If Only You Knew

Chapter Twenty Four - The Mission

Gray and Erza arrived in Flersha, and went to the docks to see the port master. He explained to them that three ships had suddenly sunk, and each time, the water bubbled and someone got a glimpse of a tail before both the creature and the boat disappeared beneath the waves. According to the witnesses, the tail was blue and green, with a web-like fin at the end. Gray and Erza promised to capture the creature and find out why it was terrorizing the village by sundown.

They walked down to the beach and stared at the ocean. What do we do? they both wondered. How do you lure a sea monster? They quickly came up with a plan. Gray made a ship out of ice, and Erza requipped into her Sea Empress Armor. Then, they waited, hoping the creature would come. Luckily for them, it did.

It immediately tried to sink the ship by puncturing a hole in the bottom. However, since Gray's ship was made of ice, this did not work. Erza dove underwater to confront the creature, and Gray froze the water around them so that it couldn't escape. The creature was essentially a sea serpent, about eight feet long with glowing green eyes. Oddly, though, it did not attack Erza. Instead, it retreated to the farthest corner of the space and huddled against the wall of ice. Erza realized it was scared.

"Why are you afraid?" she asked. "I will not hurt you."

Upon hearing this, the creature became less afraid. It swam a little closer.

"Then why are you here? Why have you trapped me?" it inquired.

"We have come to find out why you've been sinking ships. You've taken three so far," Erza replied.

"Oh...I apologize, but it was necessary. My mate is with child, and we needed to build a temporary shelter. There are no caves, so we were using the wood from the ships to make a small house of sorts," the sea serpent said.

"Well, you needn't steal from these people. My comrade can build you a home made if ice, and it will be stronger and safer than anything created with wood. If he did that for you, would you stop sinking ships?" Erza asked.

"If your comrade were so kind, I would swear never to take anything from the humans again. I did so only out of necessity."

"Very well," said Erza. "It will be arranged."

She swam to the surface and told Gray everything. He was more than happy to build a home for the creature. He did as the creature asked, and soon, it had everything it could ever want. The home Gray built was so nice, in fact, that it decided to remain there permanently.

"Thank you, wizards of Fairy Tail," said the sea serpent. "One day, I will repay this debt. If you are ever in need, use this to summon me, and I will come to your aid. Farewell."

It gave them a magical whistle, and then swam away. Erza and Gray explained everything to the port master, and collected their reward. The mission had not turned out as expected, but they were happy with the way it had. It was a job well done. They returned to the guild feeling satisfied and just as happy as when they had left. They went their separate ways after bidding each other goodnight, and Gray let Erza hold on to the whistle. Both wizards fell asleep dreaming of the other.