And with this chapter we begin the part of the story which was not able to be written last time. More people will die, and more mysteries will be uncovered.
But first, let's see how the remaining cast deals with the three new rugs they found...
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Chapter 4: Of Myths and Legends
"*sniff*, Alzack...," Bisca sobbed, clutching the Stetson hat she always wore tight in her arms. It was no secret that she and the the young, poncho wearing man were an item, so it was kind of inevitable that she would be as distraught as she was.
She was currently lying down in one of the cabins content for the moment to just be alone and let reality sink in. At least she was acknowledging her grief; Levy just shut down, refusing even to speak with everyone else and feverishly poured over the books she brought with her.
There was a knock on the door.
"Bisca, can I come in?"
It was Lucy.
"Yeah," she said, trying to compose herself enough to hold a conversation. Lucy entered the room and sat down on the end of the bed next to her.
"I brought you some hot chocolate," the blond girl said, holding out a steaming thermos, "There was still some left from before."
"Thanks." Bisca sat up, replacing the hat on her head so she could hold the hot chocolate. After taking a cautious sip she turned to the young host, "How's Levy-chan doing?"
"Still pouring over her books," Lucy sighed, "It's like she's in her own little world, and we're just shadows on the far fringes of it."
"Can you really blame her? Those two knew her practically all their lives, and according to some of the stuff Alzack told me-" She paused, the mention of her former lover's name sending a wave of despair through her, "...He said they might have a bit of a crush on her."
Lucy's heart broke; the fact that Jet and Droy had died without ever getting the chance to confess their love to Levy was the most tragic thing in the world. At least, that's what the hopeless romantic in her thought.
"I wonder what's worse: never knowing someone loved you, or having you soul mate taken away before..."
"Shh, it's OK..." Lucy leaned over and gave the sniffling cowgirl a hug. "We'll give them a proper burial after Natsu and the others get back, alright?" She felt Bisca nod.
Just then Erza burst into the room, "Shou and Millianna just saw everyone heading back, and it looks like they caught a deer."
…
Jellal had gotten himself thoroughly lost searching for that head of blue hair he thought he saw. If that hair belonged to who he thought it did then he wasn't too late; he knew what she was for, he'd begun to suspect after the ship crashed on the rocks, and he knew what would happen if they remained alive. He wasn't a murderer, but he would make sure that this girl couldn't fulfill the dark destiny she was conceived for.
First things first, he needed to either find her or find the others so he could enlist their help. ...Though with everything that happened since the start of this trip, the first option was seeming the more likely of the two.
Still, he needed to do this, or by dawn of the next morning, the entire island would be riddled with nothing but rotting corpses...
…
It wasn't a deer.
Unless the deer had whitish silver hair and was leaking gray matter out of its skull.
"Wow, I don't think my mouth is big enough for my foot," Lucy breathed, in reference to her earlier suggestion.
"Sherry's not around here," Natsu asked quickly, "is she?"
"I think she and Juvia decided to take a dip in a lake they found," Loki remembered. "Good thing they did, or she might have freaked once she saw him." He nodded at Lyon's body.
"Small miracles..." Bisca murmured.
"We're gonna give him a man's burial," Elfman said, turning to Lucy, "Is there anything here we can use to dig a proper grave with?"
"Yeah, um...I think there's a tool shed behind one of the cabins," she said. "I'll show you."
"Hey, where are the Thunder Boyz?" Loki asked, "I can't believe they wouldn't try to find the source of..." His eyes traveled to the dark haired young man still holding his dead brother, "I guess it was Gray's scream before."
"We met them," Gajeel sneered, "but we split up after a 'conflict of interests'."
"Meaning they were a bunch of pricks and wouldn't help bring Lyon's body back here," Natsu explained, looking around the campgrounds. "Say, did Jet, Droy, and Alzack get back yet?"
Natsu got his answer when no one would look him in the eye.
…
"How much fucking longer?!" Erigor complained, leaning heavily on a branch he'd appropriated as a walking stick, "I feel like death!"
"I know, isn't it great!" Vidaldas cheered. Then he turned to Azuma, "But seriously, why can't we just go back to fucking camp and eat the shit there? None of us are fucking hunters, man!"
Azuma was starting think the same thing. He mainly broke off from the Dragon Slayers to keep the situation from escalating to blows, but that was more of a snap decision than a calculated move.
"Maybe you can stand this fucking humidity," the wild haired man snapped at the God of Death Metal, "but not all of us are a bunch of masochists who get off on this shit!" Then he turned around. "I'm going back camp," he stated, trudging off.
"Pussy..." Vidaldus scoffed. He turned back to Azuma, "So, you know anything about hunting?"
Azuma sighed, looking around the immediate forest, "There are tons of little animal trails around here, at least one ought to lead to a burrow."
So the two of them headed off on their hunt, unaware that they themselves were being hunted...
…
Eve and Ren finally got back to the camp site to find everyone preparing to give Lyon a proper send off.
"Geez, the hell did we miss?" Ren asked.
"We found Jet, Droy, and Alzack hanging from a tree," Shou explained, he and Millianna huddled together; neither one really having the constitution to deal with any of this, "Well, their skins at least. Then Natsu and the others brought Lyon's body back."
"...Damn."
"I'm kinda glad we missed it," Eve remarked.
The funeral for Lyon and the others was short, with only Mirajane saying a short remembrance over the graves.
"See you later, Bro," Gray whispered as everyone began to disperse, following suit a few moments later.
The rest of the evening was a somber affair, with everyone eating the canned food in silence.
"I'm worried about Levy-chan," Mirajane said, "she hasn't come out of her her room for quite some time now."
"It is a bit strange," Lucy agreed, "I mean, I know she just lost her two best friends, but..." She paused. "It's kinda scary now, the way she just pours over her books..."
"Not to belittle Levy's issues or anything," Loki interrupted, "but the Thunder Boyz aren't back yet; they should have been back by now, not to mention no one's seen Jellal in-"
CRUNCH!
Everyone turned to Erza, who was now holding the crushed remains of her can of beans.
"OK, maybe not him... But seriously, it's not getting any lighter and we don't know what kind of night life this island is like."
"Yeah, where'd those guys go anyways?" Natsu asked.
"Didn't they say something about going hunting?" Gajeel asked.
"Yeah, I think they did."
"And I believe Juvia and Sherry are still down by the lake," Mirajane added.
"Someone's going to have to tell them about this sooner rather than later," Erza said, tossing her now ruined meal away, "Any volunteers?"
…
Jellal was running frantically through the woods, now thoroughly and desperately lost.
Fuck! Where the hell is everyone? He wondered, wishing he'd kept better track of where he was going. The sun had nearly set, and what little light there was wouldn't last for much longer. I could have sworn she went this way...
It didn't help matters that the foliage was so thick that it sometimes felt he was running through coarse, knotted hair. He probably had all manner of cuts and scrapes on his arms and torso, but, as he kept reminding himself, he had to find that girl and remove her from the equation. Or, barring that, find and warn the others.
Why on earth did he let Ultear manipulate him like he did? He was perfectly happy with Erza before she came along with her skimpy clothes, her sashaying hips, her piercing, almost hypnotic eyes... Of course, it didn't hurt that she was a lot more..."free" than Erza was when he and she were together. He'd had his suspicions for a while, but after the boat got marooned she'd admitted her plan.
He had to stop her from carrying it out at all costs.
…
"...So then Gray-sama and I did it behind the bleachers after the Homecoming game."
Juvia and Sherry were relaxing in a lake on the other side of the hill the cabins were on, waiting for their respective men to get back.
"That is the most cliched move ever!" Sherry exclaimed, slapping the water. "Besides, it probably wasn't nearly as good as when Lyon and I snuck away from the pep rally and did it on top of the faculty building."
"Rooftops are cliché too!" Juvia rebuked, splashing Sherry in return, this in turn devolved into a splash war and lots of giggling.
They weren't alone, however. There was a presence hiding in the bushes, waiting from just the right moment to strike. They were very tempting targets, the being thought, every bit as succulent as the others it had killed already; these two were just shy of prime ripeness and it was incredibly difficult to keep from feeding too early.
But they were almost ready, they just needed one last little push...
"Hey girls, you decent?"
Ah, that push might happen sooner than it expected...
"Of course we are!" Sherry called to Loki, who was descending the wooden staircase that lead to the swimming area, "Who in their right mind goes on a cruise and doesn't pack a swim suit?"
"Fair point," he conceded as he reached the landing.
"Juvia is surprised no one else has joined us," the bluenette remarked. Then she noticed the look on Loki's face, "Is something the matter?"
"Yeah," he sighed, suddenly finding it very hard to look the girls in the eye; it was even harder to form words now too. He knew that despite their apparent rivalry, Sherry and Juvia nearly as good of friends as the brothers they dated were. He also knew that Sherry's past was a rather troubled one and Lyon was a major stabilizing factor in her life.
"Was" being the key word...
"Loki?"
"Loki-kun?"
He took a deep breath. "We're all having a meeting and they wanted me to come get you," he finally managed. ...Dammit! How could he screw up so much courage and still be such a pussy at the same time? "We'll explain the situation there."
…
"Damn boat...*hic!*" Aquarius grumbled, taking another swig from the bottle of expensive alcohol she "liberated" from the galley. The crash had completely destroyed both the rotor and the rudder, so there was very little chance of getting the small yacht mobile again, if any. On top of that, something was interfering with the radio and she couldn't find the emergency beacon or flares that she explicitly remembered stocking before they left! Needless to say, she was taking it all rather well, "you couldn't 'ave picked a better time to *hic!* friggin' crash?"
Thankfully the GPS still worked, so at least they'd know where they were when they all eventually starved to death. She supposed there was some comfort to be taken in-
"*hic!* Waitaminute..." she realized, scrambling to get to the GPS readout.
If her suspicions were correct...
"Yes!" She cried joyously, falling backwards into the pilot's chair. She knew where they were, and where they were had a phone! She got up, intent on finding the kids as fast as she could to tell them the good news...
When she promptly felt straight on the floor.
"Maybe when I'm sober..." she decided, content to just lay there for a while, "*hic!*"
…
"GET THE FUCK OFF ME, BITCH!" Sherry screamed as she was held to the ground by Juvia, Gray sprawled out to the side and nursing a swelling cheek, "I'm gonna kill him!"
"I will not let you hurt Gray-sama!" Juvia growled resolutely in the fuchsia haired girl's ear, applying some more pressure to the hold. "He didn't-"
"Of course he did!" she screamed, glaring daggers, lightning, and whatever else in Gray's direction, "I could tell, he was always jealous of Lyon, just waiting for a chance to get rid of him and steal all the glory... And you did! Well, was it worth it? WAS IT FUCKING WORTH IT?!"
"Shut up!" Juvia shoved Sherry's head into the ground again. She may be friends with the girl, good friends even, but she had a strict policy about anyone slandering her Gray-sama.
"You OK man?" Natsu asked, kneeling next to the dark haired young man. "Don't worry about Sherry, she didn't mean it; she's just taking it hard."
"I know," he said, propping himself up on his elbows, "...But it still hurts worse than that right hook she gave me."
"I have the first aid kit," Mirajane announced, jogging up to Ground Zero.
"Thanks MJ," Natsu said as he helped Gray the rest of the way to his feet.
"Are you gonna be OK, Juvia?" Elfman asked.
"As long as this...Sherry refrains from attacking Gray-sama again," Juvia sighed, "I will be fine."
"Then perhaps you should consider letting her breathe," Karen suggested, her and Angel stepping out of the cabin they'd claimed as their own.
"Oh..." Juvia reluctantly released Sherry's head so the girl didn't have to breath in dirt.
It didn't stop her from glaring hatefully at Gray.
"So...now what?" Lucy asked.
"I think it's obvious?" a new voice interjected. Everyone turned and saw Erigor walking back into camp, "Lock the bitch up until she cools the fuck down."
…
"Dammit!" Levy swore, chucking another book at the wall, "Not this one either..." Since finding the hides of her long time best friends hanging from a tree she'd had this thought in the back of her mind that she couldn't shake off. Of course she was broken up about the loss, who wouldn't be? But even so, that little thing would not let itself be forgotten, and so she was frantically pouring over every last tome she had in an effort to alleviate this nag.
Problem was, she had so many books on the same subject that it was difficult remember which one had what she wanted, especially with the loss of Jet and Droy still fresh in her mind.
Fortunately she'd already tossed aside most of the volumes and only had a few left to go through. Picking one out of the pile at random, she paused and looked at the title; "Fairy Myths and Legends".
Yes! This was the book she was looking for! She hastily tore through it until she found the article of her search.
"Fairy History: The End of Fairies"
"...Though there has never been any solid evidence to corroborate their stories, people still claim to have been to hidden Fairy villages. Though no trace of their outlandish findings were ever found when those places were searched again, the stories brought back by the survivors all bear an eery similarity to each other, especially since none of them had any apparent knowledge of the others' tales. From these account however, along with existing legends, we can piece together a reasonable picture of their extinction...
…Though not much survived from the Fae era, stories of their rituals and practices somehow did. In particular, their parties that lasted for days on end. It was probably during one of these parties that whatever caused their extinction happened. Survivor reports always mentioned damaged huts and pieces of flesh strewn everywhere, as well as dried blood over everything...
…Given that the surviving stories painted Fairies as beings in tune with magic what happened was probably something of that nature, such as a magic spell gone wrong. Others speculate that they summoned some type of demon and lost control. Popular belief is that the Fae ascended to a higher plain of of existence, leaving Earth as it was to the humans. (It was rumored that some Fairies stayed behind from that and lived among..."
Levy closed the book and went for another tome, intent on being 100% sure of her theory before she brought it to the others.
…
Ultear heard all the screaming when they found the first three bodies, and again when Sherry had her episode. Not that she really knew who died, it was just speculation from what she picked up from the screaming; she hadn't set foot back in the camp since her encounter with Levy. She never really understood what Jellal had seen in them before she came along, particularly Erza. She was always too high and mighty for her own good, not to mention too uptight about things that she really shouldn't be. At the end of the day she didn't care, since neither or all her other goody-two-shoes friends wouldn't be around much longer anyways.
That is, as long as the ritual didn't go wrong. And when that was done, immortality would be hers!
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To be continued...