A/N: Every day's great at your Junes~! I've had that running through my head pretty much all day yesterday and today. Hmm... Maybe I should play some more Persona 4 soon... or 3, either one is fun, but I have so many other games that I need to beat before I move on to something else. Anyways, chapter 8 is here today/tonight for your reading pleasure!
So I need to say what the overall plan is for the next few chapters. I will be handling the missions has they happen in more or less chronological order, which means more Team Camille, Team Ajax, and Team Jace until those missions are finished next chapter I believe. Then I'll be moving on to the next group of missions and so on until the arc is done (I'm not sure what I want to do next arc though). I'll also be checking in on the guild every now and then so as not to neglect the other characters. My reasoning for doing it this way is because not all of the missions are happening at the same time and it'd be confusing to say, write Team Camille's part and then time travel a few days into the future for Team Jezabelle's part, and then back to Team Ajax's part. Make sense? Cause this is what made the most sense to me, so it's what I'm doing.
Before I forget, there are two more types of omakes that I'll be doing. Holiday omakes, which I may write around certain holidays such as Halloween and Christmas, and Recent History omakes which will be about the time in between the prologue and chapter 1 (also, a certain character's historical omakes will revisit the prologue).
Now, I'd like to thank PrinceOfTheMatrix88, Saiyan-Styles, potentialauthor18, Stormhawk99, WaterDragonMaverick, MyDearWatson, Falling Lanterns, H8rslovemecauseI'mawesome, Reitzel-chan, and Hikari for their reviews!
PrinceOfTheMatrix88- Hehe, yeah, Camille and Alistar won't be getting along for a while. Partly because of their history, but also due to conflicts in their personalities. Anyways, I'm glad that you liked the omake idea and the last chapter as well, I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much!
Saiyan-Styles- I'm glad that you thought the chapter was funny. Malon is one of the most "out-there" characters that I've gotten so she's pretty fun to write since I can do all sorts of things with her. I hope you enjoy the chapter!
potentialauthor18- I'm glad to hear that it isn't overwhelming so far and I'm hoping to keep it that way with the format that I'm going to use this arc. But yeah, Rayner's, yeah sure I'll call it an "illness" for now, could have something to do with his tattoo, but you'll have to wait and see for that. I literally had to force myself to not turn Nils into Jack Sparrow last chapter, asides for his introduction. I already used my one good PotC reference in Chapter 2. I don't know why either, but I figured that Fareth just has terrible luck and I love to pick on him for some reason or another, I really don't know why, it just happens. But I'm glad that you liked the omake idea. So anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Stormhawk99- I don't know why, but I always seem to wind up picking on Fareth, I guess it's because I rated him as having awful luck due to his history. But yeah, I'm glad that you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoy this one as well!
WaterDragonMaverick- Koromaru's cute, he made me want to get a Shiba Inu sometime in the future when I'm out on my own (which I would obviously name Koromaru and call Koro-chan), but Jack Frost was a good choice as well. To be honest, I'm surprised that no one said anything about Love & Lucky in the reviews up until now since it was kinda obvious what Merchant's Guild I was hinting about back when Team Camille took their mission. But yeah, since Jude dies a few months before April of X791, he'd still be alive at this point, so it does make perfect sense. And it'd be really, really sad if Rayner's condition killed him so soon, he'll be dealing with it for a while though and it'll definitely cause him problems in the future. Yes! Barrel Surfing! The best way for any real mage to pass the time! And you'll just have to wait and see what it is that Ajax is sniffing out. And well, Malon just enjoys that kind of thing, after all, does she really seem the type to say that she needs help without some kind of sick ulterior motive? Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
MyDearWatson- I had actually been planning to use Jude in that scene ever since chapter 2, so I'm happy that I finally got to write that scene out (now if only I could write the scenes that have been floating around in my head that happen towards the end of the story... sigh). Yep, you got to see a little bit of Rayner's condition, and that wasn't even one of the more painful attacks, but yes, you will see more and learn exactly what's wrong with him. Cliffhangers: A writer's best friend and a reader's worst enemy, they are a true double-edged sword that are far too easy to use. But I'm glad that you liked Team Reno's scene so much! Well, the last time Fareth went along with what Jace said, he got blasted by some darkness magic, so he's still a little testy around Jace. But it is Malon that he should be watching really since you never really know what she'll pull.
Falling Lanterns- Well, as I said, I'll be using the historical and recent history omakes to shine some light on all of the characters' pasts, with the historical omakes happening either before or after a point in the story that focuses a bit more on a specific character, or when I feel it is appropriate to explain some of the character's past, such as why Camille's first omake is happening before the X790 GMG's because she is from Crocus. Whereas pretty much every other type of omake will just be happening when I feel like it and they'll pretty much be just like filler I think at this point where they happen, yet don't. But there might be some omakes that I reference back to, or have been referring to ahead of time (such as the Ladon Entry Ritual). But yes! That artifact is most likely what you think it is, although we won't see it ever again after this since that's something that Fairy Tail handles after their return.
H8rslovemecauseI'mawesome- I've no more plans to give up on this anytime soon, I managed to get over that little funk a while back with some help, but I'm glad that you like the story so much!
Reitzel-chan- I'm glad that you liked the chapter and I hope you feel better by now, cause it'd be a serious problem if you don't feel better by now.
Hikari- Who's getting an omake? Everybody! Every... last... one... which sounds a little daunting to me to be honest, but I said I'd do it and I'm gonna do it. But for now, Camille shall be my guinea pig since it's easiest to start with a character that I know best and created myself, speaking of which, I do plan on trying to communicate with the creator of the character when it's time for their historical omake, and when that time comes for a character I will let it's creator know ahead of time in a pm so that I can iron out all of the details of their history with their help. So at some point in the future, if you could create an account for that I would appreciate it deeply, otherwise I'll wind up having to do Light's historical omake on my own when I want the character's creator to be a part of that process. But anyways, is that just something your friend says? Or is that something directed at me? In which case I'm not that good (although I am my own harshest critic). Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Credits:
Gideon Valentine- WaterDragonMaverick
Jackson Queen- WaterDragonMaverick
Oliver Dodger- WaterDragonMaverick
Leif Crow- dreadburner94
Vladimir Schrodinger- WaterDragonMaverick
"Horsey-kun"- dreadburner94
Jewul Poe Andi- StitchedSanity
I don't own Fairy Tail!
Hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 8
Miriam continued to walk behind the caravan with Camille, while Rayner and Alistar walked in front of it. Ever since Rayner had returned from Jude's office, Miriam had noticed that he seemed a bit weary and Camille had started intensely staring at the man not long after, as if he had done something wrong, but she hadn't said anything about it to him.
"Hey Camille," Miriam called out, waiting until Camille had turned her head towards her before continuing, "Is something wrong? You've been staring pretty hard at Rayner for a while now, did the idiot do something when I wasn't looking?"
Camille's expression briefly changed to one of shock before turning solemn, "I guess there's no point in keeping it from you anymore, even though Rayner didn't want you to know."
"Know what?" Miriam asked, feeling a bit irked that Rayner had been hiding something from her.
"Rayner... he's..." Camille had begun saying until she stopped suddenly, "Stop the caravan!" she shouted, "Somethings not right here!"
"So you noticed too Camille," Alistar said as he and Rayner walked over to Camille and Miriam.
Camille nodded, "And I believe that they already have us surrounded as well," she pointed out as she summoned Arturia's Tear in her left hand and she requipped into an outfit consisting of a partially zipped-up burgundy jacket that had black trim on it over a dark gray shirt and a pair of black jeans tucked into a pair of dark gray combat boots.
"Should I flush them out?" Rayner asked.
"No!" Camille answered quickly, "In your current condition, magic is the last thing you should be using. You know that it'll only make it worse when you've had an attack so recently, don't think that I didn't notice that your mark grew larger," she said quietly.
Rayner looked off to the side with a guilty look on his face, "So what's the plan then?" he asked.
"I don't think you'll be needing to come up with a plan!" a deep voice interrupted.
The group turned their heads towards the forested area to their right, seeing a tall, muscular man with dark skin and black cornrows step out of the woods. He had violet eyes and was wearing a fur-lined vest, combat boots and a pair of ripped jeans. He had a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his left shoulder and three dagger-shaped earrings in his right ear, as well as four silver studs above his left eyebrow. The man was carrying a long metal spear in his hands that was crackling with purple electricity.
"Who are you?" Alistar asked as the man came to a stop.
"Name's Gideon Valentine, I'm the guild master of this Thieves Guild," he answered, "So, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way? Cause I'm really hoping you want to do this the hard way," he said as the other members of his guild stepped out of the woods.
"We must protect the caravan! Take down anyone who gets close!" Camille ordered as the rest of the team scattered to protect all four sides of the caravan. Camille took a deep breath before holding out her sword, "Gunblade: Load," she said as the hilt of her sword lit up the magic image of a gun trigger and thirty ticks lighting up along the hilt as well, resembling how many magic charges she had left before she needed to provide the sword with more magic.
Camille rushed Gideon and attempted to cut clear through him with a vertical slash, but one of his guild members quickly rushed in and blocked the attack with a card. Camille locked eyes with the man's brown eyes before jumping back and taking in the appearance of her opponent. He had short, spiky green hair and lightly tanned skin with an average build. He was wearing a red jacket over a white dress shirt with a pair of black dress pants and black dress shoes.
"Sorry," the man apologized, "It's just business, but I have to protect my guild master."
"There's no need to apologize for such an act," Camille said with a confident smirk on her face, "I can tell that you're an honorable opponent, my name is Camille Arturia. May I ask for the name of the man I'm facing?"
"Jackson Queen," the man responded, "And I too can tell that the opponent that I'm facing is an honorable one, may the best mage win," he said with a calm expression before he drew a hand of cards and rushed towards Camille.
"Shit!" Miriam cursed when she realized that Gideon had escaped from Camille, "Get out of my way!" she yelled at the various thieves around her as she rushed in at them and leaped into the air as a dark, claw-shaped aura surrounded her hands as she cut through several of the thieves, "Night Slash!"
"Well you're quite the feisty one, aren't you miss?" a young man said as he walked past the unconscious bodies of the thieves that fell to the ground.
Miriam turned and looked at the young man, he stood at about 5'5" with lightly tanned skin and a scrawny build. He had relaxed orange eyes and orange hair that was in a slightly grown out buzz cut. He wore a dark straw hat on his head and a red t-shirt with black slacks, leather sandals, and a gold chain around his neck.
"You know," Miriam started as she glared at him, "I'm not done with your friends yet, so unless you want them to be in even worse pain, I suggest you hightail it out of here."
"Why should I worry about them?" the young man asked, shocking Miriam, "Oh, my names Oliver Dodger by the way," he added with a small, polite bow, "Shall we start?"
"Night Emblem!" Miriam yelled with her arm stretched out towards Oliver as the claw marks on the unconscious bodies around him started to glow and then release a massive explosion around the young thief. Miriam eyed the smoke cloud with caution, while wondering if the explosion had taken him out, "Earth Magic!" she gasped as she saw a crumbling dome made out of earth where Oliver was standing.
"Surprise!" she heard from behind her as Oliver erupted out of the earth as ax-like blades made out of stone formed on his arms, "Edge-Breaker!" he yelled as he brought the axes down on Miriam.
Alistar was currently surrounded by most of the thieves on the far side of the caravan, "I don't see anyone of note here," he sighed, "Ah well, it's easier to cut through waves of grunts than it is to find one of the stronger members," he continued as the thieves inched closer to him, waiting for their chance to strike, "Now then! What's a thief's greatest sin?" Alistar asked the large group around him as a plain white mask that had two black lines cascading down and past the eye holes on it materialized in his hand, "Greed," he answered as he brought the mask up to his face and put it on, "Mask of Mammon," he announced as a dark and foul magic began to swirl around him as the thieves began to back away in fear.
"Is that guy even human?" one of them asked as he felt the enormous amount of magic power curling off of Alistar.
"He didn't seem that strong before," another one, who happened to be very good at sensing magic power, whimpered, "He even seemed to be the weakest!"
"Dark Wave," Alistar announced as he swept his arm in front of him, sending out a wave of dark magic through the group of thieves.
"Rragh!" Gideon shouted as his spear was thrusted at Rayner and into the ground, with Rayner barely having enough time to dodge the electrically charged tip, "All your doing is dodging! Fight back!" the man yelled after growing frustrated with Rayner.
"Sorry, but I don't really want to touch that spear," Rayner apologized in jest, "But you're right, hopping around won't get me anywhere," he said as he held out his arm, 'Sorry Camille, but with everyone busy, I don't have a choice,' he thought as he prepared his spell, "Forge Magic: Gáe Bolg!" he shouted as a long spear with a dark gray shaft and an elegant silver blade materialized in his hands, "One weapon should be enough to beat you," Rayner announced with fake confidence, since he knew that he would need more than just one weapon to have a shot at winning.
'That spear. How does he possess such a legendary weapon?' Gideon thought, "I'll just kill you before you even get here," he announced as he transformed his spear into necklace and put it on, "Energy Make: Shuriken!" Gideon shouted as he released several shuriken made of purple electricity towards Rayner as he dodged and weaved through them while using his spear's special ability to ensure that he would reach Gideon.
Rayner smirked as the tip of his spear reached Gideon, piercing straight through the man's right shoulder, "Is that it?" Rayner asked as he looked up at the man's face, which was smiling.
"Energy Make: Armor," he said quietly as his body became enveloped in a cloak of purple electricity, while electrocuting Rayner through his spear, causing him to scream out in pain until he was sent flying from the electrical current as his spear dissolved, "So it was just a projection then, and not the real thing," Gideon said in disappointment as he watched the spear dissolve.
"Dammit... all" Rayner cursed as he felt his tattoo begin to burn and grow, 'That spell must of set it off,' he thought as his body began to be wracked with pain, 'My curse...'
. : + : .
"So why did you drag me down beneath the deck?" Reno asked as she, Ajax, and Leon walked through the halls inside the ship.
"I smelled something familiar up there," Ajax answered as he continued to check every room for the source of the familiar scent.
"What exactly?" Reno continued to ask.
"A lachrima," Ajax responded, "Like mine."
"You mean a Dragon Slayer lachrima?" Reno asked as Ajax nodded a 'yes'.
"But everything smells too much like salt for me to pin down it's location, or should I say his location."
"His?" Reno said as she wondered who Ajax was talking about.
"Remember," Leon said as he hopped from Ajax's shoulder to Reno's, "Captain Nils said there was one other mage on board, and that it was his son," the Exceed explained.
"Oh right!" Reno exclaimed as she remembered, "Didn't Nils say that he got sea sick easily?" she asked as she watched Ajax nod in affirmation, "So you think he might be a Dragon Slayer?"
"I do," Ajax answered as a pungent odor hit his nostrils, causing him to cough from the awful stench, "I think I found him," he announced as he covered up his nose.
"Where?" Reno asked as she looked down the hallway.
"Up ahead in one of the rooms," Ajax said as he led her to the room that the odor was coming from.
"Eww," Reno whined once she could smell the odor, "It smells like puke and salt."
"How do you think we feel?" Leon asked as Ajax opened the door, revealing a miserable looking teenager lying on a cot.
From what they could tell, the boy was essentially a mini Nils, having the same shaggy black hair with droopy blue eyes. He was wearing a white, button-up shirt with brown pants and he had a pair of black boots sitting by the cot.
"What do you want?" the boy moaned from his position on the cot, "I'm not hungry so you can skip this room if you're bringing around food."
"We're here to ask you a question," Ajax said as he entered the room with Reno hesitantly following him.
The boy sat up, from what they could tell, he looked to be about 16, "What?" he asked.
"How can you live in here?" Reno asked suddenly.
The boy raised an eyebrow at the girls strange question before answering, "You get used to it."
"That's not what we wanted to ask you," Ajax said as he turned and gave Reno a hard stare before looking back at the sea sick boy, "Are you a Dragon Slayer?"
The boy looked at Ajax and turned his head slightly to the side, "Dragon...Slayer?" he said quietly to himself, wondering what that was, "Don't know what that is," he answered.
"You've got to be kidding me. You mean you don't even know what a Dragon Slayer is!?" Ajax yelled, causing the young boy to flinch in fear.
"Now now, Ajax, that won't solve anything," Reno said as she stepped in front of the Dragon Slayer before walking over to the boy's cot and finding a clean spot to sit down on, "My name's Reno Lozier and that's Ajax Cruz and Leon," Reno said as she pointed to each one of her friends, "What's your name?"
The young boy sat still for a moment, eying the strange trio carefully, "Leif... Leif Crow."
"Nice to meet you Leif!" Reno said happily, "Sorry about Ajax, he used be just like you, you know? When I first met him he couldn't handle being on a boat at all, but he eventually managed to get used to them," Leif looked at the blushing Dragon Slayer in bewilderment before turning his gaze back to Reno, "So I think he has one more question he wants to ask you if that's alright."
Leif nodded before turning back to Ajax, "What is it?"
"Have you ever had some kind of lachrima implanted into your body?" Ajax asked after calming down.
Leif looked down at the ground with a sad look, "A few years ago, one was put in my body to make me get better," Leif answered with a forlorn look on his face.
"Make you get better?" Reno asked.
"My mom and I were always sickly," Leif explained, "So when mom died, dad couldn't stand the thought of losing me too. So he had some guy implant a lachrima into me after getting the promise that it would make me healthy, but it hasn't really worked until recently and the man that oversaw the procedure disappeared afterward."
"It probably did work right away actually," Ajax interrupted while Reno was sniffing from the sad story.
"What do you mean?" Leif asked, "Right after it was implanted I only got worse."
"Dragon Slayers can't handle transportation, but some of us are able to overcome our motion sickness at least partially," the Dragon Slayer explained, "You've just been motion sick this whole time from being on a boat," Leif looked down at the floor with a confused look until the boat was wracked by a large wave, causing him to open up the window to empty out the contents of his stomach, "Well, come on Reno. We should go see what's going on up on deck now."
"Roger!" Reno said happily as she jumped up and followed Ajax and Leon out of the room, "Bye Leif! I hope you get better soon!"
. : + : .
"So what exactly can tell us about what's been going on in the Woodsea?" Jace asked the elderly man as he and his team rode inside the buggy, well Fareth was halfway inside the buggy.
"The price... was too high," Fareth moaned as his torso hanged outside of the buggy and Malon laughed at his misfortune.
Jeorge sweat dropped again at the mages antics before starting, "Well, you three seem to know the gist of what's going on, but I have my guess of who started all of this," the elderly man explained.
"Who?" Jace asked as Malon continued to bug Fareth.
"A girl went into the Woodsea before all of this started, a few of the people who went in afterward claim to have seen her in there, but most of them died not long after returning," Jeorge explained with a hint of anger in his voice as they arrived at the edge of the Woodsea, "Well, this is as far as I can take you three, good luck in there."
"Thanks for the lift!" Jace said as he and Malon jumped out of the buggy, "Hey Rave, carry Fareth would you?"
"Got it, onii-chan," Rave responded as he picked up the ailing Dragon Slayer and flew after his teammates as they entered into the Woodsea.
Jeorge sat in his buggy for a while as he waited for the mages to get far enough into the Woodsea before his body was enveloped in a cloud of light, revealing his true appearance as it dissipated. He looked to be about 14 years-old at 5 foot even, but the look in his yellow eyes showed that he was older than that. He had short violet hair and a lean physique with a pale skin tone. He wore a long-sleeved, gray and black striped shirt with a pair of black jeans and gray dress shoes. He also had a pair black headphones around his neck that resembled cat ears.
"For Dragon Slayers, neither of them seemed too impressive since they couldn't see through the illusion," the young boy said with a look of disappointment on his face, "All the better for me I suppose, should they be able to find that girl and take her down. Now then," the young boy grinned, "Which one will fall first?" he asked the horse as he patted it on the back.
"You don't seem very worried, Vladimir" the horse said as it spoke up and turned it's head to look at the boy, showing him it's purple and red, cat-like eyes.
"Should I be?" Vladimir asked with a wry grin, "That information broker certainly did his job well, finding out where the girl was hiding and what she was doing, and now we even have legal mages to do the job for us!" he added with a laugh.
"But what are you going to do if they learn the truth?" the horse asked.
"None of them seemed the type to listen to reason until it's too late, nor is the girl the type to explain what's going on," Vladimir said calmly, "But, if they do learn the truth before any of them go down, we'll just have to finish them off by ourselves and don't say you can't help because you lost your human body."
"There should be plenty of beasts for me to take control of in the Woodsea," the horse explained.
"Ah, I see," the boy grinned playfully, "Good to know you'll have my back, Horsey-kun!" Vladimir laughed as he jumped onto the horses back.
"Where is this girl," Jace asked after they had walked through the Woodsea for what seemed to be hours.
"Maybe the wild beasts got to her and ripped her to shreds?" Malon suggested with a laugh as Willow happily cooed along.
"We've hardly seen any monsters either," Rave added as he flew next to Jace.
"Something has them all spooked," Fareth explained, having recovered from his motion sickness once more, "It isn't natural or maybe they're staying out of something else's territory."
"Wait!" Malon suddenly called out.
"What is it?" Jace asked as they all stopped.
"There are souls of the departed ahead," she said with an unusually serious tone, "I'm gonna ask them for directions!" Malon exclaimed as her usual personality showed back up as she hopped on over to where she sensed the spirits as Willow followed her as the spirits began to whisper to her.
'Things are not as they seem.'
'Turn back for your own safety.'
'The beasts pursue you even now.'
"I don't understand," Malon said quietly to the spirits who were whispering things in her head, "What are you talking about?" she asked.
'LEAP!' a spirit commanded, allowing Malon to narrowly dodge the large hammer that had smashed into the ground where she was standing.
"Where did she come from?" Jace asked in astonishment.
"We didn't even notice her coming," Fareth added as the dust cleared from the impact, revealing a young girl who looked to be about 15. She had long, light blond hair that was worn in two pigtails, with the tip of one being dyed red while the other one was dyed black. She had, bright, seemingly glowing, light blue eyes, a small nose and plump lips. She was wearing a half black, half red, v-neck shirt that had a white diamond in the middle of the front with a pair of dark blue, ripped jeans and black combat boots. The girl was also carrying a large, wooden hammer which she seemed to be able to move around rather easily.
The stood there and laughed hysterically for a little while, "Aww, did you get a booboo?" she asked as she looked over at Malon.
'Jewul... Poe... Andi. Not... your' the spirit whispered in Malon's head as it faded away.
. : + : .
Jayne Satsuki sat at the bar of the guildhall, writing on a piece of paper while Jezabelle, Roseala, and Salina sat not far off from her.
Jezabelle looked over at the younger girl and smiled, "Still writing that FanFiction?" she asked.
"Yep!" Jayne answered brightly as she continued her work.
"Who're you writing about this time?"
"RayMiri! My current OTP!" Jayne answered as she held up the paper for Jezabelle to read, causing the older woman to blush upon seeing the smutty writing about the two mages.
"I always thought that Camille and Rayner were a thing," Jezabelle said as she looked away from the paper, while trying to get the image of Rayner doing that to Miriam out of her head, causing Salina to laugh, "What?"
"Trust me Jezabelle," Salina said after she had calmed down a bit, "Those two are more like brother and sister than anything else."
"I suppose you've known them longer than anyone else here. Although I'm not really here enough to tell anyways," Jezabelle added, "Ugh... please get me a drink Salina," Jezabelle asked as she set some jewels down on the bar, "That image isn't going away any time soon."
A/N: That chapter gave me a little bit of a hard time this week. Usually I managed to finish them in one long sitting, but this chapter made go back again and again to work on it until I finally finished it.
Anyways, quite a few characters introduced in this chapter, mostly because most of them were not mine and one of them will be joining the guild (which is not one of my characters mind you).
Well, anyways. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please remember to leave a review!
Your Host,
dreadburner94.