Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Fairy Tail—The Master and the Dragon
Chapter 62
Erza craned her neck upwards, holding her hand like a visor over her eyes as she peered at the setting sun. She released a sigh. "We don't have too much daylight left."
Gracie groaned, her shoulders slumped as she walked. "Damn it! I really wanted to reach Rolen today. Life isn't fair."
Christina looked sadly at the ground. "It's my fault. I should've brought the cart."
"No really, that's okay!" Natsu said quickly. He much preferred walking to riding transportation.
"Natsu's right," Mira said with a smile. "Leaving your cart behind was the right thing to do. We would feel awful if anything happened to it while we traveled."
"But Gracie…," Christina began.
"It's okay," Gracie said as she looked over her shoulder. "I'm just frustrated is all. I want to get to Juniper as quickly as possible, so I'm feeling a bit antsy."
"We all want to get there quickly," Wendy said, "but at least we're making good progress!"
Wendy was certainly right. The group of ten had traveled far since setting out at dawn's first light. They had walked for miles and miles without rest, only stopping a few times to eat as they traveled the dirt path that winded through fields and hills. They hadn't quite reached Rolen, but they were easily only a few miles outside of the town's border. That alone was impressive considering how far apart Wayhaven and Rolen were. Anyone else choosing to walk between the two towns would easily take at least two full days to accomplish the feat, so making it so far in just a day showed how driven they were to arrive quickly.
Gracie stopped and, since she was leading the group, everyone else did the same. She spun around to face her companions. "Okay peeps. Rolen is only a few miles thataway," she paused to point behind her, "but Erza's right. It's starting to get late. So, unless there are any objections, I say we stop at the next suitable place and rest up for the night."
"No objections here," Levy said.
"There's no use exhausting ourselves," Gray said with a nod.
"I could go for some kind of bed right now," Lucy said with a stretch.
Erza nodded. "I think we're all okay with stopping somewhere for the night."
Gracie clapped her hands. "Good. We'll find a place, stay the night, and leave early in the morning again. If all goes well we'll reach Rolen way before noon, restock some supplies, and head on out. That would mean entering Bosco tomorrow."
Mira smiled. 'We're getting closer.'
"That sounds great!" Lucy exclaimed. "I didn't think we'd reach Bosco so quickly."
"Yeah it's great news for sure," Gracie said as she spun on her heels and continued leading the group down the road. "It won't be too much longer now," she said softly to herself. "You better still be alive, Niky."
The laboratory door swung open and in walked Vyril. The old scientist rubbed his gloved hands together excitedly and his expression was one of twisted glee. He approached his table of now blood-free instruments before turning his attention towards Nikolias.
Nikolias just glared at the man. He said nothing and didn't move, but kept his golden dragon eyes fixed on Vyril as if he were trying to kill the man with no more than a stare.
Vyril chuckled softly. "I see you've regained consciousness. Fascinating. I wasn't gone that long, was I?" Nikolias didn't answer. "It truly is incredible. Your ability to heal, I mean. To think that the Red Eye would have this level of effect. I wonder if it's simply due to the fact that you're part dragon or if the Red Eye has advanced even farther in the eight or so years since we last worked with Gorn." He scratched his chin. "Although Gorn did disappear roughly seven years ago, so I'd be surprised if the latter was the case."
The corners of Nikolias' mouth crept up in a malicious smile. "Gorn didn't disappear. He's dead."
Vyril raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
Nikolias laughed. "I killed that psycho son of a bitch seven years ago."
Vyril's eyes widened. "You killed someone as strong as Gorn?"
Nikolias' grin widened, showing his pointed fangs. "I tore him in half and threw his worthless corpse upon the battlefield."
Vyril power walked over to Nikolias and edged his glasses down the bridge of his nose as he closely analyzed Nikolias' body. "Incredible. That would mean that the strength you possess is far more than it would appear from merely looking at you."
"That was rather insulting."
Vyril hurried back over to his tray of surgical tools, picked up the scalpel, and hurried back up to Nikolias. He carefully pressed the scalpel into Nikolias' left arm, being careful not to tear anything more than skin. Nikolias hissed in pain as Vyril dragged the scalpel along the length of his upper arm, but Vyril was too focused on his movements to pay it any mind. Blood leaked from the cut and ran down Nikolias' arm before dripping to the floor.
Once he had finished his incision, he snaked his left thumb and pointer finger inside and gently opened the wound so that he could look at the muscle. He hummed as he studied it. "Interesting. Your muscle tissue is certainly well defined, but to rip apart someone as large and well built as Gorn with this level of muscle tissue is unheard of. The feat should not have been possible. Tell me; how were you able to accomplish this?"
Nikolias gritted his teeth, but kept the grin on his face. "It's a secret," he replied.
Vyril sighed as he withdrew his invasive fingers, but rested the scalpel flat side down along the incision to keep it open. He then hurried to the table where his tray rested, lifted it up and hobbled back over to his station. He picked up a roll of strong tape and ripped off two pieces. While holding the two pieces on his right fingers, he stuck his left thumb and pointer finger back into the incision, carefully removing the scalpel with his free right fingers and placing it back on the tray, and gently widened the incision again. He then took the pieces of tape and stuck them on either side of the incision to hold the wound open. Once that was finished, he picked up a Petri dish with his left hand and a thin silver scraper with his right hand. He stuck the scraper inside Nikolias' arm and began tearing off bits of muscle.
Nikolias roared in pain as Vyril dug into his bicep. Blood ran furiously down his arm, staining his skin a dark crimson.
Vyril slowly retracted the scraper with a thin strip of muscle tissue draped over it. He placed the tissue into the Petri dish and looked at it. "I'll have to run some tests on this." He tore off the tape and threw it to the side. "I look forward to what I'll find."
Nikolias' head hung as he panted. He was getting fed up with these people, especially this old bastard who kept tearing him open and digging inside of him. What he wouldn't give to tear him in half.
Vyril scurried towards the door. "Make yourself comfortable while I run some diagnostic tests," he called out without turning around. "I'll be back." He opened the door and let it swing closed behind him with an echoing slam.
Nikolias looked over to his left arm and watched his wound close. "I really hate that asshole."
"Well I definitely didn't expect this," Gracie said, "but I sure as hell won't complain!"
"Who would've thought that something like this would be here?" Lucy squealed with joy, hands clasped together with excitement.
"It's the perfect place to rest up for the night and rejuvenate ourselves," Erza said with a smile.
The group had been walking down the road in search for a place to rest up when Natsu picked up the smell of cooked meat. He had immediately began drooling and dashed off to search for the source of the delectable scent with Happy close behind. Everyone followed while Lucy begged him to stop, but he was hungry and determined. And Natsu's nose ended up leading them to a wonderful find.
The smell was coming from a modest hotel with a built-in outdoor hot spring facility.
"I've never been to a hot spring before," Wendy said dreamily. "I can't wait to try it!"
"Well what are we waiting for?" Natsu asked. "Let's head inside!"
"Aye, sir!" Happy cheered as he followed Natsu inside.
"Man, he's a little too excited," Gray chuckled.
"It's so typical Natsu," Lucy giggled.
"Well let's follow his lead!" Gracie said with a small leap before dashing off.
"It's good to see her in better spirits," Mira said softly.
"Yeah, somehow it's just not Gracie without the bubbly personality," Gray said.
Everyone walked towards the entrance where Natsu and Gracie already were. And, even if some didn't express themselves out loud, everyone was excited and anxious to get into the hot spring to work off all of their stress.
Gracie moaned in bliss as she slipped her naked form into the steaming water of the hot spring. "Oh, that's the stuff."
Mira giggled at Gracie's sudden relaxed features. "It's good to see that you're enjoying yourself."
"I can't remember the last time I was in a hot spring," Gracie said as she sank even lower, letting her head rest on the rocks behind her. "And this is a really nice hot spring."
The outdoor hot spring of this particular hotel was certainly well made. Gray stone slabs made up the floor that led from the changing room to the actual hot spring. The hot spring itself was very large and irregularly shaped, which easily gave people privacy from others if it was desired. Smooth rocks of various colors lined the edge of the water and the bath itself was about two and a half feet deep with a floor made of glass-like ceramic. In the very center of the water sat a large boulder with a pointed tip that reached for the starry sky. Tall walls made of thick brown wooden stalks surrounded the entire hot spring, including an equally tall divider that separated the girls' bath from the boys' bath.
"It really is relaxing here," Christina said with her eyes closed as she enjoyed the calming warmth of the water. "I'm glad we found it."
"This will help us loosen up and rest well so that tomorrow we can cover even more ground," Erza said.
"That's the spirit!" Gracie cheered as she thrust a fist into the air.
"Still, it's amazing how far we came in such a short amount of time," Lucy said. "We really have you to thank for that, Christina."
Christina looked at Lucy and blushed. "Oh no, I didn't do anything really."
"What are you talking about?" Gracie said. "If it wasn't for you, we probably wouldn't have even reached Wayhaven yet. You saved us so much time, Christina."
Christina smiled as she looked at her hands through the surface of the water. "If you say so."
Gracie crept closer to the platinum blonde girl, a mischievous smile on her face. "You're very negative you know."
Christina looked up at the approaching blonde. "Gracie, what are you doing?"
Gracie giggled as she lunged at Christina. The young woman screamed as she found her back suddenly being pulled against soft flesh.
Gray groaned. "What the hell are those girls doing over there?"
"Sounds like they're having fun," Panther Lily said.
"They're loud," Gajeel complained. "I'm tryin' to relax here."
"No, Gracie! Stop!" the boys all heard Christina shout. "Please don't touch me there! Ah!"
"Are they playing tag?" Natsu asked.
Gray slapped his face with his hand at Natsu's stupidity. "I highly doubt it, coal nuts." He looked at the wooden divider where, on the other side, the sounds of sloshing water and whimpering could be heard and he couldn't help but smile. 'It sure is great having the old Gracie back.'
"Wow, you sure are pretty big," Gracie said with a whistle. "These things are almost as big as mine."
"Please stop," Christina whimpered as Gracie continued to fondle and squeeze her breasts.
"Would you stop complaining?" Gracie huffed.
"Leave the poor girl alone," Mira said with a smile. "I think you've tortured her enough."
"Which reminds me," Gracie said as she moved herself from behind Christina and began making her way to the other end of the bath, "I've been dying to see what you feel like, Mira."
Mira covered herself and blushed, but she couldn't help but laugh. "I had no idea you were such a pervert, Gracie."
"I'm not a pervert," Gracie huffed as she stopped to pout. "I've never taken a bath with girl friends before, so I want to take full advantage!"
"That sounds pretty perverse," Lucy sweatdropped.
Gracie pointed at her fellow blonde. "That's it. You're next."
"What?" Lucy squeaked.
Without another word, Gracie dove at Mira. She groped the white haired mage's breasts and marveled at their size. "Wow. Niky must love these."
"Gracie," Mira complained softly, suddenly feeling very embarrassed.
"What? I'm just sayin'."
"Wait, why would your brother know anything about Mira's breasts?" Christina asked.
Gracie stopped and looked at Christina with confusion. "Did we never actually mention it before?"
"Mention what?" Christina asked.
"Nikolias and I are dating," Mira said with a big smile.
"Really?" Christina asked. "You must be so happy, Gracie!"
"I'm over the moon!" Gracie said with a big grin. "They're the perfect couple. That's why I need to perform this investigation while I can."
"You really don't," Carla said as she floated in an inflatable tube beside Wendy. "Honestly, you should control yourself a bit more."
"I think you should control yourself a bit less," Gracie replied. She gave Mira's breasts one final squeeze before turning to Lucy. She grinned at her. "Okay, you're next!"
"No!" Lucy begged as she covered herself up and turned her back to Gracie—which was the worst thing she could have possibly done. Gracie was upon her in an instant and easily slipped past her defenses. She massaged the blonde's breasts while the Celestial mage cried out. "Stop, Gracie! Please!"
"Oho! These feel awesome, too! Natsu's a lucky duck," Gracie said.
"Wait, so Natsu and Lucy are a couple too?" Christina asked.
"That they are!" Gracie replied for Lucy since Lucy was far too distracted from embarrassment to answer.
"Are there any other couples that I should know about?" Christina asked. "Like are Levy and Gajeel together?"
Levy blushed. "I am not dating Gajeel! He's such a moron!"
Gracie stopped attacking Lucy, crawled her way over to Levy, sat in front of the blue haired girl and stared with wide eyes. "Talk. Now."
"What?" Levy said as she looked away. "There's nothing to talk about."
"Liar! God, you're like Niky. It's way too obvious."
"I'm not lying!" Levy cried as she got even redder.
"You like Gajeel!" Gracie exclaimed.
Levy cried as she dove at Gracie, clamping her hands over the blonde's mouth. "Don't shout that! He's on the other side!" she begged quietly.
"Mff mff!" Gracie said, which was supposed to be 'Ah hah'. "Mff mff mff Mffmff!" she cried, which was supposed to be 'You do like Gajeel!'
"Okay Gracie, stop teasing her," Erza said.
Gracie nodded and she suddenly found her muzzle removed. "Sorry, Levy, but I just got happy. I mean, I remember you telling us way back at my welcome slumber party, but nothing had come of it. I was worried that you felt differently now."
Levy blushed. "Oh yeah. I did say it then, didn't I?"
Gracie turned to Christina. "You're the only one that I have no dirt on, Christina. Do you have someone?"
Christina smiled sadly and shook her head. "No. Papa is way too protective of me to let any boys near me. I just help out around the stand and gather materials. I've never had a love life before."
Gracie crawled over and flung her arm around Christina's smooth shoulders. "It's okay. I'm the same way."
"Really? Someone like you?" Christina asked as she looked into Gracie's green eyes.
"Yeah. It never really interested me before."
"Before?" Erza asked. "So it does now?"
Gracie sighed. "Yeah. I mean, seeing Niky being so happy with Mira makes me wonder if maybe I should try to find someone."
"I'm sure that you can find someone great, Gracie," Mira said. "You're a wonderful person."
Gracie giggled. "Well, I'm in no rush. I'll let things run their course." She stood up and stretched. "Well, I've had my fun. I'm gonna dry off and change, take a look around, and probably hit the sack. We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow."
"Right," Mira said. "Sleep well, Gracie."
Everyone said their good nights as Gracie made her way to the changing room. She dried off her body before slipping on a robe and made her way out of the room. She breathed in the cool night air and looked at the moon. "Romance? What the hell was I talking about? I've gotta save Niky. That's all I should care about. That's all I need to care about."
The hotel was designed like a large cube with a vacant hole and the entire building was made of wood. The lobby was at the entrance and the carpeted hallways went off both left and right. Rooms lined the halls on the interior side of the structure, even as the halls looped around to connect on the other side of the building. Each room had two doors; one that led to the room from the lobby halls and another that gave occupants access to the inner part of the hotel, which included the hot spring. The walkway that this second door led to was finely furnished wood that felt good on Gracie's bare feet. A simple thin wooden railing surrounded the outside of this walkway that was meant to discourage guests from going onto the well kept lawn that encircled the hot spring. The hot spring itself sat in the very heart of the building and its lawn with a path leading to the changing rooms on the south side. This was nice for Gracie and her friends because their rooms happened to be on the south side, so they were nice and close.
Gracie walked down this path, but didn't stop to go in her room which sat in the southwest corner of the hotel. Instead, she continued to walk the inner perimeter of the building while looking at the night sky. Even after a nice relaxing bath with all of her friends, her mind was a mess. She couldn't stop thinking about Nikolias. 'I remember the last time Niky and I went to a hot spring.' She inwardly giggled. 'He was so adamant that we bathe separately, but I gave him such a hard time. In the end he won, but I still managed to sneak in. He threw a fit. Something about a naked 19-year old girl shouldn't be in the men's bath.' She sighed. 'Man, that was twelve years ago now because of Tenrou.'
Gracie stopped upon seeing that she had walked all the way around and was now standing in front of her room. She sighed. 'I wish Niky was here with all of us. He'd have a blast.' A single tear snuck out of the corner of her eye. She quickly wiped it away with a small sniff. "Damn it, I'm getting too emotional."
"Gracie?"
Gracie turned to see Gray standing a few feet behind her. His robe was tied together, but the top half was spread wide open. His skin glistened in the moonlight, which told her that he didn't do the best job drying off. His hands were resting on his hips as he looked at her. She smiled at him. "Hey there, Gray. Enjoy your soak?"
He walked over to her. "Not as much as you did from the sound of it."
She giggled as she leaned with her back against the railing. "Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Those girls are something else."
Gray blushed at the subtle innuendo. "Really Gracie, I think you're something else."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Is that so?"
"It's not a bad thing," he assured. "Honestly, I like it when you're your usual peppy and enthusiastic self."
"Such a charmer."
He walked next to her and leaned his back on the railing as well. "So is everything alright?"
"Why do you ask?"
"You were crying."
"That? No, that wasn't crying."
"I saw a tear roll down your face. What else would you call it?"
"Routine system maintenance."
He sighed. "Gracie, you're a lot of things, but a robot isn't one of them. So what's wrong?"
She turned around to look at the sky again. "Just thinking about Niky is all," she replied softly.
He turned around as well, but kept his eyes on her. "We'll get him back so you shouldn't keep worrying about it."
"I just want him back. It's hard being apart from him like this. Aside from him, no one has been a permanent fixture in my life. We've been by each other's side for seventeen years and actually awake for ten of them. Without him it's just…weird and unfamiliar and…wrong."
He put a hand on her shoulder. "Remember that you do have everyone in Fairy Tail now. Even after we get Nikolias back, we'll still all be here for you."
She smiled as she gently placed a hand upon his. "Yeah, I know." She turned to look at him, her green eyes meeting his dark blue eyes. "Thanks Gray."
He returned the smile. "You should probably get some rest. We've got a long day tomorrow."
She leaned to the side and rested against his arm. "Yeah, in a minute," she said softly as she looked back at the sky. "The moon is really beautiful. I just want to look at it a bit longer."
He looked to the moon as well. "Okay," he replied. "Whatever you need."
"Damn it all!" Jarvan exclaimed, throwing a stack of papers into the air in frustration. He had begun the first stage of his experiment, but the data that he recorded on the progress was less than ideal. "What went wrong? I don't understand. I ran the numbers so carefully. What am I missing?" He knelt down and dug through his papers, hoping that sorting through the disorganization would hint to a clue. "The blood…the blood was perfect, so why?" He read through paper after paper for the hundredth time, but nothing was becoming clearer.
Once he had picked up all the papers and reorganized them, he placed them on his desk and sat down. He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. He ran through the experiment again, but couldn't figure out what had gone wrong. "I'm missing something. Phase One should not be a problem phase. I'll just have to try it again while paying close attention to every detail. It's a good thing Vyril collected so much of that creature's blood. I can have plenty of trials if need be." He stood and made his way back to his personal laboratory. "Diane, I pray you bring me better news than my data has. Otherwise, I may just have to break something."
"So this is Rolen, huh?" Gajeel asked.
The team had left the hotel early in the morning. They felt wonderfully refreshed and rested after their pleasant stay and with their renewed vigor hastened their way to Rolen. It took them less than two hours to cover the remaining four or so miles, which surprised everyone.
"Yup," Gracie said as she bounced along. "Welcome to one of the largest trading towns in all of Earth Land!"
No one was surprised to hear this fact. The streets were completely packed with people as they walked along. Fortunately, they were very wide streets which allowed for essentially three lanes going both directions; a lane for horse and cart drivers, a lane for foot traffic, and a lane for people who wished to stop and peruse the magnificent and unique artifacts that merchants were selling. The buildings here were also very tall, some easily reaching ten stories. It was bustling and loud and not like anything that anyone had ever seen.
"It's incredible!" Lucy breathed. "I've never seen a place like this."
"It's enormous!" Natsu exclaimed. "Let's check it out!"
"We're not here to sightsee, Natsu," Erza said. "We're simply purchasing some more food rations and then we're heading out. We're merely passing through. This isn't a vacation."
"Fine," Natsu pouted.
"We'll take a look around on the way back, Natsu," Mira said.
"So do we need anything else other than food while we're here?" Gracie asked.
"I could use some arrows," Christina said.
"Okay, anything else?"
"I think we've got everything that we need," Erza said.
"Good! So we'll pick up some rations and some arrows and be on our way!" Gracie said. "We may be able to get near the train station in Bosco before dark!"
"That's wonderful news!" Mira said.
"How soon until we reach Juniper?" Wendy asked.
Gracie tapped her chin as she thought about it. "Good question. I would say in two days, including the rest of today."
"We're so close!" Wendy said excitedly.
"Yeah. Very close," Gracie said with a smile. 'Hang tight, Niky. Just two more days and we'll be there to get you out of whatever mess you're in.'
Diane stopped in her tracks and pulled out the picture that Cahill had given her. She had been wandering the streets for hours in search of her target with no luck. She was about to call it a bust operation and head back to the lab when she saw a large group headed towards her that seemed familiar. She held up the picture and instantly identified most of the faces that she was seeing, including her target. She grinned and giggled as she put the picture back in her pocket. "Found you, little Gracie," she purred. She blushed and licked her lips. "Wait for me just a smidge longer, lover boy. I'll be back to you soon."
