Recap: "And the 12th Annual Grand Magic Games' Tournament of Champions has officially started!!!"
—
The day went by without many complications. Within the first hour, Eternal Destiny had wiped out two guilds — Mermaid Heel and Lamia Scale — while Winged Fate had demolished another two — Quatro Cerberus and Blue Pegasus. Now, all that remained were the two aforementioned, Sabertooth, and Fairy Tail.
Surprisingly, the — formerly — boisterous dragon slayers caused not the slightest bit of destruction. Obviously, the girls didn't either. Contrary to what he had shown at the opening ceremony earlier, Natsu Dragneel carried an air of grief with him throughout. Actually, the entirety of Winged Fate emanated sadness. But no one noticed... except for Eternal Destiny.
Y'know, it's like, a mate thing...?
—
"And out goes Lamia Scale-pabo! This now leaves only Eternal Destiny, Winged Fate, Sabertooth, and Fairy Tail-pabo!"
"Aye! Eternal Destiny and Winged Fate are neck in neck with 9 points each, Sabertooth is in third with -6 points for destruction, and Fairy Tail is in fourth with -15 points for destruction!"
"So, 148 points total for Eternal Destiny, 147 points total for Winged Fate, 83 total for Sabertooth, 79 total for Fairy Tail, 62 total for Lamia Scale, 60 total for Mermaid Heel, 54 total for Blue Pegasus, and 33 total for Quatro Cerberus-pabo!"
—
"Damn. They're one point ahead."
"Chill, blondie. We'll win."
—
"Just who the hell are Eternal Destiny?!"
"It's okay, Gray-sama. We can fight without knowing who they are."
"That's the spirit, Juvia-chan! We must protect our title as number one guild!"
"Do not become narcissist, for our foes are very strong."
—
"Ugh. Listen to that little white-haired b**** acting all arrogant. They haven't been the no. 1 guild in like, what, three years?"
"And yet she dares act so conceited... yeah Erza, put her in her place!"
"Hey..."
"Why is she even on the team?! Has Fairy Tail really become that weak?"
"Ladies!"
"Yeah, Aurora?"
"Calm down. We cannot let our emotions get the best of us. Revenge is a dish best served cold, no? Who Fairy Tail decides to out on their team is up to them. If they put a weak person on, their loss. ...And Josa, I know we all hold endless hatred for that woman, but you still need to remember; she is your sister, after all. Holding grudges isn't healthy."
"I don't consider her my sister anymore; now, you guys are my family, along with Master-nee-chan!"
"Aww, same here!"
"Ditto!"
"I agree. Now, lets get to work finishing this with a flourish, 'kay?"
—
Just as Aurora finished her sentence, a loud sound wave rang through Crocus. It was quickly followed by a large quake that violently shook the city for a short period. Though short, some buildings succumbed to the power of the quake and then collapsed, leaving some people trapped. Luckily, most of the citizens were gathered in the arena, which had not been majorly affected.
"W-What w-was t-t-that?"
"W-What's g-g-going o-on?"
"H-Help! S-Someone, h-help, p-please!"
The fear in the air was practically tangible. People voice their panic and concern, with volumes ranging from whispers to screams.
"C-Calm down, p-please-p-pabo...!" Mato shouted into the microphone, but he too, was quaking in his boots. (Pun intended)
A blur of gold shot through the air at the same time a blur of red did, and the microphones disappeared from the hands of the pumpkin and Chapati. A second later, two silhouettes hovered above the arena.
—
"Ugh. Why are you here?"
"For the same reason you are, I presume? Why are you here?"
"To evacuate the citizens."
"Oh. I guess we ave the same end goal, then." He ran a hand through his hair, the tangle of emotions in his head bothering him. They were mainly emotions common for this situation; frustration, a tint of panic, worry, a sense of foreboding danger lingering on the horizon, and despite the circumstances, an eerie but familiar calm that he always possessed. But, there was one little feeling out of place. Happiness.
A small part of him felt happy that they thought the same, and that was what made him surprised. Sure, he felt weirdly comfortable around the girl, but the immense joy he felt at being on the same wavelength as her was astonishing. He berated himself for thinking such thoughts about his enemy, but little did he know, someone was thinking the same thing.
—
"Attention, citizens of Crocus!" As Aurora's voice projected throughout the city, people looked towards the sky where they saw her and Natsu Dragneel floating side by side. "Calm down, please." Her voice took on a gentle tone a little too similar to Lucy's. Though the words were the same that Mato had spoken a mere few minutes ago, the effect they had was vastly different. Her gentle voice seemed to soothe souls, and soon, everyone had calmed down and was listening intently.
"Danger is on the horizon. Dragneel here can affirm." When the dragon slayer nodded, panic spread through the crowd like wildfire. "I know many of you are worried. It'll be alright, we'll get you out of here." Shouts of protest began to arise, so Natsu continued for Aurora.
"And we understand that many of you still want to watch the Tournament of Champions-"
"-so we'll make a compromise." Aurora finished, then looked over her shoulder. "Dragneel,"she whispered. "I sense trouble coming our way. Big trouble." He merely nodded, then continued.
"You'll all be teleported to a town a few hours outside of Crocus, courtesy of Winged Fate and Eternal Destiny."
"There, seating and the sort will be provided along with lacrima screens as usual to watch the Tournament of Champions."
"We ask the competitors to make a choice — either you can stay and face the incoming danger-"
"Or you can leave with the citizens. It's up to you."
"Sounds good, Mr. Mato and Mr. Chapati?"
"A-Ah, y-yes!" With a stuttering response, millions of questions swarmed in not just the commentator's head, but in many viewer's heads as well. How had these two strangers worked together so well? How were they able to make a plan so quickly? And how were they going to get everyone to safety?
"Great!" Separate into ten groups, please." At Aurora's command, the audience quickly dispersed into 10 groups, and a few more citizens who were outside the arena joined them.
"Morgiana? Steia?"
"Sting? Rogue?" Aurora called out at the same time as Natsu did, and then the two scowled at each other. "Stop coping me!"
The four who had gone to save trapped citizens — Morgiana, Steia, Sting, and Rogue — appeared and spoke to their respective leaders about the situation.
"Yup, yup..."
"All safe..."
"Scary for them..."
"Fell into a ditch... broke a leg..."
"Safe, but sad..."
"Hazard..."
Upon finishing their conversations, the four left to join the other four — Celisa, Josa, Gajeel, And Laxus — in consoling people, which left only Natsu and Aurora.
"Can you teleport?"
"Who do you think I am?"
"An idiot named Natsu Dragneel."
"H-Hey! Anyways, where to?"
"Would here be okay?" Aurora projected a glowing photo of a small, cozy looking town with lots of clearing around it.
"Sure. Send it to me, would ya?"
"You probably already took a mental picture of it already, didn't you." She didn't realize, but she was warming up to the person she had locked out of her heart three years ago. He was melting the ice, and she had no way to stop it — nor did she want to, honestly.
"Smartáss."
"Well, I'm gonna be kicking yours if you don't get moving!"
"Yes, ma'am." With an eye roll, he watched her receding figure. He was so enraptured that he didn't realize when his guildmates walked up from behind.
"Well, someone's in l-o-v-e~"
"Shut up, Rogue."
Their conversation carried on for a while, until he felt a piercing glare on his back. The dragon slayer turned around, only to see Aurora glaring a hole through him.
'Get moving.' She sent out in a telepathic wave, which all of Winged Fate heard.
"Oh, s***. Someone's angry."
"Let's get moving. Don't wanna waken Satan." At Gajeel's words, Laxus froze. Relozong his mistake, Gajeel quickly reprimanded himself.
"Sorry, man. I didn't realize. Sorry 'bout that."
"Nah, it's okay. Where we going, pinky?"
"It's salmon, okay? Natsu's hair is salmon!" Happy cried indignantly, earned a laugh.
"Here." He made a projection from the mental image he had taken do Aurora's photo.
"Ooh, looks nice. Let's get going!"
—
"Rora-chan! Where are we headed for?"
"Here." She projected the same photo she had shown Natsu.
"Oooh! Beautiful! Let's head off, then!"
—
The eight each stood in front of a group of citizens, and teleported them.
—
At the small town, Aurora and Natsu explained the situation to the townsfolk, who were very inviting, while the other eight and their exceeds settled the citizens into the makeshift town -- uhh, it was big enough to be considered a city -- that had popped up, courtesy of ZerVis. I mean, the masters of Eternal Destiny and Winged Fate, who now stood off to the side with an awkward tension between them.
Once everything and everyone was settled and ready, the ten -- Aurora, Celisa, Josa, Morgiana, Steia, Natsu, Gajeel, Laxus, Sting, and Rogue -- along with their exceeds -- Yuci, Cevi, Viri, Sagi, Zuki, Happy, Pantherlily, Simar, Frosche, and Lector -- and their masters -- Mavis and Zeref -- bid Mato and Chapati farewell then teleported back to the arena, leaving awe in their wake.
—
"Ugh. Where did you b*****s go?" Lisanna snarled at Eternal Destiny as soon as they got back. Without waiting for a reply, she ran over to Natsu who, along with Winged Fate, had appeared a few feet away. "Natsu-kun!"
"Seriously?" Morgiana remarked with a sneer. "Who does she think she is?"
"Yeah," Steia continued for her. "It's not like she's able to do half of what we did."
"I hate her." Josa added. "That arrogance has to be contagious!" She gestured to Laki, Cana, Minerva and Milliana who were clinging to the five dragon slayers.
"There's no need to be so mad. Why bother? I'm not going to waste time on them." In her heart, she felt a little hurt -- just a little -- that Natsu hadn't pushed Lisanna away. Her icy heart was just a little scratched. But that thought was buried far, and she wasn't going to let it affect her. With a flourish, she turned on her heel and stalked away to converse with Mavis. What she didn't see, was the moment she turned around, Natsu blasted Lisanna into the wall of the arena with zero concern for her wellbeing.
—
"Oh, heavens."
"Rora-chan's so good at hiding her feelings."
"Let's not bother her, 'kay?"
"Sounds good to me. But its unhealthy..."
—
Natsu Dragneel had originally planned to make Aurora jealous. He was a little hurt that it hadn't affected her at all. Just a little hurt. His heart, made of stone and encased in flames, wasn;t about to be breach. Watching her indifferently walk away, he blasted Lisanna away out of anger. Obviously, he normally wouldn't have been rough with a lady, but he was sad and had turned that into anger. But he wasn't going to apologize either way... Tossing his thoughts into the abyss, he went to speak with his brother.
—
"Yep. Definitely heartbroken."
"I thought he was still lingering on her...?"
"Maybe he's moved on?"
"The Eternalis are mysterious..."
—
After speaking with Mavis, Aurora turned to address the small group of competitors.
"Okay. Who wants to stay?"
"Uh, excuse me?" LIsanna interjected. "Who, like, gave you the right to like, reign over us?"
"Like, yeah!" Laki joined in. "We, like, don't even need your help!"
"We're totally fine on, like, our own!" Cana continued.
"So shut up, b****!" Minerva continued.
"And mind your own business!" Milliana finished.
Throughout this, Aurora played with a small glowing orb of stars. "Okay, are you done with your B-List movie script rehearsal now?" The crowd, who had all remained silent during the little outburst, now all burst into laughter. The faces of Lisanna, Laki, Cana, Minerva, and Milliana became bright red. Trying to retaliate, Lisanna clutched onto the salmon haired dragon slayer/elemental god's bicep once again. "Natsu-kun agrees with me! Right, Nat-"
"Go away." Without him moving a muscle, a second later Lisanna was sprawled out on the group 20 feet away.
Aurora remained unfazed. 'It's just an act, isn't it. Just a act to prevent scandals.'
"Hey, Rora." Yuci whispered in her ear. "Who are you trying to convince?" Her words sent a jolt down the elemental goddess' spine. She wiped the thought away and replied. 'No one. Just stating the truth.'
Without waiting for a reply, she continued. "So as I was saying before. Who wants to stay?"
Fifteen hands shot into the air. Nineteen counting the Eternalis, but she didn't need to see them to know that they were staying.
"Looks good. Lamia Scale, Mermaid Heel, Blue Pegasus and Quatro Cerberus, since you don't want to stay and you're all out already, you can teleport to where to citizens are to protect them and you can watch from there." The aforementioned guilds nodded, until Bacchus raised a question.
"Hic... How... hic... how are we... hic hic... gonna... hic... get... there... hic...?"
"Oh. I can teleport you, so," In the blink of an eye, they were gone. "Bye!"
—
Once the four guilds got to where the citizens were, they made a patrol plan. Lamia Scale would go patrol first and the other three guilds would stay around the citizens. Then Mermaid Heel, then Blue Pegasus, the Quatro Cerberus, and they would rotate until the danger was past. They didn't fully trust the Eternalis nor the Fateium, but since they were the most powerful and there really was no other valid explanation, they decided to go along with it.
—
"Ahh! The nature is so beautiful! I'm in love~"
"Shh. Sherria-san, quiet down, please."
"We're on patrol. No fooling around."
"Sorry, Jura-san~"
"Where's my treasure?"
"Around you neck, stupid."
"Shut it, thick eyebrows."
"Ah! Wait, everyone~ What is that?"
A dark silhouette passed over five. Many more followed. Looking up, they saw massive beasts of a pure ink colour. The army was headed... straight for the heart of Fiore... straight for Crocus.
"S***. Dragons! We've gotta warn them!"
"Who can get there fast enough?!"
"Should we go back to the place where all the citizens are and inform the pumpkin about the first?!"
In the end, Toba volunteered to go and went on his way to Crocus while the other four headed back to warn the citizens.
"We can only hope he'll get there in time..."
—
When they got back to the camp, panic was spreading like a wildfire.
"What's wrong?" Sherria asked a woman who was clutching two children to her chest.
"T-That," the woman whispered, fear shaking her words. "T-That!" A shivering finger pointed at the many lacrima screens linked to the many lacrima cameras that were still filming Crocus. Displayed on the screens were hundreds upon thousands of black dragons. They swarmed and attacked the unsuspecting competitors with magic darker than the darkness night.
"Oh no," Sherria whispered, horrified. "Oh no."
—
In Crocus, danger was approaching quickly but unnoticed. Only when black magic darker than ink streamed down from the sky did they finally realize.
"What the f*** is that?!"