Chapter Two – Skye
"Happy, you don't need a snack," I said to the blue cat. "C'mon. We're getting behind Gray and Natsu."
I practically had to drag the exceed away from the food stand. I could see the boys getting closer to the costume shop and I knew we had to catch up to them before they trashed the entire store.
"Fine," Happy grumbled as he tried to snag an apple.
We were still a little way behind the boys, but I didn't smell smoke yet, so I had to assume everything was alright for the time being. Even the simple task of picking out a costume for the annual Magnolia Costume Ball was a risky thing when you sent fire and ice out together.
I was still nervous, though. I reached up to my necklace, a choker with a sapphire gem that my mom gave me when I was little.
"Don't take this off," I remembered my mother strictly ordering. "It will be your good luck charm. Even when you have your doubts, you will never be alone as long as you wear your gem."
I struggled to bite back the tears at the painful memories of my parents as we entered the store. I saw Natsu talking with a blonde employee.
"Your hair is really cool you know," he said to the girl. I had to admire her red dip-dyed tips. "You know, they kinda look like fire."
I saw her hand reach into her thigh high socks and close around an unknown item. She slowly withdrew the object and I saw the unmistakable glint of a blade.
"Natsu!" I screamed. Using my water magic, I shot the dagger out of her hand and watched it lodge into the ceiling. The girl turned around to see just who foiled her murderous attempt.
A glint of recognition appeared in both of our eyes as they met. We stood across from each other, both analyzing the other's appearance. Our eyes, the shape of our bodies, our long blonde (for the most part) wavy hair; everything about us was almost exactly the same; we had only minute differences. Her taste in clothing and makeup was evidently darker than mine and she had a significantly large amount of red in her hair, but we were almost a mirror image of each other.
I analyzed her outfit and noticed that she had a necklace almost identical to mine. The only difference was our gems; mine's a sapphire and hers is most likely a ruby. I felt my gem grow warm as I saw hers start to faintly glow.
Everything went blurry and my sense of time was interrupted.
It was all black and white, and I was back in my parent's house. I must've been rather young, judging by which nanny sat next to me. We were playing a card game; all four of us. Bethany and my father sat on either side of me and there was another girl across the table.
"You're turn, Rhi," the nanny's sweet voice haunted.
"Okay, Bethany," the girl said as she put down her card.
I heard a knock on the front door. I turned to see who was there as my father's hand reached for the handle.
Gray rounded the corner with Happy on his shoulder as he accidentally knocked over a display. The loud crash brought my thoughts back to the present. The lost memories that sometimes cloud my mind left with a jolt. I looked up and noticed that Gray's shirt had mysteriously disappeared and he had a look of urgency on his face, probably in response to my earlier exclamation.
`Natsu's expression summed it all up. "Whoa. Are you the same person?"
The other girl's face contorted into a look of total disbelief at the question. She turned her head towards him. "Did Natsu Dragneel, the famous dragon slayer, really just ask a question that dumb?"
"You really must not know Natsu," Gray uttered.
"Hey!" Natsu yelled.
"The better question," I said, "is why the hell you were about to pull a dagger on Natsu."
Silence filled the air as the boys came to realize what had just happened. The fake employee looked from Natsu to me as she attempted to formulate an answer. She looked beyond me at the door, and I could see her getaway plan forming.
"She's gonna run!" I yelled as she began to accelerate towards me. I'll admit I was scared; if she had a dagger ready before, I could only imagine what other weapons she had concealed.
Gray shot ice out of his hands and trapped her feet in an icy prison. Her momentum forced her to continue down into the ground, knocking her head off the tile. Her eyes closed and her body went limp and I could only assume that she was unconscious.
"Did she just try to stab me?" Natsu questioned with disbelief.
"Aye, sir!" Happy exclaimed.
"Did it take you that long to put that together, idiot?" Gray asked.
"More importantly, who is she and why does she look like me?" I inquired.
"That's really more important than the fact that she was going to stab me?!" Natsu yelled.
"Allow me to rephrase," I said to appease him. "Who is she, why does she look like me, and why did she try to stab Natsu?"
"Better!" Natsu said with a grin. "So what now?"
"She could've been sent by someone," Gray said. "We can't exactly send her back to whoever sent her and let her try again."
"We could take her back to the guild hall," Happy suggested.
"That makes sense," I added. "We can question her. Figure out who she is and who sent her. Then we can let Makarov decide what to do with her."
"So," Natsu started, "how exactly are we planning on getting her to the guild hall? Jack Frost here froze her feet to the floor."
"I didn't see you doing anything to try to stop her!" Gray yelled. "At least she's knocked out!"
"Happy can always fly her there!" Natsu suggested.
"As you so wonderfully pointed out, her feet are still stuck to the floor," Gray said.
"Oh," Natsu grumbled, "I guess that's right. I can always try to heat the ice up!"
"And burn her and her clothes?" I pointed out.
"Just because you're fireproof doesn't mean everything is, pyro," Gray criticized.
"I'm just coming up with ideas!" Natsu yelled.
"Too bad they aren't very good ones," Gray muttered.
"Oh shut it, Frosty the Snowman," Natsu retorted.
"Do you have any ideas, Skye?" Happy squeaked.
"We can melt the ice with hot water," I suggested. "I can use my magic to supply the water and Natsu can heat it up."
"And then Gray can just sit there and do nothing because he's the one that caused this mess," Natsu remarked with a smile.
"Again, I didn't see you do anything to try and stop her!" Gray defended.
"What did you want me to do?" Natsu asked. "Barbeque her? We can't exactly interrogate a pile of ash!"
"Let's not turn anyone into ash please!" I yelled, "Let's just melt the ice and take her back to the guild hall."
"But we still need costumes and she's the cashier," Natsu said.
Everyone stopped and stared at him.
"If the chick was still awake, she'd give you that same what the hell is wrong with you look from before," Gray laughed.
"You do know she wasn't the actual cashier, right?" I asked.
"Where is the cashier?" Happy inquired.
"That's a good question," I stated. "Another good question; Gray, where is your shirt?"
"Just be happy he still has his pants on," Natsu grumbled.
"Shut up, pyro!" Gray yelled.
"Make me, frosty!" Natsu retorted.
"Boys!" I exclaimed, "Gray and Happy, go find the cashier. Natsu, help me with the magic melting."
After we unfroze her feet, we took her back to Fairy Tail for further questioning. Thankfully, she didn't wake up while we were transporting her to the vacant room in the back of the guild hall. We chose to hide her from the other guild members to avoid panic before we got the masters opinion on the matter.