Fairy Tail - Twilight Empire

Chapter 1 - Wake Into Nightmare

Lucy Heartfilia awoke from a golden dream. Remnants of a headache, and some muscle fatigue, lingered as if trying to stir but her body had already shaken it off. She sat up slowly, making sure not to raise her head too quickly. Some dust and dirt drifted from her shoulders and her hair. For a moment, she couldn't find her voice.

It was as if she'd been asleep for some time, but, when—

Fear locked her body. She tore her gaze toward the skies, vacant of the dark, shadowy dragon that once soared over them. Even Grimoire Heart's airship was nowhere to be seen. Lucy instinctively reached for the keys at her side, her hand passing over the new Capricorn key.

"Natsu?" she called, at last summoning strength to her voice. "Happy?"

A groan responded, followed by another one. Lucy carefully got to her feet. Her legs resisted for a second but she ignored it and stood upright just fine.

Around her, in a broken circle, were the other members of S-Class Wizard Promotion, some stirring while others still were passed out. A ball of golden light slowly faded around the island.

"Lucy, is that you?" Natsu asked, his voice muffled. She turned in the direction of the voice.

Natsu had his head buried a bit beneath the dirt. He forcibly swung it away. Happy plumped down from his resting place on a tall, thick root.

"Yeah," she said. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Natsu said. He got up faster than her. "Like I took a real good nap."

"I love a long cat nap," Happy said.

Natsu's expression darkened. "Where's that dragon? Now that I'm all refreshed, round two is going to go a lot different."

Lucy shrugged, not playing into his drive to fight and probably get killed. "No idea. I don't see any signs of him. And with us asleep like that, you'd think one of those Grimoire Heart guys would've tried something."

"I don't remember falling asleep, though," Natsu said. "We were all standing together and then he tried to attack us and...okay, so, maybe I do sort of remember falling asleep."

"How long we were out, then?" Happy asked. "It's still sunny out."

"Maybe just the evening," Lucy said. She gestured at the other stirring members of the guild. "Come on. Maybe Master knows something."

They made their way over. Natsu and Happy helped the shaken Wendy and Carla. Wendy sat with her eyes wide open, shock still riddling her body, while Carla was trying to comfort her while ignoring her own trauma. Lucy helped Gajeel get Levy to her feet.

"Thanks guys," Levy said, patting Lucy's shoulder. "Man, what was that?"

"Acnologia?" Cana burst. Lucy and Levy spun on their heels toward her. She stood near Gilder's—Lucy was still getting it through her head that they were related—in utter disbelief. Gildarts sighed and nodded, helping Cana pick up some cards that'd scattered in whatever explosion knocked them all apart.

"The very same dragon that I was sent to defeat on my hundred-year quest," Gildarts said. "It's always been said that it's attracted to high concentrations of magic. I'm certain the revival of the Tenrou Tree got its attention."

"How are we alive?" Gajeel muttered.

Levy shook her head. "Maybe we had enough magic to deflect the spell?"

"At that power? No way," Gildarts said. "That should've vaporized us."

The rest of the guild, and Laxus, came together, somewhat reforming the circle. Juvia all but clung to Gray, as if afraid the dragon—Acnologia—would return and take them out again. There was no way she was going down without her man in her arms. The Thunder God Tribe gravitated tightly around Laxus, too.