Chapter Eight
AN: Yay! The new Spirit is revealed! Sorry for not posting last week, I had some family business to take care of. For my American readers, Happy Halloween! As always: I don't own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does. Enjoy!
"'When will we be arriving?' she asks," said Horologium. Team Natsu was back in the mountains, this time far to the north, and Lucy had taken refuge from the cold inside her clock spirit.
Erza checked the map, squinting to see through the snow. "Not long. If we haven't gotten turned around by the snow, we should be arriving at the holdings in a few minutes."
"Luce, why are you hiding in there? It's not that cold!" called Natsu, whose body temperature made the snow melt around him. "See? Even Ice Princess is fine!" And Gray was, actually, very comfortable. The raven-haired Ice mage had stripped down to his boxers and the snow, melted by Natsu, turned to ice around him.
"What did you say, Firebreath?" he shouted angrily, glaring at the Dragon Slayer.
"Don't you two dare," yelled Erza. "If you two fight now, you could cause an avalanche! I won't have Fairy Tail paying for the damages if you two get a town destroyed!" As the three continued arguing about the likelihood of an avalanche and whether Fairy Tail would be held responsible for it, the mages and cat arrived in front of a towering structure of ice. Horologium disappeared back into the Spirit World and Lucy immediately started shivering.
"Quiet!" she screamed. "We're here, I think!"
"Aye!" called Happy weakly. The poor Exceed couldn't fly because his wings had frozen over. He was now hiding in Natsu's vest.
"You are correct, Lucy," said the Requip mage as she looked at the map and squinted up at the glittering edifice. "Look! There are doors carved into the front!" The team hauled the doors open, noticing they had been carved with strange swirls and waves. The way the light hit them blinded the mages, making them see odd colors and shapes. They slowly entered the ice castle, for lack of a better description, and were dazzled by light again.
"Seriously? This place is too bright," whined Natsu, rubbing his eyes.
"I'm sorry you feel that way," said a cool new voice. "You'll have to get used to strange things if you want to get my key." Team Natsu looked up and found a woman standing at the top of a grand staircase of ice. It was this very staircase that had rendered them sightless upon entering. The woman slowly walked down the stairs. She had long ice-blue hair and lilac colored eyes. She wore a long, glittering, white gown. As she reached the end of the stairs, she stopped and spoke again. "Welcome to my holdings. I am Regina. I was chosen by this Celestial Dark Spirit key because of my ability to warp the reality of others." She smirked at the mages. "Try to find your way through this!" she called as she stamped her foot.
The mages fell down as the floor they had been standing on suddenly started rising. They were raised through a hole in the ceiling, where the floor stopped, sealing them inside a room. An empty doorway stood waiting as the mages untangled themselves and stood up. They cautiously exited the room and found three hallways branching off. It was impossible to tell how long they were or if they were empty or not, as they were completely filled with freezing fog.
"Which way should we go?" asked the blonde Celestial Spirit mage. Natsu sniffed the three hallways and frowned.
"They all mostly smell the same. But this one," he pointed to the middle hallway, "has that smell to it."
The red-haired knight strode forward, summoning a sword to her hand. "Then that is the path we shall take." As Team Natsu entered, they heard a rumble and a wall of ice appeared behind them, sealing off the exit. "So the only way now is forward." murmured Lucy. They had barely started walking when a spear of ice hurtled right over their heads. As they let out exclamations of shock, three skeletally thin, giant monsters made of ice appeared through the fog. Two still had spears, one having thrown his.
"You chose the path of monsters, lucky you." sneered Regina's disembodied voice. "Defeat all my monsters and me, and I'll give you the key. Lose, and you get to be added to my ice statue collection."
"What does she mean, lucky?!" wailed Lucy. "How can having to fight a bunch of monsters be lucky?!"
"Come, now, Lucy," said Erza. "You know very well there are things worse than fighting monsters." The blonde sighed and nodded her head sadly.
"Alright!" cheered Natsu. "This is gonna be fun!"
"I couldn't agree more, Flame Idiot," said Gray as he smirked. "Trying to defeat me with my own element, Regina? You will lose!"
One of the two monsters holdings spears slowly drew his arm back and threw it straight at Natsu. The pink-haired Dragon Slayer let out a Fire Dragon's Roar and melted it. The spearless ones created more spears from the floor as the final one threw his spear at Gray. The Ice mage threw up a quick shield, which shattered the spear.
Erza tried to rush at the monsters, but slipped on the ice. Lucy had the same difficulty balancing as she tried to use her whip. The two girls found themselves sprawled across the floor, helpless. Natsu only managed to keep from falling by melting the ice under his feet, sinking his stance into the floor. Gray had absolutely no difficulty standing on the suddenly slick surface. He threw up a shield to guard the girls from any spears and charged at the monsters with Natsu.
Gray created his ice lances, shattering parts of the monsters. He created dozens upon dozens, trying to stay ahead of the monsters' regeneration. Natsu sent flaming punches and kicks, destroying one with his Fire Dragons' Wings attack. Gray managed to destroy another, and together they melted and shattered the third.
"Damn!" panted the Ice mage. "Those things did not want to die!"
"I'm sorry, Natsu, Gray. I was unable to help you whatsoever. Please, hit me as punishment," said Erza as she and Lucy carefully stood up.
"Don't apologize, Erza. It isn't your fault we were helpless," said the Stellar Spirits mage. "It was those monsters. And I'm gonna guess we have to face more before we get out of this creepy fog."
They continued forward, but the fog was no longer silent. It was filled with eerie creaks and moans, setting their nerves on edge. They passed large, dark, indistinct shapes that seemed to reach out to them. When they were finally confronted by another three monsters, Team Natsu all nearly jumped out of their skins.
"Why is it so creepy?" wailed Happy. "Why can't it be full of fish instead?"
The monsters were different than before. While these were also made of ice, they were much smaller, the size of a child, and all sharp angles. They whirled around the mages, moving so fast they were blurs, and used their razor-sharp hands to slice at the mages. The Fairy Tail wizards tried to move, but found their feet frozen to the floor.
"Ha! You think that can hold me?" shouted Natsu. The Fire Dragon Slayer set his feet on fire, melting the floor a little, and freeing his feet. He then proceeded to chase one of the monsters, throwing flames at it.
As he did so, Gray quietly broke the ice holding the rest of Team Natsu's feet. He and Lucy teamed up to take out another monster. The Celestial mage used her whip to hold it in place and Gray shattered it using his Ice Make: Cannon. Erza used her Flight Armor to effectively attack and cut up the last monster. Happy had been simply flying over their heads this whole time, not even a target for the monsters. He taunted the pinket for taking longer than Gray to finish off his monster, provoking Natsu and Gray to get into a fight over who was the better fighter. They only stopped fighting when they registered the presence of another person. Regina had appeared, and she was not happy.
"Congratulations, brats," she mocked. "You get to fight me now. And," she glared at the Ice mage, "no one makes fun of my use of ice!" With that, she threw her hand out and created a dozen copies of herself. They gathered close together so the mages could not tell which one was the original.
Natsu threw a Fire Dragon's Roar, and shattered the image of the group of Reginas, revealing more mist behind it. Lucy understood what had happened and called out, "Be careful! She's using mirrors to trick us!"
A cold laugh resounded about the friends. "Very good! Yes, I do love my mirrors. Let's see if you can find the real me. There are plenty of copies and mirrors waiting for you, as well as some other surprises!"
"Whatever, Ice Coward," said Natsu, smirking. "We'll find you and beat you!"
"What did you call me?!" Regina shrieked.
"You heard me! Come on, people! Let's go! I can smell her, she's this way!" And with that, the Dragon Slayer took off.
"Wait, Natsu! Be careful!" the blonde Stellar Spirits mage called, but she was too late. He had already slammed into another mirror, triggering an explosion. He quickly ate the fire, making a face as he did so.
"Gross! That tasted terrible!"
"Idiot! What were you thinking?! She said she had surprises for us!"
Natsu scratched his head and grinned at the fuming blonde. "Sorry, Luce."
"Lucy is right," put in the scarlet-haired knight. "We must be careful in how we proceed. Keep your eyes open."
The group then tried to proceed cautiously, but of course Natsu set off several more explosions, shattered several more mirrors and encountered a few copies, one of which was filled with sticky goo. It was only through the quick shield Gray threw up that they were not all glued to the floor. Finally, the team made it to the end of the hallway and out of the mist.
"Ah, finally!" cheered Lucy. "We're out of that weird fog!" The mages were now in an enormous room with towering ceilings, full of light. It glittered and shone, light reflecting off the walls and floor.
"Don't insult my fog!" pouted Regina, who appeared in front of them. She crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. "I'm bored of you. You're no fun to try and trick. Here, take the key and go."
"Wait!" the Stellar Spirits mage shouted. "I have a question. Why did you say we were lucky to get the path with monsters? What did the other paths hold?"
The holder grinned darkly. "The one to the right led to a forest with only one tree and where it only ever rains in one spot. The one to the left led to a… surprise, let's say. Now, go!"
The bluenette held out a black key which Lucy accepted. Once the blonde's hand had closed around it, the Fairy Tail mages found the floor had vanished under them and they were whisked away on a slide that ejected them safely out of the ice castle.
"How rude!" sulked Lucy. "What sort of exit is that?"
"Come on, Luce!" shouted Natsu, completely thrilled from the fast and slightly dangerous ride. "That was fun!"
"Aye sir!" called Happy faithfully.
"Lucy, what did Regina mean by a forest with only one tree?" asked the raven-haired Ice mage. "I don't get it."
The blonde cocked her head and frowned a little before widening her eyes and paling. "I think I've read about it before. It's a type of torture, really. A man was locked in a room full of mirrors that reflected a tree, making it appear as if the man was in a forest. The room was full of incredibly bright lights that heated up the mirrors, meant to roast the man alive. Then water was supposedly poured down one mirror once the man was going crazy with thirst, so he tried licking one of the mirrors and burned his tongue." She shuddered. "It's awful, really."
"It sounds so. Anyways, Lucy, will you call the Spirit now?" asked Erza. The Celestial mage nodded her head and examined the key. Like all the others, it was pure black, and its symbol was that of a purple rose petal. 'Oh! I remember this one! I always thought it was a little strange that it's purple, not red.'
"I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits, now! O spirit, answer my call and pass through the gate! Open, Gate of Enchantment, Rosa!" There was the customary flash of darkness and a woman appeared. She had long white hair and purple eyes and wore a long lilac dress. She smirked as she looked Lucy up and down.
"So you're the little mage who's been collecting all of our keys? I must say, for my first Celestial mage, you're not what I was expecting." The Spirit grinned, flashing her teeth. "I am Rosa, but you will call me Rose or else. I am the fourth Celestial Dark Spirit. I use illusion magic." She scanned over the rest of Team Natsu and sneered. "I can't say much for your choice in companions. Pine would love them, since they're all physically strong, but I prefer ones like you, Princess, who are emotionally strong. I cannot respect someone who hides behind their armor like your red-haired friend over there." She pointed straight at Erza.
"Nice to meet you, Rose," said Lucy sweetly. "I request that you please be civil to my friends. I care about them, and I know that their feelings are a touchy subject. So, please, don't press it."
The white-haired Spirit bowed her head. "I apologize, Princess. I shall take extra care in the future."
"Wait," said Erza. She walked up to the Spirit and gave her a small smile. "I know that I still hide my heart a lot. I know that I have a lot of work to do before I can consider myself truly strong. Thank you for being honest and acknowledging that."
Rose looked the knight up and down before nodding her head approvingly. "Of course." She then narrowed her eyes and looked at Erza's face closely. "You have a false eye, don't you, little knight? Don't think that that is protection against my illusions if we ever fight. My magic sends images directly to your brain, it does not go through the eyes at all. Remember that." And with that, she disappeared in another flash of darkness.
Lucy sighed before straightening. "Well, then. On to the next one!"
AN2: I'm drained, this is so long! I apologize for the terrible fighting, I'm still new at this. Did anyone see my reference to Phantom of the Opera? That's my nod to the Halloween spirit since I didn't participate.
See you next time,
anime-fan72
