A Rift Between Worlds
We don't own Fairy Tail
CHAPTER FOUR
If there was never a bandit base in creation that didn't scream, "Hey, look here! Here is where the bad guys hide!" then this one would take the cake. Not only was it in the creepiest, darkest spot of the whole wooded forest, but it was also surrounded by an ominous fog that hung like a veil of urban smog around the entry to an old, abandoned building.
"I like the subtlety," Trevet says sarcastically, pulling a deadpan from his bag of tricks.
"Yes. Very Mid Century Vampire," Bickslow comments.
"Hmm. I would have called it more along the lines of Desperate for Attention," Neomi mentions.
"This thing's more desperate for attention than Juvia is desperate for Gray to be inside her," The brunet comments in a cheeky manner.
"Well, it's not like I picked the hideout," the bandit harps from his frozen spot. "And, someone get me outta this thing. I can't feel my fingers!"
"Humph. I'm surprised you're just worried about your fingers. You're frozen from the waist down," Neomi comments. Withdrawing her propeller mechanism from the ice cube, she waits for Gray to put on the defrost.
The raven-haired teen puts his hands onto the ice as he lets the bandit free of his frosty shackles.
The water melts off his body instead of shattering. When all is said and done, the masked male stands with his entire body shivering as ice water runs down his drenched pants. "C-C-C-Come t-t-t-t-this w-w-w-way," he chatters while walking towards the door. Once in front of it, he rasps knuckles across the door in a certain manner. Seconds later, a panel on the door shifts out of the way. "F-f-f-found some m-m-mages that w-w-want to join the t-t-team. Got a R-R-R-Rift Mage with me."
"Alright, come on in." A gruff voice grunts as the panel closes and the door opens, letting the group inside.
"Nice place you got here," Tre comments as they all head inside, "Very...homely."
The inside of the lair is no better than the outside, dank and dark filled with large sacks, a poorly-lit fireplace and strewn across the room are ramshackled and poorly made pieces of wooden furniture.
Muttering under his breath, Bickslow comments, "This is an insult to carpenters everywhere." His fingers run across dusty furniture that clearly came from a once wealthy time period only to live in current ruin and seeing his fingertip coated over in a thick mask of grey, he runs his hands down interior wainscoting.
"Yeah, well just keep your tongue in your mouth, and we can get out of here before we have to see anymore offendments," Neomi warns. Her head turns towards Juvia and Gray. The Ice Mage still has his shirt on at the moment, and Juvia covered her guild mark with her long coat.
Trevet quickly wraps some bandages he has in his pocket around his freshly applied guild mark, which he got before he picked up Neomi from Fairy Hills. Happy with the way the gauze covers the cyan guild mark on his outer right forearm, the brunet continues along as if nothing had happened.
"So, which one of you is the Rift Mage?" their new escort wonders after telling the soaking wet mage to take a hike.
Raising her gloved hand, Neomi chimes, "That would be me."
Perverted eyes give her a slow once over. They went from the combat boots then to her taut thighs, full chest, and finally to her face. Without her aviator hat on, Neomi's red hair was running all around her face to cradle it with long, red-orange waves. She was cute, and she knew it.
"Boss will want to see you before anyone else. You take that cute arse of your up them there stairs. He'll be the first door on the right. Getcha a pretty little guild mark to go on that body of yours," the escort commented, giving her a wink from his rounded face.
"Of course," Neomi cheers with a mock salute. After giving a wink to her own comrades, she happily be-bops up the stairway beside the fireplace then disappears down a darkened corridor.
"Juvia worries for Neomi," the water mage mentions, leaning into her Gray-sama.
"She'll be fine. She can take care of herself," Gray reassures. His hand comes on top of her skull. Musing up her hair, he continues to follow the others.
"I'm more worried about what Neomi will do to the Boss instead of what he'll do to her," Bickslow comments.
"She's got this. She's an honorary Dreyar." Tre smirks.
"Oh, so you are together?" Bickslow questions, a hint of something slightly tinging his words.
"She's my...well I'm calling her this, 'adopted' sister," Tre begins, "So, to me at least, she's one of the family."
"That's not the question. The question is; have you slain it?" The Seith Mage smirks.
"Slain what?" The brunet deadpans his comrade.
"You can't be that dumb, the poon!" He exclaims.
"Poon?" Tre tilts his head.
"Have you fucked her?!" Bix says as if it's the most obvious thing ever.
"What?! No! I said she's like my sister, therefore, it would feel like incest!" Trevet snaps at the Seith Mage.
"He has a point there," Gray adds.
"Juvia wants to know when we're going to start our job," a water mage pops in to break up the subject. Her big, blue eyes look from one mage to the other as she waits for an answer.
"Job?" their bandit escort asks with a narrowed gaze. "What job are you talking about?"
Wrapping an arm around Juvia's shoulders, Trevet covers with, "The first bandit job we have. When are we starting it up?"
Pressing his hand into a bookshelf, the bandit escort reveals a hidden pathway. "There's a group going into Greater Minor as we speak. We test the newbies out on jobs, so you can tag along with that group."
"All right. Quick question; do you have any books on Rift Magic?" The brunet asks, "My friend knows a bit but I know nothing and she won't tell me anything so can I get some books please?"
"Rift Magic is reserved for the Boss and only the Admins. You can't even get to the admins being low-level entries like the rest of us," he explains. After reaching into a closet at the end of the creepy corridor, he tossed some bandit masks and hoods at the group. "This is the uniform. If you come back alive, you'll get your mark."
Muttering to his teammates, Gray mentions, "We have to get to the Greater Minor mayor and tell him we're undercover while we're out there."
"Okay sir," Trevet salutes, "We'll get that group and come back unharmed!"
"And, we can snoop around for Rift Magic stuff when we come back," Bickslow mentions as he pulls off his visor. Red eyes are revealed for the first time since meeting the guy, and Trevet checks out the strange tattoo across the mage's face.
"Nice ink," he mentions to the mage.
"Thanks. Now, let's fuck some shit up."
Our redheaded Rift Mage has just entered the office of the leader of the bandits. The man is relaxing on the only decent piece of furniture in the messed up place; a nice black leather chair.
"Aren't you a cutie? Come sit on my lap," The perverted man with the long chin grins as Omi enters.
With a seductive grin running across her lips, Neomi states, "Already trying to get something, and you haven't even offered me candy first. Sounds to me like you're missing a step, Mister."
"Alright cutiepie," The man says as he produces a red sweet, "Want a lollipop?"
Plucking the candy from between the man's fingertips, Neomi pops the sweet into her mouth while taking a spot on the man's lap. "So, what's a big, hunk like yourself doin' lookin' for a Rift Mage. Eh, sweet thing?"
"Well sweet thing, if we collect enough of their raw power, we can attain the Grand Magic World, and all non-magic users will be gone forever!" The leader cackles.
"How would I come in handy then?" Her hands found their way to his closely shaved head. Running her fingers across the spiky lengths of regrowing hair, Neomi waits patiently, but all of her flirting wasn't for just anything. As she kept him distracted with her light touches, Neomi was taking in her surroundings. The entire Boss's room was lined with bookshelves. She saw works made by Zeref and his followers. She noted important items like how to create portals to the past, present, and future. But, she had yet to see anything on Rifts or Rift magic. That was the reason she was up here. She needed to find that book or any information at all. Neomi could not fail her sophomore year of university. That would be a serious kink in her money.
"I need your…..," The man pauses as he runs a hand along Omi's well-tone thigh, "...abilities to get to the Grand Magic World, my pretty."
As Neomi tries her best to hold back the bile steadily inching its way up her throat, she reclines against the male's body. "Just how would that world. My powers tend to be uncanny and strange. Also, why are Rift Mages so few and far between."
Still stroking her thigh, the Boss explains, "Rift Mages are rarely born. Their ability to hop between worlds is so volatile that the world can only hold so many of them, and each one is prophesied." His hands made their way up Neomi's arm to grab her chin. Pulling her eyes to his, he added, "Tell me. Were you born in another world?"
"As a matter of fact I was, big boy." Omi says teasingly. Maybe, I'm not hallucinating. Maybe… all of this is… real? "So, what exactly do I need to do when I get to Crocus?"
"Those fools are working on a portal to stop dragons from taking over the world. Acnologia specifically. When that gate opens, I'm going to need you to hack it."
"Hack… a portal…"
"Precisely! There's a sliver of time where you can stop the portal from going back into time. I want you to use your magic to take control of the portal. You'll use it like you use your revolver, but on a grander scale. There's never been a Rift Mage alive that hasn't been able to alter the fate of this world. With you on my arm. We can change it to better the life of mages."
"Alright boss, I'll do it!" The redhead smiles brightly. And, it's not like I don't already know what's going to happen during the Grand Magic Games. I can warn everyone about it before it even happens. Maybe, Gray won't die, and Ultear can stay young… Yeah. That's it! I'll become everyone's angel.
"I knew you'd see reason. Now, to get into the Grand Magic Games, I need you to infiltrate a guild. Just how wicked are you, beautiful?" he wonders, stroking her under the chin like some prized pet.
Grinning mischievously, Neomi purs, "How wicked do I need to be?"
"Wicked enough to not get attached to those Fairy Fools. I have direct orders from Raven Tail to hack into that guild. You do this for me, beautiful, and I'll make you a queen of the Ultimate Magic World," he explains.
Crossing her long, muscular legs, Neomi mentions, "What if I told you that I'm running with one of the Dreyar spawn as we speak? Pathetic man thinks that he can stop Ivan. Holds a life-long grudge over him for ruining his family. What Dreyar would suspect a loving comrade to betray him for the man he hates most in the world?"
"A cunning woman indeed. Go back to him then. The faster you get accepted into that guild, the higher our chances of partaking in the games." His hands ran slowly, leisurely, off her body as she rose. Leaning his chin on his long hand, the unnamed Boss adds, "Also, the name is Kai. What may I call you?"
"I go by Holly Rose if you don't mind me sayin'," she lies with perfect smoothness.
"Alright then, Holly, to the Ultimate Magic World!" he cheered with a wine glass that had been sitting on the table the entire time.
Giving a mock salute, Neomi spun on her heel before heading out of the door. As she closed Kai's office behind her, Neomi thought, I've gotta warn the Dreyars.
The Town of Greater Minor
Trevet and the others have arrived in the town. Letting their guide, who wasn't the most observant man, get in front meant they could disappear.
"Alright team, let's warn the mayor!" Tre cheers/whispers.
"Never thought a Dreyar would act more like Natsu," Gray comments under his breath.
"What was that?!" The brunet says, his tall form exuding a menacing aura. Down here...
Grinning at that comment, Bickslow adds, "Someone's gotta go with the bandits, so they don't get suspicious. Since Gray and Juvia love spending time with each other, I volunteer them."
"Juvia would love to warn the mayor with Gray-sama, but Juvia worries for Neomi-san."
"Relax Juv, me and Bix will kick the asses of these bandits, first the one we're travelling with." Trevet smirks, "You and Gray get some alone time until you have to talk to the mayor."
As Juvia latches onto Gray's arm, the Ice Mage shouts, "Is no one going to make sure Omi is okay?"
"Ah. She's fine. I bet she's done broke the Boss's spleen," Trevet mentions, not worried about the Rift Mage in the slightest. Catching sight of more of the bandits heading to town, he adds, "And, we have bandits to snag."
"Go get 'em, babies," Bickslow snickers.
"Get 'em! Get 'em!" The totems cry as they whizz off.
A bandit is halted dead in his tracks when one of the totems stops inches from his face. He barely has time to mutter "What the…" before his body is blasted back by green magic. The other four totems do the same thing, and Bickslow takes the guys out with ease as he runs next to Trevet.
The brunet turns his hands into blue gemstones and increases their size as he brings them down upon the multitude of bandits before him. They were cleaning house faster than the dirt crawled out of Spooky House Central. While the myriad of confused bandits watch their teammates fall like flies, a sudden howl comes ripping through the woods.
In a flash of canvas and metal, Neomi Sumer squeezes down on the trigger of her revolver. At least, the guys assume it to be her. Her entire body is covered up in bandit regalia. Her twin thigh sheaths are the only things marking her as Neomi, and her battle cries are the only thing giving her that same title.
When her black coated body lands like a hawk atop a bandit, her head lifts to see more of them approaching.
Stepping up to the plate, Trevet removes his shirt and hands it to Omi. A smallish stitched scar shining on his shoulder blade is visible as he stands in front of his friends before shouting at the bandits, "STOP RIGHT THERE!"
As Trevet runs off, Neomi hollers out, "Fan Service!"
"Why should we stop for a brat?" The bandits taunt.
"Omi" The brunet says simply.
"What?" she barks back.
"While my brother was taking his beauty nap I only got stronger! Just watch!" Trevet yells as he cracks his knuckles and a large, cyan-coloured magic seal appears in front of him "ICE DRAGON'S…...ROOOOOOOOOOOARRRRRRRRRR!"
"You're a—" Neomi gasps.
"He's a—" Bickslow breaths.
"DRAGON SLAYER!"
Tre's breath had knocked down most of the bandits save four, who still stood tall.
"We ain't backing down!"
"No way!"
"Alright," The brunet shrugs "Freeze." Tre snaps his fingers and three of them turn into solid ice.
"Babies, let's do it! Baryon Formation!" Bickslow hollers out to top it all off. Five tiki heads charge up to release his pentagram shaped blast.
"Dimension Break!" Neomi shouts after firing two rounds of her freshly reloaded revolver. One blast fires a portal against a tree trunk, and another blast opens another rift for the Baryon blasted mages to fall into. When they enter one, they exit the other with burns marks and pale skin, the life sucked out of their horrified faces.
"Laxus has jack shit on me!" Trevet cheers.
Snickering, Neomi pulls out a new trinket. Her thumb presses on another pressure plate. Once released, a net flies out of the tiny creation. "Trevet, we need to head back to Magnolia ASAP. I have information the whole guild needs to hear," she explains instead of rejoicing in their victory. "Also, we can't go back to base and get the boss."
"Why not?" Bickslow complains, pouting in a childish manner.
"Because I said so," she snaps without brokering any more mouth.
"Okay Omi. I can use my Dragonslayer Magic to freeze our way through the forest," Trevet begins, "You two are the first to know about my Dragonslayer Magic; do not, I repeat, not, tell anyone else."
"You've got my word," Neomi explains. "Is this all of them?"
"Should be," The brunet says with an assessing nod.
"Good. Bickslow, possess that net, so we can take these goons to the mayor. I have to explain to him what's going on," she states, getting bossy all of a sudden. Her wings pull out, and she hovers in the air overhead. "We have to get back to Magnolia as soon as possible."
"On it," the Seith Mage replies. His babies slip from their totem shells and into the net encompassing a group of grumpy mage bandits. "But, what's the rush?"
"I'll explain it when we get back. Sadly, Greater Minor isn't going to be rid of their bandit problem. I doubt we'll get paid our jewel when this is all said and done," she mentions, voice going hollow as she stares down the icy path Trevet made for them.
"Wait! We're forgetting Gray and Juvia!" Tre exclaims whilst slapping his forehead.
"No, we're not. They're at the mayor's place. Same place we're going," Bickslow comments as he leaves two totems to rest under each purple and steel toed boot. "Gray was right about that Natsu comment. Sure you ain't a Dragneel?"
"In all fairness, I was sure we were heading back to Magnolia now," Trevet sighs, "And no. Last time I checked I'm not a Dragneel."
"I just said that we had to get these guys to the mayor," Neomi exasperates. She face palms. "Ya know, what? Forget it. Let's just go drop these guys off. I'll tell the mayor what's up. We'll get our Gruvia on, and we can go back. But, we'll probably want to get a hotel in Clover Town. It's turning dark. By the time we get there it'll be pitch."
"Let's go get everyone's favourite couple then crash out in Clover Town!" The brunet exclaims as he, Omi and Bix head towards the mayor's residence.
As she and Bickslow fly overhead, him on his totems and her with her wings, Neomi comments, "Firstly, my OTP is Gajevy. Secondly, it's probably going to rain soon. Hopefully, we can make it to Clover Town before those clouds burst." Her eyes move up to the darkening clouds overhead. Sure enough, they looked ready to pop at any second.
A few moments later and the group had finally made it into Greater Minor. The clouds Neomi was worried about were gathering in closer, and as she lays her feet down in front of the blue and black headed mages they were searching for, she states, "Might as well turn right back around. We have to see the mayor again."
"Juvia was so worried about you!" the blue headed water mage cries. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Juvia. Thank you, but—"
"Did you get the Boss?" Gray breaks in.
"No, but we need to talk to the mayor. I have a lot of important—"
"Yeah, we totally cleaned it up out there. Bickslow got all the bandits."
"CAN I TALK, PLEASE!" Neomi snaps, more demanding for everyone to shut up than asking a question.
"Y-yes, ma'am," Trevet and Gray stutter at the look on the Rift Mage's face. Bickslow's expression was that of I-told-you-so.
"Thank you," she expresses in a huff of hot air. After setting her hair to rights, Neomi explains further with, "I talked to the boss in there. We aren't going to be able to take out all of the bandits for this plan to go down the way that it needs to. Now, can you direct me to the Mayor's house?"
"Juvia knows the way!" Juvia cheered with her hand suddenly raising in the air.
"Good girl Juvia, I'll bake you a cookie," Tre teases.
"Juvia only wants Gray-sama's cookies," Bickslow taunted, following behind Omi's sassily sashaying hips. "And, I wouldn't mind a batch of Omi's."
"Sexual innuendos for days!" Trevet exclaims, throwing his hands into the air.
Releasing a pent up breath, Neomi silently follows Juvia. Her eyes stay on high alert for any mages that may have slipped by, but by the short jaunt it was to the Mayor's house in this tiny town, Neomi didn't get to see much. A few wooden homes, thatch roofs. Actually, there didn't look to be much worth stealing around here. If that was the case, then just why did this town have such a bandit problem?
Even so, her knuckles rasp three times against the front door of the Mayor's home. In a few moments the door opens up to reveal a short, fat maid. Her plump face check Neomi out from black bandit attire to bright orange-red hair. After making some kind of assumption about her, the ground lady questions, "Yes?"
"We need to talk about your bandit problem," Neomi mentions. Her head nods in the direction of a passle of unconscious mages floating in a net possessed by Bickslow's totems.
"Oh! Yes! Yes! Of course! Of course! I saw your clothes and just assumed..." Her words trailed off. "Yes! Yes! Must get the Mayor. Must get the Mayor." With a hasty waddle, the woman rushed off only to reappear at the door. "Come! Come! Get in here! Get in here! The mayor must see you! Yes! Yes!"
"Lead the way miss," Tre says as he lets the portly woman lead them inside the building.
Bickslow's eyes check out the wooden furniture lining the decorated hallway and the sitting room after the maid finds them a spot to rest. "The other building was an insult to carpenters, and this one looks like a compliment," he notes while settling onto lush, purple cushions that match deep purple curtains lined in gold.
"Livin' the lavish life for sure," The brunet gapes at the excessive decoration.
"Very! Very! Master is rich! Very rich! Also kind! Kind!" The maid chirps loudly.
"I would hope so. The house is much more attractive than the village," Neomi mentions with a grumble.
"I'm with Neomi," Gray points out in a low voice.
"I'm suddenly getting flashbacks of a filler episode in the Fairy Tail anime about an episode titled Lightning Man. Laxus was in a situation similar to this," Neomi whispers more under her breath than anything else.
Hearing her, Juvia asks, "What happened in the anime?"
"Laxus and the Raijinshuu got duped by the Mayor. Made him pay for something Laxus didn't even do just to milk money out of the guild."
In the background, Tre is quietly singing, "~I am the lightning man, nunununununu."
"Everybody, shut up. Here comes the mayor. Or… I think that's… him."
Eyes trail to the direction of Gray's fading words, and soon enough they see just why. The group's eyes go up… and up… and… up.
Contrary to most common mayors, the mayor of Greater Minor had nothing minor about him. He stood nearly seven feet tall with a head that had to duck to get underneath the archway leading into the sitting room. Across his body was a nice suit. A top hat rested on his arm, and in his other hand was a cane tipped in gold. Polished black shoes encased large feet, and when the man took a seat in the largest chair of the room—a massive leather, lounge chair with golden buttons lining the back—the giant's essence encompassed the entirety of the room. At least, it did until he spoke.
In a voice far too feminine for his own good, the beast greeted, "Hey, y'all! Heard you had some news about Greater Minor's bandit problem. Whatcha got to tell me 'bout it? I already had a conversation with that cute Ice Mage and his Water Mage lady."
"We're happy to inform you that most if not all of the bandits have been dealt with," Trevet says cheerfully, "So they shouldn't bother the town anymore."
"Fabulous!" the mayor cheers.
"But, there's a catch," Neomi breaks in, making sure that the man doesn't hear Bickslow and Gray biting their tongues to keep from laughing at the man's tiny voice.
"Catch? Honey, do go on."
"Yes, sir. The catch is that the bandit's boss can't be captured. We need him for another mission. Apparently, my magic has the power to activate something called the Ultimate Magic World. They want me to go to Crocus and create a portal to activate during the games," she explains, causing the brows of everyone in the room to rise.
"I was afraid of such," the mayor mentions in his… tiny voice.
"Afraid of such?" Juvia wonders, keeping her cool despite Bickslow and Gray covering their mouths to keep their laughter in check.
"Yes, dear. You see, this town has a secret. There's a reason it's so difficult to get here, and there's a reason those darn bandits just won't leave us alone." He crosses his massive biceps over his expansive chest. Leaning back in his leather seat, he explains, "Greater Minor got this name because it's an alpha and omega. The town was created not too long after Zeref was born. That's where the alpha comes in, but everything is supposed to return to the town when Zeref dies. Legend has it that a girl from the sky will come to either destroy the world for Zeref or save the world from Zeref. The Machine, a living machine, is something Zeref created by accident in his early years. It has the power to harness the magic of a Rift Mage and project it into the world. All ya need is for a big boom of energy to transfer into Earthland, and with the right Rift Mage all hell's gonna break loose. Underneath this house is Zeref's machine. It goes by the name of Omega. That's why this house looks so dern nice. I had to cover it up with something nice and shiny to keep people from seeing that it's really nothing but a massive fortress encased in metal and chains to hold in Omega. But, why can't we just catch that bad bandit boss and get rid of him?"
"Because he's working with Raven Tail," Neomi explains, eyes shifting to the sudden clenching of Trevet's fists.
"Raven Tail? What on earth is that?" The flamboyant mayor asks.
"A damned evil guild filled with sadistic bastards," Tre growls, clenching his fists tighter. "I don't know what they're up to, but until we figure it out, we have to keep your bandit master around for information."
"Is there nothing that you can do about him? Nothing at all?" the maid asks from her spot at the doorway. Her body waddles in to lay a tray of treats down on the coffee table. After filling five glasses with tea, she returns to her spot beside the mayor.
Red locks go flying as Neomi shakes her head. "No, ma'am. I have the master convinced that I want to be a part of his scheme. I have to keep him around to keep up that image… unless…"
"Yes? Go on, dear," the mayor encourages.
Pinstriped legs cross as Neomi presses a slim finger underneath pink lips. "Well, mayhap, there is a way. But… I don't know how well it would work out for our idea. I mean, we could still have Trevet and the others bring him in. It wouldn't be hard. I would then visit him to explain that I had to turn him in to keep up appearances. This is a dangerous game of cat and mouse that we're playing, but that's the only way we can solve your bandit problem for the moment."
"Anything is better than letting that wicked, wicked man get his mitts on Omega. Anything, anything," the maid encourages.
A hand stops her from continuing. "Your respect for my town is a lovely thing to hear, but you have a guild to keep safe. Do you believe that you could keep playing a double agent, honey?"
"Yeah. I think I could do it. As long as I have Trevet to bail me out if I get thrown in jail," Neomi explains. Her eyes toss to her slightly seething teammate. Yes, the news about Raven Tail's involvement had upset him the way that she had assumed it would. Either way, they weren't going to get anything solved if they just got pissed off at every turn. "Think you could bail me out if the Council gets involved, Tre?"
"Remember, gramps is one of the Ten Wizard Saints. I basically have diplomatic immunity," The brunet begins, "So I could get you out lickety split!"
"Oh, that is so lovely to hear, my darlings!" The mayor exclaims whilst prancing around. "I'm sure you can keep our quaint little town safe!"
"Absolutely," Gray assured from his reclined spot on the sofa. "There's nothing Fairy Tail can't do."
"Except for keeping from blowing everything up," Bickslow mutters under his breath, fully registering Gray and the rest of team Natsu's predilection for destroying everything when going after one thing.
"Hey! I have a hold on my Dragonslayer powers….oh shit," The brunet mumbles when he realizes he's spilled the beans to Gray and Juvia.
"I wasn't talking about you, numbskull," Bickslow sighs, cutting his eyes towards the Dragon Slayer incognito.
"What about a Dragonslayer?" Juvia wonders.
As Neomi pinches the bridge of her nose in order to gather patience, she rises from the sofa. Her body bows at the waist, and she states, "I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor, but we need to leave in order to warn the guild about the current situation."
"But, your reward!" the Mayor blurts out.
"Our reward?" she mouths.
"Yes, of course! This job just got a hundred times bigger than just a bandit problem. I'm enlisting you as Forces of Greater Minor. Accept this payment as reward enough. Whether you bring us the bandit master or not is fine by us. We just want to make sure that Fiore stays as peaceful as if is in this moment in time," he explains, pulling an envelope from his breast pocket to give to Neomi. "I trust that you will split this evenly out amongst yourselves. It pleases me to see young people so eager to save the world."
"Uh… Sure," Neomi mutters, accepting the reward thrust upon her. Her hands move to give the envelope to the leader of the group then she realizes something… None of them are leader material. Juvia was a Gray Follower. Gray was passive in expression and action. Bickslow just went with the flow. And… Trevet… he ran around like a chicken with its head cut off, complete tunnel vision… "I'll keep this until we get to the train," she explains, tucking the envelope with her leather satchel.
"Alright, alright. Is that everything? Everything? Will you be departing young ones? Departing soon?" The maid asks.
"Yes, ma'am," Juvia chimes. She wraps her arm around Gray's to drag him towards the front door.
"Follow the 'gonna divorce at 25' couple!" Tre exclaims as he begins to march after the two.
The group heads on out the door, but even as they do, Neomi can't help a strange feeling bubbling inside of her gut. The longer she stayed here, the less this felt like a drug induced hallucination. The details she was finding made all this seem real. She could feel emotion and pain. She could touch and see.
Moving her palm, so she could see it and the revolver she wore at a better angle, Neomi held it to the sun. The afternoon sky glinted off it as those deathly dark clouds parted for a shaft of light to hit her revolver. "This is so damned weird," she mutters before following her team back into the streets.
"Alright, so….." The brunet begins, "Just freeze our way through the forest to Clover Town or are we getting the bandit boss first?" He queries in a confused manner.
"Freeze?" Gray wonders. "I can do it, but it's going to take a lot of power."
"No," Neomi breaks in, stabbing Trevet in the ribs for his second slip of information in less than ten minutes. "I'll get us the train tickets, and you can go do your thing. There's some stuff I need to get done here first. I'll meet you at the train station."
"You're not going with us?" Bickslow queries, pulling his bandit mask off to replace it with his visor.
"No. I have stuff to do."
"Stuff for that boss?" Gray questions, suspicious creeping into his words.
"Yeah," she lies. "Yeah. Now, get going. That storm is going to come down at any second. The sooner I get those tickets the sooner we can miss it." Her fingers jabs up to a steadily blackening sky before she throws those same hands into her pockets. Backing up, she turns her back to the group, setting off without a word shared.
Taking the helm of the group, Trevet leads them all to the edge of town and the beginning of the forest that separates Greater Minor and Clover Town. For some reason, the path leading through the forest feels just the least bit different. Chancing a short glance in the direction of Juvia, Trevet watches her shoulders rise and fall in a clueless shrug. "Alrighty then! Let's go kick some more bandit ass!"
"So, we're totally ignoring Omi and heading to the bandit camp?" Bix asks with a tilt of his visored head.
"Yeah, why not? She's got something to do. I'm gonna let her do it. Is that a problem?" Trevet wonders, innocence in his tone of voice.
With his visor up on his forehead instead of covering his eyes, Bickslow watched Neomi's body fading deeper and deeper back into the small town. When she disappeared behind the corner of a building, he stated, "Yeah. Yeah, it is. Y'all go on ahead. I'm gonna see what Omi's up to." Turning on his steel toed boots, Bickslow's base shifts around his dark purple encased legs. In a few seconds he's jogging off in the direction Neomi was running along.
"Alright, time to freeze a path through the forest for later use!" The brunet cheers, raising his fist towards the sky.
"What are you getting all riled up for? You don't use ice magic," Gray points out. He pulls his black shirt over his head then tosses it to a heart eyed Juvia. Cracking his knuckles, Gray readies his hands. Once he's into position, he commands, "Ice Make: Floor!"
Tossing his black shirt off, the brunet shoves the raven-haired teen out of the way before yelling, "Ice Dragon's Den!", causing the ice to tear through the trees and form a tunnel.
"What the hell?" Gray asks when the sudden forest turns into a winter wonderland before his widening eyes.
"Another Dragonslayer?" Juvia breaths in astonishment.
"Yep. Trevet Dreyar; the Ice Dragonslayer!" The brunet exclaims as he turns to face his two remaining teammates.
A face comes up to smack Gray in the forehead. "Great. Just what we need. Another Dragonslayer to destroy more innocent villages. The local architecture is doomed."
"I'm not as destructive as Natsu," Trevet protests, "I've never destroyed anything! Well anything meaningful at least…." He trails off as he finishes.
"My point exactly," Gray snickers before hopping onto the sudden ice trail. Pushing himself off his black boots, he mentions, "At least there's a Dragonslayer that knows how to fight with style around now."
"I know that feel brother," Trevet smirks as he slides along his icy road through the forest.
Within a few minutes the group arrived at the same decrepit building that was the bandits house. Trevet stood on the left of the door. Gray stood on the right. With their hands in their pockets and their foot raised up, the two males burst down the entry of the structure while greeting, "Knock, knock, mother fucker."
"Gray! I got this," The brunet takes a big breath of air before yelling, "Ice Dragon's Roar!"
"You take that side, and I'll get rid of this one," Gray explains. Ice flows around his hands as he shouts, "Ice Make: Hammer!"
"Don't leave out Juvia!" a water mage proclaims. "Water Slicer!" Heated jets of water leap from Juvia's extended palms, and she uses them like a whip to clean up a mass of bandits hollering in the center of the room.
"Ice Dragon's…..WING ATTACK!" Trevet bellows as he leaps through the air, trails of ice on each hand as he slams into a large group of bandits.
"What the bloody hell is going on here?" the boss screams as he appears from his quarters. As soon as he exits, a glance is shared between two ice bearing mages. The two step one either side of each other to holler, "Ice Dragon's Crystal Shell!" Trevet's Dragon Roar and Gray's Ice Make: Lance fuse together to create a dragon shaped crystal beast. When its mighty jaws close around the Boss, his body is frozen in its state of petrified horror.
"Hey Gray, this would look great in an art gallery. We should call it; 'A Greater Minor Douche'." Tre snickers as he leans on the frozen boss's shoulder.
Snickering, Gray freezes the rest of the bandit brigade that Juvia had taken care of. When all the mages were present and accounted for, Juvia mentions, "I would be nice if Neomi-san was here to use her Rift Magic and send them to the council."
"I think the fiery pits of hell itself would be more fitting, Juvi," The brunet smirks.
"No joke. These bastards have some serious issues robbing a tiny ass place like that town. Anyway, we can find a lacrima on our way back to call about these guys. Then, the council can pick them up. I'm sure that ice will hold for several days, long enough for those slow ass officials to take care of them," Gray mentions. His body was already on its way out the door.
"I have a Sound Pod but no headphones, any song requests?" Trevet asks as he follows the Ice Make Mage outside, Juvia trailing close behind.
"How about 'Another One Bites the Dust'? Seems fitting right now," Gray snickers.
"Comin' right up Gray," Tre grins as he puts the song on as the three make their way through the icy tunnel to Clover Town.
"Juvia wonders what Bickslow and Neomi are doing right now," the water mage mentions. Her eyes dart back in the direction of Greater Minor. "She was right about that storm getting ready to break."
"Knowing those two and the things I saw back at Fairy Hills, probably some extremely kinky shit," Trevet shudders and looks at the confused Gray. "You don't know man, you don't know true horror until you see it."
"See what?" he wonders, a face full of trepidation and confusion.
"Omi had Bix tied up to a bedpost. Nuff said," The brunet shrugs.
"Damn. Bickslow made fast work of that one," he mentions, shuddering at what Trevet must have walked in on.
Meanwhile...
Crystalline blue eyes scanned around the back of the mayor's house as Neomi checked her surroundings. Abandoned. This entire town was abandoned. Neomi had snuck inside of each and every structure around, and all that she had seen was empty homes. Some even still had plates on the dinner tables. Old food was rotten and bugs ate away at the stench.
Leaning her back against the lavish structure, Neomi peered inside of a window. Inside she could see the maid was dutifully going about her daily duties, but the mayor was nowhere to be seen in the two story building.
Her teeth found their way to her bottom lip when the maid stepped by the window Neomi was creeping in. Plump hands made their way to the windowsill, and Neomi ducked beneath the glass when the panes flew up. "Ah. Much better. Fresh air is a good thing. A good thing. It is. It is," the maid sighs before spinning back into a living room.
Releasing a breath Neomi didn't know she was even holding, she rises back up. Her feet move soundlessly across a dusty trail, and she follows it behind the back of the house. She did not trust these people. Kind faces or no. There was something going on. The bandits. The kindly mayor. Alpha and omega. It was just all too strange. Then, there was the big deal. The fact that Neomi wasn't hallucinating. Even though she wasn't dumb enough to believe that she had simply fallen inside of her manga, she still couldn't rule it out. Thus, she was snooping—creeping harder than she had on that cute foreign exchange student she'd met in high school.
Her body dips behind a bush as Neomi gets on all fours. Hands pat around on the ground when she hears something make a thud beneath her. Hollow. Uh. Huh. Omi was about to see what this Omega thing was all about.
Rapping her fist against the hollow spot, Neomi begins to dust her gloved hands across the dirt. Dry grass and dead twigs fly away from her hands, and just as she begins to find something metal beneath her grasp, she freezes in her spot. Footsteps. Neomi hears them approaching from behind. But, they aren't stepping casually.
From her years of being a street rat, Neomi knew when someone was creeping, and judging the light feet pressing against this hot dirt, she knew someone was trying to sneak around. Her body drops. A leg shifts under a green shrub, and Neomi hides with her dagger already in her hands.
To her chagrin, a familiar visor-wearing mage pops his head round the corner and utters the immortal words, "What'cha doing?"
"Ugh!" Neomi hisses under her breath. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Shoo! Go! Scat! No one wants you here." Her hands move in wave-like motions before she sets to sheathing her dagger. Crawling out of the bush, Neomi withdraws her revolver.
"Whoa! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Bickslow gasps when the barrel of her gun gets trained on him.
"Leave! I told everyone I was gone. You were supposed to go. Now, leave before I Rift Magic your ass back to Magnolia," Neomi snarls, her finger getting ready to squeeze down on the trigger.
"Alright alright, I'm gone," The Seith Mage throws his hands up in defeat. "Sheesh, is it her time of the month?"
"Yeah. Blame it on my period like every other ignorant male who doesn't understand basic human aggravation," Neomi grumbles as soon as Bickslow starts to walk off. Once his body dips behind the corner of the building, she puts her hands on the steel handle of the metal cellar door she'd uncovered. "Hope this thing's been greased," she whispers in reference to squeaky hinges.
"That's what she said!" Bix quietly smirks as he peers round the corner before disappearing off hopefully for good.
Rolling her blue eyes, Neomi promptly drops into a metal shaft with no freaking stairs. Her breath is nothing but an airy curse as she ejects her wings to give her landing some ease. Booted feet hit the steel floor, and Neomi checks everything out.
Yeah, if this would have been the bandit's lair, Neomi might have had some respect for the guys. This place was fully decked out in steel, steel, and more steel. Gajeel would have had a heyday munching on all the technology down here. Chains. Manacles attached to the walls. This place was one part dungeon and three parts S and M so, Neomi made her way down further into the metal construct.
"For some reason, I'm starting to wonder just who is the bad guy," she mutters while looking around.
From the end of a longish corridor, Omi can hear the echoes of the mayor laughing. "Oh Ivan my boy," He chuckles, "I'll be certain to deal with those pesky fairies with extreme prejudice."
"You'd better Jean, or I'll have your head." The ostracized son of Makarov growls slightly.
"Fucking called it," Neomi whispers. She comes closer, getting down to sneak in as close to light trickling into the dark corridor. When her hand gets too close to the light, a new hand wraps around her mouth. Strong arms pull her backwards into something tall and firm.
"Shh," Bickslow warns as he looks over Neomi's head.
"Oh Bickslow-senpai~ Did you bring protection?" The redhead moans softly in a mocking manner. Her elbow pulls forward then jabs into his side. With a gust of air, he releases her, but neither one of them move too far from their spot. "Hear anything about Omega, he-who-cannot-take-orders?"
"Something along the lines of Ivan is the mastermind behind the Omega Project and the mayor is his little puppet," The Seith Mage says.
"Not what I was asking. Omega is supposed to be alive. Have you seen or heard anything living other than these two traitorous pricks?" she wonders. Grabbing onto his hand, Neomi leads them further away from the sliver of light in the doorway. When they were far enough that she was sure their voices wouldn't carry into the room, she waited for a response.
"It's alive?" Bix tilts his head in confusion, "Wait. What is Omega again?"
"The thing the bandit boss wants me to use to create Zeref Land with. If you were listening when the mayor was talking, he said that Omega was created to bring about that world. Omega is also supposed to be a living creature. Something I can utilize like a witch's familiar. I would assume," she explains. Her body moves from Bickslow, and she begins to look around the large variety of darkened hallways that led out like spider's legs from the main entry.
"Oh yeah. According to the material I found, Omega is a demon from a Book of Zeref, and a very powerful one at that," The Seith Mage states, "So whatever they want you to utilize won't be too happy with being a tool to a human."
"Material?" Neomi wonders. "What material?" As she questions him her hands are going through paperwork, books on shelves, and drawers.
"Couple of books the mayor left on his desk, me and the babies scrambled through the window," Bix smiles, his babies crying, "Desk! Desk!"
Smirking, Neomi looks up from a locked drawer she was breaking into with her screwdriver. "Ya know, you're a pretty handy guy, Bix. What else do you know?"
"That Laxus sleeps with a teddy bear," The Seith Mage chortles.
"Lucky teddy bear," Neomi snickers. With an ah-ha she finally jimmies the drawer open. Her hands quietly ruffle through the papers inside. It was a file cabinet to her surprise, but the files within were anything but ordinary. "Rosters on the demons of Zeref? What the hell is Ivan doing with Zeref's demons?" she wonders quietly.
"Hmm, what's Tartarus Omi?" Bickslow asks, holding the files up. His body was close to hers, and his babies were holding up documents while he ruffled through some on his own.
Flushing at their close contact, Neomi puts two hands on the file cabinet. "They're a dark guild, reported to be a part of the Balam Alliance and demon worshippers. I can't imagine that Ivan would have anything to do with freaks like these. I haven't gotten that deep into the Fairy Tail arc yet. I don't know too much about these guys to be honest." But, she did know that they were going to thoroughly trash Laxus and the Raijinshuu. Neomi had to stop it, keep everything from going wrong.
"From Trevet's description, it sounds like Ivan is probably just as messed up as this 'Tartarus' guild." Bix says.
Spinning around, Neomi wrapped her fists in the mantle draped across Bickslow's shoulders. "Bickslow, I'm going to tell you something completely freakish, but you have to promise to believe me. Okay?" Her big eyes bore holes through his visor, and after a second, she pulls it out of the way to see his surprised, crimson eyes.
"I promise," The Seith Mage swears, "Fire away."
"I know that you can see into my soul, so you know that I'm not bullshitting you when I say this. In three months there's going to be a massive gate built under the capital city. Only Celestial Spirit mages can open it up, but we can't let that happen. Dragons are going to come out of that portal and wreck havoc on Crocus. You have to make sure that you stay by Laxus's side, and I have to have someone look out for Gray. He dies during that time period. Anyway, if I tell you to do something, you had better do it. Okay? Or else Fiore is going to be in for a serious shit storm," she warns.
"Holy shit…...your soul makes it obvious you ain't lyin', but Gray dying? and dragons? This is making me dizzy…" Bickslow gasps, leaning on the wall for support.
"And, Lucy dies, too, but it's a futuristic copy of her. Not the real Lucy. But, I've got this crazy idea. What if… What if I took control of Omega? Instead of releasing the dragons, what if I closed the gate completely. It make take a Celestial Spirit wizard to open it, but I'm a Rift Mage. I should overpower it. Right?" she wonders despite doubting her own powers. If I'm actually going to do this, alter the entire plot of Fairy Tail, I had better make sure I'm strong enough to do so.
"Try it, whatever saves our hides. You said three months, right? That's around the time of the Grand Magic Games. I advise you come with me, Laxus and the other Thunder Legion Members to train. We understand when shit needs to get kicked into gear and everything's getting serious," The Seith Mage says with a whole hearted smile.
Two palms smack him on his broad chest and Neomi grins up at the mage. "Thank you, Bickslow. Speaking of getting into gear, let's see where they stashed Omega then get the hell out of here. I don't want our mayor knowing that we've been snooping."
"Seems like, according to the material, it's down the second corridor on the right when you enter the dungeon-like area, so somewhere nearby," Bix explains. His babies hastily set the room back to rights, locking the cabinet after returning files and slightly moved objects. One even closes the door on them, so no one knows the cellar door was ever opened.
Withdrawing her revolver, Neomi loads the cylinder with her bullets before slinking her way down the hall. Once more, she gets into stalker mode. Her feet make no sound. Her breaths are light and cautious. "You would think he'd have more security down here," she mutters.
"He has a giant forest that you can get lost in, why does home security matter to someone like him?" The Seith Mage says as he peers through the doorway to see a large, slightly tattered hardback book with the word 'Zeref' plastered across the front.
"That's… it," Neomi wondered as she stepped towards the book. It sat proudly atop of a metal altar. A glass case kept it shielded from all the world and fingerprints.
"Babies, can you get this open?" Bix asks his totems, which fly towards the case and shock the locks with green magical energy in response to his question.
"Oi! We ain't stealin' it. Are we?" Neomi hisses, grabbing Bickslow by the forearm.
"I thought we were stealin' it!" The Seith Mage hisses back, mocking Neomi's Southern Tennessee accent.
"Hell no!" she barks at the same time that sirens go off in the room. "Shit! Look! Look at what you did!" Hastily, Neomi dashes away from the scene of the crime, but already the doors were locking down. They made their ways to seal them in, and suddenly, Neomi noticed something. Vents. They were all over the place in the room, but they weren't air vents. Neomi knew that much when colored gas started rolling out of them.
"Use your damned Rift Magic, woman!" A flustered Bickslow yells, his voice competing with the blaring of the sirens.
Neomi launches her fifth round into the room, but no portal would come out of it. "Come on. Come on. Escape Rift! Work! Damn you!" Using the last bullet in the cylinder, Neomi emptied the revolver. "It won't work. You do something!"
"I've gotta do everything around here," Bickslow growls out. His body launches forward. After hauling Neomi fireman style over his shoulder, he holds her in place with a bold hand flat on the toned curve of her ass. "Babies, hack the system!"
In a flash of green energy, five totems shoot out. Their souls possess the gears working the machine, stalling it just in time for Bickslow to leap out the collapsing door, but it wasn't the only one coming down. At the end of the corridor, the doors were making their way to the floor. "Babies, keep it up! Stall all the bastards!"
A tendril of white paper flies towards the two as Omi yells, "Bix, watch out! Ivan can use Shikigami Magic!"
"The fuck is Shikigami Magic, and how the hell is Ivan even using it? He's not actually here. Is he?" Bickslow barks back as he slides himself and Omi underneath another metal door.
"Shikigami Magic allows him to control magic-infused paper dolls, he can basically command them like you with your babies!" The redhead explains as the Seith Mage dives and ducks under door after door, eventually reaching the exitway, which has no ladder.
"Shit! I can't use my babies because they've got the door—WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU DOING?" rips from his mouth when Neomi ejects her wings from their wooden sheaths. Wind blurs up all around them, and Neomi kicks a button on the side of her boots.
Steam releases as water and fire lacrimas activate jets on her feet. They two mages launch from the cellar right as Bickslow's babies release the door to cut off a flurry of white, paper dolls. When the jet power releases like used up nitrous, the two of them tumble to the ground in a sudden downpour. "Saving your ass," Neomi breaths when she lands on top of him.
"I'm grateful then," The Seith Mage pants, his body sapped of energy momentarily.
Water rolls all down Neomi's body. It soaks her red locks and smashes her white top to her body. Breasts rise and fall in a tantalizing display as she pants over the top of him, but that wasn't what got Bickslow's jaw dropping. What got his jaw dropping was Neomi's sudden outburst of laughter.
As her wet hair gets plastered to her face, she leans her head back to release the loudest witch's cackle he'd ever heard. She definitely didn't have a siren's voice as she sniggered from their hasty escape. "We could have died!" she laughs in hysteria.
Taking her chin in between his index finger and thumb, Bickslow presses his lips to hers whilst mumbling, "I wish you'd shut up sometimes."
Hands clench tight on broad shoulders, and Neomi's eyes fly open at the sudden contact. She could perceive his heat beneath his moistening clothing. She could feel the hammering of her heart. Those were all normal. What she did not expect was for the Seith Mage to lip lock with her!
Jerking back in a flurry of shock, Neomi's fingertips cover her reddened mouth. Skin goes from shocked pale to slight pink and finally to burning red as she shuffles off him in a flurry. "W-We've gotta get back to the others before that door opens up," pulls out of her stunned lips. Hauling Bickslow up to his feet, Neomi charges off with her hand wrapped around his forearm. Even as they ran off, she keeps thinking, He just…. k-k-kissed me!
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