Apocalypse of Blood

I don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. I own only Zeref's Angels.

Chapter 9- Reunions Good and Bad

Mystogan and Lucifer walked silently down the corridor to the throne room of the Extalian castle, they were flanked on either side by members of the Extalia Royal Guard. Unlike all other castles, the castle of Extalia was not lavishly furnished, Lucifer and Mystogan walked down a simple white carpet to the Queen's audience chamber as Nichiya spoke up,

"The Queen will be happy to see you, Lucifer. Things have become quite dark since you were taken from us. Perhaps you will be able to triumph where your six brothers have failed." Nichiya said as they approached the large double doors,

"Perhaps, only time will tell." Lucifer replied quietly as the double doors opened to reveal a mostly empty chamber, save for six figures in various colored robes. One grey, another was silver, a third one colored bright lime green, another a bright blue-white, one dark red, the final was a deep, dark, chestnut brown. Lucifer wasted no time in taking his place in the center of his six brethren as Mystogan followed him in, the double doors closing loudly behind him; before he quickly glanced around the throne room to see little other decoration than the white carpet leading to the simple throne and the large painting of the floating city of Extalia surrounded by over a hundred Angels. Lucifer remembered the day well, he had spent most of the day choking on his own internal organs...

Lucifer's reminiscing was interrupted by the arrival of a large white Exceed in a fur-lined cape appearing from behind the throne before she took her seat and the seven Fallen Archangels dropped to one knee and placed their closed left fist against the floor before covering their heart with their right fist.

"""""""Glory be to Shagotte! Long may she reign!""""""" the Archangels bellowed unanimously before standing upright once more. The Queen remained impassive before asking,

"Lucifer, have you been briefed on the situation in Edolas?" Shagotte asked solemnly as Lucifer stepped forward to reply,

"Not fully, your Majesty. I gather that Metatron has shared the Anima magic with the current King of Edolas and is using the stolen magic to wake my other brothers, though I believe Raphael has returned to the battlefield now."

"And he has brought with him some sort of large reptile and a satyr with him. The satyr has taken control of the entire Edolas army with some form of magic, including the captain Knightwalker. The reptile has been working deep within the castle on some form of experimental magic device. More than that we cannot say other than Raphael has used his power over the king to outlaw magic use everywhere and have been using the Anima machine more than ever in our history."

"Your Majesty, if I might ask, have you heard anything about the Earth Land Fairy Tail guild?" Mystogan said, causing Lucifer and his Second Generation Archangel brethren to stare intently at him, eager to hear what he had interrupted their conversation to talk about.

Mammon, the Shadow Dragon Slayer in the gray robe(every Archangel is essentially a living Lacrima, made from Dragon and Celestial Spirit magic, making them technically Dragon Gods, making every single one of them a 2nd Generation Dragon Slayer(Note: this is not true with the rest of the Angels)) with spiked, short, ashen hair raised an eyebrow, intrigued at the gall of the exiled Prince.

Belphegor and Beelzebub looked downright outraged at being interrupted but held their tongues. Belphegor's long, black hair almost smacking Lucifer in the face as Beelzebub's cueball ducked just in time to avoid the swinging mane. The Adamantine and Acid Dragon Slayers had always been fairly quick to irritated, at least they had been if Lucifer's memory was still trustworthy after a few centuries and a coma.

Leviathan and Satan both wore expressions that suggested they had even forgot Edolas' human population had their own Prince. This was probably because, while the Ice and Magma Dragon Slayers never wished to see the humans eradicated, they were not particularly attached to humanity like Lucifer.

Only Asmodeus, the Earth Dragon Slayer, seemed interested in Shagotte's answer to Mystogan's question.

"Yes, supposedly a few of your guild mates landed here yesterday and were captured by the reptile. Word has it, there were two Dragon Slayers among them, I doubt they're still alive now." Shagotte replied solemnly.

"I wouldn't count them out yet, Gabriel has a flair for the dramatic a mile long, and Natsu's ability to reduce plans and objects to shred borders on a cosmic power." Lucifer commented evenly.

"Well, in either case, the sooner we act the better. I hope I can trust you and your brothers to assist us in this matter, as pursuant to the pact you signed when we granted you asylum."

"Indeed you can. I'm just waiting on your dismissal to begin planning." Lucifer replied.

"Well then, I won't keep you any longer. You may leave." Shagotte said as she gestured with her scepter to the doors behind them. The group wasted no time before unanimously turning on their heel and exiting the room with inhuman synchronization, Mystogan hurrying along behind them...

Later, back at the Edolas Royal Palace...

Lucy sprinted down down the deserted hallway. Her battered, bleeding feet carrying her as fast as they could as she clutched her key ring to her chest as she heard the clanging of armored boots getting closer to her from the surrounding hallways before she ducked into a nearby doorway and slammed the door behind her and slid to the floor, her back resting against the door ash she struggled to catch her breath, her heaving chest straining the tattered remains of what used to be her favorite Heart Kruz top.

She had lost sight of Natsu and Wendy when that creepy alligator thing had ambushed them in the Edolas Fairy Tail guild hall. She had no idea where any of the rest of her world's Fairy Tail members were. Come to think of it, she wasn't sure how many of the Edolas members had survived after the lizard and knights and had started attacking the Edolas guild. There had just been so much blood...

Her blood froze as she heard the armored boots approaching the door before she heard them come to a stop, mere inches away from her battered, terror- wracked form. She did her best to hold her breath as she heard some indistinct muttering from the other side before the soldiers clomped off back to their posts.

Relief washed over Lucy as she set her Keys on the floor as she finally took a second to get her bearings and think. She was in some sort of laboratory with various tables scattered with magical instruments, books, and research notes and the walls were lined with bookcases filled with dusty, old, tomes. The laboratory appeared empty for the moment, until she saw a man with long, golden hair in white robes step out from between two bookcases, poring over an old tome. Lucy held her breath to see if he would leave, hoping against hope that he hadn't seen her as he made his way over to a nearby table before he set the tome down.

"Don't flatter yourself, human. I knew you were here as soon as you crossed through the Anima portal. To answer your question, the soldiers didn't find you because this room is protected by a series of runes. Only Angels may enter and exit, otherwise any one who crosses the door is stuck here." the man said as he turned to face her.

Lucy was too tired and terrified to make sense of little more than the fact she was stuck here as the man began to advance purposefully toward her, his robe billowing like a bank of clouds around him. Lucy didn't bother to respond as she grabbed her keys and scrambled to locate Loke's key on the ring, her finger fumbling the key ring, causing it to fall to the ground in front of her, skittering just out of her reach. She leaped to grab the key ring before the man brought a heel down hard on her forearm, smirking in satisfaction as he felt her ulna snap like a dry twig under his heel and Lucy yelped in pain.

"And no, you won't be leaving here alive." he said as he removed his foot from her arm and hoisted her up by her neck and slamming her up against the wall as he squeezed her throat just hard enough to make her gasp for breath but not pass into unconsciousness, pretending not to notice the Key of the Lion clutched tightly behind her back.

"You know, despite the fact you humans crawl through the mud like worms, you do have your good points. I mean, back in my day we carved important things into rocks to keep 'em safe. This paper stuff you made is a stroke of genius, even if you still write and speak this limited dialect." the man said with a small chuckle as he continued, "Though personally I prefer the Demon's paper, the good stuff," he said a wicked sneer lit up his face as he whispered,

"They make it out of human skin." he finished as a triple-edged silver dagger appeared in his unoccupied hand as he moved the tip closer to her throat. It closed to within three inches of her throat when he felt someone seize hold of his wrist.

"Unhand that young lady, Metatron." Loke growled as Metatron smirked to himself.

"Leo... it's been a while."

"I won't ask you twice." Leo replied, as he tried to move Metatron's arm by force to no avail.

"Tsk tsk, Leo. You didn't even ask once!" Metatron exclaimed as he grabbed Loke's arm and twisted it up into the spirit's back before shoving him hard enough into the nearby wall that the area around his impact began to spiderweb with cracks in the stone as he flipped the dagger in his hand and nailed it through the hand he had twisted into Loke's back, pushing it through his back and into the stone behind it like a butterfly pinned to a cork board.

Thankfully the few seconds it took Metatron to savage Leo were just enough for Lucy to grab Virgo's key as she desperately extended her one good arm as she chanted the summoning invocation,

"Open! Gate of the Maiden, Virgo!"

"Dark Ecriture: Shibari!" Metatron cast as a series of glowing, red runes spread over Lucy's skin as she felt her hands and feet extended and were drawn tight together as if someone was hogtying her around a barrel and she felt her back arching painfully as her shirt tore even more, threatening to destroy what little modesty her tattered top served to preserve.

Unfortunately for her, the sight of her bountiful bosom about to spring into view did nothing to slow Metatron's reflexes as Virgo burst from the ground in her maid uniform in a vain attempt to shield Lucy before Metatron sent her flying with a single snap kick to her chest. Sending her careening through two of the research tables in his lab before crumpling into a heap on the floor, her outfit in tatters and her face arms sporting several cuts as well as a nasty wound to the left side of her waist inside which a nasty shard of wood was lodged. A wooden leg from one of the tables had embedded in her during her short flight.

Metatron, in no mood to play game. Especially with Virgo in particular. He wasted no time in kicking her swiftly in the wound in her side as she gasped sharply in pain. The blow sent her flying another five feet into the wall before he approached her once more, crouching down to eye level as he put one hand on the Spirit's shoulder as he pushed her hard against the wall as he grabbed hold of the wooden spar in her side as he twisted it hard as he forced the shard deeper.

"You have a lot of nerve showing yourself anywhere near one of us. Remember what Michael said after you made Lucifer fall?" Metatron seethed at the Maiden as she screwed her eyes shut in pain as an involuntary cry escaped her under Metatron's ministrations.

"It's fine. I don't really expect you to fess up. I don't care if you're sorry or not. I'm just gonna make you suffer the way you made my brothers suffer after Lucifer fell. You took Father's favorite Angel away from him, and turned him to humanity's side. He didn't like that at all, and he took it out on us. Now, I'm gonna return the favor. I can't magically compel you like Gabe, Raph, Luci, or Michael can. That's their little parting gift from their original bodies' father, but I can keep you here with Magic, and I'm gonna make you wish you'd never shown your face here." he rambled on before Virgo let out a small giggle through her cries of pain, causing her torturer to frown in dismay.

"What's so funny?" he said as he slammed her hard against the wall.

"Nothing sir, I'm just wondering how Lucifer will react when he gets here." she said quietly as she looked down at something on the floor to her right. Metatron followed her line of sight to a small magic circle drawn on the floor in her blood. Metatron's eyes widened in shock as he scrambled to destroy the complex sigil Virgo had drawn on the ground in her own blood as she struggled to hold him back as she finished the rest of her spell,

"Et ad congregandum...eos coram me. Open, Gate of the Morning Star!" she bit off as she struggled to keep Metatron from disrupting her summoning ritual. As soon as the last syllable passed her lips, the blood on the floor began to shine with blinding white light as a black, gold, and red magic circle formed above it. Virgo, Metatron, and the room's other occupants had to shield their eyes as an armored figure appeared in the middle.

The figure was covered head-to-toe in plate armor that was almost skintight. At least enough to keep its form powerful, but lithe. The armor was red on the front abdomen, forearm guards, and the trim of the greaves. The rest of the armor was predominantly black with gold trim at its edges, while it's shoulder were covered by a long cape with silver lining on the inside.

The figure's armor was completed by a large, black helmet with a pair of long, gold horns almost a foot long vertically and a gold chinstrap with a black, eyeless face plate, shaped like the nose of a plane covered the figure's face from view as it clenched an armored fist.

"Let her go Metatron. Your quarrel is with me now!" the figure bellowed in a commanding, imperious voice as it reached back and pulled a black katana from the twin vertical scabbards on its back.

"Indeed it is. Now don't go anywhere, I'll deal with you next." Metatron said as he yanked the wooden stake from Virgo's side causing Virgo to sharply cry out once more.

"You think you still have the power to beat one of us after being cut off for so long?" Metatron asked as he materialized two more daggers in his hands.

"Come find out." The figure said as it brandished it's sword and prepared to strike.

Back at Extalia...

"What's going on? What happened to Lucifer?" Mystogan asked as ranks upon ranks of Angels and Exceeds paraded into the Royal Armory to be fitted with weapons and armor for the coming battle.

"We are marching to war once more. Lucifer was summoned into Metatron's laboratory, for what purpose we know not. But, now that he has returned and your guild has been taken, we can no longer stay out of the affairs of this world. There are far greater battles to be fought in the future, and we need Lucifer to help lead our lesser brethren against the forces of evil. For not only our sake, but for humanity's as well." Beelzebub commented informatively as he came to a stop near Mystogan as he watched the Angel's prepare for battle.

"But what about my citizen's well-being? They can't get caught in the middle of this war." Mystogan replied to the Crown Prince of Gluttony remarked.

"This will be no war. This is one battle, and trust me Mystogan. For better or worse, Edolas will be free of us and our brethren as well as your guild mates at the end of this fight. After today Mystogan, the people of Edolas will be free. Today, we start the long road to vanquishing the evils of Zeref from not only this world, but all others." Beelzebub commented, watching the organized troop movements with interest.

"What am I supposed to do while you're all off raising hell in my country?" Mystogan replied grumpily. Beelzebub was silent for almost a full minute before he turned to look at the Prince,

"As Satan would say: 'I expect you to earn your fucking crown. Fight for your people.' Unless you care to sit back and let us handle it, like we have the last four hundred years. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must meet with Leviathan to plan our attack. Good day, Mystogan." Beelzebub said as he strode for the War Room.

"Today, we fly once more to save humanity." Beelzebub said as he came to a stop outside the War Room and looked once more to Mystogan.

"I get what you humans mean now. The more things change, the more they stay the same." Beelzebub said as he closed the door behind him...

Author's Note: I am sooo sorry about the delay guys. I had to move and it was almost four months after until I even started this chapter and then so much happened, but I'm back. The next chapter is slated to be mostly fight scenes and the end of the arc while the next few before Tenroujima will be short omakes to help you guys get a better look a Lucifer's relationships with the other FT members. I have decided the final pairing and any who are curious about it can check my profile, it has a link to Charahub where I post most of the profile for my OCs including Lucifer, and yes, it does tell you who his final pairing is with.