I have a quick question for those who may be interested. Do you prefer shorter or longer chapters? I was thinking and I noticed all of my chapters up until now have been relatively short. I decided to try to make this one longer though it didn't seem to work out like that. Which do you prefer reading? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and I do not own Fairy Tail.
~~~Fairy Tail~~~
My throat was dry as I looked around the strange town center. The air was thick with the smell of refuse. We were ushered into a plaza of sorts, with a large platform in the middle. Stalls surrounded us, selling colorful cloth and fruits with a sickly sweet aroma. The marketplace was completely packed with people jabbering in a language I didn't recognize. The sheer multitude of people looking this way made me dizzy. Most wore curious expressions. A few sympathetic. Some eager.
Kisa shuddered next to me and I looked at her in concern. She was looking at the blond man with extreme dislike as he barked orders among his crew. Another man walked over to grab his attention and they started speaking quickly in a foreign language, glancing every now and then toward our group of captives. They began drawing girls to them one by one, holding a circular device in front of them before shoving them into one of two groups. I couldn't wrap my mind around the strangeness of it all.
Then, suddenly, it was my turn. The device resembled a compass but with three needles swaying randomly around the central point. As soon as it was held toward me, the needles converged on me like a magnet and I was pulled into the smaller of the groups.
"They're testing for magic," I thought with a jolt. The next girl was placed in the large group when the needles did not respond to her at all. I bristled in anger. "A higher sell price for those who were mages." I thought bitterly as Kisa was pulled up to the device next.
She had an uncharacteristically blank expression as she drew closer, though I could sense she was concentrating immensely on something. Curiously, the needles twitched a bit before slowly turning randomly around again. My jaw dropped.
"She said she was a mage!" I thought incredulously. And she had, right? I had not made up that fact, had I?
Tears clouded my vision as she was quickly led away from me. We weren't going to be separated were we? I hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye! Or that I was sorry! Or even-
They had removed the rope that bound her. The rope that still bound myself and the other three mage girls, sealing our ability to use magic. If only I didn't have that damn rope, maybe I could do something!
As I thought this, Kisa let out a scream of pure anguish. She convulsed on the ground, clawing at the filthy earth as her captors stood dumbfounded. I tried to stumble over to help her but was blocked by guards. I looked in horror as she seized up as if possessed- then abruptly vanished.
Or so I thought.
"Hold on to me!" I heard her gasp loudly, her voice coming from straight in front of me. Without thinking, I flung my still bound hands around her neck. As the slavers turned to see where Kisa had ran to, a magic circle obstructed my vision.
I gasped. "A… magic circle?" It covered Kisa's shoulders and back and looked strangely familiar… Almost like… Happy?
As soon as the thought crossed my mind, wings sprouted from Kisa's back and we were propelled into the air with a huge strain of white wings.
I was unable to keep myself from screaming as Kisa heaved her new massive wings to keep us in the air. She hovered briefly over the market, astonished stares following our every move and furious cursing reminding me of why we should run. Now. I looked at her to remind her to move when I noticed the wistful look she was giving the remaining girls, about to be sold into slavery for the rest of their lives.
My mouth went dry at the thought. Suddenly feeling guilty, I knew Kisa couldn't handle much more. Weight or emotional baggage.
"C'mon Kisa," I knew I was going to sound cruel but we needed to move if we were going to escape at all. "There's nothing we can do for them. We don't have the power or means to rescue them as we are now."
Both of us freely crying now, she nodded slowly and turned toward a forbidding looking forest several miles down the coast.
We landed a good distance into the thickest part of the trees, Kisa panting heavily from exertion and my wrists bleeding from the bindings that continued to block my use of magic. Hanging by my arms on to Kisa while flying had caused the magical rope to cut and chafe my wrists terribly. Her wings now gone, Kisa crawled toward me and began to work on freeing my hands again.
"That was a good bit of acting," I stated, referring to the staged spasm she had used as a distraction in the market. She nodded, still panting too much to say anything. When my wrists were finally free, Kisa flopped on her back to catch her breath and I sighed in relief.
Power. I felt the familiar warm tingling of magic flow through my body for the first time in days. I grinned as I rubbed my poor wrists, already feeling almost jubilant at the sense of comfort. I tried to call Loki but felt no connection to him at all.
I sighed. I was afraid of this. The physical manifestations of my contracted spirits, the stellar spirit keys, were simply too far away from me. I could call them without touching my keys, yes, but this was different. We were currently an entire ocean away with countries between Kisa and I and home.
"Home," I thought longingly. I missed my friends… I missed Levy and Cana and Juvia. I missed my teammates, even the stupid cat, and my stellar spirits. I even missed the real oddballs like Gajeel! How were we going to get back?
Kisa had finally stopped gasping for breath so I looked at her with concern. It was obvious she wouldn't be able to fly us back; she was exhausted after only a few miles! But I was so grateful we had managed to escape… Even with the knowledge that we had essentially abandoned the other girls. I winced. And speaking of which…
"Hey Kisa?" I asked with some trepidation.
"Hm?" She responded stoically.
"How… How did you not tip them off that you were a mage?" I decided to ask. "And you know it's not our fault we couldn't save the others, right?"
She ignored my second question. My first clue to the inner torment she was experiencing for leaving the others. Then she said, "Do you remember the seal I told you about? The one Polly found in my stomach?"
I nodded. It was hard to forget really.
"Well…" She began, fidgeting. "She never… actually… took it off."
My eyebrows rose. "Really?" I asked incredulously. The great Polyursica had failed at something like that? I hadn't thought that possible. Well… I hadn't thought there was someone who could call the bad-tempered old woman 'Polly' and live to tell others but still…
"Yeah…" She continued. "So I just… Took advantage of it. I tried to conceal as much magic as I could and hoped the seal would conceal the rest. Luckily, it worked." She sighed before continuing. "But you know…"
"Yes?" I questioned. She looked extraordinarily hesitant about something. She looked pointedly at the ground.
"You have a seal too," She blurted.
"…" My mind went blank. A seal? Me? Not possible. I had been using magic since mama died. How could I have a seal? I had always thought of myself as pretty powerful. Maybe not as powerful as Natsu, Erza, and the like but certainly powerful enough!
"You're joking…" I trailed off as I realized by the look on her face, the young woman was completely serious. "How?" I asked weakly. These last couple weeks were really starting to shock my system.
She shook her head slowly, dirty hair swaying slightly with the motion. I scrunched up my nose. We both really needed a bath… I would pay a lot of jewels for a nice hot bath right now. My thoughts were cut short with a sharp snap of a twig breaking. We both whirled in response, barely catching a glimpse of a small furry creature running off at the sight of the two humans.
We both sighed in relief.
"I don't know…" She began as I tried to get my heartbeat under control. "But we need to get rid of them as soon as possible." She frowned. "We are obviously outsiders and don't even speak the language. And… They may pursue us." She shuddered.
That was exactly what I feared the most. We had managed to escape once, but what would happen if we were caught again? "No!" I yelled, startling Kisa. "We will not be caught ever again!" I would do whatever it took to ensure that.
She smiled at that. "But we need to be strong enough to fight them off. And for that, we need to do something about these seals…" Then, furrowing her brows in concentration, she fell silent.
After what seemed like hours, I mustered the courage to ask, "So, how do you think we can do that?"
She winced again, looking at me with trepidation. "Well…" she began. "Polly did tell me of a way. But it's dangerous to both people involved so she wanted to leave it as a last resort."
I closed my eyes in determination. "We'll do it." No matter what it takes, we will get back home I thought with resolve.
She described the process and I grew more and more anxious with each passing second. But we had to. And besides… We had gone through so much together. I realized, we had complete trust in each other and that was comforting.
"We will absolutely be alright," I said sounding resolute, if not completely confident.
She gave a small grin. "Yes," she echoed. "We will definitely be alright."
We moved to sit cross legged directly in front of each other. I took a deep breath.
"Ready?" I asked.
"Only if you are," Kisa responded timidly.
"Right," I confirmed, maneuvering my hand to her stomach as I felt her do the same. Inches above her navel, I could feel a pulsing energy. It was utterly dead feeling and foreboding yet vaguely familiar. I shuddered as I touched where I knew the seal lay in her body and she mimicked the action. We began pouring our own magical energy into the area, focusing on pushing out the foreign mass in each other's torso.
Sweat beaded from my face as pain erupted through my belly, distracting me momentarily before I brought myself back into focus. "No," I thought, knowing if we messed up we would both lose our lives. I continued to gently coax the sphere of dark energy to unwind from the tendrils of muscle, ignore the organs it touched, and be expelled from Kisa's body.
Kisa let out a whimper of pain and I groaned as we both could feel the seals being pulled from our guts, finally starting to emerge.
"Almost done," I thought desperately as I continued to pull. I had never used my magic for anything as invasive or physical as this. The pain… The pain was overwhelming. The only thing anchoring my concentration was the life of my friend in my hands… Literally.
With an almighty growl, Kisa gave one final tug as I did the same. We lay side by side, panting and sweating under the setting sun. It had been hours since we started and I was exhausted.
"You feeling okay?" Kisa questioned, holding out an orange stone for me to take. I noticed the black stone I held in mine and realized these were the seals.
"They look so tiny…" I whispered as we exchanged the small, eyeball sized stones. I only had a moment to admire the shiny, tangerine surface before it burst into dust.
"What the hell!" Kisa exclaimed and I saw hers had done the same. Though while her stone simply dissipated in the wind, the stone I held was slowly forming a deep, forest green haze in front of me. As I stared, astonished, a voice began to take form, nearly scaring me out of my wits.
"Really Layla," The smooth male voice purred. Layla? Mama? I didn't think I could be any more shocked and confused as it continued. "I truly do not think this is necessary. Lucy will be fine… With a stellar spirit mage as talented as you, she will no doubt-"
Kisa yelped a little as the green mist dissipated revealing one of the strangest creatures I had ever seen. It had dark, thick fur covering its entire body, colored black with the smallest tinge of indigo. It stood on two legs that tapered into large, clawed paws. A tail wagged behind the creature and its arms were crossed over a thickly furred chest as it regarded us with surprise. Large pointed ears sat on the top of the creature's head and were pierced with numerous silver earrings. The face had the muzzle of a bear or dog maybe and luminous dark green eyes that regarded us with suspicion.
I gulped a little before asking,"What about mama? You knew her?"
He hissed in surprise. "Knew her? Mama? Then…" He trailed off looking forlorn. "She's gone? And you're Lucy?"
I nodded, still trying to wrap my mind around the strange creature.
"Layla…" He whispered, looking anguished. I stepped toward him in concern which snapped him out of his reverie. "Well!" He quipped cheerfully. "Nice to meet you! My name is-"
"Bjorn," I interrupted. Realizing what I had done, I clamped a hand over my mouth while wondering how I knew that to be true.
"Correct," He stated, looking amused. The feral looking beast flashed a fanged grin before continuing. "My full title is Bjorn The Beast King. I've been with Lucy since she was born."
"So… that stone wasn't a seal?" Kisa asked bewildered.
"No no no, that was most certainly a seal. One bestowed on Lucy by her mother Layla Heartfilia," Bjorn stated proudly. My mind reeled.
"Mama? She… placed a seal on me?" I stuttered.
"Yes, she used my key as a base and sealed most of your magical ability. It was the only way to keep you safe at the time according to your mother. I hadn't agreed so she had completed it when I was having a conversation with her," The newly revealed spirit recounted tartly. "That woman… Always doing exactly what she wanted."
"But… why?" I asked desperately. I needed answers!
"That I do not know love," Bjorn stated gently. He purred slowly and caught me as I suddenly fell forward. I hadn't realized how exhausted I felt… I couldn't stay standing so the spirit set me down next to Kisa who looked as tired as I was.
"Rest," the beast king purred. As I felt my eyes droop heavily, I heard him speak a little more. "You need your strength. Both to get back home… and to find the rest of the eight sanctum spirit keys."
I couldn't fight any longer and drifted off to sleep.
~~~Fairy Tail~~~
Hehehe…. Yeah. Hope you like the new addition. It'll make sense eventually of course. By the way, Bjorn is pronounced byorn and it's Norwegian for bear if I am not totally clueless. Feel free to correct me if I am mistaken. Thank you for reading again!