A/N: CHA! A new chapter is out!
I have to say that this is my longest chapter to date! I don't know how I did it, but it's 32 pages without the author's notes included. I hadn't even been aiming to write that much for this chapter, but it just sorta happened. It's mostly because of the way that it's set up, but I'm sure that most of you won't mind the long chapter.
Also, this is actually turned into being an early birthday present for my Beta! So Happy Birthday to dreadburner94! I hope you enjoy your birthday along with the new chapter!
Oh! I decided to stick with the fun facts for the time being, so here we go:
Fun Fact #2: Quinn was actually never going to be in this story. She was originally made for a different story, but I liked her character a lot. But the solidifying factor of her presence in Thunder Stone didn't come along until I received Zander's character. And well…I suppose the rest is history.
Let's get to the reviews then!
Thanks to everyone that reviewed the last chapter!
dreadburner94 - Yep, Miyako was my very first submission! And Zander was pretty high up there too, but I can't remember his exact count for when he was entered into the story. But yeah, I thought it was time that Zander started to show some small changes, so I'm glad that you enjoyed his scene with Conall. And I can't help that Conall is foreshadowing something as well, lol! And I'm glad that you were excited at the mention of Cathal as well as the small introduction to Gaius. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
WaterDragonMaverick - Hopefully Team Liam can handle what's about to come their way! And I'm glad you enjoyed all the scenes with Team Zander, between talking with their elders as well as the fun bit between Quinn and Walker. And I'm glad you enjoyed Walker's prank on Twilight Ogre so much too! And we do have some villains showing up in Hargeon, but we'll actually have to wait a bit to see what comes of that. And I very much enjoyed my concert! So awesome! Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Momochan77 - Glad you enjoyed all of the teams in the last chapter! I hope you enjoy the next parts with Team Liam and Team Kainen. And of course Maddox can't catch a break! A guild master's stress is never ending! But Evelyn's presence at the guild should be interesting nonetheless! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
ColdBurn-3 - Yep, foreshadowing everywhere! LOL! And I had a blast at that concert! One of my favorites yet from that band! And I hadn't even realized I was doing groups of three like that until I read your review, lol. But I'm wondering if you all picked up on the three that was in the scene with Kainen and Co. I suppose you'll all find out this chapter. Yeah, more of Akemi's playfulness came out in that last chapter. Up until then, we haven't seen her really work with anyone aside from Zell. So it was fun for me to pair her up with some other people. And you'll get to find out this chapter what they have to fight! And you shouldn't underestimate those three, lol! But Mercury was in the scene between Conall and Zander since she is the one making the new sword for him. Plus, neither Conall or Mercury knew that Zander was going to tell them something like that. But Mercury isn't the type to go judging someone or talk about what she's heard, so Zander doesn't really have much to worry about with her. And yep! Yajima gave them a mission within their mission. I couldn't make it completely easy for them, now could I? And I'm sure Quinn would have put up a decent fight against those three figures, but we don't know their magic yet. Guess we'll have to wait and see on that! But I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Joshua1277 - Yeah, Bluebell is unfortunately an unlucky town for the time being. We'll see more of that in this chapter. And I'm glad you liked Judge's moment. Sometimes I forget he's there and then he suddenly just pops back up! LOL! Yeah, Kainen is going to have to look out for both of the women, but he'll be able to handle it…hopefully. And I'm glad you enjoyed both scenes with Zander and Quinn, especially when Walker showed up in Quinn's. And yes, dark mages just keep popping up like daisies, lol. But they're needed to get things rolling in the future. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Master of Anime224 - Great to hear that you've gotten caught up on all of the chapters now! And I'm also glad to hear that you're enjoying the story and the characters! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Benthino - Always great to hear how much you like the story! ^.^ And go ahead and send that character in! I'm interested to see them and to see if I can fit them in somewhere! I'm usually always taking in villains, so I would appreciate it! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Blazingfire55 - Awww, I'm happy to hear that I could make your week a little better! And you'll get to find out about some of the mysterious people in this chapter! I hope you enjoy the chapter as well!
I don't own Fairy Tail!
Please enjoy!
Chapter 33
"OI! Time to wake up, shark face!" Diesel shouted, smacking a pillow across Yuna's face.
"What the hell?!" Yuna shouted in return as she fell out of the bed with the blankets in tow.
"It's time to go to the beach! Get moving!" Diesel growled.
Yuna jumped up from the mess of covers on the floor, a vein ticking at her forehead, "Are you stupid, oil slick?!" she yelled, "That's not how you wake someone up! And why are you even in my room?! Where's Quinn?!" she continued to yell until she noticed that Diesel hadn't been shouting back at her like usual. She went quiet upon seeing the blush across his face and then she looked down at herself. It was then she realized that she was still only in her pajamas, which consisted of only a black t-shirt and a pair of boy-shorts styled panties. She looked back up at Diesel, who was still staring down at her with a dark blush, "Get out!" she shouted as loudly as she could, "Get out, you greasy pervert! GET THE HELL OUT!" she roared, throwing random things at him to make him move. She eventually slammed the door in his face when he was on the other side of the threshold. Though, Yuna's grumbling could still be heard through the door.
"We told you not to go in there," Walker said, trying his hardest not to laugh at the oil dragon, "Yuna is, after all, still a girl."
"Dumbass," Quinn mumbled as she walked passed Diesel and entered the room in hopes of calming Yuna down. Plus, she had to get her own necessities for the beach.
"Come on buddy," Walker said, patting Diesel on the back, "Let's go get ready," he added. He only received a nod from him, but at least he had started to move towards their room. Once they had gotten ready and walked back to the women's room, both Quinn and Yuna were standing outside the door waiting for them.
Yuna had on a pair of green, knee length trunks along with a white bikini top, although, she also wore a scowl with it. A blue towel was thrown over her shoulder as she huffed at the sight of Diesel, "Stupid," she grumbled at him.
"It's not like I knew you would be half naked!" he shouted, seeming to have found his voice again. He also currently sported his own swimsuit, which was a pair of blue trunks. He also had a black towel thrown over his own shoulder while Ink sat on his other shoulder, wearing a pair of black sunglasses, "And you're half naked now, so what does it matter?!"
"It seemed to matter when you became speechless, you giant tar stain!"
As the two continued arguing, Quinn and Walker looked at each other and exchanged sighs.
"Why don't you get tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb to the beach and I'll meet you there with Zander?" Quinn asked. She was currently wearing a pair of white shorts and a light green tank top with a pair of straw sandals. Since they still had to walk through town, she decided to wear something over her swimsuit, "You have his things, right?"
"Yeah," Walker answered, motioning towards a small bundle in his hands that also included his own towel as well as Quinn's. He wore a pair of board shorts that started as a vibrant blue at the top and faded into a neon green. He also wore a white t-shirt for the time being until they reached the beach, "You remember the place we're going to, right?"
"Yeah, we scoped the place out before we came to the inn, so I shouldn't have too much trouble finding it again."
"Well it shouldn't be hard to find either if you get lost, not with the way these two are going at it today," he smirked, "They'll make a big enough ruckus for you to find the place."
"All right," she said before turning towards the stairs, "I'll see you in a bit and good luck!"
"Yeah thanks," Walker sighed as he turned to face the still arguing pair.
Quinn laughed to herself when she heard a loud thump coming from up the stairs. The woman behind the front counter had a concerned look on her face as she passed. Quinn decided to let her continue to guess what was going on upstairs as she exited the inn. She looked up and down the street, seeing that more people were beginning to start their day in town.
"Hmm, now which inn did Conall say they were staying in last night?" she asked just in time to hear a large crash coming from a few streets down. Her face feel at the sound, "That's probably a good place to start looking." She quickly made her way through town and sighed when she ended up on Bar Street, "Really? This early in the morning already?" she said as she slowed her pace, trying to figure out which bar the crash had come from. She didn't have to wait long before a large table flew out a window and barely missed hitting the tip of her nose. Her eyes were wide as she blinked a few times before she shook her head, "I'm gonna end up dying before we even leave this town. And I'm gonna be pissed if my death comes via a wooden table," she grumbled as she entered the bar that the flying table came from, "Just what the hell is going on in here?!" she shouted after throwing the door open.
The scene in front of her froze as multiple faces stared at her. Bacchus was holding up another table while Conall was holding up a jukebox, both men aiming their objects at each other. Many other men, the bar tenders included, had been in the middle of cheering them on. Finally, Zander sat beside his master while raising a beer towards him.
"Hey look," Bacchus grinned widely, throwing his table down without a care, "It's the little lady. Come to have a wild time with me then?" he asked as he walked right up to her.
"No," she said flatly.
This caused the man to falter slightly. It wasn't very often that a woman didn't take to his advances, so it was because of her attitude that he persisted with her, "Awww, why not? I could really show you a good time. I guarantee that it'll be more exciting than anything else you'll do today."
"What did I tell you about backing off?!" Zander shouted, suddenly showing up in between them, "No means no and she said no!"
"I think the little lady can speak for herself," Bacchus smirked, getting right into the redhead's face.
"Yes, this little lady can," Quinn interrupted them, "And I said no, so piss off already."
"Whoooo! Such a wild side you have!" Bacchus shouted, "That'll only make me try harder!"
"All right, down boy," Conall laughed as he grabbed Bacchus and threw him back in with the other patrons of the bar. Once he was sure that the drunk wouldn't walk back towards them, Conall turned his attention back to Zander and Quinn, "What can we do for you?" he smiled down at her.
"I came to get this loser," she answered, yanking on Zander's arm.
"For what?" the redhead asked.
"We're meeting the others down at one of the beaches, so let's go."
"What? Wait a sec," he said, pulling his arm out of her grasp, "I don't have my swim trunks with me or anything."
"We took care of that already," she replied, "Walker has them down at the beach."
"What about the sword that Mercury is working on?"
"Don't worry about that boy," Conall said, "You gave her the details on what you wanted, so she'll be busy for a while. You'll just get in her way if you go down to her temporary shop. But I'll make sure she takes a break and comes and joins you all later on. Actually, I think we'll all join you later on. Right men?!" he shouted back at the other men in the bar, earning him loud cheers in reply, "I know the beaches around here, so it shouldn't be too hard to find you. We'll make a party out of it!" he boomed happily.
"Sounds great!" Quinn smiled up at him, "I didn't get to have as much fun as I wanted to last night. Just no more throwing tables across the beach…or jukeboxes…or people, got it?"
"Yes ma'am!"
"Good, we'll see you later then!" she called out to Conall as she dragged Zander out of the bar.
"So who decided on a beach day?" Zander asked once they had begun walking down the street.
"I did," she answered, "But you can really thank Yajima for the idea."
"Yeah? How did your talk with the old man go? Find out anything useful?"
"Mmm, yeah, but we'll talk about it later," she said, "I want to have fun today," she smiled over at him.
"What? You didn't get enough yesterday? And here I was thinking that I had been a pretty good host for you."
"Yes, well, you did do a decent job of that at least."
"What the hell does that mean?! A decent job?!"
"Well it was your fault that the rope on those barrels broke at the docks and we had to make a run for it."
"Yeah, but it was your fault that we had to run from all those angry merchants after you punched that guy in the face and knocked him into their stands."
"He tried to touch my butt! He was asking for it! You freak out about everything that Bacchus does, but you just ran when that guy made a move on me!"
"That's because you punched him so fast that I didn't have a chance! And then all those vendors were after us! I think one of them even tried to throw fish at us! And I got hit in the head multiple times with loaves of burnt bread because of you!"
"You poor baby," Quinn smirked before she started laughing at the expression on his face, "I was impressed that you scaled that house wall so quickly to get away from them."
"Yeah, well I guess it was sorta impressive that you were able to jump across all those roofs so easily."
"Tch, that's a piece of cake. I would shame the name of my dojo if I couldn't do that. Dishonor for the whole family!" she announced dramatically.
"You really are a weirdo," he chuckled.
"I don't want to hear that from you!"
Unbeknown to the pair, Conall had watched them walk down the street until they finally turned a corner, "He'll eventually figure it out," he smirked. Then it hit him who he was talking about and a sweat drop appeared on his head, "Hopefully. He is a bit stupid in that department. I suppose I'll have to make the most out of tonight then."
. : + : .
Shaw exited his room early and stumbled his way to the bathroom like he did most mornings. Once he finished his business and took a swig from his flask to help start the day, he began making his way through the house. It was still quiet since everyone else was still asleep. Though, he was sure that Liam was up in his own room. He enjoyed the quiet nonetheless. It wasn't often that Shaw was able to enjoy a peace like this at the guild unless it was late at night or early in the morning. There was something about the Ronso home that eased an ache in his heart.
Just as he was about to sit down on the couch in the living room, something pulled at his attention. It almost felt like a string was pulling his body towards the back sliding glass door of the home. Shaw wanted to stop himself, to turn back towards the couch to enjoy the quiet of the morning, but that force kept pulling at him. He finally stopped fighting the sensation once he stepped outside. He decided to see where this force would take him. His attention was so focused on the pulling force that he had left the back door wide open. He walked through the open area of the backyard and disappeared into the jungle-like forest area.
Anna had woken just in time to look out the window to see Shaw disappear, "That's weird," she yawned, "Even for him," she added before deciding to roll out of bed and follow the man. She quickly dressed and quietly made her way downstairs to see the sliding door open, "Even weirder," she said softly before pressing on in her search for Shaw.
Shaw continued forward, eventually hearing the rolling waves of the ocean and the cawing of seagulls. He got a large whiff salt water just before he stepped through the last of the vegetation and out onto a secluded beach. He shielded his eyes from the morning sun for a moment until they adjusted to the new light. He scanned the area to check for anything out of the ordinary and at first, he found nothing. Then his eyes moved towards the left side of the beach and froze. There stood two men, each pointing a gun at each other. Though, what concerned Shaw more than the guns was the fact that both men wore straight faces and blank stares, like what they were doing was normal and meant nothing. Their breathing was even and controlled, but their body's were stiff, like they were being forced to stand where they were.
"Oi!" he called out to them, "What the helllllll are you doooooing?!"
No answer came from either men.
"I asked youuuuu a question!"
"They won't be answering you," a deep voice stated, causing Shaw to whip his head around. He came face to face with glaring red eyes. He instantly knew that this new entity wasn't a friendly one, "They are both under the control of some pupils of mine."
"What are youuu doing with themmm?" Shaw asked lowly, his eyes narrowing at the white haired man, "Are youuu the one causing problemsss?"
"Problems?" the man questioned, "We're simply training out here in this town. If the humans here happen to get caught up in that, then that's they're own problem. They should leave if they're tired of being controlled."
"You're not letting them goooo," Shaw stated.
"Ah, you're much smarter than I believed you would be," the man answered, "I can't have the children learn without some test subjects, can I? So what if we cause a little terror? No one's gotten hurt…yet."
"They've gottennnn hurt."
"I do believe I stand corrected," the man smirked wickedly, "Plenty of people have been sent to that doctor's home. So let me rephrase myself. No one has died yet."
"What are you doing with thossssse men? Let them gooooo."
The man clucked his tongue in reply, "I can't stop training in progress. That simply wouldn't be fair to the students. I just wanted to liven things up a bit. I thought they might work better with an audience. That's why I had one of them lead you out here with some Puppet Magic. So won't you stay and watch?" he asked, the wicked grin still stuck on his lips. He quickly snapped his fingers, "Zak! Gina!" he shouted, causing two other figures to appear behind him, "Finish your work, won't you?"
"Yes master," Zak answered.
"Of course, Zazemel," Gina replied.
The two walked towards the frozen men across the beach, each controlling one of the men with their magic.
"What are youuu doing? Stop!" Shaw shouted, not liking where things were going. He went to move across the beach in order to stop whatever was about to happen, but sharp claws digging into his right shoulder stopped him. He turned to see a red, talon shaped hand dug into his skin. He then saw that the hand was coming out of the red orb that the man held, "What the hell?!"
"You will stay put. You don't want to interrupt the show," he said lowly, "Hurry up and finish it already!" he shouted out towards the other two members of his team.
"No!" Shaw yelled.
"Shaw? What are you shouting about way out here?" Anna suddenly called from the forest.
Horror instantly ran across Shaw's face while Zazemel smiled even more widely.
"Another guest? How lovely," Zazemel said, "And from the smell of them, it's that pretty little blonde from yesterday. You can blame all this excitement on her wound."
"Anna! Don't come any closer!"
"What? What are you talking about?"
"Stay away!"
"If there's something wrong, I can help," she retorted, missing the fact that Shaw was no longer slurring. If she had picked up on that, she might have realized that something was very wrong. Unfortunately, she kept moving forward until she was out of the forest and staring at Shaw with wide eyes. It was then that she knew she had walked into something horrible.
"Kill them already!" Zazemel shouted, beginning to feel irritated by the amount of time the other two were taking.
"Don't look!" Shaw shouted.
Anna, of course, looked towards the left to see the two men pointing guns at each other and the other pair standing near them, "What's going on?"
"Don't look at them, Anna!" Shaw yelled in desperation. He turned as hard as he could, ripping the talons from his shoulder, but he ignored the pain as he ran towards Anna, "Look away!"
"Do it! Shoot them!" Zazemel roared, his voice filled with excitement, "Spill their blood across the ground! I want to see that vibrant red splashed across the ground!"
With a single tug at an invisible string and a quick flick of fingers, both men pulled their triggers. In an instant, the bullets had shot directly through each other their heads. Blood poured out of the front bullet hole while the force of the bullet had been strong enough to shoot out of the back of their heads, spraying blood across the ground behind them.
Shaw had done his best to shield Anna from the sight of the killing, but she had still managed to watch the bullets fly and the blood spray. She stood shaking and wide eyed at the scene, almost unsure of what she had just witnessed was real. She thought she might have been having a nightmare. But reality sunk in when their bodies slunk to the ground and more blood spilled from their heads. It was then she finally belted out a horrified scream.
Her scream was soon covered by the loud and awful laughter of Zazemel, the man seeming to revel in the murder of the two men, "Look at it! Look how beautiful the color is! And it's all mine! Feast of the Blood Demon!" he announced, causing a heavy feeling to explode across the area.
It was a vile and horrid feeling, almost causing Shaw to puke on the spot. He managed to keep himself pulled together as he watched the blood spilled across the ground rise and hover for a moment before it changed into a thick mist. Half of it traveled towards Zazemel, the man sucking it in and drinking it. Shaw felt the bile rise in his throat again, but he managed to keep it down. Though, Anna didn't seem to be able to pull off that feat as she quickly turned and puked into a bush. Shaw knew that he had to get the both of them out of there. There was only two of them against three of them, and one of those three was clearly a psychopath. Then there was the fact that Anna wouldn't be able to handle going up against any sort of enemy at the moment.
"Anna! We need to move it! Now!" he shouted, pulling Anna with him as he began making his way out of the area.
"I don't think so!" Zazemel shouted in glee, "I haven't had my fill yet and the show isn't quite over! Grasping Hands of the Blood Demon!" he yelled as two large, red hands erupted from the orb in his left hand. The hands were instantly attracted the blood seeping out from Shaw's shoulder and made a beeline for him. One hand grabbed his wounded shoulder while the other wrapped around his stomach and ripped him away from Anna.
"Shaw!" she cried.
"Go back to the house and get Liam!" Shaw demanded.
"I'm not leaving you!"
"Go Anna!"
"No!" she shouted, "Spirit Beast: Centaur!" she announced, throwing her hands out to create the circle of lights. In a bright flash, Bronx was standing beside her.
"How may I help, Lady Anna?"
"Go get Shaw!" she yelled, motioning towards the scene in front of her, "Please!" she added quickly.
Bronx was shocked by the scene before him, but he hid his shock away for the moment. He did have a job to do. Though, as soon as he moved forward, he was quickly pulled away by an invisible force. He was then forced down on his knees, unable to move. Anna quickly found herself joining him, being forced down onto the ground.
"I can't you have you interrupting Zazemel's fun," Gina said, using her magic to keep the two in place, "He'll take it out on us later if he's interrupted."
"Dammit!" Shaw shouted, trying to break free from the hands still holding him.
"You'll be mine too!" Zazemel yelled, walking slowly towards Shaw.
"Hell no!" Shaw retorted, using his free hand to aim towards the man, "Barrier: Cube Prison!" he shouted, sending out a large, cube barrier around Zazemel. It quickly boxed him in and cut off the blood hands at the same time. Shaw quickly pulled the severed hands from his body as he watched the man beat against the shield.
"Release me!" Zazemel shouted.
"I don't think so," Shaw said, "Maybe I should shrink my barrier and slowly crush you. I can do that, you know. It would be payback for those men you killed!"
"Why do you even care about them? They were worthless, human trash."
"They were still humans! And they had lives! You took that from them!"
"They served their purpose! They fed me just as you will do!" Zazemel shouted, "Talon of the Blood Demon!" he yelled, controlling the blood mist that was left from the men. The blood gathered together until it created three claw-like objects. The claws then rushed towards Shaw, tearing across his back. Blood spurted upwards from the long gashes that went from the top of his back all the way to the bottom. Zazemel began laughing again at the shocked and pained look across Shaw's face, "You can't keep Zazemel, the Blood Demon Slayer, caged up! I always have a source to pull from! Looks like you weren't as smart as you appeared to be!"
"SHAW!" Anna screamed as she watched his body fall over and blood spill around him, "SHAW!"
The barrier dropped from around Zazemel. He quickly breathed in the metallic scent of blood from Shaw's body and practically shuddered in delight. He would have drained the man right there too, but he suddenly stopped, "I suppose I shouldn't take in so much at once. I would look like a glutton that way and this has been too much fun. I'll save you all for later then. Gina! Zak! Move out!" he ordered.
The force pushing Anna and Bronx down was suddenly lifted and they could move again. They watched as Gina and Zak disappeared within the forest. Anna then looked up towards Zazemel, knowing there was nothing she could do against him at the moment.
"I would sleep with one eye open tonight," he smiled darkly at her before disappearing as well.
Anna stayed slumped over for a moment longer, feeling overwhelmed and defeated.
"Lady Anna," Bronx called out softly, "We need to move. Shaw is hurt badly."
Anna simply nodded at him as he helped her up. She moved over towards Shaw with Bronx trotting along behind her. She bent down next to him moved a few bangs from his face, "Shaw?" she whispered. He didn't answer her, but he somehow found the strength to reach out towards her. She grasped his hand with her own and squeezed to let him know she was there.
"We need to get him back to Liam and the others," Bronx said, beginning to lift Shaw's body up to lay across his own back.
Shaw groaned in protest and gripped Anna's hand tighter in pain as he was laid back on his stomach on Bronx's back. Anna continued to hold his hand as Bronx situated him properly so he wouldn't fall and she continued to hold his hand as they began walking back towards the Ronso home. Anna stared at Shaw for a moment longer before her tears finally came. At first her crying was soft and she would sniff every now and then, but soon enough it turned into full blown sobs as the tears streamed down her face. She hadn't been able to do anything to stop that man from hurting Shaw. Shaw had done so much to try and protect her and she had gotten stuck on the ground. She wasn't able to do anything to help Shaw and she had to watch him be attacked like that. In that moment, she had felt the most weak and ashamed of herself than she ever had in her entire life.
Bronx felt guilty upon seeing his master's tears and not being able to do anything to stop them; but he knew there was nothing he could do at that moment to make her feel better. So he simply let her cry as he led them back to the house.
. : + : .
"Go long!" Walker shouted as he threw a green frisbee across the beach.
"I've got it!" Diesel announced as he ran backwards to catch it.
"Too slow!" Yuna laughed as she ran and jumped up to catch the frisbee before the Dragon Slayer.
"What the hell, bird brain?!" Diesel growled, "I said I had that one!"
"And I said you were too slow," Yuna smirked, twirling the frisbee around one finger.
"Look, just because the girlie over there fell asleep doesn't mean you can come and ruin our game!"
"Quinn's been asleep for over an hour now," Yuna waved off his comment, "I could have ruined your game sooner."
Walker rolled his eyes as he looked back towards the spot where the rest of his team was.
Quinn and Zander had both fallen asleep shortly after they had reached the beach. They had time to change into their swimsuits - Quinn wearing a simple green bikini while Zander wore burgundy trunks with dark gray stripes along the sides of them - and race each other, as Zander still had a point to prove from Quinn's challenge the previous day, before they had both passed out. Walker supposed that waking up at the crack of dawn would do that to a person, but he still smiled at the fact that Zander had barely managed to keep up with Quinn to make the race a tie. The blonde then turned back to the arguing duo across from him with a flat stare.
"Would you throw the frisbee back already!" he shouted at them.
Yuna glanced back at him before another smirk spread across her face. Walker didn't like the look across her face one bit. In the next instant, the frisbee was flung hard and fast across the beach.
"Seriously?!" Walker growled as he began running backwards in hopes of catching it. He leapt over Ink, who was currently building a sand castle, and continued for the flying object. He finally jumped up high and managed to catch it, sliding across the sand when he landed until he bumped into a solid body behind him. He looked up to see Conall beaming down at him, "Conall?!"
"Yo!" the large man answered with, "Hope we're not too late to the party!"
"We?" Walker questioned as he looked passed Conall. There he saw Bacchus, Mercury and many of the other patrons of the bars they had been to.
"Hope you don't mind that I brought along some friends," Conall grinned.
"Of course not," Walker said, "Quinn mentioned that you would probably be stopping by. I just didn't know that there would be so many of you."
"Well it's not a proper party without plenty of guests," he answered, "Besides, they brought enough booze to support an army."
"Well that's a plus I suppose," Walker mentioned, "But I hope they brought food too."
"Don't worry so much," Conall said, "We got it all covered. Now where's that former student of mine?! Don't tell me that he got lost in the forest with Quinn!"
"No, they're over there," Walker answered, pointing towards the sleeping pair. He walked with Conall to where they were lying.
"He's still such a lazy bum," Conall said as he stared down at the two. Zander had his beanie pulled down over his eyes with his hands behind his head. Quinn was next to him, having fallen asleep with a book covering her face again. Though, Conall smirked at the hand that Quinn had thrown over the redhead's face, "Did she smack him or something?"
"We're really not sure," Walker chuckled, "More than likely she did it in her sleep, but he probably deserved it for something. And we're sure he either felt it and was simply too lazy to move her hand or he really sleeps like a log."
"The boy sleeps like a log," Conall answered with a flat look, "I'm pretty sure if you threw him across the beach, he wouldn't feel a thing."
Walker and Conall stared at each other for a moment before wide smiles spread across their faces.
"Care to test that out?" Walker asked.
"Well we can't have either of them sleeping during a party, now can we?" Conall replied, "I'll take care of Zander and you can handle Quinn."
Walker nodded at him, his wide smile still stuck on his face. He easily picked up Quinn first, holding her bridal style as he dropped her book onto her towel. Conall was much less gentle with Zander as he slung the redhead over his shoulder. Even though Zander was a heavy sleeper, the hard and quick movement woke him up.
"What the hell is going on?" Zander grumbled, clearly still half asleep.
"It's about time you woke up, boy!"
"Conall? Put me back down."
"No can do. And I'd suggest taking that beanie off unless you want to get it wet."
"Wet?" Zander repeated. He was instantly wide awake as he looked at his surroundings. He saw that he was thrown over one of Conall's shoulders, moving towards the ocean. He looked to his left to see Walker carrying a still sleeping Quinn towards the water as well, "I don't think so!" he shouted once it clicked in his mind at what was about to happen, "I'm awake, dammit! Put me down!"
"Now it wouldn't be fair to send the lady into the water alone, would it?" Conall smirked.
"Then go into the water yourself!"
"Too late!" Conall boomed as they reached the water's edge and began lifting Zander in order to throw him in.
"Conall! Don't do it!" Zander shouted, but he knew it was in vain. He had just enough time to pull his beanie off and throw it back up the beach before his body was sent flying across the water, "Damn you!" he yelled right before his body skidded across the water a couple times until he finally tumbled into the water. He pushed himself back up to the surface, spitting out water when he came above the water. He pushed his hair back out of his eyes and glared at the two men far back on the beach, "You'll pay for that!"
"Looks like you're up," Conall said, smiling down at Walker.
The blonde nodded at him again, taking several steps backwards to get a running start to help throw Quinn farther. Walker knew he had muscle, but not as much as Conall to throw her out into the ocean from the water's edge. Once he was ready to start running, he decided to wake Quinn up.
"OI!" he said loudly.
It seemed to be loud enough as Quinn jumped slightly and then stared up at Walker sleepily, "What?" she grumbled, not appreciating the wake up call.
"I hope you're ready to get wet," he smirked.
"What?" she repeated, seeming to wake up a little more as she realized he was carrying her, "What are you doing? Put me down, you moron!"
"Awww, that's not nice to say, especially to the person who's about to throw you into the water."
"Huh?"
It was then that Walker started running towards the water, pulling Quinn back slightly. Once he felt he had enough momentum, he hurled Quinn forward and up into the air, being able to throw her out just as far as Conall had thrown Zander.
"WALKERRRRRRRRRRR!" she screamed as she soared through the air. Quinn then looked down to see where she was falling to lock eyes with Zander. She couldn't control where she was going and Zander couldn't move fast enough in the water, so there was no escape for either of them as she smacked into him. He instantly fell back into the water with Quinn quickly following him into the ocean just behind him. In seconds, they were both back up, staring flatly at the two men on the shore. Quinn pulled a piece of seaweed from her hair as fire seemed to explode around her. Zander did his best to inch away from her fury.
"She's gonna kill you, ya know that, right?" Diesel asked, appearing beside Walker.
"I know, but it was totally worth it," he chuckled.
Just as Quinn was about to start treading towards the shore, a large shark fin popped up in front of her. The flames around her instantly disappeared as her face paled at the sight of it. She jumped back towards Zander and pulled him in front of her, "Kill it! Oh my God! Kill it!"
"What do you expect me to do against a shark?!" Zander shouted back at her, feeling just as terrified as Quinn at seeing the shark fin, "And why do you always escalate to killing things first?!"
"Does that matter right now?! Just do something! I don't want to be eaten by that thing!"
"I still don't know what you want me to do!"
"Well you're Mister Show Off! You're always going on about how you're so good at everything! Here's your chance to show off!" she shouted, seeing that the shark had turned and was heading straight towards them with its jaws wide open, "So do something already!"
"Fine! Just shut up already! Heaven's Bolt!" he yelled, bringing forth a sword from his re-quip space. This one was a single-edged steel sword, the blade being razor sharp. It had a lightning lachrima placed in the hilt and a yellow cloth was wrapped around the handle, "Gunblade: Load!" he shouted, thirty ticks appearing on the sword.
"Wait! Zander!" Quinn yelled, finally realizing which sword he had called forth, "Don't use that one! You idiot!"
"Artillery Strike!" he announced, thrusting the sword forward. Five ticks disappeared as a large orb of crackling, yellow magic appeared at the end of it.
The shark suddenly disappeared, leaving behind a laughing Yuna, "You should have seen your faces!"
Both Zander and Quinn sweat dropped at the appearance of the young woman before they both looked towards his sword.
"Fu-" Zander started to say before the spell was released from the sword. A giant explosion cut him off as lightning danced across the water and electrified the three mages before causing an eruption of water. The three stood frozen and burnt as the water rained back down, hearing everyone on the shore laughing loudly.
Quinn was the first to shake the attack off, though scorch marks still littered her hair, skin and bikini. She smacked Zander hard on the head, "I told you not to use that sword! We're in water, you idiot!"
"Hey!" he shouted back at her, "You begged me to do something, so I did something!"
"I didn't beg!"
"Oh yeah?" he retorted before making his voice high pitched to mock Quinn, "Oh my God! Kill it! Do something, Zander! I don't want to be eaten!" he said before dropping his voice back to normal, "Does that sound familiar?!"
"Ooohhh!" she growled before pushing Zander down into the water, "I hope you drown! Come on! Make fun of me again!" she yelled before she was suddenly pulled down into the water by the redhead. As the water wrestling match continued, Yuna quietly inched her way away from the duo, thanking whatever God was looking over her that they hadn't blamed the entire thing on her prank.
"I don't think so, shark face," Diesel smirked, suddenly showing up behind her and pulling her back into the water, "You get to make this right."
Yuna cried large streams of tears as she was dragged back through the water.
Conall smiled widely as he ran into the water with Diesel and Yuna, Bacchus right along with him. Walker decided to stay on the shore just in case Quinn's wrath for him reappeared. The blonde walked over to the area that Mercury had used to set up volleyball and joined the game.
Conall approached the still wrestling pair and easily pulled them apart, "I think that's enough of that."
Both Zander and Quinn stared each other down a moment longer before they both huffed and looked away from each other with folded arms.
Conall rolled his eyes before saying, "If you really want to beat each other up that much, why not play a game of chicken?"
The pair glanced up at the man, thinking about his offer.
"Yeah, all right," Quinn answered first with a grin, "That sounds fun."
"The little lady can be my partner then!" Bacchus shouted, grinning down at Quinn.
She was about to take up on his offer until Zander separated them again, "She'll be my partner," he stated lowly, eyeing Bacchus up and down, "I don't trust you."
"You afraid of a little competition?" Bacchus asked, smirking knowingly at Zander.
"It has nothing to do with competition," Zander huffed, "I just don't trust the fact that you would have enough sense to not try to make a move on my teammate."
"Just your teammate?" Bacchus simply retorted.
"Tch," was all Zander answered with as he grabbed Quinn's hand, "Come on, Quinn. We're partners."
"But I thought you just wanted to fight me?" she asked, feeling a bit confused about the turn of events.
"Yeah, well, I want to fight him more."
Quinn simply rolled her eyes in response, "Male egos."
"Well let's get this started!" Conall boomed, interrupting any further arguments. A few others from the beach had joined in on their game as well as Diesel and Yuna.
"You better be able to handle yourself, bird brain," Diesel said up to the woman on his shoulders.
"Just keep me steady, grease pit, and we won't have a problem."
Once Quinn was up and steady on Zander's shoulders, she started laughing as her eyes feel on Bacchus sitting on top of Conall.
"This is no laughing matter, little lady!" Bacchus announced, "We're gonna win this battle! Conall here can't be knocked over and with my strength, I'll knock everyone over!"
"Yeah right," she said.
"Care to make a bet?" he asked, giving her a sly grin.
"Sure," she smiled in reply, "But you're gonna lose."
"Well if you seem so sure of yourself, little lady," Bacchus said, "But if I win then you'll give me one dance tonight."
"Uh…" Quinn mumbled, suddenly wishing she wasn't betting with him. Though, she wasn't one for backing down, "Fine. If I lose, then I'll dance with you. But if I win, then you have to dance with Walker instead."
"What?!"
"Yep," she smirked, "It's more of a payback for Walker for throwing me in the water, but I find the thought of you dancing with him funny."
"All right, deal," he said, "Now let's get this show started!"
Things started off smoothly with Quinn and Zander taking out a few of the people that had joined their game, Bacchus and Conall doing the same. Zander then turned just in time for Quinn to come face to face with Yuna.
"I hope you know that you're gonna lose," Yuna smirked.
"Then prove it!" Quinn shouted, but still smiling at the woman.
The two struggled for a moment, each woman trying their hardest to knock the other down while the men did their best to stay steady. Before a winner could be chosen between them, Yuna and Diesel were thrown down into the water by Bacchus.
"Hey! No fair!" Yuna shouted when she surfaced, "We were totally in the middle of a battle!"
"Well you lose now," Bacchus smirked down at her before he turned his attention to Quinn.
Diesel easily grabbed onto an angry Yuna, "Calm down, grizzly bear. He is in the right. You should have been paying better attention," he said as he moved them out of the way of the last battle that was about to start.
"So you ready to lose our bet?" Bacchus asked.
"Tch," Quinn began, "You talk too much. You should really put your money where your mouth is."
"Fine, then let's go!" he shouted, slamming his hands against her own.
Conall helped push Bacchus forward, causing the other pair to bend backwards slightly.
"Come on, Zander!" Quinn shouted down at him, "You better push back harder than that!"
"I don't want to hear that from you!" he shouted back, "You're supposed to be fighting too!"
"I don't want to lose the bet!"
"I'm not the one that was stupid enough to make a bet in the first place!"
"Excuse me?!" she shouted, suddenly finding more power to push forward with. She was no longer bending backwards and she was able to finally put up a decent fight against Bacchus.
"Yeah, I mean, you really agreed to dance with that chump!"
"I didn't agree to dance with him! That's only if I lose!"
"Well if you continue to be all weak like that then you're gonna be stuck dancing with him!"
"I'm not weak!" she shouted, putting more and more power into her fighting, "You're such a jerk, Zander!"
Conall suddenly realized what Zander was doing. He was purposefully riling Quinn up to get her to fight back harder. Conall had to hand it to the boy for thinking outside the box, but he had his own plan as well as he watched his former student. It was at that moment that Quinn had squeezed her legs tighter around Zander in order to keep herself in place on his shoulders, but Conall didn't miss the blush that had spread across Zander's face.
"Why are you suddenly looking all flustered, boy?!" Conall announced loudly. It quickly pulled Quinn's attention away from Bacchus as she looked down at Zander.
"You're blushing? Why are you blushing?!" she questioned, seeing the blush herself when he glanced up at her. He quickly looked back down in order to hide his flushed cheeks, but she had already seen them, "WHY ARE YOU BLUSHING?!"
Bacchus took advantage of the distraction and easily pushed the pair over into the water, "You put up a wild fight, little lady, but it looks like I win our bet!" he announced, posing victoriously along with Conall.
Quinn felt her eye twitching as she stood back up. She looked up at Bacchus's smug face before she turned a hard stare on Zander. The redhead laughed nervously before taking off at full speed from the woman.
"Get back here!" she shouted after him, "It's all your fault that I have to dance with that giant moron!"
"You made the bet, not me!"
"It's still all your fault that we lost! Dammit Zander!"
Bacchus and Conall exchanged a high five as Bacchus jumped down from the larger man's shoulders. They laughed as they continued to watch Quinn chase down Zander. Though, when Bacchus looked away from Conall, the older man sent a flat stare Bacchus's way.
'His stupid bet is going to make my plans that much harder now,' Conall thought. Though, he didn't feel so discouraged as he watched Quinn tackle Zander into the sand with the redhead laughing in return.
. : + : .
"Are we almost there?" Zell asked, walking beside Akemi. Kainen and Sera were walking closely behind them.
"We actually should have been there by now," Akemi mentioned, looking down at her map, "But I'm not up in this area all that much, so I'm not quite sure."
"I have a feeling we'll know the place when we see it," Kainen said, "Hopefully anyways. These trees make it hard to see much," he added, motioning up to the rather tall trees that covered the area.
"I'm just hoping we don't run into the monster first. I'd rather get some details about what's going on before we confront it," Akemi said.
"I want to meet the monster!" Sera exclaimed, "There's only so many experiments that one can do on a cat," she said, staring down at Zell.
"You keep away from me!" Zell shouted.
"Hush Zell," Akemi said, hearing something strange off in the distance. Kainen seemed to pick up on it as well. Akemi could see his body go rigid as he looked off into the area that she had heard the sounds.
"Because of you, I'm still sneezing purple!" the Exceed hissed.
"Quiet Zell!" Akemi snapped. The cat instantly went silent as he stared up at his partner. He saw the serious look across her face and he knew then that something was wrong. Sera and Zell both began to hear sounds off in the distance as the entire team felt heavy vibrations through the ground, like heavy and giant footsteps. The steps were moving at a quick pace and moving towards their team, "Move!" Akemi shouted, "Something's coming!"
"It feels like there's either more than one of whatever that is or it has more than two legs," Kainen said as they moved out of the middle of the road and hid behind a few of the tall trees.
"This monster sounds more and more interesting," Sera said, peeking out from behind her tree.
"SHOOT IT!" was suddenly heard followed by several guns going off.
"What in the world?" Akemi mumbled as the vibrations became more solid.
The team watched as men, soldiers, came running out of the forest. They were looking back and shouting, pointing guns at whatever they were running from. Kainen noted that they weren't aiming their guns properly, so either they were scared of whatever was chasing them or it was so big that it didn't matter where they aimed…or both. The team continued to watch the scene unfold. Trees began to topple over as the beast that was chasing the soldiers finally appeared. All eyes went wide as a giant black hound appeared with it standing taller than the trees, three heads growling and barking and drooling as it snapped at the soldiers. The right head managed to grab a man by his legs and flung him up in the air, allowing all three heads to snap at his body and tear him apart for their food.
"Holy hell," Kainen whispered.
"Quite literally too," Sera added, knowing the mythology that revolved around the beast.
"Cerberus…" Akemi drifted off, feeling her body freeze at the sight of the enormous hellhound.
"Akemi…" Zell began quietly before anger took over as he pointed at the monster, "How are we supposed to beat that?! We can't beat that! Look at it! You need to start thinking out your missions better! I'm really gonna die one of these days!"
"Now's not the time, Zell," Akemi stated, feeling her body finally start working properly again, "We need to do something before more of those men are eaten."
A serious expression suddenly crossed Sera's face as battle mode settled in, "Kainen and Akemi, you two will need to be the heavy hitters. Akemi can attack from above as your magic should allow you more flexible movements while Kainen can attack from the ground as your guns will allow you to reach the height level of the hound."
"Got it," Kainen said, calling forth his Magician Critic and loading it with some of the new light bullets that Sera had given him before they left.
"Use your knives to help you move more quickly if you need to," Sera added, referring to the three inch, two pronged knives that he could call forth on his wrists. The knives could be launched and retracted on zip lines, allowing Kainen to move around much quicker if he needed as well as being used as projectiles in battle.
Kainen nodded at her and called forth the knives as well, the weapons appearing neatly tucked away at his wrists for the moment, "And what about you and Zell?"
"Zell will stay back for the moment until it looks like you need his help," she answered, turning to look down at the Exceed, "If they look like they're in trouble, fly in there and get them out of the way."
"Will do!"
"And I'll be fine," Sera continued when Kainen looked back at her. She pulled on her Salamandra Gloves and then snapped her fingers. This created six floating orbs of pure energy, "I have my Gheists with me," she smiled, proud of her own creations, "They'll help me collect data on the beast. Plus, I can use them as projectiles if I need to and they can create bindings to tie something up if we need a little extra something."
"Right," Kainen said, agreeing to her plan of action, "Just make sure you stay safe, all right?"
"I told you, I'll be fine," she retorted, "Now go. And don't take your necklace off either!"
"Yeah, yeah," he waved her comment off as he and Akemi turned towards the hound.
"I'm surprised," Akemi mentioned, "I didn't know she would be so organized like that."
"Sera is very much a strategist as much as she is a scientist," Kainen replied. Akemi smiled softly at hearing the pride that his words held for Sera, "Are you ready?" he asked, looking over at her.
"Whenever you are," she said.
"I suppose it's now or never, right?"
"Right."
The pair began walking towards Cerberus, soldiers passing them in panic. One of the soldiers stopped and shouted towards them.
"What are you doing?! That thing will kill you!"
"It'll take more than some damn dog to take me out," Kainen answered as he and Akemi continued making their way towards the monster.
"Well it's your funeral!"
"And what a funeral it would be, don't you think, Akemi?"
"In Thunder Stone? They would still find a way to make a party out of it," she smiled softly in reply. They both looked up at the hound when they stood right in front of it. The beast stopped walking and all three heads stared down at them, growling deeply. A moment of stillness passed between them as if each of them was sizing up the other. Finally, Akemi broke the silence, allowing all hell to break loose afterwards, "Water Dragon's Water Whip!" she shouted, sending out a stream of water up towards one of the high tree branches. It wrapped around it and the water pulled Akemi up. She kept one hand twisted within the water whip as she pulled out one of her swords with the other. She easily sliced her sword along the right head's face. It howled in pain and snapped at her as she flew by it and landed on the branch. As the entire body began to move towards Akemi, Kainen shot at it with his gun. A large explosion of Light Magic hit the left head of the hound, causing it to whine for a moment before snarling at Kainen.
"Watch me, you mangy mutt!" Kainen shouted, releasing another bullet at the middle head. This seemed to make it angrier as all three heads began snapping down at him. He dodged them as quick as he could, calling forth a combat knife in his empty hand and slamming it into the left head's eye just as he dodged the middle head. He ripped the knife out just in time to turn on his heel and slice the right head across the nose.
Akemi pulled out her second sword as she announced her next spell, "Water Dragon's Ocean Pistol!" she yelled, sending out several medium sized orbs of water out towards the hound. She kept them suspended in air as she began jumping on them. As she moved from orb to orb, she slashed at each of the heads as she passed them. The right head snapped at her, but only ended up with a mouthful of water from chomping down on one of the orbs. Akemi had flipped over the head and landed on an orb near the middle head, slashing both katanas downwards across its face. The three heads howled at the same time after the attack, jumping on its back legs in order to slam down his front paws. Kainen rolled back away from the hound while Akemi jumped back onto an open branch. They watched as smoke began to billow out from the center's mouth. The heads breathed in together before the middle head released a giant fireball towards the two mages.
"Shit!" Kainen cursed as he ran back behind a tree for cover, "Akemi! Can you douse that thing's mouth?!"
"I'll try, but that doesn't mean the other two can't do the same thing!"
"As long as we can drench this one for now!"
"All right!" she answered before setting her sights on the middle head. She jumped onto of the orbs that were still floating and moved herself in front of the head, "Water Dragon's Tidal Wave!" she shouted, sending out a torrent of water at the hound. The water made a direct hit with the middle head, that head being forced to swallow quite a bit of the water. The force of the spell caused the beast to be pushed back until it was knocked over. It skidded backwards, causing more trees to fall over in the process. Though, it quickly stood back up and shook all three of its heads. The middle head tried to create another fireball, but all that came out of its mouth was gray smoke. It began snarling in anger, turning its full attention on the still floating Dragon Slayer. It began running towards her at full speed, barking and snapping along the way.
Kainen quickly recalled his combat knife and shot out one of his zip lines up into a tree. He pulled himself up by the line, coming to hang in front of Akemi. He then shot a bullet directly into the middle head, an explosion of Light Magic going off in the process. Kainen quickly grabbed Akemi as he swung them down away from the explosion and onto the ground. They looked up to see smoke all around the middle head, thinking that they were on the path to winning the battle. Though, the feeling of victory quickly faded as both the left and right heads began to smoke like the middle head had before creating the fireball. They could see the oranges and yellows of the fire licking from within their mouths as the smoke from the middle head began to fade. Once the smoke had completely dispersed, there stood a woman with auburn hair. She had a large shotgun pointed at them while a second shotgun rested on her back.
"I'd suggest you mages run back to where you came from," she said in a cold and even tone.
"Who are you?!" Kainen shouted up at her.
"Who I am is of no importance to you," she answered with that even, unfeeling tone, "Leave while you still can."
"And if we don't?" Akemi asked.
"Then I'll shoot," she answered, "And I don't miss."
"What's going on here?" Kainen pushed, "Whyis Cerberus here? Are you in control of him?"
"What's happening here is none of your business," she replied, "And you'll die if you get in the way. Now leave."
"Or what? You'll tell your mutt to attack?!" Kainen shouted.
"Keep calling him a mutt and he's liable to attack on his own," she said, "This is the last warning before I shoot. Leave."
"We're not going anywhere," Kainen said lowly.
"Suit yourself," she said as she pulled the trigger on the shotgun while the right and left heads released their fireballs. Kainen and Akemi stood at the ready, Kainen sincerely hoping that Akemi had some sort of water spell to shield them from the fireballs.
"Heavenly Blast!" was suddenly announced from the forest as a large sphere of Heavenly Magic came flying across the battlefield, stopping the fireballs from hitting their mark. Though, this caused a large explosion to erupt. Kainen moved to cover Akemi in the process. As he moved he suddenly felt a sharp pain through his upper left arm, but he ignored it for the time being. The dust began to settle from the explosion, three hooded figures appearing as the smoke and dust completely dispersed. Kainen and Akemi looked over at them, Kainen recognizing them as the three figures he had seen back at the inn.
"Kainen! Akemi! Are you all right?!" Sera shouted as she ran over to them with Zell closely following her.
"Yeah, I think we're okay," Akemi answered.
"Kainen!" Sera said, once she stood in front of them, "Your arm!"
They all looked to his left arm to see blood seeping from it and running down his coat arm.
"I thought I had felt something during the explosion," Kainen said, "What the hell hit me?"
"I told you that I never miss," the woman still atop the hound said, "And it looks like you've made your decision. You'll regret staying here," she stated in her cold tone. With her warning being known, the woman seemed to melt away and disappear along with the hound, who faded away in black smoke. Silence filled the area as the two teams turned to look at each other.
"Thank you for your help," Akemi finally said.
"I'm just glad we were able to make it in time," a man answered, the same voice that had announced the spell. The figures then pulled their hoods down to reveal a man with blue hair and a red tattoo across his right eye. The other two figures were women, one with black hair and the other with pink hair.
Kainen and Sera stared at the three in slight surprise, knowing who two of them were at least vaguely.
"Jellal Fernandes? Correct? And Ultear Milkovich?" Kainen asked.
"Yes," Jellal answered, "How did you know our names?"
"We have history with the Magic Council," Kainen answered in a tone that said that no further information would be shared on that topic.
"Fair enough," Jellal said, "And this Meredy," he added, motioning towards the pink haired woman.
"Nice to meet you all," Akemi nodded to them before quickly introducing herself and her team.
"It's good to see that Thunder Stone has some dependable mages then," Jellal said, "You were able to handle the hound pretty well until that woman showed up. Rumors and gossip about your guild has been growing."
"Good rumors I hope," Kainen replied.
"For the most part," Jellal smiled, "So I'm guessing that you received a request to come out here?"
"Yes," Akemi answered, "But we didn't realize what we'd be facing. What are you three doing out here though?"
"We heard rumors of the things that were happening out here and we thought it fell into our area of expertise," Ultear answered.
"I hope you won't turn us into the authorities after we're finished here," Jellal mentioned.
"If you came all the out here to help, then I don't see a reason to turn you into anyone," Akemi shrugged, "But we do need to go into the town that's around here to get more information."
"That's what we had planned on doing as well," Jellal said.
"Good," Akemi replied, "But first, we're fixing your arm," she said, looking over at Kainen, "We can't have you passing out from blood loss, so sit down and take your coat off so I can heal your arm."
"You don't mess around, do you?" Kainen said, giving her a soft smile.
"Not when it comes to healing, now sit down," she ordered.
"Yes ma'am," he answered, sitting down on a nearby rock and took off his coat. He then looked back up to the three new mages, "By the way, do any of you know who that woman was?"
The Crime Sorciere group exchanged concerned glances before Jellal answered him, "No, we have no idea who she was."
"Well then, that's going to make things that much harder," Kainen frowned as silence filled the area again as Akemi worked on his arm and everyone fell into their own thoughts.
. : + : .
Night had fallen in Hargeon, but the beach was lit up in bonfires and torches to keep the party going for hours. By now, everyone had changed back into their regular clothes and drinks were constantly being passed around. All five members of the Thunder Stone team had been drinking well before the sun went down and each of them had a fairly good buzz going on. Music filtered all throughout the beach, causing many drunk members of the party to dance around by themselves or with each other. A couple drinking contests were going on and loud laughter and conversations could be heard everywhere. The moon shone brightly in the sky along with millions of stars, helping to light up the beach as well; and the air hung with the promise of a hot summer on the way. All in all, it was one of those perfect nights that came around every so often that the Thunder Stone team couldn't help but soak it in.
"This has to be one of the best days I've had in a long time," Quinn smiled, a dusting of pink across her cheeks from the beer. She leaned back in her chair and propped her feet up on the table she sat at with her team, holding onto her current beer.
"I agree!" Yuna shouted happily, "Even though that Quatro Cerberus guy totally cheated during our game of chicken! I would have won too!"
"We'll have to have a rematch some time then," Quinn said, "But I don't think you'll win."
"Says you," Yuna retorted, sticking her tongue out playfully at Quinn.
"I still can't believe you lost to that guy," Walker chuckled, looking between Quinn and Zander, "And that you lost that bet you made."
"Shut up," Quinn hissed, "He hasn't shown up to make good on the bet and you're gonna jinx me!"
"Little lady!" Bacchus's loud voice interrupted them.
"Thanks a lot," she grumbled at Walker.
"I've been looking for you," Bacchus smirked, leaning over the back of her chair, "I'm banking in on winning the bet now, so come dance with me!"
"Can't you just dance with one of the other women here?" she asked, "I know there are plenty of them just dying to dance with you," she said, not having missed all the women glaring over at her for taking Bacchus's attention away from them, not that she wanted his attention.
"But those women didn't make a bet with me," he retorted, "And you're much more interesting. But if you want to go back on your word, then that's your choice."
"I never said I was going back on my word!" she growled, slamming her beer down on the table, "You want a dance?! Fine! Let's go dancing!" she grumbled. Quinn then stood from her chair with a determined look on her face, but inside she was silently crying at what was about to happen. She grabbed Bacchus's hand and dragged him away from the table and out into the area that was being used as a dance floor, "All right, you're the one that wanted a dance, so start dancing."
"You're so demanding, little lady," he said, pulling one of her hands into his while the other went to her waist, "Are you even going to let me lead?"
"Whatever, so long as this is done as quickly as possible," she growled.
"You should really learn how to enjoy yourself more," he smirked before beginning to move to the beat of the music. Quinn tried to move with him, but she couldn't seem to find the right rhythm to move to, "What's wrong with you, little lady?" he asked, seeming confused that she didn't know how to move with him. It was when she stepped on his foot and he yelped in pain that he realized what was wrong, "You can't dance, can you?" he asked with a laugh.
"It's not funny!" she snapped, her face darkening from embarrassment.
"Oh man, that's priceless!" he continued laughing, causing Quinn's anger and embarrassment to grow, "Look, just follow me and you'll be fine."
"How am I supposed to follow you if I don't know what I'm doing?!" she hissed at him.
"I'm leading, so there's no need to worry."
The rest of her team watched in amusement, Diesel and Walker having a hard time trying to hold in their laughter.
"Who knew that big, tough Quinn didn't know how to dance!" Diesel said.
"And then watching her stumble along with Bacchus makes it even funnier!" Walker added.
While the others laughed at and teased Quinn from a distance, Zander watched the scene with a scowl on his face. It didn't matter if she didn't know how to dance, so long as the other partner knew what they were doing. Bacchus clearly didn't know what he was doing. Zander partly blamed it on the fact that he was drunk, but he mostly blamed it on the fact that Quinn didn't fully trust her dancing partner. Plus, Bacchus kept on making fun of her for it and Zander felt his eye twitch in irritation every time he heard the man laugh at her. When he finally watched Bacchus try and twirl her outwards and failed miserably by having Quinn land flat on her butt, Zander decided he was done watching. He slammed his own beer on the table and stood up, catching the attention of his team and silencing them as they watched him with curiosity.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow," Quinn said quickly, still sitting on the ground. She was pretty sure she had just landed on a rock. She sighed as she watched Bacchus stumble towards her, 'Isn't he done with this stupid dance yet?' she thought. Just when she thought she was going to have to reach out for Bacchus's hand again, the man was pushed back away from her
"Your dance is done," Zander stated lowly.
"I don't think so. She lost the bet, so she has to dance with me," Bacchus retorted.
"And she fulfilled her end of the bet," the redhead said sharply, "She danced with you and you threw her on her butt. So I think you're finished."
Bacchus stared him down for a moment longer. Though, he saw the determination in his eyes and knew then that this was a losing battle, "All right, all right," he said, "I know when I've lost," he added as he looked over to Quinn, "Thanks for the dance, little lady!" he grinned before disappearing from the area.
Zander then turned around and helped Quinn up off the ground, "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered, dusting sand off of her, "A bit humiliated, but otherwise fine," she added, still feeling the flush of embarrassment on her cheeks. She turned to walk away from the dance floor, but a grip on her hand kept her in place. She glanced back to see Zander was holding her back and she quirked an eyebrow at him as if to ask what he was doing.
"Dance with me," he said simply.
"What?"
"Dance with me."
"Uh…you did just see me fail miserably at that, right?" she asked, "I can't dance, so you can laugh or whatever already."
"You can dance with me. I won't laugh."
"I…" she began, drifting off for a moment. She would have thought he was joking, but the serious look on his face told her that he had meant what he said. Still, she didn't feel like being embarrassed for a second time in one night, "I don't think so. I'm just gonna look stupid."
"You won't. I promise you'll be able to dance with me," he said, still gripping her hand, "Just trust me."
Quinn stood quiet for a moment longer, silently debating with herself on what to do. Finally, she sighed heavily, feeling like she was going to regret what she was about to say, "Okay, I'll dance with you."
"Great," Zander finally smiled as he pulled her towards him. He continued to hold her hand while he smoothly moved his other arm around her waist, "Now, that drunken idiot was right about one thing. The man leads in dancing, so you'll have to trust in what I'm doing, okay?"
"This isn't a life or death situation, ya know."
"See? You're already fighting me," he smirked at her, "So if you don't want to end up back on the ground, you will need to trust me as a dancing partner."
"Okay, okay, I get it," she said, "You're in charge."
"I think that's the first time I've heard you say something like that," he chuckled lightly.
"Keep it up and you'll be the one on your butt," Quinn grumbled.
"All right, let's get started then," he said, finally beginning to move to the rhythm of the music. He noted that it was a little smoother than when she first started with Bacchus, but it still felt rough; though he expected that. He saw that she was staring down at her feet, trying her best not to step on his own. He rolled his eyes as he called out to her, "Quinn."
"What?" she asked, not looking up at him.
"Stop looking at your feet."
"I'll end up stepping on you if I do that."
"You said you trusted me, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then look up at me."
"But-"
She was quickly cut off as he lifted her chin up, "Stop trying so hard and just look at me. I've got the mechanics of the dance under control. Dancing is meant to be enjoyed, not forced."
Quinn simply nodded in reply, unable to find words to respond with. Zander finally felt her body relax and fully let him take over what was going on. He began moving them in circles along to the beat, Quinn feeling surprised that she was actually moving along with him. She wanted to look down to see what she was doing, but she feared that would mess up their sudden rhythm, so she kept her eyes locked onto Zander's. Zander began to pick up the pace, finding it easy to move Quinn to where he wanted now. He tested the waters a little more and spun her outwards once before quickly pulling her back in and moving back into their quickened pace, matching the pace of the music. It was then that he finally saw Quinn crack a smile as she began enjoying the dance.
"I…uh…I didn't know you could dance so well," she said softly, still not looking away from him out of fear that she would screw things up, "Did someone teach you?"
"I learned from a young age," he answered, not feeling like fighting her on questions of the past at the moment, "And it just sorta stuck."
"Is that where your super neat handwriting came from too?" she smiled up at him.
"Probably," he said, spinning her out again.
"Well what other things are you hiding from me, Zander Ealdwine?" she asked playfully, "Do you know how to tame lions too?"
"I probably could if I tried," he said, giving her his infamous smirk. Quinn felt her heart beat a little faster at the sight of that smirk, but she refused to show it, "I am a man of many talents."
"Clearly."
"And what about you, Quinn Lohr?" he said, "What are you hiding from me? I never would have guessed that you didn't know how to dance."
"I never got around to learning it," she said, "And it never seemed important enough to learn."
"Well, that'll teach you, won't it?"
"Shush you," she replied, "And like you, I'm a woman of many talents, so I'll guess you'll just have to wait and see what I can and can't do."
"I'll be waiting with baited breath then to see what you can do."
Quinn normally would have thought he was joking with a comment like that, but the sincere look on his face as he said it made her think differently. He definitely knew how to surprise her and she couldn't help the blush that dusted her cheeks once again as she stared up at him. She noticed that the usual mischief and arrogance that his eyes held had been replaced with a kind warmth. It caught her so off guard to see him looking her with eyes like that, that she had to look away, causing her to trip up slightly.
"Hey now," he said softly, guiding her back into the rhythm again, "Don't trip up on me just yet."
Quinn found the strength to look at him again, seeing the moonlight glinting in the dark blue of his eyes. She felt him began to twirl her into smaller circles, but she kept her eyes locked on those moonlit pools of his, feeling something bubble in her stomach and in her heart, 'Holy shit! No!' she thought, 'There's no way! Not this idiot! I can't like this idiot!' she shouted in her head. She felt him twirl her one last time before he pulled her back a little more closely than she thought he would. Quinn told herself it was because the song had stopped and he had simply made a dramatic ending by pulling her back so quickly like that, but then she noticed that he hadn't let her go. Her heart raced much faster than when he had smirked at her and she was sure that her cheeks had turned dark red. He continued to stare down directly at her and she suddenly felt at a complete loss at what to do next. Those eyes kept her locked in place, her whole body unable to move.
"I told you that you could dance with me," he finally said.
"Uh…" was all she could get out at first and she was suddenly beginning to understand why Walker acted like a giant buffoon in front of Kat, 'Seriously?!' she thought, 'Do you hate me God?! Why him?! Of all the guys out there, why him?!'
"Quinn?" he said, interrupting her internal struggle.
"Uh…yeah! You can definitely dance!" she said loudly, knowing her voice sounded completely off, "Thanks, ya know, for stepping in! I had a lot of fun, really! But I…I really need a drink right now! So I'm just…gonna go over there!" she continued awkwardly, managing to pull away from him and run off into the crowd of people.
"Quinn. Quinn!" he shouted, but she had completely disappeared from his sight.
A heavy arm around his shoulder quickly caught his attention. He looked up to see Conall smiling widely down at him, "That sure was some real dancing, my boy!"
"You think so? She ran away so quickly, like she didn't like it or something."
"I'm banking on 'or something'," Conall chuckled.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Once again, you'll figure it out one of these days," Conall smirked, inwardly laughing at the fact that Zander had no idea what he had just done with that dance, "Now come have a beer with me already!"
"Yeah, yeah," Zander answered. He glanced back to where Quinn had disappeared to, wondering what had just happened. He finally shrugged to himself and followed after Conall.
A/N: Well there you go! I hope you all enjoyed it!
I'll have the next chapter up soon!
Please remember to review!
Yours Truly,
MyDearWatson