*Spoilers*
A/N: I fricken love the image ... hahaha cracks me up! XD <3
Back to le story! ~

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Asuna's POV

"Whoa what happened here...?" Lucy commented as we walked towards the rest of our comrades.

"I could say the same thing." I added in slight surprise.

"Lucy! Asuna!" Lisanna beamed.

"Are you alone?" Elfman asked us.

"Yeah...it's a long story." Lucy answered and I sighed while running a hand through my ombre hair.

"We keep meeting and getting separated..." Lucy mumbled sadly, making me to soften my eyes at her. Suddenly , I noticed to see Lucy wided her eyes in shock about something in her thoughts.

"Lucy?' I asked softly.

"What's the matter?" Lisanna asked who was in her cat form.

"Nothing..." Lucy answered softly.

"I know you're lying Lucy... but if it's something that you really don't want to talk about, then I won't push it any further." I smiled.

"T-Thanks... and sorry." she muttered.

"It's no problem at all... oh yeah! We forgot to tell you guys something." I said while crossing my arms over my chest.

"Gajeel, Levy and Juvia are... taking ingredients for Laxus and the others' medicine to Porlyusica." Lucy added in. "Gray's gotten some sort of crazy new powers.And Natsu... er, well... how should I explain this... If I were to say that the one fighting now in mid-air with Acnologia were to be...the one person Natsu's been looking for all this time, Igneel...."

"Where'd he even came from?" Elfman asked.

"Uh, well... "

"Let's just say from his belly." I said expressionless.

"Well, if he's on Natsu's side, then he's on our side too, right?" Warren asked.

"He's fighting with Acnologia toe-to-toe isn't he?" Jet implied.

"We still have some hope!" Droy exclaimed.

"Are you telling me that you lost some hope , while we were gone?" I asked sternly, making him to flinch back. I gave out a sigh before looking up at the sky.

"Face still remains." A familiar soft voice chimed.

"Wendy?!" Lucy.

"I'm glad that you two are safe!" I cried.

"Carla... and you... aren't you from the Magic Council?" Lisanna asked and I raised an eyebrow.

'Mest?! He's back from the job that he was assigned from Master Makarov? I wondered what happened while I was still gone....' I thought in amusement.

Without knowing my surroundings, I caught him staring at me which made me nervous. Sheesh. "H-Hi? You must be Mest right?"

"Hi? And I am. Nice too meet you ...?"

"Asuna. Asuna Adara."

"Cynthia's ... -"

"Nevermind that, what the hell happened to your hair?!" Warren, Jet and Droy shouted in unison, cutting him off.

"Right now, we have the more important matter of doing something about the huge number of faces if we don't..."

"W-What are you talking about?!" I asked in worry, leaving out the formalities later to Mest. Right now we have bigger problems.

"It's simple actually. We destroyed Face. Not just any face, but only one of them. There are currently more that are popping out of nowhere in Earthland." Carla answered as I furrowed my eyebrows at her.

"Much more bigger problems than we can shoulder... first this Mard Geer person, now Acnologia and then Faces popping out?! What's next?" I sighed in frustration.

"Asuna... we still have hope." Lucy said confidently.

"I hope you're right. No. I know that we have hope. We need to believe and we will win to save the whole world." I clenched one of my hands into a tight fist before putting it back down to my side. My bangs were covering my eyes before I started to walk away from everyone.

"Oi! Asuna! Where are you going?!" Lisanna called.

"We need to stick together!" Lucy added in with worry.

"Asuna-san? Is there something wrong?" Wendy asked.

I stopped in my tracks before turning my body fully faced towards them. "I'm going to find the others...so we can build up a plan or something."

"What kind of plan?" Warren asked.

"I don't know.. but there will be one soon."

"Let's just hope you're right." MEst said and I nodded to him and the other before heading back to run and find Gray, Natsu, Gajeel, Erza, and the rest.

'Let's just hope I can make it in time.'

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Cynthia's POV

The four of us. Me, Sting, Natsu and Rogue were standing beside each other, sending stern looks towards the Demon King himself, Mard Geer.

"Master E.N.D, please wait a moment." Mard said before placing down the book that inscripted E.N.D that he has been holding onto, ever since the first time I saw him.

"What is up with you and that book?" I asked annoyingly to see him send a glare in my direction.

"Cynthia... anger is particularly detrimental. It causes one to sometimes not be oneself. Well then... what will Mard Geer be when he begins to differ from himself? Thinking about it is enough to make ones stomach churn. Mard Geer is Mard Geer. Called the Dark King... He looks after tartaros in the absence of the Master.I must once again forget this emotion. Along with you fools' existences."

"Bite me you heartless demon. You should be the one whose existence must be ridden from this world" I said while rolling my eyes to see Mard with a very scary and intimidating stare while he sat back in his throne.

Huh? It seems that it didn't got destroyed from the last attack by the Celestial Spirit King.

"Cee-chan... don't." Sting muttered as a sigh came out from my lips.

'Who does this Sting, thinks he is? My boyfriend?!'

"Wh-What'd you say?!" Natsu barked towards Mard.

"Something's not right." Rogue added to see Mard who brought his left hand up.

"Here he comes!" Sting yelled, making us to go into a fighting stance.

I twirled my spear in my hand to bring it in front of me. Preparing for any attack that may come upon us or directly towards me. My mouth gaped open as Mard swiveled his arm to the side as large vines were coming from the ground dancing with with each other before it formed into some type of vortex.

They were frickin huge and I managed to slice a few, but not before I felt one to graze my back. I winced at the sudden burn and felt my blood to seep through, dripping down my bloody back and onto the floor. I panted and fly up to the air to prepare for a steady attack. "Lost magic... Light Shower!" Luckily, I managed to destroy a few of them before I landed back down onto the ground.

"Cee-chan! Guha-" I heard Sting to shout.

"Sting! Rogue! Natsu!" I cried, slicing a few more of the vines. But no matter how much I've tried to slice them... the more there are in front of me. Tsk. Not too mention that these vines were huge. Bigger than me! I looked around to see the Dragon Slayers to either be squeezed by the vines or chased by them.

"We're going nowhere with this." I hissed, grabbing onto one of my bleeding arms. I watched Natsu trying to charge up towards Mard, but was pushed back by incredible force that Mard didn't struggled with. Followed by a few grunts and screams from Natsu who was crashing into a pile of debris and stone.

"Natsu!" Sting called with sweat beads forming on his face.

"Natsu! He's too strong..." I huffed while transforming my spear into a whip. "Light Whip Lash!"

Suddenly, my eye widened as huge saucers to see Sting and Rogue who were instantly attacked by some sort of bombs that they didn't even see them coming.

Heck! I didn't even sense it nor have I seen it to plan a sneak up attack on them. I felt my heart to beat to quicken up its pace, my chest tightened to see this happening. My heart felt like it was being pierced by a thousand needles.

"S-Sting! Rogue!" I cried from my spot.

"This bastard..." Sting grunted within the dust and I felt the heaviness in my chest to disappear to see him alive and well.

"He's strong..." Rogue added while Natsu continued to cut his way through the vines.

"Fire Dragon's... Horn Strike!" Natsu aimed at Mard. "And Roar!"

"It's not enough...." I muttered from my spot, as Mard was being thrown off his throne and only to see at the corner of my eye, to see Sting stare at me in worry.

"Sting! Rogue! Cynthia!" Natsu called over to the three of us.

"Well about time." I smirked.

"Natsu-san's asking for an assist?" Sting grinned.

"He probably finally realized how strong this guy really is." Rogue asserted making me to stifle a laugh.

"Probably. Let's go!" I shouted.

"Yeah! Holy Shadow Dragon's Flash Fang!", "Light of Divine!" the three of us shouted in unison to see our attack heading straight towards Mard.

"Light and Darkness... quite beautiful. But, it shall disappear within me." I heard Mard to smile, sending shivers down my back to see him absorb all of the magic that me, Sting and Rogue have attacked with full strength.

"You gotta be kidding me." Sting shouted.

"He absorbed it?!" Rogue said in shock.

"He's a beast... no a monster from Hell... just what on Earthland is he?! He's crazy strong!" I gawked.

"And! Lightning Flame Dragon's Firing Hammer!" Natsu roared form above, making my eyes to widen.

"Natsu! Don't do it!" I shouted.

'Shimata.'

"You should've listened to Cynthia." Mard scolded him before he sent Natsu flying with a powerful force.

My mouth went dry, my eyes dilated to see him fly with such great force and violently slid onto the rough pavement. Looking back to Mard, he gently went back down from the air, to his throne that was also planted back down to the ground from Natsu's previous attack and into his usual sitting pose.

"I swear I want to wipe off that hideous smile from your face!" I growled, bending my knees and pushed myself towards him as I brought down my spear.

"Cee-chan!", "Cynthia-chan!" Sting and Rogue yelled, but I deliberately ignored them.

"Cynthia, my pet. Are you asking me to take you back?" Mard's smile widened.

"Over my dead body!"

I was suddenly pushed back with sudden force. Just like at the time with Natsu, flying across the air waiting for the harsh impact to come. But instead, I felt something soft, warm and muscular.

"Geez... you're always such a handful." his breath tickled my ear as I stared at him in a stun.

"S-Sting?"

"Cee-chan... how many times have I told you, that I was going to protect you and for you to be careful?" he sighed before we landed back down to the ground.

"S-Sorry..." I pouted before looking away, but felt an arm to snake its way to my waist. "H-Hey!"

"Cee-chan. Do me a favor..." he whispered into my ear.

"It better be good." I whispered back.

"While me, Rogue and Natsu-san are fighting Mard... we will distract him while you can grab that weird book that he seems to love so much." Sting snickered.

"So... I'm used as bait to grab the book while Mard isn't looking?" I raised an eyebrow but blushed to feel his muscular chest making contact with mine.

"You think you can do that?" he huskily whispered and I slowly nodded.

"Good. I believe in you and be careful. Okay?" he said worriedly before giving a kiss on my forehead.

"S-Stop doing that!" I pushed him, only to see him in shock.

"Cee-chan?"

"Stop calling me love, Cee-chan, darling, giving me these kisses and these sweet talks of yours!... It's weird. It's not like you're my boyfriend or anything so please stop touching me like that! I'm not yours!" I hissed but instantly covered my mouth with both of my hands at my sudden outburst. Crap.

"C-Cee-chan? What has gotten into you...? You remember me don't you?" Sting asked desperately. His eyes held pain and confusion, like my words really hurt him...making my heart to sink to see him like this.

"I'm sorry Sting, but I... don't really know you..."

"N-No. Not again...." Sting cried making me to flinch.

"W-What do you mean?" I gulped thickly, my chest feeling heavy once more.

"If that is all you can muster, I advise you to give up now. Mard Geer has yet to even try." we heard his voice to break our conversation, as Sting and I stared at him in shock.

"Sting..." I softly whispered.

"What is it, Cee... I mean Cynthia-chan?" Sting asked in a painful manner making me to feel guilty by the minute to hear his voice crack.

"I'll do the plan. You still up for it?" I asked.

"Of course..."

"Then let it begin." I replied calmly.

"I've got your back... Cee-chan..." I heard Sting to whisper the last bit.

"I'm counting on you, Sting."

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Aww... Poor Sting .. Slightly heartbroken :(
Forgot to mention but.... 2K reads !!!!! Thank you guys ! (':
Next Chappy soon !