Bonds, Part 1
After helping to apply bandages onto Darren's right shoulder and Alicia's back, Virgo backs away and bows solemnly to them, Natsu, Lucy and Happy.
"It is done." Virgo replied.
"Thank you, Virgo." Lucy said as she and her friends bow back to her. She holds up her key and Virgo glows white as she returns back into the Celestial Spirit World. Afterwards, Lucy puts away her key and she and her friends look back at the forest in front of them.
"Well, I guess we have no choice but to make our way through this forest." Natsu said.
"Hopefully, we'll find some way to contact the others." Darren added.
"Thankfully, we have an expert in nature to guide the way." Lucy said smiling as she places her hand on Alicia's shoulder.
"You can count on me. But I'll also need Happy to look out for us from above the forest." Alicia said before turning her head to Happy.
"Aye aye, sir!" Happy responded while giving Alicia a salute, but he quickly shook his head and corrects himself. "I mean, captain! I mean, your Majesty! I mean-"
Alicia groans and rolls her eyes back as she points her finger skyward. "Just fly up there."
"Okay!" Happy replied as he looks up and flies into the sky.
"Let's go." Alicia said as she walks the others and enters the forest. Natsu, Lucy and Darren follow her from behind shortly after.
For the next eighty minutes, Alicia, Natsu, Lucy and Darren continue walking their way through the large forest filled with densely-planted overgrown trees. As they travel deeper into the forest; the trees and terrain around them look bigger and taller, thus making it seem that the distance between the boundaries of the forest and their current location continue to grow greater. Every now and then, Happy would fly back down to their level and report on their current whereabouts. But so far, it seems that there is no end in sight.
When Happy flies back down to the four for the eighth time, Alicia inquired the exceed, "Have you seen the boundaries yet?"
"Let me guess…not yet?" Natsu asked wearily.
"Yup! You're right!" Happy said to his friend ecstatically.
"That's not something to be cheerful about!" Lucy shouted exasperatedly at Happy.
Alicia sighs heavily before saying to Happy, "Thanks. Continue to keep watch."
"Aye!" Happy replied before flying back up above the forest. Suddenly, Darren's stomach rumbled, causing Natsu, Lucy and Alicia to turn their heads to him.
"Seriously? Of all times?" Alicia asked Darren in annoyance.
"But I thought we had breakfast an hour ago?" Lucy said.
"I only had eggs for breakfast and nothing else." Darren replied.
"What?" Lucy asked.
"Hey! Don't blame me! Erza kept suggesting me that it's best for a fighter to eat less every day, and now her advice is stuck inside my head!" Darren yelled irritably.
"Ugh! This really sucks!" Natsu cried in frustration as he grabs the sides of his head and throws himself back. "Once again, we don't have Wendy and Estelle by our side to heal our wounds!"
"None of us has a lacrima with us." Lucy added miserably.
"And I'm going to starve and dehydrate all day." Darren groaned as he tilts his head to the side and rubs his stomach.
"But at least this forest sure is filled with these pretty flowers." Alicia smiled as she points her finger at some large-sized flowers growing out from the trunk of a strangler fig tree. Natsu, Lucy and Darren stare back in confusion, causing Alicia to look back at them with an arched eyebrow. "What? At least I'm trying to lighten our spirits."
"Well, I do admit these flowers look very nice. I think they even look as big as the Rafflesia." Darren said as he places his hands on his hips and examines the flowers on the tree beside Alicia. The flowers are huge and look four times the size of a human head. They either have blue or purple large petals with yellow outlines along their edges, as well as having wide circular yellow disk florets in the center, making them greatly resemble sunflowers.
"These flowers sure are everywhere in this forest." Lucy commented as she and Natsu look around to see more trees having the same flowers growing out from their trunks and branches.
"They sure look beautiful, but I wonder how a couple is going to give these flowers to each other on their dates." Natsu laughed at his own joke, but his comment made Lucy blushed as she thought about her relationship with him again.
"I wish I can stay here forever." Alicia murmured blissfully as she looks around their surroundings.
"WHAT?!" Natsu and Lucy both yelled furiously at her.
"I mean, as much as I want to stay here and look at these pretty flowers, it's still best for us to return back to civilization." Alicia said hastily as she holds up her hands defensively.
"When am I finally going to take a shower?!"
"I told you for the umpteenth time. Eventually!"
"How long is eventually?!"
As the two voices continue arguing with each other in the distance, Natsu, Lucy, Alicia and Darren widen their eyes upon hearing them.
"Are those voices I hear?" Darren said, perked up.
"And did she say…Sting?" Lucy uttered. She and Natsu soon gasped loudly as they turn to each other with their eyes nearly bugging out from their sockets.
"Sting Eucliffe?!" Lucy and Natsu both said in unison.
"Who?" Alicia asked, confused. But Lucy and Natsu ignored her as they quickly run after the direction of the voice.
"Hey, wait up!" Darren cried as he and Alicia hastily follow after them. The four soon rush over to some large bushes. As they kneel behind them, they slowly poke their heads out and see four people. Three of them are girls sitting down together on a large mat while one of them is a boy standing a few meters away from them. The boy has spiky blonde hair, dark blue eyes, a white guild tattoo on his left shoulder and a small, thin, diagonal scar above his right eyebrow. He wears a metal earring on his left earlobe, a sleeveless blue fur vest, a light gray top that only covers the upper section of his torso, leaving his abdomen bare, long dark blue gloves, white pants and long black boots that go up to his thighs.
"Come on Amelia. I know you now stink in those clothes, but can't you just tolerate a little longer?" The boy asked reasonably to one of the girls sitting on the mat while folding his arms. The girl he is talking to has long chocolate brown hair, tied to a long braid that goes all the way down to the back of her waist and wears glasses in front of her blue eyes, a sleeveless light gray school vest with a white collar shirt underneath it, a light blue tie around its collar, blue skirt, white stockings and white school shoes.
"Well if you really are the master of your guild as you claim, we would have already been outta this bloody forest 24 hours ago!" Amelia yelled exasperatedly as she slams her right hand on the mat.
"P-Please Amelia, c-calm down." One of the girls who are idly watching them pleaded to Amelia timidly. She is a short girl with messy shoulder-length white hair, red eyes and wears orange Chinese robes and sleeves with yellow highlights, light green pants and red and yellow Chinese shoes. "S-Sting is just trying h-his best-"
"Trying his best?!" Amelia snapped at the girl, causing her to flinch. "Mei Li, he should already be at his best if he is the master of a guild! Heck, I think you're a better helper than he ever is right now!"
"Amelia-sama, if you keep yelling like that, not only are you going to attract the Abbey's attention, but also perspire yourself even more." The third and last girl sitting on the mat said calmly to Amelia. She has short, light blue hair, brown eyes and wears a blue rose ornament on the left side of her head, a white cape that drapes over her shoulders, a sleeveless white dress, a white skirt, white stockings and white boots.
"Shut it, Yukino! And stop calling me sama, will ya?!" Amelia barked at the light blue haired girl, who just stared blankly back at her. While the irate girl is shouting at his guildmate, Sting turns his head to the bushes and his teeth breaks out into a huge grin.
"Hey, Natsu! Lucy! Is that you?!" Sting cried in both joy and surprise.
"Sting!" Natsu shouted happily as he, Lucy, Alicia and Darren stand up from behind the bushes.
"Yukino!" Lucy cried ecstatically to the light blue haired girl.
"Natsu-sama! Lucy-sama!" Yukino greeted Natsu and Lucy with a wide smile.
"Huh?" Amelia said as she and Mei Li stare at the four in confusion.
"Don't worry guys. These two are friends of ours." Lucy said to Darren and Alicia as Natsu step out from the bushes and walks over to Sting. When the two Dragon Slayers are near each other, Natsu and Sting hold up their arms and clasp onto each other's hands.
"Long time no see, White Dragon Slayer! What brings you to this part of Fiore?" Natsu asked with a wide grin.
"Just like all the other guilds in Fiore, Sabretooth is assigned by the Magic Council to find magicless people who have mysteriously appeared in our world." Sting explained with a smirk before turning to the three girls sitting on the mat. "Yukino and I managed to find these two who have been surviving out in this forest for the last two months."
"It was a nightmare!" Amelia shrieked with her eyes and hands shaking.
"Where is your friend Rogue?" Lucy asked as she, Alicia and Darren approached Sting and Yukino, who slowly stands up from the mat.
"And where is Lector?" Happy asked as he flies down to them. Amelia and Mei Li widen their eyes in awe as they see him.
"Is that a talking cat with wings?!" Amelia cried flabbergasted.
"He's cute…" Mei Li whispered as her cheeks blushed and her lips curved up to a small smile.
"See! I told you exceeds do exist!" Sting cried to the two girls. Amelia grabs Mei Li's left hand and straightens it before she bends over and places it above her head.
"Go ahead, Mei Li. Hit me as hard as you can." Amelia said while Mei Li stares back at her in confusion.
Yukino sighs at Amelia before she turns to Lucy and explained, "Rogue and Minerva are working together and searching for magicless people at the northwest side of Fiore, while Lector and Frosch are back in our HQ. How have you been, Lucy-sama?"
"If I say we went through a lot of trouble with the Abbey for the last two months, will that surprise you?" Lucy asked flatly. Yukino chuckled in response.
"Who are these two?" Sting asked Natsu and Lucy as he stares at Darren and Alicia.
"Oh they are Darren Leong and Alicia Ribery, two magicless people that we came across." Natsu said as he and Sting release their hands and lower their arms. Mei Li and Amelia gasped.
"Magicless people? You mean two other people from our world?" Amelia said. Mei Li smiled in relief as small tears of joy form in her eyes.
"We are not alone after all." Mei Li uttered and wipes away her tears. She stands up and shyly bows down to Alicia. "N-Nice to meet you, Alicia. I-I'm Wang Mei Li."
"Likewise, Mei Li. Where are you from?" Alicia asked with a warm smile.
"China." Mei Li replied softly as she stands back up straight.
"China! What a lovely country!" Alicia said enthusiastically, causing Mei Li to blush and shake nervously. "I'm from New Zealand." She gestures her to Darren. "Darren here is from Singapore."
"Ni hao, Mei Li." Darren greeted Mei Li, smiling as he waves his hand at her.
"N-Ni hao!" Mei Li responded nervously as she gave a quick bow of her head to him.
"Nice to meet you, Darren and Alicia. I'm Sting Eucliffe." Sting said as he extends his hand to them.
"And I'm Yukino Agria." Yukino said, bowing to them.
"Nice to meet you both." Darren replied as he shakes hands with Sting and Yukino. Alicia also shook hands with them before walking over to Amelia.
"Hi, I'm Alicia Ribery. What's your name?" Alicia asked Amelia politely as she extends her hand to her. Amelia gets up and brushes off whatever dirt is there on her thighs.
"Amelia Greenleaf." Amelia replied flatly as she shakes Alicia's hand. After she lets go, Alicia chuckled nervously as she wipes her hand onto her shorts to brush off the dirt.
"Judging by the accent, you must be from Australia." Alicia said, smiling back at Amelia.
"Spot on there." Amelia shrugged.
"Well then, nice to meet you, neighbor!" Alicia said cheerfully as she wraps an arm around her, causing Amelia to groan and roll her eyes.
"Sting, Yukino, we are wondering if you have a lacrima or a map with you to help us get out of this forest. Do you?" Natsu asked.
"Unfortunately, our lacrima got busted during our last encounter with the Abbey while we were protecting these two." Sting said grimly, causing Natsu and Lucy to sigh dishearteningly. However, his frown quickly turns into a wide grin as he gave a thumbs-up to them. "But Yukino and I still got a map!"
"Ta-dah!" Yukino cheered as she shows them a map of Fiore.
"ALRIGHT!" Natsu, Lucy and Happy all whooped excitedly as they throw their arms into the air. Afterwards, Natsu and Happy proceed to dance happily by pumping their fists and lifting their legs up and down.
"We got a map! We got a map! We got a map! To get out of here!" Natsu and Happy sang as they do so. Sting, Yukino, Lucy, Darren, Alicia and Mei Li chuckle as they watch them celebrate while Amelia groans again as she lowers her head and plants a hand on her face.
"Oh great! Like my life isn't enough of an endless torture when I now have to deal with these idiots who are acting like they are off their chops!" Amelia said morosely. When she lifts her head back up, she shouts at Natsu and Happy, "THAT'S ENOUGH OUTTA YOU TWO! STOP ACTING LIKE YOU'RE HIGH ON PINGAZ!" She gestures to Sting and Yukino. "And even if we have a map, these two muppets still couldn't find their way around this place for days!"
"It's probably a big forest, Amelia. I remember back in our world, there are forests that can take more than a day to travel through and out." Alicia said to Amelia, who pouts at her as she adjusts her glasses.
"She's right." Yukino said as she turns the map around and looks down on it. Lucy goes over to her side to take a closer look as well. "According to the map, it seems we are in the largest forest in all of Fiore, the West Forest. Sting and I originally came from the town of Petunia, located fifty miles west from the forest. That was where the Magic Council got their reports that two portals have mysteriously appeared above this area. So we just need to keep travelling west until we're finally out here."
"But the problem is, we have been doing so for the last two days, and yet we still can't find our way out of here." Sting said.
"Let me take a look at that." Alicia said to Yukino and Lucy as she extends out her hand to them. Yukino hands the map over to Alicia and she looks at it. She spotted the town of Zinnia on the map before placing her finger on the Spiegel River.
"Ever since we left Zinnia yesterday, we have been travelling north through the Spiegel River." Alicia said as she slides her finger upwards through the river until she spotted a small stretch of land just outside a forest on the map. She taps her finger on the small piece of land as she continued, "We arrived here at this side of the river, and we kept travelling straight from there ever since. So we have been travelling west." Alicia slightly turns her head to her left and spotted the location of Petunia. "The town of Petunia which Yukino and Sting mentioned is about 30 to 40 degrees left from this piece of land. So I say…" Alicia lifts her head up and lowers her map as she points her finger up. "We travel northeast!"
"Way a go, Alicia!" Lucy said cheerfully as she gave her a pat on the shoulder.
"You're the best!" Happy added.
"Righto!" Amelia exclaimed as she walks past the others and towards the direction Alicia is pointing at. "If that's the way outta this bush, then let's get outta here before the mozzies come out. Move!"
As Amelia kept walking, Alicia folds the map and hands it back to Yukino. "What's her issue?" Alicia asked Yukino.
"She's been like that ever since we found her." Yukino replied as she takes back her map and puts it away.
"Actually, she has always been like that ever since we first met each other." Mei Li said after wrapping up her mat.
"What's a mozzie?" Natsu asked in confusion.
"HURRY UP, YA KNOBS!" Amelia shouted from a distance as she kept walking.
"Coming! Don't get too far ahead of us now!" Alicia yelled back at her.
"WHATEVER!" Amelia responded as the others quickly catch up to her while Happy flies back up above the forest.
As they continue travelling, Alicia, who is again ahead of the large group, escorts everyone through the forest as Yukino, Lucy and Amelia follow closely behind her. Darren and Mei Li are conversing with each other as they, Natsu and Sting walk together at the back of the group. Although Mei Li is still feeling shy towards Darren, she tentatively listened to him as he explains to her what he has been doing with Fairy Tail and Brave Vesperia for the last two months since he arrived to Earth Land.
"Wow. So for the past two months, this guild that Natsu and Lucy are in was training you to be a swordsman to fight against those knights in white?" Mei Li said softly in Darren in amazement.
"That's right." Darren said, nodding his head.
"Amazing." Mei Li replied with a wan smile. "B-back in China, I-I was a p-practitioner of…Taiji Quan."
"Taiji Quan? That's awesome!" Darren replied as his smile widens.
"Y-you know what that is?" Mei Li asked nervously as she cringed.
"Of course I do! I love playing as Chun-Li in Street Fighter back in our world." Darren said.
"I-I see." Mei Li responded, shyly shifting her eyes away from Darren.
"In fact, why not show some of your fighting moves to us?" Darren asked.
"Well…" Mei Li said as she grew more nervous.
"Yeah! Show it to us! I would love to see what this Tai Gee Choo-ang is!" Natsu said enthusiastically to Mei Li, causing her to flinch.
"It's 'Tai-Jee-Chu-an', Natsu." Darren corrected Natsu.
"Oh. I mean Tie Glee Choo Nan?" Natsu said in confusion.
"No, Natsu. It's Tie Chi Qoo Ang?" Sting said, arching an eyebrow.
Darren groans and said slowly to the two Dragon Slayers, "No, it's 'Tai-Jee-'"
"WILL YOU WANKERS JUST SHUT UP?!" Amelia shouted as she turns her head around to them. Darren, Natsu and Sting stare back at her in bewilderment while Mei Li whimpered and trembled at the sight of Amelia's fury. "I mean dear Lord! All I just want is some peace and quiet as we finally get outta this damn forest so I can take a damn shower!"
"Come on Amelia. They are just trying to get along." Alicia said to her.
"Are you going to argue or help us get outta here?!" Amelia snapped back at Alicia, who stays silent as she frowns back at her. "And don't go being useless on me now like that yellow haired dropkick over there!"
"This situation would have been easier if I could use my smell right now." Sting said as he places his hands behind his head. "But for some reason, I seem to have lost it as soon as Yukino and I set foot in here."
"Come to think of it, I realized that I can't use mine either right now." Natsu said as he rubs the bottom of his nose.
"What? It's like you just got your magic racked from you or something?!" Amelia asked, flustered.
"That's probable." Lucy said.
"Huh?" Amelia turns to Lucy.
"When Fairy Tail and I were in Edolas, we instantly lost our magic and we only regain them after taking some pills." Lucy explained.
"Are you saying this forest took away our magic?" Yukino said as everybody came to a halt. Suddenly, Natsu thrusts his fist into the air, causing Mei Li to quickly back away from the Fire Dragon Slayer. However, nothing happened and Natsu widens his eyes and gapes his mouth open in shock.
"I can't unleash my flames." Natsu said.
"Flames?" Mei Li said confused.
"Lucy is right! This forest does take away our magic!" Sting cried in horror.
"But if this forest takes away magic, then how can Happy still use his wings?" Darren said.
"Did somebody call me?" Happy asked as he flies back down to their level. Everybody glance at the exceed for a moment before Lucy takes out her key and holds it up in the air.
"I CALLED UPON THEE, OPENING THE GATE OF THE RAM!" Lucy shouted as she swings her key horizontally. "ARIES!"
A woman with long pink hair, a pair of twisted horns on her head and dressed in a white fluffy wool-like getup magically appears before everyone. Amelia drops her jaw as she stares at Aries dumbfounded while Mei Li gently places her hands on her cheeks.
"Hooley dooley." Amelia uttered as she adjusts her glasses. "That ain't something you see every day..."
"Beautiful." Mei Li murmured, staring at Aries in awe.
"What is it, Lucy?" Aries said timidly to Lucy.
Lucy sighs in relief as she holds up her key. "My Celestial Spirit key magic works perfectly fine."
"Then that means only Dragon Slayer magic is being taken away by this forest. But why?" Yukino asked.
"There they are!"
Everyone gasped as they turn their heads to their left to see four praetors running over to them. Mei Li widens her eyes in horror as she cowers behind Darren, who quickly draws out his katana and holds it in front of him.
"It's them!" Mei Li cried. "The knights in white!"
"Praetors!" Natsu snarled as he and Sting clench their fists and get into their fighting stances. Aries stood in front of Lucy and gets into a battle stance as well. Lucy and Yukino hold up their keys and Alicia gets out her yo-yos as the three prepare to fight as well. The four praetors stop for a moment to take a look at their enemies.
"There are four more of them now?" The shortest male praetor of the group cried in bewilderment.
"Why are they now increasing every day?!" Another male praetor yelled.
"It doesn't matter! We'll just do whatever it takes to get what we want!" The sole female praetor who stood in front of the small group barked as she draws out a sword from her scabbard. The other taller male praetors draw out their spears while the shortest male praetor holds up his gauntlets and clenches his fists. Suddenly, the female praetor points her sword at Natsu, Lucy and the others and screamed, "ATTACK!"
The other praetors yell as they charge towards them. Natsu, Sting, Darren, Alicia, Aries and Lucy also run towards them and begin their fight.
Sovereign: I would like to thank AquaBluey and Ushindeshi for reviewing and chloemcg for favoriting my story! And also a very special thanks to Crimson-Tuna-Sub for helping me 'Australify' Amelia's dialogue. Thanks everyone!
It's been a while, but it's good to return back to this story. This is also my first story update of 2020, so I hope all of my readers are having a good new year so far. Originally, I was going to include the fight between the praetors and our heroes in this chapter. But I felt the chapter had already gone on long enough and I decided to save the fight for the next chapter instead. Don't worry, the next chapter will be out very soon since I've wrote most of the fight already. Anyways, it's great for me to return back to writing in the start of the New Year! Stay tune for the next chapter and read and review!