Chapter 5: Let's wrap things up
The duo arrived at the village in record time after 2 hours of painstakingly trying not to get lost by a certain someone's insane lack of direction. While extremely annoying at first, after a while it became insanely repetitive to the point where Jellal just accepted this for what it was and brushed it of as a brain injury on Roronoa's part she must have sustained when she was dropped as a child and just couldn't do anything about it. It was best to leave it at that and just drag her around the forest like a misbehaved child.
It did not matter how pissed she seemed, Jellal just did not give a damn anymore. They had a schedule and keeping one is exactly one of the many reasons why Jellal became so successful in his life and rose to the rank of one of the Councilmembers who governed and regulated the magical world inside of Fiore at the age of bearably seventeen.
Well either way they finally arrived at the Village if you could even call it that. Scattered not far from each other were 3 rotting houses and one shop with the name "Predator's Tea" displayed on a sign with bright neon green font. Overall the village seemed mostly run down and abandoned with the only thing in the area emitting any kind of life being the tea shop itself.
Without a second thought they entered the shop, but slowly a creeping suspicion made itself known for the blue haired mage, this setting and general feel was oddly familiar, unfortunately before he could ponder more about it a young girl with straight black hair came into view.
She was wearing a blue colored standard maid uniform with the only visible difference being a change in headgears, sporting a white headband tied with a white ribbon creating the look of rabbit ears.
Standing before them she titled her upper torso slightly forward, greeting them in a monotone voice.
"Welcome to Predators Tea. Please follow me. I will guide you to your table"
Despite the kind greeting, the attitude of the young girl was so devoid of life and joy it's a wonder she wasn't fired from her job because of lack luster performance. Then again, the state of the village suggested that getting any kind of staff here was a miracle by itself. Still Jellal became extremely wary of her. On first glance she looked like a reluctant hired teenager, but there were slight things about her, especially her movement that suggested so much more. She was dangerous, yet every kind of caution was thrown out of the window when Roronoa just followed the teen without any care for her own wellbeing.
Not wanting to stick out, the young mage followed them to one of the only two tables near the windows with a great view at a terrible maintained garden. The young waitress handed each of them a menu and one look at it was enough for Jellal to finally understand what he is dealing here with. And it was so obvious in hindsight.
Placing his card down he turned to the waitress.
"Excuse me? I require assistance"
"Yes? With what can I help you?"
"What do you recommend for a drafty person like me?"
"It depends on your general taste. Do you prefer a medical effect or something to savor in quick succession?"
"The latter, but something to calm the nerves"
"We might have something in the warehouse, if you follow me, I can show you one to choose from"
As if coming to and understanding Jellal nodded and both left the shop.
Zoro meanwhile was currently deciding, what to order. The amount of tea to choose from was staggering and it didn't help that he had no idea what kind of tea person he really was.
Before he could ask the waitress if they also served something stronger, tattoo face here has already snapped her from him and both left after some chitchat that sounded more like an exchange of code words than an actual conversation normal people would have.
So this place is as shady as it looked from the outside, good to know some things never change.
From the first moment he entered the village something was off and seeing how the young girl carried her body in perfect balance he doubted that she obtained that from the sheer training of holding trays in her hands. Adding Jellal's familiarity about the underground, it was not a stretch of the imagination to say that this place was a gateway to various services and other items you could only get from people defying the authorities and their 'stupid' rules and regulations.
Well either way, tattoo face should know what must be done and it was not like Zoro could help with anything right now unless it involved fighting. So with nothing better to do, he returned his gaze to the menu and tried to wrap his head around what kind of tea Sock-it-to-me or Tomato Mint Tea were.
Hmm, maybe I'm more of a Yong Chun Fo Shou type of drinker… whatever that might mean?
The invading smell of medicine entered the nose cavities of a certain pink haired dragonslayer slowly waking up from his slumber, while feeling a certain softness reminiscence of Lucy's nice comfy bed. Opening his heavy eyes he was greeted with an amazing view of the clean white ceiling, just in time for a headache to form as if he just woke up from a giant hangover or what he believed a hangover would feel like. After all he never felt bad after waking up from any of the drinking contest he had with Cana or anyone else over the years for that matter. It might have something to do with his dragonslayer biology…Still there were better times to wonder about that, especially when he had no idea where he was.
Natsu tried his best to gather his thoughts, which was already hard enough in itself with such a clouded mind. With a dazed look in his eyes Natsu scanned the room as he got up in an upright sitting position, while trying to find a point of reference to help him remember anything about what happened yesterday or where he was or something else that might bring some much-needed clarity.
The room he was in was huge and just like the ceiling everything was stunningly clean, the white color practically blinding his already half closed, strained eyes. It's probably no stretch of the imagination too say you could probably eat from the floor with a good conscious.
Seeing some movement out of the corner of his eyes, Natsu noticed that he was not alone in the room. There were also the forms of people lying unconscious on their respective beds, next to some big muscular bipedal hairy beasts dressed in only white pants watching over them.
He couldn't make out their faces, but instead of being terrified by the unknown monsters he shared a room with, Natsu instead thought about what kind of mouths they might have. He placed a bet for the big gaping mouth kind covered in knife sharp teeth. One thing he could say for sure was that its ears reminded him of cats.
Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed something else moving at great speeds, flying in the direction of those monsters and to his surprise it was Happy…. or not.
Silly Natsu, Happy did not have red fur last time he checked, but they appeared to be the same species of cat as his best friend…. Then it suddenly clicked in his mind.
"WHERE'S ERZA!" roared the young mage out loud, forcefully standing up from the bed alerting everyone around him, as last days events reemerged from the deeps of his mind as he unconsciously released a large stream of flames from his mouth, giving the celling over his head a nice new paintjob, now sporting the color of charcoal black.
The personnel present acted quickly and a number of five of those big muscular cat guys dropped whatever they were doing and rushed at the enraged dragonslayer, while the rest were making sure the other patients would not get harmed in the process.
Natsu, was being rushed from five different angles, but that meant nothing for someone of his caliber. He felt in incredibly great shape, as if he was born again and without missing a beat punched each of the oncoming enemies to the other side of the wall and embedding most of them into it without any issues.
"WHERE IS SHE!" shouted Natsu again for the whole site to hear as he rushed out of the room, blasting the closed ballistic doors open, which failed to contain the raging dragonslayer as he used his flames to reach incredible speeds. He ignored the alarm and the red lights that came out from the walls. Natsu cared about only one thing. He needs to find Erza. He will not rest until he sees her face. Unless she's save and sound, sporting a big smile, he will not rest.
Back in the room one of the big cats transformed, his form gradually becoming ten times smaller resembling that of a purple variant of Happy with the added feature of a scar on his left cheek. White wings formed on his back, all while blood was gushing out of his new head wound, yet the cries of the escaped patient were enough for him to pull himself together and as quick as he could he rushed out of the room, flying after the pink-haired young man in order to not lose the patient's position.
Not that he thought it was possible for anyone to lose sight of Natsu with him being as loud as an erupting Vulcan, additionally to all the destruction he's causing with his flames. It took some time, but the cat finally caught up to the speeding dragonslayer who left some nice scorch marks on the ground for him to follow.
'Subject is on grid B-2, hallway S202, closing in on D-Yellow's residents.' using telepathy magic the cat, having the number 505 imprinted on his chest, send a message to all close by personnel. But the one who answered was someone he did not expect to respond.
'D-Yellow here, I will take care of it, fall back!'
Not wanting to hinder him, 505 stopped immediately and just watched as from the wall next to the blinding fast Fairy Tail mage, a lanky wolf-sized fellow Exceed dressed in only a white lab coat and rubber flip-flops came out, passing straight through it seemingly unhindered and with his long-left arm hit Natsu from behind, as a magic circle appeared on contact.
"Lock Lariat" called out the thin cat as his whole arm, seemingly encompassed Natsu upper torso at a arms width, after which it passed right through him, leaving behind some sort of metal covering.
Natsu, who was too preoccupied with seeing Erza, failed to grasp what just happened as the weight of this metal ring come out of nowhere and was practically glued onto his body with no wiggle room left for him to slip out. The additional weight made him lose his balance making Natsu crash into the nearest wall right on his left side.
Before Natsu caught his bearings, his legs and arms were also incapacitated the same way, limiting his movement drastically and resembling more that of a worm than a human. Natsu tried his best to free himself, but even he could not bend metal this easily. Which resulted in him trashing and rolling around on the ground trying to free himself which lasted for around ten seconds, after which he was picked up from the ground and found himself pressed against someone's big hairy shoulder. By the smell it was a cat, not as if that mattered to him right now.
"LET ME GO! Where's Erza! Tell me! Let me see her! You bastard! I will kick your ass so hard will never see the light of day again you hear me!? Let me go!" Natsu was not being cooperative with his captors at all, as he screamed their ears off, desperate to get what he wants, while trashing around with what little movement he still had left in his body.
"That's such a lively fellow, 505 watch out that you don't drop him by accident. We wouldn't want to injure our precious patient." addressed the yellow panther sized cat, next to 505 big form as they casually strolled back to Natsu's room ignoring the big hole in the wall they left behind them. Of course Natsu being Natsu did not make it easy for the big fellow to hold him down so the one called D-Yellow felt it was necessary to calm down the trashing mage, before he resorted to chewing 505's ear out.
"Mr. Dragneel, please stop. The more you struggle the harder it will be to bring you back to Miss Scarlet." hearing him mention Erza was enough for Natsu to turn his head to the flip flop wearing cat. Having succeeded the exceed continued.
"I will give you the short version, seeing how impatient you are, so…. Ah, were are my manners. You can call me D-Yellow, I'm the head doctor on site Grid B-2 from the Magic Busters Medical Branch, pleased to make your acquaintance Natsu Dragneel, High A-rank mage from Fairy Tail."
The only thing that registered in Natsu's mind was the name of this strange feline and something about medicine.
"D-Yellow... what is that for a stupid name? And tell me finally where is Erza!? I swear if you have done anything to my friend, I will chew your stupid head off!"
"Oh that's just a code name for security reasons, so don't hurt your pretty little head over it and don't worry, she's well. In contrast to you she only sustained minor injuries that were dealt with by the stationed there Magic Busters. Now for you on the other hand let me tell you about what happened, so first the lacrima that you consumed, which I find was a gutsy move to begin with, where-" Natsu stopped listening to the yellow doctor and was relieved to hear that she really was well. A small smile appeared on his face.
Natsu has heard about the Magic Clusters ... eh close enough and that they were basically like a magic guild or something like that. He did not really remember the specifics, having ignored gramps lecture about them, but it was enough for him to know that they were one of the good guys. Combined with his gut feeling, he trusted the words of the Feline doctor and continued to ignore his lecture. It was not like Natsu would remember even a thing so why bother.
After some ten minutes or so they arrived back to the room, with Natsu still being cuffed. It did not look like he would get out of this anytime soon, considering the rambling of his flip- flop wearing cat who Just. Wouldn't. Stop. Talking. The iron restrains were starting to become uncomfortable…. iron!
Wanting to slap his head, which was rather impossible to do now, Natsu forgot in his frenzy that he could have just melted those damn things of him. Which he immediately did without warning, burning 505 in the process who was now clutching his hands in pain while the oblivious Natsu was triumphantly grinning like an idiot because of his regained freedom. It additionally brought D-Yellow out of his lecture.
"-normally Ethernano will... Oh were already here? I haven't even covered half of my lecture, wait a minute I will give it to you in written form, so you can read it at home. Oh, 540 can you bring me a stack of papers, please? And a pen would be great, too."
"Natsu Dragneel!" came the voice of a young woman with blond hair, as she approached him with a leisure pace, while also being accompanied by some weirdo dressed in a bucket hat and a nightgown.
Floating in the air next to her as if he was sleeping with one hand supporting his head at such an uncomfortable angle it made Natsu wince inside.
"I see you are in great condition, so we will send you home right this instance!"
"Huh?"
Not wasting a single moment for Natsu to understand what is going to happen, Margett slapped him on the head, sticking papers on his forehead again, which obstructed his field of view. Then Natsu felt himself getting pulled over by some mysterious force ending with a strong grip on his right shoulder.
Not a second later Natsu alongside with Lorentz disappeared from the Hospital, leaving everyone without giving them the opportunities of saying a goodbye, not that they planned to really.
They had something better to do and they didn't get paid for standing around. So everyone present got back to their post immediately …except for D-Yellow who was lying on the floor writing on the big stack of paper brought to him by an airborne green exceed, having not realized that no one was there anymore, and no one felt like wasting their time trying to wake the doctor up from his trance when he was so immersed in his work.
Leaving the tea shop the young waitress led him to one of the run-down houses. It was not a beautiful view, but thanks to places like this people from the other side of society can without any issue or risk have access to everything they need. For the right price of course.
Upon entering the wooden structure, the young girl led him to a room with a piano in extremely good condition in contrast to the entire building, yet instead of playing on it to reveal a hidden door, she instead just stood motionless in the middle of the room.
It was starting to get a little awkward after the third minute, but Jellal remained exactly as motionless as his guide. He recognized this as a precaution to make out imposters who thought they could just trick the people of the underground by knowing how they communicate out in the open, but they did not consider that there was so much more to it. One of the most basic rules was simple, do what the person leading you does, which from place to place may wary. Jellal doubted he would face all the safeguards except the most basic ones, because of the general guidelines. After all his face should be already displayed everywhere, with a nice sum for his head, so trying to make out if he's faking it is a needless endeavor and a waste of everyone's time.
Suddenly or better said as expected the space before them became distorted as a gateway to another room could be made out. Without hesitation both entered, after which the so-called door closed behind them.
Inside, the room was more of a maze made of flying shelves and bookcases, some whizzling over their heads, while other just barely rotate by their own axis.
"Fernandez, good to see you, here have a coffee!" came the surprising warm welcome from a middle-aged man sporting a bald head.
He was dressed so plainly it was not worth the effort to describe how he wore his green sweatshirt and blue jeans, with no other characteristic that would make him look out of place from a crowd. He greeted them from the middle of the room, sitting before a well-crafted desk that was the only other furniture to remain on the ground. Forcing Jellal and the girl to stand before him.
"It was a real surprise to learn what you have done the other day." Began the man to ramble as he handed Jellal a hot cup of fresh grinded coffee, "Everyone was losing their mind when they found out that the one in charge of the Cult of Zeref is the same person as the honorary goody two shoe Siegrain, who has tricked the council and destroyed their Headquarters in the process. And that's not even talking about the whole Etherion stunt you pulled off. Incredible daring of you, but before I forget, name's Legos Iwolf"
"Jellal, but you knew that already. Now having the formalities out of the way, I'm in need to find Madam Porta. Do you know where I can find her?"
"OH!? The Body Snatcher!? I did not expect you to look for her of all people. I hope you know how dangerous she is. Especially if you waste her time." Warned Legos.
"Don't worry, I have something she will be thrilled to examine"
"It's about the cutie in the bar, isn't it?" asked Legos, trying to dig out any kind of info he could sell to the right people, "She bears a real close resemblance to the chick of Fairy Tail, minus the hair. So tell me did you succeed? Wait! don't tell me... you trapped Zeref in the body of a teenage girl?! Shit man, that must be awkward for you, isn't it?"
Jellal did not take the bait and calmy sipped his coffee, which had an amazing cozy aroma. He knew the man before him tried to get a reaction out if him, but Jellal was not a first timer and knew how to keep his cards close to his chest. The path he took to get to this point was on littered with deception and business more on the darker spectrum, so it would be odd if he wasn't immune to such lowly tactics deployed by informants such as Legos.
"Drop that, I'm no greenhorn. So, can you provide me her current location?"
Getting back on track, as smoothly as flinging a bar of soap out of the window, Lego's chair extended high into the air, before he came back with a piece of paper the size of his fingernail.
"I think I don't need to explain a vivre card to you?"
"Of course not!"
Jellal nodded and the man proceeded to make out her exact location. While a vivre card could only show you the general direction where the person in question resided, some experts were able to use the paper to exactly pinpoint the location using highly complicated mathematical formulas. They took the direction, then the general force the paper pulled with and a dozen other calculation that flew right over Jellal's head and out of his area of expertise. It was a complicated process, which was highly valued all over the world.
Overall not many people these days created their own vivre card out of fear of having some unwanted people know your location, despite that it was a useful tool to have and providing someone with your vivre card was the highest form of trust you can get.
"Ok, she is currently in Aeraos, judging by her usual schedule she should remain there for the next two weeks," said Legos
"I need a quick ride there, have you something?"
"I could make you a portal there, but I lack a key ingredient, soooo…" said Legos with a not-so-subtle shit eating grin.
Jellal knew exactly what that meant, but this was business and the faster he gets to Madame Potra the faster he could get Erza back. So he tossed a generous amount of Jewels on the desk that left no room for further negotiations or delays of time.
The plain man whistled in amazement at the amount given. He didn't even need to look inside the bag to know that Jellal had overplayed big time. Or in other terms was paying for a quick delivery.
"It's pleasure to do business with you. Kagura! " addressed the old man the waitress, who until this moment was patiently waiting behind Jellal, "You know what to get! The man has paid good money so don't disappoint him and move your ass into overdrive."
Kagura just nodded as a purple magical circle formed under her feet before she dashed at incredible speeds, out of sight into the portal that just materialized next to her.
"She's a good worker, a shame she doesn't smile more." Commented Legos before he stood up and wrapped his hand over Jellal's shoulder with one hand, as he was holding a bottle in his other, " Let's get you something good to drink, coffee brings only so much enjoyment. It's on the house of course and before I forget let's not leave Miss Zeref waiting."
Then an idea popped suddenly in his mind as they approached the gateway.
"Hey, I feel just great today, so I have just for you a limited timed offer granting you access to Legos Airlines, the only place for troubled virgins like you to get a reliable Wingman to make every girl snuggled next to you in just under 24 hours, the first use is free of charge!"
The mental picture Jellal now had was one he would not be able to get out of his head for the next few days. 'I swear, if I didn't need him, I would have strangled him right now.' So Jellal gave him the silent treatment and let the man ramble about his list of all the benefits and extras you could buy while the iron was still hot.
'Maybe I should consider breaking his leg?'
Erza Scarlet was sitting alone on the balcony with a cup of tea that has already gone cold in her hand, staring out into the distance for what had to be hours. The events that transpired were still deep in her mind. The memories of her past were brought out again, not that she actively tried to bury them.
Day after day she prayed that she could free her friends from Jellal's grasp, but his bone chilling treats kept her from doing anything and in the end made her act like a coward, hoping that everything would sort itself out. How naïve, no how delusional she was.
Erza was so scared of the possibly of him knowing her every move she refused to tell anyone, not even the Guild Master of her origin, of his plan or even hint at anything that could have changed everything, had she just acted... but she was just too conflicted to commit, with only one exception. Only one thing she was comfortable to reveal, which was dressed up as a half-truth at best.
It was about the heroic last act of old man Rob and how he saved her life with changed detail about how he rescued her from an entire dark guild on his own, resulting in him paying for it with his life. Old man Rob's last act was the only thing she believed she was obliged to tell Master Makarov, who turned out to be his closest friend surprisingly, making her feel a lot worse from withholding him the whole truth.
He tried to maintain a stone like mask, but even as a child back then Erza could see it in his face how hard the news had hit him. The look, the strained eyes and the too stiff maintained face were all just so obvious telltale signs, but of course she didn't comment on that.
And now everything had happened so fast and derailed outside of her control. Resulting in a catastrophe Erza wished she could have seen coming or at least had the ability to prevent…. Maybe if she had just opened up sooner, maybe if she just acted without fear she could have avoided everything, but life was never so clear to anyone making it hard for people in general to see the correct path.
Still, in the end she choose the wrong one and in the process Simon died for her with a smile on his face, while her friends where taking in by the Magic Busters to pay for their crimes and her Guildmates who came to rescue have put their life on the line to save her. Especially Natsu, being the reckless idiot that he is, has gone to drastic measures to save her and has put his body in such a critical condition that put him under constant care for multiple days in a high care medical facility Erza had no way of visiting...
Despite all of this, she was proud of having such great friends at her side, who were ready to fight against enemies that should have been too tough for them to handle.
Maybe she just underestimated her friends too much? Maybe she should stop this senseless believe of wanting to solve all her problems on her own with her own strength and start trusting the people around her a lot more, especially if they are so capable and head strong as Natsu.
Looking down into the cup she was holding, a small bitter smile could be seen on its reflective surface. Still that didn't mean she was feeling great about her current situation. While Natsu may have freed her from her past, he almost died doing so. All because of her own weakness and misjudgment, but that's going to change. Experience was the mother of progress and Erza was not going to let that be a fruitless endeavor. She was too soft and too weak to do what should have been done back on the top of the tower. Now she knows better and with a newfound determination Erza was ready to tackle the future with her newfound strength. Whatever they may throw at her, it will not matter as long as her friends were at her side, with them she or better said they cannot be stopped.
Then again, she hasn't heard about Natsu for a while now and each next day was a day the guilt of her past inaction hurt more and more. To the point Erza spend the last 3 days thinking about a hellish training regime just for herself to put her body and mind through the grinder to make up for her mistakes, so to never allow anyone to make her waver in her determination to make the right call.
Closing her eyes and tilting her head up to the sky, she started to wish to finally see that hothead again, to at least have one worry off her mind. It got to the point that she promised herself that she would accept any challenge Natsu might throw at her for the rest of her life.
And it seemed this was the right call, as a body suddenly materialized over her sitting form and before she had any time to act, gravity did its thing and dropped the person on top of her, crushing the expensive chair she was sitting on while also spilling the tea all over the balcony floor.
Stunned Erza was just laying there, not even registering the pain that made itself present on her rear, not when her eyes where wide open at the sight of pink hair pressed against her bosom.
"What was that?!"raged Natsu as he detached himself from Erza's torso, both hands on the floor trapping Erza between them, while he was still kneeling over her body in a position that would from another point of view suggest a daring action on his side, where it not for this piece of paper obstructing the dragonslayer face, making it look rather silly.
Slowly reaching out with her hand, Erza tore the paper from his face and before he could start another complaint, Natsu was silenced for a moment by the heartful embrace that forced him back to the ground.
"Erza…-" was the only word he was able to bring out before Erza put a finger on his mouth, stopping him from saying whatever he had in mind.
"You stupid idiot!" said Erza with a small smile and a soft voice, breaking away from the hug and looking him straight into his innocent eyes, "You always have to make the most reckless thing imaginable, don't you? I have no idea what I should do with you. So before you say anything let me just say one thing, thank you Natsu. Thank you. "
With tears in her eyes filled with joy and relieve she gave him another hug, which this time was returned by the dragonslayer, as his big smile manifested into existence.
"No problem, Erza, if I couldn't do this much for a friend than what good am I? By the way…."
"Huh?"
"Do you have something to eat? I feel as if I haven't eaten in months and my stomach is killing me!"
Holding his hands on his growling stomach and with a clear pained expression plastered on his face, Erza could only laugh softly into her hand at this abruptly change of topic.
"Of course, you have earned it. Let's go straight into the kitchen and plunder it for anything edible, while we order for the Room Service to bring you some of the best flames they have in store."
Natsu was something else. Here she was worrying about him and all he can do is carefree think about filling his own stomach. It's as if he completely forgot about almost dying.
Some people just don't change, do they?
Soon after the hotel caught wind of this and decided to throw a surprise party for the whole gang to enjoy. Free of charge of course as a celebration of Natsu's successful recovery and as a means to make everyone forget the horrors that were and focus on enjoying what was before them. Not knowing what will come.
Who knew that the next celebration they would be part of would be a little more exciting than they ever wanted it to be? All with stones, puppets and a good amount of thunder mixed with fire and steel to lead up for a great finale. But for today nothing could ruin this fortunate turn of events for them, as Natsu stuffed his belly with fire and meat, so did Happy only with fish and a lot more fish.
Gray was chilling half naked in the jacuzzi with Juvia sitting next to him, who was occasionally throwing glances at him, with her imagination running wild.
Erza and Lucy were laying in the sunchairs and enjoy the radiant heat of the sun raining down on them, while a waiter was standing next to them, ready to fulfill their every wish. Having already brought them a second bottle of nicely cooled wine in a bucket full of ice.
The party lasted for several days before they got back to the newly renovated guild, just in time for the preparations for the Fantasia Parade.
A blue blur was speeding through the forest. Unstoppable in its track it obliterated everything in its path. Boulders got atomized, trees were ripped in two and magical beast were lucky enough if they lost just one of their limbs.
The one responsible for this destruction was no other than a young sixteen-year-old teen in a maid uniform, named Kagura Mikazuchi who was sent to retrieve a specific item for that piece of shit Legos. Under normal circumstances she wouldn't be caught dead around such a creep, who was such indifferent to human life in general it made her sick. The only reason she was working for him was because of his reputation and the promise of finding her brother, if she worked for him free of charge of course. That money loving bastard.
He was barely providing her with any kind of food, not that she relied on his false generosity and that was only when he trained her in magic.
Legos was overjoyed when he found out that Kagura had a strong aptitude for Gravity Magic, which was one of the more uncommon affinity's a mage might have, so he used every opportunity and excuse to make her undergo hellish training.
Every time when she complained about the harsh treatment, he would taunt her that if she couldn't give her all, then why should he bother to give his all to find her brother. This of course worked every single time and Kagura believed he took pleasure in seeing her suffer.
Legos was many things, a bastard, a sellout, a reliable source of information, but above all he was a terrible liar, which made each word he said be the truth. Which just pissed her of so much more. Just hearing his name brought out a furry inside her which she unleashed on her surrounding as she jumped over a river and crushed a bear's jaw who came to close to her gravitational aura.
In contrast to Jellal's Meteor, which focus is to heavily boost his speed, her Resonance was all about manipulating the space around her body, where she could control the gravitational forces of it to either make her lighter, help her float or create a force field strong enough to crush opponents standing too close to her.
Just as she was about to get out of the forest the earth behind her started to shake violently, stopping the young teen in her tracks. Turning around, her eyes widened as smoke could be seen rising high, where the village was supposed to be.
'NO!' without a moment of hesitation she turned back.
Legos was her best option to find her older brother. She couldn't allow him to die until he has played his part, unless he pays back what he owes her that she worked hard for with sweat, blood and piles of bodies.
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It is hard to get back to writing if you have such a long break from it. I have made my best to ensure to bring this chapter as fast as possible to live. I mean just four days ago or something around that the chapter had no words written, no clear direction to go by and the general structure I had needed to be reworked because I realized to late that Kagura was not a small child before the time skip, which honestly was a blessing in disguise seeing how I can do now so much more with her than before.
Now one thing that I thought about was what to do with Guest reviews. I want to respond to them, but I don't want to give my chapters additional word count just because I'm not able to respond to them by PM-ing them directly, just how I do with registered users. So the answer was clear, I will use my profile thingy to answer guest reviews there. Staring with the first few I had yet to respond to.
So that's it from my end. Have a great time and I hope this chapter is good enough for all of you.
P.S The next chapters will focus a lot more on Zoro, just as it should be.
Chapter version v3 : 23.12.2021
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