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

Chapter 38

Hope's P. O. V:

Lucy, my brother, Wendy and I were running along the slipper ice covered ground as we search for Natsu. Gray and the Exceeds have split off—Gray to look for the Fire Dragon Slayer, Happy and Charlele to do some recon.

Suddenly, there's a cry from behind us and we pause to see Wendy has fallen on her face.

I ask worriedly, "Are you okay?! Can you stand?"

She responds as we turn to her, "Yeah, I'm fine. This ice is super slippery."

Lucy murmurs as she gazes around, "Somehow we lost track of Natsu and Gray."

Sitting up, the Sky Dragon Slayer wonders, "What'll we do? There are nothing but frozen trees and stuff as far as the eye can see."

Alec addresses me pointedly, "Hope?"

Before I could track the boys down, Wendy asks, "Uh, Alec, Hope, Lucy?"

"Yeah?"

Wendy looks at us questioningly. "Have you noticed anything odd recently?"

A deadpan expression crosses Wendy's features as she informs us, "I might be an understatement—more like freaky, you know what I mean?" We look behind her only to see Hirishi with a Happy mask and Rala with a Charlele mask crouching behind us. "You can take off the masks, guys!"

"What are you talking about, masks? We aren't wearing those!" Hiroshi exclaims.

Rala asks, "Don't you recognise us? We're cats! You're cats!"

Lucy screams in fright, eyes bugging in their sockets.

Hiroshi says, "We just went for a little fly, but we're back, meow!"

"We're so glad to be back with our friends, meow!" Rala adds.

Alec scoffs, "No way! Come on, guys! You expect us to believe you two are Happy and Charlele?"

They look at each other before gasping.

Hiroshi exclaims as he looks at his hands, "Our disguises are perfect! What sorcery allows these four to see past our illusions?!"

Rala tells him, "I said I should've been the blue cat, but did ya listen?!"

With a dumbstruck expression, Lucy mumbles, "I feel like Warrod's gonna pop up and tell us we got bunked."

Wendy comments, "Treasure hunters have a much broader skill set than I thought they would."

They throw off their masks and Hiroshi tells us, "Alright, little one! The roses are up, you've found us out! Now, listen!" Hiroshi throws his finger at Lucy. "Those keys are totally rare, so pass them over!"

Rala also points at her as he agrees, "Yeah, nice and slow, ya dig?!"

Placing her hands protectively over her keys, the Heartfilia tells them, "You can't just take whatever you want!"

Wendy says sincerely, "Uh, listen. I'm sorry that we broke your bottle. We don't want to fight. We're just trying to help the giants." Here, she clenches her fist in front of her chest. "If you leave us alone, then we'll do the same."

"The giants?" Hiroshi scoffs, half turning to one. "Nobody cares about those fat suckers!" He grips the hilt of his massive sword and unsheathes it. "Especially not treasure hunters! For guys like us, there's only one thing in this world that matters." He leaps up towards the giant and pulls his sword back. "And that's getting more treasure! And we'll do whatever it takes to do it!!"

I feel anger boils in my veins as he slams his sword into the back of the giants' leg. My teammates were just as shocked and angry.

I exclaim, "But they're still alive! Why did you attack them?!"