Heat. It was unbearable.
The beads of sweat that dripped from Chane's furrowed eyebrows were not only from standing in the 120 degree desert, but also because there were hands. Everywhere. Tugging at her shoulders, grasping her wrists as she tried to break out of their hold on her. Chane reached desperately for the young girl who stood prior to her, also being torn away from her in tears. After kicking one of the rogue ninja's in the shin, the frantic blue haired girl managed to grasp a hold of her friends wrist.
"I'll come back for you!" Chane called out desperately.
Fingers slowly being pried apart by the desert ninja's, Chane watched as the pink haired girl before her was wretched from her grasp violently, drifting away from her reach.
"I know you will!" Aspen, the pink haired woman replied as she struggled against the ninja's embrace, trying her best to break free.
Drenched in sweat with aching arms, Chane took a step back from her humble village as she watched the iron gates close in a demanding manner, locking her out.
And everyone inside, in.
"This is where it gets interesting." The man who stood before her had dark black hair with lightly tanned skin. His back was leaning against said iron gate as he looked down to her with a rather smug look on his face.
Chane tried to remain stoic, but even with years worth of training; she couldn't ignore the buzzing sound in her ears, nor the rapid thumping of her heart against her chest. She licked her cracked lips as the man continued to taunt her.
"If you bring me back 1,000,000 Jewels.. I, of course, will return your village to you."
She balled her hand into her fist. "You will not lay a hand on my people..?"
"I am a man of my word," Ivan was grinning as he crossed his arms against his chest. "However, I cannot say for sure what I may do when I'm.. bored." He smiled wickedly.
Chane clenched her fingers into a tighter fist, nails digging into skin. Ivan grin widened as he saw the stress he was putting on the girl. He leaned away from the gate to take a few taunting steps to the much shorter blue haired girl. "This is what you were programmed to do, right? Protect your town?"
His wide grin then turned to a frown as he seemed to change his mind on proceeding towards the girl, instead turning on his heel to saunter his way into the desert village. The sun burned on her neck, but Chane knew that in a few hours to come; the temperature would drop so drastically it would leave her nearly freezing. This was the least of her worries.
He shot her one last evil grin before the gates came to a full close upon his entrance, "Let's hope you make it in time."
SLAM.
Chane clenched her fist silently as she watched him make his way back to her village. Her insides were screaming at her to stop him, frightened that she would be temporarily abandoning her home town, completely unaware of what kind of havoc this man would cause In her absence.
She had no time to lose.
Not one heartbeat later, Chane roughly turned on her heel and ran like hell through the burning desert.
Desert Fairy
Chapter OO1;
Demons
Fairy where are you going?
I'm holding, all the light on to your way;
(hikari zenbu atsumete)
this light will shine upon a brand new day!
(kimi no ashita terasu yo)
"Kageyama, you say?"
Chane sat delicately in the wooden chair, her legs crossed as she took a sip of the steaming hot tea in her hand. She wore a rather long skirt with a slit through the side, easily showing a pair of black shorts she wore underneath. The tea was hot and bitter, much to the blue headed girls displeasure. She continued to sip it regardless, an elderly woman sitting across from her who solemnly nodded her head, proceeding to dry a coffee mug with her gray rag.
"He is a powerful wizard.. who has stolen something dear to my ancestors." The elderly woman spoke slowly, taking deep breaths in between words. "He is a truly powerful wizard.."
'You're repeating yourself, old hag.' Chane tapped her pinkie on the wooden table with discreet impatience, although the concerned look on her face did well to cover her annoyance. For now she would appear humble, and listen to the older woman's tale with opened ears. 'I just want the money. I really don't care what he did to you.'
"Is that so?" Another sip from the glass of tea refrained her from adding any unwanted comments. 'Do you have anything useful to say? Like where the hell I can find the bastard?'
"If I can recall.. he spoke something of taking the flute to Onibus, and he then struck me down.." The elderly woman let out a sound that Chane wasn't able to determine was a grunt, or a sob. Not giving much care to which it was, she immediately stood up.
'Yes! A lead! Maybe this geezer isn't so useless after all!'
"Alright obaasan, I will return what was one respectfully yours." Chane bowed deeply, and the old woman slowly began to fish into her pocket to hand her something.
"You'll need this-"
"ITS A MONSTER!"
A sudden cry from outside of the hut cut the elderly woman from her sentence, and Chane darted to the curtain that worked as a make-shift door for the old hut. She quickly pulled it up to take a peek outside, wanting to catch a glimpse of what caused a villager to scream so loudly.
The village was in chaos. Chane's dark green hues widen as she watched as a mother picked up her crying child before rushing in the direction of all of the other running villagers. Men, woman, children, and animals all scattered from their homes as the ground began to shake.
"EVERYONE! EVACUATE YOUR HOMES!"
'What's going on?' Chane glanced at the old woman who was scrambling to grab her scattered potion viles. Taking another glance outside, Chane felt as her washed out blue colored locks began to rise on her neck.
A giant, straight-from-hell monster continued to cause havoc, smashing a small house by merely stepping on it. Chane immediately turned back inside of the hut, grabbing onto the old woman's sleeve to stop her from scurrying around the small house to collect her items.
"Oh no, you're leaving. Now." She tugged desperately at the elderly woman, who didn't seem willing to budge without her belongings. "Forget the viles you old hag! Leave this place at once!"
With a sad glance to her abandoned potions, the old woman quickly exited the hut in the direction of the other villagers.
Chane sighed as she followed the woman out, instead turning the opposite way to face the direction of the humongous monster. Panicked villagers and children brushed passed her, sending her a fearful look that clearly stated for her to turn tail and run as well. For once, Chane's stoic face wore an uncharacteristic grin as she swept her choppy blue locks into a ponytail, revealing a ruby jewel shaped as a diamond that was planted in the center of her forehead.
"You're a big one aren't ya?"
The red jewel flashed a dangerous shade of red, and Chane could feel a familiar warmth surge through her veins. Her hands were balled into a fist, feeling as if her blood were pumping a million times faster. She began to bounce from side to side now, feeling as though she were light as a feather. The monster let out a loud, ground shaking roar that sent the loose ends of her hair flying back from the force.
"You know what they say.." She unclenched her fist slowly, her grin becoming more wide. "The bigger they are.. the harder they... fall!"
And with that she darted to him with speed equal to a cheetah, even without her angelic boots. Skirt flying in the wind behind her from her speed, Chane rushed between the monsters legs and he began to stumble, trying his best to step on her. Being too fast, and the monster simply too big to keep up, Chane used the valley between his legs to jump her way back and forth, slowly getting higher and higher up his body.
The demon swatted at her, and Chane quickly catapulted from his legs to his swinging arm, letting out an "Oof" as she collided into him, knocking the wind momentarily from her system. Her eyes flashed white as her vision blurred momentarily from the compact. She took a moment to wheez, before instinctively latching onto his finger as he raised his hand to his eyes.
As he began to open his mouth, Chane quickly assumed that the demon could breath fire from the way small flames began to bubble in the back of his throat, she could only barely dodge by jumping forward onto his nose, her right shoulder and leg getting burned in the process.
'Deal with the pain later. For now; kill. kill. kill.'
She repeatedly chanted the word in her head, 'kill, kill, kill," trying her best to ignore the searing pain.
The demon, clearly immune to his own fire due to his rough scales, crossed his eyes to try and concentrate on the human who was currently invading his privacy. Chane grinded her teeth as she concentrated her energy to her fist, a light green glow faintly revolving around them as she punched the monster square between his eyes, causing him to let out a roar, stumbling back dangerously.
'Uh oh..' Her green hues widened as she realized that she had lost her footing, and was now currently free falling to the ground, along with the demon. Instinctively, her hands shot to her waist as she tried to come up with a plan.
'Think, think.. Rope.. where's my knife?' Dishing out her knife from her pocket, the young ninja began to quickly tie the rope around her knife, one knot, and then another. She didn't take the time to debate whether the knots where steady, whether the rope would lose grip and she would simply continue pivoting to her death. Instead, she summoned as much strength as her right arm, her good arm could despite the searing pain, and immediately shifted her weight towards the falling demon as a cushion.
Once she was close enough, Chane began to muster the familiar energy to her fist once again, before hitting the demon in his abdomen so hard that he flew to the ground with such force, a crater appeared underneath him.
She landed on the ground with an ungraceful thud, but decided she could have been off worst. Catching her breath while clutching her arm, her eyes narrowed as the demon began to rise once again.
Chane was exhausted.
'What the hell is this thing..?!' She may have been advanced in strategy, as well as combat, but Chane was not nearly trained enough for this!
"I'll come back for you!"
"I know you will!"
"I can't die here.." Chane clutched onto her arm as the memory that was etched into her brain repeated itself endlessly. Glancing behind her shoulder, she watched as more villagers continued to scatter to leave, shooting her desperate glances as some called to her to evacuate as well.
'Why are they still here...? Why haven't those stupid villagers left yet?' She sighed, looking back at the demon who was struggling to get up. 'I have to distract him a little bit longer..'
"Burumen-" Like an angel falling from heaven, Erza quickly equipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor, charging at the demon with her 200 blades following after. "..burrato!"
Chane blinked, shocked. Whoever this scarlet haired woman was swooped in and destroyed the beast with ease, and the villagers all began to halt from their scattering, eyeing the two girls in awe.
"Did you see that..?"
"Those two girls.. wow!"
"I apologize for being late." Erza re-equipped back to her usual Heart Kreuz Armor, casually stepping up to the injured Chane as if she hadn't just appeared from nowhere, saving the day for everyone.
Chane was livid. Face flushing a shade of red that dangerously matched the ruby jewel on her forehead, she immediately stood up to back away from the red headed mages advances. "I had it under control!" She lied through gritted teeth, trying to ignore the pain in her arm.
Erza halted, seeing the injured girls clear hostility, and crossed her arms against her chest. "I'm sorry, it merely looked to me like you were in trouble."
"Ladies!"
"Wow, you saved us!"
Kids, parents, and elderly all surrounded the two females. Erza nodded aprehensively to them, accepting their thanks with strong modesty. Chane darted her emerald hues as she desperately began to search for the old lady who had given her the mission to return her flute. Her hands were untying the ponytail from her hair as she glanced around.
The mentioned woman was making her way back to her hut, and Chane quickly excused herself from Erza and the other villagers to go follow the woman who'd she received the mission from.
"You're injured," The lady muttered as Chane entered, and began to look through her bucket of variety colored potions. Chane shook her head, "Don't mind me. Please, I want to return your flute to you." The reward is so high, I need all the money I can get. "There was something you wanted to give me before."
The older woman ignored her, continuing her search through the viles. Chane let an irritated sigh slip out her nose, 'Enough with the potions you old geezer!'
She seemed to find what it was she was searching for, for she let out an audible sigh of relief as she pulled out a purple vile. Soon reaching for a piece of paper and pen that already sat on her counter, the woman began to write something on the paper.
"I will be at this location by the time you capture Kageyama. Drink this potion, for it will do miracles for your injuries." She handed the vile, as well as the note to Chane.
Cautiously, Chane grabbed onto the two gifts, stuffing the paper into her bag and eyeing the vile with hidden distaste. As if she would drink a potion that this old witch-looking hag brewed up.. but as usual, the sky color haired girl kept her thoughts to herself.
Seeing as the old woman turned her back to her, Chane slipped out of the hut, eyeing the vile with great caution.
"There you are," A stern voice broke her our of her concentration. Chane broke from her daze and glanced up to Erza, who was wielding a large horn that Chane could only guess was from the deceased demon.
Erza, noting Chane's confused look, replied emotionless, "The villagers, in thanks for our saving them, have decorated this horn as a memento."
Chane sweatdropped at how serious the wizard before her was, "Is that right.. you can go ahead and keep it."
"Are you sure?" Erza looked genuinely surprised, and Chane could only shake her head in disbelief. What could she possibly do with a stupid horn with some dumb fake jewels glued onto it?
Keeping her mouth shut, Chane turned around to head where, she could only hope, Onibus was located. She stopped as the older woman who had given her the job quickly emerged from the hut. "Wait, young lady! Here is the thing I forgot to give you!" Reaching into her dress pocket, the elderly woman pulled out a picture of a young man with spiky black hair. "This is Kageyama."
"Kageyama of Lullaby.." Erza peered over Chane's shoulder casually, completely immune to the death glare that the female shot her. "I know about him.. why are you looking for him?"
"I just am," Chane grumbled, not wanting the former to steal another kill from her. "I need to retrieve something he has stolen."
Erza's eyes narrowed at this, "What has he stolen?"
"Mind your own business!" She spat, irritated with how high and mighty the woman was being. Immediately Chane felt a jolt of imaginary electricity as Erza glowered at her, almost threateningly. Not able to explain the sudden fear that surged through her body, Chane began to stammer, "H-he's stolen a magic f-flute, from obaa-san over here.." Chane glanced behind her shoulder to see the old woman was gone, probably returned back to her adobe.
"Interesting.." Erza mused, rubbing her forefinger on her chin. "I have proper medication for your burns. Return to my guild and we can split the rewards of the slain demon, as well as get you proper treatment for your injuries."
It wasn't a question, Chane noted. Although the last thing she wanted was for this strange woman to assume that she could boss her around, Chane realized that proper medication for her injuries may be wise. Since she wasn't willing to be a test subject of the weird looking purple potion, and the sound of a reward was always enough to have her cave in, Chane reluctantly agreed.
"Alright. But only for the reward."
"Right," Erza shifted the weight of the giant horn on her other shoulder. "Then let us continue, to Onibus."
'To Onibus,' Chane replied inwardly with a groan. The red headed female's company was not one that Chane would find herself taking pleasure in.
BETA'D 1/25/14, I hope things are a little bit easier to read for my new readers.