Chapter 1: The Other Ones
The Other Ones were dark creatures; creatures of ice and fire and dark magic. They were made of ashes and frost. Love and hate. Good, and evil. They could change their shapes, fool you into letting them into your life, and steal it at the first given opportunity. Steal your life, your soul and your magic. Your entire existence.
The Other Ones wiped out centuries ago, during the peak of the dark times. They were wiped out by a strong, overpowering magical force, but nobody ever knew what.
But their invasion has come around once more, but this time their invasion was not expected, not known and not detected. This time, the invasion happened without knowledge of them.
That is, until they attacked Fairy Tail.
The wizards walked in the dead of night, in an array of drunkenness and foolishness, unaware of the deadly peril that lay just within the shadows. Fairy Tail Wizards, undoubtedly. The red-haired female in the armour, lecturing the black-haired ice wizard for burning the pub down, and the rose-haired wizard for freezing the 'bejeezus out of everyone'. The two males, the black-haired wizard and the rose-haired wizard, were sweating nervously and apologising at everything the red-haired woman said. Amongst them, was a blonde girl who seemed rather out of place in the drunken trio watched from the side-lines, holding a blue cat in her arms, also sweating nervously at the commotion being caused. The only sober one, no doubt. Their names were Erza Scarlet, Gray Fullbuster, Natsu Dragneel, Lucy Heartfilia and Happy the exceed.
It was snowing heavily as they trekked to the inn the five were staying in, walking down a cobbled, icy back-alley as a short-cut.
It struck midnight when Lucy realised they were not alone.
"G-guys…" she gulped, holding Happy tighter into her chest for comfort.
The other three ignored her, or rather did not hear her. She looked into the shadows behind her; they seemed to stir and lash out.
The air suddenly seemed much colder.
"Lucy…" Happy murmured.
"Guys…" Lucy whispered.
The other three finally seemed to notice she'd stopped, and turned around.
"What's wrong, Lucy?" Erza Scarlet suddenly snapped back into her senses; she sensed the other presence as well.
"The shadows…th-they're…moving…" Lucy stammered, stepping backwards. Her foot crushed the snow and ice beneath it, making the traditional crunching noise.
Erza swallowed, unsure of what to do, and the other two males squinted into the darkness trying to spot something, their breaths almost silent as they hit the frozen air.
And then they head it; laughter.
It was shrill, almost like a shriek. It was loud and rang in their ears.
"Run!" Gray shouted. The three ran to do so, but stopped when their fourth human accomplice hadn't joined them.
"Lucy!" Natsu yelled.
Lucy's eyes were wide open in terror as the laughter drew nearer to her; she could feel whateer was making that hideous laugh right in front of her; the warm feeling of death on her frozen face, the smell of death curled itself up her nose and made her eyes sting. She felt the Goosebumps of the looming terror in the darkness, and then it stood out.
For a moment it was just a shadow, crawling and stirring, but then it changed into something else; something worse – Lucy's dead father.
Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the man before her; he looked like her father, but not quite. His eyes were cold, and full of evil, and he reeked of an aura that was pure evil, and from his lips escaped the worst laugh imaginable.
Lucy screamed an ear-shattering scream, dropping to her knees before the monster.
"LUCY!" Natsu roared, as he Gray and Erza came to her rescue, but then three others stepped out of the darkness. At first they crawled and stirred, but then they changed into something else. The one closest to Erza changed into Jellal, the one closest to Gray changed into Ultear and the one closest to Natsu turned into many people; first Lucy, then Erza, Lisanna, Gray, Mira, and so on. The shadow flickered, constantly changing its appearance to the people closest to Natsu.
"We…" said shadow-Wendy,
"Are…" said shadow-Lucy
"The Other Ones." Shadow-Juvia, Ultear, Jellal and Lucy's Father said altogether.
Then the four figures attacked, and all five wizards were knocked unconscious instantly.
The next day, the Fairy Tail Guild was in chaos.
"What do you mean Gray-sama was attacked?!" Juvia screeched, her mouth hanging open.
"Don't forget the others too!" Lisanna frowned at her.
"What happened?" Carla asked, ignoring the other two, an unusual tone of seriousness in her voice.
Makarov hushed the guild before continuing. "They were attacked, no-ones by what but it's bad – they almost died – all five of them. They're resting at the town still, but I've sent Laxus and the rest of the Thunder Legion to make sure they get back here alright once they're able to travel."
"Will they be alright?" Lisanna asked.
"Yes, I sent Wendy and Porlyusica to go and heal them along with Laxus."
"Damn it…I warned him…" Cana cursed under her breath.
"Cana?"
"I…I had a feeling about this job they were going on, so I caught Gray on the way to the train station and warned him something bad was out there, and they shouldn't go, but he waved it off and now look what's happened…the five of them almost died and it's all my fault…Even my cards showed that something was up" Cana confessed.
"It's not your fault, Cana. Knowing that Natsu and Gray, they would've gone through with it because of that. In fact, Lucy probably would've been the only one that would have second thoughts."
Cana still did not look comforted.
"What do you propose happened to them anyway?" Mirajane wondered aloud.
"Well…they were attacked. I think that's pretty obvious." Gajeel rolled his eyes.
"It wasn't just that Gajeel…" Cana sighed.
"What do you mean, Cana?" Juvia asked.
"As I said earlier, I consulted my cards. They revealed to me something shocking – four shadow figures, Lucy's father, Jellal, Ultear and everyone in the guild."
"Everyone?" Juvia asked.
"Yeah – showed up with Natsu's card." Cana frowned.
"That sounds…incredibly suspiscious." Levy said.
A week later, Team Natsu had returned to Fairy Tail, bandaged up still but looking and feeling very much better, save for Lucy who was still in great shock after the incident.
When they had returned, they were swamped by the masses – asking how they were, and what had happened. After things finally calmed down, they told their story.
"Wow, that sounds like something out of a horror movie…" Elfman wiped his brow.
"Elfman, stop grabbing my hand like that." Evergreen snapped, hitting him in the head with her small paper fan.
"Anyway…" Mirajane sweatdropped, drawing the attention away from her younger brother.
"The Other Ones?!" Gray yelled.
"Is that even possible?!" Wendy yelped.
"There have been rumours of their return." Makarov said grimly.
"Well our attackers said that they were the Other Ones, so yeah..." Gray replied lamely.
"There's something else that's bothering me." Natsu said, with an uncharacteristically serious frown on his face.
"What is it?" Erza asked.
"I saw someone – it wasn't one of the Other Ones. She came by before one of them delivered Gray a fatal blow. She saved us all from dying that night."
"She? Natsu, you saw someone? Who?" Cana asked.
"Wait a sec, you didn't lose consciousness immediately?" Gray asked.
"No, not immediately. I stayed awake long enough to see her chase of the Other Ones."
"Who is this woman that saved you, Natsu?" Cana asked.
"Well…it's a bit weird, coz she looked real familiar."
"Familiar?"
"Yeah…you remember Keres?" Natsu asked.
"Ker-chan?" Happy asked.
"But she's dead," Gray said bitterly, "You of all people should know that."
"Erm…who's Keres?" Lucy and Wendy asked.
"She was a guild member who died several years ago." Erza filled them in quickly.
As an argument about Keres' death started up between Natsu and Gray, the guild hall began to feel very tense.
"So what about Keres, Natsu?" Cana interrupted all of a sudden.
"Well the girl looked an awful lot like her…if she was still alive, I mean."
"Right…but given the fact that she's supposedly dead…how did she save you?" Gray growled through gritted teeth.
"Was there something between this Keres and my Gray-sama?" Juvia asked Erza quietly.
"Keres was very young when she died, probably about Romeo's age, but I don't know about the relationship between her and Gray – they were just friends as far as I know." Erza replied quietly.
"I'm telling you, I know what I saw! An older version of Keres! Maybe it was her spirit, like Mavis!" Natsu argued back.
"It is possible, given the nature of Ker-chan's magic." Levi suggested.
"No! The dead can't come back! Mavis is just a spiritual body, she can't physically use magic!" Gray shouted.
"Actually, that's not correct. I used Fairy Sphere to protect you did I not?" Mavis appeared to be sitting on Laxus' shoulder.
"…Ugh…KERES IS NOT COMING BACK!" Gray yelled, before leaving the guild hall in a temper.
"Gray-sama!" Juvia called out, going to follow him.
"Don't." Erza stopped her.
"Keres' death really wounded the poor boy, I apologise, first." Makarov apologised.
"How so?" Juvia asked.
"The day after the incident, Gray told me that he witnessed her death. What he told me was truly horrifying – no child of his age at the time should have witnessed such a thing." Makarov frowned, his voice heavy with despair and guilt.
"Keres' death was tragic, but we must find a way to know for sure if it was her that Natsu saw, or perhaps just someone that looked like her…" Erza pointed out.
"It was her. I'm sure of it; her scent, her voice…they were the same as always." Natsu firmly said, crossing his arms.
"Her voice? She spoke to you?" Mavis asked.
"Keres-chan…" Happy frowned sadly at the floor. Carla put a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, she said my name." Natsu responded.
"May I interrupt for a moment." Carla spoke.
"Yes, Carla?" Makarov asked.
"May I see a picture of this Keres?" She asked.
"Here." Rufus handed her a painting of a young girl; she had curly hair that reached her chin and was a violent shade of violet, and large round eyes of the same colour. She was pale white, and had dark circles under her eyes, but nonetheless, looked happy enough.
"This is Keres?" Carla asked.
"Yes, ma'am." Rufus confirmed.
"Natsu, what did the girl look like?"
"Well, she was probably our age and her hair and eyes were the exact same colour, but her hair was longer, I think. She was wearing a cloak so it was hard to see all of her – the only reason I could see her face at all was because she crouched over to look at my face."
"Any differences in her appearance? Aside for the obvious ones." Carla asked.
"Not that I could see…but she did get a cut on her cheek from the fight."
"What is it, Carla?" Wendy asked.
"Well, when I went to bandage Natsu, as soon as I touched him I had a vision. In the vision I saw the girl in that painting of Rufus' praying, surrounded by candles, and then the see changed; it was the body of a young woman, with her long violet hair blowing in the wind. She had odd tattoos all over her body – the ones on her neck and body were the most prominent. The one on her neck was the ying-yang symbol, and the ones one her back, it was kind of in the shape of a pentagram. There were five circles, each with words written in them. The tip of the pentagram had 'Spirit' in it, then the point facing east was 'Water', the two facing north said 'Fire' then 'Earth' and the point facing West was 'Air' – the only reason I realised it was a pentagram was because of the lines that connected them - there was one bold one joining them all in a circle, but then thinner ones connecting them all in a pentagram. The rest of the tattoos were kind of like this…labyrinth pattern. Anyway, by her feet was the dead body of the little girl called Keres." Carla explained quickly.
"Strange..." Mirajane said after a long moment of silence within the guild.
"Master, tell us the truth – what happened when Keres died?" Erza asked.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you." Makarov replied.
"Why not?" Erza demanded.
"It should be Gray or Natsu. It wounds them the most."
The guild immediately turned to Natsu, in Gray's absence.
"I don't know what happened as much as Gray, I only know that she died because she tried to channel the Spirit of Igneel, for me, but it failed…or something." Natsu told them.
"What?! That's madness!" Carla exclaimed.
"But Igneel's not dead, right?" Wendy asked.
"Hang on…someone fill me in on this 'channelling' business." Gajeel demanded.
"It is the act in which a person, usually a spirit medium, conveys a message to the living from the dead, however in this context, likely the reason Keres tried to channel Igneel's spirit, is that it can also be done to communicate with someone on another plain of existence." Mavis explained.
"So…this Keres girl, tried to communicate with Igneel's spirit coz he's in a different plain of existence?" Gajeel simplified.
"That was her theory at the time." Natsu confirmed.
"After the channelling failed…Keres bled out – she drowned in her own blood," Gray begun, standing in the doorway, "I tried to save her, I honestly did, but the way her body was, I was afraid to move her, and I couldn't just leave her, so she died. There, in my arms. Then her body…it was…"
"Gray-sama…" Juvia said gently, touching his shoulder.
"…Swallowed by purple darkness." He hung his head, a hand over his eyes. His shoulder shook gently.
"How awful…" Lucy whispered.
/Phew, end of that chapter, finally! Sorry it was so dang long, I had to set out the mysteries and…crap. Bleh.
Want to find out what happened with Keres? Wanna find out what the Other Ones are all about?
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