Chapter 2: Dark Magic
Gem Harvest Grounds
"No! I… What've I done?!" Zeref fell to his knees, holding his arm over his eyes as he leaked tears. "I didn't mean to! I'm sorry! I don't…I don't understand… I thought I…"
I thought I had gotten under control… but it can't be helped. I can't help that I love everything. I love every tree, every grass, every animal… life is just so precious. But my curse… it kills everything that I hold dear. Everything that I love dies. But I can never die. I cannot age, I can't kill myself, I cannot be killed… no matter where I go, I'm doomed to kill everything around me. Why…
A slow clapping was heard behind him. Zeref looked up and turned with malice in his eyes. "Bravo, Zeref." The woman said with a smirk.
"You…" Zeref turned and faced the three people with anger.
The woman in question was slim and fair-skinned, wearing a purple sleek gown and sandals. Her purple hair was frizzy and snakelike, and her green eyes had slit pupils. "He knows how to liven up the party, ha ha ha!" A woman with light-blue hair in a ponytail giggled. She wore a thin white shirt that showed her bellybutton and cleavage, same-colored boots and shorts, all with purple edges, and reddish-magenta eyes.
"Liven up?!" A green strand on the other woman's purple hair hissed; it was actually a snake. "That's a blunt way to put it. He's practically waking the DEAD! AH HAHAHAHAHA!"
"Why do you keep following me?!" Zeref clutched his head. "Why did you bring me here? Why did you bring me to this world if you were just going to TOY with me?! Just… who are you. And why aren't you… afraid of me?"
"It's all right." The purple woman stepped forward. "Your powers wouldn't hurt no matter how much you loved us. My Dear… I am Medusa." She bowed. "I hail from the Underworld as the Goddess of Darkness. This woman is Pandora, the Goddess of Chaos. And the little charmer on my shoulder is Tanatos, the God of Death."
"That doesn't mean I had anything to do with you, Good Sir!" Tanatos remarked.
"That three of you…" Zeref spoke calmly, "are gods? Does that mean… you know Ankhseram?"
"That's one of the gods from your world, correct?" Medusa asked. "We're afraid not. You see, you're in a different world entirely. A different universe, perhaps."
"I…" Zeref fell to his knees again. "This can't be… I thought for sure I was going to… die… How in the world could this happen… Is my fate to kill one world after the next?"
"You don't have to think of it that way." Medusa walked closer. "Think of it as fate that we could meet. I've been expecting you for over a trillion years, Zeref the Black Cloud. You are the same Zeref that Bill Cipher described in his prophecy. You are one of the Thirteen Darknesses."
"'Black Cloud'? Thirteen Darknesses?" Zeref stood up, looking in solemn. "Why are you calling me these things? How could you be expecting me…"
"Because, Zeref, you are no different than we are. The four of us, each Gods of Death and Darkness… we want nothing more than to help you. Tell us, Zeref…" Medusa stood a few inches from him. "What is it that you want most of all?"
"…" Zeref's head was down. His eyes were shadowed under his hair. A cold wind blew in the desert. "There are two things I wish for most of all. I make these wishes to every star I see. My first wish… is to die for every sin I have committed, and will commit. My second wish…" He looked up to face Medusa with red eyes, "is to destroy all evils in the world. Humans, giants, the strange creatures here, any creature that is able to become evil… I want to destroy them all."
"…Can I ask you something, too?" Tanatos asked.
"Yes?"
"I've been thinking of changing my name to Thanatos, but I'm afraid it'll get a lot of people confused. Should I go through with it?"
"Really, THAT'S your question?" Pandora exclaimed.
"It's been weighing on my mind a lot. I thought we were having a moment with Gloomy Gus here, so I thought I'd ask a sensitive subject."
"You three are gods? Hmph." Zeref turned away. "You're jokes."
"Look who's talking." Medusa cocked a brow. "You're awfully young and handsome for someone so terrifying." Zeref felt his skin crawl when Medusa put her arms over his shoulders. "You're just my type." She licked his neck with her snaky tongue.
Zeref smacked her off and stepped away, glaring at her. "Just what do you think I am?"
"I like to consider you the 4th member of our gang. You are… a Death God."
Red Lizard Orphanage
"MAVIS, LAPIS! GET TO WORK, YOU LAZY WITCHES!" Lord Jezelf thundered.
With racing hearts and vigorous spirits, Mavis and Lapis scrubbed every square inch of the orphanage. Mavis then clipped the finger and toenails of the Elfins, Lapis used Water Scissors to cut the giants' hair, then they worked together to clean the ogres' ears. They trimmed the bushes to shape like Zeira, polished all of said girl's shoes, they made every blade of grass the same height… all within the span of a morning.
Mavis and Lapis then returned to their room, gasping for breath on the floor. "Lapis… my feet are red."
"My feet are blue."
"….Hehehehehehehe!" They wore wide, ecstatic grins as they giggled. They rolled on their sides and put one arm around the other.
"Doing chores with you is fun, Lapy!" Mavis's grin was bright.
"Same with you, Mavy!" So was hers.
"FAIRY SISTERRRRRRS!" They cheered loudly.
"But where's the other one?" Mavis asked quizzically.
"Tweet tweet tweet." They looked at the hole in their roof. A little white bird was looking in on them.
"THERE she is! Hi, Aisy!"
The bird grew into Aisling, who was squatted like a frog. "Hello, Two!" She hopped in and landed beside them, still squatted. The other two girls rolled on their fronts and looked at her ecstatically.
"So, Aisling, do you have anything cool to show us?" Mavis asked.
"Yes! I was able to find this in the forest." Aisling reached under her dress and pulled out a mushroom, whose cap had many colorful stripes connecting to its center.
"Oooooo! It's a Xyloshroom!" proclaimed Mavis, with sparkling eyes that expressed her fascination. "It's a musical mushroom that grows when an abundance of Music Chi is heavily fluent in the area!"
"This is the day of the Jade Festival in Tenrou Town, isn't it?" Lapis asked. "They play a lot of music, so it makes sense for those kinds of plants to grow."
"Mushrooms are actually fungi, Lapis." Mavis smiled brightly; earning an annoyed stare from her friend. "Not plants."
"Actually, for plantbenders, the two are one in the same." Aisling mentioned. "We can control fungi like plants."
"Mmnnnlll." Lapis stuck her tongue at Mavis, who stared.
"Although, I tried to bend this one earlier, and it proved a little difficult."
"That's because it's filled with Music Chi." Mavis explained, feeling a tingle with delivering knowledge to a friend. "I read that if your everyday bendables have some type of foreign force, i.e. mud inside water, poison in plants, generally forces that are other elements, it makes it harder for a bender of the other element to bend it. That's why fire and earthbenders usually work together to bend lava; however, either a water or earthbender can bend mud easy."
"Honestly, you always jump at the chance to be a brainiac." Lapis rolled her eyes.
"Knowledge is power! And knowing is half the battle!" Mavis beamed. "(Darn, I hope nobody in the future steals that phrase. If only there was a way to mark something as yours.)"
"Come on, let's just play it, already!" Lapis stated impatiently. "I wanna see how it sounds."
"You can't 'see' sound-"
"SHUT UP… Mavis."
"Alright, then." Aisling smiled. "Let's see…" She held her finger by a yellow bar, and- Ding! tapped it.
"Oooooo!" The girls droned. Mavis tapped a red bar. Doo. "Hehehehehehe!" They giggled gleefully. With that, the three of them took turns tapping bars of different tones, creating a song. Dee… dee… de, doo doo de doo. Doo doo de doo… de, doo! …Dee… doo… dee, de de de do… doot doot det doo… det doo… It went on for a few minutes.
There was a knock at the door. "What's that's noise in there?" Zeira's voice asked.
Mavis gasped, "Hide, Aisling!" and stuffed the mushroom under her dress.
Zeira barged in, "Are you two playing music… eh?"
Lapis was sitting casually, while Mavis lay on her front, lifting her head up at Zeira, as a white monkey posed like a statue on her blonde hair. "…Where did you get a monkey?"
"…Magic!" Mavis beamed.
"…" Zeira's purple eyes narrowed. "Right… and I guess the music was 'magic', too."
"Magic water is music water." Lapis shrugged.
"Uh-huh… I guess I just assumed you got something from the Jade Festival. I was about to head there myself, so…"
"Awww, and you wanna go with us so you don't seem like a lonely tree stump." Mavis smiled.
"I do not!" Zeira reddened. "I told you that I don't need any friends to feel special. I'm like that naturally. Anyway, if you were going there, too, I just prefer if you don't embarrass me too much. You and your… monkey."
"You don't need us for that, either." Lapis remarked with a smirk.
"GaaaZUUUUL!" The monkey howled.
". . ." Zeira had no comment. "See ya later, freaks." She shut the door and left.
Aisling changed back and sat on the floor. "Aisling, you should come to the festival with us!" Mavis said, pushing herself up. "You can meet lots more people and socialize!"
"I told you, I'm not comfortable around other humans." Aisling scratched her ear with her toes like a cat. "I wouldn't ever do well inside a… man-made town…"
"Aisling, don't be like that. You yourself told us how lonely you felt without fellow… sentient creatures of the same size." Mavis glanced at Lapis during that pause. "Spending all that time in the forest made you shy. We wanna help you fix that shyness!"
"The festival itself will be fun, anyway." Lapis said. "Even if you don't talk to anyone, there's tons of things we can do there together!"
"So pleeeeaaase, Aisling?" Mavis whimpered. "You took a bath last night, anyway."
Aisling looked away in thought. "I… Well, if you two are planning to go… Can you at least promise to stay with me?"
"Sure we will." Mavis and Lapis nodded. "But by the time the day's over, you'll feel more social than a butterfly!"
Aisling turned into a white butterfly and landed on Lapis's triangle nose. The Lunarian and human clutched their chests and laughed hysterically.
Gem Harvest Grounds
An Irken ship landed in the abandoned desert of dead soldiers and broken robots. Yellow Diamond marched off the vessel and approached a group of Pearls on the ground. She picked one up and examined it. "Not broken, still has power… Either someone attacked their body or they committed hara-kiri. But they don't do that unless they failed their objective."
"None of the bodies have wounds on them." A teenage Irken soldier observed. "But there're no life readings."
"The SIR Units are destroyed, however." another soldier noticed. "So are the Injectors."
Yellow Diamond looked at a distant large mount, seeing part of the wall about to break. A purple Amethyst popped out, snarling as she crawled around like an animal. "As much as you managed to produce, none of these Gems are as big as they used to be. Are you sure this was the best location we could pick out?"
"It WAS the best! But we drained all the life away when we started five years ago. The magic in this area is almost dry."
"So why haven't we moved someplace else?"
"Because we told you, there aren't too many areas without civilization. And we can't conquer this planet because of all the magic people!"
"Just what kind of invaders are you? You're at war with an army of 'larvas' of various flesh species, and you can't even conquer a primitive world like this?"
"For your information, the Galactic Kids Next Door use a powerful source of magic, too! They have a god called Jirachi under their control."
"Jirachi?"
"Yes. The very same Jirachi our empire's been after for eons. He's a Star God that makes anything possible for the GKND, like technology, power, or eternal youth! But the irony is, Jirachi lost his full power a long time ago, so we've been looking for the Seven Star Pieces to restore that power, and control him."
"But until we can," the other soldier continued, "they have the advantage on us, the same way this camp was torn up by whatever magic freaks did this!"
"In that case, this plan isn't going to work unless we find a bigger source of magic to suck dry." Diamond stated. "Are you sure there aren't any good planets besides this one?"
"Unless you wanna find Fairy World, then no." the first soldier remarked sarcastically.
"What would that be?" Diamond narrowed her eyes, feigning interest.
"Supposedly, it's a hidden realm where a powerful race of magical beings called 'fairies' live. It's a story told on Avalar, known as a 'fairy tale', but no one's ever seen it, and the Irken Empire certainly would've picked up its signature by now. It's probably just a story to explain to snotty kids where magic comes from." He rolled his eyes. "Don't think about it too much."
"Then have all these Injectors loaded up and repaired, and look for someplace else to plant them! If I have to destroy a few settlements just to find a place, just say so."
Road to Tenrou Town
"Why are we keeping Aisling a secret from her, anyway?" Lapis asked. "If her dad bans us due to 'animal germs', we could just live in the forest."
"We don't really have to, but it's fun to have a secret." Mavis said bubbly. "We'll call it… the Secret of Aisling Kells."
"But what if Zeira sees me while we're in town?" Aisling asked.
"Mmm, 'guess that'll be it for the secret." Mavis shrugged. "She's sure to find out eventually!"
"Then it's no point keeping it secret." Lapis rolled her eyes.
"You know what else we need for our group?" Mavis asked. "A theme song!"
"Hmm… I guess that would be nice." Lapis figured. "What kind?"
"I recorded a song on your Dial earlier, come this way!" Mavis gestured her friends over into a small patch of forest. She pulled the magic conch-shell from under her dress and set it on the ground. "It's called 'Evidence'!" She pressed the button, and a fast-paced, though gentle song began to play. Lapis and Aisling looked at each other and shrugged—then the music became faster and louder, making the two jump. Mavis was excitedly swaying her body to the music, feeling invigorated with a grin on her face.
Lapis pressed the button with her foot and stopped it. "Maybe if we suddenly become warriors, that can be our fanfare." Mavis glared at her.
"Actually, it so happens that I prepared a song for us." Aisling opened her book and muttered a spell to summon a wooden flute from it. "I heard it deep in the forest some time ago. I call it 'Distant Woods'." Aisling took a breath and began to play: the song was very loud, fast, and energetic, and Aisling was happily dancing to it. The first two sets of notes were the same before Lapis grabbed her flute.
"Yeah, uh… Sounds kinda more leprechaun-ish…" She said honestly.
"Fine, Lapis, YOU pick a theme song." Mavis stated.
"Hmmm…" Lapis put a finger over her chin. She looked up when the distant music of the Jade Festival rang in her ears. "Come on! The festival!" She excitedly ran forward. Her friends forgot the discussion and hurried after her.
Hundreds of people were crossing a great bridge to the town that sat on the other side of a wide river. They also saw broomsticks flying to the town, ridden by witches and wizards from across the valley. "Look, girls, broomsticks!" Mavis pointed ecstatically. "They were touched with Fairy Magic so people can flyyyy!"
"Another one of her insane theories." Lapis remarked at Aisling.
"Mavis, I don't agree." Aisling replied, frowning. "Fairies protect nature, and wizards tear apart Air Trees to carve their broomsticks. Fairies wouldn't have a part in that."
"But if they're supposed to protect nature, they aren't doing their job, which means fairies must not live in the forest." Mavis winked.
Aisling pinched her right arm with her left fingers. "What does the Jade Festival celebrate?"
"It's a time of year where the flora of Tenrou is so green, it's magical!" Lapis responded. "It's all thanks to a gem called the Tenrou Jade, which sits in that tree up there." She pointed at a very thin, tall tree that towered over the town, growing from the base of the hill that the town was connected to. The top of said tree was brimming a mystical jade color. "According to legend, it comes from the forest planet, Flora."
"Does it…" Aisling looked down solemnly.
"I hear music, I hear parties!" Mavis jumped for joy. "Come on, guys!" She ran forward with her arms and hair blowing behind her.
The sides of the town streets were lined with beautifully blossomed plants, parades were playing horns and other instruments, livening the town with their music, and people were jumping up on a stage and making whatever silly dances they could think of.
Mavis grabbed her girl friends' hands and rushed over to a group of kids that were pinning flowers in each other's hair. The kids were awestruck at Mavis's huge, golden hair, so they tied a bunch of sunflowers in it to compliment. They tied rare and beautiful blue roses to Lapis's hair, while other kids were tying dandelions to Aisling's white hair. The latter felt an itch in her hair, beginning to scratch and shake it furiously. The dandelions fluttered everywhere, some going up Aisling's nose. "Aaaa, aaaa, AAAACHOO!!" Her sneeze was so forceful, it blew the flowers out of her friends' hair.
A stairway led down to the river, where people were swimming and blowing horns, which snaked down into the water with their ends above the surface, blowing bubbles that popped into a musical sequence. "LA, LO, loh luh la!" some bubbles sang. Lapis dove in the river and emerged, her eyes closed as she swam around the air in a floating watery stream. She left a worm-like trail, shifting many directions, and the kids began to blow bubbles in her path that popped and made a rhythm.
Mavis and Lapis brought Aisling to the library, where they always liked to hang out. Mavis was happily showing them a book about ghosts and spirits; oddly one of her favorite topics under fairies. Apparently, spirits were everywhere, but a person would be able to see them if they witnessed death. Lapis instantly thought about Mavis's parents. She never actually saw them die, so Mavis wouldn't be able to see them. Maybe Mavis's parents were here now…
When the girls (meaning Lapis and Aisling) were bored of reading, they went back outside to the party. Mavis and Lapis got up on stage and performed their Fairy Dance, combining light and waterbending, and dazing everyone with their own rainbow strip. Aisling closed her eyes and sang from her book: everyone's eyes shone with wonder when the two girls floated and danced in the air, their bodies as light as the wind. From the back of the crowds, Zeira watched them with a grumpy frown, munching on a Flamepop (a hot, red-orange lollipop) with disinterest.
"We… ARE the Fairy Sisters!" The three girls began to sing. "We're going to find the fairies!"
"And if you think we won't," Mavis winked, "we'll prove you quite contrary!" her friends sang.
Lapis and Aisling flew across the night sky, carrying Mavis as they projected a rainbow trail that dazzled all the late-night partiers. "That's whyyyy the people, of, this, world…"
"Believe in… Mavis!"
"Lapis!"
"And… Aisling!"
"AND ZEIRA!" Mavis held up a tiny Chibi Zeira.
"CHANGE ME BACK, MAVIS!" she squeaked adorably. Mavis put her down and zapped her back to normal with her wand.
"Huff. First of all, I'm not gonna bother to ask where this flea-ridden ghost freak came from." Zeira shot a glare at Aisling, who was still scratching her hair of dandelions. "Second, the deal was we would let you DO all your magic stuff with the promise you wouldn't do it on ME! And do you really think that fancy lightshow you put up will get any of these people to adopt you?" She folded her arms, "No one wants to adopt a teenager, anyway. By then, the whole point of 'raising' a child is gone."
"Zeira, the only reason you're saying that is 'cause you're jealous of our magic." Mavis narrowed her eyes quizzically. "So you can't experience the wonderful world magic brings. Plus, you don't even want us to get adopted, because deep down, you wanna join our club." She smirked.
"Pfft." Zeira rolled her eyes and looked away. "Yeah, I wanna join a club of babies that chase after fairytales. Grow up, Mavis, fairies don't exist, and the only place you'll ever find them is in your head. 'Course, it's not like anybody else will care about you, so all you have is each other and the happy little butterflies inside your head." She walked away smugly. Mavis and Lapis kept their cold stare on her back. "Oh, and your 'theme song' sucks."
"…Eh, she's right about that part." Lapis sighed.
"So Aisling, did you have fun?" Mavis asked, her smile returned. "Wasn't it nice to get out of that messy forest and be with your fellow humans?"
"I did have a bit of fun, I will admit." Aisling scratched her head. "But I still don't feel… comfortable here. I mean; I don't know what it is; all these buildings and carved broomsticks; I feel too far away from…"
"You know, the festival actually goes on for a few more days." Lapis said. "You can try to talk with other people during that time. Don't let what Zeira said get to you, she's like that with everyone."
"I think I want to just stay in the forest tomorrow. I don't want to jump into this… too quickly."
"But Aisling, we really want you to enjoy the festival with us." Mavis moped.
"I'll, um… I'll think about it. I would like to… too, actually. So, I'll see you tomorrow, maybe?"
"Okay." Lapis smiled. The girls began their walk back to the orphanage.
On the way, Mavis saw Zeira go down an alternate road, around lots of townspeople. She decided to break away from her group and chase after her. Her bare feet made no footsteps, so her fast movement went unheard and unseen from Zeira's proximity. She followed her down a more empty road, alit with torchlights, that led to a mansion.
Zeira gasped and turned around, feeling like she heard something. …No one was there. Zeira sighed and kept walking with her usual scowl. Mavis had cloaked herself using magic mixed with lightbending from the torches.
Zeira passed the gates to her mansion and closed them, while Mavis simply climbed over. She watched Zeira enter the front door, so Mavis crawled over to put her ear to the door. "Hello, Zeiry! Did you enjoy the festival?" Mavis heard Jezelf ask.
"Not really, it was boring. It was just a bunch of weirdoes dancing."
"Didn't you find anyone to play with?"
"Nobody interesting."
"Well, I guess that can't be helped with all the peasants in this town. All of them too jealous of a little girl's wealth that they don't see how sweet and pretty she is!"
"You got that right. Anyway, I'm going to bed. Not sure if I'm going back tomorrow."
Mavis wondered why Zeira didn't mention the little Shrink Spell she pulled on her, or even the Fairy Dance. Her curiosity peeking further, Mavis climbed a tree to the second floor of the house. She saw Zeira enter the room, get in her pajamas, then cover up on her big fancy bed. After she went to sleep, Mavis zapped a spell to open the window and jumped in herself. Zeira certainly had a lot of stuff, and a lot of shoes. Mavis guessed she was as rich as she made herself out to be.
Mavis looked at a table and noticed a sketchbook. Mavis opened it to find crudely-drawn, crayon pictures of a young Zeira riding Lapis like a horsy, both smiling with dot eyes. There was a picture of Zeira stacked on Mavis, stacked on Lapis, in the days when they were still shorter than her. There was one of Zeira and Mavis holding sticks at each other (Mavis guessed they were magic wands). There was one when they were taller, standing in a field of flowers with Lapis (still her same size). There was also one where Zeira was pointing at a fairy, showing them both.
"Nnnnuuu…" Mavis flinched, seeing Zeira rolling on her side. She approached the sleeping girl with a warm smile. Mavis bent over and lightly hugged Zeira. With that, Mavis put the book back and snuck out before she would notice.
The next day; library
Aisling told her friends that she wasn't ready to go back to town, yet, so Lapis and Mavis went by their selves. The same activity was happening at the festival, but rather than engage in it without Aisling, they visited the library to look for new spells they could try. Well, they were at least fun to look up, but without any proper training, their magical creativity was limited.
It was then Lapis glanced up at the sign labeled Restricted Section. She looked to make sure the librarian wasn't looking, and tip-toed over. Obviously, this was an area for Dark Arts, not that Lapis would ever engage in them, but she's always been curious. She pulled down a book called Secrets of the Darkest Arts. She turned to a chapter about Death Magic. Already skimming its contents gave her a foreboding chill, but she held true. One article grabbed her attention.
Lapis invited Mavis to lay frontwards on the floor of the Quiet Zone as the former showed her this book. "Secrets of the Darkest-"
"Shhh." Lapis hushed her friend. She pointed out the page, reading quietly. "'The Avada Kedavra Curse is the most basic form of Death Magic that kills its target upon contact. No mark is left upon the victim, for the body is left perfectly healthy asides from the fact the heart and bodily functions have ceased.' Mavis, I was thinking… what if this is what killed your parents?"
"My… parents?"
"Yes. I remember back then, they had no wounds or internal damages whatsoever, they just… dropped on the spot. It always baffled me to this day, that's why I… snuck over here."
Mavis was silent. She agreed with Lapis's theory, but the subject of their sudden death was painful to her. Lapis could read these feelings on her face. "Even if you're right, Lapis, it doesn't matter. My parents are already…"
"Mavis, don't you realize what this means?! It means your parents were killed by a wizard! A dark wizard. And he's probably still running around out there! He probably broke into your house and killed your parents while you were outside."
"Well, what can we do about it now? If he was really still active, someone else would've heard about it by now. Either they already caught him or he ran to some faraway land. He couldn't have gotten away with it for long, you know there's a Magic Council that keeps track of magic activity. Especially dark types."
"Sigh, I know, but I can't stop thinking about it. I can't help wondering if they had a reason, if they were trying to kill-…"
Lapis stopped herself, noticing Mavis's solemn look. Her vibrant green eyes looked dimmer. "…Although… they could've just been crazy… I wonder if there's a way to ask them." Lapis began flipping pages.
"Ask who?" Mavis asked.
"Ask your parents. I mean, maybe there are ways to talk to spirits. You study ghosts, right, do you know anything?"
"The only way to see spirits is to learn Spirit Shift or watch somebody die. Otherwise, they wouldn't just…"
"Wait! I found something!" There was a page labeled Spiritual Summoning. "'Through a series of careful steps and incantations, mortals can call a soul back from the dead. The longer a spirit stays depends on the precision of each step, and the strength of energy in the summoner.' Mavis, I'll bet we can pull this off."
"Lapis, this is Dark Magic. We're not allowed to do this."
"It's only a minor spell, and it's not like we'll use it to hurt anyone. We can just call back your mother or father and ask them what happened."
Mavis was silent for a few seconds. "…Do you really think it'll be safe?"
"I'm sure it will. We just have to do it close to your old house so we can call their spirits. And once we find out what we need to, we'll stop the whole thing, clean the place up, and make it like we were never there."
"Sigh… Okay."
Later; near Mavis's old house
The small building wasn't cared for since the incident 10 years ago. It was still ruined from the fire and covered with dust. Mavis and Lapis cut a circle with strange designs into the grass, then began to light magic candles around it. Dark gray clouds filled the sky, but no wind was blowing. "It'll be harder to pull off since it's daytime." Lapis read. "But like I said, we won't need to do this for too long. Is everything ready, Mavis?"
"Uh-huh… it's ready." Mavis spoke solemnly.
"Good. Okay, let's get it over with."
Both girls sat on their knees in the center of the circle and locked hands. They closed their eyes and uttered a strange incantation. Unbeknownst to them, Aisling was approaching the house, wondering why her friends came this way earlier, and looking curious at the rumbling storm clouds. "HUU!!" She gasped horrifically, seeing what her Fairy Sisters were up to. Aisling dashed over with her swift speed. "What are you guys doing?!"
"Hi, Aisling." Lapis said, looking at her while Mavis continued the chant. "We're in the middle of something, only be a minute." Lapis continued in sync with her friend.
"Th-Th-This…" Aisling began to shudder, her eye twitching. "This looks like… DARK magic… A-Are you doing… DARK magic?…"
"Yes, but it's nothing huge, we're just trying to speak to the ghosts of Mavis's parents." Lapis explained quickly, resuming the chant.
"B-B-But THIS… isn't… natural…" Aisling was shaking more furiously, her teeth clenched tight. "NOT… natural… IT… ISN'T… NATURAL!…" Her arms wrapped around her body and her head bent at an angle, as though trying to restrain some alternate force. Her white around her eyes was flashing black whenever she blinked, but it turned white again. When she spoke, her voice sounded monotonous with another voice.
Lightning flashed, and the clouds began to spin faster once the chanting stopped. The circle glowed, and the candles burned brighter. Aisling's shivering was calmer. The smoke from the candles manifested into two spirits: a man with brown hair and a woman with blonde hair. The two were smiling dismally at their daughter.
"Mom?…" Mavis spoke, gazing at them. "Dad…?"
"ENOOOOUUUUUGH!" a thundering voice roared. A great light shone in the center of the clouds, and the spirits disappeared. A powerful beam burst from the sky and swallowed all three girls. There was nothing but whiteness in their vision, and their very bodies became completely weightless. The light left a scorched crater in the grass, ridding any trace of the circle, and the sisters had vanished with the light.
Unknown land
Mavis, Lapis, and Aisling materialized on a purple ground surrounded by pink clouds. "What? What just happened?" Lapis asked.
"I don't know…" Aisling had calmed down completely.
"HUUUUUUUU!!!" Mavis breathed her deepest, and her breath needed catching up. Her eyes were brighter than the millions of stars in the sky. "LOOOOOOOOOOOK!"
There were hundreds of buildings with purple-pink tones, rainbow streets, pink cloud grounds, and little people with little wings, crowns, and star wands flying everywhere. The big sign was bright blue with yellow edges, with an arrow that pointed at the town, whose name was written in pink letters: Fairy World. "FAIRIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEES!"
After she nearly deafened her friends with her earsplitting screech, Mavis zipped across the town faster than light. "FAIRIES!!" She scared a family at Fairy Park. "FAIRIES!!" Her eyes and tongue stretched out of her body. "FAIRIES!!" Her body bent at weird angles. "Iiiiiiiii fooooouuuuuuund FAIRIIIIIIEEEEEEEES!"
6,550 years later
Denzel Crocker was asleep on his bed, but then he felt a sneeze coming on. "Aaa…aaa…AAACH-FAIRIES!" He jumped awake. "Hm. That was an unconventional midnight sneeze. I take lots of medicine and I'm eating healthy, so I shouldn't be coming down with anything. The only explanation is that someone is making some sort of reference to me. If so, where? Or when? Eh, I'll think about it in the morning." He went to sleep and snored quickly. "FAIRY GODPARENTS!"
Back in the past
"I can't believe any of this." Lapis said as she and Aisling walked through town. "How did a spell to summon spirits end up taking us to Fairy World? Are these actually the fairies?"
"What's wrong, Lapis?" Mavis said witfully, sitting on a roof she had apparently climbed on. "Can't accept that I was right all along, that fairies live in outer space with all the stars in the sky?"
"Putting that aside, aren't you even wondering how we got here? By the sound of that voice, it feels like someone brought us here."
"Come on, Lapis, can't you be happy?" Mavis kicked off the roof and landed on her feet. "It doesn't matter how it happened or who was right. We found the fairies! At long last, the source of all our magic is-"
"IN SERIOUS TROUBLE." The same voice thundered. The fairy citizens screamed and flew away when fairy soldiers in Egyptian uniforms appeared. Out of a big puff of smoke, a very large, tan-skinned man appeared. He wore a white robe, brown sandals with many straps, and a pharaoh's crown with green and yellow stripes.
"Wait a sec, they look like Osirins." Lapis observed.
"FOOLISH CHILD!" The large man roared with a German accent. "You stand before the Fairy Forces, the militia of Fairy World. We just think the Osirins have good fashion sense."
"Actually," a small, bald fairy with pointy ears spoke, "you were the only one who-"
"SILENCE, BINKY!" The world shook. "I am Jorgen von Strangle. Toughest fairy in the universe, and King of all Fairies. Tremble before the ultimate power that is my King Wand, which is the most powerful wand under the legendary Star Rod!" Jorgen raised a giant wand that made a whirring sound as its star head flickered.
"YOU'RE the King of Fairies?" Mavis spoke inquiringly. "You don't even have wings."
"HA! I do not have puny wands or puny bodies like all the other puny fairies. Wings are too feeble for my awesome muscles. I have JETPACKS!" A pair of jetpacks appeared from his back.
"Those ruin the magical spirit of fairydom."
"HAH!" Jorgen's jetpacks retracted. "A little girl thinks she knows about our own culture. You, like many puny children before you, have grown up on the misguiding stories about fairies that your puny elders have read to you. 'Fairies grant wishes to good boys and girls, fairies grant children with magical abilities.' I will tell you right now: YOU'RE DEAD WRONG!!" His thundering voice blew wind at them. Jorgen's smirk turned into a frown.
"The horrible truth is, magic is a curse. It is a force that Arceus did not mean to create: a cluster of elemental chis mixed into a single body, a force that became heavily prominent in the known universe. Planets such as Avalar were affected, and people were becoming infected with this power. Arceus created the Firstborn, Jirachi as a body to contain the power which he could not dispose of. A race of living stars, and us fairies, were created to maintain this magic across the universe. It is a power too great to belong in mortal hands, but hundreds of thousands possess it, so we must keep order. The Star Haven, which was created to channel the happiness of mortals into magic, has lost power since the Star Rod's destruction. An army of puny children are using Jirachi against us, and dark magic continues to plague! Which brings us to why we have summoned you here."
All of their wands were trained on the three girls. "Mavis Vermillion und Lapis Lazuli: you have performed one of the Forbidden Arts, a power which may only belong to the Reapers of the Underworld: reawakening of the DEAD!"
"We weren't trying to do anything bad!" Lapis argued. "We just wanted to talk to the spirits of Mavis's dead parents. They died 10 years ago, but they didn't have wounds on their bodies. After looking through a book, I'm starting to think… they were killed by the Avada Kedavra Curse!"
"VHAT?!" Jorgen thundered. His soldiers gasped in horror. "The most forbidden forms of magic are those which interfere with life and death. Only the Grim Reaper should wield such powers, and even HE is not allowed to abuse them! Whom are you accusing of casting such a spell?"
"That's just it, we don't know WHO did it." Lapis answered. "I examined her parents' bodies and found no wounds or poisons, and when I found the Killing Curse in a book, the description matched. What I'm trying to say is, I think there's an unnamed dark wizard out there."
"Jorgen." A fairy soldier spoke up. "I think they're talking about… the dark wizard that appeared 11 years ago."
"Dark wizard?" Mavis questioned.
"Eleven years ago, a body of magic appeared on Avalar," Jorgen explained, "a magic that we do not recognize. Vhere he walks, the landscape dies around him, because of a black mist that surrounds him always. Ve have called him the Black Cloud for that reason. Of course, I vanted to call him Horrible Body Odor, but that sounded a lot less menacing on retrospect."
"Unless you're the guy who washes Jorgen's robes." Binky mentioned.
"My stench is MANLY!!"
"So, did you guys capture this person?" Lapis asked.
"Ve do not engage conflict directly on Avalar. We have an according with the Magic Council, who act in our stead to apprehend dark magic users. You children, on the other hand, have been caught performing forbidden Underworld Magic, so ve have brought you here for a just trial."
"So, you capture us, but you're too afraid to do anything about some murderer?!"
"Ve cannot risk bringing a wizard of foreign power to our realm! The reason we fairies vork in secret is because we live in secret. Our entire land floats above Avalar in something called a Fairy Sphere. It hides us from all outside sources, and prevents anyone inside from leaving, except by my power. Evil ones who vish to steal our power can never find us. And whether I will allow you to leave will depend if you are innocent or guilty."
"And just how do you plan to do that?" Mavis asked.
"For summoning from the dead, we will call upon the Spirit of Death himself." His wand brimmed as Jorgen called, "I summon the Grim Reaper: COME TO MEEEEE!" The girls shut their eyes when he struck the ground, and from the puff of smoke, a skeleton in a shower cap and rubber ducky appeared.
The Grim Reaper stood embarrassed at all the people looking at his naked self. "WHY can't I take a bath without being summoned for a TRIAL?" When he threw his arms up, his black cloak and scythe appeared.
"You borrowed that ducky from me," Jorgen said, "and I wanted it back, anyway. Now… these girls-"
"Yeah, yeah, one of my boys called and told me about the spirits who were sucked out of de Spirit World. So these girls did a Spirit Summoning, did they?"
"Yes, but we already told them we just wanted to know who killed Mavis's parents." Lapis stated. "And apparently there's some wizard called 'Black Cloud' who-"
"Wait a moment!" Grim spoke up, narrowing his eyes as he held his head by his scythe. "I sense… an unusual force… nearby… Could it be…"
Grim walked closer to the girls; namely Mavis. The blonde beauty looked up at the Reaper with fear in her heart. She thought her heart would stop when Grim reached his hand down… and touched her face. He gently stroked her features. "I…I don't remember the last time I've seen it…"
"Seen…Seen what?" Mavis asked.
Grim looked at her with a grim look. "This girl has Death Chi."
"Death Chi?!" Lapis gasped. Aisling flinched.
"I don't understand…" Mavis said.
"I did not understand, either, when I took your parents' souls 10 years ago. Child… Rothsford and Lora Vermillion were killed by you."
"Mavis?!" Lapis exclaimed, unable to believe any of this. "But how can that be? I've been around Mavis for years, she never used anything… Death Chi-related. She's a lightbender, how could she have another form of chi?"
"Benders can earn two different chis from gods, although it is very rare. The only deity who could give you such chi would be the God of Death, Tanatos, who worked with Malladus in creating this very scythe. Mavis… allow me to see into your past, and look at the night when your parents passed."
"Let me look, too!" Lapis demanded, grabbing Grim's wrist when he reached for Mavis.
"Fine." Grim touched Mavis's head, and all three of them saw her memory through Grim's power.
"Hehehehehe, hehehehe!" Mavis was happily chasing a butterfly in the yard outside her house. The night was beautiful, and the 3-year-old child was so happy. "OOOOW!" A green snake that was hidden in the grass bit her toe. As it hissed and slithered away, Mavis puffed her cheeks in anger. She chased the snake and, "NnnnnNUH!" swung a kick. It missed. "NnnnnNUH!" She chased and kicked again, but missed. The snake kept slithering. "MmmmmnnnnUUUUUHHH!" Mavis stomped her feet in a pouting fashion.
There was an eerie wind sound, and the grass around her turned dark and lifeless. The butterfly that was still fluttering fell to the ground, dead. "Oh?" Mavis looked confused. Why did all the grass turn black? "Ohhh…" She ran back to her house, feeling a little frightened. "Mommy? Daddy?" Her parents were passed out in the kitchen. She shook their bodies, but they remained still. Their stove was left on, the food was going to burn. Mavis was too short and too confused to reach it. …The house soon caught on fire.
Mavis never understood what happened back then. And she still didn't. She looked at her hands. "It was… me?"
"We knew Mavis vas born with magic powers." Jorgen said. "We could not have known about that event because she used Death Chi, not magic."
"That's true." Grim nodded. "But even a minor dark spell such as the Spiritual Summoning requires a strong spiritual bond, as well as strong magic energy. Even if three of them worked together, I believe it was Mavis's Death Chi that allowed them to conduct it well."
"Then why hasn't anything ELSE died around Mavis?" Lapis questioned. "We've been with each other almost 24/7 since we met."
"The amount of Death Chi inside her is very little, and it may be conflicting with her Light Chi. The chi may have reacted back then because Mavis was angry."
"Hmm… Mavis really doesn't get angry often." Lapis recalled. "It's almost… unnatural. …Mavis?"
Tears dripped from her oval-shaped green eyes. "A part of me… always thought… it was my fault…" She sniffled. "I always thought I did something… with my magic… That's why I always did my best to control myself around Lapis, because…because I didn't want the same thing to happen… SNIFF…"
"Mavis, it's okay." Lapis tried to comfort her. "It wasn't your fault. And hey, nothing bad did happen since then, right?"
"Accident or not, such a power is dangerous." Jorgen stated. "Her Death Chi must be removed!"
"If the god, Tanatos is responsible, I cannot take away her chi." Grim said. "The most I can do is give her a chi-block." He magically conjured a black sticker in his hand. It had the Japanese symbol for 'Block', and a No Symbol over a white skull. "Keep this on your person and your Death Chi will not be exerted."
"But if anyone sees her wearing that, people will be scared of her!" Lapis reasoned.
"Then keep it on her back; all dat hair's got to be used for something."
Mavis sniffled once more. "Okay…" She took the chi-block and pulled her arm inside her sleeve to stick the paper on her back.
"Normally, I erase the memory of any mortal that discovers us." Jorgen said. "However, considering these circumstances, I will allow you to remember. But be forewarned: should we catch you doing any sort of evil magic, you will be thrown in the impenetrable Fairy Prison of Abracatraz, where you will be sewing hairnets FOR THE REST OF YOUR DAYS!" The Fairy King raised his wand high and smashed the three sisters.
Avalar
Mavis, Lapis, and Aisling exploded in a puff of smoke and reappeared near Mavis's old house. The clouds were still rumbling, but softer than before. "Mavis?…" Lapis approached her friend, who was on her knees. "Are you… okay?"
"…I'm fine." Mavis still looked glum. "Let's just… Let's go home." She began to walk away slowly.
"You know, the festival might still be going on." Lapis said positively as she followed. "It hasn't actually rained, yet."
"I don't know…"
"But come on, Mavis, the fairies! The real live fairies! They live in space, just like you said!"
"Yeah, but we used dark magic. Lapis, I told you we shouldn't have done that. The fairies must think I'm a monster, now. And… my parents must be so ashamed of me."
"Mavis…" Lapis touched her shoulder.
"I'm going to bed." Mavis walked home faster. "I'll see you later, Lapis."
The Lunarian stood and watched her friend with a regretful look. She turned around… Aisling was nowhere in sight. Lapis was all alone. "Siiiigh." She sat on the ground. "Even after that night, I didn't think Mavis could get upset. …And I dunno what's wrong with Aisling. Hmmm…" She looked down the road. Mavis had gotten to the orphanage by now. Just further beyond was Tenrou Town. "Maybe I'll find a present for them at the festival." She got up and began to walk fast.
Tenrou Town
When clouds started pouring in, there was less activity on the town streets. There were kids happily dancing on the stage—but the wind started to pick up a lot more strongly. A fleet of dark-red ships with the Irken crest came down from the sky. Yellow Diamond stood in the entrance of one, looking at the green glow at the top of the Tenrou Tree. "A gem called the Tenrou Jade is in there." a soldier reported. "It makes the flora of this land more prosperous than any other. I'm sure the soil is rich with power as a result."
"Look out! They're sending wizards and dragons to attack us!" the other soldier exclaimed when mages on broomsticks began firing spells, and dragons of various colors blasted elemental breaths.
Yellow Diamond jumped out of the craft and turned into diamond, absorbing the energy from some of the magic wands, and exploding it back in the center of the group of wizards. She landed firmly on a city street. "Tear up this entire town until nothing's left standing! We'll set up the Injectors in this area!" The diamond on her chest glowed as she extracted a yellow sword with an energy blade. She slashed electric waves at incoming wizards, then stabbed the ground to send an electric strip to a building, which shortly collapsed.
A trio of SIR Units hovered before a Fire Dragon and locked their guns. A series of light-blue firecrackers popped across the sky toward the robots, destroying them on the spot. From a rooftop, Pandora blew the smoke off her fingers. She extracted a whip of the same energy and slashed it all the way up to slice an Irken ship in two.
"Grrrr!" Diamond growled, believing the wizards to be responsible.
"Lady! Over there!" Her two Irken accomplices aimed their guns behind her. Diamond turned and looked inquisitively: a teenage boy with black hair and red eyes was glaring at her, a black mist surrounding him.
"You're the one she described…" Zeref said. "The one who seeks destruction…"
"Don't come any closer!" an Irken ordered as they marched closer, cocking their guns.
An eerie wind howled as his black cloud glided across the Irkens and Diamond. Both soldiers fell dead on the spot. Yellow Diamond raised an arm in defense, but she was unaffected by the cloud. "Huh?" Zeref was surprised, too.
"Oh, my. It didn't work." Tanatos observed from Medusa's shoulder. Said woman was watching them from a roof.
"She's nothing more than a walking, talking diamond on a holographic body. Zeref can only rob the life of flesh creatures, it seems."
Yellow Diamond glared at the mage, lunging forward and SLICING her blade across Zeref's neck. The wizard's head flew off with a clean cut. It hit the ground, but the body didn't fall, and no blood leaked. Instead, the black mist emitted from the cut parts, as the head floated in the air and reattached to his body. Zeref glared at her still, unphased by the attack. Diamond stabbed her sword through his chest, but Zeref forcefully grabbed the sword's hilt and yanked it out, trying to slice it at Diamond before she jumped away. Zeref dropped the sword and calmly formed a black ball in his hands. He threw the Death Orb at Diamond, who dodged aside and watched the orb burn perfect holes through all the buildings it hit. She faced Zeref again, drawing another sword from her chest and running at him.
Lapis stood on the base of the bridge, seeing the ships hover over the city as explosions occurred. "Lapis!" She turned, seeing Mavis run over. "What's going on?"
"I don't know. Those ships appeared out of nowhere, and…"
"I gotta do something!" Mavis dashed forward.
"Mavis, wait!" Lapis chased her and grabbed her friend's shoulder. "Where are you going?!"
"Zeira wasn't in the orphanage. I have to make sure she's okay!"
"She's rich, Mavis, she's probably got a secret bunker or something!"
"I don't care, she's still my friend!"
"Since when?! After what she said yesterday, you're suddenly calling her your friend?"
"I wasn't your friend either, but you saved me back then."
"Nnnn-…" Lapis bit her lip. She wondered how to argue with that.
"Lapis, look out!" They both gasped when a squad of large rolling, whitish-purple balls came their direction. The balls stopped and revealed to be huge, purple-skinned warriors with black uniforms, and Amethyst gems on their chests.
"Huah huah, check it out, Lugnut, it's two MORE of 'em!" one of them chuckled with a wicked smirk.
"HUAH, HUAH! Let's SQUASH them!"
The girls jumped back before the Amethysts slammed their fists at them. Lapis pulled water from her gem and tried to slice them, but the Amethysts curled into balls and sped at her, flying her back. Mavis threw Blasting Spells, but the Amethysts whipped them away with whips. Seeing Lapis having been flown away, she ran beside her friend and called "Protego!" to shield them both from a couple rolling Amethysts. "Lapis, freeze the ground!" Lapis quickly got up and threw water on the ground, freezing it solid as the Amethysts slipped and piled on each other.
"Hey, get off me, Boulderbutt!" one yelled as they began to fight.
Lapis grew Water Wings and carried Mavis under the bridge. Mavis used a Reducto spell to destroy the bridge's beams in that area, causing the Amethysts to fall in the river. Lapis carried and landed them on the edge of the broken spot. "Hoo… Good plan, Mavis." Lapis panted.
"Come on, let's go!" Mavis yelled rushedly as they ran to town.
Under the water, one of the Amethysts looked up at the bridge, gritting her teeth in anger. She curled in a ball and Spin Dashed through all the bridge beams. The structure began to crumble, so Mavis and Lapis had to run faster. "Waaah-!"
"LAPIS!" Mavis grabbed her friend before she fell, pulling her along further. An Irken ship flew overhead and dropped a bomb in their path, destroying that part of bridge in a sudden explosion. Mavis landed in the water, covered with soot, but she resurfaced and cried, "LAAAAPIIIIIIS!"
When the smoke began to clear, she saw that a small ledge was blown in a beam, allowing Mavis to stand and climb the rugged side, back to the bridge. She found a blue object twinkling in the faint light. She ran to it and saw it was Lapis's gem. "Lapis…" She fell to all fours and cried over the gem. The only thing that remained of her sister…
"RAAAAH!" An Amethyst suddenly leapt out of the water, and Mavis dodged when its fist slammed the bridge. The broken edge crumbled more, and Mavis watched with remorse when the gem fell into the river. She wanted to dive in and retrieve it… but it may not matter, since her body was obliterated. Still crying, Mavis kept running to town, now determined to protect Zeira.
A distant, forest planet…
A young girl with light-blonde hair and a red dress sat on her tree-bark throne. In her peaceful slumber, her green eyes shot open, glowing brightly. "Mistress Viridi…" A slim man in a sleek black suit, blue skin, and darker blue hair with a long mustache walked in. "Is something wrong?"
"…Arlon… It seems she finally decided to report."
Jorgen and the fairies come from Fairly OddParents, the Grim Reaper is from Billy and Mandy, and Medusa and Viridi's groups come from Kid Icarus! And naturally, the Harry Potter spells come from that series.