A/N: Nalu. My OTP. My inspiration. 'Nuff said.
Sorry for the super late chapter *bows* I was finding it a bit difficult to write this out just because I didn't think the whole spell through. Just those first two lines xD But, I did my best! I really hope I did this justice because the last thing I want to do is give you guys a horrible chapter.
But anyway, enjoy and as always, see you in the next one! -808Lionfire
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail (c) Hiro Mashima
Asuka's Dolls
"Okay, so let's go over this again."
Freed propped one hand on his hip while he leaned over the job flyer, his other hand feathered over the complicated language. Laxus grunted in irritation, kicking his feet up on the table in front of them. Mira sent him a harsh glare before knocking his feet back to the ground and waving a stern finger at him.
"Tables are not for feet," The white-haired barmaid chastised, "Especially since you don't clean them."
The scarred blonde sent her a glare of his own, "Clean what? The tables or my feet?"
"Well..." Mira trailed off when the Lightning Dragon Slayer growled at her. A familiar smirk lifted at her lips before it quickly morphed back into an innocent smile, "You said it, not me. However, I did mean the tables."
"I'll tell you that Laxus-sama vigorously washes his feet every night," Freed defended, not once taking his eyes off of the flyer.
"I see," The barmaid giggled at the newfound information and felt the scarred blonde send another glare her way but she ignored him and settled her attention on the green-hiared Dark Ecriture mage. She peered curiously over his shoulder, "So have you figured it out?"
Freed blew some air out of the corner of his lips, rustling his green bangs, "I have translated what I could. There are a total of five lines in the spell. However, the structure doesn't make sense. The only parts of the scripture that even has a lick of it would be the words in the first line are 'Soul' and 'Pair'. The second line literally translates to 'Youth of a child's height'. Which - in a sense - shouldn't be possible."
"I don't know why we're fussing over trying to revive the group of squirts," Evergreen drawled in boredom, lifting her hand to examine her nails, "That Salamander and the Ice-man can no longer wreck the guild. The Overly Obsessed woman will no longer flood the room with her magic. The Blonde one... well, she's no threat to me. Levy and the Iron Eater, they don't bother me either. But now that Titania is out of the way, I can finally take my rightful place as Queen of the Fairies."
"I thought you got over that," Freed grunted, peeking at the brunette over his shoulder.
"Of course not," The woman replied haughtily, leveling the Ecriture mage with a blank stare, "A true queen will always bear the urge to rule."
"You were saying," Laxus rolled his eyes, pointedly staring at Freed and ignoring the brunette's confession but he did offer her a bored look, "Let's not forget that Bickslow is also apart of that 'group of squirts'."
"And Lisanna," Mira pointed out, placing her hands on her hips, "Once Elfman catches wind of this, he's going to be in tears. Especially if he learns that Lisanna got injured during the change."
Evergreen froze, her eyes hardening at the mention of the male Strauss, "That brute will blubber whether or not we do something anyway. He'd cry a lot less if we change them back."
"So shall I continue?" Freed asked the group. They all stared at him for a second before nodding in agreement. "As I was saying earlier, the second line shouldn't be possible since a child's height holds no youth. In fact, height bears no age so unless they were speaking on a logical term, this shouldn't be possible. But since we can pair the sentence with the effects of the spell, then we can conclude that a youthful 'height' literally means 'small'. So the second line actually only translate into 'Youth' and 'Small'." The green-haired mage trailed his finger down the flyer again. "There was one thing strange about this spell though..."
"Well?" Laxus snapped after a minute of silence from the Ecriture mage, "What's so strange about it?"
Freed pursed his lips before lifting his eyes to meet every single one of their gazes, "After translating the third line, I managed to find a pattern that they all share. And the pattern that they share is that the lines aren't meant to make sense."
"Shouldn't it, though?" Mira asked curiously, "Spells create sentences for deliberate action and they should make sense."
"That's the thing," The green-haired mage stressed, "These sentences don't make sense. The first line as well as the second, third, forth, and the two after do not make sentences, they create words. Two words." At the blank stares he received, Freed sighed and leaned back over the flyer, "For example, if you take the second line's translation, it would be 'Youthful of a child's height' but we conceive that it only means 'Youth' and 'Small' instead of a whole sentence."
"So you're saying that they aren't actually sentences but translate into two words only," Evergreen pointed out flatly. At Freed's nod, she sighed, "Then why couldn't they just use the words instead of creating something that doesn't make sense."
"It's probably because spells need complete sentences, like Mira had pointed out," The Ecriture mage replied, "But they don't necessarily have to mean what they say. If you say 'Forbidden red fruit' we can assume that you're just trying to say 'apple' but the sentence sounds a lot more complete rather than naming the fruit."
"So some kind of code," Laxus frowned.
"Exactly."
"The first line is 'Soul' and 'Pair'," Mira commented thoughtfully, "We can assume that since the spell tethers with the soul, that the actual soul of that person will shrink, along with their body and their magic."
"Then 'Pair' should literally mean what it should," Evergreen frowned, peeking a glance where the 'group of squirts' were currently at, "So if we count them now, there should be at least five different pairs there. Ten people. But that obviously isn't right since there are only nine."
"Lisanna, Levy, Lucy, Erza, and Juvia for the girls," Freed supplied.
"Gray, Natsu, Bickslow, and Gajeel for the boys," Mira recalled, "So someone is missing a partner."
"Since the idiots are short, it must be one of the girls," Laxus sighed, leaning back into the table, "But we can't waste time on trying to figure that out right now. What's the rest of the spell."
"Um," Freed peered back down at the flyer, "The next two characters are 'Youth' and 'Small'. We've figured this out since they shrunk to the size of a doll but the next line translates to 'Manipulation' and 'Still'."
Evergreen frowned, "Still as in time or form?"
"Considering that it's paired with 'Manipulation' we can conclude that it is form," The Ecriture mage muttered, tapping his thumb against the hilt of his sword and frowning in thought, "We still don't understand what that means unless, for some reason, one of the spell's side affects would be solid paralyzation."
"Solid paralyzation?"
"It's where a body would cease to function for a certain amount of time," Freed explained, "But unlike some paralysis, they wouldn't limp but freeze to the spot instead. When in this state, one can be completely manipulated like a mannequin. Specialized Mage Doctors call this the 'Marionette Effect'."
"That doesn't sound to pleasant," Laxus muttered, eliciting murmurs of agreement from the people around them, "So we'll chalk this line up as a side-effect. What's the next one?"
"Let's see here," Freed turned back to the paper and lightly brushed the fourth line, "It has the two words 'Exposure' and another 'Pair' but I can't really understand that one so I'll reveal the last line as well." The green-haired mage squinted his eyes before pursed his lips and giving the group a conflicted look, "Well this one is easy. The last two words are 'Last' and 'Moment'."
"Ah! N-no! P-please don't make Juvia touch that!"
There was a round of chuckles as everyone surrounded the distressed Water mage, her eyes brimming with horror. Her eyes only widened further when the group pushed her hand further. Juvia wanted to desperately shake her head but she felt paralyzed from the neck down. She had complete control of everything else. He face, eyes, lips, etc.
"P-please!" The Water mage pleaded, "Juvia doesn't know where that's been! Juvia can clearly see the filth from here!"
"Come on, Juvia," Lisanna giggled, one of the many hands that were forcing the bluenette forward, "It's not like we're making you touch dog poop. It's only gum."
"Chewed up gum!"
"It's dry," Gajeel pointed out with a snicker, "You've touched worse, Rain Woman."
"Juvia refuses!" The namesake fumed, "Juvia does not care what she has touched in the past. Let it be animal secretion or some others, but Juvia refuses to touch anything that comes out of someone's mouth unless it was Gray-sama's!"
Gray immediately retracted his hand and took a step back. The others still snickered at her confession. Those being the likes of Gajeel, Bickslow, Lisanna, and - surprisingly - Levy as well. Erza was still trying to convince Master Mavis to explain the spell while Lucy sat off to the side and gave the bluenette an apologetic look. If Natsu was feeling better, she would probably have been there trying to help her out and would manage to convince Levy to help out, as well as recruiting Erza since Natsu would be in the fray.
Thankfully, when Juvia's hand was a normal-sized inch away from the gum, Asuka turned to them and beamed.
"Who wan't to play?" The Connell child asked excitedly, reaching towards the small group and scooping Juvia and Gray in her hands, "You two can be the first!"
"As long as Juvia doesn't have to touch that gum," The bluenette sighed in relief but since she couldn't move or turn her head on her own, she couldn't see who she was paired up with, "Who is Juvia's partner, Asuka-chan?"
"Gray-nii," The dark-haired child smiled, dutifully turning the woman around.
A soft gasp escaped Juvia's mouth before her face burned and promptly fainted. Well, they assumed she fainted because her eyes closed and her muscles relaxed but because the the bluenette was still 'stuck', they couldn't really know for sure. Her eyes were closed and her mouth slackened but other than that, the woman's body didn't move or insinuate that she fainted at all. But Juvia was unresponsive, so she must have lost consciousness... probably. Gray just sighed and went to shake his head but found that he couldn't. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he went to twist his neck again but once again found out that he couldn't.
"Oh crap," The Ice-make mage cursed, his lips pulling back into a frown.
"We have to get into position!" Asuka cried out happily, "Gray-nii and Juvia-nee will be evil magicians attacking the guild! And everyone will defend!" She set down both of who she named and faced them towards her doll house. She sent a look at the others and lowered her voice into a whisper so Gray and Juvia 'wouldn't hear' her, "Gray-nii is actually the only bad guy. Juvia-nee follows him only because she likes him."
"Gihi," Gajeel snickered, "Sounds just about right."
Asuka sent the Iron Dragon Slayer a beaming grin, "Okay! Erza-nee and Gajeel-nii will be partner leaders. Erza-nee will be the first to attack and Gajeel-nii will be defending."
"What?" The long-haired male blanched, his smirk dropping from his face, "Why does Titania get to attack and I defend? It should be the other way around!"
"Erza-nee needs to attack first!" The child stressed as if he were the seven year-old, not her, "You have to stay back and defend Levy-nee while she draws those thingies that Freed-nii likes to write, around the guild. You need to protect Levy-nee."
The tiny bluenette flushed while Gray snickered this time, "Sounds just about right."
"Oh shut yer trap, Exhibitionist."
"What about us?" Lisanna asked the Connell child, pointing to herself, Bickslow, Natsu, and Lucy.
"You, Lisa-nee, will help Bicks-nii in the air!" Asuka clapped excitedly, her eyes twinkling in excitement, "And Natsu-nii will help Erza-nee protect Lucy-nee!"
"Um," The blonde pipped up and stood, seeing that the Fire Dragon Slayer was finally getting his color back, "I thought we were defending the Guild... not me."
"Papa told me that you always get kidnapped, Lucy-nee," The Connell child pointed out innocently.
In the distance, a certain Connell experienced a cold shiver run down his spine. No matter how innocent the child had been, Lucy felt anger thrum through her veins. Of course, what she was told wasn't exactly a lie. But after all they've been through, she still couldn't believe what kind of reputation she built up in the guild. She'd prefer being labeled destructive like Natsu than be a 'damsel in distress' instead of... instead of that! That just sucked.
"I see," The Celestial mage muttered with an utterly calm voice that another shiver went down Alzack's spine.
"I made it so Gray-nii and Juvia-nee would be looking to take you away and destroy the guild!" Asuka smiled triumphantly.
Everyone sweat dropped, a sense of deja vu hitting them hard. This kid really had a big imagination, that is if Bisca and Alzack hadn't told the child about the Phantom Lord event. Although, judging by the reason why the child wanted the older version of Fairy Tail in the first place, then they probably did. All they needed to do was swap out Gray with Gajeel and they'd be set. However, when they offered it, the Connell refused. She said it was much more 'romantic' this way.
Mavis save them all.
"And what about me?" The first master asked the child loudly making the group lose all hope in salvation.
"Granny, you can be the Master!" Asuka cheered, her face beaming again, "Mama told you you were the master before, you can be the master again!" When the First Master gave the child an excited smile and an equally excited nod, the dark-haired Connell faced the group with an even larger smile, "Alright! Let me help you get into position!"
"Okay! I give!"
That's what Gajeel cried nearly an half-hour after playing with the child. His body was now as stiff as Gray's and Juvia's and he hated it. The child has been twisting and turning them around for the past five minutes since he first got stuck. He was currently 'running' towards Levy (to give her back up because Gray 'distracted' Erza, Natsu, Lisanna, and Bickslow as Juvia 'got past' the whole offensive line and started to head towards the two remaining Levy and Lucy) when his limbs started to stiffen and then promptly face planted the wooden bar.
The others laughed at him when his body continued to hold his running pose. He was unable to push himself up or even roll to his side to end the embarrassment. He hated it. He hated it all.
Levy abruptly stopped her laughing nearly a minute after. Her eyes widened as she stiffened from where she was on her hands and knees, 'writing' runes around the doll house. Her gaze was stuck looking at her best friend who was precariously balancing on the roof of the first level. Her face must have shone panic because the blonde's eyes widened in concern.
"Levy-chan?" Lucy called down to the Script mage, "Are you alright?"
"Um," The tiny bluenette frowned, "I think I know what Juvia felt like when she first got... 'stuck'."
"Ya think!?" Gajeel roared angrily, his words coming out slightly muffled due to his face still being buried into the wood, "Will someone help me up!?"
The Iron Dragon Slayer nearly choked when someone grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him up roughly. He would have glared harshly at the person if only he could turn his neck. But judging by the scent, he was glad he couldn't. Titania would literally kick his ass, chop it off, and hand it to him on a silver sword. So when she balanced him so he was standing straight(ish) and walked back to her 'position', he mumbled a quick sound of gratitude and the red-head just waved it off.
The remaining 'unfrozen' people shifted uncomfortably in their spots, wondering who would be next. Thankfully, they didn't need to ask because the next few moments answered their silent question and a loud squeak of surprise but through the air. Everyone watched in horror as Lisanna's bird form dissolved, leaving the short-haired Strauss free-falling until Bickslow shot forward on his baby and managed to snatch her out of the air. The youngest Strauss' face bloomed pink as she opened her eyes and stared up at the Seith mage's chin.
"Thank you," She whispered quietly when the man slid over and gently sat her down on his baby's head.
Bickslow snickered and sent the short white-haired woman a large grin and patted her softly on her head, "Don't worry about it babe."
Natsu would like to think that he would have been the one who would've took the blunt of her fall if it wasn't for the quiet squeal that tumbled out of Lucy's mouth. His sensitive ears easily caught her noise of distress and when he turned towards her, his eyes widened in horror. Let it be said first that he was completely against letting the Celestial mage stand on the roof and vehemently expressed his hate for that suggestion. After seeing Juvia's weird condition, he didn't want to chance seeing his blonde partner freezing and tumbling off of the roof because she couldn't stop herself. However, they managed to get him to agree with it just to please Asuka. They promised to place her on a part of the roof where it was nearly impossible to fall off.
He reluctantly agreed when the blonde gave him a pleading smile but he knew it was going to happen. She's just that weird.
So when he watched Lucy's chocolate orbs widen in panic as she went to take a step forward, he instinctively knew what was going to happen next. The Dragon Slayer watched in horror as the Celestial mage's foot slipped off of the roof and she tumbled towards the bar. It wasn't supposed to be like that though. Lucy moved to hop off the roof just in case neither of them would have caught Lisanna but then her body suddenly stiffened mid-step and her eyes widened in horror. Suddenly off-balance and unable to move, the blonde tipped forward and her foot narrowly missed a firm foot-hold that would have saved her from falling.
Natsu was sprinting towards her in an instant. Despite being an impossible ways away, the Fire Dragon Slayer managed to reach the blonde halfway in her descent towards the bar top and leaped to catch her mid-air. He quickly twisted them around, tucking her closer to his chest while his back rammed against the walls of the doll house. Thankfully the house wasn't damaged but the speed he was going (added on with Lucy's extra weight), the wind was still knocked out of him and he let out a pained groan. He slid down the wall and landed on his butt, his arms tightening around the Celestial mage in relief.
Lucy wanted to scramble off of him and apologize but the stiffness prevented her from doing so. So instead, a red-hot flush bloomed on her cheeks while she patiently waited for Natsu to regain his breath.
"Sorry," She apologized quietly.
"Why are you apologizing, Weirdo?" Natsu laughed despite still feeling winded, "You're supposed to be thanking me, y'know?"
"Right," Lucy mumbled, another flush spreading through her cheeks, "Thank you, Natsu. For catching me but you didn't have to. Erza was right there."
The Dragon Slayer grinned widely, "I'm always gonna catch you, Luce. Besides, no harm done right?"
"Yeah," The Celestial mage managed a smile, "No harm done."
"Juvia-nee and Gray-nii's evil plans to capture Lucy-nee failed once again!" Asuka cheered from where she was sitting on the stool, drawing everyone's attention towards her larger form, "Natsu-nii caught the princess from falling into Juvia-nee's evil capturing magic!"
"N-now I'm a princess?" Lucy sweat-dropped, glaring at her salmon-haired partner when he started to laugh, "What are you laughing about?"
He continued to laugh through his answer, "I'm stuck."
"How's that funny?!"
"Lu-chan," Levy called to the blonde, her tone turning sly. Lucy desperately wanted to turn to her friend but knew she couldn't. "Look at how you froze."
The blonde felt her brows pull down in confusion before she managed to 'look' at how she froze. It was then when she realized that Natsu hadn't let her go since he caught her and she was still cradled against his chest. Now he was stuck too and she couldn't move either, it was just a huge scene of misunderstandings. She groaned, now it was up to one of the others to separate them.
"Juvia needs a break, Asuka-chan," The namesake breathed from her position on the side of the doll-house. The youngest Connell stared at the bluenette for a second before giving a small nod in agreement
She was supposed to be 'sneaking' up towards Lucy with intent of catching her. However, because of the whole fiasco earlier, that plan was quickly going down the drain. Asuka managed to save the whole game and twist the story around everyone's unplanned incident. The others agreed with what Juvia said though. Everyone was feeling tired already. They didn't know whether or not if it was because they were small, or if it was just because they were getting too old to keep up with the child.
"Too old," Gajeel scoffed, "We ain't even that old. It's just playin' with brats will tire anyone out. Age got nothin' to do with it."
"But you know what they say," Lisanna pointed out from where she was sitting next to Bickslow, "Only a child can counteract another child."
Gray snorted, "Then why's Flame Brain tired?"
"Shut up, Ice Freak," Natsu scowled, "I'd beat your ass but I can't move."
"Oh, yeah. Great comeback."
"I agree with Juvia," Erza interjected before the verbal assaults began, walking towards Natsu and Lucy, "I think we all need a little breather from each other for a while. I'm going to take Lucy and Levy to see if Mira managed to get a breakthrough."
"Can you handle us both?" Lucy asked a little skeptically, "We're both frozen and I don't want to be a burden if you somehow get frozen too."
"We should be fine," The red-head smiled.
She bent down and managed to pry Natsu's arms away from the blonde, making him pout a little. He didn't dwell on that too much because the other guys were sending him smirks and he glared at each one of them. They don't have a reason to be smirking at him. Erza pulled Lucy to her feet and straightened her out so she could stand comfortably on her own feet before turning around and doing the same for Natsu. She then headed towards Levy and straightened her out too.
"I agree somewhat with Lu-chan," The tiny bluenette muttered softly after Erza led her towards the blonde and the Dragon Slayer, "But I do want to know more about this stiffness thing."
"I don't know..." Lucy trailed off reluctantly, "I just don't want to indirectly put us in danger. If it was just you and Erza then she'd at least have a free hand just in case."
"We should be fine," Erza repeated confidently, "I don't know why, but I have a feeling that my body freezing will be quite a while from now so we don't need to worry about that. Let's just focus on trying to lift this spell and get back to normal."
"Back to normal," Levy smiled wistfully while the red-head equipped to another one of her armors, "The first thing I'm going to do when we get back to normal is read a book."
"Really, Shrimp?" Gajeel snickered, "There's lots of stuff you can do and you wanna read a book?"
"Oh yeah?" The tiny bluenette challenged, "And what are you going to do?"
"There's somethin' I've been dyin' to try," The Iron Dragon Slayer replied with a smirk, "But you aren't gonna know until we get back to normal."
"I'm going to go on a job when we return to our normal sizes," Gray announced suddenly.
"Juvia will go on a job as well," The bluenette agreed, "Not just because Gray-sama is going on one. Juvia has to pay this month's rent at Fairy Hills."
"Rent," Lucy groaned out at the word, "I totally forgot about that, I have to pay rent soon too. Here I was wishing to go home and sleep for a day. Now I have to go on a job."
"I'm gonna take Happy fishing," Natsu grinned, "We promised each other earlier."
"I'm going to help out Mira-nee like how I was this morning," Lisanna shrugged, "Maybe take a job later too."
"I'll be doing whatever Laxus-sama wants to do," Bickslow announced with a small shrug, "We're probably going to take a job to escape the guild for a while."
"I'll accompany Lucy on the job," Erza offered, smiling when the blonde looked at her gratefully, "We could do a good job with small pay. It's always nice to go with friends and create more memories than to go alone."
"Now you're all making me feel bad for wanting to read," Levy frowned, letting Erza tuck her in one arm and tuck Lucy under the other, "I feel obligated to take a job now too."
"If you want, you can come with us Levy," Erza smiled at the Script mage, "The more the merrier."
"We can make it a girls only job," Levy's eyes twinkled in excitement, "No guys allowed."
"Sounds like a plan," Lucy grinned, "That being said, the invitation extends out to you two as well. Juvia. Lisanna."
"Juvia agrees," The bluenette smiled, "As long as this isn't one of Love Rival's plans to distance Juvia from her Gray-sama and take him for herself, then Juvia is completely happy to agree to an all girls job. That isn't what you are planning. Right, Love Rival?"
"N-no."
"That does sound fun," Lisanna clapped her hands, "It'll be a nice break from all the destruction the guys do."
Despite the guys' protests to defend their honor, Erza and the other girls nodded in agreement, leaving the red-head to smile, "Then that is what we'll do. But for now, we will focus on getting back to normal. Lucy. Levy. Are you ready?"
"Yeah," Lucy grinned when Levy nodded back, "Let's do this."
