Two days have passed since Logan had taken us to the big house to meet his brother and be given our accommodations. The brother was nothing like Logan. He was meek and shy with watery gray eyes and thinning hair, and had absolutely no back bone. He looked like he would yield in a fight against a goat, and is stupid enough to probably not know what a goat was. No wonder Logan practically ran the village and manipulated his brother. In fact I don't even recall learning his name. However there has been no word from the other teams, purely because of the lack of Lacrimas, the only way to send word to the other four teams was by crow. We were given one in our accommodations for our indefinite stay here, and gods he was a pain in the ass. Me and Ever waded over to the town library through the foot and a half deep snow, and the bastard was being a bastard. The pesky menace wouldn't stop hopping up and down on my shoulder.
"Calm the fuck down, Ugly!". Yes that's what I've named our crow. Ugly.
"Don't be so mean" Ever chided as we began to finally see the library. Unlike our bird, it is a very grand building for the people who live here. It was covered in Celtic carvings, the top of each wall's corner was mounted with amazingly carved figures of deer's heads. The door was carved in Celtic dogs.
"Ever, have you seen the bird?" I gesture to the damn thing. He was huge for a crow, bigger than a large cat in fact. With claws longer than the length of my little finger and always threatening to dig in, however he never did for some reason. And I was very grateful. He had big scars across his beak and his feathers were long and gave him a rough look. And holy shit his eyes...They are about the size of my thumb nail. So pretty big.
"Yes I have indeed seen the bird, and I happen to like the bird" Ever said and puffed through the snow. Ugly spun on me and cawed triumphantly right in my ear.
"For fucks sake! Don't do that!" I yell and swat the bird off my shoulder. But he just hopped right back on.
"Oh come on...He reminds me a little of you" Ever wheezed out a laugh and we trudged up the small stairs to the Library's door.
"That's just rude!" I say and feel embarrassed. Seriously this bird is ugly, and I know I'm not pretty but come on!
"No not like that!" Ever groaned up and tugged off her boots. Footwear is forbidden in the library, and I lean down to do the same. Somehow, Ugly, stays on as I lean right over. "I mean the bird is always cawing and making a right racket, like you. Also that bird is big, like seriously. He is huge!" she moved her hands in and out to emphasis this. But she did not see her fatal error and I grinned evilly at her lowered head.
"Why Ever...How did you know?" I grin and lean against the carved door. Ever's face looked at me with confusion and I drop a subtle wink. It was like a red paint pall exploded in her face.
"Elfman! What the hell.." She screamed.
"Shh" I held my finger up to my lips. "It's a library". She brutally pounds her fists against my chest and I wince. She maybe smaller than me but she packs a punch. "Okay, okay, calm down. I was only joking" I smile reassuringly, and Ugly bellows in Ever's face.
"That was a stupid joke!" Ever growled, still blushing badly. Puffing her hair out of her face in distaste, the woman stomped inside the large library.
"Come on, you left yourself open" I whisper and step into the library. It was an old and much loved building, and I immediately felt reassured as I stepped in. The walls were lined with the dusty, black parchment scrolls, particular to The Dark Sea islanders. There were great glass window at the front that shined pale light into the room that was so pure, you could see the little shadows of falling snow flakes on the dark timber that my feet stood on. I turn my head and looked at Ugly, who's great beak was inches from my eye.
"You know what's funny?" I whisper to him. "We aren't allowed shoes in here. But they let you, a great big bird in, when you can shit everywhere". Ugly cawed once and began cleaning his feathers. It wasn't heated this library so the cold immediately attacked my feet and I shuffled awkwardly.
"What are we looking for?" I walk over to Ever who was peering at the spine of the scrolls. Ever scowled at me and I smile, it was amusing to see she can be riled up so easily on a particular joke.
"Do you remember that passage Levy told us?" Ever said and focused purely on her work.
"Yeah something about a...First one, I think" I tap my jaw in memory and look at the ceiling.
"Yes" Ever turned back to her scrolls and frowned at the queer runes etched into the bone scroll mounts. "I'm mainly interested in the part: 'Bones shall tread, until the First's famine is slacked, where he shall sleep again and turn all black bones back'" she recited. She paused at a particular scroll and picked it up. It was a meter long, and the tightly bound paper was the thickness of my fist when wrapped around the base.
"You know about Draugr's. Does 'The First One' sound familiar?" Ever now looked up at me.
I grunt and rub my head, and Ugly grabbed my forefinger with his clawed foot and gave it a shake.
"Oi, don't do that" I pull my hand away and sigh. "Me, and Lisanna are probably the only two people in Magnolia that know about Draugr. Hell I would even dare to say Fiore, if it weren't for those frog scholars. But they were around so long ago that any recorded information was either lost or barely readable. I've never heard anything about this 'First One'" I say and Ever nods.
"But if I say anything. The First One sounds like it is the original Draugr"
"That makes sense" Ever begins to unwind her scroll. "This scroll had the symbol for 'dead' I thought it might help" Ever said. "I was thinking if we found out where The First One is, we could trap it or stop it and the Draugr would go away. But I don't know...We could always just pay Gnash a visit and ask her..." Ever smiled at me coyly.
"No" I glower and take Ugly's feet into my hand. Moving to the side I put his huge body on a candle stick holder.
"Oh come on, she only licked you the once. And you were unconscious" Ever sighed and began to read.
"It's not just that..." I trail off and Ever peers at me over the edge of the scroll.
"Then what is it?".
"She...She unnerves me" I rub my head awkwardly.
"Well yeah she does that to me too, but so does your sister sometimes. What's up?" she asked me. I sigh and pinch between my eyes. Me and Ever did promise to be open with each other, so I look up and smile wearily.
"Lady Gnash and I have something in common. We both have beast souls" I move around the large room to keep my feet warm. Ever pauses what she is reading and looks at me with calm eyes.
"I take it beast souls are rare?".
"I was the only one I knew of before her" I reply and Ever lowers her scroll in surprise.
"What about Mirajane? Doesn't she have a beast soul". I shake my head. "A demons soul?". I shake my head again and think of how to explain this.
"Mira-nee can turn into a demon, because a demon tried to posses her body" I look up and Ever's eyes were wide. "Even she doesn't quite know how she did it, but she managed to kind of grasp the life of the demon and cage it" I made a cage with my fingers. "That's how she uses take overs. She lets the new demon try to posses her, and then she binds it to her. And then she can use its form for herself".
"Can other people do it?" Ever asked.
"There is a lot of history of mages that can do this to demons. But none in our generation" I say.
"What about Lisanna?" Ever lowered her scroll further.
"No beast soul either" I walk closer. "She has an affiliation with animals. It is a common thing for all take over mages to be affiliated with animals. But she isn't common, she is strong in her own way" I smile reassuringly.
"So if neither Mira or Lisanna have a soul affiliated with their take over creatures" I shake my head again and Ever looks puzzled. "Then how come you have one? And how come it took you a long time to master a take over?".
I flush with embarrassment at the last question and shuffle my feet, if Ever knew she had embarrassed me she didn't show it. "The first question I can't answer. I think take over is just in the Strauss bloodline. The last however..." I growl the last part and glare at her. She still didn't react, and I sigh. "No one really knows why it took me awhile. Mira nee believes it's because my soul partially rejected the other beast souls that I took over".
"But if you have a beast soul wouldn't it be easier?".
I shook my head and rolled my hands exasperatedly. "I think it rejected them because it didn't recognize them, or didn't find them powerful enough to be worth the time. Until I found the 'king of beasts'" I quote the beast. "Also I do have a human soul. It's just that the two of them are kinda merged into one" I move my hands around like I was shaping dough and let them drop. "Have you read anything worth while?" I didn't really like that conversation and I ended it quickly.
"No it's just a bunch of death records" Evergreen sighed and replaced the scroll. "I don't understand about your soul though..."
"Ever!" I say quietly but with force and she looked startled at my anger. "I don't want to talk about that..."I say more softly. "Having a soul like this...It can be quite scary" I only said this and crossed my arms to end the statement and conversation.
"I can understand that" Ever insisted on continuing the matter. "But aren't you happy that you have met another beast soul?".
I frown and raise a hairless brow. "Ever would you be happy if you found out Gnash was your long lost sister?".
"Oh come on. You can't chose your soul mate" Ever grinned at me and I stare at her as she began to cackle.
"Seriously, Ever?! Seriously!" I say and felt my lips twitch upwards against my will. She just laughed harder and a unmanly giggle escaped my lips. "Yeah bald, with black lips, war paint, and pointy teeth are totally my type" I begin to laugh and the once solemn library was now the wealth of laughter. I breathe heavily and turn to the door. "Come on. Staying here isn't solving anything" Ever nods in agreement and we approach the door. Ugly cawed and flapped back to my shoulder.
"Oh for gods sake bird!" I hiss and lift my shoulder higher so the heavy damn thing didn't drag my arm down.
"Oh be nice. You're his perch" Ever laughed at her joke and I smile back. She was in a good mood this morning. I roll my eyes and tug back on my boots and wriggled my toes as they began to warm back up again.
"I do think we should take Gnash's advice though" I walk back into the snow and lift my head up to feel the snowflakes on my face. "I think we should try taking a bone of a Draugr". Ever is silent and I turn around to look at her.
"Are you sure? You said themselves they are immortal or unkillable" she moved up next to me. I nod. I don't like it but it seems we have to face these things head on and just grab a bone. "It will be easier said than done".
"That's obvious especially when you say it" Ever walked forward towards the dark gray path that lead to the beach.
"I can't tell if you are trying to be rude or if it just come naturally" I growl and walk behind her. We weren't going to attack and claim a Draugr bone now. We need to scope the beach, lure one Draugr out. Anymore and there will be serious trouble. And then we need to take the bone to Gnash while warding off the Draugr. To make it harder we have to pick a big Draugr, which will no doubt be more powerful. I shudder at the memory of the sharp and powerful jaws clamping down on my calf muscle and begin to saw through the sinew and tissue. It was fucking, indescribably, painful and horrible to endure. Luckily, Ever, kicked the damn things head away or my leg would be gone below the knee. We walk out of the spikes surrounding the village and runes glowed blue as our feet touched them. If anything inhuman touched or crossed these borders, an alarm would go off. The villagers were doing more work, like creating sharp spears and thick machetes with deep runes scratched on them. I urged them to focus on defenses but they ignored my advice and focused purely on offence if it comes to it. We were walking up the hill when Ever decided to speak again.
"Do you think it is worth it? Asking about The First One that is?".
"Yes?" I answered in bewilderment. From what the passage says, ridding the world of The First will end the Draugr.
"What if The First one isn't even close to the village?".
"Well we have, Ugly, here" I stroke the top of the crows head and he gently nibbled my fingers. "If we find out where The First One is then we just send him".
"But the closest village is hundreds upon hundreds of miles away. It would take him an age to get to Mira's and that bitch Erza's village" Ever growled Erza's name and I ignore her own rudeness towards the female knight.
"Then lets just hope Ugly flies fast" I reply and we walk in silent for a long time until we reach the top of the hill.
"Although Gnash is beyond weird, I trust what she says" I tell. "I believe we should take a bone to her first. It may tell us something about The First One". I scan the shore line and I felt unease. There was seagulls swirling over the shore line. Snow rabbits in the long spiky grass just before the rocky terrain of the beach started. There was life on the beach when it was barren in fear of the creatures in the sea.
"How do we draw a Draugr out?-" Ever started and placed on foot on the beginning of the shore when I stopped her.
"Wait Ever!" I exclaim and draw her back.
"What is it?" she asked and frowned at me.
"Look" I pointed at the circling crows and then to the docile rabbits further down. "When we landed on this beach, did you see any forms of life?".
"Life?" she looked at the animals and then frowned deeper. "I don't know, I was kinda focused on getting you to a healer. But...besides Logan and the men he brought I don't think so" Ever looked closely at the sea. "Are they waiting for us? To ambush or something?".
"Animals and beasts have a greater sense of the unknown" I explain. "If there was anything as threatening or unusual as the Draugr, they would be far from here".
"So what are you saying? They are no longer in the ocean here?" Ever gestured to the black foaming surf of the sea.
"No...I don't think they have returned yet!" I turn around and begin to run back to the village. Ugly cawed and then took off into the sky and followed me. I ran back to the village and didn't look back. I had to trust that Ever is following and judging by the stomping of feet she was.
We race over the boarder again and I look around the village. Birds were in the sky and all farm life is calm as ever. Wherever the things have gone, they weren't here. "Dammit" I sigh and I rub my forehead.
"What is it?!" Ever panted and skidded to a halt next to me.
"They are not here" I growl and pace.
"Then were did they go?!" Ever hissed back and walked closer. I look around and the villagers were looking at us warily and muttering to themselves.
"Come on" I whisper and pull us around the back of a house.
"Well?!" Ever hissed again, her face red from the laborious run.
"Ever, I don't think they are in the ocean" I whisper and I look around uneasily.
"Then where are they?!".
"I don't know!" I snapped sharply and we stared at each other in silence. Ugly cawed ominously and Ever looked around.
"So if they aren't in the beach, then where are they?" Ever looked around her eyes wide.
"Ever..." I rub my head with distress. "Where would they be?". She falters and gnaws her lip heavily.
"We need to talk to Gnash".
"Why do you need to talk to her?" an annoyingly familiar voice asked from the entrance of the ally. I nearly jump out of my socks we both spin to glower at Logan who stroked his beard.
"..." I say nothing and glare at him.
"Is there a problem?" he asked and smiled winningly at Ever. "Because if there is a problem concerning the safety of my villagers, then I'm afraid your assistance here will be more...Delicate".
"N-no" Ever walked forwards and took Logan by the arm so they were linked by the elbows. I felt something burn with a deadly passion in my stomach as the two saunter away. Logan pulled Ever closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Heat crept up my face like a vine but I couldn't move, as Ever wrapped her free arm around his back and shuffled into his side. They began talking to each other as if they were old friends and Ever didn't even look at me.
Why is she doing this? I felt betrayed. I know I shouldn't, I know she doesn't have any feelings for this man. But could she? She looked all to easy to step up close to him and into his arm. I felt...Crushed, and really badly hurt. I mean sure I don't have a silver tongue that can dish out compliments like father Christmas. But was his company that much better than my own? Ever suddenly laughed with Logan and raised a hand in the air.
"After me and Logan chat, I'm going to talk to Gnash. Just stay here Elfman and do your own thing" Ever didn't even look at me but continued smiling dreamily at Logan!
"Right...You do that" I murmur so quietly I know they didn't hear it. But I did and I watched them go and I lean back against the wall behind me. "Come on just get on with it..." I sigh and close my eyes. I felt so lost and empty now. I didn't think she would do that. Do what? What did you expect her to do? I ask myself and my stomach bunches and knots. Expect her not to revel in the attentions from another? To stay with me and pick my company over Logan's? I was her second choice in the guild and clearly I'm her second choice for company out here. Ugly caws and tugs at a lock of my hair with his huge beak.
"Cut it out!" I growl sharply.
"You look sad" a high pitched voice said above me. I spin around, my hands up and my eyes narrowed defensively. Big blue eyes were looking at me over a high up window sill with just the smallest piece of red hair sticking out.
"Rojin..." I sigh and relax slightly. I didn't know that we went behind his house.
"Why are you sad? Is it because that pretty lady left with Mr. Logan?" Rojin leaned out further and tugged a piece of his hair over his left eye.
"Maybe...I didn't know you had seen that" I sigh and kick the snow. "Her name is Evergreen by the way".
"Wow that's a nice name" Rojin looks at the tall dark pines that loomed above the house and behind me. "It's nothing like this place. I'm sorry about the other day. I told you my name but I didn't get yours. What is it?".
"Elfman" I smile wanly at him with a hint of amusement as his eyes widened.
"Like the fair folk of the forest?!" Rojin gasped in excitement.
"Probably. But I also probably don't look anything like them" I laugh at my self pity.
"I dunno. Maybe" Rojin reached down and tugged the hair around my head and then smiled. "In a certain way you do. You have the big blue eyes that look like pointed flower petals..."
"Um...That's not manly" I interrupt.
"And you have white hair. You seem like one to me!" Rojin grinned his gaped tooth grin at me.
"Well kid I don't feel fair right now" I sighed. Rojin frowns and leans down even further to grab my ears and make the tips into points, when I see something.
"Wait!" I grab his arm and step up closer.
"Uh..What-what are you doing?!" Rojin tried to shimmy away but I had him firm in my hand. Reaching up, I take the fiery red hair covering his eye in my finger and pull it up. There was a black and blue bruise blooming on his eye, that covered the entire thing and well over the brow bone. My hands start quivering and my breath becomes ragged in rage.
"He did this to you, didn't he?" my voice was calmer than I felt. Anger was growing in me by the second and Rojin curled up on the window sill and buried his head in his arms.
"Da did it because he heard me ask you to get him like the ghosts" Rojin whimpered.
"He heard that?! But he was all the way back at the door!" I hiss.
"Did ya see the tats on his ears? With those, he can hear the quickest breath of a mouse" Rojin took a sharp breath to demonstrate. "The other people here call him avalanche man, cause dat's his job" the little boy nodded seriously. "He is very important to the village. He is up in the mountains now. Listening for the snow to move" Rojin cocks his head to the side to pretend to listen. "When he heard me say to you those things. He got me so I would say no more. But I showed him!" Rojin snarled at the mountains.
"Rojin" I say and lift my arms up. "Do you want to stay here?". Rojin's eyes went wide and he stared at me for a long time.
"Your not gonna get my Da?" he whispered.
"I can't" I reply. Ever wasn't in my thoughts anymore. This poor little boy had my sole attention.
"But-But" Rojin looked like he is going to cry.
"But..." I say. "That doesn't mean I can't take you with me" I gesture my arms towards me again. "We can take you back to our guild. We can teach you to fight, how to learn magic. We can do all of this, and you will never have to see Flynn again".
"I can leave here? To a place that is Evergreen?" Rojin blinked at me with his swollen black eye and looked like he was going to cry even more. I nod and smile at him.
"As long as there is no other adult here that is your family that you would rather stay with-"
"No" Rojin interrupts me. "My Ma is dead. My sister is dead. My real Da is dead".
"Real dad?" I ask but Rojin shakes his head.
"Please let me come with you" the six year old whimpers and reaches out his arms. I smile and lift him up from his perch and place him down in the snow, and I crouched next to him and the boy starts to cry.
"Is there anything you need?" I ask softly and gesture to what I expect is his room.
Rojin shakes his head violently and suddenly charges into my chest, his little arms wrapping as much as they can around my ribs. His cries filled the muted forest behind and echoed in the streets that no longer had any birds flying above it. And no live stock to be seen, devoid of any signs of life but the humans. But my heart is heavy and I didn't notice this but I let him cry there, slowly stroking the top of his fiery head. This is going to be hard to explain to the guild.
Yay Elfman being a father like figure.I know this chapter is late but so flay me. I had to re write it three times because it didn't look right, and I find writing for Elfman far harder than writing for Ever. Anyway, read, review and like. All is great!
Lots of Love
San-of-the-forest
