Chapter 14 - Final Showdown in Iceberg!
"You fools again? Griswold, deal with them. I will deal with Ruby Phoenix."
But by the time Lady Feign had said that, Marlow knocked her out of the sky, Vorlue appeared again, eager to destroy, Milly scrawled a couple of Rune Traps, Chiron looked about ready to control some weather, and Thomas had sparks in his hand.
Oh, and a dragon appeared.
It was only for a couple of seconds, but a shining gold dragon with sapphire blue eyes appeared out of thin air, screamed as if it were in some sort of anguish, and disappeared almost as soon as it had appeared. Every single person present looked at the dragon in complete and utter confusion, for no one knew where it came from. For about ten seconds, no one moved. However, Lady Feign was the quickest to be called back from the chaos. Almost. She stepped on a Lift Rune and flew up in the sky, which would've been fine for Ruby Phoenix if she couldn't seemingly control gravity in the same way Marlow did. She fell back down and landed gracefully, then pushed everyone of the Ruby Phoenix wizards back with a forceful type of magic.
"I use Force Push Magic, which is different than yours, rabbit, because I can push things in all directions."
Vorlue flew at Lady Feign and pinned her to the ground, not caring about her magic. However, she easily pushed him off with force push, uprooted a tree, then slammed the tree back onto Vorlue. He tried to scrape and push the tree in all of his demonic rage, but was incapable. Mark, on the other hand, summoned the wolf spirit, who was tearing apart rat-like creatures, falling into Ramsey's Doors, and fending off the creatures from Griswold. Meanwhile, Chiron, who bore the small wings of the Aela demon, flew at Lady Feign and knocked her out of the sky. Griswold noticed Chiron, and said, "I'm going to turn my attention to this one, Lady. He uses the power of demons."
The rat-like demons fell off of Lupus and Ramsey, then slowly swarmed towards Chiron and Vorlue. Marlow tried to lift them into the air, but couldn't grasp all of them. Thomas Peyne tried to confront Griswold from the sky with a graceful magical leap, then hit him hit a fistful of sparks. Stars fell on Thomas, however, and Mark yelled ,"Don't ignore me!"
"Mark, stop for one moment." shouted Marlow, "We are all in literal danger."
"Shut up! I know! I'm going to deal with all of you and-"
He stepped on Milly's Paralysis Rune and fell to the ground, unable to move.
Ramsey opened a door and moved ark through it to some higher ground. Milly tried to create more runes, but was running out of ink to do so with. Thomas went against Griswold, who apparently could hold his own with his fists. Vorlue broke free, and utterly decimated hordes of smaller demons. Chiron and Marlow were being pushed and pulled by Lady Feign, who had the like treatment from Marlow's Gravity Magi and Chiron's manipulation of the wind. The one-armed man was no where to be seen.
Marlow was pushed against a tree, but lifted himself out of the way. The Lady has hit with the blunt end of Chiron's scythe, and fell to the ground. She wasn't, however, defeated, as she pushed Chiron high up into the sky. Vorlue, broken from his fit of madness, flew up to try and catch him, for Chiron's small wings wouldn't help him descend. This left Marlow to go alone against the Lady. They tried pushing each other, but held their own as force pushed and pulled on both of the wizards. Then, a howl was heard...
And a werewolf-looking thing appeared.
Marlow didn't notice that night had snuck up on everyone. Ramsey, also noticing the werewolf from the ridge he was on, shouted, "Rachel! Stop!"
"It's no use, Ramsey," announced Mark, "She can't hear anyone."
Apparent Rachel howled again, then leapt towards Lady Feign, breaking her concentration and pushing her into the sky, all from Marlow's Gravity Magic. Rachel, not in the mood to let her prey escape, tried to leap after Lady Feign. Meanwhile, Vorlue flew from the sky, holding onto Chiron, and The two stood up, ready to gain up on Griswold, who apparently made no headway in his battle against Thomas. The swarms of demons slowly dissipated in the air, and the one Demonologist was no match against three adversaries. Lady Feign was in the jaws of Rachel, who was thrashing her about. The battle seemed to be coming to a close.
However, things changed.
With a loud shriek, Lady Feign simultaneously pushed each and every wizard a good couple of meters back from where they were standing. She lifted Rachel into the air, then slammed her limp body against a tree. Griswold opened another door, and from it came a demon that had a large, yellow beak, green skin, and a turtle shell. It spoke, "Griswold. You summoned me? Kappa-kappa." A hideous fragrance surrounded him
Now Chiron was surprised.
Standing at opposition from Griswold, Chiron stepped backed. Vorlue didn't advance either, and Marlow was confused.
"What's up, Chiron."
"That's… that's not a Bestial Demon."
"I don't know what that means." shouted Marlow.
The turtle-thing then got into its shell started rolling towards Chiron. He flew up and tried to descend, scythe in hand, but was only knocked away by the centripetal tortoise.
"Most demons are Bestial, like animals," continued Chiron, who was dodging the turtle, "But there are other, more sentient demons. They don't just destroy, they plot, they plan, they have goals."
"So Vrock and Addox are Non-Bestial Demons?"
"Yes. Vinde too, surprisingly. They are known as Sage Demons." The turtle thing spun towards Chiron again, and he was knocked against a tree. Vorlue flew at Griswold, but failed to do much damage. Marlow failed to pay attention to the other wizards.
"What's so difficult about defeating Sage Demons?"
"They can adopt the form of their demons."
"Didn't that one Demonologist from the Labyrinth do that-"
Marlow's words were cut off as he was pushed into the sky. All these distractions made it so Marlow failed to actually notice things that could potentially be a threat to his life. Lady Feign then angled Marlow's fall from the sky as so he would hit a jagged rock that pointed out of a cliff. Marlow, in his petite rabbit form, struggled to get up, but he saw Lady Feign advance towards Marlow. Apparently, Milly had been incapacitated from whatever magic the Lady used, for she was unconscious beyond. Thomas and Vorlue tried to team up to defeat Griswold, but the werewolf leapt in between the two adversaries and started to chew on people. Lady Feign was therefore not being pursued by anyone else.
"Defeated so easily, wizard?" she asked.
"Pro… probably not." Marlow tried to lift Lady Feign into the air, but she only kept still by the hand of her own magic.
"Give us the book now and we will leave."
"N-never…" Marlow stood up and tried to push the wizard into the air again, but failed.
"We have you bested. For whatever odd coincidence, both of us have superior forms of magic than your own. Give up, or there will be no mercy."
Marlow stood, silent, and watched as the Lady did nothing. Suddenly, the undefined crazy quality from her eyes melted and fell into a sort of compassion. She produced a single, slender blade from a hilt and said, "Give up." Somewhere over beyond, Marlow noticed that Mark and Ramsey weren't on the cliff they stood earlier.
"You… you need to change your… tactics."
And Marlow pushed the Lady into the ground, although only slightly. believing she would need to compensate for whatever magic Marlow was using, she exerted a tremendous amount of force to keep herself up. Too much force. She flew up into the air, and Marlow saw an opportunity to push her back down. A crater formed where Lady Feign landed, but she was not defeated.
"You know, Lady, I don't believe that's your real name."
"True. Though I won't tell you."
Marlow, still a little low on magical energy, decided to run towards the others fighting. Somewhere along the way, Vorlue disappeared, probably from taking in too much damage. Chiron was still trying to figure out how to defeat the turtle thing, and Thomas was trying to use Spark Magic on Griswold. Rachel, enthralled with the idea of turtle meat apparently, went after the demon.
"Get back here, wizard!" yelled the Lady.
"No thanks.." replied Marlow. Lady Feign ran after Marlow, pushing herself to accelerate apparently, and landed on a Rune. This Rune of Milly's was apparently some sort of Blinding Rune, because the Lady stumbled about, not being able to see. She pushed everybody back from her; even the turtle. He was pushed out of his shell as he declared "Kappa-kappa!" Chiron rushed towards him and struck the demon with his scythe. The demon recoiled, but didn't falter. Water started to pour out of the demons and melted the snow. The odor grew stronger. Griswold then grew bright, and when the light dimmed, he emerged with large horns, his skull on the outside of his head, and long blades made of bone where his radius and ulna should be. He rushed towards Thomas and emitted a dark force that caused Thomas to fly back with tremendous velocity.
"What the hell is that?" proclaimed Marlow.
"I'm a Demonologist, Marlow. That turtle is a kappa demon and-"
"Well, that's pretty obvious, seeing as he says his name and-"
"Silence! No one interrupts me. This Demonic form is of the Malphog Demon."
"You should tell that to Chiron. I don't know a lot about this demon stuff."
Griswold flew at Marlow, but was lifted into the air in the nick of time. Chiron continued to fight the Kappa Demon, who seemed to glow whenever he was in the water. Lady Feign stumbled around blindly, and Rachel howled as she ran towards the Kappa. Griswold came down meteorically, and attempted to impale Marlow. However, rabbits, being small, are difficult to impale, so Marlow deftly dodged and further pushed Griswold into the ground. The Demonologist tried to assault Marlow with the dark force, but Marlow braced himself and was only pushed back. Thomas came back from wherever he flew off to and tried to Spark the Demonologist. Just then, Marlow had an idea,
"Thomas! Get the turtle thing. Water conducts electricity."
"Good idea." responded Thomas, and he let more sparks fly at the amassing puddle around the Kappa. The demon cried, "Kappa-kappa!" and recoiled into its shell. It wasn't defeated, however, and proceeded to spin towards Chiron again, who then just dodged.
"That kind of worked." shouted Marlow.
"Not entirely," responded Griswold, "The Kappa is invulnerable as long as its in its shell."
"Really? You guys cheat."
"It's simply power."
Griswold flew towards Marlow and pushed him back with the dark force, but was tripped by Thomas, who decided to let Chiron deal with the turtle.
"Enough!" shouted Griswold, but it was too late. Everybody on the opposing side was really bad at looking down, apparently, because he stepped on another of Milly's Runes. This one was a simple Fire Rune, but it was just enough to knock Griswold out, sending his demon back through the gate. Marlow thought it was easy to keep track of Milly's runes, but apparently not for other people.
"Now its just you, Lad- Lady?"
The Force Push Wizard disappeared, as did Rachel. Suddenly, the one-armed man, Oerick, appeared out of thin air, grabbed Thomas, and disappeared with the both of them. He did the same with Chiron, and Marlow was alone. He checked his surrounding, not wanting to be abducted by Oerick, but all he saw was mountain and snow.
Then Lady Feign appeared.
Marlow, being confused, was knocked back against a tree and couldn't move. Lady Feign produced the blade and paced towards Marlow, saying, "I'm sorry, but it's too late for mercy. You die here."
She walked toward Marlow, who couldn't move at all. Closer and closer she got, until she raised the blade and thrust. Marlow closed his eyes…
And felt nothing.
He opened his eyes, and in front of Marlow stood Ramsey, an Open Door closing behind him. Lady Feign's blade penetrated Ramsey's body fully, and tiny drops of blood fell from the tip. He fell.
"Wh-wha- You..." spoke Lady Feign menacingly, "No matter. His sacrifice means nothing. Now you die-"
"NO!" shouted Mark Cherry, who ran towards Lady Feign and shoved her towards the ground. Ramsey fell as well, the sword still sticking out of him. Marlow was numb, but not too numb to act. He pushed Lady Feign into the air, then knocked her into the ground. Oerick appeared suddenly, but looked stunned. He hesitated for a moment, then grabbed Lady Feign and disappeared. He came back a couple of seconds later to collect Griswold. Mark fell to the ground in pain. Marlow got up and looked upon the silent wizard. He checked his pulse, and found nothing.
"Mark… I'm-"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU DID THIS NOW PAY!"
"Mark, Wait!" shouted Rachel, who wasn't a werewolf anymore. She emerged from behind a tree and grabbed Mark, who was rushing towards Marlow.
"STOP IT! LET ME KILL HIM!"
"No!" retaliated Rachel, "You can't. They're too powerful."
"Yeah Right! That woman had him pinned and ready to die!"
"I seriously doubt that." she turned her attention to Marlow, "Please… leave us alone."
"You'll pay!" threatened Mark, "I swear that Timberwolf will destroy you. You will pay!"
Marlow was still stunned, "I… I don't... I didn't do anything."
Mark ran off, leaving Rachel to say, "Stop that. Mark was right. We shouldn't have trusted you. It's because of you that those wizards went after us… and now…"
"I'm… I'm sorry."
"Stop." spoke Rachel coldly, "Let me take the body and we will leave."
And so she did. Rachel was apparently strong, probably from being a werewolf, and she lifted the body of Ramsey. She removed the sword and threw it towards the ground. turned to Marlow, and said, "My judgement was wrong, but Timberwolf will remember you." Marlow didn't say anything else. Rachel walked off in the direction of Mark, and new snow fell down. Marlow's mind was empty, like he didn't know what to think. For whatever reason, Ramsey saved Marlow's life, and paid for it. I shouldn't be alive right now, thought Marlow, I should be dead. Snow kept falling, but it was hard to make Marlow feel any colder than he did currently. After what seemed like years, Chiron and Thomas returned.
"What happened? Are you alright?" asked Thomas.
"I… I…" Marlow couldn't speak.
"Marlow," added Chiron matter-of-factly, "Are you alright? Where did those wizards go?"
"They… they're gone."
"What happened?" asked Chiron a second time.
"Ramsey… Ramsey… I should be dead."
Thomas scanned the horizon, then found the still-unconscious body of Milly. He picked her up and carried her back towards the rest of the party.
"Marlow, please… are you alright?" demanded Chiron.
"No…"
"What happened?"
"Marlow looked up towards Chiron, then answered, "The one-armed man appeared and took you all away. Lady Feign was going to kill me, but Ramsey appeared and… He's dead, Chiron. Dead."
"Oh my… what happened to Timberwolf?"
"They're gone…. Everybody's… gone."
Thomas then interjected, "Why didn't Ramsey use a Closed Door instead?"
"I… I don't know."
"Well," continued Thomas, "In any event, we need to leave."
"Thomas is right." contributed Chiron.
"Fine… fine, let's-"
Marlow tried to stand up, but fell down and started breathing heavily. He was starting to succumb to an anxiety attack again.
"Marlow! Please, calm down!" shouted Chiron worriedly.
"Just… carry him, Chiron. We shouldn't stay here anymore."
"I don't think that's wise."
"We're still in danger, so I feel like those wizards are a bigger threat than a panic attack."
"Alright. Come on Marlow."
"Would you like to trade? A rabbit's lighter than a girl-"
"Now's not the time for humor."
"... Fine. You're right."
Marlow than spoke up, through weighted breath, "I'm fine, I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" asked Chiron.
"...Probably not..." responded Marlow, "But Thomas is right. We need to leave."
And with that, the four wizards started for the train to get back to Ceruleo, with two of the mysterious colored books in their possession. Snow covered up the blood stains and the sword, the water from the demon began to freeze, and the town of Valentin was probably not removed from its problems. Ruby Phoenix, however, wasn't going to stay and solve things. Seemingly, the undead threat was quelled, but the Viscount was dead, so there would be large amounts of upheavals from the townsfolk. The wizards didn't want to stay for that, so they left on the train that night, after silently stealing into the bed-and-breakfast to gather their possessions. The mysterious bartender Pieter was no where to be seen, as was Favre, Ferra, Anton, Timberwolf, Griswold, Lady Feign, or Oerick. For all extents and purposes, the guild had failed.
Today was the day. The Dragonslayer fight. Two bozos from Sabretooth were up against the amazing Natsu Dragneel and some other guy. Arcadia thought his name was Happy or something. Anyway, the girl, Juliet, was excited, and Cub was… doing weird dog things, like biting people and whatnot. Tony, on the other hand, was having a total fit of madness. There were, like, three, maybe four Dragonslayers (Arcadia couldn't tell because the guy with the piercings, Happy or whatever, did a lot of metal things, and dragons don't do metal things. Arcadia was sure.)
"Go! Woohoo! Go Natsu! Go Sting! Go Rouge! Go Gajeel! Woohoo!" cheered Tony excitedly.
"Jeez, and people think I'm crazy." responded Arcadia.
Juliet looked up towards Arcadia, "Why don't you cheer for your boyfriend, Arcadia?"
"'Cause I'm not an idiot. He's probably going to automatically win or something, even without that Happy guy."
"Um… Gajeel?"
"Gesundheit. Why is that Cub guy biting the popcorn dealer?"
In response, Cub shouted, "Ruff! Food! Give me food!"
"What are you?" inquired the popcorn vendor, who just threw a bag of popcorn at Cub and ran away.
The four wizards (if Cub could be considered a wizard. He confused Arcadia) had the most amazing tent slumber party ever. They played go-fish, ate potato chips, and got a caffeine rush from the large amounts of soda Arcadia bought. Arcadia apparently had some sort of morals, seeing as she didn't purchase alcohol for minors. After partying, the teenagers went to sleep, and leaving Arcadia by herself, awake. She couldn't sleep; she was too excited for today, so she just read this romantic novel about feuding wizard guilds and whatnot. When the next day dawned, everyone overslept, making them miss the weird bubble battle and a battle where there was a cat-guy-bunny-thing, but they arrived just in time to see Not-Marlow, along with her furry sidekick, beat up Mr. Snow and Eyebrows (Arcadia enjoys nicknames) But now, it was time. Time for Arcadia's true love to shine.
To destroy.
Which apparently happened, because after the Sabretooth Dragonslayers glowed and did weird things with their hair, the battle took all four wizards down to some mines. They had to use these monitors to actually watch. Then, Natsu put Happy in a mine cart and pushed him away.
"Hehe," laughed Arcadia, "Bye-bye, Happy."
"That's Gajeel," spoke Juliet.
"Could you please stay away from me? I don't want to catch your cold."
"No, no, no!" shouted Tony, "That's Gajeel! The Iron-Dragonslayer!"
"Oh," spoke Arcadia, "the fuck kind of a name is Gajeel?"
"Ooh, you swore." responded Tony sarcastically.
"I fuckity fucking swear fucktons of fuck, sir. You can tell that to your cat. Dick."
Tony laughed, "Haha, If I did that, I would die."
"Now be quiet. My boyfriend's gonna destroy."
The battle went on for a little while longer, and for a moment, the Dragonslayers from Sabretooth gave Natsu a run for his money.
Tony looked concerned, "Arcadia, it looks like Natsu's losin-"
"Nah, son; he's just buttering them up for doom."
And Arcadia was right. Natsu single-handedly took down those two lame-os from Sabretooth. Single. Handedly. He did some Dragonslayer things, and the others tried to do some Dragonslayer things, but they failed. And after a while, the last two-on-two battle of the Grand Magic Games ended, with Natsu, obviously, the winner.
However, there was one thing Arcadia had to do.
"Guys, before we leave, I'm going to take my boyfriend back to the guild, if that's OK."
"You know you guys aren't actually dating, right?"
"Not yet."
Then Arcadia continued, "Oh my goodness, didn't he already assault three vendors already?" Cub was assaulting vendor number four for ice cream.
"Is that her, guys?" asked Casey loudly.
"Seemingly… seemingly…" muttered Roger. The two wizards peered down the rows of the bleachers and managed to find what looked like Arcadia. Lucky was behind the two, distracted by the aftermath of the Dual-Dragonslayer fight.
"Jeez, guys. Why is everyone so loud?" asked Lucky
"What?" asked Casey.
"The other Dragonslayers are in the arena; of course everyone would be ecstatic."
"What?" asked Casey.
"Roger," started Lucky, "I know you got, like, cat ears and can hear everything being said to you, but you need to speak up."
"What?" asked Casey.
"So you didn't hear what I said? Imbecile."
"What?" asked Casey.
In any event, the girl who looked like Arcadia probably was Arcadia, considering the fact that three children were around her; one of which chewing on an ice-cream vendor.
"It's that… dog child…" Roger said with a chill.
"Oh yeah, 'cause you're, like, an exceed cat thing."
"I beg your pardon. What's an exceed?"
"What?" asked Casey.
"I can't ascertain if it is them for a certainty, however. There are too many… people standing up and… cheering so vulgarly. However… if that is indeed Cub, then those must be the childre- oh no…""
"What?" asked Casey.
"Allow me." pronounced Lucky. He started to move his hand, and for a moment, nothing happened. However, everyone in the stands between the two wizards-slash-cat and probably Arcadia suddenly decided that they needed to go to the bathroom or stretch their legs or some other activity that made them get out of the way. Probably Arcadia turned around, noticing the two wizards, and mouthed "Oh shit…"
"Yeah," started Lucky, "That's her."
Arcadia looked at the children, who obviously were Tony, Juliet, and Cub, and the four got up and waded through the crowd quickly.
"After them!" shouted Roger
"What?" asked Casey, "Seriously, guys, I think I have an ear infection."
The other four wizards tried to push and shove their way through the cheering crowd, but they were no match for the winged cat. Roger flew towards them at an exhilarating speed. Lucky and Casey just sort of stared and let him do everything. However, Arcadia decided to make a quick escape by burning a hole in the ground. The other spectators took notice, but didn't care too much because Dragonslayers are cool. Roger turned and said, "Idiots, after them!"
"What?" asked Casey, and this time Lucky hit him. "Oww, what did I do?"
"Why can't you, like, just go underground yourself?" inquired Lucky.
"Because!" shouted Roger, "That insolent fire wizard is dangerous. Not to mention the… dog child…"
Lucky meandered towards the cat with Casey in tow. As soon as the duo reached the crater where Roger was, and no other spectator seemed to care about, Lucky suggested, "Well… We gotta go after them or Marlow will yell at us."
"You do it, then, you feckless fool."
"Are you making up words?"
"Of course not; you probably lack the education necessary to understand basic vocabulary, you simpleton."
"Well," started Casey, finally able to hear, under the dull roar of the crowd, "I'll go after them."
"And what? Predict the future poorly?" argued Lucky.
"I can do more than that. I can sing well."
"Yeah, dude, but can you do, like, magic?"
"Only if I have a deck of cards."
"What!?" shouted Roger, "You advocate gambling?"
"No, no, no. All I need is a card; I can divinate and control the outcome of where the card goes, moving it to attack or defend."
"Dude," started Lucky, confused, "That doesn't make sense."
"Sure, but it helps."
"Silence, nancies," hushed Roger, "We're losing them at this rate. We must continue."
Lucky then spoke, "But what about-"
"Quiet!"
And off they went, in pursuit of Arcadia and the children.
"Oh shit. Are they after us?" asked Arcadia as the Ruby Phoenix wizards ventured down a makeshift tunnel.
"Stop swearing, Arcadia," cried Tony, "It's like a magnet for Roger."
"Oh fuck, I should probably stop, then."
Cub ran on all fours and covered the length of the entire tunnel in a small matter of time. Pretty soon, Arcadia, Tony, and Juliet lost sight of him.
"Should we… let Cub go?" inquired Juliet.
"Probably." responded Arcadia.
"Arcadia, why-" started Tony, but was abruptly interrupted with, "Maybe he'll find buried treasure."
"Honestly Arcadia, you don't believe there's treasure here, do you?"
"Well… maybe people's pocket change fell through the seats?"
"In a tunnel you made?"
"Kid, I need booze money. I'm broke."
"Well," started Tony, "Why don't you go on jobs?"
"'Cause…. my teammate is the guildmaster, and he doesn't, or should I say shouldn't, go on quests as much. Plus, I don't want to get up and move a lot."
"What's your team name?" insisted Juliet.
"Uhh… we were the Vagabond Band. 'Cause we were vagabonds."
Then, Tony got a wonderful idea. "Hey Arcadia, do you want to join Mythic Legion?"
Arcadia thought about it for a moment. With much anticipation behind the exhilarating amounts of thoughts behind her head, Arcadia replied.
"Sure."
"Yes!" shouted Tony. "Mythic Legion will be the best team in Ruby Phoenix!"
"Kid, there aren't much teams to begin with."
"...Eliminating the competition with logic. That's what makes us so good."
Cub then ran back with an enormous bone in his mouth.
"What died down here that's that big?" inquired Arcadia.
"Drgns." muttered Cub with a full mouth.
"Come again?" asked Juliet. Cub spit the bone out of his mouth and said, "Dragons! Ruff!"
"...Come again?"
"There's a big giant dragon graveyard that way!" He then did the pointer-dog point thing.
"... Drag-"
"Follow me!" interrupted Cub. He then raced off again amidst the horizon of the tunnel.
"Well that's frickin' weird…" stated Arcadia, "Get, like a leash or some shit for him."
Meanwhile, Tony's eyes lit up with both fear and excitement. His mouth was agape in stricken awe.
"Oh yeah," started Juliet, "he's a Dragonslayer. I guess we should see this dragon-"
"OF COURSE WE SHOULD SEE THIS DRAGON GRAVEYARD, JULIET!" shouted Tony, "THIS COULD BE THE ANSWER TO ALL DRAGONSLAYER'S MYSTERIES!"
"Dear God, kid," added Arcadia, "Could you be any louder?"
Just then, a subtle, yet extremely nasally voice emanated from behind them in the tunnel.
"I can smell the children."
"Oh no, it's Roger!" announced Tony loudly, and the three wizards went off; simultaneously following Cub and running from Roger. Arcadia then tripped on a random vine and cried, "AHH! MY LEG!"
"Arcadia," started Tony, "We have no time for-"
"MAH LEEEEGGG!"
"I can smell the children." muttered Roger.
"Can't you just hear them?" asked Casey, "They're rather loud."
"Quiet, ignoramus!" demanded the tiny cat.
The two wizards and cat wandered through the tunnel that Arcadia had found a way into. They kept on walking, knowing that without any forks in the road, they would find Arcadia and the three young wizards eventually. However, after a while of silent marching, at the behest of a rather angry exceed, they managed to catch up. Arcadia was writhing in pain on the ground, muttering, "MAH LEEEEG!" and off in the distance, Roger could see with his cats-eyes Tony and Juliet running off.
"Why did you let them go-" spoke Lucky in an attempt to speak, only to be cut off by Arcadia screaming, "Those traitors betrayed their team member!"
"...Like, what-"
"BETRAYAL!"
Casey then made an attempt to grasp Arcadia's madness. "Arcacida, what are you doing here?"
She then proceeded to cry. "OK, OK. First, Caden said 'No Arcadia, you can't see your true love. You are doomed to be lonely forever' and I said 'No!' and he said 'Yes. Muahahaha!' All because he won't admit his feelings for Marlow or something. Anyway, I snuck away, because true love always finds a way, and because the Magic Games are cool. These traitors you run after tried to win my trust with a slumber party, but as soon as Cub saw that, like, dragn graveyard thing, he-"
"What?" started Casey, "Did you say dragon graveyard?"
"Yes!"
Casey then went pale white. "What's wrong, dude?"
"... The cards said something about dragons…"
"Oh, dude. Seriously? Are you still going on about that whole 'Dragon's are coming!' thing? Honestly, no dragons are going to come to these Grand Magic Games, dude. That's just stupid."
"Shut up you collective idiots!" shouted Roger. "We need to pursue the children before they engage in any more mischief!"
Lucky then spoke "Fine… whatever you say, cat-"
"QUIETLY! I NO LONGER CAN ENDURE YOUR IDLE PRATTLE, YOU BUFFOONS!"
"Why is everyone speaking in caps lock?" asked Casey. Then, everyone stared at him oddly, and Lucky asked, "Dude… what are you talking about?"
"Nothing… it's just… the cards- nevermind." The three wizards then followed Roger, going after the other three children. The walk was quiet, mostly because everyone halfway feared Roger. Eventually, they emerged to the opening of some sort of cave. Everyone then stood in complete awe.
Cub was right.
Dragon bones lay beneath the Domus Flau.
The wizards found Tony, Juliet, and Cud standing at the edge of the cliff. They too were in wonder of the dragon bones that lay before them. There were a couple dozen, so far as they could see in this one section of the cave. Then, a mine cart careened by, carrying Gajeel. Everyone mostly ignored it.
"This is…" started Tony, "a dragon… graveyard?"
"No shit." spoke Arcadia. Roger shot her a death glare and contemplated throwing her off of the cliff.
"Who do we tell about this?" asked Juliet, "This is way bigger than… than anyone in Fiore knows about."
"Well," replied Arcadia, "Happy knows."
"Arcadia! It's Gajeel!"
"My goodness, kid. Do you need, like, a doctor or something?"
Casey was still as pale as a ghost. "Guys," he started, "We need to get out of here as soon as possible."
"Casey! Shut Up!" shouted Lucky.
The cliff underneath everyone then collapsed. Juliet and Roger were fine, though, because they could fly. Everyone else also ended up fine, because they landed on an inclined cliff wall that broke everyone's fall. This was probably because of Lucky's Magic. Juliet and Roger slowly descended to towards the others.
"Is everyone fine?" asked Tony.
"Yeah, mostly, pretty much" muttered everyone else collectively. All except for Arcadia, who yelled, "MAH LEEGGGG!"
"What do we do now?" asked Juliet towards Arcadia.
"Hahaha, you trust me. Yes." There was an awkward silence, then Arcadia continued, "Well, first plan of action, now that I'm in charge, no one tell either Caden or Marlow we're here. Second, tell everyone about the dragon bones. Third... profit. Any objections?"
"Arcadia, we don't agree with you being in charge." stated Lucky.
"Shut up."
Little did everyone suspect though, that this decision was a bad one. Not because of Arcadia, but because of what was to happen next during the Grand Magic Games. You probably know, if you follow the happenings of Fairy Tail, and Casey believes he knows. However...
Casey is right.
Marlow, Chiron, Milly, and Thomas boarded the train that very night. Silently, they weren't noticed by anyone either suspicious nor suspecting. They bought their tickets, and silently endured a train ride back to Fiore. After a few minutes, Thomas spoke up.
"I'm sorry, but you all need to stop moping about as such. I am fully aware that we failed as a guild, but look at it this way; we stopped the undead threat, we acquired a valuable book, and we defeated rogue wizards whose interests involve us. They now know we are a threat instead of just some pawn, and we posses two of the Ocaelia books."
"'We?'," asked Marlow, "Are you seriously going to get yourself into this?"
"Marlow, I was thinking about it, and I would like to join Ruby Phoenix."
"Are you sure that's wise?" inquired Chiron.
"Yes. The powers that be have painted us as their adversaries. We can't just abandon each other. Plus, I believe we can help each other out in the whole Ocaelia aspect. I know its much to ask to just randomly join a guild out of the blue, but we need as many allies as we can afford. I fear we are outnumbered."
"Then fine, you can join." answered Marlow, "But I'm looking out for your safety, Thomas. Things are definitely not going to look any better than this, I'm sure."
"I'm aware. I'll try not to die."
"Good."
"Marlow, you aren't remotely fine right now" scolded Milly, "Are you sure you're fine?"
"I am not fine, Milly. Thank you. I almost died, and someone died right in front of me. Twice."
"I know, Marlow. You need to talk about it, though. You have, like, panic attacks and stuff."
Chiron then warned, "Milly, Marlow's gone through a lot, what with Gokenomura falling and this whole Colors Man scenario."
"Yeah, but when Claus and I ran away from the cult, we got better because we talked to each other."
"Milly, I don't need to talk about it. I'll be fine, I promise."
"Are you sure?"
"...No. Look, I care about discussing plans and conspiracies and being not confused, but feeling-wise, I can deal with it."
"Marlow, we can't just stay at this level of grief. Move on from this melancholy."
"So I skipped denial, bargaining, and anger, huh?" started Marlow, with a slightly sarcastic twinkle in his eye. "I'm just depressive?"
"Marlow, please… "
"I can't be in grief. Everything's out of order."
"... Are you joking?"
"I'm fine."
"Good then-"
"I lied!" shouted Marlow angrily. Marlow then slightly smiled a little bit. "Milly, it's nice to know you're concerned, but I'll deal with things. I can be an uptight panicky rabbit, but I'm not alone. If you haven't noticed, I started a guild."
"Are you seriously OK? There was a lot of awkward silence…"
"Yeah." finished Marlow, "Probably."
"Well that's great," spoke Thomas, "Because we need to discuss what the devil is going on. Try to make sense of… anything."
"Sure."
Conversation then picked up for the rest of the night on the train ride, even though they didn't figure anything out. They slept on the train before they reached Fiore, for transportation was slow; probably from the Grand Magic Games. But, everyone finally got out of their sad phase. The Iceberg situation was behind them, even though there would probably be repercussions in the near future. By the next day's night, everyone was smiling and happy.
Except there was a detour as soon as Capital Crocus was reached. Something big was happening, and people were evacuated for some unknown reason.
"Hmm," huffed Marlow, "I'm glad no one from Ruby Phoenix is there right now."
The detour took everyone to the city of Pervinca; a mild sized mountain city significantly smaller than nearby Crocus. Hotels and inns were starting to pack up, due to the random amounts of people evacuating the city for some reason. Luckily, the refugee swarm only just began, so Marlow and company found a room to board in. Two, because Milly was afraid to sleep with a bunch of boys. A lot of the people coming into the hotel that they stayed didn't know what was happening in the Capital, but one person swore she saw dragons come out of some sort of gate. Marlow ignored it, worrying about his own problems. That night, the wizards all went to sleep. All except for Marlow, who stayed awake and watch the stars on the hotel's balcony. Marlow thought everything was safe and serene.
Until he heard a voice.
"Marlow, please listen to me."
Marlow turned around and saw the one-armed man Oerick, looming above him.
"Where did you-"
"Nevermind that. I have something to tell you, so listen."
Marlow stepped back. At thi hour in the night, not a single person was around, and Marlow certainly didn't trust Oerick.
"Get away from me! I don't want anything to do with your-"
"Please, hear me out for one moment. This may pique your interest."
And then he produced the Green Ocaelia.
Marlow then stepped back more.
"What are you doing giving this to me?"
"Listen. I don't have much time, so you're going to need to pay attention. My name is Oerick Sebastian, and I am a wizard of the guild named Golden Stag. One day, I took a job request that took me to these people who wanted to perform these magical experiments."
"What kind of experiments?"
"The ones found inside this book. Do you know how they work?"
Marlow thought for a moment, then said, "You're arm…"
"That's correct."
"You sacrificed it ?"
"No… I had it forcefully ripped off while I was tied down to a table."
"Oh… my…" Marlow was taken aback.
"Through that, I am now able to teleport anywhere that my mind can physically comprehend. On any whim. I knew that our train would be delayed by the happenings in the Capital, so I found you here."
"Why are you telling me this?"
Oerick stopped for a moment, then continued, "You may very well already know who I am unintentionally working for."
"Minetta, I believe?"
"Correct. I was told that she thought you were someone insignificant, but ever since you defeated Griswold and the Lady, she has taken an interest in you. She wants the books; for what reason, I am unsure. She'll try to take them in coercion or in a trade, but you can't let her."
"Why?"
"These books are abominations. You said you were going to burn them? Do it."
"But… I'm not-"
"I have to go now. I've spent far too much time looking for you, and they may suspect I've vanished. I can run, but not forever. They will kill me. Remember what I said. Goodbye."
"Goodbye, but-" By the time Marlow started to speak, Oerick vanished within the blink of an eye, leaving Marlow with a third Ocaelia book.
Anton stood at the end of two new graves. The snow was falling gently, and the estate was silent. Suddenly, the lonesome funeral was disturbed by Ferra, who had appeared without Anton's knowledge.
"You know why I killed him, don't you?" she inquired. Anton stayed silent. "What will you do now?"
"Diedrik has a sister in the southern part of this country. I will probably serve her."
"But Anton, you have a wonderful Ice-Make Magic. You could go help us-"
"... No, thank you."
"But Anton," whined Ferra, "You have to come and-"
"Or what? You'll kill me too?"
"...That's… not…"
"Truthfully?"
"... No. They will kill you if you know as much as you do. I'm trying to save you-"
"No. Thank you."
And Anton turned to solemnly watch the graves.
"You aren't leaving me much of a choice. Forgive me." Just then, a spear of electricity grew out of Ferra's hand, and she ran up to strike Anton down with it. However, he turned, and an Ice-Make shield deflected the attack. Anton was about to deliver a hammer of ice onto her, but she deftly turned into a bird and flew out of reach. She then turned back into a human and wound up right behind Anton. She held up an electrical spear to Anton's throat and was about to dig in when a voice interrupted.
"Not so fast, dear."
Ferra turned and fell away from Anton, who recovered towards a tree. Ferra turned to see who spoke to her.
But all she saw was a rabbit.
"What… are-"
"Please don't kill the man, Ferra. That's why you don't make as many friends as you could."
"Who are you?"
"The name's Favre."
"Wait… you used the Purple-"
"That's right, dear. You expected… how many was it? Two rabbits?"
"It was three, how did you-"
"It doesn't matter. What matters is that you leave, and tell your Color's Man that those Ruby Phoenix wizards may actually be a threat to your cause. Minetta is learning, or so I'm told."
"Who are you, for real?"
"You don't know? Shame, shame. Well, anyway, I'd recommend you scurry off, dear. You learned you can't manipulate someone to use the Ocaelia spell quite as nicely as you planned. You've failed, so consider not killing this poor man?"
"I… can't…"
"Fine by me."
Ferra tried to create more lightning spears to throw at the mysterious rabbit, but she missed. He continued speaking.
"Let's see what Magic I have today."
"You don't know your Magic?"
"It changes every day, I'm afraid."
And as soon as he had said that, a shining, light bow appeared in his hands.
"Ahh, tracking light bow. Joy."
The rabbit held the archer's tool in front of him and strung the string back. As soon as he let go, a stream of light aimed itself towards Ferra and hit her dead on. She was knocked back far and painfully. As soon as she was hit, she threatened, "This isn't over…" and turned into a bird to fly away.
"Oh, on the contrary, dear."
Favre dropped the bow and turned into a human for a moment. Anton, who had been spectating, stepped forward and asked, "Who are you?"
"Does it matter?"
"Not really."
"Go off to your sister Duchess or whatever. Goodbye."
Anton was silent for a moment, then he finished, "Goodbye." and walked away.
Favre left in the opposite direction, turning back into a rabbit from lack of magical energy to sustain his human form.