The Shadow Goddess

6

The Shadowlands come from FanfictionXR on Wattpad, from their own Rogue story, changed a little to match my own story

"Gajeeeeeel, it's so hooooot!" "What do you want me to do, turn off the sun? Wearing black doesn't help either." Della frowned as she fanned herself, debating whether or not she should take off her cape.

The siblings were in a clearing in a forest near the ocean in Southern Fiore, which meant a lot of heat and humidity for the three months leading up to the Grand Magic Games. That was the reason they were out there, to train for said games in the chance they were chosen to represent the guild and take back the title as Fiore's strongest.

"Why did you have to pick such a hot place to train, not to mention the humidity! If I'd known we were coming here, I would've gone to train by myself." "Goodness, girl, you can always just leave now. I'll train on my own with Lily." The blonde frowned and crossed her arms, glancing to the side with a huff. "I'm sorry, the heat makes me feel gross and slimy." The tone of the apology made it sound forced, but also sounded like she was just accepting having to deal with the weather conditions.

"I get that and I'm sorry. But this was the best place, toughing it in the woods builds endurance, the beach is there for swim exercises, and I can make my iron attacks more resistant to the heat. Plus, the forest holds an entrance to the Shadowlands, so you can strengthen those shadows of yours."

Della lifted her head and raised her eyebrow towards the man. "How do you know about the Shadowlands?" "Your parents, girlie. Yami came to the guild one time without Kyril and I asked where he was since they were basically attached at the hip, and she told me about it. Though, I didn't know you knew about them either. I guess that's a given since you practice shadow magic."

The young woman gave a sigh and opened the satchel she had on her, pulling out a notebook wrapped in brown, worn leather. "Dad never told me about it, I learned from his journal. He planned to tell me when I was old enough to start learning about God Slaying, but that clearly never happened." She ran a hand down the journal, reminiscing about all the times when she saw her father writing in it. When she asked about it, he said he would tell her everything once she was older and knew magic.

Alas, that never happened.

"So this will be your first time heading in there? Alone?" "No, I've been before." Gajeel's eyes widened a little but he was also a little confused. His sister could tell and spoke again. "Once I had recovered from the disaster, I returned home and went through Mom and Dad's stuff, stumbling on this and learning about the Shadowlands. Did anyone tell you about the year I was gone after the attack?" The man shook his head, so she continued.

"Well, I pretty much disappeared after the attack. That entire year, I was in a forest far away from Magnolia and trained in the Shadowlands, hoping to become stronger so I could get revenge for what happened, and he..." She trailed off in her sentence, making the iron dragon raise his eyebrow. "He...who? Did someone go with you?"

Immediately, she shook her head, not looking him in the eye, and put the notebook back in her satchel, taking a strand of her hair in her other hand and messing with it. "No one, I went in alone."

Gajeel could tell she was lying. She had changed a lot since he last saw her, but he always knew when she was lying, she's had the same tells as when she was a little girl. It was nice knowing some things didn't change.

Knowing that she was lying also let him put two and two together. He wasn't stupid, he knew his sister had history with that dragon slayer from Sabertooth, more than she was letting on.

Yet another topic he couldn't bring up with her.

Soft footsteps could be heard approaching the camp and the duo turned to see Pantherliy with firewood for later tonight, more so for dinner than any kind of heat. The environment handled that part.