These Blood-Soaked Pages (Fairy Tail) [Book 1 of Reaper's Scythe]

XI - The Quest

Lucy taps her fingers on the hardwood table and sighs. Natsu, Erza, and Zeref have been holed up in the Master's office for a long time now. Wendy, Charle, and Happy are sitting with her, equally impatient (although Wendy doesn't show it.)

Even as she thinks this, the sound of footsteps herald the trio's presence. "You are aware there is a... certain matter that Zeref has to help Natsu with, correct?" Erza asks.

Wendy nods. "Yeah, you told us in Alvarez."

"Well, this certain matter may take a while to finish, and Natsu still has to earn money in the meantime. So, since Gray left on a solo mission, Zeref will be accompanying us in his stead. This also lets us keep a close eye on him. Of course-" Erza looks closely at the four- "we cannot let anyone know Zeref's identity."

"Aye, sir!"

Across the guild hall, Natsu carefully looks through the jobs on the board. "Hmm... which one to take? Translating ancient writing on a magical ring... no... Saving the town of Rose from evil giants? That's more interesting... Ooh, or retaking a castle overrun by fat vampires! Defeating wights near the border with Seven sounds cool too, but it's a long train ride."

"How about this one?" Zeref is looking at a request titled 'Rescue!' The description says a baby wyvern was captured by pirates.

"Yeah! Let's take that one! The pay's not all that great, but I wanna save that poor little guy!" Natsu is about to take the flyer when Erza coughs behind him.

"I have already chosen a job for our team. Don't worry about the wyvern, I heard Team Shadow Gear was considering it. Now let's go." Erza drags Natsu out of the guild hall by his scarf, leaving Zeref, Lucy, Wendy and the Exceeds to catch up.

(Sorry for making all the job requests references....
...who am I kidding, I'm not sorry!
I doubt anyone will get all five though. YES THIS IS A CHALLENGE.)

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"Hate... trains..." Natsu groans. His face looks somewhere between a blueberry and a pea; not at all pleasant.

Poor Wendy is right beside him. "Me too..."

"Wendy-san, do you know the Troia spell?" Zeref asks.

"Natsu is immune to it, and Wendy can't even use it on herself in this state. But yes, she technically knows it," the female cat informs him in a haughty tone.

"Oh. Well, it's a Dragon Slayer enchantment, so unfortunately only she can cast it." Zeref sighs, leaning back in his seat. "I know a similar enchantment, but it's got serious downsides since it's a regular enchantment. Besides, it definitely won't work on Natsu, and there's only a small chance it'll work on Wendy-san..."

"It's okay. I can deal with it... We're almost there, right?"

Erza checks her watch. "Nope. Seven more hours."

"WHAT'S WITH THE SEVENS?!" Natsu yells before puking again.

The armored wizard laughs. "Ironically, the place we're going to is close to the country of Seven."

Zeref doesn't realize he looks uneasy until Lucy asks "What's wrong?"

"Uh... Where exactly are we going?" Please don't let it be there...

"There's a town called Lilac in the north, near the ruins of the city-state of Mildian. Apparently a monster has been seen in the ruins lately, and since it was sighted several townspeople have gone missing." Erza summons a sword as if it were no big deal and begins to sharpen it with a whetstone.

"Mildian?" The dark wizard asks. His voice trembles a bit.

"Yes."

"Do Natsu and I have to come?"

"Yes. We're already on the train to Lilac anyway."

"Great." Of all the places to go, it just has to be the Ruins of Mildian, Zeref thinks.

"Now that I've informed you all about the mission-" With two quick blows from the hilt of her sword, Erza knocks out Natsu and Wendy. The female cat looks like she's about to object, but a glare from Erza keeps her mouth shut.

(I know these travelling scenes are quick but most of them are so boring to write e_e)

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Purple blossoms swirl over my head, caught on the wind. "I can see why this town is called Lilac," Zeref remarks dryly, pulling a petal out of his hair.

Lucy and Wendy seem to like the scenery. Zeref can see why, the swaying lilac trees and rolling hills make for a lovely scene, and the air here is fresh and crisp. It's the dark shadow in the distance that sets him on edge.

The town is small but charming. Wendy remarks on how old some of the trees and buildings look, but the dark wizard remains silent; hardly anything living (or man-made that's still in fair condition) is old to him anymore.

"Something about this town is familiar to me, but I just can't place it!" Natsu growls.

The blue cat flying at his side snickers. "Not surprising, considering how bad your memory is!"

"Hey!"

"It's true though," adds Lucy.

They fall silent as we approach the largest building in town. Presumably this is where the mayor lives: he was the one who posted the request. The group is invited inside by a nervous-looking boy who must be one of his children.

He shows them to a brightly lit room where the mayor and his wife sit. The mayor is a rather large but kindly-looking man with dark hair, and the woman is tall with light brown hair.

When the man sees their guild emblems, he sighs with relief. "Finally, you're here! I assume you know the basics from the job request flyer. Three weeks ago, a monster started appearing in the Ruins of Mildian. At first we were only concerned it might affect business- you see, some of the villagers run tours for extra Jewel in their free time- but then children started disappearing. Just recently, my own daughter was taken from us..."

He looks like he's about to cry until Erza speaks up. "Don't worry, sir, we will slay this monster and save your daughter and the other children." Unless they're already dead is what she doesn't say, but everyone knows it's likely they will be too late.

"Be careful in there," the mayor's wife cautions. Seriously, what are their names, I don't like calling them the mayor and the mayor's wife... "The ruins are haunted by the ghosts of everyone who was murdered there. People have reportedly seen them and nobody's been harmed by the ghosts, but I wouldn't be surprised if the monster has some connection to them."

Lucy and Wendy are hugging each other in fright. "G-ghosts of people who were murdered?!"

"Yes." The mayor lowers his voice. "Legend has it that the people of the city were massacred more than four hundred years ago... by the dark wizard Zeref."

Everyone from Fairy Tail looks at the dark wizard in question.

Great.