Author's Note: As always, thank you for the faves, follows, and reviews! :)


Walking Cliché 51

Timing is Everything

"Let's head out." Claire stated, facing away from the healer as she winced from the pain. She pulled her shirt back over her head, along with the poncho, and reached for the pack nearby.

"No way, you need to rest. Ah!" Wendy screamed, startled by the zombie that walked into their protection barrier. The fire mage easily strode forward and punched it in the face, causing the head to roll off and body to collapse next to it. Tired red and blue eyes locked with Wendy's brown ones, and the fire mage paused before saying anything else.

"If we stay here for much longer, we're going to get swarmed by those. We need to keep moving."

"Your stitches will open up again if we keep going."

"Then we can go slow." Handing over the smaller pack to her, the sky mage reluctantly took the pack and slung it back over her small shoulders. Suddenly feeling exceptionally aware of the creatures moving towards their location, she inched closer to the older woman. "We're going to be okay. Stop worrying so much." She said, and pulled her into a side hug, making a face at the resulting pain.

Wendy jumped again when another corpse walked into the barrier. "M-maybe we should stay here?"

"We can't risk them overrunning us in our sleep."

"But…"

"They're not that scary, when you think about them as what they really are." Claire started to speak, and strode forward again to take out the zombie, this time using her fire magic to quickly dispose of him. "They're just really gross dolls. They have no soul, no family, no intelligence or feelings whatsoever."

"How do you know that they have no soul?"

"I can see souls, and they don't have any."

"Well… even if they don't have souls… they were people once, too." Wendy said sadly, looking down at her feet.

"I know this is difficult, but we need to get moving. You need to be strong for me, okay?" Claire spoke, trying to use her 'sensitive motherly' voice to get her to move. Whenever Mike was being particularly stubborn over something, her voice apparently changed significantly, and Bickslow had caught her doing it more and more as of late.

"Y-you're right. I'm a Fairy Tail wizard." Wendy muttered, and wiped her face on her sleeve.

1.

Wednesday, March 19th, 3:00 PM

Bickslow and Fried spent most of the day planning routes to get Claire back.

They found the fastest route to Midi, the most likely place the Soul Circus would drop them off if they couldn't bring them back and how to get there, and planned several other scenarios that were less likely to happen. It made Bickslow feel more prepared and in the chance that they had to leave in a moment's notice, they were ready.

"Bickslow," Makarov interrupted the pair; they both looked up from their large map and notes. "I thought you should know, I just got an update from your grandmother."

"Did they find them?" Bickslow asked immediately, the old man shook his head.

"There's a 5 hour difference between here and Midi, and they just arrived at the border of Midi and Minstrel on the coast. They're sending their souls up and down the coast to search for them."

"If there's a 5 hour difference, then it must be nighttime there." Fried spoke, and he nodded.

"Good. Souls shine brighter in the darkness, so they'll be easier to spot for the wandering souls." Bickslow told them, still on edge.

"Remember, we don't know how far from the coast they were when they called. They may not even get there for a few days." Fried reminded him, and the seith mage glared.

"No shit."

2.

It took Claire and Wendy another full day of walking to finally reach the coast.

They were both exhausted.

They'd been in this country for well over 3 days and both of them just wanted to go home. Their feet were sore and bloody, Claire was low on blood and a number of other important bodily needs, and Wendy was sleep deprived and jumping at everything that moved in the shadows. The fire mage made sure that she got enough food, water, and at least some sleep, but the girl was still miserable.

The small glowing orb they'd been following quietly turned off and floated to Claire's outstretched hand, finding a home in the small pocket of her back pack. To their dismay they ended up at the top of a 100 foot cliff overlooking the ocean, and they couldn't find a path to the shoreline in the current darkness. Waves crashed on the jagged rocks at the base of the cliff, cold wind whipped at their hair, and they couldn't see anyone in the dark seawaters.

Stars blinked and shined beautifully above them, along with a half-full moon glowing an ominous red.

"What… what do we do now?" Wendy muttered, gazing out over the water. Although the ponchos saved their upper bodies from the cold, their sarongs whipped and twirled in the strong wind, exposing their legs.

"We rest." Claire stated, and set her pack on the ground. Yawning into the air, she stretched her sore limbs, glad that their hike was over. With a few flicks of her hand the protection barrier was around them again, and flashed a beautiful hue of pink and red.

Confused, the fire mage stopped, realizing that the young girl seemed anxious or unsure about what to do. They had ended up at a fairly spacious area with a small amount of grass, close but not too close to the edge, and a good view of the ocean water. It was bumpy and rocky, sure, but at that moment Claire would sleep just about anywhere.

"You okay?"

"I just… we finally made it? We just… rest?" Wendy asked, clutching the strap of her bag and glancing anxiously at their surroundings.

"Assuming Makarov got in contact with the Soul Circus and asked them to pick us up, they'll probably send their souls up and down the coast searching for us. Now we just take a nap and wait for them to find us."

"But what if they didn't get in touch with them?"

"Then we'll deal with it after we catch up on some z's."

"Why aren't we worried about zombies anymore?"

"Because the necromancer that cast them probably designed them to avoid walking off of cliffs. With any luck, we shouldn't be bothered by anything here. Any other questions?"

"… no…"

Wanting to just get some sleep, the fire mage dug into her pack and pulled out the simple brown blanket, and lay it on the ground. She used the pack to keep it tethered to the ground and then lay on it, using the leather pouch as a pillow, and fell asleep almost instantly.

The sky mage wasn't quite as fast to get comfortable, but after a while of standing there and shivering, she eventually lay down on Claire's blanket. Using her as a shield against the wind, she cuddled up to the older woman, and fell into an uneasy sleep.

3.

Thursday, March 20th, 4:00 PM

Bickslow was getting glared at by practically every person on the train.

It was rare that Bickslow hated being the parental figure to his babies. This was one of those times.

Claire's souls were being obnoxious. Babbling, talking, chatting, flying quickly up and down the aisles scaring the shit out of the other passengers. They missed their mom, were bored, and Bickslow prayed that they'd run out of juice soon. At this rate he'd get kicked off the train, and they hadn't even left Fiore yet.

"Can you make them not do that?" Fried requested, sitting across from the seith mage and glaring at the little bundles of energy. "I don't remember your… babies, being so rambunctious in the past."

"Technically they're Claire's souls. If I force them to unbind from their vessels it'll hurt like hell for them."

"Can't you do anything to get them under control?"

Bickslow frowned, looking back to the three souls that were currently babbling and spinning excitedly on the other side of the train car. Everyone was glaring at him. "Oi, babies. Get over here."

"Yay, dad time!"

"We love dad!" They exclaimed as they zoomed over and nuzzled into his chest.

"Don't butter me up like that. If you guys don't settle down, I'll have to forcefully unbind you. Don't make me do that."

"We don't want you to do that!" They all chorused.

"Then chill out."

"Snuggle time!"

"Snuggle, snuggle!"

Fried chuckled from his seat, entertained by the embarrassing show of affection for the older man. The seith mage tried to hide his blush by coughing into his hand and looking out the window, letting his babies enjoy their 'snuggle time'.

"Cute."

"Shut up." Bickslow grumbled.

4.

Wendy woke up to the sound of people talking nearby.

Thinking that it was their friends, she smiled and sat up, ready to greet the soul wizards she had met briefly in their visit to Magnolia and heard so much about from Bickslow and Claire. She was ready to go home.

Her face fell when she located the source of those voices.

One of them had the Ghoul Guild mark placed on his cheek, crouched down and grinning at her with a creepy smirk, and the two people behind him didn't look friendly either. On the other sides of the barrier were several zombies, scratching and reaching out to her from behind the force field. Quickly, she reached out and shook the fire mage's shoulder, trying to wake her.

"Where the hell is the snake, you little twerps?" A woman asked, wearing a full mask to cover her face.

"We know you both were there. You're not very good at covering your tracks." The grinning man stated, snickering at the end. He was exceptionally pale, his skin sheet white, and there were heavy bags under his eyes.

"Claire, wake up." Wendy spoke, shaking her friends shoulder again. When she looked down at the sleeping mage, her eyes widened. Her stitches had opened up in the night.

Quickly, she felt for a pulse on the woman's neck, and sighed in relief.

"Where the hell is our snake?" The female seith mage repeated. "We're going to kill you one way or another, but if you tell us, we'll make your death quick."

"You're not supposed to start by telling them that we're going to kill them, idiot. You're supposed to make it seem like we're going to let them go so that they're more willing to give us the information." The other standing mage scolded, and the woman gave out a frustrated yell.

"Their protection barrier is going to give out soon anyway. It's not like it fucking matters."

Wendy's gaze moved back to the force field, wondering if she was right, and could see that the letters flashing across the invisible wall seemed to be fading slightly. Oh no! If they get in here, we're done for! She thought, and looked back to the sleeping mage. What would you do if you were awake?

"Oi, doesn't she look a little familiar, actually?" The crouched man asked, turning to his comrades. "Doesn't she look like that dragonslayer from Fairy Tail?"

"I am! Wait, you guys aren't allowed to hurt us!" She declared, remembering a conversation she had with Erza. The Ghoul Guild were allowed to hurt Fairy Tail members, but strictly forbidden from killing them.

"If you were transported here from the train and there's no communications lacrima for miles here, then no one knows you're here. If we killed you, no one would be the wiser."

"We already contacted our guild and told them what happened. In fact, we're waiting to meet up with some friends to take us home."

The seith mages snorted.

"Right. Like you two managed to get a hold of communications lacrima." The female seith mage chuckled.

"It's true! We're waiting for the Soul Circus right now, and they'll be here any minute!" Wendy defended, watching as the half-visible face of one of the standing mages dropped and the crouching man burst into laughter.

"You're betting your safety on those prissy little slurks?"

"That's nothing to laugh at, dude." The man behind him stated. "They've got some of the strongest wizards in the world traveling with them, and Ghoul Guild has lost in every fight with them."

"Pfft, do you have any idea how many of them we've killed over the years compared to how many of us they've killed?"

"I know they've killed more of us than Clarence lets on. He only tells the newbies that we're all powerful so that they'll stay with him." He explained, and the crouching man blinked at him for a moment, trying to gauge if he was serious of not. The seith woman stayed unusually silent, which further unnerved him.

"Alright, then we kill these two before the Soul Circus gets here. There's no telling when they're actually planning to pick these two up."

"Maybe we just-"

"Would you rather be killed by the Soul Circus, or our guild master?" The seith woman asked, and both mages stared at her for a moment, their chests sinking at either prospect. Who would give them more mercy: their enemies, or the guild master of a guild specializing in death and torture techniques?

"What are you guys looking for?" Wendy asked, interrupting their staring contest.

"A snake. It looks white to people with normal eyes, and rainbow to slurks." The crouched man told her, and glanced at their barrier that the zombies tried futilely to gnaw into. Several teeth were chipping and breaking as a result, and one of their jaws fell off and clunked to the ground.

"A snake? We haven't seen one of those." Wendy told them, relaxing in her spot by sitting back and criss-crossing her knees. "Where was the last time you saw it? Maybe if you retrace your steps?"

"It should have come in with you two on the train car." The female seith mage informed her. "We searched the entire contents of it and the surrounding swamp."

"I don't remember seeing animals on the manifest." The young girl spoke, recalling just before the teleporting incident. "They always tell us when we're guarding animals."

"It's an illegal and incredibly rare snake- they probably put it in a small container and hid it with the other items."

"Are you sure it survived the crash?"

"It's extremely powerful. If it survived for this long, a measly train crash isn't going to kill it."

"Oi, the zombies are getting nowhere. Let's just smash our way through it and sort through whatever the dead don't eat. We're on a time table, after all." The pale man spoke, and finally pushed his legs into a stand, cracking his neck. His bones clicked and clacked as they popped out of place, and the sky mage's eyes widened.

"But we don't have it!" Wendy yelled, scrambling to her feet and standing protectively in front of Claire with her arms outspread. "Please, we'll help you look for it. There's no reason for us to fight."

"You are just too cute. I might actually feel a little bad about killing you." The pale mage chuckled, his long black and green clothing whipping in the harsh wind.

"Sorry about this." The male seith mage apologized, and took a step back. About four wandering souls appeared, rising in an attack formation, and glowed bright green.

Wendy braced herself, staying in front of the sleeping mage, and hoped that she could cast a spell fast enough to save them. Members of Fairy Tail never abandoned their nakama, and the sky mage would do everything in her power to protect her friend. She didn't know how, but she knew that they would be okay. Even with the acute smell of rotting flesh nearby and the large amount of magic emanating from this group, she knew that they would survive this.

They had to.

A myriad of blasts bombarded the shield and didn't stop. Just as the last blast took down the barrier, an arm latched onto the girl's leg and pulled her down to the ground, the fire mage rolling to protect her from any other blasts. A pillar of flames erupted and devoured the dead bodied, and in the cloud of dust, she sent another attack at the pale mage closest to them. Temporarily leaving Wendy safely on the ground, Claire leaped towards the last two attackers, burning them and their wandering soul's vessels with her fire.

With the wind continuing to blow, the dust quickly dispersed and the enemy mages shivered from the sudden cold.

"What the hell happened to our clothes!?" The female seith mage screeched, and punched the naked man next to her and giggled.

"Sorry that you wasted your time, but we don't have the snake that you're looking for. Take your friend and leave unless you want a real fight." Claire told them, and they glanced over at their colleague, who was unconscious and unclothed on the ground. It wasn't a pretty sight.

"You are SO going to pay for this!"

"A seith mage threatening The Dragon, Destroyer of Souls? That's cute." She said with a smirk. The red head's eyes widened, pale goose bump ridden flesh shivering in the cold, and she bolted into the woods. Her comrade yelled at her to help him with the unconscious man, but when she didn't return, he grumbled under his breath and slung the pale man over his shoulder.

"Y-you were awake?" Wendy asked, and once the last of the death mages were gone, Claire turned back to her shivering comrade.

"I woke up during your conversation with them. I was tempted to pretend sleeping longer, just to see what you have planned to do next."

"I, um… didn't really have a plan."

"I figured." Claire chuckled, and returned to her spot on the blanket that threatened to fly away. It really was a terribly cold spot to rest at, but they didn't have many options in places to set camp. "And you know what? I feel like music." She stated, and yawned as she pulled up her data compression magic and started sorting through her music.

"Don't we want to avoid making sound?" Wendy asked, confused.

"We did before because we didn't want to get caught. Now that we want people to find us…" She explained, and once she'd put together a decent playlist, downloaded it into her protection barrier. Once she'd tweaked it to her current needs, she cast it, smiling at the roaring fire that bellowed from the invisible wall.

"Come and Get Your Love" by Redbone started blasting around them, and the confused sky mage watched her in disblief. "Night." Claire mumbled, and curled back into her original spot to go back to sleep.

"Aaaaye… what the matter with the haaaaaia?"

5.

"You think we'll find them?" One of the soul mages whispered to the other, and they shrugged. It was day two, and they'd spent two unsuccessful nights searching the coast with their wandering souls.

"You think they survived that place?" The other countered.

"This is The Dragon you're talking about. Of course she did." Another mage told them, having overheard them as he walked past. The pair coughed into their hand, instantly feeling guilty for their earlier comments. Obasi had been searching the hardest out of all of them, physically running along the banks to help look for the missing girls and stretching out his magic to have his souls search as far as possible.

Jenali and a few others were also persistent in their search. When they had heard about Claire and Wendy's situation they were eager to get moving, and more than a few of them glad they could repay the fire mage. She had saved their lives, as had her guild master with the negotiations, and they disliked being so in debt to them.

"Sorry, Obasi." The pair apologized.

"If anyone can survive that deathtrap, she can."

"You know that she has a boyfriend, right?"

"Yeah, and he's a lot cuter than yours. Stop gossiping and get back to work."

"Don't be like that, dude. I'm sure we-"

"Does anyone else hear that?" Jenali asked from a different part of the deck, his voice ceasing their conversation. All of them stopped talking for a moment, keeping an ear out, and could hear soft music in the distance. When they looked back at the jagged cliffs, they could see a massive pillar of fire a few miles down the coast.

6.

Wendy found herself bored.

After the excitement of earlier, she didn't exactly want to try sleeping again, nor did she want to walk around outside of the fiery shield. It was also cold outside of the fire rectangle. She tried to enjoy the view of expansive oceanfront and pretend like she was having a day at the beach or a fun hike. Alas, the view wasn't as impressive as the view from Fairy Hills, and after an hour of sitting there she got bored.

She decided to look around in the bag that the fairies gave them, having nothing better to do. They had a blanket each, a horn filled with water (and would magically purify any liquid put in it), the ball guide, an extra sarong, small book detailing the plant life in the area, and an extra mask at the bottom of the bag. There used to be several little packs of food wrapped in leaves, but they'd already eaten their respective shares. Wendy suspected that the motherly mage had sneakily put some of her own food in Wendy's.

It bothered her that Claire thought of her as a child.

For this entire trip, she had been useless and unable to contribute. Being grabbed left and right, hiding on the fire mage's back, the only time she'd been remotely helpful was with the stitches on Claire's stomach. Even that hadn't entirely worked, as the woman had bled out in her sleep.

… actually, she was still bleeding, Wendy realized. Then, as she continued staring, her eyes slowly widened to the size of saucers.

Something was on her leg.

It was gross, slimey, and moving so slowly that she hadn't noticed it until now. Somehow it had gotten past the barrier and seemed to be coming from the other side of the cliff. It almost looked like a vine or tentacle, but in consistency looked much more like a slug.

"Claire," She whispered, gently nudging the woman's shoulder. "Claire, wake up."

Just like last time, the woman didn't stir.

"Claire," She whined, her voice going to a slightly higher pitch. "… mom?"

The woman's bloodshot eyes fluttered open, locking with the scared sky mage, and waited to hear what was happening.

"There's something on your leg." She whispered, and as the fire mage pulled herself up to look at it, was swiftly yanked out of her spot and pulled towards the ocean. "Claire!" Wendy screamed helplessly, and nearly fell off the cliff herself as she watched the fireball hurl towards the ocean. "Claire!"

"Lion, stay here and guard her!" A masculine voice yelled, and the sky mage turned to look to the source, watching as an ugly wooden doll floated near her. She blinked in surprise at it, utterly confused by the strange object, and it took her a moment to realize what it was.

Turning back to the man flying away, she realized that there were more of those floating dolls, and two other flying mages close behind.

Claire cursed just before she was submerged beneath the water, completely pissed off by this turn of events. Zombies and necromancers she was fine with- but fucking sea monsters? The water was freezing cold, she was tired and sore, and god damn it, this stupid squid had the stupidest eye ever. It was giant, blue, and laughing at her in the dark water.

Before she could be thrown into its mouth, she used figure eyes on that stupid giant eyeball.

Fuck you, squid. She thought angrily as she made the squid put her on its head and float up to the surface. Using the spell caused a major headache and pain in her eyes, but it was worth it. Gulping down the air as she breeched the surface, she was surprised by the new sounds she heard.

"You're a squid whisperer, huh?"

Losing her concentration, she fell back into the water and squid started to swim away. Before she could get too deep someone grabbed her arm and hoisted her up.

Obasi kept two of his souls under her feet and an arm around her, keeping her from falling again, and grinned. "Nice mask." He complimented.

"Obasi's in looove~" Someone teased nearby.

"You guys have booze back on your ship, right?" Claire asked between coughing and holding her pounding head. The group laughed heartily, flying up higher and going back to the smiling 12 year old girl.

7.

"Ow! Oi, what the hell did you just stab me with!?" Claire demanded, glaring at the healer. She didn't like him. Whenever she tried to talk or ask him questions, he would start yelling at her in another language and shoving her around, using very little English to communicate with her. The only words she caught were 'sick', 'idiot', and 'stupid'.

Upon reaching their ship, she'd had a brief reunion with some of the familiar wizards, and then rushed to the small infirmary in the center of the ship. It was a small room with two beds and a cabinet full of medical supplies, and the resident healer was a small old man in a black wool coat. He had a long gray beard parted into two braids, and the rest of his hair was a mix of knots and beads tied back by a loose rope.

"It's a pain nullifier." Jenali, chief of security, answered. He was sitting on one of the free beds next to Wendy and watching the chaos unfold. The little sky mage had tried to help the healer, but had been insulted and pushed to the side instead.

"Does it mess with people's magic?" Claire asked.

The seith mage turned to the doctor, repeating the question in whatever language they were speaking, and then nodded. "It alters the magic chemistry slightly. It should be harmless."

"Claire's body is extremely sensitive to changes in her magic." Wendy explained.

"Dude, why the fuck aren't there narwhals outside?" Claire asked the seith mage, in all seriousness. "You have squid, you have whales, you have… horses. But you don't have unicorns. Wait, narwhals."

"… are you alright?" Jenali asked. Realizing that the woman's state of consciousness had shifted, the doctor stopped what he was doing at the cabinet and went to inspect her. She was giggling, smiling, and her pupils were now completely dilated.

"Are there unicorns on this world?" She asked the doctor.

"Tell the doctor to not give her any more drugs. Since she's not from this world, she has bad reactions to most medicine." Wendy told the man next to her, and he quickly relayed the information, to which the doctor rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath.

"Dude," Claire spoke, shoving the doctor away from her and accidentally knocking him to the ground. "Chill out, and give me some space." Her words were slurred, and giggle escaped her throat as she sat there relaxed.

"Claire?" Jenali spoke as she jumped to his feet, and slowly moved over to the S-Class mage. "The doctor gave you something, and now you're having a bad-" The fire mage interrupted him midsentence, grabbing his arm and flipping them around to shove his face into the bed sheet. He yelled out in pain as she continued twisting his arm at the painful angle.

"Where am I?" She demanded.

"Claire, we're on the Soul Circus ship." Wendy spoke softly. The boat creaked and rocked slowly, and the fire mage's red and blue eyes searched the interior of the room. "Let Jenali go. He's a friend."

"You saved us from the Ghoul attack, remember?" The seith mage spoke, making sure to keep his voice calm.

"Why the hell is it so bright in here? Where's Bickslow?" Claire asked, blinking her eyes rapidly and trying to keep her heart rate down.

"He's fine, you're fine, we all just need to calm down." Jenali told her, but still didn't feel the grip loosen in the slightest. He tried to slowly push against the weight on him, finding that the short mage was remarkably strong. "Can you let go of my arm?"

Within twenty minutes, the fire mage single-handedly broke the arms of half the crew, and for the life of them no one could figure out what the hell a 'narwhal' was.

8.

"So let me get this straight." Bickslow spoke on the communications lacrima, smile never leaving his face. "Your doctor drugged my girlfriend, she then proceeded to break the arms and legs of half the crew, and then locked herself in the infirmary after declaring your doctor was an idiot."

"And is now stitching up her wound in there. Presumably." Jenali added, sitting comfortably in the captain's chair. Celest was the only person on that ship with a communications lacrima, and all calls had to be cleared by her before making them. "She won't even let her little friend, Wendy, in there."

"Did she cause any serious injuries?"

"Nah. Everyone is wearing a sling right now and once the doc gets access to the infirmary again, he can use stronger medicine to heal everyone up. Wendy is helping a lot, too." He explained, and nodded to the sling currently holding his own injured arm.

"Sorry that Claire's causing so much trouble for you guys."

"It's alright. It's a good training exercise for everyone." The brunette said with a grin, and reclined in the chair a bit more. "If she's this good of a fighter when she's drugged, I can't imagine how strong she is when she's sober."

"She and her brother are really good at a drunken martial arts technique, so she's actually most dangerous when she's ridiculously drunk or high. You may have heard of her bro, actually- Bacchus Groh."

"She's related to that asshole?"

Bickslow snickered, not entirely surprised by the strong response. Whenever Bacchus was brought up in conversation people either loved or hated the bastard. Usually a mix of both. "He died a little over a year ago and Claire took it really hard, so I don't recommend bringing it up to her. Not until she's sober, at least."

When the door burst open, the wood slamming loudly against the wall, Jenali glanced over at the figure in the doorway. He wasn't all that surprised that she had found her way here, considering how much she'd been wandering the ship over the past hour of her chaos, and simply sat there patiently as she strode into the room. The fire mage was wearing a beautiful yellow and orange sarong around her waist, a black sports bra, and plenty of bandages along her legs, abdomen, and chest.

"How are you feeling?" The seith mage asked calmly.

"Like someone drugged me." She answered bitterly, and sighed heavily as she held her head.

"Want to talk to Bickslow?" He asked, standing up from the chair. She plopped down on the seat he vacated, and once her eyes locked onto the communications lacrima, she smiled. "If you need anything, holler."

"Bixy." She giggled, not even noticing the man's disappearance. Bickslow grinned back at her, blue hair and all, and he let out a sigh of relief. "Where the hell am I again?"

"You're on the Soul Circus ship."

"Why?"

"Once you sober up, you're the one that's going to have to tell me that. I heard you've been causing a lot of trouble on the ship."

"Their doctor can suck dicks."

The seith mage snickered on his end, finding himself enjoying drugged Claire.

"Where the hell are you? That's not our house." She asked, and slouched further into the chair, wincing slightly when she accidentally put pressure on her stomach. "I miss your face."

"Fried and I are on our way to pick you up. We're going to be meeting up with you guys in east Minstrel, at town call 'Stale Port'. Despite the name it's actually a pretty cool town, or so I've heard. You and Wendy will be getting there in a few days, but Fried and I won't be arriving for another 9 days."

"Why the hell am I on a ship?" Claire suddenly questioned, her gaze moving to the various objects around the room. It was a very simple room, with several maps along the walls and a few nick-knacks nails to various flat surfaces. There was a decorative pen next to the lacrima on the desk, and the fire mage reached over and picked it up, fascinated by it. Moving it slightly to watch the reflective light, she continued observing the small object, ignoring the man on the ball.

"Hopefully the effects of whatever you took aren't permanent."

"You have a nice face." She giggled, returning her attention to the man of her dreams.

9.

Saturday, March 22nd, 6:00 AM

It would be another 4 days until they reached Stale Port and 3 more after that until Bickslow and Fried arrived.

After several hours of sleeping in one of the guest rooms, waking up constantly and getting very little rest, Claire ended up on the top deck with a thermos of hot coffee. Since sleeping didn't work well she meditated with her back against the railing, listening to the soft sounds of water lapping against the hull, and waited for the Soul Circus men and women to wake for the day. The memory of her time on the ship was fuzzy, but she did recall injuring more than a few of the crew members.

She also remembered that it was their incompetent doctor that drugged her in the first place, so although she felt a little bad for the damage inflicted, she felt more pissed off at the man.

Ultimately, however, she felt tired. Her body ached and hurt like hell.

But this coffee tastes so good. She thought happily, and took another sip of the steaming liquid. She hoped that they wouldn't mind her raiding their kitchen- there was more than a few of these Eastern Gonzao tea packets, in fact there were several flavors of it, and they didn't seem like the kind of people to get upset over someone taking tea without asking.

Her eyes hurt like hell, so she kept them closed when she could. The dark brown poncho around her shoulders kept her warm against the gentle cool breeze.

People were beginning to stir within their cabins, and she could hear one of the guards switching shifts at the top of the mast.

Nearby she heard heavy footsteps walking up the stairs, but assuming that they'd ignore her, she just continued sipping her tea and enjoying the early morning sounds. Their steps stopped only two feet from her, and after a moment of silence, she begrudgingly opened one of her eyes to peer up at the intruder.

It… was a person. A blurry person. I need to get glasses….

"Have the drugs worn off? Or are you going to break my arm again?"

"Pretty sure they've worn off. Sorry about the arm." She grumbled, closing her eye again and returning to her drink.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Knock yourself out."

The man took a seat next to her on the ground, folding his legs beneath him and taking a deep, calming breath. "I love being out here in the mornings. It's refreshing to wake up early and meditate on the deck."

She grunted in what seemed like agreement.

"Some people do yoga on the lower decks in the morning, if you're interested. I sometimes join them."

"Cool."

"Do you remember me at all?"

"I lost my glasses in the stupid swamp, so I haven't recognized anyone on this ship. Sorry."

"It's okay. I'm Obasi, the guy you teamed up with when my people were kidnapped?"

"Right, Obasi. How've you been?"

"Can't complain. You?"

"Got stabbed and drugged the other day. Otherwise I've been peachy." She said sarcastically, and the man next to her chuckled.

"Sorry, I guess it was a stupid question. Of course you'd had a terrible couple of days. How do you feel?"

"Like shit."

"What was it like in the dead zone? Fight off a lot of zombies?"

"Zombies, necromancers, pissed off natives, random stabby creature, seith mages, crocodiles… stupid squid thing."

10.

Saturday, March 22nd, 10:00 AM

"You and Obasi looked pretty chummy this morning." Jenali teased, taking the vacant spot next to the tired fire mage. The woman grunted, smelled food next to her, and peered over at his lap. He was holding out an extra plate to her, and she gladly accepted the weird looking burrito.

"Obasi's nice. You're nicer because you brought me food." She stated simply, and the man chuckled as she quickly started devouring the meal.

"Do you remember much of what happened yesterday?"

"Mostly a blur. Sorry 'bout your arm."

"It's already healed, thanks to your little friend. She's pretty amazing."

"Mmhmm." She agreed mid-bite. Wendy was currently playing with a few other children on the lower deck, throwing around objects and doing kid stuff. Some of the wandering souls joined them to play, adding to their fun.

"So, I'm not sure what Obasi told you, but we'll be meeting up with Bicks at Stale Port. The rest of our caravan is already there and set up for the festival, and since we'll be getting there before Bicks, you and Wendy will have a few days on your own to do as you wish. If you're up for it, you could do security part-time and use the extra cash to explore the town with Wendy."

"Cool." She muttered, and gulped down the last bite of her burrito, then licking the extra sauce that got on her fingers. Considering how fast she ate it, the seith mage offered his burrito to her as well, and she muttered another 'thanks' before devouring that one, too.

"How are you feeling?"

"I've be-en –etter." She said, and then gulped down her bite, trying to slow down. "I'm mostly sore. I might take you up on the security thing."

"When we first found you, the injury to your abdomen seemed pretty bad." He commented, but she merely shrugged, preoccupied with her meal. "You're free to get whatever you like from the kitchen. This ship is mostly for security and training purposes, so the food is restocked often and doesn't have any delicacies for you to accidentally eat."

"Cool."

"If you're up for it, we'd love to do some combat training with you. Maybe you can teach us some new moves, and vice versa."

"Sounds fun."

11.

Saturday, March 22nd, 9:00 PM

"Honey," Nara spoke in a stern voice, arms crossed as she spoke to her husband on the sidelines. Security personnel, some of the crew, and the kids were gathered on the main deck. Lights carried by wandering souls kept the area lit, and there was was joking laughter filling the night air. In the center was a large mat, where two mages were currently sparring. "This woman has just been through hell and back. You can't ask her to fight half the crew like this."

"Don't worry, she'll be fine. I told her that if she gets too tired we can continue without her. It's just a training exercise."

"Jel."

"Nar." He countered. "Honey, I'm in charge of protecting our entire caravan and making sure that our people are strong enough to protect themselves. If she can give us some new fighting techniques we haven't thought of, it could help us in the long run."

"You saw her when she first got here. She was covered in blood, and she's barely had a day to heal."

"She's the one that suggested we do this today. Relax, honey."

"Honey if you call me honey one more time-"

"Love you, too." Jelani said quickly, kissed her forehead, and then jogged over to the mat. The two sparring men seemed about done, and they nodded to the seith mage before jogging to join a medium sized group of men. The crowd of men and women started to quiet, realizing that it was about to start, and the chief of security cleared his throat. "So, I've made this training session open to everyone on the ship. Our guest has gladly offered to help us go over basic self-defense. Everyone here has some level of training already, so I figure that we'll have people come up on a volunteer basis, and help everyone individually on their skills. Others will look on, practice on the sidelines, and hopefully learn from watching the critique of others. Any questions?"

The group shook their heads, and after a brief pause, Jelani smiled.

"Since I know it's nerve-wracking to have a new person come in and give critique, I'll go first so that you know what to expect." He announced, and stepped forward onto the mat. Claire walked over to the mat as well, standing across from him. She had borrowed a pair of loose slacks and tank top, since the skirt wouldn't have been appropriate for this.

"Uh, isn't she injured, though?" A younger man on the sidelines asked. "How is she going to help us get stronger when she's bandaged like that?"

"My first rule for survival: fight no matter what." Claire announced loudly. "If fighting isn't possible, gather information." She told him, and while she was still looking at him, Jenali threw a punch at her head. The crowd all gasped, surprised that he would do something so cold, but she easily dodged and shoved him off balance. "And in the case of being injured, dodge like hell."

Returning her attention to the chief of security, she easily avoided a kick to the face by swiping his foot out of the way and shifting her balance. They continued much in this fashion, with him throwing attacks at her and her dodging/side stepping.

"Keep your stance a little wider to stay more balanced." She commented, and made small remarks on some of his technique. Since seith mages were long range fighters, she didn't expect any of them to be particularly good at it.

"Hey boss, why do you want us to learn hand-to-hand combat so bad?" One of the teenager boys on the sidelines asked once they were finished. The majority of people on the ship were men, a ten to one ratio, and most of the girls were grouped together on one side.

"It's good for everyone to learn, and it's good to know hand-to-hand combat in case you can't rely on your magic when you're in a fight."

"My souls are plenty powerful." He countered.

"Yeah, super strong!" A floating doll echoed next to him.

"Strong, strong!" Another one repeated.

"And what if you got separated from them?" Claire asked.

"That could never happen."

"I was sitting on a train with Wendy, and we were transported to a completely different country in an instant without any forewarning. All of my souls were left in Magnolia, and we had to survive… what, three days?" She asked, turning to Wendy, and she nodded. "Three days with zombies, seith mages, necromancers, and other things that wanted to kill us, without any of my wandering souls to help us. Learning how to defend yourself without your souls could mean life or death for you someday."

"Another more likely situation where you could be unable to use your souls," Jelani added. "Is if you've used up your magic or your enemy destroys all of your vessels. Who's next?"

Claire was a little surprised at how long she trained for. She half-expected to get tired after a half hour and call it quits, but it was oddly fun to train with them. Some of the guys were a little cocky when they fought her, to which they learned humility pretty quickly, and some of the girls were extremely shy at first. She had spent so much time over the past few years learning how to fight, she'd never really been asked to teach others how to do it.

Once people started heading to bed, Wendy stayed behind to practice with some of the more advanced fighters. They practiced technique with each other, gave pointers, and even taught each other things they didn't know beforehand.

By around midnight, everyone had gone to bed except for Claire, Jelani, and Nara. The two fighters had been talking almost nonstop for the past hour, and the man's wife sat on the sidelines, utterly bored. She trusted her husband, but at the same time, couldn't make herself leave those two alone.

Then, she finally noticed something that would end the night. "Claire, your foot is bleeding." She announced, standing and walking over to the pair. They both paused in their discussion, still standing on the mat, and glanced down at the woman's feet. There were bloody footprints all around her feet.

"I'm sorry for getting blood on your mat." She apologized immediately.

"Don't worry, we've got good cleaner for that. We get blood on this all the time." Jelani told her, eyeing the woman's foot as she lifted up to look at it. The bandages on her feet were soaked.

"I'll go get the doctor." Nara offered, but Claire shook her head.

"I'd rather just use the medical supplies and do it myself, if that's alright." Claire requested, and before Nara could object, Jelani interrupted her.

"He hates being woken up, anyway. There should be a little first aid kit by the infirmary door. Could you get that for us, sweetie?" He requested, and after a moment of eye contact, she finally nodded and walked away from them. "Blood freaks her out."

"Sorry again about the mat. I didn't realize that I'd started leaking."

"Mind if I ask what happened to them? During the training exercise, I noticed that you didn't move around too much."

"It's what happens when you walk across a country with a kid on your back, barefoot." She explained with a shrug.

"I really think we should get the doctor." Nara stated when she rushed back, holding the kit with slightly wide eyes. She tried to hide her anxiety over the matter, but Claire could hear the panic in her voice.

"I've had worse. Where's a good place to get cleaned up?" Claire, turning back to the seith mage.

"I guess by the railing so that it'll be easier to hose off later." He suggested, and the fire mage nodded as she reached out for the kit, giving the woman a warm smile. The trio made their way to the railing and Jelani picked up their conversation where they left off.

12.

Sunday, March 23rd, 6:00 AM

Nara joined Claire the next morning on the top deck, bringing her own thermos of tea to drink while sitting with her. It wasn't the most comfortable place to sit, but it was within a close distance of most amenities on the ship.

"How are your feet?" Nara asked curiously, noticing that the fire mage was wearing knitted wool socks, likely borrowed from someone else on the ship.

"They're fine." Claire slurred tiredly, keeping her eyes closed as she enjoyed her warm beverage. Ever since she arrived she'd worn a small intricate mask on her face, and the brunette had been curious about it since last night.

"What happened to your eyes, if you don't mind me asking?"

"They've been in pain ever since the swamp. The moisture from the mask keeps it cool."

"Are they still red?"

"Yeah." She answered simply, and realizing that an awkward silence was about to follow, Claire added to her response. "Lack of sleep hasn't been helping, so they probably won't go back to normal until I catch up on it with Bickslow. We don't sleep well without each other."

"You two are engaged, aren't you?"

"Yeah, we're getting married in June."

"That's coming up."

"Yeah. My grandfather and the entire guild are going make a huge deal out of it."

Nara chuckled, a soft smile on her face. "Families tend to do that."

"Yeah." An awkward silence befell them, both recalling their own dark pasts, and neither said anything for a while. Claire glanced up as a girl walked past them, one of the security personnel, but she was dressed for the yoga session on the lower deck. Her yoga pants hugged her tight butt in the most perfect ways, highlighting just how much she worked out, and her beautiful long hair was braided back, the tail of it swishing back and forth above those wonderful butt cheeks. "Damn. I suddenly miss dating girls." She said without thinking, and thankfully out of earshot of her.

"Huh?" Nara asked, giving the blond a curious look.

"Oh, uh… back on my world, I dated girls. I love Bicks dearly, but every once in a while I miss women. If he and I ever split up, I would probably go back to the gay scene." She explained, the woman made a small 'huh' sound.

"So, how long have you and Bickslow been dating?" The brunette asked, suddenly appearing much more comfortable with the woman. Claire suspected that might happen.

"Oh god… like… a little over 2 years? It feels like longer."

"How did you meet?"

"The first time we met was in the library at the guild hall, when he was looking for his friend Fried, and I had just joined the guild. The second time we talked, he accused me of being homeless and sleeping in the library, which I was, and offered to let me stay at his place until I got my own."

"That's sweet of him."

"I had only been on this world for a few weeks or so, so it really meant a lot that he would go out of his way to help me. He was my first real friend on this planet."

"Wait, you're from another world?"

"Yeah. It's a really long story."

"I have time." Nara told her, sitting attentively with her legs crossed beneath her and warm thermos steaming. Her large brown eyes watched the young fire mage carefully, seeming excited to learn more about her, and waited expectantly. Claire shrugged, figuring that she also had nothing better to do, and started talking about the last couple years of her life.

It turned out that the pair had quite a few things in common. Among them was that they had kids, although Nara's weren't adopted, and they moved to another part of the ship so that they could continue talking while keeping an eye on their young ones. Wendy got along with the Soul Circus children splendidly, and more often than not the adults would join their games and make them more fun.

The only downside to their talking was that Nara started to mother the fire mage a little too much. Claire had unthinkingly told her the extent of most of her injuries, and although she tried to emphasize how quickly her body healed, the chief of security's wife was going to make it her job to prevent Claire from training again today. Although she argued that she was a grown woman and could make her own decisions on the matter, she got the sense that Nara had seen a lot of death in her life, and that their discussions triggered it.

Instead of arguing, Claire simply planned with Jelani on the side to train later in the night with a small group. He'd hoped that she could get more one-on-one time with some of the female fighters, since they rarely have guest teachers that are female, so she agreed to it.

13.

Monday, March 24th, 6:00 AM

Her eyes were getting worse.

They were shifting again, like when she first got her ability, back and forth between seeing souls and not. Everything stayed blurry, however. Her eyes were progressively getting more bloodshot, according to Wendy the symbol on her forehead was changing shape, and ignoring it wasn't helping.

Luckily, Celest was up early that morning, and allowed her access to the communications lacrima. Since she kept her mask on, the crew stayed oblivious to the new seith mark on her face.

As she waited for the grumpy healer to answer, she took her mask off and set it on the table top, sighing tiredly. It was some 5 minutes before the lacrima finally glowed to life, and the angry face of Porlyusica filled it. Claire was glad that she could see, so she wouldn't have to pretend she wasn't terrified of the old woman.

"Do you know what time it is?"

"No, but I apologize for whatever hour it is in your time zone."

"What the hell do you want? Did you get stabbed again?"

"I wanted to talk to you before seeing the doctor on this ship again, since last time I saw him he drugged me."

"Just tell me what the problem is, idiot."

"My eyes aren't getting better, and at this rate I'll be blind by the end of the month."

"Don't be so dramatic. Just explain your symptoms." She demanded, and without delay, Claire started listing off her symptoms as succinctly as possible. The healer nodded every so often, looking at her eyes and mark, and after a while, made a small 'huh' sound. "Maybe you will go blind."

"Don't say shit like that." Claire retorted angrily, and the pink-haired mage bellowed in laughter, evidently entertained by the nervous fire mage. She had a terrible sense of humor.

"You've had a history of having bad reactions to things that mess with your magic."

"The seith mark wasn't an alien thing entering my body, though. I cast a spell to enhance my eyes- no foreign magic used."

"Precisely, which is why you shouldn't worry so much. It's just going to take time for your eyes to adjust to the change, and considering your strange physiology, it's no surprise that your mark looks different than others."

"Then why the hell can't I see?"

"Getting glasses helped you the first time your eyes started changing, so it probably will this time, too. Get some damn glasses."

"I don't have access to them. Everyone on this ship has freakishly good eyes."

"Then get a damp cloth, put it on your face, land lay in a dark place for a while. You said that they're sensitive to light and easily irritated, so let them rest. Like I've been telling you to."

"I can rest when I'm dead."

"You can rest when you're blind, too, stupid girl. Do you have any other stupid questions for me to answer?"

"Want to catch a movie with me when I get back to Magnolia?" Claire asked with a grin, chuckling at what she imagined was a roll of the healer's eyes before the lacrima went dark. She missed having good vision.

With another sigh she grabbed her mask, knowing that it would be a boring two days. Getting legitimate rest wasn't going to be possible without her teddy bear of a fiancé to snuggle up to.

14.

Tuesday, March 25th, 2:00 PM

They arrived to Stale Port early.

Obasi volunteered to go with Claire and Wendy into town to get glasses for her, since neither girl knew the local language. Many of them spoke English as a second language, but the translator was much appreciated.

"My mark looks retarded." The fire mage stated when she could finally see herself clearly. Obasi snorted nearby, covering his mouth to try and contain his laughter, but his body shook and some sounds escaped.

"I think it looks… unique. I like it." Wendy told her, obviously lying to make the woman feel better.

"Botched tattoo?" The eye specialist asked, and Obasi finally burst into a hearty laughter, having to go outside.

"Yes." Claire replied, and looked at the 'tattoo' again, scowling. Wendy had said that it looked weird, but she didn't think it looked this weird. Most seith mage marks appeared symmetrical, with a simply circle and four lines protruding below it to make the general shape of a person. On her face, one of the arms was higher than the other, one of the legs was too long, and the head was oval instead of circular.

Her seith mage mark looked drunk.

A moment later of her picking and pulling at her face, Obasi came back in, only to burst into laughter again and leave.

"Perhaps you where this until removed?" The store owner suggested, holding up a paper bag to her.

"Wendy, go get Chuckles and run to a store with make up. I need some concealer. Waterproof." Claire instructed, and handed the young girl some money before turning back to the rows of glasses. Her head and eyes still hurt, but wearing the glasses made it feel slightly better.

Makarov had kindly transferred money to them and said that if they needed more, all they had to do was ask. Apparently their guild was covering their expenditures for this trip.

One of the better perks of Fairy Tail was that if your job was badly compromised, and assuming it wasn't the mage's fault, the guild took care of them. In all the guilds she researched with her team, they couldn't find any that had such great benefits. The only downfall was that a slightly bigger percentage of every paycheck went to the guild for these expenditures, but hell, she sure as hell wasn't complaining right now.

This store didn't have the best selection of glasses, but it was definitely better than nothing. As she looked around at the different styles, the store owner made sure that the paper bag stayed within her line of sight.

After about a half hour, she had chosen three sets of glasses, and the sky and seith mage finally returned.

"So why didn't you tell anyone that your mark… did that?" Obasi asked with a grin and trying to avoid eye contact with her. The fire mage took the small paper bag from Wendy, removing the concealer from it, and went over to one of the mirrors to start applying it.

"It's a reaction to my magic."

"No, it's a sign that you fucked up the spell. If you had told us about it, we would have helped you fix it." He told her, and she paused, turning to look at him. He was trying to keep his eyes occupied with the various odder looking glasses on the wall.

"Are you fucking serious? But I cast it perfectly. It's an easy spell."

"Were you alone when you cast it?"

"No, I was carrying Wendy."

"Then she probably contaminated it. You're supposed to be alone when you cast it." He explained, and she gave out a huff in irritation, causing him to chuckle.

"I'm sorry." Wendy apologized, feeling guilty for the mix up.

"It's not your fault. It's mine."

"There's a couple people in our circus that can fix it. It's not a big deal, so long as you don't leave it like that. If it goes too long unattended it'll probably cause permanent damage."

Claire glared at herself in the mirror, going back to covering the stupid mark on her face and hating the embarrassed blush on her cheeks. I wish those stupid zombies had eaten me.

15.

Wednesday, March 26th, 11:00 AM

Wendy and Claire went shopping.

Claire got her mark 'fixed' the previous day, but since 'slurks' had mixed reactions here, she kept the concealer on. No point in causing unnecessary trouble.

Neither of them really liked the fashion in this town, but it was fun to look at nonetheless, and it was nice to have clothing they didn't have to borrow. The sky mage was much more interested in the fashion than the other, trying on outfit after outfit followed by giggles every time, and each time Claire would shower her with compliments without fail.

Bickslow wouldn't be arriving until Friday, so the pair had plenty of time to hang out and enjoy themselves. As Claire waited for the girl to change, which she was apparently about to try and fit into a very complicated dress, her thoughts drifted to a recent conversation with her grandfather. He had begrudgingly filled her in on the details of what had been happening in her absence after she'd pestered him enough.

The Ghoul Guild 'lost' her brother. Lost her giant, island-sized, murderous older brother that devoured everything and anything. They lost him.

Apparently he killed hundreds of people over the past two weeks alone. When her other brother, Laxus, and Mirajane went out into the water to find and help reign him back in, he was nowhere to be found. The Ghoul Guild refuses to comment on it or help, and Makarov thinks that the 'assholes' may try to pretend like it never even happened.

Now they had no idea where the island monster was. It was hell taking him down the first time and who knows how many more people will die before they can capture him again.

The smile fluttered to her face once more when the young mage exited the dressing room, twirling and giggling excitedly.

"How do you manage to look amazing in everything you try on?"

"What were you thinking about before?" Wendy asked, catching the woman off guard. "You looked really serious before."

"Sorry, I was just thinking about the island monster. The one that attacked us in December."

"Isn't he your brother?"

Claire stared at her for a moment, trying to recall when she'd told her that. It wasn't exactly common knowledge, and those that did know about it, were incredibly awkward and tried to not bring it up.

"Sorry, I just… Lucy told me."

"He used to be my brother. Now I don't know what he is."

"Maybe he's just lost?" She suggested hopefully. "Sometimes people just need to be reminded of the goodness deep down inside."

"You still think there's good in him? Even after he almost killed all of our friends?"

"I know he's done a lot of bad things, but maybe he had a reason for it. Maybe he didn't want to do those things." Wendy rationalized, and the fire woman smiled, realizing why she preferred children nowadays more than adults.

"Don't ever change, Wendy." Claire told her. "Now turn around for me. That dress is adorable."