Induced Silence
Natsu, Happy, Lucy, and Erza carefully combed the streets. Something had gone horribly wrong. Gray never returned from his last contract and now Juvia was gone, too. She had gone after him first and left the group far behind. A dark energy lingered over the abandoned city where they now searched. Unnatural clouds blocked the sun, casting shadows everywhere. The residents were dead; All of them. Cool weather prevented a smell, but bodies littered the scene. Men, women, children, and even infants had fallen in the streets, homes, and shops. No visible trauma was noticeable. "What happened here?", asked Lucy, uneasy. She glanced to her friend, but Erza had a distant, steely gaze. The city itself seemed unmarked. Who could have done this and why? Across town, Natsu was getting nowhere fast. He stood over the corpse of a little girl, silent and solemn. Happy stared at the ground, unable to comment.
A sound nearby caught the girl's attention. Something had fallen over, but there was no breeze present. Erza quickly took point, ready to defend her comrade. Another loud noise. Lucy watched closely as the skittering wooden crate that had landed on the street. With a deliberate sword swing, the wood cracked open. A young woman covered her head in shock. "I'm sorry! Don't eat me!", she yelled. Pale, minty green hair covered her face. She was about their age, so Erza lowered her blade and extended a hand. Slowly, the shaken girl peeked out from under her arms. "You're not going to eat me?", she inquired cautiously. Erza offered a kind grin and helped her up. "Why would we want to eat you?", asked Lucy, approaching the stranger. The girl dusted herself off and looked around the ruined city. "That's what happened to everyone else", she stated. Offering a hand, the girl smiled. "You must be here to help, then." Erza nodded. "I'm Erza and this is Lucy. We're mages from Fairy Tail. Can you tell us what happened here?" The girl shuddered. "Can we eat first? I'm starving", she whined. The girls offered her what rations they had and sat to talk. The girl rambled for what seemed like forever about everything, but what had actually happened. Having enough, Erza slammed down her scabbard. The girl took her the mean stare and sighed, "Soul stealers." Lucy glanced betwixt the two and said, "Come again?" The girl wiped her mouth and repeated, "Soul stealers. You know, misty looking buggers, suck the life out of you." After pausing to belch, she added, "I'm Yonaguni, by the way."
Before anything else could be asked, footsteps approached. Yonaguni sniffed the air carefully. "One of yours?", she inquired. Lucy called out and waved Natsu down. He was following their scent. He was a little surprised and relieved to see someone with them. That meant someone survived. As they drew nearer, Erza noted a change in their strange new companion. Her posture altered, her eyes narrowed. It looked like she was ready to attack. "What are you - ?", she began. Cutting her off, Yonaguni took off full speed at Natsu, tackling him to the ground in surprise. Pinned, he looked up in surprise as she thoroughly sniffed him. "One way to know for sure", she said. He didn't have a chance to ask what she meant. By the time Lucy and Erza had rushed over, Yonaguni had grabbed Natsu by the scarf and had him in a firm lip lock. The girls and Happy stood in shock. Releasing him just as easily, she took a deep breath of relief. "Yup", she beamed, "You taste like dragon. I thought I smelled it on you!" Taking a moment to shake the "What just happened?" look from his face, Natsu got up and dusted off. "Are all the locals this friendly?", he teased. He quickly reeled in the humor upon seeing Lucy's fiery stare. Clearing his throat, he added, "So, you are?" and offered a hand. "Yonaguni", replied the strange girl before squeezing the daylights out of him. She only let go after hearing a few ribs pop. "Fear not, fellow dragon slayer, I won't let them eat you." Happy tried to hide a snicker. This new person was amusing. Natsu's polite smile dropped and was replaced by a huge grin. "You're a dragon slayer?!", he asked excitedly. She stood proudly atop a nearby rock and tried to pose heroically. Lucy sighed. "Great, now there's two of them", she thought.
Happy cheered the girl on. Upon seeing him, Yonaguni's bravado stopped dead. "CAT!", she hissed, darting behind Erza. "I'm not a cat. I'm an exceed", offered Happy. "That's okay, then", said the girl as she did her best to pretend none of that had happened. "Don't all dragon slayers have an exceed?", inquired Lucy. "Nah", replied Yonaguni, "I have two." "Two?", repeated Erza, having lost control of the situation. "Twins", beamed the girl. Her golden eyes shined with every word and her tanned skin shimmered bronze even with the cloud cover. Straightening her clothes, she added, "Exceeds are awesome. Cats not so much." Erza sighed, but decided not to get into the details. Camp was set for the night. They cooked what they could find in the houses nearby and talked at length. "Gray, huh?", asked Yona, her cheeks full of food. "And Juvia", added Lucy. "What do they do?", she inquired. "Gray's an ice mage", offered Erza. Yona seemed uninterested. "Juvia's a water mage", added Natsu, amused at the disinterest in his rival. Yona's eyes gleamed, she stopped chewing. "Did you say water?", she asked, food dripping from her mouth. Everyone nodded. "We should find her. Water's awesome. Swimming, surfing, diving, did I say surfing?", rambled Yona. "So that's your specialty", grinned Erza. Yona had seen Natsu light the fire, so she didn't need to ask, but she had never stated her own dragon magic. "The sea to be specific. I learned from Llyr. He was epic", she explained. On a more random note, she added, "That's why I hate cats. They're always after my fish. I caught it, dammit, it's mine!" The group chuckled as Happy munched away at the salmon they had found.
Trying to steer the conversation, Erza asked, "So why were you out here all alone?". "I was looking for my friends", replied Yonaguni, finally done stuffing her face. "The exceeds?", offered Lucy. Yona nodded. "Rani and Ronen. They do pretty good on their own, but with the soul stealers around, I got worried. This place was decimated before I got here. I figured I'd get a better view from the roof. That's when I saw you guys. I was going to flag you down, but I kind of fell into that box and yeah...Wow, that was embarrassing", she chuckled. Natsu darted a look to Erza for explanation, but let let it drop when she shook her head. "What the hell's a soul stealer?", he asked bluntly. "You guys aren't from around here, are you?", said Yona. Pausing to think about it, she added, "No, I suppose not. We don't have any guilds around here." "None at all?", asked Lucy, surprised. "Not since Llyr sat on that old, abandoned one", she ventured. Natsu couldn't hold it. Yona took no offense to his laughter, instead joining in. "It was pretty funny. I like you. Most mages I've met are so stuck up. They're all 'look at me, I'm special. I have magic' and then BAM! I hit 'em with a rouge wave. Not so high and mighty when they look like drowned rats", she sniggered.
Bringing them back to focus, Erza repeated, "The soul stealers?". Giving in, Yona finally answered her. "Some people call them mist walkers, demons, or angry ghosts. They're no ghosts, they're solid enough when you get close. Tall mother f*ckers, too", she supplied. "The generally only come out at night or when it rains", she said, glancing at the enclosing storm clouds. "When it rains?", repeated Happy nervously. "They've always been around", shrugged Yona. A sneaky grin on her lips, she added, "Yeah, especially when it rains. They wait until your asleep and then they're right in your face!", she shouted, close to Happy. He threw his arms up and cried out in terror. Yona laughed until she fell over. Lucy huddled the exceed close and gave the girl a stern look. "All right, princess, I get it", she sighed, resuming her seat. "Princess?", repeated Lucy, slightly offended. Yona stretched deeply. "I'm just saying...There might be a rouge wave with your name on it. That's all", she taunted. Going back to business, she explained, "The soul stealers have always been around. It's just part of life around here...But their feeding has become erratic." "What do you mean?", inquired Erza. Yona sighed. "Well, it used to be maybe one or two people every few months, but now...Well, look around. I've never seen so many of them in one place before. It's like somehow they got organized. They were more animalistic before, just hungry wraiths. Now it's like they're running an annihilation campaign." Everyone silently processed things. "They even took the cattle and animals at the end of town", said Erza. "And that's new, too. They've never touched livestock before", added Yona.
It began to rain. The fire hissed as it died. Grabbing Natsu's arm, Yona said, "Come on. There's lots of room in the church. I already buried the people that were in there." The group relocated, glad to be somewhere dry. It poured outside. It rained so hard, you couldn't see the buildings across the street. Thunder and lightning clashed overhead, shaking the old church's foundations. Eventually, Lucy and Happy settled in for the night despite the raging weather. Yona stared out the window, smiling at the rain. "I take it you like storms", offered Erza. "I'm a sea dragon, why wouldn't I? The nastiest storms occur over the ocean. It's a storm like this that brought me to Llyr.", she replied reminiscently. A few moments of quiet passed between the girls. "So, does the princess have ownership of the dragon?", she asked bluntly. Taken aback, Erza calmly said, "That's a bit complicated." "Game on", smirked Yona. Erza left her to her plotting and bedded down for the night. When Yona rejoined the group, everyone was out cold. She glanced back at the shutters once more and whispered, "Be safe guys", before going to sleep herself.
To be continued...
Want to know more about Yona? look here!
art/OC-info-new-Yonaguni-481624502