Lucy hissed as the coal hot blade ran across her breast above her heart. Naomi and Misha had been craving the skin above various organs for a day claiming they were decorating her for the eclipse. "Runes always look so pretty in skin." Naomi said running bony fingers over Lucy's left kidney. The girl pulled away and smelt the lingering blood clinging to her hand before letting out a contempt sigh. "Waiting another day will be hard sister; her blood smells so much sweeter than the rest." The other sister shrugged concentrating on the crescent moon she was slowly craving into Lucy's once delicate, porcelain skin.
"Taste now if you really want, but remember it'll kill you." His voice broke into the stale air of the room. "Are you done yet?" He asked, none of the usually affection shown in his voice only cold hard indifference. "Yes sire," Misha said placing the knife onto a small table beside her while Naomi wiped Lucy's stray blood from her fingers. "Good, leave us." He ordered roughlly. Lucy tensed but had to relax immediately because of the pain shooting through her fragile frame. "These runes are from our old society, before we discovered immortality." He said ruining his fingers over the various cravings. Slowly the cloth in her mouth was removed, far gentler than any other time.
"They are to unite your spirit blood with your human and hold the immortality in your flesh for us to consume." He slowly explained to her kneeling in front of the half dead woman. Lucy didn't care why they craved her, or why she was still here all she wanted now was the hopeful peace that death will bring her. "You know the legend don't you? Of how spirit mages came to exists? No?" Lucy didn't answer him, she didn't have the energy to nod or shake her head. Of course she knew the legend of Anicetus, it was one of the many stories her mother told her as a child. "Well my dearest Lulu," he rose roughly gripping her drooping chin, "there was once a man called Anicetus. He was the creation of love between a human and a spirit, their names have been lost in time, and even I wasn't around during his life. Anyway, one day his village was attacked by barbarians and the village people knew they had no way to fight the invaders, they had always chosen knowledge over weapons, leaving themselves defenceless."
He seemed amused at this, laughing slightly at the ancient civilizations peaceful ways. During the tale his hand had moved from Lucy's chin to stroke her hollowed cheek. "Anicetus, knowing his powerful origin, prayed to the Spirit King to grant him the power to protect his village, and the Spirit King answered, he told Anicetus he had two options, one he could protect his village with the help of the creatures whose blood he half shared, however there was no guarantee he would win and live or the Spirit King could grant him the immortality of a spirit but he'd have to watch his home burn." Lucy looked at him with dead eyes, not really listening to the already well known tale as the man wrapped her once golden blonde hair around his thin, filthy fingers. "Obviously he picked the former, and thus stellar mages were created, 'Umbraphiles' as the world calls me and my follows, simply make use of the chance of immorality stellar mages is refused at birth without knowing it. Every stellar mage is somewhat part spirit." He smiled to her as if he was doing her a favour.
"And how," Lucy finally spoke, voice croaky and rough from dehydration and constant screaming, "do you take our immortality?" She asked scared out of her mind. From Naomi and Misha, Lucy had a loose idea of how it'll end for her, but before she died she wants to know for sure. "Well my love," If Lucy did not already know he was a cruel man with no morals; she could have mistaken him as a loving man by the tone in his voice. "first we wait till the moon blocks the sun that awakens your true self, and bond your spirit blood with your human, then once the runes light up, you throat is cut, and organs removed to be boiled in your blood we have been collecting, then I eat your heart and immortality is once more granted to me and my clan. The others will eat what's left, but it doesn't mean anything because their linked to me. If I have immortality and life in me, so shall they." He explained Lucy's end as if he were explaining his plans for an average park walk.
Lucy felt tears rise. They were going to devour her, nothing would be left to bury beside her mother. As the tears fell for the first time in weeks, Lucy could help but wonder if there would be even bones left to send home, to give her father to grieve over, to give Fairy Tail to mourn over. But even more she wondered if Natsu would have something to feel sorrow over.
Natsu clomped after the little blue haired book worm that was engorged in the old map of the dried up sewer. Once Happy and Lilly returned from their aerial search, Levy had sent straight back into town to find old blue prints of the sewers running under the piece of land. By the time they had returned, Erza and Levy said it was too dark to go off looking for the entrance and they should talk battle strategies. From what Gajeel told them Metalicana had told him that Umbraphiles became weak and killable some time before the solar eclipse but they are still near impossible to kill. Natsu didn't care, for Lucy he'd do the impossible.
At the crack of dawn Natsu woken everyone, not wanting to waste another second. Unfortunately the weeds and plants made it difficult to pin point the exact location of the entrance and it had taken some time to find, and clear it just over half the day was gone by the time they were finally in the Lucy's concrete prison. Now Levy was taking her sweet time to get them to the main chambers and Natsu was getting edgy. "Natsu, stop stomping or they will hear us!" he doesn't know what, but Levy had said something to Erza and Gray yesterday and now they were so determined that they were almost back to normal. "Yeah lizard boy, just because you were raised by a big ass dragon doesn't mean you should walk like one." Both Gajeel and Natsu turned to the ice mage and growled, both taking offence to his comment. Levy grabbed Gajeel's hand and pulled him to the front of the group while Lisanna grabbed Natsu's shoulder in an attempt to calm him.
He shrugged her off; no amount of comfort would settle his nerves till they found Lucy safe and alive. Levy stopped in front of them and turned, hand still wrapped in Gajeel's larger one. "The main chamber is split into three main parts," She held out the map for everyone to see "If we split up we'll find Lu-Chan faster. Find her is the biggest priority right now, we don't know what state she'll be in. Since the eclipse is tomorrow they still need her alive, but that doesn't mean she has to be healthy." Everyone flinched slightly at Levy's words, just because she speaks the truth doesn't make them easier to hear. "If you do have to fight be careful. The structure is weak and we don't need a cave in on top of everything. Me, Gajeel and Lilly will go down this tunnel." Levy said pointing to the last tunnel on the right hand side.
Natsu sniffed the air to attempt to catch Lucy's scent but all he could smell was smoke, disinfectant and left over human waste. So blindly Natsu picked the middle with Lisanna and Happy volunteering to go with him. That left Gray and Erza with the left hand tunnel. Once decided they readied themselves to save their beloved Lucy before they set out levy tore the map in careful pieces of each tunnel. "Once you've checked your area for Lu-Chan, return here. Don't lose the map pieces; we'll need it to get out quickly." Levy whispered to everyone who nodded in understanding.
"And remember this," Gajeel said before spliting into different sections. "The Umbraphiles will die once the clan head is dead from what Metalicana told me, so if your opponent just disappears someone killed the head." He sated hoping that his father spoke the truth that at this stage they were weak, mortal and all died at the death of their leader. "So Lucy first, fighting second." Erza said to everyone just to remind them. Natsu felt his stomach rolling. Praying that he'd find Lucy and that he'd kill whoever had dared to take her from him. He knew already he was going to break Fairy Tail's rule about killing your opponent. And honestly he didn't think anyone was going to blame him.
As Natsu, Lisanna and Happy headed down their chosen tunnel, Natsu couldn't even get a whiff and Lucy's vanilla and honey scent, all he got was a nose full of stale air, mouldy concrete and the lingering disinfectant. The chamber hand no rooms, just and empty pathway. "Do you smell her Natsu?" Happy asked as he sat on Lisanna's shoulder, still tired from his exhausting effort yesterday. Natsu sighed. "Nothing, only the same smells. She must be in another tunnel." Natsu felt drained. He wanted to be the one who Lucy first saw. "Natsu look." Lisanna said. He raised his eyes to see a new wooden door way had been put in near the end of the tunnel. As they reached it Natsu pulled the cooper handle to reveal an extravagant room.
Inside were hundreds of bony, decaying bodies. Lisanna emptied her stomach contents at the rotting smell that had attacked their senses the moment they hand stepped in to room while Natsu buried his nose into Igneel's scarf and Happy wrapped the end around his own nose. "What is this?" Natsu asked himself not expecting an answer. "This, my intruding friend is the Umbraphiles before feeding. They're staved you see and desperate for meat." A bony man who looked similar to the decaying bodies stepped forward. His skin had begun to dehydrate and his cheeks hollowed, making his fair hair and broken nails look longer. The only thing alive about him was his blue eyes that shinned with excitement.
"Who are you?" Natsu asked, preparing to summon a flame into his hand. The man's eyes shined brighter at Natsu's question. It's like he wanted to explain who he was. "I am the clan leader." He paused for effect. Lisanna looked up from the concrete where she'd been focusing in an attempt to hold own what was left of her breakfast. "And you, I assume, are here for MY Lucy." He said smiling at Natsu, knowing he was baiting the fire dragon slayer. Flames burst around Natsu as he prepared to kill the man whom had taken the very thing he loves most. HIS Lucy.
Gajeel wandered down the empty hallway worried about Levy and Lilly. They had separated to lose the dark haired girl they had met when they first came looking for Lucy and now he's completely lost the small girl and cat. Quietly he swore under his breathe at insisting the book worm took the map. He thought his nose would help him find his way back but scent was lost in the sewers leaving only the small smells of disinfectant, mould and stale air. Gajeel smelt the air once more and realised disinfectant was stronger here than anywhere else they had been so far. So he followed the strong overwhelming smell.
Eventually it lead his to a wooden door that looked rather new in the old sewer. Gajeel looked at the door to see it had a rather large lock on it. "Well, no locks kept me out before. Why start now?" Instead of doing as he normally would and forming a finger into a small key that fit the lock, Gajeel decided to take a page out of Natsu's book and kick the door wide open for himself. With a large crash the door blew off its hinges and fell to the floor of a darkened room that reeked of various disinfectants, blood and fear. They were all so strong, it was suffocating him. But still he stepped into the murky room. As his dragon like eyes adjusted he saw, chained to a filthy blood stained chair in the middle of the room, the girl they had all been so worried about. She was so beaten and bloody he could only just recognise her and he found he was glad he had been separated from Levy. "Bunny girl?"
I thought I should say that I don't own Fairy Tail.
And everyone who says they like the short story at the beginning, thank you so much. It was actually written a couple years ago about me and an ex and originally hand nothing to do with this story so it means quite a bit to me you all like it.
Thanks for reviewing: D you all rock my world.