Hey guys! I hope you liked the last chapter, although it was really weird. I have no idea what I was thinking. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter!
Disclaimer ~ I do not own Fairy Tail
Why did they have to show up? They're not gonna help.
As we continue walking, I notice that Rin, Alex and The Unknown don't really care that I'm mildly upset.
I try to keep a conversation with Malthus only because he's the only one that really understands me. He knows what I've been through. He was the one that killed my master during training. He knows how I felt that day..
I find myself slipping away back into the past to when my master died.
No Crystal. Control yourself. You can't do this now. I think
Hey Crystal, Are you ok? Malthus asks. He's changed a lot since the day my master died.
Yah I'm fine, I'm still upset though. I reply.
Forgive him Crystal. He just wanted to help. Malthus repeats.
But I'm not that weak, i can handle myself. I think, I looking up and seeing that we've almost arrived at the cave.
I'll talk to you in a bit, Malthus. I think, ending the conversation.
I look at the cave and then realize that the entrance is blocked off.
Natsu comes over and stands next to me. I resist the urge to slap him.
"Hey Crystal," Natsu says quietly.
"What do you want now?" I ask, without looking at him.
"About earlier, don't take it the wrong way. I know you're strong, but I just wanted to help." Natsu apologizes.
"Whatever," I say, trying not to dwell on it, because it really wasn't that big of a deal.
"I'm sorry," Natsu repeats
"It's fine," I say.
I tune out Natsu, who's still trying to apologize, and focus on the boulder blocking the cave.
Seeing as the boulder is pretty big, it's not possible to push it out. The only way to get through is to break it with brute force. I think
Before I can tell everyone where to attack from, Natsu charges the boulder.
"Natsu st-," Is all I can say before he jumps and attacks.
"Fire dragon's claw!" Natsu shouts and kicks the boulder.
He lands on the ground and looks up at where he attacked the boulder. I look up too, and there is nothing except a small dent.
Natsu grins and looks at me. "See Crystal, that's how it's done."
I face palm, and try not to kill him
"We need a way to effectively break this boulder," Mai says.
"I was thinking that if we attack simultaneously, we could break it." I suggest.
"That would work, except for the fact that we need a lot of shear strength!" Gray says sarcastically.
"Gray, we're working it out," Rin says.
"So how are we going to work it out?" Erza asks.
The Unknown sighs "Wither away." Suddenly, a dark aura envelops his left hand.
He touched the rock with his hand and, beginning from the spot where he touched it, the rock starts to fade away.
When the rock fades away completely, the entrance of the cave is open.
"What was that?!" I exclaim.
The Unknown shrugs. "Magic."
I give a huff of exasperation. I guess we did need help, but he could have given us a heads-up.
"Well, now that it's open, should we send someone to make sure it's safe?" Gray asks.
"Forget that, let's just go!" Natsu shouts as he dashes into the cave.
I grab his shirt right before he completely makes it there. "Hold on, we don't know what's in there," I say.
"What do you guys think? Should we go or send someone first to make sure?" Alex asks.
"All in favour of sending someone in first," I say. No one raises their hand.
"All in favour of going in," I say. All hands, except The Unknowns, go up and then it's decided.
"I guess we are all going in," Rin says.
I let go of Natsu as we head in. The Unknown in front followed by Gray and Mai. Me, ALex and Natsu are in the middle, and finally Erza and Rin in the back.
As we enter the cave, Mai freezes in her steps, her face expressionless.
"Mai, are you ok?" Gray asks.
Mai slowly turns her head to look at him. She looks terrified now.
I approach her and put my hands on her shoulders. I close my eyes and look into her mind to see what's going on. Inside I see that she has been here before a long time ago. This is her past.
I see monster's who killed her parents. I see her family bleeding out as the monster attacked. I see her on her knees crying. I see...her weakness.
Maybe we are not so different after all. I think.
I open my eyes. "Mai, It's going to be ok, we are all for you. I know you are strong, you can face this weakness," I say firmly. I let my hands drop back to my sides.
Mai looks at me. "I know, I'll try. It's just the memories I get from here that scare me."
"I know, I've been there. Come on, we got to keep going," I say.
"Yah," Mai says and continues walking.
I wonder what from here could have caused that momentary weakness. It could have been the monsters that killed her family. I think trying to find a logical explanation. Maybe it's like what happened when I saw Alex again and just couldn't fight her.
I look up to see how much longer the walk is, but it doesn't look like there will be an end soon. I try to find an eit on either side of the path, and find one a little further from where we are walking.
"Hey guys, can we take that exit?" I ask.
"Hm, sure why not," Rin says.
"Ok," Alex says.
"I just wanna get somewhere, my feet hurt," Natsu complains.
"So, I guess we are taking the exit," Erza says, and we turn walking into the path.
I look up to see where we are walking and it seems that there is a wall blocking the end, and also other exits to the left and the right.
We make it to the end and decide to turn right.
As we walk, I sense an evil presence. I shrug it off, thinking it's from the Unknown, but then it hits me. He would never just send out an evil presence like that. And, judging by the expression on his face, he can sense it too.
I speed up and walk beside him. "You can sense it too, can't you?" I ask while keeping my voice down. I don't want to scare anyone or worry them about the presence, especially if the whole thing is in my head.
"Yes, I can," The Unknown says taking a cue from me and keeping his voice down too.
"Do you know where it's coming from?" I ask.
"I can't pin it down exactly, but it's coming somewhere from the right," The Unknown says.
Maybe me and The Unknown should go and check it out before anyone else catches on. I think.
In fact, I'm about to ask him, when Mai speed up to walk next to me and The Unknown. Please go away! I mentally beg, but I know she can't hear me.
"Guys, you can sense it right?" She asks, speaking nothing above a mutter.
"Sense what?" I ask, keeping my voice low.
"Don't play dumb, You know exactly what I'm talking about. The evil presence," Mai mutters.
"Yes we can," I whisper. "Why do you care?"
"Because this place gives off bad vibes," Mai answers quietly.
"I suspected as much," I sigh.
"What do we do?" Mai asks.
"Don't tell the others, it'll spread chaos and panic," I say. "Trust me, don't tell."
"Ok, ok, I won't," Mai says.
"Good," I say relived.
"So what do we do?" Mai asks again
"Well, The Unknown said that he could sense the presence from somewhere in the right, so I suggest we go off earlier and claim that we should split up and try to find clues about monsters, and then maybe we could try and see where it's coming from," I explain.
"Ok, let's do it," Mai says. I turn to the Unknown and tell him the plan.
Once we make it to the intersection, and before we can set the plan into action…
The is a giant roar… From the right.
Hey guys! I hope you liked that chapter. I will probably be updating again next saturday unless I'm busy. See you guys next time. Byeeeee!