Chapter 6 - The Beast Hunter Maiden joins Team Natsu
It has been about 4 months since the Silber incident and as usual, Fairy Tale is loud as ever. No one had heard of Hotaru for three months, after she took on a request and her name of 'Beast Hunter Maiden' has spread around the guild and parts of Magnolia.
Erza was sitting at the bar poking her strawberry cheesecake, which was very out of the ordinary, but she has been doing that since the attack of Silber. She didn't informed him to the Master and the necklace to the Master, which was not her at all. The knight have this baffling feeling in her stomach that just can't put her finger on.
Suddenly, the large double doors flung open and it only mean one thing: Hotaru is back. However, this time she did not fly in, while sitting on her carpet, dozing off. No, she was lying on it, bruised and injured. The whole guild gasped, and murmurs were bounced around the guild.
The maiden hugged her doll close to her, eyes closed, but brows farrowed. Mira quickly went out of her post behind the bar as the girl's mat flew about a metre in the guild, until her magical power was completely gone, dropping her on the floor. Luckily, it wasn't a high drop, but her body did bounce from the impact. The girl in black coughed and grunted in pain, but her eyes stayed shut, bows knitted together and she hugged her doll tighter.
Mira bent down and examined the mage in black if there wasn't any vital injuries. "Quickly, call the Master!" Mira exclaimed.
Romeo quickly ran up to the Master's office as everyone crowded around the wounded mage and Mira, but gave a lot of room for the two to breathe. Erza stared at her comrade lying on her mat, worried.
'What happened?' she thought.
Soon, Master Macorav jogged down stairs with Romeo and the guild members split up, to make a path for him. His eyes widen when he saw Hotaru's condition. "Hurry, take her to the hospital!" Macarov exclaimed.
"I'll carry her," Gray volunteered and walked up to the injured mage.
"Be careful, I think something up is broken," Mira warned.
Gray decided ice-make a stretcher and with the help of Elfman, Erza and Freed, they carefully carried her on her carpet, laying her on the ice stretcher. Gray and Elfman carried the stretcher and quickly went to the hospital for mages, along with Macarov. However, they didn't go far when Porlyusica stopped them.
"What is it, Porlyusica?" Macarov asked.
The old woman coldly looked at the for mages. She turned to where she came from and coldly told the three to follow her to her place.
Elfman and Gray looked at each other, then at Porlyusica. They jumped a bit when the pink haired woman growled at them to hurry up and quickly followed the two elder.
They arrived at Porlyusica's treehouse and carefully lay the girl in black on Porlyusica's bed, still tightly holder her doll. The old woman ordered the three men out of her house and let her do her work in peace. Porlyusica pulled the doll out of the mages grasp, with a couple of threats and growls along the way. She took a couple of hours to heal and bandage the girl up. She ordered the mage to sleep and she went to make some medicine.
About an hour later, Porlyusica can and placed the medicine on her shelf. "Stop acting, I know very well you are not sleeping," the pink haired woman coldly stated.
Hotaru's eyes slowly fluttered open and stared up in the ceiling. Using the tiny magic power that she had recovered, she made doll fly to her. It softly fell on chest and hugged it.
"What happened to you, girl?" Porlyusica asked and sat down on the wooden chair near the bed.
"Ten forgotten black necklaces that thought to be lost forever. Each of the necklaces contain black magic and has a certain amount of power and different effect as the wearer desires. When the bearer is defeated, dead or alive, the necklace will consume its owners body, powers and soul. It then waits patiently for its next victim," the mysterious girl rambled in her signature monotone.
Porlyusica frowned and crossed her arms. "Why are your telling me this, girl?" she asked.
There was a pause until Hotaru spoke again, "You hate humans, you won't careless and I know you're curious."
"I asked how you got injured, not about that those darn evil necklaces," the old woman snapped.
"The Pearl of the First Moon," she breathed out and closed her eyes, falling asleep.
The next day, Macarov went to Porlyusica's treehouse, to check on the injured mage. He knocked on the door and the pink haired woman opened the door with her famous grouchy facade, after a minute or two.
"She's fine, but sleeping," Porlyusica told the short old man coldly, already knowing why he was here.
Macarov nodded and walked in his old friend's house when she let him go through. The master saw the mysterious mage lying on Porlyusica's bed, sleeping soundly, while hugging her doll tightly.
"What is her condition?" Macarov asked the woman as he turned to her.
"I said she was fine, didn't I?" she snapped, then calmed down and sighed, "She didn't have any internal damages, however, one of her ribs cracked, but not completely broken. She needs to rest for a while."
The Master stared at the mysterious maiden with concern and worry. He sighed and them turned to his punk haired friend. He was about to ask her to look after the injured mage, when she took a breath and started talking. "This girl is a mystery," she stated.
"What happened?" Macarov asked, ears perked up.
"Ten forgotten black necklaces that thought to be lost forever. Each of the necklaces contain black magic and has a certain amount of power and different effect as the wearer desires. When the bearer is defeated, dead or alive, the necklace will consume its owners body, powers and soul. It then waits patiently for its next victim," Porlyusica recalled the maiden's words.
Master Macarov frowned and thought deeply about the newest recruit's words. 'She's knows about the necklace Erza was talking about?' her thought, 'what else does she know?'
The two left the house to let the mage rest and once the wooden door closed, the girl's eyes fluttered open half way, staring straight at the ceiling. "Don't worry Akira, I will protect you," she whispered and hugged her doll tighter, "I will never let anything happen to you."
Another four months has came and gone and the mysterious mage has not come back to the guild, nobody has seen her and according to Porlyusica, she had left the very next day.
During the four month span, the requester came over to the guild to give Hotaru's reward, since she never went to collect it. It was a 20 million reward and a silver Celestial Key.
The guild wes very worried about her, but they couldn't do anything, since they don't know her where about. Erza brought the brown sac, containing the dark necklace, towards her. She stared at it, thinking about the events that related to the mysterious mage. She tightened her fist, not understanding what has happened or happening.
Suddenly, the wooden doors of the guild slammed open. The whole guild looked up at the entrance and then became loud as ever. Everyone cheered and shout, relieved that the mysterious girl is back and recovered. The Master hopped off the bar and walked over the mage and chuckled bubbly. "I'm glad you're back and well," he said.
The mage's head bobbed, like she is acknowledge him or thanking him. She flew fast him, but Mirajane stopped her, having her reward. "Here is your reward, Hotaru-san," Mira told the sleeping mage and placed the small bag, containing her reward, on her carpet. The recovered mage bobbed her head again, what she had done to Macarov and flew pass the bartender. The girl in black flew to Lucy, who was with her team, with the addition of her celestial spirit, Plue.
The whole guild was quiet, waiting for the mysterious mage's next move. She lift up her head and opened her eyes, staring at the Celestial Mage half lidded.
"What is it?" the blonde asked as she nervously stared down at the mysterious mage.
Hotaru slowly grabbed her bag of reward and opened it. She took out the silver key and gave it to Lucy.
The Celestial Mage cautiously took the key from the mysterious girl and examined it. The tag was a hexagon shape and inside was a white oval with a red sight of Leo. The teeth of the key is square with a cut-out cross in the middle and a cut on each of the cross.
Lucy look back at the maiden in black, which is now flying to the request board. The blonde stood up and called the girl as she jogged to Hotaru.
The carpet stopped moving and turned to the Celestial Mage. "Thank you, but why did you give it to me?" the blonde asked.
The sleepy looking girl blinked, looking bored or sleepy. "I'm not a Celestial Mage," she stated in that monotone of hers.
The blonde smiled, grateful and genuinely touched of the thought of the mysterious girl. "Thank you," she thanked the girl on the carpet.
Hotaru nodded and then stared straight at Erza. Their eyes met, each person showing a different emotion, but similar thought.
"Scarlet," the Beast Hunter Maiden called out to Titania, "about teaming up?"
The scarlet haired looked between her team, then back at the raven haired. She smiled and walked to the sleepy looking girl. "Welcome to Team Natsu," she declared and brought out her hand.
The girl's lips slightly twitched to a minute smile and lazily slipped her hand into Titania's hand. Their hands shook and the guild roared, celebrating for Team Natsu's new member.
"Maybe she's not what we think of her, after all."
Author's Note: Yay! New chapter! I apologise that this chapter is a quite boring, but I needed a filler chapter.
Thank you, jhellou and Pocket x Carwyn for following and favouriting sky story.
Comment reply:
jhellou: Here's the next chapter! XD
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