Lucy's POV
It takes us the whole day to reach the village. It just had to be on the other side of the island, but the worst part might be the fact that the boys and I are going to die when we return to guild. Master will punish the boys, and Erza will kill me. Thinking about all of this, makes my head hurt. Luckily, we finally get to the village gates. It is certainly huge, reaching up to about 20' or so. "Well, what now?" Gray asks while staring ahead.
"We ask 'em to get us in and help 'em with the problem," I reply to him. Something about this entire mission feels off. It might be the unknown curse that haunts the island, or something else entirely, but I need to keep on high alert. There is a reason why this mission is S-class. "Anyone there?" I ask very loudly.
After a few seconds of silence, no one answers. "Let's burn it!" Natsu suggests while lighting up his fists. I shoot down his idea with glare and a fist to his face. We almost start a fight before someone, on the top of gate, hollers.
"Who goes there?" one of the two men asks loudly.
"My name's Lucy! I'm a member of the council who accepted your village's request. Beside me, my friends from the Fairy Tail are here to help," I reply. I hope he buys the second part.
"How come we didn't know about the guild coming?"
"Uh..it was decided to send a message."
"Show me your emblems." We display it and they let us. The gate slowly opens up to masked individuals. The village is relatively smaller than I thought, but it looks cute. Small huts with small cottage-like buildings. The source of light is old-fashioned torches and the moon light. Old traditional writings on full display around the houses. Everyone is wearing sandy cloaks with covered faces, which is odd. We walk in while Happy makes a stupid comment, which he gets yelled at for.
"I'm the village chief. On behalf of the village, I welcome you. Now with introductions out of the way, there is something you must see," a man with a staff says. He ushers his people to take off the cloaks. They take off their cloaks, and we see the horror of the curse. Their bodies have turned into some soft demonic form while the village chief I presume, has massive side-burns. I bite back a laugh at it and keep a serious face. We take a full gaze on everyone while Natsu makes a comment about the side-burns. "Not that you fool. Everyone on the island has taken on some sort of form of the curse. No living creature has been spared," he explains in regret.
"If you don't mind me asking, but how do you know that this is not some disease?" Gray inquires.
"My boy, we have consulted the best doctors and they said this isn't some sort of disease."-pausing briefly to stare at me-"You see, our symptoms began around a few years ago when the moon started to act strange."
"What do you mean?" I ask quickly. The magical power of the moon is strong and pure, so nothing of should be acting out of order. Unless someone has even more than that. Celeste always explained how the scared bodies of the stars and planets contain pure light energy. No darkness shall bound it, and it removes any darkness it feels.
"Our island has a special place for the moon. Here the moon shines brighter than any other place. Three years ago, the moon's color became purple and our symptoms ran wild," the village chief explains. None of this makes sense! The moon's energy is pure and sacred. Nothing like a curse of this level should be making it act strange! There isn't something they're not telling us.
A few seconds later, the moon starts to shine down on the village. Like they said, it is glowing purple. "It really is purple," I mutter quietly. The village head tells us to back up while they transform. This slowly starts to make my brain ache. Something so pure, just does not start acting dark out of nowhere. I start crossing off possibilities of what would cause this and narrow it down to one spell. Though to make sure my theory is right, we have to explore the island tomorrow and reach the top of that freaky light show we saw yesterday.
Slowly, the villager's bodies start shifting into demonic creatures. They scream in agony as they do until they fully shift into demons. All three of us are at a loss of words, but I have to admit the demons look amazing. I always wondered what it would be like to have scales and horns. I feel bad for them. They didn't want this, but have to go through the painful process. "You guys look fantastic!" Natsu comments with a slight blush and stars in his eyes.
"I agree with molten ash. Ya' guys look kinda cool," I chime in. Everyone including Gray and Happy, looks at us in disbelief. I chuckle slightly at them while they mutter among themselves. "Look, I know you don't wanna look like that, but I'm not lyin' when I say y'all look cool."
"Anyways, as you've witnessed, whenever the moon shines down on us, we transform. Now care to tell me that this is a disease. I don't think I have ever witnessed a disease of this caliber," the village head says solemnly. I look around to see everyone crying, and my heart twists. For some reason, it reminds me of when Erza cried in her sleep or when she was terrified of people trying to attack her. I clench my hands tightly while looking at the chief to continue. "When it's morning, we revert back to normal, but there are some who can't. They lost their minds in the madness, and we were forced to kill them."
Our eyes go wide. "But why? They can go back to normal?" Natsu questions in concern.
"We can't. If we wait too long, they can kill us. We tried to put them in cages, but they always break out," the village head explains. He then pulls out a picture of a young man. From what I could see, it looks like the boat guy. " I should know. I was forced to kill my son," he finishes with tears. We gasp when we see the boat guy. Shock ripples my body, if the boat guy is dead then it means his spirit can't rest in peace. "Please lift this curse-" while bowing in tears-"If you don't do it soon then we will all die-" he gets cut off my Natsu.
"We're not gonna let you die!" The chief looks at him in hope. "We promise that we will fix this," Natsu finishes.
"There is one way to lift this curse-" pausing to look at us-" Destroy..destroy the moon! It must be erased from existence!" the village head breathes out. We look at him crazily before he ushers his people to provide us a place to stay. "Please stay out of the moon's light as much as possible," he warns us while we follow a woman with short brown hair to a small house. We settle in the house while she wishes us night.
We go to different parts of the room to settle down while I take a spot by the window. I sigh tiredly. Destroying the moon sounds like mission impossible, but a request is a request. Maybe, there is something revolving around the moon we could destroy to lift the curse. I let my thoughts swirl before Happy ushers me to change for bed. After changing, I go back to my spot, and pick up Happy in lap, who is munching on a fish. "The moon is really purple," Happy says while glancing at it.
I agree with him without a single thought in mind. "Somethin' 'bout this job sounds fishy," Natsu says.
"They really expect us to destroy the moon," Gray comments aloud.
"Well yeah, that's the job we are told to do."
"Seriously ash cloud! What they're askin' is impossible!"
"Pervy flasher! If we back out, we will make Fairy Tail and the council look bad!" We all look at him in agreement. The idiot does have a point. "I wonder how many punches it'll take to knock it out," Natsu ponders.
"Scratch that. How do you even get up there?" I ask curiously.
"Duh! Happy'll take me up." Happy looks at Natsu and rejects the idea.
"We can't destroy the moon directly, but maybe we could do some investigating to find 'another way to lift it,"I suggest hopefully with a hand on my chin. Then, Gray's shirt hits my face. I go up to glare and punch him, but stop when I realize I need this moron for the job in good condition. "Yer' gonna pay for that snow cone. And please don't take off anymore," I mutter at him with a scowl. He strips down to his underwear and falls to the bed. Natsu and Happy follow in suit and knock themselves out.
I turn out the lights and head for my bed. I try to fall asleep, but the stripper and beast snore too loudly. I make a plan to search early tomorrow, so I can get them back for disrupting my sleep. From the looks of things, they aren't early birds.
"Time to get a move on," I chirp happily. I woke the boys up at six in the morning, and they still haven't gone over the drowsiness. I smirk while they complain about waking up so early. I'm glad I didn't bring my cloak or else I would've regretted it. Lately, I haven't had the need to wear it as before. As if the hole in my heart, is being seemingly replaced by Fairy Tail. Especially by Erza, who always falls asleep in my arms. Something about her in my arms feels right and complete. But at the thought of it, my face heats up. I shake off my thoughts and focus on everything ahead of me.
"Ya' really think destroying the moon will lift the curse?" Natsu asks.
"Don't know man. We all like the moon, but they hate it. Besides, destroying it will cause more problems," Gray answers, looking at Natsu in the eye.
"Ah! Yer' right! Without the moon, the tides would go crazy!"
"Aye, salmon might go extinct! And they're my favorite fish!" Happy comments.
"Would'ya shut up already!" I yell at them. Chatting up destroying the moon, already has me annoyed to no end, but their comments are infuriating. "We got no clue who or what is in the forest, so please keep it down before we get eaten alive."
"What's got ya' worked up?" Gray asks.
"First off, destroying the moon ain't an easy task. Second, the moon's energy is sacred and pure, so a curse like this is impossible," I answer him. They stop slightly and face me.
"How do you know the moon has pure energy?"
"When I was with Celeste, she always told me about the planetary bodies, stars, and the universe. She said they're pure energy that vanquishes any evil they sense. So, it's impossible for something like this to even start a curse. Let alone, something of this level." They take a second to process this in.
"That why yer' so eager to find 'nother solution to not destroyin' the moon?" Gray asks. I sigh heavily before answering him.
"One of the reasons. I feel like the villagers are hiding something from us. I mean if they were eager to find a solution to their problem, wouldn't they have gone searching themselves?"
"You have got a point, but why would they hide if we are trying to help them?"
"Beats me, but we don't know what's really going on here. After we find some answers of our own, we go straight to asking them." They agree before yelling how they can easily destroy the moon. It's like they don't even pay attention to what I say. I sigh in annoyance with everything and follow them in silence.
Loud footsteps run throughout the forest, scaring off any living creature in sight. We stop to look behind us to meet face to face with a giant green rat, who is wearing a maid's uniform. "IT'S HUGE!" we shout at the same time.
"Ice-make: Shield!" Gray summons his shield in front of us to prevent the attack the rat was about ensue. But it is fruitless, the rat huffs out a green dust cloud, which smells disgusting. Natsu passes out from the smell while I barely hold on. He gets up, clutching his nose, and we all make a run for it. We dodge to the left and right a few times, avoiding the gas cloud as much as we can. "Ice-make: Floor!" The ground turns into ice, and the rat slips and falls unconscious.
I breathe out in relief and notice a temple to my right. It looks old and out of date, but might hold some information still. I usher the guys to follow me to it, but they seem too busy beating up the poor rat. I grab them by the collars and head into the temple. I let them go, and we explored around it. Cracked floors, walls, and ceilings while vines grow out of some parts. Judging by the condition, no one has been here for a while. It is enormous from the inside then did from the outside.
There are several moon symbols around the place and one outside the temple. Several cracked pillars and ancient writings run rampant. It isn't shocking to see them considering how Galuna was once called the island of the moon. Natsu ushers us to see a weird crystal, which glowed purple like the moon. We make our way over there before Natsu starts stomping the ground. I tell him to stop quickly, but I'm too late. The floor below us cracks, and we fall deeper into what seemed like a cave.
We land in pain while groaning. "Good job flame brain! Were you tryin' to kill us!?" I yell at him. He doesn't mind and eyes the cave with stars in his eyes. He gets up and starts dancing his way through a tunnel while we call after him. We finally catch up, and he looks in shock at something. We get closer to see a giant creature in a block of ice. It has horns, claws, and looks purely outraged. Dark scales and dead red eyes glaring at us in suspended animation. Deliora, the demon of destruction. A demon from the books of Zeref, which ravaged the northern continent years ago. We all look at it in pure horror before Gray runs up to it and screams in fear.
He keeps muttering and yelling in shock about it. I allow him to calm down to explain what I already know to Natsu. I hear some people coming toward us, and I snatch the boys near some rocks. We hide in time to see two men approaching. One has spiky blue hair and pale skin while the other has slightly longer light brown hair and tan skin. The blue head has ridiculously bushy eyebrows, and I punch myself to refrain from laughing. "The voices seem to be coming from here," the blue one says. He walks forward while continuing to talk. "I hate waking up in the day. Say Toby, did you get exposed to the moon drip? You look pale?"
Toby looks like a dog without a tail and with a normal human body. Not that I am judging his appearance. They soon start to bicker while one word from their conversation seems to strike me. Moon Drip huh? So I was right 'bout that. But that doesn't make sense to why they would use it, and why it is affecting the villagers. Judging from their appearance, the men look normal. Why would they use such a powerful spell in the first place? Don't tell me to melt Deliora! Are they crazy?!
"Yuka, Toby. My dear Angelica is hurt," a woman with pink hair and pale skin tells the boys in worry.
"So what Sherry?" Yuka demands. Soon they start bickering, and it's taking all my strength to not knock them out. They seem to be wizards because I can feel magical energy coming from them. Sherry keeps saying something about love while the boys don't give a damn about her. "The intruders are around here."
"This is bad. It's almost time to collect moonlight again as well. If the Cold Emperor were to hear of this, he'd be displeased. I suggest we get rid of them as soon as possible," Sherry comments worriedly. The boys smirk at her idea and begin walking in another direction because of the sound Happy made. they head off, and I thank Happy as we all get out of spots. Those three people aren't from the island as, judging by their scent.
"I say we grab 'em and get some answers," Natsu suggests.
"Not yet pal. Just a little longer," I say to him.
"Man this is getting more complicated. I didn't expect any of this."
" Whaddya' expect from an S-class mission."
"I still can't believe the council gave ya' one."
"If they think I can handle it then I can."
"I still don't get why they want Deliora. Matter of fact, how'd they find it?" Gray questions to no one in particular.
"Beats me. All I know is that a decade ago, it was sealed somewhere in the northern continent by someone named Ur Milkovich," I say. Gray grabs my shoulders and looks at me frantically.
"How do you know that?!"
"Relax. The council has records on it, and I know because of something that happened a few months ago. That's all I know. Care to tell me how you know?" He releases my shoulders to walk towards the demon. He clenches his hands tightly to a point he has ice particles coming out of it.
"I come from the northern continent, where the demon destroyed countless cities, and many lost their lives. The woman who taught me my magic, Ur, sealed away the demon." His anger boils further as the ice slowly begins to take shape. "Listen, we have to take off this Cold Emperor and make sure Deliora never becomes free. I won't allow anyone to tarnish my master's legacy!"
"You sure this the demon your master sealed?" Natsu asks.
"No doubt 'bout it," Gray mutters angrily. He keeps his eyes intently on it while his expression keeps getting angrier. I feel bad for him. One other reason I know about Ur is that her daughter, Ultear, is still alive and works for the council. But the relationship between the two is awful. Mostly for the fact that Ultear believes Ur left and never came back. I'm curious about Gray's and Ur's relationship though, considering how much Gray respects the woman.
"Something's tellin' me that the demon got something to do with the curse," I say suspiciously. Now that my theory fits with everything, all I need to know is why they brought it here in the first place. Moon drip is severely strong that it can destroy most dangerous and powerful spells. I wouldn't be surprised if it can melt Ice Shell, the defense spell holding the demon alive, but frozen.
"I wouldn't be surprised. It's still alive," Gray says. Next thing I know, Natsu gets punched by Gray. I get in between them and calm them before it gets worse. "Keep your flames away from the ice! Am I clear!" I sigh and explain to Gray that probably the most powerful flame spells can melt it. He calms down slightly while Natsu is mad about being punched. "I still don't get why it's here. What could they want with it?"
"I don't know, but there is one thing I do. Moon drip is powerful, and I think it could melt ice.''Gray looks at me in fear and astonishment. "Like I said, it could. But at the same time, it couldn't. We wouldn't know until we see it in action. So, we will have to wait 'til tonight to find out. Please just calm down." He sighs and nods. I go explain to Natsu what Iced Shell is while Gray slumps onto a rock and watches the demon. After I am done explaining, Natsu just falls asleep with Happy, waiting for tonight.
I sit down beside Gray to give him some comfort while I stare at the demon. "When Celeste left you, how did you feel?" Gray asks me. I am slightly taken aback by the question, but recover.
"Well, it felt like I was gonna be abandoned again. I kinda felt guilty for a while, thinking I did somethin' to make her leave." I sigh and close my eyes. "Before I met Celeste, I was abandoned by my parents. They never loved me to begin with, but it still hurt."
"When I was eight, Deliora invaded my hometown. It killed my parents and everyone else while leaving behind pure destruction. Ur found me in the rubble, barely alive. She took me in with another student, Lyon. She taught us magic and kept us warm."
"I'm sorry Gray. It must be hard to be in front of this thing."
"You have no idea. I'm sorry 'bout earlier. I didn't mean to snap at Natsu and you."
"Don't sweat it. I would be pretty mad if someone destroyed Celeste's legacy like that. Probably march up to 'em and beat the daylights out of 'em."
"You said you use Celestial Magic. Who taught you?"
"Layla. After Celeste left, I searched for her for months, but soon I ran into a couple, who adopted me. They took me in and kept me warm for a while. Layla taught me how to use Celestial Magic because of how similar it is to my dragon slaying one. I loved them before Layla died, leaving me with her husband and spirits. I love my spirits, but overtime I started to dislike Layla's husband."
"Can I ask what happened?"
"He prioritized his wealth before me. I was left ignored for the past few years. I trained and studied in order to become stronger to find Celeste. I was lonely for a while before I met a few people on the council, who became my friends. Up until a year ago, I ran away from the man to explore and take on jobs from the council."
"Yer' a runaway?"
"Yep, but I don't regret it. I had to find Celeste and I promised Erza we'd meet one day again and I joined Fairy Tail."
"Erza always talked 'bout you. Never gave a name, but called ya' blondie. Natsu and I grew up hearing stories 'bout you from her. I kinda promised each other we'd fight you when join." I laugh at the comment. He gives out a small smile and continues, "I'm serious. I mean it's not er'day you hear Erza getting her butt handed by someone."
"I guess yer' right. She told me Mira and her used to be rivals."
"Yep. Those two would wreck the guild with their fights. No one could stop them apart from Master. It's kinda odd, but er' since you joined, Erza's changed. Sure she still acts serious and emotionless, but she is a bit warmer and nicer."
"I'm glad. When I left her, I was afraid she'd change so much that I wouldn't recognize her."
"You can relax. She wouldn't talk at first, but I got her to. I'm really grateful she ran into you. You are a special person for her. I've never seen her eyes light up when you're around. She feels different than before, but in a good way. Everyone sees that. She smiles more and lays off more when Natsu and I when we fight."
"I think it is because it reminds her of when we used to do it. I still wanna fight her." We talk for a few hours before we fall asleep. Gray told me more about his childhood with Ur and how Ur sacrificed her life for him. Hearing him talk more about Ur made me realize that maybe Ultear doesn't have the whole story 'bout her life. Maybe, I can find a way to mend her memories of her mother in a positive light.
Hours later, we are woken up to the ground shaking. Soon enough, we see the moon drip spill cast on the demon. I feel hungry, so I think I'm going to eat a bit of it. "Guys, let's go to the top," Gray ushers.
"You three go. Imma' eat some of this and join ya' three soon," I tell them, and they go off. I step closer to the demon and open my mouth to take in the energy. It tastes good and chow as much as I can. When I feel like my magic replenishes to max, I run off to meet the boys at the top. I see them behind a broken pillar, overshadowing a group of covered individuals, who are chanting a ritual for the spell.
There are a few magic circles coming from the moon to the demon in a heavily concentrated manner. My eyes go wide from seeing it and the others notice. "Lucy, what's wrong?" Happy asks.
"I'm sorry to break it to you Gray, but the moon drip can melt through the spell," I say silently.
"What?! How?" He demands with fear and anger.
"Moon drip of this caliber can break through any magic spell. It's heavily concentrated moon energy that can destroy 'bout anything. It also has its side-effects. Exposure to too much of it can damage the body. Curse could easily be the side-effects, but that doesn't explain why demons. Maybe, some ethernano radiance or magic draining, but not this." I massage my temple while thinking this through. Natsu suggests beating up the idiots in front of us, but I elbow him in the face when I see a guy coming.
His face is entirely covered except his mouth. His helmet is silver with black horns coming out of it. The rest of his outfit is boring with the exception of metal boots. He is followed by the three people from earlier. They are discussing the intruders to the mask guy, who they address as the Cold Emperor. "I suggest you go eliminate the village if they're the ones behind it. I don't need anyone getting in my way," the Cold Emperor orders harshly.
We gasp in surprise, considering the villagers are innocent, but they are going to hurt them anyways. The three smirk deviously at the idea. Gray looks to be more in shock, but I can't tell why. Natsu is about hiding and reveals us being on the island. Out of rage for blaming the villagers resurrecting the demon. The four people turn to us while one of them notices us being from Fairy Tail. The Cold Emperor still demands them to destroy the village regardless of us being here, and my blood boils.
Gray lunges at him and summons a geyser of ice. The Cold Emperor jumps up and places his own ice to counter it. Both ice clash and break from the pressure. "Lyon!" Gray shouts. My eyes go wide from what I hear and everything sets into place. Gray explained to me earlier how Lyon had one desire to beat Ur, but never got the chance. What's a better way to defeat someone who is dead? Defeat the thing they couldn't live. Lyon's selfish desires to only resurrect it and kill while everyone suffers, angers me.
"Been a while Gray," Lyon replies in no emotion. They soon go back and forth while Lyon ordered the three to take care of the village. Natsu charges at Lyon to only become frozen. I usher Happy to fly me to the village, so we can stop the three from killing it. He lifts up while Gray attacks Lyon with ice only to be struck down by a shield.
"Gray, beat this guy up and bring Natsu to help the village. Ya' betta show him who is boss." I smirk at him while he gives his own smirk before Happy flys me away. Halfway through, Happy starts to sniffle. "Calm down Happy. I'm sure Natsu will be all right. I mean he is a Fire dragon slayer. What kind of ice can keep him down."
"You're right." I lift his spirits, and he flies faster toward the village. All of a sudden, I get a shiver down my spine. I look towards the sea, and I feel a murderous intent coming for us at full speed. "Happy, not to be rude or er'thing, but hurry up. I wanna get them before the three idiots. And I think Erza's comin'." I see him visibly sweat and race to the village. In a few minutes, we reached the village. The villagers come close to us to get some answers. I explain to them the situation before the village chief comes forth.
"What's going on here," he asks.
"Ah chief. We found out who turned y'all into demons," I say happily.
"I DON'T CARE! WHY HAVEN'T YOU DESTROYED THE MOON YET?!"
"Woah, chill. We might need to destroy it 'cause we found who caused this."
"I DON'T CARE! DESTROY THE MOON LIKE I ASKED!" He screams while being pulled away from me. I sigh and decide to fight when they come. The village offers to help, but I brush them off. I decide to wait for the boys and the intruders, so we finish this off. Though I can't help but wonder. Lyon wants to kill Deliora for the sake of beating Ur. Using the moon drip spell is smart, but they probably didn't think 'bout the consequences. If I were to assume right, then they must have been here for three years now. Iced Shell is extremely powerful and would take time to melt, so it would make sense for them to be here for that long. But they didn't shift into demonic creatures. So either the villagers are somehow demons, or Lyon and his men are using transformation magic to hide the effects.
Natsu shows up with an unconscious Gray, who is beaten up. Natsu fills me in on what happened, and I tell him my plan of attack. Just then, one of the villagers yell, and we see a giant green rat flying towards us with a bucket. From here, I can smell the intruders on top of it, but the bucket the rat is holding, smells acidic and poisonous. One drop of it nears me, and I jump out of the way to see it burn the ground. The rat then dumps all of it on top of the village. Natsu ushers us to head to the middle while he finds a way to take care of the attack.
I have a slight idea of what he is doing, and everyone hurdles around the middle. I tell them to step back slightly, so I can do something. Natsu throws a giant fireball at the acid and it disperses. "Celestial Dragon: Star Shield!" I chant out. A massive star full of energy protect us from being touched from the acid as it rains down. I feel my magic power draining heavily as I hold the spell. I'm not a huge fan of using this one because it drains more magic power. It depends on how much power I put into it, how wide it is, and how long I hold it. Now since I am doing it over a slightly bigger area and holding, my body drains.
By the time it is done raining, a massive chunk of my magic is gone. I haven't practiced this spell as often as I wanted to, so I'm still a novice to it. Thus, draining more than it really should. I fall to the ground and pant while everyone looks around to see the village destroyed. Only the patch of land I was able to protect, is still standing. Everything else is burned and there is a massive crater beside us. The intruders come toward us while knocking over Bobo's grave, which is the only thing that survived. I grit my teeth and glare at them.
"The Cold Emperor wanted us to eradicate the village and its people," Sherry says, flipping her hair.
"50 villagers, two wizards, shouldn't take us 15 minutes to knock them out," Yuka says. I stand up and clutch my keys. That spell took more out of me than I thought. I'm down to less than a quarter of my power. I'll have to use my keys to fight them or find a way to get my magic back somehow. But the second option sounds harder with everything going on now. I have to be mindful of how I use my key, so I don't fully drain out to fight them.
"Ready?" Natsu asks while looking at them. I hum in response and get ready. Gray regains some sense and tries to fight with us, but Natsu knocks him out. They don't always show it to each other, but they do care. "Mind takin' care of him for us?" Natsu hands Gray over to the villagers and they agree.
Sherry orders her rat to take care of the villagers and starts to fly for them when I jumped onto it. "Natsu, I'll hold the chick and her pet off! Take care of the rest! I'll met up with you when I'm done!" I yell at him while I clutch onto the rat's leg. I see him nod before I start tickling the rat. Worst idea because in a matter of seconds, we crash into the ground roughly. "I seriously gotta start thinkin' things through before I actually end up dead,"I mutter in pain as I get up. "Now, where did pinky go?"
"Do you have any idea what you are?" Sherry asks me while tears stream from her eyes. "You hurt my dear Angelica! But now, the Cold Emperor will be mad at me! He won't love me!"
"Love? You and him are a thing?"
"Shut up! You're gonna pay!" She proceeds to do something and a huge tree is behind me. It attacks me, but I back flip with one hand to dodge the attack. I decide to start running away from it as it continues to attack me. I run around in a loop then stop and jump to a higher point while the tree gets hit by mountain of large rocks, breaking it instantly. Sherry looks even angrier than before. I back away from her while trying to think of possibilities to knock her out with. She summons a massive rock monster, which will probably hurt if I try anything. I start running away from it as it tries to hit me.
I start sifting through my keys that could take it out. I almost summon Taurus when I realize the type of magic Sherry is using. Doll Magic allows the user to control any inanimate object, including spirits. I picked the worst type of enemy to start fighting, I could use my roar on her and see if I take her out with one hit. She drives me near a cliff as I dodge forward to avoid another attack. Now, I stand on the closest part of the cliff. The last attack generated enough power that it cracked the ground between Sherry and I.
My side falls, and I hit the ground. I didn't have much of a breather as I jumped forward to dodge being crushed by the monster's foot. I run toward the sea when an idea booms in my head. If I Aquarius, then I can take Sherry out. I don't even have to worry 'bout being attacked because Aquarius'll still attack me. Plus, I still haven't talked to her 'bout what happened six months. If I am alive, then I'll still end up dead. "Looks like you hit a dead end." Sherry smirks while she commands the rock monster come closer to me.
"Don't count me out just yet!" I pull out Aquarius's key and summon her. I strictly tell her that I'll talk to her later and to take out Sherry. Pinky controls Aquarius like I planned, and commands to attack me. I smirk while I feel my soul and magic drain. "I had a feelin' you were gonna pull that. Good thing Aquarius is a powerful spirit." Aquarius rages and summons a tsunami towards us. I gulp and feel sucked into the wave. I hear Sherry washed away too. I get motion sickness when the water starts spinning like a hurricane with me in the middle. Eventually it wears down, and both of us are on the ground.
I clutch my stomach tightly as I barely stand up. I already know Aquarius is back to the Spirit Realm, but now I barely have any magic left. I feel a little better and see Sherry crazily walking around. She is probably dizzy from the attack. This gives me the chance to deliver a swift punch to her face. She immediately falls, but starts to mutter things. "This is the end. Now the Cold Emperor will never love me."
"Sheesh! Yer' not dyin'. Cut the drama," I say angrily. I notice it starts to become morning, and I slowly start to head in Natsu's direction.
"Angelica, avenge you're master," Sherry says before passing out. The rat comes out to body slam.
"Celestial Dragon: Roar!" A beam of energy hits it and falls beside her master. I collapse from exhaustion and pant heavily. I hear a clutter of armor racing towards me, and I smile because I know it's Erza. In a split second, she is standing over me, looking worried in her eyes. I barely smile before I realize she wants to kill me.
"Luce, are you fine?" She asks me worriedly as she puts my head on her lap. Then she glares. I gulp nervously and pray to live. "You and the boys stole an S-class quest."
"Natsu and Happy did. This the quest the council gave me, and Master knows. Gray was supposed to take us back, but failed when Natsu knocked him out," I explain to her. She softens slightly, but still keeps up her demeanor. I see Happy flying towards us before flying away when he notices Erza. She somehow catches him and holds him by the tail. And I'm on the ground again.
"Lucy, you okay?" Happy asks while Erza glares at him.
"Nah. I barely have any magic power left, and I might faint any second. Erza we are completing this mission for the sake of council. You take the rest of them back after we are done," I tell Happy and Erza. She nods before picking me and placing on her shoulder. "Village should be ahead of us, so might as well take us there," I mutter silently. I feel my eyes begin to blur. I hear both of them call me, but before I could respond, I passed out.
Erza's POV
"Happy, did Lucy by any chance use a large amount of magic?" I inquire with a stern and angry tone. I'm glad to know Lucy didn't break the rules, but the boys are still not in the clear. The moment I entered the guild yesterday, the Master informed me about this, and I raced here as fast as I could.
"Hmm yeah. The village was 'bout to be burnt and the people were gonna die by some acid. Natsu managed to spread the acid while Lucy used some sort of shield to protect the villagers. After that spell, she acted really tired," Happy explains to me. I sigh in agitation. Lucy still must have not learned to properly control the spell. "So ya' gonna not punish us?"
"You and the boys have broken guild rules, and betrayed the Master. You should be glad if you are able to live your lives!" Happy gulps visibly and nods. I requip some rope into my hand and tie Happy. I adjust it so that the rope is tied around my wrist, and adjust Lucy on my back. I feel her hot breath tickle my neck, and shiver goes down my spine. My cheeks feel slighter hotter while I freeze. I calm myself down enough to ignore her breathing. "Take me to the village."
He nods and I follow. He fills me in on what has happened so far, and I quietly listen. I am still furious about the boy's decision, but I do need to complete the mission. I need to test whether or not they are truly willing to save the island for the people or just complete the task for the sake of it. After half an hour of walking, we near the village. Just like how Happy explained, only the middle of the area survived. Now I see how Lucy drained her magic as she did.
I demand Happy to look for another place they could be, and he finds a little storage area, where the villagers are. We head there immediately, so we could find Gray and get some treatment for Lucy. We arrive, and Happy explains the situation about us. They take Lucy to another tent, where her wounds are tended to. After a few minutes of waiting outside, they let us in and I tie the rope to a heavy box, so Happy doesn't escape. He falls asleep and I take a seat beside Lucy.
She doesn't have many wounds, but the drain is hard on her. She is still out, but I think she will wake up soon. A woman walks in to inform me about Lucy, saying that Lucy will wake up in a few hours with enough magic to be stable. I nod and ask about Gray. She explains Gray's location and condition, and I tell her to tell him to come to me when he is awake. She leaves, and I return back to my silence. I decide to fall asleep slightly as I wait for my friends to wake up. I lie my head on Lucy's stomach to find some comfort from her, and I fall asleep.
A few hours later, I woke up to a loud Lucy. I smack her in the head to make her shut up while I stretch. She keeps on mumbling angrily at me, and I smirk at her. She gets up to eat some energy from the sun while I go check on Happy. Stupid cat is still asleep in the same position I saw him in hours ago. Minutes later, Lucy comes in healthy and energetic. I catch her up a bit on what she missed while she fills me in on her theory about the island. We both decide after we deal with the demon, we will find out what is really going on.
I sit on a box while she pulls out a game of cards for us to pass the time before Gray comes. We play for several minutes before she senses Gray's presence. I put on my poker face while having a dangerous aura around me. Lucy backs away and puts Happy on her lap while she thinks about the solution. Gray enters the tent completely in shock. "You made me wait. Not smart," I say angrily.
"Erza?!" He shouts in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"I thought you were sent here to bring back those two. I didn't think you'd be caught up with them. I'm sure you realize what this means." I walk up to his side while not looking at him. "Happy caught me up to speed. Once we find Natsu, we will leave this island."
"If Happy told you, then you know why we can't. These people need our help plus Lucy is here from the council."
"That is not of our concern. This job is posted in every guild hall for S-class wizards to take. As for the council, I'm sure they would send Lucy in with someone more capable."
"You're out of yer' mind if you think I'm backing out."
"You dare defy me and the guild!?" I pull out a sword and aim it at his neck. "I don't think you understand the gravity of this situation Gray." I test him while glaring at him. He takes the grip of my sword while returning his own glare.
"I'm not backing away from what I believe is right. I'm sure as hell not leaving innocent people here to die for the sake of some rule." I put the sword away and smile at him. His look of astonishment brings me to look at me crazily. "Why the hell are you smiling that?"
"I was merely testing you. I promised Lucy we were going to complete this mission together, but since she was tricked and was brought here, we are all going to complete this mission." I release Happy. He woke up at some point in our conversation.
"Now that is done. Let's go catch up with Natsu. Gray's gotta beat up Lyon for er'thing',"Lucy says proudly while walking out of the tent. Gray looks at her with a smile and follows her out. We all start running towards where the temple is located. We stop when we notice Gray not running. "Gray?" He starts to explain to us about his situation with his master while revealing something shocking.
"Look I never told this to Lyon. I promised Ur I wouldn't, but things have gotten way out of hand. When Ur used Iced Shell, she sealed the demon and died in the process. But that's not entirely true because even if Ur is not with us, she is alive," Gray explains. We look at him for answers. He explains how he meets Ur and Lyon, and the destruction of his town.
"She taught us magic. One of the reasons I have this stripping habit. One day, I learned where Deliora was and vowed to charge at it. I ignored Ur and Lyon's warnings and headed for the town Deliora was in. I didn't stand a second with it and got knocked out. When Ur was there," he pauses before continuing," fighting it off. She lost her leg, but she kept fighting for my future. That's when she used Iced Shell. A spell that creates the ultimate seal with the caster's life and form. I lost her and Lyon was devastated.
"After that, I followed Ur's final wishes of becoming happy and traveled to the western continent to find a way for someone to undo the spell. I came across Fairy Tail and decided to stay to become happy," he finishes. We take a minute for it to sync in.
"It ain't yer' fault this happened Gray. Now stop dwelling in the past, and look at the present. We have to stop him from unsealing it before all hell breaks loose. Stop moping around and start running if we want to beat them," Lucy says proudly and takes off in the direction. We all follow her near the temple, where we see it is crooked. "Looks like Natsu broke off some of the support pillars, so the moon drip spell wouldn't work." We agree before we are ambushed by some cult members.
I tell Gray to go after Lyon while Lucy and I take care of the threat. He smiles and runs. Lucy charges in front of the group and punches through them with her magic. I summon a sword and cut down another part. We then go back to back while staring at the mages. "I don't believe we have done this. I may have teamed up with you in the past, but certainly not like this," I say to her without taking my eyes off the group.
"Eh really? I didn't notice. Also what's with the formalities?" Lucy asks as she roars at another group, taking it down in an instant.
"This is how I talk. Do you have a problem with it?" My tone raises higher to make her answer me.
"No ma'am!" she squeaks. I requip a spear into my hands and take down another group. I see Happy uses some of the land's resources to attack the cult members.
"Why do you think they're doing this?"
"I might have an idea-" she gets cut off quickly as she dodges a kunai from one of them. She delivers a swift uppercut to the member, and they're out cold. "-or two. One, I think they're doing this for revenge against the demon. They smell pretty similar to Lyon. Or two, which is that they're crazy people, who believe in sadistic crap."
"Well your sense of smell doesn't lie, so I'll take idea number one into play." I jump up into the air to requip an axe and dodge before landing down and delivering a blow to another bunch of cult members. I didn't realize how long it actually took us to get to the temple until I see the sun setting down. "Lucy, we might want to wrap this up quickly, so we can help the boys." She nods and charges to take down another group. I requip back into a sword and cut down another batch of cult members.
"Y'all might wanna get away from me." We nod before getting away from her. She stands in the middle as her body starts to glow. "Celestial Dragon: Scattering Light!" Several beams of star energy spread out in several directions, taking out the remaining cult members as well as the environment. By the time it is done, the area looks destroyed while she smiles, but that soon falters when she sees the area. "I'm sorry," she mumbles. Happy looks strangely at her, and she explains how she loves nature.
Soon the temple starts shaking, but that's because it looks like it is going back to its original form. Either they fixed it with some substitute, or they managed to rewind it before it was broken. Lucy's face turns from shock to confusion and anger quickly. I try to ask, but she brushes it off while staring at the temple with a cold look. She starts to head for the temple, and we follow. "Wait, you mustn't go," a lady says. We turn around to see an old woman clutching onto a man with support. They are wearing head pieces that resemble those of the city of Brogo.
The different stones around their head give them away to it. "Those head pieces, you must be from the city of Brogo. And I must guess that you are looking for revenge," I comment.
"You have no idea," the man says, having a distant look in his eye. "That demon took everything from us. Left us with nothing but a destroyed life and revenge."
"How did you meet the Cold Emperor or Lyon?" Lucy asks while glaring a little at the people. She is still angry from whatever she has on her mind.
"After fleeing, Lyon found us. He promised us that if we were to revive Deliora, he would slay it to get our revenge. We didn't know why he wanted to, but we weren't complaining. We were angry and hurt, so it made sense at the time."
"I get it I do, but have you stopped to consider the consequences it might have on others? This is no ordinary demon that was imprisoned," Lucy says, starting to calm down.
"No, not until you showed up. We knew people were on this island, but we didn't bother them because it wasn't our problem." They both look down in shame for their actions.
"Look we can't turn back time, but we can fix the present. If the demon does get unsealed, then we will fight it. 'Til then, we'll stop it from melting." I nod, and they raise their heads to look at us. "You guys might wanna look for something else in life other than revenge. You'd be shocked to find out there is so much to it. When you're so focused on something, you tend to forget the simple things. But it is those things, we either regret or cherish on later." I nod again and head for the temple.
"You took the words right of my mouth," I say.
"They needed to hear it. Besides, yer' a slow talker. You wouldn't have actually said in time to make an impact," she teases and runs for life with Happy. I run after them to give Lucy a taste of my fist. I just hope this situation ends soon.