Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail
Lucy slid across the stone floor and down a hole in the ground as a large basilisk struck the stone where her belly was just seconds ago, she breathed a sigh of relief and then sucked it in as she slid down the weird tunnel and dropped onto a floor below the one she was in.
She could hear it slithering around above her and then off and she knew it was looking for a way to reach her, so she wasted no time running for her life.
Another corpse appeared from behind a corner and tried to strike her with a blade, she kicked its knees out from under it and it toppled to the ground while she kept going, the corpses were the most annoying of all the stuff they had encountered in this place.
They had been here in the ruins for two weeks now. When they had arrived and opened those gorgeous iron doors they had stepped into what looked like a great hall, with pillars everywhere supporting the weight of the mountain and another door similar to the one they had opened on the other end.
They had spent a couple hours exploring, occasionally hearing something off every now and then, they hadn't expected to encounter anything, especially not giant snakes, living corpses or other annoying monsters.
The place was well lit considering no one had been there for thousands of years, in various spots hung hanging lanterns with strange glowing blue fires emitting from them.
Erza had suggested the place was powered by some magical reserve and that whatever that reserve was must have been extraordinary to keep the place alive for a millennium, quickly they discovered how dangerous this place really was and had fought off numerous things to the point of exhaustion until they had been lucky enough to find a sort of "safe haven."
They also came to realize their biggest asset in finding the crown was Lucy and Bickslow; as Lucy was small enough to squeeze in and out of small spaces and Bickslow's babies could essentially float through those same small spaces themselves. That left only one option to split up into two teams and someone who stayed behind to keep an eye on their sanctuary, Lucy also had to leave her hammer behind, which made her feel naked.
Erza, Laxus, and Gajeel took turns rotating between Lucy and Bickslow as they explored the ruins, hoping they could finally find the crown and get the hell out of there, and so far they had no luck.
Lucy rounded another corner and came to a large stone bridge. It was a big cavern, another thing they hadn't expected was a damn near world underneath a world in here, a forest in some of the larger caverns like this one, this particular room had a giant water fall coming out of a dark hole in the ceiling with a secret passage behind it. There were other ruin passageways on the level below, tunnels leading to other floors that went deeper and deeper into the earth, across was another tunnel and a stairway to another one, she felt like they were never going to be able to manage this.
She pulled out the parchment of the map they had so far drawn up, her and Laxus had gotten separated, and she was sure she didn't need it, they had been here long enough to somewhat know their way around, however it was good to keep it on them and map out any new passages, tunnels or hallways, when she got back to their sanctuary, she would have a new one to draw out, a room with a giant sewer looking grate in the center of the floor.
Someone shouted at her from the level below and she looked down... then behind her shoulder when she heard the basilisk catching up, she looked back down again, it was Laxus.
Lucy jumped and he caught her in the air "are you crazy?!" He asked her when he set her down.
Lucy grinned "I knew you'd catch me." She told him, he looked taken aback and little did she know he was surprised and pleased that she trusted him, his thoughts were broken and the pair looked up to see the giant snake was hissing and trying to find a way to reach them.
They quickly ran hoping to lose it before it found a way down, they disappeared behind the waterfall into a tunnel that was hidden behind it, when they ran down the passage they came to a stop.
It was another large cavern, a behemoth of one with a high ceiling and an abyss below, it almost looked like it could be a large hollowed out sphere if they knew whether or not the thing had a bottom, they couldn't peer past the darkness.
In the center of this cavern was one of the largest hanging lanterns they had witnessed so far in this whole accursed place, and a soft blue light lit them and all the walls surrounding them. Included in that soft light was the cliff they were standing on and another right across from them, it seemed like there had been a bridge once a long time ago, but it looked like something smashed it from the middle and crumbled the structure leaving a gap.
Laxus grabbed Lucy around the waist and lightning teleported across, aside from him there was only one other way to cross and that was the rope tied to one of Sagitta's many arrows above both passages on either side of the cavern.
Lucy wound her arms from Laxus waist and started to make her way into the other passage before Laxus stopped her by grabbing her wrist and whipping her around to face him.
'Hey!" Lucy began to protest but he cut her off.
"First of all, don't get separated from me again," he said through gritted teeth "secondly I want to check for any injuries." He started to examine her but she ripped away from him.
"First of all, I'm not a child!" she snapped "second of all, I'm fine." She turned around and walked away from him, he passed a hand over his face in exasperation, but he followed her anyway.
"I'm a grown woman Laxus" Lucy lectured, when he caught up to her "treat me with respect."
"That doesn't mean you can take off like that, we should have worked as a team!" He growled.
"It wasn't my fault!" She shouted "I fell down that hole in the ground remember?"
"And you couldn't wait for me?" He yelled back.
"A large monster was chasing me!" She screeched.
He crossed his arms and looked away from her grunting, Lucy sighed "I'm sorry we got separated, there was nothing I could do" she spread her hands in apology. Laxus relaxed his shoulders, he knew it wasn't her fault, he had been scared, and his anger was the result of that fear.
"I'm sorry too." He said with sincerity looking down at her "I know it wasn't your fault, I was just… worried." She could barely hear that last part but she did and she jumped on it.
"Awww, you were worried about me?" She giggled jabbing him with her elbow.
"Knock it off, blondie" he waved her off, smirking.
"Will do sparky" she called back, she had skipped ahead before he could make a comeback, and was running when she saw the orange glow of the fire that was lit.
This room was a godsend, high, high above them was a hole leading out to Earhtlands wonderful atmosphere and every now and then a cold breeze that smelled of snowy mountains would waft in making them all wistful of home after being stuck in here for what seemed like eternity.
They were grateful too; to that small fire and the small bit of light that came through, there may have been another one of those weird hanging lights but they were sick of seeing that dim blue, they felt like they needed color and life in this dreary place.
Lucy skidded to halt in front of the fire and plopped herself next to Gajeel, him and Bickslow had been back for a while and they were all waiting on Laxus and Lucy, Laxus himself followed in after her at his own pace and sat across from the blonde mage, the fire in-between them.
Virgo popped up behind Lucy and randomly began braiding her hair, she had been growing it out since before she joined fairy Tail, and to her it was a symbol of freedom and wild abandon.
"You let your spirits pop out whenever?" Laxus asked her, it wasn't the first time he'd seen it, just the first time he commented on it, the only one that annoyed him was the playboy.
Speak of the devil…
"Lucy treats us with respect, we are not objects to her, we are people and have feelings. She loves her spirits and would do anything for us, and hence we return her kindness and graciousness and love of our own, to our dear princess." Loke had popped out and was now kneeling down next to Lucy who smiled at him without looking at him, Virgo still had her princess's hair entwined in her fingers and Lucy didn't want to mess it up for her.
Virgo nodded absently "Hime is very special to us; we will do anything we can for her."
Lucy just chuckled, she wasn't going to say anything, her spirits had done the talking for her, and they knew how to fight their own battles.
"Tch" Laxus looked away; everyone was quiet after that exchange, it had been kind of awkward. Erza was pouring over some books that the magic council member who had hired them for this mission had sent along, trying to find some sort of clue as to the whereabouts of the crown, Bickslow was silently chatting with his babies as they float around him, and Gajeel and Laxus were staring off into the fire, with Laxus sitting cross legged and both fists tucked under his chin and Gajeel just one.
Lucy had long since lay down on her own cot and was sleeping peacefully when a loud growl/shout jolted her awake, along with everyone else who was enjoying the peace and quiet. Erza was sick of looking through these books, she violently threw one on the ground and it bounced and nearly smacked Lucy in the head.
"I can't figure this out!" Erza stormed away, Lucy picked the book up gingerly, and feeling sorry for her friend, she decided to give it a go herself.
Everyone else went back to their silence.
It was early the next morning after Erza had unceremoniously tossed the book off to the side the night before, Laxus and Lucy were the only ones who were awake, She had grabbed the rest of the books, and wished she could just pour through it was gale force reading glasses, but on these certain texts they wouldn't work for some reason.
Laxus came over and sat next to her, "how's it coming along?" he asked her.
Lucy shook her head "I haven't really found anything" she said, her lips formed a white line before she spoke again "I don't understand this, I can't really even tell if there's some sort of clue, or maybe a riddle, there's no way somebody buried this stuff without leaving something behind to find them again, unless they didn't want them to be found." She explained.
Laxus had picked up one of the books and was holding it gingerly up by one of the covers, the pages flapped and the firelight shone through it, Lucy was about scold him and snatch the book away when something caught her eye. "Let me see that!" She shouted excitedly.
"No way!" She cried out triumphantly, amusement colored her voice as she thumbed the pages like a flipbook, the firelight glowing from behind the thin paper. Her and Laxus put their heads together and watched the words that were blossoming before their eyes; everyone was beginning to stir after Lucy's shout of revelation.
"What is it?" Erza asked, she was standing facing them from across the fire.
"Why are your heads so close?" Gajeel grumbled sleepily.
Laxus smirked but Lucy ignored the comment, too excited by her discovery. "Laxus is genius!" She cried happily standing up, she bounced over to Erza to show her what the two mages had discovered.
Erza nodded in approval in Laxus direction, "good work" she told him.
Laxus grimaced "it was an accident; Blondie's the one who noticed and figured it out." He told her, Lucy blushed but waved him off.
"We have found a way to find the jewel, not the crown" she explained to Bickslow and Gajeel who were still completely clueless to what was going on, "we've been searching for the wrong item, number one." Lucy held up a finger, then another one as she continued "Number two, this tells us exactly where one of the jewels that goes to this crown is, it's called the jewel of night."
"It doesn't give us a map; instead it gives us clues on where to find it."
"Past the golden gates,
Through the darkness with heart of bold
Under the falling stars
Where ruby red tint's the light
To shine upon the men of old"
"What does that mean?" Erza asked the blonde.
Lucy sat down cross legged, she pondered over the riddle, "well the first parts easy" she began "we have to find golden doors or metaphorical ones, and I think I know where they are" She said.
"What?! Where?!" Everyone asked.
"Laxus and I discovered them yesterday." She told them simply.
Everyone looked toward Laxus who just looked confused, "we saw some grate in the ground, looked like it led to some underground sewer" he said "yeah they were… gold-ish, and huge but I wouldn't call them doors."
"Before we got interrupted yesterday I saw some sort of mechanism in the far wall from the doorway, and I was trying to figure it out before that monster came out of nowhere." Lucy explained, "I think they open."
"Well then we must get going!" Erza commanded.
"Are we all going? Or is one of us staying at camp as usual?" Gajeel asked.
Lucy shook her head "I got a feeling about this, so I don't think we'll be coming back here."
Erza was the first to head to the exit in their little cavern, "we must waste no time!" She called to them without looking back.
"Beats being in this dump" Gajeel muttered.
Bickslow nodded in agreement "Sooner we find this thing the sooner we can get out of this hell hole!" He chuckled, "hell hole! Hell hole!" His babies chanted.
Lucy led the way to the gates, or grates if you wanted to call them that, there was no sign of the basilisk that chased them yesterday, in fact it was unusually quiet and it kept them all on edge.
The blonde celestial mage fiddled with the mechanism she had discovered yesterday, it was a lever, it should have been simple but it wouldn't budge no matter how hard she pulled, she looked around the room.
There were three hanging lanterns above the gate, but other than that the room was bare save for the giant grate and the lever.
She hunkered down examining the grate itself, it was dark down there but she could hear water rushing below, maybe Laxus was right… Maybe she was wrong; she sighed and looked up at one of the lanterns. That dim little blue light irritated her, and then she noticed it was a filter.
Large blue glass orbs were settled precariously on rings just underneath what looked like white flames, they were different from the blue flames in all the other lanterns they had seen.
Lucy stood up daring to believe, it wasn't a hunch, just a hope so she wouldn't be wrong and have drug them out for nothing.
"Laxus" she muttered, she felt him come closer and stare at whatever it was she was looking at.
"Yeah?" He asked.
She pointed, "Can you zap that little blue sphere?" She asked him.
He side eyed her but did as she requested, when the first orb broke the hanging lantern pulled up and the lever twitched in the wall, everyone turned to it, and Lucy could have jumped up and down for joy, she was right, they were weights.
Laxus stood underneath the second one, and zapped that orb, Bickslow used one of his babies to knock the third one down and into Lucy's outstretched hands, her, Laxus and Bickslow were the only three standing above the grate/gate when the lever reached the bottom and the metal doors swung downward and they were rushed into the darkness below with only their wails being heard.
"Lucy!" Erza, and Gajeel simultaneously screamed.
They waited but they were met with silence, and they were about to jump down and find out if they were alright when someone chuckled from the darkness "I see I'm not important." They heard Bickslow's voice.
"Is Lucy okay?" Erza asked him.
"yeah cosplayer's alright." He told her.
Below Lucy responded, Laxus had once again caught her and was setting her down as she answered her friend, "I'm fine Erza, what's with the nickname?" she asked Bickslow curiously, he grinned, "you and your friends dress in costumes."
"I don't dress in costumes," she huffed "and I suppose my spirits sort of do." She conceded.
The other two mages followed the fallen ones and as soon as they jumped into the dark abyss they were met with a bright light, Erza looked up but she saw only blackness above, "this place keeps getting stranger by the minute." She commented, and everyone nodded in agreement.
They scanned their surroundings, they were on a small pathway made of stone and a river gushed next to them in what looked like yet another underground cavern, Lucy inwardly groaned, she was so sick of caverns.
They followed the pathway and it seemed like hours before they reached what looked like crystal dust falling from above and down onto the ground before disappearing, it blocked their path.
Gajeel walked up to it and held his hand out catching the dust, Lucy followed suit, she couldn't tell what it was, she looked at Gajeel he was sniffing the stuff in his hands "smells like mist." He muttered.
"I've never seen mist look like that." Laxus commented.
Lucy stepped into the "falling stars" and disappeared. "Lucy we don't know what it is!" Erza hissed, "Its fine" they heard her call from the other side, so they all stepped through.
Everyone blinked at the sudden blinding light, when their eyes recovered they looked around; it seemed like they were nestled in the valley of twin peaks, the chilling bite of the cold air rustled their hair and made everyone's faces immediately turn ruddy.
They saw another door across the way, larger than the ones they had encountered before, but similar to the first, there were two statues depicting kings standing on either side and in their outstretched arms on the sides closest to the doors, in open palms sat great crystal balls, sunlight shone directly on them and somehow refracted through them to point on a hollowed circle on the entrance.
They started to walk forward when the heavy beat of wings startled them and they all jumped backward when a large golden wyvern landed on the snowy surface in front of them, it looked at them silently for a moment, teeth bared before it let out a mighty roar that shook the ground and had the team covering their ears.
"Let's go!" Erza took charge pointing to the creature, it roared again as they attacked.
"Bickslow distract it!" She shouted.
"Laxus knock it back with your lightning roar and Lucy and Gajeel hit it with everything you got!' She shouted "I'll take care of the rest" she said reequipping into her heavens wheel armor.
"Go Babies!" Bickslow yelled, arms outstretched cackling as his "babies" danced circles around the beast taunting it.
When it was fully distracted Laxus let out his signature "lightning dragon's roar!" Against it, the creature stumbled back in surprise as Lucy and Gajeel were up; smashing into it simultaneously, Gajeel with his iron fist and Lucy with her hammer, and lastly Erza leaped over them all and before the creature's head connected to the ground she pierced her swords straight through its skull, splattering blood everywhere.
The creature lay limp in the earth, it had absolutely no chance and they all stood there recovering when suddenly the balls glowed bright red and they shielded their eyes from it before lowering them to see blood had splattered on the crystals glowing in the palms of the kings and the doors silently opened, a rush of air sucking into the blackness.
"I guess that explains the last two lines of the clue." Lucy said.
"Glad we didn't have to figure it out!" Erza said triumphantly.
"Tch that seemed too easy," Gajeel commented, but they had no time to ponder on it, cautiously but hurriedly they entered the new part of the ruins.
It was a large room; and underneath a beam of light, floating above a small pillar in the very center was the dark jewel, they crept closer for a better look. It was dark as night, with small specks that glimmered and seemed to be floating within it like they were tiny stars, it was also large, easily fitting into the palm of your hand, they had expected it to be smaller like it was depicted in the drawings so they were shocked to say the least.
"This isn't right!" Erza cried, "This can't be the jewel we're after!"
Lucy looked at her red haired companion but she had a feeling it was right, this was what they were looking for.
She tentatively reached out to take it but a voice hissing in the darkness stopped her in her tracks, it froze them all into place.
"I would not touch what was not yourssssss, no I would not." That same voice was accompanied by a deathly growl and a large beast stepped into the light, one giant dark paw at a time until it was standing fully in all its glory for them to gawk at it.
It was a large black lion, and on all fours it was taller than any of them. Raking them with a reddish gaze, it glared at each of the mages, it had coarse dark fur covering it's well-muscled body, it's paws hardly looked like the paws of a lion but more like the claws of a bird, though they were covered in hair themselves and the talons it had, didn't click against the ground but more like bit into it; boring holes in the surface. Its mane was wild and tangled, and almost matted, it had large bat-like wings protruding from its shoulders and the appendages that connected the wings to its back were sinewy and looked almost twisted.
A long white streak slithered around the lions body and they met a beautiful almost crystalline looking snake with glittering green eyes that shone with malice, it flicked a clear tongue out at them and the flash of blue veins were seen.
"Let me introduccce usssss" it hissed "we are the Manticore" it bowed its head in mock fashion and leveled them with a leer; the lion thundered a growl, "Now we will finisssh you." It hissed again and struck out at Lucy who was closest.
Something thundered and she felt a weird tingling sensation; then suddenly she was far away from the creature and standing closer to the door, she looked up to see Laxus grim expression as the creature turned its attention away from her, roaring at the three mages that were left behind.
The snake struck out again at Gajeel who blocked it with his steely arm, he was surprised when it cracked through and nicked him, Gajeel cried out in pain and saw red welts busting his skin instantly, "his fangs are poisonous!" He shouted a warning at the others
The snake looked bemused "you ssshould be dead by now" it hissed menacingly "but I sssuposse your armor hasss protected you." It informed him.
"Good to know" Gajeel muttered his armor coating his entire body again, save for the broken skin and welted areas. Erza reequipped into adamantine armor that would fully cover her, Bickslow, Laxus and Lucy would have no advantage so Erza and Gajeel took on the snake while they distracted the lion.
"How do we fight this thing, if we've never even heard of one before?" Laxus shouted.
"I've heard of it before!" Lucy yelled above the roar, she swung her hammer knocking the lion back some, it stumbled and Erza and Gajeel took advantage of the snake's surprise, and began attacking, but they missed and it struck out at them again nearly catching Erza's uncovered cheek.
Erza skid back and growled, Gajeel could feel his arm burning and knew the poison was spreading, he hoped they'd finish this soon or he was done for.
The lion knocked back the other three mages and then roared; all opponents seemed to be at a standoff, staring at each other intently, "we have to cut the belly of the beast and chop the head of the snake at the same time." Lucy muttered to Laxus, his face held a grim expression.
Lucy wasted no time she bounded upward and leaped off the lion's head bravely, she flipped and landing in a crouch, the snake struck and nearly caught her but she leaped out of the way.
"Erza, hand me a sword!" Lucy shouted hands outstretched having strapped her hammer to her back already, Erza complied; and handed her the hilt of one of her swords.
"What do we do Lucy?" Erza asked her friend, she dared not take her eyes off the snake, even though Gajeel was keeping it busy but she sidled up to Lucy.
"I'll slide underneath, and you take off that thing's head" Lucy told her, Erza nodded.
"Get ready" Lucy muttered and then they charged. Lucy slid under the animal slicing its belly, it gave out a painful roar while Erza chopped the head of the snake, the beast suddenly dropped down and Lucy's small form disappeared underneath.
"Lucy!" Laxus shouted seeing what had happened, they all raced over and together they heaved the beast off of her, she was covered in blood.
"Holy crap! This is gross!' Lucy shouted, her arms held out on either side of her as she looked down her body in disgust, "ugh-mmmp!" She shut her mouth quick as it oozed down her face and she raced outside while everyone laughed in both amusement and relief.
Erza went up to the pillar trying to pry the jewel from midair but it wouldn't budge, Gajeel stumbled forward his vision going black while Erza and the other two boys tried in vain to figure out how to get the stone, "where's Lucy maybe she can figure it out?" Laxus asked looking around; she hadn't been back in a while.
Suddenly the girl appeared in the doorway, wringing water out of her hair, other than that being wet, she was completely dry and in clean clothes.
"Did you take a bath or something?" Laxus gawked at her.
"Virgo splashed some water on me, I dried off with a towel and she gave me dry clothes." Lucy explained.
"You were naked?!" Bickslow asked, his tongue sticking out with a wide perverted grin on his face, Lucy rolled her eyes, and Laxus punched his friend upside the head with a angry look on his face "there is no way, you are ever seeing me naked Bix!" Lucy scolded him, "what's going on?" She asked, ignoring the death glares Laxus was now giving the Seith mage, who had a worried look on his face and was backing away slowly.
"We can't get the stone to budge." Erza told her; hand cupping her own chin as she tried to figure it out, Lucy came up and waved her open palm underneath without thinking, she was just messing around, but it actually dropped into her hand, "oh, okay" she said giggling at their reaction.
"Seriously?!" They all cried.
She looked over at Gajeel when she heard someone's shuttered breaths, and nearly dropped the stone "Gajeel!" She cried, they all raced over to him and she tried to scoop him up as best as she could, the welts on his arm was spreading, "we have to get him back!" She cried.
Laxus and Bickslow went over and together lifted him up; they went outside with Virgo waiting, "I have already informed the Christina airship of your whereabouts." She said politely, bowing. Before they had even left Magnolia Erza and the master had chartered Blue Pegasus help "punishment princess?" she asked Lucy.
Lucy ignored the Maid as she focused her attention on the sky; the boys were still holding the Iron dragon slayer, waiting impatiently on their ride. Finally after what seemed like forever the Christina showed up, though it looked in bad shape.
"What happened to you guys?" Laxus asked boarding.
"We were on a mission we had just gotten done with yesterday, and we haven't fully repaired the Christina" Hibiki replied, he looked over at Gajeel "he looks bad" he commented.
"We need to get to Fairy Tail fast!" We need Porlyusica!" Erza shouted, Laxus and Bickslow dragged Gajeel intoa corner of the ship and laid him down, he was breathing heavily, Lucy was the last one in.
"Fairy Tail has a new healer" he informed them "who might be more useful than Porlyusica." He said and with that he flew the sailing ship on a straight course to Fairy Tail.
Everyone looked up as the guild doors flew open and the team raced to the infirmary, Hibiki trailing behind, he scanned the crowd until he finally saw the little bluenette. "Wendy!" He called to her; the girl looked over at the group, than at him.
"Do you need something Hibiki-sama?" She asked him bowing.
"They have an injured comrade and need your assistance." He told her pointing to the infirmary, Levy had disappeared up there as well, and Wendy nodded and raced after them.
There was nothing more he could do, with a nod at all the members of the guild and one final one to Master Makarov, he walked out and made for his own guild.
He'll live." Wendy told them, the welts had disappeared when she healed him, and Gajeel was resting, Lucy felt thankful to the little girl and hugged her tight, "Wendy is it?" She asked her.
The little girl smiled shyly, "yes" she said.
"Thank you" Lucy nodded, she felt okay now that Gajeel was safe, and she wanted to leave Levy alone with him, she had to have been just as much, if not more worried than her.
"C'mon I'll get you some ice cream or something" she told her and hand in hand she led the little girl out of the room, a white cat haughtily trailing after them.
In Masters Office Makarov placed the jewel on a strange metal device, the thing glowed and the jewel disappeared.
"Do we know who on the magic council wants this thing?" Laxus asked.
Master Makarov shook his head "their secretaries have been in contact with me and have not revealed the one who has contracted us." He told his grandson.
Erza looked worried and Master spread his hands apologetically "there's nothing we can do." He told them, they nodded but they still didn't like it.