Chapter 10: Day Three, Part One
Other than a brief explosion in the middle of the night, Sol and Dimaria slept well. Well, at least, she thought she did. Sol woke up several times to the force of a moved leg, arm, or head, and there was one time where it was even snoring. Needless to say, Sol was in a slightly less than tolerable mood when the sun came up.
God damn, she'll be the death of me.
He got up, leaving her in bed. If there had been another place in the room to sleep, he surely would have asked her to sleep there, but the only spot besides the floor was his bed. After all, he hadn't purchased the room with the expectation that he'd have a visitor. And after seeing her cry earlier last night, it wasn't like he could just let her sleep alone like that. It bothered him.
I'll have to go see if the innkeeper can get another bed brought in here. If she wants, she can move it over to be joined with mine, but there is no way we are sharing that one bed together. Damn thing is too small for just me, let alone her too.
Cracking his back and neck, he went into the bathroom and cleaned himself up. When he was finished, he put on his set of Nightingale armor, modified to fit the orange theme that his persona called for. Running a finger over the trim of his hood, he pulled down the mask part of the outfit. He found that it only made breathing more difficult, and it muffled his voice whenever he wanted to speak.
Exiting the bathroom, he looked over to see Dimaria stretching, hair messed up from sleep. Seeing her this way got Sol's heart racing, a feeling quite unfamiliar to him. It was similar to the rush he felt when fighting, though the urge he felt now what almost exactly the opposite. He was overcome with an instinct like that of protection, sensing some unknown, distant danger that Dimaria was destined to face.
"Good morning Sol." Dimaria snapped him out of his thoughts, and his eyes rested on hers, glistening in the morning light. "You look nice."
"Thanks." Sol smiled, pulling down his hood to reveal a face that was, for the moment, at peace. "Sleep well?" The question was sincere.
"Yeah, thanks. I know it must've been awkward sharing your bed with a stranger, but I really needed it." Dimaria looked down at the floor, scratching her head awkwardly.
"No worries." Sol walked over to the desk against the wall opposite of the bathroom and grabbed some of his things. While he could've easily used a pocket dimension, he felt the extra burden of his rucksack to be enjoyable.
"So, what's the plan?" Dimaria had stepped into the bathroom and was changing back into her normal outfit. She was holding the necklace he had given her in her hands, prepared to put it on. "Just put this one and I'll be able to get into the coliseum without being noticed?"
"Well, since you enjoyed it so much last night, I was actually planning on just taking you there through refraction." This only brought a puzzled look to Dimaria's face. "It's what I call moving between my physical and light form."
"Ah." Dimaria nodded her head, going along with what he was saying. How he did it was still quite a mystery to her. "Well, in that case, let's go." She held out her hand.
"Alright. Here we go." Sol grabbed her hand and they were off. Just a moment later, they were standing in the viewing box, but just outside the line of sight of any spectators.
"Wow. That never gets old." Dimaria let out a small sigh of relief, feeling much more relaxed now that they had arrived. "That's some magic you've got."
"Thanks." Sol looked at her with a subtle bit of confidence. "Speaking of magic, I never could figure what kind you use. Care to tell?"
"Yeah, just one second." She slid the necklace over her head and onto her neck, and suddenly Dimaria had vanished. Sol was experienced enough in the art to notice a small shimmer of distortion in the light where her body had once been. "There, much better."
"My magic allows me to stop time." Dimaria seemed to move out toward the edge of the box, sitting in the middle of one of the front benches. "It actually comes from the God of Time, Cronos."
Cronos? I wonder if there's any connection to Akatosh?
Sol remembered his previous encounter with Hermaeus Mora and that indiscernible being from the void he had travelled in on his way to Earthland, and it convinced him that there likely was a connection. What it was specifically was anyone's guess.
"Stopping time? That's pretty impressive." Sol folded his arms over in annoyed realization. "I assume that's how you managed to find out what room I was staying in?"
Dimaria couldn't be seen, but she had put her hands up in protest, feigning regret and fear. "I'm so sorry. I promise I'll never do it again."
Sol chuckled. For how much she seemed to go through mood swings, Dimaria's witty personality was quite humorous to him. "Yeah, right. Whatever you say, Dimaria."
"Hey, what did I ever do to you?" Dimaria protested even more, but not even her invisibility could give away her devilish smirk.
"Keep it up and maybe I'll demonstrate." Sol, arms still folded, leaned back in the seat, grinning. He was starting to like the back and forth flirting they went through together. It upheld the sanctity of the more serene, touching moments, what few they had experienced so far.
Sol could feel Dimaria playfully rolling her eyes at him, but the moment didn't last long, as Chapati Lola's voice broke through the idle talk of the crowd.
"Welcome to Day Three of the Grand Magic Games! That puts us at the halfway point!"
For what it was worth, Sol didn't mind Lola as an announcer. He did well enough.
"I personally will be on my best behavior around today's guest, from the Magic Council it's Marshal Lahar!"
A member of the Magic Council? Interesting. No doubt he's here to figure me out.
"As Chief Marshal of the Custody Enforcement Unit, your job is catching the bad guys, isn't that right?" Lola was questioning Lahar. Sol didn't bother to listen.
"Oh, I totally forgot about this Dimaria," Sol gestured to her invisible figure, "but there's a good chance you're not the only one who'll be accompanying me today." He then nodded over to the Fairy Tail viewing box. "Just try to stay out of the way if you can. Sorry."
"Oh, alright," Dimaria scoffed, flustered, "Just let random strangers walk all over me. Got it."
Hmm. Guess hiding isn't really her thing.
"Well, if it's too much for you, I could always take you back home…" Sol looked over, raising one eyebrow.
"What? Are you kidding me? No way! I've gotta be here to see you win!" That last remark came out unexpectedly. "I mean… uh… well… you asked me to be here…"
Sol laughed again. He seemed to be winning this game of theirs. "Yeah, sure. I'll let you sit on that thought for a while." Sol jumped over the railing. "Get back to me when you've got it figured out."
He could feel Dimaria's eyes stabbing daggers through the back of his head.
Sol 1, Dimaria 0.
Landing in the same spot as always, Sol started forward towards the day's event. He noticed as he got up just how much his impacts had altered the ground in that area. Apparently, the Games officials hadn't bothered to fix it, because the crater Sol had developed over the past three days was now a solid two feet at it's deepest.
"Let's kick off this hump day with a game that's sure to be exciting, one that we call Pandemonium!" Chapati Lola put great emphasis into the word Pandemonium, which got Sol in his typical battle mood.
Geez, if they wanted some Pandemonium, they've could've just asked. No need for some elaborate event.
By this point his trademark smirk had found its way onto his face, as he walked towards the center of the arena. Sol was listening to Lola rattle off the names of each competitor when a castle appeared out of the sky and floated down to the ground. Sol spent a good deal of time studying the structure, so much so that he completely tuned out Mato and the others.
Wow. I never really took to the architecture back home, but this stuff is gorgeous.
"Now, to decide the order you'll go in, I'd like everyone to please draw a straw." Sol snapped out of his daydream to see a box with straws appear in Mato's hands out of thin air. Sol racked his brain, trying to grasp the basic concepts of the game.
100 monsters… varying difficulty… choose how many… random… Got it. Should be easy.
Sol reached out to draw his straw. A green magic circle appeared on the end with a number 9 in the middle. "Guess I'll be going last."
He looked over to see Erza holding up her straw. She had drawn the number 1 slot, so she'd be going first. She was talking to Cana at the moment, so he didn't bother her. But he did drop in on her conversation.
"Interesting. I had assumed victory in this event relied entirely on the luck of the draw." Erza looked upon the stairs leading up to the castle.
"It's far more than that. You have to consider pacing, your opponent's strength, the likelihood of getting a really nasty monster, the list goes on and on. It is quite a complex game if you think about it." Mato had turned to respond to her statement.
"No." Erza looked up at him, smiling confidently. "In fact, this is no longer even a game." She turned and walked forward towards the stairs of the castle, prompting confusion from the pumpkin-headed referee. "Inside this castle wait one hundred monsters. I choose to challenge all of them."
Gasps could be heard around the arena. Nobody had expected such a bold strategy. Varying degrees of shock covered each competitor's face, save for Sol's, who only smirked.
You may be able to impress everyone else here, but not me. Nice try.
He walked over to Erza and put his hand on her shoulder. "Good luck, Erza. You'll need it." The second half of his sentenced was laced with venom. Erza jerked her shoulder forward, getting his hand off of her.
"Watch it." Erza looked back at him with a glare he had yet to see. While it would have struck fear into most people, to Sol it was nothing more than another feeble attempt at intimidation.
Backing off, Sol raised his hands in fake protest. "Fine. Suit yourself." He walked back to the stand with the other competitors, waiting for the event to begin.
Sol turned around and looked back at his viewing box. He caught a brief glimpse of Dimaria's form leaning against the railing. He could only assume she was enjoying this farce just as much as he was.
You could probably just stop time and beat them all in an instant, couldn't you?
After watching for what seemed like only a few minutes, Erza had finished. She defeated all one hundred monsters. The cheer from the crowd was deafening. It was all Sol could do not to laugh at their ignorance.
Do they really think she's strong? When will they learn?
"Okay, after some deliberation, we've decided that the eight remaining teams still need to be ranked, so we're having another contest. This game might be a little on the boring side compared to Pandemonium, but I think it'll suffice." Mato stood next to what would later be called a Magic Power Finder, or MPF.
Sol waited patiently while Mato explained the rules and the others went. He found it amusing that the MPF considered Olga and Jura to be incredibly strong. Finally, it was his turn to set the record straight. They had brought out a new MPF after Cana destroyed it with her "Fairy Glitter" spell.
I will never get over the fact that these morons yell out what their attack is. But I guess I can't judge considering that's more or less what the Thu'um is. Speaking of which, how about we give them another taste?
"May I borrow that microphone?" Sol put his hand out to Olga, who seemed surprised by the question. He handed it over. "Thank you."
Sol addressed the crowd. "I am going to be whispering, so pay close attention." Sol held the microphone out next to the MPF and summoned all of his strength. He had learned this technique from the Greybeards shortly before he had come to this world. It was, after all, how most of them communicated.
"Fus." Sol's whisper was barely audible to the crowd, but it did the trick. The MPF was, like its predecessor, history. Another 9999 appeared where the MPF had once been. The gasp of the crowd was similar to the one Erza managed to produce earlier.
Sol took the time to crush the microphone in his hands. Then, rising up into the air like a deity, his voice boomed throughout the city.
"DO YOU SEE NOW, FIORE? THESE GAMES WERE DECIDED THE MOMENT THEY LET ME JOIN. YOU COULD THROW ALL EIGHT OF THESE PATHETIC TEAMS AT ME WITH EVERY MEMBER AND THEY WOULDN'T STAND A CHANCE! TAKE NOTICE."
Floating back down, the crowd had gone completely silent. Sol looked down at the spot where he always landed when entering the arena.
Perhaps that was a bit too much.
The crowd erupted into its loudest cheer yet.
Or not…
Sol smiled and looked up to each team. Each one, without fail, was looking upon him with anger and determination. He had accomplished his goal.
Maybe now you'll start to actually try competing with me.
Sol walked over and jumped up to his booth. The shimmer of light still hadn't left its spot against the ledge. Dimaria's voice broke through the air. "Why do I get this feeling like you're just putting on a show?"
"Because I am. I mean, really, do you expect me to give it my all out there? I'd destroy the whole city in an instant." Sol leaned back on the bench, smirking away.
"Well that's certainly one way to-"A sudden knock on the door halted Dimaria's speech. Sol, thinking quickly, moved his bag to where Dimaria was sitting, and answered the door.
"Oh, hello. I wasn't expecting this many of you." Stood there was Makarov, followed by Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Erza, Wendy and the Exceeds Happy and Carla. Not one of them looked too happy to be there. "Please, come in."
One by one, the group of Fairy Tail mages walked into the booth and found a place to sit. Natsu haphazardly had walked over to Sol's bag, almost tripping over Dimaria's leg, when Sol had ushered him away from the corner. "I'd prefer it if you didn't look through my things." Grumbling, Natsu walked over to Lucy and sat next to her.
"Well?" Sol was now standing in front of the group, leaning back on the ledge as Fairy Tail's guild master eyed the corner of the room suspiciously. Sol's question got his attention. "I assume you've got questions?"
"Yeah, what the hell is wrong with you?!" Natsu yelled away, typically. "You really think you can just show us up like that? You cost us points!"
"Would you stop, Natsu?!" Lucy smacks Natsu upside the head. "We aren't here to start a fight!" Lucy turns to look at Sol, wary of him. "Even if he is."
"Do you really think I would've bothered to open the door if I were interested in fighting you right now?" Sol crossed his right leg over his leg, tilted his head sideways slightly. "I'm here for two reasons. One, to win the Games, and two, to bring my friend back from the dead. So if that's what you were here to learn," he gestured to the door, "I suggest leaving."
"No, actually." Makarov stood up, looking Sol right in the eyes. "We're actually here to learn more about you. Given your conversation with Mira, and the reassurances of our First Master, I've decided that you aren't a threat to us, at least for the moment. Erza told me yesterday that you know multiple types of magic?"
Sol grabbed a nearby chair and sat down, facing away from the crowd. "Dozens. Pretty much every type of elemental magic you can think of," he noted as he started casting various spells, "along with some rarer kinds."
"Yet you choose to only fight with five?" Gray frowned. "Wouldn't it be to your advantage to use more?"
"It very well might," Sol nodded thoughtfully, "but I'm much more proficient at the five. Besides, I don't have the ability to tell whether or not I'm using the same magic as someone until I start fighting. That means I'd have to wait until the other guy struck first, and that's not smart." Sol lit up a ball in his hand, casting in onto a nearby wall. "So I try to use a combination of magic that's so rare it can't be defended against."
"Wowww." Happy flew up to the ball of light and touched it, fascinated. "Look, Carla, you can actually touch it!"
"That's great, Happy." Carla pinched the bridge of her nose, clearly not amused.
Lola's voice ripped through the conversation. "Well folks, time to see who Sol will be fighting for this time around." The drawing was to commence once again.
"And it looks like today Sol will be representing…" A pause for dramatic effect. "Raven Tail!"
Sol turned and looked at his guests. They weren't pleased.
Now what?
Author's Note: Okay guys, sorry this chapter took so long to put out. I've been really busy with school, more so than I originally anticipated. While that did suck, it'll be over in about three weeks, so I'll be able to sit down and write on a more consistent basis.
That being said, I have a few announcements to make regarding the story. The first of which is that, pretty obviously, Day Three is being split into two parts. The first part, as you've read here, is mainly the morning and the Event. Part two will be the battle stage and the evening. There's a lot to write, so I felt it was appropriate to split the chapters, and I couldn't really come up with a clever chapter name, so this is the result. Enjoy.
The second announcement, which is much more important, is that I will be creating a playlist of songs to listen to for each arc of this fanfiction I will be writing. I've already got a good list of songs in my head for each moment of this particular arc, but feel free to PM me with suggestions of songs I should add, or just songs to listen to in general. I'm open to suggestion.
While that was more of a suggestion rather than direct asking, this is. Any fan of the story who would be interested in creating fanart for the story, I would love to see it. I am looking to add fanart to the story to give it a more detailed look, and if the quality is really good, I may even pay you for your efforts.
Well, that's all for right now. I hope you enjoyed this chapter; I hope you have enjoyed the story as a whole, and I hope you have a wonderful time in the future. I love and appreciate every reader, and I am truly glad that you have chosen to take this journey with me. Cheers!