Fairy Tail: The Adventures Of Rin Fernandes

XXVI. The Impostor Princess

XXVI. The Impostor Princess

RIN'S POV

"Scarlet!" Erza Knightwalker yells at the top of her lungs, her furious gaze directed at her Earthland counterpart more than the rest of us. But the outside world seemed to have blurred for me, as I processed all that had assaulted my senses. My focus was only trained on the fallen Exceed.

I was shaking from my position behind Mystogan, my lip trembling. Whether it was from fear, anger or even hatred, I don't know. Right then, I could only think of the Exceed who had revealed Mystogan's identity as the runaway prince of Edolas. From the corner of my eye, I noticed the Exceed named Lily that had fallen from Erza Knightwalker's attack was indeed the Panther Lily I knew and loathed. That bulky, muscular figure, the commanding and deep voice. And his scent. The one who had saved Mystogan's life six years ago, the one who had ended Pextalius' life six years ago. How could that be the same Exceed? I finally had found the face to match the Exceed that shattered a piece of my heart that could never be mended.

Rounded ears similar to that of big cats, a crescent moon-shaped scar by his left eye and an entirely black body that seemed to have taken on years of strenuous training and vigour. The man, no, Exceed the size of a above average, muscular human man whom I first assumed he had the strength of a human woodcutter appeared even more muscular than my initial thoughts that had been too overcome by grief to have properly pictured him. I finally had a face for the shadowy dark figure that was Panther Lily who had haunted my dreams and plagued me with nightmares throughout my entire stay in the parallel universe back then, and even after. The memories of that very day were so vivid in my mind that it felt as if it had truly occurred just yesterday.

That it had only been yesterday when I had lost Pex but in reality, many sorrow-filled years had already passed.

I couldn't let fear get the better of me now, not when my counterpart's identity had more authority than Mystogan, considering that he had ran away from home. Everything boiled down to this, and I couldn't fail everyone now.

"You intend to aim your spear at me, the Prince of Edolas, Erza Knightwalker?"

I realised Mystogan was speaking to Erza Knightwalker using his true identity, but his hand moved behind his magic staves that glowed slightly before I felt magic enveloping me. I too, began to pump a bit of magic that gave me an ethereal glow under the moonlight. Even Mystogan had lacked the confidence that his authority could sway Erza Knightwalker, who, if she were truly similar to Erza Scarlet on the inside, would be loyal to the boot to her King. The most worrying issue was that King Faust had not stepped in to destroy us himself. It seemed that I had spoke too soon.

"Prince, you say? Don't make me laugh! I don't think of you as my son!" A voice booms from out of nowhere. I quickly scanned the surroundings, trying to find out where the source came from. It seemed as if the sound was concentrated underground, but it echoed around the surroundings so loudly one with normal hearing might not be able to pinpoint the location or direction of the source. It seemed Natsu was glancing at the same direction too. He did, after all, had better senses that most of us.

"That's the voice of the King!" A short, barefoot female in a yellow dress and dark blue tights exclaims from the dark blue Legion that was flying my comrades. I may not know her identity, and vice versa, but if she was with my comrades it meant we were on the same side. I simply couldn't afford to stop and consider why a citizen of Edolas was on our side and not with her Kingdom.

"After seven years of hiding in faraway lands, you have some nerve skulking backing here! I know that you've been going around Earthland sealing off Anima portals!" King Faust sneered, in a tone he was likely to use on disobedient subjects than on his own flesh and blood. "You've betrayed your own country! You sold out your own Kingdom! You have no power here!"