Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 9: Homeward Bound!
(Real quick, I know I said I'd be making a new My Hero story at some point, and with the way the poll seems to be going, it's gonna be the story about UA Second Years, but that may have to be put on hold for a bit since I have found that a lot of the Quirks I decided on for students and a lot of the plot points have become canon, so I'll have to change quite a bit, apologies if you were looking forward to that...)
While the members of the other guilds were asking around for information about the Imp Horn Guild, back in Turquesa, Emilia approached the jailhouse, she let out a sigh and put on a smile as she entered the building "Well, this is a surprise, what can I do for you, Guild Master?" The sheriff asked, greeting her from his desk.
"I was wondering if I could...talk with the members of Imp Horn that were recently dropped off here, do you think that can be arranged?" She asked, pointing towards the row of cells "They may have some information that could be vital to an investigation of ours."
The sheriff leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms "An investigation, huh?" he questioned, looking down towards the cells "I have no doubt you'll be able to handle yourself if they try anything, but these men are dangerous, are you sure you want to meet with them?"
Emilia gave the sheriff a simple nod, still smiling "I appreciate your concern, Sheriff, I'll be careful around them" the sheriff realized that there was no point arguing this point any further and got out of his chair and gestured for her to follow him.
The two of them walked down the row of cells, ignoring the cat-calls from the various criminals, throwing compliments such as "Dark-haired goddess" or "Pale beauty" towards her, but she simply ignored them as they continued down the hall.
They finally reached the cell with the members of Imp Horn, The sheriff stopped her, putting his arm in front of her "Are you sure you want to do this? These men could get pretty violent..." Emilia silently nodded and the sheriff let out a sigh, he then raised his fist, slamming it against the cell door "Hey! You guys have a visitor!"
There was a rustling sound from the inside of the cell, but Emilia couldn't see in the darkness, the sound of rattling chains and shuffling footsteps grew louder and the leader of the band that Seth had turned over approached from the shadows.
"The hell are you shouting for?" he asked, a look on his face that was a mix of annoyance and tiredness, he then saw Emilia and let out a wry laugh "So, the little brat sent his mommy to deal with his problems, huh?"
Emilia's expression turned serious as she stepped closer to the cell "I suppose that means you've heard of me?" she asked, placing a hand on one of the bars "Then I won't waste time with introductions, I need information about your employers..."
The man approached the front of the cell as well and grabbed the same bar that Emilia was holding on to "And why would I do that, Miss?" he asked, venom underlying each of his words "I already told that white-haired punk; I didn't ask any questions, and I didn't talk to anyone from one of the Merchant Families, so why don't you run along?"
Emilia fell silent, leaving everyone else standing awkwardly, waiting with bated breath for her to say something...suddenly, the bars to the cell turned red-hot and the leader fell backwards, screaming "Perhaps force will change your mind?" Emilia asked, glaring at the man as he scrambled on the floor.
The pain in his hand finally subsided and he stood up, laughing "I should have known not to mess with the 'Lady of the Five Seals!'" he approached the front of the cell again, a cocky smile on his face "People gave you so much praise for turning such simple magic into something impressive!"
Emilia seemed unswayed by the man, continuing to glare at him "I did not come here to hear someone sing my accolades, if you don't give me the information I seek, many innocents may suffer..." her grip tightened on the bar and the sheriff saw that it was beginning to melt, with small droplets of molten metal hitting the stones at Emilia's feet "Do you truly not care what happens to them?"
"...Fine then, I'll tell you what I know, name's Sudri, by the way..." the man said, finally relenting and walking away from the cell door "But there isn't much more that I didn't already tell that punk; I met with a lackey working for one of the Merchant Families, he didn't say which and didn't seem keen on sharing..."
"Where did you meet him?" Emilia asked, releasing the bar before she burned all the way through it "Perhaps it will give us some idea of where he's based?"
Sudri was silent for a moment –though it was a thoughtful silence, as opposed to an indignant one– "...Jaspe, to the South, don't know of many Families that operate out of there, though..." he then turned his attention to the sheriff "What the hell do we get out of this, anyway? Reduced sentence?"
The Sheriff looked at Emilia, who gave a slight nod "Well...you have caused quite a lot of chaos in the countryside...but, I suppose we can work something out" Sudri didn't seem convinced by this, but he seemed content.
"He was looking for a small-time guild to assist with a 'secret project' he kept calling it, he needed us to keep raising hell; some of us would attack the Families cargo, and some of us would help them steal things they needed for this 'project'" Sudri continued, leaning against one of the walls of the cell, as he talked, the other members of Imp Horn that were locked up with him seemed to rouse "We were offered several cases full of Jewels, how could we have said no?"
"I see..." Emilia simply said, a stern look creasing her face "But money is no excuse, you've put people's livelihoods at stake, not to mention their lives..." Her expression then softened as she looked at Sudri "Did that not occur to you?"
Suddenly, another member of Imp Horn ran up to the bars and grabbed Emilia's shoulders and pulled her close "Screw you! Do you even care about us!? We needed this job! Do you know how hard it is for people without magic to make it in this world?!" before he could continue on his diatribe, Sudri grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the back of the cell, slamming hard into the wall and knocking him out cold.
"...Sorry about that..." He apologized, turning back to Emilia "But he's right...some of these idiots can't use magic, they wouldn't make it in a Magic Guild, they didn't have the skills to make it in a Worker Guild, so the only option they had left was a Criminal Guild..." he looked back at the attacker, who was still laying against the wall "Anyway...That's all I can tell you, do whatever you want with that info..."
Emilia backed away from the cell and turned to leave "Thank you, Sudri, I will follow up on the lead you have given us..." she left the cell block with the sheriff behind her, he escorted her out of the building and made sure she was alright "I'll be fine, sheriff" she replied, smiling "I should get back to the guild hall, there is much to do..." she said her goodbyes to the sheriff and went back to the Guild...
...After regaining their strength in the forest, Seth's group noticed that the sun had begun to deep below the horizon "We shouldn't linger much longer, let's get back to Espinela" Dawn said, standing up and dusting herself off, she then glanced at Seth, who was still sprawled out –seemingly ready to fall asleep "Besides some of them may need medical attention..."
"Eh, I think I'll be fine, I've got bones made of metal!" Seth responded, smiling at her, though his smile soon relented when she lightly prodded his arm with her foot "A-Alright...maybe a doctor is a good idea..." he pushed himself off of the ground with his good arm and held the other steady.
Kagome and Ariadne approached the ex-captives and helped the injured to their feet "Don't worry, you'll be home soon!" Kagome reassured them, smiling warmly as she allowed a man to lean on her, the group made one last check that they were safe and began to make their way back to town.
They soon found their way back to the mouth of the forest, where they were surprised to see that a group of villagers preparing themselves to enter the forest armed with pitchforks and other farming equipment "There they are! Charge!" one of them yelled, but they soon skidded to a halt when they recognized that they were the members of Silver Hippogriff "You...you succeeded? We got nervous when you didn't come back..."
"We took a little pit stop, sorry" Ariadne apologized, helping someone rest against a tree "But we gave you our word, and we brought back all of the captives" the mob dropped their weapons as they saw their loved ones exit the forest, both sides ran towards each other as they reunited with family, cheers rang throughout the village and tears of joy were shed.
Even the members of Silver Hippogriff couldn't help themselves, smiling happily at the scene unfolding before them "Feels great to help them out!" Seth cheered, trying to fold his arms behind his head, but a jolt of pain made him double over "...Nearly made me forget about this..."
They were then approached by an old man who they assumed was the Mayor of the village "Truly, there is no way we can thank you, but if there is any way for us to show our gratitude –do not hesitate to tell us" he then noticed Seth's pain and laughed "Ah, seems you got banged up yourselves, allow me to escort you to the doctors."
"Oh, that's nice, Gramps...but I didn't bring along any cash..." Seth apologized, patting his pockets "I don't wanna put you guys out or anything, I think I should be able to keep it together until we get back" despite his protests, the mayor gestured for them to follow.
"Nonsense, don't even worry about paying" He responded, pushing his way through the crowd of people "Its the least we can do" the mages still tried to argue, but the mayor seemed intent on giving them some sort of reward, they were soon lead to the doctor's office "Hello? Is the doctor in?"
"He is, who needs attention?" The receptionist asked, but when she saw the state of the five young people behind the mayor, he instantly understood "I see, who has the most severe wounds?" Seth stepped forward, rubbing the back of his head.
"I, uh, guess that'd be me" He sheepishly answered, the receptionist got out from behind her desk and lead him down the hall, opening a door and gesturing for him to step inside "Thanks, is there anyone else who can look at my friends, though?"
"Well, we have a couple of nurses, but they went to join the mob to save those that got kidnapped" The receptionist answered, causing Seth to laugh, informing her that they had just gotten back from the forest and saved the victims "O-Oh! I hadn't heard! I'll be right back!" she said, a wide grin on her face as she quickly closed the door behind her.
Seth looked around the room and sat on the examination table in the corner, he took off his jacket and examined the bloodstain on his shirt underneath it, running his fingers over the stab wound that Dawn had left "Can't believe my own guildmate stabbed me...though it did help..."
As he thought, the door opened and a short, older man entered "Hello, you must be Mr. Eisenhaupt, what seems to be the problem, young man?" he sat down in a chair and rolled it towards the examination table.
"Well...I think I broke my arm..." Seth answered, poking his left arm and wincing at the pain "My friends and I got in a fight with some Dark Guild members, think you can help?" the doctor poked and prodded at various spots on Seth's arm, sending shocks of pain through his body.
"Hmm...this is odd, your bone feels solid, are you sure it's broken?" The doctor asked, squeezing Seth's risk "Do you have a plate in here?" he was then surprised as liquid metal began pouring out of the wound on Seth's arm "W-What is this?!"
"Sorry for scaring you, I'm a God Slayer..." Seth informed him, smiling: his smile soon faded and his face became serious "...I couldn't let my arm slow me down, I held it together until I won..."
The doctor soon calmed down, clearing his throat "That is quite admirable, young man, but you could have done permanent damage" he then poked Seth's arm one last time "Hmm...the damage isn't that bad, it should be able to heal on it's own, but it will have to remain in a cast for a while –but I will have to do something about that stab wound."
He rolled his chair towards the cabinets and grabbed a medical kit, he rolled back towards Seth and opened the kit on the table, taking out a suture, a bottle of anesthetic and a syringe, he put some of the anesthetic into the syringe and prepped it.
"This shouldn't take too long, sit still please" he said, sticking the syringe into Seth's arm, causing him to breath in sharply "Now we'll just give it a little time to set in..." he began cleaning the wound as they waited for the anesthetic to take effect, once his arm had gone numb the doctor started stitching the wound shut, bandaging it up once that was done...
Once their wounds had been tended to, the team retired to an inn, glad to have a little time to relax "Ah...felt like that mission took forever!" Rin sighed, falling onto one of the beds "Still, you think it's okay that they won't let us pay them?"
"They want to show their gratitude, I suppose" Ariadne laughed, sitting on the other bed "It took all the persuasive abilities Dawn and I had to convince them not to throw us a banquet..." she took out a small box that she had been given as a reward "Though they did insist I had this" she opened the box and was surprised to see a silver spirit key inside, with the image of a rabbit on top "Oh! It's a key!"
She pointed the key forward, but nothing happened "Hm..I guess I don't have enough power left, perhaps we'll have to try again in the morning?" Ariadne asked herself, trying to call upon the spirit once more.
"We should turn in, it has been quite a long day..." Dawn said, turning towards Seth and Rin, handing them a room key "Here, your room's right across the hall" The two of them nodded and left the room, leaving the girls on their own.
"...Dawn, are you okay?" Kagome finally asked as Dawn fell onto one of the beds "You seemed tense since we got back, did something happen?" she joined Dawn on the bed and placed a hand on her shoulder, you can talk to us, you know."
A tense silence filled the room, finally broken when Dawn let out a heavy sigh "It was...that spell...it made me see things" Ariadne and Kagome shared a concerned look as Dawn continued "It put me in a world where everyone in the guild talked about hating me...it felt so real."
Without saying anything, both Ariadne and Kagome hugged her "Don't worry, no one thinks that, it was just the spell!" Kagome reassured her "We're your friends!" the two of them let go of her, all three smiling.
"Thank you...I shouldn't have let it affect me so much" Dawn apologized, wiping her eyes "We should get some sleep" the three girls went to their beds as Dawn turned off the lights, silently grateful that she had friends to pull her out of her thoughts...
THE END!
A.N: Sorry if there wasn't much action in this chapter, I thought it would be nice to have a little bit of a wind-down after all of the fighting, hope you enjoy!