Mating Season (Mostly Chendy, Erlu, Canajane)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Mirajane grinned as she saw the rest of her army appear. "Come on! We have a lot of ground to cover!" Mirajane hopped onto one of the horses (A/N: I know it's an illusion, but I'm going off the illusions that Wendy lived with when she was younger as my basis for how she can touch the horse. Ha! Now you can't comment 'that's not possible, it's an illusion'!) and was already galloping off towards sector eight. She had a grin on her face as the rest of her army followed after her. I'm coming, Cana. She thought smugly.

•••

Cana still didn't understand what Mirajane was doing. Suddenly, her whole army burst into motion with one white haired rider leading the charge towards... well, she was leading the charge towards a desolate part of the field with nobody else around... no, scratch that... there was a small group of her own soldiers there. Cana scratched her head in confusion. Why's she going all the way over there? Her enemy's over here!

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What?! Why weren't her soldiers there?! She sent at least three of her stupid bands over there earlier! I heard her give the orders myself! Where could she be?! He heard the thundering of hooves coming his way. What?! A large force of soldiers came careening over the hills towards him and his soldiers. "PREPARE FOR AN ATTACK!" He shouted loudly, silently calling for his other soldiers to come and save them. It was too late, however. The white-haired girl had figured out his plan.

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Mirajane smirked at her victory. "Who are we fighting, Your Majesty?" A knight called, seeing only her own soldiers. "The King! Now, go for the bishop! I want you to take him alive!" There was an uproar of confusion and outrage. "Your Majesty, we cannot attack our own men!" Another knight called in shock. "That's not my army!" Mirajane shouted over the loud, thundering hoof steps of the horses behind her. There were still murmurs of confusion and outrage. "Ask me questions later! Now is the time for winning!" Mirajane shouted. "You're supposed to follow my command, yes?!" She cried. All whispers ceased and they sped up and followed after her.

•••

It looks like she's going to attack her own army! What the heck is happening?! Cana thought with outright confusion.

•••

Mirajane's army overtook band seven. But of course, they couldn't truly be called that because this wasn't a part of her army. She watched as the enemies fell around her. She descended from her mount and made her way to the captured bishop. "Well hello there." She said, voice laced with more than a little smugness. "How did you know?!" The bishop cried. Mirajane leaned down until she was in his face and whispered quietly. "That's not for you to know." With those six words Mirajane motioned for her knight to slice his throat. The knight grimaced, looking away as he did what was instructed. The world froze, the fighting stopping in place. "Checkmate." A loud, deep voice bellowed across the field. Mirajane watched as the trees sunk back into the ground and the river stopped to flow in the distance. "What?!" The knight cried in confusion as the other soldiers began to disappear. Mirajane smirked. "Goodbye." She said softly as he himself dissipated. Mirajane looked up to find the cage dropping down slowly in the air. Mirajane ran over as quickly as she could, reaching the middle of the battlefield in remarkable time. Mirajane ripped the door off the cage off its hinges and pulled Cana from its depths. "What-" Mirajane stooped Cana's question by pulling her forward for a long, passionate kiss. When they separated, Mirajane felt a calm feeling spread from her head to her toes. This was the first time she'd relaxed since Cana had been captured. Cana smiled at her a bit goofily for a second before she shook her head as if to wake herself up from some haze. "Alright. What just happened?!" Cana asked incredulously. Mirajane giggled at her girlfriend. "What do you mean?" She asked, playing dumb. Cana was clearly not amused as she gave her a narrow look. Mirajane laughed again. "Okay, okay! The bishop was the king all along." Cana gaped at her. "What?!" Cana snapped loudly. Mirajane tried not to laugh, instead just grinning. "Yup!" She said simply. "How did you know?!" The brunette demanded. "Well, let's see," Mirajane started, wrapping an arm around Cana and leading her towards the exit to the cave, "my first hint was when the shadow guy told me who my opponent was." Cana looked at her with confusion. "He said it was an illusion, just like all the other soldiers." Cana's eyes widened. "That's still not enough to know it was your bishop!" She said with incredulity. "I never said it was. My second hint was when I saw his army across the battlefield from me right before the trees appeared. It had less than my own, which was weird. This was supposed to be an equal fight. And then this same bishop kept trying to ask me what I was doing, which was odd considering the others all just did what I said." Cana's eyes were as big as dinner plates at this point. "Oh! I almost forgot one of the biggest hints! When I tried to see his strategy, the army appeared faster than they should have. It was almost as if they knew where my troops were." Cana's eyes were bulging out of her skull and Mirajane laughed. "My original plan was to lead him to my forces at the river, but then it was as if they were finding my forces much to quickly. Then I remembered what the shadows figure had told me. And it clicked. That's when I sent the bishop to sector eight and recalled my troops." Cana was looking at her with unconcealed shock. "That's... amazing! I would never have thought of that! It's genius!" Mirajane grinned at the compliments. "Thanks." She said. "I just kept thinking 'what would Cana do?" The brunette beamed at the words. "Well, I might have to start asking what you would do at this rate!" Mirajane chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Come on, the others are waiting for us." The two quickened their pace as they walked towards the others.