A/N Wow, it has been forever since I sat down and worked on this story! I am so sorry for the ridiculously long wait for an update. I just wanted to level with you all... I can write pokemon battles all day every day and not get bored, but something about these Fairy Tail battles just sucks the energy out of me. I know I was supposed to write Erza and Wendy's battles out for you, but I just had no motivation to do that, so instead I am skipping those battles and just moving on with the storyline. I'm sorry if this disappoints any of you, but maybe later on after I finish this story I can go back and write those other battles. I was just majorly burned out and decided this was the only way I was going to find the motivation to continue with this story.

Thank you all for those who have stuck with this story and have been patiently waiting for the next update. I really appreciate all of your views and comments. Anyways, I hope you like this long overdue update and again, I apologize that I won't be writing out Erza and Wendy's battles for the time being :(

Phaedra's POV

Inky blackness filled my mind and seemed to be coursing through my entire body like a ravenous disease, consuming and digesting all of my free will and control over my body. I could feel King Hizeah's sick, twisted delight at finally having me back under his command as his magic seeped through every fiber of every muscle in me. I could faintly hear the sounds of battle going on and I could feel that I was pressed up tightly against the King's muscular body, but I was so busy trying to reject his overwhelming magic that I couldn't even register any other sense.

The first thing that I recognized though was that for the first time in five years, I could actually feel the pool of magic located inside me. I had gotten used to having to push through the barrier created by the magic sealing stone fused to my chest to gain access to the tiniest whisper of my power, but now it was like the floodgates had opened and magic that I had been storing up all these years was now flowing unfettered through my body. The aches and pains from struggling futilely against my captors and the maids that had been ordered to dress me, not to mention all my pulling and yanking against my metal chains, seemed to be washed away as magic coursed through my entire body. I felt rejuvenated and my magic was giving me an energy that I hadn't experienced in years. Even though it felt amazing to have access to my magic again, the black enslavement magic that controlled every portion of my being made the experience much more bitter than sweet.

After my unleashed magic power settled naturally into my body once again, my physical senses slowly began to return. My hearing came back first as the sounds of traded magical attacks leaked through my ears and then slowly my vision began to blink back into functionality. Everything was fuzzy as my brain adjusted to being in someone else's control, but slowly I began to understand the images my brain was processing.

I watched in fear as my brave friends fought against the terrible might of the twelve guardian princesses of Prekt. I could feel the delight of the dark presence in my mind whenever one of my friends was on the receiving end of a particularly nasty attack and I wished I could weep as I was forced to stare at the battles without emotion. A flicker of something washed through my mind as I realized that Mest had successfully stopped Mixa in her tracks, which was a huge victory for their side. My worry spiked to insane amounts when Helena trapped Mest in an oxygen depriving twister of air, only to be blown to bits by Wendy's Sky Dragon Roar. I shrieked in frustration when I felt my head turn away from the two wind mages and my darling Wendy was no longer in my line of sight. The smell of burning wood drifted to my nose from the stage that Elektriz had set aflame, only to be doused by one of the other princesses before it could reach King Hizeah and me.

As I watched the battles that were taking place in the main square of Tarzish, my old home, a bubble of hope began to rise inside of me. Lucy was the first to defeat her opponent, and I couldn't keep the pride swelling inside me down as I watched her use her Star Dress powers as expertly as if she had been practicing with them for years. My heart ached as I saw the pain and anguish that Freed was put through in his battle against Zeira, but I was amazed when he was able to turn it around and incapacitate her with what looked like a spell out of her own repertoire.

I could feel King Hizeah's body tense and the blackness inside me became more agitated than I had ever experienced before. My eyes moved seemingly of their own accord to witness Mirajane flying in, dropping the unconscious body of Vayda to the cobblestone ground of the square and rushing towards Freed who was collapsing from the injuries he had sustained in his battle. Just as Mirajane had cradled Freed's head onto her lap, I heard the sound of two gigantic explosions going off on opposite sides of the city.

Elektriz. Kairo. If I had possession of my eyelids I would have blinked in astonishment as I heard what sounded like confusion in the King's words inside my mind. I could hardly believe that the two most bloodthirsty of the princesses had been defeated so quickly. It was terrifying for me to allow myself to hope... but as my eyes focused on Erza my feelings of despair to squash seemed to squash that inkling of hope. I hadn't noticed when they had squared off, but the incredible warrior of Fairy Tail, their Titania, was up against the very worst mage that she could possibly face.

Felina was a master Necrotic Mage, who could decay not just physical objects, but also magic spells as well. Her magic was deadly to everything that wasn't living, and even a living person, if blasted by a direct wave of her power, could potentially rot away into nothingness. This awful magic came at a terrible price though, as Erza had just discovered after landing a lucky blow to her arm before Felina had a chance to decay her latest weapon of choice.

Her full-length glove peeled away as Erza stumbled back from the loss of her sword to reveal nothing but grayish bones underneath. Legend tells of how necrotic magic was developed when an ancestor of the tribespeople attempted to rob a cursed tomb deep in the desert. The curse gifted the thief with incredible destructive powers, but the more he used these powers the more his own flesh would fade away until he was nothing but bones with an insatiable appetite for power and mortal pleasures that he could no longer experience.

When I had escaped five years ago Felina's entire left hand and part of her forearm had been claimed by this flesh-eating curse, but now her entire arm all the way to her shoulder hidden beneath her dress sleeve was made of shimmering gray bones, held together by a spectral purple light. The light flickered around her bones as she shot a devastating blow of decay magic towards Erza. She had just requipped into an insanely heavy duty set of armor with a matching shield, but the force of Felina's magic pushed her back and began to eat away at Erza's defensive armor.

I could feel King Hizeah's body relax as he watched Felina push back Erza. My heart clenched painfully as my eyes stared straight ahead, hardly even blinking, as I watched Gray rush over to try and help Erza, who had just barely dived out of the way of the sludgy black beam of decay magic. To my relief, Gray was soon joined by both Mirajane and a crackling beam of lightning that materialized into the intimidating figure of Laxus. The four mages faced down Felina, who didn't seem at all bothered by the increase in opponents.

A sudden gust of crazed wind suddenly exploded from my left, washing across the entire square and tossing my loose hair up and around me, reminding me of why I always kept it in a tight braided bun. A piercing shriek of pain lanced through my ears and I watched as Helena crashed through a window of one of the surrounding homes, eliciting several muffled screams from within.

Hizeah's focus turned from Felina and her four opponents and my body followed him without any command of my own. The wind began to die down and I felt a surge of pride as I saw Wendy standing strong in the midst of the quieting windstorm, glaring with more ferocity at the spot where Helena had flown than I had ever seen from her. Her gaze immediately went to Mest, who seemed to have passed out from lack of oxygen for a while and was just now beginning to stir. My eyes were wrenched from the sight of my sweet friend as King Hizeah gasped audibly and clutched a hand to his neck. I could feel the blackness of his magic inside my mind writhing in pain and shock and my body turned to face the direction that I had seen Natsu get blasted off to earlier on in the fight.

"Jeni....zzah..." King Hizeah choked out. White-hot rage burned through the black mass roiling inside of my head. Even though the news of Jenizzah's defeat and possible death should have filled me with excitement, all I could feel was a cold, monstrous fear as King Hizeah's terrible rage seemed to burn through his magical control on me and cause every single one of my muscles to clench painfully.

"Ya bazta," King Hizeah growled with rage causing his teeth to grate harshly as he spoke. He dropped his arms from my waist and I knew that this was not a sign of his surrender. His fury caused his control on me to feel even more poignant than normal and I felt my gaze move out towards my friends who were still desperately fighting against Felina and attempting to take her down in a group attack.

"WENDY!" Gajeel's rough voice blasted through the air and my head followed Hizeah's as we both looked at Gajeel who was flying through the air swiftly, clutching Levy to his chest protectively. "Wendy, Levy needs you now!" Gajeel cried into the air, sounding more panicked than I thought possible of the man who seemed to be the personification of arrogance.

My head turned again to see Wendy glancing up with a look of fear towards Gajeel. Mest waved his hand in a nonverbal signal for her to go help and Shararu latched onto Wendy's back and began flying her towards the panicked dragon slayer.

Time to use your skills again, Luzera, the black mass which was Hizeah whispered in Prekteze into my mind. I felt my magic be triggered without my consent and before I could even respond to his mind-taunt I felt myself shift into light. My body burst forward, creating light shields periodically to bounce between to forge a straight shot directly towards Wendy and Shararu.

NO! No, stop! I won't harm her! You can't make me! I shrieked, even as I felt myself zooming towards Wendy. My body suddenly shifted out of my light mode, slamming my shoulder into Wendy's side and causing her and Shararu to careen towards the ground with a yelp of pain. Inside my mind, I was sobbing and I desperately tried to reach out to anything that I could control. A hand, a toe, an eyelash, SOMETHING!

I could sense everything go still in the square as everyone, enemy and friend, looked on in horror as I flipped through the air and landed in front of Wendy and Shararu. One of Shararu's wing's was badly bent in an obvious break and I wanted to weep from guilt, but my body's only response was to hold out one of my hands and create a beam of concentrated light to materialize in my palm. The beam was as long as I was tall and a vivid memory of the night that King Hizeah had forced me to murder my entire family flashed before my eyes.

Wendy turned, her face contorted in a wince of pain before her eyes widened and I saw fear cloud her warm brown eyes that had always looked at me with love and admiration before. In the tiny corner that King Hizeah had shoved my consciousness into I lashed out with all of my might at the hateful blackness infecting me. I imagined punching, scratching, and frying the evil magic controlling me and using me to stand so threateningly over Wendy, the girl who had somehow unlocked my heart and had become so attached to me that she had even called me her sister. But no matter what I did, I couldn't stop my bare foot from reaching forward and stepping firmly onto Wendy's stomach, pinning her to the ground.

I could faintly hear someone calling my name, begging me to stop, and I wished I could tell whoever it was that I was doing the exact same thing in my own mind. The world seemed to slow down, the seconds dragging on for what seemed like eternities, as I slowly raised my hand with the light beam clutched inside it and took aim for Wendy's heart.

The faces of my siblings flashed before my eyes as I screamed at King Hizeah to stop me. Suddenly Wendy met my eyes, staring directly at me and seeming to stare right through my eyes and into the tiny corner of my mind where I was desperately fighting. Her lips set in a firm line, her bottom lip quivering only slightly, and she stared determinedly at me.

"Fight him, Phaedra-neesan. Don't let him win, Onee-san!"

Wendy's trust in me lit a fire within my soul and I latched onto the faces of my family members in my mind's eye. I had failed them. But no matter what, I would not fail my new family. Not now, not ever.

"Stop. Stop. Stopstopstopstopstopstop STOP!!!!" I shrieked in my mind as I felt my arm begin to descend, shooting my deadly light beam directly towards Wendy's heart.

Wendy's POV

My side felt like it was on fire and my heart was pounding a mile a minute from fear as I looked up into the unfamiliar eyes of my onee-san. Instead of the gentle, clear blue eyes that I had come to love over the months that I had spent with Phaedra-neesan, I found myself looking into unnatural neon pink irises that showed no hint of emotion at all. One of her bare feet crunched down onto my stomach, pinning me to the ground, and I gasped as pain flared through my side as I tried to breathe.

"Wendy..." Shararu's pain-filled voice washed across my ear and worry for her filled me, but I found that I couldn't look away from the cold look of the woman who had sacrificed herself to save me from the King just hours ago. Emotion caused my throat to begin to close up and made breathing even harder, but I forced myself to push through and I stared up at the woman I had come to love like a sister.

"Fight him, Phaedra-neesan. Don't let him win, Onee-san!" I could feel fear physically cut off whatever I was about to say next as I saw Phaedra raise her arm with her lethal light beam clutched in her palm. As it began plunging towards me I cowardly closed my eyes, fearing to watch death come for me, but after a beat and no sensation of searing pain, I opened my eyes and gasped.

The light beam hovered less than an inch from my chest, so close that I could hear a strange vibrating sound coming from the bright light, and Phaedra's entire right arm was shivering intensely. My gaze snapped to her face and I gasped when I looked into her eyes. Her irises were swirling crazily. Neon pink and icy blue seemed to be warring against each other, spots of each color flashing, expanding then dilating crazily; and I felt my mouth fall open at the outward sign of the inner battle that Phaedra-neesan must be going through.

A cry of sadness escaped me when the blue in her left eye became completely smothered by the neon pink, and only her right eye was still spastically changing colors. The beam of light jerked down, coming so close to me that I could feel the fabric of my shirt beginning to smolder from the intense heat of the beam.

"Keep fighting, Neesan! Don't give up!" I cried out desperately as her arm began to shake from her battle to keep it from moving down. A small popping sound came from my left and I felt strong arms wrap around me, and the next thing I knew I found myself at the edge of the main square, clutched in Mest's arms along with Shararu, who was breathing laboriously from the pain of her broken wing.

I jerked up to see that Phaedra-neesan's light beam was buried several feet into the cobblestone ground right where I had been less than a second before. She slowly raised her head and even though I was far from her now, it was obvious that her eyes were once again completely neon pink.

"No!" I cried out in anguish. Mest shook my shoulder, pulling my attention back to him and I blinked trying to focus on what he was saying.

"Wendy! Are you alright?!" he cried out in a panic. I nodded even as tears spilled down my cheeks.

"She fought him off, Mest-san. She saved me..." Mest-san frowned heavily and shook his head roughly before pointing towards Gajeel-san who was laying down Levy-san. Her eyes closed and I could see even from here that her skin was an unhealthy ashy gray color.

"Right now we need you to help heal them. We'll find a way to save Phaedra. Do you understand me?" Mest-san asked, his voice sounding clipped and angry, but I could tell from his shaking hands that he was as scared as I had been.

"But..."

"No buts! Go help them!" Mest ordered before standing and winking out of existence, only to pop up and land a kick to the scary mage that had been fighting Erza before. Laxus and Gray had split off and were now battling Phaedra-neesan, who was once again fully under the King's puppet-like control, leaving Erza, Mirajane, and Mest to try and bring the scary lady with a bone arm to a stop.

"Be careful," I called out before scooping Shararu into my arms and running over to my injured friends.