And despite everything that had happened since he'd joined Fairy Tail, all the progress he'd made to resolve things with the girl he'd so viciously beaten… it was like it had all been undone in an instant flat!
Of course what he did to her would be one of her worst memories. No matter how many years passed by, that would always be the case
...
"Shit," he muttered to himself under his breath and looked away and summing up the situation in what he felt to be a pretty adequate manner with that one word.
"Gildarts!" Happy cheered as he hovered over to the big man. "So you really are here! Wow, its so good to see you."
"And you," Gildarts smirked wryly. "Though this may not be the best time for a reunion. We still need to get to the Atrium place and get out of here."
"But we can't yet," Happy shook his head. "Charla and the others aren't here - Wendy and Lisanna and Juvia… we got separated from them somehow."
"Where the heck could they all have gone?" Gray muttered irritably.
"Most likely to try and find the Clippers," Mavis replied. "Getting them out was another one of our goals of course."
"Yeah, but now!?" Gray scoffed. "Of all times they do that now?"
"On the contrary I think it was the right call," Mavis stated. "If we'd left them here and escaped ourselves then its likely they'd realise the Clippers are just as alien to this universe as we are, and possibly exterminate them since they don't belong here. We may never get another chance to save them than this."
"…Fair point…" Gray noted. "But how do we find them now? Gajeel, can you track them?"
"I believe I know where they will have gone," Mavis pointed upwards. "The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is on Level Four - I saw it on the floor plan of my tour earlier. We must head up there."
"But the transport up there's been shut down," Gildarts pointed out.
"Well then we'll make our own transport," Gray stated. "Come on… let's…"
He stopped talking suddenly, his eyes widening as the hair stood up on the back of his neck. His whole body had suddenly gone frigid, as if he'd been dunked into a lake of freezing water and Gray couldn't remember the last time he'd actually felt cold. Especially not cold this biting.
"Guuh… what's happening!?" Gajeel had stiffened too. Gildarts' eyes widened slightly and he swore under his breath as the tails of both the Exceed stood up straight.
"Not more of them…" Gildarts cursed, as a wizard ran into the hallway nearby, pointing towards them and crying, "There they are. Quick, subdue them!" Before many, many tall cloaked figures wafted around the corner and swept down it towards the gathered Fairy Tail members. And down the hall where Gildarts and Levy had just come from, more of them emerged.
"What… what are those things!?" Happy yelled.
"What… what's wrong with me?" Lily's hands were clutching his stomach. "Why do I feel this way?"
"Are these… those Dementor things?" Gajeel sucked in a breath through his teeth before he suddenly clutched his head, gasping as a feeling of despair washed over him like a pit opening inside him and seeking to swallow him up from within. As the Dementors drew closer, a faint voice began to ring in his ears… was that his own?
"Metalicana…! Hey, Metalicana, where are you!? Get… get back here, you… you… damn dragon! This isn't funny anymore. Where've you gone!…. Please, come back!"
All around him the others were having similar reactions. Gray's was perhaps the most violent, falling to his knees and clutching his stomach as if he was going to be sick, the sounds of burning and screaming and a terrible, grating, booming roar - one that he would never forget - seeking to shatter his eardrums even now when it was just a memory. Sweat was beginning to spring up across his whole body as vague images of the huge bestial demon laying waste to his hometown swept through his consciousness, as well as the terrible image of his father's broken body with the massive gash torn across his left temple.
"N… No…" he gasped. "D…Dad… Deliora… not… not this…"
Even the Exceed were reacting harshly. Happy had fallen onto his backside and was shaking like a leaf as he too heard his own voice. "My… my mission… was to kill Natsu," shortly accompanied by Charla's screams of despair as the black Exceed named Nadi told them about how their friendship with the Dragon Slayers was all a lie. While Lily was clenching his fists and clenching his fangs so tightly he could probably chew through iron himself as he heard the words again, "You are now made one of the Fallen, and are banished from Extalia…"
"No… no, no, no, no, no…" Levy had practically shrunk into a ball, covering her head as the harsh laughter began to ring in her ears once more. "Not again… go away… just go away…"
Mavis looked round in horror as each of her guild members began to succumb to the Dementors effects, shaking and gasping as their memories tried to drag them downwards, as the horrible wraiths themselves slowly drew in towards them, their horrible breath filling the air almost gleefully as if they sensed they were winning. What should she do? What could she do?
Even Gildarts stumbled slightly, one hand covering one side of his face and panting for breath as several memories seemed to flash through his head in rapid succession.
"Cornelia, why… can't we try a little more?"
"I'm sorry, Gildarts, really I am… but you're never around. You're too involved with your work, always going away on jobs. I can't stand being alone so much anymore and I just don't think this is part of you that you can change… I'm sorry… I want a divorce…"
Then another memory:-
"Stop this, Ivan! Stop this now or I'm going to have to stop you! Don't make me do this!"
"Step aside, Gildarts! This has nothing to do with you, this has to do solely with me and my father."
"Ivan, I'm warning you…"
And another - the almost mocking roar that shook the mountain he was standing on as Acnologia descended on him with a blur of speed that belied his enormous size and the ghost of the searing, indescribable agony as in a flash what felt like a third of his entire body was torn from the rest of him in a single, brutal strike.
"Guuuhnn…" Gildarts growled slightly as he looked up at the Dementors gliding in ever closer, imprinting the most horrendous moments of his life back and all the others with their own pasts. He felt his fist clenching as he tried to block out the memories, but the more he tried to ignore them they more they seemed to press down on him. But now the Dementors were reaching their hands forwards grasping towards the closest of their targets.
He had to do something…
Cana! his mind suddenly screamed at him.
Think of Cana! Think of how indescribably happy you were when you'd got over the shock of her being your daughter. How you watched the daughter you never knew you had growing over the years. How she said she was glad to have met you, how she let you, despite having not known who she was for eighteen years, have the right to love her!
That moment had, perhaps, been the happiest moment of his life, and it was certainly the freshest of his best ones in his memory. And as he focused on it, he felt the despair inside him lessen as if his memory of Cana was somehow buoying him up. The other memories seemed to be purged from his head and his gaze became hard as steel as he suddenly sprang forwards like a giant leaping panther, seizing a Dementor's scabby hand in his own moments before it touched Gray.
The Dementor actually screeched and jerked back slightly but, with a face of stone-cold fury, Gildarts smashed his hand and the Dementors own hand into the hooded face, knocking it back even further and summoning an immense amount of Crash power into his palm. With a roar of power, a massive white blast of energy detonated from his palm and flooded down the corridor, washing over all the Dementors from that side of the group and fracturing the top layer of the walls, floor and ceiling into pieces.
The wizard who'd been escorting the Dementors could only gape from where he was peering around the corner, watching in absolute disbelief… as lines appeared across the bodies of all the Dementors… and several seconds later, they disintegrated into tiny pieces which then vanished into thin air, bits of black cloak drifting down to the floor. The other Dementors coming from the other direction screeched and immediately backed off, sensing that which was surely impossible… other Dementors… had been killed?
Gildarts looked over at the rest of the Dementors and raised his hand at them, but they got the message and quickly retreated, bumping into each other in their haste to get away from this man. Gildarts smirked with satisfaction as the rest of Fairy Tail began to come round, before turning back to the lone wizard watching them, who cringed slightly as their eyes met.
"I don't know why this Ministry has creatures like those things in their employ," Gildarts said to him. "But I believe I already said. We will do anything to protect each other. And let me tell you… for as long as you still want any of those things anywhere near one of us… then you have made an enemy out of Fairy Tail. Go and tell your Minister that."
The wizard gasped and dashed off like he had the devil chasing him. Gildarts smirked in satisfaction before he gripped Gray's shoulder and hauled him to his feet. "Come on, you lot. We need to regroup with the others. The sooner we're out of here the better!"
"I hear that," Gray moaned, clutching his head, but hurrying off.
"Gajeel, lead the way," Gildarts instructed.
Gajeel took one last look at the still visibly distressed Levy, who was still trying hard to keep away from him and grimaced, but nodded. "Follow me."