Sweet Starry Shadows (Fairy Tail)

Mother

Sweet Starry Shadows
Chapter 40: Mother

The crimson glanced over her shoulder briefly and sadly smiled as she watched the three boys run away from the destructive battle that lies ahead of her. Knowing that she would someday be useful to her own kind as well to the humans, she never knew that the day was here.
Slowly, she turned her head to look at the dragon that she once knew was good in her eyes. How foolish of her to lie to her own friends, making them somehow think that she was their age!

"Ac-Acnologia... Please... We balance each other out," she whispered, her breathing uneven as she dropped onto her knees. Her body feeling heavy, she slowly raised her back for it to be straight. "I don't want to fight the man that protected my mother from Zeref..." she whimpered before raising her head.

Eyes glowing crimson to show her wild, untamed side, she quietly pulled herself up to stand. Her body slightly swaying from side to side where she caught her balance, she eyed the dragon in front of her with watery eyes. "Please Acnologia... You're no dragon to tame. We deserve to be free from slavery, and we, rather than be held back by chains, should be soaring through the skies as one large family!" she boomed, wings sprouting from her back where she rose into the air. "We control the good and the evil. Together we balance our savage sides... We should be guiding and protecting our dragons - Not being used as mere pawns on a chessboard!" she cried out once more before nothing the semi-transparent collar around his neck.

Widening her eyes, she went back a little and covered her mouth. "You may be tamed... But to the point where he was able to wrap a collar around you?! Acnologia, this isn't you!" she yelled, flinching when he gave out a solemn roar.

That roar he gave out shook through her body madly. It held so many emotions - Anger, despair, humiliation... They were all there, making his sanity grow into nothing but madness.

"You..."

Sakura widened her eyes when she heard his voice again. Tears threatening to fall from listening to his tired and worn-out tone, Sakura took in a shaky breath as she floated in front of him.

What did he have to say? What message could she get from that long, old dragon in front of her?

"You will never escape the chains. It will continue to chase you until you give up," he said where she whimpered. "What do you think I kill for?"

Out of nowhere, she was thrown into the thick trees below them by Acnologia flicking his tail into her. Letting out a painful scream as her back destroyed roughly fifteen trees from the brutal force, she found herself resting against a surviving tree where she spat out the blood that managed to climb up through her throat.

Ha, how humiliating for her to get thrown into the trees by her very own uncle!

"They do not know the true power of an elemental dragon..." a voice in the back of her mind whispered as she struggled to raise her head. "Although he may be our opposite, we still have the upper hand of having four raging elements within us..." the voice continued where Sakura froze, now realising how familiar the tone of the voice was.

Her body very still as she focused on the voice, she slowly closed her eyes and focused on her breathing where she channelled her spirit to go and find the very source of the unknown voice. Following a very rocky path where it led her to walk on top of a petal of a blooming cherry blossom flower, she stopped when she found herself standing behind a very familiar figure.

"M-Mother..." Sakura whispered, gazing at the long, wavy ice-blue hair that she found herself missing so much. That long, slender body that was hugged by a light-blue kimono was what triggered her mind to remember those horrid memories of her mother's death.

A sharp intake of air running through her dry lips, she took a step back from the figure and eyed it very cautiously. If this was a fake, then she wasn't risking her sanity just to be with her deceased mother. "You're not alive..." she said.

The girl watched as the slender body slowly turned to her. Frozen once again, she widened her eyes and pleaded to the gods above that the person standing in front of her was just an image and not a real body.

Continuing to plead, she closed her eyes and took in a shaky breath. "Just please... Please don't let me assume that she's alive and well," she whispered before the voice called out to her in a loving manner. "She's... She's gone from our existing worlds and into another..."

"Sakura... Sakurine, my dear."

Sakura quietly shook her head and slowly opened her eyes to look up to those beautiful grey pair of eyes. Those eyes that were able to see through her every single time she did something wrong...

"Mother... You can't still be here," Sakura said, watching as her mother slowly approaches her with a warming smile. Her heart throbbing in pain, knowing this wasn't reality, she shook her head once more before forcing a smile. A smile that she would once give her mother to show her that she was hurting inside.

"Oh dear... Come here," her mother cooed.

Like her patience snapping, Sakura whimpered out loud before she quickly ran into her mother's open arms. Softly colliding into that warm body, she hastily snuggled into her mother straight away and enjoyed her mother's arms around her. Crying out loud as she tried to recollect her thoughts, she tightly hugged her mother as if it was their final farewell once again.

"Sakurine... You're not weaker than him. All of our elements need each other in order to be known as them..." her mother stated, running her fingers through Sakura's long hair. "Remember what I taught you?"

The crimson nodded her head. "Water needs air and heat from fire. Air needs water for moisture. Fire needs air to burn passionately. Lastly, earth and nature need everything," she recited where her mother nodded with a bright smile on her porcelain face.

Without them knowing, they found themselves in their dragon forms. Her mother's wing over her small form that has yet to reach its highest peak. Her mother's eyes twinkling in pride, she rubbed her snout against Sakura's.

"I'm very proud of you. Remember what I taught you and soon, you'll be able to fight at a more lethal level. Combine your elements with Takuto and together, you'll both be unstoppable," her mother explained, slowly pulling back where she gave the younger dragon a toothy smile.

Sakura slowly raising her head, she gave a knowing smile back. "I will, mother," she replied.

"If that is the case, let your elements create havoc. Show them your scales Sakurine! Let them see those crimson scales that Igneel was proud of! Let us hear your Alpha roar!" her mother boomed, opening her large wings where she rose from the petal ground.

[Dreame 2019 Edition]
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