Chapter 56

A Giant Problem


"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Magic"

Flashback

Location / Date / Time Skip


The giant vine finally came to a stop outside the village, letting them climb off. "I'm guessing we're here." Gray said.

"I can't believe how quick we got here." Brianna mumbled.

"It beats walking, that's for sure." Wendy chuckled.

"Guys, check this out." Nicholas held up a frozen chunk of rock, covered in purple ice.

"It's all frozen. Just like the old man told us." Gray said.

"Sun Village must be on the other end of this ridge." Erza surmised before they started walking forward. A large gate soon came into view before they entered the village, finding the entire town frozen over in the same ice.

"How do you just freeze an entire village like this?" Slate asked as the cats floated next to the wizards.

"I'm more curious about the frozen people." Brianna said, looking into the houses. "How come we haven't found anyone yet?"

Natsu walked past a building corner and something caught his eye. He turned and his head went up as he found a giant humanoid frozen solid. "G-g-g-g-GIANT!" He shouted in a panic, catching everyone off guard. More and more giants came into view as the group looked around.

"The old geezer never mentioned this!" Happy added.

"I bet he's getting a laugh out of this right now." Slate mumbled.

Gray stared up at a frozen giant. In a blink of an eye, the giant turned into Deliora before he blinked again. The giant turned back to normal as Lucy walked from behind. "Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing." He replied.

"I never knew people like this existed." Erza said, looking up at a giant.

"Neither did we, and we saw a lot when we were on the run." Nicholas added.

"I found his dog." Wendy pointed to the giant dog next to her.

"Time to give these oversized popsicles a wake up call." Natsu chuckled as he burst into flames and tried to melt the frozen foot. "Come on, melt!" More flames shot out until he suddenly kicked the foot in anger. "Nothing."

"Remember what Warrod said. This isn't normal ice." Gray said, reaching out to touch the toe of a giant. "I've never felt ice like this before."

"You can't melt it either?" Erza asked, earning a no.

"I was hoping this would be easy." Lucy said.

"Well, well, some uninvited guests." A voice called out, catching the groups attention. "Every job has its surprises."

"Never expected it be some kids with their pets." The one with a sword declared.

"Who are you?" Erza demanded.

"We're the Treasure Hunting Trio from Sylph Labyrinth." The one with a gun declared. "Sorry to tell ya, but we've had dibs on the treasure here. Go find your own."

"…We're not here for any treasure." Brianna shouted back.

"Then why the heck are you here?" The swordsman asked.

"We came here to melt the ice and save the village." Happy added.

The three turned to each other and then snapped their heads at the group. "THEN YOU'RE GETTING ON OUR WAY!" The scream confused the wizards before the gunman explained.

"The Eternal Flame is a legendary flame that's been burning for centuries. To a treasure hunter it's an S-Class super treasure! We were never able to get close to it because of the giants protecting it. But now for some reason, they're all frozen. It's the perfect chance to get the Flame."

"But the Flame is protecting this village." Lucy shouted back. "If you take it, you'll be little more than common thieves."

The three shared another glance before racing into the village. "Who cares what people like you think! That treasure is ours!" The gunman shouted.

"Hate to brake it to you, but this Flame you're after is frozen too." Gray spadded.

"Don't underestimate treasure hunters on a mission." The swordsman chuckled, holding up a vial. "The ice won't be any trouble, not with this super treasure 'Liquid Moon Drip'."

They sprinted into the village, leaving a stunned Natsu and Gray. "What the heck is Moon Drip?" Nicholas asked, just as confused as Brianna and Slate.

"It's from Galuna Island." Erza explained "It was before you three joined the guild. Heck, it was before Wendy and Carla joined."

"They managed to turn it into a liquid?" Lucy asked.

"Catch them!" Natsu shouted, shocking the group. "If we have that stuff, we can free this whole village and be done with this whole job!" The group raced after them the treasure hunters, unaware of the creature flying over them.

"Wizards and thieves…" A large man mumbled. "It'll be annoying, but we should deal with jobs.. It's our job."

"The thieves are irrelevant." A woman replied. "The bigger threat is the wizards."

"Agreed…" The man replied as he stood up. "We got work to do. Let's go, newbie."

"M'lady." The woman said back. "Call me anything else and it'll be your head that rolls."


"Get back here!" Natsu shouted as his team chased after the treasure hunters. "Don't you care about the frozen giants back there?"

"We only care about one thing: getting treasure and boosting our rep." The swordsman shouted back.

"Hold on, aren't we missing some people?" Lucy asked as she looked around.

"I think they're staying behind to look for clues." Wendy replied.

"Get over here, ya thieves!" Natsu shouted, angering the trio.

"We're not thieves, we're treasure hunters!" The gunner shouted back.

"A spades a spade as far as I'm concern!" He retorted.

"This is annoying. Let's just waste them." The swordsman said before they turned around, the gunman running further. "Get elevated, and make it quick!"

The team came to a stop as the two who stayed pulled their weapons off their back. "You think you can keep up with us?" Natsu asked as he pulled his fist back. "Show me what you got!" The hammer user slammed the fist on his pole down in front of him, forcing him to jump back.

"Meet my custom mallet, the Smasher!" Rala shouted, shocking everyone.

"He can talk?" Lucy asked in surprise.

Natsu raced forward and ignited his fist for a punch before throwing it forward. An explosion of flame soon faded to show the fist had opened up before it closed around him. Rala picked him up and threw him overhead, making crash through the top layer of ice. "Now I'm mad."

Gray placed his hands together and an icy mist rolled off it. "Ice-Make: Freeze Lancer!" A dozen frozen spears shot forward, only for the swordsman to cut them to pieces.

"Eat my chain sword, punk!" The sword user shouted as he cocked his weapon. Seconds later, the blade extended in length and shot forward, forcing Gray to dodge as the tip dug into a frozen tree and cut it down.

Wendy suddenly tackled Lucy to the ground, a shot suddenly hitting the ground where she once was. "A sniper!?"

"Where is he?" Happy asked as the two cats looked around.

"Quicker than I expected." The sniper confessed, his voice calling out from everywhere. "Don't worry, the next one will find its mark for sure."

Wendy sniffed the air and the hint of sulfur caught her attention. "Lucy, up there!"

"Good nose, Wendy!" Lucy pulled out a key and summoned her archer spirit, bow and arrow ready to fire. "Take him out, Sagittarius!"

"I'll teach this ruffian some manners." He fired his shot and a bullet hit, exploding the two in a mess of wood and metal. "Not bad…"

Natsu jumped back from another slam as Rala pulled his weapon back. "This is gonna be harder than we thought…"


Sun Village

Erza walked along the village, studying the giants trapped in ice. Footsteps caught her attention and she turned to see Nicholas and Brianna walking up. "Anything?"

"Nothing that we can't see from here." Nicholas replied. "Every single giant is facing the same way, weapons at the ready."

"It's like they're all guarding something." Brianna added. "But the only thing here worth stealing is…"

All three went wide-eyed as they looked at each other. "The Great Flame…" Erza realized. "And to find it, we need only look to where they're facing away from!" She took off in a sprint, leaving the two behind for a second. Racing through the frozen woods, she looked up at a large mountain. "The flame must be at the summit."

She resumed her run, much to Nicholas' and Brianna's annoyance. "She needs to slow down." He panted before they resumed their run.


Erza panted as she reached the top, looking around for some kind of alter. "Nothing… at all…" She panted in disappointment. "I thought if I could find the Flame, I might find a way to return the village to normal. I can't give it up, I have to find."

A reflection caught her attention and she turned in shock. Walking over to the chunk of ice, her armor started falling off before she could touch it. "Is this an illusion? Why am I a child?" She grabbed her face and started pulling on it, trying to break the spell. "How could this be happening to me!?"

In her panic she slipped on the ice, lost one of her shoes and tumbled down the mountain. Crashing into two people, she came to a stop at the bottom of the frozen surface. Pushing herself up, she found that Nicholas and Brianna were in the same state as her. "It affected you too?"

"Great, we were hoping you might have been spared." Nicholas said, his voice in a higher pitch.

"So what happens now?" Brianna asked, holding up her clothing.

"We need to break this curse on the village first. Then we can worry about ourselves." Erza said.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Nicholas asked. "What if we wait too long and were stuck like this for life? I don't want to imagine Natsu or anyone else seeing us like this."

.

.

.

"We need to fix this at once!" Erza shouted, a massive blush on her face.


With the Others

Happy hugged Lucy's leg as the group looked for the sniper. "You know, for a bunch of non-wizards, you guys aren't half bad." Natsu confessed.

"We aren't some run of the mill treasure hunters." Hitoshi declared. "We're the best of the best."

"Feel like pissing off yet?" Drake asked. "Regular wizards like you don't stand a chance against us."

"Who the heck said we were regular wizards?" Gray retorted, holding up the bottle of Moon Drip.

"How the heck did you do that!?"

"All thanks to my Ice-Make: Thief's Hand." He chuckled, the ice hand forming a thumbs up behind him.

"Drake, blow his head off!" The sniper aimed and fired a round, only for an arrow to match the angle and destroy both of them. "Damn it! Give it back!" Hitoshi thrust his blade forward and forced Gray to move.

"No can do. It's going to a better cause." He chuckled before jumping into the air. "Natsu!"

Gray threw the bottle towards the Dragon Slayer, who jumped and caught it. "Got it!" He cheered before dodging another swing of the hammer. "Lucy!"

He chucked the bottle at the blonde who caught it. Round after round crawled over to her as the sniper pumped out shot. She jumped behind a tree and threw it out, forcing Carla to catch it. Flying pass the rounds, she glanced over and chucked it at Happy.

The bottle flew over his head and crashed onto the ice, breaking the bottle. "NO! AFTER ALL THAT HARD WORK! You ruined it, you stupid cat!"

"Do you really think that much would be enough to melt the whole village?" Lucy asked.

"So we were doomed to fail no matter what." Gray said.

Natsu walked past Happy and put his ear to the melted ground. "That voice…" He mumbled, before suddenly perking up. "This way! I know that voice! I gotta help him!"

"Hold up, ya idiot!" Gray shouted as he raced after the Dragon Slayer.

The girls started after him, only for the hammer user to smash the ground in front of them. "Oh, no you don't!" Hitoshi declared. "If we can't get that Eternal Flame, we're at least getting every Golden Key you have! So hand them over!"


With Natsu

Natsu raced through the frozen streets before coming to a stop, a large man in his way. "You one of those thieves friends?"

"I am not a thief." He declared, coming to a stop. "Now, Regress! Become a shadow of the days your past." A mist started wafting off Natsu as he suddenly sank, his clothing falling off him.

"What the heck did you do to me?" The pinkette shouted, holding up his pants.

"Children are much easier to kill than adults." The man declared, cracking his finger.

"Turn me back to normal before I get rough!" Natsu shouted.

"Shut up and listen." The larger man declared. "The name is Doriante. I'm a member of the Dark Guild Succubus Eye." He charged at Natsu who clumsily rolled out of the way.

"Fire Dragon Roar!" Natsu puffed his cheeks up and unleashed a single ember from his mouth. "What the heck? I was way better as kid than this!?"

He jumped out of the way of another punch, only to get kicked in the stomach. "Your reduced magical power is the main effect of my Arc of Regression." Doriate explained. "Turning you into a child is just a bonus." A punch hit Natsu in the face and sent him flying back into the frozen city.

Natsu slid along the ground before cracking his head against an iced over wall. Pushing himself up, Natsu saw the man charging at him. He screamed in shock as he looked at the sky, forcing Doriate to do the same. "There's nothing there…" He looked back down to find the shrunken child missing. "Little punk!"

Reaching up, he pulled his bandana down in anger, showing off large fangs and hairy lips. "I'll teach him to mess with me."


With Erza, Nicholas and Brianna

Erza glowed in a white aura as a sword fluxed in and out of existence. She gripped the handle and the sword finally solidified in her hand. "Is your magic malfunctioning too?" Nicholas asked as he and Brianna stepped forward, his left hand covered in stone scales while only a small scorpion tail hung out of Brianna's back.

"At least we can still use it." Erza replied. "But our magic seems to drain faster than before. And my body is too weak to use this sword properly."

"So what do we do now?" Brianna asked. "How do we get back to normal when we have no idea how we got this way?"

"The famous Titania, helpless as a lamb." All three turned around to see Minerva glaring at them.

"Why are you here?" Brianna asked. "Shouldn't you be back at Sabertooth now? Everyone there is worried about you."

"Brianna, look." Nicholas pointed his stone hand at her waist.

The girls' eyes went wide at the mark on her body. "Succubus Eye? You're in a dark guild now?"

"And this is my first job with them." Minerva chuckled. "And here I find you served on a silver platter. I will always reign over the strongest guild in existence. Dark or light has no bearing on what I do. Morality is nothing to me, it is power I crave. Succubus Eye is merely a stepping stone on my way to a great guild."

"So you threw your pride away too?" Erza asked. "Sting is looking for you every chance he gets, everyone is. Don't you feel anything for abandoning Sabertooth?"

"I have no loyalty to those weaklings." Minerva replied. "This chat has been fun and all, but let's get to our rematch from the Games, shall we? Though I doubt you can do more than cry in that state."

Nicholas and Brianna stepped in front of Erza, making Minerva chuckle. "I didn't see your two friends there." She waved her hand and a pair of orbs swallowed them both. "Now where were we?"

Erza held up her sword and pointed it her. "You're the one who did this to us, aren't you?"

"No, that would be my partner." Minerva explained. "I have to admit, the underworld has some intriguing magic. And my propensity for fairness has been well document. Prepare yourself for a fight to the death."


With Lucy & Wendy

"Just give us the keys and you can live!" Hitoshi said as he swung his sword at the blonde.

"Why would I do that!?" Lucy shouted back. "These keys are my friends! I'm not just gonna hand them off to some wacko treasure hunter?!"

Wendy jumped back from a swing of the hammer, tearing the ground up. "Don't any of you care about the giants frozen alive!?" She asked.

"Treasure hunters only care about thing, if it's treasure!" The swordsman shouted before thrusting his blade into the ground before Lucy. "And with three men against two women, you can't stop us!"

She tripped over the ground and a shot hit a branch above her. It broke and trapped her on the ground before Wendy turned in a panic. Another shot went off and flew at the petite girl, ready to take her head off.

Long red hair suddenly shot up and formed a knot, catching the bullet. "Make it three women: a blonde, a blue-hair and a redhead." Flare declared as her hair picked the branch off of Lucy.

"How'd you get here?" The blonde asked in surprise.

"Obviously, I'm following you, blondie…" She chuckled, scaring Lucy. "Didn't you notice? I'm always following you." The blonde freaked out as a blush covered her face. "Just kidding."

"Not cool!"

"Honestly, I've been feeling so lost lately, homesick…" Flare mumbled. "So I brought Kuro with me back here…"

"Are you saying this is your home?" Wendy asked.

"Yes, this is where I grew up." The redhead nodded, showing the mark on her chest. "The giants took me in, let me bear the symbol of their village. They gave me a home and protected me… and when we got here, it was too late. So we split up to avenge them!"

"Look, I don't know who you are, lady." Hitoshi said. "But we had nothing to do with freezing them. We're only interested that sacred flame."

"That's just as wrong!" Flare shouted back. "The Eternal Flame isn't some trinket you can steal, it's the divine protector of this village! I won't let anyone defile it!" Her hair shot forward and pushed the two back, only for the swordsman to cut it off. The hair suddenly regained its length and punted him, forcing his friend to charge.

"Sky Dragon Talon!" Wendy chanted before she kicked the mallet away. "Got your back!"

"Sagittarius! Virgo!" Lucy called out as she held out two keys, summoning her spirits. "Keep an eye out for the sniper! Virgo, sneak up behind him and take him out."

"Understood, Princess." The spirit declared before jumping and crashing into the ice. "Princess, the ground is unscathed. It would seem that this ice is protected by some sort of magic. I can't pierce it." A groan caught her attention and she turned to see the archer forced back into his world.

Flare unleashed her Wolf Fang spell, only for it to get cut off. The strands fell to the ground before they suddenly caught fire. "This hair has been blessed by the Eternal Flame! It has never let me down, and it never will! "Hair Shower: Firefly Spark!" The hair detonated and blasted him back.

Wendy kicked the hammer user back before he swung his mallet, the hand closing around her. Sniper rounds blasted around Lucy before Flare could turn. She started running only for her hair to pull on her scalp, having been tied around a tree. "Gotta right where I want you." Hitoshi chuckled, tightening the knot.

"You girls really never had a chance against us. Maybe in another ten years you'd have stood a chance. But then again, you girls aren't meant for fighting. They aren't even fit to leave the kitchen if you ask me. Let's finish them off and get that treasure."

Lucy chuckled as she stood up with a smile. "You guys are as dumb as we look."

"Arms!" Wendy chanted before she started glowing green. She pushed the hand apart and shattered the metal.

"You know that tying up hair isn't the same as stopping it, right?" Flare teased before the hair wrapped around the swordsman.

"Found ya~" Loke teased from behind the sniper, scaring him. "Here ya go, Lucy!" He threw Drake into the air and the blonde and maid kicked him in the stomach. He crached into the hammer user before Flare slammed the swordsman onto the two.

"Sky Dragon Wing Attack!" Wendy chanted before swiping her arms, blasting trio into the sky and out of the village.

"We did it!" The blonde cheered, making Flare smile.


This is the start of one my favorite character arcs in ALL of FT, and I don't care who knows it. Also, GIANTS! Who the hell saw that one coming? Not to mention both reverse-aging and Flare's return. This arc might be a short one, but it's definitely one of my favorite in the show. Not much left to say so I'll see you all next time.

Beta Read by General Feng Xiang