Sting POV
I don't understand why the Fairy Tail mages have reacted like that to this child. I mean, it's just a young girl, and it is more surprising to see her turn from a bird into an actual freaking person.
"Why did you call her 'First'?"
"She's the first master of Fairy Tail!" Gray points at her. "That's Mavis Vermillion!"
"Are you being serious?" I ask, cocking a eyebrow. "That's the first master of your guild?"
"The one and only!" the girl giggles, her hands over her mouth as her mirthful eyes glimmer.
"She looks like a child..." Rogue speaks up.
"Thank you!"
"What are you doing here, First?" Laxus asks. "And why were you a bird?"
"I overheard you guys talking about how everyone was falling asleep, so I figured that you could use my help," she answers. "And I'll get to that in a second."
"Couldn't ya' have just helped us fight instead of being an animal?" Gajeel inquires.
"Yes, but I figured that Paw would increase her defenses and make the task a lot more difficult if she knew I was here. So, I followed you guys around as a bird instead."
"Wait...why would she do that?" Erza, like the rest of us, seems confused.
"It's a long story. But when I was younger and alive, I was one of Paw's victims and we had fun together for quite some time. But it ended when she tried to put one of those enchanted scarves on me," she explains, gesturing to the scarves some of us wear. "When I didn't want to wear it, she tried to pull the same trick but with other objects like rings and flower crowns among other things...there was one time when she even tried a sock."
"A sock? Really?" I ask in disbelief. "Who would fall for that?"
"She had to have been getting desperate but in the end, I realized what she was trying to do by giving me all of these friendship gifts and I even started feeling like I never slept when I woke up. I had to leave, but she wouldn't let me, so I wound up having to fight her. It was actually heartbreaking considering that she was crying about not wanting to be alone the entire time."
I imagine her and a younger version of Paw flailing their hands at each other with their eyes shut tightly as they look off to the side.
"I beat her and the world crumbled around us. Then I woke up feeling rested," she continues. "But when I went back to sleep, I had a normal dream...there was no Paw and there wasn't anything from her realm there, it was just a normal dream..."
"So you had to turn into a bird to be inconspicuous because if Paw found out that you were here then she would increase her security because she knew that you could beat her?" Levy guesses in a quick-winded sentence.
"Exactly."
"So do you have any idea where she's keeping Luce, or...?" Natsu trails off.
"Yes. Paw most likely moved Lucy to her house," she answers. "It's the only place secure enough now."
"Great! So how do we get there?"
"Oh, you can't get there. There's no way to get to it from this place."
"What?! Then does that mean we can't save her?"
"Worry not, there's always a way!" Mavis reassures. "Normally, you'd have to be teleported there, but there's a super-secret ritual that can be performed!"
"A ritual...? What kind of ritual are we talking about here?"
"A magical one of course!" she cheerfully smiles. "Do you want me to perform it?"
"Of course we do!" Lisanna quickly speaks for all of us. "How do you do it?"
"Just leave that to me!" she replies, making a plushie appear in her hand.
Mavis moves around, setting down the plushies of some of the dream people we've met, arranging them into a circle.
"How did you get these?" I ask, picking up the one that resembles Erza.
"I've been collecting them just in case something like this happened. Now please put that down."
I do as she says and put it back. I watch her place the rest of the toys, until she makes a scarf appear in her hands, which she puts down in the center.
"What the-? How...did you get an enchanted scarf?" Gray sounds surprised.
"I got it from a white-haired girl who was all by herself. She disappeared after I took it, so I guess that she woke up," she answers.
"Oh, that's right, Yukino's here..." I remember. "Wait...does that mean that you guys left her all by herself?"
"She wanted to stay and mourn the gate keys that were crushed by her underground observatory collapsing."
I go to say something in reply, but am cut off.
"Okay! Everything is ready!" Mavis interrupts. "Everyone step into the circle and grab onto the scarf!"
We all do as she asks and crouch down by the scarf on the ground, each of us grabbing onto it with one hand.
"Alright, everyone hold on tight and dig your fingernails into it if you have to. Now, is everybody ready?"
We all nod as she steps out of the plush circle.
"Not in the mountains, nor in the forest
among the void is where it sits in rest.
The echo of bells is what you must follow
or in the house of dreams you will find sorrow."
Each of the plushies suddenly shoots up into a sitting position and a bright glow shines from each of them, before we find ourselves moving very fast.
"Everyone! Hold on!"
"What do you think we're doing?!"
The next thing I know, we're falling. For a full half-minute I go downwards at a speed that constricts my throat so that I can hardly draw breath. Then, I hit the ground.
"Argh!"
The pain feels like I was close to having broken a bone, and I lay there waiting for it to subside before moving.
"You think she could have warned us about that?"
"Apparently not..." Rogue, who is near me, sits up as well.
I look around, finding that we are on a floating patch of land in the middle of nothing but pure blackness as far as I can see. Assorted chunks of land are suspended throughout the vast darkness, defying the will of physics. But there's something else sitting on one particular part of land.
It's a quaint house, surrounded by a white picket fence with a gate that looks rather inviting. A small rose garden has been planted in front, and although it has obviously once been carefully planned and loved, it is now riddled with weeds. There's a porch with a rocking chair and a cobblestone pathway leading up to the porch steps. The front door has a large paw print on it, but none of us need to see that to know this is Paw's home.
Mavis POV
The plushies burst into flames and quickly turn to nothing more than piles of ashes on the ground as soon as they have been teleported to Paw's house. I watch the beam of light shoot across the sky until I can't see it anymore.
"It's all up to you now...make sure that no one is left behind."
Reaching a hand up I pinch my cheek, causing me to leave the dream world and appear back in the guild where I see it is getting late. But despite that, everyone is still here.
"First!" Freed is the first to notice me. "Where did you come from?"
"Oh nowhere!" I lie to avoid a very long explanation. "I just decided that I'd pop in and say hello for a second!"
I pretend to notice that everyone is asleep.
"Whoa! What happened?" I exclaim, feigning surprise. "Why is everyone sleeping?"
"A monster made Wendy, Lucy, and Mirajane fall asleep, so everyone went in to save them," Happy answers.
"Yukino was asleep as well, but she woke up," Carla continues.
"Oh well, if everyone is up against a monster then they need our help now more than ever," I smile.
"What can we do?" Pantherlily asks. "We cannot enter into the dream world."
"Well, it's obvious that we need to stay out here."
"So how are we supposed to help them if we can't go in there?" Bickslow asks.
"We help the only way that we can now," I answer. "We pray."
"Pray?"
"Yup," I nod. "We pray to the gods of magic for the victory of our friends and we don't stop until they're back."
"But what if it doesn't work?" Freed asks. "What if our friends fail?"
"You can't think like that. Now come on everyone!" I clasp my hands together and shut my eyes. "Let's pray!"
I start mentally praying to the gods of magic for the safety of the others. When I crack open my eyes after a few moments to see if they are praying, I see that they are.
They won't fail now...
I shut my eyes and continue praying to the gods of magic for the safety and victory of everyone in the dream realm.
Review plz?
