Elfman's Sorrow

Meanwhile, back inside of the Phantom guildhall, Happy finishes telling the three guys what he learned from his scouting trip and is looking extremely scared. Natsu, looking pissed off yet again at the actions of Phantom Lord starts to rage in place. Gray and Elfman on the other hand try to stay calm and composed to try to think of a way to stop Abyss Break.

"We have no choice but to spilt up and find the power moving this giant." says Gray more calmly than he feels.

"Man… out of the frying pan and into the fire…" Elfman grumbles, getting fed up with Phantom Lord. Natsu holds a fist in front of his face as determination fills his features.

"Okay then. Let's do it!" he states gruffly.

"Yeah!" the other two grunt out in agreement as they all get pumped up to stop Phantom Lord and to save their home. The four quickly separate into three groups, each hoping to find the power source.

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After he has run down a few empty halls and meeting no other Phantom mages,  

Elfman growls before shouting out, "The Man, Elfman, will protect Fairy Tail with his life!", in effort to keep his fighting spirits up.

A few seconds later a strange echoing voice fills the hall asking, "Oui?" Elfman stops in puzzlement, wondering who said that. Before his eyes, a strange being pops out of the floor with green hair and a brown suit.

"Salut!" cries out Monsieur Sol in greeting.

"An Element 4?" asks Elfman, noticing the power the strange being is radiating. He pulls off his jacket so he can have a better range of movement for the fight he is about to have.

"My name is Sol! Please call me Monsieur Sol!" The Element 4 mage calls out happily as he wobbles back and forth, still connected to the ground. Hearing that name, Elfman realizes that he is facing one of the two mages that not only kidnapped Lucy, but almost killed the newest member of the guild, Krysti.

"Perfect timing. I'll force you to tell me how to stop this giant." Elfman states confidently while his magic increases before he shouts out, "Beast Arm!", as he activates it. His magic circle appears over his upraised fist and engulfs his arm. When it disappears, Elfman's right arm is now covered in short black fur.

"Black Bull." he finishes seeming much calmer than just a second before.

Giving Elfman an intense look, Sol asks, "Oh? Just your right arm? Are you sure?" Elfman just grunts and readies his stance for attack or defense. "It seems the rumors were true." Sol says happily while wiggling in the air like a worm coming out of a hole in the ground.

"I've had enough of your blabbing!" Elfman calls out in irritation. He rushes forward, fully intending on landing a solid punch on the annoying brown-suited man. Sol jumps out of the way jump before Elfman's fist make contact at the floor where Sol was merged with.

Slyly, he asks Elfman, "Didn't you have a little sister?" Caught off guard, Elfman doesn't pursue Sol as the other man limberly back flips away from the larger man to gain some distance.

When there is enough distance, Sol calls out an attack, "Sable Dance!" Wind and dust gets kicked up, temporarily blinding Elfman. He brings up his magic enhanced arm to block the dust from getting into his eyes. Sol quickly melts into the floor and reforms behind Elfman to get him at a blind spot.

"Roche Concerto!" Sol cries out as he goes in for another attack as Elfman is turning to face him. The rubble under the Fairy Tail mage is blasted upwards, knocking Elfman into the air. Recovering quickly, Elfman hops backwards a few times to put more distance between him and the Element 4 mage before another attack could be made.

"Non, non, non…" Sol calls out before quickly merging with the floor again. Expecting another attack from behind, Elfman quickly turns to find Sol with his incredibly flexible body wrapped around his arm like a snake.

"Salut!" Sol says happily, like they aren't fighting.

"You really creep me out." Elfman growls out as he gets uncomfortable having the other man wrapped around his arm. He grabs a hold of Sol's body and tries to pry him off.

"Non, non, non…" Sol calls out again. "Three nons and you're in quite a sad state."

Grunting with the effort of trying to get the other man off of him, Elfman demands, "Unhand me, Monster Sol!"

"Monsieur!" Sol cries out the correction to his name just as he starts to stretch again. With a quick snap of his muscles, he is back to normal and right in front of Elfman. A quick flick of his foot and he gives the Fairy Tail mage a swift kick in the face before merging his feet with the floor again. Elfman recovers from the hit and grits his teeth in annoyance at how strong the other guy is.

"Speaking of which…" Sol says conversationally like they were discussing something trivial over a cup of tea instead of having a battle.

His expression hardens and an intense look of malice takes over as he continues, "You failed at a complete body takeover and went out of control…" Guilt racks through Elfman's body at the mention of his past.

He pulls himself together enough to shout out furiously, "Enough! Beast Arm Iron Bull!" Jumping into the air, Elfman plans on giving Sol a mighty punch straight to the face to make him stop talking about painful memories he has no right in knowing. Halfway into his attack, a stone statue in the likeness of a girl appears in front of Sol. It appeared so suddenly and looks so real that Elfman instantly breaks off his attack.

"Lisanna!" He cries out in dismay.

"I apologize." Sol says unapologetically as he continues to wiggle like a worm. "But as you were stepping on me previously, I read the gap in your memory." Elfman snarls at this piece of news, disturbed and enraged that this mage had the audacity to read his mind and use his painful past as a shield.

"Why you,…" Elfman growls out, planning on really putting the hurt on this guy. Sol places his hands on the statue's shoulders while giving it leer.

"What a precious little sister of yours." He then look over to Elfman with a smirk on his face.

"I wonder where she might be now?" Sol's eyes widen as that malicious look appears again. "Oh, how rude of me. She's buried in the cold, dark ground isn't she? Oh, how sad." As Sol talks about Elfman's little sister, the larger man lets his arm transform back to normal as he stares at the statue of Lisanna.

"How could you do such a cruel thing?" Sol continues, sounding remorseful. Elfman hears his sister's voice in his head and he howls out in rage and grief, trying to shake off the painful memories.

"I won't be deceived… I got to do this!" he cries out as he tries to accomplish a full body takeover instead of just his right arm.

"Non, non, non…" says Sol as he strokes his moustache in a villainous way. "You can't do that. What would happen if you made a debacle of a full body Take Over, and you lost control?" Out of the floor, more statues of Lisanna appeared.

"Did you forget what happened last time?" Sol cries out, enjoying the mental torment he is putting the Fairy Tail mage through. He made the statues look even more life-like than before and even started having them move just like they were alive.

"Elf-niichan… How could you forget…How cruel… Why?" The statues repeated, over and over again and in her voice. Elfman tried to ignore his sister's accusing voice, tired to ignore the statues that looked just like her, tried to ignore the memories.

"Don't do it, Elf-niichan." her voice pleads out to him full of sisterly love and concern. With that, his concentration broke and he fell to his knees, consumed in the grief that her death has brought.

"You shouldn't try to do what you can't handle." Sol's smug voice carries over to Elfman. "It seems your magic power has weakened considerably."

Shaking with the effort of trying to control his sorrow, he growls out, "You coward… If you're a Man, then fight me fair and square, fist to fist.

"If I'm a man, you say?" asks Sol, his expression unchanging.

His voice lowers into a more menacing tone. "Non, non, non… I cannot let that pass." With a wave of his arms, the Lisanna statues break down and fly above Sol's head. A flat swirling disc of dust.

"Not from someone with no right to question the manliness of others. Trash like you who killed his little sister!" Sol yells out at the end, like he is planning on exacting retribution from Elfman's mistake. The accusation stabs Elfman in the heart, but he could feel that perhaps, Sol was right?

"Platre Sonate!" cries out Sol. A rock fist appearing in front of him and shooting away straight towards Elfman. The blast hit the wall so hard that it was seen from the outside.

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While this is happening, Cana rejoined the battle a while after talking to Mira. Krysti is checking up on Erza while the white-haired woman is standing again by the window looking up at the Phantom guildhall. Cana's words echo through her mind about how her little brother has been able to move forward from what happened 2 years ago.

Determination to do everything she can to save her home and to move forward fills her heart. Without thinking it through, she comes upon a decision and acts upon it. With quick strides, she marches out of the guildhall and out onto the beach.

"Mira! What are you doing? Get back here!" Krysti calls out, but her pleas fall upon deaf ears. The white-haired beauty of Fairy Tail is making a move and no one can stop her. The other members of Fairy Tail are in shock when they see her walk across the beach towards Phantom Lord and all the while wearing Lucy's face.

Her friends call out to her to stop, but she ignores them as well. About halfway onto the beach, she throws out her arms and uses her magic to make her voice sound like Lucy.

"You people are looking for me, right? Stop your attack on the guild this instant!" she screams out for José to hear. Many of the Fairy Tail members feel their faces growing pale as they realize what Mira is doing. She stands her ground with a grim mask of determined anger, hoping that her ruse will buy the guild time to stop Phantom Lord. The gruff voice of José  rolls out over the beach.

"Be gone. You damn imposter!" he shouts out angrily. Shock fills Mira's features. She doesn't understand how he was able to see through her transformation so easily. José grows amused at seeing the dumbfounded looks on the Fairy's faces.

"Ha! I knew from the start! I knew Lucy wasn't there. There's no way that the person who was targeted would be sent to the front lines!" he crows out in a gloating tone. Mira drops her transformation as her spirits fall from the defeat of the only gambit she had to help.

The rest of the guild also feels the blow and their morale drops somewhat at the apparent ease that the leader of Phantom Lord has in able to see through their attempt at deception. The young woman stands in the midst of the battle with her eyes downcast, feeling helpless in not being able to do anything for her guild. Cana comes up and wraps an arm around Mira's shoulder as she starts to break down and cry.

"Don't worry. Elfman can fight. Because he's a Fairy Tail wizard, too!" The brunette's words stops Mira's tears and the shorter woman glares up at the Phantom guildhall where her brother is fighting within. Cana goes back to fighting the Shades as some come real close to where she and Mira are standing.

A green glow from a magic circle appears underneath Mira, causing her to gasp out in shock. Suddenly she falls through the circle as if the ground has opened up under her. She let out a cry of panic as Cana screams out Mira's name in fear.

The white-haired woman appears a second later within the grasp of the transformed guildhall, caught between the fingers like a bug. She gives out a cry of pain at the pressure the fingers are putting on her.

A now familiar, but hated, voice rolls across the beach, "I detest girls like this who try to deceive me. Witness your friend's final moments as I crush her slowly." Most of the guild can only stand by helplessly as they watch their beloved friend being held captive.

They cry out in a mix of anger and fear. Soon, an explosion within the Phantom guild hall catches their attention and startles Mira who was near the blast. As the dust clears she can see her little brother in the rubble of the busted up wall.

"Elfman!" His older sister screams out, trying to catch his attention to find out if he is hurt. Her cry catches his attention and he opens up one eye to see her being held by the Phantom Lord guildhall's hand.

"Elfman!" she screams out again, terrified that he might be badly injured. He pushes himself to flip over on his stomach to look out over the edge of the hole, still feeling dazed from that last attack by Sol.

"What?" he says, trying to make sense of what is going on. After all, shouldn't his older sister be back in their guildhall where it is safer? Concentrating, his mind refocuses and he sees that it wasn't just his imagination. His sister really is being help captive!

"Why? Why are you there?" he shouts out in fear. "Nee-chan!" he screams.

"Oh? So she is your elder sister?" Sol's voice comes out from behind Elfman. "Which means she was once the feared Devil, Mirajane-sama? Lost so much of her magical power… What a pity. And who could be to blame for that? She is being punished for attempting to deceive us."

Sol's voice takes on a note of glee. "It won't be long until she is crushed." Gritting her teeth from the crushing pain, Mira looks up to see one of the Element 4 behind the prone form of her little brother.

"Run… Run, Elfman!" she cries out in warning.

"Let my sister go!" Elfman cries out towards Sol and the rest of Phantom Lord in anguish, not wanting to lose his other sister as well.

Moving ever closer to Elfman, Sol says with a note of finality, "You will lose your elder sister right before your eyes, just like the younger. And that is because you're an impotent wizard who does nothing but spouts bluffs about manliness!" Without warning, a magic circle appears behind Elfman causing him to cry out in pain.

"As a gentleman, I cannot forgive you. I will give you eternal suffering. Sealing Magic, Merci le Vie!" Sol cries out. Elfman's hands go to each side of his head and his cries of pain intensify. Mira can only watch on helplessly as her little brother is tortured.

"You will become one with the land, and continue to wander for eternity inside your own unpleasant memories!" Sol cries out victoriously.

"No!" cries out Elfman in pain and horror before he succumbs to the magic and is dragged into recalling that terrible day.

The day Lisanna died.