Alcina stood in front of the mission board with a hand under her chin in thought. Now cleaned up from her fight with Loke, she was looking better then ever and sporting the Fairy Tail's insignia on her lower right calf where it covered the new scar from the wooden spike in the fight. A good reminder to not rush into a fight as she always has done.
Standing there now she couldn't decide what to do, she knew she needed to find Leo but she also needed a mission to get some food. What saving she had started her journey on with were finally starting to dwindle after Lucy had helped find an apartment for her. It was even down the same water way as Lucy's though it was closer to the bay then hers. Alcina was still happy with it even with the limited furniture or items she had gotten with it, just a bed and small table to start with.
Leaving most of her traveling gear and clothes at home she had changed into a newer outfit that wasn't so torn up. She now wore low slung black legging's with two slits on each side along the hips, settling higher up, with her brown travel pouch now tied around her left leg instead of as a belt. She switched her leather vest out for a darker leather bikini top and a turquoise wrap shawl around her right shoulder and hip, tightened around her middle with a dark leather belt and no shoes as she was accustomed to.
Lost in thought Alcina didn't notice that Lucy had came to stand next to her. "Trying to decide?" She asked Alcina.
"Oh! Um... I suppose. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to pick one." Alcina answered.
"Well you can start with an easy one, even if it may not pay much. Like... Here, this one doesn't sound too bad. Its only 20,000 jewels but its a good start." Lucy advised.
Taking the paper from Lucy, Alcina looked it over. Search for a lost kid in the desert. Shouldn't be hard. " This sounds like I can do this. Now which way to the desert!" Alcina demanded.
Lucy sweat dropped, " You don't know where the desert is?"
"No, I don't even know what a desert is" Alcina answered her.
"Eh!? You don't know what a desert is? Do you not have anything like that on your island, you know, its hot and sandy?" Lucy asked.
"Oh you mean like the beach! Yeah we've have that all around the island." Alcina exclaimed thinking she knew exactly what Lucy was talking about.
"No its not quite like that, why don't I go with you? Just to make sure you don't get into any trouble out there by yourself." Lucy offered.
"Oh sure, that sounds like fun." Alcina said smiling.
"Well we need to pick up some supplies before we head out, like maybe water and some shoes." Lucy offered her.
" What? Why do I need shoes? I've never worn shoes before, not this whole time I've been traveling." Alcina questioned her.
" Just in case, the sand in the desert can get really hot sometimes." Lucy answered.
" OK, if you think that I will need them. I trust your judgement." Alcina said as they walked out of the guild.
Standing outside of the shoe store Lucy admired her own new sandals " These are just so cute!" She exclaimed.
Standing next to her in a slight squat Alcina was not as thrilled at her first pair of sandals, a dark leather that matched her top and little winged ankles. " These are so confining! I cant even feel the bricks or rocks through them, how can you wear these 'things' all the time" She asked.
"I guess its just that I have always worn them, I never thought I would meet someone who likes to feel rocks in their shoes." Lucy explained to her.
" It reminds me of how close we are to the nature of my home, stepping on rocks or sticks just like the animals do, feeling the sand the same way the fish do. I would normally be wearing far less clothing then this on the island as well, but its nice to know I wont get a snake up my dress in the middle of the night." Alcina informed her.
Lucy snickered to herself as her mind went in the gutter at the thought of another meaning of snake up a dress. Puzzled Alcina asked " What are you laughing at Lucy?"
Lucy lost it and began to laugh out loud " Ha ha, oh nothing at all. Really we should go now so we can start searching while its still early."
Trying to follow behind her Alcina gave a few shakes ever now and then, trying to get comfortable in her sandals.
Lucy examined the map that they received from the missing boys mother. On it were two marks, one of a oasis that he may be at and the other being a cave that he liked to explore. Figuring that he had been out all night he may have gone to the oasis since there is supposed to be water there, the girls decide to head in that direction. Stopping only occasionally for Alcina to adjust her sandals.
" So can I ask why you're looking for this other Leo guy? He seems like he did something that really upset you." Lucy questioned.
Alcina looked away from her, not wanting to make eye contact " He did something really bad and hurt many people from my island. Including my sister Morgana. She is dead now because of him."
Lucy stammered "Oh... I'm sorry Alcina. We don't have to talk about him I just thought-" "No it is OK. The more you know about him, then the better chance we have of finding him." Alcina interrupted.
" For you to understand the things my people did, I need you to understand some things about them and me." Alcina explained.
" The reason why we call it Deia Island is because we worship our god Deia and many others. All are very similar to your celestial beings. Leo the Lion, Pisces the Fish, Aries the Ram. All of them I found also reside in this land. I don't believe they are the same beings or people but I do know for Deia island there is a hierarchy for us. The Lion being the highest ranking.
There are 11 smaller islands the each represent one of this beings with Deia being the largest in the center. We look to these Gods and Goddess's to guide us and help us in our lives. There are old legends that in dire time the god or goddess of each island will appear in the flesh to direct us and bring us back in the right direction that they want us to go.
We were having hard times with food, water and other supplies. My oldest sister was to be married to the leader of one of the other islands in exchange for a dowry for marring her. In that dowry was what was gold, even though its not such a rare commodity for us, I suppose it is for others.
A man appeared on the beach a few days before her wedding, he was surrounding in the great Lions image. Burning bright red and large as the sun! My people thought that it must of been Deia to come to tell us what to do but it wasn't.
But my sister was beautiful, she was the most amazing person ever, she was kind and pleasant. Even though she was a high ranking member in the heads family she treated every one so kindly. She gained his attention with just her looks." Alcina explained.
"Were you not from the same family?" Lucy asked.
" We shared the same mother but not the same father. It's not that we weren't both part of the head family, she just was higher ranking then me since her father had more status then mine did you see. They are the higher part of the family that deals with everything, they make the final decisions on things and organised the trading that we did with the other islands. They were simple put the head of the head family, if you understand?" Alcina explained.
"Yeah I think I understand what you mean, you're all part of the same family but they got the final say on things right?" Inquired Lucy.
"Yes! Exactly what I mean. Sometimes they weren't the nicest to everyone but Morgana always was. She had sparkling blue eyes and the whitest blonde hair you've ever seen! Perfect skin and a amazing smile, she was the envy of many of the other islanders for her looks and kindness.
But when Deia arrived he was worshiped. All of us bowed to him and did everything he asked.
At first it was small things like food and drink. So we took it from the dowry we had saved for Morgana because we believed we just had to please him and he would bring bounty back to us once more. But his request turned into demands, and his laughter turned into shouts if someone didn't listen to him.
It became so terrible that many of the islanders suggested leaving in the fall of night to the other islands. With him there he made things much worse. The dowry we had saved was gone and he became angry when we couldn't give him all the wonderful gifts that we could at the start of it.
My sister stood up to him, claiming he was lying about being the Lion.
He used his magic to make it look like he was a huge beast. Demanding that she be put to death for her lies... I tried to protect when none of the other islanders would but he still got her. He still killed her. The islanders became outraged and made a plan to get rid of him. I guess he didn't have enough magic left to fight them off and ran away.
Now I'm going to find him and make him pay for killing my sister. He ruined my home and destroyed my family.
That's why I have a chunk of hair cut far shorter then the rest. We have a tradition of cutting our hair when we get married or make other commitments. My family doesn't know where I am but I cut the top part of my hair and left it on the alter for Deia the night after it happened." Alcina said while twisting the few sprigs of short hair that stuck up over her goggles.
Stunned Lucy walked quietly for a minute with Alcina. She wasn't sure how to handle Alcina's explanation of everything. She didn't seem sad while she told it but she looked very determined. Lucy understood that it was very important to her to find the man who was nothing more then an impostor.
They were approaching the oasis after walking for a while. Its clear blue water could be seen shimmering and a few sparse trees around it with some light grass growing around the edges. As the girls got closer they could see the water was fairly deep, in the middle of the oasis was a small island of sand with a much larger tree growing on top of it. Looking around they didn't see any sign of the missing boy. " Hello?" Alcina called.
No response back. "Hmm, maybe we should have gone to the cave first. I don't see him around here" Lucy stated.
"Yeah I suppose you're right. Well lets get moving. I'm sure we can make it there before sun down. I don't think its much further past this." Alcina agreed.
"Shh..."
"Huh? What was that?" Alcina questioned.
"Shh or they'll hear you." The disembodied voice answered in a hush.
"Lucy I think his here. Hey! Where are you!?" Alcina shouted.
"Oh over there! Look in the middle! His in the tree." Lucy said as they moved back towards the oasis.
A small hand waved from inside of the trees leafs, then a shaggy mop of brown hair poked out. Waving his hand at them he tried to motion for them to be quite. Though neither Alcina or Lucy could see that. " Hey. Stay there and we can come get you!" Shouted Alcina as she started walking towards the water.
The ground began to shake and the sands started shifting quickly under their feet. "Whats happening!?" Yelled Lucy as her feet began to sink into the sand.
Purple sparks danced over Alcina's skin as she grabbed Lucy, one foot in the sand and the other on top. Digging her feet into the still stable sand Alcina wrenched Lucy from the sand, her muscles bulking up and in one fluid motion twisted around holding on to both of Lucy's hands. As the sand slipped under Alcina so did her grip on Lucy, launching her away from the sinking sand. "Whaaaa!" Lucy shouted as she came splashing down in the water close to the middle tree where the boy was hiding.
The sand was half sunk to Alcina's waist when it stopped shaking. Not moving Alcina looked around, trying to figure out what was happening and how to get out. Lucy hoisted herself onto the little island in the middle of the water and shouted " Alcina are you OK?"
Twisting to try and look back Alcina answered " I think I'm stuck."
The sands began to shake again and sunk further with Alcina in its grips before suddenly exploding up, sending Alcina flying high above the ground. Many more torrents of sand shot into the air around the oasis. As Alcina began to fall back to the ground she could see that many giant scorpions had crawled out from what she assumed were their hiding spot before the girls had disturbed them with their yelling.
Hitting the sand Alcina slipped in her sandals. "Curse these foul beast! This contraptions are horrible."
Lucy quickly pulled out her celestial keys " Open Gate Of The Bull! Taurus!"
In a golden flash of light a extremely tall and muscular humanoid appeared. He was covered in black and white spots. His had long ears jutting outwards and a pair of brown horns sprouting out of his head with a golden ring through his nose. "Moooo, I'll protect your perfect body!" Taurus cheered as he hit the sand agitating the scorpions even more.
Both rushing towards a different scorpion, Alcina's skin sparked and lite her skin up like a Christmas light show. She jumped into the air, attacking as she came down on its head. Throwing a barrage of punches into its hard shell did nothing. The scorpion made a loud chirping noise as is swung its pincers inward, trying to swipe Alcina off itself.
Losing what sparse footing she had, Alcina fell from the scorpion's head. Hitting the sand with a 'thump' Alcina rolled away. "This sandals are the devils work! Never again Lucy will I wear such horrible things!" Alcina shouted trying to get back on her feet.
The taste of sand and blood burst into Alcina's mouth as the scorpion laid into her with its giant pincers. Lucy's shouts came in burst as the scorpion buried Alcina deeper into the sand, becoming louder with each burst. In a rush to block the scorpions next hit Alcina pushed magic through her body. Feeling her muscles protrude and bulge, she barely had time to meet the pincer coming down at her. A loud crack came from her arms as the force pushed her deeper but this time she held firm, with a vicious roar she clenched into the pincer, a sickening crunch rang in her ears as part of the scorpions hard shelled pincer cracked in her hands.
She swallowed the pain welling up in her as her arms screamed for the release of pressure, shoving upwards the scorpion became air born. Smoldering purple waves of magic rolled out of the pit that Alcina was clambering out of. The metallic taste of blood still in her mouth she spit to the ground. Lucy's voice barely audible from the roar of blood in Alcina's ears. "Alcina! Alcina are you OK!?"
Heat pooled around her body, a fire raging inside of her was barely containable as Alcina turned around to look back at Lucy still on the island with the little boy. Giving a thumbs up Alcina smiled at her, fearing that she was losing control over her own body with the surging of magic. A thunderous crackling came in her other direction, Taurus had sliced clear through one of the scorpions he was fighting. Quickly Alcina bolted towards the skirmish as more scorpions began to surround him.
Throwing her body into one of them set it off balance and toppled it onto its back. Taking another bound she made impact with a pincer coming down behind Taurus, knocking it away Alcina stumbled. In a fit of rage Alcina roared as she ripped the offending sandals from her feet, she launched them at a scorpion with enough force to crack its shell. The scorpion turned and scuttled away from the fight. Laughing Taurus shouted "Nice moves with a nice body!"
With his back turned away a scorpion took advantage and swiped at him, connecting hard enough to knock him off his feet and send his axe flung away from them. Lucy and Alcina both shouted for him as he pulled himself out of the sand only to be clocked by a pincer. Before Alcina could help him she was trying to fend off her own scorpion, in a stalemate she held its pincers both exerting on each other. Alcina drug her feet into the sand and was able to anchor herself, preventing the scorpion from being able to push her back any further.
The inferno around Alcina's body began to flicker as she exerted her power into keeping her hold on the offending scorpion that she was grappling with. Unable to see behind her all she could hear was the beating of pincers into sand. She knew she had to draw the scorpions attentions away from Taurus so he could recover. Digging into the reserve of power she had left she let it loose. The flickering magic began to produce a red hue as it became an accretion of power.
A hair tingling roar built in the back of her throat as she began to advance on the scorpion she had been in a stalemate with. The roar built into a blistering outcry as Alcina over powered the scorpion, while gaining the attention of the other remaining ones with the shattering noise. They focus turned from Taurus to her as she tossed the scorpion away from her. Though her red flare of power flickered as it began to lose its size. She had used up her reserve and the emission faded, her bulked muscles losing their gain from the magic, returning to their original size.
Taurus scrambled from the hole the scorpions had practically buried him in. Just as battered as she was, Taurus was bleeding from a gash on his head, he was quickly making his way to his axe. Panting Alcina fell to her knees, she no longer had the strength to hold herself up. The scorpions began to block her view of Taurus and Lucy both. Her arms hung limply at her sides as she gasp for air, her skin had taken on a bright red color due to the heat of her magic still showing scorch marks in the sand around her.
With a dead set stare into the first scorpions beady black eyes, her own mirrored an emptiness that began to fill the pit of her stomach, she needed to stand up. To move, get out of the way. But her legs remained motionless, she couldn't even feel them. The chirping of the scorpions filled her ears as the first one reached her. Raising its pincer high into the high the sun glared behind it, blinding her from it as it began to hurtle towards her.
"Regulus Impact!" A voice rang out.
Light blinded Alcina as a impact wave hit her, causing her to fall backwards. Sand blasted into all directions as the group of scorpions were attacked. Alcina tried to shield her eyes with little help as her arms wouldn't pull back towards her. Blinking to keep the sand out of her eyes she could hardly see where the light flashes were coming from, shutting her eyes tight she laid un-moving till the ruckus died down.