genessia | ⚒ fifth - The Gates of Hades

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⚒ fifth - The Gates of Hades

WHO: Zeref, OPEN
WHAT: A sudden influx of demons, all carrying bad news.
WHEN: May 13, 2014 - Late night.
WHERE: Small clearing near Fayren Lake - Dream World
WARNINGS: Jackal's language, possibility for violence, omnicidal demons. Also, spoiler warning for Fairy Tail's latest arc.

Zeref didn't dream often. His light sleeping schedule, created by at least a century of living on an island with a bunch of giant monsters and a ghost, didn't lend itself to sleeping longer than four or five hours on a good night. When he did, the dreams were very rarely pleasant. He'd occasionally relive the few good moments of his very long life, but more often than not, they were nightmares fueled by guilt or the horrific things he witnessed during the various wars he was involved in. At least Exsilium had actual beds.

The dream Zeref was having that night was so uncharacteristically vivid, that he wasn't lucid. He had been sitting on a rock, watching the moonlight reflecting off of the waves. He'd had a lot on his mind recently, with Silver and Mavis's arrivals. Right now, keeping the peace between Fairy Tail and Tartarus was his priority. Whoever had brought them here was a far bigger threat in Zeref's mind, not to mention that Kefka... thing. That would become much more complicated if they started fighting.

Zeref mounted his chin on his fist, staring at the water. He heard something snap nearby. A twig, maybe? He had seen Lucy near this lake before, maybe she--

"Gyeheheh! He's here! Just like Silver said!"

That voice. That presence. That annoying laugh. "Finally... if only the Master were here to see this." "Our story can end happily, now." "The loving author, given birth to Etherious, sewing seeds of devilry upon the blighted land of cursed beings." "'Bout fuckin' time." "Oh, Master Zeref, you shoulda seen it! I ripped those human weaklings limb from--" "Quiet, Ezel. You will embarrass us in front of our creator." "Fufufu~! ♡ He's even more of a hunk than I imagi-" "Touch him and I'll kill you myself, Lamy."

Were it not already dark out, the color drain from Zeref's face would have been more obvious. All of those voices at once... as Zeref turned to face them, he saw the emerging silhouettes from the trees. Zeref felt his eye twitch. The demons kept speaking, but he couldn't hear anything. "Look at this! See? It's my most powerful soul! You killed him, remember? How much is his soul worth? How much?!" "Not this again, you wouldn't shut up about it for months! Don't bother him with that." "After the way Master Hades tried to use you, he's lucky you found him before we did."

Zeref's head was swimming. How was he going to explain everything? He didn't appear to them voluntarily for a reason, and now he was going to have to keep all of them in line. The moment they found Fairy Tail here, all hell would break loose, no pun intended. "All of you, quiet." A demon wearing a mask, helmet, and a leotard with avian feet and massive claws extending from sleeves on her arms stepped forward. The other demons fell silent almost immediately. "We did it, Master Zeref." She said, clearly nervous, but absolutely radiating pride. "Face detonated. Magic has been wiped out, and can't be abused by humans anymore. Master E.N.D. will be summoned by tomorrow morning. Marde Guille stayed behind to make sure it all goes smoothly."

Were Zeref more lucid, he'd have realized that that's not possible. Wendy already had told him that Face was stopped. Ezel shouldn't even be there, or at least not in that body.

"Then... Natsu failed." Kyouka raised an eyebrow at his words. "Who is Natsu?" "The fireball bastard," Jackal piped up from behind Franmalth, kicking his cane out from under him. "This armored jackass absorbed him before I could get my payback." "Don't touch my-- wait... where did his soul go?" "You couldn't even keep track of it!? I should splatter you all over the lake right now, you fucking--"

Zeref looked away from them. Be careful what you wish for, right? "May we stay here, Kyouka-sama? I want this world to hear our story as well." "You just want to go back to that library." Zeref began tuning out again. His eyes were wide, and he was staring at the ground. He knew Tartarus wouldn't be able to sit still for long, but he didn't expect them to actually succeed. If Mavis knew about this, there would be no possible way to avoid an all-out war on Genessia, and he'd be forced to pick a side between the guild he had been living alongside for two different worlds now, and the guild who owed their very existence to him.

As Kyouka went on to explain that Magnolia was in ruins with Crocus next on their list, Zeref didn't appear to be paying attention. "Marde Guille said he was going to look into creating a second Cube here. This world will be yours, too." He kept staring at the ground, with none of the demons seeming to notice. This isn't what he wanted. Did this mean he was never going to be able to die?

"... I'm sorry." The words were whispered under his breath. He felt tears forming in his eyes, which he had to close to ensure none of the demons saw them. "This era truly is over, then."

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Kefka rarely slept ever, and when he did, the fragmented flashes of chaos couldn't really be qualified as dreams really. When he found himself floating over the scene unfolding beneath him, he was confused for a moment, but his curiosity quickly got the better of him. He floated down to take a seat next to Zeref, his usually rainbow colored garb switched out for more subdued purple robes. He gave the demons no mind, confident in his own power.

"Sorry for what?" he said loud enough that the demons would be alerted to Zeref's words. "If anything, it sounds like your era is just starting~"

The voice caused anger to briefly flare up in Zeref, but he had to quickly suppress it. The demons murmured in confusion, but didn't act; not without Zeref's say-so, and at this point they couldn't tell whether or not the clown was friend or foe; only that he clearly was not human, and thus didn't attack on sight.

"It was never my era," Zeref responded, trying to maintain his composure. It was a losing battle to do so. "I never wanted to rule anything, or anyone."

Kefka sighed, folding his arms behind him, leaning back farther than he would really be able to keep his balance with, just hovering in the air. There was a quiet moment as he stared up at the stars.

"Who said anything about ruling?" He shrugged, stretching an arm upward as if to touch the sky itself. "That's not what is at the core of magic, buddy. Magic - at its very core - is all about one thing. Destruction."

He clenches his fist around something unseen before jerking a thumb at the demons assembled behind them. "Your buddies seem to get the idea. I mean, look at 'em. They're practically built to kill. But something tells me that not even that would be enough..."

He sighs again, going back to staring out at the lake. "Tell me, in your world, what is the single most destructive spell you can think of? Not in terms of just killing outright, or making people act weird... but what makes the biggest boom?"

"You wanna see something blow up? I'll give you a 'boom,' you--" Kyouka shot Jackal a glare, silencing him immediately. Zeref, however, frowned at Kefka's words. Why would Kefka want to know something like that?

"That depends," Zeref answered quietly. The biggest explosions he can think of were Jackal's, since that's pretty much the entire spell in a nutshell: Explosions. Except, technically, it wasn't magic, but a Curse. There was Etherion, but that wasn't a spell so much as it was a giant weapon of mass destruction.

"Abyss Break. Or perhaps one of the Amaterasu formulas, or one of the Three Fairy Magics."

All of which he's quite sure Kefka has no access to.

Edited 2014-05-13 21:48 (UTC)

Kefka raises his hand once again, though this time he stretches out a single finger, seemingly pointing directly at one of the stars overhead.

"I'm not familiar with any of those, unfortunately. In my world, there is a single spell that is the purest form of magical expression. A spell that even the Warring Triad, the gods that created magic, feared..."

He trailed off for a moment, flicking his outstretched finger downward as the star he had pointed to began to shine brighter and larger.

"The Light of Judgement~!" As soon as he had finished speaking, the 'star' came shooting down in a large beam of light, hitting the lake and creating a massive crater that quickly began filling with what little remained of the water after it began to rain down over the surrounding area.

Zeref was quiet, as Kefka began his monologue. A demonstration of power, of course, trying to impress someone like Zeref, whom just about everyone except perhaps Acnologia feared on some level. He'd seen a sample of Kefka's power before; using Haste on the demon-like things that spawned from that giant monstrosity wasn't terribly different from Ultear's Arc of Time magic, and that would really only take Zeref by surprise once. Heartless Angel was worrying, but Zeref had countered it by summoning Nemesis and using them as meat shields of sorts to send on a collision course with the cherubic creatures. This, however... this was different.

In fact, it was disturbingly similar to Etherion. Something that, without the Magic Council intact, was no longer a threat. Tartarus watched in awe, with even Keith taking a few steps back, about the closest thing a skeleton can do to expressing intimidation.

"That..." Zeref said quietly, the lake behind him now gone. It was like watching Acnologia devastate Tenroujima, only on a smaller scale. "I see. But what does this have to do with me?"

Kefka just tilts his head to one side, looking... disappointed slightly. "Huh. Usually it's stronger than that. All well, it's easier to cast in my true form, but never mind..."

He floats up, billowing his robes dramatically, turning to face both the assembled demons and Zeref. "As the God of Magic, I just hate to see you not live up to your potential~"

Quite a few of the demons' expressions soured, seeing that as an insult, before softening again, as Zeref only nods. Of course Zeref knows that he's not living up to his full potential, at least not anymore. It's no secret as to just how powerful Zeref is (he had his reputation for a reason), and the fact that he's been intentionally holding back and not abusing his powers does constitute him not living up to his full potential, which would mean turning just about everywhere he goes into a barren wasteland full of demons.

"Too many people are dead because of me already."

Tartarus seemed rather confused, hearing that come from him.

"You wield the very fabric of the universe itself! You should be worshiped like gods! All of you! Instead, you're skulking around out here like bugs, scared of being stepped on..."

Kefka just cocks his head to one side, grinning a manic grin as he shifts into his more godlike appearance.

"Sounds to me like there's not enough of them dead."

Zeref grit his teeth. The demons understood, taking several steps back, giving Zeref room. "My patience is wearing very thin with you," he said to Kefka, in response to his not-so-veiled threat against the other people here. While Tartarus was quite confused as to why Zeref would disagree with the overall sentiment, they must have believed that Zeref's reaction was due to the insult, rather than the fact that Kefka's threatening to do the same thing Zeref said he wanted to do to his world.

"It's people like you that made it possible for people like me to exist."

Oh, if this may as well be Kefka's dream, as much fun as he's having. He'll just hang in the air, cackling for all he's worth.

"Of course I made it possible for you to exist. Your power is nothing more than an extension of mine! I am the source of all magic! I am the source of all power! You draw breath because I demand it!"

Gray might have been fooled too with the dream with how eerily realistic it was, but small things stood out to him. Like the lack of interaction and bubbles of isolation. Little social cues that normally happened in life that dreams tend to lack. The question was: who did the dream belong to? It was hard to narrow it when it took place in the very world they were living on. For the moment.

In the midst of scoping, he finally encountered a high level of activity. There was a high chance Gray wasn't the only one stuck in this dream, so he took it in stride when he heard a group of unfamiliar voices. He was going to approach until he hear Natsu's name come up in their conversation. He stopped instinctively to refrain drawing attention to himself and chose to hide out instead. The conversation was quite alarming with red flags popping up right and left. That narrowed the source of the dream.

One, two, three, either way he was out numbered now matter how you looked at it. Gray wasn't certain whether they were real, or just products of the dream. Could dreams even harm people? Regardless of the context, he would have to wake up whoever it was that was dreaming.

Gray stepped out, exposing himself clear as day. He showed no signs of backing down, and was prepared to fight if need be. His sight caught onto Zeref.

"This has gone on long enough."

Let's just say while he was watching that, the little dragon slayer was not too far from him, watching it too. No way. That was impossible. Charle and her, they risked their lives to stop Face. It wasn't possible that the world ended. It meant they had failed and Wendy didn't want to believe that. The realistic feel of the dream was starting to pull her in, but ever since this week started, she noticed it, the strange ominous smell she couldn't really recognize and now people were hopping through each other's dreams.

Wendy grabbed onto Gray's arm when he emerged from his hiding spot, attempting to stop him, because dream or not, they were Tartarus. Those guys almost killed all of them and it took a lot of strength on everyone's side to take them down. There was no way Gray could handle it himself, much less Wendy. Tapping into something like Dragon Force was still new to her. It was unstable and she didn't know if it would work.

"G-Gray-san...don't."

She was shaking, because Tartarus was scary. They almost killed her friends and Ezel almost killed Charle.

Kyouka was just about to go into detail about their battle with Fairy Tail when Gray exposed himself - and thankfully, not in the way he normally exposes himself. Kyouka immediately stepped in front of Zeref, spreading her her massive, bladelike fingers defensively in front of him. Another female demon, one that otherwise looks quite human except for the fact that she had horns and eyes similar to Zeref, joined her. The skeletal demon turned to Gray, but said nothing.

"Stay back, Master Zeref," Kyouka snarled. "We'll rip the wings off this Fairy, just like all of the others."

"No," Zeref answered, standing upright. His eyes didn't change colors. "Fairy Tail is not a threat, here."

Kyouka looked confused at first, but only smirked afterward. "They never were." The claws on her right hand extended to the length of the blade of the average sword, pointing one of them threateningly at Gray. Zeref looked more and more worried. "Leave," she demanded.

"I meant that there's a larger threat than them." It's the only way Zeref can think to explain it for now, at least until he has time to give the long version before a fight breaks out. "He's not going to attack all of you at once. Stand down for now."

Kyouka glared, before reluctantly lowering her arm. Zeref stepped out from behind her. "I don't know how they were brought here, but... I want this to stay peaceful, at least for now." Jackal looked like he was about to gag.

When Wendy appeared, Zeref looked even more concerned than before. The last thing he wanted right now was either of them getting hurt, as that would almost certainly result in war. Just one member of Tartarus was tough as nails. Trying to fight eight of the Nine Demon Gates at once, with Lamy in tow? That was suicidal.

Edited (wrong icon) 2014-05-13 21:30 (UTC)

Did ghosts sleep?

Mavis did. It helped to pass the time when she was bored - and having spent so many years on that single island, that happened more often than not. So it didn't surprise her overmuch when she felt herself drift off...

But this wasn't exactly what she expected when she drifted off, either.

This was a... dream, wasn't it? But still, not a normal one. It felt far too real. And if it was some sort of unknown magic, it was possible harm would carry over into the real world. Gray and Wendy were there, as was Zeref, and she didn't want anybody hurt. And more, there were some... unknowns. More demons of Tartarus?

Like Kyouka had put herself between Fairy Tail and Zeref, so did Mavis put herself between Fairy Tail and the demons, appearing quickly like a... ghost.

She had on a rather disarming smile, like a girl out for a stroll. She made no move to defend herself or the others, nor any aggressive pose to attack. She was simply interposing herself, almost casually. "Zeref! Is this where you've been hiding yourself?" She cocked her head to the side. "And who are these? Friends of yours?"

She hoped that putting herself between Fairy Tail and the others would dissolve the tension, or at least keep them from attacking one another.

Edited 2014-05-13 21:58 (UTC)

Gray hadn't realized that Wendy and the First were here too. The situation looked as if it was trying to be defused, but he wouldn't hesitate to go into the offense if they so much as tried to attack either Wendy or Mavis. Until such actions were necessary he remained on standby, watching at everything took place.

Wendy stayed behind Gray who was shielded by Mavis, the first master. She didn't know where Mavis came from but having her here was a relief to Wendy at least. She kept her eyes focused on the Tartarus members, trying to make sure they were not going to hurt her or anyone else that was here. She couldn't have her guildmates hurt or injured. She'd feel really bad about it.

It didn't seem like Zeref wanted a fight with them, so she was glad for that.

She looked at Mavis and then back to Zeref. Her arm was weakly attached to Gray.

"Three? Gyeheheh... Looks like an even fight now." "How does she know you, Zeref-sama?" "That's Silver's..." "That runt is back?! Master Zeref, let me at--"

Zeref turned back to the demons, silencing them without a word. Whatever expression he had, they shut up immediately. Zeref turned back to Fairy Tail, frowning.

"Yes, Mavis... this is where I've been living. The lake has everything I need." A few of the demons - namely, Kyouka, Jackal, Sayla, and Lamy - seemed perplexed by Zeref's words, either because he just told Fairy Tail where he's hanging out at, or because, well, he picked some lake to live at.

"This is Tartarus: A guild made up of demons that I've created. Though, I didn't found the guild itself - that was done by their Guild Master." He sighed, and continued. "I was just explaining to them that they should be focusing on a far greater threat than Fairy Tail. In my opinion... their real enemy, here, is whoever was powerful enough to bring me, them, you, and even Celestial Spirits to this world."

The demons didn't seem impressed. Jackal sneered, Kyouka's eyes narrowed, Lamy balked at the very idea, and Ezel's fists clenched. The only ones that didn't seem to show any reaction at all were Keith (for somewhat obvious reasons), Torafusa, Franmalth (who continued smiling for no apparent reason), and Sayla (who seemed to care more about Kyouka's response than her own). Tempesta, on the other hand, just crossed his arms, his expression as unreadable as ever.

"I don't have any authority to tell them what to do, however. I'm not their Guild Master, nor am I even a member of their guild. Strictly speaking, I can only give them advice."

Edited (wrong icon) 2014-06-02 22:07 (UTC)

Terra wasn't sure how she wondered here. It had to be another dream. Why was she brought here when her dreams were memories that she couldn't remember? What was taunting her?

She approached the boy carefully. It was clear the dream was his. Terra watched in silence unsure of what to say. She is pretty sure she has seen him before when she visited the fairy tale building.

...

Kyouka continued speaking. Something about 'Plutogrim' heading straight for the Palace in Crocus, with Marde Guille wanting to demoralize the rest of the kingdom by destroying the most important symbol of power in Fiore. As Terra approached, one of the other demons seemed to be paying attention... until one turned back towards her. The rabbit-eared demon's teeth grit, and just as she was about to say something, another, much larger demon turned to glare at her. Lamy laughed nervously, and stayed silent.

Terra got lucky, for now.

There was only one person who scared Terra and luckily he wasn't here. Terra stood with a blank stare taking in the scene. She walks towards the boy with black hair and moves to stand in hearing distance.

"Dream or nightmare?" She didn't have much to say. She felt stuck in someone else's mind.

"What are you talking about?" Kyouka demanded, glaring at the intruder. The other demons quickly became aware of the woman's presence, with some taking a more defensive stance, while others simply stared at her, unblinking and unmoving. Zeref raised his hand, motioning for Kyouka to stand down. Zeref himself didn't appear to know any better than she did as to what Terra meant, however, as he stood up, making no attempt to come closer.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean by that," Zeref responded. "Do you care to elaborate?"

Terra stared at the man curiously. He didn't know. "This isn't my home. So what is it? A dream or a nightmare?"

She looked around for the first time examining the area. Just another place she didn't know.

"This is Genessia. It's neither. You are in a different world." He'd been here long enough to know that Genessia is not a dream; it is very real, just like Exsilium. Of course, now that she keeps mentioning the word 'dream...' well, Tartarus all showing up at once did seem like an extremely unlikely coincidence.

"This world isn't as bad as it seems, all things considered." The humans weren't what he would consider evil, and the worst people he has encountered were all from other worlds. This world didn't even seem to have a centralized leadership.

Edited (/kicks tab key) 2014-05-14 21:30 (UTC)

Terra looked at him carefully and decided to believe him. "I can't remember" It was hard to believe anyone.

She had been trying to remember things about her world and her past. She didn't want this to be real.

Suigintou appeared in a flutter of black feathers. "Zeref-san? ...What's this place?" She looked around curiously, then took in the other people that were there. She didn't know them but they called Zeref 'Master'. Based on what Zeref had told her at the library, it was easy to do the maths.

She turned back to the mage annoyance clearly visible on her face. "I'm not one of your demons. And even if you were to become my medium, it would not give you the right to summon me at will." But deep inside, she was impressed. If he could use such powerful magic, especially on her, he was indeed a very powerful wizard. And that made him an even more interesting potential medium.

Zeref turned as he heard the familiar voice. The demons looked up at her as well, but considering the fact that the small, winged creature was obviously not human and was referring to Zeref with some degree of familiarity, they did nothing. One in particular narrowed her eyes, but said nothing; another glared, seemingly out of jealousy.

"Living Magic?" Kyouka asked, with Zeref shaking his head in response. "Hello, Suigintou," he said quietly. "I didn't summon you. You followed me."

At least, that's what he thinks happened. He still hasn't quite realized that he was dreaming; for someone who was such a light sleeper, lucid dreaming wasn't something that happened often, if at all. Especially not during a dream this vivid.

"Followed you?" She snorted softly. "Don't flatter yourself."

One moment she was having a cup of tea, minding her own business. Next thing she knew she was in this place she'd never been to before.

"Where are we anyway?" She asked again, pretty much ignoring Zeref's demons and their inane comments about her.

Zeref doesn't comment. Typical Suigintou. Kyouka glared at Suigintou's response, but still doesn't do anything, since Zeref didn't appear that offended. "We're at the Fayren lake," Zeref answers her, slowly getting to his feet.

"It's one of the places I visit frequently, since I try to avoid the city if at all possible. I've told you about my magic already."

The demons looked annoyed to have their reunion with Zeref interrupted, but they weren't about to cross him. "If I truly did summon you and you don't want to be here, why do you choose to stay?"

Edited 2014-05-14 16:05 (UTC)

The Fayren lake. It was most likely the first time she heard that name. She quirked a quizzical eyebrow and said. "Is it in that Fiore country you're from?"

She just nodded when he mentioned his magic and then gave him an appalled look. "I don't know how I was brought here, so obviously I don't know how to leave."

She walked towards the lake, standing by the water's edge. "Unless I can use this as a mirror, of course."

She turned back to look at Zeref. "Are you staying here?" She couldn't stop him if he decided to, but she sounded like she wouldn't like that.

"No. Fayren is a smaller town outside of Genessia City." The other demons began murmuring at the mention of the name of the world they were on. They knew other worlds existed, of course, but actually traveling between two worlds casually like they had apparently done was something else entirely.

"What do you mean, use it as a mirror?" Sorry, Suigintou, he still does't know the specifics of the N-Field. You'll have to explain that one to him. "Can it reflect? I suppose, but lake water usually isn't clear enough for that, especially not when it is windy out."

Zeref looked down at her question here. "Where else should I live?"

"Cube, where else?" Franmalth shouted from the back, prompting Jackal to kick his cane out from under him again, and causing both Torafusa and Kyouka to glare at the cycloptic demon.

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⚒ fifth - The Gates of Hades

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