Chapter 46: Found You!
A/N: And now let the action begin! This one may not be as action packed as the rest will be but there will be some action in this chapter. First shout out to brucie86 and sashaXmafuyuFOREVER for the review and a welcome shout out to our newest follower in startailsbomber! Thanks you three for the love shown and I hope that everyone enjoys this next chapter! ENJOY!
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Next Day (Gōsuto POV)
I look at the window of the train and sigh deeply, sad that I didn't have the chance to say goodbye to Mei. 'Damn Natsu, how impatient can you be? Of course she had to be asleep and not hear me. Fuck, I hope this all goes according to plan. Mei, wait for me!'
I hear a groan next to me and see Rogue suffering from his motion sickness, "Damn man, I know this is part of being a dragon slayer but is it usually this bad?" I looked at him as he nodded his head and almost barfed twice trying to nod his head. "Tch, how pathetic. Come on man! Be a man and get over it! Calls himself a shadow mage…" I started grumbling to myself as Karr just laughed at him, I shook my head and looked outside again and saw that we had arrived at the first location and that it was a bustling city. We had arrived in Alcalypha, home to the business guild Love and Lucky, which was now supposedly funding Zeref's travels… much to Lucy's displeasure.
"Ok, Karr, you get Rogue and carry him out of here, and then start looking. You have the main town since you're a tracker, Rogue has the outskirts, and I am going to the guild here and checking to see if they really are funding him. If so, I'm blowing it up, so get ready for a quick exit. We have three hours, so make use of them as soon as the train stops. Understood?" I asked and looked at him to make sure he understood the plan and had no complaints, he didn't. "Ok, get ready, because here we go." The train stopped and the three of us quickly get off the train and run off to our designated search areas.
I travel using my shadows, being midday allows for me to have a lot of shadows readily available, and I soon arrived at Love and Lucky. I stopped at the front door and fixed my clothes, a nicer dress shirt so I look like I belong somewhat. I open the door after adjusting the shirt so it looked and more importantly felt comfortable, and immediately I see several others who looked like trouble. They are talking to the manager who seemed distressed, so I walked over close by pretending I needed to write a check. I carefully listen in and just what exactly they are talking about.
"No way, that's not nearly enough! How's the boss going to pay the costs of travel? No, the original price or we're gonna get mad." The leader or so I think he is says and glares at the manager who keeps the same look old on his face, cold and emotionless. When the manager refuses to move the thug sighs and grabs the manager and lifts him up high, threatening him, saying, "Pay up or else you're gonna get it."
"No, you can tell Zeref to leave us alone because we are done being his little bitches and lap dogs. Tell him to find a new donor or a new contributor because we here are sick and tired of it." I sat up and looked at him, and waited for one of them to make a move on the other one.
The thug moved first and he threw a punch at the manager, which I easily caught, emerging from the shadows. "Now, I don't think this would be a good idea. I mean he is the one giving you people money no? Oh he's not? Well is he or not?" I ask as I let go of his fist, "Well whatever, I'm just gonna kick your ass now." That was the last thing I said before they all charged at me, the leader the first one to attack.
He threw a wild punch and I dodged with my shadows, disappearing in them and make him miss and stagger forward from the momentum. I reappear and crack one of the thug's jaw and he goes flying into another one who was next to a wall and both end up in the wall. Then the last thug and the leader charge at me again and I laugh at them, as I disappear again and take them both by the head and knock their skulls together, knocking them out.
I stop to admire my work and chuckle, "So much for working for the black mage. Hey you, manager man. What do you know about Zeref?"
"Nothing really other than he needed a lot of money at some point and kept needing it, so he set up an account and we gave him money free of charge. That's all I know, and that is the truth." He said and I believed him, as he looked very serious at the moment, not quite nervous but definitely a bit anxious for sure.
"Ok, thanks for the help man. Now stop giving out free money and do your job. Charging people for services rendered to them. Now goodbye." I said and left the guild, with a disappointed look on my face, 'So we didn't find him here, oh well. Onto the next town over, Commie Town. I wonder how everyone else is doing, oh look Karr and Rogue, and it's almost time to go. Hmmm, this might just be a wild goose chase… I wonder what the others are doing, like Rai's team right now.'
(POV Change to Juvia)
I look at Mern and see him sleeping like a log, nothing fazing him like always. Rai was awake but was meditating and was not moving, as usual. I sighed and looked out the window, waiting to arrive to the place that was once Hargeon, but was now gone. 'I wonder if I'll see any of those bastards from Fairy Tail, if I do I might just jump the gun and kill them myself…'
"Calm down Juvia, you won't see any Fairies here, the town has been quarantined since Zeref destroyed it, no one is legally allowed to enter which is why it makes sense to look for him here I guess. Only death can survive in death." Rai said as he opened his eyes and looked right through me, almost like I wasn't there… his mind on the mission, amazing me with his laser like focus.
I nod and look outside to see the train stopping, just outside of Hargeon. "It is a good thing Rai-san knows the train operator and that he owed him or else it would be a very long walk." I say and stand up and shake Mern a bit so he would wake up.
"Alright, alright. I'm up, I'm up. Geez couldn't we have picked a grouping further away, I really wanted to get a good nap in before this mission. Recharge the batteries a bit, have a few good dreams…" He said and sighed wistfully and I sighed as well. Sleep was hard to come by in an independent guild that was always active.
"Enough daydreaming, let's get going." Rai said and we nodded, we all turned to the door and saw the operator waiting for us. "Wait here, this should be like the first stop, just a quick look over, and this one should be really quick since nothing here is alive anymore. So just wait ok?" The operator nodded and let us out, nodding at each of us to say good luck. We nodded back and exited the train, seeing nothing there except a crater that was black and dead looking.
"Juvia has a bad feeling about this… Everything is far too dark for her liking. Let us hurry so we can leave." I say and Rai nods his agreement.
"This is definitely his work alright, Zeref definitely did this, never seen anything so desolate unless he did it." Mern said and shivered a bit, remembering the atrocities that Zeref had undoubtedly committed. I shook my head and tried to stop myself from picturing the things he had undoubtedly had done and was saved from it by Mern asking a question, "Look, there is the hole that he would have used to travel and reach the bunker in. Let's go check it out."
We all nodded and followed Mern who had seen the hole and was correct about its purpose, it had torches all along the walls to light the way to our destination. We walk down the tunnel and light the torches along the way but every time I feel like I'm going to lose my stomach to the sights. On the floor are bodies, all of them obviously dead or maimed and none of them given any merciful deaths, "Juvia cannot believe this…"
"Sorry Juvia but this is Zeref. He kills everything in sight and does not know the meaning of mercy, these people are lucky that they even have bodies still, usually he destroys that and their chance to get into heaven." Mern said and I felt even more repulsed by Zeref, 'How could any one man delight so much in death like this one does? Does he really have to do all this?'
I see the last torch next to a door, readying myself for the possibility of the terror that is Zeref being here. But the terror never comes as he is not here, there is nothing here except for a table, and even that it is broken. "Damn he's not here. Looks like no one has for months now. Why was this place even a viable option anymore?" Rai whined and kicked the table out of frustration, we were zero for two now.
"Because he could have been hiding here as this place is somewhere no one will go to anymore, would have made a good hiding hole. But alas he was not here, and none of his stuff was either. Let's go we still have to go to Onibus Town still." Mern said and I nodded and we left the bunker, completely underwhelmed by the room that Mern had called, "His Favorite Bunker".
We left the room and went down the tunnel and exited it, once we were outside though, after letting our eyes adjust to the sun, we heard noises from behind us. "Mern-san, what is that noise?" I asked and turned around.
"Shit! It's his reanimation spell! He is able to reanimated dead bodies with it! Run! If they touch you and scratch or bite you your as good as dead! They're like Zombies! RUN!" Mern yelled and I saw the first one running out of there and then ran the other way myself, along with Rai.
Rai yelled, "Light Speed!" He sped up and grabbed a hold of me and Mern and we flew towards the train. But the zombies were extremely fast and closed in on us as we reached the train, "Get us moving! Now! Light Wall!" He yelled and a wall appeared and blocked the zombie things for a moment, but they soon broke it down and kept moving.
"SHIT! GET US OUT OF HERE! Thorn Thrust!" Mern yelled and his thorns cleared a lot of them, but more still kept coming, and were almost on us now.
"Water Nebula!" I yelled and two columns of water shot out my hands and hit the oncoming zombie things and pushed them back for a moment, but didn't stop them. They were almost within spitting distance, and one was even close enough to touch us when the train finally started moving and Mern cut off the arm that had reached out to touch Rai.
"Whew that was close!" Rai yelled and nodded to the operator who already knew our last stop for today.
Mern sighed and said, "Yeah, but it was also a dead end, man I hope the others are having better luck than we are…"
(POV Change to Esoj)
"Acero!" "Acero Espada!" we yelled in unison as a huge block of steel appeared and a chunk came to me and formed a sword in my hands. The reason we needed the weapons was because we were at our last location, Boa… as was magic enforcement, so now Kurayami was working on an escape plan while we held them off. I swung my sword down and cut down two of the enforcers and used the hilt to hit another one. Those not crushed by the giant block of steel were now making their way towards us and were running fast. "Acero Escudo! Acero Espada! Doble!" I yelled and a shield and two swords came flying towards us, I grabbed the shield and used it to crush an enemy who was charging at me into the ground. Nena jumped up and caught the two swords and began a flurry of attacks with them, wading her way into the throng of soldiers. "Update Kurayami!"
"Still working on it, turns out transportation is hard to come by here, but I think I might have found us something. Just hang on a bit longer!" Kurayami yelled and I groaned, knowing it would be a few minutes more.
"Pierdas Calientes!" Nena yelled and lava spouted from her hand and the entire group that was in front of her. "Cabron! There's too many! I can't keep up anymore! We have to use THAT technique!" She yelled and I nodded, 'This move is risky and we have barely any practice behind it, but oh well.'
I jumped to where she was cut some more of the soldiers down and grabbed her hand, and together we combined our magic and yelled, "Mundo, Cambia Clima! Fuego!" And the weather then changed, as clouds came from nowhere even though the day was bright and sunny before now. Then from the clouds came balls of fire that rained down on them and began to thin them out and burn them alive, 'But not kill them of course, that would be too far for simple idiots like these people.'
Then Kurayami called back to us and said, "I'm ready! But us a minute for our escape and I have our ride!" We nodded and joined hands once more and yelled, Mundo, Cambia Clima! Nieve!" The fire stopped and was replace by snow, but the snow was even colder than usual and froze the soldiers just with a touch. They would thaw out after we left so we did just that and booked it, seeing Kurayami and his transportation: a magic four wheeler.
"Good job Kurayami! Now let's go!" I said and pulled Nena into the four wheeler, heading off immediately. "Well, I have to say we have struck out. All three places, dead ends. Hear anything from anyone Kurayami?"
"Yeah, Rai's group ran into some trouble in Hargeon but have come empty, as has my son. Natsu is en route to his last location and has found nothing either. This plan is not looking to hot right now." Kurayami said and we all sighed, knowing it was foolhardy to believe it would be this easy.
"I hope Natsu finds something or else we're for a long waiting period, and lords know how impatient he gets." Nena said and we all nodded, praying he would find him soon.
(POV Change to Natsu)
"Ugh, are we there yet? I don't really know where Shi is yet and I already hate it!" Lucy whined and put a hand to her mouth, barfing over Igneel's side again. "Sorry Igneel, but you really should hurry…" She barfed again and I simply patted her back and rubbed it, trying to soothe her.
"YES. We are just about to arrive. Now please stop barfing on me please…" Igneel said and quickly descended to where he would drop us off and wait for us. "Hurry it up, I don't like the way this place feels."
"Yeah me neither, come on Luce." I said and took her hand as we entered the place where all the rich and famous people are buried, "Ugh, why did he have to hide out in the graveyard town?"
"Because his magic kills people?" Lucy said and I sighed, knowing she was right but amazed at how blunt she was right now. We walked into town for a bit and made our way to the local pub, hoping we would find a clue as to whether or not Zeref was there. We got our answer before that, as we saw a man who fit a very surprising description near the pub; Zeref's second in command nowadays, Lawhn Greer, Mern's oldest brother.
"Shit, it's that Lawhn guy! We found him! Zeref must be here, quick let's follow him to see where Zeref is hiding." I said excitedly, my hopes rising thanks to the new information I had. We stalked after him, keeping a good distance as we did not want him seeing us and we needed to make sure we could transport everyone here. We followed him and finally he stopped by a tomb cave that was marked by a very well known name, "Well shit. They're using an old Heartiphilia tomb for their base. Messed up mother fuckers." I said this and Lucy's grip on my hand tightened.
"Make sure you kill all of them very slowly, ok?" She said and got into position.
I pulled out the lacrima and tuned it correctly, then said into it, "Guys we found him! I repeat we found him he's in Shi! Lucy's teleporting you guys here now, so be ready!" I looked and saw Lawhn look around and shrug, the enter the tomb, the tomb closing shut after he went inside. 'We found you, Zeref. Now we will kill you and your demons.'
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A/N: Whew, it is done! I'm excited for the next chapter just like you guys, but… it will have to be Sunday I'm afraid. I'm far too busy tomorrow and will not be able to post a chapter so I am so sorry! But I hope you guys enjoyed this one and remember! READ AND REVIEW, OR FAVORITE OR FOLLOW EVEN IF YOU SO PLEASE! ADIOS!