Hopefully this is a soon enough update. Now for some announcements and replies to reviews:
I'm really happy yet sorry at the same time, I'm getting so many favs, followers, and reviews that I don't think I'll be able to write them all down. So hopefully my big THANK YOU is enough. Back to the main couple in this story, I'll do whatever makes you guys happy. Send reviews or something about who you want Lucy to end up with and it'll be majority wins. Also, I'm ashamed to say… I have no idea what to do with the Valor Stone. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I'm very thankful that my story gets some of you "fired up";)
DISCLAIMER:FAIRY TAIL BELONGS TO HIRO MASHIMA
Chapter 3: Dark Illusions
"That…*gulp* totally wasn't worth it…" Natsu was swaggering back and forth as he got off the train. Happy was flying next to him trying to say things to make him feel better. Lisanna giggled.
"Wow, Natsu, I heard you got motion sickness, but this?" Natsu glared at her and moaned,-
"It's not funny...*urp*" They all went and tried to rent some rooms at an inn. By then Natsu was feeling better. Erza sent Wendy with Happy and Charla to fetch her a slice of strawberry shortcake and make the mayor aware that they were there.
"I'm sorry, but we only have two rooms left," the innkeeper told Erza.
"That's okay! I'll room up with Natsu and Gray can be with Erza and Wendy," Lisanna put in with a sing-song voice, latching onto Natsu's arm. Erza walked over and pulled the two apart.
"No, Lisanna, you will room with me. Natsu and Gray will share the other room."
Both Gray and Natsu exclaimed, "What?!" They glared at each other with closed fists and voiced their complaints.
"No way will I room with Droopy-Eyes over here! It'll be like baby-sitting a three year-old!"
"Oi, whaddya say, Squinty-Eyes?! Wanna go at it?!"
Erza turned around and glared at them with a demonic aura only few were capable of producing (Erza, Mirajane, and Lucy.) "You two aren't happening to be fighting, are you?"
In order to save their lives, they wrapped their arms around each other's shoulders and started to exclaim, "Of course not! We're best buds! Right?" Erza gave an approving smile before going back to business.
"Yes, we will take the two rooms. Lisanna, you will be with me. Those two will room together."
Lisanna made one last attempt to room with Natsu. "Erza-san, um… wouldn't it be better to have one of us each with one of the guys to make sure they don't destroy anything? Since I know Natsu really well I could keep him under control and-,"
Erza cut her off. "Nonsense, they should be perfectly capable of not destroying anything. And if they're not…" Gray and Natsu gulped as Erza left that sentence unfinished. "Besides, you heard them. Natsu and Gray are best friends. They must be overjoyed at this arrangement. You wouldn't want to spoil their fun, would you?"
Gray and Natsu had shadows overcome their eyes as they stared at Erza. Erza felt someone staring at her so she turned around. Once again Natsu and Gray had their arms around each other's shoulders and started cheering about how close they were. When Erza turned back to the innkeeper to get their keys, they immediately pushed each other away and growled at each other.
Lisanna didn't know who to feel more sorry for, Natsu for having to room up with his hated rival or herself for having to room with Erza and her strictness. Lisanna sighed inwardly. Maybe Wendy will help protect her against her against Erza. Speaking of Wendy…
The doors to the inn flew open as Wendy ran in holding a small plastic container in her arms. "Erza-san, I got your-Omph!" Wendy tripped and the container went flying. Erza's eyes widened.
"My strawberry shortcake!" Erza re-equipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor and sent twenty blades in the direction of the falling cake. Now while the cake landed unharmed on a makeshift table of swords, everything else in that direction of the inn was a mess.
The wooden walls had swords sunk into them, people were covering their heads while trembling and some got unwanted haircuts, all wall decorations such as paintings and tapestries were ripped up, and the carpet beneath them was torn apart. Even so, Erza just re-equipped back into her Heart Kruiz Armor and quickly sped to her table of swords. She opened the container and started eating the cake with the tiny plastic fork that was provided. Then a furious innkeeper shouted at them.
"You destroyed the lobby of my inn! We had one of a kind paintings on display! You better be able to compensate for this!" Erza didn't even look up as she answered with a stuffed mouth-
"Yehrsh, wemph wuh palym tor dat anch ebaraythid elsh." Everyone looked at her, clearly confused. Gray had a thoughtful expression before exclaiming,-
"Oi, I think she said 'Yes, we will pay for that and everything else.'" Everyone clapped at his translation. The innkeeper stared at them sternly for a moment before sighing.
"Very well, you better keep your word. And please do not damage anything else." With that Erza sent her swords back to storage and then escorted her fellow teammates to their rooms, which were across the hall from each other. The innkeeper sunk into a deep state of self-pity as she surveyed the devastated room.
As soon as everyone unpacked their bags they met up in Erza's, Lissana's, Wendy's, and Charla's room. Erza stood up and commanded everybody to sit down in front of her. Glaring them down, she started talking, "Everyone, we need a plan of what to do. Any ideas on how to track a ghost?" Natsu jumped up.
"Oh, oh, we can throw pepper on it and track it as nin-nins!" Natsu put his index fingers together and pointed towards the sky with his scarf covering his mouth and head. That quickly earned him a fist on his head by Erza.
Erza then said, "Alright, how about ways of attracting a ghost to us?" Lisanna's face brightened this time.
"How about we light some candles and hold a ceremony to summon it?" Lisanna was sure everybody would love her idea, but Erza frowned at her.
"Lisanna, that wouldn't work. None of us even know what kind of prayer we would have to say to attract the certain ghosts we are looking for."
Gray then suggested, "Certain ghosts, huh? Then we just need to wait 'till it gets dark out and use our magic to shoot fireworks straight up from where we stood. The ghosts might be able to tell it's magic."
Lisanna was about to start laughing at his idea when Erza gave him an approving nod. "Good idea, Gray. We'll try it tonight. What time is it?"
Wendy mumbled in a soft voice, "It's 7:46 P.M., Erza-san."
Charla scolded Wendy. "Wendy, it's hard to understand you when you speak like that. From now on speak clearer."
Erza continued telling others the plan and what their jobs were. "Happy and Charla, you will fly over town and find a clearing big enough for us to use. Natsu, Gray, and Wendy, you three use your magic to create fireworks, but don't use all your magic power just in case. Use enough to make it seen over a great distance, though. Lisanna, use your Animal Soul: Half-Bird to fly around the sky, but be careful not to get hit by the fireworks. I'll transform into my Heaven's Wheel Armor and summon some swords to fly around the sky. Any questions?"
Nobody had any questions so Erza told them to prepare. Natsu processed that as 'get some food.' So he ordered room service. He made sure to order a large fish for Happy. Unfortunately when Natsu was ordering, Gray stole the phone from him and ordered his own dinner. While Natsu scowled, Gray smirked and tossed the phone back.
Once everybody's dinner arrived, Happy and Charla flew in through the window. "Erza, we found the perfect pla- FISH!" Happy dove for the giant fish. Charla sighed and muttered something about Happy being useless. Then she turned to Erza.
"There's a large clearing in the center of town. We assume it's the town plaza. Although it still has people loitering around it now, it should be clear in two hours. It should take forty minutes to walk there." Erza smiled at Charla before turning to everyone else.
She then announced, "Everybody, finish your dinners in twenty minutes! Then we start moving." They soon finished their dinners and headed out.
Charla blinked in confusion when they got to the plaza. It was completely empty. "The rumors about the ghost must've scared everybody else off," Wendy murmured. Erza nodded slowly.
Natsu started shouting with glee. "Wahaa, that means we don't hafta wait! We can start now!"
Gray glared at Natsu while ice was starting to form at his hands. "Oi, Flame Brain, don't shout. That'll annoy the spirits so much that they will avoid us." Natsu growled, but before he could retort Erza glared at them both. They gulped and silently focused on the task before them. Before long they were all shivering, including Gray.
"W-what are you doing, ice exhibitionist?!" Natsu accused with chattering teeth.
Gray had his arms crossed and shouted, "This has nothing to do with me, Fire Freak!"
Erza then exclaimed, "They're here!" As soon as those words left her mouth an eerie cackling filled the frozen air followed by creepy children's voices. Two astral body's formed in the center of the clearing. They wore the weirdest smiles. The two ghost children spoke in unision-,
"Welcome mages, want to play?"
All of Team Natsu straightened up and eyed the ghosts warily. Erza began to speak, "Are you kidnapping the mages?"
The children's eerie cackle rang through the air once again. "Kidnapping? Why would you accuse us of such a thing? Some nice mages just came home with us to play. Fun, fun, fun!" They started approaching Team Natsu. To try to prevent them from getting any closer, Gray preformed some ice-make magic.
"Ice-Make: Shield!" The two children just walked through it like nothing was there. Gray took a step back, startled. Natsu stepped forward.
"My turn. Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!" As the stream of flames rushed through the children they were left unscathed. The surrounding area wasn't though.
Erza summoned ten more blades than she currently had and exclaimed, "Dance, my blades!" The swords also didn't work. Erza gritted her teeth in frustration. She had no clue on how to fight an opponent like this. A blur of color zoomed past her. As it neared the ghosts Erza immediately recognized it. "Lisanna, stop!" she screamed.
Lisanna's wings slashed through the two ghost children. Once again no effect against the two beings. Then Lisanna shouted in pain. She felt like ice cold needles were being stabbed through every part of her body. She was slowly going numb and noticed something warm streaming from her eyes, but it also felt sticky. Lisanna realized what was happening and she screamed again. She was crying blood.
She could hear name being shouted and felt the ground tremble as her teammates ran to her side. Natsu gingerly put her on his lap.
The children started speaking once again. "My, my, your games are no fun. Look somebody got hurt-," they stared at Lisanna with maliciousness in their soulless eyes, "So now it's time for you guys to play our game. One of you come stand in front of us."
"I'll do it," Gray volunteered. Erza stood up to stop him, but he glared at her with an icy stare. "Wendy is healing Lisanna, Natsu is comforting Lisanna, Happy and Charla are not strong enough, and you need to keep order over here."
Erza could find no way to deny that so she whispered, "Be careful." He nodded and stood in front of the strange children as they commanded. They gave suspicious smirks and started muttering something that sounded like it came from an ancient language.
Then an Asian Cobra (known as the deadliest animal on Earth because of the number of humans it kills each year) made of mist appeared. It started to coil around Gray's feet. "Tch. Ice-Make: Saucer!" It had the same affect it hadon the children, none. Before Gray could try another attack, the cobra had bound his arms to his side and was approaching his head. By this time he children had started singing a song.
"The time has come, the time has come/ To face the lovely black/ Slither and slide, slither and slide/ No one has a chance/ Turn as white as a cobra's scales, cobra's scales/ As all life leaves your body/ By the ways of the misty cobra, misty cobra/ Soon there will be nothing of you left/ Now you belong to us, belong to us… Gray~"
The children's eyes were like bottomless pits as their disturbing song ended. Gray's eyes widened as he realized the meaning of their song. He started squirming in attempts to shake the snake loose. He cried out, "Oi, guys, I really need a little bit of back-up!" The desperation could be heard in his voice.
As they all got up and Wendy and Erza prepared to attack (not Natsu since he was carrying Lisanna like a princess) the white Asian cobra's eyes glowed a deep shade of red as it opened its jaws and bit Gray's neck. Gray made a small cry of pain before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he blacked out. The rest of Team Natsu started to race towards their fallen friend, but more mist appeared so they couldn't see anything surrounding them. The ghost's voices spoke once more.
"Thanks for the friend. I wish more of you could join him, but it's getting too early. So bye now."
The mist cleared and Gray was gone. They all shouted his name when Natsu started running in a certain direction, the woods nearby. "Where are you going, Natsu!" Erza shouted after him.
"I smell Gray! That exhibitionist was dragged this way!" The rest trailed after him as the sun rose.
I kept my promise and updated today! This chapter went on a little longer than expected and I am not following my plot at all… Let's see how this turns out. Please Review~(^^)~