Author's note: This is an idea that came to me after watching the latest episode of the anime. I do not own Fairy Tail.
THE ICE MAGE AND THE ICE QUEEN
CHAPTER 1
The morning sun shone brightly above the large, heavily crowded arena. The Grand Magic Games have reached the fourth day and the battle part had already started. Following a different concept from the previews days, the battles were now tag team battles, with each guild choosing a team of two mages for the fight. Blue Pegasus had already defeated Quatro Cerberus, with Ichiya of Blue Pegasus showing why he was called the ace of his guild by defeating both of his opponents by himself, in his own unique way. And while most people were eagerly waiting for the showdown between Fairy Tail and Sabretooth, they were also looking pretty excited for the current match between Lamia Scale and Mermaid Heel. The tag team fight featured Lyon and Yuka from Lamia Scale against Kagura and Millianna from Mermaid Heel. Even though the stoic, dark haired leader of the all female guild had left the fighting to her eager partner, the bubbly, brown haired girl found herself knocked out, mostly because of her over enthusiasm and carelessness. Kagura then re-entered the fight, defeating with ease the short, fuzzy browed mage despite his valiant effort. The fight had turned now into an one on one battle between Lamia Scale's second strongest mage and Mermaid Heel's strongest mage. The atmosphere in the arena seemed electrified with anticipation.
"Incredible! She has downed Yuka by not giving him a moment to retaliate! At last, it's just Kagura and Lyon! One on one!" the commentator of the Grand Magic Games yelled with excitement as the crowd roared enthusiastically. The teams of the rest of the guilds were watching the battle as well from their stands along with everyone else.
"She beat one of them down without even drawing her sword? Impressive" Laxus, the tall, blond haired, Lightning Dragon Slayer of Fairy Tail said, despite maintaining his usual calm expression, while watching the fight with the rest of his teammates.
"Yeah. Kagura is an expert with a sheathed sword" Erza commented with a serious expression.
"Maybe she would be a worthy opponent for my Iron Dragon Sword" Gazille said confidently as he laughed with his signature chuckle. Gray leaned on the clean wall as he remained back in the shadows with a calm expression on his face and said nothing, only simply turned his head towards the arena.
"Will Lyon be okay?" Chelia, the pretty, young, pink haired mage of Lamia Scale asked with some worry.
"Even though he had a hard time against Millianna, going one on one against Kagura…" her cousin Shery said uncertain, worried as well but was cut off by the old guild master of their guild.
"What? Lyon hasn't unleashed his true strength yet" Obaba, the old guild master of Lamia Scale said with certainty. "Lyon! No matter what, you'd better win! Show her your power!" she added with a loud voice as she kept spinning her finger even more intently.
"I've heard about you. You once went by the name Reitei. You attempted a dangerous ritual in order to fight Deliora" Kagura said as her hand leaned on her sheathed sword.
"That was a long time ago. Now, I'm just Lyon, a mage with Lamia Scale. Nothing more, nothing else" Lyon said simply, but with a hint of regret in his voice as he tried to sent those bad memories away. "But something about you reminds me of the way I used to be. Back then when I was driven by hatred and had lost sight of something important…" the silver haired mage continued with a serious expression as he eyed the dark haired girl in front of him, who had a seemingly stern expression on her face and remained unaffected by his words.
"Let me ask you something. Why didn't you attack Millianna directly? Did you hold back because she's a woman? Or just because you didn't want to reveal your strategy to me?" Kagura asked as she eyed the two unconscious mages.
"Who knows? Perhaps you'll find out when you fight me!" Lyon said with a smirk as he put his hands together and formed a seal. "Ice Make, Dragonfly!" he yelled as he created a number of ice made dragonflies that flew quickly against his opponent. Kagura easily evaded the ice made dragonflies and dashed against Lyon. Lyon scowled, put his hands together and got ready for another attack.
"Ice Make, Eagle!" he yelled as he created a large, ice made eagle and sent it against Kagura. The dark haired girl however, smashed through the ice made bird with her sheathed sword and landed a strong blow on Lyon with it, sending him crashing on the ground.
"Kagura really is strong! Is Lyon powerless to do anything?" the commentator said with a loud voice as Lyon tried to get back on his feet.
"What are you doing Lyon?!" the silver haired mage suddenly heard a loud, familiar voice and turned towards the stand where the Fairy Tail mages were watching. Gray was in front of his fellow guild members with an angry expression on his face.
"And you were Ur's disciple?! You are much stronger than that! Get your act together now!" the dark haired mage yelled with a mix of anger and encouragement in his voice. Lyon's eyes shot wide open as he saw his brother disciple. Memories from his teacher Ur came rushing to his mind and he clenched his fist.
"He's right! Show me what you really got, Lyon Vastia!" Kagura said decisively as she held her sword up with both hands and took her battle stance. Lyon looked at her and finally got back on his feet.
"Yeah. And we are running out of time" he said. "Gray is right, I must put my act together. Kagura is strong but most importantly, she's really fast. I need to change my strategy" Lyon thought as he got ready for his next move. "Ice Make, Snow Tiger!" he yelled as he created a large, ice made saber tooth tiger on his side. "Ice Make, Snow Ape!" he said again as he created a large, ice made ape on his other side."Ice Make, Snow Dragon!" he yelled once more as he created a huge, ice made dragon that appeared behind him. Kagura kept a straight face even though seemed slightly worried.
"I bet not even you will be able to escape this" Lyon said with a confident smirk as he sent his ice made creatures against his opponent. Kagura managed to evade all of them and landed on her feet.
"You can create all these at the same time?" she said with a hint of surprise. The ice made creatures attacked again and the dark haired girl once again leapt in the air in order to avoid them. "It doesn't matter how many times they attack. I'll evade them again and then smash them" she thought but she suddenly turned her head once she heard a small sound and felt a shadow above her. She saw that Lyon was right above her." When did he get there?" she thought stunned.
"I got you now! Ice Make, Wolf!" Lyon said as he surrounded his fist with a thick layer of ice that was shaped like a wolf and landed a hard blow on Kagura that sent her flying towards the ground. The mages of Mermaid Heel gasped in surprise as Lyon landed on his feet.
"What a move from Lyon! He actually managed to knock Kagura to the ground. What a comeback!" the announcer said enthusiastically.
"How did he get so high so quickly?" Kagura wondered as she scanned the arena for an answer, but she soon realized the answer as she saw a tall, ice made tower in the place where Lyon was standing. "I see, that's how. Pretty smart move" she thought as she got on her feet and turned towards Lyon. She also noticed the ice made saber tooth tiger, ape and dragon still around them.
"Are you okay? You can continue the fight, right?" Lyon asked honestly.
"Of course, it takes more than a simple punch to hold me down" Kagura said as she stared Lyon. "Why didn't you continue the attack?" she asked.
"Excuse me?" Lyon said slightly confused.
"When I fell on the ground, you could continue your attack by sending your animals against me. I might not be able to evade them this time. So why didn't you attack?" Kagura asked seriously. Lyon looked at her for a while with a serious expression as well.
"I didn't want to hurt you. This may be a match, but I wouldn't like to injure you or hurt you badly" he answered.
"So, you really are holding back because I'm a woman. I see you are underestimating me. Never mind, you had this one chance to get the advantage in this fight. Now you lost it and you will lose this match" Kagura said calmly but also with a hint of anger.
"I don't think so. It seems like you are the one who is underestimating me. You will not catch me off guard again" Lyon said confidently.
"We'll see about that" Kagura said as she put her hand on the hilt of her sword which started glowing red. A large, red seal appeared above the arena, which was surrounded in a red light and a strong force pushed Lyon along with his ice made creatures in the air.
"There it is, Kagura's ace in her sleeve. Gravity Change" Risley said smiling.
"But for Kagura to use Gravity Change. That Lyon must be one tough guy" Arania said.
"What power" Lyon thought as he was being pushed in the air, towards the large seal. He then saw Kagura charging forward and smashing his ice made creates with one swift move. "I better do something quick" the ice mage thought as Kagura attacked once again from above.
"It's over" she said as she attacked with her sheathed sword. The crowd held it's breath for a moment and so did some of the mages who were watching. Kagura widened slightly her eyes in surprise as Lyon had blocked her strike with an ice made sword.
"He, he, that was close" Lyon chuckled.
"So, I see that you managed to block my strike. I'm a little surprised that you actually managed to move in my Gravity Change" Kagura said calmly.
"Actually, I'm a little surprised myself. For a moment I thought I wasn't going to make it. So, shall we continue our fight while flying?" Lyon said with a smile. Kagura huffed and undid her magic, while at the same time kicked Lyon to the ground. Kagura then landed on her feet while Lyon got up as well.
"You're pretty tough" Kagura commented.
"Thank you. You're pretty strong too, Kagura-san. Now shall we continue this?" Lyon said as he held his ice made sword firmly and raised it.
"Of course" Kagura said calmly as she danced once again towards the ice mage. The two mages started a quick paced close battle, with Kagura attacking with her sheathed sword and Lyon blocking with his own ice made sword. But even though the ice made sword was well made, strong and hard enough to fight almost any sword, it was quickly shattered by Kagura's special sword. Lyon tripped backwards as his sword was smashed from Kagura's powerful strikes, but retained his balance and managed to dodge the next strike that aimed directly at him. Kagura continued with another strong strike but this time Lyon was able to grab the sheathed sword with both his hands and blocked the strike, even though it took considerable effort to stop the momentum of Kagura's moves. Lyon then quickly counter attacked by landing a hard blow on his opponent's face which send her flying backwards, but still remained on her feet.
"I am not feeling very comfortable with this" Lyon though with a hint of regret as he saw Kagura rubbing the side of her face with the back of her hand but still retaining her calm expression on her face. "But I can't hold back if I want to win this match. I'll make up for it latter" he thought as he put his hands together. "Ice Make, Snow Tiger!" he said as he sent another ice made saber tooth tiger against Kagura. Kagura managed to dodge the large, ice made charging animal and drove her sword to its side, shattering it. Lyon continued his attack again by creating a large ice made, spiky sphere that turned out to be a puffer fish and send it flying towards his opponent. Kagura was a little surprised by the mass of the ice made creature but once again smashed it with her sword.
"The fight is going back and forth! What a great match ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer yelled ecstatic as the crowd roared with enthusiasm.
"Hey, this Lyon guy has grown stronger!" Natsu said with some excitement.
"Of course he did, what did you expect? That's more like it!" Gray said with a smirk.
"Kagura-chan is having trouble?" Beth, the young, pig tailed girl of Mermaid Heel said surprised.
"I wouldn't say she's having trouble, but that Lyon guy sure is strong" Risley said.
"Yeah! Go Lyon!" Shelia cheered excitedly.
"And to think I was actually worried. Kagura really is strong, but this is Lyon we are talking about" Sherry said.
"See? I told you" Obaba added as she kept spinning her finger around.
"I see your attacks have gotten faster. But it's my turn now" Kagura said she charged her magic power. Her sword glowed red and she activated her Gravity Change once again, and Lyon found himself flying in the air.
"Not again. Is she going to attack the same way?" Lyon mumbled. Kagura then suddenly changed the gravity towards the opposite direction, causing Lyon to quickly crash down on the ground with force.
"What a hit! What the move from Kagura! Is Lyon out?" the announcer yelled into his microphone.
"It's over this time. I don't usually use magic like this but improvisation is part of a battle. You really are strong Lyon Vastia" Kagura said but stopped once she saw Lyon slowly getting up. "You can still move?!" she thought surprised.
"Ice Make, Geyser!" Lyon yelled as he slammed his hands on the ground before he got up, creating a number of large, spiky ice blocks that moved against Kagura, who barely managed to evade by leaping high in the air. Lyon smiled.
"Incoming!" he said as he kept his hands on the ground which started freezing. Kagura wondered what he was talking about when she noticed the ground under her crumbling and a large, ice made dragon broke through the ground and charged against her while she was still in midair. Kagura once again barely evaded the incoming dragon but not completely as she was still hit by the ice made dragon's side and fell a little clumsily on the ground. She quickly got up and noticed Lyon having a small smile on his face.
"Why are you smiling? Getting confident?" she asked.
"I am just enjoying a good match. Perhaps if you relaxed a little, you might also enjoy it" Lyon said.
"I don't have the time to enjoy a battle. I have other things that I need to focus on" Kagura said seriously. Lyon's smile faded away and was replaced by a frown.
"If you take everything so seriously, then why don't you unsheathe your sword? Why don't you go all out?" he said.
"This sword is for only one person. A hated enemy of mine. I will unsheathe it when I meet him. Besides, you don't want me to do this" Kagura said coldly.
"I see. It looks like your hatred for this person makes you lose sight of everything else. You really do remind me of how I used to be, and that is pretty sad. Fine then, I will snap you out of it, even if it is only for a while, only for this fight. It's about time I get more serious. More serious than I already was" Lyon said decisively as he started to charge his magic power, surrounding himself in a light blue aura and freezing the ground around him. He then lifted his arms and the atmosphere around them started to get chilly. White and blue ice crystals started flowing around them. Kagura's breath started forming a white puff of air.
"The temperature looks like it suddenly dropped around here folks! The arena seems like it's freezing!" the announcer said as he held his microphone tighter.
"So this is how it is when you get serious. Interesting. Let's finish this then" Kagura said as she started charging her magic power as well. The atmosphere around them started to become heavier and Lyon began to feel a strong force towards the ground.
"You are using your gravity magic again, aren't you? And this time it seems even heavier. It's a good thing that I'm starting to actually get used to that" Lyon said with a smirk.
"Do you really think you can withstand my Gravity Change? You really are confident" Kagura said.
"Heh, I admit it's pretty hard and it takes a while, but I think I'm starting to get to hand of it" Lyon said.
"Interesting. Let's see about that" Kagura said as she increased her pressure even more. Lyon groaned as he felt a stronger force and Kagura got ready to strike but suddenly she felt herself unable to move. "What's going on?" she said as she saw her feet almost frozen to the ground.
"You are not the only one who can immobilize your opponent. If you think you can hold me down with your gravity magic, then I can freeze you to your place. Actually, the increased pressure from your gravity magic increases my blizzard. And since neither of us seems able to move, then the win foes to the one who can strike from a distance, Kagura-san" Lyon said as he put his hands together and got ready to attack. "Ice Make, Eagle!" he said as he sent an ice made eagle towards his opponent. Kagura quickly undid her magic, managed to dodge the ice made eagle and charged forward against the ice mage, who was still trying to recover from the effects of her gravity magic, holding her sword with both hands. Lyon however, was able to get up just in time to block Kagura's attack, who also seemed a little slower than usual, by grabbing the sheathed sword with both of his hands. He then surrounded his hands with ice at the places where he was holding the sword in order to get a better grip.
"What are you doing?" Kagura said slightly confused.
"Holding you in place" Lyon said simply.
"Holding me in place?" Kagura said still confused but quickly realized what he meant as she turned her head and saw behind her the ice made eagle flying directly against her. Realizing what was about to happen, Kagura used a lot of force to leap in the air, taking Lyon along with her, and dodged the large eagle moments before it crashed on her. Instead it crashed on the ground where they were standing and the force of the impact caused to slightly spin in the air before Lyon released his grip from the sword, causing both of them to land on their feet. A loud sound from the gong was then heard, showing that the thirty minute time limit of the match had ended. Both of the mages got back on their feet slightly panting.
"And the time limit is over! The contest results in a draw! What a match!" the commentator said excited as the crowd cheered both the mages enthusiastically. Lyon sighed while Kagura just lowered her head with her usual calm expression on her face, turned her back and moved to leave the arena.
"Kagura-san, wait" Lyon called her. Kagura stopped and turned around slowly as Lyon moved towards her and raised his hand once he got in front of her.
"Good match" he said with a kind smile. Kagura stared at him for a moment before she finally raised her hand as well and shook his hand.
"Indeed, it was a good match. You fought well and honestly. I thank you for that" she said kindly. Lyon smiled even more.
"May I?" he said and then put his other hand on the back of Kagura's hand and gently turned it, so that the hand that he offered before was on top of Kagura's hand.
"What are you doing?" Kagura asked as she suddenly felt a chill on her palm.
"Relax, I just want to give you something" Lyon responded with a calm voice. "There, I'm done" he said as he removed his hand and Kagura saw a really well made ice rose on her hand. Her eyebrows raised slightly in surprise.
"What's this?" she said with a voice that showed mostly confusion rather than surprise.
"I believe it's a flower" Lyon said with a smile.
"I know that. Why are you giving this to me?" Kagura said simply.
"Well, to make up for the fight. Look I know that we were opponents" Lyon began quickly as he saw Kagura frowning irritated. "And honestly, you are one of the strongest opponents I've ever fought so far. If the time limit hadn't expired, I am not sure if I would win that match. But that doesn't change the fact that you are a woman. And women should be treated like that" Lyon continued with a smooth voice. Kagura didn't blush, or even smiled at that statement, but her expression was softened.
"You are speaking from your heart. You are a kind man, Lyon Vastia" she said. Lyon smiled kindly.
"Before we leave this arena, I want to tell you something last. A friendly advice, if you want. Don't lose yourself to your hatred" he said seriously. Kagura's eyes widened in surprise. "Hatred is like a poison and before you know it, it consumes you, it turns you into something bad and somehow, it always turns against you, and you lose sight of everything else. I know it's not easy, but whatever might have happened in the past, you should try to move forward. You can find comfort in your friends, they are the ones who can help you. Friends from your guild, or even other guilds" he said.
"You don't know what you are talking about. You don't know what I've been through or who I hate and why. So don't tell me stuff like letting go of my hate or moving forward. You don't know my pain. You don't know me" Kagura said slowly as she clenched her hands and for the first time Lyon noticed anger in her voice.
"You're right. I don't know your pain. But I have experienced pain in my life, I was consumed by anger and hate and I did bad things that now I have to live with. I have been in a bad place so I do know what I'm talking about. That's all I had to say, I got nothing more" Lyon said as he turned around. "I, for once, am happy that we got to talk like that Kagura-san. I guess I'll see you around" he said with one last smile as he made his way towards his partner who had started to get back on his feet. Kagura said nothing, turned around as well and walked towards Millianna who had gotten back on her feet and was dusting herself. As she made her way towards her teammate Kagura noticed that she was still holding the ice rose that Lyon gave her. "Why am I still holding that?" she wondered as she took a quick look at Lyon who was talking with his teammate. "Lyon Vastia. You really are a kind person" she thought as she continued her way. Millianna soon joined her.
"Kagura-chan, I am so sorry" she said as she walked behind her with a lowered head.
"You need to get stronger Millianna. I'll train you" Kagura said.
"Right! Hey Kagura-chan, what are you holding there?" Millianna said curiously as she noticed Kagura's hand.
"Nothing. Let's go join the others" Kagura said as she quickly put the ice flower in one of her pockets and moved towards the stand where her guild was standing.
Author's note: There goes this one. After watching the episode with the fight between Lyon and Kagura, I felt like it had the potential for something more. And this particular fight was actually skipped in the manga. One of the things that made Fairy Tail really good, in my opinion, was the fact that it didn't just focus on the main characters, but it also paid some more attention to other characters as well. I don't think that this really happens anymore, and interesting characters like Lyon are being overlooked, or are just comedy relief characters. I will probably update one more chapter with the aftermath of the match and focus a little more on the developing relationship between Lyon and Kagura. See you next time!