The City by the Sea

Five

As many missions as she had gone on in her life, Levy was used to waking in unfamiliar beds, but (as she had suspected) her dreams were nightmares, and her sleep had been foul. Waking up to find herself still in the middle of it all didn't make her morning any better.

And there was fog.

After the last death they knew that solitude was no protection, so Levy did not bother to hide herself. Not that she tempted fate by actually going outside. She wasn't a fool. No, she spent the few hours left until noon interviewing more witnesses.

Adult, male witnesses. And more ancient (yet hardy) old women. Everyone else had the same idea: stay out of the fog.

There wasn't that much new in their stories. The youngest boy had been especially hard as he was playing with friends at the time. Only other children to see. The boy's uncle relayed the story, passing on the gathered recollections of the event … but third-hand...

The worst was a woman taken in her bed with only her husband to see. Only other woman to go torso last. Lower torso, in fact. She had been almost three months pregnant. Days away from being able to announce the pregnancy to her friends and family.

Levy had no words of comfort for any of them. What words could encompass such sorrow? She had none, so she took notes and said little

When the last person left the building, the mayor retook her office. She looked as tired as Levy felt, and Levy ached for her. How responsible she must feel. As mayor, it was her duty to look after the people of The City by the Sea. And she was failing.

She had failed.

But then, Levy remembered the job request and two dead guild mages. It was right that the woman accept some level of responsibility. It was difficult to believe that a town that specialized in rare sea goods like The City by the Sea did couldn't raise the funds to hire an s-level mage. Even several.

Levy wasn't beginning to doubt her own abilities, and the more she heard the more she knew someone like Mirajane or Laxus or Gildarts wouldn't be suited for such a subtle fight. Still, there was no way they could have insured that they would get a suitable mage with a false request. It made no sense, and for that reason the mayor should feel guilty.

However, ridding the City of their killer was more important than assigning blame.

She left the house and began walking down the hill to the coast. By the amount of noise she could hear coming from the docks, they hadn't listened to her recommendation. Very few, if any, people had fled the City.

Damn.

The sun was high and hot; the fog burned away. They thought they were safe. Levy did not. It also added to her responsibilities; her job was to vanquish the threat to the City, but she couldn't ignore the safety of the population, either.

Why wouldn't the mayor listen to her?! She would give anything to be as intimidating as Gajeel or Laxus or Erza. Or, even better, be able to flip from her normal self to be intimidating like Mira, Natsu, and Pantherlily. Then these people would do what she told them.

She heaved a heavy sigh and set out to circle the city. She could hardly afford the power to put protective barriers over everything. Not that they'd do more than trap it inside, if that since she didn't know the parameters needed to trap what she didn't understand, but she had to create a protection of some kind or else further deaths would be inevitable instead of likely.

She walked down Port road, and then back east up Sea road. Then she made a quarter circle to walk Coast north and Overland south. Each step left hope in her left footprint and safety in her right. Ephemeral things, much like her enemy, and far from foolproof, but it was an effort worth making. She gestured and dripped seal from her fingertips, which would maybe be a bit more useful.

Before the sun had set, Levy made her way back to the mayor's mansion for food and an update.

"There are still people here," she said as soon as she saw the mayor.

"Almost all of the boys have gone, along with their mothers, but – as I said – it's impossible to force people from their homes. They need to work to feed their families-"

"Not right now they don't. And, anyway, they can fish off of the coast outside the city limits for a day."

"That's not-"

"By staying here you are providing a buffet for this thing all while forcing me to split my resources. Leave and the only place the creature will go for food is to me."

"You're offering yourself as bait?" Levy couldn't quite read the emotional reaction that burned in the woman's eyes.

"Basically. It's the only way I can guarantee I'll find it. Wandering around the city, setting traps is something, but I have to know what it is to make a trap capable of holding and keeping it."

"I will speak with them again, tomorrow," the mayor said with a decisive nod.

Levy grit her teeth in frustration, crossing her arms and trying to invoke absolutely anyone more intimidating, but her thoughts went mainly to Gajeel and Laxus. They did it best.

Her mimicry failed, so she went with words instead. "Talk with them now," she ordered. "The sun is about to set. I've divided the City into four quadrants, and I need to focus on that to best this thing if..."

There was a sensation of a rubber-band being snapped, and she toppled over as a line of magic returned to her.

A quick intake of breath and a grunt of pain were all she allowed herself before closing her eyes. She traced the sensation, and felt an area bare of her magic between Sea and Coast, not quite on the shore. Stopping only to grab her bag, Levy left the house at a run with the mayor making startled sounds as the door slammed.

The mayor's house was in the center of the four major intersections in The City by the Sea – Port/Overland, Sea/Overland, Port/Coast, Sea/Coast – which made crossing into the Coast/Sea quarter fast and easy. Unfortunately, Coast/Sea was also the main area for the fishing industry. At its busiest in the late evenings after the day's catch was in, there were people everywhere.

"Go east!" she screamed. "East of Coast road! Go now!"

They looked at her with expressions that accused her of madness.

"It's here!" she roared, or tried to. The people who reacted weren't responding to the roar, she knew, but the words. Which really summed up the whole of her self, she supposed.

Several of those nearest her began packing up their work, preparing to run. Fewer ran without bothering with packing. Far too many did not run at all.

Blood splashed her face and chest.

Time stood still as her brain struggled to analyze and catch up with the situation. A man so close she could have cupped his cheek with her far hand, fell. Through a ragged hole in his midsection she could see the last boat pulling in for the night.

"BOX!" she yelled, waving a hand at the man she he fell. Her wrist snapped, and the dead man's face pressed against the semi-translucent word, which she hoped held more than just his body. "SEAL!" she yelled again, wrapping box up in further protections.

I've got you, she thought, and felt like smiling. Until the rest of the quarter began screaming, and four more bodies fell.

Author's Note:

A general/awful map of The City by the Sea

~~~|-Port

~~~| | | - Rest of Fiore (Capitol/Magnolia/etc)

~~~|-Sea

Coast Overland

Like I said, terrible map, but whatever.

I had something important to say here, but I don't remember what it was... Oh, apparently (according to chapter 367) Levy can track things with "island/moving square thing/we went here and there and moved that way" … cool. I can use that.