Credit to whoever drew this. Honestly, I don't know how I found this photo, but it's perfect for this part. Anyways, enjoy this chapter.
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"Brother, she has revealed herself," a woman's soft voice said.
"Yes, I know, I felt it too," a man with a calm voice replied.
"What shall our next step be?" the woman asked.
"We shall not do anything, we must wait to see what she does next."
"We know their weaknesses, we could easily take them down and retrieve her now," another woman said, her voice more raspy and stern.
"And what would those weaknesses be, Elara?"
"Each other, of course," the woman, Elara, said.
"Yes, you are not wrong that they are prepared to put their own selves at risk to protect each other, but I already knew that. I need to know each of their deepest, darkest weaknesses and fears. The ones that would send them into insanity."
"Brother," a younger man interrupted, "perhaps we should look to Eclipse for guidance. Can't we send her a message?"
"Our sister is a fool. She should have listened to her orders, but instead she wanted freedom... and look at the state of the world we live in. Her one mistake has cost us much more than she could ever imagine. We will do nothing but watch as she tries and fails to fix the mess she has made."
"But brother," the first woman says, "the plan?"
"We will continue with the plan, but we shall keep Eclipse out of it. That is... until we are face to face with her. She escaped us once, we must make sure that it never happens again."
"Will she be punished?" A third woman asked, her voice more quiet and frail.
"She will find that what I have planned for her is much worse than any punishment she can think of."
"But brother, you have grown weak. Without her you could-"
"You doubt me, Nova?"
"I am just worried for my brothers life," Nova replied.
"I don't need your pity."
"Is it not normal for a sister to worry for her dying brother? You think me that heartless?"
"I am not dying." Having enough, the man stood up and walked away from his siblings. "Inform me if anything else happens," he said, then walked out the large doors into a golden hallway.
"Sir, shall I draw a bath for you. It will help you relax," a maid offered.
"No, I would like to be left alone."
"Of course, sir."
The man walked into his quarters and changed into comfortable night clothes. He stepped onto his balcony and looked out upon the remains of his kingdom.
Fire.
Ruines.
War.
"Eclipse, look at what you've done. This kingdom used to be brilliant. Where only the richest of nobles, knights, and mages could live, but you wanted equality. You started that ridiculous rebellion and now we are nothing," the man spoke harshly, almost as if he was trying to speak to Eclipse herself. And for a moment, he thought he could hear a reply.
"I'm sorry, Solar."
~Blake~
The sound of thunder rang through my ears as a pulse of magic energy flooded the room.
Lunas skin was now faded into a light grey, and her hair turned black. Her clothes turned into a black dress, and her whole body gave off a dark glow of magic.
"Luna?" Her father stepped closer slowly, while everyone else backed away.
"I'm sorry, Solar." Luna whispered to herself.
"Luna?" Her father asked again.
Finally, she looked up. Her eyes were a bright red, and on her forehead you could see small horns starting to form. She looked around the room with a smirk and a chuckle.
"I think you know... that I'm not Luna anymore," she said, smirking at Luna's father. Her voice was a mix of a velvet, persuasive voice, and Luna's soft voice.
"Let her back in control now, or else," He said, flames starting to appear on his arms. Eclipse looked unimpressed.
"You need not worry, she's perfectly fine. She's just... trapped. In here." She pointed to her head.
"Let her out you damn-"
"Wait!" I shouted, interrupting Luna's father. He was still on guard and ready to attack, but didn't say anything more. I waited for the room to become silent before walking to stand in front of Eclipse.
"Yes?" She asked innocently, but I could see her hide the smirk.
"Can you hear Luna like she could hear you?" I asked.
"Unlike her, I can block out she voice. She's going to have to use a lot of magic to speak to me, she might just die of exhaustion if she tried," she spoke as if it were obvious. My hands turned into fists and my breath was starting to get heavy. I need to calm down, Luna is still in there, we can bring her back. "Oh but don't worry, she seems to be in a shock like state at the moment."
"How 'bout we make a deal?" I offered, hoping that sense she's made a deal before, she'll take up another offer.
"What? No!" My mother yelled, having to be held back by my father.
"Don't be stupid, Blake!" He yelled.
"Oh? And what does this deal entail?" She asked, now circling around me.
"You tell us everything you know about the competitions, about yourself, and any questions we need answered, and you let Luna return... for anything you want from us."
Suddenly, she started to laugh. She grabbed onto me for support, still laughing hysterically. I held hold onto her arms so she wouldn't fall. She stopped laughing in an instant, then suddenly she had me in a trapped position, my back towards her with a dagger next to my throat. Everyone got into attack positions.
"You think I'm stupid enough to fall for that? The minute Luna is in control and has that necklace on I'm trapped again. You don't know what it's like to be trapped in someone's mind for years. It's torture not being to able to control the body you possess," she spoke in my ear, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Then why would you do it? Why did you possess her if you knew you would be tortured?" I asked.
"Why should I tell you?" she asked, pressing the knife harshly against my neck. If I don't figure a way out of this soon, she's going to start drawing blood. "Why do you care all of a sudden?"
To be honest, I had no idea how to answer, so instead I tried to fight back. I quickly grabbed her wrist and twisted the dagger away from my neck, turning around and taking the knife to hold against her instead. The knife disappeared in my hands and I was pushed to the ground. Just as Eclipse was about to attack me, Luna's father and my father jumped in and easily pinned her down, grabbing the necklace that had fallen to the ground and putting it on her. She passed out immediately. How was she so easy to take down?
"That didn't last very long," I noted.
"You idiot," McKenzie yelled, hitting me on the back of the head. "Are you so blind what you couldn't tell that she was weak?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked, rubbing the back of my head where she slapped.
"You didn't notice how all of the adults didn't take any action to fight? They could tell she was in a weak state. I'm surprised they didn't stop you sooner. And are you crazy?! You can't just make a deal with her..." As McKenzie rambled on, I looked towards Luna's body that was now returning to its normal state. The grey skin faded into its normal paleness, her hair was now back to salmon pink, and the horns slowly shrunk back down until they were gone.
"Dad?" Luna's voice rang out throughout the room. I ran over to where her and her father were on the floor, Luna in her fathers arms. Luna lifted her head to look at me, her eyes widened. "Blake?"
"Luna, are you okay?" Her mother asked.
"I think so... but I heard something." Luna looked at her father with a confused expression.
"From Eclipse?" Her father asked. Luna nodded. "What did you hear?"
"She said that she was sorry to someone, someone named Solar."
"I've heard that name before," Levy said, getting our attention. "I'll do some reading in the book from the library and see if I can find it again. I assume Gabe and Genevieve are still there?" I nodded, and she and her husband ran out of the room.
"Dad?" Luna spoke, "I'm tired, can I just sleep for a little bit?"
"Let's have Wendy check to see if you're okay first, then we can take you back to your room, alright?" Her father reassured.
"Okay."
Luna's father stood up with Luna in his arms and gestures for Wendy to follow him. Luna's mother and Igneel followed as well. I'm guessing they're taking her to the infirmary.
"Blake," the guild master called just as I was about to follow them. I turned to see him and both my parents with looks that could kill. "If you ever do something as foolish as trying to make a deal with a demon again, you will be severely punished."
"But don't think you'll get away with picking a fight with one. Why would you do something so reckless?" My mother yelled.
"What was I supposed to do? Just stand there while Luna lost control and Eclipse took over?"
"Blake, I know that you like her, but you have to be careful and think before you act," my father said.
"But she-... Luna could've-..." I couldn't find the right words to say. Why didn't they understand?
"Blake, I know more than anyone what it's like to want to protect the person you love, but please... just don't be so reckless," my mother said with tears starting to form in her eyes. Now feeling guilty for worrying them, I walked over to her to bring her into a hug.
"I'm sorry mom, I promise to be more careful," I told her. She squeezed me tightly before letting me go.
"Good. Now I know you want to go see her, so go." I nodded then ran off to the closest infirmary.
"He definitely belongs in Fairy Tail." I heard the guild master say before I sprinted out the doors.
"Blake, wait!" I heard McKenzie call from behind me. Yui was running beside her. I stopped and waited for them to catch up.
"What is it?" I asked once they were next to me.
"Let us come with you, we need to talk to Luna about the whole possessed thing," McKenzie pleaded.
I hesitated, but ultimately agreed, even though I wanted to be the first person to see Luna.
As we walked the rest of the way to the infirmary, I saw this as a good time to talk to Yui, she's always been the quite one, along with Genevieve.
"So, how's it going with Igneel, Yui?" I asked her.
"W-what?" She stuttered, "How- how did you know about that?"
"Kinda obvious with the way you stare at him all the time," McKenzie said bluntly.
"Oh, well... I'm pretty sure he likes Jenna." Her voice became quite as she hung her head down.
"So you're just gonna give up?" I asked.
"I don't really know what to do anymore," she said as she fiddled with her hands nervously.
"Hm... you guys want in on a secret?"
"What secret?" McKenzie asked.
"Gabe actually has liked Jenna for a while now, and he's been trying to get the courage to ask her out since the beginning. I think he's gonna do it tomorrow, so don't give up just yet Yui, alright?"
She just nodded in reply.
We arrived at the infirmary just as Luna's father and mother were exiting the room.
"Are you two here to see Luna?" Her mother asked. We all nodded.
"She fell asleep as Wendy was checking up on her. Why don't you guys go inside and stay until she's awake?"
"We can do that," I said.
We headed into the room and sat down next to the bed Luna was on. Wendy was still checking up on her and heading her with magic. Igneel was already sitting down and watching with us.
"She should be alright," Wendy informed us. "Can one of you come get me once she wakes up?"
"Sure thing," McKenzie said.
"Thank you, miss Wendy. For everything," Igneel said. She smiled and left us in silence.
"McKenzie, we should probably tell Blake and Igneel too, don't you think?" Yui asked.
"Yeah, I guess that would be for the best," she responded.
"So, are you guys going to include us in this conversation or...?" I asked.
"Right. So back there when we mentioned the possibility of us being possessed too, we didn't really get a answer," McKenzie started, "and by now, I think we're smart enough to know that their silence means we're on to something. So we're pretty confident in the fact that it's true. Anyways, we wanted to talk to Luna about it."
"Do you really think it's a good idea to bombard her with that stuff right when she wakes up?" Igneel questioned.
"We need to talk to her as soon as possible. I'm sure she'll understand," McKenzie said.
We sat there for what seemed like hours, waiting for Luna to wake up. It was getting late in the day, and it was now time for dinner.
"Well, I don't know about you guys but I'm staving. Why don't we get some food then come back?" Igneel asked.
"One of us should stay back just in case Luna wakes up," Yui said.
"Blake, you should stay behind. I think Luna would like that," Igneel said, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"Yeah, okay. Just bring me back somethin', and maybe bring Luna a little bit too."
They left the room and I went over to the window to open the curtain, in hopes that the light would wake Luna up. Of course, it didn't. She remained unmoving and silent, but she looked peaceful. She looked beautiful. I smiled knowingly.
"I really am smitten, aren't I?" I said to myself. I pulled up a chair closer to the bed and sat down. I carefully took Luna's hand in mine and gave a soft squeeze. "Luna, I know that this isnt the best time to be saying this, but I think I just need to get it out... I wish I could just tell you how I feel. I want to be there for you and protect you, but I don't know how. And I know you don't understand anymore of this than I do, but you seem so strong and you don't let it show that you're scared. But you showed that side to me, you trust me and were vulnerable and... I was scared too. I was scared for you, and I didn't do that great of a job comforting you, did I?"
I paused. I let myself just stare at her for a few moments, memorizing every part of her. Her long eyelashes, her rosy cheeks, her petite nose, and her soft lips.
Right now is definitely an inappropriate time for this, but I need to get it out. Maybe then I can actually tell her.
"Luna, I love you. I wish I had the courage to tell you that night, and I wish I could just tell you while you're awake to hear it."
"You just did."