Ichiya tried healing parfum, but it did not affect. Erza shivered, clutching her purple arm. She continued to groan in agony. Laura felt somewhat relieved she couldn't hear too well.
Lyla had talked about Angel, the girl to the Oracion Seis. Angel was a celestial spirit wizard with a contract to a spirit named Gemini, who could copy the appearance and recent memories of anyone they see. She was the reason the rest of Oracion learned the allied forces' plans and shot down Christina. Luckily, no one was on the ship. Eve said it was remotely controlled and they were supposed to take over later.
After informing everyone about this, Lyla had slipped away and teleported somewhere. Laura didn't say anything about it.
Laura was forced back to reality when Erza took Lucy's belt that held up her skirt. She wrapped it tightly right beneath her shoulder where Cobra's poison hasn't spread head.
"Just what are you going to do with that?" Lucy asked.
Laura already knew the answer.
"It's harsh, but it's the only way I can keep fighting," Erza said, taking off her glove and biting on the cloth. She threw her sword with the blade stabbing the dirt ground. "Somebody cut it off."
Everyone gasped.
"At least give us time to find an antidote!" Gray begged.
"We don't have time."
Wendy. Laura felt that girl's magical power. So similar to Natsu's, yet less destructive…
Lyon walked up to the sword, clutching the grip and lifting it from the ground.
"Put down down the sword!" Gray commanded, but Erza's wishes counteracted his. Sherry jumped in, trying to defend Lyon, but Lucy bit back. Insult, anger, and pain left no room to breathe. Laura couldn't take a big enough gulp of air.
Lyon walked up to Erza, raising the sword. He swung down and Laura expected a clean-cut, but ice shards cracked and shattered instead.
Gray stood in front of Lyon, using ice from his hands to stop the blade. He so desperately wanted everyone to stop and find another solution. Laura had found one, or she assumed.
"Wendy," Laura spoke. Everyone turned to her. All those eyes. She couldn't run. There's no use running. She hasn't been caught either. She can't get caught. "Can't Wendy help her?"
"She right." Carla said, "This is no time to be bickering amongst ourselves. We need to work together to come up with a plan to rescue Wendy."
Laura kept her mouth shut from her, lowering her head. She nudged the ball and Carla kept it rolling. She had nothing more to do but let everyone catch up to what she already knew.
She noticed Lyla teleport behind the wizards from blue pegasus. Laura gave her a look to tell her where they were in this situation. Lyla seemed to understand.
"That's crazy. Everyone knows healing spells are lost magic." Sherry commented.
"It is not. In fact, Wendy is the Sky Dragon Slayer. She's Wendy the sky dragon."
Laura didn't react as surprised as the rest. Her suspicions had simply been confirmed.
"You guys couldn't solve that sooner? Oh, you're all idiots. Of course." Lyla said, announcing herself to the group and making the pegasus trio jump.
"Hey, when did you get here?!" Gray questioned.
"I've always been here." The teen smirked.
Oh, how lies came so easily to them. A skill that let them make it this far.
Everyone gathered together and agreed to split up and look for Wendy. Everyone became determined and had risen their spirits. Natsu wanted Happy back, and they all knew Wendy would be valuable to save their friend. Laura only wondered how quickly these people would jump to their feet if Wendy didn't know any healing spells.
Lamia scale searched together, Blue Pegasus traveled the other way, and Fairy Tail went with Carla. Lucy and Hibiki said they would stay to look after Erza.
"I'll go this way. Shout if you need me." Laura pointed in a direction no one else had gone yet. She tried to keep her volume steady with her blood clotted ears.
"Ha! Nice shot, but you missed." Lyla took Laura's wrist and pulled her along with the rest of Fairy Tail.
"I can handle things on my own."
"Don't care!"
Laura growled, accepting her fate and running along with her guildmates. Carla led the way using white feathered wings to fly. Happy could do this too. Some specific magic their species possessed.
Carla answered Natsu's questions about Wendy. She was raised by the sky dragon Grandeenay before they disappeared seven years ago. Wendy also ate air to gain energy. Like how Natsu ate fire and the Iron Dragon Slayer ate metal. Laura believed his name to be Gajeel?
Natsu ran right into an uprooted tree, falling to the ground. This made Lyla burst into laughter. Laura tried hiding her smirk.
She heard a gasp of air. The Fairy Tail wizards turned to Carla, then they saw what she gasped at. Ahead of them was a forest of pure black trees. Tainted magic created fog too thick to run through with more encounters like what Natsu had just experienced.
Laura's guildmates turned behind them. She followed them to see two large men approaching them. Laura cursed under her breath that she couldn't hear them sooner.
One man had blond hair, the other had a black afro. Both had faces resembling a monkey's.
"Word on the street is it's caused by Nirvana. Ain't that right, Big Bro Zatou?" The blond one asked.
"Oh yeah. Magic so powerful the planet can't take it." The other said, "Everything it touches withers up and dies, Big Bro."
Countless other monkey-like men gathered in the trees, howling and laughing. Lyla and Laura stood back-to-back. Laura felt glad she didn't have to hold back. Her ears were already ruined so there would be no penalties fighting these chimps.
"Those two gotta be the dumbest monkey's I've ever seen!" Natsu exclaimed, so excited he danced like an actual monkey.
"I found a third…" Laura murmured through gritted teeth. Lyla chuckled, then wrapped her arm around Laura's.
"I trust you two can handle them. We'll get ya if we find Wendy and Happy." She told Natsu and Gray before teleporting away. They appeared on the other side of the dark section of the forest.
Laura's head started to spin and her stomach felt uneasy. She can't recall ever teleporting before. "We should rest…" She sat cross-legged on the ground. Lyla leaned against a giant tree trunk.
Laura took deep breaths of air, her head steadying and the pain slowly fading away. A few minutes had passed and neither of the girls had moved more than an inch
"Will we keep running?" Laura asked.
"We should. It would be easier if I could find Brain. Thanks to Nirvana I can't read anything."
Laura pointed at her ears. "I'm as useless as you."
"So yes, we should keep running."
The older woman nodded and stood up, continuing at Lyla's side. Whatever Natsu and Gray were doing, she could hear muffled explosions behind them. It must be one hell of a fight if she could hear it so well.
She could hear something else. Something in front of them. Hopefully, it would help her hear it clearer. She sprinted ahead and arrived at a wide river. She almost skidded into the rushing water when falling to her knees and plunging her head in. She shook her head before lifting her head and gasping for air. She rubbed and hit her ears, trying to get the tried blood out. There was so much that it gave the water a red tinge.
"You got it?" Lyla snarked.
Laura wiped her face with her cloak, then snapped her fingers by her ears. "They're not completely healed, but the blood's cleaned out."
"Wendy could probably fix that for you."
"She should if she knows healing magic." Laura stood up and took the lead, "Let's keep going. I hear magic down the water."
They walked, following the river. Laura could hear Wendy's magic, but she soon heard Brain's magic as well. Lyla sensed it too judging by her twisted snarl.
They stopped when seeing a waterfall ahead. It dipped into a tall crater. Several more waterfalls coming from all directions did the same. At the bottom of the crater was a small island with some grass.
Lyla sat down with her eyes closed, staying like that for a short while before speaking. "Yep. Brain's down there with five more. I don't recognize two of them." She opened her eyes to look at Laura, who sucked in a stream of air then slowly blew out.
"I just got my hearing back though…"
"Hmph," Lyla smirked, "I'd keep your hands too full to be able to fight."
Laura opened her mouth but stopped herself. She had a point there… "We rescue those two then ditch it." She stopped when she remembered, "What about Dragon Breath and Snow Queen?"
"Huh, guess I did say that." Upon standing up, she vanished for a second then reappeared with Natsu, Gray, and Carla standing behind her. "Below you." She told the three of them.
Laura watched Natsu walk up to the edge, shouting, "Happy! Wendy!"
She jumped, not expecting him to alert the enemy so recklessly.
"Hey! Quiet! Our enemy might be hiding down there!" Carla hissed
"He's dumb. If he can't use brute strength he's useless."
"How long have you been here? And how many people have you talked to lately?" Lyla questioned Laura, standing up.
"Please, Salamander is the most annoying out of all of us."
A point to Laura. Lyla just shrugged and accepted defeat.
Laura sensed something. She heard someone's magic. And before she could think anymore about it, a blur zipped by them and almost pushed Laura off of the cliff.
The wizard's name was Racer if she recalled correctly. He had a long nose with a blonde mohawk and red and white clothes. He ran up a tree and stood on one of the taller branches so it would be harder to land an attack.
"I can handle this. You guys need to get down there and help them." Gray told the others.
Racer smirked, jumping off of the branch, "You'll stay right here!" He then slipped on Gray's tower of ice, hitting the ground with a thud.
Laura saw Carla was out of commission from Racer running into them. "Where do we go?"
"Use this instead!" Gray created a spiraling slide down to the island. Natsu picked up Carla and slid down on his feet. Lyla hopped on and followed behind. Laura cautiously got on and came last. The ice froze through her clothes. Not like she was chilly from the weather anyway…
She nudged herself down the slide and let gravity do its own thing. She slid down faster and faster, being pushed against the ice. Below she saw Lyla had fallen on top of Natsu. They weren't getting up quick enough. Laura couldn't help but shriek like a child as she reached the end and fell on top of Lyla. She quickly stood up and sidestepped out of the way.
Lyla stood up and stared, "Did you…?"
"A word of this and you're dead!" Laura spat, stomping ahead. Lyla caught back up and they entered together. Inside they saw Wendy crying on the floor, apologizing as if she'd done unspeakable things. Brain stood across from her, his face a smug grin Laura wanted to tear off.
Laura noticed Lyla clutch onto the mask over her eye. Something triggered her. It could be Brain, it could be the injured wizard and cat, or it could be the young man that stared at them with eyes Laura couldn't read.
He had blue hair and a red tattoo on his right eye, He wore a sleeveless black shirt with pants and boots. Lyla reacted harshly to the sight of him. Laura could hear his magic, but she couldn't determine what kind it was. She had never come across his magic before.
"Jellal." She heard her friend hiss.