"It's too early…", Natsu moaned as we prepared to leave the village. I rolled my eyes as the boys practically fell over themselves from exhaustion, which made no sense as they had slept soundly the previous night.
"Alright, let's get this party started! OPEN, gate of the clock, Horologium!", Lucy used her gate key to call out one of her spirits, a strange looking one, that looked like a walking and talking grandfather clock. I sighed as Lucy climbed inside, and we left to search the island for the cause of the curse.
"Are we really going to find another way to break the curse besides destroying the moon?", Natsu asked as we walked.
"We have to. Besides, we can't really destroy it. People wouldn't be able to go moon-viewing anymore.", Gray replied.
'You're right! The there'd be no more limited-time-only Fairy Tail moon-viewing steaks.", Natsu exclaimed. I snickered as Happy joined in with Natsu, leading to Lucy scolding them both, albeit through Horologium.
"Walk on your own." , Natsu said to Lucy as she lagged behind us, inside of Horologium.
"Uhm, are you sure you're using your celestial spirits properly?", Gray asked with a healthy dash if skepticism.
"W-we're dealing a curse here. It's scary and I don't want to risk anything happening to me!", Lucy whimpered, again Horologium was speaking for her.
"S-class quests rock! I'm all fired up now!", Natsu cheered.
"They don't all rock, and none of you better get hurt or die. I'm going to be in enough trouble as it is with Master's policy and all.", I said with annoyance as Stella and I dropped back to walk with Lucy.
"What policy?, she says quizzically.", Horologium stated.
"Well, a few years ago, Li- A girl died on an S-class mission. She wasn't an S-class wizard, but her older sister had taken her with on a quest. It was allowed back then. After she died, Master forbid anyone who wasn't an S-class wizard to go on S-class missions, even if they were accompanied by an S-class. So to be quite honest, you all aren't going to be in as much trouble as you would've been if I hadn't come, however, I will be in a huge amount of trouble. So appreciate me kiddies!", I yelled the final part of my statement up at Natsu and Gray. Who turned to retort as a thundering pounding began to echo through the forest.
"What's that?", Natsu said, then he gasped as he looked behind Lucy and I. I turned as gasped as a giant rat towered above us.
"Beat it up you guys! She says." Horologium spoke, as the rat chittered above us.
"Ice Make… Shield!", Gray yelled as he crafted a shield meant to divert the gas it spat at us. It wasn't poisonous, thank goodness, but as whiff of it hit my sensitive slayer nose, Natsu and I keeled over.
"Stinky!", Happy, Stella, and \ Lucy screamed as Horologium disappeared, presumably back to the spirit world. The rat chittered once again.
"Natsu! Aquila! Quit lying around!", Gray yelled as he stared at the approaching rat.
"It's their sense of smell. It's really powerful, so that smell…", Stella yelled, her voice slightly muffled by her paws over her mouth.
"Run!", Lucy screamed as the rat began to bear down on us once more.
"Ice Make; Floor!", Gray cast an icy covering over the ground, causing the rat to slip and fall.
"Why didn't you do that first?", Natsu jeered at Gray
"Quit complaining!", Gray yelled back.
"Look, there's some sort of building! Let's get inside while we can.", Lucy called out. It was temple looking building, with the symbol of the moon on the front.
"Let's beat it up while we can!", Natsu and Gray began to whale on the unconscious rodent.
"Enough! It's down for now, and we should explore the temple while we can, before anything that you all cannot handle comes along.", I stated.
"What do you mean WE can't handle?!", Natsu flamed furiously.
I shrugged, "exactly what I said, you all are very strong but you're not quite qualified for S-class yet, so for now, stealth is our best attribute." Natsu opened his mouth to protest once more but I fixed him with an icy glare. "Are you arguing with me, Natsu?"
"No! No ma'am!", Natsu chirped, ending the argument. We approached the temple and entered it.
"Whoa, this place is huge!", Lucy exclaimed as we entered the temple.
"It's all busted up!", Natsu stated as he examined some of the crumbling columns.
"Just how old is this place?", Gray wondered aloud as we examined some carvings along the walls.
"What are those?", Natsu pointed to the top of the carvings, where several crescent moons were carved into the walls.
"They're moons. This place as originally called the Island of the Moon.", Gray explained.
"A moon island, a moon curse, moon emblems…", Lucy pondered aloud.
"Something's not right here. These ruins have to be connected to the islanders problems. There are just just too many coincidences.", I agreed with Lucy's unspoken train of thought.
"Man, this place is falling to pieces. Is the floor even safe for us to stand on?", Natsu stated and then being an idiot as usual, proceeds to start stamping on the floor.
"Stop that!", Lucy scolded him.
No sooner had the statement come out of her mouth that the floor cracked open, and we all began to tumble into the darkness.
"Natsu you idiot!", Gray yelled as we fell. I maneuvered myself upright then began to form my ice slide. I grabbed Stella with one hand, and once she was safely on the slide next to me, I yanked Lucy out of the air, and onto the slide with me. As we slide safely to the ground the boys hit the ground with a boom.
"Hey, you guys okay?!", Natsu yelled after he had dug himself out from under the rubble.
"YES! No thanks to you, this is your fault!", Lucy yelled.
'Why don't you ever think about the consequences?!", Gray yelled as well.
"That was incredibly reckless Natsu. Someone could have been hurt. I'm glad everyone is okay though.", I added.
As we regained our bearings, we gaxed up at the small hole in the ceiling. "Happy can you and Stella fly us all up?", Lucy asked the blue cat.
"Nope. I can't carry everyone, and Stella's too little to carry more than one person.", Happy said with a shake of his head. Stella gazed at the ground with a pout and I leaned down to pet her head.
"Don't worry, Stella. You'll be able to carry multiple people someday.", Is aid with a smile. She gave me a small smile, and I stood back up to rejoin the conversation.
'Since we're here, we should explore!", Natsu chanted as he ran off down the hall.
"Hey quit running around!", Gray yelled. We began to follow him, and he froze as we rounded a corner.
"Natsu?", Lucy asked when she say him frozen.
"Now what?", Gray grumbled as we all came to a stop.
"What is that?", Natsu managed to get out. As we came out of the tunnel we all stared at the monstrosity before us.
"W-what the?", Gray stammered out. "Deliora?!", Gray began to walk forward, staring in horror at the iced statue of some monster in front of us. "This can't be! What is Deliora doing here?! It's impossible, he can't be here!", Gray yelled, seemingly forgetting that we were still here.
"Gray you know what this thing is?", I asked, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"It's… it's...!", Gray was shaking so hard, it seemed like he was about to fall apart.
I moved in front of Gray and placed my hands on his shoulders. "Gray, calm down.", I said as he once again stared up the creature.
"Tell us , what is this thing?", Lucy asked.
"It's Deliora, the demon of destruction…. He looks exactly the same as then… What's going on? Why is he here?!", Gray growled, he seemed unable to tear his gaze from the demon encased in ice.
Lucy turned and my ears picked up footsteps approaching. "Hide!", she whispered and we all moved behind a large boulder.
"This is where the voices were coming from.", A nasal voice spoke. "Toby, have you been soaking in the moon drip? You have ears.", the same voice said, as a low growl came from the other person, the one that had dog ears and a dog collar on. The other guys had blue hair that stuck up like a lightning bolt.
"No! These are decorations, get it through your head!", the dog-man, Toby exploded at the other.
"I was only teasing you, idiot.", the blue-haired man said.
"You're so mean.", Toby replied.
"Moon drip? Could that be the curse?", Lucy muttered, as I pondered that phrase. I had no idea what it was, but it didn't sound good. Footsteps once again came from down the tunnel, and a pink-haired girl emerged from the tunnel.
"Yuka, Toby, I have horrible news!", the pinkette said.
"Sherry." Yuka, acknowledged her with a nod, and Toby with a wave.
"Some beat up Angelica.", Sherry said, with her hands clasped to her chest.
"It's just a stupid rat, you don't need to give it a name!", Toby howled at her.
"She is not a rat. Angelica is a hunter, one that races through the darkness… and love!", She retorted. I was beginning to think we were dealing with some real nutters here.
"Talk about a serious weirdo, especially with that last thing she said.", Lucy muttered, agreeing with my unspoken thoughts.
"They're not from the island. They smell different.", Natsu said, and I nodded,
"They smell, fresh almost, as if they come from the north." I added.
"They don't seem to be cursed either." Happy stated.
"Do they maybe have some sort of protection?", Stella mused aloud.
"Intruders huh?", Yuka stated.
"And with the moonlight so close tonight. How sad. Let us get rid of the intruders before the Cold Emperor finds out about this. Yes, before the moon shows itself…Now that they've seen Deliora, they cannot be allowed to live. They must enter eternal sleep.", Sherry said, the boys agreeing with her.
Who is this Cold emperor? And what does he want with a demon? I thought to myself, as Happy and Stella tossed some pebbles down the hall, causing a noise and they left in a hurry.
"Good work you two!", Lucy told the cats as they set themselves down.
"Aye!", Happy agreed.
"We should've caught them and interrogated them." Natsu said as Lucy shook her head.
"Not yet. Let's investigate a little more first.", Lucy stated. I nodded with approval at her wisdom. She would make a fine S-class wizard, when her magic skill caught up with her mind.
"This is getting complicated.", Natsu groaned.
'I wonder who the cold emperor is…", Happy wondered aloud.
"Why did they bring Deliora here?! How did they find where he was sealed anyways?!", Gray spoke with pain in his voice.
"Where he was sealed?", Lucy queried.
"This thing was sealed in an iceberg in a northern continent. It's an immortal demon that ravaged the Isvan region ten years ago.,, Master Ur, the one who taught me magic, risked her life to seal it away! I don't know what is has to do with the island's curse, but it doesn't belong here! Cold Emperor… who are you?! There'll be hell to pay if you try to tarnish Ur's name!", Gray was shaking and his fists were clenched. There was a lot that he wasn't telling us. But everyone has secrets and Gray was entitled to his. As we stared up at the demon frozen in ice, I wondered what was the end game here, what was the goal?
A/N: I'M BACK! And call it my new school year resolution, but this story will get updated EVERY Sunday, though I will need to make the chapters just a tad shorter. But the point is I will be updating weekly. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to review!