Kina heard them first, despite the magic prevention cell she was contained in. She heard them enter the mountain stronghold, slip past a few guards stealthily before they were discovered and fought ferociously, running headlong into danger.
Igneel was leading the charge with two celestial spirits alongside him which absolutely decimated any and all enemy forces. Emma was a bit further behind him alongside Storm, the rest trailed after them; Ame, Silver, a small metal dragon, and Kakumi.
"What are they doing?" Kina demanded as she heard them fight their way to their cell.
"What?" Nova asked.
At her words, the door to their hallway was thrown open and Emma ran in.
"Big brother! If you're in here speak up or I'll leave you forever!" Emma yelled.
"EMMA!?" Lance cried from his cell.
"HE'S IN HERE!" Emma cried. She ran past Shiro and Shido's cells. "THEY'RE IN HERE!" she cried. Tug flew after her, happily smiling.
"I told you I sensed him here!" Tug chirped as Emma skidded to a halt in front of Lance's cell.
"Emma! What are you doing here!?" Lance demanded.
"Rescuing you, duh!" Emma yelled as she tugged on the bar.
"I've got this!" Tug announced. He flew up and clamped his teeth around the bars before setting himself to knawing away at them.
In a matter of seconds, the little dragon's metal teeth had ripped through the metal cell bars and after a moment the dragon had started to eat a hole in Lance's cell.
"Nova!?" Kakumi cried running in.
"KAKUMI! I TOLD YOU TO STAY" Nova yelled sharply.
"And I didn't listen!" Kakumi cried happily, running past Emma and up to Nova's cell.
"He was very persuasive," Ame announced as she walked in.
"Very," Silver agreed.
"Is Nashi in here!?" Igneel demanded, peeking in the door.
"No, they took her somewhere else," Shiro answered as he pressed his face against the bars.
"Upstairs, right above us!" Kina cried.
"NASHIIIII! I'M COMMINGGGGGG!" Igneel shouted taking off down the hall, Storm on his heels.
"STORM! YOU LET THEM COME IN AFTER US?!" Nova yelled through the bars. "DON'T YOU IGNORE ME STORM! DON'T RUN AWAY FROM ME! COME BACK HERE ICE-BOY! HEY!HEYYYY!"
"I made him come," Kakumi soothed as he tried to figure out a way to open the cell.
"Solid Script, HAMMER!" Emma yelled summoning a giant Warhammer in her hands that she used to crash through Nova's cell.
"Oh, thanks," Kakumi grinned.
"Why did you come after us, you're in danger!" Nova hissed.
Kakumi set about to undoing her magic-prevention cuffs and sighed. "I'm not gonna let you get hurt..." he murmured.
"Well, no you're gonna get hurt!" Nova argued.
"HEY! THEY'RE IN HE-!" A soldier cried as he ran up to the door, right before Ame doused him in water and Silver froze him solid.
"Ya know Nova, we're not exactly defenseless," Silver muttered as he tugged on his bangs.
Tug and Emma opened the rest of the cells and little Tug managed to chew the magic-prevention cuffs off of everyone.
"Now what?" Shiro demanded.
"Now, we get the hell outta here!" Silver announced.
"And cause chaos as we go," Ame snickered.
"We'll make sure Igneel and Storm have Nashi and August - "Kina instructed softly.
"They kidnapped August!?" Ame and Silver gawked.
"What?" Kakumi asked in disbelief.
"Well then! With him on our side, we're unstoppable!" Emma laughed, "Let's break him out!"
"They caught him once, maybe they can do it again," Lance warned.
"... Nah," Emma dismissed.
"We just have to be careful... NOVA! BELOW!" Kina cried.
Nova looked down at her feet just as the floor gave out from under her with a huge electric attack.
"NOVA!" Kakumi cried, lunging, and catching the girl's hand as she fell through. Nova shrieked a bit but clung firmly to her brother's hand who was straining to keep her from falling.
Not a moment later, Vixt reached through, crackling with electricity as he grabbed Kakumi by his throat and pulled him into the hole along with Nova.
"KAKUMI!" everyone cried. They ran to the crumbling floor and saw the hole went through multiple floors, deeper into the mountain.
"Oh, this got bad real quick," Ame muttered, looking down at the distant crackles of blue electricity.
"We've got to go after them!" Emma cried going to jump down. She was grabbed by Lance who pulled her away.
"We've got to get real help!" Lance gesticulated wildly. "Like, you know, ADULTS!"
"Argue later! Escape now!" Shiro cried running for the door.
"We get Nashi and August, then we go help Kakumi and Nova, and then we escape," Shido instructed. "Nova is strong enough to hold on until we get August free and with him on our side, we're practically invincible.
"COME ON!" Kina urged everyone.
Nashi and August were both startled when the door to their cell chamber was thrown open. Nashi had been napping and flew to her senses cursing in draconic.
"NASHI!?" Igneel cried.
"Igneel!??" Nashi questioned. The small blonde boy scrambled up to her cell and beamed in relief. "I found you."
"Hey there little Nashi, need some help?" Loke grinned as he walked over and leaned on the bars of her cell.
"We have come to assist both you and the other children captured," Capricorn announced as he walked in.
With that, Loke broke the lock of the cell with his glowing fists, and Capricorn somehow judo-kicked August's door open.
"Let's get these off of ya," Loke murmured as he broke the magi prevention cuffs on Nashi and August.
"Oh, now this gets fun," August smirked as he flexed his fingers.
"IGNEEL!? Did you find her?" Storm asked running into the room. He froze when he saw Nashi and grinned. "Hey!"
Nashi strode up to him and punched him.
"Ooooh," Loke grimaced.
"What was that for?" Storm demanded.
Nashi grabbed him by his shirt and shook him like a ragdoll. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE!? YOU'VE BROUGHT IGNEEL IN HERE YOU DUMB ICICLE, I SWEAR IF MY LIFE DIDN'T DEPEND ON IT I WOULD BEAT YOU FOR THIS! YOU PUT YOURSELF IN DANGER YOU *INPUT WORD* WHAT IF THEY KILLED YOU OR IGNEEL OR - "
"If we're done with this lover's quarrel, can we please continue with the plan to escape?" August interrupted with a blank expression.
"August?" Storm asked.
"Hey," August greeted with a wave.
And then the ground exploded.
Nashi, Igneel, Storm, Capricorn, Loke, and August plummeted through the floor, August just barely catching himself with a gravitation spell. As the young wizard sent a gravitational spell towards his falling friends, he was suddenly constricted by a strange rope that canceled out his magic and sent him plummeting once again but was pulled off to the side. He looked to his captor as he struggled with the magic rope and cursed in a way that would make Seliah wash his mouth out with soap next time he saw his big sister.
He was facing a collection of soldiers, all equipped with weapons specialized to cancel all magics...
"Mother of Tyregenium," August cursed as he struggled. Of course they'd have a magic-cancelation team specialized in stopping him from using any magic. Ankserham curse him.
Nashi used her fire like a jet pack, flames spewing from her feet and caught Igneel in her arms. Storm formed an ice slide that caught him, Capricorn, and Loke. Nashi landed a bit unsteady with a wild-looking Igneel in her arms who had his hair blown to a whole new style. Storm slid to the bottom like the experienced ice-skater he was. Capricorn matched Storm in elegance and Loke tumbled head over tea kettle until he reached the end where he straightened up and tried to pick up the remains of his pride.
"That was unexpected," Loke murmured.
"And dangerous, we are now deeper in the mountain," Capricorn sighed, looking at the many layers of the building they had fallen through. "We've also somehow lost Young August in our fall."
"Oh look, playthings," someone chuckled, and from the darkness emerged a terribly pale woman with a familiar voodoo doll in hand.
"Oh dear," Capricorn bleated as he saw the familiar Mr. Cursey that had been held by one of his accomplices during his time in Grimoire Heart.
"Please don't tell me that doll is what I think it is," Loke sighed.
"I would like to, but that would be incorrect," Capricorn answered.
"What? What's with the creepy lady and the voodoo doll?" Igneel asked as he got out of Nashi's arms.
"Don't let this lady grab a bit of your hair," Loke warned.
"That's random, why?" Storm asked.
"Oh, Mr. Cursey, do they know you?" the woman asked the doll, her eyes wide with excitement as her stringy dark hair fell around her skeletal face.
"Big nope, I'm incinerating her before she gives Igneel nightmares," Nashi yelled seeing a torrent of fire towards the woman.
The woman agily jumped away and lunged for Nashi.
"NOPE!" Loke yelled, drop-kicking the woman into the floor before she could reach Nashi.
"Beware this one, I sense a mischievous magic power fluctuating within her!" Capricorn warned as he placed himself between the crazed mage and the three children.
"You guys are the best spirits ever!" Igneel cheered.
Storm quickly pushed Igneel behind him before the blonde could do something foolish.
Kina, Shiro, Shido, Emma, Lance, Tug, Ame, and Silver were running through the hallways blindly, trying to retrace their steps...
And failing.
"I think we were supposed to make a right, not a left!" Ame yelled to Silver as they ran.
"Are you kidding me!?" Lance yelled behind them.
"Ay! I don't see you leading the charge metal-head!" Silver shouted in defense of his sister.
"I sense a whole lot of bad guys with armor coming!" Tug whimpered fearfully as he landed on Emma's head.
"Don't worry, I'll keep you, safe buddy!" Emma vowed. "We'll kick their asses!"
The only one who noticed the enemy on the roof was Kina who heard the man's thoughts.
"On the roof!" Kina shouted as she looked up, little Emma followed her gaze.
"Nii-chan!" Emma cried as a cloaked figure on the roof descended from the roof and lunged for Lance. The boy immediately went metal skinned and there was a loud 'clang' as a knife clanged against his chest.
"Nice try," Lance growled as he punched the attacker away and backed away to stand in front of Emma. Shiro and Shido flew past him and punched the attacker together knocking him back further, right into Silver and Ame who both placed a hand on the guy and blasted him with water from one side and ice from the other.
The half-drenched, half-frozen man fell to the floor and wheezed.
"That was awesome," Ame stated proudly.
"Yeah, we took him out in like three seconds," Silver agreed.
The attacker wheezed in laughter and glared up at them.
"What's he laughing about?" Shido asked Kina. Shiro and Shid back up to the older girl and looked at her.
"I don't know, I can't hear his thoughts," Kina growled.
"Got ya," the cloaked figure breathed as he snapped his fingers.
"WATCH OUT!" Kina cried grabbing Shiro and Shido by the collars and dragging the back as a huge magic bubble encased the others and teleported them somewhere.
"What was that!!" Shido cried.
"I looked kinda like Aunt Minerva's space magic, but different," Shiro answered.
Kina strode over to the man still on the floor and picked him up by his long cloak.
"Where did you send them?" she demanded in a snarl.
"To others who can subdue them," the man answered with a smirk.
"Where," Kina hissed. She then heard something... it sounded like... a long range magic attack ripping through the air, but it was huge!
"KINA!" Shiro yelled as he looked back. The girl looked behind them and her eyes widened to see a large magic attack that almost completely filled the hallway they were in, and it was flying right for them.
There was nowhere to dodge, save for Shido who slipped into his shadows as a green and orange colored beam slammed into Kina and Shido, thrown by a mage down the hall. The magic decimated the hallway, causing the walls and ceiling to crumble as the floor gave way. Kina and Shiro freefell through the air for a few seconds before Shido raced up in his shadow form and pushed them both onto a different outcropping. The three took a moment to catch their breath as they peered down the hole they could've fallen down.
"Too close," Shido breathed.
"Too close," Shiro nodded, breathlessly.
Kina's eyes darted up to the ceiling and a low growl resounded in her chest. "Company," she warned the other two.
"My, my your ears are quite like your fathers," a voice chuckled a large form of a man descended, landing on the same outcropping of rock as the three kids.
He was large and tall, with broad shoulders and a manaicle smile. White hair hung from his head and his red eyes were crazed with bloodlust.
"Who the hell are you?" Shiro demanded, trying to sound brave as he got into a fight stance. Shido mirrored him.
"I am Zero, and I shall bring about the destruction of the world," the man grinned.
"Oh this is wonderful," Kina hissed. She heard this man's thoughts loud and clear. "He's the one that used to lead the Oracion Seis."
"Wait, I thought that guy was named Brain? And didn't... I mean... didn't he get arrested or something?" Shiro asked.
"He's Brain but he's... not," Kina managed.
"Very informative," Shido deadpanned.
Zero seemed very happy to just watch the brats talk as he squared off with them.
"Think split personalities. This guy is Brain but a lot more destruction oriented!" Kina yelled.
"Why the hell is he with these - hey! Creepy guy! Zero! Why are you helping these clowns? They're literally trying to reverse time into the first timeline and I'm like, 99% certain you didn't make it in that dimension!" Shiro demanded.
Zero chortled and smirked. "The ressurection of Acnologia will only end in destruction. Everything pure will be destroyed. All will be decimated, all - "
He was interrupted by a punch in his face, courtesy of Shido.
The shadow dragon slayer jumped back and growled as Zero steadied himself.
"Now now, I let you talk, it's only cordial to give me that same CURTESY!" Zero yelled as he unleashed a dark capprico that flew like a energetic green whip.
Shido and Shiro desperately jumped to avoid it while Kina was easily able to predict where the attack would come from.
"You too will be DESTROYED!" Zero yelled.
Lance, Emma, Tug, Ame, and Silver landed in a pitch-black room and took a moment to steady themselves.
"Everyone here?" Lance demanded. "EMMA!?"
"Here," Emma moaned as she sat up.
"Are you okay?" Tug asked fearfully, scrambling into Emma's arms thanks to his senses.
"Ame is here!" Ame offered.
"I'm alive," Silver groaned.
"Shido?" Lance asked. He was met with silence. "Shido!?? Shido? Shiro? Kina?"
Still silent.
"F*ck," Emma announced.
"Language," Ame scolded.
"I don't give a *input word* about my language! We're about to die!" Emma yelled.
"We're not gonna di-" whatever Lance was about to say was cut off as something pierced through his metal skin and into his shoulder. He let out a pained scream.
"LANCE!?" Emma screamed wildly. Her mind was racing and without thinking she formed the word "light" and "shield".
Her word of light illuminated the entire chamber they were in. It was a large cavern and in the center, Lace was on the ground, holding his bleeding shoulder and gritting his teeth. Silver and Ame were only a few feet away and immediately Ame ran over to the wounded boy, as did Emma. Silver looked around for the attacker and prepared an ice attack as he slowly backed towards the others. Little Tug whimpered and scampered up Emma's clothes until he was perched on her shoulders.
"Lance?" Emma asked fearfully as she gripped her shield and looked wildly around for someone who could've attacked them.
"I'm fine, just hurts more than it should," Lance spat.
"Poison?" Silver asked as Ame waved her hands over the wound, ordering the water in his blood to go back into his body and sensing for any imperfections.
"No... but the blade he was stabbed with was serrated and magical," Ame answered, remembering Wendy's instructions on wounds. She'd taken a few lessons after she learned she could manipulate blood and was thankful for them now.
"Magical blade, lovely," Silver gritted as he looked around.
"I'm fine," Lance managed as he sat up.
"Buddy, that literally ripped your metal scales to shreds. I don't want to think about what that could do to one of us," Ame hissed. "We're fleshy and exposed."
At her words, Silver put a hand on his chest and covered his skin with a layer of ice and Emma held her shield closer.
Suddenly, Emma's light magic was snuffed out and they all tensed. Lance's draconic senses warned him that someone was coming and remembering Ame's words he threw himself in front of their only healer. He bit back another scream as the blade slashed into his back and hissed.
"LIGHT!" Emma screamed, lighting up the area. Tug whined louder.
"What the hell!?" Silver shouted.
"Dark magic. They must've used dark magic, the spell shouldn't have gone out," Emma was crying now as she looked to Lance who was biting his lips.
"What the hell Lance! I have a water body you know, maybe it won't affect me!" Ame shouted sternly.
"We don't know that and you're our only way to heal so you're gonna be a natural target!" Lance hissed.
"Oi Lance, didn't know you had the hots for my sis," Silver deadpanned.
"I DON'T!" Lance shouted, enraged and in pain. "And now's not the time. Your sister is this bastard's priority so do your job and protect her!"
"Okay. Mavis, you're touchy," Silver muttered.
"I'VE BEEN STABBED!" Lance defended.
"Lance? Are you gonna be okay?" Emma pleaded as she came close to him, raising her shield and just hoping it would protect her and him. Tug pressed himself closer to Emma's hair and looked around fearfully, trembling a bit.
"I'll be fine, but I can't take many more hits like that. We've got to find this person and stop them," Lance breathed as he stumbled to his feet. Ame put a hand on his back and recalled the blood back into his body and forced it to scab quickly.
"We don't know where he's coming from or even where he is!" Silver hissed.
"You think he's a shadow, like Shido can be?" Emma asked as she inspected their shadows.
"Maybe, Zeref what I wouldn't give for Kina to be here, she'd hear where the guy was," Ame hissed, looking around warily.
It went dark again. Emma traced the spell for light, Silver threw up a ice wall all around them like a turtle shell, and Lance pulled Emma close.
There was a shattering of ice followed by Silver letting out a cry of pain as a knife breached his ice armor.
Emma's light spell shone out and Ame ran over to her bleeding brother. Silver was gasping for air as a slash in his throat filled his mouth with blood. The turtle shell he had thrown up had a neat square cut into it.
"Breathe!" Ame instructed him firmly as she placed both her hands on her twin's neck, covered in scarlet. "The blood is leaving your throat and lungs. You listen to me! Don't panic! BREATHE!" Ame yelled. She was shaking and seemed to have problems breathing herself as she looked at her brother who would bleed out if she didn't do this right.
"What do we do!?" Emma demanded.
Lance stood up and looked at the cleanly cut square in their ice dome, his eyes hardened. He closed his eyes and took a long breath out.
'Feel it, Lance,' he told himself. He took another deep breath in and released his human senses, tapping into his draconic ones, completely trusting the instincts he was born with. His sense of smell and hearing doubled and his metallic scales hardened as he meditated, awaiting the next attack.
When the darkness came again, Lance moved like lightning. He heard the attacker descend from above, aiming for Ame this time, and before they could strike, Lance had grabbed them by their arm and threw them to the ground in the darkness. There was a cold scraping sound as the attacker caught themselves and drove the knife into his leg but the next moment, Emma had her light spell up and the attacker retreated.
Lance cursed and cursed and swore and cursed some more as he limped around on his leg and prepared for the next attack.
He had felt the person for a moment but he would have to do more than that to protect everyone. He looked at the three younger kids and swore once more. Ame was about to cry as she tried to heal Silver and Emma was looking to him with wide eyes. The small dragon was looking around warily and had raised his wings, trying to shield Emma from anything even though he was shaking.
'Protect them. Protect them dammit!' he willed as he forced his scales to grow stronger. 'You're the eldest here, right? You're the dragon slayer, right? You were made to protect them, so do it dammit! Like Dad!'
'Protect them!'
The room grew dark once more and Lance braced himself.
Storm, Nashi, and Igneel were cautiously trying to help Loke and Capricorn fight off the weird voodoo chick.
"On your left!" Storm yelled, sending an ice wall forward that cut the voodoo woman off from Loke, who would've been tackled by the agile freak of nature.
The woman flipped away, Mr. Cursey still in hand. She avoided both Loke's and Capricorn's attacks, smiling constantly. Nashi would try and hit were with a fire breath but the woman never touched the flames. She was too quick and too flexible.
It was then that the worst thing happened. In the dim light and with the woman's sheer quickness, it was only a matter of time before she managed to snag someone's hair, and in this case, it was Loke. The celestial spirit saw the villain parkour off the wall, aiming for Nashi who wouldn't have been fast enough to defend herself.
Loke blasted forward, glowing in celestial light and intercepted the agile voodoo wielder, grabbing her by the waist and pushing her away. He felt her hands tug at his hair and he swore, trying to yank the doll from her grasp but she slipped out of his hold and kicked him away before retreating, a handful of his hair in her hands.
"Igneel! I have to g-" Loke tried to unsummon himself but he was suddenly compelled to stay on this plane and he knew the voodoo had already taken a hold. "WATCH OUT!" Loke warned as his body was pulled in a direction, a kick aimed for Capricorn.
"LOKE!" Igneel shouted as Capricorn blocked the blow, thankfully.
"She's got me!" Loke yelled. "Igneel you've got to force an unsummon!"
"What!?" Igneel cried.
"Force his gate closed!" Capricorn explained as he blocked Loke's many blows that the lion spirit threw. "The voodoo will not work through worlds and once we take the doll, Loke can return through his own power!"
"How do I do that!?" Igneel cried.
"Think of it as closing a gate and force it to happen!" Loke cried.
"IGNEEL, WATCH OUT!" Nashi yelled, spitting fire and throwing a flame attack at the voodoo wielder who was both controlling Loke and rushing the young mages.
"BACK OFF!" Storm yelled, putting up an ice wall to protect them and forcing the voodoo wielder back.
"So much fun, so much fun!" she laughed maniacally as she backed away to the opposite end of the chamber. She watched as her new doll fought his goat-friend and was filled with joy.
"Well quit it, Būdo," a new voice hissed and the voodoo woman looked up at an outcropping of rock where a new comrade lay, a magic sniper contraption in his hands. "Enough fun, get those two spirits to hold still so I can get a shot in."
"You always ruin my fun," Būdo scowled as she continued to manipulate the voodoo doll. "You're just jealous Seth-chan, because I got more playtime than you. If you had been faster showing up, you could've had more fun but instead, it took you so long to come to help me, you had to get right to work."
"Shut up and get those two spirits to hold still," Seth ordered coldly.
"Fine then," Būdo scowled. She twisted the doll in the necessary motions and smirked when Loke grabbed Capricorn and held him in a headlock.
Igneel, on the other hand, watched in horror, not noticing the sniper. He was trying to figure out how to unsummon a spirit. He knew that if Loke or Capricorn were hurt too badly, their spirit energy would deplete and they'd be thrown back into the spirit world with no way to get back.
Right when Igneel forced himself to focus, a shot rang out through the room making Igneel jump.
Loke and Capricorn both froze in shock and looked down at the hole in both of their chests made by the same shot that was slowly eating away at them.
"Oh no," Loke breathed as he disappeared.
"Flee! Young Master!" Capricorn ordered as he too slipped between the worlds.
Igneel watched in horror. He'd never seen a spirit hurt so badly they had to retreat to the spirit world. Of course, his mother had told him stories but he'd never seen it in person, never experience the aching guilt that came with it.
"We've got to get out of here!" Storm yelled, throwing up an ice wall between them and the sniper that he'd just spotted.
A moment later, Būdo leaped over the wall and landed amongst them. Storm formed an ice-make sword and lashed out at her while Nashi's fists went aflame. Būdo expertly avoided the sword and jumped over Nashi's punch before landing behind the girl and grabbing her hair causing Nashi to scream in a bit of pain but mostly anger as Būdo ripped a handful of her hair out.
"NASHI!" both Storm and Igneel screamed.
Būdo jumped away in glee as she pulled Loke's hair out and stuck a strand of Nashi's vibrant pink hair in.
"Now... now we can have a bunch of fun!" Būdo giggled as she raised the doll. Nashi's entire body went rigid and she gasped as her body moved on someone else's control. Storm and Igneel took a step back in horror.
"Can you fight your friend? Can you fight her?" Būdo pressed as she made Nashi get in a fighting stance.
"Būdo! We need the dragon slayer alive!" Seth yelled from across the room.
"She'll be alive! Just maybe a bit twisted," Būdo giggled.
Kakumi slammed into a stone floor, knocking the wind out of him. Nova landed a little ways away. They hardly had a moment to recover when Vixt charged forward, electricity crackling around him. Nova pushed Kakumi aside and took the brunt of the kick which sent her flying into a stone wall. She gasped and held her side as she recovered and squared up with Vixt.
"'Ello you bastard," Nova grimaced.
"Brat," Vixt hissed coldly. His eyes darted over to Kakumi who was frozen in absolute terror at the sight of the familiar fifth-generation dragon slayer.
"You," Kakumi's voice was a small squeak of terror.
"Me," Vixt snarled as he stalked forward. Kakumi scrambled back and before Vixt could get any further, Nova flew forward and punched the guy in his jaw, sending him stumbling as her Storm Dragon Soul took over.
"Focus on me, Sparky! You can't handle both of us!" Nova shouted bravely, even though she was shaken to see that the punch hadn't even knocked him over.
"Brave words," Vixt sneered, cracking his neck. "From a lone kid and her coward of a brother."
"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" Nova screamed.
"Make me," Vixt hissed in pleasure.
Nova charged in with a scream, the power of a storm sending her forward and her claws ripping for Vixt's neck. Vixt only smirked and easily punched Nova right in her stomach with his lightning speed, sending her flying right back into the wall.
"NOVA!" Kakumi cried as he watched in horror.
"Now it's your turn!" Vixt laughed as he ran over and kicked Kakumi in his chest, not hard enough to do any damage, but just to toy with the boy. Kakumi fell back and curled up to defend himself in case the dragon slayer continued to attack, but he didn't have to as Nova let out an infuriated scream and jumped onto Vixt, blindly attacking him as she tried to do something, anything to save her brother.
"Dad... Dad where are you... Mom... someone?" Kakumi thought as he shook and watched Vixt grab Nova by her foot and slam her into the flor before kicking her face.
"Stop..." Kakumi pleaded as Vixt stepped back and allowed Nova to stumble to her feet, her face covered in blood from a broken nose, her body covered in bruises and electric burns.
"Come at me," Vixt taunted with a smirk. Nova was shaking, but she did so and within a second, Vixt had hit her with three lightning attacks that sent her sprawling.
"Stop!" Kakumi begged.
Nova struggled to get up again and was trying to find any way to win when Vixt's foot shot out and slammed into her leg, breaking something and making her scream. Vixt's hand grabbed her hair and pulled her up which pulled a whimper from her.
"STOP!" Kakumi screamed as he lit himself up with lightning to make himself a bigger target. Vixt glanced over at his show and smirked.
"So eager for your turn next, brat?" Vixt laughed as he released Nova.
Kakumi took a fearful step back as Vixt approached but the next moment, Nova had grabbed Vixt's foot and refuse to let go. Vixt glanced down at her and sneered.
"I'll give you both one thing, you're freaking stubborn," Vixt laughed as he turned around and kicked Nova once again before turned to Kakumi, a dangerous look in his eyes. "Just like your old man."
Jellal and Laxus, thanks to the nature of their magic, were the first to arrive on Ivan's doorstep, or rather the bar's doorstep. Laxus took a solid few seconds to recover after seeing his father again. It had been years, decades even, and Ivan had aged considerably until he was almost unrecognizable. Even his scent had changed a bit, it had mellowed out and seemed softer to Laxus's nose.
"Rosemary?" Jellal asked the old man urgently.
"Come on in, I assume the rest of the guild is on your tails?" Ivan asked as he led them into the backroom of the bar where two barmaids were helping wrap the wounds of two passed-out girls. Jellal ran up to Rosemary and gingerly cupped her face in his hands, breathing a sigh of relief before looking her over, seeing where she was hurt.
"Rose!?" Meredy cried as she burst through the door, "ROSE!" the pinkette collapsed on her knees next to her white-haired child and grabbed her hand.
Rosemary had a bruise on the side of her face and a collection of bruises and scratches covering her like the armor she was adorning. Rose had her head bandaged from where her head had hit that rock and she too was covered in scrapes and bruises. A mere second later, Lyon had burst in and was at Meredy's side. Erza walked in as well but merely stood beside Jellal, staring at Rosemary with unexplained pain and anger in her eyes as her swords sung for blood.
"They barely made it through the door," Ivan explained hobbling over and looking over the girls. "Collapsed right where they were and told me to get help. Something bad happened to the others."
"How'd they know to come here?" Laxus demanded.
"Like I said, they dropped by the other day. Got some food, said they were going on some adventure and were heading to Mount Keji. Came back earlier today like this," Ivan explained. "No sign of the other girl or your kids."
Laxus growled and looked out the door at the rest of the guild members who had assembled in the bar.
"We've got to go to Mount Keji," he told them.
"Hell yeah, let's go," Natsu growled.
Jellal, Lyon, Meredy, and Erza all seemed reluctant at the thought of leaving their girls.
"Scarlet, you want to stay?" Laxus asked Erza. "You had to leave one kid behind, doesn't look like you're ready to leave the other."
Erza had been conflicted about leaving Simon at the guild, but he was well protected by Bickslow, Freed, Lisanna, Makarov, and Wakaba who had all stayed behind. Well, in Wakaba and Macao's case they were waiting outside Wendy's cave, but surely they could assist if anything happened.
"I can stay and watch over them," Meredy offered. "You go kill these bastards."
"Are you sure?" Lyon asked. He knew the look of rage on his wife's face.
"Yes." Meredy nodded. "Go, I'll stay, just to make sure they're alright. Titania and Jellal are some of our strongest and should go."
"You're one of our strongest too," Erza argued.
"Just all of you go, I can watch the brats," Ivan scowled.
"No offense, old man, but I don't trust you farther than I can throw you," Laxus growled.
"I... understand," Ivan nodded in acceptance, not willing to push his luck.
Jellal stood up and looked at Ivan. He stared into the old man's eyes for a solid minute before narrowing his gaze.
"Laxus can throw you pretty damn far," he decided.
"What?" Laxus asked.
"What?" Ivan asked.
"If we leave them in your care and anything happens to them, rest assured if my wife doesn't skewer you like a pig, I'll murder you where you stand. Do you understand?" Jellal demanded as he squared off with Ivan.
"Are we sure about this?" Erza asked carefully.
"We have no idea what we're running into and need all the power we can get. Unfortunately, none of us can afford to stay behind," Jellal answered. "Unless absolutely necessary."
Lyon seemed reluctant to agree but Meredy nodded as she looked to Jellal. "And you trust him?" she gestured to Ivan.
"He's watched over them this long hasn't he?" Jellal pointed out. "People change, I'm proof. Besides, he knows we'll murder him where he stands."
"I do," Ivan nodded.
"I'll stay," Lyon murmured. "Just in case. I'm the weakest of the four of you and Gray should have me covered."
"I'll pick up your slack!" Gray yelled from the bar.
"Thank you, you bastard!" Lyon yelled back.
"You're sure?" Meredy pressed.
"Yes," Lyon nodded. "I still don't trust him, and I don't want Rose to wake up alone."
"Alright," Meredy conceded.
"Alright... so Mount Keji then?" Erik asked from the bar.
"Yes," Laxus growled.
With that the group raced out leaving Lyon and Ivan. Only one member paused at the door; Gildarts. The older man stopped at the doorframe before turning and walking up to Ivan.
"What?" Ivan asked, trying not to snap at the stupid smile on Gildart's face. He noted Gildart's appearance, the smile lines on his face and the wrinkles forming on his hands.
"You know, I never was able to see the similarities," Gildarts chuckled.
"What are you talking about?" Ivan rolled his eyes and hobbled back to the bar where he began to clean out the glasses and try and ignore Gildart's existence. "Don't you have some enemies to go murder?"
"I do... I see it now, it's hard to find, but I see a bit of Makarov there," Gildarts chuckled.
Ivan almost dropped the glass he was cleaning. "...What."
"Guess you just had to get old as hell to chill out," Gildarts supposed, picking up a small bottle from the bar and sipping it.
"You're going to pay for that, right?" Ivan deadpanned.
"Of course... of course. Lyon! You've got me covered, right!?" Gildarts grinned.
"Pay for yourself," Lyon answered coldly.
Gildarts pouted but put a pile of jewel on the bar and sighed. "I'll tell your old man you're still around!"
"HEY! GEEZER! YOU COMING OR WHAT!??" Cana yelled poking her head in the bar.
"Coming my darling baby girl!" Gildarts grinned lovingly.
"Gross," Cana sneered.
"And I got a present for you!" Gildarts grinned raising the bottle he'd taken.
Cana looked conflicted for a moment before she snatched the bottle and downed it in a moment before tossing it to the ground.
"Great. Let's go old man," Cana ordered grabbing her father by his cloak and dragging him out the door. "You know you only get more annoying with age."
"Like good booze, I get better the older I am!" Gildarts cheered.
"Ugg, enough already, they're leaving us behind!"
"Cana... when am I gonna get grandkids?"
"FOR THE LOVE OF ACNOLOGIA, SHUT UP!!"
The two bickered into the distance leaving Ivan to sigh and Lyon to sit patiently beside his daughter.
"Stupid humans," Ivan sighed as he looked to the discarded bottle.
Riki watched in mild annoyance as the reports flooded through the lacrimas. So, the younger brats had found the lonely dragon slayer and come through his enchantments, throwing themselves right into danger. True, now they were causing chaos and it was taking most of his followers to subdue them but now he had all of the dragon slayers in the same area. In his domain.
"Are preparations made?" Riki demanded as he left the lacrima room and strode into the next room deep in the mountain where a handful of people were drawing runes in red chalk on the smooth floor.
"The soul artifact isn't compatible with the enchantment at the moment!" one of his followers answered, drawing out another magic circle around the artifact they's stolen from the magic council.
Riki cursed the damn fool he'd sent to take one of Fairy Tail's soul mage's dolls. Of course the idiot would get himself caught and fail, Riki should have expected it. He cursed again and glared at his followers.
"Try a conjoined rune instead of a singular connection rune, see if that makes a difference," he demanded before striding away, almost running through his halls to check on how other preparations were going.
Acnologia's scales, he needed more time. Just a little more time!!
The magic circles prepared for the dragon eggs were seamless. Perfectly prepared to harvest magic from the ancient reservoirs. The nester was acting up, but that was normal. She could be contained and she wouldn't dare smash the eggs, she just needed to keep the eggs alive until the ritual could be completed and until then she could be subdued.
As he was checking in on the connection lines of his enchantment, the chamber he was in shook and he stumbled to catch his footing.
"What was that!?" he demanded.
"Vixt, sir. He's fighting a few floors above us!" one of his followers yelled.
"Well someone make sure he doesn't come any deeper OR kill that lightning brat!" Riki yelled in retort as he added a quick protection rune to the enchantments in the hopes that the lightning imbecile wouldn't destroy anything that couldn't be replaced.
"SIR!" a woman cried.
Dear Tyregnium what was it now.
"What!?" Riki almost screamed.
"The-The dr-dragon sl-sl-slayers," she stuttered.
"Yes, yes the kids are free. I am aware. I've sent reinforcements to keep them trapped or subdue them until the ritual can be comp-"
"I d-don't - don't mean the-the ch-children," the woman managed.
Riki felt his heart freeze.
"What do you mean then?" he asked coldly.
"The - the kings..." she choked.
"Yes. Yes, the kings?" he pressed her to continue.
"Th-they're o-out," she shuddered.
"The bonds of time... they got out of the - "
"Yes..."
Riki took a long breath and controlled himself.
He... he had prepared for this. Planned for this.
"Order the border to close. Completely. This is the final phase. No one gets in or out!" Riki ordered.
"Y-yes sir," the woman managed as she stumbled away.
This was it. He was sealing off his escape, he was putting everything on the line. This needed to work.
He closed his eyes and allowed himself to think of the 'before'...
When he was happy. When the world was good. When he wasn't conspiring against the god-forsaken kings and queens of dragon kind.
This would work. This had to work.
A solid cage of black runes closed around the mountain, sealing everything in a gigantic box that meant there was now nowhere to run.
He just had to persevere and make it work...
He just had to make it work...
It had to work...
(*Takes a long breath as I write yet another cliff hanger* Oohhhhh I am a terrible person. I love y'all though and I hope you're enjoying this story! Have a great day/night!!)