Fairy Tail is not mine, but I own Vega and her dragons. Erik and this version of Kinana are mine too! The Celestial Demons belong to fairytailcrossover! I have permission to use them!
'People think we had a love-hate relationship. Well, I did not love him, nor did I hate him. We had a mutual respect for each other, even as we both planned each other's murder.'
~Werner Herzog
I raised an eyebrow at the two Celestial Demons in front of me. I had summoned them together as they had requested, but after spending five minutes in their combined presence, I was starting to wonder if I had made a mistake by listening to their request.
"Well, well, if it isn't the glorified earthworm."
"Nice to see you too, fang face. Turn anyone to stone recently?"
"Break any stones apart? You never know, they could have been my victims."
I looked back and forth between the Naga woman, and the dark-skinned man and facepalmed.
"You two wanted me to summon you together just to snark at each other, didn't you?" I accused, pointing a condemning finger at the two of them.
Medusa grinned at me, her snake fangs on display as she smiled. She was inhumanly beautiful, emphasis on the inhuman, as she was a massive black snake from the waist down. Her upper body was a voluptuous woman with ivory skin, and her assets barely held in check by a black scaled bikini top. She didn't have hair, but she did have a nest of writhing black mamba snakes that connected to her scalp and moved independently of her control. Her eyes were bright gold, mesmerized me with the hoarding instincts that they awakened as I tried to pick out any other colors in their depths.
Edafos, on the other hand, let out a belly-shaking laugh. The tall man was dark-skinned in almost direct contrast to Medusa, as his skin was cacao in coloration, directly complimenting his royal blue hair and eyes. He was dressed in simple green slacks that were coated in a layer of dirt and held up by a tan belt, and sturdy mining boots. His upper torso was bare, however, giving me a good look at the toned muscle that spoke of a lifetime of hard work. A sharp pick-ax was slipped through one of the belt loops and looked as if it had been used on multiple occasions with the nicks and scratches that decorated it. A grin showed off his snow-white teeth.
"Of course, we did darling." Medusa immediately agreed, her smile widening just a bit more. "The earthworm and I work better together than apart, so we always pull this test to make sure our contractor can handle the two of us at our worst."
"Me and fang face are friends," Edafos assured, his smile constant. "Best friends, in fact." His smile turned slightly sheepish. "We just tend to snark at each other constantly when we are fighting together."
Medusa huffed imperiously as she tossed her snake nest behind her shoulder and crossed her arms underneath her impressive bust. "It's not our fault they can't handle us as a team."
I pinched the bridge of my nose in slight irritation before heaving out a sigh. "As long as you two keep it professional and do the job I call you out for," I relented. "I'll call you out together as often as possible."
"Thank you, little demoness." Edafos thanked, his smile seemingly brightening. "We will do our best."
I gave him a tired smile. "That's all I ask."
"Vega!" I whirled around as I heard Erik yell behind me. Right as I turned however, the young Poison Dragon Slayer slammed into me and sent us both tumbling down the hill until we reached the meadow. I laughed as Erik ended up on top of me. "Are you done with the summons yet?!" He demanded. "Can I meet them?!"
"Sure, Erik." I relented as I pushed him off of me. "Come on. Medusa should be interesting even if she doesn't want to play, and Edafos seems like a giant teddy bear."
I stood up and pulled him to his feet as Medusa and Edafos made their way down the hill. Edafos' face was stretched into a wide eager grin, but Medusa's face was carefully blank as if she was reserving judgment on Erik.
Erik's grin was bright and happy as Kinana winged her way down the hill to join us and flopped unceremoniously across his shoulders. "Hi, there!" He greeted brightly. "My name's Erik Cosmitella! I'm Vega's little brother and a Poison Dragon Slayer!" He waved a hand at Kinana. "This is Kinana! She's a Havati Serpent, which means she's one of the most venomous snakes ever, and she's my best friend in the whole wide world!"
Edafos threw his head back with a booming laugh as Medusa looked shell shocked at the cheerful boy. "Well met Erik!" The Bluecap answered, his eyes glittering with joy at Erik's enthusiasm. "My name is Edafos. I'm a Bluecap, which means I am what you would consider an Earth Wizard." He pointed at Medusa, who was still standing next to him, frozen in shock. "This is Medusa. She's a Gorgon, which means she's just as venomous as Kinana, and she's my best friend in the entire world."
Erik beamed his smile as bright as the sun as he looked over the two of them.
After a few seconds, Edafos elbowed Medusa hard in the side, startling the Gorgon out of her frozen state. Medusa looked over Erik for a moment longer, before a small, hesitant smile crossed her face. "It's nice to meet you." She greeted softly as she held out a hand for him to shake. "I think I'll enjoy teaching you the ways of a viper."
Erik's smile somehow seemed to grow even brighter as he took the offered hand.
"Concentrate!" Edafos barked as I barely dodged around another stalagmite while blindfolded. "Feel the rock shift beneath your feet! You are one with the earth, it is an extension of yourself!"
As another rock spire shot out of the ground in front of me as I flipped backwards to avoid it, using one foot to bounce off the stalagmite that I had dodged before to propel myself into the air. My ears twitched as a sound reached me, and I twisted in the air to avoid what smelled like a stream of poison. "That was a good try, Erik," I heard Medusa praise. "But you need to remember to aim where she's going to be, not where she is."
"Yes, Medusa." I heard Erik return before I was again forced to dodge and dance around several different streams of poison until I nearly smacked right into a stone pillar. Luckily I managed to twist myself just in time to grab onto it and use my momentum to swing myself around it with little trouble.
As I landed, I immediately flung myself into a roll as Erik's poison streams curved around and headed for me again. As I mindlessly allowed myself to slip into battle meditation, I mused over the last few weeks of training.
Edafos was a master of Earth Sense, sensing the vibrations of the earth to fight blind and deaf if needed, and Earth Manipulation. It was initially tough for me to visualize through waves, as I was more used to using air vibrations instead of earth. Still, I started to pick it up after more than a few bumps, bruises, and one memorable moment when I broke my arm in three places trying to avoid an earth pillar.
Perfecting it would take time and effort, but I was more than willing to put in the long hours to master it.
Erik was a bit of a different case. Medusa, despite her intense hatred of men, had taken him under her wing as an apprentice in the art of poison manipulation. He had gotten pretty good at it, too, mostly by using me as a moving target while I trained my Earth Sense.
I ducked under another poison stream, also dodging under a flying stone in the process, before tapping into my magic and beginning a counterattack. "Celestial Earth Dragon's Rising Pillar!" I slammed a glowing gold and brown hand into the ground, where the impact spread out beneath me and shot me into the sky on the top of a pillar of stone and earth. As it reached the crux of its motion, I took a flying leap off of it and twisted mid-air to avoid another stream of poison and more flying stones as it free fell towards the ground. "Celestial Earth Dragon's Giga Impact!" Brown light flared around me in a protective shield as my body slammed into the ground.
The earth beneath my body buckled, and then shattered, toppling everyone to the ground as they couldn't keep their footing. I shakily climbed to my feet and ripped off my blindfold. "Looks like I win this round!" I crowed triumphantly as I took in the sight of Erik sprawled over a small patch of grass, Medusa tangled up in the branches of a tree, and Edafos half-buried in the ground.
