Ok! Back to work! I'll try to recreate the chappie 43 from l'avion, but...
—
Recap: "What the f*** are those?"
—
"Oh god..."
"The hell?!"
"What...?"
"Ahh!"
Amid the anger and confusion, the coal-black dragons had started attacking. With magic darker than midnight — pun not intended — they rained down hatred and fury upon the 20 shocked competitors and their 4 masters.
Luckily, Natsu and Aurora reacted after a split second. Encasing the guilds a glowing semi-sphere of gold and red, they turned at made eye contact with their masters, who in turn, snapped out of their daze. Nodding, Zeref and Mavis teleported to Jiemma and Makarov, then into the sphere, where they started waking everyone. By this time — aka 3 seconds later — both the rest of the Eternalis and the rest of the Fateium had woken up and were ready to fight.
—
'Ready, girls?' Aurora asked telepathically. Energetic 'yeah's and 'yes's were what she received as a reply. 'Let's go, then!'
—
'Y'all prepared?' Natsu yelled through their mind link. 'Hell yeah!' was the response he received. 'Let's kick some a**!'
—
Like a passing gale, the 10 were off fighting the dragons. The other 10, who had finally been woken, watched in awe.
"Hey! We can't let them fight all by theirselves!" Gray yelled.
"Let's go help, then." Erza concluded. And just like that, Sabertooth and Fairy Tail went to help, though some reluctantly.
—
"Ah! These dragons are strong!" Lisanna screamed after five minutes. "Save me, Natsu-kun!"
The requested person paid her no need.
'Tch. And she's only up against a level 1 dragonlet. And she's going against it along with 4 other people, too.' Celisa sneered through their mind link.
'Well, she is only Lisanna, isn't she?' Aurora replied, nonchalant.
Josa sweatdropped. 'Rora-chan, your indifference is way more savage than what Ce-chan said...!'
They had figured that the dragons they were fighting had tiers. Level 1 was the weakest, and up until now, they had seen level 1 to level 5 dragons. Fairy Tail and Sabertooth were obviously not very worried, as they thought that the level five dragons would be the highest level. Erza could overcome a level five dragon with medium to high difficulty, so they were faring ok. However, the onslaught of dragons was eternal, and they probably wouldn't be able to hold up for much longer.
But the Eternalis knew that the dragons wouldn't stop there. No, they definitely wouldn't. For heading the Dragons was Acnologia himself, and that guy was brutal.
Peircing a dragon straight through the heart, Aurora felt her's weigh down a little more.
'No,' she chided herself. 'Don't be guilty. You did nothing wrong. It's their life or yours.' But despite that, she couldn't help thinking. 'Why can't we all live? Why can't we all love? Why can't we all be happy?' A sad smile graced her face. 'Because the world is selfish.'
With renewed determination, she dropped to the ground in from of the dragon. It's glassy, void-like eyes stared up at the heavens, devoid of any emotion.
"Oh, heavens." Aurora stumbled back, horrified. "Oh, heavens."
There was no pupil. The dragon's eye was completely black. Completely, utterly black. No iris, no pupil, nothing. And that wasn't the worst bit. Though Aurora's magic had pierced it through the heart, blood foamed out of its mouth, nose, and the spaces between its armor-like scales. It dribbled and pooled around the dragon in different shades of red, red blooming on its black exterior. What horrified — and terrified her to some extent — the most was it's mouth. Curved up in a maniacal smile, full of victory despite the state it was in, revealing sharp teeth dripping with a mixture of black and red, it was... too humanoid... no... it was just... just too human. Looking around, she saw all the dead dragons were in the same state. All... all far too human.
"Hey," feeling a hand on her shoulder, she turned around sharply. Seeing who it was, she jerked away.
"Don't touch me."
"I was just gonna ask if you were okay!"
"O-Oh..." her expression softened. "Sor-" She was about to apologize, but then stopped herself.
"What?"
"Nothing."
He didn't seem very convinced, but thankfully dropped the topic anyway.
"What'd you find?"
"Look at this." She gestured to the dead dragon. His response was a sharp intake of breath.
"What the...?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, what can we do? It's either they live or we do. Not everyone can be happy. It's the way the world works."
"Uh huh..." she bit back a snarky remark, realizing how hypocritical he was being — and how much he sounded like her.
"So are you okay?" She didn't understand why he was giving her mixed signals.
"Yeah..."
"Then stop dawdling and get moving!"
'Oh.' The reason was obvious. 'He just wanted to have me back on the front lines, not like he was worried...'
Watching his receding figure, she felt a sense of deja vu.
"Oh, Natsu..."
—
Natsu Dragneel held back a blush as he walked away form Aurora. In truth, he had been really worried when he saw her stumble back after inspecting a dragon. To cover it up, he had yelled at her to go back to fighting, but he was afraid that she'd taken it the wrong way. He sighed. Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, then went back to laying dragons left and right.
"Long time no see, Dragneel."
"Oh, it's just you, Gray."
"What?! What do you mean, it's just me?!"
"Yeah, you're just you, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I'm me, but! I'm me!"
"*Sigh*... so childish..."
"You're one to talk!"
"Yeah, I am. Because I'm not childish!" The elemental god was getting annoyed.
"Ah. There you are. The boisterous Natsu I know."
"Eh... huh?"
"Well, you wer-"
"Yeah. Thanks." A grin slid onto his face when he realized. Gray was just trying to bring his friend back. The Natsu he fought with, the Natsu he played pranks with, the Natsu he ran from Erza with.
"Sooooo... does someone have a crush?" Gray smirked.
"I-I-I d-don't!"
"You so do!"
"Gray-sama!"
"My girlfriend's calling, so gotta go." A blush dusted his cheeks at the mention of Juvia.
"Wait... girlfriend?!"
"You got a problem with it?"
"No~" the salmon haired dragon slayer remarked in a cringey tone. "Go have fun~"
"H-Hey! S-Shut up!" Gray was full on blushing now. Juvia called again, and he turned to leave, leaving one last remark. "You don't understand, Dragneel!!"
A sad smile found it's way into his face. "Oh, believe me Gray, I do. I definitely do."
—
An hour later was when it happened. Tired and exhausted of magic, everyone carried wounds of different sizes. The Eternalis and the Fateium were better off, but the other two guilds bore numerous wounds. Wendy had just collapsed, so there was no one to heal them.
"Are you alright?" Aurora asked Erza as she helped the scarlet-haired lady over to makeshift barrier she had set up.
"Y-Yeah..." she replied, coughing up blood.
The elemental goddess' eyes widened, worried. "You sure?"
"H-Hmm." Her façade broke, and she leaned onto the blonde beside her. "S-S-Sorry..."
"Don't stress it." Aurora offered her a small smile that no one other than the Eternalis had seen in three years. "Get better, 'kay? Your guildmates are waiting for you."
Erza smiled, her expression full of melancholy. "You remind me of someone."
"And who might that be?"
Ignoring her question, the Titania continued. "She was beautiful. Both inside and out. She had a good, pure soul, and a heart warm and loving. She was both caring and kind, pretty and intelligent. She loved everyone, and everyone loved her."
"Hmm. Sounds like your ideal person, then."
"Indeed, she was."
"So why are you speaking in the past tense? Someone so great couldn't have passed away, coul..." Aurora trailed off after seeing the look on Erza's face. "Oh! I'm so sorry... did she...?"
The scarlet-haired warrior nodded. "She did." Wiping her tears away with her hand, she smeared blood all over her face. "Despite everything she did for us, everything she gave us, everything we promised her... we ended up being the ones who shattered her world."
"We?"
"Fairy Tail."
And that's when it clicked. More or less. "Would you possibly be referring to a certain Levy McGarden or Mirajane Strauss...?"
"Ah. I'm afraid you might be mistaken. No, the one I am speaking of is neither Levy-chan nor Mira-chan, though they were very similar. By any chance, have you heard of... Lucy Heartfilia...?"
'Oh,' Aurora thought. 'So she was talking about me? What bulls***. Like she cared when I was thrown aside like trash.'
Not hearing a response, Erza continued. "We promised her a haven with Fairy Tail, a home away from home. But we didn't go through with it. And Natsu isn't exactly to blame entirely either..."
"Excuse me? So how are she and I alike?" Her tone had taken on quite a sharp edge, and Erza realized that too.
"Ah, I apologize. I started rambling because you seemed so much like Lucy and I forgot that you won't understand matters within our guild. Uh, I said you're like Lucy bec-"
"Save it, Scarlet. I didn't ask to hear your sob story." Turning on her heel, the elemental goddess left a spiteful yet sad message in her wake.
"Believe me, I understand. More than you'd ever know."
—
"What the hell?"
"Gray-sama! Language!"
"Sorry, sorry. What the heck?"
"Are you okay, Erza-chan?"
Aurora had left Erza stunned and confused in front of the safety barrier. Her words were mysterious and confusing, leading off to nowhere. Gray and Juvia, the only ones still conscious — and just barely grasping onto reality — were worried about their friend — or at least Juvia was — but Erza just waved a hand nonchalantly and mouthed 'nothing'.
"What's with the ugly hairstyle?"
"Does your face want to say hello to my blade?"
"N-N-No, p-please s-spare m-m-me..."
"H-Hey, Erza-chan, here's some cake!" Seemingly out of nowhere, Juvia whipped out a delicious looking starwberry cake topped with creamy whipping cream.
"Yay! Thank you, Juvia~"
"Phew." The water mage exhaled in relief as she watched the ferocity completely disappeared from the Titania's face as she sat down on the spot to eat her cake. "That was close. Gray-sama, nex-"
"You're awesome, Juvia."
"E-Eh...? Gray-sama...?"
Wrapping his arms around her torso, he continued. "Thanks for saving me. Again."
"No problem, Gray-sama."
Burying his face in her hair, the ice mage's next words were muffled, but Juvia could hear it quite clearly.
"I'm so lucky to have you as my girlfriend. And drop the 'sama', would you?"
"Does Gray-sam- I mean Gray-san not like it...?"
"Yes! No! I mean yes! I mean... ahh, nevermind." A slight pink dusted his pale cheeks.
"Okay, Gray-san...?"
"J-J-Just.... j-just c-call m-m-me... c-call me... G-Gray-kun..." his face turned even redder.
"Aww~ You're embarrassed~"
"I-I'm n-not!" The ice mage cried out indignantly.
"You so are~"
"Am not!"
And the conversation carried on as such for a few minutes, until a certain demon matchmaker decided to join the party. Unknowingly, in a way, and from far away.
"OTP!!!"
At this, the quarreling couple shut up.
"Was... was that Mira-san, possibly...?"
"Sure sounded like her, but..."
Their conversation was interrupted by a low voice. "What, expecting her ghost?"
Laxus expression remained indifferent, but even a blind person could see his cold exterior was cracking at the mention of Mira. To hide it from the ice mage and the water mage, he turned and flew away.
"Oi. Keep the half-dead safe, will ya?"
—
"Aww~ Laxus-san came just because he heard Mira-chan's name! How cute~"
"Uhh, okay? Maybe we should 'keep the half-dead safe'..."
Turning around, they took in how bad the situation really was. Seven unconscious bodies laid sprawled out on the ground, blood and wounds all over. It truly was a gruesome sight...
And there was Erza in the middle of it all, completely unaware of the destruction around her as she enjoyed her cake.
"Crap. Let's get to bandaging."
—
"They're really coming in now." Aurora's words, though whispered, reached the ears of 9 other people.
Unlike the level 1 through 5 dragons they had been facing earlier, these were stronger. Much, much stronger. Their scales were darker than ink, with the occasional sterling silver scale here and there. Unlike their pure midnight "predecessors", these dragons had silver eyes. Glowing silver eyes, and magic up to 50 times stronger and just as bright. These dragons came in various sizes, but were all just as agile — which was very much so.
The Eternalis and the Fateium darted through blasts of silver and black moving at half the speed of light. Even getting close to the dragons was proving hard.
—
After about an hour of this deadly ballet, a scream rung out.
"Ahh!" A blast of magic had caught Steia's hood, ripping it off and exposing her snowy white hair. Heads turned and eyes widened, but within a second Aurora was by her side and her hood was back on.
—
"W-Was that Y-Y-Yukino...?" Sting was the most shocked, probably.
"I... I dunno. Back from the dead?"
"Doubt it. Bro, focus! It's a life-and-death situation here!"
"B-But... w-was it r-really h-h-her...?"
"We can talk this over later!"
"Your attention should be focused on preserving your life right now!
"R-Right..."
Throughout this, Celisa, Josa, and Morgiana watched quietly.
"Luckily, her back was turned, but... this does not look good."
—
"Are you alright, Teia-chan?" The elemental goddess cradled the shivering girl with one hand as she teleported them to an empty rooftop.
"R-Rora-nee-san... d-do... do you think they s-saw...?"
Even Aurora had no pretty answer, so she decided to be blunt. "Yes. They probably did. But I doubt they recognized you." In the end, she ended up sugar-coating her words a bit to soften the blow.
"I-I h-hope so..."
"Good girl. Hey, I'm here for you, 'kay? So's the rest of the Eternalis. We're family, remember?"
"O-Okay... I-I'm s-sorry I-I-I'm s-still so w-weak..."
"Don't apologize. You did nothing wrong."
"H-Hmm..."
"Are you ready to go back...?"
"S-Sure..."
"Confirmed?"
"Y-Yes... Y-Yes!"
"Let's go, then."
—
"We're back!" Aurora's voice echoed as she announced their presence.
"No one cares!" Natsu shouted back. "Just get back to fighting."
"Shut up."
Sting started towards Steia, but she flew away to behind Josa.
"Hey. You're scaring the kid, can't you see?" Laxus gripped his arm. "On top of that, you really don't care about your life, do you?"
"Huh?"
"He just blocked a roar for you." Josa interjected, her quiet, melodious voice demanding authority much like how Aurora's did.
"O-Oh. Uh, thanks, dude."
"Ya brat. Get your s*** together."
"Y-Yeah..."
Without another word, Laxus flew away, dragging Sting with him.
—
"Urgh..."
"S***...!"
"K-Keep it down..."
"Shut it..."
Side by side, Aurora and Natsu surveyed the situation.
"Crap. This is really bad."
"For once, I agree with you."
"I wonder what other s*** Acnologia is going to send our way."
"This looks like the elements decided to have a party and darkness trashed it."
"Pfft."
"Did you just laugh...?"
"Uh, yes...? Is there a problem with me laughing?"
"No, not really. You just seemed like, y'know, a rock?"
"Says you."
"I broke my no-emotions-in-public rule this morning. So technically yes, says me."
"You're infuriating, you know?"
"That's not on the list of adjectives people usually use to describe me."
"Oh ho. And what do people usually describe you as? Stupid? Idiotic? Rash?"
"Three years ago, yes. Now, it's usually hot, handsome, amazing, awes-"
"Okay, okay, I get it. The general public is blind, then."
"Are they, or are you?"
"Hmm. Depends on how you look at it."
"Would you two stop with the lovers quarrel and help us out here!?" Gajeel yelled from a distance.
Both opened their mouths to retort, honestly infuriated, but Celisa beat them to it.
"You bastard. How are males so insensitive?" Celisa sneered, an appalled look on her face.
"Shut it, shorty."
"You go around calling everyone short that?"
"No, just you. How old are you, twelve?"
"I'll have you know I'm only a year younger than you!"
"How the heck do you know how old I am!?"
"Hmm... this seems like more of a lovers quarrel to me." Morgiana interjected, a sly look on her face.
"H-Hey! Ana-nee-san!" Celisa's tone suddenly changed to a much more sweet and childish one.
"Aww~ Ce-chan's embarrased~"
"Rora-nee-san!"
"W-What...?" Watching this exchange, Gajeel, Laxus, Sting and Rogue were shocked. "They have emotions?"
"We're still people, you know." Josa added, slightly pissed off.
"B-But... y'all... aren't y'all like rocks?" Rogue asked, confused.
"Bwahaha! That was me, five minutes ago. Right? They're like ice and stone!"
"What do you know, Dragneel? We weren't always like this." Morgiana too left a snarky remark in her wake.
—
After the gods and goddesses had been healed as well as possibly, they were met it's another wave of dragons. This time, it was an endless enslaught of horrors. The dragons were overwhelmingly powerful; more so than the second wave and much more powerful than the first. Completely coal black, their horns, claws, and teeth were silver. Their eyes, along with a glowing aura around their large bodies, was also of the same colour. And their magic — their magic was unbearably strong. Each dragon's power was like a fourth of one Eternalis'/Fateium's power.
"Prepare for hell." Natsu whispered.
"Sorry, I'm going to heaven." Aurora retorted.
"Ugh."
—
A few hours later, everyone was weary and covered with wounds. By now, all of the Eternalis and the Fateium had taken on their dragon-god/dragon-goddess forms, but it wasn't enough.
Heavy breathing could be heard. They had tried to pick off the dragons one by one, but they just kept coming.
"Ah!" Two beams of magic struck Steia and Morgiana simultaneously, and they both collapsed. Sting and Rogue, distracted, didn't notice and got struck also.
"Teia-chan! Ana-chan!" Aurora screamed, horrified. There was no response. Rushing to their sides, tears dripped down her face.
"No... Teia-chan...! Ana-chan...!"
"G-Go b-back," Morgiana whispered. "W-W-We're... w-we're d-depending on... on... on..."
"No! Stay with me!" Sobbing, Aurora cradled her sister's limp hands in hers. "No..."
"Watch out!" A sharp cry from Celisa directed her attention towards Josa. Two dragons had teamed up on the silver-haired beauty and despite Laxus's attempts to rescue her, an unnoticed beam of magic sliver tore through her leg and she collapsed. Desperately trying to protect her, Laxus got struck and he went down with her.
This all happened in the span of a few seconds. Not long after, Aurora heard another cry from Celisa. But this one wasn't one a warning. No, no. It was a shrill scream filled with fear and despair, one that urged the blonde to turn to her friend. The moment she turned, it was as if Celisa's life flashed in front of her eyes. There was a hole in the side of the bluenette's head; albeit small, it had the potential to cause so much damage. Hearing a cry of anguish, she turned and saw Gajeel with a similar wound.
"No..." a hoarse whisper strangled it's way from her throat. She had failed. She had failed them. Her friends, her sisters, her master... she had failed them all. "No....!"
After releasing her anger to the heavens, she turned with a batter body but glowing determination. She was going to win this, even at the expense of her own life.
—
Approximately half an hour later was when it happened. The elemental goddess' determination was slowly ebbing away, replacing with cold hard willpower. However, her body could keep up no longer. She was pushing every one of her limits, and it was eating away at her life force.
"Stop!" She heard a yell, directed at her by the one and only Natsu Dragneel. "You're overexerting yourself!"
Despite the state she was in, Aurora managed a small grin. 'Never thought I'd live to see the day where Dragneel has a decent vocabulary.'
"I'm fine." Her exterior answer was cold, however. "Mind your own business!"
"You're going to die at this rate!"
"Like you're one to say....!" Turning, she a sight that would scar her forever.
Just like her, he was drained and practically on the verge of death. Unnoticed by them, Acnologia had gathered a huge amount of magical energy — the only type that cold defeat gods, the type that erased their existence — and was about to blast him with it. But he was distracted by her, and didn't realize.
It was like time slowed down.
'It's your choice, sweetie.'
'U-U-Universa...!?'
'Yes, my dear. Your fates lie within your hands. Your life or his? What will you choose?'
'I-I-I...' Like a passing breeze, the dragon disappeared from her mind. Steeling her resolve, Aurora gathered the last of her magic — and very well the last of her life essence — and teleported to behind Natsu.
Wrapping her arms around him, she whispered what she'd always wanted to say — and what would be the last words anyone would ever hear from her in a long time.
"I love you."