Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)
Chapter 35: Poison Is Bad, Fear Is Brash, Darkness Is Charming
Lucy and Sting were at an ice cream shop to start off their morning, respectively having double chocolate with peanut butter and butterscotch with vanilla. This was Sting's reward for his girlfriend, since she had put on quite a good display of sexiness and strength for the photo shoot for Sorcerer Magazine and it was also a reward for getting Yukino to participate. Sting had a smile on his face, awaiting the day that he would see his girlfriend in a magazine. Of course, the only thing better than seeing her in a magazine was always getting to see her in person.
As the white dragon slayer was about to compliment Lucy for her nice work in the photo shoot yesterday, he blushed a bit while remembering the fact that Rogue and Rufus respectively sat on the left and right sides of him in the booth. Rogue had wanted Sting and Lucy to tell the entire team about the spell book, as well as what had been going on with it, since he found it to be no mere coincidence that he sensed a shadowy presence in the guild yesterday and witnessed Fairy Tail's two-faced demon emerging from the shadows to make quite a chill in the air with her merciless personality while she had frozen Erza's entire body with ancient glacier-like ice.
Lucy had sat in between Wendy and Yukino, with the blue-haired sky dragon slayer being on her right side while the Celestial Spirit Wizard with light blue hair was on her left side, and the blonde girl had looked a bit timid while placing the blue spell book on the table. She had heard Rogue's words about telling him and the team about Karen because of how she had been partnered with the girl from Fairy Tail who had frozen Erza, and Lucy did care about her old friends from the guild of her past. Thorn was planning something, from how she had threatened Cana, but what was that plan?
The fact that her name was Thorn certainly struck a nerve of fear with Lucy, and that reminded her about the day that she had talked with Karen in the city of Crocus. They had chatted on the break day before the survival tournament, and that was when Karen had told Lucy about how she stole the book for the blonde maiden to have. She also let Lucy know that Thorn was her dark ancestor, being a member of the Heartfilia family with a heart that had turned to the side of malice, and the fact that Lucy would get taken over by the black spells when she used them were only giving anyone the thought that she was linked to an evil woman like Thorn.
However, Karen herself had said how Thorn had passed away because of some kind of magical light that had destroyed her. Therefore, there was no way for Thorn to even have a physical form. Unless the shadows had a side ability of sending souls into bodies, there was no way for Thorn to truly exist in the current time. Besides, Lucy also knew that some people tended to have similar first names while having different last times to differentiate themselves from each other. It could have been a coincidence that the girl with violet hair was named Thorn, and maybe Aqua Ball had been a spell that was popular enough for her to perfectly copy its effects.
She gulped a little bit before speaking while looking slightly nervous about whether her friends would believe her or not, and Lucy explained to them all in a calm manner, "All right, everyone. Let me start from the very beginning, since Wendy wasn't here for most of what happened before she came along. The day after Natsu had kicked me off of the team, I went to the guild at dawn to say my goodbyes before going to start my new life. I went upstairs, and Mira asked me to help her get some forbidden books off of their respective shelves. There were five books on that shelf, but I only saw four after being caught off guard by the guild's brawl."
That last part of what she had said did make everyone look a little bit curious as to how five books could become four in the blink of an eye, and Lucy was hoping that they would not think of her as an idiot who did not notice a book slowly falling from the shelf with a silent thump or something. Everyone looked pretty calm with soft smiles while they listened to Lucy's story, and Sting was quickly able to put some pieces together. If that was the book Natsu and his friends had claimed that was missing when they invaded Sabertooth to get it, as well as that book being the same one that Karen had given to Lucy, then Karen used silent shadows to steal it.
Lucy continued on with her story, telling everyone how she had heard a soft knock at the door of her former apartment, and she let her friends know that Karen had shown up at her doorstep with the book when it was in a normal shade of blue. At the time, she had claimed to be a traveling merchant who was in some kind of trouble. She had demonstrated how the book could not be opened by her, with her hands being sore from trying, and this made Lucy feel sympathy for the wandering woman. Karen's heart and soul were not pure enough to open the book, but Lucy had been able to open it easily with her gentle hands.
The conversation would have gone on longer, but Lucy had to board the S.S. Aqua to reach the town of Castelia on that life-changing day. She had then met Sting and Rogue, with the white dragon slayer always telling his friend about the adventures involving himself and Lucy, and Rogue had been hearing about almost everything until he had got to hear all the explosions in the amusement park that were caused by Lucy's fiery fight with the electrical sadist named Hikari. Sting had even told his friend about what happened in the Desert Resort, and the red-eyed male honestly found that last part about the chocolate mud to be unbelievable.
While Lucy knew that her friends had seen the times when she used Heavenly Body Magic, as well as Thorn's Shadow Demon Magic in the tag-team battle against Natsu and Erza, she honestly had no idea how the Darkness Magic had been acquired. She had not gone to any places with towers that had ghosts haunting them, or to any spooky graveyards at night, so how did the sinister type of magic enter her book? Every time that Lucy would use the Darkness Magic, she would lose consciousness while Darcy would take over her mind to control her own powerful spells.
Unknown to Lucy, Karen had actually placed Darcy's purple aura into the spell book after she had retrieved the sadistic demon from the countryside near Gateau Town. That was where Darcy had been fighting with Juvia and Gray, beating them down while she seemed to be angry at them for mistaking her to be Lucy, and she had only been stopped by Karen because the sixth seal had to be broken. When Karen had given Darcy a cryptic message about what had to be done, the purple-haired girl understood it perfectly like she knew about the big plan that Karen had been plotting for Lucy.
Sting replied to Lucy in a calm tone while smiling kindly, as he heard her wonder aloud about the Darkness Magic that she possessed, "Well, you're absolutely right. We don't know how you got that Darkness Magic, but its powers do make you act pretty sinister with those deadly spells. I still remember when you nearly poisoned everyone in Crocus because of that Dark Optica spell, but don't think of it as a bad thing. Lucy, this whole situation with Thorn has got you freaked out and you definitely need some answers from Karen. I know just how to lure that shadowy woman out, so let's all head to a great place to discuss the plan."
As everyone got out of the booth, Lucy happily gave Sting a warm kiss on the lips for the surprising way to encourage her that the answers would finally come. She always enjoyed hearing his great ideas of confidence, and they did tend to work in his favor. Sting blushed a bit while winking with his left eye and giving her two thumbs up as he grinned in a cocky manner, happy to know that Lucy would like his idea, but the white dragon slayer did see his own plan as being a little bit unorthodox. It was pretty risky, but let's just say that the spirits would sometimes have to be approached directly while being woken from their dark slumbers.
While Sting left some jewels on the table to pay for the ice cream, he ran out of the ice cream shop with a confident smirk on his face. Everybody else looked concerned as they followed him, noticing that he was heading towards an eastern route that went out of Castelia, and that route led to a place that some people thought was pretty creepy. As Lucy followed him, pulling down her lavender T-shirt while getting the heel of her left foot back in the amethyst purple flat shoe, a brown flyer for a job fell out of the left pocket of her purple miniskirt. Karen quickly emerged halfway from Lucy's shadow, and she grabbed the brown flyer to see if the job was useful to Thorn's plan. Knowing that the Darkness Magic was pretty evil on its own, Karen could tell that a bad girl always some toxicity in her personality. She sunk back down into Lucy's shadow, not just to deliver the flyer to Thorn, but something else had caught her interest.
At the Fairy Tail guild...
While things were getting good with Lucy, Erza's body shivered and her teeth chattered as Natsu used his Fire Dragon's Roar at full power to defrost the chilling ice that occurred as another side effect of Thorn's final fusion spell. Erza had woken up in Fairy Tail's infirmary to find herself frozen in ice, and she thanked god that Natsu had walked in there by mistake. He had melted away the ice from the top half of Erza's body, and he was now working on her lower half. Natsu also had to use most of the strength in his fingers to squeeze them in the ice cracks while having flames on his fingers to melt the ice, and this made his job much easier.
Even Erza's swords that had the strongest slicing power were not able to cut through the ice, breaking into pieces whenever they tried to stab into the glacier-like ice, and that made Natsu wonder about who could have done this to his former teammate. He could tell by the type of ice that this was not the handiwork of Gray or Lyon, even though they specialized in using ice. Their magic had always given off a light feel to it, but this ice that Natsu dealt with right now had a cold and dark feeling. However, why did the scent of the ice smell somewhat familiar to Natsu? It smelled like chocolate and coffee, but in a perfume scent that only one person had.
As Natsu continued to take in the scent of the ice, trying to match its smell to that of someone in the Fairy Tail guild, Erza's teeth chattered while she folded her arms and shivered from the ice around the lower half of her body. She had to tell Natsu that Thorn was not who she seemed to be, and the violet-haired girl was just manipulating him for her own purposes. She was using him like a pawn that would eventually be removed from the chessboard, and Thorn had even gotten romantic with Natsu on some of the jobs that they did together for her to gain his love and trust.
"Natsu, you really need to hear this. It's about your girlfriend named Thorn. She is the one who encased me in this ice, freezing me in an attempt to eliminate me, and I remember being able to hear Thorn's partner telling Cana that bad things would come her way if we interfered in whatever Thorn is planning. Natsu, you need to break up with her and find out the truth about what Thorn wants with you. She gives me a very bad feeling." Erza explained to him in a stern manner while shivering with some anger in her brown eyes, before sneezing because of the ice's cold temperature.
The fire dragon slayer angrily responded while flames engulfed his fists, as he shattered the rest of the ice with a fierce punch of rage while getting fired up, "I can't believe that even you would lie about my girlfriend, Erza! Thorn and I were at Slateport Beach yesterday, having fun while we kissed under the summer sun, and then she disappeared into the shadows to go get us some bottles of cola for free from a nearby concession stand! She came back in fifteen minutes, and she's also nice! You and Gray are just upset to see me happy, aren't you?!"
Even though Erza had known that she could say that Natsu was getting involved with a woman who he barely even knew, she also knew that the best option for her friend was to hear the truth straight from Thorn. After all the bad karma that Natsu had been dealt, accepting words at face value from a girl who supposedly liked him would be what he would do. After Lisanna had given up on him, Natsu had to turn to someone for friendship. Seeing this argument as a waste of time, Natsu walked out of the infirmary and headed to the guildhall. He knew that Thorn was waiting for him to help her on a job, and being with his girlfriend brought him happiness.
While Natsu had finished his job of defrosting Erza, Cana had been working behind the bar for Mirajane because the white-haired woman had gone somewhere private to talk with Lisanna, Elfman, Evergreen, and Suna about what exactly had happened to cause their disappearances. Lisanna did not want to discuss it at the guild because of the fact that Thorn might be around, and Suna did not want to give the whole guild a pretty big whiplash about who Thorn was because Lisanna had just recently returned. Besides, the stories of what happened from the views of Elfman and Lisanna would be too much to tell.
As Cana was cleaning a beer mug, she gasped curiously while placing her left hand on her left cheek. The warmth and softness from yesterday had still remained there, and it was a result of Karen planting a kiss on Cana's cheek to calm her down after she had been terrified from seeing Thorn's display of brutality towards Erza. The brown-haired mage had blushed a bit, never really telling anyone about her sexuality, but Cana did love to date women. She liked the feeling of a woman's touch, and Karen was so beautiful while being warm as well. Cana had no strong feelings for Karen, but the kiss had put her in a blushing trance of bliss.
She had even found herself daydreaming about being on the beach while Karen would rub sunscreen on every part of her body in such a pleasing manner, feeling warmth from her hands, but Cana was suddenly snapped out her fantasy by the sound of Gray softly knocking on the bar's counter to get her attention. He told her in a calm tone that Master Makarov was going to give out some more information about the mysterious book, and the fact that Erza had come back to the guild as an icy statue on a surprisingly hot day was more of a reason to finally share the important info.
Cana's purple eyes shifted to the right of Gray to see Makarov having a calm facial expression, and Mavis had sat next to him on a barstool. She was smiling happily while locking eyes with the card mage for a moment, and Makarov had informed the brown-haired girl that the First Master was here to shed some light on the subject of Thorn. After all, even though they had not told Makarov about any attacks transpiring, Cana and Gray knew that their Master and Mavis had probably both been detecting high-level amounts of magical power acting up in Fiore for quite a while now.
"Hello, Cana. I thought that I'd check in on the guild today for some fun, but it looks like some abnormal people from Fairy Tail's past may have come back. We all saw that moment on the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games when that black aura took over Lucy's body and caused Thorn to appear, but I must tell you about who Thorn was. Well, she was a mage who devoted her time to a book that she wielded. She was also very quiet, and never liked being around other people. I never knew what land or town she had come from, and all she did was look at her spell book while also seeming to write spells in it as well. One day, I found her black book and the words in it had been written in different colors, along with being in different olden languages. I was shocked to see that she made a book of spells, and I was even more shocked at their catastrophic effects." Mavis explained in a calm manner while remembering Thorn's first months in Fairy Tail.
While Cana could not believe that someone could make an entire book of spells that had so many different types of magic in it, she also had to wonder how Karen came into this story. Thorn had been the one who was the most talked about, since she was known as the Gothic Magic with the dark magic, so how in the world had Karen gotten involved in Thorn causing catastrophes? Seeing as they traveled through the shadows together yesterday, Cana could only guess that Karen had chosen to help Thorn at some point.
"The fact that Thorn recklessly unleashed her spells, as she kept making more, was really brought to my attention by light and dark guilds alike. In the end, I had no choice but to excommunicate her after she made large tornadoes of wind annihilate dark guilds all over Fiore and also severely hurt many innocent people in the process. Thorn and her friend Karen Melancholia did not take my actions as being a good decision, but the real cause of my worries was not the destructive one of the two." Mavis explained further, looking down sadly whilst remembering what had happened after Thorn's excommunication.
Cana interrupted Mavis while speaking calmly, finding a little bit of a flaw in her story, "The history books say that you destroyed Thorn, though, First Master. You annihilated her because it would bring peace to the world, so there was no reason for you to be worried. While Thorn can use many attack spells, I don't think that Karen is a real threat on her own."
The First Master continued her story, stating a big point that really contradicted Cana's assumption, "I may have destroyed Thorn's physical form with the Fairy Glitter spell in our showdown, but that was a big mistake on my part. The light from my spell was perfect for Karen to merge Thorn's shadow with the spell book, putting her soul into it to preserve it, and my light had also created the seven seals that kept the book from being at its full strength to where Thorn could be released. My spell also made the seven auras of purity spread across the globe, but Karen had put Thorn's dark aura in a perfume bottle to preserve it while she ran away to never be seen again. I kept Thorn's book in the library, but I know that Lucy would not be foolish enough to steal it. I actually think the book was stolen for her."
With fear beginning to enter her purple eyes, Cana bit her lower lip while noticing that Thorn was looking directly at her. Since she now had the Fairy Tail insignia, Thorn could clearly see that Cana and the others were talking with Mavis. She had also overheard their little discussion while she sat alone at a table with a flyer that Karen had recently brought to her, and Thorn could see how Cana was starting to tremble from locking eyes with her. Cana's fearful facial expression let Thorn know that the card mage would not even think of crossing her, and Thorn simply smirked evilly while trusting Cana. However, she did need to get back at Gray for now involving her worst enemy into her plans. Thorn disappeared into the table's shadow, and Cana gasped in shock while feeling a pair of familiar hands emerge from the shadows to quickly pull her down into the darkness. Where was Thorn headed, and who abducted Cana?
In a poisonous swamp..
Juvia had finally arrived at Fuchsia Swamp, a seasonally flooded bottomland with more woody plants than a marsh and better drainage than a bog. She could smell the toxic gas in the air, and the purple water didn't exactly look healthy enough to drink. She had come to this place to handle what would we a very simple task for her to do, and the blue-haired woman was probably the perfect person for this mission. All that she had to do was simply flush out all the water from the swamp because the client was a treasure hunter who believed that there was loot hidden at the bottom of the swamp.
However, rumors were not always good to believe. First of all, Juvia knew that there was no way for anyone to hide treasure in the poisonous swamp without breathing in the toxic gas of drinking a drop of the venomous liquid. Either way, that person would end up dying from the effects of the poisonous chemicals. This was not exactly a fun place to be, and Juvia had to surround herself with a bubble of blue water that was sealed with both liquid and oxygen inside of it. Besides, for all she knew, the treasure could be buried in the marshy ground while people would follow the ruse of it being in the lake.
Juvia's spell known as Water Bubble could help her float to the bottom of the lake while not being affected by the poisonous liquid, and that would also help her see if the treasure chest was truly in the water. She looked pretty confident about doing this, the determination entering her blue eyes while she also knew that Gray would figure out a smart strategy to overcome the obstacles in this problem, but let's just say that Juvia's shining act was about to be mucked up in the toxic swamp. She certainly was not going to get any thanks from Gray, since a rotten mage with a poisonous attitude had beaten her to it.
The purple water in the lake suddenly began to spiral around in a clockwise motion like a whirlpool, after a sudden explosion could be heard happening underwater, and Juvia looked utterly shocked to see the water level beginning to fall like it was water going down a toilet. It quickly decreased to the level where it sounded like the ground had swallowed down all the water, and the Rain Woman had to wonder who else could be here other than her. She had taken this job as a simple solo mission, but the strangeness of this situation made things complicated. On top of that, a black shadowy puddle formed right in front of the Rain Woman.
Much to her surprise, Thorn slowly rose up from the puddle with a golden treasure chest in her hands while she smiled evilly. This made Juvia shocked, having not even seen the new girl from Fairy Tail show up here, and Juvia did not know that Thorn had just moved through the darkness of the shadows to get the treasure chest from the lake. The water had gone down into a shadowy hole that Thorn had made, explaining how the lake was now drained, but Juvia made a large rain cloud float about Fuchsia Swamp for a moment before large beams of water came down from it to fill up the barren cater to make it a lake again.
With the water in the lake now restored to being a natural blue instead of being purple, Juvia narrowed her blue eyes at Thorn while asking in a stern tone, "Why did you steal the treasure that Juvia was looking for? Can you please give it to me, since your assistance was never needed for this task? Juvia knows that you are Thorn, the girlfriend of Natsu, but can you please tell Juvia why you are here? The way how you came from a black puddle is something that Juvia can actually relate to, you know."
Thorn replied with a vicious look in her blood red eyes, malice in her voice while she spoke in a dark tone with a serious look on her face, "I did not steal the treasure, you fool. Let's just say that the shadows gave me the same job as you, and you won't be getting the treasure chest. Even though you don't need anything from me, I don't care. You see, one of your little fairy friends has really made herself be on the verge of crossing my line. I will not fight her, since Karen told me that she would handle her, but I'd love to make an example of my true wrath for that girl by eradicating you."
Juvia gasped while taking a few steps back, looking a bit scared while she had to wonder if Thorn was the one who froze Erza when Cana brought the iced Titania back to the guild, but then she clenched her fists and narrowed her blue eyes while knowing that protecting the others from Erza's possible attacker was much more important. No matter how much ice Thorn could conjure up, Juvia's magic could just melt it all down into water for her to use against the demonic woman. Would she use ice in this battle, though?
The blue-haired woman decided to start this battle off by using Water Slicer, a spell that let Juvia send like blades of water towards Thorn by waving her right arm. The violet-haired girl simply stood there, acting calm like nothing was happening, and Juvia's blades had been destroyed by amethyst purple blasts of energy that surrounded them. This shocked Juvia, having not seen Thorn recite a spell, but she had used a fusion spell of Darkness Magic that was known as Shielding Smog. It made the swamp's clouds of poison gas act like shields, defending Thorn from all sides, and they could also explode around a target while poisoning it as well.
From seeing how Thorn's move could be used offensively and defensively like that, Juvia used her Double Wave attack to hopefully break through that shield. She swiped both of her hands towards each other, putting her right hand over her left hand, and Juvia created two large waves of water that would slam Thorn from both sides. As it seemed like the attack would work, Thorn had surprisingly chewed a purple substance in her mouth before spitting it high into the air for some strange reason. This move even made Juvia wonder what would happened, since no normal person would fire a spell away from what was going to hit them.
Then, much to Thorn's pleasure, a purple ball of Darkness Magic came down from the sky while it was gaining power and speed on its descent. The ball had also changed to being amethyst purple for a few moments, representing the fact that Poison Magic was now infused with the darkness to power it up, and this was another one of Thorn's strange fusions. When the purple ball hit the waves that were about to crash into Thorn, a violet blast of Darkness Magic occurred before an amethyst purple blast of Poison Magic transpired! The light was strong enough to blind Juvia's eyes, and she wondered why Thoen would damage herself like that.
When an inhaling sound could be heard, Thorn obviously taking in all the purple smoke, Juvia looked utterly shocked to see that her opponent did not have a single mark of damage on her body. Her explosive fusion spell had made more poison gas fill the area, and it also caused gravity to weigh down on the Rain Woman as a side effect. Juvia could feel herself being forced to the ground, unable to move even a finger, and she scowled angrily at Thorn while knowing that long-range attacks were definitely not going to be effective in a battle like this.
Putting the pieces together, Juvia definitely could now guess that Thorn was the one who attacked Erza with that unorthodox level of ice. She was not going to let this woman go after Gray or anyone else, and the Rain Woman now used her Water Body ability to escape Thorn's gravity that had been weighing down on her. She remained as a mass of water while heading straight towards Thorn to deliver a scalding hot punch to the face of the demonic woman, but Thorn simply inhaled some of the poisonous gas before letting it out in a nasty belch.
When the sound waves quickly reached Juvia, many amethyst purple blasts began to occur all around her. She was forced out of the Water Body spell, and Juvia screamed in pain while the blasts kept doing a high amount of damage to her. Those sound waves were infused with explosive poisonous clouds, and Juvia wasn't just taking damage. The sound waves were carrying the poison gas, and sound waves were transmitted louder through water. Juvia had not noticed it earlier, but Thorn's blasts had deliberately been used to create more toxic clouds in the air for a higher chance of Juvia being poisoned. It may have taken a while, but the effects began.
Thorn asked Juvia in a malicious tone, smirking evilly at the sight of her opponent falling to her hands and knees while looking like she was getting ready to cough or vomit, "Feeling nauseous, are we? You're a user of water, yet you did not realize that I could use the sound of my blasts to send all of my poison gas your way? That Water Body ability of yours was a foolish move on your part, since gas bubbles can be in water. The poison has already spread through your body, and all the moving around you did from taking the blasts of Poison Demon's Gas Grenade has really sealed your fate."
Juvia asked nicely while coughing and groaning in pain, her face starting to look pale while her arms turned purple to represent the poison flowing inside of her, "Why go to all this trouble to hurt everyone in the guild, instead of just going after the main thing that you want? Even if you were to kill me and the others, don't you see that it only shows how much of a heartless person you are? You may be able to act nice and deceive everyone in Fairy Tail, but Juvia knows that your magic will show everyone how you truly are. You have keen strategies and excellent judgement, and you're powerful while knowing how to counter anything. However, the most frightening thing to Juvia is that you don't waiver when any kind of spell comes your way. How much hatred flows through your dark heart, Thorn?"
The Rain Woman's speech about Thorn needing to show compassion to the guild that was once run by the person who killed her had only managed to make the demonic woman look infuriated with malice in her red eyes. She still held a grudge against Fairy Tail because Mavis interfered with her plans, and the mages of this time were also not going to stand in Thorn's way. She narrowed her blood red eyes, and Thorn's final fusion spell was known as Darkness Demon's Acidic Vortex. This spell made all of the lake water start to bubble and boil dangerously while alternating between between violet and amethyst purple, prompting Thorn to viciously laugh.
All of the water rose up in the form of a bubbling sphere, before changing its shape to form a spinning vortex, and it headed straight for Juvia while it emitted large amounts of poisonous gas. It also gave off a large amount of gravity to levitate Juvia into its path, and the poisonous vortex of Darkness Magic collided head-on with the Rain Woman to form a massive amethyst purple explosion before allowing a massive violet explosion to occur as well. Thorn could only smile while the acidic rain began coming down on her, unaffected since she could now consume poison for energy, and she walked off with the treasure chest while letting Juvia's falling body disappear into a shadowy puddle while she fell to the ground. Things had to be perfect for some more manipulation in her nefarious plan, and Thorn knew that the end was coming. No one could stand in her way, and she was now going to deliver the treasure chest to the client for 800,000 jewels to send to Lucy.
Meanwhile, in a tower...
Sting and the others had finally reached a place known as Lavender Town, a place where the spirits were normally put to rest, and Lucy shivered in fear from the chilling vibe that she received from the ghostly aura in the tower of seven floors. There had been simple purple staircases in this tower, helping people get up to certain floors, and Lucy could see people on each floor who claimed to be mediums who could channel the spirits of the dead. They all looked very scary, having no pupils in their eyes, and all of the women had long purple hair that reached down to their hips while they had fair skin and wore white robes.
Lucy, Yukino, and Wendy all found it to be a little bit creepy that there were four purple flames in the center of the room on each floor, and they were slowly dancing around in a counter-clockwise manner like they were performing a ritual of some kind. The copious amount of tombstones on each floor did not make things any better, and the purple light from the spiritual flames really gave some spooky brightness to a place that was built to represent darkness, despair, and the depressing feeling of dread. Wendy could even see the light making ghostly shadows on the wall, resembling Haunter and Gengar, prompting Wendy to scream and stay close to Rufus.
Upon hearing faint ghostly whispers that sounded like someone was calling her name, Lucy screamed in fear and jumped into Sting's arms for safety. Rogue had carried Yukino in a bridal-style fashion, since the Celestial Spirit Wizard nearly screamed in terror from seeing one of the mediums look at her with an evil smirk. It was clear that all of the mediums in this tower were possessed by the spirits of the departed souls, and some of those spirits had been carrying feelings of hatred and utter confusion. One of the women even cackled in a maniacal manner, scaring Lucy and Yukino even more.
Sting smiled a bit while carrying his girlfriend up the stairs, happy to be comforting her when she would need him to be there for her, and Sting had also taken notice of the mediums looking like they did not like him at all. They pretty much felt disgusted by his presence in the tower, and the white dragon slayer really wanted to tell off those spiritual women for just being jealous of Fiore's best dragon slayer. However, Rogue let him know that trying to reason with the spirits would make him look even creepier than they were.
When the group had reached the fifth floor of the tower, everyone noticed that the only thing in this room was a single purple flame. It began to float around Lucy in a circle, sensing that she was connected to something spiritual, and the ghostly energies of the dead in this tower had caused the spell book's color to become violet for the Darkness Magic to be represented. The spell book also turned amethyst purple for a few seconds, but it became violet again because of the overwhelming amount of spectral energy in this place.
"All right, Lucy. Call upon that Darkness Magic with any one of the spells, and send out the spirit that takes over your body. It's pretty obvious that she takes over your mind when you use her spells, and getting to talk with this spirit might give us some clues about what's going on with the book. It'll also probably tell us what we need to know about your dark ancestor named Thorn, too." Sting told her in a calm tone while gently holding her left hand in his, smiling confidently as he knew that there was nothing to be afraid of.
Lucy replied in a kind tone while she smiled at her boyfriend with feelings of positive energy in her cocoa brown eyes, before giving a soft kiss to his lips, "Okay, Sting. Thanks to your confidence, I've gotten this far. The Darkness Magic does seem to be the living type of magic in this book, and it is one of the demons that Thorn had killed. Karen told me that the demons in this book have put their powers into it, so maybe this demon girl of the night will be able to tell us a few things of relative importance."
The blonde mage opened up the violet spell book, seeing the words for the spells glow while purple beams of light shined from the pages for Darkness Magic, and Lucy proceeded to use the Dark Optica spell. This spell had caused the sky to turn purple outside, and it also caused Lucy's cocoa brown eyes to turn amethyst purple from the effects of the spell. The blonde girl had lost consciousness while Darcy was taking over her mind to see what exactly was going on, and the spirit of Darkness Magic began to chuckle a bit from enjoying the feeling of all the despair and spectral energy in the air.
Darcy noticed the purple flame that had floated around her body for quite a while now, and she simply grabbed it while proceeding to eat it like how Natsu could eat flames. Darcy smirked evilly while a purple aura began to engulf her, obviously pleased with the fact that a spiritual flame tasted so good, and she noticed how Yukino and the others were curiously looking at her like this tower reminded her of happy times. Well, it would actually be natural for a spirit of Darkness Magic to enjoy being in a tower of dread and despair.
She told the group in a harsh tone, obviously looking rude while they all found it strange that she was even using gravity to bring up tombstones from the fourth floor to eat their spiritual energy by touching them with her hands, "All right, you fools. I'm only going to explain this once, so listen well. My name is Darcy Homika, and I am now just the spirit of a demon who was once killed by a woman named Thorn Heartfilia. I had been roaming this earth for ages, watching everything that occurred, and I intend to get my revenge on Thorn after the plan is complete. She may end up having the abilities of Darkness Magic, but I am the mistress of fear."
"There's a plan involved, Darcy-sama? If you do not mind telling us, what kind of plan may that be?" Yukino asked politely while smiling softly, hoping that Darcy would not give her a rude answer.
Darcy replied in a stern manner, narrowing her amethyst purple eyes, "It's the plan that Thorn Heartfilia and Karen Melancholia tried to do back in the X600s, which almost happened a few days after they had killed me. Thorn tried to use her array of ultimate powers to make the world fall into her darkness, but she suffered her biggest loss because of the light. I remember seeing it all from within the book, taking note of how egotistical she had become after having so much power in her hands, and she was one of the ultimate mages. Her plan to destroy the world had failed, and a mage named Mavis brought Thorn to her shameful end."
Wendy's eyes widened in shock from hearing the name of Mavis, the First Master of Fairy Tail who normally resided on Tenrou Island, and the young sky dragon slayer had to wonder if Thorn was going to get ultimate power by going after Fairy Tail's treasure that was known as Lumen Histoire. However, Wendy also knew that Lucy's book was wielding tons of spells as well. If the book was what Thorn was after, then couldn't a shadowy woman like Karen just steal it from Lucy? Wouldn't that make more sense?
Darcy continued her explanation in a brash manner, having sensed something even more sinister than herself, "The fusion spells of Darkness Magic have been written in the book, meaning that the sixth element is now near its completion. You only have two types of magic left to go, until Karen and Thorn decide that the fateful day has arrived. If you can stop the demonic darkness with holy light, then I may respect you for stopping the plan. However, as you all have probably seen, the types of magic are beginning to have combination effects. I am paired with poison, perfect for me, but the heavens might not be so nice with a fairy. I do not know how Thorn and Karen will carry out the plan this time, since Thorn is now a soul, but you all better be smart to figure it out."
Wendy told the violet-eyed possessor of Lucy in a happy tone while smiling and proceeding to give her a hug for being so informative, "Thank you so much, Darcy-san! You may be into darkness, but it's really nice of you to explain all of this to us! At least we now know that those two are planning something, and it probably might not be so good."
"Don't ever hug me, little girl. I am Darcy Homika, the demon of Darkness Magic who strikes fear into the hearts of people with my nightmares. I would recommend heading to the Laverre Ruins, since the demon of Heavenly Body Magic used to live there. Her name was Valerie, and maybe her aura of sweetness can give you the other half of what you need to know. I don't know why Karen targeted Lucy to make her have the book, nor do I know how she and Thorn will have the ultimate power again." Darcy explained to Wendy in a harsh tone, before laughing evilly and turning back into a purple aura to reenter the book and let Lucy have control of her body again.
When Lucy fell to her knees, having regained consciousness without hearing a single word about what Darcy had said, Sting helped his girlfriend stand up while kissing her lips softly to thank her for letting Darcy tell the group about everything that she knew. At least the group now knew that Thorn had a plan of some kind to cause the end of the world, but they still missed a few pieces that only the Laverre Ruins could hopefully provide. Now that the task was done here, Sting and the others decided that it was finally time to leave this creepy old tower.
Elsewhere...
Cana had lost consciousness while being pulled down into the shadows, having been knocked out by being struck in the head by a shadowy punch or something, and the brown-haired mage could feel something like hot water giving comfort to her skin. She could feel that her hair was wet, almost like she had been taken into a warm bath by someone, and she opened her eyes to find that she was now in the bathroom of Lucy's old apartment. Although, the bathtub was now larger and golden like it had been replaced.
She rose her head out of the water while gasping for air, wondering who could have abducted her to bring her to such a familiar place, and the card mage blushed a light shade of pink while realizing that she was almost naked. She only had on her orange and green bikini that she wore under her clothes, and Cana had to wonder who could have taken her away from Fairy Tail. She was hoping that this wasn't a cruel joke by somebody to mock her for not helping Erza fight Thorn at the beach, and she noticed that the shampoo scent of sweet honey was all over her while the water was bubbly with bliss.
As Cana found herself to be far too slippery to get out of the tub right now, she heard someone rise up from the water behind her and speak in a sultry tone while gently helping Cana remove her bikini bottom and her top, "There's no need to fall, my sweet rook. I've got you warm and safe with me right now, and you're far too lubed up to escape right now. I'm not holding you hostage or anything, but I just don't want to see you get hurt whenever Thorn decides to begin her wonderful plan for a new world."
Cana turned around to see Karen standing behind her, taking off her yellow bikini top to release her large breasts from their constraints, and the woman with silvery-blue hair smiled happily while throwing it on to the bathroom floor. She then proceeded to sit down in the large and wide tub, sighing happily while seeing Cana swim over to her, and Karen wanted at least one cute woman to survive in Thorn's plan. Her beautiful body was enough to make Cana blush, letting Karen know that she was getting aroused by her beauty, and the older woman was happy that her Shadow Charm spell had taken its effects on the young maiden.
"Karen, I'm... I think that you're beautiful, but Thorn is so scary. Her plans for darkness just frighten me, and there's not much that I can do to stop them. She was powerful enough to defeat Erza, and even that is a scary sight to see." Cana told her captor while blushing, letting her head rest on Karen's left shoulder while she was really worried for her friends and for their fate.
The deceptive and beautiful woman of the shadows replied in a sweet tone, kissing Cana's right cheek while embracing her in a soft hug to calm the brown-haired fairy down, "I know that you feel bad for asking Mavis a few questions today, but I can assure you that Thorn will not even try to kill you. After all, a rook is more valuable than a few pawns that need to be out of the way. You could always be a sweet little fairy, but there's also the beautiful world of being under Thorn's darkness. You're under my charms, sweetie, and Thorn will see you as one of us. It will be so much pleasure to have you as mine, so just let the shadows take over how you feel."
"I'm going to be in the wonderful darkness, and I'm going to be yours..." Cana responded in a loving tone, feeling bliss from Karen's warm kiss while the warm water began to start bubbling as steam rose into the air.
Karen gave Cana a lovely kiss on the lips, taking delight in the fact that she now had one of the fairies in love with her, and she was now happy to see this moment of bliss like a game of shogi. In Japanese chess, the pieces taken from one side could be used against the opponent for a better chance of the plan being a success. Karen was not completely deceiving Cana, since she reminded her of how she once was. She was so full of loveliness and light, enjoying large amounts of alcohol in the process, and Karen now found a lover to be with in the darkness. As Karen began to caress Cana's back softly, the brown-haired mage let out a happy sigh while enjoying the safety that she felt from joining the side of evil.
How was Chapter 35? Did you like it? Sorry if the past few chapters have been too serious to show the StiCy, but the next chapter will have more romantic moments between Sting and Lucy when they discover something in the Laverre Ruins. Cana and Karen are a pairing, and you'll see how that plays out in the next chapter. How will Mavis react to finally seeing Thorn? How will Natsu react to Thorn admitting she used him? Does Karen continue to soothe Cana? Will the romance in this story get hotter, to work with the seriousness? Standby for the update!