Jellal stood up and looked at Erza. She looked so pale and her skin was cold. Jellal had seen this many times before. He brushed a few stands of hair from her face and gave her hand a quick squeeze before letting go.
"Don't worry. That means we have a whole four days to cure you." Jellal gave her a tiny smile and headed for the group of men humped over at a table. When he arrived, he stood at the foot of the wooden, liquor stained table.
"Listen up guys." He laid his palms face down on the table.
"I've seen this before. I don't know how to say this in an easy way. Those women only have four days to live." He curled one of his hands into a fist and punched the table. Natsu shot up from his seat.
"WHAT?! YOU BETTER NOT BE LYIN' TO ME!" Natsu shook a flaming fist in Jellal's direction.
"I wish I were..." Jellal lowered his head.
"Is there a cure?" Gray's voice was low. His arms were crossed against his chest.
"Yes, but the only people who know what it is, are the same people who attacked the girls." Jellal still hadn't lifted his head.
"Ok, so we find the guild, and beat them until they give us a cure and then we kill them. Easy." Natsu said conceitedly.
"Natsu, if it were that easy, I would have done it already." Jellal was getting annoyed.
"Gihi, let me have a go with them." Gajeel let a grin crawl across his lips.
"You absolutely cannot underestimate these guys." Jellal stood up straight and crossed his arms.
"We've failed at many attempts to track these guys. They are professionals of not leaving any trace behind."
"Great, so we have to track the un-trackable." Gray dropped his forehead on the table.
"All we have is this." Jellal pulled a scrap of cloth from his pocket. It was badly burned, but part of a guild insignia was still visible. It was too burned to make out, but it was still a start.
"How do you know this is even their guild insignia?" Gray asked. Other than Jellal, Gray was probably the smartest guy amongst them. Natsu and Gajeel preferred the "punch first, ask questions later" strategy.
"Well... We don't, but I've taken this to Hibiki, from Blue Pegasus, and he searched his database to see if there was anything similar amongst the dark guilds. In the end, the search was inconclusive.
"So we're practically empty handed..." Gajeel mumbled through his teeth.
"Not necessary. I know a wizard who lives in a cave up in Mount Hakobe, which isn't too far. He can trace objects to their original owner. For a price."
"Ok so whats the price?" Gray stood up from his seat. Jellal looked down at the table again, almost too ashamed to say it.
"He... He'll only work for women. Good news is, that his sight isn't too good. I have a plan..." Jellal gritted his teeth at the thought.
"I don't get it, but lets go!" Natsu cheered. The men made their way up the mountain in dresses and high heels. Natsu had decided on a pink fluffy dress and a blonde wig. Gray was dressed in a blue dress and placed his hair in pigtails. Gajeel sported a tight dress in which he shoved melons in, to create breasts. Jellal was the only smart one who hadn't changed yet. He thought it'd be a bad idea to try and trek up a mountain in that kind of clothing.
"Ugh... My feet..." Natsu whined. Just as he said that, one of the heels on Gajeel's high heel snapped. He tumbled backward.
"SHIT!" Gajeel yelled as he fell into a large pile on snow. Jellal couldn't help but laugh at the foolish sight.
"Shut it, pretty boy!" Gajeel growled back. The men finally made it to the cave where Jellal changed into a sexy maid costume. The other guys looked at him sideways. Jellal just sighed and walked into the entrance of the cave. As they walked in, a foul stench resonated around them. The air was heavy and the stalactites dripped, creating an echo. There was an uneasy feeling surrounding them. The further they ventured, the darker it became. Natsu held his hand high and used his flames to light their path.
"How far in do we have to go?" Gray asked.
"That's what she said..." Natsu giggled. He thought he was so clever. Everyone rolled their eyes at him.
"Not too much further." Jellal spoke faintly, trying not to create an echo. All of the sudden, Jellal felt an unfamiliar presence behind him. As he turned around he met with a face inches away from his.
"Hello Ladies..." The raspy voice spoke. The old man was on his tip toes and was adjusting his glasses as to see Jellal better. He wore a thick brown bear skin robe, and wool socks. It seemed his pants were missing.
"Uhh..." Jellal coughed as to cover up his manly voice.
"Hello!" Jellal spoke in a high pitched voice and gave the old man a smile. The other men tried to hold in their laughter.
"You can cut the crap, I know you aren't women..." The old man backed away from Jellal and examined the cross dressed men.
"Heh... You know thats just a joke my friend started, he knew no woman would come here, so he told everyone that I would only see women... This was the last thing I expected." He laughed with his raspy voice and followed it with a rough cough. The men looked so embarrassed. Jellal's face shot blood red. Gajeel was pissed about his heel breaking too. They all changed into normal clothes and followed the hermit to his home. When they arrived, it was much nicer than they expected. This guy was practically living in luxury except everything was made from ice. Naturally, Gray walked around admiring the scene. Jellal forced Natsu to stand in a corner because he was too attempted to melt everything. It seemed like Jellal had just ended up babysitting, although he knew they had good intentions. The older gentleman lead them to the living room and sat them on some ice sofas which were more comfortable then they had expected.
"So what can I do for you, fellas?" He had sat in a criss cross style and reached for his pipe, lighting it.
"Umm..." Jellal reached in his pocket and pulled out the scrap of cloth.
"We need to know who this originally belonged to." Jellal passed the cloth the the man.
"Hmm... I've seen this symbol before..." He took too puffs from his pipe.
"We think it's a guild emblem..." Jellal tried to see if he could maybe jog his memory.
"Yes... This is a guild crest." The man pulled the pipe from his mouth and leaned toward the seated men across from him.
"This crest, is the crest of a guild named Yurei Manto, which means ghost cloak. They specialize in a type of cloaking. It can allow them to turn themselves invisible and cloak their scent. These guys are very difficult to track." He stuck the pipe back between his lips and sat back against his seat.
"This is a quite remarkable piece here, would you mind if I keep it?" He raised an eyebrow toward Jellal.
"Uhh.. Sure it's the least we can do for all of your help." Jellal's voice sounded genuine.
"Heh, I'll say. Whats remarkable is that you know this, yet you're a hermit!" Natsu splattered out.
"Shut up Idiot! Why does it matter?" Gray hissed.
"I don't know..." Natsu was very simple minded.
"No, he's right. The only reason I know this, is because I used to be in this guild long ago. Although when I was in it, it was just a few non-wizards and real wizards taking justice against evil guilds. It wasn't very effective as you could imagine. The fact that normal humans were in a guild mixed with wizards wasn't a very good idea. These non-wizards often got killed in battle, or a wizard would try to save the muggle from harm, and end up in a fatal state. There were a few guilds at the time who had done the same. Unfortunately, it has since been outlawed by the Magic Council due to the safety of everyone involved." He took a long drag off of his pipe. Natsu and the others stared in awe. There was a slight moment of silence.
"If only we could use Levy..." Gajeel murmured. The men thanked the old man for his time as they had received all of the information they needed. Since Levy was out cold, they decided to head back over to Blue Pegasus. Although Hibiki could use his magic to retrieve information, there was nothing new he could pull up. Before they had knew it, it was already day three. Just as they reached Fairy Tail, the men were met with bad news.
"Their organs are failing. Porlyusica and I are doing our best, but this poison is bad..." Wendy choked back tears. Natsu rushed by Wendy to get to Lucy.
"Lucy..." He whispered as he approached her bed side. She was so pail, she looked like death. He could tell she was in pain although she show no expression on her face. Natsu curled his hand into a fist and let a tear fall on Lucy's hand.
"I'll save you Luce, just hang in there..." His voice trailed off as he turned to face the other women.
"You hear me?! I'm going to save all of you!" Natsu yelled and stormed out. Just as Natsu reached the table of men in the Guild Hall, he noticed they were all huddled around something. When he approached he noticed it was a letter.
"Give us Jellal and we'll give you the cure. Midnight at the Giant Oak -YM."
"Heh, who knew we had the upper hand?" Natsu sneered.
"Yeah, now we can set a trap..." Gray gave Natsu a small fist bump.
"No, just let me go. I can handle myself..." Jellal let a devilish grin crawl across his lips.
"No way. We would never do tha..." Natsu tried to speak, but it was too late. Jellal had previously learned Mystogan's magic, even the sleep spell. Before he knew it, everyone was passed out. Jellal put a timer on the spell so that it would release at one in the morning, an hour after he was gone. As he sat under the oak tree and waited for the culprits, Jellal suddenly got a bad feeling. All of the sudden he was falling to the ground, paralyzed. He had seriously underestimated their abilities. As he lie still on the ground a man in a black cloak swung around and pulled a sack over his head.
To be continued!
You should totes go read my other stories off of my profile!
Comment and fav! I love to see what you guys think! xoxo