4. The Markets
"Natsu! Natsu! NATSU!" Happy wailed, thrashing around on the floor. "It was HORRIBLE! The kennel was cold and smelly and it was full of dog hair and made scary noises and I SAW A GHOST!" he suddenly yelled again, grabbing the tail of Natsu's coat. Tears streaked down his cheeks, and his lip quivered uncontrollably. It was impossible for Lucy not to feel guilty about leaving him there. But, he had said something that demanded more of her attention.
"It's ok, Happy. You won't have to stay there again, we'll work something out! There's no way I'm letting you stay in there for another night!" Natsu declared furiously, scooping the traumatised exceed into his arms.
"Happy, did you say you saw a ghost?" Lucy asked, trying to be tentative. The little blue cat turned his head to her and gave a slow nod, still shaking and crying. "Can you tell me where it went or what it did?"
"It was really REALLY scary! It looked like it was made of shadow and its eyes glowed like a demon! It glided across the grass and gave me an evil look-"
"Wait, it has no face! How can it give you an evil look with no face?" Natsu interrupted, frowning slightly. Happy glared at him.
"It's a ghost! Ghosts always have an evil look!" Happy argued, crossing his paws.
"Nu-uh! Mavis doesn't have an evil look, and she's a ghost!"
"Yeah, but she's a Fairy Tail ghost!" Happy asserted. He paused for a moment. "And she has a nice face. Not like Lucy," he added, sticking his tongue out at the stellar spirit mage.
"Hey, leave my face out of this, jerk!" Lucy yelled, raising her hand threateningly at the exceed.
"Lucy's face looks ok!" Natsu defended. "It's pretty nice, actually."
The face in question turned a very noticeable shade of pink. Lucy turned to Natsu, trying in vain to dull the blush in her cheeks. She tried her hardest to glare at him, but couldn't coax one out. "S-shut up," she murmured, giving him a half-hearted shove. It wasn't enough to push him back an inch.
Happy looked at them for a moment, perplexed. "Wow, Lucy's weirder than normal this morning! Did you eat something gross?"
"Shut up, cat!" she roared, with much more ferocity than she mustered for Natsu. Lucy grumbled something indiscernible under her breath, before letting out a sigh. "Look, I think we should go into town and have a look around. If we can talk to a few people, maybe we can weed out anyone shady who's arrived in town recently," Lucy suggested, trying to stay on track.
"Will you buy me that fish you promised?" Happy asked cautiously. Lucy rolled her eyes in response, then glanced at Natsu. He gave her a slight smile, flashing his pointed canines. For a brief moment, she yearned to go back to their cabin and rest in his arms some more.
Unfortunately, they had business to attend to. Lucy looked back to the Happy, who was stilling eyeing her with the 'you promised' look. "Fine, fine. But no more insulting my face."
"Aye, sir!"
"I'm not a 'sir'!"
The town of White Shore seemed just as hostile during the day as it had during their night time arrival. Now, exposed to the full glare of daylight, Lucy could see just how broken-down the place was. Windows were boarded over with rotting wood while cold, calculating eyes peeped out. There were shards of broken glass lying in the gutter, accompanied by a thick, gloopy puddle of something Lucy didn't want to recognise. The worst part by far was the silence. The place already looked and smelled dead, it didn't need to sound dead as well. That quietness filled Lucy with a building tension, as if something was going to jump out at her.
Then she remembered who she had with her, and the tension eased a little. Only a little, mind you, but it was enough.
"Lucy! I thought you said it'd be less boring in the daytime," Natsu groaned. "Why are we even here?"
Because you picked an S-Class job! "Ssshh! Don't be rude!" I hate it too. "Look here,' Lucy said, pointing to a small red dot on the map. There was a little fish symbol next to it. "This is a fishing town, so hopefully we'll be able to find some people to speak with at the fish markets."
"Fish…" Happy repeated dreamily. A fine string of drool dripped from his mouth. No one paid him any attention.
"Fish markets? That's still boring! Can't we go to some kind of deadly forest filled with monsters or something?" Natsu whined, throwing his arms behind his head and stretching. "Besides, this place smells funky."
"You don't voluntarily wander into deadly forests! Besides, who could we talk to in there? A kindly monster?" Lucy fumed, rolling up the map again. She stuffed it back in her handbag with an air of finality. "C'mon, we're already here. Look ahead!"
Sure enough, there was a cluster of wooden trays filled with fish carcasses and other sea food. Even from halfway down the street, the aroma of fish was overpowering. Lucy froze on the spot and covered her nose from the odour, Happy shrieked and conjured his wings, zooming over to the stand faster than Lucy could blink. Natsu had stopped moving altogether. With his enhanced sense of smell, the stench of fish was even more potent.
"Lucy," he groaned, burying his nose in Igneel's muffler. "This place smells like crap! It's even worse than before!"
Lucy gagged, taking a tentative step forward. "Stop…" she paused, fighting the urge to throw up "Bitching."
Natsu snorted, then threw his hands over his mouth. "Like…You…Can…Talk…" he huffed out weakly, pressing forward to match Lucy's position. "C'mon, we promised-Ugh!" Natsu coughed and spluttered, a he caught wind of another foul scent. "Magnolia's fish markets never…. Smelt this…. Bad!"
With incredible perseverance, they managed to reach the first stand. A little old woman squatted behind the stand, while Happy browsed the array of slimy, grey fish with sparkling eyes. "I want this one! No, this one! No this one! Wait, Lucy, get me the BIG ONE!" Lucy followed his gaze to see the 'BIG ONE'. It was a dull red colour, twice the size of the cat himself. There was a strange growth on the side of its neck that looked like a second, miniature head. It looked repulsive, but the exceed thought it was a slice of heaven. A small, folded sign priced it at 5000 jewels. Lucy sighed, turning to the old lady.
"Um, can we please have…." She stopped to point to the ugly red fish. "That one."
The lady grunted in response. "8000 jewels," she replied, sticking out a grubby hand expectantly. Lucy baulked.
"Wha- But t-the price said 5000!" Lucy argued, sticking her hands on her hips.
"Whatever, blondie. Tough times call for tough prices." Lucy flashed back to her battle with Flare Corona at the mention of 'blondie'. The blood rushed to her cheeks, and she gave the woman an evil glare.
"I'll pay 5000, or it's no sale. I refuse to pay anything more for…. That thing."
"S'not my problem. Either you buy the fish or you get out of my breathing space," the woman grumbled, giving Lucy the stink eye. Lucy breathed through her teeth, then turned to Happy.
"Are you sure it has to be this fish," she asked. Happy nodded vigorously.
"The big one! You made me stay in that kennel, so I want my fish!" the exceed insisted. Natsu nodded in agreement, standing a few feet back from the stand.
"You did promise," he answered, voice muffled. Lucy noticed he was talking through his scarf. It was wrapped around his head like a ridiculous mask, with spikes of pink hair poking out at strange angles.
She slammed a couple of notes down on the stand and sighed. "We'll take the stupid fish." The old hag smirked, snatching the money away. She pulled out a couple of sheets of brown paper and began to carefully wrap the fish up, tying it off with bits of twine.
"Excuse me, Mam, but you said your business had fallen on hard times?" Lucy asked, taking a stab at being civil. The old lady muttered under her breath, before looking up from her work.
"Yeah, and what would a ditz like you care about it?" she responded, raising a thick, grey eyebrow. Lucy ignored the jab.
"Can I ask why?"
"Sounds like you just did, blondie." The old woman let out a morose sigh. "Something's gone and scared the fish miles away from these waters. My Roger hasn't come back with a good haul in days. Can't you smell it?" The old lady inhaled deeply, giving Lucy a flash of some nasty looking nasal hair. "That ain't the smell of fresh fish. That's the old, crappy stuff that the sellers pull out when they got nothing else left. The stank is foul and it doesn't taste half as good, but fish is fish. People'll take what they can get at this point."
She tied the last knot of, pulling it viciously tight. The old lady slid the fish across the counter, and into Happy's welcoming grasp. "Do you know what it is that's been scaring the fish away?" Lucy pressed, getting interested. Could the spirits have anything to do with the towns suffering?
The fish-seller gave her a look. "What do you think of ghost stories, blondie?"
"Enough to take you seriously," Lucy replied, getting very interested very quickly. "Care to elaborate?"
She shrugged, planting her hands on the wooden bench. "It all started around a month ago. My Roger was tying his dinghy off at the docks, when he saw a couple of shadows from the corner of his eye. Didn't take it seriously at first, 'cause he vision's getting bung, but when he turned around, he realised that the shadows weren't on the ground; they were standin' upright, like a person! Almost gave him a heart attack!" She said, shaking her head. "Anyway, Roger legged it after that. When he came back, 'bout ten minutes later, his dinghy was gone, along with all the fish in it. The net time he got a boat out on the water, he came home without a single bite. Things just went downhill from there, with a new shadow being sighted every night. There was always one, and only one, roaming the streets. People boarded up their houses at night as protection, but it hasn't done any good to save our fishing industry"
She gave Lucy a sad look. "Roger's had to sail up the coast just to scrap together enough for our own feed. The waters up there are dangerous, and fish are scarce, but we got a better shot up there than back here,' she finished bitterly, balling her crinkled hands into a fist. "Personally, I reckon we've been cursed."
"Cursed? Why do you think that?"
"We've had widespread misfortune ever since then. It's not just the fish that are disappearing, it's the people too. Old Mr Harrigan went missing around the time the shadow appeared, and he was an damn good mage! Could've zapped any normal intruder. It would've taken something damn strong to topple him; a force of nature."
"Was he the only disappearance?" Lucy asked urgently. This sounded quite suspicious. A powerful mage, disappearing when the ghost first appeared. Could he have been responsible?
The fish-seller thought to herself for a moment. "Yeah, so far. But it's only a matter of time before more people go missing. No one's dared to set foot in this town for weeks. You people are the first tourists we've had in a long while."
This was sounding increasingly suspicious. No new faces, and an old, powerful one has disappeared. Maybe it's worth checking up on this old timer. "I don't mean to pry any further, but where did Mr Harrigan used to live?" Lucy inquired.
"Nah, it's fine. Mr Harrigan ran a little trinket shop by the bay. It's quite isolated actually, a few miles north of here. You see that cliff face?" she asked pointed across the water. Lucy followed the gesture, seeing a large, purplish block set over the water. It was quite far away, she couldn't see very clearly.
"Just barely. Is that where he lived?" she questioned, squinting into the distance.
"Yeah. He lived on the second storey of that shop. Sold all kinds of things, Mr Harrigan did. Magical curios, cursed knick-knacks, lots of weird stuff. He was quite a peculiar man."
"Thanks Mam, you've been a lot of help. Have a nice d-AAARGH!"
Lucy was yanked by the arm by an unseen force, printing to keep up with the phenomenal pace. She turned to the owner of the hand, and was unsurprised to see Natsu, with his muffler back around his neck. "What the hell are you doing? I just got us a lead, dumbass!"
"Lucy, shut up for a second!" Natsu hissed, speeding up slightly. He looked dangerously determined.
Lucy gaped. He'd never told her to shut up before, not once. Especially not with that kind of tone. Did she sound that horrible when she yelled at him? "N-Natsu," she murmured, feeling hurt.
"Shhh! Lucy, I smell it again! The same smell from last night! There's another ghost wandering around!"
Instantly it clicked in her head, and Lucy could have kicked herself. "Right," she nodded. "Then we better not waste any time!"
Firstly, I just wanted to thank everyone for their feedback. It's so incredible to know that people are actually reading and responding to my work. A particular shout out to PhoenixedDragon for taking the time to write such a detailed slice of feedback. I'm so happy that you like the way I've portrayed the characters!
Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed Chapter 5. I've been upload once a day day, but I might slow down a little. How does a Chapter every two days sound? I'll try my best to keep up. With the weekend coming, I'll have a chance to write a few chapters in advance. So far, I've just been writing and uploading immediately, meaning there's been no editing and I have to write everything at once. I sit down, and I don't move until the chapter's done. It's pretty exhausting, actually, so I'll try be a bit more organised about this!
Once again, thanks for reading! Rate and Reiew