Amber sat up against the lone tree on the ridge as she waited for the sun to rise. She had been dead asleep when Erza had wandered over toward the cliff edge, activating the sensor in her barrier to wake her. But she hadn't said anything, just leaned there, waiting with the redhead for the day to officially begin.
"Magnolia used to be a town full of life." Erza's voice was even as she spoke out into the air. "And our guild was at its heart. But those warm and joyous days are gone."
Amber was forced to contain a chuckle as Natsu let out a snore almost in response to what the redhead was saying. Happy didn't help by muttering about fish in his sleep. The Blood mage covered her mouth to stop herself as Erza just gave them a caring smile.
"Cherish those dreams. And rest well."
Off in the distance, the morning light finally managed to break over the mountains. It brought more of a warmth to the world than Amber thought it would. She had been expecting to feel the foreboding and the anxiety turning through her bones, but she was calm. Then Erza continued speaking.
"Because this may be the final dawn we face together. We'll need our strength. And each other."
Those words rang through Amber's mind, lingering as her mind drifted to the things that the Mythics had tried to accomplish over the two years they were gone, what those words could mean if they finally accomplished their mission.
"The final one?" Natsu sat up, "Not if I can help it."
The others began rousing as well, all getting to their feet. Amber followed suit, finding a place next to Juvia.
"It'll be tough," Happy stood between his two best friends, "but Fairy Tail isn't gonna give up that easily."
Lucy agreed, "Come on. Let's go."
And Natsu was just as ready to go, "We'll bust in and get our guild back. For the sake of our future. For Fairy Tail."
"We shall." Erza nodded as the sun continued to rise.
The morning glow cascaded down, shrinking the mountains' shadows to reveal the enemy that they were facing. Rows upon rows of Alvarez soldiers stood at the ready to keep them from reaching the building that stood almost suspended in the air by the world, like a child's treehouse.
Lucy peered over at the army, "That's a whole lotta soldiers."
"If we wanna get back home, they're in the way."
Gray agreed with Natsu," We're gonna have to fight our way through."
"Sounds good to me." Happy seemed more ready to go than normal.
"It's obvious we're heavily outnumbered," Erza spoke, trying to be the voice of reason in the group, "so we can't charge in headlong without a plan. But what?"
"Come on!" Natsu cried enthusiastically, "We'll have back up before you even know it! No way these jerks'll stop us!"
"Yes, you're right, Natsu!" Erza's entire attitude shifted as her determination flared, "Let's move forward. When the others get here, we'll push harder until we reach the guild!"
Amber thought about speaking up to confirm the Fire Dragon Slayer's mention of reinforcements, but quickly decided against it. The others would be there soon enough and she didn't want to mess with the natural morale that this team was bringing out in each other. It made her miss the rest of her own team. These thoughts were only driven further home when Gray and Natusu started up their usual rivalry with one another.
"So who's gonna beat Zeref first, huh? Let's make it a race, Natsu!"
"Yeah! Fire's in the belly!"
But of course, that was the moment his stomach decided to let out a loud growl.
Gray crossed his arms as he looked at his friend questioningly, "Doesn't sound like there's much in there to me."
Amber found herself watching the two closely as they interacted. It made her heart sink, wondering what would ever happen if Gray found out the rest of the truth. He had taken Kia's secret so badly that she hated to admit that she had a small amount of fear that he might take her up on her offer to slay her after they had won the war. But that was only if he got the chance. She did feel better after the conversation they had had the night before, but there was no telling what would happen if he was pushed again.
'Would you really let your anger lead you into something that dark that you know you'll regret?'
"Let's go!" Natsu shouted as he pushed off for the edge of the ridge, "Fairy Tail, here we come!"
They were all ready to go, diving after the pink-haired slayer as fire coiled around his fist. He charged with that fist pulled back, yelling out as he finally got close enough to take out the entire front line.
"Fire Dragon King... Destruction Fist!"
A happy, almost proud smile crossed Lucy's face before she pulled free one of her golden keys. Taurus appeared at her side, already charging as she also changed into her Star Dress.
"Ready, Taurus?" And they collided with the next available troops, "Lucy Kick!"
Juvia seemed just as excited as she took the formation on the other side, "Water Slicer!"
Cold radiated from both of Gray's fists as he concentrated his magic as Amber matched his step. She drug her dagger across her fingertips as she flicked the blood into the air ahead of them. He focused to their left a little as she went for the right.
"Freeze Lance!"
"Blood-Make: Needle Barrage!"
The small droplets of blood almost seemed to crystallize into finely toned needles that shot forward, easily piercing straight through the first line and hitting their buddies behind them.
Erza continued running. Going passed the others as she utilized the hole they had made in the enemy's forces, she glowed from her magic.
"Requip! Heaven's Wheel: Scattered Petals!"
Even though the Fairy Tailers were knocking over the soldiers like they were just toys, their friends didn't falter. They charged forward; the logic that they outnumbered the handful of wizards from Fairy Tail, but they quickly learned that there were more than just six people they needed to be worrying about.
"Sorry we're late!"
The handful of mages looked up, recognizing the sweet voice before they even laid eyes on the young bluenette.
Natsu had a huge grin on his face, "Wendy!"
"Carla's here!" Happy was equally as happy to see the pair flying in from above.
"Sky Dragon... Roar!"
Amber's eyes followed her across the sky for a moment as she also checked the sky for any signs of the other flyer she was waiting to show up. Her attention was quickly diverted when she heard someone rather large rampaging through the enemies that had been charging in her direction.
"Beast Soul... Ape!"
The creature stopped beside two white haired girls that were familiar but different from the two she was expecting to see beside him along with a few other new faces to Crime Sorciere. The emerald-haired twins stood by Sorano, dolls and flute at the ready.
"You're not alone, Fairy Tail! I'm here to help!" Yukino called out.
Sorano stood with her hands on her hips, "I suppose I could lend a hand or two."
"Hey, it's Elfman." Gray paused as he also seemed a little put off by the company he had brought along, "Isn't it?"
Amber shook her head at him before spinning back around to get back to the fight. She rested her fist in her palm, summoning her Blood Katannas, but she never got the chance to hit the next advancement.
The hairs on the back of her neck and arms stood on end as a streak of golden magic zipped passed them all. The blonde punched into the front guy, sending him spirally backward like a staticy projectile into anyone unlucky enough to be behind him. "Striking Knuckle!"
Excitement crossed their little blue Exceed's face, "Verani!"
The blonde just grinned back as she landed at her friend's side. Amber shook her head, "Took you long enough."
"I can't help how slow the rest of them are." She pointed her thumb back in the direction that she had come just as the majority of the guild came charging into view.
Natsu was so filled with glee he nearly chuckled, "And there's our back up!"
Their morale was through the roof. This was it. They were all gathering back together and they would make light work of all these soldiers. They would get to Master Mavis in no time and take back their guild hall.
Then there were eight magical dragons erupting into the sky.
Everyone had stopped on both sides of the battlefield, confused and concerned over where this magic had come from. There was only a small pause before an orange-haired man came flipping through the air to face the Fairy Tail wizards.
"Ker-swoop!" He soundeffected his landing as he struck a pose. "This is as far as you buffoons go! Because the undead version of God Serena has made his godly descent!"
The majority of his enemies could only blink at the loud man, even Natsu couldn't really find anything to say.
Verani rolled her eyes, "No wonder Kia wanted to punch his lights out."
"And she had to travel with that for a few weeks..." Amber sighed in agreement.
But they didn't get a chance to continue their conversation as Serena thrusted his left hand forward, "Purgatory Dragon Blazing Inferno!"
A spiral of fire shot forward, spreading out so that it could engulf all of them.
"Is that Fire Dragon Slayer magic?" Gray asked as it approached. His words caused his friend to laugh as he charged right for the attack.
"Time to chow down!" Natsu opened his mouth wide, slurping all of the flames up like they were noodles.
God Serena looked at him curiously, but that quickly turned to amusement as he realized that he was getting a reason to showcase more of his magnificent talents, "Well if that's the case... Sea King Dragon Water Vortex!"
All over Fairy Tail's side there were yells and people trying to brace themselves against both types of magic as Natsu had quickly been overwhelmed. Many were in awe that Serena could use just opposite forms of magic, let alone that he could use them at the same time. But he wasn't done yet.
"Tempest Dragon..." Serena began taking in a large breath while keeping the other two streams of magic going.
"Don't tell me he's doing another one!" Elfman cried out.
Gray turned to Natsu, shouting, "Just start swallowin' everything! You hear me?!"
"I can't eat it all!"
There were others muttering about who they were facing or how in the world they were going to manage to get out of this situation. Amber was able to drop a small Blood Barrier around herself and a few others closeby. Her eyes locked with Verani's as she struggled to hold her magic up against his, "Can you redirect that if it's lightning and wind?!"
"I can sure as hell try!" The blonde braced herself to leap over the barrier in order to intercept what was coming.
"...Song of Moon and Wind!"
A bright roar-like attack fanned out toward them. But everything vanished.
All three of God Serena's spells were replaced by a dust cloud as everyone stared in confusion, trying to figure out what had happened. There was no explanation, though the distinct pattern broken into the ground gave a few of them a good guess long before the silhouette began emerging from the dust.
"It's Gildarts!"
There was a choir of cheering and celebration at the sudden arrival of Fairy Tail's strongest, but that soon ended when he unceremoniously almost tackled his daughter with a hug.
"Ew. Let go of me! And pay attention to the enemy!"
"Oh yeah. This guy." Gildarts turned his attention back to the unknown Historia before him, "His magic power feels weird. Like it's coming from a corpse or somethin'."
God Serena didn't seem to like this comment, "Say what?"
"Too bad really. If you were alive, you'd be one hell of a wizard, but like this, you're a punchline."
Serena laughed, "You like to run your mouth, don't you? Soon you'll stand in awe of the might of 'Eight Dragon' God Serena!"
Verani crossed her arms, whispering over to Amber as they watched, "Am I allowed to knock him out now?"
"Just leave this one to Gildarts." Though the Blood Mage couldn't deny that she would like to take a swing at him herself.
A pout came to the blonde's lips, "Fine..." but it soon shifted to a more serious expression as she kept her voice low, "But you heard what both of them said, right?"
"Yeah. If he really is dead, then Kia's theory could be right."
Verani sighed with a grumble, "He is literally the last thing we need right now."
||~x~||
The purple-haired God Slayer was almost bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet as she stared down at the chaos some of her comrades had just started. She had wanted to be in the first wave of attackers with the Historias, but it had been decided that only Ajeel and Jacob would be needed.
Alexa bit at her bottom lip as she forced herself to accept the fact that she would be in the third wave with Dimaria; Invel and Brandish making up the second. Larcade had disappeared to do his own thing and Neinhart was hiding so his Historias wouldn't be easily knocked out, or so that's what he claimed. Irene was still busy with the little Fairy that was crying inside their guild hall and August had already disappeared as well, but the two of them really didn't take orders from anyone by the Emperor himself.
"I will get you." Her golden eyes locked onto the appearance of lightning off in the distance. Flashes of red magic could be seen nearby, only furthering her desire to get back at the two who had made a fool of her before.
That was when the weather took a drastic turn. Large flakes of ice and snow swirled through the air as a mini-blizzard settled over them all. It was much larger than the sandstorm that Ajeel had been playing with down below. It brought a smile to her face, knowing that Invel was getting to use his talents so broadly for a change.
'He must be enjoying himself.'
Her line of sight on her personal targets had been compromised by the chilled weather that caused her to call on her magic to warm her own exposed skin. But that didn't stop the grin that formed on her lips in anticipation.
"You will soon know the might of a Solar God Slayer, little Fairies."