I have decided to keep this in the two girl's perspective to keep things simple. Thank you everyone who gave me your opinion, I really appreciate it! Sorry for the delay, I have no excuse to give you all. But thank you for all the reviews, they really motivated me and I own nothing as usual.
~~~Fairy Tail~~~
-Lucy-
I was completely aware of how much I resembled a fish at that moment but my jaw seemed to be paralyzed. My tongue went dry as I gaped at Natsu, frozen in place and unable to say a word. He stared directly at me, his expression a guilt-inducing mixture of hurt and sadness. I wanted to disappear into the blankets, his stare burning a hole in my resolve to stay silent.
"Luuuuucccyyy!" Happy whimpered piteously, flying through an open window over the bed I was currently occupying. He propelled himself immediately into my chest, sobbing and snotting heavily. The damp spot on my shirt finally jerked me out of my shocked state, and I awkwardly pat him on his fuzzy head. Looking up at me with big, teary eyes, Happy sobbed louder than ever. "We thought you left without us! Ngh-" He choked as a fresh wave of sobs wracked his tiny body. I finally pulled myself together and gave him a reassuring hug, still aware of how Natsu stared at me. "W-W-Where's… sniff… Kisa?" He managed to squeak between sobs.
Crap. My neck cracked as I quickly turned my head to look at Kisa who was frozen in shock. And still in the form of a purple, humanoid cat. I glanced worriedly at Alan whose surprised, but knowing look was fixated on my friend. He slowly stepped toward Kisa who was still frozen in shock and staring as if hypnotized at Alan's approaching form. He stood in front of her, uncomfortably close with barely two inches of space between their chests. She visibly gulped as he scrutinized her face, not breaking eye contact once he had it.
"Why?" He whispered, voice thick with emotion. "Why do you always keep things to yourself?" She visibly flinched, backing away slowly. He followed however, eventually backing her against the wall of the tree house. Her ears twisted back and she looked away when she found she could not escape. "Tell me everything. I'm not as useless as you think, Kisa."
"What?" Natsu yelled, making me glance his way. His face lit up slightly in excitement and he finally looked away from me. "That's Kisa? You wanna fight? You look tough like that! Like Erza!" He cracked his knuckles gleefully as I groaned. Stupid Natsu…
"Kiiiiiiissssaaa!" Happy cried, flying over to her now and tackling her head. She stumbled, letting out a soft 'oomph' but righting herself at the last second. A tiny smile adorned her feline features as she reached up to scratch the blue cat between his large ears. He purred excitedly which contrasted greatly with the sour look on Alan's face as Kisa temporarily ignored him. "You really are a cat! I knew it!" He sighed happily, perched on her head between her ears. He glared down condescendingly at Alan, sneering in disgust. "Like I knew you were a no-good dog. Blech!" Happy spluttered.
"Not a dog…" Alan mumbled in reply.
"A wolf is close enough to a dog," Happy sniffed. So that's why they hadn't gotten along… Happy hated dogs. The only exception was Plue for some reason... Wait. Wolf?
"Ack!" I yelped as Natsu's face materialized in front of me, effectively drawing my attention back to him. "Not so close…" I complained as he scrutinized my face with uncharacteristic seriousness. When had he walked over here anyway?
"You're hurt," He stated simply.
"What are you talking about?" I was stumped. What did he mean? Bjorn was the one who was hurt! I stole a glance toward the couch he rested on. Natsu, Happy, and Alan hadn't seemed to notice him yet but they might soon… At least he seemed to be breathing steadily; I felt no pain from him either so I knew he was fine.
He pointed at my exposed shoulder. I looked at where he pointed and winced. My skin was already starting to bruise from Kisa's armor bumping into me when she carried us to Rune's hiding place. An apple sized purple-green blotch mottled my shoulder; judging from the stiffness I felt, it wasn't the only one.
Kisa winced. "Sorry… That was my fault," She shifted uncomfortably when he turned to glare at her. I lightly slapped his head as he opened his mouth, knowing he would just blurt out something stupid.
"She had to carry me… Don't overreact," I explained as he whipped his head around to look at me, pouting at the smack. "Metal and piggyback rides don't mix well."
"Oh," He pouted more, seeming disappointed at being interrupted before he could start a fight. His eyes widened as he spotted something. I yelped as he snatched my arm from under the covers, pulling me awkwardly to him.
"Wait… When did I get cut?" I thought in surprise as he sniffed dried blood smeared on my forearm. It had partially stopped the flow coming from an inch long cut, seeming too clean to have come from a stray branch or jagged stone. It oozed slightly as I tentatively touched the laceration.
Kisa hunched her shoulders, shuffling over to Natsu and I guiltily. "T-That was me too…" She mumbled. "I-I had to… Bjorn was… poison," She stuttered heavily, not making any sense whatsoever.
"Explanation. Now."
I turned in surprise at the vehemence in Alan's voice. I had never thought the soft spoken man could speak so sternly, much less directed towards Kisa.
Kisa's eyes narrowed in response, giving him a calculating look. Her gaze drifted from his face to mine, coming to a rest slightly above my head. How strange…
"Ahhh," She sighed finally, calmly walking towards me with her ears pressed down. She looked as though she was the very picture of dejection. Reaching me, she hugged me close with shaking arms. I glanced at Natsu and Happy who were looking on sadly at me, while Alan glared at my cat-like friend in suspicion. My right ear, where Kisa's mouth was positioned suddenly tickled with a small whisper. "Call back Bjorn."
I immediately complied and was enveloped in metal, purple fur, and shards of glass. As Bjorn vanished, before the three guests of the tree house could do more than gasp, I was on the ground. I pieced together the last few seconds as grass brushed my cheek and Kisa's weight was lifted from me to reveal the bright blue sky.
"She jumped through the window…" I managed to think as my head stopped spinning. I was amazingly unscathed but bright red spots of blood dripped from Kisa's head and ears. But now what would we do?
Kisa answered my unspoken question with a throaty screech of pain. She hugged herself tightly, body elongating and growing impossibly larger. Violet fur turned to silvery white and cat features morphed to wolf and bird.
"Kisa!" I heard a male voice yell. I pulled myself to a sitting position just in time to see Alan and Natsu running out of the tree house towards us.
"Wait! I thought…" Natsu looked confused for a moment before his eyes rested on me. "Oh no…"
A loud thump behind me indicated Kisa had taken a step so I moved to look at her. She growled low, with a sorrowful tone I had never heard in her voice. She stood transfixed, staring behind me almost in expectation. A strange series of noises caused me to begin turning once again to look at our friends, but before I could the Ohju's mouth opened wide and a demonic screech sounded throughout Polyursica's garden.
It was one of the worst noises I had ever heard. It was paralyzing, so painful that I immediately attempted to cover my ears. It was more unbearable than my ears could take, a loud pop and warm liquid running down the side of my neck signified a broken eardrum. The piercing screech brought tears to my eyes with the emotion carried through it. I attempted again to cover my ears or wipe my tears, but for the second time I failed. Puzzled, I tried to open my mouth as Kisa closed her mouth and the cry subsided.
"I'm paralyzed!" I realized. My entire body was rigid, breathing and looking around was the full extent of my movement. My heart began to beat faster as Kisa moved her enormous head right in front of me, teeth slightly bared. If I could have gulped, I would have. I had rarely noticed this because she was my friend, but the Ohju was as terrifying as it was beautiful. Gleaming white teeth larger than my hand smiled sharply at me and my heart lurched.
"She's my friend. Kisa is my friend. A friend!" I cried desperately in my head as the large mouth opened and exposed even more of the sharp canine teeth. "She would never hurt me." I repeated in a mantra as the teeth drew closer. If I could have, I would have screamed as Kisa's mouth enclosed my body. Her teeth gently closed around my collarbone and thighs, not breaking skin but firmly holding me in her jaws. I was rapidly lifted to a horizontal position, uncomfortable but unhurt in Kisa's mouth.
"She's just carrying me out," I nearly wept in relief. This was still disconcerting, hot breath enveloped my body with the paralysis suppressing a shudder. To distract myself, I glanced in the direction of Natsu, Happy, and Alan. "Are they not able to move too?" I almost gagged as surprise. Another Ohju knelt in front of Kisa, quivering but unmoving.
Pure anger radiated from the Ohju's eyes, glinting red in the sunlight. A different eye color from Kisa. It was also darker than she was, leaning toward the grayer side of silver than white like my friend. The Ohju differed in other ways as well. Kisa's tendrils and tail feathers were light purple with blue-green highlights, this creature's were maroon. It was also larger, more muscular, than she was. A male?
"Alan!" I realized with a start. I glanced toward the beast's feet. For confirmation, Natsu and Happy were unmoving next to the Ohju's feet but Alan was nowhere to be seen. Moving my eyes to again look at his eyes, I again saw the rage directed at the one carrying me in her mouth.
"Why aren't we leaving?" I thought nervously as the seconds ticked by. "We need to get out of here while everyone else can't move," I knew Alan would never let Kisa leave again after this fiasco. I was too scared to look at Natsu, but I knew he would also be telling me with his eyes to stay. I couldn't see Kisa's face from my position, but she seemed to be hypnotized by the look Alan was giving her. The pain, anger, and pleading held in that gaze obviously said 'leave and I will never forgive you.'
A small, pitiful growl made the teeth contract slightly, as Kisa finally began to move. She turned, breaking away from Alan, and with a great whooshing sound launched us into the air.
"Ooooohhhh," I wailed silently in despair. This was a hundred… no, a thousand times worse than flying on the back of Kisa or the Roc. With every beat of wings, the teeth holding me in place would be slightly too tight or frighteningly loose as Kisa's head bobbed in the headwind. My bruises became more aggravated until it was nearly unbearable and my ear was still throbbing in pain. But I couldn't help but feel I deserved it. As the minutes dragged on, I couldn't help but feel I earned this.
I had never seen Natsu look as pitiful and hurt as when I had glimpsed his expression when we turned away.
-Kisa-
I had done it now. I could never see Alan again, I was sure of it. Even if he ever forgave me, I would never forgive myself for making him have that expression. From his point of view, he could even say I betrayed him. After all, I had never even tried to explain anything… He didn't even know I could imitate his transformation into an Ohju.
I banked to the right, having flown south from Polly's house according to the sun. I was being careless, not leaving a false trail, but I couldn't imagine those three following us. Trying to not jostle the girl held in my mouth, I landed on a stretch of dull sand bordering the salty ocean.
Depositing Lucy as gently as I could, I winced seeing her covered in drool despite my best efforts. Verifying she was bruised but not broken, I promptly coughed heavily and fell forward with a crash. My last image before my vision went dark was of Lucy crying and dragging herself toward me.
"She'll be okie dokie now, promise!"
"But…"
"The twerp said she'll be fine, give it a rest."
"You know-" A feminine voice started angrily.
"Yes, I know how critical her condition was! But it was her fault, she was out of magic but transformed and flew anyway."
"Don't worry, I healed her already."
"Who are they talking about?" I thought groggily. I slowly opened an eye, surprised it was dark. Last I remember, it had been late afternoon.
"Kisa!" Lucy cried, throwing herself towards me. She began scratching my head and I sighed in content. My dreams had not been pleasant. "You're alright…" She continued to sob.
"Why is it dark?" I grumbled, not wanting to remember why I was feeling so uneasy right now.
"Because you're an idiot," A masculine voice called out behind Lucy. My heart leapt in my chest. Alan?
Bjorn stepped into my line of sight and I grunted in dejection. Now I remembered. I would probably never be with him again… "How so?" I growled to hide my disappointment. "And how are you feeling?"
"I'm in perfect condition, unlike a certain someone. You used magic when you shouldn't have," He continued. "You're lucky Lucy found Rune or the damage may have been irreversible."
"But why?" Lucy defended. "You haven't explained anything! Why did she cough blood?" I recoiled in shock. Had I really been that bad off?
"This idiot used her life force when she ran out of magic. She was completely out," He glared at me. "Your internal organs began to deteriorate to be converted into magic."
"Luckily, I was here!" Rune sang cheerfully, blissfully ignorant of the general mood.
"Sorry Rune, but can you head back now?" Lucy placed a hand to her forehead in exasperation. "I'm tired."
"Of course! Call me anytime to play, okay?" She managed to squeak before vanishing.
"She's exhausting," Lucy complained, sitting on the ground. She began to draw shapes in the sand absentmindedly. "But I didn't know you could do that."
"You're not supposed to," Bjorn glared at me. "It's extremely dangerous. If Lucy didn't have Rune, you could have been permanently hurt or possibly have died. Think! There's a reason you feel exhausted when you're low on magic, that's your life energy!" He ranted, spitting slightly in anger.
"It's not like we had a choice!" I howled back at him, sorrow and frustration getting the better of me. "That vision must not come true!"
"The one you two said Chrona showed you?" Bjorn said skeptically. "I don't know if that's truly possible. I have never heard of anything like it before and it seems suspicious to me."
"You didn't see it," Lucy muttered forlornly, hugging her knees close to her chest.
Bjorn frowned, obviously unconvinced. "Send me back and I'll ask Chrona if she's awake. Get some rest you two," He quipped before disappearing.
"To answer your question, you've been out for over a day and a half now. I called Rune when you passed out and coughed up blood," Lucy mumbled uncomfortably. "Lucky for us that Polyursica gave me a little magic before we…" She trailed off with a sigh.
She crawled toward me to lean against my cheek. We sat in silence for a bit, absorbed in our own depressing thoughts. As the sun began to rise and dawn approached, it was apparent neither of us would sleep.
"So, how did you do that?" Lucy finally spoke.
"Do what?"
"Paralyze everyone. You've never done anything like it before."
"Oh," I hadn't thought she would want to talk about such a painful thing so soon after it occurred. "I used my magic. It was a burst of compressed air at a high vibration. Like a shockwave."
"How does that paralyze?" She continued.
"Using the high pitched sound temporarily stuns nearby organisms. It's a defense mechanism usually, I just manipulated it and amplified it with my wind magic."
"Oh. It busted my eardrum."
"Sorry…"
"It's okay. Rune healed it."
We were both trying to strike up conversation. Even with Lucy right next to me, I felt so lonely. The reunion and becoming a member of Fairy Tail seemed almost cruel at the moment, we had been so happy. But now I had to bring us back to the present.
"What do we do now?" I wondered, knowing Lucy had the exact same question.
"We can't go back to Fairy Tail now. Natsu, Alan, and even Happy probably told Master about what happened. They'll have questions we can't answer." She sighed dejectedly. My friend had already cried as much as she would allow herself. She became so strong after those months of traveling.
Wait, traveling?
"We could go around training," I admitted. "Like when we were coming back to Fiore. Get even stronger so that vision doesn't matter anymore."
"Strong enough that we could protect everyone?" Lucy looked skeptical. "I'd have to be even stronger than Erza…" She muttered to herself.
"We could go back that way," I continued, the idea sounding more likeable as I thought about it. "It won't be the same as before, but at least we could go back eventually."
"We'd have to find the rest of the keys," Lucy pondered, less depressed than before. "And do you have more forms you can take?"
"Yes," I stated. I knew I did. It was mustering the courage to use them that was the problem. But it was the ray of hope we needed. We could have a purpose now.
"We'll do it," Lucy declared, more confident than I had heard all night. "I have to see Natsu again. I need to explain everything and apologize. Maybe we…" She trailed off again. Blushing slightly, she shook her head as though shaking off the thought. But I knew what she meant; I had the same hopes for meeting Alan again. "It will definitely be a distraction at least. And I can find out about Mama that way."
"Then it's settled?" I growled with anticipation.
"It's settled," Lucy confirmed. "Training begins again after breakfast."
~~~Fairy Tail~~~
I realize this is quite a short chapter, but I thought it was better than nothing. I will continue as though the events after Tenrou Island never happened as in the manga. Let me know what you think! Thank you for reading.