Enjoy my lovely little fluffy-kins. (yes you are all fluffy kins now. ._.)
It was silent. Too silent. Gajeel stared around the eerily quiet town, completely creeped out by the weirdness of this situation. It just looked… abandoned, like everyone up and left. Sighing, he stalked to what looked like a still-active merchants stand and took a scrap of metal, ignoring the protests of his current partner, who happened to be the scrawny white-haired girl. What was her name? Oh yea, Lisanna. That one. Erza and Alzack had gone up the mountain to check out the peak while he stayed in this damn-weird town with this weird-ass girl.
His luck was certainly something to be envied.
Not.
Growling, he threw an apple at the girl to shut her up, but she just caught it and started eating it. Honestly, he doesn't know why he even went on this trip/mission/whatever/thing – oh yea.
For bunny girl.
Damn her for forgiving him – if she just hated him for what he did to her back when he was in Phantom Lord then he would happily be on his marry way and could brood in peace – BUT NO. She had to actually give him a second chance. Sighing, the iron dragon slayer watched the shadows as him and Lisanna munched on their food in silence. That is, until he saw her posture stiffen and her eyes narrow.
"What?" He muttered. Lisanna's blue eyes sweeped through the empty streets warily. "Why the fuck are you freaking out?" Gajeel could hear her heartbeat speeding up and it was annoying him. She held a finger to her lips – not even bothering to spare him a glance, mind you – and just stared at the empty alleys and empty streets and empty windows. Did he mention empty? Then her apple fell to the ground and rolled to a stop. Its vibrant red was very stark against the white snow, which happened to be covering everything, which was pissing him off because they were too goddamn far north.
"Someone's here," She murmured. It was like a whisper, but softer. Like a breath. He didn't respond, but instead listened… and listened… and was about to give up, until he too heard it.
An extremely soft sound, almost like a small wind on a not-so-windy day.
His red-as-blood eyes widened ever-so-slightly and he chomped on the last of his metal before poking the girl's arm rather roughly. She didn't seem to mind, but cast him an annoyed look regardless. She kind of reminded him of shrimp (except way less shrimpy – taller), weirdly enough.
"I hear it," He muttered, but the interesting thing was, how did she hear it? He glanced over and for the first time (for fuck's sake how could he miss them) he noticed that she had two cat ears on her head, sticking out rather plainly for him to see. That explains it. Then, they struck. It was really quite sudden and extremely unexpected, but it was enough time for them both to react accordingly.
"Iron Dragon's Roar!" He yelled, and almost immediately a couple of houses were disappearing in a flying show of sparkling snow and random wooden planks. Lisanna was moving in a flurry of cat claws and tiger-print (and bare skin). And, surprisingly enough, they were in perfect sync. Then he heard the tell-tale whistling of something flying fast through the air. That's when he saw them glinting dark against the snow, mostly a blur.
"Lisanna!" Gajeel yelled in warning – weird, he remembered the girl's name. Her eyes barely had time to register the dart moving at top speed to her chest and she barely had time to lunge to the side. Luckily, no pierced hearts today (god Levy would've been pissed), but it still hit her arm pretty hard, staining that white skin with scarlet. She let out a gasp, and instantly he was there, picking her up and jumping onto a roof top.
"Dumb ass," He muttered, earning a half-hearted glare from her. Gajeel just kept the fragile-looking Lisanna in his arms instead of setting her on the cold snow, and ripped off a strip of his cloak (it was already tattered as shit) so he could use it as a makeshift bandage.
"This is gonna hurt like a bitch, so, I don't know, bite your tongue or something." He growled unsympathetically, and she just nodded faintly as a response. Gajeel mumbled something about keeping watch (which she probably didn't hear) and then ripped the dart out of her arm, along with a gasp from her and a wave of fresh blood to come dripping onto his shirt.
Really, his shirt? Not cool.
Hissing, he wrapped her arm as well as he could and after he finished, Gajeel helped her stand. Even though she was obviously woozy from blood loss, she still pushed away from him with a mumbled thanks, and he just nodded. And it was weird, because the shadows were still on the ground and were no longer attacking – as if they couldn't see them. Or they were out of range or something equally unlikely.
"G-Gajeel, what's going on?" She asked hesitantly, and he could hear the chattering of her teeth. Dumbass shouldn't have taken over a damn cat in skimpy lingerie. Sighing, he just shook his head.
"No fucking clue," He responded. The apple was still on the ground where they had last been, but now he was noticing that those "shadows" made absolutely no footprints.
"They don't make any footprints." Lisanna suddenly murmured, and he growled, because that was his line.
"Yea, I noticed, Sherlock," he grumbled, and she sent him a scathing glare with her blue eyes.
"So? That means that they have no weight to them, yet their making noises? How? This doesn't make any sense," She muttered, and Gajeel honestly tried to find a reason to argue with her, but when he drew a blank, he just muttered a curse. Then, an idea came to him.
"All right, I'll go down there," He offered, and Lisanna just shot him an incredulous look that basically said 'are you fucking stupid or something?' and yes, he was, but whatever, right? Then, surprisingly enough, she stepped back and gestured to the ground below them.
"Fine, just don't get yourself shot. Some of us don't have clothing to spare," She joked, and he nodded before jumping off of the roof and into impending chaos. But, weirdly enough, he felt alright with this weird Strauss girl backing him up. And just as his feet hit the ground with a soft crunch, he came to a startling revelation, causing him to groan loudly.
I'm becoming a fucking softie.
They were on the outskirts of town and completely worn out. Their breaths were coming in shuddering puffs and damn it all if her hair tie hadn't gone missing. Laki sighed out another heavy breath and inhaled the seawater-scented air before going round their little circle and checking them all for damage. Of course, they all had a few nicks and quite a few bruises, but nothing that wouldn't go away over time, thankfully.
"As I suspected; they can't leave the town, so we're okay," She murmured, staring up at the now-dark sky and wishing for a second that it was day time because the she felt like the darkness was watching her. It was unnerving and more than a little creepy. Gray sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"How did you figure all of that out so quickly?" The ice mage asked, glancing over at her. She was still standing and staring up at the sky while tapping her chin, deep in thought.
"It was easy to deduce, really, we just had to pay attention. And I read somewhere about 'shadow people.' It's just a… a spell where you can basically steal people's souls and draw out their deepest and darkest fears; the worst parts of them, to put it simply, and then turn that part of them into your minions. But I've only ever heard of a few shadows at a time… but a whole town?" She was rambling, but luckily, they were all listening. It was silent for a few moments until the dragon slayer spoke up.
"Yea, well that's a fucking fun and everything, but the bastards broke my damn sound pod." Laki cast the blonde an indifferent glance.
"No one cares." She informed him, and he scoffed. Elfman cleared his throat.
"So why can't they leave Hargeon?" He asked, and surprisingly, there was no mention of 'manliness' in the sentence. Laki adjusted her glasses and tugged her cloak a little tighter around her.
"Well, that's the variable that can be changeable, I guess. In the article that told me about shadow people, it included that sometimes, depending on the caster's strength, the shadows can follow around certain people, like an assassin. Or, they can be bound to one place, like these people. And sometimes, over a large quantity – they considered ten plus large – then usually they were bound to the place they died." Her voice faded away and the ocean was heard crashing in the distance.
"So, basically, the town of Hargeon was slaughtered?" Gray asked, disbelief coating his voice. Laki nodded sadly, her purple hair falling forward.
"Yea, that's what I've gathered." She murmured. Laxus groaned in response and threw the broken sound pod at Gray, who rolled out of the way and sent a glare to the dragon slayer. "I have to report this to Mira, alright, guys?" Gray and Laxus were fighting over something – she couldn't see what – so they didn't answer, but Elfman stood up.
"Real men check on their sisters." He said gravely, and she smiled.
"Yea."
It was dark in Fairy Tail. The guild doors were wide open, and the surprisingly cold breeze drifted dryly through the guild hall. It made the one lone person inside shudder in her sleep.
That person was Mirajane.
A weird buzzing sound was grating against her eardrums and her glazed blue eyes opened. She had the most horrid headache. Groaning, she sat up, only to fall back down again. The buzzing was louder and it was coming from her apron, which was untied and on the floor right beneath her. She reached into the pockets blindly and found the lacrima. Mira fumbled for a switch before it glared into brightness and startled her eyes into squinting. Soon enough, she focused on the pensive image of Laki and the grinning face of Elfman.
"Hey Mira-nee-chan!" He said in a rather chipper manner, but it disappeared instantly when Mira winced and placed a pale hand on her forehead. "Are you okay?" He asked, all joking gone. He also grabbed the lacrima from Laki and all Mira could really see was the bridge of his nose and his eyes. Sighing, she nodded.
"Just a headache, Elf-nii-chan, I'll be fine," She reassured him with a sunny (and fake) smile. He nodded and gave the lacrima back to Laki, who glared at him.
"Well, we just found out some… rather bad news." Mira's eyebrows rose. "You remember that article on shadow people that you gave to me?" The white-haired woman nodded, not understanding what it had to do with anything. "There were shadow people here. The entire town – no one was left." Mira's blood ran cold.
"What? Who could do that?!" She yelled suddenly, sitting up (her head pounded in response, but she ignored it). Laki just pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I don't know, Mira, but – will you two shut up?!" She yelled at the (apparent) scuffle happening a few feet away. It died down after a few seconds, but Mira heard the muttered cusses. "But, I have a feeling that it was Brok. There was an alleged sighting here, right? So maybe he passed through and decided he didn't want to leave any evidence." The last word dripped with venom. "Speaking of Hargeon, Mira, could you check to see if we have any requests since the 'sighting'?" Mira blinked, but nodded.
"I'll call you back if I find anything." They said their goodbyes and hung up, and Mira got up to turn on the lights and maybe find some damn herb to kill this headache.
"Erza, we need to be careful," Alzack whispered, tugging the poncho tighter around him as the freezing wind whipped his cheeks. The woman walking in front of him nodded. He wasn't paying much attention to where he was stepping (because his mind was on the cold) and suddenly bumped into Erza. Alzack immediately muttered apologies, but the intense look on her face shut him up.
"Do you feel that?" He was just about to ask, 'feel what?' when the question died on his lips.
Because he felt it.
It felt really cold – colder than the snow and even colder than the nipping wind. It was dark and palpable; he really felt like he could tangle it in his fingers. It was so heavy and oppressing, he just wanted to run to Bisca and Asuka and wrap those two in his arms and never let them go.
His finger twitched on the trigger of his gun.
But he couldn't, because he had to do this for his guild members, and for the rest of Earthland (if this guy was as dangerous as he seemed, and judging by this magic sense, he was horrible). They climbed up the peak warily, and they reached the abrupt top rather quickly. It was weird, because it jutted down as soon as they hit the top in almost a weird, bowl-shaped valley, and right in the center of that valley was a lonesome log cabin.
Alzack really wanted to turn around, and he had the feeling that Erza did too.
But she just stood there, glaring down at the innocent-looking house with a twitching eyebrow.
"I can feel him," Alzack mumbled into the howling wind and the redhead nodded.
"I can too."
"We should turn back; find the others." He suggested, but she shook her head.
"We'll give them a call, but we won't leave." She argued, and she was right, like always. Slumping his shoulders, he nodded. Erza reached down to get her lacrima, when the air grew really heavy. Alzack was literally forced into a kneeling position because of it, and Erza was trying to brace herself, but failed, and fell into the deep snow too. It felt like gravity was working against them.
"So, Fairy Tail, you came to me, eh?" It was a dark, quiet voice and it was snake-like. Venomous. Alzack instantly recoiled and searched for a source, but none came. It was like he was all around, and Erza seemed to sense this too.
"Damn it, Brok, come out!" She ground out, pressing against the cold ground with all of her might; trying to lift herself up. A chuckle was his response.
"Maybe, maybe not. However, you two would make lovely little subordinates. But alas, your magic is too strong for that spell – you would be too risky." Suddenly, the atmosphere was changing, morphing, into something else. The snow was melting and it was suddenly growing incredibly humid. It was so hard to see what was going on, because that same pressure was on their backs, forcing them down. Then they were tumbling across the mountain until Alzack slammed into something hard, and then something equally as hard crashed into him, causing him to groan.
Erza pushed herself to her feet shakily, and of course, she had rammed into him, and he had been pushed into a freaking rock-hard cabin.
I'm always a cushion.
Then, standing in front of them was a dark-skinned man who had silver eyes. He was grinning. Alzack felt bile rise in his throat and he spat at the dudes' feet, then raised a gun, pointing it at his head.
"Brok." He spat. The man grinned.
"Alzack Connell – a pleasure, it really is. Your wife is a beauty, by the way." He said, glancing at Erza.
"She's not my wife."
"I know." Alzack's blood ran cold at those words (and a laughing Bisca danced on the backs of his eyelids). "And gun magic – it's a fascinating type, and quite powerful." Then a shot rang out, and Erza gasped uncharacteristically. A bullet was sticking in his chest, and it was bleeding. His smile wasn't gone. "Alas, not strong enough to kill me, young Connell." He quickly pried the still-hot bullet out of his chest and dropped it to the pure-white ground, staining it red and Alzack felt sick.
"And you're daughter is quite cute, you know. Has your hair. Wouldn't want those pesky green locks, now would we, buddy-old-pal?" He asked cheerfully, and Alzack slumped to his knees, feeling terribly depressed all of the sudden.
"No, no, no! Stop it!"
"Alzack – what's going on?!" Erza asked, kneeling next to him. The black-haired man stared up at Brok, whose silvery eyes flashed with malice, but that fucking smile stayed in place. Her head whipped around to meet Brok's eyes. "What are you doing to him?" She asked menacingly. If possible, his grin got wider.
"Just reminding him who's boss." Suddenly, in Erza's eyes, he was morphing into an impossibly handsome blue-haired man with a distinct tattoo on his face. Except one eye was silver and Erza was fighting back a wave of dizziness. "Right Erza?"
"J-Jellal?" She asked warily, reaching out a pale, cold hand to him, which he grasped in his. A smile broke out on her features. "Jellal!" Then his hand squeezed hers and warmth flooded up her arm and she smiled, except it faded when his hand started squeezing hers harder and harder.
"J-Jellal, you're hurting me," Erza mumbled, trying to twist her hand out of his. Suddenly, his grin became wide and malicious and then she heard a sickening crack in her hand. Pain seared up her arm like a bullet and she hissed.
"Erza." He said the one word fondly, and then her vision was darkening and before she knew it, there were too-cold lips on her forehead before her world went black.
The familiar dark-skinned man grinned and slung both of the fairies over his shoulder, carrying them in the cabin and tossing them haphazardly on the floor. He then sat down at a crystal lacrima and grinned at the image of a white-haired girl standing on a roof (and impossibly underdressed), watching a black-haired man dodge darts and arrows with a worried look.
"Lisanna Strauss and Gajeel Redfox." He mused. "What interesting characters; this shall indeed be enticing."
Alright, so Brok may be a little weird, right? Well, anyways, this was surprisingly fun to write and I think my writer's block might be going away omgnoway?! Anyways, if you want to read something (stupid) funny, then go check out my hilarious (not) new story, "this is all wrong" lol. Idgaf if you do, but I would apprectiate it. Anyways, while writing this, I just realized that a Lisanna x Gajeel friendship would be so fucking amazing. I don't even know. Anyways. Love you all reviews are hope and harmony and more importantly chocolate chip cookies.
Coolgal342: I love torturing Freed. It's fun. His whole "don't-break-the-rules" persona is so easy to screw with. xD And you only know Siegrain because he's a carbon copy of Jellal… literally. :P And Mika x Lucy…? (lol no you don't have to worry. Or do you?)
BookProf101: I demolished it and wrote the longest chappy yet! WOOT! And I am very happy you liked the whole light-hearted chapter thing, I was afraid some people were going to get mad because this supposed to be a pretty heavy story, but thank you! :D
Guest: What is your naaaaame?! And yes, I feel bad for Freed as well. I'm happy you like Mika; she was created on a whim. XD
