Gray was antsy in his seat. He'd been sitting for a long time now.
"Almost done, Baby," Cancer announced, sitting back to admire his work.
"Call me Baby again and see what happens," Gray growled.
"You look good," Virgo assured him, "Your own friends won't recognize you."
He sighed, "I hope Juvia is having a better time than I am."
"She looks good too," Cancer promised, "This is some of the best work we've ever done."
"Voila!" Virgo announced, smearing once more on Gray's face.
They turned his chair around and Gray got his first look at his new transformation. Cancer and Virgo had used magic to transform him and Juvia. His hair was gone. His skin was a black, charred texture with deep canyons of scars and oozing tar dripping at random places. His eyes were charcoal black lined with red bulging blood vessels. His nose had been transformed into a long, dripping, warty thing. He sneered at the mirror. If he didn't know it was his own self, he'd be kicking that thing's ass by now. He looked exactly like the demons that had attacked him back when they were chasing the Celestial egg. It was indeed a convincing disguise.
There was a knock at the door and Juvia entered, her appearance just as shocking as his. Her long blue hair was gone. In its' place was matted, black hair, the same colour as her putrid body.
"You stink!" Gray exclaimed.
"Well so do you!" she shot back.
"Sorry about that," Virgo muttered, "We had to make it convincing."
"And how long do we have to stay like this?" Gray took in his girlfriend's appearance. She didn't look human at all.
"It will last for as long as you need it to. The spell will break itself down in about a month. If you haven't accomplished your goal by then, you might need to pull out," Hisui said, joining them from the door.
"Alright," Gray said, "So what do we do to change our appearance if it takes less than a month?"
Hisui, Virgo, and Cancer exchanged glances.
"You can't," Cancer told him, "It's a spell. It has to wear off."
Juvia touched Gray's arm, recoiling a bit at the ugly, gnarled thing, "And what do we do about our voices?"
"We have a spray for that," Hisui announced, "Open your mouths."
She sprayed twice into each mouth, then beckoned them to talk.
"I don't like this," Gray said. His voice came out in a demonic hiss. His eyes widened.
"It's actually pretty accurate," Juvia snarled without meaning to.
There was a door knock again and the other 5 mages joined them in the room. Gajeel just about swallowed his tongue when he saw Gray and Juvia for the first time. Levy cringed and moved closer to Gajeel.
Cana grinned ear-to-ear, poking Gray's skin to see if it was realistic too, "Now that's what I'm talking about!"
He smacked her hand away.
Erza and Jellal nodded toward Cancer and Virgo, who were leaving.
"Not bad," Erza acknowledged, "You even reek like demon."
"You're ready," Hisui announced, "Time to go knock on Aranthos' door."
The House of Aranthos, much like its' former counterpart, the House of Dorthos, was on Earthland in a dark, dreary castle in the middle of nowhere. Earthlanders were oblivious to its' whereabouts, but the castle and the Royal Guard had been doing their homework.
It was seemingly dormant. There was no movement from the outside. Watching the Royal Guard shift into their places in the trees to await their signal, Juvia and Gray moved toward the castle, scaling around the outside walls and heading for the wide open entrance.
"It's too unguarded," Gajeel whispered to Levy, "Something is wrong."
"They can't know we're coming," she whispered back, "If we're busted already, there's no way we're getting to the pits of Hell through this entrance."
They both fell silent, watching as Gray and Juvia approached the front door. Gray raised a gnarled hand, rapping at the door loudly. Everyone in the surrounding hills held their breath. The door was open. Would it look suspicious that Gray had knocked?
"It's about tiiime you showed up," a demon hissed, "What took you so looong?"
"Shut up!" Gray growled, going with it, "We got here, didn't we?"
The demon snarled a moment, then motioned them inside.
As their two decoys entered the castle, there was a mixture of emotion outside the walls: part relief because their plan wasn't foiled as yet, part fear because there was no turning back now.
"What news do you bring?" the demon demanded as the three of them sat at a table.
Juvia fidgeted with her gnarled fingers, hoping to goodness that Gray had a good answer for that. It was obvious that they had been mistaken as messengers from somewhere.
"I'm not telling you!" Gray spat, "You'll just have to wait."
The demon stood up, pointing at Gray, "You have balls, Gundat. I'll give you that. You'd better have some good information or Kuno will feed you to the hell hounds."
Gray stood up and went toe-to-toe with the other demon, "And he'll feed you to the hell hounds for questioning me!"
Backing down, the other demon smirked, motioning for them to follow.
Juvia resisted the urge to take Gray's hand like she always did when she needed a bit of encouragement. Gray was playing the part perfectly. It was best to let him continue his lead. She would follow as best as she could.
They entered a long, windy staircase that lead to the downstairs. Following the demon down, Gray turned to give Juvia a look of encouragement. He wasn't actually sure how it looked since the magic used to create their demon disguises also controlled their facial expressions.
Juvia guessed this was where the remainder of the House of Aranthos was hiding as they entered a large room. It had tables strewn about the room randomly, or at least Juvia couldn't see a rhyme or reason to it. The floor writhed with 'alive things'. She picked out some of the things to be maggots, cockroaches, and 20-inch-long centipedes. There were 40 to 50 demons there, all jeering as the demon who had greeted them lead them to one particular table.
There were 4 occupants there, but the leader was apparent. He wore a gold robe, obviously a trophy from some poor (or rather rich) human he'd killed since it was so out of place in the dark, dreary room. He was large – probably close to 7 feet tall – and he had long, curled horns protruding from his forehead.
"Lord Kuno," the demon bowed before the large demon, "I have brought the messengers from the lost House of Dorthos: Gundat and Etronar."
Juvia elbowed Gray as she bent to bow before Kuno. He followed suit. Gray suppressed a grimace as he realized his demon slayer tattoo was starting to power up. Willing it to behave, he lifted his eyes to address the Lord of the House of Aranthos.
"Tell me your news," Kuno said in a low, dark voice, "Has the Celestial Princess been found?"
"Aye," Gray replied, relieved for the information. Now he had an angle to play.
"And where is she?"
Gray paused. He couldn't say Crocus since that was the truth. Anything else would endanger innocent civilians. He glanced at Juvia, begging for a quick answer.
"The Celestial Princess's location stays secret for now," she hissed, "We need to know that you intend to keep the deal."
Kuno laughed, "You filthy heathens. Fine! Have it your way. Tonight we feast. Tomorrow, we will go to the Underworld and deliver your news. If the Master is pleased, you will have your portion of the bounty and the right to join the House of Aranthos. If he is not, you will die. Do I make myself clear?"
He snapped his fingers and instantly long lines of demons starting working. In an instant, the tables were rearranging into one long table. Girls that appeared to be human came out from nowhere, bringing bowls and bowls of food to put onto tables.
Juvia fought the urge to puke. Everything in the bowls moved. Most of the bowls were unrecognizable, but amongst some, she was able to pick out what looked like large bugs and snakes.
They both had to keep themselves from jumping as Kuno pounced onto the table, snatching one of the large snakes with his teeth and ripping it in half. He closed his eyes in pleasure, enjoying the taste of it.
"C'mon!" he gestured to the two awe-struck mages, who were completely out of their element, "Eat! After all, if the Master is unhappy tomorrow, this will be your last meal."
The demons around Kuno burst into laughter, bugs falling out of their mouths as they boisterously attacked the disgusting meal.
Another knock sounded at the door, echoing down the corridors. The demon who had answered Gray and Juvia's knock promptly made his way up the long staircase.
Gray nodded toward the table, gesturing that if they did not eat, they'd raise suspicion. Juvia cringed inside, but knew that he was right.
Outside the castle, Erza, Jellal, Cana, Gajeel and Levy were holding their breaths again. Two new demons were approaching the door.
"This is bad," Gajeel hissed to Jellal, "These must be the two demons Gray and Juvia were mistaken for. If they blow the whistle, Gray and Juvia are dead."
"We can't take them out now," Jellal whispered back, "He's knocking."
"Who are you!?" the same demon who had let Gray and Juvia demanded.
"We bring information on the Celestial Princess," the first demon said, "We wish to join the House of Aranthos if we can prove our worth. Kuno is expecting us."
"The demon survivors we were expecting from Dorthos are already here," the demon at the door hissed back, "Go away."
"That's not possible!" the second demon hissed, "You have imposters in your midst! There were only two of us out of the entire House that survived."
Levy cringed, grabbing onto Gajeel's arm. Survivors of Dorthos? This was not good.
"We have to let them give us the signal," he whispered into her ear, "If we move too fast, we'll blow their cover."
"Come with me," the demon at the door was stating, "We'll find out who's lying. This is good news. I really feel like flesh tonight."
"Your eminence," the demon from the door bowed again in front of Kuno, "These demons also claim to be from Dorthos. They claim these other two are imposters."
Kuno laughed out loud, "Is that so?"
Instantly, he had Gray and Juvia up against the wall, "Tell me…Gundat and Etronar, was it? Why should I believe you are who you say you are?"
A second demon held the other two against the wall just down from them.
"We know how Dorthos was brought down," Juvia offered, "Can they tell you that?"
She was hoping beyond hope that it wasn't common knowledge amongst the demons as to how the House of Dorthos had been destroyed. Lucy's magic had essentially vaporized them. If these two demons were actually of Dorthos and in the area at the time, they would have been vaporized as well. Juvia knew it was a long shot, but it was all she had.
"Can you?" Kuno hissed.
"We came back and they were gone," the first demon hissed, "There is no story to tell. They're lying!"
Kuno lowered his face directly into Juvia's, a foul tongue protruding against her face, "And you, little demoness…can you tell me what really happened?"
"The entire House was vanquished by wizards," Juvia spat on his disgusting tongue, causing him to recoil it, "There were no survivors. The only reason we remain is because we were not present at the House."
Kuno stepped back, observing the four against the wall. He searched each face before turning to the other demons sitting at the large banquet table.
"We found human blood in the House of Dorthos," he said, "Gentleman!" he announced, hissing. Large fangs protruded from his mouth. His eyes glazed over, turning the black orbs to reptilian yellow. Around him, the other demons were also transforming, "We have found our intruders. It seems tonight…we get to have dessert!"
He grabbed the two demons off the wall beside Juvia and Gray, flinging them onto the table. Instantly, it was a frenzy of gnashing teeth as the House of Aranthos devoured the two demons in mere seconds.
Juvia resisted the urge again to hold onto Gray, her eyes widened in paralyzed fear. She glanced at him quickly, seeing that he was resisting as well. They weren't even in hell yet…but it sure felt like it.
