I gasped for air as my heart kick-started itself into action. My lungs filled themselves with smoke-infested air sending me into a coughing fit.

When I opened my eyes the sky was deep red and the landscape around me was unrecognizable. The rubble and debris all around me made it look like a war zone.

I tried to lift my hand when i realized that it was stuck in a rock. No not a rock, it was that red tissue that had absorbed us. Somehow it had dried out enough for my head and torso to break free. However both of my hands, waist, and legs were still stuck in the stone-like material.

I pulled on my arms in effort to release them. They were stuck tight in the rock which was making regular brute force inefficient.

I let out a sigh of frustration and focused my power into my right hand. "Sun dragon iron fist!"

The rock shattered, instantly freeing my hand. The force of my attack was also strong enough to crack the material surrounding my waist. I quickly wiggled around in the hole I was stuck in and freed myself rather easily. I climbed out of the hole I had created and crawled onto the ground on my stomach. My body was sore and stiff, my bones popping with every movement. 

There were other cracking sounds around me. I quickly rolled onto my back to face whatever I was up against. Much to my relief, there were no bad guys. The cracking sounds were coming from the red stone surrounding the area. 

To my side I heard a gasp for air and coughing lungs. I climbed to my feet and quickly moved toward the sound. 

"Gale!" I exclaimed. The short wizard was breaking free from the stone tissue, only her right leg was still stuck in it's trap. 

"Nashi," she called out. "What happened?" She questioned as I began to pull her out. 

"I have no idea," I tried to answer. "Maybe the curse just wore off?"

"I doubt it, weren't we on the cube when it started? It looks like we're on the ground now,"

"Maybe the cube crashed or something. Your foot is stuck really tight," I complained. "Can't you use your  rock magic to free yourself or something?" 

"You really think I haven't tried that already? It doesn't work on whatever this is,"

Just then there was an explosion of rubble 10 feet away from us. Gale and I quickly ducked down to avoid being seen. I held a finger to my lips signaling for her to be quiet and peered in the direction of the explosion. 

I could hear a figure moving in the distance, however the debris surrounding us made it impossible to see what was there. Could it be one of the demons of Tartaros? I prayed that it wasn't. As I tried to get a better look at whatever it could be, my foot slipped and knocked aside a small rock. 

Whatever it was, it must have heard me because I heard it moving closer. 

I quickly shuffled to Gale and tugged on her foot that was still stuck in the rocks. Her foot started to budge a little as I heard the unidentified being draw closer. My heart began to pound at the tension in the air as I heard it moving faster. It was maybe six feet away from us now. 

"Oh screw it!" I shouted. I slammed my sunlit fist into the rocks making them crumble in an instant. As soon as Gale's foot was free, we ran towards the stalker prepared to fight. As we rounded the corner of a broken wall, we came inches away from a blue glowing fist. We had just enough time to duck the swinging fist when we saw the red hair behind the punch. 

"Reiki?!" Gale exclaimed.

The revelation was so surprising to me that I wasn't paying attention and slipped on a patch of ice on the ground. My foot slipped out from underneath me and I fell onto my butt with the hardest landing of my life. My back let out a loud POP sound as I hit the ice with full force and the wind was knocked from my lungs. 

"Gale?!" Reiki said surprisingly, ignoring my slip on the ice. 

"Thank God it's you," Gale sighed with relief. She wrapped her arms around our leader in a hug, which he returned gratefully. 

"Little help?" I groaned. 

"Well it's good to see you too Sunshine,"

When I looked up I saw ocean blue eyes and raven hair. He held out a hand to help me up with a smile that could melt hearts. I smiled and took his hand. When I was finally on my feet I gave him the biggest hug I could give. I could feel his arms holding me so tightly against him that I could feel his heartbeat. It was a feeling I enjoyed more than any other. 

I quickly released from the hug when I heard a roar echo across the forsaken land. Standing on the remains of fallen wall was the saber tooth tiger I called my best friend. Her roar was inspiring to us all as it signified that we were all together and alive.

- - - - - - - -

"What's with all the ice?" Gale pointed out. We had been walking for about 20 minutes, just trying to find any sign of other Fairy Tail members. So far we hadn't found anything or anyone.

"I'm not entirely sure," Storm answered. "It has a weird feeling to it if that makes any sense,"

"You don't make any sense," I grumbled. Kali growled lowly as if she were laughing at my joke. 

"Ha Ha," Storm mocked. 

Just then there was a huge explosion in the distance. My team and I quickly ran inside a fallen tower for cover.

"I swear this continent is full of ignorant, stupid pests!! If I ever have to work with one of those failed demon projects ever again, I'll throw myself off a Tiarian cliff!!"

My blood ran cold at Lilith's voice. I looked at my teammates who had immediately recognized her voice as well. None of us dared to even breathe. 

My mind flashed back to the memories of what she had done to me for the three months that I was her prisoner. The tortures that she put me through every day for 89 days with no hope of rescue. I wanted to curl into a ball and hide until she left. 

That was when I realized... I can't hide forever. Whatever she wants me for, she won't give up until she gets it. I could keep running for the rest of my life, but she'd always be looking for me. 

I took a deep breath and remembered what my dad had told me in my dream. "Courage means doing what needs to be done, even when you're scared," And right now, Lilith needed to be taken out. 

I clenched my fist and looked back at my teammates. It was as if a switch had flipped for them as well. They all looked so confident and assured. Even if we couldn't stop Lilith, we could slow her down and no one could say that we didn't try. 

"If we wanna beat her we've gotta hit her fast and hit her hard," I explained quietly. "If she sees us coming she'll teleport us somewhere we don't want to be,"

"So how do we do that?" Gale asked. 

"We've gotta keep her confused long enough to pull out our ultimate moves," Reiki explained. "It's now or never. If we use the strongest techniques in our arsenal, maybe it'll be enough to take knock her out,"

"Reiki we never use those spells," Storm cautioned. "We're not allowed to use them because they're too strong. We don't want to kill her,"

"It won't kill her," Reiki explained. "I've been up against her true power. Our top spells are enough to take her out, but they won't kill her,"

"What if they don't?" Gale questioned.

Nobody answered. Nobody wanted to think about that possibility. 

"Then we have to make it out alive," I finally spoke up. "If this plan fails, then we have to make it out alive. Promise me you'll all stay alive,"

Everyone nodded and shared a look. 

This is my family. I thought to myself.

Without saying a word, I pulled them all into a group hug. We all squeezed each other tightly, like this might be our last time together. No. We all promised to make it out alive. 

So that's what we're gonna do. Make it out alive.

- - - - - - -

"Ice make floor!!" Storm shouted. His hair and skin turned snow white and his palms created an ice floor that Lilith's boots froze to instantly. 

"What the," Lilith exclaimed. 

"Armageddon strike!" Reiki slammed his fist into the wall surrounding us, making it crack and break. There were some large pieces of rubble that began to fall, but most of the wall simply turned to rock dust.

"Stone raid!" Gale thrust her arms towards Lilith's direction, sending the rocky debris and dust flying at the scientist. Lilith tried to run, but her feet were stuck to the ground. She held up her arms to brace for the impact as the debris landed all around her. The air filled with dust making it near impossible for Lilith to see mere feet in front of her. 

"TERRA WORLD SPHERE!!" Gale lifted her hands from the ground as if she were physically pulling the earth up. The ground around us shook and cracked. Ravines opened up in the ground and the earth began to form an enclosed sphere around our enemy. Gale was shaking at the effort to move so much earth at once. Finally the earth closed around Lilith in a perfect sphere with no way in or out. Gale collapsed to the ground from the exhaustion of her master spell. 

"Beast Soul!" Kali howled. "MOUNTAIN BEAST!!" Kali transformed into a cat-like monster as tall as Gale's terra sphere. Storm, Reiki, and I all stood on top of Kali's massive head as the monster rose to the top of our trap. 

"ARMAGEDDON STRIKE!!" Reiki struck the top of the sphere making a hole large enough for Kali to shove her muzzle inside. Kali roared as loud as her massive lungs would allow. The sound would be deafening inside the sphere as the sounds would continue to echo inside the enclosed walls only growing louder.

"SUB-ZERO ARCTIC FREEZE!!" Storm thrust his arms toward the opening of the sphere, reducing the air inside the sphere to sub-zero temperatures. 

Storm and Reiki gave me a reassuring smile as they wished me good luck with their nods. I returned the smile and ran to the edge of the sphere. Then... I jumped. 

"DEEP FREEZE!!" I heard Storm yell from outside the sphere. My surroundings turned dark again as the outside of the sphere was surrounded with unbreakable ice. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath mid-free fall inside the sphere.

"This is for my family,"

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art!" I roared. Thrusting myself downward I swung my arms and spiraled  in the air. A small sun began to form in my hands and began to expand. "SUPER NOVA!!!" I commanded with all my might. The sun in my hands grew to fill the surrounding sphere with bright yellow and orange light. The surroundings grew unstable and the earth around us began to crumble. 

Then the explosion hit.

It was colossal. 

It was as if the sun itself had exploded and the earth came crumbling down around me.

- - - - - - -

"Nashi! Nashi wake up!" 

My eyes snapped open to see Storm's ocean eyes. He quickly helped me sit up on the stripped terrain. I scanned the area to see patches of ground that were burnt, spots that were still frozen, and parts that had just been stripped of all life.

"Did we win?" I questioned uneasily. 

"We're not sure," Storm answered, he helped me to my feet and walked me to what was once the center of the sphere. Standing 30 feet from the center  were Reiki and Gale. They looked back at us as we approached them. 

They smiled and looked at the crater we had made with all of our strongest spells. In the very center of the crater was a woman in a shredded lab coat and broken heels lying on the ground unconscious. Her ears were bleeding and she had burns and frostbite all over her body.

"We did it," I almost choked. 

"We did it." Reiki assured. We all gathered around for a group hug and began to calm our racing hearts and exhausted energy. Kali let out a victorious roar that echoed across the barren war zone.

"We need to restrain her before she wakes up," Storm decided. 

"I've got us covered," I smirked. I spun a pair of magic restraint cuffs around my index finger proudly for all to see.

"Where did you get those?" Gale questioned with a smile on her face. 

"Pulled em' outta Storm's ass," I joked. Gale burst into a fit of laughter, clutching her aching sides. Storm was laughing too and even Reiki had started to chuckle. In the best moment, we were all laughing harder than we had ever laughed in months. There were tears being shed and aching muscles being held, but we just continued to laugh. 

Even though we were exhausted beyond imaginable, all of our magic power was drained, and we were literally in the middle of a war, for the first time in a while, I felt truly happy...