The port town of Hargeon…
"Wow this brings back the memories! This is the town where I met Natsu and Happy!", Lucy explained as we strode into Hargeon.
"Brings back memories? It wasn't that long ago.", Natsu stated with a confused look on his face. I stifled a smile as Happy insulted Lucy and they began to argue. They certainly were a close-knit group.
Lucy controlled herself and strode off toward the harbor with a smile, "Come on! Let's go find us a boat that will talk us to Galuna Island!"
I felt my face turn green at the mention of transportation. It took all I had in me not to hurl all over the sidewalk.
"BOAT?! Don't be crazy, we're swimming there!", Natsu protested and I rolled my eyes. I hated transportation, but even I knew we couldn't swim to the island.
"I'd suggest flying, but Stella still needs to work on her skills and Happy can't carry two people all that way.", I grimaced once more at the thought of a b-b-boat.
"Well that's too bad then, because a boat is our only option.", Lucy declared and moved onto the dock to flag down someone to take us to the island.
"Galuna Island? Yeah right, we ain't going near that place!", one of the fisherman we talked to insisted.
"Forget it, we don't want to even hear that name!", the other stated emphatically.
"Sailors around here don't want to even talk about that place. It's cursed and is nothing but bad news.", a third concurred with his fellow fishermen.
"Alright, I've had enough of this! Time for me to try Erza's favorite approach!", I cracked my knuckles and began to glare menacingly at the now quivering fishermen when I heard Natsu and Lucy screech. I turned to see Gray standing behind them.
"Gotcha!", Gray grinned as Natsu and Lucy sprung away.
"Gray!"
"What are you doing here, popsicle pants?!"
"Gramps sent me to bring you guys back. Who knows if you go back now, you might not get kicked out.", Gray grinned again, taunting Natsu. I sighed, boys were so oblivious, Gray hadn't even noticed I was here. I crept closer to him as he and Natsu began to argue. Gray summoned some ice and Natsu his flames.
"Wait, you guys are wizards?!", the man cried out. "Are you going to try to break the islands curse?"
"Going to try to anyway.", Lucy smile weakly. That's when I struck. I hardened my fist to ice and before Gray could even fully turn, I punched him hard. He fell over like a bowling pin, unconscious as a dead body.
"It's settled then. Natsu, grab Gray. We'll take this boat.", I unfroze my fist and watched as Natsu grumbled and picked Gray up like a sack of potatoes.
"We're going to take Gray?", Lucy questioned as we began stepping onto the boat.
"If we let him go back, then they'll send Erza and he'll also report that I'm with you. I don't fancy having to talk Erza down from murder.", I explained, then all my talking was done as I stepped into the boat. I slumped half over the side as Stella murmured comforting words and stroked my hair. As Natsu and Lucy stepped onboard, I summoned just enough magic to freeze Gray's arms to his chest. Afterwards, we set sail for Galuna Island.
We were halfway there and I was absolutely miserable. "I get that this is a little late to say but, I'm scared.", Lucy whimpered.
"You say that after you tie me up?!", Gray fumed.
"Technically, I froze you.", I added, then hurled into the ocean.
"Very helpful, Ice Princess!", Gray snarled at me. I growled and then yanked him up.
"If you push me Gray, I will hurl you out of this boat and let you float back to Magnolia.", I growled at him. "Am I clear?"
"Whatever. On a different note, why are you taking us to the island?", Gray changed topics quickly and I turned to hear the fisherman's answer.
"My name is Bobo. I used to live on that cursed island. I fled it. You will be cursed once you step on it, as are all who go to that island. Can you really lift this curse? This demon's curse...", Bobo flung his cloak aside and Lucy and Gray gasped. I narrowed my eyes at the sight of his arm, which had been transfigured into a demonic arm.
"Your arm!", Gray gasped and his eyes were wide.
"Curse, you don't mean…", Lucy's voice trailed off.
Bobo draped his cloak back over his arm and turned to the wheel once more. "There it is…", he muttered. "Galuna Island." We all stared straight at the island and Lucy squinted.
"What is that? The mountaintop is glowing…". She stared at the glowing peak, which I could barely see from my position slung over the edge. Then Lucy screeched. "Where did he go?"
"He just disappeared!", Gray exclaimed and I saw that Bobo had disappeared from the prow of the boat. Then a rumble followed.
"What was that?", Lucy wondered aloud.
"G-guys!", Gray went pale and we turned to see a giant wave preparing to crest behind us. "Hold on!", he yelled as the wave began to crest. I lunged for Stella who threw herself at me. I clutched her close to me as we disappeared into the sea. I struggled to reach the surface while clinging to Stella and my pack but with the waves I couldn't reach the surface and a current yanked Stella away from me. I made to scream but then water flooded my mouth. After what seemed like an eternity, my vision went black.
"Aquila, Aquila! Wake up, wake up!", I heard a persistent voice call to me and I struggled to force my eyes to open. I opened my eyes to glaring sunlight and palm trees, then turned to my left and saw Stella frantically shaking my arm.
"Oh thank god!", I gasped and pulled Stella into a hug. "Are you alright, Stella? Are you hurt?", I asked once I released her.
"No, I'm fine, but Happy is stuck in the sand.", Stella frowned at the thought of the other cat stuck. I gave a small smile then eased into a standing position. I could see we had washed up on Galuna Island. I shifted and was pleasantly surprised to discover that my pack had not come loose from my back. I surveyed the area and saw that Natsu and Gray were next to each other on the beach, the ice having melted when I had gone unconscious and Happy stuck face first in the sand. I could see that Lucy was also standing and had made her way down to the boys.
"Natsu wake up!", Lucy had freed Happy and was trying to shake my fellow dragon slayer back into consciousness. I made my way over to Gray and turned him over and began to shake him.
"Huh?! Where are we?!", Gray awoke with a start, and began to spit out questions.
"We're on Galuna Island, a giant wave washed us ahore.", Lucy answered as Natsu woke up.
"Awesome! So we made it!", Natsu roared as Gray groaned.
"So once again, we narrowly lucked out.", he stated as I helped him stand. We all gathered our washed up supplies and regrouped.
"What was up with that guy anyway? He mentioned something about a demon's curse…" Lucy pondered aloud.
"Who cares? Let's go exploring!" Natsu flamed his excitement and I smacked him across the back of the head.
"You'll care if we turn into demons in the next five minutes! We came to fix the islands curse and if that is the curse we need to know about it!", I yelled at the now cowering Natsu and Happy.
"According to the flyer you read to me Aquila, there should be a village on this island and the chief posted the job.", Stella chirped and I smiled.
"Good idea, we should head out then-",
"Wait.", Gray's command seemed to echo.
"You can't take us back, the boat is destroyed.", Natsu complained.
"No, I'm coming with you. I can't let you guys beat me to the second floor.", Gray let the sass leak into his tone and I rolled my eyes, he just couldn't seem to notice that I was there. Not that it you know, irritated me or anything.
"First, ice princess, I beat you all to the second floor a long time ago, and second of all, were you just going to wander around while we did all the work? Send up smoke signals perhaps, get a tan? Idiot.", I scolded him but I hid a smile. There was the Gray that I knew, the competitive one.
"Tch, I was talking to them Ice princess.", Gray rolled his eyes then grinned like a fool. "Let's go!"
"Aye!"
"Yeah!"
I grinned at Natsu and Lucy's cheers. "Let's get moving then." We began our trek through the woods then moving in the direction Stella said the village was in. The village finally came into view after several hours, the sky was dark and the stars had come out.
A sign was posted on the front gate that stated keep out. "What does that even mean? Why was that sign posted?", Gray frowned at the warning posted on the gate.
Lucy decided to ignore the sign however, and called out, "Excuse me, we're the wizards from Fairy Tail, here to answer your job request, please open the gates!"
Two guards stood over the edge and called down to us, "Nobody notified us about the job being accepted!"
Gray improvised and shouted back up, "Probably a mix-up with the paperwork."
The guards remained suspicious and shouted back, "Show us your emblems!"
Lucy held her right hand up with its back to them, revealing her pink emblem. Natsu turned and revealed his red emblem on his right shoulder. Gray pulled his shirt up to reveal his dark blue on his chest. I leaned back to reveal my cobalt emblem underneath my right breast.
"It's them! They really came!", the guards yelled back to the village and began to raise the gates.
"It looks like we're going into a giant monster's mouth.", Happy commented and Stella looked rather alarmed.
"Aquila, are we going into a monster? I don't want to go into a monster!", Stella stated nervously, flying up and landing on my head.
"No Stella, Happy just said it looks like one, I promise, we're not going into a monster.", I pat the ginger cat's fur and shot a glare at Happy, who dove behind Natsu. We entered the village and found all the inhabitants wore cloaks and head scarves, concealing all but their eyes.
"I am Moka, the chief of this island village. Let's get down to business. Please look at what the curse has done. Everyone!", the chief barked out the command and everyone dropped their cloaks and masks.
Every person in that village had at least one limb turned demonic. "Just like the man on the boat.", Gray muttered.
"This is what I wanted you to see. Everything on this island is affected by this curse, even dogs and birds.", the chief explained.
"I don't mean to cause doubt on your story, but are you sure it's a curse? Couldn't it be a contagious disease?", Gray asked.
"We've consulted dozens of doctors, and they all say no such disease exists. Plus the moon's magic has to do with us taking these forms.", the chief insisted earnestly. I was skeptical, no magic I knew of could do this.
"The moon's magic?", Lucy sounded confused and the chief deigned to explain to her and the rest of us.
"The island has absorbed moonlight since ancient times. It made the entire island shine beautifully, like the moon. However, some years ago, the moon's light suddenly turned purple."
"Purple moon light?", Natsu clarified.
"Look the moon's coming out!", Happy cried out. As the moon poked out from behind the clouds, indeed it was purple. Something wasn't right here, I had seen the moon multiple nights while we were on our way back from Clover. Why would it be white and pure out there but purple here?
"It's true the moon is purple!", Lucy cried out.
"This just got creepy.", Gray said.
"It's a curse. This is the moon's magic.", Moka said but then all around us people suddenly began to fall to their knees in pain.
"Wh-what?!", Lucy shrieked and we all began to back up, what was going on here? And if it was a curse, of which I wasn't convinced, why wasn't it affecting us?
"What's going on?", Gray yelled.
"What the hell?", Natsu stammered out. The townspeople were turning into demons in front of our very eyes.
"I apologize for the shock.", Moka was solemn faced as we stared at the villagers in horror.
"What in the world is with you guys?", Gray murmured.
"You poor people…", Lucy trailed off.
"You're so… You're so COOL! You're so lucky, I want some horns and spike too!", Natsu hollered. The villagers and the rest of our group stared at Natsu in shock. He was a moron, an absolute moron.
The villagers murmured in shock at finding someone who wasn't horrified by their condition. "Get it together! They don't want to be like this Nastu!", Lucy scolded him.
I swung a fist and knocked Natsu over. "My apologies, he has no filter. We need to start working on a solution.", I apologized to the villagers as Gray sniggered at Natsu's predicament. Then he was joining him in the dirt.
"Anyway, as you can see, we take the form of demons whenever the purple moon comes out. If this isn't a curse, what else is?! Come morning, we're all back to normal. However there are some that lose their minds and never change back. We've since made it a rule… to kill those who transform into mindless monsters. ", Moka bowed his head in hopelessness.
"WHAT?! Even though, there is a chance that they might change back?!", Natsu yelled.
"We have to, or they will kill us all! We've tried to capture them, but they just break free. As a result… I had to kill my own son.", Moka whispered, as a tear slipped down his cheek. At the dreaded news, that he killed his own son, I felt my stomach turn. I turned away for a moment and bit down on the feelings rising down. Now was not the time for me to start picking at the tangled mess that was my past.
Moka continued, "My son, whose mind became that of a demon." His hand dropped, revealing a picture of, the man from the boat?!
Lucy opened her mouth to proclaim that we had seen that man, when Gray shushed her. "I figured out why that man vanished. It's because he can't rest in peace.", Gray murmured, and I felt my doubt rise. I had been all over Fiore on requests, and I had never heard of ghosts except in horror stories. There had to be a more clear cut explanation on why we had seen a supposedly dead man.
"Please, save this island. It's only a matter of time until we all lose our minds and become demons.", Moka bowed in pleading before us and Natsu growled.
"We won't let that happen! We'll figure something out! There's only one way to lift our curse, you must destroy the moon." Moka proclaimed. We could only stare at what they had determined to be the answer to their curse.
After that proclamation, they realized we had walked all day to get to the village and ushered us to a room for us to spend the night in.
"You know, that moon keeps getting creepier the more at look at it.", Happy mused as he and Stella peered out the window.
"Happy, hurry and shut the window. You heard the village chief, we'll wind up demons too if we're exposed to the moonlight for too long.", Lucy chided Happy.
"Man, talk about a tall order.", Natsu moaned form a chair.
"ASking us to the destroy the moon is a bit much…", Gray agreed, though I'm sure it was unintentional, with Natsu.
"I'm not sure what's going on here to be frank. I've never heard of a curse like this. We need to investigate further.", I leaned against the door frame.
"I'm not sure that there is any wizard who could do it, if that's even what we're supposed to be doing.", Lucy voiced from her spot by the scavenged luggage.
"He hired us to destroy the moon, so we've got to do it, it would hurt Fairy Tail's reputation if we backed out on a job without finishing it.", Natsu argued and I shook my head.
"Natsu, we need more information, it isn't as simple as bash something to pieces. You guys wanted to learn about being S-class, well this is it ladies and gentleman, often there's too many questions, not enough answers, and you need to be able to think on the spot.", I lectured only to discover I had been completely ignored, and they had proceeded to argue with Natsu about how he could not destroy the moon. Then before I could interject, Gray's short smacked into my face.
"Well, after walking all day, after being shipwrecked, I'm beat man.", Gray said as he peeled out of his clothes.
"Watch it stripper!", I snapped as my eyebrow twitched in anger at his carelessness.
"Well, we can explore tomorrow! Now for sleep!", Natsu cheered as he dived on top of the beds provided for us.
"Aye sir!", Happy dove with him.
"We can do our thinking tomorrow.", Gray sighed as he hit his mattress.
"Yeah, I'm tired, too. Let's get some sleep." Lucy settled into the bed in between the boys and I smiled as I blew out the lanterns they used to light the room.
"Come on Stella, into bed.", I whispered as I laid down and my cat snuggled into my arms. I laid upon my pillow as the comforting rhythm of Natsu and Gray's snores began, joined by Stella's quiet purring. As I drifted of I thought about the sadness on Moka's face at the thought of killing his son and I wondered,
Did Isole, ever feel that way about what she tried to do to me?
A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter! Leave me a review letting me know what you think about everything that's going on so far! Also just to clarify any confusion, Isole is Aquila's dragon parent. I hope to have the next chapter up soon!
