Chapter 12

Reasons for Staying

"Ugh, I forgot how damp and wet it is around here." Juliet frowned as she kicked the mud off of her shoes.

''It's not too bad, I wouldn't want to sleep on the ground around this area but I think it being misty is nice." Hud closed his eyes before turning his attention back to the duo that was tied to the tree.

Both of them were glaring at them, the woman's magic had long since deactivated and she was once again stuck being a single person. The blond man next to her didn't speak either as the young monster crossed his arms.

"Lamy is getting the rest of our group. I personally don't really care much about you two or where you came from. I'm more interested in what you have." Hud glanced over to Juliet as she nodded.

She then lifted two of her fingers as a small hole in the mucus appeared. The man eye twitched as Hud lifted his hand shoving it into the hole breaking what little armor the blond swordsmen had.

"What are you doing?!" The woman snapped, perhaps a part of her thought Hud had just impaled her partner.

"There it is!" Hud grinned as he pulled out what appeared to be a misshaped stone.

What was odd about it was that it had grass covering it, at first Juliet thought it was moss, but as she examined it further it seemed to have been some sort of miniature field.

"So, is this a cube piece or whatever?" Juliet asked as Hud nodded.

"I think, but the ones we seen before were way bigger than this. One was even made into a tower before, I don't know why this one is so small..." Hud then laughed. "Well, I guess it's not really for me to worry about that, I let Lamy take care of that complicated stuff."

"So, now that you are finished, are you going to let us go?" The white haired woman asked as Hud merely shrugged.

"I would but I'm pretty sure the rest of my guild wants to ask you some questions. Though I can promise we probably won't kill you."

"Probably isn't a promise at all!" The woman snapped as Juliet started to speak.

"That's all fine, but that cube part isn't the only item you have right?" Juliet pointed out as the woman flinched.

"Yep, that reaction is about right. If you just tell us what it is it'll be a lot easier on you." Juliet pointed.

"Nah, if they don't want to tell us they don't have to. We aren't here for that, and I doubt it would be useful if it belongs to these two." Hud laughed as Juliet couldn't help but sigh.

"You know Hud, there is a difference between confidence and ignorance. Aren't you at least bit interested in what they have?"

Hud thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "Nope, plus if it's something important we probably would know about it."

Juliet shrugged. If he truly thought that nothing she said would change it, after all it was thanks to that attitude was probably the reason she was standing there.

"Hey!" Before the conversation could continue the two heard a shout as they saw Lamy in the distance with the rest of the group behind her.

"It looks like the gross bunny finally returned..." Juliet stated.

"It seems that you were actually successful..." Seilah stated as Hud handed her the cube piece.

"So...these were the ones that had it." Fukuro stated as Frlea eyes narrowed scanning their two prisoners.

"They don't seem like much...we could probably ditch them and just leave now." The plant creature stated as Seilah pressed her finger to her lip.

"Perhaps, but I want to know what a human was doing with something like this in the first place." Seilah walked up to the pair wondering what she was going to do to them.

"What guild are you apart of? Depending on how you answer the next few minutes of your life can be easy or hell..." Seilah's statement was more than a threat as the woman bit her lip, but strangely enough a hint of confusion appeared on her face.

"We aren't apart of a guild, plus if you guys found us that means you already have all of our info."

"Huh, what do you mean?" Lamy tilted her head as the blond man replied.

"You...you guys are apart of Death Head Caucus aren't you?"

"Those cactus guys again...'" Hud grumbled recalling the events back at the tower as Fukuro took over.

"So you are being targeted by Death Head Caucus, for what reason?" The simple answer would have been that they had a hit on their head. But the former member had a feeling that wasn't the case for the pair in front of them.

The blond man remained silent before sighing. "Before I answer that, may I ask you something else?"

Seilah scoffed. "You don't seem to understand the situation you are i-"

"Sure!" Hud instantly cut her off, making her wonder why she even bothered trying to interrogate anyone while he was around.

"Are you guys apart of Crime Sorciere?" The man said a completely random name.

"Who?" That was Hud's only response as he looked over to the others. Everyone else had a blank expression except Seilah.

"I vaguely recall such a name, but its relevance as long since passed. If you two are worried about us being apart of such a guild then put them at rest and explain why a human would have a piece of the Cube?"

The woman frowned, it wasn't like they had much of a choice but to explain their current situation, at least a part of it.

"We actually got that cube piece from Death Head Caucus..."

"By got, you mean stole right?" Fukuro pointed out as the woman pouted.

"How we got it doesn't matter. We were planning on finding out more about it and either selling it or using it. We didn't actually expect so many different guilds would be wanting to get their hands on it." The woman replied as Hud laughed.

"Of course that would happen if you steal something. The fact that you didn't know what to do with it once you had it just shows that." Hud said as he continued. "Juliet, you can let them go now."

"Are you sure~" Juliet tilted her head. A part of her was hesitant to follow, simply because she had no idea what they would do.

"Yeah, it's not like they can do anything to us while we are all here. Plus we got what we came for and I'm sure the others want to leave soon." Hud pointed out.

"Actually I wish to stay a little longer. This Crime Sorciere has piqued my interest and if someone else is after the cube pieces I want to deal with them." Seilah stated.

She was a demon after all, and avoiding such issues would just have them crop up later. They needed to deal with all their enemies quickly and effectively as possible.

"I agree, if Death Head Caucus has a hand in this then I should at least look into it. I have a feeling they are planning something and Ikaruga would be interested to find out about it."

Hud looked at the two before grinning. "Kehkehkeh! That's great, I wanted to fight someone strong and these guys sound interesting." Hud looked back over to the two as Juliet finally released her magic letting them escape the grasp of the tree.

"So what are you two going to do? Run away?" Hud words were blunt, but the duo really had no reaction to his statement.

"Staying here is a bad idea...however it's only fair that we do so until everything is sorted out." The woman smiled as Juliet eyes narrowed.

Something was off about their reaction. They were so quick to want to get away before but now it was almost as if they were calm. And like she, the two of them staying in or even near the town was just putting them in more danger.

So why stay?

"That's great, even if you guys are pretty. By the way my name is Monster Hud!" Hud smiled as Frlea groaned.

"Hud, don't just give out your full name like that. It could get us in trouble later..." It seemed not even the plant like monster completely trusted the duo.

"My name is Briar, and Scruffy here is Jerome. You really don't need to know anything else about our past do you?" The woman smiled, anyone could see that there was red-flags everywhere but Hud simply ignored them.

"That's fine, I recommend you guys hide if you're planning on staying though." Hud pointed out as he started to walk away, the rest of demon fang slowly following him.

"Hud, are you really okay leaving them like that?" Lamy frowned glancing back to the duo they were just letting go.

"Yeah, they weren't very strong after all. Plus even if they do try to do something I've got all of you guys to back me up." Hud pointed out, but it really didn't feel like a proper answer.

"At the very least I want to keep an eye on them...once we get back to the inn I shall sent something up..." Seilah stated. A part of her recognized the two, if only in passing. That and the comment about Crime Sorciere made her uneasy, regardless she wanted to unravel it all before she left the town.

"Not only that, but one of the town's residents told us that another guild is staying at the inn. One of us should look into that and confirm who they are and what they want. Depending on if it is Death Head Caucus or this Crime Sorciere we can make our next move." Fukuro added as Frlea chuckled.

"No worries I'll take care of that. If it's just a small building then I can spy on both people and monsters easily..." The small monster almost seemed a bit too proud about having such an ability.

"Well, regardless we should probably wait until we are back at the inn to discuss this further." Seilah pointed out as she looked at Briar and Jerome one more time.


"Are you sure this is a good idea Briar?" Jerome asked his partner as she smiled.

"Maybe, maybe not. It's not like giving them the Cube Piece was going to get Death Head Caucus and Crime Sorciere off of our backs. Not only that, but that woman, I think she was a part of Tartaros." Briar pointed out as Jerome closed his eyes.

"You noticed as well, I actually hoped that we could just ignore that part..."

They were once apart of Avatar, the successor to the Balam Alliance. It only made sense that they had at least a bit of passing knowledge of the members of those guilds.

"Ignoring it won't make it go away, plus we might as well use those dangerous guys to our own ends. With any luck they will wipe out both Death Head Caucus and Crime Sorciere for us and we can finally sell this Lacrima..." Briar then slipped her hand between her breast pulling out a rather tiny Lacrima.

It was no bigger than a piece of candy as Jerome eyes narrowed. "Selling such a thing...seems like a waste."

"What? Unless you're interested in becoming a slayer don't complain. We don't even know what kind of magic it will give. I'm just happy they didn't try to press us for it. I was worried when that mucus girl kept bringing it up."

Whether it was a stroke of luck of incompetence on their part it really didn't matter. If they were willing to do all the hard parts for free who was she to have any complaints.


"So, Frlea, what is your plan exactly?" Lamy asked as she sat in one of the few beds in the hotel room.

Most of the group was either standing or sitting on the floor as Frlea stood in front of the door trying his best to peek under the crack.

"I do hope you have a better plan than that." Seilah stated as the plant creature grumbled.

The plant creature then took a few steps, then without warning or provocation he lifted one of his hands and pulled out his eye. Juliet and Lamy flinched slightly at the sight as Frlea then put his eye ball between his hands and flattened it like it was a piece of paper.

Frlea then slid his eye between the crack in the door a small vine connected it to Frlea's eye socket.

"I didn't know you could do something like that..." Fukuro examined Frlea as Hud smiled.

"He is a monster plant, so it's not a big deal if he loses an eye or an arm since it will grow back." Hud pointed out as Frlea giggled.

"Yep, unlike you...non-plants me pulling and removing my arms and legs is natural. I still don't like doing it however."

Lamy frowned as she examined him as well. She recalled him doing something similar back when they fought the Salad Squad. Though this time he didn't create a miniature forest.

"I must say, even I am impressed, however if you have this covered I see no point of us all waiting in a single room." Seilah pointed out as Frlea frowned.

"W-wait, you're just going to leave me in this room by myself?" Frlea whined as Seilah shook her head.

"No, Lamy will be staying with you as well."

The moment Seilah said that Lamy sighed with relief. Even if she was a demon it wasn't like she was able to keep up with the rest of them in terms of strength.

"...Being with trash...that's even worse than being by myself!" Frlea quickly pointed out as Lamy frowned.

"This isn't good for me either, I wouldn't mind being with a hot guy like Hud or that blond man from earlier!"

Hud just laughed as the rest of the group ignored their complaints before they slowly made their way out of the room. Right before they walked out of the inn a familiar girl stopped them.

"Oh, cool demon lady, you're going out?" Gutrune asked as Seilah groaned slightly.

It seemed that the girl had gotten attached to her for some odd reason. While it certainly appealed to her base desire to be respected it wasn't really something the demon wanted to deal with.

"Why yes, though I do hope you know that it is rude to ask a guest where they are going..." Seilah brushed her hair to the side as the girl pouted.

"You sound like my mom, but anyway...just be careful. Like I said earlier some weird humans tend to hang around at night lately." Gutrune smiled as she ran off, no doubt to fix up more of the inn.

"Huh, that girl seems to like you." Hud pointed out as Seilah sighed.

"Yes, how unfortunate that I attract such children. Perhaps it is just my natural aura..."

"Well, it certainly isn't because of your modesty." Juliet added as the walked out of the inn. The sun was setting in the sky as the town took on an almost haunted feeling.

The light mist that had consumed the town was slowly turning into a thick fog. A perfect place for a town filled with deep ones to live.

"This place really is creepy...now I can see how half the populace are monsters." Juliet shivered recalling what Seilah had told her and Lamy when they arrived back at the inn.

A town filled with monsters that pretended to be human outside of the public eye that wanted to remain hidden. It sounded like a plot to some sort of horror novel. At the very least the monsters were friendly enough.

"So, do we just go around the city looking for anyone strange?" Hud asked as Fukuro nodded.

"While crude that is the simplest course of action. If they have a way to track the cube piece then they will likely find us first regardless..." Fukuro stated as Seilah pulled out the piece from her person.

"Wouldn't it be easier just to leave the piece with Lamy and Frlea?" Juliet asked as Seilah quickly shook her head.

"Those two, while having some skills, are unsuited for direct combat. If we left the piece with them, and they were attacked they would have it taken." Of course Seilah was thinking of the worst case scenario.

This was assuming that this was if their enemies had their own way of tracking the cube piece down, as well as if they were powerful. This also prevented them from hiding the cube piece somewhere.

After all if their enemies had a way to track it then they could just find the hiding spot and take it without anyone noticing it. Despite how silly it was, the safest spot for the item was with them.

"Man, I hope they show up soon. This trip would be boring if we didn't end up fighting anyone strong." Hud pointed out as they started to walk the streets of Cewdeep.

Just like Gutrune had said, everyone was going in for the night and only the handful of bars and restaurants were staying open. Soon the streets would be a ghost town with only a select few out.

"Monster, about those two from earlier..." Seilah looked over at Hud who tilted his head.

"You mean that white haired woman and blond guy? What about them?" Hud was confused why Seilah even bothered bringing them up.

"Did they tell you a general meeting location or if they are going to stay at the inn?" Seilah asked. Neither Jerome nor Briar had came back with them despite telling all of them they would be in town.

"Um, no. The only thing they told me was that they were going to stay around town for the time being. I just guessed that they meant they were going to sleep on the outskirts or something." Hud didn't really put much thought into those kinds of things.

"...I guess it doesn't matter now that we have a cube piece. However keep an eye out for them and don't lower your guard." Seilah stated as the four of them continued to wander the town.


Lamy and Frlea remained most silent as Frlea continued to use his eye to search the rooms of the inn. Lamy on the other hand continued to tinker with the L.A.M seeing what else she could do with it.

"Ah, being able to lie in this nice bed while everyone else is out there risking their lives. I really don't think there is a better feeling." Lamy grabbed a nearby pillow nearly curling herself around it.

The beds were far nicer than the ones back at the guild-hall, and unlike the guild-hall it wasn't a constant draft coming in.

"You worthless garbage bunny! At least have the decency to not sleep while everyone else is doing something!" Frlea snapped as Lamy mumbled something under her breath.

"Sorry I'm not a weirdo that can pull my eyes of of my head..." Lamy whispered as Frlea was about to say something else as the two of them heard a noise from the other side of the door.

Lamy quickly jumped off of the bed pressing her ear to the door as Frlea did the same. Muffled voices of a male and female talking about something. The moment they heard footsteps coming up the stairs both Lamy and Frlea scrambled to the back of the room remaining completely silent.

Lamy then pressed her head to the floor peeking out of the crack as she noticed two pairs of feet.

One was almost like feathered saddles. Pure white, if Lamy didn't know any better she would have said they belonged to an angel. As both Lamy and Frlea remained silent they knew someone had stopped at the door.

"Something smells off..." A masculine voice stated.

"You've said that the moment we set foot in this town." The feminine voice replied.

"Well, that's because everything smells off. Half of these people don't even smell like humans, now I'm getting an odd smell coming from this room..."

Both Lamy and Frlea's heart sank, but there worries were quickly relieved. After all, they were guest at the inn. It wasn't like someone would break down their door without asking.

If they really were apart of a dark guild or something else they probably wanted to be secretive. Busting down a random inn door wasn't going to let them do that.

"Look at it this way, the faster we find that lacrima the faster we can leave." With those words they finally walked past the door causing both Frlea and Lamy to relax.

"Do you think those guys were with one of the guilds that were after those two from before?" Lamy whispered as Frlea nodded.

"Probably, they both seemed to have been humans. Though the fact that they are right next door makes me nervous." Frlea got up leaning his head against the wall. Which was strange since he didn't have any visible ears on his head.

"The walls seem thick enough, at the very least I don't think they will hear us talking." Frlea relaxed further as he walked towards the door removing his eye once again.

"W-what are you doing?" Lamy still kept her voice low as Frlea grumbled.

"Spying on them of course. That is why we are here after all..." Frlea pointed out as Lamy shook her head.

"Y-you're kidding, what if they notice and come knocking on our door?"

"You dumpster, that won't happen. My spying skills are perfect, as long as I keep to the walls of the room I should be fine." He once again flattened his eye sliding it under the door. Like a tiny snake the vine it was connected to slithered to the room next to them entering it.

"W-what do you see?" Lamy asked.

"Shut up, I'll tell you once I'm finished..." Frlea refocused his eye as he scanned the room from the corner.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the room. Both of the mages were sitting in separate beds speaking to one another. Unfortunately his eyes didn't have ears so the conversation was loss. However Frlea did take note of their appearance.

They both appeared human, but the man had somewhat pointed ears with dark hair. His most interesting feature was the fact one of his eyes were closed, making Frlea wonder if he had lost it.

The woman on the other hand what appeared to be feathered clothing and not much else. She had snow white hair, and a small curl at the top that made a circle. Such unusual hair was normal for demons and monsters, but seeing a human with it was...rather funny.

Just when Frlea was about to pull his eye back he noticed the man's ear twitch as he slowly turned towards the eye.

"O-oh crap..." Frlea quickly pulled out, the vine was like a whip going all the way back to his eye socket.

"W-whats wrong?" Lamy shivered.

"I think they noticed me..."

"You think?! Didn't you say that your spying skills were perfect or whatever? If they noticed us isn't that completely pointless?!" Lamy voice started to raise as Frlea actually winced.

"S-shut up, you don't think I know that? I just want to know how they noticed me..." Frlea frowned. Monsters didn't have magic so it wasn't from humans sensing them.

Either way, the moment they heard the door to the other room shut Lamy started to pull on her ears.

"W-what are we going to d-" before Lamy could finish her statement she noticed Frlea body getting stiff before locking into a rather generic expression. He was already pretending to be a doll.

"D-don't just leave me alone to deal with this..." Lamy whined as a sharp knock was heard on the door.

"Hey, is anyone in there?"

Lamy froze as she picked up Frlea as she remained silent.

"M-maybe he'll go away if I keep quiet..." Lamy whispered to herself as she heard a response.

"I won't..."

She was more shocked that he heard that than the fact that she just gave away her own location. Still she was in a rather bad spot and the only thing she could hope for was if the others returned.

Lamy bit her lip, not saying a word as the voice from the other side let out a scoff.

"Not coming out huh? Well, I've got plenty of time to kill and the fact that you are staying inside just tells me you're guilty..."

Lamy winced, there was no windows leading out of the room and even if there were she had a feeling the man who was hounding her would know instantly that she left.

Regardless, the best thing she could do was wait and hope he wouldn't break the door down.


"Maybe we should head back, it doesn't look like anyone is coming out to attack us." Juliet pointed out as Hud sighed.

"Aw man, maybe they are waiting for something el-" Just when Hud was about to finish his statement the four of them felt the air change. Hud eyes narrowed as he looked down the lonely foggy road as two figures appeared.

A man and a woman wearing large mantles. Both had the Death Head Caucus guildmark on their cheeks.

The woman was rather short, shorter than even Juliet. She had short black hair and dull yellow eyes. The man on the other hand was large, only being a few inches shorter than Fukuro.

Despite that, he had somewhat long brown hair and rather soft features. The kind of man that Lamy would make an 'attempt' to flirt with if given the chance.

"So, they finally decided to show themselves..." Fukuro groaned as he looked at the pair walking towards him. He didn't recognize them, but there was always a chance that they were new recruits.

"About time I was about to get bored..." Hud took a step forward as he stopped for a moment. The smile that was on his face turned into a glare as Juliet noticed the shift in his behavior.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just, I can sense a soul but...are those two even alive?" It seemed that he was more talking to himself than to Sun.

Just when the battle was about to begin a song started to echo through the town.

"A wonderful beginning of a tragedy..."

"But through such tragedy a spring of life will appear..."

This time it was Fukuro that flinched as he he looked up to the sky to see two women sitting on the roof of one of the many surrounding buildings.

They appeared to have been twins, at least that is what they looked like. One girl had hair as red as blood, while the other had hair as blue as the sea. The two of them were wearing what seemed to have been modified maid uniforms covered in chains.

"The siblings of life and death...Ella and Emma." Fukuro grumbled as the red haired woman giggled.

"Hey, if it isn't owl-head. We heard that you escaped but to be all the way out here..."

"Still, it's all the same since you and Ikaruga was our next target anyway." The other girl finished the statement as Seilah groaned.

"I should have expected that the Death Head Caucus would get in our way again. You do realize what happens to those who challenge a demon?" Seilah lifted her hands as the twins laughed.

"Getting in your way? Isn't it the other way around? A scrap demon made from a worthless mage has no right to speak to use like that."

"What did you just say?" Seilah eyes widened. "It wasn't enough that you insulted me, but you insulted the great Zeref?!"

Even if she wasn't focusing on the great Dark Mage she still had nothing but respect for her creator. To have him be insulted by lowly humans was not an offense she was willing to take.

Despite her glare the twins simply laughed

"Oh me..."

"Oh my..."

"It seems like this scrap demon doesn't know what happened."

"Her precious god long dead, but yet she clings on to that." The twins continued to speak as the blue haired one looked over to the other two members.

"Hey murder dolls, we'll take care of this demon and Fukuro. We'll let you handle the other two."

"Understood." That was the only reply as the other duo started to make their way towards Hud and Juliet.

Hud frowned, despite almost all the monsters and humans being inside for the night he still didn't want to fight in the town. They already caused a scene earlier that day and he didn't want to cause problems for the monsters living there.

Despite his lust for battle he still had some basic protective instinct for his fellow race.

"Hud, we should move somewhere else..." Juliet pointed out as her guild master nodded.

"Yeah," Hud then turned his head towards Seilah and Fukuro. "Try not to mess up the town too much alright..."

"Very well." Fukuro was the only one that responded, mostly because Seilah was still in a rage from her foes comments.

"Alright..." Without saying anything else both Hud and Juliet dashed away nearly vanishing from sight. Their enemies did the same completely vanishing leaving Fukuro and Seilah with the twins.

"So now that we are alone..." The red haired twin started.

"Shall we sing you the song of love and death?" The blue haired twin finished as they lifted their hands.


"I think this is far enough." Hud slowed down stopping by a nearby tree in the outskirts of the town. Juliet wasn't far behind him as their enemies appeared before them.

Juliet frowned, the fact that the two of them managed to keep up with them was unnerving to say the least. While she wasn't among the strongest of the Alvarez Empire she was still strong or as strong as most S-class mages.

"Are you satisfied with this location?" The man asked, there was no expression in his voice, it seemed almost machine like.

"Geez, you guys aren't very cheerful huh?" Hud pressed his hand on his hips before smiling. "We should at least introduce ourselves before we fight right? My name is Monster Hud..."

There enemies simply looked at him, Juliet was expecting them to just attack, but instead...

"I am designated as Greent." The woman stated before the man started to speak.

"I am designated as Sig."

"W-woah, they actually responded..." Juliet was shocked as Hud widened his stance.

"I guess we should get started then." Hud lifted both of his hands preparing for his enemies to strike. Instead they continued to look at both him and Juliet.

Something wasn't right about them. Despite having a soul, they weren't humans, monsters or demons. "Hey, Juliet, can these guys use magic?" Hud asked as the brown-haired girl nodded.

"Yeah, they can use magic...at least I can sense magic coming from them."

"Then they can't be monsters..." Hud took a step forward before dashing towards the man. Juliet winced as he nearly left a gust of wind behind. By the time she had realized that Hud was going on the offensive he was already next to the man named Sig.

"There!" Hud reeled back his fist aiming for his opponent's head as a loud sound echoed through the field. However it wasn't the sound of Hud's attack making contact...

"..." Sig had lifted his hand completely blocking Hud's attack.

Hud eye twitched, it wasn't just the fact that his enemy reacted fast enough to block it, it was also the fact that his hand hadn't been blown off from the impact.

Without saying a word Sig lifted his foot kicked Hud a few meters away. The monster groaned as he landed perfectly on his feet.

"These guys seem pretty durable...hehehe, I'm glad I've found someone worth fighting. Maybe I'll grow a bit from this fight!" Hud smiled lowering his stance once again.

Juliet glared at Greent. There was something unsettling familiar about the two Death Head Caucus members, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

Regardless, she was still Juliet Sun of the Irene Squad, she couldn't let Hud outshine her too much.

"I guess you're my opponent." Juliet smiled as the woman stared at her blankly. Greent then raised her arm as a large blade came out of her forearm.

"W-what?" Juliet flinched as Greent jumped into the air, her blade outstretched. Juliet narrowly avoided the attack as a large split appeared in the ground shredding any nearby trees.

It wasn't just the destructive force that caught Juliet off-guard, rather the fact she couldn't sense any magic in the attack.

There enemies really weren't normal.

Author note

Short chapter, mostly just talking. Also Merry Late Christmas