"Honestly, we just got checked out of the hospital and he still wants us to work on this mission, I just don't understand" Evergreen sighed.
It was only two hours after they had checked themselves out of the hospital and gone to the hotel to change out of the hospital clothing of sweats and t-shirts. Immediately Laxus wanted them to scout through the forest around the town again, saying that they had to find which direction the monster had come from so that they could find out who summoned the beast. This led them into splitting up into groups and searching the forest. Evergreen and Maiden had flown above for awhile trying to see if they could see any weird patterns or odd placements of the forest. But everything seemed fine from above so Evergreen decided that searching by foot might help them. Another two hours passed of the small groups searching through the vast dense forest.
"That is it! I don't think I can stand to look at another tree" Evergreen huffed, stopping in her steps irritated.
"Stop yelling, I can hear you from a mile away" the soft baritone of Freed's voice got their attention.
Off to their right they could see Freed and Laxus approaching them. Simultaneously, Bixlow jumped down from above, landing right in front of them.
"Did you guys find anything?" Laxus crossed his arms over his chest.
"No, just did a lot of sightseeing" Evergreen shook her head.
"My babies couldn't find anything either" Bixlow shook his head.
"This was a fucking bust, let's get back I'm fucking starving" Laxus gritted his teeth already heading in the direction back to the hotel.
The group made a move to head back, all except Maiden. Her whole attention had been looking off towards the right more not at all to what they were saying. Something was telling her to head in that direction, she could feel something familiar about the area they were in. Freed was the first to notice that Maiden had made no move, her head turned in the opposite direction. Laxus growled seeing the rest of the Thunder Legion halted a few paces behind looking at the silent female mage. He was irritated and annoyed that they had no leads on who summoned the monster. Just about to curse at Maiden telling her they didn't have all day, he saw her take a step off to the right away from them.
"Where is she going?" Evergreen whispered watching as the smaller mage continued on.
"Miss Maiden is originally from this town, she might be remembering something" Freed started after her.
"Oh jesus fuck you guys are just going to follow her? If she wants to" Laxus voice faded off seeing the three companions follow after Maiden.
The four of them followed Maiden from a good distance, thinking that if they followed too closely behind it would break the concentration she had. They didn't know where they weren't going and they didn't know if where they were going could be dangerous, all they could do was follow. Which was something Laxus was not used to doing, he was getting antsy and more annoyed than before. They had been following her for a good almost fifteen minutes now through the forest. Not a word had been said between any of them which annoyed Lazus even more, silence was killing him. Again he opened his mouth to say something, when they reached a clearing.
It seemed time had stood still as the forest reached a break into the clearing. They had been in the shade of the trees the whole time so be in the clearing full the sun full force in their eyes it was a bit blinding. But it was beautiful nonetheless. The clearing was a large field of bright wild flowers in reaching Maiden's knees, the breeze flowing through the stems. One would've expected the field to be decorated by several types of flowers, but it was not. Instead all they could see were these dark auburn red flowers dotted by white spots across its lily like leaves. The flowers were small and dainty like, barely able to fill Evergreen's palm. Upon inspection in the very center of the flower, the stigma was shaped just like a bell colored a burnt orange. There were small gaps admiring the beauty of the flowers before it all seemed they noticed the one thing that didn't belong in such a beautiful sight.
They continued to follow Maiden's steps towards what looked like an abandoned cabin further into the field. It was hard to tell if the cabin had been abandoned or just ransacked from afar, but upon closer look it held aspect that looked like it had been burned instead. The single wall that was still somewhat held up had charred marks around the frame of what looked like had been the front door. The outline of the cabin was still evident from the lack of density in the flowers in a square like shape. Inside that square like shape they could see what looked like a torn brick chimney still remaining and a few charred chairs. The rest of what remained in the house was all ashes or gone.
Maiden stood at the edge of the burnt down house, not even daring to go past the lining of what looked like the house. Freed approached her side cautiously, while the rest of the Thunder Legion stood back. Looking at the shorter girl's face there was an unknown emotion upon her face. Wide shocked eyes adorned the top of her face, but her lips were pulled in a tight line.
"Miss Maiden?" he whispered seeing her flinch at the sound of his voice.
"I-I-I" her lips opened but noneness spilled out.
"Do you know this house?" he softly asked.
"I-I-I thi" Maiden was cut off by movement in the forest.
All four members of the Thunder Legion jumped in action, prepared for a fight even if they had just gotten of out the hospital. What they weren't prepared for was a family to be walking from the forest. Instantly seeing it was just a couple and a few children they lowered their guard and relaxed slightly. Maiden lifted her attention from the burnt down house to the family that was approaching.
Sorry for the late update, but I hope you guys all enjoy this chapter, things are about to get really real. I got caught up with being an adult and having to do responsibilities. Hope you enjoy!