Chapter 12

Panther Lily POV

Lily wasn't sure what he was looking at. He definitely knew it was a person, and a boy, but the rest didn't really make sense. He was wearing a blue jacket that he had never seen before, and the kid didn't seem very scared. How did he get up here? Why was he up here? All of these thoughts ran through his head. He had heard a bit of scrapping when he had walked past earlier, so had doubled back to make sure nothing was wrong with the structure.

"Um, this is kind of awkward," remarked the boy. It was eerily silent, with only the blowing wind to break the silence.

"Who are you?" demanded Lily. He pulled out is monstruous sword and put the tip to the boy's head. "If you don't answer, I will be forced to arrest you."

"Me?" said the boy. "I'm no one." He then quickly whirled around and knocked Lily's sword with a silver and gold dagger. "Can we talk? I really don't want to have to fight right now." What? Lily didn't understand what this kid wanted. He swung his sword, purposely slow, just to see what this kid would do. The boy ducked underneath the slash, and dashed between Lily's legs and took off down the hall. Knowing that chasing the boy would be a waste of time (he was much nimbler than Lily), Lily quickly sheathed his sword, and ran to the staircase.

When he opened the door, he was mildly surprised to see that two guards, who he recognized as Lina and Korin, were walking back down the staircase.

"….told you, it was nothing!" said Korin under his helmet.

"I swear that was somebody," pushed back Lina. She had raised her visor so Lily could see her demoralized face.

"Soldier!" said Lily. They both jumped out of their skin, both as pale as the white marble that made up the kings observatory.

"General!" Lina said. She looked nervous and embarrassed. "We thought there was an intruder in the castle."

"Then why didn't you report them to your captain?" he asked quietly.

"We…" Korin hesitated. "We didn't want to be seen as incompetent." They looked like they were waiting for some kind of reprimanding.

"How did the intruder get in?" asked Lily. He was beginning to piece together what was going on. Could it be that the child he had ran into earlier used magic?

"Um, I think they breached the fence, and stepped on a toothpick? After that, I heard a lot of running, but I never saw the intruder." reported Lina.

"Run down that hall," Lily pointed to the hallway he had just come from. "He ran that way."

"Wait," Korin realized. "So, there was one?"

"Yes," Lily responded before walking down the spiral staircase. He had formed a basic picture of what happened. The boy had some kind of invisibility item, and had snuck past the guards, only to give his location away. He then had run into the hallway, and hung off the side of the building until the rest of his comrade's had walked off. Lily wasn't sure if the boy was either stupid or brave. It would been a death sentence if any one of the generals had spotted him.

He stepped onto the main hall to find Erza running towards the staircase that led to the old passageway. I wonder… He marched forwards Erza, who was about to follow her men down the passageway. She turned in his direction, with her eyebrows raised.

"Panther," she began. "Whatever it is, keep it brief."

"Why are you going to the mineshaft?" questioned Lily. He suspected that someone had tipped off the king on something.

"Faust has reliable intel that the castle will be infiltrated tonight through the mineshaft."

"Can't the guards handle that?"

"I suppose they could…. but-"

"Good, because we a more pressing issue." Erza furrowed her brows.

"What?"

"I ran into a intruder in the hallway after you left."

"How did he get past the guards?" Lily hesitated before answering.

"He can turn invisible." Erza's eyes shot wide open, and she gripped her spear more tightly.

"Where is he?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"Not sure, I have the guards searching for him." Erza sighed, letting all the tension flow out of her.

"Then there's nothing we can do right now." she said as she descended into the ground. Lily sighed, then went one of the massive windows. He popped out one of the windows and pushed off with his wings, shooting into the sky. He had a job to do.

[6 hour time skip]

Makoto POV

I was going mad. I was wandering through the dark corridors of the palace. I was trying to find my way to the cannon room, but had zero luck in finding it. It didn't help I had to jump into a closet every time I heard someone walking towards me. Where the heck is this stupid cannon? I slipped into one of the small side rooms, and antechamber and collapsed on the grey couch in the corner of the room. Moonlight shone through the windows and illuminated my face. I was tired, and I needed to collect my thoughts.

Let's see, so if I were to think, this is around the time Wendy and Carla were going to infiltrate the castle. What happened after that? I tried to rack my brain for the answer. As I was thinking, the door creaked open, and a shadow slipped inside, without me noticing. Only when the door slammed shut, did I realize I had been noticed. I jumped to my feet, and looked around. Before I could really start searching, a small figure tackled me from behind. I tried to turn around, but ended up on my back instead. My arms were pinned to the floor. The person I had been attacked by was a small, young girl, with what I could barely make out brown hair, and a large, floppy, green hat.

"Who are you?" The person demanded. "Are you the intruder Lily mentioned?" I suddenly realized that my attacker was Coco. She was the only one who addressed Panther Lily by Lily. She was…. the messenger to Faust I think? She had an uncanny resemblance to my sister. That took you way too long. noted Mike. Hey, there are like, 100 different characters.

"Could you get the lights first?" I asked. Coco propped her knee on my chest, and fumbled with the lamp on the side table for a few moments. An orange and yellow glow filled the room. I got a good look at Coco's face. She had large brown eyes, with red dots on her cheeks. When she turned back around, Coco seemed to hesitate before talking.

"A-are you going to answer me?" She repined me to the ground. I could have escaped at any time, but I would need help to find my way around this confusing maze of a building.

"Well, I'm here to see the king," I said. "To get him to give back that lacrima."

"You want to steal our magic?" Coco said angrily while pushing her knee further into my chest. It was beginning to hurt. "We need that to survive!"

"First of all, I'm not here for the magic," I told her.

"Then why do you want the lacrima?" she asked, confused.

"Because my friends are in there." Coco's eyes shot wide open.

"Wait, what?!" she asked in shock. "So each time we use magic…..someone-" she stopped mid-sentence and began to tremble at the realization. "But, we need magic to survive! A few Earthlanders is okay to keep our kingdom alive….right?" She seemed to be trying to convince herself at this point. I wasn't entirely sure what to do here. I had barely said anything and Coco was already conflicted, which I found strange. I awkwardly patted her back, which was a surprisingly difficult given she had her knee on me.

"Take it from me," I said. "I've lived most of my life without magic. Magic is really more of a convenience. Sure, it's cool, but not valuable enough for human lives."

"Really?" glimmers of tears had formed a little in her eyes, but Coco seemed genuinely interested what I had said. "You've lived your life without magic?"

"Yeah," I told her. "We have something kind of similar called, 'electricity', but people before me lived without it for hundreds of years." Coco seemed to ponder this for a moment.

"Why do you need my help?" she asked reluctantly. Huh, she catches on quick.

"How did you know?" I said.

"You're acting too calm," she said, turning way. She released me and scrunched up onto the chair. I sat up, relieved to be off the cold hard floor.

"I need you to help me find way around this place." I told her. She raised her eyebrows in amusement.

"That's easy," Coco replied. She stood up and began walking to the door. "Where do you need to go?" I tried to remember what time it was.

"I need to get to the dungeons," I told her.

"Does it have anything to do with the intruders that were just captured?" she inquired.

"No," I lied. I wasn't too sure if I could totally trust her yet. "Who was it?"

"Two "dragon slayers", and a blonde girl I think?" Coco said. "The exceeds apparently warned us." I pushed off the ground, and followed Coco into the hallway. That's when something hard and fast hit me in the back of the head.

When I came too, I felt myself draped over something. I was staring at a furry back, and floor. Great. I was captured. Fantastic. My ached, and I was still seeing stars. What happened again?

"…was listening to him," said Coco. That bitch! I remembered. It was a trap I reasoned. She was a good actor, I had to admit. Maybe she really is my sister. Then again, I was pretty naive. I internally facepalmed. "And he said something weird." continued Coco. What did I say that was weird? My memory was still fuzzy at best.

"What was it?" asked Lily. They were going down a staircase, but different from the one I had climbed. The walls seemed rougher, and older. There were torches, and no windows either.

"He said he had lived in a world without magic," Coco said. Right. My stupid brain had decided to do that. Hey Mike? I asked. How do you think we should get out of this situation? I don't know, maybe use the sword right next to your face? He spoke. I glanced over and was almost cut in the face. Maybe warn me the blade was next my face next time? But Mike had gone silent. My Magic was probably extremely down.

"Really?" said Lily. "Hmmm…I'll have to tell the king." This is when I took my chance. I pushed Lily in the back, and slipped out of his loosened grasp. The exceed stumbled into Coco, and began to tumble. Before the could get away, I pulled off the sword. I could barely hold it, as it was made for a guy three times as big as me. I ran past the duo and ducked into what seemed to be one of the cells. I glanced around and crawled into one of the air vents (or waste pipes?). Strangely, it smelled really nice, like fresh air mixed with a bit of sweet blueberry. I didn't have to consider this, as Lily and Coco ran past me, giving me an opportunity for me to try to find Wendy. Crawled back out, and began searching the entire floor.

Door 420 was a bit weird. It was more secure than the others, and it had a lock on it. I had been also guarded by two people, who were locked in one of the cells now. I tentatively touched, which is when the screaming began.