[A/N] I'm Back! And i hope your still on-board this psycho train cause we're going off the rails!
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! : EXCESSIVE VIOLENCE AHEAD
READER DISCRETION ADVISED
Chapter 7: Triumph followed by failure
With their Victory in Clover behind them; the team went home praised as heroes by the guild-masters. One was even kind enough to give them a luxury cabin pass for the train ride home. Erza was strangely in a much better mood than normal while Caboose couldn't wipe this stupid grin off his face. He tried to hide it with his helmet but they all knew it was still there. Natsu's attempts to tease him about it were met by an angry... Lucy.
Yes Lucy had really stepped up into the role of Caboose's big sister. With him stuck here with no way home; she kinda took him in to show him the ways of his new home. Money wasn't a problem since Caboose could easily pull his own weight on jobs. It was space that she thought was the issue at first. Turns out Caboose has no problem not having a room or bed with his undersuit apparently being extremely comfortable. Regardless she still insisted on him at least using the couch and removing the heavy plating. Now the only real problem was when she woke up in the early hours of the morning and wandered into the living room she would often trip over pieces of his armor lying on the floor.
This was one of those mornings.
"Morning Caboo- AAAHHHH!" She yelled as she once again tripped over his helmet sending it rolling across the room. Luckily he was already up and caught her before she hit the floor. He gently pulled her to her feet then she looked at him sternly. "Caboose... How many times have I told you to keep your armor off the floor? Now clean up this mess and make i'll some breakfast. Then we'll head for the guild hall and look for a job okay?" Lucy said as a mother would scolding her child. Caboose's face immediately perked up at the mention of going to the guild ,as he set about cleaning up by reattaching the armor to himself. Lucy couldn't stop the giggle at his childish enthusiasm. As he searched for the last piece, his helmet, he was interrupted by Natsu who burst through the door without even knocking first. As was his custom, nowadays. In doing so he failed to notice the helmet at his feet until it was too late. As he crashed to the floor the helmet shot forward; first bouncing up off the wall then down off the ceiling and right onto Natsu's head. Oddly enough it landed perfectly with Natsu's head inside the roomy interior. After a moment of silence he fell back to the ground unconscious with a loud thud.
"Well at least he was wearing a helmet!" Caboose chimed as he broke the silence with an innocent smile on his face. Lucy was trying so hard not to laugh at the comically poetic justice that was unleashed on her friend for constantly busting in to her home. Ultimately she failed and wound up on the floor clutching her sides with tears streaming from her eyes.
Eventually they had made their way into the guild hall where they were relaxing; or in Natsu's case recovering, while getting ready to go on a job. Caboose who was checking his softcase to ensure he had what he needed, was aproached by the guild's resident heavy drinker Cana. She loved how his silly antics always made her laugh and they easily became friends. She pushed a big mug into his hands and said "BOOSIE! Try thish new beer Mira got for the bar it'sh amashing." Her slurrs not so subtly indicated how drunk she was despite the fact it was barely 10 in the morning. As she walked off Caboose was about to take a swig when the mug was snatched from his grasp by Erza.
"But Erza! I just wanted a taste." Caboose said wih a pouty puppy-dog look on his face.
"That may work on Lucy, Caboose, but not me. You know what Lucy said, 'no alcohol'. You remember what happened last time? I still don't know how you ended up on the roof and it took forever to get you down. Until you started yelling ' I DEMAND COOKIES!' we weren't sure we could get you down."
"I can answer that ma'am." Erza nearly jumped out of her skin when the robotic voice of Freckles cut in from behind Caboose. "Captain Caboose used his armors built-in jump-jets to ascend the structure." Ignoring the talking guns interruption, Erza turned her focus back to Caboose.
"At any rate... I have something much better in mind that you'll like." She then pulled a small tray from behind her and placed it in front of him. Three cookies and a glass of orange juice.
"You're the best!" He smiled as he shot up and picked her up in a big yet gentle hug. Now normally anyone who tried this sort of thing would get an immediate smack down before being sent to the infirmary. For some reason she just couldn't do that with Caboose. She just couldn't; if anything these hugs brought only positive energy instead of igniting her normal anger. What she did next surprised even her. Instead of pushing away out of his grip she leaned forward and settled her head on his shoulder since her arms were trapped at her sides. Oddly enough the cool metal felt comforting for some reason. After about a minute he set her down on the ground before turning back to the tray. For some reason Erza felt disappointed when he let go but shook it off. It was then that Lucy walked up with their next job with Natsu and Gray with her. Erza read the description out loud for the team.
"Destroy a cursed helmet and seal it's mysterious portal. 500,000 jewel reward. Interesting... Well the trains don't go out that way but it's close enough to hike. About three days out from here. Alright lets get moving." Everyone else nodded then set out after a quick meal. The first day on the road was spent in comfortable silence as Erza led them through the mountainous terrain. As the world began to darken Erza was having trouble finding a spot to stay the night until Caboose freaked them all out with his bright helmet lights. He muttered a soft sorry before moving ahead finding a small clearing. Once the sun was completely gone camp was set.
"Caboose where are you!" Erza yelled out as she looked for her friend. Yes, Friend. After saving her life in Clover and taking down the Lullaby demon she was proud to say it. Although what she couldn't explain was why she... kissed him. She didn't regret it, she just couldn't explain why she did it. But that was something to ponder another time. The forest was dark and navigation had become near impossible. Thankfully the full moon helped light her way. Somehow the largest member of the group had gotten separated from them... AGAIN. Seven feet tall and blue and still... he was the one they lost. They had spread out but were ordered to remain in sight of camp while she retraced their path. After walking for about ten minutes she had begun to worry when her boot connected with something metallic. She instantly recognized the strange object as Caboose's shoulder-plate; the Fairy Tail symbol in white standing out prominently against the dark blue painted metal. What sent her on high alert was the dark sticky liquid that smelt of copper splattered across the dull metal surface. Glancing to the ground she saw what seemed to be a trail of it leading to her left. She took off as fast as she could manage in the dark while tracking the blood. Along the way she saw something that made her heart lurch. She saw on the ground before her. Freckles. Only... the poor machine was torn in two and smashed to pieces. His little light was flickering for a moment before going completely dark. A dark feeling welled up in her gut as she took off once again. Finally she found herself in a clearing with two others; a fire in the center illuminating the area. One was Caboose but his armor was ripped apart. Missing pieces in some areas including his whole chest-plate with tears in the undersuit exposing his bare skin in others. Even the gold visor was shattered on one side exposing his face. He was being held off the ground by the neck. His obvious attacker was similar to Caboose in size and armor. The only noticeable difference was the orange colored armor and narrow faced helmet. Erza was frozen... literally... no matter how hard she tried she couldn't will herself to move. She was forced to watch in horror as the orange one pulled a large knife from his belt and slammed it into Caboose's chest then violently ripped it back out again. He then vanished seemingly into thin air dropping Caboose against a tree; only then Erza found she could move again. She ran straight for Caboose trying to stop the bleeding. A pained gasp escaped his lips as they made eye contact. A small tear rolled down her cheek but was gently wiped away by Caboose's glove. But... then his eyes closed and his hand dropped to the dirt beside him. As more tears fell from her eyes she leaned forward holding his battered helmet and resting it against her forehead. Through blurry, tear-filled eyes she watched as the rest of her lost friend turned to dust and was blown away into the wind leaving her with a only his hollow broken helmet as well as a hole in in her heart. She knelt there weeping; clutching all that remained of her friend that she failed to save to her chest as the fire died enveloping her in darkness.
[A/N] Cliffhanger brought to you by deadfang1 being chased by pissed off Erza with a thousand swords.
