The Knight and The Strawberry

chapter 15

Lucy couldn't help the shrill cry she let out as the floor of the old temple suddenly crumbled out from under her feet.

"Natsu you idiot! Look what you did!" Gray yelled as the trio fell into the abyss. Before long the ground came up to meet them and the rubble. With a loud thud they hit the floor of a cave running under the temple. Gray was the first to recover, rolling over from where he had landed on his back. "You alright Lucy?"

Lucy groaned and sat up on her knees. "Yeah I'm fine. Would be a lot better if Natsu hadn't dropped the floor out from under us." She said with a bit of venom in her voice towards Natsu.

"Hey how was I supposed to know it would collapse?" Natsu whined.

"Here's a thought. Maybe if you'd think before you act you wouldn't cause so much destruction!" Gray shouted.

Within a moment, the trio picked themselves up and dusted off. Looking up, they could clearly see the hole they had fallen through several stories above them. "Do you think you can fly us back up Happy?" Lucy asked.

"No, sorry." The feline answered in a sullen tone.

Gray took a look around and noticed that they were in a tunnel that seemed to lead off in either direction. "We must be in some old tunnels under the temple. I wonder what's down here."

"Aw man secret caves! This is so cool!" Natsu cheered as he darted off down one tunnel.

"Would you quite running around like a crazy person!" Gray yelled as he and Lucy made chase after the dragon slayer. The tunnel went on for quite a ways before they could see a light coming from around the bend.

"Hey guys." Natsu said in an oddly confused voice. "What's that?"

"What do you mea...." Gray trailed off as he and Lucy rounded the corner to see what had perplexed their comrade.

Standing several stories tall in a crater at the center of a massive cave opening, was a giant pillar of ice. The blue block of frozen water towered over the teens and nearly reached the top of the cavern they were in. What was the most shocking however, was the visage of the monstrous beast frozen within. It looked like a demonic ape with massive arms and a long scaled tail. Two long curved horns stood atop it's head and it's enormous jaw looked as if it could swallow an entire building.

"Wh.. What is that thing?" Lucy said, trembling slightly. She was suddenly feeling much more scared than she had and took a small step closer to Grays back. The ice wizard had yet to move.

Natsu took a step closer and examined the beast. "This thing is pretty creepy. What would something like this be doing down here under the temple?"

"...that's impossible, it can't be." Gray mumbled. Lucy turned to look at him but wished she hadn't. His face was contorted with a mixture of terror and rage. In the short time she had known the man, she had never seen him lose his cool so extremely.

"Gray?" She whispered.

"It's Deliora. But why is it here? What the hell is it doing on Galluna Island?!" He yelled.

"You know this thing?" Natsu asked, seemingly stunned that Gray would recognize this thing.

Lucy walked and gently placed a comforting hand on Grays back. "Gray, try to calm down." She said soothingly. She waited to continue until she saw that he had taken several deep breaths and attempted to calm himself down. "Now, can you tell us about this thing?"

Gray nodded taking one last calming breath. "It's Deliora, a demon from the book of Zeref. Ten years ago, this monster ravaged Ishval. Countless people lost their lives. In the end the woman who taught me to use ice magic, my master Ur, used a powerful spell called the iced shell to finally seal it away." Gray explained through grit teeth. Standing next to him, Lucy could clearly see the pain in his memories. "In the end, she sacrificed everything to stop it. But that doesn't explain how it got here!"