Never had anything felt clearer to Mikoto in her life...never had her steps moved with more purpose..She had to find out, she had to know..what it was that was in the second half of the prophecy. The prophecy that within the throne room of the palace. It was the one thing that now drove her farther then anything else had before.
Her destiny...lay within that prophecy. As Mikoto blasted open the doors of the palace with a tremendous lightning bolt, multiple skeleton creatures ran out, howling like zombies from a horror video game. Natsu immediately went to work smashing each and every one of the skeletons with his flaming fists as Mikoto dove into the crowd of monsters and blasted out her Thunder Dragon Wings, swatting asside Diablo's minions with frightening grace and beauty.
After the last of the skeleton warriors had been destroyed, Natsu looked up to talk to Mikoto, but found that she had already forced her way into the palace.
"Whoah.." said Natsu. "I've never seen her so serious!"
"Aye!" said Happy. "It's like someone was holding Gekota hostage in there."
"S-Sissy." Kuroko stuttered
"Mikoto.." Elli murmured.
Hope nodded. "She's done playing around...and frankly, so am I. It's time Hydra Head payed for what they did to my people."
As the rest of the group dove into the palace after their friend, Mikoto was already deep within the palace on a massive rampage. Left and right, skeleton creatures were blown to smithereens as massive lightning bolts spread out like tremendous shockwaves. It was power without limits. Anything that had even a little to do with Hydra Head was obliterated on the spot.
The lightning that flashed through the dark halls seemed to create powerful display of life and power. Had even Hades of Grimoire Heart stood in her way, even he would have felt fear beyond measure. Mikoto's heart was in full throttle...and she wasn't going to hold it back any longer.
"You came after my friends..." said Mikoto as another lightning bolt tore through a row of skeletons.
"You tried to make my life a living hell..." Another lightning bolt blasted aside several more skeletons.
"Then you actually had the nerve...to take over my Mom's kingdom." said Mikoto. "I AM FREAKING SICK OF ALL OF YOU!!!!"
Mikoto puffed up her cheeks. "Roar Of The Thunder Dragon!!"
A tremendous beam of swirling lightning blasted out from Mikoto's mouth and completely decimated the leftover skeletons.
Mikoto walked over to the large metal door she knew, and kicked it open with a lightning engulfed foot. The door flew into the air and hit the ground with a clang. "Knock knock..guess who?"
Mikoto walked into the still demonic looking throne room and looked around. Immediately, the cieling shook and a massive muscular red creature dropped from the cieling, it looked at Mikoto menacingly with it's skull-like face and large fangs. The creature roared with power.
"Behold!" shouted the creature. "I am one of Diablo's servents...the great beast of-"
Before the monster could even finish introducing himself, Mikoto appeared behind him in a blur of speed. "DEMOLITION FIST OF THE THUNDER DRAGON!!"
"KAAAZAAAAAAMMMMM!!!" There was a huge electric explosion and the monster found itself flying out the throne room and then crashing through several walls.
Natsu, Hope, and Kuroko who had just arrived stared on in shock.
"Diablo's servant my butt." Said Mikoto. "Now lie there and think about your mistakes stupid."
Mikoto walked around the throne room observing the columns for a bit as her friends looked at her with awe.
"Sh-she didn't even look to see what it was.." said Kuroko. "She just.....zam...like that!"
"Uh..huh." said Natsu looking dumbstruck.
As Mikoto continued to look around, the blue bird on her shoulder fluttered over to perch right on the demonic throne. It chirped twice as if telling Mikoto something.
Mikoto nodded. "Okay...so it's in there huh?"
Mikoto walked over to the throne. Both her wings morphed into massive taloned hands which grabbed the throne and threw it aside, letting it shatter to pieces as it hit the wall of the room.
"WWWWAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!?" said Hope. "She just obliterated the throne!! I mean, I know it doesn't look like it should...but it's still the throne!"
"Mikoto's finally lost her marbles!!" said Happy. "Hide the fish!!"
"No!" said Elli. "Look!"
Mikoto was shifting around the rubble the throne had left behind. After a bit of rummaging, Mikoto pulled out a scroll of paper and held it up. "Is there something wrong guys?"
"Diablo is sooooo going to get killed when she finds him..."murmured Hope.
Mikoto walked down over to her friends. However, she didn't have the same confidence she had when she rampaged in earlier. Now, she was trembling slightly as if afraid of what she would find when she read it.
"I-I don't know...what should I do?" said Mikoto. "I-I'm litterally holding my entire life in my own hands..."
Mikoto stared silently at the scroll in her hand. She was scared now...and who could blame her? If you held something that litterally spelled out your entire life...would you read it?
Suddenly Mikoto, as if out of instinct, clutched Natsu's scarf around her neck. For some reason, the scarf was giving her a calming feeling. As if she were hugging a plush warmth. Mikoto clutched both ends of the scroll and began to slowly and shakilly unroll it.
As she did, Natsu, Kuroko, and Hope each put a hand on her own hand and helped steady her as she opened it. When the scroll opened...Mikoto looked upon it to see that it was....blank.
Mikoto blinked. "Wh-what!? Blank!?"
"Awe come on!!" said Natsu. "Don't tell me it's like that Kung Fu Panda movie where they tell you that 'the power was you all along'! I mean that would just be cheesy and anticlimatic!!"
"Maybe this isn't the prophecy." said Kuroko. "Maybe this is just some stupid old scroll, the prophecy must still be hidden around here somewhere...come on Sissy, let's try looking over there...Sissy? Sissy? Earth to Sissy!"
Mikoto was staring at the scroll as if in a trance. Her eyelids were wide open and her pupils were starting to glow gold. With a whisper that seemed to come from beyond the boundaries of space and time itself, Mikoto said, "Time is etched within the mind's eye."
Suddenly a light burst out from the scroll and shot into Mikoto's eyes....and everything went black.
The next thing Mikoto knew, there was a wide assortment of images flying through her head at a billion miles per hour. Places she knew and places she had never seen in her life flashed past her vision, driving her crazy. For a second, she felt like a god, knowing everything about everyone and every single reality. Knowing what was going to happen to the entire Multiverse within the blink of an eye to an eternity later.
And then all the knowlege dissapeared, and she was left with just piece of information. The information reverbrated troughout her head...
In a time before reckoning, the great Devil's Piece fell to Earthland from the stars. It was what remained of the core of Diagon's Heart. In the hour that humanity reaches it's final brink, the one who is both of psychic power and dragon's blood shall touch the Devil's Piece to Dravis's heart.
Another voice spoke out to continue the message to Mikoto.
The pain of the two heart's reunion, shall resonate and destroy the Dark Dragon. Peace will follow. But at a price.
A final voice spoke, sounding the most ominous of all the other voices. And with it, the voice brought a final curse that would haunt her until her final meeting with Dravis.
The heart of Dravis takes it's toll on those who use it... Those who dare to near it's power after it's final moments, will face the instant embrace of harsh reallity. That life is fleeting...The one of prophecy shall dig not only the grave of The Lord Of Devestation, but also her own grave...
Both shall fall...such is the necessary sacrifice..
Mikoto burst back into reality, she dropped the scroll and fell to her bottom, breathing heavily. The others were also in the same position. Apparently they had all seen the same thing that Mikoto had just seen.
"S-so.." said Mikoto trying to lighten the tense situation. "What do you guys think about this Devil's Piece huh?"
The others just stared at Mikoto. There was a long silence before Hope spoke up. "Mikoto...you do realize...that the prophecy says that you will die too.."
Mikoto stood up and turned away. "Forget about it..."
"Forget about it?" said Elli as tears began to well up in her eyes. "How are we supposed to forget about something like that!? I don't wan't you to die!!"
Mikoto dipped her head silently. As she was turned away at the moment, her friends could only guess the expression on her face. "Look...guys. I'm sorry...but if I die I die...besides."2
Mikoto looked back with tears silently pouring down her smiling face. "I mean, look at the friends I've made along the way. If I died protecting friends like this from a monster like Dravis, then I would have no regrets....cause..cause.."
Mikoto shouted out her last words with a sob. "YOU ARE ALL MY FAMILY!! AND I WON'T LET ANYONE HURT YOU!! EVEN IF I HAVE TO SACRIFICE MY OWN LIFE!!!"
Mikoto fell silent rubbing her eyes.
That's when Natsu spoke up. "Oh give me a break..."
Everyone looked at Natsu with surprise.
"N-Natsu?" said Mikoto.
Natsu walked over to Mikoto and grabbed her shoulders. "Don't you EVER let me hear you talk about giving up your life EVER again!!"
"I-I don't understand." said Mikoto.
"Well then I'll make you understand!!" growled Natsu. "You're my family too...and in my family, I don't let a stupid thing like a prophecy make up their minds about whether they're going to die or not!! You hear me!?"
Natsu put Mikoto's forehead against his and stared right into her eyes. "I promise you...that as long as I'm still kicking...YOU WON'T DIE!! Is that clear!?"
Natsu shook Mikoto a bit. "I said is that clear!?"
"Y-yeah..." said Mikoto.
"GOOD!!" said Natsu. "Because a stupid prophecy, especially when it's only half of the prophecy in the first place!! Destiny isn't written down on a piece of paper and then decided. It's just one of a set of predictable outcomes."
Mikoto felt amazed. Never had Natsu given her a scolding like this. "What do I do?"
"I'll tell you what you do.." said Natsu angrilly. "You decide your own fate and make it happen!!! Prophecies are just maps...you're the one who chooses the path to take!! So Mikoto...what do you choose!!?"1
Mikoto clenched her fists. "I'm going to fight back...and...I'm going to decide my own fate."
"Good answer.." said Natsu grinning. "Because just so you know...if you do happen to die in the end.. you won't go out alone...we'll all be there...together..."
Mikoto nodded. She was being stupid. Angelus hadn't shown her the second half of the prophecy just so she could resolve to die. He had shown her this so that she would gather every ounce of her will to decide her own fate.
Dravis had proven this was possible by creating Exisio. She wasn't going to let some stupid hocus pokus from some stupid prophecy writer destroy her spirit. She was going to live...and nobody was telling her any differently.
That was the truth. It wasn't the prophecy. No, it was the human will to choose any path. With this power, even prophesies were powerless.
Mikoto walked over and hugged Natsu. "Thank you.."
Natsu grinned again. "We're with you to the very end...Mikoto."