Façade | Jerza

24 | Etherion

Natsu growled as he finished Hughes with a final attack in the amusement park. His twisted sense of humour only fuelled the Dragon Slayer's determination to defeat him as Hughes recalled all the civilians he executed in his lifetime. The Dragon Slayer's arm stung with blood seeping the large cut made by his enemy.

By the time Gray found Natsu while navigating the palace, an explosion had resounded from outside the castle. Yet, the impact had been so near—as though it affected them. Gray clenched his fist as Natsu waved at him.

"Did I show you up this time?" Natsu grinned tiredly as he proudly gestured to the defeat of Hughes.

"I need to show you something," was all Gray said as he walked away from the amusement park. His cold eyes trailed to Hughes' body.

All that awaited was the suspenseful anticipation of finding Magnolia gone.

No, that wasn't the right word. They would merely be particles of ethernano, raining upon Royal City. Natsu remained a good distance behind him, now frowning at the lack of Gray's response.

"Hey, what's gotten into you?"

Gray's eyes narrowed, "You might be celebrating your victory a little too early, or rather, a false victory."

Natsu gulped, "Did the islands..?"

"I'm not sure. We were both in this castle, so perhaps it was the Dragon Chain Cannon that caused all that commotion. Although, I hate to say it, but King Faust retrieved the key from me. He was able to land the target on the floating island of Magnolia."

"What about Jellal? Now that he's free, there shouldn't be any problem saving the town. He could have shattered the lacrima like Gajeel had done to you."

"If Jellal did that, and the island was colliding with Extalia, they would all die. There wasn't enough time to devise a plan to save them. If only we directly aimed the cannon at the lacrima. We wouldn't have to contemplate the outcome."

Natsu sighed, "You may be tempted to blame yourself, but it's not your fault. We should've listened to Erza and invaded the castle."

"Yeah, we all should've heeded Erza's concerns. She knew we were on a time crunch. So if the outcome of this battle is Magnolia's annihilation, then we can't blame anyone."

Natsu interjected the statement immediately, "No. Although Erza said little about it...this is all my fault. Jellal's rescue was delayed because I picked a fight on an airship, which caused it to self-destruct."

If there were emotions felt among the group, guilt rarely surfaced. Natsu's sense of obliviousness and cheerfulness never dissipated, even in the worst of times. Today, though, he felt as though his heart carried a heavy burden.

Nobody listened to Erza, and at some point everyone had thought that she acted upon her own agenda, as though she valued no one but Jellal.

Gray huffed a breath, "Stop blaming yourself. This was bound to happen. If someone like Jellal couldn't save Magnolia, then I don't think anyone could have done it."

They passed the courtyard hastily as people cheered among the crowds in town as Gray witnessed it. Tears pricked his eyes as he witnessed magic energy gravitate towards the desperate civilians. Somewhere in the sky, they could see four beings fly away from the explosion like shooting stars.

Gray was certain one of them was Jellal.

Natsu's throat constricted, and he desperately shook his head. "Gramps...everyone..."

"We failed them," Gray whispered, dropping to his knees.

They turned to the frantic clicking of heels against the floor as Mirajane ran towards them. She breathed heavily, sported with a few injuries. She, too, had swollen eyes. "Did you defeat the other commanders?"