Chapter 16

Unusual Secrets

"PLATINA!"

Her body was sprawled across the sand, motionless. Blue eyes were open, the ghost of fear trapped in the silver witch's face.

"Platina!" Team Mermaid Heel screamed from up.

"Platina is down! But—" Chapati couldn't continue.

"The silver babe's actually down..." Laxus trailed.

"No way! I was supposed to beat her!" Gajeel roared.

Kagura rushed to her comrade's side, shaking her. "Platina!"

Mock applause from Avian drew Kagura's attention. The Imperial Guardian of the East shuffled a deck of cards between his hands before he withdrew one card: Death. "Well?" Avian smirked at the sight of Kagura's glower. "What's with that look? I just did you a favor. Don't deny it, Miss Mikazuchi. You would lose your temper with Platina because she had the guts to speak her mind."

"You dare to call yourself a mage?" Kagura snarled. "You killed her!"

Avian tilted his head back. "Did I?"

"..." To nearly everyone's surprise, Platina's chest began to rise and fall. Her breaths were slow, but somehow shallow. It was amazing how she was able to breath with the hole in her neck and torso.

"She's alive!" Beth sighed in relief.

"A body that can't cry—can't bleed, even—it's no wonder why she's like this." Avian smiled smugly. "Platina's not living—she's simply...existing."

Kagura stood, her anger unrestrained as she gripped her hilt. The swordswoman charged towards Avian. Sasori, however, rushed in between the two. A black scorpion rested on his right hand, which was drawn back. The scorpion pulled its tail back as Sasori's fist surged forward—

The large gong was struck, its baritone sound resounded through the arena. Kagura and Sasori skidded to a halt.

"T-time's up," Yajima whispered.

"Both teams are still alive and kicking...that means—Mermaid Heel and Imperial Snow are tied! Both teams will recieve five points!"

"But Platina...is she okay?" Yajima questioned. He wore a dark expression, a look aimed towards the Imperial Guardians.

Avia rushed out of her seat, hurrying down to where the rest of her guild's representatives gathered around Platina.

Strands of flesh began to cover over Platina's wounds, seamlessly mending the gashes and cuts.

"Platina..." Arania lifted the silver mage onto her back. "What are you?"

Team Mermaid Heel immediately ran towards the infirmary. Even though Platina's wounds fixed themselves—and they were almost done—they still wanted her checked out for various reasons.

Why couldn't she bleed?

How were her wounds able to support themselves?

Beth turned the doorknob, only to fall forward as the door was pulled open on the other side.

"Sorry..." Sherry wiped her eyes hurriedly. She noticed Platina on Arania's back. "What's wrong with her?"

"To be blunt—we don't know," Millianna said. "What about you?"

Sherry sniffed. "It's Ren, my fiancé. They said his eyes are damaged...what if he can't see anymore? What if he stops loving me?" And the Doll Play mage burst into another round of tears.

"I told you, your fiancé will be fine! Now quit bawling!" Porlyusica came into view. "Humans..."

"Um..." Millianna didn't know what to say. She heard about Porlyusica from Erza, how she hated humans despite being one herself. But the old lady was supposed to be an expert on magical afflictions.

As Sherry tearfully walked away, Porlyusica huffed. "The 'certified' doctors said there was nothing they could do for him. It's amazing how ignorant you humans can be."

"Um..."

Porlyusica turned her steely gaze on Team Mermaid Heel. "Don't you have an injured with you?"

"Okay?" Was this woman really alright with healing a person not from her guild?

Inside, Wendy rested on one bed with Charle curled up beside her. On another, Ren was on his back, bandages wrapped around his eyes.

And two became three as Platina was set down on one of the numerous beds inside.

"A person who doesn't bleed but can still breathe after taking fatal injuries." Porlyusica scrutinized Platina. This was the girl who wielded another person's meridian valve against them. The elder lady remembered warning Fairy Tail B about her, yet here she was, sliced open.

Porlyusica narrowed her eyes at the sight of Platina's self-mending wounds. She couldn't help but notice the peculiar way the strands of flesh behaved. A set of flesh strings would connect over the gash, from one side to the other. Then more would line up perpendicular to the first set. They darted under and threaded over, weaving new flesh to replace the old.

"Out."

"Huh?"

Porlyusica glanced at Team Mermaid Heel. "I can't work if you humans keep breathing down my neck."

"But Platina's—"

"Out, now!" And Team Mermaid Heel was driven out by an old lady brandishing a broomstick.

"Eesh, what a grouch," Arania muttered under her breath.

As soon as the door swung shut, Porlyusica turned her attention back to Platina. "Platina Gaci..." she murmured as Platina's last wound was fixed.

"I think it's time to show your guild what you really are."

Jura stood deep in thought, tuning in and out of his guild's battle against Fairy Tail A.

"Jura-san, what's wrong?" Yuka asked. "Don't worry, he probably—"

"It's not Dobengal I'm worried about. It's that woman from Mermaid Heel," Jura said abruptly.

"Platina? Why her?"

"It's what she is that disturbs me the most."

"How?"

Jura met the Surge's eyes. "'Platin Gacia—Glacia Patin,'" he repeated Avian's words.

Yuka glanced at the stands where Mermaid Heel would usually be. "You don't think Platina was Glacia, do you?"

"Yes, I had that thought at first, too." Jura folded his arms. "Her name is an anagram of the one who has passed; but not even that can prove my theory."

"Why not?"

Jura opened his eyes. "One: Platina is older than what Glacia appeared to be."

"But it could've been her using an age potion."

"Yes, I had thought that...but how would she have known Glacia from childhood?"

"Is there a third reason?" Yuka tried.

The battle was over, Gray and Wendy won. "No...but her physical health is what interests me. How can a person live without blood in their veins?"

Yuka held his chin. "Come to think of it, that Imperial Guardian said something about that. 'That sad mockery of a body'—"

"He said she wasn't living, but existing," Jura finished.

Yuka frowned. "The way he spoke...like she was an object, not a person."

Jigumo five-starred Sasori on the back when the West and the East Imperial Guardians returned to theie balcony. "Nice one, guys."

"Are you sure we'll be allowed to stay in the games after this?" Mizuno asked hesitantly.

Sasori cocked his head. "It's not like Platina's dead. After all, she never lived to begin with."

"But if the authorities find out—"

"They'd come up shorthanded on evidence," Avian said. "There isn't enough to put on us."

Avian turned his attention on Niebel, who met his gaze. "Yes?"

"...Avian...what's going on in the basement—"

"Don't worry, Niebel." Jigumo leaned forward, ruffling the young boy's hair. "We're all men of our word—aren't we, guys?"

"But—"

"We're just performing a little extraction. After it's over, you get to see her whenever you want," Sasori added, smiling.

Niebel relaxed a bit. "But...something feels wrong—"

"Trust us, Nieb." Jigumo lightly pounded Niebel's head. "Would we ever lie to you?"

Thinking it over, Niebel shook his head.

"There you go. You see? Just trust big bro, he knows best—"

"It's gone," Avian said abruptly.

"Excuse me?" Mizuno looked away from his mirror.

Sasori shook his head. "You probably dropped it somewhere."

"We can't let them find it."

"I'll get it, big sissy," Sasori muttered under his breath as he headed out.

"That reminds me, why the hell would you bring that here?" Jigumo questioned.

"I forgot I had it in my pocket, okay!" Avian defended, hands up.

Sherry had half a mind to return to Ren's side, but that old Fairy lady—in her words—would likely chase her out for "being a smelly human".

"Isn't she human, too?" Sherry grumbled, her foot hitting against something—wait, what?

The Doll Play mage looked down at her feet to find a small, hardback spiral journal beside her right foot. "What's this?" she wondered, bending down to pick it up. "Someone's journal?"

A sudden thought passed Sherry's mind, a half evil glint in her eye. If it's someone in the game's, she thought darkly, I could use this as blackmail! Maybe it's Lucy's!

A mental evil laugh, and Sherry opened it to the first page. She was met by neat handwriting deeply carved into paper, as if the person who wrote it felt nothing but rage at the time.

X774, May 9

I hate them.

My parents are planning to sell me in Bosco for their dumb gambling. At least, they were.

I ran away. I'm free!

Before I left, I took every bit of money left in the house. And everything with value. Silverware, fine china, food—what, you expect to run away on an empty stomach?

I even found this cool scale in my mom's jewelry box. It's really pretty. Like a thin diamond.

Sherry suddenly felt bad for reading this person's journal. Her family died by Deliora's hand, but this person was about to be sold by their own parents! She skimmed ahead.

X778, April 9

I finally found out what the scale was. At least, Glacia told me.

My parents had a real dragon scale in their house.

Now that I think about it, Jigumo and Sasori's hometown was destroyed by a dragon...

Porlyusica stepped outside, shutting the door behind her while she was at it.

"Um..." Millianna hesitated for a moment. "Is Platina okay?"

The old lady sighed. "She patched up perfectly on her own. There was nothing else I could do."

"You mean you gave up?" she cried.

"You misunderstood me, cat." Porlyusica's expression turned more serious. "That girl's not even remotely human."

Vóreia flew forward. "I know Platina acts heartless sometimes, but she still cares—"

"That's not what I meant." Porlyusica folded her arms into her long sleeves. "Neither the stench of a human...nor the scent of a dragon. No blood flows...nor does she have a heart that would do so. The only thing that allowed her body to function like a human's were the strength of those dark emotions accumulated over time, and the will of the mage that allowed her to live."

Beth frowned. "What do you mean?"

"'Why is it always me? It's always my fault. If only that person never existed.' Those kinds of feelings." Porlyusica withdrew her right arm from her sleeve. "I think it's time for you to see your guild member."

Porlyusica's right hand came out, holding Platina in her palm. The silver witch just sat there, immobile.

Platina was—surprisingly—small. She was nine inches tall, and Beth remembered wanting to be as tall as her. The silver mage retained the blue eyes, but they were glacier blue now.

Her entire appearance changed.

Platina's hair was still combed over her left eye, but her hair was white now. Two pink spots dotted her cheeks as she smiled back at her team. Her outfit now consisted of a short-sleeved, navy sailor shirt with a white skirt and baby-sized ballet flats.

Vóreia's eyes widened in realization at Avian's words. "Platina..."

"'You were a pretty little doll child, tiny and petite with cute rosy cheeks. You used to play with Glacia everyday, and in the blink of an eye, the two of you were inseparable. Every time she came to the guild, you were always with her.'"

Team Mermaid Heel gasped. "Platina..."

"'Platina's not living—she's simply...existing.'"

Kagura could have sworn that she heard two different laughters coming from her.

One was Platina's sneering laughter that still rang through her mind.

The other was Glacia's joyful giggling that seemed so distant now.

Porlyusica finished what Team Mermaid Heel couldn't say. "She's a doll," she said.

Platina the doll smiled at her team mates, her mouth permanently fixed into that position.