Chapter Twelve: Something Isn't Right

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Previously:

Not long later he felt the Fire Dragon Slayer stop moving himself. The uncomfortable feeling was almost unbearable. It was actually worse than the migraine he had suffered on the train to get to the town. The untamable feeling of the need to growl arose in this throat. His teal eyes narrowed angrily at the forest before him. His fight or flight mode was on. And he could feel the battle between the need to run and fight. The Soul Reaper side of him wanted to fight back what was causing it but the other side of him, if he had to guess his Dragon Slayer, wanted to run. It was a very unsettling feeling to have. Toshiro decided he could wait to find out why he wanted to fight it as he felt Natsu go even further away. He needed to reconvene with the pink haired teen.

Now:

Erza, Lucy, and Gray looked at the deserted part of the town. The houses didn't look bad at all really. This suggested that the thief was just now stealing the relics like the job had said. Erza looked into one of the houses seeing everything that could have been carried was gone leaving behind the furniture and other large items. "These people are depending on these relics too much. The people living in these border homes should have been learning to at least defend against the dark creatures in the woods surrounding this town."

"Yeah." Gray agreed closing the door to another house next door, "I understand why people do try to rely on magic artifacts to help them survive but to not practice how to defeat those creatures is a dumb thing to do." He rubbed his forehead, "I just wish we knew more about the relics. It seems like the center piece is beyond important if what we heard is correct."

Erza nodded in agreement, "It is possible that they don't know the full story of the items they use."

"That does seem feasible." Lucy agreed looking through a window. In her arms was Plue who was shaking like he normally did. "It's quite amazing honestly that these relics can hold up such a strong shield to hold off the dark creatures."

"Yes, but they rely on them too much. Then need to know how to fight without the aid of the shield. They are way too comfortable living like this." The requip mage countered pulling away from a house to see some of the houses in ruin after probably being attacked for no reason.

"Why do you think they haven't been practicing defending themselves?" Lucy asked curiously.

"None of them seem to carry themselves as a fighter or a magic user. If they do have people that can fight they sure don't look it." Gray replied tapping his fingers on his arm. "Besides there are other magics out there that can defend the outer part of town, even if they only used them temporarily when waiting to get the relics to be found."

"That…that is true." Lucy replied tapping her chin, "Do you think we could tell them about it."

"We probably could." Erza said with a nod as she headed back in the direction that the two Dragon Slayers went, "Come on lets go get with Hitsugaya an Natsu. I want to see if they found the relics or found a way to get to them."

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Toshiro walked up to Natsu, who was standing on a tree branch like a cat ready to launch at the first person that seemed dangerous. "Dragneel." Black eyes looked at the teal that the half alive Soul Reaper had, "We need to reconvene with the others."

Natsu shook his head viciously, "I am not going in that town. Something is not right with that town."

"I know, but we need to get in contact with the rest of our group."

"I am not stepping foot in that town. I refuse to. I can help them out here if I must." Natsu growled defensively, "I don't know why I didn't feel it before but…those relics. That town…"

Toshiro frowned, how Natsu was reacting was the exact way he felt. He glanced in the direction of the town. It was like the moment he touched the relic then left to look for the other two that the town felt dangerous. The people in the town were fine from what the young Soul Reaper could tell. They seemed to have a pretty good understanding about what the relics did and were more than happy to help get them back. However something about the town just seemed…off. 'Hyorinmaru?' Going into his inner world he looked at the ice dragon still sleeping. He walked over and shook the dragon lightly, 'I need to ask you something. Please wake up.' The dragon continued to snooze unbothered by his child's nudge. Toshiro sighed, 'Dang it, he must be more worn out than I thought. I really thought he just needed a small nap. He always wakes up for me when I have a question.'

He was about to leave the inner world when he spotted something out of the ordinary. Looking closely above the dragon sleeping side he saw a pair of red eyes looking at him. For some reason this scared him, making him want to force the dragon awake. Those glowing eyes made him fear for his dragon, 'Who are you? What do you want?' The eyes stayed unmoving and silent, 'Let Hyorinmaru free!' When the eyes did nothing again Toshiro rushed out of his inner world looking worriedly at Happy who had followed him to where Natsu was, "Go to town and get the rest right now. Something isn't right. My Zanpakuto is a sleep and won't wake up."

"Will do." The blue cat replied allowing his wings to come out and flew off.

"Dragneel, I need to know exactly what you are feeling." Toshiro requested urgently, "I don't know why but so far it seem that only you and I feel the danger."

"It feels like…I just...I just want to run and never return here. I don't feel safe. I want to go back to the guild and stay with my family." The pink haired Dragon Slayer replied as he gripped the tree branch he was on. "Something is not right with this place. The people here act like…they can't do magic. They…don't have any weapons."

The white haired male looked to where the town was, "You're right. It's like…the relics are making them so comfortable that they think the town will be protected by the relics alone." He pulled out the map he had with him. Over the time of him being in the new world he had gotten a map and in his spare time marked the places where different things had attacked. Just so he knew what to expect when he was in different regions. Looking at where they were now he quickly took note that the area they were in had not been attacked by any dark guilds, monsters, or anything dark. The area that was not attacked went even beyond where the shield was at least by a couple of miles. "Dragneel, is it me or does it feel like the towns people have no magic."

"You mean like…the relics require magic to keep running."

"Yes, but remember when the Mayor said that three of the items now have a crack in each of them." Natsu nodded allowing the Ice Dragon Slayer to continue, "What if the cracks weakened them and that is letting the magic that was in them flow out. To replace it would need to find a magic source to replenish it."

"You mean these items took their magic?"

"That's my hypotheses anyway. When I was holding the necklace I felt it trying to take my magic but it couldn't because my Spiritual Pressure stopped it. I didn't notice it till I left the town."

Natsu growled, "What should we do?"

A dark laugh sounded to the side, "I know what you could do?"