Titania In The Air

Erza makes it back inside the guildhall, no longer needing or wanting me to help support her. I honestly feel the same way, I would much rather bear the pain of walking on my own than have someone act as a crutch. She stops a few feet in and slowly moves her head from side-to-side as if surveying the damage inside.

I take a seat on the table that she was on just moments ago to ease my pain. It wasn't until I was up and moving about that I realize how injured I really am. Thinking back at why I'm injured makes me grow steadily angrier. I grit my teeth and clench my fists. (Those bastards, if I can get my hands on either one of those Phantom wizards, I swear I'm going to make them pay.)

The sound of a wood splintering crash from nearby brings me out of my thoughts and I spin to see Erza's metal-clad hand embedded in one of the tables. (When did she Requip?) Pushing aside my resentful thoughts, I hurry over towards her to make sure she didn't injure herself further.

"I can't just stand here like some helpless child as the rest of my guild is doing everything they can to fight!" her low tone of anger slows my steps. (Well, looks like she is as angry as I am at those bastards. Really wish I didn't lose the translator. Not knowing what she is saying is so annoying.) Seeming to sense my presence, Erza turns to face me with anger in her eyes.

"I'm going to go help Natsu and the others. I know what you're going to say and it doesn't matter. This is my family and I'm going to do everything I can to help save them. Even if that means I die." I tilt my head in confusion, wishing that I was able to pick up more than Natsu's name.

I stare into her eyes and I can see that whatever she said that she is completely serious about this and will not waver. (I... think she wants to fight.) My own anger at my helplessness to protect the people I call family flares up. (I feel the same way she does, I want to fight and to protect them with everything I have.)

My conviction firm, I clasp a hand onto her shoulder and say, "I want to fight with you." After a fleeting moment of confusion crosses her face, it hardens into the confident, no-nonsense expression that is normal of Erza. It seems that she understands my intent if not my words. Not breaking eye contact she nods in agreement and we both share a small smirk.

As one, we turn to face the beach before marching quickly out of the guildhall once more. My body aches with pain, but I push it aside to focus on what may be laying ahead. Soon I hear cries of our guild members calling out to us, pleading something unintelligible.

Their pleas went unheeded. As a Shade makes its way towards us, Erza summons a sword and slashes it to pieces without stopping her purposeful stride. Very quickly we reach the edge of the beach and I look up at the massive giant.

"So…. How do we get up in that thing?" I ask of Erza. Without saying a word, she Requips into a black armor with wings that are very reminiscent of a demonic look. I shudder in fear and turn to look away from her as I gather up my courage. (Dammit, why does it have to look like a demon?)

She looks at me and out of the corner of my eye, I see a look of understanding on her face. She takes an armored hand and covers my eyes so I can't see anything. I close them and her hand moves away.

"Now what?" Is all I'm able to voice out before a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist and suddenly I'm in the air. My throat closes in fear as the wind blows against my face and I can't touch the ground. My eyes open with the shock and the only sound I was able to make was a small whimper as I see how fast we are approaching the front of the building.

Realizing we are about to crash, I shut my eyes again as a small shriek escapes my throat. (FUCK!) I scream out in my mind. A loud crash is accompanied by the pain of my body landing on a hard surface. I feel myself rolling for a while before coming naturally to a stop.

I stay where I am, feeling stunned by the quick succession of events. A small groan catches my attention and I open up one eye slightly to see the world wobbling around dizzily.

"What the hell?" I croak out before clearing my throat. Within seconds the world steadied itself and I feel brave enough to open both eyes. Looking around I see a broken window with a trail of broken glass that leads to me.

(That's one way to make an entrance…) I carefully place my hands on the floor and go to push myself to get back on my feet. Pain stabs through me, greater than before.

"I'm going to feel that one in the morning," I comment to myself. Finally standing up on unsteady legs, I turn to see Erza already marching purposely down a hallway. I grumble nonsensical words under my breath to vent out the slight frustration I feel due to the redhead not waiting up for me.

With a bit of a lurch and a limp, I follow after her hoping to catch up. After two separate hallways that took much longer than I would have liked to walk down, I started to yell at Erza's back.

"Any chance can you please slow down to let me catch up?!" Feeling more than a bit irritated by now. I can see her figure jerk to a stop and start to turn towards me before she stops again. It almost looks like she tilted her head to listen to something. Just as I'm opening my mouth to ask what is going on, she suddenly takes off like a flash.

I stop in surprise, my jaw flapping uselessly and no sound leaking out of it. Soon my shock changes into full-blown frustration. I growl wordlessly as I start limping along again, faster than before. Determined to catch up and give Erza a piece of my mind.

_______________________

Happy covers his eyes with his paws, not wanting to believe that Natsu has lost. A loud meaty thwack catches his attention and he lifts his head to gawk in wonderment. As if sent by the gods, Erza has appeared at the very last second and saved Natsu before the Airspace spell could be completed.

His greenish skin turns back to its normally slightly tanned hue. As Aria is knocked back by a flying kick to his face, he quickly disappears again. Erza lands softly in a crouch and tries to sense where Aria can be before he attacks again.

Happy jumps high into the air while shouting gleefully, "Erza!" He is waving his paws like crazy from pure joy that Erza has rescued Natsu from the same fate as their Master. Natsu is also glad that she saved him before he realizes that Erza, who is heavily injured from defending the guild from Jupiter, is here.

Fighting.

"Hey, is it okay for you to move with that injury?" he calls out in concern. For despite how terrified he is of her anger, she is still a big sister to him and he cares very much about her well being. Erza stands up quickly while turning towards Natsu and Happy with an angry glare on her face. Immediately frightened, Happy and Natsu cling to each other thinking for a moment that they are the ones she is angry with.

"Erza's angry!" Happy shouts out in terror. The wind wizard of Phantom Lord reappears again just a few feet further behind Natsu than where he was when he got kicked.

Ignoring the antics of her guildmates, she asks them in a serious tone, "He's the one who did that to the Master?"

"Erza Scarlet?" Aria asks in surprise. "How sad," he says with a grin that doesn't match his words. "For me to have the head of not only Salamander but Titania as well!" he almost crows gleefully.

Erza's glare hardens as her voice deepens from her anger, but yet stays calm as she states, "So you're the bastard who laid hands on him." Her voice then cracks like a whip, causes the other two Fairy Tail mages to flinch from fear. "He's like a father to us!"

"Erza!" Natsu calls out worriedly. Despite being at the wrong end of Erza's strength before, he knows that Aria is not a pushover in power and she is already weakened from her injuries.

The large man in green starts to chuckle in amusement. "Since I get to actually face Erza then I suppose I have no choice, but to fight seriously!" He says in a happy manner. Those words make Natsu's blood run cold as he stares at Aria in disbelief.

The dragon slayer fought against the wind mage with everything he has and here Aria claims that he wasn't even being serious. It is like Natsu was just a warm up exercise for the large man.

Natsu didn't like this feeling of weakness, not one bit. His fists clench in frustration that he couldn't even land a hit on the enemy in front of them. As he spoke, Aria moves his hands up from their attack position and towards his face.

With a quick flourish, he takes off the bandages around his eyes. Opening them reveals purple eyes that dilate in size and that gain a strange white X symbol in the middle within a couple of seconds.

"Come, Titania!" Aria taunts. A wind coming from the man blows throughout the hall and disturbs the dust. It swirls around, showing more of where the air currents are going than blocking the Fairy Tail mages' view.

The man in a green cloak hunches down as he calls out loudly, "Activate the Airspace of Death, Zero!" As he gathers the power to cast the spell, Aria explains what it will do to them once it hits.

"This Airspace will consume all life within it!" He states proudly before increasing the power output and causing the wind within the hall to become a raging gale. Erza stands like a statue, unfazed by Aria's threat and show of power.

Natsu has to brace himself against the wind as it proves much stronger than he expected.

He raises one hand to help protect his eyes from the stinging dust while Happy is barely holding onto his scarf to keep from flying away in the wind.

"This isn't good at all!" the little cat cries out in fear.

"Magic that consumes life?" Erza questions in a calm, but hard voice as she summons a sword to her hand.

"How? How can you take people's lives so easily?" she asks Aria harshly while pointing her sword at him with an outstretched arm.

"You villain!" Erza growls out.

Unperturbed by the questions, Aria exclaims, "Now, let's enjoy this!"

"Erza!" Natsu screams out in fear as Erza charges forward. Her eyes reflect the determination and fury that is within her.

"Can you withstand this Airspace?" Aria asks haughtily as he stands still, waiting for Erza to fall prey to his spell. With a sudden movement and a yellow glow, he activates the life draining magic. Erza ducks her head to avoid getting blinded by the flash of light as she continues in a headlong rush towards the strongest of the Element 4. She swings her sword back with a two-handed grip to prepare to slice anything in front of her.

Letting out a guttural cry of anger, she swings her sword as hard as she can in front of her to cut away at the magic. The pressure of air created by the mighty swing cleaves through the Airspace of Death, allowing her to safely get closer.

Startled beyond anything he has ever felt before, Aria utters a loud, "Impossible!" before continuing with, "She's slicing through the Airspace?!" in dismay. Still using mighty swings, Erza cuts her way through the wind magic to get ever closer to Aria. When in range, Erza jumps high enough through the Airspace to be above Aria's spell. A glow surrounds her as she Requips into a ball gown-like armor with 2 pairs of angelic wings. Two swords are in her hands, crossed at the blades.

Bringing both swords back until her arms are crossed at the elbows, the armored redhead yells out, "Heaven's Wheel!" As she slices the air in front of her, a multitude of swords that are summoned from the attack rain down on Aria in a furious fashion. Still stunned from the fact Erza was able to slice through his Airspace so easily, Aria doesn't even have a chance to dodge the powerful attack.

The wings of her armor allow Erza to glide past Aria almost instantly just as he is hit the by another powerful slicing attack made by her as she cries out in fury, "Blumenblatt!"

With a strangled cry, he falls to the ground defeated. In a manner of a few seconds, Erza Scarlet, otherwise known as Titania the Queen of the Fairies, defeats the last of the Element 4. She glides softly to the ground, with her back facing Aria.

In a mixture of joy, shock, horror, and awe Happy cries out, "She beat him in one hit!"

Natsu cries out, more in fear than anything else, "Erza's dangerous, that's for sure!"

"The likes of you should never have been able to beat the Master." Erza calmly says to the Phantom Lord mage, her back still facing his prone form.

"Your days of glory will be wiped out, starting now," Erza growls out with a look of hatred rarely seen in her eyes as she turns to look at Aria.

"T-The sadness…" is all he manages to mutter out before falling unconscious. Seconds later, the entire building starts shaking violently, and a feeling of falling accompanies it. The movement is not enough to trigger Natsu's motion sickness since he has been fortified with the special tea.

The glow of Erza's magic surrounds her as she changes back into her normal shirt and skirt before falling towards the floor. Natsu, who has been making his way to Erza, rushes forwards and catches her before she hit's the floor.

"Erza!" he shouts out in worry twined with fear that she might have pushed herself too far as he cradled her body next to his in a protective manner.

"Hey!" he cries out loudly, trying to get her to wake up. Not long after the shaking has stopped, the cheerful tones of the Phantom Lord speaker system sound off. Natsu tightens his hold on Erza, who has still to awaken, as he glares at the roof towards where José might be.

"Attention all you from Fairy Tail." José's voice rings out sounding very pleased. "Please listen carefully to this voice." he requests almost in a sing-song manner.

"What's this?" Natsu aggressively growls out.

"It's Master José!" Happy exclaims in disgust as he too glares at where the voice seems to be coming from. A pained filled feminine scream sounds out from the system, causing the blood of the everyone who heard and recognized the voice to run cold.

"We have captured Lucy. So we have accomplished one of our objectives." José's voice rings out happily. His voice lowers slightly and becomes gruffer but doesn't lose the note of joy in it, "Thus we have one final goal that remains to be fulfilled. To slaughter the lot of you! Disgusting brats!" At this pronouncement, Natsu is snarling in rage.

"Damn him!" Natsu growls out, barely holding his fury in check. Only his worry over Erza's condition keeps him from taking off to rend José and every other Phantom Lord mage he can find limb from limb. Struggling, he works to push his anger and instinct to fight for those who are precious to him aside.

"Damn it! Lucy's been…" he can't finish the sentence, the fire within him burning hotter to match the heat of his fury. With a sharp intake of breath, Erza manages to wake up.

She weakly looks up at the dragon slayer who is holding onto her and whispers out, "Natsu…" The sound of her voice breaks through Natsu's rage and relief washes over him with the knowledge that she is awake.

"Erza!" he calls out anxiously. He is greatly troubled by how weak she looks. She looks even worse than after defending against Jupiter.

"Unleash…" she whispers to the fire mage. Struggling some, she manages to continue. "…your power!" He looks down at the redhead in shock, wondering what does she mean by his power.

"You have…power… sleeping within you…" Erza tells him, having to pause often to take a breath, but finding it easier to talk the longer she is awake.

"Believe in yourself… Breakthrough… And call it forth!" she commands of him in a demanding tone. Natsu can only stare as he holds onto to her, not daring to speak or even move.

"Now is the time… Protect Lucy… Protect the guild!" she commands, her voice growing stronger with her desire to get the message across to Natsu.

She takes a deep breath before yelling, "Go, Natsu! You're the one who will surpass me!"

Natsu's teeth become clenched as a flurry of emotions rage through him due to Erza's words. Almost every emotion he has ever experienced, only stronger than he has ever felt in his life, swirls inside causing a storm to build within his soul.

Unknowing whether to laugh, cry, scream in fear, or roar in anger or a mixture of them all, he stays quiet. Natsu gently leans Erza against a ruined wall and stands up straight and tall. As the storm continues to build, so does Natsu's magic in response.

His vest and scarf start to flutter from the force of his magic leaking into the air and soon his whole body is on fire. Something snaps within and a roar tears its way out of Natsu's mouth. He throws back his head while his flames explode in size and fury.

As they burn, they almost take the shape of wings that are spread out wide. The flames continue to grow hotter and larger as he continues to vent out the storm of emotions in an ear-splitting roar. Erza looks on in relief, glad that Natsu was able to tap into the power she knew he had in him all along.