Remember how I said it was the new arc?
Surprise, I lied again.
Well, not that I lied, but I realized how trash the idea was, so I ditched it. And as soon as I did that, inspiration struck! This is the real new arc, but it won't be 20 chapters or anything. Depends on how long I can drag it out. So enjoy!
"Are you positive?" Nashi rolled her eyes as Ultear asked the question for the third time.
"I've tripled checked." Damien replied, throwing the flyer down. "It's the right damn area, let's just do this."
"I'm telling you." Drake growled, crossing his arms. "That flyer smells...eerily familiar." Nashi nodded in agreement as Elise rubber her forehead.
"Uh...my head is killing me" She growled. "I want to agree with Drake, but... I don't know why" Nashi watched the girl warily. Whenever Elise got poked in Phantom Dove's direction, everyone stayed quiet to see if Doranbolt's memory programming faltered and she remembered everything. It hadn't yet, but Nashi didn't like to take the chance, the flyer smelled way to much like...him. The mere memory of the torturer made Nashi sick to her stomach.
"Don't worry about it" Simon said carefully, patting Elise on the shoulder. "let's just get these ancestral scrolls and make a run for it."
"Agreed" Ultear said warily. "This cave is creeping me out." They'd been hired to retrieve some scrolls from someone's ancestor that were, apparently, somewhere inside this cave. Nashi didn't know if there was anything inside she could beat up, but she hoped there was. That was one of the few things that would settle her nerves. She walked behind everyone inside and got a blast of disgusting air to the nose, and she doubled over.
"Mavis, it smells like shit in here" Nashi said, straightening and covering her nose.
"Better sense of smell doesn't help." Drake hissed, covering his own mouth and nose with the popped collar of his coat. Nashi did her best to ignore it, but it didn't work very well. They walked down the descending pathway further into the darkness, and Nashi felt unnerved even more that nothing was in the way. A monster, a person looking for help, something. They walked out into what looked like a clearing, into absolute nothingness.
"Well" Elise said slowly. "Anyone see scrolls?"
"I don't see a goddamn thing" Drake replied angrily. "Did that client dupe us?"
"Why would they?" Nashi asked. "Unless they were..." Nashi was cut off my a rumble throughout the cave, causing everyone to lose their balance.
"What was that?" Simon asked. The requip mage got his answer when the floor fell out from underneath them, and they tumbled towards the darkness. Nashi felt her back connect with the ground, and her vision faded.
When Nashi awoke, she was on her stomach, her arms supporting her head as if she'd been asleep. She yawned as she sat up and looked around. Where was she? She remembered falling down a hole and blacking out, that was about it.
"Guys?" She called out, looking for her friends. "Hello? Anyone?" Nashi stood and looked around the small caver she'd landed in. They'd all fallen down the same hole, how had they gotten separated? "Drake? Elise? Ul? Simon? Damien? Can anyone hear me?" Nashi began to feel panicked. Where were her friends? She really had nothing to do other than try and find everyone, so she began to walk down the one way hall she was in. It only took her a moment to find a piece of paper, that looked rather aged, resting on a pedestal.
Initiate,
within the hollowed halls of our holy ground towards the scrolls, you will face that which you fear most. No mater what it be; regret, disappointing someone, spiders, you will face it as your trial ahead. Good luck, you will need it.
Nashi wasn't exactly sure what the hell that meant, but she didn't have time to wonder. She moved on from the pedestal and back down the hallway, and hear footsteps ahead of her.
"Hello?" She called weakly. "Guys? Is that you?" No one responded, and she sighed, tapping her foot.
"Such a disappointment." The voice said, and Nashi's eyes widened. "Why are you such a disappointment, Kid?" Nashi watched in complete disbelief as her father stepped out from the darkness, staring at her.
"D-dad?" Nashi managed. "What are you doing here?" He sighed.
"Watching my failure of a daughter fuck up, again." He replied, and Nashi felt a knife pierce her heart. "Seriously, are we sure you're mine?"
"W-what...?"
"I've never been more disappointed of someone in my life. You are not my daughter, you're just...ugh" Every word hurt Nashi even more, even though she knew something was off.
"What's going on?" She demanded. "My dad wouldn't say that!"
"Really? Cause last I checked here I am, saying it. Rather strange I'm not, huh?" Nashi growled. "Don't do that, it just makes you more unappealing to look at."
Drake was confused. He was all by himself in a dark hole, and no one was around. He couldn't even hear anyone, just emptiness. He sighed as he continued down the only path he could see, not knowing exactly where we was supposed to be going. Why was it this only happened to him and his friends? It was just too weird.
"Hello?" he tried again, and once again to no avail. It was becoming more and more apparent they'd been separated.
"Drake, is that you?" Drake sighed at the sound of Nashi's voice, and grinned.
"Nashi, thank Mavis!" he shouted happily as he ran towards her voice. "I'm so glad your..." Drake trailed off as he reached the source of the voice, and his skin crawled. Nashi was standing there waiting for him, but she was severely wounded. her legs and arms had gashes all over the, and her left eye had been gouged out. Her stomach was burnt (Surprisingly enough) and she had such a deep frown on her face.
"What took you so long?" Nashi whimpered. "You did this to me!"
"W-what?" Drake croaked. "I- I didn't..."
"You said you'd always be there, and you weren't. I needed you and you weren't there. This is your fault!"
"I-I..." Drake didn't know what to say, his voice wouldn't cooperate. How had she gotten this hurt? Was everyone else like this. Nashi coughed, and blood splattered all over the ground. "Nashi, I..."
"Don't you dare fucking apologize, it's far too late. We're all dead because of you, everyone's gone. And you know what now?"
"W-what?"
"I'm going to use the remainder of my strength to kill you, maybe then you'll see what you've done."
I, Nashi please, I don't..." He trailed off as a fireball flew past his head, and Nashi growled.
"You weren't there for us, for any of us... and now it's your turn to die!"
Ultear wasn't that badly hurt, but her old leg wound from Zindo was acting up again. When she got back, she was going to have Wendy look at it, maybe it was still in worse shape then she thought.
"Mavis, where am I?" She demanded, throwing a fist at the wall. "We all got separated for these damn scrolls...fuck!" Ultear winced as pain shot up her leg, and she groaned. "I wish I could just get out of here, this is ridiculous!"
"Don't we all, Ultear-nee?" Ultear felt her eyes widen. No, it was impossible, that voice had died long ago. Long, long ago. "What's wrong, Ultear-nee? Surprised to see me?" Ultear turned her head slightly, and gasped. Keiko stood there silently, staring at her.
"K-Keiko" Ultear managed. "W-what, h-how..?"
"A little cutie, isn't she?" Ultear gasped again as another figure with tattoos all over his face stepped out of the darkness. "Such a shame she burned to death."
"Z-Zindo" Ultear whispered, and the man grinned as he patted Keiko on the head. "W-what are you...how are you..."
"Surprised to see me?" He asked, and Ultear nodded viciously. "Not surprised, that little firefly of yours packed quite the punch."
"You, you, you..."
"Yes yes, I should be dead, right?" Ultear nodded, and Zindo laughed. "And so is Keiko, and yet we're both here to see you, Ultear-nee." With that, Zindo reached down and, n one swift movement, snapped Keiko's neck. Ultear screamed as her body collapsed and Zindo laughed. "What's wrong, Ultear-nee, have I done something wrong?" Ultear watched in complete disbelief as Keiko stood, unharmed.
"K-Keiko..."
"What's wrong Ultear-nee?" The girl asked innocently. "You're crying." Before Ultear could reply, Zindo slammed Keiko's head into the wall, and laughed as the body went limp. Keiko crawled out and remained stationary as Zindo attacked her mercilessly, and Ultear felt tears streaming down her face.
"STOP!"
Simon wasn't one for being alone, and he sure as shit didn't like the fact they'd been separated. He'd called out for everyone at least a million times each, but each time was met with absolute silence. He knew it was no good, why the hell was he even trying.
"This is insane." He hissed to himself. "Sometimes I wonder what I be doing if I wasn't doomed as what appears to be a plot device for some shitty story..." Mumbling to himself incoherently, Simon continued to walk down the path, before he was stopped by clapping. "What was that?"
"Oh, congratulations, you aren't completely retarded." Simon watched as the voice in question stepped out from the darkness, and gasped as his father stepped out from the shadows. "I'm honestly impressed, you don't know."
"Dad?" Simon asked weakly, staring at him in confusion.
"Don't address me like we're close." he hissed in response. "You act as if I care about you."
"But you do, I've seen it."
"Keep telling yourself that, I've never hated anyone more, and that's coming from Zeref's puppet. I don't understand ho such a pathetic human being could be produced by Erza and myself. Truly a mistake of judgement." Simon had never heard such things from his father, and it hurt to hear. His father had always done his best to make him feel loved, and this was not that.
"Stop lying to me." Simon growled. "What is this, some sort of trick?"
"I wish, you're so undesirable it's ridiculous. Makes me sick to my stomach, truthfully."
"Yeah? I'm not stupid.
"Debatable."
Damien didn't need to be smart to know they'd fallen into a trap, it was clear as anything to see. He sighed as he continued towards what he hoped was the way out and the others, but that was debatable. He was all to familiar with bullshit, and this reeked of it, and that could only spell one word: Bad. he rubbed his throbbing elbow he slammed it against the wall, surprisingly not breaking it.
"Man, what am I doing here?" He demanded. "I don't understand why I'm so..."
"Stop complaining, Oniichan." Damien froze mid-sentence at the interruption. That voice, he knew it all too well. He turned slowly and found the cause. The cause was about as tall as Nashi, with golden blonde hair. Her eyes were a piercing blue, and her face spelled trouble.
"S-Steph?" Damien asked, and was met with a blast of lightning.
"Don't you dare address me so casually." Steph hissed. "Not after what you did to me."
"Steph, I didn't..."
"You didn't?! Have you forgotten, Oniichan?!" Steph asked incredulously. "It's all your fault! You tried to impress us and what happened? Death and destruction! And you know who's fault it is?"
"X-Xisplate..."
"Wrong! Yours!" Steph blasted him with lightning, and Damien flew back into the wall. She sure has some power behind her attacks...she is a Dreyar... Damien felt himself collapse into the wall, and he stayed there as Steph advanced before a hand grabbed his arm. He turned to find the demon himself helping him up.
"Get up, Damien" Xisplate hissed. "Don't fall for it."
"W-what?" Damien whispered as Steph growled. Xisplate sighed.
"This place" Xisplate said. "It's an old burial ground where tribesmen would traverse tests to commune with their ancestors. This is one such test. The test of the deepest fear."
"Deepest fear?" Damien asked as he stood. Xisplate nodded.
"One such test they endured was facing a physical embodiment of what they feared deep down, but would never admit. Yours, apparently, is your sister blaming you for what happened."
"But it wasn't my..." another lightning bolt exploded between them.
"Not the time, Damien" Xisplate hissed.
"Fuck!" Elise slammed her club into the wall again and growled. "Fucking fucking fucking fuck! Why the fuck am I stuck down here?!" She growled as she rubbed her fist that was now sore from the attacking. She really had to learn to calm down. This place just creeped her out, and her head was still throbbing from that familiar smell the flyer had. She knew she could place it, bu she got a killer headache whenever she thought about it. Maybe it had something to do with the pains she experienced when people, guys especially, grabbed her hips? Hell if she knew. All she did know was that she was in a hole, pissed off, and now had a throbbing headache.
A recipe for a great day, obviously.
Doing her best to ignore the pain coursing through her head, Elise continued down the hall, rubbing her knuckles to sooth them. She was about to enter another hissy fit when a dark voice chuckled.
"Well, hello again beautiful" Elise looked up and found a man approaching her from the shadows, and her headache intensified.
"Do I know you from somewhere?" Elise demanded, and the man chuckled.
"You don't remember, huh? Too bad, I remember every moment. Let me tell you, we had some fun" Elise grinned back, equally as dark.
"Did it involve me kicking your ass? Because that's about to happen in about three seconds."
"It involved ass, just not mine and certainly not getting kicked." Elise's temples roared in defiance to his voice and Elise groaned and doubled over.
"Fuuuuuuuck my head!" She groaned. "What the hell is wrong with my head?!"
"Well, how is she?" Elise's eyes widened as hr mothers voice resounded in her head. A mans voice sighed.
"I can do it, but she's incredibly resistant." Doranbolt's reply came.
"I don't care, find a way."
"She may remember, or at least have a killer headache if she thinks about it."
"If she'll be Elise again, I don't care."
Elise wasn't really sure what to think. When had she overheard that?Her head felt as if it was going to explode, and she grabbed it in a vain attempt to prevent just that.
"I don't know who you are, pal" Elise hissed, facing the man with great difficulty through the pain, "But maybe kicking your ass will make me fell better."
"Let's find out"
Before anyone asks, yes, that is the guy that...
you know...
anyway, hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!