I didn't have my computer for a while. Not that I was grounded, it's just because I left it at my friends house. So half of this was typed on my phone and I ended up getting sick, so... sorry.
Erza arrived soon afterwards, followed by a panting Bixlow and Lisanna. The snakes had cleared out and the area could be explored. Charles was the first one to run around searching for any signs for the missing mages.
Lisanna stepped over the tree root and put pressure against the trap door, causing it to open. Lisanna, being to surprised to react, fell in with a small yelp.
The remaining three turned around to see Lisanna gone. Erza slowly approached the area and stomped on the spot Lisanna just was. The trap door opened again and they found their entrance. Erza jumped in, followed by Bixlow and Charles. The door slammed shut.
Wendy rubbed her butt. The landing was oddly soft, so she made sure she didn't land on Romeo. Underneath her, instead of Romeo, were pillows pilled on top of a mattress. She looked around an saw Romeo next to her, sprawled out and sleeping.
She decided that now was as good as any to get a decent sleep. This would probably be the last time she even got to see a mattress, let alone sleep on one. She turned on her side, put her hands under her head and closed her eyes.
She was about to drift off to sleep when somethin nearly crushed her. She shot up and moved away from the object, tripping over Romeo in the process. Romeo shot up at the sudden jump from the matress.
Both sat there, waiting for any movement. Wendy sighed in relief, which didn't last long. Two more objects hit the mattress, causing Wendy and Romeo to fly off and hit the cold, metal ground.
"I...c-can't breath!" Lisanna said.
"Oh, sorry!" Erza said, getting off of Bixlow.
"Told ya you couldn't handle my wheight." Bixlow grinned, getting off of Lisanna.
"It's more because of the impact that got me." She argued.
"Fair point." He admitted.
Erza turned towards the frighted children now on the floor. In the dim light she could barely see, but on the floor where they should be sat a large beast with an oval head, two arms and no legs. It had a large stomach, which lead Erza to believe that everything that fell down here it ate. Her eyes widened with realization and she pulled out her sword.
She lunged forward and the creature broke in two. She looked at both forms startled. They didn't move too far apart, though, which was weird. Then another realization hit her. That creature was Wendy and Romeo, holding each other because they probably didn't know that they were the ones that fell down.
The lights suddenly turned on and a gun was pointed at the back of everyone's head. The people holding the guns had masks on, so it was impossible to tell if they were good guys or bad guys.
"Don't move!" A rough voice called out. A dark aura surrounded Erza.
"What was that?" She turned around and faced the person who ordered them with a murderous glare.
The man didn't flinch. Instead he pointed his gun at Erza instead Bixlow.
"I said don't move!" He pulled the trigger.
Erza tilted her head slightly and the bullet missed her.
The person that had their gun originally pointed at Erza hit her in the back of the head. She fell to the floor, bleeding. She looked up at the guard with sheer anger. She took the sword she still had in her hand and sprung to her feet. She charged at the guard and slashed their gun into two. They dodged as the sword came and tried to slash them.
The other guard left Bixlow and his hand erupted in lightning. Bixlow turned and watched as he attacked Erza.
"Laxus?" He questioned.
The man stopped just before his fist could connect with her back. He turned and looked at Bixlow.
"How do you know my name?" He asked.
"Dude! How can you not fucking recognized my face! Who else do you know that has a tattoo on his face!" He raged.
"I don't believe you." He replied.
"Can you not see my face!"
"I can't see through the mask." He said nonchalantly
"Oh yeah?" Bixlow question. He took three long strides towards Laxus. "Then what the hell are these!" He jabbed his fingers into the eye holes.
"Shit! Those are my fucking eyes!" His hand went under the mask.
"Exactly!"
"There are these black things that are preventing me from fucking seeing! The lighting in here is fucking horrible!"
"Then take off the mask. Simple." Bixlow calmed down.
Laxus removed the mask and got a load of Bixlow's face. He had on a tongue lolling grin that Laxus, having spent so many years with the man, could never forget.
"Shit." Was all he could say.
"Lucy." One of the guards whispered to their companion.
"Yeah Gray?" Lucy replied.
"You heard Erza, too, right?" He asked.
"Y-yeah."
Wendy looked at Romeo. Romeo looked back at Wendy. They both knew who was underneath those masks, especially after they gave their names. The question was, how were they going to let them know that they were pointing guns at their nakama.
"Hey WENDY!" Romeo shouted. Wendy winced.
"Yeah ROMEO!" Wendy shouted back.
The two guards that were slowly backing away looked at the kids. the two stared at the guards, waiting for a response. Ten seconds passed and nobody had yet to move. It was almost as if they were having a staring contest.
"Lucy-san? Gray-san?"
"Lucy-nee? Gray-nee?" Wendy and Romeo asked at the same time.
The two guards in question removed their masks and revealed there faces. Their smiles were brimming with joy at the sight of Wendy and Romeo. Lucy looked as if she was going to cry.
"Wait a minute." A feminine voice said. Erza looked at the guard, their gun pointed at her head, questioningly. "If Bixlow's here, than where is Lisanna."
Laxus looked to his left. Another guard was there, their gun pointing at the back of thee quiet girls head.
"She's right there." Laxus announced, pointing at her.
The female guard removed her mask. Long white hair came flowing out as she looked in the direction Laxus pointed. Lisanna stood there sheepishly, not knowing what to expect.
Mira approached her baby sister and gave her a tight hug. Lisanna didn't hug her back though, which upset her older sister. She looked at the girl's face and saw the mask of the guard.
She removed the mask from the guard that was scarring her little and he finally came to life. His green hair stayed at the top of his head due to the tightness of the mask.
"Huh?" Freed asked when he finally regained his senses.
"You need to take the runes out of that." Mira said, smiling.
Freed looked at who he had his gun to and paled. Mira continued to smile at him, the tension in the room increasingly rising. He moved his gun away quickly before anything bad -seriously bad like him not getting food for a month- happened. Mira's evil smile faded.
"Well, it looks like we found all of the missing people." Said a mysterious voice.
The five that just appeared started looking around. Foot steps echoed through out the trench, making it impossible to tell which direction it was coming from.
Rufus came out from a tunnel on the far left with his usual smirk on.
"Welcome to the base." He gestured to the trench. "Allow me to give you the tour."
A behind the scenes thing will be posted for the next chapter before it even comes out, so it's a preview as well. Just go to my Tumblr to check it out. Until next time!