Effervescence

Chapter 7

The long awaited seventh chapter! 11.3K views, guys... wow. 432 votes, and 119 comments. You are so motivating and I take full responsibility for keeping away- I'm a high school student, please excuse my rudeness.

Update on the pairing: I've had too many months to think on this- but honestly, I haven't. Sorry. I've decided the pairing will have to come naturally, or not at all. Writing a forced match feels wrong, so you'll have to be patient with me.

Another thing, any suggestions for a new title for this fic? Sasha Dreyar (Fairy Tail OC) seems a bit bland quite honestly...

Thank you, my dears, and let this chapter be a worthy update!

~~

I stared at the intricate carving on the cave wall, wanting to cry. This was terrible- terrifying. Two bright blue topazes seemed to glow in the cavern, making me even more nauseous than I already was in the enclosed space.

"LAXUS!" My scream brought the whole group thundering into the large chamber, adding to my cornered feeling.

"Sasha, what is it?" Laxus stopped in his tracks beside me, seeing the eerie image looming before us.

Below the fresco of Acnologia, stood two life-sized paintings of two humans. One, charred and clawed to nonrecognition, stood to the left- only one bright ruby where an eye would have been. The other was shorter, and much clearer- not touched by the terrible rage I could only assume was my mentor's power. Two blue topaz stones stood embedded in the pale face, long blonde hair flaring out in a halo around the obviously feminine figure. A light blue light spiraled around me in the beautiful rendition.

Because that was what the painting was- me. Unmistakably.

I really  wanted to cry. Instead, I fell into my brother's arms.

"Holy shit."

"There're some runes on the ceiling." I lifted my chin up, and sure enough- the markings on the ceiling I first thought were words were some type of jagged runes.

"We'll need to get back to the guild to research the meanings. Everyone, spread out in pairs and try to see if there's anything else in this place. The sooner we get out the better for everyone." I really loved my brother in that moment.

I composed myself, and paired up with Minerva for the search. There turned out to be three other chambers in the godforsaken place, one filled with gems and gold like a proper dragon cave (yay for trauma therapy funds), another with a library filled to the brim with tomes in the same strange language as the words on the ceiling, and another which I immediately dubbed the "Rage Room". Completely charred and warped by intense heat, there was nothing in there but the remnants of Acnologia's anger.

Once we cleared out, the sunset assaulted our sensitive eyes. Our motley group trekked back to the Rusty Inn, where we ate and got to sleep in honest-to-god rusty metal frame beds. They creaked terribly under our weight, and the thin walls separating the small rooms we had rented did nothing to insulate the monstrous snores coming from the men (with the exception of Rufus, of course).

I was still shaken from the cave experience, but managed to get a few hours of (albeit fitful) sleep.

In the early dawn, Sabertooth accompanied my brother and me to the train station, as they'd be staying in Magnolia working with Freed and Levy to decipher the language we had discovered in the cave. I wasn't sure I truly wanted to get the words from the cave translated, but understood we needed to figure it out.

~~Lazy Time-Skippy~~

When we returned to the guild, I was assaulted by Bick's babies, who somehow seemed to feel something off about me. The next moment, I found myself situated on the Seith mage's shoulder, and carted off to the second floor of the guild hall.

There was food waiting for me. I was in heaven.

"So how'd the quest go?" My head thumped onto the table while Laxus laughed.

"Exhaaaaausting." I groaned.

"And we've got a ton of research to do on dead languages, because obviously stupid four century old dragons can't write in a normal used language. As I said, exhausting." I felt a large hand pat my shoulder, and turned my head to look into dark red eyes, and sighed.

"I just need to distance myself from this, I think. It'll definitely help with improving my mental health."

"Cool! So, when you rest up, do you want to go on a quest with the Raijinshu? I heard Freed's helping with translating the wall writing you guys found, and Evergreen's on a quest with Elfman..." He wiggled his eyebrows, eliciting a laugh from me.

"Yeah, that's cool. I'd like to get to know the current Elfy though, he's a lot different from before- don't know if I trust him with Ever... anyway, isn't she older than him?"

"Yep, 2 years. But ya won't be able to tell her anything bad about him- she's fallen bad for the guy." Bick screwed up his face, as Laxus let out a laugh.

"It's sickening." I chuckled into the table at the sour look on his face.

"Ah, thanks Bicks."

"F-for what?"

"Making me laugh. I've missed this place a lot."

"No prob, Ash."

I felt more than saw a death glare sent at Bicks from what I knew was my brother's seat in front of us. I lifted myself off the table, and stomped on his foot.

He was ruining the comfortable mood we were in.

~~~

The majority of the Sabertooth team left the following day, leaving only Rufus and Minerva to work on translating the dead language.

It took more than a month for the combined effort of Freed, Rufus, Lucy, and Levy to decipher the first few lines of the phrase we found in Acnologia's cave.

I was accosted by Levy, who had been giving me steady updates throughout their work, on my way into the guild hall from a solo mission (not really- one of Bick's babies followed me everywhere on his orders and Laxus' permission). The bluenett dragged me down the stairs into the guild's extensive archives, and plopped me down in a chair across from a flustered Freed and calm Rufus.

"So, what's up?" I started lamely.

"We've deciphered some of the runes!"

"Crap."

"Wha-"

"I mean! That's fantastic! Can I hear them?!" it wasn't the smoothest save, but did the job to distract the excitable mage.

"Yeah! It's super interesting, and each rune has at least five different possible meanings, but what we've put together makes the most sense, so-"

"Please breathe."

"Right. Okay, Freed? Want to be the one to reveal it?"Levy was acting as if it was some grand opening to the newest world-class play, while my stomach twisted in knots.

In anticipation or fear, I couldn't tell you.

"Yes," the green-haired man cleared his throat before reciting the lines.

"In the empire of the east, the child of the dead shall be born,

Upon the day predator falls to prey, the child in red shall end the demon's life."

.

.

.

"Wow, prophecies are insanely unhelpful, aren't they?"

.

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~~~ ~(*>*~) ~~~

Lol I just noticed all of the calls for my blood if Sasha and Bickslow don't end up together...