Kyandi: Hey Kyandiacs!
Rette: We have returned.
Kyandi: I've been working on this one a lot. High muse and all that jazz.
Rette: She's considering not working on anything else until she finishes this story.
Kyandi: There are only two more arcs left in the series, so...maybe, maybe not.
Rette: We'll see how it goes.
Kyandi: Right. So everyone enjoy and review.
Rette: Kyandi-sama does not own Fairy Tail.
Chapter 49 Hatred of Demons
Rette hit the floor inside the cube in a strange way, her world suddenly flipping to adjust to the shift in gravity. She ended up on her back, staring up at a ceiling, a frown on her face.
"This place is so messed up, I'll be glad to blow it up like they did to the guild hall." Rette muttered as she climbed to her feet.
She dusted herself off before raising her nose to sniff the air. She could just pick up Natsu's and Lisanna's scents. Scanning her surroundings first, she took off after the scents. Using her nose and her heightened ability to track magic, she was able to follow the two to where they had split up at a staircase. There, she found Natsu standing in the middle of a hall, fallen enemies around him, staring off into space.
"Natsu!"
Natsu turned, finding Rette running towards him. She came to a halt a few feet from him, her eyes scanning him from top to bottom. Her eyes snagged on the blanket, or whatever it was, that he had tied around his waist.
"What the hell are you wearing? Where are your clothes?" Rette asked.
"The dumbasses took them from me! They took my scarf!" Natsu snapped, his temper flaring as he stomped one foot.
"Alright, alright, I get it. Put your leg down before I catch a flash of something I don't want to see." Rette told him.
Natsu quickly put his foot down, though he didn't get why Rette was so bothered. It wasn't like she hadn't seen him naked before and he didn't care. Besides...she was always half naked as it was. The barely there shorts, with the laces that acted as sides and the scarf-like, tied on top she was currently wearing, was just one example of the sorry excuse for clothes that she wore.
"Where's Lisanna? I could have sworn I smelled her scent here too." Rette remarked.
"She went on ahead to look for Mira." Natsu replied.
"Good. Come on. Let's find you some clothes and then catch up to the others." Rette decided.
Natsu nodded, the two taking off. They were able to find Natsu some clothes that were kind of similar to the style of his every day clothes. Once he was dressed, Rette lead the way, tracking down those closest to them: Lucy, Wendy, Happy, and Carla. As they ran, Rette filled Natsu in, telling him that Erza was outside, fighting with some bird lady while Elfman was fine and running around through the building, looking for Mira and Lisanna.
While they had pretty much found everyone and were finally making their counter attack, Rette couldn't shake a dark feeling that had fallen over her since she had first stepped foot on the cube. It was a feeling that sent chills up her spine and made her feel like huddling in a corner. A feeling she hadn't had since her childhood.
"Everything will be fine."
Rette turned her eyes to Natsu when he spoke.
"What?" she asked.
"You look worried. Everything will be fine." Natsu assured her.
"I know that. I...I just can't shake this feeling of dread and doom that's fallen over me. The moment I stepped foot here, I suddenly felt like I've been tossed back into the dark halls of the Compound." Rette admitted.
Natsu's eyes snapped to her and he finally gave her a close look. A cold sweat had broken out over her skin and she looked like the color was slowly draining from her face. She had fixed her usual look of indifference on her face, but it wasn't quite reaching her eyes. In fact, the look in her eyes...she was scared.
"Rette..."
"I don't like this, Natsu, I really don't. Let's just find everyone, pay back the debt they owe us, and get the hell out of here." Rette said.
Natsu nodded. If Rette was scared, then there was a good reason behind it. The two sped up, speeding off down the halls in search of their teammates. They found Lucy as she was about to be attacked by some creep who looked like an over sized eyeball. Natsu flew into the fight, saving Lucy who was trapped in what Rette was sure was wool. Rette moved in behind the enemy, her eyes going to the nearby window as Wendy and Carla flew off.
"Why was Wendy in such a hurry? Well, why are you here in the first place?" Natsu asked.
"Face is about to be activated! It can only be stopped directly!" Lucy replied.
"What!? But...we have to rescue Mira too." Natsu said.
"I know. We'll have to leave Face to Wendy." Lucy told him.
The conversation was brought to an end when their enemy's appearance changed, taking on a similar appearance to take of Lucy's celestial spirit, Taurus. Rette blinked in surprise, her unease, for a moment, forgotten.
"He absorbed Taurus and Aries!?" Lucy exclaimed.
"Gehehehe...I can use the souls of the things I absorb as nourishment to evolve." the enemy announced.
"
"Oh, this is going to be a major pain in the back side." Rette remarked.
This only made the demon laugh his annoying little laugh. Rette was ready to throw a shoe at him if he didn't stop laughing. She bet he couldn't absorb that.
"How much are the rats I let escape worth?" the demon, Franmalth, asked.
"Wendy isn't a rat." Natsu and Rette replied at the same time.
"I know! I can distinguish between humans and rats!" Franmalth snapped.
"Distinguish, wow. That's an awful big words from someone who can't tell a human from a rat." Rette remarked sarcastically.
She watched in satisfied amusement as Franmalth threw a little fit, stomping one foot against the ground. Apparently it was far too easy, at least with Franmalth, to annoy a demon.
"I just called her a rat because she moves around like one!" Franmalth insisted.
"By the way, Carla isn't a rat either." Natsu added.
"I know that too!" Franmalth yelled.
"I'm not sure that you do." Rette remarked.
This resulted in another little fit from the demon, making Rette's lips twitch as she fought not to smile. She couldn't help it. Messing with people like that, or in this case, demons, was hilarious. Even in her mid twenties, she could appreciate the comedy behind ticking off a supposedly big and bad demon.
"Give back Taurus and Aries." Lucy demanded.
"No way. Do you know how big my collection is?" Franmalth replied.
"Ooo...that was the wrong answer."
Franmalth looked over his shoulder at Rette. Rette pointed back towards Natsu. Franmalth turned as Natsu swung a fiery fist at him, declaring he would kick Franmalth's ass until he spit them out. Grinning, Franmalth's head changed shape until it was Aries looking back at Natsu, pleading to Natsu. Natsu yanked back, unable to hit Aries. Franmalth took advantage of that and attacked Natsu.
With Natsu down, Franmalth reached for him, intending to absorb Natsu's soul. Natsu bounced back up, darting away from Franmalth before attacking again. This time Franmalth took on Taurus' appearance. Which didn't stop Natsu from hitting him. Franmalth flew back, sliding to a stop at Rette's feet. The demon looked up at Rette as she cracked her knuckles. He instantly turned his head into that of Aries, causing Rette to raise an eyebrow as he pleaded with her to help him in Aries' voice.
"No offense to Aries, but...I'll punch anyone. Even a friend."
Franmalth tried to scramble away from Rette, but she caught him and, with a fist covered in crystal, sent him flying into a wall. Rette popped her knuckles as she joined Natsu, Lucy, and Happy.
"Huh...a cyclopse wreckingball. Fun." Rette remarked.
With a growl, Franmalth shoved aside bits of the crumbled walls and stood up, furious. Rette and Natsu shared a look, both prepared to fight.
"I'll show you one of my top class souls!" Franmalth declared.
What he morphed into next, had Rette's teammates freezing in shock. Rette only knew he was from the recollection of the fight on Tenrou Island that her friends had given her.
"What's going on? Why...why does he have...his soul..." Happy asked.
"Master Hades!?"
Rette blinked as she looked at Franmalth, her head tilting to one side. It was a little difficult to be scared when he just looked so ridiculous. The proportions were way off, the body too big and the head too freakishly narrow. Even the jaw was too long. Rette was more likely to laugh than to honestly be scared of him. She hoped the really Hades hadn't looked like that.
"Your proportions are weird." Rette remarked.
"Who cares about appearances!? It's Hades! That Hades!" Franmalth retorted.
"Sorry, but it's kind of hard to muster up fear when you look absolutely ridiculous." Rette told him.
"The master of Grimoir Heart, once considered the strongest dark guild and a genius mage who knew a lot about the darkness. Seven years ago, when I was going after Zeref, I happened to find this body. Even though he was a human, he was closer to a demon. Do you know how much power he has?" Franmalth asked.
Rette and Natsu looked at each other. Cracking their knuckles, both launched themselves forward, aiming punches for Franmalth.
"Hate to break it to you..." Rette started.
"We're the ones who defeated him." Natsu finished.
Their combined punch sent Franmalth rocketing back, but that was about all it did. There wasn't a single scratch on Franmalth as he grinned at them.
"Alone?" he asked.
Rette dived to the side, hitting the ground in a roll, as Franmalth launched himself at them. She managed to avoid his counter attack, but Natsu took the hit. The force managed to kick up a lot of smoke, damaging the hallway. Rette raised an arm to defend her head.
"He might look weird, but his magic power is the real thing." Franmalth said.
Natsu, never one to be knocked down and stay down, came charging back towards the demon. He came flying down the hall, Rette crouching down to avoid being in his line of fire. Franmalth, like Hades had done, conjured a chain to use to attack Natsu.
"It's the power of someone who got close to the abyss of magic!" Franmalth declared.
Natsu dodged the attack, Rette flying in from under him. She pulled back a fist, but had to duck when Franmalth's arm extended, aiming to grab her. Instead, he ended up grabbing Natsu by the ankle. He had been aiming for Rette, but he would take Natsu. His other hand came flying over Rette's head to latch onto Natsu's shoulder.
"There. Connection. Your soul is mine." Franmalth declared.
For a brief moment, he forgot about Rette still crouched in front of him. That moment of forgetfulness, was all Rette needed. Holding up her left hand, Rette drew his attention to her only to blast him in the face with a ball of light.
"Natsu, now!" Rette called, completely plastering herself to the floor as Franmalth was forced to release Natsu.
"Lightning Flame Dragon's Roar!"
Rette felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up as the lightning charged, fire attack flew right over her head. She really didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of those attacks. She had fought Laxus before, had been zapped pretty hard by him. She didn't not want to face that and Natsu's flames, all rolled into one.
Rette slid along the floor a few feet, before latching onto a stone in the floor that barely offered a hand hold that she could dig her fingers into. Happy and Lucy weren't so lucky. The two were sent on a brief flight across the hall. Franmalth only laughed, absorbing Natsu's flames into his body. The demon's body became engulfed in flames.
"You're the one who defeated Jackal, right? But you know...you shouldn't underestimate us so much. We're demons of the Book of Zeref." All four members of Fairy Tail, froze on their spot, Rette's eyes widening. "We are biological weapons born from the demon book written by the black magic Zeref a long time ago. Don't forget that one of us is enough to rival the army of a whole country."
Rette felt a chill slowly claw its way down her spine, making her skin crawl. To think that somewhere on the cube, her friends, her family, were fighting with demons. It made her feel sick to her stomach. She had just gotten them back. She didn't want to lose them again. That these creatures were demons, explained the feeling she had gotten from them. She really didn't like this. Just knowing that she was near demons created by Zeref himself, had her mind flashing back to her childhood, to all those nights trapped in the dark hallways of a place over run with the same dark magic as that of what Zeref used.
"With your puny magic, you can't possibly win against our "curses". Besides, in ten minutes from now, Face will be activated and all mages on this continent will lose their magic. Do you understand? The era of the mages is about to end." Franmalth laughed.
"Shut the hell up."
Franmalth was cut off in his laughing when a fist suddenly smashed into his face, knocking him back on his back. Rette stood there, over him, flexing the fingers of her left hand. Natsu took a step back when he noticed the dark energy around Rette, once more. It was a clear sign that her thoughts had taken a turn for the worse. Franmalth looked up at her, taking note of the energy, himself. He had never seen a human who felt as Rette did in that moment. It was almost as if he was being faced by one of his own brethen.
"You are really starting to vex me. If Wendy fails, which I doubt, we will lose our magic, but in those nine remaining minutes...I'm going to use you as my personal punching bag." Rette declared.
Franmalth opened his mouth to say something in reply to her, but Rette's foot flashed out, kicking him across the face. She reversed the kick and slammed the heel of her boot down on the top of his head. Pressing down, she put her weight on the foot, slamming his head into the floor and pinning it there.
"I hate demons, I really do. Almost as much as I hate dark magic." Rette remarked. "You're all disgusting creatures."
Franmalth laughed at her, finally figuring out why she felt so familiar to him. Rette raised an eyebrow as she looked down at him, his grin really irritating her.
"You would know, wouldn't you?" he asked.
Rette's eyes widened just a fraction more before a flash of anger made her eyes turn sharp. Then she was lifting her foot and slamming it down on his head with even more force than she had before that, driving her heel into one eye.
"You don't know me or what you're talking about. Just die." Rette retorted.
"Yes, I believe your soul will do just fine."
"Rette, watch out!" Natsu called when Franmalth latched onto Rette's ankle.
Rette merely looked down at to where his hand was banded around her ankle. Franmalth was laughing like he had just won the fight.
Well...Rette had some news for him.
Slowly, Franmalth's laugh and grin faded, then, to her teammates shock, he let out a yell, as if he was in pain and released Rette, a dark crackle of electric power sizzling between her and him. He scrambled back away from her, Rette watching as he went.
"What's the matter? Bite off more than you can chew?" Rette asked darkly.
"What the hell are you!?" Franmalth asked.
"Question of the year. Too bad for you, I'm not inclined to answer you." Rette retorted, one hand flexing until the knuckles cracked.
Rette's next strike came without warning and had Franmalth jumping back to avoid it. Rette refused to let up, attacking and avoiding counter attacks. Just when she thought she would land one that would finally do some damage, the whole building begun to shake, knocking her off balance.
"What's this!?" Natsu asked.
"It's too late. The era of magic is finally over." Franmalth declared.
Rette refused to think that Wendy and Carla had failed. No matter what it might look like, she knew they wouldn't give up until they had succeeded, or died and she knew they weren't dead.
What's happening?" Lucy asked.
"It's a reaction to Face. About three minutes left? Magic will be lost soon." Franmalth laughed.
Rette retreated back until she was standing beside Natsu. She closed her eyes, focusing on the magic around her. She could sense the strong magic that pulsed through the ground, growing by the second until it felt similar to a balloon with too much air in it. Just when it felt like it would explode, something in the magic changed, the energy imploding instead of exploding, just as the clock was about to hit zero.
Franmalth started laughing, declaring that Face was activated, but Rette could still feel her magic. Opening her eyes and looking over at Natsu, his fire was still flickering away around his fist.
"My magic didn't vanish." Natsu remarked.
"Mine either. I can still sense everyone else's magic too." Rette added, Franmalth staring at them in shock. Rette turned to Lucy and Happy. "Lucy? Happy? What about you two?"
"It's true!" Lucy said, laying a hand over her keys to check that the connection was still there.
"Yay! Wendy and Carla did it!" Happy cheered.
"That's...impossible..." Franmalth said, flopping down on the floor in a deflated sort of way.
"Your evil plans end here." Natsu told him.
"Ooohh..do you know how much this mistake will cost you?" Franmalth asked, as if he hadn't heard Natsu.
"Give Mira back." Natsu demanded.
"Do you know just how much...how much...how much..."
Rette was sure Franmalth had cracked. Whatever brain he had possessed, had finally snapped and he was reduced to repeating himself. Next thing she knew, he was springing up, jumping for her and Natsu. The two jumped apart to avoid him.
"It's worth about one hundred thousand of your souls! Give me your soul! Give me your soul! And then give me your soul again!" he yelled, attacking Natsu and Rette with renewed vigor.
Rette wasn't completely positive, but she was pretty sure that that wasn't how souls worked. Once their soul was gone, it wasn't like they could give it to him again. It wasn't like it regenerated like their magic power did. They needed to find out some way of getting rid of this demon, once and for all. Rette was about to go back on the offense when, with a set wave of his hands, Franmalth cast one of Hades' spells, wrapping them in magic arrays.
Rette's eyes flew over the arrays, quickly identifying them.
"Amaterasu Form 28."
God, did she hate demons.
The resulting explosion shook the building. Rette cast her own spell, summoning a crystal to absorb enough of the blast to spare them their lives. It still dealt a great deal of damage. They all ended up on the ground, Rette gritting her teeth against the aching in her body. Franmalth took the chance to latch onto all of them. Where Rette only felt an annoying tug on her power which instantly kicked started a defense she hated to use, the others were reduced to pain.
"You can become part of my new collection. Your souls will be mine." Franmalth declared happily.
Rette began forcing herself to her feet. Franmalth's laughter tapered off as she got to one knee, then the other, and finally to her feet, fighting his tug on her power. Even Natsu was trying to force his way free, declaring that he wouldn't let Franmalth take his soul.
"It's useless to struggle." Franmalth said, though his eyes were watching Rette with almost fear in them.
"Lucy! Happy! Rette! Absolutely don't give up! Our souls must stay with us! Be strong! We're here!" Natsu yelled.
"He can't take what's mine. I refuse." Rette replied darkly.
Her anger was twisting, turning, as she watched her friends wraith in pain. The darkness was returning to her magical power, growing by the second. The chanting was back, repeating the same word over and over in the back of her head.
"My curse can't be broken by just thinking!" Franmalth said.
"My soul is here! Until I meet Igneel...I'll never...give you my soul! You won't have my will!" Natsu declared.
"How stubborn." Franmalth snapped.
"Feel it! The most important thing! The thing you can't let him have! That will keep your soul tied to you!" Natsu declared.
"I...I...will eat...fish with Carla...fish with Carla..." Happy stated.
"It's too late! I'm almost finished absorbing you!" Franmalth told them.
"You don't get it, do you?"
Franmalth focused on Rette as she finally straightened herself, her eyes landing on him with an intensity that he had only met once. Now he was for sure he knew why Rette was familiar to him and the realization made him balk in the face of her.
"Fairy Tail doesn't work like others want us to. We don't conform to other's expectations and molds. If we don't want to give you our souls, you sure as hell aren't going to get them! I'll kill anyone who dares to threaten what's mine." Rette swore. "Lucy...close Taurus' gate. Now!"
Lucy didn't stop to think, didn't question Rette for a second. She instantly close the gate. As soon as she did, Franmalth reacted, his body changing as the gate tried to open and send Taurus back to the Celestial world. Franmalth, to save himself, ejected Taurus.
"Now do Aries, Lucy!" Rette yelled.
"Aries, gate close!" Franmalth was forced to release Aries too. Catching on to this, Lucy decided to try something. "Natsu, Rette, gate closed!"
Fearing that Rette and Natsu were spirits as well, Franmalth quickly released them. A grin curled Natsu's lips before the two of them charged him, revealing Lucy's bluff for what it had been. Rette and Natsu landed solid hits to Franmalth, forcing him to release Lucy and Happy. When Franmalth reminded them that magic didn't work on him. Natsu and Rette compromised. Standing off behind Natsu, Rette waited as Natsu heaved a large section of the floor over his head. Since it was an object without a soul, Franmalth wouldn't be able to absorb it.
Natsu grinned, chuckling darkly to himself before glancing at Rette over his shoulder. All it took was one look before Rette launched herself forward. She hit the section of floor with a strong enough kick to send it smashing down on top of Franmalth with an amount of force that left the demon in a mess, half embedded into the floor. As they watched, Franmalth's body broke up, slowly vanishing into balls of light.
"Those would be the souls he absorbed, going back home where they belong." Rette remarked, Natsu agreeing.
"It's not over yet."
Natsu, Rette, Lucy, and Happy, twisted around, finding the ghost of Hades behind them. Rette had never believed in ghost, but it was kind of hard not to when faced with one in person.
"Tartaros' real goal is not Face. Tell Makarov that it's time to let out the light."
With that, Hades vanished, just like the rest of the souls.
"What was that?" Natsu asked.
"The ghost of Master Hades!" Lucy squealed.
"I'm more concerned with what he said than what he was." Rette remarked. "Let out the light..."
"What did he mean?" Lucy questioned.
"He said to tell our master." Happy reminded her.
It clicked in Rette's head what it might be, but since it was suppose to be a secret, Rette didn't say a word. Mavis had trusted her with the secret and she would keep it.
"It seems like Face was stopped thanks to Wendy and Carla, but we still have to find Mira." Lucy said.
"We have to settle matters with everyone here anyway." Natsu agreed.
"I'm going to Master's place." Happy told them.
When he was gone, Lucy turned to Rette, curious about something.
"Rette."
"Hmm?"
"Why did it hurt him to try to absorb your soul?" Lucy asked.
For a moment, Rette seemed to have frozen on the spot. When she finally did turn to look at her, her expression was guarded, as if the answer was something she didn't want to share.
"I don't know."
Lucy knew it was a lie, Natsu knew it was a lie. They were both sure that Rette knew exactly why it had hurt Franmalth to try to absorb her soul and she just refused to share with them.
"Rette, if it's someth-"
"You know, all of you say the same thing. For once, if I say I don't know, can you not just take it at face value? I think we have better things to do than to psychoanalyze me." Rette said, cutting off Lucy. "We still need to find Mira."
That was enough to get Natsu in gear and with him taking off, Lucy was forced to drop the subject and follow. Rette brought up the rear of the group. Lucy, using what little remained of her shirt, made a makeshift shirt as they walked.
"Gray should be keeping the enemy busy over there." Lucy remarked, glancing in one direction.
"I think Mira is also somewhere on this floor." Natsu added.
Rette was about to ask a question when a voice suddenly spoke in their heads, bringing them all to a stop.
"Can you hear me?"
"Warren?" Rette asked.
"Mira is okay, she's with us." Rette heaved a relieved sigh at the news. "Elfman and Lisanna are here too."
"Hey Warren, can you make it so that everyone hears my voice?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah...wait a second...okay."
"Wendy and Carla stopped Face! We crushed the enemy's plan!" Lucy announced.
Cheers filled Rette's head as her guild mates celebrated the news. It was a point to their side in this fight.
"Regarding what happened afterwards...can the master hear this too?" came Happy's voice.
Warren made sure that Makarov could hear the conversation too, giving Happy the go ahead. Rette listened closely, to hear Makarov's response to the news.
"We met the soul of Master Hades. He said that even though we could stop Face...it's not over yet. Hades said to tell you to "release the light"." Happy reported.
"The light..!?"
In those two simple words, Rette knew he was thinking the same thing as her.
Lumen Histoire.
"What does that mean!?" Makarov yelled.
"I don't know either." Happy replied.
Suddenly a noise that Rette couldn't even describe, sounded over the connection, followed by a gagging noise from Warren's end of the connection. Then a new voice Rette had never heard, entered the connection.
"Wizarding guild Fairy Tail. Right?"
Someone was hijacking Warren's telepathy magic. Rette didn't like this. As if her anger wasn't already an issue that day. She was barely containing it and now someone was hurting one of her friends by hijacking his magic.
"Who are you, bastard!?" came Elfman's voice.
"The king of Hades, Mard Geer. But you don't have to remember that. Since you have no tomorrow. Alegria."
Suddenly, the whole cube the building stood on, began to shift and change. The walls around Rette and her group began to shift and change, knocking them off their feet. Natsu latched onto the back of Rette's belt and reached for Lucy so they wouldn't be separated.
"Lucy!" he called.
Lucy reached for Natsu as Rette latched onto this arm so her belt wouldn't snap. Lucy and Natsu were close to having hold of each other, but they were quickly yanked apart, separating her from Natsu and Rette. Rette struggled as the very building around them, begun to absorb them.
NO!
Rette would have let herself be absorbed! She would not let down her guild and family. She would fight to her last breath. Screw these demons and their curses! She had a sort-of curse of her own and she was more than happy to use it if it meant helping her family. With a roar of anger, the emotion blinding her in a fit of rage, Rette exploded free of wall that had almost sucked her completely in. She crumpled to the ground, gasping in air.
"Stu...stupid...demons...I...I hate demons!" Rette gasped.
Rette looked around, searching for Natsu, but he was no where to be seen. She tried to sense him, but him, along with all the other members of the guild, had been absorbed into the very building, their magics over powered by that that coursed through the cube.
No, wait.
There was one person left.
Rette's head whipped to the left as Lucy's magical energy came through loud and clear. Surging to her feet, Rette took off. If they were the last two left in action, then Rette needed to find Lucy before anyone else could find either of them. Sliding down slopes and tripping over fallen pieces of wall, Rette ran through the halls. Somewhere during the whole shifting of the building, Rette had lost her boots and her clothes had become ripped, so there were a few steps in which Rette cursed because she stepped on a jagged piece of stone.
Rette slid to a stop, turning on the spot until she located Lucy and took off again. The energy was coming from just in front of her. Rette burst free of a hall only to find that the floor sudden sloped. Cursing herself, Rette went tumbling down the slope.
"Rette!"
Lucy's voice filled her ears as Rette pushed herself up. Then the girl was there beside her, checking her for any really bad injuries.
"I'm fine. What about you?" Rette asked.
"I'm fine. But what happened!? Where is everyone?" Lucy asked.
"No idea, but I don't like this. I can't sense any of their magical energies past the energy of this place." Rette told her.
Lucy looked around them, her eyes finally falling on a window. Gesturing to it, the two of them climbed up to it, peering outside. Beyond the window, lay Magnolia. Whatever the cube had transformed into, it was destroying the town. A sharp noise cut through their heads then, making both girls clamp their hands over their ears.
"People from Tartaros. We got rid of all the intruders with Alegria. The Face project can go on as per our plans." came the voice that had called himself Mard Geer.
Rette didn't like this. This Mard Geer had to know that the curse had missed her and Lucy and if he knew that, he should have been sending people after them. Rette didn't like this at all. Something bad was about to happen, she knew it.
"However...for some reason, two humans were able to escape Alegria."
And there it was.
Behind Rette, a trickling fall of water suddenly exploded, water rushing in to sweep away Rette and Lucy. Rette reached for Lucy, not wanting to lose her.
"Lucy, grab my hand!" Rette called.
Lucy took hold of Rette's hand, the two pulling each other, until they could latch onto to each other completely.
"I'll give the title of one of the missing Kyuukimon to the soldier that kills them. In case one of the Kyuukimon kills them, Mard Geer will give them a prize."
Rette really hated demons.
Lucy was able to latch onto a floating log and pulled herself up. She reached down and started pulling Rette up. It was then that some soldiers spotted them. Rette, suffering from motion sickness, held on to the log tightly while Lucy cleared their way with her whip. More soldiers took their place though.
"Lucy, make a jump for it!" Rette yelled, pointing to another log ahead of them.
Releasing the log and forcing her stomach to behave, Rette launched herself off the log, hopping off one soldier's head to land on the next log. Lucy followed her, making the log bob when she hit it.
"Open! Gate of the Archer! Sagitarius!"
Sagitarius appeared then, just as some weird girl with bunny ears came spinning towards them. Sagitarius shot at her with arrows, but they simply bounced off the little demon.
"Lucy, try a different spirit!" Rette advice, her stomach giving another flip. "And find land soon!"
"I'm trying! Sagitarius, close! I summon Virgo!"
Virgo appeared, riding the waves like a surfing pro. She took on the bunny-like demon, shouting a warning that something was heading for Lucy and Rette from above. Rette looked up, finding another demon dropping in. Lucy pushed Rette down.
"Open, gate of the Lion, Loke!"
Loke appeared, blocking the blade of the demon. Though he had been able to block the majority of the swing, it still cut him. Loke shook it off though.
"Are you okay, Loke?" Lucy asked.
"I'm fine." Loke promised.
Lucy sagged against Rette then. Rette caught her, realizing instantly what was wrong. Lucy was keeping two gates open at once, both of those gates draining quite a bit of magic from her. Seeing this, Loke and Virgo attacked merciless, but that wasn't the end of their troubles.
"Found ya."
Rette looked up, finding another demon standing on a bridge of sorts over their heads. This one had jackal-like ears poking up out of his head. Lucy gasped like she knew him. Lucy was already using too much magical energy. Laying a hand on Lucy's shoulder, she pushed her back.
"Leave this one to me." Rette declared, making the demon, Jackal as he was called, grin. "I'm getting really tired of demons."
Rette launched herself off the log, flying right for Jackal. She yanked a fist back, hitting him with more force than he had thought she would have. She knocked him back, but he simply grinned.
"Rette! His curse blows up everything that comes in contact with him!" Lucy warned.
Rette looked down at her fist as a symbol glowed to life on her skin. She looked up at Jackal in time to catch his grin before the symbol blew up. A cloud of dust rose from the spot where Rette had stood, Jackal cackling while Lucy screamed Rette's name.
"You demons aren't the brightest things in the world, are you?"
Jackal's laughed stood, Lucy letting out a cry of relief as Rette waved the dust cloud away. There were no new scratches on her and in one hand, she held a yellow and black crystal. Jackal's jaw dropped as she dust herself off.
"H-how!?" Jackal demanded.
Rette fixed her two-toned eyes on him then, the intensity of her gaze, making him flinch, though he didn't know why the stare unsettled him. Rette turned the crystal over in her fingers as she turned to face him. Idly, she wrapped her fingers around the crystal and, with a flex of her hand, crushed it, resulting in a small explosion in her hand. It stung, but she didn't really care at the moment.
"I'm only going to say this once. Just like your little comrade found out earlier when he tried to absorb my soul...you're curses don't work on me." Rette told him.
Rette took a step towards Jackal, the demon taking one back away from her before he stopped to think about it. He could feel the darkness of her magical energy falling over her like a cloak, coating the surrounding area in it. He had only felt one person with an energy similar to Rette's at the moment.
"With that said, let's have a little chat about what the hell you bastards did with my family." Rette barked, her tone dipping down.
Lucy was sure, in that moment, that Jackal was screwed.
END
Kyandi: Personally, even with the exploding for coming into contact with him, crap, I would still smack Jackal across the face.
Rette: He's a rude, stupid, jack-
Kyandi: Let's not finish that sentence.
Rette: Well, he is.
Kyandi: I know, but let's not finish that.
Rette: Fine.
Kyandi: Hopefully, I'll have another chapter for all of you soon.
Rette: She was only able to put this up today because she had the day off work.
Kyandi: I love my job, but it leaves me tired.
Rette: I know how you feel.
Kyandi: I bet. Everyone, please enjoy and review.
Rette: We will return as soon as possible.
Kyandi: Bye-bye!