Ghosts of the past

Chapter 21: Realisation

Hi everyone ! I'm back with chapter 21 ! Don't forget to leave a comment if you liked it ;)

Lily xxx

Both sides were staring at each other, but neither dared to act first. Then, without even knowing what initiated it, the tension dissipated soon replaced by the battle that just started to rage on. Gajeel had to refrain from attacking the first enemy in sight, but the shrimp beside him, his shrimp, helped him to stay focussed on his true targets: José and August.

So they circled the palace discreetly. Their group was supposed to take advantage of the diversion made by all this commotion to attack the two leaders. It included Natsu, Lucy, Laxus, Mirajane, Lisanna, Elfman, Evergreen, Cana as well as Gray, Juvia, Levy and him. They finally found the gardens' entrance, location where they estimated their chances where the best to go inside. However, a better chance didn't meant easy, Gajeel was more than certain of it.

"Let go of your weapons!" Yelled a voice in their back, confirming Gajeel's thoughts.

"Shit! Didn't expect them to show up this quick" grumbled Gray, seeing that a group of royal soldiers had noticed them.

"Go on" decided Laxus for those who were the most involved in this, slamming his fist into his other one. "We'll take care of these clowns".

"Yes! We are men!" Agreed Elfman just before getting hit behind the head by Evergreen.

"Who are you calling a man?" Complained the young woman, annoyed by his habit of saying "man" every time he could.

"Are you sure?" Asked Levy, uncomfortable with the idea of letting her friends behind.

"Don't worry" Mira reassured her with a warm smile. "We'll be fine. You, make sure you find those horrible assassins" she added.

Reluctantly, she nodded, but was hold back by a hand in hers.

"Lu?" she started, recognising her best friend.

"Natsu and I are coming with you. Two additional pair of arms wont be too much."

Levy nodded once more and started to run before getting caught up by the guards. Despite the worry she had for her friends, she knew they all had good bases in combat due to all those brawls in Fairy Tail. Even Mira, despite her angelic looks, had gained the title of she devil during her youth. As for Lucy, even though she always did everything she could to stay out of anything implying violence, she loved to practice archery during her free time and was, at this very instant, armed with a longbow.

Levy had to have faith in them. She focussed once more on the door she almost reached when she was thrown on the ground. Opening her eyes, she noticed that the shock wave that made her loose her balance originated from the canon that was shooting at them from the rampart. It barely took seconds before another hit enlarged the already big crater, almost hitting them this time. Happily, Lucy had reacted fast enough and an arrow had put the shooter out of commission.

They weren't however out of the woods yet and a handful of soldiers rushed to the gardens. "We don't have time for this" thought Levy, clenching her fists.

"Juvia and I will take cake of them" said a voice that sounded like it was far away.

After a quick look of her surroundings, she noticed that, Gray and Juvia had been separated from them because of the canon shoots. She made a step in their direction, but a hand on her shoulder prevented her from doing so.