Chapter 69: Dawn City Dilemma
"Oi...that became more serious than I thought." Gray said, groaning in discomfort as he rubbed the large bump on his head. Lucy let out a deep sigh. "Attacking us just before we left for a job! That's a first! How rude of them!" She puffed out her face, recalling the experience that just happened moments ago. "I didn't think that jerk would jump in." Erza added, shaking her fist as the image of Laxus appeared in the background. "We were doing just fine until then!"
Happy shrugged at this point. "Then Natsu had to go and challenge him, and now he's beaten up!"
"I am not be—HURK!" Before he could finish his own sentence, Natsu slapped a hand over his own mouth, his face now entirely blue as he sunk back into his seat. "When...is this ride...over..."
Lucy, Wendy and Cynthia all sighed in unison. "Sorry Natsu-San. I didn't want Cynthia to get sick on the ride, so I only had enough Troia for
myself and her."
"Sorry." Cynthia repeated nervously, bunching a grip of her attire within her petite fists. "And sorry for earlier! I don't know why everyone in the guild acted that way!"
"It's because you're a member of Fairy Tail now Cynthia." Gray interjected, waving away her apology. "If you were to join any other team within the guild, they would have taken the opportunity to get to know you better and faster. Now they'll just have to wait." He then thought to himself, turning a hidden scowl to the window as he watched the scenery pass by. "Those bastards. We just wanted to put on a skit to show Cynthia that she's part of the guild; to raise her mood!"
Lucy was having the same thoughts, putting on a comically depressed face in the midst of it all. "Laxus made us pay them to do it, and then they go and pick an actual fight with us? The entire guild?!"
"This ain't over!" Was Erza's only thought of the matter, but it seemed they were all in sync with her. All except Cynthia who had no idea, and Natsu who was too busy trying to stay alive from the train ride. "H...Help me!"
"Well if that's the case, thank you!" The newest member smiled brightly. "I'll try to fit in more, and be more open to the others as well!"
"Oh? Well let's start with you telling us something about yourself." Gray spoke once again, turning back from the window once he fixed his expression. "We don't know anything about you, so how about some insight?"
Cynthia shelled again, ducking her head. Instantly, the others gained a similar visage, Gray now feeling bad for asking. "Sorry. If you don't want to talk about it—"
"All I really remember...all of my memories start from two years ago, even though I'm fifteen."
That really raised some eyebrows, and she now had everyone's full attention. "That's why I've been afraid to answer. My father...he wasn't a nice person, but he gave me this Dragon Slaying Magic. But when he decided that I wasn't good at using it.. he just left me. That's when Master Makarov found me.."
Hurt by her story, Wendy covered her mouth in shock, trying to refrain from tearing up. "That's awful. I'm sorry." Lucy chimed in. Cynthia nodded. "He tried his best, but I just wasn't what he wanted... he said he'd make another —"
"Make another?" Gray asked with demonizing scowl. "The hell? What does he think you are, an experiment or something!? I'd love to give that guy a piece of my mind.."
Erza jumped in. "Regardless, Cynthia, I want you to remember that it's the past now. You have a new life, so look forward to all the good things that'll happen to you in the future, and leave your father in the past. We're your family now."
She nodded, but she was aware it wasn't going to be that easy. For reassurance, Wendy placed a hand on top of Cynthia's which were still clinging to her own attire. Looking up, she saw a bright smile as Carla did the same just behind her. "You're with us now, so don't worry!" To which Cynthia gained another smile of her own, nodding once more. "Yeah, thank you, Wendy!"
—
"Land!" Natsu shouted, both arms thrown into the air as an ear to ear smile graced his features. "That's something you say when we were on a ship, Natsu." Happy corrected. Just the thought of it caused the Salamander to once more gag, crouching away from team as he held down his stomach. "Please, no more transportation!"
"He was just saying, idiot. We're done with the rides for now." Gray added, taking the time to insult Natsu in the process like always. "This shouldn't even take long. Let's just kick out whoever is in that eery looking castle, give it back to the client, and call it a day."
"Since this job was so low tier, the owner is probably some defenseless elder who was ambushed by some thieves." Erza added with her own assumption.
"Dawn City is so nice. Has that castle really always been there? It just doesn't fit."
"I'll have you know that my castle was here before this ugly city was even built!"
"KYAAAH!" Lucy screamed and jumped at the sudden foreign voice appearing right behind her. Falling to her hands and knees as her heart continued beating out of her chest, she turned to see a hooded person before her. "Don't sneak up on people like that! You could have scared me to death!"
"Sweetie, you're the one that's scaring me with that outfit." He fired back, dramatically snapping three times in a Z formation. Gray sweat dropped. "Quite the character here."
That character then turned to Gray, staring his way for a few seconds, which made Fullbuster really uncomfortable. "...What..?"
"Boy. Where are your clothes? You're wearing less than I am." He asked. Gray looked down, realizing that he was once again in nothing but his underwear. Cynthia subtly scooted away from Gray as he panicked. "Wait." Wendy chimed in. "What do you mean he's wearing less than you?"
"Well.." The hooded one began. He then took off the hood, revealing a skull — no skin or muscle, no eyes or lips, but a skull. "I'm naked under here! Get it?"
"A SKELETON!?" Wendy, and Lucy shouted in unison, screaming at the top of their lungs. "Nice to meet you." Cynthia, Erza and Natsu greeted. Lucy then shouted in return. "How are you three so calm!?"
Revealing his boney fingers to dig through his ear, feigning as if his ears were hurting from the yelling, the skeleton spoke once again. "My name is Bob."
"Basic!" They all thought in unison.
"Yes, I'm a skeleton! The world of magic is grand, isn't it? How I am what I am and still alive is of no concern to you!"
"We won't ask." Erza assured.
"But I want to know." Lucy whispered.
"Good! Now, as you know—"
"WHAT THE HELL!?" Bob was cut off by a shouting presence. The gang turned to their left and there they were, right on cue with Takeru as their lead. The Shadow Dragon, pointing towards Natsu specifically, shouted once more. "Why are you guys here!? You better not be here for the castle job!"
Natsu blinked, then immediately became hostile like the wild animal he was. "Tak!? You bastard! This happens way more than it should! And you brought...who are you people!?"
"That's not important to you, shit flames! Rematch, right now!" Takeru demanded.
"You're on you shadow bastard!"
Cynthia leaned towards Wendy, whispering. "Who are they?" She sighed once then answered her question. "That's White Eclipse. A guild that rivals ours. We seem to run into them a lot. Almost like fate or something."
"Yeah, or something." Carla added.
"Wow. So the rivalry is real.." Tyson noted, scratching the back of his head in an embarrassed fashion as Reiss and Lluvi tried to hold Takeru back from attacking the Salamander. Erza was doing the same, holding Natsu down by the collar as the two continued barking at each other like two dogs separated by fences. "Are we supposed to get into this!?" Ilaria asked. "Quick, Tyson-Sama! Give the underwear guy an evil stare!" Ilaria took her own command, but her evil glare was passing as a complete opposite. "Wh...what's that girl doing? Is she trying to seduce me?" Gray asked. Tyson immediately covered Ilaria's eyes. "Stop that. Besides, this isn't for us. This rivalry has been built over time by real personal feelings and—"
"I'll kick you and that red head's ass at the same time!" Natsu shouted, to which Takeru and now even Reiss both shouted. "THE HELL DID YOU SAY!?" Now, Lluvi had the sole responsibility of holding both males back from Natsu, barely managing to do so. Tyson then pinched the bridge of his nose. "Never mind. This is a rivalry filled with stupidity. Stupidity, and nothing else." Ilaria and the quiet Micaiah nodded in agreement. The single motion caught Bob's attention however, and when he turned to face her, everything around him disappeared. Nothing but a golden background with Micaiah standing in the midst of what he saw. "An angel." She skeletal one professed. "Huh? Micaiah blinked, then looked around, then back to Bob. Realizing that he was speaking of her, the female grew a reddened expression, waving him away. "W-w-what do you mean? Me!? Why!?"
It broke the tensions between the three, Natsu now laughing his ass off while pointing towards her. "Oi! He's got a crush on ya!" Even Lucy and Erza had to try and hide their laughing stint. Just the thought of anyone with a skeleton...
"Usually I'm attracted to people my age. Like my wife. But she's dead, but this is still odd!" He said, leaning towards Micaiah, invading her personal bubble. Micaiah leaned away embarrassingly. "Please...we're just here to help you...! Can you just start there?"
"Ah, right!" Bob cleared his nonexistent throat. "So basically. I've been kicked out of my own home. I put up a fight though! They had to gang up on me to take me down!"
"I find that hard to believe." Gray murmured.
"Finally, they took me down. There's about five to six of them, roughly. All of them led by this one woman they called Madam, and oh she was far from ordinary! She was radiating strength! With her dark blue eyes! She even had this giant three headed dog!"
A pause. Takeru's eyes widened in disbelief. He asked for a repeat. "A three headed dog?"
"Yes! And a giant snake too!"
Now he was certain. Natsu turned to Tak and his new disposition. "Someone you know?" He asked. Tak replied. "You know her too. Bob, why did you place this job so low?"
"Huh? Because it's just a group of miscreants in my house touching my valuables that I didn't steal from someone else! It shouldn't be too hard for some mages! Right?"
"So you didn't know who she was.." Tak stated. "Hey!" Erza interjected. "You said we know her too, so who is it that he's talking about?"
"Yeah, I'm drawing a blank." Lucy said, Wendy adding a "Me too" while Cynthia just looked back and forth between everyone as they spoke. Takeru took in a deep breath, huffing slowly. "I've never seen Cerberus or Ouroboros before, but Arc has. Inheriting his memories is what triggered it... the person leading this gang is.. Kiora."
The hearts of Team Natsu stopped. Their eyes widened in shock, trembling. "Kiora..? Lucy questioned. "But Tartaros.."
"Forcefully separated, I remember." Takeru continued, staring at the ground with his hair overshadowing his eyes. "That raises a lot of questions now. Like why is Kiora without Maggie and the others? Where are the others? Did they disband, or are they looking for each other? But..." Takeru then raised his head, grinning as placed a left fist into his right hand. "We can't answer those questions out here, can we?"
The sound of a punch was heard, Natsu slamming his right fist into his left palm like a mirror image of Takeru. "Aye! That's what I'm talking about! Let's take her out before she can reunite with the others! Then we can find them after! Now I'm all fired up for this job!"
At the castle's peak, Ino and Palm were looking through a small telescope, watching the two groups at the city entrance. Seconds later, Kiora appeared as if she was summoned. "You two better have a good reason to call for me." She said, now standing between the two. They both bowed as Ino spoke. "We have foreigners in our city, Madam. I'm sure they're heading this way because of that skeleton we kicked out. How will we handle them?"
Kiora took the monocular from Ino and gave a look herself. First thing she spotted were the rookies of White Eclipse. "Oh, some mages trying to take back the castle for that creepy bag of bones? How fun. I'm sure that..."
Her words trailed off. As she looked to the left of them, that's where she spotted Takeru and Team Natsu. The instant she did, something in her mind clicked! A blurry memory, yet at the same time very recognizable. It was a quick flash of last year's Grand Magic Games, running through Kiora's mind like a highlight reel. Once they stopped, the demoness grabbed her left temple, groaning in pain as she put the monocular down and began walking off. Palm, concerned, voiced so. "Madam? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" Kiora snapped. "That thing just gave me a headache to look through. Now, let's get ready to welcome our guests.
Tell Boro and the others to prepare to defend our new home."
