"Where's Wendy?! What have you done with her?!"
Erza screamed up to the Black Dragon that circled above them. He gave no response, not even reacting to her cries, before flying off in the direction they had originally come from. Everyone that had been aboard the Christina looked after the fleeing figure as he grew smaller and smaller.
"You're just going to run away?! You coward!"
'Think.' Kia racked her brain as she tried to come up with a plan, the pain in her growing weaker the further the dragon got, 'How can I fight him without my curse? He probably can't stomach my flames for long, but what about my time sickness?'
"Damn you!" Titania continued screaming to the sky.
But though Acnologia did not answer her, the sky above seemed to hear her cries.
There was a sound of more cracking before a new hole opened up in the sky, dropping two forms to the waves below.
"Man!"
"Is that them?" Jenny was in disbelief, but Eve was overjoyed.
"They're still alive!"
The two splashed into the water, taking only a few moments before they resurfaced, coughing as if it had been some time since they took their last breaths. Everyone immediately swam in their direction.
"I don't understand." Erza asked, "How did you survive that?"
"Honestly..." Ichiya bobbed between Ren and Hibiki as they helped the older man stay afloat, "I don't know, but I'm grateful."
The other unexpected survivor looked over the crowd of faces, easily noticing the missing one. "What happened to Wendy?"
"I'm not quite sure," Erza explained, "but Acnologia somehow made her disappear."
Kia floated near the two, "He said something about his temporal realm." There was an edge of bitterness in her words that didn't go unnoticed by the Celestial Wizard. Titania had also picked up on the unusual bite of hostility in the pinkette's tone, but couldn't question it as Anna began to speak.
"I should've known." Her brown eyes transfixed on the water lapping around her, "I fear the joyous ending I'd hoped for won't come to pass."
Erza tried to read the blonde's expression, "But why? What changed?"
"I made a huge miscalculation. I never considered he could actually consume the time rift. And now it would appear the cost of the enormous power he's gained was a loss of control. Acnologia has been split into two separate forms: flesh and spirit."
"He has?" Erza's eyes widened.
Jellal moved up beside her, "What do you think he'll do?"
"His physical form will wreak havoc in this world while his spirit tries to maintain a balance from inside the rift."
Ichiya could only stare, "A balance?"
"We weren't necessary in maintaining that balance, thus, ejected. But the Dragon Slayers play a vital role. He's going to circulate their magic power throughout the rift in an attempt to stabilize his own."
Kia's stomach clenched from Anna's words. What was the point of everything up until now if that scaly bastard got her brother anyway? And it wasn't just Natsu, Acnologia apparently had Gajeel, Wendy, and the boys, not to mention Laxus as well.
Jellal's mind went to all of the Dragon Slayers, but specifically the one that stood by his side in Crime Sorciere. "All the Dragon Slayers are trapped in there? Inside the rift?"
Erza swam closer, her hands finding Anna's shoulders to shake the older mage, "There has to be a way to save them!"
But the Celestial Wizard shook, still not able to bring her gaze up to meet anyone in the eye, "Only thing we can do is pray they save themselves."
Trails of steam rose from the water around the Phoenix Slayer, her mind whirling through everything. And the more she thought, the angrier she got.
"Damn it all!" Kia punched the water in front of her, the outburst catching everyone else's attention. None of them were fully prepared for her semi-contained rage or the way her magic seemed to be going out of control.
"You should have just let me handle it, Anna." Her voice had dropped, but the harshness was crystal clear.
The Celestial Wizard had finally looked up, locking her brown eyes with onyx ones. "It could have-"
"Just leave it." The pinkette turned away as reigned in the magic leaking out with her emotions. She was going to need everything she could still muster. 'I can't just stay here. I can think of a plan while I'm moving.'
And she wasted no time to start swimming in the direction the Black Dragon had gone. "What's done is done."
Completely shocked by the tone and coldness coming from the girl she had known most of her life, Erza stepped up to question her and defend Anna. "Kia, you can't blame everything on her."
But she only slowed to keep from shouting over her strokes, "Erza, don't get involved when you don't understand the whole situation."
How could she not understand the whole situation? Kia had stood in front of her and the rest of Fairy Tail, explaining her dark past. "But-"
"She's right." Everyone turned to look as Anna spoke, "I changed the plan, because I thought I could-"
"I said to just leave it." Kia cut her off before she could say anything more. The rest of her sentence would have just caused an actual uproar from everyone in the water around them.
'Dwelling on the why isn't going to do any of them any good right now.' The pinkette started swimming again, "Just stick to the rest of it."
The Celestial Wizard felt her chest tighten as she watched the pinkette beginning to pull away from them. She bit her lower lip to stop it from shaking, before she couldn't take it anymore, moving forward herself, "But I had to try, Kia! You don't deserve-"
"Anna..." She didn't raise her voice as she stopped, but the flatness of her tone still stopped the blonde mid-sentence again. Kia looked back over her shoulder to lock eyes with her, "I accepted things when I rewrote my book. There was no going back and there still isn't." She turned away again, "Just take care of them when they all come home."
They all felt the surge of magic that came off the Phoenix Slayer, causing the water to disperse around her, giving her enough room to summon her flaming wings on her back.
||~x~||
With the sudden arrival of Mest, Erza got an expedited trip back to land. Now the large group of mages in Magnolia had circled up to hear what Titania had to share with them. Not only members of Fairy Tail, but also many from Sabertooth and almost all of Crime Sorciere stood ready for answers and their next course of action.
"You're saying Natsu and the rest of the Dragon Slayers are currently trapped inside this mysterious rift in time," Makarov sat in thought, "and what's more, Acnologia's spirit's in there with them?"
A smile of near triumph crossed Gray's features, "That means all they gotta go is beat him, and then they'll get out!"
"Since Laxus is in there, it'll be no problem!" Bixlow shared his sentiment, but his friend was much more logical about the situation.
"I wouldn't say that." Freed crossed his arms casually, "No one's ever beaten Acnologia."
And Levy agreed. "That's true. Even if they are alive, we don't know if they're badly injured, or what."
"Poor Wendy."
"Don't cry!" Happy tried to cheer up the white Exceed before her tears could fully form, "I'm sure they'll all be okay!"
But the rest of the Exceeds were dealing with the same issue.
"Gajeel."
"I'm scared for Sting."
"Rogue, too."
But the Dragon Slayers were not the only thing they had to worry about and Erza knew that they didn't have the time to dwell on anything. "There's another issue to deal with."
Mest jumped into the conversation as well, "Acnologia's flesh form is heading this way."
"So now he's got a spirit form and some kinda flesh form, too?" Sorano asked as confusion covered her features, "Is Erik also trapped there?"
Phari crossed her arms at the white-haired mage's side, "Yeah, how does that actually work?"
Reedus took it upon himself to step over with brush and sketchpad in hand. Both Crime Sorciere mages leaned over and watched as he quickly drew out a representation of what was happening with Acnologia's body and spirit as well as where the Dragon Slayers were too.
Sorano's eyes lit up, "Whoa, I get it now!"
The young emerald-haired girl nodded beside them.
From behind the pair, Nikolai couldn't help from face palming at the mirrored antics coming from the two. Even if he and the other old members from Firebird had been with the independent guild for nearly a year now, he still couldn't fully handle the energy that was created when those two were together. Sawyer reached over and patted the Sniper mage on the shoulder.
Zan had learned over the years when to block out his twin sister and when he needed to pay attention to her for both of their safety. "But we still need to address the actual situation itself."
"Yes, but it's not good." Pantherlily nodded his head as he turned back to the pair who had been explaining everything to the group. "To put it in other words, what you're trying to tell us, is it's completely hopeless?"
"I still have hope!" Even with tears in her eyes, Carla stood tall, "I know Wendy is fighting. And we're going to have to fight as well."
And everyone else agreed with the white Exceed's words. They all knew the Dragon Slayers well enough; the seven of them were most definitely not going to just lay down and let the Black Dragon have an easy victory.
||~x~||
Makarov slowly let out a breath, "I'm not going to sugarcoat this. With all of the Dragon Slayers stuck inside the time rift, we are left with no clear path to victory against Acnologia."
And the general conversation didn't get any cheerier as they tried to figure out what their best course of action would be. They even played with the idea of having Gray try to immobilize him or something.
But Erza broke the other bad news, "Not an option. Magic has no effect on him."
Sabertooth's resident Lightning God Slayer essentially gaped, "We've got all these wizards gathered here and you're telling us that magic's not gonna work?"
"He's an Arcane Dragon Slayer," Amber joined the conversation, "so he can consume nearly all forms of basic magic." Both she and Verani had been unusually quiet as they tried to play through the group's options in their heads. After having spent so much time tailing the Black Dragon, the pair knew a thing or two about him and how his magic worked, especially when they were learning about Kia's plans to take him out one day. There were very few types of magic that could potentially work against him, but they would have to be their most raw and unfiltered state. They would have to be so potent that would essentially just give him the worst indigestion that he wouldn't be able to recycle into his own magic supply.
That was one of the main reasons why the Mythics had always planned to take Acnologia out with Kia's curse power. It had always been the safest and surest option. But if that was really off the table since Zeref was gone, they needed to reexamine everything.
Lily looked between the handful of people he thought might actually have an answer to his question, "Is there a sword or some other kind of weapon we could use against him?"
"If it was that easy to kill a dragon, somebody would've done it already." Nikolai crossed his arms.
But even if it was obvious that they were grasping at straws, they still tried to hang on to some optimism.
"That only happens in children's stories. Oh, yeah!"
Macbeth agreed with Richard, "But we shouldn't rule that out entirely."
"No," Erza almost seemed to hug herself, "a sword would only be effective imbued with Dragon Slayer magic."
"If only Wendy was with us..." Carla's voice trailed off as an imaginary lightbulb seemed to flicker on over a certain blue Exceed's head.
"But if magic won't work, could curse power work?"
Gray almost perked up at this idea, "Happy has a point. Would Kia be able to do something to slow him down?"
"Unfortunately, no." The Mythics looked just as dejected as the redhead while she replied, "She lost those powers while fighting him earlier."
A few of those in Fairy Tail began piecing together why the Phoenix Slayer might have lost her Etherious form, while those from the other guilds watched the conversation with some level of confusion. Even if they weren't sure what they meant about the Dragneel girl having curse power, they knew now wasn't really the time to go into a mass of details about something that apparently wasn't going to help them with their current situation.
Verani bit the inside of her cheek for a moment before finally asking the question that had been bothering her since Titania had been the only one to arrive with Mest. "Hey, Erza?"
Everyone else could sense the general unease under the blonde's words, even if she was keeping herself as calm and neutral as possible. "Where is she now? She said she was with you earlier."
"I would imagine still tailing Acnologia's flesh form as closely as she can manage." As much as Erza did not want to hold the older girl's gaze, she refused to look away.
Amber nodded, "If he really did absorb all of that time magic, she'll have to keep her distance while she tries to figure something out."
Verani met her friend's gaze, but neither said anything else. They didn't want to get anyone's hopes up, but there was one thing they could think of that the Phoenix Slayer could potentially do to combat the Black Dragon now. Even if they hoped she wouldn't, they also knew better when it came to Kia.
"Damn it." Mest clenched his fists at his sides, "We've got nothing."
"Hmmm."
Levy looked to the Celestial Wizard beside her, "Think of something? What is it?"
"Actually," Lucy held one finger up as she held one of the most serious and thoughtful expressions anyone had even seen on her face, "there might be one thing we can do."
But no one really had the time to ask her to elaborate as a faraway explosion shook the ground under their feet, the light show appearing off in the distance. They couldn't even speculate over what was causing the chaos before they became able to make out the dark flying form speeding in their direction.
"Hey!" Romeo yelled, "Here he comes, guys!"
More explosions rang out on the air as the dragon left craters along the ground beneath him. Gildarts stared, "He's just mindlessly destroying everything he sees."
But Mest was much less impressed and more inclined for self-preservation, "We gotta get outta here, right now!"
And Cana was in agreement, "Lucy, if you've got a plan, spill it!"
"Some of our people should go to the port in Hargeon, right away." She gestured southward, "They need to get a big ship ready for us!"
"A ship?"
"What for?"
"I know!"
Rufus blinked at the forgotten, but simple fact that he should have remembered. "Because of the Dragon Slayers' weakness!"
"Do you think we're gonna get that big dragon onto a boat?" Olga stared at the blonde with something between shock and disbelief.
But most of the members of Crime Sorciere seemed much more optimistic with this plan, even if it was just because they had one.
"That should make him extremely sick, at least." Sawyer said and Richard agreed.
"Yes, this is true for every Dragon Slayer. Oh, yeah!"
"Well, if swords and magic have no effect," Macbeth started, "I guess it's our only option."
"Maybe." Sorano crossed her arms, "But it seems like all this plan will do is make him go 'bwah,' then he'll be fine, right?"
"Yeah," Phari jumped in, "And how the hell are we actually going to get him on the boat?"
"Language." Zan peered over at his twin, getting only a dramatic eye roll from her.
But Lucy didn't seem encouraged or deterred, "That'll give us our only chance..." she paused as they were all forced to shield their faces from another shockwave that was continuing to grow closer. "...to use one of our strongest spells!"
But Sabertooth's God Slayer still wasn't at all convinced, "Magic won't work on him, remember?"
"I heard that. But I think there's one spell that could!" The Celestial Wizard was completely in business mode now as she began somewhat explaining her plan, "Levy and Freed, I'm gonna need both of you to come with me! We'll be searching the guild's library for the spell!" Her attention turned to the trio of Fairy Tail Exceeds, "You three'll help us catch up once we've found it."
"Aye!"
"Everyone else split into two teams. One going straight to Hargeon." Lucy's voice grew more serious, "The other team's mission is more dangerous. You'll need to lead Acnologia to the port. Also, it's very important that we have as many Fairy Tail members gathering in Hargeon as possible."
Minerva spoke up, "Well, if that's the case, Sabertooth will take point on luring the dragon."
"What makes you think this spell will work?" Yukino asked, "Why is it special?"
"It's magic created by close personal bonds that even Acnologia can't break."
Everyone who had been on Tenrou Island when it had disappeared looked between each other.
"It's her spell." Cana's eyes had widened some.
Lily nodded, "It saved us on Tenrou Island way back then."
"That's true. "Gildarts agreed, "Absolute Protection magic."
But even all those that had seen the power that Fairy Sphere held couldn't fully grasp the idea that they could potentially capture the Black Dragon inside of the spell. Thinking about it, the plan was crazy. The blonde was implying that they could stun the ancient foe with motion sickness long enough to seal him inside the magic. But there were other factors that they didn't really have time to discuss, the big one being: even if this worked, how long could they keep it up?
"It's all we have." Lucy stood firm, "This is our last shot. It's all or nothing!"
||~x~||