Retreat to Fiore (Fairy Tail)

4 - Scars from the past

Surprised by Erza's enthusiasm and sudden proximity of her strong presence, Elrion leaned back into his seat to regain some personal space. Given her usual hawk-like stare and commanding tone of voice, he was shocked to see the scarlet mage display such a burst of emotions. In her eyes he could see a mix or hope, caution, excitement, and vulnerability. By glancing around, given by the faces of the others in the group, he confirmed that he was not the only one surprised.

"By requesting my assistance, do you mean you have a scar you would like me to heal?" Elrion asked cautiously to confirm, despite being quite sure what this is about.

"Yes." - she answered immediately without a second of delay.

"As I said, how much I can do depends on how large and old the scars is, so I cannot make any promises in advance. First, I would need to see it to know what we are working with."

"Very well." Without wasting time, she impatiently stood up from her seat and spread her arms wide before yelling "REQUIP".

As Erza yelled the name of her magic and her body immediately shone brightly, her long hair raising against the gravity, revealing her diamond shaped earrings which started to dance wildly on magic wind surrounding her. Usual plate armor and a skirt disappeared without a trace, and for a split of a second she appeared to be undressed, every line of her impressive outline visible. Her spread out arms and perfectly straight body posture also enhanced the short lasting view. The next second, the light disappeared and Erza was standing in a unique set of armor.

Lower part of the armor set was a robe divided vertically into five parts, each shaped as elongated petal of a white flower reaching below her knees. Front petal had golden trims and decoration patterns, while the other two on her sides and the two on the back were pure white. Above her waist, Erza now wore a tough looking set of light blue chest-piece, along with large arm bracers and impressive shoulder pads which protected her upper arms. The skin on her upper back was exposed, and quite a lot of skin was visible around the chest plate piece itself. For torso protection, the armor had only the front part in the form of a chest plate, directly connected with the dress below her waist, and indirectly tied with belts around her naked waist to the rear part of the dress which covered her lower back.

Overall white and light sea blue color portrayed purity, while golden yellow edges and decorations associated to wealth, dignity and lightning itself. Spikes protruding from shoulders and bracers gave the whole outfit an undertone of aggression. Her hairstyle also changed, and now the rear part of her hair was tied into a long braid, decorated with dark purple ball near the end. The whole outfit looked as if partially designed for battle and partially for some holy ceremony.

"This is my Thunder Empress Armor. It is designed to combat lightning magic, though its  physical protection capabilities leave some things to be desired. If there was too much magi-steel parts which resist magic, it would affect my magic capabilities in battle as well."

Gray and Happy have seen it before, so they did not bat an eye at the sight, but Lucy and Elrion saw it for he first time and needed a few seconds to recover from the sight in front of them.

Lucy clasped her hands with stars in her eyes. "Wow Erza. That armor is beautiful. It almost looks as some sort of a sacred robe."

Erza simply nodded in confirmation, somewhat apprehensive of what is to come. She is not used to showing weakness, especially not in front of her friends, so this whole thing was way outside of her comfort zone. Still, she took a deep breath and took a few steps to the side, facing the middle passage between the seats and having her back turned to her friends and Elrion. Slowly she reached around her head to the back of her neck, holding the side of her hair as if it was a curtain. After one more deep breath, she slowly but decisively removed her hair and flipped it over her shoulder.