Disclaimer: Yadda yadda, not mine. But the crappy fight scenes are, I guess... Sorry 'bout that… ^^'
A/N: Does anyone still care about this fic? No? Well then...
Unbetaed.
Chapter 36 - Hard Task - Part I
It began.
The clash between metal echoed in the sad place. Sparks erupted repeatedly as metal hit metal, the axe and the long-bladed spear meeting.
From her position Lucy could see clearly her spirit's foe.
The spirit looked like something between a goat and an ox, standing on his two feet, he had dark brown trousers and the blackness that surrounded its feet made impossible to discern in what his feet were clad. He also had his muscled torso bare but for a strap that crossed his chest. The face was goat-like, with two thick horns protruding from the head. His weapon was a lance that, so far, was matching easily every attack made by Taurus.
Lucy looked around, it was dangerous if she got distracted as Merope would, most likely, find a way to attack her and win another match.
No.
Lucy had – needed – to turn the tables and show to that group of stuck up people that she was as good as them (if not better – a bit of a pep-talk to raise the mood would not hurt anyone, she reckoned) and that she had every right to dive deeper into the sealed-off secrets of the celestial mages. Yes, Lucy was going to show those snobs who she was and what she had learned – especially since she entered Fairy Tail and started going on those insane adventures with her friends.
And what was it that she was just thinking about? Oh yeah, focus on Merope and keep an eye on the spirits.
The only warning she had was a shift in the wind that made Lucy jump back. Once again she could thank her reflexes as the black metal ball fell to the ground, right where her feet had been just instants ago.
She looked up and, sure enough, Merope was already giving a pull to the ball, making the chains chime softly.
'It's now or never!' Thought Lucy as she put a foot over the ball so that it didn't move. She called out for Taurus who started heading to her as seen as he could.
He understood what Lucy wanted and, with a powerful swing of the axe he cut the chains that connected the metallic ball to the staff. Lucy didn't have to breathe as Merope got herself together almost immediately and efficiently set the staff on her side. She didn't hesitate as she started running towards Lucy. Right before she got to the blonde celestial mage, the ground split open and a small rain of pebbles and earth made moth the girls step back in search of distance, from the place where the battle between the spirits had resumed and was getting quite heated.
A loud yell could be heard right before a strange kind of snow – that was black – circled the place where the spirits battled.
But Lucy couldn't exactly turn her back on her own battle so she could only hurry to push Merope back so that she could try and help Taurus, though that could only happen after.
Lucy's eyes roamed the landscape and she saw Merope on the ground. She might have more chances if she just grasped the initiative and continued like that. And to do that she had to get rid of her opponent's staff, that was for sure…
Lucy started running.
Merope was slowly getting to a standing position as Lucy approached and her eyes were sparkling with fury.
"How dare you!" She roared.
"What?" Lucy asked sarcastically. "Did you expect me to just stand there and not react?" The blonde mage was approaching her foe pretty quickly.
The other quickly spun her weapon, making it so that the blade was turned towards Lucy, quickly being swung her way.
"No." Merope replied, teeth clenching hard in a sharp smile. "But it is very disrespectful to do that to my weapon." She was glaring daggers at Lucy.
Lucy didn't have a chance to reply as the ground suddenly started shaking a lot – the blonde mage nearly lost her balance – and the two celestial mages were distracted for the moment, to be able to see what their spirits were doing.
Rock and earth erupted, tufts of grass – both green and brownish – flew through the air as Taurus and Niu measured their strength once more.
Because it was mostly that, a show of strength and stamina, the force of the impact where their weapons clashed increasing with every new blow.
Both spirits were giving it their hardest, perspiration sticking to their upper bodies, faces creased into frowns due to their focus.
Suddenly Niu seemed to falter, their tenuous balance suddenly being broken and Taurus was falling, doing his best to compensate the shift of forces – and weight – while Niu caught himself. Faster.
It was a clear sign that it had been a feint.
"Taurus!" Lucy yelled but at that time her spirit was clearly ready for the other.
With a movement so fast that it was hard to track, Taurus seemed to have gotten hold of the other and thrown him. He projected him so far that Niu went crashing into the boarder, the wall that limited each arena.
With a metallic 'clang' the other's spear fell, skidding a little further in the rocky ground.
"End of the second match. Victory for Lucy and Taurus." The voice suddenly cut in, making Lucy jump in surprise.
'We did it!' She thought, sending Taurus a beaming smile.
Her spirits' return to its perverted attitude, as it started disappearing in a cloud of smoke, was comforting as the serious expression he'd taken during the fight had felt oddly to the celestial mage.
Her surroundings suddenly became a blur but Lucy was expecting it this time.
When things around her calmed, Lucy took in the new arena. She instantly became aware of which of her spirits would be appearing now.
It was the sea.
Clear-blue water spread out towards the horizon, becoming one with the blue sky on the far distance.
Lucy was standing in the strip of golden sand.
Beyond it, there were trees lining the outer edge of the sand. It probably wouldn't do to go to the edge of the forest, the boarder was there most likely. Not that she would need to.
There was a soft shhhh noise coming from behind her so Lucy turned around sharply.
Merope was there but she just arched an eyebrow at her and continued walking towards the shoreline.
Lucy looked at her, completely puzzled by her behaviour.
Then she caught herself and started running.
Towards Aquarius.
Far away from Lucy and her trials, a small meeting was occurring.
Makarov, Porlyusica and Bob were sitting at a table, in comfortable armchairs as a fire crackled on the earth. A scent of spices and honey floated on the air.
But the three friends weren't reunited there to reminisce, despite the teapot and food spread out on the table.
Their expressions were serious, a slight tension in the air.
Pleasantries were exchanged – it had been quite a while since they'd been together – before Makarov started with the matters at hand.
"Very well. I gathered us here because, apparently," he tilted his head at Bob, "things are calm but I have two worries. First, there's the whole situation with Natsu and Gray and then Lucy has been called by the Celestial Council."
"What happened to those darling boys?" Bob asked, sipping primly from his teacup.
"A pickle." Porlyusica quickly supplied.
"Oh my. Is it that bad?" The Blue Pegasus master asked in concern.
"There's too much we don't know." Makarov added gravely. "I fear that things might spiral downwards at any moment."
"You aren't wrong with that assumption." Porlyusica said with a snort.
"However," Makarov said with a sigh, "I have hope that things might go well."
"Always an optimistic." Bob chuckled.
"That hasn't changed." Porlyusica agreed.
"Yes, yes…" Makarov said in a long-suffering tone. "I haven't changed a bit. But let's go to the other matter. How's the situation in Era?"
Those words plunged the room in a chilly temperature.
Bob's demeanour darkened.
"I haven't heard good news from there." He said tersely. "Apparently there is movement but not enough that we can gather as evidence."
"Do you think that they will act any time soon?" Was Porlyusica's question.
"It's impossible to know." The bald man shook his head.
"But when they do, it's going to be big, I fear." Makarov added.
"If it is at the scale you two have been hinting at, it's going to be immense. And we're not ready." Porlyusica said with alarm.
"It's even worse. No-one is ready." Makarov cleared. "I don't know if we could withstand it, not even with all the guilds united."
"The information I got isn't good news for us. But I think your mage might be in danger."
"Lucy?" Was Makarov's question.
"That one, yes, it's just that I heard that the roots of darkness have spread out deeply into the Celestial Council. If she's there to do what we all think she's doing, she might be putting herself at great risk."
Makarov let out a deep exhale. He took hold of his teacup and drank everything in one go.
"She's a tough kid. I think she has the wits to stay in the game."
"And let's hope that those stubborn boys also stop fighting each other." Porlyusica added.
"Natsu and Gray? That… is going to be harder." The Master admitted with a twitch of his moustache. "They kind of made a sport of fighting each other…"
"In that case, they need to stop that. Their survival is at stake." Porlyusica said sternly.
"Do you mean their lives!?" Bob exclaimed.
"Yes. They need to cooperate."
"The situation is dire, then." Makarov said with a frown.
"Very dire indeed." Porlyusica acquiesced.
The three mages sat in tense silence.
As soon as Lucy reached Aquarius she noticed the air of tenseness her spirit seemed to be containing, limbs tense and ready to spring into action, murderous vibes being turned towards the other pair.
Only then was Lucy able to see her opponent's new spirit.
It was… a girl.
She looked small. Barely reaching Merope's shoulder – and Merope was about Lucy's height.
The other spirit had a pale skin colour, which was further enhanced by the contrast of her dark dress and dark long hair. She had straight black hair that fell down her back and reached her knees. Though she had a stripe of white hair that fell over her right eye.
Her dress seemed pretty plain, short sleeved, the skirt ending mid-calf but with what appeared to be tears in the fabric, a gossamer fabric rested above the skirt and gave it a slight shimmer. The waist was cinched by what looked like ropes and above her sternum was looked like a black pearl was resting.
Deep dark eyes turned toward Lucy, inscrutable-looking, appearing to read the blonde mage down to the core.
"Aquarius, do you know her?" Lucy asked, turning to her spirit, taking in the appraising expression on her face.
"I know of her." Was the curt answer.
"And…?" Lucy insisted, even though she knew she was threading on thin ice.
"She's trouble." Aquarius said in a dismissive tone, hand running through her hair distractedly. "Big trouble, probably, but also interesting."
"What do you mea-?" Lucy started saying but a hand pushed against her shoulder making her stumble back and fall on the sand.
"Hey!" Lucy yelled at the same time that what looked like black ribbons – they were three – cut through the air, right at the spot she'd been standing.
"Beginning of the third match. Aquarius versus Nǚ." The voice said, permeating the whole space of the beach.
"It's on!" Aquarius said as she dove into the deeper waters, splashing Lucy. She sounded excited.
"Great…" Lucy groused as she took a deep breath and stood, doing her best to ignore her wet clothes.
She needed to catch up with her adversary.
Merope seemed to have had the same idea, as she was pelting towards Lucy. Her weapon menacingly pointing Lucy's way. She feinted going to her left but ended up going right, weapon twirling on her hands.
The wooden handle of Lucy's whip clashed against the wooden central part of the other's staff, both mages locked in position together.
Suddenly a wave crashed upon them, the sand underfoot eroding away while the mages fell into the water with a big splash.
Lucy instinctively tried to breathe as she and Merope were a mess of entwined limbs that were rolling amid the foamy water of the crashing waves.
Somehow they managed to disentangle themselves from the other, crawling up the shoreline to where the sand was dry. Momentarily not caring about the trial – they had more important things to do, such as hacking away the salt water from their lungs.
Aquarius looked suspiciously at her opponent. She seemed to simply be standing on the beach, walking on the shallow water, right after the place where the waves crested.
Despite the relaxed stance, Aquarius could tell that she was studying her.
No… what she had heard about this Nǚ wasn't good news to her.
The girl was dang
erous.
With her urn materializing in her hands, she gripped the handles tightly, their feel being enough to steady her.
Lifting the urn she called upon her water magic, directing it straight at Nǚ.
Large waves of water rushed towards the unassuming girl – only to disappear into thin air.
"Huh?" Aquarius froze. "What the-?"
"Let's be good, yes?" The other said in a gentle voice. She placed her hand to her waist and threads started to loose down, black ribbons following her hand as she lifted it. With a sharp movement of the hand she pointed towards Aquarius and the ribbons shot up towards the latter. The blue-haired spirit dove to the side, making a circular motion with her urn – a quick counter-attack which got a wall of water that moved against Nǚ.
The girl wasn't phased.
She threw a black pearl into the air and it made the water disappear.
She seemed to be pouting, Aquarius noted.
The blue-haired spirit took a quick glance to the side, to check on Lucy. Her owner seemed to be struggling with her opponent's attacks but she was hanging on.
'She better…' Thought Aquarius, 'or I'll punish her when we go back.'
But, she had to focus back on her situation.
The pout on the other's face had become a faint smile.
Threads hissed behind Aquarius, a dark light seemingly connecting them to the fluctuating pearl.
The white stripe of Nǚ's hair had become tinged with red.
'This is it.' Aquarius realized. The other was going for the kill.
Aquarius jumped into the water, diving into the deepest part while narrowly escaping the ribbons that were spearing into the water.
One caught her in the arm, a long gash that nearly cut her armlet, the other was on the other side, on her tail.
Clenching her teeth in fury, she started heading up.
Water whirled around her, allowing her to rise faster.
She broke the surface of the water, grabbing one of the urn's handles, pushing her arm back and throwing the urn towards Nǚ.
Water was everywhere, the urn rotating upon itself and speeding towards Nǚ. None of the threads the other put on the way made any difference in decreasing the speed.
There was nearly no visibility but, as ribbons curled around Aquarius and started squeezing, a loud wooshing noise emerged, the threads' strength weakening and slipping from Aquarius' form altogether.
It was followed by a shrill noise.
"Only one power element allowed per trial." The disembodied voice suddenly cut in.
All the water splashed down, submerging the mages on the shore once again. Though now the amount of water was way bigger.
Surprised yells followed.
Aquarius smiled wickedly.
Lucy coughed and gasped, trying once more to dislodge the water from her lungs. The wave of water had been unexpected. She had been so focused in countering Merope's attack that when the water crashed upon them she was completely taken by surprise. Losing her footing and being dragged towards the sand hadn't been expected either. Running a hand through her sodden hair, she took her bangs away from the front of her eyes. Which was followed by a frantic glance around her.
"End of the third match. Victory for Lucy and Aquarius." The voice said.
Lucy let out a relieved sigh, letting her head fall a little.
She was almost there…
Glossary:
Wěi – Tail
Niú – Ox
Nǚ – Girl
Bì – Net
Shēn – Three Stars
Guǐ – Ogre/Demon, Ghost