Cresselum

Chapter 6

Hi everyone, its kani-leek-lover again! I've been extremely happy with all the latest reviews to my story, so I appreciate it! I'd also like to thank sereneskydragonslayer for posting the most reviews! Thanks a lot! I apologize for leaving everyone at a cliffhanger at the last chapter. And I also apologize for not updating lately. Please forgive me!

Now . . .

Presenting Chapter 6~!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Rogue's POV:

I carried Quinn's bloody body in my arms as me and my team ran through the forest, focusing on nothing but to save the little girl dying from the poisonous wound in her chest. Quinn panted heavily; sweat and blood trickled from her forehead. Wait. Blood from her forehead?! As I ran, I checked her forehead. Sure enough, there was more fresh blood pouring from an unknown place.

'It must be from the poison.' I thought. This made me run even faster, hoping that we could find the sky dragon slayer in time.

'Hang on just a little bit longer Quinn!' I thought as I looked at the girl in my arms.

xXx

Quinn's POV:

Darkness. That was all that surrounded me. I couldn't move, or see at all . . . yet. But I could hear something muffled in the distance.

'Hello?' I called out. 'Anyone there?' Where was I? Where was the rest of my team? Why can't I see anything? Shouldn't I be heavily injured, bleeding badly right now?

'Quinn-nee!' a voice called. My eyes widened. No . . . It couldn't be . . . I turned around to see . . . Jade . . .

There she was! Jade was dressed in a plain white dress, one that covered her legs entirely. Her short brown hair flapped frantically as her short body ran. Her turquoise eyes were sparkling with interest. And she was running in my direction.

'Jade!' I cried out. I couldn't believe it! She was alive! I started to run towards her, ready to pick her up and hug her and find out how this could be happening. But, just as we met, she passed by me like I was nothing but air.

'Huh?' I thought. 'Why can't I . . .' I turned to my head to see Jade running towards . . . a younger version of me. Oh . . . so Jade isn't alive. Disappointment flooded through me as I watched. I must be witnessing my second past.

I still looked the same as before. I wore a bigger white dress than Jade, my somewhat spiky black hair up to my neck. My red eyes staring back at what can unmistakably be happiness.

My eyes widened. Wait a minute. I had red eyes?! My hand automatically went to my left eye, which is silver. 'How can this be?' I thought. 'I've always had a silver eye . . . right?'

'Jade!' The younger version of me smiled. 'What did you find today?' Jade pulled out something from the pocket of her dress. In her hand is what looked like . . . a green flower.

'Look!' she squealed. 'I found a new patch of flowers that grows in the forest! Isn't it pretty Quinn-nee?' The younger me smiled again. Just as she was about to say something, there was a scuttling noise.

The girls turned around to see the general, riding on his orange scorpion, looking absolutely furious.

'Hey!' he screamed. 'What are you two slaves doing?! Get back to mining! Or do I have to punish one of you?!' The two scared girls quickly scampered to grab their mining tools and ran off.

I remember clearly. This is where I spent most of my childhood . . . at the Z-Castle. I shivered slightly. Even remembering this scared me. But why was I seeing this now?

The general huffed in annoyance as he watched the two girls get back to work. 'Honestly,' he gritted his teeth. 'Those two girls are too rebellious.' Then, he suddenly smirked. 'We'll just have to change that now . . .' The memory suddenly changed and shifted.

The memory now showed a prison cell, dark and moldy. Inside, there were two kids, waiting for two certain people.

'Honestly,' a tall brown haired girl whined. 'Why do those two have to go and make us so worried?' Her tanned hand was pressed against her hip as she waited for the silver haired boy to reply.

'I don't know,' he finally said, sighing. 'But let's just hope that nothing bad happens.' My body froze with pure fear as I watched my memories of my childhood. I was looking at the younger versions of Rosalynn and Jack.

'This must've been before they both betrayed me.' I thought. I crossed my arms together and watched the old memory.

'Nee-chan!' Jade's voice called. She ran up to her Rosalynn and tackled her with a hug. Her older sister smiled.

'Jade,' Rosalynn said. 'What's wrong?'

In answer, Jade presented her with the green flower. 'Look! I found this at the forest today!' Rosalynn's eyes widened as she heard that. She swung her head towards the smaller version of me.

'You let my little sister sneak off on her own to the forest?!' she demanded. Her voice was now starting to get shrill. 'Are you insane?! Don't you know the consequences?!'

Jade stood up. 'But Nee-chan,' she began, voice soft and gentle, but firm. 'Quinn-nee didn't let me go off. I snuck away myself, without telling anyone. So it isn't Quinn-nee's fault.'

Rosalynn frowned at her sister before sighing and shooting the younger me a look of anger and . . . envy? Then, she grabbed her younger sister's hand and stomping away to their resting place.

The younger me watched them stomp away, with Jade protesting at her older sister's actions.

'What's up with Rosalynn, Jack?' I had asked. 'Did I do anything wrong?'

Jack sighed once more before replying 'No, she's just concerned for her little sister's safety, that's all.'

I had frowned before lying on the bare ground. I had reached into the pocket of my dress and pulled out . . . my black ribbon! That's strange . . . I thought I always had it . . .

My younger version of me stroked the ribbon a few times, looking at the ribbon sadly as my crimson eyes filled with what looked like a sense of yearning.

Jack leaned down to pet my black hair very gently. 'Go to sleep.' he whispered. His voice was something so calming . . . something that I still crave to listen for. As he continued to pet my hair, the younger me slowly started to fall asleep.

As I watched the younger me fall asleep, she began to say something. It was very faint and soft, but I could hear it, thanks to my enhanced hearing. The last thing that I had said before I went to sleep was, 'Good night . . . Nii-chan . . .' Then, the memory ended, leaving me trapped in the darkness once more, only more confused.

My head spun with newfound information. I had red eyes. And . . . I had a brother. But I can't find out why or even remember before I was sent to the Z-Castle. I don't even remember how I ended up at the Z-Castle in the first place. Or anything that had happened to me before the Z-Castle.

When will I be able to find out the truth about myself?

xXx

Erza's POV:

I stared at Jack in disbelief. So did Kagura. Something in located in those blue eyes told me he wasn't lying.

"You were Quinn's childhood friend," I asked. "How? You're in a dark guild that is trying to kill her, and you claim you were once friends."

"It's true," he insisted. "I knew Quinn since I was 7 years-old. We grew up with each other." Fury suddenly filled me, as I heard those words.

"Don't give me that crap!" I yelled. I send about dozens of swords at him with my Heaven's Wheel Armor. "If you were Quinn's friend, why are you abandoning her by trying to kill her?"

Jack was silent. He wouldn't meet my eyes. His eyes filled in what could only be in shame.

"Answer me!" I roared. Then, I requipped into my Robe of Yuen Armor. "If you truly cared about Quinn, you would apologize to her for abandoning her!" Then, I charged at him, swinging my spear at him. Kagura was watching me, her lips pursed into a tight line.

"You people don't understand," he said bitterly. "None of you do. I have my reasons doing this."

"For what exactly?!" I shouted at him. "You say that you have a reason for hurting these innocent people, but you're not giving me any proof!" He glared at me, with some sort of emotion that I couldn't identify.

"You people don't understand!" he repeated again, only this time, his voice was starting to get louder. "I'm doing what I think is right!"

"How is this right?!" I scream. "Tell me!" I was doing my best to fight him, sending slashes everywhere at his body, but he is very evasive. As he dodged my useless attempts to cut him, he sends a punch into my stomach. And it was a hard punch too.

"Gah!" I gasped out. I fell onto my knees cradling my stomach. Jack stood over my body, that strange look of emotion never leaving his eyes.

"I told you," he snapped. "I have my reasons for doing this. Joining Tartaros. Hurting people. Gathering information for our plans. I've been doing this all for Quinn! I'm trying to protect her!" At that last statement, my eyes widened in surprise.

" . . .What?" I croaked. Kagura narrowed her eyes in suspicion. And who wouldn't? A dark guild member just admitted that he was committing crimes to protect an innocent girl who knew absolutely nothing about this.

Jack sighed once more, and composed himself. "It's true." he admitted. "The reason I've been doing these crimes was to protect Quinn."

"Liar," Kagura bluntly stated. Me and Jack swirled our heads in her direction, surprised by her words. Her strange gold-brown eyes reflected in what could only be anger and pity. "If you were trying to protect Quinn, what were you trying to protect her from?" She had a point there. Who exactly was Jack trying to protect Quinn from?

Jack gritted his teeth. "I can't say that." His eyes flickered over to the other Tartaros members, who were currently engrossed in their own battles against everyone else, that they didn't pay attention to our own argument now. I suddenly understood. If the person that Jack was trying so hard to protect Quinn from was even something that he couldn't mention to the other Tartaros members . . . then it must be . . .

"It's Rosalynn, isn't it." I softly asked, so soft that none of the other dark guild members could hear me speak, but only Kagura and Jack could. Jack looked at me, with a hard expression on his face, until he lowered his head, avoiding our gazes.

"Yes," he whispered. "It is." He lifted his head slowly to reveal eyes that were once cold, filled warmth and love. My eyes softened. He must really care for Quinn, if he went as far to pretend to be in a dark guild, just to protect her. Just as I was about to say something to him, Sabertooth burst into the battlefield . . . with Rogue holding Quinn's limp bloody body in his arms.

xXx

Rogue's POV:

My eyes scanned the field, trying to find what I was looking for. I spotted the sky dragon slayer fighting with the Celestial Mage.

"Sky Maiden!" I yelled. "Please! We need your help!" The sky dragon slayer turned her head over to us. Her brown eyes widened as she looked at Quinn. She started to run to our direction with her exceed, her dark blue hair fluttering behind her as she ran.

"What happened Rogue-san?" she asked. She inspected Quinn's body and checked to see how serious the injuries were.

"That cloaked girl stabbed her through the chest. It seems that the sword she used was coated in poison." I explained quickly.

She nodded in understanding and motioned for me to lay her down on the ground. As I did this, the sky dragon slayer knelt down and spread her hands together, creating a soft blue glow that began to spread onto Quinn's body. Slowly, her wounds stopped bleeding. After what seemed like decades, the sky dragon slayer stopped, and let out a deep breath.

"She'll be alright." she confirmed. "Her wounds have stopped bleeding, and I managed to make the poison go away. But, she won't wake up immediately." I sighed in relief.

"Thanks . . . ." My voice trailed off. I've seen this little girl participate and fight at the last Grand Magic Games, and I didn't even know the sky dragon slayer's name! I suddenly felt ashamed.

"Wendy," she gave a weak smile. "My name is Wendy, Rogue-san."

"Thanks Wendy." I said. I looked down at Quinn to see her breathing evenly, but still covered in dried blood. Just then, I felt something. I turned my head to see a silver haired boy staring at us. Or more specifically, Quinn. His eyes were filled with what looked like longing. But he steeled his gaze and turned away.

"Tartaros," he called out. The other dark guild members stopped fighting. They turned to look at him, their attention focused on him. "We should retreat. Master is waiting for us."

"But!" A girl started to protest, until she saw the boy's glare.

"We retreat." he said firmly. "That is final. We will return later to capture the girl. Right now, return to base." Then, the rest of the dark guild members nodded mutely, no longer arguing with him and vanished. Before the silver haired boy went, his blue eyes met mine. For a moment, we stared at each other. Then, he disappeared.

I blinked in confusion. Those eyes . . . they looked like they were expecting something from me. But what exactly? I shook my head. I had to stay focused right now.

"Quinn!" The Titania shouted. She barreled past the several worried mages surrounding us now. "What happened to her?" she demanded as she saw the injury and dried blood.

"She was stabbed through the chest by that cloaked girl." Caramel explained. Then, she lowered her voice and trembled. "It's all my fault. If I hadn't stopped Quinn, she wouldn't . . ." Her eyes filled with unshed tears.

A rough hand landed on her head, patting her soothingly. The brown exceed looked up to see Natsu-san patting her.

"It's alright," he promised. "Quinn's going to be alright. Besides, you tried your hardest, so it wasn't your fault."

This made her sob. "But!" she started to wail. "But!"

"C'mon, lighten up!" Gray added. "Quinn wouldn't want you to be crying over her right?"

"Aye!" Happy cried.

"She would want you to be smiling and fighting your hardest." Lucy said gently.

Caramel wiped her tears away. "Yeah!" she cheered with new-found confidence. "I won't give up! For Quinn!"

Watching everyone rally at that war cry made me smile.

'Please Quinn,' I thought, as I looked down at the unconscious girl. 'Wake up soon.'

xXx

Quinn's POV:

I cradled my head in my arms. I was on my knees, as I felt the pain attack my head. My amnesia attacks were getting worse. And being surrounded by complete darkness did not help. I made a mental note to make sure that Caramel didn't find out about this.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps. They sounded heavy, and loud. The darkness suddenly dispersed, and more of my childhood memories replaced it.

'Oh great!' I thought sarcastically. 'More of my terrible childhood memories! What could be even better?'

The footsteps stopped in front of a cell with four sleeping kids.

'Unlock the doors.' a voice commanded.

The voice clearly stated that it was a man speaking. He sounded very impatient. I couldn't see him yet though. He was hidden in the safety of the shadows. As the guards fumbled with their keys, they hastily opened the doors. The doors swung open, protesting with a creak. The guards and the man stepped inside. As the man stepped out from the shadows, and I nearly screamed. The man was the general of the Z-Castle.

The general looked at the sleeping children in disgust. 'Wake them up,' he ordered. 'I have to question them.'

Nodding quickly, the guards poked the four children with the tip of their magic guns. Stirring, the sleepy children sat up, rubbing their eyes.

'Nee-san,' Jade asked. 'What's going on, it's too early for-' Jade stopped in mid-sentence when she saw the guards and the general smirking at the doorway. She squeaked in surprise and fear and hid behind her older sister, who glared at the men.

'What do you want?' Rosalynn spat. The guards looked furious at her tone of attitude, but the general waved it off.

'Two of you slaves,' he started. 'Have been misbehaving, and not following orders.' We all paled as the general announced this. Jade and I exchanged nervous glances at each other. We thought that they wouldn't notice and leave us alone.

But we were wrong.

Now that they knew, we would both be sure that we would receive punishment. As if living here wasn't bad enough.

'As punishment,' he continued. 'Both of you will receive punishment.' His smug face made me want to puke.

'Now,' he asked. 'Who were the two people who ignored orders?' A heavy and tense silence filled the air. The general tapped his foot impatiently. Then, after a moment of thought, his whole face lit up as if he had a brilliant idea.

'Whoever tells me who the culprit is,' he said. 'Will get excused from the daily work and get seconds from the meal.' We each looked at each other. Rosalynn glared at me especially.

I sighed. Just as I was opening my mouth to confess another voice interrupted me with an 'It was me.' My eyes widened as I saw Jack step forward. 'It was me.' he repeated. The general inspected Jack for a moment, before glancing at my direction.

'It was the black-haired girl, wasn't it?' As he said this, his eyes looked like they were staring into my soul, daring me to talk back at him. Fear gripped my heart as I looked at him in shock.

Jack's blue eyes widened. 'No! It was me!' he started to yell urgently, as two guards came and grasped my skinny frail arms. 'Let her go!' Jack started to charge at the two holding me, but two more guards came and restrained him. 'No! Let me go! Quinn!' he started to flail in the guards' arms as he tried to reach me. 'Quinn!' he yelled again.

'It's alright Jack,' my voice sounded scared and afraid, but I tried to put on a brave smile. Jack and Jade looked at me in shock. 'I'll be fine.' I reassured them, but deep down, I knew I would never be alright. Where I was going to, it would definitely scar me for life.

And who knows how long I'll be like that.

The general cackled in triumph. 'Take her to 'there'. We'll see if everything is successful.' The guards began to drag me forcefully out of the cell. Away from everyone.

And I didn't struggle.

'Quinn-nee . . .' Jade sounded sad, and her face looked guilty.

Jack's face was breaking into cold sweat as he continued to fight against the guards holding him back. From me. I gave them both a sad smile. One that said 'It's not your fault guys.'

Before I left the cell though, I caught a slight glimpse of Rosalynn's face. Her face was . . . smirking. Her turquoise eyes met my red eyes, and for a brief moment, and she mouthed to me, 'Serves you right.'

The guards dragged me to an unfamiliar part of the castle. One path that I didn't recognize. The general trailed behind closely, watching our every move.

Finally, we stopped at a thick wooden door, where the guards pushed open harshly. The doors opened with a massive groan, and revealed . . . a laboratory.

It was massive on the inside. There were people inside, with lots of tools used for experimenting. There were two different groups of people surrounding two different objects. One group was surrounding a type of silver lacrima I've never seen before. The other group was observing a strange circular stone with an engraving inside. There was an empty metal operating table. And something told me that I was going to end up on it.

The guards dumped me into a cage. A small metal one in fact. After I was 'settled' inside, the general leaned down to the cage.

'This will be your quarters for the next week,' he said, gesturing the lab. 'This is also where you will be punished.' I shivered, huddling closer to the edge of the cage, wondering what they were going to do to me.

The general watched me, and chuckled darkly. 'Your punishment will be us experimenting on you. To see if your . . . . worthy of wielding the power we have in this room.'

My eyes filled with dread. 'No,' I begged. 'Please . . . Anything but this . . .' The general laughed at my begging, my pleading.

He laughed at my fear.

The general stepped back from my cage, after he finished laughing. 'Start on her immediately after I leave,' he ordered. 'When you're done, I want to see the results as soon as possible.' The group of people bowed at his words, and then watched as he left the room, the guards trailing behind him.

The group of people turned to my cage. 'He wants us to test 'it' on her?' One of them muttered. 'This is just a little kid! She won't last for the first day!'

'Quiet!' One of them hissed back at him. 'It's the general's orders! We can't argue against him! That would be suicide!'

My ears perked up at this last part. The general must've been extremely strong then. Not even the people who supported him dared to go against him.

Then, my cage door swung open. A tall man leaned down, and crouched down to the level of the cage. He peered inside. His eyes seemed sad . . .

'Drag her out,' A short old man ordered. 'He told us to begin right away.'

The tall man in front of me nodded silently and pulled me out. I didn't do anything. Possibly because I was too afraid too. The man strapped me down on the operating table, adjusting the leather straps so that they were secured tightly on my wrists and ankles.

The group of people surrounded me. They observed me curiously while I looked around at them in fear.

'We'll start with the MP injections,' the old man decided. 'Then, we'll record the results to show to the general later.' Everyone nodded, and scattered to their proper positions located at different places in the lab. One person approached me cautiously, holding a hypodermic needle, filled with some blue type of liquid energy. It possibly could've been magic of some type.

My eyes widened. 'No! Please!' I pleaded. I struggled to get off the table, but the straps prevented me from doing that. The man held my forearm in place, and injected the needle into it. My screams echoed off the walls of the lab.

The man stepped back. 'Done.' he confirmed, nodding in the direction of the old man.

'And now . . . we wait for the results.' he replied.

After a few moments, I had started to scream. Silver markings, in a language I didn't recognize, appeared on my body, spreading all over my body like a wild fire.

I remember this too. The pain . . . it hurt so much. Whatever they did to me that night . . . was something that stayed with me forever.

And it still did.

After agonizing hours, I slumped down on the table, unconscious and defeated.

The old man's eyes widened as he checked the results. 'Good grief!' he cried. '6 hours had passed, and this girl still isn't dead from the amount of MP! She could be it!' Excited murmurs filled the room as they heard this.

'Someone report this to the general!' someone cried out. Another person dashed off.

The old man was in shock. 'If this girl lasted longer than the other experiments' he muttered, checking on the girl. 'Then, she would be the perfect host we've been looking for!' A grin crept up his face. 'Zeref will rule Earthland, with this puny girl by his side!'

In the background, the tall man, who pulled me out of my cage, frowned.

The memory ended so suddenly. I frowned after I heard what the old man had said.

'What did he mean?' I wondered. 'What possible connection do I have with Zeref?'

Then, there was a sharp pain in my head. I sank to the ground again, clutching the spot where I felt it. My eyes squeezed shut from the pain.

'What is this?' I gasped.

'Quinn!' a voice entered my ears. 'Wake up. Your friends need you.'

I opened my eyes. I gasped in shock and surprise. There, in front of me, stood a beautiful young woman. She was tall and skinny. Her skin was light and pale, like cream. Her long black hair was held up by a silk hair band. She wore a light sky blue dress that fitted her nicely. Her voice sounded like a bird singing. And . . . she had red eyes too. Just like I did. The woman was also smiling, showing off her white pearly teeth.

'Wake up.' she repeated. Although her voice sounded nice, she sounded urgent. 'Your friends are waiting for you.'

'Who are you?' I asked. I was confused and shocked at the same time. The woman leaned down to stroke my cheek gingerly.

'When the time comes, you'll know.' she answered softly. 'Now wake up.'

A bright light began to engulf me, and the woman vanished.

xXx

Normal POV:

Quinn gasped, and her eyes flew open. She sat up so suddenly, that she winced. Quinn was panting heavily, and looked down to see that her injuries were bandaged, and healing. The people surrounding her, stood back startled that she was awake so suddenly.

"Quinn!" Caramel tackled her with a wet and teary hug. "I thought you'd never wake up!"

Even though her sentence sounds so serious, she couldn't help but grin. "What? You think I'd never recover? C'mon Caramel, I'd faced worse things than that!" Caramel smiled.

Erza coughed. "Anyways," she said. "It looks like Quinn has recovered. So, now we must find out what Tartaros is looking for."

"Oh, that's easy." Quinn piped up. Everyone's eyes flicker to her.

"What do you mean?" Kagura asked.

"They want me or more precisely, my magic." she explained. There was a thick tension that now filled the air.

"If that is what they want . . ." Erza muttered to herself. "Then . . ." Her eyes widened. So did Kagura's and Bacchus's eyes.

"We must protect Quinn then," Kagura concluded. "If it's her they're after for, then they'll come back to get her."

"But, how are we going to find Tartaros's base?" Lucy asked. "We still have to look for it, and find out why they want Quinn's magic."

"Then how about we separate into two teams," Wendy suggested. "One to look for Tartaros, and the other to protect Quinn-san." We all nodded. It sounded like a reasonable plan.

"Alright," Erza started. "Fairy Tail, with the exception of Wendy and Charle, Mermaid Heel, and Quatro Cerberus will go look for Tartaros. Sabertooth and Pixie Wing will stay here. Wendy, I want you to stay here and make sure that Quinn is recovering properly. If anyone finds something, report to the rest of us immediately. Understood?"

We all nodded again.

"Then go!" Erza shouted.

Fairy Tail went to the western direction of the forest. Mermaid Heel went to the southern direction of the forest. And Quatro Cerberus went to the northern direction of the forest. Sabertooth, Pixie Wing and Wendy and Charle stayed in the clearing, hoping that everything would go as planned this time.

Done! Finally, chapter 6 is done! Yay! Sorry that I haven't been updating in a while, so I'll try my best to update ASAP.

REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!

Thanks for reading!

~kani-leek-lover