"So? What is it we know by now? Let's all share our information!" Levy said, throwing a series of books and maps over the table the mages gathered around.
"First of all, a question," Gray, however, raised a hand, in a school-like way, but with a deep glare on his face as he eyed a certain duo. "I know exactly why Natsu's group cannot be trusted, but why are they here, however?"
Of course, Sting glared right back at him, tension appearing between the two boys, as he raised his fist, the same way Gray did. Yet Lucy didn't want to hear any of this, and quickly grabbed Sting's hand, pushing it down, and staring at him. Even without her eyes seen behind the mask, he felt the scolding look, and quickly calmed down.
"Can we agree not to fight amongst ourselves, the mages in this room? We're here with a common goal, so let's help each other out without further ado."
"That's right! We have to join forces in order to help that dragon." Wendy stepped forward, looking Gray's way, with a resolute look. Of course, Gray already understood Lucy's message, and quietened down as well.
The girls were all right. Because they had a common goal and the ability to work together, they should work together.
However, they also knew… They were going against this very thought by excluding Natsu, Erza, Lisanna and Happy. In a way, they felt guilty, but also knew that their hatred was not a trivial thing either.
"Can we get to business then? Without acting like some brats?" Even Gajeel pointed out, causing them all to come out of the lingering thought of guilt that crossed their mind. Turning their focus back onto the table, Lucy unfurled a map over it.
"This is the map of this area, the city of Sirca, and the surrounding hills. Because of how the city is positioned inside this bay, the typhoons basically ravaged the coast area, and entered into the city itself." She explained, starting with the cause in the request they received.
"That's right. Not only were buildings damaged, but there was also loss of life. The fishermen that were caught on the sea at the time disappeared without a trace. The searching units that were sent after could only find the remains of the boats." Gray added, from the things he and Juvia found from the townsfolk.
"Juvia has searched the coast as well. There is scarce fauna inside the bay. That's why, the fishers are forced to go all the way outside, where the waves are starting to be dangerous."
"These are all caused by the typhoon, but what's the cause of the typhoon itself? You knew, didn't you? Is it, after all, that gate thing you mentioned before? To the other world where dragons live?" Sting asked, looking at Lucy. She nodded, but turned her attention to Levy, who immediately pulled out a book from the pile, opening it at a specific page, revealing a drawing of a serpent on the margins of the page.
"Look. This book is written in an old dialect. However, it describes how Sirca is under the protection of the temple of the sea dragon. The priests would hold festivals annually, in the honour of the god inside the stone. To please this god, maidens from the village would be sacrificed every ten years. This is actually something that happened quite often in the past, on majority of the world's map. However… in this sole area, this goes on further than in other parts."
"That's… horrible…!" Wendy exclaimed, with a pained expression. Indeed, it was horrible, and no one here denied it. However, something else came up.
"When did this stop? Or rather, how did it stop?" Rogue asked, having picked up something important from her information. Levy nodded, glad that he figured it out, and then picked another book.
"This is an archive of the city, dating back to 150 years ago. It's detailed how, during the high tides, an earthquake shook the area, bringing disaster over the city as the temple crumbled into the opened sea. I found it interesting how it mentioned this aspect, you see? The opened sea. Why would they do that?" She asked, with a smile on her face, as the others started thinking about this too.
Juvia suddenly blinked, looking on the map and yelping in realisation.
"Ah, could it be…?" She murmured, looking over the entrance of the bay.
"That's right!" Levy smiled, and Gajeel pulled up another map, placing it over the table, so both maps could be seen at the same time.
"It took a while to find this one, but you can see the clear difference like this, can't you?" He asked with a grin, as everyone compared the two maps.
One was the actual day map, detailing the city and the coast and the crescent bay.
The other, however, showed a lake, in the middle of an enclosed area of green.
"So what you're saying is… The temple was built over the part of the land that separated the lake from the sea?" Charla asked, looking over the map. "Then, the location where it's even now should be still there, shouldn't it?"
"Most likely. The cliffs eroded since then, but as the temple itself crumbled right with the earthquake, it should be in that exact area, at the entrance in the bay, deep underwater." Levy agreed, then looked at Lucy. "We can't be sure unless we check, however…"
"That is a simple task. However, I'm afraid that checking it isn't enough. We have to be prepared. Most likely, the moment we find that area, together with the seal, the dragon will resurface again, together with another typhoon. We have to action at the exact same time." Lucy explained, causing everyone to think about this plan.
"Also…" She added, but with a totally different tone, full of hesitation. Yet, she had to tell them. And so, she looked to Gray, with saddened eyes he couldn't see. "Depending on how the situation unfolds… I…" Faced with these faces so familiar and dear to her, she couldn't find words to tell them the truth. Ashamed, she turned her look to the dragon drawn on the pages of the book, placing a hand over it, reminding herself of her oath. "I may have to return to Firdaus together with the dragon, when the gate opens."
Hearing that, their eyes all widened. The Fairy Tail mages stared at her with disbelief.
"W-what?" Levy was first to murmur, but it was Gray that stepped forward, grabbing her hand. This forced her to look up to him, and she felt a thug in her heart when she saw his eyes, full of despair, clouded by a rage that started blooming in his soul.
How could she actually know his true emotions? Hearing that she would disappeared, right from his sight, once again, made him mad. He couldn't allow it. He didn't want that to happen, under no circumstance.
"You can't. Lucy! You can't go! You just returned to Fairy Tail! You can't disappear just like that, once more!" He yelled at her, maddened from within his soul.
"B-but, Gray! I also… I also don't want to leave… Not so soon!" She exclaimed back, having wished to stay more. "Yet, I have a duty I have to fulfil, an oath that I swore! I'll have to, if so it's required of me!"
"You can't…" He murmured again, his grip on her hand causing it to redden. However, she didn't flinch, nor did she care for this pain. She accepted it, knowing that he didn't mean it. Instead, it was like this that she could perceive all his emotions, flowing through her wrist like a tornado.
"Oi, let go of her! Can't you see her hand!" Sting, having noticed the trembling and the red colour, interfered, pushing him away from her.
It was only then that Gray let go, and everyone broke the awkward pace of shook.
"Promise me…" Gray, ashamed as he was, murmured, looking into the ground. "Promise me that… You'll do everything you have to do… To stay by our side."
Lucy looked with eager eyes to him, nodding her head with a bitter look.
"I promise."
However, in this interaction that seemed so much like a family, another feeling filled the air. It went unnoticed, except for the eyes of two.
Rogue and… Juvia.
They stared, each with different eyes and emotions reflected in them, as they caught the glimpse of something powerful, something called love, between the two mages.
Rogue looked to it as an observer, all understanding.
Juvia… looked at it with a thorn in her eyes, telling herself it wasn't true, but still, with another type of understanding…
"We should prepare," Lucy, returning to the table, said, bringing them all back to the purpose of this meeting. In fact, she felt that the promise she made was almost impossible to be kept. A dragon, under her protection, that wasn't aware of the existence of Firdaus… She, as an Iirah, was bound to her duty of leading him back home…
"Tomorrow, the tides are the lowest for the next month. We'll act then. I will go to the temple, inspect the seal, and hopefully return to the shore with information without anything happening. If the gate opens, however, we'll be out of time, unless we're ready to face it. That's why, as soon as you catch any glimpse of it, issue an evacuation order for the coast area. Ensure that the city is protected from anything coming from the sea. And… if the dragon is unresponsive, we'll have to subdue it ourselves, without killing it. It won't be easy at all…"
They all nodded, understanding what they had to do. Their mission was vital to whether the seal would break or not upon the inspection, but they had to gamble like this, because, either way, they'd have to wake up the slumbering dragon.
Juvia, at that moment, looked to Lucy with a resolute look.
"Juvia will come with you! I can be of use underwater."
"That'd be helpful but… I think that will be the most dangerous part, Juvia. I didn't want to ask you for this…" Lucy said, with awkward eyes. But the girl shook her head, stepping forward, determined.
"I'll come with."