Pic is of Sonya—->
Third Person's P. O. V:
The group of Fairy Tail wizards sit gathered around a campfire as they gaze down at the Dragon Cry staff, a blue and red crooked staff with a scaly design reminiscent of a Dragon. Vivian sits cross legged next to Erza.
Vivian says with curiosity in her gaze, "So, we've obtained the staff." She, along with her teammates, have changed back into their regular attire.
Erza says in agreement, "Yes, but now we face the challenge of returning it to Fiore."
Gray says in annoyance, "Thanks to Pinky here our cover's been blown. Way to go, man!"
Natsu grumbles in response, "How was I supposed to know that the stupid thing was booby trapped?!"
"It's all my fault for not noticing it! I'm sorry!" Wendy apologises, bowing her head.
Vivian gives her and Natsu a reassuring smile. She picks up the staff to examine it, "It's alright. Don't blame yourself. Everyone did great back there. After all, we did manage to get the staff in the end. That's all that matters, right?" The brown haired girl frowns at the staff. "I don't like the feel I'm getting from this staff. I'm getting really dangerous vibes here..."
Lucy nods as she adds, "Agreed. I find it really interesting that this staff has the power to destroy an entire country."
Happy flies over to the crystal mage as he says, "I wanna hold it for a second!" Happy snatches the staff out of Vivian's hand and flies over her head, landing on the ground behind her. "Huh... it just seems like a regular old cane to me."
Charlele scolds Happy, paws on her hips, "Stop playing with it!"
Wendy speaks up, "But, earlier, you had sensed its power."
"Huh? Yeah..." Natsu replies, trailing off. "Ah! Who knows?! I don't get any of it!" Natsu falls onto his back as he groans.
Erza says, "Whether we feel it or not, I don't think the king was lying about what it's capable of."
The Knight adds in agreement, "In any case, we need to be cautious from here on out."
Happy starts and jerks the staff off the ground, looking as though he hasn't just been drawing a fish in the dirt with it.
Charlele frowns at him. The white Exceed says, "Be grateful Viv didn't catch you doing that!"
They all nod and fall silent, processing the information while listening to the crackling of the fire.
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Suddenly, a deep shiver runs down Gray's spine, his arms crossed over his bare chest, his face paling considerably. Wendy and Charlele turn to him with questioning expressions.
The bluenette asks, "Is something the matter? You shivered."
He answers, "I'm fine. Just... had a little chill."
"Rather unusual for an ice wizard," Charlele muses.
"Well," Vivian says as both of her eyes twitch violently, "it's not like you don't have any clothes on!" Gray glances at the brunette in confusion.
"Yeah! You're half naked!" Natsu adds pointedly, chewing meat on a stick.
Gray exclaims in shock, "WHAT?! WHEN'D THAT HAPPEN?!" He hurriedly puts his clothes back on.
Erza states, "Stella is at a higher elevation than what we're used to. It's stands to reason it'd be chillier."
Wendy and Charlele inhale, their eyes closed in content. Wendy comments, "The air is so nice and brisk out here."
Happy says warningly, "Watch your noses, cuz I just tooted!"
Charlele glares daggers at the blue Exceed, a tick mark on her forehead.
Lucy says happily, "I can totally understand why this place is sometimes called "The Island of Stars!" The skies are beautiful!"
"Oh, yeah?" Natsu utters as he gazes upward, only to see nothing but clouds in the sky. He snaps a glare at Lucy as he accuses, "You liar!!"
She sighs as she murmurs, "Just try to imagine it without the clouds, Natsu! As a celestial wizard, I would just love to experience all of the glittering stars in the sky here sometime!"
Vivian senses people approaching. Erza also senses them as Natsu catches a whiff of their scent.
He immediately puts out the fire, shushing Lucy as she goes to open her mouth, who covers her mouth with her hand.
Wendy murmurs, "Someone's here."
Gray asks, "Who is it?"
Vivian questions, "Is it the enemy?"
Natsu replies, "I don't know."
Charlele murmurs, "Could they have followed us?"
Erza says warningly, "Maybe. Be on guard." Everyone nods once in understanding.
Suddenly, a woman with dark skin, silver hair and green eyes with ears attached to her head appears above them. She spins around as she smiles and announces, "Behold! The true vision of beauty!" Blades of magic energy are shot at Vivian and her teammates. They jump back, and the blasts hit the ground. Vivian stands beside Erza and requips her rapier.
The silverette appears in front of Erza and Vivian and kicks out at them but Erza whips out a sword and deflects it, knocking the silverette back. "I am poetry in motion!"
The silverette brings her leg down on Erza and Vivian again but yes brunette blocks it with her sword. The red haired and brown haired Requip Magic users gasps as they notice the woman's legs, which are covered in greaves. "No way! They're stellanium!" The Knight gasps.
A tall man with a bare, muscular chest and long green hair lands on the ground with a thud, two dolls floating in front of him. "Playtime is over now, Francis, Catherine!" The man holds up his left arm, holding down the other, and the two dolls shoot fire from their mouths.
Gray cries out as he jumps out of the way, narrowly avoiding the flames.
The greenette urges, "That's it! Keep going! Don't stop!"
Lucy and Wendy cry out as they're knocked to the ground, Charlele hovering in the air.
Natsu grunts as he stands up, "Alright, jerks!!"
A man with spiky, light blue hair sitting on a big ball bounces through the air toward Natsu. He slides around the pinkette, confusing him, until the bluenette gets right in front of Natsu and knocks him over.
"Man, you're slow!"
Gray goes to attack but gets knocked out by the bluenette, who speeds right past him. "I'm running and gunning!"
Wendy attempts to hit the dolls with wind-covered fists but they keep avoiding her attacks. "Excellent my dears!" The greenette says. The dolls send a blast of fire at Wendy. "We don't play around!"
Charlele grabs Wendy before the flames could reach her and flies her away.
"I'll sweep you off your feet!" The silver haired woman laughs as she kicks at Erza and Vivian, sending more energy blades at them. They dodge and deflect the blasts with their swords.
Happy is hugging the staff to his chest, glaring.
Natsu grunts as he pushes himself up on his hands and knees, right eye squeezed shut against the pain. He whirls to his feet, facing Zash when the man announces, "I'm taking back what's mine!" The pinkette flicks his tan coloured eyes to Happy, lying sprawled on the ground with dizzying eyes, unconscious.
"No way!" Natsu shouts angrily.
Vivian follows Natsu's gaze, only for anger, fear and shock to boil in her veins. She gasps worriedly, "Happy!" The brunette whips a dark glare to Zash as she seethes, "You're gonna pay for that, you bastard!"
Before either of them could make a move, Zash's eyes glow bright red, focused on Natsu. Vivian gasps sharply.
"What the...?!" The pinkette gasps when he couldn't move anymore. Then, his body sags, before he suddenly whirls on Lucy, his demeanour having completely changed. The pinkette charges for her, left fist set aflame.
"Whoa!" Lucy gasps.
Lucy takes a step back when Natsu charges for her, his eyes glowing bright red.
"Wait! Natsu, stop! Please!" Lucy begs.
The blonde tenses, preparing herself for the attack. However, Gray appears in front of Lucy with his left hand thrown out, catching Natsu's fist before it could strike the girl, and the flames die out due to the frost emitting from Gray's hand.
"What's your deal, man?!" Gray demands.
Gray and Lucy notice the dolls floating near them, flames gathered in front of their mouths. "Oh, no!"
The dolls expel the flames and they hit Natsu, Gray and Lucy, as well as Wendy and the Exceeds, creating a huge explosion.
Vivian and Erza face the silverette. The blue haired male appears behind the two swordswomen, smirking. "You Fairies totally drop the ball!"
Vivian and Erza gasp but the silverette slugs her in the stomach with a kick, knocking the redhead back. Before Vivian has time to react, the silver haired woman throws her back beside the redhead with another powerful kick. The silverette jumps up and spins before landing two quick kicks on Erza and then Vivian, knocking them unconscious.
The three wizards grin triumphantly.
Zash praises, "You've done very well, Three Stars. Now, kill them!"
"No! Please let them live! We came here to take back the Dragon Cry. It's just not right," A light brown haired girl with her long bangs hiding the right side of her face, begs Zash, her blue eyes pleading.
"We came to punish them!" Zash reminds as he glares at her. "They must pay the price for their crimes against the kingdom! If we granted them mercy, people would think that we're soft on our enemies."
The pretty brunette looks down sadly as she murmurs, "The cries of their souls... I can't handle hearing more pain and anguish..." Zash glares at her.
"Hey, King Animus is going to be mad if you make Lady Sonya upset again," The man with spiky, light blue hair tells him pointedly.
"Yes, he will," The woman with silver hair agrees.
The greenette tells his dolls, "Francis, Catherine, our work is over, now."
Zash scowls as soldiers appear behind him and Sonya. "Then send these criminals to the Bird's Nest," Zash orders.
"SIR!!" They answer.
Zash licks his lips as he flicks his gaze to Lucy, lying unconscious. "But put this girl with the others."
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Once Vivian and her friends escape the Bird's Nest, the go in search of Lucy, the only one of them that was missing. It was thanks to Natsu's sense of smell that they were able to track her down and prevent Zash from sacrificing her for his Forbidden Magic.
They were surprisingly joined by a new girl, with long light brown hair wearing a plunging white blouse, frilled yellow skirt, knee high white boots and a yellow cardigan over her shoulders. She has a yellow flower in her hair and blue eyes.
Vivian and her friends were weary of her because there's the possibility of the girl being an enemy.
"Um, my name is Lady—" The light brown haired girl begins, only to be cut off by Zash's angry voice shouting.
"YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM ME, YOU SCUM!!"
The pretty brunette gasps, before seeming to make up her mind. She climbs to her feet and says to the Fairy Tail wizards, "I know a way out of here! Follow me!"
Everyone nods but Natsu yells, "But we've gotta get the staff back."
Vivian says seriously, "I think we should retreat for now."
Lucy adds as Natsu looks at her, "I agree with Viv. I still don't think we have enough to go on. We'll have to figure something out."
Natsu scowls in frustration at this, but reluctantly agrees. They follow the blue eyed girl through a secret passage. As they run, the blue eyed girl glances to her left, seeing the outline of four soldiers through a wall. She pauses before turning to a corridor to her right. "This way."
"Can you sense where people are, or something?" Lucy asks curiously, having noticed this.
"That's my magical ability," The brunette answers.
The Knight says in realisation, "Well, I guess that answers the question of how they found us."
The group continues running until they see a light at the end of the tunnel. They exit the tunnel onto the castle courtyard, the sun shining down brightly upon them.
The Fairy Tail wizards stand before the brown haired girl who'd helped them escape. She tells them, "You should be safe here. At least, for awhile."
Happy says gratefully, "Thanks, lady!"
Charlele smiles as she asks politely, "May we have your name, please?"
"I am Lady Sonya, and I am an advisor to King Animus," She answers.
"Oh, yeah? So why'd you help us escape?" Gray asks.
Vivian says suspiciously, despite the woman having helped them, "You must have some sort of reason."
"Yes. Because I can't sit back while my people suffer any longer," Sonya speaks up after a moment of hesitation. Katsumi's face softens into a look of sympathy as Sonya continues. "King Animus and I have known each other for as long as I can remember. He was once a kind hearted man. Until the day he became obsessed with getting his hands on the Dragon Cry. Sir Zash told him about the power that it holds. I even helped steal it, trying to convince myself that it was for the good of the kingdom."
Wendy questions, "How did you think it would help?"
"Do you happen to know anything about stellanium?" Sonya asks.
Happy states, holding up a paw, "It's Stell's special mineral, isn't it?"
"The more starlight that the crystals absorb, the more lustrous, and therefore the more valuable they become. But for the last few years, the stellanium has been crying out. It seems that a great deal of it has absorbed too much starlight. Our kingdom now faces the threat of having all that light releases at once."
Gray murmurs in confusion, "I don't get it. Is that dangerous?"
"Once stellanium absorbs a certain amount of starlight, it gains magic power. If all that built up energy were to suddenly be unleashed, Stella could be wiped out in one brilliant flash! In order to prevent her destruction, we desperately need the power of the Dragon Cry! According to the legend, the Dragon Cry is capable of extinguishing all light! There's a ceremony. The king plans to perform it tomorrow night in a temple in the northwest part of the city."
Lucy questions, "Wouldn't that make your kingdom suffer?"
"But it's also the only way that it can be saved! Though it may mean we lose every stellanium crystal... Do you understand?! That's why we need the Dragon Cry! We'll die without it!" Sonya says pleadingly.
Vivian says, hazel brown eyes hardening, "It belongs to our kingdom, and our mission is to ensure its safe return."
Erza nods in agreement as she says, "I'm sorry, but that's how it is."
"That may be true. But, right now, the power it holds is the only hope for the future of Stella!" Sonya exclaims, bowing her head slightly.
"You're dead wrong about that, lady!" Natsu exclaims, making the brunette gasp. Natsu goes on, "The moment I touched it, I could feel it! The dragons' anger... their suffering! We can't let that kind of power be released!"
Sonya cries, tears welling up in her eyes, "But our kingdom will be destroyed! Don't you have a heart?!"
"Of course we do!!" Natsu snaps, as he glares at the shocked Sonya. "And we're willing to destroy all the stellanium in this island for you, but you've gotta give us the staff!" He clenches a determined fist.
"No, I can't do it! I'm so sorry!" Sonya gasps. She whirls around and flees the castle grounds, leaving the Fairy Tail wizards gazing after her.