In a landslide of votes Damien apparently decimates Terra. Kind of my own fault for saying that as Damien has main group plot advantage.
Enjoy!
Elise wasn't stupid, she had a plan as everyone rushed for the exit. Drake and Asuka were already ahead, there was nothing she could do about that. However, as she got to the door, she turned with a grin.
"Sorry Nashi." She said, causing the other girl to make a confused face. "Every mage for themselves!" Slamming her hands into the ground, an iron wall sprung up from the earth and all the way across the cavern where Mavis' grave was.
"Elise!" Nashi's angry voice came from inside. "Let us out!"
"No can do!"Elise shouted back. "You guys can just stay in there until the exams are over!"
"Redfox!" Rocky roared from inside, causing Elise to burst into laughter. Sprinting as hard as she could to catch up to the others, she saw Sammy waiting for her by he exit to the caves.
"What the hell were you doing?!" he demanded.
"Nothing." She replied innocently. "Where did Asuka and Drake go?"
"I don't know, the tree!" he shouted. "Mavis Redfox, let's go already!" Elise rolled her eyes and ran in the direction of the giant tree.
"I though you didn't want to win anyway!" She shouted, looking back at him.
"That doesn't mean I want to be last!"
"Tch!" Elise laughed, "We won't be, I trapped Nashi and Rocky by the grave!"
"How did you do that?! He demanded.
"Doesn't matter, let's go!"
Drake was laughing knowing he and Asuka had pulled away the fastest, Sammy staying back to see where Elise had gone. He didn't know where Nashi or Rocky had gone, maybe taking a different path.
"Alright, now what?" Asuka asked as they finally stopped to see where they were.
"The tree is that way." Drake replied, pointing towards the giant tree in the distance. "Although I think our best bet to get there would be..."
"Hurry up, Sammy! I can smell Drake going this way!" Drake's eyes widened as he heard Elise yelling behind them.
"I'm going as fast as I can!"
"Shit," he hissed. "Elise is coming, she can smell us."
"Well how are we supposed to lose her?" Asuka demanded. "Dragon Slayers have an unfair tracking ability." Drake made a face and observed their location, seeing a ledge leading up a huge hill next to them.
"This way." Drake said, grabbing at tree branches and hoisting himself up the ledge.
"That seems incredibly pointless." Asuka commented from below him.
"You want Elise to attack us on our way?" he demanded, looking over his shoulder. "She gets close enough and she won't let up on the attacks."
"Ugh, fine." Drake heard her begin to climb up next to him, and he pulled her up the rest of the way. Drake looked down and spotted the wet dirt below them, grinning.
"Sorry, Asuka." he said, crouching down.
"What?" She asked." Before she could respond, Drake picked up fistfuls of the wet dirt and threw it at her, and she shrieked. "What the hell was that for?!" She hissed, wiping the dirt from her clothes.
"To mask your scent." Drake replied, doing the same to himself, smearing mud and dirt all over his coat. "Elise may not chase us this way, but she can still smell us."
"Stop making so much sense, it's making it too difficult to be angry at you." She hissed. "Well, how did it work?"
"You smell like shit." Drake replied with a laugh, "On the other hand though, not like Asuka. Come on, this way." Asuka sighed as Drake pushed branches out of their path, continuing on their way towards the Tenrou tree.
Elise paused as the scent of her friend and the gunslinger faded. She stopped and looked around, wondering what had happened.
"Did you lose it?" Sammy asked.
"Weirdly enough, yeah." She replied. "I don't get it, I followed it loyally!"
"Maybe we passed them?"
"I followed it right here." Elise emphasized, "we didn't pass them or anything, the trail just stops right here." Elise did her best to think of how Drake and Asuka possibly masked their scent. Drake probably knew she was tailing them, but she didn't see anything that would've allowed them to mask Elise's scent. "I just don't understand..."
"We don't have time for this!" Sammy shouted, grabbing Elise by her shoulders. "If we stay here and try to figure it out, we're going to lose!"
"...You're right, come on!" Elise and Sammy took off in the direction of the tree again, the scent losing disappearing from Elise's concerns.
"God damn it!" Nashi looked up as Rocky swore, bounding on the iron surrounding them uselessly. "Fuck you, Redfox! I swear on the grave behind me I'm going to kill you when I get out of here!"
"Calm down, Rocky." Nashi advised. "We've lost, except it." He didn't reply, but Nashi wasn't done. "Just like most things, you can't take a loss."
"You know." Rocky said in a voice so low in was almost a whisper. "This is all your fault." Nashi perked up at these words and glared at the back of his head.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean, asshole?"
"It's exactly what it sounds like." Rocky replied, voice raising above the angry tone he'd been using."If you weren't so useless maybe we'd be able to get out of here!"
"My fault?!" Nashi shouted, standing and approaching him, but he didn't back down. "I've done everything for this fucking team! I've carried you this entire way and all of a sudden, Elise's crafty plan is my fault?!"
"Exactly!" Rocky shouted. "If you're so goddamn perfect that break us the fuck out of here! Oh that's right." Rocky said before she could respond. "What could you do? You're useless."
"Listen here. Boulder Brain." Nashi hissed, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and glaring at him, her body slowly igniting. "I'm in way over my head with your bullshit."
"Oh yeah?" Rocky demanded with a laugh. "I've been over my head with yours for over ten years, bitch." The earth beneath her feet began to shake violently, and Nashi allowed her fist to catch fire.
"I've waited years to kick your ass thoroughly." She said flatly.
"So have I, I've had dreams about it" Nashi reared back and coated her fist in flames, Rocky doing the same with a fist covered in rocks. The magical tension in the cavern intensified, and Nashi felt her rage reach the boiling point. She threw her punch, and Rocky threw his.
"Stop it!" Both fists stopped and inch from the intended face to punch and stared at each other quizzically.
"Was that you?" Rocky asked, his eyebrow raised.
"I was about to ask you the same thing." Nashi replied. Nashi let go of him and the fire died away, just as Rocky's rocks fell back to earth. Together, the both of them looked over near the grave, and found the source of the problem.
A small girl with incredibly long blonde hair stood there in a pink dress, glaring at the two of them.
"Uh..." Nashi said weakly. "Where did you...?"
"You two shouldn't be fighting!" The girl said angrily. "I didn't start this guild so the members could kill each other in front of my grave!"
"My...Grave?" Rocky asked weakly, and Nashi finally put it together.
"Master Mavis?!" She asked, making Rocky gasp. Mavis sighed.
"Took you long enough, seriously." She said. "You really are Natsu's daughter." Nashi suddenly felt very self-conscious about all the times she's used the First's name to swear. "Now, what is this all about?"
"Nashi's useless." Rocky replied. Nashi let out a sharp, cold laugh.
"Rocky's an asshole." Nashi replied, and the two started to glare at each other again. Mavis sighed.
"You shouldn't say such things about each other." She told them. "Fairy Tail is supposed to be a family, and families don't say such hurtful things and mean them."
"I don't count him as my family." Nashi replied.
"The feeling's mutual." Rocky said.
"Why?" Mavis asked. "What deep-rooted problems have caused such a division between you two?"
"Ask him." Nashi replied, jabbing a thumb at her exam partner. "I only hate him because he bullied me for years."
"Well?" Mavis asked, now in Rocky's direction. "Why do you resent her so much?"
"Uh..." Rocky started.
"Surely there must be something. Deep issues from childhood, insecurity, something." Rocky looked down at the ground, obscuring his eyes from the two girls.
"...I joined the guild when I was four." His voice finally came. "Some people left me there, saying I could rebuild my family after losing them to bandits." Nashi looked over at him almost sympathetically. "Once I got there, everyone treated my so nicely, and I made some friends. I continued to work on my magic, and eventually got half decent at it, which was enough for Gramps to clear me for jobs."
"Continue." Mavis replied softly. Rocky sighed, still not looking up.
"That was when it started. I did job after job, constantly got better at my magic, and made a name for myself. But..." he looked away. "She never had to do any of that."
"Eh?" Nashi asked, knowing that referred to her.
"Everyone treated you like a goddamn princess." Rocky said. "And for what? Sitting around and watching your friends improve while you never could? I didn't understand why you always got so much love and attention from everyone, and someone like me never got anything, even for all my hard work." Nashi felt conflicted at his words. "Eventually, as it got worse, this confusion turned into resentment, and then hatred. I know it's a childish reasoning, but..." he sighed. "I couldn't help it."
"Rocky..." Nashi said weakly. Rocky chuckled darkly.
"And then, when your dad came home and you exploded and...and said all that stuff about wanting to kill yourself and wishing everyday was your last...I don't think I've ever gone that long without sleep in my life. I didn't sleep for a week, I couldn't eat, I threw up...I realized what I'd done to you for so long, but there was no going back on it."
"What do you mean?" Nashi asked weakly. Rocky laughed, a cold one.
"I'd already burnt the bridge between any civil interaction between us." he replied. "Every time we interacted, being rude and acting like an asshole was just... it was the only way I remembered how to talk to you." He collapsed to the rock hard floor. "I only continued to say those things because...I didn't know how else to talk to you. You acted all angry and rude, and I knew there was no acting any different."
"But...But..." Nashi couldn't form her words. That was why Rocky resented her? It seemed so...justified. Perhaps not the bullying, but the hatred, surely.
"If there was ever a way I could make this up to you, I'd..." Rocky paused. "There isn't anything, I know, but if anything could change how we talk to each other, maybe make some sort of truce or understanding..." Rocky didn't say anything more, and Nashi just stood still attempting to process all that she had just heard. Looking over at Mavis, the blonde nodded, and Nashi gulped. She stood in front of Rocky, the motion garnering his attention.
Nashi outstretched her hand and held it there.
"Dragneel...?" He asked slowly. Nashi smiled determinedly.
"You want to make it up to me?" She asked. "Start by getting yourself together. I need my exam partner, we haven't lost yet." Rocky stared at her in complete bewilderment. "Well, Boulder Brain? We doing this or not?" Rocky stared at her for another moment, before he smiled and grabbed her hand, standing.
"Well Dragneel, you've inspired me." he said. "Now how the hell do we get out of here?"
"I've got a pretty good idea."
Mavis watched with a small smile as the duo burst through the iron wall riding a wave of earth and propelled by fire.
"They sure grow up fast, huh?" She asked with a chuckle. "Good luck Nashi, Rocky...You'll need it. Especially you, Nashi..."
I really like this chapter, personally. Really explains Rocky in a nice way, don't you think? Anyway, the question today is:
You change one thing about one character from the story, who is it, what is it and why?
I hope you enjoyed,l eave a review! Let's try and get ten!