Finally a second chapter to something XD. So here is the second chapter to Ringo's story, Silent Thunder. Action starts to happen in this one as well. I may have to slow down chapters have this one, since I work full time and I also draw. I will try to get a chapter out at least once or possibly twice a week though.

Silent Thunder

Arc I

Chapter 2: Dresses

Night had fallen only an hour prior—the sun was gone, completely hidden by the horizon. Ringo and Laxus were still in the barren wasteland that they had met in. Despite finding a town to replenish supplies, they still had another half a day's walk before reaching the grassland. The two mages sat in their little campsite, keeping warm on a decent sized fire that Laxus had created. They each sat on a stone, large and flat enough to be comfortable enough for a long sit. Behind each rested a simple tent for them to sleep in when they both grew tired.

Ringo rubbed her hands together for friction and held them up to the red and orange flames. Despite the hot temperatures during the day, the wasteland was freezing at night. This was due to there being nothing in the wasteland to absorb the heat. It was also cloudless at night, which provided a gorgeous night for stargazing.

Shivering slightly, Ringo pulled her cloak around her more, curling up into a ball. Once she got enough warmth, she looked at the sky to enjoy the stars. Her pigtails were brushed over her shoulders, a safe distance from the fire pit. Laxus seemed unaffected by the nightly chill. He sat casually, legs apart and was leaning forward, towards the fire. His own cloak was just over his shoulders and draped across the stone—he did not bother cuddling up in it for warmth, finding the fire good enough. He noticed the small shiver that Ringo produced but turned back to the fire when she covered herself more with her cloak.

Ringo glanced at Laxus. The fire was reflecting in his dark eyes, causing small specks of orange to dance on his pupils. She smiled to herself and decided to give the man some time to himself. She stood up, feeling the cold hit her now uncovered legs instantly. "I'm going to bed." she said calmly. Laxus gave her a simple nod.

Ringo turned her back to him and stepped over her stone seat. She crouched down and unzipped the warn zipper of her dark green tent. The tent was new, but too many nights outside had caused the zipper to wear out; this was what she got for buying the tent cheap. A few tugs and it finally opened. Ringo moved her cloak out from underneath her so not to trip on it and crawled into her tent. She turned around when she was all the way in and started to zip it shut. When she noticed Laxus watching her, Ringo waved him good night before closing the tent completely.

Despite being enclosed in a dark tent, thanks to the glow of the fire not too far away, Ringo could see fairly well. She unclipped her cloak and laid it across her sleeping bag as an extra blanket. Quickly she took off her clothing and accessories and pulled on a simple, low-cut nightgown. It was a baby blue with a frilled hem and reached her knees. Once the dress was on, Ringo took her hair down, running her thin fingers through the whole length and messing it up in the back. Goosebumps crawled on her skin as she touched the cold ground through the thin tent bottom. She quickly scrambled to get her sleeping bag open and cuddled up inside of it. Ringo grabbed her cloak and wrapped it around her body, underneath the sleeping bag before zipping it shut. Using her bag and day clothing as a pillow, she closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

(*A*)

When the sun rose the next morning, Ringo easily got up. The sun was far enough in the sky to not be early, but still low enough to be several hours from noon. She crawled out of her tent in her baby-blue nightgown to see Laxus wide awake and had another fire started. Her long hair fell over her shoulders and looked like a wavy mess. She stood up and looked across the wasteland, seeing nothing but a few brushes and cracked ground. The ground underneath her feet was warm, almost to the point of being uncomfortable, but enough for her to stay on it.

Laxus had heard Ringo get up and was a bit surprised that she came out in her pajamas and not fully dressed. Ringo yawned slightly and ran a hand through her hair, getting a good amount of tangles out. A grilled smell reached her nose and she spotted dried meat, cooking on the open fire. Ringo knelt down and smiled at the cooking food which caused her mouth to water.

"These smell amazing." Ringo said, hearing the sizzling of the meat in their own fat.

Laxus picked up a plate from next to him and took the pieces off the frying pan and placed them on it. He handed the plate to Ringo: "Here."

Ringo smiled at him and thanked him promptly as she took the tin plate. Despite coming right off a frying pan, Ringo attempted to grab the cooked meat with her bare fingers. It burned them but she happily ate the small pieces of meat, only to burn her tongue in response. Ringo waved her hand in front of her open mouth in an attempt to cool it off. Laxus stared at her in disbelief, finding it hard to believe that she would eat the meat like that.

Laxus handed her his water canteen. With the plate on her lap, Ringo took the leather water bottle with both hands and took a large gulp of water, swallowing most of the meat whole at the same time. "Thank you." Ringo sighed, handing the canteen back to him.

"Eat slower." Laxus told her. "It's not like the food is going anywhere."

Ringo nodded sheepishly. She lifted the next piece up and blew on it carefully before taking a small bite instead of devouring it whole like the last piece. Once the piece was gone, Ringo licked her fingers clean and moved her hand behind her ear before finishing up her breakfast. "Thank you for the food." She told her traveling partner. Laxus gave her a small smile.

Ringo stood up and opened the flap of her tent and crawled in. She closed it behind her and started to get dressed. Over ten minutes passed and Ringo still did not come out. Not wanting to walk in on anything, Laxus sat and waited patiently. However, after a half hour, his patience started to wear thin. He wanted to get going and make it to the next town before the day's end. He also had no intentions of playing Ringo's hiding games and was determined to drag her into the town if that was what it came to.

"How long does it take to get dressed?" he asked the girl, loud enough for her to hear through the thin tent.

Ringo poked her head out from the tent, her hands fiddling with one of her long pigtails. The other one was perfectly fixed, tangle free and brushed well. "My hair is hard to get right." Ringo said. Whilst adjusting the sienna colored locks, she came out of the tent, wearing the same attire as the day before. "It has to be perfect." She gave a small huff and tightened the pigtail.

Laxus sighed in relief that she was finally ready and stood up. He poured sand on the fire to put it out and started getting his tent and supplies packed. Seeing Laxus getting ready to leave, Ringo tugged on her sandals and started to take her tent down as well. She found it surprisingly easier to tear the thing down and shove it into her bag than it was to put it up. With her tent packed, she placed her bag on her back.

By the time that she was done, Laxus was all ready finished and waiting for her. Ringo turned her attention to the blonde haired man and nodded that she was ready. The lightning mage turned and started to walk the direction of the town. He walked at a comfortable pace, one hand on his ransack and the other swaying slightly at his side. Ringo had to take longer strides than what she was used to in order to keep up with Laxus and his longer legs.

The two walked in silence, neither having a conversation of which they could talk about. Ringo's pigtails bounced lightly with each step that she took, fanning her neck which was already starting to accumulate sweat under the open sun. As the time went by, Laxus had put his hood up, protecting his face and neck from the heat. His face was also hidden from Ringo who trailed just behind him; she had yet to put her hood up since she enjoyed the cool wind from her hair. Soon however, this wind ended when her hair started to cling to her neck instead. Almost every other minute, Ringo had to move a wet strand from her damp neck. It finally got to the point that she simply put her hood up to not have to deal with it anymore.

Time went by fairly fast for the two mages. By two in the afternoon, they were able to see the grassy plains when they stood on a few rocks. Ringo was happy that they finally saw grass after almost two weeks of being in the wasteland. Even Laxus seemed relieved to be away from the harsh sun of the wasteland and going into a place that promised natural shade. Several minutes later, they took their first step onto fresh green grass in a long time.

Ringo slid her sandaled feet across the green blades, feeling them go between her toes and cleaning the sand out from between them. She smiled to herself and trotted across the field, her breasts bouncing slightly with each step. Laxus watched her with slight interest but continued on the beaten dirt path that had been made.

When Ringo was satisfied with her little run, she went back to the path to walk along side Laxus. "I thought I would never see green again." She said jokingly.

Laxus smirked. Simple things like these seemed to make her happy, something he had always found pointless before, but now, he just didn't understand. "How far away is the next town?" Ringo asked him.

"It shouldn't be too far." Laxus stated. Ringo accepted his answer with a smile and walked on.

Within the hour, the town was in sight. It was a small one, every house made of wood with thatched roofs. Only a small handful of people could be seen walking around on the dirt streets. There wasn't even a gate to get into the small village. If there was an alley opening to the street, you could enter. Weeds grew along the sides of houses where small clumps of grass and flowers were free. In some places, they were even up to Ringo's knees. The town was also quiet, even to Ringo's sensitive ears. The town was so quiet and small that she had no issues walking into it without hesitation.

"What a pleasant village." Ringo said. She glanced around at the people, noticing that they were all bustling about their own business, saying hello to everyone, but not stopping for conversation. Most glanced at them, recognizing the two mages as outsiders but not minding.

"Strange taste in clothing." Laxus mentioned. Ringo stopped focusing on the whole village and looked at the clothing.

Everyone was wearing clothes that looked like they came from oversized plants. Women wore dresses that resembled flower petals and buds. Many articles of clothing looked like leaves and vines as well, some even producing thorns. A woman passed right by, wearing a red rose skirt. From the short distance, Ringo could tell that the plant was real, seeing the veins and gentle curl of the tip of the petal.

"How cute." She said, instantly liking the clothing.

"I don't see it." Laxus admitted. Though the clothes weren't ugly, they were definitely not something that he would get caught dead wearing.

"I wonder if I can get one." Ringo said. She trotted ahead of him, looking for a store that sold the clothing. Laxus followed behind her, a bit reluctant to see what all clothing there was.

Ringo glanced around but could not find a clothing store, simply private housing and a few food stores. She was a bit disappointed. Before giving up, she decided to ask someone where she could get one of the outfits. She noticed a short woman, sitting at a table in front of a café and decided to ask her; Laxus followed a distance behind her. The lightning mage continued to look around the town—something felt wrong to him about the place.

Ringo reached out to the woman and placed a hand on her shoulder. The woman instantly whipped around, her tea splashing Ringo's shirt. Ringo jumped back as the cold liquid splashed against her shirt and breasts. She started to wipe the liquid off her skin as the shorter woman stood up and apologized.

"You surprised me." She said, grabbing a few napkins and helping Ringo with her shirt.

"It's alright." Ringo smiled. "I shouldn't have just grabbed you like that."

"Let me make it up to you." The woman said.

"You don't have to." Ringo said, shaking her hands.

"At least let me get you a new outfit." The woman took Ringo's hands with determined eyes. "I'll give you one from my store, free of charge. For your guy friend there too." She nodded at Laxus.

"Are you the one who sells the plant like clothing?" Ringo asked, curious. The woman nodded, her square cut bangs bouncing slightly. "Okay." Ringo smiled brightly.

The woman nodded. "My name is Flora." She said. "I specialize in turning plants into wearable clothing that don't wilt for many, many months."

Flora was a woman who stood on the shorter side. She only came to Ringo's shoulder and Ringo stood at one-hundred and seventy centimeters. She had square cut bangs and short hair that cupped her face and was a dirty blond. Her eyes were dark purple and her skin, fair with a slight dusting of freckles. She wore one of her plant outfits; a white daisy dress with yellow pollen fluff covering her breasts. It was sleeveless and flayed out at her thighs. She wore green sandals that looked like vines and Ringo found the outfit absolutely lovely.

"My name is Ringo Cloudminn." Ringo introduced herself. She put a hand in front of Laxus. "This is Laxus."

Laxus nodded his greetings to the shorter woman but didn't keep his eye off of her. Flora smiled sweetly and took Ringo's hand. "Follow me." She said, leading the two of them to her shop.

The shop was on the opposite side of the town from where Laxus and Ringo had entered. It was brown like the rest of the buildings with a sign hanging on some tree branches that were attached to the roof. The sign was etched with the words 'Flora Designs' and was painted a fading green. From the dirty glass windows, Ringo could see a few articles of clothing that were hanging for window shoppers to view.

Flora opened the wooden, unlocked door and the two mages were struck with a strong, fresh cut smell of plants. Ringo stepped in lightly, making a small clop on the untreated wooden floors. She looked around, taking everything in.

Every single article was hanging, not one folded. One half of the store was taken over by dresses based off flowers and leaves, some that could easily be named, others, not so much. Some were just skirts, smaller version of the dresses. There were even shirts made of leaves wrapped on top of each other. Some were small, barely covering the breasts while others even had sleeves. The men's clothes were mostly shirts and pants, almost all of them made from leaves and vines with a few petals here and there. It was obvious that the store was more focused on women's apparel rather than men's. Lying on a shelf were shoes, ones heeled and ones flat, many with vines to tie them up the leg. There were also gloves, jewelry and hair clips, all made from flowers and plants.

"Take whatever you like." Flora said to Ringo. "One compelte outfit is my treat."

Ringo instantly went to a rack of dresses. It had been so long since she wore one that she just had to get one now. She shifted through the floral dresses which were neatly placed on hangers in the rack. Her eyes stuck to ones of a blue or purple color. She knew exactly what color she wanted and planned to stick with it.

Laxus leaned against the wall by the door, arms crossed over his chest, watching Ringo shuffle through the clothing for anything that caught her attention. He had no interest in the clothing, but he had a bad feeling about the store and could not just leave Ringo by herself in it. His dark eyes wondered to Flora who was helping Ringo decide on a dress. He watched the two women, not understanding their fascination with clothing but understanding that his instincts were telling him to be careful.

Ringo finally chose one and went to a changing room that was by the counter. Whilst Ringo changed into the dress that she picked, Flora handed her a pair of shoes, bracelets and some hair clips. After several minutes, the young mange finally moved the green curtain aside.

The dress she had chosen was a soft purple that faded to a matching blue at the bottom. It was rather short, with four distinct petals in the front, back and sides and ended at her upper thighs. The back was longer than the front but a green leaf went down the middle of the front, reaching to her knees. It had thin stem like straps for sleeves and a green edge, covering half the breasts. Her pigtails each had a bushel of tiny flowers holding them up. These flowers matched her dress and the bracelets on either wrist. The shoes were green with vines wrapping up to her ankles and tied in bows at the back. The dress fit her well, emphasizing her curves and legs.

Ringo twirled happily in her new outfit and thanked Flora repeatedly. She went over to Laxus who couldn't help but smile a bit at how happy Ringo was in her new outfit. She held up a small, red carnation for Laxus. The lighting mage stared at it as Ringo put it in his breast pocket.

"Since you won't wear an outfit, you can have this." She said with a solid smile.

The two left the shop with Ringo and Flora still waving good bye to each other. The two mages only took a few steps away from the store when a shiver ran down Laxus's spine. He turned back to the shop with an uneasy feeling. Ringo noticed that he was no longer following her and stopped to look at him.

"Is something wrong?" Ringo asked him, a smile still pasted on her face.

Laxus turned back to her. "No." he said quietly. "It's nothing."

Ringo frowned, hearing Laxus's tone but didn't question it any further. The sound of something shuffling caught her attention and she looked around, trying to find the source. It sounded close, but also far away. It sounded as if something was moving, rubbing against something with quite a bit of difficulty, but it was almost too quiet. Ringo moved in place slightly, the soft petal feel of her clothing rubbing against her bare skin. It felt good moving in these clothes that she decided to ignore the little sound that she heard.

"Let's find a hotel." Laxus said, walking past her as she indulged herself in her new clothing.

Ringo snapped back to the present and quickly followed him, holding her bag in her hand instead of on her shoulders. The two walked along the town, searching for a small hotel to stay in for the night. Neither had any intentions of staying in the town for longer than a day, but an actual bed would be nice to sleep in. After going through the town multiple times, they could not find a single hotel. With a frustrated sigh, it was decided that they would be camping in the fields outside of the town.

As the two made their way to the exit of the village, a flow of magic swept through it, bouncing off of houses and seeming to suck into the humans. The hairs on the back of Ringo's neck stood on edge at the feeling of it sinking into her. It almost made her sick as a white dust started to float up, reaching to her knees.

"Don't breathe it in!" Laxus warned her, covering his mouth with the back of his hand. Ringo instantly covered her mouth with both hands and looked around her. The villagers were covering their mouths as well, some rushing to get inside and away from the magic infused fog.

A tightening feeling grew around Ringo, as if the clothes she wore were getting too tight. It was uncomfortable at first but soon grew to more. Whilst she felt the pressure on her stomach, screams came from people around the village, ringing in her ears, causing her pain. She cringed as more and more came, from men and women and even children.

Of the few villagers that were around them, Ringo and Laxus watched as they fell to the ground, almost as if pinned down. It did not take long for Ringo to learn what it was that caused them to fall. The floral dress she wore suddenly tightened up much more, the green leaf in the front grew longer, pinning her arms to her sides. Vines grew from the flower bracelets and tied her wrists together behind her back. Ringo didn't even have time to scream as the vines of her shoes tied her legs together, causing her to lose her balance and fall on her butt.

Laxus instantly turned to Ringo when he heard a small squeal from her as she fell into the fog. He knelt down and noticed that it was the clothing that tied Ringo and the rest of the village up. "That damn woman…" he cursed under his breath. The fog now started to clear, having done what it was supposed to do.

The plants continued to tighten around Ringo, making it harder of her to breath. Her face made it obvious that she was uncomfortable and struggling to even breathe. Laxus gripped at the leaf that was adding pressure to her chest and ribs. He managed to dig his fingers underneath it, between the flower dress and the leaf itself. Once his grip was solid, Laxus pulled at it. Expecting it to come off easily, he was surprised when the leaf held strong. The lightning mage yanked at it a few more times but still it did not come off.

Cursing, Laxus managed to get his other hand under the leaf and started to pull at it more. The vines continued to tighten around Ringo, causing her to gasp in pain. She sucked in air, trying to keep oxygen flowing despite the pressure. Whilst trying to free Ringo, Laxus did not notice the carnation that Ringo had given him start to move until he felt a stabbing pain in his chest. He looked down at his purple dress shirt where the stem of the carnation was stabbing him. A small stain of blood started to form, making the shirt darker. The carnation seemed to turn at Laxus and grinned, showing that it had teeth, razor sharp teeth.

Ringo flinched at the sight of the plant and felt the movement of the flowers on her head. Her two hair clips unpinned from her hair, causing the long locks to flow freely as they too grinned at Laxus with rows of teeth. Laxus attempted to free his hands from the leaf to swat away the toothy flowers but found himself trapped.

Seeing that Laxus could not free his fingers, Ringo leaned forward and bit at the carnation in his pocket. She yanked it out of him, hearing him wince slightly and a few droplets of blood hitting her face. The carnation started to squirm in her teeth so she crunched down on it before spitting it out. The flower continued to move until Laxus shocked it with a small strike of lighting. The flower turned to ash as Ringo flinched and he turned back to the ones on her head.

The small flower clips shook in fear and jumped off her head, trying to run away from the annoyed lightning mage. They did not get far however as Laxus sent another jolt at them, ending him as he had the carnation. He turned his focus back to the leaf wrapped around his fingers and Ringo. He charged electricity into his hands and tore the leaf up, freeing his hand and giving Ringo a slight shock.

She shook it off, knowing that he had a reason for it. However, before he could even think of freeing the rest of her, the leaf started to regenerate, tightening around Ringo's chest.

"We'll have to burn it all off." Laxus said, forming a ball of electricity in his hand.

"I don't like that idea." Ringo frowned. It had already hurt her ears enough to hear the bolts so close, but being covered in the electricity did not sit well in her stomach.

"Rather be suffocated by the clothes?" Laxus asked her with a raised brow.

Footsteps silenced both of them. They turned to see Flora, standing perfectly fine, her floral clothes not restricting her as they were to everyone else. Behind her, the groans of suffering villagers could be heard. The woman was frowning now, glaring at the two mages as if they had murdered someone precious to her.

"I won't forgive you…"

I do accept critiques and I would love any helpful tips. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.