Erza POV
As soon as I step through the door, darkness comes like the thick velvet curtains of the theater. It is black as a crow, so dark that I can scarcely see the floor on which I stand. I frown, my ears picking up the sound of the door closing.
Why is it so dark in here? I can't see anything.
As if on cue, multiple small flames burst to life around the room. The dim lighting the fire provides reveals the source of the flames is from candles. The candles give far less illumination than the meanest of electrical light bulbs, yet it is all my eyes can take. By the flickering yellow the room is dark, the walls discernible but the colors so muted that they are almost gray. However, the little range of the candles still leaves most of the room in darkness.
"Hello? Is somebody there?" I call out. "Who is lighting these candles?"
I get no response, but feel an unseen force around me that beckons me deeper into the room.
It seems like I have no other choice. I can't exactly go back the way I came.
I walk deeper into the shadows, with the candles continuing to light themselves around me. But unfortunately, the meager flames don't illuminate much more than a foot or so. Beneath my feet the wooden floor feels soft, not as much as a carpet, but not right for oak planks. I advance onward before my foot hits something.
"Hm?"
Cautiously reaching out in front of me, my hands come into contact with a fabric material. I'm able to make out that it is a tablecloth, and upon exploring more with my hands I can feel a vase of flowers set at the table's center.
"What is this?"
The self-lighting candles catch up with me and light up lambent candles placed on the table, allowing me to see a stained glass portrait built in a wall. The picture depicts a red haired woman in a plain gown holding a sword, and there is an argent plaque underneath the picture.
"Guardian of The Dream World," I read it. "Zephyranthes."
My eyes widen when I see the familiar name.
"This is...this is a memorial..." I realize, my body going stiff. "For her...for Knight..."
As soon as her name exits my lips, the room gets colder and I hear hushed voices around me. Immediately, I spin around, sword at the ready to strike out, but there's nothing behind me.
"Who's there?" I demand, brandishing my blade. The whispers progress, and I can make out that they're all saying the words 'it's her'.
"It's...me," I awkwardly repeat.
The voices suddenly change to 'murderer' and 'culprit' in angered tones.
"Wh-what?"
The voices continue, and I'm able to see the shadows of the room starting to beleaguer me.
"I-I..." I'm not sure what to say, as it's true what they are accusing me of. As the shadows grow closer, I begin to tremble as the voices get louder. "I..." I'm unable to find my voice as the images of their bodies come into my head. "It...it's true..."
Looking down, I stare at the floor beneath me.
"It's all true...I killed her...I killed them all...I'm a murderer..."
I drop down to my knees as darkness consumes the light of the candles.
"PUNISHMENT!" The voices suddenly shriek as one.
I brace myself as the shadows lunge at me, and just then a different voice shouts from behind me.
"Leave her alone! She's innocent!"
Looking up, I see a scarlet-haired woman standing near me. She's as beautiful as the dawn, dominant as the sun. Something divine seems to cling around her, like some subtle vapor. She wears a silvery-white gown made of satiny fabric, long and loose. A semicircular, high collar made of silk-like materials heads the ankle-length robe. The woman walks as lightly as an acrobat, stopping in front of me. She looks around with savage determination in her eyes, the shadows hissing at her.
"Zephyranthes, Zephyranthes..."
"She didn't kill anyone! Now back!" she orders ascetically. "Back I say, or I'll banish you myself!"
The darkness hastily retreats, the candles in the room lighting back up. She lets out a sigh of relief, before glancing down at me.
"Hey, are you alright?" she inquires, crouching down to meet my eyes. I note that her face would look exactly like mine if it wasn't for the splash of freckles around her nose.
"Knight..." I breathe, shocked to see her again.
"That isn't exactly an answer, but okay," Zephyranthes smiles. "It's good to see that your mission to save everyone is going well."
"Why...why did you protect me?"
"What do you mean?"
"Everything that they were saying was true," I confess. "I'm a murderer...I killed you and your friends who had been looking for you...I deserve punishment."
"What? You aren't a murderer."
"But I..."
"Come with me for a second," she says, extending her hand to me. "Come on, stand up."
I get up just like she asks and she moves out of the way so I can see the stained glass portrait of her.
"Now...I want you to look at that picture and tell me what you see..." Zephyranthes coaxes.
"You," I answer immediately.
"Who's you?" she teases, and I sigh.
"I see Zephyranthes, Guardian of the Dream World."
"And?"
"And the first person that I killed," I continue.
"The first person that you killed? That's funny...do you want to know what I see?"
I wordlessly nod.
"I see Zephyranthes, Guardian of the Dream World," she repeats what I have said. "And someone who was freed from their life of pain and remorse by a kind soul who was only doing what was right."
"What?"
The candles go out once more, and when they relight, new glass portraits are in front of me. I cannot recognize them, so I assume they are Speed, Plant, Card, and Snake in their true forms.
"Now look at these portraits and tell me what you see," she instructs.
"I don't see what you're trying to-"
"That isn't an answer."
"Fine...I see four more portraits of people that I killed."
"Well, I see the portraits of my four friends...Calendula, Forsythia, Primula and Cyclamen..." Zephyranthes says softly. "Not murdered by you, but murdered by me instead."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm saying that you didn't kill anyone; especially not them," she tells me. "You didn't kill me because you set me free from my regrets and my pains. And you didn't kill them, because I possessed you and used your body to kill them myself."
I am silent.
"You didn't kill anybody and if you still think that you did, well...that's just plain stupid. You need to tell yourself that. You need to tell yourself that you never killed anyone."
"I never killed anyone..." I mumble.
"Louder," she goads.
"I never killed anyone," I repeat.
"Louder."
"I never killed anyone!"
"Louder!"
"I never killed anyone!"
"LOUDER!" Zephyranthes orders. "COME ON, SCREAM IT SO LOUD THAT THE REAL WORLD HEARS YOU!"
"I NEVER KILLED ANYONE!" I shout at the top of my lungs. "I'M INNOCENT!"
She smiles at me, and I feel like a giant weight has been lifted off me.
"There you go! Doesn't that feel better?"
"Yes, it does," I nod. "Thank you so much."
"You're welcome. Now go out there and face the world as an innocent woman."
After that, Zephyranthes vanishes into silver mist, and the candlelight spread to light up the entire room. I can see the stained glass portraits for everyone that has died in full now. Beneath each window is a table, and a bouquet of flowers in front.
"Not yet..." I shake my head. "There's still something that I have to do..."
I use my requip magic and make Zephyranthes' plush sword appear in my hand. Moving over to her picture, I set it down on her table.
"May you rest in peace...may all of you rest in peace..."
I turn around and walk to the door, but halt upon hearing the faint but distinct ring of bells to my left. I glance to the side, frowning.
Are those the spirits trying to talk to me...?
Something is nagging at the back of my mind, but I can't quite place what it is. I face towards the door very hesitantly, placing my hand on the knob and opening it up. I walk through, finding myself in the main room of the house where Natsu, Gray, Levy and Lisanna are, much to my surprise. "What are you all doing out here?" I ask in confusion.
"Erza!"
"Yes, it's me," I answer as the door shuts behind me. "Now, what are you doing out here?"
"We all wound up back here," Lisanna replies. "What are you doing out here?"
"The same," I say, before noticing the lack of doors in the room. "I assume that you all are trying to find a way to go?"
"Yes."
"I see. Well then, we'll just have to try our best to find a way. There's no way that we can give up, not after how far we've come."
"Duh. And I actually have an idea-"
"Natsu, we are not burning a hole in the walls," Gray interrupts the dragon slayer before he can finish.
"Well then, why don't you give us a better suggestion then if you're so smart," Natsu challenges, and Gray glares at him.
"Both of you knock it off and focus," I command, and they immediately stop.
"A-aye ma'am!" the two stutter, sweating nervously. My eyes drift over the walls of the room, studying them closely.
"Any idea on what to do, Erza?" Lisanna asks, but my attention is on the walls.
I go over and knock on a few of them to see if any are hollow but to my surprise, none of the places that I knock are hollow and instead they sound solid.
"It looks like even if we could put a hole in the wall, it wouldn't have any result," I speak after I'm finished. "These walls are solid so it obviously seems like this place doesn't follow any sort of logic."
"So what are we supposed to do then?" Levy frowns.
"We'll have to wait for the others and hope that they have better luck than we do."
"And if that doesn't work?"
"Then I don't know, but we shouldn't think like that," I reply. "We have to have hope that our friends can find Lucy."
"If that's the case, then what should we do in the meantime?"
"How about this?" Levy starts, before glancing around. "I Spy with my little eye..."
We all begin a game of I Spy to pass the time, as we hope that the others will be able to find Lucy.
Juvia POV
The door that I have gone through brings me to a spacious room with a large body of water in the middle of it. It is too small to be a pool, but it looks too big to be a bathtub. A deep sense of serenity overcomes me as I stare in rapture at the expanse of blue that lays before me. Rays of lights dance delicately across the water, birthed from the underwater lights that both limit my sight and make the view all the more beautiful.
The water is so clear...
Walking to the water's edge, I look into the undisturbed contents; it is as clear as virtue, and gazing at the surface I can see that my appearance is unkempt from recent events. There are some rips in my clothes, and one of my sleeves has been completely torn off. Minor cuts and bruises litter my body, and I can see a large, dark bruise forming on my cheek. I start to run my fingers through my opulent blue hair, attempting to disperse some of the tangles. I then stare into the azure eyes of my image on the surface of the water, studying it.
Juvia's reflection is so defined. It's like a second Juvia...
I gaze into the unblinking eyes of my reflection for a moment, before I notice something off.
Why does Juvia's reflection look like she has been crying? Juvia has not been crying.
"Maybe someone is beneath the surface of the water?" I speak to myself.
Slowly, I reach out to touch the water, but as soon as my hand dips beneath the surface my reflection's expression contorts.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" my reflection shrieks suddenly. This causes me to flinch, with my eyes widening in surprise, and it seizes my hand and begins to pull me into the water.
"What are you doing?!" I demand as I attempt to free myself from its angry clutches. "Let go of Juvia's hand!"
"NO!"
My carbon copy yanks me into the pool and drags me down to the bottom, wrapping its arms around my neck in a tight grasp from behind. It seems to be attempting to drown me. The water is so cold that it stings at first, before my body quickly adapts to the change.
"Let go!" I command, trying to squirm free. "Why are you doing this to Juvia?!"
"YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!" it screams. I feel its grip tighten around my neck, restricting my air supply. It's trying to strangle me now, as it most likely noticed I can't be drown.
"J-Juvia did no such thing!" I gasp, my fingers digging into my attacker's arm.
"YOU TOOK HIM FROM ME...! HE WAS MY EVERYTHING!"
"L...Lotus?!" I exclaim, realizing who this is.
"WITHOUT HIM, I'M NOTHING! AND YOU TOOK HIM FROM ME! YOU KILLED HIM!"
"Juvia did no such th-thing!" I can't get away, so I press my hand against her stomach. "Now let g-go of Juvia! WATER CYCLONE!"
That gets Lotus off of me, and she slams into the other end of the pool wall. I cough, taking deep breaths of the water as I gather myself.
"You should have known better than to pull Juvia into the water..."
Lotus pushes herself off the wall and shoots me an irate glare.
"You took him from me, and for that you will not be forgiven," she spits. "I swear that you'll be nothing more than a pile of blood and meat when I'm through with you."
She kicks off the wall, coming at me like a torpedo. I quickly swim to the side, allowing me to dodge her.
"Juvia didn't kill him, Juvia was aiming for you but he got in the way," I try to tell her. "It was an accident!"
"I don't care!" she snarls, bolting at me once again.
I dodge and kick her in the side, sending her away from me.
"Even if Juvia had hit you, it would have still been an accident," I continue. "Juvia was upset and acted out of anger."
"Shut up you BITCH!"
Lotus points her right palm outward at me, causing me to become paralyzed. She then sweeps her hand to the side, which rockets me into the wall with a cry of pain. I send a water slicer back at her, which strikes her leg and leaves a bleeding gash there.
"You were the one to make Juvia angry in the first place with what you said about Gray-sama."
"Are you blaming me?" she asks shrilly. "Are you saying that I'm the reason Geranium is dead?!"
"Juvia is not saying that, Juvia is just trying to say that both-"
"I am done listening to you! Let's see how your darling 'Gray-sama'," she sneers, "will feel when he finds out that you're dead! Knowing you freaks, he might not even feel a thing! But you definitely will!"
She swims at me and I move up to dodge her again. Swimming upwards, my fingers barely graze the water's surface before a hard tug on my ankle set me smacking into the floor of the pool. Groaning, I blink dark spots from my vision as I get up.
"Killing Juvia won't bring back Geranium!" I insist, still making attempts to reason with my opponent.
"Maybe not, but it will make me feel a hell of a lot better!" Lotus retaliates, her eyes holding nothing but unbridled rage in them.
"You don't know that! If you kill Juvia, then you'll be no better than her! You'll be a killer too!"
"I don't care, now SHUT THE HELL UP!"
Juvia can't reason with her. Juvia...has to fight. I decide as I stroke backwards to get some distance between us.
"Water Whip!"
With that, a battle begins between the two of us, causing both of us to receive quite a lot of injuries with blood staining the once clear water into a faint pink.
After a while, Lotus strikes me so hard that I am sent out of the pool, landing on the floor. I grit my teeth, pushing my palms against the smooth ground.
"Juvia will not give up!" I declare.
Shooting up, I am about to jump back into the water, only to see that something is wrong.
"Huh...?"
The water is placid and clear once again, with not a single trace of blood to be seen; Lotus is gone as well. It's as if she was never there to begin with.
"Where did she...?" I swivel around in search of her, only to take note of something else.
My soaked clothing is suddenly dry as tinder, and my injuries from the fight are oddly healed, too.
"What...happened?"
I glance into the water to see that my reflection is no longer cast on the surface of it; my head is spinning as I attempt to make some sense of this, but no matter how hard I try, I can't do it.
"Ugh...Juvia is so confused..." I sigh. "But she should just forget about it..."
Scanning the room, I spot a door in one of the walls. It is made of metal it seemed, the white paint coating it chipped. I head for the door, not seeing the sign that read 'Pool of Inner Demons' on a wall nearby. I open the door to find myself back in the main room with Natsu, Levy, Erza and Lisanna, but most importantly my beloved there as well.
"What are you talking about?" Natsu demands. "That paw print on the wall is definitely different from the others."
"No, it isn't!" Gray refutes. "It looks exactly like the rest of the wallpaper!"
"Are you calling me a liar?"
"I'm not calling you a liar, I'm calling you blind," the ice mage answers, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're like a big pink bat that found its way into a box of matches."
"Why you-!"
The two of them begin arguing profusely, causing the girls to sigh in exasperation.
"I can't believe you're getting into a fight over I Spy..." Lisanna groans.
"For the fourth time..." Levy adds.
"Even if it is over I Spy, Juvia agrees with Gray-sama," I speak up.
The girls of the group notice me, while the boys are too busy with their banter to realize that I'm there.
"Oh, hello Juvia," Erza greets me. "How long have you been there?"
"Not long," I reply. "What are you all doing out here?"
"Our doors led us back here and we can't find another way, so we're waiting for the others to find Lucy," Lisanna responds. "Levy suggested that we play I Spy to pass the time, but it's turning out to be more of a headache than fun."
"I Spy sounds like fun," I shrug, before clasping my hands together. "But Juvia prefers watching Gray-sama to pass the time~"
"Then why don't we end this round and let you have a go?" Levy suggests, ignoring the last part.
"Also, make it so that Natsu and Gray don't get a turn since it only makes them fight," Erza decides.
"What?!" there are outbursts from the two rivals upon hearing that.
"Do you have a problem with it?" Titania questions, her tone daring them to argue.
"N-no ma'am!"
"Then why don't you go ahead and take your turn, Juvia," Erza averts her attention back to me.
I nod and observe the room something to spy, silently hoping that the others will find Lucy soon.
PawPrint-Writer(author): Review plz?
RevlisCharm(beta): Notice how everyone from Team Natsu heard the bells? I wonder what that could mean~
