Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail
"Well, lead the way." I was back where green still exists. However, I had a kitten accompanying me. I only agreed to take Lily with me because Diana asked me to. A great chance to get some experience she claimed. It's not like I don't get anything out of this. Lily knows these mountains far better than I do. The way she leaps from branch to branch without looking ahead needs no further proof. "It would be more convenient if you know how to speak like your mother." Instead, I have to guess what it means every time the kitten paws the ground, or flicks her tail in a meaningful manner.
Lily took me to a cave entrance and taps the ground lightly, which hopefully means be quiet. So I did, I make sure each step was carefully planned, avoiding as much noise as possible. The lack of light wasn't that much of a problem, Lily's paws provided enough light for me to not trip myself. I can't help but think that the blue glow would be a dead giveaway to any prey living in these caves. A low groan projected from within at set intervals, echoing slightly in the cave. That sound got louder as we advanced, sending small shock waves that drummed against my chest. Even though Lily is small, her instincts to attack venerable animals was still there. Sleeping is just as venerable as it gets.
We found a large furry creature that took after a bear lying on its belly, only that this was twice it's size. How am I going to take this thing back up a mountain? I haven't even factored the jagged and narrow terrain, yet I'm already stuck. Lily patted my leg and drew her claws across her throat. This thing…might be smarter than I originally gave it credit for. Focusing my magic above me, I slowly formed a massive blade right above the neck, growing in height and therefore weight. To make a clean cut on something this huge, I need a heavy blade for force, sharp to cleave cleanly.
As the guillotine hovered above the bear, I felt Lily cower behind me. I let the blade drop, at the same time, I accelerated it to a blue flash. It was a clean cut, the blade shattered against the rock; water mixed with blood. Without missing a beat, I encased the body in a thick layer box of ice, drawing constant mewing from Lily; she scratched me lightly, bit my leg in frustration.
"Calm down," I raised my voice, "if I didn't freeze it, the smell of blood would spread everywhere. And the last thing I want is to have things attack me while we're carry this thing back up the mountains." Lily calmed down after hearing my reasons, licking the part she scratched softly. "It's fine, you're still young, I won't expect you to know these things. In your case however, Diana wards away any idiot trying to take her kill. The question still remains, how are we going to carry this thing?"
Though I didn't neglect my physical training, putting a normal bear on my back was stressful enough, this is impossible. And then it hit me. "Lily, stand back for me." She mewed in question but did as was told. She then jumped back in surprise as a cart formed in front of her eyes. I made the cart underneath the box since there's no chance of me picking it up. Once the tool was complete, I closed my eyes.
I was looking for something strong, not only to push the cart, but strong-looking to ward off any weaklings, moving creations still take too much out of me. I have no idea how Lyon make so many of them without breaking a sweat, maybe mother taught him some trick to it? Anyway, I imagined tree trunks for arms, a large upper body with smaller legs in comparison. Once I opened my eyes, a gorilla stood waiting for my orders. His blocky limbs spoke of my skill level, trying for a smoother look would take more time, something I don't really have.
"Lily," speaking was tough, I took in a deep breath, "I need you to be," another breath, "on the lookout," and another, "for threats. We can't, fight them," I leaned against the box, "not while I'm like this." Lily leaped on my head—claws retracted—and swung its tail slowly across my back like a pendulum. "Are you ready?" Lilly pointed out the cave. I made the gorilla pushed my cart, the ice squeaked at the weight it was being put under. Not only was this idea taxing at the start, I need to keep pouring magic into the cart and my gorilla, the box would melt, but that just makes my job easier.
We were about half-way back the mountain when trouble struck us. We lost the cover of heavy tree branches now that trees are becoming sparse. That wasn't the biggest problem. Blocking our path, was a pack of wolves, seven in total. They looked at us cautiously, waiting for the time to strike. My gorilla jumped to the front, pounding his chest in challenge. As they were having second thoughts, I shot out a wave of thorns at them. A slow wolf was killed instantly. The others jumped away easily. Now I know six of these things are experienced.
The wolf in the middle growled, setting off the others. They snarled and prepared to attack. The one in the middle charged first—I assume he's the leader. Their speed was unnatural for wolves, closing in the gap within just a second. Once I summoned a wall of thorns, they backed off. And I gained a substantial advantage: I caught their secret to speed when they jumped. A grey magic circle forming at their feet.
As if I turned on a switch, the wolves' patterns changed, they ran at speeds that I could barely keep up with. Before I knew it, I was surrounded with fangs and claws. One by one, they jumped. They avoided fatal injury from my thorns and toyed with the gorilla's slow pounds. At our third bout, it was clear to me that this is getting nowhere. Each attack of mine was getting predicted and dodged in such a way that nothing major came of it. Yet, they didn't plan for anything either. While it was a simple tactic against someone stronger than you, if your opponent knows how to counter it, this fight is over. The easiest way to disrupt wars of attrition is to throw in chaos. Lucky for me, these mutts don't know who they're messing with.
Another magic circle appeared at the pack's feet. In that moment, I reduced the ground they were standing on to dust. Thorns snaked out the ground and constricted them. Somehow, the leader and two other jumped high in the air. It didn't matter though, I launched thorns after them. They never made it.
A shower of blood rained down where the wolves were supposed to be—only a paw landed safely. A large shadow was cast above us. Before I could get a good look at what made it, it was gone.
"Lily." I looked at the kitten above me. She was shaking, she wanted nothing more than to hide in my clothes. The wolves had the same reaction, trembling at whatever helped us. "You need to grow up soon, your mother won't be there for you forever." Having said that, seeing that Diana lived long enough to have seen dragons, I'm certain she'll outlive me by a few generations. "This will happen to you. At times, you won't have anyone to protect you. When that happens," I sent three spikes the size of my arm to the wolves, spearing three heads, "you either fight back, or run." I froze one wolf and dragged it with me. "We're leaving." The gorilla started pushing the cart again. One wolf was all I could manage, besides, letting their blood spread means less predators for me to face.
Diana was in the same laid-back pose as when we left, "I'm impressed at how much you managed to hunt." She said. I got rid of my ice.
"If it wasn't for Lily, I wouldn't know where to start."
"She's been playing on these mountains for years after all."
"And she hasn't matured yet?"
"No," Diana spoke grimly, "our kind is slowest to grow of all cats, I'd say another five years before she even reaches childhood. In exchange, we're the strongest of our kind. Now it's my time to fulfil my end of the deal."
"But you haven't healed yet."
"After this meal and another week of rest, I can start hunting again, I won't be at full strength but, I don't need it." I nodded and sat on the ground. "Those men, Rectifiers, I believe they call themselves, are transporting the Lacrimas to a place called Westpine. In two more weeks, they're starting their next step, though I haven't managed to find what that is."
"That's plenty to work with." Diana starting tearing into the arm of the bear I killed. With my job done, all I had to do was head back and tell Jellal what I've found. So until the trains resumes their service, I finally have time to relax. "I've been wondering for a while, where's the rest of your litter?"
"About that," Diana shuffled uncomfortably, "I'm still not sure why, I only gave birth to Lily. I myself have six siblings, though two of them have already departed and the remaining I lost track of."
"Since Lily is your child, where is her father?" I asked another question that was burning in my mind. "Shouldn't he be the one to be taking care of you? Or is your species the kind where only the mother raises the child and the males lives freely?"
"That bastard?" Diana tore a huge chunk of meat. "Forget about it. He must be mating with some other cat. I haven't seen him in three years, Lily herself is only five." Something stirred in me. It was the spirit of a mother.
"Irresponsible!" I let my words out without thinking. "The father has been absent from more than half of Lily's life!" Diana took another giant bite, snapping bone and ripping fur.
"That's what I told him as well! She can barely remember what he looks like, assuming he doesn't smell too much like some other woman, she should recognise him without a problem."
"You should punish him when he gets back."
"He never will…" Diana looked down and let out a quiet whine, "I can't believe I trusted him. It was like a never-ending adventure at the start, he added so much colour into my life. He taught me that fighting wasn't all there was to life." She licked Lily softly. "But I was the fool. I was nothing more than a toy to him. After pushing Lily to me, he left. He would visit often at first, now, I won't catch a spec of his fur oven once I'm on my deathbed." I don't know if Diana realises it or not, without Lily, I'm sure Diana would have gone mad from the loneliness of losing her partner. This mountain would have a much different landscape, miners can't even hope to reach the peak.
"That's all the more reason to raise Lily into a fine lady right? To teach her to be picky with her mates, don't let her suffer like you did."
"She'll blossom finely into the perfect flower," Diana eye's shone with pride for a split second, only to be robbed by loneliness, "one that everyone yearns for…" And then she'll leave you. Diana will be left with nothing. While I want to point out Meredy will one day leave me as well, we're in two different positions. At least for me, once Meredy leaves, I'll still have my guild and the bonds I've gained throughout the years. Diana doesn't know where her family is and her partner left. A part of me wants to keep Meredy with me. But that'll just make me a worse mother than I already am...
Diana's nose twitched; she snarled and dashed out the cave. I was reminded once most to not to mess with Diana. From running alone, it felt like a tornado blew by. An earthquake shook the caverns—more like a giant footstep. I felt something push me.
"I guess I'll see this through." I scooped Lily up and placed her on my head before following Diana.
My expectations of running halfway across the mountains chasing after a giant huntress was fortunately destroyed just as I got out the cave. Diana was pinning down another one of her kind, it was the same size as her and just as majestic, had it not been soiling its coat on the ground. Her eyes burned their target while her claws dug deep into white fur.
"You finally have the nerves to show up," Diana seethed, "where were you!"
The one Diana choked down chuckled and responded, "still as merciless." Licking her on the cheek.
"I don't need your flattery! Where!" A heavy amount of magic exploded from Diana, it was robbing me of my strength, I held Lily close to my chest as I dropped to my knees. "Were!" Her teeth took on a blue light, outperforming the rising sun. "You!" Lily squirmed into my hands, trying to break free.
"You can't go to her now!" I hissed. "It's too dangerous." A rampage powered by love, as an outsider, I could only watch and keep their child out of this.
"Exploring." The male simply stated. The magic output doubled, I was close to choking, my organs pushed themselves to their limit, how did she get this much strength from the provisions I gave her!? I tried putting out my own magic as a barrier, only then everything returned to normal.
"I can't believe you!" Diana's teeth were close to the throat. "Three years…three years, and you were playing around? You're lucky I don't smell another woman on you, or you would have been dead!"
"I was doing it for you!"
"What!?" The pressure weakened.
"You said you wanted a new home right?" So you're telling me, that this guy abandoned his partner for years, just for a silly surprise!?
"You…you…utter and absolute—"
"Moron!" I finished. I ran over and added another pair of spikes to stare the failure down. "Who in their right mind would leave their lover alone for years? Voluntarily at that! She was worried for you! She was scared that you would never come back! She was going crazy that her daughter will grow up without a father! For what!? A split moment of happiness?" I was heaving at the end of my speech.
"Then why did she tell me she wanted to move?" Diana looked at the male with scorn. She stared at him for few seconds and sighed.
"I wanted to run around the lands with you." Diana admitted. "I said before we'll do things together. It was just an excuse to explore and have fun, to let Lily see things that she's never seen before, let alone even dreamt of. Take a look around you. Why would I want to leave this behind?"
In contrast to the mysterious vibe I got at night, at dawn bore the joy of spring. Crystals shone brilliantly mixing in sunlight to create a gorgeous field of rainbows.
"I met you here," Diana continued, "it was the start of my happiness, I'm not going to abandon it easily. These five years were one of the hardest of my life despite the centuries. Don't you dare leave me again." Diana got off her partner and motioned me to stop.
"I won't." Hearing those words, I got rid of the spikes. Lily used this chance to climb up her father. She was on the nose, peering curiously at her father's green eyes. "Hey Lily, sorry for been a bad dad, I'll make it up to from now on."
"Daddy?" A childish voice rang in my head. I suddenly fell to my knees again—Diana's magic spike again, not as dangerous as before but, still plenty scary. And the male got the message, he was babbling attempts at forgiveness.
"I've been…trying so hard to teach Lily how to speak…and her first word…is for this bastard?" Diana managed. "Maybe I should kill you after all." What came next most likely stopped the bloodbath. The male's coat of fur was dyed yellow starting from his nose.
"Lily, you're pissing on me."
Lily didn't seem to care and kept going until finally, "bas…tard." She remarked.
"Diana! Look at what you're teaching her!"
"As if you have any right to lecture me about raising a child!" Lily hopped off her father and snuggled against her mother. "That's right Lily, until he fixes everything, call him a bastard, not father, not papa, not dad, or daddy. Don't even call him Soar. And you," Diana shot a paralyzing glare, "after you comfort me, you're not sleeping in the cave for a week."
Thanks for reading!
This chapter just makes me want to avoid fight scenes for the rest of my life. In my eyes, this chapter is like a passing grade on school work, and only because I salvaged it at the latter half.
Was Diana's problems solved too fast? Yup! When I was writing this, I thought it would be pretty cool to have someone like in Ultear's position. Then I equated Diana to people who suffer from the same or similar problems in real life. I got pretty down after that, so I gave her a happier ending, if only to make myself feel better—which does nothing for the actual people affected—Pretty sure that means I lack the conviction needed to write a good story where something really bad happens to characters, let alone kill characters off outright. Something else to work on I guess.
So, I expect things to slow down a bit in the next two, maybe three chapters. Not just in terms of story flow, but my uploading speed, it was sweet while it lasted. School can be a pain in the butt at times.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, have a great day!