Firefall || Fairy Tail

33 : t a r t a r o s

The pink-haired woman stood to her feet, her eyes never moving from that large cube gently moving through the clouds. The soft white forms just parted calmly around the unnatural phenomenon, making the sight seem almost magical. To anyone else, it would have caused them to stare in awe, mouth agape. But it made Kia want to both shrink away and destroy something at the same time.

She pulled her elbows back, her signature fiery wings forming from the crimson magic circle that appeared on her back.

"Wait?!" Verani's voice came through her mind, "Can you really?!"

Kia knew that some of the others must have heard Verani with how loud she was, even if she was still in the infirmary with her brother, but she couldn't care less. The shingles under her feet cracked at the force of her jump as she stretched her wings to catch the air current, a sound that was easily heard inside by the two she had been talking with.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?!"

A few of the others turned toward the yelling blonde, seeing her holding a few fingers over the glowing rune on her forearm.

"Kia! Answer me, damn it!"

As Verani tried to get her friend to respond, Amber turned and immediately crossed the hall. Throwing the doors open, her gaze shifted up, easily spotting the streak of fire in the sky. She slapped her fingers over her own rune so hard that it was audible, "Kia, don't be stupid! Wait for all of us!"

The dark-haired girl felt a few presences at her sides. She peeked over to find Wendy and a hovering Carla, their own brown eyes looking up.

A voice sounded from her other side, "I didn't think she was as impulsive as Salamander."

"She's not planning on fighting all of them, is she?" The worry was evident in the Sky Dragon Slayer's voice.

Carla crossed her arms while a slight huff, "Well obviously, she's being a fool."

"Card Dimension: All!"

A bright light flooded through the guild hall, engulfing all of its members. Within seconds, everyone but Cana had vanished, replaced by floating cards. Murmurs and questions carried through the air as everyone tried to figure out what had just happened.

Gray scanned the room, "Wait, this magic..."

"When the hell did you learn this one, Cana?" Verani was trying to examine the card that she had been sucked into.

"What the hell's going on?"

"Sorry," Cana explained, "but I have to make sure everyone gets out and some of you are way too slow!" She stood up straighter, extending a hand, "Now then, I return all cards to me!"

There were yelps and cries as they were all hurled through the air toward the Card mage, who wasted no time summoning the three guild members she needed.

"Happy! Carla! Lily! The guild hall's about to explode! Get us out of here and head for that Tartaros base!"

||~x~||

The unexpected shockwave sent her tumbling forward in the air a few times before Kia was able to turn and see what had caused it. And her throat closed. Everything in her body stopped functioning in that second, except for her fiery wings which continued subconsciously.

'H-How? How could that have happened?' Her vision blurred, her eyes beginning to burn along with her lungs. 'Everyone...'

Three twinkles caught her attention as they rapidly shot from the billowing of smoke. Within seconds, she recognized the charging forms of Happy, Carla, and Pantherlily. A small sense of hope flickered in her internal flame, if the Exceeds were okay then the others should be too.