"YOU DIDN'T TELL ME WE'D BE DEALING WITH THIS!" Gajeel roared at the top of his lungs, which was surprising since he and the rest of the group were sprinting for an hour straight.
"WE DIDN'T KNOW, THE CLIENTS NEVER TOLD US!" Natsu yelled, panic written on his face.
"TO BE FAIR, I DOUBT ANYONE WOULD TAKE THE JOB IF THEY KNEW THOSE GUYS HAD THAT THING CAGED UP AND READY TO GO!" Vanitas yelled. He was the only one who had a grin on his face as the three ran. He looked up and saw Happy and Lisanna with wings flying in the air, both looking as panicky as Natsu.
He looked behind him briefly to check to see if the creature was still chasing them. Much to his disappointment, it wasn't too far behind.
The group had organised to do a top-level job to try and lure out a member of Organization XIII, as that seemed to be the only time they would appear. The job they took on involved having to take on deranged criminal who would rob a place and leave a dangerous piece of magical lacrima behind, often causing random side effects. It varied from explosions to creating a barrier around the area that would keep people trapped for hours.
There hasn't been a single person capable of capturing him. Many were afraid to go against him as they were afraid of getting hit with one of his randomising lacrima, while those who did try were never able to find him.
When the Fairy Tail group took on the job, they had searched the last location he was said to have been seen, which was a village near the west coast of Fiore called "Seaville". The criminal, known as "Lacri-Mack", due to his fondness of using different Lacrima, had broken into the nautical museum and stole a priceless pearl that was said to have curse. If it was stolen, bad luck would befall the previous owner, as the theft would've been a sign that the previous owner failed the pearl.
While Vanitas thought it was nonsense, the clients were very serious about the curse and wished for it to be returned, as they were afraid that the curse would affect the whole village (with the museum being a public building).
Vanitas thought back to the events of what happened, starting with what had happened when they found Lacri-Mack's current lair.
(Flashback, 2 hrs earlier)…..
"We're never going to get the job done?" Lisanna asked.
The group had split up into two teams, Lisanna and Gajeel would look around the town, while Natsu and Vanitas would search the museum to see if he left any clues.
"Quit complaining and help me look in that old out-house over there!" Gajell said, pointing to an old out-house that looked like it hadn't been washed in over a century, the amount of brown stains and flies surrounding it was enough to make Lisanna feel the contents of her stomach rise.
"There's no way I'm going near that." She stated.
"Hey, I've got a better sense of smell than you do, so if I can handle it you can too." The Iron Dragonslayer said back to her. He pulled out something from pocket and threw it over to Lisanna. When she caught it, she saw that it was a face mask.
"I'm going to need something better than just a mask." Lisanna said.
"Or you may not need it at al!" Came a familiar voice behind her.
She turned and saw Happy in mid-air, directly behind her, with a smile on his face.
"Hey Happy, did you guys find something?" Lisanna asked.
Happy nodded. "Aye. I don't really know what it is myself, but Vanitas told me that he needed both your help as soon as possible."
Gajeel turned to Happy when he heard him being indirectly mentioned. "What does that guy need our help for? Can't he take care of himself?"
Before Happy can answer, a large, blinding light erupted from the museum. The three turned to the museum, watching for three seconds exactly before making their way over as quickly as possible. Happy grabbed on to Gajeel and flew at "Max Speed", while Lisanna transformed into a giant bird and flew after Happy. They didn't stop outside the museum. In fact, bracing for impact, they shot through the front door, shattering it and causing the remains to fly towards the centre of the room. After arriving, they had to cover their eyes as the light was still shining, making it difficult for anyone to see.
Happy was the first to speak. "NATSU, VANITAS! ARE YOU GUYS OKAY!?" he asked.
As if to answer his question, the sound of magical energy was present from near the centre of the room. Lisanna focused her eyes and saw an orb of black energy. Within a second, it expanded, the diameter covering the entire room, cancelling out the light. When it was gone, Gajeel, Lisanna and Happy looked to the centre of the room to see, facing away from them, Vanitas holding his Keyblade up into the air. He turned back to them, revealing himself to be wearing a pair of sunglasses. He took them off and gave them all a smirk.
"Sorry about the light show, we found another one of this guy's lacrima. This one only created a light so strong it could disorient anyone who looked at it. I managed to get these out in time, but…"
Vanitas looked towards the centre of the room and saw Natsu lying over a pillar, unconscious, on his back.
"Natsu was knocked out cold from the sudden blast of light. His eyes will be okay but he's probably not going to see properly for a while. So I'm going to need your help with something."
"Hey… I can still fight…" Natsu said, managing to awaken from his comatose state.
Vanitas shook his head with a smirk on his face. "I'd reckon you need rest. Besides, it's not a fight I need helping with. It's reading an old book."
With that, Natsu immediately fell asleep. Gajeel looked at him with disbelief while Lisanna and Happy laughed. Vanitas just stood where he was, staring at a crack in the ground that was made by Natsu when they were searching for clues. Vanitas nearly lost his temper with Natsu, but changed his mind when he saw something underneath the crack. He was going to get Natsu to expand the crack when the lacrima activated, probably as a reaction from the power of Natsu's magic, underneath the pedestal where the pearl once rested. Now that the effect was over, he could get to work.
Vanitas went over to the crack and turned to Gajeel. "Gajeel, do you mind making a large hole where that crack is?" he asked.
"Now we're talking!" Gajeel replied.
Lisanna, however, was less enthusiastic. "What! Vanitas, what are you thinking!? You hate causing unnecessary damage!"
Vanitas pointed his index finger into the air, right next to his head. "You're right about that. However, this damage was, in fact, necessary. Look."
Vanitas pointed towards the ground. He pulled out a piece of fabric from his pocket and walked over to it and held it over the crack. No sooner had he done it, the fabric soon started to sway from a gentle breeze coming out of the crack. Everyone was confused at first, but they all caught on.
"A secret passage!? Awesome!" Happy said.
"Yep. I just need a force strong enough to make an entrance big enough for all of us to fit. So, you ready, Gajeel?" Vanitas asked.
The Iron Dragonslayer slammed his fists together and made a terrifying looking grin. "Better take a step back, punks."
Vanitas threw Natsu over his right shoulder and jumped up onto the rafters of the roof, with Lisanna and Happy flying up after him. Gajeel readied himself. He inhaled a large portion of air. He held it in briefly before he roared at the top of his lungs-
"IRON DRAGON ROAR!" from his mouth shot out a spinning cloud of iron shrapnel and slammed into the crack into the ground, which created an explosion that had enough force in it for the shockwave to shatter every window in the building. Vanitas couldn't believe that there was so much force behind the attack, and soon regretted having Gajeel to this task. He held his left arm over his eyes to protect his eyes from any debris, while Lisanna and Happy each hid behind a piece of the rafters.
After Gajeel finished, Vanitas jumped down and inspected the damage. The crack had been replaced with a gaping hole in the ground. He was right, there was in fact, a secret passage underneath. He looked around them and saw the level of destruction that had occurred. Vanitas just looked at Gajeel with a serious look on his face. Gajeel looked back at him with a confused look as a response.
"What?" he asked.
…
The group were now making their way through the passage. Vanitas was still irritated about what happened, but he put it at the back of his mind, knowing that they needed to stay focused on his job. Natsu (who managed to recover quickly after Gajeel exposed the passage), Lisanna and Happy, however, were well aware of Vanitas' bad mood. Lisanna was feeling concern for him while the other two were afraid that he would summon the Unversed again; while they were impressed that Vanitas had his own personal army, they gave off a dark vibe that sent chills down their spines.
They were walking through it for half an hour before Natsu and Gajeel picked up on some noise towards the end.
"Guys, we got something." Natsu said.
"It's coming from just up ahead." Gajeel finished.
They turned their walk into a jog, hurrying towards the source of the sound. Natsu and Happy exchanged looks of triumph as they high-fived each other. Vanitas wore a mask of stone as a sense of danger suddenly kicked in. As he was at the front of the group, he stopped and held an arm up which was a signal for the rest of the group to stop.
"What's wrong?" Happy asked.
Vanitas' eyes narrowed. "Something's wrong." He focused his eyes towards the end of the tunnel. He saw a brief sparkle of light that vanished in an instant. He slowly made his way over to where he saw the light. He chose not to bring out his Keyblade in case there was something that would react to the power from it. When he made his way towards the place where the light was, he saw that it was the end of the tunnel. Confused, as he was certain that there would be something more to see, he looked down to where he saw the light. He squinted his eyes and saw that it was a piece of Lacrima.
"What the heck?" he said to himself.
"Hey, Vanitas, any luck?" Lisanna asked.
Vanitas looked behind him, towards the group, and shook his head. "Sorry guys, it's a bust."
The group made no effort to hide their disappointment. Everyone, except for Natsu, sighed in defeated. However, Natsu was soon roaring to the heavens.
"WHAT! YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME, I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO FIND A SUPER COOL BAD GUY LAIR! THIS SUCKS!" he had built up a lair of fire around his body as he shouted, the flames growing more intense by the second.
The lacrima on the ground suddenly began to glow. Vanitas looked at it when his peripheral vision caught the light. He looked back to Natsu and quickly connected the dots. He was right that the crystal would react to magic, and Natsu was pouring out massive amounts from it.
"Natsu, calm down!" Vanitas said.
"WHY SHOULD I!?" Natsu asked angrily.
As if the answer, the Lacrima soon started to glow if an incredibly intense light, even more intense than what Natsu and Vanitas saw earlier.
"Everyone move, NOW!" Vanitas exclaimed.
Before anyone could move though, a powerful shockwave burst from the object that struck them all with full force. There was a strong surge of magical energy following after the shockwave, which knocked everyone out. A few seconds later, the light had completely engulfed the tunnel, making everything inside invisible as it was covered with while light. When it finally faded, the group had vanished.
…
Natsu's was feeling incredibly dizzy and disoriented. He hadn't felt like this since he absorbed Laxus' lightning, which made him feel sick due to him only able to consume fire without any health risks. He looked around him, only to see that he was in a pitch-black void, unable to see anything around him. He stood still for a moment, expecting for something to pop out from nowhere.
The hairs on the back of his neck suddenly shot up, causing Natsu to turn around and ignite his fists. His eyes soon met the sight of a boy with light orange to blond hair that was spiked up, blue eyes, wearing a black and white t-shirt, shorts and a pauldron on his left shoulder. It was connected to a strap that was also wrapped around him, making an "X" shape, a heart shaped sitting on the centre.
The mysterious boy gave him a smile.
"Thanks… for saving him." He said.
"What do you mean?" Natsu asked, confusion written on his face.
The boy chuckled. "You've been able to help Vanitas. Save him from the dark he was thrown into. Thank you."
…..
Natsu woke with a startled look on his face. He felt a strong surge go through his head as he opened his eyes. He guessed that whatever they were hit with had a strong level of power. He had managed to open his eyes and saw that he was no longer in the same cave. The rock walls were coloured dark purple and the ground was made of a violet coloured rock. He heard commotion up ahead of the cave.
He shook himself awake and looked around, hoping to find a place to hide. His eyes met a crate with an open top, the lid lying right against hit. He leapt into it and pulled the top over it, hoping that he will be able to stay hidden. On the outside, two men with lab coats were talking to each other. They soon saw the crate Natsu was hidden.
"Looks like someone forgot to bring that one to the storage room." One of them said.
"If the boss is going to hire guys to move these crates, they really should to their job. C'mon, lets move it ourselves." Said the other.
They went up to the crate, doing their best to lift it. One of them commented that it felt like there was a lead weight in the crate. Inside the crate, Natsu took offense to the comment, trying his best to hold in his anger in as his eyes were suddenly replaced with raging flames.
He found a small hole in one of the sides of the crate; he used it to see what was going outside as he was being chauffeured around the area. The further they moved, he saw that they were headed into, much to is excitement, a type of lair with a number of different machines and balconies. He was trying hard to keep in his excitement. He eyed the area, hoping to find his friends (and Gajeel) as well as this "Lacri-Mack". For some reason, he couldn't help but snigger at the pun.
He went back to being serious as he remembered that he was I the enemy's territory now. He scanned the room with his eye, hoping to find a clue. His ears perked up when he heard someone talking in the background.
"Alright, boss. Just tell me where to set up the next piece of Lacrima and we're ready to go." Came the voice of a man with an incredibly hoarse voice.
"Very good. Now, go to the city of Magnolia, I heard that the guild Fairy Tail has some pretty good stuff hidden there. And I want it." Came the voice of Lacri-Mack, the leader of this operation.
Natsu was immediately enraged at what he had just heard. This group had gone all around different places, stealing what wasn't theirs out of pure greed. If this wasn't bad enough, they were now going to attack his home two.
With that, he engulfed his whole body in flames. On the outside, there was smoke starting to emit from the openings in the crate, causing alarm to those who had brought the crate into the room. As one tried to open the crate, an enormous ball of fire shot out of the crate, a powerful roar of a beast seeming to come out of it as well. All the henchman present were scared beyond all belief and ran for their lives, not wanting to go head to head with whatever this was.
The voice of the boss hadn't come up at all. He decided that if they weren't going to do their job, they weren't worth raising his voice to. A pair of grey eyes stared at the fireball from the darkness, only his eyes visible. When the fire came down and hit the ground, it created a shockwave as an eruption of flame following after it.
After the fire faded, Natsu stood up straight, flames now covering his arms and rage written all over his face.
"DON'T YOU DARE THINK ABOUT GOING NEAR MY GUILD! IF YOU THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH THIS, I'M GOING TO SHOW YOU HOW WRONG YOU REALLY ARE!" Natsu roared.
Natsu scanned the room, soon coming across the eyes that shined in the dark. He launched himself towards his target, roaring with rage and his fire becoming much more intense. The flames soon brightened up the area where the leader was standing, revealing a man in his mid-thirties, brown, short hair with a few grey streaks, a roundish face with a number of wrinkles around his eyes and on his cheeks. He was of average height and wore a black cloak with a large hood hanging off the back.
Before Natsu could strike him, a force of purple energy suddenly appeared around him, acting as a shield against Natsu's attack. When the salamander's fist hit the shield, it created a large crack in the shield, but faild to go the whole way through. He planted his feet onto the shield and pushed himself off, allowing himself to rocket back into the air; he performed a back-flip and landed back onto the ground in a crouch.
"You got lucky there, punk, now I'm going to finish you off." Natsu said. His anger had lessened, but he was still ready to go all out on the crime boss.
Lacri-Mack smiled and raised his left hand, clicking his fingers. Suddenly, ice started to build up around him, forming the shape of a flame. The ice quickly shattered into pieces. The shards were left hanging in the air for a moment before they all fired themselves towards Natsu.
Natsu was about to use one of his techniques to melt the ice when a hand grabbed his scarf and yanked him to his left side, the shards striking where he was just standing. When the hand let go, he turned around and saw it was Lisanna who had pulled him back.
"Lisanna!? Where were you? Why'd you pull me away? I had him!" The interruption to his fight had greatly irritated him.
"That ice won't be melted by fire, you would've been skewed alive." Lisanna explained.
"Who says?" Natsu asked.
As if to answer his question, a figure warped right in front of him, causing Natsu to jump with brief shock and land in Lisanna's arms. When he recovered, he saw that it was Vanitas who had appeared in front of him. However, he was now wearing a crimson jacket with the symbol of the Unversed on the back. He turned to the two wizards behind him.
"Miss me?" he asked. His face had a serious frown and a small smirk, but his eyebrows quickly rose when he saw Lisanna holding Natsu bridal style. "Am I invited to the reception?" he asked jokingly.
The two wizards were confused at first, but they took a quick look at themselves and realised the position they were in.
"We will never speak of this." Natsu said.
"Agreed." Lisanna said, dropping Natsu onto the ground.
Vanitas let out a small chuckle at the scene. Then he turned his gaze towards the crime boss.
"So, you're they guy we're after, huh? I thought you'd be taller." Vanitas said. He had his hands on his hips, not bothering to bring out his weapon.
The crime boss smiled back at him. "And I didn't think that an official magic guild would send a child to do their fighting." He said.
Vanitas chuckled in response. "Well, I guess I am, kind of, sixteen. Guess you'd make that mistake." He then clicked his fingers, a wave of black energy shooting out of him and causing objects that got hit by it, such as stones, paper and shards of the crate Natsu was in, to float into the air. The dark warrior looked at the Lacrima user with stone eyes.
"That's their downfall." He simply said.
The floating objects were launched at Lacri-Mack, bouncing harmlessly off of what was left of the shield. When they were all used up, Vanitas jumped into the air and shot towards him with his right foot sticking out. The crime boss was unable to handle, this, the shield shattered and he was sent flying as he was hit with the force of ten ballistic missiles. Vanitas teleported away from him, returning to wear he was originally standing.
"Is that it?" Vanitas asked.
"You're a lot stronger than you let on before." Came a voice behind him.
Vanitas, Natsu and Lisanna all turned to see Gajeel and Happy. The cat shot towards Natsu, saying how worried he was. Natsu managed to calm him down and, much to the cat's surprise, Lisanna let him rest on her head.
"You really love cat's, don't you?" Vanitas asked.
Lisanna nodded. "They're the best animals ever!" she said.
Vanitas was going to say something, but his sixth sense for danger immediately flared, causing him to ready his unarmed battle stance.
"Uh, what's up man?" Natsu asked.
He received his answer in the form of a ball of white energy coming their way from where Lacri-Mack was standing. Vanitas summoned his Keyblade and defended himself from the attack, using the side of the blade as a shield. It worked, but he was blown back a couple of feet, crashing into Lisanna. They both fell into the ground, which caused Lisanna to immediately kick him off with a grumpy expression on her face.
"Hey, watch it!" she said, sounding irritated.
"Don't blame me." Vanitas said, his gaze still focused on where the attack came from.
Lacri-Mack immediately appeared. He was covered in ash, his cloak was torn, but he didn't seem injured.
"That was a mistake… boy." He said, sounding much more serious.
"Like I give a damn." Vanitas responded. He readied his battle stance. "You want to go another round?" he asked.
As soon as he asked, a loud roar could be heard from within the cave. Lisanna and Happy were looking slightly nervous, but the rest of the group seemed more curious than worried.
"Guess someone else is mad." Natsu said. He then placed a hand on his stomach. "Hang on. Did I have something to eat today?" he asked himself out loud.
"Do you seriously think that's your stomach?" Gajeel asked.
"Well, he's got a big appetite. But that wasn't your stomach, Natsu." Vanitas said.
"What was it then?" he asked.
Immediately, something large shot out from the ground. It seemed to be the size of the guild hall, causing the group to quickly move backwards to avoid getting hit. When the tremors created had faded. Vanitas managed to focus his view on what exactly they were now facing. For the first time in a while, he was in complete disbelief. The rest of the group screamed out loud with shock.
The creature was in fact a large snake. It had spikes all across its back, all of them seeming like razor sharp swords. Its black scales seemed to shift colour in different places, as if it was a black cloud floating over it. The creature's red, fierce eyes focused on the group, its pupils narrowing. It opened its mouth, baring fangs that seemed too large and sharp to be in there, but the creature didn't seem to care.
Vanitas gave the creature a brief whistle before speaking. "Now that's a monster." He turned back to the group and gave them a smile. "LET'S RUN FOR IT!" he said, before shooting a wall it a fireball, making an exit for them to escape through.
"WHAT!? I WANT TO FIGHT THAT THING!" Natsu said. He was about to run towards it, but he was immediately pulled back by, surprisingly, Gajeel.
"Now's not the time to fight. We need more room to fight and… if he's running, we should be scared." Gajeel said, pointing towards Vanitas.
Natsu was hesitant to move at first, nut he saw Lisanna and Happy, both giving him pleading looks. Before he could respond, the creature shot its head forward, hoping to strike the group. However, its face hit a familiar pink barrier instead.
"C'mon!" Vanitas said.
The rest of the group looked at each other for a moment before following after Vanitas. The snake pulled its head back and turned towards Lacri-Mack.
"After them, that barrier should only be active here, go up to the surface." The crime boss said.
The creature looked up and dug its way up through the ceiling, hoping to try and catch them out. Lacri-Mack looked at the creature go up as the thought to himself "He was wrong. The darkness user will easily fall to me."
….
The creature and the group made it back up to the surface, apparently being a desert area. The group saw the creature ran for their lives. Happy started flying as Lisanna morphed her arms into wings as she followed happy into the air.
Gajeel turned to Natsu as he ran. "YOU DIDN'T TELL ME WE'D BE DEALING WITH THIS!" he said.
Sweat started pouring down Natsu's face as he put as much effort as he could into his running. "WE DIDN'T KNOW! THE CLIENTS NEVER TOLD US!" he managed to say.
Vanitas, who was ahead of the two slightly, turned back to them and grinned. "TO BE FAIR, I DOUBT ANYONE WOULD TAKE THE JOB IF THEY KNEW THOSE GUYS HAD THAT THING CAGED UP AND READY TO GO!" he said. He set his eyes back in front of him, wanting to make sure he didn't fall on his face. He quickly looked back up at Happy and Lisanna, both of whom were looking quite scared.
Vanitas tried to formulate a plan as he ran. He had one idea, but he knew that the rest of the group would kill him even after he succeeded (except for Gajeel, perhaps). He looked back up at their winged allies.
"Hey, you guys pick up Gajeel and Natsu, I have an idea." He exclaimed.
Lisanna looked down at him. "What idea?"
Vanitas gave her a small grin. "You'll see. C'mon, pick them up!" he said.
The two flying members came down. Happy grabbed onto Natsu while Lisanna morphed her feet into large bird's feet, using them to pick up Gajeel by the arms. They all flew high up into the sky. When Vanitas was sure that they were high enough, he summoned his Keyblade and shot a beam into the distance. The beam hit the sand, which caused a pink beam to shoot upwards at a certain height before it started to widen, curving around and trapping a great deal of the desert in it. What was also trapped was Vanitas and the snake.
Everyone else looked down at what was going on. "The idiot, he tried making a trap for the snake but got caught in it. Hold on, we're coming to save you!" Natsu said, with Happy in full agreement. They fired themselves towards their ally, only to be hit with an invisible portion of the barrier.
Gajeel looked confused. "What's going on?" he asked.
Lisanna was confused at first, but then, much to her horror, realised what was going on. "He's not trying to slow down the snake." She said, causing Gajeel to look up at her, as well as Happy and Natsu after they peeled their faces off the barrier.
"He's going to try and fight it." She said.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!" Happy and Natsu roared simultaneously. Gajeel narrowed his eyes towards the Keyblade wielder.
"That kid's as stupid as he's strong." He said.
…
Vanitas face the creature with his Keyblade in hand. The creature didn't seem fazed by what had happened. In fact, it seemed happy to see its prey trap itself. The creature launched its head towards Vanitas. He was prepared, and jumped high into the air, avoiding the creature. Vanitas quickly scanned the creature before making his move. He teleported onto its back, holding his weapon as high as he could before plunging it into the creature's skin, caising the scales to crack like damaged armour. Before the creature could even react, Vanitas pulled out his weapon and teleported right in front of its face.
The creature widened its mouth, revealing its fangs. Vanitas took the opportunity and slashed the Keyblade horizontally, creating a wave of dark energy that zoomed towards the creature's fangs, slicing them clean off in the process. He wave soon faded away as it completely went through the fangs. In response, the creature once again launched its head at Vanitas, which he blocked with the guard of his weapon. He was fired backwards, but he teleported and appeared right behind the creature, the momentum of getting hit still present as he soared towards the creature.
He pointed his Keyblade towards the creature, the tip directly aimed for one of its eyes. The weapon soon hit home, causing black smoke to come out of the eye instead of blood. The creature tried to shake him off, but Vanitas wouldn't move an inch. It opened its mouth again, as if it was screaming in agony. Vanitas saw his opportunity and leapt back into the air leaving his Keyblade in the creature's eye. With as much energy as he could muster, he summoned ice in one hand and darkness in the other. He smashed the two elements together and, with all his might, threw it into the creature's open mouth. As it went down the creatures throat, the desired effect took place.
The ice caused the creature to be completely encased in ice, as the dark energy began to absorb the dark energy in the creature, rendering it weak and more vulnerable to the ice.
Vanitas landed back onto the ground. He clicked his fingers and his Keyblade returned to him. He held the weapon with both his hands. He held it to one side, preparing a technique he had done only once before. He closed his eyes to focus for a moment to concentrate. They then snapped open, looking directly at the creature. He zoomed at the creature with great speed, slicing through the creature. He landed on the other side, the Keyblade raised high into the air. He lowered it, returned to standing normally and clicked his fingers. The creature was immediately shattered into millions of ice shards. He allowed himself a small smile as he guessed what would happen next.
As the barrier faded, he turned around to see Lacri-Mack standing opposite to him, fury written all over his face.
"How dare you… That creature was my own creation!" he said.
"I can tell, it shattered like glass easily." Vanitas responded. He then pointed the Keyblade directly at the Lacrima user's face. "Now, you want to surrender, or would you prefer that I show you what I'm made of as well." He then asked.
The crime boss was at a loss for words. He stayed motionless for a moment before he fell to his needs in defeat.
"I… I surrender."
…..
It turns out that they were transported to a desert not too far away from Magnolia, the criminal leader having set up the base not to long after robbing the museum. They managed to call the city guard who took him into custody. One of the guards informed them that they were grateful for their help and told them that they would ensure the reward would be delivered to them.
Vanitas laughed for a bit, knowing that Gajeel would want it soon. He closed his eyes and stretched his muscles; when he opened them, he saw Lisanna and Natsu standing directly in fron to of him.
"That was incredibly senseless, you know that?" Lisanna asked.
"How come you hogged all the fun?" Natsu asked, clearly irritated.
Vanitas raised his arms in defence. "I just wanted to get the job done as quickly as possible. Besides, I got to see that all those training sessions are paying off."
Natsu hesitated for a moment. "Alright, I'll let you off this once, but don't do that again." He said.
"Okay Natsu, I'll be sure to trap you in a barrier with a giant monster so that you can beat it senseless yourself." Vanitas said.
Natsu gave him a big smile. "That's all I'm asking for."
"What's wrong with you two?" Lisanna asked.
Happy soon interjected. "Hey, I just realised something!"
The group looked at him with curiosity.
"We didn't get to bring out an Organization XIII member." He said.
Natsu immediately slumped. Vanitas put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a supportive grin.
"Don't worry about it. I'm pretty worn out from fighting that snake, so it's just as well no one came." He said. Immediately, Lisanna began to look worried, afraid that he might just jinx himself.
"How about we head back to the guild for some fish. My tre-" before Vanitas could continue, a beam of bright, red energy shot out from his chest, just above where his heart was. He looked down at the blade before quickly losing both energy and consciousness. The beam was pulled out, causing Vanitas to collapse to the ground.
The rest of the group looked at him in horror. As he fell, they saw a man in a familiar black coat, holding that beam like a sword. It disappeared quickly as the figure gave a small chuckle.
Lisanna was the first to speak. "What… what's going on?" she asked.
The figure then summoned a beam in each hand and, under his hood, stared at the group.
"You need not fear. You will be joining him very soon."
[And that's that for this chapter. It seems that Vanitas has been taken out, and the rest of the group are left to fight for themselves. No guesses as to who is responsible. Let's hope they make it out soon. By the way, just to let you know, I'm going to be writing another story soon, something I came up with a while ago. It won't mean I'll be stopping this story, just adding a couple more to the mix. Anyway, see you later, and don't forget to review.]