They were miserable, all three of them.
The bombers of Unicorn Bone had no respect for anything, not even themselves. They'd slop around in their nightclothes at any hour of the day, pass out in the early hours of the morning – drunk as a skunk – and start again when they woke up. And they left empty mugs, packaging, and dirty dishes all over the floor for their slaves to pick up, Yukino especially.
Thankfully, because they were up on the market, they were treated better – even if it was only marginally. But as a direct consequence, the other people in their possession would do what they didn't, so they helped out as much as they could.
She'd overheard one of the member's conversations with the Guild Master, and had found the answer to one of the questions she had been asking since she was old enough to think; "What am I?"
Over her eight years of living, she had only twice found someone who looked like her; the first time was when she had met her partner, and the second was when they had passed by the child and their relative in their haste to escape their pursuers.
They were Exceeds, and there were only about 100 – including them – running about, which made them highly valuable – if only because they were the only other species on Earthland who had intelligence, could speak like a human, and could use magic.
While she mused, Yukino was tripped by one of the Death Spiral members, causing her to spill beer all over the floor, as an excuse to punish her.
Her partner caught her eye - they had what they came for, only staying to help Yukino - and it was time to leave.
She made her way over to a pile of food that had tipped off their Guild Leader's plate – piled as high as she was tall – where he was sitting by the entrance. No one made a fuss at how close she was to the cave mouth, they had gotten complacent over the year they'd been captured, and she readied her magic as her partner spoke to Yukino in soft tones, making sure she was okay to leave.
She matched the nod he sent her, and in a flutter of feathers, darted over to Yukino, latched onto her shoulder, and shot out of the cave.
They couldn't maintain this speed for long, not with how little nutrients and exercise they'd gotten, but it would be enough to get them far away.
It had to be.
Now that her summoner is getting medical attention, the giant husk of Deliora unwillingly draws her attention. She strides over to where Gray's slumped against a wall. "What do you want to do with it?" She jerks her head in its direction, but she doubts he needed it.
He opens his mouth to speak, but an unknown voice coldly interrupts his answer, "You will do nothing. I, on the other hand, will revive Deliora."
As Gray lurches past her, a noise of confusion escapes her and she goes to follow him into battle but stops when he swings an arm out to the side. "No, this is my fight."
She nods and makes her way over to where Natsu was making sure their summoner didn't get the slightest bit cold.
She hears Gray shout one of his spells, and ice lances form above his head, heaving forwards towards his masked opponent. The masked man casually waves a hand in front of him, making eagles out of ice to collide with Gray's lances.
Gray growls, low and guttural and it's not quite the same as theirs, more, Demonic, than Draconic. It doesn't last long; human throats can't make those kinds of noises, but it's there, and it appears she's the only one who noticed. She makes a note in her head to see if his family has a record of any Slayer Magic users; he could be a potential host, no, not could be, he was.
"Lyon," Gray snarls, and it catches Natsu's attention, one of his long ears twitching in Gray's direction and he briefly pops his head up from where they were looking after their summoner.
"Do you realize what you're doing?! You're destroying Ur's sacrifice! She gave her life to imprison Deliora, and you want to, what? Prove you're better than her? Do you know how crazy that sounds?! And I have a teammate who's basically immortal!"
Ice shoots up from underneath Lyon, and he flips out of the way to slam one hand against the ground as he yells, "Ice Make: Geyser!"
Gray has to launch himself at the ground to avoid the icicle trying to impale him, and he yelps as a giant foot comes crashing down where his head was. Lyon sneers from atop his ape, "I'm not destroying anything. Or did you forget? You're the one who killed Ur!"
As Gray sweeps his hand across the ground, the ice breaks through the stone as it races towards Lyon. "You don't get to say her name!"
Lyon matches his attack, and his slightly greener ice collides with Gray's with an explosion of fine shards of ice, looking more like snow.
She turns away from their battle, refocusing her attention on her summoner, who's getting colder by the minute. Natsu growls softly, raising the temperature of his flames. The stone under them is sizzling, and the air around them is visibly heated, causing their vision to distort. She can barely see that Erza, Vatra and Wendy have moved closer to Gray and Lyon's fight, where it's colder.
Wendy hesitantly walks over to them and whips the air around them into a dome of wind, where the heat around them won't escape into their surroundings. Almost immediately, the temperature rises, even though they aren't as hot anymore.
Abruptly, Lucy leaps up from the stone and into a crouch, wobbling a little before she topples over.
The first thing she registers when she wakes is fear. It's not coming from her, but from the two beside her – Rin and Natsu – and the three further outwards – Erza, Vatra and someone else.
The second thing she registers is pain. This time it is coming from her, her back and arms specifically. It feels like someone took Taurus's axe and sliced them to ribbons.
The third is the hindbrain that won't shut up, demanding she does something about how far the rest of her spirits are away from her. She pushes out a ripple of magic through their bond, calming the instincts that pervaded her and her spirit's minds.
She shoves herself into a crouch, but her balance isn't the greatest, so she ends up flopping onto her face. She attempts to push herself up again – even if standing isn't possible, she should at least be able to remove her face from the floor – but her arms are refusing to work, and the only thing she achieves is a groan.
Thankfully, her griping attracts the attention of Erza, who ushers over Vatra and a blue-haired spirit when a stray spike of ice gets too close for comfort to the trio. It also snaps Rin and Natsu out of whatever kind of trance they were in, and they lurch forward to help her up.
Luckily, people are fantastic, and they help her lean against one of the cavern walls. As soon as she's settled, the unknown spirit approaches her – and her hindbrain isn't as calmed as she thought, because she snarls when the spirit gets too close.
She shakes her head and smiles apologetically as she sends out another pulse of magic to calm it. The spirit kneels next to her, and her hands light up with blue winds that tickle as they pass over her wounds.
Natsu accidentally knocks her shoulder with his elbow as he sits next to her, and it draws a sharp hiss. He jerks away from her with a fearful look on his face – like he's afraid he's broken her – and she narrows her eyes.
Carefully taking in the expressions of the people around her, and how they interact with her, she discovers they're all afraid, afraid she's going to shatter like glass at the slightest touch, and it pisses her off.
Erza holds Vatra back, scolding her when she gets too rowdy. Natsu and Rin skitter around her, out of touching range, and they don't raise their voice any higher than slightly above a whisper. Thankfully, Gray is too absorbed in his fight to notice their commotion, but she knows he'll mimic Rin and Natsu; not coming close, for fear she'll break.
The blue-haired spirit – Wendy, as she introduced herself as – pulls back from her scanning, and breathes a sigh of relief, announcing, "You're nearly completely healed, only a couple more sessions when I get my magic back, and you'll be at a hundred percent. So, it'll be about a couple of hours."
As soon as the way is clear, Vatra launches herself at her, smashing face-first into her stomach. Erza jolts forwards to snatch the red-head off her, but she quickly wraps her arms around her and sends a vicious look at the Requip mage, promising pain if she were to take another step. Natsu and Rin make to try and take Vatra off her, so she directs her glare at them too. "I. Am not. Made. Of. Glass. Do not treat me as such."
Wendy clicks her tongue, "I just said I'd nearly healed her wounds, nowhere in my instructions did I say treat her like she's a helpless child who doesn't know any better. Can you not see it's only pissing her off?" She rounds on Lucy, "And you. Did I say antagonize your wounds? No? Then why are you moving?"
For a moment, there's an adult behind her tone, and she realizes Wendy was not a child at all, but an adult stuck inside one.
She can see Natsu and Erza visibly shudder, likely getting flashbacks to Porlyusica's version of treating people, and she makes a note never to introduce the two.
Rin flings herself at the floor to dodge a flying Gray, and his opponent is sneering from atop an ice dragon. Gray collides with the wall with enough force it shakes the cavern. As he falls out of his crater and flops onto the floor – seemingly unconscious – he swipes his hand underneath him, hidden from his very nearly naked opponent, activating a last-minute spell.
Nothing happens for a few moments, but soon enough, his skin fades to white, and he melts into nothingness. Another Gray emerges from behind one of the numerous icicles sticking up from the floor, pressing his hand to wound on his side as it drips with blood.
Before his opponent could say anything, the roar of an immense magic spell echoed throughout the cavern. And out of the corner of her eye, Deliora moved.
Saol was having so much fun.
Lura was bubbly and friendly, but she also had a hidden penchant for chaos. Cobra's penchant for chaos was very much not hidden. So, when you stick the two together, naturally, you get a disaster.
And then when you add Mesec to the mix – who very obviously had no idea what was going on – the disaster suddenly becomes ten times worse.
And having a giant, flying blue rat on top, well, it sure makes for some exciting entertainment.
He can immediately tell when Cobra has spotted the giant blue rat because he starts to cackle, and then he sees him fly past his vision, hop onto the back of Mesec – who lets out a very undignified squawk – and then-
-Then Cobra flings himself off the mountain, not at all fearing death.
As soon as Mesec notices Cobra's form as it hangs off one of the rat's claws, he crumples, his face as white as a sheet.
Cobra finally stops laughing like a madman and scales the rat's leg, ducking around the other side when its passenger; a bright pink-haired woman, leans over the side to investigate his cackling.
Lura flops down next to the shell-shocked spirit, getting herself comfortable for the sure-to-be-hilarious fight.
She found Happy asleep in the Guild's basement after he'd made like Mystogan and disappeared for hours again. Tear-tracks were running down the side of his face as he whimpered behind a pile of books, seeking solace in the undisturbed quiet of the Library.
Scooping the still distraught exceed into her arms, she carefully carried him through the town – Jet and Droy flanking her – and into her apartment in Fairy Hills. She'd had to do some fancy footwork and stealth to get there – the matron was not fond of cats or males – but she had managed it.
Her apartment was quickly becoming a safe-haven of sorts for him – his house with Natsu, and Lucy's apartment brought up only misery for him. And he couldn't stay in the Guild for long; everywhere he looked, reminded him of Natsu, or Lucy.
