We had been walking for days! After the Lullaby incident, where we fled for our lives from the angry townspeople, we had been wandering around canyons and mountains for days.
"Ah Jeez! Come on Happy, don't tell me that you got us lost again! We've been walking for forever and a half and we still haven't found Magnolia yet! WHY ARE WE FOLLOWING A CAT ANYWAY?!" Lucy screamed in frustration as Happy led us to yet another dead end.
"What do you mean, AGAIN?! How rude! I wasn't lost last time, so this is the first time I've gotten us lost!" Happy whined in response.
"First time or not, let's just try to make it our last, okay?" Lucy whined in response. I sighed, these two could fight for days and never stop. It was becoming quite tiring.
"Man, I want some food." Natsu groaned as he held his stomach.
"We all do, talking about it just makes us hungrier." Gray said angrily. I was just as hungry as the rest, you could hear our stomachs grumbling.
"I can't help it if I'm hungry, jerk!" Natsu yelled at Gray.
"No, but you can stopping running your mouth can't you?!" Gray yelled back.
'LISTEN UP! We need some food." Master moaned.
"Yeah, WE KNOW!" Natsu and Gray yelled simultaneously in response. That's when it hit me.
"Gray! Can you use your magic and make me some ice blocks?" I asked excitedly.
"Uhm, sure, but how's that going to solve our food problem?" Gray muttered as he complied and created some blocks of ice. Which is when I started munching on them.
"That's not fair! How come you get to eat and the rest of us don't?!" Natsu howled. I smirked as I continued to shovel blocks of ice down my throat.
"Because, we happen to have an ice-make wizard, I happen to be an ice-dragon slayer, which means I can eat ice. Ergo, I can eat which means at least I can drag you all back to Magnolia when you've passed out from hunger." I grinned at Natsu's enraged expression. He made to start melting my ice when Erza interrupted our quarrel.
"Enough!" She yelled. We all went silent, just in time for us to hear her stomach growl.
"Your stomach's trying to tell you something, isn't it?" Natsu said to Erza, who maintained an irritated expression.
"No it's not. You're hearing things." Erza declared.
"Uh yeah, real convincing, Erza." Gray commented. Erza glared at Gray, who began to pray for his soul, when Happy's shrill shriek of joy interrupted them.
"What are you excited about?" Natsu asked Happy, who began to gesture wildly towards the canyon.
"Down there! Look, Natsu, look!" Happy screamed and we all peered over the edge of the cliff.
Flying about in the canyon were several blue fish with golden faces and wings, with light green fins.
"Those are wing fish! They're a legendary delicacy, and they're super yummy from what I hear!" Happy crowed as he began to chant, "yum" over and over again.
"They're a legendary delicacy?" Gray spoke with healthy amount of skepticism.
"Winged fish huh?" Erza spoke aloud as she pondered the idea.
"Sounds good to me." Natsu was practically drooling over the thought of food. I scoffed, didn't matter to me, I was full from eating the ice Gray made earlier. Not to mention, considering Happy's track record for remembrance and correct information, I was slightly skeptical.
Master Makarov, however, was not very skeptical. "Well done Happy, you've made this old man very proud." He cried tears of joy as his stomach growled.
"Guys enough with the growling stomachs." Lucy whimpered, before her stomach let out a growl.
"You were saying?" Gray cocked an eyebrow at Lucy and I started to laugh.
"Shut. Up." Lucy response was very succinct to say the least. I giggled a little more before getting myself under control. It wouldn't do to have Lucy upset at me as well.
"Now, time to fish." Happy declared before setting himself up on the cliff face, followed by Master, Lucy, Natsu, Gray, and Erza. I merely sat besides them, playing with melding my ice into different forms, for an… idea I was working on.
"Come on you stupid fish, just shut up and let me eat you." Natsu groaned as they all waited for a bite on their lines.
"We've got to fish harder guys!" Happy declared.
Lucy made a face at the fish that were making all the ruckus and asked, "I don't know, are you sure these guys taste all that good?"
Erza was in no mood to indulge Lucy however, commanding her to, "Be quiet and fish. Anything edible will do." with a serious tone.
Lucy scooted closer to me with a horrified expression. "I didn't know you were that hungry." She whimpered. I covered my mouth in order to stifle my laughter. Lucy hadn't figure out yet that Erza was not as scary as she sounded. Neither was I for that matter.
On the other side of us, Happy began to yell abuse at the fish, which all in all did not have much of an effect. When nothing happened appeared to lose all his spirit, "Whatever, I give up." Happy said sadly.
"That was fast." Lucy commented on Happy's lack of enthusiasm.
"Well, I couldn't catch a single fish." Happy pouted, sounding rather like a kindergartner.
"Well, you really want to eat one don't you? You shouldn't give up so easily, you can do it little guy." Lucy attempted to cheer up Happy, who due to his usual dramatic sense (which was lacking) ran off wailing about how he couldn't help that he was little.
I sighed, at this rate, they would never get anything to eat. Then Natsu caught a fish, causing a rush of excitement in everyone else. He fired the fish with his flames, then with a saigh said, "Go ahead and eat it Happy."
Happy hesitated saying, "But that wouldn't be fair to you guys would it?"
"It's way too small to split up, if we had a bite we'd just want more." Gray groused, tantalized by the smell of grilled fish. Even I was tempted by the smell.
"Just hurry up and eat it, before we change our minds!" Master fussed at Happy, who had stars in his eyes as he stared at his meal.
"Okay, don't mind if I do!" Happy cheered before biting into the fish, causing everyone's stomachs to protest their generosity.
As everyone bemoaned their lack of food Happy stuffed the rest of the fish in his mouth. The his eyes popped open wide and his mouth puckered. "GROSS!" Happy yelled as he spit out what was left in his mouth.
"Are you kidding me?!" Lucy bellowed, as with the news that the fish were not edible,w e packed up our things and began our journey home once more.
"I hate to say it but, all that fishing…" Natsu moaned.
"Made us hungrier." Master finished his sentence.
We all paused in shock however as we came upon a town.
"A village!" Erza called out in joy.
"Houses!" Gray added.
"And that means there must be," Happy continued.
"FOOOOOOOD!" Natsu howled as we all charged into the village, desperate to find a restaurant to eat at.
We stopped however when we came into the square and there were absolutely no people in site. The town was completely deserted.
"There's no one here." Gray stated, looking around.
"It does seem awfully quiet, doesn't it?" Lucy commented.
"Maybe they're taking an afternoon nap or something." Natsu said casually. "HEY! Anybody here?!" Natsu yelled out, his voice echoing off the walls of the canyon.
"We're starving like crazy out here! Somebody cook us some dinner!" Happy yelled with frustration.
"Wow Happy, ever hear the world please?" Lucy muttered tiredly, we were all exhausted, everyone besides myself was starving, and something was off in this town. I paused listening, it was odd, I couldn't hear any wind whistling through the canyon anymore. Something was very off down here.
"You really think they're all taking a nap?" Gray said scornfully.
'That or they all got drunk and passed out." Master added.
"I think that only happens back at the guild." Lucy stated, quite truthfully.
"Hmph, we do love our spirits don't we?" Master grumbled. I gave a smile at that, it was entirely true.
"You guys can hang out here all day but I'm going to find a kitchen to raid!" Natsu declared as he ran for some houses.
"Shame on you for even thinking about robbing this place Natsu!" Gray yelled as he followed Natsu, close behind him. I rolled my eyes at his antics, what a hypocrite, I thought.
"You're just mad I thought of it first!" Natsu yelled back, as they both began to bang on doors.
Erza, Lucy, master and myself followed behind the two idiots. As Gray and Natsu banged on it, the door to the house creaked open, revealing a table full of fresh bread and hot soup.
"Looks like nobody's here." Gray stated as we looked in on the house.
"Who cares, there's food!" Natsu whispered and walked over to the table. He picked up a loaf of bread and made to bite into it when Erza intervened.
"Not so fast. There's something strange here." Erza declared as Natsu glared at her for interrupting his meal.
"She's right, who would leave a table of food just sitting there like that? And if somebody cooked this, then where the heck are they now?" Gray added.
"Something is off with this village. Natsu, I'm surprised you haven't pick up on it, I can't hear any wind whistling through the cavern and something just seems off. Call it dragon's intuition." I spoke as I took another whiff in the air, attempting to sniff out whatever the hell was wrong with this place.
Natsu however was only thinking with his stomach. "How should I know? Anyway, ready to dig in Happy?" Natsu grinned as Happy agreed and they both began to bite into their loaves of bread, when Scary Erza reappeared.
"Natsu!" Erza growled at him, her aura dark and ominous.
"Yes ma'am?!" Natsu whimpered.
"We need to investigate the village first. We've held out this long, we can hold on a little-" Erza's speech was interrupted by her stomach's growling.
"I think your stomach might have different plans." Lucy gave off a little giggle at Erza's growling stomach.
"Yes, but which one do we listen to?" Master murmured.
"Search the area for mushrooms or anything that looks edible. Don't eat the food in the village okay? While you all are doing that, Master, Aquila, and I will try to figure out what's going on." Erza issued the rest of the team's marching orders. Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and Happy left to go scavenge.
"Shall we split up?" I asked Erza while everyone else left.
"That's a great idea! I will investigate here, you two stick together and go check the other houses!" Master declared while all but shoving us out of the house.
Erza nodded her assent and we began to walk. All of the inanimate objects such as clotheslines with drying clothes, food on the tables, it all pointed to that whatever happened her ocurred only a short time ago, and during a time in which there was no panic or problem, it must've happened suddenly whatever it was. I paused as we looked out over the square and Erza halted next to me.
"What is it, Do you sense something?" Erza asked me. I shook my head.
"No , just a thought though. Why was master trying so hard to make us leave the house with all that food in it?" I said, the question no sooner leaving my mouth that Erza's aura grew dark and ominous once again. With a quick turn of her heel she turned and began walking back to the first house we entered.
As we stepped silently into the house, we discovered Master there, about to eat some of the food. "Master." Erza said in a serious tone.
"What are you doing with that bowl of food?" I added in the same tone.
"Eh, eh, I was just investigating, Erza, Aquila." Master stammered out. His expression was one of terror and that told us all we needed to know. "I'll be going now, done all I need to here anyhow." The master squeaked out then ran out of the room.
Erza shook her head at the master's behaviour while I struggled to hold in a giggle. Even our Master, was afraid of pissing off Erza. With the Master no longer about to get himself into trouble, we continued to search through the town.
"Can you scent anyone?" Erza asked me as I took in a deep inhale.
"No, I cannot, I can only smell everyone from our group. But I'm not seeing how I can only scent the seven of us, yet all of these chores and tasks appear to have just been completed." I confessed after taking yet another inhale. There was something peculiar in the air, not tangible enough to be a scent, but enough to be something. We came across a shed and entered into. The tools we found had magic power radiating off of them. Whoever had been here had been wizards and judging by the magics signatures, not friendly ones.
We rendezvoused with the Master in the square. "Did you find anybody?" Erza asked the master as we came closer to one another.
"Nope, not a single soul. The whole place has been deserted" Master reported.
"But if that's the case, why do all the houses have freshly cooked food on their tables?" Erza stated.
"Something isn't right here Master. There's almost a heaviness to the air, I can't scent anything tangible, but my instincts are saying something bad went down here." I said with deadly seriousness.
"Hold on. What is that?" Erza asked aloud, as we looked down and saw a carefully constructed fault in the ground beneath her feet.
It went on for a distance and Erza stated,"This isn't an ordinary crack in the ground. It must serve some kind of purpose." The crack was without flaw and almost seemed like a channel. Master, Erza, and I followed that line for a while until we came to a point where it intersected with another crack in the ground.
"This looks just like the other seam." Erza spoke and I dropped onto one knee next to it. The strange heaviness I could scent in the air seemed to be coming from the fissures. Then a sudden cacophony of noises began to echo throughout the area, hissing, roaring, and growling.
"What's that sound?" Erza said, her voice low. I sprang up and away from the seams then, as they began to glow a disturbing red.
"Erza, Aquila!" Natsu called out as he, Lucy, Gray, and Happy rushed over to us. "Be careful Happy." Natsu cautioned his friend.
Then the buildings started to glow red and became distorted. "Whoa, what's with this place?" Natsu spoke in a tone with just a tremor of fear in it.
"Why is everything moving?!" Lucy began to panic at the sight of everything beginning to turn red and writhe.
I elected to ignore Lucy and Happy to pay attention to Master's next comment. "It can't be." Master murmured as the ground began to move beneath his feet.
"It's time to rumble Gramps." Gray stated as he had already stripped and moved into position to use his magic.
"No wait!" Master called out, causing Gray to pause in his attack.
'What?" Gray asked, confused as to why Master was stopping him.
"We need to get to higher ground, there's something I have to check!" Master yelled out to the rest of us.
"Alright guys let's go. Try to stay close" Erza declared as she and I moved to follow the master.
Eventually we made it to the top, in time to watch all of the buildings turn into a writhing mass of monsters.
"Oh man, looks like we got out just in time." Natsu commented, as we watched the beasts churn below us.
"Now I see. It was a magic circle." Erza stated.
"That's right, those lines we saw in the village were carved into the ground to form a massive circle. A circle used for a type of magic that was banned many years ago. A form of sealing magic that was known as alive." Master explained. I nodded. The strange sense in the made sense now. It was the monsters just underneath the surface of the town.
'What does it do?" Luc asked Master.
"See for yourself. It's exactly what it looks like. It has the ability to turn inanimate objects into living creatures. It appears the villagers cast the forbidden spell only to end being eaten by the very monsters they brought to life." Master concluded.
"But would they use magic that's been banned?" Lucy said with frustration.
"This village, was home to a dark guild. While investigating, Aquila and I came across a collection of magic tools tucked away in a shed. Upon closer inspection, We realized they were tools used to practice black magic." Erza declared.
"Knowing how reckless dark guilds can be, they probably thought up some crazy plan and wound up getting burned in the process. But! There's one thing we should be grateful for. The dark guilds mischief brought these creatures to life. And most living creatures can be turned into, FOOD!" Master declared.
Everyone's stomachs let out a declaration of hunger at the same time.
"Now, time to chow!" Natsu crowed.
"At this point, I don't even care what they taste like." Gray declared.
Erza leapt down to go after the food, followed closely by Gray and Natsu.
Natsu proceeded to grill the monsters alive. Gray turned them all into popsicles. Lucy made her way down to Erza and I followed them. "Now, it's time to start cooking. Requip!" Erza declared, as she requipped into a chef's outfit, complete with meter long carving knives. At Lucy's expression I lost it, I was laughing so hard, I had to lean against a rock for support.
"Lucy, you try one." Erza declared after she had requipped back into her normal army. She had a mountain of bite size pieces in front of her. Lucy refused and with a sigh Erza tried one. Lucy and I waited for the verdict.
"So how is it?" Lucy asked Erza who merely held out a stick to her. "Alright you win." with a sigh Lucy took the bite size piece. She bit into it and her expression was absolutely hilarious. I started laughing again and fell over as she began to spit it out while wailing about how awful it tasted.
Natsu, Lucy, and Gray all rounded on Master, insisting to know why he thought it was a good idea to eat this stuff. As they debated what to do Happy was in shock and I was still laughing.
"Look out!" Natsu called as he smashed into a monster that had risen up behind Happy.
"Man these things are nasty." Gray declared, as we viewed the wall of them that had grown around us.
"And in more ways than one." Erza commented.
"I'm going to blow you to pieces. Fire Dragon WING ATTACK!" Natsu roared as he barbecued one of the monsters.
"Ice-make WALL!" Gray yelled, freezing over some of the beasts.
"Ice Dragon ICICLE TEMPEST!" I threw my hands out pulling water from the air and generating a circle of icicles that I hurled into the group of monsters.
Erza roared as she requipped into The Knight and began to slice the monsters apart.
"I want to help." Lucy declared as she pulled out one of her gate keys. " OPEN, Gate of the Golden Bull, TAURUS!" With an explosion, a large bull appeared, wielding a huge axe. As he stabbed his axe into the ground, a fissure ran through the ground, demolishing a portion of the monsters.
We regrouped only to find ourselves facing more monsters. "They just keep coming!" Natsu said.
"Great, what's happening now?!" Lucy spoke aloud as the monsters began to writhe and a glow appeared from below us once more.
"The magic circle!" Gray shouted.
"Are you kidding me?!" Natsu yelled.
Lucy and Happy began to argue, and Erza spoke quietly. "This is bad." She murmured.
I moved closer to her and began to ice my fists and forearms over in preparation for a fight. "What's bad Erza? What am I missing here?" I asked my friend. She didn't respond as she yelled, "Run for it!" as the ground cracked beneath us.
It was too late, it crumbled and we all began to fall into the magic circle.
Unlike the rest of us who were screaming as we plummeted, Master remained calm, and in the blink of an eye, we were standing on even ground, facing a group of villagers.
Natsu launched straight into an interrogation, "Now spill it, what were you trying to pull?"
"We were using the magic circle to cast forbidden spells. But those monsters appeared and took over everyone in town." One of the wizards spoke up, with a downcast look in her eyes.
"Then you were inside those monsters?", Erza queried. Lucy jerked and turned pale, at the thought of having eaten some of the villagers.
"Maybe you ate one of their toes, or someone's finger, maybe they're looking for it right now." I whispered in Lucy's ear. With a shriek she began to panic and I started to laugh only to attempt to look serious when Master cast me a glare.
"The magic circle activated when you outsiders entered the village." A man spoke to us.
"That magic circle will never activate again. The details don't matter." He concluded, speaking over Natsu and the villagers questions.
"But you should be grateful that you were freed from your possession. If you swear to learn from this and obey the law from now, I won't report this to the council! Now what will it be?" Master declared.
"We never want this to happen again, we apologize to you for the trouble, we'll never do it again." The woman at the front murmured, as Master grinned, with a wicked smile.
The villagers had nothing left and stared at us in dumbfoundedness when we asked if they had any food, and thus we left, heading for home, and hungrier than ever. Except for myself of course, I was busy snacking on popsicles made of ice, crafted by Gray who was cooperating, thanks to Erza.
"I'm seriously starving…" Natsu moaned as we walked.
"I can't walk anymore…" Happy whined as he floated past on his wings.
"Quit using your wings to taunt us!" Gray yelled at Happy.
"I don't even know what's going on anymore…" Lucy bemoaned her fate behind the two boys.
Erza and I walked with Master. I was eating but paused when I heard Erza gain Master's attention. "Master?"
"Hm, yes"
"I'm not convinced by your explanation. When we defeated the monsters, something inside the magic circle activated and tried to destroy everything." Ahh… I thought to myself. That's what Erza had been sensing before we fell.
"But then, in that instant, you saved us, lifted the dark guild's possession, and destroyed the magic circle itself. Isn't that right?" Erza finished, pausing to watch Master's reaction to her question.
"Maybe. But the more important matter is…" Master paused, and Natsu and Gray's voices joined his.
"We're still hungry!", they all said in unison.
We kept moving forward, it was all we could do when I caught it.
"Natsu, can you smell that?!" I yelled towards the front of our procession. He paused in his complaining and took a deep whiff of the air.
"You're right! I can smell it!" Natsu yelled back and took off with a whoop. I took off after him with a grin, grabbing Lucy and Gray and dragging them with me.
"Wha- where are we going?!" Lucy shrieked as Erza and Master raced after us.
"The smell of home!" I yelled as we all sprinted over one final mountain to see a green home below us.
Natsu and Lucy cheered.
"I don't know about all of you but I'm going home now. I really want a bath, and some food!" Lucy declared as she summoned one of her spirits, a tiny, white one that resembled a snowman.
"If Lucy's going home, then I guess I will too. See you guys at the fight tomorrow." Gray called over his shoulder as he began to walk, stripping as he went.
"Gray, your clothes!" I called back and laughed as I watched him panic and attempt to collect all of his missing clothes. At least he hadn't lost his boxers yet.
"Well little buddy, what do you say to going fishing and catching us some grub?" Natsu asked Happy, rubbing his hands together with a maniacal grin.
"Aye sir!" Happy jumped into the air and the two took off.
"We'd best go to the guild, otherwise the other brats will worry." Master grumbled and began to walk that way with Erza and I following. I had a certain someone that I needed to see, and some of Mira's cooking wouldn't be bad either.
As we thundered into the guild, Master called out, "We're back brats!"
"Oh, Welcome home Master, Erza, Aquila. How did it go?" Mira asked with a smile.
"Oh you know us Mira, same old, same old, destroyed some buildings, fought the bad guy, kicked his ass, got lost then tada, we're back again!" I shouted with a grin. Master gave a grin at my explanation while Erza gave a small smile. As Master and Erza began to discuss the events, I slid into a bar seat. "Hey Mira, can I have my usual, and make it cold." I gave my ordered and with a smile, Mira whisked away to get my order.
"Well hey hero. Can I get you a drink, it's all on me." A drunken voice yelled from behind me and flung her arms around me.
"Nice to see you, Cana. I'll take you up on that. Mira! A Jack Daniel's slush, and put it on Cana's tab!" I yelled down the bar.
"Got it!" Mira called back.
"Well Aquila, stay and have a drink with me. One or twenty!" Cana cackled with her arms around me and I grinned.
"Not today Cana, just one and then I'm beat. As soon as Stella comes in, we're out of here, so she won't need to stay with Bisca for now." I stated and then with a grin dug into the plate of frozen food Mira placed in front of me.
"Mira, I love and I'm going to marry you as soon as I finish this food." I stated as I drooled then began to dig in.
Mira gave me a little smile and said, "You may have to fight Erza for me, she said the same thing after I brought her a whole strawberry cake."
I pondered for a minute then shook my head, "Sorry my darling Mira, but it appears the wedding is off." I gave her a grin then went back to stuffing my face.
I had just finished gulping down my Jack Daniel's and Cana was attempting to persuade me to drink with her when I heard the squeal.
"Aquila! I missed you!" The voice chirped from the top of my head, when two white paws attempted to cover my eyes. I grinned and reached up to tickle Stella right between the wings, causing her to giggle and fall into my lap.
"I missed you too, Stella. Did you behave for Bisca and Alzack?" I asked my exceed.
"Of course I did. You promised me ice cream if I did!" Stella chirped as she situated herself in my lap, and smoothed her green skirt and blouse down.
"Well then I best keep my word!" I smiled and Stella cheered and she scrambled down to the floor.
"Thanks for the food Mira!" I called down the bar and tossed some jewel down on the bar next to my empty plate. Mira was busy taking orders so she merely waved good bye in response.
I strode by Bisca and Alzack's table and handed Bisca some jewel. "Thanks for watching her." I thanked Bisca and then Stella and I continued out the door.
I was exhausted but a promise was a promise. Stella and I ran by her favorite ice cream place and got a carton to go, before making our way to the outskirts of town.
We ventured into the woods until we found our way to my cottage by the creek. Stella flew her and the ice cream to her perch on the rafters as I stripped and made my way to bed. I flopped down on the mattress, exhausted but excited, ready for tomorrow's fight between Natsu the Salamander, and Erza Titania. It was sure to be a grand sight, and if he beat her, which I doubted but didn't discount the possibility, then it would be fire versus ice.
With that final thought, I drifted off to sleep.