A/N: I have decided that the chapter bar...won… it beat me... I would rather my nonsensical notes run into it, over the story. Also fanfiction has decided to pull a new thing, by grouping ALL OF MY WRITING into ONE GIANT PARAGRAPH. So if I post something and it's ONE GIANT PARAGRAPH, then know I've already discovered it and in process of fixing it. I edit this story and monitor TLDE constantly. Also I didn't realize that my fixed version of chapter 6 wasn't posted. I did fail on that part. It's now been posted and legible. *rubs temple*
A/N: SHOUT OUT TO MY NEW FOLLOWERS AND FAVORITES! You guys rock and put the biggest smile on my face. Such positive reviews!
If you were able to read chapter 6 (God bless all of you if you managed to read the giant paragraph of disaster) then this is for you guys ;)
Please read and review, I love opinions and constructive criticism.
Disclaimer- I still don't own fairy tail
Chapter 7-The Onsen Part II
Absolute darkness is what they first saw, like they were walking into an unexplored cave without a lantern. They found Natsu almost immediately. Natsu's fire, and Jellal's magic was their only source of light. The stairway became narrower than the last as smooth stone became gravel under each step. It was so old, certain parts were missing, one wrong move and they could fall into the abyss. Team Natsu couldn't tell how far down it went and there was nothing on either side of them. Almost like a stairway into a giant empty cavern with no walls.
"The air feels rotten, like it's been poisoned for a very long time."
Charle inquired while flying next to her blue friend "Is there anything else you can tell?"
Wendy took her index finger, pointed it upward into the air and placed it in her mouth as though she were sampling a sweet. "Not much, however there is residual magic mixed in. Something really bad happened in this place. It smells like a curse and tastes…" gulp "like death…"
Nobody could say a word after Wendy's analyzation.
It was a good while before Happy broke their silence. "I hope Lucy is okay."
"We'll get her back Happy, don't worry. Lucy is Lucy, if anything we beat the ghost out. I won't let it have her."
"Fist first is not always the answer. It's going to take delicate work to separate Lucy from this spirit."
"Jellal, you're lucky I stopped. It's taken everything I got not to leave you all behind." As if it could get any darker, the fairly tall pink haired man increased his flames.
"Wow it always surprises me when Natsu thinks ahead. It almost never happens."
"Happy if you give him too much credit, his ego will take over all of Earthland."
"Ah get off it, ice queen."
"OI! I only spoke the truth, go eat ghost shit." Gray and Natsu were now butting heads till Erza managed to step in between them despite the narrow path.
"ENOUGH! Your bickering won't get us to Lucy any faster, please behave for longer than five minutes…Or else…"
They wrapped an arm around each other and happily went downstairs as though an argument never occurred in the first place.
"I will always admire how you can control those two." Charle flew in close to Erza's shoulder. "If only they behaved like this all the time. Lately it doesn't seem even your presence is enough to keep them from constantly arguing."
Gray and Natsu carelessly slipped on moss in the midst of their "bonding" and fell down the stairs. You could hear their cries in unison as they held onto each other tightly, along with a thud as they hit solid earth. From within the pitch darkness you could hear their bickering. Jellal now had to pull double the weight as a light source. A pulse formed on his forehead, "I'm going to kill those two, if Erza doesn't get there first."
SsS
"Oooowww…this is your fault, flame eating dick face."
"My fault? Hell no, this is clearly your fault. I bet you left your brains with Juvia, along with your balls."
"You burnt yours a long time ago. How are ya going to please Lucy if you're a crispy fried dragon sack."
The pass about Lucy went right over his head. "I bet you're so cold, yours shrank three sizes in, and now you have a vagina."
SsS
"Erza, where do they get these insults from?" Wendy was watching her step thanks to having a type of night vision from her dragon sight and Jellal's aid.
"I don't think we want to know." Charle flew closer to Jellal, content with him being there.
Erza smiled assuredly trying to convince their youngest and herself. "Fear not, they are good friends it's normal to have some bickering."
Wendy was still uncertain.
Erza was still uncertain. Cupping a hand around her mouth shouted, "Gray, Natsu! We'll be right there, stay put."
It was Gray's disembodied voice that responded reaching the ears of the others. "Now look, Erza says we have to stay here, in the dark, together till they get here. I don't want to wait with you."
"I couldn't have said it better myself, Jack-off." In the dark they turned away from each other fuming. Natsu stood and lit his flame so their friends could spot them. However what he found made his hair stand on end.
Ancient pictures told about sacrifices to a hell god in the shape of a dragon made of black fire. Each sacrifice was eaten and the remains smeared over the altar to protect them and their village from any outside evil. One female from the head family was picked as the "fire's bride" the physical traits were oddly specific. Each had curves that were unusual for the family line, eyes that were as soft a brown as grave dirt, or blue as the deep sea, hair that was long and shimmered like the sun touched a white daisy with its golden rays, also unusual for a family with constant black hair. In the middle section, it told that their "fire deity" suddenly vanished two hundred years ago.
However this didn't stop the sacrifices, to keep the village from finding out their deity was no more, they continued the sacrifices. One girl born with these characteristics from each generation, had been taken down to a raised platform made of ivory. There they bound and chopped into pieces to keep up the pretense that they were being "eaten." Eventually the family was plagued by a vengeful spirit's curse: It swore that if they didn't keep up the pretense, every family member would die. So out of fear they kept up the sacrifices to appease this evil spirit. The surrounding village didn't know any better so they proudly offered up each girl from the head family that was supposed to be "the fire bride".
Natsu was never good at discerning ancient lore. However pictures he knew, and the last sacrifice looked a lot like Lucy from 200 years ago. It's said it was her who became a vengeful spirit that plagued the family. Somewhere along the way it said they stopped the sacrifices 80 years ago and recently the family all died save for one male, Annek Warlin.
"Gray? Come here."
"What? I don't want to do deal with you."
"Gray." At hearing the deadpan seriousness in his tone stopped and went to see why the dragon called him over. Then froze at the last line where Natsu paused.
Jellal, Erza, Wendy, Charle and Happy finally found solid earth and met up with them.
Deep eyes noticed the high alert her headaches were on. "What's wrong?" Erza stopped, her eyes widened and the corners of her mouth went into an immediate frown.
Wendy followed their line of sight to where the other three were looking. All seven couldn't move as they each got a view of the lore.
Charle's voice warbled anxiously, unsure if she wanted to hear an answer."Did… you see a village anywhere around here?"
"One of the reasons why I was late getting here is because I saw a small civilization behind the Onsen. You would easily miss it, except for a path that gives you a small insight to its location. This bathhouse looked like it was the entrance. The village is surrounded by a wall almost like a hidden city. When I investigated it, I found most of the houses were abandoned, save for a few denizens that refused to leave. I tried talking to them, but all I got was a door slammed in my face. That was my first clue something weird was going on. They didn't like that their town was turned into an attraction during fall and winter months, at least that's the vibe I picked up. Other than that they were extraordinarily guarded." Jellal placed a hand on the pictures to feel the ancient preservation magic coming from them.
Erza placed a hand on Jellal's shoulder. "How did you get into the village if the Onsen was the only way to get inside? Annek also said he knew you before."
He smirked mirthlessly, "I managed to leap over the wall. There was no barrier magic to keep me out, not like one could anyway." He continued with a frown, "If this is true, then Lucy is in much more danger than we thought…wait Annek said he knew me? I've never interacted with him other than the one instance for these tickets."
The last line revealed the ancient spirit possessing a girl that was similar to herself and becoming the sacrifice that the last remnant of the family had to carry out, setting the original free. Lucy would take its place in guarding the family as the evil spirit.
Natsu already ran further down the tunnel. "Hurry up, or I'm leaving y'all behind!"
SsS
Natsu came upon a putrid smelling shrine, surrounded by bones. This is where they discarded the innocent women. Lucy's body arose and floated above the remains, then a voice came from her throat sounding like herself and two mysterious beings at once.
"Dragon, I am tired. I want to rest let me have this girl so she can take my place. Annek knows, he's on his way." Lucy fought for control. "No, Natsu you mustn't let me get to the altar. It's what he wants." It looked like Lucy's body had been thrown backwards into the bones, after her breakthrough. The vile spirit in control grinned.
"What if we can help you?" Natsu tried to figure out what this thing's angle was.
"Can you? Take me to the altar, stab the heart of this woman and all will be right again. If you do, then I shall let the girl go..." Lucy was practically fused with the spirit since her ceremonial death kimono was tangible and solid. The spirit dropped Lucy's body like a rag doll to which Natsu caught.
"Hang on, we'll get you fixed." He nuzzled her hair, but cringed at her scent. Lucy smelled like death from 200 years ago and blood from other woman. "We don't have much time."
"Here let me see her!" Wendy led the others down in the same direction, and they all became enraged and disgusted by the grave site. Her older brother set the girl down on behalf of her request.
Assessing all the bodies the ice mage became horrified. "What morons! How would they think this was okay?"
Fuzzy white paws gently touched the curvy girl's hand with the guild-mark, everyone began to chatter their opinions in the background about the grave site. and the state their blondie was in.
A blue body settled himself around his second favorite person next to Natsu, attempting to give her warmth by cuddling close. "Lucy…"
"If you would all be quiet, I might be able to figure this out." Wendy wasn't normally the commanding type, however it was in situations like these, when her own force of will came forth. She placed Lucy's body in the middle of milky-way to see if she could get any more clues to help them, help the spirit or spirits move on.
Crunch clink clatter, crunch clink crunch clatter skrriiitttt followed by a voice within darkness that sneered menacingly as it echoed off the tunnel walls, "Ah, you found her before me, oh well. That just means I'll have to take her to the altar and kill her there." Annek Warlin swished around what looked like a piece of dragon's jaw and teeth in the form of a scythe, connected by a long chain with a red ribbon. "I'm sorry I lied to you about being an acquaintance of Jellal's. I did interact with him before to book your rooms, but that was as far as that went. So I guess it wasn't a lie?" With skilled practiced swirled the weapon in front as he caught the scythe head and bent low. "I have a celestial maiden to kill, yes?"
"Over my dead body!" Natsu was enraged and landed on top of Annek's chest causing the grave floor to crack underneath them as the surrounding area went up in a massive fire. Everything burned from the explosion, unintentionally purifying old remains as spirits came up from the dismembered bones. Wendy noticed it before they fell.
Happy caught Gray, Charle caught Wendy. Erza re-quipped into her Heaven's wheel armor for flight heading straight for Lucy as Jellal flew towards Erza with wind magic.
Lucy's body glowed as a thrum of blue emanated around her when she gently hovered above a plaque big enough for one person. The plaque itself was made of ivory and stone, though you couldn't tell since it was stained black, brown and red.
Everyone bee-lined for the platform and a chorus of voices cried in unison. "Lucy!"
A row of candles lit by themselves within the extraordinarily deep cavern.
SsS
Dragneel turned at hearing his family's panicked cries allowing a hit in his gut from an dirty undercut by Annek's fist while the man was still pinned in the earth.
"Perfect, now I don't have to get her there myself!" Annek's eyes swirled purple with malignant glee as he leaned forward over his enemy ready to cut him to shreds
"Shut your trap asshole!" Using his arms propelled himself forward to get a good kick in the man's gut, as both feet hit Annek's lower stomach.
SsS
"Won't you need help?" Wendy shouted at him from their location, knowing he was somewhere in the underground cavern but the musty smell, mingled with so many centuries of death, was screwing up her nose so she couldn't pinpoint him. However she could hear his and Annek's conversation, knowing full well he could hear the rest of them.
SsS
With a fiery punch, to the man's face then elbowed him low into the stomach once more responded to her."Nah, this guy is a piece of cake! Focus on fixing Lucy!"
SsS
Taking off from the others bolted towards where he heard Natsu's voice despite his friend and arch rival telling them not too. He looked back as he ran shouting to the rest. "Like hell am I letting him going at it alone. Shit, if anything happens to her and he dies he'll haunt me for the rest of my life!"
"Be careful Gray…Wendy can you cast milky-way again see if it will coax the spirit out?" Still in her flight armor just in case they too encountered a battle of their own.
"It's what I was trying to do before we got interrupted."
"I will stay here to help you." Charle followed Erza's example and transformed into her human figure. In this way her magic was stronger.
"I'll make a barrier around us to be sure there's no interference from outside sources." Jellal paused and added with a deadpan expression, "Happy? Watch over them. Last we need is where they end up fighting each other over the enemy."
"Aye!" Happy rocketed to where Natsu was, just as Gray arrived.
The parties were now separated, Jellal, Erza Charle and Wendy were in a barrier with Lucy on the platform, while Gray and Natsu fought Annek with Happy on the way. Nobody knew the dire straits they were in till a black pulse came from Lucy's mouth.
SsS
"Why aren't you with the other's Gray?!" Natsu dodged a left hook from Annek as he got his footing under control with expertise.
"Something about this guy didn't feel right." He made an ice cage over Annek as the man's movement became more sporadic.
However he used his scythe to shatter the imprisonment.
"I know." Natsu used flame lotus when the dragon jaw blocked the attack absorbing the fire.
"Bastard absorbed my fire! Stop taking my role!" Natsu was prepared for another punch to land on their enemy, when Annek began to laugh creepily, throwing him off. He had to retreat a few steps so he could calculate his next move.
"Kakakakakakaka….you brats have no idea what forces you're messing with." Pulling the bone in front, kissed the dragon's scythe. "This ancient weapon was forged from our dead deity, it grants me immeasurable power to complete my task of continuing the sacrifices to Fevrit… as Nyla commanded…"
Gray and Natsu paused as they watched him throw his jaw in the air and used the chain to twirl it overhead igniting on fire. There was an eerie thick flame of indigo that enveloped him.
It turned him into a nightmarish fire dragon made of shadows.
"Ah hahahaha… after Zeref and Agnologia this is nothing!" He continued to laugh darkly, "I'm all fired up."
Gray smiled just as cockily, unleashing his demon slaying mode. "I say this guy is a demon, I don't think demons can last against us, eh Natsu?"
"Not a chance in hell." Natsu and gray high-fived each other as Natsu activated Dragon force. "Let's go." They ran straight for Annek.
SsS
"Wendy what's going on with Lucy?" Erza crossed her arms and paced, a black cloud now hovered over their celestial mage's entire body, while her keys glowed a bright gold angrily.
"I can't tell for certain, it seems the spirit is either forcing a fuse, or it's trying to expel itself. Till it responds to milky-way we won't know." She encased all of Lucy in the spell for a third time, since the second instance was interrupted by their host.
The spirit rose in its true form, not contorted twisted or sounding like a monster, instead a very soft and pleasant voice came through.
"What? I'm so tired, where…the altar…why am I here… I should be dead…"
Wendy seemed just as perplexed as the spirit. "You lead us here. You're trying to hurt our friend."
"Trying to hurt… Oh no… that damnable dragon…listen to me oh children of the living. The ancient script has been altered to match his whim."
They all looked at each other baffled. Charle was the one who spoke to the dead girl with long golden hair and deep ocean blue eyes. "The pictures on the wall said you were a vengeful spirit and you forced the family to kill others like yourself or you would end them all, two hundred years ago. Now you are making Lucy take your place."
A slow tear emerged from her beautifully pale face "There is another here, controlling everything. When I first entered your friend it was to warn you all of this imminent peril, however the spirit of the dead dragon also resides here and he too possessed this girl. Her strength as a celestial mage, allows for her to have an unusual connection with the unseen. She didn't know and we both took advantage of that fact. For this, I apologize."
She could already feel herself fading fast as her spirit fused with Lucy. "I am Nyla... It was true, I did curse the family but not in the way you think. I wanted to stop the meaningless bloodshed." Struggling, paused to gain her memory. "When I was alive I warned everyone, including the villagers, they would suffer if they didn't end the dragon's life that our ancestors foolishly professed as a deity. However Fevrit's spirit somehow survived when my father and brother, killed him. He possessed my father whom in turn sacrificed me. Not knowing it was Fevrit in control, I warned my father that I would curse this family to their graves if they continued with this path. I died on this platform and for another two hundred years, the sacrifices continued all in my name proclaiming everyone would die if they didn't."
Nyla felt like her essence was almost gone and needed to warn them quickly, her voice coming out in somber echoed whispers. "Fevrit deluded everyone into thinking it was me, and when the sacrifices continued… my curse activated…it wasn't until after death I figured it out… but my path… was set. I took the life from the head of the family in each generation attempting to stop the endless circle. However my efforts were in vain… as Fevrit went behind me and stole the second male or woman to inherit the village to do his bidding. It didn't matter to him…" Ah rest that's all she wanted, inside this girl perhaps?
Wendy broke her of her musings shouting at Nyla, "How do we stop him? How do we keep you from fusing with Lucy?" Wind encased around her form, swirling her hair as she concentrated to keep the spirit with them as long as possible.
"Lucy? Oh this girl? I could…rest in this girl? Soo tired…" Wendy's question pinged something within her, bringing her back to what she was trying to say, "To keep us from fusing permanently… you must use a cleansing fire unlike anything else. My curse killed off the rest of this family since they went insane and murdered each other eighty years ago, which would have freed me. No thanks to Fevrit, Annek survived…and is still being possessed by the dragon…putting the man in a suspended like stasis…" She had enough energy to give them a clue. "Even if fire or flame purifies the dead, the blood of shadows will revive… to break this endless circle of tragedy…all must be put to rest…" Nyla's voice faded as she was sucked back within the celestial mage.
"Wendy..." Jellal touched Wendy's head tenderly.
Way too many questions went through her bowed head as long blue pigtails rested against her knees taking a breather before casting milky-way once more. She was certain it was imperative to saving their friend.
SsS
Natsu unleashed fire dragon's roar at the same time Gray formed a sub-zero ice make spear to trap the foot of this dragon. Their hits were connecting but he seemed un-phased.
Gray made his ice bow, arched up and let loose an arrow as it landed perfectly in the dragon's eye, resulting in a painful screech from the beast."This guy won't stay down!"
Natsu unleashed his fire lightning and bulleted straight for it's abs, breaking into the cavern wall that caused a cave-in to the surrounding area where Annek landed.
"We need a new strategy, something is causing him to get all this power!"
Natsu backed up running towards Gray seeing their opponent rise and bellow a deep roar."Unison raid?" His wide boyish grin showed how proud he was of this idea.
"When was the last time we attempted a unison raid. Our magic isn't compatible."
"We achieved it during Phantom Lord's attack, against Precht."
Annek slammed his fist in between them while they debated, splitting them apart as they dodged.
"No time for complaints, let's try it."
"If this doesn't work…" Gray made a cannon out of pink ice freezing everything else in its wake.
"Yeah, yeah blame me." Natsu sunk into the cannon as he felt Gray's magic wrap around his waist.
"Ice Make"
"Fire Dragon's"
"BLAST/ROAR" He shot Natsu off like a rocket when they shouted in sync. The dragon slayer managed to carry Gray's magic with him as he went right for Annek's jugular.
"Unison raid fire demon's ice lotus spin" He twirled in mid-air freezing and burning Annek at the same time, when he caught an unusual scent coming from the dragon's mouth mixed with the human's. He threw up after the attack nauseated.
"What's with you? You aren't on a vehicle!"
The fire shadow dragon fell and writhed in sheer agony on the ground, when Natsu walked up queasily to find the scent bothering him. The scythe, he noticed, was exposed like an exoskeleton and the chain dangled almost like a piercing. It was the only part of the Shadow Dragon that seemed to be penetrable and the source of the smell.
Natsu waved towards Gray rapidly, the beast was starting to get up. "Doesn't matter. I need you shoot your arrow over here!"
"Done deal." Gray let loose the requested arrow from his ice bow as Natsu caught it in mid-air and jabbed into the scythe breaking it in two. The dragon disappeared leaving Annek who appeared to be weak and not at all in accordance to who they were at war with moments prior.
"What is this?! He didn't even get back up to challenge us like the rest of them." Gray gestured in huge disappointment from a distance. "I'm ashamed of myself."
"I think… we were really fighting this." He picked up the broken scythe when it pulsed with magic and dropped it. "That was the grossest damn thing I've ever felt. Here, you take it to Wendy."
"Shit no, I ain't touching that. You take it!" He tossed it to Natsu like it was a hot-potato.
"And they were working so well together before." Happy lifted his arms in a I-have-no-idea way.
SsS
"Wendy we need to do something, Lucy has almost been completely overshadowed by Nyla." Erza watched as their friend became more and more like the dead girl.
"That's it!" The entire time Wendy was musing over what Nyla meant. Then she remembered how Natsu's flames, in pure rage purified the bones cremating them.
"We need Natsu."
"I knew you would figure it out Wendy." Erza called on Natsu and Gray telepathically 'Natsu we need you here, your fire can help Lucy.' They all heard explosions, roaring and saw dust clouds coming from the north east side of where the altar was. Clearly a heavy battle was taken place. Thankfully Wendy was done interrogating Nyla in time for the dust to clear and for them to send their plea.
SsS
"Shit that's right, Lucy…" Natsu got the message but his nose was screwed up from this cavern as much as he was sure Wendy's was.
"Happy do you remember the direction the others were in?"
"Aye sir! You don't even have to tell me."
"You're awesome. Gray bring the scythe!"
"Who do you think you're ordering around?" Gray smiled picking up the scythe, then used his magic to surf alongside them.
SsS
Happy lowered Natsu down within the barrier as Gray dropped inside not long after. Lucy's form thrummed a deep purple in tune with the shattered half.
Shadow creatures began to crawl out from every crevice.
"Natsu hurry!" Erza was done and over their predicament as she studied the vicinity.
"What do you want me to do?" Natsu looked around at the different shadow creatures, then down at Lucy whose body began to rise up.
"Kakaka…" hack hack hack cough. "You're too late, Nyla shall rise again within that girl." Annek who now looked to be over a hundred had small white strands from his head, large brown spots on his skin that appeared like it was going to fall off his bones. He pointed with his last breath. Hack hack wheeze, "May Fevrit forever reign...now die…"
Natsu didn't waste any time by climbing up to the platform, then placed a hand over where her heart lay. "I won't stab her like ya wanted me too." Looking deep in the dead girl's face that was overshadowing Lucy, he felt a surge of anger and frustration.
"Natsu, you need to generate fire." Wendy said desperately holding milky-way together.
Jellal made a second barrier made of white magic to deter these evil beings long enough to accomplish their rescue mission. The blue haired man with the elaborate marking underneath his left eye began to sweat. He looked back to see what everyone's situation was when he saw it. "What you need to do, is make this quick! They are gaining in on us and weird purple smoke is going into Lucy."
"I think I got it." Natsu had a very smug expression as he generated a flame that he channeled into the woman in his arms. His fire, he could tell went under her skin, she convulsed squirming as her body locked up painfully contorted. "Hang in there." He generated more, not with-holding an ounce of magic.
The scythe responded by burning up too when Wendy came to a revelation. "Milky-way mixed with your fire!" Her hunch, was right, she thought fire would be enough. But seeing the effects resonating together realized why she felt milky-way was imperative also. They had to mix. Similar to a unison raid, but way more delicate.
Wendy channeled her milky-way spell to move with Natsu's fire. A white ethereal glow emitted from Lucy's mouth, nose, eyes, finger tips and soles of her feet, wrapping around her like it was protecting her from any harm.
The piece of the scythe began to seep a thick disgusting black ooze, as it bubbled out of the bone. Gray noticed that the ooze was trying to reach for their spirit mage. 'Wasn't the scythe supposed to burn too? Where was the other…oh…'After berating himself and Natsu for their stupidity called out, "Happy, we need the other half, we forgot it!"
"Aye sir! Come on Charle!" Charle switched to her Exceed form at Happy's request.
Jellal saw the shadows on top of their barriers as he held it against super natural forces and whispered. "Happy, Charle come back soon."
SsS
"Why didn't they bring both pieces to start with?"
"You know Gray and Natsu don't think things through!" Happy flew as fast as he could till they spotted the other half with the chain. Both exceeds froze when they saw the red ribbon at the end turn midnight black.
"That isn't a good sign." Charle went into her human form and tried lifting the chain but was burnt instantly. "Ow!" Dropping it the saw the chain sink into the ground as though the cavern attempted to eat it. Changing back into her exceed form flew up as Happy proceeded to pull the other half of the scythe from the ground. Charle helped him as best she could with now achingly burnt paws, then frowned seeing her partner's paws begin to singe also.
"This thing won't budge!" Happy pulled and pulled with all his might, when he felt a familiar gentle hand on his tiny shoulder. "Lucy?" Then the chain released almost with a sigh.
SsS
At the platform directly next to Erza on the north west side, their barrier began to lose hold as thousands upon thousands overwhelmed their forces. "Erza even for me, this is a bit much." Grunting as he nearly fell to his knees refused to fall, and instead went past his limits to strengthen their defenses.
"Wendy, Gray what's going on over there?" Erza sent the second ring of swords into the fields at the north east side of their small defense barrier, "Dance my blades!" Taking out any shadow creatures that managed to get in as Gray made a triple headed spear.
Gray was at the south west side closest to the three in question. "Wendy is in a difficult trance to keep milky-way open as long as possible for Natsu to work his fire, however it seems that Natsu himself is well…how do I put it. His eyes went white a few seconds ago."
"What does that mean?" Erza released trinity sword at more creatures as they faded into obliterated smoke.
He grunted and stabbed another shadow spirit with an ice lancer. "I'm sure Wendy could give more insight if she was actually here with us. It seems like they went into so some sort of trance at once."
"Lets pray our fuzzy friends arrive in time." Jellal pushed the barrier back since he saw it flicker for a brief instant.
"Don't lose hope Jellal. We've gotten out of tougher scraps worse than this before. Just keep on fighting." With that Erza requipped into her Flame Empress armor and unleashed a wave of fire, clearing away another wave of enemies.
SsS
"What is this place?" Lucy walked around a room filled with beautiful kimonos, furniture and tatami mats. The doors were painted with sakura blossoms during spring.
"You are seeing my memories."
"Nyla…wait… am I dead..." Lucy frantically checked herself and for her friends that rest on her hip. "Where are my keys?"
"No. You are not dead… nor are we alive. We are in between because your keys are preventing me from fusing with you completely. Your spirits are very cross with me and Fevrit."
"Aquarius is going to kill me for getting possessed." Lucy sweat dropped at the mere thought.
"Lucy, two flying cats are attempting to keep Fevrit from reviving by obtaining the other half those two men failed to take with them. I think they are idiots for not taking both pieces to start with."
She looked away awkwardly, "Figures I almost die because of Gray and Natsu. It was going to happen one of these days."
"There is hope yet, but before this you must understand what was happening while you've been asleep." Nyla gracefully walked over to Lucy, took her middle and index finger gently touched the center of Lucy's forehead, causing a wave of not only Nyla's memories but of the events following from when she was possessed in the first place.
SsS
Sighs of relief washed over all three warriors as Charle and Happy flew in, with strained eyes enlarged from panic and pain. "We got it, we got it!" Charle with Happy threw the piece in. They collapsed under the blood filled platform next to Wendy not long after.
From her position during battle took a pause to praise their achievement."Well done you two!"
It made them smile proudly despite their condition.
Erza, Jellal and Gray fought with all their might, as the overwhelming numbers seemed to double after bringing the dark weapon within their defenses. Jellal casted meteor causing all of them to vanish at once. It worked for a brief period when more showed up like a cancer.
"Erza, we can't keep this up for much longer." He was casting defense and offense magic at once to keep them alive.
Erza drop kicked an enemy as she re-quipped into her pure heart armor. "We can do this, don't despair!"
Gray unleashed a ton of ice spears, slaying many foe. "Can those three be any slower?!"
SsS
Natsu came to a white room. It was very similar to his inner conflict on choosing between the form a demon or a dragon, that resulted in both seeds destroying themselves as he proclaimed to be human. "Eh? If I have to go through this again…"
"Fear not. I brought you here, as well as the blue haired girl and Lucy."
"Nyla, what did you do to Lucy?"
"Calm down." Placing a hand on his chest stopped him, only for him to shove her hand away.
"Where is she?"
"Lucy was seeing my memories, current events and aiding your exceeds in their endeavors. However that was some time ago. Now you must listen, you have to destroy me and both pieces of the scythe at once. If not, Fevrit will revive and the cycle will continue. Except Lucy will suffer the endless war between the Shadow Dragon and myself."
"Ha, you make it sound like it's hard. Let me go, I'll fix your mess." Natsu placed his hands on his hips confidently with a very wide grin.
"I was hoping you would say that." A smile filled with mirth flitted across gentle features as Nyla let everyone go, save for Lucy who she was still trapped in.
SsS
Natsu finally became lucid when he saw how dire their situation was. Wendy was still in a deep trance. Nyla must be speaking with her about something. However he peered into Lucy's blank eyes once more and placed her down directly on the platform. He channeled his fire around the celestial maid's being, overwhelming everything around him, that would burn with delicate precision anything he wished.
Milky-way gave his magic cleansing properties and the entire room went white.
Everything disappeared along with the village, leaving old ruins. The bloody cycle was broken.
Milky-way died down with the last of Wendy's magic reserves. She exhausted herself. "Wendy!" It was Erza who caught the fainting girl before Charle could get to her.
"I- I'm alright."
"So... you're telling me... even the building and the village were a ghosts?" Gray wandered about, not hoping to find any remnant of the Onsen left.
"I'm not sad it's gone, though we never did get our bath eh Erza." Erza, while still holding Wendy, threw a pebble at Jellal's head for the sly comment. "Ow." He rubbed and grinned mischievously.
"I for one, am glad this is over. We never did get to soak in a hot spring nor did we find our treasure, but we made it out…alive. That is what is most important."
"Come on Charle, you're cuter as a cat."
"Happy, I am stronger in this form, you know this."
During everyone's banter Natsu held Lucy's form close, waiting for her to open her eyes. He didn't care about an entire location disappearing, he just wanted Lucy to wake up. "Come on… We're all waiting for you." Lucy bolted up from his arms in a coughing fit, like she had been without air for some time.
Everyone celebrated in unison, Natsu stepped back as they crowded around her. Happy ran into her stomach for cuddles.
"Wendy did Nyla tell you?" Lucy scratched behind Happy's ears.
"Oh!" Wendy stood from Erza and smacked her fist into her palm. "That's right! I totally forgot!"
"What's up?" Natsu became relaxed in seeing all of his nakama and Lucy safe.
"Follow me!" She ran into the direction where an old cave was, showing the same ancient script with Nyla's story and an old canister. "Here it is!" Holding up an elaborately decorated urn, made of porcelain untied the old seal.
"Now Wendy, should you really be doing that?" The white Exceed thought the girl lost her mind.
"It's fine Charle. Nyla told me too." After untying the urn, ran outside. "It was her wish." She set the open urn outside where the wind suddenly picked up ashes in a mini cyclone.
Nyla appeared before everyone, dressed in the most gorgeous kimono anyone had the pleasure to lay their eyes on. It was embroidered with the old bathhouse and her entire family, as pictures moved with changing seasons. Every time they looked, they could see it was reflecting different scenes from her tale. "Well done Wendy! Underneath the old shrine, where you found my ashes, lies a sacred treasure. I think it might help you on your quest." A beam of blue came from her index as she pointed to the shrine, you could hear and feel the earth shake as something moved. "That is the last of my power. I am finally going to join my family in the afterlife, thank you... all of you..." Little balls of light sectioned off as they flickered within the sun, vanishing from this world forevermore.
Gray and Jellal investigated the old shrine, not without noticing how the ancient script disappeared from the wall along with Nyla. It was Jellal that picked up a jade painted box, from within a small opening under the shrine, with a white square knot, sealing it from the elements.
Gray shirtless, stuffed his hands into his cargo pants. "Come look at this!" Everyone swarmed into the shrine, curious as to what was found. Once they saw Jellal holding a mystery box, all leaned forward crowding around him in anticipation as he opened it. A puff of dust emerged throwing all of them into a coughing fit. Though after the dust cleared, they discovered a scroll on yellowed rice paper tied with a red string.
Jellal opened it excitedly. "It's a map!" Each one took turns to see, till the map landed in Erza's hands. "It talks about a sacred egg born from winged beasts, this map is supposed to lead us to the village that has kept it safe all these centuries!" Everyone smiled with this new found breakthrough.
"Erza, may I speak with you?" Jellal spoke loud enough where the others could hear clearly, with a tender hand on her shoulder.
They all stepped outside respecting Jellal's wish and ogled the ancient map like it was a new found toy. Gray held it above Wendy's head so she could jump for it when Natsu snatched it out from Gray. Charle panicked fearing for the map's safety, while Happy had a sweat drop form on his forehead. Lucy requested the map back, to which Natsu teased her and it ended with all them chasing Natsu for it. Till Happy took Gray off guard asking him where his pants went, again.
"It never gets boring with them around." Jellal stated in a matter of fact way as he and Erza watched the childish scene from afar.
"Not at all. Though it's good for them to behave this way sometimes." Wind brushed strands of red scarlet in front of Erza's face from within the cavern. She herself hadn't changed much. To her and Jellal they looked the same as they did before they left for this quest years ago.
"I have another investigation to go on, something about a book of Zeref that managed to survive. I feel the rumor to have little merit, but on the safe side I have to go check it out."
"So you have to leave us here?" Erza looked down in a forlorn way.
Jellal brushed the wayward strands back from her features, and lovingly held her head with both hands as he leaned down to press his forehead against hers making him nose to nose. "I'm not saying good bye Erza, just that it will be a while before I can see you again. I owe you an Onsen trip after this disaster don't I?"
Erza fought back tears when she looked up at her lover, "I hope you will have better timing next go around. You were late for this one."
Jellal closed the gap with a gentle kiss. "I'll call for you soon… Erza." With that he disappeared. From outside the re-quip mage heard a foreboding sentence.
Gray's voice went an octave higher. "Erza's gonna kill us!"
Leave it to them to keep her from shedding tears, now she's more concerned of what they did to possibly invoke her fury.
"Us? You mean you, right?"
"Natsu it was your fault the map…"
Erza listened on when she began to sweat. 'The map? What happened with their sacred map, bestowed upon them from beyond the grave?' Erza's mind snapped and joined the others outside.
"What happened with the map?"
"NOTHING!" Gray, Natsu, Lucy, Wendy, Happy and Charle smiled as huge and as fake as possible in a single file line, while each one held a pieces of the map in their hand.
Erza didn't believe them for a moment however let it slide, for now. "Where did the map say to go from here?"
Lucy, from her place as third in line, addressed Charle who was last and laughed nervously. "He he he, yeah Charle, where did the map say to go next?"
Charle usually so composed held her portions from behind hoping that it wouldn't look too suspicious. "It says to travel from this mountain over to the next valley in the west." Charle hid the pieces within a pocket on her blue collared blouse when Erza wasn't looking.
Erza bent down to Charle's level after catching movement in her peripheral vision. "Very well, that's where we should head. What was the valley called?"
Nervously stepping back as a cold sweat broke out behind her neck, glanced in every direction except at Erza. "The valley was called Windsor Valley. The village is Piklend."
Erza walked away from Charle, much to the group's relief, to find their things. It was magically located in one pile, as though they never made it inside the bathhouse. "Let's go."
The entire group yelled "Aye!"
From behind, Erza's sharp hearing picked up more panicked whispers.
"We're all gunna die."
"Shut-up Happy, do you want her to find out?"
"Gray she can HEAR us you know, no matter how low we whisper!"
"Lucy I swear I didn't mean to do it."
"Natsu not one word from you, it's your fault the map is what it is now."
"How many times, do I have to say I'm sorry?"
Lucy, Grey, Charle and Happy just pointed to Erza walking a bit in front of them, shutting the fire mage up.
Erza could be ditzy sometimes but she wasn't stupid, looking back they all had their best behavior going. She swore she would find out what they were up too, one of them would slip. It was only a matter of time.
