Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]
CHAPTER START---
---December 17th, X769, 9 AM…
At the foot of a rocky mountain, Oberon and Laxus are walking behind a man in his early twenties.
Ignoring the chilly winter winds Oberon looks around to see that some of the cliffs on the mountainside have collapsed, causing a mess of rubble and earth.
"The trail she used to climb was right here," the man says, pointing at the rubble.
"So she went up and hasn't been down in two days?" Laxus asks. "I assumed it was an item retrieval mission from the Job poster, you said this was about a necklace."
"No, she's been gone for about a week, but I only posted the Job two days ago. Really, it's about a necklace, my grandmother's necklace," the man says. "My girlfriend is part of a Treasure Hunter Guild, so she climbs this mountain to practice her Magic, in case she needs it on a job."
"Magic?" Oberon asks.
"Athletics Magic, it lets her run fast and on angled surfaces, like walls and stuff," the man says. "Anyway, she always does this crap–running off to sulk whenever she loses out on some treasure, and I'm sick of it. Just get my necklace back from her; you can leave her up there to sulk for all I care."
"So, you want us to break up with her for you?" Laxus asks.
"I'd do it myself but I'm moving to Crocus and she's wasting my time, I can't leave without that necklace."
"Once you've got the Gate Key I'll get it back," Oberon says.
In response, the man casually takes out a large ornate silver key with a square head and a green gem at the other end.
"One necklace, coming up," Oberon says as he marches off toward the trail.
Laxus does a small jog to catch up to Oberon who is already moving the rubble out of the way with Gravity Magic.
"What are you doing?" Laxus asks.
"Maybe she's under the rubble," Oberon says. "Do you want to go up the mountain and start searching while I move this stuff?"
Laxus takes a big whiff of the air, "She's not under the rubble, I don't smell any blood. But I did catch the scent of a person that must come here a lot, up the side of the mountain."
Oberon immediately stops moving the rubble, "Right, forgot you've got the nose of a bloodhound."
"Dragon," Laxus mutters as he begins leading them up the mountain. "Let's get this done before my toes freeze."
"Want me to fly us up there?" Oberon asks. "It'll be a lot faster."
"You're just excited to get that key…which you can't even use until you become S-Class."
"Yeah, but I want to start a collection," Oberon says.
Laxus stops, considering it, "Can you stay focused on not making me sick the entire time?"
"Hell yeah, I've been training a lot these last few days, plus, if you're sick you can't follow the trail, so we'd have to stop anyway."
"Ok, anything to get me out of this snow faster," Laxus says. "Begin hit with Snow Magic is not something I want to experience again."
Oberon laughs as he lifts himself and Laxus a foot above the ground, and quickly takes them along the trail.
A few minutes later while ascending a sheer cliffside, Laxus is focused on the scent while Oberon is busy keeping them stable.
"So, what if she's dead or something?" Oberon asks.
"Don't be silly, she's a Wizard, she's probably just being moody," Laxus says as he smells the source of the scent. "Actually, I smell blood up ahead."
"Crap, how far?"
"Just around that corner, and I don't sense any Magic Energy," Laxus says as Oberon sets them down on a plateau.
Oberon turns around, seeing the snow-covered forest below and the mountains on the horizon, "Well, at least she had a great view," he mutters.
"Argh!" Laxus groans as he backpedals from whatever he sees around the corner.
"What, is it that bad?"
"Ugh," Laxus walks over to the edge of the cliff while Oberon makes his way around the corner.
Oberon rounds the cover to see the woman half crushed beneath a boulder that broke free from the next wall she'd usually climb.
Her lower body was completely crushed and her face was frozen in terror and shock.
"Awe man, that's messed up," Oberon says as he uses Gravity Magic to move the boulder.
Holding his breath he walks over to her and quickly pockets the necklace before storing her inside one of his cards.
"Glad that worked," he says while finally breathing. "Hey Laxus, I'm done!"
"What do you mean 'done'?" Laxus asks as Oberon walks over to the edge with him.
"Got the necklace, put her body in a card, let's head back."
"What!?" Laxus takes a step away from Oberon. "What do you mean you put her in a card?"
Oberon shrugs, "Well, I didn't want to deal with the smell all the way down the mountain."
"But don't you think that's a bit messed up?" Laxus asks. "I mean, she is a person."
Oberon rubs the back of his head, "I guess…I may have gotten a bit too focused on getting that Gate Key, but it's already done so let's just go."
"Race to the bottom?" Laxus asks while shrouding himself with Lightning Magic.
"If you think you can keep up," Oberon says as they both rush down the mountain, Laxus flying while cloaked in lightning and occasionally transforming into Lightning, and Oberon simply flying with Gravity Magic.
After only a few minutes, Oberon is standing at the base of the mountain, just beyond the treeline with the village at his back.
Leaning against a tree he impatiently taps his foot, and a few minutes later Laxus arrives as a bolt of yellow lightning, down on one knee trying to catch his breath.
"Any longer and I would have started reading my books," Oberon says jokingly. "Did you get lost?"
Laxus barely catches his breath before he glares at Oberon, "Some of us…have to…take breaks."
"Excuses excuses, all I heard is that you need to work on your endurance," Oberon says. "Why do you think I'm always flying at the Guild hall?"
"To be obnoxious," Laxus says as they begin walking into the village. "Because you're a show-off, things like that."
"Maybe a little bit," Oberon giggles. "But honestly, once you've felt the ultimate freedom, being free from gravity itself, you never want to be held by it again."
"Yeah well, I bet laying on a cloud will feel better," Laxus says before he turns away and mutters. "After I get Cloud Magic…in a few years."
"Clouds are water, idiot, you'll get all wet," Oberon sticks his tongue out at Laxus.
"I know that!" Laxus lies. "But I'll use Magic to make it like a big fluffy pillow, I'll figure it out, you'll see!"
"Awe man, that sounds awesome," Oberon says as he looks at the clouds above. "Taking a nap on the clouds, if you figure that out I want to try it, every time I fall asleep my Gravity Magic shuts off and I fall."
Laxus looks at him as if he were an idiot, "Did you seriously try to sleep while flying?"
"What, you wouldn't try it?"
"Well, I never said that," Laxus says as they arrive at the village and begin walking over to the client's house. "But I'm not the idiot who did try it."
"Tch, whatever," Oberon mutters as he knocks on the door. "We're back, we got the necklace!"
After a few moments, the man opens the door, stepping outside to greet them.
"You're back already, that was fast," the man says. "Did you get the necklace?"
"Yes, but," Oberon hesitates for a moment. "She had an accident, a rock fell on her, I'm sorry…"
The man silently nods.
"I brought you the body to bury, where should I put it?" Oberon asks.
The man's eyes widen in surprise, "Uh, the body?"
Oberon nods, and Laxus eyes the man wearily.
"You can just get rid of it I suppose, the necklace is my main concern," the man says, and both Laxus and Oberon share a cautious glance.
"Sure, we just need the reward, especially the key," Laxus says, holding out his hand.
The man glances between both the innocent-looking young boys, not seeing any weapons on them, and flashes a sinister smile.
"Yeah…the thing is, I already have plans to sell that key when I get to Midi," he says while creating a red flame in his right hand. "So just give me the necklace. Then you can run back to your Guild and cry about how you were ripped off, without the burns."
Laxus gives Oberon a cautious glance, seeing that he's beyond pissed at being robbed of his Gate Key.
"The Gate Key is important to him," Laxus says, looking at the man. "So it won't be in his house, don't overdo it…"
"Gotcha," Oberon says as he furrows his brows at the man, causing immense Gravity Magic to bring him to his knees.
"What the hell?!" the man barely places his hands on the ground in time to stop his face from smashing into the dirt.
Laxus immediately zaps him with Lightning Magic, temporarily paralyzing him before he fishes through the man's pockets and takes the key.
"Got it," he says while stepping away. "Now let's get out of here."
"Not yet, there was also 50,000 Jewels as the reward," Oberon says as he walks forward and grabs the man by his short hair. "And I'm getting paid, in full," she increases the Gravity Magic and smashes the man's face into the dirt, breaking his nose and teeth.
Laxus winces as Oberon steps over the man, then turns around to withdraw the body onto the unconscious man.
"Ugh," Laxus blocks his nose and looks away from the corpse as Oberon kicks in the front door and begins rummaging through the house.
'Ok, so he definitely hates liars, not that I can blame him,' Laxus thinks as he stands guard outside.
Glancing down at the man he shakes his head.
'This guy probably thought he'd be out of the country by the time we got back to Magnolia, and he made the reward super low so no strong Wizards would accept it, he just got unlucky since we accepted it instead.
Still, we'll definitely report this to grandpa, and he'll have the Magic Council blacklist this man from posting any Jobs in official Guilds, he'll also struggle to join any official Guild with that on his record.
What an idiot,' Laxus sees a few people noticing the commotion and gathering a crowd.
"Ok, let's go," Oberon says as he walks out the door, not sparing anyone a glance as he begins walking toward the trail out of this mountain range.
---3 Hours Later…
Sitting on the train Laxus looks down at his Communication Lacrima, which is currently showing Makarov Dreyar's annoyed face.
"Seriously, he thought he could rip off our Guild?!" Makarov screams as he waves his mug about, spilling some beer. "I'm proud of you boys for teaching that trash a lesson, I'll call Yaji' and have him blacklist that scoundrel immediately!"
"Thanks, Grandpa," Laxus says. "We didn't really explain anything to the other villagers though, so they may think we just robbed that man."
"Who cares what they think," Makarov grumbles something inaudible, and very impolite, into his mug. "I want you boys back in Magnolia until I handle this. Just enjoy some time to relax until it's handled."
"Got in grandpa," Laxus says. "We just got onto the train so we'll be there at around seven tonight."
"Alright, I'll see you then."
As Makarov is about to end the call, Laxus stops him. "Wait, how did the trials go?"
"Oh, nobody got past the first stage," Makarov shrugs. "Gildarts was a bit too much it seems, so I think I'll change things up next time."
"Wow," Laxus nods in agreement. "Do you really expect every S-Class to beat Gildarts?"
"Not at all, they simply have to show him that they can handle a minimum S-Class threat," Makarov says. "Anyway, I need to call Yaji', I'll see you boys tonight."
"Alright grandpa, sorry about this mess."
"It's not your fault son, sometimes scoundrels just insist on bothering good people," Makarov says before ending the call.
END CHAPTER---
Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]