Part 2: Shadows of Magic (Rogue Cheney X OC)

Chapter 9

Hope's P. O. V:

I sit in the magic mobile next to Rogue who is wracked with motion sickness while Erza drives the vehicle, and rub his back soothingly.

"There, there, Rogue-kun, we'll be there in a bit, I promise," I reassure him. His cheeks bulge with bile as Rogue struggles not to throw up.

"I still don't feel any better, Hope-chan," He mutters. I give a soft smile before I pat my lap. Rogue lies down and I stroke his black hair comfortingly to try and help ease his motion sickness.

I guess Erza and I forgot that being a Dragon Slayer himself also meant that Rogue would have the weakness of moving vehicles.

"Hey, Erza? How much father?" I call.

She responds, "Not long now."

I decide to sing Make Some Noise in an effort to help take my boyfriend's mind off his aching stomach. It wasn't too much longer before we reach the bright town of Margeret. It has canals running through it and bridges over them, similar to Magnolia.

Rogue braces himself against a tree and I continue to rub his back soothingly as he tries to overcome his sickness.

"Are you feeling better now, Roguey?" I ask in concern.

After not vomiting up anything for the final time, the crimson eyed male responds as he turns to me, "Y-Yeah. I'll be fine, Hope-chan."

Erza says guiltily as she clenches a gauntleted fist, "I'm so ashamed! I should've known that like Natsu, you'd have motion sickness too, Rogue."

Rogue says, "It's alright. I'm not mad."

"Well, if you're better now, Roguey, we should go meet up with our client. I think he owns a bookstore," I speak up, making him nod. We eventually find our client and enter a quaint bookstore.

"This is cozy," Comments Erza.

"I'm glad you like it, Erza-san," Comes a male voice, gaining our attention. A tall man with blonde hair and green eyes stands before us, a kind smile on his face.

"You must be Justin Evans?" Erza inquires, making him nod.

"Indeed I am. You're here about the Job Request I posted?"

I nod and introduce my team. "I'm Hope Foster. You already know Erza Scarlet, and this is Rogue Cheney, my boyfriend," I say, gesturing to the ravenette. I then remember Frosch and smile down at him. "And this little guy is Frosch, Rogue's Exceed."

"A pleasure to meet you all. Now, I'll explain the details of the job. Recently, a very small but strong Dark Guild has been attacking this town. Many civilians got injured and a few got killed. Lamia Scale's Sherry Blendy is helping to treat their wounds right now. The Dark Guild uses a very rare and special type of Magic Gun known as Element Burst Revolvers. They allow the user to store any type of magic into them and fire at will."

Erza murmurs in surprise, "A type of Guns Magic that can use any type of magic?"

Justin nods his head. He says, "Technically. Although, as far as I've seen, they're unable to use Lost Magic, such as Arc of Magic and Dragon Slayer Magic. It's their guild's primary weapon and I want you to destroy every last one of them before they can hurt or kill anyone else. You don't necessarily have to capture the dark wizards themselves, but if you do anyway, that would also be a big help."

I say, "Leave it to us, Sir."

Rogue adds, "We'll take care of it, and make sure they don't trouble this town again."

Justin nods his head in approval before saying, taking something out of his shirt pocket, "Thank you very much. Their name is the Harpuia guild and here's the map to their location. I wish you the best of luck."

"Thank you, Sir," Says Erza as I take the map.

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"Let's see... the base should be......" I trail off as I turn the map this way and that, my group and I wandering through the forest for a couple of hours, the sun beginning to set. "...... here!" I jab my finger at the spot as I stop and we look up.

Up ahead is a tall building a little further into the trees. Rogue, Erza and I hurry behind some trees as we peer at the guild hall cautiously.

"There it is," I say.

"How do we get in without alerting any of the members?" Asks Rogue.

I suggest, "Why don't you hide us in your shadows, Rogue?"

"I guess I could try that," He says. Erza and I move closer to him and Rogue summons shadows around us. Cautiously, we approach the Harpuia guild and manage to slip inside undetected.

"Now we've just got to find where they keep their Element Burst Revolvers," Says Erza as we wander in further and gaze around.

"Give me a second," I say, making them stop as they turn to me. I activate my Ether Form and close my eyes as I focus on finding the magic items. In heartbeats, I've found a room one floor above us filled with several guns. "Found them."

Erza smiles as she asks, "Which way?"

I point to the ceiling as I reply, "One floor up."

Rogue nods and we disappear in a swirl of shadows. Erza, Rogue, Frosch and I soon reappear on the next floor and I lead my teammates to the room with the magic items.

I step up to the doors in front of us and try to open them. They're locked. I activate my Ether Form yet again and hood out my left index finger. I focus a small ether beam into the lock and there's a sizzling sound, steam wafting from the lock.

Rogue and Erza keep watch.

In a few minutes, I had finally popped the lock and push the doors open inward. My teammates and I enter and we gaze at the many rows of guns. They appear to be two long-single barreled mix of pistol and revolve design.

"Looks like we found our treasure trove," Says Erza.

"How do we go about this?" Asks Rogue. He glances to me. "We have to be careful not to alert the guild members..."

I don't say anything as I summon ether to my hands. Thrusting them upward, I send out powerful streams of magic energy and it tears right through the rows of magic guns. I keep going until there's an explosion and all the weapons in the storage room are destroyed, their shattered pieces drifting to the floor. I even see pieces of lacrima, too.

That must be how they're able to use their magic in these weapons.

Rogue gapes at me while Erza smiles, unfazed, as I lower my arms. I say flippantly, "There. Done. Now we've just got to destroy whatever weapons the members themselves currently have now."

"Hold it right there!" An angry male voice shouts from behind us. We whirl around to see a huge group of Harpuia members gathered behind us, the same guns as in that room in their hands, aimed right at us. "Nobody move or we'll shoot!!"

Rogue says wryly, "It looks like they've found us."

"I destroyed their weapons, didn't I?" I retort. I summon ether and send out a beam at a man to my left. I wrap it around his gun and yank it out of his grip, causing him to cry out indignantly.

"Hey!!" I easily crush it with my beam and the broken gun drops to the ground. The man slumps his shoulders as he groans in depression. "Awe, MAN!!"

"GET THEM!!" The first man who spoke orders. Then they start firing different kinds of magic at us. Elements, Sword Magic, Glass Magic and various other magic.

"They're shooting at us!" Rogue says as I raise my hand and swipe it through the air while Erza requips a sword and charges right on ahead, a curved crystallised shield of ether forming in front of me and Rogue to protect us.

I reply dryly as I give him a deadpan expression, "Everybody's ALWAYS shooting at us."

Rogue then transforms into a shadow and slithers out from around my shield to aid Erza in attacking the dark wizards.