"Here you go." Erza hands Lucy a lamp. "You're gonna need it." She explains as she motions to the dark abyss of the tunnel.
Smiling in appreciation, she takes it gratefully. Behind her, the trio that were going to accompany her made sure that all their supplies were in check and Lucy decided to bid a certain sour pinkette a proper farewell.
"Don't look so glum."
"I'm not."
"You're pouting."
"I'm not!" He insists.
Sighing, he rests his forehead on hers, sending her the silent message 'Stay safe'. She leans into it, replying 'I will'. Lifting her head off his, she takes both his cheeks in her hands and looked straight into his eyes, suddenly shifting to a much more serious note.
"Promise me you'll control yourself." She asks, almost pleading.
"I know." He replies, almost frustrated but Lucy knows that sometimes, even if he meant it, Natsu has the tendency to forget when he is in the heat of the moment.
"Natsu, I mean it." She states firmly. "Do as Erza says. Promise me."
Natsu takes in the sight of her chocolate brown eyes that were in a darker shade than usual. She was very serious about this. Gulping, he nods, before schooling his face to the most serious expression he could manage.
"I promise."
Finally satisfied to have somewhat drilled that into him, Lucy returns the tunnel beyond the door. And with that, Erza closed the door to the tunnels, leaving Lucy, Wendy, Gray and Loke to press on. Erza then turns to the others.
"Let's move out!"
As the group made their way out, Joel reminded, "Don't forget to keep out of sight! You can't let them know that Fairy Tail is in Bellum! They know how to put two and two together!"
Erza replied with a thumbs up in response. When the group was gone, Joel turned to Drake.
"Why didn't you tell them about that person?"
Drake sighed as he ran his hand through his hair.
"It would've been too complicated."
Joel frowned at his response.
"Are you sure it's worth the risk?"
Their gazes locked for a good long while before Drake replies.
"It's the only way."
"The trip should take at least an hour by foot if we hurry." Gray pointed out as the team quickly manoeuvred through the one way tunnel. At least, it was supposed to be one–way; half an hour in and they found themselves at a cross-section.
"What?!" Wendy baffled at the unexpected increase in routes.
"This is bad, which route do we take?" Loke questioned.
Just then, a figure appeared from the route to their left and all four of them jumped back in alarm.
"Lucy Heartfilia?" The old woman asked.
Lucy twitched, her battle stance turning rigid in caution.
"Yes?" Her reply coming out more as a question.
"We've been expecting you."
The group frowned as the lady turned around and motioned them to follow her. When they made no indication of moving, the old lady asked.
"You wish to get to Sixir's Main Hall, no?"
Now, that certainly got all of their attention.
"How did you–"
"Follow me."
The group looked around. There were debris in the middle of the roads, craters in buildings, dead bodies strewn across the streets and guards either loitering about or stripping and dumping the dead bodies into carts. The team's nose flared at the sight and the smell of burning rubber and flesh. It looked like a war happened here.
"What…what happened here?" Levy questioned despite knowing the answer to it already.
Erza closed her eyes, remembering the hell she had went through as a child.
"Guys, hood up. We're going in." She instructed.
With that said, everyone put on the hood of the coat they wore. The coat was beige in colour and it covered them from head to toe, making them very inconspicuous but it would help to keep their identities and origins hidden.
"Remember, only distract. Do not engage." Erza glared at Natsu as she said it.
The rest nodded and they were off, but Natsu had stayed behind, glaring at the guards throwing the bodies as though they were insignificant bugs.
"Erza…"
Erza hesitated. She had a bad premonition of what's to come.
"Yes?"
"Are you okay with this?"
Erza turned from him.
"No."
She heard his fist tighten.
"But not today." She elaborates and leaps off.
Giving those guards one last look, Natsu leaps off too.
As Lucy, Wendy, Loke and Gray trudged deeper into the tunnels, it got brighter since there were torches mounted on the walls that were beginning to even out into more. The foursome looked around, reading the illegible inscriptions and drawings that have been carved into them.
"Drake told me you'd come." The old lady's rough and strained voice brought their attention back to her.
"Well, he definitely did not tell us about you." Lucy explained with a raised brow.
"I'm not surprised that he didn't. It would've been a hassle to explain it and Drake has always been a man of few words."
The four looked at each other, a question burning in their head that Wendy decided to voice.
"Who are you ma'am?"
Although the group couldn't see it, they could literally feel the smirk radiate off of her.
"It's very complicated to explain my existence." She began. "But to put it simply I'm a being who has seen, felt and heard more than any of you ever did."
They exchanged sceptical gaze.
"That's…"
"You need not know."
Lucy paused, collecting her thoughts and although she is curious of the old lady's identity, there was something else that was more pressing than that.
"Do you know about the Sixir bloodline?"
The old lady nodded, face hidden from view as she continued to face forward.
"It's no secret that the Sixir family has always been… gifted. Although it had led to quite the complications in the past, things were better ever since magic became a much more widely accepted concept. However, there are always those few who would treat wizardry and witchcraft as something sinister and forbidden and, well, let's just say there were plenty of such people here in Bellum."
The old lady dosed out the flame in the torch she was holding before motioning for the others to do the same. Albeit reluctantly, Lucy did as she was told. With the remaining light on the walls, the old lady felt the wall for something. Seemingly found what she was looking for, she pushed against an invisible patch on the wall and chanted something. In a moment, a little rumble happened and a flash of purple light engulfed them.
The team opened their eyes to find themselves in a large marble hall. The place was musty, the ceiling looked as though it was going to crumble anytime soon and most of the pillars were either crumbled or crumbling. They looked around in awe, admiring the rich history that seemed to be engraved into the stone of this place. Lucy found the sight oddly comforting yet angering.
"Welcome to Sixir's Main Hall." The old lady chimed as she continued forward, before adding, "Or at least, what's left of it."
"What happened here?" Lucy tried to hide the anger in her voice, but it didn't go unnoticed by the others.
The old lady smiled at Lucy's tone.
"Destruction of the old is necessary to make way for the new."
"It didn't look very successful." Gray commented off handily.
The old lady smirked as eerily as one can when they're toothless.
"That's because we're in the middle of it. You do not think that you will always be at the end of everything do you? After all, change is the only constant…" She then turned to face Gray. "When things become static, it means they're dead."
Gray shuddered at the thought as memories of the deceased invaded his mind. As the old lady slowly made her way up the steps of what seemed to be a platform for something, she continued on, "It's such a tiring cycle that is unfortunately as inevitable as death itself. I myself have seen a few cycles of it. People always seem to find their way back to where they once were, but when told that they would, they don't believe it, and when they do, they regret it and try to tell the others the same, but again, those people won't listen and the cycle repeats itself."
The group frowned, clearly disturbed by how accurate the concept was.
"But it's all a part of life. Baby is born without knowledge, just pure instinct and we, the adults try to shepherd them in our own 'ideal' image. However, kids will be kids and they don't understand reason until they taste it or see it for themselves, causing them to make the same mistakes we did. But it is all necessary for one to actually learn something. After all, blind trust will always lead to a fall."
Finally, they reached the pedestal in the middle of the platform the scaled. On it, held a worn but well preserved book and a belt that looked like it hadn't been used in a good long while.
"Oh dear, it seems like I spoke too much again." The old lady chided herself lightly before turning to Lucy. "Take these. I'm certain they will provide you with the answers and aid you need for whatever you wish to accomplish."
Lucy tilted her head in confusion. "I thought you were going to tell me–"
The old lady held up a hand. "Answers come in many different forms. Like I said, somethings can only be taught and learned through experience."
Lucy let her face fall into disappointment before straightening it into determination, looking back at the objects that lay on the pedestal. After setting the objects carefully into her haversack, Lucy proceeded to thank the old lady.
"Thank you, ma'am. But we still don't know your name."
The old lady smiled a little, seemingly hesitant on whether or not to answer before she let out a sigh.
"Anita."
In the instant she said her name, the foursome were engulfed in a purple light and whisked back to Kyle's home, leaving the four of them confused and the old lady alone with a teardrop running down her cheek.
"W-what just happened?" Wendy questioned with a hand on her head, feeling lightheaded from the sudden teleportation.
"Welcome back." Cain's distinct voice was heard and the team slowly got up. He waited for them to straighten up before continuing. "Lady Burma is expecting you."
"GET BACK HERE YOU A**HOLE!" A voice boomed over the crackling streets of fire.
Erza only smirked as she continued on, quick enough that the guards can't catch her but slow enough for them not to lose sight of her. Stirring up the guards was easy enough; a few good knocks in their faces had them running after her. The question however, was how long was she supposed to keep this up?
As she ran, more guards began joining the chase and some appeared before her, trying to cut her off, causing her to make a quick turn to avoid them.
Shit. She cursed internally as she realised what they were doing.
They were forcing her to a dead end.
With magic out of the question, getting out of this predicament could prove to be harder than usual. Harder, but it doesn't mean it'll be hard. With a smirk, Erza took a few leaps off the ground and walls of the building around her, easily making her way to the roof. She took a moment to gather her bearings and saw Levy not far from her. Taking a quick look at the mass of guards back at ground level who were now readying bows and arrows, she decided that it was enough and decided to lose them.
"Levy." She addressed as she landed beside the blue haired girl.
"Oh God Erza! you nearly gave me a heart attack!" Levy let out a surprised gasp as she clutched at her chest to calm herself.
Erza only raised a brow as she saw the sack of pebbles in Levy's hands.
"How are things at your end?" She finally asked.
Levy sighed as she pointed to the streets below.
"Gajeel's handling things pretty well." Levy smiled weakly before continuing. "I can only help a little by throwing pebbles when need be."
Noticing her discouraged tone, Erza bent to Levy's level and patted her head.
"I'm sure he appreciates it."
Gaze remaining on Gajeel, Levy let out a small warm smile before asking Erza.
"How's your side?"
"I was able to bait a number of them, and judging by your side and assuming the others are doing a proper job, we should be siphoning a sufficient amount of guards here."
Levy paused to process the information before letting out a sigh.
"I wonder how Lucy's doing."
"I see, a belt and a book." Vanessa spoke slowly, considering the possibilities of what the old lady, Anita, as they said, could have wished to pass on with this.
"Call Drake for me will you?" Vanessa asked as she turned to Cain who dutifully nodded and went on his way before returning her attention to the foursome. "Was there anything else she said?"
The four of them glanced at each other before Lucy spoke.
"Well… we're not sure if it was related, but she was talking about some philosophical things."
Vanessa immediately raised her brows in interest.
"Oh? What kind of philosophy?"
Loke elaborated in Lucy's stead, "Something along the lines of how change is the only constant and how people must learn through experience."
The other three nodded in agreement, finding the summary sufficient.
"I won't say it's related, but I won't say it's irrelevant either." Drake interjected at the doorway before turning to Vanessa, head lowered in apology. "My apologies Milady."
Vanessa only smiled weakly and ushered the man in. "It's quite alright."
"If what Cain had told me is true, I'm afraid we would have quite some trouble on our hands." Drake started as he walked into the room. "It means that the process is going to take a while."
"What process?" Lucy inquires.
"To stop this madness." Drake explains simply.
When the other's expressions tell him they did not understand, he sighed.
"Two years ago, when the riots started, I went to Old lady Anita for help. She then told me about a descendant of the Sixir clan who would be essential to bring about the end of this chaos." As he said it, his eyes met with Lucy's. "Honestly, any Sixir descendant would've worked but she said that you would be the safest bet. Also, most of the other Sixir's descendants were already blacklisted and either captured or executed."
"Can't we rescue them?" Wendy asks.
"There's no point. The people want them dead anyways." Drake explains.
Lucy frowns. "So in a sense they're an enemy to both the people and the state?"
"Exactly." Drake smiles, glad that Lucy caught on quickly.
"Then how am I supposed to help? Technically I'd be stoned to death the moment it is revealed to be a mage, and of Sixir descent no less."
"That's why I too was puzzled. But after hearing what you said, I think I finally know what she's planning."
The group continued to gaze at Drake in suspense, waiting for the explanation.
"Travel around this country. Help the people and let your presence be known while hiding your true identity. When you've gained enough trust and support for the people to not care if you are a mage or no, release your identity so that they can finally see that mages are capable of helping as much as destroying."
"I see, leading by example." Vanessa summarise.
"But this plan could take months, years even." Gray points out.
"But it'll be the most effective and long lasting." Drake counters.
Lucy sighs and picks up the objects she received from Lady Anita and thought for a good long while.
"Let me… think about it…" Lucy finally says.
Everyone in the room was shocked.
"I… I thought you'd jump at the idea." Drake confesses and the others nodded in agreement.
Lucy turns to face them, a sad smile on her face.
"I thought so too."
A/N: I deeply and sincerely apologise for the very long wait (for those who did) and I tried to make this chapter extra long but I suck... so... yeah... Here it is! I'm so so sorry. I'll try to shorten the time it takes between chapters but, yeah... no guarantees *weak laugh*... For those of you who are actually still reading this, THANK YOU. Like seriously... THANK YOU