We walked into a shoe store and I bought a pair of black, knee-high boots. They went well with my outfit. But I'd moved on from how amazing my outfit was. My mind was stuck on the fact that I didn't see any reviews for my story. That's what I was going to call my life now, a story. It made sense to call it a story, that's what it was, wasn't it?
"Ne, the review thing still getting to you?" Lucy asked. I nodded silently. Lucy and Erza smiled sadly at me.
"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll show up again soon," Erza said smiling sadly at me. I smiled back. I hoped she was right. Things just didn't seem right without the reviews showing up. Actually, things didn't seem right at all. I had a bad feeling in my gut and it sent a shiver down my spine. Something in the back of my mind was telling me to be careful, to be alert, and to keep an eye out for anything strange or out of place.
I'd always had a pretty good intuition. My intuition had saved my butt a good couple of times, so why not trust it now? I had already noticed that something was off. That thing would be the reviews. I guess maybe I was just being paranoid. Maybe that was how it really worked, I receive reviews for a certain number of chapters then I get Story Stats. I couldn't know for sure. I just had to wait and see what happened next.
I didn't notice that we'd made it back to the guild. I must've been too deep in thought to have noticed. I shook my head, things were getting pretty stressful.
"Something wrong?" Wendy asked me. I smiled down at her. She must've come back to the guild after helping Lucy, Levy and I escape from the fight. I patted the little Sky Dragon Slayer's head softly and reassuringly.
"It's nothing I can't handle," I assured her. "I'll be fine." Wendy looked at me skeptically. I knew she didn't trust me when I told her everything was okay. I could practically feel the anxiety radiating off of me.
I wanted to leave the guild and go back to Lucy's apartment. It wasn't that I didn't want to be at the guild anymore, I was just still so very tired. How could I not be? Not only was the previous fatigue weighing down on me, but now I had some emotional and mental stress adding onto my exhaustion. It was getting late and that only added to my weariness. The natural body-clock said that it was time for sleep, my body needed to rest.
"Hey, everyone, how do you like Alice-chan's new outfit?" Erza asked the guild members. They responded with a round of shouting, hooting, and hollering. It made me feel so embarrassed. Gosh that place was filled with a bunch of perverts! The guys whistled at me, impressed with my new clothing. The girls, however, squealed in approval at the new outfit. I was put on the spot. Now I really wanted to leave.
I wondered why we had even gone back to the guild in the first place. I scoffed to myself. Of course, Erza and Lucy just wanted to show off the new look. It was totally predictable.
"Hey, Allie, fight me!" Natsu shouted. I rolled my eyes at his words. Of course he would be the one who totally didn't notice my new outfit, or just didn't care enough to say anything. I'll be honest; it was nice to see that not everyone was eyeing my goods.
"No!" I shouted back in response. I laughed a little when he pouted in disappointment. I also noticed the nickname he gave me. Maybe he was the one who gave everyone in the guild their nickname. I shrugged it off.
"Hey, you don't look so good," a voice sounded from behind me. I turned to see that it was none other than Gray Fullbuster. I could practically feel Juvia burning holes through me with her glare.
"I'm just really tired," I told him. I wanted to get away from him before Juvia tried to drown me. I had no doubt in my mind that the water mage was off somewhere mumbling about how she had another "love rival".
Gray, like Wendy, gave me a skeptical look.
"You look more than tired. Did something happen?" the ice-make mage asked with concern. I opened my mouth to speak, but instead another voice sounded. It was a laugh, a malicious laugh.
"Did something happen? Well, I would certainly say so," the voice said. It was deep and husky, definitely a male, and I didn't recognize the voice at all. It scared me, oh, did it scare me. The owner of the voice didn't show themselves, but their loud voice echoed throughout the guild hall.
"Who are you?" Master Makarov asked furiously. He seemed to have the same feeling that I had. It was a feeling that told me not to trust the voice. There was something off about it; the best thing to do was to stay clear from it no matter the circumstances.
"Wouldn't you like to know who I am?" the voice asked teasingly, but it was a friendly kind of tease. You could hear by the tone that the man behind the voice had no good intentions, none whatsoever.
It was silent for a moment. No one dared to speak. I myself almost didn't breath, I wasn't sure if it was safe to do so. Maybe I was hallucinating. There was a very good chance that I'd fallen asleep at some random point.
"I assure you, you're not asleep, little Author." Now, I didn't breathe at all. I couldn't, how was I supposed to when a person I didn't even know just seemed to read my mind? It seemed everyone else in the guild was equally scared. There was a deep chuckle of amusement that pulled me out of my stupor.
"Wh-who are you?" I asked with a shaky voice. I felt like I was going to pass out. Jeez it was scary!
"You may never know," the man replied, at least, I assumed it was a man. "I can tell you, however, that you may never see your world again."
My stomach dropped, my heart stopped, my eyes went wide with fear, my body trembled and quivered, and my throat ran dry. I- I would never see my world again? There was a possibility that I would never see my family again? An idea hit me like a cold, hard chunk of ice. Maybe he was the one who messed with the reviews? Was there a possibility that he was the reason I couldn't get back to my world in the first place?
"No, your mother fried the breaker," the man said. My jaw dropped. That part made total sense. If the power in my world went out then the internet would be cut off and I wouldn't be able to get back. But, surely the power was fixed by now, right?
"The power in your home is fixed, but you can't leave," the man answered. I heard a chorus of confused mummers around me. It isn't hard to see why, right? The guy without a face or body was just answering questions that I had never voiced. You'd be confused too, wouldn't you?
"Why can't I go home?" I asked, finally getting enough of a grip on myself to speak.
"That is quite simple," he began. "You can't leave because I won't let you."
