Chapter 62
The Fight Starts Now!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's, Energy Magic and my Ideas
.:+:.
"10,000 Dragons...?"
The huge mass of the Wizards from every Guild present in the City stood assembled in Crocus Town Square, all of them stiff and wide eyed as they listened to the king's explanation of the impending Dragon Attack, and how they planned to use Eclipse as a weapon on the Dragons.
The Games had been concluded, and its competitors given medical care. Lector had been reunited with Sting, and no one had seen the signal go up from Natsu and the others.
The king was a small old man, resembling Makarov a little. Everyone went silent as they listened to him speak.
"A few hundred..? We couldn't even do anything against Acnologia." Evergreen muttered.
"Though, its true that Acnologia is special." Elfman pointed out.
"But still... 10,000?" Cana murmured.
"Due to the sheer amount of Dragons coming, the Eclipse Cannon may not be able to defeat all of them, leaving a few, or even a few hundred," the King continued, "So I ask, Wizard Guilds... Please cooperate with us... We want to use your power... Help us protect this country." He asked. For a split second there was silence,
"Leave it to us!"
"Yeah!"
"We'll take down those Dragons!"
"Ain't no way we're gonna let some Monster's take us down!"
An amount of shouts and cheers sprung up from the Wizards, all looking pumped for the sure to be soon battle. The king stared at them in shock, before bowing his head with silent tears beginning to stream down his face.
"T-thank you..." He murmured.
"Our Team-Mates were captured by the army." Erza pointed out and a Knight stepped forward.
"They're fine, I was told they joined the Princess just now." The Knight explained.
"Alright! Lets get it on!" Gajeel smirked.
"Its our turn." Rogue smiled.
"Do your best Sting!" Lector cheered.
"Fro too." Frosch murmured.
"Where is the Lady?" Rufus asked as he glanced toward Orga, who shrugged.
"Dunno."
"All the Guilds joining forces." Ichiya smiled.
"What a wonderful Parfum." Nichiya replied.
"Dragons VS Pegasus, sounds majestic." Eve smirked.
"Lets do our best." Hibiki smiled.
"Tch! Not like we can help it." Ren murmured.
"Kagura! You have to rest!" Milliana argued as Kagura pushed herself to her feet.
"No.. I'll fight with everyone else." Kagura told her.
"Wild!" Quatro Cerberus yelled out.
"Its been awhile since we fought together." Lyon told Gray.
"Don't get in my way." Gray answered with a smile.
"Is Wendy ok?" Chelia asked, looking toward Juvia who gave her a small smile.
"Juvia believes so."
"Lets fight." Jura smiled, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I'm gonna spin fast too!" Ooba, the Lamia Scale Guild Master shouted as she spun around in fast circles like a small tornado.
"I'm not really dressed for a fight..." Frea murmured as she looked down at herself and sweatdropped. Shorts, a tank top, the cloak she got from Virgo, not even proper shoes...
"Does it really matter?" Chase murmured as he walked up to the two who had seemed to arrive in the square without anyone noticing. They were standing behind most everyone in the Guild, with several Quatro Cerberus Mages yelling out behind them. He stopped in front of Frea and Moon, and quirked an eyebrow at the man standing beside them, but said nothing.
"I suppose not..." Frea shrugged.
"Are you sure your up for this?" Moon asked. "You still aren't up to full power."
Frea glanced her way and smirked, "Don't worry about that, I'll be fine." She answered with a confident smile and Moon smiled back.
"You don't sound at all worried." The man pointed out and Frea sighed.
"Its not often I'm worried about any fight." She told him. Chase looked between the two, he didn't know who the man was, but he didn't like the feel of the guy's magic. It was dark, evil... But the man himself wasn't evil.
Odd... People like this guy are very rare... Most people who use Dark and Evil magic, are Dark and Evil themselves...
But Frea seemed at ease around the man, so Chase relaxed himself.
"Hey, Frea's back! Where the hell did you run off to Girl?" Cana called as she turned around and spotted the Energy Dragon Slayer. Her sudden outburst caused several others to look her way, and Frea didn't miss the dark look that came across Gray's, Erza's and Laxus' faces when they set eyes on the man standing beside her.
In an instant, all three of them had pushed through the crowd, looking ready to attack Rified, but Frea stepped in between them and sighed lowly.
"What the hell is he doing here?" Gray growled and Frea sweatdropped a little. They looked mad, and they had every right to be...
"Relax, this time he's a friend." Frea told the three and they blinked in absolute shock.
"What?" Erza growled.
"You crazy? This guy almost killed you." Laxus growled at her and Frea stiffened slightly, before sighing heavily.
"That... Was sort of my fault." She reminded softly.
"But attacking us was his own choice." Erza told her in a low tone.
"Yes." Frea agreed, but frowned on the inside. No... It really wasn't his own choice... Considering his mind was being corrupted by his Magic at the time...
"But he payed for that, in prison." She told them, shaking the other thought away.
"I am sorry for that." Rified spoke up as he gave them a nervous smile. "I wasn't thinking straight at the time." He explained.
Everyone around them exchanged glances, most were confused as to what was going on, but a few had started to piece it together. "How do you know he's not lying?" Gray asked and Frea narrowed her eyes at him.
"I don't hear any lie in his voice." She told him lowly. On the inside, she was a little angry that he had even asked the question. She wouldn't have trusted Rified blindly, she was better at reading people than anyone, Gray should know her better by now.
"He's not lying." Moon spoke up, fixing a calm look on all of them. "I scanned his memories, he did serve his time in jail. And he had no intention of hurting any of us."
They stood in assembled silence for minute, before the three seemed to let Moon's words sink in, and they gave up, for now anyway. "Fine." They huffed and Rified let out a sigh as the tension subsided a bit.
"Considering we're going to need all the help we can get with this fight." Frea pointed out. "You might just be glad to have him around."
They just stared at her for a minute, before giving up and letting out moody huffs. Frea let out a low sigh, they really ought to trust that she wouldn't trust anyone she didn't think were trustworthy.
"I'm confused." Cana spoke up, and Frea glanced toward her, to see most everyone in the Guild looking quite confused as they listened to them talk.
"Rified." Erza murmured lowly, fixing said man with a fierce look, causing him to sweatdrop the slightest bit. "Is the man that attacked our team quite a long time ago."
For a minute they stayed silent, until all their eyes widened when the name popped into their heads. Frea had been the one to tell them the name of the man that had attacked Team Natsu!
Even Chase seemed a little shocked, he had heard of this incident of course, but he hadn't been in the Guild at the time it happened. But that only made him a little more confused as to why Frea was even with Rified, she should be one of those people that seriously hated the guy.
"What?!" They shouted and Rified sighed, letting his eyes close for a minute.
"Your gonna pay for hurting our friends!"
"Hell yeah!"
Rified glanced up again, many people looked about as angry as Laxus, Gray and Erza had. It was admirable of course, how much everyone in Fairy Tail cared for one another, but it might be an issue in this instance.
"I am truly sorry for what I did." He told them all, and a few people blinked in surprise at the pure sincerity they heard in his voice. "If I had been able to stop myself from doing it, I would have. I never wanted to hurt anyone, let alone any of you." He let out a low breath, letting his eyes close. "Once I came to my senses, I turned myself into the Council to make up for what I had done, but I realize I can never make it right." He pushed and opened his eyes, resting the blue orbs on them all. "I'm not asking any of you to forgive me. You two and the rest of your team especially, I don't deserve forgiveness." He added looking to Erza and Gray. "All I ask is that you allow me to help you protect Fiore from the Danger."
Silence passed again, everyone thinking over what Rified had said. Frea glanced the man's way and smirked a little, Rified really wasn't such a bad guy. She sort of hoped the others would realize the fact as well, and she knew they could tell he truly felt sorry for what he did, even if the rest of the Guild didn't want to admit it.
She smiled a bit more when they seemed to relax, and Rified seemed to sense the tension had decreased a bit too. "Whatever, we do need all the help we can get I suppose." Cana murmured.
"Yeah, but that still doesn't mean we forgive you." Jet put in firmly; and Rified nodded.
"Of course." He murmured. A line parted through the members as Makarov pushed his way through, and looked up at Rified, face neutral and arms crossed behind his back.
Rified looked down at the old man silently, wondering what was going through his head. Master sighed, "I appreciate your honesty, and admire you for admitting your mistake." Makarov told him lowly.
WHACK
Master's hand had enlarged in seconds, and come down on top of Rified's head with loud 'thump'. "Never attack any of my children, ever again!" Master shouted, vein ticked on his forehead as he drew his hand away.
Rified held his throbbing head in his hands as he sweatdropped, eyes closed, clearly in pain from the hit on the head Makarov had given him.
"Yes sir... I understand..." Rified mumbled and Master nodded, before walking back through the crowd of Fairy Tail members and out of sight. Many of the Guild's members were smirking, Gray, Erza and Laxus included. Rified had deserved that at least.
Frea gave Rified a smile as he opened his eyes, still holding his head. "I told you he might do that." She chuckled and he nodded,
"I know..." He mumbled and she looked away. Moon and Chase stood around Rified, both smiling a little as the man recovered, and they began a conversation with him.
The sudden outburst from Makrov had not gone unnoticed by some of the surrounding Mages from the other Guilds, and Frea crossed her arms over her chest. Many of the other Mage's began to talk among themselves, and Frea was fairly sure the Guild Master's were deciding on a plan of action as they stood there.
"Energy Dragon."
Frea glanced down as Jynx appeared in front of her, looking quite serious. Frea quirked an eyebrow at her, "Hmm?"
"I ask that you be careful." Jynx told her softly, and Frea nodded a little.
"Sure, I'll be careful." She promised. "What do you plan on doing?" Frea asked and Jynx sighed.
"I am becoming capable of more Magic in this form, slowly." Jynx explained. "But unfortunately, I am not strong enough yet to be of any use in this fight." Her red eyes swept over the Wizards around her, and she sweatdropped a little. This battle was going to be harder than anyone could imagine, she knew it...
"As I said... Please be careful." Jynx murmured. "All of you..."
.:+:.
"Fairy Tail will protect this Central Square." Makarov announced as all eyes turned on him.
"What about the other Guilds?" Warren asked. Fairy Tail stood alone on the Square, all the other Guild Mages had cleared off already.
"They will be waiting at different points around the town." Makarov announced. "We must all be on our guard." He told them with a firm look, and they nodded.
Frea lifted her arms up above her and stretched, she was getting a little impatient, just waiting here. But she couldn't shake the feeling that they were missing something, and she was still a little on edge.
Her eyes swept over her surrounding members, before landing on the Castle as it sat above the city a ways away. She could feel Eclipse's Magic Power from here, and she narrowed her eyes.
Night had fallen, the moon full and high in the sky by now. A bell rung out somewhere in the city, Frea frowned.
"July 7th..." Gajeel murmured from somewhere to her left.
"The day all the Dragon's disappeared." Levy's voice answered. "And the day they come back..."
"I can't be a coincidence." Gajeel muttered lowly and Frea sighed. She silently agreed, this couldn't be a coincidence in the slightest...
"I wonder how the others are doing?" Lisanna murmured. Frea glanced up at the moon and blinked in surprise to see it start to turn an orange color.
"An eclipse..." She mumbled under her breath.
"It looks sort of... Creepy..." Moon murmured as she looked up at it too.
Everyone fell silent as a large amount of noise echoed over the city, and the ground shook a little. Everyone glanced around at one another, trying to figure out what it was. Frea and Chase looked toward the castle, eyes narrowed and sweatdropping.
"They're activating the Eclipse Gate..." Chase murmured. Frea nodded in agreement, but stiffened when something in the air suddenly shifted.
The Energy shifted again, like it had done the day before...
But again, it disappeared almost as fast as it appeared, as she looked around, trying to figure out what in the hell it was.
A very loud noise swept over the city, louder than before, and everyone went rigid. It sounded sort of like destruction, and it was coming from the castle. "Something's wrong..." Frea growled. Both Energy Mages took a step back from the direction of the castle, as they were suddenly hit with an immense amount of Magic Power coming from that way.
But it wasn't the Power of the Eclipse Gate, it was something different.
"Shit..." Frea hissed under her breath. The ground shook as a large slash was cut into the city, no one being able to see what had cause it. Everyone stiffened, getting ready for whatever was coming. Chase and Frea backed up more to stand with the rest of the Guild, Rified standing beside them with Moon hovering close by.
"They're not coming from outside Crocus." Chase breathed, sweatdropping more as his eyes widened.
"What do you mean?" Gray asked. They didn't answer as another tremor passed through the ground, and shouting was carried to their ears on the breeze.
An even louder sound swept over the city, a sound that was all to familiar to the members of the Tenrou Team.
"Where in the hell are they coming from then?!" Several members shouted at the two Energy Mages standing at the front of the crowd.
"Their coming from the direction of the castle!" Frea hissed, eyes fixed on the castle as the power increased tenfold. There was a huge Energy Signature coming toward their group at an amazing speed. There were several of them, and Frea narrowed her eyes as she concentrated on as many as she could. They just kept coming, but they seemed to just be coming out of nowhere...
"One... Two..." Frea mumbled under her breath as she concentrated on how many appeared. "Three... Four...five..." The ground shook again and another deafening roar swept over the city. "Six... Seven..."
"Watch out!" Her attention snapped back to the present as she looked up to see a huge Dragon, its body engulfed in flames, its eyes and mouth glowing a scalding white color, diving toward them.
The ground caved and shattered when the Dragon landed in front of them, and the force of it's landing caused the Fairy Tail members to be blown backward, shielding their faces with their arms in order to block flying rubble and dust, as a massive amount of air hit them.
Frea twisted, managing to land on her feet a little ungracefully as she brought her hands down from covering her face, eyes widening upon seeing how massive the creature was. It towered over them, and the flames surrounding its body radiated with heat, that washed over them in steady waves.
She stiffened as the Dragon smirked at them, "Ah.. Humans." He growled in a deep voice. "My name is Atlas Flame... And you will experience...the Flames of Hell!"
The Dragon's head leaned back as it began to suck in air, and despite the situation, everyone seemed to freeze. Frea's eyes widened even more, before she clenched her jaw, and her eyes narrowed."Oh no you don't..!"
She dropped down into a crouch and slammed her hands into the cobblestone underneath her, and closed her eyes as she poured her Magic into the ground, some of it rising up around her due to the sudden large amount of power she was putting forth so quickly.
"Energy Shield!"
The blazing light of the flames clashed with a very, very large silver shield of Magic, being just as tall as the Dragon, and as wide as two Buildings, sprung up between the Fairy Tail Wizards, and the flames that had been hurled at them in seconds.
Frea's entire body tensed as she kept the shield up, and her jaw clenched harder. The unmistakable sound of cracking could be heard outside the noise of the deafening roar the Dragon let out as the flames shot from its mouth. When the flames disappeared, large cracks spread out across the silver surface of Frea's shield, and had even chipped away a little near the edges, but it had held up for the duration of the attack.
The Fairy Tail wizards stood in a small part of the the square, that had been left untouched. Everything else was completely destroyed and smoldering from the attack, which had spread out farther than the Square's boundaries.
The cracks spreading across the surface of the Shield blazed white, before the entire thing crumbled and fell away in glittering silver pieces toward the ground.
Frea opened her eyes and let her head hang as she panted heavily, sweat dripping down her face. Keeping a shield that size up against such a powerful hit, had been a lot more difficult then she had planned.
The Dragon came to a pause as he frowned, "Your still alive?!" He growled. "Your wizards?!"
The ground shook a little as Master Makarov ran toward the Dragon in his Titan Form, swinging out at the Fire Dragon with a clenched fist. "We're not normal Wizards!" Makarov boomed. "We're comrades connected by the bonds of Family!"
"Holy crap..." A few people murmured, the silver fragments of Frea's Magic were still falling toward the ground.
They couldn't even believe she managed to block that...
Frea slowly started to push herself up, but only ended up collapsing on to one knee, gasping for air, not enough strength to even stand up at the moment. Several members stiffened when Frea collapsed again after trying to get up, and their eyes widened as she fell to one knee.
"Frea!"
Moon flew over and landed on the ground in front of the panting Dragon Slayer. "Frea?" Moon asked in a slightly panicked tone. Frea didn't answer right away, and Makarov's fist swung out, catching the Dragon in the head, but it didn't have any effect.
"Teach..." Chase crouched down beside Frea, placing a hand on her shoulder, eyes narrowed.
"Reorganize our stance!" Erza shouted out the order.
"No matter what power you use, you will not be able to defeat Dragons." The Dragon growled, its flames spiraling up around him faster. "As long as you are humans."
Everyone was blown backward as power radiating around the Dragon, and several of them let out shouts as they hit the ground again. Frea hissed as she hit the ground, and slid back a little before rolling backward and pushing her feet off the ground to land standing again, still panting, and trembling a bit.
She really had misjudged how hard blocking that attack was going to be, but at the time she hadn't much choice, and she hadn't really thought about it, she just acted on a split second decision. If she hadn't blocked it though, the rest of the Guild including herself would have been hurt pretty badly.
Her knees trembled more and she clenched her jaw, eyes scrunching closed. She was exhausted already, and in a lot more pain. The dull ache she had been feeling all day had increased tenfold now.
The flapping of wings caused her to open her eyes, and see Moon catch herself in mid-air not to far away. Everyone else were slowly getting to their feet, and she took a deep breath to steady her breathing, and forced the trembling in her legs to stop.
The Dragon was staring them down, and she tensed up, ready for another attack. She was shocked, she had never expected any Dragon to be as powerful as this... She could literally feel the power of the creature washing over her in massive waves, and she could feel even more power coming from all around the city, from the other Dragons. One of which, she could see flying over the city right now.
"Are you ok Frea?" Moon called over, and Frea nodded a little.
"Fine." She murmured.
"CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"
Frea's eyes widened as her head snapped up to the sky, along with everyone else's.
That... That was Natsu's voice...
"DRAGON SLAYING MAGIC CAN DEFEAT DRAGONS!" Natsu's voice carried out across the city and Frea blinked.
"THERE ARE EIGHT DRAGON SLAYERS!" Frea stiffened and looked to the ground for a moment.
Eight...?
Her eyes widened, he was right, she could feel it. There was another Energy Signature that just appeared somewhere in the city... Another Dragon Slayer...
"THERE ARE EIGHT DRAGONS!" Nastu yelled and Frea narrowed her eyes.
Did she miscount? She had only counted the Energy Signature's of seven Dragons appearing...
No... No he was right... Her eyes switched to the left, where a deep black shadow passed over the city through the sky, no more than a shadow from what everyone could see, and she let out a low growl. She had missed it earlier, but now she was sure.
There it is...
"OUR MAGIC WAS CREATED FOR THIS DAY! THE DRAGON SLAYERS EXIST TO FIGHT NOW! LETS GO! LETS HUNT THE DRAGONS DOWN!"
The Dragon that was flying over the city, was suddenly illuminated as bright flame erupted above it, and Frea smiled.
Natsu...
Bright balls of light streamed down from the sky, and hit the earth. Out from the dust, dozens upon dozens of smaller creatures appeared.
"The Monster's keep multiplying!" Droy and Jet yelled.
"One Dragon was already enough..." Cana muttered.
"Stand back!" The sharp order was yelled out by Laxus, who sprung forward past the rest of the Guild, and brought a Lightning encased fist down on the Fire Dragon in the square with them. The Dragon let out a low growl at the action, "I'll take on the big one! You guys take care of the smaller ones!" Laxus yelled out behind him, still facing the Flaming Dragon.
"You can't do it alone!" Romeo protested.
"He's not doing it alone." The Thunder God Tribe stepped up to stand beside their leader. "We'll stand with you, Laxus." Freed said.
"Leave it to the Thunder God Tribe!" Bixlow smirked.
Mavis appeared suddenly to step in between the Thunder God Tribe and the rest of Fairy Tail. "Didn't you hear what Natsu said? Only Dragon Slayers can defeat Dragons." Mavis told them, looking calm despite what was going on. "Lets leave this to Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe."
Mavis' green gaze switched from the members of Fairy Tail, and landed on Gajeel. "Gajeel, go find another Dragon." Gajeel nodded curtly before taking off and Mavis switched he gaze to the other Dragon Slayer in the square. "Frea; you do the same."
Frea nodded, "Got it." She replied.
"The rest of the members need to take down the smaller Dragons." Mavis ordered.
"Yeah!"
The rest of Fairy Tail sprang toward the line of smaller Dragon's Magic blazing.
"Kid!" Frea called out and Chase paused, glancing over his shoulder and nodded once he met her gaze, the two sharing silent words between them.
"Don't worry Teach, I'll be careful." He promised, before jumping into the fight. Frea looked to Rified, who easily took down one of the smaller creatures rather quickly when the creature came at him, and Moon appeared beside her.
"Rified!" She called out, and the man paused to look back at her. "Your with me and Moon." She told him firmly. For a minute he looked shocked, before nodding and running over.
"Alright." He told her, and they took off out of the Square. "Do you know where your going?" Rified asked and Frea nodded, eyes narrowed as they raced on, with Moon flying beside them.
She was silently stifling winces, and she pushed on despite the sudden exhaustion settling over her. It really did suck now, that she had screwed up yesterday and had her Magic Energy stolen by the Eclipse Gate. But the situation was more serious than her own pain or exhaustion, she was a Dragon Slayer, and there was a Dragon she needed to slay, it was her job.
"I already found one." Frea told him lowly, neither Moon or Rified missed the growl that was embedded in the woman's voice as she said it. "Your job will be to make sure those smaller Dragons stay away from me." She said, glancing his way and he nodded.
"Sure thing."
.:+:.
A bit of a heads up! This Story ends with 66 Chapters- and then continued in the 3rd Book, 'Balance In Our Lives'
If you have read this far, I do hope you have enjoyed it and will continue with the next book when this one is over! 'Balance In Our Lives' is the story I am currently writing for and updating, so look forward to it! ^^