Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Whodunnit, nor am I making any money profit from writing this.
A/N: I'm so glad you like this! All those reviews made me squeal
Chapter Two
Lucy walked into the room quietly, following cautiously behind Armin and Hibiki. Her head tilted slightly as she looked around the perfectly clean room; everything was in order and lined up neatly - not the room she expected of someone who was just... murdered. But, then again, what did she expect anyway? It wasn't as if Beth was aware of her impending demise, right?
"Hey, come take a look at this." Hibiki waved them over, his eyes dark. Lucy felt Milliana brush against her, on her own way to the bathroom, where Hibiki's head was poking out.
"'Come to the foyer. I have information for you.'" Hibiki read the words lined in red on the mirror. There was a tiny mess on the counter, a cup overturned and a tube of cherry red lipstick fallen on its side.
Lucy turned towards Milliana, whose shaky breaths were audible in the otherwise silent room. She put a hand on the cat-like woman's back, and another on her arm, leading Milliana to the bed to sit down.
"She must have seen this and gone down, trusting a message written on her mirror," commented Armin. His mouth turned down in a frown, "but what happened down there?"
He made his way around the room, Hibiki stayed in the bathroom to examine the clues there.
"It's not working," Rufus said, frustration and anger lacing his tone. His sudden intrusion startled Lucy, him having stayed in the doorway while they were in the bathroom.
"Rufus?" Hibiki poked his head out the bathroom.
"My magic. I can't - it's - I can't use my magic." Rufus's brow creased as he raised to fingers to his temple to try again.
Suddenly realizing that they hadn't tried to use their magic since arriving - not even Natsu when fighting with Sting and Gray, Lucy remembered - she, Hibiki, and Armin each attempted a go at their respective magics. But Lucy couldn't even feel any magic flowing through her veins, much less her keys. It felt strange, as if she was missing some vital part of herself, something should've been flowing through her body - her wrists, her ankles, through her arms and legs, winding around her heart.
But there was nothing there. Her eyes widened as she became frantic, "Open, Gate of the Nicola: Plue!" Summoning Plue consumed the least of her magic, yet not even a golden spark came from the Spirit World. She looked up and meets Hibiki's wide eyes with her own.
"What does this mean?" she whispered.
She was only met with the wide eyed stares of her fellow mages.
Erza took the lead, following closely behind Sasha, on the way to the morgue, deciding that she could take the blood if it meant her friends didn't have to endure it. Kagura walked only a few steps behind her, head bowed and brow creased. She looked torn, distressed. Sting and Ren were behind them, with Annie and Adrian taking up the rear. They all looked sullen, probably regretting taking on the job.
Sting almost bumped into Kagura when they stopped outside a steel door. Sasha opened it, revealing a big silver room, furnished with what one would expect in a morgue - complete with a body on a table. Beth's body. Kagura turned away, her face shadowed by her hair, pausing for a moment before taking a deep breath, squaring her shoulders, and walking directly to the table. Her gaze, however, was fixated at the corner of the table by Beth's braid.
Erza bowed her head, paying her last respects to Beth before the examination.
"Well," she said after straightening, "Beth seems to have two pieces of glass sticking out from her head, blood trailing from those. No other wounds are apparent... how did she fall forward, then?" She put one hand under Beth's body, one on the other side, preparing to flip her over.
"Stop! What are you doing?" Kagura had a crazed look in her eye, frantic and scared.
Erza turned her head to the side, a brief emotion flashing across her face. "Kagura..."
"You were talking about Beth so... so... emotionless! About Beth!" Her eyes narrowed in anger and grief. "How dare you examine her so mercilessly?"
"Kagura..." Erza said again. "I'm sorry, really, but - "
"Save it! - - Let me go!" She struggled against Sting's hold. She had lunged at Erza, only intending to shut her up.
"Sorry, sorry," he said.
"Kagura," Erza said for the third time, "I'm doing this because we need to do everything we can to make sure we don't die. Right now, all we can do is gather information. I'm - Beth, she was our friend, too, you know."
All Erza received in reply was a glare. And then an outraged squeal, courtesy of Annie dumping a bucket of cold water of Kagura's head.
The others jumped in shock, having not noticed the blonde leaving. The faucet in the corner was dripping, probably where she got the water from, though the bucket's source was unknown.
Kagura blinked, and Sting let go to sigh over his own wet shirt.
"Oh... Erza... I'm... uh, I'm sorry..." Kagura seemed to curl inside herself, though remained standing. She hadn't thought that it was Erza, or what to do if she had actually gotten her hands around the red head's throat. She had only lunged for her, out of instinct.
"It's alright, let's continue. We'll be done quickly and you can go check to make sure Milliana's okay. I think she went to Beth's room with Lucy, so she should be fine," Erza let out a soft smile, "Ren, Adrian, if you would?"
The two men nodded and worked - well, stumbled - together in an attempt to examine Beth's back.
"There seems to be some... some sort of ball in the base of her neck..." Annie muttered. She reached for the tweezers to take it out, and twirled it around in the air for the others to see. It was a small rock, about the size of a grape, lodged in the nape of Beth's neck. Annie put the rock down gently on the table before examining the rest of the body.
Upon finding no other wounds, she straightens and they all file out, led by Sasha, back to the common room.
The others had decided to survey the foyer, the scene of the crime. Natsu, his ever present Exceed companion Happy, Gray, Baccus, Orga, Rogue, Eve, Lyon, and Alexia spread out across the room. Natsu and Happy staring quizzically at the fish tank and water puddle; Baccus moving around the room like Orga, waiting for something to catch their eyes; Rogue making his rounds, but looking more closely at things; Eve and Alexia the first to find the broken windowpane.
It was, simply, broken, cracked as if something had shattered it, though the hole wasn't very large. There was also glass glittering on the floor near the gap, supposedly the broken window.
"Something crashed through the window, hitting her. The force pushed her head into the fish tank, cracking it and letting the water out. So it flooded. But what about the wire? Was she electrocuted or did the force of the crash kill her?" Alexia mused quietly.
"Both?" Lyon offered, pointing toward the rogue wire connected to the wall. It was still sparking, and Natsu seemed to have went off to the side because of it and was now arguing with Gray - only, they weren't arguing. More like having a very serious conversation.
Rogue seemed to be able to hear it, with his dragon slayer abilities, and there was a rare look on his face. Bewilderment, then fear, before it finally reverted back to its original blank slate.
"Oi, Gray, what's happening?" Lyon called out from across the room.
The ice make mage glances at Natsu before turning to his former senpai. "We can't use our magic. It's just - gone. But we're not dead."
The house seemed to creak a little louder, shift a bit more ominously at this new revelation. And, just like with Lucy's group, all they could do was stare at each other and come up with their own theories and accusations as to why they couldn't use magic, why they were invited to this cursed Rue Manor, and why, why they were going to die one by one.
A/N: Thank you so very much to everyone who's reviewed/favved/followed, it really means a lot to me~ :)
Guest: Ah, thanks, I edited it a bit, hopefully it's better now~
dumpling1234: Thank you~~ did you like this chapter?
Thank you for reading! I know this is a bit confusing, so you can ask if you have any questions!
((And an apology for dragging this out so much, I think the next few chapters will be longer :3))
