We are approaching the end. It'll be sad to say goodbye to this fic.
Once it warmed up a little, the group hit the beach once again, though this time everyone jumped into the water – sans Jackal and Mard Geer, at any rate. The demons were bound and determined it seemed to avoid getting wet at all costs. Jackal, especially, given the bath fiasco earlier and his subsequent attempts to dry himself off with his tongue when the towel fluffing from Lucy was inadequate. It had been a rather uncomfortable and awkward affair for everyone since he'd decided to do it in the public area. He'd also shifted into his Etherious form for a brief bit and crashed/rubbed on all the furniture and people. And thereby making everything smell vaguely of wet dog.
Everyone's play was cut short after an hour or so, however, by Natsu and Gray – as they urged and outright shoved everyone towards what they insisted was an important vacation tradition.
And it may well be that no vacation is complete without ghost stories or a test of courage of some kind, but before now, Lucy had always believed that those were supposed to be done… at night. Not in the middle of the day. Also, it was hard to be scared of mere stories and drippy caves when her boyfriend was a living bomb that sometimes was also a book. She didn't fully understand how the book thing worked but Mard Geer was insistent that they were and without Zeref present to confirm or deny anything they were just going to have to take the Underworld King's word on that.
Lucy did have to hand it to Gray and Natsu, though. Whilst throwing rocks and lakeweed at each other in what passed for them as friendly bonding, they had managed to locate a nice and creepy location. Tucked out of sight in a hidden inlet behind a rock outcropping, there appeared to be an old village. It was very clearly abandoned – the remains of the buildings a desiccated mockery of what had must have once been very nice little houses. Partially reclaimed by the forest, it was eerily quiet in the small place.
"Test of courage!" Natsu declared, sweeping his hands to grandly gesture at the remains of the place. "Let's pair off and go!"
"This is less a test of courage and more of an excuse to explore," Lucy muttered with a sidelong glance to her boyfriend. "I guess the two of us will… huh?" To her surprise, Jackal wasn't beside her. The celestial mage looked over to the rest of the pairs forming, and then back the way they came. Odd. Jackal wasn't with them. Did they lose him to a squirrel on the little forest path leading to the village?
Well, whatever. Jackal was probably better off chasing a squirrel than exploring this place. He'd get bored quickly, having no interest in the remains of a human settlement. Lucy briefly wondered if either of the demons with them could have been responsible for the village's condition, but discarded the notion. There wasn't enough devastation to be the work of one of Tartaros's members. It just looked… old.
Thinking nothing of it, Lucy wandered off on her own without bothering the others. Without Jackal there was an odd number of people anyway. Might as well be her that was left on her own. Inwardly, she preened at her thoughtfulness and bravery. There had once been a time where she would have hidden in Horologium and stuck close to the others instead of exploring on her own. But living with Jackal – one of the objectively more evil beings to exist on Earthland – had inured her to most things.
Even if that one well looked particularly creepy, with all of the vines growing on it and half crumbled. And even if there was a vernal pond in one of the yards, with a ring of mushrooms growing around it, or the tree with a knothole that kind of looked like a face if she squinted. But there were berry patches too, heavy with ripe fruit. Too bad she didn't have anything to carry them back in. It would make a nice addition to their next meal. Like the ones Mirajane, Erza, Wendy, and Carla had brought back the day before.
Come to think of it, hadn't the other women gone mushroom hunting and foraging for those? Shouldn't they have come across this place in their search…?
…Nah. She was just being a worrywart.
Probably.