the game is played, doll face!” She tries to kick him but he catches it and shocks her. She requips into her lightning empress armor, and starts to fight him in that. Eventually they make it to a standoff. “When two wizards do battle using the same type of magic, many different factors determine the victor.” Laxus stands up straight and says, “Their level of magic, their energy, technique, and experience. Right?” “One more, their heart. I know the master taught you that Laxus.” Laxus just keeps smirking and says, “Yeah, he mentioned it. But he also taught me power trumps everything else.” Erza stands up straight as well and says, “You couldn’t be more wrong.” Before she can get any farther, Natsu interrupts her, “Erza, would you just leave it alone already? I told you I was gonna be the one to fight him!” Erza looks back at him and smiles, “Then I’ll have to put my faith in you.” She starts running towards the entrance to the church when Natsu stops her, “Hey! Where ya goin’?! Hold on, you’re not gonna try to take that thing down?” Laxus just starts laughing, “I’d like to see you try! Attacking even one of those lacrimi can be deadly. And who knows how many of ‘em are floating above town right now. Besides, you’re out of time.” Erza just looks ahead of her and says, “I’ll just have to destroy them all at once. And I won’t be going alone, Candy, you’re going to help me.” She points at me. Laxus and Natsu both look shocked by this, Laxus more angry than anything, “Ain’t no way in hell the kid will betray me!! Candy, don’t you dare forget our conversation with Freed earlier!” I turn to look at him and say, “I’ll never forget that Laxus.” Then I turn to head after Erza, she smiles at me and we run off. “CANDY!! GET BACK HERE YOU TRAITOR!!!”

Erza and I run through the streets of Magnolia, Rosie flying next to us. We pass a bunch of townspeople, some barely noticing us, some smiling at us (mainly Erza), and some looking scared of us. Erza requips into her Heaven's Wheel armor, and summons several swords. She looks at me and asks, “You do possess the ability to use Lightning Magic, but can you guarantee that if you were to attack them all at once, they would not kill you?” I think for a minute, could I? Lightning Magic is the one I train with the most, and Laxus never held back when we would train, so I’m used to having to take on a Lightning attack head on. But Thunder Palace is a different story. Not to mention, I am still a kid technically. I don’t have the body of someone who’s seen many battles. More like a few easy knockouts. “No, I can’t guarantee that. I’m sorry.” She just smiles and says, “It’s alright. I know what I need you to do. I need you to find the rest of the Thunder Legion. Maybe one of them might know something about Thunder Palace that we don’t know. I’ll focus on the lacrimi for now.” I don’t feel completely convinced that Erza can handle them on her own, but I trust her. I nod at her and tell Rosie to stay with her in case she needs any support. Rosie is the perfect person for encouragement. She smiles at me and tells me to be careful, and I leave them both.