After dinner was finally finished, Erza sent Gray off with the ghost kids so she could finish up cleaning. Gray gave a mock salute, then trooped away, herding the boys in front of him. Once Gray and the boys were gone, Erza heaved a sigh.
"You know, we need to go and find that body," she stated. Lucy and Gildarts shivered at the mention of the burned body they found the first time they had seen Natsu.
"Do we have to?" Gildarts whimpered.
"Yes." Erza glared at him. "It might give us information on who was experimenting on them."
"What about the notebook?" Lucy asked. Erza blinked, as if just remembering the small, paperback notebook. She reached into her shirt - of course that's where she would keep it! - and pulled out the small book.
"I almost forgot about it. We shall study it tonight." Lucy and Gildarts nodded solemly.
"They fell asleep quick!" The three turned to see Gray walking in, ruffling his hair. "As soon as they hit the pillow- poof! Out!" He emphasized his point with a lot of arm-waving, accidentally smacking Gildarts in the face. The older man grumbled curses under his breath, rubbing his face.
"We're checking out the body," Erza stated bluntly. Gray visibly paled.
"In the dark?" he whined.
"Yes." Erza gave him a stone glare. "Find a flashlight."
Gray once again let out a loud complaint, brushing a few cobwebs off of his shoulder.
"We can do this in the morning, can't we?"
"No."
"But it's dark and I can't see!"
"Turn on your flashlight."
Gray let out a muffled grumble, then flicked on his flashlight, aiming at the floor. Of course the first thing he lit up was the corpse's burned face. He let out a shout of alarm, stumbling back and cracking his flashlight against the wall.
"What happened?" Gildarts demanded, coming over with a scowl. Gray took a shuddering breath, then tried his flashlight. It wouldn't turn on. He took another breath, dropped the flashlight on the ground, and lifted a hand to cover his eyes. He pointed to where he had found the body.
"Found it," he said weakly. Gildarts huffed slightly, blowing a few of his bangs out of his eyes.
"Erza, we found it," he called, swinging his flashlight beam in the direction Gray pointed to. His face became grim when he lit up the corpse, but he didn't run like Gray expected him to.
"You're not freaked out?" Gray croaked.
"Terrified," Gildarts retorted. "But I can't break a promise." Gray smiled slightly, despite his still shaky breathing. He had had enough jumpscares to last him a lifetime in less than a week, and he was completely ready to go home now. But he couldn't well leave a couple of kids by themselves, miles away from any kind of society, now could he?
"Where is it?" Erza demanded, stomping over, barely illuminated from the light of Gildarts' light and her own flashlight. Dust completely coated her skin, and a fair amount of cobwebs was tangled into her hair. Lucy followed behind, smiling weakly.
"What happened to you?" Gray asked flatly.
"She refused to avoid the cobwebs..." Lucy murmured, looking down. Erza gave a rebellious huff.
"I refuse to allow simple cobwebs to deter my path," she said righteously, planting her hands on her hips.
"Is this really a time to be joking around like this?" Gray interrupted, breathing stabilized. "There's a body only a few feet away from you." Lucy squeaked, jumping behind Erza with wide eyes. Erza swung her beam down to the ground, illuminating the blackened and charred skin.
"Huh," she muttered casually. "I didn't notice."
"No kidding!" Lucy breathed.
"Anyways," Gildarts interjected, "we should get to studying."
"Right," Erza agreed instantly, crouching down beside the body. She poked it's leathery face, and a few flakes of burnt skin drifted to the floor. Lucy shuddered.
"Don't touch it!" she squealed, backing into a wall. Erza gave her a level stare.
"How else do we examine it?" she asked tonelessly, turning her attention back to the corpse. Lucy shrugged helplessly.
"A stick?" she suggested. Erza gave her a disbelieving stare.
"I think it's a male," she said abruptly, poking the body.
"And how do you figure that?" Gray asked, almost sarcatically.
"There's no extra skin on the breasts," Erza relied factually. Gildarts resisted the urge to facepalm.
"Of course," he mumbled.
"Whatcha doin'?" came a sleepy murmur. Everyone jumped, then whipped around. Natsu was standing behind them, blearily rubbing his eyes.
"Natsu! Why are you up?" Lucy fussed, rushing over to the ghost and ushering him away. Natsu kept peering over his shoulder at Erza, his golden eyes glowing in the flashlight's light.
"Why are they looking at Acni?" Natsu asked quietly to Lucy, though everyone heard him.
"They're just curious. Now, let's get you back to bed... Zeref's probably worried," Lucy whispered to the little ghost, and he instantly fell for the bait, hook, line, and sinker.
"Natsu don't want big brother Zeref to be worried," he said solemly, following Lucy like a puppy as she led him back to his room.
IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!
V
Uuuuggghhhh... *Facepalms*
Look, I know I haven't updated for, like, YEARS. And I'm really sorry and everything. But school's been a bitch, and I'm not exactly the sharpest pencil in the box. I've been banned from my computer until I could get my grades up, and so far, it's been going pretty well. Though I've had no time to write in my stories at all. I won't be updating my stories very often now, so please be patient with me!
Again, I'm really really sorry!
Natsu from DoD: I don't care *Grabs me in a death choke*
Me: I knew this would happen... *Suffocates*
Natsu: *Evil grin as he drops my lifeless body on the floor*