My deepest apologies, it's been nearly a month! I knew I'd be busy, but a month?! Gahh! Forgive me! Anyways, please enjoy the latest chapter (: hopefully it's length can make up for lost time.

XXX

VOID SOUL: INANIS

XXX

"Auralie!" something strong shook her shoulders.

"Aura!" something light hit her face.

"Auralie!"

"Aura!"

"Auralie!"

Low mumbling's and murmurs flittered through her lips as she came out of her daze and looked around. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the scent of pine. Two hazy figures sat before her.

"Where am I?" she grumbled, rubbing the blur from her eyes.

"You failed," said Happy.

"Failed?"

"Well we know you can't fly, are you sure you actually have any magic?" said Natsu. Auralie looked above her and saw where she'd torn through the canopy of the trees.

"I don't remember giving either of you permission to drop me from three thousand feet. And yes I'm sure, it's the only thing that could explain everything up till now," she was annoyed at them for being so reckless.

"Well, there's only one thing left on the agenda," said Natsu.

"I'd really prefer to be done for the day, if you don't mind," Auralie said running her hands through her hair, this brought a devilish smile to Natsu's lips.

"I don't think you have a choice," she looked at him, raising an eyebrow, "You see, you can't get back without us, we're in the middle of the biggest forest of Magnolia,"

"M-middle of the forest…"

"If you want to get back, you'll have to find us first,"

"W-wait, let's not do anything rash here—" a large flame swallowed up Natsu and Happy, when it disappeared, they'd vanished. Hadn't they done enough? The entire day had been spent trying to squeeze magic out of her with tests: break the rock, dodge the mud, hit the target and (unbeknownst to her) fly.

The sun was starting to sink. She looked around, as far as she was concerned, all forests looked the same and therefore all were terrifying. Especially alone. She stood hastily before her courage left her and began to wander, listening intently. The lower the sun sank into the sky the bigger the pit in her stomach became. She was humming to herself when she heard twigs snapping in the not too far distance, her stomach flipped. Her feet didn't run like she wanted them to, her ears strained. Something, something was definitely coming.

Afraid she'd be heard if she moved, yet afraid she'd be spotted if she stayed, she looked ahead, paralyzed. Whatever it was would soon be upon her. She forced herself to move, taking refuge behind a tree with her back pressed against it. She heard the snaps of twigs underfoot behind her. The steps were too heavy to be an animal. It wasn't just the footsteps that terrified her— the stench of something rotting, dead and cold crept closer.

It was nearly upon her, she shivered, what if it finds me? I have nothing to protect myself with except my ridiculously elusive magic. A single, frustrated tear fell down her cheek, she took staggering deep breaths to try and calm her nerves. The monster was only a couple of feet away, the closer it got, the colder the air became. As she exhaled white clouds floated in front of her face. She clamped her hand over her mouth and nose. It stopped and began to sniff.

Something dislodged from the tree and fell lightly on her head. No! She gritted her teeth and forced herself to stay still. The hairs on her head tickled as something sifted through them. Don't move, don't move, don't move, don't move! She clenched her eyes shut as what must have been an insect started to move towards her neck. A chill slithered down her spine. She couldn't take it anymore, she roughly swatted at her head with her free hand, momentarily caught up in a fight against the mini terror.

She stopped. Something lingered to the side of her face. She slowly turned her head, confrontation was inevitable. Four white eyes glowed dimly in the depths of a hood. Her breath caught as their eyes locked. This is it, she thought. A low snarl ruptured the silence, she saw an abhorrence focus its eyes on her chest and she knew it meant to take her heart. She shakily pointed her finger at it.

"No," she said as sternly as could be managed.

It threw the rotting body bag it'd been carrying to the ground, upon impact the parcel crunched like snow under a boot. She rose to her feet with a fleeting courage and ran. If she was truly in the middle of the forest, she only needed to pick a direction and hope she'd eventually break into a clearing, right? The monster shrieked, she ran faster, but its feet only seemed to quicken in pace. That is, until she couldn't hear it running any longer. She looked behind her, it'd disappeared. She slowed down and stopped, listening.

Snaps and tears sounded alternately in all directions. Please, don't let there be any others, she begged. Something loud sounded above her, she looked up as something crashed down and two ghastly figures advanced on her either side.

"Stop!" she screamed, a deep, resonating velocity of power surged from within her, taking down the trees within her degree of vision. She panted, feeling quite drained. Wait a minute, she looked before her and saw Natsu several feet in front of her, knocked out cold. Had he meant to surprise her?

She ran over to him, "Natsu," she shook his shoulders, he groaned, "Natsu!" she hissed hitting his cheek as lightly as possible in attempts to wake him. She looked around and saw the cloaked figures starting to rise, "Natsu!" she slapped him hard.

"What!" he snapped at her, angry.

"We have to go," he just looked at her, "Now!" she said looking behind her, the monsters were getting up from their knees. She shook their haunting eyes from her mind, "Are you hurt?" He sat up to check himself and froze.

"Crap," he said, "Inanis,"

"What?"

"We gotta go," he leapt to his feet and started to run deeper into the forest. She quickly followed suit.

"Where's Happy?" she yelled above the wails of the Inanis.

"He went home, you suck at hide and go seek!" he yelled back.

"It's not like you gave me a choice!"

"Well I wasn't expecting it to go this badly! You're lucky I didn't ditch you too!"

"You—!" she bit her tongue. Her annoyance opened up a new well of energy she didn't know she had. She finally caught up with him, matching his pace so she didn't get lost. She cleared her mind so she could focus on the task at hand. Her fear would only slow her down.

An Inanis peeled out from a tree in front of her, its pale eyes looking to strike. There was no avoiding contact. She ran faster, throwing her elbow at its cloaked head and knocked it down. She shivered, it'd left a powdery residue on her arm that made her skin crawl.

"Don't touch them! They'll be able to track the scent they've left on you!"

"Too late!"

Natsu let out a frustrated groan, moving in complicated patterns through the brush. The shrieks were growing louder and closer. It had gotten so dark at this point that one of their biggest enemies were the roots they couldn't see on the forest floor. That is, until the Inanis started to submerge from the forest floor.

"Die, you soulless monsters!" said Natsu as he battled them with his flames, clearing a path, he looked back at her, "On your left!"

She turned just in time to see her attacker and dive out of the way. She picked herself back up and looked behind her, the Inanis had slithered towards her, its hand grasping her ankle. She let out a cry as a burning sensation spread throughout her leg. Her knee jerked out of reflex, but not before the Inanis had grabbed her other ankle, her balance was thrown off as her feet were yanked violently from beneath her. She grabbed desperately at the ground, where are the roots now? She thought, crying out again, "Natsu!"

The forest lit up as flames engulfed her assailant, "Come on!" said Natsu, offering her his hand. Once she was on her feet the wails pushed them forwards, she limped faster than she'd run before out of desperation, "This way," Natsu said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her in a new direction.

They hurdled over the brush and came into a clearing. It was a dead end. A large river about a quarter of a mile in length cut off all further paths.

"We're dead," Auralie whispered, turning in terror as more than a couple Inanis broke through the brush line.

"Don't be so pessimistic," he jumped into the water, pulling her with him. He began to swim furiously towards the other bank, "Come on! Swim!" she snapped out of it and began to swim after him, too terrified to look back.

The water iced over her bones by the time she'd almost made it to the other side. She looked back and saw the Inanis stood watching them. Their terrible cries filled the night, I'm sure they'll find a way to cross, she shivered. She made it to the bank, the mossy rivers bottom squished beneath her toes, she'd lost her shoes to the current. She stood there, dripping wet.

"We're rid of the Inanis for now. Mind explaining to me why so many of them were chasing us?" said Natsu, rather annoyed.

"I um, well I was looking for you and Happy. But then I heard something coming towards me, and its smell was just awful," she wrinkled her nose.

"Psh, I doubt it was as bad as you were when we found you," he started to laugh at his own joke.

"Oh come on, that's not fair, I'd been running all day,"

"Tch," he shrugged his shoulders, "Anyways, continue,"

She looked at him pointedly before continuing, "I hid behind a tree hoping it would just pass by. But it found me," she paused, "it had four eyes, and it just stared at me for the longest time. But the weirdest part was when it looked at my chest, I felt like it wanted my heart,"

"How so?"

"Just knew," she nodded, "so I told it 'no'," he looked at her incredulously.

"What do you mean you told it 'no',"

"Well, I just told it 'no'," she said pointing her finger at Natsu as she had to the Inanis.

"Hah—!" Natsu started to walk over to her, "Well, how did that work out?"

"It didn't, really, the monster chased after me. I ran until you dropped out of the trees,"

"Yeah, and knocked me out, leveling a few of 'em,"

"Sorry about that," she said, "I don't know what happened," she bit her lip. Her hairs stood on end as the slightest breeze chilled her to the core. She closed her eyes momentarily as she crossed her arms and shivered. Something flared up softly and she looked up. Natsu held out a flame for her. Because he was holding it out she felt compelled to take it.

"Woah!" he said pulling his hand away, "It'll burn you if you get too close—speaking of which," He looked at her wrist, "What happened there?"

"Oh, this?" she held up her right hand, "It's um…" think, think! She thought, desperately looking for an answer that wouldn't raise further questions, "I was making rice and the pot tipped over and spilled on my wrist, kind of boiled it," she laughed.

"Ah," he said, raising his eyebrows, "And there?"

"Where?" she said, hoping he hadn't noticed.

"On your neck,"

"Oh!" how am I gonna get out of this one? She thought, "I…I um…" think! She pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to come up with something.

"You're really terrible at lying," he said. She looked at him with a resigned silence, he shrugged his shoulders, "That's all right. As long as I can tell. But what about those? They from the Inanis?" he asked, looking at her feet.

"Yeah,"

"It's funny, I've never heard of them burning anyone before. I thought they just took souls, maybe you've been marked?" he said nonchalantly and walked away a few paces to find wood and scraps to make a fire. She joined him. Once they had a fire going they sat in silence.

"Hey, Natsu," she said absent mindedly, "why do you think it burned me?"

"Couldn't tell ya,"

"Hm," she pulled her knees up to her chest and lowered her right wrist. Though the shapes were different, the burns were identical in color. Using her fingertips, she gently felt the burnt skin. She immediately took her hand away and bit her lip, "Excuse me," she said, wandering over to the river bank where she submerged her feet for some time. After a while, Natsu came over.

"Come on," said Natsu, "that's enough resting," she nodded, standing up while he put out the fire… or ate the fire.

It was still dark out, but this time it was much easier to navigate. They travelled back in silence and were out of the forest within hours.

XXX

It was six in the morning and her body refused to go back to sleep. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, taking in the filth that surrounded her. Piles of dishes and trinkets lay strewn across the floor.

"Huh?" she looked down at her lap to see a blue cat stir from his sleep, she smiled, "Sorry Happy, go back to bed," she picked him up and stood, placing him gently back down on the couch, wrapping the blankets carefully around him.

Auralie smiled to herself, what better way to start showing my gratitude than by making a few changes! She began to hum as she cleaned the little home. She started with the bathroom, then the hallway, then the kitchen and eventually worked her way into the main space. When she was finished, she took a deep breath, satisfied that she made their living space more… well, livable. There was only one place she had left to clean.

She made her way to the closet, singing softly with a lilting dance in her step. She'd reached the chorus, which was her favorite part, sometimes when she was scared she'd play it over in her mind. It was a lullaby her mother used to sing to her. Opening the closet, she decided to work top to bottom and went to pull out a medium sized postal box, standing on her tiptoes.

"Good morning," Natsu purred, his hot breath tickled her ear and the back of her neck.

"Eeek!" she turned, grabbing the closet door's handle and shut herself inside of it in a frenzy, the box fell and its contents spilled over her. Natsu opened the door, only able to make eye contact for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. She felt the heat rise to her cheeks and had a few choice words to say to him, but she stopped when she noticed all of the papers that had flown around her.

Natsu's laughter continued to fill the home, Happy was at his feet begging him to tell him what happened. She set the box down outside and began to pick up its contents one by one. Some were roughly drawn sketches, others were better put together. It soon became apparent to her that this collection was made over time; she would guess from age six or seven on. Her brow furrowed as she sifted through them as delicately as possible.

They were dragons. The sheer number of drawings of the same dragon were impressive and she knew she'd stumbled onto something important. But what perplexed her was that dragons were extinct, so why was he so attached? She traced a young sketch with her fingers, all the ones from the younger years were of a boy and a dragon. But the better the drawings got, the less the boy was drawn in, until eventually he disappeared.

"Natsu?"

"Hm? Oh–" he stopped laughing and hurried over to pick up the papers.

"I um," she swallowed, "I'm sorry if I've stumbled onto something personal," he didn't respond for a bit as he assessed the situation.

"What, personal? It's just a bunch of old drawings," his eyes were glued to the ground. She started to gather pictures as well and put them in a neat stack.

"Hey," she said.

"Hm,"

"What if we put them in order?" he looked up at her, she hoped her apologies showed through her smile.

"I don't know," he said.

"I think it would be kinda neat," she shrugged, "you know, to be able to see your progression as time went on," she looked down at two drawings from different artistic abilities, something about it made her smile. But her eyes softened, judging by his reaction these drawings were a source of pain rather than a sense of joy.

"Just put them in the box," he said gruffly. Her eyes never left the drawings even as she handed them over to him. When he'd closed the box he avoided eye contact.

"Why don't I make breakfast? Any requests?" she said getting up and dusting herself down.

"Fish pancakes!"

"You've got it!" she winked at Happy, "Natsu?"

"Eh," he thought about it, "Yeah fish pancakes'll do,"

"You're sure about that?"

"Aye," he said.

"Alrighty then," these guys are weird, she thought heading over to the kitchen.

She'd cut the fish into chunks when she noticed a certain someone was starting to linger. Eventually he stopped being shy about it and sat next to the fish on the counter.

"You know Floraly," he said taking a fish chunk slyly, "I don't think Natsu likes fish pancakes,"

"I figured as much,"

"He's probably mad at you,"

"Ah,"

"Or upset,"

Auralie stopped mixing the batter and looked at the cat, "What do you want Happy?"

"Nothing, I'm just waiting for pancakes," he reached his little paw out towards the fish, she shooed him away before he could eat any more.

"You're going to spoil your breakfast! Go!"

"Aye sir!" he said flying away.

When he'd gone her shoulders slumped as she exhaled slowly, her stomach clenched uncomfortably. She remembered seeing a bag of chocolate chips around here somewhere.

By the time she finished she'd made two stacks a foot tall each, this ought to cheer him up.

"Natsu! Happy! Breakfast is ready!"

"Aye sire! Aye sir!" Happy flew down, "Flora—omnomnom—these are derishs, s'much fshh!"

"Glad you like them!" she smiled and looked around. Where was he?

"Oh! If you want Natshu he's in the backyard on a shtump," her back stiffened.

"I-I'm sure he didn't hear me,"

"No, he has excellent h—"

"I'm just gonna go check," she looked back at Happy before she left, "Don't touch those, they're not yours!" she said.

"Aye!"

His back was turned away from her, if he heard the door open and close he didn't show it. Was he really mad at her? She closed her eyes momentarily, clenching then unclenching her hands. She meant to be brave but her stomach betrayed her feelings, flipping nervously.

"Hey, breakfast is ready," she called. She waited a couple of seconds and walked closer, "Natsu?" he wasn't responsive to anything, maybe… "Of course, you're sleeping," she laughed, slightly relieved. She shook his shoulder lightly.

"Mmgh—uh, huh? Auralie, your fly is down," he said sleepily.

"What?" she looked down and felt the heat spread over her face, wait a minute, there was no—

"Bwahaha!" he laughed. She looked up at him perplexed.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah I just—oh, Auralie what're you doing here?"

"You were just talking to me, I came to tell you breakfast is ready,"

"Eh, I don't want fish pancakes,"

"Well then, it's a good thing I didn't make you fish pancakes. Come on," she said standing up.

A very satisfied Happy lay on the counter patting his distended belly. Auralie pulled up a chair across from Natsu.

"So, is there anything you could tell me about Inanis?"

"They're soul suckers,"

"But that Inanis wanted my heart," she said putting her hand over it protectively.

"Well, I don't know what to tell ya,"

"That's alright. So, do you know why they want people's souls?"

"Because they don't have one, they're just an empty void. I guess they're kind of like vamps" he said, postulating with his fork before shoving more pancake in his mouth, "Mmm, chocolate chip,"

"What do you mean they're like vampires?"

"Well vampires survive off of people's blood, Inanis survive off of souls,"

"Ah, how common are they? I'd never seen one before last night,"

"That was my first time too, I honestly thought they were just legends,"

"Huh… say, there isn't a library around here is there?"

"Yea, we'll go after breakfast. I've been meaning to show you to gramps anyways,"

"Excellent! I think it's wonderful that your grandpa has a library,"

"No he's not my grandpa, he's the guild master,"

"Oh, what guild are you in?" he looked at her, raised his eyebrows and pulled up his sleeve, showing his guild mark.

"Fairy Tail, and don't you forget it!"

XXX

As they entered the guild the sounds of laughter and talking filled her ears. There was also a more subtle warm scent of booze drifting through the air.

"Yo, Gramps!" Natsu called. Master Makarov was quite short. If he hadn't supersized his hand to smash a misbehaving guild member she wouldn't have noticed him.

"Ah, Natsu! Who's your friend?"

"Her names Auralie, she needs your help," with that Natsu left to join his guild mates, Happy stayed perched on her shoulder.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail, I'm Master Makarov," she shook his hand.

"I'm Auralie, pleasure to meet you," she smiled. Master Makarov blushed.

"So, what can I do ya for?"

"Well, I was wondering if you had any texts on Inanis?" the mention of Inanis gave him pause.

"Indeed we do, but why concern yourself with such a monster?"

"Natsu and I were chased by them in the forest last night, I'd never seen one before,"

"I see… follow me," she followed the little man to the back and around the corner. It was then that it hit her, this was the tavern like building she'd passed on her way to the bridge! For a guild it sure was homey, she enjoyed its warmth.

"Here we are, feel free peruse at your leisure, and if you have a moment do stop by again sometime," he winked, she shuddered internally and thanked him. She wandered over to the shelves.

"Thanks for sticking with me Happy," she said to the cat still perched on her shoulder, "If you don't mind, would you help me look for a book that has Inanis in it?"

"Aye sir!"

The mahogany shelves were home to some of the oldest books she'd seen. Unable to wait, she picked one out at random and flipped through the pages, inhaling its rustic scent. Closing it, she stroked the spine where letters had been engraved.

"You're not going to get anywhere with Romance: The Secret to his Heart, or do you have something else in mind?" said Natsu, leaning against the doorway, book in hand.

"What—no! I – this isn't about romance… it's about the culture of a people!" she put the book back in its place, flustered, "And I suppose you have a book that can help?" she said walking over, extending one hand.

"Actually I do," he said showing it to her, Inanis: Folklore and Myths, "But—" he said withdrawing it from her reach, "I have a price,"

"You have a price?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Mmhm,"

"Name it,"

"I want the truth, no more lying," his eyes hardened.

"I'm sure there are other books," she turned away to continue to search.

"Actually there aren't. Inanis are rare, so there aren't very many texts on them, I have the one and only book on Inanis this library has in my hand," she turned back towards him.

"Three questions,"

"Oh?"

"You may ask me three questions, that's it,"

"Make it four, and you swear to tell the truth?"

"Fine, and you have my word," she extended her hand again for the book, but he still withheld it, "What's wrong?"

"Me first," he said, bouncing off the door and strolling over to a chair, "Have a seat," he said pulling it out for her to sit upon. I don't like this, I don't like this at all. She cleared her throat.

"So, shall we begin?"

"Question one: how on earth did you get here?"

"I ran away from home,"

"Uh-uh, I want details,"

She looked at him long and hard, "It's not worth it,"

"What isn't?"

"That book, I'll look elsewhere," she stood to leave.

"Wait, fine, I'll ask a different question,"

"Ok," she sat back down.

"Can I at least know how you got your burns?" after a while he rolled his eyes, "Look, I think it could help us figure out your powers and why we were hunted down by Inanis,"

"That's fair, I suppose. I got them from my father," Natsu's eyebrows raised, she shook her head, "he wasn't himself, I just woke up one morning and… things were different,"

"Different how?"

"Is that your second question?"

"Aye,"

"It wasn't my father,"

"But you just told me—"

"What I meant is it wasn't my father, not really, it looked like him but… he was gone,"

"Do you think it was a Vulcan?"

"No," she laughed, "Vulcan's like human females. No, it was more of a… I don't know. It wasn't his voice, it just wasn't him," she paused for a bit, maintaining her composure before she could lose it, "When I figured out it wasn't my father I tried to run away, you see? But before I had a clean break h—it grabbed me," she sat quietly, making the connection in her mind, "Actually... ok, so these burns are from my possessed father," she showed him her wrists and neck, then she brought up her foot, "And this is from the Inanis, aside from the different shapes it's the same deep purple. Do you think-" she paused, wondering if what she was about to say was plausible, "Do you think he was possessed by an Inanis?" Her mind started to race and she started to mumble, grabbing the book away from Natsu, "That means last night wasn't the first time they've chased me... souls... but I... no... that wasn't real,"

"Look," said Natsu taking the book back, "Whatever—possessed him must've reacted badly with something about you, same with the Inanis, did he also get burned by this?"

"I don't know, but it sure hurt him," she fell into silence.

"Here," he slid the book back over with a sigh.

"But you still have two more questions?"

"I'll save it for another day," he winked and stood up to leave, "But there's no getting out of the next questions I ask, you have to answer,"

"We'll see,"

He smiled, "Alright, I'm gonna head back out, see ya,"

"Bye," she turned to the book he gave her, eagerly flipping through the pages.

Hours passed, at one point a girl named Levy had come in and given her Gale-Force reading glasses to borrow. They talked for a while about the guild and Magnolia, but she had to go because she was leaving on a job.

Auralie had read the Inanis book four times over with the special glasses and there was nothing in it about burning or possessing anyone. Frustrated, she took to the shelves, using the glasses to quickly scan the spines and find what she was looking for. She found herself buried in mythology, legends, prophecies and the like well into the late afternoon. Happy came and went, Natsu never returned. After so long her eyes grew heavy with the information she'd absorbed, she rested her head on a stack of books and fell asleep instantly.

"Aura, Aura!" cried Happy. The room was dark, she stood up abruptly, knocking her chair over.

"Happy, what happened to the lights?" She searched the walls with her hands, looking for a switch. She felt a smooth plastic surface slide beneath her fingers, but when she flipped the switch nothing happened.

"Everything just went dark!"

She looked towards the windows and moved to draw up the heavy curtains. After tucking aside the right curtain her blood ran cold. A shadow fell over her, blocking out the light.

"H-Happy…"

"Y-yeah?"

"Is there—?"

"Aye,"

Her gaze rose to meet a set of dead eyes. It raised its hand and pressed it to the window, veins splinted throughout the glass. As it pressed harder she heard a tick, tick, tick. With one final push, a small shower of glass littered her feet as the Inanis began to force its way through the window. It hissed, bringing its other fist down like an anvil.

"Happy, run!" she turned and sprinted towards the door

"Hurry!" He shrieked.

"I'm trying!" she said, fumbling with the door.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a dark, nobbled hand reach out, grabbing her right wrist. She cried out as her flesh began to sizzle.

"Aura! Get away from it!" she could see Happy hovering above the book cases now, out of danger.

"Ahh!" she winced as the Inanis' grip tightened, "Happy, get out of here!"

"But—"

"Go!"

"I'll be back!" he said, he flew towards the broken window, dropping a book on the Inanis head. Seeing an opening, she threw a punch at its jaw with her free hand, but only succeeded in becoming more trapped.

It tightened its grip on both of her wrists, "Lissten to mee," it hissed.

"Let go!" she maneuvered her arms in attempts to escape. It laughed.

"So you can escape? No, I have something else in mind," letting go of her left hand, it withdrew its hood, revealing cataract eyes and a mouth with more rotating teeth than she could count. Its skin was translucent and scourged with veins blacker than the depths of the ocean.

"Who are you?" she trembled.

"The messenger,"

XXX

:O mysteries, mysteries, mysteries.

What's the message? Keep reading to find out :3 I really hope you enjoyed!