Heyo! I'm back!

Gomen ne, watashi, everyone. I'm so very sorry for the very loooooong delay, but I had a very rough month of September. Filled with friendless school-schedules, overuse injuries and braces on both wrists (I'm actually not supposed to be writing) and way too much family drama. So this is my escape thingie from all that!

I apologize for the meh quality of the past few chapters, I know it's just recounting Fairy Tail stuff all you fairies know. But the real canon-trashing/actual-things-happening in the arc starts now! If that's your thing, you're welcome. If it's not your thing, well, I hope you like this chapter nonetheless.

This chapter! Love is a tragic thing. So is groping. And at last, Grimmjow can enjoy that damn revenge fight he's been waiting for!

Read a fic, review a fic, like a fic, enjoy a fic, and maybe I'll attempt to work on this more often!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own either Bleach or Fairy Tail, although I wish I was that lucky. No OC's this time.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR ALL OF BLEACH AND MOST OF FAIRY TAIL! READ AT YOUR DISCRETION...

Chapter Seventeen: Fatal Guilty Pleasures

...

Juvia

...

Alas, love is such a tragic thing!

Imagine the horror of this situation. Me and my darling, bound by love, and yet forced into battle against each other in an epic brawl to what may be the death?!

Why was this happening to me?! My heart was ablaze, it was screaming in my chest for me to quench its terrible thirst for love—and I could see now that our meeting was no coincidence.

Juvia is the Rainwoman. He is an Ice Make Wizard.

This is fate!

He didn't want to fight me, he had said so himself! And then he had taken off his shirt without any suggestion whatsoever! Oh, these mixed signals were toying with my brain in every way imaginable.

I didn't even know his name!

And yet, I bet it was the most beautiful name in all creation.

But...duty was duty, and that expression of extreme annoyance and anger on his face only reminded me of the danger Fairy Tail presented to our guild. Despite the fact that his efforts had indeed failed to injure me, he had still attacked me nonetheless. He had tried to hurt me.

We were enemies.

Enemies of Phantom Lord do not survive our wrath.

My heart sank a little as I raised my hand to attack, adjusting my parasol against the rain. The wind had shifted eastward towards land, dragging the rain along with it, so I steadied my stance to make up for a lack of balance. "It looks like this is farewell, my prince! Water Slicer!"

As my signature magic circle appeared before me—one with a sea-blue emblem bearing a water pitcher—the rain seemed to dull for a moment, only to converge before me and shoot off in a volley of airborne waves towards my dearest.

His eyes widened as he leapt up and out of the way, and the waves slashed their way through a steel pillar behind him.

"Holy shit!" he swore as he landed, looking surprised by how much force my magic could pack. But there was nothing in it that should surprise him. Water, when given the proper amount of force, can cut through anything.

"Underestimate the power of the sea, and you will find yourself in a world of pain."

That wasn't what he wanted me to say, clearly—with a growl of disapproval, he threw his magic into gear and attempted to cleave through me with a frozen battleaxe. But all for naught—his blade splashed through my torso with nothing but a slight tremor.

I couldn't help being a little cocky at the fact that he was failing so miserably to defeat me. "Can't you see that you're just wasting your time? Your attacks don't work on my body of water, drip, drip, drop."

A scoff from him told me that he agreed, however reluctantly, and moments later my heart resumed its loving flutters. "You're starting to be a pain in my ass, lady. What the hell am I supposed to do to beat you now?"

"No matter what you do, you cannot hope to beat me," I countered. "However, there is a way your guild can be spared. All we ask is that you return Lady Heartfilia to us, and in return I shall ask Master Jose to call off the attack on your guild."

Listen to me, please, my love! If you do, we have a chance to be together!

But then.

"Aww, c'mon, enough with that crap!" he snarled. "We both know that your master won't call anything off at this point. Lucy's one of us, and I'd rather give my life than hand her over to you!"

Juvia's parasol slipped through her fingers as his words cut through like a knife.

No! He'd rather give his life?! For her? For the blonde bimbo?!

Lucy Heartfilia! Now she was my rival for my darling's love!

Oh my god, he LOVES her!

I couldn't help it—I screamed and threw my hands to my face, helpless as the sobs started to come. How foolish could I be?! He loves her, he loves her, he loves her! Why her?! What horrible pain this has brought upon me!

"OH, THE PAIN!" I shrieked, my frenzied movements stirring the puddles around me into full-on tidal whirlpools. "HOW CAN FATE BE SO CRUEL?! MY HEART IS SHRED TO BITS! IT HURTS! OH, IT HURTS!"

"...Are you sick or something?"

Then it hit me—she wasn't worthy of my prince!

"LUCY HEARTFILIA CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO LIVE!"

My cry constituted my power, and with a shriek of unadulterated rage I shot a stream of scalding water directly at my beloved!

He let out a hiss of pain as it burned him and immediately put his chilled hands to his side, saying, "The hell? What's with you? And what's your problem with Lucy?!"

"My PROBLEM?!" I roared back, unleashing another jet fueled by my hatred. How dare he insult me by saying that?! Wasn't it obvious?!

He ducked under the magic just as it approached, and then somehow managed to leap out of the way twice more as I twisted it around to follow him. But just as he landed the third time, he slipped and nearly fell off the edge of the roof.

But my darling couldn't fall! Not unless it was for me!

Without my parasol, I could feel the rain on my face. It gave me power, resolve. My love would persevere!

I advanced on him relentlessly, and he turned to me with a wild look in his eyes that would have made me blush had I not been so furious. "I have been followed by the rain ever since I was born. With it, I am strong. I am invincible!"

My hand flew up above my head with a gust of steam as I screamed, "Now prepare to be scalded by my jealous rage!"

He leapt out of the way, same as before, as tendril after tendril of burning water singed the rooftop. "What're you so damn jealous of?!"

He was blind! He had no idea!

I threw all my remaining water into the blast, just as he threw up a frozen shield to divert the magic. But my boiling rage was winning out against his ice, and the shield quickly thinned to nothing more than a sheet of frost.

The ground around me was steaming, throwing my hair and clothes into a frenzy as I pressed harder, and he fell onto one knee. "Like I said, I am at my strongest in the rain! You cannot hope to defeat me if the sun cannot shine!"

He swore as my water finally won out; and with an explosion of steam, his ice was no more. But...strange. He wasn't there. There was no corpse. No body of a tragically lost loved one to tell me that I had fulfilled my duty to Master Jose.

Ah, now I see. There was a crack in the glass window just behind where he had made his final stand. He had used the explosion as a smokescreen to hide himself from me as he escaped inside.

"Incredible," Juvia whispered, to nobody in particular. "He's not only handsome. He's actually smart, too."

My heart was fluttering yet again, except this time it was a little more intense than before. Kind of like a throbbing pain in my chest that was so painful and yet so very welcome.

The realization hit me like a sledgehammer.

My goodness. I really am in love!

That thought alone was enough to make me blush erratically! Me, in love with my enemy! Truly in love, at that! Oh, where was he? Who was he? When, what, why, how was he?!

I needed him. I needed my prince, my love!

I stamped my heel on the ground once, hard, and just like that the water condensed and threw itself back down into the building through his window. Not a moment later, he came soaring out as the top floor of the Phantom Headquarters overflowed with the rain.

Just as he was falling, I shot another blast of water up, this one hotter than all the rest. "IT'S ALL OVER FOR YOU!"

"OH YEAH?!" he roared back, and when the blast hit him he miraculously jumped right into it.

That's impossible!

"FREEZE UP!" With a rising yell, he froze the waterspout in place, and as he fell towards me he continued freezing it all the way to the bottom.

Incredible! I couldn't move, couldn't utter a single word. How did he do it? He could freeze my boiling water?

And then I was inside his ice. An explosion of cold water surrounded me, stinging against my skin and stopping my motions entirely. The world around me was just barely visible, clouded through the hazy glare of the ice.

Cold. So very very cold. I was trapped in this terrible ice, so very cold, all alone.

Wait, no. He was holding Juvia. She could feel a warm hand against her.

I should have been angry that he froze my water, but...blush!

For some reason that I couldn't quite understand, he had frozen himself along with me, and one of his hands was holding my breast.

He screamed in surprise and embarrassment, yelling a long string of invectives with a bunch of random apologies thrown in between swears. Had it not been his intention to hold me like that?

Still, how embarrassing! Is this how he would remember me? Would I stay like this forever?

"Sorry!" he finished, and he withdrew instantly. The ice vaporized just like that, leaving me on hands and knees on the wet floor.

"H-he spared me, even though I'm his enemy," I whispered to myself, finding it hard to believe my own words.

He didn't seem to hear me as I got to my feet, instead looking about ready to throw himself off of the rooftop. "Hey, let's just start over, okay?!"

"Let's not," I said. "Honestly, I would never want to hurt you, so we have no reason to continue this fight."

"Um...is this your way of saying you can't beat me?"

I was silent for a moment, but then somehow I smiled. "You know...I'm much stronger than Lucy. If you'll have me, I'd be happy to protect you."

"...Protect me? Like...from what?"

Oh, men. My voice dropped in volume, and quickly the rain grew even stronger. "Well, from anything that could hurt you. Because I...eh, I think that you're...you're so—"

"Ack!" He held out a hand to catch the rain with a disappointed look, and immediately I felt myself getting upset again. But why? What happened? Was he angry with me? Did I do something wrong?

"This damn rain just keeps getting heavier! Man, it's so gloomy up here."

Gloomy.

That word.

The word that had been uttered around me every day of my waking life. The way I was described. The word that my rain brought to people's tongues, to their lives, and to their hearts.

He thought...I was gloomy?

Bora. Bora had said that when he had broken up with me. My parents had said it to me when I didn't want to go outside. My "friends" had said it to me whenever they saw me in the hallways of school, in the city, at home, anywhere.

Everyone hated the rain.

Everyone hated Juvia.

Something in me snapped.

How dare he... To hurt me so, that was cruel! How could I have been so blind?

I fell to my knees, sobbing once more.

"Uh? What's wrong?!"

"I thought he was different!" I raged out loud, tears mixing with the rain and clouding my vision. "But he's just like all the rest! How could you be so CRUEL?!"

That was it! I shot up to my feet, surrounded by a typhoon of steam and wind and magic. I couldn't let my feelings control me any longer! I was done!

All of my magic shot forward in a burning current of volcanic water, surrounding him and throwing him into the wall behind him. Just a little more, and he'd fall!

"I'M THROUGH WITH LOVE! AND I'M THROUGH WITH YOU!" I screamed. "I've lived my whole life as the gloomy Rainwoman! But Phantom Lord looked past that and they welcomed me with open arms! I am Juvia of the Great Sea! A PROUD PHANTOM LORD WIZARD!"

He slammed through the wall and spun around just as I leapt at him, my body turning a translucent liquidy blue as I yelled, "Sierra! Now BURN!"

"How can you be proud of being in Phantom?!" he yelled back, finding his footing and dashing to meet me as he threw up his shield. This time, my water didn't melt it. "You and your guild are going down!"

He drew back his hands and punched the shield itself, shooting his wave of ice forward over my attack. The rain itself froze, turning into a sheet of snow that sparkled in the sky. Immediately, I threw myself out of the blow and harm's way, but he was ready.

"ICE MAKE: GEYSER!"

And just like that, he shot me over the edge.

I didn't know what to do. I was out of magic, I was falling, and my head and heart and world were spinning around in circles. Was this it?

Was I going to die?

It was over. I'd lost. I was going to fall to the ground and splatter, just like a raindrop. A fitting end for Juvia Lockser, the Rainwoman whom nobody ever wanted around.

Goodbye, gloomy Juvia.

"WATCH OUT!"

And then his hand grabbed mine and without warning I was pulled sharply out of my fall.

"Hang on, okay?" he yelled to me, his fingers squeezing around mine tightly. "I promise I won't let you fall!"

I don't know or remember how, but somehow he managed to carry me back up to the top without either of us falling.

"...Why did you save me?"

His answer was vague and yet somehow felt perfectly complete. "Just 'cuz. Now get some rest."

He saved my life with no reason or personal anything to gain from it.

He was sitting so close to me now, if I wanted to I could reach up and touch him. And I wanted to, really! ...But just being there with him was good enough.

"You good, Juvia? Cooled down a bit, I hope," he chuckled.

I swallowed as I felt tears come to my eyes once more, and then all of a sudden there was this burning brightness shining directly into my eyes and I wanted to close them so badly, but the light was so beautiful that I just kept looking.

The rain. How had I not noticed that it had stopped?

My savior grinned and ran his hands through his hair. "Finally, the sun's coming out!"

All I could see was an enormous expanse of blue and white above me, ringed by darker blotches of what I knew to be my rainclouds. Like an endless sea in the sky, and my clouds the islands.

"I-I've never seen this sky before," I confessed, and he gave me a look of utter disbelief.

"Seriously? Damn, that must be tough." But then he laughed. "Well, there it is. It's pretty, don'cha think?"

A group of birds flew overhead, their shining wings casting a shadow down for a moment and then revealing the lovely light again.

How had I lived without this?

"Yes, it is," I agreed. "It really is beautiful."

It truly was.

For a moment, we just stared at the sky.

What was his name?

"So."

He smirked over his shoulder.

"You wanna go at it?"

Well, that was it for me. The second he said that, I went out like a light—with just enough time to think of at least five different meanings for what he had said, and the answer "yes" to all of them.

"What?! Hey, Juvia! You're alright, right? You've gotta be! C'mon, answer me, lady! Juvia! Juvia!?"

You win, my prince! Good night!

...

Grimmjow

...

Oi, you. No, not you. The person right in front of me who gives a crap. You ever been a fight before?

What's that, you say? Not really? Maybe? Definitely? Brawls at the lunch table? A couple pantomimed punches? Some thug looked down your innocent girl's shirt one too many times? Or how about the opposite—some slut stole your man and she paid for it? A little too much booze in your bloodstream? Slammed some helpless idiot against the wall for the thrill of just being better at it (and trust me, I know the feeling)?

Wrong. I am here to tell you what should have been your answer to that question—no.

Because until you experience what I feel every time I go into resurrección against an Espada, you can't say you've been in a fight before. That is a fight.

This was a goddamned fight if ever there was one.

Resurrección had worked, I could feel it. How else do you explain the feeling of having all your strength and power back again? I was a panther again, just like I should be. Claws, fangs, tail, the whole slice-n'-dice deal, and yet still retaining the humanoid shape of a Vasto Lorde. Heightened reflexes, increased awareness, physical strength and mobility exponentially improved (not that it's not comfortable to fight in a hakama, but hey—I'll still go for my resurrección any day).

Best of all, Pantera was back in my head again, not doing who-knows-what in the middle of nowhere with Nnoitra's zanpakutô. For all I know, they were being lesbian or something—if you've noticed, I don't really try and understand what Pantera does during her time off.

Well, who honestly cared where she had disappeared to? Although maybe the cat fight would have been interesting to watch. I'd figured out how to get her back and I'd managed to pull it off, and that was all that mattered.

At last, I was ready to really start this fight. The fight with the man who had already killed me once.

And rest assured, it wouldn't happen again.

The wind died down around me at the same time as it did around my opponent, and I steeled myself for what I was going to see. This would be my...I'd have to say my third time seeing his resurrección in action, and my first time fighting against it. Lucky me?

Nnoitra...no matter how many times I saw him in this form I could never really understand what his resurrección was supposed to be. "Santa Teresa" loosely meant "praying mantis" or something, but he didn't look like a praying mantis at all. Unless you count the four spindly arms and the horns protruding from his head in the shape of a crescent, which might have indicated something creepy-crawly. The clothing he had been wearing had made way for his original resurrección clothes—white baggy hakama and a long ripped vest to reveal the battle scars across his chest. And in each of his hands he held a long scythe almost twice his height, each one curved and sharpened to perfection.

My resurrección was different than his, I knew that for certain. Mine was more focused on agility than his, which seemed more optimal for defense. Can't believe I just said that, since "four arms", "scythes" and "defense" aren't usually used in the same two paragraphs. But his already powerful hierro would be tough to best unless I went for weak spots—eye, scattered points along the main bloodstream, anything that couldn't be entirely protected by his iron skin. Unlike him, I didn't have three times my usual reach—the serrated blades along my forearms were, if anything, a shorter reach than my zanpakutô. So it was either go fast or go home in shredded pieces.

I choose fast. Fast is fun.

King, don't look now, but your tattoo is glowing and it's silver.

Pantera. Back again. Okay, so what? I thought, watching as Nnoitra twirled two of his scythes simultaneously and ground them against each other in a shower of sparks. He was getting ready to kick the shit out of me, eh? He wouldn't get the chance.

It actually looks pretty kickass to me, but that's not the point. I didn't even know you could see my tattoo in resurrección. Maybe only she could? I'm guessing that's an indicator that Szayel's charm is working, she said, so I'll keep watching and let you know if it's making a difference. Also, watch out for that magic of his.

"Magic," I echoed aloud. That's right. Nnoitra must've learned something from the master of Phantom—that was the only explanation for this turn of events. Although how to avoid his magic was the real question, not the fact that he was using it. Important Fact About Fiore: if it breathes, it probably uses magic. Hell, at this point I don't even think that Nnoitra being one of those Dragon Slayers would surprise me.

Pantera snorted—reading my thoughts seemed to be one of her favorite pastimes. Idiot. If he was one of those, neither one of us would be here.

Bull.

Laxus kicked you from resurrección with his Dragon Slayer abilities when you fought. Nnoitra can beat the shit outta ya without resurrección in play. So God help the idiotic dragon who lets a dragon-slaying Quinto walk his way.

Even I had to admit that the idea was disturbing. ...Man, I f**king hate it when she's right.

I'm always right, bastard, she snarled back. Speaking of being right—I should warn you that I can't give you the peak forever. We've got maybe three minutes of the power-up once I hand it over. When you feel that the time is right, gimme a shout, and we'll switch.

The peak.

Damn, that sent excited shivers down my spine. I was excited as hell for the moment when I'd need it!

Well, "when" wasn't as correct as "if", but I still planned on using it in this fight whether I needed it or not. Going overboard is a guilty pleasure of mine.

I swallowed and nodded, hopefully projecting my agreement to her. If I opened my mouth, I'd probably start asking about what the peak would be like, and knowing me that would develop into a huge rant sooner or later.

Got it, King. But don't fight him yet. Wait for him to make the first move, then we'll play the rest by ear.

What?! Wait for Nnoitra to attack? That was boring as hell, I wasn't gonna just wait around. You can't stop me!

Can't I? she snapped back. Do what I'm warning you to do or else you'll find yourself in a world of hurt.

"Hey, Sexta!" Nnoitra yelled, twirling his left two scythes between his fingers and miraculously avoiding a collision. "Ya ready yet? Or do ya still plan on discussin' yer strategy with the little kitty bitch?"

She immediately launched into a feverish rant in Japanese about just how much of a "kitty bitch" she could be if Nnoitra would just grow some balls and fight her like a real man. Honestly, I would have laughed if her rushed translation of a large number of English swears hadn't sounded like a knife scratched on a blackboard.

I growled and said out loud, so as to avoid her being an ass and ignoring me, "Now can I fight him, your Highness?"

...F**k it. Now's good.

About damn time.

I roared and leapt at Nnoitra with armblades drawn and ready to slice, just as he flung himself to the side and raised one of his scythes to catch my left blade. Using the pivot he'd unintentionally created, I swung myself around and jammed my claws into his side, kicking off as he swung at where I had just been.

Almost immediately, the excited grin on Nnoitra's face gave way to a frown, as he put a hand where I had just neatly carved a decent gash along the side of his abdomen. Pantera didn't need to tell me that the charm was working—I could feel it.

"What the hell did you do?" he hissed, his fingers coming back red. "Yer not powerful enough to rip my hierro by yerself."

"Well, I know a guy."

That attack had hit him hard, harder than he had expected. I pulled my wrist back and unleashed the Garra bullets from my elbow, and he snapped out of it just in time to avoid the first three and repel the other two in an explosion of smoke. But by then I was already in action again, and I spun around to slam my claws into his blades once more. In response, he withdrew enough to cause me to fall, and I caught the blow of his remaining two scythes on my forearms. Damn, his wounds had begun to heal already. So quickly?

"Yer not s'bad as I remembered, Pussycat," the Quinto snickered, pushing me down towards the ground as his grin reappeared. He was enjoying himself too, apparently.

"You're right," I agreed venomously. "I'm not!"

I shot off another round of the projectiles, and at this close range he couldn't block them at all. On two of his scythes, they hit the points where the blades connected to the hilts, and the two nearest weapons shattered as a result.

"You're open!" I flipped myself backwards and sprung off the ground the second my feet made contact, launching myself right back with all the momentum I'd need to get this over with. He remained in the position he had been in before, lowering his unarmed limbs to his sides and keeping the raised ones in the same place.

Let's see how he liked it. Dying. Maybe a taste of his own medicine would be good for an insufferable jackass such as himself.

But just as I raised my blades to slice through his hierro, I felt something...I dunno, kinda off. Why wasn't he trying to dodge anything, or keep me from getting in close?

Instinctively, I threw in a reverse sonído, just as two new scythes burst from inside his wrists in an X formation and only just barely missed severing my head from my torso.

"AHAHA!" He began to laugh as I wiped a growing trickle of blood off of my neck (it hadn't missed), even feeling so secure in his victory as to drop his guard entirely and stand up to his full height. "Idiot! You actually think I can't regenerate my weapons?! It's no fun if I run outta blades, baka!"

Yeah, nice going, Kitty-kun.

I didn't argue with either of them—I'd been lucky to even dodge that. How could I have been that stupid? Of course he had a way to recreate them. They were all Nnoitra fought with—if we'd been fighting by hand, this fight would be going so much differently. But at least he'd reminded me that Szayel's charm wouldn't make this easy in the slightest—the thing only helped me pierce his hierro, but it wouldn't make it any easier to get in close. I still had to try and be careful with this fight.

Finally breaking from his hysteria attack, Nnoitra leapt up and jammed the brand new scythes down into the ground. The earth below him nearly split in two as he yelled, "Earthen Prayer!"

Stupid me did not try to analyze the words, realize that this was probably something to do with the ground and that magic Pantera had warned me about, and get off said ground. Stupid me tried to remain standing through an earthquake and failed miserably.

I swore in Spanish as my balance wisely decided to abandon me and the earth below me shook like someone had just wrenched it to the side—and before I could right myself Nnoitra was already prepared to strike. The scythe just grazed my shoulder as I threw all my weight to the left and sprung back up on all fours.

Just as I darted out of the way of his next swipe, he used that spell again, and right as I landed the ground threw me off. He leapt at me again and lunged, and I skirted to the side so that the scythe passed through one of the ridges in my blade. But I hadn't been expecting it to get stuck—and when it did, he spun the scythe around and slammed me right into the giant magnolia.

I ripped right through the trunk of the tree with a pained jolt, but at least the shock was enough to dislodge Santa Teresa from my arm. It would have been nice if I could have landed on my feet, but alas, my dignity had already been shot to hell by then. No, I tumbled down and rolled to a splintered, bleeding stop on the only part of the surrounding park that wasn't already demolished by our fight.

Not a moment later, I heard a terrible cracking sound right above me—I dove out of the way just as a tree branch the size of Aizen's throne fell out of the canopy and decimated whatever was left.

"Holy f**k," I swore, taking in the magnitude of what had just happened. Sure, a branch the size of a f**king dump truck had just tried to flatten me, but that wasn't really what worried me. I'd heard things around the guild about this place—and if I'd heard right, South Magnolia Park was as good as a national monument to the fairies.

Money. God, I owed that little bastard so damn much.

How much do ya think you owe those fairies now, Kitty-kun? Think this park costs a lot? Pantera grumbled, proving me right. I just coughed in response, getting off of my ass and sitting up straight.

"So," Nnoitra boasted, obviously not caring about the tree, "ya like it? It's damn fun as shit, it is. Magic! Who f**king knew?!"

"I wouldn't know," I hissed back. "I can't use it."

"That so?" He snickered to himself. "Well, there's tha difference in our strengths right there. Boss man said I've got a...a natural affinity fer it."

Nnoitra? With an affinity for anything? Bullcrap. "And I'm supposed to be jealous?"

"Yer supposed to die!"

Okay, couldn't exactly argue with that.

(A/N: #double-o-kitty)

The Quinto roared the name of that spell again, and the ground beneath me began to tremble once more.

Alright. That was it. Enough with the f**king witchcraft. I pulled myself to my feet and then shot into the sky, high above where the ground could possibly affect me. From up there, the city looked like someone had splattered tiny dots of colored paint all over the landscape, the bright colors standing out even from up here. Hell, even the monstrous park below looked tiny.

I was just getting ready to unleash my Desgarrón when I heard the yell.

"CERO OSCURAS!"

...Crap. I'd forgotten he could do that.

A pure black beam tinged with gold erupted from the end of his weapon, roaring towards me with what had to be at least a hundred times the strength of a normal cero as it tore all the light from the sky.

Counter it, King!

Counter? How?! I'd never really attempted using an Oscuras before. I don't usually rely on anything ranged besides my Garra when I'm in resurrección. But no time like the present, I guess?

I threw up my hands and shouted, "Cero Oscuras!" And just like that, a brilliant yet jet-black cero appeared and exploded forwards, hitting his with a crash of light and a sound like a nuclear power plant exploding.

Whoa.

That felt f**king awesome!

I fired it again just for the thrill that the blackened energy gave me, watching as my reiatsu and his shrieked against each other in a rage. How perfect was this?! Man, I wished this thing worked when I wasn't in resurrección, that would just be amazing.

He leapt off the ground to join me as he refired his Oscuras, this time focusing the energy with all four of his weapons. Then two new arms sprouted from the small of his back and summoned their own scythes, increasing his limbs and weapons to six. The beam exploded outwards and quickly overwhelmed mine—I just leapt above it and fired again to direct the beam down and away from me. But his was creeping up towards me with every passing second, despite my best efforts to push it away.

"If yer so keen on winnin', Pussycat," Nnoitra spat, doubling the force behind his beam with a hellish roar, "then ya've only got maybe ten minutes left before it don't matter anymore!"

"Oh, yeah?" I questioned tersely, pushing harder against his Oscuras with all my might but still being closed in on. There was only so high I could go without needing to breathe, but letting go for even a second would give him the advantage to hit me. "How so?"

"'Cuz unless you beat me and Aria in that time, you can kiss this damn city goodbye. That circle the Giant's drawing? It has a habit of wipin' towns and their inhabitants from the map."

Aria? Was that the green guy I'd seen when the guild had stormed Phantom? Well, that aside, Nnoitra was right about the Giant—I could see (and feel) its presence from here. Lotta feeling today. The massive energy that building was giving off couldn't even begin to compare to a cero. And I wasn't even looking directly at it, nor was I anywhere nearby. Forget Nnoitra's Oscuras—a hit from that sucker was game over for anyone, Espada or not. But what did he have to do with the monster?

"It's over for ya, Sexta! Say hey ta yer Fracciónes fer me!"

F**k. This situation was getting worse by the second. Those phantoms were threatening Magnolia. Not just me or the guild, but the entire city.

But I was in Magnolia.

I had a debt to Magnolia.

And my couch was in Magnolia.

I think the thi—I mean second one was all the convincing I needed to go back to the guild halls. But I'd have to gamble to make it back down through the barrage below.

I twisted my Oscuras and aimed it directly down, and when it hit Nnoitra's it somehow managed to punch through and leave an opening in the whirlwind of energy below me. Not a moment later, I dropped through the opening—but I wasn't as good with timing as I'd hoped and the energy closed around me with a burn just as I crashed through.

Crap. Not so unscathed this time. I felt a stinging ache all over my body, everywhere, and something told me that it'd be hurting a hell of a lot more within a few minutes. But I had to shake it off, I had to keep going. Time wasn't gonna wait for me to feel better.

Behind me, Nnoitra yelled something I couldn't discern and threw a scythe, which I spun away from as he began to follow me once again.

I hit the ground already sprinting, but then I remembered his magic and sonído'd back up into the air as we rocketed back into the main streets of Magnolia.

This time through the city wasn't like my first time. There were people everywhere. Granted, I didn't have to shove a lady and her stroller aside this time, but it was still twice the commotion and a miracle I didn't have to do anything immoral to navigate. I didn't have to blend in with the crowd either—a panther-Hollow hybrid and a six-armed Espada (both of which were running on air) really didn't fit the type of crazy these people lived with.

Besides a hell of a lot of traumatized commoners, though, we didn't kill anybody. I did, however, smash through a few very large buildings to throw Nnoitra off. It didn't work. He pursued relentlessly, still throwing his weapons and regenerating them as I did my best to avoid them and not die.

Oi, Kitty-kun! Pantera said. Ready yet? I'm not gonna sit here and do nothin' while I wait for your to get off your ass.

Poor girl. Well, it didn't feel like the right moment yet, so she'd have to suck it up and wait. "F**k off, cat bitch," I hissed back, just as I caught sight of the guild.

Man, Fairy Tail had really started a losing battle as soon as I'd left. The phantom soldiers had begun to circle around the few fairies I could still see down on the ground—Cana and those two old pervs she was always hanging out with were there, along with the gunslinger duo and a few others whom I couldn't recognize. They looked exhausted, too—not that I cared or anything. A ways out into the water, the giant building was slowly but surely carving a golden circle into the air with one of its hands. The other was holding Mira tightly between its fingers, but it wasn't like I exactly had the time to help out with that. That brother of hers would end up helping her out, I guess, or any of the others.

Wait a sec. The others? I couldn't see anyone else. No Scarlet, Blondie, Stripper or Pyro. Not even the annoying cat. Where the hell was everyone? And if Phantom was after Blondie, why couldn't I see her? Maybe they'd sent her off to keep her safe.

I should've paid more attention to the fight, because when my opponent threw a scythe this time he backed it with a cero and I only just noticed in time. Spinning around in midair, I activated Desgarrón and met the ferocious blast right above the guild hall.

I don't know if anyone had noticed us fighting before, but they definitely knew we were here now. For a moment, the battle below us ceased. Spiritual pressure was falling from the sky all around us, like a momentary rain of deadly glowing blue and golden particles as we clashed.

"Oi, lookit that. The useless fairies got themselves surrounded." Nnoitra sneered as he cut off his attack, twirling his scythes in boredom, and I withdrew Desgarrón as light returned to the sky. "Ya don't have much longer, Pussycat. Five minutes, probably less? At this point, ya got no hope of winning."

"How does that even work? The spell, I mean," I asked, wielding the blades warily. One move from him and the fight would resume—and this time, the fight was close enough to the rest of Fairy Tail that it could present a threat to the guild. But seeing as I was close enough to the giant to probably hit it and deal enough damage to offset whatever spell it was casting, I figured getting some answers in the next few minutes wouldn't hurt.

"How? Well, why should I tell ya?"

"Because, if I've only got five minutes left, I might as well know why?"

His idiotic brain seemed to have trouble deciding whether or not to tell me how the thing worked, but eventually he gave me an answer. Damn confident bastard, so sure he'd beat me that he saw no need to keep secrets from me. "It's fueled by the magic of the Element Four 'n I."

So if I defeated him and took care of that Aria, then this'd be over? I guess I'd kinda expected this. Defeating the strongest was the only way to ensure that Phantom lost. Or…no. There was still their boss and Gajeel, along with the Element Four. Guess there was no easy way outta this. We probably had to beat them all.

"Alright, I answered yer question, so now answer me this," Nnoitra said suddenly, eyeing the edge of his scythe. There was a strange tone to his voice when he asked, "Why'd ya join Fairy Tail?"

That surprised me. I mean, stalling for time was a good strategy on his part—but of all the questions he could've asked, he chose that one?

Well, it was a good choice, because I could have stood there forever trying to answer it myself. Had it been any other question, I would've just ignored it.

I glanced down at the fairies below us, and not a single one wasn't listening. Most of them were still fighting, but Cana was staring directly up at me.

"Because I appeared there," I replied. Didn't want to say more, not with all those people down there. I was thinking a trillion different answers to it, but that was the one I chose.

At that, Nnoitra got angry. "Oh, c'mon!" he yelled, advancing forward. "Yer an Espada, damnit! We're the bad ones here, idiot, so why'd ya join a do-gooder weakling group like them?! F**k, ya must've softened up. If yer really a hunter like ya say, prove it!"

F**k. I saw what he was doing. He was baiting me, biding his time. He knew what would piss me off. And maybe he wanted to actually know the answer, or maybe it was all a ruse, but it was working anyway. I could tell it was working, because instead of wanting to kill him like I had before, some stupid idiotic part of me wanted to know if he had the answer to that question.

The magic circle behind us began to glow, lighting up the water with an eerie golden light. Maybe two minutes left.

"I want an answer!" he roared again. Impossible to tell if he really cared if I answered or not. "A real one!"

And what if I don't have an answer, huh? What then?

I didn't get a chance to actually say any of that to him, though, because out of nowhere a bolt of lightning appeared and struck him head on in an explosion of electric energy.

When the smoke of the impact disappeared, it revealed a smoldering but otherwise unharmed Quinto, who looked ready to murder the caster of that spell. I watched in confusion as he looked down into the crowd at the stupid fairy who'd dared to attack him.

"Who gives a crap why he joined, jackass?" Cana yelled from down below, raising her glowing cards for another strike. She looked worried, yet refused to show any signs of backing down. "He joined, he owes us, and he'll kick your ass if it means he gets a chance to fulfill that debt!"

…Damn. Good answer.

I was starting to see why she was so much easier to tolerate.

Nnoitra's eyes narrowed to vicious slits, and before I could stop her from being an idiot again Cana hurled another one of her cards at him. He sliced through it effortlessly and knocked the explosion of magic to the side with a roar of fury.

As soon as I realized what he was planning, I moved. I sprang forward and slashed with Desgarrón just as he launched himself at Cana, meeting him in midair before he could so much as get within weapon's reach of her.

"Stay away from the fairies," I hissed, landing hit after hit against his scythes and remarkably keeping him from advancing any further.

"Fairies?" A mirthless sneer lit up his face. "Or the girl?"

"All of them!"

"Didn't peg ya for a romantic, Grimmjow!"

Goddamnit. "This conversation is f**king over!"

"Ya seem to care a lot about that little slut," he added as we exchanged rapidfire blows, barely moving from his position as his frown deepened. "What happened ta that killer who called himself the King?!"

"Shut UP!" I roared back, and I pounced as soon as he pushed me off. Launching all ten missiles at once towards him was difficult, but hell—I was angry enough to do it. His face twisted in surprise as he dropped down to the water surface and hovered inches above, Desgarrón rocketing above his head.

Nnoitra flew ahead towards the Phantom guild hall, and little enraged me followed suit over the water's surface. I didn't wanna know the answer to that question anymore—the sooner that bastard was dead, the better!

As soon as he hit the base, he accelerated upwards and sliced through one of the windows on the main body, kicking through and landing somewhere inside. Probably lying in wait for me to go in through the way he'd come in.

But you know me. I don't take the f**king easy way. Windows and doors are for pansies.

I burst directly through the wall in a whirlwind of slashes and claws, the muddled sound of glass and debris clattering against me ringing in my ears. But instead of having a trap set for me, Nnoitra was just standing there, staring at a fight that was occurring in the open chamber in front of him.

Just as I stopped spinning and prepared to take Nnoitra by surprise, I caught sight of the fairy before me and instantly hated my life.

Because the fairy was Erza f**king Scarlet, and she was quite literally kicking the ass of the Element Four's last remaining member.

As soon as I saw her, I halted my assault. Instead, I landed on both feet and stood straight, uncomfortably close to my opponent but too pissed to care.

"...Scarlet." (Picture the poison in my goddamn words when I said that.)

Nnoitra shook his head in contempt and raised his scythes again, and I noticed just in time to avoid and retaliate.

"Oh, hello," she said, giving me a glance over her shoulder as that green-clad fatass toppled backwards unceremoniously and passed out cold. Down goes Aria. Somehow, she found the balls to smirk at me when she added, "And here I thought I'd be left out of the fight."

"You are being left out," I snapped back, darting out of the way as Nnoitra once again attempted to pulverize me. As if he wasn't enough?! Now I had to deal with Scarlet and her bitching. "Stay outta this if you know what's good for you! And aren't you wounded?"

She stalled a little at that—so yeah, I was right. She was just as injured as she had been before. "I didn't know you cared."

"I don't," I retorted. "In fact, just knowing you're injured makes me feel all fuzzy inside."

A smirk from her. "You're too kind, Grimmjow."

Maybe Nnoitra'd been trying to pretend she wasn't there, that he didn't have to deal with a bitch like her either, but eventually he grumbled to himself and seemed to accept it. He leapt back to a safe distance from me, staring at Scarlet like he wanted to run her through. Although he kinda stares at everyone that way. "Titania," he snarled.

Oh, yeah, that's right. They'd fought earlier today, while I was busy trying to get him not to fight her. How do I forget these things?

She returned his volatile greeting with a cold nod. "I suppose I should call you Nnoitra."

"You bitch."

"Come now, we can at least be civil about this."

"About what?!" he snapped, maybe even more annoyed than I was. "What part of battle's there ta be f**king civil about?! Christ, yer almost 's bad as her!"

Okay, he did have a pretty good point. Fights aren't exactly well-known for being polite affairs. But if Scarlet understood or even cared about what he was saying, she didn't show it as she advanced towards us with a sigh.

"Scarlet," I ground out again, "stay outta this. This. Isn't. Your. Fight."

"Nonsense. Who cares whose fight this is? You helped me in my own fight against Jupiter," she reminded me calmly, requipping to a set of leopardskin armor and two identical katanas. Maybe this was the result of a strained sense of humor at work, but her armor also included cat ears. "I'm simply returning the favor."

"Favor?" I couldn't hold in the scoff. "I don't need your help, redhead—"

"It don't matter if ya get help or not, Sexta," Nnoitra said with a scowl. "Titania won't be a challenge, ya'll both be dead soon enough."

Scarlet changed her approach to the both of us, particularly to me. "Who has the stronger number?" she asked, so calmly that I almost believed she didn't know the answer. "You, or him?"

I was gonna kill that broad one day.

"Right. So we fight as a team."

We were all silent for a tense moment, Nnoitra in particular as he glared at the two of us, before Scarlet added one last something to her statement.

"By the way, Grimmjow..." She sweatdropped. "Sorry for changing the subject of the conversation, but…er...you wouldn't happen to know where Natsu ran off to, would you?"

I was gonna regret asking this, but… "Why?"

"Because I may have...lost him?"

Oh joy.

...

Mirajane

...

Hi!

I don't think you've heard anything from me yet. Well, you probably know who I am from Cana and Laxus at this point, but I wouldn't trust anything Laxus told you about me, and Cana was most likely tipsy. And judging from the fact that Grimmjow keeps referring to me as the "bat bitch", I take it his words don't hold much merit either. So let me reintroduce myself correctly.

I'm Mirajane Strauss, and as of this moment, I am very very confused.

Why? Because, even now, I'm still trying to figure out when the hell everything went to shit. And if you know me, you also know I'm not big on cursing, so you can clearly understand my confusion.

Let's rewind a little first, back to me standing in the middle of the battlefield to hand myself over to Phantom. Looking back on it, it really wasn't my brightest idea. I'd been a fool to do what I had done. Sending Lucy away to our safe house was smart, but that was it. Trying to trick Jose into taking me instead of Lucy by changing my appearance? Idiotic.

Well, he'd taken me anyway. In fact, I was pinned between the ginormous metallic fingers of the giant's left hand, with Jose cackling at me from somewhere inside the safe haven of his headquarters.

And not only that. But as soon I as I was caught, one of the walls nearest me exploded, and suddenly I could see my little brother Elfman being pulverized by Sol of the Element Four. All because I had failed to hold him back, too. Because I had let him fight.

Why I couldn't do anything right was beyond me.

Just hold on a minute, it gets better. As I watched, my brother began to glow from the energy of using the strongest spell in his repertoire—a full-body Takeover, the one which had accidentally killed our little sister Lisanna. He'd never been able to successfully do it before, and honestly the idea of him trying to do it again was more than I could take. Sol didn't even seem to consider it a threat—I almost felt sorry for the poor bastard. If Elfman snapped on him he was through.

The same went for me. Just because I was Elfman's sister didn't mean I was safe.

Somehow, Elfman managed to pull the transformation off and assumed the form of the Beast that had attacked Lisanna. And I had definitely been right in feeling sorry for the Phantom—because when Elfman turned on Sol, he didn't hold anything back. Almost twenty times Sol's size, my beastly brother wasted no time in mercilessly

And then, as if crying for my brother to stop wasn't enough of a trauma, halfway through the pummeling I noticed Grimmjow and that scythe-wielder smashing through the side of the Giant nearest me. I'd been able to feel their fight in the city as it was happening, as well as the massive energy that they'd given off in the skies above Fairy Tail and Magnolia, but none of that was comparable to what I felt when they passed within a few meters of me. It was a crushing strength, like an enormous pressure was being emitted from every fiber of their beings and all trying to crush me at once, and yet at the same time I barely felt anything.

Because the Giant was still holding me, I wasn't able to protect myself as an explosive rain of debris fell upon me, and coupled with the immense pressure of the two Hollows it was almost too much to deal with. When the smoke and dust from the impact faded, I couldn't hear or see either one of them anymore—they had probably crashed further into the interior than they'd planned. But I could see that Elfman had already pounded the living daylights out of the final member of the Element Four, officially defeating the group once and for all.

"Elfman," I whispered to myself, and somehow even that was enough for him to hear. Still in his beast form, he vaulted out of the interior of the building, landing directly above me on the Giant's wrist. There was no sign of caring or even recognition in his eyes as he stared down to me. "Elfman, please come back to me. I can't lose you too…"

Miraculously, that snapped him out of it. The color flooded back into those beastly eyes of his, and he pushed the Giant's hand open so that he could drag me out of it. Not a moment after freeing me, he wrapped me in a giant hug (not a pun, it was really huge) and started crying.

"I'm so sorry for worrying you, big sis…I promise I'll be stronger next time."

…Yep. That's my little brother.

Maybe things hadn't gone to shit after all.

I returned his gesture and found tears coming to my own eyes as I tugged him even tighter into the embrace. Part of me was content just to hold him there, and stay there forever.

But the other part of me was trying to understand what had just happened. For some reason, the magic energies of the Element Four had entirely disappeared from my perception, which was a feat in and of itself. Maybe they'd all been defeated already? That must've been it.

"Mira? Something wrong?" Elfman had already returned to his normal form (and the crying had stopped), and was staring at me as I watched the Giant in confusion. Perceptive.

The circle was nearly finished. Maybe ten yards of inscription remained before it would be entirely complete.

I shook myself out of it and pulled myself away from our embrace, wiping my eyes and eventually putting on a smile. "No. Honestly, I'm just a little confused about why the Giant hasn't stopped. I had a theory," I admitted, "that maybe the Giant ran on the energy of the Element Four."

"Well, what changed your mind?"

"Two things. First, the fact that the new Phantom member doesn't seem to be worried about it. When he was fighting, I didn't feel any need to rush from him. He was taking everything at his own pace, which leads me to think he might have something on us."

"What's the other?"

I held up a hand to stop him. "Hold on—we should meet up with Gray now. He went towards the roof, right?" He nodded. "Great; I'll tell you while we head there," I said, and we both began to run as fast as we could back into the building.

Elfman gave me a few moments before asking again. "So you think that Phantom's new Man had something to hide?"

"Yes. The other thing I find interesting is that the Giant hasn't stopped moving. Think about it—all four of them are defeated, and yet the monster's almost finished the inscription it was working on. This leads me to think that the Giant's running on some other energy instead. In fact, it's perfectly possible that it's being powered entirely now by the new member."

We shot up a flight of stairs as Elfman muttered something to himself. "Damn...that must be some power, to get his thing off its feet..."

"Not necessarily," I said. "Remember how Grimmjow doesn't have any knowledge of magic? It's perfectly possible that this other Hollow doesn't have it either. Szayel does, of course, but I guess he's a...a special case."

"That Nnoitra'd need magic for this, Mira."

"Maybe."

He didn't argue anymore, just ran beside me in silence as we made it up to the top floor of the building. Wow, Jose actually put a penthouse in his guild hall? Well, it would've been a nice suite if everything hadn't been either waterlogged or frozen. We'd found our man.

"Gray?" I yelled, cupping my hands around my mouth. "You there?"

"Mira, that you?" Gray's voice echoed down, and a moment later his head appeared just above one of the skylights. "C'mon up."

Elfman gave me a boost to the window level and then followed me up, where Gray greeted us with a salute. "Yo, Elfman, Mira."

"Yo," Elfman responded. "What're you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Elfman took care of Sol downstairs, so we headed up here to meet you."

Gray hummed. "Oh, you ran into one of 'em too?"

"And I kicked that Mansewer Soul's ass!"

"That's...that's not how you say it."

"Bite me!"

"Stop it, you two," I snapped, and instantly they were civil again. I don't know why, but everyone just seems to listen to me for some reason when I get upset. "Gray, you fought one of them too?"

He nodded and stepped aside, revealing the blue-clad girl lying unconscious behind him. That one was the Element Four Rainwoman, Juvia Lockser. "Didn't seem to do much, though. The Giant's still writing."

"Yeah," I replied. "It's possible that Grimmjow's new 'friend' is the one powering it."

"That so?" He took a long look towards the torso of the Giant way below us. "Yeah, I noticed those two barreling in there a few minutes ago.

"So you also took one of them down, eh?" My brother snorted his approval, then turned his gaze to Juvia. He nudged her shoulder with his toe, getting no reaction save for what almost sounded like a contented sigh. "What's with that creepy-ass grin on her face?"

"I-I dunno. Good dream, maybe?"

I sighed and wagged a finger at him chidingly, and instantly our notorious stripper began to sweat. "Gray, you didn't accidentally touch her in a bad place, did you?"

"I-I DID NOT W-WHY WOULD YOU EVEN ASSUME THAT"

"You sick perv." Elfman rolled his eyes in disgust.

"LOOK I JUST FELL LIKE THAT AND SHE WAS THERE AND I ACCIDENTALLY GRABBED HER THERE OK"

"WAIT HOLD ON WHAT?!"

"GRAY THAT IS A VERY, VERY BAD THING TO DO YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!"

"ACCIDENTAL I SWEAR!"

"ACCIDENTAL MY ASS!"

"Oh...Gray-sama...so that's my beloved's name..."

All three of us turned to Juvia as she stared in shock at Gray, and then passed out once again with that grin.

Before Gray could throw himself off the rooftop and down into the sea (and believe me, he looked ready to), I heard the sound of someone calling out towards us. "LUUUUUUUUUCYYYYYYYYY?! ARE YA HIDIN' UP HERE? C'MON OUT!"

A shadow passed over the rooftop, and we all turned up to see our Dragon Slayer and his cat accomplice plummet down to crash onto the building's surface beside us. Gray seemed relieved that Natsu's impromptu appearance had saved him from me—but not to worry, I'd

"Owww…Huh?" Natsu blinked twice and dragged himself into a sitting position—he'd landed directly on his back, not the smartest move in my opinion. "Mira? You're not Lucy."

...No kidding. If even Natsu could tell how different I was, then clearly Jose hadn't been fooled. "Why would you even assume Lucy was here?"

He was on his feet before I realized. "Well..."

He went on to explain (ramble) how he had gone looking for Gajeel, had ended up in a fight with Aria but had quickly run away when he "felt Erza coming for his soul", and then decided to search for Lucy but had somehow gotten lost along the way.

I won't even pretend that any of that even made sense besides looking for Gajeel. Although I guess his fear of Erza was well founded.

"That still doesn't explain why you'd think she's here, numbnuts," Gray quipped; but instead of instigating a fight like usual, Natsu just looked nervous. It was a weird look on a Dragon Slayer, and even stranger on Natsu.

"Well, I thought I felt neko-chan's energy around here," he replied nonchalantly, but it didn't take a genius to see that he was faking it. "…Figured he was goin' after Luce by now, so I went to check."

"Neko-chan? You mean Grimmjow?" Gray scoffed. "God, Natsu, no need to be jealous of the blue bastard."

"I AM NOT JEALOUS I'M PROTECTIVE"

"Of what?!"

"Gaah, none of you believe me! That cat bastard is bad news, I tell you!" Natsu fumed fruitlessly as Gray looked on with no expression. "Look, he's crazy! What right does he have to like Lucy?! WE HAD HER FIRST!"

"We never 'had' her. We don't own her."

"Well I still think she shouldn't like him!"

"If Lucy likes him, let her like him. If he likes her, then it sucks to be you."

"Shut it, Elfman! This is between me and Freezerface over here!"

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME, NIMROD!?"

"DON'T LEAVE THE REAL MAN OUTTA THIS!"

For some reason that I couldn't even remotely comprehend, all three boys screamed, "LUCY'S MINE!" and then promptly began to beat the living daylights out of each other.

Is this actually how boys get about us? My, my. I don't think Elfman even likes anyone in the guild at all, and we all know Gray's the subject of every fangirl's secret admiration—so the fact that the two of them suddenly seemed more than happy to obsess over Lucy was more than I could understand.

"If you're wondering where Lucy is, Natsu," I said, "I sent her with Reedus to the safe house in the city. You'd probably find her there."

"AND SHE HAS THE BIGGEST—wait, hold up." Natsu snapped out of his furor faster than physically possible and stepped away from the fight, letting Gray and my little brother now fight for no good reason. "She's in the city?"

"Safe house."

"Which way?"

I pointed off towards the building, a little to the south and west of the park. "Just that way, near the outskirts."

"Great! Happy, you ready?"

"Aye!" the cat yelled back, raising a hand up high and sprouting his wings. "Let's go!"

But before they could get even a few feet off the ground, an enormous explosion echoed outwards from the Giant's hands, instantly wreaking havoc on the ocean below us. The second the explosion was through, a wave of magic pulsed forward from the circle and knocked the duo out of the sky.

"Oh no! Natsu, Happy!" I yelled, but before I could do anything my balance was ripped away from me and I nearly stumbled off the edge of the platform. It was only my brother grabbing me and bringing me back up that saved me—but a moment later, everyone else was in the same situation as the Giant began to wildly shake. Its hands had moved up to support the circle, almost as if it was holding it up to keep it from falling.

"It's getting ready to fire! Stay back, big sis!"

A mechanical woman's voice echoed around us through some sort of PA system:

[Attention, Phantom Lord—the Giant's magic circle is complete. Abyss Break firing in three. Two. One.]

"HIT THE DECK!" Gray roared, and we all obliged as a crippling wind began to shoot out from the fingers of the Giant. Along with it came a black magic glow so venomous, and so intense, that I was absolutely certain it was going to kill us all.

Fairy Tail was doomed.

[Zero.]

…

Stats

...

Totomaru: Defeated

Monsieur Sol: Defeated

Juvia Lockser: Defeated

Aria: Defeated

Gajeel Redfox: Unknown

Nnoitra Gilga: Currently battling Grimmjow Jaegerjaques and Erza Scarlet

Jose Porla: Unknown

…

I FINISHED

YA-FREAKIN-TTA

See? Canon came, I trashed it. I actually cannot wait to rewrite the fight between Gajeel and Natsu, I'm so excited! :)

Side note! Which Arrancar, if any, would you like to appear during Fighting Festival arc? I've been kinda torn on this in my planning, because honestly I've been brainstorming so much for Tower, Edolas and GMG that I haven't gotten much thought into the other arcs. Please PM me or leave it in the reviews if you have a preference! Keep in mind that I already have definite plans for Tier, Ulquiorra, Nnoitra, and Starrk as of now, so those are out of the question, but the rest is up to your suggestion.

Next Chapter! I apologize in advance for Jose's failure to realize that Nnoitra's not that great with magic. I also apologize in Natsu's place for scaring the crap out of Lucy and accidentally setting the safe house on fire. Whoops?

Until then, ciao!