Look who's here! DJ's back to action! Hope you didn't have to wait that long this time!
Enjoy minna!
Disclaimer: Me no own.
Chapter 4: Discovery
"Mysteries still unravelled, roads untraveled. Reaching to a path long avoided. Offering waits for the lingering. Deception and haunting will be what one would be reaching. Wizards, till then, beware! One cannot trust their heart here. Cross this final obstacle and reach the awaited goal."
"The lines... this doesn't feel right," Erza said in a small voice, also from one of the corners.
"I want to go home..." said Lucy, sobbing slightly, getting up in the sitting position and backing up to the corner of the small room they found themselves in after waking up. Lucy hid her face from everyone.
"W-why did we even come here?" said Gray, sitting in the farthest corner.
Suddenly, flames erupted in the middle of the room. "GUYS! Stop behaving like this! We will get out of here! Don't lose hope." Natsu desperately tried to break the ice. "Lucy... we will get out of here! Gray, please... Erza... what happened to you all of a sudden?"
"Why is this happening all of a sudden?" Gray said, "We were all lively before we completed the third task and then... It all suddenly felt completely hopeless."
"Exactly... I have been feeling the same for a while too..." said Erza. "Gray, what had Jean told us about Drake's powers?"
"Hmm. Rune magic, mind games, psyche control... and many other abilities only known to him," he said, "They may be rare but they have still become old. One can beat those with will power.
"S-so, would that include emotional changes too?" Lucy said, tilting her head upwards.
"One cannot trust their heart... that's it! C'mon guys! Let's cheer up!" said Gray.
All of them made the Fairy Tail hand sign upwards and shouted, "We are fairy tail!"
"Feeling better?" Lucy and Erza nodded at the boys, "Hmm, that should work for now." Gray said. "but... why weren't you affected?" he asked Natsu.
"Because I am a Dragon Slayer!" [AN: Didn't wanna make things complicated. Go figure.]
"Figures..." said Gray.
Suddenly, well, wall disappeared, replaced by two forked and dimly-lit tunnels. One had greenish hue and the other, red. [AN: Guess what. Hasn't this happened before? I think this one was common.]
"Congrats wizards! You passed the test. Two for frost and one for rest. Destiny is one step ahead, just choose green or red."
"What? But it said the last one was the last one!" said Lucy. [AN: Confusing?]
"Not fair! I want to go to the one with monsters!" roared Natsu and was about to run forward if not stopped by Erza.
"Stop being stupid, flame-head!"
"What did you say ice princess?"
"BOYS!"
"A-aye!"
"What should we do now? We didn't even get a proper clue this time..." said Erza. "Hmm. Let's divide into pairs and navigate one each."
"But..."
"Lucy, you come with me to the red one. Boys, go to the green one." She said.
"What? No! I want the red-"
"Natsu! Understand the situation! You are not getting monsters HERE! One is treasure, other is a trap. And it could be in any one!" Erza said. "C'mon Lucy." 'I hope this is the wrong path...'
"Move your ass over here, Natsu," Gray said, already at the entrance of the tunnel. 'Till now it has been the opposite of the common. Hope this choice was too...'
As they parted ways, Erza and Gray exchanged a quick glance, suddenly knowing the other's intentions, but not saying anything out loud.
Both of them had a knowing smile on their faces as each pair entered their tunnels of Fate.
The tunnel provided a sickly green light as the boys proceeded. Weird imprints of runes could be seen on the walls. The temperature dropped a few degrees. Everything had become eerily silent.
"Tell me, ice block. You chose this path intentionally, right?" said Natsu.
Gray had to smirk at this. "So your thick head actually figured something out? That's a first."
"Why you-"
"Natsu, is it only me or... this place is actually feeling very... wrong? I mean... did you feel or smell anything?"
"Well, now that you mention it, before we parted ways, I just got a faint smell of what lied ahead, but it was just a whiff. The red one actually smelled of monsters."
"W-what? This means they actually got the wrong one? Shit! We have to save-"
"Gray! They have Erza! And it was just monsters... or maybe even not. They might even be able to get out."
"What do you mean?"
"Gray. This one smelled... like death."
"Gate of the Loin I open thee: Leo!" commanded Lucy and, with golden light, appeared Loke.
"How may help you, my dear princess?" said Loke.
Erza was in her purgatory armour, slicing monster after monster, which disintegrated as soon as her blade touched them. "Loke! Go and find Natsu and Gray with Lucy! I will join you as soon as I take care of these monsters," she said.
"Let's go princess. Shoot the details." Loke said, running to the entrance of the tunnel with Lucy.
"Hmm. S-class. Crazy non-existent treasure hunt. Haunted mansion. Runes. Twisted puzzles. Trap. Two ways. We got exit." Lucy said.
"... and they got a problem. Got it," summarised Loke.
"So, this is the end of the tunnel?" said Gray. In front of them was a wall with ancient runes on them. The temperature had further dropped as the continued on their path and it was so cold that their breath was fogged, not that it affected them.
"Hmm, I think it says-"
"You can read runes?" said Natsu.
"Yes, I read! Is it so hard to believe? When you have to hang around with Levy, stuff happens. It is the same as what had been on the side walls too. It says 'offering, lingering, deception, haunting'. What do-"
Suddenly, the earth started shaking. The runes started glowing on the front wall and a hole appeared in front of them. A huge crate appeared from inside it, with smoke surrounding it. As it fully appeared, the shaking stopped.
"What just happened? Are you alright Gray?"
"Yeah. Seems that I triggered something...-"
"Offering waits for the lingering. Deception and haunting will be what one would be reaching. There is treasure, treasure for the lingering. Greed and selfishness is the means appealing. Two to Frost, one to rest. Four days till being Possessed."
A low, spine-chilling laughter filled the place. The trunk slowly opened, filling the place with green smoke. Natsu took a whiff of the smoke. His eyes turned wide and he shouted, "Gray! Get away from the trunk! It is-"
He couldn't complete his sentence. As all he could see was him and Gray being covered by the smoke. His vision started blurring. And the last sound he heard was a distant feminine shout an then everything turned black.
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I thought I would leave a cliffy here. Then I remembered dat I did the same thing b4. So, yeah. The story continues!
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The walls of the green passage were crumbling. Traces of genn smoke could be seen as Lucy continued on her way to the boys along with Loke. As she continued running, she could her a distinct sound of clinking metals.
Soon, they could see the silhouette of two people lying on the solid ground.
"Gray! Natsu!" she called.
As the reached closer, they saw that both of them were knocked out cold. There were no signs of violence. No traces of anything else, just plain blank walls.
"Hey! Wake up, Natsu! Gray!" Lucy tried fruitlessly. Small rocks were falling down from the ceiling. "I think we would have to carry them out before everything collapses of us," said Loke. "Okay. I will carry Natsu, you carry Gray."
They picked up the boys and made a run for it. The tunnel had started collapsing behind them, making them run faster. They met Erza at the entrance and then took the red route.
They could see the exit. The small rocks were already hitting them. Suddenly, Lucy tripped and fell, along with Natsu. "Oh no... I think I have twisted my ankle!"
"Natsuuuu!" they heard a distant voice. "Happy! We are here!"
And as fast as lightning, a blue feline appeared, picked Natsu up and made the group follow him to the exit. Erza picked Lucy up, who was just saved from being buried underneath the rocks. Thay finally made it out, with the whole remains of the mansion crumbling behind them.
AAAAND there! Missed me? Did you like it? Hate it? Want to strangle the author for pulling a Riordan earlier? Do tell me by your reviews! I would love to hear it from you guys!
Ja`ne
DJ