The candidates for S-Class Exam were announced.
Karissa was standing next to Gray when her name was announced and gave him the most smug 'I told you so'. She was right. Doing jobs last minute didn't really help because the master was watching them throughout the year.
"This year's gonna be tougher than ever." Gray sighed and crossed his arms as he leaned back in his seat. Lucy and Karissa, who were sitting by his sides, glanced at him as he closed his eyes thoughtfully.
"Is it the first time for all of you?" Lucy looked at Elfman, Karissa, Gray and Natsu.
"Nah." Gray pointed his thumb at Karissa. "She was officially a candidate for last year's exam and I was the potential candidate."
"Potential candidate?" Lucy cocked her head.
"Last year, the candidates were allowed to choose a partner that could also rise to S-Class if they did just as well." Karissa explained easily, remembering how excited she and Gray were to do the exam until a whole wall named Pandora crushed them.
"And you guys failed!" Natsu grinned, causing Gray to scowl at him. Karissa let out a soft sigh at this.
"At least I have an idea of how these exams go unlike a certain fire idiot." Gray spat. "You'll just be charging in head first and probably fail before you know it!"
"You wanna bet, pervert?!"
"I—"
Karissa rolled her eyes and yanked Gray back into his seat when he stood up to butt heads with the pink haired wizard. "Sit down."
"Um," Lucy cut in with a nervous laugh. "So, has everyone already chosen their partners?"
"I'm partnering with Happy, of course!" Natsu beamed at his blue feline friend who raised his paw in agreement.
"Happy?! That's not fair!" Elfman frowned deeply. "If the exam is a race, then flying would make it a breeze!"
"You think so?" Karissa rested her elbows on the as she locked her hands and rested her chin on the back of her fingers, smiling at him like as if she just finished making work of her latest victim. "I think it makes them easy prey."
Happy slowly shuffled away. "Karissa… you're scaring me."
Gray nodded. "I got not objections. He'd only be a drawback when it comes to fighting."
"You're both awful." Happy sweat dropped at the two ice mages. But then he shook his head and raised his fist in determination. "I'm going to make Natsu an S-Class mage, for sure!"
"I'm not holding back, even on my friends." Natsu stood up and crossed his arms as he looked at Elfman, Gray and Karissa.
"You shouldn't because I'm not going to show you mercy." Karissa said in a blasé manner and then took a sip of water as Natsu and Happy bolted off to train for the week.
"Um…" Juvia looked down as she fidgeted in her seat next to Wendy. "Juvia would like to withdraw from this exam…"
"Eh?! Why?" Wendy gasped.
"Well… I want… to partner… with…"
Karissa leaned back in her seat, bumping her shoulder with Gray and looked up at the ceiling. "You can't partner with Gray." She already knew who he was partnering with.
Juvia's head snapped up and she pointed her finger at Karissa. "Don't tell me Karissa-san is backing out to be Gray-sama's partner?! Gray-sama isn't yours! Let Juvia have a turn!"
Karissa's eyebrow twitched. She looked at Juvia with major offense. "I'm not backing out of this just to be someone's partner. If you just want to be someone else's partner then go tell the master right now so he can choose another candidate." Gray saw Karissa's fist clench on her lap and he grew a little tense when he could feel her getting irritated by Juvia. "People would kill to have your place."
Like I said before, Phantom's qualifications for S-Class are most likely different from Fairy Tail's. She might not even pass ours if she just thinks about Gray all the time.
"She's right." Elfman remarked with his arms crossed, nodding with his eyes closed. "I've been dying to be in the S-Class Exam for years! It's an honor for a man!"
"Well, now you have your chance Elf-nii-chan." Lisanna gave him a thumbs up.
Karissa could see Juvia shrink under her gaze. "It's not like Juvia does not want to participate... it's just..."
Good god make up your mind.
Gray then just waved his hand dismissively to ease the tension between both women. "Sorry. I've already got a partner."
As if on cue, a pair of hands landed on Karissa's shoulder, causing her to jump in her seat and squeak as she looked behind her. A familiar face with a head of orange hair looked down at her with a smirk. It was Loke, he appeared without Lucy summoning him. He undressed his shirt to show off the Fairy Tail mark on his back to prove he still had affiliation with the guild, he was allowed to take part.
"I'm counting on you."
"Leave it to me!"
Loke peered at Karissa and smiled at her. "I won't go easy on you either just because we're friends." he started ruffling her hair.
"Well, if you did, you'd be sorry." Karissa feigned an innocent smile, showcasing her fierce aura that would not show any mercy to anyone who stood in her way to victory. Loke snorted and flicked her forehead. "Don't get too cocky."
"When did you two get so chummy?" Lucy puffed her cheeks at Gray and Loke.
"Loke and Gray have known each other before you came to the guild." Karissa pointed out to the blonde mage.
"I… Okay, yeah that's true. What about you, Karissa?"
"Oh, I chose—"
"She chose me, obviously."
A large hand landed on her head that belonged to her older brother. He was smiling pleasantly at everyone which only serve to make Elfman and Gray uneasy. They were familiar with his savage way of fighting. Angry or not, he was still pretty scary to fight. Everyone in the Sinclost family were tough in their own way.
"Let's do our best, yeah?" Karissa looked at Elfman and Gray with the most innocent smile.
"Yeah…"
Van smiled like a fox. "I look forward to knocking away the competition for my sister."
"Maybe I should sit this one out." Loke laughed nervously.
"Dude!" Gray snapped his head towards the spirit who just laughed and clarified that he was joking.
…
…
…
A week passed and the day of the exam came.
Karissa stepped out of the cabin of the ship. She was dressed in a blue long t-shirt underneath a long gray cardigan, marine blue knee length shorts and flat dark brown ankle boots. She had an orange hair tie around her left wrist too. Her shirt had two bobby pins attached to it just in case she needed to keep her hair out of the way.
Lucy, who was in nothing but a bikini and flip flops, glanced at Karissa, who was uncapping a bottle as she walked casually, while she sat in a chair and then let her jaw drop in disbelief.
"Karissa… aren't you hot?" she looked over her attire, completely baffled. She was even wearing boots!
In Karissa's defense, running around in slippers provided the worst kind of footing. It was all bendy and she could easily hurt her foot if she accidentally rammed it into a rock. No thanks.
Karissa gulped her water and looked over at the sweaty Celestial mage. "A little."
"A little?!" she looked over her clothes and saw no sweat marks underneath her armpits. "Aren't you sweating?!"
"A little."
Then, Karissa's hair began to whip around violently as wind picked up around her. Lucy deadpanned when she realized why the older mage was fine. She was using her wind magic to keep herself cool. It wasn't fair that she had so much magic to waste too!
"Don't bother asking, Lucy." Cana drawled from her table where Wendy and Levy sat with her who were just melting in their seats.
Everyone was dying from the heat which was completely different from the weather back in town where it felt much more chilly since it was December. It seemed like Juvia and Karissa were the only ones having less of a hard time.
"Can you share a little…?"
Karissa snorted mockingly and gave her a smug look as she stared down at her. "Cook." Was all she said before marching off to where Van was chatting with Loke. Gray was sitting nearby by and she had to avert her eyes away when she saw his whole package hanging with his damn legs open. At least he had a valid reason to strip his clothes this time.
Still… he could at least cross his legs…
She ignored Juvia who was gushing over Gray's naked body. I wonder if she decided to take the test because Gray was doing it…
"Here." Karissa tossed the water bottle to her brother who caught it with one hand.
"Thank you."
"None for me?" Loke feigned offense.
"Are you suffering?" Karissa tipped her head.
Loke gestured to the air and looked around. "Obviously."
Karissa smirked and took a seat in the chair next to her brother. "Then that's good. The more you suffer then the chances of you being slower when we reach Tenrou Island will increase."
"How devious." Loke sighed with a small smile as she rested her cool water bottle on the small makeshift table between them. She had chilled it with her ice magic a while ago.
All of a sudden, she heard sluggish feet pounding the wooden floor behind her followed by a groan. She didn't pay any mind to it until she saw an arm reach for her drink and take it away. The arm that grabbed it brushed against her cheek, causing sweat to spread on it. It most likely got in her hair too.
"Ew!" Karissa exclaimed in disgust, rubbing her cheek with her sleeve. She turned around and nearly screamed when she came face to face with Gray's… thing. She flinched and bolted up from her seat to move away from it and saw Gray just pouring the cool water down his throat.
"What are you doing?!" She quickly snatched the water bottle. There was already less than half inside of it! "Mine!"
"Come on, share!" Gray reached for the water. She shuddered and stepped away from him with a cringe. "Get your sweaty body away from me! And put some underwear on at least!"
"It's too hot for it…"
"Have some decency— stop it!"
Gray pouted a little when she slapped his hand away and backed stepped. Then he watched her drink up the rest of the water while looking at him dead in the eyes. Meanwhile, Juvia was in the back wailing about how Karissa and Gray shared an indirect kiss.
After letting out a satisfied gasp, she smirked at him. "HA!"
"Tch, mean."
"I don't care. And you got your sweat on my cheek!" she patted the back of her hair. "And maybe in my hair too!"
"Tie your hair." Gray walked back to his seat and dropped into it lazily. "You're making me feel hotter when I see your hair down…"
She didn't respond and simply sat back down in her seat where Loke and Van were watching them interact with amused smiles. She looked at the two suspiciously.
"Nothing, nothing." Loke waved his hand dismissively. "You two are just as close as ever."
"It's not like we'll suddenly stop being close after all these years." Karissa retorted with a sarcastic tone.
"Speaking of all these years," Van sat up straight in his chair, loosening his light purple summer polo shirt and trying to fan himself with it. "How long ago was it when you first met us?"
The hidden history that Loke had told Karissa that day when he revealed himself as a Celestial Spirit reached the ears of the two older siblings. At first, they were shocked because not once have they ever heard of such a thing. Pandora, the oldest, didn't remember anything. No memory of a man with orange hair ever came to her mind no matter how hard she tried to remember. Van had no such memory either. Curious.
"Yeah, you said you promised you would tell." Karissa leaned back in her seat, anticipation bubbling in her gut for Loke's story time. "Come on, grandpa."
Loke deadpanned at the name. "First of all," he pointed at her. "Do not call me that. You see how young and handsome I look? I'm nowhere near old." Van snickered next to his sister and sat back and crossed his legs, ready to listen.
…
…
…
YEAR X770
It was a stormy night.
Leo carried Lily, his contractor, and through the woods with haste to reach a town that may help him. Lily was injured from fighting a dark mage and was bleeding profusely. Time was ticking. His heart was beating fast. He was fearing for her life.
"Come on, don't close your eyes, Lily!"
"Leo…"
As soon as he made it out of the woods, he stumbled across a woman with long straight black hair and deep violet eyes. She was carrying an umbrella and grocery bags. Upon seeing him, she took a fearful step back and held her arms up in defense.
"Who are you?!" she shouted, her eyes piercing him with a glare.
"I need help. Is there a town nearby that you can direct me to?!" Leo quickly tried to assuage the tension, holding Lily close to his warm body. He was trying his best to shield her from the rain and keep her warm in her condition. When the woman's eyes landed on Lily's bloody body, she visibly relaxed and grew concerned for her.
"I can help you." The woman closed the distance between them rapidly. Leo nearly backed away protectively if it were not for the genuine concern showcasing on the woman's face. She placed a firm grip on Leo's bicep when she ditched the umbrella. "Hold onto her tightly." The woman warned. Then, Leo could feel himself flying to the north with the woman. Flying was not the proper word for it. He was falling towards the north.
He saw an isolated house atop a hill. There was light coming from inside even if the resident tried to hide it with a dark green curtain. They arrived at the doorstep in less than five seconds and Leo had to force himself to regain his balance once he was no longer falling, not wanting to upset Lily's wound. The woman opened the door with a key and ushered the drenched duo into the house. He immediately spotted a man with silver hair resting against the backrest of a couch.
Their head jolted up and he looked at the sudden intruders, revealing dark brown eyes that were instantly examining the sight of Leo and Lily.
"Zack." The woman addressed the man who was already standing up. "She's bleeding."
"Give her here." Zack approached Leo with open hands. There was no time to hesitate so he gave her up to the stranger who walked towards the living room table. All the objects sitting atop were moved away and dropped onto the couch with wind magic from the black haired woman. Lily's body was above the same height as the coffee table.
After resting her head on a pillow, Zack turned to Leo and narrowed his eyes at him. "I will heal her but you're not allowed to look. Go somewhere else."
"What?" Leo grew tense after being momentarily stunned. "What are you going to do to her?"
"Are you deaf? I said I'm going to heal her." Zack hissed, keeping his voice low.
Before he could utter another word, the woman grabbed his arm and gently brought him to the kitchen. He was still confused and concerned for Lily. Every time he tried to look back the woman forced him to look at her.
"What's your name?" she decided to ask with a friendly smile.
"… Leo."
"Nice to meet you, Leo. My name is Domilia. I'm sorry I seemed hostile earlier." Leo tried to glance over his shoulder, but soft hands cupped his face to keep his sight forward. Domilia smiled a reassuring smile when she saw the increasingly worried look take over his features.
"It's alright. Zack will heal her. You have nothing to fear."
"… Are you using a forbidden type of healing magic on her?"
Domilia shook her head. "Of course not." She brushed his cheeks with her thumbs to calm him down. "It's just not a magic we're a fan of showing off to strangers."
Leo could feel himself calming down the longer she caressed his face in a motherly manner. He was a Spirit so he didn't grow up like humans. Maybe millennials ago he was a child, but he could not remember that time with the passage of time. However, her warmth lulled his fears and made him feel like a child in his mother's touch.
Soon, the storm began to finally settle.
Leo sat on the couch near Lily's body, observing her face as he gently held her smaller hand in his. This young contractor of his should have the right to live a long life and not wrongfully cut short by some dark mage who cowardly attacked her in the dark for her money.
Zack stuffed his hands in his pockets while he leaned against the wall, watching the way Leo silently brushed his thumb against the back of her hand.
"Thank you." Leo finally spoke.
"You're very welcome." Zack took out his hands from his pockets and then proceeded to jump over the couch to sit on it next to him. Domilia had already retired to bed, leaving Zack and Leo the only people awake. Leo saw his dark brown eyes staring at him thoughtfully. It was weird in a sense that he could literally feel his eyes peering into him, looking at his soul. He might as well have been since after he uttered a fact.
"You're a Celestial Spirit, huh?" Zack leaned back and softly yawned. "I didn't think I'd see Celestial Spirits here in Bosco."
The lion spirit's eyes grew wide. "How did you know?"
All of a sudden, a black dog— no a wolf, came around the couch and padded around the coffee table to jump and rest on Zack's lap. Leo stared at the wolf that stared back at him with its yellow piercing eyes. Zack petted the dog and looked at Leo nonchalantly. He found his answer within their eyes.
"I see. So, that's how it is. You're one of them." Leo saw the wolf close its eyes. He looked at Zack in confusion. "I thought the keys were destroyed."
"They were." Zack lifted his wrist up and stared at it. "Crushed and grinded into dust."
He proceeded to explain more of it until he noticed Leo looking weary. The wolf whined and perked its head up.
Leo was staying in the human world too long for his own good.
"Just go back and rest. Lily will be in good hands."
…
…
…
The next day, Leo felt restless. Staying in the Spirit World and resting comfortably while his contractor was healing with some strangers just didn't feel right. He trusted these two people but his protective nature over his master wouldn't let him take it easy. He showed up in the house some time in the afternoon and found Lily resting on the couch, wearing clean clothes that most likely belonged to Domilia.
He learned that three children resided in the house which explained why Zack was speaking in a hushed manner that night. An eight year old daughter, a five year old son and another daughter who was only four years old. The youngest child kept staring at him curiously and would often try to touch his spiky hair. The middle child kept staring at him from afar while the oldest just ignored him altogether because she was shy.
He was sitting outside looking at the down below the hill when the youngest daughter came up to him. She was hiding her hands behind her back.
"What's wrong?" Leo gave her his attention, lightly cocking his head to the side.
"Here." Karissa pulled out a white pollen flower and held it out to him. Pollen flowers weren't exactly fitting flower gifts for people since people could be allergic or simply because the pollen would blow away.
"It's for me?" Leo smiled a little and took the pollen flower from her hands. He found this child innocence adorable and refreshing after what's happened. "But aren't dandelions much nicer flowers?"
She pointed at it. "I like this one."
Maybe she just didn't like the colour yellow. Children can be quite obvious with their likes and dislikes.
With a smile, he ushered her to sit down in front of him. The little girl was obedient and just sat down and looked at him curiously as he plucked a dandelion flower from the grass and then curled the stem around her ear. He took another one and curled it around her other ear and then leaned away to look at his work.
"It looks weird." Karissa frowned and touched the flowers.
"You don't know that." Leo chuckled softly. "You look very pretty."
…
…
…
"I stayed there for about three days and got to know you guys a bit more before Lily decided to leave." Loke looked at Van and Karissa who were just staring at him and listening to his story without saying anything. Gray was also listening in on the story since he had nothing better to do, he already dragged his seat next to Karissa to get comfortable.
The three humans already felt like something was wrong with this story.
"I don't remember anything like that." Van frowned. "Five years old… I feel like I would remember something… especially a wolf in the house…"
Puzzled, Gray looked at Karissa who started playing with her fingers. "I thought you guys always lived in Iceberg. You always lived in Isvan, didn't you?"
"… Yeah." Karissa blinked. "We never lived in Bosco."
She always lived in Isvan.
It was Loke's turn to blink, several times. Did their parents not tell them? He was certain a child would at least remember moving from one country to another. He wasn't mistaken. He knew he was in Bosco with Lily before he was moved to Fiore when he got a new contractor.
Something wasn't right.
"That's weird…" Karissa mumbled. She always lived in Iceberg where she met Gray. She had no memory of living in Bosco. She lowered her gaze and stared at the wooden floor, trying to figure out why things weren't adding up.
Van held up a hand to his head. Is my memory tampered with? Because I should remember at least something from living in Bosco…
Were their parents hiding something from them?
Seeing the way Karissa looked increasingly worried over the matter only made Gray worry as well. Even if she was competition, he didn't want her getting distracted during the exam. It wouldn't be fair.
Gray cleared his throat and let out a sheepishly chuckle. "Maybe we should keep the reminiscing and stuff for after the exam."
Loke rubbed the back of his neck and smiled a little, nodding. "Yeah. Maybe this isn't a great time to discuss about that. I don't want to distract you from the exam." He told Karissa who looked up quietly. She was starting to feel the same way when she thought about Clavis being alive. But they were right. This wasn't the time to think about it. She had an S-Class exam to think about. An exam that came once a year.
"Listen, don't let those thoughts linger for too long. Think about it once, and then try to drop it, or else you're going to dig yourself a hole and you'll find yourself drowning in it. Trust me, you don't wanna get there."
She won't allow herself to think about this new piece of the puzzle.
Karissa remained silent with Van with Loke and Gray who were left feeling uneasy. They decided to try and keep their minds off it by talking about the exam. Thankfully, Master Makarov gathered their attention not long after, the first trial instructions were much more important at the moment.
The test began right in the middle of the sea once Tenrou Island was within sight. Freed and Bickslow managed to delay the competition with Jutsu Shiki bar Team Levy and Team Elfman who had members capable of overwriting it. The first trial consisted of taking paths that would either consist of battle with the S-Class mages or with each other. The first three teams wanted to have a better chance at getting more peaceful routes.
Nevertheless, the delayed candidates zoomed to the island once the Jutsu Shiki disappeared.
Karissa decided to take a path with a letter that would correspond to an even number.
The older brother walked behind his sister who led the way silently.
"You wanna talk about what Loke told us?"
"Not really."
"You sure?"
Karissa removed her hair tie and started tying up her hair in a low ponytail. "The last thing I need is the past distracting my future."
Van blinked in surprise at her firm voice. Truthfully, he was expecting her to feel somewhat conflicted and distracted about it all, but she chose to set it aside for the time being. She paid no mind to it despite how concerning it was.
"Well said."
When they reached the end of the tunnel, light shined upon them from the sunlight. There was water surrounding the area which indicated their proximity to the waters. And right in the middle of the place blocking their path was none other than their older sister standing straight with her arms crossed.
"Welcome to my domain." Pandora smirked as she lowered her arms and then motioned them to step forward with a finger. "We don't do mercy here by the way."
There's never an easy way to become S-Class.
…
…
…
Van cracked the earth with a single punch which made the stone floor become uneven. Pandora clicked her tongue and then dodged earth attacks that homed in on her.
Karissa sent a giant ice drill after her sister which created a chasm.
Pandora dodged and sent her magic after her.
Karissa dodged the beams of slight by side stepping and then dashed towards her sister. She created an ice scythe and swung it around to knock her off her feet. Pandora was quite the nimble mage on her feet. You would have thought she was dancing from how quick she was to riposte. There was grace in the way she fought.
Pandora formed a long whip made of light and swung it behind her as she jumped over the scythe. It utterly destroyed the pillar of earth that was about to slam into her. She sent magic down to her feet and grounded one foot into the ground as she slammed her foot onto the ice blade which ended up with the sisters coming face to face.
"Very good so far. You sure do have the tenacity of an S-Class mage." Pandora praised her sister who tried to push the scythe to get her off balance.
Van sent a thousand giant earth needles to rain down on her. Pandora's eyes narrowed and then she felt the scythe that she was blocking suddenly drop. Karissa had dropped it, causing the oldest to lose equilibrium. Karissa was about to ram her knee up her chin.
The oldest Sinclost grinned.
"Light Splitter!"
All of a sudden, orbs of light appeared around Pandora's body and shot off in different directions. All the earth needles were eradicated easily. Karissa and Van were hit by at least one which was enough to send crashing into rock walls. As Pandora was about to straightened up, she felt her arms each get tugged into the directions where Van and Karissa were sent flying. Chains of ice were firmly wrapped around her wrists.
"When did you…?!"
With a cry, Karissa lunged at her from behind a rock with an ice halberd. Pandora's eyes darted to where Karissa was supposedly tugging and found her standing there with lifeless eyes. It was an ice clone. The back of the halberd was pitched at her gut. Pandora doubled over and gasped for air.
"Fall!" Van shouted as he tugged the chain to make her stumble as Karissa created a giant ice cannon.
"Rime Cannon!"
The cannonball directly flew in Pandora's direction who saved herself by creating a light barrier in the nick of time. The ice shattered and bounced off the shield. Van then found himself being tugged in Pandora's direction and then flung to the side as she tossed the chain once she broke free.
"Agh! Fuuuck!" Van groaned against a rock.
Karissa didn't stop.
"Ice Make: Ice Cleaver!"
Two large tilted spikes shot up from the ground at Pandora's sides and then proceeded to slam shut. It manage to catch her arm in it when she tried jumping away. Pandora winced when she felt the rush of pain throughout her arm.
Karissa kept moving.
Van followed in suit.
That single attack broke my arm in three different places…! Pandora narrowed her dark brown eyes. She's really stronger compared to last year… She really might pass this year.
As the two younger siblings attacked at the same time, Pandora's body became enveloped in light and then shot up into the air.
"Chains of judgement that binds the world,"
A giant magic circle appeared over her head which emitted a large amount of magic power.
"Twist and harden,"
Karissa and Van tensed when they saw orbs of lights poking out of the magic circle. It would be foolish to get close to their sister and try to stop the spell now. If they got too close, they had a feeling that they wouldn't survive if she decided to unleash it on them.
Van glanced at his sister who gritted her teeth in annoyance. They were spending too much time with Pandora and expending their magic power. It was still only the first trial. Who knew what was waiting for them on the other side of this trial.
"Crown of Torment!" Pandora swung her good arm down which commanded the orbs of light to begin their assault. The first one landed in front of them, breaking the ground even worse than when Van punched it. The second was next to Van and it created a hole to the point where they could now see the water if they peered into the hole.
They did their best to dodge the attacks. Crown of Torment was fast and destructive. It made Karissa's speed with her wind seemed like a joke. One of them got her in the shoulder which got her to roll across the ground.
"Damn it…!" Karissa growled and then hissed. No… I can't stop. I'm not allowed to fail!
"Hey!" Van screamed at his older sister. "Before you kill us, I think now would be a good time for me to act like a good brother and tell you something!" he continued dodging the attacks like his life depended on it. It kind of did to be honest.
"That day when I was screaming in the house. You want to know the reason?!"
Karissa stood up on her feet and looked at her brother, confused.
Van inhaled deeply for screaming out his next sentence. "Gray and Karissa slept together in a honeymoon suite! I saw the receipt!"
Karissa's jaw dropped.
"They did the nasty! That was his gift for her birthday!"
Karissa blushed from anger and embarrassment. "VAN?! WHAT THE FUCK?!" she snapped.
Crown of Torment faltered until nothing was left.
Pandora froze in mid air.
"You wanna know when they first did it?! Before they were even seventeen!"
"VAN! SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Karissa pitched an ice ball at him which he dodged. Her reactions were certainly not helping either.
Pandora was already on the floor and she looked quite horrified, looking like she was about to leave reality any second now. She took slow steps towards her sister. "K-Karissa… no… wait… that's… you couldn't! You were still young!" her hands shakily grasped her face.
"It's not like that! I mean we did sleep in the same bed—"
"OH MY GOD!" Pandora screeched with a burst of light around her body. "THAT DEVIANT!"
"Aww man!" Karissa whined while furiously scratching her head before flying towards her sister and then pitched a hammer at her face which effectively knocked her out. Pandora dropped unconscious with her broken arm.
Van smiled. "There we go."
His smile was wiped off when his little sister grabbed the front of his shirt with angry expression. Immediately, he shrunk under her glare and lifted his hands up in surrender, claiming that his strategy was for her own benefit to appease her rage.
"You told our sister-mother that I slept with Gray! She's going to kill me! AND GRAY!"
He had turned something innocent into something disastrous.
"N-Now… now… you can't disagree that you're happy that she's down?"
"We would have defeated her given if a little more time!" Karissa yelled, absolutely livid. A part of her was annoyed that she couldn't defeat her sister properly while another was scared.
"You would have won too so what's the big deal?!" Van leaned his head away when she grinded her teeth.
Pandora was the scariest one when angry because she was like their mother. A scary mother was always scary. Van was the definition of scary when he lost his temper because of how destructive he was. But as Gray said, Karissa was scary when she's angry because she was mostly passively aggressive. If she openly showed her anger, then it meant that was really pissed with maybe no hope for appeasement.
"You dumb freaking—"
…
…
…
"When I get my hands on you, you're dead!"
"Karissa! Calm down!" Cana cried.
Gray and Loke blinked when they saw what was happening in front of them. They had just finished beating Mest and Wendy and arrived to the next spot only to see Van hiding behind Lucy and Levy while Cana and Gajeel were restraining Karissa who was shouting and trying to break free from Gajeel who was having a hard time holding her back. He had his arms under hers while Cana was holding onto her waist.
Van cowered behind Lucy who looked terrified since this was the first time that she's seen Karissa so pissed off. With her facing the three of them, it almost felt like her anger was directed to the two girls too. Levy was holding onto Lucy's arm for safety measure. Why was Lucy the human shield?!
"How strong is this chick?!" Gajeel gritted his teeth and then whipped his head towards the left where Gray and Loke were standing. "Oi! Gray! Control your girlfriend! She's going berserk!"
"She's not my— oh forget it." Gray removed his bag to fling it aside and hurried over to Gajeel and Cana. The brunette released her and Gajeel yelped when she took a big stride forward despite Gajeel's arms restraining her.
"What's happening?" Loke asked Happy who was sitting next to Natsu who looked uninterested in what was happening.
"I don't know…" Happy watched the scene. "Van suddenly bolted out of the tunnel while screaming that Karissa was going to kill him. Next thing I know, she's being restrained when Cana asked for Gajeel's help."
Gajeel got his stomach rammed into by Karissa's elbow when he was passing her onto to Gray. He groaned and sat down while he wheezed, still completely baffled by the shorter girl's strength. Now Karissa was sitting between Gray's legs as he kept her in a headlock, telling her to calm down. As expect, she began to cool off a little in the arms of her old friend but she was still murdering her brother with her eyes.
"What's wrong with you?" Gray slowly began loosening his hold when he felt no resistance.
"This idiot distracted Pandora and made us win." Karissa spat and crossed her arms like a child.
"You won against Pandora?!" Cana and Levy exclaimed in shock. They couldn't believe it. Pandora was equally scary and tough as Mirajane and Erza.
"That must have been why I heard the ground shaking earlier..." Loke muttered, scratching the back of his head.
"Isn't that a good thing?" Gray finally asked after snapping out of his initial surprise.
Karissa turned her head around to look at him. "If only you knew what he used as a distraction!" she hissed. "And I didn't want to win that way!"
"Oi!" Gray wrapped his arms around her tightly when she tried standing. She trashed a little but then surrendered when Gray's arms wouldn't budge. She heaved heavily against him and stared at the ground.
"What did he do?" Gajeel decided to ask the most important question since it was the reason for nearly destroying her brother. Van shrunk behind Lucy when Karissa whipped her head towards him and pointed at him.
"Don't. Say. A. Word."
The older Sinclost nodded once.
It was out of the question to say such a thing in front of the others. However, Gray should have the right to know because Pandora was going to go after him once it was all over. So, she twisted around and coiled an arm around his neck to pull him closer while cupping a hand around his ear. Even with Dragon Slayer hearing, they wouldn't be able to hear her like this.
Gray blushed when he felt her breathe against his ear. "Hey! What are you—"
"He fucking told Pandora about the honeymoon suite and told her that we basically screwed each other!" she hissed with a whisper. It was so embarrassing to talk about it. "He said we'd been at it since we were seventeen!"
First, Gray's face combusted and turned redder. But a few seconds after her words sank into him, his face paled dramatically. The others just admired the way Gray's face morphed from embarrassment to pure terror in a fraction of a second. It was amazing to see the way a human's expression can change so rapidly. He was genuinely fearing for his life since the sweet embrace of death was highly possible. He could picture it now. Pandora standing over his body with wrath in her hands which were soaked in his blood.
He gulped.
Van had signed his death warrant.
"You fix this!" Gray hollered at Van, pointing a shaky finger. Cana looked surprised to see him so frightened. "I don't want to die right after I become S-Class!"
"Okay, okay! I will!"
"What did he do?!" Lucy freaked as she wasn't used to seeing Gray so terrified like this.
"Maybe we shouldn't ask…" Levy said nervously.
"I won't tell you." Van let out a shaky laugh.
Not long after, Elfman and Evergreen arrived. With them, the candidates for the next trial were all present. Mest and Juvia were knocked out of the exam when they lost against their opponents.
"The second test is searching for the grave of Mavis, our founding Guild Master. You have only six hours. You hear that? Six hours. I'll be waiting at Mavis' grave."
"Should we just stalk the Master?" Van suggested to his sister, who he deemed safe enough to be around now that Gray calmed her down. Loke even gave her a quick massage for her shoulders to relax her but only until she started slumping.
"You can try but you won't be able to catch up." Master Makarov guffawed at Van as he strolled away with his hands behind his back.
"Stupid." Karissa huffed at her older brother.
After they all parted ways in search of the First Guild Master's grave, they all had their own obstacles to deal with. The island was crawling with monsters, some were friendly while some were out to bite their heads off. Gray and Loke had to find cover to hide from a stampede of monsters that found them.
While they hid and tried to calm their racing hearts, Loke decided to use this time to ask and satiate his curiosity. He asked Gray about what Karissa had told him about what Van did to get her so angry. Again, Gray's face turned red and he scratched the back of his head. He planted his elbow on his knees and rested his mouth against his palm.
"Is it really that bad?" Loke cocked his head curiously.
"Van… told Pandora that Karissa and I slept together to distract her." Gray managed to say, scratching his head harder. "He made it even worse by saying it was at the age of seventeen. Pandora must have been horrified to learn it was before adulthood. She's going to kill me." Telling Loke wouldn't be so bad. Honestly, he was more scared than embarrassed. He turned to Loke to finish explaining until he saw the look on Loke's face. He was glaring at him with eyes that were promising death that sent a shiver down his spine. He didn't think Loke could look like this.
"Did you?"
"NO!" Gray snapped and then slapped a hand over his mouth when he remembered the monsters around them. "It's all lies!"
After staring at him for a few seconds, Loke smiled behind his shades. That smile of his, no matter how charming he tried to make it look, surely veiled threats for him. "Just making sure. If it wasn't then we were going to have a problem."
Gray blinked several times and watched as Loke look around the area for monsters as if he didn't just threaten him. The raven haired man just sat there at a loss for words. Loke deemed it safe enough to move and told Gray that they should get going. The ice mage followed after him, face blank still from Loke's show of protectiveness.
I don't know if I should be happy or terrified that Karissa is loved so dearly…
With her arm in a sling, Pandora was with the other women, Lisanna, Juvia and Erza, who were listening to Mirajane. The oldest Strauss explained that she was defeated by her younger brother who caught her off guard when he told her that he was getting married to Evergreen. Erza, who was stirring a pot with a ladle, thought they weren't kidding at all and wanted to know the date of their union.
Juvia glanced at Pandora who was sitting next to her. The older woman was rapping her fingers against the table with a murderous look which frightened the water mage.
"P-Pandora-san… is there something wrong?" Juvia decided to ask, the youngest Strauss looked to the side upon hearing Juvia.
"Oh nooo, everything is fine." Pandora laughed darkly, her drumming ceasing to fist her hand tightly. "I'm just trying to figure out when I should castrate someone…"
"C-Castrate?!" Lisanna repeated, shocked. "Who?!"
"Why are you so angry?" Mirajane wondered innocently, placing a curious hand on her cheek.
"I just learned something very disturbing." Pandora breathed and looked at the fellow older sister. "It concerns my baby sister and that damn fool who couldn't keep his pants zipped! That damn pervert couldn't keep his hands to himself...!" she nearly screamed before slamming her fist on the table as she was unable to keep a lid on her wrath, and then roared: "I'm going to kill Gray Fullbuster!"
(A certain ice mage felt a chill run down his spine).
Erza's eyes grew wide and she dropped the ladle in the pot.
"WHAT?!" Lisanna, Mirajane, Erza and Juvia shouted together.
"W-W-Wait!" Erza began with a stutter. "E-Explain! What happened?!"
"WHEN DID KARISSA-SAN VIOLATE GRAY-SAMA?!" Juvia screeched.
Mirajane was covering her mouth to prevent odd sounds from escaping.
"They…?!" Lisanna gaped.
Pandora gave them a quick summary of what her younger brother informed her. She had no reason to doubt his words. It made sense. The way the two of them looked panicked that day when she peeked into Karissa's room. She knew that Van was lying to her as well. Karissa was even denying it with a blush on her face before she knocked her out. And to think that they did it before they were of age… Oh, Gray really needed to die.
Lisanna was wondering how much had she missed when she was back in Edolas. She knew that they were close, but she didn't know they were that close.
Erza's mind went back to that night where she and Lucy caught them cuddling. Maybe they did cuddle often.
Juvia went straight to imagining Gray and Karissa in a passionate embrace at night which had her biting her handkerchief aggressively. She was right! Karissa was manipulating Gray into being her lover!
Mirajane, even though startled and a little excited at first, had to try to reassure Pandora that it was most likely just a way to catch her off guard like Elfman and Evergreen did. "It's our fault for falling for it and not keeping our focus on the battle."
"I doubt it's a lie." Pandora growled, her dark brown eyes glowing menacingly. "I can't believe that stripper's been a wolf this whole time! I swear when I get my hands on him..."
"U-Um, anyway!" Lisanna tried to change the subject nervously. She didn't want to hear what Pandora would do to the poor guy. "Where did Freed and Bickslow go?"
"T-They, um," Erza cleared her throat, blushing, trying to erase the indecent thoughts. "went back to the guild with Gildarts. Now that I think about it, where did Mest and Wendy go?"
"They are late." Mirajane remarked.
"Did they forget the meeting place?" Lisanna folded her arms and slouched against the table. "But Mest, huh? I never met him in Edolas, so I don't know much about him. Did he join the guild in the two years I wasn't there?"
Mirajane looked at Erza. "I don't know… did he?"
"But I think he's been a member for a long time." Erza crossed her arms.
"I don't remember the last time I even noticed Mest at the guild." Pandora remarked with a deep breath.
Immediately, Juvia stood up with a serious expression. "Juvia is a little worried and will go look for them."
Erza began removing her apron. "If so, then I shall join you." She set it aside on the table. "Mira, Lisanna and Pandora, you should stay here."
"If I stay here, I might destroy something. I'll use this opportunity to walk." Pandora said nonchalantly as she stood. She was going to use this time to wisely choose the punishment befitting for tainting her little sister.
You're a dead man.
…
…
…
Van picked up a small pebble and began rolling it in his hand absentmindedly. "He said this is a test of mind power, right? So there's no point in hoping to get lucky and finding the grave." They were just running around with no clue where to find Mavis' resting place. It would be a waste of time to continue on like this.
"Yeah." Karissa looked up at the sky and leaned back as she plated her hands behind her on the rock she was sitting on. For the sake of her exam, Karissa decided to set aside her personal feelings and just focus. " We need to sit down and think."
They needed use their brain.
In the Sinclost family, everyone was far from being stupid.
"If he gave us no hints then the hint is probably in the instructions." Van sat criss cross on the ground and then repeated the master in his best gravelly voice. "The second test is searching for the grave of Mavis, our founding Guild Master. You have only six hours. You hear that? Six hours. I'll be waiting at Mavis' grave."
"He repeated six twice. I noticed that when he said it." Karissa crossed her legs and shut her eyes. She could hear the island beasts stomping around.
Grave.
Mavis is the first Master.
Three generations ago.
Six hours.
"Maybe…" Karissa scratched her temple. "The X600s…?"
That was the time when Mavis was alive.
"What are you thinking?"
"The answer revolves around Mavis… I think." Karissa said slowly, trying to reach an answer with a bridge that she was slowly beginning to build.
"So going back to the past?" Van lightly tossed the pebble up in the air repeatedly. "X600s… there was another language that was frequently spoken back then, right? So, if the theme of the test is about death, let's think about something related to death in that language."
"Language… I'm not too familiar with it all… I just know basic stuff."
"Somnus for sleep." Van pointed out.
"Okay but that's easy." Karissa rolled her eyes. "I doubt the master would make it so easy for us." She switched from legs crossed to criss cross and leaned forward on her elbows. She started numbering them on her hands. "Somnus, mors, sepulcrum…"
"Dormeo." Van piped up.
"Requiem." Karissa added.
"Okay wait." Van suddenly raised his hand to stop her. "There'd be no point to put down all these words if we don't even know which one to choose."
"True…" She drawled with a sigh. She scratched her head and groaned. "Okay let's go back to what he said. He said to find the grave of Mavis, her name has five letters, and he also said to find it within six hours— oh." Karissa slapped her forehead and laughed to herself. "Okay. We need six letters." She lifted her hands and shook her head.
Van opened his mouth in realization. "Because he repeated six hours."
"Yep."
"So dormeo is the word we use because it has six."
There was a pause for her brain to turn the gears.
"Master Makarov is the master of the third generation." Karissa held up three fingers. Mavis was the master three generations ago. "Dormeo has three vowels and three consonants. But the vowels are the ones we should be looking at. Out of the three, we can't use 'O'."
Van threw the pebble over his shoulder. He was completing the answer she was already concluding to. "The answer should direct us somewhere so it can't be 'O'. 'E' can be used to direct us east but it can also mean that we need to take the E path from the first test."
"Yeah." Karissa pushed herself up into a standing position. Their destination was decided. "It would be too easy if it was in the east. Anyone could find it if they were lucky enough to head east first. Luck was in the first test. So, it should be in the E path."
Van beamed a pleasant smile and stood up, his hands brushing off the dirt from his rear. "Look at us, using brain power."
Karissa walked past him with a frown. "I'm still pissed at you by the way."
"I said I was sorry!" Van chased after her as she began speeding off. "I promise I'll explain and fix it!"
"You better!"
Welp, this story's romance is about to end soon now that Gray is on Pandora's death list lol.
Lucy's deduction on where Mavis' grave was located was half-guesswork. So, I made up an answer that was much more complicated and worthy of the second test. I used Latin words. Somnus: sleep, Mors: death, Sepulcrum: grave , Dormeo: sleep or rest, Requiem: ... requiem.
Bosco, Iceberg and Isvan are all canon places in Fairy Tail if you didn't know. The author didn't expand the story towards some other countries in the main series which I found a little disappointing since there could have been potential in using them. So, I'll expand it. And boy, I can't wait until I do.
Anyway, we're getting closer to the time skip! As excited as I am to finally get there, I don't want to rush. I need to slow down and just take it easy. I've been mostly pumping out these recent long chapters weekly and I've been feeling burnt out lol. I should know better than to do that so that's on me (-_-;)