Chapter Twelve: Lost Friend
Lucy POV:
As I arrived at Shirotsume Town train station I couldn't help compare it to my previous visit. The town looked to be almost completely redone; nothing looked the same not the station or the town centre. Pushing the thought out of my mind I refocused on the conversation I had been having with Sagittarius.
"As we are playing catch up Miss Lucy it would be best if we travel straight to the source of the problem moshi moshi."
As we continued through town I couldn't help but agree with Sagittarius' suggestion. Hibiki had at least a couple of hour's head start and probably more information than us. My only hope was according to Bob Hibiki had arrived late last night after a long few weeks of missions so he might have not woken as early as one might think. Quickly passing through town we made our way to the southern forest pathway. The mission had requested information retrieval on a possible dark guild alliance and so according to Bob, Hibiki was going to try infiltrating the guild and getting out without being noticed. The client not surprisingly was the council and they wanted information not destruction hence why Blue Pegasus got the call and not Fairy Tail.
We had been walking towards the dark guild's possible location for a couple of hours when Sagittarius suddenly halted and pointed to the ground further ahead. As we stepped closer even I could see that the pathway in front of us was all torn up. Glancing round I looked to see if I could figure out what exactly happened. Noticing scorch marks and what looked like blood on several nearby trees, I didn't need Sagittarius next comment to take a wild guess of what occurred.
"It appears moshi moshi that there was a battle here, not too long ago."
Before I could even ask him Sagittarius was following the trail off the path and into the surrounding wood. Eventually the trail ended and looking round I couldn't see any other paths leading away from the site. I was about to tell Sagittarius to keep looking when I remembered Reticulum. Sending Sagittarius back I didn't waste any time.
"Open the gate of the eyepiece graticule Reticulum."
As the light from the spirit's arrival faded I could feel her flow through the air and settled across my face. I didn't need to look to know that a beautiful red and blue jewel encrusted golden mask now covered my face.
"How can I help you today my dear Lucy?"
Hearing the spirit's voice in my head most people would think was strange but over the years I had gotten used to talking to my spirits this way and by now it was normal. Sending a quick thought to Reticulum I had her morph into her second more technical form that of a singular ocular eyepiece. The moment she finished changing I closed my other eye and looked through the lens. Everything around me was now in super sharp focus and I could see details that even a dragonslayer would miss. What I found as I glanced around was what I had suspected: an invisible barrier across a section of the woods. Walking closer I stopped when I came to the edge. Playing a hunch I started calling out.
"Hibiki, its Lucy, Lucy Heartfilia. Lucy of Fairy Tail. We meet some years ago during the guild alliance to take out the Oracion Seis. You taught me my celestial spell Urano Meteoria. You once loved Karen who used to own some of my Zodiac keys Leo and Aries."
The moment I reeled off Karen's name there was an immediate reaction as the barrier fell even before I'd finished speaking; lying propped up against a tree a couple of feet in front of me was an injured Hibiki trying to stand. Rushing forward I held him down and quickly took stock.
"Hibiki what happened?"
Crouching down I used Reticulum to catalogue his wounds as I waited for him to speak.
"I was on my way to a dark guild's location when I got jumped by a raiding party on their way into town. I'm here on a council mission to…"
Here I interrupted him as this bit I already knew as I quietly sent Reticulum home.
"It's alright Hibiki I know about the infiltration mission I stopped off at Blue Pegasus before coming here I was actually searching for you."
I grabbed my keyring and searched for my newest key. Before I left Crocus after another pep talk to Princess Hisui she had given me a gift. When I finished explaining my real mission and how long it would take me to find Aquarius she had become worried. She had dragged me to a magic shop I had never seen near the palace and bought me a new spirit she had seen. Finding the right key I held it out and once more summoned a spirit. This time instead of a mask a golden glowing light appeared and hovered over the both of us.
"My liege the healing arts are a noble profession, what is your will?"
Smiling up at the spirit I still couldn't get used to how she talked.
"Afternoon Ara, I need your help. My friend here has been injured do you think you could take a look and see if you can heal him?"
Without responding Ara's light drifted to Hibiki and settled across him. Before he could freak out I spoke.
"Don't worry, Ara's a healing spirit called the altar. She's very good at healing minor injuries and detecting illness. She should be done in a couple of minutes. While we wait why don't you tell me what you can about the dark guild?"
Though I couldn't see it because of spirit's glow I felt him sigh and settle more securely against the tree via my connection to Ara.
"The guild is called Broken Promises and according to the council they are the leader of a new dark guild alliance. From the information I have been able to gather so far the alliance has only just been formed but they have their eye on gaining territory quickly and viciously. There have about twenty guild members at present but they are all highly skilled wizards. The information I have on the Master is sketchy at best supposedly his magic has something to do with fog or mist I can't be too sure."
As he finished speaking Ara's glow softened and disappeared from Hibiki leaving me able to see him once again.
"The healing arts have once again accomplished much, your friend is healed. He was suffering from minor lacerations and burns and an energy loss. Time shall do what I cannot. Good day."
Ara disappeared back into the spirit world as I moved forward and helped Hibiki up. I knew now was probably the time I should explain why I was there but I suddenly had the over-welling feeling that if I did he would make me leave. My mind raced as I tried to come up with a way that Hibiki would let me help with his mission. I knew Fairy Tail wasn't the greatest at infiltration and whenever I have tried in the past it didn't go well but I had to try to keep him from doing this alone. I could see the look in Bob's eye when he talked about how Hibiki had been dealing with the deaths from the war. Taking a deep breath, I started talking as my mind came up with a plan.
"Hibiki the reason I am here is because I need your help. I have accepted an S-Class quest that needs me to find an ancient civilisation and I was wondering if you could use your achieve to look up any information that is available on its location. As a fair trade I would gladly help you with your mission with the dark guild."
Looking thoughtful Hibiki started testing out his legs admiring the job Ara did. I tried to wait patiently as he thought about my offer. It took him a few minutes but suddenly he nodded and spoke.
"Lucy I would be thankful for the help what with the raiding party having seen my face my original plan will no longer work so I will have to rethink my approach. The dark guild is due south near the southern edge of the forest. It will take us about an hour to walk there; if we hurry we should be there before sundown."
Pleased he had agreed so easily I followed Hibiki as he started walking further into the forest. Catching up I listening closely as he continued talking.
"The mission requires that we gain some sensitive information on a possible new alliance that the guild is trying to pull off. I had planned on infiltrating the guild as a new member and quietly gathering the information I'd need without alerting the guild. Now though we will have to come up with a different strategy."
Letting him think I let my mind wander as we hurried through the forest. I couldn't help but wonder how the Fairy Tail was doing. By now they would have found my note and know that I would be gone for months, even years. Before the war I could have expected Natsu to come tearing after me now… Forcing back the pain at the thought of the ruins that was our friendship I made myself think of something else, surprisingly Gajeel popped into my mind. I realised I hadn't seen him around the guild in the weeks before I left. I had been trying to actively avoid him for the first few months after the war I couldn't look at him at all knowing he would blame me for her death. Just seeing him in the guild brought back memories of seeing the two of them huddled up in the back corner, Levy reading and Gajeel munching on iron.
Shaking loose the depressing thoughts of Levy I started to concentrate on my surroundings as I could hear voices in the distance. I took a glance at Hibiki and saw him grow tense. Following his lead as he slowed down and started creeping towards the noises, I grabbed my keys and whip in case we were ambushed. It only took us minutes to reach the source of the noise, it appeared we were there. In front of us in a clearing was what must have been the dark guild. The building was smaller than the Fairy Tail guildhall; it had several floors and a tower near the back with a courtyard and wall blocking off access other than the main entrance. The peoples voices were coming from the ground floor in what I presumed was the main hall.
"Lucy this way."
Indicating the left-hand side I followed Hibiki around the back of the building. As we crept closer to the wall my mind was running through different tactics that would get us what we needed. This wasn't really something I had had to do before as on a typical Fairy Tail mission we tended to go in magic blazing breaking things first then asking questions. Looking at the tower I could see an open window near the top which sparked an idea. Realising that stealth would be needed I called out Gemini.
"You called piri piri."
Smiling at the twins I indicated them to keep their voices down.
"Hi Gemi Mini I need you guys to transform into Happy for me and fly Hibiki up to that window. Hibiki we can gain entry through there and once inside I can have the twins use their abilities to copy one of the guild members and get some information."
As the twins glowed and changed I quickly star dressed to join them and mimicked their transformation, a useful skill I had developed; the only problem being I could only hold it so far for a maximum of five minutes so we needed to get moving. As I took on a blue skin tone and white feathery wings Gemini flew Hibiki up to the upper floor window. I took off after them trying to get used to the wings as I went. Luckily for us we managed to make our way inside without being seen. We seemed to be in what looked like the guilds infirmary, there were three beds and cabinets loosely stocked with supplies. Once settled inside I had Gemini erase their memory of my own image then instructed them to scout outside and acquire one of the dark guild members' identities. I turned to Hibiki and relayed what I knew.
"Gemini shouldn't be long, once their back they can use the copy to answer any questions you have while I try another approach."
As I finished speaking I felt the twins signal they were ready. Re-summoning them back to me I let them change into the guild member and start talking to Hibiki. While they were busy I called out my next spirit.
"Open gate of the stalking cat Lynx."
With the expected lightshow my newly purchased spirit arrived in the form of a young woman with cat ears and a tail. Lynx as a seductress spirit was appropriately dressed in a barely-there grey mini dress and sky-high heels which showed off her curvy body to maximum effect. The moment she saw Hibiki and Gemini in man form she slinked over and started purring.
"Oh Mistress Lucy I do love your new boy-toys can I please play with them?"
I watched as Hibiki stuttered as Lynx draped herself over him and started rubbing herself against his body like a cat in heat. I barely stopped myself from hitting my head at her behaviour; she was almost as bad as Loke and Taurus when it came to flirting. Pulling her away from the other two I quickly explained the plan.
"Lynx I need your special skills, we need as much information as you can get including information on members of the guild, where they keep any important documents and files, and anything on a dark guild alliance they are planning."
Snapping a snappy salute Lynx strolled out the door already in hunter mode. I knew she would have appreciated her new assignment as Lynx loved seducing bad guys into trouble. As a manipulative spirit Lynx could excrete pheromones that caused different reactions in people. The most useful at the moment were the pheromones that made people easily susceptible to her feminine wiles and the one which made a sense of familiarity and recognition appear in people's minds when she drew near. Seeing Gemini had finished relaying their information to Hibiki I thanked them and sent them home not wanting to waste power in case I needed it later. Before I could ask Hibiki if they were helpful I heard a voice in my head suddenly start speaking; it turned out Lynx had already found something.
Motioning Hibiki to follow me we slowly crept outside and down the corridor. Lynx had managed to gain the information on where the dark guild master kept all his files. Once we had made it down a level and to the right door without being seen we snuck inside and Hibiki immediately got to work accessing the files. To be on the safe side while he searched Hibiki put back up his force field keeping him and I hid behind the imperceptible barrier. I should have known things were going too smoothly as the problem arose when it took him slightly too long to find what he needed. Before I or Hibiki could react the door burst open and what I presume was the dark guild master came storming back into his office and unlucky enough for us walked straight into the invisible shield covering our presence.
Knowing the game would be up within seconds I did what Fairy Tail does best and came out swinging. Quickly grabbing the right key and holding it to my chest I transformed into Capricorn star dress and attacked the guild master before he could realise what had happened. Throwing punches and kicks I tried to keep myself between the master and Hibiki to allow him enough time to get the information we still needed. As the master counter-attacked with magic I finally discovered what his power was and I couldn't stop myself from cringing and screaming at the top of my lungs. The guy used bugs, lots and lots of bugs. The moment Hibiki saw the bugs headed his way he blanched and fled the room.
Forcing myself not to run away as the cloud of insects swarmed at me, I knew Capricorn was no longer my best option as I ducked and dodged the cloud of bugs. Trying to save power I stayed in Capricorn stardress and quickly called out Scorpio and had him sand blast the storm of insects as it swung around for another pass at me. I knew that the bugs weren't the main problem so left them to Scorpio while I once more rushed the guild master. After a few minutes of hand-to-hand combat I saw my opening and used an uppercut powered by Capricorn's strength to take him and his bugs out of commission. Placing my hands on my knees I dragged in a much needed breath of air and relaxed my muscles, darn that was tiring.
Suddenly I heard shouts and magic coming from outside and so I rushed out the door and towards the stairs. By this point I figured the ruckus had alerted the other guild members that there was an intruder. By the time I made it to the first landing I could see several of the guild members headed up the stairs towards me. Not wasting time I had Scorpio sandbuster the lot of them sending them flying back down and taking out the first wave. Quickly I rushed down the stairs and found myself on a balcony overlooking the main guild hall. First things first where the heck had Hibiki gone off to. A quick glance round the ground floor had me locating Hibiki battling it out with several more bad guys; so much for infiltration and stealth, I couldn't help but sigh at the inevitability of a battle when it comes to Fairy Tail mages even if surprisingly enough that included me.
Shaking loose the thought I jumped over the railing and down to the ground floor moving further out into middle of the hall to allow more room to manoeuvre. Still in star dress I swiftly started to beat up different guild members and called out Virgo for back-up and containment. As she dug holes and dragged the defeated guild members into them, Scorpio and I worked as a team to dispatch the rest of the guild as Hibiki finished taking out his last few opponents.
After Virgo had safely contained all the dark guild members into the holes and for added reassurance tied them all up with magic-cancelling rope I turned and apologised to Hibiki about not getting away smoothly.
"It's alright Lucy I really shouldn't be all that surprised as Fairy Tail really does not do subtle."
Wanting to show him that Fairy Tail mages know how to work within a mission statement, I sent back Scorpio and recalled out Gemini.
"Guys could you quickly copy the dark guild master and give Hibiki all the information he needs about the new alliance and the other dark guilds involved."
Twirling in place the twins started to drift towards one of the holes as they answered.
"Of course piri piri."
Vanishing from sight the twins came back almost immediately and transformed into the bug master now unconscious in one of Virgo's holes. Quickly getting to it they started answering Hibiki's questions while I took out my communication lacrima and called the Rune Knights for pick up.
"Hello Mest-sama I could do with a little help."
Half an hour later found Hibiki and me waiting outside the dark guild for the Knights to show. Seeing him relax against the outer courtyard wall I realised that I still had a mission to accomplish here, the one master Bob had needed me personally to do. Knowing now would probably be the best time, I steeled my nerves and started speaking making sure I wasn't staring at him as I knew I wouldn't be able to say any of this if I was looking him in the eye.
"I know this probably isn't the best time and especially what you don't want to hear but I have to talk to you about what happen during the war. It is unfair and cruel of me but I'm going to have to tell you some hard truths. Hibiki I know you're sad and I know you're in pain and feel guilty and angry and even ashamed. But the things you seem to be forgetting is that you are not the only one feeling like that. Your friends are all going through the same thing and you pushing them away and treating them like the enemy isn't helping, you're only hurting them and yourself more. Jenny, Bob, Ren, and your other friends and guildmates, Miss Eve-san and Ichiya-sensei too and you isolating yourself and refusing to talk about them isn't helping. Those two would never have wanted you to punish yourself on their account. They were some of the most sweet and caring individuals I have ever meet. Maybe instead of pushing people away a more fitting tribute would be to carry on their legacy and be a teacher like Eve and a role model for the younger wizards just like Ichiya. I know that it is hard to continue living your life while they are gone but that living the best you can is the only way to make them proud. Please talk to your friends and let them be there for you, talk about your memories of them don't forget the good times and only remember the bad, that would be dishonouring their memory."
After I'd finished my rant I could feel tears streaming down my face. Everything I'd said could be applied to my own situation. I had been doing the same thing when it came to Levy blocking out everything so I didn't have to think about her last moments. When all of this was said and done I knew I had a lot of apologises to make and friendships to fix. Glancing over when I realised he hadn't said anything I saw Hibiki himself was in tears. Giving him a few minutes to get control I decided to lighten the mood.
"Oh yeh by the way, Bob wanted me to tell you no more solo missions for a while. I told him that maybe you, Jenny, Ren, and Sherry should go out on double date missions from now on. You should have seen Jenny blush when I said that, I didn't think she could actual be embarrassed. It's not like everyone doesn't know the two of you are dating; Mira-jane figured it out after about two minutes."
Hearing him laugh, I couldn't help but smile. Though the war was brutal and we lost some loved ones we all have to learn to live again and take the joy in life where we can get it. I knew Levy would have hit me with my own book if she could see how I have been avoiding reading anything to do with fiction because of my memories of her. Hearing what I assumed was the Rune Knights coming through the forest I quickly stepped forward. Before they arrived I swore to myself of that from now on I would take my own advice and think about the good times and remember that a true Fairy Tail wizard always keeps getting back up when they are knocked down.