Return to Onibas (Part 1)
All roads lead to Rome.
Apple Maps.
Lucy Heartfilia.
Morning.
Lucy woke to bright sunlight shining directly into her eyes.
Mmm…
I should go wash up…
She got out of bed and shuffled toward the bathroom.
There, she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror.
Strange.
Why am I still dressed?
Wait!
Why am I even home?
The last thing I remember…
Right.
Some crazy people had grabbed their flying shawarma and wanted to use it for its intended purpose, but the guys had stopped them.
Lucy sighed heavily.
Her upbringing prevented her from saying everything she thought about the Dragon Slayer and his pet, but sometimes she really wanted to…
Hmm, what happened after that?
She had sat down in a clearing and closed her eyes.
She wasn’t used to long walks, so she’d simply worn herself out.
Logically, if she’d fallen asleep somewhere far from Magnolia but had woken up at home, someone must have carried her there.
Natsu definitely knew her address, though Lucy had no idea how he’d found it.
Still, she couldn’t imagine him treating a member of the fairer sex with anything resembling gallantry.
Gray seemed more civilized in that regard, but he probably would have carefully woken her up.
That left Sephiroth.
Realizing that he had been the one who carried her home and undressed her, the girl’s face turned bright red.
Well…
He was simply being gallant toward a woman…
Hmm…
His way of moving and speaking really was different from everyone else’s.
And then there had been that incident when the Master appeared.
She had thought she was going to die from fear, crushed beneath the mage’s overwhelming power, while Sephiroth hadn’t even batted an eye.
Who is he really?
Intrigued, Lucy turned around in front of the mirror a few times.
Mmm…
Pretty.
Very pretty.
If you don’t praise yourself, nobody else will.
All right.
Time to head to the guild.
At the guild, everyone was talking about the recent incident.
Some newcomer who had only just joined had somehow managed to almost single-handedly wipe out a Dark Guild and rescue a companion from captivity.
Along the way, he’d received thanks from the city magistrate and the Council, then beaten Elfman and earned the rank of A-class mage.
The newcomer’s name was Sephiroth.
The news gave Lucy a small shock.
It wasn’t every day that a high-ranking mage carried you around in his arms.
But Lucy wasn’t given much time to think about it.
Another interesting detail came to light.
Everyone was eagerly waiting for the battle between Elsa and Sephiroth, and people had even started taking bets.
Most of the bets were about how long the newcomer would last against Titania herself.
After thinking about it for a while, Lucy put down one thousand jewels on Sephiroth’s victory.
With odds of one hundred to one, why not?
She was simply following her family’s famous intuition.
Still, when Wakaba, who was taking the bets, looked at her with something resembling pity, she began to have doubts.
And yet, she really wanted to know how strong this man actually was and why he was hiding it.
There were more and more mysteries surrounding him, and her curiosity only grew stronger.
After ordering breakfast from Mira, Lucy began making guesses about her new acquaintance.
Hmm, Mira seemed to smile at her a little less warmly than usual.
Or had she imagined it?
She was still thinking when that very acquaintance entered the guild carrying an enormous basket and invited Mira on a picnic.
For some reason, that prospect didn’t make Lucy particularly happy.
She wanted to somehow stop them.
Natsu happened to be nearby.
Lucy remembered his tender passion for food, and a plan formed almost instantly.
After whispering just a few words to the Dragon Slayer, she achieved a remarkable result.
Almost the entire younger generation of Fairy Tail suddenly decided to go on the picnic.
If Happy had seen Lucy at that moment, he probably would have said something like, “Lucy scary.”
Unfortunately, the cat was busy trying to get fish out of Sephiroth.
Ah.
So that’s how he found out where she lived!
The picnic went quite well.
A friendly atmosphere filled the clearing, and Lucy got to know the other Fairies better.
The blue-haired mage, Levy, had somehow learned about Lucy’s attempts to write a novel and had already demanded to read it.
Lucy had been forced to agree, even though she was terribly embarrassed.
She also learned a few more things about Sephiroth.
Apparently, he could play the guitar and had a pretty good singing voice.
That was unexpected.
At the end of the picnic, the young man invited her to dinner.
It was…
nice.
Though Mira’s strange look at the young man made Lucy somewhat uncomfortable, and she had received a similar look herself.
What’s wrong with her?
Is she jealous?
Dinner had gone wonderfully as well.
It wasn’t often that Lucy met a man who was genuinely interested in talking to a girl rather than trying to get under her skirt, but Sephiroth was a pleasant exception.
They exchanged stories about their adventures and impressions of the guild.
Lucy had left out a couple of embarrassing details.
Eventually, the two went their separate ways.
And the next morning, Elsa arrived.
Everything began as usual.
The guild hall was filled with cheerful noise, while Natsu and Gray were busy fighting.
Then Loki burst through the doors with genuine terror written across his face.
“Elsa is coming!”
Everything changed instantly.
The guild fell silent.
Someone adjusted his clothes.
Someone frantically tried to clean the table.
Someone else began edging toward the exit.
Then the doors flew open, and she entered.
A gigantic monster horn rested on her shoulder, extending a good half-meter above her already impressive height.
Natsu and Gray had exaggerated Elsa’s height and shoulder width somewhat, but the overwhelming aura of power surrounding her was very real.
Then the inspection began.
Elsa found something to say to everyone, and almost none of it was flattering.
It was rather strange to see a girl the same age as the mage she was scolding, who was almost twice her age, while he merely hunched his shoulders and tried to disappear from her field of vision.
Yeah.
The boys had exaggerated her appearance, but otherwise they hadn’t been wrong.
Elsa was a terrifying woman.
Without giving anyone time to recover, the red-haired Valkyrie demanded to see the Master.
Apparently, she had something urgent to discuss.
Unfortunately, Makarov had left that morning for a meeting of guild masters and wouldn’t return for several days.
So Elsa was out of luck.
Then the doors opened again, and Sephiroth appeared in the doorway.
And almost immediately, he said something to the warrior that made Lucy stare.
Is he insane?
Can’t he feel that oppressive power coming from her?
Even Natsu and Gray were practically standing at attention, pretending to be the best of friends.
They weren’t very convincing, but they were trying.
Poor guy.
He’s going to die in the prime of his life, and I’ve only just started getting used to him…
What had he been thinking, saying something like that directly to the strongest woman in Fairy Tail?
Hmm.
Why isn’t she killing him right here?
He blamed everything on Natsu and Gray?
And she believed him?
Oh.
Judging by the promising look Elsa gave the sweet couple, apparently she did.
Interesting.
What did he do to them to make them deserve that?
Lucy was pulled from her thoughts by Mira’s voice.
“Lucy, go with Gray and Natsu.
If they start fighting again, you’ll be able to calm them down.
And Elsa sometimes…
gets a little too carried away.”
After a brief hesitation, the waitress turned to the young man as well.
“Sephiroth, could you keep an eye on them too, in case…” She paused.
“Although, judging by my voice, I should probably say when Lucy can’t handle them.”
Hey!
What is she implying?!
“For you, certainly,” the mage said with a smile.
“I’ve wanted to see Titania’s fighting style for quite some time.
Though, judging by the descriptions, I imagined her somewhat differently.”
He glanced toward the clock.
“We still have an hour before departure.
I think I’ll have enough time to prepare a little.
See you at the station.”
And the young man hurried away.
Lucy remained behind, thinking over what had happened.
Everything was becoming rather strange.
The relationships inside the guild were clearly much more complicated than they seemed at first glance.
And that look from Mira…
Could she actually like Sephiroth?
Well, the guy was handsome and polite, and, as Lucy had discovered, quite strong.
Oh, what am I thinking about?
She still had to prepare for the trip.
There were only forty minutes left.
Sephiroth.
Home.
There wasn’t much time, and I had a lot to do.
More precisely, one thing, but it was a major one.
We were about to encounter an Air Mage, and there was a chance I’d have to deal with him myself.
But how was I supposed to deal with an opponent who remained outside the range of my attacks?
A difficult problem.
An Air Mage…
I vaguely remembered that, with enough effort, the fellow, though fellow was probably too generous a word for him, could draw the surrounding air currents toward himself, creating a sort of armor.
I wasn’t sure I could penetrate it.
There was a good chance my weapons would simply be deflected.
Poisons wouldn’t work either.
I wouldn’t be able to deliver them.
So what was left?
Hmm…
Why not?
It might work, and it wouldn’t be particularly difficult to make.
The only problem was that the compound would be unstable and probably wouldn’t last more than two or three minutes.
But in a city, that was actually more of an advantage than a disadvantage.
Heh.
An Air Mage suffocating to death.
There was something rather ironic about that.
Once I’d settled on the task, I headed to my makeshift laboratory.
I’d have to put in some work synthesizing the necessary substances.
My goal was to create sarin, a colorless, odorless gas capable of killing an unprotected person in less than a minute.
The funniest thing was that preparing it wasn’t particularly difficult.
It supposedly required only some technical alcohol and a couple of fairly common components.
Perhaps that was why the recipe for such a chemical weapon wasn’t particularly easy to find online.
But that was beside the point.
I knew its composition and method of preparation.
Simba also helped considerably with the necessary reactions.
And so, after only forty minutes, I had five small flasks containing concentrated death.
I added some bitten nails and explosives.
Let the enemy assume the bombs were designed to kill through shrapnel.
Prepared like that, I headed for the station.
A little later.
At the station.
“Why does Elsa need us?!”
“How should I know?!
I’m much more useful on my own!”
“Then go by yourself!
I don’t give a damn!”
“Fine!
And let Elsa deal with you afterward!”
The highly intellectual debate between Mr.
Fullbuster and Don Dragneel had been echoing throughout the station for about five minutes.
Besides conducting their refined conversation, the esteemed mages had managed to smash two vendor stalls, destroy four benches, and knock over three trash cans, all with sincere aristocratic carelessness.
And they hadn’t even stopped arguing.
“Will you two just stop already?!” Lady Heartfilia finally expressed her displeasure, raising her voice above the general noise of the station.
Hmm.
Impressive.
I didn’t know she could shout like that.
I stood against a wall several meters away from the circus, watching the scene with what could only be described as mental sadness.
Of course, none of that sadness appeared on my face.
An outside observer might have assumed I was simply lost in thought.
The faces that truly showed sadness belonged to the station staff and the merchants whose property had been destroyed.
I hadn’t seen that much misery and resignation in people’s eyes in a long time.
There was even a hint of acceptance.
Apparently, they’d gotten used to Fairy Tail mages.
The only thing I didn’t understand was who would be paying for the damage.
More precisely, what was the Master going to do to this pair afterward?
“Why do you two always have to fight?!” Lucy continued trying to reason with them.
“Huh?
Lucy.
What are you doing here?”
The sharp-eyed hawk had finally noticed that the house had no wall.
“I was asked by Mira!
I’ve been with you since we left the guild!”
“Oh…”
He’d already forgotten what he’d been asking.
“And if it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t even be here!”
“Lucy, don’t bother.
They aren’t listening to you anymore.”
I finally decided to speak up.
Sure enough, Natsu and Gray had once again pressed their foreheads together like purebred rams, continuing their interrupted intellectual debate on the eternal subject of “What are you doing?” and “What are YOU doing?”
“But we have to do something!
Mira asked us to…”
“Relax.
As long as they aren’t actually fighting, everything is fine.
Besides, they’ve already broken everything that could be broken within ten meters.”
“Yep!
It’s too late to worry now.
You already messed everything up!” Happy cheerfully confirmed my statement.
Interesting.
Does he simply want to die young, or does he not understand that insulting mages is dangerous to one’s health?
Then again, like owner, like pet.
Natsu certainly wasn’t known for his manners.
Lucy puffed out her cheeks unhappily, trying to burn a hole through the sweet couple with her glare.
Then her expression relaxed, and mischievous sparks appeared in her eyes.
Beautiful.
Very beautiful.
“Oh!
Miss Elsa!
We’re here!!!” the lovely girl called sweetly toward the nearest exit.
She hadn’t even finished speaking when Natsu and Gray immediately straightened up and began shouting things like “Love thy neighbor!” from Gray and “Yep!” from Natsu.
A complete victory.
“Uiiii-hi-hi-hi-hi!
This is hilarious!” the prankster doubled over laughing.
I couldn’t help smiling too.
“Are you kidding me?!” their two cries of outrage merged into one.
“You two actually get along pretty well, from what I can see.
Hee-hee…”
That satisfied little face…
Gray lowered his head and stepped aside, muttering darkly to himself.
Natsu, however…
“Lucy, why are you here?”
Natsu was Natsu.
“Weren’t you listening to me?!”
“Hello, Elsa.
You’re early.”
I noticed the familiar empathic presence and addressed the girl who was clearly trying to sneak up unnoticed.
Surprisingly, she had almost managed it, despite the enormous cart of belongings behind her.
Yep.
The irritation was practically radiating from her.
Interesting.
Did she simply need an excuse to smack Natsu and Gray over the head, or was this some kind of test?
“Hello again, everyone.
What are you doing here?”
She still didn’t seem to be in a good mood, and now I’d ruined her plans too.
“Mira asked us to go with you!” Lucy answered.
The blonde clearly didn’t appreciate Elsa’s abrupt tone.
A brief silence followed.
“Hmm.
I think I’ve seen you somewhere before…”
My hand involuntarily moved toward my face.
“I’m Lucy.
I only joined the guild recently, and we actually saw each other less than an hour ago inside Fairy Tail,” the blonde said, sounding slightly offended.
“I see.
Then welcome.
Let’s get moving.
Our train will be leaving soon.”
Without another word, the warrior headed toward the platform, dragging her enormous cart behind her.
I wonder what she has in there.
“Hey, Elsa!
Wait…”
Natsu interrupted.
“I’m only going if you agree to one condition!”
I could have sworn Gray crouched a couple of centimeters lower.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t see his face.
“And what do you want?” Elsa sighed heavily.
She already seemed to know what was coming.
“When we get back, fight me!”
Seriously?
Why not simply ask the girl on a date?
Then again, this was Natsu.
“I’ll work for you, but only if you promise to beat me up.”
What a wonderful philosophy.
“Hmm.
Fine.
You’ve really grown stronger recently.
Gray, do you want to fight me too?”
The Ice Mage shook his head violently.
There.
That’s someone who correctly understands his own abilities and possesses common sense.
“Well, now that we’ve settled everything, let’s go.”
Ignoring Natsu, who was literally on fire with excitement, we headed toward the train.