Rules.
Are they what the claim to be?
Simple instructions to be followed rigorously?
Or are they merely limits, meant to be pushed and tested
Do discover what the lies behind them?
"!" Makarov shouted. "What do you mean one of the S-Class jobs is missing!"
"There where three, and now there are only two!" Mira said. It had only been about two to three hours since Happy stole the job form from the second level.
"This is bad… Laxus! Did you see anything?" Makarov asked. Blond in question merely waved from the second level.
"I think I saw a cat take it." Laxus replied.
"A cat? It was obviously Happy! Why didn't you stop him!" Mira shouted. Laxus just grinned in response.
"I didn't know it was a cat, I thought it was just an every-day stray." The blond replied. "Besides… one S-Class mission never hurt anyone."
"Do you not remember the first one YOU took on Laxus!" Makarov replied. Laxus didn't reply to that comment, but still grinned. "Damn… we need to bring Natsu back before he gets himself killed. Erza is off on a job… and she is probably the only one who could bring him back…"
"What about Ragna?" Mira asked.
"Possibly… but he is off doing… something… didn't he just take several small local jobs off the board?" Makarov asked.
"Yea… grand total for all the jobs he took would amount to about… thirty thousand jewel… why did he take on so many?" Mira asked. But Makarov was more concerned about other matters.
"Damn… there isn't anyone else who is able to and is willing to bring Natsu back…" Makarov said. The sound of a chair falling backward could be heard, as Gray stood up.
"I think your underestimating some of us, Master." Gray said, and turned for the door, silently accepting the responsibility for the job.
-Mongolia Harbor-
"So, what made you change your mind?" Natsu asked. Him, Happy, and Lucy walking together.
"Oh… no reason! It just sounded like a good idea suddenly!" Lucy replied. She had switched her usual shirt for an orange and yellow tank top.
"She must have seen the Gold Key reward part." Happy said.
"Probably should have said that up front, huh?" Natsu replied.
"Aye." Happy said back.
"I am not that predictable!" Lucy shouted.
"Yes you are." Natsu said back.
"Aye!" Happy added.
"You people are the worst…" Lucy said with a sigh. They then decided to split up and find a ferry to the island, known as Galuna Island. However, no matter how many people they asked, they all said the same thing… no. They searched all over, and not one person would even consider it, even for a bribe.
"This is harder than I thought…" Natsu said, sitting down on a step near the dock.
"Aye…" Happy added.
"We can't do this job if we can't even get out to Galuna Island…." Lucy said, sitting down next to Natsu. They both suddenly jumped up when they felt hands on their shoulders.
"Gotcha!" Gray said from behind.
"Gray! What are you doing here?" Natsu asked.
"Preventing you from acting like a dumbass!" Gray said. "Come on, if we go back now, you might be able to avoid being expelled from the guild."
"E-e-expelled…!" Lucy said quietly, slowly going past Gray.
"No way!" Natsu shouted. "I want to do an S-Class mission!"
"Natsu… little idiot. I'm going to take you back, even if I have to dra- GAH!" Gray suddenly shouted out, and fell unconscious. It turns out Lucy had hit the back of Gray's head; the blow was powerful enough to knock out the ice maker.
"Alright!" Lucy shouted.
"Great!" Natsu said, picking gray up. "Now… to find-" Natsu started, before a voice was heard, catching the salamander's attention.
"The hell are you people up to?" Ragna shouted from the top the steps. He jumped down to them. "And what the hell happened to him?" He said, motioning toward Gray being hoisted up by Natsu.
"W-well… we are going a job and Gray fell and hit is head. But he really wanted to come, so we decided to carry him here!" Lucy said. 'Please oh please god… don't say he saw me hit him!' she silently hoped. Ragna approached Natsu carrying Gray and inspected the unconscious ice mage.
"Well… shit. But I guess stuff happens, right? Hope he is going to be ok…" Ragna said.
'Yes! He bought it! He bought it!' Both Lucy and Natsu thought at the same time.
"Oh, that reminds me! You took a whole bunch of local jobs right? Why?" Natsu asked. Ragna scratched his head.
"Covering my ass for rent for the month. Thirty thousand is apparently hard to find a local job for…" Ragna said.
"How did you get a apartment for thirty thousand! Mine costs seventy thousand!" Lucy shouted.
"….You get a discount for saving the proprietors' ass." Ragna said. "Guy was being held at gun-point when I went in to find a place… kicked the gun-men's ass, and I get a nice place to stay. I already paid for this month's rent with the jobs I undertook today." Ragna finished.
"That's so unfair…" Lucy said.
"So anyway, speaking of jobs… what's yours?" Ragna asked.
"Saving a cursed island! Seven million jewel! Plus a Gold Key for Lucy!" Natsu said.
"Seven million? Are you shitting me!" Ragna said with shock. "How the hell did you nab it before someone else tagged it! I didn't seven see it on the board when I went after mine!"
"Oh… I have my ways…" Natsu said. 'S-Class missions pay a lot of money, you know…' he thought to himself.
"Excuse me… did you say you were going to save a cursed island?" Someone form the dock on a small boat said. He was dressed like a smile sailor with a brown cloak of sorts over his left arm. He wore a bandana on his head. "That wouldn't happen to be Galuna, would it?"
"Yea… it would, why?" Natsu asked.
"Are you sure about going there…?" the man asked.
"Sure as hell!" Natsu replied.
"Then… I guess I can take you… if you want." The man offered.
"Yeah! We found a way there!" Lucy said.
"Hey! Ragna! You want to come with us?" Natsu asked, still holding onto Gray.
"Eh… fuck it. Sure, ill back you up… but I'm expecting a cut of that seven million!" Ragna said.
"You got it! Let's go!" Natsu shouted with excitement.
-One Hour Later, Middle of the Sea-
"Ugh… I'm going to hurl…" Natsu said in despair.
"Tch… little wuss…" Ragna said. After his comment he glanced at the rest of the… crew. "Why is Gray tied up again…?"
"That's what I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW!" Gray shouted, tied from his shoulders to his legs in rope.
"You knew why you're tied up Gray." Lucy replied. Gray grumbled in frustration.
"O…K… moving on." Ragna said scratching his head. "Hey, sailor guy, how much farther?"
"Not to far… but, are you sure you really want to go to that Island?" The man asked.
"Well… considering that we are even here… what do you think?" Ragna replied. The man turned and actually smiled a bit.
"Well… I figured it would be a good idea to warn you now… of the islands curse…" The man said, taking off his cloak… revealing a purple right arm that appeared somewhat lanky and clawed, like that of a demon's.
"How…. How did that happened to you?" Lucy asked in shock.
"This is the curse of Galuna Island…" The man said in response. Suddenly, there was a barrage of loud crashes of waves coming from behind the small boat. The group turned to see a suddenly storm raging wildly, slowly closing in on them.
"Uh… hey… sailor man… think you could-" Ragna started to as, turning back around as he did so. But when he turned fully around… the man was gone, as if he had never been there in the first place.
"He is gone… where did he go!" Gray shouted, struggling against his bonds.
"Oh… son of a bitch…" Ragna said. Shortly afterward a giant wave came crashing down on the small ship, seemingly obliterating it into near nothingness…
-Several Hours Later, Beach Shore-
"Where… am I…?" Lucy said, coming too after their accident out on the high seas. She was surrounded by debris from the wave… but no sign of anyone. "Hello….? Anyone? Natsu! Gray!" She shouted in a panic, worried for not only herself, but her friends.
"YO!" a massive explosion of sand could be seen, and after it subsided, Natsu was standing there. "Damn… I got buried… But at least I'm not on the ship anymore!" He said with joy.
"Aye!" Happy said, practically attached to Natsu's back prior to him coming up for air.
"You three caused on hell of a mess…" Gray said from their right, emerging from what seemed like a forest of sorts…. Completely un-restrained. "Guess ill have to clean up after you this time…"
"Wait… your not going to force us back?" Natsu said, obviously surprised.
"Nah… truth be told… I've always wanted to go on a true S-Class job myself!" Gray said.
"BURST!" Is what could be heard from a large pile of wreckage, before a burst of dark energy from inside the wreckage itself erupted, completely demolishing it and launching what was left everywhere. When the dust settled, Ragna was standing, rubbing his neck in what seemed to be pain.
"God damn it… that hurt…" He said, rubbing his neck, approaching the group, seemingly unaware of what had gone on before his outburst. "Hey… where the hell are we?"
"I don't know… hmm…" Lucy said, looking around. "You don't think… that we are on Galuna, do you?"
"Yea! It's got to be it!" Natsu said, running into the forest with Happy close behind.
"Wait up Natsu!" Lucy shouted following suit.
"Hey! Get back here!" Gray shouted, joining them.
"…When in Rome." Ragna finished, following up the rear.
-15 Minutes Later, a Village Gate-
"This it?" Natsu asked, assuming that it was the place they were supposed to be for the job, considering it was blocked off by a large gated wall made of wood.
"Random wall in the middle of nowhere… what do you think…?" Ragna replied.
"But… How do we get inside?" Lucy asked. Suddenly, a small section at the top of the wall opened up, revealing the head of a villager.
"Who goes there! Who are you?" The man shouted. There was a very noticeable distance away, so that's why they had to shout.
"We are Fairy Tail Wizards! We came in response to your job request!" Gray shouted back.
"Really? We got notification that it was accepted!" The man replied.
"There must be some kind of delay in sending the verification! Please let us in!" Lucy shouted. The man left the little window for a moment, and after a short time, came back.
"Show me your marks!" The man shouted. One by one, each member of the fairy tail crew showed their Fairy Tail tattoos on their various places of their body. "Ok, looks good. Open the gate!" The man shouted, and slowly but surely, the village gates opened, revealing a small jungle-like village behind it.
"Huge wall for such a small place…" Ragna said, being brave and venturing inside, everyone following suit. They all quickly took notice to the fact that everyone in the village where wearing cloaks of some kind.
"Wizards of Fairy Tail… for what its worth, welcome to Galuna." A short old man said as he stepped forward. He was wearing a tribal garb of sorts along with his cloak. He was also carrying a staff with a crescent moon on the end. His side burns were abnormally long… reaching all the way down to his waist. "My name is Mota; I am the leader of this village."
"Nice sideburns!" Natsu said.
"So yea… why are we here again? Things actually seem kind of normal…" Ragna said.
"That is because… you haven't seen our curse." Mota said, and after saying so, the entirety of the village removed their cloaks… each one having a demonic appendage of some kind. Mota's was his right arm, and looked oddly similar to the sailor's arm.
"So… you all physically deformed in some way… I get it now." Ragna said.
"That is not all… when the moon falls…" Suddenly, in a single instant, night suddenly over took the area… bathing the entire area in a purple light… wait… purple?
"What the hell? The fuck is up with the moon? It's purple!" Ragna shouted. Suddenly moans where heard by the villages in reaction to the sudden nightfall. Almost instantly… all the villages transform into a demonic form. Each one different. Mota had transformed into a purple demon with horns, but kept his large side-burns. "Oh…! Now I REALLY understand you're… predicament." Ragna said in shock.
"How did this happen?" Lucy asked.
"About three years ago… the moon turns that purple color…and we all started to become like this! When the moon vanishes we return to normal… but sometimes one of us will not turn back and go crazy! And we are forced to slay them to defend ourselves…" Mota said… and suddenly began to cry. "Like my son, Bobo!"
"Wait…son? Didn't that sailor guy's arm look a lot like…?" Ragna asked his little group, referencing the sailor's arm's resemblance to Mota's arm.
"Keep quiet about it for now… it might not be the best time to bring it up…" Gray replied.
"Well, what do you want us to do?" Natsu asked.
"We want you to do one thing…destroy the moon to lift this curse!" Mota shouted.
-Bedroom inside a Village Building-
"At least they were nice enough to give us a room." Gray said.
"We agreed to smash the fucking moon… it's the least they could of done." Ragna replied.
"Close the window Gray… the villagers said that if we are exploded to the light for too long, we will turn into demons too." Lucy said. With that warning in mind, Gray shut the single window.
"Speaking of which… destroy the moon? How the hell are we going to pull that off?" Ragna asked.
"There has to be a catch… some kind of cause besides the purple moon behind this. If we can figure it out, we might be able to lift the curse without destroying the moon, which is what they really want." Lucy said.
"Or we could destroy the moon anyway." Natsu said.
"You couldn't even get to the moon!" Lucy shouted in response.
"I have Happy." Natsu replied.
"Aye!" Blue cat in question said, flying around in an attempt to prove Natsu's point.
"That won't help you at all…." Lucy said. The argument was interrupted by a loud yawn.
"Damn… I need sleep." Ragna said.
"Well It is rather late…. We should turn in for the night." Lucy agreed.
-Next Day, Forest on Galuna-
"How could I sleep next to those two last night…?" Lucy asked, tired. She was referencing both Gray and Natsu… who were noisy sleepers.
"Earplugs help." Ragna said, pulling a set out of his ears.
"…That's unfair…" Lucy said.
"If it makes you feel any better… I said "helps," not solve the entire damn problem…" Ragna replied. Lucy laughed a bit.
"Where are we going again?" Natsu asked as they walked.
"We are looking around for anything that could have possibly caused the curse to fall on the island." Gray answered.
"Why don't we just destroy the moon…?" Natsu asked.
"We went over this! You can't destroy-"
"Shh! Quiet!" Ragna warned. "Do you hear that…?" He whispered, just loud enough to be heard. The sound he mentioned sounded like footsteps…. And loud ones.
"Footsteps? Out here…? What could be big enough to make them?" Lucy whispered.
"No idea…" Gray replied.
"Listen… keep quiet and let's keep moving. If we are quiet enough, whatever it is might not know we are here." Ragna whispered… but his efforts were soon to be undermined.
"Hey! Whoever you are! Come out and fight me!" Natsu shouted.
"Aye!" Happy shouted as well.
"Hey! The fuck do you think your doing! Shut the fuck up!" Ragna whispered. "You trying to get our asses killed!"
"What? We don't have anything to worry about!" Natsu said back happily. A loud squall hold be heard. Then suddenly from the trees, a giant mouse with light blue fur, wearing a black maid's out-fit with pink lace burst forth.
"A giant mouse!" Lucy shouted in fear. Gray took a step back and appeared worried. Ragna shot a glare at Natsu.
"How the hell was I supposed to know?" Natsu said in response to Ragna's glare. Ragna replied by grab Natsu by the head, lifting him up, and chucking him at the head of the giant mouse. Natsu shouted as he collided with the giant mouse, which caused two things. One; Natsu bounced off due to the force and landed right in front of the group. Second; the force also knocked the giant mouse off his balance, forcing it to fall completely over. Ragna dusted off his hands.
"Done… now let's go." Ragna said, turning to leave.
"Ragna… Strong…" Natsu said as he got on his feet.
"Aye." Happy agreed.
"Skreee!" Was the sound heard by the group, as the giant mouse got back on her feet, but was still a little wobbly due to the impact.
"Huh… figured Natsu's skull would have been thicker." Ragna mused.
"You thought that would take something THAT big down!" Lucy shouted.
"Well… though big, it still was a mouse so I thought…" Ragna trailed off in thought.
"Either way, what are we going to do about it?" Gray asked.
"…Could kill it." Ragna suggested.
"Would be a good idea but… what if there are more…?" Gray asked.
"…Semi-reasonable point, but we could just kill any more we run into as well." Ragna said.
"What if there are A LOT more?" Gray asked. Ragna sighed.
"How about we knock it out instead then?" Ragna suggested. As they were talking, the mouse had gotten impatient, and charged at them full speed.
"Ice Make: Floor!" Gray shouted, and suddenly the ground in front of the mouse was suddenly incased in a thick ice, causing the mouse to slip and fall to the ground. The mouse struggled to its feet, but was met with darkness when it tried.
"Gauntlet Hades!" Ragna shouted, leaping over the ice and towards the mouse, delivering a powerful blow to the mouse's head. The force was more than enough to knock the mouse out cold. Ragna stood on the mouse's body and quickly jumped off, back towards the group.
"Good job Ragna!" Natsu congratulated.
"Yes yes… can we get going now…?" Ragna asked.
-10 Minutes Later, Ancient Ruins near the Center of the Island-
"Where are we now?" Natsu asked. They had just arrived at these ruins after defeating the maid-mouse and had walked into a large building of some sort.
"Some kind of ancient ruins… I wonder what this place was used for." Lucy asked. She looked around and saw various symbols involving the moon all over the walls. It all was somewhat foreboding.
"I got a bad feeling about this…" Ragna said.
"Getting scared Ragna?" Natsu mocked.
"Ssssssscared!" Happy joined in.
"Fuck off… I'm just saying staying here for too long is going to land our asses in trouble." Ragna shot back.
"Come on! Like that will happen!" Natsu said, stomping his foot on the ground repeatedly.
"Natsu! Stop it!" Lucy warned, she could already see the ground below his foot begin to crack.
"What are you scared of? The ground is as solid as a ro-" Natsu was cut off when a large section of the ground broke and fell into what seemed like a extremely large hole… with the area so large that it consumed the entire group. The fell straight through the ground and landed hard in what seemed like a deep cavern.
"Ugh… what happened…?" Gray asked, rubbing his head and sitting up.
"Well… what do you know…" Natsu said with a smile, and receiving a punch for what had just happened from Ragna.
"You! Stop destroying things!" Ragna demanded, referring to the fire-breather.
"Yea… Listen to him Natsu." Gray said… magically now missing all of his clothes except for his underwear.
"You! Stop striping in public!" Ragna shouted, referring to Gray's unhealthy habit.
"GACK!" Gray shouted and redressed.
"You both should listen to him!" Lucy said.
"And you-" Ragna started, but paused for a moment. "I… actually can't name any out-standing bad things about you, Lucy…" Lucy took this as a compliment and smiled in a bit of a proud way.
"Either way… while we are here, we should at least check out what's in this cave…" Gray said, everyone nodding in agreement. They turned and walked down one section of the cavern at a rather quick pace. After some time, they eventually found there way into a large room inside the cavern. The size of the room was truly immense, and there seemed to be something of a mist floating in the air. But what seemed to stick out most was a extremely large section of ice in the far end of it, which nearly hit the ceiling.
"Whoa… son of a bitch! That thing is huge!" Ragna said, looking at the large chunk of ice.
"What is something like that doing here…?" Lucy asked.
"…No…" gray said quietly, stepping forward, closer to the ice. It was made clear that they were on something of a cliff, in the room. "No…! No no no! Why… why is HE HERE!" Gray shouted franticly.
"Hey, calm down. The hell is wrong with you?" Ragna asked.
"In the ice…" Gray said simply, prompting Ragna to step in closer. When he got closer seem saw something… dark with-in the ice… he could tell it was very large, taking up the majority of the ice-block.
"I think I see it… but what the hell is it?" Ragna asked. Lucy, Natsu, and Happy approached as well, seeing just about the same.
"It may be hard to see because of the lighting and the mist… but I would tell that appearance though anything…!" Gray asked, and then gulped. "It's Deliora! A massive demon!"
"Demon…?" Lucy asked, now scared.
"A Demon! Cool!" Natsu said, his fists igniting. "Let's thaw it and kill it! I bet it's what's causing the curse!" Natsu shouted, before being punch to the ground almost instantly by Gray. "Hey! Why did you…." Natsu started, but stopped speaking when he saw Gray's face… angry. Angry and somewhat… scared maybe? Whatever it was, Gray was definitely not himself.
"You can't… nothing can melt that ice…" Gray said.
"Then why did you hit me!" Natsu shouted.
"I… don't know…" Gray replied.
"Ok… how about you explain some shit then?" Ragna asked. Gray turned then sighed.
"It was about ten years ago… Deliora had been destroying cities in the north of the continent. He was truly a monster, destroying every single living being and every single structure that it saw… including my home. Almost nothing could stop it. My teacher, the one who taught me ice make, risked her life to seal it up in that un-meltable ice…" Gray finished.
"Really…? Sounds bad…" Lucy commented. Ragna hold up his right arm a bit and glanced at it.
"You ok Ragna?" Happy asked, flying behind him.
"Yea… fine. Just… remembering some things." Ragna said, appearing distracted.
"Like?" Gray asked. "I told you something personal, now you tell me."
"…My world… had its own little… well, not exactly little, but a monster… a bad one." Ragna said.
"How bad?" Lucy asked.
"From the time it came into existence to when it was defeated, it brutally annihilated over half of the world's population." Ragna said.
"H-h-half! Of the world!" Lucy stammered, nervous.
"Scary!" Happy shouted.
"…What was its name?" Gray asked. Ragna sighed.
"People just called it 'The Black Beast.' There was no other name for it… no one wanted to truly give it one. Only reason it was called that was because of its immense dark body, blacker than any darkness man could hope to create. It appeared from nowhere… and all it did was kill and eat. Nothing could stop it, period. It was completely and totally immune to all conventional weaponry…. No matter what the shot at it, it didn't even flinch; it just got pissed and killed whoever shot it off in the first place. It was the literal definition of an unstoppable juggernaut." Ragna explained.
"How did they stop something like that? Did they seal it away somehow?" Natsu asked.
"Nope… the found a way, and killed it. Six warriors, who are now known as the Six Heroes, appeared and fought the beast numerous times, attempting to slow its march. Around the time that it hit the fifty percent mark, it suddenly went dormant, didn't do anything to the world for an entire year. During that time period the Six Heroes along with humanity developed Ars Magus, using seither was a power-source, and seither is what the black beast was made out of. They used The Black beast's own body as a weapon, and slew it. But… the after-effects were far reaching. Seither gas, which is highly poisonous to humans spread throughout the world, bathing it. Everything except the mountains was covered in a toxic shroud." Ragna finished.
"So… even when killed… most of your world is inhabitable…?" Gray asked. Ragna nodded. "Well… that's just a bit worse than mine…"
"Your fine. Black Beast was about seventy years ago. I never met it… but… never mind…" Ragna said, trailing off.
"What? What were you going to say?" Natsu asked.
"…According to history…" Ragna stood up, and appeared serious. "I'm The Black Beast." This bit of information caused the mood to turn dark… very dark.
"But… you said The Black Beast died!" Lucy shouted.
"It did. But... the creation of The Black Beast involved me and my Azure Grimoire to fall into a cauldron with another user of a Grimoire. The caldron's energy would then spin out of control with the two Grimoires now apart of it, and become The Black Beast. The force of creation was so great, that it sent the beast and anyone else in the cauldron that was still alive back in time… the time where The Black Beast first appeared, as well as completely obliterating the timeline the Beast came from." Ragna finished.
"If what you say is true…: Lucy thought for a moment. "Time loop! If that is what happened, then time would continue to loop indefinitely to the same point of obliteration, starting back over when the Black Beast appeared!"
"That's right… but in one of the loops, it was broken, I didn't fall into the cauldron, I was saved by… a friend. That's the timeline I'm from." Ragna finished.
"That's a really amazing story…" Natsu said.
"Aye…" Happy agreed.
"…You said The Black Beast did nothing for a single year… why was that?" Gray asked.
"My name-sake." Ragna said simply. Everyone appeared confused, so the Grim Reaper went into further detail. "Someone simply named 'Bloodedge,' met and fought The Black Beast… and kept it at bay for an entire year, fighting it non-stop."
"Fighting for an entire year… I don't even thinks gramps could do that!" Natsu said, referring to Makarov.
"However, he gave his life during that fight to save a friend, who was one of the six heroes and my master. The weapon he used was my blade, and he wore the coat I'm wearing right now. So to honor his memory… I am now Ragna the Bloodedge." He finished.
"What's your real last name?" Lucy asked.
"I've forgotten that a long time ago…" Ragna said.
"Your world… it sounds really intense…" Gray said.
"It is. Trust me. And because of that, I'm in no hurry to go back… understand?" Ragna asked.
"And you're wanted with a bounty the size of a small country." Natsu said, being informed by Erza some time after the Lullaby incident.
"Aye" Happy added in.
"That too…" Ragna said. "But enough about me… what are we going to do with this big guy?" Ragna asked, pointing this thumb toward the still frozen Deliora.
"It should still be on the northern part of the continent… So someone definitely brought it here intentionally…"Gray mused.
"Sting Op." Ragna suggested. "Whoever brought it here will come in to check on it. When they do, we jump them, kick their ass, and call it a day. Or if you're feeling adventurous, we could tail them to their hiding spot."
"That's a good idea… but we really should capture them and any other associates they have." Lucy replied.
"Ok then. Get comfortable then I guess." Ragna said.
-4 Hours Later-
The fruits of the group's patience had finally presented themselves… but not really in the way they had intended. Suddenly during their steak-out a bright purple light flashed in the room, directly above Deliora. The light came from a magic seal, which was spewing its purple light downward, on top of the demon's frozen prison.
"Hey… the hell is going on here now?" Ragna asked.
"I have no idea!" A young-looking girl shouted from behind Ragna. She had waist length hair that curled at the end, with a pink bonnet on top. Her cheeks had blush marks, and she wore a long dress with heart prints by her waist, with leather shoes as well. She had wings and was carrying a giant harp on her back.
"I'm sorry… but who are you again?" Ragna asked, confused by this girls sudden appearance.
"She is Lyra, one of my Celestial Spirits. I summoned her about an hour ago to play some music to keep us entertained." Lucy said.
"I still say you don't summon me enough!" Lyra complained.
"Then let me summon you more than three times a month!" Lucy replied.
"You can bicker later. Right now, lets get top-side and see what the fuck is happening." Ragna said.
"Sounds like a plan to me! Let's go kick some ass Happy!" Natsu said, taking down the tunnel.
"Aye sir!" Happy replied, flying down the tunnel with him.
"Natsu! Get back here!" Gray shouted
"…Oh no, wait up. I'm not quite ready yet… fuckers." Ragna said. "Let's go Lucy."
"Coming!" Lucy shouted, with her celestial spirit following close behind.
-Unknown Laboratory-
"God damn… where the hell did he go!" A pink haired woman with cat ears said as she typed away at her computer furiously. What were going passed on the screen were maps… and a lot of them, and they seemed to be scanning for something… or someone. "No… no… damn it no!" She smashed her hands on the keyboard. "Where the hell is he! Even if he isn't in Kagutsuchi, he should have turned up by now!" She had been there searching for several days without sleep. Suddenly a massage appeared at the front of her screen, but she immediately dismissed it and closed the page, and resumed her search. It popped up again, reading as an urgent message, but she dismissed it again. It popped up for a third time, and it angered her. "Leave me the fuck alone!" And she deleted it again. It showed itself a fourth time, this time reading 'No, I will not,' as if answering her question. Silently, she opened it. And it read as follows:
Whoever is reading this message,
You don't know me, nor do I know you. However, I have come to know that you are missing someone important from your world. And that his disappearance has baffled you. I am here to inform you of that certain someone's whereabouts. Due to circumstances, I strongly recommend memorizing this message and deleting it, like the past three that I have sent to you. The attached file contains the estimated location as of now. As with it, delete it as soon as you are done with it. I would like to respect your targets wish to remain unknown to certain... individuals.
Sorry to disturb your very busy schedual.
Signed Mystogun.
"…How the hell did someone even get into my network to send this?" the woman yelled out. She was about to attempt to trace the message, when a phone rang beside her. She quickly answered. "That you?" She asked. After hearing a response from the other side, she started to speak again. "Forget that assignment for now, just get your red ass up here. I think I found him." The conversation ended quickly as the woman closed the phone. She began to tap away on her computer, reviewing the valuable information that was just allocated to her.
Friends long and far
Are still friends.
For as long as you wish them to be.
This is one of the very few simplistic things in life.
