Chapter 32: The Snake-Lady: Giseld!

In a clearing just outside of Acalypha town, two male wizards faced off against a woman opponent. Her hair was forest green, slithering down her back like the snakes that waited at her beck and call. The Love and Lucky guild uniform she'd been wearing was now a spiked dress made of scales that shimmered in the pale moonlight. Long, green fingernails tapped in the air as if she were controlling a marionette, causing a massive snake to right itself beside her, until its forked tongue flicked out over her shoulder.

The air was still—not even a breeze to break the tension between the three magic-users. To the right of the snake-user, blanching slightly at the sight of the snake beside her, was a man in leather, and holey jeans, with a half-shaved head of powder-blue hair. To her left was a man in a long coat with a white fur scarf wrapped around his neck—dual-colored curly hair, and sinister red eyes.

Piper and Midnight. Giseld.

The battle began.

The large snake moved suddenly toward Midnight. The dark mage didn't even flinch. There was a strange sound around him and the snake's body curved, changing its trajectory so that it's attack landed on the rocks behind him. Giseld wasted no time in making her next move, however. The new location gave her the perfect opportunity to guide the snake's tail upward for a slash at Piper. The dice wizard blocked in the nick of time with his forearm, but sweatdropped when the snake's tail wrapped around his arm.

The creature lifted him into the air with its tail while Giseld laughed hysterically in the center of the clearing. Piper yelped and swatted at the snake tail. "GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF!"

Midnight sighed and lifted his hand, which manipulated the snake's tail and released Piper to the ground with a thud. "This is horribly boring," he complained.

"So, you can reflect magic attacks and also manipulate magical energy," Giseld lifted her hand. Her pet returned to her side immediately. "How did you know that my snakes aren't alive?"

Midnight stroked the fur scarf around his neck. "It's too easy," he said, with an air of arrogance. "Obviously you're not a summoner because you create the snakes out of nothing. A summoner would need a tool or at least a magic circle to bring forth living creatures. Your creatures are nothing but puppets made from your own magical energy, which makes your attacks completely useless against me."

Piper stood up and dusted off his rear before raising an eyebrow in Midnight's direction. He'd figured all of that out? They hadn't even been in combat for five minutes!

"We'll see about that!" Giseld jumped back onto the head of her snake and thrust her hand open toward Midnight again. The large snake's mouth opened and a dozen smaller snakes shot out of it toward him.

"I already told you," he scoffed, "it's useless." The same mechanical whirring sound of his magic enunciated the act of reflecting the snakes around him.

"Bubs! Watch it!" Piper called out, suddenly.

Giseld's face had broken into a toothy smile. Midnight's eyes widened and he dodged to the left, narrowly avoiding the dripping fangs of a snake. When he looked back at the woman, he noticed for the first time the glowing green ring she wore on her right hand.

"Do you like it?" She giggled and held it toward him. "It was a gift from the king!" She kissed the ring. "You see, I do make snakes from my magical energy. But you were wrong in assuming I can't summon them as well. And now I know you can't manipulate living things!"

"Pay attention, bub!" Piper's voice resounded again and there were three soft thuds in the ground just behind Midnight's feet. Giseld's smile fell and Midnight stepped back to find the same snake that had tried to bite him before—now pinned dead to the ground by three sharp casino chips. "If you don't kill those things, they'll just come back and bite you in the ass! Literally!"

Giseld scoffed indignantly, her body now trembling in wild rage. "You'll pay for killing one of my pets!" Her attention was now focused on Piper. She shot a dozen more snakes toward him, which he blocked with a magic-circle shield in the shape of a roulette table.

"Keep. The damn. Snakes. Away from me!" He rolled his red dice into the air and watched as a "four" and a "one" shone above them. "Royal Flush!"

From the dice sprang five figures dressed in red, each with a card symbol on their chest. An Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten. The characters charged at Giseld. Snakes rose from the ground to block their attacks. She punched and kicked, one-by-one causing the card characters to vanish in a puff of red smoke. Until a boot collided with her chest and knocked her back.

"How's that for a king?!" Piper whooped nearby. The king of hearts card lifted his scepter to bring it down on her, but its clubbed head was caught in the jaws of a snake. Giseld quickly rolled to the side and snatched the scepter out of the snake's mouth. She leapt forward onto the card character and stabbed his own scepter through his body. He puffed in a burst of red and turned back into a card.

"You know nothing of true royalty!" She screeched. "My king is nothing short of a god!" She snapped her fingers and her large snake disappeared to be replaced with one hardly the size of her pinky.

"It appears she summons worms as well," Midnight mocked. "Fitting, for an insect."

"Rattle, my pet!"

The little snake lifted its tail and began to shake. Instantly, the air was filled with a thunderous rattle, so painfully loud that it brought Piper and Midnight to their knees. The vibrations shook their bodies, causing searing pain to bounce in their skulls. She took advantage of their paralysis and set another snake on Midnight. He tried to move but the sound made him sluggish. He lifted his hand toward Giseld, willing his magic to reach her in time. The rattling stopped suddenly as dark energy crushed the organ at the end of the snake's tail. He was too late, however. At the same time the rattling stopped, a striped snake sank its fangs into his pant leg.

"Midnight!" Piper called out as Midnight fell to his knees, crying out in pain. "Dammit!" He quickly rolled his dice again. "Three Match Payoff!"

A loud clamor of ringing and flashing lights filled the air. Giseld cried out in surprise and Piper rushed forward to land a punch under her jaw. The force threw her back several feet. She stood up, weakly, and rubbed where a bruise was forming. "How dare you hit a girl!"

"Lady, are you's crazy?!" Piper heaved for breath and stared across the clearing at her. "Do you's even know what kinds of things your 'king' has done? You's knows he used ta hit a girl all the time, don't you?"

"LIAR!" She screamed and a snake suddenly rose up from under Piper's feet and coiled around him, lifting him into the air. "Resmond is a perfect gentleman! He would NEVER do something so despicable!"

Piper grasped at the slowly tightening skin of the boa constrictor, looking panicked. "Doll, what the hell you's think happened to Syllest's mom anyway?!" His green eyes bore into hers.

"She killed herself because Resmond left her! She wasn't good enough for him!" Tears welled in her dark eyes. "But I'M good enough for him!"

"He's… lying to you's, Giseld," Piper choked against the snake's grip. "'e killed her. And he'd do's the same to you in a heartbeat if he decided you's was useless to him."

"No… No he wouldn't! My King loves me!" She clutched her head in her hands.

Piper cursed under his breath and managed to wiggle his wrist out between the coils of the snake. "One last try…" He groaned and rolled his dice, which tumbled to the ground.

"Snake eyes."

The ground began to shake. Giseld looked down in surprise. The earth split apart and a giant stone snake, at least five times the size of her large pet, rose in front of her. "A snake?" She blinked, as if totally surprised at being faced with her own type of magic.

The stone cobra moved hypnotically in front of her, its jewel eyes glowing. She fell into a trance, arms going slack as she watched its eyes. Those eyes rolled like slot machines, slowly ticking down to land on skulls and crossbones. The stone snake unhinged its jaws widely and prepared to strike. But just as it began to lunge, one of Giseld's living snakes bit her on the hand, shocking her out of the trance. She dodged, avoiding most of the cataclysmic blow, though the stone snake's hard head collided harshly with her side.

She cried out in pain and limped further out of the creature's path as it returned to the cracked soil. The turmoil had caused the boa constrictor to release its hold on Piper, who was clutching his throat and kneeling on one knee.

"Y-You let your own pet poison you?" Piper gaped at her.

"I've built up an immunity to their poison," she said weakly in response, struggling to remain standing. "That poison can kill in only moments, such as in the case of your unfortunate friend." She glanced over her shoulder at Midnight sprawled in the dirt. "But I am unaffected."

"Well damn…" Piper groaned. His vision was blurry, his muscles weak. The sight of Midnight motionless on the ground only furthered the sense of doom. His eyes lingered on his fallen comrade.

"And now, since you're going to die anyway, I guess I'll tell you about my king's new kingdom…" Her eyes sparkled with love and desire. She held her hands out toward the sky, nails catching moonlight. "Sweet Resmond is going to unleash a weapon upon this world. And when he wipes out half of Earthland, he'll build a new kingdom from black diamonds, and a grand castle where we will rule together with our princess for an eternity!" She cackled maniacally, an eerie and high sound that sliced the night air.

"That so?" Piper weakly raised his hand, which was full of sharpened casino chips.

"Fool!" She hissed. "You won't even be able to hit me with those!" Snakes wrapped protectively around her.

Piper mustered up what was left of his magic energy and thrust the handful of chips in her direction. She laughed out loud and easily sidestepped all of them. "Oh please! You can't even aim! Just lay there and die so that my pets can have a snack!" She raised her hand but paused when she saw the grin on Piper's face.

"Hate to break your heart, doll, but I wasn't aiming for you."

Giseld gasped at the same time a metallic whirring sounded behind her. She turned, unfortunately just in time for a handful of sharpened casino chips to shoot through her chest. The blades erupted from her back, spattering screeching snakes and soil with her blood. She fell to her knees, slit eyes returning to a normal state as she stared at Midnight standing casually before her.

The reflector mage looked down at her with an arrogant smirk, his red eyes swirling with bloodlust. Wind tossed dual-colored hair and a white fur scarf, making him appear to her as some kind of specter, a ruby-eyed demon of wind.

"H-How?"

Midnight casually reached down to lift his pant leg, revealing a thick, white-leather boot that rose far above the place her snake had bit him. He'd only pretended he was bitten, and laid low until the opportunity came for him to strike her from behind.

"N-No…" She slumped forward. "My King… He'll never forgive me… He won't love me anymore…" Her tears splattered onto the earth and she coughed up blood. "Resmond…"

"Hate to break it to you, lady," Piper groaned and stood up, "but that guy never loved you's in the first place."

Midnight strode forward, malice in his sadistic eyes. He went so far as to lick his lip as he approached her, eager to make her writhe in pain.

"No, bubs." Piper held a hand up. "That's enough. We ain't gotsta kill her."

Red eyes sent him a threatening glare, the bloodlust still obvious.

"She'd never forgive you, you's know." Piper continued. It was clear that

He wasn't talking about Giseld.

Midnight stopped walking. He looked down at Giseld's now unconscious form. For a moment, the darkness in his eyes swirled, consumed him. For a moment he was a simple assassin, obeying orders from his beloved Father, and relishing in the moment before he got to see his prey squeal for mercy. He held a gloved hand out, fingers twitching in anticipation. One move and he could send her into spiraling pain, and watch her body contort in agony. For the briefest moment, that was exactly what he intended to do.

But he didn't.

"Feh." His hand dropped. He turned and started out of the clearing without looking back. "Killing her would be a waste of time."

Piper couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. He stumbled after Midnight, leaving the snake-woman alone in the clearing. "I gotsta admit, Night. That was pretty damn good teamwork. Never thought your cross-dressing fetish would save my life."

Midnight said nothing at all. His boots clicked on the pavement as he walked, left one still sporting two holes from snake fangs.

"So you's knows, this doesn't make us friends," Piper added. "I ain't experiencing any male bonding from fighting by your side in combat or not'ing, alright? As far as you're concerned, I still hate you's and thinks you're a sadistic, woman-stealing, girly-looking asshole, you gots it?"

"And I still think you're a pathetically weak fairy-rat whom I'd very much like to see writhing in a pool of blood."

"Good. We're on the same page."

They walked back through town, dirty, sweaty, and weak—now clad with information about Resmond and a victory under their belts.

/

From the window of a burger joint where a few waitresses were closing up shop for the night, one of them squealed and pressed her face against the glass. "Oh my gosh, they are seriously the cutest couple!"

A/N:

Simana, you got me! Actually, I didn't notice that Giseld's magic is reminiscent of Orochimaru's jutsu, but it's very possible that I was influenced by it. I was fairly obsessed with the Naruto fandom for many years, particularly with Orochimaru, so it's likely some of that subconsciously comes through in my writing at times. And YES, picturing Jezran's hands moving at Neji speed is exactly the right idea. xD

Also, this fic is a total of 75 chapters long. I am currently on chapter 73. There will also be 10 chapters that I release post-fic, which are sort of like extra content to keep you guys entertained as I work on the sequel. I followed the concept of OVAs there. I have an AU chapter, a hot springs chapter, etc. Bonus content for your reading pleasure.

Let's see, when did I start working on this fic? Um... It was last summer. I think I started posting in the fall, and I'd been writing for a couple of months before , it was early August when I started crafting this thing together.

The Development of Syllestra

Alright, now that I've talked about Team Derelict Heart, I guess I'll move on to lovable little Syllest now.

Well, to start, back in a creative writing class several years ago, my teacher said something that has resounded with me for all these years. "Write what you know." The concept of this was to put little pieces of yourself in all of your characters, bits of your life experiences in your plots, because that's the only way the readers will believe your story. I say that to caveat what I'm going to tell you next, because the last thing I want is for any of you to think this story is an SI (self-insert), because trust me, it's not. Sometimes the stuff Dreamer says and does makes me cringe.

But I will admit to using a bit of my own life in creating Syllestra and Dreamer. See, I'm a single mom of a little girl. And I was drawn the possibility of writing a story about a single mom and some of the struggles that go along with that. It was initially my intention for Dreamer to literally be Syllest's mother. I made Syllest seven years old because that seemed like a good age. Somewhat independent enough that Dreamer wouldn't have to be at home babysitting a toddler all the time (my life), but still in need of a family. The problem with this was that if Syllestra was seven years old, I had to think about how old Dreamer would be. If I'm staying true to the Fairy Tail story-line as much as possible, and if Midnight looks like he's maybe 19 years old, I couldn't have Dreamer be much older than that. So that would have meant that she had a kid at like thirteen or something. And that's just a whole other can of worms I'd have to work around.

Though I fought it, and tried to make a way for Syllest to be Dreamer's daughter, it just wasn't happening. It didn't feel right. Then I decided that it made more sense for Syllest to be her sister or niece, and things started to evolve after that. It was a domino effect. It all just fell into place.

Syllestra is an interesting character. In this fic, she symbolizes freedom. If you remember the chapter where Dreamer gave Midnight his "one sweet dream," then you might recall how he could hear Syllestra laughing, but he couldn't see her dancing on the outskirts of his dream. This was a direct metaphor for freedom. Likewise, Midnight cannot grasp what true freedom is. It's always on the outskirts of his vision, beyond reach. It's not just Midnight whom perceives her as freedom, however. She represents freedom to Dreamer, in that Syllestra seems to hold the key to Dreamer letting go of the loss of her sister. She represents freedom to all of Fairy Tail, in that she isn't held down by the family unit, she sees everyone as family. She's free to call Mira her Auntie, Jezran her grandpa, whatever she wants because who can argue with something as free and innocent as that?

She's also a tragic character with a lot of potential. It's clear that she has the same magic as her father, who's a terrifying dark wizard. Naturally, there's the question then of whether or not Syllest will follow in those dark footsteps one day. And it should be implied that her diamond-make magic has potential to be incredibly powerful.

She's basically this anchor that kind of holds everything and everyone together.

And on the surface level, she's also a dorky kid who goes on embarrassing rants and wants to marry Romeo. She's impulsive and hard-headed and a trouble-maker for sure.