Chapter 10: How Do You Do?
"Y'all need to see this"
Before anyone could say anything, Mariam and Serena quickly ran off to Xavier, who led them into a little hallway that was adjacent to the kitchen.
Xavier shuffled them out to the front, to bear witness to a broken picture frame tossed violently to the ground; shards were scattered throughout the hallway, reaching as far over as the next hallway over as if someone stomped it thoroughly after it was tossed down. Or... something.
Mariam uncovered her journal quickly and wrote furiously, occasionally looking up. Meanwhile, Serena and Xavier cautiously started to tiptoe to the shards to see the rigorously covered picture.
Serena had yet to make it there when Xavier brushed off the glass, creating a beautiful tingle noise that crashed into the dull ache of wood. He brought it up to the light, revealing it to be older than anyone could imagine, perhaps more than 300. The ravenette had finally caught up to the blonde and peered over his shoulder.
The picture had a musty smell radiating off of it, and the material was transparent enough that Mariam could see colorful heads of five mages, ones that perfectly matched those of the Fantasia poster that was listed in the library.
"May I see that for a second?" Mariam asked, folding the current page of notes. Xavier held out the picture to her and she made her way up to her other teammates, taking the picture carefully.
She was right. It was Team Salamander, except more faded from the ages and less distinct, but Mariam could distinguish the bright pink head of Salamander and cool redhead of Titania immediately. That's the only way Mariam could understand it was them because everyone had something done to them: Lucy had a huge bleached mark, Gray's face was completely faded, and little Wendy's hair was only visible. And, astonishingly enough, while the three's injuries were caused by the ages, Titania's and Salamander's didn't exactly.
It was created by external forces. Perhaps if their own hands or someone else's, but Mariam couldn't tell. This picture was enough for someone to brutally smash a picture of one of Fairy Tail's most legendary mages, and almost damage a piece of history. It would make sense for it to be something of a ghost, where its emotions would take over its common sense, and smash it. But who?
"Mariam? Uh, Mar, you're staring into space?" The strawberry blonde awoke from her trance to Xavier's hands waving wildly in front of her. Serena stared, concerned, at her friend and came to her side but Mariam pushed her away and set out for business.
"Was this smashed before you came here? Or did you hear it then come running?" She said, taking out her notebook once more. Xavier thought for a second then said, "I think I heard a crash coming from a few hallways down and decided to check it out." Mariam nodded.
"But when I checked it out, I found no one around," Xavier continued. The strawberry blonde held out her hand in front to silence him, interjecting with an off-topic question. "Did you check thoroughly, though, and make sure no one was there?" She said.
Xavier thought again for a moment and nodded. "Yeah, I checked all three hallways to make sure no one was around, but I couldn't find anyone," He finished. She seemed satisfied with the information and closed her notebook, a determined glint in her eye.
"Let's do a seance - here; right now," She said, her tone a far cry from professional; it ran more on emotions. "I- What? Now? We all agreed that we'd do one in the main hall because we thought it was the best place!" Xavier argued. "And besides, there's so much glass everywhere, how do you expect us to sit down here?" Serena added.
Mariam looked to the floor and said," We can clean it up and set up our chairs and tables here; that way we don't need to worry about it," She says, backing out of the hallway to grab the supplies. Serena reached out to grab her hand, but she started to run to the main hall, then coming immediately back with a handful of supplies of candles and dousing rods - copper rods doused in special oils that use the tug of ghosts' power to answer the investigators' questions.
Mariam waited until they two could hold the candles before she started to run to the heavier stuff, calling upon Xavier to help. And, before either knew it, they were set up and doing this. They were doing a seance.
Despite the apprehension thickening the atmosphere, they settled into the serious tone that seances required immediately. Mariam quietly lit the candles and gestures for the other two to join her hands. The team laid a Spirit Box - a machine used by many to make verbal contact with ghosts - front and center in the middle of the candles. They complied and the seance had started.
"Today we found a severely beaten picture laying on the ground. We think it could've been caused by the ghosts currently in residence in this guild. If that was anyone, please make yourself known," Mariam started, her professionalism seeping into her tone. Behind them, Serena heard a slight knock and opened her eyes. But, in the setting sun's light, she couldn't hear or find anyone. And, all three know that they're the only ones in - the locked themselves in. Good start.
The team waited in silence before a crackling voice interrupted them: "H-... Hello." Xavier peered at the machine and looked at it with great interest, pulling Mariam from her trance as well. All three glinted with excitement.
"Hello, spirit. What's your name?" Serena continued, watching the machine closely. Another era of silence continued as the ghost investigators' patience braved the storm.
"L... Lucy." Serena quickly looked at the others with a knowing look, her mouth agape. "Lucy... as in Lucy Hartfilia! This could be her!" She said, whisper-yelling. Even though her female teammate shared her enthusiasm, Mariam calmly reminded her: "It also could be another ghost, there's a ton of Lucy's throughout the guild's history. We could be talking to Lucy Lockser for all we know," She said, shushing her.
Serena nodded. "I love the name, Lucy-"
"... thanks..."
"Did it just say thanks?" Xavier said, looking at the machine again with great interest. The girls nodded and continued. "I love the name Lucy, it's very pretty. Could you perhaps tell us something about yourself or last name, if you can?" Serena asked, her eyes wearily watching the air for shadows or mists. Sometimes ghosts can be seen as mists traveling or shadows, depending on how powerful they are and how they want to present themselves to you. If this was the legendary celestial mage, Lucy Hartfilia, we're talking about, she'll be able to show herself.
"Could you please tell us something about us-"
"Gray."
All three looked at each other with owlish eyes, flitting back and forth. "Did it mean grey as in the color or as in the name-"
"...name..."
"Holy hell, there's two," Serena whispered, her eyes resting once more in the box. "Maybe we should just do an EVP session instead of continuing with the seance," Xavier said. "We could try... let's do that," Serena affirmed.
She blew out the candles one by one, then bowing her head to pray. The other two joined and the ceremony was officially done. Now all three stood in the hallway, with the tables and chairs tucked away in a room.
"Hello, Lucy and Gray. Very nice to meet you both. Could you please tell us something about yourselves?" Another two years of silence. Then, out of the blue, goes: "Basement." Serena's body goes rigid, and the next thought of her mind is hellbent on getting out of here. She looks up to the other two, staying at her in concern.
"Minna, we gotta go. It just said fucking basement and you know what's in the basement, those two entities. I say we head over to the main hall-"
"... no... don't.. leave us... alone."
"That was four whole words we had just heard. They're highly powerful," Serena whispered. Xavier and Mariam surrounded the girl as shields. "Who was that we just heard?" She said.
"...me... Lucy."
"I feel like there's a coldness on my back like someone's touching me back," Mariam said. The ravenette moved back to hers and, sure enough, there was the essence of Antarctica. Chills blanketed her body.
As soon as she touched it, though, it flitted away like a scared bird, accompanied by a large creak west of Serena. "Hey, question, minna, remember when we all saw- or rather, felt those ghosts at yesterday's investigation? These could be the ghosts," Mariam cut in. Serena looked at her and bit her lip.
Their natural defenses were put up almost immediately, backing away from the ghost to create a huge shield for each other, facing Lucy and Gray. In their impromptu group congregation, they would hopefully be safe.
"... I did... it... sorry."
"Did it just say sorry to us?" Serena said. "Guess so." The ravenette took the machine from Mariam's hands and held it out to the abyss.
"Do you have any questions or comments, Lucy and Gray, that you'd like to get out?" She said. Serena waited a few seconds before a presumably male, deep voice stated:
"...introduce..."
Serena bit her lip to stop herself from screaming. It's so close to getting confirmation, they just need to say their last names. "What's your name?"
A second voice sounded out from the machine: "... keys... my keys," it droned out. It's Lucy Hartfilia. "Hey, Gray, can you say your last name?" A few seconds before it (kinda passive-aggressively) said:
"... Fullbuster..." Clear as day, the words were there. It was confirmed. Now, for the matter of yesterday's investigation.
"Did you mean to hurt us there, Lucy or Gray?" Mariam shouted out. There was a hollow knock on the side of the wall next to Mariam, then a series of mini creaks following that. They're approaching, Mariam thought.
"Gray or Lucy, did you mean to hurt them? Please answer the question," Xavier yelled. Finally, an answer. "... no, we would never... try," A female voice whispered. Serena could feel hot breaths of air on her face as if someone was breathing right in front of her. 'Someone's in front of me'
"Who's in front of me currently?" She asked. Only a few seconds went by before the machine said, "... Lucy is... she would... like to introduce... her," The other voice said. "Introduce her? Herself? Maybe she didn't have enough energy to finish-"
"..Yes.."
That answers that, then. The ghosts aren't taking their sweet time to answer questions anymore, nor being apprehensive. Perhaps they're warming up to Sprit Seekers?
"Ok then, got it. Would you like to tell us your full name?" Mariam asked, sweetly as she could. Serena waited a few seconds for a reply but didn't get any, frowning. "Did they leave?" She asked, looking back and forth to Mariam and Xavier. But both had no clue. The breathing stopped, in its place was only the usual lukewarm air of the guild. 'Something's wrong, I can feel it,' Serena thought.
Then, Serena heard clanking coming from the hallway on the left. Where they put the glass. And, Spirit Seekers, also realized the picture was gone from the table, where they had just put it. Worried, Serena flew to it and started to scrutinize every nook and cranny and the surrounding area for the picture, scared the Master will get mad for losing such a priceless item.
After the clinking had slowed down to every few seconds, there was a giant explosion of glass everywhere, that littered the floor in every place imaginable. The team screamed with fright as the glass spread across the ground like a tidal wave before it started arranging itself on the floor.
The pieces continued their song as they made themselves dance across in a semi-dignified fashion, as the team backed up into the corner. It was almost done when Mariam realized what was happening after the pieces had made a G.
The ghosts were introducing themselves.
Finally, it stopped.
With Mariam leading the team, they stepped forward and read Lucy and Gray's hard work for themselves:
Gray Fullbuster, Ice-Make Wizard.
Lucy Heartfilia, Celestial Wizard.
How do you do?
How was that for a chapter? Pretty good compared to the last one, huh? Yeah, hopefully. I want to give you all a special treat for whatever the hell the last chapter was. It was super crappy of me to give you a short chapter and I don't want to do that.
Continuing, Lucy and Gray are here! So exciting to finally have an encounter with them! So, they're very calm and awesome, and be a huge help throughout and be cool ghosts. Unlike some people. The next chapter will be interesting as well, I promise!
Also, happy Chapter 10, minna! Big milestone because really, I thought I'd never get past chapter 1!
Alrighty then, stay healthy and safe, have a good day/night, and I'll see you in the next chapter! Bye~!