feral | sting eucliffe

XLIII | GR

Episode 43: Galena is Reborn!

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ERZA WHIPPED HER HEAD to Natsu, scowling. "I thought we said we wouldn't get the magic council involved!" She shouted at him, the male looking just as bewildered as her. On their left, a storm of thousands of soldiers came out of nowhere. From their uniforms, they seemed to be correlated to some kind of royalty.

A clatter of hooves soon followed, two white horses appearing in the middle of the swarm of armada. Sonya reigned her horse as it neighed, settling down quickly. "It seems you've forgotten that Stella isn't far from Joya, my friends." Natsu let a big grin shape his lips, sparing the time to wave as he subconsciously punched someone with a flaming fist. "Hey, Sonya!" 

She smiled and kindly waved back, raising her own sword forward valiantly as her soldiers charged, following her orders. "Charge!" They let out a war cry, running into the mess of bodies and magic with their weapons. Galena—who was right behind her sister—sat on her own white horse, looking around for the remaining members of the Kyuuseishu.

"Your friends are lost in the midst of battle, Galena. They're somewhere; I'm sure of it." Erza nodded at the young girl, clashing her sword with someone else's attacks. Galena nodded, glancing up at the blood-red moon. Suddenly, a loud cackle erupted from the center. Erza froze, whipping her head towards the metal contraption in the middle.

It wasn't large, but it was still big enough to see. It was a platform with a metal ring, the perfect size to put the reflecting coin inside. "No," A breath left her lips. Natsu grew furious, a flame encasing his hand as he smelled the Kyuuseishu's scent tracing the madman. Mimicry put the coin into the ring, eyes widening when nothing happened.

"What?! Why won't it work?!" 

A pop appeared, Akane falling to the ground as Nikos quickly caught her. Happy flew by, latching his paws onto her sweater and bringing her back over to Wendy. "Because," Chase smirked. "You're not worthy." Galena's eyes lit up at the sight of her friends. Simply knowing her horse wasn't fast enough, she used her gymnastic skills.

Jumping over and on heads, she quickly reached a destination a few feet away from her friends. As Natsu sent the enemy flying away with a flaming fist, Chase picked out the coin that now read Worthy, a contemplative look on his face. He suddenly tossed it backward, the others looking on as Galena quickly caught it. The coin still read Worthy as he smiled. "You got this, kid."

She nodded running over and dodging other attackers as her friends made sure the pathway was clear for her. Her hand slammed into the little slot, pushing the coin into it as the moonlight glowed even brighter. Hitting the coin at an angle, everyone froze briefly to stare at in awe. Bright red beams shot from two different areas, hitting the symbol in the middle of the impenetrable gates.

 Letting out a breath, Erza smiled. "She did it," Sting quickly shot a white dragon roar at someone, his back hitting Erza's as he quickly covered her from an attack. "Well, don't let it distract you so so—" He jumped over another attack, rolling away before using his white dragon wing attack. Erza rolled her eyes, "If you weren't so close to Y/n, I'd hit you over the head."

He shivered at the thought, trying his best to brush the comment off his shoulder. Galena's green eyes glowed a bright yellow, her body encased in a sparkling white. After a bright flash, everything was back to normal as she held her throat, looking down at her hands. Chase blinked at her, "What did she do?" Nikos's nose twitched, "Her scent. . . it's a bit different."

Galena didn't answer, suddenly screaming. "Charge!" The gates swung wide open, thousands of stone soldiers kneeling down in an obedient manner before going forward. Chase blinked wildly, looking at her. "She rebirthed herself. Holy shit." He said, ducking under a punch as he shot a flaming chain towards a crowd.

Within twenty minutes, the entire battlefield had died down. The stone soldiers were still there loyally, kneeling to the ground in front of Galena. Her green eyes widened as she grew flustered, moving her hands in a flurry and talking animatedly to inanimate objects. "Kid," Akane weakly stumbled towards her, wringing an arm around her shoulders. 

"Just send 'em back," Feeling slightly embarrassed, Galena made a 'shoo' motion with her hand as the soldiers bowed once more before retreating back into the gate as it closed. Nikos snickered, "Who would've expected that the youngest of us has a stone army wrapped around her finger?" The others laughed at that, smiling proudly down at Galena.

The girl shared a fond smile of her own as everyone retreated back to the small area they'd set up for the injured. They moved the camp deep into the forest, some guilds heading back to their guild halls while the others decided to rest for the night before heading back. As the fire crackled at the epitome of it all, Y/n watched Nikos help Galena up the tree to see the stars. 

"You're not a stars person, I assume?" Sting said in an amused tone, picking a grape from her stash of fruit and popping it into his mouth. Y/n looked over at him, a soft smile on her lips as she giggled. "I'm more of a nature or stay-at-home person, thank you very much." He seemed to be interested in that, "Nice to know. I'll be putting that to good use when we go out on a date."

Her cheeks instantly turned red as her face flamed, "A-A date?" She squeaked.

Sting blinked at her, his cheeks becoming hot. "U-Um, well, yeah. I-I assumed so since we had 'moments', but it's totally okay if you don't want to—" Y/n quickly shook her head before grasping both sides of his face with her hands, "—no, no. I-It just caught me off guard, that's all." The flustered girl clarified quickly.

He smiled at that, boldly pressing his lips against hers as he smirked. "Good."