Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS! Read at your own risk. There's still original stuff in here, but if you haven't gotten to this point in the anime/manga, then some things may be ruined for you. I advise catching up to the anime/manga if you haven't already (for more reasons than just reading my story)! Thank you and enjoy!
Fairy Tail—The Master and the Dragon
Chapter 80
Nikolias soared through the clouds heading east. On his head were Mira and Gracie, their eyes scanning the ground below for anything suspicious. All three were tasked with trying to find the Legion Platoon, or at least the direction in which they were headed. However, this meant relying on Nikolias's keen senses and unfortunately it was as Gracie feared; too much time had passed and the trail had gone cold. Even so, the three were determined not to give up. They kept trying to find any sign of the thieving members of the church. They had even ventured out of Fiore in their desperation.
Nikolias huffed. "Damn it. I can't smell anything. Not even the faintest scent."
Gracie leaned back on her arms and sighed. "Yeah, I kinda figured. I mean it has been practically half a day and they probably know how to cover their tracks. I would have been more surprised if you actually could sniff 'em out."
"I'm not ready to give up just yet," Nikolias growled. "I need to find them. We have to keep looking."
"Look Niky, I wanna find them too, but what can we do?" Gracie asked while shrugging her shoulders. "We've got no leads. All we can do is hope that Lucy and the others can find something helpful."
"I don't want to accept that," Nikolias said.
"But we have to, Nikolias," Mira said calmly. "There's nothing you can do. You have to face facts. The trail is gone."
Nikolias clenched his jaws tightly. "Very well." He veered to his right until he had completely turned around and began flying west towards Fiore. "We'll head back. But I just want to go on record as saying that I'm not happy about it."
"I know, sweetheart. I know," Mira soothed while petting the scales on his head.
"Where could they have gone?" Gracie wondered out loud.
"Perhaps Michelle's worries were well placed. The Legion Platoon may be searching for those clock parts," Mira replied.
"And those could be anywhere," Gracie grumbled while scratching her head. "It's not like we know for sure that they're all in Fiore or Seven or something. Hell, there could be one in Calione for all we know."
"If only we had something, anything to go off of I could try to find the Legion Platoon or even a clock part. God knows the thing Lucy had reeked," Nikolias said.
"We all want that, but it's not to be," Gracie said.
Nikolias let out a loud roar to vent his frustrations. "GAH! This is seriously pissing me off!" He shook his head slowly, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly, breathing out his nostrils as black smoke billowed out and dispersed into the air. "I really hope that Lucy's group is having a hell of a lot more luck than we are."
"Everyone, welcome!" Lucy said as she motioned to the large mansion before her.
"Holy crap!" Ash exclaimed as she stared at the impressive building. "It's enormous!"
"So pretty," Sky breathed.
"You lived here?" Ash asked, astounded.
Lucy giggled and nodded. "Yup! This was where my father ran his business, so this is where I grew up."
Natsu tilted his head and furrowed his brow. His arms were crossed and he grunted with frustration. "Have I been here before?"
"Yes. We were here a little over seven years ago, although to us it only feels like months," Erza said. "Remember, Natsu?"
"Not really," he grumbled.
Lucy put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't force it, Natsu."
"Does the family still own the place?" Gray asked.
"Someone's been taking care of it," Happy noted since the place didn't look remotely abandoned.
"It only makes sense to keep the place looking nice until someone buys it," Carla said.
"Well finding a buyer has been pretty hard," Lucy said. "Plenty of people have checked the place out, but no one has made an offer to buy it."
"They probably can't afford it," Gray chuckled.
Michelle sighed. "Such good memories! Your house always reminded me of a palace right out of a storybook. Oh, I would have so much fun here!"
Lucy blinked. "Wait, you've been here before!?"
Michelle fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands as she cried. "We used to play here together all the time!" she wailed.
"Poor Michelle," Sky said.
"No, no, you're right!" Lucy said quickly. "Of course we did."
Michelle sniffed as she turned around and looked at Lucy with sorrowful eyes. "Do you…do you remember all of the pretty clothes you made for me?"
Lucy laughed nervously. "Of course!"
"You made clothes?" Wendy asked curiously. "I didn't know you could do that!"
"You two must have been adorable," Erza smiled.
Michelle smiled. "She used to make the cutest outfits out of colored paper and flowers."
"Wha—?" Lucy cried in embarrassment at the thought.
Natsu leaned over to Gray. "How can you make clothes out of colored paper and flowers?" he whispered.
Gray hummed. "Well, uh…"
The two boys tried to picture it and rather enjoyed the thought of the two busty blonde girls dressed in nothing but tiny, thin paper and flower bikinis that barely covered their voluptuous frames. A heavy blush stained their cheeks.
"Perverts," Sky breathed.
Lucy hit both boys in the head. "Don't be creepy!"
"Damn it, what was that for, Lucy?" Natsu asked as he rubbed his skull.
Lucy crossed her arms over her chest and huffed as she looked away. "That's what you get for thinking perverted things."
"But I can't help it," Natsu whined. "Just the thought of you wearing something like that…"
"Alright, enough!" Erza demanded, a frustrated tick mark on her forehead. "Do you two think you can finally get serious? Is that really too much to ask?"
"No ma'am!" Natsu and Gray said simultaneously as they snapped to attention like army soldiers.
"Damn, Erza," Ash said with a nervous laugh.
"Scary," Sky breathed.
"Now let's go inside," Erza said as she led the way to the front door. Everyone followed her as she opened the door. The group walked into an elegant and long hallway. There was a fine red carpet lining the floor. Large, clear windows ran along the outer wall. Paintings and stone busts decorated the hall.
Wendy looked around. "So where should we start?"
"And what kind of clues are we looking for?" Carla added.
"Our first order of business is to split up into teams of two," Erza said. "Each team will take a different area and scour every room from top to bottom. We're looking for old clocks or anything related to clocks at all. If anything reminds you of the inscription on the clock hand of Lucy's, make sure you take note of it. Also keep an eye out for any literature written in ancient Potamelian or anything that seems out of the ordinary. Clues could present themselves in any form, so make sure you keep an open mind."
Sky rubbed her head. "That's a lot to remember."
"What should the teams be?" Gray asked.
"I'll go with Michelle," Lucy offered.
"Happy and I will go together," Natsu said.
"I'm sticking with Sky," Ash said while putting a hand on her sister's shoulder.
"Carla and I will look together," Wendy said.
Erza turned to Gray. "That leaves us, so we'll be partnering up."
Gray nodded. "Alright, seems straightforward."
Erza looked to the group. "Alright, that part is settled. Everyone start looking and good luck."
Everyone nodded and split up to begin thoroughly searching the large Heartfilia household.
Lucy climbed the old stairs to the attic with Michelle right behind her. So far they had been coming up empty in terms of finding clues, so Lucy thought to look in the attic. After all, it was the perfect place to store old artifacts that her father may have come across over the years.
Beams of light filtered in through the few windows and illuminated the dust, making it seem like there were small flecks of silver dancing in the air. Items were neatly set off to the side and thrown in boxes or covered with large plain cloth.
Lucy and Michelle reached the top of the stairs and immediately began digging through boxes.
"There certainly is a lot of furniture up here," Michelle said.
"Yeah, no kidding," Lucy said with a small laugh. "Not just furniture, though. There's a lot of stuff in general. Some of it is priceless and some of it is probably worthless junk." Lucy looked up from her box and it was then that she noticed what appeared like a painting shrouded in a cloth and set on an easel behind her. She walked over to it and gently removed the cover to reveal an old family painting of her when she was young, sitting in a chair in the garden with her parents on either side of her. Many pieces were torn away and faded from time. She gasped as memories of her mother and father and the time they spent together flooded her mind.
"When was this painted?" Michelle asked softly.
"I remember posing for this," Lucy said with a smile. "It wasn't long before Mom passed away." She giggled. "I had such a hard time sitting still for this. All I wanted to do was play." Her smile faded slightly. "It was really hard on me when I lost her. Unfortunately, I took it out on everyone around me. God, what a little terror I must have been. I probably made things harder for everyone. Especially Dad."
"It's okay," Michelle said in a comforting tone.
Lucy pumped her fists, the cloth still clutched firmly in her hands. She smiled wide. "Someday I'm going to make enough money to buy this place!" She looked at Michelle. "I'll put everything back together as it used to be—or as close as I can."
"Really?" Michelle said with surprise. "You mean it?"
"Yeah! I mean, Natsu and Happy would probably have a blast in a place like this and I have so many great memories here."
Michelle smiled warmly at the thought. "What a wonderful idea! I'm sure Uncle Jude would be very happy."
Lucy snapped her fingers. "Hey, you just gave me another idea!"
"What?" Michelle asked.
Lucy winked. "Dad's library! I bet some sort of clue will be there."
"Oh wow! This is amazing!" Michelle said as she looked around. Jude Heartfilia's library was two stories tall and the entire second floor was nothing but books. There was a large window opposite the door that looked out into the garden and a large desk and chair sat in front of it. A large, elegant chandelier dangled from the ceiling.
"Yeah, Dad's library has always been impressive," Lucy said. "He's actually the reason why I became such a bookworm myself."
"There are so many books here!" Michelle exclaimed.
"And I'm willing to bet that one of these books can give us a clue," Lucy said as she began climbing the stairs to the second floor. "Let's start looking."
"Right," Michelle said as she followed Lucy up the stairs.
The two searched through books for quite some time. Their fingers dragged gently across the thick and old spines, looking for any title that could possibly hint to what they were looking for.
Lucy groaned. "Y'know, I was so gung-ho about finding a helpful book that I didn't realize how long it would take to look through all of these."
Michelle nodded as she continued to search. It was then that she came across a peculiar red book with an odd title on its tan spine. "To My Daughter," she read softly as she took out the book. She walked over to where Lucy was still searching high on a ladder. "What about this one?" she asked. "It seems kind of special."
Lucy turned around to look at the book. There was a gold plate on the red cover with the title To My Daughter printed in black. "I've never seen that book before," she said as she climbed down and took the book. She began leafing through the pages, but immediately noticed that something was off. "All of the pages are completely blank," she said in surprise. She put the book down on the floor and knelt in front of it as she flipped back and forth through the pages. "The book is called To My Daughter, but there's absolutely nothing inside."
"Do you think maybe a spell was cast on it?" Michelle asked as she knelt beside Lucy and looked at the blank pages.
Lucy flipped through her keys. "I don't know, but I'd like to know more." She took out one of her silver keys. "OPEN GATE OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS! CRUX!" In a puff of smoke, a giant silver cross with arms and legs appeared, floating in the air with his legs folded underneath him. He had a large white mustache on his old face with the tips shaped like crosses.
Crux nodded at Lucy. "What can I do for you, miss Lucy?" he asked.
"I need you to run a search on this book," she replied while pointing to the book on the floor.
Without another word, Crux's head bent forward and he began to snore. Michelle sweatdropped. "Is he sleeping?" she asked.
"No, he's just running a search," Lucy said. "If anyone can figure things out about this book, it's Grandpa Crux." Suddenly, Crux's head snapped up and he screamed. Michelle nearly had a heart attack, but Lucy was sitting and waiting eagerly. "Any luck?"
"What we have here is nothing more than a stack of incredibly old paper," Crux began. "There are no spells or invisible inks or water marks to be found inside." He picked up the book. "And it would appear to be the case that your late father himself bound the book by hand."
"I see," Lucy said. "Anything else worth mentioning?"
He put down the book. "Just a suggestion for you to consider. It might serve you well to think about approaching this book as a riddle of some sort." He pointed to the title. "Think of the title. Perhaps it could be an anagram."
"Hey that's a good idea!" Lucy exclaimed.
"We could try rearranging the letters!" Michelle said with a nod.
"Thanks, Grandpa Crux!" Lucy said quickly. She ripped out 12 of the blank pages from the book and ran to her father's desk. She pulled out one of his ink wells, dipped a quill in ink, and wrote each individual letter largely on one of the sheets. Once she finished, she ran to the middle of the floor and spread them out. "Now let's see…"
Michelle came over to join her and hummed as she thought about the puzzle.
As they puzzled over the possible riddle, the other teams began filing into the library. Curious as to why there were large letters on the ground, Lucy explained to them all what they were looking for. The other teams offered to help and soon everyone was on the floor attempting to find some new words.
Natsu and Happy were the last to arrive. "How in the hell are we supposed to know what to look for?" Natsu groaned, his arms behind his head as he entered the library.
"Let's look for some food instead," a tired Happy said as he flew beside him.
Natsu stopped in front of the group on the floor. "Are you guys playing a game?"
"No, it's not a game," Wendy said.
"Please be quiet," Erza grumbled.
"We're trying to concentrate," Gray said as he picked up a letter.
"This is hard," Sky sighed.
"Gracie would have probably solved this already," Ash said as she threw two letters back into the pile.
"So is this some kind of puzzle?" Happy asked.
"We're figuring out anagrams!" Michelle replied.
"Right…anagrams," Natsu said while trying to hide his lack of understanding. "I totally know what those are."
"It's a word puzzle, Natsu," Lucy clarified.
"A word puzzle, huh?" Natsu grinned. "That definitely sounds like more fun than what I was doing before! Let me give it a try!" Suddenly, some stray dust filled Natsu's nose. He tried to fight it, but he couldn't help but release a powerful sneeze. The sneeze scattered the papers all over the floor.
"Son of a bitch!" Ash shouted.
"Our work," Sky sobbed.
Carla flew into Natsu's face. "You just ruined our train of thought!" she shrieked.
"And we were working so hard!" Wendy added.
"Sorry, my bad," Natsu chuckled. He then sensed an object moving towards him. He ducked just as a sword passed overhead, cutting through a few strands of hair. "What the hell?"
Erza glared darkly at him, her sword clutched in her hand. "I was just on the verge of a huge breakthrough!"
"Sorry!" Natsu pleaded. "It was an accident I swear!"
"Erza's really serious," Wendy said nervously.
"No kidding. Remind me to never break her concentration," Gray squeaked.
"Super scary," Sky said.
"I suppose we should just start collecting the letters again," Carla sighed. She looked over the mess of papers when a certain collection of four of the letters caught her eye. "Wait, do you see that?"
"The letters before you spell the word 'myth'," Crux said. He was hovering high above the group as he watched them work. "That could be important."
"Yeah, that might be the key to the whole thing," Gray agreed.
"So we have the word 'myth'. What can we spell with the other letters?" Erza inquired aloud.
The group began rearranging the remaining letters until they had three words.
"'Duo', 'great', and 'myth'," Ash read quietly. "Is that it? What could those words mean?"
Lucy gasped. "I know! There's a pair of books known as the Two Great Myths. Both were written by Will Neville. One is called Life of the Clockwork and it just so happens that that's where the strange inscription came from."
"Don't you have that book in your apartment?" Michelle asked.
"Yup! What a coincidence, right?" Lucy said.
"What about the other book?" Sky asked.
"Hold on. I'll go get it," Lucy said as she ran up the stairs. She darted to a particular shelf, pulled out a book, and ran back down. "Ta da! Key of the Starry Heavens!"
"That just looks like a picture book," Natsu said as he looked at the painted cover.
"It's not just a picture book," Lucy said with a sideways glare. "It's an amazing work of art!"
"Well whatever it is, I bet the word 'key' is pretty important," Gray said.
Erza nodded. "It seems that this would be a perfect place to start looking for clues."
"You think it could be another anagram?" Lucy asked before shaking her head. "No, that can't be it. But maybe if we look at it differently…"
Carla was staring at the strange cover when suddenly the picture began to change. The color faded to gray and the little girl on the front began to move. She turned to face Carla. She stared at her with sad, dead, hollow eyes. And then she spoke just one word. "DON'T!" the deep, dark voice rasped. Carla gasped, a look of sheer terror on her face after what she just witnessed.
"What's the matter?" Wendy asked. However, Carla didn't respond. She was frozen. Wendy walked to her side and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Carla?"
Carla put a paw to her head, but remained silent.
"I don't know if there will be anything about the clock hand or not, but maybe my dad left some kind of message for me to find inside this book," Lucy said.
Happy held up a book as well. "This is my favorite book! The Tortoise and the Hare!"
Lucy sweatdropped. "What the hell does that have to do with anything?"
"It's art, too!" Happy chirped.
"Would you mind handing over the book?" a strange voice echoed throughout the library.
"Who said that?" Ash asked as she looked around wildly.
Sky hid behind her sister. "Is your house haunted, Lucy?" she asked timidly.
"No it's not haunted," Lucy replied while looking for the owner of the voice. "Someone's here. But who?"
Happy clutched the book closely to his furry chest. "They want my book! I'm not about to hand it over to some stranger!"
"I don't find that joke to be very amusing," the voice answered. Suddenly, the brass door handle glowed green and exploded. It flew across the room and the large wooden library door toppled over with a loud crash, sending up a cloud of dust and wood.
"What the hell is going on?" Natsu asked.
"The door handle randomly blew up," Gray said in shock.
"Poltergeist!" Sky shrieked.
"The house is not haunted!" Lucy snapped.
"What utter nonsense," the voice spoke up. "What happened was the handle expanded to twice its size, which in turn broke down the door. And it certainly wasn't something as ludicrous as a lingering spirit."
The group peered through the thin smokescreen and watched as a small figure walked towards them. The figure passed through the veil of dust and everyone gasped at what they saw. It was a small gray-blue cat wearing thick glasses. On his head was a small dark blue Zentopian mitre with holes in the sides for his ears. He wore a matching small dark blue coat and a small red cloak fastened together by a blue jewel. A large book was tucked under his tiny arm.
"It's another cat," Ash said.
"It's an Exceed!" Carla exclaimed. "I don't believe it."
"But I don't remember seeing him an Extalia," Happy said.
"He wasn't there," Carla said. "He must've hatched from one of the eggs that were sent to Earth Land all those years ago, just like we were."
Natsu stepped forward. "Tell us who you are!" he barked.
The Exceed fixed his glasses. "I am the brains of the Legion Platoon. The name is Samuel."
Gray took his Maker stance. "So you bastards came looking for us after all."
"Give back what you stole from Lucy!" Natsu roared.
"I'll pass," Samuel said calmly.
"What was that?" Natsu hissed. "I wasn't giving you an option you know."
Wings popped out from behind Samuel's cloak as he began to lift into the air. "I consider this an amazing feat. Really quite spectacularly played. I was certain that you would do exactly as I predicted by coming here and finding a clue," he paused as he took out his large book and opened it up to a page, "so of course you found one." He looked over the print on the page. "I truly do amaze myself."
Ice particles began dancing on Gray's palm. "Anyone mind if I turn him into a cat flavored popsicle?"
"Only if I get to barbeque him as soon as you're done!" Natsu shouted while punching his palm.
Wendy stood at the ready. "Are you ready?"
"I am," Erza said as she requipped into her Lightning Empress Armor.
Ash's hair became fire. "Bring it on, kitty!"
Sky nodded. "We can beat a cat."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Gray cried. "ICE MAKE LANCE!" Thousands of ice spears shot at Samuel.
"You'll see no mercy from us!" Erza shouted while spinning her lance. She stopped and pointed the tip at Samuel as lightning bolts shot forward.
Natsu inhaled deeply. "FIRE DRAGON ROAR!" A column of intense flames burst forth from his mouth and headed straight for Samuel.
"Let's go, Sky!" Ash shouted before spitting a small ember.
"Right," Sky breathed as she became one with the wind. She carried the small ember and caused it to expand into a raging fire that she brought towards Samuel.
Samuel made no attempt to move, for he didn't need to. Out of nowhere, another figure leapt in front of him. All of the attacks crashed into the figure, collected into a collective ball, and burst outwards in all directions. The returned attacks broke through the walls of the mansion. Sky returned to her human form and landed beside Ash.
"Why are you ruining everything?" Lucy shrieked as she felt the breeze from outside filter in through the new holes in the wall. "I just decided that my new goal in life is to buy back this house someday!"
"How is that our fault?" Natsu barked back.
"What just happened?" Gray asked. "Some guy came out of nowhere and deflected our attacks!"
"Some guy?" Everyone turned to see a tall man with brown hair and shining silver armor smirking at them. He had a large mirrored shield in one hand and a large lance in the other. "I'm not just some guy. I'm the spear head of the Legion Platoon! My name is Dan Straight! Check me out!"
"How much further?" Gracie whined. She was lying down on Nikolias's head with her legs crossed and her arms resting above her head.
Nikolias huffed. "We're 5 minutes closer than the last time you asked. Now stop asking or I swear to God I'll throw you."
"You wouldn't dare," she shot back.
Mira got onto her hands and knees. "It's okay, Gracie. Look! I can see the Corrupt Mountains. We can't be too far now. I'd say no more than 30 minutes depending on how fast Nikolias flies."
Gracie groaned. "That long? Man, it feels like we've been flying for days. Niky, get us back to Fiore in ten minutes, okay?"
"You realize if I did that both you and Mira would be blown away by the sheer force of the wind."
"Oh. Yeah that wouldn't be good. Let's not do that."
"Yeah let's not do that," he repeated mockingly.
"How do you think Lucy and the others are doing?" Mira asked.
"Hard to say, but I choose to stay positive. I bet they found something huge!" Gracie exclaimed.
Mira giggled. "How like you."
Nikolias's head twitched slightly. He glanced down at the ground. "What the hell was that?"
"What was what?" Gracie asked.
"I could've sworn I heard something down below."
"Like what?" Mira asked.
"I'm not sure. I can't see anything down there with all those trees."
"Well what did it sound like to you?" Gracie asked as she tried to peer over Nikolias's head.
"It almost sounded like…," he began before he jerked suddenly to the right. Mira and Gracie both squealed and hung on for dear life to avoid rolling off of his head. Just as he moved a bright white arrow zipped by from below, just narrowly avoiding Nikolias's chest as it continued racing higher into the sky.
"What the hell was that?" Gracie asked.
"An arrow?" Mira inquired. "But who could have reached us so high up with a bow and arrow?"
"Never mind that. Who could see us all the way up here and still aim like that?" Gracie asked.
"Not sure, but hang on tight! Seems like we're under fire," Nikolias said. He continued to swerve through the air as bright arrows shot up, all just barely avoiding Nikolias's large body.
"Niky, land!" Gracie shouted over the wind.
"You got it," Nikolias growled as he angled his body to land. He flew towards the ground while continuing to dodge incoming arrows. "I've never seen arrows like this before."
"Me either," Gracie said, "but I sure am looking forward to meeting whoever owns them."
"Nikolias, you should change when we land," Mira suggested. "You'll be a smaller target."
"If you say so."
With a final evasive maneuver, Nikolias landed in a small clearing. He quickly lowered his head to allow Mira and Gracie to dismount. The second they left his body, he rolled the other way as shadows surrounded him. A few seconds later he was rolling to his feet in his human form, his golden dragon eyes glaring ahead.
Standing before the three was a tall man with short blonde hair. He was dressed in white robes with a golden sash around his waist. The robes covered his whole body except for his feet, so the three could see that he was wearing white sandals. He almost seemed to glow with all of the pristine white that he was wearing. Clutched in his hand was a curved white bow that radiated a bright white light. On his back was a white quiver with bright white arrows.
"Who are you?" Nikolias demanded.
The man smirked before bowing. "My name is Gabriel. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Why were you firing at us?" Mira asked with a serious tone.
Gabriel pointed a finger at Nikolias. "As a Heavenly Warrior, it is my sworn duty to destroy all forms of darkness. This…thing is the very embodiment of evil."
"That's quite an accusation," Gracie said. "Care to share your proof?"
Gabriel put his hand to his chest. "As a Heavenly Warrior, I was trained to sense any and all forms of darkness. When this creature flew overhead, I felt the faint aura of darkness. I knew I had to destroy it before its soul became completely corrupted."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Nikolias barked. "Nothing about me is evil. You probably just sensed the power of the shadows. Not all shadows are evil."
"I know what I sensed," Gabriel said. "And now I, Gabriel, Heavenly Archer of Zentopia will prove myself to the great Legion Platoon by eradicating the evil that is before me!"
"You're from Zentopia?" Mira questioned.
"That I am," Gabriel said as he pulled an arrow from his quiver and nocked it.
Nikolias smiled to reveal fangs. "And you know about the Legion Platoon?"
Gabriel aimed his bow and drew back on the string. "But of course."
Shadows danced around Nikolias. "Ya hear that, Gracie? Mira? Sounds like our luck just turned."
Gracie giggled as she summoned her katanas. "I knew staying positive would help."
"We'll have to get answers from him," Mira said. "I bet he can tell us where to look for the Legion Platoon."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Gracie said. "Even though it means we have to keep him alive, it'll be worth it in the end."
Nikolias cracked his knuckles. "So what are we waiting for? Let's get this thing started!"
