Slain Among Ice And Fire {Fairy Tail}

Chapter 33- Not Again

Chapter 33

Not Again

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's and Ideas

.:+:.

... This is bad...

Rogue huffed, stumbling back and barely keeping his feet, his body aching from the blunt, and yet brutal impact of the Dragon's tail slamming into his side and sending him skidding backwards. It hurt, and more so on his already battered body from his fight in the GMG- but it was not enough to do any serious damage... Really, none of his back and forth with this Dragon felt like it was anymore than a brawl- but why...? It made no sense, but it almost felt like this Dragon was holding back.

He grimaced at it, his feet skidding back a few inches in the rubble before he stilled again.

Everything around him was in ruin, the city crumbling and taking a beating with each second- he could hear battle all around, everyone fighting back fiercely either with the Dragons, or the seemingly endless hordes of smaller ones still raining from the Dragon in the sky. It was all complete chaos, and only getting worse the longer everyone kept fighting, and the more the Dragons, and the Mini-Dragons wrought havoc on every single thing.

He'd gotten split up from Quatro Cerberus, and he hadn't meant to be- but the minute the Dragon had landed he'd rushed to retaliate... And somewhere in all the countless attacks on his part that seemed to have little effect, and all the harsh, yet never fully brutal hits he'd taken from the beast- now they were here in some closed off section of the city he didn't recognize, and with no one else in sight, or even in earshot either. It was just him and the Dragon, and it was almost eerily quiet and still, which did nothing for his nerves.

He'd seen Hora's Magic not long before, and directly before everything went to hell- he saw the Firebird arc over the city and rush toward the Eclipse Gate, and even heard it's shrill call to close the Gate. He didn't know how, but she'd clearly seemed to know that the Dragons would be coming from it. So she'd sent that first bird off, and then so many others all over the city in seconds time, warning the Guilds and Wizards what was coming, before those birds got swept up in the savage wind and burned away. He didn't know how she knew, but it made his stomach curl- and it curled even worse when he realized she was out there somewhere in all this mess and he had no clue where, or if she was even okay. This entire thing was just pure insanity.

He'd felt sick to his stomach all day just knowing she was off trying to rescue Lucy and Yukino, and then it got worse when she hadn't made it back when she was supposed to. Seeing her in the square had quelled the nauseous sensation only a little before he'd seen she was hurt, and then he felt sick again when he'd had to split up... And heard what she'd said, and cried, when talking with that Lamia Wizard Lyon.

It was all so bad- it was a heavy, suffocating weight over his head and his heart, and it was not going anyway anytime soon. It just got worse, more heavy, more suffocating- and there was something else too... A sort of uneasy, unsettled feeling that had been lurking at his heels all day too, and one that wasn't entirely born of his worry for Hora... It was... An actual shadow, one clinging to him- a strange, unnatural thing that had twisted his thoughts and mind even today in the GMG, and against Gajeel.

Lingering shadows were not new, there was always some pull, some temptation into the pitch black pits- it was a dark, and heavily buried side of his Magic that he did his best not to sway under. And usually he could, it was easier with everyone with him, keeping him above the waves- Hora, Frosch, Sting... Everyone... but he had gone under today. And his worry did nothing to help of course, nor did the insanity of everything going on- but that shadow inside his own that had taken control of him earlier, and it hadn't just been some tempting phantom- it was something else, something worse, more powerful... More tangible, even.

But again, why? And what was it-?

"... Let us stop with this squabbling and end it at this, Rogue. You cannot hope to best a Dragon, not as you are."

Rogue went stiff as a board, rigid and eyes wide at the sudden rumbling voice- the Dragon now suddenly settling into sitting on it's haunches before him and addressing him, but wha-?!

"... H... How do you know my name...?" Rogue stammered, and the Dragon huffed.

"We have orders to spare you, and only you." The Dragon said simply, "You alone will live through this destruction and despair, and in the aftermath- become king."

Rogue hissed, a shiver running up his spine for the cryptic words and gritting his teeth. "What is that supposed to mean...?! I have no idea what you're talking about, and I have no desire to be 'king' of any sort..!" He snapped back lowly. "Who gave you these orders to spare me..?! What is all this about...?!" He growled, and the Dragon tilted it's head slightly, it's lips curling in what almost seemed a wry little smirk, and it let out a breath.

"Why... You gave me the orders, Rogue." It replied simply, and Rogue stiffened in confusion and surprise.

"...me..?"

"Well, you from seven years in the future, from this day." The Dragon elaborated slightly, and Rogue felt his heart skip a beat, his red eyes going wide and stuck in his place.

Me... From... Seven years in...?

The Dragon lift a clawed hand and gestured toward the surrounding area, "All of this going on, the destruction, the chaos, summoning us Dragons and bringing us here, making sure the Eclipse Gate was opened- and ordering us to lay waste to humankind... All of this, is done at your hand, and at your will." It rumbled, those claws moving slowly and pointing directly at the dark-haired man before it, Rogue utterly rigid in his place and mind reeling. "It is all part of your plan to become Dragon King, and rule us all from here on- in a world where Dragon's reign supreme, but where we will all still bow to you. It is a future you are working toward, at all costs."

Rogue shivered again, a terrible chill running rampant up his spine while that sick feeling in his core got about a hundred times worse.

"... N-no... That can't be true... I would never do anything like this, for any reason...!" Rogue stammered in reply, quick to deny it though he really didn't sound as sure as he wanted, and the Dragon only shook it's head once.

"You already have." Was the solemn response and Rogue flinched a little for it, red eyes glinting like mad and hands balling tightly into fists at his sides.

"No...! I would never do this, I would never try to destroy everything...! You are lying!" He hissed, his eyes flashing as he shook his head furiously, the Dragon just sighed.

"... Deny it all you wish, but you know yourself better than anyone- you must know there is Darkness in you." The Dragon grumbled, "You are a Shadow Dragon Slayer, you live and breathe in Darkness with your Element... Shadow Magic comes at a price, it stained you the moment you began to learn it, you know that. You've had demons and Darkness lurking at your heels all your life, no matter how much you resist or ignore them... This is an inevitability." It told him, "There are some Magics in this world that always lead to Darkness, and yours is one of them. You have been tainted, you know this- and that stain in you will only grow and fester, until eventually you are swallowed whole. The Evil in you will win out in the end, there is no escaping that, it is your fate."

Rogue grit his teeth hard, red eyes burning and hands shaking at his sides for the words. He glowered as hard as he could, but ended up looking increasingly more unsure under the intense look the beast gave him next.

"Is is your fate to fall to the evil inside of yourself, just as it is your fate to live through this, so you may become the man that brings about the fate of this world. You will become Dragon King, and everything will burn and crumble at your hands."

"I will not...!" Rogue retorted quickly, "I would never do any of this, nor for any reason...! I'm not going to fall into Darkness, I will not let the shadows consume me- ever! And... And even if for some insane reason, some future version of me was doing this... E... Even if somewhere down the line I do get swallowed up... Tch... No!" Rogue snapped, shaking his head hotly. "I won't fall into Darkness, I never could with Hora, and Sting and Frosch and everyone else around me and keeping me in the light..! They keep me above the dark, always, and I will never become anything that might be able to do all of these terrible things! Ah and even if there was some version of me doing all of this awful stuff- Hora would have said something..! She met both people here from the future, if it was me, she would have said something- so you're wrong! You are lying-!"

"... Would she though?"

Rogue cut off abruptly, his jaw snapping shut and a terrible chill overtaking every inch of him as the low, hissing voice echoed in his ears from behind him, and his heart felt like it dropped. He turned his head slowly, trembling as he saw his own shadow behind him, an awful, pitch black color and with a terribly twisted grin staring up at him. It was the same Shadow from earlier, in the GMG, that had pushed him into some wicked cold place and forced his hand against Gajeel. The one that had dragged him somewhere he didn't ever want to be again, and that Shadow was back now, right there as it just smiled blankly at him, it's edges jittering and distorted... Haunting.

"...w...what...?" Rogue mumbled breathlessly, and the Shadow's grin pulled wider, curling at the edges in a sickening way.

"Would she really tell you?" It pressed, hissing and cold, and Rogue gulped. "She's always keeping so many secrets, what's one more? And how would you know if she told the truth, when she said she didn't recognize that person from the future? That person from the future who tried to kill Lucy Heartfilia... and that person who attacked her too? Attacked Hora?"

Rogue froze, eyes wide and trembling now- the Shadow just grinned all the more, and Rogue's knees started to shake violently.

"You saw how she looked when she came back, you saw those wounds... Think about it Rogue." The Shadow pressed, "What could make wounds like that? Five of them, all continuous, straight across her body- almost looks like... Claw-marks, right?"

Rogue shivered, his breath shuddering with it and trembling all the more fervently, mind racing, reeling, and yet settling all at the same time, and realizing... N...no...

"... What has five claws? Or five... fingers, maybe...? With really long, dark, sharp... Claws... made of Shadow Magic...?"

He was shaking like a leaf, his breaths quickly growing shallow and panicky, his heart racing and sinking a hundred times over. His legs were shaking so much he was barely staying upright, but even despite that he felt like he was frozen in place, his hands falling from being balled into fists and red eyes dropping into his palms. His eyes locked to his shaky, terribly trembling fingers as the color drained from his face, and it felt like the world was crashing down on top of him.

T-there's... No way... I... I would never-

"-but why did she ask you to never change, huh?"

This time his heart stopped altogether, his blood turning to ice in his veins and terror striking him straight to the core.

.:+:.

"... Please don't ever change... Rogue..." Hora mumbled aloud, her voice barely above a whisper and so low Rogue barely heard it at all- but he did and his crying ceased for a few seconds in confusion.

What did she...?

She sniffed slightly and his eyes snapped open at the sound, his hold around her slackening just enough so he could try and get a look at her face, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw the tears pecking at the corners of those dark blue eyes he knew so well. She smiled sadly as their gazes matched, her hold around him easing slightly too so they could be more face to face, and she wrapped her arms around his neck instead, pulling forward enough that their foreheads pressed together gently. He stared, both at the tears and the sudden closeness of their faces and the forehead touch, while Hora just let out a small breath, the tears spilling down her cheeks in a thin, quiet line.

She looked... So pained...

.:+:.

...n...no...

... I...

... I w...wouldn't...

His frantic breaths cut off, strangled and shuddering as his eyes went wide- his hands in front of him suddenly covered in blood and gore out of nowhere, and his legs gave out altogether. He was on the ground, crashing into it with his knees and not even feeling the pain of it- his eyes would not leave his bloodied hands, and his mind would not cease telling him what he didn't want to hear, or think, or... Or accept, even when... When he knew, somewhere... It was true.

It was true and his heart broke.

"... I... I did... That to... To her...?" He hissed breathlessly, his eyes flashing and shoulders hunching, his body following suit. The blood on his hands did not go away, he could feel the sticky warmth, smell the metallic tang of it- and smell Hora's scent laced with the awful scent.

Hora's blood was on his hands, and he... He...

He tilted forward, his posture breaking as he slammed his hands into the rubble, trying to hide the crimson stain and his fangs grits so hard they threatened to crack. He shut his eyes tight and a strangled gasp of air barely managed it's way passed his teeth, below him specks of moisture were falling freely and in rapidity to splash against the stone- streaming without end from his eyes and he could not stop the tears from coming.

... I... I hurt... Her...

... I... I... could have... K..killed her...

...H..Hora...

... I hurt... Hora... N...no... Please...

He gasped, a sob shaking him and forcing him to suck in a big gulp of air that only fueled the crying all the more. He bent over all the way until his forehead pressed against the stone, his fingers curling tightly into the rumble and so hard they turned white from the pressure.

"... N...no... I... I wouldn't... H...hurt her... E...ever... N...no... Please... I... Can't have... H.. How could I... D...do that...To... T-to... Hora...?" He sobbed, his voice hitching more and more harshly with every second.

He didn't want it to be true, he was scared at even the idea of it... And absolutely terrified because somewhere in his core, he knew it wasn't just a lie, or a bad dream, or anything like that- it was true... He knew it was true, and he couldn't stand it.

How could any version of himself have done something so terrible...? Be doing all these terrible things...? How could any version of himself have turned into... Into some monster that was awful enough... To leave those marks across her body...? They'd been healed and still they were deep, and still serious... He shuddered at what it had looked like in the moment, and his heart broke some more when an image of what it probably had looked like pushed it's way to the forefront of his mind.

The sound of flesh, muscle, and bone ripping- the wash of red it brought forth in a swipe of a hand and claws oozing wild, cold pitch black... A storm of sticky crimson ripped from her body torn five ways.

There... There was so much blood... S...shit...

He grit his teeth harder, his body curling in on itself and trembling fingers digging into the rubble tightly, holding fast to the earth and the world spinning out of control, and away from him.

"... I... I can't have... P...please... T...that can't be... T...true... I... I don't ever... W-wanna do... A...anything... L...like that... E...especially... N...not... Not... To her... P...please... I...it has to... Be a lie... Please..."

"Oi, this ain't no time to be sitting around..!"

Rogue jumped, startled and sucking in a sharp breath of air for it. He sat up only slightly, his arms shaking terribly as he used them to push himself up even the little bit, crimson eyes glittering and still so full of tears as he glanced backwards slowly.

"... S... Sting...?" Rogue stammered breathlessly, the blonde huffing as he rounded the corner and continued toward the Shadow Dragon Slayer in what seemed to be a sprint... Away from something...?

Sting faltered slightly in his running though when he caught Rogue's eyes and saw the tears, his face falling in shock and unease- though he did not stop running even still.

"W-Why the hell are you crying...?!" Sting hissed in between puffs of air, and Rogue swallowed hard for the question, his eyes dropping away from the blonde.

"... All of this... The person from the future who wanted the Gate open, and called the Dragons here... And... Who hurt... Hora..." Rogue stammered lowly, his voice breaking off at her name and he shook his head once, his hands shaking still. "... That person is me... A me from... Seven years in the future... I'm doing all of this... I... I hurt her... I..."

Sting stumbled to a halt as he reached the Shadow Dragon Slayer, panting slightly and expression immediately twisting at the reply- shocked and taken aback, as well as a little uneasy. "... S... Seriously...?" Sting mumbled reflexively, his blue eyes darting from the hunched figure of his friend and toward the Dragon sitting so quietly in front of them- to which the Dragon quirked a brow at him, seemingly questioning his sudden appearance- but Sting didn't linger on it.

"Ah... Okay... Shit... Well, I dunno about all that, but so what...? It don't really matter right now, you gotta pull yourself together...! We're supposed to be fighting, you heard Natsu, right-?" Sting mumbled urgently, and Rogue hissed.

"... I can't... Don't you get it...?" Rogue muttered, his voice hitching still with half-sobs that were so close to being full ones. Sting stiffened at it, eyes glinting and grimacing to himself for how shaky the other's voice was- hell, Rogue's whole body was shaking... He was a mess-

"... I did that to her... Sting... I attacked Hora... I ripped her apart with my Shadow Dragon's Claws... I... I hurt her... I could have... Killed her..." Rogue stammered, his voice breaking painfully again and Sting swallowed, his eyes narrowing and biting down on the inside of his cheek. The tears spilled anew from Rogue's eyes after having stalled briefly at Sting's sudden arrival, and the Shadow Dragon Slayer's head lowered between his badly hunched shoulders. "... How... how could do... A...any of this...? How... How could I do that to her...?" Rogue hissed, "... I... I become a monster... I'm... I am a monster... W...who could... H..hurt her like that... H...how... How could I do that...? S...she knew it was me... S..she had to... How... How could... H... Hora ever... F... Forgive me... F...for that...? O... Or stand to... B...be around me n-now...?" Rogue stammered hoarsely and Sting frowned even more, his eyes flashing and hands closing tightly into fists at his sides.

Forgive... Shit

Sting grit his teeth hard, shaking his head furiously at himself before stepping up. He grabbed roughly onto the front of Rogue's shirt and hoisted the dark-haired man up and nearly all the way on to his feet, the both of their faces barely apart. Rogue stared in bewilderment, not resisting the action out of shock while his still tear-filled eyes locked with Sting's gaze.

"Quit that!" Sting ordered sharply, "It don't matter if it's a future version of you or not- the person who did that to her, and who is doing all of this? He is not you! You and him are not the same person, got that?! It doesn't matter what he's done or is doing- his actions are totally separate from yours!" Sting snapped, "Dude, you would never hurt Hora for any reason- you know that! You're a mess even just imagining it, do you really think there's any chance you'd actually ever do it, or be able to?! No! You would never do that, that's the only thing that matters! And Hora definitely knows that!" Sting hissed, Rogue sucking in a quick breath of air and holding it as he just stared, silent.

"Seriously, do you think her being all happy to see you earlier in the square was just an act or something...?! She wasn't at all freaked out about what happened, or had something against you- there ain't no way she ever would! She's smart enough to know that you and whatever future version of you aren't the same people, got it?!" Sting kept on, pulling Rogue up again and forcing the Shadow Dragon Slayer all the way onto his feet this time, though he didn't release his grip on his shirt just yet. "I get you're worried about her, and I get this sucks- but we have shit to do, we got Dragons to fight, okay?! So let's finish this as quick as we can, so we can go find Hora and make sure everything is okay and works out, yeah?! We do that, we find her, we fix everything- you fight for everybody, and you fight for her, cause that's you. The real you...! " Sting hissed and Rogue blinked, red eyes glittering and stunned for half a second, before nodded stiffly and a bit of resolution replaced the heartache in his expression.

"Y-yeah... Let's finish this." He stammered breathlessly, the shaking in his body stilling slightly as he straightened up a bit more, and he nodded a bit more firmly too. Sting let out a breath, a small smirk crossing his face as he nodded back, and he let go of Rogue at last. Rogue faltered a bit, his eyes narrowing in confusion as he glanced back quickly. "-have you already defeated the Dragon you met...?" He mumbled and Sting grinned,

"Nope, I just brought it with me." He chuckled, his words nearly getting drowned out by the sudden booming and thundering of heavy footfalls- and then the buildings behind them got decimated as a second Dragon crashed through them, roaring in agitation. Rogue nearly jumped out of his skin for it, his eye twitching at the way Sting seemed all the more amused- and he grit his teeth... But it was very much like the White Dragon Slayer, he knew that. Even him snapping him out of the fear and terror too- that was just like him... A bright (if albeit harsh at times) light that kept the Darkness at bay... One of many bright lights in his life, but none of them, not even Sting's- quite compared to the brightest of the bunch.

The two Dragon Slayers stepped up, back to back and instantly in battle stances with perfect unison and grace owed to two people who had worked and fought countless battles together.

Finish this. Win and make sure all this chaos ended, so it would all be over and done with, and they could find her- that brightest light in both their lives... And the one they both had so much to clear up, say, apologize for.. and forgive.

"Let's show them the power of the Twin Dragons, yeah?" Sting smirked, and Rogue nodded solemnly, red eyes flashing.

"Let's go!"

.:+:.

"Tch, damn it...!" Hora hissed, eyes flashing as she staggered back as quickly as she could, putting as much distance between herself and the sudden rush of violently spinning water spiraling out toward her. The water roared, frothing and foaming, in a corkscrew shape directly aimed to sweep her up and shred her to pieces.

"Ice-Make: Water Serpent!"

The water gleamed, freezing in seconds and forming the lithe body of a massive, smooth serpent- which hissed and coiled itself around Hora instead of hitting her, before heading straight back the way it came and charging toward the Water Dragon who had unleashed the original attack. A rush of cold air overtook her as it changed course, and Hora found her feet again in an instant, blue eyes flashing pale blue and starting forward in tandem with the serpent.

'Pivot your heel, spin as tightly as you can, and careful not to lose your footing-' Lixue instructed quickly, and Hora nodded stiffly and only once. Her body followed the motions of the instructions, her ankle aching slightly for how harshly she spun on her heel next, her arms swinging around with her. Her breath came out in front of her in a haze, milky white frost and air sparking off her arms and hands and bursting up off her body in lightning-fast, quickly growing spires of ice.

'-strike out as if your reach is tenfold beyond yourself, and strike hard.'

"Ice Dragon Wing Attack!"

She spun tightly, her arms swiping up and then decisively downward as she finished the full turn, Ice shooting outward in the form of great wings and lunging forward alongside the Ice Serpent born of Lyon's Magic. They circled each other, crashing headfirst into the Dragon Callan and driving her massive form backwards more than a few dozen feet, her lean body skidding across the rubble and roaring in annoyance more so than pain. That attacks didn't bruise her, or crack any scales- and Hora grimaced a bit, because even if she managed the hit, and aimed correctly- it wasn't anywhere near good enough.

"Thanks for the save, Lyon..!" Hora called quickly, puffing slightly and very much out of breath as she finished through with the Spell. Lyon nodded, catching her eye only briefly as they both came to a little pause several dozen feet apart, both of them panting and ruffled, bruised, dirty- you name it.

"Of course." He replied quickly, and a little breathless. "You know- for someone with no experience with your Ice Magic, you are doing quite well, Horatia." He called quietly, and she smiled faintly, though she wanted to tear her hair out- he meant it, but really... She wasn't doing good enough at all.

"... I've got Lixue ordering me around in my head, so I better at least be decent..." She mumbled, and he smiled a little at it, but that was where the small side conversation ended. And then they were moving again, never getting a chance to stop for more than a few seconds before Callan was upon them- or they had to sidetrack slightly for some of the smaller Dragons dotted about that managed to slip passed Juvia and Gray.

This was hard, as hell- there was no time to breathe, and very little time to think. Between keeping an eye on herself, Lyon, Gray, Juvia, Callan, and all the other Mini-Dragons continually popping up- and of course herself- it was something of a miracle they hadn't gotten totally wiped out by now... And they were getting hurt, of course, each of them were all taking hits, continually. And with each successive one, the more they were getting worn down, and the next hit hurt just a bit more, and wore them down a bit further than all those before it. Each hit left every one of them battered, breathless, aching- they had all been battered before any of this, from either the GMG or just all the insanity, and they were all feeling it. None of them had any real idea of just how long they'd been fighting, Hora certainly didn't- it felt like hours already, and there was no end in sight... No end and no way of winning, which made her heart race and her stomach flip over and over- and then a million times more with each Spell she threw toward Callan and nothing made a dent.

All of the Spells Hora had managed hadn't been strong enough to do any damage, and most of them were hardly even focused enough to be considered real Spells- she'd actually missed her target several times already (much to Lixue and Callan's annoyance) because she overshot, or even undershot what she was doing. A few times more her Spell never got all the way to fruition because it was messy, too uncontrolled, or controlled too much.

She did not know what she was doing even remotely enough to have even thought about getting in an all out fight, let alone being smack in the middle of one. And even with Lixue directing her, and telling her what to do, she wasn't good enough- she needed to have had time to practice and really learn this, not just jump into it wildly like she'd been forced to. And she was doing her best, she was giving it everything she had and even pushing way passed what would have been wise- using Lixue's Magic at all was not a good idea, he'd warned her from it several times that day and the night before... But shit.

I don't have a choice

'... No, you don't.' Lixue mumbled lowly, he sounded as out of breath as she was- naturally. Every little bit of Ice Magic she managed was chipping away at him and his already damaged being, and the larger, more forceful the Spell- the more it hurt both him, and her.

Hora grimaced at the words, dodging back another couple of feet and narrowly missing the swipe of Callan's tail, only to stumble a few paces again and hiss when her feet slipped, and she only barely caught herself before hitting the ground.

No, she didn't have a choice. It was either fight and survive, or get killed- Callan was ridiculously set on the murder thing, all of her hits, Spells, everything- they were all hard as hell and ready to maim and murder... And like Lixue had said, she was really, really incessant.

Hora found it hard to imagine Callan and Lixue ever having breaks when they'd been alive and whole and rivals, oh so long ago (well, long ago for Lixue maybe). She couldn't imagine Callan would have ever let Lixue keep away from fighting for more than a few minutes, given how deadset she was here and now with this fight.

'... She rarely gave me more than a month between bouts of fighting, but only because she was too battered to try and start a fight one after the other.' Lixue intoned dryly, 'As I said, she never beat me... However each successive loss only seemed to make her more determined...' He sighed, and Hora frowned at it.

No kidding

She backed up again, darting between a few mountains of rubble and skidding as she only just sidestepped out of the way of another vortex of water, her hand swiping up in sheer reaction and bringing Ice with it in the form of a wall not unlike what Lyon and Gray had managed before. It was all she could think of, it was sheer reaction- and she had little to go off of, honestly. What she'd seen of Lyon and Gray's Ice Magic between stints of dodging about was all she had in the way of real-world demonstrations of Ice Magic of any kind, so she was kind of copying... Or maybe emulating- but what choice did she really have?

If she wasn't recreating Spells she'd seen from them, she was banging out Spells she had nothing but Lixue's verbal instructions on- and the rest of the time she was just throwing haphazard Ice attacks out, or falling back on her Devil Slaying Magic. Which, her Fire didn't do much against Callan, or her Water Magic... But it was better than nothing, and it was all Hora really had that was any semblance of good enough (even if her Fire Magic's version of 'good enough' did not do any good against a goddamn Water Dragon).

This just sucked... So, so bad.

The water crashed into her makeshift wall of ice and the barrier held- for two seconds, and it was barely enough for Hora to move out of the way and avoid getting swept away. The impact against her Ice Magic was painful too, she felt it rattle through every inch of her and both she and Lixue winced under the sensation- but she had to stumble to the side and had no time to wallow in the pain, not that it didn't follow her the whole movement through.

She skid on the rubble, the rush of water and now broken ice just barely missing her by a few inches, but the sheer pressure and air wafting out from the attack made her lose her footing altogether, and she ended up crashing onto her shoulder hard. She grit her teeth, hissing as she struggled to roll herself over and onto her feet as quickly as she could, and her body and lungs burned like fire for the sheer effort.

I don't have a choice... But...

She staggered as she got back up, stumbling forward a few paces and barely missing a swipe of Callan's tail and being blown backwards by it- but the spiny fins on the end did catch across the left side of her upper-torso, and over her ribs as she twisted to try and avoid them all the same. The fins cut straight through her coat, shirt, and skin like it was nothing, tearing into her an inch or two deep and scarlet welling instantly under the two separate tears- the follow through as the spines left her body painting a line of sticky crimson through the air like the swing of a paintbrush.

"Hora!" Lyon's voice reached her ears from somewhere she couldn't see, panicked and tense as he saw the blood spatter- and Juvia and Gray looked around quickly at it too, grimacing.

Hora hissed, her teeth gritting hard enough they threatened to crack and she staggered sideways, hunching in on herself for only a moment before she swept her arms up. The inky black Markings made a quick reappearance, swirling across her skin wildly like jet black flame as she formed her arms into an 'x' shape before her, eyes blazing golden-azure as she swept her arms apart and stepped back simultaneously. Golden-blue fire blazed to life in an instant, sparkling off the ice littered about, and all the runoff and lingering puddles of water and moisture.

"Fire Devil's: Phoenix Flame!"

Three huge birds of fire sprung up above Hora as she swept her arms out on either side of her, the sound of the wind being cut apart by the birds shrill calls, their wings beating fiercely and leaving embers in their quake as they shot up into the air. All three began spinning around another before converging together in a flash of eerie gold- turning into one, single, giant bird that rivaled the size of the Guild Hall. It was massive, and burned such a deep and brilliant mix of azure and gold- everyone there, several dozen streets over, and even those fighting overhead in the sky saw it, and their eyes gleamed. Lyon, Gray and Juvia faltered in their battles, wide-eyed as they watched the Phoenix take flight, brimming with Magic and so full of power.

Golden-azure fire... It was something they had never seen before, and in a way- it was beautiful.

Even the Dragon Callan seemed transfixed for a moment as the bird arched overhead, her green eyes reflecting the glow of the odd-colored flame. Callan had seen that golden-azure before, but she never anticipated it in that small little human girl- let alone in a size and caliber of the likes of that blazing bird... And she conjured it not two seconds after being wounded-

The Phoenix dropped down over Callan with a screech, fiery talons digging deep into her body and flapping madly as it dragged the Dragon backward and off her feet, water and fire clashing with hisses and a storm of steam as the two of them began to squabble.

Hora staggered back a few more steps, doubling over as she sank onto one knee and her hand moved up to cover the wounds, her fingers immediately sticky with blood and the underside of her left arm, and all down that side quickly getting matted with the crimson stuff too. She winced harshly, shaking for the stabs of pain rushing through her, and the added on strain and lightheadedness brought from both the intensity of that Spell, and the further blood she was losing now... You know, on top of all the blood she'd already lost earlier, after meeting the Other Rogue.

She doubled over a tad more, her body shaking more as she forced herself to let out the air she was holding in, and ended up swaying badly with how heavily she was panting for air.

That Spell was way too big to use out of nowhere, but she needed Callan to ease up long enough for her to get a grip, and get a handle on the blood seeping through her fingers much too quickly for comfort. The wounds weren't deep deep, but they were deep enough- and long enough- that it being across the side of her ribs wasn't great.

"...s...shit..." She hissed shakily, she could feel the burning sensation of the Markings quickly crawling down her body and moving over the wounds, steaming slightly as it tried to hold them closed and still the blood a little. It would help, but not enough- not with how much she was moving and dodging around. And she had no choice but to keep fighting, keep trying, keep moving and keep using Magic, and more and more bigger Spells, if she was gonna have even the slightest chance... But that didn't change the fact that the longer she kept doing any of that, the worse things were gonna get. She was gonna get hurt worse, she was gonna run out of Magic eventually, and the more Magic she used, the worse Over-Drive was gonna be. Every Spell was gonna make it worse. Every shred of Magic.

Everything

She shut her eyes tight, pressing her hand over the wounds a bit more firmly, even despite the pain it elicited.

... Shit... We can't keep this up forever... but even still...

Hora pressed down harder, biting down hard on her cheeks until she tasted blood. Frosty air came to life around the hand covering the wounds, the fiery sensation of the Markings increasing as it clashed the sudden chill, Ice creeping across the tears in her skin and coating it tightly- the blood stalled, but the searing agony it brought with freezing them over was enough to have her almost doubling over completely. She kept herself as upright as she could though, her other hand digging into her knee as she leaned against it, the pain throbbing but numbing soon after... Just not fast enough.

"... Are you alright...?!" Lyon hissed, making his way to her side as quickly as he could manage and grimacing deeply for the amount of red drenching her hand when she pulled it away from her side, trembling. He saw the ice freezing the wounds shut and swallowed hard against it, his hands reaching out for Hora and grabbing hold to steady her as she forced herself up off one knee and into standing with little warning. She leaned into him a little, holding her breath against the new wave of pain that followed with getting up- before letting it out, her breathing fast and heavy, and shaking still as she shot him a look.

Lyon looked awful, more so close up- covered in muck and blood and bruised and cut up to all hell... She didn't look much better mind you, but it hit harder seeing it so clearly on his person now- because if Lyon looked bad, then Juvia and Gray probably looked just as bad too. She hadn't been able to spare many looks back at the two Fairy Tailers the whole time, but she had been trying- and they were getting just as beat up as she and Lyon were.

... shit...

"... Yeah..." Hora replied breathlessly, pushing herself away from leaning into his hands and forcing a breath that was meant to steady her, but only managed it very little. Her eyes broke off from Lyon when her FireBird screeched, it's flight suspended as Callan dragged it down and slammed it into the ground, water surging up off her body and from her mouth as she bit down into the bird's throat, and the flames were swallowed whole by the water brought forth by the Dragon. The bird was rendered nothing with a terrible hiss of flame on water, Callan's head lifting from crunching into the fiery body and swinging toward Lyon and Hora- still relentless, still angry, and not at all deterred nor phased. Not even by what was honestly a huge, powerful, and brilliantly executed Spell on Hora's part.

That Spell had been enough against the Demon Neveleous now just over a week ago, but here, and against Callan?

It still just wasn't good enough

The water used to render her FireBird into nonexistence kept growing, quickly rising and rushing out toward Hora and Lyon, Callan's head and body swinging around pushing it forward all the faster and with tenfold force- a roiling, churning ocean now headed directly at them, and their hearts dropped.

There was no way to avoid that

Lyon and Hora stepped up instantaneously, their hands slamming into the ground and erecting a massive wall of ice in front of them- the greenish white hue of Lyon's Magic mixing with the milky white hue of Hora's own. They dug their heels in, grimacing and readying themselves for the blow- and when it hit, it was a million times more forceful than they could have anticipated. Hora lost sight of Lyon altogether, their wall of ice shattering into a million pieces and being swept up, and jolted backwards painfully along with both of them, by the ocean of water that overtook them with absolute ease.

The water ramming into her was enough to knock the breath from Hora, and once she did she had no more left in her lungs, and no chance to replace it. Her bones rattled from the initial impact, her body burning with it and more so around the wound across her ribs- and then continued to be battered further as the pitch black waters pushed and pulled her this way and that violently, keeping her stuck under the waves and with not even the slimmest chance to try and bring herself up to the surface for air.

'You must get out of this water quickly, before Callan brings you directly to her!' Lixue ordered sharply, though even his voice in her head was a little muffled by the booming and roaring of all the water surrounding her. 'If she gets ahold of you, we are done for!'

What do you want me to do...?! The waters pulling too hard Lixue, I can't make sense of anything- I can't breathe!

None of the Spells you've been directing me to use have made a dent, what Spell could you possibly try and explain to me know that will get me out of this...?! And I'd be able to manage before I fucking drown..?!

'Do whatever comes to mind then!' He snapped back curtly, 'Ignore me and just react- do whatever feels right, act on your own instincts, whatever they may be!' He ordered and she faltered a bit at the sudden 180- he'd been ordering her about with instruction after instruction, so to suddenly be told to... Wing it...?!

S-seriously...?!

'Don't question it, just do something!' Lixue snapped hotly, 'Anything at all- just do it quickly!'

Hora faltered again but let it be, mind racing and heart pounding painfully in her chest as she struggled against the viciously tugging waves. She saw something being pushed toward her even in all the dim, her eyes widening at the rather large block of ice shimmering faintly with a green-white hue headed straight for her. It wasn't her Ice Magic, so it was probably a leftover from that shield Lyon had tried to erect alongside her, and it was pretty big- and totally headed on a collision course to ram into her. Which was gonna hurt, so she reflexively started to try and avoid it, only to halt halfway through the action, blue eyes gleaming.

She grit her teeth, ignoring the pushing and pull of the water and throwing her arms open wide. The ice rammed into her body painfully and quite hard, enough it knocked the last of the breath from her, but she didn't let it make her falter. The minute the ice was in reach and connected, she wrapped her arms and legs around the chunk and held fast to it, her fingernails digging in and jaw clenching.

'What are you-?' Lixue mumbled quickly but he cut off, and she really didn't pay him much mind at all.

I've never done this before, I really hope it tastes okay-!

She opened her mouth, frowning for the water that hit her tongue instantly, but pushed through it filling her mouth, and chomped down hard on the ice in her grasp. The ice shattered under her fangs as she gulped down the mouthful of it and water quickly, then chomped down again, and again, and several times more all in rapidity. Her lungs ached for the lack of air, but her stomach and limbs quickly started loving the surge of extra Power that came with the munching- and better yet, it didn't actually taste bad at all!

She was done with it in moments, the ice glowing underneath her hands and condensing down into pure Magic that she swallowed whole. Hora swung her arms out in the water, orienting herself what she figured was the right way around even despite the constant pull of the water- her eyes flashed an icy blue and stayed that way, the water around her shuddering as a pale white glow began to build off her body.

Do whatever comes to mind huh?!

She swung her arms and hands downward roughly toward a ground she could not see, and only barely sensed. The water trembled violently as she did it, the deep black suddenly getting wrenched apart and ice shooting outward from her arms, arcing with the movement and trapping the water in it's quake. The ice amassed underneath her at breakneck speed and rammed into the ground, and then shot upward under own feet and kept growing skyward with her atop it. It pushed her through the waves with a fierceness, her knees ramming into the sheer white surface and palms doing the same, the Ice spreading out around her even as it shot up, and rendering the ocean of vicious churning water into a sudden chilly standstill in a diameter of several dozen feet.

Her head broke through the top of the waves in seconds, the ice rocketing her upward in a quickly stacking tower built up of Ice constantly growing off itself. The weight of the water resisting her momentum vanished, and then she was in midair, her Tower and platform underneath her ceasing it's upward struggle and propelling her high into the night sky over it.

Hora didn't dare suck in a breath of air even when she first broke out of the water, she didn't have time for it, because she was just gonna end up coughing. So she held it still, her body momentarily weightless as she hit the apex of launching herself upward, and her eyes locked with the green ones of Callan glaring up at her, the Dragon sitting amidst the deep sea of water that she'd broken free of, lips pulled in a snarl and absolutely seething. Hora glared back, teeth gritting and her few seconds of weightlessness quickly coming to a close, so she flipped herself over, arms swinging out on either side of her and Magic flaring all anew.

There was no time for some step by step instruction from Lixue, and he didn't even try to bud in. He'd told her to do whatever came to mind, hadn't he? And what was she really good at?

Fighting in that hotheaded, stumbling, stubborn, and entirely dumb-luck driven way- so no more fancy Spells, just wing it!

Hora swung down hard, ice shooting up off her arms and outward in spiky tendrils, spiraling around each other and clashing together with a boom- and one followed by a shrill cry from the winged beast made of ice now suddenly forming underneath her. Trails of chilly air and frost billowed behind it, and off it's wings and tail made up of a million feathers of sheer, smooth ice- cold blue shinning in its core and razor sharp talons extending as it arched downward. It was three times bigger than even the one born of flame that had come before it, the air for three blocks around them suddenly swept up in a bone-cold wind the flapping of it's wings created, bits of frost and snow flurrying along with it. It screeched again as it came into full form, Hora's blue eyes blazing and fangs bared as the ice-made beast began nosediving toward Callan at breakneck speed.

Wing it- and what's better at winging it then a giant freakin' bird?!

... Somewhere in the back of her mind Lixue sighed rather heavily

"Ice Phoenix!" Hora snapped, her voice furious and carrying along the shriek of the bird, and even when her voice broke the instant she'd said the words. She had no choice but to suck in air that time, and as she expected- she immediately ended up coughing, badly.

She sputtered, mouthfuls of red-tinged water rising up her throat and into the air to fall just like the rest of her was, the taste of it and the blood in it foul on her mouth, and her chest and arms burned for the show of Magic. Even with the boost from munching on Lyon's ice, that Ice Phoenix was about all she got from it, and her body and Lixue's damaged form hated her for the wanton use... But hell-

The bird rammed into Callan, driving her backwards and through several buildings, the both of them grappling with each other, claws flashing, teeth and beak snapping. They were hissing and squawking, tumbling things over and leaving a path of destruction in their quake- and this time there came the scarlet well of blood across Callan's neck where the bird's talons sliced through the scales.

For the first time since the fight had ensued, and in all the dodging about, struggling, and not making a dent at all- finally something was enough... But of course it had to be that one thing that actually made even the slightest bit of headway.

Hora coughed again, the last of the water gone from her lungs and this time all that came up was sticky crimson, her fleeting view of the Dragon and Bird blurring quickly as the pain in her chest, and across her ribs from the tear carved into her flesh, got all the more blinding. She felt gravity pulling her down, she knew the momentum she'd managed to throw herself upward was spent and now reversing- she knew she needed to save herself the fall, from the height she was at hitting the ground would be really bad... But she couldn't focus enough to even begin to figure out how she was gonna do that. Hell, she couldn't hardly move, let alone breathe- so of course it had to be that huge, massive, totally winging it move that managed something after so long. Because...

... I don't think... I'm gonna be able... To do it... Again...

She flipped over once more in air without wanting to, the follow-through of the move making it so she ended up staring at the sky overhead. The eerie red moon was blotted out by that Dragon still sending the Mini-Dragons hurting toward the earth, but it and the moon behind it was blurring terribly, and they were nothing more than a big blob behind a big dark shadow.

... Fuck I... Gotta stop myself... From falling...

She grit her teeth, hissing as she tried to so something, make a platform, right herself- anything. But any attempt at moving just then earned even more pain running through every inch of her, and she could hear Lixue hissing in pain too.

... Move... Damn it...

Her eyes dropped halfway, the icy blue color flickering, trying to keep up but failing almost all the way- but she fought it, pushing against the darkness invading the edges of her vision and still trying to muster up something.

Anything-!

She flinched, a shriek coming from her Ice Bird and the sensation of it getting ripped apart hit her full force, though she didn't see it. She didn't need to see it though, the sudden feeling like something get wrenched from her core was awful and she grit her teeth for it- knowing all too well the empty feeling of the Magic being rendered null and wasted was soon to follow.

Hora forced her hand in the general direction she knew her Ice Phoenix was being wrenched in half, the sound of it's solid body cracking loudly and shattering all up it's lengths heavy on her ears. Her fingers stretched out, still cached in her own blood from before even with all the brawling with the water, her teeth gritting so hard they threatened to crack. She forced her Magic up again, and forced her focus to hone in on all that Ice Magic being rendered into shards.

I am not letting all of that go to waste so quickly... not a chance...!

Pale white sparked off her hand, the flickering icy blue of her eyes ceasing for a moment and remaining clear and bright as the agony in her core sharpened- Lixue nearly yelping for it, but both she and he pushed at through it anyway.

The shards of ice the Phoenix got broken into glowed, remolding themselves even as they fell and were thrown away by a very furious Callan. They quickly started bending and shifting, some of them smashing together to form something new- and all of them stopping their momentum backwards and to the ground. Sharp wings made of ice sprouted outward from all of the pieces, along with heads, tails and beaks- leaving about 100 new, smaller birds, all entirely made up of all the ice and Magic it had taken to make the first.

And then in no time at all, every single one of those birds course-corrected and made a beeline for Callan, bombarding and surrounding her in all directions, and on all sides. They began pummeling her relentlessly, breaking scales off, earning bruises, tiny nicks where the scales had cracked- but that was all they managed, mostly they were a nuisance, and the Dragon screeched in fury as she did her best to render the new storm of birds nothing but dust.

Hora heard the bird's calls and Callan's roars blend into one another sickeningly, the icy blue her eyes had taken on fading to none, along with what little of the world hadn't been swallowed up by that black creeping in from the edges. She was still falling, she had intended to have one of those birds divert and head toward her, but it was all she could manage to get them to lock on to Callan, before her hand and her focus on them got spent. The pain in her center sharpened enough what little air she'd managed to get was cut off, and she cringed harshly, all of her mind getting consumed in the agony- and for a few seconds, she totally forgot all about falling at all.

D... damn it...

The smell of water hit her nose and she instinctively stiffened against it, even without really having mind enough to do anything about it. And she only faintly registered the smell of ice quickly following with it, before her back splashed into said water, and then quickly thudded against something more solid. The impact was softened by the water slowing her down briefly, but it hurt still as she landed on the high and sloping track of ice that had followed the waters upward motion toward her, and the initial impact of it had her coughing again. She slid downward quickly on the slide made up of ice, still sputtering halfway down it's length, and nearly all the way up until her motion backward halted rather abruptly. Her body slammed into something- someone- else, her back ramming into their chest as they tried to catch her in their arms. But she was sliding a little too fast and they smacked together a bit painfully, pushing them both back a few paces until they stopped all the way. Hora coughed as they connected, and then cringed harshly when a stab of agony rushed upward from the wound over her ribs where the hasty attempt to grab hold of her- ended with a rather painful thud of their arm against her torso, and directly against the wound. The wound of which was still covered in ice, though fracturing now after all the buffeting with the water and the slide alike, and had allowed a thin red trail of blood to get painted all the way down the track that saved her the fall.

Hora sputtered again, the pain subsiding enough she could focus more on the fact the breath had been driven from her, and she wheezed slightly, the taste of blood getting heavier on her tongue as a bit dribbled passed the edge of her lips. She grit her teeth against it, her body curling slightly in on itself even with whoever had caught her still having their arms wrapped around her. She heard them puff a little, her head just under their chin and their breath ruffling her hair- and then she felt them stiffen when she cringed in their hold and let loose a shaky hiss. They quickly tried to adjust in order to steady her more, help her sit up even- but she couldn't hold her own weight just then, or get her eyes open- and she ended up just leaning back into them heavily, battling for proper air.

"Horatia, are you alright...?!" Lyon's breathless voice sounded close to her ear, the Lamia Wizard having been the one to stop her movement, and to whom she was leaning into- while Gray and Juvia had been the ones to send up that water and ice to make that slide that brought her back down. They'd managed a break in fighting off the Mini-Dragons since Callan's water had dragged them off, which was good as it gave them time to pause and save the Saber Wizard falling all the way.

Hora swallowed hard, breathless still and forcing her eyes back open, her head tilting left enough to catch a little glimpse of Lyon's face, and she nodded slightly. "... S... Sorry I... Need a breather..." She panted quietly, dark blue eyes dropping closed again and groaning a bit under her breath, her hand moving shakily to bump his left arm, hissing. "... Y... You are kinda hurting me though..." She added, and Lyon stiffened, frowning as he quickly moved his arm from pressing against the wound over her ribs and blanching to see just how much blood was seeping passed the covering of frost and ice. Worse even, he saw the blood dripping passed the edge of her lips and it made his stomach flip- especially so at how awful her breathing was right then, and how pale she looked... She looked awful, and nearly spent- Gray and Juvia noticed it instantly too, both Fairy Tailers casting wary looks toward the Saber.

"That was a seriously huge Spell, and it worked pretty good, you actually managed to do some damage." Gray mumbled quietly, his eyes moving from Hora and toward where Callan was still batting at the smaller ice birds still left. "... But, you've got a thing with birds, huh...?" He added quietly, casting the panting Saber a sideways glance- but if Hora ever heard it, she didn't say anything to it... And honestly, he doubted she heard the comment at all, because she did look awful, and it was clear as day to all of them she wouldn't be able to do another Spell like that at all- which sucked, since it was the only thing that had made a dent so far. But they couldn't blame her for not being able to repeat it, she'd not really been at 100% even before all of this, and she was pretty much a newbie with her Ice Magic too.

Hell, to be entirely honest- what she'd been doing the whole time? Even already being injured, and drained, and not in the best of shape, or even really with any practice at all at being a Dragon Slayer?

"... Ya know, you're kinda kicking ass at the whole Ice Dragon Slayer thing, especially for being totally 'half-baked'." Gray murmured, shooting Hora a faint, and sort of weary smirk that she cracked an eye open for, her panting breaking off a second in surprise. He let out a breath, his eyes dropping closed and shaking his head a bit. "... Heh, you're kinda making the rest of us look bad, ya know...? You're just as worn out as we are, and even more so- but you're still firing off attacks like that... Totally kick ass." He mumbled, Juvia beside him nodding in agreement, while Hora blinked, her attention stuck on Gray and dark blue eyes gleaming.

Lyon swallowed a bit at the words, and the way Hora seemed stunned with it, and how instantly at attention she was. Naturally so, given what Gray saying any of that probably meant to her, and so much more than the Ice Mage knew- given Gray was still so painfully oblivious to who she actually was. Hora seemed to suck in a breath under his hold and hold it, Lyon biting the inside of his cheek when he saw the way her lips pulled into a tight line, ghosts of pain, and ache, and even yearning swimming in those familiar blue eyes of hers- and so easy to see. But Gray's own eyes were still closed, and he never saw any of it at all, and Lyon's heart twisted for it... and then twisted a million times more when Hora saw the new damage littering Juvia and Gray from the constant fighting with the Mini-Dragons, and how exhausted they were- just like Hora herself and Lyon... And probably everybody else scattered around Crocus, fighting for their lives.

... Shit...

Hora swallowed hard, hissing as she pushed herself up from leaning into Lyon and out of his hold, her hand curling over her torso and pressing against the wound over her ribs as she grit her teeth. Lyon jumped as she moved, Juvia and Gray too as their eyes found the Saber again, Lyon fidgeting and quick to let his hands find her back, holding her steady and adjusting to be at her shoulder.

"... Hora, you can barely move you need to sit still...!" Lyon muttered quickly, but she shook her head sharply,

"... Don't really have a choice, Ice-Boy... All of my birds are nearly gone, the fight isn't over..." She muttered through gritted teeth, "... besides, we're about to have company... And it's not like I'm gonna sit around while you guys keep fighting, so gotta keep moving." She mumbled, the words making everyone stiffen, and more so when Hora's eyes shift sideways narrowed and wary. All of their eyes moved to where she was looking, frowns appearing on their faces and instantly on edge again as another round of Mini-Dragons started to clamber over the rubble and in their direction.

"... Tch... Shit, they never stop..." Gray muttered,

"Juvia hoped Natsu's fighting on the mother Dragon would slow them at least a little..." Juvia murmured, Hora grimaced at it. She had been faintly aware of Fire and Shadow being thrown every which way over their heads from the showdown between the Flame-Brain and the Other Rogue, and it was still going- but with no end in sight... Just like their fight against the Mini-Dragons, and Callan alike.

"... Doesn't seem so." Hora mumbled, grumbling under her breath as she forced her feet under her and started to stand- Lyon quick to get up himself and give her a hand for support. She took it gratefully, her legs shaking terribly even once she was up all the way, and her chest ached a bit more- moving or breathing at all was unpleasant enough with the strain that came with using Lixue's Magic while he was damaged, but it was worse with that wound across her ribs... Seriously, this sucks.

But I still gotta keep going, we are far from done here... Geez, can I not catch a break...? Didn't I say I deserved some good luck after all the shit that's happened...?

'... You are due, though it seems likely your good luck has manifested itself in how well you are doing against Callan.' Lixue intoned dryly, '... Your brother is right, you are doing very well where you shouldn't be... And even then, I don't think it has much to do with luck at all. So I admit, I am impressed. With the little and rushed guidance I have been able to give you, you are using my Magic nearly like a Master- and mostly it is just you. Sheer stubbornness, dumb luck, whatever... You are a very capable Mage, Horatia.'

Hora's eyes flashed, swallowing at the words and a little taken back by the sudden, and rather unusual, vote of approval- and the admission of being impressed.

... You... You what...?

'You heard me.'

I... I mean yeah, but... Well... Now is a hell of a time to tell me that, Lixue...! After all of this, you choose now to say I'm... actually good at things...?!

'... Hmm, I suppose- though I apologize I haven't said it sooner.' Was the cool reply, 'And this is not a 'pep talk', I do mean it. Regardless of how reckless you are, you are strong- and you're certainly proving it now... I do think anyone but you would have passed out, and stayed that way a long time ago. But you are still going, despite everything, and even when this fight is far from over, and we are getting closer to hitting our limit- you are still going to push on, hmm?'

She bit the inside of her cheek slightly, blue eyes gleaming and her arm falling from holding her ribs. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides, and she nodded stiffly.

Yeah, I'm gonna keep going. I don't have a choice, as long as everyone else keep fighting, and even after they're too tired to keep on... I am not gonna stop, not until I know this is done and over with, and they're all safe. I am not gonna stop, not yet, not until I can't move anymore at all.

If I can move even a little, I can keep going, keep fighting- as long as it takes, until all of this is done, until everything is okay, and until it stops being so fucking insane... Damn it, I have shit to do after this, things to say- and I can't do that if Dragons destroy the whole goddamn kingdom.

So I have to keep going, no matter what.

'... Hmm, I don't think anyone else in the same situation could do it- but you?' Lixue rumbled lowly, 'If anyone is going to manage to get through this all the way to the end, and somehow manage to make sure the people you care for make it out... I do think it will be you.'

Hora took in a big breath of air and held it, nodding stiffly again and steadying herself as best she could, even when her legs kept trembling despite herself.

Hell yeah... But first-

She blinked, her eyes tracing over the slide made up of ice a few steps in front of her, ever aware of the Mini-Dragons getting closer and Callan smashing the last of her Birds to bits. Hora paused, casting a slightly nervous glance back toward Gray and he caught the look, diverting his attention from the Mini-Dragon's briefly and quirking a brow.

"... what?" He mumbled dryly and Hora stiffened, looking a bit more nervous. She gestured faintly toward the slide, smiling sheepishly for a moment.

"... ah, I just... would it be rude, if I ate your Ice...?" She mumbled and he blinked, his face falling slack at the rather unexpected (and totally unnecessary!) question. Even Juvia and Lyon's faces fell too, stunned, before they looked sort of amused and exasperated all at once- while Gray looked mostly just exasperated, clicking his tongue and waving a hand at her dismissively.

"Geez why are you even asking...? You're making it weird, just eat it already..." He sighed and Hora smiled a bit sheepishly at it, and a bit more when Lyon cast her an amused smile from the corner of her eye.

"Ah, r-right..."

She stepped up toward the sloping track of ice, cursing herself slightly in her head for the dumb question, but leaving it be. She hadn't time to waste in being a bumbling idiot, Callan was already whipping her head about looking for them, and the Mini-Dragons were closing in. Hora shook her head at herself a little roughly, sucking in another big breath of air and then chomping down on the side of the slide rather unceremoniously, her fangs shattering the ice with ease and starting to chew quickly. A few bites in the whole thing glowed pale white, condensing down quickly as she (still rather unceremoniously) tipped her head back and sucked it all up in one big gulp.

She sighed once she swallowed the last bit, her breath billowing out in a chilly fog before her as her hands met her knees for a moment. She felt the energy coursing through her limbs again just like it had when she'd snacked on Lyon's Magic a bit before, but it being a bit more all at once to eat had her feeling a little breathless for half a second, and her stomach churned a tiny bit too. Lyon stepped up to her shoulder, head tilted and looking a little unsure when she doubled over a bit. "... Are you alright?" He mumbled quickly, and Hora shot him a glance.

"... Yeah, I'm good... It's a nice boost... And kinda sorely needed... Ah... I'm just not super used to eating Ice, ya know...? And not that much at once..." She mumbled back, and he nodded slightly.

"I see..." He murmured and she straightened up, stifling the wince she nearly let slip as another stab of pain ran through the wound on her side. Her eyes found Callan as the Dragon leapt upward into air in their direction, snarling, scraped up, and absolutely livid now, and both Lyon and Hora stiffened- while Gray and Juvia started forward in the opposite direction behind them, starting in on the new wave of Mini-Dragons.

And just like that, the little bit of a breather and respite with it, was gone just as quickly as it came- and they all grimaced for it.

"... Alright time to get back to it...!" Hora hissed, breaking off from Lyon and going right, while he went left, Magics blazing, hearts racing, and still so deadset and resolute despite the abuse their bodies had already taken.

Keep fighting, do not let up!

The other Wizards, and the battalions of Rune Knights brought by Ira, Lahar and Doranbolt- all of them scattered around Crocus pushed forward still, fighting tooth and claw against waves of Mini-Dragons with no end, and dodging the terrible waves of destruction brought upon by the Dragon's, and the Slayers battling them.

This is on us to save the Kingdom, and everyone in it!

Natsu's fist slammed hard against the Other Rogue's jaw, the both of them dodging about, absolutely heated, relentless- and sparking in black, white, and brilliant orange flame speckled in golden lightning.

Those at the Eclipse Gate hissed, facing down the Jade Dragon with fury in their eyes, and utterly steadfast.

That Future of Destruction is not gonna happen, not a chance!

The brilliant glowing figure of the Dragon Atlas Flame rammed into the Dragon hovering in the sky that was producing the Mini ones without end- both Legendary Beasts screeching and roaring as they grappled with one another. Huge, bulky figures wrestling mid flight and fiercely- their battle not unlike the next few Ice and Flame Phoenix's Hora produced to combat Callan. The Birds kept the Dragon busy while she and Lyon sent off attack, after attack, in near perfect union with each other. The same sort of union echoed in Juvia and Gray, and one that continued even when a strange pink-haired woman named Meredy appeared from the Ruined City to aid the two.

Nobody else dying for this shit, no matter what!

Rogue and Sting hissed, stumbling to a brief standstill back to back with each other, panting and bodies aching as they faced those two Dragons down- now relentless in their attacks and not a thought spared to keeping the Shadow Dragon Slayer alive. The Twin Dragons broke off, Shadow and Light dancing and twisting with each other with practiced ease- fierce and never letting up, never pausing.

Keep fighting, keep everyone alive, and safe- stop this, as quick as you can!

Hora's lungs were on fire, her body feeling no better, and agony rushed through every inch of her on a repeat outward from the wound scoring over her ribs- which was now bleeding freer than ever, the ice that had frozen over it crumbling to bits and with no time to replace it. She couldn't stop, she had no time to, not even when her body needed her to cease, and was trying so hard to simply give out on her- I cannot stop

She didn't know how long it went on for, she had near to no idea about anything else going on- not the Dragons fighting overhead, not the clash of Rogue and Natsu, not the crowds of people fighting for their lives, and really not as much focus on Gray, Juvia and Meredy either. Hell, even her attention on Lyon was scattered, though she did everything to make sure he was fine, guard him where he needed, direct Callan's attacks away as the battering from the Dragon started to wear him down finally... And Lyon tried his best, he gave it everything he had because he would not let Hora fight alone, not on anything- and she knew that.

She knew Gray, Juvia, Lyon, and every single Wizard and person fighting in that city were hurt, and reeling, and starting to falter out of sheer exhaustion. She knew that, it was probably the most pressing thing in her mind, and it was the biggest drive too.

She could not let up, she had to keep going, no matter what. This insanity had to end, things had to go back to normal- that Future the Other Rogue wanted could not happen, and she was not about to let it.

The Dragons could not win.

Nobody else was going to die, not on her watch.

That Future that wanted her dead so badly- would not get what it wanted, not a chance in hell!

She would not lose, and she would not die, and nor would she relent- not even when it got increasingly harder to breathe properly, or when the pain her core got almost blinding and constant. And not even when the small dribble of blood passed her lips started to become a constant stream, broken only by coughing and wheezy panting. She did not stop even when she knew every shred of Ice Magic, and Devil Slaying Magic combined brought her that much closer to the Limit she and Lixue had. And that each second spent forcing both those Magics forward, and at what colossal levels she had to just to keep up with Callan- all of it was sharpening the deadly edge of Over-Drive when it finally took hold. But she still kept on, even knowing it would lead nowhere good- because there was no way she was gonna let herself lose.

So she kept going, and with so much more luck and power, and even skill, than should have been possible- she was winging it, she was sloppy, but she was fierce. And no one ever realized how fierce she could be until just then, and she wasn't even the most powerful, she was barely keeping up... but she kept going, no matter how much it was clearly taking out of her.

Even Callan had to admit, that puny child was fending her off and actually doing damage- small as it was... a girl that young, and that small, should not have lasted even half as long as this.

Hora kept pushing, kept moving, and fighting- and it didn't matter what happened in the meantime, or how far she pushed it, or how much it hurt- none of that mattered because she had absolutely no intention of dying. None whatsoever, and it was gonna take a lot more than fucking Callan, the Future wanting her dead, the Other Rogue, or anything else combined to manage to kill her- not now.

I have things to do, things to share, things to say with my friends, Guild and Family- I promised I would come back, I swore that!

And I promised Lyon I would tell Gray too, so I cannot die damn it! I will not die!

"Ice Dragon's-!" She hissed, Lixue's voice echoing in her head and uttering the words along with her, icy and firm. Hora spun tightly, arms stretched out on either side of her and Ice licking off her arms like giant, reaching wings. Callan snarled, her own body twisting and tail sweeping her way with a massive wave of water at it's back.

I have to fight, and I have to win..!

"-Wing Attack!"

The water and ice clashed head on with a deafening boom, half of the water freezing in it's place while the other half swallowed her attack entirely- both opposing sides sweeping passed each other and headed toward Callan and Hora. The Ice struck hard against Callan's hide and pushed her back a few feet, while Hora stumbled slightly, quickly trying to redirect and avoid the water still headed toward her. She hissed, twisting a little painfully and the inky black Markings stretching quickly along her arms, flame sparking off her form and erecting a wall of brilliant orange and red between herself and the water.

It wasn't going to hold, she knew that, but the fire was easier than the Ice to conjure up after the Wing Attack, and how much pain struck her straight through the core afterward. She couldn't stop and let herself get swallowed up by the pain, so she had to move, try something- even if it wasn't gonna work, shit..!

The flames hissed, spitting and steaming as the first of the water reached them and quickly swallowed them up- and she growled, pushing herself back a few more steps hastily, and body tensing in anticipation of being rammed into.

The water got pushed sideways and passed her though, a wall of ice rushing upward to slam into it and overtake it. Hora's eyes snapped toward the direction it came from, finding Lyon about three dozen feet that way, covered in muck now from all the fighting, and panting, his hands on the ground and giving life to the wall of ice that saved her. She swallowed, their eyes meeting for half a second before she stiffened, a shadow moving at the corner of her making her heart sink, and she hissed, her hand swiping up and fire following it's quake toward him.

"Watch it!" She snapped, her voice nearly getting drowned out as her flames swept passed him and rammed into the Mini-Dragon that had broken from the rest, and made a beeline for the Lamia Wizard. The flames sent the Mini flying, Lyon's eyes following the track of fire passed himself, hissing as he shot off a flurry of tigers made of ice to keep the next two off of him. He kept them back, but a flash of blue-green swept toward him, followed by the meaty thud of Lyon's body getting rammed into by Callan's tail, and the Lamia Wizard was thrown harshly back in the direction Gray, Juvia and Meredy were. He hit the ground hard, yelling as he rolled and smacked into a pile of rubble, the Fairy Tailers and Meredy whipping around and faltering in their constant back and forth as he skid passed them.

"Lyon!" Hora snapped,

"Oh no-!" Meredy gasped, Juvia beside her grimacing as she swept a wave of water around in Lyon's direction and fended off the few Mini-Dragons that immediately went for him while he was still down.

"Hey man, you okay...?!" Gray hissed, his attention darting quickly toward his childhood friend and grimacing as Lyon struggled to push himself back up and out of the rubble, coughing slightly and blood dripping down his arm from a new gash cut into his shoulder from where the spiny fins on Callan's tail had rammed into him.

"... I'm alright..." Lyon hissed through gritted teeth, Hora swallowing hard and hardly hearing the words as she stumbled back the few paces she'd retreated, puffing as she fought to regain her balance- and hastily started trying to pinpoint Callan again. The diversion brought from Lyon getting hit had lasted too long, even for the few seconds she gave herself to look, and looking that way was a huge mistake, on more ends than just her own.

Water rammed into her from behind hard enough to drive the air from her, and she hit the ground, skidding across it as the current pulled her roughly through the decimated space and slammed her into the half-crumbled wall of a building. She sputtered, pain racing up her spine from the impact with the stone, and she stumbled, doing her best to get back to her feet and move again before the next attack came. Her shoulder hit the wall as she struggled back onto her feet, the water still swirling about her knees running muddy red, the wound in her side bleeding faster as what little bits of ice that had kept it closed fell into the water with a splash.

Hora blinked furiously, trying to rid of her eyes of the water and the blurriness with it- and her heart skipped a beat when she saw a bulky shadow move to her left, and she reacted blindly. She jumped in the opposite direction, splashing through the water draining away slowly and throwing up a wall of ice between herself and whatever the shadow was, the pain in her side and her chest increasing instantly.

"Enough of this girl!"

She heard the ice shatter, felt the blow of it getting destroyed to her Magic Energy- though her vision was still bleary she couldn't make out much more than that, and she certainly didn't see whatever hit her next, or notice it, not until it was too late.

Callan's foot came down on top of Hora, pearly white claws pushing her backward into the ground so harshly it caved in and shattered underneath her, and the skin about her shoulders, arms, and torso got sliced into by the deadly sharp talons. Her body smashed against the unyielding stone, agony running through every rattling bone, every tendon, every nerve, and her lungs ceased functioning- the breathe driven from her, and no opportunity to replace it with Callan's heavy weight suffocating her. The back of her head smashed into the stone so hard her vision dotted in black, ears ringing, mind whirling, stunned, trapped... And somewhere in her very core, even around the awful crunch of the stone, the thud of her body against it, and the wheezing sound of her breath getting stripped from her lungs- Hora heard something crack, and Lixue roared in utter pain, his voice on her mind all she could make out for what seemed like forever.

"Hora!" Lyon, Juvia, and Gray snapped, their eyes along with Meredy's darting toward the massive figure of Callan as the Dragon pinned the Saber so violently, hearts racing and grim faces among the lot- and panic too.

Hora heard them only faintly, Lixue's roar of pain tapering off in her mind and some tiny fraction of clarity trickling back in even under the sheer brutality of it, coughing as some little bit of air made it's way into her lungs, but it wasn't near enough, Callan was putting to much weight on her to breathe properly... and honestly, even if she wasn't there, Hora wasn't sure her lungs would function enough anyway. She blinked hard, head whirling and Callan's face directly above her terribly unfocused, so much so she could only barely make out the green hue of her eyes, and only some semblance of the Dragon's lips parted in a snarl. She knew everyone else was somewhere to her left, she did hear the panic in their voices, she even figured it was her name they said- but the words were so muffled around everything else. She even figured she caught some glimpse of them from the corner of her eye, but it was only a guess, and couldn't turn her head enough to make sure just then.

...f...fuck...

"I am done with this back and forth, you little pest...!" Callan hissed furiously above her, her breath hot and smelling like salty ocean air as it washed down into Hora's face, and the Saber grit her teeth, her dark blue eyes gleaming and unfocused still, though she shot the blurry figure of the Dragon an exhausted glare. Callan just snarled at it, teeth bared and green eyes glinting in fury as she leaned her head back a bit, pushing Hora further back into the stone and the Saber yelped.

"This is over with, I am done with you- so it is time for your life to end, once and for all! You and Lixue!"

Water washed over Callan, followed closely by projectiles made of ice, and all of it shattered against the side of the Dragon's head- diverting her intention to snap down on Hora for a moment, and causing Callan to turn her attention toward the Fairy Tailers, Lyon and Meredy across the way, hissing.

Hora stiffened, one eye cracking open and turning her head enough to see them this time, her voice breaking a little when Callan shifted above her, "M-Move-!" Hora yelled, only for her voice to fail when Callan pushed down harder, cutting off any attempts of air, or warnings.

"Bug off!" Callan snapped impatiently, the Water Dragon's wings raising at her sides, and then flapping downward hard- erecting a flurry of wind and water both that rammed into the group standing across the way, and sending them flying. Every one of them- Lyon, Gray, Juvia and Meredy- slammed against the pavement with painful gasps and yelps, skidding backward and groaning, their badly battered bodies protesting them instantly trying to struggle back to their feet. They staggered, forcing themselves back into standing as quickly as they could manage, panting, out of breath, and hurting too- and Hora's eyes flashed, her face twisting at how easily they'd gotten thrown, and how all of their attention landed on her once more, still panicked, and ready to try to push forward again without hesitation.

And then Hora's heart skipped a beat, because while their eyes were on her and Callan- none of them noticed the Mini-Dragon's directly on their flank, already ready to send off a burst of hot, high-powered Magic directly for them, and the first- directly for Juvia. Juvia, who like near everyone else, her eyes had not left Hora, not for a second, and she had no idea of the danger suddenly aimed at her. None of them had any id- wait..!

Hora's heart dropped, her blood running cold and instinctively pushing up against Callan's hold, blue eyes full of panic and fear when she saw someone else move, someone other than herself who saw that Mini-Dragon at the last possible second, and moved even when there was no time to- NO!

"Watch it-!"

"DON'T!"

Hora screamed the word, her voice harsh and breathless, and still loud enough they heard it- but it didn't matter, he'd already moved, and the Mini-Dragon had already sent off it's Magic beam.

The world and time itself seemed to slow down in that instant, trudging by at a terrifying snails pace and every millisecond of it transpiring too fast to even fathom- and yet every single detail of it was impossible to miss.

It was burning into her mind- in all their minds- in what few seconds it occurred, clear as a bell, every little detail, all of it- and she could not move, or do anything about it.

Juvia stumbled to the side, pushed that way and out of the line of fire at the last possible second, and with it there was no time for him to move either- him pushing her out of the way just put him directly in the way, and that blast of Magic tore straight through his chest like it was nothing.

No-

The terror that raced through Hora was clear as day in Juvia's face, and Meredy's, and Lyon's too- all of them suspended in time as that sticky crimson splattered into the air, born from the fist sized hole suddenly torn through his body. His teeth grit as he coughed some of that scarlet liquid up, his face both stunned, confused, and pained all at once.

N-no-!

There were more Mini-Dragons than that one, they'd pulled themselves from the surrounding rubble and closed in as soon as the Mage's let up in their fighting even a little, crowding in and quick to jump in on the carnage- maws open wide and Magic bubbling in the pits of their stomachs long before the first shot ever got all the way through his body.

NO-!

A second shot went off, and a third, fourth, five, six- way to many too count, all of them in rapid succession, each one tearing through him just as easily as the first, ripping him to shreds and his body jerked with each one. And with each shot, the splatter of his blood on air and against the stone grew frighteningly more solid... and the look on his face...?

Still so... confused, and p-pained... n..no...

The last shot went off, blaringly loud, and it felt like she'd gotten shot too, directly through her very soul, while it... it went through the his... h...his... h...head...

He hit the ground with a heavy thud, limp, umoving, his body riddled in holes, skin slick with scarlet dripping fast from every wound... and utterly.. s..silent... n...no... no...!

The whole world stopped in that moment, her heart with it- and she felt like every part of her mind, body, soul- all of it got ripped in two, torn to shreds just like he- N-NO..!

"G-GRAY..!"

That wasn't her voice, it was someone else's- maybe many someones- and she meant to say it. She wanted to scream it, but her voice wouldn't come. Nothing came, she just froze, all the world around her, the chaos, the weight of Callan pinning her to the ground, the agony in her body from all the fighting- everything went deadly quiet in an instant. And all she could do was stare, the tears spilling from her eyes instantly, but even those were silent.

Everything stopped, nothing registered- the world was tipping on it's head around her and falling away in pieces. The million terrible things that had happened the last few days, months, years, none of it could compare with that- not even that night that Deliora had destroyed everything she'd ever known, and Arden had burned her alive a hundred times over.

That- having him drop back into her life out of nowhere, learn he'd been out there all this time, and then... now he was ripped away, in an instant... that... this wasn't...s..supposed...to...!

He wasn't supposed to- he couldn't just... just get taken away like that, not before she got a chance to... I...!

.. I was supposed to... to keep everybody safe..!

I... I was supposed to... t...tell him...!

... t..that... no... no, no...!

Gray no, he... he can't be...!

He can't have just... no...!

I just... I just found him... I.. I was supposed to-!

The sound of the shots were ringing in her ears, muffled and faraway- but they were there, and every iteration of them felt like she was getting shot too. Over and over again, her insides getting ripped to shreds, her soul breaking into a million pieces and her heart following suit. She grit her teeth, deep blue eyes glittering and filled with endless tears as she sucked in a sharp breath of air that broke in an awful, strangled sob. She shook her head, her gaze stuck on the quickly growing pool of scarlet around his broken body, the image of all those people in their village lying bloodied and broken in the snow overlapping reality, and she hissed.

N-no... please... no...

... he... he wasn't... s.. supposed to... n... not before I...

... I was s-supposed to... tell him...!

Hora shut her eyes tight, wrenching herself from looking at it, the tears spilling faster. She didn't feel Callan's weight on top of her anymore, she didn't feel the sting of pain of Callan's claws digging into her body, or the ache of her bones under all the brutality- even that fiery, stabbing pain in her center that had Lixue roaring in agony didn't register, or make a dent. Nothing made a dent just then, nothing but the sickening terror, and sense of loss... a...and...

... Please... n...no...

D... damn it... no...G..Gray...!

... B-Brother...!

Hora hissed, her fingers trembling as she curled them around Callan's claws, uncaring of the way her skin split instantly. She didn't feel that pain either, not around the emptiness, and the grief... and then quickly there came something else too- rage. Rage that was bubbling quickly even under the pain, and the sorrow- and especially so for how... how fucking cruel that was.

All of it was so goddamn cruel- what the hell...?!

How can he... come back into her life for one goddamn day, and then get ripped away like that...?!

After everything else she'd had to get through in all of this...?!

It... that's not fair, damn it..!

Her teeth grit so hard they threatened to crack, her hold on Callan's claws tightening so much her palms split open and the blood trickled through her fingers freely- and still she did not feel it. The only thing she felt just then was the burning in her soul, the heat so hot it was icy as it started to bubble outward from her core. The Markings came to life in an instant, crawling across her skin with a fury, stretching and reaching over her shoulders, slinking all the way up her neck, spinning wildly, consuming her faster than ever before- and she did not dare try and stop it.

Something in her had cracked when Callan pinned her down, and then her heart shattered at what had just gone on- but now?

Something snapped, and she ignored Lixue's quick warning in her head. She couldn't hear Lixue trying to talk her down, she didn't want to hear it- and the instant she decided not to listen, the fire became way too loud, and she let it go.

She hissed, low and animalistic, her deep blue eyes opening and staring straight up at Callan above her, the Dragon stiffening slightly when their gazes matched. There was pain in Hora's eyes, pain unlike anything Callan had ever seen, and unbridled grief too- the girl was crying still, the tears unending, never slowing... but there was fury there too.

Fiery, icy-cold rage

Callan jumped slightly, the Saber's blue eyes suddenly washing out in crimson-gold and the Markings swirled faster across her skin, covering every inch of her torso and arms, and stretching up and over her eye. In an instant there was heat sparking from the inky black, steam rising under Callan's hold and singing against her scales- and so hot she almost recoiled and let Hora go. But Callan stopped, her ears swiveling back as Hora bared her fangs up at the Dragon, a waft of heat rushing up all around them in an intense burst of wind, and the lingering moisture and water evaporated instantaneously.

Lyon shuddered, freezing the instant a quick wash of ice dispatched the swarm that had just turned the whole world on it's head, and he got stuck in his spot and unable to breathe. His eyes locked to that bloodied figure of the person he'd known for so long, tears dripping down his face and stomach flipping so violently he wanted to retch. Juvia was sobbing on her knees, Meredy behind her and trembling like a leaf. For a split few seconds, everything stopped, all the chaos, and the fighting, and even the panic and urgency of Hora getting trapped- all of it... And then he stiffened, his eyes snapped toward where the Saber woman was, still pinned by the Dragon's claws and both her and the beast in a sudden standstill- and then Lyon flinched back a step, eyes wide and gulping slightly for the sudden burst of stifling heat that swept out from where they were. He saw the inky black Markings swirling across Hora's skin like fire, and he saw the blood welling between her fingers where her hands had gripped the Dragon's claws, and he swallowed.

He could not imagine how she must have felt in that moment, to watch that like the rest of them, to see him get... to have her Brother just-

Callan bristled, a low hiss escaping her as the heat coming off the Saber woman increased tenfold again and her foot actually started to burn a little- and Hora snarled, the Markings crawling across her flesh filling in and quickly leaving her skin pitch black. Hora growled, her voice low and utterly dangerous-

"Get off of me."

Deep, bloody-crimson flame rose up quickly from around Hora, surging underneath Callan and the Dragon recoiled this time, but... her Fire... stopped...?

Hora stiffened, the anger breaking off for a second in confusion and shock- because her Fire did stop, before it could ever reach up all the way and ram into Callan like she wanted it to. And it didn't just stop growing, it stopped moving entirely. The flame itself wasn't flickering, or shifting, it had just frozen in air, wisps of red immobilized and stationary in the most unnatural way possible- like, in a way that shouldn't have been possible, and Hora faltered, eyes narrowing and... what the hell...?

Callan wasn't moving either, nothing was.

Hora looked around quickly and toward Lyon, Juvia, Meredy- none of them were moving, they'd seem to freeze in place just like her Fire, and Callan had... everything in the world around her seemed suddenly paralyzed, all except for her. And weirder still, everything seemed to suddenly be draining of any color- the bright blue of Juvia's hair was turning dull, the splash of red littering the stones was going grey, and the glow of her Fire even had started to fade to silver.

How has everything... frozen...?

And why... is all the color going away...?

What is going on...?!

Hora's eyes went wide, her heart skipping a beat and shock running through her fast as lightning- because this actually... why does the world suddenly look like how that place she had been..?! The place where she'd met Ultear, and seen Lixue..?! The Time place, what did he call it...?!

'- the Current.' Lixue intoned softly, his voice clear in her head now that she'd stopped in the sudden rage, and he sounded just as shocked as she did.

Hora froze again, the golden color her eyes had adopted fading back to blue and the inky black covering her skin receded a bit, patches of her skin color poking through again where'd she'd gotten swallowed up. Because even crazier than everything freezing, and losing color-?!

Her Fire was moving backward now, and so was everything else..!

Hora shivered, her eyes darting from the suddenly retreating Fire and toward Callan instead- the Dragon's body moving slowly back down from having recoiled, and then she saw Lyon's head turn, the bits of rubble that had fallen suddenly rising against gravity, the tears falling from everyone's eyes doing the same... then the Ice Magic Lyon had used to fend off the Mini-Dragon's went back again, the creatures where they were once more as they had been before getting hit. Everything was moving backwards again, sluggishly to start, and it was almost nauseating to watch- more so since her mind was whirling, and then nearly stalled when she saw the pool of blood start to shrink and recede... and Gray's body... lifting...?

N-no way... is... am I going crazy... o-or...?

... it looks like... t-time is... rewinding...?

That can't be right, right-?!

She broke off though, sucking in a sharp breath of air as the slow movement backward of her world began quickly gaining speed, the blood disappearing, his body upright again, the blasts of Magic moving in the direction opposite to how they'd been shot- the wounds closing up.

All of it was rewinding, all the damage, the death, the destruction- all of it

Hora shivered again, eyes glittering like mad and tears spilling anew, her mind struggling to process what she was seeing. And then there came a heart-wrenching sense of urgency setting in as everything began to reverse at nearly breakneck speed.

O-oh my god...

Callan's wings flapped, the action of her having thrown everyone near a minute beforehand undoing itself, the attacks sent off to distract her flashing above Hora and battering the Dragon's jaw again. All of it was going faster, undoing itself at nauseating, jarring speed, and Hora felt her heart pounding with it, the urgency getting heavier, blood racing and mind with it.

She didn't get it, she didn't know how, or why, or even why she wasn't getting rewound like everything else- she did not understand, but it did not matter if she got it or not. All that mattered was that it was being undone, that it had been reversed- that Gray getting killed had unwound, and now it hadn't happened yet.

Callan's hold on Hora's body lifted, the Dragon rearing up and her original movement to catch and pin her rescinding too. The weight off her chest was agonizing, as was the stinging sensation of her claws sliding back out of her flesh- and the wounds remained, even when everyone else's in the last minute seemed to fade... But again, she wasn't rewinding like everyone else, and she didn't want to be.

Hora gasped, sputtering for air and hissing as she forced herself up and staggered onto her feet, dragging herself into a stand on shaking legs. The water that had rammed into her and sent her slamming into that wall earlier rushed out in the same way it had- but this time there was no Hora for it to catch, and she wasn't planning to let any of what had happened to occur again- not for where it lead. Now suddenly, for whatever insanity driven reason, all of that was being undone, and she could not let the Current, the Future, or whatever the hell else try and stay the course to where it had lead. Not when what had happened here in so short a time had lead to that.

That in which she had a chance to stop from coming about again, a second chance to make good on what she'd intended from the start- and hell if she was gonna fail twice.

It will not happen again- never again!

She pushed herself forward, eyes blazing and the urgency fueling the movement her battered and badly broken body resisted adamantly. She forced herself across the world crawling backwards around her like some runaway rollercoaster, forcing her Magic up, all the stops out, no hesitation whatsoever- and she planted herself exactly where she wasn't supposed to be, but would not dare move from now.

Not again

The backwards movement ceased, the whirling of it and the speed cutting off abruptly and dumping everything exactly one minute previous to when the whole process had started. Everything dropped back on that minute, and everyone in the city, human, Wizard, Rune Knight, and Dragon alike- all of them faltered as some strange, almost vision-like recollection of the next minute of events played in their minds. The carnage, the destruction, the pain and the loss- the deaths, and of more than just Gray.

Gray stood there now, very much alive, no longer riddled with holes, and entirely stunned as he stared at where Lyon had just managed to get on his feet again from having been thrown by Callan's tail. He remembered it- they all did. Meredy, Lyon, and Juvia all remembered it, the way in which things had spiraled so quickly from bad to worse to downright deadly- but it felt little more than a bad dream, and for a split second, they couldn't move, nor process it... He was dead, wasn't he?

All of that... Had that actually happened...?

Lyon got thrown, then Hora got caught by Callan, and-

They stiffened, all of their heads snapping around, instantly on edge and searching for where Callan had just slammed her claws into the ground so hard the earth rumbled under their feet. They expected to see it again, the Saber slammed into the stone violently, pinned and trapped- the very thing that lead to them getting distracted, and then to the Mini-Dragons, and their blasts, and how it had ended Gray's life... But in that instant, there was no Hora under Callan's claws, or anywhere near it. No, time seemed to run suddenly slow again, and in near the same way it had when the shots had torn through Gray's body. The group of Meredy, Lyon, Juvia and Gray all stiffened, wide-eyed and stuck in their places when they felt Magical Pressure of a magnitude unlike anything they'd felt before suddenly wash over them.

And right there in front of them all, and directly between Gray, and Callan, and the space in which those Mini-Dragons had popped up to end his life- was Horatia.

The rewind of time and events ended abruptly, and she didn't stop for even a second. She put herself there in the same second Callan's claws sunk in on nothing but air, still moving swiftly, body ready, and Magic blazing. Hora's still tear-filled eyes locked onto Callan, and everything in between her and that raven-haired Ice Mage she would not let go, not a second time.

One of Hora's eyes was burning a brilliant gold, and the other had adopted that icy blue- her left arm covered in glittering frost and the other consumed in those pitch black Markings swirling like fire. She slammed her foot into the ground hard enough to crack it, ice and flame dancing off either arm with a sudden ire and she grit her teeth, Callan's eyes leveling with her own and the Dragon recoiled.

"Lixue-!" Hora hissed furiously, and the Ice Dragon's voice answered without hesitation.

'-Do it!'

Hora growled, the Magic sparking off her arms shooting up in wild force, spinning like mad and making the air tremble with the clash of deadly cold and unbridled heat all at once. She jumped, sweeping her arms back behind her and then lifting them up over her head, fingers curled and streams of ice and flame following the movement of her arms back and up- the Magic blazing ever higher as she reached the climax of the movement, gold and icy blue eyes blazing.

None of that will happen- not again!

I will not let anybody die- not a single person, not as long as I can move!

This shit needs to end!

"Fire Devil's-!" Hora hissed lowly,

'Ice Dragon's-!' Lixue growled,

Hora's arms swung down hard, the Ice and Flame arching over her head in two distinct lines, before she slammed back down, her hands shoving into the earth and the arch of Ice and Fire grew outward ahead of her in rapid time. They converged in on themselves, shattering the earth, splitting the air even- everything shook, and the sheer pressure and weight on their lungs and shoulders was immense.

"Arctic Hellfire!"

The earth shuddered, slabs of it lurching and uprooting as spires of brilliant white ice and explosive golden-azure flame tore out across the space in a beeline toward Callan, spreading forward and outward on both sides to create a massive, reaching, and ever growing storm of burning-hot and deadly-cold. Both Flame and Ice tore outward from the central point of Hora's hands and scattered at an incredibly wide angle, and even circled slightly behind her and in a half circle, surrounding those behind her and watching absolutely stunned. And then they were quickly reeling as they watched the Magic tear outward and at a distance that easily covered more than a two dozen city blocks.

Spires and spikes of ice broke up out of the shattering earth, flame sparking off the ice and washing out with it. Flame and frost danced on the air in harsh waves like some terrible hell-storm, cold and hot all at once and tumultuous as the two clashed. The buildings, rubble, streets, and everything in between got overtaken in a thick sheet of ice and tracks of red-hot embers burning like pyres. Where the fires raged and turned what they touched into nothing but smolders, the Ice quickly overtook it, the embers burning dimly under the shinning surface.

And where the Ice wrenched things apart, consumed, and struck hard and fast through them, the Fire danced across the smooth surfaces, the golden-blue glow refracting every which way and shinning bright in the darkness that had overtaken the whole of the city. The Mini-Dragons among the rubble, and the ones that had appeared and caused what heartbreak they did, and even more of the beasts in places they couldn't see- they all got rendered nothing but ash, or otherwise were frozen solid, their bodies cracking up their lengths and shattering... And Callan?

The Water Dragon flinched, green eyes going wide and bristling at the sudden and near unfathomable amount of sheer force was headed her way- and from that little human girl, all covered in blood, her legs shaking terribly, and with tears falling from her eyes still.

Callan beat her wings, taking to the sky in an attempt to avoid the sudden fiery ice storm headed her way, but the Magic popped up high into the air to follow the Dragon. A dozen spires of ice with flame spiraling around their lengths, struck hard and fast against Callan's underbelly, cracking scales and tearing huge holes through her wings- while the flames scorched her with a passion, and any amount of water she tried to conjure up turned to nothing but steam in seconds. Callan screeched, the ice continuing it's climb and consuming her as quick as can be, suspending the legendary beast in air and freezing her over, leaving her stationary at the top of that tower made of ice and golden-azure flame being fed life, and continuing to burn even on the slick surface.

Callan stopped, trapped in ice and unable to move for the time being, and rendered totally silent. She was alive, even under the ice, and she wasn't hurt enough it would stop her fighting just as fiercely as she had been when she broke free... But she could not break out, not right away, and even though she instantly tried it, the ice rumbling as she did- she could not break free immediately, she could not move, and that should not have been possible.

Everything went quiet, Callan's muffled roars making the earth and ice vibrate was only a low drone. It all went almost dead quiet, in their corner of the city- ash, frost, embers and snow falling and twirling on air sluggishly. In no more than a minute, everything around them had been rendered to a sudden standstill, the whole of the area and for a distance way too great around them- all of it was now unrecognizable.

Suddenly their world looked like a wasteland, made of Fire and Ice, and with both such naturally opposed Elements coexisting, and creating that wasteland in a way nobody had ever seen before, or could really fathom. It was, in the most literal sense- an Arctic Wasteland, dotted and joined in the blazing grips of Hellfire.

Hora had literally turned their corner of the massive city of Crocus, into some place born of an entirely different reality, and world. And all they could do, was stand there, and stare. And upon seeing the destruction, and sheer force, and even impossible amount of precision and reach of it, one of the very first things that raced across the minds of Lyon, Juvia, Meredy and Gray alike?

That was so much Power, and out of literally nowhere...!

And what was even more startling? All of that, just then?

That was Power fueled by little else than pure, unbridled, emotion.

"H-holy shit..."

Gray stammered the words out breathlessly, wide-eyed and stuck in his place as he looked around the Frost-Fire Wasteland quickly, eyes darting to every frozen or destroyed Mini-Dragon, every mountain of Ice and burning flame alike, and the suspended figure of the Dragon Callan, still rumbling from within the ice, but entirely unmoving for now. Lyon not far from him was doing the same thing, as was Juvia, Meredy- and everyone else in the city close enough to see the sudden show of Magic, and those standing in it's reach. Every human and Wizard caught in the sudden blaze of Magic was left untouched and unharmed by the overbearing Spell, as was the intent... but still- holy shit..!

"... that was... incredible..." Juvia stammered breathlessly, Lyon and Meredy nodding stiffly in agreement.

Gray swallowed hard, his eyes snapping off Callan and toward the Saber woman ahead of him- who only just then pushed herself to her feet, staggering slightly and her knees shaking quite badly, and so much so it almost looked like she barely got back up at all.

Hora winced lowly, panting now, her breaths slightly wheezy and quickly growing more so as she forced herself up and on to her feet after slamming her hands into the ground to send off the Spell. There was an awful sensation of agony racing through every inch of her, paired with an almost overwhelming numbness and lightheadedness too... it hurt, really bad- but the pain wasn't on the forefront of her mind just then, or even near it. All that really processed for her in that moment was that, for now, the fight had stopped. For just a little the rush was over, and the most pressing thing in that moment was making sure everybody else was fine... Making sure Gray was fine-

The Markings swirling up the one arm receded and disappeared from view, the frost on the other fading to none and the regular dark blue of her eyes returned again as any sense of that insane amount of Magic stopped rather abruptly. Hora turned, eyes glittering and vision hazy at the edges as she looked quickly for that raven hair, the world swimming almost, and her head whirling sickeningly with just the little action of turning and scanning the area. Moving even the little bit was dizzying, but still it didn't register ahead of the need to find him, and make sure that he... Gray... is he...?

Their eyes matched, Gray bristling slightly and immediately on edge to see the tears falling from the Saber woman's eyes still, her attention on him sort of dazed, and the way she was trembling like a leaf. He blinked, a bead of sweat dripping down his jaw and fidgeting slightly,

W-what the...? She's... she's crying...?

Gray stiffened in the next second though, his eyes widening and darting over her person quickly, and then grimacing when he noticed what everyone else behind him did almost right away- not just the tears, but also the fact that she was covered in blood. Scarlet was dropping continually from the wound over her ribs, and from several others that had definitely been put there by Callan pinning her down, right...? That hadn't actually... happened right...?

Wasn't it... just a Vision...? B-but then why is she... Actually hurt...? A-And actually crying...?

Gray shifted slightly, about to step forward though he couldn't actually get himself to move with how much his mind was whirling just then. Hora moved though, but all she managed was a single shaky step his way, a shuddering breath of air escaping her as her expression twisted faintly, and the tears spilled all the faster, sparkling as they splashed at her feet and he froze, eyes wide.

He... He's not... C-covered in blood... the... The Mini-Dragons... I got them all...

... It... It didn't happen again... I... I managed to... To stop then from... F...from him...

"G...Gray..." Hora stammered, her voice so very low and wispy, swallowing hard as she managed another small, extremely uneven step, before having to halt a moment, lest she topple over. Her eyes never left him though, not even as the tears kept coming, and Gray didn't look away either. He couldn't, because he didn't understand how she- a near complete stranger, and someone who had been so jumpy around him- could look so... So completely terrified, relieved, and anguished all at once... And over... Him...? Was he reading that right? Was he the reason...?

But why would she-?

"...Gray... P... Please... Please don't die again..." Hora stammered breathlessly, her voice breaking on the words and he stiffened further, his stomach flipping and a shiver running up his spine. Hora sucked in another shuddering breath of air, dark blue eyes all glassy and swimming in hurt, pain, fear, and so much pleading- and her voice was so full of all of that as she went on. "... P.. Please... Please don't die again... N...not before I get the chance to-" She whispered, before breaking off rather abruptly, her voice dying in the span of a second, and she went absolutely rigid.

'T...Tch... forgive me Horatia...' Lixue's pained and hissing voice echoed on her mind without warning, breaking into her thoughts and diverting her attention in an instant. Her heart skipped a beat, something in her core suddenly twisting unnaturally, and she heard Lixue's voice drop away, quiet and almost... Growing distant.

'... But that was our Limit...'

And then all she heard next, was nothing but an utterly clear and deafening sound- where something in her very center cracked

Hora's sudden stillness shattered immediately, tear filled eyes wide and expression getting washed over in pain, shock, and panic. Her heart sank as agony raced through every inch of her, and there came this intense icy-hot burning in her lungs that made her cringe. Her muscles locked and her lungs seized, all in the same instant that a wave of stifling heat came up off her body and swept over the immediate area- and all regardless of her wanting it to or not. She couldn't stop it, and she hadn't a chance, or the mind to try, it just... s...shit...!

She stiffened, folding in on herself slightly, the pain radiating quickly out from her center and through every inch of her, her legs shaking terribly and eyes quickly growing all the more blurry, the shadows at the edges of her vision incoming fast.

... d...damn it... not... not now...

She hissed, her breath coming out terribly wheezy and it burned all the more in her lungs- enough she faltered, the breath catching in her throat and she cringed in on herself even further, her legs shaking awfully now, and her body quickly following with it. The wave of heat that had come off her figure did not fade for even an instant, instead it just kept getting heavier, reaching further, and Gray, Lyon, Meredy and Juvia stiffened for it, eyes wide, and flinching slightly away. Then they stiffened more when Hora suddenly cut off, and she started to tremble, badly.

"Hey, are you okay-?" Gray mumbled quickly, fidgeting slightly and grimacing for the sudden waft of heat, his eyes narrowing at the way she'd started to shake, and look like she was in pain and... She's-

Gray jumped, heart sinking and racing all at once when the Saber woman suddenly started tilting, and then her legs gave out on her altogether, sending her crashing straight toward the ground, and quite quickly.

"-C-Crap...!" Gray hissed, teeth gritting as he started forward.

"Hora!" The others behind him yelled, panicked.

Gray growled, rushing slightly as he jolted forward and struggled to catch the woman before she fell all the way. He wasn't quite fast enough to stop her altogether, and he only barely managed to save her head slamming into the stone, though even managing that had him hitting the ground rather roughly, but he had no time to linger on it. Hora folded in on herself, her body curling and smearing blood underneath her from where a big portion of it was pooling now from the injury over her ribs. Gray felt her figure hitch under his hand, heard the way she sucked in a breath of air and it sounded awful.

He shuffled forward and up onto his knees as quickly as he could manage, eyes flashing and frowning deeply for the sound of that breath, and the sheer heat coming off her skin. The air itself was uncomfortable and heavy, and it had him instantly sweating all on it's own. He grimaced when he reached out though, wincing slightly for the way his hands stung, and even started to singe the instant he touched her, one finding her shoulder while the other stayed where it was under her cheek. He nearly recoiled, and pulled away, and he meant to- but even the sting of pain in his hands failed to register when Hora shuddered underneath his hands, her muscles tensing as she cringed again, and then she jerked underneath him. The breath she'd sucked in suddenly came back out, turning into several harsh coughs- and each one resulting in no small amount of sticky crimson rising up her throat and spattering against the stone, and creating a pool of scarlet way too big for anybody's liking.

Gray went rigid, his heart plummeting along with everybody else's who'd rushed up toward them. Lyon visibly paled, eyes wide and glittering like mad as he dropped down to sitting on his heels beside the downed Saber retching up blood, the coughing ceasing it's harshness only a little and turning into rapid, rushed breaths of air that were so raggedy, and utterly painful to hear. Lyon didn't flinch for the heat in the air, or the way it singed him when his hands found Hora too, and Gray's never pulled away either- instead both Ice Mages wordlessly let their Magics flare, clashing with the heat and saving them getting burned, and hopefully taking the edge off too. She was way too hot all of sudden, her Magic was going haywire- she collapsed, she was hurt, in so many places, and badly too. Her breathing was way too labored, she was shaking so bad, she... she was coughing up blood.

A lot of blood

And she didn't even seem to be awake anymore, her eyes were only open barely, glassy and unfocused- and quickly falling no matter what Lyon, Gray, or anybody else stammered quickly. Urging, and almost pleading with her to just stay awake.

Hora didn't really hear the words so much, they were badly disjointed and muffled, especially so under the harshness of her own struggling breaths. She couldn't see them either, they were fuzzy, and dark, and she couldn't get her eyes to stay open, or settle on them. She just ended up staring at that pool of crimson in front of her seeping into the stone and earth... There was something in it, almost impossible to make out in all the red, but definitely there.

Something tiny, fractured... A shattered bit of stone, icy blue in color, and glittering dimly in all the red... No, not a piece of stone- a piece of crystal... Lacrima.

... Something in her very center... t...that... Had cracked...... S... Shit...

She couldn't breathe, she couldn't move... Everything was falling away into a chasm with no bottom.

She couldn't hear Lixue anymore, he wasn't there- he'd fallen faster into a chasm of his own. And she could not hear him, not even if he'd had the strength to try... And he couldn't hear her now, either.

... She couldn't... She couldn't even feel the stickiness of her own blood on her skin, or taste it in her throat anymore. She couldn't feel the pain in her wounds, not around the fiery agony that had taken tight hold of her chest now and wouldn't let go... It just moved outward, through every nerve, bone, tendon and vein- burning white hot, and getting worse. She was suffocating... Burning.

... Over-Drive... Was... O... Oh... No...

...n...no... N...not... Now...

Her eyes dropped all the way, her mind quickly spiraling down into the depths of nowhere, and she couldn't stop it.

... B...but.. I... I...

... I was...s...sup...posed... T...o...

... She just kept falling....Down... down into... Pitch black... scorching... darkness... and she couldn't....

.... no.....

"... Ho...ra...!"

.:+:.

Hello everyone!

I do hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was a doozy to write ;3;
But I am looking forward to the next few.... cause lmao, you all know I love angst, and making you sad XD

Anyway, forgive me yet another cliffhanger, and for a lack of a reveal.... I do hope you look forward to the next few chapters, cause we are getting to the end of all this craziness (finally)!

Thank you all so much for your continued reading and your support, I appreciate you all so very much!

Please Vote and Comment if you can! Thank you!