Happy Halloween: A Fairy Tail Short Story.
This was not how her night was supposed to end. It wasn't even meant to start. Erza was meant to spend the night, alone, studying like the perfect student president she is. But instead, here she is, arms full of skeleton parts, running for her dear life as the walking undead were hot on her heels. This wasn't meant to happen, this only ever happened in those clique horror films.
She just had to make it past the cemetery gates and she would be ok. Or she hoped she would be. Mist rolled in, and it became harder for Erza to find her way around. She could no longer see the rusting gates of the abandoned Magnolia Cemetery, but still she pressed on. She was the Student President of Fairy High, and as president, she knew she would survive this with no problem.
She glanced behind her and stopped, looking around in confusion. She could have sworn that the zombies where right behind her. Where on earth could they have gotten to?
"How perplexing." She scowled, not liking this one bit.
She looked down at the bleached bones in her hands and cursed Natsu for stealing them in the first place. Was he some sort of imbecile? And is any case, where is he? Wasn't Gray and Lucy with us too? Where did they go?
Erza shook her head, now was not the time. All she had to do was return the bones to their rightful owner before midnight, or the worst possible scenario could happen. Or that's what Lucy said. Erza wasn't so sure. Maybe she should just head back and find Natsu and make him fix his own mistakes. It was unlikely that the curse of Madame Michelle Le Lobster was actually real.
But Erza was not the kind to shrink her duties. So instead of turning back and strangling Natsu, she continued on, the cold of the night sinking into her bunny suit.
She glanced at her watch. 11:30 PM. She only had half an hour to find this grave of Madame Michelle's, return the bones to its rightful place, and it would all be over. Madame will release her curse on Magnolia, and Erza can get back to kicking Natsu's ass and studying, like the heroin she is.
A twig snapped behind her and she stopped and spun around, adjusting the bones in her arms she her other hand could reach for her baton at her hip.
"Reveal yourself!"
Pink hair poked out of the mist, and Natsu came into view. But he was different. His walk was scrapped and limp, his eyes milky, black veins crawling up his neck. He moaned, and reached out a greying hand. Lucy limped out behind him, vampire costume tattered at the ends. She spun around to run from the fresh zombies, only to run right into a zombie Gray, who grabbed her arm, his hand ice cold. She yanked her arm back before sprinting in the opposite direction, hurrying to where she thought the grave was. Erza kept her eyes to the ground, following the gravel path to the older graves. Natsu, Lucy and Gray were close behind; she could hear their heavy breathing, crunching footfalls on the gravel, and almost feel the coldness of their grasping hands.
The mist seemed to dim and sink to the floor, and Erza saw the grave she had been looking for. The tomb's outer walls were large and thick; the design of a woman holding a rose informed the red haired teenager that that was the tomb in which Madame Michelle La Lobster's body rested. The rusting gates were in terrible condition; one gate held on by one hinge, and the other had been battered and bruised over the course of time, probably by some hooligan.
11:41PM. Erza didn't have time to waste. Just as she was about to sprint, cold, stiff hands gripped her by the arms and pulled her back. She dropped the bones and fell back. Her tights ripped and she was surrounded by a horde of zombies; some were dressed as trick or treaters; Lucy the vampire, Natsu the mummy, Gray the werewolf, Elfman the Frankenstein, Wendy the witch and even Lissana the devil and Mira the angel. Most of her schoolmates were here, and every one of them had been turned into a zombie.
They moved in close, all murmuring and groaning, grabbing a leg, or an arm so Erza could not escape and beat every one of them senseless. But just as everything seemed hopeless, a voice called out in the distance.
"Hey! Leave Erza alone!" Jellal was standing on the tomb of Madame, dressed in superman tights, his cap fluttering in the wind, "Come get me instead! Don't worry Erza, I'll save you!"
The zombies seemed to stop what they were doing to watch Jellal make a fool of himself. Erza felt like slapping her forehead. The hands around her arms loosened and she realised that Jellal was distracting them from her. She took her chance and ripped her arms out of their grip and took hold of the two battens at her waist and began waking at the zombies.
"I won't forgive you," She yelled, "For the disgrace of losing against the walking dead, you all get punished!"
Her schoolmates scattered, leaving the older zombies confused and slow. Erza didn't hesitate, scooping up the bones and running for the tomb.
11:53PM. Seven minutes to midnight.
The zombies got their bearings and ran after her, but Jellal leaped down from the tomb, blocking the way. Erza skidded to a stop, hand on the broken gates to the tomb.
"Jellal!"
"It's ok Erza," He said over his shoulder, "I'll stop them from following you. Hurry before it's too la-"
He was cut off as the zombie horde jumped him, turning him into one of them. He emerged from the crowd, reaching a greying hand to Erza, moaning and milky eyed.
"My hero." Erza deadpanned.
She sprinted down the descending staircase, zombies on her trail; Her guild mates had returned and joined the other zombies in their chase for fresh bodies. She pushed the heavy doors open at the bottom of the stairs, and strained to shut it behind her. One zombie had put his arm through and it was cut off the body. The dismembered hand twitched on the ground, and Erza was very close to squealing, her heart pounding with the possibility of that thing moving. Erza fumbled on her cellphone and shone the light in the room. She turned around and made her way to the centre of the room, the stone coffin open a slither. She placed the bones on the ground and heaved the stone slab off enough so she could see the body of Madame Michelle La Lobster. Madame was nothing more than a skeleton dressed in a tattered white gown of cotton and lace, her skull gleaming white in the light of Erza cellphone. She noted that there were a few bones missing and concluded that the bones she had were Madame Michelle's.
Erza grabbed one and stuck the arm back together, and then a rib, and lastly one of the legs was restored. Now that Michelle was whole, the zombies should return back to their graves. However the pounding on the door suggested otherwise. Erza checked the time. One minute to midnight. Why hasn't it worked? Was Erza meant to say some mumbo-jumbo spell or something?
She leaned over the skeleton, "Madame Michelle La Lobster, what is it I am meant to do? You are whole now. You don't have to continue the curse!"
The skeleton didn't answer. The ground shook, dust fell from the ceiling; the zombies were trying to force their way in, "Please Madame! What do I do?!"
The clock struck midnight, and the room echoed with the chime. Time seemed to freeze. The door gave one final thrust, before everything went silent.
Light shone from the stone coffin, and Michelle La Lobster rose, but not at a skeleton, but as a young woman whose skin was pale and white, hair like woven gold and eyes that shone. She smiled down at Erza and whispered her last words.
"Happy Halloween."
…
This may be a little early, but Happy Halloween guys! Thank you for always supporting me and getting me to hurry my ass with my writing! It makes me overjoyed!
Love,
BitterMondays.