REVEAL
"WHAT'RE WE doing here?" Levy squinted as she looked at the dim street.
"Promise me you won't tell anyone." Lucy unlocked the front door.
"About what?"
Glancing at the blue-haired girl, Lucy opened the door, letting her apartment foyer. Moving up to her room, She flipped the light switch in her bedroom, giving her a seat as she went over to her closet and returned with a large book with hieroglyphics on its cover.
"What's this?" Levy received it.
"I found it in the magic library and I thought you could help me figure out what's going on." Lucy sat across from her.
"With what?" Levy raised her brow.
Lucy sighed and walked over to her dressing table. "With this." She lifted the golden triangle.
"What's that?"
"It's a …" Lucy left the triangle and sat down, sighing. "Natsu says it might be the artefact and I think it is."
"What?! What're you doing with it?"
"I've been trying to figure out if it's got anything to do with the Celestial Spirits being trapped in the other dimension. I –,"
"Do you know how much trouble you could get in?" Levy frowned. "All this time we thought we'd found nothing, when you had it all along? I'm taking it to Erza." She stood up.
"No, you can't." Lucy stopped her. "I need your help to –,"
Levy yelped as she dropped the book, smoke rising off it as it slowly burnt the carpet. "What the?"
"My carpet!" Lucy kicked the book, hissing as it singed her shoe and pushed it away from the dressing table, cooling it down. "Phew."
"What's going on here?" Levy frowned.
"I don't know; that's why I need your help to find out. I've read over a hundred books, looking for the dimension the Spirits are in and all I've found is that it's called the Precipice World connecting to other worlds and that creatures called Hollows travel into earth to devour humans."
Levy's eyes drooped. "What?"
"I don't understand it either, but I think something's up cuz the books I read that from were burnt with a type of magic I couldn't recognize. I was looking for another book when I found this one. It seems to react when it's close to the artefact, so I think they're related somehow."
"So, you need me to find out what's going on with this book and the artefact?" Levy looked around.
"Yes." Lucy nodded.
"And keep it secret from Erza?"
"Please. Just for a little while." Lucy smiled pleadingly. "If you don't find anything in three days, you can take it back to Erza and I'll keep looking on my own."
"I DON'T know." She looked around worriedly.
"Please, you're the only one who can help me with this." Natsu's brows stitched.
"Won't Erza get mad? We're all needed for the missions; they aren't over yet." She glanced behind her.
"Wendy, please, do it for me; I need your help." Natsu frowned. "I promise I'll come back before the missions are over."
Wendy sighed. "Okay, here goes." She breathed in.
Raising her hands, she closed her eyes and held them over Natsu's head, green energy emitting from them. Walking past them, Erza moved up to the mission billboard, avoiding eye contact with Mira who raised her brow in confusion. Picking an ad off it, she went to the centre of the room, clearing her throat:
"Listen up!" She drew the wizards' attention. "It's been a couple days now, so I'm sure we're all rested up for the next mission. The location's an island called Skullcluster a few miles east of Magnolia."
Gray's eyes drooped. "You're kidding, right? Skullcluster? Who'd you expect to go along with you to a place like that?"
"The name of the place shouldn't of concern, not for us anyway." Erza pocketed the paper. "We may've left the previous mission empty handed, but we'll succeed this time I'm sure. Obviously, we can't take the injured along, but everyone who's able-bodied should participate."
"No way, I'm not coming." Laki frowned.
"Me neither." Warren shook his head, murmurs spreading as people responded likewise.
"You don't want the prize money?" Erza's brow curved.
"No amount of money's worth it if I'm dead." Droy frowned.
"What about your pride for your guild? What about building Fairy Tail's legacy?" Erza looked around.
"Screw that! I'm not sticking my neck out again." Max sat back.
"Erza, people nearly died in the last mission and you want us to go ahead to an island that's clearly more dangerous?" Laki raised her brow.
"I've not forgotten what happened on Seacrest Island, which is why I want us to continue the mission and avenge our friends." Erza frowned.
"I'm with ya there." Gajeel folded his arms. "I'm gonna avenge Levy and Wendy."
"Is anyone else in?" Erza looked to the others, receiving mixed responses.
"I'm going too." Gray huffed.
"I'll go wherever he goes." Juvia clung to his arm.
Erza studied the unsure expressions some exhibited and stepped forward. "Look, I know you're afraid of losing your lives, it's understandable, but there's more than the prize money on the line. A dark guild called Mark of the Moon, radicals that claim to be descendants of it that have been massacring religious advocates, are participating in the treasure hunt. That guild never shows their faces unless it's during an attack and the fact that they're risking arrest for a mission proves that something's going on."
"There's a dark guild involved? Yep, you've sealed it; I'm not coming." Warren headed for the door.
"Why not just call the Magic Council to round 'em up?" Gajeel walked up to her. "I've heard of those guys before and they don't mess around."
"I don't want to risk agitating them into attacking or capturing them before we discover their plans." She turned to him. "Interrogation has proved useless on them and we don't want to come across their top members who use magic to control blood."
"Blood control!? I'm so outta here!" Laki left the hall with a number of other guildmates.
Erza looked at the few that remained as a third of the guild left. She sighed. "I'm glad that some of you stayed, but I'm not gonna force you if you don't want to. You are risking your lives here."
Natsu grinned. "You think I'd ditch you guys?"
"I CAN'T believe he ditched us!" Carla frowned, looking around the upper deck of the guild's secondary ship.
"You'd think he of all people would be more enthusiastic about this." Erza spun the wheel on the quarterdeck.
"Guess he's just as foolish as ever." Carla shook her head. "Where could he have gone to?"
"Heh, I don't know." Wendy looked around uneasily.
"Wendy, do you know something?" The feline raised her brow.
"No, nothing." Wendy winced. "Just worried I'd get caught cuz I smuggled some extra dresses on board."
"Didn't Erza we should only carry essentials?"
"Well, at least I'm here and not hiding anything?" Wendy looked around uneasily.
"Wendy, what do you know?" Carla raised her brow.
"Nothing!" Wendy raised her hands defensively.
Gajeel walked up to their table, taking a seat across them. "Wendy, you sure you wanna be here?"
"Yeah, I don't want to let the guild down."
"You don't have to do this; you nearly died on the last mission." Gajeel frowned.
"I'll be fine, Gajeel; I'm prepared this time." She donned a determined expression.
"Well, just make sure you're careful." Panther Lily jumped onto the table.
"I will." Wendy nodded.
Levy groaned; exhaustion evident on her face with dreary eyes and dishevelled hair as she sat at a table and sipped a cup of coffee. Sitting across from her, Lucy smiled at her, receiving a grunt as she looked around and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"You didn't need to read all night." Lucy smiled uneasily.
"No, it's my fault; I got engrossed in the book." Levy shook her head.
"So, what'd you find?"
"Well, nothing, except identifying what language it's in and the title."
"It took you a whole night to discover only that?"
"Surprisingly so." Levy shrugged. "It's pretty confusing. The name of the book is The Sethos Awakening and the text is in ancient Egyptian and Chinese; that's all I could find."
"How's a book written in Chinese and Egyptian?"
"I don't know, but it seems to work somehow. It might take me a while to translate the book before I can read all of it. Another thing I've found is that the hieroglyphics on the book and the triangle are the same; both depicting the awakening of some god and I assume it's Sethos."
"You think the artefacts are meant to awaken that god?" Lucy's brows stitched.
"It's a safe bet, but I'd better read more before we jump to conclusions. Maybe it's got something to do with the Celestial Spirits, but I've got no idea." Levy frowned.
"Well, thanks for your help, it means a lot."
"No problem." Levy smiled. "I'll just hope Erza doesn't find out before we're done."
"I don't think she will." Lucy chuckled, turning to Erza who mumbled to herself.
Erza held her sword at her side, growling as she grazed a whetstone against the blade. "Natsu thinks he can just ditch us like that? I'm gonna kill him."
Levy laughed uneasily. "He's so dead."
"Yup." Lucy winced.
SNIFFING AROUND, Natsu frowned as he traversed an expansive cliff, moving up to its edge overlooking a thick forest. Happy hovered beside him, his eyes roaming apprehensively as he groaned.
"You sure this's safe, Natsu?"
"Nope." Natsu jumped off the cliff.
"Nope?" Surprise dilated the feline's eyes as it dove toward him. "Natsu, this island might have monsters."
"Well, another one's just arrived." Natsu clutched a rock, reducing his descent.
"So, you'll be able to find the dragon this time?" Happy looked around.
"Yeah." Natsu landed and entered the forest. "Wendy's spell did a lot to improve my sense of smell; it's definitely a dragon."
"And if it's Acnologia?"
"Then we're dead." Natsu shrugged.
"Natsu!" Happy frowned.
"Relax, Happy, if it's Acnologia, then the guild will help us since we're on the same island."
"But we couldn't take him on last time."
"I can't wait around on the chance that it'd be him. It's been seven years, if he wanted to wipe us out, he'd have done it earlier."
"Okay." Happy gulped.
"SO, TEAM Natsu even if he's not here; what're the odds?" Gray huffed.
"I'm gonna make him pay for ditching us." Erza growled.
"You're not gonna actually kill him, are you?" Lucy raised her brow.
"We'll see what happens." Erza held the hilt of her sword.
Lucy laughed uneasily as she looked around, taking in her surroundings as trees clustered around them, creating a pattern with the shadows. With Fairy Tail guild numbers down, their number of teams reduced to only three, half of them having two trackers with them.
"So, where're we on the artefact?" Juvia turned to Lucy.
"It's a few miles towards the centre of the island." The blonde looked at the radar on the tracker's screen.
"It's a little bit fuzzy though; it must be the thick mist that's interrupting the artefact's signature. Luckily they're pretty good at detection; otherwise we'd have an even harder time searching for the artefact." Erza pocketed her tracker.
"Maybe we should split up even further since we have two trackers." Gray turned to her. "We're a big target for another guild as we are."
"That's the reason why we're staying together." Erza frowned. "If another guild or a monster attacks us, we'll have a better chance of surviving if we stay together and combine forces."
"I hope you're right." Gray shrugged.
"Hey guys, check this out." Romeo gestured for them to come over, parting leaves before him.
Coming to his side, Erza, Gray, Lucy and Juvia looked onward in awe as the ruins of a large stone building stood before them at the centre of an open area, elevated from the rest of the trees. Moving up to it, the five climbed up the steps, walking past armoured skeletons that lined it.
Reaching the top of the steps, they stood before the building, most of it in shambles as it stood at the end of the stone pathway. Looking at the ground, Lucy frowned as she saw hieroglyphics similar to the book and the triangle etched into the concrete, crafted into a massive square with ditches at its edges.
"What's this?" Gray looked at the hieroglyphics.
"Some kinda magic … square?" Juvia turned to Erza.
"I've never seen something like this before." The redhead folded her arms.
"You've seen it before?" Romeo walked up to Lucy.
"No, just wondering what it is." She shook her head.
"It looks like the ground for some sort of ritual." Erza looked around then turned to the sky. "Maybe to do with the sun, but I'm not sure."
Lucy stroked her chin as she looked at the hieroglyphics, her eyes roaming around the square and stopping at its edges. Moving over to it, she squatted and looked down, judging the size of the ditch. Looking around, she studied the armoured skeletons, moving up to the others.
"This must've been a ritual ground." She turned to Erza.
"I already said that." The redhead shrugged.
"Yes, but I think the artefact must be here and these soldiers were guarding it until the ceremony was supposed to take place."
"So, how does that help us?" Gray turned to her.
"I think the artefact must be in one of these holes. Whoever was doing this may've been collecting them."
"Weren't there supposed to be six of them?" Romeo raised his brow.
"Maybe whoever was doing this didn't know how many they were." Lucy shrugged.
"How're you sure this has something to do with the artefacts?" Juvia walked up to her.
"Just a hunch."
"It is worth a try." Gray paced around. "But where do we start looking?"
"We should split up and check the building and this magic square." Lucy walked up to a ditch. "The artefact's gotta be in one of these places."
"Good idea." Erza smiled. "Let's split up. Gray, Juvia and I will search the building while Romeo and Lucy –,"
"Hey, guys." Bisca walked up the steps, followed by Alzack, Gajeel, Panther Lily, Carla and Wendy.
"Hey, what're you doing here?" Lucy's brows furrowed.
"The trackers have led us here, but they're on the fritz now for some reason." Alzack held up his tracker.
"Maybe it's the fog or something?" Bisca shrugged.
"It's possible that the trackers work better at a distance." Panther Lily landed.
"That wouldn't be very useful, now would it?" Carla folded her arms.
"Well, since we have more hands on deck, we'll split into two teams. Team Natsu will search the building and Team Gajeel will search the magic square for the artefact." Erza headed for the building.
"Team Natsu?" Alzack frowned in confusion.
"He's not even here." Bisca's brows furrowed.
"I'll never understand it either." Juvia shook her head.
"I sure hope he's alright." Wendy looked around uneasily.
"He should be, cuz I'm gonna kill him myself!" Erza drew her sword. "Team Natsu, with me!"
"You're watching Game of Thrones all of a sudden?" Gray raised his brow.
"Now!"
"Okay!" Lucy jerked in surprise.
Following Erza, Team Natsu trod down the stony path toward the building, leaving the others at the end of it, searching the magic square. Bisca walked up to a ditch and squatted before it, studying it as the others moved around.
"Anybody know what we're looking for anyway?" Gajeel folded his arms.
"Well, the artefact." Bisca stood up. "Dunno where it'd be though …"
"We should try checking the ditches, so Gajeel and Wendy; go in with Carla and Panther Lily to see if the artefacts are in those holes." Alzack walked up to them.
"Don't have to tell me twice." Gajeel jumped into a ditch.
"Gajeel, I'm supposed to lower you down there!" Panther Lily ran up to it.
"Relax, I'm fine." Gajeel's voice echoed then grunted. "Crap, I'm stuck."
SAND CRUNCHED and Gray grunted as he pushed a heavy stone door aside, moving down a dim, dusty hall as Romeo, Juvia, Lucy and Erza followed. Fishing a Lacrima from her bag, Lucy turned it on, illuminating their path and skeletons and cobwebs that littered it, making her shudder.
"Talk about your skulls." She cringed.
"Guess that name was more on the nose than we thought." Juvia looked around.
"What caused all this?" Gray turned to the ceiling. "How'd the soldiers get up there?"
"Must've been a large beast." Erza looked around. "Most likely of a humanoid physique judging that this hall is still intact." A brick fell from the ceiling. "Sorta."
The room shook, sand falling as the floor beneath them began to crack. Racing across the expanse, the five headed for the end of the hall as a pit quickly formed in the ground.
They entered another corridor and the floor collapsed beneath them, Lucy falling into a chasm. Gray grabbed her hand and she slipped through his fingers, plummeting to the consuming darkness as her bag nearly came off and she dropped her tracker and Lacrima. Grabbing a loose brick, the blonde screamed as her arm snapped, quickly taking hold with her other hand as she hung helplessly.
"Lucy!" Gray looked into the chasm.
"Are you alright?" Erza's brows furrowed.
"No." She breathed shakily.
"Hold on!" Juvia frowned.
Swinging her arm down, she summoned water out of the atmosphere in a strip, lowering and wrapping around Lucy's waist, pulling her up. Placing her behind them, Juvia and the others came to her side, helping her to her feet as she winced.
"I think my shoulder's dislocated." She panted.
Erza studied her arm, seeing it hang limply. "Okay, just close your eyes and hold your breath." She held it. "This's gonna hurt a lot."
"What're you gonna –," Erza pushed her shoulder into place, drawing a scream from her.
GAJEEL DUCKED away from a sword slash, grabbing the blade with his arm. "Can't we go through one mission without being attacked?"
"Guess not." Alzack dodged an energy ball, ducking behind a rock as he fished out his pistols.
"Carla, keep Wendy in the air as long as you can!" Bisca trained her sniper rifle.
"Easier said than done." Carla strained.
"Sky Dragon Roar!" Wendy spat out a gust of wind at a ninja, knocking him off the platform.
A small group of ninjas battled the wizards, engaging Gajeel in close-combat while exchanging long-range attacks with Bisca and Alzack with Wendy playing keep-away in the air. A ninja tossed an energy ball at her, nearly hitting her as Carla swerved out of the way.
Sidestepping quick slashes, Gajeel grabbed the blade and snapped it in half, punching the ninja in the face. The assailant retaliated with three swift kicks, striking his chest and round-housed him in the head, knocking him off his feet. Encasing his arm in steel, Gajeel upper-cutted the ninja, hurling him backward and launched himself up.
Alzack fired twice and hid behind cover, allowing Bisca to run out and fire at a ninja hiding across from him, impaling his side. Diving away from an energy ball, she skidded on the ground, firing at the assailant's foot, forcing him to jump in the air. Leaping over the rock, Alzack shot the ninja in the head, perforating his skull.
PUSHING LEAVES aside, Natsu's eyes dilated in surprise as he stepped into an open area of the forest, seeing a dragon descend before him. Standing a little above his height and clad in heavy golden armour; the black beast snarled as it eyed him, smoke rising from its mouth. Happy flew out of the bushes and gasped, moving quickly behind Natsu.
"Whoa, that's not Igneel!" Happy whimpered then raised his brow. "Wait, why's it so small?"
"Maybe it's some kinda dwarf dragon or something." Natsu shrugged.
"I dunno, something feels wrong here." Happy frowned.
"Well, let's ask him." Natsu walked up to the beast. "Hey, have you heard of a dragon named Igneel?" The beast lunged at him and he jumped out of the way. "Whoa, I just wanna know if you know him –," It spat fire at him. "Hey!"
"I think it doesn't wanna talk." Happy flew off.
"What kinda dragon doesn't wanna talk?" Natsu chuckled. "Hey, dragon –,"
The dragon pounced on him, pinning him down and sprayed fire on his face, burning the grass nearby. Smirking, the mage kicked the beast off him, rolling to his feet as he went into a fighting stance, bouncing around as he chuckled.
"C'mon!"
Flying up to him, the dragon bit his shoulder, drawing a scream from him as he punched it off and winced. Encasing his fist in flame, he shot a fireball at the beast, missing as it ran out of the way and lunged at him. He stomped on its head, stopping it and digging it into the ground. The beast clawed his chest, freeing itself as he recoiled and ascended into the air. The dragon spat fire at him, angering him as the flames did nothing and he flew up to it, punching it back to the ground.
"You think that's real fire?" He growled. "Fire Dragon Roar!"
He spat fire onto the beast, engulfing it as it growled and fled. Descending to the ground, he grunted as he fell to his knees and clung to his shoulder in pain. Happy flew up to him, looking at Natsu worriedly as he panted and looked at his blood-stained hands.
"Natsu, are you okay?"
"What kinda dragon was that?" Natsu frowned, rising to his feet.
"What do you mean?'
"If it was like any of the ones we've faced, it should've been tougher, but I got no magic off it." Natsu turned to him. "It was just like some mindless animal, nothing like Igneel."
"THIS PLACE is coming down!" Erza slashed a falling brick.
Erza, Gray, Lucy, Juvia and Romeo ran down a collapsing hallway, evading falling `-bricks as the floor caved in. Reaching an opening, Erza leapt into an outer corridor, followed by the others who panted as they watched the building they came from crumble. Turning to her left, she saw the hall curve toward a large edifice to her left and she looked around, seeing Gajeel and the others fight on the platform.
"C'mon, let's keep moving." She sheathed her sword on her back.
The four traversed the expanse, moving carefully as it shuddered at times, nearly giving way as a column fell over. Entering the building, they searched the edifice, going through several halls until they reached its epicentre; a large, dim, windowless room with a display case in the middle. A golden triangle lay within.
"Whoa, it's the artefact." Romeo grinned and ran toward it.
"Oh, for God's sake, have you ever watched an Indian Jones movie?" Gray grabbed his collar, halting him. "If we just grab the artefact, we'll end up setting off a bunch of booby traps or –,"
Romeo glanced at the girls and chuckled, receiving a slap to the back of the head from Lucy. "What?"
"Gray's right, we need to be cautious." Lucy crossed her arms and frowned.
"What'd you slap me for?" Romeo rubbed his head.
A large axe swung down, crashing against the ground, nearly slicing them as they jumped out of the way, blown back by the force of the strike. A rock smacked against Romeo's face as he hurtled onto a wall and slid down, grunting as his mouth bled. A brick smashed on Erza's midsection and her head slammed on the floor as she bounced and skidded to a stop.
Gray slammed against a wall and Juvia fell on his abdomen as he slid down, grunting in pain. Slamming its heavy foot against the ground, a giant red troll clad in a loincloth stood up, lifting its axe. Steam rose from its mouth, its cold yellow eyes striking fear into Lucy as she and the others struggled to their feet.
"Well, guess this won't be like the movies." Gray held his hands at his side.
Drawing her sword, Erza charged at the beast and collided with its axe, quickly pushed back as it smacked her aside. Shooting his arms forward, Gray summoned icicles out of the floor, connecting with its axe as the troll slashed the attack and ran toward him.
Juvia swung a water whip at the troll's legs and it flipped over the attack, slashing at her neck. Erza pushed her out of the way and blocked the blade, ducking as she stabbed its side. The beast recoiled and smacked her in the head, hurling her to a nearby wall.
Romeo threw three fireballs at the beast and they dissipated instantly, angering the beast as it turned to him. Juvia jumped in the way, sending out blades of water via palm thrust.
Slicing the attack, the troll slashed her midsection, blood spurting out of the gash as she was flung through the air. Gray ran to her side, seeing her writhe in pain as she struggled to sit up. Placing his hands on her stomach, he encased the wound in ice, looking upon her with worry.
"Get back to the fight, I'll be fine." Juvia held the ice, blue energy exuding from her hands.
"Got ya." Gray nodded.
Erza lunged at the beast, colliding with its blade as she slashed and ducked as it swung its axe. She swiped her sword, missing as the beast sidestepped and quickly blocked as it sent its axe down. Transforming into her Heaven's Wheel armour, she summoned six katana, impaling them into its right arm.
The beast recoiled and crashed the axe down, cutting the sword in half and snipping her shoulder, sending her flying back. The troll stalked toward her and stopped, seeing ice coat its legs. It raised its weapon to cut the bind and Gray shot ice through its chest, slaying the beast as it fell over and died.
Watching the battle from afar, Lucy quickly ran up to the display case and picked up the triangle, seeing hieroglyphics on it that were different from the other she had. Moving back to the others as they recuperated, she handed it to Erza who transformed back into her normal attire and received the artefact.
"Damn, we'd better win the treasure hunt, cuz this is getting harder every time." Gray helped Juvia up.
"Is it the artefact?" Juvia turned to Erza.
"It seems so." She studied the triangle then pocketed it. "Let's get back to the others."
"Yeah, don't wanna see if this thing can heal itself or anything." Romeo kicked the downed troll, following the others as they left.
NATSU PANTED as he trudged through the forest, his hand pressing a leaf to his chest as he winced in pain. Seeing the light of a fire in the distance, he walked a little faster, entering a campsite where the Fairy Tail teams were. Seeing the pink-haired mage, Erza growled as she moved up to him.
"Natsu, where've you been!?" She frowned then stopped, seeing his wounds. "Whoa, what happened to you?" She ran to his side.
"A dragon." Natsu groaned.
"Whoa, really?" Gajeel shot up.
"Nothing like Igneel or Acnologia or I would be way worse." Natsu shook his head.
"What do you mean?" Lucy walked up to Natsu as he took a seat near the fireplace.
"It was much smaller and didn't want to speak to me." He frowned. "I got no magic off it whatsoever."
"What happened next?" Wendy's knelt beside him, placing her hands over him, green energy exuding off them.
"This." Natsu gestured to himself. "Then it ran off."
"Yeah, it was weird; it had armour on it also." Happy landed nearby.
"What kind of armour?" Gajeel raised his brow.
"Gold, heavy; had this weird symbol of a burning dragon on its head."
Erza frowned, realizing something. "That's the same symbol the soldiers at the ruins had on their armour."
"Yeah, you're right." Alzack walked up to her.
"What's going on here?" Juvia looked at the others.
"Is there more going on than we know?" Bisca turned to Erza.
She sifted her thoughts. "I think we should –,"
Lucy's bag moved slowly out of her tent, making the others jerk back in surprise as the artefact leapt out of Erza's pocket and fell on the ground, inching towards it. Grabbing the backpack, Lucy laughed uneasily as she backed away from the others, gaining confused looks from them when the artefact shot out of it.
"What the hell is going on here?" Erza frowned.
"I can explain." Lucy's glanced at the others then jerked back as the two triangles made contact, sticking to each other.
"Wait, isn't that the artefact?" Gajeel turned to Lucy.
"What were you doing with it?" Erza picked the triangles up.
"Oh, crap." Levy facepalmed, groaning.
"Geez, Lucy, if you're gonna try to get the prize money for yourself, at least wait till we get the actual prize or get all the artefacts." Gray chuckled.
"Look, Erza, you have to understand, I wasn't trying to steal the artefact." Lucy gave a pleading look.
"Then what're you doing?"
"Levy and I –," Levy groaned, drawing a huff from Lucy. "Were trying to figure out what's going on with the Celestial Spirits and I found this book in the magic archive that's got the same hieroglyphics as the artefacts. We were trying to translate the book and the hieroglyphics to figure out what was going on before the missions ended then we'd give it back to you."
"People nearly died in the previous mission and they all thought it was for nothing when you had the artefact this whole time?" Bisca frowned.
"What the hell, Lucy?" Alzack walked up to her.
"I was gonna give it back – I mean look, the artefacts joined by themselves which proves there's more to them than we were told; nothing. Don't you wanna investigate this further?" Lucy turned to Erza.
"Too bad you …" Erza drew her sword. "Will die."
"Horrible movie reference." Natsu put the sword away. "Erza, hear Lucy out. I'm the one who found the artefact and I gave it to her on Seacrest Island before I continued looking for Igneel –,"
"What, you two?" Gray frowned.
"Just calm down, listen to what she's saying; something's definitely up. The artefacts are magical, the dragon I fought and the soldiers you found had matching armour – there's a dark guild involved in the quest; how can you not think something's going on." Natsu raised his brow.
"It is true …" Erza weighed the options. "Fine, you and Levy can continue your investigations; we got what we needed on this mission anyway." She turned to the others. "Everybody better get some sleep; we'll return to Magnolia tomorrow."
Moving past Natsu, sharing a glance, Erza picked up her sword and headed for her tent as the guildmates dispersed and Alzack took watch. Lifting the joined artefacts, Lucy studied the imagery, seeing them fit perfectly, raising her curiosity as she walked away from the fireplace.
DARTING HIS eyes around, Jellal unlocked the door of a building enclosed in a wire fence, entering into a dim hall that he traversed. Moving up to a room to his right, he looked around at the souvenirs collected from Crime Sorciere's previous missions, turning to Meredy who sat at one end of the room, keyboarding on a holographic computer.
"Back from the field?" Ultear walked up to Jellal, giving him a peck.
"Yeah." He moved toward Meredy.
"What'd you find?"
"Nothing; FL's still withholding details about the thefts."
"Well, they won't be secret for long." Meredy cocked her neck.
"You find something?" Jellal looked at the computer screen.
"Yeah." Meredy keyboarded. "It was pretty difficult to hack in, but I checked their surveillance logs and I found that there's no footage from 10pm to 3am every night for the past couple months."
"Were the logs tampered with?" Jellal frowned.
"No; the cameras have been systematically shut down during that time period every night." Meredy shook her head.
"Well, that proves it then." Jellal stood up. "The thefts are an inside job."
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