I hope you're having a good week.
"Are you certain you saw them?" Erza asked, kneeling next to Lucy with a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Yes, I'm positive," Lucy said.
"What exactly did you see?" Gray asked.
"Well, I didn't exactly see anything. It was a dark corner, really shadowy, but I could still sort of make out what was there. I didn't see anyone, just an old box or two, but I know there was someone there. I know they were watching me. I could feel it."
"Psh, sounds like you're just going crazy if you ask me," Natsu piped up from the other side of the room.
"I am not going crazy you jerk, that was terrifying!"
"Oh, come on, Luce. Ominous, weather, creepy stories, sudden noises, and a dark corner? It sounds to me like the story might have gotten to your head and freaked you out."
"Well...now that you think about it, I guess that could've been it..." Lucy pondered the idea as she began to calm down. "Yeah, I guess you're probably right. Still, I can't quite shake that feeling."
"We should all try to get some rest," Erza said, "We're going to have some long days ahead of us, it's we'll need our strength."
Erza, Natsu, Wendy, Carla, and Happy meandered over to their beds while Gray helped Lucy up. She was visibly shaken by the incident at the window.
"Hey," Gray said, "You gonna be all right?"
Luce looked up at her friend. A small smile that was only partially forced crossed her face. "Yeah, I'll be okay. I think I just need some rest."
Satisfied, Gray crossed to his bed. Lucy slowly made her way to the last empty bed and crawled under the covers.
'I hope I'm not too shaken up to sleep,' She thought as she closed her eyes.
BANG
The team was awakened with a start. They sat up board straight in bed, looking frantically around the room for the source of what had awoken them. Every window they had was slammed open and wind was howling into the room. Natsu, Gray, and Erza tried to get up and fight their way over to the windows to force them shut but they could barely move.
"This is one hell of a storm!" Natsu yelled over the screaming winds.
"This isn't like any storm I've ever seen!" Gray yelled back. "Look outside, the trees are barely moving!"
It was true. Outside the team's room at the inn, the wind was steady and definitively strong, but nowhere near as forceful or earsplitting as the wind they were currently fighting against.
"Someone's attacking us?" Natsu shouted.
"Not just anyone" Erza yelled back, "Look!"
Standing in the center window was a cloaked frame. The features were mostly obscured by the shadow and the frantic movement of the cloak in the wind. Something shined over where the eyes should be, there was a long, thin set of objects protruding over one shoulder, and what looked like hair was flying fiercely,but other than that nothing could be made out.
The figure launched itself up from the window sill, disappearing behind the wall. The winds seemed to follow, though the howling could still be heard. It sounded like wailing cries of pain. Gray and Natsu sprung forward, clambering out windows and climbing the short distance to the roof. When they got up to the top of the building, there was the Shadow Hunter waiting for them to arrive. The two boys took off, but the Shadow Hunter turned and ran.
"You've got nowhere to go, you might as well stand and fight!" Natsu yelled over the wind.
But the Shadow Hunter didn't stop. They continue to run towards the end of the roof.
"What're they gonna do, jump?" Gray cried.
The inn was not a large one, but it was still very tall and the roof inclined in the direction they were all running. A jump from that height could be detrimental.
The Shadow Hunter approached the edge of the roof with increasing speed that did not waiver when they ran right off the roof. They were quickly carried to a perch at the corner of the next building over. They sat watching the boys carefully.
"No way," Natsu said the wail of the winds seeming to follow the Shadow Hunter away. "They can fly?"
"Evidently," Gray said.
"What're we gonna do?"
"We follow them!" Erza called up from where she stood on the ground with Lucy, Wendy, and the two exceeds. Happy and Carla flew up to take Natsu and Gray around the waist safely to the ground.
"Let's move!" Erza yelled as the Shadow Hunter finally took off through the air.
The team followed the mysterious figure through the empty streets of town, unsure of where they were going.
"Something's wrong," Gray said after a while.
"You're right," Lucy said, "They keep starting and stopping. It's almost as if they're waiting for us to keep up."
"Do you think they're leading us into a trap?" Wendy asked.
"They do seem to be a bit too cooperative," Carla mused.
"I don't care if it's a trap," Natsu called out, "I'm gonna catch that shadow-punk and make them sorry they ever woke us up. No one messes with my sleep!"
"Aye, sir!" Happy chimed,flying beside his friend.
"I don't know guys, I have an uneasy feeling about this," Lucy said as the crossed to the far outskirts of town and came to a particularly dark street. The buildings were falling to shambles and the street lights were all smashed at the tip or toppled over at the middles. There was an eerie feeling hanging in the cold air. The young mages had lost sight of the Shadow Hunter in the darkness.
"Now I'm feeling really uneasy," Lucy said as her eyes swept across the abandoned street.
"Do you feel that?" Gray asked.
"Everything feels so still and cold," Wendy said, nervously clutching onto Carla who looked very concerned. "It's so quiet!"
"All right, where's the shadow-punk?" Natsu called out, his voice booming through the quiet street.
"Natsu," Lucy said, "Calm down-"
She was immediately silenced as an explosion echoed through the night. The team whipped their heads around to see a large fire destroying what had once been the town's inn.
"What?" Erza exclaimed.
"Oh no, was anyone hurt?" Wendy cried.
"I don't know how many people were in that inn, but I don't remember it being empty," Carla said. "I don't think anyone could've survived a blast like that."
Natsu's fists clenched at his sides as he felt his blood boiling. "You happy now, punk? Were you trying to kill us? Well, you didn't! All you did was kill an inn full of innocent people, and that's something the Fairy Tail guild doesn't forgive, so show your face!" He yelled, turning every which way.
Suddenly the now familiar sound of howling winds picked up all around them, rushing towards the largest house on the street. It felt like there were people ramming into the young mages from all sides.
"Let's go, they're in there!" Natsu yelled, taking off towards the house.
"Natsu, wait!" Lucy called after him as the rest of the team rushed after him.
The cloaked figure sat perched in the tree above them watching the team run right into the house. They followed closely behind, gliding silently through the air.
Inside the house, the wind was raging all around the mages. They stood pushed close together in the center of the main room as the wailing winds swirled and spiraled, closing them in. When the teenagers couldn't get any closer together the doors and windows all slammed into place and the wind stopped short. Every sound and every speck of movement suddenly vanished with a start as if it never happened.
"What's going on?" Lucy asked quietly, her near silent voice ringing through the stillness.
From the rafters fell the cloaked figure, and before them stood the Shadow Hunter.