Nashi shut her eyes tight and prayed, "Mavis, please..."

Just as the words left her lips, the sky suddenly went bright again. The darkness they had been subjected to seemed to perish, once again revealing the bright blue sky and shining sun that usually graced the town of Magnolia.

Nashi stared up at the marvellous view, eyes gleaming with amazement. "I got to pray to Mavis more!" She exclaimed with a stupid grin on her face. 

Next to her she felt Hunter struggle to his feet before making his way to his mother who had dropped to the ground right as the light had returned to the sky. The same happened to her father, Gajeel and Laxus who were now immobile and almost frozen.

"Mom, are you okay?" Hunter asked as he carefully helped the red haired woman sit up. Erza's eyes were hazy but in due time they focused back at her very battered and bruised son.

"I should be asking you that." Erza murmured, still in a slight daze. Leaning against Hunter for support, she raised a hand to her head which was pounding painfully.

Natsu was on his knees; his hands gripping tightly onto his head and his eyes squeezed tightly shut, murmuring inaudible words to himself. Even with her heightened hearing, Nashi could only make out some out. It was something about Etherious... something. She couldn't quite piece it together. Nashi was hesitant in her steps as she made her way to her father. After all she didn't want to be hit by another lightning-flame attack, it was by the skin of her teeth that she was able to dodge those powerful spells. 

She reached out to him. "Dad?" Nashi said softly.

Natsu's murmuring stopped. Slowly, he tilted his head up, his hands loosening from his head. When his eyes met Nashi's, she wasn't quite sure what emotion flickered across his face. In an instant, he was on his feet and embracing her into a tight and almost desperate hug. 

"I- I thought you were gon..." His voice was uncharacteristically soft. 

"I'm fine, dad." Nashi reassured wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his shoulder. "A little bruised... but okay."

Gale's relationship with his father wasn't as soft-hearted than his peers' with their parents. No matter how much his joints hurt, he used what strength he had left and staggered to his father who stood there lost in his thoughts. It was an unusual sight to Gale; his father wasn't exactly a thinker... well in his opinion anyways. 

Gale placed a firm hand onto Gajeel's shoulder snapping the man from his thoughts. "You alright, old man?" He questioned as sincere as he could. 

A grunt from his father came his response. "Your mom, Lily-"

"They're safe." Gale cut in causing Gajeel to sigh in relief. 

"What... what happened?" Shivers sent down Gale's spine, recognising Laxus' voice. The man still had yet to know that this was all his daughter's doing. Gale glanced at both Hunter and Nashi who mirrored his wariness. Instead of answering, the iron dragon slayer just sighed. 

"We should get back to the guild." 

___________

When the sky had become bright once again, Storm had found Ultear with an unconscious Raiden in her arms. 

"I put him under a sleep spell." Ultear explained. "He would've ran straight into the fight if I hadn't." 

Storm hoisted the boy into his arms. "I'm glad he's safe. I was worried for a second." He admitted. "Let's get him back to the guild." He said to which his sister who nodded weakly. 

Side by side, they walked through the half destroyed city of Magnolia. Most buildings were badly damaged and almost unrecognisable. Citizens, who were influenced by the spell, were disoriented and distraught, unable to piece together a fathomable explanation for what had just happened to them and also unable to unsee the living nightmare they had been exposed to. Most unfortunate was the fact that many innocent people had been injured during the time of the destruction around them. 

This was aftermath of Demon's Torment. 

"I never asked you this before..." Storm said to his sister carefully. "But how did you and Hunter defeat Alexis?" 

Ultear took a deep breath trying to recollect the events in her mind. "It was luck, if I'm being completely honest. In the middle of the fight, she had reverted by to human form and was vulnerable so Hunter and I took the chance to take her out... and it worked." She explained. "We were losing before that." She added softly remembering back to the event. "If she hadn't lost her demon form for that short amount of time, I don't think we would've been able to defeat her." 

Storm had a grim look on his face. "How did she even get that powerful?" He said gruffly. 

"I have no idea." Ultear replied almost silently.

It was a question that largely lingered on Ultear's mind as well. How was Alexis - a 16 year old girl - able to maintain Demon's Torment while fighting two certified S Class Mages singlehandedly?... Was she doing it singlehandedly? 

"When we get Raiden back to the guild, we have to get out of there straight away." Ultear said.

"Trust me, I don't want to see the guild after what just happened." Storm grumbled in response. "The quicker we're out, the better." 

So that's what the two Fullbuster siblings did. Wordlessly, they walked to the guild with Raiden still asleep in Storm's arms. They seemed to be struck by luck because when they arrived at the guild, the others were already there.

"Thank Mavis, the both of you are here." Hunter said lightly jogging up to them. Nashi and Gale had ceased what they were doing and followed behind. "I was starting to get worried." His eyes lingered on Ultear who looked particularly detached and solemn. 

"You guys look really shitty." Storm said, thinking out aloud.

"Oh shut it, Stripper. Like you'd look any good after going through what we did." Nashi barked defensively at the Ice Make mage. Storm just shrugged it off, he didn't have the mental capacity to argue with Nashi right now.

Gale sighed silently thankful that the two hadn't erupted into an argument. "We were about to look for the both of you." He said. His eyes lowered to the boy in Storm's arms. 

Looking at Raiden, Gale couldn't help but feel sympathy for the little boy whirl in his stomach. Raiden loved his sister a lot (probably more than she deserved in Gale's opinion) and her departure from the guild had left him devastated. 

"We should get out of here before others arrive." Gale suggested recalling how many of Fairy Tail's allies had arrived at the guild to support and also help rebuild the city. Keeping their identities a secret from as many people as they could, was their safest route in this situation.

"Yeah, that and I rather not see just how depressing this place gets." Nashi grumbled under her breath. "Seeing it once is enough."

"That is true." Hunter agreed.

__________

THE NEXT DAY...

Laxus gazed out of the window of his office. His hands were folded behind his back as he inhaled deeply. Reluctance filled every inch of being. What he was about to do... terrified the hell out of him.

"Hey, hey... why's my little princess crying huh?" Laxus frowned as he hoisted his blonde haired daughter into his arms. The little girl's eyes were glistening and her cheeks were wet with tears.

"B-Because..."

At the blink of an eye, he watched as she did a full body takeover into a white bunny rabbit before immediately reverting back into her human form. The transition took Laxus by surprise. He was pretty sure full body takeovers were difficult. After all, it took Mira's brother Elfboy practically a gazillion years to do a successful one and yet here was his three-year-old daughter who had done it effortlessly.

"I don't want mommy's stinky magic!" The little girl wailed hugging onto him tighter as she continued to cry onto his neck.

Laxus resisted the urge to smirk as he patted his daughter's back reassuringly. He was pretty sure Mirajane was sulking somewhere at their daughter's words and he found that shit priceless. However, now was not the time to gloat. Right now, he had to make his Princess feel better.

"Mommy's magic isn't so bad." He said with an amused chuckle. "It's nice and strong... And more importantly you can scare away any boys that come your way."

His daughter sniffled. "But I wanna be a dragon... like you, daddy." She whimpered nuzzling close to him.

Laxus heard the click of his office door and the loud sound of it slamming shut.

"Let's get this over with already." Alexis grumbled behind him as she grudgingly took a seat in front of his desk.

Times had certainly changed.

Laxus took a deep breath once again, his back still facing her. A few moments of silence past where the two of them didn't utter a single word. The sombre scene reminded Laxus so much of when he was being excommunicated. Only what he did was incomparable to the damage Alexis had caused. Not only had she harmed her guild mates but also the ALL the people of Magnolia.

"I expected more out of you." Laxus said lowly, the disappointment was clear in his voice. He turned around to see Alexis; her eyes seemed to be intent on being glued to the ground. "Do you understand what you've done?" He questioned. "Look me in the eyes when I'm talking to you." Laxus ordered staring down intensely at his daughter.

Slowly, Alexis raised her head; her icy blue eyes stared back at him.

"When you're a part of a guild, it's important to be both loyal to your comrades and trustworthy. From the events of today, it is clear that you lack the ability to be both." He recited sternly. It was a long time ago that Gramps was saying these exact same words to him.

"You've caused so much pain and suffering to those around you. You've threatened the lives of comrades and for that..." Laxus paused swallowing the lump in his throat. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't suppress the tears which formed in his eyes as he said his next words. "Alexis, you are hereby expelled from Fairy Tail."

Alexis was silent for a moment as she looked back down at her lap. She scoffed. "It's seems like a Dreyar curse." She said as if it was some cruel joke. "Grandpa Ivan, you and now me..." Laxus eyed her as she got up on her feet. "See if I care." She spat angrily scowling at her father with clenched fists by her side. "I hate this stupid guild and everyone in it." She strode her way to the door before punching it. The door blasted off ending up a pile of broken pieces of wood.

Guild members flinched at the mere sight of her as Alexis stomped her way down the stairs and towards the entrance of the guild. "Over my dead body will I ever come back." She shouted loud enough for her father and everyone else in the guild to hear. She stormed out with no intent in looking back. 

Frustration plagued Alexis' entire body. As much as she tried not to... as much as she said she hated Fairy Tail... as much as she promised herself that she wouldn't care... she couldn't help but feel whatever was left of her heart shatter as she continued to walk further and further away from what was her home. She felt empty; nothing but a hollow shell. Her breathing was erratic; short, sharp and rapid. Oxygen seemed to escape her seemingly perishing lungs. The voices in her head were louder now, louder than they had ever been before. 

Alexis had made it to the outskirts of town when her legs had given out and she had collapsed onto her knees. Her hands clamped over her ears as she desperately tried to block out the voices, a choked sob escaping her lips as she did so. 

Alexis' body flickered from demon form to human form repeatedly. It was like there was a battle of control over her body. And by the looks of it, the human side was losing.

Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, Alexis let out a deafening scream. "SHUT UP!"

The transformations abruptly ceased. So had the voices for the time being.

Jagged breathing filled the air as the girl retained her human form; her body was trembling violently and now drenched in sweat. Tears cascaded down Alexis' cheeks furiously. It was more than just crying... it was like despondent sobbing... as if every ounce of fight inside the blonde haired girl had run dry.

"Shut up... Shut up... Shut up..." Alexis croaked. 

"Tell me what you did." There in front of her stood Lucifer towering over her with his face scrunched into a scowl. Anger emanated from the man intensely as silence met his answer. "How were those two nuisances immune from Demon's Torment? I architected that spell to ensure every single soul in this rotten city was corrupted." Lucifer spat. He reached down and grasped Alexis by the neck. He lifted her up above his head choking her in the process. "So what the hell did you do?" He seethed, a low snarl rumbled from the bottom of his throat.

"You- You made a m-miscalculation." Alexis responded, gasping for air in between her words. "I- I l-love them more than I fear you, Lucifer." She continued. The grip on her neck seemed to tighten as Lucifer let out a rage filled growl.

He threw her onto the ground angrily and Alexis fell onto the dirt ground with a loud thud. She coughed out panting desperately for air.

"You betrayed me." Lucifer hissed, his fists clenched tightly by his side. "And for that you're going to suffer a punishment worse than death itself." And with that, he suddenly disappeared into the air leaving the blonde haired girl alone once again. 

Lucifer had always kept his word. Whatever he had planned for her was going to be worse than death and there was nothing she could do about it.

Alexis hugged her knees close to her chest as she stared at the ground, tears fizzling to the brims of her eyes once again. 

Little did she know, someone had been watching the whole time. 

___________

I feel like this chapter is very choppy and that is only due to the reason that I want to wrap things up pretty soon so like yeah

towards the end, it gets kinda confusing but I promise it will all tie in together and make sense next chapter 

sorry about taking so long to update, I've been in a bad place recently and by bad place I mean - school *sigh* I hate that place man.

ANYWAYS, hope you enjoyed!

comment what y'all thought

#unedited

thought this gif would be fitting: