Whispers of the Names
Chapter Four
Erza
One thing was for certain: Being a leader can be very frustrating.
With Makarov gone, Erza would not hesitate to take control to prevent chaos, and nothing more. She knew she was probably in Intimidating Commando Mode, and was probably scaring the life out of her fellow guildmates, but that, unfortunately, cannot be helped. Honestly, she really did hope that Intimidating Commando Mode would last till the end of the day.
"So," Erza slammed a fist down onto the bar. "We need ideas about the Master. Any suggestions?"
Everyone stared stupidly at her.
Erza growled in frustration.
"All right," Erza said, forcing her voice to remain calm. "First, Bisca had her Name read. Then, Levy's got it, and finally Makarov. Is there any sort of pattern in the attacking plan?"
"Levy might have gotten her Name read when she was about to tell us how to overcome it," Lucy suggested.
Slowly, the pieces clicked in.
"Bisca's attack was a warning, a foretaste to what would happen. Levy's was to ensure that the Antidote would not be found. Makarov's attack was to cause Fairytail to fall into chaos," Erza concluded.
"And how is that supposed to help us?" Gray asked.
"Right now, we know what the Master is thinking about," Erza said. "For now, I highly doubt that anyone else would be attacked. Are there anymore clues to what is going on?"
There was a moment of thoughtful silence.
"Erza-san… Did you see the black magic?" Wendy piped up.
"The magic?" Erza asked dumbly. Then, it hit her. How could she have been so stupid? She should have thought about the magic sooner! She should have paid attention to the designs of the circle, and once the magic could be identified, they could zero in on the Master in moments!
"Natsu, get Reedus. Wendy, can you describe how the circle looks like?" Erza asked as Natsu dragged Reedus over.
Looking stunned, Wendy began.
After ten minutes, they had a relatively complete sketch of the magic.
There were the typical interlocking spirals and designs, but the center of the circle was different. It showed what looked like a black half mask with a faint silhouette of a forest behind.
"A mask?" Lucy asked, puzzled.
Erza studied the mask, but she focused more on the forest behind the mask. She leaned forward and picked up the paper, oblivious to Natsu and Gray yelling at each other behind her.
"It's the Iron Forest," Erza said, suddenly recognizing the metallic sheen on the thin, spindly trees.
"What's the Iron Forest?" Natsu asked as he punched Gray in the face. "It sounds like Eisenwald,"
"Eisenwald literally means, 'Iron Forest', stupid," Erza snapped. "The Iron Forest is supposed to be the home of Eisenwald, but they haven't been there for quite a while. No one really wants to get in there because legends say that it is haunted with dead spirits, and the Iron Forest is literally reeking with magic. To make the long story short, the Iron Forest is just about the best place where the Master can hide and do his dirty magic,"
"Ai!" Happy chirped, eyes wide with excitement. "When do we leave?"
"We leave now," Erza confirmed. "But we will need some rearrangements…"
Erza stuck two fingers into her mouth and did a piercing taxicab whistle. Everyone froze and turned towards her.
"In the end, we have decided that the Master is in the Iron Forest," Erza announced as Fairytail cheered. "However…"
Everyone silenced.
"However, Team A will have to be… ahem, rearranged for a bit. Only Natsu, Gray, Happy, Lucy, Gajeel and I will be going,"
There was a brief moment of stunned silence.
"WHAT?" Alzack roared. "BISCA IS UNDER SOME SPELL AND I AM NOT ALLOWED TO GO?"
"Why, Erza-san, why?" Juvia sobbed. "If Gray-sama is going, Juvia will go too!"
His statement was supported by even louder yells of protest.
"SILENCE!" Erza did her taxicab whistle again. Reluctantly, everyone silenced.
"There will be no argument! I do not doubt your strengths, but there are two main reasons why only the people I have selected will go. First of all, we need strong members to defend the guildhall. What if there are attacks? Fairytail would be crushed without strong defenders. Secondly, I need a quick and quiet team. If I carry all of Team A along, the Master would know we're arriving miles away! There will be no argument. The remainder of Team A would help with the Antidote. Get to work!"
The guildhall stirred and went back to work.
"Don't you think that's too harsh?" Lucy asked mildly.
"For once, I agree with bunny girl," Gajeel agreed, glancing at a furious Alzack and a heartbroken Juvia. "That was harsh, not allowing Alzack and Juvia to come along,"
For a brief moment, Erza hesitated. Raising her voice again, she called out.
"I'm really sorry about not letting you guys come, but it is completely necessary," Erza said.
Forcing down a wave of guilt, Erza turned to the departing team.
"Let's go,"