Chapter 12: Within The Circle

The day had started out strong: Lucy and Erza had found their way around the brush easily, with no injuries other than simply cutting the blonde's thumb. They talked in short conversation, and proclaimed how scared they were. But, they were joking, of course and fiddled with the map lazily to see where to.

However, once they passed by an old, ancient home they felt a slight, twitch. The two women looked to each other with growing concern, as they both drifted back towards the center of the path. Now shoulder to shoulder, Erza took the map from Lucy -with little to no protest- and studied it carefully, hoping it pin point their spot.

"It says we're over by the Tartaros Bypass, but I can't hear any cars. Hmh..." The redhead hummed in concentration. Lucy inched forward to peek over her shoulder, squinting her eyes to read. Then, realization hit. "Erza, I don't think they call it the Tartaros Bypass because it's a bypass for cars...," Lucy squeezed out, squishing closer to Erza. "Really? Then why do they call it a bypass then, Lucy?" Erza asked. Lucy shifted side to side, eyes darting back and forth. She seemed more alert than before, and fiddled with the equipment on her belt.

Erza knitted her eyebrows together in concern, now even more determined to find the truth. "Lucy, tell me, why do they call it a bypass?" Erza stepped closer to Lucy, who looked even more frightened. "I-", Lucy started but huddled down into herself in fright. "It's called the bypass... because... they're lots of activity... here," Lucy explained, struggling to get the words out. At this, Erza raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of activity, Lucy?" Erza egged on. Lucy took a breath. "P-paranormal, demonic -you name it, it happens. So many cemeteries are around this place, and with the abandoned, overgrown houses in the area," Lucy explained. Erza took a step back, depression washing over her. She felt a tightness in her chest, along with the overwhelming feeling of pain and sadness.

"I- I don't know what's happening, Lucy." Erza said, gripping her chest. Her eyes squeezed shut as the feeling became too overwhelming to handle. She latched onto the nearest tree branch, which immediately snapped in half, letting her fall onto the ground. "Erza!" Lucy came barreling towards Erza in worry, her eyebrows furrowing in concern.

"Do you feel woozy? Dizzy?" Lucy pipped fast, coming to grab Erza's hand. "Yes, I do. It's just, the world is spinning." She sat herself down, along with Erza. "I knew it was a bad idea to come, I should've said something to Natsu-" Before she could stop herself, the name came out and flew her hand to her mouth. "No... you weren't supposed yo hear that!" Lucy said, almost completely forgetting about Erza's situation. "Oh gosh, I'm such an idiot."

Lucy dug her nails into her head, combing her hair back. While, Erza -through her massive headache- tested out the words on her tongue. "Natsu... Natsu... cute name; means summer, I believe." But a sharp pang interrupted her fondling. Erza doubled down in pain, and luckily, Lucy caught her- immediately wrapping her on a hug. "Look, I'll go grab a icepack and- and, maybe we should go back to the car-" Lucy said. Erza put up her hand. "No, please, I'll stay here. How about you drive the car down here, we'll stop, and map out how to get to the treasure. Sounds good?" Lucy nodded.

With one final look, Lucy trotted to her car- disappearing into the brush. Now alone, and with the sharp headache finally dissolving, she took a good look around her surroundings: massive amounts of thorns and brushes circled around the opening, with plenty of holes in the dirt. There'd be no good way to park a car up here, much less set up camp.

Erza tried to stand up to go after Lucy, but the sharp pang held her back. She toppled back to the slain tree trunk, not noticing she was also sitting on a phone. A few seconds after she sits, she feels something buzz underneath her and, thinking it's a bee, flies out of her seat -the sharp pang coming back. She looked back to her seat, though, realizing it was a phone with an unknown contact: Fire Dragon King.

Upon closer look, she saw the back of a person's head -their hair so brightly pink it gave her a headache. She picked it up with two fingers, holding it away from her insistently; she seemed scared to pick it up with all her hands in case Lucy came back, so instead went with two.

With one hand, she swiped the message to the left, that opened the phone. Now, Lucy and this mysterious contact's messages were in full screen to Erza's full viewing pleasure. Mortified of the invasion of privacy, Erza dropped the phone with a loud shriek, and covered her hands in fright.

She felt disgusted with herself at this invasion, thst she set the phone far away from her, all the way to the middle of the clearing. But, when she turned away, she heard a loud whooshing sound and turned to see the phone was gone.

Erza, now horrified, backed up to the log. But, she cleared her mind, and slowly but surely crept towards it. She toed the outer circle, and once she seemed it safe, stepped in.

Pain. Sadness. Fear. Demonic.

Erza could feel he headaches at full throttle now, even worse than before, with no way out. The red-head felt as though she was on a boat, rocking back and forth with monstrous waves- with the impending doom of death. All the agony a sailor would feel before their ship went down hit Erza like a wave, and before she knew it, went down as well.

That was no mistake; she wouldn't feel like that with a normal, happy entity. Even though she was no expert in the paranormal, even Erza knew that wasn't normal. No, there's something way more sinister here.

Out of her pathetic state, she crawled out and could hear a low groan coming from the east side -where Lucy disappeared to. Erza felt herself leap with happiness as a hint of a black shone through the green Earth.

She heard a car door slam and in came Lucy, who supported Erza with all her might.

"Erza?"

"Lucy!"

Welp, that's done! So how was it? Good?

By the way, did anyone watch the first two episodes of Eden Zero like me? Oh my goodness, they were great! I absolutely loved them!

Have a good day/night, stay healthy, stay positive, and stay safe! Bye~!