Mikoto opened her eyes...she was standing in a dark chamber of rough dark stone....everywhere, she felt evil...unending evil more horrid then anything imaginable. The darkness seemed to pulse with a deadly purpose...She knew....somehow...she knew...this was within Dravis himself..within the chamber that held his heart.
The chamber was so large that she knew an entire civilization could fit within this chamber..and at the top, hanging from a massive pulsating purple veins larger then a city...was a massive cluster of boulders pumping and throbbing...somewhere on that vast heart, was a small indentation, where a peice had broken off...and now Mikoto was going to replace it...and because of that, Dravis would be no more.. However..
Mikoto turned to look at the 4 friends that had come with her without warning. Lucy...Natsu..Elli...Happy..
"WHY!?" Mikoto screamed as tears poured out of her eyes. "WHY DID YOU HAVE TO COME WITH ME!!?"
"Mikoto.." Lucy said.
"You could have all lived!!" Mikoto screamed. "You could have all lived happy free lives!! Free from all this pain...all this death!! Natsu..Lucy...you two just got together!! You could have had a life together!!! WHY DID YOU ALL HAVE TO THROW IT ALL AWAY FOR ME!!?"
Mikoto fell to her knees and began to sob. She couldn't bear it...not them...not them...why did they have to die too? Why?
Natsu walked over and knealt next to Mikoto Misaka. He took her and embraced her, letting her sob into his shoulder.
"You've always been family to us Mikoto." said Natsu. "Ever since that time..when we set off from the guild after the third day you had joined...you became part of our team. Erza, Gray, Wendy, Lucy, Happy, Elli, Me, even Nicole..you've put so much into this guild...there's no way I'm letting you face this alone.."
"B-but...you could have lived." Mikoto sobbed. "Why sacrafice your lives just so I don't have to have my final moments in solitude!? WHY!?"
"B-because.." Elli sniffled as tears began to fill her sparkly emerald eyes. "B-because....Iife without you...is no life to live.."
Elli began to sob too fluttering to Mikoto and hugging her side, burying her pink furry face into Mikoto's clothes and crying uncontrollably. "I'd rather go with you then stay without you! You're the reason I joined Fairy Tail!"
"It used to be I would sometimes question what life in the guild would be like if even one it's members dissapeared." said Lucy softly. "I couldn't imagine it...I never could...it would be like a gaping hole in my heart. And without you Mikoto...not only would there be a gaping hole, there would an aching pain worse then death itself, knowing that you died alone..without anyone to hold your hand till the end. Touma almost came with us...but I pushed him back...I know, you would have wanted him to live at least above all else."
"Y-you did that for me?" Mikoto whispered. "You...all of you...sacrificed so much...just for me.."
"We didn't do it just for you.." said Natsu. "We did it for everybody. Erza...Gray...your mother...your new sister...they wouldn't have wanted you to die alone. And neither would we. We're Fairy Tail Mikoto. We look after our family..even to death...even if we have to die too."
"A-aye.." said Happy sniffling. "We're with you to the end...forever!"
Mikoto began to sob again, burying her face back in Natsu's shoulder. She felt so foolish, crying like such a baby. Before she came to Fairy Tail, she never used to cry much. She was the tough Railgun, nobody messed with her. But ever since this war..ever since Fairy Tail...it seemed the guild had brought out the side of her she mainly kept hidden.
"Mikoto.." said Natsu. "It's okay..we're all here.."
"I-I was prepared for it you know.." said Mikoto. "To die alone..happy that you and Lucy might someday...end up like Mom and Dad...or something..and I kept on imagining Elli living with my new little sister..those two becoming best friends."1
Without saying a word, Natsu and Lucy took Mikoto under her arms and helped her stand up, as Happy sat on one shoulder and Elli the other. The two mages held the Railgun's hands as they nodded at a large stone path jutting out of the large pulsating black walls, leading up to the heart.
"Come on Mikoto." said Lucy. "Let's end this."
They took a step...and another..and another. Then they began to walk up the path. The path was long, hard and treacherous. More then once, they stumbled and nearly fell to the ground far below. But Happy and Elli would activate their wings and hold them upright again.
The closer they got to the massive beating heart, the heavier the heart peice in Mikoto's pocket would become, as if it knew, that the death of it's living master would be soon. How Ironic....how very ironic...that the dragon whose element was death...would soon join that element, like so many others were destined to join it.
But death wasn't the end. Mikoto realized this as she and her friends neared the beating mass. It was merely the start of another adventure. Another great adventure that who knew where it would lead to..and her precious friends would be joining her on that journey.
Mikoto smiled sadly, heartened by this thought, allowing it to give her the strength to move forward.
That's when they saw it...the long cliff that was extending out from the path to one point on the large heart...a small indentation, where a peice of the heart had seemingly broken off. When the heart piece was set....it would be over...it would detonate...and all within the chamber would die..3
Together, they walked to the indentation. Mikoto shakily took the rock out of her pocket and moved it towards the indentation. Then Natsu put his hands on her hands, steadying them, as Happy, Lucy, and Elli did the same. Together, they pushed the rock in.
The entire chamber gave a tremendous rumble. The heart began to beat faster and faster as a glowing light could be seen coming from within it...preparing to detonate.
Mikoto collapsed to her knees again. Any moment now...any moment...
Natsu and Lucy knealt next to her and embraced her as Happy and Elli settled in her lap and did the same. As they embraced, waiting for the final moment, Mikoto felt a warm sensation on her right shoulderblade, as if something that had been lost there had returned.
Mikoto saw Lucy's right hand..and her suspicions were confirmed. Their guildmarks...had somehow miraculously reappeared.
Mikoto saw a slight glimpse of Mavis before she dissapeared, saying. "My last gift for you..."
"Thank you..." Mikoto whispered
Meanwhile, back down in London, Fairy Tail was starting to notice something strange going on with Dravis. The appocalyptic dragon was choking, desperatly gasping.
"What is this!?" Dravis exclaimed. "Why do I feel...so weary...so aggghh...so much...so much agonizing pain?"
Dravis ran his mind down a billion possibilities, trying to figure out one reason why he was feeling all of this...then his mind hit one thing....Railgun.
"No.." Dravis whispered. "She can't have.."
And the one emotion Dravis had never felt before welled up within him....fear.
"CURSE YOU RAILGUN!!!" Dravis screamed. "CURSE YOU!!! MAY HOLLOWS DEVOUR YOU BEFORE YOUR EVER REACH THE SOUL SOCIETY!!! CUUUURRRRSSSEEE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
And with that, there was a tremendous light, and the dragon exploded into sparkling star dust. All around the world, the dust rained. Millions of people cheered, as the apocalypse had just been cancelled.
But Fairy Tail did not cheer. They did not jump for joy. They stared up at the sky, as if hoping, by some miraculous circumstance that their comrades would return unharmed.
If they would only return...then all would be right with the guild. Everyone would celebrate...Mira would make a giant cake for Elli and Mikoto as she finally saw her sister for the first time...Natsu would once again rambunctiously run through the guild hall with Happy in tow... Lucy would be cheerfully conversing with Levy about the book she was writing...everything would return to normal...if only they would come back.
Who knew how long the Fairy Tail guild stood staring up at the sky before they finally accepted the loss? But eventually, they silently turned and headed down the wrecked silent streets of London.
Only Erza was left..standing there. She knealt down and picked up a small green Gekota finger puppet that had dropped out of Mikoto's pocket. She carressed it a bit before tying a string around it, and putting it around her own neck. She then walked off silently...saying these words...
"I will find them...I don't care if it takes me years...decades...I will find them.."
End.
Stay tuned for Epilogue and Prelude to LEGEND OF RAILGUN THE THUNDER GOD :The Soul Slayer Chronicles.
R.I.F.T ANNOUNCEMENT
VOTE OR COMMENT YOUR FAVOURITE FIGHTS OR BATTLES SINCE YOU STARTED READING THIS NOVEL. THIS CONTEST RUNS TILL THE END OF THE SOUL SLAYERS CHRONICLES
Thank you....everyone. Thank you all for reading. I hope Mikoto's next tale will thrill you as much as these 7 books did... Fairy Tail is still watching her...will you still watch her too?