AN: Please read and review!
Disclaimer: If we owned Fairy Tail … there would probably be a lot more angst and a lot less screaming about comrades.
Under the Flames
A Fairy Tail Fanfiction by Kitty & Foxy
Chapter Twenty Five: I Can Smell Him
As the Fairy Tail mages climbed out from the back of the cart, paying the driver and unhooking Erza's vast quantities of luggage, they turned to stare at the estate before them. It stood several stories high with a grand fortress-like portal, elongated arched windows and cornices protruding out over the top by at least a foot and a half. It would have been awe inspiring if not for the fact it was decorated with golden hearts and painted a light shade of pink with white trim.
"Who the hell paints their house pink?" Gajeel groused. He was not particularly pleased in being with this group of people. Accustomed to working alone, he found himself having a difficult time to relating to Fairy Tail mages for they were far too social and intrusive.
Even though Gajeel said his comment with a spiteful tone, Lucy had to agree. "It really is kind of creepy, isn't it?"
"This villa belongs to Master Bob of Blue Pegasus." Erza answered, towing her luggage cart to the side of the house. She figured she would bring in her suitcases after the introductions.
Gajeel visibly twitched. Why does she bring so much luggage? She sure don't look like one of them girls that has a new set of clothes every day … she always wears the same stinking armor! Indeed, the Iron Dragon Slayer had yet to adapt to the Fairy Tail ways.
Lucy braved to open the heavy doors and nervously began her way inside. It was dark and dreary, and she could see the faint outline of statues at the far end of the grand entrance room. "H-hello?" She asked hesitantly, taking a few steps further. Candles along the walls and the pillars began to light themselves, glowing with an eerie heart-shaped golden aura.
"By Blue Pegasus, you mean that guy …" Gray shivered at the mere thought of the 'man.' Said 'man' wore makeup and behaved like an elderly woman that tiptoed around in little pink heels and wore jewelry. His sense of hospitality and conversation were stomach-turning to most. "I don't feel good around him …"
Gajeel had never met Master Bob before (Jose never required him to be at any of the meetings). "Who?"
"Master Bob is just who he is. But despite that, he's powerful enough to give Master a difficult battle." Erza chuckled a little, walking in behind the gang with her arms crossed. The lights grew even brighter and soon the whole room was alit in the golden glows, reflecting off the golden heart patterns and pink brick walls of the aisles. A grand staircase lay directly in front of them, and statues of a Pegasus stood rearing its head along the right aisle. Everything seemed to be pink. Even the carpet was pink and laced with hearts. They all felt somewhat out of place, as they were accustomed to the beer-hall type of guild.
"I wonder where everyone is!" Happy noted out loud, looking for any signs of life. "Are you sure we're in the right place, Lucy?"
"Why are you asking me that question?" She snapped back.
"You have arrived!" "Arrived!" "Arrived!" A chorus rang out from above, and the four Fairy Tail mages turned to look up the staircase. It was still dark at the top, but they could see three faint outlines of people – presumably other mages. "Hey hey hey, welcome Fairy Tail Mages!" A strange chorus of chants and phrases rang out to them at the beat of a tambourine, a stage light shining down on the new figures once they reached the bottom of the staircase. Together, the three cheered: "Sorry to keep you waiting!"
"Geh, too dramatic …" Lucy slouched a little, feeling ever more alienated in this environment.
The three began to introduce themselves in synchronized turns. "We are …" "… Blue Pegasus' …" "… chosen representatives:" And the three finished together "Trimens!" The stage light shut off, and their faces became clearly visible.
The man standing in the center, with locks of brown hair and eyes that could melt the heart of nearly any woman, greeted them with a grin and a flashy pose. "'Hundred Night' Hibiki!"
The next to greet himself – someone who appeared to be a younger blond boy with wide eyes, key word appeared – pointed two of his fingers at them as he too turned on the charm. "'Holy Night' Eve!"
A darker skinned and the tallest male there raised his hand to his face, hiding part of his eye as he stared on at them with some rather strangely forked eyebrows. "'Silent Night' Ren."
Lucy's jaw dropped not at their antics, but rather at her previous knowledge of said 'Trimens.' Blue Pegasus' Trimens? R-Really? A-and the one called Hibiki, he's always on the Weekly Sorcerers' 'top ranked mage you want as your boyfriend' list! He's that Hibiki Laytis?
"Lucy, you're drooling." Happy noted.
"I am not!" The celestial mage snapped back at the cat, glancing towards the guys in her own party. Gray had lost his clothes again (and had yet to realize it) and Gajeel looked ready to punch someone's lights out. In particular, he wanted to punch out the pretty boys' lights. Without a doubt, the Fairy Tail men would probably never be ranked on such a list. Geh … our guys are hopeless.
Erza too kept her guard up at the suspicious mages. She was used to dealing with the rowdy drunken mages, not womanizers. The idea of such womanizing was foreign and alien to her, and she disliked encountering it. In fact, she could even consider it insulting if the intention seemed anything but good. The three Blue Pegasus members came up to her, probably presuming that she – Titania – could be called the Fairy Tail's leader.
"Your beauty is just as the rumors say!" Hibiki greeted her with his arms outstretched in welcome, giving her a wink.
She averted her eyes, but soon found the little boy Eve decided to converse with her as well. "A pleasure to meet you Titania," he replied with a bow and some manner of a sparkling charm.
A hand was placed on her shoulder, and she knew it had to be Ren. "Now, please come this way."
Lucy watched in a kind of mortified shock as the womanizers led Erza off to the side and to a couch – that seemingly appeared out of nowhere – with a grand heart-shaped decoration behind it. Hibiki sat her down, continuing the charm as he offered her various things and sat down on one of her sides. The small boy, Eve, also came to behave like a host.
While Lucy might like the idea of romance, and probably understood it a great deal better than her friend Erza did, even this seemed completely beyond her realm of comfort. Blue Pegasus is creepy … she shivered. But a voice soon spoke behind her as a hand wrapped around her waist.
"You should have a seat too. Is it just me, or are you too cute?"
Gray, a stranger to romance as well, knew this stepped outside his and the girls' realms of comfort. His position straightened in a primitive attempt to assert some dominance. It bothered him that the Blue Pegasus members were behaving this way to the Fairy Tail women – his teammates! "What the hell is with these guys?" He growled, momentarily forgetting about his lack of upper body clothing.
It also bothered Gajeel, though not for the same reasons. He didn't like 'pretty boys.' Always too neat and clean and carefully choosing their words to not curse, or sugar-coating what they were really thinking or doing … he didn't care if they were hitting on anyone, he just hated their existence.
Erza tried her best to maintain formalities. She truly didn't recognize the situation the Trimens were attempting to put her in. "I look forward to your cooperation on this mission," she smiled trustingly to Eve – though it was a comrade trust, not a love trust as he seemed to take it. "We will all need to work together –"
"So cute …" Eve blushed, catching the redhead off guard. "Your face is simply lovely. To be honest, I've always admired you." At the same time, Lucy faced the revelation of Ren's tsundere personality.
Hibiki greeted the two women on the couch with another level of charm, standing before them. Eve and Ren joined in as they knelt on the ground. "Now you must be tired from your long journey! Spend tonight with us… forever~!"
Erza and Lucy might be different in many ways, but they both reacted in shock and disgust to the Trimens. They did not know how to answer. They knew what they would answer, but how does one deal with creatures like these? Thankfully another voice interrupted the situation as the sound of light footsteps trailed down the grand staircase.
"My friends …" came a sickeningly smooth voice of another mage, "I think that is enough of that."
Lucy felt her heart beat, even if she didn't wish it to fall for the voice. "Wh-what is that sickeningly smooth voice?"
"It's Ichiya-sama!" Ren answered, looking up with pride at the new figures' appearance. Erza's face contorted into horror.
"It has been a while, Erza-san …" fingers grasped a blue rose in his white lapel. "I've longed to see you, My Honey." The ugly, older face of a fat-nosed and double square shin greeted them all, bringing the Fairy Tail shock to a whole new level. "Ichiya is here for you!"
"To think you'd be participating …" Erza shivered. She detested this man. He was so ridiculously creepy and foreign – and, she suspected – or rather knew – that this man was perverse in nature.
"'My Honey'?" Happy shrieked.
Lucy couldn't believe it either, but one look at Erza told her that Erza clearly had no part of his declarations. "She's shaking!"
"What an unexpected reunion!" Ichiya began to slide down the banister with his toes in their direction, the other Blue Pegasus members cheering on their comrade.
"This young lady is Ichiya-sama's lover?" The Trimens clapped for their master, then turned to Erza bowing in apology. "Please excuse our behavior."
Gajeel began to snort to himself as Erza shouted back at Ichiya accusingly, clearly disgusted by him. "I vigorously deny everything!"
Ichiya did not appear to be affected by the accusation. Instead, he turned to bark at his underlings. "Clean this up! We didn't come here to play around."
"Right away Aniki!" Within seconds, the fancy furniture and offerings vanished from sight.
Lucy frowned, confused by the sudden change in terminology. "… Weren't they calling him 'Ichiya-sama' before?"
The blue cat happy watched with amusement, responding to Lucy's question. "They lack consistency!"
Ichiya turned back to the Fairy Tail mages. "I've heard about all of you. Erza-san, Lucy-san … and the others."
"'Others'?" Gray's jaw dropped in shock. How could these guys even behave like this? Gajeel shrugged it off again. He wasn't going to take any compliments from 'pretty boys.'
The older man began to sniff with his nose, a creepy grin spreading across his face. He twirled about and leaned in closer to Lucy and Erza. "Excellent parfum!"
"I'm really creeped out now …" Lucy shivered, hoping Erza would help her but her redheaded friend took a few steps back, apologizing: "I'm sorry … I don't know how to deal with him either … though admittedly he's a powerful mage."
"God damn pretty boys …" Gajeel growled, infuriated. He didn't want to watch them anymore. Maybe if I look around I can find some metal to munch on …
"Okay, enough is enough!" Gray hollered, offended enough to step forward. "Can you stop coming onto our princesses like that?"
Ichiya frowned. He did not enjoy competition, and judging from the faces of the Trimens behind him, they shared the same thoughts. "You men can run along home now."
The ice mage snorted back, his chin tightening. "Sending a bunch of womanizers on an important mission?" It seemed he caught their attention. "Are you trying to start a fight?"
"Go ahead and try," Ren taunted, Eve chiming in. "We're strong!"
"Stop this, all of you!" Erza snapped, forcing herself to regain control of the situation. But she felt something breeze behind her, and the voice of Ichiya spoke her name. She trembled again as she could hear his nose sniffing. "Your parfum is wonderful as always~."
"Don't come near me!" Within a second, if not less, Erza had delivered a painful punch to Ichiya that sent him hurtling down the hall with a cry for his men.
"Now she's done it!" Lucy knew the tensions would break eventually, and that one of her comrades would snap. She just never knew which one would be the first to do so. Their eyes followed the poor man as he came to a rolling halt at the end of the room, near the door where a new figure stood and eeped, jumping out of the way and nearly falling over herself. It was hard to see her full figure in the glowing light in the doorway behind her, but she appeared to be a child.
Erza blinked. "Who are you?" She asked, momentarily satisfied that Ichiya was away from her proximity.
"I-I'm sorry, this is Blue Pegasus' summer house, r-right?" The small girl stuttered as she backed off a little.
"It is!" Hibiki answered, cheerily approaching the girl as his comrades helped their teacher back up onto his feet. "But you probably want to see the guild, not the summer house. That's where Master Bob is if you want to talk to him –"
"A-ah, no, I'm not a recruit, I – I came from Cait Shelter." She answered quietly, watching as the new people around her became dumbstruck as she walked a few steps forward to greet them. "My name's Wendy Marvell."
"… Cait Shelter …?" Erza repeated, just as stunned as the others around her.
The little girl, 'Wendy,' appeared to be about twelve or thirteen years old – definitely pre-puberty. She wore a uniquely woven blue and yellow dress, with white fringes and feathers laced around her limbs, a large, neatly tied bow in front. She had long bluish hair, and when she turned her head he could see the Cait Shelter tattoo on her shoulder.
"I – I'm pleased to meet you all. I can't actually fight at all, but … I'll use a lot of support magic that will be useful to you, so … so please don't leave me out!" The small blue haired girl – not even a teenager – bowed as she stuttered out her answer, clearly seeking their approval. But they could not help but panic.
"Wait, they only sent you?" Gray repeated, somewhat aghast. Unbelievable, they would send only one mage on a mission as dangerous as this, and a little girl at that!
"She didn't come alone!" Another voice spoke up and they – including Wendy – turned to look. What they saw surprised them even further. A little white talking cat appeared from behind her, dressed in clothing similar to Wendy's, a golden blouse with red trim, and a pink skirt and bows. One bow placed around her neck, and another around the tip of her tail. She stood proud and dignified, elegance clearly one of her priorities.
To say Happy was shocked at the sight of another cat is an understatement. While he had never met another cat quite like himself before, this was more of a lovestruck shock than anything else. He felt his heart skip a beat, and he didn't fully understand it at all.
"Another cat?" Gajeel groaned. "Now we're going to have two annoying things buzzing around our heads." But enough about the cats … he wanted a meal.
"Charle, you followed me?" Wendy bit at her fingernails nervously, also surprised by the cats' appearance at the summer house.
"Of course!" The white cat named Charle huffed. "There'd be no end to my worries if you went alone." Happy attempted to catch her eyes, but she clearly seemed uninterested.
As if someone were directing a comedic show in their lives, the Trimens suddenly reached a conclusion and spoke at the same time. "A cat!"
"You just realized?" Lucy snapped, only to find Happy pawing at her boots.
"Neh, Lucy … could you give her a fish from me?" Happy asked sweetly, waving his tail back and forth with a small tinge on his cheeks.
Huh? Lucy looked back at Charle, then down at Happy. She began to snicker. "Aww, could this be love at first sight?" She teased the little cat. Finally, finally she could get back at the blue menace for all the teasing he's given her in the time that she's known him. "You're going to have to make your own advances."
During the time in which Lucy teased Happy, Charle was giving a stern lecture to her friend from Cait Shelter. "It's because of your timid nature that people always underestimate you!"
"I'm sorry …"
"I mean you shouldn't be so quick to apologize!" Charle crossed her paws, but her human friend only apologized once again. She sighed: to her, Wendy could be a handful, but she was still a friend.
Erza nodded with a firm smile, approaching Wendy in an attempt to reassure her. "I apologize. We were a bit taken aback at first, but I'm sure no one meant to offend you. We look forward to working with you, Wendy."
Wendy flushed a little, nodding happily to Erza as she bent down to speak to her cat friend at a more even level. "It's really Erza-san, Charle!"
Charle nodded in approval. "She's a much better woman than I imagined."
"W-wait, Erza, you're just going to let this go?" Gray stuttered, but went ignored and for good reason: Ichiya had arisen from his previous afflictions.
"Erza-san, I simply must smell more of your lovely parfum~"
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Erza hollered even louder this time, threatening the man with a spear she summoned in a split moment. "I'LL KILL YOU!"
"… Maybe I spoke too soon." Charle sweatdropped, Wendy backing off a few steps at the Titania's sudden ferocity.
Gajeel growled as he noticed Gray was still attempting to make a fuss over the new arrival. "No guild would be stupid enough to send a rookie on this kind of mission. She's got some strange magical aura about her."
"'Strange aura'?" Gray repeated, crossing his arms. Would now be a good time to say he was down to his boxers? "What do you mean by that?"
"Not sure." The Iron Dragon Slayer grunted. "Seems a little familiar, but I don't immediately recognize it. Erza seems to have picked up on it too. And put on some damn clothes and keep them on before I bolt them to you!"
The Trimens already began to make their moves. "She's going to grow into a real beauty some day," Ren spoke, shoving his hands into his pockets.
Eve, who appeared for more along the age lines of Wendy, only somewhat agreed with his comrade. "She's cute enough already!"
"Then, if you will come this way, Miss!" Hibiki offered her a seat as he placed a comforting hand on her back, watching her stutter at the strange form of politeness.
"That's just wrong!" Lucy snapped, walking to them as Wendy quietly took her side. "Will you guys lay off the flirting?"
"What's this? Everyone's horsing around?" A even newer voice spoke as a rather smug man entered through the doorway. "Do you really consider yourselves on par with Lamia Scale?"
A white haired man clad in a red Chinese-styled shirt and a white fur-trimmed coat spoke bitterly as he entered the premises. His cat-like eyes shone back at them, but widened when he saw who was there. "Gray?"
"Lyon?" Gray couldn't believe it. Neither could Erza or Lucy.
"Y-you joined a guild?" Lucy recalled their previous encounter with the man named Lyon Vastia. He was an Ice Mage that trained under the same teacher as Gray … and he attempted to resurrect Deloria on one of her very first missions.
"Hmph … there are beginning to be too many men," Hibiki frowned, and the two female Fairy Tail mages – as well as their male counterparts – turned to send a brief glare at him. "Can't you all just go home already?"
"My my, not all of us are men you know," another female voice spoke, the carpet beginning to morph to reveal a pink-haired woman underneath. "Doll Play: Carpet Doll!" The carpet reached up and slid out from underneath their feet, nearly tripping half of them.
Wait … Sherry?" Lucy deduced it could only be her. "You also joined Lamia Scale?"
She giggled, but not in any nice way. "Don't pretend you've forgotten about me. However, please forget all about the past me!"
"Which is it?" The Celestial Mage's eyebrow twitched.
The sound of a staff hitting the floor interrupted the brief arguments beginning to break out, cutting through the tensions. "Stop!" Came a dignified, proud voice. "We are here to form an alliance and defeat Oracion Seis!" A proud, tall man in a dignified pose glared at them all, taking charge. "This is not the time to be fighting amongst ourselves!"
"Jura-san," Lyon greeted, and Erza caught the name that the other ice mage spoke.
"He's the one they call …" Ren began, Hibiki finishing his words. "Lamia Scale's ace, 'Iron Rock' Jura."
"Aah!" Happy declared in realization. "He's one of the Ten Great Holy Mages!"
Ichiya stood on a small carpet with stage lights, dancing and posing in them as he spoke aloud to the others and gaining their attention. He did not believe it would be wise for the arguing to continue any further. "Now that everyone has arrived, I shall explain our strategy!"
Gajeel felt exasperated. This was boring … and everyone was being too lax and annoying. Pretty boys, a little girl, cats … the only people that looked impressive to him were Jura and Lyon. "Is that posing of yours really necessary?"
The older Blue Pegasus mage, however, continued on with both his speech and his poses. "I will start with the location that the Six Demon Generals of Oracion Seis are gathering at …" but then he began to skitter off to the side, dancing away. "But first I must visit the lavatory for some parfum."
"Did you have to tack on that last part?" Gray grumbled, but the Blue Pegasus subordinates began to clap for their 'Master.' They changed what they call him again …
About five minutes later Ichiya returned, looking clean and fresh as ever, posing periodically as he spoke. "North of our current location lies the Worth Woodlands. It is said that a powerful magic was sealed away there by the ancients. Its name is Nirvana!"
"I've never heard of that magic." Lyon admitted. "Jura-san?"
"I have not heard of it either." Jura answered sternly.
Ren answered, already filled in on some of the details. "This destructive magic was so powerful that the ancients saw fit to seal it away. That's all we know."
Eve continued Ren's conjecture. "We don't even know exactly what kind of magic it was."
And to finish off the Trimens' words, Hibiki spoke last. "Since Oracion Seis has gathered in the woodlands we can assume their goal is to recover Nirvana."
"In order to prevent them from doing that," Ichiya spoke boldly, a fierce passion in his eyes as he and his men posed, "we must attack Oracion Seis now!"
"Again they pose …" Lucy chuckled sheepishly.
Ren's turn to speak followed. "We have twelve mages on our side while the enemy has six." Then Eve: "But we mustn't underestimate them."
And finally Hibiki. "Each of those six mages are extremely powerful." He snapped his fingers, a magical spark producing a gridded screen in an oval shape, along with another screen with keys on it. Hibiki began to type on the board below, a series of numbers and figures sprawling across the upper screen.
"Archive?" Jura sounded impressed by Hibiki's magical abilities. "That's quite a rare type of magic."
Screens appeared before all of the mages present, each one highlighted in a border of gold with images laid out before them. "These are videos we recently obtained of them."
First up was a dark redheaded mage in a white coat wit ha long purple snake coiled behind him. "A mage who uses venomous snakes: Cobra." Up next came an image of another male mage in a red and white suit with a shock of blond hair, possibly in a Mohawk (the image was somewhat blurry). "His name appears to indicate that he uses speed magic: Racer." Third came a rather portly mage dressed in priestly garb, carrying a book and holding his hand out above many wounded soldiers. "A mage who can wipe out an entire military unit without hesitation if there's profit involved: Heavenly Eyes Hoteye." Fourth up was a woman clad in an extremely revealing, white feathery gown. "A woman who is said to be able to see into your heart: Angel." Fifth was an image of a mysterious man resting on a carpet. "Information on this man is limited, but he's known as Midight. And finally," an image of a dark skinned man with tattoos and white hair, holding a staff with a skull perched on top. "The leader of the group: Brain. Each of these mages has enough power to defeat an entire guild by themselves. That is why we need to take advantage of our greater numbers."
"Umm … you probably shouldn't count on me." Lucy warily raised her hand. Wendy trembled next to her in agreement.
"Worry not!" Ichiya sparkled again as he posed before the mages present. "Our strategy is not limited to just combat. What's most important is locating their base of operations.
"Their base?" Gajeel repeated. Finally, now they can talk about something mission-related!
"Yes," Ren nodded. "We haven't confirmed this part yet, but …" Eve continued his sentence. "We believe they have established a temporary base somewhere in the woodlands." Hibiki pulled up a screen before them to display a map of the area.
"If possible, we want to gather all six of them at their base." Ichiya replied, looking proudly upward.
Erza still saw a flaw in this. "Then what do we do once we've located it?"
Ichiya pointed upwards, both symbolically and literally. "We will use our guilds' most powerful Sky Horse, the pride of the continent: Pegasus airship Christina, to obliterate their base and all six of them along with it!"
"So … it's a magical bomber?" Sherry sought confirmation.
"E-eh?" Lucy stuttered, her face turning a little blue. "That's not something you'd normally use against humans!"
"That is the extent of our enemies' power." Jura answered sternly. "Are you ready? If it does come down to combat, no one is to fight alone under any circumstances! Be sure to engage our enemies two-on-one!"
"Right!" Everyone nodded, some in understanding, some in excitement (particularly Gajeel). Lucy, however, continued to shake. This is going to be troublesome.
*
The sounds of the forest were peaceful, or as peaceful as one could believe them to be. It was littered with wild animals of all kinds of natures, and no doubt the occasional hermit attempted to live within its depths. The canopy of the trees grew thicker as one traversed further into its depths, where wild birds sang and greater animals growled warnings to those that walked on their territories. But every now and then humans would dare to traverse its wilderness, and two such humans were doing just that.
One was a man, the other a woman. The man was in his late twenties, the woman in her mid forties. They wore similar uniforms: dark brown slacks with high boots caked in mud, light green button jackets with silver lacing, A telling symbol printed on the backs of the jackets resembled a horizontal wavy pattern in the same silver but with a layout of a sun-like circle with rays placed behind it in a darker shade of green. The sun had eight arrows extending from its rays in a navy hue, though they did not meet in the center; they rested on the horizontal, vertical, and diagonal axes. They did not belong to a guild; they did not even belong to Fiore. But they were from the same community, and they had a goal in mind.
"We ought to hurry onward, Gladyss." The male figure told the woman as they continued their walk through the forest. "Seeking an audience requires we be there at the precise time."
"Yes, but you can sense it too …" she spoke, her eyes meticulously scanning the area they were in. "Their presence. Should we not confirm it?"
The man looked around as well, taking a moment to breathe the air. "… They're congregating, aren't they?" Gladyss nodded, able to determine their rough locations. "Then we should confront them. Our Lords will forgive us if we track the last of our enemies."
*
"They sure are in a hurry." Jura gave off the slightest hint of a smile as the younger ones charged forward. They had received full details of the mission and were ready to go by noon. He turned to Ichiya, who seemed to prefer to go at their own pace. "We should also move out."
"Before that, Jura-san," Ichiya glittered once again. "I have heard that you are a member of the Ten Great Holy Mages. Does that mean your power rivals even that of Master Makarov?"
Jura chuckled lightly and answered modestly. "Not in the least. Being one of the Great Holy Mages is merely a title given by the Council. I'm the weakest of the ten. I may have the same title, but I could not hope to be compared to Master Makarov. The gap is like that of Heaven and Earth."
"I see. That is quite a relief to hear." Ichiya popped off the cap of a small perfume bottle, a golden aura spreading around. When it reached Jura's nostrils, he dropped his staff in shock, raising his hands up to his nose as his vision darkened.
"W-what is this smell?" He demanded.
Ichiya continued to speak. "A magical parfum which can remove ones' ability to fight, apparently."
"I-Ichiya-dono …" Jura collapsed to the ground, demanding an answer. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Piiirrru Piiirrru." Came a strange vocal noise from Ichiya's mouth, and pain began to rip through Jura's body.
"And furthermore," Ichiya continued, "This is a scent which stimulates every pain receptor throughout your entire body. I mean parfum, that is!" His voice began to cross over into a foreign tone as Jura fell backwards, his entire body becoming ripe and numb with the pain.
Ichiya, or what was once Ichiya, burst into smoke, and two small floating blue creatures mimicking one another's movements appeared. "Peeeeh, we're back!" "That Ichiya guy only has perverted thoughts in his head!" "And nothing else! What a horrible man!"
"Yes yes, enough complaining." A female voice neared them as the two little blue creatures hovered towards her. Jura struggled to push himself up off the ground, forcing himself to face the new arrival. He could only stare in bewilderment at the woman, who wore a long feathery coat and a blue ribbon in her silvery hair. He had seen her only a few moments before in the Archive magic. "What in the world …?"
"Aaah," the woman answered sweetly, "About that dirty old man? I only copied him." She offered out her palms, her long blue gloves reaching far lengths up her arms. "And thanks to that, I know your entire strategy!"
"When we copy someone …" one of the blue creatures began, the other finishing as they hovered on either side of the woman. "… we can even tell what they're thinking!"
It's Angel … Angel from Oracion Seis! Jura could hardly beleive she inflitrated them already!
"There we go!" 'Angel winked, beginning to chortle darkly. "That's two down. I won't let you interfere, children of the light. For any child who gets in the way will face an Angel's judgment."
*
The group of mages continued their pace forward, running briskly. Time was of the essence, and it would be better to hurry their approach so Oracion Seis would not have the time nor opportunity to monitor them. They eventually reached the borders of the forest, getting ready to implement their strategies.
Gajeel, however, seemed to be perturbed by something or another. Some scent kept stinging in his nose, and he couldn't quite place it. Where have I smelled this before …? It's damn familiar!
But when his group neared the edge of a cliff overlooking the valley, the answer hit him hard.
"Gaah!" Gajeel cursed. "I knew the scent was familiar!"
"What scent?" Erza questioned, taking a moment to stop with Gajeel and Gray, and to allow the others to catch up to them. Gajeel took another wiff of the air, growling. "I can smell him! That son of a bitch!"
"… Could you clarify which 'son of a bitch' you're referring to?" Gray frowned, somewhat irritated by Gajeel. He still didn't fully appreciate the Iron Dragon Slayer, and Gajeel certainly wasn't an easily likable character.
"That flame asshole. He crossed through here recently!"
"Wait … do you mean Natsu?" Erza asked, surprised by Gajeel's discovery. She knew that he wouldn't' easily confuse scents, not with a Dragon's sense of smell. I thought Natsu headed south ... but he travels a lot, so maybe …?
"Who else?" Gajeel mumbled bitterly. "Damn it, I want to strangle him! I owe him good!"
"Who's he talking about?" Hibiki asked as his group, plus Lucy, appeared next. Wendy, Charle, Sherry and Lyon would arrive in a few minutes. "Does he sense one of the Demon Generals?"
"No, just someone he considers a rival. I think." Gray sighed in response. "So where do we go from here?"
"Christina should pass through here soon," Eve answered, looking up into the sky as Lyon, Sherry, Wendy and the cats neared their position on the edge of the cliff. "Ah, look above!"
They could hear a strange noise in the skies above, and soon a giant floating object, heavily ornamented but in the form of a horse with wings gazed down at them from far above. It was grand, it was proud, and luxuriously maintained with a giant lacrima embedded in its front chest. Though they could not see it from their position, Christina's top held a ship and deck from where operations could be handled.
"Woaaah, it's really big!" Happy gaped at the airship.
"It certainly instills a bit of hope," Charle agreed.
"Alright!" Erza ordered. "Let's split up and search for their base—"
Suddenly a large explosion rocked the ship above and a massive cloud of dark smoke burst from its side as it began to tilt sideways in the air. They all stared in horror as it began to burst into pieces and tumbled down into the valley below, rocking the ground with a violent tremble and burst into a blinding light as its inner lacrima cracked.
"W-what happened?" Lyon was the first to speak, the rest still too speechless at seeing the great machine take a fall. The smoke rose against the cliffs' side, and they could see figures emerging from the ashes along the edge of the cliff. Six figures …
"Oracion Seis!" Gray hissed. The enemy had confronted them head on … this was far from planned!