Hot and Cold

Pirates

~*****~

"Where is everyone?" Happy asks.

"Are you sure they came here?" Natsu hums.

"Yeah, this has been their camp." Lucy nods. "I wonder where they could have gone."

"Hello!?" Happy calls loudly.

"Since we're here, I'm gonna grab bandages and some medicine," Gray says as he enters a tent.

"You finally made it back!" We hear a villager exclaim. We turn around to see him still in his demon form. "There's something you need to see! Please, follow me to the village!" Erza is quick to whirl me around, I suppose to make my throbbing leg jostle around.

"I suppose this is punishment enough," I comment dryly as a tear escapes my eye.

"Not nearly enough." Erza retorts.

I groan loudly as we continue onwards. The village is back without a problem, and everyone seems to be frolicking with joy. "Whoa, are you kidding me?" Lucy asks.

"Yesterday it was a total mess, but now it looks perfect!" Happy adds.

"What's going on here?" Natsu asks as he taps on one of the walls. "Everything's back to how it was! It's like the village went back in time!"

"Now that it's fixed, you probably shouldn't' touch anything, 'kay, Natsu?" I mention.

"ARE YOU SAYING I DESTROY EVERYTHING I TOUCH?!" Natsu bellows at me.

"Did you forget us totally wrecking that temple?" I chuckle.

"Oh, yeah," Natsu says as he plops his fist onto his hand. He begins murmuring to himself but in the end, decides to ignore whatever he'd been thinking about and strolled off happily.

I chuckle and roll my eyes. "Can I sit down now? My leg's gonna break if you continue to jostle it around." I mention to Erza.

She gives me a side glare before helping me sit on one of the benches. I hiss and grasp at my leg. "You did a brave thing, attacking that giant demon by yourself." Erza says softly, her hand rubbing my head. "While I may be cross with you and the others, I'm still proud of what you did."

I snort. "Thanks, Erza. And I still don't think you're scary, you big softie."

"Then I guess I'll need to try harder," She smirks before trailing off after Lucy. It doesn't take long before I'm being hauled up again for a town meeting. Natsu helps me walk-- thankfully mindful about the injury. "Let me make sure I have my facts straight." Erza says once everyone arrives. "The first time everybody in this village took on these demonic forms is when the moon began to turn purple. Is that correct?"

"Yes." Moka nods. "During the day, we're fine, but when the moon comes out we transform into what you see now."

"And the moon first turned purple about three years ago, right?" Erza questioned.

"Wow, has it really been that long?" One villager asks.

"Yeah," Another nods.

"We've learned that the Moon Drip Ceremony has been performed on this island every night for the last three years. And each night, it produced a beam of light so brilliant that you couldn't possibly have missed it." Erza says as she strolls right into the pitfall trap Lucy left.

I snort and begin to guffaw loudly, throwing my head back as I begin to snort. "Whoa! Even Lucy's Pitfall Trap is back!" Happy exclaims.

"She screamed like a girl." Natsu hummed.