The Journey

High Stakes Tension

            The crowd's cheers and whistles were nearly deafening to my ears. By the way, seeing as I'm a Song Dragon Slayer, my ears are really sensitive.

            The noise of their excitement reached halfway down the hall that lead to my little room under the arena.

            "Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to another year of the Grand Magic Games!" a loud voice shouted from outside. The cheers and whistles became louder, more deafening, and slightly more annoying.

            "Please allow us to inroduce the seven participating guilds!" The announcered shouted into his microphone. Very slowly, the seven guilds were introduced on the field, Liberam was called last. Much like a few years ago, there was a mix of cheers and a few flying objects as I stepped onto the sandy floor once again. Only this time, there was something new in the air. It was questions. I had never revealed what I truly look like so nobody recognized me. Nobody had ever seen the face under the hood. The clothing under the cloak.

            My long, flowing, pink hair reached down my back. The slim, maroon dress that Zeref had custom made just for me. The Liberam guild mark carved at the neck of the dress. My brown boots that reached up to my mid-calf. Last but not least, my black Liberam guild mark on the left side of my left calf.

            "Who is that?"

            "I've never seen her before."

            "I think that might be the Element Dancer!"

            I looked around the field at the widespread guild members standing in their respective regions, or with their other guildmates. They all looked back at me with disappointed eyes. I slowly walked towards the other guilds as they continued to stare at me.

            "I don't know what it is but there is something oddly familiar about her." I heard Lucy say to Erza.

            "Come to think of it, there is a familiar vibe about her. It feels like we've met her before we ran into her in the capital." Erza replied to Lucy's remark.

            "Wow. The games haven't even started and you guys are already talking about me. Should I feel special?" I giggled playfully. It's so funny how their once mysterious expressions immediatley turned into a surprised expression the minute I replied to their whispers. They immediately shut up and began listening to the announcers once again.

            "We will now start with our first event of the day before we move on to our one on one battles." Yajima announced. I wonder what this year's surprise event will be. Exactly like last year, a midget with a pumpkin helmet appeared between the guild members.

            "Now I know that we already had this event take place one year but we haven't been really creative lately. So, our first match of the day is Hidden!" Pumpkin announced. What?! Why are we doing Hidden again? The surprise events are supposed to be different every year and 'not being creative' isn't a good excuse.

            "We all should know the rules for this game already. Right?" Chapati (the main announcer for the games) questioned. We all nodded our heads, except for me. I may already know how to do this but if I nodded my head, I could have given myself away.

            "Don't worry about me. I'll catch on and I promise not to cheat. I may be a member of a dark guild but I keep my promises and I don't cheat." I reassured. I could tell that they didn't believe me. I sulked as their glaring eyes melted me.

            "Now, will all guilds please pick one member to participate in the event?" Pumpkin announced before disappearing into thin air like always. I stepped forward first and then Gray from Fairy Tail, Lyon from Lamia Scale, Beth from Mermaid Heel, Rufus from Sabertooth, Eve from Blue Pegasus, and Jager from Quatro Cerberus. The reamining members returned to their 'guild decks,' as I like to call them.

            "I can't believe they sent you in as a solitary member." Eve addressed me.

            "Yeah, you're probably going to be in a lot of battles. You might end up slowly decreasing your magical power until finally you can't fight any more and Liberam gets disqualified." Gray added. Why is it that the boys are attacking me?

            "I'll finally get to see the famous Element Dancer out in the field. I'll be able to put proof with the rumors that have been going around." Lyon stated. Rumors?

            "What rumors?" I asked.

            "We slowly put the rumors together with Hibiki's archive magic. We noticed something strange." Eve said.

            "Like what?" I asked out of curiosity. I wasn't in the slightest bit worried. Isn't that strange?

            "Well, a mysterious figure appeared out of the blue right around the time that a wizard by the name of Nalu Percy left the Fairy Tail guild. Also the fact that no one has been able to discover your true identity." Eve stated.

            "What are you trying to say Eve?"

            "I think you know what I'm trying to say."

            "You think that I'm Nalu?"

            "That is exactly what I'm trying to tell you." Eve revealed.

            "How long have you had this theory?" I asked him.

            "We've had this theory ever since we heard that the Element Dancer was going to enter the games. It just seemed odd to us." Eve replied.

            The crowd was quiet. I glanced up at the Fairy Tail guild members and noticed the shock on Frub's face. This is just great. The last thing I neede was for Frub to be so shocked. That was when Pumpkin appeared again.

            "Sorry guys but the tension is just too great. We have decided to immediately move on to the one on one battles." Pumpkin announced with excitement. The crowd immediately burst out in cheers and whoops along with whistles. Apparently, the first battle is between Lucy and I. I hope this battle is interesting.

            I remained on the field as the others retreated and Lucy slowly approached me.