Vivian's P. O. V:
All the guilds gather before the king of Fiore in the Lei Ling Crystal Plaza.
I've requipped into a long sleeved black, red and white tunic with red pants and red, white and black boots that stop a little above my ankles. On my hands are wrist length white gloves. My wounds have been bandaged since we'd gathered here.
The king is a short man with grey hair and moustache. He stands on a platform before the crystal, a solemn look on his face. "Thank you all for coming! I hate the mood after the splendid display of wizardry we've seen today, but, I'm afraid Fiore's heart may soon be in the claws of a dragon horde."
Makarov says in surprise, "I thought Acnologia was the only one."
"The last time we fought one of them, we lost seven years of our lives," Cana reminds us.
"That was a special case, but, still," Lisanna says.
Cana says, "We can't take on an entire horde."
The king continues, "As we speak, a large scale counteroffensive is underway at the castle: the Eclipse Cannon! We will use it to wipe out the attacking dragons. All 10, 000 of them at once!"
Murmurs ripple through the crowd at that.
"All of them at once? I wonder how the hell they expect to pull that off," Cana questions.
"I can sense your concern," Toma says. "Regrettably given the sheer number of the dragons' forces, we expect that at most, a few hundred will survive the attack."
Makarov murmurs, his arms crossed, "Yes. I would assume so."
"So, I employ you guild wizards, please lend Fiore your assistance in dealing with this crisis! You are the best hope we have for slaying any dragons the Eclipse cannot." Toma bows his head as he adds, "I beg of you, don't let this kingdom fall into ruin!"
Everyone cheers their agreement, and the king starts crying out of relief.
"Thank you all!"
I say as I turn to a couple of knights, "The royal army has captured some of our friends, and we're going to need their help."
"They're safe," Replies a knight. "I was informed they'd recently joined Princess Hisui at the gate."
"Alright! Time for some more rampaging," Gajeel says excitedly.
"We're up against dragons," Sting says.
"A perfect opportunity for us Dragon Slayers to shine," Rogue adds, smirking.
"Those flying lizards can't beat you!" Says Lector.
"Fro will cheer for both of you, ok?!" Frosch adds cutely.
Rufus wants to know, "Where's M' Lady?"
"Who knows?" Orga grumbles.
Lyon says to Gray, "I suppose I can stomach working with you."
Gray replies with a smirk, "Just try not to slow me down."
Shelia asks Juvia, "Is Wendy ok?"
"Don't worry. Juvia is sure she's fine," The water mage responds.
After everyone chimes their agreement, Toma sobs, "Thank you! Thank you...!"
"Your Majesty," I murmur, smiling softly.
"I mean it! Thank you... Pumpkins!" Toma says the last word in a high pitched tone, though familiar to everyone. All of us gathered wizards stare at him with varying looks of surprise or shock.
"'Pumpkins'?" I repeat.
"I know the parfum of that voice!" Ichiya exclaims.
Toma looks up, startled, as he jerks his head around. He then clears his throat as he says, "Our fate is in your hands, wizards!"
🗡🗡🗡
A bell soon tolls in the city, indicating that it's midnight. It was also July 7th, the same day all the dragons disappeared, and now they've returned on the exact same day.
It's a little creepy if you ask me.
It was decided that Fairy Tail will be guarding the central plaza while the other guilds are on standby in other parts of the city.
I tell Erza, "You need to rest, Erza. We've got this."
"You're one to talk. I'll be fine," She responds.
"I could say the exact same thing," I retort. "You're in worse shape than I am."
Gray says, arms crossed, "We may be bruised a bit, but thanks to the royal healers and Shelia, we should be able to hold our own."
"It's a shame Wendy isn't around. She'd have made us as good as new in no time!" Juvia adds.
I gaze up at the now blood red moon, giving me another creepy feeling.
Soon, a massive water type dragon appears before us, feet echoing along the earth.
"I can hardly believe my eyes," Erza says from beside me as we gaze up at the huge reptile.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Grumbles Gray. "We're expecting thousands of those bastards?"
"We're so doomed," I say, still shocked by the sight before me. As the dragons all roars, buildings crumble from the sheer force alone.
Makarov orders, "Everyone, spread out! If we stay clustered together, we risk being wiped out in one fell swoop." We all chime our agreement.
A massive dragon made entirely out of flame slams onto the ground before us.
"It's huge!" Jet cries.
"No! It can't be real!" Shouts Warren.
"We are so dead!" Adds Droy.
"That's a dragon?!" Warren asks.
"It's entire body is covered in fire!" Max adds.
"Let's take it down!" Makarov hollers, and we all cheer in agreement. We then charge towards it. "Just follow my lead and go for its feet!"
"Time to put our plan into action, guys!" Max says. We all agree to that.
"I am the dragon, Atlas Flame," Says the flame dragon. "Prepare to taste my hellfire! You lowly humans!" Atlas Flame inhales before unleashing a flame filled roar upon us. We cry out as almost all of us are sent flying back several feet. Makarov was able to hold his ground.
"Stay strong, my children!"
As Atlas Flame stalks towards us, he and the other dragons let out ferocious roars that ring in my ears. I notice one of them is flying up in the sky with a person on top.
Atlas Flame fires another beam of flame, striking us. He soon stands before us, roaring.
Erza asks, "Has the city's evacuation been completed?"
"Yeah. Just about done," Responds Macao.
Romeo inputs, "They're safe. The Royal Army is protecting them."
"Oh, yeah! Then that means we can start to let loose on these stupid lizards," Bickslow says excitedly.
"It's about time for some ultra manly pest control!" Says Elfman.
"Looks like a fire dragon to me," Says Gray. "What do you say we take him on, Juvia?"
"Yes, my darling!" She says, turning to him. "A monster like this is no match for our love!" Gray gives her an exaggerated look. "We're a force of nature!"
He gives a cry of frustration as he scratches his head and groans, "Aaarrgghh! Ok, you and I need to have a serious talk, but now's really not the time." Gray faces Atlas Flame, turning serious again. "Let's go!"
"Right!" Juvia agrees, grasping Gray's hand between them.
"I need you to focus!"
They pull their glowing hands back with a cry of exertion.
"Alright! Now hit him hard, you guys!" Bickslow tells them.
"Show that flaming freak what a man can do!" Elfman adds.
"Ice Make: Geyser!"
"Water Nebula!"
Water and ice shoot out of their hands, the water freezing at they do, straight for Atlas Flame. It slams into Atlas Flame, and shatters. However, it clears to reveal Atlas Flame is unharmed.
"It didn't do anything?" Gray asks in shock, dropping their hands.
"No way! We combined our burning passion for each other and hit it with our full magic power!" Juvia says, equally shocked.
Atlas Flame slams a foot on the ground as he says, "Foolish creatures! I am the mighty Atlas Flame! My fire consumes all that stands before me. Now, prepared to have your lives burned away!"
As Atlas Flame goes to inhale, Freed runs forward while drawing his rapier. "I'll nullify it... with my Enchantment Magic!" He sweeps his sword across, forming a barrier. Atlas Flame blasts his fire attack at the green haired man.
Freed groans and we cry out as the barrier breaks and we're sent flying again.
"He blasted through Freed's spell like it was nothing!" Bickslow gasps.
"He's way stronger than I feared. This is insane," Macao says.
"What's really insane is that there are six more of those things," Mutters Wakaba.
Erza says as she leans up on her crutch, "We cannot lose hope! We have to keep fighting!"
"Is everyone okay?" Freed asks, gazing around.
"You've gotta be kidding me! This is just like what we went through with Acnologia," Elfman groans.
Squeezing one eye shut, Gray mumbles, "I hope this ends differently."
"Still standing after the roasting I gave you?" Atlas Flame questions. "You must be wizards!"
"Damn right, we are!" We turn to see Makarov behind us.
"Master!" I gasp.
"What are you going to do?" Asks Juvia,
Makarov's body glows with his gold magical aura in answer to her question as his body begins to grow in size.
"Oh, wow! That's a great idea," Says Macao. "Fight a monster with a monster."
"He's gonna give him a good old fashioned smack down," Wakaba says as Makarov continues to grow.
"Oh, yeah, that's awesome! I haven't seen this in a long time," Says Romeo.
The Dreyar is now the same size at the dragon as he takes a step forwards. Makarov tells Atlas Flame, hand clenching, "Fairy Tail are no ordinary wizards! The power we share is like none other!" He launches himself towards the flaming dragon, fist pulled back. "Because we are a family!" Makarov swings his fist forward and it connects to the dragon's head. My comrades and I brace ourselves against the wind that blasts out from the impact. However, fire spits back at the Dreyar, engulfing his fist.
Makarov shakes it off with a flick of his fist and jerks back.
"All that power and nothing?!" Says Macao.
"It didn't even faze him," Says Wakaba.
"No way!" Romeo exclaims.
"There is nothing you can do," Atlas Flame tells us. "Humans will never defeat a dragon!"
He then throws himself forward, sending my guild mates and I flying back with a cry of pain.
🗡🗡🗡
Suddenly, Makarov drops to his knees, startling us.
"Master!" Jet and Macao exclaim worriedly.
"Are you okay?" Asks Bickslow.
"Did it hurt you?" Asks Romeo.
Makarov shows us his burnt hands as he mutters, "No need to worry. I just got a little burned, is all."
I say wearily, "If not even the Master can stop it, then we don't stand a chance."
"Vile creature!" Freed hisses. "There's got to be some other way!"
I turn to the First Master, standing beside Asuka who is frozen in both shock and awe as I call, "Mavis-sama! You're are whiz with strategy aren't ya?! So what do you think we should do?!"
"Listen up," She begins seriously. "There are seven dragons. The plan of action should be completely obvious at this point."
"Huh?" Gray utters as it hits me. We need Natsu and the other Dragon Slayers!
Erza questions, "What are you trying to say?"
"You there."
"Huh?" I turn, blinking my hazel eyes, to Atlas Flame as he addresses me, recognition glinting in his eyes.
"Who are you? Your appearance is familiar."
"I'm... Vivian Hunter," I answer hesitantly as the others glance between us in puzzlement.
Atlas Flame lowers his head towards me as he murmurs, "So you're the one he mentioned."
"What are you talking about? Who is this "He"?" I demand to know.
"You see the man up on Motherglare?" Atlas Flame asks, causing us to look to the dragon in the night sky where Natsu was hanging on and another man was standing on her head. "He was the one who ordered us dragons to spare your life."
We were shocked by this as Gray yells, "What kind of bull are you talking about here? You're not making any sense."
"What is that man's connection to Vivian, and why would he only spare her?" Erza demands.
"He didn't say, just that we were to spare your life and bring you back with us, Vivian," Answers Atlas Flame.
I glare daggers at him as I snap, sweeping my arm out for emphasis, "No way! There's no way in hell am I ever going to go with you or that bastard!"
"You resist us? Very well! Then we shall take you by force and you will succumb to your fate at the man's side," Atlas Flame tells me unwaveringly.
I clench my teeth and fists so hard my nails bite into my palms, drawing a bit of blood.
Just what in the world is going on here?!