Chapter 8
" Lushee, you're slow~" Happy sang, flying circles around the annoyed blond who swatted at him.
" Well excuse me for not having wings!" She spat back, a bit more venomously then she intended to, making Happy fly straight to Natsu, who was not far in front of Lucy, and hiding behind his backpack from the scathing blond.
" Lushee's scary, Natsu."
" Aye." Natsu agreed, grinning at Lucy who was bristling with annoyance as she took of her boots and flipping it upside down, chucking out several small stones that managed to slip their way inside.
" Don't encourage him, Natsu!"
Erza, who was all the way in front of the group, looked up from her map and at the sky and around them, nodding approvingly, she turned back and announced,
" It's getting dark soon, we'll set camp here and set out at dawn."
Hearing that, everyone groaned in relief and dumped their backpacks onto the dirt, slumping onto the ground and finally taking a break from the backbreaking non-stop pace Erza set out for them, the said person digging through her carriage and pulling out a few sleeping bags, she then started barking out orders,
" Natsu and Happy, find enough firewood to last us through the night and start a fire, I'll go and find food for all of us in the forest. Gray, go find fresh water. Lucy, Wendy and Charla, stay here start camp, and Serpe..." Erza looked at the haggard looking green haired man, and her face softened with worry,
"Lay Tenebre here and take care of her, we'll settle the rest."
Serpe nodded back at her gratefully, sending her his thanks silently, and went to the nearest tree to lean to, still holding onto Tenebre the entire time.
As soon as they were assigned a task, they went to work.
Gray immediately went into the forest to search for a water source. Natsu and Happy found some broken twigs and branches nearby, so they collected them quickly, Natsu using his fire to make a quick campfire before disappearing into the forest once more in search of more firewood with Happy's help. Erza vanished the moment she gave out her orders, and several squeals of fright and terror could be heard from afar shortly after. Lucy, Wendy and Charla started to rolling out the sleeping bags and setting up camp, Lucy making sure to put one closer to the campfire for Tenebre.
Laying Tenebre down on a sleeping bag Lucy just rolled out, Serpe smoothed out her dress and arranged her hair before sitting down beside her, watching her chest rise and fall as she continued to sleep.
Lucy walked over to him and sat down beside him, taking Tenebre's hand and started rubbing it,
" She's still so cold, and it's been five days already. Has she shown any signs of waking up?" Lucy asked as she blew onto Tenebre's hand and continued to rub it, trying to transfer her warmth to her.
Serpe shook his head, " She's a lot warmer than when she first came out of that ice, but she's still nowhere near normal human temperature. I can't really tell the difference though, i'm cold blooded after all."
"Ah, right, you're half-snake. Natsu and the others told me about it."
" So, tell me, if you don't mind that is, how did you become Tenebre's spirit?" She said as she hugged her knees, leaning her head on it while looking into his yellowish-green eyes,
Serpe chuckled at her question and sighed, his eyes glazing over as if he was being transported back into time, caressing Tenebre's cheek with his thumb, he spun his tale.
" How i met this reckless idiot of a master here? Well, this is the story of how she saved me from myself..."
Flashback ( Serpe's POV )
" SERPE! You have to stop this nonsense right now!"
Anguis's shouts of outrage fell on deaf ears as i continued my rampage, too far loss in my grief and fury to be reasoned with, destroying everything in my sight.
I slashed through something soft and squishy, and it screamed, i think it was a human. I didn't care, all i could see was red, my blood burned in my veins and rushed to my head, all i could think about was her.
Gallus flashed past me, taking the thing blocking me away from me, that feathered bastard.
I hissed at him, but moved on, i didn't want to think about anything, all i could and want to think about is her.
" That's the last of them, most of the people have already been evacuated, Anguis, what are we going to do?" I heard Gallus's voice vaguely from the sidelines, he combed back his wild red hair in frustration as i cut down yet another tree,
" I don't know, i guess we just have to wait for his magic to run out. Adonis-sama's... dead, so he's using his own magic to pass through his gate, just like we are doing now." Anguis said.
At the sound of her name and blasphemy he uttered, i whipped my head around and screamed at him,
" She's not dead! " I charged at him, readying my claws to rip his throat out, but all he did was to sidestep and grab my hand, tossing him over his back and slamming him onto the ground.
Anguis leapt away from me the moment i pulled myself out of the rubble, baring my fangs, i hissed harshly and charged at him, but before i could even touch him, a golden magic circle appeared above me and a horde of light spears rained down from it, immobilizing me. Soon, my entire body was surrounded by light spears, i couldn't even budge, i tried to break them, but they were as tough as steel, as fragile as they looked.
" Argh! Let me go! Who the fuck did this?!" I shouted, struggling to pull myself from the spears's confines.
" I did."
My head snapped in the direction of the voice and glared at the feminine silhouette standing on top of a tree branch,
" Who the fuck are you?!"
I heard her click her tongue at me almost disapprovingly, and i felt my blood boil, was this bitch making fun of me?! Just as i though that, she jumped off the branch and landed gracefully onto the ground, and i finally saw her.
A black and silver haired beauty wearing a kind of blackish-silver and gold Valkyrie-like suit of armor with thigh-high armor boots, and over her left leg a long sash made of black and gold feathers, her black and gold flecked silver eyes stared straight into my soul. She walked towards a gaping Anguis and Gallus, and bowed slightly to them, her left hand above her heart.
" Tenebre Akarusa, Gatekeeper of the Worlds. You must be Anguis, the Chinese Zodiac of the Dragon, and Gallus, Chinese Zodiac of the Rooster i presume?"
The both of them nodded their heads idiotically like a bunch of retarded bobble-heads, what's it with them and beautiful woman. Idiots.
Anguis was the first to recover, clearing his throat and straightening out his cobalt blue chinese robe and white long pants, he activated his sparkling aura, that would've made normal girls swoon, and smiled charmingly at Tenebre, taking her outstretched hand and turning it to place a kiss on it.
" Yes i am indeed Anguis, great Dragon of the Chinese Zodiacs, what can i do for you my lady-" He was interrupted when she pulled back her hand and put a stop sign in front of his face, saying monotonously,
" Leave your flirting to later, Anguis-san, and stop trying to copy Leo, your usual self is much more appealing. Besides, i'm here on behalf of the old man."
Old man? The Celestial Spirit King! She knows him?!
As if reading my thoughts, she took a side glance at me and nodded in my direction,
" Have you calmed down yet, Serpe, Chinese Zodiac of the Snake?"
The moment she said it, i finally realized that the fog that covered my rationality had cleared, and so did the red from my eyes. Were the spears behind this? I registered the surprise on Anguis's and Gallus's face when they too realized what had happened,
" Wha-?! How?! No one has been able stop him on his rampages ever, not even Maiale, our laziest and most relaxed spirit!"' Gallus said as he pointed at Tenebre with a shaking hand,
She just shrugged her shoulders and said,
" I don't know. This's actually the first time i used this spell, i kinda picked it up after i got impaled by it, it immobilized me then, so i thought maybe i could use it to immobilize him. I might have accidentally added calming properties by unintentionally thinking about it? Seems just about right to me."
My jaw dropped open, so did the two idiots standing beside her. The way she said it, it was as if she gets made into a human pin cushion on a normal basis, just what is this girl?!
" Important matters first, Serpe, return immediately to the Celestial Realm now. Your master is dead, and your contract is broken, you are no longer needed in this world, go back and await your new master. If you return now, you may be spared punishment for the carnage you've caused."
Her words rang in my head and echoed over and over again,
Dead...
Broken...
New master...
DEAD...
And, i saw red again,
" SHE . IS . NOT . DEAD !"
Fueled by my rage, i tried to break away from my restrains, roaring as i put every ounce of strength i had into breaking them.
But even after doing so much, i only succeeded in breaking the few that were restraining my arms, but it was more than enough, she must be clearly underestimating me, i'm half-snake for fucks sake, i can slither out of anything.
Maneuvering my way out of the spears, i landed in a crouch outside the porcupine formation of spears i was in, and hissed at the bitch, i will get her for insulting my master!
Digging my feet into the ground, i shot off and aimed my claws at her throat, just as i was about to stab through her neck, she disappeared and was behind me in an instant, pivoting on my right foot, I swung my arm backwards to slice her, she leaped and landed behind me again.
Oh ho, so this is how she wants to play it? Bring it on!
Each time i attacked, she dodged away, every time i slashed at her, she slips away from me, and rather ironically, like a snake.
Seconds, minutes and even hours passed, and by then, i was sweating and panting hard. Fighting her while struggling to keep my gate open was starting to take a toll on me, but i ain't gonna let that stop me from killing this woman after she'd insulted my master!
Hissing at her, i readied to launch myself at her again, but all she did was to look at me dully, my anger reached it's peak, first she mock my master and now me?! Unforgivable! I ran towards her and started attacking her again.
" Hey you, Anguis-san? Isn't this your year? You're the leader of the Chinese Zodiacs for this year right? So why didn't you try to stop him, with that huge increase of magic you received as a result of that?" She asked Anguis, then ducking as i tried to spear her head.
" I tried, but if i were you, i would stay away from those claws of his, it has venom all over it that can only be cured in another world." Anguis said, his voice tense as he watched our dance of death,
" Hmm, poison eh? I don't think that's a problem." She said as she twirled away from my kick, then leaping back as i tried to kick her with my other leg, she landed on her hands and pushed herself back up, landing on her feet, dusting her hands when she landed.
I tried to catch my breath as i felt the fatigue try to pull me back into the Celestial Spirit Realm, but i resisted its pull, i have to kill this bitch first, as if sensing my thoughts, she gave a a sad look,
" Why? Why do you fight so hard? You should be at your limit by now shouldn't you? Why don't you just go back to the Spirit World?" She asked.
"Why?! WHY?! I FIGHT TO PROTECT MY MASTER! IS THAT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU?!" With that, i put every last ounce of strength into my legs and threw myself at her.
" ARRRGH!"
Everything was as if it was in slow motion, i saw Anguis's and Gallus's horrified face as my arm made its way into her stomach, she just standing there and letting it go through, doing nothing to stop it, not even dodging, just staring at me.
SQUELCH!
My eyes widened in shock when i saw my arm embedded deep into her stomach. Her blood snaked down my arm and dripped onto the puddle that was already forming beneath my arm.
I snapped my head and looked up at her, and saw that she was smiling at me. Rendering me completely speechless.
She coughed a few times, coughing out blood each time she did, then she said,
" About time you took out your arm?"
Hearing this, i immediately yanked out my blood soaked arm from her stomach, flinching when i heard the loud sickening squelch that came out from it as i saw more blood flowing out the wound the moment my arm was removed from it.
Anguis and Gallus was by her side in an instant, Anguis knelt down and immediately started to tear off pieces of his robe to stanch the wound so that the blood would stop flowing, pressing his hand down and applying pressure on it, while Gallus tried to convince her to lie down so they could treat her wound better. But all she did was to say a quiet word of thanks to the both of them and refusing their offer to help her.
Putting up a hand to silence their protests, she said,
" I'm fine, this would heal itself in a few hours time. There's no need for the both of you to panic."
Pushing away Anguis's hand gently, she replaced his hand with her own as she applied pressure to her own wound, barely flinching, she walked towards me and knelt on one knee in front of me, she tipped my face up with a finger to look into hers, she was surprisingly still smiling at me, then she hugged me, holding me close to her.
" That master of yours, Adonis was it? You must've loved her dearly. But the fact remains that she's gone, you'd probably won't see her ever again." Tenebre said bluntly, making me flinch back violently.
" Oi oi, i think that was a bit harsh." Gallus snapped at her.
" But he needs to hear it. " Tenebre replied sharply, then turning her attention back to me, " Even if he refuses to accept it, you have to make him see the truth for himself."
Tenebre stayed silent after that, as if allowing the fact to firmly seep through into their heads first, before finally speaking,
" Did you know, 'Adonis' in the language of flowers actually means 'sad memories', but from what i've heard about her, i'm sure she'd like you to remember and uphold the opposite of that. But do you think you are respecting her memory by ravaging her beloved town?"
Then, one by one the citizens emerged from their hiding spots, and with each familiar face that popped out, so did the various memories of our times together. Our missions, happy moments, her smile and her laugh. Her proud sparkling purple eyes gazing over the town from the highest building, her favorite hideout, the wind blowing at her glossy black hair as her voice chimed in my head,
"Do you know why this is my favorite place? Cause i can see the whole of the town from here, even my house! It might not seem like much to many people as our town is still small and developing, but i don't care about their opinions, that's because i love this town! "
She loved this place, and i just destroyed it with my own hands. What have i done?
Something wet slid down my cheek, was i crying? No,i can't let them see my weak side, i buried my face into Tenebre's shoulder, ignoring the cold bite of her metal armor at my cheek.
She wasn't taken by surprise, but instead said,
" Don't be ashamed of your tears, a good friend of mine told me 'Tears are a form of weakness, but it is also a form of strength, it shows that you feel and that you have emotions', so don't hold it back, just let it flow."
Just like that, she broke the dam holding back all my emotions and the tears flowed out of my eyes, as i wept silently, the woman continued to pat my head, the soft strokes of her hand having the strangest calming effect on me.
Even Anguis and Gallus shed a few tears at this exchange.
After facing the citizens of the town, they were furious of course, but they were devastated as well, and they forgave me on one condition, that i help them rebuild the town
" Right, let's return to the Celestial World."
I looked at her as she removed the cloth from her wound, letting the blood-soaked fabric fall onto the ground with a wet slosh. Removing the leather above her stomach and inspecting her wound.
Her right brow tweaked up when she saw the discoloration around her wound, i took a closer look and cringed. I've never really cared to look back at the enemies that i used my poison on, till now.
Other than the gaping hole in her stomach, the skin around the wound was in a sickly shade of green, yellow and purple, a horrible smell of rotting meat came out from it.
Anguis gagged and retched behind her. Gallus stared intently at the ground, and she poked the skin around her wound, seemingly intrigued by its color.
I, on the other hand was panicking on the inside. I have to get her to the Jade Emperor's palace and to Lapin as soon as possible!
" We need to get you to the Celestial World, fast! The poison will spread to your heart within the next 20 minutes or -"
I stopped blabbering when i heard her chuckle, and i fumed,
" This ain't the time to laugh woman! You can-"
She shoved a hand on my mouth and said while laughing,
"You don't listen to the news often do you? "
I shook my head, obviously confused at where she was heading at,
" No wonder, let me tell you give you a summary then, number 1, i am a half-angel half-demon hybrid, which means, i'm immortal, i don't die. Number 2, i've been trained to produced anti-venom within my body since i was young, so like my wounds, it'll be purged in the next hour or so. So no need to panic."
I was flabbergasted, " Produce anti-venom in your body? How is that possible?"
Her face morphed into a frightening scowl, her voice cold and deadly as she said,
" It's a long story, and not one that i would want to say to people I hardly know."
I took a quick look at Anguis and Gallus and saw then hugging each other in fear, shivering and staring wide eyed at her sudden change in demeanour.
" Let's go."
Flashback end ( Normal POV )
" The rest was a blur," Serpe recalled, " The old man was about to banish me for 5 years, but Tenebre saved me, she used one of the favours that the old man owed her to save me, and that is big, cause the old man's hardly owes people any favours. So instead of being banished, i became Tenebre's spirit as punishment, which technically was not much of a punishment at all, she reminded me of Adonis, well, except for her reaction to pain and all things gruesome."
He cringed at that, Lucy giggling at his comical expression.
" But i have to thank her for everything though, if it wasn't for her and her spear thingy, i might have completely lost myself to my madness." Serpe says with with a small smile on his face, but it then morphed into a scowl, with gritted teeth and clenched fists, he said,
" I still can't believe her own relatives did those things to her! I mean just look at her! What part of her deserves such ill treatment?! If i could just get my hands on them...!" Lucy laughed nervously when she saw the creepy grin on his face.
At that moment, Natsu came back with Happy and Erza, while he was carrying a mountain of firewood with both of his arms, Happy was carrying a smaller version of that pile with his paws. Erza followed behind him, dragging five wild boars tied up with ropes behind her, all unconscious with X's on their eyes.
" Whoa, how did you catch so many at once?" Lucy exclaimed, poking at one of the boar's leg.
" She just jumped out of the bushes and all of them fainted at the sight of her. Well, that means more food for me!" Natsu grinned at this
" A-Aye..." Lucy could just imagine the look on Erza's face when she jumped out of the bushes and shivered at the thought.
Serpe jolted up when Erza dumped the boars somewhere behind him, and just like that an idea struck him, and he said, bowing low to them,
" Erza-san, i would like to express my gratitude to you all, please allow me to be in charge of your meals today."
Erza looked at him with an exasperated sigh, " Sure thing, but let the honorifics slip already, there's no need for that among nakama."
" Hai, time to get to work then!" Serpe said as he took off his coat, revealing a pastel green form-fitting shirt, sculpting his finely built abs perfectly.
Erza raised her eyebrows in appreciation, causing Lucy to flush a bright pink when he flexed his abs, Natsu growled at Serpe when he saw Lucy blush, Gray grinned at Natsu's growl, Happy rolled his tongue gleefully at Gray's knowing grin and Wendy smiled a little at all their reactions while Charla simply shook her head.
" Let me get Maiale to help me out for awhile." Serpe closed his eyes for a moment and a pink poof poofed out beside him.
When the smoke cleared out, a small girl slightly taller than Wendy appeared beside him. She had mousy brown bob hair with pink bangs and wore a pair of over-sized baby pink overalls with a light blue shirt with a pair of pink slippers.
The little pig spirit snored, her head nodding downwards every few seconds as she slept while standing upright.
" Is this normal,Serpe?" Lucy said as she looked at Serpe with a perplexed expression, pointing at a snoring Maiale who was leaning dangerously close to the campfire,
" Yep, this is very normal. Meet Maiale, she might be the laziest and most relaxed spirit out all of us, but she is also the best cook among the lot, that's why i summoned her here. She might be the best cook, but i'm not so bad myself!" Serpe puffed out his chest with pride at this.
" Wait, you summoned her her?! A spirit summoning a spirit? I've never heard of this before!" Lucy exclaimed, her eyes shining at the aspect of learning new things about the spirits,
" Zzzzz..." Maiale snored, about to fall into the fire when Serpe grabbed her by the straps of her overalls.
" I guess i should explain, but only after dinner, there's a hungry fire Dragon Slayer glaring holes into my back right now and ready to set me aflame which is something i would really want to avoid." Serpe said as he pointed at a fuming Natsu behind him,
" You'd better!" Lucy said, a black aura seeping out of her body.
" H-Hai!" Serpe squeaked out, paling slightly, he then looked at Maiale and sighed.
" Wakey wakey little piggy!" Serpe shouted into her ears while poking her sides.
Maiale woke up with a start and started laughing uncontrollably, twisting from side to side,
" Hihihihihihahahahaha! Stop it! Stop it Serpe-nii!" Maiale laughed out, while being assaulted with Serpe's pokes.
When Serpe felt that she was finally fully awake, he stopped tickling her.
" Jeez, you should really stop sleeping so much you know." Serpe ruffled Maiale's hair and she yawned, then while rubbing her eyes cutely, she whimpered,
" But i'm just so sleepy all the time!"
Serpe simply shook his head in mild amusement, and said,
" You can go back to sleep but now i need your help for dinner, can i count on you to help me with it?"
Maiale's face lit up at the word 'dinner', her mud-brown eyes sparkled and she nodded enthusiastically,showing energy for the first time the gang saw her, she then takes out a ladle from behind her and waved it around her, and exclaimed as she showered pink sparkles at the spot in front of her,
" Piggy Magic : Travelling Kitchen!"
A bright pink cloud a small kitchen poofed out in front of her, with cabinets of all sorts of food and spices stocked in it, she then turns around and chirped,
"So where's the main ingredient?"
Baffled at her sudden activeness, the entire team pointed at the bunch of tied up boars near the campfire, Maiale looked at them and her eyes widened,
" The main ingredients are my cousins?"
"Cousins?" The gang echoed.
" Ah, i forgot to mention, Maiale is the Chinese Zodiac of the Pig, so boars are technically her cousins." Serpe elaborated.
"WE'RE SO SORRY!" The whole gang bowed to Maiale, but all Maiale did was to brush past them, stopping in front of the captured boars, she then smiles creepily and took out a butchers knife from behind her, and said in a sing-song voice,
" Meh, they were stupid enough to be captured, so they deserve what's coming next. My job, however, is to make them delicious, and that i will do..." She lifted up her knife, and brought it down,
Erza covered Wendy's eyes and Lucy covered her ears, shielding her innocent eyes from such a scene, while everyone else just gaped open-mouthed, who knew such a gentle looking sleepyhead had such a sadistic side to her.
A few minutes later, all five boars were butchered and separated into many different cuts, after changing into a new pair of matching overalls and cleaning up the blood that splattered onto her face and hands, Maiale took out a few bottles of spices and other ingredients, and said,
"Our main ingredient has been prepared, shall we start then, Serpe-nii?"
Serpe nodded at her, his grin mirroring hers as they both busied themselves with their work.
Natsu flopped onto the ground, letting out a satisfied groan as he patted his bloated belly, " Ouf! Thanks for the awesome meal, Serpis!"
" It's Serpe." The said person deadpanned.
" Zzzz..." Maiale snored out, a satisfied smile on her face as she curled up beside her ladle on the ground.
Serpe chuckled and ruffled her hair, whispering, "Well done Maiale, you can go back now."
Muttering a line of incoherent words, she then disappeared in a shower of pink dust.
Looking around, he then realized something,
" Say, where did the girls go to?"
Grey waved his hand dismissively, his clothes long forgotten at the side somewhere, " They went to the lake for a bath right after dinner. Probably won't be back for quite awhile. You know, girls."
He said the word as if it was self-explanatory enough, which probably is cause Serpe understood immediately.
" I think they took Tenebre with them as well-" He started to say, but was interrupted by a high pitched scream from the forest.
" SERPE!"
All the guys shot upright and ran in the direction of the lake at Lucy's shout, when they broke through from the dense forage and into open space, they skidded to a stop abruptly when they saw Lucy and Erza kneeling beside Tenebre, all three of them dressed in nothing else but a towel wrapped around their bodies, Wendy leaping into the nearest bush with a surprised, embarrassed, "Eep!".
But more importantly was Tenebre, who was sitting up and looking pale, very pale, and weak.
At that moment, Wendy ran out from the bushes fully dressed, a light dusting of pink on her cheeks at the chose call, and went straight to Tenebre's side, her hands already stretched out and ready.
But Tenebre lifted up a hand to stop her, and simply said, her voice croaky, " You can do that later, Wendy."
Serpe snapped out from his shocked trance-like state and he too ran over to the girls,
"How is she?" He asked, looking at Wendy with a serious face.
" 'She' is alive and well thank you very much." Tenebre with mock annoyance, but her eyes sparkled with mild amusement, she then frowned and continued,
" But I don't feel so good though... It feels like i just drank 3 days worth of alcohol in one shot, got thrown into a giant roulette, swung around like a chew toy by Cerberus and had my insides frozen like a pack of frozen peas." She described, making the rest cringe when they imagined it.
" Let's get back to camp first, we need to get Tenebre warmed up and being wet and not having decent clothes is not going to help her with that." Erza barked.
At the mention of 'clothes', Lucy remembered something and screamed,
" Kyaaa!"
Natsu,Gray and Serpe got into their combat positions, ready to fight whatever danger was there, when they assaulted with a barrage of stones,
" Get out of here you perverts!" She shrieked, grabbing whatever she could get her hands on to throw at the males.
It wasn't till they were hit a couple more times, when they finally realized it.
All of their faces flamed, literally for Natsu, and they all ran back to camp, all while trying to prevent a enormous nosebleed.
Minutes later, the girls came back to the camp site. Erza, who was wearing her normal armor, supported Tenebre as she walked rather weakly to the spot laid out for her. They were closely followed by red-faced Lucy that emerged from the forest shortly after them, then followed by Wendy and Charla.
Serpe immediately lunged at Tenebre, wrapping his arms around her neck tightly.
" Thank goodness... Thank goodness you're awake..." He whispered into the crook of her neck, clutching onto her as if she might slip away anytime.
" I'm back." Tenebre said, ruffling his hair.
Serpe let go of her and looked at her with happy puppy dog eyes, reminding Lucy of an adorable puppy wagging its tail and standing at attention, giggling at the thought,
" But why were you unconscious for so long? You told me at it would only take 2 days or so." Serpe asked,
" It took a lot longer than i though it would to complete the seals." Tenebre explained, rubbing her arms, " I just didn't expect it to take that long."
" We're just glad you're awake and alive, Tenebre." Lucy hugged her, then pulling away," But jeez, you're still so cold!"
" But we wasted too much time walking, due to a certain someone refusing to take the train." Lucy glared behind her and Natsu looked away almost innocently and whistled.
" I'm gonna have to get to work then." Tenebre used Serpe as a support to stand up, much to his displeasure.
" Hey hey, what do you think you are doing?" Serpe grabbed her when she stumbled and protested, " I ain't gonna let you start messing around the moment you just-"
" Oh hush." Tenebre cut him off, pushing his face away when she regained her footing, " I'm perfectly fine."
" At least let her look you over!" Serpe pointed to Wendy, who was standing beside Tenebre the whole time with twiddling fingers but didn't say anything.
Wendy continued staring at Tenebre with sparkling eager eyes, and Tenebre sighed, " Oh fine."
The little sky dragonslayer perked up instantly, " I'll do my best!", she chirped happily and her hands moved around Tenebre's body quickly, glowing a pale greenish-blue.
" Other than your abnormally low body temperature, you're all good to go Tenebre-san, but please get at least a full day's rest under some warm covers when we get back, understand?" She diagnosed, folding her arms and looking pointedly at Tenebre.
Tenebre grinned at her, bowing meekly, " Yes doctor."
" So, what was it that you wanted to do?" Erza asked, her head tilting to the side slightly inquiringly.
" Ah, is it okay if i ask all of you to pack up now?" Tenebre said, " I'm gonna make up for lost time."
Erza's eyebrow quirked up slightly, but she didn't ask questions, under a silent signal, they all got to work. Within minutes, the boys finished strapping the last of the supplies onto Erza's carriage and extinguished the campfire, which Natsu did happily by eating the fire.
Satisfied, Tenebre walked towards the carriage, and said,
"Now, i want everyone to hold on to the carriage." Everyone, though confused at what she was doing, did as they were told, and she turned her attention to Serpe.
" You should head back to the Celestial Spirit World for now, you've done well ." While saying this, Tenebre patted him on his head and Serpe nodded happily, disappearing in a shower of gold dust after he bowed to the gang.
Tenebre looked at all of them and then closed her eyes,
"I believe i wasted too much of your time and to make up for it, i'm going to make things easier for all of you now, just a word of caution, do not, and i mean do not let go of the carriage at any point of time, i do not want to have to search through the whole of the Void just to search for you." She says, making them eye her warily, and Erza asked,
" Tenebre, just what exactly are you doing now?"
The air around Tenebre started to vibrate and hum with energy, and she peeped open an eye, and says mischievously,
" Location : FAIRY TAIL!"
A huge sky blue magic circle appeared below their feet,and they were sucked through it, almost like how Anima sucked them into Edolas, holding onto the carriage for dear life as they fell though a vortex of colors.
" Master, are you sure you don't want to send another team to search for Lucy and the others? It's been almost 5 days and not even one lacrima message!" Mira said panicked, her usual cheerful face clouded with worry.
Master Makarov just took another long gulp from his mug, slammed it down,and slurred,
"They'll be fine! No need to worry!"
" But Master!" Mira whined, but then, in a split second, her face turned serious, and she looked around the guild, as if sensing something,
Makarov took another gulp and threw his mug behind,
" You feel it too right, Mira? "
Mira nodded, her body tense up.
" Well! She always had a knack for entrances, but i think this would be her biggest one yet." Makarov said, breaking into a grin,
Mira tilted her head to the side to look at Makarov in confusion,
"Who?"
" You'll know soon enough." He simply said, grinning knowingly.
True enough, a huge magical circle then appeared in the middle of the guild and it disappeared just as quickly after spitting out a big, unidentified, screeching lump of something.
The members that were still in the guild at that time approached the lump cautiously, and when they got closer, shouts could be heard,
" OI, ICE PRICK! GET YOUR STINKY ASS OUT OF MY FACE!"
" MY STINKY ASS?! WHY NOT YOU GET YOU UGLY FACE OFF MY ASS?!"
" BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP AND GET OFF ME!"
" AYE LUCY-SAMA!"
" Lushee, you're heavy..."
" BAKA NEKO!"
" Gray-san, your clothes..."
" WHA-! WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?!"
" HOW DARE YOU TAINT MY PURE WENDY'S EYES!"
" Whoo! Go Charla!"
" ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!"
The guild members sighed in relief at their rowdy guild members return, one of them then shouted,
" THIS CALLS FOR A CELEBRATION!"
A deafening roar almost made the guild's windmill fall off, and Fairy Tail was its usual rowdy self once again.
Pounding Tenebre on her back, Erza grinned,
"It's time to introduce you to them, you ready?"
Tenebre rubbed the back of her head, " I guess so."
Erza's grinned eidened, then taking a deep breath, she roared,
" EVERYONE OF YOU SHUT THE HELL UP RIGHT NOW!"
Silence enveloped the guild as everyone stopped whatever they were doing to look at Erza, not even daring to even whisper a word so as to suffer the Queen's wrath.
"We have a new member!"
Tenebre walked forward hesitantly, and said,
" My name is Tenebre Akarusa, user of mainly Angel and Demon magic, and apparently Lucy Heartfilia's older sister."
.
.
.
" HEHHHHHHHH?!" The whole guild, with the exception of Master, Team Natsu and Tenebre, screamed, falling comically onto the ground.
The only thing Tenebre did was to smile sheepishly at the members on the floor and said,
" Hi?"
Two figures watched as the scene at Fairy Tail unfold itself before them within a lacrima globe, then a crack appeared and the globe shattered into lacrima dust, leaving a small dust pile on the table.
" Looks like what our spies told us was telling the truth, what shall we do now,mi'lord?" one of the figures said.
" Send your minions to give her a little... 'Welcome Back' present." A voice boomed, echoing across the room.
" Yes,mi'lord." The figured bowed, and faded into the background,
Cupping his right hand, he caught the last few grains of of lacrima dust from streaming off the table and looked at it with hungry eyes, he then clenching it within his fist and he growled,
" So, she has returned, hmm...? This won't do, no, not at all. But it doesn't matter, i'll have her no matter what, she's mine."
" You're mine."
AN : Life's a bitch. Life's not a bitch. Nope, life's a bitch alright. Gah, oh well, at least i finally got this chapter done, after days and days of trying to turn on my computer and typing on that tiny screen of my phone.
Well, hmm, wait, there was that one thing that kept me going though, now what was it again... I think it was somewhere in-between the lines of 26 FRIGGIN REVIEWS! HOMG, you guys are awesome! I never though i would get this many, really, i didn't.
Now, awesomeness aside... Nope, still awesome, still FRIGGIN AWESOME! I LUB YA ALL SO MUCH!
R&R!
Ja Ne!
~KanaeHitomi~