Chapter Three
Bellalyse's P.O.V. (In Fearless)
"And just how are we going to find the lacrimas again?" Wendy asked. "This seems like a very big world. Do we have any hints of where it might be?"
Fearless was a very large world in comparison to Earthland. In fact, Earthland was considered a pebble in Fearless if ever talked about. The sky was a gloomy gray but none of the locals seemed to be bothered by the color of the sky. There were only a few people who were wearing colors that weren't black, gray, or white. And yep, that's us. Everyone was looking at us strangely because of our colored clothing.
"Ash, Bella, Esmerella, is that you?" A banshee asked. She had long silvery hair and big gray eyes. "It's been ages since you've visited as a whole. I hope you're taking good care of our keys, right?"
"Maria!" Esmerella exclaimed and pulled her into a hug. She flashed a long black key with a skull on it. "Of course. Wouldn't dare to mistreat them."
Maria turned toward me, smiling. "Bella!" A look of confusion crossed her face once she heard my named uttered out loud. "I could have sworn, the mark of Fearless presented a few months or so back was the announcing of your death. Am I mistaken?"
Silvestria patted her back. "Of course not. It seems that, in the unlikely event of being reincarnated, someone was able to bring her soul back. Xena wasn't able to track it down, nor was Aflame, Icestorm, or Lucinda able to."
"We're looking for one of Bella's lacrimas." Erza said, getting straight to the point. "Do you know of anything crystal-like?"
Maria frowned. "I think that one of the dark angels had something that was crystal-ish. It was shaped like a star. I'll get you guys settled in."
"Um, you know what?" I asked. "I think I'm going to take a walk for a while. You know, clear my head."
Charlotte nodded so I took off while activating my wings. I landed into the town square and watched people look at me with interest. Hearing heavy footsteps behind me, I suddenly felt a wave of nostalgia. "For a Shadow Dragon Slayer, you're very loud."
Rogue paused all of the sudden, as if pondering something. "I should work on that shouldn't I?"
"Yeah. I'm wondering how many things you failed to sneak up on." I murmured, feeling like I've lived through this before and unbelted my link of keys. The blue ones sparkled in the gloomy weather. "I feel like I have my memories but I can't reach them."
"We should probably get back." Rogue said. I nodded and teleported us to where everyone else was.
They were all dressed in the casual wear of Fearless. Esmerella hauled me into a dressing room and threw me a halter top, a short skirt, and a ribbon to tie my hair up in. I looked at the outfit. This was more of my style than the unpractical dress I was wearing in the forest. The shirt was a white, contrasting with the black skirt and the gray ribbon. I stepped out, looking at my attire and tugged on the skirt.
Maria nodded at my outfit. "We'll go to the angel's house in a few minutes. First, we need to catch up! Ash, Esmerella, you two has a hell of explaining to do."
"Sorry Maria." Silvestria said sympathetically. "But we can't exactly explain it too well ourselves. Why Bella is here is something unknown."
"Xena doesn't even know?" Maria seemed outraged. "This is black magic then. Life does not allow for one to live sixty days after their death."
"Can we please visit the dark angel's residence please?" Esmerella asked politely. "We are quite in a rush. We still have five more to recover after this one and it'll probably get harder as we go along."
Maria sighed and stood up. She reached for the doorknob but just as she was about to turn it, she paused. "I think I should let you know that Tierra's in Fearless. We've felt her presence for a while now but it's so well masked with the magic that we hold."
"Is that going to be a problem?" Sting asked bluntly, poking her. She glared at him and he froze, bound by her Death Magic. "Sheesh, I was just kidding."
Maria faced us, seemingly more tired than before. "Is it necessary to bring a large party along? Kayla is quite shy for a black angel. She won't welcome us," she said, pointing to Sting, Natsu, and Gray, "especially not the scary looking people."
"Why Natsu?" Erza asked, "I could understand why you would exclude Sting but Natsu doesn't have a bad aura around him."
"The color pink," Maria explained patiently, "does not bode well with Fearless. Of course, your hair color is preposterous as well, but it's as scarlet as blood. A few might consider it a bold fashion choice."
"Okay, Natsu, Sting, Gray, you guys go look for Tierra." Silvestria directed. "We need to keep track of her whereabouts. We'll meet you at the town central in an hour or two. Depends. I'll have Ash teleport you guys when we're finished."
"Done without my consent, huh?" Ash grumbled. "Why is it always like that?"
"Dude, women will always have power over us," Luke said, putting one hand on Ash's shoulder. "We have no hope for the future."
"You guys are gloomy." I said. We reached the house of the dark angel and Maria softly rapped her knuckle against the door.
"Alexis? You have visitors," she said softly, putting a finger to her lips to signal us to be quiet, "they request information about your crystal."
"Just a moment," a small, feminine voice said. The door creaked open, revealing a little girl hugging a tattered stuffed bear and giant black wings above her. "The star one right? It was pretty."
Maria breathed a giant sigh of relief. "Can we come in?"
She nodded, smile lighting up her face. "Of course!" She dashed off somewhere in the dank house as we stood by awkwardly.
Maria turned to us, relieved. "We're lucky. We caught her on her good day."
"Is that a bad thing?" Ash asked her, confusion clear in his face.
"Well, Alexis is a special child. In Fearless, she's partly the reason why we don't dare to mask our monstrous selves. She has a split personality; meaning that on some days, she'll be as kind as an angel, but on others, she won't hesitate to kill." Maria looked around nervously as she said this.
"That's unheard of…." Silvestria trailed off uncertainly. "Did she kill anyone before?"
"Yes, quite a few, actually."
"And she was an angel." Esmerella spoke what was on all of our minds. "Didn't the gods take notice of this?"
"Xena wasn't in control of the angels. I'm pretty sure that was someone else's job right? Yeah, Mila of the Heavenly Beings." Luke said, scratching the back of his neck with one hand.
"That's why she was kicked out." Maria said. "She killed an innocent human when she was murderous."
"I guess it makes sense that she masked her evil persona when she was up there." Ash said. "So she's fallen then?"
Before Maria could answer, Alexis skipped into the room. "Hello hello! Nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you too!" Silvestria said warmly. Ash shot her a look and she shrugged. "I'm weak against children."
Erza sighed. I looked at her and examined the room. It was really messy and there was a giant red stain on the wall that I was hoping that it was something other than blood. Maria followed my gaze and shook her head violently.
Alexis turned toward us and smiled brightly. "I hope we can be good friends! I have another friend here too! She's been here for a while now. Before you came. Isn't that fun?"
Maria edged toward us. "I haven't heard of anyone staying with her."
Rogue looked a bit pale. "Do you think that person's another fallen angel?"
"Hopefully not…"Wendy said, looking scared. I patted her head and tilted my chin at the fallen angel.
Alexis smiled. My eyes widened when I realized her smile was too arrogant, the smug smile of a fox that had just killed a rabbit. "I want Bella to die in exchange for the lacrima."
Maria turned completely white. "Alexa."
Alexis, now Alexa, barked at her. "Don't call me by my name! Scum of Fearless like you have no right to utter my name or even be in Fearless!" She made a motion as if she was pushing Maria.
Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. I slowly turned my head, searching for the source of the red, coppery, liquid that drenched us, and dreaded what I would see.
Maria had, literally, exploded. Dark angels have the black magic of twisting someone's body and explosions inside one's body were fairly easy for one angel who would have meddled too much with the dark arts. The room was completely drenched in blood, except for the spaces behind where we were standing. The bright red contrasted with the gray, white, and black of Fearless, making it stand out even more than I wanted it to.
Blood. Blood. Blood. In a forest. Running. The branches slapped me as I tore throughout the woods. "You can't run away forever." A whispering voice told me. "If the world is vile, and you make it your foe, there is just one thing you can do. Sleep eternally." I blinked, and took a step back.
Footsteps echoed down the house. When I saw the long purple hair, my mind throbbed, as if it was saying that the person was an enemy. "Tierra." I didn't know where I got that name, but it fit like a missing puzzle piece.
Tierra launched two swords connected with a long chain at us, leaping midair. A bandanna covered her eyes and she was wearing her normal uniform instead of the Fearless casual wear. With a free hand, she flashed something. Seven lacrimas. Seven memories.
Esmerella glared at her and launched herself across the room. At the same time, Alexa turned toward me and made the same motion, a split second after Ash threw himself in front of me.
Raining blood.
Well, I'm sooo sorry for the late update! My email's been completely hacked for the past month and I unfortunately forgot my password to my fanfiction account. The next chapter is pretty much planned out, so it shouldn't take that long to sum it up into a chapter. Another excuse for my tardiness is that I've been receiving the same request over and over and over again, so I decided to just give in. I'll be writing a new story called "Heaven's Light" I hope you're all looking forward to it. Thanks for reading! Please review!
