Hi There! Here's the next chapter - thank's for all the reviews!
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"What?! That's crazy, I didn't even know celestial temples existed!" Gray was definitely surprised at the information - if Lucy know that they existed then wouldn't she have gone to look already? Something seems strange... He thought about consulting Loki on the matter – after all he would know more.
"Well, that's how it is." Erza had finished explaining the mission, but chose to leave out the dark magic part. Jellal assured her the mission wouldn't be dangerous, so for now it was best to keep it simple. Well, what's the worst that could happen?
"Well… if it gives us more information about the gold keys then I guess I could come." Gray wasn't looking forward to working with Natsu again but he couldn't help himself this time. Lucy hadn't shown up in the guild for months, and now he was worried she might even leave the guild altogether.
"Excellent, I'll inform master of the mission and begin preparations." Erza was actually surprised at the lack of protest from Gray, who was still crouched behind the crates.
"Well, I'll go tell Lucy." Gray said as he got up and started climbing out the window.
"And WHAT do you think you're doing?" Ezra said in a stern voice.
"Come on! You know Juvia's sitting down in the guild hall! She was so hard to loose last time." Gray pouted as he avoided Erza's glare.
"I thought you said you would take her more seriously after everything that happened?" Erza arched an eyebrow, looking at Gray expectantly.
"Yeah well…" Gray mumbled.
"Besides, it's not proper to leave the guild out of the window! Go back to the guild hall and talk to Juvia." Erza ordered, watching Gray sulking as he walked out of the room.
Erza walked up to the door leading to master's office, but before she could enter.
"Oh, hi there Erza!" Mirajane smiled as she walked towards Erza.
"Sorry Mira, I've got something to discuss with master so I should really be going." Erza replied.
"I'm afraid master's having a rather serious discussion with Gajeel at the moment." Mirajane looked apologetic as she pointed towards master's office.
Well, now Gray's on board, I guess it would be best to speak to Lucy – the archives didn't have much information about this celestial temple and I still need her to agree to all this.
"I see, well could you pass on a message to him then?" Erza got some paper and scribbled a note on it before handing it to Mirajane.
"Yeah sure!" Mirajane smiled again before folding the paper as she walked back to the kitchens.
Meanwhile, Gray went back to the guild hall and as expected he hear the familiar call…
"Gray Samaaaaa! Juvia has found your shirt!" Juvia walked up to Gray, beaming at him as though she had won a trophy. Although actually finding Gray's clothes did seem like a miracle.
"Hey, what's up?" Gray said, sounding uninterested.
"Juvia is fine, because she found you Gray sama." Juvia looked sheepish as she handed Gray's shirt to him.
"Yeah well… Thanks." Gray replied in a low voice.
To which Juvia smiled and nodded.
"Hey listen, I'll be going on a mission soon which should take a few weeks." Gray said, hoping to avoid the gaze of his fellow guild mates.
"Awww, don't they look like a sweet couple." Levy smiled as she looked at both of them.
"Whatever!" Gray grabbed Juvia's hand and led her to another room in the guild, which didn't help much since they had gotten the attention of most of the guild by now.
"Have fun out there kids!" Canna caught Gray's eye and gave him a wink.
They were now in the guild library as Gray continued to explain to Juvia, noticing how her cheeks got slightly pink after Cana's last comment.
"It's gonna be just team Natsu this time…" Gray looked out the window, but he noticed the familiar glint in Juvia's eyes.
"So love rival is going on the mission?!" Juvia was already making plans on how she could try to tag along when Gray added in.
"There's nothing to it, she would know the most about this stuff anyways." Gray could see a flicker of disappointment of Juvia's face.
"How about we go on mission after all this?" Gray mumbled, already regretting what he just said.
"Juvia thinks that's a great idea!" Juvia beamed at him.
Gray smiled. Maybe this will be ok after all…
Just them the door to the library opened, Loki walked in with a wide grin on his face.
"I could help but overhear you're conversation" Loki smiled at Juvia and Gray.
"Yeah sureee it was definitely an accident." Gray rolled his eyes.
"What's this mission about Lucy?" Loki continued, ignoring Gray's comment.
"A celestial temple was discovered near Shirotsume, we think it could have information about the celestial keys." Gray watched Loki's reaction as his eyes widened in surprise.
"Hmm celestial temples do exist, but one hasn't been discovered by humans in eons. Still, I have heard that they are very dangerous… rumour has it you can't summon celestial spirits at all once you enter the area." Loki closed his eyes and tried to remember when he had last heard of Shirotsume. It definitely rings a bell.
"Well it's a good thing we're going along with Lucy for this one." Gray replied.
"Juvia thinks we should do some more research into this.." Juvia was still standing next to Gray and was stood silently until now. This mission started to sound more dangerous by the second.
"Then it's settled." Erza was standing by the entrance to the library, now getting slightly antsy about the mission details.
"Weren't you going to speak to master?" Gray asked.
"Master's busy so I thought I would go discuss this with Lucy." Erza replied.
"Alright then, I'll do some more research and see if we can dig anything up." Gray replied. He didn't usually do much research before missions but this time something told him it would be best to be cautious.
"Alright then, I'll go tell Lucy." Erza nodded before leaving.
"I guess we better start reading." Gray said, completely monotone.
"Juvia will help Gray sama!" Juvia added.
Loki smiled and shook his head before turning to the stacks and stacks of books in front of them.
Unknown to the group, someone else was listening in to the conversation. Happy was flying just outside the window, still nibbling on a piece of fish.
"Natsu's not gonna believe this!" He said before flying back towards their house.
Back in master's office, Gajeel had a serious look on his face as he began to tell Makarov about the mission.
Gajeel swatted yet another bug on his arm. Levy had convinced him to come on an exciting and adventurous mission, but when they got to their client it was a different story entirely.
Their client lived in a large mansion and clearly loved splurging money. The outside was white marble swirled with patches of grey here and there. The gardens seemed to stretch as far as the eye can see, they all had evenly cut grass and beautiful flowerbeds planted around the perimeter. As they walked up the stairs rows of maids and waiters were standing on either side of them, dressed in crisp uniform from head to toe.
When they entered the large, heavily furnished living room there was a rather tall women sitting on one of the luxurious looking couches.
"Hi there... Um we're from Fairy Tail and we're here for the mission you requested." Levy seemed slightly daunted by the atmosphere and spoke with a quiet voice.
"Oh! Finally, I thought you would never get here." The woman looked at both of them up and down. Gajeel gritted his teeth, not liking where this was going but before he could say anything Levy nudged him in the rib.
"I'm Eclaire Novel and I want you to find me this." Eclaire had a regal accent and gestured to one of her maids. The maid walked up to Levy and handed her a piece of paper with a picture and some writing on it.
"You must bring it back by tomorrow morning, no later than that or you only get paid half." She said in a very haughty voice.
Gajeel's mouth was open in shock. He thought this was going to be some hunting mission but in front of him was a picture of some flower – and this woman demands that we find it in less than a day?
"You want us to find some flower?! You said in the flier that it was extremely important!" Gajeel almost yelled at Eclaire.
However, next to him Levy was the complete opposite, beaming at the flier as though she received a present.
"Gajeel, this isn't just any flower! It's called Queen of the Night!" Levy sounded ecstatic as she started to explain.
"Seriously? That's what this plant is called? No matter this princess here wants it so badly." Gajeel huffed, he rolled his eyes in frustration.
"It's not a plant! It's a flower, and a very rare one at that. It only blooms at night and the petals wilt before morning! Isn't that fascinating?" Levy was smiling at Gajeel, hoping he would stop complaining (especially right in front of the client).
"Precisely, now if you'd hurry off and find it for me. I have a party planned tomorrow night which should be the right time to see the flowers bloom. Remember, don't be late." Eclaire was amused by their interaction but wanted them to start the mission as soon as possible.
"Yes, of course! We'll get it for you by tomorrow morning." Levy replied as she tried to drag Gajeel out of the mansion. Gajeel was still glaring at Eclaire, but chose not to say anything.
That's how they ended up in the forest, searching for the flower until the sun started to set.
"It should be easier to find it now since it begins glowing in the dark…. I hope we find it!" Levy looked tired but still tried to sound cheery.
"How about we split up? It would speed up the search." Levy added. Gajeel looked sceptical but didn't want to stay in the forest after dark.
"Alright, but stay where I can see you." Gajeel replied.
As they continued searching Gajeel heard something in the distance, whilst it was probably nothing, he thought it was worth investigating.
He walked towards the sounds, almost sounding like a shriek from an animal. Soon he was far away from Levy but he didn't notice, the shrieks became growls and whatever it was didn't seem natural.
He had wandered further into the woods, the trees covering up most of the light. Suddenly he heard another shriek, and something shot past him on his left.
Crap! It's closer than I thought! Gajeel was on alert, whatever the creature was, it certainly wasn't human.
Suddenly there was a blast right in front of him, it looked almost like a giant laser was shot mere inches from his face.
He jumped backwards, tripping on a branch.
Why on earth is it so dark here? What's that smell?
It was irregularly dark in the area, as though the light had been sucked out of the air. When looking at the damaged surroundings, the ground almost looked scorched – yet it wasn't burnt. It smelt like some type of magic but it was still unclear. A bead of sweat went down Gajeel's back. Whatever this was, it was extremely fast.
Before Gajeel could collect his thoughts, there was a strong wind almost sucking the air to one direction. A large thud could be heard behind him, as Gajeel turned around, he saw a creature that looked similar to a man, but was much larger and disproportionate. It had what appeared to be a cloak around it. Its eyes were black, much like the rest of its body. What struck him was the creature's eyes, its iris was pure white. It looked like the creature was in deep pain, letting out another scream.
Before Gajeel knew what happened, there was a large surge of magical energy, he closed his eyes and raised his hands in front of him to block the attack as he had no time to dodge.
The blast threw him backwards and knocked him onto a large tree. Reeling in pain he looked up to see the monster has disappeared. The light slowly returned to the area and what remained was utterly shocking. The surroundings may look burnt but it wasn't – from the blast, around 10 metres from that point the landscape had changed entirely. Every plant had been turned black and white, contaminated with magic. It was an eerie sight to behold.
Gajeel stood up slowly, still unsure about what had just happened. Other than the explosion he seemed fine and just as he was about to relax, a loud scream could be heard in the distance.
Levy
Gajeel panicked and felt all the blood draining from his face. He sprinted back towards the sound, praying that it wasn't that monster.
As he spotted Levy in the distance, her sleeve was soaked in blood and for a moment he felt like his heart stopped.
Looking around he didn't see anyone but before he could ask what happened, Levy looked up at him apologetically.
"Oh sorry Gajeel… There was this wild boar that jumped up out of nowhere and I was so surprised that I screamed…" Levy looked up at Gajeel, his face was very pale and he was staring at her as though he had seen a ghost.
"It's alright, let me see that wound." Gajeel gently took Levy's hand and after inspection the wound wasn't that deep. He let out a breath feeling as though he could finally relax as he promptly cleaned and bandaged the wound.
"I actually fell backwards and scraped my arm against that plant there." Levy pointed at a thorny looking plant with an apologetic look on her face. Aww he's so sweet sometimes.
"You should be more careful you know!" Gajeel was back to sounding annoyed, but Levy could hear the concern in his voice.
After Gajeel had finished, Levy added. "Oh I found two the flowers we were looking for! It's right by that tree over there." Levy gestured to the plant which was indeed glowing in the fading summer light.
"Alright, I'll grab it for you and we can head back." Gajeel didn't want to take any more chances, he made his way to the flowers, collected it and together with Levy they made their way back towards the mansion.
When they had arrived inside, Eclaire was waiting for them. She was still on the same couch but this time a few maids were fanning her on either side.
"So you have finally returned have you?" Eclaire gestured to one of her waiters, who took a silver platter and held it in front of Levy.
"Here you go!" Levy cheerfully placed one of the flowers on the platter.
"Just one? Alright well they are very rare. Take your reward and leave" Eclaire sighed.
Gajeel looked at Levy and arched an eyebrow. Levy just gave a cheeky smile and winked at him.
Haha, she's really something else. Gajeel thought as he chuckled.
...
Gajeel finished explaining what had happened on the mission. Makarov looked very concerned, he was looking through a book that contained a record of all the known creatures of Fiore. He sighed and shut the book.
"A creature that can cause magic poisoning, not just in people but also to the surroundings. You were very lucky you know, if that spell was any closer than it was you might not have been here right now." Makarov looked very worried indeed.
"I'll report this to the magic council. Meanwhile, I ask that you keep this incident to yourself. We don't want any rumors to start spreading just yet." Makarov added. And just after Fiore had begun to find peace. This doesn't bode well.
Elsewhere, five mages were locked in battle with what seemed to be shadow like monsters. They were just around three feet tall but they were very fast, attacking rapidly before retreating a few paces every time.
The battle was taking place in what was once a flower field not too far off from the city. The spells that were cast during the battle had dredged up the soil, Laxus' dragon slayer magic left scorch marks as far as the eye could see.
"We still haven't been able to find the source of their power!" Freed yelled as he cut through three monsters at once.
"Could you please stop that? It's making it worse!" Evergreen cut in. The monsters ate through their magic, multiplying with every hit.
"Yeah well you got a better idea!" Bickslow said as he dodged a blow aimed straight for his head.
"Calm down you three!" Laxus yelled, the numbers weren't in their favour. The only attacks that seem to have worked was his dragon slayer magic – but only when he obliterated the monster with his lightning. The only problem was that this took a lot of magical energy, and he knew he couldn't keep this up for much longer.
Suddenly, Freed let out a muffled scream as one of the monsters lunged at him. Before anyone could react, the surrounding monsters all converged to where Freed was once standing.
The monsters had a strange marking on its back which began to glow and Freed could feel his magic being drained away.
Laxus was drenched in sweat, trying to reach Freed but he knew he had little magic left.
"Freed!" Laxus yelled, reaching out to him with his right hand.
Thanks for reading!
Also for those of you that might be wondering, the Queen of the Night is an actual flower that blooms at night!