Chapter Five
Chaerin flattened her back against the remains of a brick wall, glaring back at the person and attempting to bite their hand of the person. Until she realised it was Erza.
"Erza-san?" Chaerin murmured, muffled against the hand. As a piece of red hair fell over her eye, Erza smiled.
"Erza, what are you doing here?" he whined. Chaerin nodded, slipping out of Erza's tight grip to look around for the snake-monster.
"I'm here because Master asked me to keep an eye on you." Erza said, flicking her hair away, "And on Natsu and Gray, of course." she added, catching Chaerin's gaze. Then, she turned her attention to the two boys in question, frozen solid and both with their eyes wide open. Chaerin couldn't help but shiver at the eerie gaze into nothing that was held on their faces.
"Hey, Erza-san, will they be alright?" Chaerin whispered, cautiously leaning the stony Gray against the wall beside her and then peeking around the corner to look for the basilisk. It was no where in sight- and to be honest, Chaerin was pretty sure she would be able to see a giant snake if it were around. She focused on the space around, upping the sensitivity of her Sensory Radar (though also making the range smaller), to see if the monster was close by. It wasn't, so Chaerin went back to Erza.
"Of course, if we really can't find anyway to help them, we'll go to Porlyusica-sama and she'll help us out." Erza replied, taking Natsu from Happy's paws and hugging him to her metal-clad breast. He hit it with a nasty clunk. Chaerin cringed, slightly; terribly aware that the boys may still be able to feel and hear and think.
"Erza-san? Do yo-"
"Erza. Just call me Erza." she cut in, making Chaerin's trail of thoughts drift off for a moment. She wondered why everyone in Fairy Tail was so casual about their names and the lack of honourific. They really were like a family.
"Okay, erm, Erza," Chaerin tried, "Do you think we can beat that basilisk? I mean, no offence, but if we can't see it, how are we supposed to fight it?" Erza nodded, thoughtfully, dropping Natsu from her clutch and onto the ground.
"We could throw fish at it and then it will befriend us because everyone loves fish!" cried Happy, grinning his stupid, cat grin. Chaerin sweatdropped at the cat creature and sent him a false smile.
"Good idea, Happy-chan, but wouldn't you just want to eat the fish so we wouldn't have anything to throw?" she asked as politely as she could manage (while talking to a winged cat person. . . Thing. . .). Erza, still nodding, swatted at Happy absentmindedly. The cat then burst into to crocodile tears and flew away on pure wings, complaining that everyone was being mean to him.
"Happy!" called Erza, not sounding the least bit apologetic, "Come back, we might need you as snake bait! Can you pretend to be a mouse?" Chaerin's mouth hung open as she watched Happy fly about above Erza's head as she jumped about the catch him, nearly yanking off his pretty blue tail.
Rustle. Chaerin's head shot from side to side as she heard a rustle. Silently and as motionlessly as possible, she focused her Sensory Radar on the 10 metres around her. Behind her, slightly to the left, was a small person, hiding behind a pile of rubble, it's breathing was quick as gas particles flew from the solid at a fast rate. She smirked, not moving at all as she then focused her mind on the spot three meters behind her and a foot behind the person. Chaerin pictured every single detail of herself being in that spot and then snapped her fingers and 'teleported' to the spot. She heard the person gasp in shock. Diving forward, she landed on the tiny body, pinning it down as she straddled it. It was a young boy, brown hair covering his scruffy, mud-soaked face. He coughed twice as a small could of dust made his hazel eyes water.
"Hey, wait!" he cried, hoarsely, wiggling to free himself, "You're a wizard, right?" Chaerin nodded slowly, narrowing her eyes at the child. "I'm Hiro, the Mayor's son." Chaerin nodded, watching his every movement as she got off of him. By this point, Erza had made her way over and watched, silently, from beside Chaerin.
"Yeah, we're from Fairy Tail." Hiro brushed himself off, sending a flurry of dried mud showering over the cobbles.
"You're going help, then? Perfect. I can take you to the Basilisk's nest, it's just outside the Town." Hiro explained, hurriedly, his eyes wide with hope and excitement. Erza stepped forward nodding with a smile.
"Yes. Thank you, take us right away." she told him, turning on her heel to lift Natsu. She raised him over her right shoulder, while hauling Gray along under her left arm. Both Hiro and Chaerin were amazed at this feat of strength (Happy, being used to it, was just relieved to be free of Erza), though Chaerin had the sense not to show it.
"Wow, Miss, you're super strong!" Hiro mused, following after Erza, his eyes glittering with amazement. Chaerin smiled warmly at the back of him. When they were out of earshot, she muttered to herself:
"You look just like Danny, but with brown hair, you know." She sighed, happily, reminiscing, when-
"Who's Danny?"
"Ack! N-no one, go away, Happy-chan!" she cried, resting her hand on her chest in surprise before glaring at the blue cat and stomping away after the redhead and her new dazzled disciple.
Hiro took the lead, a while into their trip, striding ahead, powerfully while Chaerin and Erza quizzed him on what happened to the Town.
"Well, one day, Michael the Hunter, came back from his trek in the forest and said he saw this huge nest in the middle of the forest, you see." Hiro stopped, looking left and right before turning to the latter and walking on, "So, Dad and Mom went back with Michael and Nekoosa the Veterinary Surgeon, who knows all about animals, to see it. Nekoosa said it was a snake nest and that we shouldn't touch or go near it, but one guy Masashi knew there was high profit in snake eggs and since the nest was huge, he figured the eggs would be too." Hiro paused to turn to the two women following close and listening intently to every word. He felt special.
"So, Hiro-kun, what happened next?" asked Chaerin, putting the pieces together in her head as to watch happened.
"Well, one night, he went to the nest with Michael, who was really proud of his discovery and showed it to everyone who asked. Then, Masashi knocked Michael out and saw one huge snake egg in the nest. He took and then ran away. The next day, Michael woke up and ran back into the town, screaming about Michael and what happened, but Michael had come back and had hidden the egg so no one would find it. He was cleared because everyone thought Michael just had concussion." Hiro took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He pressed his finger to his lips, pointing forward into a hollow. 'In there' he mouthed, pushing his muddy back against the bark of a nearby tree and watching the two girls approach the opening.
Erza went in first, requipping her armour to be a more camouflaged one (pretty risqué and barely anything there). Chaerin followed after, swiping her hand across a tree and turning to the a brown sludgy liquid that followed her warm, outstretched hand in the form of a wet ball. She turned back, sending a comforting smile to Hiro and then at the two stiff figures that were beside him- Gray and Natsu. 'We'll help you, I promise,' she thought to herself turning back to Erza. And, Lord, was the sight that met her eyes a frightful one. The nest, was made of bent, splintering trees, woven together to make a terrifically large bird's nest. It was taller than Chaerin and nearly as wide as the cove it stood in. Inside the nest was an egg. Clean white and smooth, tucked into the corner next to another one, both about the size of three Erza's standing beside each other.
"Holy. . . Crap." Chaerin hissed, marvelling at the structure.
"C'mon, this is no time to admire. We must find that monster and kill it soon. For Fairy Tail and for Natsu and Gray." Erza said, calmly but with high amounts of control. Not used to being told what to do, Chaerin felt a tug of reluctance, rebellion, as she followed after her scantily-clad Nakama. "Hiro-kun, stay here and guard Natsu and Gray, if anything happens, Happy carry Hiro-kun out of danger. Call us or send Happy of the basilisk returns." Erza commanded, her voice radiating authority. Chaerin grinned, pushing her hand through her tangled hair and swiping it out of her face. Then she turned to Erza.
"I'll leave a trail so we can get back here faster okay, so just follow me if we need to get back quick." Erza sent Chaerin one final grin before the two of them sprinted off in the direction of fallen trees, leaving a trail of molten tree behind.