Lucy almost immediatly burst out with "How did you two end up together?"
I smiled and answered honestly. "There was a mission that went south for both Mira and Elfman a couple weeks ago. There was an incident similar to when Lis-" I stopped my sentance, noticing that the mere mention of her name brought Natsu pain. Even through his motion sickness it was apparent. "Crap, sorry Natsu." I continued, "I know she meant a lot to you."
Natsu just waved it off and managed to say "Continue" through his heaves
Even Natsu was curious, I guess I HAVE to spill now. "Elfman refused to use his Magic, despite his life being in danger, and it would have cost him his life if I didn't intervene. Mira was in full view of me literally exploding a Minotaur to save her brother. We had a heart to heart to heart moment on a local log afterwords, ending in us crying in a group hug. For the next couple of weeks, as you all know, Elfman, Mira, and I became near inseperable. In that time, Mira and I both began to have growing romantic feelings for each other, although we did not acknowledge them until the time seemed right. It all hit a peak last night. As you know, I moved in with them yesterday. They offered me Lisanna's room. I refused, and insisted on sleeping on a fold out couch. I woke up in the middle of the night with Mira standing over me in tears. She explained to me that my personality and my hairstyle remind her of Lisanna, in a good way. I cheered her up while she sat with me, and one thing led to another. We confessed our love for each other, and the rest, no offence to you all, is really none of your buisness."
There was a collective "Wow" from everyone in the cabin capable of speech at the time, including Happy.
"Anyway" I said, "We're almost to the harbour town, let's get to Galuna and see what we can do."
The sailor we hired turned out to be effected by the curse. The man's name was Bobo, and his arm was that of a demons. He explained to us that the curse had it's source at the sumit of Galuna's mountain. Something about a ritual using Dark Magic. We all took a glance at the mountain, but when we turned back around, Bobo was gone. I used an Archived water magic to propel us to the beach. Lucky for us too, a tidal wave nearly hit us.
We found the local village rather easily, there was a path through the jungle made for beach access, though it still took us until night. The moon was high, and oddly, purple. The village chief explained that the curse started when the moon had changed colour a few years back. He also told us that those affected too heavily will go insane and need to die. He told us that the same thing happened to his son, Bobo! We figured it was a coincidence and let him continue. As if on que, the moon's light shone on the village, causing every inhabitant to turn into full fledged demons. The village elder looked at each of us seperatly, and said, "Please, to save us all, DESTROY THE MOON! PLEASE!"
I stepped forward and said, "We arn't going to jump to that right away, we'll at least investigate first. But, if there is truely no other option, I'll do it myself."
"MAR!" Lucy yelled in shock.
"They do not deserve this fate." I replied. "You know me, I can't just stand around and watch others suffer."
"Bu-but.." She replied weakly.
"Lucy. Drop it." Grey said while placing his hand on her shoulder.
We slept at the village, and the next day, we set out for the jungle. After some exploring, we were attacked by, get this, a gigantic rat in a maid's costume. Everyone but Natsu and I were generally concerned, but I told hot head to stand down for this one.
"Don't waste your fire on this thing, Natsu. I have a bad feeling this is the tip of the iceberg." I said.
With that I drew on Archive for an old favourite magic of mine. A re equip magic called Gilgimesh, a pair of demonic gauntlets, boots, and a half mask for mouth protecting. All of which enhance the user's abilities, and deliver a hell of a hit on contact. As I dashed toward the beast, I remembered I forgot to mention that I could re equip on, if not slightly below Erza's level thank's to Archive. Or re equip at all for that matter. I jumped at the beast's head with my arm drawn back and screaming, then hit the thing with all I had, causing it to literally fly away from impact. When I hit the ground, I heard everyone say, "I think we just found the MALE Erza!" I turned around to see dropped jaws, and just scratched the back of my head, Gilgimesh still equiped, and said, "Yeah, I guess I overdid it a bit. Poor thing won't know which way is up for a few hours at least. Anyway, check this out!"
I led them to some ruins I noticed while I was in the air, and we explored inside. Natsu being...Natsu managed to bust the floor open. We found a cave and continued in until we found a large open area. In the middle, the large ice formation from my dreams, and a demon inside of it.
"Deliora..." Grey whimpered. "It can't be! NO!"
Natsu heard a pair of voices, and not wanting to be found out, knocked Grey out. He listened in, and learned that the curse on Galuna was called Moon Drip, and that it activates at night like Bobo said. We decided to retreat further back and wait for night to observe Moon Drip and prepare a counter.
During that time, Grey regained conciousness, and related his past to us. How Deliora destroyed his home town and he swore revenge, how Ur took him in, and how he rejected it, chasing after Deliora once he learned of the one move that could stop it, Iced Shell. He releated how Ur was forced to knock him out and perform the move herself, sacrificing her own body to save her pupils and likely the world's from Deliora's destructive gaze. How he had been orphaned again, and done the same to his fellow pupil, Lyon. He told us how Lyon had abandoned him once he learned what happened, and how he ended up coming to Fairy Tail because of his master's old mark.
I was quiet the entire time. Most of it I spent at the exit staring at Deliora. My vision had all the pieces gathered to pass. It was time to share my premonition. That, and my theory on Moon Drip.
"Listen everyone." I started, "First things first, I think I know what Moon Drip is. From the context that it's being used by those people, it seems that it is one of the, if not the, strongest anti magic spells in the world. Something capable of melting Iced Shell. There was something similar back in my time, but that was extremely primitive, and used blood as a catalyst instead of the moon's energy."
"How would you know it uses the moon's energy Mar?" Asked Natsu.
"Because it's called MOON Drip and not Blood Drip, Natsu." I replied, half joking.
"Ha, I guess that makes sense." He replied while smiling.
"Now, there is something a touch more dire I need to say." I said, believing just being straight with my friends was the best solution. "I have been having a reccuring nightmare recently. It's very possible Mavis is using my old teachings to warn me of an impending crisis. Before you ask, I burned my research after teaching Mavis, and I taught her only because she asked to be taught. If it was anyone else, i would have turned them away. No one should muck with time, I'm just lucky my meddling proved to be positive, if anything. I also lost my capacity to jump through times after my soul got sealed in this forever young body. She is the only option. This nightmare, it shows me some vague events of what will happen to us here on this island. Each of us will face hardship, in form of battle or...otherwise."
"Otherwise?" Lucy asked, terrified.
"Emotional stress." I threw out quickly. I thought it would be demoralising to tell them that Erza would catch up to us. "Anyway, the most vivid of the images I see is one after our ordeals are finished. All but one of us standing over the last of us, mourning loss of life at the hands of Deliora."
"Good god...not again!" Grey yelled.
There was a long silence after that. Finally, Natsu noticed that I was tearing up, and a light clicked in his head, and he asked, "Mar, tell us. Who is going to die?"
I raised my head and spoke once more, "Natsu, up until last night, I hadn't the foggiest idea. Everyone appeared as black shapes. Then I had the vision again. It was crystal clear this time. Without a doubt, the man who will die fighting Deliora is...me."
To Be Continued...