Tempest of War

Chapter 8: Play or Destroy?

          The howling winds of darkness shrouded the continent of Fiore.  The war between darkness and light continued to rage on for weeks.  Mercurius had already wiped out most of Lord Erik's and Lord Thestalos's forces, yet they were still enduring.  With Lord Erik's new ability, legions of Shadowrath were being felled at great numbers due to the surprising counter attacks.  Now, the little corrupt girl was skipping to the Northwest territory; her humming was still audible even in total darkness.  After a few moments, she could hear war cries of Charian soldiers.  A massive grin formed on her face, and she parted the darkness so they could clearly see her.  She positioned her feet into a offensive stance; meanwhile, Lord Dragneel was offing the nearest Shadowrath elite in his vicinity.
"Queen Wendy?  Hey!  What are you doing?"  Lord Dragneel tried to simply speak to her, yet she was still aware of her new transformation.  All he could hear was a soft, ominous giggling coming from the corrupt little girl that stood a fair distance away.  She opened her eyes, and all they saw was an abyss of black.
"Emperor, come play with me.  It's so cold out here."  Queen Wendy shivered a bit and opened her small palms to the Flame Emperor.  Massive orbs of pure shadow formed from her tiny palms and propelled themselves toward the Emperor and his warriors.  Emperor Dragneel darted out of the way, but some of his warriors took the blow and were blown back into the infinite darkness.  Queen Wendy kept the area for her and Emperor Dragneel to "play" in lit.  It seemed the dark ones still have a bit of honor.
"Queen Wendy, come to your senses!  You're the Maiden of the Sky! Not Slayn!"  Emperor Dragneel rushed toward her with Tizona in his grasp; the corrupt little child darted at the speed of darkness and planted her sandaled foot onto the Flame Emperor's skull.  The force of the blow forced Emperor Dragneel into the ground; the taste of the Earth was appalling.  He questioned Gajeel's diet in his mind while recovering from the blow rather quickly.
"This is so much fun! Master was right!"  Queen Wendy twirled around and launched a volley of dark spheres that abducted most of Char's warriors, forcing them into a stasis.  The girl giggled and imitated someone sleeping with their hands on a pillow before turning around.  Emperor Dragneel surprised her and grabbed her arm; the little dark one gasped from how quickly he recovered from her kick.  Soon, she was launched into the air by the Flame Emperor's strength; furthermore, a spiral of pure flame rushed through the cold girl's body.  A high pitched shriek rung throughout the darkness, calling more Shadowrath to appear in response.
"Why are you so mean?  Is it because I'm a child?  Don't hurt me Natsu..pretty please?"  Her clothing and hair color reverted back to their original state.  Emperor Dragneel just stood there as she cling to her arm.
"Wendy..? Is that really you..?" Emperor Dragneel said with a low voice as his remaining warriors were keeping the newly summoned Shadowrath at bay.  The girl let out a cute yawn and gripped Natsu's arm with a incomprehensible force.
"Mhm.  The real me.  The one who gave her life to darkness to serve my true Master."  She looked up as her dark self took form again before tossing Emperor Dragneel into the air.  In the midst of the commotion,  Tizona fell to the ground near the Queen's feet; this left the Flame Emperor unarmed.  She inhaled a bunch of darkness that was shrouding the outside area into her body; then a furious expression formed on her face.
"Shadow Sky Queen Roar!"  Her childish body ejected a massive column of pure darkness.  It was as dark as a black hole; the Flame Emperor had to do something - but what?  Still in mid-air, the silhouette of something caught him and dragged him out of the way.  It was a small creature of some sort.  He was then dropped after a moment or two; the corrupt girl frowned and tilted her head, confused of what just happened.  There was something familiar about the grippy feeling on the Flame Emperor's neck.  After a moment, he recalled it quickly.  He turned to the floating blue feline with angelic wings with a big smile on his face.  It was his most faithful servant and best friend, Happy.
"Are you alright Natsu? Oops, I mean my lord?"  Happy said with a smile on his whiskered blue face.
"I'm quite alright Happy."  Just before the Flame Emperor could finish speaking to the blue one, a volley of dark arrows and orbs flew past them.  Queen Wendy was panting and holding her head; then she uttered a deafening shriek.  Seeing Happy was reminding the litte girl of her faithful servant Carla.  Tears slid down the shrieking one's cheeks.
"Queen Wendy! That's it! Fight the dark ones influence! I believe in you!"  Emperor Dragneel parried a blow from a nearby Shadowrath who had just responded to her shrieking.  The little girl fell to her knees and shook because of the cold.  The Shadowrath soldiers that responded to her shrieking picked her up and darted away at the speed of darkness.  They knew Lord Cheney would be disappointed if she fell out of his control and expunged all the shadow from the sky.
"No! Queen Wendy!"  The Flame Emperor hightailed it into the shadows after her and managed to grab the girl by the foot.  A deafening hiss rung out of the shadows; thus, more Shadowrath soldiers appeared.  The Flame Emperor was exhausted, yet he picked up Tizona in his hand and was ready to fight more.  Queen Wendy's body suddenly was blown out of the shadow's and into the parted area.  The wingbeat of massive wings shook the ground below; Emperor Dragneel was blown back as he still had a hold of the Queen.  All of the bodies hit the ground with multiple thuds.
"Flame Emperor, I assume you needed assistance did you not?" A familiar voice traveled into Natsu's ears.
"Laxus?"  Emperor Dragneel sat up and cradled Queen Wendy in his arms.  The little one exhaused what power she had and she was still resisting the darkness in her heart and mind even in her unconsciousness.  The hulking man with armor stepped out of the shadows with a smirk on his face.
"Yes sir.  It's me.  Let me take care of the Queen.  There's only one thing that can save her from the darkness."  General Laxus said as he lifted the unconscious corrupted girl into his arms.  Emperor Dragneel handed the task to the hulking soldier that stood before him.  The man dug into his pocket and took out a necklace with a raindrop gem on the end of it; then he wrapped it around the slumbering girl's neck. 
"Where did you get that?!  That's..."  Emperor Dragneel's words could not escape his mouth as the girl levitated off the ground and a glimmering blue light veiled her body.  Her hair color and clothing color reverted back to normal as well as the light itself becoming so bright that it punctured a hole in the darkened sky.  Thousands of shrieks were audible in the mist; an entire legion of Shadowrath were about to appear.  The transformation was quick, and the little girl opened her eyes.
"N-Natsu...L-Laxus..?" She whispered in a sleepy voice as she sat on the ground.  Both men had a smile on their face, yet there was still an entire onslaught of Slaynian warriors fast approaching.
"Queen Wendy! Rid the skies of this cur! Please!"  Both men shouted in unison and began to fight off the initial wave of Shadowrath that had darted into view.  The little girl stood up without fear and clasped her hands together, locking her fingers together.  Then, she released her power into the sky, making the hole already in the sky expand at an incredible rate.  The two men were having a progressively easier time fighting off the legions, for the sky was slowly being purged of the evil.  The darkness vanished and glittery essence rained from the sky as sunlight started raining down on the Earth again.  The young queen giggled and fell to her knees because of the immense power she had consumed to return the sky to normal.  Happy landed on her head and laughed. The Shadowrath clenched their heads in agony and faded.  All that was left was to stop the dark one once and for all.  Laxus and Emperor Dragneel lifted the girl up and supported her to a safe haven their forces had established before the darkness had faded.
"Thank you all for saving me.  I was so terribly frightened.  I pray that everyone is okay."  She uttered in a weak tired voice before falling asleep again.  Happy and the men laughed a bit because of how funny it was seeing her tired like that.  Their journey to the forward position would take a few days.  Lord Cheney had just lost a massive key piece in his game of conquest.