Chapter 13

Suspicions

"WENDY!"

Charle flew off the parapet, landing beside her incapacitated partner. Team Fairy Tail A rushed into the arena with the medics. Chelia followed after, only to trip in her haste.

"Weak, and very faint...get her to the infirmary!" A medical officer barked after taking Wendy's pulse. Two doctors nodded, lifting Wendy's body into the stretcher before carrying her away.

Glancing back at his opponent, Niebel began to walk away. Past Mato, who stood frozen in place.

"You!"

Niebel turned his head slightly when a flaming fist came towards him. He ducked and kicked under his attacker's arm.

"Natsu, he's just a kid!" Lucy protested at Natsu's action.

"So? He nearly killed Wendy!" Natsu attempted to reach his opposite only to be blocked by Erza and Gray. "Lemme at him! I'll—"

"Flamebrain, get a hold of yourself!" Gray grunted, holding his left arm back. "We feel the same as you do!"

"Am I really the one you should worry about?" Niebel leaned back, regarding Natsu mockingly. "Your team mate's injured. Shouldn't you be with her?"

"..." Natsu leaned closer, his eyes glaring into Niebel's. "I will fight you, for Wendy's sake, and you'll regret ever messing with Fairy Tail."

Niebel smirked. "Bring it, Salamander."

"That—that—the winner of this battle is Niebel Glacien!" Mato regained his voice. "H-he earns ten points for his team! And we conclude Day Three!"

Sabertooth 50P
Mermaid Heel 46P
Lamia Scale 40P
Imperial Snow 29P
Fairy Tail A 28P
Blue Pegasus 15P
Fairy Tail B 13P
Quatro Cerberus 1P

"Sabertooth regains their staus as number one, but Mermaid Heel is in hot pursuit! Meanwhile, Lamia Scale has climbed back up to third, and Fairy Tail A is closing in on Imperial Snow!"

"They're different from each other, aren't they, Rogue?" Sting glanced at his partner. "I mean, sure they look alike. But that kid's more...cold-hearted."

"..." There was truth to Sting's words. Whereas Glacia was cheerful and sad, Niebel was hateful.

Hatred that was fueled by his older sister's murder.

"'Gladly, I would've let this pathetic world burn to the ground than let Sissy die for this country.'"

Yes, that was what he would've done too. The world could go to hell in a basket, but Rogue would have Glacia in his arms and he wouldn't care.

"I dare you to say that again!"

"Say..." Lector rubbed his head. "Doesn't that sound like—?"

"Mermaid-san's little brother?" Frosch finished.

A few seconds later, a rough voice yelled in pain.

"Let's go."

The Twin Dragons homed in on the source, a few yards away when the person screaming cried out again.

"Hey—ARGH! You, aren't you gonna do something about your brat?!"

Up ahead, impressively, Niebel had pinned Yaeger to the ground on his stomach. He held Yaeger's right arm in a way that if he even so much as twisted it, the entire arm would break.

"Hey, you guys really don't have any room to call yourselves civilized, either." Jigumo leaned closer to Yaeger, applying pressure to the foot that trapped the underdog's left hand. "After all, you did insult his older sister. Breaking your arm would be way too soft, don't you agree?"

"W-what are—EEEKKKK!" Yaeger shrieked in fear as a large brown arachnid scuttled out of Jigumo's sleeve. He struggled against his captors as the spider crawled onto his arm, clicking its pincers tauntingly.

"Uwah!" Frosch and Lector immediately jumped onto their partners' shoulders, utterly terrified at the sight of the unusually large spider.

Jigumo clicked his tongue twice, to which the spider responded with short and long clicks. "This little lady is a Phoneutria boliviensis. Otherwise known as a wandering spider, armed spider, or even a banana spider, but she likes to be called Olivia."

"Get this bug off me!" Yaeger squeaked as Olivia creeped closer to his elbow. In response, the arachnid let out a series of clicks.

Neither of them spoke spider, but Rogue knew from the speed at which the spider clicked that it was angry.

"You might wanna be careful as to how you address Olivia. This lady belongs to the most venomous spider genus in the world. Even a tiny drop of poison guarantees death," Jigumo sneered as Olivia scuttled back to Yaeger's wrist, where she stood over his pulse point.

"Agh—get it off me!"

"Not until you apologize to us."

"What the hell for?!"

"Hm..." Jigumo mockingly scratched his chin. "One: you insulted Princess Glacia, doing so you purposely provoked Niebel. Two: ...eh, we don't like you."

"The feeling's mutual," Yaeger hissed.

"Hey, you asked for it." Jigumo clicked his tongue, and Olivia the spider prepared to sink her fangs into the throbbing vein.

"I'm sorry!" Yaeger flailed his body in vain, and Olivia retreated slightly, looking to her master. Jigumo shook his head, smirking.

"Sorry, we didn't catch that," the spider specialist yawned. "Olivia—"

"I'm sorry I insulted Glacia, I didn't mean a single word!"

Jigumo raised an eyebrow, bending down until he was nearly at eye level with Yaeger. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," he smirked.

"Wha—urk!" A twist of his right arm reminded Yaeger of Niebel's existence. "All right! I'm sorry I insulted your older sister—"

"Again," Jigumo added.

"Again," Yaeger repeated. "Hey—!" Olivia crawled up his arm, coming closer to his face to the point Yaeger could see her eyes staring at him. He gulped, taking the hint.

"Hm..." Jigumo shrugged, clicking his tongue. At once, Olivia the spider jumped onto his shoulder. How was he not creeped out by that? "Niebel, let go of his arm."

Scowling slightly, the Ice Dragon Slayer released Yaeger's arm while dusting off his own hands.

"Thanks—"

"Hey, consider yourself lucky that you didn't run into Sasori. His favorite game is Scorpion, you know what it is? It's a bit like arm wrestling, but instead of pinning the other guy's arm down, you dig your nails into your opposition's hand, trying to make them let go. Only he plays with actual scorpions. Now imagine this." Jigumo moved his hands as if he were pulling back curtains, unveiling a possible reality. "You're surrounded by countless pregnant scorpions, because you idiotically did something to piss off Sasori—extremely difficult, by the way—or his scorpions—easy to do when they're pregnant. You can see their beady eyes glaring at you, their tails sway as if they're having second thoughts. But then Sasori gives his signal. Suddenly, they scuttle towards you all at once! Their stingers plunge into your skin, injecting their venom into you. The pain is so much, you want to die. But Sasori forcibly feeds you a bottle of antidote every time you nearly pass out, refusing to let you die so easily. And you're forced to endure the torture of endless stings over and over. By the time he calls his scorpion legion back, you're numb from the pain, you can barely bring yourself to walk, let alone crawl."

By now, Yaeger was ghostly white, sweating nervously at the sadistic possibility when he noticed something. Jigumo's foot wasn't on his hand anymore. "You had it easy mutt. Never forget that," Jigumo spat.

Scrambling to his feet, Yaeger ran away on all fours before he remembered how to walk like a person.

Jigumo cracked up, shaking his red and black head of hair. "I can't believe he actually fell for it!"

"Th-they're demons," Lector whispered in fear.

At the sound of his voice, Jigumo and Niebel turned towards their new guests, causing Lector and Frosch to flinch.

Niebel's eyes flashed when he met Rogue's. "Hey!" He pointed at Rogue. "You're the guy who was chasing me yesterday!"

"..." I should have known he'd say that, Rogue thought.

Sting almost burst out laughing—almost meaning that if he did, Rogue would get his revenge later. "Really?"

"Let me guess." Jigumo rested an arm on Niebel's head, much to the younger boy's annoyance. "You thought Niebel was Glacia, didn't you?"

"...yes," Rogue admitted grudgingly.

Jigumo grinned. "Don't feel bad. We're all human—we all make mistakes. Once, I thought I was talking to Niebel when it was really Glacia, and I ended up getting a kick to the face when I said—"

"Jigumo-san." Niebel threw his comrade a disturbed look, like whatever Jigumo had said in the past was very explicit.

"Right, I forgot Glacia Minor was still here." Jigumo leaned back. "All right, Nieb, we should be heading back."

"Don't call me Nieb—" Something in the hallway caught his eye. Whatever it was caused Niebel to bark out one word in another language. "Traoidhtear!"

"What—" But one look at the corridor Niebel was focused on had Rogue snarling.

"Niebel, what's—Dobengal, nice to see ya!" Jigumo called in surprise, but with an undertone that was trying to say, "Get out of here before Niebel throws a tantrum!"

"Ji—"

"You!" Niebel stormed over to Dobengal. "I can't even stand to look at you after what you've done! You promised me! You promised that you would always—ALWAYS—protect Sissy!"

"Niebel!"

Niebel stopped his onslaught as Vóreia flew over.

"Vóreia!" Jigumo sighed in relief. "Thank goodness you're—!"

But Niebel lifted his right arm, his thumb and index finger put together when he released the latter. Instantly, a blast of air blew through the hallway as Vóreia was thrown back, hitting the opposite wall.

"Niebel!" Jigumo called sharply.

"Vóreia!" Lector flew towards his girlfriend, every bit the concerned boyfriend he promised he would be.

"I—I'm fine," she reassured. "Niebel—"

"Don't think you can get off scot-free," Niebel snarled. In all his years, Jigumo had never heard Niebel snarl before. "Vóreia, weren't you the one who told Sissy, 'you have my full permission to die?'"

A cold draft passed through the intersecting corridors. Rogue hesitantly glanced between Niebel, whose glare could melt an entire iceberg, and Vóreia, who was shaking in her fur. "Niebel...what are you talking about?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"Playing dumb? Then tell me: who was it last year...that said these words to Sissy?" Niebel cleared his throat, and when he spoke, he sounded exactly like the split-tailed Exceed. "'Live how you want, die how you want—but don't you dare drag me into this. Tiamat is your responsibility. Tomorrow...you will fight only for yourself. I don't care if you win or lose. But remember this: you have my full permission to die.'"

Vóreia froze in shock as Niebel threw those cruel words back to her. That horrible day returned to her mind, when Glacia had asked her to forgive her. But in her rage at her words, Vóreia had struck her partner. And she said those words...and crueler.

Niebel sighed in disgust. "I can't believe I looked up to you guys."

"Hold it."

Niebel glanced back at Rogue. "Yes?"

To say that Niebel was cold was an understatement. Like his surname, he was a glacier. Appealing on the outside, but chilling to the bone. "Your older sister," Rogue began, a bit uncomfortable with Niebel's glower. "You recognized me yesterday...did she tell you about me?"

"No," Niebel said bluntly. "I've never heard of or met you before in my life."

"...mhn..."

"She's waking up," a voice said.

Wendy opened her eyes wearily, blinking at the harsh brightness of the lights. Both Fairy Tail teams stood beside her bed while Charle sat on a stool beside Porlyusica. "Everyone..." She hid under the blanket. "I-I'm sorry..."

"Don't say that," Gray said.

"Gray-sama's right, Wendy-sama," Juvia agreed.

"...but I lost...I should have been strong enough to keep standing. We would've gotten five more points—"

"No, Wendy," Lucy assured. "You did great."

"If anyone should be sorry, it should be that Ice Dragon bastard," Natsu said in a low voice.

"...don't call him that," Wendy murmured, peeking over the covers.

"You really are a good person, Wendy." Erza smiled.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but this girl has to rest. Can you leave?" Porlyusica asked.

"Right. You need your energy back," Laxus agreed, headed for the doors. Fried followed after.

"We'll be back tomorrow, Wendy. Try to get better," Lucy promised.

Wendy nodded as they left. The door shut behind her guild mates.

"You have every right to be angry at your opponent," Porlyusica said as she stirred a concoction. "Why do you choose not to?"

"...I can't bring myself to be angry at him. I just feel...sorry for Niebel," Wendy murmured. "I don't think he meant to be mean. He just...really misses his older sister...If I ever lost you, Charle...I'd act the same way..."

Porlyusica couldn't help but smile. "Now I see why the Sky Dragon chose you."

Vóreia sat on the edge of the wall. Her feet and wings brought her back here...to the same park where she and Glacia had their worst fight. More like an argument on Vóreia's side. Glacia never yelled at all.

I practically disowned her too, Vóreia thought.

"You all right?"

"...I'm fine, Lector," she mumbled.

"Don't let what that kid said get to you," the red-furred Exceed said. "He just threw a temper tantrum after seeing—"

"I only made it worse," Vóreia added.

"You did not!" Lector insisted. "Niebel probably said that out of anger and blamed you—"

"He had every right to blame me," she whispered quietly. Vóreia sniffed as tears threatened to spill. "I—I said those words to her."

She was met by silence from Lector, and Vóreia flew around until she recognized a certain spot. "Right...here," she murmured. "Last year...the fifth day...she told me she was planning to utilize Tiamat for the final day."

"You mean...Tiamat didn't come out of her own will?" Lector asked.

"Oh, she did," Vóreia replied wearily. "But...I didn't want that. Because...if she couldn't tame her darker psyche...I knew Glacia would disappear forever. The worst thing is...I said I wanted her to die than let her use Tiamat."

It was getting harder to breathe as she remembered how she spent the final days of the Grand Magic Games treating her best friend with contempt. "And you know what? Even though I was furious with her, not once did she do the same. And then...she said the strangest thing I ever heard her say. She asked me to forgive her."

"And," she continued, on the edge of hysteria. "I didn't think. I was so angry with Glacia...that I struck her."

Tears began to flow freely as Vóreia recounted her story, completely unaware of Lector, who was flying towards her. "I-I didn't know what was going through her mind at that time. I didn't know how she felt. But...I ignored her...and only thought about myself..."

Was it my fault? Vóreia thought. Was it because of me? Was I the one...who pushed you to your death?

I wanted a 'clean' me. A me who could accept both sides of Glacia: the beauty and the beast. But...I openly shunned her darker psyche. I wanted her to remain the person I wanted her to be. "I—I wanted her to live!" she wailed.

Two furry arms wrapped around the white, split-tailed Exceed. Vóreia cried silently on Lector's vest, murmuring, "I didn't mean to say it..."

A high pitched scream rang through the evening, laced with pure terror.

"What was that?" Lector asked.

Chelia clung to her cousin, her eyes wide with fear over the sight she discovered just minutes after they ate. It was supposed to be a nice stroll back to their lodgings, disrupted when the Sky God Slayer noticed something in the river.

If only she hadn't looked.

"There, there. It's all right," Sherry soothed, doing her best to calm her cousin. For a moment, it actually worked.

But then the police came around the corner. Two officers were hauling a dark body bag between themselves. Knowing what was in there, Chelia fainted immediately.

The constable adjusted his cap uncomfortably. "Frankly, I can't blame the girl for being terrified. Truthfully, I'm also disturbed. It's not everyday you discover a corpse in the river."

"Sir!" The constable spun around in time to see two more junior officers rushing towards him. They panted harshly, trying to regain their breath. "One...two more..."

The official paled considerably, but kept his composure.

Something in Lyon's left pocket radiated heat. Pulling it out, he discovered it to be the nation-wide mission posted to every legal guild in the world. The search for the kidnapped and their abductors.

I almost forgot about this, Lyon realized.

"Yours too?" Yuka asked, holding his own. Each member of Team Lamia Scale had a different person to look for, but were all told to get as much info on the abductors as well.

The constable noticed what they were holding. "It could be a coincidence...but since one of your members discovered the body, I can let you see if the corpse matches up with any of yours."

Nodding to his colleagues, the body bag was unzipped. Sherry covered her mouth, her skin tinted green at the sight of the corpse that made her cousin faint. Jura's nose wrinkled slightly at the stench. And Lyon wondered exactly how cruel the world could be.

A young girl slept eternally within the bag, a permanent frown on her face as if she knew something was wrong before she died. But that wasn't all. The left side of her torso was carved open, like an autopsy had been performed. Only the wound was made long ago.

"Does she match up with any of yours?"

"...no," Jura finally decided. "But...whoever the perpetrator was...it seems that they were looking for something."

"They got it, too," Yuka said, leaning forward for a closer look. At the same time, he was trying not to get too close. "Her heart is missing."

"What about the other bodies?" Lyon reminded. "You said there were two more."

"W-well..." The constable shifted his cap. "That's where it gets weirder."

Three more zippers were pulled down, and Sherry could be found in a condition identical to Chelia's.

A grown man lay dormant in the baggy coffin. He was ghostly white in death, his lips were sewn shut as if to emphasize the phrase, "Dead men tell no tales."

Not with their mouths, anyway.

Lyon examined the man's face. "Hey, I got this guy," he said. There went his reward. But now was hardly the time to put money before lives.

"Look closer." Dobengal pointed to a spot on the man's neck, where two puncture marks could be seen.

"Yeah...it looks like he was bitten by something," Yuka noted.

"But he was abducted," Lyon argued.

"Unless he managed to escape his captors," Jura added, "but met a poisonous snake in his attempt?"

They were met by a pregnant silence, broken only when the constable cleared his throat. "Unfortunately, to break the little detective game, we found no poison in his body. Or, it would be easier to say, there was no blood in his body."

"The first had no heart," Yuka summed up, "and this one has no blood. What about the last corpse?"

He must have hit a sore topic. The constable wore a somber expression this time, like he was trying to keep himself from crying. "I—I apologize. But...the last body...it's too sad..."

Nothing could have prepared the four men as the last bag was opened.

An infant with glacier blue eyes stared back at them. Their horrified expressions were reflected in its glassy eyes.

10:45 PM

Arania's eyes widened in shock as she stared at her tiles. What was meant to be a fun word game unveiled something else for the web mage.

"Arania?" Millianna snapped her fingers in front of her guild mate. "Hello? Anyone in there?"

"Guys?" Arania's voice seemed to come from far away, like a ventriloquist throwing their voice. "When did Platina join the guild?"

"...June first, one month ago," Beth said hesitantly. "I thought you remembered that."

"I do...it's just...last year...that was the same day Glacia entered the guild."

Millianna's hand stopped in midair, her fingers holding a 'G' tile. "And?"

"Platina always wears sunglasses, even though it's never too sunny outside."

"She could have poor eyesight," Beth insisted. "They might be prescription sunglasses."

"Yes," Arania trailed. "But on the first day, Platina was able to zero in on Gajeel to get her sunglasses back. She couldn't have had flawed eyes to have been able to do that."

"And her name." Arania grabbed a handful of letter tiles and sorted through them, lining up certain letters to spell a name.

Gaci Platina

"If only we had a comma," Millianna added.

"No," Arania stated firmly. "Like this, it's clearer. Look what happens if I rearrange the letters."

Swiftly, the web mage put some space between the 'g' and 'a' of Gaci and inserted the 'l' from Platina. Then she removed the last 'a' in what was now Patina and gave it to Glaci.

Beth covered her mouth at what the letters spelled out. Millianna gasped, surprised at the resulting anagram.

"And," Arania added. "Platina's eyes are blue."

11:12 PM, Library

A bandaged hand dropped a newspaper clipping, shaking as its owner realized something.

"Something's up," Lyon noted.

"Want to share it with us?" Yuka joined in.

"...Imperial Snow requested to become a legal guild of Fiore almost a year ago," Dobengal said. "But they weren't approved until the start last month. However...Niebel had to have come before that request. How else would he have known what Vóreia said last year?"

Yuka frowned, his large eyebrows slanting downward. "You think he came here illegally?"

"Immigration is one thing," he continued. "Sightseeing—that's a different matter. Most likely he could have arrived last year to see Glacia in the Grand Magic Games, and to surprise his older sister."

Jura came in with a newspaper article. "Thought this would come in handy," he said.

"Thank you, Jura." The ninja trainee laid out the paper. It just described the reconstruction of Mercurius. "Isn't it convenient," he pointed out, "that Glacia—" He felt pure guilt as he said her name, as he always did. "—that her body was never found?"

Lyon leaned in to read the paper. "It only takes a bit of money to influence the media," he replied lowly.

"Or...someone else could have found her body. Somebody...like Niebel."

July 4, 10:00 AM

"And we're back! The fourth day of the Grand Magic Games! Today's guest judge is the guild master of Mermaid Heel, Avia!"

Avia smiled lightly. "Pleasure to see everyone here."

Sasori tsked, scolding himself for forgetting where he was supposed to go. How was it that he was able to locate his team's stands the last few days, but couldn't now?

Right, I was following the others, he thought.

"Sasori!"

The poison mage spun around, grinning when he saw his former comrade walk towards him. "Dobengal! What are you doing here?"

"I was actually hoping to meet you, in order to ask a few questions. I hope you don't mind?"

"Fire away."

Dobengal took a step forward. "Your reasons for coming to Fiore...what were they?"

Sasori leaned back on his heels, similar to his younger brother, the spider specialist. He wore a troubled expression.

Wendy woke up groggily, unfamiliar with her surroundings before she remembered exactly where she was.

"Grandeeney?"

"I told you not to call me that," Porlyusica complained with a small smile that Wendy couldn't see.

"I was wondering...if there are spells that can fix an eye and return magical power...what about spells that revive the dead?"

Porlyusica stopped preparing the potion. She set the beaker down to glance at Wendy. "That is illegal Black Magic," she said sternly. "Difficult to carry out, disastrous if wrong. Even if it were successful, there would be repercussions from the Council."

The elderly woman sighed. "It's that boy from Imperial Snow, isn't it?"

"Y-yes. He and Glacia...they're so much alike. Even their eyes...even though their shade is off...they both share that same look. Like...they're both desperately searching for a way to die," Wendy murmured. "If only there were a way to bring Glacia back."

Porlyusica sat next to Wendy's bed. "You have your heart in the right place," she said. "There is a spell that can breathe life back to the dead. True, your opponent would be ecstatic. But ask yourself this: Does Glacia want to return from the grave?"