CHAPTER 5
Erza, who still had the perverted sniffing weirdo tangling mid-air, looks around the hall. The sight before her made her peeved; the boys were at each other's throat except for Sting and Rogue while the rest of the girls were standing on the sidelines looking bored as ever after trying and failing to break the fight off.
Having enough of the chaos, she yanks Ichiya off her spear and drops him on the floor, "That's enough!" She shouts in a stern voice, ceasing the fight at once.
"We are making an alliance to defeat Seven Votum! This is not the time to be fighting among ourselves." The scary look on her face made all the boys tremble with fright; gulping as they nod vehemently.
Erza hums in satisfaction, "Now that all three guilds have gathered..Hibiki, you can go ahead and explain the plan."
"Alright!" Every head turns towards Hibiki as he starts explaining, "Zonia, otherwise known as the Sacred Mountain, spreads out from the outskirts of Fiore to the north. That's where the unusual activities have been sensed recently. Our guild is near the mountain so it won't take much time for us to reach there. I've only been able to gather a handful of information till now but it's enough to give us a clue where to start searching for them. We have 12 on our side. They have 7. However we can't underestimate them. Those seven are all incredibly powerful based on the very little information I have on them." announces Hibiki as he activates his Archive Magic.
Seven pictures flashes infront of the group, "These are the pictures of them we finally obtained recently." The screen instantly shifts to show the faces of two of the members of Seven Votum, "The girl is Kagami. She uses Mirror Magic. The other person is Arashi; he uses Storm Magic. He can manipulate the weather and has control over winds, clouds and lightning." Wendy's ears perks up at the last piece of information.
Next image was of two young boys; one with grey hair and the other had blond hair, "These two are Rin and Lucius. The grey-haired boy, Rin, is the Ice God Slayer and the blonde is the Water Dragon Slayer." Everyone was surprised, especially the dragon slayers. Apparently, there were few more Slayers out there who had decided to make their existence known only now.
"This is Fuzen. He uses Blood Magic. He is not to be taken lightly. He can manipulate and control his opponent's blood." Another picture pops up, "This one's Kurai. He uses Darkness Magic. He is said to be the second strongest member."
As the previous picture fades, an image of a guy with dark blue hair and red piercing eyes appears, "His name is Kenshin. He is the leader of the Seven Votum whose power is said to be on par with the Wizard Saints though we don't have any information on his magic." Gasps of shock fills the air of the hall, unable to contain their surprise.
"Not much is known about them but something is better than nothing. Each of them holds magical power great enough to destroy an entire guild. That's why we'll use our numbers to our advantage." Hibiki snaps his fingers and the screen disappears, "All we have to do is find their base of operations. We believe that they have a base somewhere in the mountain. There is a cottage hidden deep inside the forest of Zonia, protected by some runes the Council made long ago. We will be staying there while we try and find out more about this guild. Also, before we go there, we have to first visit a bar called Devil's Bar located near the entrance of the Sacred Mountain." He notices the confusing and questioning gazes sent his way so he smiles and explains, "Another interesting information I've gathered is that the people there might have some knowledge about the Seven Votum."
The group was highly impressed with all the information he had obtained in just one day. Sending an approving nod towards Hibiki, Erza turns towards the newly formed light team.
"Now, let's get one this straight. First off, everyone will follow the strategy once planned and no one is to run off challenging them. Do not fight them alone under any circumstances. Make sure to have atleast two of us for everyone of them we face." Everyone shouts in agreement except for one person. Erza looks pointedly at Natsu who was looking anywhere but at her and whistling nervously while sweating. "No one is to run off and challenge them. Is that clear?" Erza repeats again.
"Natsu!" She growls out, irritated for not getting any response from the boy. The fire breather lets out a low unmanly squeak and hides behind Lucy, only poking his head out and looking at the red-haired girl to show that he was listening, "Do I make myself clear?"
He nods fervently, not wanting to be on the receiving end of Titania's wrath. Lucy snickers as she could see her partner sweating bullets, very much affected by Erza. Natsu pouts cutely making Lucy chuckle and ruffle his hair. No one seem to question their exchange, simply smiling at them since everyone knew they were best friends and partners; well, except for Sting who frowned upon watching the affection that held in both their eyes for each other.
"Alright then guys, let's give our all and complete this mission no matter how long it takes." Erza smiles towards everyone, "We are going to be stuck with each other from now on until we take them down so let's get along."
Everyone nods with smile on their faces, looking forward to whatever may come their way.
All of a sudden, sparkles began filling the air catching everyone's attention. They turn towards the light to see Ichiya striking poses, muttering 'mennn~' while his three fellow worshipers applauded with admiration. The rest sweatdrops and eyes them weirdly.
Ichiya then speaks up, "Well everyone, I will be parting with you and your lovely parfums here."
"You're not coming with us?" asks the girls in unison with relief laced in their voices much to the boys' amusement, minus the Trimens who hadn't noticed it. The girls tried to hide it, not wanting to make him feeling unwanted but they were just too happy to care and apparently, the man in question hadn't noticed it either. The girls were worried they won't get to sleep peacefully knowing if he was there, he might try to sneak into their bed and smell their parfum when they were asleep. Erza wanted to scream with glee but scolded herself not to jump to conclusion so soon. Ichiya hadn't exactly explained what he meant by 'parting with them' yet.
"No, my honeys~!" Ichiya drones out, creeping them out, "I only attended this meeting to see to it that everyone got along together. I will be informing the respected guild masters about the progress and the plan. I wish you good luck! ~Mennnn!~" And with one last strong whiff, the sniffing mage exited the building, leaving the members dumbstruck in his wake while the Trimens kept applauding for their 'sensei'.
Regaining her composure, Erza clears her throat, breaking the rest out of their stupor. "Right then, let's get going."
AT THE GUILD
Cana was standing outside the guild waiting for Levy to show up; she couldn't talk to Lucy or Erza since they were away on a mission. She needed to talk to someone and fast. The guilt inside her was building up, slowly eating her away and she was afraid she might burst out any time. A while later, she sees Levy approaching but as she got near, the girl didn't even look her way and simply ignores her as she enters the guild. Cana heaves out a sad sigh and follows her inside.
When Levy saw Cana outside the guild, she couldn't help getting angry. She knew Cana was waiting for her. She was ready to give a piece of her own mind to the girl who hurt her best friend. Passing her by without even glancing her way, she enters the guild knowing Cana would follow her. She steps inside with a scowl on her face and makes a beeline to where Gajeel was sitting and staring at her with concern.
"Shrimp, everything okay?" asks Gajeel, as he took notice of her foul mood.
Levy doesn't reply as she sees Cana coming towards her from the corner of her eyes. With a huff, she slams her book down onto the table and stands up.
"I'll be right back." She mutters to Gajeel and heads down the back hallway towards the ladies room.
The iron dragon slayer raises an eyebrow as he watches Cana follow the angry petite girl, with a look guilt written on her face. Noticing the guy giving them weird looks, Cana gives him a small smile and silently follows Levi.
Once she was at the hallway, Levy turns around to see Cana coming to a stop before her. The latter fidgets under the harsh glare sent her way. Levy might be small but when she was angry, she was a ticking time bomb. Everyone knew that.
"Go on! What do you have to say for yourself?" Cana flinches, startled by the girl's stern voice.
"I...I.." She stammers, not knowing what to say. She wanted to talk to her but she had no idea how to start the conversation. She knew the four of them were close friends but Levy and Lucy were on a different level. They were soul sisters, the ultimate best friends for life. She understood why Levy was reacting the way she was.
Levy watches as many emotions crosses the girl's face. She sighs and looks straight in her eyes, "What were you thinking?"
Cana could clearly hear the disappointment in her voice. She felt ashamed. What was I thinking? She questions herself.
"Levy, I.." Cana takes a deep breath and speaks up more clearly, "I always loved him." She blurts out. Levy widens her eyes in surprise. She wasn't expecting such a turn of event.
"I was always in love with Laxus even before Lucy came to the guild. But I couldn't tell him because I knew he would never return my feelings. So I was content with the way things were between us even if it was simply fooling around. But then Lucy came into the picture. One day, Laxus called me out and broke off our arrangement saying it wasn't right what we were doing and he didn't want to let things get awkward between us. I tried to show that I wasn't affected and agreed with his decision. Then the next thing I know, Lucy is telling us about Laxus and her being in a relationship." Cana lets out a sob, "It broke me. I watched as Laxus looked at Lucy the way I always wanted him to look at me. I had to watch them slowly fall in love but I couldn't do anything because Lucy had become one of my close friend."
Cana sighs and wipes her tears away as she continued talking, "Then Bacchus happened. He was able to numb the pain. He was able to take my mind off of Laxus and I was glad for that. After two months when he confessed his love for me, I realized I did like him so I accepted. Though I still loved Laxus, I was slowly starting to get over the whole Laxus and Lucy relationship and I was, too, happy with Bacchus." Her lips upturns into a small smile. Then as soon as it did, she frowns again, "Then last month when Lucy was away on a mission, I noticed how vulnerable and drunk Laxus was and I took advantage of it. I don't know why but I thought I could finally get him again even though I knew I had a man in my life who made me happy. I was too caught up with my selfish desires to realize that my one mistake could lead to this. But I was happy. I won't deny it. Yes, I regret for hurting Lucy but I don't regret for what I did with Laxus."
Levy stares at her in shock. Did she just..Did she just say what I think she said?! Trying to contain her rage and not lash out at her, Levy shuts her eyes and inhales deeply to calm herself.
"Hurting Lucy? Aren't you forgetting someone else? What about Bacchus?" She then narrows her eyes at Cana, "I'm amazed at your boldness, Cana. You said so yourself, you watched them fall in love with each other. Yet you had the heart to break the trust of that one friend who had been always there for you and the man who loved you. You and I both know if you had just told Lucy, she would have never reciprocated Laxus and instead would've stopped herself from loving him any deeper. You knew how much she loved him. You saw the things she did for him. Yet you chose to be a selfish bitch and take him away from her." Levi growls out, surprising Cana with her harsh words. "I feel sorry for Bacchus too. You blindly threw away two important people from your life just because of your selfishness. I don't know if you're happy with it or not but you had a choice and you made you pick. Honestly Cana, I can't emphasize my disappointment in you. You don't realize your mistake yet but I hope you do before it's too late otherwise you'll end up alone."
Levy then starts walking away but stops in her track to see someone standing in the hallway with their head down. Noticing the person as Bacchus, she sends him a sad look when he looks up at her and leaves the hallway. Cana turns around and sees Bacchus staring at her with hurtful eyes. The man had come to the guild looking for his girl, only for his heart to be shattered when he found her and heard the things she had said.
Cana panics and takes a step towards him, "Bacchus.." But the guy simply turns around and walks away leaving the girl gaping in shock.
Little did they know, a certain barmaid had heard everything too, who was inside the store room along the hallway. She could feel her tears streaming down her cheeks; she couldn't even imagine what Lucy was going through right now. She just wished her team would help her heal in time and recover.
A/N: So what do you guys think?
I apologize it took a while to update this story. I had a little trouble with this chapter but I finished it finally. Also, the characters might seem a wee bit OOC. Hope you don't mind!
Alright so since I said I would be only counting the votes from the poll, here are the updates:
Sting- 12
Laxus- 9
Natsu- 5
Rogue- 4
Bacchus- 1
I'm thinking of closing the poll in a few days so that I can start writing the story, leaning more towards the pair.
Anyway, I would like to thank you guys for all the reviews, follows and favorites. It certainly makes a writer's day. ^_^ Thank you so much! I love you guys!
*hugs*
Please read and do keep the reviews coming! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
~Mrs Dreyar
