4 screams were heard and everyone gasped as Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Wendy fell down the flight of stairs in front of them.
When the 4 stopped at the bottom, they didn't seem to move.
"Are you 4 okay!?" Erza asked before they all ran down the stairs.
"S-Something like that..." Lucy replied. Natsu and Gray instantly got up.
"What the hell, Squinty Eyes!?" Gray asked.
"It was your fault, Droopy Eyes!" Natsu yelled.
Before they could start fighting, Erza glared at them and they hugged each other "like best friends" as Dan and Phil helped Lucy and Wendy get up.
Fate smiled before Olivia tapped her shoulder.
"Is it always like this...?" Olivia asked quietly. Fate nodded.
"Natsu, Gray and Gajeel all would stop in the middle of a battle to argue or fight each other." Fate replied.
"Fairy Tail is weird..."
"Well, we're certainly lively..."
When a certain familiar loud crash was heard, Fate froze. Shivers went up her spine and then came out as a small scream as she kneeled down, covering her ears.
"Now!? Now of all times!?" She heard Lily complain.
"Hey, you're not scared of thunderstorms, are you?" Olivia asked softly as she kneeled down beside Fate, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and placing a hand on one of her knees.
"A-A little..." Fate replied.
With another clap of thunder came a couple of screams from Fate and Lily.
"Geez, you 2..." Carla sighed.
Everyone sat in the hall, except Erza who was just leaning against one of the walls. Olivia seemed to be thinking, and then she sighed quietly.
"Are you okay...?" Fate asked quietly.
"Not really... if we don't hurry, you're partner probably will turn into a Hebi, but we can't rush because we have to avoid the Seekers of Nothing... and after this, I'll have to run for the rest of my life, most likely..." Olivia replied. Fate took a moment to think.
"You should come join Fairy Tail."
Olivia instantly looked up.
"Huh? But... even if I am helping you now, I was your enemy. Don't you think that everyone would take me as a spy?" Olivia asked.
"Maybe... but, Fairy Tail is open to anyone who wishes to join. Or so I've heard Master say this onetime..." Fate replied.
"That's certainly helpful in raising confidence..." Olivia said sarcastically. She was silent for a moment. "I'll think about it."
"Alright. We should get a move on, quick! Er... what was your name again?" Erza asked Olivia.
"Olivia." Olivia replied, helping Fate stand.
"Where do we go?" Erza asked.
"The room that we were in before. No one should be there because of my spell that separated everyone. Not only can we help... uh..."
"Ethan."
"Thanks... Not only can we help Ethan when we get there, but Fate and I also dropped 2 very important things in there. It's super important that the Seekers of Nothing don't get them first." Olivia explained.
Erza nodded.
"Let's go, then!"
Fate grabbed Olivia's arm as everyone started walking.
"Olivia, I-"
"Save the thought. Let's focus on the task at hand." Olivia cut her off.
"B-" Fate cut herself off with a sigh. "Okay..."
"There's just no way outta here... or around..."
"Aye!"
"You're just not looking hard enough, Flame-Brain."
"Watch it, Popsicle!"
"Oh really, you wanna go!?
"Right here, right now! Bring it on!"
Everyone sighed as Natsu and Gray started fight, except for Juvia, who started cheering for Gray. The group had come to a dead end, and the only way to go was back from where they came.
"More back-tracking, huh?" Cathy asked. Renee sighed.
"At the rate, we won't get out for a long time..." Renee groaned. Olivia seemed bothered by the fact that she couldn't tell her way around, not even a little bit.
"Are you okay...?" Cass asked quietly, surprising Olivia a bit at the softness of her voice and the worried look in her eyes.
"I... I can't tell my way around properly anymore... One of them casted a spell to throw us off—no. To trap us. We're not gonna get out of here until we save Ethan, which we need to soon, and once I can locate all of the magic sources. But we have no one with any mapping magic, and tracking magic is used only for humane purposes. We're stuck, and it really bugs me..." Olivia explained quietly, not wanting to worry anyone.
"Isn't there anyone with mapping magic here?"
"No... I don't think so. I can't sense any level of magic from anyone that's the level of mapping magic."
"You can sense magic in a level-way?"
"Fate and I, yah. It's a... user thing I guess... Hotaru is a tracker, so I considered tracking the magic sources, but it wouldn't work the same way..."
"Then we're pretty much stuck..."
Suddenly, Natsu and Gray flew over their heads, and through the wall. They all looked at the hole in the wall before glancing at Erza, who had been the reason. Olivia, however, took interest on where the 2 boys went and suddenly found a ray of hope.
There was a hall on the other side, and it went the way that they needed to go.
Fate wasn't exactly ecstatic to be back in the room from before, as the big wheel in the back freaked her out. Her thoughts quickly vanished when Olivia started to freak out about the keys not being where they were before and how she probably teleported them as well. Fate ran over when Olivia fell to her knees and grabbed the keys from her pocket.
"Olivia, I-"
"We need them to save your friend... even if there's a risk, they lessen the risk..."
Fate didn't hesitate to kneel down and hand her the Key of Crimson, obviously surprising her.
"I saved my thought."
Olivia took it from her and seemed less tense then from a couple of minutes ago.
"Tell me what we have to do." Fate said. Olivia nodded.
"It's like the spell from before. We have to use the keys and the wheel... but, there's a risk."
"What is it?"
"We... we could end up releasing the Angel of Darkness... and that wouldn't end up very well..."
Fate was suddenly stuck thinking. She had just prevented the release of the Angel of Darkness, for now. The person that Ava Evitt, the previous Sapphire, had made both Rory and Ruri so set on defeating. There was a risk of making Rory and Ruri face, probably, their worst nightmare in order to save Ethan.
She and Ethan had been together, basically always, after she had lost her family. Then they both lost Terra, Takanashi and Sina, although they were set on finding the 3 of them. They had travelled together for what seemed like forever before they happened to meet the group that had changed their lives.
They had joined Fairy Tail, together.
They had gone on their first jobs as Mages, together.
They had gotten stuck on Tenroujima and then returned, together.
Fate wouldn't be able to let Ethan go, especially after everything that had happened. Sure, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself for releasing the Angel of Darkness, but it was just a risk.
'And I sure as hell won't let Rory and Ruri down, and I won't get Olivia in trouble for it. I'll take full responsibility.' Fate thought, taking a deep breath and then nodding, helping Olivia get back onto her feet.
"A-Are you sure...?" Olivia asked. Fate nodded again.
"If the Angel of Darkness ever actually is released... I'd want Ethan somewhere on the battle field. We've always been together, and I'm not about to let that change." Fate explained.
"I'm guessing that you're not good with changes..."
"I don't like them... but if I couldn't handle them, I wouldn't be here. And that's another reason why I want to save Ethan. He's saved my life more than once... so now it's my turn to save him."
"I can understand that feeling..."
With a pair of smiles and nods of agreement, the 2 Exceeds didn't hesitate any longer to run over to the wheel.
'I won't break a promise...'
"Protect Ethan?" A younger Fate asked with a concerned and confused look.
A dark and light brown dragon, basically 10 or 20x her size, or even more because she was sitting in front of him, nodded. He folded his wings, seeming to scowl.
"I don't understand, Terra." The younger Fate said. "He's been protecting me, but you want me to protect him?"
"Ethan has a tendency to start something, such as a fight, and then get too into it. He's still naive, and I'm afraid that something will happen and then he won't trust anyone. Not to mention, the boy is afraid of water." Terra sighed.
"Actually, he's afraid of going more than waist-deep in water because he afraid of drowning." Fate corrected.
"You see, Fate? You know even more than I do, and that's why I would trust you with his life."
"That's not a good reason... I can't fight... I'm afraid of 6 different things, and I'm sure that I'll gain even more phobias while I get older! I'm smaller than most of the Exceeds out there, and I'm the probably smallest if you don't count those who are still growing! I'm just really not someone you should trust a life with..."
"You will learn to fight, I have faith in that. And as you are now, you're highly intelligent and you're very loyal. You and Ethan share many things, and if one day he feels like there's no light, he'll have you there for him. Am I right?"
Fate turned around, looking at the younger Ethan who was sleeping. His hat laid upside-down beside him, and his jacket was draped over a small girl and a little blue and white dragon, and they were also sleeping.
"What about Takanashi and Sina?" Fate asked as the little girl shifted, draping one of her small arms over the little dragon.
"They have each other." Terra replied.
"And you?"
"This is for a reason, Fate. Will you accept, or reject?"
"... I'll protect Ethan. I promise."